Daniel's Forum Threads
Rhythm & Sound - "w/ the Artists" (2003)
A stunning dub record that I picked up on CD at the time of release after stumbling upon it due to its associations with the dub techno scene. It's as deep & stripped back as a motherfucker & features some unbelievable vocal contributions from guest contributors which makes "w/ the Artists" one of my all-time favourite reggae AND chillout releases.
For fans of Basic Channel, Maurizio & Deepchord.
4.5/5
Kirk Windstein - "Ethereal Waves" (2025)
Having completely missed his debut solo outing from five years ago, I can thank the algorithm gods for placing Kirk Windstein’s sophomore effort into my feed suggestions. With 2025 being the year that I finally got to grips with doom as a sub-genre, and with Crowbar being something of an unsung sludge favourite of mine, I soon found myself approaching Ethereal Waves with a heightened sense of excitement. Whilst I cannot profess to being massively in love with Kirk’s vocal style, his riff mentality more than floats my boat.
As expected therefore, Ethereal Waves is stocked full of riffs. Soon enough I was nodding along respectfully, appreciating the Iommi-inspired chugs as they landed consistently in front of me. Not that this is solely what the record I about by any means. Windstein has some straight up heavy metal on display here also which makes for a positive slant on the aesthetic of the album overall. For all the misery that exudes from tracks such as ‘Eulogy’ there is enough mid-paced activity, including an unexpectedly upbeat cover of The Beatles’ ‘Eleanor Rigby’, to keep things interesting. Whilst the doom credentials are hard to ignore on the album, it does contain some depth for the bullet belt and denim cut trad metallers out there.
Having former Exhorder guitarist, Vinnie LaBella provide leads, as well as producing the record, certainly adds character to proceedings along the way. Whilst not exceptional, the solos are able to paint some further emotion into songs, that makes up for the singular style approach that Kirk has around his vocals. Lyrically, the album isn’t all that strong and they do come across as half-baked, if not borderline amateur on a couple of occasions. However, I am not here for the lyrics, more the huge riffs and those enriching leads. During the past few days of listening through this album, I have at the same time been visiting Dream in Motion and I have concluded that Ethereal Waves is a step up from the debut.
Possessing more memorability than its predecessor, Ethereal Waves avoids the need for catchiness still, coming off as a more succinct listening experience as a result. The instrumentation is well balanced across guitars, percussion and keys. The Hammond Organ sound on ‘Rise from the Wreckage’ is an absolute joy to my ears. For all the positives, I still only like the album, I am not madly in love with it. Whilst it most certainly is accessible enough without being mainstream, it lacks any true bite to make it outstanding at any point. We still have a perfectly respectable album from one of sludge metals legends, albeit him showing a softer side than usual in some places.
3.5/5
Pogrom - "A Dream of Nightful Silence" demo (1995)
This three-piece doom/death outfit hit the Sydney scene around a year after my own band Neuropath started playing gigs. They hailed from the Blue Mountains area which is west of Sydney & was somewhat of a hot-spot for interest in metal at the time. Pogrom were built around the Dyer brothers (vocalist/bassist Beau & drummer Neil) & when they released this demo tape & I think they were only 14-16 years old from memory. They'd change their moniker to Across the Scarlet Moat shortly afterwards & would release a couple of other underground recordings under that name. I'd go on to play in another doom/death band with Beau (Grenade/Innsmouth/Lord Kaos) around 1997 called Elysium (later changed to Stone Wings) & knew him quite well.
"A Dream of Nightful Silence" certainly isn't the most accomplished recording but it does show Pogrom to have their own style, even at such an early point in their careers. While they fit into the doom/death subgenre based purely on the triple vocal attack which blends cleans with a Jeff Walker-style higher register delivery & some very deep death growls, the instrumentation is more organic & much less dense than death metal, reminding me more of traditional doom metal acts like Pentagram only with a distinctly folky slant to it that hints at a black metal influence. Neil's (Elysium/Grenade/Innsmouth/Murkrat/Sacriphyx/Stone Wings) drumming is really quite bouncy & rocky which ensures that Pogrom never sound too crushingly doomy either which is to the releases detriment in my opinion. He's a pretty accomplished drummer for a young teenager though. I think the guitars of Own Richards (Decayed Divinity) could have been louder too which would have given Pogrom a heavier sound.
This material doesn't do a lot for me these days to be honest & it'll be interesting to see how the Across the Scarlet Moat demo compares when I finally get around to revisiting it.
For fans of Across the Scarlet Moat, Katatonia & Anathema.
2.5/5
Suffocation - "Blood Oath" (2009)
The sixth full-length from my all-time favourite metal band left me feeling a little underwhelmed at the time but perhaps it was always destined for a middling response given that it was the first 2000's-era Suffocation record I checked out after my return to metal in 2009 so my expectations were extremely high given my long-time love for their early works. This revisit has seen me overcoming whatever obstacles detracted from my original opinion on "Blood Oath" though, even the slightly muddy, bass-heavy production job which could have done with a little more life. Songs like the title track & "Pray for Forgiveness" absolutely crush with Frank Mullen's monstrous vocals in fine form & those twisted chromatic guitar solos & crushing slam riffs doing their best to take your head clean off. "Blood Oath" may have been claimed to be Suffocation's least impressive release to the time but I comfortably prefer it over 1993's horribly produced "Breeding the Spawn" album & give it a slight edge over 2004's comeback record "Souls to Deny" too. There's certainly plenty here for all the brutal death metal nuts out there as Suffocation simply can't be touched in this field in my opinion.
For fans of Dying Fetus, Cryptopsy & Nile.
4/5
Deftones - Private Music (2025)
Genre: Alt-Metal
I actually tried to get through Koi no yokan today after starting Private Music and quitting, deciding that my goal was to further profile the band before heading to their new release. I chose Koi no yokan because it's basically ranked as the third best Deftones album out of their impressive catalog, but the first three songs sounded totally the same even with that obnoxious secondary tagging on RYM: Shoegaze, Alternative Rock, Dream Pop, Post-Metal, Post-Hardcore. That really pissed me off, So I just went back to their new album. Besides, after having been underwhelmed by my Sadus exploration, which was necessary for the Metal Academy list challenges, I needed some kind of good album to complete some kind of relevant list I'm working on. In this case, it's 2025.
Now the first two songs are very short, and despite the transitioning being flawless, the two still manage to change directions and sound a bit different from Koi no yokan. The third one is weirder, much less reliant on the general Deftones noise at first. It starts with an industrial beat and sonar-bleep guitar playing. The atmosphere feels more attributed to standard alternative metal rather than the overused Deftones noise backdrop. And while track 4, Infinite Source, goes back to the noise, it feels a bit more like the melodic punk-infused alt-rock of the 2000's, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Quite a few of the songs are very short, and sometimes they justify their length with a proper usage of simplicity. But at other times, the songs may feel undercooked. And as I expected, despite the occasional change of pace, many of the songs go for the same emotional core and basic sound. In other words, this is a Deftones album for fans that plague places like RYM.
But you wanna know the most impressive thing? I cannot believe this singer, Stephen Carpenter, STILL SOUNDS LIKE A FUCKING TEENAGER. His voice doesn't age. His voice aging would obviously be a sing of the apocalypse. This bad is thirty years old, and this founding member is 55. This is actually something that kept the album going for me, even when it started to get monotonous. I suppose this is actually my favorite thing about the band. But as far as the album goes, I REALLY REALLY wish they would focus on the diversity factor more like they did on White Pony. I mean, what's the goddamn problem? Most people say it's their best album. It's the only Deftones album I gave above a 91/100, and by that I mean I gave it a 99.
Overall, this was a fun and surprisingly brisk time for more of the same Deftones. There was just enough melodic and lyrical imagination to work. I was never that much of an alt-metal guy, let alone a Deftones guy, but this was fun. Deftones once again carries the aquatic noise factor of albums like Biomech very well and with a good sense of pacing and slow melodies.
85
A brand new Blut Aus Nord album is always a cause for rejoicing. Only a single listen as yet, but it contains all the the usual psych-tinged hynotism we have come to expect from the french black metallers in recent times. It may be fanciful on my part as I haven't studied the lyrics as yet, but atmospherically it seems to tap into the feeling of the environmental zeitgeist for me, in a similar way to Caio Lemos' Kaatayra project. I'm enjoying it.
I got alerted last minute to the Bandcamp listening party for this and managed to join to hear most of the album last week. Definitely a strong album but I need to get a few more listens in before deciding if I will add to my BAN vinyl collection.
Also, just seen the new Nordicwinter album has landed (one of my favourite Canadian artists), sat in bed with my headphones on letting it soothe my soul with it’s icy and desolate fingers.
Acrimony - "Tumuli Shroomaroom" (1997)
I've really enjoyed my first experience with Welsh stoner metallers Acrimony this week. Their 1997 sophomore record is a very solid example of the genre which offers a level of appeal that's largely driven by its lengthier highlight tracks. I particularly like the more psychedelic, cerebral moments with the gruff vocals also being a perfect fit for this style of metal. It's a fairly long listen at 65 minutes but is well worth the investment of time as the last couple of tracks are quite the epic climax after a more middling period through the mid-section of the tracklisting. This is good stuff that I'd recommend to all of our stoner-inclined The Fallen members.
For fans of Stoned Jesus, Unida & Church of Misery.
4/5
Mastodon - "Once More 'Round the Sun" (2014)
The sixth full-length from these Atlanta progressive metal legends is another strong release that may not challenge Mastodon's earlier classics but there can be no denying the quality of the arrangements & performances on display here. The references to stoner metal are misguided as this is once again a purely progressive metal affair, much like the three albums that preceded it. As with 2011's "The Hunter", there are not enough genuinely classic songs included here to be challenging Mastodon's glory days but there is still a class about everything these guys do that has seen me continue to lap up material like this. I'll be interested to see if their more recent work has the same effect when I finally get around to exploring it. I think I'll give "Once More 'Round the Sun" a slight edge over "The Hunter" in terms of overall consistency which seems to be in line with the general consensus these days.
For fans of Baroness, High on Fire & Gojira.
4/5
The Red Crayola with The Familiar Ugly - "The Parable of Arable Land" (1967)
I've really struggled with the popular debut album from this Houston-based experimental psychedelic rock act this week as I don't understand the pointless noise interludes & (with the exception of the excellent "War Sucks") the actual songs aren't strong enough to balance the equation. Apparently, the band invited all of their fans down to the studio with whatever they could find to make sounds & then recorded them all randomly banging away over the top of each other with the result leaping over the boundary of what can be considered to be music. I'm baffled as to the level of praise this record generally receives.
For fans of Pere Ubu, Spacemen 3 & The 13th Floor Elevators.
2.5/5
Oracle of the Void - "In Darkness Is Found the Greater Enlightenment" demo (1995)
The Australian underground extreme metal scene was a really exciting place to be back in the mid-1990's & I could spend all day running you through high-quality releases & demos from bands that never amounted to anything of significance, mainly off the back of living in such an isolated part of the world during the pre-internet days. Coffs Harbour-based black metallers Oracle of the Void are one such artist & I doubt that any of you have heard of them but that doesn't stop their 1995 demo tape from being a better listen than those of the big Norwegian names like Emperor, Enslaved, Satyricon or Burzum from earlier in the decade. There can be no doubt that Oracle of the Void were heavily influenced by early Emperor as you could be forgiven for mistaking "In Darkness Is Found the Greater Enlightenment" for some of their early works if you didn't know any better with the high-pitched screams & tasteful use of keyboards clearly having been inspired by Ihsahn & co. These guys utilize a dual vocal attack though, combining those blackened screams with ultra-deep death growls to good effect. My brutal death metal band Neuropath played a show with Oracle of the Void at the Agincourt Hotel in Sydney in around 1996 & it was there that I picked up this demo tape which was re-released as a 10" E.P. in 2006. They put on a great show & were nice enough chaps too. I recall them playing a cover version of Immortal's "Unsilent Storms in the North Abyss" early on in their setlist, only to repeat it again at the end of the set at the request of various members of the audience.
For fans of Emperor, Abigor & Nazxul.
4/5
Buck Owens & His Buckaroos - Ruby (1971)
Genres: Bluegrass
I found myself in a bluegrass mood of all things, stemming from a craving to find that perfect bluegrass album. But the RYM charts weren't helping much as many of the albums sounded samey, so I went to Reddit. I found many recs and have a lot to go through, but then I found out this Buck Owens album was only 24 minutes. I didn't even know he had a bluegrass album; he's mostly known as a Bakersfield sound pioneer. What the hell, I'll just get through it, I thought to myself. And I am so glad I had enough time for another short album. There's a lot of spirit to be had in this album. The band's having a lot of fun, so it's easy to have fun with them. Now the songs follow a select few basic bluegrass formats, but the energy and production makes this album sound, even for lack of a better word to describe this album, GORGEOUS. The mixing is gorgeous, and the country spirit is diamond purified, like they freakin' went to Jared. Rollin' in my Sweet Baby's Arms put me in a perfect equilibrium between my body jamming and my mind and soul absorbing the essence of the music. Honestly, there's very little country that does that, as much as I love exploring it. Now I will criticize this album for technically being quite samey, but damn if this isn't some of the most head-bobbin country I've ever heard.
91
Btw, I found that PERFECT bluegrass album pretty early on, but I'm not in the mood for reviewing a 75 minute album right now. That album is Highway Prayers by Billy Strings, but don't get into him until you've heard some of his earlier albums.
Gary Numan - "The Pleasure Principle" (1979)
I quite enjoyed the 1979 "Replicas" debut album from London new wave outfit Tubeway Army recently so I thought I'd give front man Gary Numan's first solo effort from later the same year a crack this week & I've found it to offer a similar (perhaps slightly greater) level of enjoyment. The early synth sounds somehow seem to be both dated & timeless at the same time while I really dig Numan's vocals which provide the perfect accompaniment for the spacy instrumentation. I've found myself becoming increasingly interested in these old synthpop sounds of late. There's something refreshingly authentic in their simplicity & creativity.
For fans of Kraftwerk, Ultravox & The Human League.
3.5/5
Veilburner - "Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy" 2025
Veilburner seem to occupy the same rarified atmosphere within which I would normally encounter Blut Aus Nord, Dødheimsgard, Deathspell Omega or even Oranssi Pazuzu. They are distantly rooted in black metal yet at the same time are multiple football fields away from the genre. On the death metal side of things there are comparisons I could draw with Akercocke and Portal, which are fine benchmarks to be scored against. With this being my first ever listen to the band, my early impression was that this was not a duo that was with or indeed without their own sound or style. The mish mash of influences that had leapt out at me from what at the time of typing this had been just four tracks was intriguing to say the least. Yet, whereas on other, more avant garde releases I would have either hit the skip button multiple times or simply switched off altogether, there was something that kept me in the room with Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy.
Now, it could have been that after consecutive days of listening to conventional black metal, I was just more open to something different. Those dissonant tremolos certainly made short work of the seconds as they danced chillingly along my nerve-endings, whilst those squally riffs seemed to rapidly grow a horrifying backdrop of noise for the more extrovert elements to sit atop of. Yet for all the individual elements that are in play at any given time, I have found it very easy to plot my way through the tracks as they pounce on me. There is also enough memorability to them to permit me to understand them as isolated pieces as opposed to the album becoming just one chaotic glut of noise. A more critical listen leads to me to think the reason for this is that the tracks themselves have very clear points of progression. This is perhaps too hard for me to explain in words for some readers, but riffs have a clear start and end to them. Sounds odd I know, yet this element of closure gives me traceability across what could otherwise soon become a disorientating affair.
This succinctness that sits behind the dissonant and transcendental apparitions that are conjured by the rest of the music acts as an anchor almost. I feel that because of it, I can truly pay attention to all the album much better. As a fan of BAN, Deathspell Omega and Oranssi Pazuzu already, there are elements here, such as the vocals, that are not offering anything new most certainly. The admiration comes for the crafting involved in putting all eight of these tracks together. Thematically exploring trauma, death, infinite reincarnation and the desperate futility of lives that make the same mistakes and meet the same end, this is not the most cheerful of subject matters to be committing to tape. Such ideas remind me very much of Akhlys, who are one of my favourite artists over several releases now.
Yet, the more I listen to the album the more I find it veering away from pretty much all the territory I have called it out for inhabiting already. The rich lead work of ‘Ouroboreal Whorl’ and ‘Matter o’ the Most Awful of Martyrs’ have an almost post-metal level of clarity to them, for example. There is a seemingly purpose-built level of tameness to the record that only reaches the surface with repeated listens, and I find that remarkable for such a challenging piece of music, yet I have already called out the concise nature of part of the album already. Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy is the perfect album title for the work on display here. The record is a triumph yet achieves this with no loss of that sense of stinking human tragedy.
5/5
Children of Bodom - "Hatebreeder" (1999)
This was the first time I've revisited these Finnish melodic death metallers' sophomore album in over fifteen years & I could very quickly see why as, much like it's follow-up "Follow the Reaper" which I struggled with a couple of months ago, "Hatebreeder" champions a sound that I simply can't stomach. It's comprised of tightly executed power metal instrumentation with front man Alexi Wildchild Laiho's raspy melodeath vocals & shredding neoclassical lead solos being layered over the top & none of that was ever going to sit very close to my wheelhouse. I will say that "Hatebreeder" is slightly better than "Follow the Reaper" (which is arguably their most well-known record) but I really should have known better than to venture into these territories again.
For fans of Kalmah, Norther & Wintersun.
2.5/5
Robert Ashley - "Private Parts" (1978)
A two-track, 46-minute journey that draws upon a combination of soothing spoken word & ambient new age music to good effect. The A side is excellent & is the real reason to explore this release although the B side is also fairly enjoyable. You really need to be able to become involved with a record from a purely atmospheric point of view to understand an album like this one as there isn't any semblance of traditional song structure to be found. "Private Parts" is a gentle, artsy record that will appeal to gentle, artsy people.
For fans of John Cage, Steve Reich & Morton Feldman.
3.5/5
Bohren & der Club of Gore - "Sunset Mission" (2000)
These Germans represent the absolute pinnacle of the dark jazz movement with "Sunset Mission" being one of my very favourite releases from any genre, even going close to cracking my all-time top ten. The depth & atmosphere on offer here is quite simply unparallelled & the class & elegance with which they execute the material shows them to be absolute masters of their craft. I've generally always placed Bohren's next album "Black Earth" slightly ahead of this one but I might need to reassess that position after this week's revisit as this is utterly supreme music right here.
For fans of Angelo Badalamenti, Dale Cooper Quartet & the Dictaphones & Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble.
5/5
Pentagram - "Pentagram" (1985)
Firstly, unless you own the original 1985 vinyl, then you haven't heard "Pentagram" as it was originally released because this version has never been re-issued. The version most people (myself included) know is the 1993 Peaceville reissue which has a resequenced track listing which matches that of the 1982 " All Your Sins" demo from when the band were still called Death Row and which featured new artwork and a title change to "Relentless". As I am sure most doomheads know, Pentagram had originally formed in 1971 and gone through many lineup changes and tribulations that saw them issuing very little by way of official product with a 1972 seven-inch of "Be Forewarned" probably being the most significant. This meant that despite being around for so long, Pentagram's debut was pre-empted by the likes of Trouble and Saint Vitus who were already leaning further into doominess than the genre's godfathers Black Sabbath, so for many "Pentagram" could be seen as a backward step.
Pentagram's sound paid massive homage to Sabbath, who must have been a huge influence on sole remaining founding member Bobby Liebling back in the early 70's, which meant that they didn't lean as heavily into the slow, dirgelike pacing of Saint Vitus' debut, but more akin to that of the NWOBHM, particularly the likes of Witchfinder General. However I am not convinced that ultra-slow pacing is the be all and end all of traditional doom metal, with the riffs and guitar tone playing as much a part in creating the aesthetics of doom and here there can be no doubt of Pentagram's success with the shitty production lending a decidedly grimy filthiness to the riffs that feed fittingly into the album's occult aesthetic. A track such as "All Your Sins" could almost be a demo of an unused track from "Master of Reality" - and I mean that in the best possible way. The quickest tracks are where the band depart most from the accepted doom aesthetic with "Sign of the Wolf (Pentagram)" or "Relentless" kicking out riffs more reminiscent of "Stained Class"-era Judas Priest than "Master of Reality" or "Saint Vitus" and closer "20 Buck Spin" is essentially straight-up hard rock or heavy psych at best. Now this isn't an issue for me per se, being a big fan of late-70's Priest and early 70's heavy psych, but I must admit that the doomier stuff such as "The Ghoul" and "All Your Sins" are where it scores highest with me.
"Pentagram" must really be viewed as a band with a lengthy history finally getting to release their material in full-length form and can possibly be viewed as them 'clearing the decks' so that they could move forward now that they had a record deal. It must be put into context that, despite the emergence of bands like Saint Vitus and Trouble, "Pentagram" was released into a musical environment dominated by the aggressive high energy assault of thrash or the sleazy decadence of glam metal and didn't gain a huge following first time around, recognition not coming until the Peaceville re-release in the early Nineties. Personally, as an old 70s vintage metalhead, I think there are some good tracks here and, despite it's 1980s release date, it gives a perspective on the metal underground from the 70's that not everyone is necessarily au fait with, so it should at least be given some acknowledgement and respect within doom circles as well as the wider context of metal history.
4/5
Ministry - "Twitch" (1986)
I hadn't heard the sophomore record from these Chicago industrial metal legends since way back in the early 1990's but this revisit has seen me remembering "Twitch" is not half bad actually, this time taking the band's early synthpop roots & combining them with industrial rock for a sound that straddles both EBM & electro-industrial. The tracklisting suffers a little from inconsistency though with a couple of flat inclusions (see "All Day Remix" & "My Possession") taking some of the gloss off of high-quality material like "We Believe" & album highlight "The Angel". Al Jourgensen's vocals are generally very effective & I really enjoy the techy dance music components which are arranged to give them maximum effect. I feel that "Twitch" is too regularly overlooked by Ministry fans as it's arguably a more interesting release than anything I've heard from Al since the mid-1990's.
For fans of Front 242, Skinny Puppy & Cabaret Voltaire.
3.5/5
Metallica - "72 Seasons" (2023)
I've certainly taken my time getting to Metallica's latest full-length but that's perhaps no surprise when you consider that I haven't enjoyed any of their albums since the Black Album way back in 1991. Things were looking up early in my initial listening experience though with Rhino Bucket guitarist Greg Fidelman's crisp & well-separated production job giving this material the chance to fully capitalize on any merit that can be found in the song-writing. The first three songs are all pretty decent too so there was some reason for optimism. Sadly though, despite being arguably the best record Metallica have produced since 1991, "72 Seasons" suffers from many of the same misguided failings as 2016's "Hardwired...to Self-Destruct".
With twelve lengthy songs spread across a gargantuan 77-minute run time, this record is incredibly self-indulgent with every idea being milked for far longer than it has any right to be. There are also more losses than there are wins here, although admittedly none of those losses are as bad as the weaker inclusions on some of their other post-Black Album releases. The tightness in the performances is part of the reason for that as this is a clinically produced record that's been meticulously compiled to be as perfect as it's humanly possible to be with each component having been layered in just the right pocket. Unfortunately, the age of the various band members is certainly showing at this point though. Jame Hetfield's vocals have been pretty annoying for a long time with little of the aggression of a record like "...And Justice For All". Lars' drumming is very basic & quite rocky, seemingly attempting to emulate AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd a lot of the time which may suit the crunchy hard rock-infused production job but was never going to afford the riffs maximum metallic incision. And Kirk's guitar solos are incredibly uninspired, seemingly having been phoned in & offering nothing much to enhance the song-writing. There are a couple of stretches that have seen me enjoying myself though &, like with all of Metallica's modern-day records, those stretches live up to their name by squeezing every last drop of value out of their instrumental & vocal hooks. The opening three songs mentioned earlier are backed up by the one-two punch of "Chasing Light" & my album highlight "If Darkness Had A Son" to give me some sort of respite from the drearier material like "Crown of Barbed Wire" & "Too Far Gone?".
Overall, this isn't a horrible Metallica record but it's not one that I'd recommend to anyone either. It's just another example of how this ridiculously popular band has become so incredibly detached from their original fanbase & any sort of reality with self-indulgence being the driving force behind their ongoing existence. Despite the inclusion of a couple of thrashers here & there, I've long since accepted that Metallica are no longer a thrash metal band per se so it's not about that. "72 Seasons" simply isn't a high-quality heavy metal album when compared with the rest of the modern-day global metal market so it's not deserving of the attention it's received from an audience that is unwilling to dive deeper than what's fed to them by the commercial media.
For fans of mid-90's Megadeth, "The Ritual"-era Testament & post-2000 Anthrax.
3/5