Thursday, January 15, 2015

Something New?

Woh...has it been this long since I've posted anything? Bands have come and gone, albums released and been disliked, fans ranted and raved. The metal world turns and I've been buasy not posting about anything.

I have, of course, kept on with the show, still playing three hours of delicious metal every Saturday night from Midnight to 3AM CST--visit me on Facebook and Twitter and so on #shamelessplug #thisismyblog

"Did he just use hashtags?" you must be asking yourself, probably. Turisas2013 had a big impact on my, I guess (only Kyle will get that).

I should stop being stupid and just post get on with it, shouldn't I?

"On with what?" you might find yourself asking. Or not. I can't think for you or read your mind. Honestly though, I'm not even sure what I'm posting about this time. I guess this is kind of generally "hey it's been a while and I haven't said anything so here is me saying something about some things or something" post.

I really am intending on posting a lot more in the coming days, months, years, decades, and so on, so I guess this is as good a place as any to start. In the works, actually, is a whole new metal news idea of mine, featuring a lot more posting, ranting, and discussing topics in and related to metal--though there will be more to come later. First I need to just start posting again.

Now for some actual metal discussion: 

I thought to make this post while listening to "Not Unlike the Waves," by Agalloch. Although I've known about them for a long time, obviously, and heard a few songs of theirs, obviously this one included, I've never really listened to them, gotten into them, or been deeply interested.

Today I saw a brief mention of their new album, The Serpent & The Sphere, in some "Best of 2014" list and decided to listen to it. I sat there at work, digging through an 80,000 item inventory to better optimize our eBay sales, listening to a new album by this band I've always kept in the background and was, for lack of a better term, blown away.

I'd been meaning to listen to Agalloch more for a little while now, and I did, and I'm loving it. This is exactly what I need right now.

It is something to keep me interested in the calm before the storm of new metal, with Ensiferum, Blind Guardian, and Nightwish all releasing albums in less than a month, Heidevolk having just today announced a new album coming, and many others.

It was perfectly segued by a week long obsession with Caladan Brood's Echoes of Battle. Epic, atmospheric, black, although more orchestrated, this Salt Lake duo are just similar enough to Agalloch to get me ready this #agallochalypse. As a side note, if you haven't listened to Caladan Brood, you should.

It is something to break the reluctantly worded monotony I've found myself in in terms of music-listening-to, having listened to so much of my music for so long and so often. Yes, I will always love all of  it, but recently I have found it difficult to just find something to listen to. I've listened to Disforia's The Age of Ether or Unleash the Archers' Demons of  the AstroWaste so much that, I have sometimes found myself doing the unthinkable--scrolling past them on my phone or in my library. I know; it hurts every time.

My largest metal obsession began this way, when I bought Blind Guardian's Live on a whim, knowing Jon Schaffer from Iced Earth had worked with Hansi Kursch; the nest year Blind Guardian is all I listened to. Similar was my recent interest in Bathory, having decided to listen to both their black and viking albums, coming off a big Norwegian black metal kick.

The moral, probably, of this stupid post is to just listen to that one album you saw on that one list of those albums or whatever that one time, or that one band your friend mentioned that one time at that one place. If something even slightly piques your interest, give it a listen. You never know when you will get drawn into a band you'd never given a lot of thought to, be blown away by something new or something old, but new to you.