Albums released in 2006.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I bet Clutch adds to their streak of really innocuous and below average albums, turning into metal's drunken uncle who comes over for hours and never seems to want to leave, despite having done something pretty cool a couple of times.

[Guest BrokenWings]

Portugal, The Man - Waiter: You Vultures! is the only album I've heard so far this year worth a constant rotation.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

This new Boris, Pink, is pretty fuckin'

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I listened to the debut album by Band of Horses, Everything All the Time, today. It comes out in March, I think. Expect Pitchfork to go crazy over it; it sounds like a less melodramatic Arcade Fire, but just as mediocre.

 

EDIT: The singer kinda sounds like Perry Farrell, for what it's worth. You Heard It Here First.

[Carnival 0]

Still waiting for new Tech N9ne...it's been promised for well over a year now...still no signs of it.

Did he ever release the album that was supposed to feature Slipknot and Eminem?

Well no thats gonna be his new album...."EverReady : The Religion"

 

He was bragging about how he was gonna have Eminem and ICP on the same Cd....Eminem quickly vetoed that, so I don't expect an ICP track. I haven't heard about a Slipknot colab.

 

But who knows when the album is coming out, he's been promising it forever now.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

The new Loose Fur isn't bad. It's title, Born Again in the U.S.A., is. Anyway, the music itself is less artsy than their s/t, kind of a low key, mid-tempo folk thing. I like it; I wish there were more Jim O'Rourke and less Jeff Tweedy, though. No offense to Tweedy, but I hear enough of him in Wilco; it's not that often O'Rourke steps behind the mic.

[swan 0]

DragonForce-Inhuman Rampage

 

Cheesy power metal at it's best.

 

Is it just me or is power metal suddenly becoming the in thing in the metal community?

[Slayer 0]

Is it just me or is power metal suddenly becoming the in thing in the metal community?

You're about nine years too late on that one

[swan 0]

Is it just me or is power metal suddenly becoming the in thing in the metal community?

You're about nine years too late on that one

 

How ya figure, 9-10 years ago was the tailend of Death Metal explosion. Judgeing by the coverage PM is getting over in Europe (terrizor recently dedicated 3 issues on it) sales and concerts are on the rise. Of course here in the states, meh, the metal scene, regardles of genre is suffering.

[swan 0]

Is it just me or is power metal suddenly becoming the in thing in the metal community?

You're about nine years too late on that one

 

Guess it's me then.

 

How ya figure, 9-10 years ago was the tailend of Death Metal explosion. Judgeing by the coverage PM is getting over in Europe (terrizor recently dedicated 3 issues on it) sales and concerts are on the rise. Of course here in the states, meh, the metal scene, regardles of genre is suffering.

[Steviekick 0]

New Lacuna Coil will make me happy.

[Slayer 0]

Is it just me or is power metal suddenly becoming the in thing in the metal community?

You're about nine years too late on that one

 

How ya figure, 9-10 years ago was the tailend of Death Metal explosion. Judgeing by the coverage PM is getting over in Europe (terrizor recently dedicated 3 issues on it) sales and concerts are on the rise. Of course here in the states, meh, the metal scene, regardles of genre is suffering.

Most "metal historians" (for lack of any more dignified term I can come up with), including myself, would point to 1997 as the revival of Euro-power metal with Hammerfall's Glory to the Brave, and to a lesser extent Rhapsody's Legendary Tales. This in turn led to both an influx of new fans and bands to the genre, as well as bringing attention to some Euro-PM bands who had been around for awhile, like Blind Guardian, Stratovarius and Gamma Ray.

 

On another note, I just noticed the band you were touting, and it made me think of the large number of metal bands today named Dragon(something-or-other), which even I find it tiring at this point.

[Failed Bridge 0]

DIMMU BORGIR and Strapping Young Lad are also set to release new albums in 06.

[Steviekick 0]

Anything from SYL is going to be good at the least.

 

Isn't there supposed to be a new Devin Townsent Band release this year as well?

[swan 0]

Is it just me or is power metal suddenly becoming the in thing in the metal community?

You're about nine years too late on that one

 

How ya figure, 9-10 years ago was the tailend of Death Metal explosion. Judgeing by the coverage PM is getting over in Europe (terrizor recently dedicated 3 issues on it) sales and concerts are on the rise. Of course here in the states, meh, the metal scene, regardles of genre is suffering.

On another note, I just noticed the band you were touting, and it made me think of the large number of metal bands today named Dragon(something-or-other), which even I find it tiring at this point.

 

Don't let that deter you as they have the 2005 Metal Hammer guitarist of the year, Herman Li, in their ranks. Worth a listen at:

www.dragonforce.com

 

And of course Slayer was originally called DragonSlayer.

 

So you must of heard how Stratovarius signed last year for around 1 million Euro?

 

I agree that Hammerfall was the rebirth in Europe, but the genre has kept on growing since then.

[Steviekick 0]

Stratovarius does have a huge following, but not in the US. Their fall 2006 tour really didn't seem to do well, financially.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Three tracks into the new Flaming Lips, At War with the Mystics. I really liked the the first two songs—the second one, "Free Radicals," sounds like Prince!—but track three feels like more middling, MOR Yoshimi material.

 

More to come.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

My Flaming Lips fandom was once such that I never would've considered listening to anything new prior to the day of its release. Now, here I am.

 

Track four isn't much better than the one that preceeded it. Sigh. Even if AWWTM continues at this pace, I'll still listen to it like ten times hoping for it to click. The Flaming Lips was one of the first bands I ever heavily got into; cutting the cord is difficult.

 

Oh hey, track five is more of the same.

[Guest Derek Bailey]

from this year, I've heard albums by Islands, Liars, Acid Mothers Afrirampo, Belle & Sebastian, Calexico, Danielson Famile, Cat Power, Mogwai, Loose Fur, Boris, Destroyer and The Flaming Lips. Although I haven't really listened to anything enough to make judgements beyond "this is quite good" or "meh". The Flaming Lips used to be my favourite band, but here I liked the first two songs, then stopped listening halfway through. My teenage years are truly over.

[Carnival 0]

My CD of the year so far is NATAS "N of tha World". It's more just normal rap than horrorcore.

[Annabelle 0]

the flaming lips is all electronic-y. lots of falsettos & electronic hiccups. sorta overwhelmingly average. nothing is bad. nothing is good. i am sitting here feeling nothing at all.

[cbacon 0]

Destroyer's Rubies is pretty good upon first listen

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

There were a couple of good songs at the end, too.

[Red Baron 0]

Power Metal last peak was probably around late 2001-2003, but was not as signifgant as in the resurgance from 97-98.

 

 

Supposidly, Slayer is going to release an album in 2006 as well.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

People actually listen to Power Metal without laughing?

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

The Indian Tower, by Pearls and Brass, is pretty cool. Sludgy stoner rock a la Black Mountain (being a recent example; Black Sabbath are fathers of all this) with the occasional folky interlude, though I think I like this better than Black Mountain. And I like Black Mountain.

 

I should check out that Early Man that Gene's been singing the praises of.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

They're a good time, but I can easily see you hating a few tracks.

 

Most of it is aped Sabbath which is then refreshed. There's moments that remind me of Iron Maiden, and some early Metallica sounds, too. Kinda weird, but the vocals are very solid, and they make all the easily identifiable influences into something original.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I listened to the "new" Mastodon, which I took a pass on until I see it used. Not that it's bad, just unnecessary, and the production is the shits. Totally forgivable if it's an apertif for a new studio album.

[Red Baron 0]

Pitchfork will probably praise it until a new Radiohead CD is released*.

 

By new I mean anything related to Radiohead. It could be a Radiohead poster and they'll compair it to the Mona Lisa or something idiotic like that.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I listened to the debut album by Band of Horses, Everything All the Time, today. It comes out in March, I think. Expect Pitchfork to go crazy over it; it sounds like a less melodramatic Arcade Fire, but just as mediocre.

 

EDIT: The singer kinda sounds like Perry Farrell, for what it's worth. You Heard It Here First.

 

TODAY IN PFORK:

Band of Horses: "The Funeral"

genre: indie rock

 

Download

 

Band of Horses work from the same template of sensitively nasal vocals and sprawling guitar arrangements as any number of similarly Built to Spill bands. But the Seattle quintet distances itself from the pack by doing this kind of thing really, really well. "The Funeral"'s gentle chiming intro and precious verses develop a mood of quiet defeatism, soon washed away by a full-on chorus and guitar breakdown. This is indie-styled classic rock, good for both reaching the rafters and dousing dirty beards with bong-warmed tears-- it's a perfect alternative for anyone who can't get behind the insular neurosis of Wolf Parade or Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, but it's something more than that, too. [David Marchese]