Metal Reviews

Cranky NFH is here! I'll give 4/10 on this one for good unclean vocals and few nice bursts of lead guitar, but other than the track Mad Architect, I did not like this album, and the reasons why show up on this track. Overly simple riffs, goofy clean vocals, pop song structures. I realize this album was very popular, but I'll take their mid-period material over this any day.

Lets stay in Greece though.

Nocternity - The Song of Hammers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbgvTvGH7z8

Enjoyable enough but it felt more like the intro to an album then a stand-alone track. 6/10 on the basis that intro tracks do not need to be six minutes long

Asmegin - I'm too lazy to try and spell this song title

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov2JFBHP1z0

Lets revive this thread guys. Husker, Goat, and I, and maybe someone else still haunts this forum post whatever and someone (probably me) but maybe one of you will listen, review and respond. I'll try to keep the tracks from being super long but I'm not spoiling them with artist-titles, ruins the fun. The rule is if you click on it you have to listen and give a little review.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7TjCbhq9EE&list=LLZ0AO31Ur3LYR2ISFda1G7A&index=106

The Pixies! A band I always feel I should listen to more often, because apart from Where Is My Mind I hardly know them. But they always seem to be a great post-grunge/hard rock group that were always a little more experimental and out-there than you'd expect, and this is no exception.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt9QEXuuEL4

Their first four albums in the late 80s and early 90s before they broke up are all very good if a bit inconsistent song to song. Their new stuff is just ok from what I've heard. In many ways they were actually pre-grunge as opposed to post-grunge, Kurt Cobain famously said he just ripped off the Pixies on Nevermind.


For some reason I was on board with Converge and Cave-In but Between the Buried and Me and DEP postured too much amongst the core-y bands at being metal so I refused to listen to them. Here I really liked the breathy Chinoesque delivery in the middle and the false ending before the true end. Very good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pZRfsBYsXw&list=LLZ0AO31Ur3LYR2ISFda1G7A&index=62&t=0s

My main issue with MBV is how the vocals and the heaviness of the instrumentation don't sit well together - I like them both well enough separately. Sonic Youth avoid this by being a lot more obviously experimental (and less heavy). Maybe I just need to listen to them more, I guess.

Reminded me of these guys, who I have always thought underrated:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlpSO6ljcdo

Understood, maybe MBV isn't your thing if you don't like that combination, that's too bad though as it is Veruca Salt's calling card as well (both they and Smashing Pumpkins were more heavily influenced by MBV than any other American 'grungish' bands). Lush and Slowdive are likely more your speed than MBV because they are softer. I had been meaning to listening to Unsane for a while now as their name kept coming up in noise rock or post-hardcore discussions, very good stuff, thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAjgwTQunq8&list=PLa08STcqukYo79oyIPaDoGDV962S-EfqO&index=7

I'll stick Lush and Slowdive on the list to check out then, thanks.

Big Black! "Songs About Fucking" is one of the greatest album titles, really, and I do like the heavy, dark, post-punk/noise rock that Albini and co shuttled out here. Not listened in a while!

I mean, though, if we're talking noise rock...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCAGgwaPiaE

"Songs about Fucking", featuring "He's a whore." Makes me laugh every time I see that album cover. I like the first Shellac album even more than Albini's work with Big Black. Well this Lightning Bolt track works because of those drums, how could it not?! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhKgFjJIZzU

Btw, my favorite quote going back through this entire thread? Wed Dec 19 2012

It was an Orphaned Land song which Noodles rated a 2/10 on.

Lush - Tiny Smiles

Yes, this is much more my sort of thing, instrumentation and vocals fit together well. Lush is a good word to describe their sound!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMiaLj3vJBA

I found out Chuck Schuldiner was a Lush fan which only made me like him more, of course.


Haven't checked in with Trickster G and company in quite a while! The first two thirds features his always charming voice and appropriately lush instrumentation before abruptly fading into a driving tech beat. I thought the last section could have ended maybe 20-30 seconds earlier and the track would have been even better, but otherwise this was excellent.

The best known track by this band definitely isn't their best, but it is a good starting point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdeKqqw40nE

I like this! Another name to add to the list.

Sticking to the noise rock/post-punk theme we seem to have hit on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BstpFV98mRg

Haha, funny video and good track...sounded quite familiar actually. I had been listening to a lot of Jesus Lizard lately, so I put 2+2 together, see if this sounds very similar to you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxFzMUw_84s

Another band I need to dig deeper into, always liked the samples of JL I tried and this is no exception!

My noise rock knowledge is running out, so a step sideways:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yCQhX4ks4k

Well I'm sure you know more about industrial metal than me. Hey this Godflesh is like MBV, soft vocals but hard sound, so naturally I love it! My Godlesh knowledge amounts to Streetcleaner and naturally Jesu off of this album, but I will surely check out the rest of this album very soon.
Is there anything more romantic than a husband and wife duo band? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqFS37mtOZ0

Ha, I didn't think to equate the two... the clean vocals here are much shoutier than the MBV and fit closer to the guitars in effect, and they go together far more smoothly for me than the MBV. And yes, later Godflesh heralded a turn towards more softer, Jesu-esque territory, this is probably their most commercial moment, but it does work well. That breakdown is so good.

Anyway. Jucifer! yet another band I need to delve into properly. Always heavier than I expect, you really wouldn't think it was a family affair. This is very sludgy and harsh, which I like, but aren't always in the mood for. But I like how they draw out the punishment, and fill those (kinda) seven minutes with plenty of feedback and riffage...

Speaking of, another husband and wife (and some other guy) band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmK_EQWoorM

I was merely joking with the MBV equation. I respect your opinion but will surely attempt to change it again sometime. Is Jesu really worth it after Conquerer? I never bothered past the first two albums and the silver EP.


I was stunned that Jucifer went so hard on that album with harsh vocals on 90% on it. Jucifer is all over the map with their style and quality, so if you delve sometime, run it by me first. I only gave them another shot because of the ubiquitous recommending influencing that Louise Post does for me.



Ah, Boris, not exactly one of my historical favorites. This track has a great building atmosphere, and I love the timely lead guitar breaks. I do wish either the pace was a touch faster or the vocals a little less wailing, but overall not bad at all. I found out where they got their name from which is pretty damn cool, kinda funny to think that this band heavily influenced both them and Nirvana.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0lue7MTAvA

Melvins are one of those bands that I will eternally be happy to listen to. You're right, it is great that they were so influential on so many different bands (I remember reading that Nirvana, especially on their first album, were a fan of early Celtic Frost too!) and really what can you say but praise them, from more rocking stuff to heavy material even to the more drone-y material. It's all great. Listen to the Melvins, people, their discography is enormous and very rewarding.

Could honestly continue this with plenty more Melvins songs, but here's something intense and heavy from another group they influenced:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXL18BMSP3Q

Wow, I haven't listened to Napalm Death for quite a while. This is perfectly fine, but grindcore was not my genre even when I was more exclusively into metal. Do you recommend a particular Melvins album? I've only heard various tracks.

Also I can definitely see the Celtic Frost influence on Nirvana's Bleach in some of those riffs! Cobain is probably overrated for a number of reasons, especially by generation Z, but he was a fantastic listener of music. For example, he was a big fan of someone you might think a polar opposite musically: Robert Fripp! I think Cobain's great strength was listening to a ton of less mainstream stuff and shaping those influences to filter down into his music. From one of his favorite albums:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1_8nd76Qdc&list=PLylpufmLefPXIh261HKMOTG-AI3NlL8QQ&index=8