Daniel's Forum Replies

Devastation - "Violent Termination" (1987)

The debut album from these Texans is a pretty poor example of US thrash metal really. It's in the style of the first couple of Exodus, Dark Angel & Slayer albums only it's not nearly as effective. To be fair there are some exciting & chaotic solos ala Slayer/Morbid Angel & more than the odd decent riff across this tracklisting however these elements never manage to overcome the terrible production, inadequate drumming & thoroughly awful vocals which are pretty much spoken. Devastation would go on to become a lot better than this.

2.5/5

Ben, please add Horseback (USA) & Howl (USA).

Ben, please add Helrunar (Germany).

Dream Theater - "Images & Words" (1992)

4.5/5

One of my all-time favourite progressive metal anthems from 1992.

Ben, please add Hellish Crossfire (Germany).

Ben, please add Heaven (Australia).

Ben, please add Hæresiarchs of Dis (USA).

Ben, please add Habitual Defilement (USA) & Haemorrhage (Spain).

Ben, please add Hades Archer (Chile).

I've decided to spend half of my music time listening to the remaining noteworthy extreme metal releases of the 80's that I'm yet to rate. The other half will be spent ensuring that I've rated all of the classics as well as checking out the better releases from some of the more obscure metal subgenres.

I'm also going to try to use Spotify wherever possible instead of utilizing other less respectable methods for securing music online if you know what I mean.

Awful blackened death metal from Brazil. I could honestly have included the entire album here but this track is one of the worst of a particularly bad bunch.

Exterminator - "Total Extermination" (1987)

Look... I'm a huge fan of extreme metal & I have been since I was a very early teenager in 1988/89. And because of that fact I got to experience the height of tape trading & the joys of cheap self-recorded demos & rehearsal tapes along with the questionable production values & musicianship that often came along with them. So if an album is going to push me further outside of my comfort zone further than I can take in regards to its raw & primitive qualities it's gotta be pretty out there. Well the sole release from Brazil's Exterminator is one such release. In fact, it's undoubtedly the worst example of extreme metal I've heard in many years to be precise. These guys can't play to save themselves & you couldn't produce something that sounds worse than this if you tried. Exterminator certainly create a dark atmosphere but its just too hard to tolerate the complete mess that's going on within it. If I had to give some point of reference I'd describe it as a combination of the first couple of Hellhammer demos & the insanity of Sadistik Exekution with a mad South American nut-bag ranting over the top in a similar fashion to Brujeria. But don't get too excited... that description sounds a lot better than the reality. I have to question if this record is actually a joke because it'd certainly be easier to understand if it was. And don't even mention the Nazi sign on the cover. Let's just pretend we didn't notice it.

1.5/5

Well the band actually sent me a message this morning that should clear things up a bit:

"It's not really folk metal. We have many friends and fans in that scene but we came from 2nd wave Black Metal and the old early 90s pagan/black (enslaved/hades/in the woods etc.) era. Folk metal adopted us! and that's fine...…

We are maybe the dark side to folk metals 'moon'.....or however you want to phrase it."

Ben, please add HAARP Machine (UK).

Ben, please add Haarp (USA).

I notice the minimum ratings for the charts has been increased to five now. Excellent!

Amongst the greatest examples of the Swedish melodic death metal sound you'll find.

We'd absolutely love you to contribute to The Sphere Tymell as it's easily our least active clan.

A gem from the golden age of Teutonic thrash.

I'm keen to hear how would you genre tag it Xephyr.

I'm leaving the clan challenges to the rest of our members at the moment because my free time to write reviews is simply so limited these days due to work & family commitments along with the ongoing social media marketing campaign & forum activity management for the website. I also don't know if I really need an additional clan to be honest. I already dropped the fourth one I had (The North) simply because it seemed like the right thing to do given that I could see that my ratings were indicating that my heart wasn't in it as consistently as it should be. At the moment I can't see that I'd benefit the site by joining any others either. I'm enjoying managing the monthly feature releases though as I don't necessarily have to review the releases to have an opinion & I'm hoping that we'll see an increased engagement in the features over time. I love chatting & sharing my thoughts with all you people on the forums every day too.

Xephyr, if you haven't already checked out Primordial's "To The Nameless Dead" album from 2007 then I'd strongly urge you to do so ASAP.

Absolutely premium Irish folk metal.

Ben, please add Grind Inc. (Germany).

Ben, please add Ghast (UK).

Ben, please add Gaskin (UK).

Item 1 is really cool. I dunno why but it just is. I also love that I can filter in the Hall & the links on the clan pages are very handy indeed.

Ben, please add Galar (Norway).

Ben, please add Fleshwrought (USA).

Ben, please add Flames (Greece).

High quality Bay Area thrash metal for fans of Slayer & Venom.

Possessed - "The Eyes Of Horror" E.P. (1987)

As a proud member of both The Horde & The Pit, it's feels almost blasphemous to admit that I've never quite understood the true appeal of Possessed & their 1987 "The Eyes Of Horror" E.P. is a prime example of this. Don't get me wrong, I mean this is some quality thrash metal alright. But it's a long way from masterful & doesn't really showcase anything you haven't heard done better (& substantially heavier) before. I always "like" Possessed's 80's material but the fact is that I've never really "loved" it.  In fact, you could say that this is nothing more than a reasonably well executed combination of Slayer & Venom influences & you wouldn't be too far off the mark. I slightly favour the now legendary "Seven Churches" album over this one & there can be no doubt that it was the more groundbreaking of Possessed's back catalogue but if I'm honest with myself then I'd suggest that "The Eyes Of Horror" isn't too far behind in my esteem. I'd definitely favour it over 1986's "Beyond The Gates" album even though the production jobs on both records are far from ideal.

3.5/5

Ben, please add Exquisite Pus (Spain) & the Exulceration / Putrid Offal split.

Ben, please add Evadne (Spain).

LA grindcore at its absolute best.

Terrorizer - "World Downfall" (1989)

This record was my introduction to grindcore way back in 1989 & it still sits very high in my list of the greatest examples of the subgenre to this day. Previously I would have rated it slightly higher than I have here but (despite the fact that there are no weak tracks included) there's definitely a mid-album drop in quality. Thankfully it's recovered by an amazing ending though. "World Downfall" is very much the sum of its parts with the Morbid Angel & Napalm Death elements being plainly visible at times. Pete Sandovals drumming is absolutely off the hook & is the major drawcard in my opinion but there are grind riffs galore here.

4/5

Welcome to The Academy Praemorior. We're excited you made it over & think you'll find our little community to be a rewarding addition to your life. Our intention was always to create the perfect metal site by ticking all of our own personal wish-list boxes & we think we're well on the way to seeing that come to fruition. It's open for debate as to whether "Metal Academy" will offer long-term appeal to the casual metal listener. It's far more relevant to the serious metalhead like yourself & as our membership grows I think you're going to see the percentage of "lifers" continuing to strengthen. I'd like to encourage you to be as active as possible because the more personalities & view-points we present the more powerful the tool becomes. Have fun with it & please... let us know if you find any bugs or can think of any improvement suggestions. We want the site to reflect our members needs.

Overrated:

I've never understood the appeal of the "Deathcrush" E.P. to be honest. The intro & outro tracks sound cheap & dated. The musicianship is awful & the compositional skills of the band weren't much better. Not to mention the lyrics. The dirty production isn't a problem for me. In fact I quite like the sound but Maniac's vocals are terribly grating at times. I do like "Necrolust" & "(Weird) Manheim" but the rest does very little for me.

I'm sure I can't be the only one who thinks this sped up Venom cover version is balls, am I? Particularly the last section where it disintegrates into a complete mess.

The roots of Norwegian black metal.

Mayhem - "Deathcrush" E.P. (1987)

3/5

Ben, please add Epicardiectomy (Czech Republic).

Ben, please add Enthrallment (Bulgaria).

Ben, please add Endstille (Germany).

Blackened folk metal from Finland.

I gave "Verisakeet" a revisit today & I have to admit that I'm still not able to overcome the folk melodies & some of the cheesier choir sections. There are some decent examples of black metal here & there that make two of the five tracks pretty easy to like but overall I can't get into this album despite the high quality production, professional composition & precise performances. It's a 3/5 from me. 

It belongs in The Revolution as it's generally classified as metalcore from what I can see.

Ben, please add Emmure (USA).