Question for all..

[saki]

What other styles of metal do you people listen to? I am a big fan of traditional Power Metal in the vein of 'Keeper of the Seven Keys' era Helloween. There are a lot of bands that have taken the sound a bit further though. Rhapsody and Avantasia are a few to name.

I really enjoy technical metal. I have always loved Watchtower's C&R. I think Andromeda's Extension of the Wish is the album Dream Theater should've made after Awake. Anyway, I'm just interested in knowing what other bands/styles you all enjoy.

saki

 

[IOfTheStorm]

when i think of "traditional power metal" my mind goes to u.s.a not europe ..
the european bands of that style ...may be good but ...they have no power ...especially rhapsody is total cheese ...
i like heavy/power metal ( Helstar, Destiny's End, Heir Apparent, Lethal, Fifth Angel, Liege Lord and more ) epic metal (Omen, Manilla Road, Cirith Ungol..and stuff..), progressive metal (Queensryche , Psychotic Waltz, Watchtower,Fates Warning and many more) ...doom metal (Candlemass, Trouble, Solitude Aeturnus and others ) and some thrash (technical thrash like Mekong Delta Voivod and Coroner) and death (Death, Atheist)....also 70s hard rock and progressive rock ..

 

[Ultima Ibanez Overlord]

I'm not particularly keen on metal, really. I tend to find doom, heavy, power and god-knows-what metal pretty boring.
I listen mostly to bands like Planet X, Dream Theater, Symphony X, Pain of Salvation. I still like Metallica (yeah, even some of the new stuff which nearly everyone seems to hate) and sometimes dig out some old Megadeth. That's most of my dose of metal, really....Oh, and PofO

I like to listen to things like Return to Forever, Toto, Genesis, and some Marillion.

Otherwise I'll be listening to Frank Gambale, Brett Garsed, Steve Vai, Tony MacAlpine, Greg Howe, Chick Corea...that sort of thing.

 

[Dave - Power of Omens]

I would have to say that I too love tech metal...bands like Watchtower, Spastic Ink, Spiral Architect, and Zero Hour are some awesome bands!!!
...but I also like bands like Angra, Shaman, older Helloween, Symphony X and Evergrey.
Of course you ALWAYS find me carrying the older Dream Theater, Fates Warning, and older Queensryche around with me.

~D

 

[rgbeach]

Originally posted by Ultima Ibanez Overlord
I'm not particularly keen on metal, really. I tend to find doom, heavy, power and god-knows-what metal pretty boring.
I listen mostly to bands like Planet X, Dream Theater, Symphony X, Pain of Salvation. I still like Metallica (yeah, even some of the new stuff which nearly everyone seems to hate) and sometimes dig out some old Megadeth. That's most of my dose of metal, really....Oh, and PofO

I like to listen to things like Return to Forever, Toto, Genesis, and some Marillion.

Otherwise I'll be listening to Frank Gambale, Brett Garsed, Steve Vai, Tony MacAlpine, Greg Howe, Chick Corea...that sort of thing.

Have you heard Wolverine? They are an interesting blend of Pain of Salvation, Dream Theater, maybe Opeth, and others. It's really a great disc!

Bob

 

[Ultima Ibanez Overlord]

Hi Bob, nope, I've not heard them. I'll have to check them out. On paper, that could bridge the gap between a certain lady's tastes and my own

 

[rgbeach]

Originally posted by Ultima Ibanez Overlord
Hi Bob, nope, I've not heard them. I'll have to check them out. On paper, that could bridge the gap between a certain lady's tastes and my own

Lee,

You'll have to let me know what you think of them. Also, you should check out Mind's Eye. They are a really progressive metal band. Kind of a mix of Perfect Symmetry-era Fates Warning (however, with John Arch on vocals) and a pop oriented band like Winger. Throw in a little Spiral Architect, and a bit of jazz fusion, and you have Mind's Eye. Very interesting.

Bob

 

[lizard]

the Lee-fish has become intrigued with this shiny descriptive lure... with his new 7-string he has opened new vistas of possibility...

 

[Unsumed]

Originally posted by Ultima Ibanez Overlord
Hi Bob, nope, I've not heard them. I'll have to check them out. On paper, that could bridge the gap between a certain lady's tastes and my own

I just have to teave some information (read: spam) about our band .

You can download 2 songs from our latest album, "The Window Purpose", from our homepage. Hopefully you'll like them .

T+T

//Bagge - Wolverine

 

[Demonspell]

Wolverine is excellent...can't wait for the new album. Andromeda's II=I is astounding. Mind's Eye is cool, Waiting For The Tide is a great album.

 

[ProgMetalFan]

Originally posted by Demonspell
Wolverine is excellent...can't wait for the new album. Andromeda's II=I is astounding.

Those are 2 of my most anticipated albums... and will certainly help a great deal in making 2003 the ULTIMATE YEAR OF METAL!

 

[Ultima Ibanez Overlord]

Thanks for the recommendations, Bob. I can't buy any cd's at the moment 'cause I'm flat broke after buying a new guitar.
But....

As if by magic, Unsumed has dropped a link to some mp3's
Just listening now....

I don't usually like to just say "that's cool" or "it rocks", I prefer to give a little more description of my reaction, so I hope no one minds me doing this (Unsumed?):
Ive listened to everything on there, I think. The first track I listened to was Towards Loss, and that just blew me away! Right from the start of that clip it's mind blowingly aggressive and tighly played. The only thing I didn't like too much was the growl vocals, since I'm not a huge fan of that. But the composition..wow!

Another clip that really stuck out was Again?. Again (pun intended) I liked it a lot, until the growl vocals.

I see how come you mention Pain of Salvation and Opeth, Bob. And just like those bands, I think this band would be best judged on an album, rather than a few clips.
They sound like pretty epic songs, and the composition sounds like it'll be pretty complicated. The only thing I wouldn't like on an album of this is probably the growl, since I just don't get into it. My limit on growl is probably the light version Pain of Salvation do.

I'll get the tracks from mp3.com just to hear complete songs. It's definitely grabbed my attention, and I'm a fucking snob

Rick, you ever heard of Billy the Fish? It's a cartoon strip from a magazine called Viz about a half man/half fish who plays football (soccer to you guys) for a successful team as a goal keeper. Bizarre stuff. Your comment made me think of that.

 

[Unsumed]

Originally posted by Ultima Ibanez Overlord

I don't usually like to just say "that's cool" or "it rocks", I prefer to give a little more description of my reaction, so I hope no one minds me doing this (Unsumed?):
Ive listened to everything on there, I think. The first track I listened to was Towards Loss, and that just blew me away! Right from the start of that clip it's mind blowingly aggressive and tighly played. The only thing I didn't like too much was the growl vocals, since I'm not a huge fan of that. But the composition..wow!

Another clip that really stuck out was Again?. Again (pun intended) I liked it a lot, until the growl vocals.

I see how come you mention Pain of Salvation and Opeth, Bob. And just like those bands, I think this band would be best judged on an album, rather than a few clips.
They sound like pretty epic songs, and the composition sounds like it'll be pretty complicated. The only thing I wouldn't like on an album of this is probably the growl, since I just don't get into it. My limit on growl is probably the light version Pain of Salvation do.

I'll get the tracks from mp3.com just to hear complete songs. It's definitely grabbed my attention, and I'm a fucking snob

Rick, you ever heard of Billy the Fish? It's a cartoon strip from a magazine called Viz about a half man/half fish who plays football (soccer to you guys) for a successful team as a goal keeper. Bizarre stuff. Your comment made me think of that.

Thanks ! Glad to hear you liked our stuff.
About the growls: They appear on 4 tracks on our latest album for a total of like 3 minutes out of the 57 minute total play, so they're not very dominant . We've made it a point not to use them just to have growls. They're always used to express something. But you might be glad to know that on our next album, that we're recording right now, there will be less growls .

As for the mp3.com tracks, they're from our first EP and they contain... you guessed it: more growls !

Is there anywhere to download Billy The Fish comics? Sounds like it could be a larf .

 

[Ultima Ibanez Overlord]

Unsumed, I checked online for Billy the Fish. I can't find anything except a few poor quality scanned images. Sorry.

I just downloaded your mp3's from your mp3.com page.
If it's ok, I'll give my opinion on these, too.
More Than Grief is fantastic. It's full of some really cool grooves. The keyboards are really nice in this song. Without the strings, I think it'd sound very arid. The vocals even remind me a little of Zero Hour (the clean ones, obviously). Good stuff.


Whispers In The Wind. A Didgeridoo?? An unusual sound/beginning. I like this song a lot, even if it has a lot of growl. I really like the texture in this, changing from the heavy guitars to the light acoustic passages. Fantastic. The harmonsied guitar parts sound really nice, the ones just at the start of the guitar solo; very soft and almost enchanting.
I can see why the note beneath this song says "it shows our influences", and I don't mean this in a bad way, just I can hear that in this song.

Again? I heard the clip of this already on the site, and I really liked what I'd heard of this one. The full song is as good as I'd hoped it to be. I like it, it's a winner! I'm not surprised it was used as a sampler.

Overall, I guess there's not enough "showing off" for my liking, but this kind of stuff really does grab my attention. It's very ambitious song writing and when it's pulled off as well as you guys do it, it's always great to listen to. Really great, even though I'm a card carrying non-growl fan. If there'll be less growl on the new stuff, I'd definitely like it. I can put up with the amount there is on this stuff (sorry, I don't mean for that to come across badly).

What instrument do you play in the band, Unsumed? The guitars are obviously prominent in this stuff, but I like the keyboards. They're very sympathetic to the song, always really fitting.

 

[Unsumed]

Originally posted by Ultima Ibanez Overlord
Unsumed, I checked online for Billy the Fish. I can't find anything except a few poor quality scanned images. Sorry.

Thanks for looking! I'll try to find some myself.

Originally posted by Ultima Ibanez Overlord
I just downloaded your mp3's from your mp3.com page.
If it's ok, I'll give my opinion on these, too.
More Than Grief is fantastic. It's full of some really cool grooves. The keyboards are really nice in this song. Without the strings, I think it'd sound very arid. The vocals even remind me a little of Zero Hour (the clean ones, obviously). Good stuff.

Thank you! This is a live favourite for most of the bandmembers. It's got a lot of energy .

Originally posted by Ultima Ibanez Overlord
Whispers In The Wind. A Didgeridoo?? An unusual sound/beginning. I like this song a lot, even if it has a lot of growl. I really like the texture in this, changing from the heavy guitars to the light acoustic passages. Fantastic. The harmonsied guitar parts sound really nice, the ones just at the start of the guitar solo; very soft and almost enchanting.
I can see why the note beneath this song says "it shows our influences", and I don't mean this in a bad way, just I can hear that in this song.

A bit of trivia: About 7 minutes in, there's a break where you can hear a small toy guitar that was given to our guitarist by John Petrucci after a concert. Talk about a show of influences .

Originally posted by Ultima Ibanez Overlord
Again? I heard the clip of this already on the site, and I really liked what I'd heard of this one. The full song is as good as I'd hoped it to be. I like it, it's a winner! I'm not surprised it was used as a sampler.

It's a good song, but I hate playing that outro live! The same 2 chords over and over for 3 minutes .

Originally posted by Ultima Ibanez Overlord
Overall, I guess there's not enough "showing off" for my liking, but this kind of stuff really does grab my attention. It's very ambitious song writing and when it's pulled off as well as you guys do it, it's always great to listen to. Really great, even though I'm a card carrying non-growl fan. If there'll be less growl on the new stuff, I'd definitely like it. I can put up with the amount there is on this stuff (sorry, I don't mean for that to come across badly).

None of us in the band are real fans of "showing off" type of arrangements, but once in a while it just feels right. We just write whatever seems like fun at the time and hopefully that shows on the recordings.

As I mentioned before, the use of growls on the upcoming album is very sparse. If I remember correctly their only used briefly on a couple of songs.

Originally posted by Ultima Ibanez Overlord
What instrument do you play in the band, Unsumed? The guitars are obviously prominent in this stuff, but I like the keyboards. They're very sympathetic to the song, always really fitting.

Well I'm a sympathetic, really fitting guy . So I thank you for the kind words about the keyboard .