30 sealed albums, 30 stupid days.
- Thread starter NAD
- Start date
Ellestin
one-click buy
Neurosis - Enemy of the Sun
Neurosis are often referred to as The Thinking Person's Metal Band. Honestly, I don't think I could come up with more of a bullshit title if I tried. I go out of my way to think myself better than most other idiots on this planet, but even that level of pretentiousness gives me pause. While we're making vast sweeping generalizations, let's call Leviathan the Suicidal Person's Metal Band, then maybe Finntroll The Dancing Person's Metal Band, and finally Eyehategod The Heroin Person's Metal Band. In fact, you can consider this The Typing Person's Metal Review.
Not that I don't "get" this particular divisive genre bin with Neurosis, because certainly listening to them can be quite the introspective experiment, in particular their album Through Silver In Blood, which has taken me a decade to fully grasp, and I feel that I'm only about 3/5ths of the way there. Hell, this level of difficulty might be my Reason #1 to listen to them, it's quite a journey when given the proper element. I don't care to spin their albums when I just need background music, rather they complement a particular mood at specific moments of existence. So, while they have been one of my absolute favoUrite bands for many years, I don't listen to them every day. I'm not sure I could if I tried.
So as not to keep harping on me thinking that I'm better than people who think they are better than others, the point of this mess is that I think referring to Neurosis as Intelligent Music (or whatever) does their visceral side a severe disservice. This is harsh stuff, very unsettling a lot of the time. Neurosis have shown me some of the heaviest, vilest sounds I've ever had the pleasure to hear. And let's face it, even the mellow bits of Neurosis will kick you in the fucking balls, a multitude of times, and you'll come crying back for more, like a whimpering beast securing just one more abusive fix. What kind of intelligent dumbass does something that stupid?
Of course I did the same thing to really get into these guys to begin with. I saw them live in 1996 and honestly, thought they sucked. I do remember saying to myself "I don't like this today, but I'll bet someday I will" and after trying and trying and trying again, I finally got what this band was all about, probably 8 years later. Maybe I had to keep thinking about them to finally enjoy what they do, or perhaps I had to process life from age 16 to 24 first, which enabled me to waste enough thought out of my face and into the ether, so by the time I burned that many brain cells (via thinking/drinking) I was able to truly realize that all this weird noise wasn't weird noise, but rather Fuckin' Awesome.
All is Suffering - The Past: Vindictive Sadisms of Petty Bureaucrats
I don't know what this is. I bought it for cheap when Audio Savant was shutting down, pretty much I told JWW "just give me whatever $30 will get me" and I ended up with one gem and then several ignored albums. This one I didn't open until about 7 years after I bought it, the cellophane finally hit the trash can just about an hour ago. Best I can tell, a hardcore band was commissioned to make some black metal. Given that descriptor, it succeeded. This could safely be bypassed by most, but it's not bad really, some good riffs are to be found. This is their only full length, but it appears to be a compilation of sorts, since it was recorded in sessions over a several year period.
Anyhow, I don't really want to talk about it anymore, but I will listen to it whilst I type whatever is I'm going to go with right now. Hey let's talk about spicy food, I just ate some a few minutes ago. It was incredibly hot salsa, well maybe not incredibly so, but definitely hotter than expected. Whenever I buy something from a regular store that says HOT I never believe it, but this is twice now where WHOA MAN I'll be suffering some afterburn later, and by suffering I mean enjoying as much as the simultaneous not-laughing at this month's Playboy's "jokes" section. Well, to be fair, I'll probably take down this bottle within a few days without much issue, but that last one is something that will certainly sit in the fridge for many more months as I slowly make my way through it. That first one is a habanero sauce from Napa County, so I figured sure, this will be "hot" by NorCal rich white people standards, but how wrong I was. Impressive to say the least, turned some of my chest hairs white.
The thing with spicy food, is that it really is like a drug. I'm not a fan of torturing myself (well, not with edible things at least), so I do avoid capsaicin extract type of things, because that is just all pain with no flavoUr to a pussytongue such as mine, which is no fun at all. But something so hot where my eyes water, and I have to pace back and forth for a few minutes breathing heavily before I can come back to reality? Yum yum, give me some. And of course as with anything that involves Being A Man, there is always some form of competition involved, whether with oneself or with others, to see just how far across the line of stupidity you can crawl. Many a dare have I accomplished eating a particular pepper that I really shouldn't have, only to impress every woman around me with their panties flying through the air as I huddle in the corner sweating from every possible pore, trying not to cry hot little bitch-tears through my eyes, for fear of getting burned ever more so.
That panty thing never happened of course. Usually when I launch myself toward a heat contest most others around me just laugh as my wife rolls her eyes, and nobody else joins in with this particular flair of foolishness. Thankfully I have gotten her to enjoy spicy food as well, when we first got together she would just get confused as I liberally doused everything in sight with hot sauce, but years later she has found a heat addiction to call her own. It is funny to eat a meal with someone who simply does not understand spicy food, they look at you like you just shat on your own plate when it gets filled with whatever red jizz of joy is at the table. Half the fun of being in a club is confusing the non-members. Losers.
Krilons Resa
Jerry's married?!
neal
wizard in black
I'd say that the song Lexicon kicks my dick in, fucking amazing bit.
Otherwise, on one listen, Enemy of the Sun really drags by the end.
Otherwise, on one listen, Enemy of the Sun really drags by the end.
Dismember - Indecent and Obscene
Exhaustion is a funny thing. One example is the feeling of being utterly wasted by torment, whether it comes from one's job, bitter personal relationships, financial woes, or just the utter hopelessness of it all. Not an entirely fun thing to experience, but eventually it will happen to all of us (those worth their weight in salt at least), and we all deal with such occurrences in our unique-yet-pedestrian way. Another form is the complete repulsion of one's sense of physical well being for the greater personal good that is spiritual fulfillment. Pushing oneself to thine own limits is a tiring escapade, but one so worthwhile that the damage incurred can possibly never fully be appreciated for fear of admitting that yes, that terrifying expense was completely worth it. Again, individual individuals will experience these things as differently as they will exactly the same as everyone else.
Personally, I choose destroying myself through music. I've spent a lifetime thoroughly enjoying, and paying the particular price, of playing music for my existence. After a half-year hiatus, I find myself back into two bands, one heavy metal, the second extremely loud rock and/or roll. I won't be getting paid for either gig, but that's fine, because I go to work to figure out the food/air ordeal. Oh sure, engaging myself upon this No Really, It Chose Me artistry as a career might be a wonderful thing indeed, but now in my mid-30s I'm not still attempting to "make it" because that pipe dream left long before I ever gave it a second thought. I don't have a fashionable hairstyle or tattoos anyhow. Quite the opposite of certain youthfully idealistic expectations, more so because of my insistence of self-subjection to this lifestyle (even though my particular endeavors are casual at best), I have paid numerous costs. My wallet is empty. My ears ring. My back hurts. My tendons grow weary. My shoulders slump. And yet, the smile on my face is broader than ever. I wouldn't have this any other way. I once tried that life of No Proper Outlet. I don't recommend it, for anyone at all. Find your path, follow it now.
Anyhow, if I remember correctly, this album art was the band's take on the first Doors album cover, taking into consideration the eternal question of: what if Jim Morrison had a giant metallurgic DISMEMBER emblem thrust through his chest? I think they answered that riddle just fine. It's your choice to see the metaphor here, personally I'm too busy further damaging my skeletal frame in headbanging allegiance to bother over-thinking that particular nugget.
I'm drunk as shit by the way, so if this last one doesn't make any sense, I blame all the cheap beer I just imbibed.
Oh and I guess that Doors photo was from a flyer, not the first album. Oops. As I said, cheap beer. NOT MY FAULT.
Oh and I guess that Doors photo was from a flyer, not the first album. Oops. As I said, cheap beer. NOT MY FAULT.
Borknagar - The Olden Domain
I consider this band a Down The Rabbit Hole act for me. When I was falling in love with Ulver during the first chunk of Ze Aughts I started collecting anything and everything related to them and theirs. Which reminds me, I still haven't scoped out Ved Buens Ende.... but that is for another time. Anyhow, I picked up the first Borknagar album because Garm supplied vocals, and I was excited to hear more black metal stylistic things from him, especially since that portion of Ulver was a bit limited. I loved the crap out of that self-titled album, although not really due to the vocals, which were good, but it was the odd riffery that truly sold me. In fact I'd venture to say that Ved Steingard is one of the greatest songs that I have ever known. It wasn't until a few years later that I realized that Trickster G. also sang on the second Borknagar album, and here we are.
So I came unto The Olden Domain, which to many is the ultimate Borknagar expression of music. As much as I like it, and I do, I'm inclined to disagree. I still only know their first two albums, the former of which is just majestic beyond words. I don't know any other album that quite feels like it feels. It's almost as if a group of Norwegian black metal types got together in the heyday of said genre and decided to give their best impression (not imitation) of a prog rock album. And hey, maybe that's exactly what happened! It is infinitely freezing in tone, yet quirky without ever being comical. Caught somewhere between beauty, pain, and a Rush album, it is unique work that continues to interest me after countless listens, and probably will for many years to come.
Oh, and I also really enjoy this album as well, although apparently I don't have much to say about it. As good as it is, and yes it certainly is, there is a certain charm missing from it that the first one had in spades. So I ended my quest toward Borknagar here, even though I've been told that Quintessence is definitely worth hearing, and The Archaic Course does have Ivar Bjørnson on keyboards still, which brings us to my next fanboy obsession: Enslaved.
Enslaved - Yggdrasil
The only vinyl boxset that I mourn not purchasing is that from Enslaved. Not that they don't still exist out in the wild, but unfortunately I wasn't really paying attention upon release, and it quickly became a prized eBay "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" item. I don't normally blow vast sums of money on collector's pieces, and even though I love Enslaved, I'm not going to do it for this thing, glorious though it might be. They don't get any $$$ from used items marked up 400% anyhow, and hey, I'm all about supporting the artists, so why bother here? Of course, while I don't exactly have a huge vinyl collection, I do have the ping pong tiddly vinyl compendiums from Ulver and Agalloch, so adding something from Enslaved would tickle my fancy right and proper, those likely being my three favoUrite bands from All Things Heavy Metal over the last decade. That being said, I mostly listen to CDs anyhow, so it is only fitting that my copy of Enslaved's second demo is a CD re-release. Hey, it's the music that counts right, not the medium? Unless we're talking about digital shite that is. Fuck all that nonsense.
Speaking of supporting the artists, even though I'm not really a Demo Guy, I went and bought a copy of Yggdrasil upon re-release, brand spanking new even. I should clarify about my demo habits, I am most certainly interested in recently released demos from fresh young talent, because that is all one can get from many local bands anyhow. I just don't often go back to listen to original demos from established artists once their feet are firmly planted toward making proper albums. There are exceptions of course, once again I mention Enslaved, Agalloch, and Ulver in the same sentence because yes, my connection to their art does go far deeper than other casual listens from countless other acts. Bands like that become almost an obsession at times, where I simply MUST hear everything they have ever recorded, as if my very life depends upon such activity!
That being said, I don't often spend a great amount of time on their demo material, it is more of an occasional footnote that I reach toward every great once in awhile. Just like today, listening to this demo today for the first time ever. It is very good I must say, but will I listen to it day in, day out, like I did with Below the Lights, back in 2003 when the gateway of this glorious band was opened for me? Maybe yes, probably no. At the same time, it is clear that their path was chosen early on, as this is quite remarkable for demonstrative purpose. They are often the exception to whatever rule I think should exist anyhow. So, perhaps I should go track down that boxed set after all... does it come with any unreleased demo material?!
Machine Head - The Blackening
I don't remember where I first discovered Machine Head, my guess would be some Columbia House mailer that said "Hey kids, do you like Biohazard? Why not try some more Urban Metal!" and I ordered Burn My Eyes for kicks back in 1994. I never really got into Vio-lence but hey, what the hell? Either way I really loved that debut album, which was right around the time I joined my first band. We didn't play anything like them, it was more early Metallica and Black Sabbath style things. I don't recall our name, or if we even had one, but there were 4 of us with two guitars, one bass, three practice amps, one mic, and a drum set. So whenever someone wanted to sing, they couldn't play guitar through an amp. The only thing I remember playing was Paranoid pretty decently and For Whom The Bell Tolls piss poor, although I think we had some original material as well. Our drummer had some anger issues, and the one guitarist never liked to show up to practice unless the rest of us had already arrived (we rehearsed in the drummer's parent's garage).
At the time I was really into Life of Agony and Machine Head, two bands I would follow over the next several years, and become increasingly disappointed with to the point of exasperation. Life of Agony lost me at their second album, although I have always loved their first. Of course over 15 years later I finally realized the true glory of that second album, these days I consider that Ugly is, without a doubt, one of the finest alt-metal albums ever recorded. Well okay, there are maybe only 7 albums from that sub-genre I'd even bother with in this day and age, so perhaps I'm not the best judge of such things, but either way, it is fucking fantastic. Later releases of theirs I never much bothered with, although I do spin them them now and again.
Machine Head I gave more chances than they deserved. I remember when The More Things Changed came out, I bought it on Senior Ditch Day in 1997. I ended up at Denny's eating shitty food that morning with a group of people before we all split up to do various things throughout that silly day. I ended up in a car with two dudes I always knew, but was never really friends with, and we went to an Indian Gaming Facility. Of course only two of us were 18, and one of them (me) didn't have a driver's license. I figured that a birth certificate and school identification would suffice, but nay! Our third person was only 17 anyhow, so we were unceremoniously asked to leave before gambling anything, except some precious gas fumes out in the middle of the desert. After that failed hilarity, we later we ended up at a mall and I bought The More Things Change.
I really liked that album at the time, it was perfect for me in the already waning years of my interest in Aggro Metal, which I would all but toss away before the turn of the century. I remember that is back when Roadrunner had a metal forum of some sort, the first I remember stumbling across in the early widespreading days of the WWW. Several people there commented about how Machine Head "used to be good" before they "turned into Korn" which likely turned into one of my first online arguments (awwww). Within a few years The Burning Red was released and I dismissed them entirely, mercifully, along with most of mainstream metal.
Yet, for whatever reason, I'm always called back toward them with each new album. A friend will write me and say "hey man, the new Machine Head is good again!" and I will inevitably pick it up, let it sit around for a spell, and finally crack it open for a listen. This process generally takes a few years, and never once have I been pleased with the results. Which finally brings us to The Blackening, 6 years after its release. I've long since grown weary of that horrid phrase return-to-form which always sounded like a car commercial catch phrase than any description of solid music, but any way I choose to see it, here I am once again. Let's slap the CD in and see if I like it...
...meh.
Orphaned Land - Mabool: The Story of the Three Sons of Seven
This album reminds me JayKeeley because he bugged me to check it out some years ago, during the Royal Carnage pile-o-promos days. I vaguely listened back then and enjoyed it, but didn't dig it out from amongst the wreckage until years later, in mp3 form no less (I know, I know). I listened to it often enough that I bought a proper copy, which I'm finally unwrapping today. I had unearthed this a few years ago when my wife was looking for some Middle Eastern Heavy Metal, and considering that right now I fucking hate her god damn guts, I'm going to use this opportunity of writing a "review" to bitch about my seemingly crumbling marriage.
We hit the 7 Year Itch about a year ago, and as much as I always thought that was a joke, it was fucking brutal for far longer than just a brief moment. I don't even remember what the problem was, but she claims that I live on some other planet. I say that she is just jealous that I can travel space without aid of aeronautic mechanics or recreational chemistry, but that is neither here nor there. Right around this itchy bitchy time I put her on a plane to Germany and quickly joined two new bands, an act of salvation that cured our woes quite well for both parties involved, I must say. Oh sure it was her plan to go see family over there, and I hadn't been playing in an active band for about 6 months so I was due anyhow, but upon her triumphant return and me successfully finding new ways of damaging my hearing, we were able to reconvene and remember how deep our love could truly be. Things went relatively swimmingly for quite some time after that, we were our old selves once again, foolishly in love and on the same page with our collective journey of our life on this Earth. Hooray!
But, just recently, something slowly building and growing e'er larger finally loomed its head, and threatens to destroy it all. Granted, I completely understand that I am not the easiest soul to get along with. Of course I can only openly admit that after I get done screaming for an hour, verbally abusing her to the point of tears. Obviously I am part of the problem, that much I know and admit. I'm a white male musician, which brings all the associated insanity and rage along for the ride. I can't apologize for who I am, I can only attempt to keep myself from acting an anus, within reason. Considering that she's a Persian artist, all that insanity and rage that I give her comes right back my way. Hey, in a lot of ways, we deserve one another, for better and for worse.
The biggest difference is that she is incapable of admitting her side of fault when it comes to any problem between us, the blame squarely rests on my shoulders. She is stubborn, I am unpredictable. Therein lies the problem. The solution? Who knows. Maybe I should have married JayKeeley instead. My wife has bigger boobs though, I got distracted by those.
Eerie Von - Kinda Country
Eerie Von is a bit of a personal hero of mine. Ever since I fell in love with Danzig back in 1993, I really know of no other band that makes me feel so connected to music that is not my own. Not that he wrote any of the songs, or did much besides pound on 1/8th note roots throughout the four albums he was on, there was a certain mystique about the guy, and as a teenager I certainly thought "man, I wanna be that guy for a few days." So after he left Danzig, I kept up with his solo releases.
To be honest, on the whole, his work outside of Glenn Danzig's realm fucking sucks. In fact only his first solo album, Uneasy Listening, is something worth hearing on any irregular basis. And while I do love that one, the rest have been varying degrees of awful. Yet, because I think he's just oh-so-cool, I keep buying them, and I surely always will. Kinda Country is probably the worst album (so far), and I haven't actually been able to listen to it beyond the second song, even after several casual attempts. I'm going to try really hard to keep this album on right now, but it is certainly proving difficult.
I never buy much into band imagery, because even if I think it is cool, the music is what makes it for me. But, I do fall for mood, and fall hard. Eerie Von has a distinct mood to his work, that even when lousy, it still has that specific feel to it. It is as if attending a bad Halloween party that you didn't want to go to in the first place, with lousy food, worse beer, and a horrible band to cap it all off, but even years later you still vaguely think back fondly to that weird, slightly uncomfortably memory. And then hope to never, ever repeat it.
J.
Old Fart
That borknagar is pretty good. I prefer quintessence and the debut. The recent ones arent bad.
I have the enslaved demo on a split cd with satyricon. Itscertainly not my favorite by them. I actaully prefer mardraum to present material over their early ones.
Machine head sucks. The first one is good, the second less so, and everything after blows. I lump them in with type o and fear factory, but whereas those bands stayed interesting to certain degrees, mh just started sucking.
All orphaned land rules.
I totally understand the marriage problems. But with kids, things Are much more complicated.
I have the enslaved demo on a split cd with satyricon. Itscertainly not my favorite by them. I actaully prefer mardraum to present material over their early ones.
Machine head sucks. The first one is good, the second less so, and everything after blows. I lump them in with type o and fear factory, but whereas those bands stayed interesting to certain degrees, mh just started sucking.
All orphaned land rules.
I totally understand the marriage problems. But with kids, things Are much more complicated.
Ellestin
one-click buy
Ellestin
one-click buy
I hope that my ramblings are RC-worthy! Seriously, ever go to other forums? The interworld outside of RC is mostly illiterate, it's fucking terrifying.
Mardraum is definitely my #1 Enslaved album. I think everything else is #2, except Ruun which is #3.
That is one good thing about our marriage, even when it sucks. If and when we decide to call it a day, it's a few pieces of paper and our own emotions to deal with. Not that that would be simple of course, but you know. No outside parties to permanently fuck up. Eh, I don't see that just yet. I think she was close to stabbing me earlier today though. That could have made things pretty messy.
Mardraum is definitely my #1 Enslaved album. I think everything else is #2, except Ruun which is #3.
That is one good thing about our marriage, even when it sucks. If and when we decide to call it a day, it's a few pieces of paper and our own emotions to deal with. Not that that would be simple of course, but you know. No outside parties to permanently fuck up. Eh, I don't see that just yet. I think she was close to stabbing me earlier today though. That could have made things pretty messy.
