Does anyone else feel as bad as I do for not being into this new Baroness record at all? It’s not exactly bad, but it’s so underwhelming after the last two that I can’t help but feel let down. Red and Blue are both masterpieces of modern prog metal, but Yellow & Green never even approaches their heights. This video is a perfect representation of that. Composed of fairly uninteresting concert footage, it holds no candle to the brilliant visual powerhouses the band has released previously.
“We’re self-thinking survivors here…just like you.”
Well now doesn’t that just say it all.
This is the fourth Gathering of the Juggalos film I’ve posted here on The Black Laser. It is remarkable how time flies when you aren’t paying attention, isn’t it? This year’s crapfest clocks in at a lean 23:15, nearly four minutes shorter than last year’s abortion.
“Nothing but endless love over here.”
I wonder what possesses those who make these videos. Do they think, “How badly can I do something? How poor can my taste be? What is the most awful creative decision I can make?” Does Sugar Slam wake up in the morning and think, “What I do has creative merit. I am contributing to this world.”
The video looks like something an impaired 13 year old in sweats would dream up. I just can’t imagine being the sort of person to whom this would speak. Oh yes, I am so excited that the Psychopathic Boner Clowns are performing! Rap parties in the woods? Great! Being spoken to like I am a retard? Thanks!!
And then you see the line-up and are forced to consider that this is where a career goes to die. Sure, the Psychopathic Records roster is there, but they actually have other people you have heard of. Why would anyone choose to do this to themselves?
Holy shit! Mushroomhead is playing?!? I just ordered my tickets.
I recently fell back into Thrice in a big way. They were a band I listened to regularly around 2002, but they sort of dropped off my radar after that. The Illusion of Safety is still an amazing record, but as a thing that I am aware of they sort of disappeared. Maybe I was listening to too much grindcore and futurepop. Who knows. My friend Mia posted a Thrice video on her Facebook a month or so ago and I thought, “Damn, why haven’t I seen what this band is up to?” I went onto Spotify and saw they’d put out a record last year. Boom. Done.
And it is incredible. The record is lightyears away from The Illusion of Safety’s hardcore stylings. I recently commented on the Twitters that if you wanted to understand what the term “post hardcore” meant, then listen to Thrice’s newest record Major/Minor. They’ve taken their hardcore roots and let them mature into a sound that is not hardcore, but is informed by hardcore in a major way. It’s a grown up album for Thrice and perfectly suits them. They are not the young dudes who wrote The Illusion of Safety more than a decade ago and Major/Minor reflects that.
It’s a solid record and you should listen to it right now.
A new video from Disasteradio just a day after I was enjoying “Gravy Rainbow” again so much I decided to put the album on my phone for my commute? Kismet!
This track comes from 2010’s Charisma (like “Gravy Rainbow”). I quite like this song and am glad they decided to make this bizarro, mutant-filled music video for it. And, if nothing else, it’s tiding us over until the next Disasteradio release.
I realize that I forgot to use the word “jazzy” yesterday when discussing the new Ihsahn record. How terrible of me! The record is definitely jazzy as fuck. It is the best proggy, jazzy, post black metal, Norwegian metal record I’ve heard in ages. In fact, it might be the best metal record I’ve heard since Protest The Hero’s 2011 release Scurrilous.
Unlike the Protest the Hero record, however, Eremita is not a record that will sway non-metal listeners. Indeed, this is a metal album for the truest of the true metal nerds. If you know the difference between Goregrind and Slam, this record might be for you. If you know the difference between Cascadian Black Metal and the New Wave of American Black Metal, this record is probably for you. If you have an intricate knowledge of what made Emperor stand out amongst Black Metal bands in the early 90s and why this is relevant at all, then this record is definitely for you. If you fall into that last camp, you’re already listening. Julian Knöx, I am looking at you.
I was also totally wrong yesterday when I described the record as less heavy than 2010’s After. Eremita is just as heavy, but perhaps more varied, more dynamic. Eremita is a metal adventure
If I was forced to sum it all up with a clip from the Simpsons, I would use this one.
So, does Ihsahn’s newest proggy, post-black-metal release sound anything at all like Metallica or Daughtry? Of course the fuck not.
Is it way more awesome than that specious comparison would suggest? Absolutely.
Should you be listening to it right now? Yes. Yes, you should.
Ihsahn (ex-Emperor) is getting spacier and spacier with each release, and I couldn’t be happier with the progression. The man who singlehandedly convinced me that brass instruments could be used effectively in metal (sorry, Gwar), a thing I considered impossible, seems to be able to do now wrong. Eremita is markedly less heavy that 2010’s After, but there’s no doubt this is a metal record. It is one of my most anticipated releases for this year next to Gojira’s forthcoming album.
Stand out tracks for me so far are “The Paranoid” (with Devin Tonswend!) and “The Eagle and The Snake,” the latter of which is particularly huge. Check the sax in that one.
I’ve also found that the whole thing is on Spotify, so if that’s your jam, check it out there.
