Justin

Good sleep music. I always have a been a fan of a faster pace, though, myself. -Justin

Speaking of ignorant people, my band just played the second round of a competition here in Columbus and one of the judges said: Overall: 2 of 5 "Slayer is not appropriate." "Horns at the Core? How about God?" Originality: 2 of 5 "It wasn't like anything I've ever heard, so I guess it was pretty original." Performance: 3 of 5 "Works the crowd well." Now, allow me to explain: We played the first few riffs of 'Raining Blood' at this venue called the Core, which is run by a church. I doubt very seriously this judge would've even known it was Slayer had I not made a promise to the crowd that if we made through this round we would have 'Raining Blood' covered for them by next round. And by 'horns' yes...he is talking about the metal horns. Evidently, you can't like metal and Jesus at the same time. I won't even go into the rest of the stuff. Oh, the ignorance. I guess next time we'll just get together and write some crazy indie stuff where two of our guitarists play the same weird harmony over and over again for about five minutes while the other plays his like a violin, our drummer does jazz beats, the bass player does bass lines that don't fit the guitars, and I get all emotional and let out a long, slow whine for an hour. Then, after when win the competition, we'll go record metal. -Justin

I've pretty well learned to avoid band's ideologies. However, being that you are so into the Norse-themed metal in particular, and being that you're often mistaken for a Nazi, I can more than understand your frustration. What more can you do than defend yourself honestly, letting ignorant people remain so, should they so choose? -Justin

Having now bought "With Oden On Our Side" and listened to Amon Amarth at lengthfor the last week, I can definately hear their influence in your music. I'm still waiting on the retracking of Fimbulwinter, though. -Justin

He's in my top ten favorite musicians outside of metal. I'd like to see him live one day, but i doubt I ever will. It's probably more than I'd be willing to pay to see him. -Justin

Skip school. Drive to Orlando. Unless you can't drive for whatever reason, that's the simplest solution. -Justin

The weak are often lonely in their weakness. And they seek shelter from the world that would force them to toughen up. If the magical element of fantasy stories makes this woman cringe, that's acceptable. But it's her idea that it should make everyone cringe that's ignorant. I doubt she knows enough about Harry Potter to know that it has a good angle on social equality. She's probably just doing what she was raised to do: Shout at the devil. -Justin

"Some seek shelter in the church, A refuge for those with faith. But we know how to smoke them out, a pyre will be raised." Basically-freakin'-epic-as-hell. Good metal. Anyone got the new Napalm Death record yet? -Justin

*Is trying to think of guilty pleasures* I've only heard the single off this album, and while it's decidedly different in a new and creative way than the Hot Topic-oriented songs of Evanescence's past, it's still just not my cup of tea. *Bury Your Dead* -Justin

I bought this CD this past Saturday to make Auburn's embarrassing loss not hurt so bad...it worked. Gods of War Arise and Runes To My Memory are my favorites. Anybody that can write "Bearskin on my back, wolf jaw on my head, Valhall awaits, soon I'll be dead" is pretty much awesome. I wouldn't fight them. -Justin

Of course it doesn't sound like a literal instrument--it's a human voice. But it does act as another instrument in that it plays an equal role in the arrangement of the piece as the literal instruments. The idea is for the vocals to not be overpowering, because they aren't the focus of the song as, as Jake said, in more mainstream music. Many bands do this in the metal world, especially those most concerned the with the songs wholistically, and not so much with their singability. The vocal placement is great for the music. It overall a very well put together track, and I can't wait to hear the rerecording of Fimbulwinter. -Justin

My question is this: When performing, can you maintain your vocal patterns AND play your instrument? Or will you bring on more musicians to cover that? -Justin

I look at Metallica and think to myself "What the hell were they thinking?" Standard response here: Everything before the Black Album was good stuff. My favorite song is Master of Puppets. But no matter what Metallica album you're looking at, Slayer was the best of the Big Four. -Justin

Yeah. Look them up on Myspace. I'm guessing you're confusing them with someone, as they are very much like Through the Eyes of the Dead--catchy deathcore. I recognize what you're saying about most deathcore a being mediocre dumbing-down of death metal. If I didn't like hardcore, perhaps if I hadn't come to metal via hardcore, I likely wouldn't like deathcore, either. But I suppose that's just a line at which opinion makes the difference. -Justin

It's pretty damn epic. It's a vast imporovement upon Fimbulwinter. A song I already found to be fairly impressive, all things considered. -Justin

I was including deathcore bands in the 'New Wave of Progressive Death Metal'. In fact, I was mostly talking about deathcore bands altogether. I guess I should've more specific about that, as the differences between the two are, in fact, very well known to me. I also thought yesterday of a much better title for the movement I'm trying to nail down: Simply "New Wave Death Metal". My reason for not elaborating on that moniker anymore than I do is simple. There's no real way for me to hit the whole wave by tagging 'metalcore' or 'core' in general in there. There's so much more to it, which is why I left 'deathcore' out of my original post. But neither of you even came close to the question I posed. So I'll rephrase it: What do you think of the recent emergence of this whole gang of bands influenced heavily by death metal, but drawing heavily on other influences as well(ie: hardcore). Basically, though clearly I failed in communicating this, this is a question of purist v. nonpurist. PS: Go listen to With Blood Comes Cleansing. You're mistaken. -Justin

For those who know what I'm talking about, what are your thoughts on the emergence of this "New Wave of Progressive Death Metal", as I've called it. Near as I can tell, it's spear-headed by bands such as the Black Dahlia Murder, Between the Buried and Me, and on the extreme end, Cattle Decapitation; but it branches off in almost every possible direction. So much so that it's hard to nail down. There is talk amongst the ever-present critics that it's the 'new metalcore' and, admittedly, it is producing quite a few 'cookie cutter' bands. But moreso than metalcore, it is producing some interesting death metal hybrids. Bands such as Despised Icon with it's fingers in every pie on the table pretty much. Also, Through the Eyes on the Dead, who blend the Floridian brutality of the band responsible for their namesake(Cannibal Corpse) and conventional metalcore catchyness. There are many more equaly noteworthy members of this movement. I'll end this with a short list, and I expect opinions, theories, and general intelligent discussion from informed people: All Shall Perish Animosity Arsis As Blood Runs Black Beneath the Massacre Between the Buried and Me the Black Dahlia Murder Despised Icon Glass Casket Job For A Cowboy Psyopus The Red Chord Through the Eyes of the Dead Waking the Cadaver With Blood Comes Cleansing There's a whole lot more, but I tried to keep it trimmed to bands I think would be searchable of Wikipedia. Thoughts? -Justin

Try sucking on a lime. That used to help me when my throat hadn't quite got conditioned to screaming yet. Now, so long as I warm up, I can hit just about any sound that falls under the 'extreme' vocal style. Though, like Jakehammaren, you can't tell that by my band's recording on Myspace. At that time, I'd basically locked myself into the high-end. And, though I didn't know it at the time, that end of my vocal spectrum needed a little bit more work, heh. I also want to say that screaming doesn't have to affect your ability to sing. It doesn't have to damage your vocal chords at all. And it's not going to make your throat explode or anything stupid like that. You just have to figure out the mechanics of it. I've been in one band or another for several years now, all of which were bands that primarily used aggressive vocal patterns, and I can still sing perfectly. My advice: Start off whispering. Whisper from the back of your throat, as though you were going along with your favorite aggressive album, but didn't want to wake anyone in your house up. Then, gradually push it a little harder and louder, staying in the back of your throat at all times. It may hurt a little at first, but you'll get used to it. Once you figure it out, you can then start gradually employing different areas of your throat to get different styles. But yeah, two mics is really nothing if not for show. Though, I do suggest a cordless mic for a stand-alone vocalist. It allows for more free movement, and a lack of steppage-on-cords. *Your vocals aren't THAT bad, bro. They fit the music just fine. I also like the Fimbulwinter track quite a bit. It's interesting. So far, it's the only track I've listened too, though.* -Justin

Name: John Fastwater Gender: Male Age: 19 Appearance: John stands a very average 5' 9", with chin-length blondish-brown hair. He has caramel brown eyes, sharp Native American features, and an equally Native American skin tone. He normally wears a wife-beater with a fitted black T-shirt over it, fitted, though ripped, jeans and running shoes. A flint arrowhead hangs from a lether string on his neck. Snippet: John rounded the bend in the trail at a full sprint. It was 6:23 AM, and he was nearly finished with his mile-long morning run before breakfast. While these woods weren't like the pine forests of his home in northern Alabama, he'd learned to enjoy their comfort nearly as well. It was in the middle of his thoughts about home, the free-running creeks for which his family was named, the pine scent that permeated every fabric in his home, the cicadas singing in the evening that he was jarred back into the wooded hills of California. There was an unusual crack off to his left. The crack of a misstep. His grandfather had raised him in as near to the Choctaw way as a boy could be raised in this modern age, and in his raising, John had been taught that sound. Most of the time it was nothing--a deer, or even a fox. Back home the worst it could would've been a cougar or black bear, but here; there's different animals here. Very soon, though, he came to realize it was no animal. There was another sound, distant at first; he almost thought he was hearing things. Then it got louder. He knew that sound; it was something else Grandpa had taught him: War drums. Suddenly he was surrounded by the sound of drums. He could peel the sound off him, it was so thick. It was so loud. He found himself on his knees, tears fell to dried leaves on the trail but the sound of their impact was cut off by a piercing noise that snapped John into a reality with no more drumbeats. John lifted warm, aching eyes to see his stalker: Dressed in a coyote headdress, with indigo war-paint streaked across his face, there stood what appeared to be a Choctaw warrior. He opened his mouth a let loose another blood-curdling warcry. As he did, a plague of mosquitos emerged from his unnaturally wide, gaping mouth. Though, still stunned, John watched in horror as the plagued of insects grew so thick around him he could taste them in his mouth. It was only moments later that he took in his last image through the swarm: A bloody, beaded hand reaching into the swarm and snatching him by his very scalp. His next feeling was worse than the incessant biting. A feeling like his forehead was being cut by fire. Then it was black. -Justin

[quote]You said that you thought that As I Lay Dying and Bleeding Through were basically like progressed Metal bands - or Metalcore. I think it's more like they're more sophisticated Hardcore bands. It's really becoming a fine line between Metalcore and Metal these days, but that's really only an issue in the massively mainstream "Metal" scene. Metalcore has become the new Hair Metal, I think. It's like band after band is writing a catchy riff and a breakdown to get a video on MTV. That's not what the spirit of Metal is about.[/quote] I like your statement about metalcore having become the new hair metal. While I don't think it's gotten quite that bad yet, I foresee Atreyu having a video on TRL within the next couple years. And when Atreyu, Eighteen Visions, Avenged Sevenfold, and God knows who else all have videos on MTV, I'm sure some corporate giant will jump on the metal machine again. Now, that's no real problem for me. As you said, your views about metal are very purist, mine are very eclectic. I've given up on ever trying to make a list of my favorite bands, because I forget who they are in the mass of bands that I love. Totally unrelated: Emperor is playing a few gigs in NY and LA for any who are able to go. -Justin

I'm still trippin about Bury Your Dead being on the Family Values Tour. A tour that, arguably, is the reason Nu Metal became so popular in the late 90s and earlier this decade. And Bury Your Dead is not nu Metal. No, no, not so much at all. -Justin

[quote name='Jakehammaren']Yeah, but none of those are Metal bands. Metal does tend to have a lot of harsh vocals, but a good portion of it doesn't. It just depends what type you're into.[/quote] You concept of metal is extremely purist. As I Lay Dying, Bleeding Through, Cannibal Corpse and most of the other 'non-metal' bands you've listed are, in fact, metal. Maybe not in the purest sense of bands such as Iron Maiden(my favorite metal band) or even more aggressive stuff like Megadeth(within my top 20), but they can't be discounted as cheap hardcore and certainly not nu-metal. They are progressed metal; metalcore, really, save Cannibal Corpse(death metal). The metal genre rarely births any thing new that sounds like 'Priest. Most bands that come out nowadays are hybrids of various things, but that doesn't remove any iota of talent from them. The most popular hybrid of the moment being Metal and Hardcore, which equals Metalcore. It is a totally viable, totally aggressive form of, primarily, metal. If one were to look at hardcore the way you're looking at metal, metalcore has very little hardcore influence at all. As far as talent goes into making good metalcore: First of all, I generally count talent as being within the music(ie: Not in the vocals). With that said, metalcore, like all forms of music, is open to being butchered; however, it can be done and has been done VERY well (As I Lay Dying being one example). As far as the vocals go, when I see some of you on stage making some of those sounds like you'd find in the better 'screaming' bands out there, then I'll listen to you say it's nothing. -Justin

Symphony In Peril is, arguably, the best tough guy metalcore band [i]ever[/i]. I wish they were still around, because the Whore's Trophy is an amazingly brutal album. -Justin

[COLOR=DarkRed][u][b][FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Infection: The virus fights through blood. So shall we.[/FONT][/b][/u][/COLOR] [quote][b][i]Early May[/b] It was a damn stormy morning. Well, morning, midday--whatever. Since I'd lost my job on Ft. Jenson, I hadn't been really keeping track of when I fell asleep or when I woke up. I remember thinking as I dug through cans of nonperishables, trying to find those damn Pop-Tarts about my last day of work on post. Myself and my best friend/coworker, Andrew, had just finished a small oak removal on some SFC's front lawn when we got a call to come out to Malone 33--a firing range about 23 miles from our location. Something about our yard boss had seen a tree fall onto a bunker down in the range, and he wanted us to remove it so he could brag to some uniformed big shot about how his boys took care of it. So we got in the truck and took a ride; me driving, as always...Andrew sleeping. After about an hour of driving through the Malone Complex--a few thousand acres of ranges with about ten paved, unmarked roads snaking throughout--we finally found Malone 33, took a wet, nasty, red clay road down range a piece, and found our tree and bunker. It was a shithole; a [b]royal[/b] mess. The tree was a [b]huge[/b] oak tree, and it had fallen onto that concrete bunker and busted it's left portion all to ****. Then there was that damn smell. At the time, I thought a racoon had died somewhere near by; now I know better. Andrew was the first of the two of us to get his chaps on and get down to the jobsite. He cranked his chainsaw, a small Stil 250, and started limbing the smaller limbs off for us to chip. I was the first one to see it, on 'account of Andrew paying attention to his work: A man came crawling out of the hole the tree had smashed in the wall. At least what was left of a man came crawling out of the hole the tree had smashed into the wall. I was clear that the tree had knocked him ****-silly, or he was in there drinking. He stumbled out all open-mouthed and drooling, and I gave Andrew a sharp whistle to turn off his saw. Soon as he did, that fella' had turned toward him and was stumbling at Andrew and grabbing at him. Andrew's not one for playing around with drunks, so he kicked the guy in the stomach and made him double over. No sooner had Andrew kicked him than the guy dove at Andrew's feet, grabbing and biting at his legs. Andrew knocked the hell out of him with the motor end of his saw and came charging back up the hill to where I was. I had already tried to get the yard boss on the Nextel, but he never would pick up. I got my Beretta 9mm out from the glove box and aimed it at the bastard. It all gets kind of crazy after that. I yelled at the guy to stop over and over, but he kept trudging up the hill, moaning like he was dying. I even gave warning shots, but he didn't even flinch. So, I shot him the leg; he stutter-stepped, almost fell, but kept coming without a wince of pain. I had only just started to freak out when Andrew yelled about more coming out of the hole in the wall. That's when I decided to let these bastards kill each other, and hopped in the truck, yelling for Andrew to join me. As he ran in front of the guy, the fella' lunged forward, and I reactively shot him in the chest. The bullet through him back this time, sending him rolling down the hill. But no sooner did he stop rolling than did he start getting back up again. We cut out as fast as we could. We nearly bogged down, but we cleared out quick enough, and headed straight back to the yard to tell the boss. But he wasn't there. A sharp-looking female uniform was there talking with the department head when we walked in. She looked at us, nodded at the DPH, and told us rather firmly to leave that post and never come back. Andrew started to question her, but she pulled her sidearm and encouraged us to 'move more expediently.' We did. Since then, ****'s been weird. Murders all over Dayton and the surrounding areas, whole families being killed on at least three seperate occasions. That and me and Andrew are still trippin' about our encounter with that guy who was obviously more than just drunk. We're thinking about trying to find someplace a little more safe to stay for a while; we're working on a plan to get out if things get crazy for real.[/i][/quote] [COLOR=DarkRed] [u][b]Primary character:[/b][/u] [b]Name: Blake Boston Age: 19 Description/Picture: 5'9" brown hair, brown eyes. Sturdy build. *Clothing is not important at this time.* Personal Info: Blake is a recently unemployed tree worker who lives in a small apartment in Dayton, GA with his best friend Andrew. In his free time he plays with Andrew in a metal band, he does home improvemeent on his parent's house in a suburbs, and he has a fascination with guns. He owns several. Creative advantage: He owns multiple firearms, is a jack-of-all trades, and drives a big truck. Storyline sample: [u]Secondary:[/u] Name: Andrew Stevens Age: 18 Description/Picture: 6'2" blonde hair, green eyes. Thin and lanky. Personal Info: Andrew is a recen;t unemployed tree worker from Dayton, GA. His is bestfriends/bandmates with Blake. Creative advantage: He very intelligent and naturally charismatic. He is also good with his hands. Storyline sample: [u]There are a few guidelines to follow: [/b][/u] First, this is a zombie outbreak RP. They are slow-moving, flesh-eating, moaning undead. The condition is caused by a virus, the source of which is identified later on. Your character may start off with one weapon, but no two people may start off with the same weapon. So pay attention to other sign-ups. Also, no corny weapons like rocket launchers. Keep it realistic. Better and more weapons will come when your character meets mine. Having said that, neither of my characters have one primary weapon as of right now. When the game begins, I'll have a catalouge of weapons available for use by each member of the party, from which we will each choose our weapons. I am also going to encourage you to have a secondary character (ie: A spouse or close friend.). This will allow one of your characters to be expendable, making gameplay more interesting. There will be several major events, or chapters, in this story; all of which will entail specific instructions for each character. Many of these events will take on the role of a mission that must be accomplished, such as a supply run. These will be interspursed throughtout the story. There will be only one party of no more than ten, unless I get a ridiculous amount of response from this, in which case I will form a second party. I encourage you to be creative, but reasonable. Thank you. [/COLOR] [b][u][color=#800000]Primary character: [/b][/u][b]Name: Prowler Kain Monark Age: 15 Description/Picture: 5'11 , 156lbs , black messy hair , pale white skin , [/b][b]light blue eyes strong stocky and well built. Weapons/clothing: Prowler wears black boots black baggy pants a black t-shirt and a black baseball cap. after the infection spread out he was forced to kill his dad with his Colt Anaconda 44 Magnum Revolver his dad was trying to kill him later on he had to kill his mother to. Personal Info: prowler is just like any other teen-ager he doesn?t have a job yet but his dad takes him out to the firing range all the time to shoot guns he is an awesome marksman Creative advantage: He is an awesome marksman and has being studying ballistics ever since he was twelve [/b]What Happened: Prowler sat there cleaning out his dads revolver when he heard a masculine scream he ran out of the gun room to find his dad on the floor with another guy eating off his hand. Prowler brought up the gun and fired blowing the other guys brains out all over the floor he hurried over to his dad. " Dad are you all right " He was looking at his dad with a terrified look he ran into the bathroom and grabbed a whole bunch of towels when he got back his dad was siting there staring outside. Prowler walked over and felt his pulse it was weak but still there. He wrapped his dads arm with towels and then noticed another injury his fathers stomach was torn open. He quickly applied the majority of the towels to his dads stomach and pressed down his dad faded quickly and was soon dead. Prowler sat up for a second and then ran into his room and grabbed the phone he dialed his girl friends number and got the answering machine. "****" He cursed he left a message telling her he was going to come and pick her up. He turned around and his dad was in the door way his guts were hanging out of his stomach and blood was dribbling down off his hand. "dad are you ok?" Prowler asked his dad started limping towards him moaning his dad lurched forward and grabbed at prowlers arm prowler brought up the gun and put it to his dads head. "sorry dad" "bang............" Prowler paused to let the body fall down and then reloaded his gun, he ran into the gun room and grabbed all the ammo he could grab for the 44 and headed into the kitchen. He grabbed the car keys and went outside there were four, of them there prowler raised his gun and fired four times every shot counted except for one which hit the creature in the chest it kept coming. He shot it in the head and it dropped, Prowler got in the car and put the keys in the ignition it started up like a dream. He backed up out into the street and drove off down the road. There were those creatures everywhere he could only hope they hadn?t reached his girlfriends house. He got there and ran up the steps he rung the door bell and his girlfriend opened the door he hugged her and then said. "we have to go" she answered back "but why?" Prowler grabbed her and lead her out to the car she got in and she kept asking what this was all about he started the car up again and answered. "you will see" [u]Secondary Character:[/u] [size=2][size=1][/size][/size] [size=2][size=1]name: Machelle ivory[/size] Age: 16 Description/Picture: long black hair , emerald green eyes , 5'9 , 121lbs. Weapons/clothing: she doesn?t have a weapon she wears clack jeans and a black belly shirt Personal Info: She hangs out with her friends and boyfriend all the time she is an anarchist and hates authority. Creative advantage: um...... she can run fast? What Happened: She was siting at home on couch when her boyfriend called and left a message a couple minutes later he came and picked her up she still doesn?t know what?s going on. [/size][/color] [CENTER][FONT=Century Gothic][COLOR=DarkGreen]Please don't double-post, it's against the rules. *merges posts* - Sandy[/COLOR][/FONT][/CENTER]

Heh, I have Sirius satellite radio. There is a heavy metal station on this radio. It is called 'Hard Attack.' Yes, it is, in fact, called 'Hard Attack.' They definately KILLED the 6-6-06 thing. I heard Iron Maiden's "Number of the Beast" song more times than I ever wanted to, and I love some Maiden. Maybe I'm just obsessive, but the fact that there is a '0' in 6-6-06 is probably what kept me from cowering from the shadow of Satan beneath my sheets this past Tuesday. -Justin