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Post by tao on Nov 10, 2019 10:44:52 GMT -5
Music listening has been going well; I just finished the third list last week and I’ll be starting the fourth list sometime this week. I haven’t gotten to your guys’ recs yet, but I will soon, as they’re scattered throughout lists 5-7. Definitely looking forward to them all!
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Post by Blacksalt on Nov 10, 2019 20:37:59 GMT -5
Hey tao , how’s the music listening coming? Have you made it through everyone’s suggestions? My expectation is a five-paragraph essay for each one, Chicago-style citations. On my desk by 8am this Friday. Oh man I’d be so all over that reading. 😉
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Post by tao on Feb 12, 2020 20:24:49 GMT -5
Currently working through the fifth list here, which is the first to feature recs from you guys; soon I shall eviscerate your long cherished memories of specific albums with impartial and objective reality! Mwahahahahaha!!!!!!!
For real though, I’m saving them for last because they all look dope as hell and I’m excited to hear them.
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Post by v9733xa on Feb 13, 2020 18:17:23 GMT -5
Almost forgot about this.
Afterwards, get back to writing about movies.
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Post by tao on Mar 6, 2020 12:15:04 GMT -5
It’s begun:
Thursday War All the Time
This was sad and beautiful all at the same time. Melding melancholy and lyrical insistency in the vein of emotional hardcore with very light post-hardcore trappings, Thursday dropped a bombshell on me with this. While the first half of the album is a bit aggressive in spots, the back half slows things down and really bring the whole affair home, track after track after track. Vocals and the musicianship were perfect, and the tone and flow was devastating, in the best possible sense of the word. This is almost too good.
5/5
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Post by tao on Mar 19, 2020 14:25:14 GMT -5
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Post by v9733xa on Mar 19, 2020 17:07:57 GMT -5
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Post by tao on Mar 19, 2020 20:42:31 GMT -5
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Post by stringypoo on Mar 19, 2020 23:08:10 GMT -5
It’s begun: Thursday War All the Time This was sad and beautiful all at the same time. Melding melancholy and lyrical insistency in the vein of emotional hardcore with very light post-hardcore trappings, Thursday dropped a bombshell on me with this. While the first half of the album is a bit aggressive in spots, the back half slows things down and really bring the whole affair home, track after track after track. Vocals and the musicianship were perfect, and the tone and flow was devastating, in the best possible sense of the word. This is almost too good. 5/5 It was the first album I purchased from a store with my own money. I still think to this day it is a flawless album. I loved it from front to back. Many a tear have been shed from the poetic beauty and engaging performance of Geoff Rickley, set to a great variety of diverse textures and settings. It’s quite funny that I look back at this album with such great reverence because the band doesn’t. They were more stressed making this record than the others, in part due to the label and frustrations it caused them. As a result, the album was rushed and it was a bit of a get it done job for them to avoid more conflict. They don’t love this record. For them, the first two albums represented their happiest times as musicians, and they were most content with Full Collapse, although I think War All the Time sounds superior to it. I also love Full Collapse, but it was an album that required a lot more patience from me.
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Post by stringypoo on Mar 19, 2020 23:10:33 GMT -5
Double post because idgaf tao, When you get around to your old school death metal list, can you maybe post an updated textual list in the thread as opposed to only links to a website I can never access unless I’m using my iPad because I only use a vpn on it and not on the phone? Lol! I’m selfish.
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Post by tao on Mar 20, 2020 6:47:56 GMT -5
Double post because idgaf tao, When you get around to your old school death metal list, can you maybe post an updated textual list in the thread as opposed to only links to a website I can never access unless I’m using my iPad because I only use a vpn on it and not on the phone? Lol! I’m selfish. Sure, I can build another thread when I get to them.
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Post by tao on Mar 25, 2020 14:44:51 GMT -5
Some more for your incredulity:
Living Sacrifice - The Hammering Process Wow, this was good. Fusing a more caustic interpretation to the term “metalcore”, Living Sacrifice bring everything they have to bear on this album, with the results being stellar. Musicianship is outstanding, with even some guitar solos thrown into the mix, making for a pleasantly surprising experience, and the vocals are anger personified, if just a little homogenous. Tone and flow are absolutely delicious, and this all added into a fucking fun time with this album.
4.4/5
All Else Failed - Archetype Difficult, devastating, depressive - take your pick; All Else Failed will chew you up and spit you out with their brand of metallic hardcore/metalcore. Crafting an album filled with darker than normal overtones, AEF deliver on all fronts here, with the vocals and musicianship working together seamlessly and the tone and flow never letting up on you for one minute. Not gonna lie, there’s a usage of an audio clip in here of a woman crying her eyes out, and when that played something broke inside me and I couldn’t recover from that for the rest of the album, that’s how plotted and note perfect the flow of this album was. Devastating, yet highly underrated.
4.2/5
Killwhitneydead - So Pretty, So Plastic Jeez, this was dark. This was some really good deathcore here, with the musicianship being fast with a dollop of technicality thrown into the mix, and there were even some solos thrown in for good measure, as opposed to breakdowns. The vocals were pure death metal, straight up, and even cozied up to the black metal side of the spectrum at times, and the tone and flow were really good, with audio samples aplenty. While I didn’t mind the serial-killer type of lyrics throughout (which gave this hella atmosphere), the only sore thumb here is the song “If I Told You I Loved You Would I Get It Faster?”, which is pure degradation of women, reducing them to nothing more than sex objects, and I really DON’T need to hear that at all.
3.8/5
Kiss It Goodbye - Choke EP
This was absolutely vicious. Compared to their sole LP, this feels like a caustic devolution of a psyche through sheer anger and hatred. Vocals are a tad more manic, a tad more frayed and that actually lends this EP a lot of its bite and power. Musicianship is top notch, with equal parts winding up and down to suit the mood of the song, and tone and flow are done well for this release, as short as it is. Not as good as their LP, but a damn fine addition anyway.
4.2/5
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Post by tao on Mar 25, 2020 14:50:13 GMT -5
As Hope Dies - Legions Bow To a Faceless God
This was some tasty, well-done metalcore right here, at times almost infringing on metallic hardcore territory even. There’s a similarity here between these guys and Undying, mainly in their sound and style, and I really dig that. The vocals are excellent, the musicianship is really nice, with the guitars bringing a thrash sensibility in places, and tone and flow are unrelenting, making everything fantastic. Love it.
4.3/5
Still Remains - If Love Was Born To Die
Now this is some good stuff to get down to! It may be lacking a smidge in the variety and technical departments, but this is some top level “steak and eggs” basic metalcore to mosh the fuck out to. Vocals have a nice tone and sit well, musicianship is straightforward but has more force than a sledgehammer, and the overall tone and flow is good. Fuck, this was fun!
3.8/5
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Post by tao on Mar 29, 2020 22:27:36 GMT -5
And a little more:
Blood Has Been Shed - Spirals Positively venomous, Blood Has Been Shed’s album “Spirals” brings a heavy interpretation of metalcore to the fore, and the results are almost jaw-dropping. Howard Jones is an absolute beast here, singing almost completely in uncleans throughout, pitting his work with KSE to shame. The musicianship is perfect, with the percussion reaching almost grind-levels of speed, and the tone and flow are absolutely perfect, with many a time signature akimbo. A damn fucking fine release here.
4.6/5
Ion Dissonance - Breathing Is Irrelevant Damn. Damndamndamn; this has got to be the closest anything in all the lists previous has gotten to the chaotic perfection that is The End’s “Transfer Trachea...” album, and I mean that with the utmost respect towards that album and this. This is so jagged, so mathematically precise, so bipolar in its time signatures and flirtatious with the musical concept of atonality that this is brilliant. This is incredible! Vocals fit oh so well and as a bonus they sit well with my inclinations, the musicianship is off the charts, and the tone and flow are so unique that it almost transcends the boundaries of good taste. Excellent music on display here!
4.7/5
Nehemiah - The Asphyxiation Process A solid slab of metalcore, Nehemiah’s “The Asphyxiation Process” sets out with a singular vision to make bodies mosh and heads to bang backwards and forwards, and it accomplishes these goals soundly. Musicianship is good, with good atmosphere as set up by the guitar tone, and the vocals are decent. Tone and flow are smooth, and all in all, this wasn’t bad.
3.6/5
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Post by tao on Apr 6, 2020 11:41:57 GMT -5
And a little more:
Scars of Tomorrow: Not bad, not bad... definitely feels just like what I got with their later release “Rope Tied...”, and that’s not a bad thing at all. Vocals and musicianship are pretty much just like I remember from their other album -!: the tone and flow were decent overall. Solid, middle-of-the-road metalcore.
3.5/5
From Ashes Rise Falling more on the side of hardcore than metalcore, FAR’s album here was still a solid standout release. Mixing the energy of punk with the oft-pointed vitriol of hardcore, From Ashes Rise channel all their angst and aggression into here, and it shows. Musicianship is good, the vocals are well done and the tone and flow are well executed. Good stuff.
3.7/5
Sinai Beach Another solid, “meat and potatoes”-basic level metalcore release here, with a firm grasp on the fundamentals of aggression on display. Musicianship-wise, this has a nice level of melody to it all, and the uncleans are executed well; however, the cleans sound a little out of place, almost like “pretty boy” levels here. Minor quibble, and moving on... tone and flow are good and fucking heavy in spots, and in the end, this was fun.
3.6/5
From a Second Story Window Holy shit, this was fucking good! Mixing elements of metalcore with light dashes of math unpredictability and technicality in the musicianship with elements of black metal in the vocals, this was a fucking beast to be reckoned with. This completely blew me away, I was completely unready for how good this was; tone and flow were fucking heavy as well, and this was fucking damn good. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk....
4.5/5
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