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166
Metal / Re: Lesser known early forms of metal
« on: November 03, 2009, 09:34:53 PM »
I've heard Univers Zero described as Immolation if they had formed one hundred years earlier, and that description fits the bill pretty well. Their Ceux du Dehors album is pretty much brutal death metal of the dissonant/atmospheric Immolation/Incantation-ish vein, but completely instrumental and with oboes and violins instead of guitars and blastbeats.
167
I started listening to opera with Wagner, but he really isn't the best place to start. I'm still trying to figure out ("get into") the ring cycle, and I've owned the complete Karajan recording for four years now.
A better beginner opera that's still rewarding years later is Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle. Rather than being shackled by the libretto, the music is very expansive, with lengthy purely instrumental sections. The story only features two characters, and the staging is fairly simple (seven doors and colored spotlights), so the whole thing is driven almost entirely by musical rather than visual or verbal aspects. It's also a great deal shorter than most operas (it all fits on one disc), which makes it fairly accessible to someone who is more into symphonies and sonatas than opera. I've listened to it at least once a day for the past month or so, and I still find something new in it every day.
I haven't checked out the recording posted here in Audiofile, but this recording is really well done. I'll upload it in a bit, but I'd recommend actually purchasing the recording to get the full effect. The booklet is very informative and interesting, and helped me understand the piece a lot more.
A better beginner opera that's still rewarding years later is Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle. Rather than being shackled by the libretto, the music is very expansive, with lengthy purely instrumental sections. The story only features two characters, and the staging is fairly simple (seven doors and colored spotlights), so the whole thing is driven almost entirely by musical rather than visual or verbal aspects. It's also a great deal shorter than most operas (it all fits on one disc), which makes it fairly accessible to someone who is more into symphonies and sonatas than opera. I've listened to it at least once a day for the past month or so, and I still find something new in it every day.
I haven't checked out the recording posted here in Audiofile, but this recording is really well done. I'll upload it in a bit, but I'd recommend actually purchasing the recording to get the full effect. The booklet is very informative and interesting, and helped me understand the piece a lot more.
168
Metal / Re: Cybermetal
« on: October 01, 2009, 08:05:42 PM »
Would you count grind bands with electronic music influences? Drogheda is gabber-influenced nihilistic political stuff, and Catasexual Urge Motivation make great use of diSEMBOWELMENT/Blood-style doomy grind riffs over electro beat structures.
169
Metal / Re: [Thrash] Fearless Iranians From Hell
« on: September 21, 2009, 09:10:27 PM »
This band is really sick, and you can find their stuff on Amazon for like ten dollars. Pick their discography album up and some Chronical Diarrhoea while you're at it if you're looking for some quality thrash.
170
Metal / Re: Metal FAIL Captured in a Single Image
« on: September 21, 2009, 09:02:27 PM »
So did the pod people snatch David Vincent around '96 or what?
171
Metal / Re: Refreshing Metal Albums
« on: September 11, 2009, 08:10:09 PM »
Thousand Swords is still probably my favorite Graveland album, but Following the Voice of Blood is definitely coming close to usurping its position. One thing I really love about that album are the little synthesizer interludes: probably some of the best keyboard work Darken has done.
Avulsion's Indoctrination into the Cult of Death is a record that scratches the same itch that Blaspherian does: oldschool without being "retro". It's a very dark album that melds together the slow parts of early Carcass, spooky Finnish stuff like Demigod, and the doomier side of NYDM and Swedish death metal. The atmosphere it exudes is comparable to that of the first Demoncy album, which makes sense, seeing as the band features members of Demoncy.
Avulsion's Indoctrination into the Cult of Death is a record that scratches the same itch that Blaspherian does: oldschool without being "retro". It's a very dark album that melds together the slow parts of early Carcass, spooky Finnish stuff like Demigod, and the doomier side of NYDM and Swedish death metal. The atmosphere it exudes is comparable to that of the first Demoncy album, which makes sense, seeing as the band features members of Demoncy.
172
Metal / Re: Short classical pieces are a good introduction
« on: September 04, 2009, 04:04:37 AM »
This cd is really awesome. I ended up ordering it. I'd never really payed much attention to Schumann before, but now I've seen the error of my ways.
173
Metal / Re: Refreshing Metal Albums
« on: September 04, 2009, 03:54:42 AM »Creepmime is really good.
Yeah, Shadows is really underrated by the metal community at large. I was expecting something sort of generically good when I downloaded it, but it really blew my mind within thirty seconds of listening to the first track. Dutch death metal is fucking awesome.
174
Metal / Re: Bal Sagoth: A Black Moon Broods Over Lemuria
« on: August 05, 2009, 03:30:06 AM »
I only listen to Bal-Sagoth occasionally, but I do enjoy some of their songwriting, however bombastic. The little ambient bits are pretty cool as well; I've used them as segues between tracks on mix CDs. They're definitely an honest band, not hipsters or anything.
175
Metal / Re: Motifs and leitmotifs in heavy metal
« on: July 23, 2009, 09:09:54 AM »
Dream Theater is one of the worst things to ever happen to metal. They made a multi-song suite spanning multiple albums about the fucking AA twelve-step processs. That's pretty much the most unmetal thing ever.
Anyway, Graveland's Immortal Pride makes interesting use of motifs in very loping song structures, both on the Bathory-style "Sons of Fire and Steel" and the more black metal-oriented "Sacrifice for Honour". Incidentally, the beginning of the latter song sounds exactly like something Drudkh would do, only half a decade earlier and a thousand times better. Guess the internet's favorite black metal band isn't so inventive and transcendant after all.
Anyway, Graveland's Immortal Pride makes interesting use of motifs in very loping song structures, both on the Bathory-style "Sons of Fire and Steel" and the more black metal-oriented "Sacrifice for Honour". Incidentally, the beginning of the latter song sounds exactly like something Drudkh would do, only half a decade earlier and a thousand times better. Guess the internet's favorite black metal band isn't so inventive and transcendant after all.
176
Metal / Re: Motifs and leitmotifs in heavy metal
« on: July 23, 2009, 07:47:39 AM »
The second side of Fates Warning's No Exit is a massive speed metal suite entitled "The Ivory Gate of Dreams". It features a repeated motif that is first hinted at in a few sections early on before appearing in its most triumphant form after a particularly vicious thrash break as a slow-burning guitar lead ala the last section of Burzum's "Key to the Gate". The vocal melody answers plainitively but with a lot of strength before the song again returns to the motif in the form of an acoustic decrescendo, a haunting end to one of the most underrated classics of 80s speed metal.
177
Audiofile / Weiss, Silvius Leopold
« on: July 22, 2009, 10:05:35 PM »
Weiss, Silvius Leopold: Rapidshare, Blogspot, Megaupload
Slivius Leopold Weiss
German Baroque composer and master lutenist. Friend of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. Said to have competed with Johann Sebastian Bach in improvisation contests: Bach on the organ, Weiss on the lute.
Lute Sonatas 52, 34, and 94 (Robert Barto, Megaupload)
Slivius Leopold Weiss
German Baroque composer and master lutenist. Friend of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. Said to have competed with Johann Sebastian Bach in improvisation contests: Bach on the organ, Weiss on the lute.
Lute Sonatas 52, 34, and 94 (Robert Barto, Megaupload)
178
Metal / Re: Classical Guitar
« on: July 22, 2009, 08:28:15 PM »
The Villa-Lobos complete solo guitar works album up in Audiofile is really good. It's available online for like two or three dollars if you look hard enough. Dude was underrated as hell; the final in his series of twelve etudes has a really cool black metalesque tremelo-based midsection.
180
Audiofile / Monastery / Anarchus
« on: July 08, 2009, 03:24:53 AM »
Monastery / Anarchus: Rapidshare, Blogspot, Megaupload
Monastery
Dutch death/grind act featuring members of Sinister and Entombed.
Monastery - Mutilate the Corpse (1992, Megaupload)
Anarchus
Thrashy Mexican grind act with some interesting progressive tendencies.
Anarchus - In Partibus Infidelium (1992, Megaupload)
The respective sides of their split.
Monastery
Dutch death/grind act featuring members of Sinister and Entombed.
Monastery - Mutilate the Corpse (1992, Megaupload)
Anarchus
Thrashy Mexican grind act with some interesting progressive tendencies.
Anarchus - In Partibus Infidelium (1992, Megaupload)
The respective sides of their split.