The Official Hard Rock / Classic Metal Music Discussion and Memorabilia Thread!

[jingle.boy]

It was -20C here a couple of days ago. -35 with the wind chill factor.

[wolfking]

It was -20C here a couple of days ago. -35 with the wind chill factor.

Sounds amazing to me at the moment.

[bl5150]

Cold is no worries - just put on another layer of clothes 


But then we think it's cold when things approach zero

Growing your hair out like this helps to keep you warm too Chad.

[TAC]

[bl5150]

 

Yeah baby .


You were posting in the alcohol thread earlier Tim - did you know that Wingers brew their own beer ?   If anyone needs any ideas for Tim's 2019 Christmas present- there you go.

[jingle.boy]

Cold is no worries - just put on another layer of clothes 

[TAC]

Brent, I'm up through #25 on the podcast. Best two songs I heard in the last bunch were (I forget the band name, Sin Starlett?) the Lizzy Borden/Rob Halford guy singing. That was a cool tune, but there was a climactic point where the guy just doesn't get there.
And the Puerto Rico (or Portugal) guy. That was probably the best tune so far. Really well written. Love the piano outro.

[bl5150]

Brent, I'm up through #25 on the podcast. Best two songs I heard in the last bunch were (I forget the band name, Sin Starlett?) the Lizzy Borden/Rob Halford guy singing. That was a cool tune, but there was a climactic point where the guy just doesn't get there.

One of the weirder vocals I have heard in metal , that guy.   And yeah...........he certainly misses the odd note

[jingle.boy]

Ok, spoiler alert.  Finished the podcast this morning.

Loved the opening - WINGER
Tim, Ben’s right … you are old.


Of the ones that I already knew
Stamina - awesome.  #14 on my AOTY rankings
Coldspell - wasn’t overly enamoured
Signum Regis - really liked that one - #17 in my AOTY rankings for 2017… the highest rated album that I didn’t buy (saved it on Spotify)
Firewind - loved it!  #12 for me
Cromonic - wasn’t wow’d when I listened to the album.  Liked this song though
The Silent Wedding - I remember checking them out… I’d noted it was a TAC or Lowdz recc’n.  Uneventful.  Vocals sucked ass - and still do.
Anthriel - Transcendance was a SIGNIFICANT step down from 2010’s The Pathway.  Surprised you would see it the other way around.  TASTES!
Labyrinth - I gave it an A-, and it ranked #21 (2nd highest rated album that I didn’t buy outright).  I haven’t revisited it much though.  That was a great track that you played. 
Threshold - I rated it A, and it finished #13 (though now looking at what I had rated ahead of it, it probably deserves to be higher).  Not a bad track on the album.  I was leery about Glynn, but this is a terrific album.
Damnation Days - yeah baby! #3 AOTY for me.  I was so fucking pissed at you when you used them first in Kade’s roulette - this track was my #8 Track of the year.

On the "check it out list" now:

39.  White Highway / Lighthouse (female / Polish)
30.  Voices / War is Coming
25. Evandro / Khymerical Visions - (‘Volto’; Puerto Rico) ... help me out here Brent.  Where the fuck can I find this?
18. Haunters / Strange Kind of Affection
17. Neverland / Army of Liars
14. Streamline /   <what was the song title again?
7. Osyron / Razors Wind  (decent enough to warrant a cursory spin - gotta support the homegrown talent afterall)
6. Dreamtroll / Time for Vengeance
3. Barque of Dante / Ocean of Dreams -   this is the shit I’ve been waiting for!
1. Sorcerer / Sirens - well shit… that’s Anders Engberg on vox.  That changes everything.

Now give us that full playlist!

Can't wait for the 'best of the rest' list.

[TAC]

Hey I like The Silent Wedding. I think that album is cool. Glad to see it made the countdown.

That Palladine (?) track had some tasty licks!

[TAC]

That Excallion track was awesome. Just Saved them on Spotify.

I have that Stamina album saved already. It's pretty cool.

[bl5150]

Yeah the singer in Paladine also knows how to play a guitar   And yeah.........Excalion are pretty cool     Although another vocalist that could be polarising.


Re Chad's comments.............really glad you got as much out of it as I had hoped.  Most of the albums I had tagged for you it seems you liked (and rapt you dig Barque of Dante - that was one of my best finds for the year) .  And some of the more old school stuff is appealing to others so that's cool.

A few comments on your comments :


- re The Silent Wedding I think I mentioned that the vocals are "make or break" and therefore I am not surprised you didn't like it

- re Anthriel I think I said that I couldn't remember much about the earlier album and therefore was operating under the assumption that it made less of an impression.  Will revisit.

I will get you that tracklist - in the meantime a couple of corrections.


Haunters is the album name - the artist is Confess

The Puerto Rican project is Avandra and you can find Mr Volteau here:  https://avandra.bandcamp.com/

And the Streamline song was Deliver Us................I think I may have PM'd that to you some time ago also when you asked me to pick something from 2017 and send it.

[jingle.boy]

Giggity!

Anthriel / The Pathway is up there as one of the greatest DTF referrals I've ever received (got it from Zook when I was looking for recommendations on what should be my 1000th artist to listen to on last.fm).  Damn I love that album.

The old school stuff was good, I just have to pick and choose how much I'm gonna explore.  You're already fucking with my (unofficial) resolution to explore less and listen to my existing library! 

[Lowdz]

You Aussies are killing me. -2 this morning and pissing down all the time. We don’t even get any snow here to make it fun 😀.

And on more music related topics, the first Skid Row is best for me. I hated StG at the time. There’s a coupleo& good songs on it.

[jingle.boy]

And on more music related topics, the first Skid Row is best for me. I hated StG at the time. There’s a coupleo& good songs on it.

Agreed.  I've come to love SttG, but it still falls short of the brilliance of the s/t.

[TAC]

Not sure why it took so long, but I just got this bad boy on CD today:



Goddamn, I loved this album when I was a kid. Have the vinyl in my attic. Very much enjoying my listen tonight.

Insanity

[jingle.boy]

Just listened to Everygrey / The Atlantic.  Good listen, I put it on par with The Storm Within on first listen.  Doesn't hold a candle to Hymns for the Broken.

On to Starbreaker.

Edit:  Clearly a couple of filler tracks on Starbreaker, but overall I agree with Brent's assessment.  Nothing terrible, but no real shining stars either.  Very similar in how I viewed/heard The Ferrymen.  I think Magnus has burned thru all his good ideas, and now is only capable of writing 'pretty good' stuff.  This one will be a grower... it's definitely better than Love's Dying Wish though.

[Lowdz]

Will listen to Starbreaker later. Just listened to the Kane Roberts. It’s a bit weird. Not sure what I made of it tbh. There’s a prog metal track in there,  some growlies on a track courtesy of Melissa White Gluz - how does such a horrible sound come from something so beautiful? 😱), some Nu Metal,  some melodic rock. All a bit disjointed but I sort of enjoyed it.

It’s certainly no Saints & Sinners, whichmade my top 50.

[TAC]

I listened to the lead track off the Kane Roberts, and holy shit did it blow huge ass fucking chunks.

[Samsara]

And on more music related topics, the first Skid Row is best for me. I hated StG at the time. There’s a coupleo& good songs on it.

Agreed.  I've come to love SttG, but it still falls short of the brilliance of the s/t.

Weird. I've never heard anyone say that before reading this thread. Slave to the Grind (with the awful Get the Fuck Out removed for the censored version which features a much better song - Beggar's Day) is one of my favorite albums - period. Took a bit of the pop away, and just gave Skid Row a nice metal edge and some more serious lyrical content.

I love the first three Skid Row albums, but STTG sits above them both.

[jingle.boy]

I love the first three Skid Row albums,

And *this* is something I've rarely heard - Subhuman Race sucks monkey balls.

[Lowdz]

And on more music related topics, the first Skid Row is best for me. I hated StG at the time. There’s a coupleo& good songs on it.

Agreed.  I've come to love SttG, but it still falls short of the brilliance of the s/t.

Weird. I've never heard anyone say that before reading this thread. Slave to the Grind (with the awful Get the Fuck Out removed for the censored version which features a much better song - Beggar's Day) is one of my favorite albums - period. Took a bit of the pop away, and just gave Skid Row a nice metal edge and some more serious lyrical content.

I love the first three Skid Row albums, but STTG sits above them both.

That metal edge just seemed a bit false to me, but looking back it was probably the first album that was probably the false one.

[jingle.boy]

That metal edge just seemed a bit false to me, but looking back it was probably the first album that was probably the false one.

I always felt that - especially after Subhuman Race.  They went kinda 'glam-y' to get known (and sales) .... THEN went to what they truly were.  SttG I love, but it did catch me off guard at first - like WTF is this!?!?!  But I grew to love it pretty quick.

Subhuman Race... still sucks.

[TAC]

Just checked the new Evergrey.

[wolfking]

 

I'm checking the new Soilwork I purchased this weekend, but I guess I better take it outside.

[wolfking]

And the Puerto Rico (or Portugal) guy. That was probably the best tune so far. Really well written. Love the piano outro.

This is where I am up to.  What a wonderful tune.  Well produced and great voice.  He sounds a lot like Mark Tremonti and his more quieter voice reminds me a bit of David Defeis.

Edit: funny you mention the production Brent, I thought it sounded great.

[bl5150]

And the Puerto Rico (or Portugal) guy. That was probably the best tune so far. Really well written. Love the piano outro.

This is where I am up to.  What a wonderful tune.  Well produced and great voice.  He sounds a lot like Mark Tremonti and his more quieter voice reminds me a bit of David Defeis.

Edit: funny you mention the production Brent, I thought it sounded great.

I just went back and had a listen and just comparing the BCC track before it ..........I find it so muddy (relatively)  , but then that's almost par for the course these days.  I could probably make it sound better by specifically EQ'ing the track in isolation.

Anyway - awesome that you guys are enjoying it.    These needles in the haystack can make the endless hours finding them worthwhile.   If Chad makes it through 2019 without spending time on new releases then perhaps he can rehabilitate me 

[Lowdz]

Giggity!

Anthriel / The Pathway is up there as one of the greatest DTF referrals I've ever received (got it from Zook when I was looking for recommendations on what should be my 1000th artist to listen to on last.fm).  Damn I love that album.

The old school stuff was good, I just have to pick and choose how much I'm gonna explore.  You're already fucking with my (unofficial) resolution to explore less and listen to my existing library! 

I spent most of 2018 listening to the best albums from 1980-90, and my top 50. Twice.

Anyone listen to the new Electric Boys? A very good album - grown up hard rock. Made me decide to go see them in March when they play 30 miles from here in sunny 😳 Blackpool. Same venue I saw Geoff Tate at.

[bl5150]

I haven't got around to Electric Boys yet Paul.  I was never a massive fan but have heard good things about their new one so will check it out at some point for sure.

[TAC]

Not sure I could listen to anything called Electric Boys.

[bl5150]

Never know unless you try Tim - you might get a shock.

[TAC]

Well that's a positive outlook.

[Lowdz]

Well that's a positive outlook.

Just trying to keep you current

[TAC]

Yeah, I don't mean to be so negative.

[wolfking]

Jeez, there is some great stuff in the top 20.  I'll post some comments when I check the tracklist so I can reference a bit more.