Shadowdoom9 (Andi)'s Forum Replies

Here's my review summary:

I think we can thank two talented masterminds here for the brilliant idea of mixing metal and progressive jaxx, starting with the amazing guitarist Ron Jarzombek. He can handle time signatures and tempos in an impressive way that barely anyone else can with technical riffs and jazzy solos. The audible bass playing of Doug Keyser is PERFECT!!! Standing by with the guitar like a 3-legged race. What a duo of geniuses! Of course we can't ignore the other two band members, including vocalist Alan Tecchio. His high vocals are a usual part of progressive thrash, performed so well. It's impressive how high he can go while following the music. It sounds like he can do it normally with no struggle. Excellent! And finally, there's Rick Colaluca, whose style is very much the same as you would hear in jazz fusion. Imagine having an octopus drummer who's a fan of jazz and Megadeth, that's Rick right there! He has to make all those intricate time signature patterns, and yet it's all performed flawlessly. Keyser wrote and co-wrote all of the songs in this album, and Jarzombek has helped with some of the writing assisting him with the jazzy guitar progression as usual. Many highlights have insane jazzy soloing from Jarzombek as Keyser continues his amazing bass journey. So yeah, Control and Resistance deserves a perfect 5 stars for being able to add jazz into prog-thrash without messing anything up, with all that inspiring technicality and masterful writing. This is a jazzy metal treat to love!

5/5

Recommended tracks: "Instruments of Random Murder", "The Eldritch", "The Fall of Reason", "Hidden Instincts", "Dangerous Toy"

For fans of: Fates Warning, Sieges Even, Think This-era Toxik

Here's my review summary:

When lead vocalist Marc Hudson joined the band, some changes were made compared to the ZP Theart era. The songs are shorter and more restrained in length (except for an 11-minute epic), but they've added more adventurous diversity. Warp Speed Warriors sees the band exploring different territories as they did in Extreme Power Metal while not drastically diverting from their usual sound. So expect the usual speed, anthemic power, slight humor, and a cover song more powerful than its original (though it still can't beat the previous album's Celine Dion cover). As always, the band has shown what power metal should really be; fast tempos and technical soloing added to the genre's usual dose of epic and uplifting melody. But they sometimes like to make things more interesting and fresh by slowing things down for an 80s rock-inspired ballad and a couple goofy fun mid-tempo tracks. The deluxe edition comes with alternate editions of several tracks, the first 3 of which have guests from bands like Trivium, Arch Enemy, and Amaranthe. Talk about a powerhouse of metal guests! And they all perform their roles well. Hail the warriors!

4.5/5

Recommended tracks: "Astro Warrior Anthem"*, "Burning Heart"*, "Doomsday Party"*, "The Killer Queen", "Pixel Prison"

*Including guest vocalist editions

For fans of: Amaranthe, Gloryhammer, Kamelot

Here's my sneak peek submission for the August Guardians playlist:

Mechina - "Gene Heresy" (from Telesterion, 2019)

Update for August:

THE FALLEN: VINNY, Sonny

THE GATEWAY: ANDI, Saxy

THE GUARDIANS: SONNY, Karl, Andi

THE HORDE: VINNY, Sonny, Karl

THE INFINITE: SAXY, Andi

THE NORTH: KARL, Vinny, Sonny

THE PIT: SONNY, Vinny

THE REVOLUTION: ANDI

THE SPHERE: ANDI

Ben, please add Ravenface.

Thanks again, Daniel!

8 minutes of boring dark ambient which, apart from turning a half-hour EP into a full album, is uncalled for:

Native instruments such as the bandura are in superb balance with heavy riffing:

A more progressive highlight, mixing the mid-2000s eras of Enslaved, Leprous, and Opeth:

It's not often you hear flute after extreme fury, but it works out well in this deathly standout:

I've just given this release some listening and a review to continue exploring some progressive-ish melodic black/death after my experience with Shylmagoghnar's Emergence, and while it is a blackened death metal album, there's still enough melody for this still to still be melodic black metal. If this was added to The Horde and I was in that clan, I would vote in the melodic death metal subgenre. I also hear a lot of progressiveness in this offering as well, at times sounding like a blend of the mid-2000s eras of Enslaved, Leprous, and Opeth, so I would definitely vote YES for the entry of adding this album to The Infinite.

I've passed this nomination uncontested Andi.

Thanks, Daniel. Also their 2022 album Elegy now qualifies as deathcore within the RYM 2:1 ratio: FOR - 40, AGAINST - 12. So could you please end this hall entry and pass the nomination uncontested: https://metal.academy/hall/382

May 2025

1. Any Given Sin – Insidious (2023)

2. Cave In – The World Is In Your Way (2005)

3. Clown – Love (2021)

4. DAGames – United We Stand (2016)

5. A Day to Remember – Make It Make Sense (2025)

6. Engine – Fascination Street (2002)

7. Exilia – Stop Playing God (2004)

8. Future Palace – Roses (2022)

9. Gonemage – Crawlspace (2024)

10. Islander – What Do You Gotta Lose? (2022)

11. Lacuna Coil – Zombies (2014)

12. My Ruin – Ready for Blood (2008)

13. Nothing more – Jenny (2013)

14. Puya – Oasis (1999)

15. Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol – Shoo-in (2022)

16. Saint Asonia – Devastate (2022)

17. Sensor – Resistance Now (2009)

18. Toothgrinder – The Shadow (2017)

19. The Urge – Jump Right In (1998)

20. Vexes – Head over Heels (2019)

21. We Butter the Bread with Butter – Alles was ich will (2013)

22. The Wreckage – Breaking Through (2011)

The most deathcore-fueled of this trio of tracks, particularly in the vocals:

More of the band's symphonic black metal influences appear here:

The dark djenty wonders commence in this epic extreme highlight:

Another epic new single from the upcoming Lorna Shore album:

Good feedback, David! I see you've been enjoying a lot of the deathcore and mathcore in my playlist, plus a few melodic metalcore tracks. I would recommend to you the albums those songs have appeared on, especially Ritual Hymns which is one of my all-time favorite symphonic blackened deathcore albums that isn't Lorna Shore and a perfect way to get into that kind of style. Also please feel free to submit one or two tracks per month for the monthly Revolution playlists. Here's the thread to submit tracks: https://metal.academy/forum/14/thread/484

Brutality and melody are in perfect balance in this highlight:

The guitar melodies and breakdown brutality are so delightful in this standout:

Absolute fire that makes perhaps the most powerful highlight of this album:

The band unleash their complex skills in a prime example of their symphonic deathcore/melodeath sound:

Ben, please add The Breathing Process' 2003 non-demo EP Dialog Analysis for the Heartless.

If they had more of the clean choruses from this bonus demo track in the actual album, I would rate it higher:

Lots of vicious headbanging moments in this winning highlight:

Great heavy start, though keep that in mind before the remaining full songs of the album follow the same formula:

A marvelous blend of progressive complexity and thrashy aggression with catchy vocal hooks:

The most mathematic thrashy progressive metal can be found in this overture:

And this epic:

The drama is lost by sounding laughable and, well, stupid:

A true trail of noise and destruction:

The addition of several of my judgement submissions into the Hall has ended up creating a wild coincidence involving 3 different cover arts:

As you can see, the Sonic Violence cover art consists of a drawing of an Iron Giant-like silver robot dude, and the Cryptopsy cover art consists of a futuristic post-apocalyptic dystopian wasteland. The Conflиct cover art looks like it has combined those other two artworks and made it better, by making the silver robot dude more realistic and adding him to a more detailed dystopian wasteland. Now that I think about it, I can kind of say the same about the music itself! In that Conflиct album, they take the electro-industrial of Sonic Violence and some of the death metal of Cryptopsy, then add in some melodic groove for a much better stylistic mix. At least that's what I'm hearing...

Thanks Daniel.

Thanks Daniel.

The 9-minute title epic of this adventurous fine hour really packs some punches:

Another fantastic dish of heaviness and symphonics that stays speedy until its slower ending section:

The best place for progressive diversity in one of my favorite tracks of this glorious offering:

Thanks Daniel.

The grand ending epic where the final bit of energy is used wisely, all the way up to the glorious end:

A savage battle between metal and orchestra with impressive shredding:

Grindcore has some of the most terrible band names in my opinion, ranging from ridiculous to just offensive for the sake of offensiveness. Another good reason why grindcore is not worth my time. While a couple of the most notorious examples include A.C. and Pig Destroyer, two more come from bands whose albums I've reviewed are, to my ears, the sh*ttiest releases I've heard in all of metal, and the only ones I've rated 0.5 stars. You can find what they are here: https://metal.academy/users/profile/97/ratings?rating=0.5

Thanks, Sonny.

I haven't commented on my personal life in a while, so I think now's a good time for me to share a couple things.

Good news: I have mentioned in my rant against As I Lay Dying vocalist Tim Lambesis' animal abuse that I have a pet cat whom my family and I treat with love and respect. Last month, we have just gotten a second cat! However, he's not used to having other pet cats around him since his previous owners didn't have any other cats besides him, so we have to keep him away from my first pet cat for now. Hopefully things are settled later this month.

Bad news: I have COVID for the second time since the pandemic started. Passed down from my grandfather, then father, then me. Please wish me the best of luck that I survive and recover within the next few days. And maybe then I'll be better enough to continue writing reviews and other stuff here.

Oh I should mention that we also have the ability to rate album covers. Just go to the "rate release cover" thing in a release page, select the number of stars, and click "save cover rating". Please feel free to give that a try, David. Though considering the nearly thousand releases you've rated, you don't have to do them all. I don't wanna be responsible for any time wastage.

Welcome to Metal Academy, David!

A 6-minute closing epic revisiting music and lyrics revisiting many of the earlier tracks in the album:

Interestingly, one of my favorite tracks in Poppy's I Disagree is a t.A.T.u. cover appearing as a midway bonus track in some releases, fitting in the "metalizing covers" category and The Sphere by adding in dark alt-/industrial metal drama while staying true to the original:

Some of my favorite releases with 20+ ratings:

Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood (#13)

Atheist - Unquestionable Presence (#30)

Godflesh - Streetcleaner (#46)

Atheist - Piece of Time (#58)

Despite all the drama surrounding Devin Duarte and his subsequent departure from Worm Shepherd, his swansong is one of the most glorious tracks I've heard in symphonic blackened deathcore:

The best place for atmosphere and melody while having the usual blackened brutality: