Non-gay bro thread a.k.a. Random offtopic stuff.

[DE4life]

Song is fun. Never really listened to much Nightrage, but I may have to check them out.

They have a few of distinct eras. You've got the Tomas Lindberg/Gus G version of Nightrage which released Sweet Vengeance and Descent into Chaos. Both excellent heavy MDM albums, with Lindberg's vocals still sounding great.

Those two left and were replaced by Olof Morck (current Amaranthe guitarist) and Jimmie Strimell. There were a bunch of lineup changes around this time, but I group A New Disease is Born/Wearing a Martyr's Crown/Vengeance Descending/Insidious into this mid-period of Nightrage where, to me at least, they weren't hugely interesting. Still not bad so probably worth checking out a few songs from these albums to see if it catches you, but I lost interest in them entirely during this period.

Current era with Ronnie Nyman on vocals has so far seen The Puritan/The Venomous/Wolf to Man/Abyss Rising release. I really loved Wolf to Man, if you haven't heard that album I would recommend listening to it ASAP. I'm going to go back to The Puritan/The Venomous as I don't think I've given them a fair shake previously. Abyss Rising, which is their newest album, didn't do much for me.

 

[DE4life]

@Xpyro125 on the earlier subject of Japanese MDM bands, turns out the guitarist and drummer of Serpent continued their music with a new vocalist (who sounds a lot like the previous vocalist) with a band called Veiled in Scarlet, which has been producing albums since 2010. I've listened to some of their stuff and if you liked the Serpent stuff this is in the same vein. Their latest album, Reincarnation, is all covers of Serpent songs which is pretty cool as the production quality is considerably improved.

 

[Xpyro125]

Awesome, I'll have to check them out.

 

[Cobra8472]

David Andersson from Soilwork has passed away. What terrible news.

He truly was an amazing songwriter and will live on through some absolutely legendary MDM albums.

 

[eochaid]

Fuck!

 

[Xpyro125]

Fuck, man. Just heard about it in a server I'm in. I'm not too worried about Soilwork's future, but I have no idea what's gonna happen with NFO now.

 

[DE4life]

Damn, RIP

 

[DE4life]

Awesome, I'll have to check them out.

Having listened to the Veiled in Scarlet stuff in more detail, my opinion is changed slightly...

Instrumental on Idealism (2012) is pretty good, vocals are OK at best. You might dig them, but I don't like them as much as the previous vocalist.

Reborn (2016) again has really nice instrumentals, but the vocals are... fucking atrocious. I don't know what happened but holy shit these vocals are bad. Sounds like one of those guys on YouTube who tries to do death vocals but sounds like they're whispering and hissing like a snake or something. I have no idea what happened here.

Atonement (2018) does indeed atone, as the vocals on this are MUCH better. Sounding much closer to the original Serpent vocalist. No snake hissing. Reincarnation (2022) continues in the same vein.

So for some reason they had a different vocalist for Reborn, some guy called MiKu, who is frankly embarrassing. For Atonement and Reincarnation they have Shin, who is far superior. Meanwhile for the first album it was somebody called Shun, who is kind of in between Shin and MiKu as being alright, but not great.

So, ultimately, I suggest listening to Atonement and Reincarnation. Maybe Idealism if the music is really appealing to you. It might be worth listening to Reborn just to laugh at the vocals, but they totally ruin the album for me, which is a shame as instrumentally it's really good.

 

[Xpyro125]

Having listened to the Veiled in Scarlet stuff in more detail, my opinion is changed slightly...

Instrumental on Idealism (2012) is pretty good, vocals are OK at best. You might dig them, but I don't like them as much as the previous vocalist.

Reborn (2016) again has really nice instrumentals, but the vocals are... fucking atrocious. I don't know what happened but holy shit these vocals are bad. Sounds like one of those guys on YouTube who tries to do death vocals but sounds like they're whispering and hissing like a snake or something. I have no idea what happened here.

Atonement (2018) does indeed atone, as the vocals on this are MUCH better. Sounding much closer to the original Serpent vocalist. No snake hissing. Reincarnation (2022) continues in the same vein.

So for some reason they had a different vocalist for Reborn, some guy called MiKu, who is frankly embarrassing. For Atonement and Reincarnation they have Shin, who is far superior. Meanwhile for the first album it was somebody called Shun, who is kind of in between Shin and MiKu as being alright, but not great.

So, ultimately, I suggest listening to Atonement and Reincarnation. Maybe Idealism if the music is really appealing to you. It might be worth listening to Reborn just to laugh at the vocals, but they totally ruin the album for me, which is a shame as instrumentally it's really good.

That reminds me of Blood Stain Child's revolving door of vocalists. Saika was... Man, he was not good in BSC, which is really fucking weird because he was in another band where he was awesome. I'm generally sound on kind of anime music-sounding clean vocals, but he does those well in that song, and they don't really overpower anything. In BSC though... You get this. His higher screams and his growls are fucking awesome, but the problem was that he predominantly used his weak, awful mid screams. I'm not sure if it was an issue with vocal direction given to him or if it was just the vocal direction he decided to take, but his mid screams fucking sink his otherwise pretty good performances (Or maybe it's just that his occasional high screams and growls almost save his awful performances).

 

[DE4life]

Aight, new latest ten for this Thursday afternoon. From my phone this time rather than my PC, meaning a more curated music choice.

In Flames - Before I Fall - this was one of my favourites from Battles initially, but nowadays... meh. The autotune is real, that I know. Production on this is so soft and weak, the song has no punch whatsoever.

Something Corporate - Fall - 'Leaving Through the Window' is a fantastic album. Favourites from that album are this one, Hurricane, Straw Dog and I Woke Up in a Car. Typically this isn't really my kind of music, but for whatever reason SoCo just hit the right spot for me.

Kamelot - We Are Not Separate - this is the original version, as opposed to the rerecorded version with Roy Khan. I actually like this version, but man, Khan was a major upgrade over Kamelot's first vocalist.

Christina Aguilera - Genie in a Bottle - it's a classic in some way?

Saint Deamon - My Judas - hugely underrated power metal band. 'Shadows Lost From the Brave' and 'Pandeamonium' are top-tier melodic metal/power metal albums. I absolutely adore Jan Thore Grefstad's vocals on both albums. 'My Sorrow', 'Black Symphony' and 'Way Home' are all excellent tracks in particular.

Eminem - Bagpipes from Baghdad - Yes I do listen to Eminem, come at me bruhs.

Fabio - Fabio on Films - WTF is this and why is it on my phone? Lmao

Beast in Black - Revengeance Machine - loved this song when I first heard it, love it even more now that I've watched the anime it's based on.

In Flames - Touch of Red - this is actually a pretty short song by IF standards, clocking in at 02:47 if you discount the outro. Outro included it's 04:12. Anyway this is one of the better songs off STYE.

Rise Against - Dancing for Rain - well, RA are awesome, no more needs to be said.

 

[ThePhobiac]

I did a complete discography listen of Kamelot a few months ago (paused after Silverthorn, been meaning to get back to it), because I'd only ever heard like a dozen songs by them. Their original vocalist makes the first two albums hard to listen to.

 

[Xpyro125]

Fuck it, I'll do it too.

1. Red - The Evening Hate (2020): You know, listening to this again, I like this a bit more than I did on my first listen. It's decently good. "Float" is easily my favorite off the album, but this song's good too.
2. Soilwork - When the Universe Spoke (2019): Love this song, fucking love Verkligheten. Currently my fourth favorite album from the band under Stabbing the Drama and the first two. I'm probably the least Soilwork fan that has ever been a Soilwork fan.
3. Sevendust - Strong Arm Broken (2010): Another fucking awesome song. This was my second least favorite song over "Karma" when I first heard the album, but ever since I started listening to Alpha and this album again after the end of my last relationship, I've really come to love this song.
4. Linkin Park - What I've Done (2007): I didn't add this one to the playlist (A friend did), but I totally would've if he didn't. They may not be the most technical or skilled players, but I really do think that all of the band members are really skilled musicians and brilliant composers. Listening to all of the demos and lesser known songs really shows that too.
5. Seal - Crazy (1999): I think I got this one last time, but I totally could be wrong. It's a really profound song that I absolutely love. I wish that Seal was still making music, he's a fantastic artist.
6. Dark Tranquillity - Inside the Particle Storm (2007): Fiction's a fucking awesome album, but there's something about it (Possibly the production) that sounds a bit too perfect, sterile, and mechanical. I wish it was rawer and had more jagged edges. This song's pretty cool though, even if I prefer most other songs off the album. Just doesn't carry as much melody as the others for me.
7. In Flames - Take This Life (2006): I don't need to say anything here. Fucking love it, favorite IF album, absolutely kickass opener.
8. Blood Stain Child - Infernal World (2000): A pretty good album that's just barely my thing. Admittedly, the production's kinda shit, and the vocals are pretty bad too, but Ryo definitely came into his own by Idolator. I don't remember loving this song on my first listen, but it's actually really solid.
9. Soilwork - Exile (2007): One of the only songs from Sworn to a Great Divide that I actually like. I don't have anything else to say here.
10. You+Me - Unbeliever (2014): Huh, ending this round with a surprise folk song out of nowhere. Probably the only filler song on Rose Ave., which is an otherwise phenomenal album. I doubt it'd be anyone else's thing, but it's nice Americana folk by Dallas Green (Alexisonfire, City & Color) and Alecia Moore (P!nk) that's completely unexpected, but fucking fantastic. Dallas recently said that he has the material for a second album written up, and I really hope that comes to fruition.

Also, shoutouts to "A New Dawn" playing after "Unbeliever" finished up while I was still typing out its entry. That's just funny to me.

I really wish I got more 90s and more shoegaze songs. I'm still missing those here, and I have no idea why.

 

[ThePhobiac]

I'll do five.

1. Jonn Serrie - "The Far River" (1987): Classic new age ambient music. One of my all-time favorites from this genre.

2. In Flames - "Delight and Angers" (2008): This song never clicked for me. It's not bad, and there's some great instrumentation, but it doesn't reach its potential. I think Anders holds it back. Every IF album has at least one weak link, and I think this is ASOP's.

3. Mastodon - "Oblivion" (2009): This is pretty catchy. I wouldn't say I'm a big Mastodon fan, but I always thought this was one of their better cuts. My Spotify library could use some trimming because I skip this 99% of the time.

4. Dark Tranquillity - "The Emptiness From Which I Fed" (1995): Fun song. Not one of The Gallery's stronger tracks, but by no means does that mean it's a bad or even average song. An 8 amongst 9s and 10s.

5. Interloper - "Hand in Hand" (2021): This is a really fun EP from a genre that I don't usually frequent (technical/progressive metal). You have the usual guitar wankery and everyone's just showing off instrumentally, but they manage to fit clean vocals in for much of it. In a style where the instruments do the singing, that's tough to do without giving the sense that there's too much going on. Plus, it's surprisingly catchy.

 

[DE4life]

I did a complete discography listen of Kamelot a few months ago (paused after Silverthorn, been meaning to get back to it), because I'd only ever heard like a dozen songs by them. Their original vocalist makes the first two albums hard to listen to.

Yeah, I wouldn't say Vanderbilt is a total lost cause, but he still seems to be finding his voice on those albums and his vocals are by far the worst thing about Kamelot's first two records. I checked Encyclopaedia Metallum and it looks like he didn't do anything in metal after Kamelot. It says vocals for some band called 'Monarque' without naming any albums... I assume it's not the black metal band

As far as Kamelot are concerned as a whole, I love Siege Perilous up until The Black Halo. A lot of really great songs across those albums. Fourth Legacy and Karma in particular are superb, with Black Halo not far behind. They lost me with Ghost Opera, though. I think I only liked one song (Up Through the Ashes) on that entire record, and again with Poetry for the Poisoned I only liked one song (Hunter's Season). I gave up on them at that point and haven't really heard anything post-2010. From what I've read though they're still far away from their glory days.

Fuck it, I'll do it too.

1. Red - The Evening Hate (2020): You know, listening to this again, I like this a bit more than I did on my first listen. It's decently good. "Float" is easily my favorite off the album, but this song's good too.
2. Soilwork - When the Universe Spoke (2019): Love this song, fucking love Verkligheten. Currently my fourth favorite album from the band under Stabbing the Drama and the first two. I'm probably the least Soilwork fan that has ever been a Soilwork fan.
3. Sevendust - Strong Arm Broken (2010): Another fucking awesome song. This was my second least favorite song over "Karma" when I first heard the album, but ever since I started listening to Alpha and this album again after the end of my last relationship, I've really come to love this song.
4. Linkin Park - What I've Done (2007): I didn't add this one to the playlist (A friend did), but I totally would've if he didn't. They may not be the most technical or skilled players, but I really do think that all of the band members are really skilled musicians and brilliant composers. Listening to all of the demos and lesser known songs really shows that too.
5. Seal - Crazy (1999): I think I got this one last time, but I totally could be wrong. It's a really profound song that I absolutely love. I wish that Seal was still making music, he's a fantastic artist.
6. Dark Tranquillity - Inside the Particle Storm (2007): Fiction's a fucking awesome album, but there's something about it (Possibly the production) that sounds a bit too perfect, sterile, and mechanical. I wish it was rawer and had more jagged edges. This song's pretty cool though, even if I prefer most other songs off the album. Just doesn't carry as much melody as the others for me.
7. In Flames - Take This Life (2006): I don't need to say anything here. Fucking love it, favorite IF album, absolutely kickass opener.
8. Blood Stain Child - Infernal World (2000): A pretty good album that's just barely my thing. Admittedly, the production's kinda shit, and the vocals are pretty bad too, but Ryo definitely came into his own by Idolator. I don't remember loving this song on my first listen, but it's actually really solid.
9. Soilwork - Exile (2007): One of the only songs from Sworn to a Great Divide that I actually like. I don't have anything else to say here.
10. You+Me - Unbeliever (2014): Huh, ending this round with a surprise folk song out of nowhere. Probably the only filler song on Rose Ave., which is an otherwise phenomenal album. I doubt it'd be anyone else's thing, but it's nice Americana folk by Dallas Green (Alexisonfire, City & Color) and Alecia Moore (P!nk) that's completely unexpected, but fucking fantastic. Dallas recently said that he has the material for a second album written up, and I really hope that comes to fruition.

Also, shoutouts to "A New Dawn" playing after "Unbeliever" finished up while I was still typing out its entry. That's just funny to me.

I really wish I got more 90s and more shoegaze songs. I'm still missing those here, and I have no idea why.

Verkligheten is fantastic. Just a really solid, well-crafted album from start to finish. I think my favourites are The Nurturing Glance, Witan and You Aquiver, but there really isn't a bad song across the entire album.

Linkin Park get plenty of hate and have done for decades now, but they do have some good stuff. I like most of Hybrid Theory and Meteora, and Minutes to Midnight has some nice songs on it as well.

Agree on Fiction, I love it but of that mid-2000s trio (Damage Done, Character, Fiction) it's at the bottom of the pile for me. Not to say it's bad, just I prefer DD and Character.

Exile is also one of the only songs from StaGD that I like, although the production is still ass gravy. That guitar sound is horrible. Your Beloved Scapegoat and 20 Miles are the other songs I like from that album.

I'll do five.

1. Jonn Serrie - "The Far River" (1987): Classic new age ambient music. One of my all-time favorites from this genre.

2. In Flames - "Delight and Angers" (2008): This song never clicked for me. It's not bad, and there's some great instrumentation, but it doesn't reach its potential. I think Anders holds it back. Every IF album has at least one weak link, and I think this is ASOP's.

3. Mastodon - "Oblivion" (2009): This is pretty catchy. I wouldn't say I'm a big Mastodon fan, but I always thought this was one of their better cuts. My Spotify library could use some trimming because I skip this 99% of the time.

4. Dark Tranquillity - "The Emptiness From Which I Fed" (1995): Fun song. Not one of The Gallery's stronger tracks, but by no means does that mean it's a bad or even average song. An 8 amongst 9s and 10s.

5. Interloper - "Hand in Hand" (2021): This is a really fun EP from a genre that I don't usually frequent (technical/progressive metal). You have the usual guitar wankery and everyone's just showing off instrumentally, but they manage to fit clean vocals in for much of it. In a style where the instruments do the singing, that's tough to do without giving the sense that there's too much going on. Plus, it's surprisingly catchy.

The best part of D&A is the bridge where Anders is singing "Chasing leftovers under the fading sun"... everything else on that track is pretty boring. For some reason they released an instrumental version of it... I have no idea why, because it's one of the least interesting ASOP songs instrumentally.

 

[ThePhobiac]

The irony is that the instrumental version of D&A is an improvement to me because it cuts out what arguably brings the song down.

As far as post-Khan Kamelot, I remember being impressed with Silverthorn and I did like what I heard from Haven. I think I like their new vocalist just as much as Khan.

 

[DE4life]

I stopped listening post-Khan, so in fairness I have no knowledge with which to comment on. Maybe I'll listen to a few tracks and see how I feel. I was very much done with them after Poetry for the Poisoned, though. One of quite a few PM bands from the late-90s/early-00s that let me down towards the end of the 2000s - Freedom Call and Sonata Arctica similarly went downhill in a big way, although Freedom Call did bounce back with some great stuff from 2012 onwards.

 

[Xpyro125]

I'll do five.

1. Jonn Serrie - "The Far River" (1987): Classic new age ambient music. One of my all-time favorites from this genre.

2. In Flames - "Delight and Angers" (2008): This song never clicked for me. It's not bad, and there's some great instrumentation, but it doesn't reach its potential. I think Anders holds it back. Every IF album has at least one weak link, and I think this is ASOP's.

3. Mastodon - "Oblivion" (2009): This is pretty catchy. I wouldn't say I'm a big Mastodon fan, but I always thought this was one of their better cuts. My Spotify library could use some trimming because I skip this 99% of the time.

4. Dark Tranquillity - "The Emptiness From Which I Fed" (1995): Fun song. Not one of The Gallery's stronger tracks, but by no means does that mean it's a bad or even average song. An 8 amongst 9s and 10s.

5. Interloper - "Hand in Hand" (2021): This is a really fun EP from a genre that I don't usually frequent (technical/progressive metal). You have the usual guitar wankery and everyone's just showing off instrumentally, but they manage to fit clean vocals in for much of it. In a style where the instruments do the singing, that's tough to do without giving the sense that there's too much going on. Plus, it's surprisingly catchy.

"Delights and Angers" is probably the weakest song for me, yeah. "I'm the Highway" and others in the back half are really weak too, but those also feel kind of subjective for me. Then again, I'm one of the people in the camp who actually (mostly) likes "The Chosen Pessimist", so take that for what you will.

I love Mastodon, but I feel like one of the only people who's willing to not kiss their ass when it comes to Hushed and Grim. It's an absolutely boring album that just isn't good, save for a few songs. Of course, seemingly everybody loved it, calling it perfectly representative of the pandemic, which... I guess isn't too far off from the descriptor I'd use. Fucking sucks that it came off the heels of Emperor of Sand too, since that album is fucking incredible.

Verkligheten is fantastic. Just a really solid, well-crafted album from start to finish. I think my favourites are The Nurturing Glance, Witan and You Aquiver, but there really isn't a bad song across the entire album.

Linkin Park get plenty of hate and have done for decades now, but they do have some good stuff. I like most of Hybrid Theory and Meteora, and Minutes to Midnight has some nice songs on it as well.

Agree on Fiction, I love it but of that mid-2000s trio (Damage Done, Character, Fiction) it's at the bottom of the pile for me. Not to say it's bad, just I prefer DD and Character.

Exile is also one of the only songs from StaGD that I like, although the production is still ass gravy. That guitar sound is horrible. Your Beloved Scapegoat and 20 Miles are the other songs I like from that album.

Completely agreed- So glad someone else loves "The Nurturing Glance" and "You Aquiver". The latter song in particular got way too much hate when the album was released.

I actually think Living Things is seriously underrated. I don't know what it is, but I fucking love that album, even if they went way too simplistic on the album. Shoutouts to the demo, "Primo". There's something seriously powerful about the acoustics there, and I wish they incorporated acoustics in their discography way more than they did.

I still need to finish Damage Done. With every song I hear, I love it more. Still haven't listened to Character though.

"Martyr" and "Light Discovering Darkness" are fantastic too. I still need to figure out how they got the guitar tone in the latter's intro.

 

[DE4life]

I didn't really read too much from the Soilwork fandom on Verkligheten, but yeah, personally I think You Aquiver is one of the best tracks on the album. It's diffrent, sure, but it's got some great melodies and is a real earworm. It says "feat. Dave Sheldon" though and I have no idea who that is.

I actually haven't listened to any LP after Minutes to Midnight, so I can't really comment on anything that came after it. I think I might have heard some of the stuff on A Thousand Suns, but I don't think it interested me.

Damage Done is pretty much peak DT for me personally. I love every song on that album. Everything just flows so well, and there's zero fillter. Character is a lot more raw, but also a great album. It's essentially a heavier, less polished version of Fiction.

 

[Xpyro125]

I didn't really read too much from the Soilwork fandom on Verkligheten, but yeah, personally I think You Aquiver is one of the best tracks on the album. It's diffrent, sure, but it's got some great melodies and is a real earworm. It says "feat. Dave Sheldon" though and I have no idea who that is.

I actually haven't listened to any LP after Minutes to Midnight, so I can't really comment on anything that came after it. I think I might have heard some of the stuff on A Thousand Suns, but I don't think it interested me.

Damage Done is pretty much peak DT for me personally. I love every song on that album. Everything just flows so well, and there's zero fillter. Character is a lot more raw, but also a great album. It's essentially a heavier, less polished version of Fiction.

No idea who Dave Sheldon is either, but I wish I knew.

I only really like two or three songs from A Thousand Suns. It's a bit of an overambitious album that fumbles the execution hard. The vast majority of the songs, if they do get good, only get good at the end too. I think that's why they took an incredibly simplistic approach with Living Things. The Hunting Party is also pretty awesome, and I've used its instrumentals for combat encounters in D&D a few times now.

I love how raw Damage Done is. I'd like to say the same for Character, but I've only listened to "Dry Run", and I just don't remember that one too well.

 

[DE4life]

I saw Tristania have called it quits. They're one of the few goth metal bands I have a lot of time for. Their 'Beyond the Veil' album from 1999 is really good. Vocals are more MDM style as opposed to the more typical 80s-synthwave male/operatic female combo that you usually get with this kind of music.



Worth a listen whether you're into goth metal or not.