Last week, we stepped up our game a bit, keeping things on task and, well, for lack of a better word, “intelligent.” This week, we try to continue in a similar vein. In addition to reviewing some more of Metal Month’s new releases, we also see the return of the “Sh!t We Missed” segment, where we take a look at a few releases that, for one reason or another, we just didn’t get to when they came out. Actually, it’s during that segment when Brian takes a shot one of his fellow hosts’ mothers and brings the classiness down a notch or two…right about to your mom’s level.
Reviews: Barren Earth – The Devil’s Resolve; Primitive Weapons – The Shadow Gallery; Spawn of Possesison – Incurso
Sh!t We Missed: Alcest – Les Voyages de l’Âme; Iced Earth – Dystopia; Megadeth – Th1rt3en
The Sideshow Podcast 
1- NICE job on the “kyles mom” joke, Brian. Its a good start to humor at the expense of Kyle, next time though its a good idea not to let people know just how long you’ve been planning your one liners.
Speaking of one liners – “his other shirt has a dragon on it” almost got coffee out my nose this morning. well done.
2- this episode was the second time in the history of the show that I ever chapter skipped. sorry, but when brian and kyle bicker about a difference of opinion (not fact, not anything that can be proven one way or another – just opinion) for what seems like an eternity on one episode, I didnt feel like hearing that exact same debate with “fresh info” again two episodes later.
3- Its no secret that Nick is no fan of Zeppelin era Plant, I think the real question lurking in here is how he re-discovered the Robbert Plant of today.
Closet Alison Kraus fan?
4- Kyle. Stop making it so easy.
Telling the world your girl never climaxes is like inviting a whole world of jokes about you. Jokes I’m not even going to make. “brian” would have been all over those jokes, but since that cats out of the bag, I’ll give you a pass here.
Besides, when the door is left that wide open, maybe the real Brian can plan out his next big punch line on the topic. I know that my pointing it out on a Wednesday doesnt give him a whole week to think on it, but we’ll see how he does on sunday…
Closet fan? You know who he did a side project with! I was simply referring to his solo act which got some play on WCCC a couple years back.
How revealing……….
Nick, you need a Whole Lotta Love. (Ah-ah-ah-AH-ah-AH-AH-baybay-baybay-baybay……)
-Nick, I completely disagree about the transitions in Opeth’s music. If there is one band that makes the transitions between disparate sections work well, it is Opeth. For me, songs like Godhead’s Lament and The Leper Affinity are two examples of songs that have some great transitions.
-Kyle, regarding recent reviews of Every Time I Die, you touch on something that I think effects criticism of any kind. I think that all too often many reviewers project what they want or expect a thing to be, rather than stepping back and letting time have an effect on the music. But I also realize that you can’t review current releases without giving instant impressions. It will be interesting to find out next week what you missed the mark on.
-I agree with Brian that an album under 30 minutes is an EP. Charge me less money for that. I’m not really a fan of grindcore so I won’t buy that stuff anyway (even if it costs less for an EP).
-I am really liking that Alcest album. Not every album has to punch you in the face with aggression. Brian used the word “beautiful” to describe their music, which I think is apt. Alcest expands the boundaries of what metal can be.
-I actually don’t consider myself Megadeth fan, but I also don’t dislike them. When I posed the question about why you didn’t review their latest release last year, it was really more of a question as to why you didn’t review such a high profile metal release and I was curious as to your opinions of it. I’ve really only even listened to four Megadeth albums. I first heard one of their numerous greatest hits albums (Capitol Punishment) four years ago and liked some of those songs. Then I gave Rust In Peace a try and found it to be a solid album. Peace Sells is a little less solid but still not bad but not good enough to make me want to go out and listen to the rest of their albums. And 13 didn’t seem to have much on it to draw me in, so I only listened to it once or twice. Also, while Mustaine is in no way a good vocalist, his voice doesn’t bother me but I could certainly see how people can find his voice grating. Is Megadeth as good as Metallica? Absolutely not. But then again, who is?
-Iced Earth is another band that I first checked out a couple of years ago and liked some of their stuff and was wondering if Dystopia was worth a try and haven’t done so yet. A constant rotating cast of vocalists always makes me wonder about just how consistent a band can be.
-One comparison that can be made between Megadeth and Iced Earth (which really just means Dave Mustaine and Jon Schaffer) that they both use their public status to express their political views. Mustaine is a racist who just spouts random bullshit that makes no sense. But Jon Schaffer is someone who I actually agree with a lot of things on.
-Wait, Nick you can’t stand Robert Plant’s vocals in Led Zeppelin? Blasphemy.
Blasphemy all the way buddy! I’m not hating on the band as whole, just Mr. Plant. Just because you have crazy range does NOT mean it needs to be used at all times in all songs. There is a time and a place – he never learned when or where. Every one of his vocal lines sounds like the vocal exercises that “professional” singers do backstage without the mic turned on.
Sorry to disagree on Opeth, but I’ve given the band more than their fair shakedown over the years and just feel the bulk of their catalog is too sporadic to merit repeat listens. If the songs were three minutes I’d probably be more on board, but when they push the 15 minute mark 5 complete changes – that’s not one song, that’s 3 complete songs. I like what their going for, but I think Amorphis does it better.