Daniel's Forum Replies

Gonna drop a couple of suggestions, even though I’m too late for September maybe these will work for October: “Age of Greed” by Killing Joke and “Verklempt” by Foetus. The KJ track is off of Exremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions as well as the Laugh? I Nearly Bought One! compilation. I think Extremities is the first record they did which could reasonably be called metal. Most of the Foetus material is NOT metal, but this particular track (and the GASH LP it comes from) comes close enough, I like it anyway. 

Chris, I've given those two tracks a spin this morning. I agree with you that the Foetus track is metal enough to warrant inclusion & have added it to the list. The Killing Joke one, on the other hand, doesn't quite get there in my opinion so I've opted against including it. I might choose another Killing Joke track that's a little more metal instead.

Finished the October playlist this morning. Got through a good chunk of your track submissions & will attempt to get through the rest in November.

The ominous political introduction to the world's first encounter with genuine grindcore.

Napalm Death - "Scum" (1987)

The debut album from this Birmingham-based grindcore outfit represents the birth of the subgenre & is generally placed on a pedestal by the grind community. I first became acquainted with it around 1989/90 when I purchased the Earache reissue that placed both of Napalm Death's first two albums in the one package. I'd already been introduced to grindcore through Terrorizer by that stage & it's interesting to see just how far the scene had come in just a couple of years because "Scum" already sounded pretty primitive by the time it hit my ears. The production & performances are very sloppy but that's not really the point of grindcore now, is it? What is important is sheer energy & aggression & you'll find plenty of that here. It's just that I feel these tracks rarely reach their potential due to the sloppy execution. Drummer Mick Harris is the obvious exception here as his pounding performance is responsible for giving the underground scene an immense shot in the arm that saw extreme metal taking enormous strides in a more brutal direction forever after. The two sides were recorded in different sessions & with completely different lineups & it's very obvious. The A side (with Godflesh front man Justin Broadrick) is generally very strong with the production & consistency dipping a bit on the B side (with Carcass guitarist Bill Steer). All things considered I find "Scum" to leave me with similar feelings to Venom's classic releases in that I think I would have found it a little more appealing if I'd been onboard at the time of release because metal had already evolved in positive directions from here. As it stands though, "Scum" is an important (if slightly immature) take on early grindcore that serves the short-term purpose of getting me thrashing my body around pretty well but has never commanded regular return visits. For fans of Terrorizer, Brutal Truth & Repulsion.

3.5/5

Thanks for your submissions everyone. The October playlist is now completed.

FYI Andi, your MaYaN track wasn't available on Spotify so I couldn't consider it for inclusion.

Thanks for all of your submissions. The October playlist is now completed.

Final call for submissions for the October "The Sphere" playlist....

Final call for submissions for the October "The Revolution" playlist....

Thanks for the heads up. I’ll give it a few spins over the next few days.

Chris van Etten, I'd suggest that you'll really dig Acid Bath's 1994 debut album "When The kite String Pops".

Acid Bath - "When The Kite String Pops" (1994)

The first of two critically acclaimed albums from this Louisiana-based sludge metal outfit whose sound is very difficult to pigeon-hole given the very diverse range of influences on display. Personally, I think there's as much metalcore here as anything else given the use of hardcore vocals over aggressive, often death metal-esque riffage but I've never seen a single person dare to toss around that term with Acid Bath & it doesn't really account for the significant doom metal component. You can definitely expect to hear a fair whack of sludge, stoner & Southern metal along with some obvious death metal & grunge influences tossed in for good measure though. "When The kite String Pops" is a very strong record with no week tracks however it could certainly have been trimmed a little with the 69 minute runtime being a touch ambitious. There's some particularly chunky, groovy & ultra-heavy riffs floating around & fans of Eyehategod, Crowbar & Melvins will not be disappointed.

4/5

Calling for late submissions for the October “The Pit” playlist. Anyone yet to make their nominations?

Please get any last minute submissions in today as I'm be putting the October playlist together over the next couple of days.

Submissions for the October playlist are now closed as I've just completed the tracklisting however please feel free to continue nominating material for inclusion in the November playlist.

Sonny & Vinny, I recommend you give this one a few spins. I prefer it to "By Inheritance".

Danish thrash metal for fans of Exodus, Overkill & early Testament.

Artillery - "Terror Squad" (1987)

Most people rate 1990's "By Inheritance" album as the finest work from Danish thrash metallers Artillery however I have to disagree with that sentiment. I've always preferred their sophomore record "Terror Squad" which may not be as polished or melodic but more than compensates for it in raw aggression & urgency. There's a bit of a technical edge to some of the rhythms here however the band never fall into the trap of becoming overly clinical. I know Ben isn't a huge fan of the vocals but I actually think they're one of the best things about this release along with the incisive thrash riffage & high-energy double-time drumming. I highly recommend this album to fans of Exodus, Overkill & early Testament.

4/5

Submissions for the October The Gateway playlist are now closed as I've just completed it.

OK, I've just completed the October playlist. Thanks for all your contributions.

Yeah it is. :)

Type O Negative - "Halloween in Heaven" (from Dead Again, 2007) (Since it's gonna be October, that last song would fit greatly in the playlist, so please remove my earlier requested Type O Negative song ("Creepy Green Light") and add this one instead.)

Andi, this track is not on Spotify as far as I can see..

"Lovedrive" is also not on Spotify.

Yeah I quite like "Mirror Mirror" but the appeal sits mainly with the huge chorus. The rest of the track is a little too cheesy for my tastes so it'll never be a classic for me personally. "The Curse Of Feanor" & "Into The Storm" are the two that blow me away from "Nightfall in Middle-Earth" but what would I know... I don't even like "Nightfall" which seems to be universally celebrated as the other classic from the album.

This is simply one of the finest power metal tracks I've ever heard in my life. For fans of Helloween, Gamma Ray & iced Earth.

Blind Guardian - "Nightfall In Middle-Earth" (1998)

I thought I'd revisit this one after quite enjoying Andi's submission for the September The Guardians Playlist & found that I still have a lot of time for it. As with most European power metal, there's still a bit more cheese on offer than I'd like (particularly the medieval folk influence which is more pronounced than I remember from Blind Guardian's other releases) but the anthems are huge with some absolutely epic choruses. The vocals & instrumental performances are incredible here & have always been the main drawcards for me with Blind Guardian along with the furious speed metal component. I definitely prefer 1995's "Imaginations From The Other Side" over this one but "Nightfall in Middle-Earth" still sits comfortably amongst the top few power metal records I've ever experienced. I guess that says a lot about my taste for power metal in general. For fans of Helloween, Gamma Ray & Iced Earth. 

3.5/5

Energetic crossover thrash from Venice Beach, California. For fans of Suicidal Tendencies, DRI & The Accused.

Excel - "Split Image" (1987)

The debut album from this Venice Beach crossover thrash outfit which was released through Suicidal Tendencies front man Mike Muir's Suicidal label. The production isn't perfect as the rhythm guitars are a bit weak for thrash but the energetic tempos, shredding guitar solos & occasional downtempo Black Sabbath doom riff more than make up for it. The vocals can be a little pitchy at times but they're still much better than Muir was capable of at the time & possess a suitable level of enthusiasm. It's actually a pretty consistent record that represents a genuine crossover between thrash & hardcore so it's a little unfortunate that they've chosen to close the album with its only weak track in "Spare The Pain". I think the tracklisting could definitely have done with a couple more highlight tracks too but fans of Suicidal Tendencies, DRI & The Accused should really dig "Split Image". In fact, I'd suggest that it's a better record than any of those bands 1987 albums.

3.5/5

I can definitely see the sense in your feeling that funeral doom metal is the purest expression of doom metal Sonny. I see brutal death metal as the purest expression of death metal in a very similar way.

No we're not assuming that most people are put off by long track lengths. Just by long tracks in subgrenes that they have no time for. In saying that, there are definitely people out there that struggle to maintain their attention for the duration of a long track regardless of subgenre but I wouldn't say that this is the majority by any stretch.

I don't think anyone would mistake your adoration for lengthy doom metal excursions for an attempt to dominate the playlist. The thought never crossed my mind to be honest. My comments were based around the fact that I felt guilty for taking up a much greater portion of the run time with my selections & wondered whether people might consciously do that after seeing one of the Metal Academy administrators doing it. I came to the conclusion that they probably would so I wanted to put it out there early that this practice is frowned upon moving forwards.

That Scorpions track isn't on Spotify Vinny. Feel free to throw another track at me.

That's an interesting way to think of it Sonny. Our stance isn't done & dusted on this by any means & we're very open to the feelings of the clan members however there are a few things that we need to take into account here.

Firstly, what is the intent of the playlists? Well they're really intended to a) attract people to that particular clan & to Metal Academy in general & b) highlight new & interesting sounds to existing clan members. If there is always a risk that some people won't like or can't deal with a 20+ minute track (& I think there's a definite percentage of people that fall into that category despite having chosen The Fallen as one of their clans) then I would suggest that the longer the track is the more likely it is to be make or break for that person continuing to explore their initial interest. I think it's very relevant that both yourself & Andi struggled with the Pig Destroyer track & I don't think it's important as to why. What's important is that it proved how different people's tastes can be within a clan. Sure, I knew the length would be a challenge but I actually didn't think the experimental aspect would be a concern as I genuinely find that track to be the best thing I've heard this year. I absolutely love it & it had never occurred to me that it was all that experimental to be honest. I simply wanted people to hear what I regard as one of the most criminally underrated works I've ever encountered. Clearly it wasn't for everyone & that's worth considering as I want a diverse playlist that caters for everyone as much as possible. That track completely dominated the playlist in that it only allowed me to include ten tracks across two hours. The playlists for The Horde are sitting in the 30+ tracks by comparison & it doesn't matter that a lot of people haven't liked the gorenoise tracks so much because they're only short & don't make up a great percentage of the play time. Let's just say that I include Sleep's "Dopesmoker" as the outer extreme, I think there's a very strong chance that I'll lose both Andi & Ben's interest for a good portion of that hour. Wouldn't I be better served to go with something a little less daunting to ensure greater engagement? I dunno. I'm open to people's thoughts here.

Secondly, your comments about funeral doom metal & drone metal are interesting because those are the two most niche subgenres in The Fallen & are the most likely to put people off with lengthy over-indulgences in my opinion. What I found after my initial August playlists was that if a playlist is to be a true representation of the clan then it needs to include all subgenres in roughly accurate proportions. By my calculations those two subgenres combined make up just 8% of The Fallen's overall release base & that would leave about 5 minutes for each so if we're to include a 30 minute funeral doom epic then it's at the expense of something else that's potentially a more prominent player in the makeup of the clan like sludge metal, doom metal or gothic metal. Now I'm not suggesting that we limit those two subgenres to that extent but is it really that important to go with a 25 minute epic? I mean there's an absolute tonne of material out there. I took into account my experience with these subgenres & my call at a 20 minute limit was based on including the vast majority of every subgenre. Surely there is enough quality funeral doom metal that doesn't exceed that mark, isn't there? Please tell me if I'm wrong as you're certainly more experienced in that space. I can attest to the fact that 20+ minute tracks are certainly the exception rather than the rule with drone metal which is something I'm passionate about. Even Boris' "Feedbacker" is broken down into five separate tracks on the album in order to make it more palatable. I've noticed that the latest releases of Edge Of Sanity's "Crimson" do the same & I'd consider including certain sections.

If we use Andi as an example too, he's a genuine The Fallen member these days in that he utterly adores gothic metal, death doom metal & atmospheric sludge metal. However, he doesn't seem to be very interested in funeral doom metal or drone metal & I don't generally see him giving those subgenres much time, most likely because they don't offer him much appeal. For Ben, it's drone metal & stoner metal. For you it's gothic metal. Which subgenres we're talking about doesn't really matter though. What's important is that it shows that you can be a genuine clan member & still be isolated by over-indulgent track selection. Andi's Estatic Fear selection is also an example. My experience with Estatic Fear has not been enjoyable & if that's an accurate depiction of what I could expect from his submission then I feel that others may struggle with it too. I have to ask what the point of including it is when we could go with something less imposing from that artist that doesn't take a huge chunk out of our play time & therefore gives us more of a chance to draw people into Metal Academy.

And finally, I want to categorically rule a line through people trying to dominate our playlists by intentionally submitting lengthy tracks & I could see that being an issue in the future once I started thinking about it. In fact it could be viewed that I did that myself in September.

If we were to judge submissions on a case by case basis without any hard & fast rules, what would the criteria be for going either way & who would make that call?

What does everyone else think on this topic?

Andi, I've made a decision to change a few things about the playlist inclusions after September & one of them is to implement a "no tracks over 20 minutes in duration" policy. The reaction to the Pig Destroyer track seems to have been divisive & if you don't like a track of that magnitude then it's taken up too much of the playlist for you to get the full value out of it in my opinion. So feel free to change your submission.

Hi guys. I'm looking to have the playlists ready for release on the first day of every month moving forwards so I'm getting organised early. These are the tracks that I have leftover from last month which will be considered for inclusion again:

Andi

Dream Theater - "As I Am" (Train of Thought, 2003)

Mayan - "Undercurrent" (Undercurrent, 2018)

Opeth - "Demon of the Fall" (from My Arms, Your Hearse, 1998)

Any more submissions from The Infinite members before I finalize the playlist? Moving forwards I'd suggest simply dropping individual tracks in here whenever you discover them instead of waiting for me to ask as that will give me the most flexibility to do the playlists whenever I get the time & without having to wait to see if anyone responds. 

Hi guys. I'm looking to have the playlists ready for release on the first day of every month moving forwards so I'm getting organised early. These are the tracks that I have leftover from last month which will be considered for inclusion again:

MacabreEternal

Bolt Thrower “The Killchain”

Asphyx “The Krusher”

Deicide “Dead By Dawn”

Morbid Angel “Maze of Torment”

Obituary “Chopped in Half”

Disaffected - No Feelings Left (from the album Vast)

Portal - The Back Wards (from Vexvoid) 

Wormed - Agliptian Codex Cyborgization (from Krigshu)

There's a fair few fairly classic tracks there & a lot of them sit in the same subgenre so I probably won't include all of them. Any more submissions from The Horde members before I finalize the playlist?  Moving forwards I'd suggest simply dropping individual tracks in here whenever you discover them instead of waiting for me to ask as that will give me the most flexibility to do the playlists whenever I get the time & without having to wait to see if anyone responds.

Hi guys. I'm looking to have the playlists ready for release on the first day of every month moving forwards so I'm getting organised early. If any The Guardians members have any submissions then now's the time.

Also, in future I'd suggest simply dropping individual tracks in here whenever you discover them instead of waiting for me to ask as that will give me the most flexibility.

Also, moving forwards I'd suggest simply dropping individual tracks in here whenever you discover them instead of waiting for me to ask as that will give me the most flexibility to do the playlists whenever I get the time & without having to wait to see if anyone responds.

Hi guys. I'm looking to have the playlists ready for release on the first day of every month moving forwards so I'm getting organised early. If any The Gateway members have any submissions then now's the time.

Also, in future I'd suggest simply dropping individual tracks in here whenever you discover them instead of waiting for me to ask as that will give me the most flexibility.

Hi guys. I'm looking to have the playlists ready for release on the first day of every month moving forwards so I'm getting organised early. These are the tracks that I have leftover from last month which will be considered for inclusion again:

Sonny92

Esoteric – “Descent” (from “A Pyrrhic Existence”, 2019) Funeral doom metal 

Colosseum – “Towards The Infinite” (from “Chapter 2: Numquam”, 2009) Funeral doom metal 

M.S.W. – “Humanity” (from “Obliviosus”, 2020) Doom metal 

Winter – “Servants Of The Warsmen” (from “Into Darkness”, 1990) Death doom metal 

Ben

The Ruins Of Beverast – “Surtur Barbaar Maritime” (from “Exuvia”, 2017) Death doom metal 

Andi

Type O Negative – “Creepy Green Light” (from “World Coming Down”, 1999) Gothic metal 

I think that should cover us for funeral doom & doom/death. My own submissions sit in the atmospheric sludge metal, drone metal & traditional doom metal space this month. Any more submissions before I finalize the playlist? 

P.S. The Electric Wizard & Solstice tracks that Sonny suggested aren't available on Spotify so can't be considered.

Ben, please add Californian crossover thrash outfit Excel.

A ripper of a progressive metal anthem from our new The Infinite member Jean Elias. For fans of Dream Theater.

Not gonna lie, Okyr's Premorbid Intelligence is definitely gonna change the future of classic progressive metal, and I recommend it to many progressive metal listeners and fans including fellow Metal Academy members Ben, Daniel, Shezma, saxystephens & Xephyr. New guy in the site, the band's bassist Jean Elias would absolutely appreciate your support. Okyr's album is a practically unknown masterpiece that deserves to be heard worldwide!

So I gave "Premorbid Intelligence" a few spins over the last couple of days & really liked what I heard. The band are obviously very talented & focused musicians & they've created a record that continuously challenges the listener. If I was being critical I'd suggest that it definitely sits a little too close to the classic Dream Theater sound though & some of the more ambitious progressive passages can come across as a little messy at times but I think the main thing that differentiates Okyr from a top tier player like early 90's Dream Theater is simply that the vocals lack a little x-factor & the hooks aren't quite anthemic enough to have you humming them in your head for days afterwards. The closing track "Neurosis (& The Attraction Theory)" is a prime example of what can be achieved when you get those hooks just right & it subsequently ended up being my album highlight. The first couple of tracks & the last couple of tracks are outstanding. The four in the middle are pretty enjoyable too but are a step down from the other material. For a first-up effort "Premorbid Intelligence" shows a hell of a lot of potential & I expect to hear bigger & better things from Okyr in the future as this is a much better record than the debut albums from bands like Dream Theater & Fates Warning.

4/5

Excellent. I'll add them to the list for consideration. :)

Hmmm.... interesting. I just checked out the Dataclast tracks on the "The Day The Machines Took Over The World" compilation &  I'd actually suggest that they're a pretty good example of a subgenre known as cybergrind which resides in our The Horde clan. I've included a few cybergrind tracks in the August & September Metal Academy Radio "The Horde" Spotify Playlists so if you dig that sound then you might wanna check those out.

Boris with Merzbow - "Rock Dream" (2007)

Sonny, you will definitely wanna check out this double live album collaboration with Tokyo noise legend Merzbow that sits somewhere between post-metal, noise rock & drone metal. I rate it second only to "Feedbacker" in Boris' back-catalogue these days.

An epic drone metal collaboration from Tokyo, Japan.