Daniel's Forum Replies

OK, so I've now gone through thirteen of the most popular Southern Metal tagged bands/releases over the last two weeks which has been an interesting & enlightening experience. I now feel that I'm in a really good position to be able to answer the questions I was asking myself at the start of the experiment & make an informed decision of how (or whether) we handle the Southern metal genre. Here are my thoughts:

1. Is Southern Metal really a thing? Yes but it's not that straight forward. If you take the RYM definition word for word then it needs to be stoner/sludge based & the two major exponents in Down & Corrosion of Conformity are good examples of that. However the tag also seems to be used to draw together bands that have nothing whatsoever to do with stoner/sludge, instead using disparate genres like heavy metal, alternative metal & metalcore as the basis of their sounds. We even get bands being tagged with it who have such a minor Southern slant to their sound that it's hardly worth mentioning & also some that are lumped into it purely for locational or image reasons. My honest opinion is that the genre was originally derived to describe COC's sound on "Deliverance" but has been consistently blown way out proportion & used in ways that the author never intended since that time.

2. Does it have it's own consistently identifiable sound that differentiates it from other subgenres or is it more of a descriptor to throw on top of another subgenre?  Even though there are a few examples of a defined sound, Southern Metal is more of a descriptor in all honesty. There's no consistency in the way these releases sound & extremely few use that true Southern metal sound for more than a couple of tracks with the rest of the tracklistings residing within your more traditional space.

3. Are there releases that are deserving of a sole Southern Metal genre tag? (i.e. unaccompanied by other primary genres) The only one I found that fits this criteria is Corrosion of Conformity's "Deliverance" but it could just as easily sit under Stoner Metal & no one would give it a second thought as their particular brand of Southern Metal is built off a Stoner Metal backbone.

4. Is Southern Metal really a subgenre of a pre-existing genre? If I focused my answer purely on the sound that the term was originally penned to describe then Southern Metal would have to be a subgenre of Stoner Metal (if it existed at all) but there's too many discrepancies in the way it's used to tie it to the Stoner genre with any confidence.

5. Does Southern Metal belong in The Fallen as it's description would lead us to believe? If you isolate the Down/Corrosion of Conformity sound then that certainly sits within The Fallen but those two were the only legitimate Southern Metal releases I identified where that was the case with a wide array of alternate clans being preferable for the other few releases I highlighted. Therefore the answer has to be no.

6. Are there releases that belong to the Southern Metal genre that DON'T sit comfortably under The Fallen? Yes, definitely. Take the Rebel Meets Rebel, Maylene & the Sons of Disaster & Hank III releases as prime examples.

7. If so, how might we handle them in a way that makes sense from an holistic point of view? We simply couldn't. We'd have to decide that only releases associated with The Fallen subgenres could be labelled as Southern Metal which defeats the purpose.

Overall result: I don't think Southern Metal is a well defined enough genre to warrant inclusion as a Metal Academy genre/subgenre. Most releases only include the influence on a few tracks & some don't have any reference to Southern Rock at all. As far as I can see it's better of being a descriptor like "Technical", "Neoclassical", "Melodic" or "Symphonic". For that reason Ben & I have decided not to add Southern Metal to our database for the time being. If anyone feels strongly that this is the wrong decision then please feel free to reach out because we're a democrasy rather than a dictatorship here at the Academy.

For the record, here's where I think each of the thirteen releases should sit:

1. Down - "Down II: A Bustle In Your Hedgerow..." (2002) : Should sit in The Fallen under Stoner Metal.

2, Corrosion of Conformity - "Deliverance" (1994) : Should sit in The Fallen under Stoner Metal.

3. Black Label Society - "Mafia" (2005) : Should sit in The Guardians under Heavy Metal.

4. Pride & Glory - "Pride & Glory" (1994) : Should sit under Non-Metal.

5. Rebel Meets Rebel - "Rebel Meets Rebel" (2006) : Should sit in The Guardians under Heavy Metal.

6. He Is Legend - "Suck Out The Poison" (2006) : Should sit in The Revolution under Melodic Metalcore.

7. Alabama Thunderpussy - "Open Fire" (2007) : Should sit under both The Fallen & The Guardians under Stoner Metal & Heavy Metal respectively.

8. Maylene & the Sons of Disaster - "Maylene & the Sons of Disaster" (2005) : Should sit in The Revolution under Metalcore.

9. Glorior Belli - "Meet Us At The Southern Sign" (2009) : Should sit in The North under Black Metal.

10. Fireball Ministry - "Their Rock Is Not Our Rock" (2005) : Should sit in The Fallen under Stoner Metal.

11. Acid King/The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight - "Free.../The Father, The Son & The Holy Smoke" split album (2001) : Should sit in The Fallen under Stoner Metal.

12. Floodgate - "Penalty" (1996) : Should sit in The Fallen & The Gateway under Stoner metal & Alternative Metal respectively.

13. Hank III - "Hillbilly Joker" (2011) : Should sit in The Gateway under Alternative Metal.

Hank III - "Hillbilly Joker" (2011)

If there was one release I was sure I would find Southern Metal on it was this one from legendary outlaw country star Hank Williams, III  (who is also a member of Phil Anselmo side projects Arson Asylum & Superjoint Ritual just quietly). Hank's apparently recorded several metal-related releases over the years but a few of them (including this one) were released without his permission following his sudden exodus from Curb Records. What we get with "Hillbilly Joker" is a mixture of Cowpunk (a country/punk hybrid) & Alternative Metal with a strong Southern theme throughout. I wouldn't say there's anything remotely like the Stoner Metal-dominated branch of Southern Metal I highlighted earlier in this little experiment included here but it's very hard to think of a world that has Southern Metal as a genre tag but doesn't have this record sitting underneath it because the redneck element is just so (intentionally) extreme. About 60% of the tracklisting is metal-based & if you want to know what to expect then I'd suggest that you imagine a psychotic Mike Patton/Faith No More alternative metal sound crossed with an even more drug-fucked Ministry. There's plenty of energy (presumably due to the copious amounts of speed being taken by the musicians if the lyrics are even remotely true) & some of the material is really pretty fucking heavy too, especially highlight tracks like "Pistol Packin'" & "I'm Drunk Again". Sure, there are a few duds on offer (Hint: they all fall into the Cowpunk space unsurprisingly) but I actually quite enjoyed the experience for something different. Hank certainly has his own sound & I can't say I've heard anything quite like him to be honest.

3.5/5

Try this one on for a dose of Southern Metal (minus the stoner/sludge angle):

New Orleans alternative/stoner metal featuring Exhorder/Alabama Thunderpussy/Trouble front man Kyle Thomas.

New Orleans stoner metal featuring Exhorder/Alabama Thunderpussy/Trouble front man Kyle Thomas.

Floodgate - "Penalty" (1996)

This sole album from New Orleans four-piece Floodgate sees Exhorder/Alabama Thunderpussy/Trouble frontman Kyle Thomas leading us on an excursion that travels directly along the boundary that separates Stoner Metal & Alternative Metal. In fact, it sounds very much like Down meets Alice In Chains/Soundgarden which is a pretty appealing reference point on paper.  I'd even go so far as to say that the psychedelic acoustic number "Whole" is a combination of Black Sabbath's "Planet Caravan" & Nirvana's "Something In The Way" which can't be a bad thing now, can it? The reality though is that "Penalty" is a touch inconsistent with a couple of flatter tracks included across the eleven songs but Thomas' masculine, powerful tone gives the highlight tracks the clout they need to stick in your brain. I do prefer the more grungy material to the groovier stoner riffs but that's just personal preference. As far as Southern Metal goes, there's one clear example in "Till My Soil" (which reminds me very much Corrosion of Conformity's "Albatross" & is the clear weak point of the album for me personally which is once again down to taste) but that's about it really. I can only think the associations with the genre are purely locational. Anyway... "Penalty" is worth a few spins for fans of both stoner & the more metal side of grunge.

3.5/5

This is what it sounds like when Floodgate DO put their Southern Metal pants on:

Kanye West - "Late Registration" (2005)

Quite enjoyed Kanye's sophomore album for a bit of cheeky & fairly accessible hip hop while doing work in the back yard this morning. He was certainly a story-teller. What happened to the dude in recent years?!

I forgot to post this on the thread when I reviewed it recently, so here it is now:

Carnage - Dark Recollections (1990)

OK, surprise, surprise Carnage are another death metal band whose existence I was completely oblivious to. It appears these Swedes had quite a short run, the band being formed by several members of Dismember who were joined by Michael Amott, future Arch Enemy mainman, originally playing grindcore. By the time of the release of their sole full-length, Dark Recollections, in March of 1990, they had lost their grindcore beginnings and produced an album of pretty lethal, out-and-out death metal. Now I have insufficient knowledge of the minutiae of death metal as to the differences between, say, the Floridian scene and the burgeoning Swedish scene (if someone could enlighten me then please do), but I can only assume this played a significant part in the latter (along with Entombed's imminent Left Hand Path debut album).

I love the guitar tone here, it's down and dirty enough but still has plenty of bite and the bass fortifies the sound as it seems to be prominently placed in the mix. Fred Estby's drum work, whilst being quite straightforward, is exceedingly effective and vocalist Matti Kärki has a great line in earnest bellowing. I have seen a number of complaints that this is merely generic death metal. Well, I disagree. There are some really nice riffs here and the lead work is rough but energetic, but more importantly, how can a death metal album that is one of the early examples, particularly of the Swedish scene, be generic? Surely the later albums these commentators are basing this judgement on are the generic ones.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that I am much better disposed to early death metal than the later, more technical or dissonant stuff that garners so much praise and this is a great example of youthful exuberance (the musicians were all in their teens still) made manifest. Sure it doesn't have the really memorable tracks of an Altars of Madness or any of the other releases from the big noises in the death metal scene of the time, but it does brutalise and batter with a relentless onslaught of dark and violent metal. And there is nothing at all wrong with that.
4/5

I always really enjoyed this one. It's a very strong example of its type in my opinion.

Death - Spiritual Healing (1990)

Spiritual Healing is one of the two Death albums I was still yet to listen to prior to this (the other being The Sound of Perseverance). There is a certain degree of progression throughout all of the Death discography and here Chuck Schuldiner decides (for Death were a band in name only and were essentially Chuck and a band of hired guns, all band decisions taken by he alone) on a stylistic departure from the first two albums. Gone are the cartoonish, horror-themed lyrics and cover art of SBG and Leprosy and in comes actual horrors from the real world - drug addiction, mental health issues, even abortion and the death penalty all come in for scrutiny from Chuck's lyrical examination. This lyrical evolution being just one of several obvious indicators of his increasing maturity as a songwriter and his refusal to keep retreading the same ground.

Death had pretty much established and refined the definition of death metal with their first two classics, but it is clear that Chuck wanted more. He had ditched guitarist Rick Rozz because he wasn't willing or able to go along with that ride and brought in the technically more impressive Hallows Eve guitarist James Murphy. The songs on Spiritual Healing have a greater level of complexity than on the first two albums, not exactly progressive, but certainly not mere simplistic head-banging material, most consisting of multiple riffs, tempo changes and guitar solos.

The overall sound is much clearer than previously and the guitar tone is great with a chunkiness that allows the stellar riffs to hammer home but is also precise and clean allowing James Murphy's shredding solos to absolutely slay. His soloing is arguably the most enervating and melodic in all of death metal up to this point, sounding more influenced by classic heavy metal guitarists than the Slayer duo of Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King that most death metal guitarists of the time referenced. Chuck's vocals are great and sound better than ever here, his earnest gruffness exemplifying the best of death metal singing at the time. Terry Butler turns in a solid performance on bass and Bill Andrews comes in for his usual technical kicking by those who know better than I, but Spiritual Healing is all about those riffs and solos, the functional rhythm section merely providing a base.

I have pointed out recently that there were a few albums released around this time that were really solid workouts but which didn't live long in my memory after they had finished (Massacra and Carnage to name a couple) but that is an accusation that certainly can't be levelled at Death, the opener Living Monstrosity, the title track and my personal favourite, the convoluted Low Life with it's insane solos, all had enough personality to keep them running through my mind long into the night! All in all I loved this album and it is yet another key to the lock that was my previous misunderstanding of how amazing Death were as a legendary metal outfit and the influence that Chuch Schuldiner had on the world of death metal. In fact I find it almost impossible to reconcile where I now stand with my previously held beliefs about Death.

4.5/5

This was my review of "Spiritual Healing" from many years ago:

In 1988 Chuck Schuldiner had turned the underground metal scene on its ear with Death’s second album “Leprosy”. It had really raised the bar as far as extremity was concerned but had also combined it with some excellent song-writing & memorable hooks. Extreme metal fans lapped it up it & it ended up going down as one of the defining death metal records in history. When the release of Death’s third album was announced most people were expecting an even more brutal assault on their senses. It marked the first Death release since my conversion to death metal so I had more than a casual interest in it.

“Spiritual Healing” saw Chuck make a number of conscious changes to his tried & tested formula. Firstly he decided to tone down the brutality a touch & incorporated some more progressive ideas into his song-writing. Listening back now it doesn’t sound like anything major but at the time it was regarded as a fairly adventurous approach. Chuck brought in hired gun guitar shredder James Murphy to add some class to the solos & Terry Butler got the opportunity to contribute on bass guitar for the first time. There was also a notable change in Chuck’s lyrical direction. This time he was tackling real life issues like drugs & abortion instead of the standard death metal themes of zombies, murder & general nastiness. These changes contributed to a more mature & professional sounding Death; one that was obviously looking to continue leading the pack rather coasting on past successes. Not everyone was positive about Death’s new direction but personally I thought it opened up a world of new possibilities & was intrigued.

Upon first listen it’s immediately obvious that this was not going to be “Leprosy II”. The clean & powerful production is an obvious step up from the raw ugliness of the past & everything sounds quite precise. There are some more adventurous timings on offer than we’d heard from a death metal band to that time but I wouldn’t say it’s anything over the top by today’s standards. In fact the drumming is quite simple throughout the album & that has always annoyed me a little. Bill Andrews drumming during the fast sections is simply not brutal or interesting enough for my liking & I feel that Chuck would have been much better served by recruiting someone more capable. Terry Butler puts in a solid performance on bass although I must say that I prefer the more progressive & challenging bass lines that are a feature of all subsequent Death releases.

On the more positive side of things James Murphy’s guitar solos are quite special & add an entirely new element to the band; one that would be a constant for the band even after his departure. Chuck’s riffs are consistently brilliant & I think his vocals sound more powerful & intimidating than ever before. Opening track “Living Monstrosity” is an absolute corker & is my favourite track on the album but the next four are all very solid pieces of death metal. There really aren’t any weak songs but I think the last three are probably a touch lower in quality than the rest of the album so things do just tail off a little in the back end. Most tracks have some cracking riffs that really utilize the production advancements & you are constantly reminded that this is a more mature Death than you’d heard on their first two albums.

"Spiritual Healing" is an often overlooked album in Death's back catalogue due to the classic releases either side of it but if you disregard those & look at it as a singular piece of art then it offers a clinical & fresh take on the death metal concept & a damn fine listening experience. In fact I probably favour it slightly over Death's ground-breaking debut album "Scream Bloody Gore" to be honest. "Spiritual Healing" is generally regarded as a transition album (& that idea is not without merit as 1991’s “Human” would expand & improve on the ideas Chuck presents here) but there is more to this album than that. This is high quality death metal that oozes class.

4/5

Here' my updated Top Ten Stoner Metal Releases of All Time list after Acid King left my jaw on the ground & forced me to drop Electric Wizard's "Witchcult Today":

01. Electric Wizard – “We Live” (2004)

02. Acid King - "Free..." E.P. (2014)

03. High On Fire – “De vermis mysteriis” (2012)

04. Electric Wizard – “Let Us Prey” (2002)

05. Adrift For Days – “The Lunar Maria” (2010)

06. Electric Wizard – “Supercoven” E.P. (1998)

07. Electric Wizard – “Dopethrone” (2000)

08. Boris – “あくまのうた (Akuma no uta)” (2003)

09. Electric Wizard – “Come My Fanatics…” (1997)

10. Elder – “Spires Burn/Release” E.P. (2012)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/135

Crushingly heavy female-fronted doom metal from San Francisco, USA.

Acid King/The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight - "Free.../The Father, The Son & The Holy Smoke" split album (2001)

This one is a split collaboration album from female-fronted San Francisco stoner/doom outfit Acid King (featuring French drummer Guy Pinhas who has also been involved with Fireball Ministry, Goatsnake & The Obsessed) & New Orleans psychedelic Southern rock/metal project The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight (featuring guitarist Jimmy Bower who has played with just about everyone including Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar, Down, Eyehategod & Superjoint Ritual). The two bands sound completely different so the tracklisting doesn't exactly flow from one to the next. I fucking loved the Acid King material which can also be found as an isolated E.P. that was released in 2014. Their sound is super-dense & heavy as fuck with Lori S's vocals sounding very much like Hole front woman Courtney Love at times. When they get their doom on Acid King seriously crush & I'd highly recommend them to fans of Electric Wizard & Sleep. The two tracks from The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight are a very different proposition with "Buzzard Hill (My Backyard)" being a genuine Southern Metal groove-fest & the epic eleven minute closer "Veiled" starting off in Southern/stoner metal territory before veering off into a spectacular drawn-out psychedelic rock excursion of the highest calibre for the last seven minutes which was the highlight of the whole release for me personally. I can't say that The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight's groovy Southern/Stoner Metal stylings do much for me but when they decide to strip things back & get all trippy on me I find myself in a musical Heaven that I rarely encounter.

Overall, I'd suggest that labelling this split release as Southern Metal is disingenuous as there's really only one & a half tracks that fall into that category. It's more accurate to tag it with the overarching Stoner Metal banner with Doom Metal & Southern Metal secondaries in my opinion. I really enjoyed this record though. It's been one of the finds of the month for me, mainly for the Acid King stuff which is some of the best Stoner/Doom I've ever encountered to be honest. I'm gonna go with 4.5/5 for Acid King & 3.5/5 for The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight.

4/5

Here's an example of the Southern Metal sound:

Los Angeles Stoner Metal.

Fireball Ministry - "Their Rock Is Not Our Rock" (2005)

The third full-length from this Los Angeles outfit is a pretty enjoyable if fairly light-weight combination of Stoner Rock & Stoner Metal with the Southern Metal link being way too ambitious for my liking. There is a mild Southerm tinge to Fireball Ministry's sound however it's not in any way any more extreme than your average Stoner artist so I see no reason to highlight it when the band's sound falls so obviously into the more well-known genres. The album starts out pretty well with all of the five tracks on the A side possessing enough catchy hooks to draw me in but things start to go "south" (see what I did there?) a little in the back end with songs like "Two Tears", "Under The Thunder" & "Rising From The Deep" failing to hit the mark due to some flat & lethargic choruses. The use of cheesy halftime cowbell brings things right back into the more accessible rock spectrum on several occasions too. Thankfully closing number "Save The Saved" sees Fireball Ministry finishing with a bang & is the album highlight. The vocals of front man Rev. James A. Rota II alternate between that standard trucker hat-wearing growl & Ozzy Osbourne worship while the wall-of-sound Stoner guitar tone is thick & heavy. Overall it was a fairly intimidating but generally pleasant piece of Stoner Rock/Metal that won't change your life but won't see you reaching for the dial either. It's the type of record that lives & dies on it's vocal hooks so each song will either stick or it won't. Once again though... I don't see the need for the Southern Metal tag.

3.5/5

Massacra - Final Holocaust (1990)

Massacra's debut marks the point at which the French throw their hat into the death metal ring and try to stand toe-to-toe with the big boys. Final Holocaust epitomises that death/thrash crossover sound that was a hallmark of the late-eighties' transition from brutal thrash to death metal and is an aggressive and relentless blast through ten tracks of vicious and venomous death metal that still maintains a significant proportion of thrash sensibilities, the Teutonic influence of Kreator being particularly apparent I would suggest. There are some cool riffs and solos with energy aplenty to be found within the ten tracks, but unfortunately I don't find that much of the album "sticks" with me. Don't get me wrong, I find Final Holocaust to be a really good blast while it's on, but by the time you get halfway through most of the tracks start to blur one into another and the second it stops I have trouble recalling any of the songs. I really don't want to be too critical because I have heard far worse albums, but this lack of memorability is a significant stumbling block. Would I put it on in preference to Kreator, Slayer, Morbid Angel or Death? No of course I wouldn't, but I wouldn't turn it off and replace it with something else if it was already on either because there is plenty here that I enjoyed. Not every album can be earth-shattering or life-changing, but Massacra do what they do extremely well and deserve some praise for what is a consistent and energetic release. I have been getting more from it the more spins it receives, yet I still struggle to recall many of the tracks later, so maybe it's just me.

3.5/5

I picked this one up through tape trading back in the day & really enjoyed it. It's been eons since I've heard it but I'm feeling like it might have to be pulled out again.

And so to the first big-hitter of 1990:

Atheist - Piece of Time (1990)

I'm not the biggest champion of technical death metal to say the least and Piece of Time is an album I have heard before, without it really making much impression on me. So I went into it this time with a determination to get to the bottom of why it is so well-received and simultaneously to try to get something out of tech-death that has eluded me in the main up to this point. The first thing that leaps out at me is that this is quite obviously a unique record for early 1990 and, to use a much-abused cliche which is actually true on this occasion, it genuinely sounds ahead of it's time - maybe it should have been entitled Piece Out of Time! OK, so I don't know what I was thinking when I originally rated this as a 3/5 because I got far more out of it this time around than that score suggests, so it is definitely long overdue for a reappraisal.

Firstly, this is not that overtly technical as I have come to understand the term. I associate the phrase "technical" metal, be it thrash or death metal, with unlistenable time changes and excessive guitar wankery, bass lines bursting in and out seemingly at random and a drummer who desperarely seems to be trying to make up for the fact that he is the drummer! In other words a general lack of the things that originally drew me to metal music - riffs that will blow your bollocks off at fifty yards. For me "technical" metal (as opposed to progressive metal) is more for students of music theory and those who understand what the musicians are about - which I can assure you does not include me - rather than a visceral, emotional experience which is much more what I look for in music. So either I have completely misrepresented tech-death in my own mind or this isn't as technical as I thought it was because this has got some awesome riffing and the technical work is nothing like as jarring as I have found it elsewhere, being more interesting than annoying to my more literal way of thinking.

Basically, on Piece of Time, Atheist have taken the nascent death metal genre as a foundation and recast it with a completely different approach from the full-on brutalisation of Morbid Angel, Autopsy or Obituary, producing the tightest-sounding death metal album released up to this point. The technical, jazzy showcasing does definitely rear it's head at many points, but it never seems to be merely for it's own sake and it never disrupts the flow of the tracks which is where I think many tech bands go wrong when they sacrifice the songs upon the altar of technicality. Anyway, I have harped on about the technical nature of Piece of Time for long enough now - what we really have here is a super-energetic death metal album that is full of life and is a powerful representation of what can be achieved when a band take a different approach to what is becoming established as the norm in any given genre without sacrificing what has made that genre so appealing in the first place. The guitar work is exemplary, the riffs and leads are plenty aggressive as are the vocals spat out by Kelly Shaefer whose delivery is especially venomous-sounding. The drums and bass are given more freedom than usual up to this point, but this certainly doesn't undermine their ability to propel the tracks forwards, rather they enhance the lead work with interesting contributions of their own.

In conclusion, I have got to say that I was originally very, very wrong about Piece of Time and, having stripped away the prejudices the "technical" tag produce in me, can now see it for the ground-breaking and original piece of work that it really was and found myself enjoying it immensely. Maybe I have mellowed over the intervening years and have become more accepting of diverse elements in metal music and if that is the reason why this sounds so awesome then I am extremely glad. I'm really looking forward to reviewing Unquestionable Presence now if that is supposed to be even better!

4.5/5

Here are my thoughts on "Piece Of Time":

Florida tech death/thrash legends Atheist's 1990 debut album "Piece Of Time" made a significant impact on me & was high on my rotation list at the time but as soon as their follow-up "Unquestionable Presence" was released I kinda forgot about it as the band's sophomore effort was a clear step up from the debut & an undeniable classic. It's been interesting to rediscover the point that Atheist were at in their creative & artistic journey with "Piece Of Time" this week as it's generally regarded as somewhat of a classic too.

The opening title track is an absolute belter & sounds exactly like the material from "Unquestionable Presence" which is a sure-fire indication that it was the most recently composed track included on the album. The other material sees them varying the amount of traditional thrash metal & more progressive elements & I'm willing to bet that I could piece together the exact order that the tracks were written because you can easily hear the band developing their sound over the course of the nine songs. For that reason, I've never found "Piece Of Time" to be quite the finished product however it undeniably represents a huge step up in ambition for the extreme metal movement. No one had attempted anything like this before & the more atmospheric & progressive parts of the album were a particular revelation that would be expanded upon significantly on later releases. Death, Cynic & Pestilence can all be found to be trying very similar things in the years that followed too & I don't think that's a coincidence.

The level of musicianship on display here is absolutely outstanding, particularly the shredding lead guitar work & Roger Patterson's super-interesting bass lines which take an up-front position in the mix. Kelly Shaefer's vocal delivery has never really struck me as being particularly "death metal" though & sounds more like a raspier thrash front man like Sadus' front man Darren Travis than it does Chuck Schuldiner. I probably would have preferred a little more extremity there to be honest but then again... that may have changed the feel of the album completely so it may be for the best.

Overall, "Piece Of Time" is a ground-breaking & highly influential debut that offers consistent quality & strong hints at the potential that was to be fulfilled in the coming years.

For fans of 90's Death, early Cynic & the more technical Pestilence albums.

4/5

It's Entombed's "Clandestine" for me personally. Sonny 

Elite French black metal.

Glorior Belli - "Meet Us At The Southern Sign" (2009)

I was really looking forward to revisiting "Meet Us At The Southern Sign" as I've been a long-time fan of this record but don't recall ever thinking it was worthy of another tag outside of your standard Black Metal one. After giving it a few listens, I can't say that my feelings have changed all that much either. Sure, there's a noticeable Americana feel to a few tracks due to the use of string bends as a part of the riff structures & a few short & rootsy interludes but there's no way that Glorior Belli ever step all that far outside the scope of the modern Black Metal model. To say that this album qualifies as Southern Metal is simply not true & it would sound completely out of place if it was to be placed in The Fallen. I mean there's absolutely no hint at a Stoner Metal or Sludge Metal sound here & I wouldn't even say that the influences I mentioned earlier have anything to do with Southern Rock either so it seems completely misguided in my opinion. In saying that though, this is a fantastic fucking Black Metal record with wonderfully grim vocals & classy compositional work. The atmosphere is top notch, the production job is appropriate & the incorporation of the outside influences I mentioned earlier is done so fluently that there's no reason to reach too far outside of the Black Metal spectrum for additional genre tags. The only complaint I have is around the execution of the blast beats which isn't exactly at the elite level but this is by far the best release I've encountered in this month's Southern Metal experiment.

4.5/5

Southern metalcore from Alabama, USA.

Maylene & the Sons of Disaster - "Maylene & the Sons of Disaster" (2005)

Given that this debut album is tagged as both Metalcore & Southern Metal on RYM, I was pretty skeptical about its chances of being a genuine Southern Metal release & was more or less expecting a similar outcome to the one I got with the He Is Legend record. But you know what? Those tags are actually very accurate because this is a pretty unique sounding release. The basis of their sound is certainly Metalcore but there are stoner metal riffs included on most tracks as well as a clear Southern feel to the screamed vocals & slide guitar parts that are layered over the top at times. Unfortunately all of that doesn't make the album appeal to me any more though. The metalcore breakdowns are lacking in ambition while the Stoner riffs are a bit too groovy for my taste too. I do really enjoy the harsh vocals & they're probably the best thing about the record but I could certainly have done without the poppy clean vocal sections which remind me of commercial pop punk. Interestingly the clear highlight of the album is the stunning Southern Rock closer "Just Wanted to Make Mother Proud" which was an unexpected yet quite wonderful way to end the tracklisting. Overall though? Nup, this one's not for me even though it undoubtedly offers a fresh & original sound & does fit the mold for a Southern Metal release. 

3/5

The opening track from Alabama Thunderpussy's 2006 album "Open Fire" which kinda straddles both stoner metal & heavy metal simultaneously.

A crunchy heavy metal beast from Virginia-based stoner/heavy metallers Alabama Thunderpussy.

A Slayer-inspired thrasher from Virginia-based stoner/heavy metallers Alabama Thunderpussy featuring Exhorder front man Kyle Thomas behind the microphone.

Alabama Thunderpussy - "Open Fire" (2007)

I was really expecting this one to be a no-brainer when it came to Southern Metal qualification however it ended up being anything but. You see, while "Open Fire" might possess an undeniable stoner metal attitude, there's really no sign of the required Southern Rock influence here. In fact, the music compiled within "Open Fire" is a more of a combination of your more traditional heavy metal riffs & song structures with a stoner metal production job & aesthetic. You definitely get your fair share of stoner groove but those moments are comfortably out-weighed by fast-paced Judas Priest riffage, Saxon-esque hard rock crunch & Iron Maiden style guitar harmonies. I honestly think that the Southern Metal tag is only being associated with this record because Alabama Thunderpussy hail from Virginia. The only other thing I can think of would be if people are hearing the guitar harmonies & thinking they're influenced by someone like Lynard Skynard instead of Iron Maiden who would appear to be the clear source of inspiration to an old Maiden tragic like myself. It's actually a really consistent album though. The band are tight as fuck & have a wonderful hard rock guitar crunch. Exhorder front man Kyle Thomas is real highlight & sounds so much like WASP singer Blackie Lawless with his super-masculine & totally bad-ass delivery. The thrashing title track even draws upon classic Slayer in a similar way to High On Fire's more intense moments which can't be a bad thing either. Unfortunately "Open Fire" just needs a few genuine highlight tracks to command future revisits but it's a solid little stoner/heavy metal record nonetheless. It's just not a genuine Southern Metal release in my opinion.

3.5/5

Some rip-roaring metalcore from North Carolina, USA.

He Is Legend - "Suck Out The Poison" (2006)

OK, so who the fuck decided to cause my whole experiment to implode by including this particular record under the Southern Metal banner then?? It's tagged with dual genres on RYM under Hard Rock (17-0) & Southern Metal (6-0) yet I'll be fucked if it's anything like either of those. This is a Melodic Metalcore record with Post-Hardcore & Alternative Metal influences. There are a few riffs that would be similar to Stoner Metal if they had a more appropriate guitar tone as well as one or two Southern Rock inspired guitar licks but so the fuck what?? To claim the entire record as being Southern Metal on that basis is absolutely absurd & I get the distinct feeling that the tagging is based more around He Is Legend's home of residence being North Carolina than it does anything to do with sound or style. And don't even get me started on Hard Rock. There's not a second of it on here. "Suck Out The Poison" is not a bad record as far as Melodic Metalcore goes to be fair. It's just a touch inconsistent.

3.5/5

Try this Southern Metal disaster on for size too. Simply awful stuff from three quarters of Pantera!

Rebel Meets Rebel - "Rebel Meets Rebel" (2006)

Ok, so here we have another release that throws a major spanner in my previous position on the whole Southern metal thing & it comes in the form of a one-off collaboration album between Dimebag Darrel, Rex Brown & Vinny Paul from Pantera & old country singer David Allan Coe (who was in his 60's when the record was recorded). The album was always intended on being something that Dimebag described as a "country metal" record & that might not be all that far off the truth but it was also a pretty crap idea if the outcome is anything to go by & I don't think it would have been spared from being crucified if not for Dimebag's tragic death (in fact it may not have been released at all if not for the obvious cash-in factor). You see, the two elements really aren't very well combined here & Coe sounds positively awful at times. In fact, I often found myself reaching for comparisons with the ill-fated Metallica & Lou Reed collaboration which can't be a good thing now, can it? You'll easily be able to pick out a few classic Pantera groove metal riffs spread across the tracklisting along along with a significant amount of traditional heavy metal, a couple of hard rock numbers & some bits & piece of blues rock, Southern rock, speed metal & country but don't think you'll miss the Southern Metal component with this album as it's standing out front for all to see. It's just that it hasn't got the slightest bit to do with stoner or sludge metal which pretty much pooh-poohs my thoughts on Southern Metal being a subgenre of Stoner Metal in the Metal Academy database as this release doesn't belong anywhere near The Fallen. It should probably be in The Guardians & there's also an argument for it being in The Pit although I don't think it's consistently thrashy enough for that personally. Interestingly I find the three country tracks to be by far the best material on display which is definitely an indication of just how mismatched the vocals are with the metal instrumentation & I ultimately found "Rebel Meets Rebel" to be a chore to sit through.

Here are my genre-taggings:

01. Nothin' to Lose                           Speed Metal

02. Rebel Meets Rebel                     Southern/Heavy Metal

03. Cowboys Do More Dope           Southern/Groove metal

04. Panfilo                                          Flamenco/Country

05. Heart Worn Highway                  Southern/Heavy Metal

06. One Nite Stands                          Blues Rock/Hard Rock

07. Arizona Rivers                             Psychedelic Country

08. Get Outta My Life                       Southern/Groove Metal

09. Cherokee Cry                               Hard/Southern Rock

10. Time                                             Southern/Heavy Metal

11. No Compromise                         Southern/Groove Metal

12. N.Y.C. Streets                              Country Rock

2.5/5

I'd wager that some of the lesser known bands achieve a purer southern metal sound, but even those are few and far between. I think the Polish band Death Denied fit the bill, but they're obviously not something to base your decision on.

Thanks for the tip. I'll add them to the list.

Pride & Glory - "Pride & Glory" (1994)

Zakk Wylde's one-off side-project with Black Label Society bass player James LoMenzo & future Whitesnake/Foreigner drummer Brain Tichy really does nothing to clear things up for me. It's obviously the most Southern inspired release of the four so far however it's also not a metal record with none of the fourteen individual tracks qualifying for metal status in my opinion. Instead it sits somewhere between Hard Rock & Southern Rock with far too much blues in their sound for the few heavier tracks to breach the confines of Hard Rock. There are definitely a few metal riffs thrown in here & there but every time that happens the songs are brought back into more commercial territory by some classic Hard Rock choruses or vocal hooks. In saying that though, I definitely prefer "Pride & Glory" to the Black Label Society record & would suggest that it just shaves the Corrosion of Conformity one too. Zakk's voice sounds great in this bluesier Southern style & often reminds me of my all-time favourite singer in Soundgarden's Chris Cornell. Check out the stunning album highlight that is Piano Rock ballad "Fadin' Away" for example with it's wonderful vocal harmonies & sentimental string arrangements. The album gets off to a very strong start with the A side being very impressive indeed. Unfortunately, much like a couple of the other releases I've explored during this expose so far, the B side contains a few light-weight & disposable Country & Southern Rock songs to ensure that I wouldn't be tempted to reach for my higher scores. Still... there's a lot of class in the majority of "Pride & Glory" so I can see why it's generally fairly highly regarded. If we were to include it on the Academy database I'd be recommending that it sits under Non-Metal though so it hasn't really helped me much in this process. In fact, I'm starting to wonder whether the Southern Metal tag was developed to cover the sound of a couple of bands (Down & Corrosion of Conformity) but was then completely misused by the market to describe anything that had even the slightest connection with a bluesier Southern sound instead of what it was originally intended to describe. There's also a strong chance that people have used it more from a locational point of view than anything musical. Hopefully I can come to an answer on that over the next week & a half.

Here's how I genre-tagged it:

01. Losin' Your Mind                   Southern/Hard Rock

02. Horse Called War                  Hard Rock

03. Shine On                                 Southern/Hard Rock

04. Lovin' Woman                        Southern Rock

05. Harvester of Pain                  Southern/Hard Rock

06. The Chosen One                    Hard Rock

07. Sweet Jesus                           Southern Rock

08. Troubled Wine                        Southern/Hard Rock

09. Machine Gun Man                 Southern Rock

10. Cry Me a River                        Country

11. Toe'n the Line                         Hard Rock

12. Found a Friend                       Blues Rock

13. Fadin' Away                             Piano Rock

14. Hate Your Guts                       Country

3.5/5

I bought "Icon" upon release & was initially underwhelmed too as I had a preconceived expectation of what I was going to hear & what I got certainly wasn't that. But after a couple of repeat listens I was able to accept the band's new direction & found the song-writing to be the strongest of their career. For the record, Anathema are my pick of the Peaceville Three because I find their music to be much more complex & sophisticated than the other two as well being the most consistently capable of pulling on my heart-strings. I'm not just talking about their early works either. They've had a wonderful career with a slew of fantastic releases spread right across their discography. My Dying Bride's early work was equal to anything they've done however they've tended to repeat themselves & haven't been as consistent since their early-to-mid 90's peak in my opinion. 

What a waste of space this cheesy Country Rock bonus track is from Zakk Wylde-fronted Los Angeles Heavy Metal outfit Black Label Society's 2005 "Mafia" album.

I think some of you thrashers might enjoy this chunky Groove Metal number from Zakk Wylde-fronted Los Angeles Heavy Metal outfit Black Label Society.

Love love love this monster heavy metal anthem from Zakk Wylde-fronted Los Angeles Heavy Metal outfit Black Label Society.

Black Label Society - "Mafia" (2005)

Now this brings me to the final member of the big three Southern Metal bands in the Zakk Wylde-fronted Black Label Society, a band that I've had very limited exposure to over the years with the exception of seeing them perform live at Soundwave 2012 in Sydney which was essentially one long (admittedly very impressive) super-shredding Zakk guitar solo. I came in very interested to check out BLS's sound given that they are the first artist in the experiment that doesn't also command additional The Fallen primary genre-tags along with the Southern Metal one so I wanted to see whether they'd cause us any problems & I have to say that "Mafia" (Black Label Society's most well-known release) certainly throws a cat amongst the pigeons in that regard. You see, "Mafia" wasn't at all what I expected, at least not in relation to this deep-dive exercise. There is absolutely none of the Southern Metal sound I've previously identified on the two Down & Corrosion of Conformity albums here. In fact, I'll be fucked if I can hear any Southern Rock influence on this album whatsoever! It's pretty much a traditional Heavy Metal record with a few Groove Metal & Hard Rock moments thrown in here & there. The only reason I can see for the link to Southern Metal is the inclusion of a few crappy Country tracks which don't really have much to do with my understanding of Southern Rock. If the Southern Metal sound is supposedly linked to Stoner Metal & Sludge Metal then there's no sign of either of those genres here. You do often see Southern Metal being linked to Groove Metal on some online sites but this begs the question as to whether the whole Southern Metal tag is being incorrectly used as more of a tool for grouping bands that come from a particular region. In saying that though, Black Label Society are from Los Angeles & Zakk is from New Jersey so I'd suggest that it's more about his image than anything else.

So let's actually take a deeper look at the music that actually IS here then, shall we? Most of the material isn't too far removed from the traditional Heavy Metal of Zakk's work with Ozzy Osbourne & highlights his chunky, super-charged metal riffs & signature artificial harmonic squeals. His lead work is obviously the highlight of the album but that was always going to be the case. His vocals are interesting as he sounds distinctly like he's trying to combine Guns 'n' Roses' Axl Rose & Alice In Chains' "Layne Stayley, complete with AIC vocal harmonies. In fact, there's a noticeable AIC influence across the album even though I wouldn't say that any of the tracks fall into the Grunge/Alternative Metal bucket. There are a couple of tracks that champion more of a Pantera/Hellyeah style Groove Metal riff structure too & the guitar tone in general leans more towards that genre than it does to the classic Heavy Metal one. The three ballads all fall into a poppy Country Rock space that's really very cheesy & ending the album with two of those was clearly a very poor idea (even if the God-awful final track is labelled as a bonus track I tend to think that it needs to be regarded as an album track given that the vast majority of versions of the album include it). In fact, the record really does peter out after a very promising start.

When I look at "Mafia" overall I can see that about a third of the fifteen tracks really float my boat with their thick, bottom-heavy, riff-based metal assault, particularly the clear album highlight in Heavy Metal monster "Death March". Another third is comprised of some pretty decent & respectable metal tunes that probably don't possess the hooks to dig their teeth in too far. And then the last third is comprised of material that I regard as obvious filler, most of which could easily have been left off the album given it's length. When looked at holistically it's the weakest of the three Southern Metal releases we've looked at so far but not by a significant margin. It's still a good listen even if it has fuck-all to do with Southern Metal as far as I can see. Perhaps this album is an anomaly in the BLS back-catalogue in that respect & the others are far more closely aligned with the Southern Rock influence I was expecting? I dunno but it certainly makes the rest of this experiment pretty interesting given that "Mafia" definitely doesn't belong in The Fallen.

Here's how I genre-tagged the individual tracks:

01. Fire It Up                                Heavy Metal

02. What's in You                        Groove Metal

03. Suicide Messiah                   Heavy Metal

04. Forever Down                        Heavy Metal

05. In This River                           Country

06. You Must Be Blind                Heavy Metal

07. Death March                          Heavy Metal

08. Dr. Octavia                              Hard Rock

09. Say What You Will                 Heavy Metal

10. Too Tough to Die                   Heavy Metal

11. Electric Hellfire                      Hard Rock

12. Spread Your Wing                 Heavy Metal

13. Been a Long Time                 Groove Metal

14. Dirt on the Grave                   Country Rock

15. I Never Dreamed                   Country Rock

3.5/5

I've never quite seen the appeal in "Lost Paradise" to be honest. It always sounded a little bit flat to me. It's admittedly been many years since I heard it though & even "Gothic" didn't blow me away like it did most other doom/death fans. Paradise Lost were always trailing the other two members of the Peaceville Three by a fair margin for me personally. They didn't really capture me until they dropped their doom/death sound altogether on "Icon" & "Draconian Times".

North Carolina Southern Metal champions Corrosion of Conformity put their doomy Alice In Chains hats.

Corrosion of Conformity - "Deliverance" (1994)

I was fairly well versed in Corrosion of Conformity's earlier material before going into their influential fourth album "Deliverance" which is widely regarded as the birth of the Southern Metal sound. I quite liked the crossover thrash of their 1985 sophomore album "Animosity" back in my tape trading days although I found the 1986 "Technocracy" E.P. to be pretty flat. 1991's third album "Blind" was all over underground metal radio at the time so I couldn't help but gain an affection for it's catchy sludge/heavy metal anthems & I even saw Corrosion of Conformity play live back in 2014 although I admittedly found them to be a little underwhelming after being thoroughly trampled by opening local act Lo! who were sensational. Let's just say that I was optimistic about the chances of "Deliverance" being able to win me over & was curious to see where the links to Southern Metal might have started.

As with the first two Down records, "Deliverance" offers a real mixed bag of sounds & subgenres. There's once again been a conscious effort to expand outside of the metal spectrum & I don't doubt that those efforts have seen people being more inclined to reach for the Southern Metal tag. But, unlike "Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow...", "Deliverance" champions that true Southern Metal sound much more often than your more conventional Stoner Metal one & I've ended up being converted to the idea that this is indeed a Southern Metal record with no requirement for additional primary subgenres. The vocals of Pepper Keenan sound an awful lot like a Southern take on James Hetfield/Nick Holmes & play a big role in the Southern links. As do the guitar solos which have clearly been styled around the Lynard Skynard model. You do get a taste of a whole bunch of other metal/rock subgenres across the fourteen tracks but I have to admit that Southern Metal is the most common theme here so I'm gonna run with it. I still can't say that it's deserving of being a primary genre as it's still much too close to the Stoner Metal model but I'm definitely starting to be convinced that it's deserving of a differentiator.

Overall I found "Deliverance" to be pretty entertaining. I prefer "Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow..."  but it's not far behind. Both albums contain a few tracks that don't do much for me & I generally find myself more attracted to the sludgier/doomier tracks & the deeper, stripped back non-metal material. The genuine Southern Metal & Stoner songs just don't appeal to my taste as much.

01. Heaven's Not Overflowing        Stoner Rock

02. Albatross                                     Southern Metal

03. Clean My Wounds                      Alternative Metal

04. Without Wings                            Chamber Folk

05. Broken Man                                 Sludge Metal

06. Señor Limpio                               Southern Metal

07. Mano de Mono                           Gothic Country

08. Seven Days                                  Southern Metal

09. #2121313                                    Art Rock

10. My Grain                                       Southern Metal

11. Deliverance                                  Southern Metal

12. Shake Like You                            Heavy Metal

13. Shelter                                          Country

14. Pearls Before Swine                   Doom Metal

3.5/5

Here's a classic example of the Southern metal sound & arguably the track that started the whole movement:

This lengthy acoustic closer reminds me so much of my favourite Led Zeppelin album "Houses Of The Holy".

Down - "Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow..." (2002)

I was previously well across the 1995 debut album "NOLA" from New Orleans supergroup Down & consider myself to be quite a fan but had never ventured further into the band's discography up until now. Given my familiarity with "NOLA" I felt it best to start fresh with the much anticipated sophomore record from Southern Metal's most celebrated act, a release that finally popped up a surprisingly long seven years later. Much like "NOLA", "Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow..." is very much a mixed bag of different sounds & subgenres & I once again found myself being most interested in Down's more stripped back, psychedelic & metal-free material where front man Phil Anselmo gets to showcase his not insignificant vocal talents with a little more freedom. The quality is generally a bit up & down across the fifteen tracks which leaves the album falling well short of the bar set by its highly regarded predecessor but it was still an enjoyable enough listen.

As for the Southern Metal topic, this first leg of my experiment hasn't done much to alter my pre-existing opinions. Here's how I genre-tagged the tracklisting:

01. Lysergik Funeral Procession                                    Stoner Metal

02. There's Something on My Side                                Stoner Metal

03. The Man That Follows Hell                                      Southern Metal

04. Stained Glass Cross                                                  Southern Rock  

05. Ghosts Along the Mississippi                                  Stoner Metal

06. Learn From This Mistake                                          Blues Rock

07. Beautifully Depressed                                               Southern Metal

08. Where I'm Going                                                         Country Blues

09. Doobinterlude                                                             Psychedelic Rock

10. New Orleans Is a Dying Whore                                Sludge Metal

11. The Seed                                                                     Stoner Metal

12. Lies, I Don't Know What They Say But...                 Blues Rock

13. Flambeaux's Jamming With St. Aug                       Experimental Rock

14. Dog Tired                                                                     Stoner Metal

15. Landing on the Mountains of Meggido                  Psychedelic Rock

As you can see, there are only a couple of tracks that push the Southern Metal sound above all other subgenres but even then the difference from your classic Stoner Metal model isn't significant enough to require its own genre in my opinion. It's really the inclusion of a whole slew of bluesy, Southern inspired non-metal tracks that dictate the requirement for the Southern Metal tag rather than the album having an overall style that's dominated by the Southern Metal sound in all honesty. If we made the subgenre available on Metal Academy then I'd probably tag this album with both Stoner Metal & Southern Metal for that very reason but I don't see anything here that convinces me of the necessity for that additional tag at this stage. If we did go down that path though I'd suggest that it would be a subgenre of Stoner Metal on the evidence of this experience.

3.5/5

Here are the couple of tracks from the album that I feel best showcase the Southern Metal sound:

I receive emails every time someone private messages me. Do you not receive those emails?

Yeah, I agree with you Sonny. Stoner & Sludge are not all that far away from being Doom subgenres & those three genres represent the very basis of The Fallen in all honesty.

My brief experiences with Southern Metal previously have seen me developing an inkling that there is a Southern Metal sound that people are referring to but it's only a very small deviation from the Stoner Metal model, is rarely represented in more than a few tunes per album & has nothing whatsoever to do with Sludge Metal. It's always seemed more like a descriptor than a genre to me. Time will tell as to whether that's true though as I've really only heard a few Southern Metal-tagged releases in full up until now.

My two cents:

Pagan Black Metal = Black Metal music that utilizes tools borrowed from Folk &/or Viking Metal music without sacrificing on the trademark Black Metal atmosphere & aesthetic.

Folk Metal = Metal music built around Folk melodies & attributes. Often borrows the tools of Black Metal however the Folk components play the role of the protagonist & this doesn't allow the music to consistently achieve the dark & evil atmosphere & aesthetic that defines a genuine Black Metal release.

I've never seen the need for a Pagan Black Metal subgenre to tell you the truth & that may be something that we look at in the future.

It was more of a mixed bag of feature releases for me this month with records at either end of the spectrum & a few sitting in between as well. On the one hand we had a couple of utter belters from Ode & Elegy (a new find for me) & Evoken (an old favourite of mine). On the other we had two albums that didn't do much for me at all (i.e. the "Call Of Duty" soundtrack & the Sabbat album which failed dismally in its attempts to capture my affection after I so generously gave it a second chance after all these years). The Flourishing, Code Orange, Abigor & Mercyful Fate albums were all pretty enjoyable but the only other one that really hit my musical sweet spot was the outstanding Snapcase record which really surprised me. Here were my results in order of preference with Xephyr getting my nomination for release of the month (well done mate):

1. THE INFINITE: Ode & Elegy - "Ode & Elegy" (2022)  4.5/5

2. THE FALLEN: Evoken - "Quietus" (2001)  4.5/5

3. THE REVOLUTION: Snapcase - "Progression Through Unlearning" (1997)  4/5

4. THE HORDE: Flourishing - "The Sum Of All Fossils" (2011)  3.5/5

5. THE SPHERE: Code Orange - "Underneath" (2020)  3.5/5

6. THE NORTH: Abigor - "Totschläger (A Saintslayer's Songbook)" (2020)  3.5/5

7. THE GUARDIANS: Mercyful Fate - "In The Shadows" (1993)  3.5/5

8. THE GATEWAY: Treyarch Sound - "Call of Duty: Black Ops - Zombies Soundtrack" (2011)  3/5

9. THE PIT: Sabbat - "The Dwelling" (1996)  3/5

A hardcore-driven metalcore anthem from New York, USA.

Here's my updated top ten after Snapcase have seen Gulch being unceremoniously dumped from the list:

01. Converge – “All We Love We Leave Behind” (2012)

02. Converge – “You Fail Me” (2004)

03. Converge – “Axe To Fall” (2009)

04. Loathe – “I Let It In & It Took Everything” (2020)

05. Converge – “When Forever Comes Crashing” (1998)

06. Between The Buried & Me - “Colors_Live” (2008)

07. Snapcase - "Progression Through Unlearning" (1997)

08. Every Time I Die – “Radical” (2021)

09. Converge – “Jane Doe” (2001)

10. Disembodied – “If God Only Knew The Rest Were Dead” E.P. (1998)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/178

Ok, so this is a fantastic example of metallic New York hardcore that will surely appeal to the vast majority of our regulars. Snapcase have an extremely well-defined sound that's tight as a nun's nasty & heavy as a bulldozer. You can easily pick out the much talked about influence of alternative metal stars Helmet in the staccato riff structures. The vocals of front man Daryl Taberski are suitably aggressive & entirely captivating while the guitar tone is simply devastating. I can't say that I understand the affection for the snare drum sound which would seem to be a little thin & tinny & stands out like a sore thumb on top of an otherwise superb production job in my opinion but otherwise this is an extremely consistent & thoroughly rewarding hardcore-driven experience that's placed "Progression Through Unlearning" straight into the middle of my all-time top ten for Conventional Metalcore.

4/5

Adam Green - "Musik For A Play" (2010)

This fifth album from New York indie-pop singer/songwriter Adam Green was supposedly intended as a soundtrack to a film about a dog but I'm not sure it's translated all that well to the purely audio format as I found it's quirky instrumental mix of folk, jazz & classical to be pretty poorly executed & frankly pretty boring. And WOW! That cover artwork is pretty special, isn't it?

As I now move into covering 1990 it is becoming obvious that death metal was beginning to mushroom. In 1988 RYM lists 13 death metal albums on it's death metal charts, in 1989 there was 29 and for 1990 there was 59 (incidentally, for 2021 there was 906!!). This means that I will need to be more circumspect in what I cover as I have no intention of covering all 59 albums. I have put together a shortlist of 17 albums, which I won't list here, but I would like Horde members to list a few essentials that you think I should definitely cover. I will be covering all the 1990 albums featured on the Horde 1st Decade Clan Challenge list - Deicide, Left Hand Path, Cause of Death and The Key so if you guys could do me a solid and suggest six or seven others that you think I should definitely listen to in addition to those four then that would be great.

I don't think this exercise would be complete without visiting Atheist's "Piece Of Time", Death's "Spiritual Healing", Napalm Death's "Harmony Corruption", Carnage's "Dark Recollections" & Cannibal Corpse's "Eaten Back To Life".

Pestilence - Conuming Impulse (1989)

I am going to round off my coverage of 1989 with Pestilence's highly praised sophomore full-length, Consuming Impulse. The Dutch masters' debut, Malleus Maleficarum, was a pretty brutal sounding thrash metal album, one I have always had a huge amount of time for, but despite the deathly vocals of future Asphyx frontman Martin van Drunen, it was still a thrash album in the vein of Possessed or Sepultura with little actual death metal. Consuming Impulse on the other hand exhibits a further descent down the extremity rabbit-hole and marks the transformation from brutal thrash to actual death metal.

As Dehydrated leaps kicking and clawing out of the blocks, it is immediately obvious that this is a very different beast to the debut. The production is fuller, clearer and is much more bottom heavy which accentuates the brutality of the performances and is much more in keeping with the band's evolution into a death metal machine. The legion of riffs are powerful, aggressive and exceedingly memorable - I find them running through my head long after I have finished listening, particularly those featured in Suspended Animation, The Trauma and Echoes of Death. Patricks Mameli and Uterwijk trade solos in the vein of Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, their lead work being very strongly influenced by the Slayer guitarists it seems, although I would also say that influenced though they are, they don't just slavishly mimic the Slayer duo, but still stamp their soloing with their own personality.

Mention must also be made of Martin van Drunen's vocal performance. He sounds tortured, deranged and defiant as he rasps and shrieks his words of pain, suffering and death, turning in an archetypal death metal vocal performance. This would be his last recording with Pestilence before jumping ship to join Asphyx - so one death metal legend's loss is another's gain! Drummer Marco Foddis also turns in a fine performance, solid and machine gun-like, adding an understated solidity to the proceedings. There is also a sparse smattering of keyboards employed which, on the two or three occasions they are used, prove to be exceedingly effective.

There seems to be some contradiction as to the bass player on Consuming Impulse - Metal Archives attributes bass duties to guitarist Patrick Mameli, yet I have seen others comment that Martin van Drunen was the bassist on the album. Either way, the bass seems to be the most neglected aspect of the recording, buried as it is underneath the riffing and drum battery, so I don't know whether this confusion is the result of the band not being 100% happy with the bass track. This minor niggle aside, I think the Dutchmen can put their sophomore up against any of the early death metal albums coming out of the USA and hold their collective head high that they can be spoke of in the same sentence as Death, Morbid Angel and Obituary and not come up short.

4.5/5

I've always loved "Consuming Impulse" although I don't think Pestilence quite hit their peak until their next record "Testimony of the Ancients". Their sophomore album saw them borrowing Death's "Leprosy" model & giving it some additional sophistication & a cleaner, more accomplished & deliciously crunchy production job which resulted in another step up for death metal as an art form.

4/5