Daniel's Forum Replies

I'm not entirely sure that we can make that claim.  Off the top of my head, Arise, the first five Slayers, Beneath the Remains and Rust in Peace barely have any straight-up heavy metal.  Take an album from this collection and it's 90-100% thrashing.

I'd dispute that actually. "Rust In Peace" & Slayer's "Show No Mercy" definitely have a classic metal influence in the same way that those Metallica records do in my opinion. What about records like "Spreading The Disease", "Practice What You Preach" & "The Years of Decay"? I'd suggest that they all do too but it doesn't make them heavy metal records or any less relevant to the thrash metal genre. Put it this way, yesterday it was decided in the Hall of Judgement to keep Rainbow's "Rising" under the Heavy Metal banner. Do you think these two Metallica records belong in the same genre as "Rising"?

I've had to go with NO votes on these two. Despite what most people seem to say, there really wasn't that big an increase in Heavy Metal influence with "Rise The Lightning" in my opinion. It was just that the influences that were already so visible on "Kill 'Em All" (which contained a good half an album of Heavy/Speed Metal if you examine it track by track just quietly) were used in a more accessible & sophisticated way & were better integrated into their sound (thanks Cliff) but at the same time the thrash components were filed down to a razor sharp point. Sure, "For Whom The Bell Tolls", "Fade To Black" & "Escape" have plenty to do with your more classic Heavy Metal model & transcend the basic building blocks of early thrash but I think it's fair to say that those songs don't really sound like the Maidens & Priests of the world either (well... "Escape" might). The remainder of the album represents the pinnacle of what Thrash Metal can be with five of the eight tracks being pure, elite-level Thrash Metal & that's a stronger ratio of thrash-to-heavy/speed metal than "Kill 'Em All" can boast. "Ride The Lightning" has been that influential & readily emulated since that if we're going to claim it as being Heavy Metal then I feel that we're going to be claiming the same with a good half of all the thrash records that have been released since too (I'm looking at you Overkill). I don't think it's a coincidence that I can't think of many heavy metal records that have tracks as intense & extreme as "Fight Fire With Fire" & "Trapped Under Ice" on them. I can say very similar things about "Master Of Puppets" to be honest only probably more so. Just my two cents...

These two releases have been added to the Hall of Judgement.

Excellent. Thanks for that. Fleshgod Apocalypse's "Agony” is another old nomination that’s very close to an outcome.

Could The Sphere be an alien? Or would that be The Infinite? I was actually thinking The Infinite could be an angel. A raven is about as good a representation of The North as we’ve heard to date. An eagle is another idea for The Guardians.

It’s simply because we haven’t had enough interested/active members to consistently acquire the votes required to reach a verdict. We have of course had the option to reduce the limit so as to force some results however Ben & I feel that a best-of-fifteen vote arrangement is the minimum required to reach a clear & accurate consensus so we’ve remained patient & hopeful that things would pick up. They seem to be heading in the right direction lately so we could see an increase in outcomes.

Yeah I’d say it’s been a bit over three years. Ben & I did the Metal Academy podcast for a few years before that before deciding that we could no longer invest the time to do it justice.

In answer to your question about Hall entry duplication, all completed Hall entries are clearly visible if you choose to look at them & I simply wouldn’t publish any that had been done previously.

This Hall of Judgement entry has finally faced judgement & has been denied following a closely contested but ultimately unanimous vote tally of 8 NO to 6 YES. Thank you to all The Guardians members who have participated & made your voices heard. I'll retreat with my tail between my legs, shall I?

If you haven't already voted on it Rexorcist, Rainbow's "Rising" is only one or two votes away from an outcome.

The social media route is a fairly unforgiving one as you get very little bang for buck in my experience. The more angles we attack this from simultaneously the better though so it would be great if anyone wants to chip in by giving us some additional publicity on their own feeds. Obviously the more content we have going on in the forums the better but I think it's also important to have people using our wider functionality when newcomers are examining the site. For this reason I've been making a conscious effort to check out at least one of the Hall of Judgement entries I haven't contributed to each month, starting with the oldest ones so that we can try to bring them to an outcome. If anyone else would like to participate in that exercise it'd be greatly appreciated as we have so many Hall entries that only need one of two votes to close out right now. Ultimately though, the best way to get more members is through word of mouth so please tell everyone you know that might be interested about the Academy. If everyone does that then I think we'll do very well. There's definitely been a noticeable pickup in activity of late which is encouraging because these things just need to reach a certain tipping point before the snowballing effect starts to really take hold.

On this subject, I'm working on a top 100 metal albums list, but I want to provide commentary for each entry.  Is there a special place where I can create a separate thread and post a few at a time until it's done over the course of a few days so people have albums to talk about for each post?  Or is the general chat section good?  I plan on doing this the same way people on Movieforums post their top 100 movie lists, and I'm doing it this way on Metalforum too.

I'd suggest using our LISTS functionality for this as you can create an attractive & easy to navigate view of the list & also add commentaries. We already have a thread in the General forums for people's Top 25 releases of all time so I'd probably use that for any conversation.

Deviated Instinct - "Rock 'n' Roll Conformity" (1988)

This one's a traditional Crust Punk record with the metal component being easily covered by that tag & the best moments reaching out into Thrashcore territory. I'm led to believe that the band's later releases offer more of a metal component so perhaps this one has simply been dragged along for the ride. There's a crap-tonne of speed, intensity & punk rock energy here & I'd suggest that fans of the more extreme hardcore will probably drool over this record. If it had to be added to the Academy database then I'd suggest it should sit under Non-Metal. The Pit would be the closest fit of the proper clans.

For fans of Axegrinder, Amebix & Hellbastard.

3.5/5

This release has been added to the Hall of Judgement.

Two Hall entries have been created for this nomination.

This release has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

I've added "Aenima", "Lateralus" & "10,000 Days" to the Hall of Judgement.

For the record, people should feel free to submit as many releases for judgement as they feel like as long as they feel they're legitimately mistagged.

A doomier number from this early 90's English deathgrind outfit.

Prophecy of Doom - "Acknowledge The Confusion Master" (1990)

This is another release that I picked up during my tape trading days & very quickly forgot about. I was surprised to see it listed as Stenchcore actually as I didn't remember it being anything outside of my usual extreme metal comfort zone & it would seem that my memory is not all that bad for an old fella because this is nothing more than a low grade deathgrind record. You'll get the tremolo-picked death metal riffage of Bolt Thrower blended with the mid-paced grind grooves of 1989-90 period Napalm Death & late 80's Carcass. The annoyingly gurgled vocal delivery is very much in line with the Carcass model with high-pitched screams bursting out of the speakers at extremely high volumes to make sure that you're paying attention. I find that element of the band's sound to be a real weakness to be honest as it's pretty hard to take seriously. Doomy album highlight "Prophetic Believers Act" sees Prophecy of Doom slowing things down a bit & adding a layer of atmosphere & I believe that's the direction they would take on later releases but I've not had the pleasure of hearing any of their other material to date. So where is the Crust Punk here? I think people are just confusing the Grindcore component to be honest as there's virtually no legitimate punk here. This release should stay in The Horde where it belongs & once again the Stenchcore deep dive has dipped to a new low point.

For fans of Napalm Death, Carcass & Bolt Thrower.

3/5

Hellbastard - "Heading For Internal Darkness" (1988)

For a band that had the Crust Punk subgenre named after one of it's early releases, this debut album isn't particularly punky. It's essentially a sloppily performed Thrash Metal record with some Stenchcore & Crossover Thrash influences here & there & its position in The Pit is appropriate. In fact, the sloppy execution, shouty vocals & dodgy production are probably the link to hardcore punk but the instrumentation is predominantly thrash-based so I don't buy the whole Stenchcore thing for this release. I actually picked this album up through the tape trading scene a zillion years ago & don't remember it impressing me much. It's not a not a dog by any means but it's also not a particularly impressive record either. I struggle with the lethargic vocal delivery & the single-take nature of the production job, not to mention the dominating snare sound or the out-of-time rhythm guitar work. It's easily the weakest release of the Stenchcore deep dive thus far.

For fans of Axegrinder, Sacrilege & Amebix.

3/5

Here's an example of when they do go in the Stenchcore direction:

Yes it is Vinny. Please list some albums & pretend you know what you're doing so as to fit in with the cool kids.

It's a hard question to answer but I'd suggest that almost my entire top ten would come from The Fallen. I don't think terms like "brutal" & "extreme" are the same thing as "heavy". To me that term is about suffocatingly thick down-tuned riffs that make your insides shake so subgenres like Drone Metal, Sludge Metal & Doom Metal would certainly feature fairly prominently in my list.

Axegrinder - "The Rise Of The Serpent Men" (1989)

London-based -piece Axegrinder's debut album is another one that I consider to be a true Stenchcore release. There's a strong Thrash Metal & Crust Punk influence with the vocal delivery heavily favouring the punk side of the equation &  the production job being suitably dirty . It's actually a pretty consistent record with only the one weak track in the noticeably flat "Hellstorm" & the quality steadily improves as the album progresses with the last few tracks being the strongest inclusions in the tracklisting. I'd suggest that this release would sit pretty comfortably in The Pit.

For fans of Amebix, Hellbastard & Deviated Instinct.

3.5/5

Here's the strongest example of Axegrinder's Stenchcore sound:

Filth of Mankind - "The Final Chapter" (2000)

OK, so here we have a legitimate Stenchcore release in that it's very much a combination of Crust Punk & Death/Thrash so it definitely ticks both the Crust Punk & the extreme metal boxes. In fact, there's even a couple of tracks that I'd describe as Death 'n' Roll & Viking Metal included too which ensures its metal credentials aren't easily overlooked. The use of epic Bathory-style keyboards is interesting but doesn't really suit the punky vibe in my opinion. The Death Metal component is mainly in the Brujeria-style vocal delivery with the instrumentation mostly falling into the Thrash Metal or (occasionally) traditional Heavy Metal camps. The performances are fairly sloppy though which ties into the Punk DIY mentality.

I was a little bit on the fence as to which side of my appreciation cut-off point this release would fall as half of the material doesn't appeal to me all that much. Thankfully it's the more significant & lengthy tracks that I enjoy & that was the deciding factor in coming out of the experience with a positive outlook. If "The Final Chapter" was to fit into the current Metal Academy clan structure I'd have no hesitation in placing it into The Pit & there's probably an argument to have it reside in the The Horde too. It's definitely the weakest of the releases I've investigated in the Stenchcore experiment thus far though.

For fans of Deviated Instinct, Axegrinder & Amebix.

3.5/5

Here's an example of the Stenchcore sound:

Yes Xephyr, I've been aware of those two records since my return to metal back in 2009 & remember them both to be very solid & enjoyable releases. They've been on my radar to revisit for some time too & your comments have only strengthened my expectations.

Tyshawn Sorey - "Pillars" (2018)

A 230 minute epic three disk set of randomly performed CD-length conducted improvisation pieces that offers a few nice deep & minimal moments but ultimately make very little creative sense so it gets pretty bored very quickly.

To clarify our position on genre/subgenre inclusion, yes we did use RYM as an initial reference point for ease of use but have gone our own way since then. We've found that other sites tend to look for reasons to create subgenres based on inconsequential & inconsistent features of a few releases & that's not really in line with what we're trying to do here. In fact, we're probably more likely to trim back our genre inclusions further than we are to expand on them unnecessarily.

With any new subgenres that are brought to the table I'm conducting a deep dive like the one I've just started for Stenchcore. This is not only to check the relevance of the subgenre for possible inclusion at MA but also to identify the best way to enable Ben to add these releases to the clans system accurately if we elect not to go that way. The Southern Metal investigation I conducted recently is an example of that & we decided not to include it based on my findings which indicated that there was no consistency in sound from release to release & that the links to Southern Rock were tenuous at best in most cases. Similarly, in my experience with the artists you're referencing above the psychedelic component is more of a descriptor than it is the base genre. You could have psychedelic heavy metal or psychedelic grindcore but do we really want those things in the same clan & genre? The answer is no we don't. We've already seen that moves like that cause issues with flaky genres like Symphonic Metal & Neoclassical Metal. It's better to keep it higher level in most cases.

Trancecore was originally included & then removed after an investigation that found that the majority of releases weren't exactly metal or could fit just as comfortably under Melodic Metalcore.

There's no denying that this is perhaps the first ever atmospheric sludge metal release

To be honest I don't hear any of the defining characteristics of Post-Metal here Andi. If you're talking about the ambient sections, I'd question why an ambient section makes something Post-Metal. Those parts don't have anything to do with metal. They're straight-up Ambient music. It'd be a NO from me if I could vote on this Hall entry (which is now up just quietly).

1. Phase I            Ambient/Sludge Metal

2. Phase II           Stenchcore

3. Phase III          Sludge Metal

4. Phase IV          Crust Punk

5. Phase V           Industrial Metal/Sludge Metal

6. Phase VI          Industrial

7. Phase VII         Industrial Metal

8. Phase VIII        Industrial Metal/Sludge Metal/Post-Punk/Ambient

Saw Throat - "Inde$troy" (1989)

OK, so this supposed Stenchcore release is the third album from English grindcore/crust punk outfit Sore Throat & sees the band taking a very different musical direction to their previous material. I'm familiar with their other albums from my tape trading days but hadn't heard this record for one reason or another which is a real shame as I think it's probably their best work from what I can remember of their back catalogue. "Inde$troy" is essentially a single 42 minute epic made up of eight different phases that straddle a number of different genres. The tracklisting is book-ended by two huge eleven minute epics, both of which are roughly 50% ambient music. I'd describe the rest of the album as being Industrial Sludge Metal with Crust Punk influences. There's only one track that I would confidently say is worthy of the Stenchcore label which is the second phase. It's also worth mentioning that if I had to allocate clans to this release it'd go in The Sphere & The Fallen so we haven't got much consistency across the first three Stenchcore releases in that regard thus far with all three seemingly pushing for different clan associations. Still... "Inde$troy" is a damn fine record that I regard as the best of the three releases I've investigated in this deep dive thus far. The vocals are very much a grindcore bellow & I really dig the sludgy doom riffs which are often offset with industrial feedback to make the atmosphere a touch more apocalyptic. There's some particularly solid material included & it's aged very well indeed for a late 80's release from the underground grindcore scene. It's just not worthy of a brand new Metal Academy genre tag in my opinion.

For fans of Neurosis, Godflesh & Fange.

4/5

Here's another example of the Stenchcore sound:

Filthy mid-80's heavy/speed metal from Devon, England.

Amebix - "Monolith" (1987)

OK, so Amebix's sophomore album has already thrown a cat amongst the pigeons in regard to the validity of Stenchcore as a legitimate genre of metal as it simply hasn't got much to do with punk music whatsoever. It's really a pretty obvious mixture of Venom, Killing Joke & particularly Motorhead & if none of those bands are tagged as Crust Punk or Stenchcore then there's no reason for "Monolith" to be either as it's arguably as metal as any of them & doesn't include any more of a Punk vibe. The production job is significantly cleaner than it was on "Arise!" but it's still fairly dirty. The music however is heavily weighted towards metal with only "Fallen From Grace" seeing the band producing the Stenchcore hybrid sound I was led to believe was in store for me. The majority of the remainder sits very much in Motorhead territory with a few more aggressive Speed Metal numbers thrown in for good measure. The Post-Punk leanings of the debut are still clearly visible too although they're probably not significant enough to warrant a secondary tag. Whereas the debut offered a vocal approach that was very clearly motoring down the Cronos lane, "Monolith" sees The Baron staddling a number of horses to great effect with Lemmy (Motorhead), Jaz Coleman (Killing Joke) & Quorthon (Bathory) all enjoying some air time. This is a bloody good Heavy Metal record I have to say though & was a clear step up from "Arise!" in my opinion.

For fans of Motorhead, G.I.S.M. & Tau Cross.

4/5

Try this on for an example of the Stenchcore sound:

Lil Data - "Folder Dot Zip" (2019)

Experimental electronica/IDM from Iceland. It seems to often be labelled as "algorave" which refers to electronic dance music where the producer gradually changes the sounds using random software changes & this results in a pretty chaotic outcome that doesn't appeal to me much. I mean I love my dance music but a big part of that is the controlled & structured changing of the musical landscape over time which enables you to get into a groove over a long period. This style doesn't ever allow me to get comfortable & there's nothing physical happening to my body as there's no consistent beat or themes. I struggle to think of who this music is tailored towards really. Is algorave really anyone's favourite style of music? I doubt it very much.

 think stenchcore, if accepted, should go to The Horde, and if not the Horde, The Pit would be the closest second.

I'm already skeptical about inclusion in The Horde as the very first Stenchcore release I've explored (which is arguably the most well-known example of the subgenre too) has nothing whatsoever to do with death metal or grindcore. The Pit is a definite possibility though. I just have to figure out if the Stenchcore genre is even required or if the majority of its releases can fit under an existing subgenre easily enough. It'll be interesting to see.

So my deep dive into the Stenchcore genre begun yesterday. Here's some thoughts on the first record I investigated:

Amebix - "Arise!" (1985)

This debut album is currently tagged as both Crust Punk & Stenchcore at RYM & I think I can differentiate which tracks fall into each category pretty comfortably. What we have here is a filthy combination of hardcore, metal & post-punk with, from what I can gather, tracks like "Largactyl" & "Slave" falling into the Crust Punk category in that they're influenced by metal & show a few common traits without really ever feeling like metal & the thrashier tracks like "Axeman", "Fear Of God", "Spoils Of Victory" & the title track falling into the Stenchcore category in that they cross the line into genuine metal territory while still maintaining the hardcore aesthetic. Based on this experience alone Stenchcore seems to be intense hardcore music that borrows the riffs & vocals from the dirtier & more extreme early 80's metal bands (Venom, Motorhead, Hellhammer, Bathory, etc.) & presents them with an obviously hardcore-driven production & tone. In this case the Venom influence is the most prominent, especially in the vocals which are the spitting image of Cronos. Is there enough metal here to warrant inclusion at Metal Academy? Well I'd suggest that four of the nine tracks fall into the Stenchcore category & that's just enough to have me reaching for my metal pass. What clan would it belong to? Well despite the Venom & Motorhead links, I'd suggest that members of The Pit would be the most likely to enjoy a record like this one as it simply feels too dirty & punky for The Guardians with absolutely zero in the way of polish or precision & a healthy dose of Discharge which never goes astray in the thrash community. Perhaps that's why I've found myself enjoying it given that I'm a loyal member of The Pit. There are a couple of duds on the A side but there's enough quality to keep me interested with the more ambitious tracks being particularly enjoyable. 

For fans of Axegrinder, Sacrilege & Hellbastard.

3.5/5

I'd suggest that this is probably the best example of the Stenchcore sound on the album for those that are interested:

Surely The Fallen would have a mammoth.

I’d suggest The Horde would have to be a zombie & The north might be a vampire bat?

I think Ben's point is that he adds every release to Metal Academy himself.

Anthrax aren't from California though.

It would appear that you've copied my Big Four. Now who is the cheat?

So an Aussie record label is interested in remastering & re-releasing the Neuropath demos on vinyl & CD which is amazing. What's not amazing is that I don't know what happened to the master tapes & DATs & it can't go ahead without them. I was definitely the one that had them but I can't remember seeing them since the late 90's. I feel sure that I wouldn't have thrown them away but if that didn't happen then I have no fucking idea what I've done with them. Let's hope I make a very unlikely rediscovery over the weekend. Wish me luck guys!

It was a pretty mixed month of features for me actually. There wasn't anything that would make my Hall of Metal Glory but there were some strong releases that I got a lot of enjoyment out of nonetheless. There were also a couple of records that I didn't get much out of to be honest. I was already somewhat familiar with the Atka, Thy Darkened Shade, The Chasm & Machine Head releases but the rest were totally new for me with the new Northlane album being my discovery of the month. The Lord Vigo record may have been somewhat divisive but I thought it was a great submission personally. Here are my results in order of preference:

THE REVOLUTION: Atka - "Untitled Album 1" (2018)  4/5

THE GATEWAY: Northlane - "Obsidian" (2022)  4/5

THE FALLEN: Lord Vigo - "Danse de noir" (2020)  4/5

THE NORTH: Thy Darkened Shade - "Liber Lvcifer I: Khem Sedjet" (2014)  3.5/5

THE HORDE: The Chasm - "Farseeing The Paranormal Abysm" (2009)  3.5/5

THE INFINITE: Devin Townsend Project - "Deconstruction" (2011)  3.5/5

THE PIT: Machine Head - "The Blackening" (2007)  3.5/5

THE GUARDIANS: Loudness - "Soldier of Fortune" (1989)  3/5

THE SPHERE: Deathstars - "Termination Bliss" (2006)  3/5

Just thinking about it now, my Big Four would be Slayer, Metallica, Kreator & Sepultura.

I disagree. I'd take "Spreading The Disease", "Among The Living" & even "Armed & Dangerous" over anything Testament has released. I've never considered Testament to be a tier one thrash band to be honest.

I'd have Sepultura in my Big Four ahead of Anthrax, Testament or Megadeth.

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

Super-extreme German mathgrind.

PURE…… CHAOS……

PURE… UNADULTERATED…. UNMITIGATED…. RELENTLESS CHAOS!!!!

That’s what German mathgrind outfit Atka bring to the table alright. Seventeen short, sharp shocks to the system through incredible insanity, complexity, urgency & savagery & a front man who must surely be only moments away from a hernia given just how nuts he goes on every track. I’m honestly not sure how a band like Atka can keep this up for more than one or two releases & that seems to have rung true for Atka who haven’t been seen or heard of since.

I really am a sucker for inexcusably brutal yet well produced extreme metal music, aren’t I? Particularly when the level of musicianship is as high as it is here. I mean if The Dillinger Escape Plan looked side to side I’m sure they’d see Atka sitting right alongside them in that department only they’re carrying a whole array of super-intense blast-beats to scare your boss, your girlfriend & your Aunty’s best friend right back to wherever it is they came from. At just thirty minutes in duration you would think that a record like this one would be well-served by the short runtime but I would think that even such a brief dalliance with the senses would be almost too much to bare in one sitting for the majority of casual metal fans. Thankfully I’m not a casual metal fan by any means & this record was right up my alley. May the song structures have ADD & the blast-beats be eternal I say!

For fans of Discordance Axis, Antigama & Fuck The Facts.

4/5

Welcome to the Academy Rexorcist. It's great to have you here. I think you'll find a lot to enjoy as there's a whole bunch of cool ideas & functionality hidden away within the different tabs of the Academy site just waiting for you to discover them. Let me know if I can help you with anything as that's what I'm here for. Get amongst it!

Fucking cool avatar too! Well done!

Have just updated my top ten after checking out this month's The Revolution feature release in Atka's "Untitled Album 1" & finding that it has to command a place in my list at the expense of Napalm Death's "The Peel Sessions":

01. Discordance Axis – “The Inalienable Dreamless” (2000)

02. Pig Destroyer – “Prowler In The Yard” (2001)

03. Pig Destroyer – “Terrifyer” (2004)

04. Nasum - "Helvete" (2003)

05. Atka - "Untitled Album 1" (2018)

06. Terrorizer - "World Downfall" (1989)

07. Repulsion – “Horrified” (1989)

08. Unseen Terror – “The Peel Sessions” (1989)

09. Nails - "Unsilent Death" (2010)

10. Cretin – “Stranger” (2014)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/149

To clarify my intent with asking this question on Twitter, Andi is correct. The discussion was brought on by my bewilderment at how Deathstars' "Termination Bliss" managed to get lumped in with Industrial Metal when it doesn't contain any of the main attributes of that sound & the only answer I could come up with was that people needed to find somewhere to stick them due to not them not being German enough to qualify as Neue Deutsche Harte. I've seen evidence of that being discussed online since to partially validate that theory too.

I don't think it'll surprise too many of you to hear that I struggled with this one & I was always expecting to if I'm honest. I've encountered Deathstars a number of times over the years while programming the monthly The Sphere playlists & it was always clear to me that they sit well outside of my musical taste profile so I've never felt the need to fill in the gaps by venturing into a full album before. Now having done that over the last 24 hours I'm left feeling exactly as a thought I would. You see the sound that Deathstars are pushing here is a fair bit poppier than I'm generally comfortable with & if you're going to go that way then you'd better have the hooks to back it up. There are a few tracks that succeed in that regard (see "Cyanide", "Termination Bliss" & to a lesser extent "Virtue To Vice") but unfortunately I don't think they've nailed them consistently enough to draw my attention away from my stylistic concerns here.

On the positive side, the production job is clear, bright & glistening & does a great job at highlighting the band's main strength which is the contrast between the chunky guitar riffs & the lush & spacey synthesizer component. The simple groove-laden riffs have so clearly been stolen from the template that Rammstein developed that it's bordering on plagiarism while the synths give the overall package a noticeable cyber metal feel. For that reason I see this release as sitting somewhere in between the German Neue Deutsche Härte sound & a cyber metal one. There's absolutely no industrial metal here whatsoever so I'm absolutely baffled as to how this release has been lumped into that category. I'd encourage all members of The Sphere to correct that mistake ASAP. The other interesting element is the gothic one as the super-deep male vocals & dancey tempos have pretty obviously been borrowed from Sisters of Mercy, once again bordering on plagiarism at times. You'll also find some accompanying blackened vocals scattered across the tracklisting & those are pretty poorly executed & a little grating if I'm honest. Thankfully the few tracks that I do enjoy are really quite strong & there's nothing here that I regard as utterly horrendous so my overall opinion is that "Termination Bliss" simply isn't for me.

For fans of Rammstein, The Kovenant & Sisters of Mercy.

3/5

P.S. I was pretty surprised to discover that Deathstars were born out of the ashes of melodic black metal outfit Swordmaster whose "Wraths of Time" E.P. I was across during my tape trading days back in the mid-1990's. Also, guitarist/keyboardist Emil Nödtveidt is the brother of deceased Dissection mastermind Jon Nödtveidt while drummer Ole Öhman played on Dissection's classic albums. Both of these guys were also in melodic black metal band Ophthalamia who you might have heard of too.

Swedish cyber metal.