Sonny's Forum Replies
Hi Ben, could you please add Italian doom duo 1782.
I think three months is sufficient time between repeat listings. It all depends how dogmatic you want to be about it really, if it becomes too much so then I think people will just stop bothering. You would need to first check If your chosen track was available on Spotify and then If it had been used before on an earlier playlist. Frankly I haven't the time to sit in front of a computer screen all day so would probably not bother some months. What about tracks that span multiple clans? Does inclusion in one playlist preclude it being in another? If the purpose of the playlists is to reflect what members have actually been listening to then repeats are always going to be a possibility.
OK, so I've got to be honest there was a number of tracks on this month's playlist that didn't really do it for me - Acid, Pantera, Five Finger Death Punch, Nervosa, Angelus Apatrida and DRAIN all failed to raise my pulse much. There were a few tracks I was unfamiliar with that piqued my interest however - Witchery, CoC, Warpath and Hypnosia, but most of all, Cryptosis from this year's Bionic Swarm which is an album I really need to check out.
Just a quick note on one of my own selections, SSS and 3:06 - as an ex-Liverpool FC season ticket holder this song has a lot of poignancy for me as it is about the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster where 96 LFC fans lost their lives at an FA Cup semi-final at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough, in a crush against the fencing that was erected around English football grounds back in those days. 3:06 is the time specified as the cut-off point for the enquiry into the disaster to investigate, even though many of the deceased died after that time. The government and police covered up their mishandling of this event for 30 years, blaming the fans for the deaths, even though it was the stewards and police directing people into the already packed pens and then opening the turnstiles to let even more in. Only recently have the families of the deceased received any justice with verdicts that their loved ones were unlawfully killed only being passed down quite recently.
To the 96 - You'll Never Walk Alone.
I have posted my review. Grand Magus are absolutely one of my favourite bands, I have physical copies of all nine of their albums and I will probably buy their next before I've even heard it I'm that confident it'll be great. Their run of albums from 2008-12 - Iron Will, Hammer of the North and The Hunt - stack up against any three album run for my money. I'm stoked that everyone else seems to have enjoyed Hammer of the North and a metal website is finally acknowleding their brilliance - well done Metal Academy, once more proving to be ahead of the curve! If any of you haven't, I honestly think you would also enjoy the aforementioned Iron Will and The Hunt and should probably give them a spin too. Thanks for nominating this Vinny.
A savage and aggressive new album of Norwegian thrash courtesy of three-piece Nekromantheon:
Daniel, Vinny you may both find this of some interest.
Hi Ben, please add Norway's Nekromantheon.
"I'm comfortable in the knowledge that one day my body will tell me that I need to give this metal things away once & for all but I'm gonna keep indulging myself until that time comes."
Hey Daniel, I'm almost 60 now and metal is still a huge part of my life, so there's probably no need to give it up at any stage. It's like anything else in today's self-obsessed world, people think if they wrap themselves up in cotton wool then they'll live forever (**Spoiler Alert** they won't). Drink, drugs, motorcycles and metal were once the whole world to me (metal being the only one I still indulge in), all of which exact a price - and I wouldn't change any of it. Live fast.. etc!!
My June suggestion (if non-clan members are still allowed one):
Drain STH - Crack the Liar's Smile from Horror Wrestling (1996).
This one isn't available on Spotify Sonny.
That's weird - it was when I suggested it. I check any suggestions are available before posting them.
OK, how about Mushroomhead and Sun Doesn't Rise from XIII (2003).
Ah, I get it now! To be honest I sometimes miss details like that if I'm not realy concentrating due to my annoying tinnitus - not just metal music caused, I used to work in a metal rolling mill back in the eighties when health and safety wasn't quite as robust as it is nowadays and so I'm stuck with a continuous hissing in the ears that can block out more subtle sounds. Perhaps one reason I like extreme metal music as it drowns all that shit out!
I've posted a review, but to summarise:
This is not a case of Slayer's Dave Lombardo's Band of Musical Extras by any means, this is a cohesive and extremely tight metal band playing great tunes and impressing the shit out of this old bastard who had never even heard of them prior to this feature. I really enjoyed this and have had it on hard rotation for the last week. If this is groove metal then this is much more up my street than any Pantera clone which comprise the bulk of groove metal I've heard to date. Nice choice Ben - an underrated album of superior quality.
Hey Daniel, I would like to replace Sacred Reich's Death Squad with a track from this month's feature - Grip Inc's track Scream at the Sky from Nemesis (4:46) which I calculate takes my runtime to exactly 30:00 minutes!
I've noticed a number of reviews refer to the use of cowbell on this album and my hearing is not the best, but aren't the bells heard here predominantly tubular bells? I may be wrong, but that's what they sound like to me.
Computer software eh. What a fickle damn thing it can be sometimes!
That's all I usually do Vinny. I guess Ben will need to look into it.
Will do - I'll get back to you on that. Sorry, I should have paid more attention!
My picks for June's Pit playlist:
Hydra Vein - Rabid (4:39) from Rather Death Than False of Faith (1988)
Indestroy - U.S.S.A. (3:41) from Indestroy (1988)
Sacred Reich - Death Squad (4:21) from Ignorance (1987)
Num Skull - Turn of a Screw (4:13) from Ritually Abused (1988)
Evile - The Thing (1982) (4:54) from Hell Unleashed (2021)
Lich King - Combat Mosh (4:39) from Born of the Bomb (2012)
Skeletonwitch - Vengeance Will Be Mine (3:08) from Beyond the Permafrost (2007)
Total runtime: 29:35
My suggestions for June's playlist:
Wolves in the Throne Room - I Will Lay Down My Bones Among the Rocks and Roots (18:16) from Two Hunters (2007)
Yith - Risen (5:30) from Passage (2021)
Total runtime: 23:46
My June suggestion (if non-clan members are still allowed one):
Drain STH - Crack the Liar's Smile from Horror Wrestling (1996).
Well, you're not wrong Vinny. Milton Keynes is one of the most soulless places in the UK!
I have posted a review for this, although I don't feel it really does it justice, but to summarise:
At first listen I wasn't exactly over-enamoured by this, as it seemed like it was wantonly disjointed and felt like an attempt at some kind of avant-garde black metal collage, but subsequent listens have allowed me to recognise that underneath it is quite a primal black metal record that hasn't actually strayed all that far from the genre's earliest roots. I've bought in to it's jagged, sharp-edged structure and the disconcerting effect it has on the listener, like a painting or picture that is viewed from a weird perspective. The result of all this is a real one-off of an album that I have heard very little to compare with (this of course may be a failing of my own and perhaps there are loads, but I don't think so). Yet another album that proves black metal is still a long way from having run it's course and can still turn out original releases of exceptional, thought-provoking quality.
My suggestion for June:
Fear Factory - Pisschrist from Demanufacture (1995)
Just given this a couple of blasts and posted a short review.
I really enjoyed firing this up again - as I said in my review, it really does feel like a call from an old friend you haven't heard from in ages and didn't realise you missed as much as you evidently do. Some great memorable tracks here - Dog Day Sunrise, Body Hammer and Hunter-Killer to name but three. Love the play-off between the harsh and clean vocals on this album and Dino's riffing is really powerful and the machine-like rhythms are bang on the money. A great album of genuinely dystopian atmosphere where the remnants of humanity pitch against the machines' pitiless hive mind.
"Crown of black thorns, Human skin, ripped and torn, Where is your saviour now?" still gets me every time!
June's suggestions:
Sepulcros - Magno Caos (8:57) from Vazio (2021)
Apostle of Solitude - Sincerest Misery (1,000 Days) (14:02) from Sincerest Misery (2008)
Total runtime 22:59
So people are actually interested enough in this shit to care?
The Werewolf's Asshole track contains 0% metal to my ears.
Horse the Band is about 10% metal and Sky Eats Airplane is about 50% metal.
Is that enough to maintain it's place in MA? I would guess probably not, but I'm no expert on what these crazy kids listen to nowadays.
If it means I don't have to listen to it again then I vote Kick It Out!
This has no ratings on the site yet, but Daniel & Vinny I think you both may find something to enjoy in this obscure gem of UK thrash from 1988:
Hey, I think I've got the CD somewhere. I'll have to dig it out and give it a respin or two - not heard it in ages.
Yes, nice one Vinny!! One of my favourite albums. Grand Magus are one of the great underrated trad metal bands. Will definitely have to summon up a review for this one.
My favourite band Darkthrone announce their new album called Eternal Hails...... out on 25th June.
Five tracks from seven to nine and a half minutes and according to the blurb on Bandcamp should be a bit more doomy than usual.
"With the highly revered Norwegians remaining ever-dedicated to the art of the riff after 35 years of existence, Darkthrone return for album number nineteen and a new dose of metallic godliness. On the back of 2019’s triumphant ‘Old Star’ opus, the duo of Nocturno Culto & Fenriz present a 41 minute maelstrom of Epic Black Heavy Metal across five sprawling compositions. Organic and dynamic, the album is an exploration of the very finest vintage metal and the best of doom, all delivered in the unmistakable Darkthrone style, whilst also incorporating instruments such as the Moog to further expand upon these soundscapes."
Can't wait...
I'm only just hitching a ride on the Incantation bandwagon since Diabolical Conquest was the featured release a couple of months back so I will definitely check this (and the rest of their stuff) out.
My favourite track from possibly the 21st century's best thrash album.
Combining old-school death doom and thrash, Steel Bearing Hand's Tombspawn is awesome:
"I'm very surprised Steel Bearing Hand haven't received more attention as this is unquestionably the best 2020's thrash metal release I've heard to date" is dead right indeed. In fact, I didn't register at first that it was a new release at all. I was convinced it was early 90's through and through. Thrash, death, black metal and best of all filthy-sounding Autopsy-style death doom. At 26 minutes it's a short, sharp shock like a dagger between the ribs that packs as big a punch as Mike Tyson on Angel Dust!
Here, here Vinny, "detachment of the art from the individual is key in metal I find" is dead right. Metal artists have no end of unpalatable beliefs and have done no end of unpalatable acts, so if you can't separate art from artist then metal is probably not for you. The obsession with so-called celebrity lives (including metal musicians) and subsequent cancel culture is bordering on some kind of mass mania. Personally I couldn't give a damn what these people do or believe, as you say, within limits (no Lostprophets played here either) but why should we care what goes on in these people's lives just because they have some kind of minor celebrity? Let's focus on the music and ignore the bullshit.
By the way, I wasn't defending Schaffer in any way, but I feel he and his cohorts have been horribly manipulated by those with vested interests. The real culprits for the situation at the Capitol building will never find themselves anywhere near a courtroom and will continue to sow hatred and division unchecked. Just saying, as a bemused onlooker from the UK.
What a great playlist this month guys, possibly my favourite to date. Some fantastic stuff on here, the only drop-off being tracks 6 to 8 and even those weren't too bad - I've always loved Christina Scabbia's voice, despite not being Lacuna Coil's biggest fan and even the Within Temptation track was OK. I was already familiar with a lot of the material, but the tracks by Corrosion of Conformity and Paradise Lost are new to me and require further exploration. I've also never listened to Sunn O)))'s Black One but the track Báthory Erzsébet is dark as f**k and I will now definitely be checking that album out. I will certainly keep this list saved on Spotify and will probably spin it up from time to time because it's just so good. Nice one!!
Jon Schaffer's biggest crime was being taken in by the rantings of a malignant narcissist and his right-wing idealogue enablers in the media. He probably believed what he was doing was patriotic (the US constitution allows for the overthrow of a corrupt government by the people) as he and the rest of the people who stormed the Capitol building that day had been horribly exploited by cowardly pundits and manipulators. This isn't even close to the same as the heinous acts of Ian Watkins. There's also no chance Schaffer will get 30 years.
One of my absolute favourite Italian Doom tracks. I just can't stop playing this mutha at the minute!
From Doomraiser's 2006 album Lords of Mercy:
Hey Ben, could you please add the following:
Zaklon - Belarus
Wounds of Recollection - US
Wampyric Rites - International
Vindland - France
Utstøtt - US
Hi Ben, please add Oakland's War Cloud.
Sorry, but enough is enough and I heard more than enough of Within Temptation and their ilk back in the early 2000s. This month I am afraid I'm gonna pass on listening to the Fallen featured release as I've already tried re-listening to one album that I despise (Inhuman Rampage) and I can't pull that trick off twice in a month - life's far too short for that! Needless to say, my memories of this (and the many others like it) are not good and not an experience I wish to repeat any time soon.
Agreed, Xephyr. I've currently got it sitting at #1 on my albums of 2021 list on RYM.
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Sonny92/a-new-day-dawning-2021-releases-previewed-ranked-and-rated/
Agreed, Xephyr. I've currently got it sitting at #1 on my albums of 2021 list on RYM.
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Sonny92/a-new-day-dawning-2021-releases-previewed-ranked-and-rated/
My suggestions for May's playlist:
Selvans - Clangores Plenilunio (9:26) from Clangores Plenilunio EP (2015)
Archgoat - Black Crusade (3:31) from Whore of Bethlehem (2006)
Morbid - My Dark Subconsious (4:40) from December Moon (1986)
Wode - Lunar Madness (6:12) from Burn in Many Mirrors (2021)
Total Runtime 23:49
Hi Ben, I've been doing a bit of tidying up so could you please add:
Yidhra - US
Yearning - Finland
Wretch - US
World Below - Sweden
Woorms - US
Plaguewielder - US
I have submitted a review, but in summation:
At first listen I was underwhelmed by another slab of Kreator-worship, but by the fourth listen-through there were certainly elements that appealled to me - the production is stellar, I love the moments when the bass is allowed to shine through, the energy level of the tracks is high, and tracks with a bit more to them like Dead Souls and Tunnelratten are actually very good indeed. On the downside there are too many songs that feel like filler and, as Vinny points out in his review, Daniel Altwegg's vocals are a bit monotonous and a track like Dead Souls really needs a more varied vocal delivery to reach full potential. I now judge how good an album is by whether I would buy a physical copy or not and I have to admit, in ...On Chains Of Doom case I would not (unless I get it for a couple of quid second hand). Even saying that though, there is enough in this album for me to be optimistic that TA have a great album in them yet - this just isn't it.
My suggestions for the May playlist:
Cathedral - Stained Glass Horizons (5:29) from Supernatural Birth Machine (1996)
Hell - Mourn (18:08) from Hell III (2012) [sorry!!]
Total runtime: 23:37
My suggestions for May's playlist:
Megadeth - Into the Lungs of Hell (3:22) from So Far, So Good, So What.. (1988)
Protector - Holocaust (3:46) - Misanthropy EP (1987)
Sepultura - Nomad (4:59) from Chaos AD (1993)
Vio-lence - Eternal Nightmare (6:11) from Eternal Nightmare (1988)
SSS - 3:06 (0:56) from The Dividing Line (2008)
Municipal Waste - The Thrashin' of the Christ (2:30) -from Hazardous Mutation (2005)
Razor - Behind Bars (2:14) from Violent Restitution (1988)
Total Runtime: 23:58
A nice strong start to this month's playlist with the first five tracks, but it died off for me with the next few and the more folk metal-related material, even the Bathory track is one of my least favoured of his. Picks up again with the Аркона track again and is very consistently high quality from thereon in, albeit with one caveat - I still can't get to grips with Bethlehem the way other black metal fans do. Several less familiar bands I've come away interested to discover more of include Yoth Iria, Malokarpatan, Barathrum and Dark Fortress. Also a reminder that I need to go back to the Suffering Hour album and spend a bit more time with it as it's a very interesting record.
After having DF rammed down our throats courtesy of the metal mags of the mid-2000s, I took the plunge and bought a CD-r copy of Inhuman Rampage from a guy at work who dealt in dodgy CDs and DVDs. Possibly the biggest waste of a quid-fifty I have ever suffered! I have never felt the compulsion to explore further, but on the strength of this Transformers of an album, Dragonforce are the Michael Bay of metal music - all flash and zero substance. I can just imagine that on countless spare room shelves there are 6" plastic action figures of the band all laid out among the Power Rangers and Star Wars figures.
That said however, in the same way that Mr. Bay's awful movies may perform some service by getting youngsters into cinema, then Dragonforce may act as an M&M trail for some disaffected teens to get into more substantial metal - and for that they should be applauded!
However for me, who never wanted to hear this album ever again, I gave it a go and got as far as second track, Revolution Deathsquad, when I realised I was glad an advert had popped up on Spotify to give me some respite. When that happens it's time to switch off. Absolutely not my thing at all and I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but I have tempered what I really wanted to say a little!
1/10
One of my all-time favourite proto-metal tracks:
THis band are so much more than Don't Fear the Fuckin' Reaper!!
I'm starting to feel a bit spoiled by black metal releases this year. This weekend has seen another terrific album released.
This time it's a band fairly local to me and a band I feel are heavily underrated - Manchester's Wode with their Burn in Many Mirrors album.
I've put together a Spotify playlist of tracks from my favourite black metal albums of the year to date (although I couldn't access the Pan-Amerikan Native Front album unfortunately, so i've had to give it a miss).
Black Metal of 2021 playlist