Needles & Grooves AoTM /// Vol. 2 - August 2019 /// Khemmis - Hunted

Came to check out the further listening as:
1. I didn’t realize this was a thing until @duke86fan called out @Teeeee on it

And

2. This ROTM and King Gizzard have me in a metal mood (listening to Anthrax - Persistence of Time right now - On Vinyl - check insta, smh that people were surprised I was in to heavy music... anywho...)

So, I’m gonna give Hunted the rest of the month before I check out the other two Khemmis records. I’m gonna be checking out the Pallbearer. I’m obviously familiar with Master of Reality, because music man... but and this may belong in any number of other threads (hot takes, Metal, help me get into...), but the further listening brought it up...

I’ve tried for years, but I can’t get into Iron Maiden... I’ll give Powerslave another listen but they seriously are what I imagine what I think my wife thinks of when she explains her dislike of Rush to me... on paper they seem like a band I should like, but I really can’t deal with the voice... I know, I know, don’t @ me!
 
Lee Newman said:
Came to check out the further listening as:
1. I didn’t realize this was a thing until @duke86fan called out @Teeeee on it

And

2. This ROTM and King Gizzard have me in a metal mood (listening to Anthrax - Persistence of Time right now - On Vinyl - check insta, smh that people were surprised I was in to heavy music... anywho...)

So, I’m gonna give Hunted the rest of the month before I check out the other two Khemmis records. I’m gonna be checking out the Pallbearer. I’m obviously familiar with Master of Reality, because music man... but and this may belong in any number of other threads (hot takes, Metal, help me get into...), but the further listening brought it up...

I’ve tried for years, but I can’t get into Iron Maiden... I’ll give Powerslave another listen but they seriously are what I imagine what I think my wife thinks of when she explains her dislike of Rush to me... on paper they seem like a band I should like, but I really can’t deal with the voice... I know, I know, don’t @ me!
Click to expand...

No @‘ing you needed. Took me a long time to get into Maiden and I agree - great band on paper but vox were tough.

What got me was listening from debut in order up to the late 80s stuff. Paul Di’Anno’s vox on the first 2 aren’t nearly as virtuosic (is that a word?) so I could focus on the guitar harmonies and that freaking amazing bass work.

Number of the Beast came easier and then it clicked. Powerslave and Seventh Son came much easier after that.

Now, I’d still say Num. of the Beast is my fave Maiden album but Powerslave seems to have that whole Khemmis Egyptian aesthetic and is critically acclaimed and has some AMAZING guitar harmonies so I thought it would be a nice “further listening entry”. But for those who have an issue with Bruce’s vocals (like I did), check out the first 4 releases in order and then see if Powerslave clicks.
 
Goatfish said:
Now, I’d still say Num. of the Beast is my fave Maiden album but Powerslave seems to have that whole Khemmis Egyptian aesthetic and is critically acclaimed and has some AMAZING guitar harmonies so I thought it would be a nice “further listening entry”. But for those who have an issue with Bruce’s vocals (like I did), check out the first 4 releases in order and then see if Powerslave clicks.
Click to expand...

And don't stop when you get to Powerslave! My favorite Maiden is Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. The last minute of that title track is basically the apotheosis of metal, IMO.
 
Hey @Goatfish , I know the album isn’t a concept album explicitly telling one story. Nevertheless, I feel like the order of the tracks creates a particular kind of emotional journey. My brain has basically attached a pattern to it. I envision like a descent into a dark place - whether a literal Hell, a conscious discovery of subconscious anxieties, or just a deeper, scarier dream - with the harsh vocals in about the middle of the album being the greatest point of darkness. Then, there is a journey out of that dark place: waking up, acceptance of flaws, redemption, growth, whatever, such that the album ends musically on a bit of hope. It’s interesting that the moment of greatest triumph musically is paired with the lyrics of the singer-character proclaiming that he is damned. But aren’t we all? We are all going to die one day, and the acceptance of that fact can lead to peace. Or independently of death, if it’s about a psychological flaw or regret or whatever, there is a kind of peace in recognizing that. Or I’m just inventing patterns that aren’t there. Something like that.
 
supahypeag said:
Hey @Goatfish , I know the album isn’t a concept album explicitly telling one story. Nevertheless, I feel like the order of the tracks creates a particular kind of emotional journey. My brain has basically attached a pattern to it. I envision like a descent into a dark place - whether a literal Hell, a conscious discovery of subconscious anxieties, or just a deeper, scarier dream - with the harsh vocals in about the middle of the album being the greatest point of darkness. Then, there is a journey out of that dark place: waking up, acceptance of flaws, redemption, growth, whatever, such that the album ends musically on a bit of hope. It’s interesting that the moment of greatest triumph musically is paired with the lyrics of the singer-character proclaiming that he is damned. But aren’t we all? We are all going to die one day, and the acceptance of that fact can lead to peace. Or independently of death, if it’s about a psychological flaw or regret or whatever, there is a kind of peace in recognizing that. Or I’m just inventing patterns that aren’t there. Something like that.
Click to expand...

YES! Amazing take on this that very much mirrors my own reading of the album. The “I am damned” at the end is an acceptance, and that acceptance can be so freeing. Identifying a flaw in ones own character, confronting it either literally or figuratively, and accepting it is the first step to growth.

I also see a thematic ebbing and flowing throughout the album, highlighting fear and doom but coloring outside the lines with melody to show a positive light fighting the darkness.

If you listen to the follow up, Desolation ends on an explicitly positive note:

Out of the darkest night
No one could help me find the way
But in the new spring dawn
I find the strength to carry on​

I think it’s a continuation the themes of Hunted. The band themselves have mentioned that these first three are a part of a trilogy or maybe parts of a 4 part story of sorts. Not a solidified concept as you mentioned, but definitely a loose narrative around common themes. Hunted ends with complete acceptance of being “damned” after facing these fears that were “deep in [his] bones since [his] soul was conceived”, and it ended up being “I” rather than an external force. It’s an acknowledgment that the scariest thing that has haunted this character his entire life is this part of himself he’s been to afraid to face until now. The acceptance is just a part of this story and I see Desolation carrying that theme and ending it in a more overtly positive way, illustrating that accepting your inherent flaws, or inner demons, or failings as a human is not the end.
 
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