And also, on Death Magnetic. I just found out that it is also available for streaming entirely on their own site.

I get the impressions that while it is a return to form of sorts (and really what wouldn't be after St. Anger?), it is still rather flawed.

As promised, the riffs have more of an old school sound to it, and the solos are back and longer than ever. However, while those are all good elements you find as well on their vintage albums, it doesn't add up to create classic material. And it's easy to see why... Their long songs on their classic albums sound extremely focused because each song only had a few riffs in them which formed the core of the song.
On Death Magnetic, the songs are long, and they're packed full of short different riffs. It's like they were determined to cramp absolutely any lick or riff that came to their heads into each song. It makes the whole thing sound chaotic and disjointed. They did the same thing on St. Anger, come to think of it.

Also as St. Anger, the album has a clear case of Lars' disease. That's where the drums are overly loud and crappy sounding. It's not as severe as on St. Anger, but damn. Somebody needs to tell that guy he can't produce a drum sound worth shit. I thought Rick Rubin would've been able to steer him away from a sound like this. But alas.

Gojira is coming to Seattle!!!!

Nov 18 2008 8:00P
Showbox Sodo Seattle, Washington

two days before my birthday.

I.
Will.
Go.

Currently listening to, and loving:

METALLICA
Death Magnetic



I started writing about every song in detail, but it's pointless. I prefer to sum it up: Apart from the terrible "The Day That Never Comes" (endless sub-"Fade To Black", with the worst part from "One"), "The Unforgiven III" (the title says it all) and the useless instrumental, there are good things in this record, some are even very good. Unfortunately it is crippled by a lack of focus, too much of everything. Uninventive drums, endless doodling solos, at times you will also have Thin Lizzy-esque harmonized leads that make you think they're going back to their roots, not only as a band, but as metal heads too. So how does it sound ? Frustrating, because some of the material is good. Frustrating, because the good is too often buried in the middle of the disposable. Frustrating, because there is no producer skill on this record to help the band focus on an aim. Frustrating, with such an awesome bass player in the band. Frustrating, because the sound is wimpy... where is the legendary Hetfield sound ? The low end is gone ! Frustrating, because it sounds like they wanted to please old fans without giving anything new.

Finally I can't escape the context, everything has already been said and written about the record, so what about the references to older records ?
Kill'Em All - Yes, for some direct basic efficient riffs
Ride The Lightning - Not much (the Fade To Black self rip-off ? a riff reminding me of Escape ?)
Master Of Puppets - Nothing (unfortunately... apart from a riff from Orion)
... And Justice For All - the duration of the songs, the useless instrumental, but not the daring ideas of the original.
Metallica - NOT the sound Some of the use of "rock" elements in a "metal" way
Load and Reload (I'm tempted to say everything that's bad) The classic rock approach ?
St Anger - Some of the looser-sounding attempt at creating heavy grooves

Now think of it: The last Machine Head record is fully packed with riffs (much more than needed) and yet maintains a unity. The last Slayer is a kind of "new classic". While having its moments, Death Magnetic doesn't achieve this result.

Frustrating, because some of us used to expect Metallica to be leaders on the metal scene, to set up new standards. Those days are gone, it doesn't mean the band is unable to make good music.
The problem is half on the record, half on my expectations. Check yours !

quote:

Originally posted by Wanderer:

Also as St. Anger, the album has a clear case of Lars' disease. That's where the drums are overly loud and crappy sounding. It's not as severe as on St. Anger, but damn. Somebody needs to tell that guy he can't produce a drum sound worth shit. I thought Rick Rubin would've been able to steer him away from a sound like this. But alas.

Agreed. Drum sound is fucking terrible. I thought it might be only the streaming quality on their website, but apparantly not. Can't listen to it, it's as everything was recorded beyond clipping point. Horrible.
Another victim of the Loudness War. Or maybe they've just gone deaf.

James apparently went deaf two decades ago.

I have the Metallica album, but yet to give it a play.

LINK: After seeing Motorhead for the first time, back in mid '80's, I thougt I'd gone deaf. My ears whistled for 4 days.

LINK: saw this video on the Kerrang TV channel last week, thought Lemmy but found Probot - Shake Your blood - wicked ladeez

Been listening to the 2004 album all day. Hmmm, mostly too heavy for my liking but there are 4 or 5 cracking tracks on it (the slower ones).

My guitar classes have rekindled a passion. Jeez, I even got a copy of the new AC/DC track yesterday, after visiting a music shop for a new amplifier lead and chatting to the long haired counter assistant about a DC tabs book he was perusing re the last time I saw them (the Heat Seeker tour) I could see Mrs Bictaker rolling her eyes in an 'OMG' look of fear. It begins (again)

Probot was an ambitious project, to say the least. Oddly enough i never actually got around to listening to it very carefully. Maybe i should do that sometime.

quote:

Can't listen to it, it's as everything was recorded beyond clipping point.

Same for guitars. Slayer method.

Cross posted, but oh so goooooood.

Don't even remember when I last posted, but here's a quick update:
Saw Gigantour. In Flames and COB kicked ass. Laiho started playing Journey (don't remember which song) and half the crowd started singing along, at which point Alexi laughed at them and launched into a Bodom song. Pretty funny.
Got dragged to Nightwish, and wound up enjoying them despite not being a huge fan of the genre.
Scandinavian females have disgustingly high voices apparently.
Went to Arch Enemy, and immensely enjoyed Angela Gossow's over-the-top stage masculinity. (The music obviously ruled or I wouldn't have gone )
Got tix to Amon Amarth for this weekend and I'm super excited! Missed them last year so this'll be my first time seeing them.
A-a-a-a-a-nd..
Played my first show EVER on September 1st!
Not screaming for my #1 band choice, but we're having trouble getting that one off the ground.
Was a really fun show despite the fact that I had to improv a lot due to the fact that I'd joined the band 2 weeks before and wrote all-new lyrics for 7 songs.
Kept my head down for the 1st song, but when people started cheering afterwards, I got right into it. We opened for fucking Finntroll!
Playing another show on friday, looking forward to it.
Northern Shadows MySpace

I like the Probot album

And I'm seeing Carcass this Saturday night

And 'grats, Val, and great to see you

Saw Metallica - The Day That Never Comes new video for the 1st time yesterday (Youtube link).

Generation Kill for the conscientious objector? Very slick but too staged. Good song though - helped my guitar practice no end; boring chords come alive when the Gain was cranked up to full. The SG remided me of why I love metal. Probably sounded crud but I had FUN

quote:

Originally posted by Val:
A-a-a-a-a-nd..
Played my first show EVER on September 1st!
Not screaming for my #1 band choice, but we're having trouble getting that one off the ground.
Was a really fun show despite the fact that I had to improv a lot due to the fact that I'd joined the band 2 weeks before and wrote all-new lyrics for 7 songs.
Kept my head down for the 1st song, but when people started cheering afterwards, I got right into it. We opened for fucking Finntroll!
Playing another show on friday, looking forward to it.
Northern Shadows MySpace

AWESOME. Good site, cranking song.
I hope that one day I'll be half as good. Keep posting the vibe.

Carcass



(apologies for the quality of the cellphone photo)

Extreme metal crowds are some of the friendliest and nicest people you'll meet. Don't be confused by the long dreads or buzzcuts, the piercings and tattoos - the crowd waiting outside to file into the Arena for the Carcass show was a huge band of brothers (with one or two sisters lightly sprinkled through). I got chatting with a guy in his late teens or early 20s who was mainly into Nightwish and had come to Carcass via Arch Enemy, and to some guys in their 30s who had been Carcass fans as teenagers. We discussed which was our favourite album, and the transition the band made from grindcore to melodic death metal, and the production issues on the first album... and then it was time for the show.

Carcass chose local metal bands in each city they played on this Australian tour as their support, which is a nice way to support beginning bands. So we got two local Brisbane metal bands, Defamer and Limb from Limb.

Defamer were excellent - one guitarist looked a bit like a monk with short hair and a beard, the other had a shaved head and a full beard an Amish man would be proud of. The vocalist wore a floor length black leather coat and had a mane of blonde hair almost to his waist, which he hid behind a lot of the time and headbanged and helicoptered with the rest. The band was tight and the music varied, with headbanging rifferamas, excellent solos, speedy technical breaks and a lot of dynamics. Plenty of stage presence, and a mix of some black metal style screams with an impressive death-grunt. An excellent band, recommended.

Apparently there are at least three bands called Limb from Limb - one in Vancounver, one in the US and this one in Brisbane. Have to admit their version of extreme technical death metal didn't do a lot for me: the assault was just too unrelenting, with constant blastbeats, and basically the identical vocal style on all songs. For those who are fans of this style I'm sure they play it well, but the contrast with the complexity and dynamics of Defamer didn't do them a lot of favours, and with Carcass even less so.

Carcass took the stage at 10:30, after maybe 15 minutes of chants and yelling and anticipation, and ripped it up from the first song. The band was incredibly tight, and all looked as though they were having a great time just playing. The music is huge and varied and impressive, with fantastic melodic passages and riffs, actual guitar solos and a variety of vocal styles from Jeff Walker as well as vocal contributions from both Bill Steer and Michael Ammott on some songs. Solos were bluesy, rich and complex, with the kind of real 'storyline' through the solo that I'm always looking for and seldom find these days in extreme metal. Daniel Erlandsson, who has stepped in on drums because Ken Owen is still not well enough to go out on the road and play, did an awesome job, hitting the heavy sound that marks Carcass apart from all the other 'double-kick on everything' bands in this genre.

It was cool to hear a wide range of songs from right across the band's career - and to realise that with decent production the songs from the first two albums aren't actually as different from the later stuff as they seemed. The band played a couple from Swansong, and took on the perceptions about that album, saying that many of the songs on it were written at about the same time as the ones on Necroticism.

Jeff was in his usual sarcastic, humorous mode, generally having fun and making fun of the crowd and the band. He went with the "So, we last toured here in 1993..." and got the expected roar, then pointed out someone in the first row and said "You weren't even born then... I can tell by the Arch Enemy shirt". (For those unfamiliar with the history, Michael Ammott left Carcass and formed Arch Enemy... and brought their drummer back with him into the band - so half of this band is Arch Enemy, but it's a newer band.) He also asked "So who is seeing Meshuggah tomorrow night?", got the roar and came back with "Yeah, I could tell - you're the ones who don't headbang or raise your fists". (Sorry to explain another joke, but Meshuggah is very technical metal in, like, 19/8 time signature, so their audiences sometimes tend to stand back and listen rather than risk injury by trying to headbang to it.)

The sheer complexity, melody and dynamics of the Carcass show are what stayed with me: a perfect example of using the technique and the power to serve the song, rather than for its own sake. This is music that is extreme because it needs to be, but doesn't take being even more extreme as a goal.

Who wrote these lyrics?

I’ll set up my throne above,
Cold and terrible will be the peak of it.
Superstitious trembling is at its base,
Master – most black agony.

The one who will look with healthy looks,
Will turn away, turn pale and deadly mute.
Possessed by blind and cold deathness,
will prepare a tomb with his happiness.

Karl Marx, maybe, Bravus?

Yeah, he missed his calling. If black metal had come along sooner Russian history might have been quite different.

That, is hysterical. I want to set it to music.

Just saw Metallica on french TV ( !!!).
They played "The Day That Never Comes" (can't stand it), "Cyanide" and "Enter Sandman". Not tight and a bit tired.