Daniel's Forum Replies

Here's my review:

Don’t you fucking love it when someone recommends you an artist that you’ve never heard of before & they then proceed to rip you a new asshole? Well, that’s exactly what’s happened for me with Karl’s feature release nomination of Turkish brutal/technical death metal five-piece Carnophage this week & they've left me well & truly pondering over why I’d not been exposed to them before. As most of you would no doubt already be aware, I’m somewhat of a brutal death metal tragic, having been heavily involved in the scene myself through my own mid-90’s death metal band Neuropath so I generally keep track of virtually everything that’s worth hearing from the niche subgenre, even if I may only rarely commit to reviewing a lot of the releases it contains. So, imagine my surprise when an unknown Turkish act steps up to the plate & lays waste to my expectations &, in doing so, manages to create a sound that is perfectly suited to my unique personal taste profile, at least for a fair portion of its runtime. Let’s take a look at how they did it then.

Carnophage don’t seem to be the most prolific of bands, this being only their third full-length album with a massive eight-year gap between each. But on the strength of “Matter of a Darker Nature”, I’d have to suggest that they’ve used that time wisely, even if I’m not across their previous work (yet). This particular record is the band’s first for Indian label Transcending Obscurity Records & saw Carnophage returning with a freshly bolstered lineup from the one that created 2016’s “Monument” album which sported a more streamlined four-piece arrangement. The change is the return of bass player Bengi Öztürk who played a role in 2008’s “Deformed Future//Genetic Nightmare” debut album but was strangely absent from “Monument” with guitarists Mert Kaya & Serhat Kaya (Cenotaph) handling the basslines on top of their main instruments. It’s unclear as to who is responsible for the production of “Matter of a Darker Nature” which is a shame as its sound is simply so in tune with my death metal preferences that I was always gonna be balls deep in this record within seconds of it hitting my ear drums. It features a super-compressed & ridiculously heavy mix that highlights the incredibly intense drumming of Onur Özçelik (where in the actual fuck has this dude been hiding?), the highly technical riffage of the guitar duo & the ultra-deep death growls of front man Oral Akyol. If I was being picky, I might suggest that the lead guitar work could have been brought a little further forward in the mix but it’s obviously a little tough when everything is so in-your-face & challenging for the battering rights of your poor cranium. It’s a credit to the whole team that produced this record that you can hear everything as clearly as you can when there’s simply so much going on at the same time.

Carnophage come squarely from the Suffocation school of technically-challenging brutal death metal which just so happens to be my favourite style of metal & one that’s rarely pulled off to the same level of success as the New York champions of the sound. The thing that gives Suffocation a clear edge over the mass of copy-cats that have flooded the underground scene over the years is their uncanny ability to know exactly how technically complex they can make their song & riff structures without having a detrimental impact on the incredibly brutal sound they’re pushing & this is a talent that is extremely rare in the modern scene i.e. the lost art of memorability. Carnophage don’t quite get that equation exactly right with a little over half of this material being a little too clever for its own good but never dipping below a very solid level of quality & enjoyment. However, there are a few songs included here where everything simply falls into place & they utterly slay me while dipping their toes into a rarely touched sound that I consider to be perfectly tailored to my personal taste profile &, for that reason, I was always gonna be dishing out a very high score. To be fair, the best two of those three incredible tracks are the only ones that I’d suggest don’t fall into the tech death camp with “Eventually They Will Die” being arguably the best example of the brutal death metal sound I’ve heard this decade & one of the most relentlessly savage tracks in metal history. The lower tempo “The Day We Avenge On” which follows immediately afterwards is almost as impressive, showcasing a slightly more restrained approach to song structure & giving the listener a much needed rest as it’s not quite as brutal as the vast majority of the other material. Opener “In My Bones” is the exception to the rule in that it well & truly indulges itself as far as technicality goes but also manages to pull it off in a fashion that doesn’t reduce the impact of Carnophage’s massive wall of sound.

Now let me indulge myself in some gushing about the performances here because they’re worth highlighting. I’m really struggling to understand how I can not have heard of drummer Onur Özçelik before because he’s an absolute phenomenon. The incredibly tight, fast & relentless blasting that he undertakes is further highlighted by a clear knack for nuance & it’s his contribution more than any other that makes Carnophage the beast that they are. I know I’ve got a history of talking up bands with exceptional extreme drummers but this guy sits right up their with the leaders in the field. I also love the vocals of Oral Akyol, particularly given how intelligible they are while always remaining undeniably brutal in their delivery. Intelligibility is an underrated trait in the brutal death metal scene & one that I’ve always valued, even if I can easily look past it if the instrumentation is savage enough to warrant it. I’m also a big fan of the hints at modern dissonance that pop up at key moments across the tracklisting which gives Carnophage a little bit of differentiation from the wealth of Suffocation clones out there. To be fair, these guys get the balance just right as far as being able to pay clear homage to the gods of the past while offering something of their own at the same time.

I know, I know…. this all sounds like a very positive review for a release that’s hardly raised an eyebrow in terms of commercial success over the last year but I’m afraid that’s somehow how it works in the current scene as, despite what people may tell you, the vast majority of metalheads still struggle with music of this sort of unrelenting intensity so the responses will always being middling at best. As someone that generally embraces the most extreme bands on the planet, Carnophage have come as a breath of fresh air for a dude that has long been searching for an act that can compete with my all-time favourite. Let me give you the tip that Carnophage can & do. In fact, I’m gonna place “Matter of a Darker Nature” behind only Suffocation’s most elite four records & my two Hour of Penance albums of choice in terms of the brutal death metal subgenre as a whole which is really saying something. If Neuropath had have continued down the path we were going towards the end of our time then I tend to think that we would have ended up sounding very similar to this record so it’s been a very rewarding experience for me indeed.

For fans of Odious Mortem, Severed Savior & Decimation.

4.5/5

Here's my review:

My earliest encounters with Danish thrashers Invocator came way back in my tape trading days. I’ve always been a huge fan of the more brutal end of the thrash metal spectrum & I was hearing that I needed to check out Invocator’s 1991 debut album “Excursion Demise” as there were comparisons floating around with all of the bands that I was loving at the time. Those comparisons were certainly warranted too with the four-piece outfit's first proper release proving to offer a sound that was right up my alley. Admittedly, I don’t remember placing it on the same sort of pedestal as the bands I would instinctively reach for whenever I needed a brutal thrash fix but I recall it being a very solid second-tier record that ticked all of the right boxes. That experience would subsequently see me checking out Invocator’s 1993 sophomore record “Weave the Apocalypse” which I’d find to be a little less relentless & a touch more groovy. There's no doubt that it's an enjoyable enough record but it didn’t command as many repeat listens & I haven’t returned to it since. Perhaps that’s why I’ve never given 1995’s “Dying to Live” third album a chance but I did check out Invocator’s 2003 comeback album “Through the Flesh to the Soul” shortly after I returned to metal in 2009 & found myself really struggling to connect with it in the same way as I had the Danes' earlier material. It’s been many years since I’ve thought about Invocator now but I have to say that I’ve been really looking forward to revisiting what I consider to be their finest work ever since Ben reminded me of its existence by nominating it as this month’s feature release.

Invocator first formed way back in 1986 at the height of the thrash movement. They’d release a few largely overlooked demo tapes (none of which I’ve heard) before signing with the brand-new extreme metal label that Bathory mastermind Quorthon had created in Black Mark Records. This would see Invocator venturing into Montezuma Studio in Stockholm, Sweden in June 1991 to record their debut full-length under the guidance of Quorthon’s father, an experienced metal producer by the name of Börje Forsberg (or Boss as he was widely known). The result of those sessions was a very raw record that could have been a lot better with a more appropriate production job in my opinion. The rhythm guitar tone is the main issue I have with it as it’s noticeably tinny & thin which limits the heights with which the album has the potential to go.

Invocator had clearly come from a very similar musical background to myself which certainly helps their cause. The material included on “Excursion Demise” sits very comfortably in the same space as brutal thrash titans like Dark Angel, Sadus, Demolition Hammer & Exhorder although the thing that differs from those artists is the ability to create their own sound. You see, Invocator simply sound so much like those acts that it’s hard not to reach for the plagiarism card at times, particularly when it comes to “Darkness Descends” & “Leave Scars” era Dark Angel which Invocator seem to have meticulously modelled their sound on. The claims that “Excursion Demise” is a technical thrash metal record are largely misguided though. There are techy moments here & there but they’re nowhere near as consistent as is required for a tech thrash tag. Neither does the inclusion of the occasional tremolo-picked death metal riff warrant a death/thrash tag. This is straight down the line brutal thrash that doesn’t test the waters in any previously untouched creative space but still does the job very well indeed. I will say that this is likely the reason why I was championing the cause of the other bands I mentioned with Ben & my mates over Invocator as they simply felt like they belonged predominantly in the second tier.

There’s a similarity to a lot of this material with the tempos remaining high throughout & the riff structures regularly drawing upon the same Dark Angel riffs for inspiration. “Forsaken Ones” is probably the track that stands out a little as it is likely the source of those tech thrash associations given that it presents similar attributes to bands like Atheist & Sadus. The guitar solos of front man Jacob Hansen (Anubis Gate/Beyond Twilight/Maceration/Pyramaze) & Jakob Schultz (Maceration) come very much from the Kerry King/Jeff Hannemann & Trey Azagthoth school of showmanship in that there is very little attention given to composing memorable melodies. Instead, the duo simply go for broke with the light-speed shredding & it works really well for them too as Invocator clearly understand how to make a solo into an intensity peak for each track, a crescendo of sorts that sees everything coming together in a chaotic release of energy. Hansen’s aggressive vocals are certainly fit for purpose, siting somewhere between Dark Angel’s Don Doty & Exhorder’s Kyle Thomas, but it’s the drumming of Per Möller Jensen (Artillery/Konkhra/The Haunted) that’s the real highlight here with his relentless, yet controlled, rhythmic barrage keeping things tight & finely honed throughout.

The tracklisting is generally without blemish but the thing that stands out to me the most is that Invocator have chosen poorly when constructing the order of the tracks. You see, the first three pieces are clearly the least impressive of the ten on offer in my opinion & this has perhaps led to me feeling like Invocator were more of a step down from the top tier exponents of their craft than was actually the case. Things pick up very quickly from there though with “The Persistence From Memorial Chasm” & bonus track “Alterations” being genuine brutal thrash classics. I’ll also mention “Inner Contrarieties” as the back end of the album is really very strong which only amplifies the reduced impact of earlier songs like the title track & the previously mentioned “Forsaken Ones”.

Look, if brutal thrash is your thing then you should definitely be checking out “Excursion Demise” as there’s no doubt at all that you’ll get a lot out of it. It could definitely do with a little more originality & variation but if you’re like me then those things are not in any way deal breakers in whether you can appreciate a record like this one. It certainly helps that there’s not nearly enough high-quality brutal thrash in the market to choose from so I’ll always be able to appreciate a release like this one.

For fans of Dead Head, Dark Angel & Sadus.

4/5

Here's my review:

My initiation with London-based black metal five-piece Code came at around the time I returned to the metal scene in 2009. I was doing my best to catch up on & indulge myself in as much of the new extreme metal as I could get my hands on which saw Code’s brand-new sophomore record “Resplendent Grotesque” venturing onto my radar. I quite enjoyed it too with it’s forward-thinking & progressive take on the black metal sound showing the band to have a clear talent in both musicality & creativity. The experience saw me checking out Code’s earlier debut album “Nouveau Gloaming” from 2005 shortly afterwards, a record that I ended up slightly favouring over its younger sibling & one that I would ultimately become my Code release of choice over the decade & a half since. Admittedly, I haven’t really gotten into the later Code material I’ve heard to date much although I can’t recall ever checking out their 2015 “Mut” record which is supposedly more of a progressive rock release than it is metal. Regardless, I’ve been very pleased to revisit “Nouveau Gloaming” this week & it’s ultimately led to me discovering that my affection for the album has only grown in the many years since its release. I mean, Ben can occasionally be right about these things but don’t let him know that I said that, OK?

Although they’re generally claimed by the English, Code were somewhat of an international act which brought together members from not only Britain but also aboard. Lead vocalist Kvohst (Beastmilk/Dødheimsgard/Void/Grave Pleasures/Hexvessel/The Deathrip) & guitarist Aort (Hexvessel/Indesinence) are both English while second guitarist Vyttra was American & bassist Vicotnik (Manes/Naer Mataron/Dødheimsgard/Doedsmaghird/Dold Vorde Ens Navn/Strid/Ved Buens Ende…..) & drummer Aiwarikiar (Ulver/Uruk-Hai) were both Norwegian. As you can see, most of these individuals came from a strong metal pedigree & you can easily hear that in the class with which they go about their craft on this debut album as it’s a beautifully realised piece of work from a purely artistic point of view. The album was recorded in Savonlinna, Finland with Vicotnik handling the production duties himself. He’d already gotten a taste for production while co-producing Dødheimsgard’s 1999 “666 International” album & does an excellent job here too with the band’s sound achieving an imposingly dark atmosphere while also maintaining a level of precision in the performances. All of the instruments can be easily identified in the mix & I particularly enjoy the layers of bright, trebly guitars & the competently executed drums which cut through the mix extremely well. The way the clean vocals are presented is nothing short of splendid too & creates somewhat of a transcendental feel.

Code are often referred to as a progressive black metal band & those claims are not without merit when examining their later material either but I don’t feel that those sort of labels are appropriate when describing “Nouveau Gloaming” as it’s a bit more conventional, even though it certainly doesn’t stick to the tried & tested black metal mould. The majority of this material still clearly sits in the black metal space but it’s the clean vocals I mentioned earlier that give Code’s debut its unique character. I can only imagine that these were influenced by the presence of Vicotnik as they sound very similar to those from his highly acclaimed avant-garde metal project Ved Buens Ende….. & I find them to be just as impressive & powerful here too. Despite my feeling that “Nouveau Gloaming” sits best under a conventional black metal tag, there are a few tracks that see Code taking their creative endeavours a little further & it’s perhaps no surprise that the band would eventually go on to explore a more expansive sound in the future as these three songs are the clear standouts of the album. “Brass Dogs” sees them opting for more of an atmospheric black metal approach while “A Cloud Formed Teardrop” is perhaps the inclusion that best hints at what was to come for Code as I’d describe it as a genuinely progressive black metal piece. It’s closer “Ghost Formula” that is the most emphatic creative statement of the eight on offer though & I absolutely love its wall of melodic guitar dissonance & tension-filled post-atmospheric black metal format.

“Nouveau Gloaming” has really surprised me this week. I’ve always really enjoyed it but have rarely thought of it when reaching for the more elite examples of the genre. I think I’ve under-estimated it though as the base quality level is invariably very solid & the highlight pieces are significant enough to drag it up into modern-day classic territory in my opinion. Sadly, I’m not sure that Code would ever manage to equal their debut in terms of impact, at least not with the three subsequent full-lengths I’m across. There is, of course, another album as well as a number of E.P.’s that I’m yet to explore though so perhaps I need to pencil those in for future investigation.

For fans of Aenaon, Ved Buens Ende….. & Dødheimsgard.

4.5/5

Nice review Sonny. I'm glad you're finally seeing the light too. Here's my review from a while ago:

Being an Australian extreme metal fanatic from way back in the late 1980's, it was perhaps inevitable that I'd possess a strong passion for arguably our most significant metal export (at least from purely an influential & creative sense) in Melbourne's masters of the doom/death sound diSEMBOWELMENT. I'd suggest that very few diehard fans suffer from as complete an infatuation as I do with this band though. I simply worship the ground they walk on & back in the early 1990's I thought of them as being a lot more than mere humans. Without actually knowing the band members, it was very hard for me to envisage them as being every-day people given the remarkably dark, unique & generally foreign sounds they managed to conjure up. I was talking to Bjorn from Grave Upheaval, Grotesque Bliss & Temple Nightside about them the other day & he shares my infatuation to a similar scale so it's not just me. diSEMBOWELMENT had a way of encapsulating everything that was so wonderful about the early 90's extreme metal scene &, to make things even more intense for a young Aussie, they were also from my home country which was a rarity for the elite metal artists in the world at the time. While there's no doubt at all that 1993's "Transcendence Into the Peripheral" album was a game-changer for the global doom/death scene though, for Bjorn & I it was diSEMBOWELMENT's 1992 E.P. "Dusk" that first saw that door opening & I've never felt that it received the respect it deserved because it's a remarkable release in its own right, particularly when you consider that it was the band's first proper release & that there was nothing out there that sounded anything like it at the time.

I was lucky enough to pick up an original copy of the "Dusk" E.P. as well as diSEMBOWELMENT's second demo tape "Deep Sensory Procession Into Aural Fate" by sending cash to the band in the mail. I can't quite remember the timeline for that taking place in respect to "Transcendence Into the Peripheral" but I think it's fair to say that all three releases would be placed on their own individual pedestals in my teenage bedroom from the time they first hit my ears. I even sought out the band's early 1990 "Mourning September" demo tape through the tape trading scene, a release that I found to be pretty decent without ever hinting at the same levels of euphoria as I'd received from diSEMBOWELMENT's subsequent efforts. It's interesting that, despite the clear crossover of material between the three most significant releases, I still think that both of the proper releases should be considered to be essential as they each bring something a little different to the table in terms of timbre & texture. None of them are particularly polished (which I strongly suspect was intentional) but there's definitely enough variation to keep things interesting.

The "Dusk" E.P. is a half-hour long affair that includes what were arguably diSEMBOWELMENT's finest three tracks so how could it not be a completely mind-blowing experience? It opens with the band's calling card in "The Tree of Life & Death", a nine-minute piece that begins with one of diSEMBOWELMENT's more brutal & blasting death metal passages before descending into the mire with some of the darkest extreme doom metal we'd heard to the time. It's a clear indication of the thick, oppressive atmosphere this band was capable of creating even at such an early point in their recording careers. The version we have here is remarkably similar to the one we receive on the debut full-length in September of 1993 too, despite being the same recording that was first birthed on 1991's classic "Deep Sensory Procession Into Aural Fate" demo. This is followed by the epic twelve-minute "Burial at Ornans", another song that was borrowed from the second demo tape & a piece which I feel still had a bit of work to do before reaching its most complete realization on "Transcendence Into the Peripheral". This is the reason for me not being able to reach full marks for "Dusk" actually as "Burial at Ornans" simply feels a little less complete than it would in the near future with some of the less doomy sections not maintaining such an elite level & the track lacking some of the atmospherics that it would gain on the album version. Eight-minute closer "Cerulean Transience of All My Imagined Shores" is another story altogether though & brings with it the most transcendental aura, transporting me to wonderfully dark & obscure places that I'd never imagined existed before. Although I do feel that the album version is a little more polished & complete, this doesn't diminish the impact of what is undeniably one of the earlier examples of the funeral doom metal genre to hit a proper release. The sum of these three classic works leaves me succumbing to pure devastation & infatuation, very much in awe of my elder countrymen.

While "Dusk" may not quite be as fully realized as "Transcendence Into the Peripheral" was, all of the ingredients were already there to see the global metal scene receiving one of the true greats at their chosen craft. I mean, if this had ended up being the only diSEMBOWELMENT release then one gets the feeling that it would have received far more attention & be referenced by a wealth of extreme doom bands as being highly influential. As it stands though, I can't recommend "Dusk" enough. The monstrous vocals of guitarist Renato Gallina are as scary as you'll ever find in music & the instrumentation around them brings to mind the feeling of being a young child lost in the darkest of forests in the blackest of midnights with drummer Paul Mazziotta's blast-beats being used over the slowest, doomiest riffs imaginable in such a fashion that was completely unheard of at the time. The production is absolutely spot-on too, leaving layers of filth & decay in the guitar tone that works to further accentuate the sheer weight on the diSEMBOWELMENT sound. Perhaps I'm biased given my personal interactions with the band at such a young age (even if it was by mail) but I feel that I'm mature enough to be able to see the forest through the trees these days so I implore anyone who thinks bands like Spectral Voice, Winter or diSEMBOWELMENT's younger sibling Inverloch are where it's at to seek out "Dusk" as I have no doubt that you'll be dazzled by what the true masters of the doom/death genre had to offer way back in 1992.

4.5/5

Innocence - "Belief" (1990)

Smooth London downtempo with soulful female vocals.

I haven't given any 2024 The Sphere releases a full review as yet but I have spent some casual listening time with a couple of records from Shum & Stagnant Waters. I'm afraid I don't think I'm gonna get the time to contribute much in this space before February.

I haven't completed a full review of any 2024 The Revolution releases as yet but have spent some casual listening time with records from artists like Pyrrhon, Admiral Angry, Nails, Hereisaropegoodluck, Umbra Vitae, Alluvial, Vomit Forth & Cognitive. I still intend on giving the Knocked Loose album my full attention this month.

Of the releases I've completed a full review for, the Hemotoxin record is currently in front followed by Cavalera's "Schizophrenia" & the Critical Defiance album. I haven't spent enough time with Mayhemic's "Toba" to fully understand where it should sit as yet but intend on changing that this month.

Of the releases I've afforded a full review to, Ætheria Conscientia's "The Blossoming" is the current leader but I have a bunch of releases that I've spent some casual listening time with that I need to firm up this month including the Paysage d'Hiver, Aara, Trhä, Conifère, Panzerfaust & Hoplites releases.

Of those that I've rated, the Ætheria Conscientia record is the current leader but I'd suggest that the Hemotoxin album should be in The Infinite & would place it slightly ahead of "The Blossoming". There are a fair few releases that I've given casual attention to & intend on giving a full investigation in January though with the Blood Incantation, Oranssi Pazuzu, Orgone, Frail Body & Hoplites records all appearing on that list.

I've obviously spent a crap-load of time listening to The Horde releases over the past year. Of those that I've given a full review, the Civerous album is the one that I rate the most highly. I fully intend on giving a whole bunch of the other standouts from my casual listening sessions a more detailed examination this month though, including the Blood Incantation, Ulcerate, Defeated Sanity, Gigan, Viscera Infest & Carnophage records.

Yeah, I tend to agree from my experiences thus far Sonny. I've given the latest Inconcessus Lux Lucis, Ryujin, Rotting Christ & Markgraf records some casual listening time over the past year but haven't committed to a full investigation of any 2024 The Guardians releases as yet & can't see that changing before the end of January.

I know I'm likely not the most cultured when it comes to Fallen album releases in 2024, but The Flight of Sleipnir album alluded to by Sonny was a solid release.

My year end catchup also introduced me to fantastic releases by Grey Skies Fallen (Molded by Broken Hands) and Counting Hours (The Wishing Tomb). 

And of course, I would be remised to not include the stunning Pallbearer album, Mind Burns Alive.

I wasn't as big on the Counting Hours record from my admittedly fairly casual listening thus far. Perhaps I need to give it a more active listen.

Ataraxie's "Le déclin" is an absolute must for any fan of funeral doom and was shaping up to be my AOTY until I crossed paths with "Cutting the Throat of God".

Monolithe's death doom concept album, "Black Hole District" is also excellent and Scald's "Ancient Doom Metal" is where to turn for your epic doom fix of 2024.

Mourning Dawn's "The Foam of Despair" is my top-rated atmospheric sludge album of the year and The Flight of Sleipnir's "Nature's Cadence" is definitely worth a listen, as is Ponte del Diavolo's "Fire Blades From the Tomb".

Hhhmmm... I've only casually checked out the Ataraxie release from those you mentioned Sonny so I still have a fair amount of work to do in January. Most of my The Fallen new release time was spent in the doom/death & funeral doom metal space last year but the Thou album is still the only release that I've given the dedicated attention required for an informed review so that leaves me with all of my eggs in that basket at this point. I haven't heard the Chat Pile sophomore record as yet though & I really dug their 2022 debut full-length so I have high hopes for that one.

For the record, I intentionally overlooked the Civerous record for the Fallen because I don't believe it belongs there.

Interestingly, I didn't check out a single new release from The Gateway last year which is likely a reflection of my modern taste profile.

Should the Darkthrone record be considered for The Guardians award guys or do you think it’s a stretch to call it a heavy metal release?

Here's my review:

As some of you have probably realized over the last year or so, my taste in the more conventional brand of metalcore tends to lean quite heavily towards the 1990's as I'm firmly of the belief that the metalcore scene has largely lost its direction in more recent times with most of the hardcore influence that defined the genre having now been lost, rendering the genre title almost completely redundant at this point. I mean, I can't honestly believe that many hardened punks get all that much out of the modern-day melodic metalcore record with its crisp production & technically precise performances, not to mention the generic, cookie-cutter vocals that sound virtually indistinguishable from the last metalcore record you listened to. I'm not saying that people shouldn't enjoy that stuff as it certainly has its positives. What I'm trying to say is that, outside of the vocal style, it has very little to do with hardcore punk which is kinda the point now, isn't it? Anyway... that's the reason that most of my time in The Revolution clan is spent seeking out unheralded gems from the early scene &, to be fair, it's been a fairly rewarding exercise of late. Over the last few months my attentions have been directed towards the earlier examples of the metalcore sound to come out of my home country of Australia, partially because I was in & around the live metal scene at the time & had some exposure to some of the bands it contained. One artist whose name I saw floating around the Melbourne scene at the time was Callous, a band that was partially formed by past & current members of some of the more extreme Melbourne metal bands I was listening to at the time, namely Christian death metallers Mortification & underrated doom/death exponents Paramæcium. On paper that idea has always seen my curiosity being tweaked so I've had Callous' sole 1997 album "In the Memory of..." on my list for many years now & it's time to finally see what these guys have to offer.

"In the Memory of..." was one of the very first full-length metalcore albums recorded in Australia but you'd never know it as it's a very professionally composed & executed piece of art in its own right. The production is excellent for a self-released debut with the accomplished song-writing benefiting from a bright & attractive production job. The guitars are right upfront in the mix & hit you across the face in just the right way while the rhythm section offers plenty of bottom-end depth. The vocals are suitably vicious too which is a big drawcard for Callous, even if you will have to overcome one obvious obstacle if you're to fully appreciate this record. That's right, it's the unapologetically Christian lyrics which can sound pretty preachy at times. Thankfully, I've never been one to worry too much about what a band is going on about in my metal music but even I found myself struggling to hold back a cringe through a few of the tracks from the B side so if that's a real deal-breaker for you then don't say I didn't warn you.

The Callous sound is made up of a few different components but I think it's fair to say that it mainly sits somewhere between metalcore & hardcore punk so the use of the metallic hardcore tag I see being used across the internet these days is just about spot on. This record sounds a little bit more flashy than your average hardcore record with the guitars have a cleaner & more metallic sound but many of these songs are built around what are more or less open-string hardcore riffs. There's a little more melody included than you'd generally expect from hardcore too though with tracks like "Lost Hope" & "Twice Begun" feeling as much like alternative metal as metalcore to tell you the truth. Through the back half of the album you'll also notice the band taking a little more creative license with their arrangements by veering over towards post-hardcore for brief periods. I appreciate the effort but feel that Callous are at their best when they're at their nastiest so I tend to gravitate towards the more traditional hardcore-based numbers, even more so than the chuggier metalcore material.

The tracklisting is very consistent & one gets the impression that the various band members that made up Callous had already paid their dues over a number of years because there's a class to their delivery that I find quite attractive & which leaves me of the belief that they were probably incapable of producing anything that was noticeably subpar at this point. In saying that, the tracklisting does seem to look like an inverted bell curve when you look at it in fine detail. The best material is loaded towards the front & end of the album with the first four songs getting things off to an excellent start. The weaker material is still pretty decent though so it's not a major big deal but you'll certainly notice when things pick up again for closer "No Apologies" & the excellent hidden track which should definitely have been better highlighted by inclusion in the proper tracklisting given that it's one of my favourite songs overall.

While "In the Memory of..." may not be the most memorable metalcore record you'll ever hear, it was certainly a fine way to kick off a recording career, particularly given that it was self-released. It's a shame that Callous didn't go on to much in the future. To be honest, this album was very close to a four-star rating & it was only the slight drop in quality through the middle of the album that saw it falling just short. Still... it's a travesty of justice that this release has seen so little publicity over the years because I'd take it over some of the more widely acknowledged 90's metalcore records like Earth Crisis' "All Out War", Converge's "Petitioning The Empty Sky" or Arkangel's "Prayers Upon Deaf Ears", not to mention Aussie metalcore godfathers Mindsnare's 1995 debut E.P. "Under Fire". I can only think that it was Callous' religious messaging that cost them greater commercial success which is a real shame & yet another blemish on the record of the Christian faith.

For fans of Mindsnare, Day of Contempt & Ultimatum.

3.5/5

Exhumed - "Limb from Limb" (from "Gore Metal", 1998)

I've already nominated an Exhumed track Vinny. Do you want to choose something else mate?

if you enjoy technical thrash metal with death metal leanings (yes Daniel, that's you), you owe it to yourself to devote some time to this release.

To clarify, I enjoy melodic Kawaii thrash with trance metal & melodic metalcore influences exclusively.

Ben, please add Brisbane industrial thrash metallers Soundsurgery.

Here's the February feature release nomination list:

THE FALLEN: Sonny, Ben, Daniel

THE GATEWAY: Andi, Saxy

THE GUARDIANS: Karl, Xephyr

THE HORDE: Vinny, Sonny, Ben, Daniel, Karl

THE INFINITE: Saxy, Andi, Xephyr

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

THE PIT: Sonny, Daniel, Vinny, Ben

THE REVOLUTION: Andi, Daniel

THE SPHERE: Daniel, Andi

The Amenta – “Twined Towers” (from “Revelator”, 2021)

I don't have any nominations this month Andi.

Sepultura – “Last Time” (from “Quadra”, 2020)

Hobbs Angel of Death – “The Journey” (from “Virgin Metal Invasion From Down Under” demo, 1988) [Can be found on the “Hobbs Satan’s Crusade” compilation]

Rampage – “Terrortaphobia (Fear of Giving Birth to a Monster)” (from “Veil of Mourn”, 1988)

Aggressa – “Tunks” (from “Nuclear Death” E.P., 1988)

Mass Confusion – “Die by the Ward” (from “Rolling in Stitches” demo, 1988) [Can be found on the “The Demos 88-92” compilation]

Novembre – “Let Me Hate” (from “Dreams d’azur”, 2002) [Progressive black metal]

Bestial Warlust – “At the Graveyard of God” (from “Vengeance War ‘Till Death”, 1994) [War metal]

The Black – “The Black Opal Eye” (from “The Priest of Satan”, 1994) [Black metal]

Impaled Nazarene – “Steelvagina” (from “Suomi Finland perkele”, 1994) [Black metal]

Aggressa – “VooDoo Doll” (from “Nuclear Death” E.P., 1988) [Blackened thrash]

Dark Funeral – “My Dark Desires” (from “Dark Funeral” E.P., 1994) [Black metal]

Dismember – “Fleshless” (from “Indecent & Obscene”, 1993)

Gorguts – “The Erosion of Sanity” (from “The Erosion of Sanity”, 1993)

Mortician – “Brutally Mutilated” (from “Brutally Mutilated” single, 1990)

Exhumed – “Oozing Rectal Feast” (from “Dissecting the Caseated Omentum” demo, 1992)

Pathologist – “Progression of Putrefaction” (from “Forensic Medicine & Pathology” demo, 1992)

Illdisposed – “When You Scream” (from “1-800 Vindication”, 2004)

Embalmer – “Rotten Body Fluids” (from “Rotting Remains” demo, 1993)

Avulsed – “Morgue Defilement” (from “Dead Flesh” compilation, 1993)

Slaughter Lord – “Die by Power” (from “Taste of Blood” demo, 1987)

Rampage – “Benevolent Approach” (from “Acid Storm” demo, 1986) [Can be found on the "Veil of Mourn" album]

The God Machine – “The Blind Man” (from “Scenes From The Second Story”, 1993)

I haven't listened to much in the way of genuine The Fallen releases over the past month Sonny but I think that all of these tracks fit the criteria anyway. Feel free to reject any (or all of them) if you disagree.

Orphaned Land – “My Requiem” (from “Sahara”, 1994)

Impaled Nazarene – “Quasb/The Burning” (from “Suomi Finland perkele”, 1994)

Hypocrisy – “Apocalypse” (from “The Fourth Dimension”, 1994)

January 2025

01. Engulfed – “In the Abyss of Death’s Obscurity” (from “Unearthly Litanies of Despair”, 2024 [Submitted by Karl]

02. Krisiun – “Whore of the Unlight” (from “Southern Storm”, 2008) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]

03. Uninhibited – “Overwhelming Dejection” (from “Reign of the Unholy”, 2024) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]

04. Rotten Tomb – “Oblivion” (from “The Relief of Death”, 2024) [Submitted by Karl]

05. Soul Remnants – “Cauldron of Blood” (from “Black & Blood”, 2013) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]

06. Nocturnus – “Alter Reality” (from “Thresholds”, 1992) [Submitted by Karl]

07. Spiritual Deception – “Dirac Sea” (from “Semitae Mentis”, 2024) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]

08. Unaussprechlichen Kulten – “Cuatro Velas de Cebo Infantil” (from “Haxan Sabaoth”, 2024) [Submitted by Karl]

09. Brujeria – “Sida de la Mente” (from “Brujerizmo”, 2000) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]

10. Sentenced – “My Sky is Darker Than Thine” (from “North From Here”, 1993) [Submitted by Daniel]

11. Utumno – “The Light of Day” (from “Across the Horizon” E.P., 1993) [Submitted by Daniel]

12. Edge of Sanity – “Lost” (from “The Spectral Sorrows”, 1993) [Submitted by Daniel]

13. Kanonenfieber – “Gott mit der Kavallerie” (from “Die Urkatastrophe”, 2024) [Submitted by Sonny]

14. Obituary – “Paralyzing” (from “World Demise”, 1994) [Submitted by Daniel]

15. Hemotoxin – “Reborn in Tragedy” (from “When Time Becomes Loss”, 2024) [Submitted by Daniel]

16. Mefitis – “The Untwined One” (from “The Untwined One”, 2024) [Submitted by Karl]

17. Malevolent Creation – “Stillborn” (from “Stillborn”, 1993) [Submitted by Karl]

18. Benediction – “Foetus Noose” (from “Dark is the Season” E.P., 1992) [Submitted by Daniel]

19. Witch Vomit – “Black Wings of Desolation” (from “Funeral Sanctum”, 2024) [Submitted by Daniel]

20. Gigan – “Trans-Dimensional Crossing of the Alta-Tenuis” (from “Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus”, 2024) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]

21. Morbid Angel – “Fall From Grace” (from “Blessed Are The Sick”, 1991) [Submitted by Karl]

22. Paganizer – “Life of Decay” (from “Flesh Requiem”, 2024) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]

23. Emasculator – “In Resplendent Terror” (from “The Disfigured & the Divine”, 2024) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]

24. Cryptopsy – “Gravaged (Acryptopsy)” (from “Ungentle Exhumation” demo, 1993) [Submitted by Daniel]

25. Inhuman Depravity – “Obsessed With the Mummified” (from “The Experimendead”, 2022) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]

26. Carnophage – “Underneath the Horrendous One” (from “Matter of a Darker Nature”, 2024) [Submitted by Karl]

Mass Confusion - "Rolling in Stitches" demo (1988)

A pretty decent second demo from this Melbourne crossover thrash four-piece from Melbourne, Australia. Plenty of energy & some great hardcore vocals from front man Darren Walsh. Drummer Chris Phillips (Depression/Tyrus) sets the scene nicely for a session of hectic thrashing with some driving beats too. There's a bit of a psychotic Scatterbrain & a progressive Voivod edge to their sound at times. It's just a shame that closing track "Upper Storey to Let" is a bit of a fizzer as the other four songs are all pretty good, particularly the classic Aussie thrasher that is "Die by the Ward", a real favourite of mine when I was on the piss as a young fella as the best bits have a classic Exodus/Vio-lence feel to them. This demo is definitely worth a few listens for crossover thrash fans.

For fans of Nuclear Assault, S.O.D. & Municipal Waste.

3.5/5

Mournful Congregation - "Weeping" demo (1994)

This early funeral doom demo absolutely blew me away when I first purchased it from the band back at the time of release & it still marks the high point for the entire subgenre as far as I'm concerned. I was tape trading with these Adelaide dudes at the time & found it almost impossible to believe that this material was coming from a few kids in such an unlikely location. "Weeping" is the very definition of doom, combining the incredible harmonies of early Anathema & Cathedral with the deeper & even more depressive atmospherics of Thergothon & Skepticism. The minimal production is perfectly suited to the material with the down-tuned guitar tones of Damon Good (Cauldron Black Ram/Martire/Misery's Omen/StarGazer/VoidCeremony) & Ben Petch allowing some utterly breath-taking twin-guitar doom riffs to reverberate throughout your body. The performances aren't perfect & the transitions could still do with some work but the quality in the song-writing is nothing short of incredible & is easily able to overcome those minor flaws with the deep death growls of Nick Hansen beautifully portraying the pain in the lyrics. I'm sure you all know that I rarely gush this hard but "Weeping" is honestly a top ten metal release for me personally & is one of the most rewarding underground gems you'll ever find. If you can't deal with the plodding tempos of most funeral doom metal then I'd steer well clear of this one though. It's as sombre & downtrodden as they come.

For fans of Ahab, Thergothon & Skepticism.

5/5

Here's my adjusted Top Ten Funeral Doom Metal Releases of All Time list:

01. Mournful Congregation - "Weeping" demo (1994)

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

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

04. Shape of Despair - "Monotony Fields" (2015)

05. Esoteric – “Metamorphogenesis” (1999)

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

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

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

09. Evoken – “Atra Mors” (2012)

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

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

Isn't it just a cover version sung in Japanese?

Neutron 9000 - "The Green House Effect" (1990)

UK ambient house.

The Grid - "Electric Head" (1990)

Early UK house music featuring Dave Ball from Soft Cell.

Dark Funeral - "Dark Funeral" E.P. (1994)

I’ve wasn’t even slightly aware of Swedish black metallers Dark Funeral when Ben brought home a CD copy of their self-titled debut E.P. shortly after it was released. I’d only recently been successful in converting Ben to the dark art of black metal & we were now collaborating in our blasphemous indulgences. Dark Funeral were one of the rare crop of extreme metal artists to appear without first paying their dues in the underground tape trading scene through cheaply recorded demo tapes so it’s not too surprising that I hadn’t come across them previously. They were already a very professional act though & I found myself really digging Ben’s new purchase, perhaps even more than he did to be honest. I think I’ve always been a little more inclined towards the more pure & faithful reenactments of the core extreme metal genres whereas Ben seems to command a little more in the way of innovation. Whatever the case may be though, I harbour many fond memories of the “Dark Funeral” E.P. & have returned to it several times over the years so I’ve been looking forward to this week’s revisit for some time now.

“Dark Funeral” was recorded & mixed at Sweden’s Unisound Studios in January 1994 under the watchful eye of renowned metal producer Dan Swanö & would mark the initial release for the newly formed Sweden extreme metal label Hellspawn Records. Swanö ensured that Dark Funeral received a suitably bright, clear & exciting production job here too with the E.P. sounding very professional for a first up effort. The drums cut through the mix nicely while the guitars are beautifully unified & the vocals are positioned in a commanding position at the front of the black metal assault. The four-piece band also show themselves to be quite capable musicians who clearly had a good understanding of their craft, not just focusing on writing cool riffs but also creating catchy hooks through intelligent song-writing.

“Dark Funeral” certainly isn’t the most original black metal release you’ll find & there is merit in those that claim it to be generic, even for 1994. If you need something fresh & different in your metal then I’d suggest that this record may not be for you. If you simply enjoy well-executed black metal with an authentic atmosphere though then you’ll no doubt find plenty to enjoy here. Dark Funeral had clearly spent a fair bit of time with records like Marduk’s “Those of the Unlight”, Immortal’s “Pure Holocaust” & Emperor’s self-titled E.P. when they wrote this material as there are regular points of reference included but there’s also an underlying melodicism to Dark Funeral’s sound that hints at a strong affiliation with Dissection’s classic debut album “The Somberlain”, particularly in closing track “In the Sign of the Horns”. This isn’t as brutal a Dark Funeral release as some of their later material would have you believe either. It’s simpler & catchier than a lot of their back catalogue which arguably makes it a more accessible listen as it doesn’t require the listener to absorb a constant wall of blast-beats.

The four-song tracklisting is quite consistent with the quality levels ranging from pretty decent to very solid. None of these pieces threaten to reach classic status & I think that was always gonna be a struggle when you settle for such a tried & true (not to mention fairly simple) format. Opener “Open The Gates” & my personal favourite “My Dark Desires” are excellent examples of their type though, only being held back a little by some fairly immature lyrics. I mean, “Open the Gates…. Sataaaaaaannnn” isn’t exactly poetry or gothic literature now, is it? The best moments come when guitarists Lord Ahriman & Blackmoon (Necorphobic/War) hit on a genuinely dark riff with bass player Themgoroth’s searing black metal screams summoning you towards a life of evil. Themgoroth is a real highlight here actually, despite the fact that his basslines are pretty hard to make out in the mix. It won’t surprise too many of you that I find the darker & more brutal parts of the release to be far more enjoyable than the more melodically inclined ones though with drummer Draugen (Sigrblot/Svartsyn) making a reasonable fist of his task, even if he’s not in the same league as some of his replacements like the infamous Dominator who is one of the best in the business.

Look, “Dark Funeral” certainly isn’t the most remarkable of black metal records but it does make for an entertaining sixteen minutes of blasphemy & hellfire. The extra space & greater concentration on song-writing make it arguably Dark Funeral’s most memorable release too which has led me to keep checking out each subsequent record the band have pushed out over the three decades since. If you like your black metal in the classic style of the Second Wave with that signature Swedish melodic twist then “Dark Funeral” should definitely be on your list.

For fans of Marduk, Setherial & early Emperor.

4/5

Carlton - "The Call Is Strong" (1990)

Early Bristol trip hop from a vocalist who is best known for her contributions to one of my all-time favourite bands in Massive Attack.

Necrodeath - "Arimortis"

The album will be the last recorded testimony before the definitive dissolution of the band. The release will be followed by a farewell tour, which will last throughout 2025. After which the curtain will fall.

'Arimortis' is a term of Latin origin which indicates the end of a war, the moment in which the fallen are honoured and altars are erected in their name ('arae mortis', the altars of death). Even today in some parts of Italy the term 'arimo' is used to declare the end of the games. We wanted to use this allegory to seal a path that lasted forty years, full of satisfactions, disappointments and revenge. The songs that make up the album contain several references to our long career”.

Messa - "The Spin"

The Italian doom metallers MESSA announced through their facebook post the successor of two years ago "Close" titled "The Spin" in 2025. "The Spin" will be the band's first album through the historical Metal Blade Records with whom they signed last month. Other information has not yet been released.

The MESSA stated the following about "The Spin":

We're excited to present it in its entirety at the upcoming Roadburn. It's going to be intense and we're looking forward to it. There is no better place for us to play this new album and share this experience with you, releasing everything. See you in Tilburg!

Avartarium - "Between You, God, the Devil and the Dead"

Female fronted doom rock band AVATARIUM returns with their new album "Between You, God, The Devil and The Dead". Get ready for a great combination of gloomy hard rock with gentle doom metal accents.

This special mixture gives the Swedish band their very unique sound and is one of the reason why they became a big name in the scene Masters of melancholic heavy metal since 2013, Avatarium are a unique and formidable musical force.

Originally formed as an extracurricular project by Candlemass legend Leif Edling, the Stockholm-based doom mavericks have since evolved far beyond their roots and become one of the most creative and unpredictable hard rock bands on the planet.

Now led by real life partners, vocalist Jennie-Ann Smith and guitarist Marcus Jidell, Avatarium have continued on their singular journey and grown even more powerful along the way.

From the acclaimed doom purism of their self-titled debut, to the richly-detailed rock indulgence of 2022's Death, Where Is Your Sting?, each chapter in the band's recorded history has been a benchmark for substance and soul in heavy music.

On January 24th, 2025, the Swedes release their sixth studio album, Between You, God, The Devil & The Dead.

As with each of their previous five records, the new opus reveals previously unseen shades and textures in their classic but malleable sound.

Full of giant riffs, otherworldly atmosphere and astonishing melodies, Between You, God, The Devil & The Dead has been gestating for the last 18 months.

Mexican atmospheric black metal artist Trhä has released not one but TWO new albums this month.

Trhä - "monta ana also"

Trhä - "faj den EnΩëtonëghappan nvona Tóvarba dëhajnva ëfpalte∫ eh yënảles §anënbe cetmac eh den léhams selb'ºe nêbam'o∫nëb ◊u∫an d‡éf§"

 Labyrinthus Stellarum - "Rift in Reality"

The promise of a new album which will be even more experimental and diverse than the previous one and will include both epic melodic tracks and heavy aggressive ones seems to be fulfilled as atmospheric Black Metal band, Labyrinthus Stellarum who hail from Ukraine, offer new single “Lost in the Void“. Adorned by artwork created by Mark Cooper (Rings of Saturn, Brand of Sacrifice), “Rift in Reality” is set to arrive early in 2025 from the writing partnership of brothers Oleksandr and Misha Andronati.

The band comment: “Lost in the Void is an atmospheric, saturated with space synths, song dedicated to the end of the journey of a group of inhabitants from the planet Nirlakh, who, after the opening of a rift in reality, find themselves in the Void – the original world, the gods of which the Nirlakhians worshiped. However, having got into the Void, they understand that they will not find there what they were looking for, but on the contrary – the Void will become the grave of their kind”

Dark Fortress - "Anthems From Beyond The Grave - Live In Europe 2023"

DARK FORTRESS's march to the grave was inevitable. The journey from signing with American independent Red Stream Records in 2001 to The Cosmic End Tour (with The Spirit and Asphagor) in 2023 was circuitous, full of highs and lows and rife with raw potential. Ultimately, DARK FORTRESS ended life after releasing their lauded final album, “Spectres from the Old World”, in 2020. By all metrics, self-imposed death is better than zombie-lurching into oblivion. Many fans didn't see DARK FORTRESS writing their ‘early’ epitaph, however. DARK FORTRESS uncoiled on their terms, leaving their only live album, “Anthems from Beyond the Grave”, as their final offering to the ancient and unspeakable forces of darkness and evil.

V. Santura says: “I never thought DARK FORTRESS would have a live album. The technical situation–we had multi-track recordings of two shows [Rotterdam and Bochum]–allowed for ‘Anthems from Beyond the Grave’ to happen. I didn’t even listen to the recordings for months after the tour. When I finally did, I thought, ‘Holy shit!’ We sounded incredible, and I'm hardly ever happy with our shows. All of our hard work had finally fallen into place on that tour. When Century Media heard it, they said, ‘We’re gotta release it–it’s too good not to’! If this is our end and it definitely is, then it’s a fitting end to DARK FORTRESS.”

“Anthems from Beyond the Grave” isn’t solely a live album but works as the perfect “best of” that comes with liner notes reflecting on 29 years of pitch-black history.

DARK FORTRESS is dead, long live DARK FORTRESS! 

Motörhead - "The Löst Tapes Vol. 6: Live in Berlin"

Recorded on 14th December 1992 on the tour in support of the ill-fated "March ör Die" album.

S.I.C. - "Screaming in Churches" E.P. (1988)

Melbourne crossover thrashers S.I.C. (or Screaming in Churches as they were also known) were yet another underground Australian act that I discovered shortly after I joined the local metal scene & started associating with older & more experienced metalheads. I believe I came into possession of a cassette that contained all three of their releases in their 1987 “Sick” demo, their 1988 “Screaming in Churches” E.P. & their 1989 “Spastics Inflicting Carnage” demo on the one side along with a bunch other Aussie crossover stuff on the other. I’ve recently sought out those two demos to see what they sound like in the modern day but I’ve been unable to find them anywhere online thus far so I’ve had to satisfy myself with the E.P. which I had some fairly foggy memories of enjoying when I was a kid.

Much like the two demos, the “Screaming in Churches” E.P. is a short burst of thrashing hardcore energy that includes eight fairly brief songs across just a thirteen-minute runtime. The band members co-produced it with a trio of external contributors including Vicious Circle front man Paul Lindsay, Reactor Records owner Phil MacDougall & Warwick Thomas who had worked with Lindsay on the last few Vicious Circle releases. The result of their efforts is a rough & ready record with all of the sharp edges having been left on in classic hardcore fashion. It sounds very live yet you can easily discern all of the instruments & it simply feels very appropriate for the content its attempting to showcase. The record would end up being released through Melbourne punk label Au Go Go Records which surprised me as they weren’t known as a metal label, instead making a name for themselves through more accessible artists like The Scientists, God, Spiderbait, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Magic Dirt & The Hellacopters.

S.I.C.’s sound was nothing new for the time & one gets the feeling that that wasn’t really the point either. They were a straight down the line crossover thrash band that closely emulated their US counterparts, particularly those who also went by initialist monikors like S.O.D., M.O.D. & D.R.I. There’s a similar sense of fun & not taking yourself too seriously here with the surf & skate themes that those bands often pushed being evident as well. Each song contains moments of sheer violence that work to offset the silliness & its those moments that make “Screaming in Churches” an enjoyable listen for someone like myself. I can do without all of the tongue-in-cheek bullshit & prefer a more serious approach to my metal so I’m thankful that S.I.C. obviously know how to thrash out with sheer hardcore aggression. Front man Luke may not be a technical wizard but he certainly knows how to spit out a compelling hardcore performance while his band mates (who interestingly included bassist Damian Gardiner who would later go on to experience significant local success with Victorian alternative rockers 28 Days) throw themselves into a series of lightning-fast thrash riffs.

The tracklisting kinda hovers over that line between mildly enjoyable & fairly disposable to be honest but the wins just manage to outweigh the losses which has left me with a generally positive taste in my mouth. As you may have gathered already, it’s the sillier moments that see my interest waning a bit with “Skatehead”, “Don’t Nag Me” & “Gadgetry” (complete with its rendition of the “Mr.Gadget” theme song) all leaving me fairly cold. Opener “Radiation”, “Brown Paper Bag Man”, the short hardcore blast that is “S.I.C.” & “Little Boy” are all pretty entertaining though & make up for S.I.C’s failings through uncompromising spurts of violence & vitriol.

Look, there are no doubt better crossover releases out there but I think there should be enough quality here to satisfy most fans of the subgenre, particularly those who have enjoyed a drunken laugh with their skater or surfer mates on occasion. Crossover thrash has never played a particularly major role in my listening habits but S.I.C. make a good fist of that sound here & are worthy of a few casual spins if you’re partial to that sort of thing.

For fans of S.O.D., Suicidal Tendencies & M.O.D.

3.5/5

Honestly, I don't think my experiences with running the Metal Academy site with Ben have resulted in my metal taste being expanded as much as other people because I always felt the need to keep abreast of all parts of the global metal scene. What there can be no question it has done though is keep me focused on metal when I might otherwise have ventured off in some other musical direction for extended periods of time like I have in the past. I feel somewhat of an obligation to keep the forum content moving which may sound like a bad thing but has ultimately resulted in me enjoying metal as much as I ever have. Despite what some people may have you belief, I honestly think that the metal scene is in a golden age right now & I'm always discovering something amazing that I was previously unaware of. I know it might appear that my review focus tends to be on older releases but, contrary to how that may appear on the surface, I spend just as much time with new releases. I just don't tend to give them the attention required for a full review or rating, instead just enjoying the listening experience & pushing my agendas to the side for a while.

As far as my taste profile goes, I've definitely found that I don't enjoy the modern side of The Gateway all that much in recent times & there's only pockets of The Revolution that I get much out of too. I'd suggest that Metal Academy has resulted in me discovering more power metal bands that I quite like though. Ultimately, my long-term preferences are still my preferences today although there's a now a case to say that sludge metal is one of my favourite genres when that wasn't always the case. I don't think that the Academy is responsible for that though. I think I probably would have gotten there anyway. The same can be said for my fairly recent interest in blackgaze.

All that said, it makes me feel really great that the Academy has had such an impact on others. I can't tell how much I appreciate all of our regulars who make my life a better place to be by sharing in my metal experience. The site may not have grown as much as we'd like to date but, if it never grew any further, I'd still be happy with the result.

This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement Andi. And for the record, I completely agree with you.

https://metal.academy/hall/563

I've passed this nomination uncontested Andi.

Ben, please add Melbourne crossover thrash outfit S.I.C. (aka Screaming in Churches).

Yngwie Malmseetn - "The Seventh Sign" (1994)

By the middle of the 1990’s, I would definitely class myself as a complete shred-head. I simply couldn’t get enough soaring guitar solos & searing technique in my life at that point & would go well out of my way to keep track of what the key players in that field were doing, despite my obvious affiliations with the extreme metal scene. That passion would see me continuing to purchase each successive Yngwie Malmsteen release as they hit the shelves, having first discovered him through 1988’s excellent “Odyssey” fourth full-length. Yngwie had been pretty consistent in his ability to keep me interested over the five or so years too with just the one blemish in 1990’s fairly flat “Eclipse” album. But I have to admit that my patience was weighing a little thin given that each record was generally pretty similar to the last one & offered little in the way of innovation or experimentation so I could definitely see my enthusiasm wavering a touch with each record. I think I was just starting that descent when 1994’s “The Seventh Sign” hit my CD player & I’d only stay with Yngwie for another year before admitting that I owned more than enough of the Swedish guitar god to keep me satisfied. I do remember “The Seventh Sign” being a little flat anyway though so perhaps that played a role in my defection? I thought I’d find out this week.

“The Seventh Sign” was recorded at New River Studios in Florida & was his first album for Japanese record label Pony Canyon after leaving his US label Elektra Records who had released 1992’s “Fire & Ice”. I’m not really surprised at the move given how massive Yngwie has always been in Japan. As with “Fire & Ice”, Malmsteen would once again elect to produce the record himself & the results are pretty decent with all of the different elements being very well balanced. There are a few moments when I’d suggest that the rhythm guitars are a little dirty & could have been cleaned up a bit but, in general, “The Seventh Sign” sounds bright & in your face with a big rhythm section & suitably anthemic vocal hooks. As was often the case with Yngwie records, the band lineup he’s gone with for his seventh album had changed significantly from the one we’d received on “Fire & Ice”. Hired gun vocalist Goran Edman (Madison/Time Requiem/Brazen Abbot/Glory/Johansson/John Norum/Karmakanic/Nikolo Kotzev’s Nostradamus/Talisman/Vinnie Vincent Invasion) had departed after contributing to the last two Malmsteen records with another vocal journeyman Michael Vescera (Loudness/Magic Kingdom/Obsession) jumping in for the next two. Yngwie elected to handle the bass guitar tracks himself this time with Svante Henryson moving on to Brazen Abbot while drummer Bo Werner had been replaced after just the one record with prolific skinsman-for-hire Mike Terrana (Artension/Avalanch/Axel Rudi Pell/Emir Hot/Hardline/Iron Mask/Masterplan/Metalium/Rage/Savage Circus/Tarja/Tony MacAlpine/Vision Divine/The Ferrymen). In fact, keyboardist Mats Olausson (Ark/Glory/Iron Mask/Silver Mountain) was the only remaining member from the group that recorded the “Fire & Ice” album & I’m gonna presume that he & Yngwie were fairly tight as Olausson would remain with the band for the entirety of the 1990’s.

If you have even a vague understanding of Yngwie’s previous work then you won’t be terribly surprised by the musical direction of “The Seventh Sign” although it admittedly traverses a number of different subgenres along the way. As with most of his recent releases, we get a mixture of power metal, hard rock, glam metal, heavy metal, neoclassical metal & classical guitar pieces with heavy metal being the thread that ties them altogether in my opinion. That being said, I see no reason to throw any additional primary tags at this record. As with the vast majority of Yngwie’s work, the tendency to want to go with a neoclassical metal tag is overstating the importance of the classically-inspired solos with most of the song structures being more traditionally metal or rock based. Those solos do make the album more cohesive than it might otherwise have been though given the genre-hopping that takes place but Yngwie is most certainly guilty of self-plagiarism as there’s very little that you haven’t heard dozens of times before in that regard. He’s no doubt the finest exponent of his craft that we’ve ever seen but the scope of his creative ideas is very limited & I think this contributed to me tiring of him over time.

Most of “The Seventh Sign” is pretty good to be honest & it certainly starts in solid fashion but, as with most Yngwie albums, there are a few genuine stinkers thrown into the mix & this time I’ve found a couple of them to be disastrous enough to taint my overall impression of the album as a whole. The utterly disgusting attempt at glam metal commercialism that is “Prisoner of Your Love” is by far the worst of them & sits amongst the worst travesties ever attempted in metal in my opinion. The cheesy neoclassical instrumental “Brothers” isn’t much better though & I think it’s fair to say that “The Seventh Sign” would have been a pretty decent Yngwie record without those two. Neoclassical heavy metal number “Forever One” is pretty flat too but it’s not in the same post code as that detrimental duo. The best material can be found in Yngwie’s heavier power metal efforts on this occasion with opener “Never Die”, the doomy “Pyramid of Cheops” & the exciting “Crash & Burn” being my personal highlights but I’m afraid that all that good work has been tarnished by the previously mentioned shockers which have simply left too bad a taste in my mouth.

Up until this point, 1990’s “Eclipse” album was the only Yngwie record that I’ve struggled with but I’m afraid to say the gratuitous repetition & my general tiredness of Malmsteen’s approach have collaborated with the ill-advised commercial indulgences enough to see me painting “The Seventh Sign” with the same brush. The experiences of this week have seen me finding it completely understandable that I would only give Malmsteen one more crack before moving onto new musical challenges. The better material here is easily up to the task but the album’s failings sit solely with the few duds which overpower the album’s strengths, seeing it simply commanding more cringes than I’m comfortable with in my metal.

For fans of Cacophony, Axel Rudi Pell & Alcatrazz.

3/5

Quiet Force - "Flow" (1988)

German electronic/new age.

Aggressa - "Nuclear Death" E.P. (1988)

Underground Australian metal band Aggressa aren't the most well-known of local acts to come out of my home country. Hell... if you weren't deeply involved in the early movement over here then you'd almost certainly have missed them as they weren't the most prolific of artists in terms of recorded output, having only put to tape one crude demo & an almost as crude E.P. that sounds like it was recorded with a handheld cassette recorder. But that level of inaccessibility can often become a source of attraction for some of our more devoted metal aficionados so it's probably worth revisiting Aggressa in the modern day, if only to make sure that there isn't some sort of unheralded gem sitting undiscovered between the two pieces of cardboard that originally housed its charms. My own experiences with Aggressa came through the E.P. rather than the demo which has only recently been made available as a bonus inclusion on the re-release of "Nuclear Death" & I'm gonna guess that the presence of a certain drummer that I had a mild association with back in the Sydney metal scene of the early 90's was likely the catalyst for me becoming aware of it at the time. I can't say that "Nuclear Death" made all that big an impression on me back then though & I was hoping that I might be better prepared for it in the modern day, particularly given the context of my recent explorations into the earliest roots of the Australian extreme metal scene.

Aggressa recorded the self-financed "Nuclear Death" E.P. at Sydney's The Loft Studio in 1987 & would release it to the public in a vinyl format that didn't even come with a proper cover the following year. I'd be very surprised if there was a producer involved as the sound quality is so raw that it could easily be mistaken for a rehearsal tape or cheap demo recording. In fact, I'd suggest that there was almost certainly no mastering done at the time as the tracks often contain count-ins or brief snippets of pre/post-track discussion. The start of "Tunks" even hints that it was recorded at a live show but I don't believe that to be the case so it was a strange decision to announce the song in that way. The Spotify version of the release was clearly taken from a vinyl rip too as there are obvious vinyl crackles running all the way through it. In saying all of that, all of the instruments can easily be identified & are reasonably well balanced. The rhythm guitars do drop out while some of the guitar solos are taking place which is a little annoying but the recording captures Aggressa's live energy pretty well & I'd imagine that they must have been a force to be reckoned with on stage.

Aggressa's style sits somewhere between heavy metal & thrash metal most of the time with many of the seven songs included containing elements of both genres in classic US power metal fashion. Many critics would call that sort of hybrid speed metal but I don't think that's entirely warranted. It's more accurate to simply use a dual tag in this situation as there were clearly two sides to Aggressa's sonic arsenal with the overall aesthetic generally leaning a little more to the heavy metal side than the thrash one. The riffs aren't terribly inspired & neither is the song-writing but I do really enjoy the vocals of front man Darren Jones as he possessed a muscular rasp that would have worked really well with a band like Exodus. The guitar solos of Craig Martin & Carl are frantic & chaotic without being too polished which works well in this context while the drumming of Sadistik Exekution/Reverend Kriss Hades drummer Sloth (who had only recently replaced original drummer Adam Marsh who had left to form prominent Sydney thrash metallers Frozen Doberman) is quite accomplished with his occasional use of blast beats representing some of the better moments on the release.

The tracklisting isn't exactly star-studded but one gets the feeling that a decent production job could have improved things significantly. The previously mentioned "Tunks" is really the only one of the seven tracks that I find to be genuinely enjoyable with its short & violent crossover thrash format working pretty well to get me throwing myself around my lounge room. The more intense material is certainly were I find the most appeal though with speed metal opener "Torture & Pain" & the more expansive death/thrasher "Voo Doo Doll" not falling as far short of the mark as other inclusions with the sub-standard heavy metal of "Break Down the Walls", "Phantom Stage Diver" & the title track failing to capture me much at all. Closer "D.O.A." is probably the best of the more traditional heavy metal on offer but even then I wouldn't say that it manages to raise much of a sweat. There's nothing all that horrible here but there's also not much to write home about either.

It's not hard to see why Aggressa failed to break out of the underground because "Nuclear Death" is really a pretty inaccessible listen. The re-release of the record was clearly intended for a niche market of dedicated fans who crave a simpler time when the tape trading scene was at its peak & was the only way to discover lesser known or unsigned artists. Although I was very much a part of that demographic, I can't quite see past the fact that there was so much better stuff out there than this at the time, even in the fairly isolated Australian scene, & this has left Aggressa floundering in obscurity for the most part & not without justification either. Perhaps a stronger production job & some label backing might have helped a bit but I think it would be a mistake to place the blame in that area as "Nuclear Death" simply isn't a particularly sophisticated release & is best served as drunken background music if I'm being honest.

For fans of Nothing Sacred, Metal Church & "Acid Storm"-period Rampage.

3.5

Hypocrisy - "The Fourth Dimension" (1994)

While the early releases from Swedish death metallers Hypocrisy may not have changed my life, they did offer me a fair amount of enjoyment as a young fella during the early 1990's. I'd first discovered them through their 1992 debut album "Penetralia" which Neuropath vocalist Mark Wangmann had brought to my attention shortly after it was released & I'd subsequently followed them through their 1993 sophomore album "Osculum Obscenum" & 1994 "Inferior Devoties" E.P., both of which had performed a similar role in providing a fairly traditional brand of death metal that stayed largely within the limited capabilities of the various band members. "Inferior Devoties" had seen Hypocrisy further reducing their lineup from the five-piece they originally started as though with band leader Peter Tägtgren (Pain/Bloodbath/Lindemann/Lock Up/The Abyss/War) taking over the vocal duties from original front man Masse Broberg (Dark Funeral/Demonoid/Obscurity/Witchery) on top of his existing guitar & keyboard responsibilities which would see Hypocrisy going to market as a trio for the first time. They must have liked the simplicity it provided them with as the Swedes would return with that same lineup for 1994's "The Fourth Dimension" third album, a record that is known as being somewhat of a transitional record for Hypocrisy & one that I remember fairly fondly. A recent read of Ben's review of "The Fourth Dimension" has seen my interest being renewed though as Ben expressed that this record was somewhat of a step up for Tägtgren & co. with the adjustments that had been made to the more traditional Hypocrisy sound being most welcome. Let's see if I feel similarly then, shall we?

"The Fourth Dimension" was recorded & mastered at Park Studio in Stockholm during March & April of 1994 with Tägtgren once again handling the production duties as he had on all of Hypocrisy's previous releases. Those first three records all sound a little different from each other but there seems to be a feeling amongst fans that "The Fourth Dimension" sports a cleaner sound in terms of production. I see things a little differently though & would actually suggest that Hypocrisy's third full-length sounds a little weaker than the Swedes first two records with the murkier guitar tone not really complementing the powerful bottom-end of rhythm section, although it admittedly works better than it might have due to the slower tempo range that Hypocrisy tend to work within compared to their earlier work. Tägtgren had handled the vocals on several tracks from the band's earlier releases so he doesn't sound completely foreign here but I do have to mention that I prefer Broberg's more sinister tone over his deeper & slightly more gutteral growls which don't summon as much darkness & energy as his predecessor.

There's been a lot said about Hypocrisy's transition from a very conventional death metal sound to a far more Swedish melodic death metal one over the years with "The Fourth Dimension" most often described as the link between the two but, while I'm not disputing that theory, I will say that it's a fairly narrow-minded view to claim Hypocrisy's third album as a genuine melodeath release because it's not nearly as simple as that. You see, Hypocrisy tackle a few different sounds across the thirteen-song track-listing with classic death metal, melodeath & a slower doom/death style all receiving a decent airing. The album is bookended by the two excellent doom/death tracks in "Apocalypse" & the title track, both which form the highlights of the album along with the beautifully executed neoclassical darkwave closer "The Arrival of the Demons". That's right folks, the slower tempos & more atmospheric soundscapes employed here actually work very well for Hypocrisy & are somewhat of a highlight of the record. The remainder of the album sees the band switching quite regularly between their conventional death metal sound & the more melodic one their countrymen had been making into a national calling card at around this time. Unlike many punters though, I'm gonna have to bring things back to reality a bit by stating that this is still more of a death metal record than it is a melodeath one. In fact, I don't even think there's enough melody here to justify a dual primary tag & are comfortable for Hypocrisy to maintain their traditional death metal status at this point in their recording career. I feel that the fact that most of the more melodic material appears during the early parts of the album has certainly played a role in people incorrectly tarnishing "The Fourth Dimension" with the melodeath brush (depending on your preferences of course).

Given the dalliances with extra melody though, it was perhaps inevitable that I'd struggle with parts of "The Fourth Dimension". In fact, I'm gonna have to suggest that it was Hypocrisy's least consistent record to the time with the quality levels fluctuating as often as the band's stylistic direction did. You could easily respond to those claims with statements about my affiliations to the melodeath subgenre & I'd face a serious challenge in attempting to defend my position as there's no doubt that the more melodic A side is where I see my attention wavering. Thankfully there are a couple of the best tracks on the album (see "Apocalypse" & "Black Forest") mixed in with the flatter material during the early stages of the record but the B side is noticeably heavier which appeals to my taste profile much more than the more open & commercially accessible song structures presented on tracks like "Mind Corruption", "Reincarnation" or "Never to Return". It's not that I mind the reduced tempos & greater focus on atmospherics. In fact, I really enjoy those attributes when they're done well. It's more that the more melodic material sounds a little basic & lacking in sophistication which could perhaps be explained by Hypocrisy's still fairly limited technical abilities which are left more visible by the more open structures. Tägtgren's vocals aren't as unique as Broberg's either & I find them to be merely serviceable than they do genuinely engaging.

Despite these failings, I can't deny that there's still plenty to enjoy about "The Fourth Dimension", particularly during the back end of the album which tends to drag it out of the mire that I felt it would almost certainly end up in during parts of the record. I can't agree with Ben's statements about this being the first Hypocrisy release that's worthy of your purchase though as I actually think it was the Swedes weakest full-length to that time with their more US-inspired debut "Penetralia" still (perhaps unsurprisingly) being my pick of the three. I don't think this just comes down to the added melody though folks. While Hypocrisy may have expanded their repertoire a little with "The Fourth Dimension", they hadn't necessarily nailed those adjustments which leaves it feeling a little patchy as an holistic artistic statement. The first two Hypocrisy albums may have been less ambitious but I feel that they were more consistently successful at what they were trying to achieve, even if neither should be considered to be essential listening for our The Horde members either.

For fans of Kataklysm, At the Gates & Bloodbath.

3.5/5