Another Maudlin Of The Well thread, because they so goddamned good.

[Kushantaiidan]

Well, I've been listening to this band for a fortnight now, non stop. And I'm not getting bored yet.

These guys rock. They have ten million influences, and combine them all to perfection.

There is so much to discover as I listen to them more and more. And I'm curious about their lyrics too.

Their first album is pretty good too. You can hear the newness, but by then, they were already onrto something good.

Anyone know any good unofficial MOTW sites?

Some songs that rock:
Heaven And Weak (This song just keeps building up from a tranquill jazz ballad into an insane climax)
The Ferryman (Madness)
Blight of River Systems (I dunno, a quiet song.. but so different. The sound makes you kinda roll your head, and bop it around.)

I've heard that they are really bad live, but I can't imagine it??? They sound so great on the cd's.

 

[Heliologue]

i can quite imagine that they would suck live. pulling off this sound would be very difficult, and they probably don't have a lot of money to throw around to pull it off.

but yes, you're quite right: they most decidedly kick ass! i have bath and lybm, and i just ordered my fruit psychobells. my favorite tracks are "riseth he, the numberless" and "girl with a watering can." then there are the songs you never expected to hear: "sleep is a curse" and "blue ghost/shedding qliphoth"

 

[Demonspell]

My favorites from them are Heaven and Weak, Birth Pains Of Astral Projection, Gleam In Ranks, and Bizarre Flowers. The slower songs are great as well (no pun intended), and the freaky excursions acheive the astral transcendence to group aims for. Gotta love those horns in They Aren't All Beautiful and October's Sobbing...

 

[eldritch]

Are they really that good? I haven't heard a recording of them in years. I got a demo of them from probably 4-5 years ago if i remeber right. It was a long time anyways. And it was real real bad cause i dubbed over it and promptly forgot about them. Then i happened to be at the NJ metal meltdown 2 years ago and i Maudlin of the well was playing so i decided to give them a 2nd chance and watched their set. It was horrible IMO. They had a ton of people up on stage with all sorts of instruments and the whole set just seemed like a big jumble of bad music. It was like they were throwing lots of weird intruments into the mix to disguise the fact they couldn't write a song. I'm assuming they have gotten A LOT better cause i wouldn't have taken a cd from them if they had paid me at that point. I'll try to give the new albums a listen again cause i've heard good things about it from a lot of people. They can't possibly have gotten any worse

 

[bleedingskeptic]

i've been listening to bath and lybm nonstop. its just such good, original music, and those lyrics are very strange (in a good way of course).

and i could see how they could suck live, but i heard that they've gotten better at pulling it off.

 

[xfer]

From their albums, I could see how they might have a difficult time pulling off a stellar live show (although even then, the best live shows I've seen have been put on by bands who you wouldn't think could translate their album to the stage). But I'm a little puzzled how you arrived at the conclusion that they're poor songwriters, because if anything, songwriting seems to be their strength. The marriage of lyrics to music as well as their loud/soft dichotomies and guitar melodies is just superb.

 

[terrymx]

well i discover this band 2 year ago. i think the first album is still the best one. they coined the term astral metal, i beleive

 

[xfer]

The first album is really good, but I like Bath/Leaving Your Body Map better. It's got a lot of little things you pick up on after repeated listens, like how some melodic themes are repeated (The Blue Ghost/Girl With A Watering Can) and how all the interludes (and some songs, like Stones of October's Sobbing) are done in the same key with the same tonal structures...

Little things like that. It took me ages to realise that Nine Inch Nails' "Downward Spiral" had as much hidden repetition and thematic structure as it did, too...

xfer

 

[The Angry Robot]

This is one of the bands I've been curious about but still haven't heard. Judging by what I've read, I'm pretty sure I'll like them. So I guess the question of the day would be "What would be the best album to start with??"
I'll probably have to mailorder since Nashville is a fucking joke.

Spiritual Sodomy

 

[E V I L]

go to the official site dude and pick up both Bath and Leaving Your Body Map for a cheap price. (I think a sticker and poster comes with it too, if the package is still in stock)

Try www.maulinofthewell.com

 

[E V I L]

@xfer: So which member of Maudlin of the Well are you? Keep up the great work and albums! Love your art.

 

[The Angry Robot]

Thanks EVIL!
I'm on it.

Internal Grind Procedure

 

[tintin]

What's amazing is that MOTW is such a great band, yet they don't tour and play only rarely, usually at a metal fest or with another Dark Symphonies band at some tiny club. They're from the Northeast US, yet have never played New York City, which is overrun with average rock and metal bands. Every weekend at L'amours in Brooklyn are these average garage metal bands, CBGBs also has occasional metal, but never MOTW. You would think that these guys would be the toast of the US underground metal scene. I could also imagine rock fans and nu metal kids getting into them. It's a shame these guys are nowhere near breaking out because they're music deserves it. Hats off to Dark Symphonies for releasing their stuff.

 

[xfer]

I play triangle on LYBM and Jamaican steel drum on PsychoBells!

;P

It would be difficult for me to join any band, actually, as I play zero instruments, sing like the Three Amigos, and write lyrics that look like they were ripped straight out of one of H.P. Lovecraft's landlady's son's rejected WEIRD TALES stories. And I know I'm setting myself up for a WELL U MUST BE A MEMBER OF (band x) THEN HA HA HA joke, but oh well .

xfer

 

[xfer]

Actually, at the MotW Philly show two weeks ago, they mentioned trying to set up some NYC dates. So here's hoping!

And as for Maudlin not touring, well, I'm probably unique in saying I don't especially enjoy live music in comparison to album music, so I'm not especially bent out of shape about it. Is that feeling shared, or am I indeed out on a limb?

xfer

 

[tintin]

i for one can't see how well MOTW's music transfers to the stage, so i'm not dying to hear them play, but the best part would be to put some faces with the music. seeing opeth enhanced my understanding of the band because i got to see the actual guys who were doing this amazing music. for Maudlin, I imagine that they look like the average recent college grad. i even imagine them to be somewhat nerdy, judging from the music, which could be categorized as "nerd metal" if there was such a category. it's the horns i guess....

 

[Kushantaiidan]

I still haven't found any pics of the members.

But so far, the music seems to be very long lasting.

I hope they keep goin.

 

[Demonspell]

Xfer...that's you on Monstrously Low Tide?

 

[xfer]

Four or more years ago, in an interview, Tobias or Greg Massi said they didn't want to do "band photos" because they didn't want to have to put on metal faces. Honestly, though, Greg looks pretty metal when he's just standing there with a guitar in his hand and three feet of black hair in his face.

One thing I just noticed last week was that the only band photo I've ever seen of them was put up on their mp3.com site. It's pared-down--no Maria, no JB on horns--but it's them. Everything else on the Web are live shots from the various Metalfests.

 

[Wolff]

I like the no pix approach.

Gets rid of all the dumb chicks in your audience who like the band just because the drummer is so cute.