Gotta love that someone has a master's degree in noodles.

That's pretty specific.
I could understand having a degree in a certain culinary culture, but on a single dish? It would be like having a master's degree in protons instead of nuclear physics or whatever.

Anyone else excited about upcoming shows this year? I got tickets to High Spirits, Gloryhammer/Twilight Force, Milwaukee metal fest (Friday) Metallica and Iron Maiden so far. Probably going to go to Vader, Judas Priest and the Decibel tour as well. The Milwaukee metal fest has the most insane lineup!

lots of stuff coming up like Sextrash, Impiety in the coming month and Lankum in April to name a couple. Looking forward to Hells Heroes and Roadburn festival wise.

I don't use this site as much as I used to, so color me amazed and bewildered that someone added 737 live Metallica albums to their entry dating from 2004 to 2023.

Wait, that's the actual count?

723 I believe

It makes their page very annoying to use. Are they even actual individual releases? If it's just downloads of the soundboard then I personally think it's in the grey zone. Actual live albums should be stand-alone releases with their own artwork and promotion. Do these Metallica releases fit in the same category as Live after Death or Live Evil?

Many Priest fans are pretty down on Rocka Rolla, but Dying to Meet you has one of the most catchy and memorable hard rock/heavy metal riffs of all time (starts at 4:34):

Nightfall is still the greatest doom album ever recorded.

That is all.

Words of wisdom!

Disagree, if for no other reason than it's not even Candlemass' best album.

(That's right, Epicus fanboy right here).

Oh yeah, definitely; I already got tickets to see shows from Machine Head, Candlemass, Decapitated, Priest, MDF, and Maiden later this year, and it's still only January!

Thirty years ago today Black Sabbath released by far their weakest album: Cross Purposes.

And while Forbidden does earn its place at the bottom tier of their studio albums, it really is not as bad a record as everyone says. As a matter of fact, I like it better than Dehumanizer, believe it or not.

Oh god, where do I start.

You are absolutely correct that Forbidden is not as bad as everyone says. But better than Dehumanizer???????????????

Also Cross Purposes is the best one with Tony Martin. Nice and riffy.

You should take this to the Unpopular Opinions thread.

Dehumanizer is arguably the heaviest Black Sabbath album. But heavier doesn’t always equate to better. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a solid album, but it’s just not my thing. It comes off too much like Sabbath trying to do the Painkiller thing.

Dude........

IMO Painkiller is massively overrated and comparing Dehumanizer to it unfavorably, just, ouch..... I really don't hear the Painkiller similarities, other than maybe going in a heavier direction in (what was) later in their career, but that's it.

I have another hot take: Judged purely on musical merits, Seventh Star is better than any Black Sabbath album that came after it. Very bluesy, but so many great riffs throughout the runtime.
Does it sound closer to Whitesnake than Black Sabbath? Sure. But it’s just a great record to listen to, especially in the context that it was supposed to be a solo effort. I stand by that one as one of the most underrated in the Sabb studio discography.

More people should give it another chance.

I actually did give it another chance very recently, and I still haven't warmed up to it very much.... Though the title track is a great song and I also like Heart Like a Wheel and In For the Kill.

As far as Bluesy Sabbath goes I'll take the debut + Fairies Wear Boots over Seventh Star any day of the week.

Forbidden was just sad. Just a poor work...

Cross Purposes was pretty solid, I always enjoyed it any time I played it.

Dehumanizer, I would actually agree on - it's fine and all but it never truly clicked for me and none of the songs really stood out as memorable despite being impressive on a technical level. The Devil You Know always had more memorable tunes for me.

I sometimes forget that, even in 2024, there are still a fuckton of homophobes in America. I do love my country, but we have a lot of nerve calling ourselves the greatest nation on earth.

I was out with my good friends, and one of them brought along his boyfriend. Nothing weird or unusual.

However, some shithead just felt the need to call us out because he must have spotted them exchanging a quick kiss.

"Hey, guys. I don't mean to be rude or anything, but you know there are kids around, right? We would appreciate if you guys could not do that here..."

At first we were confused, didn't really know what they were referring to. Maybe someone had said something particularly crass or something, IDK.
I don't drink, but my buddies had some cocktails and they were feeling a bit loose by the time this happened...

"Sorry, we'll try to keep it down!"

"No, it's not that..."

they were trying to be coy about it, which is hilarious because they know it's socially wrong to say anything like that openly.

We put two and two together and told the person to get fucked. I told them I hope the kids they're so worried about discover that they're gay when they're older just to spite them. They obviously didn't appreciate that, but they ultimately tucked their tail between their legs and fucked off to go do whatever they were doing before.

Sometimes I wish it was legal to hit people...

One good thing I've noticed is I haven't really noticed any outcry against Don't Ask Don't Tell being repealed, so I guess even homophobes are ok with gays in the military. That's something, at least.

Good chance the average idiot on the street doesn't even know it was repealed, or remember what it was. Do you think the average American citizen pays attention to politics and current events aside from what their small-minded party lines are?

I was more referring to online. Social media is full of right wing idiots constantly spouting their ass backward opinions, but I've not seen them complain about the repeal of DADT.

I guess sources like FoxNews and OAN haven't used it as a boogeyman.

I love watching these idiots basically making a fool of themselves between one idiotic take to another. So many online "true men" who "hold the traditional values" actually crumble when facing the thing called real life.

Just got a random $30 Visa gift card from my state's department of health for filling out some kind of Covid survey. Used it to buy the new Acerus, Madder Mortem and Sarmat albums - good surprise...

New computer? Sweet!

Good band anyway.

Check it: https://luxinframundisproductions.bandc ... serenade-2

I listened a bit to The Tertiary Rite. They really do sound like Manilla Road, and you know what I think of Manilla Road.

I knew the main guy's stuff from so long ago in The Chasm, way before he sounded like Manilla Road... but yeah it is what it is, at the end of the day! Certainly its own niche.

There's a band (I want to say some strain of technical DM) that released an album within the last few years that was themed on Chinese history (and I believe the main dude in the band was also Chinese), but I'm blanking on the band name now. Does this ring a bell for anyone at all? I haven't been able to find it using the advanced search tools...

EDIT: Found it, it was Ripped to Shreds, album is Jubian.

Bewitched's Encyclopedia Of Evil kills.
Cars with CD players > Cars without CD players.

I just decided to hit "Random Band" on the main page until I finally landed on a band I'd heard before. 23 clicks until I got Thantifaxath.

Took me 9 until I got one I knew of: https://www.metal-archives.com/band/view/id/3540382619

Took me fuckin' 23 before I landed on Make a Change... Kill Yourself, who I've never actually listened to but is at least a band I was aware of existing before clicking. Thought I had it way earlier when I got Skelator in five but it turns out there are multiple Skelators out there and this wasn't the one I knew. Poser confirmed.

You guys must know a lot of bands! Took me 173 clicks to get to Death Dealer.
But I had lots of fun along the way. Fantastic logos and fantastic band names. How about doom band Scrooge? Or stoner band Lunch?

Then there's the band pics! Check this out:
https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Mo ... 3540266814

11 clicks to get to Applaud the Impaler. Lots of really obscure bands out there.

The real game is seeing how many clicks it takes to land on Bob Macabre.

It took 5 clicks to get to Misery Loves Co., which is a cool band to check out if you're into bands like Fear Factory and Ministry.

23 to land on Cannibal Corpse. There's gotta be a prize for that, right?