My Weekend CD Haul...

What's your thoughts on these CDs?

SEVENDUST - Alpha
SCREAMER - Target: Earth
LIVING DEATH - Meal Revolution
SOILWORK - A Predator's Portrait
LOUDNESS - Dragon

Haven't heard any of them, Ult, but I'm curious to hear what you think of that Loudness CD when you get a chance to spin it. I love Loudness' 80s stuff but don't know much about their material after 1992's S/T (where Masaki from EZO took over the vocal slot)... I'm told that their discography gets a little...er... weird from there on, and since most of those 90s albums were only released in Japan, I didn't want to risk big $$ on imports if they were going to suck...

Screamer and Soilwork both rule!!

Fat Freddy wrote:

Haven't heard any of them, Ult, but I'm curious to hear what you think of that Loudness CD when you get a chance to spin it. I love Loudness' 80s stuff but don't know much about their material after 1992's S/T (where Masaki from EZO took over the vocal slot)... I'm told that their discography gets a little...er... weird from there on, and since most of those 90s albums were only released in Japan, I didn't want to risk big $$ on imports if they were going to suck...

Well, I'm sort of like you. I steered clear of their 90's releases because of reading some on-line reviews. I decided I'd wait to get them in trades or really cheap before buying them. If you are expecting their 80's sound, you will be very disappointed. On their 90's releases, they do a lot of experimenting. I tend to like it, but it's not straight forward heavy metal. There are some less than stellar tracks on "Dragon". "Dogshit" a song that has a lot of nu-metal influence and even has vocalist Masaki Yamada rapping. BLECH! However, there is some good material as well. "9 Miles High" is a mixture of classic thrash metal layered with some 70's wah-wah guitar from Akira. "Wicked Witches" on the other had has a slow, doomy, almost stoner rock/metal sound. Both good songs, but very different from "Thunder in the East" and "Lightning Strikes".

Where did you get LIVING DEATH - Meal Revolution?

kmorg wrote:

Screamer and Soilwork both rule!!

Weird, they are the two CDs that I would not have picked from that list givin the choice.

Living Death all the wayyyyyyyyyyy

i have both Living Death & Loudness. have not heard any of the others you listed.

I got the Living Death and Loudness from a trader in France. He traded them for an Ultimatum CD and a couple burns. He said that Ultimatum have an underground following in France, but our CDs are very hard to come by. He said he only had CDR burns.

The Living Death CD is excellent.

The Screamer is excellent as well, but the mastering sucks. I wish New Rennaisance would have remastered it before they re-released it on CD.

I am a huge Sevendust fan, so I love the new CD. It echoes back to their roots a bit, combining the angst and aggression of the newer material with the melodic tendencies of Home and the s/t.

The Soilwork is gonna take a few spins to sink in.

i HAD A COUPLE OF sPOILWORK cdS. i THINK i ACTUALLY KEPT ONE, BUT i RARELY SPIN IT. nOT A BIG FAN OF what I call "nu-thrash".

ack

That Screamer album is great.

Soilwork...
I label them as melodic death or melodeath. They remind me of old In Flames. They mix in power metal riffs, some thrash riffs, keyboards and aggressive vocals. Not a bad sound, but one that will probably take more than one listen to totally digest.

I had Steelbath Suicide (or something like that) some years ago and traded it off. It didn't really float my boat. This album seems to be a bit better.

I tend to lump Soilwork in with The Haunted and other bands I can't remember that had a thrashiness to them, but also had this modern edge and slight dullness of songwriting that turned me off.

ack

AchrisK wrote:

I tend to lump Soilwork in with The Haunted and other bands I can't remember that had a thrashiness to them, but also had this modern edge and slight dullness of songwriting that turned me off.

ack

I can see that about Soilwork.



SCREAMER - Target: Earth

Sort of fills a Queensryche shaped hole between the EP and The Warning.
(Hey, think I'll use that in my review. )

ult

ultmetal wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Haven't heard any of them, Ult, but I'm curious to hear what you think of that Loudness CD when you get a chance to spin it. I love Loudness' 80s stuff but don't know much about their material after 1992's S/T (where Masaki from EZO took over the vocal slot)... I'm told that their discography gets a little...er... weird from there on, and since most of those 90s albums were only released in Japan, I didn't want to risk big $$ on imports if they were going to suck...

Well, I'm sort of like you. I steered clear of their 90's releases because of reading some on-line reviews. I decided I'd wait to get them in trades or really cheap before buying them. If you are expecting their 80's sound, you will be very disappointed. On their 90's releases, they do a lot of experimenting. I tend to like it, but it's not straight forward heavy metal. There are some less than stellar tracks on "Dragon". "Dogshit" a song that has a lot of nu-metal influence and even has vocalist Masaki Yamada rapping. BLECH! However, there is some good material as well. "9 Miles High" is a mixture of classic thrash metal layered with some 70's wah-wah guitar from Akira. "Wicked Witches" on the other had has a slow, doomy, almost stoner rock/metal sound. Both good songs, but very different from "Thunder in the East" and "Lightning Strikes".

So in other words, I shouldn't bother unless I can get it cheap eh? Thanx, that's kinda what I figured.

I would say SCREAMER and LIVING DEATH (f****** hell, their first albums+mini´s were increible great. Pure speed metal!!!!!!!

Anthrax - POT
Dio - The last in line
BLS - Shot to hell
Trivium - the crusade
Alice Cooper - welcome to my nightmare
megadeth - the system has failed

In ebay won -
black sabbath - vol 4
paul stanley - live to win

That Screamer rawks!

Wargod48

Fat Freddy wrote:

ultmetal wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Haven't heard
any of them, Ult, but I'm curious to hear what you think of that
Loudness CD when you get a chance to spin it. I love Loudness' 80s
stuff but don't know much about their material after 1992's S/T (where
Masaki from EZO took over the vocal slot)... I'm told that their
discography gets a little...er... weird from there on, and since most
of those 90s albums were only released in Japan, I didn't want to risk
big $$ on imports if they were going to suck...

Well,
I'm sort of like you. I steered clear of their 90's releases because of
reading some on-line reviews. I decided I'd wait to get them in trades
or really cheap before buying them. If you are expecting their 80's
sound, you will be very disappointed. On their 90's releases, they do a
lot of experimenting. I tend to like it, but it's not straight forward
heavy metal. There are some less than stellar tracks on "Dragon".
"Dogshit" a song that has a lot of nu-metal influence and even has
vocalist Masaki Yamada rapping. BLECH! However, there is some good
material as well. "9 Miles High" is a mixture of classic thrash metal
layered with some 70's wah-wah guitar from Akira. "Wicked Witches" on
the other had has a slow, doomy, almost stoner rock/metal sound. Both
good songs, but very different from "Thunder in the East" and
"Lightning Strikes".

So in other words, I shouldn't bother unless I can get it cheap eh? Thanx, that's kinda what I figured.

Yup, I wouldn't pay $30+ dollars for the imports. Wait and find 'em cheaper, used or on Ebay. Like I said, there is some good stuff on them.

ultmetal wrote:

I am a huge Sevendust fan, so I love the new CD. It echoes back to their roots a bit, combining the angst and aggression of the newer material with the melodic tendencies of Home and the s/t.

I've always felt like they could be a great band, but always fall short. All of their albums bring me to the same spot: I love half the songs, the other half are just OK, at best. I mean, I'm a fan, but I just don't think they're consistent enough.

Quote :

The Soilwork is gonna take a few spins to sink in.

I love Soilwork's early stuff, but I personally think they peaked with Natural Born Chaos, and have leveled off since then. They haven't quite matched the greatness that Devin Townsend brought out of them on Natural Born Chaos, but they clearly learned a lot from him and have released two great albums since.

Have you heard Natural Born Chaos?

Quote :

Have you heard Natural Born Chaos?

No. Not yet.

ultmetal wrote:

Quote :

Have you heard Natural Born Chaos?

No. Not yet.

It's excellent. A good dose of clean singing and melody. Here's a sample:

AS WE SPEAK

This is the album where the old school fans jumped ship and cried "Sellout!"

the only Soilwork i liked was Steel Bath Suicide.

Eyesore wrote:

ultmetal wrote:

Quote :

Have you heard Natural Born Chaos?

No. Not yet.

It's excellent. A good dose of clean singing and melody. Here's a sample:

AS WE SPEAK

This is the album where the old school fans jumped ship and cried "Sellout!"

Cool. Thanks. I'll check it out.

I agree with Eyesore.

I've got Natural Born Chaos for trade, just so interested parties know....

Shameless plug there, but hey....I NEED MORE THRASH!!!