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Post by stringypoo on Apr 7, 2020 21:02:31 GMT -5
I thought I was done, but I have to share one more, now that I think about it.
Traveler: Termination Shock is an album releasing around April 24th, and is currently the album I'm most excited for in 2020, as my profile avatar might suggest. This track was posted on their bandcamp before others, and I haven't gone to see if others have been released or not out of my desire to catch the rest all together. The band does absolutely nothing new. I listen to Judas Priest's famous album, Painkiller, a lot, and this band really takes their sound from that album. When dealing in trad heavy metal, Painkiller is one of the best albums to emulate. This band Traveler are cream of the crop in trad metal, so just listen to them a time or two if you are curious about what I think is best heavy metal today. This track is kind of unusual for the band compared to their other material, but it's a good one, and more importantly, a grower. Multiple listens will get a listener deeper into it.
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Post by stringypoo on Apr 8, 2020 21:28:43 GMT -5
One more plug for the mighty Cirith Ungol here. They sure as hell deserve it in my eyes. Check out this glorious, juicy jam romp at around 2:30. They pulled out their Black Sabbath chops and then some. I bet tao or v9733xa could pick out some Black Sabbath guitar influence in there. The rest of the song is a strange, almost surf rock kind of thing that probably takes a few listens to fully appreciate. To be fair, this album is a grower, and I'm on my more than 10th listen, and it is still getting better with each listen. I'm so damn excited about the upcoming album! Edit: It's also just really fun to pretend they're shouting "Nad sucker" instead of Nadsoker." lol
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Post by tao on Apr 9, 2020 6:53:59 GMT -5
Will check when I get home from work.
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Post by stringypoo on Apr 9, 2020 20:26:47 GMT -5
Today I've got two things to share, both new, but one slightly old news (more Traveler because I love love love them)
Ambush: Here's another new Trad Heavy Metal band, who are unique and not unique at the same time. Their influences are clearly Accept, Judas Priest, and actually a pinch of hair metal, but only in the good way. At times, their music is a bit more anthemic and mid paced, but I've picked one of the more traditionally galloping paced tunes to share. Vocalist is surprising, as he doesn't initially sound badass, but then out of nowhere he rips a really high vocal line with power and precision, and those are clear highlights on the record. Not all of this record is likely to impress anyone on the first listen, as I'm now on my third listen, and it's really opening up for me, but it's a really great album.
Traveler: What can I say. I've already posted a new song from the new album, as well as an older track from the first album. Second album coming this month. I found a FANTASTIC live video of them doing a full concert for the Keep it True festival. This might be my new favorite YouTube video. I often can complain about live performance videos of metal bands, because many of them sound too low and rumbly, or their vocalist sucks live, or whatever...but this band delivers the goods! Vocalist is goofy in a try hard way that makes me love him even more. They start the concert at around 1:10-ish. Check it out if you're interested in finding out more about why I love Traveler. My current favorite band.
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Post by stringypoo on Apr 13, 2020 20:48:17 GMT -5
Alright, it’s cinemetal time, if you know what I mean. Favorite YouTube comments under this video were “Pretty sure this was a Skyrim quest” and “No actual in-game footage.” Hahaha
Unleash the Archers: Okay, genre-wise these folks are a little bit everywhere, but they’re listed as power/melodic death metal. It is mostly clean singing, so I mostly associate it with the power metal side, and it is loosely connected to traditional heavy metal. Gosh, metal is really cool. This stuff takes me places. Just like this accompanying music video. I’ve said it before, I’m really not into female-fronted bands. I love women, but I don’t usually like the sound of metal with their voices associated. This release bypasses that bias for me. This lady has a powerful voice with a great range. Love it love it love it. The cool thing about this band is their songs don’t sound alike at all. This song lacks a guitar solo, which is something I really wanted, as their other songs often featured great solos. But whatev. Check it out guys!
Also, it has been said they will release a new album sometime this year. I’m looking forward to that.
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Post by stringypoo on Apr 23, 2020 21:30:13 GMT -5
Terminus: I'm really digging this band's latest album on Cruz Del Sur Records. Generally, a heavy metal band that gets onto their label is worth their weight in salt, so that's how I ended up checking out this band. This band reminds me much of Visigoth (one of the disputed frontrunners in the current traditional heavy metal scene), as well as bits of late Solstice in some songs, as some of their work has epic heavy metal leanings reminiscent of Solstice. The music here is powerful, and vocals are pretty nice overall. I love the burly sounds he has in the chorus in this song. Guitar leads and twin leads exchanges are really nice throughout the album too. This released end of November last year, but could have been a decent contender for my top 10 list had I known it immediately after release.
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Post by stringypoo on Apr 27, 2020 23:26:47 GMT -5
Cirith Ungol: I've posted them before, but here's a new cut from the new album, which I have played through already this morning with two other albums. I don't believe this band will immediately click for anyone in particular. On the surface, there is a real basic quality to their paying and writing. But digging deeper, there is an iconic and much more intricate quality here. Guitars are especially just so outstanding. Just listen to that soaring guitar work just past the middle point! Amazing.
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Post by stringypoo on Apr 29, 2020 2:38:06 GMT -5
Sölicitör: Wow. 2020 started as a slow year for music (imo) and now, despite this virus, we've got tons of extremely high quality albums coming at us. So hard to keep up, especially if you like heavy metal! This band here is a Speed metal band from Seattle. I placed them in this thread because this type of speed metal is very similar to the traditional heavy metal of bands like Traveler and the group, and speed metal is very much related as a style. This band has my favorite female vocalist. She's a total badass! Now how is that for an endorsement? This album shreds in so many ways. Vocals are awesome. She sings with a throat ripping vocal approach accompanied with actually very great vocal range and tone. The band's guitarists are absolute monsters. The guitar work is so badass, I'm kinda sitting here in awe listening to this over and over. Umm...just listen to it! Too bad I couldn't find just a link to one song, but here's the album. I love the 2nd track "Betrayer" and the 3rd track "The Red Queen," the latter song starting around 9:23 in this video. The ending of the 2nd track is so badass, I recommend you go back and hear at least a bit of it. hahaha
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Post by stringypoo on May 10, 2020 20:46:49 GMT -5
Ironsword: Do you like heavy metal about barbarians, Crom, Cimmeria, Necropolis, swords, mages, might, magic, loincloths, and all other cheese? Well, it took me forever to swallow that cringe reflex I used to have when I saw/heard it, but now I get it. Sometimes cheesy metal is good metal. These Portuguese heavy metal guys do true metal in a way that is directly inspired by Manilla Road, one of the innovating bands of epic heavy metal. This music sounds like it’s played by barbarians, everything from the heavy guitars, loud drums, to the burly vocal approach. There’s also some rather nasally mid-range singing vocals too, very much a vocal styling of Manilla Road’s Mark the Shark Shelton. Okay, obviously if you’re still reading this you can tell I’m just nerding out. But seriously? This album is excellent! Having a blast here. Lyrical themes aren’t so cheesy, just pretend it’s Amon Amarth (they do the same style of lyrics but it’s just vikings instead of barbarians, same thing lol). I had a hard time picking only one song to share.
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Post by stringypoo on Jun 9, 2020 20:27:00 GMT -5
Screamer: This album, Highway of Heroes, came out last year, but I didn't get around to hearing it until a couple months ago. Initially it went in one ear and out the other. BUT, I have reached a point where this record is all I can think about right now. The style is very uncomplicated, and evokes the times when metal had not become a plethora of subgenres. This is born of the Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and similar bands era, but a slightly newer band, from Sweden. There just isn't a bad song, which makes it hard to pick one for this thread's sake. But "Halo" has nice and fun riffs and an oddly catchy chorus. Again, this is simple metal, but simple metal is sometimes all I really desire as a listener. It's excellent stuff!
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Post by stringypoo on Jul 17, 2020 1:00:31 GMT -5
Black Knight: This Amsterdam group play a nice and familiar kind of heavy metal which often reminds of Iron Maiden and early Judas Priest, with some Hammerfall vibes in for extra size. I personally did not get too much pleasure from the album as a whole on first listen or two, but by the third listen to the album, I was quite sold on it. Is it a top 10 record for 2020 for me? No. But I do really enjoy this record, and there are some good moments, and some surprisingly good moments on it. As for bad moments, none here. Just maybe a dull song or two. This track is the opener, and I like it a bit.
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Post by stringypoo on Jan 14, 2021 2:40:43 GMT -5
Eternal Champion: Definitely one of the most talked about traditional heavy metal bands of the decade, and for good reason. This band has so much going for it. Excellent riffs, perfectly clear and yet not overdone production jobs, great talents, and a unique sounding vocalist, whether you love him or hate his vocals. His vocals, by the way, are odd, mostly because he sings, but doesn't use vibrato, so his voice is strong in the mix, but kind of plain, although not as plain as quite a lot of heavy metal vocalists out there nowadays. Don't let that throw you off though. This band rips. Features a guitarist from Power Trip, so you know the talent is good. Umm, I don't know if anyone on TDM cares about metal like this, but I'll stick it out here because I do think it is an incredible record, and I have come back to it more than most records in a long time.
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Post by stringypoo on Feb 22, 2021 20:19:30 GMT -5
Runemaster: Had I known this album in 2020, it might have ranked into my top list. This may be a heavy metal album, but it's not light sounding like Iron Maiden. This has a thick bodied sound to it, and a masculine sense to the vocals unlike many underwhelming vocalists within decent traditional heavy metal bands nowadays. This vocalist is gruff at times, but also has a nice command of melodic lines and a great vibrato that isn't overly wobbly like that of Bruce Dickinson. The songs here are all bangers, not a bad song on the album. The riffs are killer! Probably this post is aimed at nearly nobody in TDM, but to anyone who does check it out, just know it truly is a great record.
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Post by stringypoo on Mar 10, 2021 1:43:39 GMT -5
Battleroar: Okay, so the latest album was back in 2018, so not incredibly new, but damnit, this shit just kicks so much ass! Just take all of my money, Battleroar! This is Epic Heavy Metal from Greece, and the album I'm posting from here is from 2008 if my memory is correct. The vocals are pseudo-operatic, but with a forceful tone, not a gentle one. This album's songs as well as their earlier ones are riff-based in their approach, while later albums are more vocal-centric and focus more on a wall of sound approach. I prefer the riff-oriented metal, so this album is the one to get if you dig this. Even if you don't like heavy metal, please give this a listen, since it is quite a mammoth effort with serious guts and spirit. Damn, I've had it stuck in my head for weeks now.
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Post by stringypoo on Mar 26, 2021 0:31:20 GMT -5
Monument: This British Traditional Heavy Metal band clearly takes a ton of influence from Iron Maiden. In fact, if you didn't already know you were listening to Maiden, you'd probably think you were if this came on. Vocalist here is a dead ringer for Bruce Dickinson. The band is all playing 100% in the style of Iron Maiden. Perhaps this is why there is some hate for this band as it seems, but I personally couldn't care less about people who hate on a band for sounding a lot like a great band. In fact, I think this band has a lot of songs that are much better than Iron Maiden's. It probably helped that the bassist here actually did play bass for Bruce Dickinson's solo project. And even like Maiden, this band has their own album cover mascot, the dog you see here on the cover. Really cool band worth hearing if you like Iron Maiden.
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