Judgement Submissions

The new Klone album is more than just alt-rock/metal. There's quite some progressiveness going on in aspects such as the complex structures and frequent time signature changes, enough for the album to be deemed progressive metal. So I'd like to submit Klone's "Meanwhile" to the Hall to be added to The Infinite while staying in The Gateway.

I decided to check this EP out to continue testing out my interest in Anthrax, as well as explore the first ever rap metal release and one of the earliest Gateway releases. I can definitely hear what you mean, Daniel. The EP is basically 3 different versions of a song that has kickstarted rap metal, a Black Sabbath cover, and two live versions of songs from Among the Living. The rap/thrash/heavy metal ratio is 40%, 40%, 20%. I'm giving this one a YES vote!

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

Despite the misleading album title, Cacophony's 1987 debut album isn't technically speaking a speed metal record as it only possesses the one speed metal number (i.e. "Where My Fortune Lies") amongst the seven tracks on offer. I don't think it should hold a place in The Pit & would like to see the Speed Metal genre removed from the release while retaining its position in The Guardians.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

Cacophony's 1987 debut album draws is a neoclassical metal release that utilizes heavy metal, speed metal & progressive metal as tools to create one of the heavier guitar virtuoso releases you'll find. The predominant feature of the album is the neoclassical component though & it's a much more expansive release than most you'll find in The Guardians so (even though there are a couple of genuine heavy metal tracks amongst the seven of offer in "Savage" & "Desert Island") I think it's a bit deceptive to simply toss a record like this one into the classic heavy metal bucket. I'd like to have the Heavy Metal genre removed from the album whilst retaining the Neoclassical metal one.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

There's really very little straight up Doom Metal on 'IV.I.VIII' that isn't better covered by the existing Sludge Metal tag so I'd like to see the Doom Metal tag removed while maintaining the Sludge Metal one.

I've just posted this nomination in the Hall of Judgement.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

To my ears "Pig" is a metalcore/mathcore hybrid in roughly equal portions. I can only find about 30 seconds of grindcore influence on the whole release to be honest & even then it's only an influence rather than a primary sound. I wouldn't even go for a grindcore secondary subgenre on this one so I'm afraid it'll be a NO vote from me.

I've just posted this nomination in the Hall of Judgement too.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

The Septicflesh nomination is no longer relevant as we've now moved that release onto the brand new Symphonic Death Metal subgenre.

Ah, I thought it was listed under the Guardians. I'm getting a bit confused over the whole site non-metal inclusion policy to be honest.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

Boris' debut album is generally tagged as a drone metal/sludge metal hybrid however there's a lot more to it than that. I have it tagged as follows:

1 Huge (9:16)                    Drone metal/Sludge metal

2 Ganbou-Ki (15:46)        Post-sludge metal

3 Hama (7:32)                  Post-sludge metal

4 Kuruimizu (14:29)        Post-sludge metal

5 Vomitself (16:56)         Drone metal

The drone metal component really only amounts to the first half of "Huge" & the entirety of "Vomitself" so I don't think it's significant enough to warrant a tag at Metal Academy. The predominant genre is post-sludge metal for mine so I'd like to see the drone metal tag removed & an atmospheric sludge metal tag added. A sludge metal tag needs to be maintained in order to see the album continuing to be associated with The Fallen which it clearly should be. I've posted two entries in the Hall of Judgement, one to have the drone metal genre removed & another to have the release added to The Infinite under the atmospheric sludge metal subgenre.

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

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

The nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

These nominations have been passed.

Thanks, Daniel!

Thanks, Daniel!

As with Dokken's 1985 third album "Under Lock & Key", 1987's "Back For The Attack" possesses an obvious metal edge but whether it should qualify for metal status really comes down to whether you consider the glam metal subgenre to sit below a hard rock or a metal part genre because this is clearly a glam metal release with only three of four genuine heavy metal songs out of the thirteen on offer. As with a lot of glam metal, the guitar work is certainly metal-based but the vocals & rhythm section sit in commercial hard rock territory. Here at the Academy we've always left glam metal for the hard rockers so for that reason I'd like to see "Back For The Attack" removed from The Guardians & placed under Non-Metal.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

I can't, Daniel. I'm no longer in The Guardians.

Vinnie Moore's 1986 debut album really isn't as neoclassically structured as it's made out to be. It's much more of a progressive heavy metal record with classical influence only sporadically popping up in the solos which doesn't constitute the requirement for an additional genre in my opinion. For this reason I'd like to see 'Mind's Eye' removed from the Neoclassical Metal genre while maintaining its position under Heavy Metal.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

I completely agree with your assessment here Sonny. "The Cage" is simply a hard rock record as far as I can see & not a very good one either it has to be said. It should never have been drawn in under the NWOBHM banner in the first place in my opinion.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

No it isn't a very good record at all. I really dislike AOR and this has all the hallmarks of that excremental genre. In fact, thinking about it again has pissed me off so much I have had to go back and dock it another half a point!

I completely agree with your assessment here Sonny. "Firepower" is a combination of progressive rock & hard rock as far as I can see & it should never have been drawn in under the NWOBHM banner in the first place. I do quite like it though.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

I gave this Alcest album some listening and a review a couple years ago, and I still remember Les voyages de l'âme having some great blackgaze dominance. The black metal aggression in the guitar distortion and grim vocals is in smooth balance with the shoegaze atmosphere of uplifting melody and tranquil beauty. I made a judgement submission similar to this for the album, but somehow it didn't get through. I'm glad the album is in the Hall now, so thanks for that, Daniel.

Revisiting "Trilogy" has reignited my feelings around many of the releases we have tagged as Neoclassical Metal in that this record is really just a Heavy Metal release with neoclassical guitar solos which doesn't constitute a separate genre in my opinion. By comparison, Yngwie's debut album "Rising Force" utilizes classical structures within the song writing which produces a much more compelling argument. Therefore, I'd like to see "Trilogy" removed from the Neoclassical Metal genre while maintaining its Heavy Metal one.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

Dokken's most highly regarded album is an interesting one because, while it undoubtedly offers a fair bit of metal in the guitar work & includes a couple of genuine heavy metal tracks, the vast majority of the tracklisting falls into the glam metal category which we regard as a subgenre of hard rock. For this reason, I'd like to see 'Under Lock & Key' removed from The Guardians & placed into the Non-Metal category.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

I just gave this album some listening and a review to revisit this live album mainly consisting of songs from their best era, and to celebrate the release of Kamelot's new album with a blast to the past. Similarly to Angra's Aurora Consurgens, many songs show the more progressive side of the band with complex riffing and soloing that occur more in the songs from Epica and The Black Halo than in their earlier albums like Karma, and more diverse structure. So I'll definitely be giving this Hall entry a YES vote.

As if I needed any confirmation of Slayer's demise from thrash metal legends, Repentless more than nails the coffin lid shut.  Andi's right to my ears, this album soon degenerates into groove metal with some knock off Machine Head riffs and structures littered all over the place.

Isen Torr's sole release is certainly one epic as fuck record. So much so that it leaves me baffled as to how the band have avoided the power metal tag. There's obviously a crap-tonne of Iron Maiden worship going on in the galloping rhythms & guitar harmonies but the consistently high tempos, epic atmosphere & metal-for-metals-sake attitude sit further towards power metal than they do traditional heavy metal in my opinion so I'd like to see "Mighty & Superior" added to the Power Metal genre on top of its Heavy Metal tag.

If this poll is successful then I may opt to raise another Hall entry to have Heavy Metal removed from the release too.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

Yeah, it's an interesting discussion & there's no right answer of course. We're a metal website though so we don't offer rock tags like Stoner Rock or Heavy Psych. It's either metal or it's not & if it's not then the release in question likely wouldn't be included on the site at all unless the associated band had other releases that were legitimate metal. In this case too, we have a release where the vinyl editions of the album don't include the bonus track so I think it's best not to take that track into account when discussing the album's metal credentials. When you take that track out of the equation then the four metal tracks included amount to about 23 minutes of the total 42 minute run time which puts it into metal territory in my opinion. But this is why we have the Hall of Judgement so our clan members are free to express their opinions & my opinion is worth no more than that of any other member of The Fallen.

While those two songs you mentioned are indeed the two most metal songs on the album, I find a couple other tracks like "Simple Design" and "Breakdown" to be closer to the more conventional alt-metal or at least hard rock. But looking back on it, I guess you're right, Daniel. The post-grunge/alt-rock sound of the album has much more in common with Nickelback and Three Days Grace than it does with Tool and Korn. YES vote coming up for your entry!

What's interesting is, I found out that their first two releases (their 2001 self-titled EP and their debut album Saturate) have the alternative metal tag in RYM valid enough to be in this site, so I asked Ben to add them to the site in the Requests for The Gateway Releases thread. Once they get added in, I'll give Saturate some listening and a review to see if it belongs in the clan. I won't review the EP though, since it's basically demo versions of 5 of the tracks from Saturate (a similar technique to Amaranthe's EP and debut album).

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement as two separate entries.

Thotcrime's 'ønyøurcømputer' is a release that takes the sounds of The Revolution & injects them with a raw infusion of grindcore & electronics to give it an additional dose of chaos. There’s certainly not enough grindcore on offer to be able to justify Grindcore being claimed as a primary genre though in my opinion & I’d suggest that the Mathcore subgenre all that’s required here. There are a few hints at avant-garde metal at times but the dominant elements of this album are clearly rooted in the mathy end of The Revolution so I'd like to see 'ønyøurcømputer' removed from The Horde & the Grindcore genre.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

I don't really hear a lot of grindcore on Whourkr's "Concrete" album to be honest. The clear protagonist is the avant-garde nature of this music & I’d hazard to suggest that the only primary genre tag necessary is the Avant-Garde Metal one given that they have a lot more in common with Mr. Bungle & Arcturus than they do with Pig Destroyer or Nasum. Therefore, I'd like to see this release removed from The Horde whilst maintaining it's position in The Infinite.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

Despite the use of cut-up & heavily effected blast-beats & psychotically screamed (& generally ridiculous) vocal shenanigans, there isn’t really any trace of grindcore on Phantomsmasher's debut album 'Atomsmasher'. Hell, there’s nothing even remotely like metal if I’m being honest! Metal is built on heavy guitars & riffs but there’s next to no guitars included on this record. To my ears it’s a combination of avant-garde experimental music, electronic music, psychedelia & noise; a concoction that sits far closer to the electronic & avant-garde genres than it does to even the more ambitious metal subgenres like avant-garde metal. Therefore, I'd like to see 'Atomsmasher' removed from The Horde & added to Non-Metal.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

Whoever the fuck thought it was appropriate to link Hello Kitty Suicide Club's "^_^" album to grindcore has no concept or understanding of what makes something metal. There are no guitars included here & the only thing I can see that has any relation to metal are the horrific vocals & occasional use of fast electronic kick-drums & pseudo-blast beats. This album is purely an avant-garde electronic music release & sounds a gazillion miles more like the soundtrack to the earliest computer games than it does Napalm Death. In fact, even if you were going to accept it as metal you’d have no hesitation in lumping it in with avant-garde metal as opposed to grindcore. Therefore, I'd like to see '^_^' removed from The Horde & added to Non-Metal.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

While it unquestionably belongs in The Horde, Gigantic Brain's debut album offers a sci-fi inspired brand of goregrind that revels in taking you into the weird & avant-garde through head-caving electronic dissonance & over-the-top artificial blast-beats. It all sounds so strange that I feel a dual tagging with Avant-Garde Metal is essential to accurately reflect what's in store for the unsuspecting listener so I'd like to see it added to The Infinite.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

The debut full-length from Italy's Bologna Violenta offers a strange concoction of silly ambient/jazz/experimental sounds mixed in with blasting electronic blastbeats & Italian porn samples. There's enough genuine grindcore to see me wanting to keep the cybergrind tag but I'd like to see this release added to The Infinite under Avant-Garde Metal as well.

This nomination has been added to the Hall of Judgement.

Boris' 2011 "Heavy Rocks" album is generally tagged as a stoner rock/metal release however it's far, far more diverse than that & I don't believe that those tags do it justice. If you look at the tracklisting in detail you'll actually find that only around a third of the run time sits under the banner of metal with post-rock & alternative rock being my preferred labels overall. For this reason, I'd like to see 'Heavy Rocks' removed from The Fallen & the Stoner Metal genre & added to Non-Metal.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

I know people are divisive as to what this genre entails, but the Metal Church debut fits the bill.  It's more apparent in the second side than the first, but the songs thrash with a lot of melody and energy, and feature the same attitude as typical speed metal.  Metal Church's debut is reelatively viewed by the metal community as a hard album to define because it flows so consistently through heavy, power, USPM, speed and thrash metal.  But this speed attitude is way to apparent to ignore, and it's a shame that here on Metal Academy it's only classified as a heavy metal album.

You know, it's more than experimental enough for a punk metal album to say it, so I vote yes.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

Thanks, Daniel! I’d also like the Angra and Stigmata albums I’ve submitted earlier this month sent to the Hall when possible please:

https://metal.academy/forum/28/thread/1641

https://metal.academy/forum/28/thread/1643

Living Colour's debut album really has me baffled as to where the links to metal comes from as there's really only a couple of tracks that hint at it with the rest seeming to combine a very unintimidating brand of hard rock with bouncy funk rock. I can only think that people are associating the clear album highlight "Cult of Personality" with the whole album & it's kinda borderline as it is. For this reason, I'd like to see "Vivid" removed from The Gateway & added to Non-Metal.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

I've always had a problem with Scorpions records being tagged as Heavy Metal & "Love at First Sting" is a prime example of why as it really only includes the one genuine heavy metal track in "Coming Home" with opener "Bad Boys Running Wild" being borderline. Therefore, I'd like to see it removed from The Guardians & added to Non-Metal.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.