Daniel's Forum Replies

Sarcófago - "The Black Vomit" demo (1986)

I got pretty heavily into Brazilian extreme metal legends Sarcófago very early on in my early 1990's tape trading days which led me to securing all of their demo tapes from a South American trader. This one is both the earliest & the most obscure one but I like it the most of the three nonetheless. The intro track "Recrucify" is devastatingly dark & wonderfully effective while both of the proper tracks "The Black Vomit" & "Satanas" are pretty decent too. This demo is pure black metal to my ears & is miles better than the greatly overhyped Mayhem material from the same year. It's well worth checking out if you're into super-underground, lo-fi demo stuff.

4/5

Obituary - "Slowly We Rot" (1989)

Florida death metal legends Obituary were a huge part of my life in the early 1990’s. I first discovered them while listening to a late-night underground metal radio program shortly after the release of their 1989 debut album “Slowly We Rot” & immediately became infatuated with the vocals of the iconic John Tardy who has been my favourite death metal front man ever since. It was the title track from the album that would be my initial taste & my death metal band Neuropath would cover that song in a live environment for several years during the mid-90’s. 1990’s “Cause of Death” sophomore album would absolutely blow my socks off & would be following up by the very strong “The End Complete” album in 1992, both of which kinda relegated “Slowly We Rot” to entrée status & I feel that I’ve often overlooked it since but I still remember my first impressions & how often I would since Obituary’s debut album back in the day so it’s about time I put my money where my mouth is by formalizing a firm position.

Obituary had been around for a good half decade by the time “Slowly We Rot” was recorded but not always under the same moniker. They began life as Executioner back in 1984, a thrash metal band whose “Metal Up Your Ass” 7” single floated by without much fanfare. They’d adjust their name to Xecutioner in 1986 due to potential legal issues with another band & released their 1986 & 1987 demo tapes under that name. These cassettes would clearly show that the boys had transitioned over to a death metal sound with the name change & the 1987 tape would very clearly showcase the classic Obituary sound, even if it was nothing more than a cheap rehearsal recording. The band would sign with Dutch label Roadracer Records for their debut album & would record it with a young producer by the name of Scott Burns at the now legendary Morrisound Studios in their home town of Florida. Burns was fresh out of making his first genuine production statement with Sepultura & their classic third album “Beneath The Remains” so it was great timing for Obituary who would change their name one last time just prior to the release of the album.

“Slowly We Rot” sounds amazingly tight & heavy for a first up effort. The rhythm guitar tone of Trevor Peres (Meathook Seed) & Allen West (Massacre/Six Feet Under) is thick & deathly, everything you could want from an old-school death metal record really. This is further enhanced by a really tight & well thought-out contribution from the rhythm section of future Nocturnus bassist Daniel Tucker & Meathook Seed drummer Donald Tardy. While West’s lead guitar work is certainly not up to the standard of James Murphy who would bring a new dimension to the band for the follow-up record, he hasn’t completely given up to pure whammy-bar worship just yet so he’s effective enough. The real hero here though is clearly front man John Tardy who contributes a genuinely inhuman & scary sound that no man alive has yet been able to match. He’s simply untouchable & Obituary wouldn’t be the band they are without him. He & (to a lesser extent) Peres are the clear masterminds behind this legend of the Florida death metal scene.

Obituary’s sound is comprised of a few different elements from an instrumental point of view. Firstly, there’s a clear Slayer influence in the faster material which is often backed by a fairly punky beat. I find this material to be the least interesting. Then we have a mid-paced Celtic Frost influence that keeps things very simple yet executes with crushing efficiency. And finally you’ll find smatterings of genuine doom metal that are the clear highlights of the album in my opinion. It would seem that the band felt very similarly because they’d wind the tempo down far more regularly on “Cause of Death” & would reap the rewards for doing so too. The other thing they’d do much better on that album is provide better structure in their song-writing. On “Slowly We Rot” we find them pasting together some fairly disparate ideas in a haphazard fashion, often finishing songs suddenly & well before they’ve fully explored their potential.

While the tracklisting is very consistent with no week tracks included amongst the thirteen songs on offer, “Slowly We Rot” definitely offers a little variation in quality. If I’m being honest I’d suggest that the infamous title track is actually the one that appeals to me the least along with “Gates of Hell” & Words of Evil”. The real classics here are “Godly Beings”, “Suffocation”, “Bloodsoaked” & my personal favourite “Intoxicated”. It’s a really solid late 80’s death metal record in it’s own right but I do still think that it looks & feels a little like a entrée to the “Cause of Death” main course. That may have caused me to unfairly overlook it over the years but I’ve never forgotten it’s importance or the impact it had on me as a youngster. “Slowly We Rot” should be essential listening for fans of bands like Autopsy, Jungle Rot & Asphyx.

4/5

It's a fairly noisy, raucous & electric example of hard rock in my opinion. I'm not denying the intensity but there aren't any of metal's calling cards on display here as far as I can see. That intro is pure rock 'n' roll debauchery, not too dissimilar to what Jimi Hendrix had been doing a few years previous. The riffs are pure open-string hard rock & lack the chug & the more rhythmic palm-muting technique that most heavy metal riffs are generally built on & the organ only further accentuates that. I'd suggest that Gillan's wail is pretty damn close to rebellious rock 'n' roll singers like Little Richard more than anything else. When it comes down to it, "Speed King" gets me tapping my foot rather than banging my head which is (as a gross generalization) what differentiates hard rock from metal.

Now that we seem to have some consensus on "Black Sabbath" as the first genuine metal release, let's move on to Deep Purple's "Deep Purple In Rock" album which was released just three months later & a couple of you are claiming to be a metal release. It's been a while since I listened to it so I'm gonna keep an open mind & judge each track on its merit.

Let's start with opener "Speed King":

This exercise was interesting, because were this any other band, I'd think right now we'd say this is hard rock. This album, outside of the first song, really dances around genre. But, because it's Black Sabbath, we're trying to find ways to justify it back onto metal. (not accusing anyone of anything I'm not doing myself)

I actually remained completely impartial throughout the exercise & tagged each song as I would a release from an anonymous modern-day band. I have no skin in the game as such as there are several other Black Sabbath releases that I don't believe to qualify as metal (see "Technical Ecstasy", "Never Say Die!" & "Seventh Star"). I was just looking for a unanimous site position on the matter so that everyone was comfortable with the direction.

the problem here is that only a quarter of the songs would be stoner metal. 

I may only have tagged two tracks as stoner metal but that's only a technicality really. My results indicated that I needed to award the album a metal tag & the one that I feel is most capable of encompassing subgenres like stoner rock, heavy psych & blues rock is stoner metal so I selected it as much on the other tracks as I did on the two that I actually tagged as stoner metal. Personally, I think a generic "metal" tag is a bit of a cop-out that serves no real purpose. It doesn't work at Metal Academy given the clan configurations either. It's also worth noting that there are no tags from The Guardians in my chart & three tags from The Fallen.

While we wait to see if there's any remaining input from anyone prior to us starting to take a look at Deep Purple's "In Rock" album tomorrow morning, here's my final track-by-track position on "Black Sabbath":

The combined run time of the three tracks that I've tagged as being metal amounts to exactly 40% of the total album duration which is within the qualification parameters set at the start of this exercise. Therefore, I'm comfortable that "Black Sabbath" is a legitimate metal release, the very first one in fact.

While it's really great to be able to visually justify my long-time feelings on the matter, the REALLY interesting thing about the above chart can be found in the Subgenre column. As most of you will no doubt be aware, "Black Sabbath" is generally tagged as a Heavy Metal release & always has been but I haven't tagged a single track as Heavy Metal. Right or wrong, this is in line with some niggling subconscious feelings I've held for several years now, ever since I started putting together the monthly playlists for The Guardians actually. You see, whenever I would select a track from "Black Sabbath" for inclusion in the playlist it would sound very different to the remainder of the tracklisting which left me wondering if the Heavy Metal tag was really the most accurate description of the album by the modern understanding of the genre definitions. Using the above chart as a guide, I would actually have to suggest that the best fit would be a combination of Blues Rock & Stoner Metal. To support that position, the definition of Stoner Metal is as follows: "a subgenre of Metal music that combines elements of Doom Metal with elements of Psychedelic Rock and Blues Rock to create a melodic yet heavy sound". That description sounds very close to what I've listed above & have heard while reviewing the album to be honest. It just feels more in line with Black Sabbath's early musical direction than the definition of Heavy Metal i.e. "a heavier outgrowth of Hard Rock featuring greater distortion and intensity along with lesser Blues influences".

If we decided to make a change from the long-time consensus (which would need two successful Hall of Judgement entries just quietly), it would not only require a clan change for the album but would indirectly require an acceptance that we should tag releases with the most relevant subgenre as per the current day meaning of the terms rather than simply tagging releases with whatever it is they may have been tagged as many decades ago. I for one would be happy with that approach because, by its very definition, genre-tagging is about bringing people's attention to music that they're likely to enjoy. So, if basically every Stoner Metal band known to man is simply emulating "Black Sabbath" then it only makes sense that "Black Sabbath" is also tagged as Stoner Metal, regardless of whether that term existed back at the time of release. I'm also of the strong opinion that Metal Academy should run its own race rather than being dictated to by the masses who may be completely off the mark. Anyway... that's just my two cents. Feel free to shoot my position down in flames if you disagree. I just thought it was an interesting discussion point. Thoughts?

I agree that "Wicked World" is a bit borderline. I've got it as sitting between stoner rock & stoner metal but it certainly leans more to the rock side of the equation. The verse riff is so doomy & utilizes one of the defining tools in the metal arsenal in fast, palm-muted down-strokes, very similar to those used in the title-track from "Paranoid" actually. Given that this riff is so instrumental in how the track plays out I'm happy to suggest that "Wicked World" should qualify as metal.

Let's just get through "Wicked World" before jumping to any conclusions. The US version of the album was also released in 1970 & could well have been simultaneously so I don't think it's fair to say that the English version is the original & most definitive one. It depended on where you lived at the time. Plus, we still have one or two tracks where we didn't have a unanimous position & I'd like to seek further input from one of two other members before reaching a final outcome.

Anyway.... "Wicked World" then. Metal or not?

Mayhem - "Pure Fucking Armageddon" demo (1986)

I've never really enjoyed 80's Mayhem to tell you the truth & their ultra-primitive first up effort is a prime example of why as it really offers very little in the way of musical value. The awful attempt at recording vocals through the "studio" side is the most significant stumbling block for me with the instrumental versions of the same songs on the unmixed side being far more palatable. The sound quality in general is quite abysmal though. Euronymous' guitar tone is quite possibly the filthiest sound ever created by man & must have hit anyone within a few miles like an out-of-control freight train. This is blackened thrash metal in its rawest & most visceral form. It's just a pity that it's so hard to listen to. I'm afraid time hasn't done much to change my initial poor impressions from back in my tape trading days. For fans of Tormentor, Hellhammer & Sarcofago.

2/5

Xecutioner - "1987 Demo" (1987)

The final Obituary demo offers far less in the way of sound quality than the previous two as, unlike "Metal Up Your Ass" & "1986 Demo", it wasn't recorded in a studio. Instead, this is simply a cheap rehearsal recording with a production quality that only an old tape trader like myself could likely appreciate. In saying that though, I get the most enjoyment out of this one & listened to it far more than the other two back in the day. Unlike those two, this recording clearly shows the classic Obituary sound in its fully realized state with all three tracks being a combination of material that would eventually appear on the "Slowly We Rot" album two years later. Ignore the dodgy track titles because they mean absolutely nothing. John Tardy's vocals are far more extreme than they were on the 1986 demo & are probably a little screamier than his monstrous signature sound. It's no wonder Obituary sounded so tight on their first record when you consider that they were perfecting the songs for literally years though. I wouldn't have signed them on the evidence presented on those first two recordings but I certainly would have after hearing this one, despite the awful sound quality.

3.5/5

Note: That's not the cover art for this release. I couldn't find any online.

I hear precisely zero metal in "Warning". It's by far the most obviously blues rock track on the album in my opinion, only veering off a bit towards Led Zeppelin style hard rock right at the end.

I've been thinking about it & I think we should go with the current Spotify version of the album which simply tacks "Wicked World" on the end of the original English version. Therefore, we'll take a look at "Wicked World" tomorrow.

Executioner - "Metal Up Your Ass" 7" single (1985)

The earliest studio recordings from Obituary which was another one that I picked up during my early tape trading days. The sound quality is pretty good since it was recorded at the legendary Morrisound Studios in Tampa. They were still a thrash metal band at this point & were heavily influenced by local Florida heroes Nasty Savage. John Tardy still had a hardcore-ish thrash delivery too. The title track is quite enjoyable in a naive, endearing way. The faster & more intense "Syco-Pathic Mind" less so.

3/5

How about "Warning" then? Blues rock? Heavy metal? Hard rock? Heavy psych?

Xecutioner - "Demo 1986" (1986)

One of the early Obituary demos that I picked up through my early tape trading dealings. It only includes two tracks but is only really interesting because of an early version of "Find The Arise" which would eventually end up on 1990's "Cause of Death" album, admittedly in a vastly superior format. The sound quality is really very good for the time.

3/5

Here's my review:

It’s really interesting how a small scene that contains comparitively few active contributors can create such a buzz around the globe but the Chilean thrash metal scene seems to have overachieved significantly in this space in recent years with the likes of Demoniac, Critical Defiance & Trastorned all flying the Chilean flag on the international stage. Peñaflor four-piece Hellish are another one to add to that list although they’ve been flying a little further under the radar than the artists I just mentioned. My only previous encounter with them came off the back of their 2018 sophomore album “The Spectre of Lonely Souls” which I found to be really enjoyable at the time so I’ve always intended on giving Hellish a little more attention but have never quite gotten around to it until now. I hadn’t even noticed that they’d released a follow-up album until Ben nominated 2022’s “The Dance of the Four Elemental Serpents” as this month’s The Pit feature release to be perfectly honest but I think it’s fair to say that I was damn well up for it leading into my initial listen.

Hellish had undergone a couple of significant changes since “The Spectre of Lonely Souls”. Firstly, they’d attracted the interest of Germany’s Dying Victims Productions who had taken the baton from American label Unspeakable Axe who had been responsible for both of Hellish’s previous albums. Bass-playing front man Necromancer had also moved on after 2020’s “The Rising of Darkness” split E.P. with fellow Chilean thrashers Mayhemic & been replaced with the relatively unknown Cristopher Aravena. I’ve gotta be honest, Aravena’s vocals sound so similar to Necromancer’s that I would never have noticed if I hadn’t read about the change online. Drummer Cristian Leon (interestingly a former guitarist of Chilean thrashers Ripper) has once again overseen the recording process, this time moving the sessions outside of Hellish’s home country to Romaphonic Estudios in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The last two records sound remarkably different from a production perspective with “The Dance of the Four Elemental Serpents” seeing Hellish opting for more of a blackened sound which contains much more high-end than the bassier tone they championed on “The Spectre of Lonely Souls”. The bass work of Aravena stands out very obviously in the mix as a result which highlights his pretty significant talent on his chosen instrument.

The Hellish sound is very much a summary of the underground extreme metal scene of the 1980’s as it doesn’t stick with any one genre, instead harnessing several influences to create a sound that sits between all of them. Despite the blackened vocals & production, “The Dance of the Four Elemental Serpents” definitely feels most like a thrash metal release though. The list of influences includes the speed metal-infused thrash of Destruction, the early death metal of Possessed & the black metal edge of fellow South Americans Sarcofago if I’m not mistaken. It’s interesting that a number of the Chilean bands seem to display similar influences to those although it’s perhaps not all that surprising given the cross-pollination of band members. Guitarist Javier Salgado is a prime example of that given that he’s a former Critical Defiance member & the architect behind Parkcrest. It’s also interesting that both Parkcrest & Hellish apparently split up earlier this year. I’m not sure why that happened but Salgado was in both bands & the announcements were in very close proximity to each other so I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

“The Dance of the Four Elemental Serpents” sports an extremely consistent tracklisting with no real blemishes. In fact, it’s almost a perfect example of a release that completely flatlines in terms of quality with every track offering roughly the same level of appeal. Unfortunately for Hellish, that level isn’t quite high enough to fully capture me even though I find myself enjoying all eight tracks to a similar degree. It’s probably more of a stylistic thing for me. I’m not all that big on some of the melodic ideas which draw on similar speed metal riff structures to the first couple of Destruction releases. The bass lines also play more of a melodic role than I’d like which lightens up the mood a touch & reminds me a little bit of Absu. I do really enjoy the more aggressive vocal contributions though, particularly when Aravena starts to sounds truly demonic. You’ll definitely pick up a number of palm-muted, tremolo-picked death metal riffs across the tracklisting which I really enjoy too.

It's a little surprising to see how minimal an impact “The Dance of the Four Elemental Serpents” has made thus far to be honest as it’s certainly worth a few listens if you’re a fan of bands like fellow Chileans Invincible Force, Norway’s Inculter or Sweden’s Antichrist. In fact, I can see it offering plenty of appeal for those with a penchant for the more underground side of extreme metal in general actually. It’s just lacking those few genuine highlight tracks to break up an otherwise consistently “pleasant” blackened thrash record. I can’t see too many people being critical of an album like this one but, on the other hand, I’m not sure it’ll be making too many top ten lists either.

3.5/5

I agree that it's not consistently metal enough to qualify. It sports a pretty jerky song structure that doesn't flow very well, instead coming across like a number of disparate ideas having been pasted together in haphazard fashion. It kinda plays out like this:

0:00-0:53 Psychedelic folk

0:53-1:34 Hard rock

1:34-2:05 Traditional doom metal

2:05-3:05 Psychedelic rock

3:05-3:46 Traditional doom metal

I'd suggest that the best fit for this one is heavy psych personally.

Howlin' Wolf - "The Back Door Wolf" (1973)

Chicago blues.

I'm not sure it's all that essential that we do that to be honest but we'll see how we go.

Let's take a look at "Sleeping Village" today. Heavy metal? Hard rock? Blues rock? Conventional doom metal?

Hhmm... I forgot that "Evil Woman, Don't Play Your Games With Me" wasn't on some versions of the album. That complicates things a little. Perhaps we come to a position on "Wicked World" at the tail end of this exercise & then treat the whole collection of songs as one record?

Extreme - "II Pornograffitti" (1990)

Like most people, I think I first heard mention of Boston hard rockers Extreme through their 1990 sophomore album “II Pornograffitti”. I believe our paths may first have crossed when I won a copy of their “Decadence Dance” promotional cassingle on a local Sydney radio program. I can’t say that it did a lot for me to be honest but the skill sets of guitar virtuoso Nuno Bettencourt certainly weren’t lost on me. The “More Than Words” single blew up in a major way shortly afterwards & I took the opportunity to grab a dubbed copy of the album from a school mate, determined to hear more of what this Bettencourt character had to offer. He didn’t disappoint either but the album as a whole didn’t really connect with me like I’d hoped & I haven’t revisited it since so it’s about time to see how time has treated it.

Extreme certainly seemed like a band that were determined to make it big. They’d signed with a fairly major label in California’s A&M with their self-titled debut being released in 1989 & passing most people by. The band member’s lives would all change shortly afterwards though & they’d be household names only a year or two later. Extreme had done well to keep a very solid line-up together as it would have been so easy for it to all fall to pieces but they made it through to their sophomore record with A&M investing in former Accept guitarist Michael Wagener to oversee the production duties. Wagener already had some production runs on the board with releases like Dokken’s “Breakin’ The Chains” & “Under Lock & Key”, Keel & Skid Row’s self-titled albums & Stryper’s “Soldiers Under Command” all appearing on his resume by that point which kinda gives you an indication that the label had plans for a fairly commercially accessible release too. If that was the case then they would have been very happy with the outcome because “II Pornograffitti” was very much the radio hit they’d been hoping for, Wagener& Bettencourt’s production efforts amounting to a shiny collection of unintimidating, MTV-friendly songs that both your dad & your little sister could get their head around very comfortably.

“II Pornograffitti” is currently tagged as a funk metal release on the Metal Academy database which seems like a grossly misguided assessment of the album to be honest. If it was going to qualify as funk metal then one would have thought that it would a) be remotely funky & b) be an actual metal release. Neither of these things are true with “II Pornograffitti” sitting far more comfortably in the glam metal space than anything else. You can also expect to hear a examples of pop rock here & there for added commercial impact. The flashy guitar work of former Satellite Party axeman Bettencourt is the clear link to metal & he absolutely slays here, bringing to mind the elite exponents of his craft like Eddie Van Halen & George Lynch in the process. The rhythm section of bassist Pat Badger & drummer Paul Geary lay down a rock-solid platform for him to work off & had both clearly paid their dues by this point while former Van Halen front man Gary Cherone contributes a charismatic performance that would quickly see him making a name for himself in the industry.

Despite the musical talent on show though, I struggle with the blatant commercialism & the lack of substance in a lot of this material which was so clearly still targeting a Sunset Strip party crowd. The consistent use of cheesy gang vocals & bubblegum chorus hooks doesn’t help things much & neither do the sleazy lyrical innuendos. I guess I just expected a bit more from these guys to be honest as there are some hints at what they were capable of in highlights such as the glam metal stomper “Li’l Jack Horny” or acoustic pop rocker “Hole Hearted” (my personal favourite). “It(‘s A Monster)”, the title track & the super shredding “He-Man Woman Hater” are all pretty enjoyable too but then you also have to sift through disposable filler such as the vocal jazz track “When I First Kissed You”, the grossly overrated folk pop of Extreme’s calling card “More Than Words” & the God-awful pop rock of “Song For Love” which sounds far too much like it should have been played at the end of a Bill & Ted movie instead of KISS’ “God Gave Rock ‘n’ Roll To You”.

I think it’s fair to say that I wasn’t the target audience for this record & I seriously doubt that Extreme ever intended me to be either as they were far better suited to a crowd that lived for bands like Living Colour, Electric Boys & Bang Tango. The links to metal are tenuous at best but I doubt Extreme give the slightest fuck as they’ve built a long-term career that still sees them touring Australian shores all these decades later off the back of this album. It certainly needs to be asked whether it should stay on the Metal Academy database though.

3/5

Windir - "Likferd" (2003)

Norwegian melodic black metallers Windir & I have had a very rocky relationship over the years since I first encountered them very late in my late 1990’s tape trading days. I can vaguely remember digging their 1997 debut album “Sóknardalr” at the time however the melodic black metal movement was still in somewhat of a honeymoon period so it's appeal may have been a touch stronger than it is now that it's been so long since Dissection first ripped us all a new one. I didn’t come into contact with Windir’s more widely celebrated records until 2009 when I took in their three subsequent full-lengths in quick succession with none of them offering me very much in the way of enjoyment. Their accessible & often folky take on the black metal model was very much at odds with my own feelings on what black metal should ultimately be so I found myself struggling significantly the majority of the time. 1999’s “Arntor” & 2001’s “1184” did nothing for me whatsoever but I do have some recollection of Windir’s appeal slowly growing with each release with their final effort “Likferd” coming closest to the mark so this month’s feature release represents a good opportunity to firm up my position on what would ultimately prove to be Windir’s swansong.

Let’s be very clear from the onset, not a lot had changed in the two years since “1184”. Windir had maintained their six-piece lineup & their label Head Not Found Records must have been very happy with the reception for the previous album as they once again engaged former Thou Shalt Suffer bassist Torbjørn Akkerhaugen to produce the band’s fourth full-length album “Likferd” at Akkerhaugen Lydstudio so they were clearly looking to repeat the same formula that had been so successful for them previously. The result is a stunningly glossy sounding record that is as easy on the ear as any black metal release you’re likely to find. The performances are also outstanding with all of the parts being executed with precision. Admittedly the band stay relatively within themselves & keep things uncluttered in the interest of maximum accessibility but I’d still suggest that current Vreid & former Cor Scorpii drummer Steingrim could possibly have upped the ante a bit as his beats are a little lacking in the extremity we’ve come to expect from the genre over the years.

One of the elements that I couldn’t deal with about Windir’s sound previously was their tendency to tip-toe along the borders of the folk metal subgenre. I think most of our regulars will be well aware of my hatred for the vast majority of folk metal releases so I doubt that’ll come as a surprise. Thankfully though, “Likferd” sees Windir keeping their distance from the folk melodies for the most part which was a most welcome discovery. They also indulge in a little more traditional black metal savagery which was also well received with the tracks that offered me the most appeal unsurprisingly matching up with those moments very accurately. There’s still a lot more unintimidating use of melody than I’m comfortable with on “Likferd” though so let’s not get too excited just yet. They’re very much the epitome of the subgenre actually & often accentuate their more epic moments with some borderline cheesy keyboards to further test my patience. Valfar’s vocals aren’t particularly interesting either. They simply sound like ten thousand other black metal front men & don’t stand out all that much due to the fact that I’ve heard it all so many times before.

In fairness, the tracklisting gets off to a decent start with opener “Resurrection of the Wild” being pretty enjoyable. The next four tracks aren’t awful but I can’t say that they offered me too much in the way of appeal. Then we get to album highlight “On The Mountain of Goats” though which is a very solid black metal outing indeed & may even be my favourite Windir track overall to tell you the truth. It's no surprise that it's the least popular track on the album which should tell you something about my compatibility with a band like Windir. At this point I was wondering whether “Likferd” might actually be able to drag a decent score out of me which is a feat that Windir had never come close to achieving in the past. Unfortunately that’s where things descend fairly rapidly though with the last two songs (“Dauden” & “Ætti mørkna”) being absolutely none of my business & ensuring that the album would once again fall on the wrong side of my quality cut-off point.

Look, I don’t think anyone expected me to be dishing out any four-star ratings for a release that sounds like this one but I have to say that Windir had improved a touch with each of their last couple of records being better than the last. It’s perhaps a shame then that band leader Valfar would pass away before he’d had the opportunity to create the release that would eventually see me finally accepting his art. The rest of the band would go on to take part in other Norwegian melodic black metal bands like Mistur, Cor Scorpii & Vreid after Windir disbanded & if you dig those acts then you’ll likely get a lot out of “Likferd” than I do.

3/5

Yeah, it's a hard/blues rock tune for mine. No metal there whatsoever.

What's everyone's thoughts on "Evil Woman, Don't Play Your Games With Me" then? Hard rock? Blues rock? Heavy metal?

After six weeks of trying, I finally managed to secure an interview which I attended yesterday. It went beautifully & I'm reasonably confident of receiving an offer but the only problem is that they want me in the office every day which means three hours of driving every single day. I'm not sure I can keep that up for long periods but I'm considering taking it anyway as it's very much in line with what I'm looking for.

Also, Sphere of Apparition Records have received the Neuropath CDs & tell me that they've come out even better than they expected. They sent me nine copies on Friday so I should receive them in the next few business days. Excited!

I think we're all agreed on the first 4 minutes of Black Sabbath, but I'd say the last two lean into heavy metal.

Wouldn't the traditional doom metal tag cover the 1:40 of heavy metal & psychedelia at the end of "Black Sabbath" given that it's essentially a diluted form of doom?

I think "N.I.B." is close enough to metal. I'm gonna stick my neck out again by claiming it as stoner metal though. It certainly sounds a lot more like Orange Goblin than it does Judas Priest or Iron Maiden in my opinion. The stoner tag also covers the mildly psychedelic feel.

What do we think about "N.I.B." then? Heavy metal? Hard rock? Heavy psych? Blues rock? Traditional doom metal? Conventional doom metal?

I agree that "Behind the Wall of Sleep" is more rock than it is metal. It obviously has that doom riff in the verse but it feels slightly psychedelic in its minimalism & Bill Ward gives it a real swing that's quite foreign for metal. The guitar work in the remainder of the song is unapologetically rock-based though so I'm gonna throw out a curveball here. I know that it wouldn't fly on other websites where they seem to care a lot about when a subgenre tag was first created but I'd suggest that if this track was released by a new band today it would be tagged as stoner rock. That's my hill & I'll die on it.

Here's my review:

You know what’s amazing about the Metal Academy feature release arrangement? Every now & then one of our well-educated members will nominate a release that’s received absolutely no fanfare whatsoever from a band that I’ve never even heard of & it’ll blow my socks off. Sonny’s got a pretty reasonable record in this department too with a recent example being his Dvvell nomination that went on to become our The Fallen Release of 2022 & it would seem that he’s done it again with Plateau Sigma’s “White Walls of Nightmares” album which is a sublime experience that’s deserving of so much more attention than it’s received in the more than a decade since its release.

I’ve seen mention of “White Wings of Nightmares” being released as a single or an E.P. which is kinda silly given its 49-minute duration & album-style format. The reality is that the band regards it as a bit of an experiment & prefers that it’s thought of as a demo which is the reason for the strangely inappropriate format labelling. It contains just the five songs with each being given plenty of time & space to develop. The production job isn’t top tier with the guitars sounding slightly fuzzy but the flaws are minor & shouldn’t make an impact on your listening experience.

I’d describe Plateau Sigma’s sound as being very much a tribute to the great doom/death releases of the early-to-mid 1990’s. You can expect chuggy, mid-paced death metal-inspired riffs & deep death growls mixed in with slower power-chord driven sections layered with gothic clean guitar melodies. There are a number of atmospheric clean sections featuring beautifully executed clean vocals spread across the tracklisting too & I actually found these to be the most effective parts of the album to be honest. Plateau Sigma certainly know what they’re doing in that department with some of these sections reminding me very much of artists Tiamat, Opeth & particularly Anathema with some of the vocals being the spitting image of Vincent Cavanagh (who I absolutely adore just quietly). The chuggy mid-paced stuff is very simple in a My Dying Bride kinda way & is perhaps a touch less engaging than the doomier material but the band mix things up nicely so you’re unlikely to reach for the skip button at any point.

The tracklisting is very consistent with all five songs deserving of your attention. The shortest inclusion “Lunar Stream Hypnosis” is perhaps the least essential of the five but after the first three tracks I was feeling pretty confident that I’d be awarding this release a solid four-star rating. That’s when things get really interesting though because the remaining two tracks are absolutely stunning & are also the longest in duration which saw them having a massive impact on my impressions of the release overall, particularly the epic, slow-building closer “Maira & the Archangel” which is as good as this style of metal gets.

How a release like this one manages to slip through the cracks in the internet age is pretty baffling to be honest. It’s certainly left me wondering what else Plateau Sigma have to offer with their three subsequent (& equally overlooked) full-length albums. If you’re a fan of bands like Anathema, My Dying Bride & Ahab then you owe it to yourself to check this one out guys.

4.5/5

How about "Behind The Wall Of Sleep" then? Hard rock? Heavy metal? Traditional doom metal? Heavy psych? Blues rock?

I would suggest the version that doesn't include "Wicked World" as I think it's better to come up with a position that's relevant to all versions of the album.

Exodus - "Fabulous Disaster" (1989)

San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal legends Exodus fill a very important position in my musical journey in that they were the first band to prove to me that there was more to this extreme metal thing than just the Big Four. It would be Exodus’ 1985 debut album “Bonded By Blood” that would be the catalyst for this moment of glorious realization & that record still maintains a permanent residency in my Hall of Metal Glory as the band’s finest work to this day. This experience would see me further exploring Exodus’ back catalogue with their current release at the time “Fabulous Disaster” being the next stop on the Bay Area thrash train, shortly followed by 1987’s “Pleasures of the Flesh” sophomore album. Neither record would prove to be as classic as Exodus’ unbelievable first-up effort but I really bought into what both albums were selling nonetheless & they went on to play a significant role in my early teenage years as a result. I’ve long suspected that perhaps I might be overrating “Fabulous Disaster” a touch based on the opinions of some of my more reliable peers though so now would appear to be a good time to reassess my position.

“Fabulous Disaster” was the second Exodus full-length to be fronted by former Legacy (aka Testament) vocalist Steve Souza with the remainder of the band having been together since “Bonded By Blood”. As with “Pleasures of the Flesh”, "Fabulous Disaster" was recorded at Alpha & Omega Recording Studio in San Francisco with house engineer Marc Senasac sharing the production duties with guitarists Gary Holt & Rick Hunolt this time after handling them solo on “Pleasures of the Flesh”. Given Senasac’s relatively minimal track record outside of Exodus, I’m guessing that he was an associate of the band. Perhaps they even pushed their new English record label Music For Nations to let them record with him at their local studio again. I dunno but the album sounds pretty good nonetheless. It has that unique Exodus guitar crunch that I love so much. There just seems to be more weight & depth behind their riffs than most other thrash bands can muster & it’s a major drawcard for me being a metal guitarist myself.

Where “Bonded By Blood” was a total thrashfest from start to finish, “Fabulous Disaster” sees Exodus now exploring their creative urges with each track possessing its own unique personality while still staying true to their thrash metal roots. It’s got enough high-intensity violence to satisfy the old-school but enough hooks to entice a new audience into the fold too. Steve Souza’s snarly vocals are a real highlight & when he gets things right (see “The Toxic Waltz” & “Corruption” for example) he gives Exodus a sarcastic yet no less aggressive attitude that I find really appealing. In fact, I’d suggest that he’s probably my favourite of Exodus' three front men. The other highlight is clearly Holt & Hunolt’s ability to create thrash metal riffs of the highest quality & even today I still find my mind going back to these early Exodus albums when I think of great thrash rhythm guitar work. The duo's guitar solos are perhaps a little more expressive & expansive than we’d heard from them before though. They try things that are a little out of the ordinary & it doesn’t always work but it creates an additional point of interest nonetheless. If pushed, I’d probably just prefer that they dropped the fluff & put the pedal to the metal to tell you the truth.

The album kicks off with an absolute belter in “The Last Act of Defiance”, a track that I regard as not only the high point of the album but also as one of the finest anthems of the Bay Area scene as a whole. It’s full to the brim with violence & vitriol which is exactly what I want from an Exodus song. This is followed by the title track which is a touch more accessible but possesses some quality hooks that keep the quality level running high. “The Toxic Waltz” makes up a perfect trio to start the tracklisting & has rightfully gone on to become one Exodus’ most treasured tracks. Souza’s cheeky lyrics & attitude are to die for while the riffs are simply mosh pit heaven. At this stage of their initial listen I’d suggest that most thrash fans would have been gearing themselves up to dish out some of their highest ratings but unfortunately the remainder of the tracklisting isn’t quite as consistently impressive, despite still holding some excellent Exodus material. A misguided cover version of War’s “Low Rider” is the only genuine failure & would seem to have been included merely to fill in time along with another cover version of AC/DC’s “Overdose” which is admittedly pretty good but sits much closer to hard rock than metal so it sounds more than a little out of place at the end of a predominantly thrash-focused record. The original material is all pretty good with the slower & lengthier “Like Father, Like Son”, the middle-finger-in-the-air rebellion of “Corruption” & the firey up-tempo thrashfest that is “Open Season” all being particularly strong. The southern slant to “Cajun Hell” is interesting enough to keep my attention but clearly isn’t peak-time Exodus while the angular, groove-laden riffage of “Verbal Razors” very obviously shows the impact they had on peers like Pantera.

As you can probably tell, the stronger material is clearly in the ascendancy here & it results in a strong & muscular album that I regard as being Exodus’ second-best full-length these days, just edging out records like “Pleasures of the Flesh” & 2005’s “Shovel Headed Kill Machine” & comfortably eclipsing their very popular 2004 comeback album “Tempo of the Damned”. It’s a shame that Exodus have never been able to put it all together consistently enough to deliver a record that compares favourably with their first-up effort “Bonded By Blood” but that’s not to say that I won’t happily take an album like “Fabulous Disaster” every day of the week given that it ticks all of my Bay Area thrash boxes. Fans of bands like Overkill, Testament & Death Angel should regard it as essential listening.

4/5

I completely agree. If you ignore the vocals then it sounds exactly like Led Zeppelin. Bill Ward & Geezer Butler play a swinging groove that gets your toe tapping more than your head banging. I'd suggest that "The Wizard" sits somewhere in between blues rock & hard rock personally. Anyone else have any thoughts on this one?

At least some of the material on "The Sound of Perseverance" was originally intended for Chuck's clean-sung progressive metal project Control Denied so it's hardly surprising that it doesn't sound like death metal.

Ok, let's get a bit more interesting because I don't think anyone was ever gonna argue against "Black Sabbath" being a metal track. We'll put it down with a generic Doom Metal tag for the moment. That brings us to "The Wizard" which isn't as straight forward. What are your thoughts here? Is it metal? How would you tag it? Heavy metal? Blues rock? Hard rock? Heavy psych? Something else?

Sabbat - "Dreamweaver" (1989)

English thrash metal front-runners Sabbat & I have had an interesting relationship over the years. I originally came across them through their 1989 sophomore album “Dreamweaver” in the very early 1990’s & they peaked my interest enough to see me investigating their 1988 debut album “History of a Time to Come” shortly afterwards too. It’s been many years since I last heard the debut but I remember really getting into it back in the day. “Dreamweaver” has been the one that’s gone on to gain most of the accolades though & I don’t recall myself being quite as infatuated as a lot of the gushing online reviews I’ve read in recent times. I certainly enjoyed the album but I can’t say that I ever placed it in the top couple of tiers of the thrash metal hierarchy. It’s been a very long time between drinks though so it’s about time I reached an informed position on one of the more senior thrash records of the late 1980’s.

Sabbat had maintained a steady lineup since “History of a Time to Come” which can’t be a bad thing although they’d since added a second guitarist in the relatively unknown Simon Jones. I won’t argue with that approach as dual guitar configurations have always been the way to go for extreme metal bands as far as I'm concerned. Label Noise Records once again dragged Sabbat over to Berlin for the recording sessions & gave Roy M. Rowland another chance at producing the album following some presumably positive experiences with “History of a Time to Come”. Rowland’s production experience wasn’t limited to Sabbat & also included records like Kreator’s “Terrible Certainty”, Laaz Rockit’s “Know Your Enemy” & “Annihilation Principle”, Midas Touch’s “Presage of Disaster”, Pariah’s “The Kindred” & Satan’s “Suspended Sentence” so he certainly knew his way around a studio. I have to admit that I was expecting something a little cleaner when going into my first revisit of “Dreamweaver” though as Sabbat just seem to give off this proggy vibe which is more about their image than anything musical. The reality is that “Dreamweaver” sounds pretty raw with the guitars slicing the listener like a finely sharpened blade.

“Dreamweaver” bursts out of the blocks with the first two tracks being the most effective on the tracklisting & seeing me holding out significant hope for a high-quality thrash metal journey. Atmospheric spoken word intro piece “The Beginning of the End” sets the scene nicely before album highlight “The Clerical Conspiracy” sets off at a rate of knots & shows Sabbat’s riffs to be underpinned by a Venom-inspired speed metal backbone that holds both energy & urgency. Unfortunately though, I find that “Dreamweaver” never again meets the promise of those early moments, instead feeling a lot more middling for the remainder of the album even if there aren’t many tracks that I consider to be legitimate failures. The lengthy “The Best of Enemies” is the exception to the rule as I find myself getting bored pretty early on which can’t be a good thing. Some of the other tracks offer great sections but they invariably fail to deliver a truly compelling holistic package.

The concept album format, cover artwork & focus on Skyclad front man Martin Walkyier’s lyrics lead one to expect a sound that’s much more progressive than the reality which isn't all that sophisticated or challenging, despite the lengthy song durations. Walkyier’s vocals dominate proceedings as they’re quite distinctive but, if I’m being honest, he can be a little irritating. He kinda sits in the snarly middle ground between Venom’s Cronos & Destruction’s Schmier but potentially overplays his hand a little in the interest of the storyline. He’s also quite monotonous in his delivery so can feel like he's spewing out a constant barrage of words. The riffs rely heavily on aggressive tremolo-picking & sheer speed but are not as interesting as one would hope so the lengthy track durations can tend to drag a bit.

Don't get me wrong, “Dreamweaver” is a pretty good thrash record & I’m probably being a little harsh on it due to the fact that its merits seem to be so unjustly inflated. I’d suggest that you probably have to become involved with it from a lyrical & thematic perspective in order to reap its full rewards though as the remainder is simply not as classic as it’s made out to be. Fans of Holy Terror, Hydra Vein & early Skyclad will no doubt find “Dreamweaver” to be of interest but I can’t see it challenging the Big Four any time soon.

3.5/5

Here's my review from a year or so back:

As most diehard extreme metal fans will know, there’s a rare & highly desirable brand of metal that is destined to forever bubble away beneath the service of the underground scene, leaving its blackened mark on only a chosen few who share knowing nods in dark, smoky dungeons of metal worship without ever daring to give up their unholy secret to those deemed to be unworthy. This particular brand of metal isn’t about glossy production jobs, technical prowess or pushing genres into previously untraversed territories. It’s about presenting extreme metal in it’s most evil & primal form & generally resides within the confines of the unholy trio of extreme metal subgenres i.e. thrash metal, death & black metal. The exact ratio of an artist’s composition isn’t important but it dare not step outside of those three. Additionally, there needs to be an element of mystery about the artist in question with much left to the listener’s imagination. It also helps a lot if these artists have never released an album but existed for just a relatively short time, releasing only a few crude demos, 7 inches or limited edition EPs so that the audience can always be left wondering what could have been & if the most pure realization of metal should stay in the underground forever. Sadistic Intent is one of these acts & I love them all the more for it.

I first discovered this underground Los Angeles death metal outfit back in the early 1990’s through the tape trading scene. From memory I found their 1990 “Impending Doom…” E.P. to be pretty interesting but it wouldn’t be until their 1994 “Resurrection” E.P. that they’d really get me raising an eyebrow or two with their talent for creating raw, dark & authentic old school death metal falling right in line with my musical preference at the time. I followed them onwards in the hope that I’d eventually see a full-length album being released at some stage. I’m glad I didn’t hold my breath because that’s still yet to eventuate but they did manage to release another excellent E.P. before drifting out of my sight in 1997’s highly regarded three-track effort “Ancient Black Earth”.

To cut to the chase, Sadistic Intent are a pure death metal band in the traditional sense of the term. They don’t provide a good imitation of late 80’s death metal here. "Ancient Black Earth" IS late 80’s death metal. It’s just that it was written, recorded & released in 1997. See what I’m getting at? These dudes simply get it. They understand what’s required to create a genuine old-school death metal atmosphere as they’ve clearly lived it. This sort of approach has become somewhat of a trend over the last decade or so & has seen lesser bands elevated to much higher levels of acclaim & fandom than Sadistic Intent can ever hope to achieve. They really are their own worst enemies as not releasing a full-length is never a great marketing ploy but one gets the feeling that they don't really care. The quality of their material however is very hard to deny.

It won’t take you long to figure out who Sadistic Intent were listening to around 1989. I’ll give you a hint. They start with “M” & end with “orbid Angel”. Ya with me? The short 16 minute duration of the “Ancient Black Earth” E.P. sounds almost exactly like “Altars Of Madness” & “Blessed Are The Sick” at times which certainly can’t be a bad thing now, can it? Are they as good as Trey & co? Well… in a word no but then who is? I mean “Altars Of Madness” is the still the greatest death metal release of all time in my opinion so I’ll take whatever I can get. Very few artists have been able to accurately replicate the riff structures that Trey Azagthoth created back in Morbid Angel's hey day but Rick Cortez & Vince Cervera make a really good fist of it here & even do a pretty decent job at the insanely chaotic guitar solos too even though they’re not in the same league as far as technical ability goes. The blast beats at the start & end of the title track (my personal fave) sound like they’ve been torn straight from Morbid Angel’s “Blasphemy” & I frankly lose my shit when that happens. Then you toss in some super-evil yet easily intelligible Dave Vincent-style death growls of pure darkness & I’m 100% in… hook, line & sinker. There are also a few riffs tossed in that remind me more of the early 90’s Swedish death metal sound but they’re very well done & still manage to maintain a blasphemous & undeniably evil atmosphere.

If you’re a fan of 80’s & early 90’s death metal then you probably owe it to yourself to give this E.P. a spin or four. “Ancient Black Earth” provides categorical proof that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to make high quality extreme metal. Sadistic Intent deliver on their promise with passion, substance & an unquestionable pedigree & in doing so prove themselves worthy of standing alongside their idols. This is underground death metal of a very high quality.

For fans of Morbid Angel, Repugnant & Mortem.

4/5

I have the DVD version of this release & really enjoy it. Looks like it's a 165 minute triple album in the CD format. It certainly won't disappoint fans of the band.

B.B. King - "Blues on the Bayou" (1998)

Electric blues from Mississippi, USA.

"Mentally Murdered" is actually on my playlist for the next week or so. It's been a while since I last revisited it so I'm interested to know how it’s held up.

I didn't misread or mistype my response Rex. I just thought you were saying that the only section of the track that takes things outside of the conventional doom space & into the traditional doom one is the last two minutes which see more up-tempo psychedelic rock & heavy metal components coming into effect. Clearly that wasn't the case but I'd argue that this section is a clear example of the sort of cross-pollination of genres that we generally see in the traditional doom metal model nonetheless.

I completely agree that "Black Sabbath" is a metal track & should have a doom metal tag of some description. I'd argue that it's not just the last 1:40 that represent the traditional doom metal sound though. The clean parts at the start offer both a deep blues & a psychedelic components on top of being extraordinarily doomy. If you've ever gotten extremely stoned to it then you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. The faster crescendo at the end also accounts for a good 30% of the song so I'm gonna go with a traditional doom metal tag but it doesn't make all that much difference in the grand scheme of things given that Metal Academy doesn't differentiate between traditional & conventional doom metal sounds.

Sonny, Morpheus? Thoughts on this? Feel free to disagree.

It looks like it might be just the four of us gents i.e. myself, Sonny, Rex & Morpheus. Perhaps Andi might join us too. It's also looking like Black Sabbath's self-titled debut album is the unanimous nomination as release number one for metal music. In order to set the scene for some interesting discussions moving forwards, I'd like to suggest that we all keep an open mind & do our due diligence before accepting that position. I'm proposing that we examine each track individually & come up with a position on how much of the album is actually metal &, if so, what subgenre it should rightfully fall under. Let's not simply take what other ill-informed sites have to say on the matter. We're better than that. Let's start with the highly celebrated opening track "Black Sabbath". Is it traditional doom metal, conventional doom metal, heavy metal, heavy pysch, hard rock. etc.? Perhaps something else I haven't mentioned? What do you think is the predominant sound there?

Here's the November feature release roster:

THE FALLEN: Morpheus Kitami, Ben, Daniel, Sonny

THE GATEWAY: Andi, Saxy

THE GUARDIANS: Xephyr, Morpheus Kitami

THE HORDE: Sonny, Daniel, Ben

THE INFINITE: Xephyr, Saxy, Andi

THE NORTH: Ben, Sonny, Daniel, Xephyr

THE PIT: Morpheus Kitami, Sonny, Daniel, Ben

THE REVOLUTION: Daniel, Andi

THE SPHERE: Andi, Daniel

Rex & Shezma, do you have any interest in being included in the rosters for your clans moving forwards?

Here are my submissions for the November playlist Vinny:

Pestilence - "Systematic Instruction" (from "Malleus Maleficarum", 1988)

Sacred Reich - "One Nation" (from "Surf Nicaragua" E.P., 1988)

Flotsam & Jetsam - "Hard On You" (from "No Place For Disgrace", 1988)

Forbidden - "As Good As Dead" (from "Forbidden Evil", 1988)

Testament - "The Ballad" (from "Practice What You Preach", 1989)

Num Skull - "Death & Innocence" (from "Ritually Abused", 1988)

Vendetta - "Never Die" (from "Brain Damage", 1988)

There won't be any submissions from me this month Andi.

Here's my submission for the November playlist Andi:

XavlegbmaofffassssitimiwoamndutroabcwapwaeiippohfffX - "Bone Saw" (from "Gore" E.P., 2016)

Here are my submissions for the November playlist Ben:

Archgoat - "Goat & the Moon" (from "The Light-Devouring Darkness", 2009)

Mgla - "III" (from "Age of Excuse", 2019)

Here are my submissions for the November playlist:

Napalm Death - "Morbid Deceiver" (from "The Curse" E.P., 1988)

VoidCeremony - "Forlorn Portrait: Ruins of an Ageless Slumber" (from "Threads of Unknowing", 2023)

Nile - "I Whisper in the Ear of the Dead" (from "In Their Darkened Shrines", 2002)

XavlegbmaofffassssitimiwoamndutroabcwapwaeiippohfffX - "Gore" (from "Gore" E.P., 2016)

Pestilence - "Malleus Maleficarum/Antropomorphia" (from "Malleus Maleficarum", 1988)