Daniel's Forum Replies

Neurosis - "A Sun That Never Sets" (2001)

An album that saw Neurosis heading further away from their classic sludge metal sound towards a much more introspective post-metal one with drawn out arrangements & a stronger focus on atmospherics. It's still fucking brilliant though. Particularly Scott Kelly's emotional vocal performance. He's comfortably one of my top five vocalists of all time to be honest. The highlights are nothing short of stupendous but the quality does drop a touch over the last few tracks which prevents any chance of a perfect score.

4.5/5

Coroner's version of The Beatles' "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" that ends their classic 1991 album "Mental Vortex" is another example of a misguided cover version. Sure it was a great song to begin with & they do a pretty reasonable job at replicating it but it sounds nothing like the rest of the album & stands out like a sore thumb. The remainder of the album is so focused & fresh that it's inclusion unquestionably reduces my opinion of the overall package which is a real shame as it had the potential to get the full five from me.

So I kicked this off yesterday with the first round of features & ended up going with some high quality but generally overlooked old-school releases. What are your thoughts on those selections? I'll be looking to jump around from different periods & from different subgenres each time.

Ben has suggested that he'd much rather see new features being announced on a more regular basis i.e. fortnightly or weekly. I thought I'd start off with monthly so as to make sure that everyone had enough time to get involved & to gain your feedback on the whole concept. I mean I don't want people to feel pressured or rushed. This is meant to be fun after all. If people really get behind this early on & the consensus is that we'd like it more regularly then I can look to accommodate that idea moving forwards. Let's see how we go to start with.

They were fantastic on the "Firepower" tour too but it was obvious that Rob was struggling physically. In fact, I'm not sure if he was just not well on the night in question but he often seemed to be short of breath & left several of the choruses to the audience. The band was on fire though.

RYM permanently suspended my account a couple of days ago. I suspect that someone reported my private message to them to suggest that they join Metal Academy & they're claiming that I've breached their guidelines. Oh well... I'm not sure I need them now anyway as I have a more effective tool at my disposal.

As far as cover versions go, I can certainly see where Ben is coming from but I prefer to take them on a case by case basis. In general, I think covers are only effective when a) they're given a fresh & unique feel & b) they sound like they belong alongside the originals that surround it. If you take a look at a couple of well-known Judas Priest cover versions as a point of reference, Slayer's cover of "Dissident Aggressor" is a great example of a cover version done well. If you didn't know it was a cover version you'd never know because it fits so nicely into the "South Of Heaven" tracklisting. But then we have Death's version of "Painkiller" which was a disappointing inclusion on "The Sound Of Perseverance". Firstly, it was pretty much a faithful rendition of the original but wasn't anywhere near as effective & secondly, it doesn't sound like the rest of the album. In fact, Chuck actually went with a completely different approach to his vocal delivery for that song & it simply isn't half as appealing. Judas Priest themselves were masters of the cover version with songs like "Diamonds & Rust" & "Better By You, Better Than Me" not only being amongst the highlights of their respective albums but also sounding a) 100% like Judas Priest & b) nothing like the originals.

I completely agree that hidden tracks are one of the world's greatest injustices though. 99% of them are complete garbage. Especially that Anathema one the Ben referred to earlier. It's absolute balls.

Ben, please add Centurion (Poland) & Cerebral Bore (UK).

Another example that Sabbath weren't perfect. In fact it would seem to indicate that they were doing an absolute shit tonne of drugs around this time.

Ben, please add Cavalera Conspiracy (USA).

Ben, please add Cannabis Corpse (USA).

The fifth album from this talented French progressive metal outfit.

The fourth studio album from this Swedish doom metal outfit.

Why do I feel like we're gonna get along just fine Ded Bolt?

This hidden track from Kyuss' "Welcome To Sky Valley" is as pointless as they get really.

Dark Angel - "Darkness Descends" (1986)

A huge record for me from back in the day. It's a brilliant lesson in how to play fast & aggressive thrash metal. I think it would have been even better if the production was a bit less muddy but it's awesome nonetheless. Fans of Slayer's "Reign In Blood" & Kreator's "Pleasure To Kill" should already own this to complete the unholy trinity from 1986.

4.5/5

Fantastic! I'm so glad you decided to join us. Ben & I created the Metal Academy brand specifically to give us an avenue to communicate with like-minded individuals like yourself so don't be shy. We'd love to hear what you're thinking & we're actively using the site to drive our listening habits. Enjoy the Academy!

Ben, please add the Motorhead/Girlschool split.

Ben, please add Brujeria (USA) & Burying Place (Lithuania).

Pestilence - "Consuming Impulse" (1989)

The classic sophomore album from the greatest Dutch death metal band of all. The performances & production were of a higher caliber than 99% of extreme metal from the time. The rhythm guitar crunch is ridiculously heavy & really does it for me. Fans of Death & "Seven Churches"-era Possessed will love this shit.

4/5

I haven't either. This Metallica you mentioned sounds interesting too. I've heard they show some promise.

Personally I'm not as comfortable with 70's Budgie being considered as genuine metal. Their self-titled debut was certainly very heavy but I'm not sure that many of the riffs could be classed as metal as there was still too much blues involved in my opinion. The albums that followed it were just so varied that even if there might have been a metal track here & there, you'll find just as much folk music & prog rock included. The only release that I'd suggest comes pretty close to being metal was "Power Supply" from 1980 which was kinda 50/50 between hard rock & heavy metal. Judas Priest were the second heavy metal band for mine.

Ben, please add The Bride (Australia).

Ben, please add Borgne (Switzerland).

Ben, please add Bong (England).

Destruction - "Eternal Devastation" (1986)

This album was the first Destruction release that really interested me thanks to a more complex & mature song-writing style & a searing chainsaw-like guitar tone that clearly sums up the Teutonic thrash model. I also think that Schmier's lower register vocal delivery is improved substantially here & it's an absolute riff-fest to top it off. It's not perfect by any means but fans of Kreator, Sodom & particularly Coroner (who I suspect drew a great amount of influence from this record) will lap it up.

4/5

You'll find a couple of Budgie releases have already been added. Their more classic 70's material has been deemed to be more hard rock than genuine metal though. Do you disagree?

Ben, please add Blood Duster (Australia) & Bonesaw (England).

High Power - "High Power" (1983)

The debut album from this French heavy metal outfit is massively underrated in my opinion. In fact, it was the best metal release to have come out of France to the time in my opinion so I'm baffled as to why it hasn't gone on to become more well known. Perhaps it's the dodgy cover artwork? Fans of Sortilege, Mercyful Fate & particularly 70's Judas Priest will eat this up as long as they can handle the French lyrics. The vocalist really does sound like a French Rob Halford & the dual guitar attack is outstanding.

4/5

Too metal for hellfire perhaps?

So great to have you Tymell. And I share your feelings on systems & lists. I think that most committed metalheads share your passion there actually.

Also, choosing your clans is unquestionably pretty difficult for most true metal fans however I think the value of the clans arrangement becomes more & more obvious once you get a bit of time under your belt. I've found that I've become much more comfortable with missing out on membership of a couple of clans in recent times as I can see how it benefits the site to limit membership to those who are committed to the cause whole-heartedly & holistically rather than just possessing an interest in some portions of the clan. For example, I'm thinking of dropping back to three clans after admitting to myself that even though the raw aggressive black metal sound is something that I'm genuinely passionate about, the  folk & Viking metal elements are a bit of a struggle for me most of the time & the modern post-metal/blackgaze stuff isn't half as appealing as the more evil stuff either. Rather than dilute the charts I'm looking to separate myself from the clan to focus on the other three that I'm passionate about in their entirety. It doesn't mean that I won't gain the same benefit out of The North charts as the members do though. I'll maintain a keen interest in that.

Welcome to the site. I'm really glad you decided to take the plunge. Get amongst it & please feel free to feed back any thoughts you might have on the look & feel of the site.

I like it Xeph. Ben I simply MUST have this feature immediately. My very existence depends on it. Plus I want the particular clan I'm listening to at any one time to intuitively start to glow with a hint of hellfire that progressively starts to burn brighter as my listening experience reaches it's peak. Should be easy enough to deploy, shouldn't it?

We have over 100 members now by my count & that’s grown very quickly over the last week or so. Not all members are particularly active as yet though & the value & relevance of the site is only gonna get stronger with more ratings, reviews, threads, posts, personalities, villains, opinions, debates, etc. So don’t be shy guys! Every opinion is valid & welcome here no matter what your particular tastes, culture, age, gender, nationality, sexuality, religious belief or level of experience. We created the site for the enjoyment of every metalhead & are hoping to build clan-based communities amongst a greater overarching love of all things metal. Later on we might start to make things a little competitive between the clans for a bit of fun too. The world is our oyster really. So get stuck into communicating & keep that feedback coming on what you’re enjoying & what could be better. We’re good listeners (well I’m not really if I’m being honest but luckily Ben is).

Welcome to the Academy Shez. I'm so glad you've elected to enroll. The topic you mentioned was one that was hotly debated when we were designing the website concept. In the end it was decided that there is so much grey area between the different subgenres that we'd be better off going for primary genres only. Otherwise we'd have far too much work just keeping the subgenre tags accurate & relevant. Even if we used RYM as a guide for them, they're often inaccurate (particularly with those releases with very low rating quantities) & you often see them changing as the voting changes. We simply aren't going to be in a position to keep track of that. We did however conduct an extensive survey of metalheads to help us decide on which genres to link together & the results gave us a good guide on what the vast majority of fans would want. For example, we found that most grindcore fans also liked death metal so those two we combined in The Horde. It's all about what's most likely & if it works for the vast majority of people then we'll have achieved our goal.

Once we've got a really healthy membership it really won't matter all that much whether I'm a member of all of the clans I'd like to be as long as the overall ratings for the clans aren't tainted by ratings from people that don't like ANY of the subgenres they encapsulate & so far we believe we've achieved that. In saying that there were some subgenres that were particularly tricky to position & melodic death metal was one of the most debated along with folk metal, trance metal, industrial metal & symphonic metal. We think we've got it as close to right as we're going to get it but we're always looking to improve the site so we'll be keeping the topic open for some time yet. Please keep your feedback coming & enjoy the site. :)

I don't have the time to put together a top ten right now but here are a couple of examples that really shit me & add little value to otherwise pretty amazing releases:

I'm not sure how the 1986 debut album from Californian thrash metallers Sacrilege B.C. managed to drift by without much fuss as it's great stuff. Check out this belter:

Sacrilege B.C. - "Party With God" (1986)

The debut album from these Californian thrashers is an overlooked gem in my opinion. It's got a fair whack of hardcore about it but fans of the aggressive thrash that Slayer, Exodus & Dark Angel were dishing out around the same time will love this shit.

4/5

OK, I think we'll kick this off from 1st December then.

Ben, please add Blessed Death (USA) & Sacrilege B.C. (USA).

Ben, please add Blaspheme (France).

Ben, please add Black Wreath (Denmark).

Ben, please add Black Breath (USA).

Ben, please add Black Alice (Australia) & Black Task (USA).

Black Sabbath - "Asbury Park 1975"

This is better than any of the Sabbath live albums in my opinion. You really can't go wrong with a tracklisting like this.

4.5/5

Yeah I'll run with it.

I was thinking of doing exactly that actually. It would also help to clean out any releases that are only at the top of the charts because of a few high ratings. I spoke to Ben about potentially raising the minimum chart rating quantity this morning too which would also help with the accuracy & relevance of the charts.

Ben, please add Bison (Canada).