Yeah, you'll get mixed reviews on Lux Occulta. Some do not like their music at all, like Pesttanz in the BM thread. Basically, the vocals are sometimes weak, but the music, to me, is brilliant. Their first two albums were Folk/Black metal, but they moved onto a very Avant Garde style on their latest two albums. The Mother And The Enemy, their latest effort, is fantastic, so go download that now. It features thrash, jazz and trip-hop inspired songs, all mixed into a very atmospheric feel.

ooh, and thats the one I'm downloading, the description sounds good to me

[QUOTE=HeavyRiva]Yeah, you'll get mixed reviews on Lux Occulta. Some do not like their music at all, like Pesttanz in the BM thread. Basically, the vocals are sometimes weak, but the music, to me, is brilliant. Their first two albums were Folk/Black metal, but they moved onto a very Avant Garde style on their latest two albums. The Mother And The Enemy, their latest effort, is fantastic, so go download that now. It features thrash, jazz and trip-hop inspired songs, all mixed into a very atmospheric feel.[/QUOTE]


thier latest seems like my thing, thank you for the recommemdation :D

[b]Lux Occulta - Architecture[/b]

Strange bouncing midi sounds open it, but it goes heavy with a thin guitar pretty quickly. It's medium paced, steady beat, and it has got those grim, barked vocals that you find in Black Metal songs.

A minute in it goes spaz with some strange but cool lead guitar runs, sounds a bit like Ephel Duath just not as jazzy, different vocals and harder drums. I think there is a fiddle there as well?

Well what the fack... there is now a quiet fully jazzy break with a sax solo. It seems a bit random. I kind of expected that the heaviness would cut it off abruptly. It's interesting music, but it sounds too disconnected to be enjoyed much by me.

Some weird time signatures, which is a cool thing, except it doesn't seem to mix well with the black metal sound. After a while, the music regains a beat that is easy to follow. The ending is done well, the riffage gets powerful and leads to a forceful climax, done well there. Yeah, it ended there too.


Hmm, I can't say I liked it that much. Much like Ephel Duath for me: I like some bits, but the contrasting musical ideas and seemingly random flow is what let it down for me. I could listen in the future and try to let it grow on me... but if I was going to like the band, I'd go for some of their newer stuff instead, going by the small review.
6.5/10


____________________________________
[b][url=http://www.comcen.com.au/~caracarol/Brace%20-%20Break%20From%20Fear.mp3]Brace - Break From Fear[/url][/b] - power(?) nu-metal?... ?

bamp

Dibs, I need to try to get into metal.

well that song is not metal as people here would know it.. but a bump all the same

edit, missed a word

[QUOTE=Spat Out Plath]Bumpawizzle?[/QUOTE]

Aye yi yi...good triple post

So, maybe music recommendations thread? I'll try there too. I'm lookin for a band that plays good heavy metal that's kind of similar to old Metallica (I already know Megadeth, Slayer, DT, etc.). Any ideas?

dibs

[B]Manic Street Preachers - ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldfallapart[/B]

Heard of, not by.

Begins with an audio sample of a news program talking about Reagan. Then the song starts. It's pretty cool. It switches quickly into a slightly unusual riff. The singer I'm not really fond of. He uses the same old punk delivery. On the brightside the way the riffs are written is very cool.

It reminds me of how Greenday would be if they could write decent parts. I dislike the way the song doesn't progress but just revolve and recycle. I suppose it was a good song but it was easy to tune it out.

I liked it. It wasn't amazing or something I'm really going to go looking for, but I enjoyed it. I also really dislike politically based lyrics. The ammount that this band reminds me of Greenday is bizarre.

6/10

[url=http://s1.ultrashare.net/hosting/fs/545d50872bbdd9f8/]Between the Buried and Me - Selkies: The Endless Obsession[/url] Prog metal/metalcore off of new album.
[b][url=http://s2.ultrashare.net/hosting/fs/ece175b19c8fe205/]Botch - Framce[/url][/b] Really excellent non-cliched metalcore
[b][url=http://s5.ultrashare.net/hosting/fs/8a5136186e634c39/]Psyopus - Death, I...[/url][/b] Jazz/tech metal/core
[url=http://s5.ultrashare.net/hosting/fs/313004318fc1811a/]Arcturus - The Chaos Path[/url] Avant-Garde Metal

[QUOTE=Spat Out Plath]I'd never have made a connection :confused:[/QUOTE]

I don;t think anyone else would either. It's just the singer and the concepts I think.

Now, dibs one of my songs.

and I bump this thread with great might!

Might dibs Arcturus - The Chaos Path (I wanted to hear that BTBAM song but it's fricken huge :p)

Do you have dibs or not?

I'm not ready to go right now, but if you don't have dibs I might take them in a bit.

he dibsed yesterday, and still hasn't reviewed the song
so it's open for dibs Bartender

Nah, I'll do it. Sorry, I had to run today (Had to take the dog to the vet), it's 11:27am here, so I probably won't do it until tomorrow, about to go to sleep.

If you can't wait that long, sure go ahead, but if you are willing to wait, I'm still dibs.

[b][size=10]BUMP[/size][/b]

I'll assume you could hear that.

I can;tdibs now but I an dibs. And I can say that yes Grateful Dead (SOP) I think that is the highest you've ever given any song I've recommended. Probably because that is the band the came before the other therefore making it as close as metalcore can get to classic.

[b]Manic Street Preachers - You Love Us[/b]

Rock music with a basic driving rhythm, it establishes that fact right away. A little lead guitar, then the singer starts. His voice is very suitable, it's strong, but not overpowering.. goes well with the music.

The music itself is pretty simple, with the root note bass playing and 2 or 3 chord passages. I guess I can try to focus on the lyrics.. but I'm just not sure what he is saying, and I'm too tired to try too hard. I think I heard something about burning a uniform.

Between the verses and choruses, there is a lead guitar doing some fast rock lead guitar, spices it up a bit, not that it was bad without it. I'm noticing a stadium type vibe around this song now.

uh.. at 3:15 it totally changes, theres a new riff, or a new song. Music is harder here, the soloing is getting rather intense, though not technical, just like solos that you hear in rock music. I didn't see the connection. I guess I can consider that to not be part of the song.


I guess I noticed the basic chord progressions etc because I'm analyzing the song to review it. If I was listening normally it probably wouldn't be a big deal, and I'd notice the lead guitar more than anything.

It's rock music, not trying to be too fancy or anything, and that's ok. I usually like something a bit different in music, Not saying I don't like any simple songs.. I'm not sure why I like those certain songs, but I know this wasn't one of them.
7/10


_______________________________________
[b]The Red Paintings - Dead Adults[/b] - art rock, 7 mins
It can be found in this 30mb zip file uploaded by G_mac [url]http://www.megaupload.com/?d=38LO9KIX[/url] (wma format)

[b][url=http://www.comcen.com.au/~caracarol/Gerling%20-%20Birdbath.mp3]Gerling - Birdbath[/url][/b] - experimental/indie/electronic

a bump in your night

Dibs.

I've reviewed another song by these guys before (The Streets Fell Into My Window), which was awesome, so I have high hopes.
[b]The Red Paintings - Dead Adults[/b] - 7:02

Starts with what could be a gospel organ chord in the background, and some mellow sounding picking in the fore, I think. This repeats itself a couple of times, and then makes some great changes and progressions as it keeps going. It sounds like there's other, subtle stuff going on, but it's too much for me to think about and type out. This sounds very promising.

Vocalist comes in about 0:50. He's not bad, sounds like he'd have a good voice for folk, actually. The music, though still good, is keeping itself rather in the background (apart from little electronic - I think - flourishes), to allow the focus to fall on him. After his verse there's a very nice instrumental section.

Vocals come back in, and this time towards the end of the verse he changes it up a bit - first singing a line in a higher pitch, and then along with another voice (as usual, I can't tell whether it's another person, or himself double-tracked). Pretty cool.

Carries on in this vein until about 2:30, when louder guitars start coming in, in little stabs. They resolve themselves into a proper guitar part eventually, and the guy sings out good and clear over the top. It's a nice progression from what there was before, especially since just prior to these new guitars I was thinking that if the song just continued in the vein it was in, it'd be decidedly difficult to be enthusiastic about it towards the end.

The guitar calms down, and the guy's vocals take my attention again. He sounds slightly drunk now, but in a good way, and again is joined by the occasional backing vocal.

Now he's whispering over a very sparse background, occasionally including what sounds like a very sibilant gong. It fades out on this same background, just without the vocals.

[b]9.5/10[/b] It lacked something to take it to a perfect score, but otherwise an excellent song. I'll have to look into getting this album somewhere.

Songs (remember to change the hxxp to http);

[b]Brainiac - Vincent Come on Down (alt rock)[/b]
hxxp://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2NUXILWYGYLY83INBDPIZCDKE8

[b]NoMeansNo - State of Grace (kind of punk rock)[/b]*
hxxp://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1XALQOKMJ3IZ62G5LZ5XY1MZF3

[b]Miocene - Calliope (improv. alt rock/spoken word)[/b]
hxxp://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2FJJIXLGU9RS31ELWPQ02RDSC9

[b]Bonfire Madigan - 88 Arbitrary Configurations (cello'd indie)[/b]
hxxp://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3GCWVJN9VEXXG2XXOO37CVA1UW

[b]King Geedorah - Fastlane (hip hop)[/b]
hxxp://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1TG26LVBC5JFZ1O8NLXV9MW9I7

[b]Baby Huey (and the Babysitters) - Listen to Me (soul)[/b]
hxxp://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0DFVQDRBIARSZ218TKMEW0FTU6

*it's not really Nomeansno; it's a bonus track on one of their albums, and is just one of the Wrights (brothers in the band) and his (electric) guitar. So it's not really their normal, punk rock-ish sound, either.

dibs

[B][I]Don't Go Away Mad[/I] - Motley Crue[/B]

Pick slide, well I think it is, intro then straight into a bit of guitar picking and your punchy bass+crash moments. A quick bumbum-ta and the drums and bass come in proper (the bass is quite interesting), with the vocalist giving out a call of something I can't decipher. I think it's 'One more time'...dunno. The mini solo is pretty good.

At 35 seconds the vocals come in and it's all pretty standard. The vocalist reminds me of Geddy Lee but I'm not enjoying his voice as much. This verse section carries on till around about the 1 minute mark and the chorus section fires up, it doesn't make much of an impact though. There's another mini-solo after the chorus which is again pretty good.

The verse/chorus section repeats once again. The lyrics really stick out as being pretty lame, 'That's alright, that’s ok, let's turn the page'.

The tempo gets up'd but the drumming doesn't seem to be doing enough to really get the song going. The solo is good but again it doesn't hit anything to make the song really get going. The 'breakdown' section (that's what I'm gonna call it 'cause I can't think of anything else to call it) at the 3 min mark again doesn't catch me, it all feels a bit 'paintbynumbers'ish.

The song rises once again from the ashes but it's all getting a bit repetitive now. The repetition of the same lyric is getting a tad tedious and the solo at the end feels like one of those last desperate stabs.

Overall, the song wasn't that bad, I would rate it [B]5/10[/B]. I think I would need to be more in the mood for the song to give it a higher rating, or maybe give more time to let the sound grow on me.

Gonna go pull on some leather trousers and play GTA:VC.

[B]Forced Listening[/B]

[B][I]Bonanzoid Deathgrip[/I] - Biffy Clyro[/B] - Alt.Rock - 4:20

hxxp://s24.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1QPH4NYFI23Q0359WI37F2SKX2

[b][i]Get Busy[/i] - Guano Apes[/b] - Alt. Rock - 3:23

hxxp://s35.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3D8SCJ0VYD1TK2SICOTJ4YQ38N

[b][i]Cupid's Chokehold[/i] - Gym Class Heroes[/b] - Funk/Rap-Rock - 4:03

hxxp://s23.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1QYSYI6BIXSD12LSCJGT6BYYWC

Dibs.

I know Biffy Clyro; I've just never heard more than a couple of songs by them.
[b]Biffy Clyro - Bonanzoid Deathgrip[/b] - 4:20

Starts off with some slightly uneasy, spacey-sounding guitar, before a catchy little drum beat rises in volume in the background. It reaches its regular volume about the same time as the vocalist comes in. He's not bad; nothing to write home about, but not bad either.

Little cymbal work starts every couple of beats in the background, as the vocals change their delivery for a couple of lines. Quite catchy. Goes back to what it was before afterwards, though.

Cymbal work again around 1:50, with the same change in delivery as before; I assume this is the chorus. After that chorus, the music changes entirely. Again, the best word to describe the guitar is "awkward", but that sounds like an insult. Anyway, it soon changes into a very cool catchy little bit, which is repeated straight after in riff form. And the vocalist is yelling?/screaming? Something in the middle, certainly. This must be The Other Side of Biffy Clyro.

Anyway, at first he sounded rather uncertain of himself, but he sounds slightly better on the next lines. Riff is good. Nice little melodic thing plays, and then joins in with the riff at the same time. Riff is awesome.

I love that melodic-bit-mixed-with-riff. I couldn't care less what he - or the suddenly appearing backing vocalists - is singing, as I'm basically not listening to him any more. And this pretty much carries on for the rest of the song.

8/10 It started off sounding kind of unsure of itself, and at times I was rather unsure of it, but the last couple of minutes were just great. Not too bad, overall.

Songs (remember to change the hxxp to http);

[b]Brainiac - Vincent Come on Down (alt rock)[/b]
hxxp://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2NUXILWYGYLY83INBDPIZCDKE8

[b]NoMeansNo - State of Grace (kind of punk rock)[/b]*
hxxp://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1XALQOKMJ3IZ62G5LZ5XY1MZF3

[b]Miocene - Calliope (improv. alt rock/spoken word)[/b]
hxxp://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2FJJIXLGU9RS31ELWPQ02RDSC9

[b]Bonfire Madigan - 88 Arbitrary Configurations (cello'd indie)[/b]
hxxp://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3GCWVJN9VEXXG2XXOO37CVA1UW

[b]King Geedorah - Fastlane (hip hop)[/b]
hxxp://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1TG26LVBC5JFZ1O8NLXV9MW9I7

[b]Beck - O Maria (acousticy Beck)[/b]
hxxp://s39.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0M9RFYPHVVBTK0BKQ9LENV088A

*it's not really Nomeansno; it's a bonus track on one of their albums, and is just one of the Wrights (brothers in the band) and his (electric) guitar. So it's not really their normal, punk rock-ish sound, either.

Just a plain old bump.

Dibosaurus.

[QUOTE=Spat Out Plath]
What can I say? It didn't move me, it felt cold. Sorry. 2/10.
[/QUOTE]

I probably should have expected something like this, after a 10/10 last time :)

I hope it doesn't put you off checking out Nomeansno :-/ Since it's just one guy.

[B]The Pogues - Fiesta[/B]

I've never heard The Pogues, but on my city's local music forum there are a couple of users who mention them quite frequently.

The song starts off with a slow jazz bit, I'd say. All of a sudden the horn(s) go nuts and up the tempo. The drums come in with some accoustic guitar and the odd yell. What? An accordian! The vocals didn't suprise me much. For me they don't add much, but they don't take away anything either. The chorus sounds similar to Dropkick Murphys, which is most definitely a good thing. Alright. There goes my legs. Okay, now my upper body. Now I'm doing a little jig in my chair.

Verdict: 8/10 - Nothing groundbreaking. It's a fun song that I can see myself listening to in the future. Providing this song is a strong indicator of The Pogues, I will most likely check them out more thoroughly.

________________________________________________________________

[B]The Most Serene Republic - Content Was Always My Favourite Colour[/B]
hxxp://s37.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2GR0QNF1DK1WI20PVE82690VVN
TMSR are a semi-local band to me. I saw them live about a year ago when they opened up for Moneen. Since then they've signed onto the Arts & Crafts label. The Postal Service would probably be the most appropriate comparison.

[B]Therion - To Mega Therion[/B]
hxxp://s37.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3VLY6LK5WGWXJ20HFGWM4P58CH
This is one of my favourite Therion songs. Great orchestral metal.