Author Topic: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. No One Likes Cheap Wine  (Read 7991 times)

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Offline Train of Naught

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Was just about to post the next write-up but glad to get some feedback on Novembre still. Looking at it right now actually it seems like apart from The Blue, I've always felt the same about the final few songs on Novembre albums, they are always good and up to par with the rest of the album for me, but I've never gone gaga over them. Still, with reservations to The Blue and its Zenith - Argentic - Deorbit run.

Train, we had a power outage in Boston so they played as a bonus both Celestial Elixir & Crystallised.
That's awesome! (not so awesome about the outage though :lol I think I saw that on FB) They played Crystallised > Celestial Elixir here as well but I thought they were done after Crystallised so I actually left before they played Celestial Elixir :( one of my favorite songs.

Got this one this morning so the timing feels right!

Ihsahn - Arktis. (April 8th)

For fans of: Heavy metal, Prog metal and black metal (Leprous, Emperor, Arcturus, Enslaved)

I remember checking out Emperor a loooong time ago and never thought I would actually enjoy their music one day, mainly because of the vocals. I guess to most people what appeals to them naturally is a human voice, and the more it differs from a human-sounding voice the harder it is to get into which is the reason a lot of people cannot get into growls. Ihsahn is basically this to the extreme if you ask me, but when you get into them, oh man do they come across as powerful!

My introduction to his solo work was actually the single off this very album, Celestial Violence. Being one of the more straightforward songs on the album, I think it's just gorgeous, and it is a contender for my favorite song of the year for sure. I have been raving about this song even to friends who listen to EDM, I can not get enough of it. If you at some point have enjoyed Einar Solberg's (singer of Leprous) vocals and have not heard this, go do so right now. Leprous has actually been the performing band for Ihsahn's solo music. Ihsahn has also contributed some vocal work on some of Leprous' music, most notably the harsh vox in Bilateral's "Thorn". These artists have a lot in common musically while still being very different, but I would at least recommend Ihsahn to every Leprous fan and the other way around, in case they hadn't heard the other band yet somehow.

Now onto the album in general, this latest Ihsahn release is without a doubt the most accessible of his catalogue. The album includes some groovy hardrock/metal riffs in songs like Until I Too Dissolve and Disassembled, as well of some oddly remeniscent-to-Leprous synths on Frail. Mass Darkness features Matt Heafy from Trivium and is one of the heaviest tracks on the album, but not one of my personal favorites. I actually thought for the longest time that In The Vaults was the Matt Heafy featured song since that chorus sounds so much like him.

Anyway, Arktis. seems like a very on-the-surface effort after the first listen but it is actually quite a lot to take in when you start getting into it more, do not give up on it after the first listen unless you can absolutely not stand the vocals. I found myself having listened to the album about two or three times while having listened to Celestial Violence for at least 50 times :lol but it is amazing front to back, really. One of the most interesting things about the best Ihsahn album (for most, including me) titled "After" was the speedy sax sections, which have been abandoned completely on this album apart from Crooked Red Line, where it is used in a jazzier and more relaxing way than usual, similar to On The Shores off After. That is fine though, the sax would not fit on this album for the most part since this one is a bit more heavy metal/hardrock focused opposed to full-on black/avantgarde metal.

Favorite songs: Celestial Violence, Crooked Red Line, Disassembled, In The Vaults, My Heart Is Of The North
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Offline Scorpion

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Easily one of my favorite albums of the year. Not a bad song on the whole album and it's so diverse throughout. Until I Too Dissolve it's probably my favorite here, but the wrote thing is fantastic. I'm not always in the mood for the spoken-word bonus track, but Celestial Violence makes a great closer and when I am in the mood for it, it's fantastic. I honestly didn't think that this would happen, but Ihsahn has actually beaten After with this album. :hefdaddy
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Offline Train of Naught

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Yeah it is actually very close for me now as well. I love to have the last track playing as a chill aftermath type of thing. It's a bit strange to me that the words spoken in that track can't be found anywhere though, it's not even in the lyric book and I'd love to know what they are saying.

Thinking of doing a preliminary ranking with every 10 albums that I review, got a pretty good idea of how to rank the 6 albums I have done so far but not sure yet which will be the other 4.
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a pretty solid album but one that got old fast for me.

the way he doubles up on a lot of the ideas here is the problem, i think

Offline Train of Naught

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I actually thought there were a lot of new ideas on this album (not new generally speaking per se, but new as in ground that Ihsahn himself hadn't treaded yet), but I agree there's a good amount of songs that do sound alike, I'm not complaining though since I think all songs on here are great.
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Offline Tomislav95

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I've listened to it once because you told me I had to (not really but...:P) and liked it very much. Why only once? Because I forgot about it :facepalm:
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Offline Evermind

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I need to listen to this. I mean, I have tickets to his gig that's two months away and I'm still unfamiliar with the album. :facepalm:

I blame the Ayreon thread.
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

Offline Train of Naught

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I'm (very likely) seeing him in February at Complexity Fest, he will be headlining there. :metal Only 3 bands have been announced yet and he is the only one I'm familiar with, but early bird tickets are only 17,50

I've listened to it once because you told me I had to (not really but...:P) and liked it very much. Why only once? Because I forgot about it :facepalm:
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Offline Train of Naught

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. Rival Sons
« Reply #43 on: October 04, 2016, 03:23:50 AM »
Rival Sons - Hollow Bones (June 10th)

For fans of: Hard Rock, Garage Rock, Rock, and of course Rock (White Stripes, Black Sabbath, Wolfmother, Led Zeppelin)


It has been a year and a few months since I got into this band, and what an experience it was when I first got into them! This was the thing modern rock music needed, a band to successfully blend together the styles from various oldschool rock bands to make it their own thing. Songs like Keep On Swinging, Open My Eyes, You Want To and the Manifest Destiny series had me floored. After finding out about Royal Blood I didn't think I'd stumble upon another rock band that I would like as much but these guys did it.

Now they released a new album and I honestly did not have any expectations at all, I was fully prepared to get some of the same stuff we have already gotten with maybe one or two great tracks at best. Cause let's face it, these guys are people pleasers. They will not go out of their way to explore an entirely new sound, and yeah, it has been a pretty similar effort to their previous releases, only I feel this one was a tid bit less ambitious. The mixing on some of the songs sounds very weird too, they have the guitar so low in the mix that it actually sounds like a badly produced bass guitar, and unlike Royal Blood, these guys have a guitar player AND a bass player so at certain points on the album you could pretty much render the bass player useless. The vocals have some awkward and recycled melodies in them, bar a couple of standout moments like on Baby Boy, which feels like the best track of the first half of the record just because it at least tries something different than the standard Rival Sons formula. Not by any means a standout song but every second of it is solid at the very least with a few above par moments. Black Coffee has a pretty cool gospel type vibe to it and is the song that starts of what is actually a pretty good ending to a lackluster album. The instrumental jam sections that they tend to put in some of the longer tracks actually plays a big part in me having liked this band so much in the past, the Manifest Destiny series being the perfect example of that. It's funny that on this album the main attention of the longest song, Hollow Bones Pt. 2, is on the vocals. It works out pretty well here though, and the final song of the album (All That I Want) is another song on the album that actually stands out in a really good way, while it is yet another song that is vocal-centered.

Overall, I would not rank this album very highly. The last few songs are very good but they do not make up for the mediocre first 21 minutes (for the record, the runtime of the album is only 37 minutes). If you are interested in this band, check out their album "Head Down", that one is actually really really good from start to finish. And if you are ever debating seeing them live, go. This band is fantastic live, they make for a really good energetic show.

Favorite songs: Black Coffee, Hollow Bones Pt. 2, Baby Boy, All That I Want
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Offline Train of Naught

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. Slow-motion Of Gallows
« Reply #44 on: October 06, 2016, 02:55:49 AM »
Slice The Cake - Odyssey to the Gallows (April 1st)

For fans of: Ambient and poetry (I have literally not a single band or song to compare it to)


This is going to be a slightly different approach. As you may have noticed I am doing these two Slice The Cake releases separately, even though they got released on the same day. Odyssey to the Gallows is the single most underrated release of 2016 and I feel it is just because some people forget it even exists. This one is a 28 minute piece divided into three parts, being a prequel to the acclaimed Odyssey to the West. I felt like doing the review for this release since the 6th of October is a dark day in my life and the mood of this song fits the day perfectly, if you are looking to be crushed by intense atmospheres look no further guys. Also remember that Slice the Cake started out as two guys who started collaborating through an online music forum. Anyone wanna collab?

Prepare your shit, because this is the most intense experience I have ever had listening to music. Gareth, vocalist of STC, goes through various emotions in a matter of seconds during some moments in the first track of the song which is called The Exile. Some of the strongest deliveries in music are being introduced here, albeit not an actual singing voice. This really is the standout part of the song and the one that introduces the listener to an entirely new approach for Slice The Cake's music, one that we see a whole lot on Odyssey to the West. At all times when possible you should have the lyric sheet in front of you, the phrasing of each and every line that comes out of Gareth's mouth is so damn powerful and following along with him makes it even more rewarding.

Next up we have Of Fire, Of Sword and The Void, which continues the harsh noise and returns the vocals once again, but this time with a demonic sounding voice, a lot more surreal than the voice we got in The Exile. Now I gotta admit that I found those demonic reverbs to be pretty cheesy at first, but I have come to appreciate the wide array of vocal styles including this one, especially since they transition between these vocals and the intense harsh vocals to make them sound similar. At this point of the song I am still on the edge of my seat out of excitement even though I already know there is no real climax that this is leading up to, it is just a great suspenseful atmospheric sound that makes me feel like it will.

Being through 22 out of 28 minutes of the story now, and the song continues to move in waves now with The Pilgrim's Path which sets up the story of the pilgrim in Odyssey to the West. The vocals come back one last time, this time around rounding things up and calming down near the end. I could not believe what I had just heard the first one or two times, and I am sure that this will not be as cool or interesting a few year from now, but right now this and the follow-up album are simply groundbreaking in the world of music if you ask me. One might say that it is kind of a letdown to not get an epic conclusion to this journey, but keep in mind that this one is meant to be listened to before the actual album, which hands out epic conclusions left and right.

Odyssey to the Gallows is truly an ethereal experience, one that can not be fully understood without listening to it and it has only been described to you in words. Also you absolutely have to use earphones for this one, no matter how shit the quality might be, because the harsh noise comes in waves from different sides and cannot be fully appreciated without them. Fun fact: the song playing in the background is actually "Of Gallows" from their previous album - which is an 8 minute song - slowed down to the point where it made up 28 minutes of background noise.

Anyway, this is a one of a kind release guys, do check it out if you have the time. Odyssey to the West is definitely the better album for obvious reasons, as it is a full album and I guess it goes more places while this one focuses on setting up the atmosphere as the predecessor of that album.

Favorite songs: Well, my favorite part is probably The Exile, but it should not be possible to listen to one part of the song without listening to the rest, just check out the entire thing.
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Offline home

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. Slow-motion Of Gallows
« Reply #45 on: October 06, 2016, 04:11:31 AM »
This sounds really good! I' m going to listen when I get home :azn: Is that collab question serieus btw? :p If so, yeah!
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Offline Tomislav95

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. Slow-motion Of Gallows
« Reply #46 on: October 06, 2016, 05:21:57 AM »
Yeah, sounds interesting, will check it out.
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Offline Train of Naught

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. Slow-motion Of Gallows
« Reply #47 on: October 06, 2016, 07:19:00 AM »
Is that collab question serieus btw? :p If so, yeah!
No :lol if I am as bad of a singer as I think I am, I am an even worse narrator. So unless you can give me a quick guide on how to become a world-class guitar player within a few weeks I don't think we have a deal.

Maybe this doesn't mean too much since I was not 100% sober at the time but when I listened to this song/album on a late-night walk to the train station I actually shed a few tears during The Exile, never heard so much emotion in a singer's voice before man. I also jumped up out of fear when the vocals returned in Of Fire, Of Sword and The Void :lol it actually scared me.

Also here's my ranking of the albums that have been reviewed so far. Will keep doing this after another 8 albums, the ones here can still switch around if I start liking an album more or less over time also.

« Last Edit: October 06, 2016, 07:26:23 AM by Train of Naught »
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Offline home

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. Slow-motion Of Gallows
« Reply #48 on: October 06, 2016, 07:59:28 AM »
I just listened to Odyssey To The Gallows, the amount of emotion in his voice is really amazing


No :lol if I am as bad of a singer as I think I am, I am an even worse narrator. So unless you can give me a quick guide on how to become a world-class guitar player within a few weeks I don't think we have a deal.
Damn I was counting on you to do the vocals  :lol
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Offline Train of Naught

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. Slow-motion Of Gallows
« Reply #49 on: October 06, 2016, 02:38:48 PM »
I'm pretty happy about my overly dramatic take on the vocals on The Exile Part I - The Razor's Edge of the Odyssey to the West album (the actual vocals, not the narrating :lol) so I guess we could do that.
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Offline Train of Naught

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. Your casserole is burning
« Reply #50 on: October 07, 2016, 09:23:37 AM »
Deftones - Gore (April 8th)

For fans of: Alternative rock/metal, Atmospheric rock, Nu-metal


I'll admit right away that, even though Deftones have a pretty enormous catalogue, I hadn't fully gotten into them until Diamond Eyes got released, before that the only album I knew and loved was White Pony. To kick things off, this album has been a major success for the band themselves, Gore charted #1 in some countries if i recall correctly and the band played on some huge European festivals. Now for me, Koi No Yokan had the perfect atmosphere, but was kind of missing the agression and the catchiness that I know and love Deftones for, while Diamond Eyes and White Pony have the pure intensity that the band is known for, but did not feel as cool as a full album, rather than just some great individual songs. Here we have Gore, the one that has this great ethereal atmosphere, some of the catchiest choruses and basic concepts of their entire discography.

I have already voiced my opinion on this album plenty of times around the time of its release and have been thoroughly positive, but I was not sure whether it had much staying power. I can safely say that this is still a really good one, and besides now having taken the spot for my #1 Deftones album it is also looking to stay there for good. The hype started rather early for me, while the majority of the people seemed to be pretty disappointed with the first single, Prayers/Triangles, I couldn't have been more happy with it. One of my favorite bands just released a great yet considerably safe new song, and the album seemed to be roughly in the same musical direction of that song. Then they released another song, Doomed User, with which I was kind of disappointed at first because it was just a heavy track with not much else to it, but later on when the full album got released it made way more sense and has since become one of my favorites.

With songs like Pittura Infamante and Geometric Headdress the band seemed to go back to their roots in a way, but still managed to mature, they sound like slightly better renditions of songs off Saturday Night Wrist if I may be so bold. Inbetween those, we have one of the most epic Deftones tunes ever, and my new personal favorite Deftones song, Hearts/Wires. This one has the most satisfying build-up I have ever heard from these guys, even though that's not particularly one of their strong points. They tried something new and it paid off tremendously. I guess my appreciation for the last three songs has slightly decreased since the release, but they are still great songs and this selection includes Rubicon, my new favorite album closer by the band. It is being preceeded by one of the most atmospheric songs they have done (Phantom Bride), on top of one of the heaviest songs they have done (Gore).
 
Granted, there is one dud on this album that I wish would've been cut or atleast reconsidered and that is Xenon. The melodies are so awkward and I can't help but zone out when I hear it, usually leading to me skipping that song. 1 bad song on an album of 11 songs is not too bad I guess, but I can't help but feel a tad bit disappointed with it.

A great release that has gotten a lot of mixed opinions from the DTF members from what I have seen so far. With that information, I would still recommend any newcomers to start with this album, it is a fairly safe one but still has a lot of cool stuff going on that we have not really heard from the band yet.

Favorite songs: Hearts/Wires, Phantom Bride, Rubicon, Prayers/Triangles, Doomed User
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Offline home

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. Slow-motion Of Gallows
« Reply #51 on: October 07, 2016, 09:29:22 AM »
I'm pretty happy about my overly dramatic take on the vocals on The Exile Part I - The Razor's Edge of the Odyssey to the West album (the actual vocals, not the narrating :lol) so I guess we could do that.
I could play it on guitar if there were tabs somewhere, my musical hearing is way to terrible to play it by ear  :lol
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Offline Train of Naught

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. Your casserole is burning
« Reply #52 on: October 07, 2016, 09:43:37 AM »
Pretty sure the guitars on the vocals part of The Exile I - Razors Edge (talking about the part that starts with "So beneath the sight of God") are just power chords but Ï could be wrong. It seems like they got rid of their official website, good thing I downloaded the lyric booklet because they look beautiful compared to those awful online lyric websites.
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Offline Train of Naught

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Cult of Luna (ft. Julie Christmas) - Mariner (April 8th)

For fans of: Post-metal (Isis, Pelican, The Ocean, Neurosis)

After having held off from anything by Cult of Luna for reasons I don't know, I finally came around to checking them out with this new release. For starters, I think The Ocean's Pelagial gave me a bit of a comfort feeling that post-metal can actually be a really cool innovative approach to metal instead of the monotonous heaviness and low notes that I imagined it to be. It's safe to say that I've been having a love-hate relationship with the genre as some of those initial expectations from the genre still stand firmly, I guess this type of music has a harder time resonating with me than other genres but if it hits, it hits hard.

So let me clarify that the only albums I have heard by this band are Somewhere Along the Highway and this one. As far as uniqueness goes, Mariner definitely wins in that regard. Julie Christmas being featured on this album is an ideal addition and I would not mind if she (or someone similar) would permanently be added to the line-up at all, it is an interesting change of pace and would give the band a lot more flavour that I feel has been missing for the majority of popular bands in this scene.

A Greater Call might just be my favorite part of the album. It has great switch-offs between Julie and Fredrik, and this melodic part makes it all the more better when they finally transition that into this catchy riff that might as well be my favorite off the album. Though it may seem a bit repetitive and overused on the song, those bombastic vocals thrown on top flavour it up a bit. While the first song definitely sets the mood pretty well, we haven't fully gotten into the demonic, plodding agressiveness that the album is centered around for the most part. Chevron does a pretty good job of doing that, throwing in the listener at the deep end. Although I will say that apart from the section I am talking about which is the agressive outlash in the middle, there is not much of note on this one, just a solid track among a bunch of great ones. Speaking of great tracks, The Wreck of S.S. Needle freaking delivers man, and here it is all thanks to Julie Christmas, she 100% makes this song. The most impactful line of the entire album for me being "Put me down where I can see you run" not because it is a cool line that means a lot to me personally or anything, but because the delivery is so intense and the song and album feel like they have been building up to this moment the entire time, and then she keeps repeating it for dramatic effect with more and more emotion to it, it is one of the greatest musical moments of the year and it might lead to me ranking this song highly among my favorites of the year as well.

The way this album is structured does kind of put me off slightly, which is my one gripe. They made it so that every song is longer than the last one and with my interest peeking at The Wreck of S.S. Needle there is a bit of a lack of attention near the end. Don't get me wrong though, Cygnus has an absolutely fantastic conclusion and has a lot of great moments too, but the build-up to that moment is just not rewarding enough, mainly because of Approaching Transition which just takes too damn long to get going.

Overall I'd say this is currently one of my favorites of the year for sure, but because there is such a small collection of songs on the album (total of 5) I can not justify ranking it among my absolute favorites since I do not even like one of the longest songs of the album, Approaching Transition, which takes up 13 minutes of the total 54 minute runtime. Still pleasantly surprised by this release, and Julie Christmas played a huge role in my enjoyment of it, I hope these guys will continue to work with her in the future.

Favorite songs: The Wreck of S.S. Needle, A Greater Call, Cygnus
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Offline twosuitsluke

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A bit late to the party but just wanted to say I have just gotten around to listening to Arktis.

I had only previously listened to After and angL and I love them both. After two listens though this is sounding like it could be my favourite of his yet. Einar sounds great on the album and there are some cool melodic death metal vibes. There are even some Maiden style riffs and I think it all works really well together.

Offline Train of Naught

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The Until I Too Dissolve riff especially gives me a cool oldschool heavymetal feel along the lines of Maiden like you mentioned, but I still get a lot of Leprous meets death metal vibes from a lot of the songs which is cool, for me it works better than most of the stuff Leprous have been putting out though both are pretty great.

Have you listened to Emperor before? I only tried a couple songs a long time ago but actually never got around to it. Curious if someone who is into Ihsahn would enjoy their music.
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Offline twosuitsluke

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The Until I Too Dissolve riff especially gives me a cool oldschool heavymetal feel along the lines of Maiden like you mentioned, but I still get a lot of Leprous meets death metal vibes from a lot of the songs which is cool, for me it works better than most of the stuff Leprous have been putting out though both are pretty great.

Have you listened to Emperor before? I only tried a couple songs a long time ago but actually never got around to it. Curious if someone who is into Ihsahn would enjoy their music.

I do have a few Emperor albums and I think I only started listening to them a short while before I got After and angL by Ihsahn. I vastly prefer his solo stuff.

I think I mainly checked out Emperor and Ihsahn because Matt Heafy from Trivium used to bang on about him all the time.

I'm not really into that more old school black metal sound. I prefer Dimmu Borgir's style of black metal, as you know.

Offline Train of Naught

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Okay good to know, I might try some Emperor in the future again but everyone seems to like their solo stuff better.

Going to do one more writeup today as I'll probably be pretty busy tomorrow during the day and I'll have the Ayreon thing in the evening. One of the most popular DTF releases of the year by a band that's gaining popularity really quickly coming up.
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Offline Shadow Ninja 2.0

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I'm not big on Cult of Luna generally, but Julie Christmas is incredible, definitely the best part of the album.

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i probably owe it to myself to give this a spin tbh

Offline twosuitsluke

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I'm guessing Thank You, Scientist, which I am listening to at the moment  :corn

Offline Train of Naught

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. Djank You Parama
« Reply #61 on: October 09, 2016, 11:24:05 AM »
Thank You Scientist - Stranger Heads Prevail (July 29th)

For fans of: Progressive rock/metal, jazzfusion (Haken, Mandroid Echostar, Coheed and Cambria)

Okay, I am guessing everyone here has heard of Thank You Scientist by now? If not, what the hell are you waiting for. I am dreading the day that they run out of new ground to cover, because even though it is a pretty damn cool concept musically, progrock/metal with a live brass section, I don't feel like they have done all that much to expand their sound from Maps of Non-Existent Places to Stranger Heads Prevail. I am sure they will be the next big thing in progressive metal though, with the talent these guys posess and the quality songwriting skills I do not doubt that for a second.

With yet another cool pre-release promotion this band was another highlight on that department beside Gojira and Haken among others. The album did not disappoint on first listen at all, in fact I don't think I had a single first impression this year as good as the Prologue: A Faint Applause... - The Somnambulist - Caverns run. The intro is something I am starting to expect from this band at this point, a cool short cinematic-stylo song that invokes a fun vibe, transitioning into a cool alternative-like riff, just like on Maps with A Salesman's Guide to Non-Existence. But what these first two full songs have in common I guess, is those metal elements I've come to expect from TYS in small doses, they are definitely not a full-on metal band but they do know exactly how to place those moments in their music, especially on The Somnambulist they create some really cool agressive vocal deliveries and badass riffs.

Next up comes what is far and away my favorite off the album's singles, Mr. Invisible. I love this song so so much, it is such a gentle and harmless song but at the same time one of the catchiest things ever. I find myself singing along to each and every line when it comes up, no matter how much of a fool I look like doing it because of silly lyrics like "I ask you if you want to dance some more" and "Mr Invisible has been found". The instrumentals are topnotch as well, the chorus being complemented by infectuous melodies, and the solo section is one of the highlights of their entire career so far with that typical funky jazz sound. Speaking of singles, I was not all that impressed with them overall. The Amateur Arsonist's Handbook had some really cool moments but did not compare to the quality of their previous album closer "My Famed Disappearing Act" in the slightest. And then you have Blue Automatic which is quite easily my least favorite song off the album. Guess that goes to show that I am still not completely head over heels about this band but it is pretty damn close to being one of the best things 2016 had to offer. Rube Goldberg Variations seems to be the fan favorite from what I have gathered from the websites I regularly visit. I agree that it is a great instrumental, and obviously better than Suspicious Waveforms if we were to compare, but it does take a while to get going, the payoff is fantastic though. Psychopomp is another great more metal-induced track though not as great as the first set of songs.

Credit where credit is due I guess, djanks Parama for introducing me to TYS last year though no doubt I would have heard of them eventually. :lol Currently the most popular new progmetal sensations seem to be Thank You Scientist and Haken, but I would take Native Construct over both any day, of course. That's not even a choice guys, it's fucking Native Construct.

Favorite songs: The Somnambulist, Mr. Invisible, Rube Goldberg Variations, Caverns


I'm guessing Thank You, Scientist, which I am listening to at the moment  :corn
How'd you know? :neverusethis:
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Offline Crow

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. Djank You Parama
« Reply #62 on: October 09, 2016, 11:47:14 AM »
i dunno. i feel like there's a notable difference in sound between the two. a lot of maps is really cool but also really straightforward; whereas a lot of the songs here that parallel songs there are just so much more complex.

also, a wolf in cheap clothing is the best them but otherwise that top tracks list is pretty good. and yeah blue automatic is the weakest here easily.
and tys are better than haken by a bit atm and waaayyy way way better than native construct, you're insane  :loser:

Offline twosuitsluke

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. Djank You Parama
« Reply #63 on: October 09, 2016, 11:52:52 AM »
I don't hear too much of a progression in their sound on this album so I agree with you there. My favourite track is easily Psychopomp, just something about it. It's an inspired album though, even my Dad likes it.

Comparing them to Haken and Native Construct??

I'd say I prefer Haken more out of the three and Native Construct are bottom (mainly based on their lack of material). If they can top their debut then everything changes. To be clear I do love NC's debut  :hefdaddy

Offline Train of Naught

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. Djank You Parama
« Reply #64 on: October 09, 2016, 12:18:02 PM »
To be clear I don't think NC sounds anything like these bands (maybe a few Haken influences here and there but not much), it was mostly in jest because sometimes I feel like NC have become the joke of roulettes and I wanted to give them a pat on the back. :lol I meant to compare the quick gain in popularity of Haken and TYS, not so much their music.

i dunno. i feel like there's a notable difference in sound between the two. a lot of maps is really cool but also really straightforward; whereas a lot of the songs here that parallel songs there are just so much more complex.

also, a wolf in cheap clothing is the best them but otherwise that top tracks list is pretty good. and yeah blue automatic is the weakest here easily.
Guess I do agree with the first part kind of, the songs on Stranger are way more complex and have a lot more dimensions to them, but I still like Maps more. For the amount of complex shit stuffed into that album it's a pretty straightforward rocker and I could honestly show songs from this album to any music fan with success.

Wolf is pretty good but I'm not as crazy about it as you.

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Offline Evermind

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. Djank You Parama
« Reply #65 on: October 09, 2016, 12:20:18 PM »
Native Construct are bottom

Truer words have never been spoken. :neverusethis:
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

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« Reply #66 on: October 09, 2016, 01:17:45 PM »
 :corn

Offline twosuitsluke

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. Djank You Parama
« Reply #67 on: October 09, 2016, 01:59:59 PM »
Another thing, TYS really know how to write good intros/outros  :biggrin:

Offline Train of Naught

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. Some breakdowns
« Reply #68 on: October 10, 2016, 11:06:26 AM »
O'kingdom - Anthem for the Lost (June 22nd)
(sorry for the bad quality)

For fans of:Progressive metalcore, Dj0nt (Architect, Periphery, Monuments)

Between all the cool well-known releases appears this unknown progressive metalcore release that blows all the big metalcore bands out of the water, whatever that even means on a prog forum. I know metalcore is not among the most popular genres on DTF but this band, while not the most innovative of its kind, feels like a very fresh burst of energy into the genre.

Coming in at just a total runtime of 21 minutes, this EP only consists of 5 tracks ranging from 3 to 4 and a half minutes, so unfortunately there is not much material to determine their talent or songwriting skills on, but I can atleast say that while it lasts it is actually one of the better things I have heard in (progressive) metalcore over the years, and has a lot of replay value. On the verge of sounding like a slightly less technical and more agressive alternative of Periphery, I guess I can see where my interest comes from. One thing I tend to pick out and rant on about with a lot of metalcore is that it is breakdown after breakdown after breakdown and it starts to lose its meaning after a while, same goes with this EP, first it sounds really cool and creatively implemented. Take for example the second track, Insurgent, which is definitely the most progressive song of the EP. It changes the direction of the song many times and executes this flawlessly, it's an assault of low tuned guitars and might come across as too br00tal for the sake of being br00tal but with all of the relaxing music I have been listening to lately while studying this is a nice little outlet.

Serpent and Mirror Eyes I would say are the other standouts if I had to pick, they have catchy choruses that resemble a very modern metalcore sound which a lot of people seem to be turned off by, gives it kind of a slowed-down punk vibe almost. Mostly this album is not about catchy hooks and melodies though, it is just some pretty straight to the point djenty metalcore with some impressively diverse growls. I should hear more of their music (they have two more releases of roughly this length) before giving my final judgement but overall I think it is safe to say that while I like their general sound, they are not groundbreakingly unique and I think the fact that I will start liking this EP less over time is evident, but so far I am liking it a lot so I'll enjoy the ride while it lasts.

Favorite songs: Insurgent, Serpent, Mirror Eyes
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Offline Train of Naught

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Re: The Groove Train: Train's Top 2016 Albums v. El Maestro
« Reply #69 on: October 12, 2016, 05:06:28 AM »
Lemaitre - 1749 (January 29th)

For fans of: Electronic indie, synthpop (Bag Raiders, Madeon, CHVRCHES)

I guess I have kinda voiced my love for Lemaitre over the past year, but it's not something you hear a lot about on a prog forum. I have mainly been enjoying several standalone songs from them but was never really into an entire release by them. Cut to Black is their best song and the song that got me into them, if you do not mind a little repetitiveness in electronic/synth pop (which is pretty much a given with most of this music) you should check out that song.

Anyway, I felt like giving these guys another chance when I saw they had released another EP and I am glad I did. In just 20 minutes this offers more variety than anything they have done before. Many guest vocalist featurings to flavour up the sound, because while their own vocals are alright they do not quite stand out, they are pretty regular. Speaking of their own vocals, the EP starts off with Not Too Late, an incredibly catchy song with pretty standard vocals, but they actually work here pretty nicely. It honestly sounds like a song that should be on Fifa, it has that kind of happy-but-still-kinda-laidback atmosphere to it. Day Two does not do much to differ from their standard sound and therefore is a pretty average song for Lemaitre standards, it is still a fine song but pales in comparison to the EP opener. Closer is the most fun song off the album and my personal favorite. The programmed brass section is fairly straightforward at times but it is just a lot of fun to listen to regardless, and still does some interesting things.

Over time this one has dropped a bit in the standings but it is still really solid considering its length. It would have been way higher in my rankings if the last song, Nishio 2, would actually be worthwhile. This is my definition of filler, 4 minutes of nothing on a 20-minute EP to close off the EP. The vocals are boring and frankly kind of annoying all the way through, and the instrumentals are uninteresting as well. Quite a shame.

Favorite songs: Closer, Not Too Late

P.S. Apparently they have just released another EP and I have just given it one listen. Don't know whether I'll be including it later, it is only 15 minutes. :lol Anyway after one listen it does not sound as good but the first song is really cool.
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