Metal Academy Radio Playlist Suggestions - The Infinite Edition

I have only one submission in my mind for June's Infinite playlist, and it's a really long and unusual one, but please hear me out, Saxy:

Liquid Tension Experiment - "Three Minute Warning" (from Liquid Tension Experiment, 1998)

I have a few reasons for submitting this: 1. I listened to this entirely a few times before and after severing my ties from listening to that band, and that's because it really sounds so good. It is a complex 5-part epic where compositions are written over Tony Levin's bass jams. You also don't have to worry about adding in different parts because it plays on Spotify as one entire 28 and a half minute track. 2. Look I do not wish to sound critical or unappreciative or anything, but this is a good track to add in the event that you have a short amount of idea that do not reach the usual two-hour length. It would be nice for me to help out alongside your usual focus on 4 to 8 minute tracks and at least one 10+ minute epic. 3. After yesterday morning's incident, I've lost a bit of motivation for coming up with my usual number of track submissions, so I wanted to make just one request for this playlist and really make it count. With all that said, please take your time to consider this, and I appreciate all the effort you, Xephyr, and the rest of the active Metal Academy crew have made with creating these playlists, whether something's a hit or miss. Keep up the good work, man!

Here are my submissions for the July Infinite playlist:

Dream Theater - "The Shattered Fortress" (12:49) from Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)

Gojira - "Magma" (6:42) from Magma (2016)

Mastodon - "Fallen Torches" (4:22) from Medium Rarities (2020)

The Ocean - "The Grand Inquisitor I: Karamazov Baseness" (5:02) from Anthropocentric (2010)

Total length: 28:55

Here are my submissions for the August Infinite playlist:

Between the Buried and Me - "Specular Reflection" (11:21) from The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues (2011)

Dream Theater - "Hell's Kitchen" (4:16) from Falling Into Infinity (1997)

Leprous - "Restless" (3:30) from Bilateral (2011)

Seventh Wonder - "Victorious" (4:55) from Tiara (2018)

Veil of Maya - "Doublespeak" (4:12) from False Idol (2017)

Total length: 28:14

Since Devin Townsend's Deconstruction is not available on Spotify, I decided that my submissions for the September Infinite playlist would be dedicated to the bands whose vocalists/guitarists guest appeared in that album, so here they are:

Between the Buried and Me - "(B) The Decade of Statues" (5:20) from Colors (2007)

Cynic - "Elements and Their Inhabitants" (3:09) from Ascension Codes (2021)

Gojira - "L'Enfant Sauvage" (4:17) from L'Enfant Sauvage (2012) (even though the original album isn't available on Spotify, this song can be found in "XXX: Three Decades of Roadrunner" and "100 Greatest Metal" compilations, so either one of those will do)

Meshuggah - "Born in Dissonance" (4:34) from The Violent Sleep of Reason (2016)

Opeth - "To Bid You Farewell" (10:54) from Morningrise (1996)

Total length: 28:14

September

 Tómarúm - "Condemned to a Life of Grief" from Ash in Realms of Stone Icons (10:32)

Imperial Triumphant - "Merkurius Gilded" from Spirit of Ecstasy (6:09)

Ashenspire - "The Law of Asbestos" from Hostile Architecture (8:32)

Here are my submissions for the October Infinite playlist:

Conquering Dystopia - "Lachrymose" (3:02) from Conquering Dystopia (2014)

Devin Townsend - "Silent Militia" (4:28) from Z² (2014)

Erra - "Pull From the Ghost" (4:10) from Pull From the Ghost (2022)

Leprous - "Nighttime Disguise" (7:04) from Aphelion (2021) (my attempt to submit a metal-sounding song from a non-metal album by a usually progressive metal band after a song from Cynic's non-metal album Kindly Bent to Free Us appeared in the August playlist)

Liquid Tension Experiment - "Liquid Evolution" (3:23) from Liquid Tension Experiment 3 (2021)

Neurosis - "Water Is Not Enough" (7:03) from Given to the Rising (2007)

Total length: 29:10

I have only one submission in my mind for November's Infinite playlist, and it's a really long one:

Devin Townsend - "Singularity" (from Empath, 2019)

I have a few reasons for submitting this: 1. I listened to this entirely a few times before, and I plan to listen to this one more time after my plan severing my ties from listening to this musician I'm kinda getting tired of, and the reason for that listen is because it really sounds so good. This has been one of my favorite progressive metal epics. It is a complex 6-part epic and the longest track Devin Townsend has ever made (30 seconds longer than "Arc" from The Hummer), with some of his best work yet. You also don't have to worry about adding in different parts because it plays on Spotify as one entire 23 and a half minute track. 2. Look I do not wish to sound critical or unappreciative or anything, but this is a good track to add in the event that you have a short amount of idea that do not reach the usual two-hour length. It would be nice for me to help out alongside your usual focus on 3 to 9 minute tracks and at least one 10+ minute epic. 3. I'm actually a little less focused on The Infinite, because I want to focus on my other clans, along with one different genre that I want to break free from all these years. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy progressive metal, and I have zero intention of leaving The Infinite. This is just a one-off one-track submission for that playlist. I appreciate all the effort you and the rest of the active Metal Academy crew have made with creating these playlists, whether something's a hit or miss. Keep up the good work, man!

After one full year of compiling these monthly playlists for both the Gateway and Infinite clans, I must say that this has been an overwhelming success. I appreciate all of the assistance from fellow Metal Academy users in helping to buff up these playlists every month and have been fortunate to find some really good songs that I would never have found on my own.

So with all of the gushing out of the way, it's time for the December challenge. All of my playlists up to this point have been set in a free-for-all format with no restrictions on playlist quality, quantity, timeframe or style. For December, let's put together a list of the best moments that these clans had to offer in 2022. Only songs that were released as a single or as part of an album in 2022 will be counted; anything older will be discounted.

Reposts are acceptable within reason (I know there has been a lot of Meshuggah featured this year), but only one song per artist.

Here are my submissions for the December Best of 2022 Infinite playlist:

Animals as Leaders - "Gordian Naught" (4:48) from Parrhesia

Cult of Luna - "Blood Upon Stone" (11:39) from The Long Road North

Persefone - "Merkabah" (5:59) from Metanoia

Seventh Wonder - "Invincible" (3:39) from The Testament

Voivod - "Synchro Anarchy" (4:25) from Synchro Anarchy

Total length: 30:30 (pardon the slight overtime)

Here are my submissions for the January Infinite playlist:

Caligula's Horse - "The Tempest" (4:48) from Rise Radiant (2020)

Dream Theater - "You Not Me" (4:58) from Falling Into Infinity (1997)

Evergrey - "The Essence of Conviction" (6:07) from The Inner Circle (2004)

Ne Obliviscaris - "Of the Leper Butterflies" (5:53) from Portal of I (2012)

Textures - "Singularity" (6:46) from Dualism (2011)

Total length: 28:32

Here are my submissions for the February Infinite playlist:

Caligula's Horse - "Into the White" (8:19) from The Tide, the Thief & River's End (2013)

Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - "Lord of Liars" (3:23) from Bloodmoon: I (2021)

Enslaved - "Havenless" (5:35) from Below the Lights (2003)

In Mourning - "Isle of Solace" (4:54) from The Weight of Oceans (2012)

Sikth - "Tupelo" (7:11) from How May I Help You? (2002)

Total length: 29:22

Here are my submissions for the March Infinite playlist:

Burst - "Cripple God" (6:42) from Lazarus Bird (2008)

Ne Obliviscaris - "Devour Me, Colossus (Part I): Blackholes" (12:37) from Citadel (2014)

Queensrÿche - "Bridge" (3:29) from Promised Land (1994)

Today Is the Day - "Going to Hell" (7:09) from In the Eyes of God (1999)

Total length: 29:57

Here are my submissions for the April Infinite playlist:

Between the Buried and Me - "Disease, Injury, Madness" (11:03) from The Great Misdirect (2009)

In Mourning - "Voyage of a Wavering Mind" (5:49) from The Weight of Oceans (2012)

Leprous - "Within My Fence" (3:16) from The Congregation (2015)

Rosetta - "Ayil" (4:59) from A Determinism of Morality (2010)

Voivod - "Planet Hell" (4:34) from Negatron (1995)

Total length: 29:41

Here are my submissions for the May Infinite playlist:

Amorphis - "Northwards" (5:30) from Halo (2022)

Enslaved - "Nauthir Bleeding" (8:10) from In Times (2015)

Green Carnation - "Crushed to Dust" (4:26) from A Blessing in Disguise (2003)

Stone Healer - "Into the Spoke of Night" (6:52) from Conquistador (2021)

The Ocean - "Swallowed by the Earth" (4:59) from Heliocentric (2010)

Total length: 29:57

Here are my submissions for the June Infinite playlist:

Azusa - "Iniquitous Spiritual Praxis" (3:39) from Heavy Yoke (2018)

Burst - "I Hold Vertigo" (7:16) from Lazarus Bird (2008)

Evergrey - "I'm Sorry" (3:18) from Recreation Day (2003)

In the Woods... - "The Cave of Dreams" (4:55) from Pure (2016)

Ne Obliviscaris - "Misericorde II – Anatomy of Quiescence" (9:22) from Exul (2023)

Total length: 28:30

Here are my submissions for the July Infinite playlist:

Cult of Luna - "The Revelation Embodied" (7:45) from Cult of Luna (2001)

Devin Townsend - "Why?" (4:59) from Empath (2019)

Dog Fashion Disco - "Private Eye" (3:40) from Adultery (2006)

Rosetta - "Release" (5:36) from A Determinism of Morality (2010)

Watchtower - "Technology Inaction" (6:20) from Concepts of Math: Book One (2016)

Total length: 28:20

Here are my submissions for the August Infinite playlist:

Arcturus - "La Masquerade Infernale" (2:00) from La Masquerade Infernale (1997)

Dødheimsgard - "It Does Not Follow" (8:24) from Black Medium Current (2023)

Evergrey - "Recreation Day" (5:21) from Recreation Day (2003)

Sólstafir - "Svartir Sandar" (8:22) from Svartir Sandar (2011)

The Ocean - "Subboreal" (4:46) from Holocene (2023)

Total length: 28:53

For September: 

Ashbreather - "Hivemind VIII" from Hivemind (2022)

Psychonaut - "Violate Consensus Reality" from Violate Consensus Reality (2022)

Ostraca - "Heaven is Still" from Disaster (2023)

Here are my submissions for the September Infinite playlist:

Dødheimsgard - "Det tomme kalde mørke" (7:35) from Black Medium Current (2023)

Evergrey - "Closure" (3:08) from Monday Morning Apocalypse (2006)

Pestilence - "Soul Search" (3:19) from Spheres (1993)

Sikth - "Cracks of Light" (4:13) from The Future in Whose Eyes (2017)

The Ocean - "Permian: The Great Dying" (9:22) from Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic (2018)

Total length: 27:37

Here are my submissions for the October Infinite playlist:

Ayreon - "Collision" (3:26) from The Theory of Everything (2013) (though the album is non-metal, there's a lot of metal energy from the instrumentation and a couple vocalists from power metal bands, enough to justify being in an Infinite playlist)

Meshuggah - "Sane" (3:48) from Chaosphere (1998)

Sikth - "Days Are Dreamed" (6:15) from Opacities (2015)

The Ocean - "Isla Del Sol" (10:32) from Fluxion (2004)

Voivod - "Golem" (4:33) from Angel Rat (1991)

Total length: 28:34

Here are my submissions for the November Infinite playlist, and they are two long epics:

Between the Buried and Me - "Ants of the Sky" (13:10) from Colors_Live (2008) (I don't know if you accept live tracks, but if you don't, please add the studio version of the song from Colors (2007) instead)

Opeth - "Forest of October" (13:05) from Orchid (1995)

Total length: 26:15

Here are my submissions for the December Infinite playlist:

Anacrusis - "Sound the Alarm" (5:36) from Screams and Whispers (1993)

Opeth - "Hex Omega" (7:00) from Watershed (2008)

Periphery - "Dying Star" (5:17) from Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre (2023)

Star One - "Human See, Human Do" (5:14) from Victims of the Modern Age (2010)

Tool - "The Pot" (6:21) from 10,000 Days (2006)

Total length: 29:28

December

TesseracT - "Of Reality - Eclipse" (from Altered State, 2013)

Aviations - "Legend" (from Luminaria, 2023)

Caligula's Horse - "Slow Violence" (from Rise Radiant, 2020)

Pomegranate Tiger - "The Cryptographer" (from All Input Is Error, 2023)

Here are my submissions for the January Infinite playlist, once again having two long epics in mind:

Kayo Dot - "The Manifold Curiosity" (14:28) from Choirs of the Eye (2003)

Opeth - "Blackwater Park" (12:08) from Blackwater Park (2001)

Total length: 26:36