It's been a while indeed. I've moved farther from my old preference of thrash and "heavy" metal, instead going more into various mostly-dark mostly-progressive metal. I haven't really listened to thrash in months, and "heavy" for longer. Katatonia and Opeth have risen above Testament and Megadeth to now stand as my two overall favorite bands. "Leaders" by Katatonia has overtaken Megadeth's "Hangar 18" as my favorite song, and I've grown to prefer Katatonia's Brave Murder Day, Edge of Sanity's Crimson, and a few Opeth albums over even Rust in Peace. That said, I still hold Rust in Peace as my favorite thrash album, just no longer my favorite album overall.
My biggest personal discovery since my last post has probably been the Polish progressive rock/metal band Riverside. I was turned on to them by YouTube music reviewer CoverKillerNation's review of their newest album, Shrine of New Generation Slaves, and decided to check out their previous albums. Glad I did. My favorite albums by them turned out to be the first, Out of Myself, and 2009's Anno Domini High Definition, but this band is very consistent and has evolved over the course of their discography. Out of Myself is somewhat darker (which is probably why I like it as much as I do) than the following albums, but I personally think that there isn't a bad album to be found by Riverside. They sound somewhat close to a somewhat darker Porcupine Tree or post-death/doom Anathema, but I actually prefer Riverside to either of those bands, as good as they are. If you are a fan of progressive metal and have not done so already, I would definitely give Riverside a listen. As for which album to start with, I would probably just go chronologically. My friend actually didn't like Out of Myself as much as I do and that's all he's tried so far, but even if you don't like the first one I would still give Second Life Syndrome or Anno Domini High Definition a try, as, like I said, the band has evolved over their career thus far.
Another more-recent personal discovery is the "folk"/black/doom metal band Agalloch. This band is actually why I decided to write - I'm really excited about them, and they are continuing to grow on me. Often, they sound something like a cross between early Katatonia, Enslaved, and maybe some early Opeth. From these similarities, I would see why I like this band so much, but there is something unique about Agalloch as well. The constant in their sound is a very bleak atmosphere - whether a particular song is more metallish or more of an interlude, it's always bleak, and this atmosphere is presented very powerfully. To me, this is awesome stuff. Kind of interesting also that they are from the U.S., as they sound a lot like a Scandinavian band. I can definitely see Agalloch growing on me further - I wouldn't be surprised if they jump up my Last.fm charts as Katatonia and Riverside did.
That's about it for now I guess. I got tickets to see Katatonia and Opeth at two venues on their upcoming tour, that should be awesome. Also the first time I'm seeing more than one show of a tour! Since I last posted, I've also seen Paradise Lost, Devin Townsend, Katatonia, Machine Head, and Dethklok.
Thanks for reading! Not sure when my next post will be...
Now listening to: Agalloch
Recent top songs: Agalloch - You Were But a Ghost In My Arms, Katatonia - Dissolving Bonds, Agalloch - I Am the Wooden Doors
Recent acquisitions: Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused to Sing, Wintersun - Wintersun, Amorphis - Skyforger, Agalloch - Pale Folklore
