Psychedelic Metal Bands

[Xenodimensional]

Heavy music. Psychedelic. I'll start the ball rolling:

Fredrik Thordendals Special Defects are about as psychedelic as it gets - although Fredrik might be a bit too heavy for a lot of folks.... well recommended if you like heavy/jazz music and psychedelic phenomenom!

Here's some various Fredrik excerpts (psychedelic JazzMetal warning):

http://www.myspace.com/specialdefects (try z1 Reticuli)

http://www.myspace.com/fredrikthordendalsspecialdefects

 

 

Alchemist (a psychedelic metal band from Canberra - not the electro act)

http://www.alchemist.com.au/html/latest-info.htm

 

and

Meshuggah (surely you've heard of them? Their album Catch 33 is an epic auditory trip - they and Tool occasionally co-inspire each other)

http://meshuggah.net/

 

 

Anyone got any more?

[botanika]

Whatever happened to alchemist? I will have to check out their link. I used to know the band when they first started out while growing up in Canberra. They had James Preece on bass then. Another mate did all their early artwork. Very talented painter called Guy Warren. I listened to 3 of their cd's but have no idea what they've done recently.

Some other bands to check out: big elf, orange goblin, kyuss, opeth, good ole tumbleweed from Wollongong... Also going back in time to the 60's the band 'blue cheer' were pretty heavy and influencial for their psychedelic era.

Edited July 9, 2009 by botanika

[Rabelais]

What about those grand instrumental bands that blur the lines between Post Rock and Metal?...bands like Isis and Pelican...would that be counted as psychedelic?

[Neoshaman]

I think Mr Bungle is a good head fuck when cid is involved

Edited July 9, 2009 by neoshaman

[Yawning Man]

...bands like Isis and Pelican...would that be counted as psychedelic?

They are to me Two great bands imo. Fredrik Thordendals, is he the guitarist from Meshuggah?

cheers

[ThunderIdeal]

yep. i recall on his sol niger album, maybe track 19 or something, is this heap of words that kinda blows me away. really intense choice of words, kinda like you'd expect to hear from the dude.

[ajna]

yeah that's a cool album that one

havent listened to as much metal these days, but i was probably always more into the sludgey/droney/stoner side than the technical metal anyway.

first to come to mind is Italy's Ufomammut. these guys are also the art collective known as Malleus, you would probably recognise the style from heaps of band posters

live clip -

with some genre bending, i'd also recommend Boris, Sunn O))), Sleep, Om, Electric Wizard...

Edited July 9, 2009 by ajna

[holymountain]

Om, Boris, SunO))), Sleep, Om, Electric Wizard are all awesome....sludgy stuff. I find Om particularly meditative and hypnotic. Though I don't think I could handle listening to any of those groups whilst tripping. I think it woud send me to some pretty dark places.

Mastodon are metal band that reek of psychedelics. Their artwork is really cool and their lyrics are often about stuff like astral projection and wormholes and trippy things like that. Their last two albums are epic, prog-thrash-metal-trippy classics.

Tool of course are one of the best and for me, were an introduction to a lot of things e.g alex grey, bill hicks, prying open my third eye etc.

peace.

[holymountain]

edit double post

Edited July 9, 2009 by holymountain

[Stinkmeat]

Pretty much all the ones I was going to say have already been said.

I s'pose the category is pretty open to interpretation. So here's a few more.

Decapitated.

Dillinger Escape Plan.

Fantomas (Mike Patton)

Opeth (well some of it)

Textures

And of course, Tool. What Holy Mountain said ^^^

[Pelinster]

Would you guys classify Soulfly as being Psychedelic? A lot of their stuff actually reminds me of Alchemist.. I can't help but think that either Max has heard Alchemist - well at least their early stuff (Man I LOVE Lunasphere and still listen to it frequently - actually listened to it yesterday!), either that or they are both drawing from the same energy (psychedelia?) haha..

I am really digging the direction Soulfly have taken lately. In particular Dark Ages and now Conquer which just totally tears it up. I was originally heart broken at the split with Seplultura - but now I am hearing more of what I loved about Sepultura in Soulfly than was in most Sepultura - if that makes any sense? I am still a huge fan of Arise - great album for exercising (boxing).

[FancyPants]

Tool Tool Tool.

The Melvins/Fantomas was incredible. Get the DVD. Some Porcupine Tree. Mars Volta.

[The Spoons]

1UP for MASTODON.

I am totally fucking addicted to this band at the moment.

Check out the website for the new album.

http://cracktheskye.com/

[B. Loco]

Heavy music. Psychedelic. I'll start the ball rolling:

Fredrik Thordendals Special Defects

Fredrik Thordendals, is he the guitarist from Meshuggah?

Yea, I have a couple of "Impulse Buy" Meshuggah albums in the collection, and they aren't really the soundtrack to my headpace (very confusing music for my ears). In saying that, I have been a fan of the following youtube track for a long time, and am often found writiihing around late at night to this groove-fest... pure psych rock this one:

 

[Yawning Man]

Yea, I have a couple of "Impulse Buy" Meshuggah albums in the collection, and they aren't really the soundtrack to my headpace (very confusing music for my ears). In saying that, I have been a fan of the following youtube track for a long time, and am often found writiihing around late at night to this groove-fest... pure psych rock this one:

 

Haha yeah that's a brilliant clip. It was posted in the youtube thread by another member. I've gone off Meshuggah lately (i listen to them in cycles) but the first time i heard them i was blown away at the agression in the music. And eventually i learned to love the style of the way they make their music (technical or some shit) and now i love them. Is the song in that clip off a Meshuggah album or one of Freds side projects (i think he has a few yeah)?

cheers

[Maturin]

Voivod. Circa the albums "Dimension Hatröss" and "Nothingface".

[Xenodimensional]

Whatever happened to alchemist?

They're still kicking, I hope to go and see them in a couple of weeks. Their last two albums "Austral Alien" and "Tripsis" are really good, better than Spiritech and Organasm imo. Personally I like the demo era stuff, Jar of Kingdom and Lunasphere the most. Jar of Kingdom, epic album that one.

What about those grand instrumental bands that blur the lines between Post Rock and Metal?...bands like Isis and Pelican...would that be counted as psychedelic?

Absolutely, I have just started checking out Isis and I'm liking what I'm hearing, will have to check Pelican out. Check Subarachnoid Space for instrumental, psychdelic, rock/metal, they sound like a "jam band", great stuff!

I think Mr Bungle is a good head fuck when cid is involved

Mr Bungle is uber epic imo. The self titled album has been blowing me away for 18 years now (god I feel old writing that!), of course I like the other albums too, but the first one was one of my all-time top favourite "formative" albums (along with Alchemist - Jar of Kingdom, Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother, Zappa - Apostrophe and Fredrik of course).

I got to see them live in '95 and have seen Fantomas numerous times too. Unreal every time. I met Patton too - he was terminally rude.

Fredrik Thordendals, is he the guitarist from Meshuggah?

Ya, he is :-)

yep. i recall on his sol niger album, maybe track 19 or something, is this heap of words that kinda blows me away. really intense choice of words, kinda like you'd expect to hear from the dude.

The whole album is a narrative of the psychedelic experience (at least that's how I interpret it - it could be about "life's journey" too I guess), a guy called Petter Marklund wrote all the words/lyrics for the album. When you're staring at a stained glass window and everything starts to feel mystical, this is the album to put on :-)

Voivod. Circa the albums "Dimension Hatröss" and "Nothingface".

I checked out some Voivod a while back, I dig it, I can hear their influence in Alchemist's music. The band Nothingface is pretty good (great singer) although not very psychedelically oriented.

Yea, I have a couple of "Impulse Buy" Meshuggah albums in the collection, and they aren't really the soundtrack to my headpace (very confusing music for my ears).

Peaceful Son - which albums did you get? I'd recommend "I" and "Catch 33" as their most "epic/flowing" outings and Chaosphere and Obzen as their most "intense/chaotic", "Nothing" and "DEI" fall somewhere in between, I have loved them forever but really hope they do more stuff like "Catch 33" in the future as it's a great album to relax/meditate to. Their show last year (supported by Alchemist ftw!) will possibly never be surpassed (for me) - seeing my two favourite bands at one show is pretty untoppable!! They were unbelievably tight and awesome live.

In saying that, I have been a fan of the following youtube track for a long time, and am often found writiihing around late at night to this groove-fest... pure psych rock this one:

 

This is a (rythmic) medly from 'Sol Niger Within', there are also videos of Fredrik/Morgan/Martin playing the album live on a cruise ship! How good is Morgan on drums?

Some of the other bands mentioned are great too: Dillenger, Soulfly, Tool, Mars Volta, Textures, Opeth, Mastadon etc.

I'm going to check out some of the bands mentioned here that I haven't heard of before, cheers for the heads up :-)

More bands that play spiritual/trippy/psychedelic/epic metal/rock:

Cynic - Hard to describe to the uninitiated, early masters of prog/tech metal who have recently re-surfaced.

The Faceless - very Meshuggah/Cynic influenced, great technical/sci-fi metal.

Cardiacs Not exactly metal (but they're pretty intense) - impossible to properly describe, they are my favourite band. It's sort of like they play psychedelic prog rock using punk riffs, very epic, they cover more ground than almost any band I've heard, have been around forever and have heaps of great albums that cover most genres of music. They are like Zappa, Gong, Gentle Giant, Wire, XTC, Split Enz, Madness, Yes and King Crimson in one band. Cardiacs rank as the single most under-appreciated band ever.

They are an odd band in that I wasn't that keen on them when I first heard them, but something kept drawing me back to the point where I wouldn't listen to anything but Cardiacs for nearly a whole year (sorry to my GF!), their sound is quite unusual and takes some getting used to...

having said (all) that, check these out:

http://www.cardiacs.com/resources_non_cms/...ry_Gun_Hand.mp3

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlfWoWHHRNA

 

Stitches - A local band that tries to be a bit like Alchemist

I'll post some more later when I can look into my music folders.... keep 'em coming!

[Yawning Man]

which albums did you get?

Umm fark, can't remember half of them coz i flogged them off a mates comp (i intend to buy all their albums soon)

I'd recommend "I" and "Catch 33" as their most "epic/flowing"

Yeah man, catch 33 is what got me into meshuggah and i know i have the album Nothing, coz it has rational Gaze on it which is the maddest song ever

I have loved them forever but really hope they do more stuff like "Catch 33" in the future as it's a great album to relax/meditate to.

Pretty impressive you can mediatate to this music, it's very much a way for me to release anger. Sort of like the music is beign angry for me. Sounds weird but fuck it works. Turns the negative, angry energy into something better for my health lol

Their show last year (supported by Alchemist ftw!) will possibly never be surpassed (for me) - seeing my two favourite bands at one show is pretty untoppable!! They were unbelievably tight and awesome live.

You lucky mofo. I know a few other members here saw them. Sadly i missed them due to lack of funds. Something i regret but i have a good feeling they'll be back soon.

cheers

[Chiral]

 

 

Edited July 14, 2009 by Hunab Ku

[Rabelais]

Stitches

They are an odd band in that I wasn't that keen on them when I first heard them, but something kept drawing me back to the point where I wouldn't listen to anything but Cardiacs for nearly a whole year (sorry to my GF!), their sound is quite unusual and takes some getting used to...

I think that first YouTube clip is going to give me nightmares. Crazy stuff.

Check Subarachnoid Space for instrumental, psychdelic, rock/metal, they sound like a "jam band", great stuff!

Will do. I love 15min+ epic instrumental pieces. I think a lot of Post Rock is getting boring/formulaic...well the structure is anyway - start off quiet and lead up to crescendo. As long as a band can avoid this then I will like it. If I never hear Explosions in the Sky again, it will be too soon.

Another recommendation would be Nadja. A bit like Sunn O))) but a bit faster and they actually sound good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1pMbZxdO5A...feature=related

Hearing about Alchemist again makes me chuckle. Back in 1992 I was exclusively into metal - being the angsty teenager I was. There was a local community radio station which had a heavy metal show called The Meat Grinder I remember I won an Alchemist demo tape and a large Hawaiian pizza during a phone-in competition. Two heavy-set guys dressed in leather came to my door late on a Sunday night to deliver my prizes and do a phone hook-up with the radio station for me to request the next songs...I was a legend the next day at school with my mates. I can still picture the look on my mothers face when these guys walked in. The demo tape was cool, was a black chrome tape with Alchemist written in big gold letters across the actual tape. I've probably still got it lying around somewhere...will have to dig it up and give it a twirl...shit, I don't have a tape player anymore.

- Coop

[Maturin]

Just wanna say that Meshuggah's "Catch 33" album is freaking amazing. Highly recommended to those who haven't heard it yet.

[FancyPants]

Oceansize. While they don't exactly fit into "heavy metal" there's some really powerful and loud chunks of music. Complemented by quiet, almost acoustic, soft singing as the tension builds.

Check out Ornament/The Last Wrongs. I'll see if I can find it and edit to link...

 

Edited July 16, 2009 by FancyPants

[Xenodimensional]

FancyPants - Oceansize is very, influenced by Cardiacs, they cover some of their songs... if you like OceanSize, you should (in theory) love Cardiacs... :-)

+33 for Catch 33 ;-)

[FancyPants]

^^^ Thanks dude I'll check those guys out when I get up again. Spewing I missed the Oceansize show a couple of weeks ago My friends had a blast though and had some drinks with the guys in the band, said they were really cool.

[mu!]

wtf are you guys singling out certain Meshuggah albums for, THEY'RE ALL FREAKING GREAT! everyone of them, without fail. Meshuggah is the fucking bomb!