Metal Academy Radio - "The Infinite" Playlist October 2020
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/64ls5fZWM1YGkOzxozSaSZ?si=-Gh6KIczQO2EllPPkS9F4A
Tracklisting:
01. Fates Warning – “At Fates Hand” (from “Perfect Symmetry”, 1989)
02. Thy Catafalque – “Tsitsushka” (from “Naiv”, 2020)
03. ISIS – “1,000 Shards” (from “In The Absence Of Truth”, 2006) [Submitted by Xephyr]
04. Haken – “Crystallised” (from “Restoration” E.P., 2014)
05. Chaos Divine – “Landmines” (from “Colliding Skies”, 2015) [Submitted by Xephyr]
06. Voivod – “Jack Luminous” (from The Outer Limits”, 1993)
07. Sigh – “Scarlet Dream” (from “Imaginary Sonicscape”, 2001)
08. John Petrucci – “Gemini” (from “Terminal Velocity”, 2020) [Submitted by Xephyr]
09. Dream Theater – “As I Am” (from “Train Of Thought”, 2003) [Submitted by shadowdoom9]
10. TesseracT – “Deception – Concealing Fate Part Two” (from “Concealing Fate” E.P., 2010)
11. The Devin Townsend Band – “Deadhead” (from “Accelerated Evolution”, 2003)
12. Holy Fawn – “Dark Stone” (from “Death Spells”, 2018)
13. Mamaleek – “Eating Unblessed Meat” (from “Come & See”, 2020)
14. Kobong – “Miara” (from “Chmury nie bylo”, 1997)
15. Opeth – “Demon Of The Fall” (from “My Arms, Your Hearse”, 1998) [Submitted by shadowdoom9]
My thoughts on some of the tracks (including my suggested songs):
ISIS – “1,000 Shards” (from “In The Absence Of Truth”, 2006)
10/10. Attempt #2 at getting interested in Isis (because of my newly growing interest in ambient sludge), and IT'S GOOD!! Hopefully I won't change my mind later. This is great for when you're chilling at home at a time when the virus is making a comeback and you can't walk around the city. You can be able to travel into amazing beautiful dimension without leaving your home! There are some cool parts to highlight like the fantastic transition at the one and a half minute mark and the chilling section at the three and a half minute mark. There's also great guest vocals by the late Caleb Scofield (from Cave In). After his death, Isis performed a special reunion show dedicated to him (under a new name Celestial, to not be confused with that terrorist group). If you're even in a distant rain-forest contemplating eternal discoveries of the universe, this is a special song written for that. You might think of this as similar to Tool, and that kinda makes sense, except Tool is more on the alt-metal side (NOT nu metal like Slipknot). This song shows how much the band can blend all their instruments into a stew of beautiful brilliant ambiance worth praising. After finally getting interested in Neurosis, I knew this band would be my next step in my post-sludge journey. Isis is one of those bands whose style you might instantly love at first listen, and that's how I felt when I made my first try but somehow did a quick 180 and didn't return to listening to this band. Too bad this beautiful-sounding band already split up, but at least there are other projects for some of the members to focus on like Bryant Clifford Meyer in Red Sparrowes. This song is so incredibly intricate that I wanna have the chance to explore all their other albums in any random order. Both the music and lyrics are emotionally top-notch! I also like that snare sound that guides through this fantastic experience. This can very well be one of my favorite post-progressive metal songs. They don't need to go as brutal as Edge or Sanity or Augury to be progressive. It's just blows me away to hear all this awesome diversity. An amazing mesmerizing song for even the most brutal metalheads! I think The Ocean is slightly below this genius band. This song can take you into a world of imagination much better than those other bands that claim to do so but really don't such as nu metal bands like Korn. Isis should have more history than old rock bands like The Beatles, same with Agalloch, Intronaut, and especially Cult of Luna with similar harmonic structure. Isis and those 3 other bands, along with Neurosis are true post-metal heroes. Now if only I can give Panopticon another go. Thanks Xephyr for submitting this shining post-sludge star, and Daniel for including it!
Dream Theater – “As I Am” (from “Train Of Thought”, 2003)
9/10. A killer song from Dream Theater's heaviest album Train of Thought. Enough said!
Opeth – “Demon Of The Fall” (from “My Arms, Your Hearse”, 1998)
10/10. A splendid song to end this playlist. Another heavier progressive metal song and one of the best masterpieces in that genre! It's my favorite in that album with many riffs ranging beautiful and mighty to hellish and powerful. It's dark and heavy throughout, leading up to a sad but hopeful ending riff. Evil yet beautiful! With more dark and calm moments coming the next few songs in this album, it's impossible not to love this progressive death metal diamond heart. And I'm listening to this in Autumn, a great season for dark melodic songs like this. It's great hearing these diabolical growls that have recently been disposed of in their 2011 softer Mastodon-like album Heritage. The last two minutes leading to the outro riff can bring you tears. Seriously, those deathly screams are now timeless memories and can remind you of a mythological demon in darkness. Great perfect progressive death metal right there, despite an annoying kick sound. Thanks again Daniel for including it and save this best song for last!
That Chaos Divine track is a belter Xephyr. Nice choice!
Great to hear, they just released a new album today actually, which is why I included it! I wasn't able to check it out, I'll be sure to put it in the New Music Thread when I get a chance. I'm real excited but Colliding Skies was a bit dull compared to The Human Connection, so I'm hoping for the best.