Every now and then, I take some time to re-experience Black Sabbath's first album, and marvel at just what a unique and groundbreaking creation it was, with particular emphasis on the song "NIB." Whereas Led Zeppelin (who I never was a fan of) showed how metal could be made accessible to a widespread audience, Sabbath went in the opposite direction, and showed just how dark and chilling it could be. To me, NIB has always been a sort of gothic antithesis to Stairway to Heaven - I love how the lyrics start off like any other romantic song, but then become increasingly creepy until the big reveal as to the narrator's actual identity.
Anyway, enough of my jibber jabber - here's the damn song!
I love music, sound and soundscapes. I especially like the atmosphere in music, but also raw emotions. I want music to carry me into its own world and feel surrounded by the sound, floating in it. I want the album to have a story/theme with the beginning and the end. Some years ago I went on a journey to explore music and find the one that suited the above description. It took me quite a while, but I managed to find the style of music that I absolutely love.
What instruments/sounds I especially enjoy: - guitar both clean and heavy distorted (slow, low and distorted being my favourite) - bass, or bass guitar with various types of sounds (clean bass with pick probably my favourite) - drums playing in almost tribal style, focused on toms. Slow, but complex - ambience/atmosphere achieved with all the sounds possible that fit the overall atmosphere, some drones and electronic sounds as well - vocals mostly shouted, in the background, sometimes hard to understand, which flows with the idea that the voice is a sound/instrument as well. Vocals are not needed. - folk instruments, especially bagpipes and tanpura
Now, the style of music that fits with what I was looking for is sometimes called "Post Metal", or "Sludge Metal". some bands dislike being called that, but it makes easier to find more of that style. The other way to call that would be post rock + metal. The overall style is known for slow tempo, songs changing from really heavy to very light, building up the atmosphere. This makes sometimes songs really long, but worth the listen. It usually is the best to listen to the whole album, as it feels almost like a book, with a complete story/theme.
My favourite album is The Galilean Satellites by Rosetta. The album contains two discs: one with the band playing, more metal style can be heard, the other has the ambience/atmosphere only. Both discs have 5 songs with nearly the same time. The thing is to listen to both discs simulatneously creating a very unique experience where ambience with heaviness comes together. So, there are actually 3 albums within one. 1) the 'metal' album (with song titles in French), 2) the 'atmosphere' album (names of the stars as the songs' titles) and 3) the combined experience. There are so many possibilities with the position of the speakers etc. but even listening to the combined songs as a one file is just amazing.
The album tells the story of a man in the future getting tired of living on the Earth, he can no longer bear to be here. He decides to leave alone in a spaceship and travel to the one of the Jupiter's moons - Europa. He sees his destination as a sort of paradise, the place where he'll find peace. Actually, he becomes obsessed with Europa so much, he can't think of anything else, but just to finally reach it ("Cry and I’ll have known, no way to live my life, another way.")
He percieves the moon as a person, his "mother" ("Mother Europa is calling me"). The journey is long and tough, but eventually he manages to land on Europa. After reaching his destination he realizes that the moon is a desolation, the icy desert - not the perfect place he dreamt of. He reflects his decision while wandering on Europa and comes to another realization, he left his family and all the ones he loved on Earth. ("I’m wandering, my time is almost up, this void is closing around, my own universe is all in another time, borrowed time, pay it back, I miss them all, the halves of me. I’m wandering.")
The man finally decides that he must go back to his true home. He leaves Europa with his spaceship. With such rush something goes wrong. He realizes that he won't be able to go back to Earth, or even return to Europa. With deep regret he admits how wrong he was, he calls himself just a shell of a man. He witnesses his downfall, both as his spaceship is about to crash and himself as a person ("An orbit gone wrong, The shell of a man, has lost his form again, The shell of man. Forgotten form, an orbit gone wrong. Descending, an orbit gone wrong.").
That's how I interpreted the album, it has so much emotion and atmosphere with intense and tragic story behind it. I love listening to it while I'm traveling to a distant and unknown places, unpopulated mostly, usually on a bicycle. I recommend listening to the whole album, while being alone, maybe on a journey, the combined version. Though the second disc has such an amazing atmosphere of outer space. I'll share the last song on the album, the last moments in the man's journey:
Comments
Can't get enough of Apocalypica's music style~
Every now and then, I take some time to re-experience Black Sabbath's first album, and marvel at just what a unique and groundbreaking creation it was, with particular emphasis on the song "NIB." Whereas Led Zeppelin (who I never was a fan of) showed how metal could be made accessible to a widespread audience, Sabbath went in the opposite direction, and showed just how dark and chilling it could be. To me, NIB has always been a sort of gothic antithesis to Stairway to Heaven - I love how the lyrics start off like any other romantic song, but then become increasingly creepy until the big reveal as to the narrator's actual identity.
Anyway, enough of my jibber jabber - here's the damn song!
10 minutes and 20 seconds of pure epic!
Happily have some punk and ska.
The Interrupters - Take Back The Power
Star Fucking Hipsters - Two Cups of Tea
Rancid - Salvation
Also in keeping with fantasy theme of this forum have this XD
Wake The White Wolf by Miracle Of Sound
Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside~
11/10 stars!
Early performance by Nirvana, before they developed their grunge sound.
The original demo for Karma Chameleon:
Taylor Swift's attempt at appealing to metal fans:
Not one of their best performances but a memorable one
It's disappointing to see how much Metallica has mellowed with age:
Megadeth's shows just aren't what they used to be:
Celine Dion's voice sounds a bit raspier than usual here:
Wow, Miley Cyrus sure has grown up fast!
Gosh, Slayer just doesn't live up to their name anymore:
I love music, sound and soundscapes. I especially like the atmosphere in music, but also raw emotions. I want music to carry me into its own world and feel surrounded by the sound, floating in it. I want the album to have a story/theme with the beginning and the end. Some years ago I went on a journey to explore music and find the one that suited the above description. It took me quite a while, but I managed to find the style of music that I absolutely love.
What instruments/sounds I especially enjoy:
- guitar both clean and heavy distorted (slow, low and distorted being my favourite)
- bass, or bass guitar with various types of sounds (clean bass with pick probably my favourite)
- drums playing in almost tribal style, focused on toms. Slow, but complex
- ambience/atmosphere achieved with all the sounds possible that fit the overall atmosphere, some drones and electronic sounds as well
- vocals mostly shouted, in the background, sometimes hard to understand, which flows with the idea that the voice is a sound/instrument as well. Vocals are not needed.
- folk instruments, especially bagpipes and tanpura
Now, the style of music that fits with what I was looking for is sometimes called "Post Metal", or "Sludge Metal". some bands dislike being called that, but it makes easier to find more of that style. The other way to call that would be post rock + metal. The overall style is known for slow tempo, songs changing from really heavy to very light, building up the atmosphere. This makes sometimes songs really long, but worth the listen. It usually is the best to listen to the whole album, as it feels almost like a book, with a complete story/theme.
My favourite album is The Galilean Satellites by Rosetta. The album contains two discs: one with the band playing, more metal style can be heard, the other has the ambience/atmosphere only. Both discs have 5 songs with nearly the same time. The thing is to listen to both discs simulatneously creating a very unique experience where ambience with heaviness comes together. So, there are actually 3 albums within one. 1) the 'metal' album (with song titles in French), 2) the 'atmosphere' album (names of the stars as the songs' titles) and 3) the combined experience. There are so many possibilities with the position of the speakers etc. but even listening to the combined songs as a one file is just amazing.
The album tells the story of a man in the future getting tired of living on the Earth, he can no longer bear to be here. He decides to leave alone in a spaceship and travel to the one of the Jupiter's moons - Europa. He sees his destination as a sort of paradise, the place where he'll find peace. Actually, he becomes obsessed with Europa so much, he can't think of anything else, but just to finally reach it ("Cry and I’ll have known, no way to live my life, another way.")
He percieves the moon as a person, his "mother" ("Mother Europa is calling me"). The journey is long and tough, but eventually he manages to land on Europa. After reaching his destination he realizes that the moon is a desolation, the icy desert - not the perfect place he dreamt of. He reflects his decision while wandering on Europa and comes to another realization, he left his family and all the ones he loved on Earth. ("I’m wandering, my time is almost up, this void is closing around, my own universe is all in another time, borrowed time, pay it back, I miss them all, the halves of me. I’m wandering.")
The man finally decides that he must go back to his true home. He leaves Europa with his spaceship. With such rush something goes wrong. He realizes that he won't be able to go back to Earth, or even return to Europa. With deep regret he admits how wrong he was, he calls himself just a shell of a man. He witnesses his downfall, both as his spaceship is about to crash and himself as a person ("An orbit gone wrong, The shell of a man, has lost his form again, The shell of man. Forgotten form, an orbit gone wrong. Descending, an orbit gone wrong.").
That's how I interpreted the album, it has so much emotion and atmosphere with intense and tragic story behind it. I love listening to it while I'm traveling to a distant and unknown places, unpopulated mostly, usually on a bicycle. I recommend listening to the whole album, while being alone, maybe on a journey, the combined version. Though the second disc has such an amazing atmosphere of outer space. I'll share the last song on the album, the last moments in the man's journey:
Rosetta - Au Pays Natal/Sol
Old skool. Kiss - I Love It Loud