Daniel's Forum Replies

In Extremo - "Sünder ohne Zügel" (2001)

German folk metal from Berlin.

3/5

Ben, please add Taproot (USA).

Ben, please add Talanas (UK).

Ben, please add Taipan (Australia).

Ben, please add Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster (UK).

Ben, please add Suicide Silence (USA).

Ben, please add Sudden Impact (Canada).

Early US death metal from Ohio, USA.

Necrophagia - "Season Of The Dead" (1987)

3.5/5

Ben, please add Sperm of Antichrist (USA).

They've only released a demo.

Your face has only released a demo.

Ben, please add Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition (France).

Ben, please add Stealing Axion (USA).

Ben, please add Starkweather (USA).

Andi, have you ever checked this one out? I think you'd really dig it.

One of the greatest doom/death tracks ever recorded in my opinion & probably Katatonia's finest moment.

Katatonia - "Brave Murder Day" (1996)

Stunningly melodic Swedish doom/death featuring Opeth's Mikael Akerfeld on vocals. This was a huge record for me during the most difficult time of my life where my emotions were all over the place. It really hit me right where I needed to be hit at the time. Admittedly it hasn't aged as well as I thought it might have (i.e. the song structures are very pieced together & the snare sound is quite similar to hitting a matchbox) but those superlative melodies, beautifully composed harmonies & Mikael's aggressive vocals make this an essential release for the subgenre.

For fans of: early Paradise Lost, early Anathema, October Tide

4.5/5

Ben, please add Sperm of Antichrist (USA).

Ben, please add Sotajumala (Finland) & Splattered Entrails (USA).

This Celtic folk outro piece was the only track from this French outfit's sole album that I actually enjoyed.

Ben, please add Sorrow (USA).

Ben, please add Skyharbor (India).

Ben, please add Skewered (Ireland).

Underworld - "Dark & Long" E.P. (1994)

Absolutely supreme UK techno & progressive house from one of the undisputed masters of dance music. Fucking love it!

Ben, please add Serocs (Mexico) & Skeleton Of God (USA).

Ben, please add the Sepultura / Overdose split album.

Ben, please add Heol Telwen (France).

Aggressive mid-80's thrash metal from Switzerland.

Messiah - "Extreme Cold Weather" (1987)

The sophomore album from Switzerland death/thrash outfit Messiah is a half studio/half live affair & features aggressive thrash riffage with brutal black/death metal vocals. The studio material is entertaining but suffers from a lack of focus & some heavily pieced together & forced song structures while the live material has to deal with inconsistent production. Having said that though, I can't help but find the appeal here given that I love this style of music but I don't like it quite as much as their 1986 debut "Hymn to Abramelin" (also 3.5/5). For fans of Protector, Massacra & Merciless.

3.5/5

This one-off Icelandic blackened thrash release from 1987 has somewhat of a cult following but it actually has nothing to do with black or thrash metal. It's more of a combination of traditional doom metal & speed metal but the poor vocal & lead guitar performances make it a tough slog.

Some obscure Motorhead inspired mid-80's speed metal from Iceland.

I was looking forward to checking out this album. It's primary genres on RYM are black metal and thrash metal, and it's ratings there aren't terrible. The first time I listened to it I started laughing uncontrollably. The musicianship is poor to say the least, but the vocals...oh the vocals!!!!...are so hilariously bad that the album is close to unlistenable for me. He sounds like a mix of Flemming Rønsdorf from Artillery and Tim Baker from Cirith Ungol, but much much worse than that comparison suggests. I've given it two solid listens and some of the music is admittedly somewhat enjoyable, but the album's flaws are just too huge to get over. And if I have to listen to the guitarist play one more decreasing scale lead (Daniel, what's the technical term for what this guy's doing in every track?), I may create some flames of my own.

I've put this comment in The North, but honestly, I'd love to know what you guys think of this album's genre(s). I don't hear much black or thrash metal at all. This just seems like poorly played and produced heavy metal, with a smattering of speed and doom, yet those genres don't even get a look-in on RYM. I could be wrong. The vocals are so off-putting. Thoughts?

1.5 stars

So I finally got around to giving this a few listens & I agree with you that there's no black metal or thrash metal here. It's a combination of traditional doom metal & speed metal with a little traditional heavy metal tossed in here & there. If I had to pick a single subgenre I'd likely go with traditional doom metal because over half of the duration of the album is taken up by the three doom tracks & that tag has always allowed for a fair bit of variance on the doom theme (see the first Trouble record or the first couple of Saint Vitus records for examples). That said, I don't hate "Fire & Steel" as much as you do though. The vocals are certainly unusual & the Cirith Ungol comparison is definitely valid but they're not a deal breaker for me. The lead guitar work is much harder to overcome in my opinion. The tone is terrible & his reliance on those descending chromatic runs is dictated by his complete lack of theoretical understanding. But I don't find that this means that I genuinely hate any of this material. In fact, I actually like a couple of tracks in the eleven minute doom epic "Heroes in Black" & the Motorhead inspired "From the Grave". It's not enough to command revisits though & I still consider this to be an overrated release.

3/5

For fans of: Venom, Hellhammer, Saint Vitus

Ben, please add Sentinel Beast (USA).

Ben, please add Semen Datura (Germany).

Ben, please add Sarcophagy (USA).

I feel very similarly about tracks 2 & 3 Sonny but found some major obstacles that I failed to overcome with opener " Welt aus Eis". The vocals & drumming to be more specific. The vocal delivery is very different & much more direct than on the other two tracks. It sounds kinda childish & immature to my ears to be honest. I'm not sure whether it was intentional to make the drumming sound so sloppy & primitive either. Perhaps it was & I'm just not on board with it but the drums get more buried in the mix on the other two tracks & they're much better off for it. "Gefrorener Atem" & "Der Weg" certainly take some time to develop but the second half of both of those songs are nothing short of wonderful.

Atmospheric black metal perfection from Switzerland.

I can't speak for Ben on the topic but I definitely want to include them. The site would feel incomplete without them.

Sorry folk metallers but I simply can't help but feel that Nokturnal Mortum's "The Voice Of Steel" album is overrated. Feel free to have me tarred, drawn & feathered in a public place for the pleasure of the Pagan community though.

Ben's just adding a new band called "Rosetta / East Of The Wall / Year Of No Light" for example. He found that there was no way he could tie these split releases back to the individual bands so you won't see that release come up under Rosetta.

Ben, please add Sarath (Norway) & Secrets Of The Moon (Germany).

Ben, please add the Rosetta / East of the Wall / Year of No Light split & Rwake (USA).

Nokturnal Mortum - "Голос сталі" (2009)

Pagan folk metal from the Ukraine. Not my bag at all but fans of bands like Moonsorrow, Kroda & Temnozor will likely love it.

3/5

This track sounds like Emperor meets Dire Straits.... & in a good way too.

This is absolutely categorically not my bag at all.

Ben, please add Rise To Fall (Spain) & Rompeprop (Netherlands).

Ben, please add Rev. Kriss Hades (Australia).

Ben, please add Wolf Spider (Poland).

Look, you're not alone in your feelings there Andi. "By Inheritance" is a very well regarded record in the thrash community. Particularly given that it was released in the 90's when thrash was on a steep decline. But I make no secret about the fact that I struggle a bit with the more melodic styles of metal (i.e. melodeath, melodic black metal, melodic metalcore, etc.) & this record sits right at the more melodic end of the thrash spectrum. Don't get me wrong. I still get a fair bit of enjoyment out of it. I've just never come close to thinking of it as a classic release in the entire thirty year relationship I've had with this record which is partially a matter of taste. I recommended it to you because I knew it would tick a lot of your boxes so I'm not at all surprised to see that you love it.  In truth, the tracks that you said were your highlights were the ones that I don't have any time for which is a strong indicator that our musical palates come for opposing ends of the metal spectrum. Neither of us are right or wrong though. We just have different personalities & perspectives. I'm just very pleased that the site is helping people identify releases that are so perfectly suited to their unique personal tastes.

I'm gonna shake things up a little by claiming that this "classic" thrash metal album is overrated. Discuss!

Artillery - "By Inheritance" (1990)