Metal Reviews

Inspired by Zad's recent facebook questioner: I'm on amazon.com, I have a $50 gift card, and I need to catch up on '09 albums. However, I'm torn by all the reviews I've read and samples I've heard this year. So that made me think, whenever my brother or close friend recommends a band to me, I usually purchase that rec. and 90% of the time I enjoy what I heard. So why don't we collaborate with each other and work on different formite top tens.

So let's say Ken is the first one up. I'd say he needs to get the new Devin Townsend. Then other people would contribute their suggestion, and eventually we would form a top ten MUST GET list for Ken. I used Ken because he already owns everything released in 2009. There are just so many people here who enjoy different genres of metal. I really think this would benefit people trying to buy new releases (like me) and are having difficulty deciding what to get. Let's try it out, and if it doesn't work, we can move this one to the MR thread graveyard. Also, keep it mostly metal or as close to metal as possible.

First up, The_Voice.

This is a cool idea.

Hurry up el Voicey.

Are we picking for Voicester or is he picking for you?

I'm confused too.
Good idea anyway.

I think we're supposed to make a list for him? He's way smarter than me on the metal stuff he likes though so I can't add much. :(

Yeah, we pick for Voice. Or if you want to start with somebody else we could do that as well.

I would recommend:

Arckanum - ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ

for Voice

am i supposed to do something?

I guess just check out if the recommendations would be something you are interested in and pick them up or listen to them if you can. Then let us know if you liked it or not. That's what I understand. But, if it's only for new releases, I really don't know which one to recommend since I haven't checked out anything from 2009 . Good idea by the way.

Ok, I'll start.
The_Voice, I think you should try Last Empire's Heir to the Throne (2009).
It's a cool old school power metal album by a band from Portland with nice vocals and great guitars. Plus, 8 songs and 46 minutes is just the length needed for this kind of music. The singer used to be in Malice and the bassist has played with acts such as The Melvins, High on Fire or Earth yet it's pure metal with no sludge/stoner inside. Really nice.

Here's the artwork:

album cover = win

So far we have...

Last Empire - Heir to the Throne
Arckanum - ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ

...for Voice. Maybe a top five would be easier. Especially since a lot of what he listens to is pretty underground.

I think FtR's suggestion was a joke.

I'll add an album then:

Skin Slicer - Made in Hell

Dunno if he has heard it but Deceased's As the Weird Travel On would be a worthy addition to the list.

The new Arckanum is a really good album but I don't think Rafael is into that kind of Black Metal.

http://www.metalreviews.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=12244&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=3940

I couldn't remember if it was you...

Ok so, what about some some state of the art old school heavy metal?

Here's Black Knight's Master of Disaster.



There's a review on MA which is pretty accurate.
http://www.metal-archives.com/review.php?id=23166

Try Fool's Game - Reality Divine. Haven't listened to it, but going by a review I read, it may be something which The_Voice might like.

So we got:

1.- Last Empire - Heir To The Throne (Stefan)
2.- Arckanum - Shittiest album name ever (following the reaper & Alexander)
3.- Skin Slicer - Made In Hell (Devoted Walnut)
4.- Black Knight - Master Of Disaster (Stefan)
5.- Fool's Game - Reality Divine (Thy Serpent)

I think thats more than enough for now and actually Ness i think this is a really cool idea, aside from the new albums of bands i already know i havent really listen to something new (to me at least) that caught my attention, i think i said it earlier but i've been really lazy with metal lately, there was a time when i was constantly looking and researching for new bands (again mostly old bands but new to me) i hope this thread gets me going again.

Anyway thank you guys for your suggestions, im really excited to hear Stefan picks and i will post my impressions on those albums as soon as possible.

No, you got me wrong Rafael, I don't think you're gonna like Arckanum, I believe it's a bad recommendation for you.