Corey_Lazarus

I fucking loved Borat. My girlfriend...not so much. She finds it funnier when we quoted the movie afterwards than when we saw it. Plus, was a little too much for even me. Overall, fucking hilarious movie, but it doesn't warrant the great ratings it's getting everywhere.

I find it fun to hear another band's take on a song by a band that most admire. Like hearing all of those punk bands butcher old Metallica on A Punk Tribute to Metallica just made me like Metallica themselves that much more. Plus, there's a couple of halfway decent Slayer tributes out there.

I'm most definitely not the one to ask, as the first one I got was Sounds of Perseverance which...well, it's hard to get into fully. But I got Leprosy a few weeks ago and it's been listened to a few times. High quality death metal, and it's fun to see how little true death metal has actually changed from the late 80's when it was coming into its own and now.

I'd say he's a better horror writer than Dean Koontz, but that's like saying Troma is a better film studio than Brain Damage: they're both bad, but at least one of them knows what makes their stuff work and exploit it in every which way. Still can't lay a finger on Lovecraft, but Lovecraft's an icon anyway. I'm almost finished with World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. It's better than the Zombie Survival Guide, as it takes the premise of the most promising part of the ZSA - the "zombie outbreaks throughout history" that takes up too little space towards the end - and expands on it by taking place a decade after the last shot was fired in the great zombie war (which Max Brooks has placed in the not-distant-at-all future). Some funny characters in here that are obviously meant to be public figures we all know (a few stabs at Kim Jong Il and Bush, and even Jon Stewart), and a lot of well thought-out ideas regarding the implausible situation of the dead rising to consume the living and nearly taking over the entire planet. There's a few dull parts - particularly the Japanese boy who spends the first half of his story talking about how much he loved the 'net - but there's enough overall substance to make it a nice read. Plus, before it was even released, Brad Pitt's production company (I forget the name of it...Plan B, IIRC) bought the film writes, and it's currently slated for a 2008 release.

So I gave Skinless a listen today. Lovin' it. Exactly what the two tracks I remember sounded like, and just like the few tracks I remember hearing in passing when I hung out with my elder metalhead friends back in my wee years of high school when I was told the band we were listening to was Skinless. Brutality, borderline grindcore at times, but gut-wrenching death metal to the bone. ...I really wish I didn't have to pay $20 and some odd to get a SMP album shipped over from the UK. Why no US distribution deal? The split with ZA can be found in nearly any Newbury Comics and even some FYE outlets, so why not SMP?

Skinless - Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead Haven't actually given it a listen as I just bought it earlier today, but if it's anything remotely like the other two (yes, just two) Skinless tracks I've heard - "Tampon Lollipops" and the song where the opening sample is Vince McMahon saying "life sucks, and then you die" - it'll be brutal and lovely all the way through. Looking forward to listening to it tomorrow with my co-worker Jim on deliveries, who listens to nothing but rap (he once confused Zeppelin's "Kashmir" with GNR's "November Rain," which I could see if the former wasn't such a classic).

I like that Blood Mountain is getting both praise and denouncement. It deserves both, because it's a step to the side of what Mastodon's past work is. I'm not siding with Tack, but as I said a little bit in the "recent purchases" thread, I prefer Leviathan thus far. Listened to it a few times, still prefer Leviathan, but it's not a terrible album. It's just a little different, almost more prog-y than the swamp-y side of Leviathan and Remissions.

It's only fun to hate on somebody when it's a joke. When it's a mockery of music, it's called "rejecting the poison."

I'd also recommend Velvet Darkness They Fear. "And When He Falleth..." is a good tune with a sample from some Vincent Price flick where he's an atheist Lord. Is this sampler from the Century Media Identity series? If it is, it's likely from Identity 4 (the cover uses the Independance Day logo, the "ID4" thing). It also has a live version of Exodus' "Piranha" that whips the studio Bonded by Blood version's ass, and a live version of Emperor's "Ye Entrancemperium" (I know I butchered the spelling). Decent one, though my favorite is Identity 6, as it introduced me to Shadows Fall. Yeah, Tack, I know most "reviews" are just hypes for the album. That's why I like the album reviews in Terrorizer and Metal Hammer: most are brief, to-the-point, and usually pretty accurate. Plus, they share my distaste for Trivium's "thrash-lite" sound. SOD live...definitely get the two DVDs out there, Speak English or LIVE (which is just the Live at Budokan album with some extra interviews and footage from their few '85 shows) and 20 Years of Dysfunction (the weaker of the two, it's all bootleg and has horrible sound quality, and it seems to have all been filmed during some '99 shows to promote Bigger Than the Devil). Should SOD ever tour again, I will shit myself if they play "Shenanigans."

Very solid episode. I almost pissed myself (was holding it in for the next commercial) when Satan goes "well what DIDN'T Diddy do?" Gacy, Dahmer, and Bundy need to return somewhere down the line. That was fucking gold.

If My Chemical Romance is anything other than a comedy act, then they're awful. How can bands that dress up so hilariously and write such awful music be anything BUT a comedy act? I mean, it's one thing to write a song about self-loathing and being on the brink of insanity, but to just flat-out call it "I'm Not Okay"? That's pure comical genius. ...unless they're like Panic! At The Disco and take themselves even semi-seriously...then we have a problem...

I retract my sensationalist statements regarding Zakk Wylde's guitar playing abilities. The man may have pinch harmonics down to a science, but after listening to all of my BLS albums (the first four, plus the live album)...damn. Way too much filler and the solo's all sound like the same shred just with different progressions. CDestroyer...that reminds me. When music journalists start claiming shit about any style of music it's painfully obvious they don't listen to, I get annoyed when they start blabbering on as if they're right about something they're wrong on. I remember reading a review of a Motörhead album, I believe the one before Hammered, and the critic referred to Motörhead two or three times as "death metal." Soooooo yeah. I wish SOD would hurry up with that 7-year plan as far as touring goes...Belladonna sucks, and I can't die happy until I can see Milano go nuts live.

Know who I had the chance to listen to the other day that I really couldn't say many positive things about? Nightwish. They're almost good, maybe one step above Evanescense and two steps below pre-Comalies Lacuna Coil...but not a lot to sink one's teeth into. I didn't mind the riffs and the singing was decent, but it lacks that punch that you need to be a memorable band. That...and the main riff to Evanescense's "Tourniquet" knocks the shit out of every riff in every Nightwish song I've heard.

No, he really is. He's not on the level of, say, SRV or Petrucci, but I'd say he could hold his own with Akerfeldt and Satriani. Songwriting he sticks to his guns and writes simple, catchy songs, but his solo's are actually works of art.

Anybody that realizes just how great of a guitarist Zakk is?

I wish record stores 'round here would sell SMP albums. Their newest one just got a great review in Metal Hammer, and I've loved every track I've heard from them. Fuck...they in my sig, niggaz!

1. They're egotistical pricks. They were the only band at the SotU tour this past summer charging for autographs. The ONLY band. 2. What they play now is a watered-down version of old-school thrash/speed metal. Matt's voice is awful, be it singing or screaming. 3. The bulk of Ascendancy is your generic whiney fashioncore, with only a few standout tracks (which, surprisingly, were their first two singles: "Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr" and "A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation"). Mastodon is amazing. NEVER compare Trivium to Mastodon, dude. That's heresy.

Thanks for C&P'ing so I didn't have to, Coat. baron, Lamb of God's music is pure nu-metal dreck sugar-coated to appeal to the growing mass of teenage "real" metal fans. They're Trivium without the talent or acknowledgement of the old-school. I dislike Trivium to a great degree, but I can enjoy their worst song more than I can Lamb of God's best song. The songwriting is all the same for LoG, and there's no appeal in it to me. There's no real technical precision, the songs either sound like - again - some Coal Chamber song with a guitar solo over it or like some other nu-metal band that has either broken up or faded into complete obscurity, and Randy Blythe's vocals are agonizing in their awfulness. randomguy: Nevermore is a "traditional" metal band in the sense that they put a lot of slower songs on their albums too, especially Dreaming Neon Black. For some heavier shit, check out Dead Heart in a Dead World (though, to be fair, each song sounds incredibly similar) and their latest, This Godless Endeavour. If those can't get you into Nevermore, then nothing will. So...anybody pick up the new Deicide? The tracks I've heard off of it have been pretty good, with your standard death metal stuff and then some deliciously contrasting, almost power-y solo's courtesy of one of the guys from Iced Earth. His names escapes me right now. Rick something or other?

I read an article on it in Fango back in...August? The Fango issue that focused on Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. Looks very interesting.

...people actually LIVE in Wisconsin?!

So if I were to get another Sepultura album, which should I get: Beneath the Remains or Arise? I definitely want to get Beneath, but maybe Arise will help me appreciate Beneath that much more (like how 90's Metallica helps one appreciate 80's Metallica)?

You call it elitism, I call it not liking what Ross Robinson and all of the other suits want to call heavy metal. I don't mind that these bands exist, I just wish their fans weren't so fucking adamant that they're the best or the heaviest when neither is true. It reminds me of when I was with my ex Heather and all of her friends were into Slipknot, and I had to go into great detail whenever they asked me why I didn't like them. Trust me, I ripped them apart A LOT worse than I rip Lamb of God apart, and I actually don't mind Slipknot that much. Mick has some awesome riffs and Joey's an amazing drummer, and Corey's voice works for the band perfectly.

Because they're a fucking commercialization off of the music that I've been listening to for the better part of the last 10 years. It's the same reason I hate KoRn, Slipknot, Trapt, and every other nu-metal act. It's just toned down metal for the MTV youth to get their little fucking hands on. I used to be of the belief "if it's heavy, it's good," but that changed quickly when I started realizing that most heavy bands that get attention...suck fucking ass. Lamb of God is one of them. Randy's vocals are awful (beyond the Chris Barnes so-bad-it's-good sense), the guitars are uninspired in every song I've heard by them save for "11th Hour" (which seems to be the favorite LoG song from the fans of the band I've met IRL), the drumming tame compared to what passes as mediocrity in most death metal bands, and I can't even hear the bass because the production is so nu-metally/rap-oriented where the mid on the bass is all the way down it's embarassing. They're fucking poseurs making a buck off of something they only care about because "yo, dude, it's fucking phat." The ONLY difference between them and Otep is that Otep takes herself more seriously.

Agent, which Sepultura album do you prefer: Chaos AD or Schizophrenia? I find myself liking the ideas and concepts from Chaos AD (blending metal/hardcore with the tribal drumming that the band heard every day growing up in Brazil), but the music of Schizophrenia (balls-to-the-fucking-wall thrash/death metal) much better. I still give the nod towards Chaos AD, if only for the strength of "Refuse/Resist" and the approach the brothers Cavalera took with it. On that note, I'm actually thinking about getting into Soulfly. Everything I've heard off of III and The Dark Ages has been enjoyable and similar to mid-90's Sepultura, plus when I saw them open for Slayer years ago on the H82K2 tour they put on a fucking amazing live show. This sorta scares me, since I hated Soulfly in high school strictly based off of how awful Primitive was (with the only decent song being the opener) and for Max ditching Sepultura and thus ruining them. The Cavaleras really had all of their magic together.

Aye, Slay. How could I forget Nevermore's work?! Well...excluding Enemies of Reality, which I think even Nevermore regrets, that is. This Godless Endeavour is an overlooked classic, dare I say. On par with, if not better than, Dead Heart in a Dead World. Epic, thanks for the Helloween love. Them and the other band you mentioned, Jag Panzer, are the only "big" power metal acts (as in: you could go to a record store and find their albums) I regularly enjoy. Slay, I'm still searching for a fucking Onward album! I listened to "Witches Winter Eternal" for the first time in nearly a year the other day, and I blew my load. It was all gooey, dear God was it disgusting. Lamb of God's only redeemable quality is their stage presence. That's a big reason, IMO, why better - technically and brutally - death metal, metalcore, and thrash metal acts don't get as much attention as the well-known bands: they're boring live. I still remember seeing Morbid Angel open for Slayer and Pantera years ago, and how fucking bored I was during the whole set. Cannibal Corpse at SotU was the same story: a legendary metal band with a live show that boils down to Alex Webster doing a ton of windmills and Corpsegrinder placing one foot on the feedback amp and growling like a motherfucker. Better metal bands would get the attention they deserve, IMO, through not only publicity (let's face it: if a band is on Roadrunner, they're gonna be on MTV and their album's going to be pushed harder than band who's on Metal Blade or Century Media, and that's solely because of Slipknot's success, as well as Roadrunner's history in the late 80's/early 90's of some solid releases that garnered a decent amount of mainstream attention), but also a much better live show. That doesn't mean necessarily go the way of Gwar, but do something to keep fans entertained that aren't already into your music. You know who's better than Lamb of God, but plays similar metalcore with a big ol' heaping dose of nu-metal influence? The Red Chord. Only they do it better. Same with Chimaira. And Dry Kill Logic. So why aren't those three bands on the same level as Lamb of God? ...if you can't already tell, I really fucking hate Lamb of God...