Ben's Forum Replies

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.

Gojira - "From Mars To Sirius" (2005)

An awesome combination of "Domination"-era Morbid Angel, the progressive metal of Devin Townsend & little bit of groove metal.

4.5/5

We agree on this one. Awesome stuff.

I completely agree. Ben seems to think it's amazing though which is disappointing as the family had such high hopes for him early on.

Well, you know, a LOT of people love it. So it appears the family was determined for me to have bad taste in music. I feel sad that I disappointed them, but then, they've always got you to be proud of.

Coldworld 'Melancholie2' - never really seen the requirement for the effusive praise this gets.  I have always found it decidedly average.

This album just happens to be one of my absolute favourite! I'm also a big fan of its follow-up. Each to their own I guess. 

All done. Limited Loudness to 50 releases! Took me ages.

Guys, could you add Vltimas, Desolate Shrine, Hooded Menace and Master to the bands list please?

Happy to list the releases here for each artist if required?

These have all been added. Note that the Hooded Menace releases and one of the Desolate Shrine albums are in The Fallen. Don't let that stop you reviewing them of course. There will be ways to add an additional clan or two to your profile in future.

Keep the requests coming. It gives me a focus rather than choosing from the 2 billion metal bands that exist.

Ben, please add Raven, Anvil & Loudness.

Holy crap! That's 62 full length albums + EPs, Comps and Live releases to do!

There goes my weekend.  Oh well, they had to be done some time. Might as well do them all in a marathon session.

Lots of split releases in their back catalogue Ben. I know you’ll love that.

I've already added Acherontas, and ignored the splits for now. Will add them once I have a better system for their inclusion. #workinprogress

Could we add Acherontas and their back catalogue to The North clan please?

This request has been completed.

I've come across this band previously, but have never heard them. I look forward to seeing what you think of them.

I've been a little obsessed with Manilla Road recently. Thanks for the deep analysis of Open the Gates.

You're very welcome, particularly as they've become a bit of an obsession for me in the process. I can't wait to cover more of their albums for the show!

Ben, please add these bands:

Fist

The Rods

Cirith Ungol

All done!

I very much enjoy both albums, but Clandestine is definitely my favourite Entombed album. Each to their own I guess. 

Aoratos "Gods Without Name"

Naas Alcameth's (Nightbringer, Akhlys, Excommunion) latest musical creation.

I've liked what I've heard of Nightbringer, so I might have to give this a go sometime.

Please add the following NWOBHM bands Ben:

Witchfynde

Tygers Of Pan Tang

Holocaust

43 releases later, these bands have been added. That was some rabbit hole you sent me down.

For some reason I didn't get on with this when I first played it, the avante-garde rhythms are a little confusing but not grating as such.  Anyway, let's see how the mood takes me today.

I've always felt that it's a little underrated, but then I'm pretty open to bands experimenting and trying new things. There are a couple of very impressive moments, particularly View From Nihil.

So he's in no way saying that he didn't do it. Only that he had a "good reason" for doing it, which the court didn't acknowledge. Yeah, that doesn't exactly evoke my sympathy.

Helloween - Walls of Jericho (1985)

This will be the first time that I've ever listened to a full Helloween album.