Trollheart's Listening List 2015/2016

**Goofle** · 12-14-2015, 10:41 AM

I'll try doing it again TH.

Edit: I think the problem is just that the icons are placed lower than the text line itself.

The only way of getting around it would be to also save the icon as an image and use that instead.

Trollheart · 12-14-2015, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DwnWthVwls

I rec'd you Agnes Obel and Midlake! Why would you think that? I listen to a lot more than rap ya know

That's the most offensive thing anyone on MB has ever said to me, I hope you're happy.

I am.

Seriously, I was more referring to Riverside. I know there are a few prog heds here but I had not counted you as one of them. I guess I underestimated you, huh?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goofle

I'll try doing it again TH.

Edit: I think the problem is just that the icons are placed lower than the text line itself.

The only way of getting around it would be to also save the icon as an image and use that instead.

Well I did save the half-icon as an image, uploaded to my FTP andlinked to that, but it's still out of line. Do you mean I should save the whole icon and use that in concert with the half one? That might work: let me try it...

Success! What about more than one?

Woo-hoo! Works!

The Batlord · 12-14-2015, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Well I did save the half-icon as an image, uploaded to my FTP andlinked to that, but it's still out of line. Do you mean I should save the whole icon and use that in concert with the half one? That might work: let me try it...

Success! What about more than one?

Woo-hoo! Works!

Trollheart · 12-14-2015, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

You got my bedroom under surveillance or something??

The Batlord · 12-14-2015, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

You got my bedroom under surveillance or something??

The Batlord · 12-14-2015, 02:28 PM

Little victories.

Trollheart · 12-14-2015, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Little victories.

Really? Take your little victories, ie celebrate any small achievement you can...?

The Batlord · 12-14-2015, 02:43 PM

Ryan Reynolds is going to be playing Deadpool in the upcoming movie. Clear?

Trollheart · 12-14-2015, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Ryan Reynolds is going to be playing Deadpool in the upcoming movie. Clear?

Not really as I don't know who Ryan Reynolds is, but I'm going to make a leap of logic and assume he's the guy doing the slow handclap. What fun.

Trollheart · 12-15-2015, 05:47 AM

Title: Exodus
Artiste: Waken Eyes
Year 2015
Nationality: Multi (American, Canadian, German and Swedish)
Familiarity: 0%
Genre: Progressive Metal
1
Expectations: Not an idea, though with prog metal I'm always hopeful. It is their debut, so that could be a good or a bad thing. I do note with some trepidation that Metal Archives only has lyrics for one of the ten songs here; if that means that they're mostly an instrumental band it could be a hard slog.

1. Cognition: Birdsong; cliche perhaps but always nice to hear, now a dark synth slowly making its way in, rolling percussion starts, stops, heavy bass line beginning. Very dramatic and almost threatening melody building with a sort of Arabic feel to it at least initially. Softening now under some beautiful piano and gentle synth before a powerful guitar whines in and I really think this one at least is going to be instrumental. Getting back to the darker, dramatic feel now. Big powerful marching drums, eiher choral vocals or a choir. Good start. Very good start.
2. Aberration: Seems to have segued directly in, lending more to my initial impression that this was and is a concept album. May not be, but I wonder. Nice piano line driving this one, I guess another instr --- oh no. There are vocals; soft, powerful, totally reminds me of the lower register of a-ha's Morten Harkett. Well I'm glad it's not all instrumental, as that's hard to write about, especially in a short review like this. Nice ballad for the second track (wonder why there are no lyrics for this?) with some really expressive guitar work from Tom Frelek, who also takes keyboard duties. Maybe not a ballad after all: speeding up now. Henrik Båth does a great job on the vocals. Twice as long as the opener at over eight minutes, and a lot going on within that time.
3. Deafening thoughts: Good hard guitar punch leading this in, heavy from the off, then the synth sounds like violins as the vocal comes in, Båth now sounding more like Roy Khan from Kamelot or Damien Wilson from Threshold. He has a good range, demonstrated here, as is Frelek's fretboard skills. Powerful song.
4. Back to life: Gorgeous guitar opening with spoken word (MLK?) and I feel this has to be a ballad, but of course it could change. I doubt it though. Oh man what a solo! Love this. (Breaking news: recent reports suggest a link between Trollheart's awarding of Blue ratings and his love of ballads! More after these messages.) Gorgeous piano outro (yes I know I used the word gorgeous twice; it's that good) and more of that spoken speech thing to fade out.
5. Palisades: Another expressive, progressive guitar intro with attendant soft lush keyboard, kicking up a little now, and here comes the big punching guitar and what had seemed like it might possibly be another ballad has just shaken loose and become a fast power rocker.
6. Cornerstone away: Another beautiful ballad with unknown female guest vocals. Okay, again, started as a ballad style but has exploded into a passionate powerful prog metal epic. Vocal harmonies are immense. Sounds like some Spanish guitar in there now. Not crazy about the sudden, abrupt ending, but it's a small niggle.
7. Still life: I'm going to say this is another instrumental. Some lovely work on the guitar, both acoustic and electric, with a nice sort of swaying, almost bluesy at times beat. Pretty much a vehicle for the talents of Tom Frelek.
8. Arise: Darkish piano opening this before it bursts into a big heavy rocker, then tailing back to allow Frelek to take it solo on the piano for a moment before it comes back in full force. Sense of urgency, even panic in the vocal, and a great hook in the song. Lovely soft midsection in which both guitar and synth shine, and the percussion makes a great showing too.
9. Across the horizon:For a seven-minute-plus song this went in much faster than expected, which is always good. Sort of mid-paced with a really nice midsection where it all slows down before it picks up again; great vocal harmonies.
10. Exodus: And so Waken Eyes sneer at the closer to Iron Maiden's current opus, composing a last track that is almost a full minute longer than “Empire of the clouds”! Running for just five seconds short of nineteen minutes, it starts off with a soft piano which actually reminds me of the end of “Dancing with the moonlit knight” on Genesis's Selling England by the Pound, and with plenty of space for everyone to stretch here, it runs for a minute and a half before being joined by gentle acoustic guitar until Frelek changes to synth then some Spanish guitar as we move into the third minute. Speedy little bass solo with synth and harder guitar, drums pound in as it all breaks like an advancing wave and we're well into the fourth minute before there are even any vocals. When they come in, they're soft and calm beneath the returning gentle piano as guitar begins to riff. Breath-taking slow section in the middle where they bring back in MLK (I'm pretty sure it's him, as well as other people like Kennedy I think) to underline the lyric before it explodes again on an expressive guitar solo in the eleventh minute. Big powerful finish in the best tradition of progressive metal.

Final result: Really, really impressed with this, so much more since it's a debut. Going to have to keep an eye on these guys.

Rating:

12-15-2015, 05:47 AM	#10 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Title: Exodus Artiste: Waken Eyes Year 2015 Nationality: Multi (American, Canadian, German and Swedish) Familiarity: 0% Genre: Progressive Metal 1 Expectations: Not an idea, though with prog metal I'm always hopeful. It is their debut, so that could be a good or a bad thing. I do note with some trepidation that Metal Archives only has lyrics for one of the ten songs here; if that means that they're mostly an instrumental band it could be a hard slog. 1. Cognition: Birdsong; cliche perhaps but always nice to hear, now a dark synth slowly making its way in, rolling percussion starts, stops, heavy bass line beginning. Very dramatic and almost threatening melody building with a sort of Arabic feel to it at least initially. Softening now under some beautiful piano and gentle synth before a powerful guitar whines in and I really think this one at least is going to be instrumental. Getting back to the darker, dramatic feel now. Big powerful marching drums, eiher choral vocals or a choir. Good start. Very good start. 2. Aberration: Seems to have segued directly in, lending more to my initial impression that this was and is a concept album. May not be, but I wonder. Nice piano line driving this one, I guess another instr --- oh no. There are vocals; soft, powerful, totally reminds me of the lower register of a-ha's Morten Harkett. Well I'm glad it's not all instrumental, as that's hard to write about, especially in a short review like this. Nice ballad for the second track (wonder why there are no lyrics for this?) with some really expressive guitar work from Tom Frelek, who also takes keyboard duties. Maybe not a ballad after all: speeding up now. Henrik Båth does a great job on the vocals. Twice as long as the opener at over eight minutes, and a lot going on within that time. 3. Deafening thoughts: Good hard guitar punch leading this in, heavy from the off, then the synth sounds like violins as the vocal comes in, Båth now sounding more like Roy Khan from Kamelot or Damien Wilson from Threshold. He has a good range, demonstrated here, as is Frelek's fretboard skills. Powerful song. 4. Back to life: Gorgeous guitar opening with spoken word (MLK?) and I feel this has to be a ballad, but of course it could change. I doubt it though. Oh man what a solo! Love this. (Breaking news: recent reports suggest a link between Trollheart's awarding of Blue ratings and his love of ballads! More after these messages.) Gorgeous piano outro (yes I know I used the word gorgeous twice; it's that good) and more of that spoken speech thing to fade out. 5. Palisades: Another expressive, progressive guitar intro with attendant soft lush keyboard, kicking up a little now, and here comes the big punching guitar and what had seemed like it might possibly be another ballad has just shaken loose and become a fast power rocker. 6. Cornerstone away: Another beautiful ballad with unknown female guest vocals. Okay, again, started as a ballad style but has exploded into a passionate powerful prog metal epic. Vocal harmonies are immense. Sounds like some Spanish guitar in there now. Not crazy about the sudden, abrupt ending, but it's a small niggle. 7. Still life: I'm going to say this is another instrumental. Some lovely work on the guitar, both acoustic and electric, with a nice sort of swaying, almost bluesy at times beat. Pretty much a vehicle for the talents of Tom Frelek. 8. Arise: Darkish piano opening this before it bursts into a big heavy rocker, then tailing back to allow Frelek to take it solo on the piano for a moment before it comes back in full force. Sense of urgency, even panic in the vocal, and a great hook in the song. Lovely soft midsection in which both guitar and synth shine, and the percussion makes a great showing too. 9. Across the horizon:For a seven-minute-plus song this went in much faster than expected, which is always good. Sort of mid-paced with a really nice midsection where it all slows down before it picks up again; great vocal harmonies. 10. Exodus: And so Waken Eyes sneer at the closer to Iron Maiden's current opus, composing a last track that is almost a full minute longer than “Empire of the clouds”! Running for just five seconds short of nineteen minutes, it starts off with a soft piano which actually reminds me of the end of “Dancing with the moonlit knight” on Genesis's Selling England by the Pound, and with plenty of space for everyone to stretch here, it runs for a minute and a half before being joined by gentle acoustic guitar until Frelek changes to synth then some Spanish guitar as we move into the third minute. Speedy little bass solo with synth and harder guitar, drums pound in as it all breaks like an advancing wave and we're well into the fourth minute before there are even any vocals. When they come in, they're soft and calm beneath the returning gentle piano as guitar begins to riff. Breath-taking slow section in the middle where they bring back in MLK (I'm pretty sure it's him, as well as other people like Kennedy I think) to underline the lyric before it explodes again on an expressive guitar solo in the eleventh minute. Big powerful finish in the best tradition of progressive metal. Final result: Really, really impressed with this, so much more since it's a debut. Going to have to keep an eye on these guys. Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 12-15-2015 at 08:44 AM.