Looks like this show got less cool. Peter Wichers, the lead guitarist for Soilwork, has back problems and has to rest up so instead of getting a replacement the bands going to sit this out. Personally for me it's really no sweat but I know at least one person in my entourage will be a bit disappointed. No word if a replacement band will be brought in. Funny how Blackguard is always slated as a fill in but this time they're already on the bill. Here is the press quote and after the jump is the tour dates in case anyone missed it before.
“Due to recurring issues with a herniated disc in his lower back requiring a prolonged period of resting and healing, our guitarist Peter Wichers is forced to sit out this spring’s North American tour with Symphony X and Nevermore.
We did consider hiring a fill-in guitar player, but we’ve decided to stick together as a band and out of respect for our fans, to cancel our participation in the tour. Our apologies to those of you who were hoping to see us. If all goes well, Peter should be healed and ready to hit the road in time for the summer festivals.”
Jim Sheppard made it through surgery and is in the recovery room already cracking jokes :-). Great news!!!
Awesome news. I was seriously worried because brain surgery is no joke no matter how minor. Jim's too cool of a guy for something really bad to happen. Best wishes and here's a toast to a fast recovery, Jim!
Saw this on Blabbermouth today and it floored me. Apparently Jim Sheppard is undergoing brain surgery to remove a benign tumor on his brain. That's pretty scary stuff. I wonder how long he's known about this thing because we saw them last year and he seemed to be ok albeit frustrated with equipment glitches. And they were just on the 70000 tons of Metal cruise for both Nevermore and Sanctuary of which Jim is a founding member of both groups.
Regardless here's to another speedy recovery with all faculties intact for Jim Sheppard. Hope you're well and recovered in time for the show in May and beyond. Jim is a really cool guy for an awesome band that needs to be there.
Awhile back Warrel Dane in a interview stated that he was looking to reactivate Sanctuary and maybe do some touring.I think fans were concerned as was he if he could still hit the notes that Sanctuary was infamous for. For those unaware Sanctuary was the band Warrel Dane and bassist Jim Sheppard were in prior to forming Nevermore. The notable element with this was Warrel's falsetto high register vocal delivery which was far different then anything on more recent Nevermore albums. Well there is video evidence of the first gig played as Sanctuary and though the audio is not the best you can still get an idea if he pulled it off or not.I had my misgivings when I saw Nevermore last year but I think Warrel wasn't 100 percent healthy at the time. Anyways, here is Sanctuary performing Battle Angels which is one of the most falsetty songs they ever did.
Ok, so I'm gonna take a LOT of shit for this, I'm sure. A little while ago I immersed myself into Firewind. After tearing through their discography OVER AND OVER, and slowly getting my hands on ANY cd I could find at Rasputins (seriously, the only store that you can walk in and purchase a Firewind cd) I've decided to go searching through the covers and collaboration songs they've done through the years.
A while back, I had asked people what they thought was the best cover out there of any song. I believe I've discovered it. The problem is, I had recently discovered who did the original. Nevermore.
The song is called "Believe in Nothing". I seriously fell in love with this song the moment I heard it. The acoustic guitars on this just kill me. Apollo's voice is like butter.. Not to offend any Nevermore fans but I think that his soft touch and vocal control on the verses far surpass Warrel Dane's inability to sing this song as beautiful yet seething with melancholy as Apollo does. The guitar work is stunning. This song IS perfection, but it's only recently been perfected by Gus G and Firewind.
But don't take my word for it. You be the judge. Here's the original by Nevermore off their 2000 cd Dead Heart in a Dead World.
And here is Firewind's version, taken from the compilation cd; Century Media: Cover 20 Years Of Extremes:
You'll probably have to forgive me but this post might actually turn out to be the longest I've written. This night turned out to be the wierdest and ultimately the coolest nights I think I've ever had at a show. There were the bands, the impromptu interviews,the conversations with legendary singers,piece of shit cameras....and fetish fairs. Yes you read that right. So if you're a Nevermore fan or if what I've said here has peaked your interest, then continue after the jump to get the full story. Otherwise you might want to do something else productive with your day.
So the evening began like any other by driving into San Francisco to Slims to see Nevermore headline a concert. This was highly anticipated because as a fairly new fan this was going to be my first show. Accompanying me was Martin from Malastrana who is a huge fan of Nevermore. I think it's pretty safe to say that this band is like his Beatles or Led Zeppelin. So we were both pretty excited for this show to say the least. Once we got in the area though the excitement turned into a what the fuck moment of a pretty epic scale.
You see as a lifelong resident of Northern California I'm fully aware of the reputation San Francisco has for let's just say alternative lifestyles. Having been in the city a pretty fair number of times I've seen some pretty freaky people. Well they were all out in force that evening. All the bars a block over had lines of people and other pedestrians were walking en masse dressed or not dressed in all forms of fetish garb. Here let me show you an artist rendering of what I'm talking about.
Credit to South Park
There were hundreds of people dressed like this and quite a few women that might as well have not bothered with clothes on the lower half because the tits were flying free otherwise. Apparently this is not a common occurence on weekends it seems but actually the 5th Annual Folsom Street Fair had been going on and there were a ton of after parties. Here is the official site if you're into that stuff. This is very NSFW and kid inappropiate btw.I'd have some real pictures of some of this stuff but my new work phone is just as shitty with the camera as my old. Or so I thought, more on that later.
Before I get into the actual show itself here is some backstory on the lineup. Originally it was supposed to be Mutiny Within, Hatesphere, Warbringer, and Nevermore. Mutiny Within had to cancel because their drummer quit a week before the tour. So the question was going to be was it going to be just three bands or would there be a replacement. It turns out as I got in the club and saw the merch tables that Blackguard who seem to perpetually always be in the area was the replacement band. Any long time readers should be familiar with that name as Draeden has done an article or two on them.
So the first band to come up was Hatesphere. I apologize in advance to how shitty this pic is . It was to be the second to last picture I got that evening.
They're a band from Denmark that mix hardcore vocals with thrash riffs. They put on an entertaining set mixed with good crowd interaction. Apparently Slim's is the first club to allow the drinking of beer onstage so they were stoked about that and as was to be the running theme for the night they were hilarious about the events outside. Overall their set was pretty good for an opener and the music was pretty tight for what it was. Very riff oriented.
So after their set was done we stepped outside to have a smoke. And this is why going to clubs to see bands is so much better then going to arena shows.
Yes, that way too dark and grainy picture is of me with Warrel Dane.He was walking up to the tour bus while were out there and we greeted him and shook his hand. The lady on the left is Christine Rhoades who did guest vocals on "Dreaming Neon Black".Here is that particular track which is actually my favorite off of my favorite cd.
Let me say how awesome it was for Warrel to stop and talk to us and take pictures for a few minutes. I asked him how the tour was so far and he stated that this was night three and so far the tour has been awesome. I mentioned the crazy events outside and he laughed and said it was wild and that he had a ton of video of it. Martin asked him about some songs that might be on the set and he told us that the set was going to be shortened up by a song or two due to things out of their control. Which translates to San Fran's silly curfew and noise ordinance laws that force things to shut down at midnight. Fuck you San Francisco. So we said our goodbyes and thanks and stood there blown away by what just happened.
We then went back in because Blackguard had just come up on stage. This picture was taken with Martin's phone as mine decided to completely lock up where I couldn't do a damn thing. Any more pics from here on out are courtesy of Martin.
This band is from Quebec, Canada and they did point out to the crowd of why they were there and not Mutiny Within. What a crazy thing to happen where the tour you're supposed to be on with Kamelot cancels and then another tour has a cancellation to where you can jump on. Good for these guys(and gal)as they did put on a good show. I do like the folk infused thrash music though I'm not a fan of the vocals. It was fun though listening to a story from frontman, Paul Zinay, during some techical difficulty time about a disgusting scene he had witnessed at the fair.
After their set I saw one of the members at their merch table so I decided to go over and say a few words. See, originally Draeden was going to do an interview with them before the Kamelot gig. Well for obvious reasons that was not going to happen so I actually squeaked in an impromptu mini interview right there and I'll dedicate a separate post to that. The person I talked to was the lead guitarist, Kim Gosselin, and he was very gracious in speaking with me.
Next up we had Warbringer. I don't have a usable pic of them so here is a video taken at Slim's from last year. It's so close to being the same thing it'll have to do.
Warbringer's set was an unrelenting series of brutal thrash songs. Lead vocalist,John Kevill,plays up the thrash front man as much as the great ones in the 80's did with over the top introductions to each song. And the pit was the most active of any bands that night. Warbringer is a band that needs to be heard live because their studio work doesn't do the music justice.
So now it's time for the main event. Nevermore took the stage and we were right up front.
Here is the setlist.
Let me get the bad things with the show out of the way first. Warrel, if you ever read this, I apologize for any jinxes we might have caused in talking with you earlier because like my phone this set had more technical difficulties then I've ever seen. Jim Sheppard's bass equipment was the primary problem with bad cords, not being able to hear it out of the amp, and cutting out. Many times the set was delayed to fix a problem and I know Warrel was trying to put up a humorous front but the aggravation was evident as the night wore on.So much so that at one point Jim left the stage after a song and the crowd had to do an intervention to get him to come back out.Not to mention Warrel having to go in the back and talk to him or yell at him or something.
The other problems were Jeff Loomis guitar was very low in the mix and it was hard to hear his parts which is a detriment because he is one of the most skilled metal guitarist on the planet.And Warrel's vocals were being taxed all night because it occurred to me later that he may have had a cold or something because outside he sounded a bit out of it but as the set neared it's end he was touching his throat and grabbing drinks of water among making the audience sing alot of the choruses.
Now to the good things. The set itself was a good mix of songs from multiple albums. 7 Tongues of God was omitted otherwise the only album not represented was the self titled debut. What was really cool was the inclusion of Taste Revenge from Warrel and Jim's previous band Sanctuary. When the equipment behaved the sound was great and Warrel is a good front man with a lot of conversation in between songs and at times almost like a stand up comic dealing with hecklers.I think the highlight of this set was both myself and Martin scoring one of these things.
Mine was a complete shock because as I was putting my hand up to make a fist the pick smacked into my palm and like a nerd ninja I snagged it in midair.
So overall it was a very interesting and great night even with the problems during Nevermore's set and one not easily forgotten. I hope this novel was at least entertaining and if anyone happens to catch this tour later let me know how it went.
For now go these fine Myspace sites and check out the bands covered and if you like what you hear, by all means buy their stuff.
*Update* You can tell I'm not paid anything to do this. I'm a complete jackass for neglecting to mention Van Williams was awesome behind the drums through this whole thing. At one point the crowd asked for a drium solo during some of the downtime and he did a funny version of one for a couple of minutes though sadly, no drum solo.
I'm also an idiot for not mentioning touring guitarist,Attila Voros, who appeared on Warrel's solo project Praises to the War Machine. He did a great job in both playing rythmn and was a great sport in the shred duel with Jeff Loomis. So there ya go, Hopefully this atones for my previous brain fart.
I live in a town of 100,000 people smack in the middle between Sacramento and San Francisco. Normally that's a good thing because if a show is anywhere on either side and I have the cash I can go. In that I feel pretty fortunate. September is going to change all of that though. In the span of a week there is going to be three concerts I want to see and all of them are in San Francisco.
September 24th at Thee Parkside
Swallow the Sun is one of the opening acts. I've developed a fandom for this groups music as it is a fusion of Opeth and Katatonia. So to see them open for Katatonia who've I missed out on twice already would be fantastic.This show is why I'm ranting because I just found out about it.
September 26th at Slims
I'm not caring too much about Mutiny Within or the other bands but Nevermore is easily one of my favorite bands of recent years. I'm already committed to going to this show.
September 29th at Slims
I'm already committed to go to this show though I don't have tickets yet for reasons I'll get into. I love Leaves Eyes and Kamelots music so this is a must see.I just hope tickets are still available when I can get the cash together.
Why all of this sucks after the jump.
I'm currently under a Chapter 13 because like so many other home owners I was faced with foreclosure and had to do something to stay off the streets with a wife and two kids. So I have to budget my money every month which does not allow for much of anything else outside of the realm of necessities.
Not to mention three concerts in a week in San Francisco. I don't like driving in the city once much less going three times in the space of a week.On top of all of this is the rescheduled American carnage show with Testament, Slayer, and Megadeth on the 1st because the show I was to see at Cow Palace is on my son's birthday.I just don't have the money it would take to get tickets, gas money,BART money, and shirts and Cd's.
I think the crux of it is this. When the fuck is someone in America with the capital going to put on a festival like they do at Sonisphere or Wacken? I would gladly budget myself to go to one show with all of these bands together under one roof. And I'm not talking fucking Ozzfest or Mayhemfest either. I'm talking a festival that includes many of the European bands under it not the "core" or scene kid bullshit that we have out here.
It's just frustrating as hell and if I wasn't in such a financial bind it wouldn't be such a big deal.I'm just so tired of not being able to do the things I want to do. It's my fault for liking so many bands I guess. Word of advice....get all of this stuff out of your system before you get married and have kids. Because once you do your priorities will change exponentially. The realization that you have to grow up sucks.
Every once in awhile a concert or festival booking matchup just leaves me scratching my head. Earlier there was the report of a pairing of Dimmu Borgir and Korn in Europe. Well it is Europe so I guess somehow that makes sense out there. But then this comes up.
According to Blabbermouth Twiztid is appearing with Nevermore,Suffocation, and Gwar to a Rock and Shock festival in Massachusetts. Nevermore seems kind of odd to be on this bill unless Warrel dresses up all goth like he did during the Enemies of Reality tour. But really. They're going to bring juggalo's to this thing?Juggalos.I'll be shocked if this event goes off without any fights because juggalo fans are moron's and will probably do something stupid to get kicked out. Like talk shit about Gwar or Suffocation. Jesus, I hope this won't be a trend where you have your token juggalos at every metal show. It'd be like having that one mentally challenged cousin that always shows up when you really don't want him too and embarasses himself every damn time.
Alriiight. I have in my player a copy of the new Nevermore cd "The Obsidian Conspiracy" and I'd be lying if I said this was not going to be on my list of most anticipated releases this year. I've seen the mixed reviews in the comments section of other sites but fuck those guys. If you can't analyze and enjoy each Nevermore release on it's own merits then move along. Anyways it's been a long time since I've done a real time review so what better candidate to dust it off with then this eh? Let's do it.
1. The Termination Proclamation: Oh yeah....thick rapid fire riffs with tons of double bass. This is the Nevermore I know.Warrel Dane sounds great here. He has awesome range but when he gets the aggressive tone in his vocals this is where the band shines. The chorus is a bit on the cheesy side but overall a great way to open a new cd.
2. Your Poison Throne: Interesting opening. Warrell wants us to Rise! Rise!Rise! Probably one of the more dare I say mainstream songs I've ever heard? It'll definately be memorable in their catalog. Actually bluesy solo by Loomis. See? He's not just a noodler.
3. Moonrise: Back to the Nevermore style of double bass and solo filled intros. So far this song could easily be on any of their previous work.Creepy spoken lyrics makes for a nice change of tempo and then picks right back up where we left off. Solid tune but I feel like overall I've heard this before.
4. And the Maiden Spoke: Slow heavy atmospheric opening and then kicks into overdrive. And I thought this was going to be a ballad type of song. Silly me. Second track in a row with some malevelant spoken words. The chorus is a bit lighter but then back to the main riff.This is what Queensryche would have written if they were a much heavier band I think. Oooo brief happy interlude before the solo. Damn Loomis can shred. Clean and such precision. Very progressive tune overall.
5. Emptiness Obstructed: Warrel Dane starts this out from the gates with no intro and possibly the chorus. Oh so this is the more ballady type song. Such great lyrics. Both the shredding and songwriting is becoming a lost art as these guys constantly remind me. Awesome track.
6. The Blue Marble and the New Soul: Some of these song titles makes me think I'm reading Grimm's fairy tales. Sorry, random thought. Very mild intro with whispering. Even slower song then the previous. Why do I get the feeling my ass is about to get kicked? Very slow build up as Warrel gets more aggressive with his vocals. Kind of like an Shakespearean play. More whispering and blues based guitar work. Sheesh the dread of incoming facemelting is starting to get palpable. Minute left so yeah not going to happen, I can relax. Another outside of the norm track. I'll have to listen again to get a good idea if I like it or not.
7. Without Morals: Groove riffage and back to being heavy. Song seems to be about somebody Warrel hates using the most intelligent words to insult. Like if Godsmack had any sort of songwriting ability. Probably the least impressive track so far though.
8. The Day You Built the Wall: Mid tempo opening. " I am the Black Lord, I am a slave" in a very evil tone. Song has a heavy Judas Priest influence from probably Defenders of the Faith. Just updated with heavier vocals.
9. She Comes in Colors: What a naughty sounding name. Very mild opener. Very soulful solo. Seems Jeff is trying to expand his range on the guitar. Whoa dead air for a few seconds and now some harmonics. Oh...it's not a ballad. Killer groove riff. So now the song is being repeated but with a much heavier background.Black Sabbath used to do this kind of thing with Dio as singer. Start out really soft then kick in with a heavy groove riff. And now we go out soft again. And back to the heavy chorus again. I love songs with drastic tempo changes.
10. The Obsidian Conspiracy: Title track and it's fast as shit. Time to just rip a tune out eh? Much like the first track this no doubt a Nevermore track. Not catchy just fast and brutal with heavy bass and double bass drums.
11. Temptation : This is the special edition so the next songs are covers. Hold on a sec...let me listen to the originals on Youtube so I can make a fair assessment of these. Apparently this is by some group called the Tea Party. Oh I remember this tune. Pretty recent actually. Very electronic. Ok let's see what th Nevermore version sounds like. Loomis starts out acoustic and almost spanish guitar like. Oh fuck yeah....I like the intro by Nevermore much better. Very heavy. Much like on Warrel's solo album he's taken a song that was kind of heavy in it's own right and enhanced it with some ballsy music. Yeah I like this much better then the original.
12.Crystal Ship: Doors cover. Just listened to the original. Very meh song. Let's see what Nevermore does with it. Warrel can truly sing it's evident. I don't like the song though. Very soft and slow. This would have served to be on a solo project I think.
Well that's it. Wow, such a great band. I have so many impressions to go over. It stands on it's own from previous releases, no doubt. The songs are much shorter then I expected which could be a good or bad thing depending on your attention span. Anybody that says this isn't a progression for them is an idiot. It's not as techical as previous releases but other genres of music are present here and that's progression in my book. It's without a doubt the most accessible album to date.
The actually sales will tell how well this album reaches people and I really hope it does breakthrough but after a 5 year layoff will it have enough to bring in new fans and still keep the old? We shall see but in the meantime I do recommend that people buy this album and support intelligent metal.
Nevermore released a 4 minute medley of all the tracks on the new Obsidian Conspiracy cd due out June 8th and I'm kind of giddy. Check it out for yourself.
It's got the Nevermore sound to it. Time will tell though when the full release comes out or the preview stream is released if there is as much mellow passages as in this medley. It's going to be good regardless and I think a much needed shot in the arm for the metal scene.
Blabbermouth is reporting a release date for the new Nevermore cd "The Obsidian Conspiracy" to be June 8th. Finally after 5 years a new album is coming out and not a moment to soon.More on this after the jump. This band above most others really needs to be supported.Most of their career has been slogging through tepid metal sales through the 90's and it wasn't until the millenium did they finally start developing a following.The last 5 years has been filled with solo albums and rotating rythmn guitar players but hopefully all of that time away will produce a great album even by Nevermore's standards.
For those not familiar with them they are a hard band to peg down if you care about genre labels. They mix thrash with progressive and sometimes a touch of power metal of the dark kind all with clean vocals. I'm not talking Blind Guardian stuff with wizards and Middle Earth but of a socio political nature and some metaphysical and supernatural elements. Basically one of the most interesting and truly "heavy" metal bands I've ever run across. I can't really describe them so here is some vids of my favorite tracks to give an idea.
I swear if this new album does not sell at least 10k in it's opening week there is no hope for the U.S. market for metal bands. They're heavy, they're technical,follow no trends,and they're intelligent. If these elements are not enough to finally get them to the next level it's time to move to Sweden I guess.
Go to Nevermore's Myspace page to hear more tunes.
Ok. I'm rested and refreshed and ready to tackle the next 25 on this list of metal albums blessed by the gods of Olympus. Let's do it.
50. PARADISE LOST - "Icon" Melodic thrash stuff. I reeeally tried to like this group. Musically it's not as good as Opeth and his vocals fall short on both clean and cookie monster for me.
49. WHITESNAKE - "1987" Odd. I didn't realize they had a album titled this. If it's the self titled album from that year.....it's not metal. Whitesnake is and has always been hard rock.Period.
48. ANATHEMA - "Alternative 4" I should probably check these guy out since they're compared to Katatonia. Speaking of. Where is Katatonia on this list. Come on Greece.
47. NEVERMORE - "Dead Heart in a Dead World" Cool. More Nevermore goodness though I wish their albums would be ranked higher on overseas polls. They're starting to really hit the underrated territory.
46. ACCEPT - "Restless and Wild" Interesting this album ranks higher then "Balls". It's good though for old school straight up metal.
45. PANTERA - "Cowboys From Hell" Classic stuff. This was a transition album that got people noticing.Pantera was getting away from the spandex and hairspray crap into thrash. A bit of both on this album.
44. OZZY OSBOURNE - "Diary of a Madman" Ozzy makes a appearance here solo finally. Ah the good old days when he was stoned, drunk and out of his fucking mind. I like this album better then Blizzard.
43. SLAYER - "Seasons in the Abyss" My favorite Slayer album. Songs like Skeletons of Society is the kind of thrash I like. Mid tempo with cool riffs and vocal phrasing instead of just constant shouting like on later releases.
42. CANDLEMASS - "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" Wake me up when we get to 41.
41. JUDAS PRIEST - "Defenders of the Faith" My favorite Priest album. Everything else after sucked until Angels imo. Go ahead and bitch at me in comments.
40. JUDAS PRIEST - "Sad Wings of Destiny" Whoa back to back entries.Some classic tracks that get covered on in here like "the Ripper" and "Victim of Changes".This was when they were more prog then anything else and trying to find their identity. They're still looking.
39. SEPULTURA - "Arise" this got the boys from Brazil noticed and my second favorite album by them. Good guttural chugging thrash here.
38. OPETH - "Blackwater Park" Nice...Opeth finally makes it on here. Interesting that this is ranked above some serious classics. Mikael had finally started refining his grunts where they were more coherent. And music structures were getting more complex if that's possible for Opeth.
37. SAVATAGE - "Gutter Ballet" Great album. This pretty much set the tone for how 'Tage would be for the rest of their careers. Prog and power metal mixed but done well.
36. SYSTEM OF A DOWN - "Toxicity" Some nu metal besides Slipknot finally on here. Though their sound is more hardcore and punk influenced. Saw them once live and they were nuts.
35. EXODUS - "Bonded by Blood" Classic but I don't like it. Nice to see some other Bay area pioneers on here.
34. DEEP PURPLE - "In Rock" Influential but nowhere nears as popular as some of their peer's albums. I don't think there is a track from this album that gets radio play. At least here in the states. Odd that this is so high up.
33. DREAM THEATER - "Images and Words" DT's best selling album. Dropped right at the end of metal's existance on old MTV. Such a kick ass album.
32. HELLOWEEN - "Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II" Classic and must be more popular here then back at home. Otherwise I can't see why it ranks so high.
31. IRON MAIDEN - "Iron Maiden" Intro to Maiden with Paul Di'anno on vocals. I couldn't get into it because Di'anno was such a shitty vocalist.
30. RAINBOW - "Rising" Wow the Greeks are all over the map in what they like. Some of these albums are all but forgotten over here but they get top 30's there. Classic Dio stuff.
29. IRON MAIDEN - "Somewhere in Time" One of the best albums by them. Back when they had the power to write concept albums in one song.
28. IRON MAIDEN - "Piece of Mind" Double duty and a crap load of Maiden in this batch. This album is awesome except for the track Quest for Fire. God that song sucks.
27. OZZY OSBOURNE - "Blizzard of Ozz" Surprised that this doesn't rank higher but then again I shouldn't be. The Greeks are a bit bizzare I think.
26. MANOWAR - "Hail to England" The power these dudes hold in foreign countries is truly amazing. Especially since they're from the Bronx.
Ok. This is more work then I thought. But we're almost done. Check back later for the top 25 drunk on Ouzo selections by these wacky Gracians.
dreSo I guess I should make a list of bands I'm listening to alot of lately. Let it be noted that I've only really been aware of of these groups for a few months. And most of them I wouldn't have even had listened to back in the day. But thanks to Blabbermouth and My space for allowing people like me to see whats out there.
Yeah, yeah some people will think, how the hell can you not know about x band or z band and be some professed metal head. Well life happens, people get married, have kids, have mind and time consuming jobs. It's really easy to be out of touch for a long time. Plus it doesn't help that normal radio and tv do zero promoting of this kind of music. I am having alot of fun discovering this stuff though and I'm amazed at the talent and muscianship that has developed over the past 20 years. I've also noticed that metal in general seems to have migrated to the Scandinavian and Norwegian countries. So anyways here is a list of bands I've happily discovered, or were told to listen to with their My space link if they have one. Just click on the band name.
Nevermore: Thanks to my buddy Martin who told me to get over the vocalists style and keep listening. This band is awesome. Mixes brutality with progressive elements.
Overkill: I never got into these guys in the 80's but going back over their catalog from the 90's on, this is probably one of my favorite bands. They left alot of the speed style behind and left some serious riffs. Plus Bobby's vocal style has always appealed to me (Accept, AC/DC).
Jon Oliva's Pain: I always loved Savatage. I lost track of them through the 90's and happily checking that stuff out too. I'm not to big on this latest cd but previous works are just like a continuation from the 'Tage. Same goes for the next band on my list.
Circle II Circle: Zak has a solid vocal style and this definately is a carry over of his days with the 'tage.
Opeth : I'm not a big fan of cookie monster vocals. To me alot of these bands have brilliant lyrics that get lost by trying to sound evil or "metal". I shouldn't have to look up what the hell you're saying. But Opeth is an exception, the blend of grunts and clean vocals and excellant progressive music is really really good.
Nightwish : I was intrigued by the concept of orchestration mixed with metal music after listening to and seeing TSO in concert. I was at first put off by the operatic vocals but came back to it like it alot. I don't much care for Nightwish's new singer as I think she's a poor fit for the powerful songs this band puts out. But the Tarja era stuff is really good.
Ayreon : This is just epic stuff here. It's got conceptual material, it's progressive, has an all star cast. I could literally just listen to this stuff for hours. There is an element of cheese in some of the songs and early on the synth was overused I believe but like all good groups or projects it matured and became more well rounded.
Communic : This is an excellant trio out of Sweden. They get compared to Nevermore alot because on the first two albums his vocals drifted toward Warrel's range and tone but otherwise it's really very differant and really good.
Dream Theater : I had these guys first two cd's then lost touch. Wow, there's a whole lot to digest since then.
Therion : This is pretty epic stuff. It mixes metal, orchestration, opera, and the themes are pretty cool. There were actually some tracks off Lemuria that gave me chills which doesn't happen to often.
Slayer : Yeah yeah,let me explain. Back in the day as in high school, I thought these guys were too fast and heavy for my tastes. Then I heard Seasons in the Abyss and that was more my style. Reminded me of Ride the Lightning by Metallica. But I lost touch from the scene and never bothered to listen to anything after. I've since corrected this error. Nuff said.
Battlelore : By all accounts I should not like this stuff but I do. The concept and look of this band is cheesy but if you get past those elements and take it in the context of what it is, this is great stuff. One of only a few bands I like with cookie monster vocals.
Kamelot : The worst thing about this band is it's name. This is probably the best power metal band I've ever heard. The first albums with the original singer were complete Queensryche rip offs and the first two albums with Roy on vocals were ruined by terrible production. But from the Fourth Legacy on up its good stuff.
Arch Enemy : I put this band up here because the music is just awesome. Angela's voices kills it but the music structure is very progressive and thrashy. Her roar roar I have no range vocals just don't mix most of the time with what's happening in the background, but it's tolerable so therefore I listen.
Well there you go, alot of prog, some thrash, some cheese. I'll probably do a post on what I used to listen to back in the day. That should be good for some laughs.
