The Heavy Metal Thread

[metal_bryan]

[jellydonut25]

[Destroysall]

Anybody ever gave a listen to Serpent? While I'm not big on the vocalist's screams, I do enjoy the instrumental work. My favorite song is .

[metal_bryan]

[Destroysall]

[metal_bryan]

Sometimes I find that people have a hard time getting into certain bands, because their music is so hit or miss to the average metal listener. Here are a couple bands I think fit that bill and a healthy sampling of their music. Remember, if you like it, try to buy it! I own all of the albums featured below.

I'm going to try and do posts like this from time to time in the thread to hopefully introduce people to some new bands if they hadn't heard them yet. This post happens to be two power metal bands, but I'm going to span the genres in the future.



These Finnish guys have been highly influential on the power metal genre, especially the more neo-classical flavored bands. Here are some good starter tracks...

INSTRUMENTALS (their shining moments as a band):
Stratosphere: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPZ47_qMqYA
Holy Light: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHVP2anxbH8
Stratofortress: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-i-LhRudP4

SONGS:
Black Diamond: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn58-Nl9NYw
Phoenix: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uZLgTx_Sqk
Destiny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB7dol-NtRY&feature=fvw
No Turning Back: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlbAq5cJeA0
Rebel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsyWHNlUrVk
Curtains Are Falling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yStL7wL2k5k
Learning To Fly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ubKaNrfwVI
Speed of Light: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYXeS_X2Dpc
Against The Wind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Udlw0BV_Ro
Distant Skies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_QmCcdzdXw
Legions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOBzLDTFWfU
Find Your Own Voice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsEHu-wxEyU
I'm Still Alive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LiyXieIxCQ
Know The Difference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayy7HwOFhNg

RADIO TRACKS:
S.O.S.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNOHIxD0j_Q
Why Are We Here?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4TuSXFfyPA
Hunting High and Low: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2l8KtdQ7Ek
Eagleheart: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCnn7WEQIDI
I Walk To My Own Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPEkmOomglQ

WTF MOMENT:
Galaxies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG3Nm6mVZwI
You can't listen to this song and tell me it doesn't remind you of Robotech or some other similar 80's giant robot rock show. Here, just listen to this afterwards and tell me you don't hear it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvXTC7LeIMI




Here is another power metal band from Finland who were highly inspired by Stratovarius and ended up ascending to their throne when Strato "broke up" a few years ago. Their songs tend to be more on the emotional/personal side lyrically. Here's a sampling from all of their albums except for the newest which I haven't listened to much yet.

Ecliptica:
Full Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A4WoHxL3GQ
8th Commandment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy81-mzwQoE
My Land: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Gqd0XPKsI

Silence (this was my first Sonata album, before Winterheart's Guild came out):
Weballergy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbW_WyG7PEM
False News Travels Fast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_R0OAnPcKU
Wolf & Raven: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc1fzwgYAGw

Winterheart's Guild (their best album overall):
Abandoned, Pleased, Brainwashed, Exploited: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY4ffiTR_Lk
The Cage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk52MvFLMvw
Victoria's Secret: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYIjyCVSf0U

Reckoning Night:
Ain't Your Fairytale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8NIP7uMu3s
Don't Say A Word: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTSdch6jy-Q
My Selene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plBh1zy66cQ

Unia (this is where they started getting more progressive):
In Black And White: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79wD5FyZDUQ
Paid In Full: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI0GA7-iQTs
It Won't Fade: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S9jWL-_j-g

[Destroysall]

[GhostMachine]

[jellydonut25]

[Destroysall]

[Joseph Goodman]

[metal_bryan]

[Destroysall]

[jellydonut25]

so, let me get my M&G 'complaint' out of the way so it doesn't seem like i'm being ungrateful...i REALLY wanted them to play Whiplash. I've been to 10 shows and have never seen Whiplash. I asked our Danish pal to play it. When Motorbreath started, I just went "aw...SHUCKS!" (literally, i said that out loud...) not a huge deal it just would have been awesome to have my song request played...so it's less a 'complaint' than a 'could have been even more awesome' (like "complaining" that your FREE ice cream sundae has chocolate sauce instead of hot fudge...chocolate sauce is still very good....fudge is just very very good...)


with that out of the way...THANK YOU METALLICA! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

i stood in the will-call area talking to a guy who was working the m&g for this show...nervous pleasantry talking...everyone was kinda chattin it up until they took us backstage, then everyone got quiet (for a bit) cuz pretty much everyone was so nervous to be meeting their idols...chatter started up again and EVERY SINGLE TIME somebody came out of the dressing room area, the initial reaction was people starting to pull out cameras/get excited, only to have it be some security or janitorial staff...

when Rob finally came out first, i was so star-struck i forgot that the staff said we could take pics of the guys as they walked in and met with others. i just stood there thinking "Rob f-ing Trujillo is 20 ft from me...10 ft...5 ft...2 ft...i'm shaking his hand....awesome" and i think Rob was my least awesome interaction because i was so star-struck...which is ok, i'm actually glad it was Rob that i flubbed a bit with because (no offense Rob) i dont feel like i know him quite as well as the other guys. I asked him how awesome the RRHOF ceremony was for him (as he signed my RRHOF tickets) when i finally got my deer in headlights feeling gone...one down, and as he was maybe 5-7 people in...

in walked Papa Het. JEESUS! Not only is he larger than life on stage and in vids, he is TRULY larger than life! The guy is TALL! He was dressed like he was ready to take the stage for Volbeat. Just totally looked like a 50s greaser...and it's a look that (a) totally fits him and (b) helped me realize this is 'James Hetfield' im getting to meet...NOT 'metallica frontman' but JAMES HETFIELD the person and not the on-stage personality...when it came time for him to sign my stuff i knew what i wanted to say...as he signed my RRHOF tickets i said, "i just wanted to THANK YOU for your speech that night. it was really inspirational and just those few words you said at the end 'i DARE you to do that'...i was blown away. it made me realize that you guys werent always the biggest thing in the world and even you had to take a huge risk somewhere along the lines and take a major gamble on yourselves. and it inspired me to take a gamble on myself...ive got a bit of diarrhea of the mouth right now and im rambling but the words 'i DARE you to do that ' inspired me to not settle for mediocrity and i actually have always wanted to be a writer and in part thanks to your speech ive decided im going to take that leap myself"
and just...i could have nearly CRIED because he doesn't just look at the thing he's signing or at the next person he's going to go to, or at his assitants/body guards...he looks you DEAD IN THE EYES...he LISTENS to you. i've met celebrity personalities before and they just kind of sign your "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!", and move on and if you talk to them they give you some stock BS about it being nice to meet a fan (or they dont even say that at all) and James seems totally sincere when he tells you how GLAD he is that he's able to inspire people and how he literally doesn't get tired of the gushing from fans...his dry sense of humor is AMAZING too...i really feel like i'd get along with James in a totally non-metallica sense. his personality is one of those that i think compliments mine really well (kind of like he and Lars...where James is a bit more reserved and dry and Lars is more outgoing and goofy...it's a complimentary thing...more on that later...). i mean no disrespect to the other 3 guys, especially because im SURE there are people out there who's favorites are Kirk, Rob, Lars...but James is far and away my favorite member of metallica and my only HOPE was that he wouldn't bail on the meet and greet (you arent guaranteed to meet all of them...) and when i saw him walk in, i didnt care about ANYTHING else...my meet and greet was complete...
as james was getting ready to leave me i asked if he could do me a favor...i had him grab the video camera that they use to record all their meet and greets and demand that my wife let me get more tattoos...i was hopefuly it would show up in the MetOnTour online video clip from that night, so i could show it to my wife, but it didnt...oh well...

Kirk looked tired...he walked in with a cup of coffee, kinda sauntered in...he was a bit absent-minded too...it was kinda funny because he kept making fun of himself for it but he'd ask the same people multiple times if they wanted him to sign anything moments after he signed it...or if they were gonna do a picture moments after already doing one...as he signed my Coffin he asked me what i thought of the box set...rather than be a toolbox and tell him i thought the guitar picks sucked, i just highlighted what i thought was AWESOME about it...i told him "first of all, perfect nice white thing to get signed" and we kinda shared a laugh and then i said "it's awesome though, ive listened to the demo probably just as much as the cd itself and i really like the lyrics for the demo version of broken beat and scarred the 'dyins easy its livin thats hard' line that got cut is really cool" and he said 'yeah im not sure why we cut that...must have been SOME reason...' and then laughed...so that was cool, i asked him what his favorite horror movies are and of course he said the universal monsters so i asked about anything recent and he said he's been dying to see Drag Me to Hell...he's a big evil dead and sam raimi fan so he's hoping to see that soon...

then, in strolled our little danish friend, and little is TOTALLY accurate...for a guy as small as he is, he portrays such a big stage presence...Lars was Lars and maybe it'd be best to leave it at that but i will elaborate a bit i suppose. he came over and what i love about lars is that as he signs stuff he LOOKS at it, and i mean REALLY looks at it...people have him sign albums and stuff and he like opens them up and looks inside and comments on the pictures and it's like Lars doing a BABBLE with you...he just shoots the "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!", almost to himself sometimes! when he signed my RRHOF ticket, he spent like 30 seconds looking at it and i was just like "uhh...you can sign anywhere you want..." and he goes "yea, no...um, so did you go to this then?" and we talked about that for a bit and he was like "so how are you today?" and i said never better...then i saw the MetonTour camera and i said "with the exception of when i got married..."i pointed to the camera "she might see this afterall" and he laughed and was like "good "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" answer...youre marriage has a future!" and he asked if she was there and i told him she was at home with the dog and he was like "with the "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!"' DOG?!" and i told him we have a bad dog so nobody wants to babysit her...and i told him when they were in buffalo in '04 he gave my wife a drum stick and then he interrupted me kinda and goes "well man, you keep saying 'she' does 'she' have a "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" name or what?!?" and i said angela and he said "well dude tell angela i said high" and then he asked if i wanted to hear anything special tonight and...i've already been into that part (:lol: seriously, i dont CARE at all about THAT, i got to MEET METALLICA!!!!)

meeting the guys was awesome and it gave me an idea as to how lars and james are such good friends. they complement each other really well...where one of them has a gap in his personality, the other one fills it...where when of them is strong, the other is not as strong and they are thus able to help each other out when things get difficult...they are able to push each other but at their CORE they are quite similar, they're both very respectful people and so they are able to realize that as they are pushing each other and getting on each other's nerves, it's because they CARE about each other...they have enough common ground to be able to be friends but enough differences to be able to be REAL friends and not just on a superficial 'we agree on everything' level...they have a REALLY cool dynamic together...

in the end, all i had HOPED for was just to get all four of them there, so that anything signed would have all four and not just two or three...what i GOT was much more than that though...it met every expectation i had (except getting whiplash played...oh well, it was played at the next show i went to!) and exceeded every one of my HOPES...i cant thank Metallica enough for being SUCH a fan-oriented band, the best i can do is continue to support them because they sure as hell support us, continue to buy CDs, go to shows, and follow their example of reaching for my DREAMS rather than letting them just stay in my head...


concert itself was totally decent. Ride, Memory, SANITARIUM (ive seen it before but i dunno, it was just SO well executed and it had been so long, it stole the show for me...), and Stone Cold Crazy were the highlights...Nightmare was actually a bit disappointing because i was holding out hope i'd get to see Judas or Apocalypse...the song itself is awesome, but (and hopefully other 'veterans' can back me up on this one) when you're sitting there and you're like "alright, it's the number 10 spot, nightmar or judas or apocalypse...lets keep our fingers crossed" and you hear those first notes of nightmare, you're initial reaction is "damn...wanted judas"
it all melts away into meaninglessness by the time they get into the song, but you still feel a bit "aw shucks"ed by it...

one final note. it's easy to sit back, and look at setlist after setlist, night after night and think "one, sad, master, sandman, seek...why not give one or more of these songs the occasional night off?" but when you actually SEE them, it's totally different. not only does the CROWD get into it, but METALLICA gets into it. you can see the pure JOY on their faces when they play the opening licks to sandman or the dueling guitars of one...
there's a reason that so many first-timers walk away saying "master/sandman/one was my favorite." its because even after ALL THESE YEARS of playing these songs, Metallica does NOT just go through the motions on them and they put up some of their best performances of the night on the CLASSICS. I remember after my first show, i thought sandman was the BEES KNEES and after my third (which was my first arena show) i thought Master was the most ubelievably awesome song ever! in contrast, now after 10 shows, i get more excited these days about the occasional rarity that pops up or a song that im seeing performed for the first time...

THANK YOU METALLICA AND METCLUB FOR THE MEET AND GREET! FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART AND THE DEPTHS OF MY SOUL THANK YOU SO MUCH!
pics to come.....eventually

[MouthForWar]

[metal_bryan]

[Destroysall]

Yes, that sure was an awesome story Jelly.

[metal_bryan]

It's time for another post for people looking for new stuff to listen to. Again, these posts are meant for people who aren't already super-duper metalheads and are looking to find out why we love this music so much. As with all of these posts, if you like it... go buy it! Support great music!



As a Floridian, it's hard to get away from the whole death metal scene which famously spawned from here many years ago... but there was also an important power/prog metal scene which rose with bands like Crimson Glory, Savatage (which split into many bands: Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Circle II Circle, Jon Oliva's Pain, etc.), Iced Earth, Control Denied and this gem of a band... KAMELOT!

While maybe not quite as well known as Trans-Siberian Orchestra, or to a lesser degree Iced Earth, these guys have really carved a name for themselves over the years and have built up a very large following of metalheads and everyday listeners alike... sort of like Nightwish.

It started out as fairly straightforward power metal fare, but the prog elements began emerging in their later releases, which happened to sometimes be concept albums (the prog metal staple). Here are some selections from some of their best albums.

The Fourth Legacy - Their first majorly recognized album.
The Fourth Legacy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4IUEHkDRVg
Desert Reign + Nights of Arabia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Hc8j-PUyE (An earlier progressive song and fan favorite)
The Shadow of Uther: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANpoM-yHPEM
Glory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7znVwcrpT0

Karma - This album made them famous in the metal community. It's arguably their best.
Forever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcelLqAHgZ0
Wings of Despair: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-4T4ZABA-w
The Spell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc80__8F6tQ
Karma: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHuDsJSI2Hs This AMV was actually featured as an official video on the band site for a long time, and it was how I discovered Kamelot... since I had just watched this anime at the time and looked for AMV's.

The highlight of this album... a trilogy based on the story of Elizabeth Bathory:
Elizabeth I - Mirror Mirror: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIsN4k4Afck The moody introduction...
Elizabeth II - Requiem for the Innocent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lL6GJYjlG8 (only album version I could find on youtube)
Elizabeth III - Fall From Grace: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5ltlsZ04bA An epic conclusion!

Epica - Has a popular band named after it. This is also the first part in their re-imagined version of Faust.
Center of the Universe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wRreoNRGwk
Farewell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMlU07qVZEI
The Edge of Paradise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxhteRYbe_8
Wander: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn4nzFmyNfw

The Black Halo - My personal favorite and their conclusion to a new version of Faust.
March of Mephisto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV_94f3CsPQ
When The Lights Are Down: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8p9c1o1u_U
The Haunting (Somewhere In Time): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvI5w0cG68o Possibly their best song, featuring guest vocals from the lead singer of Epica.
Abandoned: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F88G4itQyds This song is so beautiful. It gives me chills, especially live.

Ghost Opera - Another strong release, though no encompassing concept this time around.
Rule the World: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEvPBLNwWTU
Ghost Opera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjiJjpXBDj0
The Human Stain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Ig1vJGgCA
Silence of the Darkness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pBRVCZg8AQ


Next up, I'll focus on maybe the most famous and well-regarded power metal band in the world... Blind Guardian. Enjoy Kamelot in the meantime!

[jellydonut25]

[jellydonut25]

Pictures from the Buffalo show are up!



Albany pics are up also!



Meet and Greets can be found:



NYC can be viewed:

[Destroysall]

Those are really cool pictures, jelly. The jealously keeps growing and growing. I hope one day I could go to one of their concerts in the near future. Maybe one day I hope I could meet them like you did.

[metal_bryan]

It's been a long time since we've been in this thread, so I believe we're ready for another "check out this band" post!

For a lot of people, death metal just isn't their cup of tea... and will never be. I guess you'll probably be skipping this post, BUT I would say at least give these guys a shot if you're into thrash/power/black metal, because they feature a lot of those musical influences as well. This isn't the mindlessly heavy death metal you're used to. There's a ton of melody and style!



I've seen them live once and it was a great show. Their lead member, James Malone, is an up-and-coming star among metal guitarists with his ability to play some seriously crazy riffs while also being the frontman/vocalist of the band!

A Celebration of Guilt - Widely hailed as one of the best debut albums from any death metal band and one of the top releases of 2004. It was recorded entirely by Malone and drummer Mike Van Dyne.

The Face of My Innocence - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHC9w7pCIMQ
Maddening Disdain - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXpdx-FTrgM
Seven Whispers Fell Silent - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZcW8UHsevE

A Diamond For Disease - Following their successful debut, Arsis returns with an EP consisting mainly of one nearly 13-minute long epic of death metal mastery. Again, it is widely hailed as one of the best releases of 2005 despite being mostly one song.

A Diamond For Disease -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zsL93ifyeE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK1XoXfOaVE

United In Regret - This is the black sheep of the catalog so far for many fans, because their style took a more straight-forward technical death metal approach for much of the album. It's still a great release though.

Oh the Humanity - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsZ8HzLmVW4
United In Regret - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md9aITJ4RlA
Lust Before the Maggots Conquest - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3FAoxem6ig

We Are The Nightmare - The technical death metal formula fits a lot better on this album as Arsis emulates at times popular bands in the genre like Necrophagist and Decrepit Birth. The old Arsis sound can also be heard prevalently in many songs, with lengthy power/black metal sections.

Shattering the Spell - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JgGQjttQOY
Sightless Wisdom - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEAP583Z5YI
Servants to the Night - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IgW6NpXD-g

Starve for the Devil - Due out next month, this album is already sounding like a return to form for the band while maintaining the technical death sound they've had for the past couple releases. Prepare to have your face melted! Fans of their power metal sound will definitely love this album from what we've heard so far.

Two new tracks can be heard on the band's myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/arsis

[MouthForWar]

[Brick Side]

[metal_bryan]