Daniel's Forum Replies
My take is a bit different to Vinny's in that I've always thought of "Nihility" as a very high quality example of the tech death subgenre. There's plenty of technicality on offer but it's never at the expense of the song-writing & the riffs are always memorable. The performances are astounding for such a young group of dudes too, particularly the drumming & the beautifully composed guitar solos which are both highlights. There's obviously some strong Vader/Morbid Angel/Cannibal Corpse style classic death metal influences going on here but the technicality in the riff structures sees Decapitated playing more in the Nile or particularly Psycroptic space. The death growls are pretty standard but well executed & suitably aggressive. I know this album is often criticized for sounding too clinical due to the heavily triggered drum sounds & scooped 90's guitar tone but I think that's being very harsh as the whole thing just comes off as being a really classy extreme metal record to my ears. No complaints from me.
4/5
Upon revisiting this old fave I've found that my passion for it is as strong as it's ever been & that I still regard it as a genuine classic of the industrial metal genre. Sure, the material is generally faithful to the originals but the consistently high quality of the six tracks on offer & the electric energy & urgent vitality that Ministry have always possessed in a live environment sees them inevitably getting my juices pumping. The versions of "Deity", "Burning Inside" & album highlight "Thieves" are nothing short of exhilarating here. I last saw Ministry play live back in 2015 on the "From Beer to EternaTour" which was hardly their strongest creative period but they still absolutely rocked the Soundwave Festival at Sydney's Olympic Park which is a strong indication of their live talents. This should be essential listening for fans of the band & the industrial metal genre in general.
4.5/5
I don't have time for full reviews at the moment as work & family life are too hectic at the moment with my wife due to give birth to my third daughter in a week but needless to say that I really enjoyed this feature. Conqueror have managed to produce a very consistent release here although the better tracks tend to be the tighter ones. I would have preferred there were more of the super-intense chromatic guitar solos that the war metal subgenre is known to champion (think Bestial Warlust) but that's not a major criticism because the vocals are gnarly & the blast-beats are relentless. Sure, it's really hard to make out the riffs in this wall of white noise so this isn't a record for the faint hearted but your more seasoned underground extreme metal fans should take solace in the sheer rawness & ferocity on offer which is pure savagery. War metal is very much my bag though so I think I was always gonna enjoy this one.
4/5
Feel free to try that Rex. I don't think there are too many examples of people posting proper reviews in the forums but not on the album pages though. It's mainly just when people don't want to go to the effort of writing something comprehensive & only want to add some quick thoughts like I did on the Between The Buried & Me feature release thread yesterday.
My view is that instead of discouraging people from veering outside of their chosen lanes we should be encouraging it. The whole point of the site is to enable people to discover new sounds at their own pace & to allow them to express themselves in a safe environment that's free of slander & elitism. The key differentiator is that we use the clan system to minimize the damage on the more polarizing subgenres & to point their fans to the elite releases regardless. Sure, you're gonna get the odd review like you mentioned above Morpheus but how does someone know if they might come around to a specific subgenre if they don't give it a chance? I would never have gotten into subgenres like post-metal, dissonant death metal or deathcore if I hadn't let my initial impressions go & given them some time to evolve within my taste profile. Besides, the scenario you're referring to really isn't all that common here in my opinion & our members generally try to articulate what it is that makes them feel that way when they do.
I found "The Great Misdirect" to be another very high quality progressive metal record from this mob. It must have been a huge task to put together as there's simply so much to it. The complexity & ambition in the composition is top notch while the arrangements regularly veer off in unexpected directions. I definitely like the heavier & the jazzier moments best & could probably do without some of the more experimental sections but there's not a weak track included in the six with only the alt-country song "Desert of Song" seeing the quality levels dipping a touch. The metalcore vocals are OK but it's the more progressive instrumental excursions that see the band drawing upon the Dream Theaters & Opeths for inspiration that are where Between The Buried & Me manage to differentiate themselves. I may still rate their "Colors_Live" live album slightly higher than "The Great Misdirect" but it's not by much as this is another excellent record that should tick most prog-heads boxes.
4/5
Chelsea Wolfe - "Abyss" (2015)
A wonderfully deep & dark representation of modern darkwave & gothic rock.
It's admittedly been some time since I heard it but I can't say that I've ever felt "Repentless" had much to do with anything but thrash. I feel I'd have to revisit it in order to judge the merits of this nomination.
Yeah, it's an interesting discussion & there's no right answer of course. We're a metal website though so we don't offer rock tags like Stoner Rock or Heavy Psych. It's either metal or it's not & if it's not then the release in question likely wouldn't be included on the site at all unless the associated band had other releases that were legitimate metal. In this case too, we have a release where the vinyl editions of the album don't include the bonus track so I think it's best not to take that track into account when discussing the album's metal credentials. When you take that track out of the equation then the four metal tracks included amount to about 23 minutes of the total 42 minute run time which puts it into metal territory in my opinion. But this is why we have the Hall of Judgement so our clan members are free to express their opinions & my opinion is worth no more than that of any other member of The Fallen.
It’s also worth noting that the last track is a bonus track so half of the tracklisting falls under metal-related subgenres.
There’s enough metal warrant the release being here though so how would you handle that?
It's a mish mash of subgenres that all have a bit of crossover really but the Stoner Metal tag seems to fit better than the Doom Metal one in my opinion given that I tagged the individual tracks as follows:
1. I'll Cut You Down Stoner Rock
2. Death's Door Stoner Rock/Stoner Metal
3. Over & Over Again Heavy Psych/Stoner Rock
4. Curse In The Trees Stoner Metal
5. I'm Here To Kill You Heavy Psych
6. 13 Candles Heavy Psych/Stoner Rock
7. Ritual Knife Stoner Metal
8. Withered Hand Of Evil Traditional Doom Metal
9. Down To The Fire British Folk Rock
Rex, let me be frank with you. Whatever your grievances with the Metalforum moderators are (& for the record I don't blame them for feeling that it's inappropriate to be promoting a competitor on a subject-matter specific website), Ben & I are on a mission to make Metal Academy the most inclusive metal website on the web. We hate the elitist/judgmental bullshit that goes on at other sites & want everyone to be able to express themselves openly here, safe in the knowledge that they can be themselves without fear of reprisal. With that in mind, I have to ask that you (& all of our other members) steer well clear of aggressive &/or attacking posts on the Metal Academy forums. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate your passion for the site & are really hoping you'll continue to contribute regularly as we value your input but it can't be at the expense of anyone else's comfort. Please feel free to continue this conversation with me over private message if you feel the need to.
"Forkboy" is certainly one of the greats of industrial metal. I can't say that I get anything at all out of "Pineapple Face" though to be honest. That & "Can God Fill Teeth?" are the two that I struggle with on "The Last Temptation of Reid".
Here's my review:
The 1997 debut album from Danish doom/death exponents Saturnus is an interesting one because, while I have a long history with it & can see why people seem to regard it so highly, I’ve always struggled to connect with it on the same level as my counterparts. My first exposure to it came way back in the late 1990’s in the tail end of my tape trading days as a couple of my local Aussie traders were doom/death nuts & made sure that I was across it. I gave it a couple of spins & found it to be mildly enjoyable but it didn’t really stick so I didn’t feel like it warranted return visits. Many years later I would hear Ben waxing lyrical about “Paradise Belongs To You” & it made me wonder whether I hadn’t given the album enough time to sink in. I again returned to it for a quick glance & was left with similar impressions to before so this is technically my third crack at Saturnus’ much acclaimed debut.
Right from the offset it becomes very clear that Saturnus are a quite professional & fairly ambitious extreme metal outfit. There’s a high level of musicality about their sound with lots of different melodic elements at play in their layered arrangements. There’s also a real openness in the way the album is produced & it soon became clear to me as to why. The drums & vocals are way forward in the mix with the bass & keyboards also dwarfing the rhythm guitars which are sitting too far back & lose some of their heaviness as a result in my opinion. I guess I just prefer a darker, heavier sound & it leads me to think that Saturnus have missed an opportunity here as the record sounds a bit light-weight with the piano & synth work being afforded a more prominent position in the mix than the key ingredient of any doom metal release. This isn’t a deal breaker by any means but it’s certainly worth mentioning as it’s definitely effected my overall enjoyment of this release.
“Paradise Belongs To You” is also a highly melodic example of the doom/death subgenre with the band regularly incorporating lighter gothic atmospherics, clean folk guitar work, Celtic new age elements & even the sound of birds singing on a Spring morning at times. The super-deep Septicflesh-style death growls attempt to keep things aligned with the darker side of metal but I don’t feel that they’re all that successful in that regard as this still feels like a more melodic & unintimidating record than I’d ideally like it to. The album cover probably doesn’t help in that regard as, despite the image being a portrayal of death, it’s got a lighter feel about its colour scheme. Saturnus’ logo kind of annoys me too as the reversed “s” on the end looks a bit silly & cheapens the overall effect.
Don’t get me wrong though, this is still a pretty good record. The tracklisting is without fault with the fairly lengthy 68 minute run time possessing a consistent level of class. I just don’t think there are any genuine highlights to speak of & the best moments don’t appear until the last few tracks with “I Love Thee” (the darkest track included & my personal favourite) & the final proper track “The Underworld” being a step up from the earlier metal songs. As usual with me, these two seem to be the least popular of the proper metal tracks on the album which shouldn’t surprise anyone. I also really enjoy the short folk interlude “As We Dance The Paths Of Fire & Solace” which offers some beautifully executed finger-picked nylon-string guitar work.
Look, there’s no doubt a big audience for this type of stuff & I have a lot of admiration for Saturnus’ approach but I still can’t quite get into “Paradise Belongs To You” to the same level as Ben. It just comes down to taste really with some of the best parts of the album sitting much too close to My Dying Bride plagiarism than I’d like. I certainly enjoy the experience while I’m sitting through it but I can’t say that I ever feel like returning to this album & would even go so far as to say that it offers me less appeal than it did on my previous visits.
3.5/5
Destruction/Tormentor - "Bestial Invasion of Hell/End of the World" split bootleg (1998)
I've been meaning to get around to revisiting this old bootleg CD that I picked up at the time of release for a while now. I'd secured primitive dubbed versions of both of the demos it compiles through the tape trading scene a few years earlier but when I saw that I could get them on a single CD (potentially with clearer sound quality) I jumped at the chance. It was mainly for the Destruction demo to tell you the truth as I rate it more highly than either of the band's first two proper releases in the widely praised "Sentence of Death" E.P. & "Infernal Overkill" debut album, neither of which I get much out of. "Bestial Invasion of Hell" (3.5.5) however offers a raw & exciting brand of speed metal-inspired thrash metal with a touch of hardcore about it & I'd imagine that tracks like "Mad Butcher" & "Frontbeast" will appeal to most members of the The Pit. Tormentor's "End Of The World" (3/5) is a lot rawer in terms of sound quality & general professionalism & it doesn't really compete other than a stellar version of "Tormentor". There's a noticeable blackened edge to its primitive structures which I quite like but the distant rehearsal-quality production goes a long way to nullifying the electricity in the performances. The high-pitched attempts at King Diamond style vocals certainly don't help matters & all four tracks were included on Kreator's debut album "Endless Pain" (generally in superior form) so there's not really much reason to explore this demo in isolation.
This bootleg compilation is definitely worth a few listens though, if only to witness the roots of Destruction which deserve a lot more credit than they've been afforded. If I'm being honest I'd have to say that I prefer this CD to all of the early Teutonic thrash releases of the 1982-1985 period with the exception of "Endless Pain" & there's enough quality here to see it holding its own in comparison there too. The early Holy Moses, Vectom & Sodom efforts don't really interest me all that much whereas there's some genuine excitement about this CD.
3.5/5
This is a common occurrence Andi so I wouldn't worry about it. Most of your playlists include a track or two that aren't available in Australia but it's too hard to manage so I don't do anything about it. Let's leave my submission as it is as that track is available here (unless of course Xephyr can't see the track in his location).
March 2023
01. Bloodbath – “Like Fire” (from “Resurrection Through Carnage”, 2002) [Submitted by Vinny]
02. In Flames – “State of Slow Decay” (from “Foregone”, 2023)
03. Decapitated – “Babylon’s Pride” (from “Nihility”, 2002) [Submitted by Vinny]
04. An Abstract Illusion – “Tear Down This Holy Mountain” (from “Woe”, 2022) [Submitted by Daniel]
05. Memoriam – “Total War” (from “Rise To Power”, 2023)
06. Obituary – “Without A Conscience” (from “Dying of Everything”, 2023) [Submitted by Vinny]
07. Mithridatum – “Mournful Glow” (from “Harrowing”, 2023)
08. Intoxicated – “Watch You Burn” (from “Watch You Burn”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]
09. Monstrosity – “Perpetual War” (from “In Dark Purity”, 1999) [Submitted by Daniel]
10. Qrixkuor – “Zoetrope (Psychospiritual Sparagmos)” (from “Zoetrope” E.P., 2022) [Submitted by Daniel]
11. Ulthar – “Saccades” (from “Anthronomicon”, 2023)
12. Artificial Brain – “A Lofty Grave” (from “Artificial Brain”, 2022) [Submitted by Daniel]
13. Corpsessed – “Profane Phlegm” (from “Succumb To Rot”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]
14. Immolation – “Let The Darkness In” (from “Acts of God”, 2022) [Submitted by Daniel]
15. Nothingness – “Horrendous Incantation” (from “Supraliminal”, 2023)
16. Anachronism – “Meanders” (from “Meanders”, 2023)
17. Cannibal Corpse – “Pit of Zombies” (from “Gore Obsessed”, 2002) [Submitted by Vinny]
18. Conjureth – “Smothering Psalms” (from “The Parasitic Chambers”, 2023)
19. Cephalic Carnage – “Black Metal Sabbath” (from “Lucid Interval”, 2002)
20. Combatwoundedveteran – “My Spine! My Spine! My Spine!” (from “I Know A Girl Who Develops Crime Scene Photos”, 1999)
21. Sanguisugabogg – “Pissed” (from “Homicidal Ecstasy”, 2023)
22. Nile – “The Blessed Dead” (from “In Their Darkened Shrines”, 2002) [Submitted by Vinny]
Here's the updated feature release roster for April:
THE FALLEN: Vinny, Daniel, Sonny, Ben
THE GATEWAY: Andi, Saxy
THE GUARDIANS: Daniel, Xephyr
THE HORDE: Ben, Daniel, Vinny
THE INFINITE: Saxy, Andi, Xephyr
THE NORTH: Daniel, Xephyr, Ben, Vinny, Sonny
THE PIT: Vinny, Daniel, Ben, Sonny
THE REVOLUTION: Daniel, Andi
THE SPHERE: Andi, Daniel
There won't be a submission from me this month Andi.
Here's my submission for the April playlist Andi:
The Chariot - "The King" (from "Long Live", 2010)
Here are my submissions for the April playlist Vinny:
Anacrusis - "Grateful" (from "Screams & Whispers", 1993)
Boris - "Czechoslovakia" (from "Heavy Rocks", 2011)
Here are my submissions for the April playlist Ben:
Svartidaudi - "Aureum Lux" (from "Revelations of the Red Sword", 2018)
The Berzerker - "Ignorance" (from "The Berzerker", 2000)
Here are my submissions for the April playlist:
Gorement - "My Ending Quest" (from "The Ending Quest", 1994)
Genghis Tron - "Ride The Steambolt" (from "Cloak Of Love" E.P., 2005)
Bologna Violenta - "Sono diventati tutti mostri" (from "Il nuovissimo mondo", 2010)
Agoraphobic Nosebleed - "For Just Ten Cents A Day..." (from "Altered States of America", 2003)
The Berzerker - "Reality" (from "The Berzerker", 2000)
Whourkr - "Squirk" (from "Concrete", 2008)
Thotcrime - "Pog Destroyer" (from "onyourcomputer", 2020)
Defeated Sanity - "Conceived Through Savagery" (from "The Sanguinary Impetus", 2020)
Here's my submission for the April playlist Xephyr:
Angra - "Angels & Demons" (from "Temple of Shadows", 2004)
Here's my nomination for the April playlist Saxy::
Soundgarden - "Loud Love" (from "Louder Than Love", 1989)
Here's my submissions for the April playlist Sonny:
Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - "Ritual Knife" (from "Blood Lust", 2011)
OM - "Flight Of The Eagle" (from "Conference Of The Birds", 2006)
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement as two separate entries.
Breaking Benjamin - "We Are Not Alone" (2004)
I know this might sound strange to those of you located in the USA but I had literally never heard a Breaking Benjamin song until the last couple of days when I explored their sophomore album. It seemed like an unintimidating thing to play while my wife & kids were around & my suspicion was right about that so it served the purpose quite well. What we have here is a combination of Bush/Nickelback style post-grunge & alternative rock with a bit of Tool & Korn style alternative metal & nu metal tossed in there here & there. It's certainly not a metal release in my opinion as there are really only two full metal songs on this bad-boy & both of them a pretty much clones of the two metal bands I mentioned above. It's not as bad an album as a lot of people would have you believe though, even if there are a few pretty ordinary attempts of commercialism included (see the radio-friendly alternative rock of "Follow", the cheesy pop-rock of "Forget It" & the poppy acoustic ballad "Rain"). I quite liked the rest of the album to be honest but can't see any reason that a record like this one should belong here at the Academy.
3.5/5
I can't say that I'm surprised to hear your feelings on these two releases Andi. I mean, the definition of cybergrind is "the combination of the standard conventions of Grindcore taken to an even more discordant and rapidfire extreme, with the added Electronic dimensions of computer generated noises and drum machines i.e. grindcore with electronics layered over the top for added extremity. You've historically always hated grindcore from what I've seen so I never would have suggested that you might get a lot out of these releases. Has this experience changed your opinion on the cybergrind qualifiations of Genghis Tron's "Cloak of Love" at all now that you've had the opportunity to hear a couple of releases that I consider to be genuine cybergrind?
P.S. Sub-one-minute tracks are par for the course with grindcore. In fact, the Agoraphobic Nosebleed record I reviewed last week included 100 tracks over the course of it's brief 21 minute duration.
For those that are interested, I've put together my Top Ten Cybergrind Releases of All Time list & have included any release that is commonly regarded as being a part of the genre, despite my strong opinions on the eligibility of some of these records. See what you think:
01. Genghis Tron - "Dead Mountain Mouth" (2006)
02. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - "Altered States of America" (2003)
03. Noism - "±" (2008)
04. Whourkr - "Concrete" (2008)
05. Agoraphobic Nosebleed/Converge - "The Poacher Diaries" split album (1999)
06. Thotcrime - "ønyøurcømputer" (2020)"
07. The Berzerker - "The Berzerker" (2000)
08. Genghis Tron - "Cloak of Love" E.P. (2005)
09. Phantomsmasher - "Atomsmasher" (2001)
10. Gigantic Brain - "The Invasion Discography" (2004)
Defeated Sanity - "The Sanguinary Impetus" (2020)
German brutal/technical death metallers Defeated Sanity have been a very consistent performer over the years with every new album commanding a level of respect from a small niche market within the underground extreme metal scene that I once dedicated my life to. They’re a more challenging prospect than many of their peers at times due to their flat-out refusal to compromise on technicality in the interest of brutality & I can’t deny that there have been times when I’ve struggled to make sense of all the chaos over the years but I inherently WANT to like this band as they tick so many of my musical boxes with 2020’s “The Sanguinary Impetus” album (their sixth full-length) being a prime example of what I’m talking about.
Upon first listen it’s very easy for Defeated Sanity’s savage wall of noise to wash over you without much sticking as “The Sanguinary Impetus” is astoundingly technical & complex yet possesses a production job that’s been left intentionally dark & murky. It’s only upon repeat listens that the nuances start to become clear. You see, this record is surprisingly ambitious in its structure & scope. The band have seriously thrown the kitchen sink at both the brutal & technical elements of their sound here. It doesn’t always work but there can be no denying that it’s a consistently intriguing & challenging experience with the rewards eventually coming for those that are willing to persist.
Despite being one of the most relentlessly brutal bands in death metal, Defeated Sanity present a jazzy influence at times & I suspect that bands like Atheist & Watchtower have received many plays in the band’s rehearsal room. You can hear the clear technical proficiency in the instrumentation but the production job does it’s best to mask it with the overall soundscape regularly being tempted to descend into a mess but usually pulling back just in time through a more traditionally structured section. Drummer/band leader Lille Gruber doesn’t sit still for a second & while he may not be the tightest skinsman in the scene he’s certainly one of the most interesting. The rhythmic complexities on display even move into polyrhythmic territory at times which won’t be for the ears of the faint-hearted when presented within the scope of a brutal death metal backbone. Front man Josh Welshman’s indecipherable grunts remind me very much of an early 90’s Chris Barnes (Cannibal Corpse) meets Lord Worm (Cryptospy) hybrid & he does a pretty good job to be fair but I think a touch more intelligibility could give Defeated Sanity more appeal.
"The Sanguinary Impetus" certainly contains some exhilarating material in its own right & I’ve really enjoyed the experience, even if I can never quite let go of that niggling voice in my head that wishes that Defeated Sanity would tighten up a little more. They're clearly wanting to play in the same space as my favourite band Suffocation in their approach to creating music. They manage to match them in terms of brutality & even surpass them in the technicality stakes but they lack the same level of precision in their execution for an album like this one to play at the elite level of the subgenre. In saying that though, it’s this characteristic that separates the band from their peers as they don’t sound anything like copycats & have created their own identifiable sound.
4/5
Héroes del Silencio - "Senderos de traición" (1990)
Spanish gothic/alternative rock.
Boris - "Heavy Rocks" (2011)
I’ve been a big fan of Tokyo trio Boris for a very long time now but they’re so prolific & their back catalogue is so extensive that it’s really pretty hard to keep up with them. They also cover so much musical ground (often within the confines of the same release) that you never know what to expect as they jump wildly between different genres at random. I really enjoyed the high quality stoner rock of Boris’ 2002 “Heavy Rocks” album recently though & noticed that they’ve also released two more albums with the exact same name in 2011 & 2022 (presumably intended as a thematically linked trilogy) so I thought I’d give the 2011 sequel a few spins to see what it has to offer.
If ever Boris have failed to commit to a defined direction with an album it’s here as the 2011 “Heavy Rocks” album suffers a real case of ADD with so many genres stuffed into the ten tracks that it’s almost impossible to tag this release with anything that seems appropriate. It's generally regarded as a stoner rock/metal record but I’d suggest that those genres only really account for a couple of tracks included here with the others exploring a whole array of sounds including neo-psychedelia, alternative rock, hardcore punk, post-rock, post-metal, doom metal & thrash metal. To my ears there’s not enough metal to warrant a metal primary tag though if I'm being honest. In fact, I’d estimate that only about a third of the tracklisting is legitimate metal with stoner metal opener “Riot Sugar”, the epic thirteen minute post-doom metal monster “Aileron” (my album highlight) & short thrash metal closer “Czechoslovakia” being the sole contributors. If pushed I’d probably go with post-rock & alternative rock as the best fit for primary tags on this one so I’ll be submitting a Hall of Judgement nomination to have “Heavy Rocks” removed from The Fallen & added the Non-Metal shortly.
From a general quality perspective, the consistency of the tracklisting seems to be pretty jerky & a good half of the songs included don’t do all that much for me. Some of their signature pitchy vocal melodies sound a bit flat which doesn’t help but thankfully the two best tracks on the album both exceed twelve minutes which saves “Heavy Rocks” to an extent. There’s a very casual feel to the way Boris present themselves here though. I know they’ve always pushed that dangerous edge that the modern rock scene seems to be so lacking in but at times they push things a little too far & can tend to sound a bit lazy in my opinion. Boris are certainly at their best when they’re at their most cerebral with the post-rock inspired excursions & the more psychedelic stoner material being clearly more appealing than the messy alternative rock & punk material but... I dunno.... I can’t help but be a touch disappointed with 2011’s “Heavy Rocks” even though it’s a pretty enjoyable experience when viewed holistically. I guess I just know that Boris are capable of so much more & feel that a little quality control might go a long way at a time when they seem to be releasing three or four full-length albums per year. This may well be the weakest Boris album I’ve heard actually but thankfully it’s still not a bad listen & their prolific past ensures that I’ll likely never run out of unexplored gold either.
3.5/5
See, for a release to qualify as cybergrind I would suggest that it needs to be first & foremost a grindcore release. This record only uses grindcore as a tool amongst a bunch of other sounds. There's no doubt that there's grindcore there. I'm not disputing that. But I doubt that more than a quarter of the run time is actually made up of genuine grindcore which leads me to believe that the release has no place in The Horde.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
The revised feature release nomination roster after including Vinny in The Fallen:
THE FALLEN: Ben, Vinny, Daniel, Sonny
THE GATEWAY: Saxy, Andi
THE GUARDIANS: Xephyr, Daniel
THE HORDE: Vinny, Ben, Daniel
THE INFINITE: Xephyr, Saxy, Andi
THE NORTH: Sonny, Xephyr, Daniel, Ben, Vinny
THE PIT: Sonny, Vinny, Daniel, Ben
THE REVOLUTION: Andi, Daniel
THE SPHERE: Daniel, Andi
OK, so the long-awaited result of my cybergrind deep dive is finally at hand! It was an arduous journey but I feel that I've reached an outcome, even if it wasn't exactly as clear as day after all that effort.
When you read the definition of what cybergrind actually is on RYM you'll find that it's essentially grindcore with electronic elements layered over the top so the first thing I was looking for in each release was "Is this a form of grindcore?". Then the second thing I was asking myself was "If so, does the electronic component add enough of a differentiator to warrant it's own separate subgenre?" Let's see how I went:
As you can see, of the ten releases I reviewed, only five were legitimately grindcore-related releases which meant that five were completely ineligible for the tag.
Of those five eligible releases, one was simply a grindcore release with a drum machine handling the beats instead of a drummer. I don't consider that to require it's own genre because if you didn't know it wasn't a real drummer then it's no different to grindcore.
So that leaves just four releases of the ten that I regard as being true cybergrind releases, two of which were combined with avant-garde metal.
The remainder were mostly very poorly tagged by people that clearly don't have an understanding of not only what grindcore is but also what metal is in general in some cases. But the question that faced me at the end of the deep dive was this: If there are a few legitimate cybergrind releases out there, is that enough to warrant the subgenre staying in the Metal Academy database & maintaining its position in The Horde?
Well, after discussing it with Ben this afternoon, we've decided to keep cybergrind in the database & to work on cleaning out the inappropriate use of the tag over time. The tagging on RYM, Metal Archive, etc has become increasingly rubbish of late so we'd like to see Metal Academy taking the bull by the horns by going against the grain & providing a far more accurate representation of where our releases sit.
I guess this means that I'll still have issues when creating the monthly The Horde playlists if I want to include some cybergrind material each month but this deep dive is really the first step in fixing that up in the database so I can only see the situation improving over time.
Thotcrime - "ønyøurcømputer" (2020)
The final release in my cybergrind deep dive is the debut album from a multinational artist by the name of Thotcrime, a release that sounds very different to any of the other nine records I’ve investigated thus far. Now, it’s worth noting that I use the term “album” very loosely here because the eleven tracks included on 2020’s “ønyøurcømputer” clock in at just over fifteen minutes in total duration which I’d suggest is more than pushing the friendship when it comes to claiming album rights. Regardless though, I’d have to say that the length of the record is fairly appropriate in this case as I feel that the novelty would wear off fairly quickly.
What we have here is a release that takes the sounds of The Revolution & injects them with a raw infusion of grindcore & electronics to give it an additional dose of chaos. There’s certainly not enough grindcore on offer to be able to justify cybergrind being claimed as a primary genre though & I’d suggest that a dual mathcore & Nintendocore tag would be all that’s required when you consider that a lot of the electronic component leans towards that old-school video-game sound. There are a few touches of traditional metalcore included & even the odd hint at avant-garde metal at times but the dominant elements of this album are clearly rooted in the mathy end of The Revolution.
The screaming male hardcore vocals aren't anything terribly unusual for a metalcore based artist & tend to come across as a little generic if I'm being honest but Thotcrime also include some clean female vocals to change things up a bit, although I have to admit that they don’t really work & I find them to be a touch annoying so the vocal side of” ønyøurcømputer” is certainly its weak point. The instrumental side of the band is much more interesting with the use of blast-beats & blindingly fast double kick work being the major points of excitement for this ol’d extreme metalhead. The performances are very tight with the guitarists pulling off some highly technical & progressive riff structures that include melodic runs that are quite similar to those utilized in the modern tech-death sound. I really enjoy it when the band hit on some of their simpler power-chord driven metalcore riffs too.
It's worth noting that the second half of the album is stronger than the first so I’d suggest that you show a bit of patience if you find yourself struggling a bit midway through the tracklisting. Unfortunately though, despite the wins out-weighing the losses here, I wouldn’t say that there are any individual tracks that stand out as genuine highlights. There’s a consistency to this material that sees the difference between the stronger material & the weaker songs simply amounting to the inclusion of one annoyingly quirky riff or verse. When taken holistically though, I can’t deny that “ønyøurcømputer” offers something of value & I’ve quite enjoyed the experience overall.
3.5/5
Whourkr - "Concrete" (2008)
The 2008 sophomore album from French cybergrind duo Whourkr is one truly unusual beast & I’m honestly not sure I’ve heard anything like it before. These guys take a penchant for extreme metal genres like deathcore & slam death metal & combine it with a bizarre array of electronic weirdness & then layer the most psychotic vocal performance you’ve ever heard over the top to create a record that will certainly startle the unsuspecting listener. A great production job certainly helps with the thick guitar tone really accentuating the chunky riffage on offer. The incorporation of cut-up breakcore beats has worked nicely here too as that component has been well integrated into the band’s sound but it’s the vocals of - i snor that are the really alarming element at play. If you took Mike Patton’s weirdest efforts & multiplied the insanity level by a margin of three then you’d be getting close to understanding what this twisted individual has been able to muster here. It’s a feather in his cap that he’s able to continuously come up with new & ever more ridiculous forms of oral battery & I’d imagine it would be almost a full-time undertaking.
As for the cybergrind thing… weeellll…. I’m not really hearing a lot of grindcore here to be honest. The clear protagonist is the avant-garde nature of this music & I’d hazard to suggest that the only primary genre tag necessary with “Concrete” is the avant-garde metal one given that they have a lot more in common with Mr. Bungle & Arcturus than they do with Pig Destroyer or Nasum. Interestingly though, it’s the two more traditional & progressively inclined tracks in “Santo” & closer (& album highlight) “Plantea” that really float my boat with some of the other material perhaps taking me a little too far in regard to unhinged experimentation. “Concrete” is a pretty entertaining record nonetheless though & I’d suggest that there might be a few members of The Infinite that might get more out of it than I have. Ben too actually.
3.5/5
It may surprise a few people but I've never found much to enjoy in Destruction's first two releases "Sentence of Death" (3/5) & "Infernal Overkill" (3/5). In fact, I find them to be seriously overrated. It's "Eternal Devastation" (4/5) that's where Destruction begins to be of interest to me as I've always found the added precision & complexity to be a major drawcard. It's a very solid thrash record indeed.
"Peace Sells" (4.5/5) is Megadeth's finest work for mine. It very much represents the soundtrack to my youth with a sophistication that was as yet unmatched for the thrash scene.
Elder - "Lore" (2015)
I’ve really been enjoying Massachusetts-based trio Elder over the last couple of years since discovering their excellent 2012 “Spires Burn/Release” E.P. which triggered my subsequent exploration of the band’s back-catalogue. I’d eventually nominate their 2011 sophomore album “Dead Roots Stirring” as a The Fallen feature release & also got stuck into their 2017 “Reflections of a Floating World” fourth album at some point while contributing to the Hall of Judgement, both of which presented Elder as a highly professional & seriously talented group of creative musicians. It only makes sense then that I would look to fill in the gaps between those very solid records with 2015’s “Lore” album which seems to be just as highly regarded as the releases I’d already experienced.
Despite being consistently linked to the stoner metal genre, Elder have always been a bit of an anomaly as far as genre tagging goes. I found “Dead Roots Stirring” to sit firmly within the realms of stoner rock with some psychedelic influences popping up here & there. “Spires Burn/Release” saw them upping the heaviness & working its magic in the space between stoner metal & stoner rock but “Reflections of a Floating World” possessed a more progressive sound than those two records so I’ve tended to tag it as progressive stoner rock. This left me wondering whether “Lore” would represent the starting point for Elder’s more progressive excursions & I’d eventually discover that this is the case as I’ve found it to sit a little closer to its successor in terms of ambition & technique although I don’t see as much psychedelia as I’ve heard from them in the past. Despite including a number of metallic riffs, "Lore" isn't a metal record in the true sense of the term as the production is intentionally centred around a more organic 70’s sound & the guitar work never stays in Sabbath mode for long before returning to a more ambitious & techy approach akin to progressive rock icons like Yes. I do hear a fair whack of Tool in some of the grungier parts of the album though which can’t be a bad thing while some of the riff structures also recall a band like Mastodon.
I remember mentioning in the past that the limiting factor in Elder’s chances of reaching my higher scores is the vocals & that’s still the case here. It’s not that they’re not well done as I actually think they’ve improved since “Dead Roots Stirring” but it’s a question of whether they can hit upon melodic hooks of the highest calibre. As has become the norm for Elder, the vocals are used fairly sparingly with the instrumentation generally taking the front seat so when they do come in they have the opportunity to make a bigger impact. We can see an example of that on album highlight “Legend” whose memorable hooks see it overflowing into classic territory. I don’t think Elder quite get there with the remainder of the material though & it’s left to the more progressive moments to capture me which they do with utmost ease.
Ultimately, I have to say that I challenge any fan of mature & ambitious rock music not to like a record like “Lore” as it’s yet another triumph for a band that had already well & truly proven themselves by that point. My affection may still be a little stuck behind the confines of its more palatable rock packaging but it’s almost impossible not admire the skill of a band who seems to be incapable of making an ordinary record. I have to say that I favour Elder’s more progressive releases over their earlier works these days with “Reflections of a Floating World” still remaining the high point of my Elder experience to date but “Lore” has done extremely well to come in a close second after a couple of very rewarding days of listening pleasure.
4/5
I have to admit that I've never had much time for Warfare's "Metal Anarchy" (2.5/5). It's lacking in class in my opinion & I'm not surprised that it didn't do much from a commercial point of view. "Among The Living" (4.5/5) on the other hand is an undisputed classic & played a huge part in my late 80's/early 90's teenage years.
Yeah, I don't mind the Speedwolf album Andi (3.5/5). I can't say I'm as enthusiastic as you are but it's certainly worth a listen or two. It's definitely a speed metal record but there's an obvious heavy metal secondary influence there too so I would agree with your assessment of it sitting somewhere between the two clans.
I would suggest that we reduce our limit for The Fallen track nominations to 24 minutes each from next month Sonny.
Yeah, I agree that "Metal Revolution" (3.5/5) is a better example of a genuine speed metal release Andi. It's not a bad one either. It was a massive improvement on their 1984 "Vengeance of Hell" debut (2.5/5) which was very ordinary indeed, particularly the production & vocals which were about as bad as you'll find.
Congratulations (I should say commiserations as is customary in The Fallen) Vinny. Will you be wanting to contribute to the monthly playlists & be added to the feature release roster?
Xephyr, it's your turn to select the March feature releases for The Guardians & The Infinite. Do you want to participate or skip your turn?