Non-gay bro thread a.k.a. Random offtopic stuff.
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Other thoughts on some other newer metal I listened to...
New Helloween (self-titled) is pretty good. Nothing particularly noteworthy, same old Helloween, but that's OK. Quite a few longer songs on the new album, though, which work quite well. Having Kai Hansen, Michael Kiske and Andi Deris sharing singing duties works nicely. It's cool to hear all of them on the same album. I believe it's the first Helloween album to have Hansen on since 1988 and 1993 for Kiske.
Percival - Riders of the Sun is a really great album. It's a weird mix between 90s power metal and straight up 80s hard rock. I think I linked one of their songs earlier in this thread, but yeah, the album as a whole is very solid. You'll know from the first 20 seconds or so of the below song if this is your kind of music.
I'm a bit late to Powerwolf - Sacrament of Sin as it was actually released in 2018, but this is also a very good album. There's an extra CD with other bands covering Powerwolf songs, too, and it's almost as good as the main album! Battle Beast's cover of Resurrection by Erection is, imo, better than the original!
I thought the song title was a play on words but no, it's quite literally about being brought back to life with a boner. OK.
Atreyu - Baptize... well, it's Atreyu. I liked some of their older stuff when I was a lot younger. This new album is fine, I guess.
I've still got a ton of new albums to get through, in the meantime...
Allen-Olzon - Worlds Apart
Anelas - Time to Change
Arion - Vultures Die Alone
Crystal Eyes - Starbourne Traveler
Evanescence - The Bitter Truth (lol)
Firewind (self titled)
Firewing - Resurrection
Hammerfall - Dominion
Kamelot - The Shadow Theory
Mors Principium Est - Seven
Mystic Prophecy - Metal Division
Nightwish - Human II Nature
Rhapsody of Fire - I'll Be Your Hero (EP)
Rise Against - Nowhere Generation
Sonic Haven - Vagabond
Stratovarius - Polaris/Elysium/Nemesis/Eternal (old albums but I never actually listened to them)
Timo Tolkki's Avalon - The Enigma Birth
Turilli/Lione Rhapsody - Zero Gravity (Rebirth and Evolution)
So yeah... plenty to listen to
New Helloween (self-titled) is pretty good. Nothing particularly noteworthy, same old Helloween, but that's OK. Quite a few longer songs on the new album, though, which work quite well. Having Kai Hansen, Michael Kiske and Andi Deris sharing singing duties works nicely. It's cool to hear all of them on the same album. I believe it's the first Helloween album to have Hansen on since 1988 and 1993 for Kiske.
Percival - Riders of the Sun is a really great album. It's a weird mix between 90s power metal and straight up 80s hard rock. I think I linked one of their songs earlier in this thread, but yeah, the album as a whole is very solid. You'll know from the first 20 seconds or so of the below song if this is your kind of music.
I'm a bit late to Powerwolf - Sacrament of Sin as it was actually released in 2018, but this is also a very good album. There's an extra CD with other bands covering Powerwolf songs, too, and it's almost as good as the main album! Battle Beast's cover of Resurrection by Erection is, imo, better than the original!
I thought the song title was a play on words but no, it's quite literally about being brought back to life with a boner. OK.
Atreyu - Baptize... well, it's Atreyu. I liked some of their older stuff when I was a lot younger. This new album is fine, I guess.
I've still got a ton of new albums to get through, in the meantime...
Allen-Olzon - Worlds Apart
Anelas - Time to Change
Arion - Vultures Die Alone
Crystal Eyes - Starbourne Traveler
Evanescence - The Bitter Truth (lol)
Firewind (self titled)
Firewing - Resurrection
Hammerfall - Dominion
Kamelot - The Shadow Theory
Mors Principium Est - Seven
Mystic Prophecy - Metal Division
Nightwish - Human II Nature
Rhapsody of Fire - I'll Be Your Hero (EP)
Rise Against - Nowhere Generation
Sonic Haven - Vagabond
Stratovarius - Polaris/Elysium/Nemesis/Eternal (old albums but I never actually listened to them)
Timo Tolkki's Avalon - The Enigma Birth
Turilli/Lione Rhapsody - Zero Gravity (Rebirth and Evolution)
So yeah... plenty to listen to
I tend to find most power metal bands start losing steam fast after their first few albums. So many bands start off on fire, then struggle to redefine themselves or come up with anything genuinely interesting and new once their first two or three albums are out. There are exceptions of course, but from my point of view as long as you have Keepers of the Seven Keys I & II you basically know Helloween. If you have Freedom Call's first three albums you know them. Sonata Arctica's first few albums are fantastic, then they turned to shit after Reckoning Night. Amaranthe's first two albums are incredible, but they have been largely mediocre after that. Rhapsody of Fire, Gamma Ray, Kamelot, Nightwish, Blind Guardian and Iced Earth are all defined by their early albums. Dragonforce have basically been doing the same album since their second release, Sonic Firestorm, just adding more and more keys and changing singer.
There are exceptions, bot not many that I can think of. Stratovarius started off pretty weak and then released a set of top tier albums between 1995-2000 before returning back to being average. Dragony have gotten better with every album release, going on 13 years or so. Powerwolf are as strong now as they ever have been. Edguy and Avantasia have set the bar for quality consistently high - Sabaton too.
On a different topic, the artwork for the above album is pretty cool. The music is so-so, unfortunately.
There are exceptions, bot not many that I can think of. Stratovarius started off pretty weak and then released a set of top tier albums between 1995-2000 before returning back to being average. Dragony have gotten better with every album release, going on 13 years or so. Powerwolf are as strong now as they ever have been. Edguy and Avantasia have set the bar for quality consistently high - Sabaton too.
On a different topic, the artwork for the above album is pretty cool. The music is so-so, unfortunately.
Insomnium out with a new EP this september, 3 out of 4 songs are out already by now.
Anyone else really minding Jani's clean vocals? This band went from being my favorites to now almost not appealing to me at all, their music nowadays sounds like something that is randomly-generated, I fail to memorize a single melody or line, like they are merely going through the motions when composing. On the plus side, they gave an interview recently where they said they went intentionally all-out with ballads on this EP and that the next album will be consisting of mostly faster stuff so there might be something worth looking towards. Anyway, the song:
And the previous ones:
Anyone else really minding Jani's clean vocals? This band went from being my favorites to now almost not appealing to me at all, their music nowadays sounds like something that is randomly-generated, I fail to memorize a single melody or line, like they are merely going through the motions when composing. On the plus side, they gave an interview recently where they said they went intentionally all-out with ballads on this EP and that the next album will be consisting of mostly faster stuff so there might be something worth looking towards. Anyway, the song:
And the previous ones:
The new songs aren't great. I don't think that it has anything to do with the new vocalist. They sound rushed and not really new, in a way that many of the sounds have been heard before in other insomnium songs.
I hope that the new album comes with something fresh. I liked a lot the previous one, but these new songs needed more work.
Edit: I'm listening to The Antagonist at full res in my home sound system. A great song. Love it.
I hope that the new album comes with something fresh. I liked a lot the previous one, but these new songs needed more work.
Edit: I'm listening to The Antagonist at full res in my home sound system. A great song. Love it.
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It's funny how, after years of watching IF live videos, I'm still surprised when I watch a live video of a band and their singer actually sounds great live as well. I'm so used to Anders sounding like shit. I was watching Powerwolf at Wacken from 2019 and the guy sounds exactly the same live as he does on CD, part of me thinks 'that's incredible' but then I think, wait, shouldn't they be able to sound the same live as on CD? The majority of singers from other genres do, after all. Metal singers seem to get away with worse live performances, Anders isn't the only one in that regard.
I was actually watching one of those videos where a vocal coach listens to a song/performance and describes their perspective on the vocal abilities being shown. This one was for a live performance of Powerwolf - Demons Are a Girl's Best Friend. Firstly, great song, but interestingly (to me anyway) she mentioned that based on the vocalist's technique she was sure he had been classically trained and explained why. She also said it's really common in power metal for vocalists to either have classical training or use classical techniques.
I was hoping she'd have a video on In Flames, just to see a WTF reaction but sadly not
I was hoping she'd have a video on In Flames, just to see a WTF reaction
but sadly not Never listened to them, that song title is cringey but I’ll give them a try. What album should I get?I was actually watching one of those videos where a vocal coach listens to a song/performance and describes their perspective on the vocal abilities being shown. This one was for a live performance of Powerwolf - Demons Are a Girl's Best Friend. Firstly, great song, but interestingly (to me anyway) she mentioned that based on the vocalist's technique she was sure he had been classically trained and explained why. She also said it's really common in power metal for vocalists to either have classical training or use classical techniques.
I was hoping she'd have a video on In Flames, just to see a WTF reaction
The Sacrament of Sin is what I've been listening to - they've also just released an album called Call of the Wild which seems to be continuing in the same vein.
I think you'll be able to tell from the above tracks whether Powerwolf is something you'll enjoy or not!
I think you'll be able to tell from the above tracks whether Powerwolf is something you'll enjoy or not!
I was kind of the same. I can't remember how I heard about Sacrament of Sin, but when I listened to it I wondered why I hadn't heard of them previously as they've been around for a while. Maybe Sacrament of Sin was a breakthrough album of sorts for them? But then one of the discs for that album has a bunch of bands covering their past songs, which makes it seem like they've been a big deal for a while.
It looks like Sacrament of Sin in 2018 was the album that pushed them into a more mainstream position. I'm guessing the reason you've seen them all over the place recently was because Call of the Wild was released on July 16th, and after Sacrament of Sin they are a bigger deal than they used to be.
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