Daniel's Forum Replies

So when the best album by the best band in this genre doesn't even qualify, it just feels so awkward, 

I get what you're saying but "the best album by the best album" is purely subjective & often doesn't match up with "most popular" which I assume is what you really meant?

I still maintain that Suicidal Tendencies have never topped their debut and as such were a better hardcore band than a thrash band. I still spin that album quite often (even though the Reagan stuff is outdated now) but almost never play any of their later material.

As you're no doubt aware by now, my taste for hardcore & punk in general isn't very strong so I've always regarded "Lights Camera Revolution" & (to a lesser extent) "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today" as the only essential Suicidal records which is why I've been so surprised at how little appeal the latter offered me upon revisiting it.

It's harder for me.  I have a very strict ruleset for albums I will regard with the highest respect on an artistic view.  I've had a difficult time finding a crossover thrash album I hold with this regard, because many of the best albums still show the bands making at least one of the biggest mistakes in making an album that's brilliant front to back, and this mistake is usually sameyness and the lack of variety to keep things original.  So when the best album by the best band in this genre doesn't even qualify, it just feels so awkward, unlike the difference between Pogues' Rum Sodomy and the Lash and If I Should Fall From Grace with God, which are both IMO flawless and tackle their respective different genres (celtic rock and celtic punk), without blemish.  For Suicidal Tendencies, the genre switch here happened right after the band had used up their best ideas.

I'm curious Rex, if you regard sameyness & a lack of variety as deal-breakers in achieving a classic record, how did Devourment's "Butcher The Weak" make it through to achieve a full five star rating this morning?

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

Here's my updated Top Ten Crossover Thrash Releases of All Time list after discovering that Suicidal Tendencies' "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today" a) isn't really a crossover release & b) isn't nearly as good as I remembered it being during this weekend's revisit:

01. Suicidal Tendencies – “Lights Camera Revolution” (1989)

02. S.O.D. – “Speak English or Die” (1985)

03. Agnostic Front – “Cause For Alarm” (1986)

04. Cryptic Slaughter – “Convicted” (1986)

05. The Accused – “The Return Of… Martha Splatterhead” (1986)

06. Agnostic Front – “Liberty & Justice For…” (1987)

07. Attitude Adjustment – “American Paranoia” (1986)

08. Crumbsuckers – “Life Of Dreams” (1986)

09. Permanent Damage - "End of Innocence" (1987)

10. Excel - "Split Image" (1987)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/174

Suicidal Tendencies - "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today" (1988)

1988’s “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can’t Even Smile Today” album represents my first experience with Venice Beach crossover thrash legends Suicidal Tendencies who initially came to my attention through the classic opening track “Trip At The Brain” which I heard on a late-night underground metal program some time in 1989. I’d certainly seen their name around while associating with a group of skaters from the year above me at high school but hadn’t taken the time to explore them until that moment. This admittedly very impressive track would prove to be the catalyst for further exploration though with Ben & I would soon picking up “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can’t Even Smile Today” on cassette. It’s a release that I've held vague but generally fond memories of over the years yet I can’t say that I remembered too many of the specifics going into this revisit as I haven’t returned to it in decades. I’ve recently found myself asking why that is as I certainly remember a lot more of its 1990 follow-up “Lights Camera Revolution”, an album that I regard as being the pinnacle of the crossover thrash movement. Well... we’re about to get some greater transparency on that so let’s dive right in.

I don’t have much time for Suicidal Tendencies’ 1987 sophomore album “Join The Army”. It was more of a transitional record than a genuine crossover record with the rhythm guitar tone still remaining firmly in punk territory. I really struggled with Mike Muir’s pitchy & generally inadequate vocal performance too which made the album a bit of a chore to listen to if I'm being honest. The introduction of new lead guitarist Rocky George was the source of great promise though as he brought with him a metal focus & an instrumental competence that gave Suicidal a noticeable lift in potential. “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can’t Even Smile Today” may only have landed a year later but the differences in approach between the two albums become apparent very quickly after pressing play. The production job is much thicker, more cohesive & generally much more focused on a metal sound rather than a hardcore one. Also, you’ll struggle to identify much in the way of hardcore on the first four tracks which see Suicidal now sitting firmly in a metal space. Hints at hardcore will eventually appear once you reach the middle of the tracklisting & there are a few legitimate crossover thrash tracks included (“The Miracle”, “The Feeling’s Back” & CD bonus track “Suicyco Mania”) but I think it’s fair to say that crossover is more of a secondary component than the primary one as Suicidal simply feel more like a genuine metal band at this point. The classic heavy metal influence that was evident on “Join The Army” is once again clearly visible here with songs like “Pledge Your Allegiance”, the title track & “One Too Many Times” sitting very much in that space while “Surf & Slam” & “Sorry?!” see the band hit on a sound that could only be described as speed metal in my opinion. It’s (perhaps unsurprisingly) the undiluted thrash metal of tracks like “Trip At The Brain” & “If I Don’t Wake Up” that have the most impact on me though.

Rocky George’s lead guitar work is a definite highlight as he builds on the concepts he’d started on “Join The Army” & takes them to another level with his tendency to contribute a continuous layer of shredding lead work over the course of entire songs becoming somewhat of a trademark at this point. His chops would improve further on “Lights Camera Revolution” but he was already very capable & pulls it all off with relative ease. Muir’s vocals are another story altogether though & I’d have to suggest that my nostalgic memories of the album hadn’t prepared me for the fact that Muir simply can’t sing. The instrumentation is generally very consistent across the entire tracklisting but it's Muir’s contribution that either makes or breaks each song & unfortunately I’d have to suggest that there are more misses than hits on this occasion. He absolutely destroys songs like “Hearing Voices” & “Sorry?!”, making potentially quite fun (if fairly generic) thrash & speed metal songs into cringe-worthy disappointments that fail to live up to their potential due to some clumsy execution & some very lazy chorus hooks. The consistent use of hardcore-style gang vocals doesn’t help all that much either it has to be said.

It's funny that (other than the obvious highlight in opener “Trip At The Brain”) not a lot of this material sounded very familiar at all so I’ve had to question whether I really did rate this album all that highly back in the day. I tend to have a very strong memory for music so, based on this experience, I'd have to suggest that I may not have spent as much of my formative years with “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can’t Even Smile Today” as I thought I did. It’s been good to finally get some clarity on its qualities now though & I’ve subsequently realigned my position on the album. It's a very inconsistent release that serves mainly transitional purposes as the first genuine thrash record Suicidal released on their journey towards their career-defining follow-up album. If you go completely nuts for bands like D.R.I., Municipal Waste & Dr. Living Dead then you’ll definitely want to give it a few spins though, if only as a point of historical reference.

3/5

A couple of releases that got an airing while cleaning the house yesterday:

BUCK-TICK - "十三階は月光 (Juusankai wa gekkou)" (2005)

Alternative/gothic rock from the Japanese visual kei movement.

Bodychoke - "Cold River Songs" (1998)

Noise/post/gothic rock from London, England.

Suffocation basically took Cannibal Corpse's gimmick to a new level, except from what I hear, Cannibal Corpse was better.

5.5 / 10

To be fair, Suffocation's signature sound predates Cannibal Corpse's one pretty comfortably as Suffocation had already pretty much defined their sound on their 1990 "Reincremation" demo & further refined it for "Human Waste", both of which were released prior to Cannibal Corpse upping the ante on their brutality for 1991's  "Butchered At Birth" sophomore album.

A catchy heavy metal number from these Canadian thrash metallers.

Bell Witch - "Mirror Reaper" (2017)

It’s interesting that I’ve held a decade-long relationship with Seattle-based funeral doom metal duo Bell Witch now but are still yet to submit a rating or review for one of the releases. That’s not all that unusual as I tend to listen to a lot of new metal releases while doing other things & have a strict policy of only rating/reviewing releases that I’ve invested a minimum of three active listens in. The reason that it’s a little unexpected with Bell Witch though is that I tend to put the effort in with artists that are this widely praised & that begs the question of why I haven’t with “Mirror Reaper” which is very highly regarded, particularly with the regulars on our wonderful online platform. Is it because I find the prospect of an 84-minute single track funeral doom metal album a daunting prospect? I think it might be to tell you the truth but I’ve decided that it’s about time that I bit the bullet because I remember “Mirror Reaper” being a very engaging release & besides… that pearler of a cover is surely justification enough, isn’t it?

“Mirror Reaper” sees Bell Witch returning with a slightly different lineup to that of their 2015 sophomore album "Four Phantoms" following the tragic death of drummer Adrian Guerra, an event that seems to have played a major role in the direction of their third album. Founding member, vocalist & bass player Dylan Desmond (formerly of funeral sludge metallers Sathothrace) has subsequently recruited Jesse Shreibman (current drummer with Portland death metallers Autophagy) to replace his lost brother in arms & together they continue to expand on Bell Witch’s unique take on funeral doom which famously excludes any guitar work whatsoever. That’s right ladies & gentlemen, Bell Witch don’t have a guitarist & most people probably wouldn’t pick it up if they didn't read about it in the media as they use the bass in a layered fashion that ingeniously mimics a traditional guitar but also gives their sound a slightly different feel. This fact alone makes a band like Bell Witch a very intriguing prospect of course but once you get through your first listen you'll find that you soon get over it & get on with your enjoyment of the band’s music as a whole.

Bell Witch’s unique brand of funeral doom metal is both highly atmospheric & quite sombre & introspective in nature. It’s certainly crushingly heavy at times (particularly when Desmond’s super-deep death growls are brought to the foreground) but the duo choose their moments to bring out their more savage side. More often we find them directing their focus towards the listener’s emotional side, regularly utilizing stripped-back post-rock sections to great effect with the predominant use of bass guitar & a whiny-ish indie-style vocal delivery giving them a depth that other artists don’t generally touch on. That word “depth” is actually a very good reference for a record like “Mirror Reaper” because it’s an undeniably deep album but depth isn’t the same thing as substance & I’ll elaborate on that a little bit because it’s an important factor in my final scoring. Bell Witch have absolutely nailed the execution of their craft with “Mirror Reaper”. In fact, I’d be very surprised if it’s not exactly what they envisaged when going into the studio with the production perfectly capturing the mellow atmospherics. What’s missing for me is the melodic hooks to take me from really enjoying an album to levels of utter worship. Perhaps the lack of traditional guitars contributes to that as I don’t feel there are enough melodic hooks for me to latch onto & I find myself craving some lead guitar work at various stages throughout the run time.

Regardless of this, Bell Witch have produced a high quality, emotionally-gripping release that portrays the band’s grief very well. It’s not the heaviest funeral doom record you’ll ever hear & perhaps that’s been to the Bell Witch’s detriment when it comes to appealing to someone with my personal taste profile but I find it very hard to pull my gaze away from what’s going on here, despite the album being undeniably self-indulgent in it’s scope. I think some of that can be put down to the fact that the piece is structured in a way that sees it slowly evolving into several quite different sections which gives the album a memorability that’s not always evident on single-track funeral doom records. For all these reasons, I don’t doubt that funeral doom nuts will go bonkers over "Mirror Reaper", especially those with a penchant for artists like Germany’s Ahab, Nashville’s Loss or fellow Seattleites Un.

4/5

Here's my updated Top Ten Funeral Doom Metal Release of All Time list with Monolithe's very solid "Monolithe II" being the unlucky one to miss out on this occasion:

01. Esoteric - "The Maniacal Vale" (2008)

02. Esoteric – “Paragon of Dissonance” (2011)

03. Esoteric – “Metamorphogenesis” (1999)

04. Esoteric - "A Pyrrhic Existence" (2019)

05. Ahab - "The Call of The Wretched Sea" (2006)

06. Esoteric - "The Pernicious Enigma" (1997)

07. Evoken – “Atra Mors” (2012)

08. The Howling Void – “Shadows Over The Cosmos” (2010)

09. Bell Witch - "Mirror Reaper" (2017)

10. Thergothon – “Stream From The Heavens” (1994)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/132

Powerful late 80's heavy metal from one of the gods of the genre & featuring a wonderful performance from Zakk Wylde on guitar.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

I've passed this nomination as the release no longer qualifies for inclusion in The Gateway.

Here's my updated top ten list after enjoying this week's revisit to Yngwie Malmsteen's "Odyssey" a fair bit more than I was expecting:

01. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Odyssey” (1988)

02. Vinnie Moore – “Mind’s Eye” (1986)

03. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Marching Out” (1985)

04. Jason Becker – “Perpetual Burn” (1988)

05. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Rising Force” (1984)

06. Yngwie Malmsteen – “Trial By Fire: Live In Leningrad” (1989)

07. Yngwie J. Malmsteen – “Trilogy” (1986)

08. Cacophony – “Speed Metal Symphony” (1987)

09. Yngwie Malmsteen – “The Seventh Sign” (1994)

10. Marty Friedman – “Dragon’s Kiss” (1988)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/141

Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force - "Odyssey" (1988)

1988’s “Odyssey” album represents my introduction to Swedish neoclassical guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen with my first experience being through a track that included on the cover CD from the initial edition of Australian metal magazine “Hot Metal” in 1989 (yes the same one that I spoke about earlier this week in my Ozzy Osbourne review). The song in question was an accessible & anthemic heavy metal number called “Heaven Tonight” that possesses some incredibly catchy vocal hooks & some truly transcendent guitar work. Despite my already having been converted to extreme metal in a major way, I couldn’t help but become a little bit obsessed with this song & it saw me purchasing the “Odyssey” cassette shortly afterwards which would subsequently see me exploring all of Yngwie’s back catalogue & each successive release right through to the middle of the 1990s. I’d soon find myself focusing most of my attention on the first couple of Yngwie records but in the back of my mind I’ve always held a strong passion for “Odyssey”. I’m not sure I realized just how powerful my feelings of nostalgia were for it until now though.

“Odyssey” sees Yngwie continuing to move in a more commercial direction than his earlier works with the focus being just as much on song-writing as it is on the band leader’s instrumental virtuosity. It saw Yngwie recruiting former Rainbow front man Joe Lynn Turner to front his Rising Force band with Joe putting in a stellar performance that I’d suggest even steals the show given that Yngwie’s solos tend to spend the majority of their time retreading old ground. This is highlighted in the fact that all of my favourite songs are those with strong & memorable chorus hooks. Anders & Jens Johansson are back once again & I’ve always enjoyed their jazzy & very musical contributions while former Rainbow & Black Sabbath bassist Bob Daisley also make a contribution by taking over the bass duties on a number of tracks.

The band explore a number of different sounds across the tracklisting from power metal (“Rising Force”, “Riot In The Dungeons”, “Faster Than The Speed Of Light”) to neoclassical metal (“Bite The Bullet”, “Riot In The Dungeons”) to progressive metal (“Krakatau”) to AOR (“Dreaming (Tell Me)”) to hard rock (“Now Is The Time”) but the major component of the album sits with classic heavy metal. In fact, it frustrates me that we so often see Yngwie's more vocal-oriented albums being labelled as neoclassical metal simply because of his lead guitar techniques. There really isn’t a lot of neoclassical influence in most of the song structures if you examine them closely. The tracklisting is pretty consistent with only the horribly dated hard rocker “Now Is The Time” failing to reach an acceptable level but it’s the mind-blowing singalong highlights that really get to me. “Heaven Tonight” is still my pick of the bunch but any time I hear songs like “Déjà vu” or “Crystal Ball” I inevitably find myself struggling to reach Lynn Turner’s range at the top of my voice & invariably make a dick of myself yet you’ll struggle to take the smile off my face. There’s an element of class about most of the remainder of the album too though & I’m not sure that I remember feeling as emphatically positive about an Yngwie tracklisting in all honesty.

“Odyssey” has definitely left me surprised at how strong my nostalgia is for it & I’d actually suggest that it’s my favourite Yngwie release these days. Who am I kidding? If this is a neoclassical metal record (which it’s not) then it’s the finest example that I’ve yet experienced. Apparently I don’t care much if Yngwie focuses on a more song-driven format & can even tolerate a little cheese in the interest of memorability. I’d strongly encourage fans of artists like Cacophony, Axel Rudi Pell & Alcatrazz to check “Odyssey” out while keeping an open mind as it’s a quality heavy metal release in its own right rather than simply being a platform for its illustrious band leader to stroke his ego.

4/5

Avant-garde progressive metal from Brooklyn, USA.

My updated Top Ten Technical Thrash Metal Releases of All Time list after Annihilator's "Alice in Hell" became ineligible (i.e. is rightfully no longer listed as Technical Thrash Metal at Metal Academy) & my revisit to Vektor's "Outer Isolation" drew unexpectedly favourable results:

01. Coroner – “Mental Vortex” (1991)

02. Sadus – “A Vision Of Misery” (1992)

03. Coroner – “No More Color” (1989)

04. Cryptic Shift – “Visitations From Enceladus” (2020)

05. Ripping Corpse - "Dreaming With The Dead" (1991)

06. Toxik – “World Circus” (1987)

07. Аспид – “Кровоизлияние” (1993)

08. Coroner – “Punishment For Decadence” (1988)

09. Vektor - "Outer Isolation" (2011)

10. Vektor – “Black Future” (2009)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/173

Annihilator - "Never, Neverland" (1990)

This Canadian thrash metal outfit made a big impression on Ben & I with their 1989 debut album "Alice In Hell" (4/5) & Annihilator's sophomore record is generally regarded as another essential listening experience for any self-respecting thrasher. I have to admit that I've never quite seen it that way though if I'm being completely honest. The replacement of front man Randy Rampage with Coburn Pharr is certainly an obvious point of difference but I think Coburn does a reasonable job here, even if he does give the album a very different feel to the more aggressive & less melodic Randy. Jeff Waters guitar work is sensational & potentially tops his first up effort. His performances alone are really on another level to the rest of the thrash competition. The links to technical thrash metal were misguided with the debut but here Jeff has ramped up the complexity (particularly during the first half of the tracklisting) & I feel that the tag sits much more comfortably this time.

The album starts off in a rich vein of form with one of Annihilator's best tracks in "The Fun Palace" before continuing in solid fashion for the remainder of the A side. The B side sees the quality dropping a touch though with all of the highlights sitting on the other side. The only weak track as such is the silly "Kraf Dinner" but the rest of the B side is pretty decent without ever really commanding your attention. As with "Alice in Hell", there are a couple of speed metal numbers included in "Kraf Dinner" & "Reduced To Ash" while "Phantasmagoria" & "I Am In Command" take a more traditional thrash metal approach. We also get a little traditional heavy metal in "Stonewall" while the title track & "Imperiled Eyes" are fully fledged progressive metal works so there's certainly enough variety of offer. It just comes down to consistency & I'm afraid to say that "Never, Neverland" hasn't quite lived up to its potential when compared with its highly celebrated older sibling. Diehard fans of the more technically inclined thrash bands like Coroner, Heathen & Toxik might disagree though.

3.5/5

Ozzy Osbourne - "No Rest For The Wicked" (1988)

Another decent if inessential Ozzy solo record, this time featuring the wonderfully precise & powerful lead guitar work of Zakk Wylde. Highlights like "Breaking All The Rules" & "Fire In The Sky" are very solid but only "Miracle Man" (which was my introduction to Ozzy back in 1989) meets classic standard while the couple of rock tune are both disappointing, particularly the God-awful glam metal song "Crazy Babies". I actually like this one a touch more than the over-produced "Bark At The Moon" these days & it won't disappoint fans of classic heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath, Dio & Iommi.

3.5/5

A very solid heavy metal guitar shred anthem from the Megadeth/Cacophony axeman.

Liturgy - "93696" (2023)

So I thought it was about time that I checked out the most heavily hyped black metal-related release of the year so far in the sixth full-length album from unusual Brooklyn outfit Liturgy. I've found their career to be a little hit & miss over the years since first drawing my attention back in 2009 but there's no question that records like 2019's "H.A.Q.Q." & 2011's "Aesthethica" (my personal favourite) are interesting takes on the extreme metal medium that push the boundaries of what the scene was originally intended to cover.

"93696" sees Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix & co. taking their creativity to a number of weird & wonderful places with a sound that may utilize black metal tools but in reality is in direct opposition to the very ethos of what black metal stands for. I mean, I believe that this release is intended as a soundtrack for the process of ascending to Heaven for fuck's sake which is hardly common-place black metal territory now, is it? Here we find Liturgy drawing upon "Lawrence of Arabia" style cinematic sounds, quirky Frank Zappa-esque jazz rock, Tool-ish progressive metal & full-blown experimental music for inspiration & they pull it all together in a way that leaves the listener consistently on edge. Despite the use of tremolo-picking & blast-beats, the only genuine trace of black metal left in Liturgy's sound can be found in Hunt-Hendrix's shrieking vocal delivery to be honest as the atmosphere simply doesn't feel like black metal any more.

The album is certainly built around two 14+ minute epics but there are a number of other lengthy tracks that take the listener on a mini-journey as well. Interestingly though, I find many of the short interludes to be nothing short of outstanding & some of the most rewarding pieces on offer while there's really only one failure amongst the fifteen tracks in the loose & pointless "Red Crown II". The hugely ambitious 82 minute run time probably needed a fair bit of risk-taking & adventure in order to maintain the listener's interest in all honesty though so you can forgive the odd misstep, especially when the holistic package represents Liturgy's best work in more than a decade. The more hardened black metal disciples should take a look within deep themselves before attempting "93696" as it definitely requires an open mind but fans of more expansive artists like Krallice, Victory Over The Sun & Jute Gyte shouldn't hesitate to check it out.

3.5/5

Echo & the Bunnymen - "Heaven Up Here" (1981)

Post-punk/gothic rock from Liverpool, England.

It defeats the purpose for me to revisit the album as I'm not a member of either clan so I can't vote on the Hall of Judgement entry. I'll let those with more of a vested interest battle it out at the below link. It's fair to say that I don't think "Biomech" qualifies as either Alternative Metal or Industrial Metal though.

https://metal.academy/hall/396

I've added a Hall of Judgement entry to have the release added to The Gateway under Alternative Metal first as we can't remove it from The Infinite until it has another clan.

It's certainly not clear-cut & I remember pondering over the correct tag at the time but ended up conceding in the end. Feel free to nominate it for the Hall of Judgement as that's what it's there for.

Yes, I’d suggest that it qualifies as progressive metal.

Jane's Addiction - "Nothing's Shocking" (1988)

Despite being thoroughly infatuated with extreme metal, I've always been open to all types of music, even from quite a young age. Evidence of this can be seen in my deep emotional attachment to the first couple of albums from this Los Angeles alternative rock outfit. I first discovered Jane's Addiction through their 1990 sophomore record "Ritual de lo habitual" shortly after release & worked my way backwards to their debut studio album "Nothing's Shocking" as well as their self-titled 1987 live album. "Ritual de lo habitual" is the undisputed high point of their career but "Nothing's Shocking" is still a wonderful listen in it's own right. It's certainly not as consistent as it's younger sibling but there's a crap-tonne of variation & the highlights are truly magical.

I've recently seen "Nothing's Shocking" being claimed as an alternative metal release at other online resources but that's pushing the friendship way further than it can sustain in my opinion because metal only makes a small contribution to the album with the rock component outweighing it by a significant margin. When they do get their metal on Perry Farrell & co manage to create a vital & hard-edged sound that may well have provided some influence for a band like Tool. At other times you can expect everything from a fairly unintimidating brand of alternative rock that sounds like it was the inspiration for bands like Spin Doctors & Blind Melon to ambitious psychedelic & acoustic rock outings that bring to mind Led Zeppelin's more experimental mid-70's records to funk-infused alternative groovers similar to what Living Colour were doing at the time to intense & dangerous hard rockers ala Guns 'n' Roses. There's certainly a couple of misses (see the disposable "Standing In The Shower...Thinking" & "Thank You Boys") but the hits confront you with the power of ten zillion jet engines, leaving the most inspired tracks like "Up The Beach", "Ted, Just Admit It" & particularly "Summertime Rolls" & "Mountain Song" sitting amongst my favourite memories of being 14 & 15 years old. I tend to go for the heavier & more stripped back & atmospheric tracks at either end of the spectrum the most but if you're in any way inclined towards late 80's/early 90's alternative rock & grunge then I'd encourage you to check out "Nothing's Shocking".

4/5

"The IVth Crusade" is my favourite Bolt Thrower release these days. They have a number of classic releases in my opinion but I think everything came together in perfect unison on this album & seeing them on the associated tour was an almost life-changing experience. 4.5/5

A very solid hard rocker from one of the elite singers in all of metal.

Sanguisugabogg - "Homicidal Ecstasy" (2023)

Ridiculously monikered Ohio-based death metallers Sanguisugabogg (Latin for blood-sucking toilet) first entered my world back in 2019 through their debut “Pornographic Seizures” E.P. which I had a bit of time for to be honest. Unfortunately, I lost some of that initial interest following their 2021 debut full-length “Tortured Whole” which seemed to receive a whole bunch of hype but, in reality, didn’t offer a lot in the way of substance. 2023 has seen the band redeeming themselves to an extent though with their brand new sophomore album “Homicidal Ecstasy” seeing Sanguisugabogg hitting on enough quality riffs & grooves to keep my body moving & my face smiling.

You see, a band like Sanguisugbogg isn’t meant to be taken too seriously & the comments I made about their debut album are perhaps defeating the purpose because I’m not sure it was ever the band’s intent to create a package that required much in the way of in-depth thought. I’ve made no secret about my preference for a more serious brand of extreme metal so it ironically takes me a fair amount of effort to come around to bands that focus on simply having a bit of fun. Thankfully that effort has proven to be worth it on this occasion though with “Homicidal Ecstasy” utilizing a lovely thick production & some very tight (if simple) performances to create a chunky set of death metal anthems that are made for live performance.

Strangely, “Homicidal Ecstasy” seems to be being tagging as a brutal/slam death metal release which is entirely inaccurate in my opinion. I can see why people are being fooling into going that way as Sanguisugabogg certainly utilize a lot of heavily palm-muted & mid-tempo death metal riffs that aren’t too dissimilar to those used by most slam death metal bands in their breakdowns. Also, the use of a horribly pingy snare drum sound is one of the signature tools in slam so I can kinda understand the casual listener going down that path. The clear differentiator though is the distinct lack of brutality because Sangisugabogg don’t make much of an effort to savage the listener into oblivion, instead looking to hit on a fun & catchy groove metal riff or create a bouncy beatdown rhythm that’ll no doubt have the masses swarming across the dancefloor in violent worship.

There’s still not a lot of substance here it has to be said & I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to that absence presenting somewhat of a challenge for me. In fact, in many ways “Homicidal Ecstasy” sounds a lot like what you always wished Six Feet Under might sound like but don’t take that as a bad thing because, while Sanguisugabogg may not challenge you from a brutality or a technicality point of view, they more than make up for it in their execution which sees them sitting fairly comfortably alongside other modern death metal bands like 200 Stab Wounds, Frozen Soul & Fulci.

3.5/5

I don't actually think Metal Archives' issues are related to a misguided understanding of what metal is. My impression is that the key players simply don't like certain genres & use their platform to try to warp people's impressions of them which is something that I'm very much opposed to.

With other platforms it comes down to education or the methodology for adding bands & releases to their site in my opinion. People need to stop believing everything they read on the internet because the ability to create & finance a website does not make someone (including me) any less ignorant. How else can you explain the argument Rex mentioned earlier whereby some people are tempted to link those last couple of Death albums to thrash?? Also, no administrator can possibly listen to every band/release before adding them to a database so you have to use something as a guide which leaves you open to the accuracy of that guide. We certainly experience that here at the Academy but thankfully we've developed a community & a platform that are more conducive to accurate outcomes than our competition which was kinda the point of creating the site in the first place.

And for the record, I wouldn't say that the hair metal argument is a joke. Many of those releases are a combination of metal & hard rock so there are examples that fall on either side of the equation or both.

Please bare in mind that everything I'm about to say is just my opinion & I raise it purely in the interest of healthy discussion Rex but personally I don't think anyone is being disadvantaged by being dual tagged. In fact, I'd suggest that it's an advantage as there's a greater potential for fans of both genres to investigate the artist in question. I don't think the lines are as blurred as you're making out either. Perhaps they USED to be back in the 70's & 80's, mainly because a lot of the trademark sounds were still being defined so there was a lot of cross-pollination & the actual written definitions hadn't been firmed up as yet. That's not the case now though as we have clear definition around the attributes that each subgenre should possess in order to qualify. Sure, there will always be bands that represent hybrids but I don't see anything wrong with that.

I actually think that a lot of the confusion you mention comes from people that don't take the time to understand what a particular genre is all about by exploring the important releases that prompted the genre's creation in the first place & paying attention to the key elements at play before using the label to tag releases. Many people simply end up taking the genre names at face value & creating their own interpretations of what constitutes an x metal release. I'd suggest that's the case with the speed metal example you raised earlier as you need to go back to the underground scene of the 1980's in order to understand that genre properly but, once you do that, I don't think it's all that hard to identify. As an example of where the lines have been blurred unnecessarily, the term "melodic death metal" doesn't refer to ALL death metal that employs melody. It refers to a particular sound that contains some defined attributes but we often see people overlooking those by tagging any death metal that's remotely melodic as melodeath. The same goes for sludge metal. People seem to want to tag anything with a guitar tone that they deem to sound "sludgy" as sludge metal. Another example? "I hear a breakdown here. Must be metalcore then!" Is there actually any genuine hardcore influence though? Often the answer is no. I could go on & on & on about each genre in a similar manner but the moral of my story is that music doesn't just need to be "heavy" in order to qualify as metal in my opinion. It still needs to possess the attributes of the genres definition. If it possesses all of the key attributes of the hard rock definition but just happens to be heavy then it's simply a heavier example of hard rock. I don't think there's all that much of a grey area in the definitions. It's all in people's interpretations of them as a release either possesses the required attributes or it doesn't. If it possesses the attributes of both heavy metal & hard rock then a dual tagging is fine. There's no confusion there at all as far as I can see.

I think I heard this album as a youngster but don't recall much about the experience so I don't have a position on its eligibility for metal status at this stage.

I've posted it in the Hall of Judgement for voting though so let's see what people think.

https://metal.academy/hall/395

My feelings on this one are the same as I detailed in the GnR thread. I don't think Deep Purple (or Budgie for that matter) should qualify as metal.

Let's see what everyone else thinks though. I've posted this nomination in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/394

Guns 'n' Roses certainly have a heavy sound in comparison to most other rock music (as well as some of the lighter heavy metal releases to be fair) but the instrumental techniques utilized are still drawn from rock rather than metal in my opinion (i.e. a bluesy feel, open-string riffs, pentatonic licks, 4x4 rock beats, no use of double-kick, minimal use of palm-muted down-strokes, a groovier edge to their riffs & rhythms that has you tapping your foot rather than banging your head, etc.). Scorpions have a few metal tracks here & there but for the most part sit much more comfortably under the hard rock tag too in my experience (which amounts to their run of six albums from 1976 through to 1984). The only Scorpions album I've heard that's worthy of a metal tag is "Blackout" which, to my ears at least, contains a mixture of hard rock & heavy metal songs.

Let's see what others think though as I've just posted this nomination in the Hall of Judgement.

German heavy metal. Comfortably my favourite track from this month's The Guardians feature release.

My Dying Bride - "Songs of Darkness, Words of Light" (2004)

The eighth full-length from Halifax's finest doom/death exponents is another strong effort that combines their various components in possibly the most cohesive way yet with the doom/death, gothic metal & conventional doom metal elements being perfectly entwined to create a focused & unified journey. The album begins in solid fashion over the first few tracks before dropping the momentum a little through the middle, only to recover in the most emphatic way possible by closing with two of My Dying Best tracks ever. Aaron's clean vocals are perhaps his best to date as I don't find them half as repetitive as he is sometimes guilty of. His harsh vocals do sound a little weak through the first half of the album though before recovering for the stronger material at the back end of the tracklisting. While there are no weak tracks included, the mid-album lull does prevent me from reaching for my higher scores but there's not doubt that "Songs of Darkness, Words of Light" is a strong release that fans of bands like Paradise Lost, Anathema & Draconian will do their fair share of frothing over. In fact, I'd take it over 2001's widely praised "The Dreadful Hours" album & only place it behind My Dying Bride's classic 1992-1995 material in their overall back catalogue these days.

4/5

Seminal mid-80's death/thrash from the Teutonic scene.

Poison - "Into The Abyss..." demo (1987)

This German death/thrash outfit's seminal third demo tape which has gone on to become somewhat of a cult classic over the years. I picked it up in my early tape trading days & recall quite liking it but don't remember it blowing me away in similar ways to what many seem to claim these days, perhaps because extreme metal was travelling forward at such a rate of knots  that the scene had already moved past this sound by the time I got to it in the early 1990's. My opinion on the merits of "Into The Abyss..." hasn't changed much either as I don't find it to be much more than a pretty decent (if quite aggressive) Teutonic thrash demo with some unusually intimidating death metal vocals that offered a similarly deranged edge to Dead (Morbid/Mayhem). The musicianship & production are very good for this type of release but I wouldn't say that they're anything particularly special. The riffs range from chuggy (& often generic) thrash-by-numbers to the more visceral up-tempo thrash of Teutonic contemporaries like Kreator & Sodom to a doomier sound that reminds me of the slower moments on Death's "Scream Bloody Gore" album. It's really just the psychotic vocals of front man Virgin Slaughter that differentiates Poison & makes them so influential with the more extreme death/black metal artists to come in my opinion. "Into The Abyss..." is definitely worth a listen if you want to hear the transition from the thrash metal of the early 80's to the death metal of the late 80's openly playing out before your eyes with Sweden's Merciless, Chile's Pentagram & Australia's Slaughter Lord being pretty good points of reference.

3.5/5

Marty Friedman - "Dragon's Kiss" (1988)

The debut album from the much-loved Cacophony & Megadeth shredder is very much a mixed bag that sees Friedman utilizing progressive metal, speed metal & heavy metal bases for which to support his amazing neoclassical lead guitar stylings. I tend to find the heavier & less classically-inspired moments to be the most effective but it's unfortunately when Marty hints at his future new age direction with some very positive & quite cheesy melodic ideas that I find myself switching off, particularly during the horrid closer "Thunder March" which has proven to be the deciding factor in my chances of "Dragon's Kiss" achieving a respectable rating. If (unlike myself) you can overcome the failings of those couple of tracks then there's a fair bit to enjoy for fans of Jason Becker, Cacophony & Michael Angelo Batio though. In fact, I spent a fair bit of time marveling over Friedman's undeniable chops as a young fella so it's surprised me that this revisit hasn't amounted to a greater result.

3/5

Here's my updated top ten list:

01. Vinnie Moore – “Mind’s Eye” (1986)

02. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Marching Out” (1985)

03. Jason Becker – “Perpetual Burn” (1988)

04. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Rising Force” (1984)

05. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Odyssey” (1988)

06. Yngwie Malmsteen – “Trial By Fire: Live In Leningrad” (1989)

07. Yngwie J. Malmsteen – “Trilogy” (1986)

08. Cacophony – “Speed Metal Symphony” (1987)

09. Yngwie Malmsteen – “The Seventh Sign” (1994)

10. Marty Friedman – “Dragon’s Kiss” (1988)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/141

Updating my Favourite Metal Release of Each Year list to include my latest discovery:

https://metal.academy/lists/single/217

1970: Black Sabbath – “Paranoid”

1971: Black Sabbath – “Master Of Reality”

1972: Black Sabbath – “Vol 4”

1973: Black Sabbath – “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”

1974: Budgie – “In For The Kill”

1975: Black Sabbath – “Sabotage”

1976: Judas Priest - "Sad Wings Of Destiny"

1977: Quartz – “Quartz”

1978: Judas Priest – “Killing Machine”

1979: Judas Priest – “Unleashed In The East”

1980: Diamond Head – “Lightning To The Nations”

1981: Motorhead – “No Sleep Till Hammersmith”

1982: Ozzy Osbourne – “Speak Of The Devil”

1983: Slayer – “Show No Mercy”

1984: Metallica – “Ride The Lightning”

1985: Exodus – “Bonded By Blood”

1986: Slayer – “Reign In Blood”

1987: Bathory – “Under The Sign Of The Black Mark”

1988: Metallica – “…And Justice For All”

1989: Morbid Angel – “Altars Of Madness”

1990: Slayer - "Seasons In The Abyss"

1991: Death – “Human”

1992: Alice In Chains – “Dirt”

1993: diSEMBOWELMENT – “Transcendence Into The Peripheral”

1994: Darkthrone – “Transilvanian Hunger”

1995: Suffocation – “Pierced From Within”

1996: Burzum – “Filosofem”

1997: The Gathering - "Nighttime Birds"

1998: ISIS – “The Mosquito Control” E.P.

1999: Botch - "We Are The Romans"

2000: Immolation – “Close To A World Below”

2001: Tool - "Lateralus"

2002: ISIS – “Oceanic”

2003: Boris – “Boris At Last -Feedbacker-“

2004: ISIS – “Panopticon”

2005: Deathspell Omega – “Kenose” E.P.

2006: Celtic Frost – “Monotheist”

2007: Ufomammut/Lento - "Supernaturals - Record One"

2008: Pig Destroyer - "Natasha" E.P.

2009: Dragged Into Sunlight - "Hatred For Mankind"

2010: Hate - "Erebos"

2011: Inside The Beehive - "Drink Bleach; Live Forever" E.P.

2012: 7 Horns 7 Eyes - "Throes Of Absolution"

2013: The Amenta - "Flesh Is Heir"

2014: Dead Congregation - "Promulgation Of The Fall"

2015: Akhlys - "The Dreaming I"

2016: Mick Gordon - "Doom (Original Game Soundtrack)"

2017: Cavurn - "Rehearsal" demo

2018: Infernal Coil - "Within A World Forgotten"

2019: Esoteric - "A Pyrrhic Existence"

2020: Oranssi Pazuzu - "Mestarin kynsi"

2021: Fange - "Pantocrator"

2022: Scarcity - "Aveilut"

2023: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - "PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation"

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - "PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation" (2023)

Another very solid metal outing from Melbourne's super-prolific King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. I really enjoyed their 2019 "Infest the Rats' Nest" album but I think their latest work might even be a little better. This time they've taken a much more complex approach to the riff & song structures & have pulled it off with ease on what is predominantly a progressive metal release that plays in similar fields to Mastodon, Elder & Tool, only the Gizzard work within a base stoner metal sound that's similar to High On Fire. This is interesting & expansive stuff that will no doubt please members of The Infinite. The links to thrash metal are some of the most misguided & ridiculous I've ever seen in all my days so I've taken great pleasure in removing this release from The Pit where it clearly has no place. 

4/5

Sonny, I don't wanna go on about it in a public forum but I've had some personal experience hanging out with Destroyer 666 & let's just say that they fit the criteria mentioned above quite accurately. 

Dio - "Dream Evil" (1987)

As a long-term metalhead with a life-long relationship with the genre, it’s almost a rite of passage that you become heavily involved with the various works of the great Ronnie James Dio. RJD is rightfully known as one of the greatest metal front men of all time & I don’t think too many people would dispute that. Whether through his fantasy-fueled work with Rainbow, the doom-laden classics he created with Black Sabbath & Heaven & Hell or the legacy he built with his anthemic solo work, Ronnie proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that he possessed the talent & drive to be deserving of his position at the very top of the metal pile. As a result, I’m well versed in most of his back catalogue, at least the releases that are considered to be essential listening for anyone claiming themselves to be a metal historian or aficionado. But for me there’s always been one glaring omission… I’d never heard Dio’s classic 1987 fourth album “Dream Evil” until a few days ago, a record that’s widely regarded as Ronnie’s last essential studio album. I had heard a few songs from the album on the excellent “Dio at Donington UK: Live 1983 & 1987” double live release & enjoyed them all thoroughly but, despite placing “Dream Evil” on my must-hear list shortly after that experience, I’d never gotten around to ticking this one final box until the last week. Let’s see how it fared?

“Dream Evil” represented Ronnie’s first solo work without highly underrated guitar shredder Vivian Campbell who had experienced a major falling out with the Dios since 1985’s “Sacred Heart” album. Ronnie would replace him with the relatively unknown Craig Goldy of Los Angeles-based hard rockers Rough Cutt & heavy metallers M.A.R.S. & I had reasonable hopes for Craig after hearing his performance on the live release. Returning once again would be former Rainbow bassist Jimmy Bain, former Black Sabbath & future Kill Devil Hill, Last in Line & Heaven & Hell drummer Vinny Appice & Goldy’s former Rough Cutt bandmate in keyboardist Claude Schnell, all of which had been involved with Dio’s previous albums. I’d imagine that this would have put a bit of pressure on Goldy given the big shoes he had to fill, particularly given how highly I rate Campbell as an artist of the highest quality. To his credit, Goldy does a pretty reasonable job & proves himself to possess some impressive chops too but I can’t say that he stands out quite as much as Campbell did as he was one of the very rare musicians to not have been forced into a purely supporting role when paired with Dio.

It becomes apparent very quickly after pressing the play button on “Dream Evil” that you shouldn’t expect anything drastically different to Dio’s previous works as everything sounds so familiar. In fact, I’d go so far as to use the word formulaic as the style & song structures are so cookie-cutter in their approach. The educated ear will likely pick up some moments of self-plagiarism too which isn’t something new to Dio with the last couple of albums also being guilty of this crime at times. The verse riff in the title track is a classic example of it as it sounds oh so similar to Rainbow’s classic “Man On A Silver Mountain”. There are also references to the work of other artists here too though. Check out the chorus of “Sunset Superman” & then compare it with Accept’s “London Leatherboys” or consider whether “Overlove” might be an attempt to emulate Van Halen’s hard rock stomp. That’s not to say that these tracks are poor examples of their type however as the tracklisting begins pretty well with the A side being very consistent. The B side is a little more hit & miss with the clear album highlight in hard rocker “Naked In The Rain” making for a fantastic mid-album peak even if I don’t think it reaches the same dizzying heights as the 1987 Donington live version which is nothing short of life-changing. Radio-friendly AOR single “I Could Have Been A Dreamer”, on the other hand, jumps well & truly over the cheese line while the cheap synth accompaniments in disappointing hard rock closer “When A Woman Cries” sound horribly dated. Now, you’ve probably noticed me using the word “rock” quite a bit here so I should probably clarify that. Despite what most people seem to think, Dio’s early solo albums generally contain a combination of hard rock & heavy metal songs & “Dream Evil” is no different in that regard, so much so that the album should receive a dual tagging in my opinion. The metal tunes tend to sit at a fairly consistent quality while the rockier numbers are a little more up & down.

So, how does “Dream Evil” compare with Dio’s other solo material? Well, I haven’t heard anything later than this album so I can only compare it to Dio’s first three records & I’d have to say that it’s another reasonably entertaining (if inessential) effort that sees Ronnie & the band making very little effort to expand their repertoire. I mean, there’s not much that I haven’t heard before included here. I’d also suggest that, while Dio clearly peaked very earlier with his best album “Holy Diver”, each successive record saw the quality dropping just a touch from the previous album. He hadn’t come close to releasing anything that might be considered to be a failure as yet but it would seem quite likely that he might have achieved that in subsequent releases if he continued with the downward curve. 1985’s “Sacred Heart” is generally considered to be a weaker record than “Dream Evil” but, despite the fact that “Sacred Heart” reached some lower points at times, I think it offered more genuine highlights too so I slightly prefer it. Regardless, if you’re a diehard fan of classic heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath & Iron Maiden or the gritty hard rock of Rainbow then you’ve likely already spent a fair bit of time with “Dream Evil”. If not then it’s definitely worth a few listens. Just don’t expect it to compete with Dio’s best work.

3.5/5

Killing Joke - "Night Time" (1985)

Post-punk/gothic rock from London, England.

I certainly agree that it should reside in The Horde as a dual tagging but I think you’d find that the ratio of doom/death to death metal falls a little towards the doom/death side of the equation here if you actually timed it.

Teitanblood - "Seven Chalices" (2009)

My first impressions around Spanish death/war metal outfit Teitanblood were instigated quite early on in their recording career upon my return to metal in 2009. The band had already released a demo & a couple of split releases in the mid-2000’s but their debut album “Seven Chalices” would be their first record of any significance & the timing of its release matched up pretty much perfectly with the recommencement my extreme metal journey. Given that a lot of the metal I was hearing at the time was attempting to dilute the very core of what I felt that metal music should be, I have to admit that the idea of “Seven Chalices” & its consistently savage & deeply underground approach really appealed to me & looking back I’d suggest that I really WANTED to love this record, perhaps a touch more than it actually deserved too. With that in mind, I’ve always suspected that perhaps I might have been overrating it a little, particularly in the wake of my passion for Teitanblood’s later albums. Given that I’ve only recently revisited & reviewed those two outstanding examples of the war metal sound, it’s only natural that I give the Spaniards’ debut the same level of attention.

It's clear right from offset that “Seven Chalices” is a very different record to 2014’s “Death” & 2019’s “The Baneful Choir”. The five year gaps between these full-lengths have given the band a lot of time to grow & develop their sound so it’s hardly surprising. “Seven Chalices” is far less modern & presents more of an old-school sound that’s noticeably rawer & lacking in the density of Teitanblood's more sophisticated work. Unlike the band's later releases which are more heavily weighted towards war metal, the dual tagging of both death metal & war metal seems more appropriate on “Seven Chalices” due to the consistent use of doomy, lower-tempo, Celtic Frost-inspired death metal riffs, particularly on tracks like opener “Whore Mass” & the epic album centrepiece “The Abomination of Desolation”. During those moments I’m reminded a lot of Finland’s Archgoat with the very structure of the down-tuned hum of a guitar tone sounding like it’s almost on the brink of completely breaking down. When Teitanblood up the tempo into genuine war metal territory however, they’re as violent & chaotic as a drunken brawl at a Sadistik Exekution show with the scatty, layered vocal ranting of FSK sounding nothing short of psychotic & the intentionally sloppy guitar solos veering a lot closer to pure noise than towards anything close to a defined theme or structure.

Somehow though, “Seven Chalices” doesn’t seem to gel anywhere near as much as Teitanblood’s more accomplished later works. It’s simply not as cohesive which possibly has something to do with the production which is more about atmosphere & aesthetics than it is about depth & substance with the drums being too far back in the mix to really drive the songs from a rhythmic point of view. In fact, despite there not being any weak tracks as such, I actually find the four dark ambient interludes that have been provided by fellow Spaniard Like Drone Razors Through Flesh Sphere to be more accomplished than any of the metal material. Don’t get me wrong, “Seven Chalices” is certainly an entertaining listen & if you’re a fan of bands like Proclamation, Pseudogod & Archgoat then you’ll no doubt enjoy it but I’m not sure there’s as much meat on its bones as there is on Teitanblood’s later albums. It’s a more than decent first-up full-length but was still a work in progress in my opinion.

3.5/5

Here's my updated Top Ten War Metal Releases of All Time list:

01. Infernal Coil - "Within a World Forgotten" (2018)

02. Teitanblood - "The Baneful Choir" (2019)

03. Teitanblood - "Death" (2014)

04. Damaar - "Triumph Through Spears of Sacrilege" (2007)

05. Archgoat - "Whore of Bethlehem" (2006)

06. Bestial Warlust - "Blood & Valour" (1995)

07. Conqueror - "War Cult Supremacy" (1999)

08. Blasphemy - "Blood Upon The Altar" demo (1989)

09. Revenge - "Behold.Total.Rejection" (2015)

10. Teitanblood - "Seven Chalices" (2009)

Russian heavy metal for fans of Кипелов, Iron Maiden & Loudness.

Ария - "Герой асфальта" (1987)

Russian heavy metallers Ария are a great example of one of those super-cool underground bands that no one had ever heard of at the time but whose reputation has slowly built up over the years, predominantly through word of mouth. Some of their mystique is most certainly contributed to by the fact that they’ve opted to deliver their vocals in their native tongue but there’s a little more to it than that. All four of their 1980’s albums were released independently & only in a reel to reel format too. If you’ve got no idea of what I’m talking about then go & Google it because the only people I knew that still had reel to reel technology in their home when I was a kid back in the 80’s were my grandparents. Ария didn’t pick up a record deal until their fifth full-length in 1991 & by that point they should already have been superstars in their home country based on the current reception of records like 1989’s “Игра с огнем” & this, their highly acclaimed third album in 1987’s “На службе силы зла”.

I’m ashamed to say that I’d never actually heard much of Ария before finally giving into temptation this week but had always been intrigued by their reputation as the Iron Maiden of the Iron Curtain. And, as it turns out, that reputation is completely warranted but this band are more than just a tribute act. You see, Ария were a highly skilled group of musicians who clearly knew what they’re doing. They appear in complete control throughout the record &, even though they most certainly borrow many of their tools from the kings of the NWOBHM, they also have a fair bit to say of their own accord too.

The production job isn’t perfect of course & you wouldn’t expect it to be with an independent release from the mid-80’s. It does have its charms though with the tone sitting in a happy medium between raw & warm. The guitar tone is lovely & organic, despite the fact that the rhythm guitars often slip too far back into the mix with the vocals & rhythm section dominating proceedings. Bassist Vitaly Dubinin was very clearly inspired by Steve Harris but competes quite well with his prestigious idol to be fair with Ария’s gallops being a particular highlight of their sound. Another highlight is the very capable guitar solos which take full advantage of the lovely warm lead tone & display some quite significant chops too. The focal point of the band though, particularly given the fact that the guitars are a little far back in the mix at times, is front man Valery Kipelov whose delivery reminds me a of a Russian version of Scorpions’ Klaus Maine. When Ария get everything right (as they do on the strong opening title track & the epic & quite progressive closer “Баллада о древнерусском воине”) it’s usually off the back of Kipelov’s most soaring & memorable vocal hooks. When they get it wrong however (as they do on the disappointing “1100”) it’s more to do with the instrumentation sounding a little too tame.

Despite the Russian language vocals which are certainly a limiter when it comes to the potential an album like “На службе силы зла” has to achieve my higher scores, Ария prove themselves to be some of the more capable heavy metal musicians around at the time & present their art in a highly professional & sophisticated format that was crying out for some decent label backing. If you’ve heard Kipelov’s solo work under his Кипелов moniker then you’ll know what to expect but diehard Iron Maiden & Loudness fans should also find a fair bit to keep them entertained here.

3.5/5