Trollheart

Why don't I make sense?

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

The Batlord

You got the genre description from Metal Archives, did you not? And yet you ignored one half of the description? Why? It's like you're actively trying to be genre unsavvy.

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Mondo Bungle

Vegans are the most hardcore

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The Batlord

Vegans are vegetarians who are woozy from lack of protein.

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Trollheart

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Title: In C
Artiste: Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso UFO
Genre: Acid Rock, Psychedelia
Familiarity: Zero, but I've heard the first track, ie half the album by another artiste!
Recommended by: Frownland

Expectations: I don't know but expect weirdness. How odd that Frown selected an album with three tracks, one of which is the entire album of another artiste I already reviewed in this thread? I'm tempted to disqualify this on that basis, but as I don't want to set him off on a hissy fit, let's do this.

1. In C: Not quite sure what I'm listening to here. It's very ambient, very relaxing and not what I would have considered to have been acid rock, not that I have any clue how that would sound. Man. But this is basically a cover of Terry Riley's suite of the same name, which I thoroughly enjoyed and which cleaned away the filth of Merzbow when I listened to it, so I don't mind hearing it again. I must say, I don't quite remember how it went, though this does sound familiar. But as Riley's effort was kind of esoteric, almost existentialist, if that can be said of music, spiritual even, this is slightly more on the industrial side, though not so much at all that it comes close to ruining the piece. A very good version and not at all wrecking my head. Glad I decided to go ahead with this. Maybe this Frownland guy knows things I don't?
2. In E: This isn't the same piece, is it, just in another key? Sounds vaguely like an orchestra tuning up when it starts. Oh, now some guitar is coming in and changing things up, nice kind of screaming synth noises behind it. Nearly halfway through now (seven/eight minutes in) and the screaming synth has been tailed back to a more sort of wailing one, with some really nice bass coming to the fore. Fine rolling percussion driving it all along. Getting faster and more frenetic as it heads towards the end. Really digging this. Mentions vocals but I don't hear none. Not so far anyway.
3. In D: I suppose in reality there's an element of drone in this, but it's, how can I put this? Pleasant drone. Seven minutes into the nineteen though and it's pretty much the same thing, with I think, possibly, some low chanting? Very relaxing certainly, but not much in the way of variation. Sort of rising voices now, kind of angelic in a way, around the eleventh minute. Oddly, puts me in mind of “Neptune, the Mystic” off Gustav Holst's The Planets Suite. Quite ethereal.

End result: Really quite surprised at how much I enjoyed that. Would not have expected it. A good pick, Frownland. I'll have to be careful not to pre-judge your recs so easily in future.

So, Love or Hate? Love for this, for sure.

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bob.

^such a great album and amazing live band

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A kiss is the beginning of cannibalism.

Reach out, pierce the fine fabric of the sheltering sky, take repose.

Frownland

Here's some background on In C: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_C. The way that it's composed makes every version different in melody alone, not to mention creative choices like instruments and tempo. And bob is right, they are ****ing mindblowingly good live. Glad you liked it, I was listening to it the other day and thought that maybe the drone elements would turn you off.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Plainview

Just FYI, they took it from The Beatle's Taxman. So that makes it the bassline from The Jam's Start, from The Beatle's Taxman.

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Trollheart

Title: A Clarion Call
Artiste: Asunder
Genre: Doom Metal
Familiarity: Zero
Recommended by: bob

Expectations: I do like a lot of Doom Metal, but then some of it can be very draggy and boring. It's bob though, so I'm gonna put myself in his hands and assume this is going to be one I'll enjoy.

1. Twilight amaranthine: Um, what a beautiful start! Soft acoustic guitar, cello, then the drums roll and crash in and bring in the guitar followed by the vocals, just as i was for a moment beginning to think “this isn't doom metal!” Now it is. Can't say I'm a fan of the drony, almost sulky vocal, but it's okay so far. Like many doom metal albums, this has few tracks but makes up with the length of songs what it lacks in numbers of tracks, with the shortest clocking in at seconds under twelve minutes. Don't like how the vocal has got so low now that it's basically an animalistic growl. But the guitars are great, very crushing and pounding. Let's check out the lyrics: yeah, standard doom metal fare. With lines like “Wreathed in mortal sorrow” and “This burial dirge”, well they're not exactly going to be the life of the party, these guys! Seems like there may be another voice in there too, slightly lighter than the main one. Slowing down even more now, if that is possible. Can't say it's really my thing. Oh, the cello's coming back in now as it kind of calms down in minute twelve. Will it stay this way to the end? Some powerful guitar, but yeah, mostly remaining as it is now, basically almost coming full circle, as it closes.
2. Crown of eyes: Like the guitar opening this, but again when the vocals come in it just ruins it for me. Oh god! For a moment there, as I wrote that sentence, all music (bar I think drums) stopped and only vocals remained, and it was almost as if he was talking to me! Spooky! Too many growls, man, too many growls. Already near the end, and I'm just bored really.
3. A clarion call: I feel like I did when I listened to a British funeral doom band (can't remember which) in an attempt to cover the subgenre for Metal Month III, but was so bored, crushed and depressed that I quit halfway through the album and changed to Atmospheric Black Metal instead, which I enjoyed much more. I just couldn't see how I could write about music that was so slllllooooooowwwwwwww and had no vocals I could make out other than growls and roars, and it's kind of how I feel here. Mind you, there is something happening now at minute four as a decent guitar riff gets going and it starts to take off a little, grinding along just a little more quickly and engaging my interest somewhat. Even the vocal is now discernible for once. This may earn this track (and only this track) an Orange, which is about as far as I'm going to go on this album.
4. Untitled: Spotify don't even have the band, and the YouTube I got of the album has not got this on it. As it's called “Untitled” it's almost impossible to find, and as it's twelve minutes more of this boredom, I don't intend to try.

End result: Major disappointment. Feel like I wasted a half hour of my time and have very little I can write about. Surprised in bob, who usually knows what I like, but I definitely did not like this.

So, Love or Hate? I can't even muster an Orange, but it's not quite Red so let's just say Meh and never speak of this again.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018