Daniel's Forum Replies

To be fair Tymell, I think it's pretty easy to be influenced by the sheer class & ambition of a record like "By Inheritance" as it's certainly quite an achievement from an artistic & technical point of view. But the question I had to ask myself is whether I actually enjoyed listening to it as much as a more raw & intense thrash release & the answer ended up being a recounding no. To my ears it sounds like the melodeath of thrash i.e. a subgenre that I certainly appreciate but rarely hold up on a pedestal when comparing it to other forms of death metal.

I finally got around to revisiting "By Inheritance" over the weekend &, while I quite like it, I have to say that I don't share the immense adoration that many thrash fans do for it. I think it's simply a little too melodic & (at times) light-weight for my personal tastes. Still a decent record but I don't consider it to be the classic that most seem to.

3.5/5

I find it very difficult to tolerate this Middle Eastern influenced intro track to be honest:

Here's a couple that have been floating my boat over the weekend:

E-X-E - "Stricken By Might" (1987)

Some rough & ready underground 80's metal that combines thrash, speed & traditional heavy metal. In fact, there's even a little crossover thrash here too. I quite like it. Particularly two of the last three tracks. For fans of Exciter, Hallows Eve & early Slayer.

3.5/5

Artillery - "By Inheritance" (1990)

3.5/5

Ben, please add E-X-E (USA) too.

This "feature" is of course part of some exciting & ground-breaking new functionality that we've been testing over the last few weeks. It's in no way a total complete & utter fuck-up by the site administration & in time you'll see its true genius.

It's really an exercise in choosing the clans where our knowledge & experience can add the most to the site & its other users. To truly be a good fit for a clan you need to have a good knowledge of the history of its contained subgenres & be very passionate about most (if not all) of them.

The Pit - Thrash & speed metal are predominantly 80's based subgenres while groove metal is mainly 90's. You've openly spoken about the fact that you haven't spent much time with 80's metal your ratings for The Pit releases are all more recent. Many that cross over into The Infinite anyway (i.e. Vektor, Nevermore, etc.) so you'd already be influencing those releases without being a part of The Pit. I don't think this is a good fit for you to be honest.

The Fallen - You definitely have a stronger passion for the bands contained within this clan than for The Pit but your interests do tend to reside in small pockets (i.e. gothic metal & a bit of doom/death) rather than the overall clan. I've seen little evidence of a passion for traditional doom metal, funeral doom metal, drone metal, stoner metal, sludge metal, etc. so I don't think this is the clan for you either.

The Guardians - This is a no-brainer really. You have far more experience with subgenres like power metal & symphonic metal than most of our other members & I feel that you can really add benefit through your opinions & thoughts. You've always been drawn to the less intimidating & more melodic styles of metal & this clan is custom made for people with that characteristic. In all due respect, I've always thought that The Guardians should always have been your third clan along with The Revolution & The Infinite.

The Fallen - 0

The Guardians - 3

The Pit - 0

Teutonic thrash that takes more of a cleaner US direction ala Exodus.

Accu§er - "The Conviction" (1987)

A decent enough thrash/speed metal debut from this German outfit. The A side is in the German speed metal style while the B side is in a US thrash style. Think early Iron Angel/Holy Moses/Living Death & the more aggressive Accept material meets Exodus.

3.5/5

Don't worry Ben. I got this. I've got a long list of poor quality, obscure, completely unknown demos & 7 inches that I wanted to add anyway. Most whose cover art is simply a hand-drawn picture of something ridiculously childish & offensive where the only online pics available are blurry photos that show someone's hand holding them up in front of an old Nokia cell phone in poor light. I'm sure you'll be fine with it.

Ambient, droney post-metal from Georgia, USA.

The Angelic Process - "Weighing Souls With Sand" (2007)

Ambient drone/post-metal from Georgia, USA.

3.5/5

That's pretty much exactly the same as my own Tymell.

Ben, please add Accuser (Germany).

Ben, please add Resist The Thought (Australia).

Ben, please add Ramesses (UK).

My system looks a lot like Daniel's, except that I may be a bit too generous with my 5 star ratings sometimes. I don't know if there's that many "perfect" albums, if you define perfect as every track being a 5/5. Even stone cold classics often have one track that's a bit less awesome than the rest. I rate more on how an album makes me feel and how much I would want to hear it again, so it doesn't have to be perfect as long as it gives me that indefinable feeling that I know makes it a classic - to me at least, in other words a "go to" album.

I don't define a perfect album as having every song being a 5/5. It's more about the average being closer to a 5/5 than a 4.5/5. So you can afford one 3.5/5 track as long as the rest are right up there. You probably couldn't have any real duds or else the average won't be able to recover.

Your wish is my command Andi. Enjoy!

Would you like me to find you an album worthy of a 2 (or lower) so that you can break your cherry Andi?

A real stinker from these Brazilian thrash metallers 1987 debut album.

A fantastic mid-80's Brazilian death/thrash number from a comparatively disappointing album.

Utterly stunning avant-garde black metal from the French masters of the sound.

Deathspell Omega - "Fas – Ite, maledicti, in ignem aeternum" (2007)

4/5

Ben, please add Putrid Pile (USA) & Pyrexia (USA).

Ben, please add Chakal (Brazil).

Ben, please add Profanatica (USA).

Ben, please add Pighead (Germany) & Provocation (Germany).

Aggressive mid-80's thrash metal from New Jersey. For fans of Slayer & Dark Angel.

1987's "Destined For Extinction" is another underrated piece of mid-80's Slayer/Dark Angel worship. Or perhaps I'm just a sucker for this nasty over the top style thrash.

Blessed Death - "Destined For Extinction" (1987)

Sonny & Vinny, I recommend that you give this one a shot for some mid-80's Slayer/Dark Angel style US thrash.

Blessed Death - "Destined For Extinction" (1987)

I didn't have much time for 1985's "Kill Or Be Killed" debut from New Jersey outfit Blessed Death which is often linked to thrash but was actually more of a speed metal record. However their 1987 follow-up record "Destined For Extinction" is another kettle of fish altogether with the band having fully transitioned into an aggressive thrash outfit in line with the model that some of America's more brutal thrash exponents were pushing at the time. The production isn't wonderful but the dirty sound seems to suit the band's nastier approach & you can always make out what's going on so it's not an issue at all. Vocalist Larry Portelli may be a sticking point for some with his seemingly random use of high-pitched screams but (with the exception of the very ordinary "Pray For Death") I can comfortably deal with him most of the time.

At the end of the day this album takes me back to my roots. It's nothing you haven't heard before & I don't think they ever quite nail the song-writing quality to compete with the top tier bands but all fans of 83-86 period Slayer & "Darkness Descends"-era Dark Angel should find a lot to enjoy here. Blessed Death tip toe around the Slayer plagiarism line pretty closely at times with the solo sections in particular being a carbon copy of Slayer's most frantic & extreme works but (as I said with my recent Exumer review) that can't be a bad thing as classic Slayer is simply the best music ever recorded in my opinion.

4/5

Hi Andi. There is a possibility of allowing a fifth clan in the future but it's not on our radar at this stage. If we ever do it we definitely won't be allowing a sixth.

But in saying that, I think it's important for everyone to remember what the purpose of the clans are before we discuss adding any more additional clan options. The reality is that the actual individuals involved don't benefit at all from being a member of an additional clan. The whole clan concept means that it's the overall site that benefits from having only well informed people being part of each clan & therefore giving the charts & overall ratings more meaning. Also, I challenge anyone to tell me that they're fanatical about five different clans. You'll find that 99% of the time there are only portions of some of those clans that appeal to them. For example, if you became a member of The Fallen because you love Drone Metal & are partial to a bit of Stoner Metal here & there, there's every chance that you'll rate releases from the other subgenres that are covered under The Fallen & give negatively slanted scores which will in turn dilute the clan ratings system. Particularly if you're completing Clan Challenges. It was for this reason that I gave up my membership of The North despite holding black metal as one of my favourite subgenres. 

So what I'm trying to say is that I recommend that everyone keeps the best interests of the site in mind when choosing their clans. Look at the overall subgenres that are included under each clan & choose the ones that are the best fit for your personal tastes. It really doesn't matter if you like a subgenre that's covered by another clan as long as you are well informed & enthusiastic about the clans that you ARE a part of. You can always complete additional challenges from other clans at your leisure anyway.

There are no alternative accounts allowed on Metal Academy I'm afraid Andi. It defeats the purpose of what we're trying to achieve.

I've got it sitting in my plsylist for the next couple of weeks so I'll get back to you.

The Knife - "Silent Shout" (2006)

The fourth album from this Swedish electropop duo. I don't mind it.

Obituary's "Cause Of Death" & Sepultura's "Arise" immediately spring to mind as personal favourite album covers.

I have absolutely no idea how you're not a member of The Guardians Andi. 

I actually think the shorter pieces are the best parts of the album. "Planets", "25th Floor" & "Kaleidoscope" are absolutely stunning in their scope & execution. It was amazing to hear a band stepping outside of the comfort zone in such emphatic fashion. "Do You Dream Of Me?" is my pick of the proper songs.

Amongst the most emotionally charged & thoroughly beautiful pieces of lead guitar work ever recorded in my opinion.

I finally got around to giving "Wildhoney" a revisit over the last couple of days & I have to say that I still fucking love it. It's just so classy & may be my favourite gothic metal release overall. I'd actually suggest that less the half of the runtime is actually metal with a variety of interesting influences (The Cure, Dead Can Dance, Pink Floyd, etc.) being utilized to create something genuinely original & thoroughly captivating. The guitar solos are the clear highlight. That lead tone is utterly sensational & the execution is quite stunning too.

4.5/5

Some decent New York hardcore inspired crossover thrash.

Ben, please add Pestilential Shadows (Australia).

Ben, please add Pathology (USA).

Ben, please add Pantheist (Belgium).

One of the true classics of the traditional doom metal movement. That riiiiiiiffffff….. oh that rrrriiiiifffffff!!!!!

Some high energy speed metal from one of the mainstays of Canadian thrash.

Razor - "Custom Killing" (1987)

Razor's fourth album features the same sort of early-Slayer-meets-Venom style thrash & speed metal as their earlier releases however this time it comes with an unsatisfactory production job that leaves the rhythm guitars miles too far back in the mix. Thankfully the band's natural energy is able to overcome this obstacle. Particularly a couple of the speed metal numbers which is where I find Razor to be at their best at this stage in their careers. They've always had a dirty, grimy edge to them that's still well in effect here too but this time they've also tried their hand at a couple of 11 minute thrash epics which both seem to work pretty well. I think "Custom Killing" deserves a touch more credit than it gets to be honest as I quite like it. How bad is this cover artwork though?! Anyone else pick up a strong Overkill vibe from that white devil skull thing?

3.5/5

Ben, please add Ouroboros (Australia).