Octopus Overlords

moghedian wrote: Tue May 12, 2020 10:15 pm

Fantastic choice! My favorite from that very good comeback album.

Easily my favourite 21st Century album

On today's walk I listened to Exodus - Exhibit B: The Human Condition.

Sinisthra is the band Tomi Joutsen sang for before he joined Amorphis in 2005. I hadn't heard of them before, but they released a new album this mornin... with Tomi on vocals. Tomi's voice is one of my favorites in metal, so this was an insta-buy for me. It's more goth/prog than metal, but is certainly worth a listen.

Alestorm's third single from their upcoming album is out. Unlike the second one, Tortuga, which just made me scratch my head, this one sounds much more like something off their last album. Maybe... a little too much. It's immediately catchy, and I don't begrudge the group their increasingly silly, party-band direction, but I wish it was tempered with the narrative heft of, say, Gloryhammer. Alestorm's poppy anthems may have gotten me interested in them, but it was their less tongue-in-cheek early albums that really held my interest. But I guess there are only so many semi-serious pirate albums you can put out.




Meanwhile I've given Aether Realm's latest a couple of listens and am still trying to make up my mind on it. I was afraid the entire album was going to go in a poppy direction, but a few of the songs are actually really good at first listen (Lean into the Wind [awesome horns @ 02:00!], Hunger, One Hollow Word). I still haven't given Tarot enough attention, but The Magician remains one of my favourite songs ever.

Sudy wrote: Fri May 15, 2020 9:40 am Alestorm's third single from their upcoming album is out. Unlike the second one, Tortuga, which just made me scratch my head, this one sounds much more like something off their last album. Maybe... a little too much. It's immediately catchy, and I don't begrudge the group their increasingly silly, party-band direction, but I wish it was tempered with the narrative heft of, say, Gloryhammer. Alestorm's poppy anthems may have gotten me interested in them, but it was their less tongue-in-cheek early albums that really held my interest. But I guess there are only so many semi-serious pirate albums you can put out.

Alestorm is a blast live, but I don't think I've ever actually sat down and listened to one of their albums. I'll mix in occasional song of theirs here or there on shuffle ("Fucked With an Anchor" and "Drink" are still hilarious), but their schtick wears thin very quickly for me outside of a live setting.

Meanwhile I've given Aether Realm's latest a couple of listens and am still trying to make up my mind on it. I was afraid the entire album was going to go in a poppy direction, but a few of the songs are actually really good at first listen (Lean into the Wind [awesome horns @ 02:00!], Hunger, One Hollow Word). I still haven't given Tarot enough attention, but The Magician remains one of my favourite songs ever.

While RVFH has a couple catchy tracks, it's overall a rather significant disappointment, imo. I would recommend listening to "Tarot" over RVFH 99 times out of 100. It's a legit masterpiece.

Winterfylleth's singer put together a list of his 10 bleakest metal albums (a fantastic list, btw). Which led me to Esoteric's "Dominion of Slaves" creepy, evil, funeral doom.

Not sure how this completely escaped my radar before today, but it's soooooo good.

I love the part that begins around 02:50 and ramps up to 03:10. I had tuned out from industrial for years and didn't hear this album until a couple years ago.

Front Line Assembly - Release (2010)

A stunningly beautiful acoustic "quarantine" version of Wilderun's "Hope & Shadow". I could listen to this all day. Cool to see how many different instruments were involved.

One of my biggest concert regrets is that I never saw Jesus Lizard in their prime. I would have loved to see David Yow's onstage insanity back in the early/mid-90's.

Saw them and hung out before the show with them in Kalamazoo. They let us watch soundcheck because my brother-in-law was "in line" to get into the Club Soda at like 11:00 AM.

We brought them Bell's from a couple blocks over. David Yow drew a picture of Yoda for my brother-in-law.

Both from 1994. Great year.

New Enlsaved!!

Oh, Enslaved. I thought you meant Entombed. And I was confused that both iterations of the band would be releasing new material in parallel.

I'm reminded of Strong Bad's tips on "De-" words that death metal bands should use as lyrics:




I don't think I've ever listed to Enslaved. That song is an interesting contrast in tones and vocal styles.

Ahh Strong Bad and Lone Star. I had forgot about them. Gave me a lot of laughs back in the day.

That fake video at the end sounds suspiciously like Anvil or Sacred Reich

Sudy wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 2:45 pm I don't think I've ever listed to Enslaved. That song is an interesting contrast in tones and vocal styles.

They started as one of the OG Norwegian black metal bands, but have morphed very successfully into a blend of black, death, and prog (leaning more towards the latter as they get older) that is fantastic. RIITIIR is my favorite album of theirs, it's brilliant.

Daehawk wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 2:51 pm Ahh Strong Bad and Lone Star.

Lone Star?

Lol...got my Schwartz mixed up with my Homestar Runner

freelunch wrote: Thu May 14, 2020 4:50 pm Easily my favourite 21st Century album

Love that album. Saw her play in Portland last year at a relatively small club, and she was pretty amazing.

Who is it? There is no title or link.

No idea.

Amanda Palmer, Theatre Is Evil

I thought it was on our admission exam that we had to recognize her on sight.

For someone who doesn't really like Ministry, Last.fm accuses me of listening to them a lot. I've always found Al and co. on the nose, both musically and lyrically. But depending on the phase of the band, they build an incredibly unique soundscape. I've always found a lot of their riffs repetitive, but the best ones develop interesting rhythms and grooves that aren't always evident at first listen.

Maybe a little bit off-topic, but I'm listening/watching my new favorite channel on Youtube: Rick Beato's What Makes this Song Great. A musician friend of mine turned me on to this, and I started watching the other night (first one I saw was Korn, "Freak on a Leash") and was hooked. I watched for four hours straight. The guy is a music producer and really seems to know his stuff. I'm not a musician at all - I just love music - so a lot of the more technical stuff went right over my head, but it was still wildly entertaining to hear him dissect songs from artists from Tool to Alice 'n Chains to the Beatles to Led Zeppelin to the Deftones, with obvious appreciation for all of them.

Check it out if you get a chance.

Kurth wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 2:11 am

freelunch wrote: Thu May 14, 2020 4:50 pm Easily my favourite 21st Century album
(mysterious Amanda Palmer album cover)

Love that album. Saw her play in Portland last year at a relatively small club, and she was pretty amazing.

I flew 1,000 miles to see her in a small venue about three years ago. Fantastic show, Then she played a surprise gig in my hometown (which is WELL off the beaten track for international artists) a couple months later, and I saw that too.

I can never listen to this song fewer than four times in a row when I do listen to it. Such a bookmark of the period in time for me.

Every Grunge Star owes Rick Sims a royalty payment or at least a fruit basket.

Been listening to the classics today.

The Chicago Symphony has been been streaming some of their recorded concerts. The other day, we watched Verdi's Requiem. My 6 year old son said it was sad, but good (well, it is a death mass). My daughter worked herself into a rage, screaming it was "too boring, turn it off!" i refused to comply and she promptly went to bed early. She showed me!

Daehawk wrote: Tue May 26, 2020 3:33 pm Been listening to the classics today.

This is right on time. I'm about three-quarters through a Dimebag autobiography so I'm on a kick with their music.

I didn't really listen to them at the time but I'm appreciating it now.

On this morning's walk I listened to Destruction - Thrash Anthems (and it was awesome).

This pretty much sums up my feelings about the world in general today.

Before we moved, there was a paved river trail near our house. I used to go rollerblading every single day after work to stay in shape. Project Pitchfork's "Daiminion" album was my CD of choice to slap in my portable CD player. Listened to that album nearly every single day for a couple years straight. Even now, listening to this song makes me feel like I'm flying down the trail on my old skates.

That was back in 2001...damn, I'm getting old.