Wonderful turnout on the post below. Here's my second run in the interest of science.
1. Starts with sound effects akin to some Carpenter film. Then immediately when the riff comes in, it's Aspid off of their only album 'Extravastation'. I think this is the opening song, named something something in Russian. Excellent techno-thrash, recently re-released. Very worth anyone's time if they're into weird metal. I love their vocals and their guitar sound. Snarly thrash vocals go well with Slavic languages. The left-field augmented scale guitar solos in this fusion-ish guitar tone go over the savagery beautifully. The bassist couples everything the guitarists play like he's in Coroner. Super-tight playing all around, no fat, no dud riffs, good structure. The musicianship here is easily below their full ability. I theorize all Russian metal musicians were effectively slumming it from their proper State-sanctioned classical music gigs, at least up and until the fall of the Soviet Union. The playing here has this air of effortlessness similar to Watchtower on "Control and Resistance".
2. Machinegun riff. Double bass. Bolt Thrower "Promises and LIES." The song's 'Entrenched', off of "Those Once Loyal", their best, and last album. How can a band so old pull off such a strong final record? I don't expect them to top this, I really don't expect them to put out any more records after it, frankly. Some people call this death metal, I don't hear it in there anymore, it's just very linear, very muscular Heavy Metal. The core melodic ideas and riffs could be found in the repertoire of a NWOBHM band, really. It's just the execution that is idiosyncratic (and so often copied!). It's impossible for this music to not induce some physical reaction for this listener, but since my cat is in my lap, in lieu of headbanging, I tapped the double pass patterns on the desk with my fingers. Metal (the polite way).
3. Oh, oh, this is a very distinctive guitar tone! And the riff is... am I listening to Bolt Thrower back to back here? Great slow intro. Is this off of "For Victory"? Hm, the verse riff doesn't sound like Bolt Thrower though. The harmonization is totally their style. And then it ended! I am at a loss if it's not Bolt Thrower.
I checked, it was "For War", off of For Victory. Kind of got lucky there. Good thing for Bolt Thrower than that their style's so distinctive even on their instrumentals.
4. Mayfair. Nobody else has a voice like this. This is off of "Fastest Trip to Cybertown", their last record, and the one I listen to less. This is honestly an indie rock track, something like R.E.M. would write, only with a more active bass line - remnants of progressive metal are difficult to shake off. It's catchy and melancholic, but it lacks that edge that makes Mayfair's first two albums some of the best progressive metal there's ever been. There's many bands that play indie rock like this or better than this, I mean. Nobody's ever made anything like "Behind" as far as I've found. I checked the song name and it's "Waterproof".
5. One of these horrible mid-to-fast party rock n' roll Manowar songs. I might figure out which but there's absolutely nothing here for me. I can list the Manowar songs I adore from memory (Battle Hymns, Mountains, Secret of Steel, March for Revenge, Hail to England, Gayanna, Gloves of Metal, Each Dawn I Die) and if it ain't in there, I am bound to hate it, not just feel indifferent to it. Something about "the Night" is what Adam's going on about on this song, it could be about motorcycles. It's post Kings of Metal, I can tell from the involved guitar solo. But it sucks. "Return of the Warlord", off of Hell on Wheels live, from 1997. I am deleting this. Good drumming at least.
6. Oh, oh, I know this. This'll be easy. Probably Greek. Wait, no. Is this the Burzum instrumental off of 'Det Som Engang Var'? So it is. This one shows mr. Vikerness had a good ear for more traditional types of harmony. It's quite pretty in a way. And thinking it was Greek metal makes some sense because this guitar tone was used by pretty much all the early Greek black metal bands (it's shitty in an endearing way) and because the mid-tempo melancholic feel Burzum's got going here is pretty much Mode A for Varathron, Rotting Christ et al. From here to In The Woods... it's a small leap. And from there to proper Peaceville doom/death it's just another. I like this middle ground between the premier romantic metal genres.
7. Immediately recognizable as Nevermore, off of their 'In Memory' EP. After 'Politics of Ecstasy', easily their best work. Not the best song in there though. The song's called "Matricide", I know the lyric. It's a weird composition, Loomis and company hadn't gotten a handle on how exactly to write coherently. The changes are awkward, it's even got an embarrassing kind of 'rock' vibe to it. And the vocal line on top is just bizarre. Dane had a big problem with finding suitable vocal lines for Loomis' songs since the beginning and it really didn't get better with time. He's ultimately a lyrical vocalist, best suited for music that behaves, harmonically (hi, Sanctuary!). The nightmarish industrialized metal that Loomis would get involved with didn't leave much space for someone with Dane's talents. Mr. Tate from Queensryche would have found something smart to sing over this stuff.
The end of this song is prime Nevermore though, their next two albums can be seen in that guitar matrix phrase and the revolving phrases on top. And the change from it back to the chorus is hilarious. I still like this but I don't know if it's just nostalgia talking. That I remember a girl I was after at the time when I was listening to this a lot says it's probably the latter. And talking about girls and songs about girls, read the lyrics to the same titled song off of 'Im Memory'. Stalker anthem if there ever was one.
8. Is Winamp trying to make me cry? This is Secrecy - "The One to Adore". Ultimate teenage anxiety & nostalgia metal. Their albums are called ART IN MOTION and RAGING ROMANCE, for christ's sake. This band is amazing. There's absolutely nothing sub-par in these two albums (and even the demo "Like Burning One's Boat", it's even a bit thrashier if you'd like to see the connection between thrash-thrash, techno-thrash and then proper progressive metal). Every song is stellar. No filler. Such a range of emotion covered. So many atypical guitar ideas, and yet not to the detriment of catchiness. Superb engineering. More bands should study what Secrecy achieved here. Then again, perhaps not. There really is no other entity in metal that makes me feel like this, best keep it, uh, secret.
9. A drumkit is falling down the stairs. Seagulls through a guitar amplifier. Piano enters. Is this Zeuhl? No idea. I give up. It's very beautiful though and deserves more listens. Turns out it was "Friends of Dean Martinez", the same titled track off of "A Place in the Sun". I listen to "Random Harvest" and "In The Shadow of Your Smile" and love them, so this is an easy error on my part to rectify.
10. Haunting double-tracked vocals, their notes slightly incongruous. Damien Youth? If it's not him off of the one cassette I've downloaded, I don't know what it is. It's very beautiful and I want to listen to the whole thing. Indeed, "Hunger Circle" off of "Festival of Death". But I couldn't remember that's what the record's called, so that's a point lost. This music deserves an examination or ten by people more equipped than I, though. It's not Heavy Metal but it's equally intense and sometimes disturbing, but it's also other things, less blatant. If anyone can suggest where to go from this, be it to other Damien Youth material or other similar artists, I've got some space inside me for a little more like this.
7/10 this time, lucky guess aside.
Showing posts with label self-immolation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self-immolation. Show all posts
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Expose Your Pose
When I was a teenager reading Metal Hammer GR, there was a little column whose name I can't remember where an interviewer would play ten songs for a metal musician that was featured on the issue, and the musician would strive to recognize the songs, or at least the bands. It was always an entertaining read and I do remember some famous flops by highly visible metal artists that you'd guess have never heard of metal music before. I remember also that one of the Cavalera brothers from Sepultura did sterlingly on his try.
So, I'm bringing that back. But in a whole new, horrible twist, I'm not even going to ask actual metal musicians to tell me if they recognize this or that. After all, it really is besides the point if a metal musician is also a well-read metal affictionado. For all I care, they could have never listened to anything else than two Iron Maiden songs, if their own music is great, that's fine with me. Actually, I think too much slavish devotion to 'the history of metal' and its various sacred cows might lead to unambitious metal-making, but that's besides the scope of this little experiment.
No, I'm going to ask metal bloggers. I'm not even going to select the music beforehand. They'll be hitting 'shuffle' in their grand collection of mp3s and not looking at the media player's display. I bet most people that write on the web, especially for niche metal genres won't be able to tell their Generic Death Metal #4 from their Generic Death Metal #8, but we'll see.
The rules are as follows for those that are brave:
0. Put all your media in there and shuffle. If it's on your hard drives, you have to put it there. If someone only has say, ten records on their hard drive, this does not preclude them, in fact it is a very prudent choice and they should be applauded for their skillful play.
1. No Cheating in your reports. You're only cheating yourselves with further self-delusion. Write it like it is, if you don't know what the hell is going on in your hard drive, then that's what's going on. Chalk it up to terrible debris of modernity, chalk it up to middle-lower-class upbringing urging you to collect everything you once listened to like a little pack rat. Say whatever, just don't lie about knowing what you didn't.
2. If you want to go easy on yourself, informed guesses (artist name is enough) count as positive entries. In fact, guessing what something is by elements of it being familiar to you whereas the song itself isn't, is a whole different metalhead game tradition, so you shouldn't feel too bad if you can spot a Glenn Benton in some Vital Remains or whatever. You know a few things about the things you're pretending to know a lot about, at least.
3. Recognizing the artist and the album is enough to consider that a solid plus one on your final score. Further bragging about personnel on the record, date of release or other trivia is optional and will not change the score (but feel free).
4. If you didn't know at least Artist - Record (and *especially* if you guessed wrong), you have two after-play choices. Either listen to the record attentively three times in a row and keep it, or delete it outright. Be brave! Listening to music is not supposed to be fun!
So, no more delaying the inevitable. Let all poses be exposed. I will be the first to go.
1. If you feel like playing a more difficult variation by a degree of separation, middle click here to start the link in a secondary tab and try not to look at the name of the tab while you figure it out. Read below when you get it or if you've given up. If you do better than me with my own music library, I'll bend my knee in your general direction.
Starts with a wash of reverberating distortion... no idea so far. More noise. Am I listening to some leftover industrial hidden somewhere on my hard drive? Oh, the trills of 'Night on Bare Mountain' come in, this is Mekong Delta covering Modest Mussorgsky's masterpiece, off of their own masterpiece "Dances of Death (and Other Walking Shadows)". The cover is fair and I can't complain as it served as an introduction to the composer for me. Mekong Delta would go on to cover a lot of Mussorgsky, some well, some less so but that's a whole different story. Full recognition. An auspicious start to my experiment!
2. Middle click, listen, take your guess then read below.
Hmm... I'd say America. Obvious Iron Maiden heritage. The singer doesn't sound American, though. "Hell is for Heroes"? Probable song title? This is some obvious US Metal staple that I should be really embarrassed for not - oh, "Reach for the Stars" is the obvious song title, nice corona on the chorus. Is this Cloven Hoof? If so, shame on me for not realizing straight away. This can't be off of "A Sultan's Ransom" at least, I know that record inside out. *Checks* Yes, this is Cloven Hoof, off of Dominator. "Reach for the sky". I should really listen to that record properly. But this song isn't very good. I'll make the hard choice afterwards.
3.
Oh no, dreaded post-metal, it all sounds alike! At least this is an easy one for me because I simply don't have a lot of post-metal on my archive. Obviously Isis. Off of Celestial. Is this "Collapse and Crush"? If not, it should be. *checks* Buh, Swarm Reigns Down. At least I got the correct record. Man, Isis sounded really different here as opposed to "Oceanic". The no distortion middle part here is really dry and kind of awkwardly played, they would go on to perfect that aspect of their sound later on. There's even some half-a-tone secondary voice in the bass range in here that's awfully off harmony, I guess they thought that was forward thinking at the time. Welcome to ten years of only dissonant post-metal riffing after this, thanks Isis!
4.
No idea. This sounds so completely singular (in terms of bad production), it should be impossible to not remember it though. So I simply have not listened to it enough. If this is US Power metal again I swear, I'll delete it. Waiting for the chorus to see if any of my neurons decide to weakly flicker.
This singer is not a good singer. This post-chorus boogie is awful. I think I'm desecrating some US Metal holy cow here. *Checks* Blackkout - Electric Soldiers. Well, it's US power metal alright. I think this Blackkout has ties to the infinitely more interesting "The Last Things" and which is why I even downloaded this. I think I've listened it to it once. I will review the rest of the record thrice and if the songwriting is as uninspiring as this and the singing as awkward throughout, I am deleting. Here's my first mark of shame on this playlist.
5.
Easy one. Took me two seconds. God, how I hate the voice of Haskell. The main riff of the song and how it alternates with the acoustic guitar parts is very interesting, though. Easily one of the better songs off of the gigantic irritation of a record that is "Lizard". King Crimson would never again scratch that particular faux neo-classical/jazz sore.
6. (not on youtube)
Took me until the vocals came in. Cirith Ungol, off of third third record "One Foot In Hell". At first I thought "Join the Legion" (which is the opener for their fourth and last "Paradise Lost") but it's not it. It's a testament to how generic the '80s period of Cirith Ungol sounds that one song could be on a different record and it'd fit right in. Whereas there's no possibility of mistaking any song off of their first two records as anything else at all. Still, mr. Baker is unmistakable, his voice is that of a terrible beast, one of the best there have ever been. The theme of too much US Metal continues.
7.
Thousands of years before the dawn of history, huh? Fates Warning - 'Damnation', off of their original release, "Night on Brocken". Unmistakable perfection. Also US Metal, but at least, some of *the* best US Metal. People into Jazz should have some Fates Warning on their collection. People into horrorcore should. Everyone. I headbanged.
(An interesting aside, the verse melody that Mr. Arch is employing here has been 'lifted' by Tom Phillips of While Heaven Wept, I'm pretty certain.)
8.
Oh no! Low end! Please don't let this be death metal!... *sigh*, that it is. At least it's moving very slow so I might eventually realize which doom/death band I'm listening to. Oh no, it picked up. The vocalist is positively guttural. Is this Finnish? Is this Krypt of Cerberos, perhaps? This riff sounds like Demilich, but Demilich I would never confuse with their lessers. Let me check. Yes! Crypt of Kerberos (and not the other way around). This goes on the delete pile even if I got a pretty good long shot guess out of it.
9.
Messhugah? These ambient washes in the beginning sound familiar. Is this the intro to "Contradictions Collapse"? Ah, this is certainly Messhugah. Which song however. This is going to give me trouble. At least it's *good* Messhugah. By that I mean, here they still ultimately play thrash riffs that evolve and mutate, not just 'rhythms' that evolve and mutate. There's no way I'm going to identify which song this is, Contradictions Collapse (and "None" for that matter) are so uniform, I can only tell which songs 'Gods of Rapture' and 'Cadaverous Mastication' are. *checks* Oh! Terminal Illusions off of Destroy Erase Improve. A whole record off, huh? Delete.
10.
"Dig Me", by King Crimson, off of the album "Three of a Perfect Pair". King Crimson save my ass twice in one playlist. It's impossible to mistake this song as anything else if you've ever heard it once, as it actually sounds like malfunctioning machinery. The clearly audible lyrics go on about just that. Dig me, don't bury me.
So, recapping, 9 out of 10 including guesses. But that's weak, so let's not include guesses. As per the rules, Artist - Record should count as at least partial recognition. With that criteria, 6 out of 10, which is pretty dire in itself. My pose has been exposed! How fare YOU, sir?
So, I'm bringing that back. But in a whole new, horrible twist, I'm not even going to ask actual metal musicians to tell me if they recognize this or that. After all, it really is besides the point if a metal musician is also a well-read metal affictionado. For all I care, they could have never listened to anything else than two Iron Maiden songs, if their own music is great, that's fine with me. Actually, I think too much slavish devotion to 'the history of metal' and its various sacred cows might lead to unambitious metal-making, but that's besides the scope of this little experiment.
No, I'm going to ask metal bloggers. I'm not even going to select the music beforehand. They'll be hitting 'shuffle' in their grand collection of mp3s and not looking at the media player's display. I bet most people that write on the web, especially for niche metal genres won't be able to tell their Generic Death Metal #4 from their Generic Death Metal #8, but we'll see.
The rules are as follows for those that are brave:
0. Put all your media in there and shuffle. If it's on your hard drives, you have to put it there. If someone only has say, ten records on their hard drive, this does not preclude them, in fact it is a very prudent choice and they should be applauded for their skillful play.
1. No Cheating in your reports. You're only cheating yourselves with further self-delusion. Write it like it is, if you don't know what the hell is going on in your hard drive, then that's what's going on. Chalk it up to terrible debris of modernity, chalk it up to middle-lower-class upbringing urging you to collect everything you once listened to like a little pack rat. Say whatever, just don't lie about knowing what you didn't.
2. If you want to go easy on yourself, informed guesses (artist name is enough) count as positive entries. In fact, guessing what something is by elements of it being familiar to you whereas the song itself isn't, is a whole different metalhead game tradition, so you shouldn't feel too bad if you can spot a Glenn Benton in some Vital Remains or whatever. You know a few things about the things you're pretending to know a lot about, at least.
3. Recognizing the artist and the album is enough to consider that a solid plus one on your final score. Further bragging about personnel on the record, date of release or other trivia is optional and will not change the score (but feel free).
4. If you didn't know at least Artist - Record (and *especially* if you guessed wrong), you have two after-play choices. Either listen to the record attentively three times in a row and keep it, or delete it outright. Be brave! Listening to music is not supposed to be fun!
So, no more delaying the inevitable. Let all poses be exposed. I will be the first to go.
1. If you feel like playing a more difficult variation by a degree of separation, middle click here to start the link in a secondary tab and try not to look at the name of the tab while you figure it out. Read below when you get it or if you've given up. If you do better than me with my own music library, I'll bend my knee in your general direction.
Starts with a wash of reverberating distortion... no idea so far. More noise. Am I listening to some leftover industrial hidden somewhere on my hard drive? Oh, the trills of 'Night on Bare Mountain' come in, this is Mekong Delta covering Modest Mussorgsky's masterpiece, off of their own masterpiece "Dances of Death (and Other Walking Shadows)". The cover is fair and I can't complain as it served as an introduction to the composer for me. Mekong Delta would go on to cover a lot of Mussorgsky, some well, some less so but that's a whole different story. Full recognition. An auspicious start to my experiment!
2. Middle click, listen, take your guess then read below.
Hmm... I'd say America. Obvious Iron Maiden heritage. The singer doesn't sound American, though. "Hell is for Heroes"? Probable song title? This is some obvious US Metal staple that I should be really embarrassed for not - oh, "Reach for the Stars" is the obvious song title, nice corona on the chorus. Is this Cloven Hoof? If so, shame on me for not realizing straight away. This can't be off of "A Sultan's Ransom" at least, I know that record inside out. *Checks* Yes, this is Cloven Hoof, off of Dominator. "Reach for the sky". I should really listen to that record properly. But this song isn't very good. I'll make the hard choice afterwards.
3.
Oh no, dreaded post-metal, it all sounds alike! At least this is an easy one for me because I simply don't have a lot of post-metal on my archive. Obviously Isis. Off of Celestial. Is this "Collapse and Crush"? If not, it should be. *checks* Buh, Swarm Reigns Down. At least I got the correct record. Man, Isis sounded really different here as opposed to "Oceanic". The no distortion middle part here is really dry and kind of awkwardly played, they would go on to perfect that aspect of their sound later on. There's even some half-a-tone secondary voice in the bass range in here that's awfully off harmony, I guess they thought that was forward thinking at the time. Welcome to ten years of only dissonant post-metal riffing after this, thanks Isis!
4.
No idea. This sounds so completely singular (in terms of bad production), it should be impossible to not remember it though. So I simply have not listened to it enough. If this is US Power metal again I swear, I'll delete it. Waiting for the chorus to see if any of my neurons decide to weakly flicker.
This singer is not a good singer. This post-chorus boogie is awful. I think I'm desecrating some US Metal holy cow here. *Checks* Blackkout - Electric Soldiers. Well, it's US power metal alright. I think this Blackkout has ties to the infinitely more interesting "The Last Things" and which is why I even downloaded this. I think I've listened it to it once. I will review the rest of the record thrice and if the songwriting is as uninspiring as this and the singing as awkward throughout, I am deleting. Here's my first mark of shame on this playlist.
5.
Easy one. Took me two seconds. God, how I hate the voice of Haskell. The main riff of the song and how it alternates with the acoustic guitar parts is very interesting, though. Easily one of the better songs off of the gigantic irritation of a record that is "Lizard". King Crimson would never again scratch that particular faux neo-classical/jazz sore.
6. (not on youtube)
Took me until the vocals came in. Cirith Ungol, off of third third record "One Foot In Hell". At first I thought "Join the Legion" (which is the opener for their fourth and last "Paradise Lost") but it's not it. It's a testament to how generic the '80s period of Cirith Ungol sounds that one song could be on a different record and it'd fit right in. Whereas there's no possibility of mistaking any song off of their first two records as anything else at all. Still, mr. Baker is unmistakable, his voice is that of a terrible beast, one of the best there have ever been. The theme of too much US Metal continues.
7.
Thousands of years before the dawn of history, huh? Fates Warning - 'Damnation', off of their original release, "Night on Brocken". Unmistakable perfection. Also US Metal, but at least, some of *the* best US Metal. People into Jazz should have some Fates Warning on their collection. People into horrorcore should. Everyone. I headbanged.
(An interesting aside, the verse melody that Mr. Arch is employing here has been 'lifted' by Tom Phillips of While Heaven Wept, I'm pretty certain.)
8.
Oh no! Low end! Please don't let this be death metal!... *sigh*, that it is. At least it's moving very slow so I might eventually realize which doom/death band I'm listening to. Oh no, it picked up. The vocalist is positively guttural. Is this Finnish? Is this Krypt of Cerberos, perhaps? This riff sounds like Demilich, but Demilich I would never confuse with their lessers. Let me check. Yes! Crypt of Kerberos (and not the other way around). This goes on the delete pile even if I got a pretty good long shot guess out of it.
9.
Messhugah? These ambient washes in the beginning sound familiar. Is this the intro to "Contradictions Collapse"? Ah, this is certainly Messhugah. Which song however. This is going to give me trouble. At least it's *good* Messhugah. By that I mean, here they still ultimately play thrash riffs that evolve and mutate, not just 'rhythms' that evolve and mutate. There's no way I'm going to identify which song this is, Contradictions Collapse (and "None" for that matter) are so uniform, I can only tell which songs 'Gods of Rapture' and 'Cadaverous Mastication' are. *checks* Oh! Terminal Illusions off of Destroy Erase Improve. A whole record off, huh? Delete.
10.
"Dig Me", by King Crimson, off of the album "Three of a Perfect Pair". King Crimson save my ass twice in one playlist. It's impossible to mistake this song as anything else if you've ever heard it once, as it actually sounds like malfunctioning machinery. The clearly audible lyrics go on about just that. Dig me, don't bury me.
So, recapping, 9 out of 10 including guesses. But that's weak, so let's not include guesses. As per the rules, Artist - Record should count as at least partial recognition. With that criteria, 6 out of 10, which is pretty dire in itself. My pose has been exposed! How fare YOU, sir?
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