Now Playing Thread

[Nicky007]

What's a Minnesota?

OK, seriously this time:

"Drug rehabs centers in Minnesota (MN) are giving special treatment to patients suffering from serious addiction."

- http://www.drugrehabscenters.com/Best/Minnesota-Drug-Rehabs.html


NP  Judas Priest:  Painkiller

This album is from 1990, the last before Rob left for over a decade. It's an excellent heavy metal album, but mainly in the vein of classic metal, with some promising prog elements.

Between 1990 and 1997's Baptizm Of Fire and Jugulator, something BIG happened !  Cuz these two albums are massively exciting and groundbreaking, harsh, not for the fainthearted (or -stomached).

Something big must have happened in Glenn's life ... but what  

I gotta figure it out .....


Guys, if you don't join in on this party, you are missing something big in progworld  

Btw, Teunis, there's no growl in Priest  altho there's scream, or screech, or whatever ya wanna call it  

Teunis, I read that the new Asia LP ....

LP nowadays means Listening Profile (case ya havent noticed)  

Nicky.

[Bupie]

Okay, guys, sorry for the LP thing. For me it meant something like "long play" as EP means extensive play. Can I still use the word "album", though ?

And Nicky, considering your present musical tastes, when it comes to "treatment", maybe you would fit better in Guantanamo that in Minnesota, don't you think ? 

NP Blind Guardian - Tales From The Twilight World

[Iggy]

NP  Anubis Gate:  Andromeda Unchained  (on repeat)  

Surprised ?  

Nicky.

BTW Nicky I do own and like this CD.

NP Black Sabbath Vol 4 followed by Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Just bought them of amazon for a fiver each.

[maddox]

I've been wanting to do this for a very long time...:

Arena ~ Immortal? : Tom [8:56] 

[The Butterfly Man]

Hi guys, I can't believe it's been a month since I last logged in, time goes by way too fast! Once again I've been busy with all the usual things... I'm also in the middle of helping the drummer of my band move houses and I got a 5 month-old cat, Bob, who is slowly but surely breaking my house down to the ground...

I've been listening to a lot of metal lately (yes Nicky, even Nevermore...), some of the bands/albums I listened to I'll mention here:

- Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold. Great album, it's the only album by them I own but if they're all as good as this one I need to explore them a bit further!
- Echoes - Nature | Existence. Progmetal (from Venezuela!) in the vein of early Dream Theater, think Images And Words/Awake.
- Mutiny Within - Mutiny Within. My personal favourite album of the last few weeks. Very technical music with a lot of melody and a very versatile vocalist. Stunning album! Nicky, you can buy this album blindly.
- Aspera - Ripples. Very Circus Maximus-like, which can't be a bad thing. It's about time they released a new album by the way!
- Amorphis - Skyforger. Melodic (prog)metal from Finland. Very accessible and it'll get you a lot of speeding tickets when listenened to in the car...

I've been wanting to do this for a very long time...:

Arena ~ Immortal? : Tom [8:56] 

Strange. My version of Tom is already lasting more than 24 years!

NP: Dark Suns - Grave Human Genuine

Tom

[Bupie]

Since we speak about metal, a new dedicated website has been launched recently by people from progarchives (some of them I don't find very interesting, to be honest  ) http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/

I don't think Manatee will pay a visit each day  but for the metal Roomies, this is a brand new territory to explore and a lot of reviews to write (Nicky ?). Hoping that the forum won't be as elitist and unpleasant as PA's one.

Oh, and by the way, Arena is there too 

NP Arena - Contagion

[The Butterfly Man]

Since we speak about metal, a new dedicated website has been launched recently by people from progarchives (some of them I don't find very interesting, to be honest  ) http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/

Oh, and by the way, Arena is there too 

NP Arena - Contagion

Thanks Bupie, great informative site! But what's with the 'traditional heavy metal' tag that Arena is given?

NP: Mutiny Within - Mutiny Within

Tom

[Bupie]

Thanks Bupie, great informative site! But what's with the 'traditional heavy metal' tag that Arena is given?

Yes, I saw that too   I guess prog metal would have been more appropriate, even if Arena is far from being a prog metal band : their only true metal song IMO is Opera Fanatica ... but it's a great one   Maybe Chosen or Witch Hunt could be seen as traditional heavy metal songs, though. Anyway, I don't care much about the classification but if I was asked, I would suggest something like "metal related" ...

NP Glass Hammer - Shadowlands

[maddox]

Hi guys, I can't believe it's been a month since I last logged in, time goes by way too fast! Once again I've been busy with all the usual things...

Welcome back, Tom.

- Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold. Great album, it's the only album by them I own but if they're all as good as this one I need to explore them a bit further!

Quite heavy, a bit like Messugah and Textures, am I right?
You might know that Mike Portnoy is playing the drums for their yet to be released new album.

- Echoes - Nature | Existence. Progmetal (from Venezuela!) in the vein of early Dream Theater, think Images And Words/Awake.

Great album indeed!
One of the highlights this year and its not even over yet.  

- Mutiny Within - Mutiny Within. My personal favourite album of the last few weeks. Very technical music with a lot of melody and a very versatile vocalist.

John Petruci and MP made a review on that one on Roadrunner Records. You, again , might know that.
It seems it's a very good album.

- Aspera - Ripples. Very Circus Maximus-like, which can't be a bad thing. It's about time they released a new album by the way!

Awesome album!
Not better than Echoes but it gets close.
I wrote a review of this one on Musicmeter.nl.
The only downside is that the singer tends to 'scream' a bit too much, though there is a good balance on the album.
About Circus Maximus: I've heard that they're working on a new album as we speak. Am curious about it. Time for some news.

- Amorphis - Skyforger. Melodic (prog)metal from Finland. Very accessible and it'll get you a lot of speeding tickets when listenened to in the car...

Heard a lot of good things about this band.
Never heard a track.
Must dive into it, i guess.

Strange. My version of Tom is already lasting more than 24 years!

NP: Dark Suns - Grave Human Genuine

Tom

Good taste.  

[maddox]

Lunatic Soul ~ S/T : Out on a Limb [5:27]

[funkster]

Delirious ? and Arctic Monkeys

[Nicky007]

Great to see so much material since I last visited the Room, guys  

You think that I can remain silent with so much interesting stuff. Well, think again  

"long play"

Don't worry, Bups. That's what happens when one gets old  

Can I still use the word "album", though ?

That's what the rest of us are using, Bups. There are "studio albums", "live albums". I think one can even use "album" for an ep. Isnt that so, guys ?

And particularly for Beatles' white album  

And Nicky, considering your present musical tastes, when it comes to "treatment", maybe you would fit better in Guantanamo than in Minnesota, don't you think ?  

Hey, I thought that Frenchies were galant  

BTW Nicky I do own and like this CD.

I got a 5 month-old cat, Bob

I've been listening to a lot of metal lately (yes Nicky, even Nevermore...),

Great, Tom !

So how do you experience Nevermore now ?

Still havent heard ZOP ?

- Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold. Great album, it's the only album by them I own but if they're all as good as this one I need to explore them a bit further!

City Of Evil is iac just as great.

I'v actually also been listening a lot to A7 lately  

Altho I'm sad that The Rev died, I'm curious to hear what Mike has added to A7  

Quite heavy, a bit like Meshuggah and Textures, am I right?

Very different from Meshuggah, I'd say. Much more melodic. More like ... hm ... hm ... well OK, more like Dream Theater  

But A7 are very special, just like DT are  

And M. Shadows sings very different from Jamie, much hoarser.

I think that A7 should go very well with many Roomies  

- Mutiny Within - Mutiny Within. My personal favourite album of the last few weeks. Very technical music with a lot of melody and a very versatile vocalist. Stunning album! Nicky, you can buy this album blindly.  

Believe ya, Tom. Got it on my SL now. Thanx  

From Wiki - Mutiny Within: "Chris Colgan of PopMatters gave the album nine out of ten, commenting 'Mutiny Within is a solid, powerful piece that will surely attract metal fans from all over the spectrum.' Progressive metal band Dream Theater also gave the album a positive review. Guitarist John Petrucci stated 'I love the melodic content. Makes it really enjoyable to listen to while the technicality of the music totally contributes to the song power and makes it more interesting to me than typical metal. They should be huge!' Drummer Mike Portnoy added 'These guys are real good! They would go over amazingly well with our audience...'"

Also noticed that the album was released by Roadrunner - good sign !

Nicky.

[aswas]

Man I gotta by me some new cds!!!!!

Symphony X  V

Yes  Drama

Steve Hackett  Wild Orchids

Genesis Trick of the Tail

Genesis  Wind and Wuthering

[Manatee]

Previously: Gentle Giant - Free Hand

NP: Demians - Building an Empire

Speaking of which, does anyone know if he's got another album in the works?

[Nicky007]

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/ ... for the metal Roomies, this is a brand new territory to explore and a lot of reviews to write (Nicky ?).

Thanx, Bups  

I'l go there shortly.

I visited Progarchives a few times, but admittedly I didnt find much of use to me. There are other sites that are more relevant to me (like the Room and Amazon.com; the Judas Priest Noticeboard has been a bit of a disappointment, as there's hardly any discussion about the post-Painkiller albums, the guys are more into Maiden than Dream Theater - get the picture?  + the tone is too often too unpleasant (let's keep the geniality of the Room))  

But OK, I'm curious, let's see what Metalmusicarchives comes up with .....

But what's with the 'traditional heavy metal' tag that Arena is given?

Hm, doesnt bode well for the site  

That tag is absolutely absurd. The reviewer cannot know much about our resident group  

OK, I'l admit that it's not straightforward to tag Arena. Certainly progressive and melodic belong in the tagging, arguably metal too, as their latest two studio albums have a quite high degree of metal, Live and Life even more so. (Bups   )

However, I would settle for "progressive melodic rock".

Let's drop the "neo-prog" and "traditional", cause Arena are far beyond that  

What do you guys think ?  


NP  A7:  Seize The Day  (on City Of Evil, on repeat)

Terrific song !!!

M. Shadows is awesome !  It's amazing that a guy only 28 y/o can write such profound lyrics and sing with such expression  

Nicky.

[Nicky007]

But what's with the 'traditional heavy metal' tag that Arena is given?

OK, I checked up the page at Metalmusicarchives: It's confusing, but not necessarily erroneous with the main facts. The title of the article is:

ARENA
Traditional heavy metal •


The beginning of the article is:

"There is more than one artist with this name:

1) Arena is a British progressive rock band founded in 1995 by Clive Nolan and Mick Pointer (drummer in Marillion's original line-up). All of the band's lyrics are written by Nolan.

Musically the band's style ranges from symphonic to hard rock. Some of the band's recent albums have a similar sound to another of the bands that Nolan has participated in, Shadowland.

Guitarist Jonathan "John" Mitchell has been involved in several other projects like Kino (the UK band), The Urbane, It Bites and Frost*. In these bands he sings in addition to his usual guitar duties."


Then the article lists two other groups with the same name (and utterly different styles).

- http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/arena.aspx?ac=arena


"British progressive rock band" is a correct tagging for our Arena.

"Musically the band's style ranges from symphonic to hard rock." That's acceptable, altho I'd say that Arena ranges beyond hard rock to metal.

"All of the band's lyrics are written by Nolan." As far as I know, that's not entirely correct. Clive writes most of the lyrics, and ends up writing the last versions, but to my knowledge the other guys contribute to the lyrical process.

Guys, some of you know more about this than I do  

What's dumb is that the "traditional heavy metal" tag in the title seemingly by default appears below all album covers in the Arena discography. That's pretty sloppy  

Nicky.

[Manatee]

Before: The Pineapple Thief - Tightly Unwound

NP: Live - Mental Jewelry

Musically the band's style ranges from symphonic to hard rock. Some of the band's recent albums have a similar sound to another of the bands that Nolan has participated in, Shadowland.

Is this accurate?  If so, I'll have to get me some Shadowland.

"British progressive rock band" is a correct tagging for our Arena.

Seems fair enough.

"Musically the band's style ranges from symphonic to hard rock." That's acceptable, altho I'd say that Arena ranges beyond hard rock to metal.

Arena doesn't really strike me as ranging into metal, although that's a blurry line and a judgment call.  I do particularly like John's hard guitar parts, whatever you call them.

[maddox]

Hmm, there are some parts in Arena which you can describe as 'metal-ish', in fact if I recall correctly I think that Clive once said that he felt the same but it's far from heavy metal of course. Strangely enough I can't even really tag Arena as neo-progressive rock so indeed, I think that progressive rock is more accurate.

But who needs tags anyway?  
As long as you like what you hear, it wouldn't matter how they call it.  

NP>

Kaipa ~ In The Wake Of Evolution : Arcs Of Sound [8:21]

[aswas]

British Progressive Rock. Yeah that sounds about right. If Shadowland projects sound similar, I need to add them to my list.

Music List for the night

Arena Live and Life: just got this and it is great

Arena Pride

Arena The Visitor

Yes  Keys to Ascension Live 1 and 2

Tony Banks  A Curious Feeling- an awesome CD- His best by far

Ya'll have a great day/night

[The Butterfly Man]

You might know that Mike Portnoy is playing the drums for their yet to be released new album.

Yes I was aware of that...

John Petruci and MP made a review on that one on Roadrunner Records. You, again , might know that.
It seems it's a very good album.

Yes I was aware of that...

Awesome album!
Not better than Echoes but it gets close.
I wrote a review of this one on Musicmeter.nl.
The only downside is that the singer tends to 'scream' a bit too much, though there is a good balance on the album.

I really like the singers voice. Reminds me a bit of Russell Allen's aggressive vocals at times.

Great, Tom !

So how do you experience Nevermore now ?

Still havent heard ZOP ?

My opinion on Nevermore didn't really change to be honest. I like the music, but I'm still not able to look past the vocals. I just don't like them!

And no, I still haven't listened to Zero Order Phase. But if it sounds like Nevermore without vocals it must be good and I should really finally give this album a proper chance I guess!

Believe ya, Tom. Got it on my SL now. Thanx  

From Wiki - Mutiny Within: "Chris Colgan of PopMatters gave the album nine out of ten, commenting 'Mutiny Within is a solid, powerful piece that will surely attract metal fans from all over the spectrum.' Progressive metal band Dream Theater also gave the album a positive review. Guitarist John Petrucci stated 'I love the melodic content. Makes it really enjoyable to listen to while the technicality of the music totally contributes to the song power and makes it more interesting to me than typical metal. They should be huge!' Drummer Mike Portnoy added 'These guys are real good! They would go over amazingly well with our audience...'"

Also noticed that the album was released by Roadrunner - good sign !

I got curious about this band after reading MP and JP's comments on their album, so I guess Roadrunner's marketing strategy is working in that respect!

Did you already look them up on Youtube or MySpace?

Kaipa ~ In The Wake Of Evolution : Arcs Of Sound [8:21]

I love Transatlantic but I can't stand The Flower Kings. Will I like Kaipa?

NP: Shadowland - A Matter Of Perspective

Tom

[Iggy]

NP Genesis - Archives #1

[Nicky007]

And no, I still haven't listened to Zero Order Phase. But if it sounds like Nevermore without vocals it must be good and I should really finally give this album a proper chance I guess!

Actually, it sounds even better than Nevermore without vocals.

As you know, I'm a BIG Nevermore fan. Took some time for sure - not only the vocals - but they certainly have a sinister sound. But that's what I really go for. E.g. some of my fave DT stuff is sinister, like TOT and the dark parts of of Six Degrees ... but then again, I luv everything DT have done    (except the stuff with Charlie - didnt really fit in there)

But OK, back to Nevermore, for a long while I thought that Warrel was the genius of Nevermore, but when I heard ZOP, I realised that Jeff was too. Nowadays prog genius is usually the result of two or three extraordinarily gifted musicians getting together - and sticking together ! - and that's the case for Nevermore too.

I hope you guys soon getit: ZOP is a monster album, in my mind the ultimate progmetal guitar album !

You'l be hearing things on this album that you never thought existed !

OK, sure it's a difficult album to get into - sinister (no surprise there), cranky, sneaky, all that stuff - but once you'r there, you start hearing heaps of melody, harmony, all the stuff that makes us go whoaaaaaa  

And drummer Mark Arrington is an eighth wonder too !

I know I'm repeating myself, but I obviously have to make an extra effort to get some of the best stuff into the Room: Guys, ZOP, This Godless Endeavor, and Nostradamus are masterpieces ! We're talkin about The Wall and Scenes From A Memory class here - and all these five albums are related in a profound way  

Dunno, just thinkin about it, maybe most people can't stand having too many hot albums chunked together, they may need to alternate with some easier stuff  

Guess I'm different in that respect: I quickly shed the moderate stuff and go straight for the jugular  


NP  Yes:  Tales from Topographic Oceans

I realise that this album is a masterpiece too - and slowly my intellect and emotions are converging  


I'l continue with some more pre-Going stuff after Topographic .....

I love Transatlantic but I can't stand The Flower Kings. Will I like Kaipa?

Yeah, Flower Kings and Kaipa aint either my thingy. If there's anything I'd call neoprog, then this is it. These guys never dug into DT and Co. properly ... so instead they'r rehashing pre-Going Yes and stuff, and while Yes definitely were groundbreaking and exciting in the 70's, we kinda got a different agenda today  

Arena doesn't really strike me as ranging into metal, although that's a blurry line and a judgment call.

Greenie, if ya play Witch Hunt on Live And Life, you'l be listening to metal - the way I like it - mmmmmmm  

Tony Banks  A Curious Feeling- an awesome CD- His best by far

Yeah, I really gotta get that album soon !

He sure contributed to making Genesis the great group they were  

Nicky.

[Nicky007]

Aha, now I think I know where Metalmusicarchives got their 'Traditional Heavy Metal' tag from:  From Metalarchives. If you go to metal-archives.com and search 'Arena' (under 'Band name'), then you get a former Malaysian band named Arena (reminds me of our Malaysian Roomie), and under 'Genre' you find 'Traditional Heavy Metal'.

OK, so Sherlock here figured it out for all'o'us. Now we can sleep peacefully zzzzzzzzz 

Nicky.

[Manatee]

Greenie, if ya play Witch Hunt on Live And Life, you'l be listening to metal - the way I like it - mmmmmmm 

Hmm, I guess I should look into getting a copy of that one.  I only have the studio albums. 

JP: King Crimson - Red

King Crimson - Discpline

[Nicky007]

King Crimson - Discpline

Hmm, I guess I should look into getting a copy of that one.

By all means !  Great album !  Probably their heaviest yet !

Nicky.