Daniel's Forum Replies
Here's my review:
With the New Year now upon us, I’ve notice that last year’s “Moon of Foul Magics” sophomore album from mysterious Toronto extreme metal outfit Autonoesis seems to be hitting a lot of people’s end of year lists so I thought I’d better see what all the fuss is about given that their 2020 self-titled debut managed to slip past me too. The second Autonoesis record is being touted by fans as being a total riff-fest, somewhat of a tribute to the greatness of metal. Well, let’s see if all of the praise is warranted, shall we?
“Moon of Foul Magics” can be a confusing & overwhelming experience upon first listen. There’s a lot of flip-flopping between different influences & subgenres going on which makes it hard to know what to make of it until you’ve given it a couple more airings. Black metal, thrash metal, progressive metal & even a bit of death metal & Viking metal (see the Bathory inspired “Valhöll) are all represented here but if you examine the tracklisting in detail you’ll find that the record is really built on a melodic black metal platform, similar to Dissection, Sacramentum & “At The Heart Of Winter”-era Immortal (particularly in “Nihility, Endless Winter”). The thrash component is very obvious in the classic half-time Slayer/Dave Lombardo breakdowns & more technically complex Coroner/Vektor riffs but I think it’s a touch ambitious to suggest that a release like this one should sit in The Pit alongside the Metallicas, Panteras & Exciters. It would appear to me to be a much more comfortable fit for The North. The progressive component is more sporadically used & is most apparent in the Opeth style clean sections which are beautifully executed just quietly.
The guitar work is very skilfully performed with a high degree of musicality & melody being employed at all times. I can’t say that I enjoy the neoclassical slant on the solos though as I’ve always struggled a bit with that particular technique when it comes to extreme metal, particularly when there’s lots of wanky sweep picking being used like there is here. The black metal screams are fairly generic & uneventful & I can take or leave them but the real weakness in the Autonoesis sound is in the drumming which lacks ambition & sophistication, particularly when you consider how much creative license has been taken with the rest of the instrumentation. This left me wondering whether Autonoesis are really a one-man band & the more I think about it the more I feel that I might be onto something there.
I have to say that I’m a little surprised at the overwhelming acclaim that “Moon of Foul Magics” is receiving online. Perhaps it just comes down to personal taste as the more melodic side of extreme metal has never been my strong suit but I don’t find anything particularly classic here to tell you the truth. It’s certainly an enjoyable metal record with a lot to say but I tend to find it to be a little unfocused & light-weight, not to mention a bit lengthy. It’s like Autonoesis have used the album as a place to showcase how broad their taste in metal is with many songs starting in one place & ending in a drastically different one. I have time for most of the nine individual tracks (with “Crypt of Thought” being the exception) but none of them manage to quite hit my musical sweet spot. I guess I’m just not the target audience for a record like “Moon of Foul Magics”.
3.5/5
Trance Metal has now been completely removed from the database with each release now sitting under the most significant alternative primary/secondary genre/subgenre.
I've added this release to The Horde under Brutal Death Metal as it already qualifies.
I found "Waves of Visual Decay" to be an excellent feature release nomination Saxy. I really enjoyed it's well produced & executed brand of mildly techy progressive metal which is built on a wealth of tight & chunky US power metal style riffage. The performances are all very precise, particularly the rhythm section who are as solid as you'll find. The epic vocals are very similar to former Nevermore/Sanctuary front man Warrell Dane (R.I.P.) with his higher register delivery aping Judas Priest's Rob Halford in a very similar way too. The consistent use of layered vocal harmonies does give a lot of the material a pretty samey feel though. The more stripped back tracks (see "Watching It All Disappear" & the title track) are definitely a step down from the heavier material but there are no weak tracks included as Communic are a highly professional metal act. The guitar solos represent somewhat of a missed opportunity though as they're only used sporadically & are fairly uneventful when compared to the prog elite. Does Communic sound exactly like Nevermore? Shit yeah they do but I really like Nevermore so it's not such an issue, especially given that "Waves of Visual Decay" hits very much the same spot as that much missed band & isn't far behind records like "This Godless Endeavour" & "Dead Heart In A Dead World" in terms of quality in all honesty.
4/5
Exodus - "1982 Demo" demo (1982)
I originally picked this crude demo tape up through the tape trading scene back in the day. I'd consciously sought it out (along with the band's other demos) as I'd fallen hopelessly in love with the first few Exodus records, particularly "Bonded By Blood" & "Fabulous Disaster". Sadly, I recall being disappointed with this particular release & didn't return to it until now when I've completely forgotten why I disliked it in the first place. It pretty soon became apparent as to why a young thrasher like myself would have found little appeal in it though as this is far from the early thrash/speed metal release it's often made out to be.
What we get here are three traditional heavy metal tunes that are much more in line with Iron Maiden & Motorhead than they are with Metallica. That's not an issue as such as I don't mind me some classic metal but the muted, distant & unproduced sound quality is also very poor & doesn't do the pretty decent song-writing any justice. The musicianship is very good throughout & it's clear that Exodus were always capable in that department, particularly guitarists Gary Holt & future Metallica axeman Kirk Hammett who absolutely shred & give Dave Mustaine's early works a serious run for their money. In fact, it's very clear why James Hetfield & Lars Ulrich cherry-picked Kirk as Mustaine's replacement because you can easily identify his trademark chops here & the wonderful dualing guitar solos are the clear highlight of the release. This demo also features bassist Jeff Andrews who would be replaced by Rob McKillop prior to "Bonded By Blood" & would go on to play in an early version of Possessed in 1983. Legendary front man & general nut case Paul Baloff's vocals are much more traditional than you might expect here. They're nowhere near as out of control as you'll find on the debut album which proves that much of his divisive delivery was intentional. He's serviceable enough without ever really competing with his guitarists for the limelight which might be why he opted to go for a more psychotic approach in the future.
Ultimately, "1982 Demo" is nothing more than an historical showcase of the early workings of a band that would go on to bigger & brighter things. There were loads of much more substantial heavy metal releases floating around at the time & if it weren't for the Exodus name then I doubt anyone would even have heard of this little cassette. The band must have transitioned to their faster & more intense thrash metal sound very quickly afterwards given how important they're regarded as having been in the early Bay Area scene, especially since Metallica's "No Life 'til Leather" tape would be released in July of 1982. I'm afraid this is another one for the completists only.
2.5/5
Satan - "Into The Fire" demo (1982)
"Into The Fire" was the second demo tape from these Newcastle heavy metallers who would go on to become huge players in the NWOBHM movement shortly afterwards through their 1983 debut album "Court In The Act". I first dug into Satan during my research for the Metal Academy podcast many years ago now. I really couldn't get into their 1982 "Kiss of Death / Heads Will Roll" single as it was simply too primitive but I did quite like "Court In The Act" although it never really threatened to have me gushing over it like most NWOBHM fans seem to. This demo came between those two releases & unsurprisingly sits right in the middle from a quality & development perspective. Six of the seven tracks would end up on the album in a more polished & developed form but this is still a very well produced & executed demo for the time. There are truckloads of effective Iron Maiden inspired guitar harmonies going on although the guitar solos are noticeably weaker than those we'd receive on "Court In The Act" the following year. Blitzkrieg front man Brian Ross was still yet to join the band & I'm not the biggest fan of his performance on the album so I was kinda hoping that previous singer Ian Swift might be more to my taste but unfortunately it seems that he has a lot less talent than Ross. In fact, he really struggles to stay in key throughout the whole tracklisting so it's lucky that the instrumentation & song-writing offer enough to keep people interested. Overall, I'd suggest that this is an inessential piece of work that doesn't offer a lot of replay value given that nearly all of the material was re-recorded in a superior format so I'd only recommend "Into The Fire" for the Satan tragics & NWOBHM completists out there. Think Angel Witch & Blitzkrieg meets Paul Dianno-era Iron Maiden & you won't be too far off the mark.
3/5
The release already qualifies for inclusion under the mathcore subgenre so I've added it to The Revolution Andi.
I've really enjoyed what I've heard of "Challenger" through the monthly playlists so I'm looking forward to checking it out Andi.
Yeah, nice choice Ben. I've been meaning to giving this one a deeper investigation for some time now.
Hahahaha.... awesome question Vinny.
Nice choice too Ben as you know I love me some Monstrosity & I haven't rated this record as yet either. It's probably been a decade or more since I've heard it & I recall really digging it so I'm excited to see if my feelings have been maintained.
This one sounds really interesting Saxy. I've not heard Moon Tooth as yet as far as I'm aware so I'm looking forward to seeing what this record has to offer.
Fellowship aren't going to be for everyone since they are relentlessly upbeat and happy
Hhhmmmm..... sounds pretty scary but I'll give it a fair crack nonetheless.
Sorted.
With a vote tally of YES 8 NO 3, Ben's request to have Fleshgod Apocalypse's "Agony" album removed from The Guardians while remaining in The Horde has been upheld & the required changes have been made to the database.
This old favourite has finally gotten too tatty for my wife to accept as suitable gentlemanly attire so I've reluctantly been forced to send it into retirement.
Also on this topic, I've noticed that I now have the option to "Invite collaborators" on each Spotify playlist. Ben & I just trialed this functionality & it enabled him to update The North playlist without my involvement which reduced my workload & empowered him to take full control of that playlist moving forwards. It's my preference that each playlist owner becomes a collaborator so that you can do the same. I'm not sure how it will work if you don't have a paid Spotify account but let's test it out & see what happens. I'll communicate with each of you over the next day or so to see if we can give you the required privileges.
Deafheaven - "Roads To Judah" (2011)
San Francisco blackgaze outfit Deafheaven certainly got a few people’s attention with their 2010 demo & I had a bit of time for it myself but it was their debut full-length “Roads To Judah” that really grabbed my attention, pissing off many a kvlt elitist in the process too. You see, despite their undeniable black metal aesthetics, Deafheaven somehow manage to beautifully incorporate the dreamy melodic ideas of the shoegaze genre into their riffs which on paper would seem to be a very poor fit for black metal but in practice sounds like a bit of a masterstroke. The contrast the relentless blast-beats & tortured screams offer to the shoegaze chord changes is certainly different yet I find it to be strangely soothing & somehow both uplifting & melancholic at the same time. Deafheaven went on to master that sound with their classic 2013 sophomore album “Sunbather” but their debut should not be overlooked as it’s a very solid piece of work in its own right.
“Roads To Judah” is a relatively short album by modern standards, clocking in at just 38 minutes in duration which feels appropriate at its completion. The four lengthy tracks all have merit & generally explore multiple different soundscapes within the same piece which often sees the album receiving a dual tagging of blackgaze & post-metal as a result. The blackgaze tag is certainly warranted as the majority of the record is black metal focused & the influence of shoegaze is undeniable on at least three-quarters of the tracklisting. I’d suggest that the post-metal tag is a little ambitious though. Sure, there are several post-rock inspired sections scattered across the album but the blackgaze material is much more prominent & I think that tag inherently covers a bit of post-rock influence anyway so to my ears the post-metal element is more of a secondary component. Front man George Clarke’s blackened shrieks would unquestionably get better over the coming years but he does an admirable job here, as does drummer Trevor Deschryver who blasts away with everything he’s got but would be replaced shortly afterwards by the more obviously talented Daniel Tracy before the recording of “Sunbather”.
Despite being somewhat enamoured with the quality of the overtly blackgaze inclusions, I can’t help but find the track that showcases the least amount of shoegaze influence to be the clear highlight of the album in closer “Tunnel Of Trees” which begins with five minutes of savage black metal extremity & finishes with another five of glistening post-metal atmospherics. It’s a stunning piece of work that really sees the album finishing on a high. The rest of the tracklisting is of a consistently high quality but fails to connect with me on quite the same level, presumably due to the lack of genuine darkness in some of the chord changes & atmospherics. “Language Games” is probably the best example of that as it begins in fine fashion but loses its way a touch around the middle of the song with some lighter-weight melodic ideas. It’s very hard to fault tracks like “Violet” & “Unrequited” though as they seem to complete their mission with emphatic success, despite my tendencies towards a darker brand of extreme metal.
It’s very easy to be critical of “Roads To Judah” by being drawn into like-for-like comparison with its successor but “Sunbather” hadn’t been recorded when I first wrapped my ears around “Roads to Judah” so I wasn’t afforded that luxury until some time later & it deserves to be experienced as an isolated piece of work in its own right regardless. You know what? Fuck the elitists that brutally put this band down because they don’t deserve it. It’s all posturing bullshit as these guys know their black metal alright but they also give it their own original spin that sounds as professional as it does musical. Deafheaven can’t put a foot wrong & sit at the pinnacle of their chosen subgenre as far as I’m concerned.
4/5
Here's the schedule for the February feature release nominations:
THE FALLEN: Sonny, Ben, Daniel
THE GATEWAY: Andi, Saxy
THE GUARDIANS: Daniel, Xephyr
THE HORDE: Daniel, Vinny, Ben
THE INFINITE: Andi, Xephyr, Saxy
THE NORTH: Vinny, Sonny, Xephyr, Daniel, Ben
THE PIT: Ben, Sonny, Vinny, Daniel
THE REVOLUTION: Daniel, Andi
THE SPHERE: Andi, Daniel
Excellent! Thanks for your input everyone. I won't be creating these from today & will delete the historical playlists some time in the next couple of days too.
Here's my submission for the February playlist Andi:
Mnemic - "Tattoos" (from Mechanical Spin Phenomena", 2003)
Here's my submission for the February playlist Andi:
Candye♡Syrup - "Idol of Death (Burst Ver.)" (from "iDOL Can Dye Sick Rock!!", 2018)
Here are my February playlist submissions Vinny & yes I was running short of material given my Trance Metal deep dive took up most of my month :)
Mnemic - "Liquid" (from "Mechanical Spin Phenomena", 2003)
Overkill - "The One" (from "KIllbox 13", 2003)
BABYMETAL - "BABYMETAL DEATH" (from "BABYMETAL", 2014) Yes, I'm serious! Feel free to exclude it but tell me this isn't a death/thrash track.
Bitches Sin - "Haneka" (from Predator", 1982) Feel free not to exclude this one too but I'd suggest that it's an early example of speed metal.
Here are my submissions for the February playlist Ben:
Summoning - "In Hollow Halls Beneath The Fells" (from "Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame", 2001)
Deafheaven - "Tunnel Of Trees" (from "Roads To Judah", 2011)
Here are my submissions for the February playlist:
Ulcerate - "Extinguished Light" (from "Shrines of Paralysis", 2016)
Blood Stain Child - "Unlimited Alchemist" (from "Epsilon", 2011)
Equilibrium - "Final Tear" (from "Renegades", 2019)
Fleshgod Apocalypse - "The Forsaking" (from "Agony", 2011)
Paradise Lost - "Drown In Darkness" (from "Paradise Lost" demo, 1988)
Here's my submission for the February playlist Xephyr:
Amaranthe - "Crystalline" (from "Manifest", 2020)
Here's my submission for the February playlist Saxy:
Parkway Drive - "Glitch" (from "Darker Still", 2022)
Here are my submissions for the February playlist Sonny:
Void of Silence - "Opus VIII: Universal Separation" (from "Criteria ov 666", 2002)
Admiral Angry - "The Illusion of Strength" (from "Buster", 2009)
Paradise Lost - "Frozen Illusion - Frozen Illusion Demo 1989" (from "Drown In Darkness - The Early Demos", 2009)
January 2023
01. Carcass – “Ruptured In Purulence” (from “Symphonies of Sickness”, 1989) [Submitted by Daniel]
02. Aeternam – “Beneath The Nightfall” (from “Heir of the Rising Sun”, 2022)
03. Miscreance – “Flame of Consciousness” (from “Convergence”, 2022)
04. Oppressor – “Seasons” (from “Solstice of Oppression”, 1994)
05. Soilent Green – “Her Unsober Ways” (from “Sewn Mouth Secrets”, 1998)
06. Autopsy – “Severed Survival” (from “Severed Survival”, 1989) [Submitted by Vinny]
07. Amorphis – “Vulgar Necrolatry”, (from The Karelian Isthmus”, 1992) [Submitted by Vinny]
08. Acephalix – “Postmortem Punishment” (from “Theothanatology”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]
09. Edge of Sanity – “The Sinner & The Sadness” (from “Purgatory Afterglow”, 1994) [Submitted by Daniel]
10. Asphyx – “M.S. Bismark” (from “Last One on Earth”, 1992) [Submitted by Vinny]
11. Gored – “Pathogenes & Symptoms” (from “Human”, 2008)
12. Tchornobog – “The Vomiting Choir” (from “Tchornobog/Abyssal” split, 2022)
13. Ulcerate – “Abrogation” (from “Shrines of Paralysis”, 2016) [Submitted by Vinny]
14. My Dying Bride – “God Is Alone” (from “Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium” E.P., 1992) [Submitted by Daniel]
15. Altarage – “Rift” (from “Endinghent”, 2017) [Submitted by Vinny]
16. Pig Destroyer – “Frailty In Numbers” (from “Orchid/Pig Destroyer” split E.P., 1998)
17. Diocletian – “Antichrist Hammerfist” (from “Doom Cult”, 2009) [Submitted by Vinny]
18. Divtech – “Occupied Decolonized” (from “Stasis Confines, Action Conditions”, 2016)
19. Napalm Death – “The Icing On The Hate” (from “Order of the Leach”, 2002)
20. Exhumed – “Drained of Color” (from “To The Dead”, 2022)
21. Visceral Disgorge – “Skullfucking Neonatal Necrosis” (from “Ingesting Putridity”, 2011)
22. Pathology – “Dissected By Righteousness” (from “Awaken To The Suffering”, 2011)
23. Deranged – “Razor Divine” (from “High on Blood”, 1998)
24. Dying Fetus – “Killing On Adrenaline” (from “Killing On Adrenaline”, 1998) [Submitted by Daniel]
Ben & I are considering doing away with the concept of maintaining all of the historical clan Spotify playlists & simplifying things by simply keeping the nine active ones. I doubt anyone's actually going back & listening to the old ones so it seems like wasted space & effort to keep maintaining an ever-growing list playlists. Before I go & delete anything though, does anyone have any strong feelings on this?
A monster of an epic Canadian progressive metal piece featuring truck loads of spacey Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd psychedelia.
Voivod - "The Outer Limits" (1993)
I have to admit that there are some pretty big gaps in my knowledge of post-1980’s Voivod. I was always a fan of the band in the late 80’s & early 90’s but they somehow dropped off my radar to an extent with 1995’s “Negatron” & 2011’s “Warriors of Ice” live album being the only releases I’ve checked out since 1989’s highly regarded “Nothingface” album. I guess they never really sat 100% within my taste profile so I tended to stick closer to my lane for the most part, even though I generally enjoyed their material. I recently noticed that the fanfare around the Canadian progressive metal icon’s eighth studio album “The Outer Limits” seems to have slowly gained momentum over the years though, so much so that it seems to be held up as another prog classic of sorts. That’s been the catalyst for me exploring the album this week & with generally positive results.
The “Nothingface” album had seen Voivod moving away from metal to an extent with the band having adopted more of a progressive rock sound &, from what I can make out by the critical response, their 1991 seventh album “Angel Rat” took them even further away from metal realms. “The Outer Limits” sees Voivod returning to metal in the most part & sounds quite familiar (if that can ever be said of a Voivod release). The angular & unusual guitar riffs of guitarist Piggy are as potent as ever & lead proceedings with Snake’s signature vocal delivery ensuring that you’re never in any doubt as to which band you’re listening to. You see, there’s simply no one that sounds remotely like Voivod, even if they’re consciously trying to. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’re a complete musical anomaly & that’s extremely rare in the modern music scene. “The Outer Limits” certainly fits into the progressive metal genre pretty comfortably though & I’d suggest that fans of that particular scene are the most likely audience for a record like this one with very little speed/thrash metal to offer those that are hanging out for a mid-80's revivial. “Le Pont Noir” & “Wrong-Way Street” see Voivod traversing the rockier prog territories of “Nothingface” while the epic seventeen minute album highlight “Jack Luminous” is a psychedelic monster that oozes of Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd influence. We even find the boys attempting some alternative rock sounds that wouldn’t feel out of place alongside the Detroit elite on “The Nile Song”.
Unlike Voivod’s very strong trio of progressive albums from 1987-1989, “The Outer Limits” struggles a touch in the song-writing department. There are no weak songs included with all nine tracks being presented with class & professionalism but the hooks aren’t consistently strong enough to see the album competing with the band’s best work. In saying that though, I do slightly prefer it to Voivod’s early speed metal releases like “War & Pain”, “Rrröööaaarrr” & the “To The Death” demo. It's always refreshing to hear these Canadians taking on spacey sci-fi topics as there are few artists that have the ability to sound so alien & “The Outer Limits” is yet another example of why we need bands like Voivod in a modern metal market that’s flooded with copy cats & pretenders.
3.5/5
Bitches Sin - "Predator" (1982)
What we have here is yet another underground also-ran from the NWOBHM movement in the debut album from Cumbria-based outfit Bitches Sin. The cover art gives you the distinct impression that you'll be in for a heavily metallic experience (perhaps something similar to Satan?) but the reality is very different to that so it's a bit misleading. Bitches Sin's sound sits somewhere between hard rock & heavy metal with the production sitting a little closer to the rock side of the equation. In fact, the production is the biggest detractor here as the guitars are miles too low in the mix with the pitchy vocals booming over the top but front man Tony Tomkinson's somehow manages to make up for his technical inadequacies in sheer charisma, regularly bringing to mind the blue-collar approach of original Iron Maiden singer Paul Dianno. The lead guitar work may be a little primitive but it oozes attitude (particularly in the electricity of the lightning fast bluesy pentatonic runs) & this helps to carry the weaker material. There are a couple of very catchy songs here that somehow manage to overcome all of the flaws that are doing their damnedest to draw your affections away (see "Lady Lies" & "Looser") but at the end of the day "Predator" was always destined for the second-hand bins & the dustier back pages of NWOBHM history.
3/5
Gojira - "L'enfant sauvage" (2012)
When Gojira's fifth album landed in 2012 I got really hot under the collar & started claiming it to be somewhat of a classic. In hindsight that isn't the case but it's certainly a very solid piece of progressive metal in it's own right & one that should be considered as essential listening for fans of the band. The death metal of Gojira's first few albums was a thing of the past by this stage but you can still hear bits & pieces of the Morbid Angel influence they'd previously championed. There's more groove metal in their sound here with snippets of djent & post-metal being thrown around on occasion too. There's a lot of Devin Townsend about "L'enfant sauvage", particularly in the vocal delivery. The consistency of the tracklisting & the quality of the production, execution & performances makes it a hard record for any open-minded metalhead to resist & I actually prefer this album slightly over Gojira's more widely acclaimed 2008 fourth album "The Way Of All Flesh" these days even if 2005's "From Mars To Sirius" is still their piece de resistance as far as I'm concerned. Still... don't make the mistake of overlooking "L'enfant sauvage" because it's got plenty to offer your average prog metal fan.
4/5
However, similar to My Dying Bride's "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium", while there are some standard death metal elements in the demos, death-doom is much closer to doom.
I don't see this release in the same way as I did "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium" which included just a single short death metal track between two death/doom numbers. "Drown In Darkness" includes twelve tracks which offer a roughly even split of classic death metal & death/doom. It's really not that relevant whether death/doom is much closer to doom metal as a good half of this release isn't death/doom & that's kinda the point of the dual tag which I feel is warranted here. I'm going with a NO vote on this Hall of Judgement entry as it's my opinion that this release belongs in The Horde just as much as it does in The Fallen.
Paradise Lost - "Drown in Darkness - The Early Demos" (2009)
Unlike with the other Peaceville Three bands, I never checked out Paradise Lost's early demos back in the day, perhaps because their first couple of albums didn't make as big an impact on me as My Dying Bride & Anathema's did. I thought I'd rectify that omission this week through this compilation which draws together 1988's self-titled demo, 1989's "Frozen Illusion" demo & 1989's ""Plains of Desolation" live bootleg. Be warned that this is some very rough stuff as far as production & sound quality goes so it's lucky that I have a long history with tape trading. As with Paradise Lost's early albums, the performances are very primitive but Nick Holmes' vocals are excellent & he represents the focal point for the band at this point, particularly as Gregor's guitar work isn't always far enough forward in the mix or perfectly in tune.
The three releases showcase Paradise Lost's evolution from a fairly standard death metal band into one of the earliest exponents of the death doom metal subgenre. The self-titled demo & "Plains of Desolation" sit very much at the centrepoint between the two genres while "Frozen Illusion" sees them having transitioned into a genuine doom/death band & is much the better for it. You'll find a few tracks being repeated across the three releases but they're not always in the same format & have slightly different atmospheres. "Paradise Lost" & "Plains of Desolation" are very poorly recorded with the latter having the guitars sitting miles too far back in the mix but Nick somehow manages to keep things from being a complete disaster through his charismatic delivery. The drumming is particularly poor on "Plains of Desolation" too.
Thankfully though, the "Frozen Illusion" demo is really quite good with "Paradise Lost" & the title track being very entertaining & highly atmospheric examples of early death/doom. It's versions of "Paradise Lost" & "Frozen Illusion" are the clear highlights of the compilation & make it worth checking out for completists & fans of the band but I wouldn't recommend "Drown In Darkness" to casual listeners as it can be a bit of a hard slog at times, even though it offers a fair bit of authentic 80's underground death metal atmosphere. Think Autopsy meets Celtic Frost & you won't be too far off the mark.
3/5
I've revisited Fleshgod Apocalypse's "Agony" album over the last couple of days & would suggest that it would have to be up there with the most relentlessly brutal death metal records ever recorded. I have to ask the question of the people who have voted for it to stay in The Guardians, do you really think it will appeal to the same audience as Saxon, Helloween or Yngwie Malmsteen? It sits in the complete opposite extreme of the metal spectrum as far as I can see so it shouldn't matter that it's a "symphonic" release. The integrity of the clan system is much more important than those sort of technicalities in my opinion.
Fleshgod Apocalypse - "Agony" (2011)
I got onboard with Italian extremists Fleshgod Apocalypse very early on as their 2009 debut album "Oracles" landed right around the time that I was returning to metal after a decade-long hiatus. I thoroughly enjoyed it's super-brutal brand of techy death metal too it has to be said but found myself struggling a little with 2010's "Mafia" E.P. (widely regarded as the band's best work) due to the cheesy neoclassical component & the excessive use of over-the-top blast beats which saw the tracks bleeding into each other. "Agony" landed the following year & saw Fleshgod Apocalypse taking the symphonics they'd hinted at previously & bringing them into the foreground to create a genuinely symphonic brutal death metal sound. Now if that sounds like a bit of a contradiction of terms then you wouldn't be entirely wrong as the orchestration definitely sounds a little out of place over what must surely be one of the most consistently brutal releases ever to grace our ears. The ultra-fast drumming of band leader Francesco Pauli is utterly mind-blowing in its execution & you'd have to suggest that there is no one that can top him in the speed & precision but there's no doubt that the individual tracks struggle to differentiate themselves from one another for much the same reasons as I mentioned previously so I kinda find myself torn given that it's Pauli's drumming that I find to be the main attraction with a record like "Agony". Ironically, it's the slower sections that work best given that the symphonic arrangements simply make for a better accompaniment when they're given more space to create atmosphere. I do find the neoclassical lead guitar work to be better integrated into the band's sound on this occasion though & the solos often work as crescendos of sorts.
At the end of the day I think a lot of extreme metal fans will appreciate "Agony" for it's novelty value more than anything else. It's an exhausting listen at times as the sheer weight of sound is relentless & it could definitely do with more dynamics. The Italians seem to hold the title in terms of brutality these days & if that's the case then Francesco Pauli may just be the central figure in the local movement given his ties with Hour of Penance who also push the limitations of human endurance to their most extreme levels. Unlike their buddies though, I can't say that I easily connect with Fleshgod Apocalypse's music on a more visceral & aggressive level as I'm not a fan of symphonics in my metal. It's lucky for them that I'm a sucker for elite level extreme metal drumming & they certainly aren't short of that.
3.5/5
To quote one of my earlier posts, while a good amount of metalcore lovers also enjoy a bit of trance metal, some might get confused about trance metal being in the same clan as metalcore. The Revolution's superior genre, metalcore has their roots from mixing metal with hardcore punk and lyrics of rebellion, and if trance metal bands like Amaranthe have an electronic-infused sound that leans more towards symphonic/power metal than metalcore, that would cause quite an issue. Then again, I still believe Amaranthe often has some melodic metalcore going on, especially in the earlier material. So I agree that it makes sense to have trance metal taken out of the site, with all those bands/releases you've reviewed for this thread moved to whichever clan/genre they fit well in, and if there's any solely trance metal release you might've missed, we might investigate which clan/genre they might belong in. A trancecore deep dive would be a good idea to see which releases belong in melodic metalcore or not, but for now, you've earned your rest from deep diving. The fate of trance metal is nigh!
Thanks Andi. I'm glad you're comfortable with this outcome as I value your opinion. Interestingly, this wasn't the result I was expecting when I went into the deep dive so I'm really pleased that I undertook the exercise. Ben has volunteered to make the database changes during the holiday period. I'll need to take out any Trance Metal-related Hall of Judgement entries.
Here's my first ever Top Ten Trance Metal Releases of All Time list following my completion of my Trance Metal deep dive this morning:
01. Amaranthe - "Manifest" (2020)
02. Mesarthim - "Vacuum Solution" E.P. (2021)
03. DOLL$BOXX - "High $pec" E.P. (2017)
04. Equilibrium - "Renegades" (2019)
05. Blood Stain Child - "Epsilon" (2011)
06. Amaranthe - "Leave Everything Behind" E.P. (2009)
07. PassCode - "Clarity" (2019)
08. Candye♡Syrup - "iDOL Can Dye Sick Rock!!" (2018)
09. Noidz - "The Great Escape" (2008)
10. Semargl - "Satanic Pop Metal" (2012)
So this brings me to the end of my Trance Metal deep dive & has left me with some confusing results to be honest. On the one hand, it's very clear that Trance Metal isn't a well-defined genre with it's own easily identified sound (at least not when you take the ten releases in holistically). In fact, a good half of the ten I've explored aren't even Trance Metal in my opinion. Amaranthe & Blood Stain Child are the ones that I'd suggest offer the purest examples of the style as neither seem to fit very well under any other tag but if I examine the clans that I felt were most representative of each release I find a complete mish mash with only The Fallen & The Pit missing out on inclusion. I think that's telling because it's as strong an indicator that Trance Metal is more of an additional element added on top of another pre-defined genre as you're likely to find (see Symphonic Metal, Neoclassical Metal, etc.). I mean there's no way that the Mesarthim & Noidz releases should reside in the same clan yet both have equally strong claims to the Trance Metal tag. I don't think that either of them would appeal to fans of the Japanese style either.
So the question is, would each of the five releases that I believe to have a genuine claim on the Trance Metal genre fit under another existing tag comfortably enough so as to enable to removal of the Trance Metal genre from Metal Academy? I'd suggest that Mesarthim, Noidz & Equilibrium all would but Amaranthe & Blood Stain Child are a little more borderline. In saying that though, do we maintain a genre simply for two bands? Ben & I don't think so so we've decided to remove Trance Metal from the site which will see these ten releases being allocated as follows (at least for the time being until we can work out the true merits of the Trancecore subgenre's claim on inclusion at the site as I don't think it's all that accurate to call those releases Melodic Metalcore when they possess a noticeably different & fairly well-defined sound):
Amaranthe - Melodic Metalcore
PassCode - Melodic Metalcore
Mesarthim - Symphonic Black Metal
Semargl - Industrial Metal
Blood Stain Child - Melodic Death Metal
BABYMETAL - Alternative Metal
DOLL$BOXX - Power Metal
Noidz - Industrial Metal
Equilibrium - Melodic Death Metal
Candye♡Syrup - Melodic Metalcore
I know that some of those tags still need some work (Amaranthe & Blood Stain Child are much closer to symphonic/power metal in my opinion while the DOLL$BOXX record doesn't have much to do with power metal) but It will certainly eradicate the problem we currently have where The Revolution contains a bunch of releases that are nothing to do with the sounds that clan was originally designed to draw together.
Candye♡Syrup - "iDOL Can Dye Sick Rock!!" (2018)
After taking a quick glance at the front cover I was obviously expecting a cheesy Babymetal tribute from this Tokyo act that was originally spawned as an offshoot from a popular Japanese hair salon. And that's not altogether a misleading assumption as the j-pop component of the band's sound is certainly a focal point however Candye♡Syrup offer something a little different to their more popular peers. I don't consider Babymetal to be Trance Metal really. They're more of an Alternative Metal artist whereas Candye♡Syrup embrace their cute & quirky image more with a Trancecore sound that flip flops between the sweet & the savage. The breakdowns here are quite savage & the gutteral vocal delivery is over the top but neither of those things can take any of the gloss off the pop & pop punk components with the innocent & child-like vocals offering a distinctly Japanese appeal & the electronica being of the quirky/bleepy nature as often as it is genuinely trancey. Does it work? well, yeah it does if you like that kind of thing but unfortunately I don't other with the possible exception of up-tempo hardcore number "Idol of Death (Burst Ver.)" (which features 「Story of Hope」front woman m!sa behind the microphone).
Is this a Trance Metal release? Well it is a metal release but I don't think it's Trance Metal. It's very much a Trancecore record with a strong Alternative Metal feel. It would fit best in The Revolution & possibly also The Gateway. This leaves me once again questioning whether we made the right call to remove the Trancecore subgenre as "iDOL Can Dye Sick Rock!!" wouldn't fit all that comfortably alongside other Melodic Metalcore, Alternative Metal or Trance Metal records but still has a right to command representation at the Metal Academy site. I think I'm gonna have to do a Trancecore deep dive at some stage to develop an informed position on that though.
2.5/5
Equilibrium - "Renegades" (2019)
This is one of those records that gets absolutely slammed by fans of the band, primarily because it saw these Germans opting to deviate from their symphonic folk metal model by trying something different. I went into the album with an open mind though because my only previous experience with Equilibrium was through their 2010 third album "Rekreatur" & I fucking hated it to put it bluntly. Folk metal & I generally don't see eye to eye so any distance they could put between themselves & that genre would be worthwhile as far as I'm concerned. What you get with "Renegades" is a union of the Trance Metal & Melodic Death Metal sounds with traces of Folk Metal & Power Metal here & there. It's an incredibly inconsistent record though as I actually found myself really enjoying half of the ten tracks on offer but the other five are nothing short of fucking awful. The big synth lines are really well integrated & sound full & epic while I can definitely dig the death metal component, particularly the blast beat sections which are beautifully performed. It's all about the chorus hooks though in my opinion & when Equilibrium nail those they can be genuinely captivating (see the marvelous closer "Rise of the Phoenix" for example). But when they tail off into cheesier territory I find myself recollecting my past trials with the band & that ultimately sees "Renegades" failing as an holistic piece of art.
Is this a Trance Metal record? Yeah, it is. It may be intertwined with melodeath but there can be little denying the trance influence on tracks like "Hype Train" & I'd suggest that Trance Metal is the most consistent genre represented across the tracklisting. Does this sound like any of the other Trance Metal records I've reviewed? No, not really. What clan would I place it in? Hhhmmm.... probably The Horde to be honest as it definitely doesn't have anything to do with The Revolution or The Gateway & it's probably a little too brutal for The Guardians.
3/5
Monolithe - Kosmodrom (2022)
Released 25.11.22 on Bandcamp
Monolithe are not you typical death doom crew, it must be said. The Frenchmen have developed an increasingly progressive aspect to their death doom as their career has developed. They place great significance on song length - their first four albums were fifty-minute plus single track epics, 2015's Epsilon Aurigae and 2016's Zeta Reticuli both contained three tracks, each of exactly fifteen minutes duration, Nebula septem had seven, 7 minute exactly tracks and Okta Khora contained eight tracks of either 4:04, 8:08, 4:08 or 8:04 minutes duration. Kosmodrom continues this idiosyncratic tendency with, of it's five tracks, 1 and 4 are precisely ten minutes, 2 and 3 are 10:30 and the closer, Kosmonavt is exactly 26 minutes. Despite this significance that the band place on precision in track duration, I have never found it to be contrived or constrictive and their music never suffers as a consequence of forcing it into a strictly defined temporal space.
I think it is fair to claim that death doom is a pretty "earthy" style of metal. It often suggests abyssal subterranean chasms or huge, hulking mountain vistas. I know there are the lighter-feeling gothic exponents of death doom, but these still focus on quite primal emotions such as fear and loss. Monolithe however, look outwards and upwards for their inspiration and are one of the few producers of what I would call cosmic death doom. Previous album Okta Khora, for example, was a science fiction concept album about some highly advanced civilisation's unshakeable belief that they must force the universe back into it's original form by destroying everything in it. Not your usual death doom subject matter then? Kosmodrom takes as it's theme the early Soviet pioneers of space flight and the huge risks they faced and sacrifices they made to allow the human race to dream of attaining the stars - again, not exactly your typical death doom aesthetic.
This time around, though, Monolithe have leant more heavily on their earlier death doom style than was employed on their previous couple of releases, integrating the progressive elements within a death doom framework, rather than vice-versa. This may initially come off as something of a backward step, but the progressive elements are worked into the fabric of the tracks so intrinsically that the transition from full-on death doom to lighter, more progressive sections sometimes happens imperceptably, so there is, in reality, more going on within each track than may at first appear - Voskhod suddenly erupts in a clean, melodic riff with a throbbing, electronic feel, the twenty-six minute Kosmonavt takes includes a Cult of Luna-like building, post-metal section and during Kudryavka you suddenly realise you are listening to a Dave Gilmour-like Floydian section after it's hulking death doom beginnings and don't even remember how you got there!
If you are familiar with Monolithe's work to date then the opener, Sputnik-1, may seem to be a bit unexpected, it's heavenly female vocals (provided by Houston alt. pop artist London Lawhon) combined with Rémi Brochard's usual gruff growls, the huge, heaving, yet melodic, main riff and the overlaid keyboards may bring to mind My Dying Bride or the like and their gothic take on death doom and in truth I think it stands up to anything the Yorkshiremen have produced. However, rather than some corny gothic romance for subject matter, it's recalling of the aspirations of the people behind mankind's very first step into space exploration provides a theme I personally am more at home with.
As a whole package, Kosmodrom seems very complete and is so skillfully written and crafted that it throws a lot of recent death doom releases into the shade. Monolithe show that it is no longer enough to just keep knocking out slowed down death metal riffs and throw some deep growls on top to appease the death doom cognoscenti - there is so much more that the style is capable of and the Frenchmen, like those cosmic pioneers are forging onwards and upwards in order to expand the minds of the human race. Please don't misunderstand, Kosmodrom does not want for heaviness either. When it needs to be it is as heavy as you could possibly ever want, it just doesn't live or die solely on it's ability to shake the foundations. I would go as far as touting Monolithe as the death doom version of prime-era Opeth and that is heady praise indeed, so if you are in the market for intelligent, progressive extreme doom metal, then you really should give this a try.
4.5/5
I've noticed that Monolithe have been linking your review on their social media platforms Sonny. You're a fucking global super star mate! Next you'll be dating Taylor Swift & partying with Paris Hilton.
Noidz - "The Great Escape" (2008)
The debut album from this Portugese outfit is a genuine combination of trance & metal music in about a 60/40 ratio; psytrance & industrial metal in fact. I've often been known to have a soft spot for well-produced psytrance in the past but only when it's of the deeper & darker variety whereas this material is more bouncy & squelchy. The metal component comes very much from the Rammstein school of simple chunky power-chord riffage but is well integrated so Noidz have done a pretty good job at creating an original hybrid of two disparate sounds here. It's just that it doesn't really appeal to me much. Is it genuine Trance Metal? Well duh! Of course it is as these tracks would all fit comfortably into a Psytrance set but could also be played at a metal club without too many people fussing over it. Does it sound in any way the same as the other releases I've granted Trance Metal status during this deep dive? Not in the slightest. It certainly belongs solely in The Sphere as far as clan assignment goes though.
2.5/5
DOLL$BOXX - "High $pec" E.P. (2017)
This five-song E.P. is tagged as Trance/Power Metal but neither are correct. Power Metal only appears as an influence on one song while the Trance influence is more of a secondary component. I'd go with a dual tagging of Progressive Metal & Alternative Metal for this one with The Infinite being the most appropriate clan. I was expecting cheesy J-pop stuff but received nothing of the sort from this fairly experimental & accomplished effort. The Japanese vocals do shit me a bit but the instrumentation is really good, particularly the funky slapped basslines which are an easy tie to Alternative Metal along with the occasional rapped vocals. I quite like a couple of the tracks but found the experience a touch underwhelming overall if I'm being honest. It's another example of the poor use of the Trance Metal tag as the synths are only sporadically used as an accompaniment & aren't always trancey in nature either. They're often more in line with electronica.
3/5
Blood Stain Child - "Epsilon" (2011)
Ok, so here we have a release that I can comfortably say is genuine Trance Metal although it also contains a fair bit of the Melodic Death Metal influence of Blood Stain Child's roots. Japan seems to be the home of Trance Metal so far & "Epsilon" is a beautifully executed example with a fluffy, accessible & unimposing production job & high precision performances with a great deal of attention to detail. The melodeath riffs are great & draw heavily on At The Gates for inspiration while the vocals take a similar approach to Amaranthe in their combination of sweet, clean female trance vocals & harsh male melodeath shrieks. Half of the tracklisting is really pretty good & at times I found myself wondering if I could get into this sort of stuff but unfortunately there are a few terribly cheesy tracks that indulge themselves much further in the trance than they do the metal & this pulls the album down overall.
I have to say that "Epsilon" has left me a little more confused about what to do with the Trance Metal genre than I was before. On the one hand, it's categorically a Trance Metal record & wouldn't fit very well under any other tag. If I had to pick a clan for it I'd have say that it would fit the most comfortably within the more melodic confines of The Guardians along with Symphonic Metal & Power Metal but the harsh melodeath vocals certainly confuse things a bit. I'd like to keep The Guardians free of harsh vocals as much as possible but I do think that it's that clan's audience that will be most attracted to a record like "Epsilon". I doubt it'll appeal to too many death metal, alternative metal or metalcore fans in all honesty so perhaps so I need to get over myself & accept that harsh vocals can belong in The Guardians if the musical style will appeal to that audience.
3/5
Here's a prime example of the Trance Metal sound:
"Monotheist" is comfortably my favourite Celtic Frost record & sports one of the heaviest production jobs I have ever heard in my life. I genuinely love it. 4.5/5
Semargl - "Satanic Pop Metal" (2012)
A fifith Trance Metal release & another completely different sound with the trance component layered over the top of a Ukranian version of the German Neue Deutsche Härte sound on this occasion & only then on around half of the tracklisting. Former black metal band Semargl really did manage to piss a few elitists off when they opted to go in an unapologetically commercial direction with their fifth full-length album & I can see why because not only is "Satanic Pop Metal" a drastic departure from anything black metal related but it's also a pretty poor example of its type too. Just listen to how dumb tracks like "Tak, Kurwa", "Join In Fire", Drag Me To Hell" & "Labyrinth" are! The growly vocals are one of the major obstacles for me as they're not very good to be honest. The sporadically used female vocals are miles better & I think they missed a trick by not exploiting those further. There's really only a couple of tracks that I found to be genuinely enjoyable & they bookend the tracklisting with closer "Redire" being the clear album highlight in my opinion.
There's little doubt that the album belongs in The Sphere but should it qualify as Trance Metal too? I'm not sure. I mean the prominence of Industrial Metal in Semargl's sound is by far the most senior element with the trance stuff not being universally evident so I'm gonna go with an unconvinced no but I could go either way to tell you the truth. This release also highlights just how stupid the Neue Deutsche Härte tag is because "Satanic Pop Metal" should definitely be listed under the same subgenre as Rammstein & co. but is lumped into the Industrial Metal primary simply because it's not German. *sighs* Locational subgenres shit me.
2.5/5
And finally, my Top Ten Metal Release of 1981 list:
01. Motorhead – “No Sleep Till Hammersmith”
02. Iron Maiden – “Maiden Japan” E.P.
03. Black Sabbath – “Mob Rules”
04. Krokus – “Hardware”
05. Def Leppard – “High ‘n’ Dry”
06. Ozzy Osbourne – “Diary of a Madman”
07. Motorhead & Girlschool – “St Valentines Day Massacre” E.P.
08. Venom – “Welcome To Hell”
09. Iron Maiden – “Killers”
10. Tygers of Pan Tang – “Spellbound”
And my Top Ten Metal Releases of 1980 list:
01. Diamond Head – “Lightning To The Nations”
02. Motorhead – “Ace of Spades”
03. Saxon – “Strong Arm of the Law”
04. Motorhead – “The Golden Years: Live” E.P.
05. Black Sabbath – “Heaven & Hell”
06. Judas Priest – “British Steel”
07. Witchfynde – “Give ‘Em Hell”
08. Iron Maiden – “Iron Maiden”
09. Samson – “Head On”
10. Trust – “Repression”