Vinny's Forum Replies

As you all might know, I’m really trying to focus on developing a heavier modern taste in metal (metalcore, modern progressive metal, alternative metal recently, etc.), but some of you really like the epic power metal taste I used to have and have motivated me to revive it with more bands. I appreciate the sentiment, but my passion for power metal isn’t strong as it was at least 5 years ago and I want my modern side to be more dominant. Nevertheless, I find myself still listening to and enjoying some bands a lot, so it wouldn’t make sense to move away from it all during that strong point. So, here’s a good compromise: My time in heavy/power metal and The Guardians will continue, but I’ll get rid of some bands that are still in my playlist in the present and bands that used to be in the past because I truly haven’t listened to those bands as much as I wanted to in 6+ months since discovery (other than one or two reviews and track submissions for the monthly Spotify playlists), and in some cases, copyright issues when sharing those songs on YouTube. Not only that, it’s also to make space for more bands in the future. Anyway, here are the bands I will move away from next week:

Riot, Running Wild, Virgin Steele, Crimson Glory, Slough Feg, Lost Horizon, Bruce Dickinson, X Japan

There are also two more bands of a different genre I plan to move away from, but it would be a stunning surprise for you all if I say what those two bands are so soon, so maybe a day before my departure from listening to those other bands. Now, here are some more bands I will move away from next week, from my earlier epic metal taste:

Sabaton, Stratovarius, Alestorm, Edguy, Gloryhammer, Twilight Force, Elvenking, Edenbridge

Also, a few albums I reviewed from bands I don't listen to that was just part of a challenge will be gone as well. Don’t worry, like I said, I’m still staying in heavy/power metal and there will be more bands and activities related to The Guardians (including reviews, playlist track submissions, feature releases, etc.) in the future, but I’m just moving away from bands I’m not into anymore, effective next week, March 1. Farewell soon to those bands...

PS: I'm making a Spotify playlist of tracks from those bands and I will add in the link when it's ready.

PPS: I'm also stopping my 2-week break from The Revolution early, and a thread I'll post later will confirm that.

Can I ask you a question please Andi?

You seem to "plan" your listening habits a lot.  I am a person who has realised over time that the level of planning of my listening habits I had done of old actually led to me not enjoying music as much as I do when I just organically shift - "go with the flow" so to speak.  I might be reading your (multiple) declaration posts about leaving bands/genres behind and I am not trying to poke controversy but do you genuinely still enjoy any of the bands/genres that you are leaving behind?  If so, why leave them behind consciously?  Is the door open to you returning to them in the future?

So for example you say you want to "focus" on the more heavier side of metal.  Is there something that has led you to this or are you forcing a change? 

At the third attempt, my partner of some 15 years and I will be getting married in October.  I proposed back in 2019 in New York and we have had to move dates twice already because of COVID.  This is going to be my second marriage and her first with both of us well into our forties.  This means that I am currently spending most weekends at Wedding Fayres listening to sales people sell me things - as a sales person myself, this really is hard to digest for me, but needs must - as we try and get prepared ahead of October (providing Putin doesn't kill us all by then of course).  Today's fayre attendance saw me hire two casino tables and croupiers for the evening (no real money being used of course with there being kids around).  There's only two things left for me to sort, my suits and my stag do.  Nice and simple.

A weekend in Edinburgh should cover the stag do.  I am not letting my best man sort it because - good mate though he is - he is useless at life in general.  Can also see the suit fitting day ending up in a pub crawl around Liverpool - well would be rude not to, right?

I am no longer a number... I'm a free man!

So that's it, my last day of work completed and now I can get on with the rest of my life.

I'm free, free I tell you!!

Good man.  Been thinking a lot about how I could retire early via making some moves in investments but then we had a nuclear cock comparison contest and the world went to shit thanks to some maniac with a God complex and suddenly it feels the wrong time.

Ben, can you please add Ravager from Germany?

I have just been putting some tracks together for the March Fallen playlist and realised that this will be my fifth playlist now and I don't really have any idea how they are being received. I would like to be putting together playlists that A) do The Fallen justice and B) make people want to listen to them. To this end, I wonder if any of you who have listened to any of the four previous Fallen playlists could do me a bit of a solid and let me know if you have any thoughts. I would be particularly interested to know if you think that the genres covered are a good representation of the clan and if each of the eras are covered well enough. Also are the tracks too obscure, too popular or is there a decent ratio of familiar and unknown? Are there too many recent releases or not enough? As there are quite a lot of genres under the Fallen umbrella and it spans a lot of years it is difficult to know if the mix is right and actually compiling the lists makes it hard to look at them critically. I don't want to just produce lists I like myself, but I would like them to be a good advert for the site and for my favourite clan and be of some interest to fans other than myself, so if you could help I would appreciate it. Please be as honest as you can as I just want to improve the playlists and any feedback, negative as well as positive, is good. Anyway, cheers in advance.

I do not listen to the playlist Sonny out of a combination of this not being my preferred clan and also just out of sheer lack of time each month.  Logically, I should listen to this ahead of straying into the Revolution or Sphere playlists as I sometimes do.

Hi Ben, I thought we had it in this thread about the time it takes to get to the home screen to login but I can't see it now.  If I go for the home page of the site it takes a shade over 20 seconds to load, then I input my login details and that's approx another 10 or 15 seconds before I am logged in.  All in all it takes nearly 35 seconds to access and log into the Metal Academy - that's a long time in this age of immediacy.  I would say that it could be one the reasons for the low uptake on the site.  I mean we all know it is worth the wait but not everyone else has that insider knowledge.

To get around this I usually access the Forums page and that is virtually instant in coming up as it avoids the home page and everything that loads up with it.  If I want to check out the latest reviews are recently added bands though I still have to go to the homepage.

Any plans to improve this performance issue this year?

Having read the reviews of this to date I find myself in the bizarre scenario where I am defending what is deemed to be a power metal album. Perhaps the least power metal favouring member of The Guardians is the one left with only good things to say about Hammer King’s fourth full-length. Joking aside, this distinction is important. I have no vast armoury of power metal albums to be drawing comparison to, no years of listening to the likes of Hammerfall, Rhapsody etc to have to feel any sense of (over) familiarity. Plus, I do not think this is a pure power metal album either.

I have already made my feelings clear on the usual lack of power in most power metal. As such, if I find an album labelled as thus that has some ‘oomph’ behind it then it is more than halfway there to a positive response. Hammer King have that ‘oomph’ to them and what I get on the album is hi-octane metal with just enough cheese to remind me that this is a power metal influenced album. If I gave a shit about classification/sub-genres/boxes/pigeon-holes I would say this is more heavy metal than power metal.

Now, clearly it is not perfect (the rating is not a five as you can see) but to be honest, I don’t care. I cannot wax lyrical about the album. In simple terms, it is fast, it is heavy and it is memorable and that is enough. There would not be any Grammy nominations for song writing; no masterclasses in performance are delivered here folks. As the album artwork suggests, the album is here to just look impressive and then go home, which is exactly what happens.

Nobody is exceptional on their instrument. Everyone just turns up and puts a solid shift in and a result I do not have to decipher anything or focus on some story I am being told. Instead, I can just nod along appreciatively and then get on with my day with a positive mentality. Hammer King feels good and sometimes that is all that counts. Choruses ring around my head for hours after listening to it and the teenager in me can look at the album artwork all day long.

3.5/5

Let me start off by noting there is promise here. That promise is not fully recognised though. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, although they complement the intense riffing and drumming, I do not find much about the vocals that pleases me. Adopting a throaty gruffness that lacks any of the shrieking tendencies of a Joey Belladonna, whilst being a good bedfellow for the music, makes for a largely flat outing over ten tracks (two of the twelve on the album are instrumentals) and the album for me is rescued by the excellent guitar riffing and lead work. The drumming acts as a solid constant backdrop to the album. Whilst not technically outstanding, it is memorable for its consistency if nothing else.

Secondly, the elements of variation (including those pointless death metal growls) are not frequent enough to make the album all that interesting. The groovy riff to Torn Between Two Worlds is soon lost in the all too familiar intensity of the main thrash sound of the album and as such the album never fully explores these nuances in sound beyond more than fleeting dashes of difference. In some ways it is its own worst enemy for trying to stay so true to what it sets out to do.

A younger me might gloss over this and simply admire the record for its doggedness and determination. The fact is though that I just find this album as being more of a lost opportunity and one that just never truly embraces its own potential. Nothing sticks with me much barring the piano instrumental that closes proceedings which I am nearly sure is not what Allegiance intended.

3.5/5

Not anywhere near familiar enough with deathcore to even rate this let alone review it.  Having read Daniel and Saxy's comments above I can see how this can be viewed as generic, in fact I find it devoid of much life full stop in all honesty.  The opening track sets out the stall for most of what follows and whilst I do not enjoy it as such I can see how people would find comfort and safety from this album.  The groovy breakdowns add memorability and predictability in equal amounts.

I do not think I can go as far as to say that I am entertained for the most part - again I am not a frequent visitor to deathcore to be able to say that I look to it for pretty much anything - but my curiosity has hardly left me repulsed either, just a bit bored.

I am afraid we went too power metal here again for my tastes.  I am not even happy with my own choices this month on reflection, although I note my Helstar choice got swapped out for something else?

Sorry Andi, but that Dragonforce track is awful.  I mean the original is contrived enough but they somehow manage to heap more cheese on it.

Absolute winner putting that Judas Priest track in though, and Pagan Altar are always a great choice.

Hi Ben,

Can you please add the latest release by Schizophrenia - "Recollections of the Insane"?

I am throwing in for March:

Cryptic Shift - "Planetary Hypnosis" (from "Visitations from Enceladus", 2020) 05:30

Voivod - "Tornado" (from "Killing Technology", 1987) 06:03

Sacrifizer - "Blackfire Wytch" (from "La Morte Triomphante", 2019) 02:47

Midnight - "Szex Witchery" (from "Let There Be Witchery", 2022) 04:00

Schizophrenia - "Inside the Walls of Madness" (from "Recollections of the Insane", 2022) 04:39

Kreator - "Hate Uber Alles" (from "Hate Uber Alles", 2022) 03:49

Austrian Death Machine - "Get to the Choppa" (from "Total Brutal", 2008) 02:47

Total time = 29:35

Hi Ben, apologies if I've missed it, but do you have any suggestions for the March playlist as I have started knocking it together and would like to complete it at the weekend.

Likewise for yourself Sonny for The Pit.

Chevelle - "Niratias" (2021)

Listening to the Chevelle featured record this month got me curious as to whether anything else holds interest with me in their discography.  Been playing this for a couple of days as a result of my exploration.  Too early for a rating even let alone a rare Gateway clan review from me, but certainly enjoying more than the featured album.

March =

Author & Punisher - "Incinerator" (from "Krüller", 2022)

So, I've finally decided to get out of the rat race. Been giving it a lot of thought for a while now and then I got into a blazing row with my boss on Wednesday and thought "Fuck it, I've had enough of this shit" and put my notice in today. Gonna give early retirement a chance and see how it goes. Looking forward to it now!

Good luck with that.  Think how many albums you can listen to and review now!

I find this to be completely inoffensive overall yet an incredibly front-loaded album.  By the time track five rolls around i have heard the repertoire of Chevelle end to end I feel.  Not a band i can say i am familiar with but also one that i feel I know well enough due to the already mentioned similarities to Tool and Deftones.  I get some of that blunt Helmet riffage also.  As I say the first five tracks are more than sufficient for me (with the possible exception of the overtly whiny Send the Pain Below which I can easily do without).

3/5

Think Marduk, Gorgoroth or even 1349 and you are about as bang on as you can get with understanding the sound of Endstille. This does not mean that the album is one dimensional and just all about the face-peeling velocity of proceedings. There is variety here folks but I sense that if you listen to conventional bm then you do not necessarily search for minutiae in your music and Endstille spare you the bother of having to contend with wild variations on a well established theme. Bits of black 'n' roll appear here and there - Bloody H (The Hurt-Gene) - but we get our fair share of ritualistic depravity on the likes of The Deepest Place On Earth which is where those 1349 and Gorgoroth comparisons really start to take root.

The only real surprise here is the inclusion of a ten minute + closing track which seems to go against the grain of the whole album in terms of structure. Its repetition and refusal to give respite adds a new level of grimness to the record overall and although I do not think it fits all that well it by no means ruins anything. Taken as a whole record there is not a lot to dislike in reality; it does the basics well - if not to death on occasion. It is not a remarkable release by any means though. It sticks to a formula and allows for slight diversions away from that blueprint to keep things interesting, but it never reaches any real climaxes or crescendos to deliver any real standout points. As entertaining as it is, it is hard for me to place the marks any higher than this in reality.

3.5/5

Yeah, the nostalgic edge to Nekromantheon's sound harks back to Morbid Saint, Dark Angel, (early) Slayer and there is also a hint of Possessed also.  It is an album that makes no apologies for wearing it's influences on its sleeves.  Cryptosis deserve some credit for essentially reinventing themselves (not technically a debut Xeph, they have been around since 2013 as Distillator - a much less progressive guise) and nailing it first time.  

March =

Onirik - "Melodies of Reflection and Praise" (from "The Fire Cult Beyond Eternity", 2020) 07:31

Ninkharsag - "The Necromanteion"  (from "The Dread March of Solemn Gods", 2021) 05:09

Sargeist - "Black Fucking Murder" (from "Satanic Black Devotion", 2003) 06:04

Mütiilation - "Under Ardailles Night" (from "Vampires of Black Imperial Blood", 1995) 04:23

Run time = 23:07

I have only just realised that it is limited to 20 mins so please drop Mütiilation of my list.  Apologies.

My takes from this list are, Mystras, Funeral Mist (know them but not heard much recent output from them), Nameless Mist and Wiegedood who I also know but I am used to them sounding more aggressive than that frankly weird sounding track of undulating tremolos.

Didn't mind that Funeral Mist, at the same time I wasn't instantly blown away by it either.

In being a lazy bastard tonight I could not be bothered getting up off my fat arse to put the CD in the player over the other side of the room and so I listened to the digital remastered version online and they have absolutely killed all life in this version.  The guitars sound horrible and the whole tempo seems to have been made jangly.  Awful!  Why do they do this with perfectly fine records?  Just reissue the original for goodness sake.

I own this on CD and have hammered the track Face of Melinda about a million times.  A couple of my non-resident clans are throwing up some interesting feature releases this month, will pull together some thoughts on this at some point.

I always forget that I have a penchant for funeral doom every now and again.  I really do have to be in the mood for it though and when I discovered Bell Witch one week when I was working away and living in a hotel it really struck a chord with me, hence it seems to be a genre that only really appeals in a certain mindset or scenario.  I have heard this release before but it was some years ago and was also just a singular listen so my first re-spin this week still feels like I am coming to this new.  May even stretch myself to a rare Fallen review later this month after a few more listens.

Not feeling as much of the heavy/power metal vibe as much as I used to, so these submissions might be my last for now. Will explain more about it later.

It's interesting to hear you say that Andi because your ratings don't reflect that at all. In fact they indicate the exact opposite. If we look at all of your The Guardians related ratings since October 2021 they average a score of 4.54/5 across 14 releases which is a phenomenally high result. There wouldn't be another member that could compete with that across any clan actually. I don't mean to overstep my welcome but do you think that your tendency to commit to rating/reviewing every release in a band's back catalogue is contributing to your drop in enthusiasm given the large commitment that takes? I would think it would certainly make it a challenge to come up with fresh playlist ideas. I know when I've been too scripted about my listening habits I've started to feel boxed in & the best thing to do has been to just listen to whatever the hell I feel like for a while & all of a sudden music just seems a whole bunch more fun again. Variety is the spice of life after all. Feel free to tell me fuck right off though of course. Sometimes I well & truly disserve it. 

I echo the 'boxed in' sentiment and I have certainly felt like this in recent months to the point where I no longer plan any listening.  Yes, I will run through the features here but I am learning to live a little better with silence so far this year.  I can drive somewhere in silence if I want, I do not have to have music on in my office / lair every time I go in there.  I have been at this for over 30 years and so burnout is inevitable.

This is unfortunately a little lost on me.  I won't pretend to be big on my knowledge of progressive death metal (even though in this scenario I would perhaps argue there is more to Throes of Absolution than simply either of those two tags) but I find this album shares a lot of the challenges I have with the sub-genre.  I kind of know what to expect here and whilst I do not know the order of proceedings to class the record as being predictable, it does do exactly what I expect it to overall.  The combined power of the elements, whilst strong in terms of immediate impact, fail to set down any roots for me.  Whilst I absolutely get that it is supposed to shift and morph and that the synergy of parts is not destined to deliver obvious structures, it just sounds blunt in the main.  It sounds like the true bite of death metal gets sacrificed for the progressive elements.

There is no denying the power of those leads though.  Rich and melodious to the point of being a real indulgence, they are by far the most memorable and positive experience I take away from the album.  The core elements of the older sounds of the band are still obvious and whilst I don't mind this, at the same time I feel parts are isolated too much for a record that is made with a clear sense of bringing influences together.  Vocally it is derivative and it just pushes too far away from my death metal comfort zone for me to really enjoy.

3/5

Don't lie Ben. You know perfectly well that we did it the same way as all the other major metal sites by awarding the win to the highest bidders & the bands that send us the most free shit & share the most of their blow.

Said Daniel, typing in his Epica kimono and slippers set.

March = 

Ancient Empire - "Wings of the Fallen" (from "Wings of the Fallen", 2019) 05:30

Helstar - "Burning Star" (from "Burning Star", 1984) 03:48

Morgul Blade - "In The Grip of the Dark Lord" (from "Fell Sorcery Abounds", 2021) 05:38

Sölicitör - "Terminal Force" (from "Spectral Devastation", 2020) 04:24

Skull Fist -  "Bad for Good" (from "Chasing the Dream", 2014) 04:26

The Night Eternal - "Elysion (Take Me Over)" (from "Moonlit Cross", 2021) 05:14

Run Time = 29:00

March =

Onirik - "Melodies of Reflection and Praise" (from "The Fire Cult Beyond Eternity", 2020) 07:31

Ninkharsag - "The Necromanteion"  (from "The Dread March of Solemn Gods", 2021) 05:09

Sargeist - "Black Fucking Murder" (from "Satanic Black Devotion", 2003) 06:04

Mütiilation - "Under Ardailles Night" (from "Vampires of Black Imperial Blood", 1995) 04:23

Run time = 23:07

March =

Angelcorpse - "Wolflust" (from "The inexorable", 1999) 04:46

Deicide -  "Lunatic of God's Creation" (from "Deicide", 1990) 02:40

Begravement -  "Valley of Everlasting Darkness" (from "The Anaphylaxis Demo",  2022) 06:55

200 Stab Wounds - "Paths to Carnage" (from "Slave to the Scalpel", 2021) 02:31

Malignant Altar - "Rite of Krasue" (from "Realms of Exquisite Morbidity", 2021) 06:05

Atrae Bilis - "Bacterium Abloom" (from "Apexapien", 2021) 04:51

Run time = 27:48

February 2022

01. Hexx – “Morbid Reality” (from “Morbid Reality”, 1991)

02. Destruction – “Diabolical” (from “Diabolical”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

03. Overkill – “Necroshine” (from “Necroshine”, 1999)

04. Coroner – “Reborn Through Hate” (from “R.I.P.”, 1987) [Submitted by Sonny]

05. Dust Bolt – “Mass Confusion” (from “Mass Confusion”, 2016) [Submitted by Vinny]

06. Dark Angel – “The Death of Innocence” (from “Leave Scars”, 1989) [Submitted by Daniel]

07. Condor – “Riders of Violence” (from “Unstoppable Power”, 2017) [Submitted by Daniel]

08. Vomit Division – “Demons Come Back” (from “Hell in A Bottle”, 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]

09. Aggressive Perfector – “Vengeful One” (from “Havoc at The Midnight Hour”, 2019) [Submitted by Sonny]

10. Exciter – “Long Live the Loud” (from “Long Live the Loud”, 1985) [Submitted by Daniel]

11. Iced Earth – “Pure Evil” (from “Night of the Stormrider”, 1991) [Submitted by Sonny]

12. Tankard – “Alien” (from “The Morning After / Alien”, 2005)

13. Destructor – “Maximum Destruction” (from “Maximum Destruction”, 1985) [Submitted by Daniel]

14. Vio-lence – “Flesh from Bone” (from “Let the World Burn”, 2022)

15. Agnostic Front – “Outrage” (from “Warriors”, 2007)

16. Steel Bearing Hand – “Command of the Infernal Exarch” (from “Slay in Hell”, 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]

17. Hallows Eve – “Plunging into Megadeath” (from “Tales of Terror”, 1985) [Submitted by Daniel]

18. Sadistik Exekution – “Cautness Darling Blood” (from “The Magus”, 1991) [Submitted by Sonny]

19. Voivod – “Overreaction” (from “Killing Technology”, 1987) [Submitted by Vinny]

20. English Dogs – “Ordeal By Fire” (from “Forward Into Battle”, 1985) [Submitted by Daniel]

21. Iron Reagan – “Grim Business” (from “Crossover Ministry”, 2017) [Submitted by Vinny]

22. Hostility – “Spine” (from “Brick”, 1995)

23. Megadeth – “Hangar 18” (from “Rust in Peace”, 1990) [Submitted by Vinny]

24. Slayer – “Kill Again” (from “Hell Awaits”, 1985) [Submitted by Sonny]

25. Razor – “Taste the Floor” (from “Violent Restitution”, 1988)

26. Exodus – “The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves)” (from “Persona Non Grata”, 2021) [Submitted by Sonny]

27. Proscriptor McGovern’s Absu – “Amenta: Accelerando: Azyn Including Hierophantasmal Expounder” (from “Proscriptor McGovern’s Absu”, 2021)

28. Mucky Pup – “Nazichizm” (from “Can’t You Take a Joke”, 1989)

29. Dagoba – “The Last Crossing” (from “The Last Crossing”, 2022)

Hi Ben,

Can you please add the following:

Sonic Assault (Sweden) 'Neon Lit Metropolis' (2022)

Inhuman Nature (England)

Extinction AD (New York, US)

Nekromantheon is the clear winner for me, as good as Enforced and Cryptosis were last year it is Nekromantheon who edge it.  Didn't get the hype around Steel Bearing Hand in all honesty and haven't heard Evil in fairness.  Might get round to it at the weekend.

Altarage's "Succumb" (I assume that's what you were referring to Vinny) was my AOTY too until this morning when the Fange record saw me changing my tune late in the game.

Correct.  Raging toothache at present so heavily dosed on ibuprofen  and not typing to my best.

It is absolutely “imperative” that you get on this one with great urgency Vinny. It’ll be right up your alley.

Less dissonant than the Ulcerate brand of auditory evolution that came from them last year and also not as immediate a connection as I find with Gorgut's output. If anything a bit too avant-garde and jazzy for me on first listen. Polypolyphony and polypolyrhythms probably sums it up best at this stage and certainly needs revisits before I cast final judgement.

Gotta applaud the effort though and the minute levels of detail are obvious but don't always compute, even in the off-kilter sense that they are intended. In a way it almost needs more promise of balance in order for it to completely hold my attention but I am still falling through it at present and will need more listens to find things to latch on to and help me enjoy it from within as opposed to this current fleeting journey sensation it leaves me with.

In terms of the other releases mentioned here.  I quickly lost interest in ATVM after initial repeated listens and got next to nothing from that Suffering Hour release.  Archspire sort of interest me initially in terms of that fucking ridiculous vocal delivery but then I soon find it becomes tiresome as if they are just a novelty.  Having heard First Fragment on the playlist this month and already deciding that they need to calm the fuck down, I am unwilling to subject myself to the whole album.

Albums that deserve recognition:

Defacement - s/t - such a well controlled album in terms of a slow increase of tautness and anxiety as the album grows 4.5/5

Malignant Altar - Realm of Exquisite Morbidity - a late entry but a deserving one that shows such awareness and consistency to boot. 5/5

Cerebral Rot - Excretion of Mortality - an album with some truly unfathomable depths to try and excavate in order to fully appreciate.  Butt-fuck-Autopsy ugly at times in terms of delivery yet also expansive as Demilich dare get at the same time. 4.5/5 

Altarage - Succumb - frankly the album of the year.  Just an absolute experience from start to finish, charting a horrific yet very measured voyage through squal-infested death metal whilst building to earth-shattering explosions of chaos.  Only works in one complete sitting. No half-arsed listening rewarded. 5/5

I spend far too much time rating album covers on here.  At last count I was over 7,500 rates as gotten into the habit of visiting the Anniversaries section each day and rating the artwork for each record.  Would like to think I have 2021 covered in that number.

EDIT - balls, just ran with the filter and 6 pages worth of unrated covers.  Bye bye any possibility of productivity at work on Monday.

Malignant Altar are already familiar to me with their second demo from 2019 already adorning my music library. I recall picking them up around the time that Maggot Stomp started to make waves in the underground, with MA being one of the many OSDM bands that inhabited that filthy roster of theirs.

Retaining the same line up as the first two demo sees the band able to build on the promise of the more crawling and cavernous death metal nicely. This sounds like a band who have played together for a while; showcased nicely on the flowing opening to Usurping the Pantheon Crown which feels tight. The track itself then shifts through various stages of nefarious death metal, replete with some Morbid Angel-like sonics thrown in casually like Trey Azagthoth just did a drive-by sonic shooting through the studio almost randomly as they recorded the track.

With comparisons with the style of Azagthoth and co almost inevitable, it is only fair to point out that there is more to the Malignant Altar palette than just some benign old school worship. You will get hits of Cianide, Incantation, Dead Congregation as well as more modern references like Tomb Mold and Cerebral Rot thrown into the mix. As such Malignant Altar are a band who seem to know very much where they sit in the death metal spectrum; able to nod to their influences and their peers alike in a very assured acknowledgement of their surroundings.

The ghastly vocals of Wilson P are reminiscent of Craig Pillard and are the perfect accompaniment to those huge riffs. These gargantuan slabs of death metal riffing are underpinned by an agonising melodic wail at times (Ceremonial Decapitator) that coat proceeding in a desperate atmosphere of anxiety and hopelessness. I do not really care that the album does not change that much in terms of its formula, I find there are enough subtle nuances from track to track that I pick up on with repeated listens to keep me entertained and coming back for more. In some regards, its appeal is not always as obvious as I first thought, and it is one of those records that rewards with repeated listens.

Realms of Exquisite Morbidity is a fantastic celebration of death metal that commemorates what has come before it whilst saluting the modern scene also. No fucking frills death metal is alive and well and living in Houston, Texas.

4.5/5

Ad Nauseam - "Imperative Imperceptible Impulse" (2021)

Every so often you'll discover a release that not only tries for an original sound but attempts to completely rewrite the book on what music is even trying to be & that's what we have hear. Every reviewer that I've seen give a negative or indifferent account of "Imperative Imperceptible Impulse" has tried in vain to make logical sense of it but if you try to do that you will fail dismally. The chaos & lack of traditional structure is the whole point. It's intended as a whirlwind of complex atonality & is meant to take the listener well outside of their comfort zone. If that's what you look for in music then welcome to an enthralling ride. If it's not then I'd suggest getting off the train immediately. Fans of Gorguts & Ulcerate will already be well versed in the art of dissonant tech death & this record isn't all that different to them on the surface but it's a superbly executed example of the style to be fair. I find it nothing short of mind-blowing that a band can sound like two dozen aluminum garbage bins rolling out of control down the steepest hill in town & still give the impression of being completely in control. The drum sound is spectacularly powerful & highlights a stunning performance to hold everything together. At the end of each listen I'm left wondering if what I've just listened to even qualifies as music but I've loved every second of it. I mean this might be what metal music will sound like in a hundred years time once we've exhausted all of our traditional subgenres & are left reaching further & further afield for creative inspiration. It's so impressive that it's been released in the current day & I have nothing but respect for the musicians involved. I can't even fathom how you would write this kinda stuff as it's just too out there. Amazing!

4.5/5

I missed this entirely last year and I have no idea why.  On my "catch up eventually" list.  Although your review makes me want to bump it near the top of the pile.

...and also the 2020 release from Sölicitör "Spectral Devastation"

Thanks.

Ben, please add Sacrifizer from France (Speed metal).

Hi Ben, please could you add Tower from New York?

This months list was another fine cross-sectional representation of The Horde I thought.  Particular highlights for me were Brujeria, Pestilence, Gorement, Bloodbath, Cannibal Corpse, Nile, Dead Congregation and Devourment.

The technical stuff didn't work too well for me.  First Fragment are an excitable bunch aren't they?  Neo-Classical metal and technical death metal are two genre tags that didn't fill me with much hope but I lasted until the funky bass slapping section and then got the hell out of there.  At near 18 minutes I would need a power-nap after that.

Strongest list yet for me Xephs!  Strong trad / heavy metal vein running through this month's list I thought. The first ten songs (barring Pharaoh) all got added to my "liked" tracks.  Angel Witch, Smoulder, Saxon, Cirith Ungol and Enforcer are all great inclusions also.  I did skip most of the power/symphonic power metal tracks as they got going and had very little time for any of Angra who to me just sound whiny but I didn't mind that Rhapsody of Fire track in all honesty.  Hell, I even got on with that Christian Muenzner track.

I got a real Angel Witch vibe from The Night Eternal and this was what caught my attention to nominate them for inclusion this month.  Tower are a band seeing lots of praise at present on various blogs and sites and I am somewhat enamored with their strong female vocal delivery giving me lots of Chastain and Warlock vibes, especially with that retro sound they have got going on.

Thanks for putting together Xeph.

Whilst I accept that the focus is on output from current sub-genres being the gauge for how well metal is doing I really think the outlets for metal music - whether that is radio, streaming/download services, music shops or online stores - need to pay attention to the whole timeline to date to keep the strength of the genre overall visible.  To my ears at least, having heard shite such as Trancecore, Nintendocore and fucking cyber-grind there is no better argument for us to stop fucking around with advancement and just recognise that there are plenty of sub-genres out there already that will always have albums to discover and whole discographies to plunder.  Notwithstanding that each to their own / wouldn't do for us all to have the same taste blah, blah, blah and all the other nice things I am supposed to say.

Personally, my view of the strength of the genre in the year tends to be indicative of my own experience of everything I have discovered that year (not necessarily released that year) and that is because my experience of metal continues to grow somehow each year.  Granted, it has slowed down since the 90s when I was chasing this ever expanding universe without any hope of ever keeping up, however I will take a few miles of growth of my collection as opposed to the light years of old.

Ancient Empire - Wings of the Fallen from Wings of the Fallen (2019)

I have been playing this album a bit recently.  It is kind of how I want all my power metal to sound even though I don't think the band are aiming for that sub-genre.  This is more heavy metal in direction but has a degree of polish applied to it not unlike a power metal.  The album is a little patchy in places but overall I think it is a fair effort although after a near decade together I would expect a little more consistency. 

Nordicwinter - Sombre Winds of Despair (Part Ii) - Sorrow 2021

The melancholic guitar on this track that thrusts itself into the song is one of the highlights of an already superb album for me.

Hi Ben, please add:

Ancient Empire from San Francisco, California

Thanks

The fiancée's new car got delivered today ( a belated Xmas present from myself) and we did the purchase entirely online and it was one of the smoothest and most hassle free experiences in all my years of buying cars privately and through dealerships.  Her old car was 15 years old now and although still running it was getting to the stage were it inevitably was going to start to failing increasingly.

I have ordered a weights bench for the first time in years and that should come tomorrow, spent most of the last week cutting back on my booze intake and now am only drinking two drinks a week (currently reserved for Saturday nights) and yesterday's food delivery had a more healthy - although not yet perfect - slant to the list with more greens on there with more fruit also.  I am also now over my recent sleep problems and am back up to 7 hours minimum most nights.  Since I got in the latter half of my forties my sleep has been terrible over the past 6 months or so and the effect on me in the day has been nothing short of terrible and has severely affected my mood.  Having more water seems to be helping also.

We also upgraded our lock-up unit from a half cabinet to a full size walk-in one after my fiancée got offered to work from home more and so the spare bedroom is now her office so we needed to move some furniture out and get a desk and office chair in there.  Spent this morning sorting the lock up put and now need to figure out how I am going to get a mattress in my hatchback to get over to the lock-up tomorrow night.  Either it needs to bend or I will be tying the boot down, luckily it is only a short drive. #firstworldproblems

OK, so I get the accepted definition of Extreme Metal. So let's change the discussion then and I'll pose a different question,  just for discussion's sake. What do you personally consider to be extreme (with a small "e"). For me it's the more brutal regions of death metal with it's excessive glorification of violence and the more intense sludge/drone/doom acts like Khanate and Hell. Both of these force me out of my comfort zone with varying effect, the former pushes me into a place I don't enjoy and the latter takes me into a place where the discomfort becomes thrilling and triggers sensations unavailable elsewhere.

I don't consider many other accepted Extreme genres as extreme personally as they don't take me out of my comfort zone. My love of most black metal, old-school death metal, thrash and funeral and death doom mean that they are now so familiar to me that I feel completely at home with them so can't in truth stamp them as extreme.

I'm not trying to come across as some elitist asshole, but out of a genuine interest for the opinions of other Academy members, what do you all personally consider to be metal extremity? (There is no right or wrong answer!)

Interesting thread Sonny.  I have thought about this question a lot recently.  Personally, I don't think it is for anyone person here to define "extreme". I don't agree that it is a concept that I need to actively pursue a definition of otherwise I am just setting boundaries for myself surely? I listen to what I like and if others find that extreme then that's up to them.

Being out of my comfort zone is not something that I necessarily associate with extremity. Most popular music is outside of my comfort zone but I don't consider it extreme, just not enjoyable. Likewise, me sitting listening to Satanic Black Devotion right now is within my comfort zone but even though I have heard it many times, I never get tired of the artwork, the iconography, the waves of murky melody that are thrust at me over and over again. I don't sit here listening to it to explore being extreme, I just listen to it because I like it.

Most of what goes on in the Infinite, Sphere, Gateway and Revolution clans is well out of my comfort zone and to be honest I don't think of any of it in levels of being extreme or not.  If "extreme" is just a convenient tag then are we not just exacerbating the problem by discussing it here and having definitions in the first place?

Ritual Butcherer of Archgoat fame is interviewed in the latest issue of Zero Tolerance magazine (a mag incidentally that describes itself as being "The Extreme Music Authority") and he describes Satanism as becoming "overly complicated with different factions jealously sand-boxing their own little variants".  This kind of sums up the problem in metal I think with there always being someone or some movement thinking their version of a genre or sub-genre is more extreme than something else.  In the pursuit of extremity we just inevitably dilute the concept.

Iced Earth - "Pure Evil" (6:33) from "Night of the Stormrider" (1991) - I know this may be a controversial choice, but I think it's thrashy enough to merit inclusion, but if you don't Vinny, then it's fine if you don't feel able to include it.

Fine with this, all added Sonny.