Music: Official Metal Thread VI

[BaileyMacTavish]

Here's a goodie. Traditional Heavy Metal! Formed in 2008 and releasing their first album in 2012, they have taken Traditional Heavy Metal and the cheesiness of 80s metal and turns it up to 11.



One of the best tracks from their debut. Check it out!

 

[Necropolis]

I concur with Necromantia, and I would say early Samael too (Worship Him). I think there's a sort of straightforward and tinny black metal-sound to these three bands. Samael might be a bit slower though.

I guess Samael fits the bill as well (black metal that's clearly influenced by first wave stuff) but their early material is closer to Hellhammer/CF meanwhile Master's Hammer and Mortuary Drape have more of Mercyful Fate in them, IMO.

 

[Hivemind]

I feel most 1st wave stuff tends to be closer to the Celtic Frost/Hellhammer and Bathory sounds than Mercyful Fate. There's a lot of great 1st wave stuff out there (Root, Tormentor, Morbid, etc), but not much of it sounds like MF.

 

[Hippasus]

I guess Samael fits the bill as well (black metal that's clearly influenced by first wave stuff) but their early material is closer to Hellhammer/CF meanwhile Master's Hammer and Mortuary Drape have more of Mercyful Fate in them, IMO.

Ah, gotcha. I think Emperor is one of the most Mercyful Fate-influenced of black metal, but they sound different than what's been posted. You must mean directly-influenced by Mercyful Fate, because isn't Celtic Frost circa To Mega Therion influenced by Mercyful Fate? It sounds a bit like Wagner plus Mercyful Fate to me. Then there would be a slew of black metal bands that have some distant element of Mercyful Fate in them since there were many that were influenced by that era of Celtic Frost.

EDIT: I just thought of another possible one: Sacramentum. I would say Dissection too, but many consider them death metal. I feel they are black metal with some death metal roots.

 

[Everlasting]

I will make sure that you like it when i post something next time......

Made a post of about my 5 favourite guitar solos yesterday. They are not my top 5, but rather 5 favourites. I guess a few of them is top 5 tho.

Anway, it is because of achivements like these solos why i love power metal so much. Just listen to that galneryus one... mm <3

 

[BaileyMacTavish]

I will make sure that you like it when i post something next time......

Made a post of about my 5 favourite guitar solos yesterday. They are not my top 5, but rather 5 favourites. I guess a few of them is top 5 tho.

Anway, it is because of achivements like these solos why i love power metal so much. Just listen to that galneryus one... mm <3

Angel of Salvation is one of my favorite Galneryus songs next to Destiny. It is good song and that solo is indeed one hell of a solo. If I were to pick a solo that I hold in high regard, it would be... Too hard. But I can say I really dig the solo in Dragonfoce's Heart of a Dragon.

And as much as I like solos, I love the dueling guitars and keyboards, hence my love for Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius, and of course the love child of the two that is Cain's Offering. And because of that, it can't get any better than Fullmoon or Black Diamond <3

 

[Everlasting]

Angel of Salvation is one of my favorite Galneryus songs next to Destiny. It is good song and that solo is indeed one hell of a solo. If I were to pick a solo that I hold in high regard, it would be... Too hard. But I can say I really dig the solo in Dragonfoce's Heart of a Dragon.

And as much as I like solos, I love the dueling guitars and keyboards, hence my love for Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius, and of course the love child of the two that is Cain's Offering. And because of that, it can't get any better than Fullmoon <3

The problem with Sonata Arctica is that their solos often just plays the chorus melody. They arent like Galneryus or Dragonforce solos which just blasts out on their own. That said, Sonata still has some great solos! And the keyboard duel thing is also epic in Sonata, but even more so in Galneryus if i must say..

Looking for some Canadian power metal? Check out my latest blogpost. Here is a good sneak peak:

 

[Hippasus]

Some 1989 thrash from Hungary. Reminds me of a bit of Destruction with more black metal vocals and esoteric song structures. Tormentor - Anno Domini; their second demo. This is the best vocal performance I have heard from Attila Csihar. Good guitar work from Animal Szigeti too.



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Finnish death metal: Belial - Wisdom of Darkness; from 1992. This **** slays.



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More Finnish death metal. Rippikoulu - Musta seremonia; from 1993. I love the doomy vibe. It's in the vein of early Amorphis. Death metal from the Scandinavian countries seems generally darker than from across the Atlantic.

 

[Necropolis]

I feel most 1st wave stuff tends to be closer to the Celtic Frost/Hellhammer and Bathory sounds than Mercyful Fate. There's a lot of great 1st wave stuff out there (Root, Tormentor, Morbid, etc), but not much of it sounds like MF.

Yeah, MF are simply coming from very different backgrounds than most first wave bands - they were into prog rock and 70s metal/hard rock like Priest, Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin and Sabbath meanwhile most first wave bands took influences from Motörhead, Venom, Discharge etc. MF definitely were able to create a very evil atmosphere (think 'Satan's Fall', for instance) and had riffing that clearly influenced black metal (the open minor chord riff on 'Into the Coven').

Ah, gotcha. I think Emperor is one of the most Mercyful Fate-influenced of black metal, but they sound different than what's been posted. You must mean directly-influenced by Mercyful Fate, because isn't Celtic Frost circa To Mega Therion influenced by Mercyful Fate? It sounds a bit like Wagner plus Mercyful Fate to me. Then there would be a slew of black metal bands that have some distant element of Mercyful Fate in them since there were many that were influenced by that era of Celtic Frost.

EDIT: I just thought of another possible one: Sacramentum. I would say Dissection too, but many consider them death metal. I feel they are black metal with some death metal roots.

I actually never thought that Emperor were influenced by MF but you could very well be correct about that - I've got listen to their material today because it's been over a year since I last listened to them. CF did have some MF elements in their music but I think they were mostly a band somewhere between Sabbath and Venom: quite middle-tempo with tons of Tony Iommi-type riffs but filthy, punky and aggressive as well.

Sacramentum and Dissection are both BM, definitely, if you ask from me. Dissection do have a stronger death metal influence in their sound but even so, they definitely weren't a death metal band.

 

[Necropolis]

Finnish death metal is great, Demigod and Demilich are the quite obvious top bands but even outside of them the Finndeath scene provided tons of quality bands. Adramalech, Convulse, Purtenance, early Amorphis, Funebre, Depravity, Belial etc. Sentenced's 'North From Here' is probably the most under-appreciated album to come out from the scene, that album's simply awesome, innovative piece of death metal.

 

[Hippasus]

Yeah, MF are simply coming from very different backgrounds than most first wave bands - they were into prog rock and 70s metal/hard rock like Priest, Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin and Sabbath meanwhile most first wave bands took influences from Motörhead, Venom, Discharge etc. MF definitely were able to create a very evil atmosphere (think 'Satan's Fall', for instance) and had riffing that clearly influenced black metal (the open minor chord riff on 'Into the Coven').



I actually never thought that Emperor were influenced by MF but you could very well be correct about that - I've got listen to their material today because it's been over a year since I last listened to them. CF did have some MF elements in their music but I think they were mostly a band somewhere between Sabbath and Venom: quite middle-tempo with tons of Tony Iommi-type riffs but filthy, punky and aggressive as well.

Sacramentum and Dissection are both BM, definitely, if you ask from me. Dissection do have a stronger death metal influence in their sound but even so, they definitely weren't a death metal band.

Finnish death metal is great, Demigod and Demilich are the quite obvious top bands but even outside of them the Finndeath scene provided tons of quality bands. Adramalech, Convulse, Purtenance, early Amorphis, Funebre, Depravity, Belial etc. Sentenced's 'North From Here' is probably the most under-appreciated album to come out from the scene, that album's simply awesome, innovative piece of death metal.

It's funny that you mentioned that album (North from Here) because I just blasted it this morning. I'm not too into melodic death metal but that album sounds flawless, is unsettling, and very challenging. Re: Emperor, I don't recall if I heard it somewhere but they used to be my favorite band and they covered some Mercyful Fate songs as bonus tracks. They both have a dramatic sweep to their songs and have complex arrangements.

 

[Hivemind]

More Finndeath






And of course, Amorphis, before they started to suck.

 

[BaileyMacTavish]

Some German Power Metal

Blind Guardian
Welcome to Dying


Valhalla (Technically, BG was still doing Thrash/Speed metal during when making this album, but still a kick ass song with a anthem-like chorus)


Nightfall


Fly


The Bard's Song (In the Forest & The Hobbit)


Helloween (Michael Kiske Era)
Eagle Fly Free


March of Time


I want out


Rise and Fall


Keeper of the Seven Keys


Edguy
Babylon


Theater of Salvation


Fairytale


Bonus:
Witness Andi Deris sing a Kiske song without harming my ears. (And yes, I do like Deris Era Helloween)

 

[Everlasting]

Good choices of Blind GUardian songs. Have one of their albums in my article Top 5 early power metal albums < 1991

 

[Necropolis]

Another great Finndeath band was Cartilage - they had very melancholic atmosphere and were rather unique in some ways, their sound actually reminds me of Enochian Crescent (the guitarist Karri Suoraniemi would form Enochian Crescent after Cartilage). Don't know if that's a good or a bad thing, not a huge EC fan personally, but the Cartilage part of this split is great.

 

[Everlasting]

Another great Finndeath band was Cartilage - they had very melancholic atmosphere and were rather unique in some ways, their sound actually reminds me of Enochian Crescent (the guitarist Karri Suoraniemi would form Enochian Crescent after Cartilage). Don't know if that's a good or a bad thing, not a huge EC fan personally, but the Cartilage part of this split is great.

That hihat....

 

[Necropolis]

That hihat....

The drum production on that split (Cartilage's side of it at least, it's been a while since I've heard the Altar side) is pretty mediocre but that's pretty common for the more obscure 80s/90s metal releases, so I've really gotten used to it. For instance, Gotham City's 'The Unknown' is one of my favorite heavy metal releases, but the drum production is rather weak there; took me a long time to learn to live with it. Production is important but if the actual music is good, I can live with weak production (and lo-fi production actually fits some music better, too).

 

[Everlasting]

The drum production on that split (Cartilage's side of it at least, it's been a while since I've heard the Altar side) is pretty mediocre but that's pretty common for the more obscure 80s/90s metal releases, so I've really gotten used to it. For instance, Gotham City's 'The Unknown' is one of my favorite heavy metal releases, but the drum production is rather weak there; took me a long time to learn to live with it. Production is important but if the actual music is good, I can live with weak production (and lo-fi production actually fits some music better, too).

It has its charm, but sometimes it takes away focus from the music. I think that kind of production fits that type of metal alot better than it does to what i normaly listen to.

Since a majority of my bloggreaders are americans, i decided to a DNM with only american bands, feutring a christian band which has written one of my all time favourite tracks! Just Click Me!

It might be wierd to say this about a christian band, but their song "I AM" is a lyrical masterpiece! One of the greatest ive heard...

 

[BaileyMacTavish]

It has its charm, but sometimes it takes away focus from the music. I think that kind of production fits that type of metal alot better than it does to what i normaly listen to.

Since a majority of my bloggreaders are americans, i decided to a DNM with only american bands, feutring a christian band which has written one of my all time favourite tracks! Just Click Me!

It might be wierd to say this about a christian band, but their song "I AM" is a lyrical masterpiece! One of the greatest ive heard...

Theocracy, despite being a Christian PM band, writes very good music and and good music should be appreciated. That song uses the layered vocals in the middle really well, and it seems like they are inspired by Dream Theater, which is a plus.

 

[BaileyMacTavish]

Damn. not sure how that got double posted.

 

[Everlasting]

Theocracy, despite being a Christian PM band, writes very good music and and good music should be appreciated. That song uses the layered vocals in the middle really well, and it seems like they are inspired by Dream Theater, which is a plus.

That is true, but their music is not just good. Its amazing!

 

[Everlasting]

This makes me want to see Dragonforce live! Marc doesnt do the song like ZP, whatsoever. Not even close. But its not bad. Not like Deri singing Kiske bad.

 

[BaileyMacTavish]

This makes me want to see Dragonforce live! Marc doesnt do the song like ZP, whatsoever. Not even close. But its not bad. Not like Deri singing Kiske bad.

I think Marc is a good fit for DF. After he joined, they don't get piss drunk on stage anymore and they play well live now. I think DF is coming to NA soon, sadly won't be in my area.

But it's okay! SA, Nightwish, and BG will be within the area for their upcoming tours :>

 

[Necropolis]

Really cool Swedeath demo, it's a shame that this band didn't put out anything else (though they apparently recorded another demo but it can't be found anywhere). Great riffing and nice to hear death metal with as creative bass player as this band had. Hard to find a comparison to them, but in some ways, this demo reminds me of early Atheist.

 

[BaileyMacTavish]

Just to keep the thread alive. This ballad is probably one of my favorite power ballads.