UnhinderedbyTalent's Forum Replies

The highlights for me this month have been Smoulder, Chelsea Wolfe and Fistula.  I keep meaning to explore more of Monolord's discography beyond No Comfort and Vænir looks he likely candidate if I am honest.  Went all skip button on STAKE, Hanging Garden, The Wounded King and Goya (I mean not bad stuff but a tad too similar to Electric Wizard really).  Passed a wet bank holiday Monday nicely though Sonny, keep up the good work.

It is always a pleasure to listen to Burzum, Dark Space, Ulver or Imperial Dekadenz and so this month's playlist did not disappoint.  I just cannot get on with Aara though despite numerous attempts and I have noted a growing aversion to symphonic bm as I grow older so that wrote off a few tracks for me.  Standouts for me were Totalselfhatred and Conqueror.

I am still trying to get my head around Portrayal of Guilt and Hoplites if honest.  Had no time whatsoever for Amesoeurs or Winterhorde.  Still a strong month as I always come away with something new to check out after listening each month.

Aosoth - The Inside Scriptures (2017)

Long been a fan of this release and finally got around to purchasing a vinyl copy from Season of Mist this past week.  I can see I have this at full marks on the site but I think a full review and potential revision of that score is needed in the coming weeks.

Really fantastic playlist this month Vinny, I enjoyed it immensely. The Machine head, 4arm and Gojira tracks in the middle were a bit of  a flat spot for me personally, but other than that I loved it. Some brilliant classic tracks with a nice mix of lesser known stuff. New (to me) standouts were Power Trip and Toxic Wine. Nice work once more, my  friend.

Thanks Sonny, really took my time on this one (and actually completely reordered the playlist after the first pass).  Cheers for the encouragement. 

I had a feeling you'd really dig it Vinny. In the interest of our Hall of Judgement entry, how would you tag "Mad Locust Rising"? On RYM it's listed as a Speed Metal primary with Heavy Metal & Thrash Metal secondaries but I have to admit that I don't hear any genuine Speed Metal on this release & would suggest that people have used the term as a midway point between the Thrash Metal & Heavy Metal sounds on offer. Personally I'd go with Thrash Metal & US Power Metal primaries with a Heavy Metal secondary. In Metal Academy terms I'd be happy for it to simply sit under Thrash Metal. What are your thoughts?

Here's my review from last year:

I’ve long regarded Los Angeles five-piece Agent Steel’s 1985 debut album “Skeptics Apocalypse” as one of the top few speed metal records I’ve ever experienced so it’s fair to say that I didn’t hesitate in considering the band’s next couple of releases for inclusion while putting together an outline of the records I’d investigate as a part of this month’s speed metal deep dive. Agent Steel’s debut kinda fell into the speed metal tag due to it being made up of tracks that belonged in either the thrash metal or heavy metal camps so speed metal seemed like a happy medium, particularly given the extra melody in the vocals & guitar lines that wouldn’t normally be associated with genuine thrash. My review of 1987’s “Unstoppable Force” sophomore album last week found that the band hadn’t diluted their commitment to velocity in the slightest & I’d describe it as a relentless assault on the senses although the production & vocal performances left a fair bit to be desired & a lot of the more aggressive material is more speed metal focused than it is thrash. Having now closed that chapter in my understanding of Agent Steel’s essential releases I’m left only to fill the gap between the two albums with 1986’s “Mad Locust Rising” E.P., a twelve-minute affair that makes full use of it’s short run time.

“Mad Locust Rising” is made up of just the four tracks with the first being an insignificant 17 second intro piece that might as well have been a part of the first proper song as it serves no purpose on its own. The opening title track however is an absolute rip-snorter & takes a super aggressive thrash metal approach that’s far more similar to Slayer & Kreator than it is to Exciter or Helstar. Even polarizing front man John Cyriis’ whiny performance seems to fit the music beautifully & I’m not sure that Agent Steel could have come up with a better opener to be honest. Why the hell this track wasn’t deemed worthy of inclusion on a proper album is anyone’s guess. Next up we get a very solid & well executed cover version of Judas Priest’s “The Ripper” which is pretty faithful to the original but adds some modern-day oomph with a delivery that’s more in line with the US power metal sound. And finally, the E.P. is closed out with another thrasher in “Let It Be Done/The Day At Guyana” which is the more complex of the three proper songs & offers some fantastic riffs, particularly the Slayer-esque outro section from “The Day At Guyana” which would become a highly praised instrumental track on the “Unstoppable Force” album.

The production job is nice & raw but possesses a wonderful energy that beautifully highlights the strengths of the consistently high quality tracklisting. The performances are all excellent too with the over the top shredding of Juan Garcia & Kurt Colfelt being a definite highlight, particularly their Kerry King/Jeff Hannemann style effort on the title track which takes an already superb track to another level altogether. It’s really very hard to fault this little E.P. & I have to say that I’m surprised that it hasn’t gained more notoriety over the years. I can only suggest that the short run time is the main reason behind that but the other may be that fans weren’t quite prepared for the onslaught of aggressive thrash as there’s not really any speed metal on offer here with thrash metal & US power metal being far more appropriate genre tags.

I have to say that “Mad Locust Rising” has torn off my face & handed it back to me in pieces in many respects. I wasn’t in any way prepared to enjoy it as much as I have & now regard it as my favourite Agent Steel record by a clear margin. Is that due to the fact that it takes a direction that’s much more in line with my personal taste profile? Well… yes it certainly is but isn’t that how we all judge the merits of our music? It certainly is for me & I’m very glad to have discovered this short but very sweet little E.P. from a very important band in the US power metal movement.

For fans of Metal Church, Lååz Rockit & Destructor.

4.5/5

It's Thrash Metal, no Speed Metal here.

I have a natural aversion to the vocals of John Cyriis. It is an affliction that soon starts to ease with repeated listens to Agent Steel releases with him present. He has range most certainly but is just ridiculous in tone and inflection to the point were it initially grates on me. That taken into consideration, a 4 track EP (well 3 track if we discount the pointless first track) should be more than acceptable for me. As it turns out I can quite easily tolerate Mad Locust Rising but this is largely due to the superb musicianship of Juan and Bernie along with the pumping bass of Karlos and the drums of Chuck Profus somehow making their presence known from beneath the murk of the production and mix job on the record which does an absolutely great job of capturing the vibrancy of the tracks whilst retaining that rawness that is by far the most appealing aspect of the EP for me.

The Priest cover is actually really well done and is a track that is particularly well suited to John's vocals and makes me really want to listen to Judas Priest immediately after listening to it. I will confess to being pleasantly surprised by Mad Locust Rising with my initial dread soon dissipating amidst those rabid riffs and breakneck tempos as they literally swarm (pun intended) over me. In fact I will go as far as to say that I have very little to argue with here after a few spins have nurtured me into those vocals a bit more.

4/5

I will add for June

Demolition Hammer - "Crippling Velocity" (from "Tortured Existence", 1990)

Overkill - "Twist of the Wick" (from "Scorched", 2023)

Sadus - "Hands of Fate" (from "Chemical Exposure", 1988)

Iron Reagan - "Close to Toast" (from "The Tyranny of Will", 2014)

For June please:

Cancer - "Hung, Drawn & Quartered" (from "Death Shall Rise", 1991)

Incinerator - "Slaughter" (from "Human Garbage", 2014)

Cannibal Corpse - "Mangled" (from "Eaten Back to Life", 1990)

Sulfuric Cautery - "Compulsive Retaliation" (from "Suffocating Feats of Dehumanization", 2023)

Suffocation - "Sullen Eyes" (from "Pinnacle of Bedlam", 2013)

Wretched Fate - "Mind Desecrator" (from "Carnal Heresy", 2023)

Massacre - "Cryptic Realms" (from "From Beyond", 1991)

Jesus. Fucking. Christ. Where has this record been all my life? There are many injustices littered throughout my time listening to metal, some that border on downright criminal in terms of neglecting true gems of the various sub-genres that branched out from that original trunk back in the day. No amount of pleading for clemency should permit me any leniency in my punishment for not listening to a Nails record in full before this week. What a waste of time the last ten years now feels knowing that this is my first encounter with this incendiary record of punishing, grinding malevolence that contains some of the finest passages of modern grindcore I have ever had the pleasure of listening to.

Grindcore is not supposed to be played this well, or produced so expertly but this record achieves a level of professionalism previously unseen or unheard of in the sub-genre. This is outstandingly produced music that within the maelstrom of raging violence manages to give each part of the instrumentation space to not just breathe but to actually thrive. This accentuates the power in the performances brilliantly. You feel the brevity of the intent here and the whole swarm of mauling aggression that pounds the listener over and over again carries a concision to it that just makes you sit up and take notice - how can anyone ignore what Nails have to say here? This is not just simply a collection of angsty songs, spat with no intent other than to clear the chest cavities of the artists from the hatred, disdain and vitriol that they possess. Abandon All Life is much more than that. This is an invitation to be polluted by the unwavering and steadfast reverence for all that society holds dear and the artist holding the smoking gun is an absolute master of bottling this primitive rage and then letting it explode over anyone in earshot.

The control on the release is just as astonishing, never once does this fall into the territory of just being a messy noise and the fact that two of the strongest tracks are sludge-ridden affairs that show the band do not just need breakneck pace to hammer home their message, they are perfectly capable of mixing the content up and torturing us with a slower tempo here and there to cap a truly wonderful experience.

P.s. Metal Archives only list Nails on the basis of You Will Never Be One of Us, not this record also - wtf?

5/5

From me for June:

Konvent - "Sand Is King" (from "Call Down the Sun", 2020)

Hell - "Victus" (from "Hell", 2017)

From me for June:

Hyrgal - "Gorge blanche / Surin noir (from "Session fun​é​raire anno MMXXIII", 2023)

Djevel - "I daudens dimme natt" (from "Naa skrider natten sort", 2022)

Tilintetgjort - "Vinter og høst" (from "In Death I Shall Rise", 2023)

In for the win on all four clans with first pick and I will use my pick wisely here and go with Sabbat.

Ben, over to you.

Glorior Belli looks interesting.

Ben, floor is yours.

Pig Destroyer is the pick for me.

Over to you Ben.

Faustcoven for me.

Over to you Ben.

May 2023

01. Destruction – “Mad Butcher” (from “Bestial Invasion of Hell”, 1984) [Submitted by Daniel]

02. Metallica – “Creeping Death” (from “Ride the Lightning”, 1984) [Submitted by Sonny]

03. Venemous – “Merciless Divinity” (from “Rise in Glory”, 2017) [Submitted by Vinny]

04. Kreator – “Tormentor – End of the World Demo” (from “Endless Pain”, 1985) [Submitted by Daniel]

05. Disembody - “Blackthrashing Fist” (from “Reigniting Hellfire”, 2021)

06. Slayer – “Silent Scream” (from “South of Heaven”, 1988)

07. Speedwhore – “Alcoholic Force” (from “On the Verge of Dysfunction”, 2016)

08. Strike Master – “Black Violence” (from “Vicious Nightmare”, 2009) [Submitted by Vinny]

09. Acid – “Black Car” (from “Maniac”, 1983) [Submitted by Sonny]

10. Carniça – “Dogs of War” (from “A New Medium Ages”, 2022)

11. Machine Head – “Struck a Nerve” (from “The More Things Change”, 1997) [Submitted by Vinny]

12. 4arm– “Headhunter” (from “Pathway to Oblivion”, 2023) [Submitted by Vinny]

13. Gojira– “Silvera” (from “Magma”, 2016) [Submitted by Daniel]

14. Warhead – “Kill the Witch” (from “Speedway”, 1984)

15. Tungesteno – “Escuadron Del Thrash” (from “Inminente aniquilación”, 2011) [Submitted by Vinny]

16. Graveyard Rodeo– “Future of the Carcass” (from “Sowing Discord in the Haunts of Man”, 1993)

17. Megadeth – “Tornado of Souls” (from “Rust in Peace”, 1990)

18. Ripper – “Await Your Death” (from “Raising the Corpse”, 2014) [Submitted by Sonny]

19. Violater– “Destined to Die” (from “Chemical Assault”, 2006)

20. Power Trip – “Hornet’s Nest” (from “Hornet’s Nest”, 2018)

21. Uncle Sam – “Micro Logic” (from “Say Uncle”, 1988)

22. Lich King – “Wage Slave” (from “Born of the Bomb”, 2012)

23. Exodus – “Blacklist” (from “Tempo of the Damned”, 2004)

24. Toxic Wine – “Alcoholocausto” (from “No hay lugar para los débiles”, 2016)

25. Exciter – “Mistress of Evil” (from “Heavy Metal Maniac”, 1983) [Submitted by Sonny]

26. Herratik – “Bottom Feeder” (from “Compromise Gone”, 2011)

27. Algebra – “Resuscitation” (from “Chiroptera”, 2022)

28. Rumplestiltskin Grinder – “Grab A Shovel (We Got Bodies to Bury)” (from “Buried in the Front Yard…”, 2005) [Submitted by Sonny]

Mork - Dypet (2023)

Bought this whilst drunk on the internet one night and so held little promise for it.  I liked Katedralen from a couple of years back though so made the impulse buy based on that alone I guess.  Listening through to Dypet, you get pretty much what you had on the 2021 release.  As the album artwork suggests, this is a suitably cold affair, utilising the minimal approach to bm that we would all expect it to well.  Full of sublimely drab melodicism, this is an album that revels in its own ravishing grimness.  Which I do not mind of course, this accessibility coupled with some of the more dismal tropes I look for in my bm makes for a refreshing switch up from standard icy cold blasting that I find spinning on my turntable more often than not.  

In fact, Dypet has an almost heavy metal undertone to parts of it.  The riffs overall are relatively clean and as such make the transitions clearer which makes it very easy to connect with the record.  Whether you are going from the beginning or jumping into a track on a playlist it is not hard to find parts of Dypet ringing around your head after just a few minutes of sampling its content.  Still more or less exclusive performed by Thomas Eriksen himself (Hjelvik's Erlend Hjelvik does vocals on Høye murer), this is consistently played stuff that never strays into the realm of outstanding but needs no level of exceptional musicianship to shine.

That's not say there are not moments of unexpected sounds.  The synth/organ on closing track Tilbake til opprinnelsen add a surreal dimension to proceedings to keep things interesting to the very end of the record.  Then with some element of an anti-climax, Dypet is done with.  No extended outro, no epic build to end, just a slight crescendo of a riff to end the album on the note of consistency that thrives throughout.  So, for a drunken purchase, this proved wiser than you may have first thought.  It holds its own against the previous release if not ever really topping it but still does a perfectly respectable job in the process.

3.5/5

Excellent idea, Morpheus! Having a similar feature to RYM so you can only see suggestive album covers when you're logged in and have certain filters off, with the ability to turn those filters on to hide specific topics, might get more people on to the site with no fear of anything they may be sensitive to, and therefore might boost the website's popularity. It might certainly help me a bit, as I'm still living with my sometimes suspicious parents. I know Cannibal Corpse and other standard/brutal death metal bands would get the hidden album cover treatment for their violence and gore. Same with the first few Type O Negative albums (pair of naked women about to kiss, close-up of the frontman's a****le, etc.), which is a good reason I stopped listening to that band besides my break from gothic/doom metal. So what do you think of Morpheus' idea, all?

Not a fan.  I simply skip over/hit the back button on anything I see I don't like (I find most of the depiction of women on metal album covers unpleasant but simply ignore them).  Do you really think Andi that the reason why MA isn't crawling with users is because there are some album covers that are offensive?  Creating a cottage industry out of album cover content (which I imagine can soon become a laborious task for admins) is precisely the wrong thing to do on a site that needs more members, surely a more open and transparent site is what would attract people. 

Let's stop believing that everyone else out there lives by our values, needs and wants - there are some out there who would actively seek such artwork as described on this thread (for whatever reason).  I am not saying it is wrong to be offended by violence, fascism, sexism, gore etc just that I believe that it is my own responsibility to decide if I want to look at it or not.

I have been wondering if there is any chance of a "Collection" feature with a button on each release that says "add to my collection" and then a link on each member's homepage to a "My Collection" page. I know a lot of people just d/l or stream their metal nowadays, but an avid collector like myself (and possibly Vinny) may get some good use out of it - I know I would like to be able to see my collection here on Metal Academy - and maybe it would entice new members to stick around a bit.

Also, in a similar vein, how about a "Wishlist" feature to allow member's to keep tabs on albums they want to check out?

They have this on Metal Storm and of course Discogs.  I think it would be a neat idea.  I have slowed down on the physical copies so far this year (he says with an Aosoth album about to be shipped from Season of Mist - ahem) largely due to other financial priorities.  Will always have a physical collection of some kind alongside streaming which is still my majority means of listening to music.

Yeah, I've had to slow down too. Prices have become a bit silly just lately. A couple of examples - a charity shop in town wanted £9 for My Dying Bride's For Lies I Sire secondhand, HMV want £55 for a vinyl of Jethro Tull's Aqualung and I just tried to order the new Lord Mountain CD from Bandcamp and the CD was £9 but postage was £20!! Got it for £13 off amazon in the end.

I have got (most of) my collection logged on both Discogs and Metal Storm, but I would really like to be able to have it here on the #1 metal website too. I really do think it might encourage some new members to return to the site as well, to update their collections.

That Aosoth album cost me just as much for shipping as it did for the record.  Bonkers.

I have been wondering if there is any chance of a "Collection" feature with a button on each release that says "add to my collection" and then a link on each member's homepage to a "My Collection" page. I know a lot of people just d/l or stream their metal nowadays, but an avid collector like myself (and possibly Vinny) may get some good use out of it - I know I would like to be able to see my collection here on Metal Academy - and maybe it would entice new members to stick around a bit.

Also, in a similar vein, how about a "Wishlist" feature to allow member's to keep tabs on albums they want to check out?

They have this on Metal Storm and of course Discogs.  I think it would be a neat idea.  I have slowed down on the physical copies so far this year (he says with an Aosoth album about to be shipped from Season of Mist - ahem) largely due to other financial priorities.  Will always have a physical collection of some kind alongside streaming which is still my majority means of listening to music.

New Enforced, War Remains came out yesterday.  Vinny approved.

So, a quick question to the playlist compilers: Which of the sub-genres you encounter when compiling the playlists do you least enjoy checking out for new playlist entries. I think I have never made any secret of my aversion to a lot of gothic metal, so it is that which irritates me most when I need to find new tracks to include in The Fallen playlist. Which are your particular sub-genres where you have to bite the bullet for the greater good?

Groove metal has sort of become a guilty pleasure after me loathing to source it for the playlist.  There's still some shit out there in groove metal of course but I have always enjoyed the crossover research I have done by comparison.  Biggest ballache is technical thrash metal which I have all but given up including unless I stumble across something on my travels.  Seen a better focus on death/thrash since I started compiling the list though and always try to throw in some blackened speed or thrash also for good measure.  Still use the site quite extensively for new finds though as the releases section is a bit of a gold mine for any sub-genre I am unsure of.

A Diadem of Dead Stars - Kingdoms Bathe in Golden Light (2016)

Described as “Misty Lowland's Black Metal”, one-man Greek atmo-black artist A Diadem of Dead Stars went bold on his 2016 release. With track lengths ranging from 3 and a half to over 27 minutes long over the course of 5 tracks, Kingdoms Bathed in Golden Light is an ambitious piece. If you can give it the time, the ambition does get realised too.

I struggle with the time aspect though and so will be continuing to enjoy this album long after my review as I believe that with more time spent with it, the experience will only get better. For the time being, I am pleased to report that this record is a fine slab of atmospheric black metal with a splash of ambient to close the album nicely. The bm itself is rich and luscious in nature with a distinct non-hellenic sound to it considering the artist is from Greece, although it never quite fully immerses itself in the icy cold, sub-zero temperatures of the second wave either. Think of Drudkh, WITTR or Saor and you are on a fair path to comparable sound.

Although I would argue that the musicianship here lacks the panache of any of the above artists it is still perfectly acceptable a level of competence. The balance of haunting atmosphere alongside the harsher elements of the instrumentation is done very well and considering this is an independent release recorded, and mixed by the artist himself, The Pilgrim clearly knows what he is doing. That ambient track at the end is a nice palate cleanser to finish a neat find from this month’s Review Draft.

4/5

Hi Ben,

Please could you add Norwegian experimental black metallers Tilintetgjort to the site?

Hi Ben,

Can you please add the latest release from thrash veterans Overkill - "Scorched"?

Vinny, I just noticed that we both nominated Suffocation tracks for the May playlist. I'll include your Suffocation nomination on top of your other submissions in the June playlist as I only have half as many submissions as you do this month.

Fine with that mate.

I had previously heard The Hecatomb back when it was released. It was another one of those releases that was getting lots of underground praise back when I bothered to try and keep track of new material. Whilst I had played it a couple of times before I recalled none of it going into this revisit which makes me think I most certainly did not give it the attention it deserved at the time.

Aside from being monolithically cavernous, The Hecatomb is perhaps one of the most desolate and bleakly devastating records I have ever heard. Listen to how those drums are deliberately suppressed in the mix to still allow them to have rumbling and at times thunderous impact and then note how the rest of the instrumentation still does not occupy much of front and centre at all. This album is all about the atmosphere. This is not just a bit of atmosphere either, this is the kind of atmosphere that coats the walls of the room as you listen, clogs your throat if you breath in too much of it and clouds your vision if you stand too close.

The riffs here mine the absolute shit of everything around them, spiralling the listener in their dark serpentine majesty, bristling your skin with their dank scales. Hecatomb means an extensive loss of life, historically seen through a great public sacrifice. The ancient Greeks and Romans would sacrifice 100 cattle to the Gods as a “hecatomb”. Based on these nine tracks, I cannot think of any better soundtrack to such events.

Ritualistic in the most solemn manner possible this is an album that delivers exactly what it sets out to do in the first place. Agonisingly heavy and anguish laden from start to finish, The Hecatomb is an extraordinary record. My only grumble being that the first of the three interludes is completely forgettable in the grander scheme of things and for me adds nothing to the record. On the flipside, aside from being the album highlight, final track Charnel Winds is perhaps one of the best closing tracks I have ever heard. It is one of the most immersive pieces of death doom I can recall hearing, period.

5/5

P.S. I agree.  What fucking black metal?

Will be taking time to check out FVNERALS, Head of the Demon and Shape of Despair from this list.  Not a fan of Dark Buddha Rising or Om upon first listen but may revisit later.

Vote added.  In complete agreement, no doom here.

Macabre - Sinister Slaughter (1993)

As someone who normally shuns lyrics, I must confess that Macabre are not anywhere near as entertaining without their hilarious lyric sheet close at hand when listening to any of their records. For the uninitiated, Macabre write exclusively about serial killers/murderers and take a spoof stance on their song content. Example:

Mary Bell

In nineteen sixty-eight

An eleven year old girl named Mary Bell

Killed four year old Martin Brown

Two months later, strangled Brian Howe

Mary Bell, child from hell

Where are you now?

Are you doing well?

This simplistic (maybe childish to some) sense of humour appeals to me all day if I am honest and although I will not pretend to listen to Macabre all that often, they are a welcome reprise from the usual death metal content that although may have similar themes, they usually take them far more seriously. I view Macabre as something of very dark comedy palate cleanser from the usual worship of Satan or general political angst that dominates my usual listening habits.

Like I said above though, this is not a band I go to in order to wonder at their technical prowess and sonic wizardry. I mean this guys are not prehistoric in their playing ability by any means (check out that proggy passage in Vampire of Dusseldorf) but I am not here to score them on musicianship. Generally, one sitting of any Macabre release is enough for a while. After 40+ minutes of this release I was ready to get back to my regular fodder and there being 21 tracks made it feel a lot longer than it actually is. At about the halfway point I stopped reading the lyrics and just let them trio bash and grind their way through the remaining tracks.

For entertainment value alone, Macabre are in the higher end of the scores but if we consolidate that into the content then the longevity soon becomes questionable. Worth checking out if you have never heard of them and like me have a dark sense of humour but if you like your death metal/death grind taken seriously then you probably want to look elsewhere for your kicks.

3.5/5

The oppressive and alienating sound of Coffinworm's final full length release first landed on my radar back in the year of its inception. Back then I was flirting with sludge metal on and off and as such IV.I.VIII was one of my gateway records into the sub-genre. Returning to it now probably some 5 years since my last full play through there is a sense of nostalgia that needs to be supressed somewhat in order to give the album a fair review based on its merits alone. Thankfully the positives are obvious from the off and no airy vibes from a skip down memory lane are required on my part.

The pestilential qualities of this album are still ridiculously infectious some nine years after I first heard them. I read an article this past week on some mummies in some Mexican museum that have done the rounds of the planet on exhibition at various other museums and scientists have just noticed spores growing on the mummified bodies (many of whom are still wearing the clothes they died in) that they believe harmful to humans despite the bodies being buried and exhumed into glass cases over several years. This record is a little bit like those "screaming mummies". Agonisingly vibrant in its presentation, this album has the capacity to make very horrible things grow on the listener - and you should jolly well fucking let it in my opinion.

It is a tragedy that Coffinworm called it quits some two years after this release as based on this performance they had a lot to offer as a collective. This is sickening sludge metal, like some wonderful tasting food that you know is out of date and instantly makes you projectile vomit as soon as it hits your stomach but you still go back for more because it tastes so delicious. IV.I.VIII will have you convulsing and contorting as its violence and cataclysmic dankness strikes you in your very central nervous system. Swarming tracks like Black Tears that cleverly deploys instrumentation that sounds like a car alarm in the final third of the track to add to its terrifying appeal are real album highlights and the slamming and bludgeoning opening of Lust vs Vengeance will stay with you for a long time after the record comes to a stop.

Unlike Daniel, I do not find this album to be as much of an all out assault - I mean it fucking clobbers you repeatedly yeah, but I do also pick up on the lighter moments were the pace and intensity gets paired back enough to let me enjoy some of the rhythms in use, it is these moments that really make me feel that Coffinworm are crawling all over my shit in all honesty. As well as the traditional instruments we would all expect here of guitars, drums etc there are also pianos, keyboards and percussion thrown into the mix which all add to the atmospheric horror that the band create here.

Clear winner in the album highlight stakes is Of Eating Disorders and Restraining Orders, the drop that starts the track proper resonating against my skeleton, heralding the start of one of the most sprawling and corrosive tracks on the whole album. In all honesty though, this album is so close to full marks. Agonisingly close in fact. The only blip I can identify is that some elements feel a bit over-repeated, like the full juice from some ideas is properly getting squeezed out instead of accepting that it has already been used to good effect already. Seriously though, I was nervous about presenting my first feature release in The Fallen, especially given the length of time that had passed since I last gave this album a full spin. I am so happy with my choice though and should have more confidence in my instincts because even with nostalgia put aside this is a fucking great record.

4.5/5

Despite missing their stop and staying on the bus for too long enough for them to ever get back in time for the heyday of 80's thrash metal, Wargasm still made a good go of trying to make a relevant thrash metal record in 1988. There's no use in pretending there is much of anything new here from a point in time when we had already had the peak outputs from the genre. Lost in a landscape of metal that was now growing at a rate that Wargasm could not keep up with they could not even justifiably be considered a revivalist act by the time Why Play Around? dropped. However, there is still lots to enjoy here.

Wargasm certainly knew their stuff. That mid-paced, choppy and rhythmical riffing with the stabs of melody gets the head nodding along suitably quick enough by the time I am just a few minutes into the record. Despite the drums sounding a little bit too far back in the mix they are still making sufficient enough contribution for me to enjoy them, but where's the bass gone guys?? The riffs and vocals do dominate the mix but the bass here is given as a little regard as it famously was on And Justice For All released in the very same year as this. As a result of this bass-less sound the album struggles to generate any presence for me overall. It sounds more like 3 guys jamming in someone's garage and they just did not know anyone who had a bass guitar.

Rampant tracks such as album highlight Revenge really cannot be rescued by the lead wizardry of Rich Spillberg alone. They just need more of a complete band performance (or complete contribution all round) in order to elevate them beyond this sense of lacking impetus. Add to this that I find Rob Mayo's vocal style to be a bit of an odd fix for a thrash metal band. It has a crude melodicism to it that lacks any screech factor to add some dimension to it and as such I find his performance to be quite flat over the course of the record. I sense it is supposed to come across as punky but I just cannot quite marry it with the rest of the sound here.

Criticism aside, Why Play Around? is still a solid enough thrash metal record in terms of being a simple plug in and play type of album. If we were to put any track from this album in an 80's only thrash playlist and leave it playing, it would not standout as being an inappropriate inclusion. Unfortunately, it would not standout as being anything exceptional either.

3/5

Thanks both, all added.

 There needs to be that separation I agree.

All seems perfectly sensible to me.

Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full (2020)

The prolific release schedule of Thou is mesmerising. Not that I have tried to keep up mind, but they seem to spit out EPs and splits for fun. Odd then that I have never sat through an entire release before this one. With Emma Ruth Rundle, I have the advantage of being familiar with her 2018 album On Dark Horses which is from memory a very decent indie/alternative release – not that it gets much in the way of being revisited.

The combination of these two musical forces presents something of an untested concept to me, therefore. Although I am more familiar with Emma’s work I would hardly call myself a fan and despite having heard little of Thou I can sort of predict how they are going to say. Key in this album assessment though is not just how the individual artist contributions rate but more how they first work together. They are opposites in terms of vocal style for a start. Emma’s tuneful yet earthy vocals possessing an ethereal allure to them, with Bryan Funck’s stye being the more traditional deathly rasp that we would associate with sludge. There are times here where one of the vocalists are allowed to perform in isolation to great effect and other occasions were things work just as well when the two are layered one atop of the other. In either scenario I prefer Emma though. She just has more presence regardless of the backdrop she sings against.

No combination of heavy, distorted riffs can contain her voice from bleeding through to become the most memorable part of nearly every track. However, there is not any element of conflict between the instrumentation and the vocals, both work in complete tandem throughout. That is not to say that I always want them too though. There are times when I do find myself just wanting a little respite to be able to focus on one half of the contributions (clearly Emma) as although the album as a whole is perfectly acceptable a listen there is very little sense of completion to many of the ideas explored here. Again, this feels more like one part not giving the other enough room to breathe as opposed to any noticeable conflict.

Only the opening and closing tracks seem to draw breath long enough for the fruits of their exploits to be realised. As a one-off project, this release was never going to see the complete blending of Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou into an exceptional outfit. That withstanding, time could have been taken here to fuse the emotions of the component parts better to make things more final. As a result I listen to May Our Chambers Be Full with a virtual “draft” watermark across most tracks.

3.5/5

Agressor "The Spirit of Evil" (2002)

Agressor are something of a cult entity it seems. Around for nearly forty-years, they have been banging out death/thrash metal for most of their time together. I had previously reviewed their debut album from back in 1990, gracing it with 3.5 stars due to a lack of variety. For this outing the band have done a further 12 years of output and the improvement clearly shows, working well over a shorter format also.

I located the version of this EP that contains three live tracks which are neither here nor there for me but the actual studio content here is rabid as fuck death/thrash metal. Guitarists Alex Colin-Tocquaine and Joss Sarroche are a vicious pairing and the EP even gets adorned with input from legendary death metal guitarist James Murphy on two of the studio tracks.

Overall, this is a more death metal orientated release and it is supercharged with a dark energy throughout. It is not brilliantly produced however and the drums in particular sound tepid in the mix but somehow the sound keeps a fullness to the flow, driven in the main by those superb riffs and luscious leads. Structurally, there is little fault to find here with tracks such as Wandering Soul and God From the Sky being of particular note for the quality of the writing on show.

Review Draft has unearthed a treat this month for me (after the debacle of Outrage of course).

4/5

I will take that Diadem of Dead Stars album.

Thanks for adding me on this Ben.  I will take Thou "May Our Chambers Be Full".

Macabre all day long for me.

No fucking way am I picking that Savage Steel album, that has "power/heavy/thrash" metal (in that order) written all over it.  I will go with the Japanese band Outrage, heard of them but never anything by them.

EDIT - turns out that Outrage album is not thrash - in fact it is not even metal.  Hall of Judgement submission done (yes, I know, check me out).  Not reviewing it for the Review Draft therefore.  I will pick up Aggressor instead.

May =

Machine Head - "Struck A Nerve" (from "The More Things Change…", 1997)

4arm "Headhunter" (from "Pathway to Oblivion", 2023)

Venemous - "Merciless Divinity" (from "Rise to Glory", 2017)

Strike Master - "Black Violence" (from "Vicious Nightmare", 2009)

Tungsteno - "Escuadron Del Thrash" (from "Inminente aniquilación", 2011)

Toxic Wine - "Alcoholocausto" (from "No hay lugar para los débiles", 2016)

May =

Sarastus - "Open the Noxious Veins" (from "The Deceased Dwell in Darkness", 2019)

imperium Dekadenz - "The Night Whispers to the Wise" (from "Dämmerung der Szenarien", 2007)

Nordicwinter - "A Blissful Twilight Death" (from "Threnody", 2007)

May =

Entombed - "Supposed to Rot" (from "Left Hand Path", 1990)

Benediction - "Forged In Fire" (from "Dark is the Season", 1992)

Nightmarer - "III: Stasis (Obliterated Shrine)" (from "Monolith of Corrosion", 2021)

Suffocation - "Sullen Eyes" (from "Pinnacle of Bedlam", 2013)

Defeated Sanity - "Perspectives" (from "Passages Into Deformity", 2013)

Autopsy - "Flesh Strewn Temple" (from "Morbidity Triumphant", 2022)

May =

Spectrum Mortis "U-Anne-Dugga" (from "Bit Meseri - The Incantation", 2022)

Neurosis "The Tide" (from "A Sun That Never Sets", 2001)

April 2023

01. Forced Entry – “Bone Crackin’ Fever”” (from “As Above So Below”, 1991)

02. Dark Angel – “The Burning of Sodom” (from “Darkness Descends”, 1986) [Submitted by Vinny]

03. Trastorned – “Metal Violence” (from “Into the Void”, 2023) [Submitted by Vinny]

04. Cryptosis – “Prospect of Immortality” (from “Bionic Swarm”, 2022) [Submitted by Sonny]

05. Artillery - “Crossroads to Conspiracy” (from “The Face of Fear”, 2018)

06. Exhorder – “Ripping Flesh” (from “Mourn the Southern Skies)”, 2019)

07. Torturer – “Perception of Life” (from “Conjuro IV”, 2005)

08. Terror Activator – “Self” (from “Moshing is Available”, 2019)

09. Wargasm – “Undead” (from “Why Play Around?”, 1988) [Submitted by Vinny]

10. Sodom – “Code Red” (from “Code Red”, 1999) [Submitted by Vinny]

11. Blood Tsunami – “Nothing but Contempt” (from “Grand Feast for Vultures”, 2009) [Submitted by Sonny]

12. Witchery– “Midnight at the Graveyard” (from “Restless & Dead”, 1998) [Submitted by Vinny]

13. Boris – “Czechoslovakia” (from “Heavy Rocks”, 2011) [Submitted by Daniel]

14. Once Human feat. Robb Flynn – “Deadlock” (from “Scarweaver”, 2022)

15. Anacrusis – “Grateful” (from “Screams and Whispers”, 1993) [Submitted by Daniel]

16. Excel – “Tapping into the Emotional Void” (from “The Joke’s on You”, 1989)

17. Warrant – “Torture in the Tower” (from “The Enforcer”, 1985)

18. Marty Friedman – “Anvils” (from “Dragon’s Kiss”, 1988)

19. Vendetta– “War” (from “Brain Damage”, 1988)

20. Witchseeker – “Lust for Dust” (from “Scene of the Wild”, 2021)

21. Kublai Khan – “Boomslang” (from “Absolute”, 2019)

22. Hatchet – “Silenced by Death” (from “Dawn of the End”, 2013)

23. Fog Of War – “Death Penalty” (from “Fog of War”, 2009) [Submitted by Sonny]

24. Killing – “Before Violence Strikes” (from “Face the Madness”, 2021)

25. Indestroy – “U.S.S.A.” (from “Indestroy”, 1987)

26. Abigail – “Blasphemy Night” (from “The Final Damnation”, 2016)

27. Occult – “Inquisition of the Unholy” (from “The Enemy Within”, 2009)

28. Wömit Angel – “Mr Barbie” (from “Impaling Force of Satan”, 2017)

29. Pessimist – “Another Day in Mania” (from “Call to War”, 2010)

30. Anthrax – “The Enemy” (from “Spreading the Disease”, 1985) [Submitted by Sonny]

Hi Ben,

Can you please add:

Venemous (Mexico)

Strike Master (Mexico)

Commando (Mexico)

Tungsteno (Argentina)

Disaster (Chile)

Piraña (Mexico)

Marthirio (Argentina)

Toxic Wine (Argentina)

Hi Ben,

Please could you add the latest from Mork?  "Dypet".

Revision to my list

1970 Black Sabbath - Paranoid

1971 Black Sabbath - Master of Reality

1972 Black Sabbath - Vol. 4

1973 Hawkwind - The Space Ritual Alive

1974 Kiss - s/t

1975 Black Sabbath - Sabotage

1976 Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny

1977 Motorhead - s/t

1978 Judas Priest - Stained Class

1979 Motorhead - Overkill

1980 Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden

1981 Iron Maiden - Killers

1982 Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance

1983 Metallica - Kill 'Em All

1984 Metallica - Ride The Lightning

1985 Iron Maiden - Live After Death

1986 Kreator - Pleasure to Kill

1987 Death - Scream Bloody Gore

1988 Metallica - …And Justice For All

1989 Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness

1990 Obituary - Cause of death

1991 Morbid Angel - Blessed Are The Sick

1992 Demolition Hammer - Epidemic of Violence

1993 Burzum - Det som engang var

1994 Mayhem - De mysteriis dom sathanas

1995 Suffocation - Pierced from Within

1996 Neurosis - Through Silver In Blood

1997 Borknagar -The Olden Domain

1998 Death - Sound of Perseverance

1999 Immortal - At the Heart of Winter

2000 Immolation - Close To A World Below

2001 Opeth - Blackwater Park

2002 Bloodbath - Resurrection Through Carnage

2003 Blut Aus Nord - The Work Which Transforms God

2004 Horna - split w/ Behexen

2005 Opeth - Ghost Reveries

2006 Drudkh - Blood In Our Wells

2007 WITTR - Two Hunters

2008 Darkspace - Dark Space III

2009 Drudkh - Microcosmos

2010 Hooded Menace - Never Cross The Dead

2011 Autopsy - Macabre Eternal

2012 Panopticon - Kentucky

2013 Gorguts - Colored Sands

2014 Varathron - Untrodden Corridors of Hades

2015 Akhlys - The Dreaming I

2016 Ulcerate - Shrines Of Paralysis

2017 Condor - Unstoppable Power

2018 Winterfylleth - The Harrowing of Heirdom

2019 Overkill - The Wings of War

2020 Akhlys - Melinoë

2021 Altarage - Succubus

2022 Messa - Close

I find this breakout of my ratings to be quite interesting too:

5 star             1.9%

4.5 star         11.3%

4 star             26.8%

3.5 star          30.6%

3 star             18.2%

2.5 star           7.7%

2 star              3.3%

1.5 star           1.5%

1 star               0.5%

0.5 star            0.2%

I'm comfortable with that spread to be honest. It shows that I save the 5/5 ratings for the elite of the elite & it also shows that I don't consciously go looking for music that's clearly not gonna fall anywhere near my wheelhouse all that often either.

Although I have only 93 releases that I have at 5 stars that still seems too high for me and so I am slowly revisiting these - I suppose 93 albums over 35 years of listening to metal isn't that high but I think there are one or two that probably got overrated.