Yarr, I have spent the last couple/few years in a much more subdued sonic place as well.

Of late though, i have been leaning back towards that caveperson-ish vibe though.

Part of me is still like an overangry 22 year old for whom the novelty of abrasive guitars and raised voices sorts of sounds just won't wear off fully. I won't say that i was in denial of the fact before, but it has sort of resurfaced a bit and maybe kind of served to wake me up a little.

I was actually at a point there where i wasn't sure that i needed to necessarily keep my drums around anymore. I cannot/care-not-to-try-to play them in a calm fashion. And if i was done with that sort of sound, they kind of become just another unused pile of things taking up half of my basement. But i am not ready for that change yet. Even though, in the process of figuring it out a little, i have fallen even more badly out of shape for playing them.

There's nothing wrong with abrasive guitars and raised voices. That's most of what I want to listen to as of late if I want to hear rockmusics at all. And the nastier, more abrasive stuff from my younger years has stuck with me in a way the more melodic things have not. (As someone who grew up on metal in the late '90s) I want to hear stupid riffs and slamming drums and yelling, things that aren't provided elsewhere.

not to infer there's anything wrong absolutely- that'd be like saying red is catgorically better than green. colors be good. just sayin' my response has taken a general inclination toward a softer stated version of 'grr' than a previous incarnation of full stop explosion.. and that jose gonzalez is doing a pretty cool iteration of that.

don't get me wrong.. i love me some breaking shit, blood, slinging sweat, and merciless exploding things in the rokk.

Been nonstop with this.

I suppose it's gloomy deep voiced singer-songwriters for me this evening:

Wow. WTF.

I've been in an incredibly anti-death metal phase lately, probably from being surrounded by it for as long as I have been. My response has mostly been a lot of power metal. The cheesier, the better lately.




Stuff like that, y'know.

Hah, this first band is hilariously awesome. I mean with a Tyrannosaurus that drools lava as a mascot they must. I like the bluesy touches to the otherwise very euro sounding second band.

So many great bits throughout this. The famous "black spiritual" melody (not an authentic one, just inspired by, and later appropriated for) is snazzy enough on its own, but the clarinet countermelody at 1:20 makes it. Ditto the walking bass coming in at 5:28 under the haunting woodwind thing. Etc. Despite the era this was written in, it's full of strong melodies (that happen more than once!) and traditional structures. Easy to follow. And full of awesome little details like the above. The whole piece, not just the second movement, is worth your time if you don't hate classical music.

Yeah, not what I was expecting from the vocalist there. Very classic rock sounding voice.

Well, this is different:

Grindcore violence.

I've been running across some strange cover versions lately- Duran Duran, Lemmy, now Personal Jesus as performed by Sammy Hagar

New Fucking Godflesh.


that bass. It's so fucked up sounding it doesn't sound like a bass at all in the mix and barely when soloed. They may be the only 8-string users I can think of with the bass in the proper (sub) octave.

It's not technical, it's not fast, it's just a lot of eighth notes. Sounds like some giant machine stamping out Soviet tank parts or something along those lines.

Can't believe it took me this long to get into Baroness. I was put off by one of their other albums but this one is awesome. Like a stoner rockier Mastodon.

Bears no resemblance to metal at all. Tons of Hot Hammond Action and badass drumming though.