I am not sure why I bothered to cover this. I knew this would be bad, but this is ridiculous.
Link.
Among the issues is the fact that Pantera's Cowboys from Hell was listed, despite the notable problem that they released a few albums before that one. Then there is the presence of Bullet for My Valentine, which boggles my mind. And then Linkin Park. And then we have the issue with Slipknot taking the top spot. Sigh.
I will have to think about this for a little while and get back with my pick. I have considered Morbid Angel and Suffocation. I will give this some thought and come back with a top 10. In the meantime, what are your picks?
Showing posts with label metal hammer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label metal hammer. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Metal Hammer NWOTM Walkthrough
As I mentioned in an earlier post, traditional heavy metal has been on the upswing of late. Lots of bands have been emerging lately that have been playing forms of metal that have not been in style since the 1980's. That, however, does not mean that there is some kind of a movement underfoot. Metal Hammer included this free sampler disc along with one of their magazines that I bought for the earlier magazine review. They are trying to be ahead of the game here, but there is no game. Some of these bands have little or nothing to do with each other. There are some good bands here, and some not so good ones.
WOLF: Kicking things off is Wolf. Not exactly "new", Wolf has been at it for several years now. Still, this is the first time I have really heard the band, and I am impressed. They definitely strive for a NWOBHM sound. The vocals are a little irritating, but not bad. This band sounds like it would have been home in the late 1970's. I wouldn’t mind finding an album by Wolf, but would need to do further listening first.
CAULDRON: Nothing much to say here. I enjoyed this song so much that I bought the album, and it is one of my favorite albums this year. I reviewed it a few weeks back, so I will spare much commentary here. Suffice to say, the song is good enough to cause me to buy the album.
CROWNING GLORY: I really enjoy this song too. It is fast, fun, and catchy. I can’t place my finger on who this band reminds me of, but it’s pretty good. Everything here works well together and this is one of my favorite songs off this sampler. I will be keeping an eye open for their album.
BULLET: This band sounds like AC/DC with harsher vocals. I don’t like AC/DC. Next.
ENFORCER: For some reason I always thought of this band as more of a thrash metal band. This song shows I may have been mistaken. It sounds like an attempt at sounding like Judas Priest with higher vocals. I don’t care much for this. There just isn’t really anything all that interesting going on.
DESTROY DESTROY DESTROY: Congratulations, this is one of the worst names I have ever heard. Still, the band combines black metal type vocals with traditional metal, and keyboards. It’s an extremely odd mix on paper, but apparently this band figured out how to do it well. I am intrigued. I would consider the album. In fact, I have picked it up a couple times at the music store and then decided against it. One of these times though, I will inevitably buy it.
JEX THOTH: Bring on the dooooooooooooooom. How this name isn’t the name of a Star Wars character, I will never know. I had heard a lot about this band over the years, so I had high expectations. They were not met. They sound like Electric Wizard but a little lighter on the psychedelia. Not bad, just very slow moving and doesn’t really go anywhere, heavy as fuck though. The singer is a woman which adds a lighter feel to the song.
BLOOD CEREMONY: Another doom metal band with a female vocalist. This band is heavy on the flute. It kind of gives the song a mysterious, exotic feel. This song sounds like it could have easily been written by the Jefferson Airplane. Kind of weird. Not bad though. Not sure I would be interested in hearing more.
WHITE WIZZARD: This is better. This song is a lot like the Crowning Glory song earlier, fast with gang vocals on the extremely infectious chorus. Ah, metal songs about cars, we haven’t heard one of those in awhile. I would be interested in hearing more from these guys before deciding on an album though.
THE GATES OF SLUMBER: I already own this album. I bought it last year and it was one of my Top 10 albums from 2008. It’s a great album, traditional doom at its finest. As such, not much else to say here.
ICARUS WITCH: I already own an album by this band. They are a definite NWOBHM throwback. This song starts out a bit faster than anything they played on the album that I own, but it then calms down and remains slow for most of the rest of the song. I really like it, which is surprising because I have read a lot of negative reviews on the album this song has been taken from. The singer has a very unique voice and it fits well with the rest of the band’s sound. I would consider this album.
WIDOW: This one is kind of odd. The music is tradition 80's style metal. The vocals are layered a little weird though. There are two vocal lines going at the same time at different pitches, and the combination is a little strange. Still, it’s not a bad song, but it doesn’t offer anything some of the above bands do.
POWERDRIVE: What the fuck is this doing here? Okay, in putting together a sampler CD, you generally want songs that are representative of the featured band. I have no idea if this is what this band typically sounds like or not, but this is a ballad. This shouldn’t be here. I would definitely have to hear more from this band before making up my mind, but this was definitely not the best way to introduce a lesser-known band.
TWISTED TOWER DIRE: I have an album by this band so I knew what to expect here. Or so I thought. This honestly is not one of TTD’s better songs. Extra points for it being called "Snow Leopard" though. It’s certainly not a bad song, but it doesn’t have the same anthemic feel as some of the rest of their songs. They sound like they’re going for a Thin Lizzy sound on this one. Still a quality band.
I don't have pictures of this band,so here's a snow leopard.
STUKA SQUADRON: This is just a joke, right? This is just terrible, I don’t even feel like describing it, it’s just bad and it really has no place here.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Metal Magazine Review Pt. 2 of 4: Metal Hammer is Really Boring
I have recovered from my aneurysm and can now move the left side of my body again. Time to dig back into this today. Okay, I just need to stretch first and clear my mind. I had a copy of this my first year of college and was not impressed, they were pretty big on nu metal back then and Slipknot was on the cover. Okay, I am ready to tackle this bitch.
CD +15: I like free CDs, I like them even more when they are worthwhile. This one is devoted to the so-called New Wave of Traditional Metal, which despite being a completely made-up genre and stupid name, has some good bands. I'm not totally familiar with all of them, but Wolf, Cauldron (formerly Goat Horn), Jex Thoth (would make an excellent Star Wars character name), The Gates of Slumber, Icarus Witch, and Twisted Tower Dire are all quality bands.
Metallica's James Hetfield cover +3: Not going out on a limb here, but Metallica's last album was good and they were recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I'll give it a pass.
Photos of Corey Taylor and Fred Durst on page 7 -2: I don't want Slipknot or Limp Bizkit in my fucking metal magazine. The wound is threatening to return.
Another Slipknot pic -1: THE WOUND! THE WOUND!
Advice Column from Oderus Urungus of Gwar -1: This could have been funnier. A missed opportunity.
Kat Von D feature +2: She's attractive and she's in her underwear, but she would look a hell of a ot better without all the tattoos and rat's nest in her hair. Of course then she would be a nobody. Instead of the burgeoning celebrity she currently is. Ah, sarcasm.
Grand Theft Auto 4 feature +1: What do video games have to do with metal? Ah, apparently Max Cavalera is one of the DJs for a music station you can listen to in the game. Some surprisingly decent bands such as At the Gates, Bathory, Celtic Frost, Deicide, and Kreator.
Defenders of the Faith feature +2: Tour package feature with Lamb of God, Dimmu Borgir, Unearth, and Five Finger Death Punch. Meh.
Machine Head/Metallica main article +5: I don't really understand what these bands have in common other than being past their prime. Oh, Bay Area thrash, except Machine Head was not part of that scene, Robb Flynn's previous band Vio-lence was, so this is unnecessarily tenuous.
Mastodon article -5: Shocker. The guitarist says they're not a metal band and in fact he doesn't listen to metal. I no longer have respect for Mastodon. Alienating your fan base is not a good move.
Iron Maiden article +2: Iron Maiden made a tour movie, interesting. I may check this out. To Netflix I go.
Destroy Destroy Destroy article +1: They're supposed to be interesting but I have never checked them out because of the ridiculously stupid name. We'll see based on their song on the CD.
God Forbid article +2: Meh. Everyone has been covering God Forbid since their latest album. It's not bad, just not great.
Max Cavalera article +5: I always liked Max and he's not schilling some terrible album with Soulfly this time. What gives?
Black Tide article -1: They're okay, very young. The members are all in high school, I'm not sure it's worth following a group this young and naive.
Trouble: The Skull article +2: Good album by a great band. Essential early doom metal album.
Architects article -5: They suck and they look emo. Go the fuck away.
The New Wave of Trad Metal +1: It looks like Metal Hammer is trying to sneak in on what it perceives as a developing scene. News flash: most of these bands have been around for awhile. This is not a new scene, but I guess you're trying desperately to come up with something interesting. Good bands though so I guess you get a point.
Reviews: Same deal as Revolver:
(Hed) P.E. (even) -1: Why would you even want to review this shit? What does the name even mean? Why is my head hurting? What does it all mean?
Shinedown (positive) -1: Shinedown blows.
Others: No points, nothing terribly adventurous here. Meh.
Cannibal Corpse discography review -3: Kill is NOT their best album. For shame.
Dozens of pages of ads -5: Ugh, there's like three pages of ads for every one article.
Seance article +3: Underrated Swedish death metal group finally gets some attention.
Emperor interview +2: Interesting final look at a very influential band.
Subterranean Albums +2: Why separate the more underground albums from the mainstream albums? I don't understand. Are we trying to differentiate between groups of fans?
Overall feel -15: There is a section devoted to the underground at the end of the article, but the rest of the magazine just feels too damn safe. Very few risks involved. Mastodon, Metallica, Iron Maiden, God Forbid, and Machine Head are all mainstream metal artists.
Final Results: +7
There is some interesting information here and I am not completely repulsed by this one as I was by Revolver, but it was overly sanitized. It's metal music for people who are scared by death and black metal. I don't know, not horribly impressed but not freaked out either. It's not worth the $10 fucking dollars it cost. Bloody English. Big meh.
CD +15: I like free CDs, I like them even more when they are worthwhile. This one is devoted to the so-called New Wave of Traditional Metal, which despite being a completely made-up genre and stupid name, has some good bands. I'm not totally familiar with all of them, but Wolf, Cauldron (formerly Goat Horn), Jex Thoth (would make an excellent Star Wars character name), The Gates of Slumber, Icarus Witch, and Twisted Tower Dire are all quality bands.
Metallica's James Hetfield cover +3: Not going out on a limb here, but Metallica's last album was good and they were recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I'll give it a pass.
Photos of Corey Taylor and Fred Durst on page 7 -2: I don't want Slipknot or Limp Bizkit in my fucking metal magazine. The wound is threatening to return.
Another Slipknot pic -1: THE WOUND! THE WOUND!
Advice Column from Oderus Urungus of Gwar -1: This could have been funnier. A missed opportunity.
Kat Von D feature +2: She's attractive and she's in her underwear, but she would look a hell of a ot better without all the tattoos and rat's nest in her hair. Of course then she would be a nobody. Instead of the burgeoning celebrity she currently is. Ah, sarcasm.
Grand Theft Auto 4 feature +1: What do video games have to do with metal? Ah, apparently Max Cavalera is one of the DJs for a music station you can listen to in the game. Some surprisingly decent bands such as At the Gates, Bathory, Celtic Frost, Deicide, and Kreator.
Defenders of the Faith feature +2: Tour package feature with Lamb of God, Dimmu Borgir, Unearth, and Five Finger Death Punch. Meh.
Machine Head/Metallica main article +5: I don't really understand what these bands have in common other than being past their prime. Oh, Bay Area thrash, except Machine Head was not part of that scene, Robb Flynn's previous band Vio-lence was, so this is unnecessarily tenuous.
Mastodon article -5: Shocker. The guitarist says they're not a metal band and in fact he doesn't listen to metal. I no longer have respect for Mastodon. Alienating your fan base is not a good move.
Iron Maiden article +2: Iron Maiden made a tour movie, interesting. I may check this out. To Netflix I go.
Destroy Destroy Destroy article +1: They're supposed to be interesting but I have never checked them out because of the ridiculously stupid name. We'll see based on their song on the CD.
God Forbid article +2: Meh. Everyone has been covering God Forbid since their latest album. It's not bad, just not great.
Max Cavalera article +5: I always liked Max and he's not schilling some terrible album with Soulfly this time. What gives?
Black Tide article -1: They're okay, very young. The members are all in high school, I'm not sure it's worth following a group this young and naive.
Trouble: The Skull article +2: Good album by a great band. Essential early doom metal album.
Architects article -5: They suck and they look emo. Go the fuck away.
The New Wave of Trad Metal +1: It looks like Metal Hammer is trying to sneak in on what it perceives as a developing scene. News flash: most of these bands have been around for awhile. This is not a new scene, but I guess you're trying desperately to come up with something interesting. Good bands though so I guess you get a point.
Reviews: Same deal as Revolver:
(Hed) P.E. (even) -1: Why would you even want to review this shit? What does the name even mean? Why is my head hurting? What does it all mean?
Shinedown (positive) -1: Shinedown blows.
Others: No points, nothing terribly adventurous here. Meh.
Cannibal Corpse discography review -3: Kill is NOT their best album. For shame.
Dozens of pages of ads -5: Ugh, there's like three pages of ads for every one article.
Seance article +3: Underrated Swedish death metal group finally gets some attention.
Emperor interview +2: Interesting final look at a very influential band.
Subterranean Albums +2: Why separate the more underground albums from the mainstream albums? I don't understand. Are we trying to differentiate between groups of fans?
Overall feel -15: There is a section devoted to the underground at the end of the article, but the rest of the magazine just feels too damn safe. Very few risks involved. Mastodon, Metallica, Iron Maiden, God Forbid, and Machine Head are all mainstream metal artists.
Final Results: +7
There is some interesting information here and I am not completely repulsed by this one as I was by Revolver, but it was overly sanitized. It's metal music for people who are scared by death and black metal. I don't know, not horribly impressed but not freaked out either. It's not worth the $10 fucking dollars it cost. Bloody English. Big meh.
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