Sonny's Forum Replies

I have very little patience for wholly instrumental metal and I don't hear anything here that will change my mind on that score. Saying that, I imagine that if it did have vocals then they would almost certainly be of a kind that I would hate, so it's probably better off without. Although there is plenty going on, I can't help but wonder what the point is other than for the musicians involved to feel they have showcased their technical proficiency for all us inferior humans to listen to in awe and bow deferentially to their superiority. This left me feeling nothing at all, I don't hate it as such, but I certainly don't love it and would never seek it out again. For me an empty and soulless experience and a mere placebo of a record.

1.5/5

I am a huge fan of d-beat, particularly local heroes Discharge (I live in the north of the decaying corpse of the North Midlands city of Stoke-on-Trent, the town that spewed forth the punk legend genre progenitors). Sacrilege took the aggression and diy ethic of Discharge's best work and married it to the aggression and heaviness of thrash to produce a vital and immediate album of the kind that really makes me feel alive. You can keep all your technical proficiency and sterile songwriting, underground albums like this that feel like they come from the gut and with which I can make some kind of connection are, for me, what I seek most in metal music. Tam's vocals are great - I love aggressive female vocals and she is, unfortunately, one of the very few female thrash vocalists, which is another big plus for this album. This is a savage, primal, middle-finger-to-the-man type of album that we hear so few of nowadays.
I agree with Daniel's assertion that, for the purposes of Metal Academy, the album should be classed as crossover thrash despite not being what is traditionally considered such, because the punk elements are so integral to it that it needs to be differentiated from straight-up thrash metal.
And, as I've stated before elsewhere, I can't believe for one minute that Kurt Cobain had never heard Shadow of Mordor before writing Nevermind's Negative Creep.

5/5

Sometime in the late 2000s, back in my pre-internet days when I still paid attention to the music press, one of the metal mags, Terrorizer or Metal Hammer probably, ran a doom metal special. In this issue, they got several reasonably well-known musicians to name their favourite three doom metal albums. Somebody (I forget who but it must have been someone I had time for) listed Winter's Into Darkness, Warning's Watching From A Distance and this, Solstice's second album. Deciding to investigate further, I tracked down CD copies of all three (no streaming or downloading for me back then) and fuck me if they didn't become three of my all-time, rock-solid five-star faves. So thank you eternally o forgotten metal muso.

I have already reviewed the album, so I'll not go on, but Solstice are a band who revel in their Englishness and particularly the medieval, battle-worn myths of heroes stood atop wind-blown keeps and riding among the rolling hills of forgotten history with their huge white chalk figures - an aesthetic which, being a bit of an English history nut, appeals to me immensely.

The songs themselves are, for me, the apogee of "traditional doom metal" and in particular the more epic side of the genre as exemplified by The Sleeping Giant, Hammer of Damnation and Cromlech, where Rich Walker and Hamish Glencross' dual guitar attack brings a Maidenesque bite to their massive heavy metal-derived doom riffs. For those looking for slower "true" doom there are the imperious Cimmerian Codex and the crushing New Dark Age II. Amongst all this metal madness, particularly in the heart of the album, are a number of folky acoustic arrangements, which are exemplified by the wistful and reflective Blackthorne.

The rhythm section of Rich Budby and Chaz Netherwood are the deep-dug foundation in which these monstrous metal edifices are built and their contribution is not to be underestimated. I also really like Morris Ingram's vocals, even though he is a little reedy. He wavers in a couple of spots but the backing vocals that track the lead provide a splint that prevents them becoming off-putting (I also kind of expect doom metal vocalists to be imperfect - Albert Witchfinder or Lee Dorrian for example). Finally there are the lyrics - Rich Walker must have swallowed a thesaurus before he wrote them as they are as dense and arcane as any you may find. "Ice locked the nexus, an empire awaits, Axiom abhorrent, protean triumvirate". Indeed!

For me the exemplar of traditional doom and a great example of a truly English metal album. I must have listened to it seven or eight times this week and I never tire of it. 5/5 definitely.

So, what you're saying is, that if we do manage to pronounce it correctly, we will then have summoned some formless Sumerian darklord? Bummer!

.. or maybe 2.5/5

oh, 3/5.. (I think).

OK, I guess I must be going soft, because there was a time when I would have eviscerated this album and spewed venom and bile over it's steaming remains. But, fuck, I actually quite enjoyed a fair bit of it's runtime - Farewell being the only track that I truly hated (and that is really awful). But the Bruce Dickinson-mimicking vocals aren't too bad, some of the riffing is decent and there are some pretty good solos. It is pompous and overblown, yet it's still quite endearing in a way. Look, I won't be listening to it on hard rotation, but I may feel like returning to it in the future (maybe when I'm feeling in a partucularly good mood!) and I wouldn't turn it off if it was on.

Shit what am I saying?! Where are my Khanate and Burning Witch albums ffs. I'll be watching fucking Pixar movies next!

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy from the 4th to the 9th of March, 2021

1. Everdawn (GUARDIANS) - requested by illusionist

2. Alkerdeel (NORTH, FALLEN)

3. Show Me a Dinosaur (NORTH)

4. Malikliya (NORTH, INFINITE)

5. Trespasser (NORTH)

6. Misotheist (NORTH)

7. Les Chants de Nihil (NORTH)

8. Magoth (NORTH)

9. Hyperion (NORTH)

10. Yashira (FALLEN, INFINITE, REVOLUTION)

11. Hexgrafv (FALLEN) - requested by Sonny92

12. Wo Fat (FALLEN)

13. Spelljammer (FALLEN) - requested by Sonny92

14. öOoOoOoOoOo (INFINITE)

15. Sunburst (INFINITE)

16. Shrezzers (REVOLUTION)

17. Hazing Over (REVOLUTION)

18. Gravesend (HORDE)

19. Deathgoat (HORDE)

20. Fractal Generator (HORDE)

21. Eximperituserqethhzebibšiptugakkathšulweliarzaxułum (HORDE)

Hi Ben, could you provide a few pronunciation pointers for that last one!!

Could you add the new Wolvennest album, Temple, please Ben.

Wolvennest have released the best album of the year so far. Not easily pigeonholed, it's 70+ minutes does for doom metal what Oranssi Pazuzu did for Black Metal with last year's Mestarin kynsi, blending psych-doom with black metal, gothic rock and space rock for a fairly unique release.

This is the second track, Swear To Fire:

I'm quite fond of a bit of drone myself, so I'll endeavour to help out with the heavy lifting on that topic. It's with gothic metal that I need others to carry the load!!

I'm probably the one Metal Academy member who enjoys Amaranthe so much. Of course, they still had several sh*tty stinkers throughout their career, including "that song you gotta avoid at all costs".

What song is that then Andi?

Fair point Daniel, in that case I'm probably sorted for a Revolution selection then.

Yes, Daniel, I personally think you would be better keeping your own allocation for your personal selections and then provide an additional slot to maybe cover those under-represented areas of the respective clans. It seems unfair that you should sacrifice your own personal choices in order to present a wider selection of tracks.

 I'm also wondering if we're gonna see the playlists being dominated by the same bands/subgenres/eras or with too high a ratio of classics but that could occur with the increased track limit in some of the other clans anyway. I don't see that we can get around that as I have no intention of telling people what to submit. It needs to be more organic than that. One thing I will say though is that I hope people try to make their submissions a genuine reflection of their listening habits from the previous month (wherever possible) rather than simply picking old favourites. I really like the idea of each month's playlist being a snap shot of the clan's movements at that particular point in time.

While the number of participants is low, then there probably is a chance that some subgenres may be left out. If the desire is genuinely for the clan members to base their submissions on their previous month's listening habits, this is very likely. In The Fallen, for example, I don't believe there are any active contributors who listen to massive amounts of drone metal on a regular basis, so there may only be infrequent submissions from the genre. The only real alternative I can see is to leave a block of time for tracks to be shoehorned in from any subgenres that may have been under-represented, but then this would no longer make the playlist a snapshot of the clan's current listening habits. It's a tricky balancing act for sure.

My suggestions for April's The North playlist are:

Forhist - II from Forhist (2021)

Darkthrone - Skald av Satans sol from Transilvanian Hunger (1994)

Sainte Marie des Loups - Interdit et oublié from Funerailles de feu (2020)

My suggestions for the April Fallen playlist:

Subrosa - Ghosts of a Dead Empire (11:04) from More Constant Than the Gods (2013)

Spelljammer - Abyssal Trip (10:38) from Abyssal Trip (2021)

Acid Mammoth - Berserker (5:01) from Caravan (2021)

Tar Hag - Elder Cloak (2:59) from Elder Cloak EP (2017)

Total Runtime - 29:42

Yes, well I was wrong. I listened to a few Amaranthe tracks on YouTube and found them to be jaw-droppingly awful. But, that's fine - I somehow don't think a grizzled old cynic like me is their target demographic. As for picking a track from In Waves for next month's playlist, I didn't really think anyone would be interested in listening to a track from the previous month's featured release again so soon. But I pledge that I WILL find a track to suggest sometime during the next week or so.

Yeah I agree. There is always a danger that the playlists may become a "greatest hits" sort of thing, but with the current participating membership I think that to be unlikely.

Great choice Ben. I can see why you rate it with it's old-school vibe and it's occasional slower descent into doom territory (Taken Away by the Torn Black Shroud is brilliant). Gonna have a few more listens before commenting more fully - it definitely deserves it.

Are we only using the time limit for The Fallen's playlist next month?

And yet you've only just listened to the monthly feature release for The Revolution & reported back positively Sonny. That qualifies as having an opinion as far as I can see.

I don't think I've explained myself very well. What I mean is, I have very little experience of metalcore and don't see how I could suggest a track for next month's Revolution playlist with any authority. I have heard bands like Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall and Dillinger Escape Plan, but I really don't care for them at all. I have the same problem with metalcore as I do with a lot of sludge - the hardcore-influenced vocals. Now I'm well into hardcore punk like Black Flag, Minor Threat and Sick of it All, but I dislike that style of vocal delivery in metal. The reason I enjoyed In Waves so much was because a significant percentage of the vocals were clean sung, enabling me to tolerate the harsh-sung sections more easily. 

Now, the Trance Metal tag interests me much more because I have literally no idea what that is all about, but it sounds intriguing. Could anyone suggest a decent album within that genre that may give me a good idea where to start, then I may possibly find something to suggest there.

Nice one Daniel! I'm looking forward to it already.

Unfortunately, The Revolution is probably the clan I know least about, so will probably have to pass. Oh, well!

Also, while the membership is still quite small, how about allowing one track suggestion to any non-clan Academy member. For example, I'm not a member of The Guardians, but I think I've heard enough heavy metal to come up with a decent suggestion or two. These can always then be subject to omission due to time constraints or unsuitability, submissions from clan members always taking precedence obviously.

Hi Daniel, Instead of the playlist submissions being by number of tracks, have you considered asking clan members to make submissions by time duration? For example, allot each member fifteen or twenty minutes (or whatever) of playlist time and ask for submissions totalling that duration. Just an idea - I could easily make five tracks last an hour or more!!

OK, so I'm vaguely aware that there is such a thing as melodic metalcore but, to be honest, I have never felt any urge to delve into it and I've kept it very much at arms length. Melo-death and all those -core hybrids leave me cold, so if that's your thing then good luck to you but it's not a scene an old geezer like me is able to get excited about - I'll leave it to the kids thanks. Consequently, I went into this not expecting very much at all, playing it at work while I tried to do something useful. But, you know what? Damn me if this wasn't just too distracting with it's catchy little tunes! I'm listening to it again while I write this (at home, later) and although it hasn't changed my world view or anything, I've got to confess I actually quite enjoyed it. I'm still unlikely to explore metalcore much further but on those occasions when I fancy something of a change I can easily see myself returning to this. File under"pleasantly surprised".

3.5/5

This is not a band I've heard of so looking forward to checking this out at the weekend.

Excellent funeral doom from Daniel Neagoe's (Shape of Despair, Pantheist, Ennui) new band, Mourners:

New album Abyssal Trip is awesome hypnotic doom in the vein of Electric Wizard from Sweden's Spelljammer:

Lake is the second track:

Ben, could you please add Romanian funeral doom band Mourners and Swedish doom outfit Spelljammer.

Hi Ben, please add a couple of Scandinavian Stoner Doom bands - Norway's High Priest of Saturn and Sweden's Hexgrafv.

Great way forward and definitely a good idea to get the active clan members involved, allowing for a bit of development of the clan concept. I'm interested to see where this goes now with additional membership input. May even encourage more peripheral members to become more involved. 

The fantastic closing track and highlight of Cult of Luna's new Raging River EP, Wave After Wave.

Atypical-sounding blackened death metal with a guitar sound appropriated from gothic rock. Interesting.

I've looked back to the beginning of last year at The Fallen feature releases and it's interesting to see that of the fourteen featured albums there have been six that are classed drone/post-metal, five are gothic metal or gothic doom, two stoner doom (one of which has a tendency towards drone) and one progressive sludge. Is this merely down to personal choice or is it a perception that funeral doom, so-called traditional doom, epic doom and non-gothic death doom are just not liable to produce any worthwhile debate or comment? 

Daniel, I noticed you haven't rated this yet.

It's albums like this that make me realise how completely out of touch I am with the average modern metal fan's taste. For me this was fucking torture. It just sounds like a (slightly) heavier version of awful 70s and 80s rock bands like Kansas, Asia and Journey. I got no feeling or emotion from it at all (except maybe a slight gag reflex) - I just picture the band sitting round going "Dude, you are the coolest", "No dude.. you are!' while they circle jerk over their latest 'masterpiece'. I don't actually hear that much metal here anyway and what there is has had it's spine ripped out and left it a limp and flaccid remnant. In all honesty I don't just dislike it - I resent it's very existence and it's intrusion into my life, fucking up a perfectly good Friday afternoon. PoS indeed!

Not a bad record by any means, but for a band who's back catalogue includes Last One On Earth and The Rack I've got to admit to being more than a little disappointed by this fairly rote death metal release which lacks sufficient "bite" for my preference.

My favourite album of January is Tar Hag's Bestial, released on the 2nd, it's hybridisation of crushing doom riffs and psych solos with sludgy, guttural vocals is right up my street:

Absolute killer track from a band new to me, South Carolina's Tar Hag:

1. "No Prayer For The Dying" isn't a bad Iron Maiden record. It just suffers from comparisons with their previous material.

2. I'd take Maiden's 2006 album "A Matter Of Life & Death" over the self-titled, "KIllers" or "Brave New World".

3. "Dance Of Death" is the only bad Bruce Dickinson-fronted Maiden record.

4. "Divine Intervention" is a better record than "Hell Awaits" which is the weakest of Slayer's classic period releases.

5. "Live Undead" is a genuine classic & the best of Slayer's pre-"Reign In Blood" releases.

6. Slayer's "Repentless" isn't a bad record.

1. Agree

2. S/T & Killers absolutely disagree, BNW agree.

3. Any album with a track like Passchendaele on can't be bad in my book. Brave New World is my most disliked Bruce-fronted album.

4. Hmm.. interesting. Think I'll sit on the fence on this one (Hell Awaits is a bit overrated).

5. Live Undead is a great record but I love Show No Mercy and Haunting the Chapel too.

6. I agree. It's better than the three that precede it.

I've got to agree with Vinny. I'm not really that bothered. The endless subdivision of art into smaller and smaller categories frustrates me to be honest. Personally I think the major genres should be sufficient. I know the whole "if you like band X and band Y are classed in the same sub-genre you may like them too" argument for music discovery, but I prefer it the old-school way - find out yourself by listening to more music or talk to other fans.  

Ben / Daniel, if you want to differentiate The Academy from other metal sites, I would like to see gothic doom given it's own genre. Daniel says "The question we often ask ourselves when discussing these topics is "are there metalheads that like this subgenre but not it's primary genre & vice versa?"' I think it is obvious from my comments as a huge fan of doom metal that I am not a lover of gothic metal and it is equally obvious that for someone like Andi the opposite is true. So, by your own measure I would suggest this is a valid suggestion. Would someone who likes the aforementioned gothic-influenced death doom bands necessarily be into conventional death doom like Autopsy, Winter, Sempiternal Deathreign etc? Personally I think not. For me this is far more obviously an issue than the doom/trad doom/epic doom debate (although I am beginning to change my stance on the whole doom/trad doom debate somewhat).

As for NWOBHM, this is absolutely a scene and not a genre. Out of interest, how does Metal Academy view NWOBHM bands that are obviously not metal - Demon spring to mind - would you allow them or not because RYM classes them under a metal sub-genre?

For me, the important thing with sub-genres is to have them utilised correctly - this is something RYM is notoriously bad at and I'm not sure genre voting is the way to address this situation. You may as well not have sub-genres if they are going to be incorrect or misleading.

I would also like to see blackened doom as a sub-genre - rym have allowed all sorts of "blackened" genres but stubbornly refuse to allow blackened doom, which absolutely is a valid genre and is differentiated from both black metal and doom metal in the same way as (true) death doom is from death and doom metal.

It's great to see atmospheric black metal included - this is so obviously a different beast to straight-up black metal that it should almost be a primary.

Could you also add Bloody Panda please Ben.

Ben, could you add US/Belgian one-woman black metal outfit Hulder.

 As it so happens, I'm collecting and reading the SF Masterworks series, having read quite a few Wells, Dick and Vonnegut to date.

I think a lot of fans of metal will be into genre stories (fantasy, horror and fantasy), hence the themes and artwork.

Only just picked up on your reply Ben, so apologies. The SF Masterworks series has got some fantastic titles and is a great place to start with classic science fiction. Richard Matheson's I Am Legend (forget the awful Will Smith movie), Michael Moorcock's Behold the Man, Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle and Roger Zelazney's Lord of Light are some of my favourites in the series. Personally, I think truly great classic sci-fi speaks as much about the human condition as it does space exploration, time travel or exotic technologies.

Likewise, I really started off reading fantasy when I was younger - Tolkien obviously, then moving on to the likes of Stephen Donaldson, Anne McCaffrey and David Eddings. I did get to about volume eight of The Wheel of Time series, but kind of got fed up with it eventually so never completed it. I've never read Game of Thrones but quite enjoyed the TV show, despite the **spoiler alert**  ultimate cop out.

As I've got older, via the likes of Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov, I've moved more towards science fiction for my genre fix (although I do still enjoy Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Clive Barker and other occasional horrors). Modern writers of sci-fi I particularly enjoy and would recommend include Iain M. Banks' Culture novels, Peter Hamilton and the James S.A. Corey Expanse series - I even enjoy the Amazon Prime TV series of the books which is actually pretty well done and fairly faithful to the source material.

Ben please add Dutch black metallers Funeral Winds, Sweden's Malakhim and Russia's Epitimia.

Ben, please add Miami metallers Midnight Spell.

Hi Ben, please add Dublin doom / heavy metal outfit Dread Sovereign - should probably sit in The Guardians too.