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

[The Grayfox]

Not sure if I'm a fan of this new design. Leaning towards not being a fan imo.

Anyways, a few days ago Scar Symmetry started teasing what appears to be a new single, possibly the new album as well. We might finally be able to say that we'll be getting The Singularity Phase 2 before Time 2.

I am of the belief that Time 2 is never going to happen. Jari claims to be working on like 200 albums at once. I do enjoy seeing him get roasted on his social media posts. People are relentless. My favorite recent one was where he posted an “update” and said things are moving along and some dude replied “release Time 2 or shut the fuck up.”

 

[Xpyro125]

This pleases me to hear, even if it is genuinely happening now (I think I saw it up for preorders, anyways). I’m sorry, but they just aren’t melodic death metal to me, and listening to Holographic Universe was one of the biggest wastes of my life. Only “Morphogenesis” and “Artificial Sun Projection” are good, and the rest of the songs are the most pretentious, boring shit I’ve ever heard. I hope Time II or whatever is good, but I have less hope for that than I do for Cyhra to make something that’s the quality of Letters again.

 

[The Grayfox]

Anyone listening to the new Metallica album? I wasn't super excited for it based on the singles and it feels warranted. It's not a very good album, save for a few tracks. People on Reddit absolutely fucking love it, which I don't understand. There are songs on here that sound exactly the same to me. Last night I was working on some art, I made it about halfway through the album and had to turn it off because it was actually distracting. I always work with music on, so that's saying something. I checked a few times to see if I was listening to the same song over and over. Boring is an understatement for me here. There are a few decent songs. Too Far Gone? is interesting enough, Shadows Follow is ok. I saw people claiming that Inamorata was the "new Outlaw Torn." The only thing those songs have in common is that they're long. That's where it stops. There is no comparison as far as I'm concerned. The Outlaw Torn is a gem. I'm actually a fan of the Load/Reload era, so that isn't the issue for me. There's a lot of mid-tempo chugging, ala Load but this is just so boring and repetitive.

 

[Xpyro125]

Anyone listening to the new Metallica album? I wasn't super excited for it based on the singles and it feels warranted. It's not a very good album, save for a few tracks. People on Reddit absolutely fucking love it, which I don't understand. There are songs on here that sound exactly the same to me. Last night I was working on some art, I made it about halfway through the album and had to turn it off because it was actually distracting. I always work with music on, so that's saying something. I checked a few times to see if I was listening to the same song over and over. Boring is an understatement for me here. There are a few decent songs. Too Far Gone? is interesting enough, Shadows Follow is ok. I saw people claiming that Inamorata was the "new Outlaw Torn." The only thing those songs have in common is that they're long. That's where it stops. There is no comparison as far as I'm concerned. The Outlaw Torn is a gem. I'm actually a fan of the Load/Reload era, so that isn't the issue for me. There's a lot of mid-tempo chugging, ala Load but this is just so boring and repetitive.

I only listened to the lead single, which I did like. I'm not sure if I'm going to listen to it yet though. I may have grown up on them and thrash as a whole, but it's not nearly as much of my thing as it used to be, so I've put them on the back burner for a while now.

 

[Xpyro125]

...I just want the old theme back.

Now that I'm on PC, I see the update, and I 100% agree.

 

[DE4life]

I never really got into Holographic Universe either, which is a shame as I quite liked Pitch Black Progress. From memory I heard Scar Symmetry for the first time at the Bloodstock festival, must have been 2007, and I was absolutely blown away by Mind Machine. It's still one of my favourite metal tracks. They also played Chaosweaver which is a great song. Oscillation Point is another one I really enjoy. Overall I tend to prefer certain tracks from SS as opposed to entire albums, but I never really followed them after Holographic Universe. As with many bands during that era, if they released an album I didn't like I just stopped following them.

 

[drawntoblack]

Scar Symmetry is hit and miss, altough I used to be a lot more into them way back in the day. When the new singers came it didn't gel with me. I feel like they are at their strongest when they let go and just try to play downtuned 80s metal with big choruses, like the first album and parts of 2nd/3rd album
When they go down the route of using evil sounding diminished scales it just sounds like they are making it complex for the sake of being complex, don't get me wrong it's well done but it feels like they are going down some kind of variety checklist before they can get to the chorus.

I think Solution .45's debut album with Alvestam is better than anything Scar Symmetry ever put out and consider that album absolutely flawless.

Anyway. Going to see Soilwork live tomorrow. I'm not bothering with looking up setlists or learning new songs by heart, gonna go without expectations and just have a fun time. I'll report back after.

 

[DE4life]

It's been well over a decade since I last saw Soilwork live. Technically they were very good, Chainheart Machine was beastly live. The band as a whole didn't have much of a stage presence though. Pretty much just played their songs and left. It'll be interesting to hear if they've evolved a bit since then. I'm sure they're still tight on a technical level.

Looking at their sets for this tour I probably wouldn't go, as there isn't enough tracks on there that I enjoy, but you should be fine if you've enjoyed majority of post-2004 Soilwork.

 

[drawntoblack]

I've never seen them live. I've seen quite a few videos over the years, some were more sloppy than others. Saw their live DVD from a few years back and it was stellar even if it wasn't much in terms of visual production value. Then their drummer joined Megadeth and I remember a bunch of festival season videos appearing with the new guy and it was beyond sloppy, if I paid to see that live I would feel ripped off. On the other hand Bjorn has improved his singing over the years so much, I can't think of another singer who improved his game steadily both in terms of technique and creatively in terms of writing melodies on a consistently upward curve throughout a career.

I enjoyed the recent albums, some more than others but I figure I don't want to fill my ears with music before the show, if they leave a good impression I will likely listen to nothing but their music for the next few weeks anyway. They came to Serbia only once before and that was a short festival slot a few years ago so I figure they will pull out a couple of additional deep cuts to make up for it.

 

[The Grayfox]

I saw Soilwork in '03 with IF (fuck, that was 20 years ago...) Setlist was:

Light the Torch
Natural Born Chaos
Needlefeast
Rejection Role
As We Speak
Figure Number Five
Follow the Hollow
The Bringer
The Chainheart Machine
Distortion Sleep

 

[Moonshield_]

It must have been amazing, Figure Number 5 will always remain the best Soilwork album to me (yes it has everything to do with nostlagia and the fact it’s the first album I’ve heard from them at a very young age)

PS : I’ve seen them 3 times I think and the first one in Hellfest 2014 was epic as the bassist fell into a hole in the ground while playing and jumping on scene. They also opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate their return in france after many years and the setlist was insane. Plus their sound was powerful as fuck.

 

[The Grayfox]

It was good, but Bjorn has improved his live performances a lot since then. He definitely didn't sound great back then. I would like to see them again.

 

[drawntoblack]

Bjorn is ridiculously good live, didn't expect that. What a singer. Band was on point but their sound was sort of weak overall, guitars are very low in the mix and it's no fault of the room, I'm thinking it's by design. They played mostly new songs which aren't very guitar-centric and guitars were buried down almost below drums and synths. Around mid-day it was announced that opening act wasn't going to make it for the show so I hoped that they would add a few songs to the set but nope. Oh well.

Oddly enough, Kataklysm fired up the crowd a lot more. Their sound was a lot better too. Anyway here's the setlist.

 

[Jester Slave]

Damn, I've never heard of Avatar before, but The Dirt I'm Buried In is right the fuck up my alley. Listened to some of their most listened songs on Youtube but it turned out to be a rollercoast ride and a half. I wouldn't say any of the songs were shit, but it was like getting one whiplash right after another. Very weird band. The only other song I actually liked was Smells Like a Freakshow. I wasn't floored by it, but it's a fun headbanger.

 

[DE4life]

Bjorn is ridiculously good live, didn't expect that. What a singer. Band was on point but their sound was sort of weak overall, guitars are very low in the mix and it's no fault of the room, I'm thinking it's by design. They played mostly new songs which aren't very guitar-centric and guitars were buried down almost below drums and synths. Around mid-day it was announced that opening act wasn't going to make it for the show so I hoped that they would add a few songs to the set but nope. Oh well.

Oddly enough, Kataklysm fired up the crowd a lot more. Their sound was a lot better too. Anyway here's the setlist.

From that set I'd basically like to see Bastard Chain, Nurturing Glance, The Ride Majestic, Arrival, Nerve and Stalfagel, so not too bad, but I wouldn't have much interest in the rest of the set. Pretty weak not to have a single song from Chainheart Machine or Natural Born Chaos though. Sucks that the sound was weak, but good to hear Speed is still killing it on vocals.

Damn, I've never heard of Avatar before, but The Dirt I'm Buried In is right the fuck up my alley. Listened to some of their most listened songs on Youtube but it turned out to be a rollercoast ride and a half. I wouldn't say any of the songs were shit, but it was like getting one whiplash right after another. Very weird band. The only other song I actually liked was Smells Like a Freakshow. I wasn't floored by it, but it's a fun headbanger.

I listened to some Avatar a while back as I'd seen a lot of chatter about them - overall it wasn't really for me, can't remember what it was specifically that put me off but I remember there was something about their sound that I wasn't a huge fan of.

 

[drawntoblack]

Damn, I've never heard of Avatar before, but The Dirt I'm Buried In is right the fuck up my alley. Listened to some of their most listened songs on Youtube but it turned out to be a rollercoast ride and a half. I wouldn't say any of the songs were shit, but it was like getting one whiplash right after another. Very weird band. The only other song I actually liked was Smells Like a Freakshow. I wasn't floored by it, but it's a fun headbanger.

Just heard that song, sounds like they finally completed the transition into Poets of the fall. What an odd band. Credit to them for sticking with their image for 15 years now, if not more.

 

[eochaid]

but it was like getting one whiplash right after another. Very weird band. The only other song I actually liked

But is that a good or a bad thing?

 

[Jester Slave]

But is that a good or a bad thing?

It's a confusing thing. I heard AC/DC, Megadeth, MDM, power metal, Ghost and who knows how many bands and genres within the few songs I've listened to them that night. You probably know the feeling when you stumble across a band which peaks your interest, and then as you start listening to more and more songs from them, you start to fall in love. Now imagine that, just replace falling in love with a perpetual feeling of "what the fuck is happening?"

Just heard that song, sounds like they finally completed the transition into Poets of the fall. What an odd band. Credit to them for sticking with their image for 15 years now, if not more.

I don't know that band so I am not sure if that's a positive in your book or not. I did listen to this album however, and of course, had to be disappointed. That song is nothing like the record, and I wasn't too impressed with it. Nonetheless I've decided to listen through their albums one by one, because there's got to be a few gems here and there given the nature of the versatility of this band. Only finished with the first one yet, but I actually liked it more overall. The last song (Slave Hive Meltdown - my long lost cousine?) is actually very MDM heavy and parts of it remind me of older IF as well. Clad In Shadows '99 came up after that on autoplay and it kinda fit.

I probably won't be a fan of them, but if they tour here with medium ticket prices, it may be worth to check them out.

 

[eochaid]

It's a confusing thing.

I meant the wiplash thing.

 

[DE4life]

Got a few new albums to listen to. Metallica, Kamelot and Angus McSix.



Super cheesy power metal. Just how I like it.