Black and Death metal, just like all music genres, are 98% crap so it's very difficult to find good current bands. I seem to have the best luck going back a couple years to records that people more in touch with "the scene" have declared "classics"- that's how I got into Opeth and Deathspell. Brandon Stosuy's metal column for Pitchfork is great at introducing non-metal fans to good stuff- I think that's how I first heard of Krallice and WitTR. Basically I have a pretty limited scope of bands I listen to at any given time, in any given genre. Right now the new Wolves in the Throne Room and the most recent Meshuggah are the two metal albums getting the most playtime.
The problem I have with black metal is so much of it is just punk chords and sloppy drumming, recorded badly. The problem I have with death metal is so much of it is just needlessly technical riffs with idiotic grunty "demon" vocals. But bands that can avoid these cliches, now, those are the bands worth listening to. As far as death metal goes, I like earlier Opeth before they went all proggy. Arsis can be fun depending on mood. People keep telling me I'd like At the Gates but I have yet to check them out.
Oh god and GOJIRA how can I forget about them. They are so good. Even the goofy keyboard song on the newest record. Dude has the best voice in metal.
I looked up Gojira on myspace... I think we have some very different ideas on good metal, sir
. I'd still recommend Emperor, assuming you haven't heard them, and you might also enjoy Summoning (slower, epic, more atmospheric LotR-themed black metal) and Keep of Kalessin (I can't think of any good way to describe it, but it's some good BM).
Everyone knows the best vocalist in metal is... damn, I can't pick anyone in particular. Lord Worm? Nergal? Dead? There's some good ones. I'unno about any DM bands I'd name-drop, besides perhaps Decapitated. Check out
Winds of Creation or their song "Spheres of Madness," they're some of my favorites and might qualify as some good deth metul.
ATG is melodic death, similar to Dark Tranquillity, and pretty good. I prefer earlier In Flames (
Lunar Strain,
The Jester Race) for my melodeath fix; I'd recommend that too - but check out TJR first, I think you'll like that a lot more.
Do you like any industrial? You've mentioned techno a couple of times, don't remember if that came up, though. Anything there you'd recommend? My favorite is Psyclon Nine, you heard of 'em or enjoy it?
I liek mudkips okay I guess
So then, out of curiosity, how much of a /b/-tard are you? It would explain where Pintsize's twitter comes from...
For the day-to-day, I'm definitely a gag writer and artist before I'm a "storyteller." The story unfolds over such a slow, long-term arc, that it's only taking the work in as a whole (which, I should add, I have NEVER DONE BECAUSE AUGH MY OLD ART) that I could describe myself as a storyteller.
I was wondering because I've read the comic a couple of times through (I need a hobby) and I've always seen it as a story, moving at its own pace, with lots of tangents. I also see evidence of that in the individual comics. However, this might also stem from how I am artistically retarded, so while I notice the gradual changes, the day to day stuff is utterly lost on me. You've certainly done a great job of making the comic accessible from all sorts of perspectives.
