Music I've Been Listening To

I've been listening to a lot of music lately, so here's an update on what I'm really into. After trying time and again to get into Black Metal, I've found that the style is simply too depressing for me. There is no hope in sight throughout a Black Metal album, a theme which certainly has appeal for some, just not for me. I've realized that I enjoy Death Metal a whole lot more, which admittedly isn't exactly uplifting, but I think of it as angry rather than depressing. Death, Gorguts, and others have been filling up a lot of my listening time, and I couldn't be more happy that I've finally broken into this genre. There's no better feeling than getting into a genre which I have little to no familiarity with, because there's so much out there for me to discover! Hopefully by the dead of winter I'll have a better grasp on the details of Death Metal, as I currently don't feel confortable passing judgement on a Death Metal album, simply because I don't understand the genre very well.

To balance out the furious nature of Death Metal, I've also been listening to some New Wave, namely Japan and Talk Talk. Japan is great, no doubt about it, offering up some catchy New Wave tracks which may very well be among the best in the genre. Meanwhile, Talk Talk took me completely by surprise and after listening to Spirit of Eden, It's My Life, and The Colour of Spring, I've yet to find an album by the band that I don't completely LOVE. If you want an example of why Talk Talk is phenomenal, try Tomorrow Started off It's My Life, or turn off the lights and listen to Spirit of Eden in it's entirety (one of the originators of Post-Rock). I find that I enjoy early Post-Rock like Slint or Talk Talk much more than Godspeed You! Black Emperor, as Godspeed can get a little pretentious (my opinion). I find it amazing that Talk Talk put out an amazing New Wave album with It's My Life, then moved onto something a little different with Colour of Spring, and finally introduced and entirely new genre with Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock. I haven't listened to Laughing Stock yet, but I picked it up on vinyl the other day so I plan to try it soon.

While the majority of the music I've listened to in the past few weeks has been great, there were a few dissapointments. I for one can't even begin to understand the hype behind FKA Twigs newest album, LP1. I thought the album was decent, but not memorable in any way, similar to How To Dress Well's album from earlier this year. Perhaps my expectations were too high after reading the extensive praise lavished on the album, but I saw the album as a 6/10, fine, but nothing special. Rustie's new album, Green Language was also dissapointing, offering up some generic beats with mediocre guest appearances. I liked Glass Swords (his previous album) because it put Rustie's producing efforts in the forefront, but the new album is cluttered with too many guests that only serve to send the album in a hundred different directions at once.

That's my update for today, if you enjoyed reading it let me know because I'd love to do more. I can write about music on a daily basis because I consume so much of it, so hopefully it was fun to read!

I couldn't resist. I don't spend a ton of time on the forums here, but any opportunity to introduce someone to some different forms of metal is great. I'm curious what black metal bands you tried out? I agree it is a very dense genre, with a ton of variation which you may not be aware.

Also, Death the band, is a great start. Truly one of the best of all time. As for Gorguts, Colored Sands was an incredible comeback, because honestly, their older work is just average to me. I like that Luc Lemay took that band in more of an experimental direction.

Talk Talk is indeed awesome. Make sure to also check out the solo album by Mark Hollis.

I've always had problems getting into Black Metal. For me it's always been the more screeching type of vocals that throws me off each time. I love me some growls and grunts and shit, but it just doesn't work for me. I usually crank some Deafheaven for my light Black Metal fix (which isn't "brutal" enough I know). Occasionally some Emperor and Ihsahn (I like his solo stuff).

Good call on Japan. I haven't gotten into them that much myself but I'm familiar with their keyboardist Richard Barbieri through Porcupine Tree and his solo work. Mick Karn was a pretty mean bassist as well.

Post-Rock is my jam. Cranking on some new This Will Destroy You among others and eagerly awaiting new Jakob. GY!BE is a favorite and I love how overindulgent they get. Though I may be in a minority when I say that their latest didn't exactly do that much for me. Music is always awesome to read about and discuss, so keep the jams coming duder.

From what you said, if I could recommend one black metal album to you, it would probably be last year's Sunbather by Deafheaven.

As for death metal, I've been coming around to it for the past few years. Some of my favorites include:

Death (already mentioned)

Gojira (probably my favorite band in the genre)

Opeth's older albums (though I did like Heritage, and liked what I've heard so far from their newest album, it's clear that they're leaving death metal behind for the foreseeable future)

Between the Buried and Me (leans more on the progressive side, which I'm into, though your mileage may vary)

Been listening to some Wretched after watching a Rock Band 3 video of someone playing one of their songs on drums. They will likely be a focus for me on purchasing albums for a bit.

Uh... jumping between threads, I'll just second all these. Check out Death's Live in LA show to really appreciate their later stuff. Colored Sands was/is fantastic, as well. I know Ulcerate takes a lot of inspiration from Gorguts, show check out some of their stuff. Just... it's got an incredibly oppressive atmosphere that takes a while to appreciate. But it's worth it.

Here's some more extreme metal info. Since death metal can get into so many crazy subcategories and you'd like a better understanding.

One of my favorite bands is Opeth. They've transitioned from metal into prog in recent years, but they've put out a truly stellar body of work (and I'll argue that they're still thriving). Death metal, folk acoustic passages, progressive structures... they've got it all. I guess Enslaved is a comparison, but more on the black metal side. And for blackened death, how about some Dissection?

For melodic death, you'll want to start with early In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, and At the Gates. Dark Tranquillity put out one of my favorite metal albums of all time with 2005's Character.

On the more brutal side, Decapitated is still my go-to band. And Atheist is, in my opinion, required listening. Early Entombed, too (Left Hand Path and Clandestine is what you need).

One of my favorite death/prog metal albums in recent times is Portal of I by Ne Obliviscaris. Occasionally pretentious, but it's such a deep, complex album that keeps me coming back.

Ihsahn (former frontman of black metal icons Emperor) has put out some great albums. AngL being my favorite.

And for the hell of it, check out Anciients. Just an awesome mix of different metal styles.

And this song by Vektor is bad ass.

And don't forget Cynic!

Hopefully that helps you on your metal path a little. I've been a guitarist for over a dozen years and ended up getting pretty deep into metal. It just sort of sucks you in.

But the key to appreciating music is spreading out into new territories, and you have a nice, varied mix. Metal CD's make up maybe 10% of my collection. So when I get back to it, the impact is that much more profound :D

+1 on Enslaved, they are awesome. But I feel you OP, I've never been able to fully get into Black Metal. It took me a couple of years after I started listening to metal to get into Death Metal but I could just never quite make the full transition into Black.

It's tough to get into but there are some good bands that can ease you in. There are a number of Blackened Death bands there and Blackened Thrash which are very good ways to go. Skeletonwitch is a personal favourite of mine in the latter genre.

Also have you tried listening to Burzum? I find them to be on the lighter side of black and were quite easy to get into.

But yeah, keep trying and of course keep looking for awesome bands and asking on forums and stuff (there are bound to be heaps of metal forums around). You never know, eventually you might find yourself into something else altogether.

I'd love to give you more recommendations, but unfortunately I've found myself rarely listening to music at all in the last couple of years of my life. I spend much more time listening to podcasts nowadays. Maybe this thread will be enough to inspire me to go back.

@csl316: Vektor is sick. I only recently heard of them about a year ago and now I'm a big fan. They do shows constantly in Philly and I saw them open for Agalloch last month. They reproduce what they record almost flawlessly. Insanely impressive.

Tbf to you, a lot of the 'typical' black metal is pretty ass. Stuff like Satyricon and Dimmu Borgir, whilst funny to see, ain't good. Early Emperor was alright, but Wolves in the Throne Room are pretty much the only black metal I can really say I am a fan of. Watching those guys play by candlelight is pretty special.

@twisted: I had the same issue, with podcasts taking up most of my listening time. A month ago I decided to purge most of them and it was a damn good decision. (Too many video game ones, it got so redundant!)

I haven't tried a whole lot of Black Metal, to be fair. I've listened to a bit of Burzum (couldn't get into it but I'm going to try again), some Altar of Plagues (which is up for debate in terms of genre, I know), Acrimonious (didn't appeal all that much), Drudkh (which I actually like quite a bit), Deafhaven ("not real black metal" yeah whatever) and Deathspell Omega (I like Paracletus, but not Drought). If you have suggestions for easy-to-get-into Black Metal let me know because I like to be able to enjoy as many genres as possible.

Thanks so much for this! I liked Coloured Sands but I haven't tried Obscura or any of Gorguts' other stuff yet, I will soon though

@noahtheboa999: Deathspell Omega is a good one. IMO they didn't become interesting until Si Monvmentum and beyond. Drought was a little different for sure, but I like to see bands evolve and thought that was a good taste of what may come.

I'm sure you've heard of Darkthrone. What a varied catalog they have, and I love it all. Started out as a death metal band, then moved into the original and traditional black metal, and now they're like a crust punk meets black metal band. If you want to try their black albums, look into Panzerfaust first.

I will second the Dissection recommendation. Another one of the greats. More death metal, but with the attitude and values of a black metal band.

Which brings me to one of the top black metal bands today, Watain. I linked to a middle of the road album for them, but they're all great. They don't have a bad album IMO.

I think you have plenty to get you started right now :)

@noahtheboa999: From Wisdom to Hate is solid. Actually heard that one before Obscura.

I haven't gotten around to listening to the new FKA twigs album. I did listen to the song "Two Weeks," though, and I find that one in particular to be quite the jam, so it's a shame to hear that you found the album as a whole disappointing to me. With that said, I thought some of her songs off her EPs were pretty, but like a wee too ambient. Is that what this LP essentially is?

@thebipsnbeeps: I wouldn't say the album is particularily ambient, but I just found it kind of uninteresting. Some of the songs are definitely catchy, and I would say if you like Two Weeks you may very well like the rest of the album, it just isn't for me I guess.

Ty Segal - Manipulator.

IT'S FUCKING UNBELIEVABLE!

I listened to that FKA Twigs album last night. Leading up to then I'd heard a few tracks including Numbers, which I couldn't get enough of. Unfortunately nothing else on the album really comes close to that track, except maybe Lights On. Interesting album nonetheless, and one which will probably become really influential in years to come. ★★★

I also never really got black metal either until Deafheaven showed me the light last year. Since then I've explored some similar artists, and found a few really great sounds. Alcest is incredibly emotional. The Great Old Ones are an amazing Lovecraft-inspired French band. Astronoid is great if you love the blast but don't want the screams. Also, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Agalloch. Although a lot of their material isn't really black metal, the influence is there.

I've also been trying to explore doomier metal recently. I had my interest piqued by A Fair Judgement and Pelagial, then I got into Boris and Behold! The Monolith, and I've been seeking more of that crushingly heavy sound ever since. I'd love to get some recommendations in a similar vein.