Three-piece Adelaide Christian metal band Jacob's Well formed around brothers John & David Owens back in 1985 with the duo enlisting the services of guitar-slinging frontman Glen Cannon to help them play a classic style of heavy metal that pushed their faith-based messaging right to the front of the stage. Not much is known about the group (in fact, they're not even listed on RYM) but they managed to put out three full-length albums over a period of three decades with 1986's "Fight for Paradise" cassette being their debut. I have to admit that I hadn't heard of Jacob's Well until a few years ago when I checked "Fight for Paradise" out as a part of a deep dive into the early roots of Australian metal. I can't say that it's left an indelible mark on me but it's not horrible either. There's definitely a major obstacle to overcome if you're gonna accept Jacob's Well as a serious metal band though so let's take a closer look.

Despite there being a clear hard rock influence to Jacob's Well's sound, you never really feel that "Fight for Paradise" is anything other than a heavy metal record. "Living Again" is probably the only track where I see myself admitting that it's obviously a hard rock number with the others all benefiting from rip-roaring guitar tone that single-handedly drags the song-writing into realms that are only perpetuated by metal bands. This is one of the major drawcards for the album actually, along with Cannon's general technique as he's a highly proficient lead guitarist who knows how to leave his mark on a song. The other two band members are also pretty decent musicians & the production job is more than acceptable too however it's Cannon's vocals that present the obvious obstacle for your average metalhead, particularly in the lyrical department. You see, you'll rarely find a Christian metal band who so gratuitously rapes the listeners ears with their religious message. In most cases, you can force yourself to ignore the lyrics with these sort of acts but it's simply not possible with Jacob's Well as they try to stuff literally all of the Christian catch phrases into every passage & I'm sure that they'd come across as being fairly "lowest common denominator" in a creative sense if you read them on paper too. Cannon's vocal chops aren't terrible but they also see him pushing himself right up to the limit & you can hear it at times through some mild pitchiness here & there.

Apart from those God-awful lyrics (quite literally), the song-writing isn't too bad & I could see some of these tunes being pretty decent listens if they weren't so preachy. In fact, "Return of the King" is a classic Aussie metal song in its own right & has completely won me over. Opener "Loving Heart" isn't too bad either with its anthemic chorus seeing proceedings getting off to a decent start. The rest of the material showed a lot of promise from an instrumental persepctive but failed to connect with me through the isolationism experienced through its messaging. This is a shame really as Jacob's Well showed a fair bit of potential here with some of the structures feeling like you're listening to a Dio or an Iron Maiden song. There wasn't a lot of high-quality Aussie heavy metal around at the time either so I think that other punters have also been put off by the lyrical content which has seen a muzzle being placed over any commercial aspirations that Jacob's Well may have harboured. I won't be returning to "Fight for Paradise" unless the light of Christ finally unveils itself to me in a completely undeniable format.

For fans of Bloodgood, Barren Cross & Saint.

Well 2026 has been a pretty solid year for me when it comes to the exploration of genres that I typically avoid or explore cautiously. However, it has been The Pit that has seen the least action, mostly because my schedule has not pointed me in that direction for quite some time. Plus my already well documented disdain for modern thrash metal has left me with very little to even want to listen to. Well as is the case here at Metal Academy, groove metal also falls under the umbrella of The Pit, so by throwing in a couple of groove metal albums from the past year (and beyond), maybe I'll finally start to see some numbers in this once forgotten clan of mine.

And we start off this adventure with a band whose careers I have seen take off since the start. DevilDriver are California's darlings of the genre and Strike and Kill is the bands eleventh studio album. Those first handful of records were heavy and groovy at the same time and also showed a certain level of maturity that I would not have expected. All these years later, DevilDriver seem to have given up some of that maturity (a common trend since their transition from Roadrunner to Napalm Records), but they haven't given up their songwriting. The albums one-two-punch of of "Dig Your Own Grave" and "Dead in the Water" to start off is a welcome punch to the face that is unfiltered, groovy and unsurprisingly melodic.

As the album progresses, DevilDriver definitely move away from the Machine Head and start embracing their mid 2000s metalcore. This would make sense since DevilDriver came up alongside bands like As I Lay Dying and God Forbid. "In the Moonlight" starts off very small and sweet before the heavy guitars and drums enter with a very nostalgic guitar riff and very catchy chorus. I particularly enjoyed the guitar solo in this song. The album does have a couple of moments where the band attempts to embrace some modern metalcore trends like the unprepared breakdowns that get progressively slower and the mix explodes such as "Strike and Kill".

Alas, DevilDriver have lost album focus. Strike and Kill is a diverse albums with lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing for sure, I'm just not sure it needed to be fifty minutes. The album starts off great with a five song run that matches the best runs of The Last Kind Words or  The Fury of Our Makers Hand. But afterwards, this album precision kind of loses itself. Strike and Kill does have some saving graces with the final couple of tracks, but getting there feels less like a quick strike, but rather toying with your enemy before delivering the final blow.

Best Songs: Dig Your Own Grave, Dead in the Water, In the Moonlight, You're Just a Ghost, Oath of Iron

For Fans Of: God Forbid, Lamb of God, Chimaira

Sydney-based death metallers Deracination were a relatively unknown member of the early Australian extreme metal scene back in the day. In fact, this CD was actually released as a self-financed demo tape at the time & has only been rediscovered as anything more significant over the last decade after US label Dark Symphonies decided to re-release "Times of Atrocity". The five-piece band were located relatively close to my home in the northern-Sydney suburb of Hornsby & originally began life as a Christian death/thrash act under the Holy Rite moniker before electing to head further towards the death metal side of their sound which triggered the name change. I didn't like Holy Rite's 1989 "Mosh for the Master" demo much to be honest & preferred them under the Deracination moniker, although a quick look at my score will tell you that I wasn't overly enthused by "Times of Atrocity" either.

You really do need to treat "Times of Atrocity" as a demo tape because it definitely sounds like one. The sessions were recorded with producer Grant Leffler (who also worked with local thrash metal acts Frozen Doberman & White Trash) at Sydney's Machine Head Studios but there was little in the way of production afforded to it with the rhythm guitars sounding messy & the drums being particularly weak. Still, Deracination seem to possess an understanding of song-writing techniques as the catchier tracks are generally fairly entertaining & manage to get my head bobbing away for a while. Unfortunately, they're mixed in with some pretty flat material that makes up roughly half of the tracklisting & sees the back end of the record noticeably petering out. The vocals of John Courtney aren't overly monstrous, leaving the listener with plenty of room to make out the faith-based lyrical content but still giving Deracination a decidedly underground feel. The musicianship isn't terribly amazing but I do enjoy the way the band work with time signatures to create additional interest. The thrash leanings of Holy Rite are still clearly evident throughout much of the runtime, particularly on tracks like "Death by Fire" with its obvious plagiarism of Slayer's "Angel of Death". Drummer Gary O'Connell's chops would improve significantly before I got to know him as a member of fellow Sydney death metallers Destrier during the mid-1990's while the guitar solos are noticeably lacking in structure & technique.

The links with Christianity may have afforded Deracination a little more interest than they deserved within that demographic however the band had drifted out of view by the time my own death metal band Neuropath started gigging around the city more regularly in 1994. Mortification/Horde/Deliverance/Light Force/Paramæcium/Revulsed drummer Jayson Sherlock has contributed to the CD artwork & design which is a clear indication of the way the Christian community supports their own though. "Times of Atrocity" certainly has more enjoyable moments than I remember it having & I've actually been surprised to find songs like "Perverted Dreams", "Mankinds Search for God", "Decapitation", "Blood Sacrifice" & "Demonic Destruction" reaching an acceptable level of appeal this week. Unfortunately, they don't have the class or strength to carry the weaker numbers like "Death by Fire" or "Possessions of the World" though, leaving "Times of Atrocity" to reside mainly in the discount bins at the back of your average second-hand store these days.

For fans of Mortification, Cancer & early Death.

After almost exactly one year to the day of the release of A Dark Poem Pt.1: The Shores of Melancholia, Green Carnation release the final act of their trilogy. This one, The Messiah Complex, is a little less refined than the previous two. For starters, this one only features three songs, followed by an orchestral suite that recalls the different themes to bring A Dark Poem altogether. 

There are some really good ideas on display here. I enjoyed how well Green Carnation are able to transition seamlessly between motifs on "Unconditional Artificial Chemistry" and how heavy the apex of "The Messiah Complex" gets. But the real letdown of this final project is just how "non-progressive" it is. I never found myself being challenged by these songs like how I did on Sanguis and especially on The Dark Shores of Melancholia. And I think a big reason for that is because this part does not develop enough. Having only three distinct, "new" ideas could work in some contexts, but here it just feels like needless banter. It's like watching a three hour long movie where the plot twist has already been poorly spoiled by the writers, but you have to sit through the rest of it just to see if your predictions are correct. The Messiah Complex could stand on its own as a solid EP, but when you carry the title of A Dark Poem with you, it does lose some grandeur that one might expect, especially when it comes from a band as renowned as Green Carnation.

Best Songs: Unconditional Artificial Chemistry, The Messiah Complex

For Fans Of: Evergrey, Leprous, Thy Catafalque, Foscor, Vulture Industries

‘Downset’ is the debut album by American hardcore punk band, Downset. Released in 1994, this is a hard-hitting, no-holds-barred blend of metal and rapping, relentlessly throwing verbal bombs at the establishment, the justice system and society. 

Musically, this is pretty simple stuff, with lots of heavy, grooving guitar riffs and aggressive rapping and shouting, all the songs stick to this simple formula. The production gives it a rough and gritty sound which suits the music, and all songs maintain a high energy throughout the entire album. Meanwhile, vocalist Rey Anthony Oropeza spits out absolute hatred and hostility with lines such as “physical rape is psychological murder”. 

Overall, this album is nothing overly remarkable, but its short duration makes it easy to digest and doesn’t give any time to bore the listener. With highlights including tracks like ‘Anger’, ‘Ritual’, ‘Take ‘Em Out’, ‘ Downset’ and ‘Breed the Killer’, and along with its visually striking artwork, ‘Downset’ is an auspicious debut, and certainly shows a lot of potential for this band.