Bands with stacks of albums that no-one cares about
Is anyone else fascinated by bands that have craploads of albums, despite no-one appearing to care about them, let alone think they're actually good? I always want to know what keeps them going. If I was going to start interviewing bands, I reckon it would be more interesting to interview this sort of band than the ones that everyone knows.
Today's case in point... Paganizer. This Swedish death metal band has 25 releases on Metal Academy, with 11 of them being full length albums. None have more then 67 ratings on RYM and none have more than a 3.33 score. How do they keep going? Why do labels keep putting out their releases? Don't they just make a loss?
To be clear, Paganizer are one of stacks of unknown but prolific bands out there. They're just the latest one I've added to the site.
I've not looked into it in any depth, but would guess this is a relatively recent phenomenon. With the availability of home recording software and internet distribution, such as Bandcamp, it is possible for anyone with the knowledge and skill to issue albums virtually at will. I have seen more than enough evidence of this in the black metal community where some acts treat Bandcamp like some kind of Twitter feed, spewing out their every musical thought no matter the quality.
A band I actually quite enjoy who have released 23 albums in fifteen years, with the highest number of ratings on RYM being 16, is a fellow countryman of yours Ben, who goes by the unfortunate name of The Horn. His weird black metal is all based around the Egyptian Book of the Dead and his is certainly an original voice. What keeps him going is sheer enthusiasm, I'm guessing because he can't make much money from it, although I have bought a CD or two!
Is anyone else fascinated by bands that have craploads of albums, despite no-one appearing to care about them, let alone think they're actually good?
This sounds so mean, hahaha.
Yeah, I find bands like this interesting. In my experience, when I listen to stuff like this, they usually aren't much worse than big names. They're usually just bands doing stuff that someone else already did better 10 years prior. But hey, if you like the genre/style, it means you've just discovered a nice collection of albums to dig through. I'm not the kind of guy who needs artists to do something innovative or unique to enjoy them so I can have a great time with C list stuff like this. I think especially when the artists come from countries where the music market isn't as competitive, it might be easier to get on a label and get your albums put in local shops/online, and then no one outside that circle will ever find them.
I would suggest that this Stuttgart-based heavy metal band fits the mold to a tee:
https://metal.academy/bands/1272
Another prolific releaser of material is Belgian black metaller and doomster Déhà who has released 19 albums and 6 eps since 2018 under his own name as well as other stuff in projects like Slow, Imber Luminis, Clouds, Yhdarl and Aurora Borealis, to name but five! I haven't listened to them all, but he has released some good stuff, particularly as funeral doom project Slow, black/doom project Imber Luminis and his four album A fleur de peau series under his own name. Highest number of ratings on RYM - 58. Respect to these guys who do it for love not money.
My "Darkness and Hope" quote above reminded me of another Pearls Before Swine comic, which I've also just made a parody of:
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE FROGS??? (267 releases by the way)
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE FROGS??? (267 releases by the way)
Quoted Xephyr
Yeah, I think bands like Phyllomedusa and Déhà are just pumping out digital music without assistance. There are an increasing amount of bands that release multiple releases a year in this fashion. I guess I was more thinking about bands that have released over a dozen full length albums through a label on CD and / or vinyl. That costs money and resources, and I just don't know how they keep convincing labels to keep doing it when they clearly haven't established a sizable fanbase.
Speaking of which, I added Thor to the site on the weekend. Sure, his 1985 album Only the Strong has 230 ratings on RYM, but the next 20 full lengths haven't surpassed 33.
Thanks for reminding me of the frogs Xephyr. That's a couple of days of my life trying to find decent cover images for 267 releases, all of which contain either frogs or trees, that I'll never get back. By far the most difficult artist to add to the site! Buckethead have more releases (340 albums), but at least his covers are interesting.
Here's another band that I just added today: Lucifugum
17 full length albums, with only the debut having more than 52 ratings on RYM. None of the last 11 albums rate higher than 2.78 (if you ignore the most recent album that only has 3 ratings).
I admire their passion and longevity, but what keeps them going?!
I've had a quick look at Lucifugum and it appears that they are a Ukrainian husband and wife duo who own and run the label their albums are released on. So maybe they use black metal as a kind of relationship therapy. "What do you want to do this weekend love? We can go to the garden centre and buy some new patio furniture and a few begonias. Or, if you'd rather, I've been working on a few songs in scorn of the bastard Nazarene, so we could go down to the basement, light a few candles, maybe sacrifice a goat and record a new album. It's completely up to you."
Haha... I think we can expect a triple CD concept album by the end of COVID.
Lucifugum... That name sounds like a pack of chewing gum made by Lucifer or Satan, like in this Pearls Before Swine comic (and on its 15th anniversary!):
Just looking at some of the albums in the Anniversaries section and one is by a black metal outfit I've never heard of called Ceremonial Castings who have fourteen albums on here with no ratings and a highest number of ratings on RYM of 64 with some in single figures. Judging by the covers, these are professional releases and all are available on CD, although they are released on Dark Forest which apparently was a label founded by one of the band's members. Seven of the fourteen have average ratings of below 3.00 which isn't a good sign either. Might check them out just to see what none of the fuss is about, but they play symphonic black metal which was never one of my preferred genres of BM so maybe too much of a chore. Some of their covers are very good though.
The latest addition to Metal Academy of a band that has stacks of releases that no-one's ever heard of is... Transmetal. This Mexican death / thrash band has no less than 26 full length albums! Only one of those albums has over 50 ratings on RYM, being El infierno de Dante from 1993. They must have a following in Mexico, as they also have a bunch of live and compilation releases. Anyone willing to give them a listen?
Apparently El infierno de Dante has Glenn Benton on a couple of tracks, so they must at least have grabbed his attention somewhere - maybe a support band from a Deicide Mexican tour? Benton's presence here is probably why that is the most popular of their albums.
Iron Attack! from Japan have (listed on RYM) 59 full length albums, none breaching 50 ratings (as of now). I have heard almost 40 of them! And they are all strong, solid pieces of Neoclassical Power Metal. Some have J-Pop style vocals while others are purely instrumental. I don't expect you to add all of these to Metal Academy... but I wouldn't be complaining!
Iron Attack! from Japan have (listed on RYM) 59 full length albums, none breaching 50 ratings (as of now). I have heard almost 40 of them! And they are all strong, solid pieces of Neoclassical Power Metal. Some have J-Pop style vocals while others are purely instrumental. I don't expect you to add all of these to Metal Academy... but I wouldn't be complaining!
Was that a challenge? That sounded like a challenge! 
That was definitely a challenge!!
I've already spent over an hour on this challenge, and all I've got to show for it is a list of releases. It has taken all of my Batman detective skills to discover release catalogue IDs so that I make sure I don't miss anything. I've also attempted to translate all titles into English to keep things consistent. I've only failed with one, being 秘封奇塊遺産 1 , for which the best attempt I can make translates to Secret Lump Heritage 1. Somehow I don't think that's correct, although the Japanese can be wonderfully weird at times.
So now I just need to find high quality artwork for all 80 releases (I won't be adding the single or the split), format them all to 1000 x 1000 while removing any obvious blemishes I discover, then add them all to the site one by one.
If the above gives you the impression that I'm not enjoying myself, you're wrong. I love this shit!
MIA001 Metal God Knows… SINGLE
MIA002 Blave Heart EP 2007 29/04/2007
MIA003 Unleashed in the East Album 2007 17/08/2007
MIA004 Iron Attack! Album 2007 24/12/2007
MIA005 Evil Mountain Album 2007 31/12/2007
MIA006 Cave Attack! Album 2008 9/03/2008
MIA007 Blade of Ancient Temple SPLIT 2008 25/05/2008
MIA008 Dead Heat Refrain Album 2008 16/08/2008
MIA009 Devil's Daughter Album 2008 13/10/2008
MIA010 Thunder Concert Album 2008 30/12/2008
MIA011 Savage Flames Album 2009 8/03/2009
MIA012 Sparking Album 2009 5/05/2009
MIA013 Far East Judgement Album 2009 15/08/2009
MIA014 Crying Destiny Album 2009 11/10/2009
MIA015 Miss Understanding Album 2009 30/12/2009
MIA016 Vampire Concerto Album 2010 14/03/2010
MIA017 Best Collections Compilation 2010 5/05/2010
MIA018 Black History Compilation 2010 5/05/2010
MIA019 Arashi No Hurricane Album 2010 14/08/2010
MIA020 Pre-Historic Eruption Album 2010 11/10/2010
MIA021 Poltergeist Album 2010 30/12/2010
MIA022 Concerto of the Scarlet Elements Album 2011 13/03/2011
MIA023 Angel Mountain Album 2011 13/08/2011
MIA024 Bullet Wind Album 2011 16/10/2011
MIA025 Deamon's Seal Album 2011 30/12/2011
MIA026 STAR DUST Album 2012 27/05/2012
MIA027 Guitar Odyssey - Instrumental Best Compilation 2012 11/08/2012
MIA028 Sailing Destiny - Vocal Best Compilation 2012 11/08/2012
MIA029 Paper Moon Album 2012 7/10/2012
MIA030 Burn in Hell Album 2012 30/12/2012
MIA031 Heaven's Sword Album 2013 26/05/2013
MIA032 Plastic Mind Album 2013 12/08/2013
MIA033 Fairy Tale Album 2013 13/10/2013
MIA034 Thundercrack Album 2013 30/12/2013
MIA035 Sail Up EP 2013 30/12/2013
MIA036 Artemis Album 2014 27/04/2014
MIA037 Scarlet Furor Album 2014 11/05/2014
MIA038 Icicle Fall Album 2014 16/08/2014
MIA039 Sentimental Symphonia Album 2014 12/10/2014
MIA040 Raise a Flag Album 2014 29/12/2014
MIA041 Dim.Starlight Album 2014 29/12/2014
MIA042 Takasago Army Album 2015 26/04/2015
MIA043 Death and Rebirth Album 2015 10/05/2015
MIA044 Star Dust Memory Compilation 2015 14/08/2015
MIA045 Sister of Puppets Compilation 2015 14/08/2015
MIA047 Shanghai Moutan Album 2015 30/12/2015
MIA048 Triumph Album 2015 30/12/2015
TRNA-10012 Sangoku Attack! Album 2016 20/01/2016
MIA049 Space Galaxy Album 2016 24/04/2016
MIA050 Bullet Blitz Album 2016 8/05/2016
MIA051 Twilight Under World Album 2016 13/08/2016
MIA052 Takasago Army 2 Album 2016 13/08/2016
MIA053 Uchu to Fantasy Album 2016 9/10/2016
MIA054 Perpetual Nightmare Album 2016 29/12/2016
MIA055 Power and Glory Album 2016 29/12/2016
MIA056 80's Graffiti Album 2017 30/04/2017
MIA057 Keep Your Faith Album 2017 7/05/2017
MIA058 The Hard Facts of the Scary Touhou world Album 2017 11/08/2017
MIA059 Spirit of Shumshu - Battle of Shumshu Album 2017 16/08/2017
MIA060 Mystique Concerto Album 2017 15/10/2017
MIA061 Holy Krieg - Crimson Axis Album 2017 29/12/2017
MIA062 Demon City Fantasy Story Album 2017 29/12/2017
MIA063 80's Graffiti 2 Album 2018 29/04/2018
MIA064 The Seventh Sin Album 2018 6/05/2018
MIA065 Unknown Flowers Album 2018 10/08/2018
MIA066 Iserness Kreuz Album 2018 10/08/2018
MIA067 Future and Past Album 2018 14/10/2018
MIA068 Illusion Crisis Album 2018 30/12/2018
MIA069 Deutschland's Advance Album 2018 30/12/2018
MIA070 秘封奇塊遺産 1 Album 2019 5/05/2019
MIA071 Red Justice Album 2019 12/08/2019
MIA072 Blue Faith Album 2019 12/08/2019
MIA073 Japonism Album 2019 6/10/2019
MIA075 Follow the Destiny Album 2019 31/12/2019
MIA074 Daitoa Holy War Album 2020 31/12/2019
MIA076 Labyrinth with Vampire Album 2020 22/03/2020
MIA077 Little Daybreaker Album 2020 5/05/2020
MIA078 Perfume of Silence Album 2020 11/10/2020
MIA079 No Loser, No Winner Album 2021 21/03/2021
MIA080 Maze of Gradation Album 2021 24/10/2021
MIA081 Flame of Deliverance Album 2022 24/03/2022
There are some fantastic album titles there Ben: Cave Attack!, Pre-Historic Eruption, Bullet Wind, Holy Krieg - Crimson Axis and my favourite The Hard Facts of the Scary Touhou world!
I may have to check some of these out...
...[edit] OK, after checking out a couple of tracks on Hard Facts of the Scary Touhou world, I don't think I'll be delving any further. I'll be charitable and say it just isn't for me. It puts me even more in awe of your unswerving tenacity and dedication though Ben!
Because I know you're all desperate to get an update on my Iron Cross project, I've managed to find decent quality images for all of them. Rest assured that all 79 releases will be on Metal Academy in time for the weekend!
While there are a couple metal projects with a lot more releases, that's probably the biggest amount of anime cover arts I've ever seen from a metal band.