Reggie’s Top 15 Albums of the Year + Honorable Mentions

Well, here we are again, another end of year list.  First, big thanks to you for reading and engaging with us.  I have to say, this year’s list is more well-rounded than previous year-end lists.  I guess it is because I continue to get exposed to new bands and others that have been out a while, but are new to me.  Take my #1 for example.  I knew they were out there, but took it took me a while to sit down and have a serious listen.  I am glad I did.  One major difference between this year and my other lists is the (almost) absence of thrash metal bands.  While there are a few, not as much as I would normally have on my list.  Seems as though my taste in progressive based metal is expanding.  I guess it’s time to see for yourself.  Enjoy, and let’s have another great year in metal.

Album Review: Servers – Leave With Us

“Your only chance to survive, is to leave with us…”

Release date: 24th of February on Undergroove Records

Length: 45 minutes of  heavy earworms

Genre:  Feel-good, sludgy rock

Previous releases: This is their first album, and what a fine debut it is!

Recommended for fans of:  Baroness, Queens Of The Stone Age, Mastodon, Foo Fighters, The Doors

Interview with Pete of Baroness/Concert Review: Baroness & Royal Thunder at Tunnel Club, Milan Italy Oct. 15, 2013

Spending many years crafting, evolving, and honing one of the most original sounds in music today, Savannah, GA band Baroness have carved quite a niche for themselves that transcends musical genre barriers and deeply appeals to fans of all styles of rock music.  If one can say anything about Baroness, it would have to be about how incredibly hard-working and determined its members are in bringing their love of music to their fans and delivering it at the highest quality possible.  Even a terrible tour bus accident which could have easily killed any member of the band couldn’t hold founding members Pete Adams (guitars/backing vocals) and John Baizley (lead vocals/guitars) from powering through serious injuries, healing themselves up, and reforming their rhythm section after Allen Blickle (drums) and Matt Maggioni (bass) very understandably took leave of the band.  Just a little over a year since the tragic accident Baroness have once again jumped onto the tour bus and returned to Europe to continue putting audiences in awe with their stellar live shows.

On Oct. 15th I was fortunate enough to be able to catch up with guitarist Pete Adams when they stopped in my city of Milan, Italy to play a show at Tunnel Club with Royal Thunder.  After witnessing my first live experience with a band I have followed for over 10 years and my chat with Pete I have found myself with an even deeper respect for the lads in the band.  All of the passion Pete put into his responses to my questions was reciprocated ten-fold when him and the band took the stage and the amount of smiles and good vibes the band exuded off-stage came with them onto the stage in a very uplifting way of saying ‘we’re back’.

Song of the Week: Isak by Baroness

Since I received notice that the mighty Baroness will be playing a show a stone’s throw from my humble abode I’ve been on a discography binger.  And after listening to all of their albums back to back reaffirmation as to why I dig this band so much ensued.  The very first song I heard from them back in 2006 was “Isak” after I was led to check them out after watching some Mastodon videos.  The trippy guitars, serpentine drums, and fat rhythms had me fall in love with them instantly and running out and buying Red Album was top priority.  Enjoy that first song I heard from Baroness, and if you happen to live in Europe, do make sure to catch them live with the totally awesome Royal Thunder (dates here).  Peace Love and Metal!!!

Mik’s Top 50 – Intros That Instantly Grab My Attention #41-42

Here’s a list where you only have to listen to the first 30 seconds of the songs to know what I’m talking about!

#42 Edguy – No More Foolin

“No more foolin’
you will save all your love”

An excellent intro and song where Edguy lets the guitars do the talking. This song can be found on their third full-length ‘Vain Glory Opera’ from 1998.

.

Videos of the Week: Hollow and March to the Sea

Have you ever seen that movie Sunshine or the Alien prequel Prometheus.  If not, do check them out, both are great movies and I would imagine that the director of Alice in Chains latest video will reaffirm my recommendation tenfold.  Their latest video is chock full of the outer spacy, stylized, something-bad’s-going-to-happen feel and vibe of those flicks.  Anywho, it’s a really neat video with some cool special effects and cinematography.  And the song is bad ass as well.  Check it out, and get excited for AiC’s new album to be released later this year.

Also new and notable this week is the new video from Baroness.  While it may just seem like a simple collage of recorded live footage, knowing what the band has been through and how hard they are pushing themselves now give much more power to the snippits of live shots.  If you didn’t know, this summer while on their European tour, Baroness were involved in a bus accident in the UK where their tour bus careened off the side of a cliff.  Fortunately there were no deaths, but everyone on the bus suffered some pretty bad injuries with singer/guitarist/songwriter John Baizley facing an amputation of his arm (he is also a painter, so that makes it double suck) and drummer Allen Blickle and bassist Matt Maggione suffering from fractured vertebrae.  Needless to say injuries like those can end a career of a touring musician.  The band however is making fast recovery and pushing their bodies to the max to get back on track and out into the world to continue touring and making music.  You really got to give the band credit for really pushing for what they love to do and this video serves as a reminder that despite nearly losing their lives to touring, the band is driving to continue bring you glorious music.

Reggie’s Top 15 of 2012

Just when I thought 2011 was a banner year for metal, I think 2012 might be equal to or better in terms of both quality music and sheer volume of albums released.  It surely was not a dull moment if you ask me; it seemed like I was listening to at least a couple new albums each week.  Interestingly, I can probably look at half my list and tell you that some of these albums, I had no idea were coming.  They completely snuck on me or I never expected them like Kreator…a band I nearly forgot about came out with a killer album.  The band at #15 I never knew existed until just a few weeks ago and I am still impressed with them.  There are definitely some surprises on my list this year.  Some of these bands have been around for years and I am only now getting into them. I hope you had a great 2012 in metal!  Here are my Top 15 albums of 2012.

Matt’s Top 15 Albums of 2012

I know every year I say that this was one of the best years in metal, but its true, and 2012 was no different.  I guess that says a lot about the state of modern heavy metal.  The genre has grown into something that was unfathomable at its inception.  In no other genre will you find such a diverse set of different acts all boasting such pure passion for what they do.  I was also exposed much more music than usual this year since Metal State kinda took off with a spike in readers (thank you!!!) and we started receiving promos from labels and bands looking for exposure (don’t worry, we won’t tell you about the crappy stuff or skew our opinions because a label hooked us up with some free music or a t-shirt).  So, when I think about 2012 in metal I can’t help but to return to reflecting on how diverse the genre has become.  You will see in my toplist that no single sub-genre really dominates (well I guess you can tell I am a fan a prog metal and was big into the female fronted doom metal bands this year) and there are some amazing albums all across the board in metal this year.  There were also a ton I left out which I will post about in the coming days in a quick honorable mentions post.  So enough dilly dallying, let’s get it on!  Enjoy!! Peace Love and Metal!!!

Matt’s Top 100 Favorite Albums of All Time: #65-#61

Over on my favorite forum for rambling about metal, The History of Metal (it’s an open Facebook forum, so anyone, meaning you, can join and flap your jaw about metal with a wide variety of metalheads from all over the world), the admin made a challenge to all the members to create their top 100 albums of all time. Loving making lists I’m all on this. Between the ~1500 albums I have there is a lot to filter through and this has turned into quite a daunting, yet fun, challenge. This list will represent where I am with my favorite albums right now, if I were to do this last year or next year, while being similar, I’m sure there would be lots of differences. My only self-imposed limitation on this is I’m confining each band 3 albums in the list to avoid entire, very large, discographies over saturating it. Every 5 days or so I’ll make a post with the next 5 entries into the list. Fellow bloggers, I extend this challenge to you (and be sure to let me know where and when you’ll be posting it, I’d love to read it), and for readers without a blog join up with THOM and post yours there! Enjoy!!! Peace Love and Metal!!!

#65: Blue Record by Baroness

After being thoroughly impressed with Baroness’ major label debut Red Record I had high hopes for the GA boys. They have a unique prog metal sound filled with a deep haze of psychedelia and sludge and a style that was heavy as hell but never overpowering, but quite graceful. Blue Record was able to take everything that made Red Record so great and just build and improve on it. The songs are all meaningful and catchy and each one memorable. As the years go by since its release in 2009 I find myself listening to it on a pretty regular basis still with now signs of slowing up. Signs of a timeless record.

Concert Review: Baroness

To be writing this concert report is slightly surreal to say the least, given the circumstances that unfolded the day after, but I feel motivated to give my thoughts on the happier side of events, the Tuesday evening filled with enjoyable music and excitable people in a small venue in Bristol. Several other gigs were on in the area at that time, but I was certainly glad to be attending this one, despite only knowing the headliner’s latest release Yellow & Green. But first, to describe the venue.

The Fleece in Bristol is a bar-cum-gig venue, relatively small in size and anti-moshpit in setup: several support poles that would be quite painful to run headlong into. That aside (and thankfully Baroness are not a moshpit band), it has a cozy atmosphere, particularly with the posters adorning the walls (Muse, The Dandy Warhols and Amy Winehouse to name a few), and a decent view of the stage from everywhere in the venue. And so, eventually the lights dimmed and the first band were up: local lads Black Elephant.