2013 - new and upcoming albums

[Sauna]

The last album was very solid overall, best they'd put out in a long time if you ask me.

I disagree. I think it was about as good as Black Clouds & Silver Linings, maybe a bit worse. They just sound tired (LaBrie especially) and out of fresh ideas to me.

two multi-movement epics

In their case it probably just means more directionless wankery. It'd be awesome if I was wrong though.

The new Riverside was excellent. Definitely tops of 2013 for me so far.

I like it too. REM remains their best but this one is definitely good stuff as well.

I'm loving Black sabbath' 13,still the kings of doom

I'd rate it around 3/5, about what I was expecting. Ozzy sounds like a corpse these days, the sound could be less cramped, it'd be nice to have Ward's playing (especially on Damaged Soul), some of the songs sound like they'd be better with Dio fronting. Still good though, just not great.

 

[Kenneth R.]

IMO the best Riverside is the debut and the Voices EP

 

[EyeballKid]

I was actually pleasantly surprised with Sabbath's "13". I am a bigger fan of Dio, but there is something magical about Ozzy with Sabbath.

However, and I'm positive this will not be the last time I say this, fuck Rick Rubin's wall of sound.

 

[LittleTortillaBoy]

What do you guys expect from the new Mastodon's record?

 

[Sauna]

Don't really know. The Hunter was good but it was their worst yet, though it does take a certain kind of masochism to really enjoy a lot of the stuff on Remission. They seem to be at their best (especially lyrically) when doing conceptual stuff, so that's definitely something I hope they'll revisit at some point.

 

[Kenneth R.]

Blood Mountain was good. If they can do something of that quality again, I'm in. Otherwise, not.

 

[Justin626]

System Divide's second album, Cult of Indifference

 

[Isaac_de_Moorea]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YZ8v_evgiS4

It sounds different to their previous albums, IMO in a good way. I´m expectant.

 

[JesterIF]

^ Yep, a little bit different. But the things that made me like the band in the first place (the jazzy interludes, and the suprisingly good sounding "happy" melodies to name a few) are still there. I'm gonna buy it for sure.

Also, Karnivool's third album is only 2 days away. Judging by the new songs, it's definitely a departure from the Sound Awake sound which is probably in my top 10 albums of all time. If it's at least as good as Sound Awake, it's going to be a major release this year for me.

 

[Postulate]

Goddamn, I cannot stand Riverside. Everything is so polished and nice, but it's so fucking boring and derivative, Jesus Christ. It's like I'm listening to graduates from the school of modern prog preparing exercises for their finals. It almost makes me angrier than Haken, who are so bad I actually want to vomit when listening to them - but the mediocrity is somehow more infuriating that the straight-up shit

 

[Phanto]

yeah I listened to Riverside thanks to recent postings in this thread.
the verses are the same in every song:
"word word-word word" repeat
vocalist sounds the same in every song. he sounds a little bit like the guy in fall of the leaf, except not as much "I need to take a shit"-ish.

I'm not a fan but I'm glad I listened to it. Because it was so boring, my hour-long workout just flew by.

edit: I think Haken has a couple of solid songs but yeah they're pretty much in the same boat.

 

[Kenneth R.]

They've become a prog trope. It's kind of depressing given how much I loved the debut album and Voices EP. After that, it became just another prog band reading from the prog song book.

 

[Phanto]

Emperor to re-unite for 2014.
Fates Warning to release a new album.
Dan Swanö releases Witherscape, initial reports say it kicks ass.

Incline of music.

 

[Kenneth R.]

I was gonna post this, but wasn't sure how many on this board care about Emperor. It's all awesome news.

 

[Sauna]

Apparently there'll be no new material from Emperor though, just some shows.

It's cool to finally have a release date for a new Fates Warning album, should be good stuff. And that Witherscape thing sounded at least moderately promising based on the track that was made available some time ago, but what I'm most psyched about by far is new material from Cynic. They first entered the studio last december, so here's hoping they get something out this year.

 

[intergalactic]

out in september new Subsignal's "Paraiso" I'm looking forward to hearing it. For those who don't know them,they rise from Sieges Even's ashes,really great prog
played with very personally style,check the previous 2 records

 

[Postulate]

I am looking forward to Fates. I'm hoping they do softer, balladic stuff with lots of cool arrangements and songwriting, ala Wish from FWX. They're the only prog metal band that can get a rise out of me now (can't think of even one more that I follow anymore), and this might be their last album, so fingers crossed for something special. I'm hoping Jim Matheos got all the traditional prog metal out of his system with the Arch/Matheos album and we get something cool and unique. If it's full of heavy Tool-like 5-6 minute tracks again, I'll cry.

I'm worried that although Jarzombek is a helluva drummer, he's not as versatile as Zonder and he might be more suited to the "avalanche prog metal" they were playing on the Arch/Matheos album, which I'm tired of hearing.

Subsignal is pretty solid, but their previous album felt kind of saccharine and stale.

Not sure where to go for prog anymore, really, though I think there's still a trickle of interesting stuff coming out of Italy and Poland.

 

[Kenneth R.]

Wish was definitely the best song on FWX. River Wide Ocean Deep was pretty solid too. For me, the best they've ever done though is APSOG. I'm not interested in floosy keyboard solos ala the latest Spock's Beard. And I'm not interested in nu-metal riffing ala Dream Theater. Prog should be more like Riverside's debut, for example.

 

[Postulate]

Wish was definitely the best song on FWX. River Wide Ocean Deep was pretty solid too. For me, the best they've ever done though is APSOG. I'm not interested in floosy keyboard solos ala the latest Spock's Beard. And I'm not interested in nu-metal riffing ala Dream Theater. Prog should be more like Riverside's debut, for example.

I'm with you. APSoG is one of the few albums that stays permanently in my rotation. Every track has something that makes it unique - but I'm not sure how Jarzombek would have been on that album as opposed to Zonder. Who knows, we'll see.

My interest is also shifting away from epics and towards ballads, and I know that FW can write some pretty damn good ones, so hopefully we'll get one or two more before they go out.

 

[The Stormbringer]

I love FWX - probably my favourite Fates record after APSOG and Perfect Symmetry. The strongest songs were Wish and A Handful of Doubt in my opinion, but I've always dug their more straightforward stuff as well, so I'm pretty confident that it's going to be a great album no matter which exact direction Matheos is going. The man can't seem to do anything wrong.

By the way, I LOVE the cover of the new album!