I get what he means though. It's not nice to say "wallpaper music" but it's the kind of thing which, while beautiful, you would play to go to sleep, while you do tasks, lying back, in the background while talking etc.

Sorry man. All drone kind of blends together for me. And because of that, it's hard to hold one bit over another. I did enjoy certain segments quite a bit though.

It's fine if this is what one gets out of it but there ARE people who like to listen to it intently for the details, and there's definitely more going on in my tracks than the vast majority of music in the genre

I'm pretty sure he didn't mean it as an insult, but then, as an artiste and composer, I'm sure you want honest feedback (even negative) rather than just empty sycophantistry (is that a word?)...

sycophantism

Honest feedback =/= absolutes like "this isn't meant to be paid attention to". I was merely correcting him. I'm extremely appreciative of his feedback and that he listens to what I've rec'd at all, there's no hard feelings or anything of that sort here

You know, I'm sick o' phantasms, too. Always haunting our houses and slamming our doors for no good reason.

I love it when people talk things out for me.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pfYEDIPH_W...1136378887.jpg
Album: Expanded Music
Artist: Merzbow
Genre: Noise
Suggested by: grindy
Familiarity: Listened to the rest of the albums up to this point.

1. Manipulation 1 - Hello, who is it? Damn phone's ringing. Knowing Merzbow as well as I do, it will probably go away halfway through the song. I mean, this is interesting, but it sort of makes my ears bleed. About 3 minutes in, it's intercut with something else briefly. I get the idea we're gonna have this same basic thing on repeat over and over. Just through some effects in every once in a while to change up the sound a bit. Nope, nevermind, it stopped, and now another annoying sound has come in. ****, I can't listen to this ear rape any longer. I ****ing quit.

2. Manipulation 2 - God, this is really terrible too. Loud high-pitched noises and me don't go too well together. Yeah, **** it, I quit this one too. This is so much worse than Merzbow's regular noise, this is unlistenable.

3. Manipulation 3 - Audio of a crowd, on top of noise, or underneath it, whatever. Not totally unlistenable, but still really bad. It seems like there's been a change of style somewhere here. Alright, less annoying high-pitched noises, and gibberish. I can handle this. Still not enjoyable, but not nearly as bleeding terrible as the last two.

4. Manipulation 4 - Crazy noise! Yup, that's it.

5. Manipulation 5 - A bit of percussion here at least, nothing fun in the slightest though. Again, annoying but not unlistenable.

6. Manipulation 6 - More noise. I tell you, it's inescapable.

7. Manipulation 7 - Some tinny, glass breaking sort of noise. Interesting. And not too long either. That was quite alright.

8. Manipulation 8 - And for the last manipulation, it's low growling stuff. This is the stuff I like Merzbow for. Good. Much more like what I'm used too.

9. M.F.S.W. 1 - Starts out with some loud growling noises in the same vein as the last track, except perhaps with a hint of grinding. Like metal grinding against other metal, that kind of thing. Continous noise throughout, and I'm very impressed. This long track is much better than any of the others, which basically means it's the same minus the annoying bits. Great.

I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed in Merzbow. Perhaps I'm just not in the mood for it, but it seems his output has become quite a bit more erratic and unwelcoming. Of course, with the exception of the last couple of tracks, which seem to have much more thought put into them. The rating would be a four, but because the last track is so long, I'll adjust it to a five instead, as that represents my enjoyment a bit more fairly as well. Hopefully the next one will be a bit more pleasurable for me.

OVERALL RATING: 5/10

Whelp, I unfortunately made it to the third page. AND I COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT...
http://cdn.albumoftheyear.org/album/...rent-light.jpg
Album: Darkness in a Different Light
Artist: Fates Warning
Genre: Progressive Metal
Suggested by: The Batlord
Familiarity: I've heard one of their other albums, and remember quite enjoying it.

1. One Thousand Fires - Starting out heavy, I see. No quiet intros for them, it's straight into the onslaught. Which honestly isn't too much considering most pseudo-prog metal bands are full on death metal, or at least atmospheric black metal. These guys are somewhere in there, though maybe not as heavy in general. After a little while, the madness resolves into a short intro, and then the main verse. "Ray Alder" has a bit of a James LeBrie touch to his voice. He has quite a bit of that operatic quality to his voice. Excellent guitar solo in the middle, perfect mix of virtuosity and listenability. Lyrics, as far as I can tell, are pretty much the normal Prog Metal fare; some sort of love story. Won't let that ruin it for me though, I thought that was great.

2. Firefly - Alright, now this just sounds like a glam metal love ballad with prog influences thrown in. There is a middle section I enjoy quite a bit. A solo comes after that. This song sort of reminds me of the classic Boston structure. And I really want it to work here. The great thing about Boston is that all of their songs were written so superbly, both lyrically and musically. Some of the lyrics in this song are sort of generic, but the songwriting is good. I just don't think it's good enough for a blue.

3. Desire - Another sort-of ballad. I feel the same way about this one as I do the last.

4. Falling - Yeah, really delving into more power/glam metal territory here. This one is another ballad, pretty much just acoustic guitar and vocals. Alright, I guess.

5. I Am - Excellent intro, it has a Tool sort of feel. Then the vocalist from Pearl Jam makes an appearance. Just kidding, but it sounds that way. It's like Tool made a supergroup with some of Pearl Jam. Really nice songwriting all around, I love the influences on this one as well.

6. Lighthouse - Another one that starts quieter. Sort of tiring, but it picks up towards the end a bit. Enough to guarantee a green at least.

7. Into the Black - Next one gets going quick. I like it. Lyrical section, instrumental bit, and then lyrics again. Good structure, and the licks are really solid. (Why does my mind always go to the dirtiest things?)

8. Kneel and Obey - No. But I will listen to your music. Not much to say, in the heavier vein.

9. O Chloroform - A bit more of a progressive song. Again, it's not spectacular songwriting, but it's not terrible. Par for the course.

10. And Yet It Moves - Longest track, I believe. Starts with some acoustic guitar before diving into a metallic instrumental section. Just sat back and listened really. Great instrumental bits, great verses, great choruses. Great songwriting overall. Really, really enjoyable song.

This was another good album from them. I have to say, it was not nearly what I'd expect. However, it was still good, which is more than some can provide. Great instrumentation all around, but some of the songwriting was a bit bland and lifeless. However, overall, this album was really excellent. It wasn't a tome of perfection, but it was at least a must-listen for fans of prog metal.

OVERALL RATING: 8/10

http://m.cdn.blog.hu/la/langologitar...y_rokahasa.jpg
Album: Róka Hasa Rádió
Artist: Thy Catafalque
Genre: Avant-Garde Metal
Suggested by: mythsofmetal
Familiarity: Only heard a couple of their songs, but what I've heard is very good.

1. Szervetlen - Ambience for a little while, before an orchestra of guitars herald the new coming of post-metal. Then it starts to embrace the synths a bit. Man, this is delectable. Switching between ambient and the heaviest music ever made, all while retaining a central dark feel. Tredding through doom, ambient, industrial, and black, I can clearly see already why people are hailing this as a masterpiece.

2. Molekuláris gépezetek - The atmospheric black metal train continues. Has a long heavy section, and then turns to an electronic section. Then we have some folk thrown in as well. It all merges together rather well. Really, really excellent work here. Long song too.

3. Köd utánam - A shorter song this time, but still just as good. I can definitely hear some russian influence in this one, with the anthemic vocals.

4. Űrhajók Makón - Vocals in the intro sound like the announcer at an airport. Eerie and most certainly atmospheric. As usual the synth line, slightly muffled and extremely alien, is cocaine for the ear.

5. Piroshátú - Starts out with unrecognizable atmosphere, but quickly transitions into a melody I recall. Yup, this is one of the excellent songs I've already heard from Thy Catafalque. Again it delves into post-industrial territory, but maintaining a beautiful and polished atmosphere. I have to say this is probably my new favorite song. Synth strings top the whole thing by fading in and out in a carefully organized manner. I'm so glad things like this exist, because this is honestly otherwordly. It picks up by the ending, creating a grand finale that propels this song into the stars.

6. Esőlámpás - Classical piano intro, and then launching full throttle into the mechanized guitars they do so well.

7. Kabócák, bodobácsok - Delving into the very Avant here, as the song starts with just a couple of tonal percussion instruments. Then it becomes a pretty complicated rhythmic nightmare, with a ton of tapping all over the place. After some spoken word, a piano bit starts, which transitions directly in the next song...

8. Őszi varázslók - When the drums and atmospheric guitars come in. Another shorter song, but great nonetheless.

9. Fehér berek - Another excellent avant-garde song. I love this album so much.

In my eyes, this is a perfect album. Just some of the most beautiful arrangements I've had the pleasure of listening to. Instant fan of this band.

OVERALL RATING: 10/10

I'd like to change my rec from Koenjihyakkei to

Höyry-Kone - Huono Parturi

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_QWSHXZt1r5...s400/huono.jpg

I developed serious doubts about you enjoying Viva Koenji.

I'm glad to hear you care about my musical tastes.

EDIT- Based on Google Chrome translate, it's Steam Machine - Poor Barber.

Only the best for you. :thumb:

Edit: Yep, that's what all the reviewers said as well. The lyrics are reportedly pretty funny, too bad I don't speak finnish.

Forgot to rec you a new album. Really don't know how you'll think of any powerviolence, but I think this should at least be an interesting listen if nothing else. PM me if you need a link.

Bucket Full of Teeth - IV


http://i.imgur.com/hdQWxNy.jpg?1

Given your reaction to this, I'm gonna pop it on the Listening List. The combination of you liking it so much and it being a myths rec sounds like it should be unbeatable. Watch this space. No, actually, watch that space. And this one.

Advertising his own journal in someone else's thread. Yeesh.

It's not a journal, batface. It's a thread. You lose. Go directly to jail.
:jailed:

How the **** can I be expected to know there's a difference considering you have seventeen of the damned things?

Eighteen.

Seriously? I just threw out seventeen as an arbitrarily outrageous number since I couldn't imagine you could have that many journals. You're ****ing insane.

Thantifaxath - Sacred White Noise

No, I don't. I was just being facetious. Though I think it's about eleven or twelve at this point. Let's see....

The Playlist of Life
The Couch Potato
Bitesize
Trollheart's Futureshock
Classic Albums I have never heard
I know what I like
Trollheart's Psychic Album Reviews
Of Gods and Men
Trollheart's Theme Park
Trollheart Does 1001 Metal Albums

that's ten, then. I think that's the lot.
Yeah, you're right: I'm insane. :)
https://45.media.tumblr.com/258dfe34...4of6o1_500.gif

Yeah, I was expecting you to like that Thy Catafalque album a lot. It's great to see that you liked it enough to give all of the songs a blue rating and the full album an overall 10/10, I wasn't quite sure if it would get that, though I considered that as a likely possibility.

and yeah, I think that the album would probably be really up your alley too, Trollheart. I look forward to seeing what you think of it as well.


As for my next rec for TLP, here's the album by the band which was a kind of side-project for the keyboardist/programmer/harsh-vocalist of Thy Catafalque, although I saw that he expressed how he considered it his main band actually until they went on a kind of hiatus in the mid-late 00's. The band's name is Gire, the album's self titled and was released in 2007. Here's the bandcamp page -- Gire | Blood Music -- The most apparent difference is that there's much more death metal in the mix than black metal. This album compared to RHR also has more metal in general, but other Thy Catafalque albums have comparable amounts of metal, while RHR kinda went into predominantly electronic/ambient/folk etc. territory by the middle of the album. The bonus song at the twelfth track was added on to the album for the 2015 re-release, so if you're against doing stuff which was later added on, then you should skip it. I think it's a good track, so if you don't have a rule which you would want to abide by for its situation, then I would say go for it and include it in your review/rating.

I wanna zigazig ah. Good one, wasn't it? Liar. It was bloody excellent!

http://www.metalblade.com/us/covers/...ctSymmetry.jpg
Album: Perfect Symmetry
Artist: Fates Warning
Genre: Progressive Metal
Suggested by: TechnicLePanther
Familiarity: I've heard several of their other albums, and from what I've heard, this should be really good.

1. Part of the Machine - Great vocals on this first track, and an overall great early prog metal track.

2. Through Different Eyes - An almost ballad-like opening, sort of reminiscent of Porcupine Tree (even though they came later of course). Then it launches into the main riff. This has a lot in common with Iron Maiden I feel. A great ballad here, and of course, another great song.

3. Static Acts - Very similar in structure to the last track, but perhaps a bit more atmospheric. There's some guitar bits which are quite nice during the verses. Again, the vocals are really incredible.

4. A World Apart - The drums on this one have that classic late 80s metal drum sound, which is cool to hear on a Fates Warning album. Really dark, gloomy, and excellent track. Still no complaints really.

5. At Fates Hands - Really soft, beautiful track this time. Starts to feel a bit like a march halfway through. The atmosphere provided by all of the instruments combining their strength is really awesome. Towards the end, an instrumental section with guitars and synth picks up the pace of the song, and I guess in this case defines a prog metal trope. Absolutely epic song though.

6. The Arena - A much shorter track here, pretty much the same power metal fare as much of the album. Not any worse though, so I'm not complaining.

7. Chasing Time - Another really atmospheric track. Starts out pretty similar to the others, but a violin (or maybe fiddle) arrangement comes in during the second verse, which is really good. Then it enters a brief, but beautiful second segment before returning to the main bit. More great stuff.

8. Nothing Left to Say - Final track, and the longest on the album. Again, just really, really excellent prog metal, not much else I can say. Sort of an abrupt ending, but the rest of the song more than makes up for it.

Really, really good prog metal here. The vocals are excellent, the arrangement is excellent, the guitars are excellent, the drums are great... everything. Absolutely everything about this album is great. Despite the similarity between a couple of the songs, it would be a totally perfect album. However, despite my perfect rating of the tracks individually, I think as a whole, it would do better. Not by much though.

OVERALL RATING: 9.5/10

Yay! You're back! Wonder what you'll make of Remain in Light. Exciting.

^Yay! You're back!

Me? Didn't know anyone had noticed!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Ws5EfkDfmY...o/s1600/pj.jpg
Album: Hope for Men
Artist: Pissed Jeans
Genre: Noise Rock
Suggested by: Tristan Geoff
Familiarity: None, though I enjoyed Tristan's other punk pick quite a bit.

1. People Person - Lots of feedback and squealing at the intro here. The fast-paced nature of this, and the shouted vocals remind me of the hardcore of the 80s in a big way. Just bass and drums keep the rhythm, and the guitars are used rather than to keep the tempo high, but instead to create tension on the sidelines, with heavily distorted, very noisy bits on the outskirts of the main action. As is traditional with hardcore punk, the vocals are nearly indiscernable. I really can't pick anything out here. And it doesn't really matter anyways. This is a repetitive, but overall really tough track. And I absolutely love it.

2. Secret Admirer - This track shows off the Grunge/Post-Hardcore side of the band, with a much slower tempo, and a hypnotic guitar riff. The crazy guitar also makes an appearance here, making an impromptu solo in the middle of the song. Not quite as great, but still good.

3. A Bad Wind - Another good riff, and some audible vocals. Solid guitars, and awesome fills on the kit. Not getting that magic anymore though.

4. Scrapbooking - With a laid back bass line, and drums that come in and out, the vocals are easily heard here. A piano (strangely enough) comes in alternating with the verses, whose lyrics have to do with, well, scrapbooking. The noise is very evident on this one, as there are a lot of tinkly sounds on the track. It's dark, maybe a bit out of key even, but atmospheric as hell. I really like it, everything adds up to a very beautiful track.

5. I've Still Got You (Ice Cream) - This is a very poppy track, almost alternative rather than punk. Good drums, good guitars, again pretty repetitive. Reminds me of a Smashing Pumpkins song. But these guys really aren't designed for this kind of music. There's a lot of shaky songwriting, and not everything clicks like the other songs. It's not terrible at all, I just feel like it's not their forte.

6. Fantasy World - Back to the post-hardcore madness which is so good, but on this song as well, I feel like the band has changed a bit. For one, the guitar is basically just playing the bass line, which in some cases can be good, but in this case is a step down from the sophistication of the earlier tracks. The drums are also pretty heavy and hard, but also consistent with the rest of the album. And the vocals are always shouted and raw with emotion. Just a few observations. Good track though.

7. I'm Turning Now - Crazy guitars, epic fills, and fast tempo are all back, which can only mean good things. A lot of the guitar bits feel improvised, which fits with the rest of the chaotic atmosphere. Very nice.

8. Caught Licking Leather - Back to feedback juxtaposed against rhythmic bass and drums. Very simple song, but definitely a highlight for its attitude. A good song to just bob along with. Takes a sharp turn towards the middle, definitely good to mix it up here. Got some power chords, and a bit of noisy guitar in the vein of heavier Sonic Youth. More great percussion on this track.

9. The Jogger - What do you get when you combine drone, spoken word and spooky atmospheric noises? A damn fine noise track. This is like the good side of Merzbow. Bravo.

10. My Bed - 7 minutes? Who warranted this, and why? We shall see. I think I can confidently divide this track into two parts. The first is a doom-influenced guitar/bass line accompanied with cymbal crashes, until it abruptly cuts out. Then the next part cuts back in on the same note, entering a fast-paced section that reminds me of the payoff of Starless (see King Crimson). It is significantly jazz fusion influenced, containing bass lines that are essentially broken power chords, as well as drum skills on the level of Buddy Rich. It also features an awesome guitar solo, which is relatively short, but still remaining significant and blues-y. The genre blending on this track is seamless and effective, and upon hearing the booming ending, you've already been blown fully out of your seat. Absolutely spectacular.

I can confidently say this was a positive experience. There are definitely some better pieces of this album, and some worse. But they're all at least decent. If you in any way have enjoyed either hardcore punk or noise rock in the past, you'll easily fall in love. The musicianship on this is spot-on, and while the vocalist is a bit grating to begin with, you can quickly acclimate to his style. The best parts of this album are the songs that aren't afraid to break the mold on traditional elements of hardcore and even noise itself. And thankfully, those are aplenty. Now I'm gonna go relisten to Starless.

OVERALL RATING: 8.5/10

Have you really got no recs from me?


Morbid Saint - Spectrum of Death

http://www.metal-archives.com/images...19722.jpg?1530

:yeah: Pissed Jeans are great. Kinda sad that Ice Cream was your least favorite track on there though. It's all around a great album anyways. Definitely my favorite of theirs.

Come to think of it, it's been a very long time since I listened to this band, I think I'll be doing some revisiting soon.

Are you drunk again?

Good on you! Yeah, I just feel that Ice Cream was too "mainstream" for them. I mean, I love a lot of more poppy music, but I feel like it really wasn't the right sound for this band.

I don't see how that's relevant.

Don't cop my style.

Okay, so you're drunk.

Wait.. you assume he sometimes isn't?

Hey, I'm totally sober ATM.