Probot

[Se7enChurches]

This is slightly off-topic for progpower, but...

Dave Grohl's Probot project came out today. I just picked it up and I was blown away. It more than made up for the 3 years or so of waiting for it to exist and even worked toward redeeming Dave of having created the Foo Fighters (*shudder*). For those that don't know, it's a special side project involving a different classic metal vocalist on each track, with Dave playing nearly all the instruments (Cronos, Lemmy, and Wino play their own on their tracks, and Kim Thayil and Bubba Dupree make guest appearances on a track each).

The vocalists are Cronos (Venom), Max Cavalera (Soulfly/Sepultura), Lemmy (Motorhead), Mike Dean (Corrosion of Conformity), Kurt Brecht (DRI), Lee Dorrian (Cathedral/Napalm Death), Wino (The Obsessed/St. Vitus/etc.), Tom Warrior (Celtic Frost), Snake (Voivod), Eric Wagner (Trouble), and King Diamond, with a hidden bonus track featuring Jack Black.

The tracks are for the most part patterned after the styles of the bands the vocalists came from, with the lyrics written by the guests and the music by Grohl.

At any rate, I think this album fucking KILLS, and was wondering if anyone else here cared or had listened to it yet. My big hope for it is that some unsuspecting Foo Fighters teenybopper fan will pick this up and it will scare them shitless. One can only hope.

Ryan (I think this may be the first thread I've ever started here)

 

[Creeps]

I think he got the idea from when Toni Iommi put out his solo album a couple years ago.. that one was good as well with Dave singing the only single release from that record (to my knowledge).

If no one has it here's the vocalists on Iommi;

Henry Rollins
Skin
Dave Grohl
Phil Anselmo
Serj Tankian
Billy Corgan
Ian Astbury
Peter Steele
Ozzy
Billy Idol

 

[BABS]

A couple weeks ago on Headbanger's Ball (yes, I still cling to it - even at my age!) they showed the Probot video Shake Your Blood. The tune was amazing and had Lemmy on vocals. Last weekend they actually had members of Probot as in studio guests at the end they played a live tune - which was excellent as well.

I was glad to see your post because I had been debating purchasing this cd, now I will go ahead and do so!

 

[Creeps]

ok I went and got the album today - holy sh%t is it good! :hotjump:


Even though I think this disc will be one of my top of this year, I must go on the record of saying that I've never liked anything Dave Grohl has done with the exception of guesting on Iommi. I don't like the Foo Fighters and I never liked Nirvana.. they were the snowball that killed my hair metal.

With that said, it's an amazing album. My favorite tracks are "Shake Your Blood" w/ Lemmy (of course, Lemmy is God), "Red War" w/ Mzx Cavalera, "Silent Spring" w/ Kurt Brecht (DRI rules), and suprisingly "Centuries of Sin" w/ Cronos.

I've never cared for Venom, but his vocals are pretty cool on this track.
I'm not a big King Diamond fan, but again, cool tune.
It was very nice hearing the vocalist from Trouble again.

The Jack Black track is in a category all by itself, because as we all know the -D- is the 2nd coming of metal.

 

[Rakosh]

I had been wondering about this release since I first heard about it, and since I'm a big King Diamond fan, I knew I would pick it up for that one song alone. After listening to the full album, I gotta say I was pretty impressed--but for probably different reasons than most people.

First of all, even though it's a good collection of songs, it's not an album I'll likely keep in rotation in the cd changer. I see it as a great cd to build a "History of Metal" college course around. Grohl has taken vocalists/musicians from a pretty representative range of metal from the late-80's and early-90's and compiled a survey of the era. Nothing wrong with that--nostalgia for us old guys, and history lesson for the young'uns.

But more importantly, Probot comes from Dave Grohl, one of the people judged responsible with his cohorts in Nirvana of killing off this type of music in the mainstream consciousness. I think there's a sort of poetic irony that he would be the one to use his celebrity to refocus a light on these vocalists/musicians at the height of his fame when Nirvana cut them off at the height (arguably) of theirs. This may sound like I'm being negative, but I'm really not. I think it's great a huge new audience will have the opportunity to get reacquainted with the music we already love. Most will probably run screaming and hide in fear (heh-heh), but I'm willing to bet a lot of new fans will be made. The fact that he grew up on this music, too, will not be lost on the usual mallrats that are into Foo Fighters, and in a world of pop culture idolatry, some will want to emulate their idol.

I mean, come on, when was the last time you could wander into Best Buy and pick up a new METAL album for $9.99 on sale? That's the magic of having Grohl's name on it. So, whether you love or hate Nirvana/Foo Fighters/Dave Grohl, I think Probot is a good thing for the metal masses.

So there's my two cents...

:Smokin:

 

[DAVETHEMETALGUY]

It Kicked My Ass To Say The Least....

 

[lars316]

I took a listen to the Probot CD. I was not overly impressed with it. While it was cool that he got some great vocalists to perform on the album it still sounded processed and run of the mill like every other big name CD that comes out. I didn't feel the love for this type of music like you would hear on a 80's metal CD such as Iron Maiden or Metallica, they love the music they play and it shows because the music hits you like a ton of bricks.

Dave Grohl is not a metal artist - he may have grown up on the music, but I don't feel any real passion in this CD. While it was more impressive musically than anything he has done to date, why would I listen to this again when I can spend more time listening to the metal greatness of Iced Earth, Rage, Evergrey, Sym X, etc. etc. I'm obviously different than everyone else on this thread thus far, but that's my take on the CD.

 

[ProgMetalFan]

I'm suprised Probot is getting such rave reviews in the underground metal community... maybe it's the "celebrity" factor. The riffs are about as complex as Foo Fighters riffs. Actually, every song pretty much has the same guitar part. Quite a weak effort.

 

[Se7enChurches]

I'm suprised Probot is getting such rave reviews in the underground metal community... maybe it's the "celebrity" factor. The riffs are about as complex as Foo Fighters riffs. Actually, every song pretty much has the same guitar part. Quite a weak effort.

to my mind, there are three things that make something good:

1. Technical prowess (often not enough to satisfy me on its own; I can't fucking stand Yngwie despite realizing how much of this he has)
2. Sense of songwriting
3. being totally badass

Probot is in a similar vein to Motorhead, Manowar, and Venom to me, aka, crank requirement #3 way up, with a few vague nods here and there to #2. Most prog metal fans (at least, those who are primarily prog metal fans) do not comprehend and/or care about requirement #3, and therefore do not like bands like Motorhead, Manowar, and Venom. or Probot.

Probot is deeply rooted in old school thrash, death and doom metal, which were rarely that concerned with being varied and complicated. It pays very accurate homage, in my opinion, tossing out songs in the style of the bands that are represented.

*shrug*

Ryan

 

[Se7enChurches]

I'm suprised Probot is getting such rave reviews in the underground metal community... maybe it's the "celebrity" factor. The riffs are about as complex as Foo Fighters riffs. Actually, every song pretty much has the same guitar part. Quite a weak effort.

also, just out of curiosity, are you a fan of Venom, Sepultura, Motorhead, Corrosion of Conformity, DRI, Cathedral, St. Vitus/the Obsessed, Celtic Frost, Trouble, Voivod, or King Diamond/Mercyful Fate?

Ryan