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

[eochaid]

Wow. Do you know that you share name with the guitarist from IF? What a nice coincidence!

 

[The Grayfox]

Yes... coincidence...

 

[DE4life]

Congrats to Eochaid and his boys. Best team won the match and the tournament. Spain have been great to watch, and it's fair to say we haven't been.

 

[The Grayfox]

See, I can tell you're not an American just by your classy response there. If you were an American, you'd be making excuses and stomping your feet on the ground like a toddler. How refreshing.

 

[eochaid]

Congrats to Eochaid and his boys. Best team won the match and the tournament. Spain have been great to watch, and it's fair to say we haven't been.

I stopped caring about football the moment a came to understand how they (federations, journalists, players) don't give a shit about basic human rights.

 

[DE4life]

If there's one thing us Brits are very self-deprecating about it's our national football team. People perceive it as arrogance without realising we are rarely being serious when we boast about our team. It's usually heavily sarcastic.

 

[DE4life]

I stopped caring about football the moment a came to understand how they (federations, journalists, players) don't give a shit about basic human rights.

Not many people do tbh, hence the increasing election of right wing governments across the world. People will only pretend to care about others when they themselves are living in comfort and can use virtue signalling to boost their profile.

As soon as things start getting tough, humans revert to type.

 

[eochaid]

To be fair, I think that football is just a reflection of our western society
We pretend that we care but we really don't. In fact, we're usually against basic human rights as long as it benefits us.

 

[Xpyro125]

I'm looking forward to their next album, but I don't hold high expectations, simply because it's extremely rare that a follow up to an album I loved is anywhere near the same level - for me personally, at least. I mean, just in recent times...

IF - SOAPF followed up by the joke that was SC
IF - ITM to Foregone (yes, I actually liked ITM)
Amaranthe - The Nexus followed up by Massive Addictive (not that MA is bad, just not as good)
Nightrage - Wolf to Man to Abyss Rising
Soilwork - Verkligheten to Övergivenheten
Arch Enemy - Will to Power to Deceivers (I know for a lot of people it's the other way around, but I really liked WtP and found Deceivers very mid)
Cyhra - Letters to Myself to NHIH (and then to the even shittier TVT)

Agreed with the IF stuff, my views on Amaranthe constantly change (Either way I just don’t fuck with the band anymore), agreed on Soilwork, and completely fucking agree on Arch Enemy. Jesus Christ, Deceivers is so fucking boring.

Believe it or not though, huge disagree on Cyhra, I actually enjoy TVT significantly more the NHIH. I’ve pretty much completely stopped listening to anything or feeling any joy from NHIH (It was minuscule to begin with, but some was there), though I do listen to Let’s Have My Story Told and Ashlight here and there. TVT’s also fallen off quite a bit for me too, and I didn’t exactly enjoy it much in the first place, but I feel like there is still more care in its composition than NHIH’s. It’s less heavy, less Swedish, less PM-sounding melodeath-feeling instrumentally, but I’ve come to enjoy the actually good stuff from it. You know, the little that’s on it, there really isn’t much, the album still fucking sucks. And in fairness, it starts with Ready to Rumble, so you know it’s going to fucking suck right out the gate. I don’t think I’ve ever been less hyped for an album than when Ready to Rumble released, that shit should have never made it past being some shitty WWE or AEW theme.

I hope BiB and THE break the mould, but yeah, no expectations as it's rare a follow up to an album I really, really like sounds anywhere near as good. With dark Connection genuinely being a top ten all-timer album for me, maybe even top five, it would be very, very difficult for the next album to get close. Always have to live in hope though.

Me too, man. If the new THE album sucks, I’ll have officially lost all faith in artists I love.

On a personal note, I've been making steady progress with my little music project. Super excited with the way things are headed, and I have my fingers crossed that some of my more adventurous ideas will come to fruition. Once this thing sees the light of day, I'll be sure to loop in the crew here. Who knows -- it may even suit your tastes.

Awesome to hear that, man. Can’t wait to hear what you’ve got in store for us.

 

[DE4life]

Agreed with the IF stuff, my views on Amaranthe constantly change (Either way I just don’t fuck with the band anymore), agreed on Soilwork, and completely fucking agree on Arch Enemy. Jesus Christ, Deceivers is so fucking boring.

Believe it or not though, huge disagree on Cyhra, I actually enjoy TVT significantly more the NHIH. I’ve pretty much completely stopped listening to anything or feeling any joy from NHIH (It was minuscule to begin with, but some was there), though I do listen to Let’s Have My Story Told and Ashlight here and there. TVT’s also fallen off quite a bit for me too, and I didn’t exactly enjoy it much in the first place, but I feel like there is still more care in its composition than NHIH’s. It’s less heavy, less Swedish, less PM-sounding melodeath-feeling instrumentally, but I’ve come to enjoy the actually good stuff from it. You know, the little that’s on it, there really isn’t much, the album still fucking sucks. And in fairness, it starts with Ready to Rumble, so you know it’s going to fucking suck right out the gate. I don’t think I’ve ever been less hyped for an album than when Ready to Rumble released, that shit should have never made it past being some shitty WWE or AEW theme.

I was baffled when people came out all starry-eyed and falling over themselves to praise Deceivers - after giving Will to Power no love at all! Deceivers is just a more boring, less creative Will to Power. Now granted I do think that's what a lot of people these days want, music with no real experimentation or freedom, but I was hoping for better. It's not that Deceivers is bad, there's just nothing new on it. Also far less melody compared to WtP, which I did not care for. That's more of a personal gripe, though, granted.

As far as Cyhra is concerned, my main disappointment was LtM to NHIH. Like, a seismic drop off in quality. The title track from LtM came on yesterday, and even though that wasn't one of my favourites from the album I was still like, yeah, that's a cool song. Ain't nothing from the next two albums that would make me feel like that. The only reason I rank NHIH above TVT is because I remember more songs from the former. Might be because I really tried to convince myself to like NHIH though, whereas with TVT I just gave up after realising it was the same tired formula from NHIH all over again.

Me too, man. If the new THE album sucks, I’ll have officially lost all faith in artists I love.

For what it's worth I think it would almost be impossible for the people involved in THE to make something that objectively sucks. Mikael and Niclas are always involved in quality music, even if not all of it is to my taste. I may not enjoy WATV or Construct, I may not enjoy much of Engel, but it's not because the music sucks. It's just not my flavour. That's worst-case scenario in my mind for THE - something that's still good but not for me. I think this is unlikely though. I think more likely outcome is something that I still think is good, just not as good as their debut.

 

[Xpyro125]

I was baffled when people came out all starry-eyed and falling over themselves to praise Deceivers - after giving Will to Power no love at all! Deceivers is just a more boring, less creative Will to Power. Now granted I do think that's what a lot of people these days want, music with no real experimentation or freedom, but I was hoping for better. It's not that Deceivers is bad, there's just nothing new on it. Also far less melody compared to WtP, which I did not care for. That's more of a personal gripe, though, granted.

I didn’t listen to all of WtP, but I did genuinely enjoy what I did listen to, save for one song. It’s nothing special, even compared to something like War Eternal, but it’s enjoyable. Deceivers has a ton of sensibilities akin to modern metalcore, hence why people love it; hence why I dislike it.

As far as Cyhra is concerned, my main disappointment was LtM to NHIH. Like, a seismic drop off in quality. The title track from LtM came on yesterday, and even though that wasn't one of my favourites from the album I was still like, yeah, that's a cool song. Ain't nothing from the next two albums that would make me feel like that. The only reason I rank NHIH above TVT is because I remember more songs from the former. Might be because I really tried to convince myself to like NHIH though, whereas with TVT I just gave up after realising it was the same tired formula from NHIH all over again.

I had the same sort of feeling with the albums, but I think my lack of expectations with TVT allowed me to get pleasantly surprised by the actually good moments. NHIH unfortunately definitely has more similarities to TVT than it does to Letters, but hey, that’s just the unfortunate reality of things. Even with enjoying TVT more than I expected, I kind of wish that Cyhra would just let things be since it feels like it only exists to be a live band/product pusher.

For what it's worth I think it would almost be impossible for the people involved in THE to make something that objectively sucks. Mikael and Niclas are always involved in quality music, even if not all of it is to my taste. I may not enjoy WATV or Construct, I may not enjoy much of Engel, but it's not because the music sucks. It's just not my flavour. That's worst-case scenario in my mind for THE - something that's still good but not for me. I think this is unlikely though. I think more likely outcome is something that I still think is good, just not as good as their debut.

I think in a way, that sort of thing is a big fear of mine. I definitely do expect them to make actual melodeath instead of some downtuned dogshit, but something mediocre would be so disappointing. I quite like what I’ve heard so far, so I am still excited for the album, but I’ve learned not to preorder albums these days.

 

[The Grayfox]

I don't know if I've ever listened to Deceivers all the way through. I do really like Poisoned Arrow though.

I don't expect the new THE album to suck. I'm just kind of fed up with how they go back and forth and say one thing but clearly mean another. Just be transparent, guys. If things changed, say so instead of ignoring it. Looking back, I do think it would've been weird to have a follow-up to Days of the Lost as quickly as we thought it was coming. Not that I would've been complaining if it did come out. I think it was on Reddit (or maybe here...) that someone speculated that the reaction they got to The Defiant One and Become Surrender sort of forced their hand and made them rethink their new material. Both of those singles got lukewarm response. But I was under the impression that they were both leftover tracks, not necessarily indicative of any new material. Either way it seems something happened because first they said the album was done and then almost a year later they're back in the studio doing more recording.

 

[DE4life]

New Powerwolf... basically like old Powerwolf. Child choirs are giving me horrible flashbacks to Battles though.



Also a new release from Dragony, who are one of my favourite smaller PM bands:



I got first view, like and comment thanks to a sneaky trip via VPN to New Zealand what a rush.

Anyway, yeah, new Dragony is like old Dragony, which is fine because I like that sound a lot.

That artwork though... that's some cover. The sky is shitting an electric rainbow through a castle. Some dude with a horned helmet and a woman who appears to be some kind of queen or princess are riding what appears to be the bucket from Fantasia through the rainbow like it's a river. Helmet guy is holding a staff to light the way, but that doesn't seem necessary considering how bright everything is. Then I see that there are Pterodactylus with people riding on them, so maybe the staff is protecting against those crazy fucks. In the middle of the castle appears to be some kind of vortex. Unsure if the electric rainbow is causing this or not. Also unsure if helmet guy and her highness are riding away from the castle & vortex or towards it. To the left is space, to the right are mountainous regions with bolts of lightning, and there's some kind of structure on the far right I can't really make sense of.

So yeah, some artist just vomited power metal cliches all over this page. I kind of love it though.

 

[The Grayfox]

That Dragony album cover is the most fucking power metal cover I've seen in quite some time.

I've found that I enjoy power metal bands who's vocalist doesn't sound like "generic power metal guy #74." Powerwolf, for instance, intrigues me because their vocalist is unique. Sabaton, Blind Guardian, Kamelot (Khan era), etc. I listened to the new Stratovarius single last night and while Timo does have a recognizable voice, I really didn't enjoy it to the point where I found the song annoying. I must be losing my taste for some power metal.

 

[DE4life]

Hmmm, idk with Powerwolf. I loved The Sacrament of Sin, but that might be because it was the first PW album I heard. Call of the Wild was decent, but sounding a bit samey. I just listened to their latest and it sounds very samey. Basically Sabaton-syndrome where what they do is very good, but when you've heard one album you've kind of heard them all. Blind Guardian and Kamelot (during Khan's time) were great because their records never sounded exactly the same. Both bands were tinkering with their sound whilst still retaining their core identity. The Fourth Legacy would never be confused with The Black Halo, but they're both still recognisable as Kamelot. I appreciate that.

On the other hand, with Powerwolf and Sabaton, I feel like a lot of their songs could be swapped across albums and nobody would really notice.

I love some Strato songs, but not so much others. They're alright but there's a lot of stuff they've released that doesn't interest me.

 

[The Grayfox]

I really do enjoy Sabaton a lot even if it's samey, which I agree a ton of it is. But I still find their songs to be very enjoyable. I like older Stratovarius quite a bit, up until around Elements part 1 and 2. The older Stratovarius records going back to Dreamspace have some of the best sounding drums ever imo.

 

[DE4life]

I am more or less in the same position in regards to Stratovarius, although it's very specific albums across their discography. Not really a fan of any of the albums with Tolkki's vocals, they're just a bit... eh. Not quite right.

Fourth Dimension is pretty solid. Against the Wind is one of my favourite Strato songs. Visions is very good. Title track of Destiny is a classic. Infinite and Elements both nice albums, but also where my appreciation for Stratovarius ends.

I did think the first Revolution Renaissance album was pretty cool. It was a Tolkki release in the end, but was originally written as a Stratovarius demo. If it was released as a Strato album it probably would have been the last one of theirs I enjoyed, as opposed to Elements being the last.

 

[The Grayfox]

As weird and erratic as Tolkki is, I think Stratovarius needed him to move forward. I haven't cared about anything they've done without him. On the flip side, I haven't cared about anything Tolkki has done without Stratovarius. Revolution Renaissance, Avalon, Symfonia... just no interest at all honestly. And while I agree that Timo was a better choice as the vocalist for the band, I do think Dreamspace was still good. Not so much the first two, but I do like Dreamspace.

 

[DE4life]

I agree on everything regarding Tolkki's post-Strato stuff, except the first RR album, New Era. I liked that a lot - but as that was a Stratovarius album in all but name, it occupies a weird space between Tolkki in Stratovarius and Tolkki after Stratovarius. Songs like Heroes, I Did It My Way, Glorious and Divine, Last Night on Earth and Revolution Renaissance are up there with some of my favourite songs written by Tolkki, regardless of whether it's Kotipelto on vocals.

Everything else afterwards... eh.

 

[DE4life]

Come to think of it, @eochaid from memory you're a fan of Michael Kiske, and five of the ten tracks on the album have him as lead vocalist. Not sure if you've heard him in RR, but I think the songs with him as lead vocalist are all pretty good.