Any Scandanavian Metalheads Here?

[KJS]

I figure this can get me 2 posts with less than 25 views in the same day /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Seriously though, I am a bigtime metal fan and am always looking for new stuff. If history is any guide, there must be some good stuff coming out of Norway and Sweden right now. Let's hear about it.

I am not looking for the famous bands like Kovenant, Dimmu Borgir and Soilwork. Death metal and thrash are my favorite subgenres, along with what metal journalists called metalcore, which I interpret to mean metal riffs but also lots of time changes and more syncopation than straight blast beat death and grindcore.

Ideally I would like to hear about young, hungry bands making loud, aggressive metal that are not trying to sound like At The Gates and other famous Scandanavian acts. Anything like Heaven Shall Burn, Caliban, Goatwhore, Pig Destroyer, Darkest Hour, Usurper, Dew Scented would rule.

No Black metal please. Music with keyboards and falsetto singing does not qualify as metal in my book.

KJS

[eric5148]

I'm a more casual fan, but I like the same type of music.

I live in Chicago, and there's a local college that has a radio station. Every monday from midnight - 2am there's a metal show. You can listen to the show on their website here. (http://www.soundofthefury.com/) Just click the listen now thing at the top right.

[b0000000000m]

I hear Metallica is a good band

[nothumb]

I like The Crown. "Death Race King" I think is the album I have.

NT

[RunDownHouse]

I'm just starting to listen to the really heavy, death-metal type stuff now, so any suggestions anyone has will be most welcome.

So far, from what I've discovered, I really like Opeth.

[Uston]

My guitar teacher has gotten me into a band called Immortal. I guess it's best decribed as Norweigian Viking death metal. The drums and guitar are ridiculously good.

http://www.ruthlessreviews.com/pics4/bm/bm2.jpg

[eric5148]

[ QUOTE ]
I hear Metallica is a good band

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL

[Joe826]

Darkest Hour not trying to sound like At The Gates, are you crazy? /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[eric5148]

I've never heard Immortal, but I like Finntroll, which is in the Viking-metal genre.

[KJS]

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out at work today. What a special joy to sit in an office listening to death metal all day.

KJS

[KJS]

Yeah yeah. Just trying to avoid overly melodic Swedish sh**.

KJS

[KJS]

These are good starter albums:

The Bleeding by Cannibal Corpse
Prowler in the Yard by Pig Destroyer
Organized Chaos by Benediction
The Split Program by Caliban/Heaven Shall Burn
Mercenary by Bolt Thrower
Inwards by Dew Scented
Funeral Dirge... by Goatwhore
On Earth as it is in Hell by Martyr AD
In Dark Purity by Monstrosity

Not meant to be a top albums list, just great albums in varying genres. If you let me know which you like best I can suggest more like it.

KJS

[turnipmonster]

what's the difference between death metal and black metal? do black metal bands really have falsetto singing and keyboards? that sounds like a parody almost.

[KJS]

I would rather defer to a real Black Metal fan to answer this, because I hate the sh**. But none have shown up in this thread. I know it sounds like a parody, but it must be kept in mind that much extreme metal is a parody, really. Aside from a handful of real sociopaths, a lot of these guys are pulling from a stock of imagery and lyrics they get from other metal acts, books on the occult, horror films, etc.. Mix that with some "see-if-you-can-top-this" machismo and things get quite ridiculous. That said, I think the music itself totally rules. And I see the death/satanic/mythological stuff to be a pretty funny element personally.

Getting back to black metal. Yes, there are keyboards. Yes there can be falsetto singing. There is also a lot of white facepaint, melodic guitar sounds and lyrics about death, vikings and the occult. See Cradle of Filth. Here is a sample of some of their lyrics:

Thee I Invoke, bornless one
All woman, pure predator
Wherein conspiracy and impulse dwell
Like a seething fall from grace

Thou art pale hecate
Rising from thessaly

You're in my dreams
The Darkness in my heart
The rapture in their screams
Black Goddess Rise...

Contrast this with death metal, where the emphasis is on a much more aggressive sound. Melodic guitar riffs are not as featured and the singing is in a growl, without the back-up parts that most Black Metal features. The lyrics focus more on Satan, psychopathic evil and murder. See Cannibal Corpse. Here is a sample of their lyrics:

They think they know who I am
All they know is I love to kill
Face down, dead on the ground
Find me before another is found

I come alive in the darkness
Left murdered and nameless
Dead unburied and rotten
Half eaten by insects

She was so beautyful
I had to kill her

Check out samples from these two bands to hear the difference.

KJS