October 2022 "The Revolution" Playlist - Metal Academy Radio
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1yFgscg5HWKGoIy2s0xRfG
Tracklisting:
1. Atka - "1xs{aix:ccc}3xs{/a1:cc}4xs{Ij8}4xs{:::comtlkcc}" (from Untitled Album 1, 2018) [submitted by Daniel]
2. Between the Buried and Me - "More of Myself to Kill" (from Between the Buried and Me, 2002)
3. Botch - "Hutton's Great Heat Engine" (from American Nervoso, 1998)
4. The Ghost Inside - "Avalanche" (from Dear Youth, 2014) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]
5. Beartooth - "In Between" (from Disgusting, 2014)
6. Silent Planet - "Native Blood" (from The Night God Slept, 2014)
7. Oh, Sleeper - "Hush Yael" (from Children of Fire, 2011) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]
8. Caliban - "Assassin to Love" (from The Split Program, 2000)
9. Deadguy - "Human Pig" (from Screamin' with the Deadguy Quintet, 1996)
10. Unbroken - "End of a Life Time" (from Life. Love. Regret, 1994)
11. Miss May I - "Relentless Chaos" (from Monument, 2010)
12. Betraying the Martyrs - "Embers" (from Silver Lining, 2022)
13. Underoath - "Writing on the Walls" (from Define the Great Line, 2006) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]
14. Fire From the Gods - "Excuse Me" (from Narrative, 2016)
15. Coalesce - "Every Reason to" (from Give Them Rope, 1997)
16. Psyopus - "Insects" (from Our Puzzling Encounters Considered, 2007) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]
17. Electric Callboy - "Hypa Hypa" (from MMXX, 2020) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]
18. Motionless in White - "B.F.B.T.G.: Corpse Nation" (from Scoring the End of the World, 2021) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]
19. Scarlet - "Don't Hold Your Breath" (from Breaking the Dead Stare, 2000)
20. Volumes - "Happier?" (from Happier?, 2021)
21. Haste the Day - "Stitches" (from Pressure the Hinges, 2007)
22. State Craft - "Season's End" (from To Celebrate the Forlorn Seasons, 2000)
23. Trivium - "The Shadow of the Abattoir" (from In the Court of the Dragon, 2021) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]
24. Crown the Empire - "Lucky Us" (from Retrograde, 2016)
25. Bury Tomorrow - "Lionheart" (from The Union of Crowns, 2012)
26. Wage War - "Manic" (from Manic, 2021)
27. Make Them Suffer - "Bones" (from How to Survive a Funeral, 2020)
28. Oceans Ate Alaska - "Dead Behind the Eyes" (from Disparity, 2022)
29. Lorna Shore - "...And I Return to Nothingness" (from ...And I Return to Nothingness, 2021)
30. Ice Nine Kills - "IT is the End" (from The Silver Scream, 2018)
Here are my thoughts on all the selected tracks:
Atka - "1xs{aix:ccc}3xs{/a1:cc}4xs{Ij8}4xs{:::comtlkcc}" (from Untitled Album 1, 2018)
2.5/5. WARNING: This intro track suggested by Daniel (thanks for that, by the way) may be too intense for most music listeners, so if you can't handle the extra-spicy grind-mathcore, you might wanna skip it. Or if you want a more melodic start, go to track #4 and start there, then save these first 3 tracks for last.
Between the Buried and Me - "More of Myself to Kill" (from Between the Buried and Me, 2002)
4/5. Of course, this isn't as intense as that Atka track, but it's Between the Buried and Me at their most bonkers, when their original sound was basically deathly progressive metalcore. Still the "Memories keeping all these tears inside" section would have you raising your fist to this beauty. The cleans are really great, and I remember when I was listening to this band in my late teens. This pandemic sh*t really decimated the band's live plans, for they had the chance to remaster their first 4 albums and work on their recent album Colors II. The pace makes sure those 7 minutes don't last forever. Paul Waggoner has done excellent guitar tabs, not just in that aforementioned clean section, but during the first minute and half as well. This album and The Silent Circus show the band's heaviest material. The remastering has really paid off, and g****mn, the return to heaviness midway through gets my attention all the time.
Botch - "Hutton's Great Heat Engine" (from American Nervoso, 1998)
4.5/5. This fantastic highlight, "Hutton’s Great Heat Engine" has great chaotic moves including the guitar dive-bombing into a sludgy riff breakdown. Guitarist Dave Knudson has such extraordinary talent. He performs so naturally and helps the band gain its sense of individuality.
The Ghost Inside - "Avalanche" (from Dear Youth, 2014)
5/5. The Ghost Inside has some of the most blazing fire in metalcore and have managed to stay in their road through success. This album was released a year before the band's terrible accident. It's great that they've recovered after those subsequent years and continue to make f***ing awesome music like this. Dear Youth is a solid step up from Get What You Give, and would stay in that path for their self-titled comeback album.
Beartooth - "In Between" (from Disgusting, 2014)
5/5. The catchy chorus is so great within the melody and lyrics, in perfect balance with the raging verses. Gotta get more of this band!
Silent Planet - "Native Blood" (from The Night God Slept, 2014)
4.5/5. Another heart-toucher! The timeless music and powerful lyrics are amazing ("We were dressed in potential, now we're draped in sorrow").
Oh, Sleeper - "Hush Yael" (from Children of Fire, 2011)
5/5. I discovered this awesome band when my brother shared this song to me and made his own 8-bit version of it. For those who don't know what the story is about, Samir Kuntar was a terrorist who killed half a family when he was 16 in the 1979 Nahariya attack. He shot and drowned the father, then crushed the daughter's head. Yael is the other daughter whom her mother (the only survivor of the family) accidentally choked while trying to silence her cries. Kuntar was sent to prison for life, but was freed after nearly 3 decades. I didn't wanna have to spoil this much, but I guess it's good to know before you get to the song.
Caliban - "Assassin to Love" (from The Split Program, 2000)
4.5/5. A good thrash/groove riff rises after a great scream beginning this song. There are two f***ing brilliant breakdowns, but afterwards, the song sounds a bit draggy.
Deadguy - "Human Pig" (from Screamin' with the Deadguy Quintet, 1996)
5/5. This one gets you started in the same way as their debut, to level up your energy. After siren-like wailing of the guitar, the drumming gets all crazy, and vocalist Tim "Pops" Naumann (replacing Tim Singer) screams all over the place up to the end.
Unbroken - "End of a Life Time" (from Life. Love. Regret, 1994)
4.5/5. This one is also so good, and the more hardcore fans might keep coming back more.
Miss May I - "Relentless Chaos" (from Monument, 2010)
5/5. Another newfound favorite that would make me up for more of this band!
Betraying the Martyrs - "Embers" (from Silver Lining, 2022)
4.5/5. Nice melodic drama, though I miss when their earlier material had more prominent symphonics mixed with death/metalcore. The addictive cleans and killer screams make an amazing mix, especially in the huge chorus. Despite the ambience, the excellent metalcore heaviness is still around, and I love the exciting breakdown over the two-minute mark, energizing me more than coffee! This shows that, while the earlier epic vibe is lost, their new direction can be quite promising.
Underoath - "Writing on the Walls" (from Define the Great Line, 2006)
5/5. One of the best songs of this album and by the band! That's the music video I found on TV a few years before getting interested in this band, and it still rules! The vocals are really delivered well.
Fire From the Gods - "Excuse Me" (from Narrative, 2016)
4.5/5. If you wish to start with the more commercial metal sounds without going into older territory, this is a great place to start with multiple vocal styles, mixing rap with metal and hardcore. I'm not usually into a lot of this style besides Attila, how the f*** is this so good?! So radical!
Coalesce - "Every Reason to" (from Give Them Rope, 1997)
5/5. This band can pummel with every instrumentation aspect, including the heavy groove bass of Stacey Hilt, the smashing drums of James Dewees and the technical destruction in the guitar riffs by Jes Steineger. Altogether with Sean Ingram's mighty roars.
Psyopus - "Insects" (from Our Puzzling Encounters Considered, 2007)
4.5/5. It's too bad this band didn't get a lot of attention and ended up splitting up after only 3 albums. This is crushing technical mathcore, probably more technical than even tech-death bands like Cattle Decapitation and Job for a Cowboy. I'm enjoying this despite being half a world apart from this band. This is basically jazzy grind/mathcore more well-played and tolerable than Atka, with lots of notes. This really should've grabbed the world's attention than Kanye West, though it might cause a major p*ss. Those video-game-sounding guitars and vocal shrieks are not to be missed!
Electric Callboy - "Hypa Hypa" (from MMXX, 2020)
4/5. Once again my brother is really in the zone listening to this band, and while it's not exactly what I'm up for, this song would've definitely dominated Eurovision.
Motionless in White - "B.F.B.T.G.: Corpse Nation" (from Scoring the End of the World, 2021)
4/5. I'm glad to find this band last year. Their new album has a lot to touch my industrial alt-metalcore soul.
Scarlet - "Don't Hold Your Breath" (from Breaking the Dead Stare, 2000)
4.5/5. This is the best song in this EP, filled with top-notch raw math/metalcore brutality! Honestly, this is the kind of metalcore sound bands like Underoath, All That Remains, and Lamb of God were starting out at that time. Yep, that's brilliant mathcore right there!
Volumes - "Happier?" (from Happier?, 2021)
5/5. 100% loving this song, probably one of the best of last year! An incredible song to jam along to in a happy Summer after a depressing time. This emotional groove can pretty much make me shed tears of joy. I really love the lyrics, including that magical chorus. Volumes will never disappoint, instead making me happier!
Haste the Day - "Stitches" (from Pressure the Hinges, 2007)
5/5. Another beautiful song from another underrated band, worth listening to during an early morning motorbike ride.
State Craft - "Season's End" (from To Celebrate the Forlorn Seasons, 2000)
4.5/5. The ending epic to this album is the only one there that stands out well. The outro reminds of that of Trivium's Ember to Inferno. And speaking of Trivium...
Trivium - "The Shadow of the Abattoir" (from In the Court of the Dragon, 2021)
5/5. This brooding masterpiece of a song is the first of not one, not two, but THREE 7+ minute epics in the new Trivium album! This one might just have Heafy's best vocals EVER!! The verses go slow like a power ballad from Blind Guardian or Slough Feg with deep baritone vocals before rising to higher power in the chorus in a depressive journey ("Don't go searching for the battle, you won't find any beasts to slay, you'll rip yourself to pieces, you'll drive yourself insane, in the shadow of the abattoir...") The heavier bridge is more complex with key-switching breakdowns and extensive soloing that ends by perfectly replicating the chorus vocal harmony, before the final chorus itself where the background vocal harmony of bassist Paolo Gregoletto puts more emphasis in the harmony than before. EPIC!!
Crown the Empire - "Lucky Us" (from Retrograde, 2016)
5/5. Another song I just found that I now love. Lots of emotional passion that can make an instant favorite!
Bury Tomorrow - "Lionheart" (from The Union of Crowns, 2012)
5/5. Yet another instant #1! I want more of this band really bad.
Wage War - "Manic" (from Manic, 2021)
4.5/5. This song would have you repeating it over and over. F***ing great sh*t to headbang to! This is like a movie soundtrack to getting ready for fight and, during the heavy choruses and breakdown, fighting the enemies brutally. The Ghostemane vibes are quite accurate. I have a feeling there will be mosh-pits larger than any of the World Wars...
Make Them Suffer - "Bones" (from How to Survive a Funeral, 2020)
4.5/5. This one starts with Sean shouting "I CAN'T BREATHE!!", which in the wake of certain protests, might make you think that's what the song is about, but most likely not. Anyway, that song is one of the grooviest tunes by the band and my personal favorite of this album. The punchy guitar tones and jumpy drums sounds like the song might've been inspired by Issues. It is greatly memorable for its catchy chorus, where the instrumentation gets brighter and Sean sings cleanly for the first time, sounding like August Burns Red's Jake Luhrs' attempts in clean singing, in contrast to the darker djent-core passages. The final chorus especially would be worth singing along to once the band can go on gigs again. Speaking of August Burns Red, I love both MTS' "Bones" and ABR's "Bones", they're both great!
Oceans Ate Alaska - "Dead Behind the Eyes" (from Disparity, 2022)
5/5. Another song of kick-A greatness from Oceans Ate Alaska! It features I Prevail unclean vocalist Eric Vanlerberghe. I can repeat this part of the playlist any time! The clean vocals only appear during the last 20 seconds of the song and make a big impact.
Lorna Shore - "...And I Return to Nothingness" (from ...And I Return to Nothingness, 2021)
5/5. And finally, we have the title track to behold in all its epic glory. This is pure massive destruction that the band had in earlier material, perhaps much more than that. The death metal elements carry on in a steady rhythm, as the vocals are unleashed with berserk might, and the guitars shine even more. The riffs have incredible technical speed. Ramos doesn't have any mistakes in his vocals and the dark lyrics he reads. It's all in intentional thought and focus. His lines are made high while breaking through the lows. While the breakdown fury is an important aspect to the other two songs, and pretty much many other deathcore bands, for this track, fast blasting technicality is the key. Speaking of technicality and keys, the final climatic minute marks a couple raises in the key signature, blows you away with the last of the technical speed, and ends it all with an operatic outro. That final epic is probably the best of the 3 and one of the most glorious extreme metal songs in my entire lifetime!
Ice Nine Kills - "IT is the End" (from The Silver Scream, 2018)
5/5. OK, THIS is the final song of the playlist, a chaotic crown of disturbing glory, "IT is the End", and I think you already know what it's based on. It has many elements but they're used much better and features a few final guest vocalists, Peter "JR" Wasilewski and Buddy Schaub of Less Than Jake and Will Salazar of Fenix TX. It is indeed the craziest and most horrific of the album, and I love it! I made an entire scenario for this album, but I've spoiled enough, so check out my review. Happy Halloween!
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 including a rough start (sorry, Daniel). Anyway, 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!