Daniel's Forum Replies

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)

Amongst the finest examples of brutal death metal that I've ever experienced. Quite possibly THE best actually.

Suffocation - "Pierced From Within" (1995)

Amongst the greatest feats of all human kind in my opinion. One of my top three death metal releases of all time. Brutal death metal at its absolute pinnacle. Unbeatable!

5/5

Ben, please add Coprophiliac (Italy).

Ben, please add Concrete Sox (UK).

Here, here!

I completely agree with your thoughts here Ben. I'd suggest that we just make a group decision to omit these symphonic death metal releases from The Guardians on a case by case basis. I see no reason that we should stick with anyone else's categorizations.

No one did Dwightfryed. "Altars Of Madness" is as perfect a record as the death metal scene has produced in my opinion.

I completely agree. I had no contact with In Flames after "Whoracle" while I took some extended time off from the metal scene during the late 90's & most of the 2000's but when I returned to them I found them to be something altogether different & nowhere near as appealing.

I'm not in the Fallen, but remember when Tiamat used to be death-doom, instead of their current gothic rock/metal sound? Good times...

I do. I picked up those first few Tiamat records through tape trading back in the day but "Clouds" was the only one that I had much time for to be honest. They made for a much better gothic metal band in my opinion. At least they did in their mid 90's heyday. I didn't think you were listening to metal back in the early 90's Andi.

Renegade - "Total Armageddon" (1987)

I haven't heard this one in decades but when I first got into thrash metal back in the late 80's these guys were pretty legendary in the local underground Australian scene so it was pretty much mandatory to have a copy of this album. "Total Armageddon" was the first full-length album to come out of the Melbourne thrash scene & it's an underrated release in my opinion. The majority of this material is more along the lines of raw & dirty speed metal than genuine thrash to be honest but despite some sloppy performances (particularly the drumming) there's enough energy on display to get me banging my head. I'm not sure how much of that appeal is built on nostalgia but any album that features an image of the devil drinking a stubby of VB on the cover can't that bad now, can it?

3.5/5

I didn't like Axewitch's 1983 debut album "The Lord Of Flies" much but check this out for a stinker:

Ben, please add Cold Body Radiation (Netherlands).

Ben, please add Coffinworm (USA).

Ben, please add Cock & Ball Torture (Germany).

That’s a very common opinion Xephyr. And in truth it’s how I felt in the late 80’s/early 90’s. But something clicked for me when I returned to this record in the late 2000’s & it seems that I’m not alone in that. It could be fuelled by nostalgia to an extent as I really tried hard to get into “Introduce Yourself” after becoming obsessed with “The Real Thing”. But honestly I don’t think it’s that. As a guitar player I think I just find Jim Martin’s metal riffs to be irresistible & over many years of distance my brain found a way to justify Chuck’s delivery style in my head to the point that I now find him to have an endearing quality. A certain cool factor that I can’t put my finger on. I don’t think this could have happened if I’d simply continued to giving the record relistens back in the day. It’s like absence makes the heart grow fonder as they say. And when I finally returned it was like a visit from an old friend.

I'll have you know that kvlt evil metallers get cold feet too Ben. Do you think they really go to bed in leather & spikes? I'm pretty sure that Satan himself wears ugg boots whilst enjoying a nice cup of tea & a biscuit after a hard day of cursing people for eternity.

I owned an original copy of the "Wrath Of the Tyrant" demo back before Emperor's debut hit the shelves. By my estimations this makes me cooler than anyone that DIDN'T have a copy by a fair margin. I made a point of not playing it to anyone so as to maintain that level of coolness too. If people only knew how cool I was..... *sighs*

*stares at self in mirror & makes ridiculous angry facial expressions & metal claws with his tongue out whilst wearing business attire & with young children playing with crayons in the background*

Ben, please add Axewitch (Sweden).

Kreator - "Pleasure To Kill" (1986)

An absolute classic of raw, aggressive Teutonic thrash. I think Kreator even managed to top their magnificent "Flag Of Hate" E.P. from earlier the same year with this one. It sounds like early Slayer combined with extreme levels of violence & accentuated by one of the most vicious vocal performances the world had heard to date (Mille's but Ventor's is great too).

4.5/5

Ben, please add Cloaca (UK).

Ben, please add Claim The Throne (Australia).

The 2007 demo from Lebanon's Damaar (entitled "Triumph Through Spears of Sacrilege") is amongst my favourites lo-fi demos. It includes some of the most intense war metal you're likely to experience anywhere.

Ben, please add Clagg (Australia).

I agree that it was a well thought-out & composed review.

Don’t worry Xephyr. If you haven’t gotten to the feature from The Infinite yet then you’ve got some seriously doomy material waiting for you there (amongst other things).

Ben, please add Chaos Invocation (Germany).

Ben, please add Chaossworn (Sweden) & Chordotomy (Germany).