\m/ METAL \m/

[Yw-slayer]

Rage Against the Machine. 28 August 2022, Reading Festival, United Kingdom.

[Freude am Fahren]

I've got tickets already to see Porcupine Tree in September. Can't fucking wait.

[Rare White Ape]

Fantastic :up:

I had a bit of a YouTube PT binge last weekend along with a few whiskeys. I'm really looking forward to their new album, and hope they tour my neck of the woods in the next 12 months.

[G'day Mate]

I've seen Devin twice - once at a festival and once at an acoustic gig. SO entertaining! That acoustic gig would have been the last thing I saw come to think of it, and before that Opeth :lol:

Never seen Porcupine Tree live ...

[Rare White Ape]

I've seen Steven Wilson with his band.

It was bloody amazing.

[Rare White Ape]

Hot damn diggity, this band… this band


https://youtu.be/V9xuD9cd_Rc

[Dicknose]

New Megadeth album The Sick, The Dying... And the Dead! drops today. Of cause its claimed to be "old school"! Just having a first listen to it now (other than the 3 pre-released songs)

[Rare White Ape]

Today I learned that Metallica played a show in Antarctica, in 2013, to a small group working on an Argentinian research station.

And it's on their YouTube channel!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hi2u98VKxc&ab_channel=Metallica

[Dicknose]

Wow - that's cool

[G'day Mate]

Wow - that's cool

I GET IT!!

[Yw-slayer]

I wasn't able to see RATM since they pulled out of the European leg of the tour on medical advice.

The new Megadeth album seems good so far, though!

[Tom Servo]

There's a new Darkthrone album. It is very, very good.

[G'day Mate]

So I’m at a Mayhem concert right now. One of very few places these days where I have the right hair :lol:

[Tom Servo]

Just saw that on FB, that's fucking awesome. How was the show? Who the hell is fronting Mayhem these days?

[G'day Mate]

It was good! I don’t really know much about them but the performance was cool and the sound was mixed really well. Front dude was someone who was with them a long time ago, took a break and came back.

[G'day Mate]

I don’t really know much about them ...

Ok, so one thing I do know is that part of the whole Norwegian black metal thing is low-fi recordings, and I find it hard to get past that. As I said, they sounded great live, but tried listening to them on the way to work today and it's ... it's just hard to listen to!

[Tom Servo]

Hahah, yeah, that is part of the aesthetic, especially for Mayhem. You do get some on the other end of the spectrum like Dimmu Borgir, who put a lot of work into production and have like full backing orchestras, but Mayhem specifically is all about Lo-Fi.

[Tom Servo]

Ahh, and it's Attila still fronting them. He was the guy that took over after Dead killed himself, if I remember correctly. One of the few of that bunch of weirdos that uses his real name.

[MR2 Fan]

Not that anyone seems to care, lol, but Babymetal just released their 4th album and it has some absolute bangers. This one is probably my favorite


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiKPLZdsz0U

[speedpimp]

The Toxhards would love to tell you about Aengus The Prize Winning Hog.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZFz8_5Gh1k&ab_channel=TheToxhards

[Yw-slayer]

A friend and I are flying to Belgian for Graspop 2023. Anyone else gonna be there?

Some highlights:

Day 1: GNR, Tom Morello, Cradle of Filth, Arch Enemy, Butcher Babies, Alter Bridge, Sick of it all, As I lay dying
Day 2: Machine Head, Disturbed, Hatebreed, Meshuggah, Airbourne, Hollywood Undead, Gojira, Meshuggah
Day 3: Pantera, Slipknot, Rancid, In Flames, Halestorm, Parkway Drive, Exodus, Testament, Slipknot
Day 4: Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Skid Row, Lionheart, Anti-flag

[Yobbo NZ]

Generation Sex would be good to see also.
Billy Idol & Tony James from Generation X.
Steve Jones & Paul Cook from Sex Pistols.
Play a mix of both bands songs, may even included Steve singing a few of his songs too.


A friend and I are flying to Belgian for Graspop 2023. Anyone else gonna be there?

Some highlights:

Day 1: GNR, Tom Morello, Cradle of Filth, Arch Enemy, Butcher Babies, Alter Bridge, Sick of it all, As I lay dying
Day 2: Machine Head, Disturbed, Hatebreed, Meshuggah, Airbourne, Hollywood Undead, Gojira, Meshuggah
Day 3: Pantera, Slipknot, Rancid, In Flames, Halestorm, Parkway Drive, Exodus, Testament, Slipknot
Day 4: Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Skid Row, Lionheart, Anti-flag

[Yw-slayer]

Thanks, good to know. I'll put them on the list.

[Tom Servo]

What is Rancid doing there?

Also, unless things have changed dramatically since a few years ago, I wouldn't bother with GNR. Last time I saw them they were not good. Axl sounded like shit and basically just stood around. Slash's performance I would describe as "technically brilliant and also incredibly fucking boring." Every song had an extended solo from him that was extremely well played and you also just wished for death after the umpteenth long squeedly session.

[Rare White Ape]

Looks like a list of bands from back in the day with a so-so mix of great and average artists. Only 10% of them seem to appeal to me.

The make up of this list depends on your own taste, of course. I am surprised to see Pantera there. That's one I'd definitely see.

I'd go check out Gunners too. I nearly went to their show on the Gold Coast a few months ago. The level of train wreck would depend on how into it you are!

[Yw-slayer]

It's definitely a matter of taste and timing.

I saw GNR twice in 2019. They were great back then. At the first concert in KL it rained pretty hard for about half of it yet they still put on a good show, roaming around the stage and Slash whacking out all his solos in the rain. Top marks for that. Then I saw them in HK and it wasn't AS good, although it was a lot more comfortable as it was indoors and I was much more inebriated. Obviously it was a great experience and bonus points for the emotional high in seeing the near-original line-up again, which was something that I thought I would never see. I did also enjoy the concert by the Buckethead lineup which I saw in around 2011(?), and Slash, who I had seen twice before that. But the 2019 concerts were the best.

Anyway, pretty pumped for some good moshing and chilling, especially as there are no international metal festivals (or indeed English-language metal/rock festivals) in this part of the world, and as it's rare to have big-name metal/rock bands come through such that I can have an option to mosh properly in a big crowd of metal fans. At best we get:

- Some local metal or similar festivals (usually only 1 night) which admittedly can be very good but which are usually very small - say a thousand at most;

- EDM like Creamfields which is also good for me;

- Mixed festivals like our local Clockenflap, which lineup varies wildly and can feature great local/international artists (CharmCharmChu and Chemical Brothers respectively) or overhyped alt-rock rubbish like The Foals;

- Classical/opera stuff which is fine but which I wouldn't generally go to listen to live.

As for big-name English-language metal/rock bands before the pandemic we had Metallica and GNR. Green Day and Marilyn Manson (both of whom I am not really fans of) were supposed to come in 2020 but cancelled for obvious reasons. Same for One OK Rock (not really English language) and Iron Maiden (Shanghai). Before 2019 it was more mainstream acts which came through e.g. over the course of something like 2011-2019 we got visits from Blur (1 concert, not bad), Oasis (1 or maybe 2 concers, only went to 1 and it was below average as expected), RHCP (1 concert, good), Manic Street Preachers (1 concert, fucking legendary, but couldn't book a huge hall as too niche).

So I usually need to go to the mainland, or to Japan, or in any event someplace overseas, for big-name English-language metal/hard rock. In the past, air tickets were much cheaper and it was more feasible. But nowadays flights to the rest of Asia are not actually THAT much cheaper than flying to Belgium.

In Japan, there is Fuji Rock but the lineup varies and will not always be to my taste even if the food is probably better. Whereas if I can see 5-10 bands that I like over 4 days in Europe for not THAT much or too much time of, YOLOZZZZ nowadays.

I am a bit less pumped about having to drive 30-40 minutes each way, everyday, but at least my friends and I will be in a "3-series estate or equivalent".

Edit; bumblefoot lineup, not buckethead. I think? It’s been too long.

[Tom Servo]

I also saw them in 2019. I guess in fairness I think it was at the very tail end of their tour, Axl seemed like he was completely out of gas.

I remember they started out with two songs that weren't their biggest hits and literally the whole arena was still. Nobody moving to the music, nobody singing along, it was almost eerie. Then they played "Would You Be Mine" and people got a little more into it, though still not as much as one would expect, and after that just went dead again. Like, nobody in the arena was having a good time except Slash.

Again, though, it may just have been that they were really ready to wrap up the tour and just go home.

[Yw-slayer]

Yeah, if I were them I’d probably have felt the same way.

[Rare White Ape]

A legit heavy metal band represented Australia this year in the Eurovision Song Contest. The song they entered is quite synthwave and pop-inspired (which is appropriate I guess), but they do have a really good back catalogue of decent music. I had considered going to one of their gigs before but never got around to it, so now I can’t say that I saw them before they were famous.

Also, solid MR2 action can be seen herein:


https://youtu.be/p1ohtx5Ul6I

[Yw-slayer]

Babymetal are performing here on the 31st, and I thought about going but have decided not to. They're not really my style, and I am gonna save some money/quota (time and injury-wise etc.) for Graspop. In particular, it would also suck hard if I got injured due to moshing at the warm-up act and couldn't go to Graspop.

[G'day Mate]

I always liked the Kate Miller-Heidke song we entered - still think that was the best

[CudaMan]

A legit heavy metal band represented Australia this year in the Eurovision Song Contest. The song they entered is quite synthwave and pop-inspired (which is appropriate I guess), but they do have a really good back catalogue of decent music. I had considered going to one of their gigs before but never got around to it, so now I can’t say that I saw them before they were famous.

Also, solid MR2 action can be seen herein:

Video unavailable in my country. Voyager? I've enjoyed their music for some years! I don't watch many music videos but somehow I ran across this one for Colours which features a MK1 MR2, and man it hit right. T-tops, pop-ups, and metal = life is good.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reFRCJzHN8I

[MR2 Fan]

Babymetal are performing here on the 31st, and I thought about going but have decided not to. They're not really my style, and I am gonna save some money/quota (time and injury-wise etc.) for Graspop. In particular, it would also suck hard if I got injured due to moshing at the warm-up act and couldn't go to Graspop.

You're missing out :p

I'm going to the Babymetal concert here in Orlando, BUT I'm annoyed because they chose a crappy outdoor venue in early September....80% chance of rain/lightning as we get pretty much daily in the summertime.

HOPING it stays sunny or rains way earlier in the day. Can't believe they're doing 87 concert days this year. They finished with Sabaton in Europe, doing Asia tour, then US tour, then back to Europe again

[Yw-slayer]

Indoor, fully air-conditioned venue here. Return tickets on the airport train (23min to or from the centre of town) cost usd12.

Still not going. May consider changing my mind if they drop by a local metal record shop.

[Rare White Ape]

Video unavailable in my country. Voyager? I've enjoyed their music for some years! I don't watch many music videos but somehow I ran across this one for Colours which features a MK1 MR2, and man it hit right. T-tops, pop-ups, and metal = life is good.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reFRCJzHN8I

That's them! Good to see the band leaning into the campy side of their musical taste. I lost touch with them in the last few years and they're more synthy now, and I like it a lot. The song in the video you can't see is called Promise. You might catch the Eurovision performance via alternate means, but be aware it is mimed, so YMMV.

I hope that the niche/cult status of Eurovision here doesn't make them megastars like Wolfmother did when they became known overseas, so going to a local show might still be a chill affair. But if they become big in the colder parts of Europe - metal's spiritual home - then who knows what good things might happen?

[MR2 Fan]

They brought the MR2 TO the Eurovision contest thing (I know basically nothing about it, except they shipped it to Europe just for that show)

[MR2 Fan]

I love RedLetterMedia, was not sure what this was about from the title but it's discussing Death Metal band names and IMO it's hilarious


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYQUYlQ3NvI

[Yw-slayer]

Didn't watch Babymetal but the performance was praised, unlike the layout of the venue.

[MR2 Fan]

Their setlist for the Asia tour has been great from what I've seen.

[Yw-slayer]

Just packed 14 metal t shirts/vests (8 Slayer). Metal everyday, all-day and night.

[Yw-slayer]

I hath returned. It was totally worth it. For example, I've never done 3-4 (lost exact count) Walls of Death in a day, but now I have.

Unknown (to me anyway, as a band before the last month or so and following through at the festival) highlights were Lionheart, Hollywood Vampires, Bloodywood, Fever333, Pro-pain, Skindred.

[Dicknose]

Awesome!!

[Yw-slayer]

Not just Awesome, but...

[Fiat500]

...you feel the value greatly exceeded the cost?

[Yw-slayer]

THE RETURN IN EVERY WAY

[Dicknose]

so someone used AI to swap Dave Mustaine in to sing Master of Puppets.
https://youtu.be/2UCS6pShrUg

Not bad, but mostly sounds like it needs a producer/sound eng to make it more polished - its a bit "in a small room" and feels like the vocals are just pasted in.

Can really see this will be a big area for people to play with music - swap a singer, tweak the style a bit (heavier, faster etc) or even tweak it a lot (make it sound Country)

[FaultyMario]

Sounds weird.

On the one hand, old Metallica sounds awesome; on the other, that sounds like a teenager doing karaoke over old Metallica.

[FaultyMario]

Back when the drums weren't so overproduced*, so maybe that's why you walked away with the idea that it needed more production.

*I blame Newsted, his earth-shattering bass awesomeness provoked bottom-end envy on Lars and then... they never came after that.

[Rare White Ape]

It was the style at the time, and their style changed.

A friend and I had a realisation about Metallica while listening to 72 Seasons when it came out: they've been heavy and hard rock for way longer than they were thrash or speed metal.

Their thrash era was, what? Four albums over five years? After they went groovier and rockier and more commercial (Black album) they've made 7 albums over 33 years.

It's who they are. Their later stuff is actually really good (except for St Anger - geez) but they get dragged for it because it's not like their first four albums.

They can't win, poor buggers.

[FaultyMario]

I'm sticking to my rationale.

[FaultyMario]

They can't win, poor buggers.


Doesn't Hetfield drive a 24K gold plated Peterbilt, that poor fucker?

[Rare White Ape]

Probably. And he has to endure decades of heartless criticism from haters while earning all that money.

[Fiat500]

I just found out that the guitar break in The Four Horsemen is Sweet Home Alabama...

[Yw-slayer]

It was the style at the time, and their style changed.

A friend and I had a realisation about Metallica while listening to 72 Seasons when it came out: they've been heavy and hard rock for way longer than they were thrash or speed metal.

Their thrash era was, what? Four albums over five years? After they went groovier and rockier and more commercial (Black album) they've made 7 albums over 33 years.

It's who they are. Their later stuff is actually really good (except for St Anger - geez) but they get dragged for it because it's not like their first four albums.

They can't win, poor buggers.

This is correct. Not that it really matters, as long as the stuff is generally enjoyable to listen to, which is generally the case (apart from St. Anger and that moronic Lulu album).

[Tom Servo]

I'm glad y'all like it, and clearly lots of people do, but it just sounds insufferably boring to me. It's not *bad* per se, it's just meh.

[Rare White Ape]

Yeah, I mean, it's not your taste. That doesn't mean it's bad.

It's like saying Rihanna or Taylor Swift are shit. They aren't. They're really good. We just don't care for their music.

Metallica finds it tough to gain favour among the vocal core of old school metal fans, yet they're still extremely popular. And Lux Aeterna is an absolute fucking ripper tune.

[Yw-slayer]

I agree with RWA. I like most genres including pop (including some Rihanna and Taylor Swift, also Chinese pop), rap, and classical.

I hate jazz (especially the experimental stuff which is just random crap being played). I played some Alice Coltrane (as recommended by my jazz friend) to my kids and my son started laughing while commenting "This is really terrible!"

But I think it's more that it's not really to my taste. I can see the validity of the argument that improv demonstrates some level of skill. I just hate it because, to me, it sounds like one of the worst things on the planet.

Ska I am also not fond of as the randomness reminds me of jazz in a way, but I don't mind some tunes which clearly have some ska elements. I also don't like Drum and Bass or Grime but I haven't been able to listen to enough of them to properly explain why, although of course they are related to genres which I do like (electronic music and rap).

While I like most genres, I do have limits on what I would make an effort to go to a concert for based on why. Metal, electronic, and rap I would generally pay a lot for as long as it's a band or genre I really like (Cradle of Filth for example is not generally my type of music as I realised after watching part of their show at Graspop, the same with Ghost which I also watched part of there and which I think is effectively pop-metal, but not my type of pop or metal). If either one came to HK and I hadn't moshed for a while I'd think about going for the moshing. But really what is required is for both bands to have musical children together, then their stuff would be (to me) listenable.

Ballad-only performers (without a good backing show) I generally don't go to, as either the CD sounds better or I can probably sing at a similarly acceptable level. Conversely, I might consider going to a show if it is a good performance. There are some performances which I would not go to even if I were given a ticket (Coldplay, The Foals) as I really would rather not listen to their stuff.

[Tom Servo]

Taylor Swift has some songs that are bangers. Like I said, I'm glad you all enjoy it. Not sure it's worth an essay to change my mind, as I still maintain my status quo - I'm glad it exists and that you enjoy it and I absolutely will not bother listening to it.

[Rare White Ape]

Hey no argument from me, I was just responding to Mario and wishing the discourse on Metallica went beyond "they suck because they ain't thrash."

If I'm being objective: Metallica makes solid music of high artistic, production and technical standard.

If I'm being subjective: ...but I don't find it very interesting.

:shrugs:

[Yw-slayer]

No problem man, wasn't trying to change anyone's mind. Just ramble a bit with my thoughts.

I have only just begun to listen to Lux Aeterna and RWA is correct. It's very similar to GNR's "Perfect Crime".

Megadeth have also put out a few, effectively, hard rock songs (possibly albums) of varying quality.

[Tom Servo]

My bad, thought all that was meant for me. I was like "it's okay that I'm just not into it, right?"

[FaultyMario]

But YOU HAVE to like the music I LIKE!! We're friends, and we'll be friends after ninth grade!

[Tom Servo]

Just 'cause I was just listening to it, but the bridge in Slayer's World Painted Blood gives me chills every single time I hear Araya scream "in which we trust a secret government that is now in total collapse". Only Tom can deliver a line like that.

[Yw-slayer]

Slayer Forever. :hard:

[MR2 Fan]

so I learned of a group called Paledusk in a roundabout way............A few weeks ago there were hints that some Gen Z rapper who I never listen to...called Lil Uzi Vert was going to collab with Babymetal which was VERY unexpected and left a lot of us Babymetal fans being like "WTF?". Generally I'm not a big fan of Gen Z rappers, but once it came out, it was determined that it was actually mostly Paledusk (one of the band members at least) and Babymetal vocals with Lil Uzi doing just a few parts. ANYWAY, that song is VERY divisive, some people love it, others hate it, but it got me to listen to more Paledusk which is a very chaotic metal band from Japan with some great breakdowns.

Here's two great songs I found


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVu6t8N7GsQ


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiF5KNTntaI

[MR2 Fan]

Ok I think this one is turning out to be my favorite Paledusk song...sheer heavy insanity


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ipPvRQtjdQ

[FaultyMario]

If I'm being objective: Metallica makes solid music of high artistic, production and technical standard.

This guy was always my second favorite MCU character.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEhq_Efx9Ug

[MR2 Fan]

I'm going to the BABYKLOK concert tomorrow in Orlando: Babymetal and Dethklok co-headliners with Jason Richardson as the opener.

It's an outdoor venue, but weather SO FAR looks like it will be fine, just windy

[MR2 Fan]

I survived the concert, the weather was thankfully very good. There were close to 10,000 people there which is capacity which seems to have been 60% Dethklok fans. I picked up another Babymetal fan who needed a ride to the concert, and we were both extremely worn out after Jason Richardson (who was awesome) and Babymetal performed.

If anyone doesn't think Babymetal is metal hasn't been to a live concert...the only issue is I was at the barrier and the bass was so loud I couldn't hear Su-metal (The lead singer) hardly at all. I did bring very good earplugs and I'm so glad I did. The bass coming out up front was like an earthquake.

Also in less family friendly situations, had a super drunk girl during Babymetal was sloppily rubbing and grinding on me and her tiny top she was wearing kept falling down. It was clear she was totally plastered so I was trying to help her out and 2 other girls (friends of hers?) were also trying to help her.

At one point I even tried to give her this big towel hoodie thing I was wearing but she was dropping things like every few seconds along with her phone, phone case and vape, so the other girls got her out of there. It was quite distracting as you might guess.

After Babymetal was up, the Dethklok fans were very pushy to get to the front and the fan who came with me decided to get out of the front area, but it was just a massive amount of people pretty much around the whole venue, so we decided not to stay (apologies for anyone looking for a report of the Dethklok performace, I'm sure it was good)

https://www.vxdynamics.com/jr1.jpg
https://www.vxdynamics.com/bm3.jpg
https://www.vxdynamics.com/bm2.jpg
https://www.vxdynamics.com/bm5.jpg
https://www.vxdynamics.com/bm6.jpg

[G'day Mate]

Doodily ding-dong tick-tock :hard:

[Rare White Ape]

Turning it to prog for a sec :p

New Steven Wilson joint, and a pretty wild film clip.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbGkZ31Fmp8&ab_channel=StevenWilson

[Yw-slayer]

Get thee to a nunnery.

[MR2 Fan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_Ln7VpB1c0

[Dicknose]

Ive got 2 tickets to Iron Maiden...
Actually got 4!

[Yw-slayer]

Damn, nice!

Going tk see Flesh Juicer who have 2 HK metal bands opening for them. Funnily enough, Flesh Juicer have the least aggressive songs and the most aggressive name.

[Freude am Fahren]

Mike Portnoy has rejoined Dream Theater!

[MR2 Fan]

Apparently it's "Fun Metal" summer, with Babymetal x Electric Callboy's "RATATATA" going crazy in the charts and number of views/streams on various platforms and pushing both bands to new popularity.



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



Also, Keanu is a Babymetal fan

https://gtxforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=4309&d=1717972822

4309

[George]

I like those disco ball helmets! :up:

[speedpimp]

About two weeks ago I started messing around with an AI music generator site (udio.com). It's kind of hit and miss, but it's fun.
Specters in the Shadows (https://www.udio.com/songs/mPbK7CKGiSbbDR6hwM7dtJ?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR 257XSk5F211mfdmfYUoB63_LMRyQmDhtbsi0_AEOjKXksrwh-I2ClH9nA_aem_AUV4a17Q9oKlt-M2w7b6smFtX_xAuzY6Lu0WlYJfwNL4sYWZFcfVeiJQe13_ortk oC2Kjw0Bmg5MElUf_TT5TsBm) is about the best one I've done so far.

[FaultyMario]

It's kind of hit and miss, but it's fun.

It definitely looks like something fun.

[speedpimp]

It definitely looks like something fun.

It is.