Primordial

[jobrok1]

They have enough festival friendly big chorus songs. TGW and TTND churned out enough and arguably the best of these.
Everything since has been of little interest to me, personnally. And would prefer they leave all that behind and move on a bit.

They need to get back to making something more honest with some real fire in it's belly. So maybe going back to revisit some of their past glories for the next album is what's needed to inspire them to make something more inovative again down the line.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Alan's long had apparent difficulty in reconciling, on the one hand, the expected underground call to reject all that is mainstream with, on the other hand, the desire to actively appeal to as wide an audience as possible. So, you'd see him giving out about people filming on mobile phones during concerts, but then posting videos of performances of theirs recorded from the audience on a mobile phone. Or railing against Spotify, but then openly advertising their presence on Spotify. Telling people for years that the spirit of metal is X, Y, Z but then doing the opposite because, well, AC/DC and Iron Maiden have street cred too and they wrote crowd pleasers. There's a tension there between two worlds, pulling in opposite directions, but so far that tension hasn't proved a creative one. Which would require a way of reconciling the two. So, either they try to do that. Or they embrace one of those worlds fully. Or they release another album that follows in the vein of sitting a little bit uncomfortably between the two.

[Pagan Saviour]

Yep, that's a good way of putting it.


And, the podcast made me think Primordial are not the only ones that have that difficulty. I was thinking recently the same goes for Behemoth, although for me a band that are currently not fit to be mentioned in the same breath as Primordial. They've gone completely pantomime, a far cry from their black metal roots or even the early death metal period. It seems like every ounce of their material has to involve crowd participation and so little of what they play is live. I've seen footage of their tour rehearsals and there's so much stuff piped in through the PA. Nergal is kind of similar to Alan in respects to the points you've made about Spotify etc. Urging fans to rebel against religion, the state etc on one had yet narking on people for not taking their vaccine - that's rock and roll for you.

A bit of a tangent maybe but definitely a topic worth discussing, and I get it with those bands - they've all done their time and toiled away for years, something has to give at some stage.   

[Cosmic_Equilibrium]

TTND perfected their style at that point and is still their most accessible album. But Redemption felt forced and never really held my interest.

I don't get the disparagement for WGMHF though. Admittedly it's more of a compilation of songs than a coherent album, but there are four very good songs in there and the others are OK. Quite a bit of classic rock influence in a couple of the tracks which would have been interesting to pursue.

Exile sounded more coherent than anything since TTND but I've never played it more than a few times though it is a good album still.

[Circlepit]

Reading through these past few pages has me itching to have another play through the catalogue despite just recently doing so.

It's a good back and forth to have going on, it shows there is still quite a level of respect and care for the band.
He hammered home the pride he still has in TTND on the podcast and taking it at face value it is a fantastic album.
It really stands up to other bands output that are in or around that level and beyond.

[jpm4]

I sincerely doubt Alan has any interest or intention of revisiting a more underground sound. For him the album is a necessary evil to get out and do festivals, and if releasing an album with a couple of Empire Falls songs on it lets him go to far off places and play live then fine.

I've no problem with that attitude myself, he's aware it's the autumn of the band at best now and just wants to enjoy it.

[Cailleach]

Exile Amongst the Ruins has become one of my favourite Primordial albums.

[jpm4]

Exile Amongst the Ruins has become one of my favourite Primordial albums.

Me too surprisingly. It's like their version of Iron Maiden's Killers - it doesn't have the stand out songs of other albums but sounds great and way more consistent than the 2 records before. The risks also paid off in doing a couple of atypical songs.

[jobrok1]

I'll have to give it a proper go, by the sounds of it.
Never really gave it a chance after the two before it.

[Don Gately]

I have Exile in the car stereo. Must give it a spin

[Cailleach]

Exile Amongst the Ruins has become one of my favourite Primordial albums.

Me too surprisingly. It's like their version of Iron Maiden's Killers - it doesn't have the stand out songs of other albums but sounds great and way more consistent than the 2 records before. The risks also paid off in doing a couple of atypical songs.

That's it exactly. It is one of those album that grows on you.

[Grim Reality]

What pod does AA talk about the band maybe looking towards the end?

I listened to the TTND one mentioned and it's not on that I think?

Just on his pod thing, there's some great snippets of info/insight here and there but he has a tendency to ramble and often says the same thing 2 or 3 times in a row. The ones where he chats with someone are best. I've only listened to the a few of them, mind.

[Eoin McLove]

In whichever one is before the TTND one he mentions it. Check the podcast number and work back.

[Caomhaoin]

Gave Exiled a spin for the first time in ages thanks to the waffle here, I have to concur with some of the above comments, it's a good, coherent record without needing a 'dah-ancing at Sintraaa' or whatever as an earworm.

I have a few days off and its fuckin' freezing out so I'm going to settle in for an evening or two with Alan and friends, send the young lad to his room with a few sambos and his iPad.

[Don Gately]

I enjoy his podcast. Yes he rambles on a bit but interesting all the same.