Shadowdoom9 (Andi)'s Forum Replies

Helloooo, brand new Mechina! Fans of this epic symphonic/cyber metal band, get ready for their upcoming album, with their blend of beauty and brutality shining as always:

Ben, please add the new Turmion Kätilöt album Reset.

The catchy alt-metal of Addicted shines the most in this surprised-filled track:

Motorhead-infused energetic prog-metal from this prolific Canadian mastermind:

An aggressive metallic anthem of Godsmack's journey so far:

I would give the album a slightly higher rating if the standard edition included this anthemic bonus track that's one of the best things the band has ever done:

Sneak peek for the November Sphere playlist coming this Friday, another piece of epic cyber metal by Mechina:

A sinister new single by Ukrainian modern progressive metallers Jinjer from their upcoming album Duel:

A catchy melodic heavy metal highlight to sing along to:

Thanks, Daniel.

I once talked about 1993 being a special year for some expanding metal genres besides the classic ones, but I talked about that a few years ago when I was still interested in some bands from those genres. There are still a lot of fantastic releases from that year from bands I listen to though, so here's my top 10:

1. Earth Crisis - Firestorm

2. Rorschach - Protestant

3. Pestilence - Spheres

4. OLD - The Musical Dimensions of Sleastak

5. Comecon - Converging Conspiracies

6. Believer - Dimensions

7. Anacrusis - Screams and Whispers

8. Alchemist - Jar of Kingdom

9. Sadist - Above the Light

10. Morgoth - Odium

Ben, please add Lansdowne. Their new album Medicine qualifies as Alternative Metal in RYM.

I've just listened to this Powerwolf track while looking at the full moon in the night sky outside my home. With that and the fact that it's Halloween month, it's the ultimate spookiness!

New single, intense folk-infused nu/rap metal from India, Bloodywood still has their power from Rakshak in this wild comeback:

Hi, Ben. Thanks for adding those Blue Stahli albums I've requested. Now for one more thing... It seems you've overlooked my earlier request to add Celldweller's non-metal album Offworld to bridge the gap in their discography. Could you please add that soon? Thanks again!

Epic new single by this band from the league of hard rock/alt-metal/post-grunge that my brother enjoys, from the upcoming Breaking Benjamin album coming out next year:

Today I was checking on the anniversaries page, and it looks like October 14, 2014 was quite a day for metalcore, deathcore, and technical death metal:

Also on that day is the release of this EP by post-sludge metallers Rosetta:

Post-sludge/metalcore from a band formed by Jimmy Ryan, ex-vocalist of Haste the Day:

This two-track EP containing a 10-minute epic and a laid-back instrumental of almost the same length is best enjoyed as a full bombastic journey of symphonic cyber metal, though the instrumental is more balanced:

A perfect industrial highlight of David Draiman's strong vocals:

David Draiman still has his strength from Disturbed in the opening track of his side-project Device's solo album:

Ben, please add the new Motionless in White EP Reincarnate: 10 Year Anniversary.

I decided that I'll stop doing my monthly playlist total ratings in this thread, because they're all pretty much the same and haven't caused much discussion. All I'm gonna say about this month is, my playlists and songs I've listened to from Saxy's playlists have paid off again with a rating of 4.5 stars each. I recommend them to any fan of the clans' respective genres and anyone who isn't into those genres but wants to get into a great start in enjoying them. Thanks, Daniel, for accepting these playlists, and good work all!

THE GATEWAY: Falling in Reverse - Popular Monster (2024) 5/5

THE PIT: Extol - Synergy (2003) 4.5/5

THE REVOLUTION: Black Veil Brides - We Stitch These Wounds (2010) 5/5

THE SPHERE: Ministry - Filth Pig (1996) 3.5/5

Although the Sphere feature release is pretty good, the other feature releases I've checked out are fantastic and I would recommend them to fans of their respective genres. Keep up the good work on the feature releases, all! I look forward to more...

The band stay true to what they are in the closing track of The Mourning EP:

The sequel track to one of the only enjoyable tracks in Set the World on Fire is so beautiful and one of my favorite songs by Black Veil Brides:

A heavy almost ballad-ish track with some of the best aspects of their latest album:

This awesome epic by Black Veil Brides is the longest song by the band, and probably the best one too:

This huge disappointment is perhaps the worst song the band has ever done:

One of the best songs by the band to really level things up:

I find literally no f***ing point in this useless interlude:

An amazing alt-metal anthem that can surpass that similarly-titled Linkin Park hit:

Ben, please add these Blue Stahli albums:

Blue Stahli (currently this album's industrial metal ratio in RYM is FOR: 18, AGAINST: 10, but I strongly believe it's metal enough to be added in to this site and for me to make a judgement submission if it doesn't appear in The Sphere)

Blue Stahli Instrumentals

B-Sides and Other Things I Forgot

The Devil (in The Gateway as alternative metal, but I find a lot of industrial metal in this release and will make a judgement submission for that as well)

Tenacity

The Devil (Remixes)

The Devil (Remixes) (Instrumentals)

And all of their non-metal albums in between to bridge the gap.

Ben, please add the new Attack Attack! EP Disaster.

Ben, please add the new Sylosis EP The Path.

Some more industrial metal/rock bands I enjoy nowadays are the Finnish equivalent to Neue Deutsch Harte, Ruoska:

And Arizona-based multi-genre project Blue Stahli:

Nu metal-infused metalcore/hardcore from Philadelphia:

A couple bands I enjoy now are the experimental jazz-metal of Norwegian band Shining (not to be confused with the Swedish DSBM band):

And the progressive groove-ish metalcore of Jinjer:

A couple death metal bands with some slight industrial tendencies:

I've done my review, here's its summary:

Everyone's gotta have past trauma sometime in their life. Even I had these kinds of painful experiences in the past. Sometimes you gotta battle those harrowing struggles or just accept them. You might get to move on, but if you're unable to do so, there are better ways in life than just taking the devastating but painless way out. Black Veil Brides' melodic metalcore debut will motivate you by detailing the somber sorrow while giving it optimistic light. It's the greatest the band has even been, alongside their 10th anniversary re-recording which I won't review because I'm not up for reviewing full-on album re-recordings. Andy Biersack can performed pleasant vocals, both cleans and screams. His cleans had yet to improve in quality, but that doesn't stop the perfect glory of this album. The drums and guitarwork are so catchy with enjoyable energy. The metaphorical motivational lyrics fit perfectly for anyone in the most dire situations. So if you're feeling down, overcome your struggles and look for as much help as you can. And this grand masterpiece of motivation can help be your savior!

5/5

Recommended tracks: "We Stitch These Wounds", "Beautiful Remains", "Perfect Weapon", "Knives and Pens", "All Your Hate", "Never Give In"

For fans of: The mid-2000s eras of Avenged Sevenfold, A Day to Remember, and Trivium

Here's my submission for the November Guardians playlist, and yes it sounds suitable there with its anthemic hard rock/glam/heavy metal sound:

Löded Diper - "Can You Smell Us Now" (from Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules Soundtrack, 2022)

Having just listened to the fan-made Loded Diper album, I gotta admit how much I enjoy the official songs from the Wimpy Kid movies, especially this mid-tempo heavy metal/hard rock banger from the live-action Rodrick Rules movie:

And this fun hard rock/glam/heavy metal tune from the animated Disney+ movie that I wish was in the album:

The perfect starting track of Extol's self-titled 2013 album, with a sense of danger and chaos to give you motivation in life:

Here's the other bonus track in the 20th anniversary remaster of Sybreed's Slave Design. This re-recording of "Bioactive" is so killer and can almost compete with the original:

The thrashy diversity sounds so excellent in this highlight that is the somewhat title track:

Many ideas are extracted from the 1990/1991 albums of Believer and Coroner, as well as Opeth in the more mellow sections:

I've done my review, here's its summary:

As I have embraced the greatness of Extol's discography throughout the past year and a half, Burial and Undeceived are a one-two punch of atmospheric technical/progressive death metal, the latter expanding on that sound with complex ideas. With that and the alt-ish prog-metal masterpiece that got me interested in this band, The Blueprint Dives, their catalog has truly made this band an unstoppable force! Their 2003 album Synergy is the band's first move to a different style from their earlier deathly sound, taking on more melodic thrash. This change of sound has turned away some earlier fans while winning some new fans who wanted to hear the continuation of progressive/tech-thrash after bands who have attempted that style in the early/mid-90s have faded out. It's safe to say that Extol took a lot of inspiration from fellow Christian progressive thrashers Believer. If Extol kept going with the violins from their deathly first two albums, they could've easily made "Dies Irae 2.0". At least they had first shown their Believer influences in songs like "And I Watch" and their cover of "Shadow of Death". Extol have executed their tech-thrash sound very well in Synergy, with ideas extracted from the early 90s albums of Believer and Coroner. The harsh vocals continue their blackened death range, while the cleans have sweet flavor as they shine in the Opeth-like mellow sections. You can definitely hear some early 90s Atheist in the guitarwork, ranging from a technical labyrinth to searing shredding, along with have some psychedelic balladry. Synergy has really shown the band dialing back the deathly brutality for some dynamic progressive tech-thrash with some Rush-like psychedelics. It also shows an early hint of the accessibility of The Blueprint Dives. There's barely anything awkward about Synergy, and Extol shall continue to delight their audience from time to time!

4.5/5

I find the heavy dissonance to be a little too weirdly used on that one, Daniel. Now that I think about it, "Crumbs" really would be a slightly better choice for this thread. It's too... crumby. Haha

A special playlist I've made to celebrate the third year of my monthly Revolution Spotify playlists: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1FQzoLLq4oQLjWKqYb7v1k

Here are my sneak peek submissions for the November Sphere playlist:

Circle of Dust - "Humanarchy" (5:00) from Machines of Our Disgrace (2016)

Code Orange - "The Above" (4:18) from The Above (2023)

Fear Factory - "Pisschrist" (5:25) from Demanufacture (1995)

PAIN - "Dancing With the Dead" (4:13) from Dancing With the Dead (2005)

Psyclon Nine - "We the Fallen" (5:24) from We the Fallen (2009)

Ruoska - "Alasin" (4:23) from Amortem (2006)

Total length: 28:43

Here are my sneak peek submissions for the November Revolution playlist:

As I Lay Dying - "The Cave We Fear to Enter" (5:07) from The Cave We Fear to Enter (2024)

Bury Your Dead - "Minority Report" (3:21) from We Are Bury Your Dead (2019)

The Devil Wears Prada - "To the Key of Evergreen" (5:07) from Transit Blues (2016)

Fit for a King - "TECHNIUM" (3:05) from TECHNIUM (2024)

Ice Nine Kills - "Rocking the Boat" (4:06) from The Silver Scream (2018)

The Number Twelve Looks Like You - "Like a Cat" (3:27) from Nuclear. Sad. Nuclear (2005)

Rings of Saturn - "Infused" (3:21) from Lugal Ki En (2014)

Total length: 27:34