What Are You Listening To?

[RexKeltoi]

Ten Ton Slug - Colossal Oppressor 

[AlSymerz]

2 hours ago, RexKeltoi said:

That is really expensive for accommodations and travel and totally understandable, for me I care more for the actual performance than for the lights, pyro etc... I mean its cool and all but it really jacks up the cost for the band, I would rather see less and just watch them play, for instance in small venues and bars. All the best shows I seen in the early 80's were in clubs that could accommodate no more than 150 people. Other major point is the acoustics in stadiums and arenas are shite and make it much more expensive for the sound crew to put on a decent show.  

I spent most of my early working life running bands through pubs and clubs but it just doesn't happen these days, not for anything harder that top 40. We used to rock up to a new town every night and put shows on for crowds big and small. There was a thriving scene of any sort of music and always bands to entertain crowds.

Now days there is about 3 maybe 4 venues in each capital city that attract international metal, they are small, dingy little shit holes, just like they should be, unless it's for bands who can sell out the arenas. Out in the regional towns where we cut our teeth there is almost no metal, all they want is cover bands that play songs pissed heads will get excited enough about to keep drinking.

 

NP: Grave Digger - Heavy Metal Breakdown & Rare Tracks

[MarkhantonioYeatts]

WRAITH - Fueled By Fear

 

[RelentlessOblivion]

Grief - Come to Grief

[JamesT]

Accept - "Humanoid"

Accept - "Too Mean to Die"

[RelentlessOblivion]

Vi - De Praestigia Angelorum (2015)

VI - De Praestigia Demonum EP (2017)

[AlSymerz]

Traveler - Traveler

[RexKeltoi]

4 hours ago, AlSymerz said:

I spent most of my early working life running bands through pubs and clubs but it just doesn't happen these days, not for anything harder that top 40. We used to rock up to a new town every night and put shows on for crowds big and small. There was a thriving scene of any sort of music and always bands to entertain crowds.

Now days there is about 3 maybe 4 venues in each capital city that attract international metal, they are small, dingy little shit holes, just like they should be, unless it's for bands who can sell out the arenas. Out in the regional towns where we cut our teeth there is almost no metal, all they want is cover bands that play songs pissed heads will get excited enough about to keep drinking.

 

NP: Grave Digger - Heavy Metal Breakdown & Rare Tracks

There is certainly not a lot of money in gigging anymore, many bands are lucky to break even not to mention no float, no free food, and last time a friend invited me to the gig and put me on the guest list the proprietor told me there is no guests allowed and my friend Nick insisted he pay my cover charge, he never played that venue again. Was pretty embarrassing and infuriating fuck those kind of people. It is hard to imagine even renting a jamming space for practice, in the 80's they were usually rat infested factory units or lofts so usually around $150-200 a month in my area, worrying about cables getting gnawed on was always an issue and these days even they aren't cheap. Jam nights were abundant and you could bring your guitar or use one on the stage to play with the house band, not even sure if they even exist anymore.      

[AlSymerz]

13 minutes ago, RexKeltoi said:

There is certainly not a lot of money in gigging anymore,

I don't know the scene internationally but local it's all a matter of how it's done. No one is getting mega rich off one good album, but in Australia no one ever did. In the 80's we'd get $15-20K a night for a decent 5 piece band with a good crowd. But there was no free drinks, no free food and if the band didn't pull the crowd they didn't get invited back. Payments these days are still based on the same system (in most pubs), but there is less pubs that want to take the risk on a live and original band. We might not have too many 'metal bands' touring the country and living solely off their music but we've still got quite a few pub rock bands that are making it solely from live music. They obviously aren't making Metallica type money, or even Anthrax type money, but different people require different amounts to be satisfied.

My cousin plays in up to 5 different bands at least 3 nights a week. Despite being a metal head he plays whatever music the venues want and most of what he does is local, within an hour of home. He probably wont ever be a millionaire but he's managed to own a house, raise a family, have several cars, own as many instruments as Prince and it's all solely from playing music. Rich by other peoples standards he might not be, but he's making more than enough money for him and it's all out of gigging.

 

[RexKeltoi]

1 hour ago, AlSymerz said:

I don't know the scene internationally but local it's all a matter of how it's done. No one is getting mega rich off one good album, but in Australia no one ever did. In the 80's we'd get $15-20K a night for a decent 5 piece band with a good crowd. But there was no free drinks, no free food and if the band didn't pull the crowd they didn't get invited back. Payments these days are still based on the same system (in most pubs), but there is less pubs that want to take the risk on a live and original band. We might not have too many 'metal bands' touring the country and living solely off their music but we've still got quite a few pub rock bands that are making it solely from live music. They obviously aren't making Metallica type money, or even Anthrax type money, but different people require different amounts to be satisfied.

My cousin plays in up to 5 different bands at least 3 nights a week. Despite being a metal head he plays whatever music the venues want and most of what he does is local, within an hour of home. He probably wont ever be a millionaire but he's managed to own a house, raise a family, have several cars, own as many instruments as Prince and it's all solely from playing music. Rich by other peoples standards he might not be, but he's making more than enough money for him and it's all out of gigging.

 

The Southern River Band and Amyl and the Sniffers are a couple of bar bands down there that I got into after hearing their material, look like they would put on an energetic show I'd pay to see. Up here more and more venues are closing Montreal and Vancouver have some of the more lucrative possibilities for gigs. Places like Toronto, New York and Buffalo are dismal which is a shocker after being huge up until the turn of the century.   

[Nasty_Cabbage]

NP: AO - kAOS

▶︎ kAOS | AO | Nomad Snakepit (bandcamp.com)

Demo debut of what appears to be a fairly new one man black metal band. I'm not a big fan of the clear prestige jargon in their bio and the seeming adherence to "orthodox black metal" as a genre naming convention. It's one man who's credited with the thing, but is listed as the guitarist so it's fairly safe to assume we're hearing programmed drums. They're unobtrusive, but given that they're relatively standard blasts it would seem whomever wrote the programming, were he able to put in a minimal amount of practice and keep tempo even for a few measures, ought to have been able to play this for himself. Still, I guess there's really no need for me to get all tightly wound about it since with one man projects most of it comes down to access and studio time, which brings me to the recording. It's very high grade for a one man debut demo, and captures what I think it's strivng for very well. The material itself has a strong basis with a particular lean toward some of the Deathspell Omega circa Kenose area of the black metal spectrum. Good energy, and not a lot of unnecessary ponderous atmospherics to get in the way. In other words; a good start moving forward.

[JamesT]

Accept - "Blind Rage"

[RelentlessOblivion]

2 hours ago, Nasty_Cabbage said:

NP: AO - kAOS

▶︎ kAOS | AO | Nomad Snakepit (bandcamp.com)

Demo debut of what appears to be a fairly new one man black metal band. I'm not a big fan of the clear prestige jargon in their bio and the seeming adherence to "orthodox black metal" as a genre naming convention. It's one man who's credited with the thing, but is listed as the guitarist so it's fairly safe to assume we're hearing programmed drums. They're unobtrusive, but given that they're relatively standard blasts it would seem whomever wrote the programming, were he able to put in a minimal amount of practice and keep tempo even for a few measures, ought to have been able to play this for himself. Still, I guess there's really no need for me to get all tightly wound about it since with one man projects most of it comes down to access and studio time, which brings me to the recording. It's very high grade for a one man debut demo, and captures what I think it's strivng for very well. The material itself has a strong basis with a particular lean toward some of the Deathspell Omega circa Kenose area of the black metal spectrum. Good energy, and not a lot of unnecessary ponderous atmospherics to get in the way. In other words; a good start moving forward.I ended up coming to the same conclusion, solid enough for me to keep an eye on them moving forward.

 

[FatherAlabaster]

3 hours ago, Nasty_Cabbage said:

They're unobtrusive, but given that they're relatively standard blasts it would seem whomever wrote the programming, were he able to put in a minimal amount of practice and keep tempo even for a few measures, ought to have been able to play this for himself.

Blasts are hard to do right. They're a whole discipline. It takes time and practice before they start sounding any good, especially fast ones. It's not a minimal effort. Plus the expense of getting even a cheap kit, mics, cables, something with enough inputs to record it, the engineering know-how to get a decent drum sound, and that's all assuming you have somewhere to set up and play it and a couple hours a day to dedicate to practice on top of everything else. Some people just don't have the option for all of that.

[Kristiko]

Slipknot - Slipknot (album)

[RexKeltoi]

8 hours ago, Nasty_Cabbage said:

NP: AO - kAOS

▶︎ kAOS | AO | Nomad Snakepit (bandcamp.com)

Demo debut of what appears to be a fairly new one man black metal band. I'm not a big fan of the clear prestige jargon in their bio and the seeming adherence to "orthodox black metal" as a genre naming convention. It's one man who's credited with the thing, but is listed as the guitarist so it's fairly safe to assume we're hearing programmed drums. They're unobtrusive, but given that they're relatively standard blasts it would seem whomever wrote the programming, were he able to put in a minimal amount of practice and keep tempo even for a few measures, ought to have been able to play this for himself. Still, I guess there's really no need for me to get all tightly wound about it since with one man projects most of it comes down to access and studio time, which brings me to the recording. It's very high grade for a one man debut demo, and captures what I think it's strivng for very well. The material itself has a strong basis with a particular lean toward some of the Deathspell Omega circa Kenose area of the black metal spectrum. Good energy, and not a lot of unnecessary ponderous atmospherics to get in the way. In other words; a good start moving forward.

The only genres that drum machines belong in is EDM, Pop and Hip Hop IMHO, because almost everything is artificial and inorganic sounding, it is the antithesis of metal culture.  

[FatherAlabaster]

35 minutes ago, RexKeltoi said:

The only genres that drum machines belong in is EDM, Pop and Hip Hop IMHO, because almost everything is artificial and inorganic sounding, it is the antithesis of metal culture.  

I disagree. It's possible to have creative songwriting and make a compelling recording with programmed drums. I don't like them live, and I would pretty much always prefer to hear a good real drummer playing acoustic drums, but I've been in situations where that's totally not an option for my own recording. I know other people are in that situation too. Why should their songs go unfinished? Thousands of bucks for gear and studio time don't need to be a barrier to creativity. 

[AlSymerz]

14 hours ago, RexKeltoi said:

The Southern River Band and Amyl and the Sniffers are a couple of bar bands down there that I got into after hearing their material, look like they would put on an energetic show I'd pay to see. Up here more and more venues are closing Montreal and Vancouver have some of the more lucrative possibilities for gigs. Places like Toronto, New York and Buffalo are dismal which is a shocker after being huge up until the turn of the century.   

The Southern River Band have some of the corniest 90's Aussie shit in their videos. A mate of mine in Perth knows that band and he reckons that put on a good live show. Amyl is good value and looks to be making a name for themselves overseas now, so much so I don't think they've been home since February. The Chats would like to tell everyone to Get Fucked cause their on Smoko. Cosmic Psychos I think are touring US right now We've got some good high energy bands making a name for themselves right now.

We've had many regional venues close down, but it's the venues that have gone away from live music, or strictly hire cover bands that hurt the industry the most. Music in regional areas used to be a huge thing to many bands but so many pubs shut down. A mate of mine used to own a pub (back in the early 00's) in a single pub town of 15,000 people and he lasted 4 years in the place because people just stopped going to pubs for anything other than meals. All he had was barflies holding up the bar after about 8pm. He tried music, he tried all sorts of things but it just didn't work. Pubs are coming back a little more now, they wont ever be what they once were, but it is some good news for bands from regional areas that need to get gigs under their belts.

 

NP: The Accused - Oh Martha

[RelentlessOblivion]

Ancient North - The Gates (2022)

Ancient North - The Dark Ages (2024)

[AlSymerz]

John Garcia - The Coyote Who Spoke In Tongues

[RexKeltoi]

10 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

I disagree. It's possible to have creative songwriting and make a compelling recording with programmed drums. I don't like them live, and I would pretty much always prefer to hear a good real drummer playing acoustic drums, but I've been in situations where that's totally not an option for my own recording. I know other people are in that situation too. Why should their songs go unfinished? Thousands of bucks for gear and studio time don't need to be a barrier to creativity. 

I see your point, I could be wrong but in this age of the internet apparently it is possible to send your material to an actual drummer and have him add his parts in? I have had people ask me for guitar tracks s few times but hey do what ya gotta do getter done 🤷‍♂️  

[RexKeltoi]

9 hours ago, AlSymerz said:

The Southern River Band have some of the corniest 90's Aussie shit in their videos. A mate of mine in Perth knows that band and he reckons that put on a good live show. Amyl is good value and looks to be making a name for themselves overseas now, so much so I don't think they've been home since February. The Chats would like to tell everyone to Get Fucked cause their on Smoko. Cosmic Psychos I think are touring US right now We've got some good high energy bands making a name for themselves right now.

We've had many regional venues close down, but it's the venues that have gone away from live music, or strictly hire cover bands that hurt the industry the most. Music in regional areas used to be a huge thing to many bands but so many pubs shut down. A mate of mine used to own a pub (back in the early 00's) in a single pub town of 15,000 people and he lasted 4 years in the place because people just stopped going to pubs for anything other than meals. All he had was barflies holding up the bar after about 8pm. He tried music, he tried all sorts of things but it just didn't work. Pubs are coming back a little more now, they wont ever be what they once were, but it is some good news for bands from regional areas that need to get gigs under their belts.

 

NP: The Accused - Oh Martha

Yeah I watched a few of the videos and there some mighty cringe going on at time, but for me that is half of the music videos including metal. When I see these kinds I hope they were doing it intentionally to be self-deprecating and humorous in the vein of Tankard, Steel Panther, Korpiklaani or Gnome 🤷‍♂️😅 It would be nice if some of the big established metal acts would put more into the scene for burgeoning metal bands like studios and venues. Zappa did a lot and people like Jack White opened a vinyl pressing facility for bands. I think the metal community was far more connected the last century, hell in fact all of society for that matter. Up in the northern hemisphere rural areas is where small bands actually thrive, going to a venue is pretty much the only exciting thing to do, there couldn't possibly be anything more boring than drinking pints and watching sports or playing bingo, darts or pool 🤷‍♂️  

Destruction - Antichrist

I always remember my brother taught me this riff in the 80's 

[AlSymerz]

TBH I don't know for sure what most overseas bands do or don't do for the local metal scene. I know Exodus and Testament often do local gigs around the Bay Area or the members turn up at local events. Metallica put money into stuff which may or may not be a great deal of help. But as to how much the majority of bands do I guess it's hard to tell if it's not reported.

 

Iced Earth - Night Of The Stormrider

 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Black Forest - Black Forest, Germany

 

 

None - Inevitable, Portland OR 2023

 

Nekkrofukk - Mysterious Rituals in the Abyss of Sabbath & Eternal Celebration of the Blakk Goat, Poland 2021

 

[AlSymerz]

D.A.M. - Human Wreckage