What's on your mind?

[Iceni]

I don't know much about power/prog' date=' but i have an Angra album i quite enjoy. if there were more bands in the scene like Angra, Beyond Twilight, or Zero Hour, i think i would be much more interested in those festivals. Perhaps you could recommend some musics for me??[/quote'] Well, the guy from Beyond Twilight is also in Epysode and their first album is good - but the second album's not that great. Dreyelands is a great Hungarian group that has a similar sound. Jon Oliva's Pain might also be similar, as would some of Wastefall's material. I do love me some Zero Hour, (Towers of Avarice kicked ass last I remember) the first band that comes to mind as being similar is the excellent and underrated Future's End. I'd also recommend Teramaze. The eclectic and impassioned Suspyre is also great, and quite consistent at that. I remember you being a little more amenable to metalcore, so you might be a little more tolerant of Persefone's harsh vocals...which is great because they are perhaps the band's only serious weakness. As for Angra, that's harder. I've not heard much of anything I like from them, if I'm perfectly honest. (Is your album Holy Land by any chance? I heard some stuff from that and it wasn't bad.) Adagio comes to mind as a great neoclassical prog band that's not just a bunch of dull color-by-numbers wank (ReinXeed, Stratovarius) Here are some more general recommendations: Manticora Serenity Archetype Theocracy (their material varies. Some is boring. And then sometimes they make 'I AM', which is one of the most spectacular metal songs I've ever had the pleasure of hearing) Leprous Gonin-Ish Disillusion

[deathstorm]

Friday I'm leaving for vacation.

[RelentlessOblivion]

Murph how's your bike training

Between the road, track, and my trainer I cracked 200 total kilometers last week. Ideally I would be pushing toward 400km a week in the off-season and nudging 600 in peak training before tapering off leading into major competitions.

[sleastak]

Doing good. Neff it's been a while

Yes it has been quite a while. My laptop broke in June I think, which has kept me off a lot of sites and MMORPGs.

[deathstorm]

Yes it has been quite a while. My laptop broke in June I think' date=' which has kept me off a lot of sites and MMORPGs. [/quote'] Glad to see you back b

[deathstorm]

Between the road' date=' track, and my trainer I cracked 200 total kilometers last week. Ideally I would be pushing toward 400km a week in the off-season and nudging 600 in peak training before tapering off leading into major competitions.[/quote'] that's cool murph

[deathstorm]

i actully made my guitar sound like a turntable while messing around with once.

[mindy6158]

Getting kind of obsessed with "adventures of figaro pho" on netflix. haha

[RelentlessOblivion]

Finally got my first assignment back today. 55 is a pretty good grade for something I really struggled with, not because the area of law was complicated but rather, because the word limit was stupid. This means having completed 25% of the subject my grade is approximately 15.1 taking into account the weighting for completed work.

[deathstorm]

That's pretty good murph

[RelentlessOblivion]

Also I should always, ALWAYS, use a calculator as opposed to working out percentages in my head. Still a pass at this stage would be 12.5 so I'm on track thus far.

[RelentlessOblivion]

If the model for your dating site is a fat chick with a sunken face perhaps your tagline should not be 'meet hot women near you'. Honestly it looks like Gollum and The Blob had a baby. Thank the lord it wasn't a nude model or I would be scarred for life.

[sleastak]

Glad to see you back b

Thanks. It's great to be back.

[deathstorm]

If the model for your dating site is a fat chick with a sunken face perhaps your tagline should not be 'meet hot women near you'. Honestly it looks like Gollum and The Blob had a baby. Thank the lord it wasn't a nude model or I would be scarred for life.

I bet it was honey boos. Boos mom. Her nude that whould be catastrophic. To our eyes

[KSMASH]

Well, the guy from Beyond Twilight is also in Epysode and their first album is good - but the second album's not that great. Dreyelands is a great Hungarian group that has a similar sound. Jon Oliva's Pain might also be similar, as would some of Wastefall's material. I do love me some Zero Hour, (Towers of Avarice kicked ass last I remember) the first band that comes to mind as being similar is the excellent and underrated Future's End. I'd also recommend Teramaze. The eclectic and impassioned Suspyre is also great, and quite consistent at that. I remember you being a little more amenable to metalcore, so you might be a little more tolerant of Persefone's harsh vocals...which is great because they are perhaps the band's only serious weakness. As for Angra, that's harder. I've not heard much of anything I like from them, if I'm perfectly honest. (Is your album Holy Land by any chance? I heard some stuff from that and it wasn't bad.) Adagio comes to mind as a great neoclassical prog band that's not just a bunch of dull color-by-numbers wank (ReinXeed, Stratovarius) Here are some more general recommendations: Manticora Serenity Archetype Theocracy (their material varies. Some is boring. And then sometimes they make 'I AM', which is one of the most spectacular metal songs I've ever had the pleasure of hearing) Leprous Gonin-Ish Disillusion

Right on, thanks. That's quite the list! I like what I've heard from Leprous, I've been meaning to check out some more of their stuff. Haven't heard Jon Oliva's Pain, but i like some Savatage so I'm sure I'll dig it. The Angra album i have is Aurora Consurgens, I think it's pretty good but i haven't explored the band beyond that. I also heard some other band with the Tipton brothers from ZH, i remember it being pretty good but i can't recall whether or not it was instrumental. Anyway, thanks again for the recommendations!

[KSMASH]

First Merauder, then Integrity, and now Rorschach. The Metal Archives officially becoming less strict, or is the metal community in general opening up to hardcore?

[FatherAlabaster]

First Merauder' date=' then Integrity, and now Rorschach. The Metal Archives officially becoming less strict, or is the metal community in general opening up to hardcore?[/quote'] That's interesting, and it's about time, too. It's pretty stupid not to acknowledge decades of influence back and forth.

[FatherAlabaster]

I'm really happy that the string quartet liked my vocal demo enough to want to speak with me about the possibility of becoming a full member! I'll be meeting with the main writer tomorrow evening. I'm really hoping I can make this work for all of us, rise to the occasion, so to speak. I'll post more details soon, hopefully.

[KSMASH]

That's interesting' date=' and it's about time, too. It's pretty stupid not to acknowledge decades of influence back and forth.[/quote'] Totally. I understand the argument of "we have to draw a line somewhere, this is the METAL archives", but there's no hiding the bias against that particular era of metalcore. Plus it's kind of hilarious to see some of these new-old school death metal bands listed as "death metal/hardcore" because some of the members were in hardcore/metalcore bands! What a joke.

[deathstorm]

I'm really happy that the string quartet liked my vocal demo enough to want to speak with me about the possibility of becoming a full member! I'll be meeting with the main writer tomorrow evening. I'm really hoping I can make this work for all of us' date=' rise to the occasion, so to speak. I'll post more details soon, hopefully.[/quote'] that's awsome buddy. Congrats alabaster

[FatherAlabaster]

Totally. I understand the argument of "we have to draw a line somewhere' date=' this is the METAL archives", but there's no hiding the bias against that particular era of metalcore. Plus it's kind of hilarious to see some of these new-old school death metal bands listed as "death metal/hardcore" because some of the members were in hardcore/metalcore bands! What a joke.[/quote'] Yeah, that shows you what it's really all about, right? Who's in and who's out of the cool kids club. As if you can't write music that's truly "metal" unless you never play anything else. Thankfully not a ton of people I know are that way in real life. And there's a strong hardcore influence here, too, even if people don't see it sometimes.

[FatherAlabaster]

that's awsome buddy. Congrats alabaster

Thank you!

[Midi]

I'm really happy that the string quartet liked my vocal demo enough to want to speak with me about the possibility of becoming a full member! I'll be meeting with the main writer tomorrow evening. I'm really hoping I can make this work for all of us' date=' rise to the occasion, so to speak. I'll post more details soon, hopefully.[/quote'] Awesome, congratulations! While answering this post anyway, I would like to point out this is the ideal opportunity to pick up a string instrument. Let's see... The double bass is always an option, but its size can make it a pain to take with you. There's always the violin and viola, but honestly, who wants a piece of wood pressed against his/her face for an entire show? If only there was an elegant string instrument which is easier to carry around and doesn't have to be glued to your face to be played...

[FatherAlabaster]

Awesome, congratulations! While answering this post anyway, I would like to point out this is the ideal opportunity to pick up a string instrument. Let's see... The double bass is always an option, but its size can make it a pain to take with you. There's always the violin and viola, but honestly, who wants a piece of wood pressed against his/her face for an entire show? If only there was an elegant string instrument which is easier to carry around and doesn't have to be glued to your face to be played...

Ideally, such an instrument would be fairly lightweight, reasonably contoured to fit the human body; the kind of thing you could hang from your shoulders with a strap. Perhaps the instrument would have pieces of wire embedded in the fingerboard, perpendicular to the strings, to aid in precise note selection while forming chords? I'd imagine it would have something like six strings, preferably made of steel, with a magnetic bar attached beneath them to pick up their vibrations, wired in some way to a device for producing amplified sound through paper cones. Yes, that sort of thing seems superior in every way. Just a thought.

[Midi]

Ideally, such an instrument would be fairly lightweight, reasonably contoured to fit the human body; the kind of thing you could hang from your shoulders with a strap. Perhaps the instrument would have pieces of wire embedded in the fingerboard, perpendicular to the strings, to aid in precise note selection while forming chords? I'd imagine it would have something like six strings, preferably made of steel, with a magnetic bar attached beneath them to pick up their vibrations, wired in some way to a device for producing amplified sound through paper cones. Yes, that sort of thing seems superior in every way. Just a thought.

I wish you good luck in your quest to master the electric guitalele. It's rare to see people pick it up nowadays.