Non-gay bro thread a.k.a. Random offtopic stuff.

[Xpyro125]

The first album is for sure quite flawed, but as a debut album it does a good job of showing what the band are about and establishing a sound. I don't really find many flaws with The Nexus honestly, I really enjoy every song on that album. I appreciate opinions can differ on that though.

I don’t have too many complaints personality (Save for Andy’s lack of vocal time, his repeated lyrical motifs which just don’t work for me), but I have to be in the mood for it because of just how sugary sweet it is sonically.

A few songs on Massive Addictive have grown on me over the years, and also Maximalism, but it's really just a handful of tracks on each album. It's tough to pinpoint why, but the sound just doesn't capture me in the same way the first two albums do. I don't know if it just feels a bit too slick/commercial.

Yeah, I definitely think that’s the different feel they have overall compared to the first two— That “bigger budget b-movie” feel. Maximalism is a lot easier to pinpoint why, since it wasn’t written by Jake, the not quite united feel (Maybe that’s just me knowing a lot of the band politics that went down from The Nexus to Jake’s departure), it being more of the party hard album than a b-movie album lyrically, etc.

Helix I got nothing out of. I don't like that album at all.

The singles sucked, but Dream and Unified in particular are pretty nice. The latter has a more power metal feel (Like Nils’ band, Dynazty, rather than something like Sabaton), so you might like that.

Manifest I thought Viral and Archangel were strong songs, but the rest... I honestly can't even remember them. Except Boom!1 which is just strange.

I like Die and Wake Up, but that’s about it. I love the two Henrik-centered songs from Maximalism and Helix, but Boom!1 just fucking sucks. I know it’s absolutely in on the joke, but the joke isn’t funny.

New album I will listen to, but I'm not expecting much. It's nothing against the people who have come in to replace Jake and Andy, both are quite okay, but only a few songs per album really click for me these days (Helix excepted, where I literally didn't like any of them).

I think it might be more of a songwriting thing as a whole. Olof’s guitarwork absolutely changed, and while I’m not really huge on any of it anymore, it just does nothing for me particularly Manifest onward. There’s been a big focus on Elize on Massive Addictive (Which I didn’t mind because of Jake’s writing and ethos still being there) and Helix onward. I quite liked Henrik’s addition to the band, save for his persona on social media which was just bad (Seriously, why the fuck would you lash out at people and basically say ‘nuh uh’ to people who’ll say “I like it, but it’s not great” at best), and I think his vocals worked really well for the pop metal sound. It’s been nice to actually see him be him with his family though, at least. Nils is also pretty great with his power metal vocals contrasting with Elise’s. I’m glad that they knew that much immediately, rather than having him just trying to take Jake’s niche of harmonizing with her perfectly.

I’ll probably add more to this once I’m done with work, my break’s just about up. Either way, The Catalyst has been just as boring as Manifest so far.

 

[DE4life]

I don’t have too many complaints personality (Save for Andy’s lack of vocal time, his repeated lyrical motifs which just don’t work for me), but I have to be in the mood for it because of just how sugary sweet it is sonically.

I don't listen to the album a huge amount these days, but if one of the songs come on my random playlist I'll almost certainly listen to it. Granted there are a few that kind of blend into each other because they have very similar sounds (Transhuman, Infinity, Future on Hold, Afterlife) but listening to them individually isn't a problem. I admittedly probably wouldn't listen to the entire album nowadays just because it isn't hugely varied. It's cool that it is a very clear identity, and I don't think you'd mistake a Nexus song with any other album in their discography (except maybe the s/t, which had a similar vibe but lesser production), but I agree that listening to the album in its entirety isn't so easy if, like me, you binged on it so much when you first heard it.

The singles sucked, but Dream and Unified in particular are pretty nice. The latter has a more power metal feel (Like Nils’ band, Dynazty, rather than something like Sabaton), so you might like that.

I'll give these a listen. I think I only listened to the album as a whole once and then moved on. That's how it tends to be for me these days, since I have so much music available to listen to and so much in my back catalogue that I can put on and instantly enjoy. It has to be something quite special to get my attention now, like Fellowship's debut. It kind of has to blow me away to get a spot on regular rotation, otherwise I'll maybe grab a song or two that I enjoyed and leave the rest. With Final Strike, even though I liked the album as a whole, the first four songs are the ones that really hit me, so even though it's a good overall album the first four tracks are likely the only ones I'll listen to regularly in future. If I was younger and hadn't heard so much already it might be different.

I like Die and Wake Up, but that’s about it. I love the two Henrik-centered songs from Maximalism and Helix, but Boom!1 just fucking sucks. I know it’s absolutely in on the joke, but the joke isn’t funny.

Yeah, Boom is a little too tongue-in-cheek. I don't need all of my music to be super serious. Dream Evil's "The Ballad" is literally making fun of the concept of 'the ballad song' with ridiculous lyrics, but it's actually a good song and the lyrics are pretty funny. Boom is just a bit cringy and try-hard. You can lean into the joke without becoming the joke entirely.

I think it might be more of a songwriting thing as a whole. Olof’s guitarwork absolutely changed, and while I’m not really huge on any of it anymore, it just does nothing for me particularly Manifest onward. There’s been a big focus on Elize on Massive Addictive (Which I didn’t mind because of Jake’s writing and ethos still being there) and Helix onward. I quite liked Henrik’s addition to the band, save for his persona on social media which was just bad (Seriously, why the fuck would you lash out at people and basically say ‘nuh uh’ to people who’ll say “I like it, but it’s not great” at best), and I think his vocals worked really well for the pop metal sound. It’s been nice to actually see him be him with his family though, at least. Nils is also pretty great with his power metal vocals contrasting with Elise’s. I’m glad that they knew that much immediately, rather than having him just trying to take Jake’s niche of harmonizing with her perfectly.

I haven't followed any of the politics, so I've only been judging the albums based on what I've heard when listening to them. The focus on Elize isn't necessarily an issue as she has a good voice, but I did like the mixture of MDM elements in the first two albums, and it felt like those elements were hugely reduced after The Nexus. That's not to say it's a problem for me as there's plenty of music I listen to that has no MDM element at all, but I did appreciate that some of the earlier Amaranthe stuff sounded like a candy-coated Scar Symmetry.

In terms of their new album, I know the first two singles didn't do much for me. I just listened to Re-Vision and... yeah, it's Amaranthe, but it doesn't feel particularly fresh. It's not bad but it's nothing new either, and if they're just rehashing what they've done in the past then I'll just listen to what they did in the past. Outer Dimensions is a bit better, in terms of not sounding like a total rehash, but I have the same basic criticism. Ultimately this is their seventh album and it doesn't really feel like there's been much progression or evolution with their sound. It's a bit like if In Flames had just kept doing TJR or Clayman-style albums repeatedly. At some point you get diminishing returns and Amaranthe has probably been at that point for a while.

 

[DE4life]

I listened to Dream and Unified and, yeah, it's just not for me. I don't think either of the songs are bad, they're perfectly competent, but when I compared Unified to something like Amaranthine I find the latter to be much better. I was also reminded how atrocious the artwork for Helix is. Like some parody Avengers poster or something.

 

[drawntoblack]

Let's get back to power metal for a moment and check out these dudes, they put out two underrated albums in the early 2000s. Well, maybe underrated is not the right word, in power metal circles they are very well rated but generally rarely come up in these conversations. They went viral for a moment about 10 years ago as a reddit meme but that's it.

 

[DE4life]

I remember hearing Lost Horizon's one and only album back in 2004, which I think was pretty soon after the album had been released. At the time I thought they'd become a big name in the genre, but obviously that didn't happen. I figured the vocalist, Daniel Heiman, would have gone on to do plenty of stuff in metal but by the looks of it that wasn't the case.

I don't put the album in legendary status as many PM fans do, but it's a really solid debut and it's a shame nothing more came of the band. Back in the day I listened to Welcome Back and Again Will the Fire Burn a lot.

Edit: I only just realised they released two albums, lol, and Welcome Back / Again Will the Fire Burn are on different ones, so I must have heard both at the same time. Weird though as I always thought the first album was a demo/EP rather than a full length. Have to check my storage and see what I actually have, there might be some LH songs I've never actually heard.

 

[miniroch]

Haven't seen that here. Some CoB/Naildown/Soilwork vibes, pretty cool if you ask me, though the vocals are too generic for my taste.

 

[DE4life]

Yeah that sounds pretty decent indeed. As you say the vocals are a bit on the generic side, but they aren't bad either. Just not especially unique.

 

[Xpyro125]

I think I’ve spoken a bit about Disarmonia Mundi once or twice, but I want to send their debut album here because it’s my favorite piece of music period. Although they’d go on to be fast-paced, aggressive Gothenburg-sounding melodeath, this album was before all their lineup changes and is progressive death metal instead. I love the songwriting with all my heart, and the sheer amount of variety combined with nothing overstaying its welcome just does wonders for it. I can’t recommend it enough even though it might not be for everyone here.

 

[DE4life]

Yeah Disarmonia Mundi's early stuff is pretty great. My favourite album of theirs is Fragments of D-Generation, but Nebularium is excellent as well. As you say, quite different in approach, but still very cool to listen to. It's got some really solid groove, as all of the earlier DM does, and the cleans are nice as well.

 

[Xpyro125]

Yeah Disarmonia Mundi's early stuff is pretty great. My favourite album of theirs is Fragments of D-Generation, but Nebularium is excellent as well. As you say, quite different in approach, but still very cool to listen to. It's got some really solid groove, as all of the earlier DM does, and the cleans are nice as well.

I think Fragments at its best (Morgue of Centuries, Oceangrave, Red Clouds, Colors of a New Era) is definitely up there with Nebularium, but I don’t feel it with quite a few of the other tracks. Come Forth My Dreadful One was also pretty great too. It was definitely a transition album from Nebularium to Mind Tricks, and I actually love that about it since it’s such a unique sound compared to Nebularium and everything that would come out starting with Mind Tricks (Which are admittedly almost Disturbed levels of sounding similar).

 

[DE4life]

I can remember back in the day I heard Mind Tricks and was like "eh"... I wasn't feeling it and I don't think I ever listened to anything else from them. Not necessarily on purpose, I just wasn't looking out for their releases afterwards. So I don't really know much about them past that point, nor do I know if I gave Mind tricks a fair crack. It was 2006 so it's hard to remember exactly where I was in terms of the music I was listening to. I should probably check out Mind Tricks again, as well as Isolation Game and Cold Inferno.

 

[Xpyro125]

I can remember back in the day I heard Mind Tricks and was like "eh"... I wasn't feeling it and I don't think I ever listened to anything else from them. Not necessarily on purpose, I just wasn't looking out for their releases afterwards. So I don't really know much about them past that point, nor do I know if I gave Mind tricks a fair crack. It was 2006 so it's hard to remember exactly where I was in terms of the music I was listening to. I should probably check out Mind Tricks again, as well as Isolation Game and Cold Inferno.

Mind Tricks is a very Come Clarity type of album, though the production on it shows some serious cracks in how Ettore would get worse and worse. Claudio (The screamer) wasn’t nearly as good of a vocalist here as he would be later on, and I can genuinely understand if his vocals here were a big problem for you. He gets so much better, I promise.

The Isolation Game is actually pretty great, it really shows them coming into their own as a band and feels like what they’d make three albums down the line instead of one, mixing Fragments’ fullness with Mind Tricks’… Well, it’s actually a bit more laid back than that album, but it works here. One of the biggest thing about it is that it doesn’t have Strid nearly as much as the other albums, but Claudio became a much better vocalist by the time they recorded this album, it’s night and day. If your enjoyment of the band heavily depending on Strid’s vocals, then yeah, this one might be an issue. Either way, give Cypher Drone a try, it’s easily the best song of the album, and it’s the opener as well.

Cold Inferno is tough to talk about. I haven’t listened to a lot of it in a while, but it’s a very uneven experience. For some songs, it’s the most melodic melodeath album (Stormghost, Slaves to the Illusion of Life) they’ve made, and that works fucking wonders. On the other hand, quite a few tracks don’t scratch the same itch as stuff from either previous albums or even this one. Good news is that Strid has a more prominent role, and everyone actually has a good ratio of time doing vocals. The biggest problem, save for some of the songwriting, comes with the production being absolutely fucking horrible. It may seem like a big drop off, but if you’ve heard Ettore’s other works as a producer (Epsilon by Blood Stain Child being the first one I remember, Princess Ghibli’s there too, etc.), the spiral down was steady. While the highlights are absolutely among their best stuff, Cold Inferno is without a shadow of a doubt their weakest album by quite a bit.

They’ve had a new album in the works since 2019 or 2020, and Claudio had originally promised that there wouldn’t be as big of a gap this time compared to TIG and Cold Inferno, but it’s been in Ettore’s hands for production and mixing since the second year they’ve been working on it. Claudio has no idea when it’ll come out, just that it will once Ettore’s happy with the engineering.

 

[drawntoblack]

Interesting views here. For me, Mind Tricks is their Reroute to Remain in every way. And if you were to directly compare it to RtR there would definitely be some common things there, notably similar grainy/muffled mix (especially in the vocals) and somewhat similar atmosphere. Definitely more similar atmosphere to RTR than any other In Flames record for me.

Disarmonia are one of those bands I forget about for years and then go back to for a few weeks at the time but their albums are fairly inconsistent and tend to vary in style a lot. Mind Tricks has bangers throughout, great fun little modern melodeath album.

 

[The Grayfox]

The only Disarmonia Mundi album I really like is Fragments. None of their other stuff really did it for me. Colors of a New Era is an excellent song.

Side note, I just went on YouTube and found Mind Tricks in full and the comments are amazing.

Asshole #1 says: "Holy fucking shit, I can't believe I forgot about this album. This is without a doubt the best melodeath album ever recorded."

And Asshole #2, in his reply says: "what about Holographic Universe, We Are the Void, A Sense of Purpose and The Great Mass? Ever heard those before?"




...fucking hell

 

[ThePhobiac]

Never really listened to their first album beyond a few snippets here and there, but I remember being surprised at how different it was compared to their melodic death material. Fragments is great, and Mind Tricks is a good Come Clarity-esque followup. I think they started to lose steam with The Isolation Game, but that album was still solid. And Cold Inferno fell kind of flat for me.

The band's biggest weakness imo is Claudio. He just lays it on too thick, especially on Mind Tricks and The Isolation Game. When you have Ettore handling all of the instruments and Bjorn Strid doing great vocals, he just seems superfluous.

I could have sworn that I saw a music video for Oceangrave on Headbanger's Ball back in 2004, but either I completely dreamt that up or I just can't find it anywhere.

 

[Xpyro125]

And Asshole #2, in his reply says: "what about Holographic Universe, We Are the Void, A Sense of Purpose and The Great Mass? Ever heard those before?"




...fucking hell

Holographic Universe is genuinely one of my least favorite “melodeath” albums ever. Yes, Morphogenesis and Artificial Sun Projection are both great, but that’s fucking it.

I’ll go into more detail on my hatred of the album after work.

 

[DE4life]

The only Disarmonia Mundi album I really like is Fragments. None of their other stuff really did it for me. Colors of a New Era is an excellent song.

Side note, I just went on YouTube and found Mind Tricks in full and the comments are amazing.

Asshole #1 says: "Holy fucking shit, I can't believe I forgot about this album. This is without a doubt the best melodeath album ever recorded."

And Asshole #2, in his reply says: "what about Holographic Universe, We Are the Void, A Sense of Purpose and The Great Mass? Ever heard those before?"




...fucking hell

Gotta love YouTube comments. Yeah, that incredible classic of MDM known as ASOP. Right up there with Siren Charms in the pantheon of godly melodic death metal records.

 

[Xpyro125]

Never really listened to their first album beyond a few snippets here and there, but I remember being surprised at how different it was compared to their melodic death material. Fragments is great, and Mind Tricks is a good Come Clarity-esque followup. I think they started to lose steam with The Isolation Game, but that album was still solid. And Cold Inferno fell kind of flat for me.

(below is not from the phobaic, that was me somehow horrifically fucking up the formatting)

I think his vocals especially on Mind Tricks are at their weakest, but he’s definitely grown quite a bit since then. My main criticism with the band’s work is how fucking hammy and overly edgy the lyrics are. I don’t think they’re necessarily bad whatsoever, but Claudio’s writing, general aesthetic (See the Nebularium rerelease’s artwork; he doesn’t like the old artwork) save for everything with The Silverblack, and heavy-handedness with everything he’s a part of drags everything down. I think that’s one thing I can actually give The Silverblack (After their first two albums) quite a bit of credit for not doing. I also hate how horribly Ettore’s production degraded. It’s actually not bad on The Isolation Game, but it’s bad on Mind Tricks— Which I can forgive since he said he ran out of time and money for it and would do it differently/redo it if he had the chance to— and it’s gotten completely fucked by Cold Inferno. That album already had enough problems on its own, but that hurts it further.

It’s been interesting hearing him in his and NeroArgento’s (He’s done some remixes for DM) industrial metal (Not really that much metal) side project, The Silverblack. He mostly goes for more gothic crooning, but when he actually goes for growls and screams, he’s pretty great. The crooning definitely works in the context of the music, but I’m more of a harsh vocal fan through and through. The one thing I’ll say is don’t listen to Judgement, that album is a complete fucking snooze fest, and the only song I liked was the instrumental because it actually did something. Usually you hear the reverse about an album.

Forgive me for the formatting error above, I genuinely have no fucking clue how this happened nor how to get rid of it. Shit’s fucked, I guess, so I at least hope it’ll give you guys a good laugh.

In any case, have a few songs from them, see if y’all like them.

I could have sworn that I saw a music video for Oceangrave on Headbanger's Ball back in 2004, but either I completely dreamt that up or I just can't find it anywhere.

There is one for Red Clouds, but this is the first I’m hearing of an Oceangrave video. I’ll go looking and send it if I find it.

 

[drawntoblack]

I like Scar Symmetry but on occasion they do take the "downtuned AC DC meets Van Halen riffs and cookie monster vocals on top" shtick too far into cheese land. Then the debut Solution .45 album came out which is better than anything Scar Symmetry ever did in my humble opinion.

 

[Xpyro125]

I like Scar Symmetry but on occasion they do take the "downtuned AC DC meets Van Halen riffs and cookie monster vocals on top" shtick too far into cheese land. Then the debut Solution .45 album came out which is better than anything Scar Symmetry ever did in my humble opinion.

That shtick is the only time Scar Symmetry’s even remotely melodeath— Which I’m gonna assume is more prevalent on other albums.

The riffs tend to be chugging, tech death-y bullshit, it’s basically modern melodic metal with a few growls slapped on. It’s a sterile, saccharine take on the Gothenburg sound that is two steps removed from just being really pretentious pop music. The band labels themselves progressive melodic death metal, but there’s absolutely fucking nothing progressive about them— At least not on Holographic Universe.

The only kind words I can say about the guitarwork is that the solos are pretty good. Otherwise, it’s dogshit, Morphogenesis and Artificial Sun Projection not withstanding. Those songs are actually melodic death metal, and they’re actually fantastic. Fuck, the drumming is far more memorable than the guitarwork on that piece of shit. Everything has a clean chorus, some have clean verses (if you’re lucky), it’s always in the same fucking key, there could be variation in even the octave, but nope. Everything follows the same structure basically every time, and you’re lucky if Älvestam remembers that he can growl and try to make some part of the fucking album melodeath. The science fiction bullshit also really doesn’t amount to any clever lyrics or anything, it’s kinda just there. It’s cold, soulless, modern, disingenuous, and pretentious without ever doing anything cool with that pretentiousness— And worst of all, it’s basically pop. There is a fucking reason that the most anyone ever talks about from that album is how cool Morphogenesis is. Because it’s super fucking cool, and I really wish the rest of the album was like it.

I just fucking hate the album in its entirety and everything it stands for, and I feel like I genuinely wasted an hour of my life ever listening to it in full. I’m glad Älvestam left afterwards so the wind could be taken out of this shitty band’s sails. Seriously, how the fuck are you going to take nearly a decade to make your “phase two” album? Fuck off.

Solution .45’s debit was pretty cool, I enjoyed that, yeah