Daniel's Forum Replies

Vendetta - "Go & Live... Stay & Die" (1987)

Speed metal-infused Teutonic thrash metal with NWOBHM influences. The vocals & guitar solos aren't amazing but the rhythm guitar tone is wonderfully raw, the lengthy arrangements have been put together with an impressive attention to detail & the overall energy is universally electric so I find it very hard not enjoy this record. For fans of Deathrow, Darkness & Angel Dust.

3.5/5

Please add the American blackgaze/dsbm band Griefloss

Hhhmmm.... Griefloss, eh? The loss of grief. Sounds quite positive for a metal band. Or is it grief floss? Removing grief in a more methodical & efficient manner?

A track from the upcoming "I Am the Empire - Live From the 013" live album/DVD/Blu-Ray from US symphonic power metallers Kamelot. It's due for release on 14th August & features a performance from 14th September 2018. This particular track features guest contributions from Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy) and Elize Ryd (Amaranthe).

The new single from Emperor front-man Ihsahn entitled "Spectre At The Feast". It's taken from the Norwegian's upcoming "Pharos" E.P. which due out on 11th September.

The new single from US grindcore-turned-metalcore outfit Pig Destroyer which is take from their upcoming E.P. entitled "The Octagonal Stairway". It's due out on 28th August.

Sneak previews from Metallica's upcoming "S&M2" release which is due out on 28th August:

The new single from US doom metallers Pallbearer entitled "Forgotten Days". It's taken from their upcoming album of the same name which is due for release on 23rd October i.e. my wife's 40th birthday. Coincidence? I think not.

Vinny, I notice you haven't submitted a rating for this one but I would think it would be right up your alley.

Cripplingly dark & doomy death metal for fans of Immolation, Autopsy & Dead Congregation.

Incantation - "Onward To Golgotha" (1992)

Incantation's debut album is a dark, murky & oppressive affair which has had a profound influence on the underground scene over several decades. It possesses a strong doom/death component that reminds me of diSEMBOWELMENT & early My Dying Bride at various stages. The production job is its most noteworthy element though as it represents both its strength & its weakness because, while it gives "Onward To Golgotha" a uniquely cryptic atmosphere, it also makes it hard to differentiate between the individual tracks. Still, the consistency in the song-writing is impeccable & the brutality of the aural assault makes for an imposing listen that will reward fans of Immolation, Autopsy & Dead Congregation.

4/5

Ben, Sonny & Vinny, if you haven't given this one a spin before then I highly recommend you do. High class & aggressive female-fronted Tuetonic thrash.

Rip-snorting mid-80's Teutonic thrash with amazing riffs & aggressive female vocals.

Holy Moses - "Finished With The Dogs" (1987)

Rip-snorting Teutonic thrash with amazing riffs & aggressive female vocals. It's tight & focused as hell & I love it. In fact, it's a world away from Holy Moses' lackluster speed metal debut "Queen Of Siam". This is pure thrash metal from start to finish.

4/5

A ripper of a repetitive builder from Californian Nintendocore outfit HORSE The Band. Fucking great stuff!

You know what? I felt very similarly to you on first listen Xephyr. But after giving "The Mechanical Hand" a couple more listens I couldn't help but find some endearing qualities in it. For starters, it's a very varied & reasonably complex record which doesn't stick to the one plan for any length of time. The vocals & breakdowns show plenty of enthusiasm even if they are fairly generic metalcore inclusions but the 8-bit synth lines are really well incorporated into HORSE The Band's sound & it gives them a quirky appeal similar to Mr. Bungle. Do I think there's justification for an entirely new subgenre of metal (i.e. Nintendocore) here? Well... no... not really. The Nintendocore tag is usually associated with the more melodic side of metalcore but this record has more to do with mathcore. The instrumentation is very strong &, despite 3 or 4 duds across the 13 song tracklisting, I have to say that I eventually found myself getting some pretty positive feelings out of "The Mechanical Hand".

3.5/5 

I've always found "City" to be a very solid slab of industrial metal but I'm not sure it's the classic release it's often made out to be. I don't think it competes on the same level as Devin's Ocean Machine release from the same year for example but when Devin & co get it right  it sure hits the spot.

4/5

Good choice Sonny. I've always really dug "The Processean" E.P. & think it's one of the Wizard's most underrated releases.

One small issue I have with the clan challenges is that due to the nature of the charts on MA, the albums in the challenges have a disproportionate advantage in the charts as more members are encouraged to review them.

I actually think it's the other way around. The less ratings a release has the more likely that it hasn't been shit-canned by someone & that's why we see some strange inclusions at the top of the charts that only have the bare minimum quantity of ratings to qualify yet all have come from obsessive fans that rate it extremely highly. This will disappear over time as we up the minimum rating requirements for the charts.

I'd also like to state that while I agree with a lot of Daniel's comments above, I don't agree with this one:

"I never intended for people that don't like classic death metal to join The Horde, for people that don't like doom metal to join The Fallen or for people that don't like black metal to join The North, etc."

When I designed the system, I simply wanted members to join the clans that they feel most affiliated with. If someone is passionate about Folk Metal, but cares nothing for Black Metal, then they should still consider joining The North. There's no reason why they have to listen to or rate/review Black Metal albums to be part of that clan. In fact, I don't like to think of each clan as having major and minor genres. In most cases there's a genre that's more popular than the others, but that shouldn't lessen the other genre's positions. 

I'm surprised to see you say that Ben because I feel very strongly that this is in essence what the clan arrangement is about for me. I don't ever want to be dictating what people should or shouldn't listen to or rate so there should be no reason why we'd discourage someone who isn't into black metal from experimenting with it & recording their feelings in the form of a rating. What we are trying to do is give their rating less of a weighting by not having their rating contributing to the clan ratings score.

In my mind, each clan DOES have a primary subgenre that everything else stems from. If you look at the various clans you'll see that we've subconsciously or unknowingly bunched subgenres together that all relate to one mother subgenre. (The Fallen = doom metal, The Gateway = alternative metal, The Guardians = heavy metal, The Horde = death metal, The Infinite = progressive metal, The North = black metal, The Pit = thrash metal, The Revolution = metalcore, The Sphere = industrial metal.) This is actually why we lumped them together in the first place. Let's be honest, it's the death metal components in grindcore that link the two subgenres. In fact, if we use the example that Xephyr used above, the only reason we lumped folk metal in with black metal is because the majority of folk metal releases utilized the black metal sound as the base sound for which to add their folk elements over. Sure there are exceptions but if you can't stand black metal then you are significantly less likely to enjoy most folk metal.

Now, if we're going to say that we intended it that someone would join The North but have no affiliation with the root subgenre then you're essentially saying that it's OK for someone to dilute our ratings system. People WILL rate releases from subgenres that they're not immediately interested in because people like to experiment & expand their knowledge of metal music. I know you don't do this but I really enjoy it & I know that several other prominent Metal Academy members (like Xephyr for example) do too. Sometimes it pays off & sometimes it doesn't. But we need to remember that of the defining & classic releases included in The North, around 80% of them reside in the black metal spectrum & we see much the same thing in some of the other clans too (The Pit, The Sphere, The Infinite, etc). In my mind it makes zero sense for someone to not have an appreciation for 80% of the classic releases of a clan & still be contributing to the clan ratings scores. It defeats the whole purpose of the clan arrangement in my opinion. I can understand if someone who joins The North doesn't like folk metal because it's not the root subgenre. In the same way, I can understand someone who joins The Pit not enjoying groove metal but I can't justify the other way around. At its core The Pit is essentially ABOUT thrash metal & the other two subgenres are simply off-shoots (despite speed metal having come first from a chronological point of view). If it weren't for thrash metal we wouldn't have been connecting speed metal & groove metal together. It's the glue that links them & is completely dominant from a commercial & critical point of view as well as from pure weight of numbers.

It doesn't sound very appealing to be honest Andi. Some of the subgenres aren't all that relevant given the relatively low number of releases they contain (gorenoise, rap metal, Viking metal, nintendocore, etc.) & it will only make it even harder to complete a challenge than it already is. I mean we've only had a few people complete their fourth clan challenges in the current arrangement & I'm not seeing any other members attempting it at this stage so making it even more daunting an undertaking isn't something that we'd entertain. As I've said many times before, we just want people to be realistic about which clans are most appropriate for their personal tastes. We don't want people trying to make them fit at the expense of a clan's integrity because it's not in the site or the community's best interests & that's exactly why we encouraged you to swap clans. If the idea of completing a clan challenge sounds like it would be "a nightmare" that would see you having to review "subgenres that you don't like" then the clan in question clearly isn't a good fit for you. It really is that simple. So overall, I'm comfortable with the current clan challenge configuration.

Fuck yeah! I absolutely love the self-titled Deicide album. Back in 1990 it was seriously one of the most evil sounding things that I had ever heard & you could tell that the band had already paid some dues because it was so well defined for a first up effort.

Ben, I hope you're available for one more of my suggestions! I see you added an Atmospheric Sludge Metal clan challenge. I think that serves as a nice bridge to the possible post-metal challenge and clan challenges for the other remaining metal genres. Even though atmospheric sludge is not one of the main genres, that gave me a good idea for a suggestion: Please do clan challenges for the main genres' subgenres! Here's a list of subgenres from the main genres:

Alternative Metal - Funk Metal, Nu Metal, Rap Metal

Black Metal - Atmospheric Black Metal, Black 'n' Roll, Depressive Black Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Pagan Black Metal, Symphonic Black Metal, War Metal

Death Metal - Brutal Death Metal, Death 'n' Roll, Deathgrind, Melodic Death Metal, Technical Death Metal

Doom Metal - Death Doom Metal, Funeral Doom Metal, Traditional Doom Metal

Folk Metal - Celtic Metal, Medieval Folk Metal

Grindcore - Cybergrind, Deathgrind, Goregrind

Heavy Metal - NWOBHM

Industrial Metal - Cyber Metal, Neue Deutsche Härte

Melodic Metalcore - Nintendocore, Trancecore

Metalcore - Deathcore, Mathcore

Progressive Metal - Djent

Thrash Metal - Crossover Thrash, Technical Thrash Metal

Wow, that's a lot more subgenres than I thought, even more than the main genres! Not only that, some of the bands in those subgenres are already in the main genres' clan challenges. So please ease yourself some time to go through those subgenres when you're ready, and move the bands in those subgenres out of the main genres' challenges to the subgenres' challenges if possible. Maybe that can be your next big challenge project after doing the challenges for those 4 remaining main genres. Seriously I wanna make sure the clan challenges are more suitable for anyone who only likes one or a few subgenres within the main genres, so they don't have to go through the nightmare of reviewing subgenres they don't like in the main genres' challenges, like when I was doing a clan challenge for my former clan The Horde. Please take the time to consider this idea, and thanks in advance!

But do we really want to encourage people to join clans when they only like one or two of the minor subgenres within a clan Andi?  I'm personally against that practice as I believe it goes directly against the whole clan concept. I never intended for people that don't like classic death metal to join The Horde, for people that don't like doom metal to join The Fallen or for people that don't like black metal to join The North, etc. In fact, I originally only wanted one all encompassing clan challenge per clan but Ben talked me into the current arrangement in order to be a little more accommodating.

What does everyone else think on this?

Ben & I discussed the new features that are slated for this round of developments today & I've gotta say that I think we might be putting some space between Metal Academy & the competition shortly. We'll be heading into entirely new territory in some areas & will be filling the last remaining gaps we have with competitors in others. The clan concept is going to give us a clear edge in some ways & you'll see some things you've been asking for finally coming to fruition too. I'm very excited to say the least!

Autechre - "Glasgow Art School (15/04/05)" (2005)

A bootleg desk recording of the legendary Manchester IDM duo in all their glory. It amounts to 68 minutes of textured, challenging, complex, layered & techy electronic music presented with a class that only the elite performers can achieve. It's not a particularly dancy set. It seems to me that it's intended more as a piece of art which lines up nicely with the fit-for-purpose venue. I definitely prefer Autechre's more ambient 90's material over this more up-tempo & busy dancefloor stuff but I can't deny my fascination with adventurous & consciously anti-commercial music like this & subsequently found myself really enjoying the experience, even if I occasionally found that I wasn't consciously engaged at all times.

Yeah it's certainly the highlight of the album & was my introduction to Alice In Chains.I think "Facelift" is a very solid debut but there's no doubt that it fades a little in the back end which prevents it from achieving the classic status it seemed to be heading towards during the A side. I'd throw "Love, Hate, Love" in with the opening two tracks as genuine grunge classics & I love "Sea of Sorrow" & "It Ain't Like That" too. I don't think there's anything disastrous included but songs like "Put You Down", "I Know Somethin (Bout You)" & "Real Thing" are more acceptable than they are essential. It's  4/5 record for mine.

Raw, underground New Jersey thrash metal for fans of Razor, Destruction & Venom.

Whiplash - "Ticket To Mayhem" (1987)

The sophomore album from this New Jersey based trio offers a nice combination of thrash metal, speed metal & traditional heavy metal with thrash being the more prominent of the three. I really enjoy Tony Portaro's bad-ass raspy vocal delivery & the raw underground edge they've incorporated into their sound. In fact, I actually rate "Ticket To Mayhem" slightly more highly than Whiplash's more highly celebrated 1986 debut album "Power & Pain" & fans of Razor, Destruction & Venom should find some enjoyment here.

3.5/5

The new album from Bristol's finest thrash metal exponents Onslaught entitled "Generation Antichrist" which is due for release on 7th August.

The brand new E.P. from Swiss death/thrash outfit Messiah entitled "Fatal Grotesque Symbols - Darken Universe" which is due for release on 7th August. The title track is a sneak peak at the new album which is currently in the works while "Space Invaders" & "Extreme Cold Weather" are re-recordings of tracks from the band's 80's albums featuring guest vocal performances.

Yep. "Lateralus" is a absolute masterclass. I adore it! In saying that though it's probably not one of my favourites from the album which is a strong indication of just how amazing that record was. My personal highlights are "Schism", "The Grudge", "The Patient", "Reflection" & "Triad" .

Yeah I'm a huge fan of "Digital Bath". It's an absolute belter from a genuinely classic album. It's Deftones best record too & is one of the highlights of the alternative metal subgenre overall in my opinion.

Fuck me this bad! It sounds like they've taken Judas Priest's cheesiest 80's moments & combined them into an all-powerful super cheddar. Unfortunately I'm lactose intolerant when it comes to music so my gag reflex goes into overdrive.

Comfortably my favourite of the legitimate songs from "Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I". Probably because it's the least cheesy & power metal oriented.

My feelings aren't all that different to your own but I've probably spent more time trying to understand the appeal of "Weighing Souls With Sand" & it's resulted in my eventually finding it to be a decent (if a heavily overrated) listen. I think the thing that draws me back is my intrigue in the fact that no one else on Earth sounds like this. It's definitely not like any drone metal release I've ever heard & I refuse to settle on that as the correct genre tag. I honestly can't imagine how people are finding a 5/5 rating in this though as it's so fucking abrasive & is very much a one-trick pony. 

Here's my review:

https://metal.academy/reviews/15885/1063

3.5/5

The first great Aussie thrash metal anthem in my opinion. Fans of Slayer, Kreator & "Bonded By Blood"-era Exodus will really dig this. Plus, check out the proto-death metal vocals!

Mortal Sin - "Mayhemic Destruction" (1987)

I can personally attest to the fact that if you were an Aussie thrash fan in the late 80's & early 90's then Mortal Sin were likely a pretty fucking big deal for you. They were the support band for pretty much every international act that toured, they'd pack out the local metal clubs whenever they headlined & they were the inspiration for an entire generation of Aussie metal bands who grew up idolizing them, so it should be no surprise that I held them up on a pedestal as a young fella too. Their debut album "Mayhemic Destruction" represented the birth place of Australia thrash metal & is universally revered amongst those of us Sydney-based metalheads who were old enough to have been around to hear it within a few years of its release. Personally, I've always found it to be a fun listen that brings back a lot of fond memories but I'm also realistic about what it brings to the table from a musical point of view because Mortal Sin's brand of meat & potatoes thrash metal already sounded a little dated at the time of release. "Mayhemic Destruction" was very much a tribute to Metallica's "Kill 'Em All" with many of the tracks being obvious takes on popular early thrash anthems like "Seek & Destroy"  & "Phantom Lord" while Mat Maurer's vocal delivery is clearly trying to fill the exact same niche as James Hetfield did on those early releases too. But despite the lack of originality, the thing that gives Mortal Sin its appeal is the undeniable catchiness of the song-writing. Sure there are a couple of flat speed metal tracks included toward the middle of the tracklisting but otherwise I find that these simple metal tunes overachieve on their fairly basic packaging. Plus the closing title track is nothing like the rest of the material in that it's much more intense & extreme with Slayer, Kreator & "Bonded By Blood"-era Exodus playing off against each other under what can only be described as a proto-death metal vocal delivery. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this was the first genuinely classic Australian extreme metal anthem. At least it was for me. Overall, "Mayhemic Destruction" is a pretty good underground thrash record that was more influential & important than it was essential but is definitely worth a few listens if you like a bit of NWOBHM influence in your thrash.

3.5/5

I'll leave that to you Andi. I can't really see the point as it's nullifying the despondency that the slower tempos are intended to create in my opinion.

I’d also like the ability to @ other members in forum posts. For example, I recommended one of our members a release in the forum for The Revolution this morning however it’s really up to chance as to whether they’ll ever read the message. It’d be better if they were alerted to it without me having to send them a private message. Perhaps they could see a notification on their profile symbol at the top of the screen which would direct them to a notifications section in their profile?

MartinDavey87, have you checked Protest The Hero's 2006 debut album "Kezia" out before? Yes its sound is based on the melodic metalcore blueprint however its execution is spectacularly ambitious & progressive with incredibly complex arrangements & constantly evolving song-structures. I think you might dig it.

A belter of an opening track from this Canadian progressive/melodic metalcore outfit. For fans of Jinjer, ERRA & Mutiny Within.

So I finally got around to giving "Kezia" a few spins last week & I have so say that I was very impressed. The melodic metalcore genre-tagging has certainly seen me steering clear of releases like this one over the years but perhaps it's time that I opened myself up to the subgenre a bit more because this is a quality release. In fairness, the predominant genre is progressive metal as far as I'm concerned & the musicianship & arrangements are nothing short of spectacular. I agree that the impact does wane a little as you progress through the tracklisting however there are no weak tracks on offer & Protest The Hero always keep things interesting by constantly changing things up. The clean vocal style is appealing & I really enjoy the use of vocal harmonies which remind me of progressive artists like Fates Warning even though Rody Walker's tone is more similar to Cedric Bixler-Zavala's from The Mars Volta. In fact, I have no doubt that The Mars Volta were a influence here along with your more clinical progressive metal artists like Dream Theater. You can probably draw comparisons with Between The Buried & Me only with a stronger melodic component & a bit more of a punk feel to the up-tempo drumming & some of the singalong choruses. The performances & execution are next level & fans of Jinjer, ERRA & Mutiny Within should be all over this.

4/5

I think you might want to stay open to the possibility that you're being played with here Andi. Let's just close this thread & move on, shall we?

How bored are some people on the internet?  I mean if your goal in life is to see your favourite albums ranked in your preferred order to the point where you would cheat to get the desired outcome then I would suggest that you aren't winning at life.  Jeez!

I think it's mostly about cheating the three-clan system more than it is the charts (God knows why because it essentially achieves nothing for the user or the other members). Then once they've got two accounts with different clan selections they want both to have a reasonable status on the site so they double up their ratings.

All I'll say on this topic is that Ben is much more generous than I would have been.

The new live album/DVD from Greek symphonic death metal masters Septicflesh entitled "Infernus Sinfonica MMXIX" which is due for release on 31st July. The performance comes complete with a full orchestra & choir by the looks of it.

The new single from Swedish progressive metal outfit Pain Of Salvation which is taken from their upcoming album "Panther". It's due for release on 28th August,

Bolt Thrower is an interesting one because almost every release has its fans that claim it to be the band's best work. My comfort zone has always been the trio of "Realm Of Chaos", "Warmaster" & "The VIth Crusade" with the latter being the pinnacle of their career. I had been so into them during the early 90's that "...For Victory" sounded a bit too safe & samey to me as I felt that it was time for them to change things up a bit & it was essentially just more of the same. I really like the hugely popular "For Those Once Loyal" & rate it a 4/5 but the added groove to some of the riffs prevented me from ever considering placing it up with Bolt Thrower's best records. "The Killchain" seems to be the most popular song from it too & I quite like it but it never stood out to me as one of the album highlights. The title track & "Salvo" were the two big tracks for me.

To summarize, I am strange & you should all think of me as such. It's for the best really.