Daniel's Forum Replies

I think the US power metal term is pretty much redundant to be honest. Ben & I did a deep dive into that scene over several episodes of the podcast & both came to the conclusion that US power metal is essentially just traditional heavy metal with all of its hard rock influence removed. There’s no need for a unique label really.

Oh... & “Crimson Glory” is an excellent heavy metal record.

Welcome to the site Caroline. Ben & I are thrilled that you enjoy our little podcast & are also so glad that you've decided to register for this website as it really is a labour of love for us. In fact, we've designed the site to fit in with our concept of the perfect metal resource & it's getting closer & closer to that ideal every day with all members having a say in how it looks & feels. I'm probably the more social of the two of us & having an avenue for self expression & communication with like-minded music fans has always been important to me so I fully intend to ensure that our forum becomes the most active in the entire internet metal scene. Plus, we're both tired of the prejudice & bullying that goes on at other major competitor's websites so there will be none of that tolerated here. It's a place where metalheads can be completely open in sharing their opinions without having to worry about being trolled due to their experience, age, gender, sexual orientation, musical preference, etc. So please don't be shy! Get amongst it & I look forward to hearing your thoughts on everything metal. Enjoy yourself!

Daniel

P.S. Where are you from if you don't mind me asking?

Awesome. That’s great. Thanks a lot.

I’ve been flogging Facebook, Instagram & Twitter over the last few days too.

I also like to feel my rating system is absolute, in that it holds for all genres of music, so a rating of 0.5 is for absolute shit that I really can't stand, probably the likes of Justin Bieber, Crazy Frog or some other crime against music. A 0.5 or 1.0 is only meted out to metal albums on extremely rare occasions ( Adema and Atreyu are the only metal bands that I've ever given 0.5s to).

My feelings exactly. I remember having a debate with a couple of mates about the fact that my scoring tends to be in a bell curve with 3.5/5 at the centre. One believed that 2.5/5 should be the centre of the bell & the other thought that my rating distribution should be equal across the various possibilities. My argument was pretty simple really. I know what I'm likely to enjoy after all these years so I expect that I won't be selecting too many releases that I'm gonna hate. In reality I expect to enjoy the stuff I listen to more often than not & that naturally leads to an average of around 3.5/5.

Also, I reserve the bottom four ratings for stuff that I a) consider to be pretty awful or b) genuinely hate. So I don't dish them out to many metal releases in my chosen subgenres. I don't think I should have anywhere near as many 5/5 or 0.5/5 scores as I do 3/5 or 3.5/5 scores. There's got to be more average releases than classics in my opinion as I think it's got to be hard to score the extremes at either end of the spectrum. Otherwise you have no way of differentiating between the absolute elite like "Reign In Blood" or "Master Of Puppets" & other high quality releases. And 0.5-1/5 only goes to stuff where I consider the musicians can't play their instruments or where the sound coming out of the speakers doesn't even qualify as music at all & how many of those releases am I gonna actively seek out to listen to? Very few it would seem.

Of course, everyone is free to have their own thoughts on this & employ their own scoring system on Metal Academy as we promote equal opportunity so don't worry if yours doesn't line up with mine or anyone elses.

I think having a well defined scoring system is essential for standardizing your scoring across a large quantity & cross-section of releases. I've been using the same one for many years now & it's served me well. People will have different ideas on what constitutes a good or a bad score (for me a 3.5/5 is the first score to constitute a good result with a 3/5 having just missed the cut ) but the important thing is to keep it standard & to have a defined concept for what every score in the spectrum means so that you can be sure that you're allocating the appropriate one on every occasion.

It's also extremely important to give releases multiple listens before rating them. I find that the first listen rarely gives me a good understanding of an album as I often need to have my internal biases reset so I just let it sweep over me without thinking too much about it. It means that I'll go into subsequent listens with an understanding of what to expect. The second listen is where informed opinions start to form but the third listen will see those becoming clearer. If a release requires more than three listens I can usually tell pretty obviously by how far my initial scoring is changing between the second & third listens. If there's been a noticeable change in my feelings then I'll likely give a release some more time to see if those feelings will grow further.

Ben, please add Desecrator (Australia).

Ben, please add Deranged (Sweden).

With the “Coma Of Souls” head on the front? That’s a fucking beauty! Well done to your missus.

Good work with the site everyone.  Good to see a non-social media based platform getting some attention and getting a dying medium such as forums growing again.  I have watched the Tez forums die off over about a decade or so and although I moderate on another forum the numbers there aren’t that high so seeing some life here is great to witness.  Not much to offer in the way of marketing opportunities (even though selling is my job) I am afraid.

Any chance you might have a quiet word to some of the ol’ Tez faithful & see if you can get them over here? I think the likes of Sol & Stat would really enjoy the site. ChineseWhispers signed up early before disappearing & I’ve been trying to get markhebb over for months now but he’s been too busy finishing his latest book. Perhaps the message might sound better coming from a user rather than someone like myself?

This is not a problem for me as I allow myself to simply score releases on my own personal enjoyment alone. I mean what good is an artistically relevant & clever album that you don’t enjoy?

A belter of a heavy metal power ballad from these New York thrashers.

Nuclear Assault - "The Plague" E.P. (1987)

4/5

Ben, please add Demonic Resurrection (India).

I was talking about both the clan challenges & the Metal Academy Lists sections actually. In the latter I’d just have a page with links for each clan as well as one for All Clans that would cover everything that includes multiple clans. It could also be done with filters like we use on the release page I guess.

A classic death 'n' roll track from the originators of the subgenre.

Entombed - "Wolverine Blues" (1993)

The Swedish death metal gods move away from their traditional sound towards what we now know as death 'n' roll. I kinda dig it too.

3.5/5

Definitely. They’ve got a lot more energy & urgency than the sludgier Godflesh. It sounds like that might appeal to you more.

Ben, please add Decimation (Turkey).

I've started contacting some prominent metal influencers this morning (mainly Australian to start with) to see if I can draw a little attention to the site . We'll see how we go with that. 

The speed with which we can grow the site membership comes down to a few things really. Firstly, the time that Ben & I have available to us to do marketing is limited given that we both have young families & high-profile jobs on top of our responsibilities here with transforming the site into an attractive prospect for potential members. The RYM marketing option was very easy for me to attack as I simply had to identify appropriate candidates by searching through reviews for knowledgeable & active people & then sent them an email to encourage them to check the site out. That effort was quickly rewarded with our membership levels doubling in around 2.5 weeks but unfortunately the administrators at RYM picked up on it & swiftly suspended my account so I no longer have that avenue available to me. I can't really complain as I definitely deserved my punishment given that I was using their site functionality to advertise their direct competition.

Since that time I've checked out both Reddit & Metal Archives to see whether marketing there would be possible. I was easily able to determine that it isn't & I'd only end up getting myself banned there too as both sites have strict rules on advertising. A much better option would be to encourage some of you that might already be established on those sites to start to encourage other members to check us out in a subtle way. Are any of you long-time members of those platforms? If so, perhaps we can work together on a strategy that won't get you into trouble but might create some interest. We're certainly more of a competitor for Metal Archives than we are of Reddit.

Ultimately the site will be successful because everyone agrees that the concept is great & we are continuing to expand on it regularly to see it organically evolving & improving. But the speed with which its popularity with existing users is transferred into increased membership numbers is heavily reliant on how many of our members are actively helping to promote the site. If everyone converts every metalhead they know into Metal Academics then we should see things snowballing from there. And Andi, if you know of any ways to draw people to your YouTube video then please feel free to go down that path. It all helps.

I'm now starting to look at other options like social media  applications (Facebook Twitter, Instagram, etc.) & reaching out to already established metal-related podcasts, blogs, websites, etc. for exposure. This last option is probably the key. If we can get some exposure on a well-known podcast or a site like Metal Sucks or Metal Injection then we'd likely see some noticeable interest level increases as a result. If anyone knows anyone involved in those sort of areas then please send me a message with the details but in the meantime, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram & help to contribute to healthy discussion that can draw people to the website.

Good question. I'll put some together in the next couple of days.

Radiohead - "OK Computer" (1996)

An amazing album from one of my all-time favourite bands.

4.5/5

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.