Though I have great faith in the intellect of Luc Lemay, I fear any new Gorguts will fall far short of the watermarks of old.

Averse hasn't failed to please thus far, I'm quite excited to hear that Sorcier is putting out new material, and I too would be pleased to hear of a new Summoning record.

By and large though, I don't want to look at these things with rose-coloured glasses; just because I loved them in the beginning doesn't mean I should turn a blind eye to any potentially abusive musical trespasses in the future.

...so long as they hit me where the bruises won't show, that is.

Apologies for necroing a severely old thread, but I've been LOVING Haunted Shores over the last year or so. Don't even know why - it's simply striking a chord with me. Anyone else dig 'em?

Forza Romana - I liked a lot of the ideas I heard in the updated Pagan Fire; two things, and maybe a third:

1) I like the dissolution into simple strung chords halfway through - especially juxtaposed against what came before it - but the riff underlying the solo needs to follow suit with what you turned it into at 2:17. At that point, the riff is like post-coital bliss, and then when you break into the riff at 2:55, you expect ME to get up and get YOU a glass of WATER? Do it yourself, woman. (Basically, I've had a lot of emotional battering up to that point, and it's a bit much to expect me to be able to get riled up again 38 seconds later. Use the cathartic space you just made available to yourself.)

2) Watch your mixing - the lead guitar is a trifle overstated in the mix, especially so come the solo.

3) Not to harp on what's considered to be an irrelevancy for most, but the drums DO set up riffs to come and riffs that have gone; there needs to be some variety, both within the rhythms supporting riff and the fills (which I notice are completely absent) used to foreshadow the coming melodic phrase, or else everything risks becoming too linear..

Try Flying Monkeys' "Hoptical Illusion" Almost IPA, Tuborg, Holsten Festbock, St. Ambroise Imperial Stout (as well as their Pumpkin Ale - seasonally available), Dead Elephant, and Wellington County anything.

Interesting. Some passages need to be shortened up, and others lengthened...The riff immediately after the solo needs to go.... This reminds me of nothing more than Atheist's Roots, Bloody Roots. Trying to modernize a twenty year old aesthetic medium doesn't translate very well, even in the hands of it's creators. Learn the lessons Sepultura taught us.

That said absolutely nothing.

Crimson Massacre tries too hard. They should've waited until they had something worthwhile to say, instead of trying to blow us away with how well they play their instruments.

strangely enough, every girl i've dated has been into metal, although mostly popularized metal [slayer, megadeth, metallica et al.]. they've all had their respective share of "issues" but nothing all that world-shattering. i've run into a few women here and there interested in the death/black metal world, and they were rather interesting women themselves, although i never attempted to pick them up. i guess i had no interest in complicating the relationship, as i haven't the time or energy to deal with that chicanery right now. but that's just me.

God, i remember the hoopla surrounding velveeta caccoon; what a crock they were and later turned out to be. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Devamitra.If i had to contribute to this list, i'd say that, even though i perform in a metal band, i've had enough of listening to metal. Having done so for 25 years now, i've heard pretty much everything metal will be able to throw my way. This isn't to say that i've given up on metal per se, i'm just exceptionally tepid on that subject now. Ah well. it had a good run.