Ben's Forum Replies

I will add this to the Hall of Judgement as soon as I make a couple of small changes to the way it works.

I will add this to the Hall of Judgement as soon as I make a couple of small changes to the way it works.

I think Faith No More were the first Gateway band that I really listened to. I actually became obsessed with them around the age of 15 and played their albums on repeat. I reckon I could sing every word of the discography ranging from The Real Thing to Album of the Year. At least, I could, if I had even a fraction of the talent that Mike Patton has.

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy on the 28th of May, 2019:

1. Winter (FALLEN)

2. Staind (GATEWAY)

3. Axel Rudi Pell (GUARDIANS)

4. Chthe'ilist (HORDE)

5. Toundra (INFINITE, FALLEN)

6. Winterfylleth (NORTH)

7. Believer (PIT, INFINITE)

8. Walls of Jericho (REVOLUTION)

9. 16volt (SPHERE)

10. Subrosa (FALLEN) - on request of Sonny92

11. Monolithe (FALLEN, INFINITE) - on request of Sonny92

How about Monolithe & Subrosa?

Done!

I've a big fan of Monolithe I & II, so was more than happy to add them. I really need to check out their later stuff.

Black Metal - I'm pretty sure it was Bathory for me too, but it was Burzum's Det som en gang var track off Hvis Lyset Tar Oss that changed everything for me. Once again it was a track that you recorded off a late night radio program, and I thought it was amazing. In fact, Black metal has been my favourite genre of all since I heard it. I'm a black metal addict!

Folk Metal - Yep, it would have been Isengarde for me too, and I found it very difficult to enjoy. I'm certainly more partial to folk metal than Daniel is, but for every album that I totally dig (Primordial, Orphaned Land), there's a bunch that I can't get into at all.

Viking Metal - It was definitely Bathory, but I believe I explored Twilight of the Gods before Hammerheart. Both of those albums are special to me, so it's strange that I haven't really thrown myself into the subgenre over the years (unless you count Enslaved and Borknagar). I might have to remedy that some time. I'm bound to find some great albums.

Thrash Metal - Yep, it was ...And Justice for All for me too. The same cassette that got you into thrash metal too. At first I think I laughed at how stupidly heavy and fast it was, but I found myself drawn back to it over and over again. I soon found myself listening to every album that Daniel brought into our home and a lifelong obsession was formed. I owe so much to Metallica!

Groove Metal - It was Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power for me, but Cowboys from Hell followed it quickly. We saw Pantera and Sepultura within a couple of months of each other in 1994, and they were my very first big metal concerts. I can't say I enjoyed much of Pantera's output after Vulgar, but boy did I love that album!

Speed Metal - I don't think I really appreciated speed metal until we started covering bands like Savage Grace, Agent Steel and Iron Angel for the podcast. Prior to that, my experience was limited to the likes of Exciter and Venom, both of which I've always felt somewhat lukewarm about.

For me it was Ministry's Psalm 69 in 1992. We had a couple of tracks recorded off the late night metal radio program that Daniel mentioned, and I played them repeatedly. I know one of them was the title track. and the other was likely Jesus Built My Hotrod. I purchased the album (along with Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power) on my next trip to Utopia Records in Sydney, and it has been a favourite ever since.

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy on the 27th of May, 2019:

1. SUMAC (FALLEN, INFINITE)

2. Exhumed (HORDE)

3. Graveland (NORTH)

4. Tourniquet (PIT, INFINITE, GUARDIANS, GATEWAY)

5. Northlane (REVOLUTION, INFINITE, GATEWAY)

6. Rabbit Junk (SPHERE)

7. Roadrunner United (GATEWAY)

8. In Solitude (GUARDIANS)

9. Control Denied (INFINITE)

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy on the 25th of May, 2019:

1. Goatwhore (HORDE, NORTH) - on request of Strig

2. Amoral (HORDE, INFINITE) - on request of Strig

3. Kataklysm (HORDE) - on request of Strig

4. Mitochondrian (HORDE) - on request of Strig

5. Sadist (HORDE, INFINITE) - on request of Strig

6. Stargazer (HORDE) - on request of Strig

7. Adversarial (HORDE) - on request of Strig

8. Posthumous Blasphemer (HORDE) - on request of Strig

9. Polluted Inheritance (HORDE) - on request of Strig

10. Stormwitch (GUARDIANS) - on request of Daniel

11. Warlock (GUARDIANS) - on request of Daniel

12. Spinal Tap (GUARDIANS) - on request of Daniel

Thanks Strig. I've fixed the Every Time I Die year and the Controller double.

As for Knut, this is because you have The Revolution clan selected, and that album is considered pure sludge, and therefore The Fallen only. If you have no clan filter, it's there.

Indeed.  Oops, thanks. They also have 3 EP's, but I don't want to overload you. I will take a break from band mentions. 

The first two EPs are demos, and the third one is a 7 inch. Demos and 7 inch releases are not currently included on the site. I may start adding select 7 inch releases at some point, but there will need to be rules. Maybe they have to have covers and they have to run over 10 minutes or something (the Mitochondrion 7 inch would pass these rules). Just trying to avoid endlessly adding shit-loads of little-known 7 inches that run for about 5 minutes and have no packaging at all.

Mitochondrion are there. You're just spelling it incorrectly. 

Thanks mate. I uploaded an OZ review this morning.

Please add Stormwitch, Warlock & Spinal Tap.

All done

Bands Requests - 

Goatwhore,  Amoral, Kataklysm, Mitochondrian, Sadist, Stargazer, Adversarial, Posthumous Blasphemer, Polluted Inheritance

Don't want to put too many at once, and thanks

All done!

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy on the 24th of May, 2019:

1. Ephel Duath (REVOLUTION, INFINITE, NORTH)

2. Fleshgod Apocalypse (HORDE, GUARDIANS)

3. Goatsnake (FALLEN)

4. MindFunk (GATEWAY)

5. Rhapsody of Fire (GUARDIANS)

6. Zu (INFINITE)

7. Limbonic Art (NORTH)

8. Bulldozer (PIT)

9. Gothminister (SPHERE)

Bands Requests - 

Goatwhore,  Amoral, Kataklysm, Mitochondrian, Sadist, Stargazer, Adversarial, Posthumous Blasphemer, Polluted Inheritance

Don't want to put too many at once, and thanks

Well that gives me something to do this weekend! 

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy on the 23rd of May, 2019:

1. HammerFall (GUARDIANS)

2. Divine Heresy (REVOLUTION, PIT)

3. Callisto (FALLEN, INFINITE)

4. Diapsiquir (SPHERE, INFINITE, NORTH)

5. Alchemist (INFINITE, HORDE)

6. Arkona (NORTH)

7. Massacra (HORDE, GATEWAY, PIT)

8. Snot (GATEWAY)

9. Stone (PIT)

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy on the 22nd of May, 2019:

1. Oz (GUARDIANS) - on request of Daniel

2. After Forever (GUARDIANS, FALLEN)

3. Two (SPHERE, GATEWAY)

4. Flaw (GATEWAY)

5. Sylosis (PIT, HORDE, REVOLUTION)

6. Human Abstract, The (REVOLUTION, INFINITE)

7. Entropia (INFINITE, FALLEN, NORTH)

8. Acid King (FALLEN)

9. Sinister (HORDE)

10. Mütiilation (NORTH)

Thanks Ben. I've added a review for each of those bands.

Please add Finnish heavy metallers OZ.

Done.

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy on the 21st of May, 2019:

1. Lacrimosa (FALLEN, GUARDIANS)

2. Killer be Killed (GATEWAY, PIT)

3. Silencer (NORTH)

4. Lååz Rockit (PIT, GUARDIANS)

5. Make Them Suffer (REVOLUTION)

6. Engel (SPHERE, HORDE, GATEWAY)

7. Dark Moor (GUARDIANS)

8. Slugdge (HORDE, INFINITE)

9. Cloudkicker (INFINITE)

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy on the 20th of May, 2019:

1. Atrocity (SPHERE, HORDE, FALLEN, PIT)

2. Pan.Thy.Monium (INFINITE, HORDE)

3. Mokoma (PIT, GATEWAY)

4. Harvey Milk (FALLEN)

5. Finger Eleven (GATEWAY)

6. Masterplan (GUARDIANS)

7. Benighted (HORDE)

8. Kriegsmaschine (NORTH)

9. Oh, Sleeper (REVOLUTION) 

Ritual 'The Summoning' 1995

Haven't heard this one. Worth checking out?

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy on the 19th of May, 2019:

1. Savage (GUARDIANS) - on request of Daniel

2. Jaguar (GUARDIANS ) - on request of Daniel

3. Grim Reaper (GUARDIANS ) - on request of Daniel

4. Year of No Light (FALLEN, INFINITE)

5. Stuck Mojo (GATEWAY)

6. Teitanblood (NORTH, HORDE)

7. Holy Moses (PIT)

8. Harm's Way (REVOLUTION)

9. Amenta, The (SPHERE, HORDE)

10. Pretty Maids (GUARDIANS)

11. Rivers of Nihil (HORDE, INFINITE)

12. Redemption (INFINITE)

Thanks mate. I've added an Alcatrazz rating & a review each for Ritual & Torch.

Please add these bands:

Grim Reaper (NWOBHM)

Savage (NWOBHM)

Jaguar (NWOBHM)

All done.

I see that one mouses over clan icons on the 'Bands' or 'Releases' pages, the clan name appears, which is good to know. However, it might be useful to also have the genres under that banner also appear, rather than have users memorize which one they need to click to find a particular style. Just another 'ease of use' tweak, if it interests you. 

I did think about doing this, but thought it might become a bit unruly with some of the broader clans, particularly The Fallen. When you hover over the Fallen symbol, it will need to pop up with "The Fallen - Doom Metal, Drone Metal, Gothic Metal, Sludge Metal, Stoner Metal". It's for this reason that I added the "Learn more about clans" button instead. If you click that, it opens up the clan break-down page in a new tab.

Your point is fair though, and I need to remember that it's going to be tricky for newcomers to know what the clans represent. I'll try adding the expanded descriptors and we'll see what it looks like.

Keep the suggestions coming. We really appreciate it.

Some of us know that RYM has been foolhardy and allowed Blackened Death and Progressive Death to not be represented as genres in their system, currently. By virtue of using their genre make up, this also excludes it from Metal Academy, which is a situation I would love to remedy. This would also give you something they have not. Anyone who followed that fiasco over there knows what a frowned upon happening that turned out to be, and I feel that they should definitely be represented as subgenres unto themselves rather than hybrid tags. Is this something that has been discussed? Thanks. 

As it turns out, I was part of the initial conversations (I'm The Trickster on RYM). I strongly believed that Progressive Death Metal should be a genre, and I know that Daniel feels the same way. Not having it results in albums being categorised as Technical Death Metal when they're clearly just Death Metal with Progressive leanings. The same thing happens with Thrash Metal, with the Technical Thrash Metal term being misused due to there not being any other way  to differentiate standard Thrash from Thrash / Progressive hybrids. It all results in the Progressive Metal charts containing loads of bands that really have nothing to do with real Progressive Metal.

These arguments are actually part of the reason why I decided to remove low-level sub-genres from Metal Academy altogether. Death Metal is categorised as Death Metal here, regardless of whether it has melodic, technical, blackened, brutal or progressive leanings. I think fans that enjoy one of those "sub-genres" will likely enjoy all of them. Also, unless I was to introduce a genre voting system here, I would only be able to go off what Rate Your Music has listed when adding releases, as I want to avoid enforcing my own subjective opinions on the site. I can't possibly listen to every album that I add anyway, so we'd end up in the same place, concentrating on labels and sub-labels, rather than just enjoying the music and bonding with like-minded metal fans.

All this said, I'm open to anything that will make this site more useful. If there's a way to introduce lower level sub-genres without it becoming the focal point of discussion or over-complicating the Clan aspect of the site, I'd like to hear it.

Cheers!

The following bands have been added to Metal Academy on the 17th of May, 2019:

1. Old Man Gloom (FALLEN, INFINITE)

2. Haggard (GUARDIANS, HORDE, INFINITE)

3. Animosity (REVOLUTION)

4. Morgoth (HORDE, GATEWAY, SPHERE)

5. G//Z/R (SPHERE, GATEWAY)

6. Tormentor (PIT, NORTH)

7. Amen (GATEWAY)

8. Circus Maximus (INFINITE)

9. Forgotten Tomb (NORTH)

Thanks mate. I've submitted a review for Battleaxe, three ratings for TSA & two reviews for Acid.

Can you please add these bands:

Alcatrazz (USA)

Ritual (NWOBHM)

Torch (Sweden)

All done.

Thanks mate. I've added a 220 Volt review, a Chateaux rating & review & a Europe review today.

Please add these bands next:

Battleaxe (NWOBHM)

TSA (Poland)

Done

Ben, please add Belgian speed metallers Acid.

Done

I need to give their new stuff more of a go. I think I was so disappointed that Cadaveria wasn't there anymore that I kind of gave up on them.

Awesome, thank you! Will definitely give more!

Indeed Opera IX are vastly underrated, their first three albums are fantastic and totally unique. Thankfully I was lucky enough to catch them live, what and experience! 

You saw them live with Cadaveria!? That would have been awesome.

Looks like the album 'Risk' (1999) was skipped over in the Megadeth chronology. Not that I blame anyone for wishing the album out of existence...

It was left out intentionally as it's not a metal album. It's a hard rock album, as voted on Rate Your Music. You'll notice there are some albums in metal bands discographies that have been left off Metal Academy for that reason, as they can't be attached to a Clan.

It's metal only here at Metal Academy!

Really enjoying the site! Anyways if I could suggest a few bands I would like to see Mortuary Drape, Varathron, Impaled Nazarene, Opera IX, and Mystifier added to the site as those are among my all time favorites.

It's awesome to hear that you're enjoying the site Samael666x!

I've added all these bands. I really enjoyed doing it too, as I'm a massive black metal fan. Keep them coming!

Opera IX are hugely underrated, particularly the early albums with Cadaveria. I've loved The Call of the Woods since I bought it back in 1995. I really should review that album some time.

Thanks mate. I just added two Rock Goddess ratings, one Heavy Pettin' rating & a Steeler review.

Please add these bands next:

220 Volt (Sweden)

Chateaux (NWOBHM)

Europe (Sweden)

All done.

Maybe it is in the works already, but I wonder if the band tab having a simple alphabetical "jump to letter" header might be helpful. As more is added and the page count grows, it will keep it easy to browse the site. For example, if I just wanted to see what bands starting with "H" was here, I would have to flick through the pages until I got it. Not a big deal with 23 pages, sure, but when there are 423? Maybe a more dauting task. 

An excellent suggestion. I'll see if we can get that done. Thanks Strig!

Ben, please add these artists:

Rock Goddess (NWOBHM)

Heavy Pettin' (NWOBHM)

Steeler (USA)

All done.

Welcome to the Academy Strig! More importantly, welcome to The Fallen, The Horde and The Infinite.

Could you add Opprobrium (formerly Incubus) please? Spinning 'Beyond The Unknown' today has reminded me what a fucking awesome band they are, long live the Howard brothers.

Done!

I added them as separate bands, as most people would remember those 80's efforts as Incubus.

Thanks mate. Please add Y&T.

Done. Only Black Tiger makes the criteria to be considered metal.

Ben, please add Warning from Germany.

Done. Man that self-titled debut is ahead of its time!

Done

Please add Witchfinder General Ben. Including the "Soviet Invasion!" E.P. thanks.

Done

Thanks mate. I just added a rating for Trust's "Repression", Brats' "1980" & Lazy's "Uchusen Chikyugo".

Can you please add these next:

Krokus (Switzerland)

Warning (France)

Picture (Netherlands)

All done too.

Ben, please add the following bands:

Trust (France)

Brats (Denmark)

Lazy (Japan)

All done.

Yes I am. But we’re gonna need to cover these obscure releases as well as the more popular ones. I can’t believe you found high quality images for these though!

Can you please add Budgie’s metal-oriented releases? I’d like to rate “Power Supply” & “If Swallowed, Do Not Induce Vomiting” & it should completely close out the 70’s bands too.

Done

Ben, please add the following bands:

Sorcery (Chicago)

Sorcery (Los Angeles)

Centaurus

All done. Wow...you're really scraping the bottom of the barrel here!

Ben, can you please add these bands for me:

More (England)

Legend (Jersey)

Baron Rojo (Spain)

All done.

Thanks for the heads up Vinny. Did you give that release an initial rating on 24th March & then add the review on 11th April by any chance? I don't think the dates are updating under those circumstances. I've experienced it myself & have had to delete my rating first before doing a fresh review to get it to come up in the new reviews section.

Yeah, that's likely the reason. When you add a rating, the site actually sees that as a review. So when you go back later and write an actual review, it keeps the original date. I'll see if there's anything that can be done, but I also don't want a situation where people can keep resaving their reviews to put them back on the front page.