What are you listening to right now?

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Thu Feb 03, 2022 7:56 pm

Neil Young may be gone from the platform, but at least Spotify has one of the metal albums of questionable quality from my youth now? I like the music and it really takes me back, but the lyrics were obviously written by someone who speaks Finnish first.

Which is sometimes charming. I think most people find the vocals woefully out of range, but I kind of like them. Kind of suits the whole, "disinterested vampire sings symphonic gothic metal" motif....

Divercia - Modus Operandi (2002)

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Feb 03, 2022 9:45 pm

This is a good live version of the song from 1978

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Fri Feb 11, 2022 11:00 am

New albums from both Zeal & Ardor and Amorphis today.

The Z&A album is a banger...they are not fucking around on this one. Absolutely brilliant stuff from Gagneaux and crew.

Jury's still out on Amorphis, need to give it a few more spins today. I generally like it, but nothing is really jumping out and making me say "wow".

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 7:41 pm

low - HEY WHAT

from my home state of Minnesota, one of those bands that's actually releasing super interesting records decades into their career, and this is one of my favorite albums released last year. great compositions AND production.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 7:50 pm

Church of the Cosmic Skull - The Devil Again

JCC · Post by **JCC** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 7:56 pm

The new Amorphis came out a week or so ago. I have "spun" it 2-3 times. I would say early impressions are it's fine but not as good as Queen of Time. On the other hand, their stuff tends to grow on me so I may amend my opinion later.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 8:50 pm

JCC wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 7:56 pm The new Amorphis came out a week or so ago. I have "spun" it 2-3 times. I would say early impressions are it's fine but not as good as Queen of Time. On the other hand, their stuff tends to grow on me so I may amend my opinion later.

I’ve been listening to it quite a bit this week. It’s definitely growing on me; although they could have done to trim a song or two. Feels a little long.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Feb 18, 2022 3:01 pm

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Feb 22, 2022 11:11 pm

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Feb 26, 2022 11:37 am

Found this thanks to Lucifer. They must play this in Heaven.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Wed Mar 02, 2022 5:10 pm

This new Ghost track that premiered today. Oh. My. God.

I cannot wait for the new album next week.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Mar 04, 2022 1:35 pm

In my travels I came across something Skiny might like. And Indian folk metal band

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Fri Mar 04, 2022 4:12 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Fri Mar 04, 2022 1:35 pm In my travels I came across something Skiny might like. And Indian folk metal band

Heh, that one's been bouncing around metal circles for a couple weeks now.

I love the Indian folk metal influences, but the whole rap/rock thing needed to die a slow, painful death in the 90s. Anthrax and PE's "Bring The Noise" was the only good thing to come out of that whole mess.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Thu Mar 10, 2022 8:53 am

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Mar 10, 2022 6:27 pm

His death has really been wearing on me these last few weeks. I've had most of his discography in near-constant rotation, but this album...this album is an absolute masterpiece, imho. Wiki lists it as "Country Blues", which is...something I can't say I would have ever thought of as a label. RIP.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Fri Mar 11, 2022 11:48 am

New Ghost album today, yay!

They leaned fully into the cheesy 80's rock theme this time...and I kinda love it. If you played this album without any context, you'd swear it was a Foreigner or Styx album from the early 80's. It's really fun and the songs are catchy as hell. I mean, tell me this isn't "Cold as Ice" redux.

I do miss some of the "evil" aspects, even if those were done very tongue-in-cheek. There's not the overt "listen to this bouncy tune...about Satan!" that we we've seen previously, and it does take a bit of the menace out of the music. Still, it's damn near impossible not to sing along with these tunes.

And this? This is brilliant.

This review summed it up well.

With Impera, Ghost have gone several steps further, serving up the greatest arena rock album since the invention of the permed mullet/slashed denim jacket combo. The glorious, arms-in-the-air approach of its predecessor is ramped up a hundredfold here. Every chorus is bigger, every backing vocal is stacked to the heavens, every booming drumbeat makes Def Leppard’s Pour Some Sugar On Me sound like a pensioner absent- mindedly tapping on a pile of wet bog paper with an out- of-date sausage roll.

Opening track proper Kaisarion lays out the rules of engagement, kicking in with an honest-to-god 1987-vintage scream that’s instantly followed by the kind of staggeringly brilliant chorus that rock bands forgot how to write years ago. Billowing goth-metal anthem Hunter’s Moon piles on the pantomime drama with cascading piano and monastic chants, though it’s hard to tell whether the chilly mist that surrounds it is dry ice or Aquanet hairspray. Closing track, the Jack The Ripper-inspired Respite On The Spitalfields, even has the brass knackers to nick its sawing string riff from Whitesnake’s Still Of The Night and at least one vocal line from Europe’s The Final Countdown.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Mar 11, 2022 5:04 pm

I like a lot of Ghost's stuff. Its got to have a hard edge to it and some rhythm to it though. They are right on the edge of what I dont like and what I like. Some stuff falls one way and some fall the other. I wish they were a bit harder with more flow..crunch crunch crunch crunch.

Hrdina · Post by **Hrdina** » Sat Mar 12, 2022 12:40 am

How about a new video for a song released in 1981?

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Mar 12, 2022 1:07 am

Too bad its Rush

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Sat Mar 12, 2022 1:42 pm

I've found it hard to get into Ghost due to the cheese factor, but I think I may just have to stop fighting it and embrace it. I've just heard too many great things about this latest album.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sat Mar 12, 2022 1:54 pm

YellowKing wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 1:42 pm I've found it hard to get into Ghost due to the cheese factor, but I think I may just have to stop fighting it and embrace it. I've just heard too many great things about this latest album.

Oh, it’s still cheesy. It just happens to be to be amazing and catchy as well.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Mar 12, 2022 4:55 pm

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sun Mar 13, 2022 11:46 am

This new Pillaging Villagers album is an absolute riot. It's blackened thrash meets Irish folk meets bouncy punk. Think The Pogues mixed with Skeletonwitch with Amon Amarth writing all the lyrics. It's hilarious and fantastic.

Archinerd · Post by **Archinerd** » Mon Mar 21, 2022 4:29 pm

As heard on the recent Beyondophonic Action Hour, by way of Hepcat.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Mar 21, 2022 4:38 pm

I knew Tothar would worm his way into your world.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Mar 21, 2022 4:39 pm

...of the hill people?

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Mar 21, 2022 4:42 pm

You'd probably enjoy some of his musical finds too. He really is a lovably odd human being.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 5:19 pm

Gary Numan. He's on tour again, I couldn't see him in Chicago because...Monday night and wife works. I saw him twice -- once in 1979 when he recorded some of his doubbut le-live album at a venue that no longer exists. Then about 25 years later, when he was middle-aged, pot-bellied and goth. Now he seems to be channeling Alice Cooper in the looks department, but the dude is at lease a couple of years older than me. Still sounds great...when I was a kid, his beat was the perfect cadence for sex...keeping up with it now would be a recipe for a heart attack!

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 5:41 pm

Fun fact, that’s his teenage daughter singing backing vocals on some of his new songs.

It’s cute to see him glance over at her adoringly when they are on stage together.

Also, I am Ruin was featured on the last South Park. So they’re not only board gamers, but lovers of Numan too.

Jeff V wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 5:19 pm when I was a kid, his beat was the perfect cadence for sex...

Jesus, did you ever tell an adult what was happening to you?!?

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 6:33 pm

hepcat wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 5:41 pm Fun fact, that’s his teenage daughter singing backing vocals on some of his new songs.

Thanks for posting that. I've never followed Numan at all (blasphemy in industrial circles, I know) and had only heard short bits and pieces of his stuff.

That song was excellent, and I'll definitely need to explore his catalog further.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 6:47 pm

i've been into Numan's albums for a long time, but i really wish he would move beyond the 'more-NiNer-than-Trent-Reznor' sound he's been rehashing for the past 27 years or so.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 7:02 pm

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 6:47 pm i've been into Numan's albums for a long time, but i really wish he would move beyond the 'more-NiNer-than-Trent-Reznor' sound he's been rehashing for the past 27 years or so.

To be fair, he predated Reznor. Maybe Trent should be less Numan? This latest concert is more industrial than techno, though. Numan predated both of those styles, so I just accept it for what it is...something I really like! You have to give him credit though...he's probably a couple of years older than me, meaning he's old as fuck, but still putting out new music.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 7:36 pm

I'm no expert on Numan, but I think he adopted a very NIN sound later on. That isn't to say he didn't predate and inspire Reznor. But tell me Walking With Shadows from 2000's Pure doesn't sound incredibly like a track from NIN's The Fragile (1999), albeit with a more uplifting tone. The title track is a little more generic but has some very NIN-sounding guitars and samples. Similarly with some whispered vocals on the next track, Rip. I'm not familiar with the entire album though.

I don't think this really matters though. It's kind of cool if the inspiration came full circle. But if it wasn't an icon like Numan putting his own spin on the sound I think it would have been written off as one of the many alternative industrial copycats of the era.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 7:41 pm

David Bowie unapologetically built a career later in his life of looking around to see what everyone was listening to, or something that interested him, and then playing with it in a way that would ultimately make it either fresh and new, or just plain good. I don’t find it to be an insult when artists borrow styles from each other.

…except for Marky Mark. That son of a bitch just rips off others.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 7:50 pm

Sudy wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 7:36 pm I'm no expert on Numan, but I think he adopted a very NIN sound later on. That isn't to say he didn't predate and inspire Reznor. But tell me Walking With Shadows from 2000's Pure doesn't sound incredibly like a track from NIN's The Fragile (1999), albeit with a more uplifting tone. The title track is a little more generic but has some very NIN-sounding guitars and samples. Similarly with some whispered vocals on the next track, Rip. I'm not familiar with the entire album though.

I don't think this really matters though. It's kind of cool if the inspiration came full circle. But if it wasn't an icon like Numan putting his own spin on the sound I think it would have been written off as one of the many alternative industrial copycats of the era.

yes, this is what i'm referring to. i believe i read in an interview he sticks with the NiN-isms because it sells records. if you listen to some of his records from the mid-80s (e.g. _Warriors_) it's a _very_ different approach and sound (but the same kind of songwriting)

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 10:27 pm

I didn't even know Numan was still alive. I mean all I recall of him was Cars being played 10 billion times on MTV over 100 years ago when it came out. And I hated that song.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Wed Mar 30, 2022 1:23 pm

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Wed Mar 30, 2022 1:49 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 6:33 pm Thanks for posting that. I've never followed Numan at all (blasphemy in industrial circles, I know) and had only heard short bits and pieces of his stuff.

That song was excellent, and I'll definitely need to explore his catalog further.

So after spending a week digging through Numan's back catalog, I think I can safely go back to ignoring him. There's a few good songs here and there, but I found it to be mostly meh.

Been listening to Watain quite a bit this week. I really like this song, it has much the same vibe as Quorthon in Bathory's "One Rode to Asa Bay"

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Mar 30, 2022 1:57 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Mar 30, 2022 1:49 pm
So after spending a week digging through Numan's back catalog, I think I can safely go back to ignoring him. There's a few good songs here and there, but I found it to be mostly meh.

I was pretty sure you wouldn't really like the majority of his stuff. I'm not a fan of large chunks of it myself these days.

But I do have a confession to make: I loathe most metal. Please don't hate me.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Wed Mar 30, 2022 2:59 pm

hepcat wrote: ↑Wed Mar 30, 2022 1:57 pm But I do have a confession to make: I loathe most metal. Please don't hate me.

No judgement here, most people do.

It's niche for a reason.