Metal Academy Radio - "The Infinite" Playlist September 2020

First Post September 06, 2020 08:14 PM

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5wQ8vp7oEgteuJB3is89Yh?si=VD2wtkamRhu1Jl2ElIiY0Q


01. Ayreon – “Isis & Osiris” (from “Into The Electric Castle: A Space Opera”, 1998)

02. Leprous – “The Price” (from “The Congregation”, 2015)

03. Pain Of Salvation – “Ashes” (from “The Perfect Element I”, 2000)

04. Fates Warning – “The Apparition” (from “The Spectre Within”, 1985)

05. Seventh Wonder – “The Black Parade” (from “Mercy Falls”, 2008)

06. Dream Theater – “The Ytse Jam” (from “When Dream & Day Unite”, 1989)

07. Protest The Hero – “All Hands” (from “Palimpsest”, 2020)

08. Psychotic Waltz – “Morbid” (from “Bleeding”, 1996)

09. Mekong Delta – “The Principle Of Doubt” (from “The Principle Of Doubt”, 1989)

10. Symphony X – “Nevermore” (from “Underworld”, 2015)

11. Solstafir – “Kold” (from “Kold”, 2009)

12. Dola – “Tam Mnie Nie Ubijesz” (from “Dola”, 2020)

13. Issues – “Tapping Out” (from “Beautiful Oblivion”, 2019)

14. Haken – “Prosthetic” (from “Virus”, 2020)

15. Nevermore – “The Sound Of Silence” (from “Dead Heart In A Dead World”, 2000)

16. Enslaved – “Roots Of The Mountain” (from “RIITIIR”, 2012)

17. Meshuggah – “Future Breed Machine” (from “Destroy Erase Improve”, 1995)

18. Imperial Triumphant – “Atomic Age” (from “Alphaville”, 2020)

19. Black Crown Initiate – “Invitation” (from “Violent Portraits Of Doomed Escape”, 2020)


September 07, 2020 05:58 AM

My thoughts on some of the tracks (including my suggested ones):

Ayreon – “Isis & Osiris” (from “Into The Electric Castle: A Space Opera”, 1998)

11/10 (not exaggerating). There's no better way to start this playlist with the beginning of a journey...Into the Electric Castle!! Ayreon was a special band during my high school years (not that I ever was in high school). That project along with Dream Theater were my gateways band to the Infinite realm of progressive metal. For that I say... Thank you, Arjen Lucassen! This is one of the greatest progressive metal pieces to appreciate. While this isn't the first album in the Ayreon project, Into the Electric Castle is the first to include not only members of more popular Dutch rock/metal bands but also from bands from a few other places outside the Netherlands. This has helped those vocalists and musicians take them further into their path to fame and would help younger artists follow the path. This can help you travel through the stars and learn more Ancient Egyptian mythology. Even after giving up on this group during my grand switch out of my earlier melodic epic metal taste, I still amazed at this masterpiece. Many of the vocalists sing their own characters but it's as if they're the ones telling the stories instead of narrator, especially Fish (Marillion) who plays the Highlander. The last album I've heard from Ayreon was The Source which was a greater album for me because during my great metal taste switch, while I was saying farewell to many of my biggest progressive/power metal influences, one of the other vocalists indirectly directed me to another progressive metal band in the extreme side (Tommy Rogers (Between the Buried and Me)). Yet after all these years abandoning Ayreon (except a couple album reviews), this song is still one of my favorites from the project and helps maintain its legacy. I would definitely wanna hear another Arjen Lucassen/Sharon den Adel collaboration. Since cats are attracted to Egyptian music, do you think if I have a pet cat, it would enjoy some parts of this song? Hmmm... Even the album cover drawing can draw me in. Forget Yes, Ayreon is true progressive music. And wow, 22 years after its release, this song is now on radio! This Spotify radio playlist, that is. I really enjoy the clean production, amazing arrangements, and a great plethora of melodic vocals. I'm pretty sure my friends and family would've had no knowledge of Ayreon if it wasn't for me finding them. I still can't believe this album came out so long ago, back in 1998. I think the instrumentation alone might've inspired non-metal artists like Brunuhville. And another connection with The Source is when in that album The Prophet mentions a "castle deep in space". Cool callback! So dump your Madonna and Phil Collins and try this epic. Thank you Arjen for this project, and thanks Daniel for including this song.

Leprous – “The Price” (from “The Congregation”, 2015)

8/10. Addictive and groovy and one of Leprous' most compelling songs, but The Congregation is the album is where the band is transitioning out of their avant-prog metal past to their accessible progressive rock present.

Pain Of Salvation – “Ashes” (from “The Perfect Element I”, 2000)

10/10. Pain of Salvation is another one of the more melodic progressive metal bands that first helped developed my journey into the Infinite realm. "Ashes" is another perfect song from a timeless masterpiece album! Once again I still love it even after giving up on this group during my grand switch out of my earlier melodic epic metal taste. This is quite a haunting song reminding me of a more progressive take on Type O Negative whose bassist/vocalist Peter Steele is one of metal's passed legends along with Death's Chuck Schuldiner but that's beside this point. The spine-shivering voice of Daniel Gildenlöw is a little strange but has great passion. You can practically mouth the lyrics! This is quite an awesome heartbreaking song. I'm starting to miss my melodic prog-metal phase from nearly 6 years ago, back in my "high school" years. The vibe is violent yet emotional. Similarly with Ayreon's The Source, I have not been in touch with Pain of Salvation since after listening to In the Passing Light of Day, another album of absolute perfection that made me grateful about Daniel Gildenlöw surviving the life-threatening flesh eating bacteria he suffered a couple years before that album. The chord progression of this song can be a little repetitive but it's dusted aside by the song's advantages including some of the best vocals that I've heard during my phase back then, which might remind OG prog-metal fans of Geoff Tate. Beautiful! The turn into the new millennium was a great period for this band along with Dream Theater who released their own concept album a year before this one. If you thought Daniel Gildenlöw was so young in this album, you should've stuck around 15 years before when he was in middle school and in a band called Reality. Anyway, I'm glad this song is on a Spotify playlist (this one) for a good amount of Spotify metalheads to hear. I love and dark and heavy this song is. It's times like this when I wish I can go back to that phase, but I guess it's too late now. I guess you can consider this a love song in the midst of a duel between God and Satan. I also miss when Daniel Gildenlöw's brother Kristoffer was in the band, he's quite the bass king. Its album's concept deals with sexual abuse, and I think I was handling heavy concepts slightly better than when I was first listening to After Forever's Invisible Circles. I was starting handled different heavy scenarios, and they were addictive. The Perfect Element would later have its own sequel, Scarsick. I thought my interest in this band was over after In the Passing Light of Day, but I guess I'm still there. I have two Daniels to thank; Daniel Gildenlöw for this creative music and Metal Academy's Daniel for including this song.

Fates Warning – “The Apparition” (from “The Spectre Within”, 1985)

9/10. Because of how great I think of the first 3 more melodic progressive metal songs in this playlist, I decided to listen to a song from a band that I've only listened to for an album review and never got around listening to more of them because of how old the band is, back to the mid-80s. "The Apparition" is very good and beautiful with some of the best progressive metal lyrics to reflect upon. This is a deep classic I love and might give me some slight influence for if I ever start my own metal band in the future. An amazing marvelous song, which even though the vocals can sound a bit stressed is helped out by the riffs. A progressive metal classic for the OG listeners!

Seventh Wonder – “The Black Parade” (from “Mercy Falls”, 2008)

10/10. This is from a concept album about a victim of a car crash who ends up in a mysterious world within his coma. You would have to listen to the album yourself to know the full story because I ain't gonna spoil it to you here. Its epilogue, "The Black Parade" starts aggressively before adding happy melodies. The chorus and keyboards are just epic! Perfect ending to a perfect album!!

Dream Theater – “The Ytse Jam” (from “When Dream & Day Unite”, 1989)

10/10. The true highlight of the debut of progressive metal masters Dream Theater. Some might call this the best progressive instrumental since Rush's "YYZ"! The memorable opening riff is exciting. There are some Arabian melodies along with great soloing. The bass is very audible and enjoyable.

Protest The Hero – “All Hands” (from “Palimpsest”, 2020)

8/10. In this endearing eccentric progressive metal tune, Protest the Hero's technical proficient arsenal shines through with the band's incredible ability on the harborside to engage the listener through the arrangement that never gets overwhelmed. Great song, but personally I would choose their epic single "The Canary".

Symphony X – “Nevermore” (from “Underworld”, 2015)

10/10. Symphony X was another of my favorite epic progressive metal bands from 5 or 6 years ago. This song and "Kiss of Fire" are my favorite songs in their recent album Underworld, having the note-tapping guitar skills of Michael Romeo and the monstrous drumming of Jason Rullo, the latter suffered heart failure a couple years before this album but I'm glad he survived. The lyrics and vocals combine perfectly with the guitar. The theme of this album is inspired by inspired by Dante's Inferno and Orpheus in the Underworld, and this song heavily references the number 3 used by Dante; three syllables, a three-note melodic phrase, and three references to three songs from the band's third album, The Divine Wings of Tragedy. Too bad it's not the album's third track, but almost everything else about this song is perfect and never disappoints. Though the lyrics are a little cliche, it helps keep the band's exciting throwback to their old stuff. Holy sh*t, this is great! The day Underworld came out was a great day for me. And I say "H*ll yeah" to the intro/outro riff! Even the bass does great progressive justice. With Underworld having masterpieces like this song, it's a shame they didn't record a live DVD concert during the album's tour, though they probably would have if it wasn't cut short by a year-long hiatus for Russell Allen to spend some time in his other band Adrenaline Mob and injuries he sustained in vehicular accident involving that band. Anyway, I noticed that this song was blocked in the Spotify playlist, but hey, that's what this album and YouTube is for! Symphony X is so underrated that I would be really happy if a future artist considers this band their influence. After the first royal metal generation of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Dio, Symphony X should praise as metal's second generation royalty, unlike bands like High on Fire who think bicycles and drugs would give them royalty which...NO. It would be great if Symphony X perform live in my country. The band's awesome vocalist and brilliant musicians inspired me to keep believing in metal. Epic kick-A progressive metal, though I miss their early-2000s orchestration. Keep the good stuff coming Symphony X, you never disappoint me!

Solstafir – “Kold” (from “Kold”, 2009)

9/10. This is the title track of an album that I recently loved so much that I plan on getting the rest of the Solstafir discography soon. It crashes you through an icy wall of power chords while the tortured vocals of Aðalbjörn "Addi" Tryggvason wander through poetic delight. A superb song, though it's not at all like the grand epic progressive metal masterpiece that is Symphony X's "Nevermore".

Nevermore – “The Sound Of Silence” (from “Dead Heart In A Dead World”, 2000)

10/10. Speaking of Nevermore, you gotta check out their cover of the Simon & Garfunkel song, "The Sound of Silence". Who knew you can turn it into a death metal-sounding progressive/thrash tune with drilling riffs and a wonderfully gloomy theme!? That's what Nevermore did here!

Meshuggah – “Future Breed Machine” (from “Destroy Erase Improve”, 1995)

9/10. This great chaotic song is from the album that very well began piecing together the progressive subgenre djent. It starts with a bit of an apocalyptic atmosphere that sounds like robotic machines taking over the world; industrial noises for almost 30 seconds, then a piercing siren over a total headbanging onslaught. The djent knights rise!