Daniel's Forum Replies

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.

A magical reenactment of one of Opeth's more beautiful works.

Opeth - "The Roundhouse Tapes" (2007)

A belter of a double live album from the masters of their subgenre. I've had the DVD for probably a decade now but had never tried listening to the album version until now & I've gotta say that I enjoy it more when I can simply focus on what's coming out of the speakers. The tracklisting is spectacular with lengthy & fully realised inclusions that span their entire career & it's very hard to fault the execution or consistency, particularly on the second disk which is mind-blowing. As a bonus, you get to enjoy Mikael Akerfeld's sense of humour which is as much a part of the appeal of an Opeth show as the music is. He's a genuine entertainer & if you have even a passing interest in Opeth then you can't really go wrong with this release. In fact I think this might be my favourite Opeth release these days.

4.5/5

Good morning everyone. I've been hearing you in regards to your feedback on us not focusing on new releases as much as you would like & have subsequently made a change of direction in regards to the monthly feature releases. You'll see that reflected in this morning's November features which include three brand new releases mixed in with a few classics & unheralded gems from the past. I'll continue in that fashion moving forwards.

Welcome to the Academy Keleros. We're very pleased you've registered & introduced yourself & I'd encourage you to get amongst it. We have some very cool & interactive features here & I'd recommend that you check these ones out as a starting point:

1. If you go into the LISTS menu you'll find the Clan Challenges. These are like a guided tour through many of the most important bands & releases from each subgenre. The idea is that if you can rate & review all of the releases in one of the Clan Challenges for your each of your existing three clans then you'll get the opportunity to complete a fourth from an alternative clan. Successful completion of that challenge will allow you to take on that fourth clan permanently.

2. The Hall of Judgement - This is the place that releases go when our members nominate them as having incorrect genre tags. It gives all clan members the chance to vote on the most appropriate course of action with the overall result deciding the fate of that particular release as far as which clans it ultimately resides in. We'd encourage you to have your say there.

3. If you go to the various forums you'll find a thread in each clan forum for clan members to submit their suggested tracks for inclusion in that month's clan-specific Spotify playlist. This is so we can make the playlists a true representation of our clan's listening habits. We also have a thread for that month's playlist which links you to its location on Spotify. These playlists are a great way to find new music & enjoy great tracks from the past. We encourage feedback & love to hear what our members think about the inclusions.

4. Under the FEATURED menu you'll find the month's feature release for each clan. The intention is to encourage our members to check out & discuss noteworthy releases from the deep past right up to the present & they've been a very popular feature with our regular contributors. We'd love to hear your thoughts on some of these releases.

5. Let us all know what your listening to right now by posting on the clan-specific forums. Once people know what you like you might find that you start to get recommendations from other members through the dedicated recommendation threads & you'll generally find them to be right on the money. This is one of the coolest things about Metal Academy in my opinion.

6. And finally, the more ratings & reviews the site has the more effective it will be in guiding our members to music that fits their personal tastes so we encourage you to contribute as much as possible to the Metal Academy database.

That's enough from me. We hope you have fun & enjoy the site. We have great little community of well-informed, metal-obsessed music lovers from a diverse array of backgrounds & locations here & think you'll fit right in.

If you accidently rate an album's cover art & decide that your rating doesn't reflect your true feelings on the image then surely you just take a few seconds to assess the artwork properly & then adjust your rating accordingly, don't you? Are you not able to edit your cover art ratings? Is that what you're saying? I'm not having any troubles doing it personally.

I completely agree with you on the topic of the Hall screen eventually getting cluttered with releases that have had their voting closed. I actually suggested we do something about that to Ben previously.

I'm not sure why you would need to delete cover ratings though. I can't see that it would add anything to the site when you can easily edit your rating. I don't really understand why you'd want to delete a rating when you can simply reassess your opinion & adjust your scoring accordingly.

Great feedback saxy. I'll have a rethink about my feature release selection process in an attempt to accommodate you there. Stay tuned.

A track from the upcoming Dream Theater live album entitled "Distant Memories - Live in London" which is due for release on 27th November.

A track from the new Voivod live album entitled "Lost Machine" which is due for release on 27th November.

A track from the upcoming "The Watcher Of All" E.P. from Aussie tech deathsters Psycroptic.

A snippet from the upcoming Deafheaven live album "10 Years Gone". This was actually the first song they ever wrote.

The new single from Italian symphonic death metallers Fleshgod Apocalypse is an acoustic version of one of the tracks from their 2019 album "Veleno".

The new Phyllomedusa album is finally here Ben. I know you were frothing for this one.

I've just put the finishing touches on the last of the November clan playlists & they've come together very nicely. The arrangement whereby everyone gets their track submissions in by the 15th day of the month has worked well & gives me just enough time to pull everything together in its optimal configuration so let's stick with that for the time being. It's a chore for me to post in every clan thread to ask for track submissions each month so if you want to participate then feel free to post your recommendations at any time. Any that come in after the 15th day of the month (i.e. too late to be considered for inclusion in next month's list) will be included in the shortlist for subsequent months.

Also, I think that limiting everyone to three submissions each (including myself) per show is working. Previous to limiting the submissions I ended up having loads of tracks leftover & wasn't able to get through them all for several months. This is mainly due to me trying to include as many subgenres as possible to showcase the full scope of the clans & the bulk of the submissions coming from the same couple of subgenres (see The North for example where I still have a long list of leftover atmospheric black metal tracks). I had a couple of playlists that were dominated by one member's submissions too which doesn't make them all that interesting for that person given that they already know most of the tracks & the list does tend to favour one particular style. Keeping it to three gives us good scope for additional members becoming involved, ensures that everyone is constantly discovering new music (myself included) & has the added bonus of making sure that the quality stays high as people have to be more selective & choose only the best of their month's listening experiences.

Keep your feedback coming because these playlists are ultimately for all of you to enjoy. If you totally disagree with me on anything I've just said then don't feel like you can't speak up. We've changed our approach to different site activities a number of times based on your wants & needs over the last couple of years & we want the site to be as universally appealing as possible.

Vinny, this one should appeal to you if you're not already familiar with it.

Dark & classy Canadian thrash metal for fans of Slayer, Razor & Sacrifice.

Infernäl Mäjesty - "None Shall Defy" (1987)

The 1987 debut album from Canadian thrash metal outfit Infernäl Mäjesty is an aggressive riff-fest with a dark atmosphere & an impressive level of class in the song-writing & arrangements. Slayer has obviously been a major influence on the band which can't hurt however they offer enough of their own to differentiate themselves from their idols. The guitar solos aren't amazing & the drum production is a little stale however there's a nice level of separation between the instruments. Some of the riff structures hint at what would become death metal & I can't help but shake the thought that Morbid Angel's Trey Azagthoth might have been quite the fan because I can hear some similar ideas here. Overall, this is a very consistent & high quality thrash record that will appeal to fans of Slayer, Razor & Sacrifice.

4/5

Sonny, have you given this one a chance? I'm always surprised at how much I enjoy it when I probably shouldn't in theory.

One of the more chilled tracks from Down's debut album. It's clearly a tribute to Black Sabbath's "Planet Caravan" but I can't help loving it.