Sonny's Forum Replies

I've always quite liked "Ample Destruction" but don't ever really feel the urge to return to it. It's a 3.5-star record for me personally.

I think I have had a bit of a sea change in my attitude towards traditional heavy metal sub-genres over the past few months. I have been finding the sheer unrelenting intensity of extreme metal rather wearying and even downright exhausting at times and have been quite enjoying the less draining experience of listening to traditional metal styles.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to be walking away from extreme metal any time soon, but it is nice to listen to something that is a contrast to the unwithering intensity sometimes and to balance it all out in my head. I don't have much interest in looking outside the metal sphere for a change anymore, so trad metal is providing the respite I feel I need when I need it.

Which 2 am I missing? I'll go write 'em.

It looks like Cannibal Corpse - "Tomb of the Mutilated" and Intervals - "Memory Palace".

Jag Panzer - "Ample Destruction" (1984)

If I am going to listen to power metal, which I have started doing a bit more than I used to, then it is invariably the USPM version I turn to. I have come round to USPM rather late in life as I have spent an awful long time concentrating on extreme metal genres like doom and black metal, so I haven’t really got any contemporary history with the early USPM classics. The latter part of the eighties having saw me diving down the thrash metal rabbit hole and quickly abandoning traditional heavy metal styles almost completely. This is a great shame because there is a lot that appeals to me in any number of the earlier classics of the genre.

Standing tall amongst the formative USPM releases is Jag Panzer's debut full-length, “Ample Destruction”. It took the more uptempo riffs of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden and, taking its cues from the energetic, fast-emerging thrash metal scene, cranked it all up to 11 and delivered an exuberant celebration of heavy metal thunder as a result. Any vestige of hard rock that had survived into the NWOBHM era had been well and truly exorcised by the Americans in this fresh new take on the traditional style, giving it a more epic, harder and just downright more metal edge as a result. The riffs come thick and fast and are generally memorable, fist-pumping bangers. When these riffs are then complemented by some electrifying and exhilarating solos and an effusive vocal performance by Harry Conklin, it is surely impossible for anyone with a true metal heart not to be stirred into headbanging ecstasy.

 Coming to this after decades of being immersed in the extreme metal scene feels kind of liberating in a life-affirming way with the rediscovery that metal doesn’t always have to be po-faced and depressing or just so damned intense, but can actually be joyful and celebratory too, with absolutely no loss of integrity. It may sound a bit hyperbolic, but I am finding albums like “Ample Destruction” to be revelatory, their sheer infectious effusiveness providing some degree of relief from the daily assaults on mental wellbeing that modern living entails.

4/5

Just quickly revisiting this. 

I have just been looking at the clan members list for The Guardians which is now ordered by ratings. This seems fine in itself, except when you look closer and you see that Martin Davey is next to bottom because he reviews everything he rates, so has zero ratings but over 360 reviews and is listed below people who have joined up, rated one release and then fucked off. It doesn't seem fair somehow. Zach (Gator) too has reviewed all but 2 of his ratings so sits well down the list. Could it be ordered by the total of reviews and ratings combined, or if not then by the number of reviews as it takes more effort to write a review than click on a number of stars.

They always felt more like off-brand ACDC to me.

I get that. Udo has got a kind of Brian Johnson tone to his singing. I'm not a big Johnson fan either, for exacrly the same reason I'm not keen on Udo. I much preferred Bon Scott.

Accept - "Restless and Wild" (1982)

You know what, I have never really been the biggest fan of these german heavy metallers. There, I said it. I know for an awful lot of worshippers at the altar of traditional heavy metal these guys are the dog's bollocks, but I have never managed to board that train. I never listened to them much in their 80s heyday, so I have no nostalgic attachment and over the last three decades or so I have been interested in the more extreme ends of the metal world, so any exposure to Accept has been only in passing.

So, has listening to "Restless and Wild" forty plus years after its release had any impact on my tinnitus-wracked ears? Well, kinda, but its impact is more of a ripple on a pond than a tsunami. I can't fail to register the infectious nature of the riffs and the anthemic choruses but, in all honesty, these sound just like a german Saxon to me and that style of metal only has a very limited appeal now and at least I have the benefit of a nostalgic attachment to the Yorkshiremen's early stuff. Added to that is the fact that I find Udo Dirkschneider's voice pretty annoying. Now I am not so picky when it comes to metal singers, enjoying King Diamond and even Cirith Ungol's Tim Baker, but there is something in Udo's screechy singing that is a bit like fingernails down a blackboard to me. In fact, I actually enjoy some of the later Accept albums without Udo more than these earlier ones.

Guitarist Wolf Hoffmann undoubtedly knows what he is about, his solos are concise and effective and he is obviously a master writer of memorable riffs, but it all sounds so safe and I never find anything here that ignites my passion or soul. It is just kind of there and even though I may occasionally find my toe-tapping or my head nodding it never feels even close to setting the hairs on the back of my neck on end, being more of a Pavlov's Dog kind of a reaction to a catchy riff than any kind of deep engagement with the art. Now, it isn't that I dislike this album, or the band as a whole, in fact I have respect for their contribution to 80s metal and the adulation they inspire in their fans, it is just that I am unable to share in it. If I had been more exposed to their early albums at the time of their release then I may well feel better disposed towards them but, as things have panned out, they are just a footnote in my metal listening history, a band I respect more than enjoy.

3/5

I love Minor Threat. Their Complete Discography CD is well worth a listen. Although it is a compilation of their entire discography, it is still only forty-odd minutes long! The only problem I had with them was that, certainly back then, I was about as far from Straight Edge as you could get - no booze, no drugs? Fuck that!!

Warning-Watching from a Distance by Gator.

Nice review, man. I am glad you enjoyed it. Had you heard it before?

I'm on it. In the meantime I wrote a comment on your WASP review you might check out.

Thanks, Zach. Yeah, as I say in the review, I was also a big admirer of Dee Snider and Twisted Sister. I still have the Ruff Cutts 12" EP that I bought when it came out. Thanks to my first wife's sister again, I did see TS also and Dee Snider was even more impressive a frontman than Blackie. I don't think I had ever heard as much profanity at a live show either before or since!!

Another confession - I also have the first Faster Pussycat album which I bought because they used to play a few tracks off it at The Highwayman, the rock club I used to frequent in the 80s and I got quite into it.

My favourite glam metal track is actually "My Number" from UK band, Girl, which was a really popular number at the aforementioned rock club. I may still even have the original 7" single somewhere unless my first missus took it when we split up. Have you ever heard it, Zach?

It looks looks you have reviewed all the entries in THE FALLEN: Gothic Metal - The Modern Era, THE GUARDIANS: Heavy Metal - The 1st Era and THE HORDE: Death Metal - The Modern Era, Zach. I can't speak as to whether Ben and Daniel decided if you had  locked your clans in or not, you would have to ask Ben.

It also looks like you have reviewed 23 out of the 25 in theTHE NORTH: Black Metal - The 1st Decade, so I am guessing that was the one you were working your way through. 

OK, Zach, I would love your take on my all-time favourite, an album that touches me very deeply and which resonates on a level I don't really experience with much else and that is Warning's "Watching From A Distance".

https://metal.academy/releases/1070

As I have resumed work on my abandoned Guardians Heavy Metal - The 1st Era challenge I was wondering if anyone else was still working through clan challenges. So is there anyone out there trying to complete any, particularly those who haven't already "locked-in" their required number of challenges?

I was also wondering whether anyone would be interested on going through a challenge together. What I mean by this is, select a challenge that is agreeable to all participants and then go through it in order, say a release a week with everybody reviewing the same album ( a bit like a book club, or even the monthly features I suppose). I guess it would be too onerous of a commitment for most people and it would probably be quite slow in order to give all participants time to do their reviews, but I just thought I would put it out there to see if we could re-ignite the old community spirit in a shared project.

W.A.S.P. - "W.A.S.P." (1984)

I apologise in advance dear Reader, if you feel that this review is excessively autobiographical, but it is kinda relevant to my long-term relationship with glam metal generally and W.A.S.P. specifically, so here we go anyway:

I really didn't get much out of glam metal at all in the 1980s, it's celebration of "life on the Strip" just held no meaning for my life in a dirty, industrial town in northern England. The likes of Motorhead, Iron Maiden and Saxon had far more resonance with my life trying to get by, having left home in 1981 whilst still a teenager and desperately trying to pay my rent or mortgage on a young factory worker's wage. But whilst the likes of Poison and Motley Crue meant absolutely fuck all to me and just pissed me off with their poser attitudes and aesthetics, there were a couple I had a bit more time for. The first was Twisted Sister's Dee Snider. I felt TS were actually a pisstake of the whole glam scene because, not wishing to be too cruel, they were uglier-looking m-fs and the makeup and shit just seemed like a parody to me. The second was Blackie Lawless who I had heard of when he briefly joined The New York Dolls. My first wife's little sister was a big glam metal fan and talked me into taking her to see W.A.S.P., probably around '85, and you know what, they were fuckin' good and, against my expectations, I really enjoyed the show and came away with a lot of respect for how expertly Blackie worked the crowd and how effortlessly charismatic a character he was.

I later picked up The Last Command after hearing a track on the obscure late-night metal video show I used to watch on TV on Friday Nights after coming in from the boozer, the name of which I can't recall. The main draw for me was Blackie's voice which, whilst having quite a high register, also has a ragged edge that gives it a savage roughness and makes it sound way more evil than the Vince Neils or Bret Michaels of the world. And that was my sum total of involvement with W.A.S.P. pretty much up until my time here with the Metal Academy, since when they keep popping into my view from time to time in the forums or on playlists. To be honest I can take 'em or leave 'em, but it is probably a sign of a bit of a shift in my taste lately that listening to this debut album for the first time in quite a while, it is obvious to me that I am enjoying it far more than my original 2.5 star rating would suggest I did back whenever.

One thing is certain from the outset and that is that W.A.S.P.'s debut has far more metal credentials than most of the other glam metal acts of the Eighties who, in the most part, were glorified rock acts for my money. This is certainly bona fide heavy metal we are listening to here, not some lipstick-smeared version of hard rock. Even the band's glam aesthetic seemed more Alice Cooper inspired shock horror than the poor, sleazy drag acts than many of the other glam metallers aspired to. The riffs drive the tracks and whilst there is little you haven't heard before here riff-wise, they are memorable and catchy and filled with an energy and drive that becomes infectious as they thunder from hook to hook. Over all this Blackie snarls and bellows his heart out with tales of schlock and whores (sorry I couldn't resist the pun) that would act as rage bait for Tipper Gore and the tight-assed PMRC, which will always get a thumbs-up from me. The guitar soloing is decent although, again, the solos aren't really unlike many you have heard before, but are well executed and transform a track like the balladic "Sleeping (In the Fire)" from being a bit of a downer into a far more positive experience, whilst adding the icing on the cake to a top-knotch track like "Tormentor". The pacing of the album is just about spot-on too, varying from the breakneck charge of tracks like "Hellion" or "The Torture Never Stops" (my favourite here) to the more considered mid-pacing of "Tormentor" and the aforementioned ballad-like reflection of "Sleeping (In the Fire)". It isn't all good news, however, as indicated by my mid-level rating, with side one petering out badly from a strong start with the brace of "B.A.D." and " School Daze" sounding like the more usual iteration of glam metal that I dislike so much. The cringe-inducing lyrics to "On Your Knees" also ruin a perfectly good riff-led track and are a turd in the swimming pool of the otherwise much stonger second side.

On reflection I have got to say that I am rather pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed listening to this again and I feel I have a bit more of an understanding and respect for what Blackie and co. were doing here (probably alongside the letting go of some of my long-held musical prejudices). I am gonna call this one a win.

3.5/5

Reviewed as part of THE GUARDIANS: Heavy Metal - The 1st Era clan challenge (15/25 completed).

Hey Andi, I have a couple of suggestions for July if you want them:

Knights of the Realm - "Blood on Steel" (from "Knights of the Realm", 2021)

Century - "Fallen Hero" (from "Sign of the Storm", 2025)

I was not able to find the Knights of the Realm track on Spotify (must be only in your country), but I could find the Century track, so I've just added that to the playlist.

OK, Andi. Fair enough.

Slow – absolutely crushing, I am calling this regular funeral doom ending to the list a “Sonny Special”

It's my signature move, like the killing blows each character has in Streetfighter!!

Back when I was contemplating where I would go for my 4th clan I actually began the Guardians Heavy Metal - The 1st Era challenge. However it became increasingly clear that I didn't have the same enthusiasm for the clan as for the more extreme metal sub-genres, so ended up choosing the Horde instead. Over the past few months though I have actually felt better disposed to good old heavy metal and have been inserting a fair bit into my metal listening diet. So, with this change of heart, I have decided that over the summer months I would be up for trying to finish the challenge I began way back whenever. I have reviewed 13 of the 25 releases on the challenge already, so just over half remain. Some of them are from bands I admit I am not too keen on such as W.A.S.P. and Manowar, but rough with the smooth eh? 

I haven't had the time to check these out yet, but I am sure they will be great for when I am working outside over the next few weeks. 

Great to see Burzum's "War" on that first list. It is one of my favourite Burzum tracks, but it seemed like I was the only one who loved it.

The links are in the playlist titles, Sonny. By clicking on them, you can access them.

Cool playlists, Zach!

Ah, cheers Andi.

Are these playlists Zach? If so could you provide links?

Damn, I already rated most of these.  The only ones I haven't rated are the ones I haven't heard yet.

Yeah, me too.

Hi Ben could you add swedish trad metallers Knights of the Realm please.

RYM: https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/knights-of-the-realm-1

Hey Andi, I have a couple of suggestions for July if you want them:

Knights of the Realm - "Blood on Steel" (from "Knights of the Realm", 2021)

Century - "Fallen Hero" (from "Sign of the Storm", 2025)

I haven't heard of these fellas either, but a couple of listens to the album today have left a very positive impression so far. Nice selection, Vinny.

Some big albums sitting on 19 votes currently if you want to help get them over the line with a rating are:

Sepultura - "Beneath the Remains"

Kreator - "Pleasure To Kill"

Bathory - "The Return......"

Katatonia - "Brave Murder Day"

My Dying Bride - "Turn Loose the Swans"

Opeth - "Still Life"

Morbid Angel - "Blessed Are the Sick"

Dismember - "Like an Ever Flowing Stream"

Iron Maiden - "Somewhere in Time"

Judas Priest - "British Steel"

Metallica - both "Load" and "Reload"

Slipknot - "Slipknot"

Tool - "Undertow"

1st June 2026 update:

There are now 108 releases with 20+ ratings and 254 with 15+ ratings.

The top 20 with 20+ is currently:

1. [1] Judas Priest - "Painkiller" 

2. [2] Candlemass - "Nightfall" 

3. [3] Candlemass - "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" 

4. [4] Immolation - "Close to a World Below"

5. [5]Metallica - "Master of Puppets"

6. [6] Metallica - "Ride the Lightning"

7. [7] Slayer - "Reign in Blood"

8. [9] Blind Guardian - "Imaginations From the Other Side"

9. [8] Black Sabbath - "Master of Reality"

10. [11] Death - "Symbolic"

11. [12] Neurosis - "Through Silver in Blood"

12. [10] Iron Maiden - "Powerslave"

13. [13] Darkthrone - "A Blaze in the Northern Sky"

14. [17] Cryptopsy - "None So Vile"

15. [14] Iron Maiden - "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son"

16. [15] Acid Bath - "When the Kite String Pops"

17. [19] Slayer - "Seasons in the Abyss"

18. [18] Bathory - "Hammerheart"

19.  [16] Black Sabbath - "Paranoid"

20. [-] Bathory - "Under the Sign of the Black Mark" 

Rainbow's "Rising" has left the top 20 and been replaced by a re-entering "Under the Sign of the Black Mark" 

Two big releases in "Powerslave" and "Paranoid" have slipped down yet again after falls last time. The Maiden album falling from an original position of #5 to #12 and Sabbath from #14 to #19. The top 7 remains unchanged.

The bottom 3 are:

106. System of A Down - "System of A Down"

107. Metallica - "Death Magnetic"

108. Metallica - "St. Anger"

Ahem, er... yes I just did that to see if anybody was paying attention and actually listening to the playlist, honest guv'nor!!

Playlist amended. It does make it a little bit longer at 2hrs 7mins, but that's OK I'm sure. Let's call it a bonus!

June 2026

1. Deteriorot - "The Bataan Death March" (single, 2026) [submitted by Karl]

2. Immolation - "Attrition" (from "Descent", 2026) [submitted by Vinny]

3. Monstrosity - "Veil of Disillusionment" ( from "Screams from Beneath the Surface", 2026) [submitted by Vinny]

4. Brodequin - "Theresiana" (from "Harbinger of Woe", 2024)

5. Cephalic Carnage - "The Isle of California" (from "Lucid Interval", 2002) [submitted by Sonny]

6. Oppressor - "Genocide" (from "Solstice of Oppression", 1994) [submitted by Karl]

7. Blood Incantation - "Slave Species of the Gods" (from "Hidden History of the Human Race", 2019) [submitted by Vinny]

8. Epitaph - "Engraving the Epitaph" (from "Seeming Salvation", 1992) [submitted by Karl]

9. Intestine Baalism - "Banquet in the Darkness" (from "Banquet in the Darkness", 2003)

10. Gibbeting - "The Cursed Fortress" (from "Execution Rampage", 2026) [submitted by Karl]

11. Discordance Axis - "Radiant Arkham" (from "The Inalienable Dreamless", 2000)

12.Foetorem - "Oozing with Pustulent Fluids" (from "Incongruous Forms of Everlasting Rot", 2026) [submitted by Vinny]

13. Deathwards - "In Death I Become" (from "Towards Death", 2018) [submitted by Sonny]

14. Casket Grinder - "Celestial Devourment" (from "Trip to Oblivion", 2016) [submitted by Karl]

15. Drumcorps - "Cut & Grow" (from "Creatures", 2022)

16. Decapitated - "Mother War" (from "Nihility", 2002) [submitted by Vinny]

17. Wailing - "Crushed by Eons of Inequity" (from "Oracles of Devastation", 2026) [submitted by Karl]

18. Vacuous Depths - "Worshippers of Death" (from "Humiliation", 2022) [submitted by Vinny]

19. Malthusian - "Telluric Tongues (Roaring Into the Earth)" (from "Across Deaths", 2018)

20. Goemagot - "The Ethics of Omnipotence" (from "Eradication of Insignificant Beings", 2013)

21. Fluids - "Humanity Reviled" (from "Not Dark Yet", 2021) [submitted by Vinny]

22. Misery Index - "Plague of Objects" (from "Heirs to Thievery", 2010) [submitted by Sonny]

23. Vital Remains - "Dawn of the Apocalypse" (from "Dawn of the Apocalypse", 2000) [submitted by Karl]

24. Gates of Ishtar - "Where the Winds of Darkness Blow" (from "A Bloodred Path", 1996)

25. War Därmen - "Sector Alpha" (from "Colonization", 2022) [submitted by Karl]

26. Frozen Soul - "Wraith of Death" (from "Crypt of Ice", 2021) [submitted by Vinny]

27. Eye Eater - "Other Planets" (from "Alienate", 2024)

June 2026

1. Zeicrydeus - "Ten Thousand Spears Atop the Bleeding Mountains" (from "La Grande Hérésie", 2025) [submitted by Karl]

2. Khold - "Dødens grøde" (from "Phantom", 2002)

3. Krahnholm - "Scorching Storm" (from "Granting Death", 2018) [submitted by Sonny]

4. Primordial - "Empire Falls" (from "To the Nameless Dead", 2007) [submitted by Vinny]

5. Antaeus - "Devotee" (from "Cut Your Flesh and Worship Satan", 2000) [submitted by Karl]

6. Gorrch - "Vorago" (from "Stillamentum", 2026) [submitted by Vinny]

7. Helheim - "Jormundgand" (from "Jormundgand", 1995) [submitted by Karl]

8. Mist of Misery - "Epitaph of Penitence" (from "Absence", 2016)

9. No Point in Living - "Impatience" (from "The Cold Night", 2017) [submitted by Sonny]

10. Svartkonst - "Death Magic" (from "Black Waves", 2020) [submitted by Vinny]

11. Diabolical Masquerade - "Blackheim's Quest to Bring Back the Stolen Autumn" (from "Ravendusk in My Heart", 1996) [submitted by Karl]

12. Sig:Ar:Tyr - "Helluland" (from "Northern", 2016)

13. Misþyrming - "Ég byggði dyr í eyðimörkinni" (from "Söngvar elds og óreiðu", 2015) [submitted by Sonny]

14. Fire Magic - "Siege of Eternity" (from "Memories of Fire", 2026) [submitted by Vinny]

15. Majestic Mass - "Clandestine Supremacy" (from "Savage Empire of Death", 2018)

16. Graufar - "Buried in Flames" (from "Via Necropolis", 2026) [submitted by Vinny]

17. Xasthur - "Cursed Revelations" (from "Telepathic With the Deceased", 2002)

18. Thyrfing - "The Voyager" (from "Vansinnesvisor", 2002)

19. Crom Dubh - "The Invulnerable Tide" (from "Heimweh", 2015) [submitted by Sonny]

Messa are genuinely one of the most accomplished and interesting doom metal bands out there and are well up on my list of all-time favourites. I stand by my review from time of release, so here it is:

Messa's previous album, 2022's "Close" was my AOTY for that year and is one of my favourite albums of the current decade. So expectations were high for their new full-length and while it would be going too far to say I was disappointed with it, initially it fell a little bit short of my undoubtedly unrealistic expectations. Now that I have had some time to really get to grips with it my early lukewarm reaction feels a bit reactionary because "The Spin" has grown on me massively and, whilst not yet quite up there with "Close", it has still proven itself to be a damn fine record.

Leaning more into gothic territory than previously, "The Spin" is not as heavy or doomy as "Close" and is more hook-driven than the earlier album, but the interweaving of various non-metal influences is still present. Whilst undoubtedly an entire band effort, I felt that vocalist Sara Bianchin was the star of "Close", but here I think the big draw is Alberto Piccolo's fantastic guitar work. He unleashes several scintillating solos with "Immolation" and "Void Meridian" being particularly sterling examples, his riffing is spot on and his jangling guitar work is so reminiscent of the 1980's UK gothic rock scene that you would swear that Billy Duffy or Wayne Hussey had guested on the album. Piccolo also plays blues rock under the name "Little Albert" and his slide work on penultimate track "Reveal" suggests he is also proficient in that scene too.

There does seem to be a specific direction of travel to "The Spin". It begins with the emphasis very much on the gothic, specifically the opening brace of "Void Meridian" and "At Races" and the album feels as much about gothic rock as metal, with "Void Meridian" coming on like Siouxsie and the Banshees - tell me the opening bass line doesn't sound like the beginning of "Spellbound"! As the album progresses, though, it starts to move in a heavier direction, culminating with the one-two combo of the album's out and out heaviest track, "The Reveal" and the doomy "Thicker Blood". Along the way though we are treated to tracks that include the band's trademark dalliances with other diverse elements such as blues and jazz, meaning we are never going to get bored or complacent about where the band are going. They even reference Rush and in particular "La Villa Strangiato" from 1978's "Hemispheres" during the album's epic centrepiece, "The Dress" whilst the first half of "Immolation" is a piano ballad that Tori Amos would be proud of.

I sometimes get the feeling with some primarily metal artists who often look to incorporate a lot of non-metal elements that they are almost embarrassed to be tagged as metal, but I never feel that with Messa and despite their eclecticism they feel like a band who revel in their metal roots, even whilst it isn't the totality of their playbook. Sure, I am generally a bit of a caveman when it comes to metal. I love cavernous, old-school death metal, frigid and raw blasting black metal, crawling and monolithic doom, chugging thrash riffs and anthemic, singalong-at-the-top-of-your-voice classic metal choruses, but I am not a complete philistine and I am perfectly capable of enjoying bands who want to bring more to the table. I just prefer when they do it in a listenable way rather than making their albums into a test of the listener's endurance for discomfort. Thankfully, listenability is still an important quality to Messa and their eclecticism is not at the expense of accessibility. "The Spin" may not be an album that initially grabs the average metalhead by the throat, but it does reward those who spend time with it and ultimately reveals itself to be the product of a band who are eminently skillful musicians and songwriters that, despite weaving their metal with influences from bygone days, still produce exceedingly modern-sounding metal.

June 2026

1. Warning - "Night Comes Down" (from "Rituals of Shame", 2026) [submitted by Sonny]

2. Oromet - "Forsaken Tarn" (from "The Sinking Isle", 2025) [submitted by dk]

3. Graves at Sea - "The Waco 177" (from "The Curse That Is", 2016) [submitted by Vinny]

4. Doomshine - "Celtic Glasgow Frost" (from "The End Is Worth Waiting For", 2015)

5. Opium Lord - "Lead Magnet" (from "Vore", 2019)

6. Swallow the Sun - "Firelights" (from When a Shadow is Forced into the Light, 2019) [submitted by Andi]

7. Ophis - "The Perennial Wound" (from "Spew Forth Odium", 2021) [submitted by Vinny]

8. Ethereal Tomb – “The Sufferance of Mourning” (from “When The Rivers Dry”, 2023) [submitted by dk]

9. Smote - "The Linton Wyrm" (from "Songs from the Free House", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]

10. Mourning Beloveth - "The Words That Crawled" (from "The Sullen Sulcus", 2002)

11. Sunn 0))) – “Glory Black” (from “Sunn O)))”, 2026) [submitted by dk]

12. Wildspeaker - "Cinders" (from "Spreading Adder", 2017) [submitted by Vinny]

13. Monolord - "It's Neverending" (from "Neverending", 2026)

14. Eternal Rot - "Crawler" (from "Grave Grooves", 2014) [submitted by Vinny]

15. Slow - "Néant" (from "V - Oceans", 2018) [submitted by Sonny]

I guess we don't have to do a full wipe. I can just pick up where I am if it's such a huge hastle, but I would like to get the additional clan privileges based on the fact that I think I've exceeded the criteria by double now, and I've also went back and re-written some of them as many as 3-5X to try to raise the quality-since that's why it was initially denied. 

If there are any ratings / reviews you still aren't happy with, Zach, you can manually remove them yourself. I think you can even delete forum posts should you wish to. Other than that, I guess you could make a new account and ask Ben to delete the old one.

I hope your wife has recovered from her accident and is well too.

It's about avoiding negative mind states and keeping my overall energy positive. I'm a person with some emotional regulation issues, so I need to do what I can to stay balanced. New Chapter in life; Being Happy.

A battle I have fought many times, not always with positive outcomes either unfortunately.

You are an infinitely more talented musician than myself, Zach, so have far more legitimacy than I when reviewing music objectively. I have never had much opportunity to do much writing in my life, too busy trying to keep the wolves from the door, but I do enjoy it and metal has been such a huge part of that life that it is what I gravitate towards when I do write. I review from the point of how much I enjoy it rather than on any objective musical opinions and I too dislike slagging anyone's efforts off, so try to find some positivity in most of the stuff I listen to. Sometimes, though, you just gotta say, this ain't for me.

That aside, I am only some no-mark motherfucker on the internet, so why should anyone take what I think seriously anyway?

I managed all nine features this month and had a pretty good time of it. The big takeaways for me were, first and foremost, the Zerre album which was a real revelation and has become one of my favourite crossover thrash albums in very short time. I also enjoyed the Ihlo and Agatus albums very much, whilst being pleasantly surprised by the Brainchild album. 

Convocation - No Dawn for the Caliginous Night 5/5

Zerre - Rotting on a Golden Throne 4.5/5

Serpent Rider - The Ichor of Chimaera 4/5

Ihlo - Legacy 4/5

Agatus - Dawn of Martyrdom 4/5

Brainchild - Mindwarp 3.5/5

Mirrorcell - Long Nights in Lovescape 3/5

Hate Eternal - I, Monarch 3/5

Northlane & In Hearts Wake - Equinox 2.5/5

A couple of tracks of bouncy, djenty metalcore connected by a noodling ambient piece. So, basically, not my bag at all and for which I have no strong feelings either for or against. It's not as if it offended my metal sensibilities at all and, in fact, the last track had a couple of decent moments but it just failed to make much impression and I don't feel like I am missing out in any way by knowing nothing about the two bands involved.

2.5/5

I don't listen to a lot of industrial metal but it is one of those genres I may turn to when I need a bit of a change. I have never heard of Klayton or any of his projects, so didn't have any expectations going into this. To be honest I had a pretty good time with it overall. It has its ups and downs, and the samples often get a bit much, but the riffs keep pushing it forward and I would have to say if pressed that it is bettter then most Ministry albums I have heard. The throbbing, hulking "Prayers of a Dead Man" is my firm standout track. It has an ominous, foreboding atmosphere to it that exceeds everything else on the album and seems to utilise the opening riff from Slayer's "Chemical Warfare" to very good effect. On the less positive side "Descend" was a bit too much, its endless samples of Bush Snr. annoyed me immensely and the "Regressor" / "Aggressor" pair didn't do much for me. OK, so it isn't my usual fare, but my experience with it has been positive enough that I will probably have to check out Circle of Dust now.

3.5/5

Hi Ben, could you add Adelaide doom band Rote Mare please.

RYM: https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/rote_mare

Bandcamp: https://rotemare.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-worldsend

Hi Ben, could you add Adelaide HM / USPM band Road Warrior please.

RYM: https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/road-warrior

Bandcamp: https://roadwarrior-metal.bandcamp.com/album/mach-ii

Hey Zach, sounds like you are in a better place now emotionally. I hope you are enjoying life much more in your new surroundings.

I checked this out this afternoon and quite enjoyed it. There is a nice, restrained use of synths and they never smother things with excessive layers. Andy Robinson has quite a high-pitched voice, a little like Claudio Sanchez of Coheed and Cambria, but the guy still conveys a fair bit of emotion through his vocals. It works best for me at its most gentle-sounding, with the closing duo of the title track and "Signal" being the stand outs and sending me off with a warm fuzzy feeling about the album as a whole. The songwriting is mature and complex and they handle any transitions from light to heavy passages quite nicely but, in common with a number of modern prog metal bands, I wonder why their only resource when it comes to the heavier sections is that 'bouncy', djent-y sound. I went into this without any prior expectations, never having heard of the band before and came away being very pleasantly surprised. I can definitely see me coming back to this.

4/5

Yeah, I  have watched it this week as well. It is quite a feat nowadays for a series to get me to watch it all the way through, but this did manage that at least. The characters and their inreractions were all interesting and I did have to keep watching to find out what had happened that night. The spookiness was quite effective, although a bit sparse in some episodes.

I did start to watch the follow-up series, Haunting of Bly Manor, but only managed about half an hour before I had had enough. Henry Thomas' english accent was more than enough to put me off, but wasn't the only issue by any means.

I have been taking advantage of the good weather here in the UK and been doing some deck building work outside this morning and I took the opportunity to check out the Guardians playlist while I worked. This really was a playlist of two halves for me. The opening couple of tracks weren't the best, but they were ok. Things warmed up with the middle eastern vibes of the Therion track, however. Then from Sabbath down to Riot I was happy as a pig in shit and was loving every minute as I was transported back 40 years in time. Oh boy, though, after Riot things went off a cliff and most of the remainder, for me anyway, veered between merely uninteresting to plain cringe-making. The four tracks from Concerto Moon to Fairyland reminded me exactly why I would never be able to commit to the Guardians completely. Luckily the playlist signed off on a high note with the Benedictum track, so all was not lost.

So, on the whole, when it was good it was great but when it was bad it was sometimes excruciating. Still, nice work Andi. A little too much sympho metal for my taste, but I know from experience how much work goes into producing multiple playlists in a month and appreciate the effort.

Here is my review:

Formed in 2015 by rhythm guitarist Brandon Corsair (Drawn and Quartered, Draghkar, Azath) Serpent Rider have been in existence for a decade now and following a couple of split releases, a 2021 split with Ezra Brooks and a four-way split in 2022 which featured the two tracks from a 2019 demo, the band's debut full-length album, The Ichor of Chimaera, is finally here. The five-piece play a traditional style of heavy metal that has its roots in the 1980s and USPM bands like Manilla Road and Cirith Ungol, but with the modern sheen and vitality of latter-day acts such as Smoulder and Eternal Champion. I mention those latter two in particular, because, like them, Serpent Rider feature a female vocalist, the splendid R. Villar, and also like to tip their hat to epic doom masters like Candlemass, Solstice and Solitude Aeternus.

The Ichor of Chimaera is an album that is steeped in the traditions of metal and is clearly the product of a band that is well-versed in that world. The riffs are great, from the rip-roaring, nitro-charged gallops of opener "Steel Is the Answer" and "Tyrant's March" to slower, more hulking and ominous doomy slabs such as "The Hero's Spirit". The guitar sound is thick and powerful and the lead breaks often provide some real highlights for me, as lead guitarist Paul Gelbach unleashes some full-blooded, white-hot solos that give the tracks a real keen edge. The five-piece don't shy away from inserting the odd catchy hook here and there either, with the choruses of "Radiant" and "Tyrant's March" refusing to stop bouncing around inside your brain long after the album stops spinning.

Lyrically Serpent Rider stick to the tried and tested formula of epic metal which inhabits the fantasy worlds created by the likes of Moorcock and Robert E. Howard and there is nothing wrong with that, but it is a very safe option to be honest. The vocals, provided by R. Villar are very much suited to the material and are exceedingly well-enunciated with barely a single word being missed, even by my tinnitus-ravaged hearing. She has a very classic-sounding delivery and has a really nice tone, often reminding me in a weird way of Morris Ingram on Solstice's New Dark Age, particularly on "Tyrant's March", a track which does display hallmarks of Rich Walker's phrasing. If I had one misgiving then it would be that sometimes the vocals sound a little bit reedy when pushed up against the thickness and depth of the guitars in full flow, but this is truly a minor niggle.

Kudos must also go to the rhythm section for the sheer depth and power of the band's sound with Brian Verderber basswork and Brandon's riffing combining to devastating effect. Drummer Drake Graves provides a bit more than just time-keeping with some interesting fills and more complex beats than you may expect - the title track for example has a really interesting drum track and is worth paying particular attention to.

I would heartily recommend The Ichor of Chimaera to anyone who has any love for heavy metal in general or epic metal specifically. Well-written and consummately executed this should tick all the boxes for fans of good, old-fashioned, fist-pumping metal. Sure, it doesn't address real-world horrors or the psychological pressures of modern life, but sometimes it is OK to just have a good time and forget about all that shit and at this minute I can't think of many better ways to do it.

4/5

Hi Ben, could you add the new album from Downfall of Nur, "And the Firmament Will Burn to Quench the Pain of This Earth", please?

Bandcamp: https://downfallofnur.bandcamp.com/album/and-the-firmament-will-burn-to-quench-the-pain-of-this-earth

Drudkh - "Відлига [Thaw] EP" (2026)

This latest release from the ukrainian atmospheric black metallers is a three-track, twenty-minute EP and it exudes an air of melancholic reflectiveness that is reminiscent of the opening instrumental from previous album, 2025's "Shadow Play". This may well be all-new material, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it turned out to be leftover tracks from that album because it fits in so well as a companion piece. This turn in tone from Drudkh is unsurprising given the situation in Ukraine over the last four years, particularly around the band's hometown of Kharkiv which has seen some of the war's most intense fighting. Who wouldn't become pensive in such a situation? Although they don't address the war directly in their lyrics I think lines like "Only their silhouettes, Touched once by an indifferent hand, Take up faded places, In memory" (from "Memory") are fairly unambiguous in their sentiment.

The opener is indeed a reflective piece that, whilst still sitting comfortably under atmospheric black metal has such a melancholy air to it, emphasised beautifully by some subtly applied keys, that it also feels like it has one foot in the post-metal camp. The second track, "Somewhere, Sometime" is an instrumental that possibly feels even more wistful than the opener with its main melodic theme having a reflective, folky air, as if looking back fondly on simpler times now lost. Add in some picked guitar lines and, again, those subtle, melancholy-sounding synths and you have a fairly simple, melodic and exceedingly effective instrumental break at the heart of the EP.

The closer, "A Moment in Eternity" is probably the track most recognisable to long-standing Drudkh fans, being a more conventional slice of atmospheric black metal. Even here, though, the vicious bite that used to hone the edge of Drudkh's sound feels muted, as if the sorrow being felt by the musicians is so great as to infuse their very being and leave them changed as a result. Once more, even though the track is of a higher tempo and has a traditional black metal structure, the air of wistful reflection still permeates it and rather than being a celebration of ukrainian culture and history as a lot of Drudkh's past work seemed to be, this is more like a eulogy to something that has been lost, possibly for ever.

I understand if some long-time fans were to be unsure of this direction the band have taken as it is quite different to their best-loved releases but, as someone who is often drawn to the more downbeat and melancholy in metal, I have to say that I actually really like this, even though, unfortunately, its sentiments may well be rooted in real world tragedy which i am sure we all wish had never happened.

4/5

Yeah, I agree Daniel. I may even be harder on it than you. I thought it was a major disappointment at the time. It is a shame because I have a really nice digibook version of it which I bought on pre-order and never play because, basically, it sucks.

Anyway, all that drama aside, here is what really matters, the music:

I love thrash metal and I love punk rock but, in truth, I am not all that enthusiastic about crossover thrash. Maybe I haven't heard the right albums as a quick look at my ratings sees me amassing less than 20, so I can hardly call myself an expert. One of my problems with crossover thrash is that far too often it just doesn't seem serious and feels like more of a "party" sub-genre like glam metal. Even outside of fatally unfunny shit like SOD, bands like Gama Bomb, DRI and The Accüsed sound a bit frivolous to me. Before you all call me out on this, I know that this is probably an unreasonable stance to take and you may well be justified in calling me a miserable old fucker, but it is genuinely how I feel. All that said, I am more than happy to say that Zerre have blown that stance completely out of the water with "Rotting on a Golden Throne".

One thing is for sure, these guys are deadly serious about this shit. Having begun life as a hardcore punk outfit, they definitely have the grounding in the punk side of things, bringing a serious level of hardcore aggression and vitality to proceedings. Despite their punk origins, however, they don't come up short in the metal department either with some barnstorming riffs and quite thrilling soloing from dual guitarists Dominik and Rocco. Interestingly, vocalist Nico Ziska, who was previously bassist with black metallers Der Weg einer Freiheit, is not the singer from their punk rock days, yet he still has quite an aggrressive, bellowing vocal style that may lead you to assume he had a previous grounding in hardcore. The gang backing vocals are also expertly handled and don't ever come off as lame or naff, which can't always be said about a crossover album The speed and aggression never lets up and I can imagine a pit at a Zerre show is a hell of a place to be.

The tightness of this five-man outfit is certainly impressive and the guys are evidently skilled musicians, the two leads in particular impressing with their abilities, both technically and artistically. These are genuinely some of the best, high-octane thrash riffs I have heard from outside of Chile for quite some time. The drumming on final track "No Alibi" is also some of the most Animalistic (as in the Muppet drummer) craziness I have heard on a thrash track. There isn't really a weak track on the album, but the run of four tracks from "Deception of the Weak" through to the title track is just insanely good. It is still early days yet, but I am becoming increasingly convinced that this is my all-time favourite crossover album (unless "Among the Living" counts).

The best thing about monthly features is when a release pops up from a band you have never heard of that slams you in the gut and screams "Do you know me now, motherfucker" right into your face. For me "Rotting on a Golden Throne" is one such marvel. Thanks Vinny for renewing my waning faith in european thrash metal.

4.5/5 (at least)

Really enjoyed this and I am working on a review, but I just wanted to point out that after trying to order the CD on Bandcamp, for a completely reasonably £11, they then wanted to charge £172 postage for fucks sake!! What is up with that, don't they want to sell any bloody records or what? I have e-mailed the label, Dying Victims Productions in Germany to see what is going on, but that is just bloody ridiculous.

What are they sending it via?  Space shuttle?

It is fucking roasting here in the UK today and I am not good in hot weather, so i have locked myself inside with a portable aircon unit and this album and I am really loving it. Much as I hate giving Jeff Bezos even more money, I ordered the vinyl from Amazon for a much more reasonable 25 quid with free postage. At least Bezos isn't taking the actual piss out of his customers unlike DVP.

EDIT: Actually scrub that last comment. I have had an e-mail from Florian Gill who runs the label and he says that post-Brexit he is required to send all tax collection information to the UK authorities, which is virtually impossible without a physical presence here, hence the ridiculous postage charges because they don't really need the hassle of exporting to the UK. Ah Brexit, how can I count the ways you have fucked us!

Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean - "Let Us Not Speak of Them but Look and Pass On" EP (2026)

Anonymous Massachusetts four-piece Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean are back with a 28 minute EP of their trademark, noise-drenched, sludge metal that, characteristically slams into you like a sledgehammer to the forehead. I don't know if I was in the wrong frame of mind for it during my initial listen-through because it just kind of washed over me and felt draining to listen to the first time, with a really heavy noise influence that gave it a cloying uniformity I really wasn't in the mood for. Subsequent listens have left me feeling more positive although, in truth, it seldom approaches the level of awesomeness I attributed to their 2023 "Obsession Destruction" LP. Things kick off in fine style with the longest and, for my money, best of the four tracks, the 9-minute "An Abundance of Mercy". This is a hulking slab of reverb-drenched sludge metal with a memorable and doomy main riff that crushes like a runaway steamroller and caustic vocals that could double as paint stripper. A couple of noise and feedback-soaked breakdowns fill out the track and provide a counterpoint to that comparatively melodic main riff.

"Upheaval" is the EP's shortest and most vitriolic-sounding track with a fairly quick tempo and a marked noise component that pushed a bit too far in that direction for my particular taste and may well have been the source of my initial reticence towards the EP as a whole. I am on much more comfortable ground with the remaining two tracks, "An Adornment of Light" and "Execution" with their doomier and resultingly more crushing atmospheres. I must make mention of the drumming as it is of particular note, driving and pummelling, even on the slower, doomier sections with the nameless skinsman's performance on "Execution" being an especial standout.

Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean are evidently emerging from under the shadow of their main influence, Louisisana's Thou, and are forging their own identity with an even more abrasive and noisy style of sludge designed not so much to get under the listener's skin, but rather to strip that skin away completely.

4/5

As Above:

Ennui - "Qroba" (2026)

Ennui were formed in Tbilisi, Georgia in 2012 by guitarists David Unsaved and Sergi Shengelia with the former also contributing vocals and keys and Sergi playing drums and bass in addition to their six-stringed day job. In 2015, for their third album, "Falsvs Anno Domini" the duo added Daniel Neagoe (Shape of Despair, Pantheist amongst many others) on bass and drums. However, he departed before the next album, "End of the Circle" and they reverted to a duo with John Devos (Pantheist, Comatose Vigil A.K.) showing up as guest drummer. Onto Qroba then and they have now expanded into a five-piece with no less than four guirarists, the original duo being joined by Andrey Azatyan and Kakhi Kiknadze with the drum stool being filled by Alexandr Gongliashvili. Unsaved also covered vocals and bass duties as well as panduri, which is a three-stringed traditional georgian folk instrument.

Qroba is not the most monolithic or repetitive example of funeral doom that you will ever hear and at times it is even quite melodic and atmospheric. This does not translate as "not heavy" by any means because it assuredly is, but there is a bit more to the songwriting than merely trying to write the slowest, heaviest-sounding doom metal on the planet. I would compare it to the early albums from France's Monolithe, but without the extreme track lengths. The hour here presented consists of five tracks, from ten to fourteen minutes in length, giving each plenty of time to establish its rhythmic tides and atmosphere without ever outstaying its welcome. Thematically it is fairly typical funeral doom fodder. According to the band themselves it is concerned with "coming to terms with the inevitable, told through melancholy and contemplation" and although this traversal from light to darkness is common subject matter in doom circles it is addressed so effectively both atmospherically and lyrically that it transcends the feelings of triteness that these overused tropes sometimes elicit in the ardent funeral doom listener. The track "Down, To The Stars" is based upon and uses the words of the poem of the same name from highly respected 20th century georgian poet Terenti Graneli and is a beautiful expression of the album's concept, but this is no anomaly and the band's own lyrics are also some of the most thought-provoking I have heard for a good while.

The songwriting is excellent and it is obvious that these guys have been round the doom metal block a few times because they are able to explore and stretch the funeral doom genre without ever threatening to dilute what makes it so appealing to its adherents in the first place. This is not some Frankenstein's monster genre hybrid, but genuine, lovingly-crafted, purely refined funeral doom metal with a breadth and scope deserving of respect. Alongside expert song and lyric writing these guys are evidently talented musicians and, to my uneducated ears, Qroba sounds technically perfect with some gorgeous guitar lines, yet it never feels staid or stilted, but oozes with feeling and passion, each track developing in an organic and natural manner so that nothing ever feels forced. Unsaved's vocals are the deep, abyssal growls expected from a funeral doom vocalist, yet he seems to wring an expressiveness and emotional resonance from them that I have very rarely encountered from an extreme doom metal singer.

In summary this must be one of the most affecting and haunting funeral doom albums I have heard and, despite its often melodic approach to the sub-genre, it is so skillfully executed that there is no compromise made as regards to sheer heaviness. In the extreme doom world, where sludge and noise-based releases seem to be the only kids on the block anymore, it makes my heart soar to know that there are still acts out there who can fire my soul in a genre that seemed like it had passed its peak some time back. Each play sees me falling in love with this more than the previous one.

5/5 AOTY potential - probably depends on Patrick Walker.