The Pit

I'm not the best person to judge an album like this one, as I struggle with crossover thrash in general. I also struggle with humour in my metal, although for some reason Mr Bungle is an exclusion to that statement. I find all the silliness in SOD to be immature and a distraction from the admittedly good riffs that pop up throughout. I rated it 2.5 stars on RYM when I last paid it any attention, but I see that was 12 years ago!

It's now May which of course means that we'll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we're asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter.    

This month's feature release for The Pit is 1993's controversial fifth album from Brazilian thrash icons Sepultura entitled "Chaos A.D.". This record saw the band moving away from their thrash metal roots into more of a groove metal oriented sound whilst continuing to further explore the traditional sounds of their native homeland. It was originally met with skepticism by thrashers everywhere however over time most people came around to its charms & it's now seen as one of the premier examples of the groove metal sound. We'd like to know how YOU rate it. Is it worthy of the legacy that Sepultura were building during the late 80's & early 90's?

Pleasantly surprised by this one, I didn't realize Helloween had such a unique sound even when they first started. This is pretty essential for over-the-top, thrashy, speedy metal that shows a ton of promise with a lot of room for the band to obviously grow into their trilogy of highly acclaimed late 80's albums. I think some of the vocal passages definitely miss their mark on "Murderer" and a bit on "Cry For Freedom", but the riffs are so good that I hardly care. It's incredible how many riffs and ideas from 1985 are still being used in Power/Heavy Metal today, whether it be the galloping rhythms from "Warrior" or the 16th note shredding coupled with aggressively over the top vocal shrieks from "Cry For Freedom". This honestly might be one of the best debut EP's I've heard, since it already sounds so refined and confident. Obviously there are issues, but there is a lot of amazing stuff here that helped to define the faster and more over the top Heavy and Power Metal genres. 

4 / 5

It's not January anymore, but I will still summarize my review here:

There's one exciting album that's so close to the thrash metal throne that it can sit right next to Metallica and Slayer. And that is...Artillery's By Inheritance! It has impressive technicality along with more accessibility and theatrical compositions. Many songs in the album encourage listeners to headbang to the excellent composition without leaving their neck strained (though it's a little close) and replay their greater catchy riffs so many times. Soft verses make sharp turns into heavy choruses. And the vocals stay in a balance of melody and high screaming. Not to mention those splintering frets! Artillery can have as much fun as they please, but not in ways to throw people off, and it sounds like most of their thrash metal fun is great shape. By Inheritance is a priceless thrash metal recommendation for many metalheads out there.

There's not been a massive amount of quality pit-related releases this year, but I'll give it a go:

#1 Possessed - Revelations of Oblivion

#2 Critical Defiance - Misconception

#3 Inculter - Fatal Visions

#4 Bewitcher - Under the Witching Cross

#5 Aggressive Perfector - Havoc at the Midnight Hour

#6 Sins of the Damned - Striking the Bell of Death

#7 Wraith - Absolute Power

#8 Possessor - Gravelands

#9 Sadistic Ritual - Visionaire of Death

#10 Mother's Tomb - Absent Not Dead

Speed Metal Rush

An infectiously fun album cover to cover. It was a pleasant surprise hearing a female vocalist on an album like this who has the pipes to really drive the act home. When I first put this on I could have sworn I was listening to an alternate universe version of Rush, which is still a compliment in my book. Maniac slows down a little too much after the two blistering openers "Max Overload" and "Maniac", with "Black Car" and "America" being noticeably less energetic. "Bottoms Up" also overstays its welcome just a bit, but any of these songs are far from being bad. All of the ingredients of great Speed Metal are here, from the tight and accurate 16th note shredding to the intense and heavy chugging of "Prince Of Hell And Fire", which turned out to be my favorite track in the end.

Although they're overlooked, Acid delivers a fantastic Speed Metal performance for its time with a unique and talented female vocalist at the front of well written Speed Metal riffs.

These two lists might also interest you members of The Pit as they include a few early thrash metal releases amongst them:

Top 10 Releases Of 1983: https://metal.academy/lists/single/7

Top 10 Releases Of 1984: https://metal.academy/lists/single/8

Thrash: I'm pretty sure Piledriver "Metal Inquisition" and Venom "Possessed" (perhaps not considered thrash) were my gateway to Thrash. That would've been around 1985. I was blown away. I did a seven hour radio show at the time that was strictly metal and hard rock. Once I was bitten by the Thrash bug, it became a huge part of my radio programming up through the early 90's.

Groove: I suppose Pantera might be the first example of this style that I can recall hearing. "Cowboys From Hell" blew me away when it exploded onto the metal scene but to me that was firmly rooted in thrash. I think the follow-up began the slow evolution towards the band's 100% groove metal approach. I slowly lost interest. I'm still not a huge fan of the genre.

Speed: I think I discovered this genre in the early 80's, mostly from the slew of comps Metal Blade were releasing at the time. Some early discoveries for me were Savage Grace, Raven and Exciter.

An excerpt from The Onion earlier today:

WASHINGTON—Saying that any further endeavors of technical skill and imagination were pointless, experts at the Smithsonian Institution reportedly questioned Monday why new art was still being produced after the pinnacle of aesthetic and creative potential was reached in 1990 with Megadeth’s fourth studio album, Rust In Peace. “As the unquestioned apex of the entire history of the creative arts, Rust In Peace is the finest and last necessary piece of human expression—but it’s almost as though current so-called artists are completely oblivious to Dave Mustaine’s blistering, transcendent guitar work on ‘Hangar 18,’” said Smithsonian curator of contemporary art Joanna Marsh, gesturing dismissively in the direction of a massive self-portrait by photorealist Chuck Close, completed in 2000. “It’s not just incredibly disrespectful to keep making art; in many ways, it’s actually quite sad. The deluded people churning out this worthless garbage just can’t seem to reconcile themselves to the fact that their pathetic little sculptures and films and novels and whatnot will always pale in comparison to the brilliantly inspired, heart-stopping tempo shift halfway through ‘Holy Wars… The Punishment Due.’” At press time, a spokesperson from the Centre Pompidou in Paris confirmed the museum’s plans to throw out the contents of an entire wing and leave a massive, pure white space where the track “Lucretia” will be played on loop at full volume.

A funny article I just spotted on the "Over The Top Metal News" website:

In 1992, Pantera released their hit album, Vulgar Display of Power, which also featured one of their biggest, fan favorite songs, “Walk.”  At the end of that song, Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo says, “Walk on home, boy.”  Well, after 27 years, the “boy” has come forward and has a message for Anselmo. 

45 year old Spencer Boudreaux told Over the Top Metal News: 

“It really hurt me when Phil singled me out in “Walk.”  I knew it was me he was singling out because he used to call me that all the time before he knocked my lunch tray out of my hand.  Fucking meathead.” 

Boudreaux also said, “From now on, I expect for Phil to refer to me as “successful 40-something” instead of “boy” and yes, I expect “air quotes” as well.  Phil may be a rockstar but I make way more money than he does and I can’t wait to buy his home and turn it into a Dollar Tree.  It’s okay Phil.  I’ll give you a job.” 

Over the Top Metal News reached out to Anselmo and told us to relay this message to Boudreaux: “He wants to do what to who?  I tell you what Boudreaux you whiney ass bitch… No way, punk.”

What do you think? Is it well done or would you rather not see Dave Mustaine's legacy harnessed in this way?

I read Dave's first book & it was a pretty decent read. Here's what he has to say about his follow-up "More Life With Deth":

It's sounding a lot like Stone Sour drummer Roy Mayorga might be the man to replace recently deceased Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul in US groove metal outfit Hellyeah. Roy has had previous experience playing in Hellyeah bassist Kyle Sanders' early 2000's outfit Medication & Stone Sour is likely to be fairly inactive for the next couple of years due to front man Corey Taylor's commitments with Slipknot so this might be a likely outcome. What ate your thoughts?

Apparently Machine Head are auditioning replacements:

MACHINE HEAD has begun holding auditions to find replacements for drummer Dave McClain and guitarist Phil Demmel, who left the band last fall. During an Instagram live stream, frontman Robb Flynn revealed that the sessions are taking place at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, California with engineer Zack Ohren, who worked on the group's latest album, 2018's "Catharsis".  

Flynn stated about the musicians taking part in the auditions: "You might not know some of these guys" while "some of [them] you may." 

Among the tracks that all prospective guitar players and drummers were asked to learn are "Locust", "Old", "Imperium", "From This Day", "Halo", "Aesthetics Of Hate" and "This Is The End". 

Robb said that the audition process has "been awesome, really good; in fact, really confusing." He added: "[I] don't know where we are going. We've got some thinking to do."

The press release says:

“In celebration of the historic grand opening of the Chase Center—the new 18,064-seat arena in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood—two preeminent musical forces of the Bay Area will join together for the first time in 20 years: On Friday, September 6, Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony will commemorate this most anticipated addition to San Francisco’s cultural landscape by christening the new Chase Center stage with a one-night-only show. The S&M2 concert will also mark the 20th anniversary of Metallica and the SF Symphony’s groundbreaking 1999 S&M (“Symphony & Metallica”) concerts—and its subsequent film and album releases. 

Legendary conductor Michael Tilson Thomas completes the first week of his final season as San Francisco Symphony Music Director with a special appearance, conducting a portion of the show.”

Lars Ulrich had this to say:

“This is beyond exciting on so many fronts. The fact that San Francisco is finally getting a much needed world-class arena, the fact that Metallica get to be part of the opening celebration, the fact that we get to revisit S&M 20 years later, and the fact that we get to share the stage not only with the San Francisco Symphony once again, but with the legend himself, MTT, as he kicks off his final year as music director here in San Francisco. This is mind-blowingly awesome… bring it on ASAP!!!”

It's not sounding good for any last Big Four shows before Slayer retire according to an interview conducted with Metallica bassist Rob Trujillo on Australia's "The Music" podcast:

"To be honest, I haven't heard any conversations about the 'Big Four,'" Robert responded. "We love SLAYER — I love SLAYER; they're one of my favorite bands. And ANTHRAX is amazing. And that was great what we did a few years back. But I haven't heard any conversations about that. I mean, obviously, we're still in the middle of our tour. And I'm not sure what [the other bands] are doing. I know, yeah, SLAYER is definitely on their final tour. I'm not even sure SLAYER's up for that or what."  

He continued: "It's a weird question, because it hasn't been talked about or discussed, because everybody is kind of in the middle of their stuff right now. So I don't even know how to answer that. But I can say it was an incredible experience, and we all had a blast. And it was something that no one thought could really be done, and then it happened. And it was a beautiful thing. But, you know, I think at some point, everybody kind of moves on and they get wrapped up in their stuff, and that's kind of where everybody's at right now." 

I would agree with you, but there's one major issue with your argument. Blood Fire Death is not in The Pit. It's a pure The North release.

Here's what Lars posted on his Instagram account last Friday:

"Today 30 years ago, February 22 '89, we played the Grammys for the first time and that was quite a mindfuck!!  First time we were in front of a mainstream TV audience. First time mainstream America was exposed to whatever the hell it is we do. First time they had a hard rock/metal category on the Grammys. First time we were Grammy losers, since JETHRO TULL, somewhat unexpectedly to most people, walked away with the win.  But all was not lost. The expressions of disgust from most members of the audience (other than Iggy!) is something I will treasure for the rest of my life. And I was rocking some pretty crazy hair that was edging dangerously close to a mullet! Happy days indeed!!"

I remember this occurring when I was in my early teens but the truly ridiculous nature of this decision didn't truly sink in at the time. It wasn't just that calling Jethro Tull's music hard rock (let alone heavy metal) was a huge stretch. It was also that their 1989 album "Rock Island" (their seventeenth album to that time) was also amongst the band's poorest performing records from a purely critical point of view. To put it into perspective, it would be kinda like ignoring all of Black Sabbath's classic 70's records & awarding them a prize for "Never Say Die!" Unbelievable! But at least Lars has a sense of humour about it.

Here's a new interview from a few days ago with Phil Anselmo of Pantera/Down/Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals/Superjoint Ritual/Necrophagia/etc:

http://damnationvault.com/interviews/an-interview-with-philip-h-anselmo-by-jenna-williams/

While I'm happy to hear that Sean is healthy, I can't say that I'm thrilled to hear that he will be placed behind a microphone again.

I was just reading the below interviews with Kirk Hammett & Lars Ulrich from Metallica & was wondering how you all feel about the band's supposed return to their roots & how successful you think they've been with that approach. 

Kirk Hammett: "I think for right now, there's a little bit of a vacuum for us and bands that sound like us. There are a lot of great new bands out there, but I think people yearn for something that they know is made in a real sense. I think there's a bit of authenticity that comes with us that might not be attached to some of the more contemporary bands. We can be counted on to deliver in some form or another something that's real and authentic and something that has integrity. I think that really means a lot to some people these days, when a lot of music is just kind of like made by pressing a button… People can count on us showing up with our instruments and actually making music right there in the moment. And we deliver. Whatever you hear on our album, we can play live. I will not even try to count how many bands are incapable of that. I think that's part of it. Certainly, with 2008's 'Death Magnetic', we learned that it was okay to embrace our past with sort of a revisionist approach. That's what 'Death Magnetic' kind of started as. To an extent, it's continued with 'Hardwired' too. We like to play music from all of the different eras, and at this particular point in our lives, playing the heavier stuff just is appealing to us. It feels right to me and it feels right to the other guys in the band." 

Lars Ulrich: "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct" is possibly the band's most successful record in 25 years in terms of reception. Obviously, this record isn't shipping as many units as records did 10 or 20 years ago, but the perception is that it's probably our most well-received record since 'The Black Album.' So, to have that 30-plus years into your career, and to make a record that connects at that level — still — is crazy cool. Like, we'll meet people at meet-and-greets and they'll be, like, 'My favorite song is 'Now That We're Dead'' and 'My favorite song is 'Halo On Fire'. This record is being received with the same appreciation as any of our other records. That's something that we didn't expect. And that's something that anyone who has been doing this as long as us should never take for granted." 

Personally, I haven't heard anything that's worth listening to from Metallica since 1991 with the possible exception of the "Garage Inc. compilation which doesn't really count. Even though "Load" & "Reload" left me with a very bad taste in my mouth, at least they were an example of a band taking risks & making an artistic statement. The same can said for the awful "Lulu" experiment. But I can't say the same for the last few albums. "St. Anger" was a clear attempt to jump onto modern trends while "Death Magnetic" & "Hardwired...to Self-Destruct" are the sound of a band that has accepted that they've failed with their last 25 years of recorded output & are simply happy enough to try to win back their old fans with a watered down version of their classic sound. It's an inherently inauthentic approach which seems like the total opposite of how Kirk thinks he's perceived & that really does prove that the band are completely detached from their fanbase & the modern music industry.

Your thoughts?