Good month for metal
 

Testament - The Formation of Damnation: Skolnick is back and it sounds like classic Testament all over again, but I still like 'The Gathering' the best.

Children of Bodom - Blooddrunk: STOOOOOPID title. First song, 'Hellhounds on my tail" is killer. The rest are good to decent. Better than the last album.

Firewind - The Premonition: Greek metal! Let the '300' jokes begin. This one is more consistent than the last album. "Circle of Life" is the best track.

In Flames - A Sense of Purpose: Old time fans will complain again. But it's not bad. Certainly not 'Colony' but not bad.

So, anyone else like these guys?

http://www.norcalblogs.com/post_scri...of%20Nerds.jpg
Sweet!

I like the Bodom more than the In Flames. In Flames put on the better show, though.

I'd suggest people check out the new Origin album if your into what's consitered 'extreme death metal'

Didn't the new Death Angel come out this month too?

I was pretty disappointed with In Flames.

I have CoB but haven't had a chance to spin it yet.

I cannot wait for the Testament - I've been a fan since The New Order was released.

Don't forget about the remaster Special Edition of Opeth - Still Life!

I'm excited about the Testament, and didn't even realize they'd released a special edition of Still Life. I'm going to have to pick that one up.

I've got the first two Firewind albums, and they are great!

I haven't picked up any of their stuff since the original singer was let go (turned out working from two different continents was difficult - go figure).

I'll pick up the rest of their catalog before too long, though. Great band.

Will definitely be picking up the new Testament ASAP. Have listened to the new In Flames a couple times now, and it isn't really doing much for me.

As far as Children of Bodom goes... I know people really dig this stuff, and I've tried NUMEROUS times to get into it. Generally, I like their sound, but once every damn song breaks out into a cheesy 80's sounding keyboard solo, and have to turn it off. Ugh!

New Testament is going to be killer. When's that out again, the 29th?

Children of Bodom: Blooddrunk is ok, but it's obvious these guys are running out of riffs. A lot of it sounds similar to past efforts, with only a couple of tracks somewhat standing out.

Opeth: Still Life remaster is one I'd like to get, but without any new bonus tracks, and with the current release still sounding good, I might lag on picking this one up for a while. Although it would help to get me that much more pumped for Watershed.

I've never liked In Flames.

I want to check out the new Origin album. I liked their last effort.

Not sure if this would sweeten the deal for you, but there's a DVD with a 5.1 mix in this release.

Testament
and
Children of Bodom

\m/

That does help, although I'm typically one of those "movies are for home, music is for the car" kind of people, so I probably wouldn't get a ton of mileage out of it. Still, good to know.

For those into metalcore, Unearth has a new dvd out. Great performance.

Also, in 2 months we have new opeth.

What i found amusing about this, is that my favorite song track 3 "Lobotomy" is the only song on the album that wasn't written by Alexi. It was written by someone named Kim Gross.

Wait, did somebody say new Death Angel?! Must investigate further...

As a long time fan of Testament, this whole Skolnick thing snuck up on me, very nice surprise for a hibernating fan. I hope for a return to the Practice what you Preach days.

For all Opeth fans on here, check out TheOmegaOrder.com for a sweet exclusive on this. I ordered the Deluxe Edition which includes: the special edition CD/DVD version of the album, the vinyl release (which has a bonus track), a poster, an autographed booklet and a free CD (which contains something called "Mellotron Heart". Not sure if it's Opeth or something else). All for $40.99. Not bad at all.

Another easier URL for the above is www.theendrecords.com.

I've got my CD/DVD set on order with them.

I hear a clip of "Lotus Eater" and it sounds awesome.

Also had a chance to spin the Still Life remaster, and it is a marked improvement over the previous Peaceville digipak release.

Kim Gross was in Synergy with Alexi (I think they dated or were married). She was also in the band Ancient and briefly played keyboards for Dimmu Borgir way back in the day.

For me, CoB has been a disappointment since Hatecrew Deathtoll and In Flames since Reroute to Remain. But anything before those albums, for me, is where it's at.

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/5258/cobcj6.jpg

The guy on the right doesn't look like he belongs in a metal band.

Are you saying that metalheads are so shallow that looks matter?

well that and the whole Keytar. I have no prob with metal bands that use keyboards.

Theres also a new Walls of Jericho EP on the 29th which i am very interested in hearing, as its much slower and accousticly based then most of their stuff. And I'm a big fan of "No Saving Me" from their last album. They also apparently did a cover of "house of the rising sun"

I'm trying to not be biased about that release.

Walls Of Jericho is one of my favorite hardcore bands and have been for a long time now. Don't know how I feel about Corey Taylor (Slipknot/Stone Sour) helming the controls for the production of the new EP.

Definitely a good month for metal....

Origin: Antithesis
Soilent Green: Inevitable Collapse In The Presence Of Conviction
Arsis: We Are The Nightmare
The Sword: Gods of The Earth
Cephalic Carnage: Conforming To Abnormality (Re-release)

well, they do have a full length that is supposed to come out in the fall, so i don't think they're abandoning the hardcore stuff just yet. As long as they don't go in the way of Eighteen Visions and Atreyu (making simpler more radio friendly music to sell to a mass audience), i'll be more then happy.

Well I just got through the first listen of Testament's new one.

I'm a little disappointed.

The positives:

Andy Sneap mix always = awesome sound
Chuck's voice sounds great
Bostaph's drumming makes me wish he was always in the band since day one (Loved him in Forbidden)

The negatives:

The songs are very "samey"
Skolnick's leads aren't as melodically memorable as his previous Testament work - more shredding than memorable licks IMO

We'll see how a second listen goes, but so far I'd probably not rank this one higher than anything from Low or earlier, but higher than Gathering and Demonic due to the awesome sound and Bostaph.

I'm really enjoying the Testament so far, but it's not quite as "Thrashy" as I was hoping for. Still a really solid release though, and it's nice to hear Skolnick doing something other than Jazz. I agree that the leads aren't as memorable... although they may become more memorable with a few more listens.

I'm digging the new Testament right now. It's about as thrashy as anything new that's come out in the last 5-10 years. The production also played a large role in that "thrash" sound. Better production tends to diminish it. I think it has a great sound, good leads and Chuck sounds great. Definitely one of my highlight discs of the year. Anyone else order it from the official site? Only $15 for an autographed copy. Great deal and they all signed the group photo in the booklet.

Cool! I was thinking about buying this off of Amazon but I just ordered the autographed copy from their site. Thanks for the heads-up KillerC!
:rock2:

Got mine from Amazon.

I think you're right about the production influencing the sound.

None of the early Testament every sounded that great to me. It seemed like their trademark snare sound was that big, hollow echo-y snare.

I thought you were talking about some obscure Testament compilation until I looked it up and saw it was Firewind. :)

just got back from seeing Death Angel live along with God Forbid, Soilent Green and Light This City

Anyway, about the show. I am now an official death angel fan. hell i hadn't really heard of them until about a year or so ago. They defently delivered. They also mentioned that they haven't been in baltimore in 18 years, which was amazing to me. Line of the night was from a guy who yelled out "fuck man, you guys don't age, you look exactly the same" which got a good laugh. I assume they weren't one of the big druggie bands in the 80's right. They played a few songs from 'The Ultra Violence", and the last song was Thrwn to the Wolves, from "art of dying", which is such a great song, i'm gonna search my local record and tape traders to find the new album, the album from 04, and Ultra violence.

The band that stole the show was Light This City. they were so crisp live, and i bought their cd and they sound exactly like the album. Oh, and the singer is hot as shit too, and can scream like the best of them, and it doesn't sound forced or straigned like some bands. Def check them out live if you can.
http://www.prostheticrecords.com/fil...htthiscity.jpg
this pic doesn't do it justice as how gorgous she is.
I was also first in line, so i got to see alot of the bands outside chilling out, also got my pic w/ Byron of God Forbid. Got the drum stick from the drummer of ltc. Its so worn down, that the bottom part (the little circle/round part) was broken complelty off. supposing i can get my cell to send them to my email, i'll post em here and on my myspace.

And i didn't care too much for Soilent Green. Maybe the crowd was burned out from Light This City, but they didn't really connect too much.

I received the autographed copy of Testament's new album last Friday -- quick order turnaround. The CD was shipped in the plastic wrap so an additional copy of the CD booklet was included with the band autographs. Pretty cool!

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/4...tionxp8.th.jpg

got mine, what a great album

Can't STAND Children of Boredom, and I've even seen them in concert.

New In Flames is OK. New Testament and Death Angel are really good.


Don't forget Act III. That is probably their best one.


It still has that long till release? I figured it can't be much longer, since I've already heard the whole thing. It ranks up there with Ghost Reveries and Deliverance I think.

When did Avril Levine start playing metal?

They can release 10 more records and this will always be true IMO.

I should try and track down The Organization CD they did after Act III. I heard it long ago but lost track of it.

Just a few more weeks now. One of the few times I gave in and listened to it in advance of the official release. I've probably heard it like 30 times already.

I think I'd still have to give Deliverance and Ghost Reveries the tie for best record from them, but this one is indeed right up there.

i think thats Alexi, the singer of Bodom
Oh and here's my favorite song of theirs 'needled 24/7' nsfw if you can understand the lyrics
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I know. It was a joke. :p

I pre-ordered a limited edition vinyl/cd autographed package of the new Opeth album from theendrecords.com I haven't heard anything off it and am waiting for the vinyl. I was a huge fan of Ghost Reveries and have high expectations for this one, after the reviews I've read. Also, I think the package thing may come with a 5.1 dvd of the album, but I'm not sure. I know that Still Life 5.1 just recently came out.