Natrlhi's 2011 End of Year List Orgy

[larvtard]

It's weird, but I find that a lot of Kurt Ballou-produced bands lack in the live department. I think it's because he's just such an goddamn amazing producer that bands can't live up to their albums on stage

I really liked the new direction Trap Them took on Handcraft. Less grind, more catchy and fun.

[Seventhzealot]

Originally Posted by Natrlhi

Here are some hints for the next five:

#49 is the first of many slabs of female-fronted awesomeness to grace the Sexy Sixty this year.
#48 is a very similar album to one I just reviewed, except that it was released by Profound Lore and not Translation Loss.
#47 is the first of the plethora of old-school death metal albums released in 2011 to crack the Sexy Sixty.
#46 is a sludge / doom album by a band that I've been trying to like for a while now, and this year's release finally did it for me.
#45 is another doom album, by a band that I had never heard of before last year, and whom I'm really sorry I missed on tour in 2011.

#49 - Landmine Marathon
#48 - The Atlas Moth
#47 - Morbus Chron
#46 - YOB
#45 - Rwake

[Natrlhi]

Originally Posted by Seventhzealot

#49 - Landmine Marathon
#48 - The Atlas Moth
#47 - Morbus Chron
#46 - YOB
#45 - Rwake

One of these is correct, and three out of the remaining four are coming up later in the list. I'll also throw out there that I'm not familiar with Morbus Chron at all (something I should remedy, perhaps), so they're not on the list anywhere.

More coming later today, I hope.

Oh, and @ Larv, good comments. I think you might have something there with the "Ballou Factor".

EDIT: It makes sense to note that a lot of the bands he produces are somewhat in the hardcore / noisy category, so of course it's gonna be pretty hard to make music like that sound particularly crisp in a live setting.

[Seventhzealot]

Originally Posted by Natrlhi

One of these is correct, and three out of the remaining four are coming up later in the list. I'll also throw out there that I'm not familiar with Morbus Chron at all (something I should remedy, perhaps), so they're not on the list anywhere.

More coming later today, I hope.

Oh, and @ Larv, good comments. I think you might have something there with the "Ballou Factor".

EDIT: It makes sense to note that a lot of the bands he produces are somewhat in the hardcore / noisy category, so of course it's gonna be pretty hard to make music like that sound particularly crisp in a live setting.

Definitely

[Natrlhi]

49. Arch Enemy - Khaos Legions

This album has some good, some bad, and some ugly features.

The good: several tracks (especially at the top of the album) rock VERY hard, and are classic AE melodeath anthems; lots of killer solos (although a few more wouldn't be a bad thing); lots of cool riffs; Angela's vocals work really well on several tracks, even though they are a bit one-dimensional; and the acoustic version of "Snowbound" at the end of the album.

The bad: the album cover (lame); the cheesy spoken word part of the album's intro (the remainder is fine, it's just the spoken part that's fucking silly); the synths during the chorus of "Cruelty Without Beauty" (which is an otherwise solid track); the fact that the bass is nearly undetectable on this album; and some of Angela's vocals border on "thanks, but you're trying too hard".

The ugly: the lyrics...ugh, some of them are just so bad - one would think that a band that's this good otherwise, would try to do a little something to clear up this glaring issue someday, but no.

Overall, I think the good significantly outweighs the bad here, and I still like this album quite a bit. It's not quite as good as some of their earlier work, but it's still solid, and it's better than their last studio release Rise of the Tyrant, which is a good sign.

[SomewhereInTime72]

Originally Posted by Natrlhi

the synths during the chorus of "Cruelty Without Beauty" (which is an otherwise solid track);

No, wtf I love that part.

Agreed on all other counts though, even though I've come to expect moldy cheese in lyrical form from AE by now.

[kalfitegrdan]

Aw, man, I was gonna guess that too. I wasn't too fond of the album until I heard some of the tracks played live. That bumped the album from meh to decent.

[Natrlhi]

Originally Posted by SomewhereInTime72

No, wtf I love that part.

I did too, at first - but then for some reason it just started sounding cheesy to me upon further listens. To each his own.

Originally Posted by SomewhereInTime72

Agreed on all other counts though, even though I've come to expect moldy cheese in lyrical form from AE by now.

Yeah, that's pretty much true.

It seems to be getting worse, though. At a certain point, you just gotta say, "got DAMN, that cheese is getting stinky!"

Originally Posted by kalfitegrdan

Aw, man, I was gonna guess that too. I wasn't too fond of the album until I heard some of the tracks played live. That bumped the album from meh to decent.

Yeah, I actually considered not having it in the Sexy Sixty and replacing it with something else, but I guess I just decided that if Arch Enemy put out a release in any given year, and it didn't suck, it should probably make the list.

Kinda lame, I guess. The fact is, though, I still get a random urge to listen to the album once in a while, though, and that's more than I can say for the stuff that didn't make the Sexy Sixty.

[GarageMetal468]

Please tell me 47 is Towards the Megalith

[Natrlhi]

Originally Posted by GarageMetal468

Please tell me 47 is Towards the Megalith

I said OLD SCHOOL death metal, man - not new school.

(Relax, you'll see that album on my list. The good news is that it is much further up. )