Daniel's Forum Replies

Μνήμα [Mnima] - "Disciples of Excremental Liturgies" (2022)

Greek outfit Mnima has been around for a good few years now & have put out ten zillion EP's in that time but this debut full-length is the first release I've committed to checking out. For a supposed "black noise" release, I've gotta say that it offers bugger all in the way of genuine noise music though. In fact, this is really just a very raw & particularly lo-fi black metal release with vocals that sound a lot like Burzum mastermind Varg Vikernes & musicianship that's left at the door for the sake of demonic authenticity. The first half of the release is actually pretty decent with the admittedly generic tremolo-picked riffage possessing some reasonably enjoyable melodic hooks. Unfortunately the B side is noticeably weaker which taints the whole experience for me & I'm left wondering how my black noise experiment has found me venturing here in the first place. "Disciples of Excremental Liturgies" is nothing to write home about & there are much stronger black metal releases out there this year.

For fans of Black Cilice, Candelabrum & Burzum.

3/5

La Torture des ténèbres - "IV: Memoirs of a Machine Girl" (2017)

The second phase of my Black Noise deep dive saw me tackling the fourth full-length album from Canadian solo act La Torture des ténèbres (French for “The Torture of Darkness” i.e. as opposed to the wholesome, family-oriented & generally fun garden variety of torture presumably). “IV: Memoirs of a Machine Girl” is an 81 minute marathon for the senses that’ll see your mental stability being well & truly tested so I’d steer well clear of it if you harbor any concerns around your mental health. La Torture des ténèbres is the brain-child of Jessica Kinney; an artist whose creative vision originally began within the more familiar realms of atmospheric black metal but over time has seen her expanding the scope of her metal roots with “IV: Memoirs of a Machine Girl” showcasing a much more expansive array of sounds & possibly even having transcended the confines of metal altogether.

“IV: Memoirs of a Machine Girl” is an absolute beast of a release featuring six very lengthy pieces that all comfortably exceed the ten minute mark. Jess obviously doesn’t care all that much for the vinyl or CD formats of my generation because it almost seems like she’s intentionally extended the album’s run time so that it’s just too long to fit on a single CD. Whatever the reason for it may be though, the run time definitely overstays its welcome a touch & I challenge anyone to actively listen to the entire duration of the album without experiencing some sort of mental fatigue. Personally, I feel that it would have benefitted significantly from the omission of the final track which would have seen it finishing at a still quite indulgent 68 minutes. That’s not to say that closer “Lysol, Scrub Away Your Sanity” is weak in any way but I’m not sure I needed yet another sensory barrage after the first five tracks had seemingly achieved everything that Jess had set out to do.

There are a few different elements to the La Torture des ténèbres sound that are repeated across the tracklisting. The first is the beautiful, dreamy & very Mazzy Star-ish downtempo sections which have layers of effects applied to them in order to give them an eery & sombre feel. I get the feeling that Jess could actually be a very talented performer in that space if she focused her powers on good rather than evil. Then you have the over-the-top noise sections which are much more prevalent & generally see a guitar part providing some sort of melody under a huge & overbearing wall of artificial noise. The first couple of tracks see the instrumentation hinting at a black metal atmosphere but the noise dominates proceedings to such a degree that I’d be reluctant to label this as anything metal related. Outside of those first two tracks I struggle to see the links to black metal though with the general feel of the base music leaning much more closely towards the dreamy post-rock of Sigur Ros. In fact, I’m not even sure the guitars have had any pre-mix distortion applied to them in all honesty so (unlike Wold’s “Screech Owl” that I kicked off my Black Noise deep dive with) most of “IV: Memoirs of a Machine Girl” just doesn’t feel remotely like black metal & I doubt it was ever intended for the black metal audience. The thing that probably sees it being tied back to black metal though are Jessica’s tortured & psychotic screams which sound very much like they could have been taken from a depressive black metal release. They’re relentless in their negativity &, when combined with some pretty twisted samples, ensure that you will find no form of light or empowerment in this music. It’s an ugly wasteland of disgust & disconsolation.

When all of these elements are combined, the result takes the form of a noise release much more than it does a metal one & I tend to think that labelling “IV: Memoirs of a Machine Girl” as a metal release is a bit of a stretch. That’s not to say that it’s not a rewarding experience for the metal audience though. Given my taste profile I’m not surprised that I find the first couple of tracks to be a little more enjoyable than the remainder of the album. The atmosphere of those two tracks hints at a majestic blackened darkness that I find more appealing than the slightly less imposing post-rock driven material but that’s not to say that there are any weak tracks included because there’s not. It’s a very consistent record that could maybe have done with some trimming from a pure indulgence point of view but would also have benefitted from the six tracks having proper endings instead of simply cutting them off dead when they were still in full flight. Overall though, I’d suggest that “IV: Memoirs of a Machine Girl” is a very respectable noise release that seems to sit pretty comfortably under the Non-Metal tag in our database.

For fans of Gnaw Their Tongues, Utarm & Nahvalr.

3.5/5

Here's an example of La Torture des ténèbres at their most blackened:

This submission has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

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

Cusco - "Apurimac" (1988)

I thought we'd go for some soothing Andean new age music for our family picnic in the park. Little did I know just how cheesy it could get though. This fairly well known release (from a German artist strangely enough) is nothing short of fucking awful!

Whilst Alone is also an awesome record for sure, I don't think it has anything as iconic as Well of Souls or At the Gallows End on it , so is downslope from Nightfall for me. But this is nitpicking as they are both records I would unhesitatingly recommend to any trad/epic doom fan.

Contrary to popular opinion, I've never found "At the Gallows End" to be anything terribly special to tell you the truth. I do quite like it but definitely think of it as one of the least appealing couple of tracks on "Nightfall". "Well of Souls" is certainly an amazing track but my personal favourites are "Bewtiched" & "Black Candles" which I regard as being the equal of anything I've heard from the epic doom metal subgenre. In fairness though, I'd place Solitude Aeturnus' "Scent of Death" right alongside them in that respect.

"Nightfall" was actually my favourite epic doom metal record until last week when the Solitude Aeturnus feature record overtook it. It's certainly my favourite Candlemass release though.

"The Threepenny Opera [Off-Broadway Revival Cast]" soundtrack (1954)

Another one for playing with the kids. Didn't interest me much but the kids seems to find old musical soundtracks fairly calming which can only be a good thing when my six-year old daughter is quite sick.

Sons of Kemet - "Your Queen Is A Reptile" (2018)

The third album from this London-based afrojazz outfit & I don't mind it. There are certainly some tracks that I enjoy more than others but when they hit on something great they really capitalize on it with some wonderfully intuitive group collaboration. It certainly made for a worthy accompaniment to cleaning the house & playing with the kids this morning.

Wold - "Screech Owl" (2007)

OK, so let's kick off with one of the more blatantly black noise releases in the 2007 sophomore release from Canadian artist Wold (can't you tell by their logo on the cover?). If you were thinking that black noise is likely to be an extremely lo-fi take on black metal then you were 100% correct as you won't find a more intentional attempt at audio degradation than you'll find here. In fact, the fading intros & outros of many of the thirteen tracks give hints at what the original music might have sounded like before it had the levels strategically blasted up into the realms of extreme distortion in post-production, all in the quest for a greater textural & atmospheric layer of hideous noise. So, does it work? Well when Wold get it right it certainly does but those moments are so few when you take into account that this bloated release stretches out to an unbearably lengthy 73 minutes in duration.  The ultra-grim black metal vocals of Fortress Crookedjaw are certainly very appealing for extreme metal aficionados like myself but the instrumentation is often lacking in any sort of musical quality, instead taking the form of battering & offensive distortion more than something you'd find genuine pleasure in listening to. When Wold hint at melody through their more ambient excursions though you can clearly see the attraction to this sort of music. They just haven't got the balance right at all here.

The clear standout tracks are the super evil "This Is How I Know" (which is by far the best example of the black noise subgenre included here & is a piece of work that has slowly snuck up on me over several listens before finally encouraging me to label it as a masterpiece) & the super-repetitive & trance-inducing thirteen-minute black ambient/noise closer "Undying Fire Of Urian" which absolutely carry this album. Sadly though it's not enough to make up for the clear failures like the God-awful "Nervosa" & "I'm The Chisel" which are pretty close to as dumb as extreme music gets. The couple of traditional noise tracks included also offer nothing at all from a musical point of view, failing to create any sort of dark atmosphere that you can grab on to. I think it's fair to say that I'm not the target audience for a record like "Screech Owl" but I still have my doubts that it'll be sitting at the top end of the subgenre. If it was then I'd have to think that the incredibly poor cover art would likely taint the entire subgenre & scare off many potential listeners.

But is "Screech Owl" a metal album? That's a very good question. The basis of these tracks is clearly black metal but the music has been brutally warped far enough that the original recordings are pretty much unrecognizable. The black metal vocals definitely reel it back in a bit though & the atmosphere is identifiably black metal for the majority of the run-time so I'm gonna say that, even though this release clearly sounds more like noise music with black metal vocals layered over the top, I'm comfortable with it residing in The North under a black metal subgenre. On the evidence of this release I'd suggest that Black Noise is a subgenre of black metal too. Let's see if I maintain that opinion over the next couple of weeks, shall we?

For fans of Gnaw Their Tongues, Sutekh Hexen & Затухание.

2.5/5

Here's an example of black noise that utilizes synth melodies to offset the ugliness:

And here's my updated Top Ten Conventional Black Metal Releases of All Time list after falling in love with the new Scarcity album (not that it's at all conventional but I don't think it's got much to do with the atmospheric black metal subgenre & we don't have an experimental black metal subgenre at the Academy):

Yeah, I didn't mind "Soul of a New Machine". I wouldn't say that I fell in love with it or anything (which is perhaps why my CD ended up in your possession) but it was something fresh & a little bit different for the time & it also offered a bit of crossover appeal for some of my friends that weren't as into the more extreme underground stuff I was obsessed with at the time. I agree that "Demanufacture" was a significant step up from "Soul of a New Machine" & is clearly Fear Factory's best record still to this day. It wasn't as much in line with my taste profile as the debut was but it was just a classier outing all round.

It was a great month of feature releases for me in September. I was obviously very familiar with the Alice in Chains, Brutal Truth, Dream Death & The Dillinger Escape Plan releases but it was nice to finally get some ratings & reviews against a couple of those after all these years. The Scarcity album absolutely blew my socks off & so did the Solitude Aeturnus one. Both of those have been rewarded with entry into my Hall of Metal Glory. The Red Harvest album was also great, if not quite as appealing as our previous Red Harvest feature release in 2004's classic "Internal Punishment Programs" album. The Ashenspire record had its moments while the fate of many a symphonic power metal album was bestowed on the poor Cross Borns release which was the victim of my taste profile as much as anything else. Well don to Ben for taking the biscuits this month in resounding fashion. Here are my scores in order of preference:

THE GATEWAY: Alice In Chains - "Dirt" (1992)  5/5

THE NORTH: Scarcity - "Aveilut" (2022)  4.5/5

THE FALLEN: Solitude Aeturnus - "Alone" (2006)  4.5/5

THE SPHERE: Red Harvest - "HyBreed" (1996)  4/5

THE REVOLUTION: The Dillinger Escape Plan with Mike Patton - "Irony Is A Dead Scene" E.P. (2002)  4/5

THE HORDE: Brutal Truth - "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses" (1992)  4/5

THE PIT: Dream Death - "Journey Into Mystery" (1987)  3.5/5

THE INFINITE: Ashenspire - "Hostile Architecture" (2022)  3.5/5

THE GUARDIANS: Cross Borns - "Tales of a Winter Night" (2000)  2/5

If Ashenspire did have any black metal roots then they've certainly been tossed aside for this highly regarded sophomore effort, haven't they? It's definitely an unusual release & one that does sit pretty comfortably under the avant-garde progressive metal tag. The most noteworthy elements on display are the theatrical & almost psychotic clean vocals of drummer Alasdair Dunn who continues to rant like a man possessed in his unapologetically Scottish accent throughout the entire tracklisting, mostly speaking or shouting more than actually singing. The other is the use of some extremely jarring time signatures that do tend to interrupt the flow of the song-writing at times. The ambition is undeniable but the execution isn't quite what I'd hoped, particularly the performance of Dunn behind the kit as his drum sound isn't ideal for metal (it's more in line with jazz) & he sounds pretty messy when he gets his blast beats on. The use of violin is done very well & brings to mind Ne Obliviscaris as it provides a little stability in even the most chaotic of movements while the overtly Scottish & emotionally charged vocals combine with some of the more sweeping black metal oriented chord progressions to remind me of Irish folk metal legends Primordial. The sheer insanity & creativity is more in line with a band like Arcturus though.

As you can probably tell, I struggled with "Hostile Architecture" a little bit at times but I can't deny that my overall impressions after four full listens were generally positive. There's no doubt that it's Dunn that's my major obstacle here & I can't deny that I would greatly prefer a more traditional & talented front man but I think I find it hard not to look on a pure form of artistic expression like this one with fondness & endearment as it's not all that common in a market that's saturated by copy cats. In saying that though, I can't say that I'm likely to return to the album in the future. It's an experience that I'm glad that I've had but it simply doesn't tick enough of my boxes to command any level of adoration.

For fans of Primordial, Ne Obliviscaris & Arcturus.

3.5/5

Did you really just suggest that "Arise!" is the best the genre has to offer after stating in the very same paragraph that it's the first stenchcore release you've ever heard Andi? You crack me up sometimes. I think Sacrilege might have a thing or two to say about who put out the first major stenchcore release too.

Fucking hell! This album absolutely slays! The dual tagging of Atmospheric Black Metal & Avant-Garde Metal isn't particularly accurate as I don't think "Aveilut" feels all that avant-garde & it doesn't have much to do with the classic atmospheric black metal sound either. To my ears it's an experimental take on your more conventional black metal sound which incorporates strong post-metal & drone metal influences at times. The way this duo have used the tools of black metal in a very different way but still maintained all of the menace & blasphemy is phenomenal. There is a little bit of dissonance on offer but I wouldn't suggest that it's anything out of the ordinary for modern black metal. The unusual part is the way they've layered the different tremolo-picked guitar lines & tied the psychedelic synths & effects into the wall of sound so tightly. I can't say I've ever heard anything like it but it reminds me a lot of the approach that some post-rock artists take. Those vocals are as grim & frostbitten as you'll find too. They're right up my alley. Interestingly, my two highlight tracks are also the furthest from black metal with "I" being a post-metal affair & "IV" being a wonderful builder of a drone metal piece. Ben, you've really outdone yourself this month as this is easily the best record I've heard from 2022 so far.

For fans of Krallice, Blut aus Nord & Bríi.

4.5/5

After revisiting this old friend over the last few days I was reminded of just how well it fits under the "deathgrind" tag. In fact, it may well be the definitive example of what that term was originally intended to describe because it easily harnesses both sounds in roughly equal portions & perhaps that's why it appealed to this particular death metal fanatic at the time because I've never quite found the same level of appeal in grindcore as I have in my beloved death metal. What we have here are 15 tracks that span a variety of tempos but are still undoubtedly designed to crush your cranium into a soft pulp. Former Winter drummer Scott Lewis' blast beats were indeed the fastest thing we'd ever heard at the time & I have to admit that I can't think of anyone that's surpassed them since without employing the gravity blast technique. He's an absolute machine & his endurance is very impressive to say that least. The combination of slower grind grooves & super-fast blast beat sections goes down a treat while Kevin Sharpe's deathly vocals are nicely contrasted by some searing high-pitched screams (presumably contributed by Anthrax/Nuclear Assault/SOD bassist Dan Lilker) which I find to be a real highlight. It all makes for a very entertaining ride, if not one that offers a lot of depth below the surface but that's not exactly what most of this record's audience will be looking for anyway. You'll no doubt be able to pick up the band's influences very obviously across the tracklisting with a Bolt Thrower riff thrown in here & a Napalm Death or Death one tossed in there but I have to admit that I'd never realized just how heavily influenced by Carcass' early works Brutal Truth were until now. It's glaringly obvious at times but is executed in more of a complimentary way than a plagiaristic one. But the biggest strength of "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses" is in its consistency as it sets a very solid standard early on & never lets it dip throughout a relatively long 45 minute run time for this style of extreme music. It's a real shame that Scott Lewis would leave the band shortly after this album & that Brutal Truth would gradually steer away from their death metal side over the coming albums as they'd really hit on something here & never came close to matching it in my opinion.

For fans of Napalm Death, Terrorizer & early Carcass.

4/5

I actually hadn't ever checked out a full Solitude Aeturnus record until now but was really excited coming in as I've loved what I've heard through the monthly playlists & "Alone" certainly hasn't left me disappointed. This is one absolutely monolithic doom metal record of astronomical proportions. Every track is pure class. The production job is superb, the performances are spot on & the cover art is as imposing as you'd hope for such a depressive gem. Front man Robert Lowe would have to be right up there with the best metal vocalists I've ever encountered with his powerful delivery placing him right in the sweet spot between Ronnie James Dio & my favourite vocalist of all time in Soundgarden's Chris Cornell. The guitar solos offer a super-pure tone & are performed with true precision, even hinting at Yngwie Malmsteen-esque theatrics at times. As with their epic doom counterparts Candlemass, the classic heavy metal sound has clearly been an influence on Solitude Aeturnus but the band's doom credentials are never in question with even through the more chuggy & mid-paced metal riffs possessing enough weight to satisfy even the most selective of doom tragics. When you've got a tracklisting this strong it's often hard to pick out highlights but not on this occasion with opener "Scent of Death" being one of the greatest doom epics ever recorded & "Waiting for the Light" & "Upon Within" also sitting comfortably amongst the top tier of the doom crop. "Alone" is a wonderful example of the doom metal & should be held up as a celebration of everything that's great about the genre.

For fans of Candlemass, Crypt Sermon & Solstice.

4.5/5

I know this may sound blasphemous to you, but if it's so hard for a layman to differentiate between them, does it really matter that much? 

Perhaps not but our market doesn't comprise entirely of laymen & I think you'd agree that it'd be pretty annoying if The Guardians or the Fallen charts were topped by releases that sat on the wrong side of the metal borderline as it kinda brings the integrity of the site & the Metal Academy brand into question. There has to be a line somewhere & the entire clan community has the ability to vote on which side of that line a given release falls on.

I don't mind "Rock 'n' Roll" actually. It's an under-appreciated Motorhead record in my opinion. In fact, I'd probably take it over the previous three albums which are all generally more highly regarded.

I'm very familiar with literally every King Crimson studio album except for those two so unfortunately not. Their 1973-81 period is definitely where my sweet spot lies.

I actually don't think Def Leppard were ever a metal band although I admittedly don't think I've ever heard "The Def Leppard E.P." from 1979 so there's potential to have my mind changed there I guess.

I get where you're coming from Sonny. If you look at it closely, relatively little of Motorhead's material is actually legitimate metal. They were far too blues-oriented to ever fully commit to a metal sound (at least during the first decade of their recording career which is what they're most well known for). There are two main reason they're associated with metal in my opinion:

1. Lemmy's vocals simply sound too gruff to be attached to anything else. In fact, if you put a different singer over the top of the instrumentation then I doubt that anyone would even think about labelling Motorhead as heavy metal (see Girlschool).

2. The fact that Motorhead were heavily responsible for bringing the use of double-kick (& speed in general) to heavy music & this element had an uncanny knack of matching up with the biggest songs from each successive album.

In Budgie's case, I'd suggest that their association with metal is mostly because of their historical association with Metallica. Their self-titled debut was really heavy for a rock record of the time & was certainly influenced by Black Sabbath but I've always felt that it was still far too bluesy to qualify as metal. After that they tended to indulge in Rush-inspired progressive rock & sometimes even folk music more often than they did metal. Sure, there are a few tracks here & there that qualify but not for a full album, at least not in their early-to-mid 1970's prime which is what people are usually referring to when talking about Budgie.

In regard to Motley Crue, I've always thought "Shout At The Devil" is close enough to metal. "Too Fast For Love" is much punkier & I find metal to be more of an influence that a primary genre with that one. I can't say I've heard "Dr. Feelgood" since the early 1990's so I'm not in a position to say. Our father used to cane that record so I'm sure I'd know every song by heart & I actually saw them play live on the associated tour but I tended to steer well clear of Crue's more commercially driven material once I fully committed to extreme metal.

I'm afraid I'm in the same camp as Ben here. I'm really only familiar with Candlemass' 1980's classics & definitely prefer Messiah Marcolin over Johan Lanquist. In saying that though, I've been utterly worshipping at the altar of Robert Lowe over the last 24 hours due to my indulging in this month's The Fallen feature release & I suspect that he'd likely top them both if I was to venture further forwards in the Candlemass discography.

I tried to find a video of someone demonstrating the difference between hard rock & heavy metal & this was the best I could come up with at short notice. This guy can't play much but what he's saying is essentially right. There are more differences in the techniques & the hard rock riffs he demonstrates are excessively bluesy in order to prove his point but it's a good starting point.

I'm afraid this one simply falls into the "none of my business" category. I'm gonna abstain from pulling it to pieces as it was never gonna finish any other way given my general aversion to folky symphonic power metal. I'm more interested to see what people like Rex & Xephyr think of it as their opinions are far more relevant than my own with a release like this one.

2/5

Fair point Sonny & I fully appreciate that not everyone's working from the same experience base. Perhaps I need to find a way to visually/audibly demonstrate what I'm saying rather than simply throwing out these bold exclamations.

Interestingly, Ben & I had a conversation on a very similar topic last week. We posed the question to each other: Can you have metal without metal guitars? There have been various examples of this tossed about over the last couple of years. The Kaatayra record Xephyr mentioned is certainly one of them. I'm interested to hear what everyone else thinks but both Ben & I are of the opinion that you can't have metal without metal guitars. It's like removing the ice from ice-skating. What does everyone else think?

Coil - "Horse Rotorvator" (1986)

Highly-regarded industrial music from London with all sorts of influences floating around from Kraftwerk to Nick Cave to Dead Can Dance to new wave. It's definitely a case of art over substance at times but it's certainly an intriguing listen.

 Viktor Vaughn - "Vaudeville Villain" (2003)

If you dig 90's hip hop with great flow like Wu Tang Clan or GZA/Genius then this beautifully produced East Coast record from MF DOOM should be right up your alley. The beats are fantastic & the song-writing is really consistent.

This is another really solid effort from these Norwegians who must be challenging The Amenta for the title of the most under-appreciated band in The Sphere. Unlike our previous Red Harvest feature release (2004's "Internal Punishment Programs"), "HyBreed" contains a significant Post-Metal influence on several of the more drawn-out tracks with Neurosis being the clear influence, particularly in the use of tribal drumming & repetition with long build-ups & crescendos. There are also a couple of 10+ minute ambient pieces included which are both of a high quality & break the tracklisting up nicely. We even get a fantastically doomy Gothic Metal song in the wonderful "On Sacred Ground" which draws upon Type O Negative & Tiamat for inspiration. There isn't a single track included that's not of a very high quality & there's more than enough variation to justify the very long 78 minutes run time. I've gotta ask the question, what the fuck have these guys done wrong because they should be comfortably sitting alongside the big names of the Industrial Metal tree.

For fans of Godflesh, Yerûšelem & Kill The Thrill.

4/5

I've added an additional Hall of Judgement entry to have this release removed from the Stenchcore genre & The Pit.

Ok, so I've decided to pass this Hall entry given that the current vote tally is so conclusive at YES 7 No 0. I've now added a new Hall entry to have "Killing Technology" removed from The Pit given that it has a second clan to reside in now.

I've just added another Hall of Judgement entry to cover your last request Andi.

I guess it comes down to what you understand rock & metal music to be, doesn't it? I was taught the different techniques for playing the two genres when I was in my early teenage years & those theoretical rules have stuck with me ever since so I see a well defined line between the two. As I've already explained in another recent thread, the point of contention shouldn't really be about how heavy or light-weight a release feels. You either have metal guitar & drum techniques being used or you don't as far as I'm concerned. Now, if we're going to be throwing the likes of Guns 'n' Roses, Def Leppard, Scorpions, AC/DC, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, etc. under the metal banner then I have to ask a pretty obvious question i.e. just what is hard rock music then because those are some clear examples of it as far as I'm concerned. To be open & transparent, my personal cut-off ratio for a release to qualify as metal is 40% i.e. if 40% or more of it's run time is legitimate metal then I'm happy enough to include it. Here's ten examples of some very big "metal" releases that I don't think should qualify as metal if we use that philosophy:

Kyuss - "Welcome To Sky Valley"

Boris - "Pink"

Rainbow - "Rising"

Black Flag - "My War"

Motorhead - "Overkill"

Primus - "Frizzle Fry"

Black Sabbath - "Technical Ecstasy"

Alcest - "Kodama"

Voivod - "Nothingface"

Elder - "Reflections of a Floating World"

These were my notes from my last revisit to this one:

The debut album from this Pennsylvania-based thrash metal outfit who sound very much like what Celtic Frost would have sounded like if Tom Araya was their front man. There's a really strong doom element to their sound. In fact, I much prefer the doomier parts over the more up-tempo material to be honest. Also, I have to admit that I spent most of this revisit thinking just how much this record would be up Sonny's alley so I wasn't surprised in the slightest to see that he's rated this a 4.5/5 just now. Saves me from recommending it to him. For fans of Celtic Frost, Hellhammer & Obituary.

3.5/5

Pantera - "Far Beyond Driven" (1994)

I count myself lucky to have been one of the privileged few that picked up on the whole Pantera groove metal phenomenon very shortly after its conception & subsequently had the pleasure of watching them develop & go from strength to strength over a number of years. I wasn’t in any way aware of Pantera during their 80’s heavy/glam metal days but their important 1990’s “Cowboys From Hell” album had already been pleasuring my ears for a good 18 months by the time they completely realigned the global metal scene with their career-defining 1992 sixth album “Vulgar Display of Power”. Despite my being firmly entrenched in the extreme metal scene at the time, it was absolutely impossible not to be impacted by the wave of euphoric adoration that seemed to engulf the band & that would only increase further with 1994’s hugely successful seventh full-length “Far Beyond Driven” which topped the charts in my home country of Australia. Everyone appeared to love it at the time (myself included) but it seems that time has seen it’s qualities down-played versus it’s two older siblings & I thought it was time I investigated why.

Let me start off by saying that there are a few elements that differentiate “Far Beyond Driven” from its highly praised predecessors. For starters, it’s the most focused of the three records in that Pantera had finely honed the groove metal style they were responsible for creating down to an easily identifiable sound & this album sees them thoroughly indulging in that by milking it for every last drop. In doing so we see legendary guitar virtuoso Dimebag Darrell coming up with some of the greatest groove metal riffs ever written but I think it’s fair to say that (unlike “Cowboys From Hell” & “Vulgar Display Of Power” which offered a bit more variety) you really do need to buy into the whole groove metal thing if you’re gonna dig “Far Beyond Driven”. The other major difference is that front man Phil Anselmo takes a consistently more guttural & aggressive hardcore-inspired vocal approach for the vast majority of the run time & in doing so leaves behind any semblance of his higher-register Rob Halford-impersonating singing voice. Neither of these things are negatives as such. They’re simply observations & if I’m honest I found the added focus on pure adrenaline & masculinity to be quite the drawcard at the time even though the public perception seems to have flipped a bit towards a feeling of super-macho posturing over the years.

The musicianship on “Far Beyond Driven” is outstanding & we really see the rhythm section of bassist Rex & drummer Vinny Paul setting the bar extremely high for the competition, particularly Vinny whose performance here is one of the highlights of the album as a whole. In fact, I think Pantera relied a lot less on Darrell’s amazing shredding by this stage & I don’t feel that the production places as strong a focus on him as a result. Instead Pantera come across as a well-oiled & finely-honed unit that know their sound extremely well & conduct themselves with complete professionalism. The production job does sound pretty dated with the rhythm guitar tone being very much of its time but this can easily be forgiven when you consider that Pantera were one of the primary instigators in changing the way we viewed guitar tones in general during that period. It’s very easy to be critical from an historical perspective but if we’re honest with ourselves none of us had a problem with it at the time.

The real difference between the first three Pantera groove metal outings is the quality of the song-writing though & there have been some sacrifices in their true-metal-at-all-costs mentality. Both “Cowboys From Hell” & “Vulgar Display of Power” were very consistent records with no genuinely weak tracks included & “Far Beyond Driven” is no different. What’s missing though are those few genuine metal classics that both of its predecessors contained as I don’t think I can say that any of its twelve tracks included qualify for that level of adoration. Instead we have twelve songs that range from pretty decent to very strong which amounts to a very rewarding listen, just not one that will see my life changing. That’s not to say that ANY of Pantera’s albums have changed my life terribly much as groove metal simply doesn’t appeal to me as much as it does to others but you know what I’m saying. In saying all that, I can’t say that I see “Far Beyond Driven” as sitting all that far behind its more readily celebrated peers. It’s still a very strong release with a lot of positives. I do think that some of its biggest tracks like “Five Minutes Alone” & “Becoming” are a bit overrated though. I’d also suggest that some of the tracks in the middle of the album that are generally regarded as being a bit weaker are actually very good with the two-song run of unusual change-up track “Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills” & the weightier “Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks” being a fine example of that. Even the ill-placed cover version of Black Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan” (the original being an all-time favourite of mine) is very well done even if it is too closely aligned with the original & seems a touch inferior in comparison. For me the highlights of the album sit with muscular groove metal outings like main single “I’m Broken”, super-masculine opener “Strength Beyond Strength” & the thrashy “Slaughtered” but (as I mentioned earlier) there’s not a clear line of delineation between the stronger & weaker inclusions as the quality band doesn’t stretch all that far.

Overall, I’d suggest that “Far Beyond Driven” showcases a band that were still at the peak of their powers & were content to focus purely on further amplifying the things that made them different from the rest of the market when they first broke into the scene in 1990. Was it successful in what it was trying to accomplish? Yeah I think it was for the most part. It’s not quite as strong as “Cowboys From Hell” or career highlight “Vulgar Display of Power” but the gap isn’t large enough to see me scoring it any differently so it’s another essential release for fans of Pantera or groove metal in general.

For fans of Exhorder, Lamb of God & Machine Head.

4/5

I have to admit that Layne's vocals on "Dirt" sit amongst my favourite in all of metal & I regard almost every track to be a genuine metal classic with the exception of the two-track run that contains "Godsmack" & the short interlude "Iron Gland". Some of the less acclaimed tracks like "Dirt" & "Junkhead" absolutely slaughter me. I was a total extreme metal nut at the time of "Dirt"s release but I got onboard very early on in the piece & have my first real girlfriend to thank for making sure I gave records like this one the attention they deserved. You know what though? That slut left me for a dude that we used to hang out with after we'd been together for a year so my nostalgia can relate to the depressive nature of Layne's performance here.

I've always enjoyed this little collaboration between two of the more highly regarded names in metal. The usual Dillinger intensity is somewhat off-set by the avant-garde experi(mental) stylings of Patton which makes for some really interesting listening as you never quite know what to expect next. In fact, I was surprised to discover that Patton's influence has extended far further than I would have thought likely as you could be forgiven for thinking this was a Mr. Bungle record during certain sections. The Aphex Twin cover version was a nice surprise too although it doesn't quite match the original for twisted scare-factor. "Irony Is A Dead Scene" is a unique alternative for fans of either artist & should satisfy those who enjoy Converge, Mr. Bungle & Car Bomb.

4/5

This is not only a wonderful example of the grunge & alternative metal subgenres but it's a marvelous release for music in general. In fact, I completely agree with Saxy's statement that "Dirt" is the best release to come out of the grunge movement. A lot of people tend to froth other AIC's acoustic releases & I don't mind them but for me Alice in Chains are at their best when they're playing doomy Sabbath dirges with those wonderfully drug-laden Cantrell-led vocal harmonies layered over the top & "Dirt" has those things going on in spades. There's no sign of weakness here. It's just wall to wall belters which sees "Dirt" currently sitting at number 13 on my all-time metal releases list (number 1 for alternative metal) & that's not likely to change any time soon.

5/5

P.S. I'm actually wearing my Alice in Chains "Rooster" t-shirt right now actually.

All nine September Spotify playlists are now up guys.

Here's my updated Top Ten Groove Metal Releases Of All Time list after revisting Pantera's "Far Beyond Driven" over the lasy couple of days:

01. Coroner – “Grin” (1993)

02. Grip Inc. – “Nemesis” (1997)

03. Exhorder – “The Law” (1992)

04. Sepultura – “Chaos A.D.” (1993)

05. Pantera – “Vulgar Display Of Power” (1992)

06. Pantera – “Cowboys From Hell” (1990)

07. Pantera – “Far Beyond Driven” (1994)

08. Anthrax – “Sound Of White Noise” (1993)

09. Trepalium – “XIII” (2009)

10. Pantera – “The Great Southern Trendkill” (1996)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/175

Here's the feature release nomination roster for October:

THE FALLEN: Daniel, Sonny, Ben

THE GATEWAY: Andi, Saxy

THE GUARDIANS: Rexorcist, Xephyr

THE HORDE: Ben, Daniel, Vinny

THE INFINITE: Saxy, Rexorcist, Andi, Xephyr

THE NORTH: Vinny, Xephyr, Daniel, Ben

THE PIT: Rexorcist, Ben, Daniel, Vinny

THE REVOLUTION: Daniel, Andi

THE SPHERE: Andi, Daniel

Here's my submission for the October playlist Andi:

Sore Throat - "Phase V" (from "Inde$troy", 1989)

Here's my track submission for the October playlist Andi:

Atka - "1xs{aix:ccc}3xs{/a1:cc}4xs{Ij8}4xs{:::comtlkcc}" (from "Untitled Album 1", 2018)

Here are my submissions for the October playlist Vinny:

Machine Head - "Now I Lay Thee Down" (from "The Blackening", 2007)

Amebix - "Spoils of Victory" (from "Arise!", 1985)

Sore Throat - "Phase 2" (from "Inde$troy", 1989)

Axegrinder - "Rise of the Serpent Men" (from "Rise of the Serpent Men", 1989)

Pantera - "Strength Beyond Strength" (from "Far Beyond Driven", 1994)

Here are my submissions for the October playlist Ben:

Thy Darkened Shade - "Elixir of Azazel" (from "Liber Lvcifer I: Khem Sedjet", 2014)

Deafheaven - "Luna" (from "New Bermuda", 2015)

Here are my submissions for the October playlist:

The Chasm - "Vault To The Voyage" (from "Farseeing The Paranormal Abysm", 2009)

Atka - "2xs{:777ll.}4xs{/:\}5xs{:j7::}4xs{ll}3xs{//}" (from "Untitled Album I", 2018)

Cryptopsy - "Emaciate" (from "Whisper Supremacy", 1998)

Nails - "Friend To All" (from "You Will Never Be One Of Us"