NTD Best Re-Discovery Band/CD/Experience

[GL]

We've all got stories of how we re-discovered a favorite from the past that we forgot we liked or never knew that we would, so share with others. Mine after a couple of other stories.

[HNT]

Well, it wasn't too long ago that I rediscovered my love for Sepultura. I as going through my collection from the early 90's and skipping over all of the Deicide, Morbid Angel, Carcass stuff that I knew I didn't care about anymore, and I saw Arise and Chaos AD staring me in the face. I had fond memories, so I threw them on and before I knew it I had listened to both of them and dug out Roots and Beneath The Remains too. I am not the biggest thrash/death fan anymore, but Sepultura were a simply brilliant band. The recent stories about Max and Igor writing songs together again have me jonesing at the idea of seeing them live again and maybe even getting a new record

[GP]

Thanks to Toad and Matt discussing Iron Maiden I rediscovered a band I'd given up on since 1987. Much to my surprise I discovered that not only are their last three albums very good but that I still (after a gap of almost twenty years) totally mark out for Powerslave. It's now my favourite driving cd.

On a different note I recently discovered Dream Theater. Awesome stuff.

[GL]

I've got a couple of re-discovery stories, but one that I'll share first:

Since I live close to a used CD store and they take in used CDs, I sometimes sell them stuff so I can get a little more purchases there with free money.

A couple years ago, I had the entire Metallica catelogue (which means that I had Kill Em All through the Black album, more on that later) but I had decided to just keep the Burton-era albums and pawn off And Justice for All and the Black album. Taking the CDs in resulting in them never taking And Justice for All, and after several failed attempts at getting them to take it, I finally removed it from the pile and stuck it back in my shelf, forgetting about it for several years and forgetting what the songs sounded like, since I was concentrating on just the first three.

When I got my iPod for Christmas 2 years ago, I had to throw everything I had onto it, meaning every CD in my collection. While going through the CDs I had, I came across the album sitting there, and after a couple of days being hesitant to do so, I finally put it on my iTunes collection. After just one spin, I decided to keep it as I rediscovered a collection of great thrash songs that I had completely forgotten about in the years since. Now, while it's not going to top Master of Puppets as their best album (or the fact that it's the only CD that has all the songs on it in my top played list) I rediscovered some really great songs on it: Blackened, One, Eye of the Beholder, Harvestor of Sorrow and Dyer's Eve. Not my all-time favorites, but good enough to count, and that's what matters, and I'm glad for doing it.

[HNT]

Yeah, I agree that And Justice for All is actially a surprisingly good record. I do not, however, consider the Black album to be a legitimate Metallica record. It is every bit as worthless as the stuff that followed it IMHO

Working with Bob Rock fer christsakes?! If you decide to use Motley Crue's producer, you are officially a bunch of sellout poseurs

[7]

My contention, and I know the metal mainstream is against me on this one, is that And Justice For All is a better, more well-constructed album than Master of Puppets.

I would say that Master of Puppers is the better thrash album, but I feel that Metallica presents a more well-developed musical experience (and much more cohesive) in And Justice For All.

Master of Puppets is the better metal album, but the classical music nerd in me contends that And Justice For All has richer compositions.

Oh, and I'm totally with you on that one HNT. If money had a dick, Metallica would suck it for eternity.

[GP]

And Justice For All is a great album marred by wank production. If ever a record was crying out for remastering that's the one.

[GL]

May 7, 2008 21:12:04 GMT -5 7 said:

My contention, and I know the metal mainstream is against me on this one, is that And Justice For All is a better, more well-constructed album than Master of Puppets.

I would say that Master of Puppers is the better thrash album, but I feel that Metallica presents a more well-developed musical experience (and much more cohesive) in And Justice For All.

Master of Puppets is the better metal album, but the classical music nerd in me contends that And Justice For All has richer compositions.

Oh, and I'm totally with you on that one HNT. If money had a dick, Metallica would suck it for eternity.

You think you and I would never agree. Get out you're umbrella and be mindfull of the hailing firestorm. You and I are of one-mind here.

Pick out any song on Master of Puppets (let's do the shorest one and go with Battery) and see how easy it is to copy that one. Not a whole lot of riffs and arrangements on it are pretty simple. Fast, but simple, like the rest of the album, which is what makes it thrash so mightily. As a thrash album, very hard to top it since it does have a lot of riffs and arrangements, but yet it's also what makes it so incredibly fast and powerful at the same time.

Compared to And Justice's shortest song (Harvester of Sorrow) you've got a whole lot of riffs and arrangements thrown in, almost as much as Battery, but yet that thing is a bitch to play. Mainly because it's, and I'm not sure if this is the right word there, I'm quoting a friend on this matter word-for-word, out-of-time with conventional playing. It's more technical, it's more prescion-based and generally more of a pain to play, leading it to have a harder play-back value.

Master of Puppets will always be one of the few albums to have all the songs on my top-played lists in my library. As simple as they are, they're also great fun. And Justice has a couple that I don't really care for (To Live is To Die, the title track and Frayed Ends of Sanity) to ever really get me into them since they're so complicated and insanely rich, yet it's still really listenable to be able to count as their last album before the split up after the tour.

And GP, people say that Jason's bass is heard on the album. I want them to prove it to me, since I can't find it at all. There's no bass on the album, because it's recorded so that there is none audible on it.

[GP]

May 8, 2008 10:16:30 GMT -5 GL said:

And GP, people say that Jason's bass is heard on the album. I want them to prove it to me, since I can't find it at all. There's no bass on the album, because it's recorded so that there is none audible on it.

Agreed.
I first had And Justice For All on double DMM 45rpm vinyl and it sounded terrible. No bass and no thump to the drums. I finally replaced it on cd a couple of years ago and it's marginally better but still barely listenable on even decent equipment. Jason's bass is simply not present, otherwise you'd be able to hear his pick if nothing else. Plus they admitted in Some Kind of Monster that they basically mixed him out of the album because they treated him like shit from the outset.
As for technicality it's all well and good but it's no replacement for the balls to the wall rock and sheer punch of Master of Puppets.

[GL]

I never saw Some Kind of Monster, but if they're admitting to doing that, then no wonder no one can hear it.

I had the thing driving around yesterday to see if it can be done in a car, absolutely nothing. Turn on Master of Puppets, I nearly blew the windows out, and I didn't have it loud at all. One of the best productions of all time.

[7]

Yeah, the production on And Justice For All is atrocious. At times the guitar has some pretty nice crunch, but it has a remarkably flat sound, even on my high-end system.

Yeah, and I'll have to agree with going so far as to say that the bass is simply not present. This conversation prompted me to bust out both Master of Puppets and And Justice For All. That said, if you listen to the breakdowns and silences in the titular track to the latter, there should be a bassline present, while there is nothing.

Also, on the more melodic sections of To Live is to Die, there is simply nothing but the drums pounding where otherwise there would have been a bassline. However, at 6:30 on that same song, I think I can hear some muddled bass coming through.

I can also hear some bass following the guitar on the riffs directly following the intro to Blackened.


What do you guys think, can you hear it? If you have the album, check it out and let me know. I've been known to hear instruments that don't exist.

[GL]

On Blackened, there is bass present. After the guitar intro, when Lars starts the drums to get into the main riff, that's a bass line in the background. You need headphones to hear it though, as I had it through my iPod, not on speakers. If you have headphones on the intro to Blackened during the drum beats to start the song, you can tell there's a bass line that didn't get drowned out, almost sounding like a guitar riff.

[speeddemon]

i dug out a couple of cd's i'd not listened to for years and stuck them in the stereo , as soon as the music started , i thought to myself "why have i not listened to you for so long?" they were gamma ray and trivium. needless to say i have them on alot at the mo.

[GL]

A woman into Gamma Ray? CK, you've got competition now for her.

[abraxas]

I had the album Dead Winter Dead by Savatage a long time ago, but I could never get into the album, several months ago I started to listen to them again. They hail from right here in Ft Lauderdale Florida in the early 80's, though their early albums before The Hall of the Mountain King, are good albums, the releases after that are much better.

Jon Oliva has a vocal range that is sometimes hard to believe and is one of the greatest Metal/non Metal singers in music, unfortunately they aren't around anymore, with all efforts going to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.