They were great! We have a good venue that books metal shows pretty frequently about a 20 minutes from here (that one) and then one that's an hour and a half away. The night DT was playing, Flotsam & Jetsam and Hellstar were playing at the further venue. Sometimes I have to travel to that one to catch some good bands, like when I saw Death Angel a little over a month ago and Havok last summer (met Dave Sanchez!). So, it's a wash. :S

Sometimes you have to travel to see what you want. The most extreme example of that was when I went to Germany to see Running Wild live. One of the best trips of my life!

I do like Messhugah. VERY technical. I could see why they wouldn't move around. Too much concentration needed to play that stuff.

Thanks for the tip on DT btw. I'm checking them out now.

One of the bands opening up for the Dark Tranquility show I mentioned earlier was "Leave's Eyes". Very similar. You'd probably dig 'em

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b15yaPYNDRU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWQQ1Gxo7sc

Illumenium - Dream made of stone

They're an independent band from Estonia, meaning no label, selling their CD on the streets (or through their website illumenium.com) - that's how I meet them 5 days ago in Switzerland outside of a shopping center.
.... what can I say? They managed what 10 other known bands didn't achieved in the last 6 months: being put on auto-rotation in my car.

Ｔａｋｅ　Ｍｙ　Ｃｈａｎｃｅ/DOLL＄BOXX
monopoly /DOLL＄BOXX

I'm having a Kawaii weekend :D

BAND-MAID / the non-fiction days

LADYBABY "アゲアゲマネー ～おちんぎん大作戦～ this one is a bit nsfw

DEATHRABBITS (デスラビッツ) - Koisuru Kisetsu (恋する季節)

I kinda feel bad for these ladies. I've listened to the "New Beginning" album and thought that the musicianship was top notch, metal or not. I wonder if they are "maids" by choice.

Now for something completely different, one of my all time favs, Spiral Architect's one and only masterpiece:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7ZipHFZTaY

According to an interview I read it's by choice as the lead singer use to work in a Maid café, and "I thought that it would be cool to combine cute uniforms with cool music"

something new for me:

Maximum the Hormone - Yoshu Fukushu

Nice coincidence, Buikikaesu & Yoshu Fukushu (the album) have been rotating on my workout playlist for the past months, truly pumping stuff :) These guys are awesome in general, their lyrics too, the most innocuous sounding happy melodies turn out to be about rape and murder :) Their subtitled music videos get taken down from youtube all the time though...

Pain of Salvation - Meaningless

New song for the upcoming album "In the Passing Light of Day". I hope the song does not represent the entire album or i'll be utterly disappointed.

some new songs:

WORDS OF FAREWELL - My Share of Loneliness
Really like the new CD's Cover. Really like the new CD, listened a bit on youtube (yay for autoplay) and when I'm off to the big cities I'll pick it up :D

Minotaurus - Insolubilis

Dark Sarah - Aquarium feat. Charlotte Wessels

break my fucking sky - eviscerate soul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjgnyPGAgp8

Ahh Band-Maid, I love this band, but I really wish they would drop the whole maid outfits thing/gimmick much like Scandal eventually dropped the school uniforms. You would think that their awesome musicianship, songwriting, and the fact that it's an all female rock/metal band would be enough of a draw, but I guess they or their management feel the need to continue the maid gimmick.

I had just purchased the new Metallica album especially after listening on Youtube to Dream No More and Moth Into Flame. I look forward to listening to this to block out my family's annoying voices today for Thanksgiving.

I was listening to Metallica as well, as I just realized that they put the entire album on their official Youtube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJvQXRgtxlumAHceNRk3cx3P7MZVUCdBl

After a few spins I honestly don't think this new album is lacking in quality compared to their other mid-career releases. It's just that the style feels a bit dated and stale.

If this'd come out in the 90s I bet it'd have been a hit. In 2016, after listening to this and that for decades, this sounds passable and boring to me. Still good for a chat with friends over beers, or as workout bgm, but nothing I'd sit down and listen to.

It's also sad to think that I'd probably feel the same thing for Master of Puppets (in my book a masterpiece in no-frills no-nonsense metal), if I listened to it for the very first time today. How times have changed...

- Artillery - When Death Comes
- Artillery - B. A. C. K.
- Artillery - Penalty by Perception
- ARTILLERY - By Inheritance