The Infinite

My thoughts on some of the tracks (including my suggested songs):

Evergrey – “Hymns For The Broken” (from “Hymns For The Broken”, 2014)

10/10. I haven't heard Evergrey in a long while, but ever since I left my earlier epic metal taste, they have released another album The Atlantic and they've just announced an upcoming album Escape of the Phoenix to be released in February. This is one of the best melodic progressive metal songs I've heard 5 years ago, with the vocalist Tom S. Englund singing his heart out in the perspective of this concept album's suicidal protagonist. There's even a bonus melancholic piano version. Evergrey is an underrated band that deserves more love. Awesome track from a top-notch album that I haven't heard since so long ago!

Between The Buried & Me – “Silent Flight Parliament” (from “The Parallax II: Future Sequence”, 2012)

10/10. This is the climatic 15-minute epic nearing the end of a two-part saga, with the intensity from high to low, and the vocals ranging from growling to clean, often put in a powerful simultaneous combination. Brilliant!

Enslaved – “Neogenesis” (from “Isa”, 2004)

10/10. Yet another attempt at trying to get into enjoying Enslaved, and maybe this is it! An awesome song from a legendary band, taking you on a journey beyond stars, lightyears, and the universe itself, like that "Cygnus" track. This might just be my key to listening to Enslaved...

Opeth – “The Drapery Falls” (from “Blackwater Park”, 2001)

10/10. A favorite for many fans and probably would be until the end of time. I can definitely understand why! An acoustic intro gives way to a nice riff then calms down back to acoustic guitar as the clean vocals join in. Then it gets stampeded by a bombastic chorus that can give you goosebumps. I got goosebumps an hour before the first time I've listened to that song. Perhaps it's foreshadowing...

Nice pick on the Cloudkicker song Daniel, I didn't realize you included it in the playlist and, by coincidence, I've been listening to Solitude for the entire week so far, I think it's incredibly good. 

I did my review, here's its summary:

As a mostly positive reviewer, I've stumbled upon albums so good, so great, that I give them the high ratings they may or may not deserve. However, there might be one album that goes beyond great, and I mean far beyond... In order for an album to reach this "beyond" status, it has to attract me enough to get the band's full discography ASAP so you can discover new stuff from this legendary group, stay in my playlist for at least 6 months of maybe for eternity, and keep listening to them during that period of time. And that album is... Disillusion's 2004 debut Back to Times of Splendor!! You won't believe how much I love this epic masterpiece with song lengths ranging from 5 to 17 minutes filled with strong riffs, fast drumming, clean melodic singing, aggressive growls, softer sections, heavier sections, and much more to create the ultimate progressive metal adventure! Anyone who doesn't love this album as much I do might be thinking, "He doesn't mean to really give the album 5 stars, he's probably just biased with so many albums rated like that." No, they're all real, especially my rating for this album. I wish I could give Back To Times of Splendor more than just 5 stars, maybe 6, 10, or over 9000! Every moment is excellent, perfectly helped out by the deep meaningful lyrics. Many magnificent influences and elements in and out of metal creates this epic masterpiece of splendor. This is so incredible! I don't know what else to say, other than...Thanks so much for the rec, Daniel. I thought the ultimate album would never come....but it came!

5/5

Great to hear, they just released a new album today actually, which is why I included it! I wasn't able to check it out, I'll be sure to put it in the New Music Thread when I get a chance. I'm real excited but Colliding Skies was a bit dull compared to The Human Connection, so I'm hoping for the best.

My thoughts on some of the tracks (including my suggested ones):

Ayreon – “Isis & Osiris” (from “Into The Electric Castle: A Space Opera”, 1998)

11/10 (not exaggerating). There's no better way to start this playlist with the beginning of a journey...Into the Electric Castle!! Ayreon was a special band during my high school years (not that I ever was in high school). That project along with Dream Theater were my gateways band to the Infinite realm of progressive metal. For that I say... Thank you, Arjen Lucassen! This is one of the greatest progressive metal pieces to appreciate. While this isn't the first album in the Ayreon project, Into the Electric Castle is the first to include not only members of more popular Dutch rock/metal bands but also from bands from a few other places outside the Netherlands. This has helped those vocalists and musicians take them further into their path to fame and would help younger artists follow the path. This can help you travel through the stars and learn more Ancient Egyptian mythology. Even after giving up on this group during my grand switch out of my earlier melodic epic metal taste, I still amazed at this masterpiece. Many of the vocalists sing their own characters but it's as if they're the ones telling the stories instead of narrator, especially Fish (Marillion) who plays the Highlander. The last album I've heard from Ayreon was The Source which was a greater album for me because during my great metal taste switch, while I was saying farewell to many of my biggest progressive/power metal influences, one of the other vocalists indirectly directed me to another progressive metal band in the extreme side (Tommy Rogers (Between the Buried and Me)). Yet after all these years abandoning Ayreon (except a couple album reviews), this song is still one of my favorites from the project and helps maintain its legacy. I would definitely wanna hear another Arjen Lucassen/Sharon den Adel collaboration. Since cats are attracted to Egyptian music, do you think if I have a pet cat, it would enjoy some parts of this song? Hmmm... Even the album cover drawing can draw me in. Forget Yes, Ayreon is true progressive music. And wow, 22 years after its release, this song is now on radio! This Spotify radio playlist, that is. I really enjoy the clean production, amazing arrangements, and a great plethora of melodic vocals. I'm pretty sure my friends and family would've had no knowledge of Ayreon if it wasn't for me finding them. I still can't believe this album came out so long ago, back in 1998. I think the instrumentation alone might've inspired non-metal artists like Brunuhville. And another connection with The Source is when in that album The Prophet mentions a "castle deep in space". Cool callback! So dump your Madonna and Phil Collins and try this epic. Thank you Arjen for this project, and thanks Daniel for including this song.

Leprous – “The Price” (from “The Congregation”, 2015)

8/10. Addictive and groovy and one of Leprous' most compelling songs, but The Congregation is the album is where the band is transitioning out of their avant-prog metal past to their accessible progressive rock present.

Pain Of Salvation – “Ashes” (from “The Perfect Element I”, 2000)

10/10. Pain of Salvation is another one of the more melodic progressive metal bands that first helped developed my journey into the Infinite realm. "Ashes" is another perfect song from a timeless masterpiece album! Once again I still love it even after giving up on this group during my grand switch out of my earlier melodic epic metal taste. This is quite a haunting song reminding me of a more progressive take on Type O Negative whose bassist/vocalist Peter Steele is one of metal's passed legends along with Death's Chuck Schuldiner but that's beside this point. The spine-shivering voice of Daniel Gildenlöw is a little strange but has great passion. You can practically mouth the lyrics! This is quite an awesome heartbreaking song. I'm starting to miss my melodic prog-metal phase from nearly 6 years ago, back in my "high school" years. The vibe is violent yet emotional. Similarly with Ayreon's The Source, I have not been in touch with Pain of Salvation since after listening to In the Passing Light of Day, another album of absolute perfection that made me grateful about Daniel Gildenlöw surviving the life-threatening flesh eating bacteria he suffered a couple years before that album. The chord progression of this song can be a little repetitive but it's dusted aside by the song's advantages including some of the best vocals that I've heard during my phase back then, which might remind OG prog-metal fans of Geoff Tate. Beautiful! The turn into the new millennium was a great period for this band along with Dream Theater who released their own concept album a year before this one. If you thought Daniel Gildenlöw was so young in this album, you should've stuck around 15 years before when he was in middle school and in a band called Reality. Anyway, I'm glad this song is on a Spotify playlist (this one) for a good amount of Spotify metalheads to hear. I love and dark and heavy this song is. It's times like this when I wish I can go back to that phase, but I guess it's too late now. I guess you can consider this a love song in the midst of a duel between God and Satan. I also miss when Daniel Gildenlöw's brother Kristoffer was in the band, he's quite the bass king. Its album's concept deals with sexual abuse, and I think I was handling heavy concepts slightly better than when I was first listening to After Forever's Invisible Circles. I was starting handled different heavy scenarios, and they were addictive. The Perfect Element would later have its own sequel, Scarsick. I thought my interest in this band was over after In the Passing Light of Day, but I guess I'm still there. I have two Daniels to thank; Daniel Gildenlöw for this creative music and Metal Academy's Daniel for including this song.

Fates Warning – “The Apparition” (from “The Spectre Within”, 1985)

9/10. Because of how great I think of the first 3 more melodic progressive metal songs in this playlist, I decided to listen to a song from a band that I've only listened to for an album review and never got around listening to more of them because of how old the band is, back to the mid-80s. "The Apparition" is very good and beautiful with some of the best progressive metal lyrics to reflect upon. This is a deep classic I love and might give me some slight influence for if I ever start my own metal band in the future. An amazing marvelous song, which even though the vocals can sound a bit stressed is helped out by the riffs. A progressive metal classic for the OG listeners!

Seventh Wonder – “The Black Parade” (from “Mercy Falls”, 2008)

10/10. This is from a concept album about a victim of a car crash who ends up in a mysterious world within his coma. You would have to listen to the album yourself to know the full story because I ain't gonna spoil it to you here. Its epilogue, "The Black Parade" starts aggressively before adding happy melodies. The chorus and keyboards are just epic! Perfect ending to a perfect album!!

Dream Theater – “The Ytse Jam” (from “When Dream & Day Unite”, 1989)

10/10. The true highlight of the debut of progressive metal masters Dream Theater. Some might call this the best progressive instrumental since Rush's "YYZ"! The memorable opening riff is exciting. There are some Arabian melodies along with great soloing. The bass is very audible and enjoyable.

Protest The Hero – “All Hands” (from “Palimpsest”, 2020)

8/10. In this endearing eccentric progressive metal tune, Protest the Hero's technical proficient arsenal shines through with the band's incredible ability on the harborside to engage the listener through the arrangement that never gets overwhelmed. Great song, but personally I would choose their epic single "The Canary".

Symphony X – “Nevermore” (from “Underworld”, 2015)

10/10. Symphony X was another of my favorite epic progressive metal bands from 5 or 6 years ago. This song and "Kiss of Fire" are my favorite songs in their recent album Underworld, having the note-tapping guitar skills of Michael Romeo and the monstrous drumming of Jason Rullo, the latter suffered heart failure a couple years before this album but I'm glad he survived. The lyrics and vocals combine perfectly with the guitar. The theme of this album is inspired by inspired by Dante's Inferno and Orpheus in the Underworld, and this song heavily references the number 3 used by Dante; three syllables, a three-note melodic phrase, and three references to three songs from the band's third album, The Divine Wings of Tragedy. Too bad it's not the album's third track, but almost everything else about this song is perfect and never disappoints. Though the lyrics are a little cliche, it helps keep the band's exciting throwback to their old stuff. Holy sh*t, this is great! The day Underworld came out was a great day for me. And I say "H*ll yeah" to the intro/outro riff! Even the bass does great progressive justice. With Underworld having masterpieces like this song, it's a shame they didn't record a live DVD concert during the album's tour, though they probably would have if it wasn't cut short by a year-long hiatus for Russell Allen to spend some time in his other band Adrenaline Mob and injuries he sustained in vehicular accident involving that band. Anyway, I noticed that this song was blocked in the Spotify playlist, but hey, that's what this album and YouTube is for! Symphony X is so underrated that I would be really happy if a future artist considers this band their influence. After the first royal metal generation of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Dio, Symphony X should praise as metal's second generation royalty, unlike bands like High on Fire who think bicycles and drugs would give them royalty which...NO. It would be great if Symphony X perform live in my country. The band's awesome vocalist and brilliant musicians inspired me to keep believing in metal. Epic kick-A progressive metal, though I miss their early-2000s orchestration. Keep the good stuff coming Symphony X, you never disappoint me!

Solstafir – “Kold” (from “Kold”, 2009)

9/10. This is the title track of an album that I recently loved so much that I plan on getting the rest of the Solstafir discography soon. It crashes you through an icy wall of power chords while the tortured vocals of Aðalbjörn "Addi" Tryggvason wander through poetic delight. A superb song, though it's not at all like the grand epic progressive metal masterpiece that is Symphony X's "Nevermore".

Nevermore – “The Sound Of Silence” (from “Dead Heart In A Dead World”, 2000)

10/10. Speaking of Nevermore, you gotta check out their cover of the Simon & Garfunkel song, "The Sound of Silence". Who knew you can turn it into a death metal-sounding progressive/thrash tune with drilling riffs and a wonderfully gloomy theme!? That's what Nevermore did here!

Meshuggah – “Future Breed Machine” (from “Destroy Erase Improve”, 1995)

9/10. This great chaotic song is from the album that very well began piecing together the progressive subgenre djent. It starts with a bit of an apocalyptic atmosphere that sounds like robotic machines taking over the world; industrial noises for almost 30 seconds, then a piercing siren over a total headbanging onslaught. The djent knights rise!

I did a review, here's its summary:

From the northern island of Iceland comes the band Sólstafir! First starting as a pagan black/viking metal band, they soon began to shed away their North sound for a style more ambient and thematic. In this album Köld, the bleak coldness still remains while blowing into the imaginative landscapes of post-rock/metal. This is pretty much haunting black-ish post-metal, a bit of sunshine glowing in the peaks on depressive winter valleys where the band's home sound runs through every phrase and tone. 8 tracks, many of which are around 8 minutes plus a 4-minute hit and two 12-minute epics, thoroughly create a compelling journey through an environment of pale empty space. Köld is a brilliant album of haunting immortality and the finest hour for Sólstafir. A superb recommendation for fans of post-rock/black metal!

5/5

It's now September which of course means that we'll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we're asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We're really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don't be shy.

This month's feature release for The Infinite is 2002's "Sadness Will Prevail" album from avant-garde US outfit Today Is The Day. This band began life as a noise rock act in the early 1990's but over the course of their first five albums we'd see them becoming something increasingly unusual with "Sadness Will Prevail" marking the high point of their creative journey. We can't wait to hear what you think of it.

https://metal.academy/releases/15259

The more I listen to Sólstafir, the more I'm realizing just how hit or miss Post-Metal really is for me. My thoughts from Köld haven't necessarily changed, since I still really love their style but can't necessarily point out exactly why. Maybe it's the warming reverb? The calming and meandering songwriting that never really goes anywhere but never exactly gets boring for me? Needless to say they've had me extremely conflicted on what to write for this entire month, so this one is going to be way more off-the-cuff than normal as I try and find some bearings on how exactly to explain anything here. 

Although they share the same sort of sound style, Köld and Svartir Sandar are very, very different albums. Köld is dark, brooding, even menacing at times. This one is just as atmospheric but more riff and melody driven, with most of the tracks sounding strangely uplifting in their own Post-Metal kind of way. It's more dreamy and almost ethereal at times. The fact that Svartir Sandar is a double album is a bit much though, since it packs even less punch overall than Köld did. The percussion is reverbed to hell, with most of the cymbals sounding like a white noise radio most of the time. The riffing is good enough and the Icelandic lyrics give it a homely feel since it's the band's native language, but it certainly drags over its runtime. At the end of the day I think I prefer the darker, more dismal atmosphere of Köld over Svartir Sandar, even though this album has more content to sink your teeth into. If you're a huge Post-Metal fan, this album is probably a slice of heaven for you, and while I still love Sólstafir's overall sound, I can't give this one too high of a score. I could definitely see this album being a grower though, I think I have to give Post-Metal in general some more time to sink in compared to other genres. 

3.5/5

So we're going to be testing the waters with another new offering this week which is one that I'll be looking for your feedback on. The idea is to release regular two hour Spotify playlists for each clan with the tracklistings taking the listener through the full gamut of sounds each clan encompasses, both old & new, classic & underground. In putting together the initial lists I've attempted to push my personal tastes to one side by including something for everyone with all eras & subgenres receiving representation. I certainly haven't gone with your more obvious releases all the time & you will find the odd novelty track included just for a bit of fun. These will certainly give people that are finding it hard to choose their clans a good point of reference to see if a particular clan is for them too. Check 'em out & tell us what you think. If everyone enjoys these then we may look to make them a more permanent part of the site.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3kEEdEXrtFrCHXjxtHq630?si=nvTn17svTUGel5TbNfvNHQ

Tracklisting:

1. Psychotic Waltz – “I Remember” (from “A Social Grace’, 1990)

2. Haken – “1985” (from “Affinity”, 2016)

3. Ayreon – “Computer Eyes” (from “Actual Fantasy”, 1996)

4. Diapsiquir – “Peste” (from “A.N.T.I., 2011)

5. Huntsmen – Ride Out“” (from “Mandala Of Fear”, 2020)

6. Fantomas – “04/06/05 Wednesday” (from “Suspended Animation”, 2005)

7. Ashbringer – “Absolution” (from “Absolution”, 2019)

8. Tool – “7empest” (from “Fear Inoculum”, 2019)

9. Agallloch – “Not Unlike The Waves” (from “Ashes Against The Grain”, 2006)

10. Periphery – “” (from “Periperhy IV: HAIL STAN”, 2019)

11. The Algorithm – “Binary Space” (from “Compiler Optimization Techniques”, 2018)

12. Oxxo Xoox – “Abym” (from “Namidae”, 2015)

13. Spotlights – “Learn To Breathe” (from “Seismic”, 2017)

14. Meshuggah – “Rational Gaze” (from “Nothing”, 2002) 

15. Monuments – “I, The Destroyer” (from “The Amanuensis”, 2014)

16. Liturgy – “God Of Love” (from “H.A.Q.Q., 2019)

2,800 words later, it's finished. I hope I never have to write another review as long as this one. Thanks for giving me the motivation to finally pen something like this out.

https://metal.academy/reviews/17294/155

Mekong Delta - "Mekong Delta" (1987)

Another release that seems to be universally labelled as technical thrash metal but is far more progressive than it is technical in my opinion. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this is first & foremost a progressive metal release that regularly utilizes thrash & speed metal as tools. I mean if you look at it closely you'll find that a good four of the nine tracks aren't fast or thrashy. It's a pretty good record too although it's definitely disadvantaged by opening with two of its weaker tracks & then closing with another which means that you start & finish with a negative mind set & it requires a couple of listens to reassess those initial feelings. In truth, the middle of the album is actually pretty strong. The vocals are a bit hit & miss although they often remind me of Soundgarden's Chris Cornell (my all-time favourite singer) which can't be a bad thing. This should offer some enjoyment for fans of Coroner, Watchtower & particularly Voivod as there's some good complexity to the expansive arrangements & instrumentation.

3.5/5

What a strange album. I can safely say that I wasn't able to unpack most of this in one listen, but I think that would apply to most people. The Black Metal really took me off guard since I came into this album completely blind, and it's definitely hit or miss. The tremolo riffs still have that progressive edge to them, with the chord progressions being longer and more fleshed out than most Black Metal, but it's not necessarily groundbreaking. It definitely has a shock factor though, with the Black Metal not fully coming in until the end of "Den Saakaldte", a full 23 or so minutes into the album. There are teases of heavier Black Metal before that, but the band skirts around the influence and doesn't fully commit. 

Written In Waters really does have to be broken down piece by piece, since each transition offers something completely different than what came before it, and it's up to the listener to piece it all together. I've listened to a few influence-salad releases but none sound as alien as this one. The release date of 1995 is also impressive, putting this right smack in the middle of the more experimental wave of Black Metal, which makes a lot of sense looking back. On a first-listen basis though, this album failed to come together in any capacity for me, with the different tones they attempted to merge not making any sense whatsoever. The weaker Black Metal sections didn't hold up to the more progressive sections, and the progressive sections didn't fit together with the atmospheric or avant-garde sections. I'll have to take some time to really delve into this release if I want to re-score it. 

3/5

For this round, we'll try a couple more well-known releases which, even though I haven't listened to them myself, I guarantee some of you Infinite members have listened to them before. So here are two Infinite albums released in 2001. Which one of these albums with a different genre has the greater edge? Choose one and explain the reason!

Avant-garde metal:

Progressive metal:

I gave Meshuggah another shot after enjoying their 2016 album The Violent Sleep Of Reason by checking out Catch 33 and Nothing (2002) to mixed results. My taste in metal has shifted since 2016, since I was definitely more fond of Meshuggah back them, but I can see where the hype for Catch 33 was coming from. I came out one year before Catch 33, and it's an extremely interesting EP because it feels like a test run of Catch 33 with Nothing's production and style, which is inferior in my opinion. It's hard to really analyze Meshuggah because, like Saxy explains above me, they can be very one dimensional in how they write their music. It's all about the chug, the aggression, and the dark themes, which works well for some people and for others it turns into grinding monotony that you can't get away from. 

In terms of this album versus Catch 33, I can see how die-hard Meshuggah fans would enjoy this one more, because it's aggression overload. Catch 33 has more variety and atmosphere, but I just has that Djent chug for a solid 16 or 17 minutes of the 21 minute song. If you're into that, this album is a paradise for you, especially if you prefer Meshuggah's old production style with more trigger-sounding snare and bass drums and deeper but slightly messier sounding guitar tone. I still have a few Meshuggah albums to check out, like 2006's Nothing, but the straight-up Djent style isn't for me. They vastly improved over Nothing (2002) though, so I think that warrants a slightly higher score than what it seemed like I might give. 

3.5/5

While immensely beautiful, Choirs of the Eye shoots itself in the foot a bit with its droning spoken word during the lulls in the album. I personally try to stay away from the word "pretentious" when reviewing music since I feel like it's just a blanket statement that gets thrown around needlessly, but in this case I think it's warranted. The way it tries very, very hard to sound profound and deep definitely made me roll my eyes quite a few times. It takes an entire 28 minutes to get any sort of vocal contrast, with the first harsh vocals of the album showing up at the climax of "Manifold of Curiosity".

From a composition standpoint this album is obviously fantastic, with all sorts of orchestral, acoustic, and extreme metal styles being flung around every which way to somehow form a cohesive product. As impressive as it is, certain parts definitely lag and Kayo Dot relishes in their minimalism a bit too much for me on tracks like "Wayfarer". It's beautiful, there's a ton of interesting atmosphere, but not a whole lot happens, so it really depends on the listener if they emotionally connect with the slower parts or not. Some of the transitions seemed overlooked as well, with some being very jarring and almost unnecessary at times. 

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this, enough to give it a 4/5. But for something like this to be truly great it needs to pull out all the stops and everything has to be composed in a way that is exciting and feels right. If some of the transitions are wacky and there just isn't enough payoff for spending 8 to 10 minutes listening to soft orchestral and acoustic sections with whispering vocals, then the album is going to suffer. If someone is really into the slower sections though, this would be an easy 5/5 for them, since the ideas in this album are fascinating. 

Inspired by the new DIS vs DAT thing on Metal Academy, in turn inspired by that weekly feature on Utopia Records' Facebook page, I decided to turn this conversation-starting activity into a full thread instead of separate threads. Got a couple albums with the same genre and release year that you can't decide which has the greater edge? Share them here!

Let's start off with two of the greatest progressive metal/metalcore classics released in 2005. Which one has the greater edge? Choose one and explain the reason!

P.S. Yes, I know Kezia's release year was stated here to be 2006, but it was actually originally first released in 2005 via the Underground Operations record label, similar to how the self-titled Symphony X album was first released in Japan in 1994 and then released in America in 1996.

I've turned into a big fan of Agalloch after initially disliking Marrow of the Spirit, but then revisiting it as well as finally checking out The Mantle. Ashes Against The Grain is certainly a better Metal album than either of those, with better quality riffs and a much more evil feel than the more natural sound of The Mantle. This album vs The Mantle is always going to be the big talking point and, to be honest, I think I enjoy The Mantle a tad more, although both of them get a 4.5/5 as of right now. While Ashes may have more Metal and heft to it, I think it loses a lot of the atmosphere that really gripped me for whatever reason on The Mantle. Reviews of both of these albums are definitely a goal of mine and I simply haven't listened to them both enough to really go in depth yet.

Devin Townsend and Wilderun absolutely crushed it this year, but here's the rest of the 2019 Progressive Metal Top 10 from me:

1. Devin Townsend – Empath 

2. Wilderun – Veil of Imagination 

3. Opeth – In Cauda Venenum (Metal In-Spirit)

4. Tool – Fear Inoculum 

5. Soen – Lotus 

6. Liturgy –  H.A.Q.Q. 

7. Evergrey – The Atlantic 

8. Myrath – Sehili 

9. Richard Henshall – The Cocoon

10. Alcest – Spiritual Instinct

I agree that it's one of those albums that's just so strange and unique, but somehow manages to draw you back to it rather than forcing you away. I really love the whole aesthetic they went for too. It gives the whole project a level of sci-fi mystique. I think I called them the Daft Punk of Avant-Garde Doom Metal on the podcast.

I remember being shown Queensryche and kinda explained Operation: Mindcrime but not really understanding but still loving how it sounded and that a concept album was super cool idea. The first album that really got me though was as I was getting into harder music in high school eventually got around to Between The Buried and Me Alaska. I was so blown away by this interesting sound. It was all over the place and loved it. 

I used to read a bunch of music/metal magazines (RIP) and they would used to rave about Dir En Grey especially after Uroboros. I could not do it. That album is terrible to me and took me until recently to like anything that could be considered avant-garde until I found Diablo Swing Orchestra Pandora's Pinata. It's freaking Polka Metal. It's so wierd, but I loved it for some reason and had to show all my metal friends and nobody could understand why it was so good.

Alcest Souvenirs d'un autre monde.  I don't know how I found this album but it captured me and I still have to go back to it once in a while if I'm just in that kind of mood. 

I'm a huge fan & would definitely give this project a listen. Danny's earnt the right to these sort of self-indulgences in my opinion.

I'd suggest that Vektor's "Black Future" which is so often referred to as "technical thrash metal" would be more accurately described as "progressive thrash metal" & therefore belongs in not only The Pit but also The Infinite. Who agrees with me on this?

There is absolutely no way that it's a coincidence. The positioning of the fingers and hand is identical, as is the entire colour scheme. Someone needs to own up and/or be fired.