April 2023 "The Sphere" Playlist - Metal Academy Radio

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/45Xj4PCyW3LavsE8NMtncN

Tracklisting:

1. Samael - "Year Zero" from Eternal (1999) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]

2. Strapping Young Lad - "S.Y.L." from Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing (1995)

3. Dead World - "Lies" from The Machine (1993)

4. Circle of Dust - "Descend" from Brainchild (1994)

5. Code Orange - "Drowning In It" from What is Really Underneath? (2023) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]

6. Ministry - "Burning Inside" from In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up (1990)

7. Lard - "Pineapple Face" from The Last Temptation of Reid (1990)

8. Omega Lithium - "Dance With Me" from Kinetik (2011)

9. Nine Inch Nails - "Last" from Broken (1992)

10. Godflesh - "Mothra" from Pure (1992) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]

11. Pitchshifter - "Triad" from Desensitized (1993)

12. Old - "Happy Tantrum" from The Musical Dimensions of Sleastak (1993)

13. Voivod - "Phobos" from Phobos (1997) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]

14. Celldweller - "My Disintegration" from Satellites (2022)

15. Gothminister - "Bloodride" from Pandemonium (2022) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]

16. Dawn of Ashes - "Blood of the Titans" from The Antimonian (2020)

17. Fear Factory - "Linchpin" from Digimortal (2001)

18. Motionless in White - "Reincarnate" from Reincarnate (2014)

19. Combichrist - "Compliance" from Compliance (2021)

20. Illidiance - "Critical Damage" from Damage Theory (2010)

21. Logical Terror, Soilwork - "The World Was Mine" from Ashes of Fate (2016)

22. KMFDM - "Brute" from Nihil (1995)

23. 3TEETH - "PUMPED UP KICKS" from PUMPED UP KICKS (2019)

24. Terminal Choice - "Kommerz" from Ubermacht (2010)

25. Megaherz - "5. Marz" from Herzwerk II (2002)

26. The Kovenant - "The Memory Remains" from SETI (2003) [submitted by Shadowdoom9 (Andi)]

Here are my thoughts on all the selected tracks:

Samael - "Year Zero" from Eternal (1999)

4.5/5. Beginning the playlist in shining light, this is excellent high-quality loud industrial metal!

Strapping Young Lad - "S.Y.L." from Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing (1995)

5/5. For those familiar with Devin Townsend's solo material, get ready to hear where his journey began! Holy sh*t, this is angry energy to make fans of industrial metal happy. It's quite genius how you can hear toddler Devy present his own play in the intro and then teen Devy as an A&W employee in the outro. Strapping Young Lad and Meshuggah are the two go-to bands for metal's heavy intensity in the 90s.

Dead World - "Lies" from The Machine (1993)

4.5/5. This one is slower with a similar formula. Instead of being aggressive, the sound is cold and dreamy. I prefer the previous two tracks slightly more.

Circle of Dust - "Descend" from Brainchild (1994)

5/5. Brainchild is one of the best albums I've heard from any of Klayton's projects, and it slowly gives me the incentive to check out his later more famous project Celldweller. He made quite a brave statement for America in that 1994 Circle of Dust album. The future of America is the country citizen's hands...

Code Orange - "Drowning In It" from What is Really Underneath? (2023)

4.5/5. Code Orange has recently taken the Ministry/Nine Inch Nails route of producing a remix album. The album is mostly electro-industrial, but some tracks like this remix to the title track of Underneath still maintain a bit of that album's heaviness while being mainly electronic. I think Korn should go that route to make some of their songs less boring. But this ain't Korn, this is Code Orange FOREVER!!!

Ministry - "Burning Inside" from In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up (1990)

4/5. I don't normally add live tracks to the playlists, but I thought this would be a good exception. This one kicks in a propulsive beat and repetitive guitar to keep you awake. This pounding tune is helped out by the vocals. When I wrote this review after waking up this morning, this song fired me up way more than coffee!

Lard - "Pineapple Face" from The Last Temptation of Reid (1990)

4.5/5. Now this is a f***ing mindblower, keeping up the speed of the first track, though there's a slow psychedelic chorus that nonsensical but genius. The crazy political lyrics are odd yet having a deep meaning. Another track that you wanna keep around until the end of time!

Omega Lithium - "Dance With Me" from Kinetik (2011)

4/5. A pretty great song to enjoy for some of this band's gothic industrial metal sound.

Nine Inch Nails - "Last" from Broken (1992)

3.5/5. This one adds a slower twist into the riffing that's like a more distorted metal take on Pretty Hate Machine, and then crossing over to a hint at The Downward Spiral.

Godflesh - "Mothra" from Pure (1992)

4/5. This song has groove-powered industrial metal riffing that's never out of place. It's so special and different, and that's the key for the style of Godflesh. Justin's vocals are up to the highest standard, but the riffing is the right priority.

Pitchshifter - "Triad" from Desensitized (1993)

4.5/5. This is an impressive hymn with catchy rhythm. It kind of hints at their later dance-y material while staying in their earlier heaviness. This kind of blend really works in songs like that!

Old - "Happy Tantrum" from The Musical Dimensions of Sleastak (1993)

5/5. Sounds like an outtake from Lo Flux Tube, but a great improvement from there. It's another one of my favorite tracks in this album, with absolutely no filler. The experimentation actually sounds catchier than that of the mathy metalcore of Coalesce.

Voivod - "Phobos" from Phobos (1997)

4.5/5. One of only a couple songs from this album that I would consider industrial metal, sounding suitable for a Star Wars scenario. Still this is spacey progressive metal that has much more in common with Watchtower than Megadeth or Soundgarden. There's some h*lla nice soloing from Denis "Piggy" D'Amour (RIP). That song is so d*mn great, it's out of this world!

Celldweller - "My Disintegration" from Satellites (2022)

5/5. 10 tracks after that Circle of Dust one, we get to hear the metallic vibes of that band added to the electronic rock of Klayton's current project Celldweller. However, starting the second half is a softer ambient section similar to Offworld. The rest of the song has a prime example of perfect heaviness that I need to make up for Strapping Young Lad's dissolvement. Worth some satisfying metal listening to make you up for some more disintegration!

Gothminister - "Bloodride" from Pandemonium (2022)

4.5/5. Then we have this sensational song that can make you as thirsty for blood as a vampire.

Dawn of Ashes - "Blood of the Titans" from The Antimonian (2020)

4/5. So unreal yet cool! There's black-ish industrial metal magic more destructive than Combichrist. Almost as brutal as Psyclon Nine!

Fear Factory - "Linchpin" from Digimortal (2001)

4.5/5. You just gotta f***ing love this album Digimortal, in which the band add a bit of the Dry Kill Logic-style hardcore nu metal into their industrial metal in better execution. The lyrics are totally worth singing along to.

Motionless in White - "Reincarnate" from Reincarnate (2014)

5/5. The title track and first single of this album has some deep synths and metalcore riffing that begin when Chris shouts "GET UP!". What really makes this song accessible within the extremeness is the melodic Breaking Benjamin-like chorus, all piecing together a simply great structure.

Combichrist - "Compliance" from Compliance (2021)

4.5/5. OK, I spoke too soon. This is Combichrist at its heaviest since the songs by the band from the previous two Sphere playlists. This is dark atmospheric industrial metal to get you prepared for the violence of the rest of this decade. So join the fight against compliance in this piece of aggrotech metal!

Illidiance - "Critical Damage" from Damage Theory (2010)

4/5. Oh my d*mn, this cyber metal is like Blood Stain Child with less emphasis on symphonics and the In Flames/Scar Symmetry-like melodeath. This song is underrated and I don't wanna miss out on more of this style. As great as this is, I'm not too heavily attached. The most awesome part here is the final chorus that changes its key for the final repeat. Thumbs up for this greatness!

Logical Terror, Soilwork - "The World Was Mine" from Ashes of Fate (2016)

3.5/5. Pretty good and underrated. Not too bad, though the guest vocals by Bjorn Speed Strid of Soilwork could use some improvement.

KMFDM - "Brute" from Nihil (1995)

4/5. This song, named after the cover artist of almost every other KMFDM album, is more brutal while staying melodic.

3TEETH - "PUMPED UP KICKS" from PUMPED UP KICKS (2019)

3.5/5. Now here's some 90s synthwave-esque industrial metal in this band's cover of a Foster the People single. I got other metalized popular song covers to enjoy though.

Terminal Choice - "Kommerz" from Ubermacht (2010)

3/5. "Four sounds are better than three, why don't you spend all your money for TC?" Eh, no thanks. Though this one's still kind of decent.

Megaherz - "5. Marz" from Herzwerk II (2002)

3.5/5. Seems like Megaherz is moving along quite strongly throughout the 20 years since this song's release. It sounds a bit good with those Deftones vibes.

The Kovenant - "The Memory Remains" from SETI (2003)

4/5. Now let's end this playlist with a cover that's greater than the original. The operatic background vocals I love much better than what sounds like old lady chanting in the original Metallica song. Very cool!

Pretty good playlist I've made, huh? Despite a few slight bumps throughout... Anyway, I sure would recommend this to any industrial metal fan and anyone who isn't into industrial metal but is up to getting 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!