April 2024 "The Revolution" Playlist - Metal Academy Radio
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1yFgscg5HWKGoIy2s0xRfG
Tracklisting:
1. Malevolence - "Malicious Intent" from Malicious Intent (2022)
2. Hatebreed - "Instinctive (Slaughterlust)" from Weight of the False Self (2020) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]
3. Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas - "The Stronger, the Further You'll Be" from Hypertoughness (2019) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]
4. As I Lay Dying - "An Ocean Between Us" from An Ocean Between Us (2007) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]
5. Thrown - "New Low" from EXTENDED PAIN (2022)
6. Half Me - "Ex Negativo" from Soma (2023)
7. Imminence - "Continuum" from Continuum (2024)
8. Alleviate - "Within Worlds" from Within Worlds (2024)
9. HEAVENSGATE - "SHE MOVES LIKE THUNDER" from AND ALL I LOVED, I LOVED ALONE (2023)
10. VENUES - "Godspeed, Goodbye" from Godspeed, Goodbye (2024)
11. xNOMADx - "On Skylines of Embers" from On Skylines of Embers E.P. (2023) [submitted by Daniel]
12. Nik Nocturnal, Victor Borba - "Soul Eternal" from How to Metal, Vol. 1 (2023)
13. Currents - "Monsters" from The Way It Ends (2020)
14. Fit for a King - "Pissed Off" from Deathgrip (2016) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]
15. Underoath - "Paper Lung" from Ø (Disambiguation) (2010)
16. Amaranthe - "Digital World" from Massive Addictive (2014) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]
17. Bullet for My Valentine - "Alone" from Fever (2010) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]
18. Convictions - "Stigmata" from Stigmata (2021)
19. Converge - "Heartless" from You Fail Me (2004)
20. Iwrestledabearonce - "Still Jolly After All These Years" from Iwrestledabearonce (2007)
21. Botch - "Spitting Black" from American Nervoso (1998)
22. The Dillinger Escape Plan - "Gold Teeth on a Bum" from Option Paralysis (2010)
23. Invent Animate - "Elysium" from Heavener (2023)
24. Ice Nine Kills - "Someone Like You" from The Predator (2013) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]
25. Trivium - "The Ones We Leave Behind" from What the Dead Men Say (2020)
26. The Acacia Strain - "Observer" from Coma Witch (2014)
Here are my thoughts on all the selected tracks:
Malevolence - "Malicious Intent" from Malicious Intent (2022)
3.5/5. Let's start with good beatdown fire, filled with MALICIOUS INTENT.
Hatebreed - "Instinctive (Slaughterlust)" from Weight of the False Self (2020)
4/5. If Trivium could rip the heart from your hate, Hatebreed does just that then keeps stomping the heart hard while your hate bleeds to death. This is f***ing brutal old-school-inspired metalcore that would keep your wild bullhorns up.
Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas - "The Stronger, the Further You'll Be" from Hypertoughness (2019)
4.5/5. I totally agree with that song title, since I've been gaining a lot of strength in my metal journey. Sometimes metal isn't always about soloing but rather about Solo Leveling. Get it? The lyrics are quite amazing and perfect for gaming. Level up!
As I Lay Dying - "An Ocean Between Us" from An Ocean Between Us (2007)
5/5. Horns up to the massive melodic metalcore fire from this killer highlight!
Thrown - "New Low" from EXTENDED PAIN (2022)
4.5/5. I haven't heard of this band until just recently. That outro riff is heavy gold!
Half Me - "Ex Negativo" from Soma (2023)
4.5/5. That's a lot of Thrown for me to consume, with this song featuring Thrown vocalist Marcus Lundqvist. An absolutely heavy banger! This is basically Alpha Wolf gone Periphery, especially in the breakdown halfway through filled with raw anger. Not much has changed in between singles, and that's a good thing.
Imminence - "Continuum" from Continuum (2024)
5/5. The perfection of Imminence's new singles continues, this one sounding both brutal and beautiful. Like f***ing beyond beautiful!
Alleviate - "Within Worlds" from Within Worlds (2024)
4.5/5. Perhaps the heaviest song in the playlist so far! And I'm talking about raging metalcore violence.
HEAVENSGATE - "SHE MOVES LIKE THUNDER" from AND ALL I LOVED, I LOVED ALONE (2023)
4/5. If you take Loathe's sound and replace the shoegaze elements with the brutality of Sworn In, you have a f***ing heavy banger in this song. Impressive hellfire in the instrumentation that never disappoints! You can hear the sick p*ssed-off attitude. Though it should be noted that there's already a heavy metal band called Heaven's Gate.
VENUES - "Godspeed, Goodbye" from Godspeed, Goodbye (2024)
3.5/5. Escape the depression and experience the upbeat melody. I enjoy the chorus and how it gets a heavy twist in the end of the final one.
xNOMADx - "On Skylines of Embers" from On Skylines of Embers E.P. (2023)
3/5. A decent track with melodic heavy riffing and vicious vocal fury, but not enough to make highlight territory.
Nik Nocturnal, Victor Borba - "Soul Eternal" from How to Metal, Vol. 1 (2023)
3.5/5. A pretty cool take on Bring Me the Horizon and all of their different eras, though the structural skeleton seems to come from "Shadow Moses". Victor Borba (who also sings that Devil May Cry "Bury the Light" song) does an impressive job vocally impersonating Oliver Sykes. TAKE MY SOUL ETERNAL!!!
Currents - "Monsters" from The Way It Ends (2020)
4/5. I like this one, but something's a little off that seems to ruin it slightly.
Fit for a King - "Pissed Off" from Deathgrip (2016)
4.5/5. "Guns firing into masses... Building burning, SOCIETY COLLAPSES!" Is that a parody of a lyric from Black Sabbath's "War Pigs"? Either way, it can't beat the final f***ing brutal growl at the end.
Underoath - "Paper Lung" from Ø (Disambiguation) (2010)
5/5. This one sounds a little more alternative than the rest, but like those other two Underoath music videos ("Writing on the Walls", "In Division"), this one is also what ignited a slight spark of interest in Underoath that didn't fully began until when a different song from the band was used in a TheOdd1sOut video. This is closer to a sludgy metalcore mix a bit like early He is Legend, especially in the intense last minute. I ain't sorry when I say this is much better than their recent pop rock sh*t.
Amaranthe - "Digital World" from Massive Addictive (2014)
4.5/5. This more intellectual track deals with society living more via digital devices instead of physically socializing people. This is yet another song fitting well with both the music and the current ongoing pandemic. You can party to that song alone at home!
Bullet for My Valentine - "Alone" from Fever (2010)
5/5. This one starts with massive guitar tapping over orchestral synths and chord sequence, a nearly similar starting structure to "Your Betrayal", but sounds neo-classical. The synth-strings continue through the verse and chorus in catchy occasion. The guitar solos start with simple melodies transposed to E minor (key changes are rare for BFMV) before modulating back to D minor in time for the final chorus and a crashing finale like no other. The intro plays again in the outro slowing down to crawling before an epic collapse similar to a film or album ending. Yeah, that song would fit better as the closing track, but at least it brings us to the second half of the playlist, length-wise.
Convictions - "Stigmata" from Stigmata (2021)
4.5/5. "I won't deny my father's crown! SO YOU CAN CRUCIFY ME UPSIDE DOWN!!!!" One of the most aggressively pleasant lyrics I've heard in a Christian metal song.
Converge - "Heartless" from You Fail Me (2004)
4/5. Definitely an adjective that I would describe song #6. It's as great as many the other songs here. The song has some of the melody from the previous few tracks here while still containing heavy amounts of heaviness. The ability to combine melody and brutality is what makes Converge so great.
Iwrestledabearonce - "Still Jolly After All These Years" from Iwrestledabearonce (2007)
4.5/5. The first 15 seconds sound like a strange alien drug trip before that intro gets f***ed apart by the mathcore chaos. I love the melodic bridge that starts near the one-minute mark. Then after the last bit of chaos, the intro is repeated again as the outro.
Botch - "Spitting Black" from American Nervoso (1998)
4/5. That first line "It won't happen again, not for the hundredth time" seems fitting because this song's uniqueness makes sure nothing gets repeated for the hundredth time. The uniqueness is helped out by Knudson's guitar versatility going all over the place and constantly changing like when you're repeatedly switching weapons in your arsenal in one of those shooting video games like DOOM.
The Dillinger Escape Plan - "Gold Teeth on a Bum" from Option Paralysis (2010)
4.5/5. This one has some moments that can make a nice action-heist movie soundtrack, while bringing together a once-hated mix of metal and pop.
Invent Animate - "Elysium" from Heavener (2023)
5/5. Such godly vocals to go with the glorious instrumentation!
Ice Nine Kills - "Someone Like You" from The Predator (2013)
4.5/5. When I first came across this Adele cover, I thought it would be laughable, but it's highly enjoyable.
Trivium - "The Ones We Leave Behind" from What the Dead Men Say (2020)
5/5. An epic closer that keeps the intensity while having incredible melody. Apparently, this song gives a powerful message that takes on a whole meaning of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, thereby giving us a great song to fit in as we're restricted by this global maelstrom of sickness. Everything the band did in this album is nicely compiled into this furious blend of heavy and melodic, along with some of the hardest riffing in their career. Absolute metal glory!! Though the playlist isn't over yet...
The Acacia Strain - "Observer" from Coma Witch (2014)
5/5. You may have been wondering where the h*ll the deathcore section of this playlist has been all this time. Well this 27-minute epic perfectly covers both deathcore and downtempo deathcore, with over a quarter of its length containing some of the slowest, most doomy deathcore I've heard, perfect for its downtempo counterpart. Yeah, I actually think downtempo deathcore has potential in these playlists despite being just one of RYM's ridiculous desperate attempts in creating a subgenre and not having enough releases to qualify in Metal Academy anyway. Apparently, the epic is about a man suffering night terrors about killing his wife, but when he actually does that, he tries to flee by driving his vehicle away but crashes and ends up hospitalized in a coma. If there was a film based on this, that would be worth watching. A heavy doomy monolith!
Pretty good playlist I've made, huh? Despite some bumpiness in the first half. Anyway, I recommend this to any metalcore fan and anyone who isn't into metalcore but is up to getting into a great start for 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!