Daniel's Forum Replies

Californian thrash metal.

Testament - "Live At Eindhoven" E.P. (1987)

3.5/5

Ben, please add Deadly Remains (USA).

Argentinian heavy metal from 1983. I love the way the lead guitar work builds here.

V8 - "Luchando por el metal" (1983)

The debut album from the most important Argentinian metal band of the 80's in Buenos Aires four-piece V8. The production here is very inconsistent with the drums sounding a big strange & the guitar solos being much louder than the rest of the music. Perhaps this is because the solos are of a very high quality & are by far the most interesting thing about V8. The Spanish vocals are pretty inadequate though & don't do anything to enhance the band's chances of global domination.

Musically, V8 are influenced by the greats of 1970's heavy metal & hard rock with Motorhead, Black Sabbath & Rush all playing a part but there's also a noticeably punky edge to most of these tracks. Particularly the few faster speed metal numbers included. I can appreciate some of the song-writing but overall I have to say that I struggle with the vocals on most tracks. I'd suggest that fans of Spanish heavy rockers Baron Rojo might find something of interest here but I'll have to take a pass myself.

3/5

Classic German thrash metal.

Destruction - "Mad Butcher" E.P. (1987)

The German thrash metal legends continued to hone their craft. This time recruiting a new drummer & an additional lead guitarist & going for a cleaner & much more complex sound. The guitar solos are a real highlight & one gets the feeling that the entire purpose of the E.P. was to showcase the improved technical skills of the new lineup. The re-recorded version of the title track is an improvement on the sloppier, dirtier original while the two new originals are both extremely entertaining. Particularly the very sophisticated "Reject Emotions" which reminds me a lot of "Rust In Peace" era Megadeth in its melodic & structural extravagance. Unfortunately the cover version of Plasmatics' "The Damned" is an obvious misfire but there's enough quality here to make this an enjoyable release for fans of Teutonic thrash.

4/5

Ben, please add the Dead (Germany) / Regurgitate (Sweden) split.

Ben, please add Dark Star (UK).

Swiss tech thrash from 1989.

Coroner - "No More Color" (1989)

The Swiss gods of technical thrash metal start to head in the more progressive direction they'd take during the early 90's & it makes for a stronger record than their previous material. There are no weak tracks here although I do still find Tommy's neoclassical moments to be a little cringe-worthy. The classy riffs flow in a never-ending stream from your speakers however & even though I prefer 90's Coroner over their 80's releases there's little doubt that they'd hit a new creative peak with this album. Fans of bands like Toxik, Mekong Delta & Obliveon will be absolutely all over this as Coroner were setting the standard at this stage.

4/5

Overrated:

Overkill - "!!!Fuck You!!!" E.P. (1987)

This was my first revisit to this little E.P. since we back in the day & it's not hard for me to see why. "!!!Fuck You!!!" includes a two minute cover version of the title track from 1979's self-titled debut E.P. from Canadian punk rockers The Subhumans followed by four live cuts taken from Overkill's first two albums. The production on the live tracks isn't terribly amazing & the cover version isn't worth purchasing this release for so I don't see much reason to seek this one out.

3/5

Slam/brutal death metal from Laos.

Delusional Parasitosis / Ecchymosis / Dissevered / Bleeding - "Scaphism 4-Way Split" (2017)

A four-way split album of slam/brutal death metal featuring bands from the USA, Thailand, Laos & the Netherlands. These bands really do take all of the trademark characteristics of the slam movement & accentuate them to their extremes. I'm generally a big fan of the more brutal side of death metal so there's a fair bit to interest me here however the ridiculously pingy snare sounds, overuse of gravity blast beats & continuously monotonous vocal delivery that makes no attempt to enunciate actual words can be challenging at times. Thankfully the riffs are always chunky & exciting though. I didn't like Ecchymosis much but the other three bands were all pretty cool. Particularly Delusional Paratosis. Fans of bands like Afterbirth, Artery Eruption & Infected Malignity should really dig this.

3.5/5

Ben, please add Daemon Foetal Harvest (Australia).

Ben, please add Cyclone (Belgium).

Seems kinda lazy to me Ben. I would have thought you'd have been well over 100,000 by now. Just sayin'.

*fetches popcorn, sits back & waits for reaction*

These two lists might also interest you members of The Pit as they include a few early thrash metal releases amongst them:

Top 10 Releases Of 1983: https://metal.academy/lists/single/7

Top 10 Releases Of 1984: https://metal.academy/lists/single/8

Ben, please add the split album from slam death metal artists Delusional Parasitosis, Ecchymosis, Dissevered & Bleeding. It's generally called "Scaphism 4-Way Split".

Extremely raw & undergroung Colombian first wave black metal.

Parabellum - "Sacriegio" E.P. (1987)

The first of two seminal demos released by this legendary Colombian first wave black metal outfit & despite the fact that it's an extremely primitive recording it's not hard to see why it was so influential on the likes of Euronymous & the second wave.  You'll find more than the occasional nod to the modern black metal sound here but it's presented in a highly unusual & at times quite disjointed & disturbing fashion. The brutal opening track "Madre muerte" is very interesting & engaging but the more punk-driven "Engendro 666" misses the mark by a fair margin in my opinion. Fans of Sarcófago, Vulcano & early Mayhem should probably give it a go but for me it's always been more of a passing interest rather than an underground gem.

3/5

I agree. Best year for thrash in my opinion.

Protector - "Misanthropy" E.P. (1987) 

The debut release from this German death/thrash outfit. An extremely consistent record that deserves a lot more attention than it's received over the years. It's really quite brutal for the time & fans of Possessed, "Abominations Of Desolation"-era Morbid Angel & early Sepultura will completely froth over this. It's a forgotten gem in my opinion. 

4/5 

Quoted Daniel

Have you checked this one out Sonny92? I think you'd really dig it. You too Ben.

Excellent. I'm so glad that you "got it". I was afraid that it might weird some of you out so much on initial listens that you might not give it the chance to sink in. I think it's a wonderful release. Some of the doomy parts are quite possibly the heaviest thing that had ever been recorded to the time in my opinion.

Nice one Sonny. Both "Seven Churches" & "The Return" would have made my list but I'm saving those for the death metal & black metal lists respectively. It's also worth noting that Slaughter's "Surrender Or Die" demo would have made my list at number 5 if we'd included demos here at Metal Academy. I haven't checked out the compilation that compiles both of the Slaughter demo tapes as yet but there's potential that it could be added if it's as high a quality as "Surrender Or Die" overall.

Yes I intend to Andi. It might take me a while to get around to it but you can expect 1987 to be delivered some time soon.

Ben, please add Parabellum (Colombia).

Ben, please add Cruciform (Australia).

Dutch heavy metal.

Picture - "Eternal Dark" (1983)

The fourth album in three years from Dutch heavy metallers Picture & their most recent release that I've experienced. I quite liked 1981's "Heavy Metal Ears" album but they really stepped things up for 1982's "Diamond Dreamer" album. "Eternal Dark" is another enjoyable listen & I'd probably rate it somewhere between its two predecessors. The loss of outstanding frontman Sammy "Shmoulik" Avigal was unfortunate but his replacement Pete Lovell does a pretty decent job without ever reaching the same heights. Fans of Judas Priest & Dio will hear some familiar sounds here & I'd be surprised if they don't find some entertainment in "Eternal Dark".

3.5/5

Ben, please add Creeping (New Zealand).

Ben, please add Creative Waste (Saudi Arabia).

Wow! Great pickup! It seems there's no boundaries to Sabbath's influence.

German death/thrash. This is the slower, chuggier track on the E.P.

Protector - "Misanthropy" E.P. (1987)

The debut release from this German death/thrash outfit. An extremely consistent record that deserves a lot more attention than it's received over the years. It's really quite brutal for the time & fans of Possessed, "Abominations Of Desolation"-era Morbid Angel & early Sepultura will completely froth over this. It's a forgotten gem in my opinion.

4/5

I totally agree with your call on the those Megadeth tracks. They out like sore thumbs & substantially interrupt the flow of the albums. And don't even get me started on "These Boots" from the debut either.

To be honest I struggle with all but the climax. The initial heavy bits are by far & away the simplest & weakest on the album. And God damn how bad is the part with clean & growly vocals doing a duet. Not to mention the cheesy jazz section. Utterly atrocious!

Some of you may disagree with me but I find this cheesy progressive wank-fest to be incredibly cringe-worthy & tedious. In fact, it single-handedly caused me to drop my overall score for "Terminal Redux" from a 4/5 to a 3.5/5 as it kinda ruins an otherwise pretty consistent tracklisting.

Progressive thrash metal from Arizona, USA.

Ben, despite me only rating it a 3.5/5 this afternoon, I still think that you'd really dig Vektor's "Terminal Redux" album. I think you're more likely to be able to deal with some of it's eccentricities than I am to be honest.

Vektor - "Terminal Redux" (2016)

The third album from this legendary Arizona progressive thrash metal outfit. As with "Black Future", I enjoy it but I don't love it. The performances are outstanding & there's been plenty of risks taken with a lot of proggy ambition. I guess I just find the more melodic sections to be a little too light-weight for my personal tastes but I enjoy the album nonetheless. It kinda sounds like Coroner meets Death with a bit of black metal thrown in which can't be a bad thing now, can it?.

3.5/5

We could possibly run into the same problem with other subgenres like neoclassical metal too. I mean I'm sure there's probably a few neoclassical goregrind exponents out there. Not to mention the fact that we've already accepted this exact problem with progressive metal but seem to just overlook it completely.

At the end of the day we just need to go with what's most likely & the most likely people to like symphonic metal are also into power metal & neoclassical metal. We should treat the exceptions like... well... exceptions. As far as the ongoing clan categorization of symphonic death metal releases go, I'd suggest that we just keep them under The Horde & continue to add future releases there when they have both symphonic metal & death metal as primaries. I think we should also make the call that The Guardians is to be kept extreme metal free. I think it should be. It's intended for fans of more traditional, melodic styles of metal.

Ben, please add Cough (USA).

I think I might start a thread in each clan forum for these stinkers actually. It makes more sense to have it there.

Comfortably the weakest track on a fairly uninspiring release. I find this song to be pretty tough going to be honest.

Crossover thrash from North Carolina, USA.

Corrosion Of Conformity - "Technocracy" E.P. (1987)

I quite liked COC's "Animosity" album from 1985 but this little E.P. from two years later falls a bit flat in my opinion. It features the same songs on both sides of the record only performed with different vocalists. The second one is comfortably superior which leaves me wondering what the point of it all was.

3/5

My revised list:

25. Deicide - "Deicide" (1990)  

24. Obituary - "Cause Of Death" (1990)  

23. Suffocation - "Effigy Of The Forgotten" (1991)  

22. My Dying Bride - "Turn Loose The Swans" (1993)  

21. dISEMBOWELMENT - "Transcendence Into The Peripheral" (1993)  

20. Entombed - "Clandestine" (1991)  

19. Morbid Angel - "Blessed Are The Sick" (1991)  

18. Metallica - "Master Of Puppets" (1986)  

17. Darkthrone - "Transilvanian Hunger" (1994)  

16. Carcass - "Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious" (1991)  

15. ISIS - "Panopticon" (2004)  

14. Neurosis - "Souls At Zero" (1992) 

13. Slayer - "South Of Heaven" (1988)  

12. Immolation - "Close To A World Below" (2000)  

11. Suffocation - "Pierced From Within" (1995)  

10. Boris - "Boris At Last -Feedbacker-" (2003)  

09. Alice In Chains - "Dirt" (1992)  

08. Death - "Human" (1991)  

07. Morbid Angel - "Altars Of Madness" (1989)  

06. Metallica - "...And Justice For All" (1988)  

05. ISIS - "The Mosquito Control" E.P. (1998)  

04. Sunn O))) - "Black One" (2005)  

03. Deathspell Omega - "Kenose" E.P. (2005)  

02. Burzum - "Filosofem" (1996)  

01. Slayer - "Reign In Blood" (1986)