Sonny's Forum Replies

If you press "see more reviews" then it shows the last 50 reviews to be posted. Surely that is enough for anyone!

Deathcade from Nocturnal Depression is in my opinion the best Depressive Black Metal offering of all time. Hell It's my favorite black metal album of all time. That's where I would point you Sunny. It's a compilation of their best songs but re-recorded with better production. Lifelovers' Pulver is pretty damn good too.

Silencer is indeed polarizing, I'm not even a huge fan of it myself, but I recognize it as a major album within the subgenre. 

Thanks, man. I'll check them out.

I saw you name checked Silencer there, Zero. Now that is a divisive album. Personally I love it, but I have seen a lot of hate for it elsewhere (it actually rates pretty well here). It definitely contains one of the all-time outstanding vocal performances (as in, it stands out). I'm not the biggest fan of DSBM as I have spent too long on Bandcamp listening to third-rate bedroom acts, but Silencer and Shining (if you count them as DSBM) are excellent. Any more recommendations for top quality albums in the genre?

As for site functions... two things I'd be interested in would be an actual weighting system to releases (more ratings=more weight, even if it was only a small amount. This could even be a toggle feature, if the community is split about it) and the ability to rate alternate album covers, such as on re-releases or odd examples where the album kinda has two official artworks (Like God Hates Us All does for censorship reasons).

I do like the weighting idea. It would be best if it wasn't too heavily weighted in favour of number of ratings though.

I've never used Discord, but toxicity online is certainly something I want no part of. I probably wouldn't get involved with a live chat room as I prefer to think out my posts beforehand and live chat, by it's instantaneous nature, may lead to ill-considered interactions which potentially feed into toxicity and misunderstanding. Good luck to anyone who does go for it, but it's not for me.

I had a sneaking suspicion that this might be right up your street, Daniel.

I kind of agree with your views on the symphonic metal bands, but SubRosa are very much not in that style. They are far doomier than any of those symphonic bands. Check out More Constant Than the Gods.

I think doom metal is very inclusive for women, with loads of bands having female members and not just vocalists, but even when they are singers, the likes of Windhand's Dorthia Cotrrell and Acid King's Lori S. are nothing like Tarja and co.

I grew up with The Runaways and have several of their albums on vinyl from the time. Girlschool I saw a million times during the NWOBHM era - they were on tour almost constantly and were tons better live than on record.

I do quite like Savage Master - have you listened to Smoulder, they are similar, but maybe more epic doom leaning.

Dan and Ben seam like damn cool dudes. I know now not to worry about it. I'll probably go back and try to add more bulk to my more lean reviews-not gonna lie sometimes its a real chore, but we'll get it done.

About Type O- I love that whole late 90s'-2000's Gothic Aesthetic. Something about being in formative years, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Alison Hannigan (Willow). I just love everything about that. It's thick in their work and if you don't like it you probably aren't going to like Type-O, the 69 Eyes, Moonspell, etc. There is just no getting around it with those bands. 

However, if you have not heard "I Don't wanna be me" I would throw that your way. It still has Type-O all over it, but it's a shorter song with a punk rock composition rather than the lengthy slow material you would often associate with them. 

How do you feel about Danzig? 

I feel you on the low sounds. Good doom is like a warm blanket. I will have to look into Tangerine Dream-I'm intrigued. 

When it comes to the technical stuff I don't immediately hate it. I would say Tomb of the Mutilated is a fairly technical album, but it still has recognizable strong structure and hooks and I love that album. 

I don't like things like Brain Drill or Periphery where the whole stick is "look at how goddamn good I am at this instrument." I can play in those styles, and I've done it in the past, but I'd much rather listen to Cronos growl and smack his bass and play like a demon. 

Likewise, I don't hate all technical metal out of hand, but I do like to be able to hear an actual "song" under the technicality. Atheist, Nile, Death etc. are all fantastic and several of my five star albums are by these bands.

I'm not massively into Danzig either, although I did love The Misfits when Glenn Danzig was in the band. The Type O track I do like (and I really like it) is Creepy Green Light, so if there's anything else like that then I may be interested. Even My Dying Bride sometimes piss me off, but they have a lot more great stuff than not, so they are forgiven their innate "gothicness", similarly with Paradise Lost. A band I really love who are in similar vein, but with female singers, are SubRosa. Somehow female singing in gothic metal annoys me less, I think it's because they aren't doing the whole "listen how deep and vampirey my voice can go" thing - and I do love violins in metal.

If you do look into Tangerine Dream then try their 1970's stuff first, Rubycon, Ricochet, Stratosfear and such are far better than their later, more movie soundtrack-sounding stuff, for me anyway.

Edit: Just checked out "I Don't wanna be me" and guess what, I liked it. It sounds a bit like early Sisters of Mercy - yes, I actually love gothic rock, but not gothic metal so much - go figure. I'm also very keen on old-school punk rock and hardcore, so the punky feel to this is actually right up my street. So now I like two TON tracks - we're really getting somewhere!

I went back to Gorguts and did my thing. I don't know if you will like the thing, but I thinged my ass off.

Hi, Zero. Just read your review and although I may not have put it quiite so bluntly, I actually agree with your view of excessively technical metal. I am over sixty and have been a metalhead since I was 14, so remember all too well when metal was treated with contempt by fans of other styles of music for being simplistic and dumb, so it rubs me up the wrong way too when some devotees of technical and complex metal look down on fans of "simpler" forms (ie metal with actual songs). It's bad enough when outsiders do it, but it feels like a betrayal when so-called metal brothers do it. But Ben was right, your new review has given everyone a far better insight into who you are and where you're coming from than the original one-liner. For the record, I thought Gorguts' first two albums were pretty good, but when they ditched the songs for a purely technical form of expression on the highly-rated Obscura they completely lost me.

As a massive fan of funeral doom metal and judging by some of your comments so far regarding it, I suppose we won't always see eye to eye, but it's good to meet you and I hope you enjoy your time here. Welcome.

Thank you so much man. That truly means a lot to me. I just didn't know if my brand of negative review would be well received. I've had the misfortune of being around moderation elsewhere (looking at you Reddit) that would chalk up any kind of negativity as toxic trolling, so I had learned to reel myself in. I was genuinely concerned that I was gonna wake up banned this morning. 

I absolutely love funeral doom, I just prefer the "pretty" stuff with the violins and keys as opposed to the oppressive wall of sound synthesizer approach. 

You're welcome, ZS. Obviously I can't speak for Daniel and Ben, but as long as things remain respectful to other site members, there has never been any problem with posting negative reviews. We can't all like everything and in the great wide world of metal there will be things that wind us up. For example, I recall you said you liked Type O Negative, but they are a band I just cannot get along with, the whole theatrical gothic schtick in certain styles of doom metal being a particular bugbear of mine.

As far as funeral doom and drone go, I have said it before on the site, I sometimes struggle with auditory overload, but I find the monolithic nature of FD and Drone extremely calming. Progressive electronic like Tangerine Dream has a similar effect on me, but the unadulterated volume of doom metal suits my needs better. This is also probably why I am not a fan of excessively chaotic avant-garde and technical metal. Anyway, whether we agree or disagree, I hope we are all able to get along together and I look forward to reading more of your stuff as it's nice to have new points of view.

I went back to Gorguts and did my thing. I don't know if you will like the thing, but I thinged my ass off.

Hi, Zero. Just read your review and although I may not have put it quiite so bluntly, I actually agree with your view of excessively technical metal. I am over sixty and have been a metalhead since I was 14, so remember all too well when metal was treated with contempt by fans of other styles of music for being simplistic and dumb, so it rubs me up the wrong way too when some devotees of technical and complex metal look down on fans of "simpler" forms (ie metal with actual songs). It's bad enough when outsiders do it, but it feels like a betrayal when so-called metal brothers do it. But Ben was right, your new review has given everyone a far better insight into who you are and where you're coming from than the original one-liner. For the record, I thought Gorguts' first two albums were pretty good, but when they ditched the songs for a purely technical form of expression on the highly-rated Obscura they completely lost me.

As a massive fan of funeral doom metal and judging by some of your comments so far regarding it, I suppose we won't always see eye to eye, but it's good to meet you and I hope you enjoy your time here. Welcome.

Fear Is the Mindkiller is an EP of remixes of tracks from the FF's debut, Soul of a New Machine, with three of the six tracks being various versions of Self Immolation, one of which is the original album version. To be honest, the first two tracks sound fucking horrible to my ears, bringing to mind images from second-rate post-apocalyptic movies where tribes of rejects from Mad Max 2 dance round huge bonfires before setting off to harass the movie's main characters. Industrial metal mixed with electronic dance music and exactly the sort of thing that overloads my auditory sense mechanism, verging on the unbearable. For me personally, Hell sounds like this.

Things do improve after that and, in fairness, the remixes of Scapegoat and Scumgrief aren't quite that bad, but Scapegoat sounds poorly put together (the clean singing sections just sound right out of place) with Scumgrief (Deep Dub Trauma Mix) probably coming out on top of the remixed tracks. The Liquid Sky Mix of Self Immolation also has it's moments, but it does tend to drag on a bit. I know the fact that I have never been part of the EDM scene massively affects my opinion here, but it is what it is. Obviously, for me, the original version of Self Immolation is the best track here by a long way and even that is well short of FF's best work.

2/5

Crippled Lucifer is one of my favourite doom metal albums and defines the extreme end of the doom metal spectrum. Here is my review:

Stephen O'Malley and usual cohort Greg Anderson, have produced some of the most extreme doom metal known to man as well as founding one of the premier doom metal labels, Southern Lord and are probably most well known for being the driving force behind SunnO))). After their short-lived first project, Thorr's Hammer split and before loosening bowels with the aforementioned drone metal titans, these doom metal stalwarts were the integral members of seminal extreme doom outfit Burning Witch. The band also featured vocalist Edgemont Martin (aka Edgy 59) and bassist G. Stuart Dahlquist (aka G. Subharmonium) along with a couple of drummers (successively, not at the same time)!

I think it is pretty safe to say that seldom has doom metal been served up that is more extreme-sounding and gruelling an experience than Burning Witch. As if the titanic, world-destroying chords of O'Malley and Anderson weren't enough then the tortured and deranged shrieks of Edgy 59 are sure to push you over the edge. This is most definitely not comfortable doom metal, in whose all-encompassing embrace you can wallow and luxuriate - no, this is deliberately confrontational, difficult and just downright unpleasant-sounding in order to throw you off balance and make you feel ill at ease and feed your suspicions that something IS indeed rotten in Denmark. A track like Country Doctor is certainly only going to appeal to those who like their metal music to confront them with the distressing and difficult-to-love, although there are a couple of slightly more accessible and, at least relatively speaking, conventional tracks such as Sacred Premonitions acting like pieces of flotsam for the drowning listener to cling to. One aspect of almost all of O'Malley and Anderson's music that cannot be ignored is that it is written with an additional instrument in mind. That instrument is sheer, unadulterated volume. Throughout their careers their music is seemingly intended to be as much a physical sensation as an auditory one and can only really be fully appreciated within the context of extreme volume, which is another reason that they should be considered as genuinely inhabiting the most extreme end of the doom metal spectrum. Sure, high volume has played a part in metal for all of it's fifty year reign, but with these guys it isn't just an option, it is an integral part of their whole sound.

Crippled Lucifer is actually available in a couple of versions, the original 1998 version being sub-titled Seven Psalms for Our Lord of Light, it is now available in an extended version which carries the sub-title 10 Psalms for Our Lord of Light. The original version contain seven of the eight tracks contained on the Rift.Canyon.Dreams and Towers EPs. The 2008 expanded version also contains the track Rift.Canyon.Dreams from a split release with Asva and Burning Witch's two tracks from their split with Goatsnake, which is pretty much the sum total of the band's recorded output and is the version I would recommend as the CD is a nice package altogether.

Whichever version you listen to, be sure that you are going to be subjected to a crushing, bleak-sounding, nihilistic version of doom metal, a million miles removed from Candlemass, My Dying Bride or Saint Vitus, that takes no prisoners, gives no quarter and, to be honest, couldn't even give a fuck if you like it or not. Be prepared.

5/5

An absolutely stellar playlist this month, Daniel. I loved pretty much every minute of it. Listened to it whilst out walking, so didn't keep an eye which track was which band, but I will definitely be returning to it over the coming month and I will take notes then. If this is an indication of where we're going with the playlists then things are looking good!

Hi KK and welcome. I hope you enjoy your time here.

I'm not on Facebook or X myself and I'm not even sure I know what reddit is, but I can see that you are really working hard on this Daniel, so I thought I would just add my moral support for all your efforts. I really hope you see some reward for your hard work as it would be nice to see an uptick in site and playlist traffic.

On a related matter, getting people to visit the site doesn't necessarily seem to be a big problem, whereas getting them to stay or revisit does. Do you have any theories on why this would be?

I must have had Hawkwind on the brain because I incorrectly named the album from which Sabbath's "Into the Void" is taken as "Master of the Universe". Now corrected, before anybody had chance to point out what a numpty I am!!

I had the whole collection of Masters of the Universe when I was a kid. Sold them to a collector for a significant amount of money years later too strangely enough.

Was that a TV show back in the eighties? I think I vaguely remember my little brother watching it. I was thinking of the Hawkwind track, Master of the Universe.

I must have had Hawkwind on the brain because I incorrectly named the album from which Sabbath's "Into the Void" is taken as "Master of the Universe". Now corrected, before anybody had chance to point out what a numpty I am!!

June 2024

1. Candlemass - "At the Gallows End" (from "Nightfall", 1987)

2. Black Sabbath - "Into the Void" (from "Master of Reality", 1971)

3. Paradise Lost - "Say Just Words" (from "One Second", 1997)

4. Darkthrone - "Howling Primitive Colonies" (from "It Beckons Us All.......", 2024) [submitted by Sonny]

5. Katatonia - "Endtime" (from "Brave Murder Day", 1996) [submitted by Vinny]

6. Autopsy – “In The Grip Of Winter” (from “Retribution For The Dead” E.P., 1991) [submitted by Daniel]

7. Orchid - "Silent One" (from "The Mouth of Madness", 2013) [submitted by Vinny]

8. Grin - "Deathbringers" (from "Hush", 2024)

9. Woods of Ypres -"Silver" (from "Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light", 2012) [submitted by Vinny]

10. Confessor – “Endtime” (from “Confessor” E.P., 1992) [submitted by Daniel]

11. High on Fire - "Darker Fleece" (from "Cometh the Storm", 2024) [submitted by Sonny]

12. Skumring - "Forførelse i natten" (from "De glemte tider", 2005)

13. Melvins – “Your Blessened” (from “Bullhead”, 1991) [submitted by Daniel]

14. Mizmor & Thou - "Subordinate" (from "Myopia", 2022)

15. Grief - "Depression" (from "Dismal", 1992)

16. Reverend Bizarre - "Cromwell" (from "II: Crush the Insects", 2005) [submitted by Sonny]

17. Fireball Ministry - "Sundown" (from "Their Rock Is Not Our Rock", 2005)

18. Slumber – “Fallout” (from “Fallout”, 2008) [submitted by Daniel]

19. Sunn O))) - "Frost (C)" (from "Pyroclasts", 2019)

Gave it a listen during this morning's walk and although it's early days yet, I'm very satisfied with what I heard. It's exactly what you would expect from Thou and won't do anything to change anyone's view of the band, I suspect, but if you're a fan then I would be very surprised if this didn't float your boat.

When my self-imposed exile from metal was ending at the end of the Nineties and I was casting around for bands to get me into the new sounds that had developed since I left it behind in 1990, I stumbled upon CoF playing live on some late night UK TV show and was mesmerised by their sound and aesthetic which were all new to me. I soon obtained a copy of Principles of Evil (via Napster I am ashamed to say) and really got into this new, eccentric-sounding and thoroughly exciting "new" style. I've not always been wowed by all their stuff, but I did find that this debut, Middian and even Nymphetamine offered me enough enjoyment to thoroughly shred any possibility of me claiming to be any kind of trve kvltist black metal fan! However, over the intervening years my black metal listening has refined itself somewhat with Cradle no longer appealing to me that much and it has been a long time since I last listened to Principles of Evil all the way through, so it's time to see how it stacks up 25 years on from my initial discovery of the East Anglian black metal goths.

The most striking thing about CoF is the sheer theatricality of their sound. Combining the symphonic black metal of Emperor with the gothic aesthetics of MyDying Bride, Dani Filth strikes me as a black metal version of Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Cradle albums as soundtracks to black metal musicals. In truth, that fanciful notion has less basis in fact here on the debut than it does on some of their later releases, but it is still a fair comment, I think, as it is still steeped in theatricality. To this end Benjamin Ryan's keyboards play a significant role on The Principle... providing intros, outros, interludes and as atmospheric layering they are never far from the action and provide some great moments, such as during The Forest Whispers My Name where they provide a nice melodic overlay and my favourite track, To Eve the Art of Witchcraft, which is undoubtedly elevated by Ryan's keyboard work.

Obviously, Cradle never really sounded this black metal again, with them inching into more gothic metal territory with each release, but underneath the gothic and atmospheric trappings there are some pretty decent slices of melodic black metal blasting here with the title track, the aforementioned The Forest Whispers My Name and A Crescendo of Passion Bleeding. They are unafraid to slow things down, too, and lean more into the gothic metal direction. The Black Goddess Rises, for example, contains little actual black metal and is a much more considered tempo, almost resembling doom metal, for much of it's runtime.

I'm actually glad I returned to this for May's feature because it has held up quite well across the intervening years and I feel a bit more love towards it today than I did before revisiting it. Of course there is an inherent degree of cheesiness here, with Dani's clean vocals providing much of it, but I do like his singular brand of ear-piercing screams which possibly makes me a bit more forgiving. All in all, I am feeling so well-disposed to Principle today, after several revisits during the month, that I am going to up my long-standing 3.5 star rating to a full 4.

4/5

I'm not a massive Exodus fan, but like Vinny says, maybe a live album from the time will reveal a missing dimension that elevates them to another level. Think I may give it a spin.

Unfortunately I find an awful lot of Alcest to be sonic wallpaper, which from a drone guy is a bit of a statement, I realise. I've not checked them out since 2016's Kodama and can't say this new one is likely to change that any time soon.

Yes, it does all look good, Daniel and I particularly love the Fallen picture. Great work once more. I have tried to programme the June Fallen playlist along the lines you suggested and I am quite pleased with the result myself, but I would like to hear from you guys as to what works and what doesn't. 

It actually made for an interesting experience trying to produce something more ear-catching and re-ignited my enthusiasm for something that had felt like it was becoming a bit of a slog in all honesty.

I'm looking forward to hearing your lists,, Daniel, and I will even be checking the Guardians out, which is something I haven't done for ages (too much euro power metal in the past for me).

Here's hoping all your hard work has an impact and draws a few more metalheads sitewards. Onwards and upwards!!

I've been checking out their debut, Tyrant, over the last couple of days and been loving it, so this is one I really want to hear.

Deathspell Omega - Fas – Ite, maledicti, in ignem aeternum (2007)

Remarkably I haven't got around to DsO's "Fas – Ite, maledicti, in ignem aeternum" before, so I thought I would slap it on my player as I headed out with Koko this morning. As I have said several times before, I have very little tolerance for dissonant metal and even less for avant-garde music, yet somehow DsO seem to be able to transcend these ingrained prejudices of mine. I don't know exactly why the Frenchmen succeed where so many fail, but their dissonant form of black metal is so skillfully assembled that I find it irresistibly attractive with none of the built-in revulsion I feel for other practitioners of the dissonant style. Ultimately it feels more like a coherent wall of sound to me rather than diverse elements working against each other, which most other dissonant metal does. The vocals are fantastic and the drumming especially is transfixing in both intensity and precision. All-in-all these guys are the absolute very best at what they do and "Fas – Ite, maledicti, in ignem aeternum" is another brilliant example of the masters at their craft.

4.5/5

That is why my post was directed at Daniel, Andi.

In the interest of full disclosure, Daniel, I have used the Fallen clan logo to head up a public list on RYM where I list all the tracks I have used so far on the playlist. Would you prefer me to replace it or make the list private? In my defence, I only made it public in the hope that it might drum up some support for the playlist and, by extension, the website (which it seems to have spectacularly failed to do!) Sorry, I should probably have asked first.

Sorry, but I really don't have the time to search through countless pages of free to use images to try and find something suitable. Even my spare time has it's limits.

Guys, please feel free to suggest a suitable image for your playlists too. I've already changed the ones for The Horde & The Guardians to make them more appealing to the casual listener.

If using existing album artwork is permissible then the cover of Bell Witch's "Mirror Reaper" would be my first choice, closely followed by Jupiterian's "Protosapien" which has the added advantage of having no visible text to remove.

https://metal.academy/releases/6131

https://metal.academy/releases/22971

I've just done The Fallen, The Sphere & The Pit. Any ideas for The Gateway, The Infinite & The North playlist names?

Progressive Metal Dimensions

Progressive Metal Visions

Progressive Metal Voyages

Black Metal Wasteland

Black Metal Blasphemy

Black Metal Tundra

Black Metal Blizzard

Alternative Metal Authority?

Alternative Metal Assault?

Alternative Metal Armada?

Alternative Metal Attack?

I kinda like Alternative Metal Authority. What does everyone think?

Of the four, it is the one I would pick, but it seems very difficult to find sonething that feels right with alternative metal. I did give it some thought today, but drew a blank.

Interestingly, one of our inactive members has created a 224 hour Spotify playlist called "The Fallen" & has used our The Fallen clan symbol as the image which isn't wonderful, especially given that some of the content isn't in line with the Metal Academy clan genre trees.

If it's any consolation, Daniel, I couldn't find it and I searched for quite a while, whereas the "official" Fallen playlist (complete with new name) came up on the first page.

Hey Daniel, are you implementing any changes to the titles and descriptions of the playlists yourself, or do we list compilers need to do it?

I remember those covers well from way too many hours spent in record shops, flicking through endless racks of vinyl albums back in the day. It's a pity Molly Hatchet's music never lived up to the quality of the covers.

I certainly wouldn't disagree that the main riff is indeed a metal riff and a pretty good one at that. I quite like Dust as it happens and I have a double CD reissue of their two albums. The cover of second album, Hard Attack, is the type of cover that has graced many a metal album since, even up to the present day - compare it to the covers of Smoulder's albums, for example.

High on Fire - Cometh the Storm (2024)

High on Fire are a band I have derived a deal of enjoyment from, yet I haven't given them nearly as much attention as my taste dictates they deserve, not really checking out much since 2007's Death Is This Communion. I don't really have an explanation for this, it's just the way it's been. Anyway, Cometh the Storm is another really solid offering from the Matt Pike-led threesome and is yet another that is right up my street.

The basic sound here is sludgy stoner metal and within that framework there is a fair bit of variety, but with the riffs constantly being king. The production is of very high quality, so those fuzzed-up riffs are given some extra clout with a beefy sound job that still allows plenty of clarity and depth. The variation within the songwriting is illustrated very early on where the relentless chugging of Burning Down with it's myriad stoned-out solos leads into the almost thrashy Trismegistus that, with Matt Pike's grizzled and throaty, but quite shrill, bellows, makes the track sound a bit like Motorhead (a comparison that is even more obvious on The Beating). This then gives way to the psychedelically-loaded stoned-out grooves of the brooding title track and the unexpected, yet perfectly suited, Turkish folk music of Karanlık yol. Each is handled impressively as High on Fire demonstrate exactly how accomplished a band they now are with none of the tracks sounding out of place or mishandled. A quick word for ex-Melvins drummer Coady Willis who has come in to replace founding member Des Kensel and has dropped straight into the HoF groove with the band not missing a step despite the change and with Willis' busy and precise performance being the foundation on which the album is built.

Ultimately, this is top drawer stoner metal, skillfully performed, with great production values and a tough sludgy edge that draws upon the stoned-out psychedelics of past times and drapes them over a solid and harder than you may expect metallic core that is able to appeal to both stoners and moshpit denizens alike. I can't really define why, but this is just one of those albums that feels so authentically and unapologetically metal that it is impossible to do it down in any way.

4/5

OK, so how does "Doom and Sludge Metal Darkness" sound? The other two don't seem quite right the other way round.

Alternatively: 

Doom Metal Domination

Doom Metal Dominion

Doomination: Doom & Sludge Metal

Doom Metal Apocalypse

Awesome! Have a think about how you might like to adjust the title of The Fallen then Sonny. I think we've been missing a trick here in a big way. Apparently including the more popular band names in the description helps too. Interestingly the list still comes up when I search on "Metal Academy" too, despite it no longer being listed in the playlist title.

I'm not really very good at this sort of thing, but how about "Metal Darkness: Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal"?

Or "Reflections from the Abyss: Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal"?

Or, maybe to attract a group with a specific interest: "Cthulhu Awakes: Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal".

I tried the same searches and pretty much got the same result, Daniel:

Death metal grindcore - 1

Death metal - 6

Grindcore - 3

Apocalypse - 1

I'm thinking that a good way to move forwards with the monthly playlist name change concept might be for me to develop a new tenth playlist that I can use as a test case in order to see if I can draw a wider audience to it. That way I can avoid fucking around with our established playlists. I've started to program one already but will take my time with it because it's important that it's of a very high quality & is programmed in a way that will attract an audience if it's going to make for a valid test case i.e. people need to be wowed by it if they're going to commit to subscribing to it & I'm not sure I've given that idea enough care in the past. I also need to do more research on how to name it well because most experts seem to say that changing the name of your playlist is a bad idea as it confuses your audience.

Some more tips from the web are that a) it's best practice to start your playlist with the five strongest tracks as a majority of people only give a playlist a maximum of five songs to win them over & b) you'll draw more hits if you include some classic songs in each playlist in order to draw in the less educated market segment. It's also worth including some of the more popular bands that reflect the overarching sound of your list in the playlist description in order to jag some additional search results.

OK, excuse me, Daniel, but I am getting a little bit confused now. Are we changing the focus away from programming the playlists to reflect the members' listening habits over the previous month to something that is more likely to attract new listeners? If the majority of any given playlist comes from other members' suggestions then the playlist compiler has to play the hand he is dealt, thus making the tips you suggest very difficult to follow. For The Fallen, for example, youself, Vinny and I tend very often towards the more extreme end of the Fallen scope, so producing a list to reflect these new guidelines would be quite challenging, given the tastes of the contributing members. I don't really know how to proceed now, I must be honest.

Once more I have to agree, Daniel. There are certainly death doom passages, but not really enough to justify a primary - a secondary tag absolutely, but not a primary. I must admit that when I first listened to it, I was surprised that Ben had nominated it for The Fallen as it didn't exactly scratch that Fallen itch for me, very good record that it is, though. I also recognise that my review focusses on the death doom aspect, but given my well-publicised preferences, I guess that isn't much of a surprise to long-time Academy members!

Absolutely, Daniel. I think Cathedral play very little doom metal outside the debut and Endtyme and are much more of a stoner metal band.

Morgul Blade - Heavy Metal Wraiths (2024)

I was quite interested by Morgul Blade's debut album, 2021's Fell Sorcery Abounds, with it's combination of traditional heavy metal with black metal vocals, but ultimately it sounded better in theory than in practice. It wasn't bad, but it didn't grab me as much as I had hoped it would. Anyway, here we are, two and a half years and a couple of personnel changes later with the Philadelphians' sophomore, Heavy Metal Wraiths. Guitarist Jason Hiller has been replaced by Heavy Temple's Elyse Mitchell (aka Elyse NightHawk) and bassist Dan JD has been superceded by Wild Beyond's Jim Viola. The personnel changes seem to have made a big difference, with the band sounding much tighter than on the debut which I felt got a little bit sloppy at times. The production is excellent with all the elements of the band being perfectly audible and the overall sound being thick and crunchy, from steel-coated riffs to crisp drum fills and thundering bass lines. I must make a particular mention of drummer Will Spectre at this point, who sounds amazing throughout with his energetic and entertaining fills supplementing his sterling work as timekeeper.

Musically they have their feet well and truly planted in the 80s with an arterial line of ascension leading straight back to the stalwarts of early USPM and european trad metal, deploying galloping riffs, melodious leadwork and a tireless rhythm section. Then, of course, there are Klauf's black metallized vocals that instill the tracks with a snarlingly vicious edge and which solves one of the major hurdles I have to overcome with any number of traditional and USPM-derived bands and that is the overt histrionics of some of the frontmen. Musically I like a lot of power metal, but I find the majority of the singers intolerable, so Morgul Blade are tailor-made for me. I guess there are those that will counter this by arguing that the vocals are restrictive compared to those employed by the more theatrical exponents of the art and I can understand that argument, but for me personally, lacking in range though they are, Klauf's blackened snarls just resonate with me so much more than some elaborate glorified air siren that dominates proceedings with attention-seeking wailings. Interestingly, they throw in a couple of curveballs with the short interludes "Widow's Lament" and "A Welcoming Hearth". The former is a clean-sung celtic folk song that I found worked really well in context here and it, along with the opening bars of "Spider God", very much reminded me of Solstice's New Dark Age album where "Blackthorne/The Keep" segues into "Cromlech", a transition I absolutely love. The other interlude, "A Welcoming Hearth", takes the form of a short electric piano and synth-driven electronic piece, which is less out of place than it sounds, following the synth-heavy ending of preceeding track "Razor Sharp".

Funnily enough I found the opening couple of tracks to be the least engaging and it wasn't until the title track, the album's third, that things really kicked into high gear. It, along with "Razor Sharp" and "Neither Cross Nor Crown" all really hit the spot with me and illustrated best how far the band had come since the debut. Ultimately, Heavy Metal Wraiths is an album of good, old-fashioned metal with hook-laden riffs that will be playing around in your head long after the album has ended and has a vitality that stems from songwriters that understand what makes heavy metal great for those who love it.

As an afterthought - and I don't know if it has any relevance - but the artwork shows four hooded, Nazgul-type beings whereas the debut only had a lone hooded figure and I wonder if this is a reflection of a new dynamic within the band, whereby Klauf viewed the earlier material as his own and sees this later release as more of a band effort. It certainly feels that way and is better for it.

4/5

Hi Ben, I have just been looking at the Emperor live releases and note that for 2009 you have the "Live at Wacken Open Air 2006 - a Night of Emperial Wrath" album and the "Thus Spake the Nightspirit - Live Inferno" EP. There was also an album called "Live Inferno" released which was on 2x CDs with a live set from the Inferno Festival on disc 1 and the Live at Wacken Open Air 2006 set on disc 2. I have a copy and can confirm it is a genuine and official release. Could it be added please?

For June Vinny:

Acid Reign - "Motherly Love" (from "Moshkinstein", 1988)
Demoniac - "The Trap" (from "So It Goes", 2020)
Pentagram (CHL) - "Devourer of Life" (from "Eternal Life of Madness", 2024)
Tankard - "Traitor" (from "Chemical Invasion", 1987)

For June Ben:

Above Aurora - "Inner Whispers" (from "Myriad Woes", 2024)
Antichrist Siege Machine - "Lysergic War Psychosis" (from "Vengeance of Eternal Fire", 2024)
Melechesh - "Incendium Between Mirage and Time" (from "Sphynx", 2003)

For June, Daniel:

Akercocke - "Shelter From the Sand" (from, "Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone", 2005)
Benighted - " Le vice des entrailles" (from "Ekbom", 2024)
Coffins - "Chain" (from "Sinister Oath", 2024)
Deicide - "Bury the Cross... With Your Christ" (from "Banished by Sin", 2024)
Discordance Axis - "Jigsaw" (from "The Inalienable Dreamless", 2000)
Devourment - "Shroud of Encryption" (from "1.3.8.",  2000)
Hour of Penance - "The Morality of Warfare" (from "Devotion", 2024)
Suffocation - "Catatonia" (from "Human Waste EP", 1991)
Venenum - "Merging Nebular Drapes" (from "Trance of Death", 2017)

I'm not sure if the Akercocke track is death metal enough, as it has black and progressive metal tendencies too. It is my favourite Akercocke track, but if you deem it to not be sufficiently death metal to make the playlist then that is fine.

I had actually forgotten that I had started this thread, so here we go again...

Pentagram (CHL) - Demo #2 (1987)

Pentagram Chile's second demo was recorded in September 1987, comprises three tracks, The Malefice, Profaner and Temple of Perdition for a total runtime of sixteen minutes. Like the first demo, the sound here is pretty good with the "cavernous" sound that would become so crucial to a certain style of death metal in the nineties being present by default and adding a grimy "evilness" to the Pentagram sound. It also possesses a weighty bottom end, the bass anchoring the tracks with a really meaty presence in a way that is still a feature of chilean thrash to this day.

This isn't massively different to Demo #1, but there has obviously been some technical improvements to the playing and a degree of progression in their songwriting. The aggression they brought to the first demo was still present with hats definitely still tipped towards Slayer and Possessed, but there is a bit of complexity creeping in, with Profaner in particular going through any number of tempo changes in order to mix things up a bit.

Unfortunately, despite releasing two absolute killer demos in '87, the band couldn't generate any interest from labels either inside or outside Chile and so, in 1988 they split-up with Anton Reisenegger going on to form power / thrash outfit Fallout.

Another high-octane playlist this month, Vinny that was a perfect accompaniment to a hot and sweaty morning of concrete and brick-laying. Particular standouts that I was previously unfamiliar with were Messerschmitt, Thanatos and Electrocutioner. But wait... is The Pit declaring war on The North with that Lich King track?!

As often is the case, some of the groove tracks left me somewhat indifferent, LoG and Gangrena Gasosa, for example. Overall, though, this was a damn great listen and one I thoroughly enjoyed.