September 2022 "The Revolution" Playlist - Metal Academy Radio

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1yFgscg5HWKGoIy2s0xRfG

Tracklisting:

1. Asking Alexandria - "Don't Pray for Me" from From Death to Destiny (2013) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]

2. Phinehas - "I am the Lion" from Thegodmachine (2011)

3. Coalesce - "Simulcast" from Coalesce (1995) [BONUS submission by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]

4. Parkway Drive - "Wild Eyes" from Atlas (2012)

5. Silent Planet - "Afterdusk" from When the End Began (2018) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]

6. Upon a Burning Body - "Fake Plastic Smile" from Straight from the Barrio (2016)

7. From Autumn to Ashes - "Milligram Smile" from The Fiction We Live (2003) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]

8. Deadguy - "Turk 182" from Screamin' with the Deadguy Quintet (1996)

9. CMD81 - "Subsequent" from VOL_1 (2021)

10. Earth Crisis - "The Wrath of Sanity" from Destroy the Machines (1995) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]

11. Bury Tomorrow - "Man on Fire" from Runes (2014)

12. The Number Twelve Looks Like You - "Raised and Erased" from Wild Gods (2019)

13. Car Bomb - "Solid Grey" from Centralia (2007)

14. Nineironspitfire - "Charcoal Drawings / Weapon of Choice" from Seventh Soul Sacrificed (1996)

15. Veil of Maya - "It's Not Safe to Swim Today" from The Common Man's Collapse (2008) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]

16. Bring Me the Horizon - "Liquor & Love Lost" from Count Your Blessings (2006)

17. Day of Suffering - "Shades of Red" from The Eternal Jihad (1997)

18. Demon Hunter - "We Don't Care" from True Defiance (2012) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]

19. I, the Breather - "The Beginning" from Truth and Purpose (2012)

20. The Devil Wears Prada - "Watchtower" from Watchtower (2022)

21. Glass Houses - "Wellspring" from Wellspring (2016)

22. Bad Omens - "The Fountain" from Bad Omens (2016)

23. The Artificials - "Tunnel Vision" from Heart (2017)

24. Elitist - "Equinox" from Reshape Reason (2012)

25. Damaged - "Swine Eyed Sheep" from Token Remedies Research (1997)

26. Within the Ruins - "Roads" from Invade (2010) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]

27. Miss May I - "Masses of a Dying Breed" from Monument (2010)

28. Everyone Dies in Utah - "Regenerate" from Infra (2021)

29. Convictions - "Last Cell" from I Won't Survive (2021)

30. Architects - "Memento Mori" from All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us (2016)

Here are my thoughts on all the selected tracks:

Asking Alexandria - "Don't Pray for Me" from From Death to Destiny (2013)

5/5. Now this is an awesome way to start an album and playlist! The one-and-a-half minute intro is basically like a main menu theme for one of the HALO games, then FFDP-ish alt-metalcore is unleashed. Asking Alexandria is one of my recent favorite bands, and this song helps seal the deal!

Phinehas - "I am the Lion" from Thegodmachine (2011)

4.5/5. Another fantastic melodic metalcore song to love! The guitar leads two minutes on are hard to replicate, that's what unique this band is.

Coalesce - "Simulcast" from Coalesce (1995)

4/5. This track is in its original demo form, but still the only incredible song here, with some changes into an occasional sludgy sound that would hint at the band's incoming technical experimentation and emotion.

Parkway Drive - "Wild Eyes" from Atlas (2012)

4.5/5. This one has epic background chants and a cool bridge. The lyrics continue the theme of was from the past causing atrocities in the world today, this time in an anthem that you can sing and shout along to. VIVA THE UNDERDOGS!!

Silent Planet - "Afterdusk" from When the End Began (2018)

5/5. Imagine taking the metal/hardcore sound and lyrics of Underminded and The Warriors into Christian ambient progressive territory. This is the kind of greatness you're bound to love if you're up for that style.

Upon a Burning Body - "Fake Plastic Smile" from Straight from the Barrio (2016)

4.5/5. Danny Leal is a kick-A vocalist in sick songs like this one, though some lyrics are questionable. Both his unclean and clean vocals are f***ing kick-A, especially the Breaking Benjamin influence in the latter.

From Autumn to Ashes - "Milligram Smile" from The Fiction We Live (2003)

4.5/5. From Autumn to Ashes is another band that deserves more fame and f***ing respect. This heavily flawless song would fit well for that xXx snowboarding scene as much as the Hatebreed song that was chosen for that scene. The band has already reformed after a hiatus and intends to make more music. I can't believe I'm 23 and didn't discover this band until earlier this year. The indifferent listeners don't know what they miss. I kinda wish for more of that singing girl who appeared in a couple other songs.

Deadguy - "Turk 182" from Screamin' with the Deadguy Quintet (1996)

5/5. This one makes the band sounds more unique than most other hardcore/metalcore bands, but not the most unique themselves. That's good because everything gets balanced well for perfect enjoyment.

CMD81 - "Subsequent" from VOL_1 (2021)

4.5/5. This is one of those songs I've discovered from a YouTube ad that I can't skip unlike many of those sh*tty ads YouTube has nowadays. This is f***ing sick heaviness! Put this one on your workout playlist.

Earth Crisis - "The Wrath of Sanity" from Destroy the Machines (1995)

5/5. This song touches my metal heart the most of all hardcore-oriented tracks with probably the best breakdown of that genre.

Bury Tomorrow - "Man on Fire" from Runes (2014)

5/5. Another underrated unique metalcore band with perfect vocals, both clean and unclean. The lyrics, riffs, and beats also kick a**! I f***ing love this can't wait to find more from this band. It's almost worth a peaceful walk by yourself alone. Why the f*** can't this song get more popular?! Definitely some Parkway Drive/Silent Planet vibes here!

The Number Twelve Looks Like You - "Raised and Erased" from Wild Gods (2019)

4.5/5. With Wild Gods, #12 made their comeback for the more of the fantastic material mathcore fans have been craving for, including a bit of the emotional chaos of Put on Your Rosy Red Glasses. I'm digging this amazing sh*t, including the bridge that starts near the 3-minute mark.

Car Bomb - "Solid Grey" from Centralia (2007)

4/5. The mathcore madness is demonstrated yet again in this solid track.

Nineironspitfire - "Charcoal Drawings / Weapon of Choice" from Seventh Soul Sacrificed (1996)

3/5. The least agonizing song in this EP is their best attempt at the mathcore Deadguy developed more properly, in a two-part epic.

Veil of Maya - "It's Not Safe to Swim Today" from The Common Man's Collapse (2008)

4.5/5. This one has more melodic guitar skills along with unique drumming including the usual blast beats and...A WOOD BLOCK!!

Bring Me the Horizon - "Liquor & Love Lost" from Count Your Blessings (2006)

4/5. A strong sensational deathcore track. It kind of makes me think of a more death-ified take on Avenged Sevenfold's heavier metalcore material. The ending breakdown is so cool and brutal as f***.

Day of Suffering - "Shades of Red" from The Eternal Jihad (1997)

4.5/5. This one is a better highlight, with as much blasting intensity as Deicide before settling into hardcore groove. There's a chanting chorus important for live shows.

Demon Hunter - "We Don't Care" from True Defiance (2012)

5/5. Here's an awesome anthem that sounds like a Christian battle song of apathy, where Christians don't care if the world around them is condemned by sin. A heavy song with a heavy theme!

I, the Breather - "The Beginning" from Truth and Purpose (2012)

5/5. I love this kick-A song. Another instant favorite for me! The chorus has quite a message, "Fight for what you're longing for, hold tight, life has its funny ways, follow your heart when you can't think straight, life has its funny ways". This band has awesome metalcore roars. If I still had that electronic drum kit we ended up giving away and got better at drums, I would've performed a drum cover for this song. The pinch-harmonic breakdown reminds me of Born of Osiris.

The Devil Wears Prada - "Watchtower" from Watchtower (2022)

5/5. After a few false attempts to get into listening to this band, this is where I got my jump-start! Nothing disappointing even after 17 long years for the band!

Glass Houses - "Wellspring" from Wellspring (2016)

4.5/5. Holy f***, this is an excellent Skillet-ish anthem with unique lyrics! Quite heavenly...

Bad Omens - "The Fountain" from Bad Omens (2016)

4/5. Another good anthemic hit to live on forevermore...

The Artificials - "Tunnel Vision" from Heart (2017)

4.5/5. I can listen to this track a few times in a row, mixing blissful melody with angry rhythm. Close to a beautiful winner!

Elitist - "Equinox" from Reshape Reason (2012)

5/5. Ah yeah, let's hear it for an amazing round of melodic/technical metalcore! Obviously not all the vocals are clean, but I'm obsessed with the clean chorus, "The secrets of time are dying for more, than the weakness of our existence holds", in awesome contrast with the riffs and breakdowns. I would love more of this album and band! Standard 7-string B tuning is absolutely worth jamming out to, though I don't have a guitar, and the one my brother has is only 6-string. What makes this great song impressive is the ability to not overdo the clean vocals in metalcore, and that's why they rule here. So don't go telling a band to "drop their vocalist" just because of the cleans. There are some similarities to the djenty technicality of Born of Osiris and Volumes, and the melodic power of As I Lay Dying and All That Remains, but at least these guys are pros who don't rip off. Their riffs have gone through different unique ways...

Damaged - "Swine Eyed Sheep" from Token Remedies Research (1997)

3.5/5. The extreme-infused deathgrind/deathcore sound Damaged had in their career is proven in this good killer track.

Within the Ruins - "Roads" from Invade (2010)

4/5. A 6-minute two-part instrumental epic from this Massachusetts-based djenty metal/deathcore band, though it would've been better with some vocals...

Miss May I - "Masses of a Dying Breed" from Monument (2010)

5/5. This one's another nice highlight to get me into this band I've only recently discovered. Some editions say this features Caleb Shomo (ex-Attack Attack! and Beartooth), but I don't hear him, so that's probably just a mistake to overlook.

Everyone Dies in Utah - "Regenerate" from Infra (2021)

4.5/5. Another beautiful song worth headbanging to! I'm nearly a year late for this, but no prob. This is quite an amazing that I'm glad it's available on Spotify. Interesting that this band isn't highly well-known despite being active since the late 2000s.

Convictions - "Last Cell" from I Won't Survive (2021)

4/5. Slightly less quality while a great rocker. Enough said!

Architects - "Memento Mori" from All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us (2016)

5/5. This astonishing epic, along with the rest of this album, was written, recorded, and released in the last months of the life of guitarist Tom Searle, and the lyrics include a couple recorded quotes from Alan Watts that perfectly do justice to the inevitable transcendence into infinite darkness that awaited him. Absolutely amazing, emotional, and deserving to be heard beyond the universe. RIP this amazing legend... My mind is blown by such great remembrance for the memory of a talent young man gone too soon. And if one day, I end up passing too, this would be my funeral song. The power of the music and lyrics can be absolutely gripping. In fact, the lyrics and melody (specifically at the 4-minute mark) is revisited in "Death is Not Defeat", the opener of their next album and first without Tom. If you end up on the brink of death with no way out, just let it be. It is your fate. An inspirational message from this glorious epic to end this album and playlist. RIP Tom Searle. Memento Mori, be mindful of death....

HOLY SH*T, this is probably one of the best metalcore playlists I've ever done, with most of the tracks reaching 4.5 or 5 stars, and only a few tough speed bumps. I sure would recommend this to any metalcore fan and anyone who isn't into metalcore but wants to get into a great start in enjoying the genre. Thanks Daniel for accepting this and your help with your submission, and I hope the rest of you enjoy it like I've had!