Daniel's Forum Replies

Aborted - "Goremageddon: The Saw and the Carnage Done" (2003)

The very enjoyable if inessential third album from these Belgian brutal deathgrinders. "Goremageddon" is a very consistent record however I don't think it has the riffs to worry the bigger boys of the death metal scene. The rhythm guitar tone is a touch dry but the blasting performance of future Soilwork/Megadeth drummer Dirk Verbeuren is exceptional & the energy levels are always kept high with the dual vocal attack being borrowed from the grindcore scene. If you listen closely you should be able to pick up the influence of Carcass' classic "Heartwork" album in some of the more melodic riffage too. It's been a long time since I heard it but I think I might prefer Aborted's 2001 sophomore album "Engineering the Dead" over this one but "Goremageddon" will no doubt be of interest to fans of grind-infused brutal death metal bands like Benighted, Cattle Decapitation & early Dying Fetus.

3.5/5

P.S. Aborted were absolutely psychotic when I saw them play live just over a decade ago & may just have created the most violent mosh-pit I've ever seen in my life which is saying something.

My weakness is definitely when bands go in a cheesy direction. This is the reason I struggle so much with subgenres like folk metal, trance metal, power metal, etc. I also find the going hard when an artist takes a quirkier or humorous approach to their metal as I prefer a more serious brand of metal.

I can generally deal with poorly executed or dull vocals as long as they're not regularly out of key. I can also tolerate sloppy guitar playing to an extent but what I can't seem to overlook is out of time drumming. It really irks me.

I checked my ratings on RYM and this appears to be the first deathcore album I have ever listened to

I would have thought it would have been the Suicide Silence feature release from last month then Sonny.

I found a lot to enjoy this month with the list enticing me into eight of the nine features. There weren't any new classics for me unfortunately but there was certainly a consistent quality about most of these records. The Grave Digger one was always gonna be a struggle for those of us that aren't particularly onboard with power metal but I was hoping I'd get a little more out of it than I did. Ben takes the honours fairly comfortably this month after having selected my top two features of the month. There was only a bee's dick between them too. I was very pleased at how my affection has grown over time with the Scorn & Whitechapel albums, neither of which I connected with as strongly in the past. The Tómarúm record is a very impressive piece of work too.

THE FALLEN: Tzompantli - "Tlazcaltiliztli" (2022)  4/5

THE HORDE: Bloodbath - "Unblessing the Purity" E.P. (2008)  4/5

THE SPHERE: Scorn - "Vae Solis" (1992)  4/5

THE REVOLUTION: Whitechapel - "A New Era Of Corruption" (2010)  4/5

THE INFINITE: Tómarúm - "Ash in Realms of Stone Icons" (2022)  4/5

THE NORTH: Tilintetgjort - "In Death I Shall Arise" (2023)  3.5/5

THE PIT: Blood Tsunami - "Grand Feast For Vultures" (2009)  3.5/5

THE GUARDIANS: Grave Digger - "Knights of the Cross" (1998)  3/5

This short E.P. can categorically be labelled as being "my cup of tea" & is one of Bloodbath's best releases in my opinion.  "Unblessing The Purity" very much represents a tribute to the great death metal releases of the 1990's, only it's put together in a more modern way. The production & performances are outstanding, particularly those of front man Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) & drummer Martin Axenrot (Opeth/Nifelheim/Witchery). Bloodbath are more commonly associated with the classic Swedish death metal sound of Grave, Entombed & Dismember but this four-track release sees them traversing territories that are much closer to Vader, Behemoth & particularly Morbid Angel with Åkerfeldt sounding a fair bit like "Blessed Are The Sick"-era Dave Vincent which is a big plus in my books. I absolutely love the stunning blast-beat sections! "Unblessing The Purity" is an undeniably high quality death metal release that should satisfy any fan of the genre.

4/5

Yeah, I really enjoyed this feature too. I wasn't familiar with Tzompantli prior to this album being released but ended up giving it a couple of fairly casual listens after reading Ben's review last year. On paper it should have been totally up my alley & it certainly delivered with a crushingly dense guitar tone, super-deep death growls & a plethora of ultra-heavy riffs. This revisit has only further enhanced my position with Tzompantli's sound sitting somewhere between death/doom & your more conventional death metal sound. I prefer the doomier & more atmospheric side of their sound as the straight-up death metal sections tends to be a touch generic, even if they're still pretty effective due to the excellent production & execution. Mortiferum, diSEMBOWELMENT & Spectral Voice are pretty good points of reference.

4/5

Here's my revised Top Ten Deathcore Releases of All Time list with Alice Through The Windshield Glass' “Brutalis Australis” dropping out to make way for Whitechapel third album which I've added a half-star to upon this week's revisit:

01. Impending Doom – “Baptized In Filth” (2012)

02. Slice The Cake – “Odyssey To The West” (2016)

03. The Contortionist – “Exoplanet” (2010)

04. Whitechapel - "A New Era of Corruption" (2010)

05. Suicide Silence – “The Black Crown” (2011)

06. Born Of Osiris – “The Discovery” (2011)

07. As They Burn – “A New Area For Our Plagues” E.P. (2009)

08. The Acacia Strain – “Wormwood” (2010)

09. As They Burn – “Aeon’s War” (2011)

10. Impending Doom – “The Serpent Servant” (2009)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/179

Here's my review:

2010’s “A New Era Of Corruption” third album from Tennessee six-piece Whitechapel is another one of the slew of deathcore releases I found myself indulging in during a three year period upon returning to metal after a decade-long hiatus in 2009. Despite the weight of opinion residing predominantly in the negative though, I found a fair bit of appeal in the stronger deathcore releases. Sure, the generic breakdowns & over the top vocal performances could become a little grating on occasion but the relentless aggression, professional production & clinical performances all offered plenty of appeal to someone with my musical background. “A New Era Of Corruption” wasn’t one the releases that I placed at the top of the pile but it certainly afforded me a few days of enjoyable body-thrashing so I was keen to see how time has treated it a full twelve years later.

“A New Era Of Corruption” is a very consistent deathcore release to be honest. There’s not a weak song amongst the eleven on offer & I can’t see Whitechapel presenting us with too many in the future either as they seem to be an artist of high quality. The band members all seem to be so in tune with one another which helps to create a pummeling, super-tight sound that’s clearly hellbent on smashing your skull into a concrete wall. Of course, the failings of the deathcore genre are all still evident with the djenty single-note breakdowns sounding very much like you’ve heard them all before but there’s a hell of a lot more to see here if you can accept those for what they are & focus on squashing your up against the inside wall of your skull instead of stroking your elitist chin.

Front man Phil Bozeman has a super-deep death growl delivery & sounds genuinely angry throughout. He’s backed by some higher register supporting growls that aren’t nearly as effective as they sound a little gurgly. I absolutely love the progressive lead guitar work that’s smattered across the tracklisting though. In fact, I find it to be the clear highlight of the record &, when combined with some impressively technical rhythms & riff-structure at times, you can easily see where Whitechapel might be going in the future. It’s kinda strange that you get those simplistic breakdowns between some wonderfully complex & quite melodic progressive work though & I could probably do with the occasional use of bouncy one-two hardcore beats too.

The tracklisting is worth mentioning because, despite not including any failures as such, it could have been programmed a touch better. You see, three of the first four tracks tend to be some of the less impressive inclusions on the album while the B side is much stronger than the A side with wonderful closing track “Single File To Dehumanization” being the clear album highlight & leaving me feeling pretty invigorated afterwards. Perhaps that’s the intention as it certainly encourages me to want to take the whole journey again but I can’t help but feel that Whitechapel might have been better served by bulking out the start of the album a little more. Perhaps it’s just a taste thing as the back end is where you’ll find the stronger influence of the classic death metal sound & some of the classier progressive work.

To date “A New Era Of Corruption” is still the only Whitechapel release I’ve heard but I’m very pleased to be able to say that it’s a very strong one & this revisit has only seen it growing in my esteem with the reward being an additional half-star. In fact, I’d suggest that this is one of the better deathcore releases I’ve encountered over the years & I once again have to ask exactly what it is that some critics have against it as it does exactly what it says on the tin & executes it in a very efficient & professional manner. If you hate deathcore then you’ll no doubt hate this record too but for those of you that don’t mind a bit of Carnifex, Thy Art Is Murder or Job For A Cowboy then you’re in for a minor treat.

4/5

Reddit’s pretty big on elitism too just quietly. 

That's a good question Sonny. I think it's probably because of a) the Ved Buens Ende..... & Arcturus influences that pop up occasionally & b) the unusual use of quirky melodic motifs over your more traditional black metal sound. The use of dissonance isn't anything extreme or terribly unusual for black metal so I can't see how that could be a driver. Perhaps the fact that Tilintetgjort jump around a fair bit stylistically might be encouraging it too. Alternatively it may simply be that Tilintetgjort's label decided to post them in Metal Archives with an Avant-garde Black Metal tag & we all know that the elitist masses will believe anything they read from that particular website, often at the expense of truth & integrity.

I absolutely love that soundtrack Vinny. I would have bought it on CD shortly after release & it's stayed with me ever since.

This afternoon's listening while doing puzzles with my four year old daughter:

Lowlife - "Permanent Sleep" (1986)

English post-punk.

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

Here's my review:

I have to admit that I’d never heard of Norwegian black metal outfit Tilintetgjort prior to their brand new debut album “In Death I Shall Arise” being nominated as this month’s The North feature release so I had very little idea of what to expect going into it. Upon investigation I found that there are a couple of links to bands that I’m familiar with though. Bassist Sturt plays with symphonic black metallers Troll who I quite like while English drummer Sathan currently fills the role that legendary Mayhem skinsman Hellhammer used to fill in fellow Norwegian black metallers Den Saakaldte so the band members appear to have a bit of pedigree about them. After perusing a few reviews & other online resources it would seem that Tilintetgjort sit on the more avant-garde side of black metal though which isn’t always a space I like to play so I kept my wits about me going into my first listen to “In Death I Shall Arise” (which really should be the name of a death metal record in all honesty & the wonderfully deathly cover artwork only further enhances the chances of misleading your average consumer).

The first thing you’ll notice about “In Death I Shall Arise” is the unusual production job. I’m sure you’re all well accustomed to a raw, dirty & lo-fi recording style with Norwegian black metal by now but this one is a little different, even if it certainly sits comfortably under those terms. The mix has been afforded a lot of mid-range & the guitars sound very thin & fuzzy which leaves them struggling to compete with the rhythm section who dominate the mix, particularly the bass guitar of Sturt which seems to be the main focal point for the most part. This is especially noticeable when the guitarists go for higher register tremolo-picked melodies as there just doesn’t seem to be enough weight behind them which leaves them sounding weak, unintimidating & overly exposed. It’s a shame really as I think Tilintetgjort have left a bit of potential on the studio floor to be honest. Sturt on the other hand takes full advantage of his favourable position in the mix by showcasing some very inventive bass lines that create a lot of additional interest within some already quite expansive song structures.

It's interesting that I don’t find “In Death I Shall Arise” to be anywhere near as avant-garde as it’s made out to be at other online locations. To my ears, it’s not doing all that much that hasn’t been done before by forward-thinking Norwegians but it’s presented in a quirkier way that sees it standing out as something a bit different nonetheless. Tilintetgjort display a wide variety of home-grown influences from Darkthrone to Ved Buens Ende….. to Ulver to Arcturus but also dip into Celtic Frost waters at times. The blackened vocals of Svik are suitably grim & croaky but never lose intelligibility while guitarists Hazzlegard & Den Gamle offer a whole slew of interesting melodic ideas that once again have me reaching for that unusual term for extreme metal in “quirky”, a word that I have to admit I usually stay well away from in my metal music. Their harmonic counter-play sounds quite off-beat & unique at times. I also enjoy the occasional use of dissonance while the incorporation of some particularly Norwegian sounding acoustic guitar parts & clean Viking/folk vocals (that remind me of Garm from Ulver/Arcturus/Borknagar) is well executed, if not being something that I usually go for. There are some punky drum beats employed on occasion too which briefly takes things into similar territory to the niche subgenre of black ‘n’ roll.

The 46-minute tracklisting contains just the six tracks but is heavily weighted towards the epic 21-minute closer “Dommedagsvmonument” with the other five songs all finishing under the seven-minute mark. I enjoy all but one of the six with the overly quirky “Mercurial” being a bit of a struggle for someone with my taste profile. My clear highlight is unsurprisingly the shortest & most conventional of the six in the very Darkthrone-ish “Hex” which may not try anywhere near as much as the other material but succeeds emphatically in the area of simple & repetitive tremolo-picked riffage & evil, blasphemic black metal vocals. “Vinter og høst” is where you can most clearly see the influence of Ved Buens Ende….. & it saw me wishing that Tilintetgjort had explored that sound a little more to be honest. In saying that, “In Death I Shall Arise” sees the band jumping around quite a bit from a stylistic point of view but still ends up sounding pretty cohesive which is a feather in the band's caps. It also sounds distinctly Norwegian which I’m sure isn’t a coincidence.

At the end of the day “In Death I Shall Arise” is more of an interesting record than it is one that I can see myself genuinely falling for. I like the ambition more than the reality & a lot of that comes down to taste but I feel that the production job has a lot to answer for too as I can’t deny the feeling that it’s reduced the impact of some of this material. Still… it’s nice to see a new band that can not only pay homage to their influences but also present a sound that presents them in a fresh new way.

3.5/5

Here's my review:

I’ve been aware of Norwegian thrash metallers Blood Tsunami for many years now since first giving them a glancing listen around the time of this 2009 sophomore album. I believe my attention had been drawn to them by the inclusion of drummer Faust (Emperor/Thorns/Aborym/Djevel) whose notoriety within the underground extreme metal scene had only been enhanced by his incarceration for murder back in 1993. I recall quite liking “Grand Feast For Vultures” too but not enough to give it much dedicated attention so it had to settle for more of a background music role at the time. It’s not terribly surprising that my recollections are a bit hazy around the finer details of the album now then as I’ve never really given it the active-listening time required to confidently rate or review it so it’s nomination as this month’s The Pit feature release seems like a great opportunity to correct that omission & potentially reinvigorate my interest in a band that I haven’t kept abreast of for a full decade.

“Grand Feast For Vultures” is certainly a professionally executed release. The cover artwork is attractive & is somewhat of a drawcard for thrash metal fans while the production job is clean & powerful with the guitars sitting front & centre as they should be on any riff-driven metal record. All of the performances are high quality too & one gets the feeling that Blood Tsunami were consciously keeping well within their capabilities while recording this record, possibly in the interest of keeping things as accessible as possible. All in all though, I’d have to say that they’ve given their second album every chance of digging its talons into me as there are no obvious flaws in the packaging & presentation so it really comes down to whether or not the song-writing can deliver.

While generally being labelled as a thrash metal band, there’s a little more to Blood Tsunami’s sound on "Grand Feast For Vultures". Sure, the Slayer influence is fairly pronounced at times, particularly during the first half of the album, & I can’t deny that those are the moments that offer me the most appeal as classic Slayer is pretty much the best thing humanity is responsible for having created in my opinion. An obvious point of difference comes in the vocal delivery of front man Pete Evil (I really hope that’s his real name) though as he steers well clear of your traditional thrash space by opting for a blackened shriek that sounds almost metalcore-ish in the way he spits out his lyrics. He’s supported by some deeper & fairly generic death metal growls that don’t add much of value. As the tracklisting progresses you’ll also notice the presence of an additional musical component in the influence of Iron Maiden & the melodic death metal scene on Blood Tsunami’s sound, often in a way that sees the listener unable to tell from which of those two options the band have been inspired. You’ll find several examples of up-tempo & melodic riffs that could have been lifted straight off an At The Gates album while also having your attention drawn to some well executed guitar harmonies that will leave you in no doubt that “Powerslave” was being played on repeat during drinks breaks at the Blood Tsunami rehearsal room, particularly during epic album centrepiece “Horsehead Nebula”. This combination of influences works quite well for the most part but I’m not going to try to hide the fact that I’ve never been the biggest fan of melodeath so the thrashier parts of the album definitely offer me a lot more appeal than the more melodic & harmony-driven ones.

Another element that’s worth noting is the use of long track lengths with the 51-minute record only including seven tracks, the last two of which exceed the ten-minute mark. I don’t see this as a weakness as I don’t think the song structures sound overly indulgent. Instead, they tend to run their own course without ever leaving the impression that they've been needlessly extended. The main detractor for me though is that this is a pretty basic sounding record to be honest. Some of the riffs sound a little generic & undercooked while the components that Blood Tsunami have borrowed from their influences are often presented in a way that sees them trying to emulate their idols rather than using their inspiration to create something fresh & original . When you add that to the strong focus on melody & a vocal delivery that’s nothing more than serviceable then you get a record that’s generally enjoyable but rarely impressive. To be fair, there’s only the one track that I struggle with (i.e. the disappointing “Laid To Waste” which suffers from a very ordinary melodeath chorus) but I have to say that the remaining six never have me bouncing off the walls even though they have some really cool parts.

Overall, I’d suggest that “Grand Feast For Vultures” is worth a listen or two for those with a penchant for well executed & professionally produced thrash metal, particularly if you don’t mind a bit of melodic death metal or a blackened thrash vocal delivery. As a point of reference, Blood Tsunami’s sound sits somewhere in the space between Toxic Holocaust, Skeletonwitch & Kreator’s post-2010 works & if that sounds like your bag then you may be in for a treat.

3.5/5

Here's my review:

German power/heavy metal stalwarts Grave Digger have eluded me for most of the many decades I’ve been involved with the metal scene. I guess we simply sit on opposing sides of the metal spectrum but that hasn’t dampened my urge to remove the mystery around them at some point, if only so that I can tick a reasonably important box in my understanding of the classic metal bands. Prior to checking out this month’s feature release my only significant experience with Grave Digger had been through their 1984 debut album “Heavy Metal Breakdown” which I investigated for the Metal Academy podcast many years ago. It saw them delivering a fairly traditional Judas Priest/Accept style of classic heavy metal with a brute of a guitar tone & a few seriously good riffs but unfortunately the song-writing & lyrics were pretty poor which left me feeling a bit flat about the album overall. 1998’s “Knights of the Cross” is a much more highly regarded record though so I’ve gone into this month’s The Guardians feature release hopeful of a more positive outcome.

If the online information is to be believed, Grave Digger headed off in a slightly different direction after the 1980’s with their signature sound being somewhat of a hybrid of power metal & heavy metal. “Knights of the Cross” (Grave Digger’s eighth full-length) is a prime example of that although it’s possibly a touch heavier on the power metal than it is the heavy metal of their early days. The production job is clear & effective with the rhythm guitar tone helping the album to achieve a metal-as-fuck feel without taking the distortion to extreme levels. Interestingly, front man Chris Boltendahl is the only remaining member from Grave Digger’s debut album so it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that they've taken a slightly different path over time. That’s not to say that “Knights of the Cross” sounds like a different band or anything though as it maintains some of the same traits as “Heavy Metal Breakdown” as well as some of the same failings.

As with the debut, Grave Digger keep their riff & song structures very simple & quite generic for the most part, presumably in the interest of giving band leader Boltendahl plenty of room to move as, let’s be honest, this type of music is all about those soaring vocal hooks, isn’t it? Boltendahl’s gruff vocals are a nice change from the higher-register operatic style that we’re so used to hearing from European power metal acts. I’ve never been big on concept albums though as the continued focus on delivering a storyline tends to have an impact of the quality of the music more often than not in my opinion. For this reason I generally find myself ignoring the concept & judging these releases as traditional albums. That’s not all that easy to do with “Knights of the Cross’ though as the themes of The Crusades are presented so blatantly with the lyrics being easily intelligible which makes it hard to ignore their intent. Sadly, I don’t think Grave Digger have improved on their ability write mature lyrics as these are pretty obvious & often kinda dumb which leaves the album relying really heavily on those vocal hooks to carry it through.

So, do those hooks deliver a rewarding album experience? Well, at times they do but this is a very inconsistent record to be honest. I quite like the more mature power metal numbers like the opening title track & epic closer “The Battle of Bannockburn” as well as a few of the heavy metal-oriented numbers such as “Fanatic Assassins”, The Curse of Jacques” & particularly the very solid album highlight “The Keeper of the Holy Grail” but there are also a slew of creative failures included. None of them are truly disastrous but the losses outweigh the wins for mine which leaves “Knights of the Cross” ending up on the wrong side of the acceptability line. In fact, I’d suggest that I slightly prefer “Heavy Metal Breakdown” over this one which might not be all that surprising given my much stronger affiliations with heavy metal over power metal. Fans of German power/heavy metal acts like Running Wild, Rage & Rebellion will no doubt be much more open to a record like this one than I will & there’s unquestionably a lot worse power metal records out there too but that doesn’t make “Knights of the Cross” any more interesting for someone with my particular taste profile.

3/5

 Flower Travellin' Band's next album "Satori" is pretty great. I used to wear the t-shirt around religiously many years ago.

Here's my review:

Atlanta’s Tomarum hadn’t crossed my radar until last year’s “Ash in the Realms of Stone Icons” album. Their 2020 “Wounds Ever Expanding” E.P. had drifted past my gaze without attracting my attention but on the evidence presented on their debut full-length I’d have to suggest that it might be worth me exploring shortly. You see, love ‘em or hate ‘em, it’s impossible to deny that Tomarum are a class act.

Tomarum is really the artistic creation of one individual in 26 year-old vocalist/guitarist Kyle Warburn who started writing for the album back in 2017 as a way to work through his mental health concerns. He’d soon meet fellow guitarist Brandon Iacovella & they’d not only form fellow Atlanta technical/progressive death metal outfit Lunar Chamber but Brandon would also offer to help Kyle with his Tomarum project. The intention was not originally to form a permanent band but to utilize hired session musicians to fill out the rest of the instruments although the subsequent success of the album has seen Kyle committing to forming a band for the purpose of live shows. For “Ash in the Realms of Stone Icons” however, Kyle brought in talented fretless bassist Arran McSporran, Inferi drummer Spencer Moore & keyboardist Aaron Baumoel in what must be one of the most shredding groups of extreme metal musicians ever assembled.

Tomarum’s sound is quite remarkable really & I’d probably describe it as a cinematic take on the progressive black metal model. There’s a fair bit of technical death metal influence in there too with the accomplished guitar solos in particular taking an all-out progressive approach. Unlike other artists to have attempted such a sound though, Tomarum almost transcend their links to black metal because, even though they can be devastatingly brutal at times, the atmosphere on offer here has a more sombre & melodic feel to it. Unlike a lot of black metal, Tomarum very rarely sound intimidating or evil as there’s a vulnerability there that’s quite uncommon. Perhaps it’s that element more than any other that sees me resisting the urge to fully commit too & I’d suggest that this is a failing in myself more than it is a criticism of Kyle’s creative vision. I simply find it a little tough to let go of my childhood fascinations with the pure blasphemy of the traditional black metal bands of my youth which is also why it took me many years to come to grips with a subgenre like blackgaze. Recent times have seen me being better prepared for that journey but I’ve found that I’m still not quite ready to claim a record like “Ash in the Realms of Stone Icons” as a genuine extreme metal classic.

The hour-long tracklisting is comprised by seven pieces; five lengthy progressive outings & a couple of short interludes. The album is programmed in chronological order with each track getting slightly more progressive than the last, culminating in the epic 15 minute crescendo that is “Awake Into Eternal Slumber”. There isn’t a weak track included but, by the same token, I’m not sure I’d class any of these pieces as classics as such. Tomarum’s sound is simply a little too melodic for me to force my hand in that regard. It is a very consistent record though with an undeniable air of quality being splashed on everything Tomarum dishes up. The most brutal song on offer “As Black Forms From Grey” is probably my pick of the bunch but I also really dig the one-two punch of single “Condemned To A Life Of Grief” & “In This Empty Space”. The other highlight is the wonderful rhythm section with McSporran proving himself to be one of the most gifted & creative bassists in the extreme metal scene & drummer Moore littering the run time with sprays of devastatingly precise blast-beats. I do like the cinematic way that Baumoel has subtley incorporated his keyboards too as it’s rarely over the top or overly bombastic. Warburn’s vocals are perhaps the weakest part of the Tomarum sound as they can sound a little unintelligent when compared with the sophisticated instrumental contributions around them. I’d also suggest that the progressive solos are a little at odds with the whole black metal aesthetic if I’m being particularly picky.

It’s hard to be too critical of a release like “Ash in the Realms of Stone Icons” though as it’s an incredible effort for a debut full-length. In fact, I’d be very surprised if fans of other modern extreme progressive metal outfits like Ne Obliviscaris, An Abstract Illusion & Xanthochroid don’t jump onboard this train fairly promptly too. I’m not sure the black metal community will be as keen though as Tomarum’s atmosphere is quite regularly at odds with the darkness & aggression of that scene & is mainly linked to the more melodic examples of the sound. The wonderfully accomplished presentation of Tomarum’s package makes it very hard for this old metalhead to deny though & I’ve gotten a lot of enjoyment out of this month’s feature release to be honest.

P.S. What a great album cover too!

4/5

Excellent. I've been meaning to check this one out for a while now.

Industrial metal from Birmingham, England.

Here's my review:

Birmingham’s Scorn is an interesting artist who I first found myself investigating shortly after the release of their debut album & mainly off the back of my infatuation with their record label Earache Records whose consistency in leaving me devastated with each successive release was reaching unparalleled levels at the time. I was utterly obsessed with extreme metal back in the early 1990's (still are today if I'm being honest) & would religiously explore each Earache release with the eagerness of a milk-deprived infant & Scorn's strong links to quality extremists such as Napalm Death gave them an extra layer of intrigue & fascination. My initial experiences with "Vae Solis" didn't exactly live up to those expectations though & I remember thinking that even though it was an interesting & seriously oppressive release, a lot of it did sound like a poor man’s Godflesh. It also saw Scorn diluting their industrial metal sound with external influences that I was perhaps not yet fully equipped to deal with. The cold production job only accentuated the album’s lack of accessibility for a teenage me so the album was afforded three or four listens before I found myself moving on to my next musical endeavor. I wouldn’t return to “Vae Solis” for the best part of two decades & it would be off the back of my newly found interest in the illbient & ambient dub subgenres which Scorn played such an important role in promoting during the 1990’s through high quality albums such as 1994’s “Evanescence” & 1995’s “Gyral”. Once again I would find “Vae Solis” to be reasonably entertaining but, given my recent discovery of Scorn's later directions, I'd decide that it was more like a work in progress than the final product they would become after fully transitioning away from metal. Perhaps now is a good time for me to reassess those feelings though as I feel like I’m free of my past agendas & ready to indulge in Scorn's cold, dark industrial soundscapes.

Scorn were originally a collaboration between two former Napalm Death members in vocalist/bassist Nicholas Bullen & drummer Mick Harris (Defecation/Extreme Noise Terror/Unseen Terror) but for their 1992 debut full-length they’d bring in another well-known former Napalm Death member in Godflesh/Jesu/Fall of Because mastermind Justin Broadrick. Despite the presence of the godfather of blast-beats (i.e. Harris) though, Scorn sees Harris & Bullen taking a mostly programmed approach to their beats & keeping well away from their grindcore roots. Instead, “Vae Solis” is very much a tale of two halves with the first seeing the trio sticking very close to the tried & true method that Justin had been championing with his highly acclaimed Godflesh project. In fact, I don’t think I would have been able to tell the difference between the two artists if tested blind given that Broadrick’s guitar work is so accurate to his past works & Bullen’s vocals seem to have been custom-made to emulate Broadrick’s pitchy clean & grunty hardcore-driven deliveries. While it’s true that this material isn’t quite as effective as Godflesh’s more classic 80’s & 90’s releases, in hindsight I think I’ve been a little harsh on Scorn because none of these tracks would have seemed out of place on a Godflesh album & that’s certainly saying something about the quality of the material. The second half of the record sees Scorn flexing their creative muscles a bit more with post-industrial, dub, electronic dance music & ambient influences all getting an airing with unanimously positive results. Strangely considering the musical territory they cover, Scorn somehow manage to keep “Vae Solis” from sounding unfocused though, perhaps due to the consistent quality of the thirteen tracks included as well as the underlying themes of depression & life’s darker underbelly that perpetuate the entire 75 minute runtime.

It all seems to work much better than I gave it credit for on my previous two visits & I think that says as much about where I am in life as it does anything about the actual music. I think I’m just better prepared for some of the more experimental material included here. In fact, the tracks that I find to be the most appealing don’t tend to be the Godflesh-worshipping ones with my favourites being the industrial tech house of “On Ice” (which sounds like Justin Broadrick collaborating with Underworld which can’t be a bad thing) & the cripplingly dark & droning ambient of “Orgy of Holiness”. Some may feel that Scorn lose their way across the back end of this admittedly overly long debut album but it never feels boring because the trio never fail to keep you guessing as to what’s coming next but also keep the cold atmosphere relatively stable along the way. The least impressive moments tend to be those where Bullen’s vocals sound a little lethargic & flat as they do on “Lick Forever Dog” & “Heavy Blood” while the highlights often match up with some of Bullen’s deeper bass lines which are where most of the dub influence comes into play. I’ve always loved the deeper end of dub so this element was something I welcomed with open arms & would be one of the reasons I’d become reacquainted with Scorn in the future.

While not ever really hinting at being any sort of classic release & being somewhat forgotten in the wake of Scorn’s legacy outside of the metal spectrum, “Vae Solis” is a very solid industrial metal release in its own right & is more than deserving of your attention, particularly if you’re a fan of bands like Godflesh or Pitchshifter. It may sound pretty familiar early on but a bit of patience will show it differentiating itself as the tracklisting progresses with the long runtime making it a safe value-for-money purchase. If you’re a metal-at-all-costs kinda listener then you may find yourself struggling to maintain your attention during the back-end of the record initially but I’d encourage you to keep an open mind & give “Vae Solis” a few listens to give it the time to fully divulge its secrets.

4/5

You’re not soft Ben. It’s just your musical taste, personality & physicality really.

So I decided it was time to properly create my Top Metal Releases by Year list using our List feature so as to make it nice & easy to edit & keep track of. I'm yet to add a 1974 release as yet but it will be coming once Ben adds it to the database for me. It's also worth noting that I can't add my favourite 2017 release to the list as it's a demo (i.e. the Cavurn rehearsal release) & therefore not available on the site either so it's been replaced with The Ruins of Beverast's "Exuvia" until I can convince Ben to add it.

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: Hoplites - "Τρωθησομένη"

Ben, can you add Earth Crisis' 1992 "All Out War" E.P. please? It was originally released as a 7" but was later re-released on CD & includes four songs so I think it should qualify.

Here's my submission for August:

Suicide Silence - "Witness The Addiction" (from "The Black Crown", 2012)

Here are my August submissions Vinny. I've included a few random speed metal tracks from old 80's heavy metal records I've been listening to over the last month. If you feel that any of them shouldn't qualify for The Pit then feel free to omit them.

Sword - "Outta Control" (from "Metalized", 1986)

Power Trip - "Soul Sacrifice" (from "Nightmare Logic", 2017)

Heir Apparent - "Nightmare" (from "Graceful Inheritance", 1986)

Vektor - "Cosmic Cortex" (from "Outer Isolation", 2011)

Running Wild - "Merciless Game" (from "Under Jolly Roger", 1987)

Here are my August submissions Ben:

Lunar Aurora - "Der Pakt" (from "Andacht", 2008)

Nocturnal Graves - "An Outlaw's Stand" (from "An Outlaw's Stand", 2022)

Revenge - "Wolf Slave Protocol (Choose Your Side)" (from "Behold.Total.Rejection", 2015)

Deathspell Omega - "First Prayer" (from "Si monvmentvm reqvires, circvmspice", 2004)

Here are my August submissions:

Nocturnal Graves - "Beyond The Flesh" (from "An Outlaw's Stand", 2022)

Suffocation - "Translucent Patterns of Delirium" (from "Suffocation", 2006)

Katalepsy - "Lurking In The Depth" (from "Autopsychosis", 2013)

Apparition - "Unequilibrium" (from "Feel", 2021)

Here's my August submission Xephyr:

King Diamond - "The Candle" (from "Fatal Portrait", 1986)

No August submissions from me thanks.

Here are my August submissions Sonny:

Anathema - "Sleep In Sanity" (from "Serenades", 1993)

Pentagram - "Evil Seed" (from "Day of Reckoning", 1987)

Apparition - "Nonlocality" (from "Feel", 2021)

With Andi opting to take a break from the feature release roster for the next three months, here are the owners of the August submissions:

THE FALLEN: Vinny, Daniel, Sonny, Ben

THE GATEWAY: Saxy, Saxy, Saxy, Andi

THE GUARDIANS: Morpheus Kitami, Xephyr

THE HORDE: Daniel, Vinny, Ben

THE INFINITE: Xephyr, Saxy, Andi

THE NORTH: Sonny, Daniel, Xephyr, Ben, Vinny

THE PIT: Vinny, Daniel, Ben, Sonny

THE REVOLUTION: Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, Andi

THE SPHERE: Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, Andi

July 2023

01. Ascended Dead – “Abhorrent Manifestation” (from “Evenfall of the Apocalypse”, 2023)

02. Amorphis – “The Four Wise Ones” (from “Under The Red Cloud”, 2015) [Submitted by Daniel]

03. Violent Dirge – “Craving” (from “Craving”, 1995)

04. Helltrain – “Helltrain” (from “Route 666”, 2004)

05. Kalmah – “Red & Black” (from “Kalmah”, 2023)

06. Flourishing – “The Petrifaction Lottery” (from “Intersubjectivity” E.P., 2012)

07. Blindfolded & Led To The Woods – “Hallucinative Terror” (from “Rejecting Obliteration”, 2023)

08. Scar Symmetry – “Chrononautilus” (from “The Singularity (Phase II – Xenotaph)”, 2023)

09. Haggus – “Mince The Meat Monger” (from “Plausibility of Putridity”, 2018)

10. Carcass – “Fermenting Innards” (from “Reek of Putrefaction”, 1988) [Submitted by Daniel]

11. Gorguts – “An Ocean of Wisdom” (from “Colored Sands”, 2013) [Submitted by Daniel]

12. The Sawtooth Grin – “Good Touch Bad Touch” (from “Cuddlemonster”, 2001)

13. Rippikoulu – “Ukuinen piina” (from “Musta seremonia” demo, 1993) [Submitted by Daniel]

14. Rotborn – “Praise The Downfall” (from “On The Perspective Of An Imminent Downfall”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

15. Frozen Soul – “Glacial Domination” (from “Glacial Domination”, 2023)

16. Entrails – “Crawling Death” (from “The Tomb Awaits”, 2011) [Submitted by Vinny]

17. Vomitory – “All Heads Are Gonna Roll” (from “All Heads Are Gonna Roll”, 2023)

18. Immolation – “Close To A World Below” (from “Close To A World Below”, 2000) [Submitted by Vinny]

19. Plague Bearer – “Rise Of The Goat” (from “Summoning Apocalyptic Devastation”, 2023)

20. Outer Heaven – “Rotting Stone/D.M.T.” (from “Infinite Psychic Depths”, 2023) [Submitted by Vinny]

21. Cannibal Corpse – “Infinite Misery” (from “Kill”, 2006) [Submitted by Daniel]

22. Teitanblood – “Black Vertebrae” (from “The Baneful Choir”, 2019) [Submitted by Daniel]

23. Mortician – “Chainsaw Dismemberment” (from “Chainsaw Dismemberment”, 1999)

24. Impetuous Ritual – “Lecherous Molestation” (from “Iniquitous Barbarik Synthesis”, 2023)

25. Soilent Green – “Hand Me Downs” (from “A Deleted Symphony For The Beaten Down”, 2001)

26. Fear Factory – “Flesh Hold” (from “Soul of a New Machine”, 1992) [Submitted by Daniel]

27. Caustic Wound – “Invisible Cell” (from “Death Posture”, 2020) [Submitted by Vinny]

28. Disfiguring The Goddess – “Deaths Head Mask” (from “Deprive”, 2013)

29. Hate Eternal – “Nailed To Obscurity” (from “Conquering The Throne”, 1999)

30. Devourment – “Babykiller” (from “Butcher The Weak”, 2006) [Submitted by Daniel]

Running Wild - "Under Jolly Roger" (1987)

I've become familiar with six or seven of German heavy metallers Running Wild's more well-known releases over the years but have invariably struggled to see their appeal. They just seem to lack the sort of class & x-factor required to see me finding interest in such a mild-mannered brand of 80's metal. Their third full-length "Under Jolly Roger" is no different with guitar-slinging front man Rock 'n' Rolf sounding particularly clumsy & second-rate & the song-writing offering little in the way of excitement. Admittedly the track programming on the Spotify version of the album I've been exploring sees the only three tracks that I enjoy being kept right until the end of the tracklisting so I was kinda bored by that stage. There are no unequivocal disasters here with Running Wild's no frills brand of heavy metal being pretty much in line with the likes of Grave Digger, Judas Priest & Accept but it's more that "Under Jolly Roger" offers little in the way of depth or sophistication & I can't see myself ever coming around to them to be honest.

3/5

Vektor - "Outer Isolation" (2011)

Despite finding enjoyment in all three of their highly praised full-lengths, I've always been pretty vocal about how overrated I think Arizona progressive thrash metal four-piece Vektor are. Interestingly (but perhaps not surprisingly) though, it's the least popular of the trio of albums that I find the most appeal in with 2011's "Outer Isolation" managing to top Vektor's more widely celebrated albums in terms of overall consistency for mine. There's not a weak track included here & the opening three song run sets a very solid platform for the rest of the album. Front man David DiSanto's Chuck Schuldiner-style rasp can be a touch divisive but I'd suggest that there will be very few Voivod, Coroner & Аспид fans that don't get long-term jollies out of Vektor's sophomore record.

4/5

German heavy metal.

I picked "Onward to Golgotha" up through the tape trading scene back in the day & thoroughly enjoyed it but I have to admit that I've never placed it alongside the top tier death metal acts. It wasn't until Incantation's 1994 sophomore release "Mortal Throne of Nazarene" (& it's darker alternative mix release "Upon the Throne of Apocalypse") that they got to take up that position for me personally. They'd further improve that with 1998's "Diabolical Conquest" too & it's gone on to become my Incantation release of choice these days.

Pentagram - "Day of Reckoning" (1987)

I think it’s fair to say that I became a fan of Virginia-based doom metal legends Pentagram relatively early in their recording career, if not all that early in terms of their overall tenure as a band. The Pentagram story really began way back in 1971 but, given that their debut album didn’t see the light of day until 1985 & I became acquainted with them in early 1990’s, I’d suggest that I was earlier than most, especially when you consider that they’re still a functioning band today. The self-titled debut made a significant impact on me, perhaps more so than I knew at the time. Black Sabbath played a strong role in my formative years through a double compilation that included the best of the 1970’s Ozzy Osbourne releases & “Pentagram” did a fantastic job at tapping into the same areas with a sound that included a little more heavy metal than the band’s traditional doom metal peers. Pentagram weren’t afraid to up the tempo a little while always maintaining their knack for creating the crushingly heavy & guitarist Victor Griffin had clearly mastered the art of creating timeless riffs after a decade or so of studying the godfather of metal Tony Iommi. Despite my allegiances with the self-titled album, my obsession for the extreme metal scene would see me leaving Pentagram back in the early 90’s though & we wouldn’t cross paths again until I’d investigate the “First Daze Here: The Vintage Collection” compilation some time in the 2010’s. I quite liked that collection of Pentagram’s 1970’s hard rock material but it didn’t raise the same level of interest as the self-titled album (also known as “Restless”) did so I haven’t returned to it since. After exploring a slew of mid-80’s heavy metal albums during drive time with my kids of late though I’ve found myself craving something a little heavier which has led me to Pentagram’s 1987 sophomore album “Day of Reckoning” in the quest for the ultimate riff. Let’s find out how it’s faired, shall we?

“Day of Reckoning” is a well composed, executed & produced album that showcases a band that have clearly paid their dues & know their craft well. In fact, the tight instrumental performances & chunky production job for the time really represent a lot of the appeal for me personally as it’s not nearly as consistent a record as the debut was. Pentagram had dropped any semblance of the hard rock sound they’d maintained on the self-titled through tracks like “Run Your Course” & “20 Buck Spin” by this point but I’d suggest that there’s not as much of your pure doom metal sound either with only album highlight “Evil Seed” fully embracing the dark side. The classic heavy metal sound that had perpetuated some of “Pentagram” is toned back a touch here too with the majority of the tracklisting sitting in the murky mid-point that is the traditional doom metal sound. There’s a fair bit of groovier mid-tempo stuff going on here, often hinting at the stoner metal sound that Sabbath had created with their 1972 “Vol 4” album. The use of tightly harmonized guitar melodies pops up quite regularly too & neither of those techniques traditionally sit within my musical comfort zones.

There’s an inconsistency to the tracklisting on “Day of Reckoning” which is in direct contract to “Pentagram” which I found to be without blemish. The album begins very poorly with a couple of numbers that do very little for me in the title track & “Broken Vows”, both which seem to be quite popular but are stylistically at odds with my taste profile. I also struggle with the nine minute centrepiece that is “Burning Savior” with Bobby Liebling’s out of key vocals putting me off through the early stages & the eventual crescendo all coming a little too late. Thankfully though, the combination of the tight performances, solid production & Victor’s undeniable skills as a riff master see the remainder of the record doing enough to recover & leave me with a generally positive feeling by the end of closing track “Wartime”. There are nowhere near the quantity of highlight tracks as its older sibling sported but the wins outweigh the losses to an extent that makes “Day of Reckoning” worth a few listens but I just can’t see myself returning to it any time soon. In fact, I’d suggest that I’m probably more likely to return to the “First Daze Here” compilation than I am to “Day of Reckoning” & I haven’t felt like revisiting that particular release for a good decade or more.

At the end of the day, I think my inability to fully engage with “Day of Reckoning” comes down to personal taste more than anything else. Much like my younger brother & fellow Metal Academy administrator Ben, I’ve never been all that big on the more traditional doom sound as I greatly prefer a more pure, modern & oppressive brand of doom metal. I’ve never really connected with groovy mid-paced stoner riffs but I can appreciate when they’re done well like they are here so there’s enough of interest to keep me going. Fans of Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus & Witchfinder General will likely really dig "Day of Reckoning" but I’m not going to deny that I find it hard to understand the tendency for fans to rate Pentagram’s heavy metal-driven numbers more highly than their slowest, doomiest material which can be pretty amazing in my opinion. If only there was more of it here!

3.5/5

It's about the wall of heavily-effected & continuously strummed open-string guitars with whispy vocals layered over the top to create a dreamy atmosphere.

Oni - "Incantation Superstition" (2023)

You know what? You can’t get too cocky in this vast & varied landscape that we know as the global metal scene because just when you start to think you know everything there is to know you’re likely to get hit in the back of the head with something you weren’t even aware existed but was right under your nose the whole time & that’s certainly the case with Adelaide-based death metal outfit Oni. I like to think that I have a pretty decent knowledge of the Aussie extreme metal scene (both current & historical) but when I met up with the label head of Sphere of Apparition Records recently he mentioned that the their first major release would be coming from a cool early 2000’s death metal band whose angle saw them tackling themes taken from Japanese demonology. I’d never even heard of Oni before but I trust his judgement so I made a point of checking them out once the CD was released earlier this year.

The ”Incantation Superstition” compilation draws together the entire recorded output of Oni which amounts to two 2001 releases (i.e. the “Enshrined To The Dead” demo & a split CD with delightfully monikered fellow Adelaide outfit Jesus Anal Penetration) as well as a cover version (“Altar of Sacrifice”) taken from the “Hell At Last – A Tribute To Slayer” compilation. Impetuous Ritual vocalist/guitarist & Portal/Grave Upheaval drummer Ignis Fatuus has done an excellent job at remastering & preparing this material as the tracklisting flows pretty seamlessly between the tracks from the various sessions & you won’t experience any jarring changes in sound along the way. The production job is more than reasonable for such old demo recordings too with all of the instruments & vocals being not only clearly audible but also maintaining a suitable amount of raw extremity so all of the ingredients are here for a rewarding trip into the annals of Australian metal history.

The 32 minute runtime kicks off with the five tracks taken from the split CD which I’m assuming is the more recent of the two releases due to its slightly more technical song structures but there’s not really that much of a stylistic difference between the two to tell you the truth which certainly helps with the flow of the tracklisting. The release opens with a short but splendidly executed intro piece that immediately presents the listener with Oni’s Japanese themes before the band blasts off into four hectic & quite brutal death metal outings. This is followed by the three track “Enshrined To The Dead” demo which I slightly favour over the split, especially the last two tracks “Seppuku Blade” (my personal favourite) & “Incantation Superstition” which are particularly strong. The older material might not be quite as psychotic as the material from the split but I feel that it works better from a compositional sense so it offers a touch more appeal for the naïve teenage tape trader that’s still such a big part of me all these decades later. The Slayer cover version represents more of a bolt-on as its style is quite different to the rest of the tracklisting. As someone whose favourite metal album of all time has been ”Reign In Blood” for about 35 years now, Oni was always going to have their work cut out for them in covering a track like “Altar of Sacrifice” which was metal perfection to begin with. They do a pretty reasonable job at replicating the song it has to be said but if you’re going to cover such a well-known & undeniably classic track then you really need to do something a little different with it if it’s to have the desired impact. As it is, “Altar of Sacrifice” comes across as a touch disposable given that it's essentially a down-tuned version of the original & features deep death metal vocals that don’t gel nearly as well as Tom Araya’s did. It’s not a weak song as such but it’s probably the least interesting inclusion on a very consistent tracklisting at the same time.

All of the hints I’d seen online had me expecting to hear something in line with the brutal death metal model when going into “Incantation Superstition” but the reality is a little different to that. Sure, there’s a fair bit of brutality to Oni’s sound but that’s not the only feather in their caps as there’s a lot more going here than that. I feel that the technical death metal subgenre is a much better fit for Oni as their riff & song structures are a touch more complex & a lot more chaotic which brings to mind the more tech death-oriented records from bands like Cryptopsy & Nile. It’s all presented with an inherently underground aesthetic that sees them maintaining enough looseness in their performances to avoid the sterility of the super-precise modern tech death world though. Oni’s riffs are angular & quite jerky at times which never allows the listener to relax. They kinda sound like a runaway train a lot of the time, as if they’re on the brink of crashing but have the technical chops to hold it all together while giving their audience a sly, knowing grin. Despite the technicality though, Oni always keep a foot in the classic death metal camp with “Altars of Madness”-era Morbid Angel appearing to be the main catalyst. The riff structures, blast-beats & super-shredding Trey Azagthoth-style guitar solos all owe a debt to the greatest Florida death metal band of them all although the super-underground atmosphere also tends to have me reaching for comparisons with fellow Morbid Angel disciples Sadistic Intent too.

There are number of Japanese intros & outros used throughout the release & they’re unanimously effective in achieving their desired outcome, so much so that I have to express a little disappointment that I couldn’t hear a little more of the Japanese influence in the actual death metal. I’m sure the lyrics are sporting it in spades but I can’t hear a lot of it in the instrumentation. The band go with several different vocal styles with a deep death growl & a higher, snarlier delivery being the protagonists. I prefer the higher-pitched one for the most part as it sounds less generic & a touch more aggressive. The bass lines benefit from their strong positioning in the mix & make the most of the opportunity by contributing more to the overall package than most death metal bassists are afforded the pleasure of.

Overall, “Incantation Superstition” works very well in paying homage to one of the Australian death metal scene’s less familiar yet still quite talented artists. The continuity of the production job also gives it the opportunity to work as an album in its own right too if you give it the chance. There isn’t a weak moment on the tracklisting & the relatively short run time means that the listener’s patience isn’t challenged which gives the release the potential to reach a whole new audience. In saying that though, I’d probably suggest that Oni’s best work may well have been ahead of them as I’m not quite sure they’d completely galvanized their sound as yet. They’d hit on something fresh & interesting from a stylistic & thematic point of view but I think they needed a little more time (perhaps just in the studio) to pull it all together in a way that’s more unified & fluent so as to truly rip the listener's face off (at least as a full-length release as I do think that "Enshrined to the Dead" is a very solid effort in isolation). As it is though, “Incantation Superstition” has left me surprised that I hadn’t heard of Oni before as local bands of this quality are few & far between, particularly those that possess such a clear pedigree with the extreme metal scene that I love so much.

3.5/5

Being heavy isn't the sole deciding factor in whether a band are metal or not though in my opinion. You either play metal riffs or you don't. You can be heavy as fuck but if your sound is still rooted in blues-based rock riff structures then you're not a metal band as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway... if we're going to push the threshold a bit then I'd suggest the industrial techno I used to play as a DJ is as metal as fuck. A lot of the early 2000's stuff coming out of Madrid was darker & more aggressive/abrasive than 99% of metal.

It was the title track from "I Want To Be There" which is a fairly uplifting & shoegaze-heavy take on blackgaze. By it's very definition blackgaze is a combination of black metal & shoegaze & examples that fit that criteria are generally best suited to The North in my opinion. But it's the fact that a lot of blackgaze artists also dilute their sound with strong post-rock & screamo influences that sees the waters being muddied a bit & often resulting in a dual clan arrangement (with The Infinite in particular). I'm comfortable with that personally. I've indulged in most of the primary shoegaze releases over the last year or so at some point & I feel that The North is still the most appropriate location for the undiluted blackgaze sound. Some folk metal releases seem much more out of place in The North in my opinion but we're obviously open to everyone's thoughts on this.

Doomy heavy metal from Virginia, USA.

Andi, the releases mentioned in that video have nothing to do with metal in my opinion (although I do agree with his statements around The Prodigy's links to industrial metal). The Bjork & Radiohead (& to a lesser extent Wu Tang Clan) albums are some of the biggest records in my life but I don't think he's saying that they sound like metal as such, at least I hope he's not because they offer no relation at all as far as I can see.

Kyuss and Elder are classified as stoner metal, so I'd go with someone a little less brutal in that regard.  I'm no EXPERT on stoner but I do know a few things.  I'd say QOTSA, but their attitude seems closer to punk than metal.  And I'll completely avoid tagging Colour Haze and Monster Magnet as close to metal.  I guess Fu Manchu would be a good one.  The line between stoner rock and stoner metal can be hard to determine.

Quoted Rexorcist

Kyuss & Elder are incorrectly tagged as stoner metal in my opinion. In fact, Kyuss are tagged as Non-Metal here at the Academy & we have a number of Elder releases in the Hall of Judgement too. The grey area is that Stoner Rock possesses a Black Sabbath/doom metal influence by definition which often confuses things but sees it being an obvious candidate for this thread.

I'd go with some of these subgenres:

* Stoner rock bands like Kyuss & Elder.

* Some of the more extreme hardcore punk subgenres like crust punk & thrashcore.

* Heavy psych bands like Flower Travellin' Band, Buffalo & Sir Lord Baltimore.

Dark Quarterer - "Dark Quarterer" (1987)

The idea of Italian heavy metal trio Dark Quarterer has long been a source of fascination for me to be honest. How they avoided causing any sort of blip on my radar back in the 1980’s & 1990’s but have somehow managed to build such a committed & loyal following over the many years since has left me intrigued as to what they could possibly offer, particularly given the comparisons to some of the more reputable & epically inclined acts from the US scene. I’d never given them a chance up until now though strangely enough so my recent decision to start spoon-feeding my three young kids some less extreme metal releases during drive time seemed like the perfect opportunity for some blind experimentation. It’s proven to be a rewarding experience too, significantly more so for myself than for my kids though it has to be said.

Dark Quarterer’s self-titled 1987 debut album has been gifted with an almost enigmatic reputation in the heavy metal scene. It’s production job is as raw as fuck with the rhythm guitars sitting much too far back in the mix, the vocals trying their best to drown out the instrumentation & a generous coating of distortion layered over the top of everything thanks to some inappropriate use of levels in the studio. Somehow though, this all seems to work to Dark Quarterer's advantage by giving the album an additional touch of underground street credibility but I have to say that I’m a little on the fence about it personally. You see, people are dead right to refer to Dark Quarterer’s sound is being a particularly epic one with bassist Gianni Nepi possessing a soaring voice to rival the most metal claw-inducing power metal front man & the three musicians producing lengthy, layered & extravagant pieces that sit as much in the progressive rock space as they do the heavy metal one. Now, when you take that description into account, I can’t help but feel that a big, clear prog production job might have brought out some additional complexities in Dark Quarterer’s music, even though I can definitely see the appeal in the super-underground packaging too. Perhaps I’m just looking for a little more warmth given that “Dark Quarterer” sounds very much like it was recorded & released in the 1970’s. 1981 would probably have been the very latest I would have guessed this record to hail from in a blind test given that both the prog rock & heavy metal influences are clearly drawn from that era.

In saying that though, Dark Quarterer have still managed to produce a very complex, mature & organic sound for just a trio of instrumentalists. The compositions aren’t technical as such but they are heavily expansive & often improvisational in nature with all three men contributing creatively to the holistic package. Guitarist Fulberto Serena is clearly the protagonist from an instrumental point of view though as these pieces are overflowing with lengthy & quite capable lead guitar solos that any 70’s prog/fusion shredder would be happy to claim as their own. Opener “Red Hot Gloves” sees Nepi’s vocal approach seemingly drawing upon Rob Halford’s efforts on the first couple of Judas Priest albums while the more epic pieces see him achieving quite a bit of crossover with the most epic of the epic in Manowar’s Eric Adams. It all works well too (particularly on album highlight “Gates Of Hell”) & there are no weak songs included on the very consistent 43 minute tracklisting.

Perhaps what holds me back from scoring “Dark Quarterer” a little higher is that it never sounds all that heavy. There are some hints at a doomy edge at times with the vocals occasionally even drawing comparisons with Candlemass’ front man Messiah Marcolin but I don’t feel that the trio ever quite get there, leaving things feeling a touch more mind-mannered than I'd like. The guitar tone doesn’t help as it’s a little more rock than it is metal while the guitar solos I mentioned would fit fairly seamlessly within the context of a prog rock or jazz fusion outfit. Early US heavy metallers Legend are probably a pretty good point of comparison as they always seemed to have one foot in the prog rock/jazz fusion camps & suffered from similar production issues. Dark Quarterer's riffs & vocals are undeniably metal though with their epic atmosphere reminding me a lot of Manilla Road & their heavier, doomier moments touching on Cirith Ungol. These attributes will no doubt appeal a lot more to others than they do to me so I think “Dark Quarterer” is definitely worth a few listens for the discerning listener that enjoys a distinctly 70’s based sound.

3.5/5

This was the album were they really started getting closer to mastering their signature sound

Interesting perspective. Personally, I would have thought that when most people refer to the signature Deathspell Omega sound they're really referring to the more dissonant & avant-garde experimentation of 2010's "Paracletus" rather than the more traditional black metal sound of “Si monvmentvm reqvires, circvmspice”.

Epic progressive rock-infused heavy metal from Italy.