The Metal Thread

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SOME-MIST said:
not sure if there's any behold... the arctopus fans on here, but they just released their first track for their December 2012 album "horrorscension".

http://beholdthearctopus.bandcamp.com/album/horrorscension

as expected, their new material is much more free wave (with the addition of Weasel Walter) and darker (which fits the title horrorscension). Their old material was a lot more jazzier/more scifi, but then again, it's hard to judge their new material based on one track.
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I was a big fan of their first album, not so much of a fan of Skullgrid. I'll have to check out their new song...
 
I present to you what I hope is going to be Arjen Anthony Lucassen's new masterpiece, Lost In The New Real

Arjen_Anthony_Lucassen_-_Lost_in_the_New_Real.jpg


I posted a link earlier in this thread to a song from it, to no reception. After having a chance to listen to some of the full album though, let me tell you that it is fantastic. It will almost definitely go down as one of my favorite prog albums ever. From what I'm hearing so far, I like it so much that I am feeling compelled to make a completely separate, thoroughly informed thread when it actually releases.

This is a concept album that follows Mr. L, a modern day man who is resurrected from cryogenic sleep in the distant future. Virtual reality is woven into the fabric of everyday life, to the point where Mr. L doesn't know what is real and what isn't, or whether he is even still human or just a machine program.

Watch this trippy trailer to get an idea of the music stylings of the album (which range from rock to folk to metal to pop and others in between)

And if you like what you see from that, here is the full version of the final track from the album with very interesting text commentary by Arjen about the creative process that went in to making the song. Be sure to listen with headphones to absorb all of the subtleties!

What do you guys think? It is definitely a different type of prog, but I absolutely love it.

Oh yeah, the album also has a kick-ass cover of Led Zeppelin's "Battle of Evermore". I can't wait to get a hard copy of this!
 
Eh, I wasn't so impressed with Lost in the New Real. On one hand it is kind of different than Arjen's music with Ayreon. It's a bit less metal and more inspired by older bands like The Beatles. But on the other hand, I still think Arjen's sound has gotten really stale. He really just needs to take a step back and do something completely different. Everything's too samey now with him. He always uses the same vocal filters. He uses the same synths. He uses the same guitar sounds. He uses incredibly similar guitar solos. Hell, I swear I heard a guitar solo he's done before note for note for at least a few seconds. It's all just kind of derivative. I feel like if I want to hear Arjen's sound I already own a few CDs that pretty much perfect that sound. I also had a bit of a problem with the choruses in a lot of the songs. They were really kind of grating. I feel like he was going for Beatles-esque sing-song style choruses and just didn't get there.

I guess I'm just kind of bummed because I thought a solo album would be a decent time for him to really change things up, and he didn't as much. He's a really talented guy, but I just can't put him in the same conversation as other multi-instrumentalists or prolific songwriters like Steven Wilson, Devin Townsend, and Daniel Gildenlow. Those guys really reinvent their sound for every project and sometimes within each project. Arjen just doesn't seem to be able to quite get there...
 
Giant Robot said:
I was a big fan of their first album, not so much of a fan of Skullgrid. I'll have to check out their new song...
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well at least we've got one fan on here! I was a huge fan of both (if you couldn't tell by my username), but I would probably say that the new song resembles nano-nucleonic cyborg summoning more than skullgrid.
 
RDreamer said:
Eh, I wasn't so impressed with Lost in the New Real. On one hand it is kind of different than Arjen's music with Ayreon. It's a bit less metal and more inspired by older bands like The Beatles. But on the other hand, I still think Arjen's sound has gotten really stale. He really just needs to take a step back and do something completely different. Everything's too samey now with him. He always uses the same vocal filters. He uses the same synths. He uses the same guitar sounds. He uses incredibly similar guitar solos. Hell, I swear I heard a guitar solo he's done before note for note for at least a few seconds. It's all just kind of derivative. I feel like if I want to hear Arjen's sound I already own a few CDs that pretty much perfect that sound. I also had a bit of a problem with the choruses in a lot of the songs. They were really kind of grating. I feel like he was going for Beatles-esque sing-song style choruses and just didn't get there.

I guess I'm just kind of bummed because I thought a solo album would be a decent time for him to really change things up, and he didn't as much. He's a really talented guy, but I just can't put him in the same conversation as other multi-instrumentalists or prolific songwriters like Steven Wilson, Devin Townsend, and Daniel Gildenlow. Those guys really reinvent their sound for every project and sometimes within each project. Arjen just doesn't seem to be able to quite get there...
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I completely agree that Arjen's sound doesn't usually evolve or branch out much. It almost always has that "space" sound to it, and if you are super familiar with his music then a lot of it can be predictable.

That being said, I think Lost In The New Real is one of his most focused albums ever. Since he focuses on a different style for each song this time around, the songs are much more digestible and the album has better pacing as well as a smoother flow. I really appreciate the Beatles influence on this album, and I'm not even a huge Beatles fan. I can tell that Arjen is very passionate about this project, which is part of what makes it sound fresher than previous efforts.

I disagree about the chorus's, for the most part. There are only a couple of songs that didn't really hook me with the chorus, but most of the time there are excellent instrumentations with interesting chord/note instrumentations.

I don't think Arjen will go down in history as one of the greats in the same way that the other musicians you mentioned will, but he has a very particular niche that he dominates. Plus, if you haven't heard anything from him before (which I'm assuming a lot of people in this thread haven't), Lost In The New Real is one of the best places to start.

Speaking of Steven Wilson I still haven't gotten to his most recent solo project. I know I mentioned him and PT several pages back and you gave quite a nice write up on why Wilson is so awesome, and I apologize for never getting around to responding to it. My appreciation for Porcupine Tree grows every time I listen to them though, and I'm going to be following them much closer in the future.
 
djsandman said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TKyNTwD3Yk&feature=share

Alestorm makes some awesome videos.
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Fucking awesome.

Haven't been in this thread in a good long while, what a nice surprise to see upon my return.

I guess I'll be the guy to comment on the new Dragonforce album. It's really good, more varied than their past albums. Really. Definitely their best since Sonic Firestorm.

Edit:

I missed a Manowar discussion. :( Hail and Kill!!!!
 
MetalGuardian said:
I completely agree that Arjen's sound doesn't usually evolve or branch out much. It almost always has that "space" sound to it, and if you are super familiar with his music then a lot of it can be predictable.

That being said, I think Lost In The New Real is one of his most focused albums ever. Since he focuses on a different style for each song this time around, the songs are much more digestible and the album has better pacing as well as a smoother flow. I really appreciate the Beatles influence on this album, and I'm not even a huge Beatles fan. I can tell that Arjen is very passionate about this project, which is part of what makes it sound fresher than previous efforts.

I disagree about the chorus's, for the most part. There are only a couple of songs that didn't really hook me with the chorus, but most of the time there are excellent instrumentations with interesting chord/note instrumentations.

I don't think Arjen will go down in history as one of the greats in the same way that the other musicians you mentioned will, but he has a very particular niche that he dominates. Plus, if you haven't heard anything from him before (which I'm assuming a lot of people in this thread haven't), Lost In The New Real is one of the best places to start.
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Yeah, you can tell he did kind of nerd out a lot with it, and he put a lot of his influences and stuff he grew up with in there. Despite finally coming around to 01, I will say that yeah this project is a lot fresher sounding than that.

I think the choruses bothered me because a lot of them seemed to just be the song title repeated. I mean it's not like he hasn't done that before, but for some reason I really noticed it on this release.

And yeah, he likely won't go down with them. He does have his niche and he does it well, and he does it passionately. I don't ever mean to discredit the guy, since he does some great stuff. He could probably use to widdle things down a bit, though. I think on a lot of his releases he's got about a cd, maybe a cd and a half worth of great ideas, but he gives us 2 cds worth.

This probably would be a decent place to start, but I still think his crowning accomplishment is The Human Equation. That album had so much variety in style, and everything was just top notch, and the singers he chose were some of the best of any of his albums. He just can't beat that.


MetalGuardian said:
Speaking of Steven Wilson I still haven't gotten to his most recent solo project. I know I mentioned him and PT several pages back and you gave quite a nice write up on why Wilson is so awesome, and I apologize for never getting around to responding to it. My appreciation for Porcupine Tree grows every time I listen to them though, and I'm going to be following them much closer in the future.
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You definitely do need to check out Grace for Drowning, especially if you like PT that much. Him and Townsend are kind of the metric I use for truly great and transcendent musicians. Not only do they blow you away with what they're doing, each project is something completely and utterly different. Wilson's pretty guilty of having some of the same sort of filters and techniques throughout some of his projects, though. He'll have some PT-isms strewn about some of his other projects, but he does so damned many completely different styles that it's really not a large percentage.
 
DieNgamers said:
It is! I'm soooo going to get the reissue!!
IMG_6494.JPG

IMG_6500.JPG
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Fuck me. Where does one acquire such a thing? I would buy it at a high price.

I need all Sleep albums on vinyl. I already have a ton of Electric Wizard, High on Fire, and others, but no Sleep. Must remedy this.

EDIT - Nevermind, I thought I was seeing some awesome vinyl Sleep reissue! That's the CD, coming on May 8th. I'll buy it just to support them.
 
Diseased Yak said:
Fuck me. Where does one acquire such a thing? I would buy it at a high price.

I need all Sleep albums on vinyl. I already have a ton of Electric Wizard, High on Fire, and others, but no Sleep. Must remedy this.

EDIT - Nevermind, I thought I was seeing some awesome vinyl Sleep reissue! That's the CD, coming on May 8th. I'll buy it just to support them.
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It's coming from Southern Lord, they put everything on wax.

The vinyl will likely only be listed on their web store.

http://www.southernlord.com/store.php

It's on the Coming Soon list:

COMING SOON!

Burning Love - Rotten Thing to Say CD/LP
Xibalba - Hasta La Muerte CD/LP
Martyrdöd - Paranoia CD/LP
Eagle Twin - The Feather Tipped the Serpent’s Scale CD/LP
Sleep - Dopesmoker CD/LP
 
Japan loves Arch Enemy and Arch Enemy loves Japan...they played 2 "secret gigs" yesterday and today just a few days after playing 4 back to back shows last week. The Yokohama show was a special one where they played the entire Wages of Sin album. Angela was wearing this erotic two piece red latex thing from 10 years ago, which was making the males in the audience excited. Then the shows yesterday and today they played the songs that fans voted for online. So in total they played like 4 or 5 songs that they have never ever played live before, some of them were pretty incredible sounding live.

The secret gig shows were in a tiny club that fits maybe 200 or 300 people. Everyone who got a ticket got to get autographs from everyone in the band after the show.

The new guitarist is pretty good (Nick Cordle) - he played in Arsis for a while so he knows how to shread. I respect Chris's decision to focus on music he's interested in, and Michael is still there tearing it up like a knife through warm butter. Arch Enemy is one of a handful of bands I've seen live that make perfection look effortless.
 
Gaspode_T said:
The new guitarist is pretty good (Nick Cordle) - he played in Arsis for a while so he knows how to shread. I respect Chris's decision to focus on music he's interested in, and Michael is still there tearing it up like a knife through warm butter. Arch Enemy is one of a handful of bands I've seen live that make perfection look effortless.
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wait, Chris is gone again?
jesus that guy can't make up his mind can he -.-
 
Enosh said:
wait, Chris is gone again?
jesus that guy can't make up his mind can he -.-
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Angela made it sound like this time might be for good, Nick did a pretty good job and seems like he will be popular with fangirls...

There are bunch of pictures from Japan on their Facebook and Twitter accounts
 
Giant Robot said:
FUCK.

I just pulled the trigger on this:

sleep_advert_1.jpg


+ the Picture Disc double LP.

I had to have that shirt packaged with the cd version.
Sometimes I really hate Southern Lord's packaging of stuff. Reminds me of DLC pre-order stuff available only at certain retailers.
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I was on the fence of ordering a second LP only order of the green LP, then they did a promotion where you got some bonus (and it seems your order will ship sooner) if you ordered it right at 4:20 PST today. That got me off the fence. Spent more money than I should have but now I don't have to spin that picture disc.....plus I'm getting the album art shirt and cd.
 
Giant Robot said:
wait, what was the promo for ordering it at 4:20pm today?
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They haven't said yet, but you get some Sleep related bonus item, plus your order ships early. I don't think they've said what the bonus item is yet because they're doing the promo again on 3 more random days.



Southern Lord Facebook said:
‎"The response to and orders for the Sleep Dopesmoker album have been INCREDIBLE! Biggest mailorder release for us yet. THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKY" - Greg Anderson
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Wow.
 
SoulPlaya said:
So, I'm watching this Black Sabbath concert in 2005. I've seen it before, but it's still so sad to see Ozzy's voice completely fail him on "After Forever", starting at 7:00. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51IrzIPpCi4&feature=related
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Yeah, but I think he's a bit better today. Has his ups and down, more downs but that's what time does to you. : ) Doesn't take away anything from this (indeed) mighty mighty mighty performance of their past:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtqy4DTHGqg
 
I think some of you may be into this:Disgrace - "System Error"

They are a metal/hardcore band from California(they lean WAY more on the metal side than hardcore). The songs are real riffy, and short and sweet. The cover art for their full length is done by Dan Seagrave. They say it is for fans of Merauder and Bolt Thrower.
 
NGAMER9 said:
The Omega Order is doing another sale for today, it's for a much smaller selection, but it's 66.6% off. I'm picking up some Immortal albums, and Kvelertak.

http://www.theomegaorder.com/EARF
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Secks4Food said:
Nice, I've heard good things about Shining, guess I'll pick up "V Halmstad" at that kind of price.
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Thanks for the heads up. Immortal's At the Heart of Winter and Pure Holocaust are must haves. Shining is a great choice, V is an anamazing album. I also see Melechesh - Emissaries, I really recommend this album, also to those who aren't necessarily huge BM fans.

I'm thinking of completing my Immortal collection + Kvelertak. Anyone see anything else that they want to recommend?
 
OmegaDragon said:
Thanks for the heads up. Immortal's At the Heart of Winter and Pure Holocaust are must haves. Shining is a great choice, V is an anamazing album. I also see Melechesh - Emissaries, I really recommend this album, also to those who aren't necessarily huge BM fans.

I'm thinking of completing my Immortal collection + Kvelertak. Anyone see anything else that they want to recommend?
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If you haven't heard the new Aura Noir, I quite enjoy that one. More thrash than black, but it's a pretty strong album.
 
Storm Corrosion is out there, for any interested Opeth fans. Not metal obviously, but I already have it preordered and I've been dying to check it out. Going to listen in a few minutes.
 
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