New Bands Added to Metal Academy
The following bands have been added to Metal Academy from the 18th to the 27th of July, 2026.
1. Castlerot (FALLEN)
2. Desiccation (FALLEN, NORTH)
3. Fifth Alliance, The (FALLEN, INFINITE)
4. Mary & The Highwalkers (FALLEN)
5. Sun of the Sleepless / Cavernous Gate (FALLEN, NORTH)
6. TodoMal (FALLEN, INFINITE)
7. Untu (FALLEN, INFINITE)
8. Creepy Crawl (GATEWAY)
9. East West (GATEWAY)
10. Kebyo (GATEWAY)
11. Dialith (GUARDIANS)
12. Forced Entry (GER) (GUARDIANS)
13. Cäbränegrä (HORDE)
14. Death Basket (HORDE)
15. Devil Within (HORDE)
16. Disnormality (HORDE)
17. Flesh Hoarder (HORDE)
18. Nekro Drunkz (HORDE)
19. Nekroí Theoí (HORDE)
20. Porky Vagina (HORDE, INFINITE)
21. Putrisect (HORDE)
22. Rest in Gore / Maggottholamia (HORDE)
23. Secondgradeknifefight (HORDE, REVOLUTION)
24. Uzumaki (HORDE, INFINITE)
25. Voidthrone (HORDE, NORTH)
26. Vomi Noir (HORDE)
27. Blood Mother (INFINITE, NORTH)
28. Sprawlcosm, The (INFINITE, NORTH, SPHERE)
29. Černý Kov (NORTH)
30. Hellreign (NORTH) - requested by Sonny
31. Noctuary (NORTH)
32. Över (NORTH) - requested by Sonny
33. Sanguine Myst (NORTH)
34. SHLEM (NORTH)
35. Tyrannosorceress (NORTH) - requested by Sonny
36. Úlfarr (NORTH) - requested by Sonny
37. Ulven (NORTH) - requested by Sonny
38. D.I.V. (PIT)
39. Slutvomit (PIT)
40. Speedslut (PIT)
41. Cast in Blood / Foreign Hands (REVOLUTION)
42. Livid (REVOLUTION)
43. My Hands Were Tied (REVOLUTION)
44. PrinceWhateverer (REVOLUTION)
45. Shot the Sheriff, I (REVOLUTION)
I was just wondering, Ben, how do you select bands for adding to the site? Also, how do you keep up with the latest releases from bands already on the site as there are now so many?
The following bands have been added to Metal Academy from the 28th of July to the 3rd of August, 2026.
1. Bomg (FALLEN)
2. Catafalque (TUR) (FALLEN)
3. Deliverance (FRA) (FALLEN, INFINITE)
4. Mang Ont (FALLEN)
5. Orphan Donor (FALLEN, HORDE)
6. World Wondered Full, A (FALLEN)
7. Shaka Ponk (GATEWAY)
8. Westfield Massacre (GATEWAY, PIT, REVOLUTION)
9. Zen Venom (GUARDIANS)
10. Arise From Worms (HORDE, INFINITE)
11. Behind the Scenery (HORDE)
12. Black Sorcery, The (HORDE, NORTH)
13. Convergence From Within (HORDE)
14. Datura (HORDE)
15. DC (HORDE)
16. Diftery (HORDE)
17. Emaciated (HORDE, PIT)
18. Intensive Care / Incinerated (HORDE, SPHERE)
19. Karkait (HORDE)
20. Leather Glove (HORDE)
21. Left to Die (HORDE)
22. Lithopædia (HORDE)
23. Luminesce (HORDE)
24. Phantasm (RUS) (HORDE, PIT)
25. Repugnance (HORDE)
26. Screaming Afterbirth (HORDE)
27. Sepolcro (HORDE)
28. Embrace of Disharmony (INFINITE)
29. Maneating Orchid (INFINITE, REVOLUTION)
30. Mire (INFINITE, PIT, REVOLUTION)
31. Argar (NORTH)
32. Circular Ruin (NORTH)
33. Darkmoon (NORTH)
34. Lyudoyed (NORTH)
35. Mournblade (NORTH)
36. Norman Shores (NORTH)
37. Sacrilegia (NORTH, PIT)
38. Sotabosc (NORTH)
39. Stygian Storm (NORTH)
40. Wolfzahn (NORTH)
41. Collateral / Burning Lord (PIT)
42. Ashes at Last (REVOLUTION)
43. Bleach to Death (REVOLUTION)
44. Cursed Earth (REVOLUTION)
45. Sense Offender / Pupil Slicer (REVOLUTION)
I was just wondering, Ben, how do you select bands for adding to the site? Also, how do you keep up with the latest releases from bands already on the site as there are now so many?
The answers to these questions will reveal just how much of a nerd I am Sonny, but I'm fairly content these days that I've found ways to use my OCD tendencies in productive and therapeutic rather than destructive ways. This might be a lengthier answer than you expected, but here goes...
In Rate Your Music, you can catalogue releases as In Collection. Then when you go to the Charts, you can exclude releases that are already marked as In Collection. So... years ago I started adding every release that is already on Metal Academy as In Collection. If you go to my RYM profile you will see that I have nearly 50000 releases in my collection. As a side note, I regularly have people contact me on RYM asking me if I would be willing to sell them a release that I apparently have in my collection, which I obviously don't.
So... every week, I go to the RYM 2026 chart and filter it by metal releases with at least 50 ratings while excluding any that are in my collection. This results in a list of 2026 releases that are not yet on the site. I then go into each of these releases separately and check whether they actually fulfill the genre requirements to be on RYM and to figure out which clans their releases might belong to. As I find new releases / bands that need to be added to Metal Academy, I add them to a spreadsheet I call Rounds (I can't even remember how it got that name). Once I finish adding all the latest 2026 releases that need adding to the site, I run the same RYM chart for 1970, then 1971, then 1972 etc., adding any bands / releases that meet the criteria that are not yet on RYM to the Round spreadsheet. I keep doing this until I hit about 60 or 70 lines, as this is about the sweet spot for the amount I can add each week. Note that I put an "x" in the G column whenever the band is already on the site, which tells me I just need to add a new release to an existing band, rather than add a new band with the whole discography. I also add a number 1, 2 or 3 in the F column, which represents the quality of the band's most recently released album cover. I do this to make sure the album cover that appears on the homepage for each clan is at least decent and representative of the clan's genres (this is why you should see at least decent album covers for each clan when on the homepage).
You'll note in the above that there are a lot of 2019 releases in the current Rounds spreadsheet. That's because 2019 is the current year that I'm working through. When my process goes through 1970, then 1971 etc., I eventually hit a year that has pages of releases with more than 50 ratings that are not on the site yet. I've worked my way through every year from 1970 to 2019 so far, but there are still many pages of releases not on the site for 2020 and beyond. I think I'll finally have ALL bands that have at least one metal release with 50 or more ratings on Metal Academy some time in 2027. That will be a huge achievement and something I've been working towards for a LONG time.
When it comes to actually figuring out a new band's discography and which releases will or won't be on the site, I have what have become five separate spreadsheets (A-C, D-H, I-N, O-S and T-Z). These spreadsheets have a separate worksheet for every single band on the site, with each worksheet containing a bands discography. If I didn't have these spreadsheets, it wouldn't have a record of what releases for each band have been added to the site, and I'd also have to re-explore which genres, subgenres and clans to give each release. These spreadsheets get really large and cumbersome, which is why I've gone from having 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 and finally to 5 over the years. I frequently use a macro to sort the worksheets, otherwise I'd never be able to find a band.
I think the above answers your questions. I predict that I've spent between 10 and 15 hours a week adding releases to Metal Academy over the past 7 or so years, which adds up to over 5000 hours. I'm not sure whether I should be proud of that or horrified by it. Either way, it's why I'm still determined to make a new version of the site and try to turn all the effort into something more widely appreciated.
Wow, Ben. I had a lot of respect for all that you do and the effort you put into the site before, but now that is off the charts. I am in awe at your level of organisation and dedication. To someone as disorganised and random as me that is like voodoo!
Thanks once more.
The following bands have been added to Metal Academy from the 4th and the 7th of August, 2026.
1. Conjurer x Palm Reader (FALLEN)
2. Pyraweed (FALLEN)
3. Stone Ship (FALLEN, INFINITE) - requested by Sonny
4. Talsur (FALLEN) - requested by Sonny
5. Temple of Nothing (FALLEN) - requested by Sonny
6. Thema Eleven (FALLEN)
7. Doctor Midnight and the Mercy Cult (GATEWAY)
8. Narco (GATEWAY)
9. NMSO4 (GATEWAY)
10. Outline in Color (GATEWAY, REVOLUTION)
11. Fighter (GUARDIANS)
12. Hero for the World, A (GUARDIANS)
13. Hu, The (GUARDIANS, NORTH)
14. Six Feet Under (SWE) (GUARDIANS)
15. Six Point Six (GUARDIANS)
16. Tankwart (GUARDIANS)
17. Angel Splitter (HORDE)
18. Applaud the Impaler (HORDE, REVOLUTION)
19. Carbon Tomb (HORDE)
20. Casket Huffer (HORDE, NORTH)
21. Divulsive (HORDE)
22. Gravehammer (HORDE) - requested by Sonny
23. Guttural Disease (HORDE)
24. Incestuous Impregnation (HORDE)
25. Infestuous (HORDE)
26. Massacre of the Umbilical Cord (HORDE, REVOLUTION)
27. Rogga Johansson (HORDE)
28. Sphere (NOR) (HORDE, INFINITE, SPHERE)
29. Thrown to the Sun (HORDE)
30. Wiggavisceration / Infectious Jelqing (HORDE)
31. Hunt the Dinosaur (INFINITE, REVOLUTION)
32. Ancient Wargod (NORTH)
33. Blood Red Fog / Cosmic Church (NORTH)
34. Erbeet Azhak (NORTH)
35. Infinity (NORTH) - requested by LeGuru
36. Israthoum (NORTH) - requested by Sonny
37. Nihilism (NORTH)
38. Ravenzang (NORTH)
39. Thanatonaut (NORTH)
40. Warlock Corpse (NORTH)
41. Slapdash (PIT)
42. Absinthe (REVOLUTION)
43. Arrastrandose (REVOLUTION)
44. Cady (REVOLUTION)
45. Deadheaven (REVOLUTION, SPHERE) - requested by Andi
46. Lost Not Found (REVOLUTION)
47. Oresteia (REVOLUTION)
48. Sever the Fallen (REVOLUTION)