Judgement Submissions

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.

I just relistened to the album to see if I could see where you're coming from Andi. I have to say that I can't. I stand by everything I said. I don't hear any traditional hard rock whatsoever on "Louder Than Love". Certainly not glam metal. The riffs are built on groovy blues rock structures which brings them more into line with stoner. It's got Black Sabbath "Vol 4" influence all through it. The fact that Kyuss & Motorpsycho didn't release their albums for another couple of years is irrelevant as far as I'm concerned. Sabbath invented stoner metal in the early 1970's along with a slew of other metal genres.

50% or no go for me.

I agree here, Daniel. Although a few tracks are thrashy with fast speed, the majority of this album is quite progressive with ambitious ideas and keyboard orchestration. I'm definitely voting YES in that Hall entry.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

I don't hear anywhere near enough genuine metal in Danzig's sound here. It's a bluesy AC/DC-inspired hard rock record with a couple of Sabbathy heavy metal tracks & that's not enough to warrant a metal tag for mine. I'd like to see 'Danzig' removed from The Guardians & added to Non-Metal.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

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

I don't mind a bit of Fuck The Facts but haven't ventured further back in their career than 2003's "Backstabber Etiquette" which I recall being a bit flat. They've certainly improved since then but I would never have picked them for something that you'd enjoy as grindcore is certainly the primary ingredient in their sound.

Gorement's solitary full-length is generally regarded as doomy death metal in a similar way to Autopsy & Asphyx however I'd suggest that there's enough genuine doom/death included to warrant a dual tagging. Just listen to tracks like 'Silent Hymn (For The Dead)', 'Sea of Silence' or 'Into Shadows' for example! I'd like to see 'The Ending Quest' added to The Fallen under the Death Doom Metal subgenre whilst maintaining its position in The Horde under Death Metal (conventional).

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

I decided to give that album some listening and a review to further push my progressive metal boundaries into more experimental and extreme territory. I would say this is kind of like the Eastern oriental equivalent to Enslaved's recent material. There's barely any weird avant-garde aspects as far as I can hear. So I agree with you here, Daniel, and will definitely give your Hall entry a YES vote.

Last year's "Zoetrope" E.P. from underground English death metallers Qrixkuor as about as death metal as they come & I've struggled to pick up much in the way of black metal in their sound. I can't see any reason for the release to reside in The North so I'd like to propose that we remove it from the can & allow it to bask in the death metal glory of The Horde.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

Last year's third album from Ukranian black metal outfit White Ward is often referred to as atmospheric black metal however I don't hear many traces of that sound. To my ears it's a progressive example of the more conventional black metal sound so I'd like to see it added to The Infinite under the Progressive Metal genre.

I've just added the release to the Hall of Judgement.

I've always had a problem with Girlschool records being tagged as Heavy Metal & 'Play Dirty' is a prime example of why as it really only includes the one genuine heavy metal track in opening number "Going Under". Therefore, I'd like to see it removed from The Guardians & added to Non-Metal.

This nomination has been added to the Hall of Judgement.

These two nominations have been added to the Hall of Judgement.

OK, thanks Daniel!

I honestly have no idea how people can confuse the early Motörhead records with metal releases as some of that material is barely hard rock & clearly contains a lot more of a blues component than any metal record should offer. The band's 1983 archival live album is a prime example of this with a few of the tracks even sitting much closer to rock 'n' roll or blues rock than anything else. I'd like to see "What's Words Worth?" removed from The Guardians & added to Non-Metal.

This nomination has been added to the Hall of Judgement.

The 2022 debut album from Salt Lake City-based outfit The Otolith is being tagged as a Doom Metal & Atmospheric Sludge Metal hybrid but I would argue that there's a little more to it than that. I hear a strong Ethereal Wave influence across the entire tracklisting & feel that the female vocals & alternative instrumentation would feel perfectly comfortable on a Gothic Rock release so I'd like to see the Gothic Metal tag added to this album. I'd also encourage members of The Infinite to vote down Atmospheric Sludge Metal & vote up Post-Metal as there's really not very much Sludge Metal included other than the occasional hardcore vocal line.

This release has been added to the Hall of Judgement.

I just gave this album a listen to continue my test of strength in the experimental sludge realms, and indeed it's a noise-ridden industrial sludge arsenal, ready for the listener to make a stinging dark descent. Subtle keyboard passages give light to the pummeling darkness, and the noise influences have more in common with the mechanical industrial sound, though sometimes having a bit of the post-punk level of late Daughters. So this release's judgement entry will definitely receive a YES vote from me.

I also agree. This album is really just doomy industrial metal, with slight bits of electronica and shoegaze. If this was drone metal, it would be even slower.

G.I.S.M.'s 1982 debut album certainly offers plenty in the way of metal influence however the vast majority of it's tracklisting sits far more comfortably under the Crust Punk genre which itself contains metallic elements & is suitable to cover the inclusion of a few metal moments. Therefore, I'd like to see "Detestation" removed from The Guardians & placed under Non-Metal. There's absolutely no way it's a Heavy Metal record in my opinion.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

This nomination has been added to the Hall of Judgement.

Unlike Fist's 1980 debut album "Turn The Hell On", their heavy metal/hard rock hybrid sound is positioned much further over towards the hard rock side of the equation on their sophomore record with only two (possibly three) tracks of the nine being eligible for metal status. Therefore I'd like to see "Back With A Vengeance" removed from The Guardians & added to Non-Metal.

This nomination has been added to the Hall of Judgement.

As I said in my review earlier today, although Autonoesis' sophomore album includes a lot of thrash metal riffs & beats, I don't feel that it's appropriate to call it thrash metal as a primary genre (placing it alongside bands like Metallica, Pantera or Exciter) as the melodic black metal component is much more consistent & leaves the greater impact of the two. For that reason, I'd like to remove "Moon of Foul Magics" from The Pit & the Thrash Metal genre.

This release has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

I've added this release to The Horde under Brutal Death Metal as it already qualifies.

The release already qualifies for inclusion under the mathcore subgenre so I've added it to The Revolution Andi.

I decided to give this album some listening and a review as another attempt to explore some blackgaze, and while I can definitely hear those post-rock sections, the black metal side is more dominant. Roads to Judah is a clear example of black metal in a much more atmospheric light, enough to warrant its place in the blackgaze realm, and to consider it post-metal would be a big inaccuracy. So I agree that Roads to Judah is a more appropriate album for The North than The Infinite. Vote coming up!

I agree that power metal is the more dominant genre for this album. However, while I understand that it's too melodic for The Revolution, a few songs sound close to their earlier trance-metalcore in the albums leading up to Massive Addictive, such as "Fearless" and "BOOM!". So I'm not too sure about just dropping melodic metalcore from this release. But if that does happen, that's OK too.

DOLL$BOXX's "High $pec" E.P. really has nothing whatsoever to do with Power Metal & is more of a combination of Progressive Metal & Alternative Metal. Therefore, I'd like to see it removed from The Guardians & the Power Metal genre.

This nomination has been added to the Hall of Judgement.

With the demise of Trance Metal, this release has ended up in The Horde under Melodic Death metal which seems entirely inappropriate. I'd suggest that it will appeal much more the Power Metal fans than Death Metal ones so I'd like to a) see this release added to The Guardians under the Power Metal genre & b) see it removed from The Horde.

This nomination has been added to the Hall of Judgement.

However, similar to My Dying Bride's "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium", while there are some standard death metal elements in the demos, death-doom is much closer to doom.

I don't see this release in the same way as I did "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium" which included just a single short death metal track between two death/doom numbers. "Drown In Darkness" includes twelve tracks which offer a roughly even split of classic death metal & death/doom. It's really not that relevant whether death/doom is much closer to doom metal as a good half of this release isn't death/doom & that's kinda the point of the dual tag which I feel is warranted here. I'm going with a NO vote on this Hall of Judgement entry as it's my opinion that this release belongs in The Horde just as much as it does in The Fallen.

Sure thing, Daniel.

This nomination has now been added to the Hall of Judgement.

This nomination has now been added to the Hall of Judgement.

BABYMETAL's self-titled debut album really doesn't have all that much of a trance influence outside of a couple of tracks. It sits far more comfortably under The Gateway than The Revolution so I'd like to see the Trance Metal tag removed along with its The Revolution status.

This nomination has been added to the Hall of Judgement.

I'd describe Void of Silence's 2002 sophomore album as being blackened/gothic doom metal with the gothic component being significant enough to warrant the Gothic Metal tag in my opinion. I'd like to have the Gothic Metal genre added to the release on top of its existing position under Doom Metal.

I've added the release to the Hall of Judgement.