Judgement Submissions

So, we've finally reached an outcome on "Ride The Lightning" with the vote tally finishing at YES 4 NO 8 to deny its entry into The Guardians. Thank you to everyone who participated in reaching this result.

I've passed this nomination uncontested Andi.

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

https://metal.academy/hall/512

https://metal.academy/hall/513

I've passed this nomination uncontested Andi.

The sole 1979 album from Connecticut's Legend is generally tagged as one of America's first genuine heavy metal records but I'm going to have to question that theory as I simply can't identify enough genuine metal to qualify for a primary tag. The record is much more of a progressive/hard rock release in my opinion with heavy metal & jazz fusion playing more supporting roles. For that reason, I'd like to see "Fröm the Fjörds" removed from The Guardians & added to Non-Metal.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/511

Sacred Reich's third album is generally tagged as a thrash metal record but I feel that's inaccurate with the riffs & general tone having much more in common with Machine Head than they do with Vio-lence. I'd like to see 'Independent' removed from the Thrash Metal genre & added to the Groove Metal one instead.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/510

Fear Factory's death metal credentials were a little tenuous at the best of times but their 1993 remix E.P. moves them further afield again & I feel that it's a poor fit for The Horde. Please vote YES to have it removed from The Horde so that it resides solely in The Sphere where it belongs.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/509

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/508

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/507

OH wait a minute. I crossed up two diferent concepts. The idea isn't that Sabbath isn't metal-as in hard rock that shouldn't be here that's what I had in my tortured mind. This is just about moving it from Guardians to Fallen. I dunno man. I guess I don't feel strongly about either one.

At the risk of stirring the pot, because for the life of me I can't seam not to...

Genre classifications were developed for marketing, broadcasting, radio stations, and record store reasons. They served as a rough guide to what you might be getting from an unknown artist. In an era where streaming is the most common form of music consumption what purpose do such debates really serve, or even reviews for that matter? You can read my rating and review of an album sure, but in the same amount of time you could have queued it on you platform of choice and been 5 minutes deep into actually hearing it yourself. I'm obviously not against such things as I vigorously participate in this website, but the creative and restless mind keeps me wondering if we could look at music criticism in a new light and find something more constructive and fresh to do with this passion? 

I suppose they may have started that way, but these days genres are a bit more wide-ranging than marketing.  Take film for example.  Would you ever buy a movie labeled "kitchen sink cinema?"  I mean, if I walk into a store and actually see a "blackgaze" or "doomgaze" section, I'd find it very cool that the local community has an interest enough to justify a shelf in a store, but most genre-tags now seem more like last.fm-style reference points for bands that encompass certain underground varieties, albeit without the surprisingly still-going meme of tagging Bieber as black metal.  They're useful if you want a distinct sound, even thought sometimes it gets out of hand.

As with Black Sabbath's first three classic albums, the age-old consensus that 1972's "Vol 4" is a "heavy metal" record doesn't stack up to closer scrutiny, at least not when you take into account the modern metal genre tree. If the album was released today as the debut release from a new band then I feel confident that it'd be tagged as a stoner metal record which is in line with my long-term feeling that it doesn't sit all that comfortably alongside your Judas Priests & Iron Maidens.

For the record, this is how I've tagged the album:

01. Wheels of Confusion - Heavy psych

02. Tomorrow's Dream - Stoner metal

03. Changes - Piano rock

04. FX - Experimental

05. Supernaut - Stoner rock

06. Snowblind - Stoner metal

07. Cornucopia - Stoner metal

08. Laguna Sunrise - Chamber folk

09. St. Vitus Dance - Stoner rock

10. Under The Sun - Stoner metal

As you can see, more than 50% of the tracklisting falls outside of the metal space however the stoner rock & heavy psych inclusions are also closely aligned with the stoner metal tag & there is enough genuine metal to qualify for the Academy anyway. Given that we've recently voted to have "Vol 4" added to The Fallen under the Stoner Metal genre, I'd like to see it removed from The Guardians & the Heavy Metal genre so that it resides solely in The Fallen under Stoner Metal.

https://metal.academy/hall/506

OK, thanks Daniel.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/504

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

https://metal.academy/hall/502

Yeah, I'm particularly proud of these results as it's the ultimate sign that Metal Academy are running our own race & are presenting things in the way that they really are rather than simply following the consensus. I even waited until we had the full quota of votes on these ones because I knew how controversial they may be if they were passed.

With a vote tally of YES 8 NO 0, this Hall of Judgement entry has been successful & the release has now been added to The Fallen under the Stoner Metal genre.

This Hall of Judgement entry seems to be going in only one direction with the current vote tally sitting at YES 5 NO 0 so I've decided to pass it. The release has now been changed to reflect the new position under both The Horde & The Infinite with the Progressive Metal genre having been added.

Once more I have to agree, Daniel. There are certainly death doom passages, but not really enough to justify a primary - a secondary tag absolutely, but not a primary. I must admit that when I first listened to it, I was surprised that Ben had nominated it for The Fallen as it didn't exactly scratch that Fallen itch for me, very good record that it is, though. I also recognise that my review focusses on the death doom aspect, but given my well-publicised preferences, I guess that isn't much of a surprise to long-time Academy members!

Absolutely, Daniel. I think Cathedral play very little doom metal outside the debut and Endtyme and are much more of a stoner metal band.

I totally agree with you, Daniel. Jar of Kingdom is so experimental that the avant-garde metal tag is a must! Except I still find a lot of progressiveness from the complex structures and twists enough that the progressive metal tag isn't redundant. So while I'm voting YES for this entry, I'll vote NO for your possible later entry of taking out the progressive metal tag.

The 2006 "First Daze Here Too" compilation of Pentagram's 1970's material only contains one metal track with the rest of the 22 song tracklisting sitting predominantly in the heavy psych & hard rock space. Therefore, I'd like to see it removed from The Guardians & retagged as Non-Metal.

https://metal.academy/hall/499

The 2002 "First Daze Here" compilation of Pentagram's 1970's material only contains a few metal track with the vast majority sitting more in the hard rock space so I'd like to see it removed from The Guardians & retagged as Non-Metal.

https://metal.academy/hall/498

OK, thanks Daniel.

Excellent, thanks Daniel!

I've just passed this one Andi.

I've just passed this one Andi.

I've just passed this one Andi.

I've passed this one Andi as the release now qualifies.

I've given both of the first two Painkiller releases some listening and reviews (with the third album Execution Ground to be done the same soon) as a self-challenge to explore the band's avant-garde weirdness. There is definitely a lot of the bizarre jazzy avant-garde metal going on in both albums. However, I can hear some prominent grindcore in some sections of the mid-length tracks in their debut, enough that I think it should still qualify as grindcore in half of the tracklisting. So I'll vote YES for both Guts of a Virgin and Buried Secrets to be added to The Infinite and avant-garde metal, but for those albums to be removed from The Horde and grindcore, I'll vote NO for the former and YES for the latter.

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

https://metal.academy/hall/495

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

https://metal.academy/hall/493

https://metal.academy/hall/494

Although 'Clouds' is generally touted as being a doom/death release, I’ve never agreed with that sentiment. As a death metal musician myself, I can tell you that there’s bugger-all genuine death metal on the album. Even the vocals of rhythm guitarist Johan Edlund don’t come close to anything particularly deathly, instead taking the form of an awkward hybrid of clean & growly styles. There’s not much that resembles death metal in the instrumentation either other than some sporadic up-tempo parts that seem to have been haphazardly inserted into the tracklisting at random intervals, a feature that I regard as the clear weakness of 'Clouds' as an album. On the other hand, the gothic sound that would become a permanent fixture for Tiamat releases moving forwards is already well & truly in effect & may in fact be the most prominent attribute of the album so I'd like to see 'Clouds' added to the Gothic Metal genre on top of its existing Doom Metal one. That would leave it sitting as a Gothic Doom Metal release which I feel is a much more appropriate representation of its overall sound.

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

https://metal.academy/hall/491

The 1992 sophomore album from unusual New York side project PainKiller is generally tagged as a combination of free jazz & grindcore but I would question that position. The jazz component is most certainly bizarre enough to warrant an avant-garde jazz association while the grindcore component is actually quite small given just how short those tracks are. The wider contribution would sit much more comfortably under an avant-garde metal tag as there simply isn't anything around that sounds remotely like this artist. For that reason, I'd like to see 'Buried Secrets' added to The Infinite under the Avant-Garde Metal genre. If this is successful then I'll be looking to have the album removed from The Horde & the Grindcore genre.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/490

To be honest, when I hear the vocals and breakdowns in this album, I find them more moshing than slamming and think more of Deformity and Despised Icon (Consumed by Your Poison era) rather than Suffocation, maybe even the stylistic missing link between Living Sacrifice albums Inhabit and Reborn. Plus I don't have the heart to dethrone the honor of its status as the earliest notable deathcore album. For these reasons, I'm voting NO for this entry, Daniel.

"Exhorder's underrated sophomore album 'The Law' is often overlooked due to its links to groove metal but I have to say that those statements are heavily overstated. There's really only one groove metal track included on the album (i.e. closer '(Cadence) Of The Dirge') with most of the remainder being far too fast, thrashy & aggressive to warrant a groove metal tag. I honestly feel that a lot of these links are reached for due to the fact that Pantera clearly drew their sound from Exhorder & you can easily hear that here with the vocals sounding exactly like Phil Anselmo, the guitar tone sharing certain characteristics & the groovier riffs taking on a similarly angular format. But the thrash metal model should allow for the inclusion of some groovier riffs without having to receive additional genre tagging in my opinion & there's simply not enough groove metal here to warrant it as far as I can see."

https://metal.academy/hall/489

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

https://metal.academy/hall/486

https://metal.academy/hall/487

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/485

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/484

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/483

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

https://metal.academy/hall/481

https://metal.academy/hall/482

OK, thanks Daniel.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/480

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/477

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/476

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/475

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/474

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/473

I have to admit that I don't see it personally. I'd argue that it's potentially more of a post-hardcore release than it is a metal one with post-hardcore covering the more expansive material.

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

https://metal.academy/hall/472

OK, thanks Daniel.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.