June 2022 "The Sphere" Playlist - Metal Academy Radio
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/45Xj4PCyW3LavsE8NMtncN
Tracklisting:
1. Code Orange - "Out for Blood" from Out for Blood (2021) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]
2. Scum of the Earth - "Pornstar Champion (We Will Rock You)" from Blah...Blah...Blah...Love Songs for the New Millennium (2004)
3. Gravity Kills - "Guilty" from Gravity Kills (1996)
4. Emigrate - "My World" from Emigrate (2007)
5. Circle of Dust - "Machines of Our Disgrace" from Machines of Our Disgrace (2016)
6. The Clay People - "Awake" from The Clay People (1998)
7. Spineshank - "New Disease" from The Height of Callousness (2000)
8. Bile - "In League" from Sex Reflex (1999)
9. Ministry - "Antifa" from Amerikkkant (2018)
10. Blue Stahli - "Eat the Light" from Quartz (2020)
11. Rorschach Test - "Satan" from The Eleventh (1994)
12. Die Krupps - "Vision 2020 Vision" from Vision 2020 Vision (2019)
13. Sinisstar - "Freak of Nature" from Future Shock (2002)
14. Skrew - "Mouthful of Dust" from Dusted (1994)
15. Gothminister - "Red Christ" from The Other Side (2017)
16. Klank - "Downside" from Still Suffering (1995)
17. N17 - "Kontrol" from Trust No One (1997)
18. 1000 Homo DJs - "Supernaut" from Supernaut (1990)
19. Psyclon Nine - "Beware the Wolves" from Icon of the Adversary (2018)
20. Illidiance - "Hi-Tech Terror" from Damage Theory (2010)
21. Re:Aktor - "Damage Zone" from Zero Order (2003)
22. Minority Sound - "Toxin" from Toxin (2019)
23. Schwarzer Engel - "Ewig Leben" from Sieben (2022)
24. Eisbrecher - "Eisbar" from Sturmfahrt (2017)
25. OOMPH! - "TRRR – FCKN – HTLR" from Ritual (2019)
26. Voivod - "21st Century Schizoid Man" from Phobos (1997)
27. Godflesh - "Flowers" from Merciless (EP) (1994) [submitted by Daniel]
Here are my thoughts on all the selected tracks in my first ever assembled Sphere playlist:
Code Orange - "Out for Blood" from Out for Blood (2021)
5/5. What a headbanger to start this playlist! It's thanks to this band that helped expand my like for industrial metal to point where I can join this clan and create this playlist. They could tour with Corey Feldman if they had the chance! F***ing powerful industrial metal! This is like Guilty Kills in the same metal level as Slipknot, particularly a song that we'll soon be talking about...
Scum of the Earth - "Pornstar Champion (We Will Rock You)" from Blah...Blah...Blah...Love Songs for the New Millennium (2004)
4.5/5. This is a clever song to love, making their own distorted cover/remix of Queen's "We Will Rock You". You can't argue with something as fantastic as this! RIP Freddie Mercury... This is probably slightly better than Three Days Grace's Michael Jackson cover!
Gravity Kills - "Guilty" from Gravity Kills (1996)
4/5. This is that Gravity Kills song I hinted about, "Guilty"! It's an older song that somehow I never discovered until a few weeks ago when making this playlist. This is good song to jam to, and they might've been an influence to Spineshank, whom we'll talk about one of their songs later in the playlist. The reason for that Code Orange comparison above was because this band sounds closer to the style of Orgy and Nine Inch Nails. It's quite cool, and not as controversial as the more well-known industrial metal songs out there.
Emigrate - "My World" from Emigrate (2007)
4.5/5. This song has quite some fire here! Frontman Richard Kruspe is also the guitarist from Rammstein. This song also ended up in the soundtracks for the movies Resident Evil: Extinction and True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet.
Circle of Dust - "Machines of Our Disgrace" from Machines of Our Disgrace (2016)
5/5. Oh man, this is so great! I gotta listen to more of Klayton's projects.
The Clay People - "Awake" from The Clay People (1998)
4.5/5. This is quite cool, still pleasing industrial metal fans since the late 90s.
Spineshank - "New Disease" from The Height of Callousness (2000)
4/5. The early 2000s was when alternative/industrial metal was on the rise, and when songs like this one were sports video games. I did not like metal during my kiddy years of the 2000s. It wasn't until the 2010s when my metal interest took off. Still this can give fans of this style of metal quite a bit of nostalgia.
Bile - "In League" from Sex Reflex (1999)
3.5/5. Listen to this, another song featured in a movie, Dee Snider's Strangeland. This is underground industrial metal that should have slightly more attention. Those lyrics are fun to listen to, "We are the dead... We are the doctors of low self-esteem". Sounds like a psycho hospital story there, plus a bit of a Ghostemane vibe.
Ministry - "Antifa" from Amerikkkant (2018)
3/5. This is quite a well-done tune, but the lyrics seem both hilarious and disappointing. It fits well for the Trump era of the US that was happening when the album was released. So grab your popcorn and enjoy the band fighting against political power.
Blue Stahli - "Eat the Light" from Quartz (2020)
3.5/5. This one's a heavy fast rocker that should be recognized more. Blue Stahli is one of a few bands that can mix old and new electronics and metal together quite well, alongside Klayton's projects. Quartz is part of a trilogy of albums that includes Copper and Obsidian. The chorus is quite heavenly, and the techno-metal influences are most likely adopted from Circle of Dust, even going as fast as that band. This would go well for a Terminator-DOOM crossover or something.
Rorschach Test - "Satan" from The Eleventh (1994)
3/5. See, this is the kind of music, besides black metal, that my concerned mom would burn in the fires of Mount Doom. When this album was released, Benjamin Anderson was still in the band. I'm quite disappointed about this song being slightly weak, but it shows that the underground is not always chaotic.
Die Krupps - "Vision 2020 Vision" from Vision 2020 Vision (2019)
3.5/5. A slightly less disappointing song. Clearly they saw the f***ing virus-ridden reality of 2020 coming. So yeah, this song's quite good.
Sinisstar - "Freak of Nature" from Future Shock (2002)
4/5. 20 years and still hitting industrial metal fans hard. Let's tear this f***ing place down!
Skrew - "Mouthful of Dust" from Dusted (1994)
4.5/5. Another great kick-A track pleasing industrial metal fans for so many years, filled with monk-like chanting.
Gothminister - "Red Christ" from The Other Side (2017)
5/5. Words can't do this perfect epic song justice. Just listen to believe!
Klank - "Downside" from Still Suffering (1995)
4.5/5. Also amazing, though it can't beat the previous song's reign.
N17 - "Kontrol" from Trust No One (1997)
4/5. Another cool band, this one still active but haven't been releasing any new material. They can battle against sadness and depression with hope and power! There's a bit of a Marilyn Manson vibe here. This is the kind of sound Judas Priest's Rob Halford would experiment on in his side-project Two. It also helps up get over the f***ing virus.
1000 Homo DJs - "Supernaut" from Supernaut (1990)
4.5/5. "Practically every one of the top 40 records being played on every radio station in the United States is a communication to the children to take a trip, to cop out, to groove. The psychedelic jackets on the record albums have their own hidden symbols and messages as well as the lyrics to all the top rock songs and they all sing the same refrain: It's fun to take a trip, put acid in your veins." Well said for this amazing old-school industrial metal cover of a Black Sabbath tune.
Psyclon Nine - "Beware the Wolves" from Icon of the Adversary (2018)
5/5. I need to listen to more of this album after this song. This is brilliant!
Illidiance - "Hi-Tech Terror" from Damage Theory (2010)
4.5/5. Now this is a nice tune of cyber metal! This should've fit well in Tron Legacy.
Re:Aktor - "Damage Zone" from Zero Order (2003)
4/5. Despite living on the other side of the world, I can definitely enjoy some industrial/cyber metal from the western lands, this band reminding some of Fear Factory and Machine Head. Quite a bit of f***ing killer metal here!
Minority Sound - "Toxin" from Toxin (2019)
3.5/5. This is some h*lla groovy cyber metal here. Enough said!
Schwarzer Engel - "Ewig Leben" from Sieben (2022)
3/5. This is a catchy tune with an OK melody. I'm not sure what else to say that would make a positive comment, but this is some enchanting magic and beauty in this song. I wouldn't be give this so many spins despite the f***ing mesmerizing emotion. I'm just not into much of the Rammstein-style NDH.
Eisbrecher - "Eisbar" from Sturmfahrt (2017)
3.5/5. A slightly more well-done catchy NDH tune. This should be Ice Bear (from We Bare Bears)'s theme song!
OOMPH! - "TRRR – FCKN – HTLR" from Ritual (2019)
3/5. OOMPH, this is a hard song for me to enjoy at its fullest. The song title, if we restore the vowels is "TERROR F***ING HITLER".
Voivod - "21st Century Schizoid Man" from Phobos (1997)
3.5/5. A better cover, this one tackling that King Crimson hit. I don't really hate it, but it could use some improvement. This was after all from the E-Force era where the band experimented with other territories, though the rest of that album isn't industrial metal. Still this sounds quite progressive.
Godflesh - "Flowers" from Merciless (EP) (1994)
4/5. Lastly, "Flowers" is just a strange drone instrumental based on "Don't Bring Me Flowers" from the Pure album. It can work as both an eerie piece of music in a dark haunted house and relaxing background music when chilling in a lounge. Good ending for this playlist!
Although my reception for this playlist is a little more mixed, it turned out quite well. I had fun assembling the playlist and look forward to continuing my duty of creating monthly playlists for this clan and The Revolution. I would recommend this to any industrial metal fan and anyone who isn't into industrial metal 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!