Notable Anniversary Chat
If you're still into the doom/gothic metal zone, Rex, here's another album to check out on its anniversary:
And a few Infinite classics having their anniversaries today as well:
I really feel the need to check out that Kayo Dot album. It's quite tough to find nowadays, but I wanna hear the official beginning of Toby Driver's current project out of the ashes of his former band Maudlin of the Well.
So today's my 25th birthday, and I thought this would be the perfect (and possibly only) chance for me to see if there are any releases that came out on the day I was born. Apparently, there's only one metal album released on that exact day:
Upon doing some research, I found out that Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus is a "Band that brought metal with Finnish lyrics to mainstream in their home country." It might be hard for me to listen to and review an album from a practically unknown band with lyrics of a different language, so I'll pass on that one.
Wow, today is the 30th anniversary of Cradle of Filth's first and best album, The Principle of Evil Made Flesh, a record I have a soft spot for, as it was one of the first albums I got into upon my return to metal in the late 90's.
Also a shout-out to the woefully ignored, The Wounded Kings, whose terrific doom album, Consolamentum, is ten years old today.
So today's the 5th anniversary of me first joining Metal Academy (as of my introductory post: https://metal.academy/forum/26/thread/101), and I thought this would be the perfect (and possibly only) chance for me to see if there are any releases that came out on that day and any other releases I like celebrating their 5x-year anniversaries today.
Today is the 15th anniversary of Voivod's Infini, the final album with recordings made by guitarist Piggy before his 2005 passing. RIP... The only album released on the day I first joined Metal Academy is this album by Japanese alt-/power metal band Mary's Blood. Like I said before, it might be hard for me to listen to and review an album from a practically unknown band with lyrics of a different language, even though I sometimes like that aspect, so I'll pass on that one.
Today I was checking on the anniversaries page, and it looks like October 14, 2014 was quite a day for metalcore, deathcore, and technical death metal:
Also on that day is the release of this EP by post-sludge metallers Rosetta:
An indicator on how old I am geting today in the Anniversary section. White Zombie's 'Astro-Creep: 2000 - Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head' is thirty-five years old. I can remember having this on either cassette or CD back when I was thirteen. 'Creature of the Wheel' and 'More Human Than Human' are the only two songs I can recall now but I think it was probably a case of I had bought the album cold and didn't really like it all that much but just played it anyway due to my limited selection back then. The days before digital music could be harsh on a penniless teenager. Although I so often hark for those days of less choice and more reliance on hand me downs or loans.
Here they are:
Two Guardians albums from when I was in the power/symphonic metal zone as a young teen nearly a decade ago. The Stratovarius album is a twilight zone kind of release in which it marks the entrance of their longest-standing current member Timo Kotipelto while also being the last album with drummer Tuomo Lassila, their remaining member from when the band formed in 1984 under the name Black Water. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra album is a classical-music-goes-metal concept album, and I'm sure the title gives away what the story is about.
Happy 20th anniversary to the DragonForce album that first got me into metal! Glad I remembered it this time and didn't have to wait 5 more years. Now don't mind me, I'm just putting down the release dates of a couple more personal milestone releases so that I can remember to post their 5x-year anniversaries on their respective dates:
Trivium - In Waves - August 9, 2011
Lorna Shore - And I Return to Nothingness - August 13, 2021
Not metal, but we as music fans MUST address this one.
Remember when we all said on the day it was released that it was his best album in a long while, and then two days later... he died, and the album took on a whole new meaning?
Happy birthday, David Bowie, and RIP.
Iron Maiden 'Killers' is 45 years old. Gulp!
Iron Maiden 'Killers' is 45 years old. Gulp!
Ouch. Bought on release and still have the vinyl copy. Still my favourite Iron Maiden.
Iron Maiden 'Killers' is 45 years old. Gulp!
This is the point at which I put my fingers in my ears and go la-la-la!!!
I can't possibly be that old...
Not my favourite Maiden album, but that probably has a lot to do with the order in which their albums were introduced to me. I started with Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and worked my way backwards.
Killers is often cited as having a big influence on Slayer, particularly the album's twin-guitar attack, but I can't help thinking that the lyrics of the title track played a role. It's not hard to imagine Tom Araya spitting out these lines!
A footstep behind you
He lunges prepared for attack
Scream for mercy
He laughs as he's watching you bleed
Killer behind you
My blood lust defies all my needs
I'm similar to Ben in that I quite like "Killers" but have always placed it behind the other classic-period Maiden albums. Similarly, I don't rate the Dianno-era anywhere near the Dickinson one but I'm also gonna suggest that "Killers" was a touched over-produced so I slightly prefer the rawer self-titled over it.
OK, so now I am officially ancient as the first of the 50th anniversaries I can remember being released has hit its half-century mark:
It is, of course, Rainbow's best album by a country mile - Rising. I was only 14 at the time, yet sometimes it seems like only yesterday. I guess I am going to come across an increasing number of these and may have to stop looking at the anniversaries section altogether before I start getting too nostalgic for a far simpler time and place!
Today is a notable date for anniversaries as the ten releases listed on the Anniversary page have a grand total of a single one star rating between them. I guess the 3rd of August isn't the most auspicious date in the history of metal!
August 4 is a different story though, with a couple releases that helped me get into their respective genres (post-sludge, deathcore):
Though they're not the huge personal milestones that those Trivium and Lorna Shore releases are for me, we're so close to their anniversary dates!
Weird day today. No less than 10 releases having a 25th anniversary on the same day! Some big ones too, such as Neurosis' A Sun That Never Sets and Maudlin of the Well's jaw-dropping duo of Bath and Leaving Your Body Map.
With those masterpieces made by Maudlin of the Well and Neurosis, along with Cult of Luna's debut mentioned the other day, the first week of August 2001 was a fantastic one for Infinite releases (among albums from other clans). And just before the second week of August that will mark the 5x-year anniversary of my personal milestone releases (Trivium and Lorna Shore). Soooo close!
Weird day today. No less than 10 releases having a 25th anniversary on the same day! Some big ones too, such as Neurosis' A Sun That Never Sets and Maudlin of the Well's jaw-dropping duo of Bath and Leaving Your Body Map.
All three of those releases have made a big impact on me over the years & are records that I still like to return to on occasion, particularly "A Sun That Never Sets" (4.5/5) which an absolute classic in my world with Neurosis being one of my favourite bands. Unfortunately, I can't fully commit to celebrating these 25th anniversaries though as, if I'm being honest, I didn't make any of these album's acquaintance until a good eight years after they were released.
So today we celebrate the 5x anniversary of two releases that are total gamechangers when it comes to symphonics in metal. The first release is the one that sealed Therion as pioneers of symphonic metal:
And one of the most brutal metal albums to include symphonics that would put Fleshgod Apocalypse on the symphonic death metal throne shared with Septicflesh:
As much as I love those two albums though, I was already into those band's respective genres and they didn't make as huge of an impact to my metal path as the main reason for this post...
Happy 15th anniversary to the Trivium album that first got me into metalcore and other modern heavier metal genres! Glad I remembered it this time and didn't have to wait 5 more years. And I might check out that Greeley Estates album as well. Stay tuned later this week or so for the 5th anniversary of a certain symphonic deathcore release that probably wouldn't have existed or been the same without those Therion and Fleshgod Apocalypse albums...