[Jeff Guidry]

From the Earache website:

To celebrate Earaches 20th Anniversary we are giving you the best Metal compilation in aeons! This excellent collection gathers together all of the metal genres in one box comprising of over 100 tracks from more than 80 bands! This is a limited edition one time only pressing so get hold of a copy now or eternally regret it, for what fan or collector can possibly do without this!?!

There will be a U.S. and a U.K. version with slightly different tracklistings.

The U.S. tracklist
The U.K. tracklist

The pre-order page for both.

At only 15 bux U.S. for the U.S version, anyone even vaguely interested in metal and specifically the Earache label ought to buy this set. It's jam packed with stone cold classics of the genre.

AFAIK this comp has nothing to do with the movie Metal: A Headbanger's Journey. This comp is entitled Metal: A Headbanger's Companion

To further clarify, this comp contains tracks released by the Earache label and no others, and thus ought not be taken as attempting a definitive statement on all things metal.

 

[Jeff Guidry]

Nobody on these boards is interested in this?!

 

[keanej6]

sick

 

[citywithoutmetal]

earache..shudders
call me when roadrunner releases all they're out of print cult classics.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Hmm, interesting stuff... Brutal price, too.

I'm not familiar with most of the bands. What do you metal dudes think of the groups in this compilation, especially regarding the technicality of the playing?

 

[Enverxis]

I didn't really like the documentary, the guy doesn't really know the full extent of what he is talking about (especially with Black Metal) and interviewed a lot of pseudo-metal and non-metal acts. I see no reason to interview Rob Zombie for a Metal Documentary ??

What the hell is with the disc labeling as well ... why on earth would you have a Metal/Rock and Punk/Hardcore section on a Metal Compilation

Very biased disc IMO, I wouldn't really recommend it.

There are ~15,000 archived Death Metal bands in the Metal Archives so fair enough to warrant a Death Metal disc, but I disagree with a lot of the choice of bands, it's mostly just what is popular (mainstream) at the moment.

No Black Metal disc. When there are ~12,000 Black Metal bands on the Metal Archives.

Thrash Metal is the next biggest genre (~10,000 bands) however most bands are a crossover of Thrash and another genre (Death Thrash, Black Thrash etc), but a Thrash disc might have been nice.

the Metal/Rock disc appears to be "metal that rocks" with a lot of Traditional Doom, Prog/Power and Heavy Metal bands on there, not really a good compilation disc with the choice of bands on there.

the Industrial Metal disc is pointless, Industrial is usually just a tag you add onto something else such as "Industrial Death Metal", there are very few straight Industrial Metal bands. Probably because Industrial music itself is getting bigger they decided to put that there.

And the "Leftfield" disc is a very lazy throw together of "everything else", we've got some Atmospheric Sludge, Tech Death, Brutal Death and various other random bands, some are good choices such as Callisto and Cult of Luna.

All in all I would avoid this package. It is not a very good representation of Metal music and furthermore suggests that the people behind "The Headbanger's Journey" are not very well informed about Metal.

 

[Jeff Guidry]

AFAIK this comp has nothing to do with the movie Metal: A Headbanger's Journey. This comp is entitled Metal: A Headbanger's Companion

All it is is a compilation of tracks released by the Earache label and no other to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Again, AFAIK it was never intended to be an all-inclusive review of all things metal, only a compilation of best tracks released by the Earache label, which ranged beyond metal acts and put out other hard/heavy content as well, thus the "punk" and "industrial" discs.

And the cost of the comp is barely above three dollars per CD.

It surprises me more people aren't positive about this. I thought I was doing something good mentioning it.

 

[BlackSol]

I predict this will fly off the shelves at Hot Topic.

 

[diogenes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Guidry /img/forum/go_quote.gif It surprises me more people aren't positive about this. I thought I was doing something good mentioning it.

Well, I am glad you brought this up.
However, whenever a best of or some such disk is released it seems some people like to moan about the exclusion of so-and-so: so, I would take the noise as normal.

 

[ooh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Guidry /img/forum/go_quote.gif AFAIK this comp has nothing to do with the movie Metal: A Headbanger's Journey. This comp is entitled Metal: A Headbanger's Companion It surprises me more people aren't positive about this. I thought I was doing something good mentioning it.

Jeff, thanks for the tip. I was worried that it would cause them to sell out (for whatever reason) and less worried that other people cared. I was sort of surprised that few had any comment at first.

Not surprised that most comment was less than positive though; critics abound.

Earache has been an interesting label because among other things, they don't release very often for how well known they are.

No, it won't sell well at Hot Topic; they don't sell music at Hot Topic. Aside, I wish they would sell music this good there, maybe some people would then get into something decent.

It's definitely a good deal for legitimate music, and although not the greatest intro, it wasn't designed as such, it seems either. But it could suffice. A decent retrospective it seems.

There are definitely tracks of worth to those who have never heard some of these bands. I don't think Morbid Angel, At The Gates, Carcass, Napalm Death and a couple others could be ignored.

Roadrunner has already released all their old out of print stuff. And they've also re-released it, if not others.

Add: And Entombed! Also, I wish other labels would do this. At least one track by every band should be "free" or close to it; this is the closest I've seen to such an effort, save Relapse's comps.

 

[lmilhan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ooh /img/forum/go_quote.gif No, it won't sell well at Hot Topic; they don't sell music at Hot Topic.

That must be a more recent developement. When I was in there about a year ago, they sure were selling music. Had a bunch of CDs and even some vinyl.

 

[ooh]

I knew I should have put a

or a

in there.

Sure they sell music, I guess. But if they sold that Earache box, I'd be surprised.

I meant to suggest, they don't sell "real" music. It's more about the look than the music, I guess, there.

It's too bad too, because they are in such a position of power, sort of. Except they are bound to marketing agreements, perhaps? I dunno.

I'm sure people on this board could recommend a thousand bands they should sell but don't there.

Credit to them and Relapse though for at least pushing the Contaminated series there. Oh and Century Media, actually.

Annnyway, I still think the comp under this thread title also deserves recommendation for those who haven't heard a lot of this stuff. Just please don't buy up all the copies before I can get one.

 

[roadtonowhere08]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Guidry /img/forum/go_quote.gif It surprises me more people aren't positive about this. I thought I was doing something good mentioning it.

Don't take it personal... if you did. I think a heads up, no matter what, is always a good thing. Whether or not it is taken up on is another matter. I have never really been a fan of Earache as a label... bought a Sabbath cover album; WORST album ever!!! The only band I even listen to out of that entire set is Callisto. The others.... not so much. Anyway, thanks for the heads-up

 

[goldenratiophi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Earache Records Anal **** - Pepe The Gay Waiter

Erm... uh... I think I'll pass, thank you.

 

[Enverxis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Guidry /img/forum/go_quote.gif AFAIK this comp has nothing to do with the movie Metal: A Headbanger's Journey. This comp is entitled Metal: A Headbanger's Companion

Misinterpreted that