Daniel's Forum Replies

Ben, can you please add the 1981 self-titled debut E.P. from Australian heavy metallers Taipan? Its was released in a 12" format.

My brand new Top Ten Live Metal Releases of All Time list:

01. Leprous - "LIve at Rockefeller Music Hall" (2016)

02. Slayer - "Decade of Aggression: Live" (1991)

03. Boris with Merzbow - "Rock Dream" (2007)

04. Ozzy Osbourne - "Speak of the Devil" (1982)

05. Opeth - "The Roundhouse Tapes" (2007)

06. Slayer - "Live Undead" E.P. (1984)

07. Isis - "Live II 03.19.03" (2004)

08. Morbid Angel - "Entangled In Chaos" (1996)

09. Exodus - "Another Lesson in Violence" (1997)

10. Iron Maiden - "Live After Death" (1985)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/214

Theatre of Tragedy - "Aégis" (1998)

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed ToT's third album actually as I'm sure Ben would remember our conflict over the band's merits when it came to their earlier material back in the mid-1990's. I can't recall whether I've ever heard "Aégis" before but found it to be significantly less cheesy than I was expecting. It's certainly a much better record than the Lake of Tears album I checked out yesterday. The massive seven-piece lineup works nicely with the dual vocals being incorporated quite well, even if Liv Kristine isn't the talent that some of her gothic metal contemporaries might be. There's a strong Paradise Lost influence throughout as well as many of the big names of the 80's gothic rock scene although I have to admit that I fail to see how anyone could tag this album as gothic rock as it's clearly a metal-based release. I'd suggest that a decent description would be the gothic doom of Draconian meets female-fronted bands like The Gathering & The 3rd & the Mortal. There are a couple of flat tracks in "Cassandra" & "Poppaea" but the rest is quite engaging with the highlights being "Aoede", "Sirens" & "Bachante". This is one of the better gothic metal releases I've heard actually.

3.5/5

My updated Top Ten Gothic Metal Releases of All Time looks like this:

01. MonumentuM – “In Absentia Christi” (1995)

02. The Gathering – “Nighttime Birds” (1997)

03. Tiamat – “Wildhoney” (1994)

04. Type O Negative – “October Rust” (1996)

05. Paradise Lost – “Icon”

06. The Gathering – “Mandylion” (1995)

07. Type O Negative – “World Coming Down” (1999)

08. Paradise Lost – “Draconian Times” (1995)

09. Swallow The Sun – “Emerald Forest & the Blackbird” (2012)

10. Theatre of Tragedy - "Aégis" (1998)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/136

Lake of Tears - "Forever Autumn" (1999)

I hadn't heard anything Swedish gothic metallers Lake of Tears have done since their underwhelming 1994 "Greater Art" debut album when they were still a doom/death band but if this is the best they can do then I'm not sure they're for me. "Forever Autumn" is generally tagged as a gothic metal/gothic rock hybrid but there's no goth rock here that I can see. The majority of the tracklisting is made up of a pretty unintimidating form of gothic metal with the remainder of the album being comprised of stripped back acoustic progressive rock outings with a strong synthesizer component. Think Tiamat & Paradise Lost meets Pink Floyd & 90's Metallica & you won't be too far off the mark, particularly given that front man Daniel Brennare seems to want to clone "Load"/"Reload"-era James Hetfield pretty closely. There are a few enjoyable tracks here but I find the majority of the album to sound pretty flat.

3/5

P.S. Some of you might find it interesting that guitarist Magnus Sahlgren was a part of this lineup at the same time that he was in legendary Swedish death metal establishment Dismember.

Cacophony - "Speed Metal Symphony" (1987)

Another highly influential guitar shred record from my past. I bought this album on CD some time in the very early 1990's after discovering both Marty Friedman & Jason Becker individually & it's fair to say that it left me completely awe-stricken. With their debut collaborative effort, Marty (24 years old) & Jason (astoundingly just 17 years old) absolutely slay in what must surely be one of the heavier guitar virtuoso efforts of the time. Five of the seven tracks are vocal which suits me nicely with singer Peter Marrino's tone being similar to Blackie Lawless from WASP which I don't mind. Musically though, this is very much a take on Yngwie Malmsteen's early records & combines heavy metal, speed metal & progressive metal within a neoclassical context. The neoclassical structures are the predominant feature here though which makes "Speed Metal Symphony" a true neoclassical metal release for a change. I'll be putting through a couple of Hall entries to have heavy metal & speed metal removed as genres as they're used more as tools than as base genres. In fact, it's kinda ironic that there's only one genuine speed metal track here to be honest. "Speed Metal Symphony" may not be as strong a record as either of the boys' solo debuts or any of Yngwie's 1980's efforts but it's still worth a few listens, if only for the dazzling technical displays.

3.5/5

Motörhead - "Everything Louder Than Everyone Else" (1999)

Another very high quality live release from the London legends, this time documenting an entire 110 minute Hamburg show from 1998. It may not top 1981's classic "No Sleep Till Hammersmith" live album but it's still a top five Motörhead release as far as I'm concerned with the tracklisting & performances being everything you could hope for.

4/5

Ben, please add Adelaide brutal death metal outfit Oni's 2023 "Incantation Superstition" compilation CD.

FYI Bjorn has done the mastering for the upcoming Neuropath demo compilation CD i.e. my old death metal band. Did a splendid job too just quietly.

I shot Bjorn our reviews too & I’m sure he’ll be stoked. He told me that he was personally responsible for the recording, mixing & mastering of the album & he definitely has a knack for creating atmosphere. I was a bit worried when going into the album as it could have gotten awkward if I didn’t like it. I was prepared to simply not review it if that was the case but I’m really glad it wasn’t.

Sonny, Ben & I were waiting for your review as we both knew you’d love this one.

Fleshgod Apocalypse - "Oracles" (2009)

I can still very clearly remember my mindset upon returning to the metal scene in 2009 after a decade of electronic music indulgence. I’d grown tired of the club scene in a similar way to how I’d done with the metal one around 1997/98 & just wanted to hear something genuinely brutal again so my first moves were to see what my beloved brutal death metal subgenre had been up to since I’d last been involved with it which led me very quickly to the Italians who were making the most brutal music the world had ever heard to the time (well… shortly after checking out the latest efforts from old faves like Suffocation & Dying Fetus anyway). One of the releases that particularly blew my socks off was the debut album from Rome’s wonderfully named Fleshgod Apocalypse whose debut full-length “Oracles” offered some of the most relentless music I’d ever encountered, only with a twist or two along the way. Fleshgod Apocalypse would go on to make some fairly significant musical adjustments that would see them becoming more & more of a challenge for me in the years to come but “Oracles” excited me & saw me giving it regular spins every time I needed an adrenaline rush over the next few months. It’s been ages since I’ve listened to it though so let’s see how it’s aged.

Perhaps the biggest feather in the cap of “Oracles” is its presentation. I simply adore the cover artwork which utilizes a striking colour scheme to enhance an already attractive image. The production job is equally impressive though, perhaps even more so given just how hard it must have been to achieve this sort of clarity amidst some of the most relentless blasting you’ll ever encounter. Sure, bassist Paolo Rossi isn’t done any favours by the mix which is hardly unusual for a death metal release but the guitars are presented with supreme precision. Legendary extreme metal drummer Mauro Mercurio’s drums are certainly heavily triggered & do sound a obviously artificial when isolated in the mix but it works well for a release that’s as technically demanding & high paced as this one is.

Some of you would likely be aware of Fleshgod Apocalypse through their bombastic symphonic death metal releases from the 2010’s, particularly their popular 2011 sophomore album “Agony” (which time has seen me quite liking after overcoming some initial concerns) but the band kicked off their recording career with a couple of releases that sound a little more traditional & can now be seen as somewhat transitional even though they were Fleshgod Apocalypse’s first proper releases. What we receive from their initial effort is an extremely brutal & extraordinarily relentless release that keeps a foot in both the technical death metal & brutal death metal camps in a similar way to bands like Hour of Penance, Nile or Origin while also throwing around some neoclassical influences without fully taking the plunge like they’d do over the next couple of years. There’s not anything especially symphonic in Fleshgod Apocalypse’s metal material at this stage in their evolution but there’s definitely some attempts to use classical music as a compositional tool from the guitarists with the solos being entirely neoclassically focused. There are also four or five quite accomplished classical interludes positioned at key locations within the tracklisting & these serve a very definite purpose given the aural battery the listener is subjected to via the metal material.

So how does it all work? Well, I’m a big fan of well executed brutal death metal so I find the flat-chat, pedal-to-the-metal stuff to be nothing short of exhilarating. Hired gun Mercurio (Hour of Penance/Hideous Divinity) is unbelievably fast & his endurance is almost super-human so for someone that’s obsessed with elite-level extreme drumming “Oracles” almost falls into the novelty category (although admittedly band leader Francesco Pauli would one-up him on the next album with arguably some of the most savagely brutal drumming ever recorded). The limiting factor here though is that I find neoclassical guitar work to be at odds with the intended aura of the death metal sound. There’s just something that doesn’t sit all that comfortably with me which sees most tracks including parts that aren’t exactly as I would wish. Still, there’s a lot to love about “Oracles” with Pauli’s crushing death growls & precision riffage being combined with Mercurio’s mind-blowing fury to create some of death metal’s most over the top material.

Fleshgod Apocalypse would push the neoclassicisms one step further on their 2010 “Mafia” E.P. before cruising head-first into symphonic territory for 2011’s “Agony” sophomore album & have never looked back. Personally though, I still find this debut album to be the most appealing inclusion in the band’s back catalogue & it’s always serves me very well indeed when I’m looking for the ultimate dose of adrenaline-fueled intensity.

4/5

The Cult - "Love" (1985)

Post-punk/gothic rock from London.

Great review which very much sums up my own feelings. There's a new Hall of Judgement entry for this release if you'd like to participate too Vinny.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

System of a Down - "Steal This Album!" (2002)

When I first made the decision to fill in the gaps in my understanding of Californian alternative metallers System of a Down’s widely respected back catalogue a couple of months ago, I think I subconsciously expected each release to sound drastically different from each of the other four. I mean, I’d found SOTD’s two strongest album’s (2001’s “Toxicity” & 2005’s “Mezmerize”) to sound so fresh & original when I first encountered them with the band’s quirky, avant-garde edge not sounding much like anyone else at the time so it was the obvious assumption given how wacky & infectious some of their musical excursions tend to be. It never occurred to me that SOTD could fall into some kind of comfortable groove that would see each album sounding relatively similar but that seems to be the way the chips have fallen to an extent. Don’t get me wrong, they’re such a talented bunch of musicians that they’ve never really come close to releasing anything subpar but neither have the three remaining albums lived up to the expectations set by my first SOTD experiences.

Anyway, that being said, 2002’s “Steal This Album!” record is the last of System of a Down’s five full-lengths that I’ve chosen to explore & it could be forgiven for sounding relatively similar to 2001’s “Toxicity” given the circumstances around the release. The material included on “Steal This Album!” is essentially a bunch of leftovers from the “Toxicity” sessions that originally saw the light of day through unofficial means when rough demo versions of the songs hit the internet under the “Toxicity II” title. This apparently disappointed the band enough to see them quickly engaging producer Rick Rubin to produce an official release that includes a full sixteen tracks that the band have always maintained are of a similar quality to “Toxicity” but didn’t quite fit the concept for that album. Given that information, it’s really pretty impressive that SOAD have delivered a record that can stand on its own two feet alongside the band’s other full-lengths.

Unsurprisingly, “Steal This Album!” sounds a little less cohesive than the System of a Down's stronger records & the inclusion of a full sixteen tracks seems a touch ambitious in all honesty. A little trimming wouldn’t have gone astray here & could have led to a more consistent product in my opinion. The tracklisting starts off brilliantly with two of the best & most memorable songs on the record before continuing at a reasonable level of quality for the remainder of the A side. Things start to get a bit shaky from track nine though with three or four filler songs being tossed out in relatively quick succession before things are rapidly resurrected at the end with the other two best inclusions closing out the album. I tend to get a touch lost during weaker material like “36”, “Pictures”, F**k The System” & “Ego Brain” to tell you the truth so it takes me looking at the album holistically for me to get an accurate gauge on my feelings.

I’d suggest that “Steal This Album!” is a slightly less intense record than some of System of a Down’s other works with full throttle opener “Chic ‘n’ Stu” being the obvious banger. There are a few more stripped back numbers included (like the excellent acoustic number “Roulette”) & it’s easy to see how those particular songs may not have fit into “Toxicity” as a creative statement, despite still being strong material. The band sound as tight & talented as ever here so, even though I’d suggest that this is the least impressive of System of a Down’s five albums, it’s not far behind the self-titled & “Hypnotize” in terms of general quality & easily keeps the Faith No More’s & Dir en Grey’s of the alternative metal world on their toes.

3.5/5

Here's my review:

I’ve found my taste profile to be increasingly open to The Revolution in recent years but it tends to be only certain pockets that really float my boat with others leaving me a bit flat. Clearly the most appealing style of metalcore for me though is the more chaotic & extreme forms of mathcore, particularly when combined with sludge metal &/or grindcore. I’ve been known to seek out releases that fall into that bracket occasionally in order to satisfy my itch for those sounds & Mouthbreather’s “Pig” appeared to be a very promising prospect based on the information I was reading online with reviews being generally very positive & the grindcore genre receiving regular mentions as an influence so I was pretty confident of finding another off-the-hook addition to my small list of short & psychotic balls of energy.

Interestingly though, the very short seven minute “Pig” E.P. isn’t exactly what I thought it would be. For starters, it’s far from the most technical of mathcore releases. In fact, I’d suggest that it falls somewhere in between mathcore & traditional metalcore even though it’s quite a noisy & chaotic release. It’s structures just aren’t that rhythmically complex & the links to the mathy end of the genre tend to come more from the unusual use of guitar noise which is a feature of the record. Where is the grindcore that people have been referencing though? I can only identify about 30 seconds of grind influence across the whole seven tracks to be honest which left me a touch disappointed given my strong affiliation with The Horde. I can only guess that it’s the very short track lengths that are prompting people to make that link but let's not forget that short track lengths are par for the course in purist hardcore circles.

Anthony Santagati’s over-the-top vocals fall well within the confines of the metalcore spectrum & he does a reasonably good job as he spits his words out with undeniable spite & vitriol. The use of metalcore breakdowns is quite prominent too with the occasional use of gravity drops also being employed to provide a little more oomph. Both of those elements see Mouthbreather losing a little steam for me personally as they start to angle them back towards the masses when they don’t actually sound all that generic. “Ryan Goes To Rehab” is more of a short sludge metal piece which appears to have been included in order to break up the relentless barrage of metallic hardcore aggression. I think it’s fit for purpose too but the same can’t be said for closing sound collage piece “Religion & Tonic” which sees the E.P. petering out in a whimper & is one of the deciding factors in “Pig” missing out on a pass mark from me when you consider that it’s also one of the longer inclusions in the tracklisting. The other main detractor is the noticeable lack of highlights with all six of the metal-based tracks being quite good but none of them ever really threatening to reach a solid 4/5 score. When your closer is as poor as this one then you really need at least a couple of truly great tracks to balance it out but unfortunately that’s not the case here.

I’ve been a little disappointed with “Pig” to be honest as I was expecting more given how highly regarded it seems to be. Bands like Gaza, War From A Harlot’s Mouth & Inside The Beehive do this extreme brand of mathcore much better than this in my opinion & I’d recommend that you explore those artists before venturing towards Mouthbreather. Then again, the seven minute run time hardly requires much investment now, does it?

3/5

To my ears "Pig" is a metalcore/mathcore hybrid in roughly equal portions. I can only find about 30 seconds of grindcore influence on the whole release to be honest & even then it's only an influence rather than a primary sound. I wouldn't even go for a grindcore secondary subgenre on this one so I'm afraid it'll be a NO vote from me.

I've just posted this nomination in the Hall of Judgement too.

Here's my review:

A privileged few of you may be aware of The Black Twilight Circle, a mysterious group of black metal producers from California who collaboratively create a consistently underground & lo-fi brand of extreme music that’s intended to maintain & celebrate the primitive nature of the black metal movement. Many of the releases come only on cassette (often with no titles) while live shows provide an indication that many of the bands are made up of the same members. It’s a fascinating & exciting scene to explore & amongst all of that came the Rhinoservs label, a vessel for the musical aspirations of two passionate individuals in Austin Omar Delgadillo (aka A.) & Devon Boutelle (aka Yagian) between 2010 & 2013 & highlighted by this highly regarded split E.P. from Tukaaria (A.) & Odz Manouk (Yagian).

The E.P. was originally released only on cassette in 2011 before being re-released on vinyl by Final Agony Records in 2013 so it seems to have been intentionally kept away from the masses by utilizing inaccessible mediums that are only explored by the artist’s intended audience. I have to say that this approach has worked too because I can’t deny that it gives the E.P. a mystique that it might not have otherwise possessed & the primitive, lo-fi cover art provides further support for that endeavour. The music contained within sounds very much like the artwork would have you believe too so the scene is set beautifully for a transcendent & liberating black metal experience.

The release kicks off with three tracks from A’s Tukaaria project which see him opting for a particularly lo-fi sound with the production changing drastically between the tracks in a similar way to what Darkthrone would do during the mid-1990s. It’s a chaotic sound with sloppy performances & swarming, dissonant tremolo-picked guitars that are a little lacking in distortion at times. I’d hazard to guess that both attributes may be intentional as they only add to the aura around this music to tell you the truth. The most noteworthy point of interest around the Takaaria material however is the way that the bass guitar is positioned in the mix which is quite prominent for a raw black metal release. Its tone is a little poppy & weird too which gives the material a unique character. Yagian’s two Odz Manouk tracks are a bit more traditional & noticeably less chaotic than the Tukaaria stuff, perhaps benefiting from the thicker & more bass heavy production. “The Scavenger” is easily the standout track on the five on offer on this release which goes a long way to explaining why I find myself preferring the Odz Manouk songs over the Tukaaria ones.

This split is no doubt a fascinating release which offers a consistent level of quality throughout but I have to question whether it offers enough class to compete with similar & more senior players in the American black metal scene like Leviathan & Ash Borer. I’ve certainly enjoyed my time with this cassette but are left doubting whether I’m likely to return to it when there’s such a wealth of great music out there to explore & that feeling alone sees my scoring potential being limited. In saying that though, I do think some of our other members may get more out of this release than I do.

3.5/5

Here's my review:

Underground US power metal five-piece Fifth Angel have been on my radar for many years however, despite being well across most of the other major contributors to the movement, I've somehow managed to let them slip past me to date. But given the generally positive reports on the Seattle band’s self-titled Shrapnel Records debut album, I thought I’d take the opportunity to nominate it for The Guardians feature status so as to bring it to everyone’s attention & give it a chance to prove to me that Fifth Angel’s reputation is based on merit.

Let’s put it out there right from the beginning that “Fifth Angel” sounds unapologetically of its time with all of the common traits of any mid-80’s heavy metal album being present & accounted for but I don’t think that should be taken as a negative. The record is well produced with the song-writing being given every chance to impress while the musicianship is of a high standard too. Lead guitarist James Byrd is of particular note as his solos represent some of the high points of the release & it doesn’t surprise me that he’s since gone on to a solo career as a neoclassical shredder because his chops are clear for all to see. Front man Ted Pilot possesses a pure & melodic tone that’s pleasant enough but doesn’t ever threaten to compete with the elite heavy metal vocalists while I also noticed the presence of drummer Ken Mary who is somewhat of a rock/metal journeyman given that he’s spent time with everyone from Accept, Alice Cooper, Chastain, House of Lords & Impellitteri. In fact, he’s the current drummer for popular Phoenix thrash metallers Flotsam & Jetsam which is a little surprising. Ken doesn’t try to pull off anything terribly special here but he certainly lays down a solid basis for the other band members to build on.

Fifth Angel tackle their melodic metal sound from a few different angles across the nine tracks. Their sound is rooted in classic heavy metal with some songs being comparable to the hard rock-driven crunch of Dio (see “Shout It Out” for example) & others taking a more modern & aggressive US power metal direction similar to Crimson Glory, early Queensryche (perhaps not surprisingly given they both hail from the same town) or Lizzy Borden. There are a few tracks that verge on the European variety of power metal too with “Call Out The Warning” being the most fully realised but I feel that this is much more of a traditional heavy metal record than it is a power metal one with my preferences unsurprisingly being angled towards the heavy metal material over the power metal-ish stuff.

As with all heavy metal releases, it’s the vocal hooks & song-writing that play the biggest part in deciding on how much you buy into the artist’s vision & that’s a key point to discuss as I think it’s an issue here. While all of the bands I referenced above consistently create engaging, memorable songs that have you singing along with them in your head for days afterwards, I don’t think I can say that same for Fifth Angel. “Shout It Out”, “The Night” (my personal favourite) & closer “Fade To Flames” are all pretty cool tracks but I can’t say that any of them are anything more than pleasant while the remainder of the album just sounds pretty flat to my ears, even despite the band’s obvious metal credentials. I can see why people enjoy a record like this one but I think I need a little more to keep me entertained so I can’t see myself returning to “Fifth Angel” in the future.

3/5

This change has now been completed. There are obviously a lot of releases that have both technical death metal & dissonant death metal subgenres attached. I'd encourage everyone to assist in correcting that by voting on the subgenre tagging on the associated release page after listening to these releases.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

Here's my review:

With the exception of one or two prominent acts, I’d only just begun my initial approaches to the sludge metal genre when I decided to check out the 2010 “When All Became None” debut album from Indianapolis five-piece Coffinworm at the time of release so I can’t say that I’m too surprised by my three star rating although, after the experiences of the last couple of days, I hold grave fears for the relevance & accuracy of that assessment. You see, this month’s The Fallen clan feature release has made a sizeable dent in the front of my skull & one that I’m not likely to forget in a hurry.

I often find that the releases that are most closely tailored to my musical taste are downrated by others & I think that’s par for the course when you have such dark preferences & such an aversion to melody or any form of light at the end of the tunnel. “IV.I.VIII” is a prime example of a release that hits squarely on my musical sweet spot though in that it’s violently aggressive, deeply nihilistic & suffocatingly oppressive. Coffinworm have quite simply left any hint of accessibility at the door & have pummeled me with a hardcore fury that I’ve rarely experienced before. Opener “Sympathectomy” utilizes full-on grindcore to lay waste to any misconceptions I may have had about the depth of depravity I was about to witness before the next couple of tracks add a blackened edge to drag me further & further down into the abyss. Yes, you’ll often see records like this one tagged as blackened sludge/doom but the fact of the matter is that the black metal influence is only aesthetic & there is no straight-up doom metal on offer. This is just about the epitome of what sludge metal should aspire to be in my opinion & my best description is the uncompromising sludge/doom of bands like Thou & Cough combined with the in-your-face extremity of Dragged Into Sunlight. I mean if Mastodon & Melvins are your favourite sludge bands & you’re looking for something similar then I’m afraid this ain’t it buddy.

The two-pronged vocal delivery of front man Dave Berkowitz is unrivalled in its visceral spite. One minute he sounds like a rabid grindcore grunter & the next he’s a psychotic hardcore madman of the highest order. The instrumentation is super tight, crushingly heavy & beautifully produced too with the thick guitar tone leaving the listener pulverized under the weight of doom-laden hardcore power chords. You even get some blast-beats here & there but they’re performed in a loose & violent way that really suits Coffinworm’s sound. Ultimately this band sounds for all money like they’ve absolutely nailed their sound & are now hellbent on stuffing it down your throat with great force.

There’s a wonderful consistency to the tracklisting with all of the six tracks being highly impressive. There are a couple of clear highlights however & it’s these that see what could have been a very solid & impressive release being elevated to heights that few sludge metal acts manage to reach. The first is the superbly blackened “Instant Death Syndrome” with its use of open-string riffs that could have been borrowed from mid-90’s Satyricon & the second is the magnificent eight-minute epic that is “Of Eating Disorders & Restraining Orders” which may just be the pinnacle of Coffinworm’s sound. At the end of the day though, your more seasoned sludge fan is very unlikely to find much to complain about here, even though a few of the tracks include a weaker section here or there that sees my hopes of them reaching classic status squandered to an extent.

“IV.I.VIII” is a marvellous choice for a Metal Academy feature release as it’s so clearly underrated but is highly likely to appeal to some of our more experienced & battle-hardened regulars. It’s definitely made me take a good hard look at my musical development too as I simply can’t condone my having rated this band so poorly back in 2010 when their debut is generally regarded as being superior to this sophomore record. It’s left me feeling quite proud of how far I’ve managed to develop my metal taste actually as I would never have been able to stomach a hardcore-driven beast of an album like this one fifteen years ago. Now though, this is very much my bag, my cup of tea & my jam all wrapped up into a ball of anger & punishment.

4.5/5

But an album could still be tagged as both technical and dissonant death metal could it not, Ben? 

Yeah definitely Sonny. 

The Septicflesh nomination is no longer relevant as we've now moved that release onto the brand new Symphonic Death Metal subgenre.

Along with the addition of the new Symphonic Death Metal subgenre, Ben & I have also been discussing the potential for adding a Dissonant Death Metal subgenre. Dissonant Death Metal is currently employed at a competitor's website as a subgenre of Technical Death Metal & we both believe that it's a legitimate sound that can easily be differentiated from other strands of death metal however I'd suggest that it's up for debate as to whether Dissonant Death Metal should really be a child of Technical Death Metal. Sure, there are times when releases are both technical & dissonant & it requires a level of technical proficiency to push the boundaries of acceptable melodic & harmonic deployment but I don't believe they're mutually exclusive. Artificial Brain's self-titled album & Flourishing's "The Sum of All Fossils" are two releases where I feel that the tech death tag isn't justified & both can sit fairly comfortably under the dissonant death metal tag without being regarded as being overly technical. The dissonant brand of death metal can also be quite divisive & you're certainly not guaranteed to enjoy Gorguts or Ulcerate just because you love Nile or Necrophagist & vice versa because those bands/styles often sound nothing alike. For those reasons, we're considering separating the two & I'd just like to put it out there to see what your feelings are before moving forwards.

Thanks for your feedback guys. The associated database changes have now been completed so we officially have a new subgenre in The Horde.

Ben, I just noticed that Demonic Resurrection's "The Return to Darkness" album seems to be missing for some reason.

Here's my review:

Aussie death metal outfit Temple Nightside seem to have slipped under most Metal Academics’s radars in recent years but a quick Google search will see a lot of extreme metal aficionados harbouring great hope for their 2016 third album “The Hecatomb” given the enormous pedigree of the individuals involved. Vocalist/guitarist Mitchell Keepin has been involved with several noteworthy black metal projects including Austere, Naxzul & Pestilential Shadows while also being the sole member of funeral doom metal act Funeral Mourning, New Zealand-based guitarist Phil Kusabs has spent time with everyone from Diocletian to Qrixkuor to Ulcerate to Vassafor along with having performed live with Canadian war metal godfathers Blasphemy & Russian death/black metal band Pseudogod while bassist Bjorn Rusell is the main man behind highly regarded Aussie doom/death duo Grave Upheaval so there’s an absolute shit-tonne of experience behind the team responsible for “The Hecatomb”. That knowledge doesn’t go to waste here either as the album is absolutely oozing of a deep understanding of what makes death metal so appealing at its most primal level. It’s filthy, it’s brutal, it’s atmospheric & it’s cripplingly dark so it ticks almost all of the boxes that any self-respecting death metal nut might have when going into an underground release. To its credit, these things are combined to produce a consistently engaging, entertaining & high-quality release too.

If you’re looking for an ultra-clinical tech death record with dazzling displays of technical prowess & a super-clean production job then “The Hecatomb” may not be what you’re looking for as Temple Nightside have taken a very different path with their approach here. The production is kept intentionally a little murky in the interest of creating a seriously dark atmosphere that takes the listener well outside of their comfort zone. All of the instruments & melodic themes are still easily discernible though so they’ve done a marvellous job at giving this beast of a record a level of accessibility that not all of the band’s peers are so fortunate to achieve. The cavernous drum sound is worth mentioning as it’s a long way from the clicky triggered sounds that a lot of the death metal scene resorts to by default these days. Keepin’s vocals are very much what you’d expect from a darker modern death metal release in that they’re deep & monstrous but also present themselves with a whispery quality at times which reminds me the delivery of several funeral death metal artists. The wonderful cover artwork is a strikingly apt representation of the sounds you can expect to hear too which is a nice touch.

I’ve noticed Temple Nightside being labelled as a blackened death metal artist on multiple online resources over the last few days but I’m not picking up much in the way of black metal on “The Hecatomb” to tell you the truth. There is however a significant dose of doom on offer though, almost enough to warrant a dual tagging. In fact, many of the doomier moments are amongst of the stronger parts of the album in my opinion, particularly on doom/death monster “Within The Arms Of Nothingness” which is probably my favourite of the six proper songs included, closely followed by “Fortress of Burden & Distress”. Nine minute closer “Charnel Winds” pushes all the way out into funeral doom metal territory & pulls it off with ease too while the three short interludes are a brilliant addition to the unblemished tracklisting, so much so that I’d suggest that they wouldn’t sound out of place on one of the more premium dark ambient releases. The only negative point I will make is that I feel that “Graven” was possibly not the best track to open with. I went into the release with high expectations coming off the back of Ben’s positive feedback but, despite still being an entertaining listen, “Graven” is the track that I find to be the least appealing of the nine on offer so it took me a couple of listens to see my position on “The Hecatomb” reaching its full potential.

The diSEMEBOWLMENT influence Ben picked up on in his review is obvious at times although Temple Nightside don’t explore as wide, twisted & avant-garde array of influences, preferring to harness the more deathly components of their idol’s sound & getting pretty close in terms of atmosphere on occasion too. They possess a similar aesthetic to darker, noisier death metal bands like Antediluvian or fellow Aussies Portal only their more traditional riff structures sit closer to an old school death metal act like Incantation. On paper that sounds like an enticing concoction & the reality is pretty accurate to that description with “The Hecatomb” being a highly rewarding & undeniably professional death metal release that will likely offer plenty of appeal for the genre’s purists through its commitment to a truly graven & deeply atmospheric experience.

4/5

Charlie Megira and The Hefker Girl - "Charlie Megira und the Hefker Girl" (2006)

Gothic rock/post-punk

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

This release is already listed under Non-Metal Sonny. I haven't head it personally but if Demon's first two albums are anything to go by then I completely agree that they're not worthy of metal credentials.

Here's my review:

I feel that I’ll probably be in the extreme minority of metalheads in that I have previously had some experience with Boston thrash metallers Wargasm (who included two members of Boston thrash/heavy/power metallers Meliah Rage whose first couple of albums were fairly popular in the late 1980's & early 1990's). I picked up their 1988 debut album “Why Play Around?” through a tape trader back in the early 1990's & gave it several spins before dumping it on the top of the immense pile of material that I found to be pretty enjoyable but not engaging enough to warrant a return visit. I can recall very few of the details of that experience now but needless to say that it didn’t result in me being encouraged to investigate Wargasm’s subsequent releases so I haven’t gone into this revisit with much hope of finding an undiscovered gem.

By 1988 the thrash scene had well & truly matured. Prior to then you’d find a large portion of the more underground releases to be extremely raw & unpolished but by the time the last couple of the years of the decade rolled around there was a lot more class & capability being shown by your average thrash exponent given that the Big Four had managed to cross over into the mainstream to an extent with their more recent material. “Why Play Around?” is one of these records in that it’s professionally produced & executed which sees it being given every chance to impress your average fan & it does so to a reasonable extent too it has to be said. The riffs are tight & thrashy, the lead guitar work is surprisingly capable for such an underground band & the vocals are delivered with confidence.

But the thing with a band like Wargasm is that there’s simply not much to talk about. They take a mid-paced approach to their thrash for the most part with the majority of the riffage coming across as pretty generic & overly basic. It’s hard to pin point the issue with the vocals as they’re certainly serviceable but I’d hazard to suggest that they’re simply lacking a bit of x factor &, despite the fact that the seven proper songs steer well of anything that could be considered to be subpar, it’s rare that they take me close to the upper echelon as far as aggression & energy go. Instead, I find myself perennially sitting in a beige room where everything looks & feels easy on the eye but nothing really encourages me to leave my seat. The couple of highlight tracks “Undead” & “Humanoid” invariably occur when Wargasm throw their shackles aside for a while & thrash out a bit more so it’s a shame that they didn’t embrace their raucous side more often to tell you the truth. The two interludes also offer very little of any substance & could easily have been omitted without too much fuss given the 44 minute run time.

At the end of the day, any major music scene will inevitably have talented also-rans as not everyone can crack the big time. Unfortunately for Wargasm they’ve found themselves coming too late in the game for a record like “Why Play Around?” to register much of a blip on the thrash radar, despite the fact that it’s a mildly enjoyable & fairly capable example of the subgenre. You’ll easily be able to pick up on the band’s wide array of influences across the tracklisting with any number of prominent bands featuring at any one time but it’s rare that they find themselves competing on the same level as a Testament, Overkill or even Xentrix. Unfortunately Wargasm simply lack the sophistication required to stand out in a market that was well & truly saturated by that stage but you can't say that they don't perform their roles admirably nonetheless. In fairness, I never really found myself considering a poor score for Wargasm here but it’s fairly telling that I also never threatened to award them a higher one either as there’s just not enough pizzazz on offer to see “Why Play Around?” differentiating itself from the masses.

3.5/5

That album’s fucking awesome just quietly Ben.

I bought that Altar album on CD as soon as it was released based on rave reviews that stated it was as evil as Deicide. Spoiler alert: I recall being very disappointed.

“At War With Satan” is my favourite Venom album just quietly.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

Boris - "Amplifier Worship" (1998)

As many of you are probably already aware, I’ve enjoyed a long & fruitful relationship with adventurous Japanese trio Boris & regard three or four of their 2000’s releases to be genuine classics. Their back catalogue is so extensive that I’ve still got a lot to explore if I’m even to come close to understanding the full scope & breadth of their musical influence though. In saying that, I probably should have ventured towards their 1998 debut album “Amplifier Worship long before now given the general consensus that it’s somewhat of a pinnacle of drone/sludge metal as that idea is clearly so closely aligned with my personal taste profile. Even the album title just reeks of appeal for someone like myself so I’ve gone into this massive 64 minute journey with a great deal of positivity & hope.

As is usually the case with Boris records, the genre tagging for “Amplifier Worship” simply doesn’t do it justice & isn’t exactly the best representation of what you should expect to hear as there are a number of elements at play. There is definitely some Earth-inspired drone metal on offer here in the first half of opener “Huge” & the entirety of the epic 16 minute closer “Vomitself” however I don’t think that’s enough to make it a primary genre given that there are other components that are more prevalent with a Melvins style sludge metal sound being one of them. In fact, I’ve never heard Boris sound so sludgy before & I’ve gotta say that I really enjoy the filthy hardcore aggression that raises its head a few times here, particularly in the savage guitar attack & screaming vocal delivery which is as angry as you’ll hear from this band. You’ll find plenty of sludge across the first four of the five tracks but you’ll inevitably also uncover a shit-tonne of post-rock in epic excursions like “Ganbou-Ki”, “Hama” & “Kuruimizu”, enough to warrant “Amplifier Worship” being labelled as a post-sludge metal release in my opinion actually. There’s a deeply psychedelic feel to some of this material too though, so much so that I’ve found myself reaching to krautrock artists like Can for comparison on occasion which can’t be a bad thing.

The overall consistency of the tracklisting is excellent. It’s almost a completely flat line to tell you the truth with each successive track being found to be just as strong as the last. There’s definitely a lack of that knock-out blow that Boris have proven themselves to be so capable of over the years though with none of the five songs scaling the heights that we now know Boris to be capable of when they’re at the top of their game. This isn’t a major criticism mind you as “Amplifier Worship” is unlikely to disappoint many fans but it does prevent it from competing with Boris’ more complete works like “Boris At Last -Feedbacker-“, “Rock Dream”, Akuma no Uta” or “Pink”. I do slightly favour it over releases like “flood” or the first couple of “Heavy Rocks” albums though which isn’t something to be sneezed at. There’s something to be said for an approach that takes the album title quite literally. As a guitarist myself, I revel & thrive in the warm yet crushingly heavy sound of many high quality quad boxes reverberating at extreme volumes & Boris have mastered the art of creating organised pieces out of seemingly unstructured jams. They’re a very rare beast in today’s market & I’m sure will continue to offer me a lot of joy as I continue to unlock more of their massive discography for a good while yet.

4/5

Here's the feature release roster for May:

THE FALLEN: Daniel, Sonny, Ben, Vinny

THE GATEWAY: Saxy, Andi

THE GUARDIANS: Xephyr, Daniel

THE HORDE: Daniel, Vinny, Ben

THE INFINITE: Andi, Xephyr, Saxy

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

THE PIT: Daniel, Ben, Sonny, Vinny

THE REVOLUTION: Andi, Daniel

THE SPHERE: Daniel, Andi

There will be no submissions from me this month Andi.

Here are my submissions for the May playlist Vinny:

Destruction - "Mad Butcher" (from "Bestial Invasion Of Hell" demo, 1984)

Tormentor (aka Kreator) - "Tormentor - End Of The World Demo Version" (from "Endless Pain (Bonus Track Edition)", 1985)

Gojira - "Silvera" (from "Magma", 2016)

Here are my submissions for the May playlist Ben:

Conqueror - "Domitor Invictus" (from "War.Cult.Supremacy", 2016)

Alcest - "Faiseurs de mondes" (from "Les voyages de l'ame", 2012)

Here are my submissions for the May playlist:

Decapitated - "Spheres Of Madness" 9from "Nihility", 2002)

Suffocation - "Souls To Deny" (from "Souls To Deny", 2004)

Amorphis - "First Doom" (from "Tales From The Thousand Lakes", 1994)

Here's my submission for the May playlist Xephyr:

Yngwie J. Malmsteen - "You Don't Remember, I'll Never Forget" (from "Trilogy", 1986)

Here's my May playlist submission Saxy:

Linkin Park - "Crawling" (from "Hybrid Theory", 2000)

Here are my May playlist submissions Sonny:

Saturnus - "I Love Thee" (from "Paradise Belongs To You", 1997)

Chelsea Wolfe - "Dragged Out" (from "Abyss", 2015)

Boris - "Huge" (from "Amplifier Worship", 1998)

My track submission wasn’t considered for inclusion this month Saxy?

April 2023

01. Insomnium – “Lilian” (from “Anno 1696”, 2023)

02. Majesties – “The World Unseen” (from “Vast Reaches Unclaimed”, 2023)

03. Hieronymus Bosch – “The Human Abstract” (from “The Human Abstract”, 1995)

04. Bolt Thrower – “Zeroed” (from “Mercenary”, 1998) [Submitted by Vinny]

05. Napalm Death – “Politicians” (from “Leaders Not Followers” E.P., 1999)

06. Gorod – “We Are The Sun Gods” (from “The Orb”, 2023)

07. Benediction – “Nightfear” (from “Transcend The Rubicon”, 1993) [Submitted by Vinny]

08. Gorement – “My Ending Quest” (from “The Ending Quest”, 1994) [Submitted by Daniel]

09. Ulthar – “Helionomicon” (from Helionomicon”, 2023)

10. Ripspreader – “Slasher’s Night Out” (from “Crypt World”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

11. Memoriam – “All Is Lost” (from “Rise To Power”, 2023) [Submitted by Vinny]

12. Haemorrhage – “Mortuary Riot” (from “Morgue Sweet Home”, 2002)

13. Kruelty – “Burn The System” (from “Untopia”, 2023)

14. Ghoul – “Tomb After Tomb” (from “We Came For The Dead!!!”, 2002)

15. Whourkr – “Squirk” (from “Concrete”, 2008) [Submitted by Daniel]

16. Deicide – “In Hell I Burn” (from “Legion”, 1992) [Submitted by Vinny]

17. Portal – “Larvae” (from “Swarth”, 2009)

18. Ulcerate – “Burning Skies” (from “The Destroyers Of All”, 2011)

19. Autophagy – “Becoming” (from “Bacteriophage”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

20. Languish – “Failed State” (from “Feeding The Flames Of Annihilation”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

21. Bologna Violenta – “Sono diventati mostri” (from “Il nuovissimo mondo”, 2010) [Submitted by Daniel]

22. Genghis Tron – “Ride The Steambolt” (from “Cloak of Love” E.P., 2005) [Submitted by Daniel]

23. Thotcrime – “Pog Destroyer” (from “onyourcomputer”, 2020) [Submitted by Daniel]

24. Rotten Sound – “Calm” (from “Drain”, 1999)

25. The Berzerker – “Reality” (from “The Berzerker”, 2000) [Submitted by Daniel]

26. Agoraphobic Nosebleed – “Just Ten Cents A Day…” (from “Altered States of America”, 2003) [Submitted by Daniel]

27. Kraanium – “Post Mortal Fixation” (from “Post Mortal Coital Fixation”, 2012)

28. Ezophagothomia – “Instinct of Inhuman Devourment” (from “Instinct of Inhuman Devourment”, 2011)

29. 7 H. Target – “Brahmastra” (from “Yantra Creating”, 2023)

30. Defeated Sanity – “Conceived Through Savagery” (from “The Sanguinary Impetus”, 2020) [Submitted by Daniel]