Daniel's Forum Replies

Ultra-raw Brazilian black metal from 1987. For fans of Vulcano, early Sodom & the first couple of Sepultura releases.

A couple of tracks from the upcoming "Carnival Of Killers" album from long-standing Chicago death metal outfit Macabre which is due for release on 13th November.

A track from the new self-titled album from long-standing Teutonic thrash metallers Accu§er which is due for release on 13th November.

A taster from the new "Live In Chicago" live album from Californian death metal legends Autopsy which is due for release on 30th October.

The brand new single from Swedish melodeath champions Dark Tranquillity's new album "Moment" which is due for release on 20th November.

The title track from the brand new "Under Pressure" E.P. from long-standing Bay Area thrashers Death Angel.

Spectacular sludge metal from Washington's godfathers of the subgenre.

Melvins - "Houdini" (1993)

1993's fifth full-length album from influential Washington trio Melvins (entitled "Houdini") has always left me a little frustrated to be honest. On the one hand you have some seriously high-end & heavy-as-fuck sludge/doom metal material with some particularly bad-ass vocals which see me immediately reaching for my higher scores. But this is then off-set by a few completely redundant alternative rock & experimental tracks which add nothing whatsoever to the record, particularly the very confusing ten minute closer "Spread Eagle Beagle". It's a real mixed bag stylistically as this isn't strictly a sludge metal record when taken holistically. There are various different genres spread across the tracklisting. The opening couple of belters certainly fall into the sludge metal category but the rest of the album sees everything from grunge to stoner metal to alternative rock to doom metal to experimental music. Of course the heavier tracks are the ones that appeal to me the most. It's actually pretty easy to see the influence that Melvins had on the more important (& ultimately heavier) grunge bands  & I'd actually go so far as to suggest that grunge should have equal bragging rights with sludge when genre-tagging the album. Overall, the highs are balanced out by the lows & we're left with a pretty enjoyable record that offered the potential for so much more. If you have a diverse taste palate that includes sludge (Acid Bath), stoner (Kyuss), grunge (Nirvana/Soundgarden/Alice In Chains) & alternative rock (Queens Of The Stone Age/Pixies) then you might wanna check it out.

3.5/5

That Chaos Divine track is a belter Xephyr. Nice choice!

Hi everyone. Just a heads up that I've changed the naming convention for the monthly clan playlists. Xephyr mentioned that the original convention was a little awkward to navigate from his smart phone due to key information being truncated (i.e. the month & clan) & after investigating it myself I found that I agreed with him. In order to rectify this problem, I've now renamed them all in this format:

Oct 2020 "The Sphere" Playlist - Metal Academy Radio

This should eradicate the truncation problem but let me know if you have any further suggestions in this space.

Vinny, I think this one might appeal to you. It was their best work to the time in my opinion.

Awesome techy Teutonic thrash metal that sounds like Kreator crossed with Coroner.

Destruction - "Release From Agony" (1987)

I've never been a fan of the first couple of seminal releases from German thrash metal legends Destruction. It wasn't until they went in a more sophisticated & technically proficient direction with 1986's "Eternal Devastation" & 1987's "Mad Butcher" E.P. that they gained my interest & that appeal reached its climax with 1987's "Release From Agony" album which I regard as Destruction's best work to the time. It's a particularly consistent record that oozes class & professionalism. The only limiting factors are the lack of many genuine vocal hooks & Schmier's vocal performance which I'd suggest falls into the category of "tolerable" more that it does "enjoyable". Those issues aside though, "Release From Agony" is a high quality & ambitious piece of Teutonic thrash that kinda sounds like Kreator crossed with Coroner. If that idea sounds appealing to you then you'll likely really dig this album.

4/5

An ex-girlfriend of mine owned a Summoning CD?? Well it’s pretty clear why we broke up now. It would never have worked. Although she’s clearly attempted to rectify the situation so there was some hope for her.

For the record, I'd like to clarify that my wife has never even considered procuring a Summoning release of any sort. This was one of the main things that attracted me to her.

Ultra-brutal death metal from New York's godfather of the subgenre. For fans of Dying Fetus, Cryptopsy & Pyrexia.

Swiss technical thrash metal for fans of Vektor, Voivod & Watchtower.

Please get your submissions in by 15th October if you want them considered for inclusion in the November playlist (maximum three each). And remember, there are three subgenres covered by The Sphere:

Industrial metal

Neue Deutsche Härte

Cyber metal

Please get your submissions in by 15th October if you want them considered for inclusion in the November playlist (maximum three each). And remember, there are seven subgenres covered by The Revolution:

Metalcore

Melodic metalcore

Deathcore

Mathcore

Trancecore

Trance metal

Nintendocore

Please get your submissions in by 15th October if you want them considered for inclusion in the November playlist (maximum three each). And remember, there are five subgenres covered by The Pit:

Classic thrash metal

Technical thrash metal

Crossover thrash

Groove metal

Speed metal

Please get your submissions in by 15th October if you want them considered for inclusion in the November playlist (maximum three each). And remember, there are many subgenres covered by The North:

Classic black metal

Atmospheric black metal

Melodic black metal

Depressive black metal

Symphonic black metal

Pagan black metal

Blackgaze

War metal

Black ‘n’ roll

Viking metal

Folk metal

Medieval folk metal

Celtic metal

Vinny, I've still got plenty of your previous submissions to keep me busy. Will try to get through as many as possible this month so that we can start fresh for December.

Ben & Xephyr, I also have one each from you guys & I'll stuff both of those in this month.

A couple more songs from the upcoming Sólstafir album entitled "Endless Twilight of Codependent Love" which is due to be released on 6th November:

A track from the new album "Syys" from Finnish black metal/folk act October Falls.

Taken from the new Fates Warning album "Long Day Good Night" which is due to be released on 6th November.

The new E.P. from Norwegian black metallers Troll entitled "Tilbake til Trollberg".

As good as the djent sound gets in my opinion. The Swedish masters of the subgenre at full strength.

Meshuggah - "Catch Thirtythree" (2005)

Another immensely complex single-track release from the Swedish masters of djent who had tested the waters the previous year with their incredible "I" E.P. & now took things one step further with a full album-length undertaking of the highest quality. The production job is excellent & this time Meshuggah take off in top gear rather than building up over time with the first three (sub)tracks being complete home runs. In fact, I see very little reason to separate them as they're clearly the same track. Then the intensity & quality drops a touch during the middle of the album with a couple of more atmospheric periods breaking things up nicely. The climax comes with a trio of brilliant pieces beating you into submission immediately following the epic 13 minute centrepiece "In Death - Is Death" & the band finishes on a real high.

Overall, I'd suggest that I probably prefer "I" just marginally over "Catch Thirtythree" but there's very little in it. The mid-section possibly just lacks a little in the hooks & melody department if I'm being particularly picky but have no doubt that this is a classic & defining release for the subgenre & Meshuggah once again prove that they can't be touched when it comes to this style of metal. For fans of Kobong, Fredrik Thordendal's Special Defects & TesseracT.

4.5/5

Orbital - "Brown Album" (1993)

Hugely influential melodic techno from Kent, England. Well ahead of its time & arguably Orbital's best record from a purely dancefloor perspective. Plus it includes the all-time classic progressive house anthem "Halcyon + On + On" which would prove to be one of the great closing tracks for DJs to drop as the lights came on for decades to come. 

Please get your submissions in by 15th October if you want them considered for inclusion in the November playlist (maximum three each).

Vinny, I've got five of your submissions leftover from previous months so I'm probably good to go there. I'll see if I can get them all in so we can start fresh for December.

Please get your submissions (maximum three each) in by 15th October if you want them considered for inclusion in the November playlist.

Xephyr, I'll get your Running Wild submission from last month in this time.

Please get your submissions (maximum three each) in by 15th October if you want them considered for inclusion in the November playlist.

Please get your submissions (maximum three each) in by 15th October if you want them considered for inclusion in the November playlist. I wouldn't bother submitting any death doom metal or funeral doom metal tracks as I've got those subgenres covered with material that was leftover from previous months.

Sonny, I've already got a couple of your tracks ear-marked so maybe just one more from you.

It's rare that a day shares two massive anniversaries, but today, Electric Wizard's Dopethrone turns 20 and Slayer's Seasons in the Abyss turns 30. When an album that Daniel and I owned on release turns 30, it really makes me feel old!

I actually bought "Seasons In The Abyss" on pre-order from The Metal Factory in Parramatta which was run by Mortal Sin front man Mat Maurer. I used to buy from Mat quite regularly because he'd ship the imports to me before other record stores even got any stock on their shelves. Slayer were my favourite band at the time & I absolutely flipped out on first listen. Over time I've come to regard the album as the last truly classic studio record from Slayer's peak period although I don't think it quite matches the two albums that preceded it which both sit in my top three for thrash overall.

The thrashiest number on Holy Terror's 1987 debut album is also my favourite (unsurprisingly).

Holy Terror - "Terror & Submission" (1987)

LA speed metal with thrash & heavy metal influences. For fans of Agent Steel, Hallows Eve & early Living Death.

3.5/5

That's an interesting take Xephyr. We featured "Battle Hymns" on episode 11 of Metal Academy podcast which meant that we were required to pull the record apart & examine every nut & bolt before putting it all back together again so I ended up developing a pretty good understanding of my feelings on the album. After having a quick look at the tracklisting just now, I'd suggest that "Death Tone" & "Shell Shock" are nothing more than hard rock tunes. There's very little doubt about that. But, with the exception of the bass solo track "William's Tale",  I'd definitely class the rest of the album as being heavy metal with the B-side pretty much creating & defining the epic metal sound for all eternity. I don't have any qualms with "Battle Hymns" staying in The Guardians but it will be interesting to see what your fellow clan members think as I don't get a vote.

Chris Van Etten, you might wanna give this one a shot.

Brutal thrash from the Bronx for fans of Morbid Saint, Dark Angel & Kreator.

Demolition Hammer - "Epidemic Of Violence" (1992)

The 1992 sophomore effort from New York brutal thrash outfit Demolition Hammer highlights a band that are both well on top of their sound & also seem to be incredibly well tuned to my particular taste. I mean you won't find too many releases that are more directly targeted at my sweet spots from a purely stylistic & theoretical point of view than this one but that doesn't necessarily amount to a successful undertaking in practice. Thankfully Demolition Hammer are a class act who know exactly what strings to pull to get the most out of a riff & there are a multitude of them here. In fact, "Epidemic Of Violence" is a long succession of total riff bombs with little restraint offered or time wasted. Powerful drummer Vinny Daze is the perfect foil for the dual guitar attack as his timing is impeccable & his often restrained approach leaves exactly the right amount of room for the thick & chunky riff assault. Vocalist Steve Reynolds possesses a gnarly snarl that I'd imagine would tear paint of the walls in a live environment & when you combine his aggression with some super-tight rhythm guitar performances you get one hell of a ride for fans of the more intense end of the thrash spectrum. Interestingly, I often see this album linked with death metal but that link has never seemed relevant to me personally. This is simply a very heavy & intense thrash record that will undoubtedly please fans of Morbid Saint, Dark Angel & Kreator.

4.5/5

Interestingly Andi, I originally had that Black Breath track sitting after the melodeath tracks & there was a noticeable drop in energy when it came on because the Insomnium & Wolfheart tracks are full of high-paced blast beats which makes them noticeably more intense. I tried relocating Black Breath next to the At The Gates track as they're both based on the classic old-school Swedish death metal sound & once I gave those first six tracks a re-listen I found that the playlist flowed really nicely that way. I don't pay much attention to subgenres when programming the running order of these playlists these days. It's all about the ebbing & flowing of energy & intensity. Besides... if you struggle with that Black Breath track then you're REALLY gonna struggle with the remainder of the playlist.