Feature releases
Would you put me on rotation for The Fallen clan please Andi?
Sure, Vinny. Here's the updated roster for March, with your name added to The Fallen for April:
THE FALLEN: SONNY, Vinny
THE GATEWAY: SAXY, Andi
THE GUARDIANS: XEPHYR, Karl
THE HORDE: SONNY, Karl, Vinny
THE INFINITE: ANDI, Xephyr, Saxy
THE NORTH: XEPHYR, Sonny, Karl
THE PIT: VINNY, Sonny
THE REVOLUTION: ANDI
THE SPHERE: ANDI
Would you put me on rotation for The Fallen clan please Andi?
Nice one, Vinny. It felt a bit awkward being the only one putting forward feature releases.
Update due to me having to nominate a last-minute Infinite feature release in Saxy's place (I also swapped Saxy and Xephyr's places in The Infinite for March and April to make March a little more fair, if that's OK):
THE FALLEN: SONNY, Vinny
THE GATEWAY: SAXY, Andi
THE GUARDIANS: XEPHYR, Karl
THE HORDE: SONNY, Karl, Vinny
THE INFINITE: SAXY, Xephyr, Andi
THE NORTH: XEPHYR, Sonny, Karl
THE PIT: VINNY, Sonny
THE REVOLUTION: ANDI
THE SPHERE: ANDI
REMINDER: Please submit your feature releases to Ben before the end of the month and have your feature releases' threads ready to be posted in the first one or two days of next month. I can't always do these last-minute nominations and Ben isn't able to chase you down. So if you miss the deadline, you'll lose your slot.
THE GATEWAY: Northlane - Mirror's Edge (2024) 4.5/5
THE INFINITE: Meshuggah - Catch Thirtythree (2005) 5/5
THE REVOLUTION: Converge - Petitioning the Empty Sky (1996) 4.5/5
THE SPHERE: Corrections House - Last City Zero (2013) 4/5
Although all of the feature releases for my clans were nominated by me (including one that I had to nominate in Saxy's place) and the only ones I've chosen to check out, they're all quite amazing and I would recommend them to fans of their respective genres. Keep up the good work on the feature releases, all! And please remember to submit them to Ben on time.
Update for April:
THE FALLEN: VINNY, Sonny
THE GATEWAY: ANDI, Saxy
THE GUARDIANS: KARL, Xephyr
THE HORDE: KARL, Vinny, Sonny
THE INFINITE: XEPHYR, Andi, Saxy
THE NORTH: SONNY, Karl, Xephyr
THE PIT: SONNY, Vinny
THE REVOLUTION: ANDI
THE SPHERE: ANDI
Update due to Xephyr stepping down from major activity in MA (including feature releases and the Guardians playlist) to focus on his work and personal life (I also swapped mine and Saxy's places in The Infinite for April and May to make April a little more fair):
THE FALLEN: VINNY, Sonny
THE GATEWAY: ANDI, Saxy
THE GUARDIANS: KARL
THE HORDE: KARL, Vinny, Sonny
THE INFINITE: SAXY, Andi
THE NORTH: SONNY, Karl
THE PIT: SONNY, Vinny
THE REVOLUTION: ANDI
THE SPHERE: ANDI
THE GATEWAY: Lacuna Coil - Karmacode (2006) 3/5
THE GUARDIANS: Trail of Tears - Winds of Disdain (2024) 5/5
THE INFINITE: Persefone - Aathma (2017) 4.5/5
THE NORTH: Stormlord - At the Gates of Utopia (2001) 4.5/5
THE REVOLUTION: Shadow of Intent - Melancholy (2019) 5/5
THE SPHERE: Neurotech - Ave Neptune (2023) 4.5/5
This month has been a wild ride through all of the feature releases for my clans, plus two feature releases outside my clans that had to be nominated by me due to Xephyr's departure from major activity in the site. They're all quite awesome except for The Gateway feature release that didn't hit me as well as it once did when I first heard it 10 years ago. Still I would recommend them all to fans of their respective genres. Keep up the good work on the feature releases, all!
Update for May (I also swapped Sonny and Vinny's places in The Pit for May and June to make June a little more fair, if that's OK):
THE FALLEN: SONNY, Vinny
THE GATEWAY: SAXY, Andi
THE GUARDIANS: KARL
THE HORDE: VINNY, Sonny, Karl
THE INFINITE: ANDI, Saxy
THE NORTH: KARL, Sonny
THE PIT: SONNY, Vinny
THE REVOLUTION: ANDI
THE SPHERE: ANDI
I thought about what Karl said about not having engaged with The Guardians enough to nominate feature releases for the clan monthly, and I decided to work out a nice compromise. Since I've been well-experienced with many different heavy/power metal bands and releases for over a decade, despite not being in The Guardians clan at the moment or listening as much of that now as back then, I'm going to put myself on rotation for The Guardians clan for the time being, until we can find some more Guardians members up to submitting feature releases and taking over the monthly playlist. Karl, Ben, you two please let me know if what I'm proposing here is OK. So here's the new update for May:
THE FALLEN: SONNY, Vinny
THE GATEWAY: SAXY, Andi
THE GUARDIANS: ANDI, Karl
THE HORDE: VINNY, Sonny, Karl
THE INFINITE: ANDI, Saxy
THE NORTH: KARL, Sonny
THE PIT: SONNY, Vinny
THE REVOLUTION: ANDI
THE SPHERE: ANDI
Hey Andi, if no one else objects then I wouldn't mind chipping in with a nomination or two. Although not a Guardians member, I have almost 500 Guardians releases rated (as well as nearly 50 years listening to it, so I reckon I know a little bit about it. If people would rather I didn't then that is OK too.
Thanks Andi, that is very much appreciated (as well as your governance over The Guardians playlist - rest assured that even if my input isn't as high as I would like due to life constraints, I will very happily listen to the tracklists you prepare for us). Let us hope we'll hear from another Guardians Academy member soon, as I feel 3-5 members on the roster would be the sweet spot to keep things fresh & interesting.
Edit: Yeah, would be great to have Sonny on board!
OK, welcome on board, Sonny!
THE FALLEN: SONNY, Vinny
THE GATEWAY: SAXY, Andi
THE GUARDIANS: SONNY, Karl, Andi
THE HORDE: VINNY, Sonny, Karl
THE INFINITE: ANDI, Saxy
THE NORTH: KARL, Sonny
THE PIT: SONNY, Vinny
THE REVOLUTION: ANDI
THE SPHERE: ANDI
Thanks Andi.
Andi, can you add me on the roster for The North too please?
Sure, Vinny. Here's the updated roster for May, with your name added to The North for June (and swapping yours and Sonny's places in The Pit back to where they were before the original update for May, so sorry about the confusion):
THE FALLEN: SONNY, Vinny
THE GATEWAY: SAXY, Andi
THE GUARDIANS: SONNY, Karl, Andi
THE HORDE: VINNY, Sonny, Karl
THE INFINITE: ANDI, Saxy
THE NORTH: KARL, Vinny, Sonny
THE PIT: VINNY, Sonny
THE REVOLUTION: ANDI
THE SPHERE: ANDI