Daniel's Forum Replies

Shining - "V - Halmstad (Niklas Angående Niklas)" (2007)

It may not be your usual bag Xephyr but I'd be interested to hear what you have to say about this one.

Ambitious & well-produced depressive black metal from Sweden. For fans of Silencer, Forgotten Tomb & Bethlehem.

Glad you liked it Sonny. I hadn't listened to it for more than a decade but quickly remembered why I found it to be such an interesting listen. It really asks questions of your average depressive black metal fan as it goes against the grain in many ways. Firstly, the production is crystal clear which is directly opposed to the lo-fi approach that most of Shining's peers take when attempting to create atmosphere & I think it works beautifully here. Perhaps it's due to the fact that it highlights the exceptional level of musicianship for a black metal outfit & a much more diverse & progressive musical palate. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's debatable as to whether "V - Halmstad" is even black metal in the traditional sense of the term. Despite the fact that Shining utilize traditional black metal tools fairly consistently throughout the album, the production, musicianship, experimentation in style & unusual vocal techniques never allow them to sound like a black metal band in the purest sense.  (I feel similarly about Primordial's classic releases actually.) Post-black metal is perhaps a more accurate tag for "V - Halmstad" than anything else but it still doesn't fit all that comfortably.

Regardless of what most reviews say, I actually don't find "V - Halmstad" to sound all that depressive in a musical sense either. I think people are mainly led down that path by the samples, cover art & lyrics (which are in Swedish) as well as the insane & overthetop vocal delivery & stage antics of Kvarforth but it's also possible that I simply can't relate to these sort of feelings & therefore aren't able to connect with the music in the same way. Kvarforth's vocals are a bit of a struggle for me at times to be honest. At his best his blood-curdling howls & croaks remind me of Mayhem/Aborym/Tormentor/Sunn O))) front man Attila Csihar but at his worst he sounds pretty similar to Zed from the Police Academy movies. Some of the suicidal & depressive movie samples are very effective but I do think they go too far with pushing these themes at times as there are one or two sections that are simply too miserable to make for enjoyable listening, instead making the listener feel significantly uneasy. The first two tracks are spectacular & I always feel like I'm heading towards a very high scoring result early on but, even though there are no weak tracks on offer, the middle of the album sees a decline in overall impact before taking an upwards turn & finishing with a couple of very solid & effective pieces.

Overall, this is a high quality & ambitious piece of work that should appeal to fans of Silencer, Forgotten Tomb & Bethlehem.

4/5

The chart has been improved in two ways...

1. There's now an Exclude Releases I've Rated checkbox, so you can now see the top albums for any clan that you haven't yet rated.

That won't help Revolution666 much. He'll just see a blank page!

Mid-80's Bay Area thrash for fans of Testament, Metallica & Exodus.

Death Angel - "The Ultra-Violence" (1987)

Can someone please fill me in on what is supposedly so special about the debut album from this family-owned Bay Area thrash outfit? I first encountered it three decades ago now & are still no closer to understanding the reason for the high regard it seems to be held in by almost every thrasher out there (with the possible exception of Ben who has always agreed with me). Don't get me wrong. It's a more than handy thrash record & was quite the achievement for such a young group of dudes but it doesn't really come close to competing with the big boys of the genre in my opinion. The triple play of "Kill As One", the title track & "Mistress Of Pain" is really great but it's book-ended by some material that doesn't exactly stand out from the crowd with a couple of tracks not really cutting the mustard for me personally (see the awful vocal performance on "Voracious Souls" or the light-weight & generic riffage of "Final Death"). I don't think Death Angel have ever released anything I'd regard as being close to a classic but their best work was yet to come in my opinion. A lot of that has to do with the dodgy vocal performance here as front man Mark Osegueda hadn't learned to sing in key just yet. A decent if overrated release for fans of Testament, Metallica & Exodus.

3.5/5

So, Daniel, when you say the quota for death doom is full, do you mean gothic death doom or old-school death doom? Another annoying sub-genre is traditional doom metal, a genre that has become so misused on RYM I now ignore it and actively vote against it whenever possible.

I meant doom death metal as a whole Sonny. I haven't had a chance to listen to your inclusion from The Drowning yet so I'm not sure what side of the fence it falls on. Presumably the old school one knowing your taste.

I can understand your opinion with the traditional doom metal tag. I share it to an extent. In fact, Ben & I have never really seen the need for the tag in the first place. It's either doom metal or it's not as far as I'm concerned.

You're in luck Ben. I've managed to fit them all in.

For everyone else, the November quota for these subgenres is already full:

Southern metal

Traditional doom metal

Drone metal

Funeral doom metal

Death doom metal

Gothic metal

There's still availability in these areas though:

Atmospheric sludge metal

Doom metal

Sludge metal

Stoner metal

While I take your point, I'm sorry Daniel but I must disagree on one thing and that is that death doom is inherently gothic. Sure, a certain style of death doom is such, the My Dying Bride / Paradise Lost branch, but what about bands like Winter, Autopsy, Cianide, Ceremonium, Asphyx, Atavisma, Void Rot and the likes who have no gothic leanings whatsoever, but a much stronger death metal influence and a filthy, cavernous sound? In fact I sometimes wonder how some of these gothic death doom albums get tagged as death doom at all, having virtually no death metal DNA in them. Maybe these are actually gothic metal releases rather than death doom. Like I say, I am no expert as I find the whole gothic metal style tedious, so I am not advocating one way or another, but I do know what I hear and what I don't!

Yeah that's a valid point. I should have included the prefix of "A lot of".

Andi, this month's The Infinite feature release should be right up your alley.

An epic melodeath-driven German progressive metal outing.

I disagree actually Sonny. I'm not much of a fan of gothic metal myself but I can certainly discern a signature gothic metal sound that's more prominent than the other components in many releases that fall under that label. Sure there are those releases that are hybrids of several subgenres but that's no different to blackened death metal, blackened thrash, deathgrind, progressive thrash, etc. & it doesn't mean that the original component is not worth highlighting. I think the main reason for the confusion around what constitutes a gothic metal release is once more the inaccuracies of the tagging on sites like RYM which allow for people that aren't well versed in that style of music to have a significant impact on its genre tagging results. Death doom metal is inherently gothic. Labelling it as gothic metal is irrelevant in my opinion. The same can be said for a lot of black metal. If the strongest component is death metal or black metal then gothic metal should only ever be a secondary subgenre. Here at Metal Academy we have the opportunity to get that right through the Hall of Judgement. If you don't think that a release should fall into a certain clan then it's likely that others will agree & we encourage you to make a Hall submission.

My review has just gone up:

https://metal.academy/reviews/19264/3818

I've really enjoyed returning to this one more than a decade later. It's a very solid debut indeed in my opinion & I've gone with 4/5 rating.

I think Xephyr's point is made by the low rating numbers on all but two of those new releases Andi.

Despite the low numbers, I actually think The Sphere is an appropriately configured clan. My experience with programming the various clan-specific playlists every month has given me a great insight into whether the entire subgenre sets are aligned & I think they are with The Sphere. In fact, before I kicked the playlists off I didn't actually think there was any valid reason for the existence of the Neue Deutsche Härte subgenre but I've since revised that view as I've found strong evidence that the releases tagged with that label possess unique attributes outside of the more generic industrial metal label.

The number of members shouldn't be the guiding reason for amalgamating clans & I don't hear much correlation between alternative metal & industrial metal from a musical sense to be honest. Splitting the industrial metal acts down the middle doesn't seem right either. I have no problem with the two different strands of industrial metal residing under the same label. They're clearly both still industrial metal in my opinion.

Sonny, I'm interested to hear your thoughts on where you think gothic metal should reside if not in The Fallen? I agree that it doesn't sit entirely comfortably there but I struggle to think of another clan that's more appropriate. It probably should be in the same one as symphonic metal though in my opinion. I actually don't see any reason why we should leave Cradle Of Filth releases in The Fallen. If we think they don't belong there (which I don't) then let's simply vote them out in the Hall of Judgement.

This one's very solid indeed & is regarded as one of most popular inclusions on Sepultura's 1987 album "Schizophrenia".

I notice you haven't rated this one Sonny. It's a fucking strong release that more than holds its own with the big boys at the more extreme end of thrash.

Fast & precise Brazilian thrash metal from the mi-80's for fans of Slayer, Kreator & Sodom.

Here's my initial attempt:

01. Coroner – “Mental Vortex” (1991)

02. Sadus – “A Vision Of Misery” (1992)

03. Coroner – “No More Color” (1989)

04. Vektor – “Black Future” (2009)

05. Coroner – “R.I.P.” (1987)

06. Coroner – “Punishment For Decadence” CD version (1988)

07. Vektor – “Terminal Redux” (2016)

08. Revocation – “Teratogenesis” E.P. (2012)

09. Watchtower – “Energetic Disassembly” (1985)

10. Mekong Delta – “Mekong Delta” (1987)

P.S. I wouldn't hold your breath for a fifth clan option Andi.

The first two singles from NWOBHM legends Diamond Head's new "Lightning to the Nations 2020" release which is obviously a re-recording of their classic debut album.

A taster from the upcoming live-in-quarantine Katatonia release entitled "Dead Air" which is due for release on 13th November.

The first new material from Californian alternative metal legends System Of A Down in 15 years comes in the form of this two track single.

The brand new Belgian collaborative single from post metal outfit Amenra & dark ambient producer Kreng.

A track from the new E.P. from industrial metal stalwarts Ministry. It includes previously unreleased mixes of Ministry’s classic 1985 single “Everyday (Is Halloween)” with another previously unreleased song on the B-side.

The new single from Swedish melodeath legends Dark Tranquillity.

The new single from Aussie deathcore outfit Thy Art Is Murder.

The new collaboration album between LA sludge metal establishment Thou & Red Sparowes front woman Emma Ruth Rundle.

The new single from French deathgrinders Benighted's recent "Obscene Repressed" album.

A track from the upcoming "Black Stallion" release from Deftones which is essentially a collection of remixes from their classic 2000 album "White Pony". It's due for release on 11th December (presumably to celebrate my 45th birthday - Oh guys, you shouldn't have!).

The new video clip from Swedish gothic doom/death outfit Draconian.

Rage Against The Machine's "The Battle Of Mexico City" live video was released way back in 2001 & has finally gotten a digital audio release late last month..

The brand new Jesu single "Alone" which is  taken from their upcoming "Terminus" album as it's due for release on 13th November.

A couple of tracks from the new Melvins E.P. which is entitled "Mullet". They've actually gone with the "Melvins 1983" moniker on this occasion as the release features their 1983 lineup including their original drummer Mike Dillard.

To be completely honest, within 30 seconds of the opening track I was thinking to myself "This will totally be Vinny's bag. I'll have to recommend it to him." And that was actually why I ended up choosing it for the November feature release in all honesty. Here's my thoughts on it:

Let's just get this out of the way early & say don't go into "Lesions Of A Different Kind" expecting something fresh or new because you'll be sorely disappointed. This is pure old school death metal worship with Incantation & Immolation being the two names that immediately spring to mind. "Lesions Of A Different Kind" is a dark, dank, swampy, swarming mass of disgust with those definitively deep vocals that the style has built its reputation on & a bassy guitar sound that's tuned down so far you can feel the strings vibrating in your gut. In fact, you won't be able to distinguish the vocal delivery from that of the band's I've just mentioned & the guitar tone has got a similar feel to Morbid Angel's 7-string efforts on "Covenant" & "Domination" only it's less precise in its execution. I also pick up a bit of 1989-91 Carcass influence at various times & the drumming is certainly influenced by Cannibal Corpse's Paul Mazurkiewicz.

In terms of quality, this is mostly all good shit for an old school death metal fan like myself. I think the opening track "Suitably Hacked to Gore" was a poor choice to kick off proceedings though as it's the only track that I don't have time for. I'd be lying if I said the "heard-it-all-before" nature of this album doesn''t limit its scoring potential but for the most part it's done almost as well as the records that influenced it so don't let that put you off. I think Undeath are at their best when they're at the lower end of the tempo range (particularly when utilizing double-time ride-cymbal work) & when they start to think up-tempo their appeal wanes just a touch. Overall "Lesions Of A Different Kind" is a very solid if unashamedly meat-&-potatoes death metal release that should appeal to most fans of the genre. 

4/5

Aggressive Teutonic thrash metal for fans of Sodom, Slayer & Destruction.

Kreator - "Terrible Certainty" (1987)

1987's third full-length album from German thrash metal leaders Kreator was another very solid release for the band although it failed to reach the heights of their previous couple of releases ("Pleasure To Kill" & the "Flag Of Hate" E.P.). It saw Kreator going for a cleaner & more sophisticated sound &, whilst the riffs were certainly there, the song-writing & technical skills weren't quite fully developed just yet. Don't get me wrong. There's definitely enough high quality Teutonic thrash on offer to keep me happy (including a couple of genuine classics in "Blind Faith" & "Toxic Trace") but the band would take great strides forwards with their next couple of albums & this resulted in "Terrible Certainty" kinda resembling the middle child that inevitably gets less attention. It would bring Kreator back to the pack for a short period that also included the disappointing "Out of the Dark... Into the Light" E.P.

For fans of Sodom, Slayer & Destruction.

4/5

I busted this one out at a wine dinner with my two best mates last night as one of my them suggested that he'd love to hear some progressive metal with balls. He enjoys bands like Dream Theater from a purely instrumental point of view but can't deal with the operatic vocal style. It dig the trick nicely & he really got into it.

OK so I’m gonna have to thank saxy profusely for leading me down this path because “Eons” has quite simply left me with my jaw lying on the ground over the last few days & has single-handedly proven the validity of the push to include some more modern feature releases. It’s an indescribably beautiful & gloriously intimidating 128-minute triple album that truly defies categorization. The most common labels attributed to it seem to be avant-garde jazz & drone metal but neither is a terribly good fit in my opinion. It’s easy enough to see why people want to go down those paths but this is a long way from a jazz release even though it consistently draws upon shared tools. It’s also not a metal release when taken holistically but a good portion of the material seems to borrow from that niche subgenre’s intimidating grandeur & there are certainly a few tracks that are a good fit for that tag. I’d throw in ritual ambient & traditional drone as equally strong components of Neptunian Maximalism's sound, particularly due to the consistent pulse that binds their noise-laden soundscapes & the extensive layering of Eastern-influenced sounds on offer, both of which see me often being reminded of Dead Can Dance although the link is more in the aesthetic than the overall sound. There are hints at krautrock in the celebration of experimentation here too. The more drone metal inspired works on the third record are where things come together in their purest & most gripping realization & I’d suggest that the four tracks it contains are very close to perfect. The more jazz inspired pieces don’t have quite the same effect but are just as intriguing from an artistic point of view.

"Eons" is a dark, brooding, cerebral & spiritually enlightening experience that seems custom-made for someone like me that likes to be challenged both artistically & emotionally by my music. It's interesting that the cover art is a pretty good graphical indication of what you can expect to find contained within actually. You’ll rarely find an album that more successfully takes the listener outside of their comfort zone & into an entirely new world. Just don’t expect that world to be as immediately welcoming as you might hope because the sheer breadth of this musical undertaking is not for the faint of heart. Neptunian Maximalism have conjured up a release that sounds very much like the soundtrack to a ritualistic human sacrifice. It will undoubtedly have you questioning whether you want to watch such an atrocity however you’ll struggle to look away as the process seems to hint at a spiritual transcendence that only exists in our dreams & fantasies. 

4.5/5

I truly loved that review Xephyr. It's delightful tongue-in-cheek yet informative & factual approach had me smiling from ear to ear.... which was kinda the point of including a gorenoise release as a feature now, wasn't it?

Glad you liked your 15th birthday present Ben. I put a lot of thought into it.

Here's a few high profile omissions that I frankly don't have much time for:

Suicidal Tendencies - "Join The Army"

Cryptic Slaughter - "Money Talks"

Corrosion Of Conformity - "Technocracy" E.P.

In truth I don't have much time for number 9 & 10 in my list either. They're really just filling in the numbers with the top 8 being the real meat of the list for me. It's also interesting that my top pick for the year is the lowest rated of the bunch on RYM which just goes to show how much better our ratings system is. The reason that Agnostic Front's thrashier materal is so heavily down-rated is because the punks have a problem with them stepped out from under the hardcore punk banner so it completely skews to voting. It's clearly not a reflection of the overall quality of the album.

Wow! You can really tell we grew up together, can't you? I would suggest that if you liked live albums & could tolerate Paul Baloff's vocal delivery we may have had the exact same ten!

Yours is much more interesting than mine, damn you!

Let me state categorically that "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" is a great Black Sabbath album. It saw the band expanding dramatically on the hints at innovation they'd shown on "Vol. 4" & the outcome was an enthralling new take on what heavy metal music had the potential to be. Remember... this was Black Sabbath's fifth album & there hadn't really been anyone else that had managed to create a genuine heavy metal record by that stage which is quite remarkable in itself. That's not to say that this is a perfect record mind you as there are a couple of weak tracks included (see "Fluff" & "Looking For Today") but the highlights are easily strong enough to carry them (see the classic title track & "Killing Yourself To Live") & the more expansive array of influences & production techniques still sound fresh & exciting today. "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" may not make my top five for Sabbath overall but it's definitely a stronger record than a good 70% of the band's studio albums & that still amounts to a damn fine heavy metal release. I'd take it comfortably over the 1972's "Vol. 4" which I find to be a touch overrated, despite being generally enjoyable.

4/5

I agree with you Vinny. "Angel Dust" is a genuinely classic release that sits comfortably within my top ten releases for not only the alternative metal subgenre but for The Gateway as a whole. I was already well & truly a convert of Faith No More by the time it was released & perhaps that's why I'll always give their previous album "The Real Thing" a slight edge but there can be no denying the incredible ability the band had for creating heavy, quirky, ambitious & totally original music that somehow managed to maintain an incredible level of accessibility for the casual listener at the same time. It's interesting that I never found Faith No More to get close to reaching this standard again, despite finding all of their subsequent albums to be generally appealing. I think it's because the main focal point for me as a fan of extreme metal was always Jim Martin. Even during their more twisted & unusual moments, Jim's riffage had an inherent thrashiness to it that I could really dig my teeth into but it was always the band's heavier material that gave me the most enjoyment (see "Jizzlobber" or "Surprise! You're Dead!" for two of my favourites). Once Jim left the band my interest started to wane a little. "Angel Dust" should be essential listening for all members of The Gateway.

4.5/5

Sonny, this is an absolute no-brainer for you.

Intense Canadian thrash metal that sounds like Hellhammer & Celtic Frost meet Slayer & DRI.

Slaughter - "Strappado" (1987)

The 1987 debut album from Canadian thrash metallers Slaughter offers a fresh sound that sits right in the sweet spot between the filthy & depressive extreme metal of Hellhammer & Celtic Frost & the faster US thrash of D.R.I. & Slayer. The guitar tone is very close to the model that death metal would adopt over the next 4 or 5 years (particularly the classic Swedish sound) & I'd imagine that "Strappado" might have been a significant influence there. The vocals tend to be a little inconsistent & some of the riffs are a bit generic but this record is all about atmosphere & it succeeds comfortably in replicating that timeless Tom G. Warrior style darkness. Hell, we even get the occasional "Urgh!" thrown in for good measure. I do slightly prefer Slaughter's more obviously Slayer-influenced 1985 crossover thrash demo "Surrender Or Die" over this one but there's not a lot in it & "Strappado" is just as fine an example of your more underground 80's thrash metal in my opinion.

4/5

I find the comments around the Hall of Judgement to be really interesting as I think it's working precisely as it was intended to but was always going to be a feature that required time & numbers to work to its full extent. We never expected it to be something that every member would use but (as Xephyr identified) it's a key component in the clans concept. On a personal level, I've always really enjoyed discussing the right genre tagging for a release & a part of that comes from the fact that I'm a major "lists" nut. If I'm going to create a "Best Speed Metal Releases Of The 1980's" list then what is & isn't a speed metal releases needs to be well defined. Also, the charts rely heavily on this being right. I mean we don't want to get to a situation where we have a release at the top of the charts for The Horde when it's not really a death/grind release, do we? Those of you who don't really care to enter into those discussions may not be aware of this but there are some truly baffling genre tags on RYM that are inherently wrong. The worst ones are usually historical with people being talked into the fact that a release should reside within a certain subgenre simply because that's the way it's always been presented to them. Early Voivod is a prime example of this. I love to challenge those concepts & get things right here as an additional differentiator that gives us more credibility with that small niche of people that care. I'd suggest that the fact that I was a metal musician for so many years perhaps gives me a stronger understanding of how to identify the techniques that characterize the different subgenres so that probably plays into why I find these mistakes to be really annoying too.

On another note, it's probably worth mentioning that the original concept of Metal Academy was always to look at metal historically. That was the entire focus of the podcast which was all that Metal Academy was intended to be to begin with so perhaps that's why it's taken us some time so start seeing the need to modernize our approach a bit. With regards to the feature releases in particular, the focus on more well-known releases was meant to allow people to contribute without having to explore new material that they may not have heard of & so that we could get some good cross-clan pollination as many of these more classic releases are widely known by the greater audience. It's always been about building content as I've been a little disappointed with the lack of responses on some pretty cool releases that people probably hadn't heard of. In general, I've always found that it's only a small niche of metal fans that are following the new releases religiously & most fans just want to hear a) the music they loved from their youth or b) good music from any era, particularly as they get older. Perhaps our existing audience don't fall into this category & maybe there's a reason for that & I've been overly ambitious but we're trying to grow that audience substantially & we have to find the best mix to bring those additional members in. When I personally returned to metal after a decade in the electronic dance music scene I focused entirely on new releases for a year in order to re-immerse myself within the scene. I ended up finding it to be pretty frustrating as the cream of the crop had yet to rise to the top & the overall quality wasn't as high as it was when I experimented with the material that had had the time for people's views to settle a bit so that experience has guided me a bit here too. Anyway... we've taken your comments onboard in regards to the feature releases & we'll see how it plays out.

Saxy & Xephyr, I'd suggest you get onto this one. It's exactly what you'd hope it would be.