[jarcher]

Things have been a bit too quiet here, especially for a heavy metal thread, so thought I'd mention that I saw Metallica's "Through the Never" movie / video not too long ago and recommend it.  I could have done without the roadie mission side story, and the extras are lame, but the main concert footage was great. They played many of their old favorites & did them justice (not just pass them over quickly to get to new material, as I experienced once at an actual concert). 

Unfortunately Netflix only has the DVD and not the Blu Ray available, but even then the picture and sound quality (regular dolby digital multi channel) was pretty decent.  I can only imagine what I would have been like on IMAX w/ good theater grade sound when it had it's theatrical release. 

[HAL]

Ronnie James Dio:  This is Your Life

New 2014 Tribute:

[milford3]

Touch of Eternity - In The Crossroads Of Life (Finns just keep being the best at this genre)... doom - melodic death.



I'm on this one Bro.  The Audeze LCD2's take this band to a hole new level.

[asliarun]

I will admit that with metal, I have always been an outsider looking in. Unless you classify tool and opeth's more melodic stuff as metal.

Nonetheless, I came across gojira and was puzzled about the band. French metal band, speaking about environment conservation of all things!

But in my humble opinion, truly a class act, and a true metal band.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IV8z3H-9Dy0

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=suG-c_i2fBQ

[jarcher]

Been enjoying iTunes Thrash Metal Radio station this morning.  Move the dial to "discovery" and a pleasant surprise hearing a lot of good less obvious bands (e.g. Death Angel, Nuclear Assault, Anvil) as well as many I hadn't heard of (Viking, Coroner, Annihilator, etc).  So if you're looking to thrash out and you have iTunes, head on over. 

[PRELUDE]

Heavy News

August 19



July 8



July 22

And here is a super cut from Over kill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_c3GBrWsao

[Mag]

Okay I got it at the mall, Judas Priest- Redeemer of Souls- Deluxe (5 bonus tracks).

Just have to transfer it to a jump drive and I'll let u guys know if its any good.

[Mag]

Okay I got it at the mall, Judas Priest- Redeemer of Souls- Deluxe (5 bonus tracks).

Just have to transfer it to a jump drive and I'll let u guys know if its any good.

The Jury is in.

Battle Cry & Halls of Valhalla, two songs worthy of the Priest. The rest IMO, I would describe as rainbow rock, if you're in to that sort of thing.

[Ericus Rex]

What do you Mastodon fans think of the new album?

[JoshK]

ok, I am going to resurrect my old thread.   I have a sort of love/hate relationship with prog rock.   Most of my favorite all time bands would be qualified as at least somewhat progressive, yet I find most "prog rock" to be musicians circle jerk, much like a lot jazz.  To make a literary analogy, much of prog (and jazz) is Faulkner or Joyce rather than Hemingway or McCarthy. 

I much prefer bands who write great songs with very well thought out but not overt, (in your face..."oh we are prog, can you tell?") progressive elements. 

When I think of my favorites, PT, Steven Wilson (although his solo stuff is closer to the offensive, but he buys a pass given his past), Opeth, Tool (quasi-not-really-prog), Katatonia (again, prog I wouldn't put them down as straight away).   They all make great music first, with hints, twists, elements of prog.   I.e. the better parts of prog.

There are tons of prog bands that I can listen to that I think are so-so overall, with some bits of their careers better than others like Dream Theater (6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence), Cynic (traced in air), (probably forgetting a whack-ton here).    I really don't care for keyboard solos, so maybe that is a good reason why I don't like a lot of prog.   IMO, keyboards should be used sparingly for depth unless it is industrial music.

[JoshK]

DT's Train of Thought I thought was decent even though it was an attempt to whoo the nu-metal fans, it came off as decent.   Aghora's Formless is pretty straight up awesome. 

Cynic, I like the music, but the vocals keep me from really adopting it.  I can tolerate part of the  of album.   

Age of Nemesis, is ok.  Too much keyboard for my taste.   

SOEN yes, Green Carnation yes, Pain of Salvation nothing that I've heard to date.  Rush is cool, apart from Geddy's vocals (I can get into for a short while), Camel is ok from what I've heard (need to listen more). 

All in all, I think this thread is a treasure trove and I wish it continues.


I'd really love to find more music that I personally like.  Its always out there but hard to find.   Should be on the harder side, not nec metal.  Should have great musicianship first, minimal keyboardy riffs.   Vocals that are inviting, etc.



FWIW, I think Opeth's best albums despite some growly vocals (which I have more than grown accustomed to given their musical chops) are Watershed and Ghost Reveries, with Blackwater Park not too far behind.   The ups and downs and all over the place make it very Bach-esque IMO.

[jarcher]

I'll be peeking in her from time to time as well because I also like the prog rock / metal genre.  But agree often lyrics and / or vocals let's the genre down.  Took me a while to listen past Geddy Lee's voice - though many times the lyrics are decent. 

Why do so many prog and metal bands insist on singing some of that dribble w/ their crappy and/ or nasal voices?  So much "classical" music managed w/out lyrics - why do they feel they can't do without?  For that reason alone I sometimes like to turn to classical, jazz and some other formats not to have to listen to lame lyrics - and worse yet if they're badly sung.

I wish I had the names of clever and undiscovered bands to add to the list - I think most that I know of have been covered (as well as many I've never heard of). 

[Maritan]

JoshK - FWIW, I love Steven Wilson's new stuff over Porcupine Tree's newer albums, especially Deadwing.

Anyway, I didn't see you mention Riverside. Have you tried them? The lead singer also has his own project and it's called Lunatic Soul. It's a bit more spacey and probably won't be classified as hard rock, but I liked it.

[BobM]

Here's a link to Opeth's new album (streaming): http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Pale+Communion/9802557

A few others I've picked up lately that might float your boat:
- Lifesigns - S/T
- Bruce Soord - The Wisdom of Crowds (highly recommended)
- Haken - The Mountain (highly recommended)
- Sanguine Hum - The Weight of the World (highly recommended)
- Jolly - The Audio Guide to Happiness parts I and II
- Maschine - Rubidium
- The Tangent - Le Sacre Du Travail
- Russian Circles - (several)
- Dredge - Leitmotif

[BobM]

In a somewhat similar vein, recently published list from Prog Magazine ... how many of these do you own (I have 67)?

Prog Magazine Top 100
 
1. Close To The Edge – Yes
 2. In The Court of the Crimson King – King Crimson
 3. Selling England By The Pound – Genesis
 4. Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
 5. Thick As A Brick – Jethro Tull
 6. Foxtrot – Genesis
 7. Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
 8. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway – Genesis
 9. The Raven Who Refused To Sing – Steven Wilson
 10. Fragile – Yes
 11. Brain Salad Surgery – Emerson, Lake & Palmer
 12. Red – King Crimson
 13. Moving Pictures – Rush
 14. Animals – Pink Floyd
 15. 2112 – Rush
 16. The Wall – Pink Floyd
 17. Scenes From A Memory – Dream Theater
 18. Fear of a Blank Planet – Porcupine Tree
 19. Relayer – Yes
 20. Misplaced Childhood – Marillion
 21. A Trick of the Tail – Genesis
 22. Tales from Topographic Oceans – Yes
 23. Hemispheres – Rush
 24. Pawn Hearts – Van Der Graaf Generator
 25. Images and Words – Dream Theater
 26. Going for the One – Yes
 27. Deadwing – Porcupine Tree
 28. Tarkus – Emerson, Lake & Palmer
 29. Brave – Marillion
 30. Larks Tongues In Aspic – King Crimson
 31. The Snow Goose – Camel
 32. The Yes Album – Yes
 33. Lateralus – Tool
 34. Bridge Across Forever – Transatlantic
 35. In the Land of Pink and Grey – Caravan
 36. Blackwater Park – Opeth
 37. Meddle – Pink Floyd
 38. English Electric – Big Big Train
 39. The Whirlwind – Transatlantic
 40. Script for a Jester’s Tear – Marillion
 41. Nursery Cryme – Genesis
 42. Trilogy – Emerson, Lake & Palmer
 43. Aqualung – Jethro Tull
 44. Wind and Wuthering – Genesis
 45. Colours – Between The Buried and Me
 46. Ghost Reveries – Opeth
 47. Clutching at Straws – Marillion
 48. The Incident – Porcupine Tree
 49. A Passion Play – Jethro Tull
 50. Grace for Drowning – Steven Wilson
 51. Mirage – Camel
 52. Marbles – Marillion
 53. A Farewell to Kings – Rush
 54. The Mountain – Haken
 55. Journey to the Centre of the Earth – Rick Wakeman
 56. Acquiring the Taste – Gentle Giant
 57. Crack the Skye – Mastodon
 58. Moonmadness – Camel
 59. Weather Systems – Anathema
 60. Tubular Bells – Mike Oldfield
 61. De-loused in the Crematorium – The Mars Volta
 62. Aenima – Tool
 63. The Parallax II – Between The Buried and Me
 64. Operation Mindcrime – Queensryche
 65. Octopus – Gentle Giant
 66. In Absentia – Porcupine Tree
 67. Insurgentes – Steven Wilson
 68. Rock Bottom – Robert Wyatt
 69. Permanent Waves – Rush
 70. Discipline – King Crimson
 71. Atom Heart Mother – Pink Floyd
 72. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles
 73. Godbluff – Van Der Graaf Generator
 74. Hot Rats – Frank Zappa
 75. Free Hand – Gentle Giant
 76. Songs from the Wood – Jethro Tull
 77. Crime of the Century – Supertramp
 78. Still Life – Opeth
 79. Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Emerson, Lake & Palmer
 80. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence – Dream Theater
 81. Leftoverture – Kansas
 82. Subterannea – IQ
 83. Still Life – Van Der Graaf Generator
 84. Remedy Lane – Pain of Salvation
 85. UK – UK
 86. Six – Mansun
 87. OK Computer – Radiohead
 88. Snow – Spock's Beard
 89. Awake – Dream Theater
 90. Afraid of Sunlight – Marillion
 91. Damnation – Opeth
 92. The Six Wives of Henry the Eighth – Rick Wakeman
 93. Storm Corrosion – Storm Corrosion
 94. War of the Worlds – Jeff Wayne
 95. To Our Children’s Children’s Children – The Moody Blues
 96. Lizard – King Crimson
 97. Voyage of the Acolyte – Steve Hackett
 98. Tago Mago – Can
 99. Moving Waves – Focus
 100. Drama - Yes

[rooze]

The Flower Kings are very good

[JoshK]

Bob,
I think I own ~ 44 of those.  Hard to say as I collected a lot of prog rock LPs that I haven't dug out yet, so off the top of my head I am not sure which ones of Yes, King Crimson, Moody Blues, Camel I own. 

In all honesty I don't even think I've listened to any Genesis of that era.  I just can't get past the Phil Collins association (I know it was different). 

[JoshK]

JoshK - FWIW, I love Steven Wilson's new stuff over Porcupine Tree's newer albums, especially Deadwing.

Anyway, I didn't see you mention Riverside. Have you tried them? The lead singer also has his own project and it's called Lunatic Soul. It's a bit more spacey and probably won't be classified as hard rock, but I liked it.

Deadwing is probably my favorite PT album, or maybe the Incident.   SW's stuff is pretty good, but not as moving for me. 

I have a lot of the Riverside albums.   Anno Domini HD is probably the most notable. 

[simoon]

Glad this thread has been resurrected.

I'm surprised that you don't like Steve Wilson's solo work, especially The Raven That Refused to Sing. Seems to me to be a CD that puts emotion and song writing before musicianship.

A criminally under appreciated prog/prog metal band you might want to check out, is Wolverine from Sweden. They hit their stride on their second CD, 'The Window Purpose' (2002).

It starts up with the death of the male protagonist, and retells his life story through a picture gallery. It has some growling, but since the growls are used as the voice of the protagonist's childhood abuser, they work very well to communicate this character's evil. This CD was the last time they used growls.

All 3 CD's after this have been consistently excellent, with their latest, 'Communication Lost' (2011) possibly being their strongest and most mature.

I know someone mentioned Leprous earlier in the thread, but I'll bring them up again. Great band.

Riverside's vocalist, Mariusz Duda, has a side project called Lunatic Soul also worth checking out. More atmospheric than Riverside.

Pink Room from Poland is another band worth checking out. No question they were very influenced by P-Tree, but they make the style their own. Their 2 most recent CD's are the ones to get. The latest was from 2014.

INDUKTI from Poland is a mostly instrumental band, but on their first CD, they have Riverside's vocalist guesting on a couple of songs. King Crimson and TOOL are their main influences.

I'll post some more recommendations soon.

[simoon]

In all honesty I don't even think I've listened to any Genesis of that era.  I just can't get past the Phil Collins association (I know it was different).

That is unfortunate.

Genesis from Nursery Crime through The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is some of the best prog ever. Phil was only playing drums then (and a few backing vocals). There is zero hint of what a crap master he would become.