Agreed. The audio is always top notch, the interviews/questions/banter often enjoyable, and they always have a great selection of bands/musicians. I watch some similar kinds of things (like you...
Agreed. The audio is always top notch, the interviews/questions/banter often enjoyable, and they always have a great selection of bands/musicians. I watch some similar kinds of things (like you said with Tiny Desk), as well as Audiotree, The Current, and others, but yeah KEXP is maybe the best in the game at the moment
The first time I watched this video, I thought my video was just really slow to buffer. Then I realized they purposefully uploaded it looking compressed to hell and had a good laugh. I wasn’t...
The first time I watched this video, I thought my video was just really slow to buffer. Then I realized they purposefully uploaded it looking compressed to hell and had a good laugh.
I wasn’t familiar with Worm before their KEXP appearance but I enjoyed the first track (and then promptly got distracted). I’ll have to hop back into this recording soon, they sounded great live!
They have pivoted and are extremely different than before. So if you go to any of their back catalogue, prepare to think it's a different band entirely. They were black/death/doom for most of...
They have pivoted and are extremely different than before. So if you go to any of their back catalogue, prepare to think it's a different band entirely. They were black/death/doom for most of their career and while they played with the aesthetics of 90s symphoblack a bit on merch, never really did musically. They took a bit of a hard turn into symphoblack with Necropalace sonically. If you're into death/doom/adjacent though, definitely worth checking out the other stuff like Foreverglade and Bluenothing.
There's a bit of a "metal bands pivoting towards cheesy symphoblack" going on, I don't know exactly why. I don't know if it's to ride a revival wave of popularity in the metal scene or what. I know the metalheads I talk with all the time are split on it. I don't know how to feel about it personally, just as a fan but I lean towards just not enjoying it. I guess I'm not always against bands doing a bit of nostalgia-bait as a general rule, but I never seem to like it when it happen- or at least, it tends to feel like a "fall off" or a step down for the bands that do it. When it feels so different than their previous work I am skeptical and often find the quality is lower overall- and it just feels weird to do this pivoting to something that almost sounds like a completely different band or having a completely different visual aesthetic.
From a musical standpoint I think Worm's back catalogue is far stronger and stands out as more unique than the new stuff. They always had their own very specific take on death/doom, but with the symphoblack it just doesn't have that unique character. Necroplace isn't unlistenable by any means, and I think it's mostly rescued by Phil Tougas' incredible guitar solos (though there are far better projects that feature Tougas' guitarwork or are Tougas himself, like Exxul and Zeicrydeus, among others).
Stormkeep (whom I loved, have vinyl of, etc) also did a pivot from a triumphant, refined but underground melodic black metal to their latest record which takes a hard turn into symphoblack, especially in the aesthetics and I think fails in the process. To me Stormkeep basically "ended" with their previous record because they feel so unrecognizable to me now.
More power to the people that love the current iterations of these bands, though of course, and as always, bands should feel free to experiment and do whatever they want.
And I love that KEXP is featuring bands like these, regardless.
Noted, thanks! I can appreciate a band’s sound evolving over time so I’m looking forward to seeing the before and after. I usually don’t lean doom/sludge unless we get into the super heavy and...
Noted, thanks! I can appreciate a band’s sound evolving over time so I’m looking forward to seeing the before and after. I usually don’t lean doom/sludge unless we get into the super heavy and slow, like more funeral doom adjacent. My black metal preference is all over the place. It usually suffices to say that I err more towards atmoblack or blackgaze but there are standouts in every subgenre so I’ll definitely be checking up on all the names you mentioned. I appreciate your comments in this space; I always feel like I walk away with a new page in my back catalogue :)
Well whatever this is, it rips and I like it a lot. I've been kind of "out of the scene" for a long while since I had kids and got off reddit a few years ago, so haven't been following the trends....
Well whatever this is, it rips and I like it a lot.
I've been kind of "out of the scene" for a long while since I had kids and got off reddit a few years ago, so haven't been following the trends. Been mostly just keeping up with bands I already loved and waiting for new drops on Bandcamp.
This, I'm into. It reminds me a lot of classic Dimmu and that era when I first got into Black Metal in the late 90's or whenever it was, so I'm here for it. It's definitely derivative, but I feel like they're blending in just a hit of classic Power Metal here and it sounds absolutely badass to me.
So for now, I'm going to immerse myself in this album on Bandcamp and when I'm ready to try some other stuff, I'll check out the backcatalogue, if it's better as you say. I'm a big fan of most Metal genres, so I expect that I'll probably enjoy it, based on your endorsement, but for now, I'm here for this.
And maybe it's just Symphonic Black Metals turn to come back around. I felt like in the last 15-20ish years we saw the Thrash revival and later the classic Death Metal revival, so this kind of tracks.
Edit: And actually, one thing that never ceases to amuse me is that music like this and even more aggressive Metal, my kids will look at as, "Dad music" the way I thought of my Dad's love of Perry Como and John Denver.
That's fair- and no problem with people enjoying it, I try to straddle the line being opinionated about metal in general while not being so elitist as to tell other people they shouldn't enjoy...
That's fair- and no problem with people enjoying it, I try to straddle the line being opinionated about metal in general while not being so elitist as to tell other people they shouldn't enjoy harmless things even if I personally have an aversion to them. Especially since I enjoy plenty of things other metalheads don't. Trying to find the middle-ground of having some standards but also "like what you like"
I am not even a symphoblack hater (I like older Dimmu), but bands that make hard pivots in aesthetic and sound tend to make me raise an eyebrow of suspicion. But they can do what they like of course, whether it's genuine or they gotta eat or both. (We all have to play that game at the end of the day). It's not that big of a deal just a metalhead point of discussion :)
Also, btw, if you enjoy black metal but with some power metal "feel", I highly recommend Moonlight Sorcery
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out! I used to be substantially more opinionated about Metal when I was in my early-20's and it led me to me shit talking a lot of stuff I didn't need to...
Moonlight Sorcery
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out!
I used to be substantially more opinionated about Metal when I was in my early-20's and it led me to me shit talking a lot of stuff I didn't need to be. These days, I feel similarly, where there's a lot I don't like, but it's just better to let it be and acknowledge it doesn't appeal to me as it does others.
And I also hear you on the pivoting or aping older stuff. Metal is such a traditionalist genre that I feel like the space of where you can push into without alienating existing fans or new fans is pretty narrow; we've been largely doing the same things for 50+ years now in the space, which is a weird place to be as a listener. Sometimes I listen to something new and I think, "Well, why wouldn't I just listen to X?" which is what they're aping. But ultimately I like the new thing better and I can't explain why; but music, as with many things, is an emotional choice and can be hard to nail down the "why" a lot of the time.
Goddamn I love KEXP so fucking much. One of the great modern music institutions, alongside NPR's Tiny Desk series.
Agreed. The audio is always top notch, the interviews/questions/banter often enjoyable, and they always have a great selection of bands/musicians. I watch some similar kinds of things (like you said with Tiny Desk), as well as Audiotree, The Current, and others, but yeah KEXP is maybe the best in the game at the moment
The first time I watched this video, I thought my video was just really slow to buffer. Then I realized they purposefully uploaded it looking compressed to hell and had a good laugh.
I wasn’t familiar with Worm before their KEXP appearance but I enjoyed the first track (and then promptly got distracted). I’ll have to hop back into this recording soon, they sounded great live!
They have pivoted and are extremely different than before. So if you go to any of their back catalogue, prepare to think it's a different band entirely. They were black/death/doom for most of their career and while they played with the aesthetics of 90s symphoblack a bit on merch, never really did musically. They took a bit of a hard turn into symphoblack with Necropalace sonically. If you're into death/doom/adjacent though, definitely worth checking out the other stuff like Foreverglade and Bluenothing.
There's a bit of a "metal bands pivoting towards cheesy symphoblack" going on, I don't know exactly why. I don't know if it's to ride a revival wave of popularity in the metal scene or what. I know the metalheads I talk with all the time are split on it. I don't know how to feel about it personally, just as a fan but I lean towards just not enjoying it. I guess I'm not always against bands doing a bit of nostalgia-bait as a general rule, but I never seem to like it when it happen- or at least, it tends to feel like a "fall off" or a step down for the bands that do it. When it feels so different than their previous work I am skeptical and often find the quality is lower overall- and it just feels weird to do this pivoting to something that almost sounds like a completely different band or having a completely different visual aesthetic.
From a musical standpoint I think Worm's back catalogue is far stronger and stands out as more unique than the new stuff. They always had their own very specific take on death/doom, but with the symphoblack it just doesn't have that unique character. Necroplace isn't unlistenable by any means, and I think it's mostly rescued by Phil Tougas' incredible guitar solos (though there are far better projects that feature Tougas' guitarwork or are Tougas himself, like Exxul and Zeicrydeus, among others).
Stormkeep (whom I loved, have vinyl of, etc) also did a pivot from a triumphant, refined but underground melodic black metal to their latest record which takes a hard turn into symphoblack, especially in the aesthetics and I think fails in the process. To me Stormkeep basically "ended" with their previous record because they feel so unrecognizable to me now.
More power to the people that love the current iterations of these bands, though of course, and as always, bands should feel free to experiment and do whatever they want.
And I love that KEXP is featuring bands like these, regardless.
Noted, thanks! I can appreciate a band’s sound evolving over time so I’m looking forward to seeing the before and after. I usually don’t lean doom/sludge unless we get into the super heavy and slow, like more funeral doom adjacent. My black metal preference is all over the place. It usually suffices to say that I err more towards atmoblack or blackgaze but there are standouts in every subgenre so I’ll definitely be checking up on all the names you mentioned. I appreciate your comments in this space; I always feel like I walk away with a new page in my back catalogue :)
Well whatever this is, it rips and I like it a lot.
I've been kind of "out of the scene" for a long while since I had kids and got off reddit a few years ago, so haven't been following the trends. Been mostly just keeping up with bands I already loved and waiting for new drops on Bandcamp.
This, I'm into. It reminds me a lot of classic Dimmu and that era when I first got into Black Metal in the late 90's or whenever it was, so I'm here for it. It's definitely derivative, but I feel like they're blending in just a hit of classic Power Metal here and it sounds absolutely badass to me.
So for now, I'm going to immerse myself in this album on Bandcamp and when I'm ready to try some other stuff, I'll check out the backcatalogue, if it's better as you say. I'm a big fan of most Metal genres, so I expect that I'll probably enjoy it, based on your endorsement, but for now, I'm here for this.
And maybe it's just Symphonic Black Metals turn to come back around. I felt like in the last 15-20ish years we saw the Thrash revival and later the classic Death Metal revival, so this kind of tracks.
Edit: And actually, one thing that never ceases to amuse me is that music like this and even more aggressive Metal, my kids will look at as, "Dad music" the way I thought of my Dad's love of Perry Como and John Denver.
That's fair- and no problem with people enjoying it, I try to straddle the line being opinionated about metal in general while not being so elitist as to tell other people they shouldn't enjoy harmless things even if I personally have an aversion to them. Especially since I enjoy plenty of things other metalheads don't. Trying to find the middle-ground of having some standards but also "like what you like"
I am not even a symphoblack hater (I like older Dimmu), but bands that make hard pivots in aesthetic and sound tend to make me raise an eyebrow of suspicion. But they can do what they like of course, whether it's genuine or they gotta eat or both. (We all have to play that game at the end of the day). It's not that big of a deal just a metalhead point of discussion :)
Also, btw, if you enjoy black metal but with some power metal "feel", I highly recommend Moonlight Sorcery
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out!
I used to be substantially more opinionated about Metal when I was in my early-20's and it led me to me shit talking a lot of stuff I didn't need to be. These days, I feel similarly, where there's a lot I don't like, but it's just better to let it be and acknowledge it doesn't appeal to me as it does others.
And I also hear you on the pivoting or aping older stuff. Metal is such a traditionalist genre that I feel like the space of where you can push into without alienating existing fans or new fans is pretty narrow; we've been largely doing the same things for 50+ years now in the space, which is a weird place to be as a listener. Sometimes I listen to something new and I think, "Well, why wouldn't I just listen to X?" which is what they're aping. But ultimately I like the new thing better and I can't explain why; but music, as with many things, is an emotional choice and can be hard to nail down the "why" a lot of the time.