HYLI Vol. XIII - At The Gates and Genesis
Andy sends Patrick some beloved melo-death from Sweden and Patrick sends Andy some prog from England
We’re back to me, Patrick, writing these here intros. I got one whole entire solitary week of contribution from my beloved friend and newsletter partner, Andrew, and he has swiftly abandoned me. Guess what, I’m sick again. COVID came and went, I had a week and a half of feeling like God couldn’t touch me, and now I have a sinus infection. I’m supposed to run a half marathon in four days. Lol.
At The Gates - Slaughter of the Soul
Andy: Back to your regularly scheduled “Important Metal Albums That Pat Has Missed (Since He Is A Known Coward).” (Patrick: this isn’t entirely true. I have heard At the Gates. I have heard songs from this album. Just not the whole thing. Who cares). Here is At The Gates. They popularized melodic death metal - a great genre of music. At The Gates, In Flames, and Dark Tranquility are really the big dudes of Swedish melo-death. Kings. After this album they broke up for a hundred years or something and a bunch of the guys formed The Haunted which is another good band.
I have no idea what Pat will think of these vocals. Just to clarify, they’re good. All this shit is good. Good riffs. Good drumming. Just simple good melo-death. It rules. I Hope You Like It.
Patrick: I don’t really know why Andy thought I wouldn’t like these vocals (Andy: You usually don’t like good vocals). Does he read what I type in these at all (Andy: Who is this?)? Probably not. That’s okay. Anyways, I loved this, obviously. It feels a bit close to cheating since I have heard probably more At the Gates than any other band we’ve done here with the exception of Sepultura. I just haven’t heard this album start to finish prior to this week. But, in any case, yeah - this shit rules. The guitars riff the perfect amount and then die back at the exact right moment to lay down some melody before resuming riffing. The drums fucking smack you in the chest like a sledgehammer. And the vocals rule. Tomas Lindberg is a big homie - I’m literally always saying this. You could tell me there was no bass on this album and I probably wouldn’t believe you, since this isn’t The Doors, but it wouldn’t be the biggest stretch. In any case, I Liked It I Liked It A Lot.
Genesis - Foxtrot
Patrick: I picked Genesis this week because I know Andy isn’t necessarily in love with progressive metal, but I feel like with non-metal, he tends to prefer stuff that is a bit left of center (Andy: Fuck the center), so I thought some progressive rock might work a bit more for him. Genesis isn’t my favorite prog-rock band (King Crimson), but Foxtrot might be my favorite prog-rock album. Genesis with Peter Gabriel on vocals and Phil Collins on drums, before Gabriel would leave and Collins would take over singing as well, was something special. This album, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, and Selling England by the Pound all work for me in a way that none of their other stuff really does, though a few singles here and there still hit. The guitars on this album make me want to put down the instrument for good (Andy: Then do it). Just insane, wacky shit. “Watcher of the Skies” is a top-tier song. This band of little bald dweebs fucking rocks (Andy: They’re all bald?). I Hope You Like It.
Andy: I was going to make an American Psycho joke but apparently Patrick Bateman “really didn't understand any of their work” pre-1980, so sure (Patrick: he also killed people. Think of the victims). I don’t know anything about Genesis. Shocking, I know. I’m also not going to Google (the wiki page is the length of a Harry Potter book), so I will just ask questions randomly into the void and assume Pat will answer them (Patrick: I’m here thanks).
This is way better than I thought it would be. This band has a bit of a Boston vibe to them, no? (Patrick: I would say no. This is probably the first time they’ve been mentioned together, at least when discussing the Gabriel-led era as opposed to Collins-led, when I can hear it a bit more). Like this first track they just took from an unused Boston b-side. Am I wrong to think this fits in with like, Boston and Rush and Bowie? (Patrick: Rush and Bowie, sure. Boston, who sounds nothing like Rush and Bowie, maybe not lol). This entire record has a lot going on. At the same time, it does it all really well? “Can-Utility and the Coastliners” has a sweet keyboard-driven solo part that would really open up the pit. This Phil Collins guy is a pretty neat drummer no? So I guess Peter Gabriel is lead vocals here and Phil does some and then eventually Peter bails and then Patrick Bateman starts to understand them (Patrick: precisely).
I truly have no idea what they are singing about most of the time. Is “Get ‘Em Out By Friday” about a dude looking for an apartment? Man I’ve been so smooth-brain lyric-wise for the last few weeks and this just made me confused and scared and I have no idea what is going on. Where does Genesis get off making a 23-minute closer?
This was good. The album art sucks ass and it’s way too long (Patrick: it’s a good thing I didn’t send you The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway), but still good. I like it.