#metal band primer

[anotherghoul666]

Under Our Black Cult tour primer

@battiestbelfry as promised my dear! Now, I don’t have info on Gaerea yet because I don’t know them yet, Imma deep dive in the next few days. But the other 3 bands on the bill I know well, so here we go!

Under the read more: primers and my personal opinions on the bands Uada, Carach Angren and Rotting Christ. Song and album recommendations to start off. And the mask kink thing, with pics. 3/4 of the bands on this bill are or can be confidered masked bands, you know I gotta touch on the mask kink in there!

UADA

Uada, which means “haunted”, are a melodic black metal band from the United States. They are based in Portland, Oregon and have been active since 2014. They are currently signed to Eisenwald records, an independent music label from Germany. In this house we love and support independent labels! They are specialized in black metal and have a very fun roster.

Uada have 3 releases out so far, all full length albums. They don’t do singles, they don’t do demos, they don’t do splits, they don’t do EPs. They make full albums and drop them on a roughly 2 years cycle, though with the pandemic we are at 3 years since the last record, so these mysterious hooded figures are ripe for new material! Their debut album Devoid of Light in 2016 was well received by the metal world as a promising debut, albeit very classic black metal that didn’t surprise much. 2018’s Cult of a Dying Sun seems to be their album with the most acclaim. The sound quality difference between these two is astounding. The tracks tend to be longer, which helps some songs and doesn’t help others. 2020’s Djinn is their latest release and the reception’s been this: Djinn is way more niche, as in, you have to be down for 14 minutes atmospheric black metal songs to like it, but if that’s your vibe? It’s fucking good. Quality up, marketability down. They still don’t do anything super different, but it’s good black metal. It feels like European black metal despite being American, which is what I love, because I’m intensely biased towards the EU scene. US bands have to be either 1)extremely fucking special or 2) European-sounding to get in my good graces XD

The guys are “masked”, in the sense that they play with hoods over their faces with the aim of not being seen, for atmospheric purposes:

They also do “the hand thing” when taking pictures.

But they’re ok being approached in public by fans, as long as you don't pressure them to take a pic with their faces showing. They are not anonymous, their names are out there if you wanna know.

As far as recs go, I would rec all of the albums honestly cause it’s less than 3 hours of music and there’s nothing truly bad in there. My favorite album personally is Djinn but that’s because I fucking love atmospheric albums that make me lose track of time. I’m aware that’s not everyone’s cup of tea xD So, to my previous recs of Devoid of Light, Black Autumn White Spring and Cult of a Dying Sun, I’d add all of Djinn, but specifically the title track and In The Absence of Matter as a first contact.

CARACH ANGREN

Carach Angren are a symphonic black metal band from the Limburg province of the Netherlands. They’ve been active since 2003 and they’re currently signed to French label Seasons of Mist, one of the few major metal labels I feel positively about! The Seasons of Mist roster is INSANE. They specialize in the darker genres of metal, black, death, gothic, doom and some prog. Many of my favorite bands have been on them through the years.

So. Listen. Carach are one of my absolute darlings in the black metal world. When I began my exploration into black metal in the early 2010s, their first three records have been instrumental in making this genre my favorite. I would not be where I am today without them. I will forever have a very special in my heart for these guys. I hung out with them several times, I’m attached, ok? But. And there’s a huge But. Dear fucking god did these guys fall off. I’m still reeling from how perfect their music used to be, and how fucking atrocious the output has been since 2015. In my opinion. These primers are only my personal opinions and ramblings ok XD They’re doing fine, their latest albums did get decent reviews which I? Don’t understand? But you do you, boo? XD They’re one of the big names in black metal right now, they’re headlining tours, they’re doing good on the new material ok. But I can’t fucking stand it hahaha.

The main problem for me was the vibe shift. Carach Angren’s themes are horror stories. They recount fantastic tales of horror, fright and gore, psychological horror, body horror, historical horror, the like. The storytelling in their first three albums is stunning. There was always a sense of realism there, of horror being grounded in reality. It’s classy, it’s tasteful, it’s striking and horrifying but it’s never cheap and nothing is played for shock. 2008’s Lammendam is about “true stories” in a 1700s an 1800s backdrop, a historical version of our “I heard from a friend of a friend that…”, tales from the crypt and all that. Ghost stories that we’ve heard before, la Dame Blanche for example, but set to music. 2010’s Death Came Through a Phantom Ship is about nautical horror. Historical stories of phantom ships, captain-less ships, mutinies and their disastrous bloody consequences. It’s so grounded. Their masterpiece, 2012’s Where the Corpses Sink Forever, is about the horrors of war. We follow soldiers in trenches, feel their desperation, their fear of death yet longing for it. The heart-wrenching beauty to be found on battlefields because they are so human, yet the absolute bone-chilling reality of it. It’s so fucking real. This album, no joke, is one of the best albums I have ever heard in my life. It’s a 10/10 record for me, and I do not give out 10/10 easily. I’m rather critical. I have less than 20 albums that I’ve ever rated as perfect in my life, and this album is unanimously recognized as the pillar of this band, and one of the pillars of symphonic black metal altogether. This is one of the albums that made black metal click for me. It changed everything.

And then, there was a tonal shift. I suspect, coming off from such a resounding success, the band didn’t know how the fuck they could live up to it, and they crumbled under the pressure. 2015’s This is no Fairytale is, as the title suggests, bases in the Grimm fairytales. It’s a weird modern retelling of Hansel and Gretel and like. Yeah. It started to get cheap. The language used in the lyrics shifted. There’s a ton of unnecessary cursing all over this album, graphic depictions of SA, p*dophilia, incest, drugs abuse and overdose, and like, yes, Hansel and Gretel is a tale about child abuse, of course, but there’s a way to approach those topics you know? With feeling, with emotion, with realness, and here it just feels cheap. Ghastly “twists” are constantly played out for shock value, it’s surface, it’s plastic-y. The stage show changed from refined hustorical costumes and atmospheres to, like, female-bodied mannequins being dragged around and getting their throats cut on stage with copious amounts of fake blood, and for what? It’s just, tasteless now. The band lost its delicacy. That’s where it started to feel cheap, and it only went downhill from there. 2017’s Dance and Laugh Amongst the Rotten is a joke. Legit, this album sounds like a joke. The songs are boring, uninspired, structure-less. The lyrics are so cheap. It’s like we went from a museum quality horror painting that moves and inspires, to a cheap clown trying to be scary at a kid’s birthday party. 2020’s Franckensteina Strataemontanus was very “meh” to me. Less offensive than the previous two, and the story is inspired by classic horror literature like Mary Shelley and the strange scientists that inspired her Frankenstein. There’s potential, but the magic is dead for me. Bad taste in my mouth. I can’t do it anymore, but maybe a fresh pair of ear that doesn’t have the baggage I have with this band will like it? You let me know.

In this context, you’ll understand why my recommendations will only be from the first three albums. If you want to go for it, just listen to all three. There are no duds in any of them. But for specific songs, from Lammendam: Haunting Echoes from the Seventeenth Century, The Carriage Wheel Murder, Heretic Poltergeist Phenomena and my absolute favorite La Malédiction de la Dame Blanche. From Phantom Ship: The Sighting Is a Portent of Doom and Bloodstains on the Captain's Log. From Corpses? Listen to the whole thing man. For real. It’s a concept album, so grab the whole thing, sit down, close the lights, get the lyrics out, and follow along. Prepare to be sobbing by the end. I could recommend every single song, but they hit so much more powerfully within the context of the story.

In terms of aesthetic, there guys are “masked” in the way that they have a very unique look of corpse paint (the face paint typical to black metal).

They coined this look, not corpse paint as a whole, but their style of it. It’s been copied a million times since (like by Cradle of Filth notably, though they'll argue to the ends of the world it wasn't copied. It looks the exact same, it's a bit ridiculous), but it was Carach who did it like this first. The band members have character names, though they are not anonymous. Their real names are out there, but on stage, they’re not themselves, they are Seregor and Ardek (Namtar used to be their drummer. He quit in 2020. I have no clue how the band will record anything else in the future without him because he was the CORE of the band for me. Absolute drummer crush. I digress.) Seregor is a hobbyist mask maker and he makes masks for his different characters from his stories, like these:

Imo they still hit on the mask kink somewhat. The guys on and off stage feel like they are radically different people, and to have met them masked at the end of a show and unmasked at more proper events, there’s a world of difference in the vibe. I love it.

Oh also they have spawn a good few big metal memes like this one XD :

Which they found funny enough they turned it into a shirt XD :

(and yes of course I have one hahaha)

ROTTING CHRIST

Rotting Christ are a seminal band in black metal’s history. They have been at it for 36 years under the Rotting Christ banner, 39 years if we count the first iteration of the band under a different name. Dare I say it? I’ll say it. They’re the black metal daddies. I’m so sorry, I said it, it’s out there now XD They are daddy and I don’t make the rules. Anyway! They’ve been active since 1987, as I said, and they are signed to, yep, Seasons of Mist. I wasn’t kidding when I said this label’s roster is nuts. They are from Athens, Greece and they’re more towards the melodic / gothic side of black metal. They influen ced black meal heavily because this early in the 80s (black metal as a genre really kicked off in the 90s), there were no other bands who did what they did, and especially not in Greek. Rotting Christ have a lot of songs in Greek, in Latin, later in their career they made songs based on Hindu mysticism, their lack of fear when it comes to singing in everything but English at the time was genre defining. They made many songs in English since, but man the ones in Greek just hit different you know? They changed the game before the black metal game was even a thing.

Currently there are only two original members left in the band, brothers Sakis and Themis Tolis, vocals/guitar and drums respectively. Everyone else right now are tour musicians or session studio musicians. As their band name suggests, their themes are of anti-christianity, satanism, occultism of many different cultures, mysticism, it’s all good shit. One more band we traumatized christian kids can heal our religious trauma through, weeeee!! They have 13 full length records out, their latest one being The Heretics from 2019 (we are starving from new material, please feed us) though they haven’t paused during the pandemic, re-recording older material and releasing compilations instead. There was a new single in 2022 called Holy Mountain, and I hope and pray that means new album soon. Sakis Tolis also released a solo project in 2022, Amongst the Fires of Hell, which was fucking DELICIOUS my dude. More laid back, but so fucking crunchy. Highly recommend if you feel their sound.

In terms of recommendations, you’re in luck because they released a massive best of for their 30th anniversary called Their Greatest Spells: 30 Years of Rotting Christ. That’s the must-listen. If you want into this band, start here. You’ll get a taste of the sound of every single full lenght that came befoee. It’s 2 albums, 33 songs: find your favorites, check which album they're from, and go from there! Non Serviam, Grandis Spiritus Diavolos, In Yumen-Xibalba, Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy, everything’s on here, besides my personal favorite song of theirs, Apage Satanas. It’s a weird chanty, trance-y song but it’s the one that made me fall in love with the band. It scratches at something deep inside my brain idk.

Rotting Christ are not masked, nor is there an aesthetic to latch onto, really. They’re just cool dude doing cool things and doing their part spreading the message. They’re honest and raw. No frills. What you see is what you get. They’re the OG.

And that's the bill! Lemme know if you listen to anything and if the bands catch your interest :D

[zivazivc]

What kind of nu metal music fits Les's band?

First of all I gotta clarify that I sent this ask myself because I accidentally lost the original through constant editing and drafting. I realize I could just make a regular text post but I'm quirky like that, and a question is a nice little attention grabber for those who are interested.

Anyway...

It's hard to point at one song and say this is their sound, because A: I'm picky, B: the band's style changes over time, and C: I don't know what I'm doing lmao

This answer is very long uhh I don't seem to be able to form short responses, mi scusi 😅

Back at home the brothers' music and then also the first year on the road with Flea the band sounds like the albums Music and especially Grassroots by 311. (Grassroots is such a banger of an album, I listen to it all the time, really recommend.)

Hed's the main influence on the band's sound because he's the main vocalist, songwriter and overall the most invested in the band succeeding (Les's main concern is making ends meet, and Flea is just enjoying the ride lol). At the start Hed and Les have had basically no contact with Rock Trolls so even though they're both more metal/punk than regular rock, their "rock side" is softer at this point. Hed also grew up with hip hop because of his peers so there's a lot of rapping in his lyrics. And he also incorporates reggae into his style a lot because of his favorite uncle, Kymani (one of the guys who live with Ish) who is a Reggae Troll. Hed is pretty much a sponge when it comes to music, much like Floyd. The closest I can come to describing his genre is a fusion of Rap Metal and Reggae Rock which are both already fusion genres jskksdjsk

(The band 311 has two singers and oddly they both sound like Hed and Les to me. SA Martinez (the higher of the two voices) sounds 100%, exactly like how I've imagined Hed's voice in my head. For Les I have a different voice claim because Les's personal style of music is much different from the band, but Nick Hexum (the lead vocalist here) is still in the second place when it comes to voice alone. Imagine my enthusiastic surprise finding voices for both brothers in the same band 😄)

examples from the two albums:

...

While driving around and performing small gigs they come in contact with the alternative and nu metal scene and meet a lot of Rock Trolls (mostly various Metal Trolls) and other mixed trolls, and in the following couple of years their sound gradually becomes heavier (Hed rediscovers screamo lol) and they go from rock to metal.

A year into their "touring" is also around the time Hed meets and starts dating Liv and gets her to join the band. Liv's genre has the heaviest sound of all of them (Industrial/EBM), which influences Hed and the band too. And with Liv on the drums, Hed takes over DJ-ing and is also able to put more focus on the vocals, which also makes Les step down and only sing backing vocals with the rest of the band if needed.

The band in this era sounds like the album Revolution by Insolence and to some degree Introduction to Mayhem by Primer 55.

examples from the albums:

...

Two years into the bands existence is when Floyd runs into them. At first he's more just standing there, observing their practices and performances warily, because he's had bad experiences with Rock Trolls in his one year alone and metal music still kinda freaks him out at this point. But he soon starts joining in in melodic parts and then it progresses into him singing longer and longer segments because he has the strongest vocals of everyone. And once he saves enough of his earnings for a guitar he starts playing the rhythm guitar too. (The guitar he took with him when he left the Troll Tree got stolen before he met the band.)

I guess I should clarify: Flea is the lead guitarist, Les is the bassist, and Liv and Hed switch on the drums and DJ-ing depending on the track. At one point they also get a keyboard.

It's also not that long before Hed and Floyd start actively writing songs together, sharing each others notes, and they start to split the singing parts more evenly. Hed even teaches Floyd screamo techniques, because he thinks Floyd has a great voice for them (He is correct, Floyd has a mean scream 😁).

During this time the band still pretty much sounds like Revolution by Insolence but with more melodic singing parts from Floyd (and screaming/shouting lmao). I think Verge of Umbra is another good band to compare, it sounds more clean and Floydy but still Hedy. (Man, I should write scientific research papers skjdkjf)

↑↑↑ song with the lyrics from the drawing at the top

From here on out I'm a bit unsure how the band's sound develops, but I'm pretty sure Floyd would unintentionally infect them with a mild case of radio friendliness (Pop trolls can't help their in your face nature lmao 😞). So for now I'm stopping here...

This took me days of searching and writing so I would appreciate to hear any thoughts you have if you've come this far and given some of the songs a listen. :)

[meat-wentz]

FOB LORE POST Pt. 2

this one is mainly links, plus resources at the end for more in depth dives.

some cool pre-fob/outside fob links:

arma angelus livejournal

where sleeplessness is rest from nightmares (arma album playlist, heychris is working at the moment to get these on spotify)

the grave end of the shovel (arma EP)

last arma show

first novena show (pre-arma arma angelus)

racetraitor "broken dust" ft. a young pete and a young andy

another one

racetraitor 2019

racetraitor 2022

interview with mani mostofi 2018

now some general lore, i'll bold the ones that are referenced most often:

"The Story" 2004 (from My Heart Will Always Be the B-Side to My Tongue dvd)

"Cutting Room Floor" (LOTS of classic moments in this, joe sleeping in a cage, patrick drinking garlic butter, dunking his head in a pool, getting nervous and shaking pete's hand, etc)

extra bits sorry this literally opens with a dirty toilet

the story behind the album cover (patrick, joe and pete all lived in a shitty apartment together, where the cover of tttyg was shot on their broken couch, i promise this link is so much more informative these are just the basics)

take this to your apartment pt. 1 (fall out boy return to the apartment)

take this to your apartment pt. 2

a little reflection on the van accident

notes between patrick and joe (resolution by pete)

patrick in high school

first interview

HALLOWEEN 2003 (THE PRIEST SHOW)

the hollister show (includes pete jumping off the roof with an umbrella, van tour, andy "what's goin' on guys" which is important TO ME)

2003 acoustic set (IMPORTANT TO ME)

the hollister show pt. 2 (the show, which is fucking insane, sweater, shorts and black socks mention, borders mention, patrick drinking half a bottle of tobasco, pete getting tazed, first ??? mention of jason which will be expanded upon later)

i'm not putting release the bats lmao that's your job, warning it's gross, it's a will-tester for sure.

but you do get bedussey, it's like, on the syllabus. there will be a test.

FOBR bio during futct

the jason interview

patrick and pete interview for the documentary bastards of young (2005)

behind the scenes AOL

TRL debut

nintendo ds makes me forget that i don't have any friends

mtv vma performance of sugar (iconic because of the uniforms)

mtv2 video awards arrival

mtv2 win

warped diary (fob did warped in a fucking van, which is hardcore af)

behind the scenes sugar we're going down

behind the scenes dance dance

behind the scenes a little less 16 candles

fuse rock star guide (IMPORTANT TO ME)

you look good in everything honey

behind the scenes live in phoenix

don't google yourself

you look like the unabomber

wind power

fall out boy gets uncomfortable

pete's do's and don'ts for valentine's day

moustachette

world's most in depth interview

gabe bothering patrick with socks and sandals

piss roulette

IMPORTANT PATRICK VIDEO TO ME (black clouds and underdogs tour)

gay above the belt

it's not a hot girl

the backpack

mark hoppus shaves pete's head (death of emo)

drum battle and this view of patrick

andy drum solo (live in phoenix)

thanks pete

boys of zummer

happy paintings

coffee's for closers dance

YBC commentary by patrick and pete

family feud

just a few reading extras because i'm tired and i've worked on this for so long i'm going crosseyed:

pete/patrick huge primer

interviews

what a catch donnie songfacts page

in defense of folie a deux

(btw patrick does a different song every intro for i hate myself, also it's very healing please listen to all 6 episodes)

Loud and Sad Radio (pete podcast)

@stumpomatic-blog and @fobomatic-blog are both archival projects to document the band

here's a giant video vault

peachy.stump on instagram, invaluable resource for updates, throwbacks and all the little tidbits you could want.

[sendmyresignation]

A small but nonetheless important detail (to me) is that Ray and Gerard attended the same Maiden show shortly before My Chem started, which I would argue rekindled their friendship and was the catalyst of their creative partnership. They initially met in the 90s through Shawn Dillon, who Gerard met in art school and was in The Rodneys with Ray. Gerard and Mikey had seen the Rodneys perform live at some point, but never became close friends with Ray and (based on the tone of retrospective interviews) might have drifted apart after Gerard graduated. Obviously, the interim timeline is incredibly tenuous (especially when you add Nancy Drew into the mix), but, according to a scanned interview on the comm mychemicalmedia, “Cruising For Crazy,” which Gerard and Ray wrote together for Breakfast Monkey, “predates My Chemical Romance by four months.” Considering Iron Maiden’s schedule during their Brave New World tour (significant because it was Bruce Dickinson’s first tour back after he departed from the band for much of the 90s), the only time Ray and Gerard would have had the opportunity to see Maiden before this period would be the August 5, 2000 date at Madison Square Garden. In the Rolling Stones  interview Gerard mentioned the show, the specific wording says they “reconnected” after attending “the show together” and immediately dovetails into a discussion of My Chem’s demos, suggesting without the show Gerard might not’ve been close enough to Ray to call him in 2001 and that this particular MSG show, like many other’s in the members’ past, was a point of creative inspiration and connection for the two of them.

Excerpt from the My Chemical Romance Heavy Metal Primer detailing the circumstances in which Ray and Gerard met in the 1990s, as well as their creative rekindling at an Iron Maiden show they attended together in 2000, just before My Chem was formed

[livejournallegacy]

Coheed and Cambria primer for L.S. Dunes fans

Travis Stever and Claudio Sanchez are the two core members of Coheed and Cambria and have been since the bands inception in 1999. Coheed primarily makes concept albums based on Claudio's sci-fi comic series The Amory Wars.

The basic plot is that Coheed and Cambria Kilgannon are fighting against aspiring dictator Wilhelm Ryan, who started The Amory Wars with the goal to rule over the solar system Heaven’s Fence. Their son Claudio (we love a self insert) is a seemingly normal kid dragged into the fight, who may turn out to be the prophesied saviour.

"But what do they sound like?" Coheed mixes elements from a lot of genres and are most often described as prog rock. I would personally be more inclined to classify them as power metal or like, prog emo (emo used as a sort of catch all term for various pop influenced rock, metal, punk and hardcore music styles of the 00s). If you like Dunes there's definitely something in their discography you'd enjoy, especially given how similar Claudio and Anthony's vocals are.

You don't need to follow the storyline to enjoy their music though, here's a few of their more radio friendly songs I would recommend a new listener to start with:

Favor House Atlantic - every 00s band has at least one pop punk song

Ten Speed - slightly more prog influence, still pretty pop punk

Welcome Home - it's their most popular song for a reason

Shoulders - newer song, hard rock/metal vibes

Bonus: Jesse's Girl 2 ft Rick Springfield - Claudio wanted to write a sequel to Rick Springfield's 1981 classic Jesse's Girl, so he did.

If we define 'rock bands from the New York Metro area 1999-2002' as a scene, Coheed and Cambria were right there in the trenches with bands like Midtown, Taking Back Sunday, Thursday and My Chemical Romance. They were tour with these guys and most of the other "bandom" bands (The Used, Fall Out Boy, AFI etc.) and were hanging out in the background somewhere for a lot of iconic moments, like Warped 2004 (featured in LOTMS).

For example, you have probably seen a few photos of Adam and Gerard from backstage at the 2005 Concert for Tsunami Relief:

The handsome guy on the left is Claudio Sanchez ☝️

Or the 2003 Thursday/Thrice/Coheed tour which gave us some of the worlds most important images courtesy of Justin Borucki:

In a roundabout way Coheed is actually responsible for giving MCR their first big break. In 2002 they were opening for Jimmy Eat World and had to cancel a show last minute, they were replaced by MCR who had only released Bullets a month prior.

From Dan Ozzi's Sellout

So from what I can tell Travis has known Thursday and MCR since at least 2002 and Anthony since at least 2005 (Coheed/Thrice/Circa Survive tour). More recently Travis played with Thursday for their Signals V2 livestream (2021) and Coheed opened for MCROKC (2022).

I know I missed heaps of stuff but I hope this helps at least one Dunes fan understand Travis a little more! His connections to the band go just as deep as any of his bandmates but are a lot less straightforward.

[ibraidedmybootyhairs]

intro post even though I have carrd in bio🤤

any pronouns im a sigma male if you couldnt tell that loves trucks and mountain dew and corrosion and shirts with skulls on them…

mainly interested in ww2, specifically the 3rd reich

I like drawing 2000s fps characters and war movie characters yayyyy🎉

I may look like it but i am NOT in tcc or re1chblr

i ❤️ NU AND INDUSTRIAL METAL get down with the agenda

my favs are the popular bands along with primer 55, <pig>, revco, slick idiot, grand theft audio, slaves on dope, stepa, farout fishing, .sPout. & genitorturers

i don’t play a lot of games but love postal 2, tf2, bo2 and cry of fear (ouuuu) &&i really wanna play blood, half life, wolfenstein 3d and duke nukem 3d

[wuffhammer]

Volgan Yaks! Just painted up these lovely murder crickets from the ABC Warriors miniatures game. They're not glued to the bases yet, as I still have to paint the bases to match the asphalt look of my other 2000AD bases. These were EXTREMELY quick to paint and the only fiddly bit was the smaller of the two heads, with those little yellow flame things.

Paints used, in order:

Vallejo 70.602 black brush-on primer

Vallejo Ghost Grey (overbrush, whole model)

Army Painter Broadsword Silver (whole model)

Citadel Stormhost Silver (drybrush, whole model)

Army Painter Forest Sprite

Army Painter Slaughter Red

Army Painter Grim Black (bands on the single Burp gun)

Citadel Nuln Oil (whole model)

Citadel Flash Gitz Yellow (so many [expletive] layers, I hate this yellow)

Vallejo Banshee White (eye socket details)

Citadel Stormhost silver (silver highlights)

Army Painter Forest Sprite + Citadel Stormhost Silver (1:1 mix, green highlights)

Army Painter Slaughter Red + Citadel Stormhost Silver (1:1 mix, red highlights)

Citadel Flash Gitz Yellow + Vallejo Banshee White (Roughly 1.5:1 mix, yellow highlights)

These Army Painter speedpaints really keep the metallic aspect of the underlayers, giving them a nice effect reminiscent of powder coating. I might go back in for some weathering later, which would probably just be sponging a little Stormhost on around the edges, maybe a little dab of Agrax Earthshade in some of the chipped areas. Idk, they look alright rn.

[anotherghoul666]

i JUST started listening to sleep token and went to the tag only to find you there, please tell me more about this band?? collective?? i need more

You got it buddy! One order of a full Sleep Token beginner primer, coming up!

Sleep Token are a rock? metal? genre blending collective based out of England, tho nobody's 100% sure of where the members are from because they are also a masked and anonymous project. Their style of music varies greatly from album to album and song to song. From soft ballads, to electronic music, to indie, to progressive / prog metal, to post-rock / post-metal, and now with their newest singles, a definite shift into heavier sounds with roots in djent and -core genre elements like breakdowns and scream vocals, let's just say they are very diverse and there are not many bands that sound the same out there. Their blending is pretty unique, and imo will prove to be genre-defining in the coming years. They are signed to Spinefarm records and they're touring as we speak in Europe.

They formed in 2016 and self-released their first EP called One that same year. Their second EP aptly called Two was released in 2017 on Basick. They currently have two full length albums out on Spinefarm, 2019's Sundowning and 2021's This Place Will Become Your Tomb, which are the crux of the material you wanna look into. I always advise that you listen to the whole albums front to back because artists plan these tracklists deliberately, so we owe it to them to consume their output the way they intended us to, but! I also realize nowadays nobody does that because of Spotify and streaming, unfortunately, so: for Sundowning, I'd recommend Sugar as a first track because it touches on both the soft and harsh sides of the album beautifully; and for TPWBYT I'd say start with Alkaline (bonus points for a delicious video to get you into their visual side too). On January 6th and 7th 2023, they released two new songs to showcase their new sound, Chokehold and The Summoning. These two singles seem to be the optimal path currently to get into the band. There are rumors of a new album called Take Me Back To Eden to be released this year, there's a tracklist floating around online though we don't know if its legit, and there are also rumors for new singles coming out, at the time of writing this, tomorrow and in two days, on the 19th and 20th of January 2023. There's also a recording of an acoustic show called From The Room Below floating online, with new takes on their previous songs and a few choice covers like Billie Eilish's When The Party's Over, surprising crossovers that are emotional experiences.

Now, visually and in theme, you'll notice the band has a storyline of sorts. The lore of Sleep Token is this: the band was formed after an ancient deity called Sleep (a reductive name that doesn't encompass the deity's nature at all, but its true name cannot be spoken in any human tongue) revealed itself to the singer, Vessel, in his sleep. Sleep appears to be a powerful force worshiped in ancient civilizations, that gave them the blessing of dreams and the curse of nightmares. Since this apparition, Vessel's life purpose has been to worship and make offerings to Sleep via music. The members of the band are all called vessels, we can infer vessels for Sleep. The singer is Vessel I, but the fandom's moved to just calling him Vessel. The other members are just called by their numbers. II is on drums, III is on bass, IV is on guitar. They're all vessels. They wear masks to hide their identities, with what seems to be full body black paint and some variety of stage costumes including hooded coats and capes and now apparently full pauldrons and void wizard staves.

You'll come across some specific lingo when encountering Sleep Token content or in the fandom. These terms mostly come from their official social media so they use them themselves, it's not fan made. "Worship" is the tagline, kinda like "Nema" is with Ghost. You'll see fans telling each other that all the time. To Worship is to take part in enjoying the band in any way you can: listening to the music, watching videos, streaming their stuff, spreading the word, going to shows, buying merch, etc. Sleep Token's shows are called Rituals, like Ghost's. Pictures and videos are referred to as Sacred Moments, or Sacred Moments in Time. The bands they tour with are called Brethren. Sleep Token's songs are called Offerings. Because they are written as a means to Worship the Sleep deity. Offerings can also be in the form of instrument playthroughs, videos, etc. What the band produces. When you listened to new material or acquire merch, you also Consume. A note on their anonymity to finish: while there are rumors about who the band members are, nothing's confirmed and the band's explicit wish is to maintain this anonymity, so it fundamental to respect those wishes and not try to dig. They value art for art, they let the music speak for itself, and they explicitely wish for their music to be detached from who they are as people. Let's leave the magic in place both for them and for us!

Welcome to the fold! Worship!

[raptorsaurusmelain]

Let me show you... Youtube - chapter 18

Finally back to writing after my weekend of convention. It was nice but not enough small creators to my taste.

Warning : no proof reading, English is not my mother tongue.

If you are interested in reading this fic, the tag "#twst lmsyy" will give you all the chapters.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

During the following week, Victoria mended the roof little by little. The real test would be the next time it rained. She wasn't impatient about that.

By the end of the week, she finished the roof with the children's help to transport the broken tiles to the trash can.

And as if the Great Seven heard her, it rained delicately. The woman ran like a madwoman across the dorm to see if the repairs were working. To her delight, there were only one or two tiles to change. She congratulated herself. She did a great job. She thought it would be more catastrophic than that.

She thought hard in her bed. Next big event would be the Magift tournament with Leona's overblot. It would mean that soon there would be multiple cases of mysterious accidents and the children would have to investigate. She wasn't particularly fond of Leona. She understood why he acted like that but she wasn't fond of how he decided to handle the situation. It was dangerous and if badly done, there could have been someone in a coma or worse, a dead person… That night she prayed to Buddha so the duo would not be hurt.

A few days later, she surprised Grim, Yuu and the ghost playing Magift. So it has begun… That also explained why she had a humongous list of repairs to do in the stadium. Everything needed to be spotless.

That evening, Victoria saw multiple news channels speaking about the NRC's Magift tournament. Everyone was excited to say the least. She thought a bit. Maybe she could ditch the event …? Bad idea, she would miss the match with Ramshackle, she needed to capture that moment ! Urgh, to mom or not to mom, that is the question.

It reminded her of how she used to film the family cricket tournament back home. It was fun to see, everyone was arguing on who won the match and she was just the referee / cameraman. She loved those moments. Full of nostalgia, she watched a few of her family's videos she had on her phone. She shed a tear. She missed them a lot. Like when her cousin Rajeesh would discuss with her on which metal band was the best or, when Priya teached her new dancing moves. Or when Kali wanted to play with dolls with her while everyone was discussing who Nila should marry. 

Surprised by all those names ? Well her father was a Caucasian man adopted by a lovely Indian couple. Wasn't expecting that, Imma right ?

The day after, Victoria spent her time doing her chores while Yuu and Grim began their investigation. She hoped that they had  the little Sherlock Holmes costume like in the manga. She needed to take a photo of them wearing it.

When she was done with the chores of repairing the stadium toilets, she went home and thought about the next thing to repair. She looked at the walls. Those were in a dismal state. If she was doing those, it meant to take the frames off, buff the wall paint, paint the primer then paint the wall green and white. She sighed. Quite a lot of work ahead. A lot of Giktok to do, but the children could participate in the final painting stage. Then she wondered if, like the game, they would find the crafting gauntlet and hammer. It would be funny to have Yuu and Grim design their own room. It would occupy them while Victoria did the heavy reparations. 

Her deep thinking was stopped by Yuu and Grim coming back to the dorm. They both had the little cape and cap !

She improvised a little photoshoot saying that her babies were 'so cool' and 'like true detectives' ! Her camera roll was full of new pictures. She also did a little video for their Giktok account writing 'The detectives are on the case!' In the caption.

Afterwards, Yuu and Grim explained why they had such costumes. Victoria listened to them, nodding at important parts, followed by some 'oh', 'ah' and 'interesting'. She just hoped that no one was too hurt.

That night, they watched some Magift tournament on the TV so they could understand the game better in real situations. Grim was overjoyed to take part in such a tournament -if they resolved the mysterious accidents of course-.

The next day during lunch, she was with Crewel and Vargas. She showed off her babies. “Look at them with their little costumes ! Aren’t they cute ? They look like proper detectives from a novel !”

Vargas was impressed and Crewel asked. “Where did they get those costumes ? It looks… a little cheap.”

Vargas laughed. “Don’t break her fantasies, Crewel.”

Victoria shrugged. “Apparently it is from the headmage. So it is not top quality.”

Crewel sighed. “Of course… That bird truly has the chic to give his work to others. I mean those accidents should be investigated by him.”

Vargas nodded. “Maybe he has other more pressing affairs ?”

Victoria choked on her drink and coughed a lot.

The himbo looked at her, worried. “Are you alright ?”

She nodded.

The fashionable man spoke. “I think she meant by that that he seems to have nothing going on.”

She took a deep breath and spoke in a cracked voice. “You know me so well, it is frightening.”

Tag : @boba-tea-fish @hipsterteller

[goodbysunball]

Parched & parcel

Things are getting noticeably heavier and weirder, and we're the better for it. Some metal, finally, paired with some fine Aussie experimental noise and a band that'll make you believe in the dream of NYC again. It's the best season for this kind of stuff, so dive in.

dprk, Shitville Tourist LP (Studio Fabrik)

May I introduce to you Shitville Tourist (title of the year) by dprk, apparently a duo of Nick Dan (xNoBBQx) and Richard Fielding (Severed Heads) with support from a few mates. It feels like a journey in time back to where Twisted Village and Kye once roamed, where the journey largely justified the end product and the listener could take it or end up spending big later. While there is no question this record took me a few listens to unravel, what didn't take much to pique my interest was the gentle loop on "Crazy Little Corkscrew," something that sounds like a lullaby played with a steel drum, being poked and prodded by various electronics over its seven minutes. The track, like all four tracks on here, doesn't really go anywhere over its duration, but floats, writhes, twists and soaks in the sounds being made: pure joy in the noise made by machines. The title track and "Blumen Schmerz" are darker, more cavernous, where synths bleep and blot and drum machines whirr and exhale steam, creating the illusion of life where there is none. The latter has some creepy guitar parts splayed out on the pulsing synth backbone, but the investigation leads to no further conclusions; there is no categorization here. The finale, "Gulag In Space," provides not only another great title but a track nearly worthy of dancing, especially after the mind-fuck of the first three tracks. The beat bounces off all surfaces, as slippery as the rest of the record, but there is a sparkle on "Gulag" that winks at the listener as Shitville Tourist winds down. Something magnetic, or just plain alien, about the whole affair, but whatever it is, the sheer number of times I've played this have more than justified the hefty price tag. Great debut; let's hope for more from these true underground freaks.

Excarnated Entity, Mass Grave Horizon LP (Nuclear Winter)

Greece's Nuclear Winter puts out a ton of releases, so much that I've seemingly looked them over in the last few years. But taking stock, they've been responsible for the physical releases of a number of near-and-dear U.S.-based death metal acts like Blasphematory, the mighty Anhedonist, and now, Excarnated Entity. Excarnated Entity features a former member of Anhedonist, and there's definitely a similar approach to death metal with the two acts: mournful, grandiose but without the heavy-handed use of keyboards or Gregorian chant-like vocals. Excarnated Entity is also singularly focused on the horrors of war - not to be confused with the glorification of such in war metal - and provides ample heft to the incalculable loss of life. The band's demo, also reissued by Nuclear Winter in 2020, was a good primer for their debut LP, but the LP is devastating. The instrumental opener "Abjection" runs an elegant Mournful Congregation-style guitar line into the ground, simultaneously distraught and triumphant, and sets the stage for the rest. For anyone paying attention to the recent death-doom resurgence, Mass Grave Horizon fits right in and sets itself up near the top of that heap. While I think that there's a bit of momentum wasted in the middle section of "Corridor of Flame," that's really the only complaint I can level at the record. Everything else is properly filthy: gurgling vocals over blastbeats slam headfirst into downtuned chugging riffs, and a elegiac solo rises from the cracks in the pointlessly blood-stained soil. It's between "Irradiated Shadows" (the part before the solo, yeesh) and the punishing title track for my favorites here, but there's not a dud in the bunch. It's worth noting that the band does four-minute sprints as well as they can stretch tracks out to twice that length - a versatility that elevates Excarnated Entity above the one-note lifers rehashing the same formula on every track. Bleak, miserable and, given the state of the world, timely death-doom is what you get on Mass Grave Horizon, and if you think you've heard it before, it's worth hearing again in this singularly focused and dimming light.

VoidCeremony, Threads of Unknowing LP (20 Buck Spin)

I've got to give Nic at Repressed Records credit for pushing this one, as anything combining descriptors like "jazz" and "prog" with "metal" usually makes me run for the hills. But, this new VoidCeremony LP is checking all the boxes while flirting with all of the above, while (as Nic notes) throwing in a fretless bass solo on nearly every song to boot. The band plays death metal, firstly, and while there are some space-y outros and instrumentals, everything feels of a piece rather than forcing together disparate parts. The label press mentions that the band plays "with the gliding, controlled chaos and smooth fluidity of a jazz quartet," and that checks out, but I don't smell anything particularly jazzy about the record. Rather, I get a big whiff of Gorguts when listening to this record, another band that seamlessly combined progressive, thrash and death metal with grooves, resulting in something impressively complex without making it feel like a homework assignment. "Writhing in the Facade of Time" probably best displays all of these aspects, from the fading-in tech-death opener, to the sky-scraping guitar solos, to the crushing close of the track before the group's whisked away on a mystical Moog coda. The band shifts from strength to strength without any bloat, and just as importantly, without any clean vocals. Threads of Unknowing is my go-to workout record this year, the fluidity of the drumming providing blastbeat stress and necessary space in equal measure. Strap in, take a trip; whether you buy into the lyrics or overarching theme is up to you, but either way it's one of the most thrilling death metal records of the year.

Weak Signal, War&War LP (12XU)

Cool "reissue" of an album digitally released in 2022, hopefully given a wider reach with the push of 12XU. War&War is Weak Signal's third LP, and it sounds like a band comfortable with themselves, their capabilities and their sound: they can rip off a garage-punk track like "Don't Think About It" and slow things to a simmer on "Consolation" with ease. That the band sounds so self-assured did make this record feel a little too easy the first few times; but, like label mates Lewsberg, the complexity of the tracks shines through on iterative spins. Seemingly small choices like the backing vocal melody on "Names" or the sparkling Cass McCombs guitar on "Spooky Feeling" begin to feel like bold, powerful moves amidst the background of resignation/resilience across the album. The mostly spoken, barely sung vocals paired with the often bluesy guitar lines give the record a rough, workingman feel - which, for me, means that things ain't going your way but what are you gonna do about it - but there's no glory in it, just a general disdain for how things are. It's definitely a bit of a downer, though I think the band would prefer "realist," and two lyrics from the middle of the record seem illustrative of the this approach: "I'm no weirdo/I'm no freak/but things keep happening to me" from "Songworld," and "If you think I care/that's where you're wrong" from "Yr Deal." I don't find that the lyrics convey apathy, rather an infinite patience or aplomb in the face of everything spinning uncontrollably off-axis. War&War feels similar in spirit to what True Widow was doing on the heavy sigh of As High as the Highest Heavens..., though without the depressive bent of that record. A bit of despair creeps in on the cover of Johnny Thunders' "It's Not Enough," which bleeds into the gray, abstract noise of the title track, but the band puts their dukes up again on closer "Who the Hell Are U?," a fitting end to the record to reinforce the group's street savvy instincts. Weak Signal's delivered a doozy, and one of my favorite new-to-me discoveries of the year so far.

[scytheral]

name nu-metal bands that aren't korn, system, limp bizkit, slipknot or deftones. go.

The darling Prince saw This as A wish for Expanding musical Taste on Nu .. If so , Here you Go ! This was Fun 02 Do.

—ㅤSorted in Alphabetical orderㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ—ㅤOnes with * are Ones not 100% Focused on Nu / Counts as Nu / Sort of Nu / Album-dependent Nu / Prevs albums Count as Nu / Nu-Adjacent / are Considered Nu.

( Consider taking Caution on Some lyrics of Hed P.E , Btw ! )

︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶

40 Below Summer

Adema

American Head Charge *

Coal Chamber

Cinder

Crazy Town

Chevelle *

Drowning Pool

Disturbed

Dry Kill Logic

Dope

Fear Factory

Flaw

Five Pointe O

Godsmack

Hoobastank *

Hed P.E

Ill Niño

Incubus *

Kittie

Linkin Park

Mudvayne

Machine Head

Nonpoint

Otep

Orgy

Papa Roach

P.O.D

Primer 55

Powerman 5000

Reveille *

Rob Zombie *

Raging Speedhorn *

Static-X *

Soulfly *

Staind *

Sevendust

Saliva

Spineshank

Snot

Slaves On Dope

Taproot

Trustcompany

The Union Underground

Ultraspank

[cursefactory]

yo! I just realized I haven't done a intro post yet, so, welcome! y'all can call me jay (she/her), I love y2k, 90s stuff, nü metal and all things similar to it.

my favorite bands right now (in no particular order) are:

cky, soundgarden, orgy, linkin park, powerman 5000, snake river conspiracy, primer 55, static x, sepultura (from 1996–on), soulfly, flaw, alice in chains, kittie, deftones, type-o negative. and more!

all photos that I post here don't belong to me, so I think is okay to repost it if you want. all pictures are taken from Pinterest and old angelfire sites and most of them don't have the exact photographer credited, if you know any info, please share!

feel free to send me an ask and chat if you want! (this is a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community and black people.)

[are-we-really-doing-this]

What bands are nu-metal and what ones aren't

Ooh, tough one anon.

I'd say most metal bands from the mid 90s to the early 00s with down-tuned 7-string guitars and slap bass and that distinct snare and bellowing or nasally harsh vocals and rapping/scatting/speak-singing with lyrics centered around inward struggles, trauma, injustices, revenge, violence, pain, depression, addiction, and sometimes positivity in bleakness or even just straight up gloating and dissing with or without a hip hop influence can be considered nu metal to a certain degree (it doesn't have to have all of these though).

Founding bands like RATM, Pantera, Mr. Bungle, Bush, Alice in Chains, Faith No More, Acid Bath, Stone Temple Pilots, White Zombie, Sepultura, Helmet, and Primus for example I would not consider nu metal personally (more accurately grunge, post grunge, funk, groove, psychedelic, thrash, punk, and hip hop to name a few) but they influenced the genre so much and have such a similar sound that the label doesn't need to apply to recognize that they are very similar.

Nu metal bands in no special order include but are not limited to Korn, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, System of a Down, Sevendust, Snot, The Union Underground, Primer 55, Crazy Town, Shinedown, Dope, Drowning Pool, Static X, Seether, Soulfly, Machine Head, Godsmack, Disturbed, P.O.D., Coal Chamber, Puddle of Mudd, Crossfade, Incubus (mostly their earlier stuff when they're drawing more from hip hop), Deftones (same as Incubus), Skindred, Mudvayne, Linkin Park, Flaw, American Head Charge, Tool, Soil, Ministry and NIN and Rammstein and Fear Factory (on the more industrial side of things), Kid Rock, Papa Roach, Nonpoint, Kittie, Saliva, Spineshank, Ill Niño, Mushroomhead, Orgy, (Hed) P.E., Flyleaf, and Adema.

There are several newer bands incorporating deathcore and metalcore into nu metal like Tallah, Vended, and Alpha Wolf and that's it's own thing to be honest. There are a few that are sticking for the most part to the original sound or going more in the hip hop direction which is also interesting.

[sendmyresignation]

hey! months later I am still benefiting from your mcr metal primer, and I’ve been listening to more metal to figure out what genres I enjoy (spent a lot of time with black metal and metalcore this winter).

I wondered if you had recommendations for newsletters, podcasts, zines, or any other things you use to discover new (either recent releases or just new to you) metal bands/music?

hi!! thank you so much, i'm glad your getting some mileage out of the metal primer, that's what i'd always hoped it'd do so its really nice to hear :)

but yes, staying informed. there's a lot of resources out there- with metal you are really lucky considering a ton of stuff is archived (anytime i think about the metal archives i just feel sooo incredibly grateful after having to track down punk diy shit for months) and people are really invested in providing exhaustive lists and things! personally, i use shreddit almost exclusively (r/metal subreddit). they have a discord server that's a little less. well, reddit. than the page itself, as well as a release tracker, so it's pretty easy for me to know what's been released. i'll also check heavy blog is heavy, no clean singing, angrymetalguy (if they give an album a bad review, i'll probably love it haha!), and sometimes sarah from Smoulder does bangertv videos like cassette cult that i always check out.

as far as new to me, there's a ton of stuff out there. i use rym a lot, if you find a particularly good user they've often got a handful of lists i can dig through forever. stuff like this (crazy extensive baltic extreme metal primer) can give me a ton of mileage. shreddit also has primers to dig through. i love ride into glory i've found some of my favorite bands there.

i also stay in the loop through my metal friends- a couple guys who went to college with me started a record label after they graduated (liminal dread productions!) and just plugging into the shit they're up to helps me discover smaller artists. i did a few reviews for one of their zines and got into Vicious Blade through that, which was really great!

these are really the main things i use- i know black metal has its own self-sustaining universe that i'm unfamiliar with and metalcore tends to overlap much more with punk (like i feel like i get a lot of that stuff from brooklyn vegan and the like these days) so i'm a bit unhelpful for those specifics unfortunately. hopefully this gave you a good starting point though!!