Pretty much.

He was graciously modest about it though; so we didn't hassle him for pictures or anything.

Ah, cool. It's always nice to see (at least relatively) famous musicians with pretty much non-existent egos. But then again, there're also completely unkown guys who play in shitty bands and believe themselves to be goddamn kings of music. I have dealt with a couple of dudes like that in the past, and it was no joyride, believe me

Ugh. Tell me about it. The worst is when your friends start an extremely shitty band and everyone goes on about how good they are just so they don't offend them and offer absolutely no constructive criticism. Funny thing is, I filled in on vocals for a such a band at a show once and my presence alone made it their best show. They broke up shortly after that. Which is unfortunate. Their drummer is one of the best I've met, on an amateur level anyways.

Ah yes, the typical "I don't want to make them feel bad, so I'll tell them they're awesome even though they suck big monkey dick" situation. That's pretty much the main reason me and the rest of the guys in my band are very autocritical and make an emphasis on telling people to speak up their mind about whatever they think sounds bad regarding our music, no matter how little it might be.

That article is hilariously sensationalist, most likely written by a flaming leftist who has never once studied Libertarianism beyond what he thinks he knows about Ron Paul. Fucking lol'd at seeing Chile and Singapore used as examples of Libertarian society. Not even close.

And since when is the Tea Party Libertarian? Last I checked, they were Constitutionalists who have no problem with taxes, or State laws deciding who you can marry or whether or not you can smoke green. Libertarian my ass.

He seriously didn't call the Tea Party... Probably the most fundamentalist, conservative...

OH GOD THE STUPID. IT HURTS.

I don't know what kind of Libertarian would support the Tea Party, but I don't, and neither do any of the Libertarians I know.

At iAm and Xlxlx: Tell me about it. Some of my friends started and extremely shitty reggae/ska band with lyrics about "freedom" and other such generic shit and everybody told them they were awesome. I went to one of their "shows" at some godawful underground venue and their sound was just ear raping. Afterwards, I was the only one honest about it but at that point their egos had been so inflated by lying praise (from people who, behind closed doors, mocked them) that they just labeled me a "hater" and we had a falling out. They broke up a few weeks ago as their close friends breathed a collective sigh of relief but god damn was that aggravating. @ Jonpo: Your American Psycho reference was the only response to Varths post worth reading you beautiful man.

You know that ragrharihahKjahrar7arararar sound older people who aren't into Metal make when trying to describe Death Metal or something? It sounded something like that Que random guitar, uh, scales with an inaudible bass and there you have it.

Because going without chewing gum sucks

Have you thought about picking up smoking? It can help cure you gum chewing addiction.

Funny.

I think I like chewing gum much more than I would ever like smoking. Plus, I value health and fitness. Also, I wouldn't want an actual addiction, not one so unhealthy at least.

Never been a smoker. Tried it once. Utterly failed at it. Couldn't even inhale or anything. So yeah, I am physically incapable of smoking. I'm better off I suppose.

FUCK YEAAAAH. I'M SO FUCKING STOKED!

New ROTTING CHRIST album will be out on the 1st of March, the name is 'Κατά τον Δαίμονα Εαυτού'. I can't fucking wait!

I am a huge Rotting Christ fan as well. I will be looking for this.

So... I take it their newer stuff is still worthwhile? Isn't it basically blackened rock or something?

Wouldn't it be hilarious if there was a Greek orthodox rock band called Rocking Christ?

This was probably only funny in your head

But yeah, cool, a new RC! I had some problems getting into AEALO, we'll see.

inhumanist, it is most definitely worthwhile! Listen to the material and find that out yourself; I'm sure you'll agree. It is not blackened rock, they turned to a gothic style during their mid-era but they have been playing killer black metal for the last decade or so.

Tony, did you manage to get into it in the end?

Wasn't a huge fan of their lastest efforts...but goddamn does Sanctus Diavolos KICK ASS. So many awesome riffs. Of course, Triarchy is a flawless, timeless, brilliant masterpiece that will go down in history as a milestone in heavy music and one of the only albums appropriately called "dark metal".

Shit man. These ice breakers "ice cube" gum pieces just suck. The flavor is alright but they get firm way too fast and it's impossible to blow a large bubble with them. 8 pieces per pack is a total waste, I'm already through half a pack and it's been 1/4 of a day. 1/2 a pack is supposed to last an entire day! Good thing I have these other brands too.

Yay! Metal Archives is back. I can't really write my reviews without doing some research on the bands first, so it's good the site is back.

Aye, I love their watermelon flavor, but endurance is not their strong suit.

IT'S BACK! PRAISE THE LORD!

Hail Hellblazer hail!

Christ, I'm relieved. My skin was starting to blight because of my lack of MA.

I have totally missed something.

MA was taken down by the sheer magnetic force generated by my metal indulgence this day. Elysian Blaze's Blood Geometry and Blut Aus Nord's Sect(s) and The Desanctification all in one afternoon. Fuck. FUCK. The mind boggles. Blood Geometry is an absolutely immense masterpiece... really surprised to not hear more MA folk frothing over this. Honestly one of the best and most immersive metal albums I've heard in the last several years. Anyone who hasn't given this a go yet should do themself a favor, it's absolutely worth it. Will probably have to do a mini-review of all these. I always mean to contribute to the mini-review thread more often but then I immediately forget it exists. Fuck me.

As for BAN, on first blush I think I found The Desanctification to be the better of the first two 777 chapters. A somewhat more cohesive and consistent aesthetic found the whole way through. It felt like a more significant step forward in terms of the band's oeuvre over Sect(s), though they're both very fine discs. Both will take a significant amount of digesting. Looking forward to finishing off the trilogy soon, as well as taking in the second edition of What Once Was....

I found Blood Geometry to be AT LEAST 35 minutes too long. It has all of my problems with Elysian Blaze taken up to 11 (the extreme self-indulgence, the infinitesimal number of riffs per song thing, the really quiet vocals). Maybe it's more of a grower, but I couldn't bring myself to listen to it more than twice.

I was the first one on here to write a review for Blood Geometry. It was definitely worth the wait, as Gabe Newell would say.

Yup, definitely too long. The vast majority of double albums have a fair amount of filler and would have been a lot better as a normal album. As for their previous work, the only real problem I have is the shitty drum machine. Levitating the Carnal would have been just about perfect if the drums weren't so lame. Still an absolutely amazing album, nonetheless.

The drums are perfect, neener neener. Pretty much everything about the production is perfect, really. Excellent mixing and tone across all layers, very evocative and refined. It's designed to sound vast and mountainously massive, and it succeeds superbly at that. As for the length, it's a whole other element of the experience.... PhiloFrogo mentioned Antithesis of Light being a "tune in and drop out" album, and this is exactly the same type of undertaking. It's not so much an album of songs as some sort of grandiose ritual cycle, and if you're not up for it, it's really your issue, not the record's. Granted, grandiose ritual cycles don't make for convenient everyday listening, but they certainly have their place and as grandiose ritual cycles go this one is downright jawdropping.

The level of pretention in that post could supply any Starbucks for an entire day.

What can I say? Your taste sucks.

I don't know man, the drum machines sounded very amateurish to me and a lot of the time it sounds like someone shaking a salt dispenser.

Grandiose ritual salt dispenser.

Ugh. That was horrible. No thanks.



Your presence in that thread would be a most welcome addition to the regulars who attend.



Aye. Both of those albums will still need some extra listening from me, as will the final album in the trilogy (when I acquire it). On first impressions though for me, I found the first (Sect(s)), to be the better of the two, probably because of the more linear nature. I know that may sound bizarre when describing Blut Aus Nord in the context of these albums, but there you go. Plus it has the gloriously, ghastly, sickly brilliant journey that is Epitome II.

Crap, when I said mini-review thread I meant weekly metal analysis thread. Which is...basically a mini-review thread. Not too sure how well I'd take to the actual, one-song mini review thread, but it could be interesting.

Heard Blood Geometry yet, Crushed? Weigh in, the debate is raging.

And speaking of Blut Aus Nord, I'd be curious to know what you think of MoRT. A divisive album if ever there was one. What Once Was...Liber I seems like the sort of thing that would frenzy your loins, but I can't remember if I ever heard your impressions of it.

Sect(s) more linear? Hmm... they seemed more or less equivalent to me in terms of compositional "linearity," and Sect(s) even felt a tad more fragmented, but maybe it was one of those blurred first-listen impressions.

New Incantation is fucking boss.

*Cough.* It seems perfectly reasonable to argue that the foundations of the Tea Party are rooted in wealthy Libertarians attempting to rally extreme right-wingers to their cause.

There are many other studies and sources that make similar claims. You could attack Kilpatrick's phrasing or insist that his statement blossoms from a hard-left agenda, sure, but it's hardly a comment made in a vacuum.

I can't hold myself and my opinion back any longer after seeing people dismiss Blood Geometry. With a playing time longer than 2 hours I'd imagine it to be a daunting task for new listeners, but that's where part of the appeal is. It's a crushing, multilayered slab of black/funeral doom that's supposed to make you lie back and think of black, grandiose darkness. There's an excellent reason Mutatiis held the album back from production for a good 5 years, so he could perfect every single note and perfect the mixing of it to give the album a very specific feel. Criticising an album for being too long is like criticising an album for being too short, and I don't see that going around a lot.

I'll need to listen to the album again some time soon. I don't get to listen to such an absolute monster of an album much. A very long monster. Definitely after my exams finish.

Also, don't mind Necroticism here. Word for word, he had the exact same problem with Midnight Odyssey. Something tells me he has a problem with double albums released by one-man Australian black metal bands.