Judgement Submissions

This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/453

This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/452

As with Black Sabbath's first three classic albums, the age-old consensus that 1972's "Vol 4" is a "heavy metal" record doesn't stack up to closer scrutiny, at least not when you take into account the modern metal genre tree. If the album was released today as the debut release from a new band then I feel confident that it'd be tagged as a stoner metal record which is in line with my long-term feeling that it doesn't sit all that comfortably alongside your Judas Priests & Iron Maidens.

For the record, this is how I've tagged the album:

01. Wheels of Confusion - Heavy psych

02. Tomorrow's Dream - Stoner metal

03. Changes - Piano rock

04. FX - Experimental

05. Supernaut - Stoner rock

06. Snowblind - Stoner metal

07. Cornucopia - Stoner metal

08. Laguna Sunrise - Chamber folk

09. St. Vitus Dance - Stoner rock

10. Under The Sun - Stoner metal

As you can see, more than 50% of the tracklisting falls outside of the metal space however the stoner rock & heavy psych inclusions are also closely aligned with the stoner metal tag & there is enough genuine metal to qualify for the Academy anyway.  Therefore, I'd like to see "Master of Reality" added to The Fallen under the Stoner Metal genre on top of its existing position in The Guardians.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/451

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/450

This nomination has just been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/449

This nomination has just been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/448

This nomination has just been posted in the Hall of Judgement Andi.

https://metal.academy/hall/447

This nomination has just been posted in the Hall of Judgement Andi.

https://metal.academy/hall/446

Here's how I tagged the album as a point of difference:

01. Misery - Alternative metal

02. Believer - Sludge metal

03. Survive - Alternative metal

04. All of Nothing - Alternative metal

05. Denial - Alternative metal

06. Assassinate The Scars - Death metal

07. Recession - Sludge metal

08. Living Wreck - Sludge metal

09. Humiliation - Sludge metal

10. Outro - Dark ambient

The tracks that I've tagged as Alternative Metal sound pretty much exactly like Deftones only with sludge metal vocals. There's only one death metal riff on the whole album in my opinion so I don't think there's any place for it in The Horde. Even the vocals aren’t death growls. They’re in the hardcore style we regularly hear in sludge metal & metalcore. I don't hear any groove metal riffs to speak of.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/442

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/441

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/440

Although Death Angel's 'Act III' third album often plays with different subgenres like funk metal, alternative metal & acoustic rock, it still maintains its incisive thrash metal riffage on the majority of tracks. There's not really a track that I regard as being 'heavy metal' per se so I can't see why people would want to tag the album as such. For that reason, I'd like to see 'Act III' removed from The Guardians & the Heavy Metal genre while maintaining its position in The Pit under Thrash Metal.

https://metal.academy/hall/439

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/438

Malokarpatan's brand new 'Vertumnus Caesar' album is generally tagged as a black/heavy metal hybrid but I feel that's inaccurate as it's not a 'heavy metal' record per se. Malokarpatan use black metal vocals & aesthetics as the basis for their sound & then layer them over the top of a whole range of different genres including symphonic prog, speed metal, heavy metal, black 'n' roll, thrash metal, avant-garde metal & progressive metal so 'Vertumnus Caesar' is really hard to pigeon-hole but I feel pretty strongly that it shouldn't be in The Guardians. I'd suggest that leaving them solely under Black Metal (Conventional) might be the best approach as that element is the only common denominator across the tracklisting & I think adding the album to The Pit or The Infinite would be a stretch. On that note, I'd like to see the Malokarpatan's 'Vertumnus Caesar' removed from The Guardians whilst remaining in The North.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/437

Despite the common feeling that Deceased...'s highly regarded 1997 third album is a death/thrash record, I really struggle to find much in the way of genuine death metal on it. Even the vocals sound more like Venom front man Cronos than they do your classic death grunt. To my ears 'Fearless Undead Machines" is a straight thrash metal record so I'd like to see it removed from The Horde & the Death Metal genre.

I've added this nomination to the Hall of Judgement for your opinions:

https://metal.academy/hall/436

I've just added these two nominations to the Hall of Judgement:

https://metal.academy/hall/434

https://metal.academy/hall/435

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement:

https://metal.academy/hall/432

https://metal.academy/hall/433

During my recent research for the 'Roots of Metal Project' we're currently running, I proved something to myself that I'd long suspected to be the case. Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" album simply doesn't sit all that well alongside other supposed 'heavy metal' releases as it sounds very different to the Iron Maidens & Judas Priests. After genre-tagging each individual track it became clear to me that the general tendency to want to label 'Paranoid' as a heavy metal/hard rock hybrid isn't correct. These were my track-by-track taggings:

1. War Pigs - Stoner Metal

2. Paranoid - Heavy Metal

3. Planet Caravan - Psychedelic Folk

4 Iron Man - Traditional Doom Metal

5. Electric Funeral - Traditional Doom Metal/Stoner Metal

6. Hand of Doom - Stoner Rock

7. Rat Salad - Heavy Psych

8. Fairies Wear Boots - Heavy Psych

There are a few things worth noting about the above. Firstly, I've only tagged a single track as Heavy Metal. Secondly, the other three songs I've tagged as metal fall into genres encompassed by The Fallen rather than The Guardians. And thirdly, there's a significant psychedelic rock component that doesn't sit well with your classic heavy metal sound. For that reason, I'd like to see 'Paranoid' receive a Stoner Metal tag & sit under The Fallen. Stoner Metal is defined as "combines elements of Doom Metal with elements of Psychedelic Rock and Blues Rock to create a melodic yet heavy sound" & that seems to be far more appropriate than the heavy metal definition of "heavier outgrowth of Hard Rock featuring greater distortion and intensity along with lesser Blues influences" as far as I can see. Please vote YES to see "Paranoid' added to the Fallen under the Stoner Metal genre.

https://metal.academy/hall/431

I don’t think there’s much in the way of psychedelia there either but those groovy down-tuned riffs you mentioned are as stoner metal as it gets in my opinion. I actually think there’s more stoner than there is heavy metal on this record.

Having just revisited this Queensryche album, I honestly still hear metal in some other songs besides those two highlights. It's also not progressive enough to deserve The Infinite clan, as only two songs "Best I Can" and "Della Brown" are highly progressive and they have much more in common with the prog-rock of Rush than the prog-metal of Dream Theater. So with Empire being a hard rock/heavy metal album to my ears with only two progressive songs, I'll vote for having it removed from The Infinite but vote against having it removed from The Guardians. Stay tuned for my revisit/review for their next album Promised Land and its possible subsequent judgement submission...

This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/427

As with all of Yngwie's other vocal-led records I'm aware of, 1990's "Eclipse" is much more of a classic heavy metal release with the neoclassical elements only playing a supporting role for the majority of the run time. For that reason I'd like to see "Eclipse" removed from the Neoclassical Metal genre while remaining in the Heavy Metal one.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/426

I'd rather wait and see what this one says before raising a heall, and it also depends on whether or not people include Wicked World.

As for the tagging, you forget: stoner rock and heavy psych are subgenres of hard rock.  Here's how I'd make it look RYM style.

Hard Rock

Metal, Stoner Rock, Heavy Psych, Blues Rock

This tagging is kinda condensing things, though.

The debut album from New York's Scatterbrain is generally tagged as being Funk Metal however there's really only a couple of tracks that are consistently funky enough to warrant that tag so I feel that the more generic Alternative Metal tag is far more appropriate & would like to encourage our The Gateway members to vote for that change on the release page. More importantly though, there's easily enough genuine thrash metal included to warrant a dual tagging so I'd like to propose that 'Here Comes Trouble' is added to The Pit under the Thrash Metal subgenre while maintaining its position in The Gateway.

https://metal.academy/hall/425

This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/423

I've now posted the nomination for "Conclusion of an Age" in the Hall of Judgement. I've also passed the request for "Casting Shadows" as it now qualifies for inclusion in The Revolution.

https://metal.academy/hall/422

These nominations have been posted in the Hall of Judgement (see the below link). I've also added "Casting Shadows" to The Revolution under the Melodic Metalcore subgenre as it now qualifies for inclusion.

https://metal.academy/hall/419

https://metal.academy/hall/420

Hmm... Only "A Light in the Black" comes close to the speed of power metal. I was thinking so much of the melodicism and fantasy lyrics. It's clear that this judgement submission isn't gonna win, so please cancel it.

Some of you might certainly disagree with me on this one but to my ears, I find Extreme's 1990 album sitting comfortably in glam metal AND heavy metal. Almost every track that's not acoustic nor a ballad has metal spirit, especially in the guitar riffing and soloing performed by Nuno Bettencourt. Even in other songs with more of a hard rock and/or glam metal sound, the hard rock of AC/DC is enhanced by the guitars almost reaching the heaviness of Metallica's Black Album. So I'd like to submit Extreme's "II Pornograffitti" to the Hall to be added to The Guardians as heavy metal.

Thanks Daniel for your review on this Extreme album. I'm thanking you for that because the review reminded me of how much I needed to check out that album and find more of this band than just the acoustic radio ballad single that is "More Than Words". I can understand the lack of funk in this album when only a couple tracks have some slight funk including the aptly titled "Get the Funk Out". However, you might certainly disagree with me on this one but to my ears, I find this album sitting comfortably in glam metal AND heavy metal. Almost every track that's not acoustic nor a ballad has metal spirit, especially in the guitar riffing and soloing performed by Nuno Bettencourt, the best examples of that can be found in tracks like "Decadence Dance", "Money (In God We Trust)", and "He-Man Woman Hater". Even in other songs like "Li'l Jack Horny", "It('s a Monster)", and the title track that have more of a hard rock and/or glam metal sound, the hard rock of AC/DC is enhanced by the guitars almost reaching the heaviness of Metallica's Black Album. So while I'll give this Hall entry a YES vote to have removed from funk metal and The Gateway, I'll add in a judgement submission to have added to The Guardians with the heavy metal tag, so stay tuned for that.

Gravity Kills has always been just an industrial/alt-rock band. While their debut album is packed with guitar riffing, drum loops, synth layers, and vocal intensity, there's not much metal to offer here. I would recommend it much more to Nine Inch Nails fans than metalheads. So I'd like to submit a couple judgement submissions for Gravity Kills' 1996 debut to be removed from 1. The Gateway and 2. The Sphere, and be deemed non-metal.

Despite Anthrax's "Penikufesin" E.P. containing a couple of tracks from 1988's "State of Euphoria" album, the inclusion of a number of cover versions of non-thrash tunes sees the release veering outside of the thrash space quite regularly. For that reason, I'd like to see it added to The Guardians under the Heavy Metal genre on top of its existing position in The Pit under Thrash Metal.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/417

I can't say that I hear much of the neoclassical component that others have highlighted to be honest.

As with a number of Yngwie's other vocal releases, the majority of the neoclassical component of 1989's 'Trial by Fire: Live in Leningrad' live album is saved for the guitar solos with only a few instrumental tracks possessing genuinely neoclassical structures. For that reason, I feel that Neoclassical Metal is more of a secondary component with Heavy Metal being the primary basis for the album's sound. Therefore, I'd like to see the Neoclassical Metal genre removed from the release so that it can reside solely under the Heavy Metal genre.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

I would argue that there are no death metal riffs on "Into Darkness" which means that the only way it can be doom/death is if the vocals clearly bring it back into the death metal space. The vocals sit very much on the borderline between angry crust punk/sludge & death metal though so it's not conclusive enough for the album to be doom/death in my opinion. The instrumentation is a combination of mid-tempo Celtic Frost & hardcore inspired chug riffs & slow doom metal riffs, both presented with a seriously down-tuned, abrasive & oppressive tone. That's a pretty good description of a sludge metal record for mine as sludge is essentially a more abrasive & angry version of doom metal with hardcore influences.

I've decided to pass this Hall of Judgement entry given its currently lop-sided vote tally of YES 5 NO 0. The appropriate database changes have been made.

So I've decided to pass the first half of this submission based on the currently lop-sided YES 5 NO 0 vote tally. The Grindcore genre has subsequently been added to the release as well as the Goregrind subgenre.

I've also added another Hall of Judgement entry to have the Death Metal genre removed from the release here:

https://metal.academy/hall/411

This nomination has posted in the Hall of Judgement.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

These two nominations have been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

I've given this Adramelch album some listening and a review to test out my strength in the progressive power metal I once loved, and to be honest, I'm not sure if fully-fledged progressive metal would be what I would call this offering. There are a few full-on power metal tracks with speedy Iron Maiden-infused riffing and wide-ranged singing, and sure the rest of this album has the early progressive metal of Queensryche/Fates Warning, but even the more progressive tracks are as melodic as power metal in some sections. So I might have to vote NO for this Hall entry.

The two nominations have been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

I would say that progressive metal would have been the next best option outside of neoclassical metal as tracks like "Saturation Point", "Evil Thrill" & "Forbidden City" all fall into that category. That's not enough to claim it as a primary genre though in my opinion. The speed metal component really only amounts for parts of "Evil Thrill" & "Anvils" too. There's not even a complete song in that style.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

As with his previous two records, Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force's 1988 fourth album "Odyssey" really doesn't include all that much in the way of neoclassical song structures. It's really just Yngwie's guitar solos & that element alone shouldn't constitute an additional genre tag. Therefore, I'd like to see "Odyssey" removed from the Neoclassical Metal genre whilst remaining under Heavy Metal which is a much more accurate reflection of the album as a whole.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.