Daniel's Forum Replies
Furious US thrash metal from Wisconsin for fans of 80's Kreator, classic Slayer & "Darkness Descends"-era Dark Angel.
Morbid Saint - "Spectrum Of Death" (1990)
When I first wrapped my ears around this release many years ago I was absolutely floored. It ripped my face off & stuffed it up my arse in no uncertain terms & I immediately reached for my full marks card. But time has seen me reassess that position a little bit. The production is a bit lacking as this was only ever intended to be a demo tape. Also, there's a lot of Kreator, Slayer & "Darkness Descends"-era Dark Angel worship going on & some of the song-writing is a little disjointed & lacks cohesion. Regardless, there can be no denying the sheer unbridled aggression that this Wisconsin thrash metal outfit possessed. They left the shackles behind in no uncertain terms & simply went for broke at all times with this furious debut release. Fans of classic 80's Kreator, classic Slayer & "Darkness Descends"-era Dark Angel should be all over this.
4/5
Here's my revised list:
1970: Black Sabbath – “Paranoid”
1971: Black Sabbath – “Master Of Reality”
1972: Black Sabbath – “Vol 4”
1973: Black Sabbath – “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”
1974: Budgie – “In For The Kill”
1975: Black Sabbath – “Sabotage”
1976: Rainbow – “Rising”
1977: Quartz – “Quartz”
1978: Judas Priest – “Killing Machine”
1979: Judas Priest – “Unleashed In The East”
1980: Diamond Head – “Lightning To The Nations”
1981: Motorhead – “No Sleep Till Hammersmith”
1982: Ozzy Osbourne – “Speak Of The Devil”
1983: Slayer – “Show No Mercy”
1984: Metallica – “Ride The Lightning”
1985: Exodus – “Bonded By Blood”
1986: Slayer – “Reign In Blood”
1987: Bathory – “Under The Sign Of The Black Mark”
1988: Metallica – “…And Justice For All”
1989: Morbid Angel – “Altars Of Madness”
1990: Slayer - "Seasons In The Abyss"
1991: Death – “Human”
1992: Alice In Chains – “Dirt”
1993: diSEMBOWELMENT – “Transcendence Into The Peripheral”
1994: Darkthrone – “Transilvanian Hunger”
1995: Suffocation – “Pierced From Within”
1996: Burzum – “Filosofem”
1997: Exodus – “Another Lesson In Violence”
1998: ISIS – “The Mosquito Control” E.P.
1999: Neurosis – “Times Of Grace”
2000: Immolation – “Close To A World Below”
2001: Green Carnation – “Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness”
2002: ISIS – “Oceanic”
2003: Boris – “Boris At Last -Feedbacker-“
2004: ISIS – “Panopticon”
2005: Deathspell Omega – “Kenose” E.P.
2006: Celtic Frost – “Monotheist”
2007: Wolves In The Throne Room – “Two Hunters”
2008: Pig Destroyer - "Natasha" E.P.
2009: Alice In Chains – “Black Gives Way To Blue”
2010: Hate – “Erebos”
2011: Esoteric – “Paragon Of Dissonance”
2012: Gaza – “No Absolutes In Human Suffering”
2013: Suffocation – “Pinnacle Of Bedlam”
Speed metal-infused mid-80's Teutonic thrash for fans of Destruction, Nuclear Assault & S.O.D.
Tankard - "Chemical Invasion" (1987)
The sophomore album from Frankfurt's Tankard is an enthusiastic example of alcohol-obsessed, speed metal-infused Teutonic thrash. It's certainly well composed, executed & produced & is always fun but I rarely find it competing on the same level as the other German heavy-weights. In saying that though, I do like it a touch better than Tankard's enjoyable 1986 debut album "Zombie Attack". For fans of Destruction, Nuclear Assault & S.O.D.
3.5/5
So I guess modern groove metal is not really the ideal genre for me.
I don't know about that Andi. I mean you didn't score any of those releases under a very solid & respectable 4/5 & a 4.1 average would be the sort of score we'd expect to see for most people's favourite subgenre. I think it just reflects your general fanaticism for metal overall.
Masterful metalcore from the finest hardcore band you're ever likely to find.
Also I'm curious Daniel, and this isn't meant to be a jab since I'm genuinely curious, are all folk melodies cheesy for people who don't care for Folk Metal? I ask because I saw a few comments about Nokturnal Mortum's Голос сталі saying it was the cheesiest thing they've ever heard, and I honestly don't get where they're coming from. It can get a bit over the top, sure, but I try not to instantly equate that to "cheesiness".
Yeah I'm afraid to say that 99% of folk melodies do sound cheesy to me when they're presented in a metal context. To be clear though, I actually quite like folk music in isolation. It's just that I have a strong preconceived notion of what metal music is supposed to be & the more uplifting & joyous feelings these melodies tend to evoke are in direct opposition to that. In fact, the only folk metal releases I've ended up enjoying over the years have been the ones that veer away from these melodies & are actually pretty borderline as to their qualification within the folk metal subgenre. Fans say that good folk metal is quite epic but I don't feel the same empowerment & crave something darker & more intimidating. I don't ever want my metal to make me feel like dancing a jig but I respect that many people enjoy this aspect of folk metal. It's really that simple.
Necrodeath - "Into The Macabre" (1987)
Sonny, this has got your name all over it.
An absolute ripper of a brutal thrash banger from these Italians. It reminds me very heavily of "Flag Of Hate"-era Kreator.
Necrodeath - "Into The Macabre" (1987)
An under-appreciated gem from my tape trading days. "Into The Macabre" is the debut album from Italian thrash metal outfit Necrodeath & it sees them combining the raw & intense thrash metal of early Kreator & Sodom with the primitive & under-produced brutality of Sarcofago & Vulcano then throwing in a bit of exciting mid-80's Slayer for good measure. Sure it's not the most accomplished of releases but it possesses that underground proto-death metal atmosphere in spades & is particularly vicious & evil for the time. I really dig it.
4/5
P.S. How funny is their band name!? When is death ever NOT necro?
SilentScream213, are you on top of this one?
Supreme English death metal from 1992. One of the classics for sure.
Bolt Thrower - "The IVth Crusade" (1992)
English death metal at the elite level. I'll fight anyone who doesn't agree that this is Bolt Thrower's best record. The production was stepped up & it presented a band that knew their limitations & worked within them to perfect a beautifully refined brand of death metal full of hooks & controlled power. Karl proves once more that a bit of intelligibility in your death metal growls is always a plus when trying to portray a message too. Yes it can get a little samey but the melodies in their riffs are strong enough to allow them to get away with it. I saw them on the tour in support of this record from the middle of the front row (when I wasn't stage diving) & it was one of my greatest death metal experiences. For fans of Benediction, Asphyx & Hail Of Bullets.
4.5/5
Yeah "The Drapery Falls" is an elite level example of progressive metal alright. One of the the classics for sure. "Harvest" & "Dirge For November" are my personal favourites from "Blackwater Park" though & "Bleak" isn't too far behind.
"The Erosion Of Sanity" was a really big record for me at the time. I was already a fan of "Considered Dead" but it definitely wasn't a tier one offering as it was fairly generic. Their sophomore release was where they stepped up to play with the big boys through a much greater level of complexity & artistic vision.
The new single from Norwegian progressive metal masters Enslaved which is taken from their new album "Utgard" which is due for release later in the year.
A very solid progressive metal outing that highlights the fact that these Teutonic thrashers had a fair bit more to offer than being an outlet for mindless thrashing. How much do the vocals sound like Soundgarden's Chris Cornell??
I only recently heard about the "Medieval Folk Metal" subgenre & was curious to see what differentiated it from your run-of-the-mill variety of folk metal so I gave this release a few spins. Surprisingly, there's very little of anything "medieval" about this record. In fact, it sounds very clean & modern compared to most folk metal I've heard which left me pondering over whether it even qualified for the genre at all. But after several listens I came to the realization that there was just enough folk instrumentation to warrant the Folk Metal tag (particularly the regular bagpipe contributions) with the rest of In Extremo's sound being comprised mainly of Nu Metal & Alternative Metal with little bits of Progressive, Industrial & Traditional Heavy Metal tossed into mix on occasion too. The vocals of front man Das letzte Einhorn are delivered in the deep, croaky, monotonous & heavily German style of Rammstein's Till Lindemann & are written in the band's native tongue as far as I can tell.
There are 4 or 5 very good songs scattered across the tracklisting & the band was obviously quite experienced in the studio because everything sounds very clear, tight & generally pretty heavy. But sadly there are too many tracks where I find myself put off by parts that sound more like Limp Bizkit or the more generic Korn efforts than they do the better works of the largely black metal driven folk metal genre. And then we get those cheesy folk melodies. Certainly not as many as you'll find in most folk metal outings but they're there nonetheless. So overall this amounts to a record that (whilst generally well composed & executed) ultimately fits comfortably within the confines of my "none of my business" file.
3/5
I knew perfectly well that I'd be pushing shit uphill with this one but I'll be interested to hear what some of our more experienced folk metal fans think of this release. Is it a good example of the "Medieval folk metal" sound? If so, is this subgenre even worth differentiating from your traditional variety?
This is quite a straight-forward & particularly brutal release however if you don't like the goregrind subgenre then you ain't gonna dig this record because it revels in its adherence to the laws that define the goregrind sound. Sure, it emphatically ticks all of the boxes that need ticking when you're in the mood for this style of extreme music but its weaknesses can be found in its lack of variety & the unintelligibly pitch-shifted vocal delivery which see its 38 minute duration becoming a little lengthy by the end. A more than decent example of its type however a little culling would have resulted in a smarter, snappier product.
3.5/5
Here's my full review:
A trancecore dancefloor banger that really got under my skin today.
I gave this little E.P. four consecutive listens today so as to open myself up to something a bit different as I'd never experienced a trancecore release before . I had a vague idea of what to expect though & on first impression I wasn't surprised to find that it took me a LLLOOONNNGGG way outside of my musical comfort zone. In fact, I'd go so far as to question if this is actually metal at all because the riffs aren't really much of a focus here. But once I abandoned the idea that I should expect to hear any genuine metal, I found myself starting to enjoy the hooks & if you can get yourself to that point then you're ready to discover that the second track "Radiate" is an absolute banger with a huge epic atmosphere. At first I found it very hard to admit to myself that I really fucking enjoy that particular teenage dancefloor bomb to tell you the truth but I've now come to terms with it & I don't give a fuck what my evil kvlt extreme metal alter ego thinks of it either. The other two original tracks don't close to the same quality. "The Paddington Frisk" is a one minute punk-driven exercise that doesn't accomplish much while the title track offers some quality vocal hooks but manages to cancel them out with some cheesy female vocals & a few generic metalcore elements. The "Radiate" remix is a broken beat trance affair that's quite well done but lacks a bit of balls. To be fair, trance has never really been my thing so I was ever going to love that one. None of these three tracks are horrible but they don't offer me a lot of appeal.
So this is trancecore, eh? You know what? It's not nearly as bad as I thought it might be but I was surprised to find as much pop punk & indie rock in the huge vocal hooks & I was expecting there to be a lot more legitimate trance in the original mixes rather than the more mainstream EDM elements I got. This really is pop music though if you want to get technical. Thankfully the longest track is outstanding & is worth the price of admission alone which skews my scoring significantly & leaves me with no alternative but to give this short release a decent rating. And when I think about it, it WAS worth listening to just for that track given the short overall duration & the high percentage of that duration that "Radiate" consumes.
3.5/5
Speed metal-infused mid-80's Teutonic thrash metal for fans of Deathrow, Darkness & Angel Dust.
Vendetta - "Go & Live... Stay & Die" (1987)
Speed metal-infused Teutonic thrash metal with NWOBHM influences. The vocals & guitar solos aren't amazing but the rhythm guitar tone is wonderfully raw, the lengthy arrangements have been put together with an impressive attention to detail & the overall energy is universally electric so I find it very hard not enjoy this record. For fans of Deathrow, Darkness & Angel Dust.
3.5/5
Please add the American blackgaze/dsbm band Griefloss
Hhhmmm.... Griefloss, eh? The loss of grief. Sounds quite positive for a metal band. Or is it grief floss? Removing grief in a more methodical & efficient manner?
A track from the upcoming "I Am the Empire - Live From the 013" live album/DVD/Blu-Ray from US symphonic power metallers Kamelot. It's due for release on 14th August & features a performance from 14th September 2018. This particular track features guest contributions from Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy) and Elize Ryd (Amaranthe).
The new single from Emperor front-man Ihsahn entitled "Spectre At The Feast". It's taken from the Norwegian's upcoming "Pharos" E.P. which due out on 11th September.
The new single from US grindcore-turned-metalcore outfit Pig Destroyer which is take from their upcoming E.P. entitled "The Octagonal Stairway". It's due out on 28th August.
Sneak previews from Metallica's upcoming "S&M2" release which is due out on 28th August:
The new single from US doom metallers Pallbearer entitled "Forgotten Days". It's taken from their upcoming album of the same name which is due for release on 23rd October i.e. my wife's 40th birthday. Coincidence? I think not.
Vinny, I notice you haven't submitted a rating for this one but I would think it would be right up your alley.
Cripplingly dark & doomy death metal for fans of Immolation, Autopsy & Dead Congregation.
Incantation - "Onward To Golgotha" (1992)
Incantation's debut album is a dark, murky & oppressive affair which has had a profound influence on the underground scene over several decades. It possesses a strong doom/death component that reminds me of diSEMBOWELMENT & early My Dying Bride at various stages. The production job is its most noteworthy element though as it represents both its strength & its weakness because, while it gives "Onward To Golgotha" a uniquely cryptic atmosphere, it also makes it hard to differentiate between the individual tracks. Still, the consistency in the song-writing is impeccable & the brutality of the aural assault makes for an imposing listen that will reward fans of Immolation, Autopsy & Dead Congregation.
4/5
Ben, Sonny & Vinny, if you haven't given this one a spin before then I highly recommend you do. High class & aggressive female-fronted Tuetonic thrash.
Rip-snorting mid-80's Teutonic thrash with amazing riffs & aggressive female vocals.
Holy Moses - "Finished With The Dogs" (1987)
Rip-snorting Teutonic thrash with amazing riffs & aggressive female vocals. It's tight & focused as hell & I love it. In fact, it's a world away from Holy Moses' lackluster speed metal debut "Queen Of Siam". This is pure thrash metal from start to finish.
4/5
A ripper of a repetitive builder from Californian Nintendocore outfit HORSE The Band. Fucking great stuff!
You know what? I felt very similarly to you on first listen Xephyr. But after giving "The Mechanical Hand" a couple more listens I couldn't help but find some endearing qualities in it. For starters, it's a very varied & reasonably complex record which doesn't stick to the one plan for any length of time. The vocals & breakdowns show plenty of enthusiasm even if they are fairly generic metalcore inclusions but the 8-bit synth lines are really well incorporated into HORSE The Band's sound & it gives them a quirky appeal similar to Mr. Bungle. Do I think there's justification for an entirely new subgenre of metal (i.e. Nintendocore) here? Well... no... not really. The Nintendocore tag is usually associated with the more melodic side of metalcore but this record has more to do with mathcore. The instrumentation is very strong &, despite 3 or 4 duds across the 13 song tracklisting, I have to say that I eventually found myself getting some pretty positive feelings out of "The Mechanical Hand".
3.5/5
I've always found "City" to be a very solid slab of industrial metal but I'm not sure it's the classic release it's often made out to be. I don't think it competes on the same level as Devin's Ocean Machine release from the same year for example but when Devin & co get it right it sure hits the spot.
4/5
Good choice Sonny. I've always really dug "The Processean" E.P. & think it's one of the Wizard's most underrated releases.
One small issue I have with the clan challenges is that due to the nature of the charts on MA, the albums in the challenges have a disproportionate advantage in the charts as more members are encouraged to review them.
I actually think it's the other way around. The less ratings a release has the more likely that it hasn't been shit-canned by someone & that's why we see some strange inclusions at the top of the charts that only have the bare minimum quantity of ratings to qualify yet all have come from obsessive fans that rate it extremely highly. This will disappear over time as we up the minimum rating requirements for the charts.
I'd also like to state that while I agree with a lot of Daniel's comments above, I don't agree with this one:
"I never intended for people that don't like classic death metal to join The Horde, for people that don't like doom metal to join The Fallen or for people that don't like black metal to join The North, etc."
When I designed the system, I simply wanted members to join the clans that they feel most affiliated with. If someone is passionate about Folk Metal, but cares nothing for Black Metal, then they should still consider joining The North. There's no reason why they have to listen to or rate/review Black Metal albums to be part of that clan. In fact, I don't like to think of each clan as having major and minor genres. In most cases there's a genre that's more popular than the others, but that shouldn't lessen the other genre's positions.
I'm surprised to see you say that Ben because I feel very strongly that this is in essence what the clan arrangement is about for me. I don't ever want to be dictating what people should or shouldn't listen to or rate so there should be no reason why we'd discourage someone who isn't into black metal from experimenting with it & recording their feelings in the form of a rating. What we are trying to do is give their rating less of a weighting by not having their rating contributing to the clan ratings score.
In my mind, each clan DOES have a primary subgenre that everything else stems from. If you look at the various clans you'll see that we've subconsciously or unknowingly bunched subgenres together that all relate to one mother subgenre. (The Fallen = doom metal, The Gateway = alternative metal, The Guardians = heavy metal, The Horde = death metal, The Infinite = progressive metal, The North = black metal, The Pit = thrash metal, The Revolution = metalcore, The Sphere = industrial metal.) This is actually why we lumped them together in the first place. Let's be honest, it's the death metal components in grindcore that link the two subgenres. In fact, if we use the example that Xephyr used above, the only reason we lumped folk metal in with black metal is because the majority of folk metal releases utilized the black metal sound as the base sound for which to add their folk elements over. Sure there are exceptions but if you can't stand black metal then you are significantly less likely to enjoy most folk metal.
Now, if we're going to say that we intended it that someone would join The North but have no affiliation with the root subgenre then you're essentially saying that it's OK for someone to dilute our ratings system. People WILL rate releases from subgenres that they're not immediately interested in because people like to experiment & expand their knowledge of metal music. I know you don't do this but I really enjoy it & I know that several other prominent Metal Academy members (like Xephyr for example) do too. Sometimes it pays off & sometimes it doesn't. But we need to remember that of the defining & classic releases included in The North, around 80% of them reside in the black metal spectrum & we see much the same thing in some of the other clans too (The Pit, The Sphere, The Infinite, etc). In my mind it makes zero sense for someone to not have an appreciation for 80% of the classic releases of a clan & still be contributing to the clan ratings scores. It defeats the whole purpose of the clan arrangement in my opinion. I can understand if someone who joins The North doesn't like folk metal because it's not the root subgenre. In the same way, I can understand someone who joins The Pit not enjoying groove metal but I can't justify the other way around. At its core The Pit is essentially ABOUT thrash metal & the other two subgenres are simply off-shoots (despite speed metal having come first from a chronological point of view). If it weren't for thrash metal we wouldn't have been connecting speed metal & groove metal together. It's the glue that links them & is completely dominant from a commercial & critical point of view as well as from pure weight of numbers.
It doesn't sound very appealing to be honest Andi. Some of the subgenres aren't all that relevant given the relatively low number of releases they contain (gorenoise, rap metal, Viking metal, nintendocore, etc.) & it will only make it even harder to complete a challenge than it already is. I mean we've only had a few people complete their fourth clan challenges in the current arrangement & I'm not seeing any other members attempting it at this stage so making it even more daunting an undertaking isn't something that we'd entertain. As I've said many times before, we just want people to be realistic about which clans are most appropriate for their personal tastes. We don't want people trying to make them fit at the expense of a clan's integrity because it's not in the site or the community's best interests & that's exactly why we encouraged you to swap clans. If the idea of completing a clan challenge sounds like it would be "a nightmare" that would see you having to review "subgenres that you don't like" then the clan in question clearly isn't a good fit for you. It really is that simple. So overall, I'm comfortable with the current clan challenge configuration.
Fuck yeah! I absolutely love the self-titled Deicide album. Back in 1990 it was seriously one of the most evil sounding things that I had ever heard & you could tell that the band had already paid some dues because it was so well defined for a first up effort.
Ben, I hope you're available for one more of my suggestions! I see you added an Atmospheric Sludge Metal clan challenge. I think that serves as a nice bridge to the possible post-metal challenge and clan challenges for the other remaining metal genres. Even though atmospheric sludge is not one of the main genres, that gave me a good idea for a suggestion: Please do clan challenges for the main genres' subgenres! Here's a list of subgenres from the main genres:
Alternative Metal - Funk Metal, Nu Metal, Rap Metal
Black Metal - Atmospheric Black Metal, Black 'n' Roll, Depressive Black Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Pagan Black Metal, Symphonic Black Metal, War Metal
Death Metal - Brutal Death Metal, Death 'n' Roll, Deathgrind, Melodic Death Metal, Technical Death Metal
Doom Metal - Death Doom Metal, Funeral Doom Metal, Traditional Doom Metal
Folk Metal - Celtic Metal, Medieval Folk Metal
Grindcore - Cybergrind, Deathgrind, Goregrind
Heavy Metal - NWOBHM
Industrial Metal - Cyber Metal, Neue Deutsche Härte
Melodic Metalcore - Nintendocore, Trancecore
Metalcore - Deathcore, Mathcore
Progressive Metal - Djent
Thrash Metal - Crossover Thrash, Technical Thrash Metal
Wow, that's a lot more subgenres than I thought, even more than the main genres! Not only that, some of the bands in those subgenres are already in the main genres' clan challenges. So please ease yourself some time to go through those subgenres when you're ready, and move the bands in those subgenres out of the main genres' challenges to the subgenres' challenges if possible. Maybe that can be your next big challenge project after doing the challenges for those 4 remaining main genres. Seriously I wanna make sure the clan challenges are more suitable for anyone who only likes one or a few subgenres within the main genres, so they don't have to go through the nightmare of reviewing subgenres they don't like in the main genres' challenges, like when I was doing a clan challenge for my former clan The Horde. Please take the time to consider this idea, and thanks in advance!
But do we really want to encourage people to join clans when they only like one or two of the minor subgenres within a clan Andi? I'm personally against that practice as I believe it goes directly against the whole clan concept. I never intended for people that don't like classic death metal to join The Horde, for people that don't like doom metal to join The Fallen or for people that don't like black metal to join The North, etc. In fact, I originally only wanted one all encompassing clan challenge per clan but Ben talked me into the current arrangement in order to be a little more accommodating.
What does everyone else think on this?
Ben & I discussed the new features that are slated for this round of developments today & I've gotta say that I think we might be putting some space between Metal Academy & the competition shortly. We'll be heading into entirely new territory in some areas & will be filling the last remaining gaps we have with competitors in others. The clan concept is going to give us a clear edge in some ways & you'll see some things you've been asking for finally coming to fruition too. I'm very excited to say the least!
Autechre - "Glasgow Art School (15/04/05)" (2005)
A bootleg desk recording of the legendary Manchester IDM duo in all their glory. It amounts to 68 minutes of textured, challenging, complex, layered & techy electronic music presented with a class that only the elite performers can achieve. It's not a particularly dancy set. It seems to me that it's intended more as a piece of art which lines up nicely with the fit-for-purpose venue. I definitely prefer Autechre's more ambient 90's material over this more up-tempo & busy dancefloor stuff but I can't deny my fascination with adventurous & consciously anti-commercial music like this & subsequently found myself really enjoying the experience, even if I occasionally found that I wasn't consciously engaged at all times.
Yeah it's certainly the highlight of the album & was my introduction to Alice In Chains.I think "Facelift" is a very solid debut but there's no doubt that it fades a little in the back end which prevents it from achieving the classic status it seemed to be heading towards during the A side. I'd throw "Love, Hate, Love" in with the opening two tracks as genuine grunge classics & I love "Sea of Sorrow" & "It Ain't Like That" too. I don't think there's anything disastrous included but songs like "Put You Down", "I Know Somethin (Bout You)" & "Real Thing" are more acceptable than they are essential. It's 4/5 record for mine.
Raw, underground New Jersey thrash metal for fans of Razor, Destruction & Venom.
Whiplash - "Ticket To Mayhem" (1987)
The sophomore album from this New Jersey based trio offers a nice combination of thrash metal, speed metal & traditional heavy metal with thrash being the more prominent of the three. I really enjoy Tony Portaro's bad-ass raspy vocal delivery & the raw underground edge they've incorporated into their sound. In fact, I actually rate "Ticket To Mayhem" slightly more highly than Whiplash's more highly celebrated 1986 debut album "Power & Pain" & fans of Razor, Destruction & Venom should find some enjoyment here.
3.5/5