Ben's Forum Replies

Hi Ben, could you please add progressive metal band from Brazil: Okyr

A quick look at RYM confirmed my suspicion that you're actually a member of the band. That of course is perfectly fine, and I'll add it to the list to be added to the site this week.

Feel free to share any info you want to about the band and/or the album.

Also, if you do intend to contribute to stick around Metal Academy, note that you have the option to have three clans. Just let me know which other two you like to be part of and I'll sort it.

Ben, I have an album cover I've just rated but changed my mind and wanted to delete my rating. Can you please implement the ability to delete cover ratings? Thanks.

You're correct that you can't delete your rating, but I didn't think it would be necessary since you can easily change it to be what you think it deserves. After all, you can judge an cover by it's...um...cover!

Anacrusis - Sound the Alarm from Screams and Whispers (1993)

Morbid Saint - Assassin from Spectrum of Death (1990)

Grip Inc. - Hostage to Heaven from Power of Inner Strength (1995)

OK, as tempting as it is to include some classics, it looks like MacabreEternal has that sorted. Let's see if I can come up with a few that others might not have heard.

Illdisposed - I Believe in Me from 1-800 Vindication (2004) - I suggest starting the playlist with this track.

Necrophagist - Fermented Offal Discharge from Onset of Putrefaction (2004)

Hate - Lux Aeterna from Erebos (2010)

Ben, please add the Boris with Merzbow album “Rock Dream”.

It's already on this site (no mention of Merzbow).

This release has been added to the Hall of Judgement.

This release has been added to the Hall of Judgement.

This release has been added to the Hall of Judgement.

This release has been added to the Hall of Judgement.

This release has been added to the Hall of Judgement.

This release has been added to the Hall of Judgement.

Progenie Terrestre Pura - Progenie terrestre pura from U.M.A. (2013)

Sun of the Blind - Cursed Universe from Skullreader (2009)

Keep of Kalessin - Come Damnation from Reclaim (2003)

3 suggestions you say? Alright then... but you know I'm going big... and don't assume that limitation will stop me from including Shape of Despair. There are three doom albums released in the last few years that are (IMO) deserving of 5 stars. I'll take this opportunity to hopefully introduce them to others.

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy from the 26th to the 30th of August, 2020.

1. Shadow Host (GUARDIANS, PIT) - requested by Tymell

2. Valkeryon (GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

3. Heart of Cygnus (GUARDIANS, INFINITE) - requested by Tymell

4. Hyperion (GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

5. Kerion (GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

6. Seven Kingdoms (GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

7. Torian (GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

8. Triosphere (GUARDIANS, INFINITE) - requested by Tymell

9. Forlorn Path (HORDE, INFINITE) - requested by Tymell

10. Crisis Sigil (HORDE)

11. Diskreet (HORDE, REVOLUTION) - requested by Tymell

12. Impiety (HORDE, NORTH, PIT) - requested by Tymell

13. Reptilian Death (HORDE) - requested by Tymell

14. Sathanas (HORDE, NORTH, PIT) - requested by Tymell

15. Cytotoxin (HORDE)

16. Ingested (HORDE, REVOLUTION)

17. Elvira Madigan (NORTH, FALLEN) - requested by Tymell

18. From the Sunset, Forest and Grief (NORTH) - requested by Tymell

19. Tågefolket (NORTH)

20. Atramentus (FALLEN)

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy from the 24th to the 25th of August, 2020.

1. Siege Column (HORDE, NORTH)

2. Dearth (HORDE, NORTH)

3. Temple Nightside (HORDE, NORTH)

4. Asenblut (HORDE, NORTH) - requested by Tymell

5. Disgusting Perversion (HORDE) - requested by Tymell

6. Unhallowed (HORDE) - requested by Tymell

7. Cirkeln (NORTH) - requested by Tymell

8. Ahnengrab (NORTH) - requested by Tymell

9. Crom (NORTH, GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

10. Nokturnal Mortem / Graveland (NORTH) - requested by Tymell

11. Cinereous Rain (NORTH) - requested by Sonny92

12. Cauldron (GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

13. Booze Control (GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

14. Crosswind (GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

15. Crystal Viper (GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

16. Iron Kobra (GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

17. Nitefall (GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

18. Double Diamond (GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

19. Graveshadow (GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy from the 19th to the 23rd of August, 2020.

1. Forest Stream (FALLEN) - requested by Tymell

2. Lord Vigo (FALLEN, GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

3. Borgo Pass (FALLEN) - requested by Tymell

4. Manzana (GATEWAY, GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

5. Battlerage (GUARDIANS, PIT) - requested by Tymell

6. Almah (GUARDIANS, INFINITE) - requested by Tymell

7. Arachnes   (GUARDIANS, INFINITE) - requested by Tymell

8. Dreamtone   (GUARDIANS, INFINITE) - requested by Tymell

9. Prayer for Cleansing (REVOLUTION) - requested by shadowdoom9

10. Annotations of an Autopsy (REVOLUTION, HORDE) - requested by Tymell

11. Oni (INFINITE) - requested by Tymell

12. Panegyrist (INFINITE, NORTH) - requested by illusionist

13. Sombres Forets (NORTH) - requested by Tymell

14. Hammer Horde (NORTH, HORDE) - requested by Tymell

15. King of Asgard (NORTH, HORDE) - requested by Tymell

16. Empyrean Sky (HORDE) - requested by Tymell

17. One Man Army and the Undread Quartet (HORDE, PIT) - requested by Tymell

18. Broken Hope (HORDE) - requested by Tymell

19. Vore (HORDE) - requested by Tymell

20. Immaculate (PIT) - requested by Tymell

21. The Horde (PIT) - requested by Tymell

I do like the idea of a rotating playlist, even though it'll take some serious upkeep to keep it going every single month. 

I think it'd be interesting to have each member be able to suggest a song for next month's playlist, so it's actually a Clan activity rather than forcing Daniel to leaf through his collection every single month. Obviously it will work better if the site grows, but just a thought to boost interaction for people who want to contribute. I know I'd want to throw in some 2020 stuff into Guardian/Infinite/North playlists. 

Love that idea. Daniel?

I think this playlist highlights just how varied the styles found in The Horde actually are, which is a good thing. I consider myself to be a very obvious candidate for the clan, given my lifelong love of death metal. I've even got a soft spot for melodic death metal, which I know others don't. Yet I don't get much enjoyment from 50% of these tracks. Not because they're not quality, although that's debatable for a lot of it, but more because they're playing in a style that I just don't like. Anyone that says that "all death metal and grindcore sounds the same" couldn't be further from the truth! It's certainly been interesting Daniel.

Does anyone think the snare sound in the Metrorrhagia track is actually enjoyable? I hear so many bands that use this trashcan lid snare that it has to be intentional, but it holds zero power for me. It's almost unlistenable!

I'm listening to it now. I know that the DJ in you wants to clump together the similar-sounding tracks, but man the start of this playlist is challenging! Kicking things off with a few very ordinary death 'n' roll tracks (particularly that atrocious Six Feet Under cover) and then following that up with Bubblegum Octopus and Phantomsmasher is TOO MUCH FOR MY FRAGILE MIND!!!!!!    

NOTE: It's possible that I'm just soft.

Bloody Phyllomedusa! Aaaagghhhh!!!!!! 

I think I'll refrain from adding new sub-genres until the function is present, but it's definitely something I'm open to. Daniel and I are keen to add a few as well, such as Symphonic Death Metal (we have Symphonic Black Metal in The North, yet symphonic death metal albums end up in The Horde AND The Guardians) and Progressive Death Metal (so many bands are labelled as Technical Death Metal when they are really a mix of death and progressive). We can talk about Technical Thrash Metal too.

I actually think we have an excellent platform to discuss genre requirements properly. When certain genres really don't feel right in the clan structure we have, it's often because they're not great genres to begin with. Atmospheric Sludge Metal is probably the most obvious case. Let's face it, Atmospheric Sludge Metal and Post Metal are pretty interchangeable, and any Atmospheric Sludge Metal album that it feels correct to place in both The Fallen and The Infinite probably has a Sludge Metal genre anyway. Sludge Metal feels right in The Fallen. Post-Metal feels right in The Infinite. A lot of Atmospheric Sludge Metal is just Post-Metal that has an element of Sludge Metal, so let's just use those genres.

All this said, I'm keen to remove any unnecessary subgenres in the short term. I agree that Traditional Doom Metal is completely unnecessary, and I'd add NWOBHM to that discussion too. Genres should not be created based on a scene or a location, nor should they be created based on lyrical content. Genres should (in my opinion) categorise releases based on the music they contain, and nothing more. Should Goregrind be a genre or is it just Grindcore with a gore theme (I don't know, just putting it out there)? Should Enslaved and Borknagar albums be labelled as Viking Metal or are they just Black Metal albums with Viking themes?

I've probably opened a few cans of worms there, but I want to get everyone thinking and sharing those thoughts. There's a lot of metal knowledge and passion in this little community. I reckon we can build something special.

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy from the 14th to the 18th of August, 2020.

1. Klabautamann (NORTH, INFINITE)

2. Árstíðir Lifsins / Carpe Noctem (NORTH)

3. Barathrum (NORTH)

4. Bekhira (NORTH)

5. Ravencult (NORTH, PIT)

6. Sunami (REVOLUTION)

7. A Dozen Furies (REVOLUTION)

8. Playing Enemy (REVOLUTION)

9. Bloodlined Calligraphy (REVOLUTION)

10. Fleshvessel (HORDE, INFINITE)

11. Asgaut (HORDE, INFINITE)

12. Cosmovore (HORDE)

13. Symbyosis (HORDE, INFINITE)

14. Archeon (HORDE)

15. Scrambled Defuncts (HORDE, GUARDIANS)

16. Psykup (INFINITE, GATEWAY)

17. Collapsar (INFINITE)

18. Wall of Sleep (FALLEN)

19. Macbeth (FALLEN, GUARDIANS, GATEWAY)

20. Wraith of the Ropes (FALLEN)

21. Highland Glory (GUARDIANS)

22. Axehammer (GUARDIANS)

23. Jacobs Dream (GUARDIANS)

Good news! All of my suggestions have now been implemented. Check it out, let me know what you think.

Alright guys, I think The Gallery is cool, and a differentiating factor that could draw in more people. I need to sign off on my developers work this week, so let's put our heads together and figure out how the feature could be even better. This is what I'm thinking...

1. You can't currently see whether you've rated an album cover or not. I'm a little reluctant to make that visible from everywhere on the site, as that might get confusing, but it makes sense that when you're on The Gallery page you can see a Your Cover Rating section (similar to the charts). 
2. I agree with others that it's really easy to accidentally rate an release when trying to rate a cover. The only solution I can think of is to separate them on the Release Page, maybe putting the Rate Release Cover section below the artwork itself?
3. We could add a Cover Ratings section to the Profile page, so you can easily see what releases you've rated the cover for. Maybe even show a Cover Ratings distribution chart, like the one we built for releases.

Does anyone have any other ideas for improvements? If you have any feedback on any of the other recent changes / additions, please reply to the relevant threads. I don't want to let my developer go until everything we can do is done.

Great feature, Ben! I have a couple suggestions about it; 1. Please add the ability to review album covers so any member can unleash the "positive/negative art critic" within. 2. This one's in the long run but after we get more members to do album cover ratings, please add the limit of minimum 5 ratings per album, so I wouldn't look like a rating hog. Yeah the whole drama we had with MadManx2084 and AlteredManx02 got me worried about my excessive rating and I don't wanna end up banned like them. OK thanks!

Firstly, I don't think I want to introduce the ability to review album covers. I agree with MacabreEternal that it would likely make things even more confusing than they already are for newcomers, and I don't actually think many Academy attendees would use it. I think I need to work on making the site more newcomer friendly in the short term (which I plan to do), before bringing in anything else to rate / review.

Secondly, I will add a minimum rating eventually, but let's build some momentum first. You never have to worry about being a rating hog. As long as you're following the rules (which you clearly are), then you never have to worry about being banned. I say rate away! The system will correct itself over time.

**Ben - I tried to quote Andi for this post but each time I clicked "quote" it took me to the top of the screen?**

Not sure what was going on there. I've tested a couple and it seems to be working fine. Glitch in the Matrix!

Going through and rating album covers is making me realise how much I dislike photos of the band as the cover. With rare exceptions it almost always looks either silly, boring or cringe-inducing (or some combination of them).

Agree!

To answer your question Sonny, I don't really want to provide intentions or instructions for how to use the tools we provide. I personally rate album covers taking a few different things into account (general quality of art, personal appeal, symmetry / impact as an album cover, suitability for the genre of music are probably the main things), but I think everyone should just use whatever system they enjoy.

I'm certainly going to enjoy scrolling through the Gallery every day and giving my rating for everything in the top 100. It's just so easy compared to rating releases, for which you have to invest a lot of time for every rating.

One thing that bothered me about the Anniversaries page was that releases with multiple clans were only being displayed with one clan icon (the first one alphabetically). That's been fixed now, so multiple clan icons will appear when multiple clans are present.

The cover images are no longer cut off at the bottom on the Featured page. Looks much better.

The cover images are no longer cut off at the bottom on the Anniversaries page. Looks better.

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy from the 12th to the 13th of August, 2020.

1. Bone Awl (NORTH)

2. Kall (NORTH, INFINITE, FALLEN)

3. Vassafor (NORTH, FALLEN, HORDE)

4. Selbst (NORTH)

5. Wigrid (NORTH)

6. Ebony Ark (INFINITE, GUARDIANS)

7. Stride (INFINITE)

8. Corruption (FALLEN, GUARDIANS)

9. Thee Plague of Gentlemen (FALLEN)

10. Saturndust (FALLEN)

11. Battleroar (GUARDIANS)

12. Axenstar (GUARDIANS)

13. Draghkar (HORDE)

14. Duma (HORDE)

15. Artery Eruption (HORDE)

16. Last Days of Humanity (HORDE)

17. Disavowed (HORDE)

18. With Passion (HORDE, REVOLUTION)

19. Faceless Burial (HORDE)

20. Katalepsy (HORDE)

21. Year of the Knife (REVOLUTION)

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy from the 7th to the 11th of August, 2020.

1. Men in Search of the Perfect Weapon (INFINITE, FALLEN)

2. Marc Rizzo (INFINITE)

3. Vanessa Van Basten (INFINITE, FALLEN)

4. Artimus Pyledriver (FALLEN)

5. Mortal Love (FALLEN, GUARDIANS)

6. Seemless (FALLEN)

7. Nomad Son (FALLEN, GUARDIANS)

8. Aes Dana (NORTH)

9. Black Witchery (NORTH)

10. Chthonic (NORTH, HORDE)

11. The Monolith Deathcult (HORDE, GUARDIANS)

12. Question (HORDE)

13. Xythlia (HORDE)

14. Vituperate (HORDE)

15. Deathchain (HORDE, PIT)

16. Deadlock (HORDE, REVOLUTION, GATEWAY)

17. Thin (REVOLUTION)

18. On Broken Wings (REVOLUTION)

19. Mortal Treason (REVOLUTION)

20. Winter Solstice (REVOLUTION)

21. Heed (GUARDIANS)

22. High Spirits (GUARDIANS)

23. Tony Martin (GUARDIANS)

24. Warmen (GUARDIANS)

Always struggled with the vocals on gothic metal Sentenced albums. North From Here is where it's at for me!

It's always been cut off, but seems to be more cut off that it was before. Will try to sort.

We've improved the Monthly Feature Releases page in the following two ways:

1. It's now alphabetically order by Clan.
2. It now has clan icons so it's obvious which clan is being represented by each release.

All feedback is welcome.

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy from the 4th to the 6th of August, 2020.

1. Chasing Ghosts (FALLEN) - requested by Tymell

2. Like Rats (FALLEN, HORDE)

3. Inter Arma (FALLEN)

4. Moribund Mantras (FALLEN, INFINITE) - requested by Sonny92

5. Witchskull (FALLEN) - requested by Sonny92

6. Tephra (FALLEN, INFINITE)

7. Rites of Thy Degringolade (HORDE)

8. Disgorge (HORDE)

9. Debauchery (HORDE)

10. Flametal (INFINITE, GUARDIANS, NORTH)

11. Suspyre (INFINITE, GUARDIANS)

12. Rebel Wizard (NORTH, GUARDIANS)

13. Mystras (NORTH)

14. Bythos (NORTH)

15. Raven Throne (NORTH) - requested by Sonny92

16. Inexorum (NORTH)

17. The Bishop of Hexen (NORTH)

18. Gonoreas (GUARDIANS, PIT) - requested by Tymell

19. Gomorra (GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

20. Stargazery (GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

21. Magnus Karlsson (GUARDIANS)

22. Heavy Heavy Low Low (REVOLUTION)

23. Maroon (REVOLUTION)

24. Nodes of Ranvier (REVOLUTION)

I think it's U.S. time, or at least something similar. As much as I'd love to have the site in AU ESDT, I'm not sure that would be preferable for the majority of attendees.

I gave this 4 stars on my review here purely because the album hadn't stood the test of time well and needed Heresy and Shattered  to be left on the cutting room floor in all honesty.  A landmark album for me growing up no doubt and for a debut record it was a cracker.  The darker edge to tracks such as Medicine Man are where my preferences lie on this record though even though before I had the album I played the video for the title track to death on my VCR after I recorded an episode of RAW Power with it on.  More of a fan of the follow and Far Beyond Driven nowadays but the debut still holds a respectful score.

4/5

We're just ignoring all their previous albums are we? 

Ah, so you have! I guess that proves the need for this page, as I missed them.

I've added all 9 monthly features now, but I've noticed the sort seems to be a bit random. I can't sort it by Clan, as a few of this month's releases are connected to multiple clans. I might have to add another field that allows me to manually sort them 1 to 9. I'll try to implement a way to easily tell which clan each release is representing too, as not everyone will know the natural order of clans.

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy on the 3rd of August, 2020.

EMBR (FALLEN) - requested by Tymell

Mantar (FALLEN)

Wolftooth (FALLEN, GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

Jupiterian (FALLEN, INFINITE) - requested by Tymell

Satan's Hallow (GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

Greyhawk (GUARDIANS) - requested by Tymell

Bedsore (HORDE, INFINITE)

Spirit Possession (NORTH)

Battle Dagorath (NORTH)

Turpitude (NORTH)

Gaerea (NORTH)

Fellwarden (NORTH)

Cabal (REVOLUTION, INFINITE)

Gulch (REVOLUTION)

Justice for the Damned (REVOLUTION)

Anciients (INFINITE)

I looked up Bleeding Eyes on RYM and they're listed as Stoner Metal in both of their albums, so I think there's potential in that band earning its place in The Fallen.

The issue is that they have 5 releases, including 4 full length albums. RYM is very incomplete.

I'd like to request the following:

Wolftooth
Embr
Chasing Ghosts
Jupiterian
Bleeding Eyes

Just letting you know that I attempted to add Bleeding Eyes, but there's no information about genre for most of their releases. They seem to be listed as doom, stoner, sludge and even metalcore in different places, so we might have to wait for more activity on RYM (unless you want to listen to all their releases and make a judgement).

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy from the 29th of July to the 2nd of August, 2020:

Buckethead (INFINITE, GATEWAY, FALLEN, PIT)

Why only one band I here you ask? 326 releases is the answer!

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy from the 25th of July to the 28th of July, 2020:

1. Khthoniik Cerviiks (NORTH, HORDE)

2. Fides Inversa (NORTH) - requested by Sonny92

3. Astrofaes (NORTH)

4. Fjoergyn (NORTH, GUARDIANS)

5. Look What I Did (REVOLUTION)

6. Most Precious Blood (REVOLUTION)

7. Thy Majestie (GUARDIANS)

8. Tribuzy (GUARDIANS)

9. Aquaria (GUARDIANS)

10. Obscene (HORDE)

11. Prostitute Disfigurement (HORDE)

12. Exocrine (HORDE, INFINITE)

13. SUP (HORDE, FALLEN, INFINITE, SPHERE)

14. Gallower (PIT) - requested by Sonny92

15. Wormfood (FALLEN, INFINITE)

16. Impure Wilhelmina (FALLEN, INFINITE)

17. Frameshift (INFINITE)

18. Chimp Spanner (INFINITE)

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy from the 23rd of July to the 24th of July, 2020:

1. Urna (FALLEN, NORTH)

2. Umbra Nihil (FALLEN)

3. Mistress (FALLEN)

4. Ramallah (REVOLUTION, GATEWAY)

5. Fear My Thoughts (REVOLUTION, HORDE, INFINITE)

6. War of Ages (REVOLUTION)

7. The Project Hate MCMXCIX (HORDE, SPHERE)

8. Mindly Rotten (HORDE)

9. Insidious Decrepancy (HORDE)

10. Kekal (NORTH, INFINITE)

11. Vinterriket (NORTH)

12. Code (NORTH, INFINITE)

13. Ashdautas (NORTH)

14. Zero Hour (INFINITE)

15. Othyrworld (INFINITE, GUARDIANS)

16. Nanowar of Steel (GUARDIANS)

17. Rob Rock (GUARDIANS)

18. Crystal Eyes (GUARDIANS)

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy from the 20th of July to the 22nd of July, 2020:

1. Antestor (NORTH, FALLEN, HORDE)

2. Äkth Gánahëth (NORTH) - requested by Sonny92

3. Griefloss (NORTH, INFINITE) - requested by illusionist

4. Old Wainds (NORTH)

5. A Textbook Tragedy (REVOLUTION)

6. Symphony in Peril (REVOLUTION)

7. Kotiteollisuus (GUARDIANS)

8. Russell Allen (GUARDIANS)

9. Kipelov (GUARDIANS)

10. Graves at Sea / Asunder (FALLEN)

11. Graves at Sea (FALLEN)

12. Old Night (FALLEN) - requested by Sonny92

13. Continuo Renacer (INFINITE, HORDE)

14. Spheric Universe Experience (INFINITE)

15. Pantommind (INFINITE)

16. Rannoch (INFINITE, HORDE) - requested by saxystephens

17. Impaled (HORDE)

18. Thorium (HORDE) - requested by illusionist

19. Aeon (HORDE)

20. The Duskfall (HORDE)

Amazing album from a top tier band at their peak. It's been a while since I listened to it actually. I think it's time...

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy from the 14th of July to the 16th of July, 2020:

1. Ad Infinitum (GUARDIANS)

2. Tides (INFINITE, FALLEN)

3. Lalu (INFINITE)

4. Shedfromthebody (FALLEN)

5. Convocation (FALLEN)

6. Amnutseba (NORTH, HORDE)

7. Kaatayra (NORTH)

8. Woods of Infinity (NORTH)

9. Born From Pain (REVOLUTION)

10. Caliban vs. Heaven Shall Burn (REVOLUTION, HORDE)

11. Sinai Beach (REVOLUTION)

12. Exhumation (HORDE)

13. Watchmaker (HORDE)

Will definitely check out. Cheers!