[Tom Yum Goong]

New Enslaved

Pretty good!
Every Black Metal band that does not just constantly shout "SATAN!" gets some bonus points in my books.

 

[keepitsimple]

  Ah, let's see. The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit A, probably.

BONDED BY BLOOD definitely

 

[Tom Yum Goong]

The only thing that is better than the cover artwork is the music.

 

[Kirnupiima]

Thanks for the Haken and Leviathan info guys! Haken sounds so fresh. I usually don't like prog when it's too fiddly and Haken's EP is kind of on the fence but manages to be really pretty and long enough to count as an album almost 

 
I wonder if Leviathan's album will have a separate vinyl master. It's going to be a 2LP with 60+ minutes so only when it sounds better I'll go for it instead of digital.
 
Also hoorah for the new Enslaved record!

 

[keepitsimple]

  The only thing that is better than the cover artwork is the music.

these guys sound good-thanks

 

[campj]

 

I'm stuck listening to my laptop through the headphone jack right now (away from home), so it's hard to tell. I bought The Epigenesis a few minutes ago and am listening to it on my ipod. It sounds pretty brickwalled, but not bad other than that. More dynamics would make it sound amazing. Hopefully Nuclear Blast learns.

On a side note, anyone have a Schiit Fulla? I'm planning on getting one for portable laptop use.

You should read what Metal-Fi says about the Fulla!

 
I read it a little while ago. I was actually considering the Geek Out, but I have other things I want to use my spare cash for right now. Plus, I'm not sure my standards are quite as high as MetalFi's. PLUS, $75 is pretty dirt cheap if it sounds reasonably good. It's just hard to filter the Schiit fan-talk on the Fulla thread to see if it's even worth while.

 

[campj]

Hey, another new release I'm looking forward to (it comes out in three days). It's basically Cerekloth under a different name.... eh, after listening to a couple songs, this is doomier than Cerekloth.
 
 

 

[markm1]

Was watching a news story about the death of the album as we know it. How digital technology, listening to playlists, the concept of "shuffle and purchasing songs rather than albums has dramatically changed consumption of music. Made me think audiophile communities whether it's typical jazz, Indie  and classic rock fans or metal fans maybe one of the last demographics that still purchase albums in their entirety. Whether you are buying Kind of Blue, Steely Dan or any of the great metal talked about here, I think many of us are lovers of the "album". In fact, I've never bought a single song.
 
OASN, I've been listening to some of my Enslaved albums with all of the posts of new Enlsaved. I've come to my personal opinion that Isau-Ruun-Vertabrae-Axioma Ethica Odini is one of the best runs in modern metal I can think of (well, Marudk's Plague Angel thru Wormwood is pretty damned impressive, too). But, like Marduk's Serpent's Sermon, Riitiir just doesn't hold up for me as well as Axioma Ethica Odini. Not that it's bad by a long margin. But it is a long ass marathon that tires my patience. Ritiir has some great moments for sure. It just doesn't hold my attention. I'm hoping they did some self-editing on their new one. I say that w/ much respect to one of metal's great acts.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
riit
q
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
q

 

[uriz3n]

  Was watching a news story about the death of the album as we know it. How digital technology, listening to playlists, the concept of "shuffle and purchasing songs rather than albums has dramatically changed consumption of music. Made me think audiophile communities whether it's typical jazz, Indie  and classic rock fans or metal fans maybe one of the last demographics that still purchase albums in their entirety. Whether you are buying Kind of Blue, Steely Dan or any of the great metal talked about here, I think many of us are lovers of the "album". In fact, I've never bought a single song.

 
I think Echolyn got it all figured out
 

 
In many ways buying full albums became a way to support the bands that you enjoy, similar to buying their merchandise.
On one hand it is rather sad, on the other - the last album that I liked every song on was released 15 years ago.

 

[markm1]

I must have officially entered old curmudgeondom.  Some of it's probably generational. I grew up in the analog age and I don't entirely trust technology. People tell me it doesn't make sense. It's not rational in today's digital age. But, I  like physical media. I have a Sonos system with virtually every CD I own digitized into a large library which works pretty well, but sometimes the Wifi is stretched and I have drop outs. Or during a storm.  I don't want to depend on my wifi to be able to listen to music.
 
I like having-in my case-an individual CD with the cover art and liner notes and lyrics in some cases. I enjoy reading all the commentaries from as recent as 2014- Behemoth and  Trypticon's releases from last year both have extensive liner notes. Thinking of 2014 albums from Morbus Chron, Opeth, etc. felt very conscious in terms of the track sequence.  I'm listening as I type to Gorguts beloved 2013 release-Dark Sands-that comes with compelling visual liner notes, mystical lyrics and an explanation of the-in this case-Budhist philosophy behind each song. I'm the kind of listener that actively wants that as part of the experience. How many death metal albums look to Buddhism! If I just downloaded the album, I'd miss that aspect of this CD.
 
A lot of black metal has a very intense visual aesthetic that is part of the black magic spell they are trying to cast-the photos that almost have you believing they are not entirely human. Maybe they're not

 
I like to look through my hundreds of CDs and visually see them like books in a library or a record store.  I like to be able to take a CD and play it at work or in my car. I can play a CD on a high end stereo and all I need is electricity. I can play a CD as long as a CD player exists on the planet.
 
So many classic albums I grew up with even before CDs and certainly before the Ipod...everything from the Beatles and Pink Floyd to The Ramones, Slayer and Motorhead. Concept albums that I still enjoy like The Wall or Quadrophenia. Albums like Zeppelin I trhu IV and early Sabbath albums through Heaven and Hell (God-I listened to Heaven and Hell so many times in high school, I can still see the albums sides with track listings in my head), those first few great Metallica albums that I played ad nauseam and had memorized. Even recent CDs-albums like Kyuss  Welcome to Sky Valley or any Agalloch album whose varied song structure from instrumental tracks to heavier tracks are carefully crafted as a complete work of art. I will keep the faith in music as an entire work of art-a dinosaur called an album. Hell, there used to be a genre called Album Oriented Rock-dead and gone.
 
And, I do like supporting artists, but more selfish, I want my own copy. I just like real things. I like real books, too. And, I believe in the concept of song sequence-songs selected for a specific reason by the artist. Not to mention long album length songs or albums with just a few very long songs-those long viking/folk metal albums and doom/drone song length albums  a la Dopesmoker....just about all of SunnO)) and YOB's catalog-I really like the way YOB's The Illusion of Motion or Catharsis is laid out....or Tool's first few albums-those are a throw back to art rock....very meticulously crafted.
 
OTH, I'm sympathetic to you youngs. I grew up with hippie Beatles loving parents and a Dad that insisted on having a stereo. I'm not sure how many kids now have a stereo in the house. I've had years to collect music and some income to put together a little system. If I were a college kid-I'd probably say screw it-download all my music get a decent set of headphones a laptop and be done with it. But, I just want a little more than that.
 
This is the report that got me thinking about things-Can the Music Industry Survive the Streaming Revolution...
Things are definitely evolving. This is the report I saw:
 
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/music-industry-survive-the-streaming-revolution/

 

[D3Seeker]

Decided to go prowling Bandcamp for some more tech-death to try and fill my fancy. found these guys
 

Dawn of Dementia. I can't get enough of this EP
 
I also ran into Ascariasis.

 
And Dying Humanity
 

 
It's a start 

 

[macrocheesium]

  Was watching a news story about the death of the album as we know it. How digital technology, listening to playlists, the concept of "shuffle and purchasing songs rather than albums has dramatically changed consumption of music. Made me think audiophile communities whether it's typical jazz, Indie  and classic rock fans or metal fans maybe one of the last demographics that still purchase albums in their entirety. Whether you are buying Kind of Blue, Steely Dan or any of the great metal talked about here, I think many of us are lovers of the "album". In fact, I've never bought a single song.

 
Aside from concept albums and albums with songs that are closely tied together, I can't honestly say that there's a point to the album format. Of course I like it because it's what I'm used to and all that, but without the limitations of physical media it makes more sense to release material song by song anyway. All of my favorite albums are concept albums, but that idea is rarely explored in any remotely popular music these days.

 

[SoupRKnowva]

Ive really been digging the new Architects album recently, much better than the last one I would say.
 

 

[wrathzombie]

  Decided to go prowling Bandcamp for some more tech-death to try and fill my fancy. found these guys
 

Dawn of Dementia. I can't get enough of this EP
 
I also ran into Ascariasis.

 
And Dying Humanity
 

 
It's a start 

Thanksssssss

 

[markm1]

   
Aside from concept albums and albums with songs that are closely tied together, I can't honestly say that there's a point to the album format. Of course I like it because it's what I'm used to and all that, but without the limitations of physical media it makes more sense to release material song by song anyway. All of my favorite albums are concept albums, but that idea is rarely explored in any remotely popular music these days.

That's just it. That is the way music is going.