Daniel's Forum Replies

With a vote tally of YES 8 NO 0, this Hall of Judgement entry has been successful & the release has now been added to The Fallen under the Stoner Metal genre.

This Hall of Judgement entry seems to be going in only one direction with the current vote tally sitting at YES 5 NO 0 so I've decided to pass it. The release has now been changed to reflect the new position under both The Horde & The Infinite with the Progressive Metal genre having been added.

I checked out Iron Maiden's four-song demo that was recorded at the very end of 1978 yesterday. To my ears, it's a heavy metal release with hard rock & progressive rock influences.

See, this is why we have a Hall of Judgement where clan members can vote on contentious genre-tagging issues like this one. If you haven’t familiarized yourself with it already, I’d encourage you to do so.

Nah, I’m very well versed in that record & early metal in general given that I’m a long-time metal historian who ran a podcast focused purely on early metal for many years. It makes no difference how “heavy” the music is as far as I’m concerned. Rock music can be heavier than metal at times. It’s about the tools being used & I don’t see it outside of a couple of tracks with “Bang”. We went through the album track by track in the “Roots of Metal” thread some time ago & came up with the same outcome. These threads are 100% about dispelling the myths that have been perpetuated over the decades since so I’ve been completely ignoring the traditional stances, instead drawing upon my musical training & experience in both rock & metal. There have been some controversial results at times but I stand by them as I’ve put in the work & have come to my positions after detailed consideration. Feel free to disagree with me though as everyone’s entitled to their opinions & I encourage the debate as long as everyone remains respectful & doesn’t claim that they know more than everyone else.

Well, yes there's a couple of metal tracks on the Bang album but I don't think the record as a whole qualifies as metal. It sits much more comfortably under hard rock for mine. I've got "Last Will & Testament" pegged as psychedelic rock & "The Queen" as hard rock personally.

It might sound strange for someone that has such a lengthy metal story but I've never owned a battle jacket/vest. I always wore leather motorcycle jacket or a full-length trench coat back in my days playing in metal bands. I wear metal shirts exclusively, even today at 48 years of age.

It's got a bit of a psychedelic Velvet Underground/Lou Reed meets Americana feel to it. I like it. Well done mate.

This morning we examine the A side from one of only two 7" singles released by a Belgian trio by the name of Load Control. Interestingly given its title, 1972's "Scotland" showcases some exotic Eastern-based influences as well as a fair bit of heavy psych but the main riff is rooted in heavy metal so I feel that it fits best here (even if there is probably a case for a stoner metal tag):

This morning's song is Black Sabbath's "Junior's Eyes" which some people will have you believe is heavy metal but which I'm gonna suggest is hard rock with progressive/psychedelic rock influences:

Also, I checked out the 1978 "Give Me A Smile" E.P. from England's Anniversary yesterday as it's often touted as an early NWOBHM release. It's not. It's not even hard rock & sounds more like what we know as alternative rocks there days.

Very interesting. Here's some of my own facts ZeroSymbolic7188:

1. The only two people that have ever argued for more than four clans have had minimal participation in their existing clan's activities so it's unclear what they'd even gain from it.

2. The three clan challenges you've completed so far have only suggested that your taste profile isn't broad enough to cover your existing clans, let alone being ready to expand into additional clans that you're supposedly a little less fanatical about.

3. You're trying to convince Ben & I that we should change the entire basis for the passion project we've been pursuing at our own cost for over six years in order to satisfy your own personal agenda.

4. We've already stated numerous times that we have no intention of making the changes you're requesting.

I'm sorry for being so blunt but how about we move on from this topic now because it's not gonna go anywhere positive or constructive. If you're enjoying the site as it is then I hope you'll continue to enjoy it in its current configuration.

I checked out the 1978 "Four by Three" E.P. from English trio The Next band this morning but found no metal whatsoever, despite it being claimed as an early NWOBHM release. It's purely a hard rock record in my opinion.

Here's my review:

I was genuinely surprised by how much I loved the 2004 "Requiem Tenebrae" third album from French black metallers Nehëmah when Ben nominated it for feature release status some time ago now. It didn't do anything particularly different to the gods of the Norwegian second wave but goddamn it did it well, so much so that I've since gone on to claim it as somewhat of a minor classic these days. It's with great joy then that I report that Nehëmah's 2002 debut album offers more of the same & has knocked my socks off once again.

Nehëmah's sound sits entirely within tried & tested territory but it's very clear that they possess an impeccable pedigree in the genre. The production job on "Light of a Dead Star" is perfect for this style of music with the lo-fi wall of trebly guitars achieving that swarming, relentless assault that all good conventional black metal of this ilk tends to do. The musicianship is quite capable without ever overdoing it & this can best be seen in the drumming which is very powerful but never over-precise. I do have to mention that the album's weaker moments do tend to coincide with the periods where band leader Corven opts for those bouncier one-two beats that Ben & I both struggle with though & I feel that the release might have had the potential to score even higher if not for those distractions.

Darkthrone have clearly been the most major influence on Nehëmah, their unholy trinity in particular. Corven's vocals often sound exactly like Nocturno Culto's but you know what? I fucking miss classic Darkthrone & these style of ultra-grim, uncompromisingly evil vocals really fucking do it for me so I don't give one iota of shit if the style & tone has been lifted from one of the greats of the genre. The faster & more blasting tracks are Nehëmah's strength but they are also quite adept at slowing things down in order to explore some more atmospheric territory at times too with apparent Burzum influences popping up on occasion & the subtle use of keyboards & chanted clean vocals used to good effect.

The eight-song tracklisting is impeccable & imposing with two atmospheric ambient pieces bookmarking the black metal material. The first of these interlude-style tracks is "The Witch Burns..." which is a wonderful way to kick off a black metal record with its tone giving the strong impression of witnessing an actual burning at the stake. The proper songs are scattered with highlights too, the best of which start & end the album in the extraordinarily Darkthrone-esque title track & the ultra-dark & soul-engulfing "Misty Swamps". "In October Nightshades" & "I Will Sleep With The Drgaon" are just as striking though which should give you an indication of just how special this record is. Unfortunately, the only negative is that Nehëmah never quite manage to completely nail a five-star song with some minor flaw creeping into every one of the lengthy tracks & seeing me pulling my rating back just a touch.

"Requiem Tenebrae" may well remain the pinnacle of Nehëmah's recording career for all eternity but I have to admit that "Light of a Dead Star" gives it a serious run for its money, only just slipping behind due to its inability to completely nail an entire piece. That's not to say that there aren't plenty of completely devastating moments on this album though with some parts hitting my sweet spot so hard that I felt completely overwhelmed. "Light of a Dead Star" should be compulsory listening for all fans of straight down the line conventional black metal.

For fans of Darkthrone, Immortal & Marduk.

4.5/5

I don't know where you're looking for releases to explore Rex but I'd suggest that RYM's coverage of dance music leaves a lot to be desired with most releases receiving almost no coverage there. I guess this is impacted by the fact that most of the best dance music isn't artist album-based which is RYM's main focus & also the fact that RYM is fairly heavily driven by the USA which isn't the strongest market for more mature dance music. If you really want to dig into the best that dance music has to offer then I'd be more inclined to look at dance-oriented sites. The more popular DJ mixes are also a good place to find great material too.

Looking at the artists you've already listed like The Prodigy & Underworld, have you already explored Chemical Brothers, Leftfield & Orbital?

Shoot me a private message with your email address if you'd like me to Dropbox you some of my DJ sets from the 2000's.

See, this is the kind of thing where all the fibers of my body keep poking at each other until I say, "Challenge accepted."

There's a common phrase that says "Jack of all trades, master of none" & I think it pretty accurately describes my position on the topic.

We all have certain forms of one genre or another that we're the most passionate about, like how my favorite brand of EDM is breakbeat whereas I struggle with house.  

This is exactly my point & what we're trying to tap into. I feel that I have one of the most diverse metal palates you'll find but there's no doubt that I prefer death metal over heavy metal. That's not to say that I don't know a shitload about heavy metal, have releases that I genuinely love from that genre & could talk about it for hours on end (like I did on the Metal Academy podcast for years) but the fact remains that I'll always reach for a death metal record over a heavy metal one. We want our The Guardians clan members to be the ones that reach for the heavy metal record first (along with their other clans of course). Most of our member's activity tends to be focused on a couple of preferred clans too which suggests that four clans is more than enough.

I think it's time I cleared things up a bit here. The clan feature is the basis for the entire site. What we want to build are communities of the most passionate fans that are dedicated to the genre sets their clans contain & are, therefore, able to autonomously perpetuate regular healthy discussion, well-educated & respectful ratings & reviews & high-quality recommendations for their clan-mates. It's my firm opinion that no one has a comprehensive enough taste in metal to achieve that for all nine clans & I was actually against allowing a fourth clan if I'm being honest open & transparent. Ben & I are capable of awarding ourselves all nine clans if we wish but we've never even considered it because it erodes the value of the clan philosophy. In fact, there was a year there where I dropped one of my four clans altogether & went with only three because I felt that my passion for that clan wasn't complete & over-arching enough to ensure that my ratings weren't tainting the overall clan ratings. Some people choose to only go with one or two clans from the start for the same reason & we've also seen some of our most active members swap or even drop clans at times too as people generally see what we're trying to achieve & buy into the philosophy.

The clan challenges are there for those few committed members to really indulge themselves in while everyone else enjoys the other clan activities. They weren't meant to be easy & aren't for everyone. They're a "challenge" after all. If we're an Academy then these are our Masters degrees. They're fully intended to test the member & are a showcase for our entire community of that person's suitability for the clan in question. A suitable potential clan member will generally find the challenges to be very rewarding & get a sense of accomplishment after finishing them a month or more later, often receiving congratulations from the wider community for their efforts. Where we see people struggling with a large portion of the material in a challenge then that's a pretty decent sign that they aren't a good fit & should probably choose an alternate one because they're potentially going to have a negative effect on the clan ratings. We don't dictate to people on what three clans they can choose during their Academy enrollment but if their attempt to secure a fourth clan does not show the required level of understanding, respect & commitment to the clan then we reserve the right to block it (which we have done on rare occasions). People have tried to create their own clan challenge lists in the past too but that's defeating the purpose so we haven't allowed it. We feel that we've offered enough variety of options in the existing lists (more than I'm comfortable with actually) that if you can't find something that fits your taste profile then you probably should be looking at other clans anyway.

And finally, the clans are used in so many more ways than the challenges. They enable you to nominate the monthly clan feature releases & to contribute to the monthly clan Spotify playlists with some of our more actively contributing clan members even being charged with programming them. They also allow people the right to vote on genre-tagging in the Hall of Judgement (a very important tool that's way underutilized) & "like" their fellow clan-member's reviews. And most importantly, they enable our well-informed members to contribute to creating the cultural environment we always hoped to create with fans of some of the more divisive subgenres (like slam death metal, power metal or melodic metalcore) being able to identify the cream of those sounds without having to worry about every release being down-rated by people that have no business even listening to that release in the first place. They contribute to a member's site identity & enable their peers to understand their unique taste profile so that they can help to bring exciting new music to their attention.

So... the moral of the story is that I'd like people to keep this in mind when choosing to attempt a clan challenge for entry into a fourth clan. It's important that you select the clan that you have the widest interest in to ensure the integrity of the clan system. Niche interests are no doubt very passionate but that's not ultimately what will enhance the value of the clans. On the contrary, there's the potential to degrade it. It's also important that the wider community can see that any aspiring member is giving the challenges the time & respect they deserve as clan membership is a privilege that some people place a high level of value on.

It doesn't get much more underground than the release this obscure 1972 track is taken from with Peru's Tarkus only releasing 50 copies of their self-titled debut album. It's extremely raw stuff but "Tema para Lilus" unquestionably possesses all of the calling cards of the traditional doom metal sound:

Today's song is Black Sabbath's "Johnny Blade" which is close enough to heavy metal in my opinion:

Private message Ben with the details & he’ll change it for you.

This morning we take a look at another one of heavy metal's deeper cuts, this time being taken from the one-off 1972 album "Mournin" from German progressive/hard rock outfit Night Sun. "Living With The Dying" combines a dark & eerie atmosphere with a chuggy headbanging pulse & proggy keyboards. It's great shit & is thoroughly deserving of its metal status in my opinion.

This morning we kick off Black Sabbath's 1978 eighth album "Never Say Die!" with the opening title track, a number that people often seem to want to label as being heavy metal but which is really nothing more than hard rock in my opinion:

That’s not a bad idea actually. I like the idea of giving each clan its own feel. We’d have to have the cost vs reward investigated though as anything that’s done to the site comes with a price tag.

On the Discord/chat topic, I think we might need a much bigger pool of active members to make it worthwhile. Unless you think it could be a draw card to bring people to the site? Are there other live chat resources that are metal-specific?

I was a techno DJ during the 2000’s & still hold a deep passion for electronic music Rex.

Anything recorded?

Yeah, tonnes. I’ll private message you.

I was a techno DJ during the 2000’s & still hold a deep passion for electronic music Rex.

Here's the interview in full for those that are interested:

Apostle Of Sodomy: Hail Daniel! Thanks for joining us for Devoured Death Zine #5. I’ve finally found the time to write these questions! Lets start with some introductions. What can you tell us about yourself and what got you interested in Death Metal in the first place, all those years ago? What made you want to pick up the guitar and learn your way around the instrument?

It’s my pleasure to be with you today & I’m honoured to be a part of your fine publication. I actually had music all around me as a youngster. My grandparents were musicians & performers who made their own records, my mother was an aerobics instructor who used to put together her routines in our lounge room using the latest compilation records & my father was a big hard rock fan who would play bands like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, ZZ Top, Def Leppard & Motley Crue at ridiculous volumes both at home & in the car. That exposure to heavy guitar music saw me getting into some of the more mainstream metal bands like Motorhead, Iron Maiden & Judas Priest as soon as I hit high school but thrash metal took over in a major way once I discovered Metallica’s “…And Justice For All” in late 1988. This coincided with me becoming close friends with a class-mate who was already an excellent guitarist & shared my interest in thrash. He had an older cousin who was a Charlie Benante-obsessed drummer & we used to hang out at his house a lot so they could jam. I really wanted to contribute to their sessions so he lent me one of his guitars & I spent hours & hours practicing in my bedroom until I could keep up. Let’s just say that I don’t do things by halves so I quickly became pretty obsessive. The discovery of Slayer blew my world apart & I found myself craving ever more extreme forms of music. Death’s “Leprosy” was my introduction to death metal in 1989 but it was really my discovery of Morbid Angel’s “Altars of Madness” shortly afterwards that saw me totally succumbing to the dark ways of death metal for life. It’s still my favourite death metal release of all time to this day too just quietly.

AOS: NEUROPATH was formed in 1994, which seems like a lifetime ago. However, just prior to this, you were playing in a band called Coprophagia. Would you consider Neuropath was born from Coprophagia and therefore is sort of a continuation/evolution of that band? Or do you look at them as two different bands? I’ve read that the band played covers to hone their skills. What covers did you play?

Coprophagia & Neuropath are one & the same band. Coprophagia was our original moniker which would be changed to Neuropath before the end of 1993. I was never a big fan of the Coprophagia tag personally. My younger band mates were all keen to present ourselves in the most repulsive fashion possible though so I just went with it & focused on writing our initial songs. The eventual name change came about because I simply didn’t feel comfortable going with that moniker once we looked to start playing gigs. It seemed too immature for the image I was looking to portray & I took our music very seriously so I pushed for us to look for an alternative. I think it was me that came up with the name Neuropath after seeking vocalist Mark Wangmann’s feedback on what direction we collectively thought we should look to move in.

I think the first song that Coprophagia ever played was a cover of Kreator’s “Renewal”, mainly because I knew that guitarist Anthony Watson loved them & I thought everyone would be able to play it so I could use it to build some enthusiasm in becoming a proper band. That one didn’t last too long as it never suited us stylistically but we did play Obituary’s “Slowly We Rot” at all of our early shows as it went down really well with our audience. I remember us playing Cannibal Corpse’s “Hammer Smashed Face” at the Lewisham Hotel due to extreme audience demand at least once. We occasionally used to throw in covers of some of the more underground local bands that people probably wouldn’t know in order to fill out our run time too. Cruciform’s “Sanctuary” got more than the odd run at our early shows & I also recall us playing Blood Duster’s “Vulgar Taste” as an encore at a headline show at the Enfield Boulevarde Hotel at some stage.

AOS: Back then, I understand you were exploring the tape trading scene. In what years of the 90’s were you most actively doing this? What bands/demos, etc did you encounter? In general, what are your recollections of your tape trading days? Do you still have any of your old tapes? Did some of these bands directly influence how Neuropath would sound?

I began trading with older school mates as soon as I’d built up a decent thrash metal collection but would start using mail as a medium to seek out new music once I got into death/black metal, mainly out of necessity as there wasn’t anyone in my area that had even heard of those genres at the time. That would organically transition into trading with overseas metalheads & by the time Coprophagia formed in 1993 it was already very much a part of my identity. It’s probably not surprising that my trading activity peaked during the Neuropath years though. I was definitely most active around that 1994-1996 period off the back of all of the new relationships I’d developed with the fans & band members I’d meet at shows & the connections they’d share with me.

Early on I focused mainly on picking up demos from artists that I already knew so I secured all of the early recordings from the bigger extreme metal bands like Morbid Angel, Nihilist/Entombed, Xecutioner/Obituary, Darkthrone, Mantas/Death, Sarcofago, etc. Then as I gained stronger connections I started picking up more underground releases, both local & international. Off the top of my head I can remember Cathedral’s “In Memoriam”, diSEMBOWELMENT’s “Deep Sensory Procession Into Aural Fate”, Timeghoul’s “Panoramic Twilight”, Mournful Congregation’s “Weeping” & Cruciform’s “Paradox” being some of the more significant demos in my life during that period. Unfortunately, I don’t have any of those old cassettes any more but I certainly still revisit the music in digital form from time to time.

My tape trading days were a period of my life that I’ll always treasure, not only for the music I discovered but also for the people I connected with all around the world. I feel honoured to have been a part of the underground scene at the time & have no doubt that it’s played a role in shaping the person I’ve become all these years later. There’s very little doubt that tape trading played a pivotal role in the Neuropath story too as releases like Cryptopsy’s “Ungentle Exhumation”, Disgorge’s “Cognitive Lust of Mutilation” & Suffocation’s “Reincremated” were certainly contributing to the musical direction I saw Neuropath taking & I’m not sure I would have been as consistently exposed to that sort of material otherwise.

AOS: It’s documented that there was a 10+ minute Death/Doom track that Coprophagia did called ‘Four Seasons of Disconsolation’. Are there any surviving rehearsal tapes of that song being jammed? Given it’s described as Death/Doom as opposed to the rest of the material you are known for, what inspired the song’s composition?

Unfortunately, that one’s been swallowed up by the ages. I don’t have any rehearsal tapes at all these days which is something I regret now. The catalyst for “Four Seasons Of Disconsolation” was that both Mark Wangmann & I were heavily into the early doom/death releases from bands like My Dying Bride, Anathema & Winter. We were also looking to fill out our setlist as quickly as possible so that we could play some live shows so it made sense to write something lengthy that everyone could play easily enough & would be easily reproduced in a live environment. It was one of our better early tracks too in my opinion but we’d eventually drop it from our setlist, primarily due to it being so stylistically different from the rest of our songs. Interestingly, the couple of songs that I wrote after the “Desert of Excruciation” demo included some quite complex doom sections which I was particularly proud of at the time. They went down really well live too so it’s a bit of a shame that we never got the chance to record them.

AOS: Can you briefly talk us through the definitive moment that Neuropath came into existence and Coprophagia ceased?

It was an ongoing argument for a month or so actually. I was a bit more mature than the other guys who were 2-3 years younger than me & I was feeling increasingly embarrassed when telling friends & family what my band was called, particularly as most of them had no prior knowledge of death metal. “Rectal Pulpation”, “Masticated Cadaver” & an early version of “Copulation of Insanity” were all written while we were still Coprophagia as far as I remember. I actually think the name change was significant in seeing everyone in the band taking things a little more seriously than they had previously too though so I guess you could say that it was a significant moment.

AOS: How soon after Neuropath became its own entity did the band record the ‘Nefarious Vivisection’ demo? What were the reactions from your families when they heard the recording given you were all still quite young? Was there support for what you were doing?

“Nefarious Vivisection” was recorded in March 1995 & it was very much a purging of our older material. I’d suggest that we’d been together for around 18 months by that stage & had already developed a presence in the Northern Beaches area of Sydney. My father was well versed in what Neuropath was all about by that stage as he used to drive us around & come to some of our gigs, particularly when most of the band members weren’t old enough to drive or get into the venues without adult supervision. He used to love the instrumental side of the music but couldn’t get into the vocals & thought the blast beats were way too over the top. I can still remember my uncle reading the lyrics to one of our gorier songs out at a drunken dinner party so that the whole family could hear & taking great pleasure in emphasizing the more extreme lines so that everyone grimaced. He thought it was hilarious but I’m pretty sure my mum didn’t. I was happy when we started to head away from the gore-soaked lyrical approach if I’m being completely honest. I always thought that we were better than that.

By the time the “Nefarious Vivisection” demo hit the streets, the kids in our local area had started to catch on to the whole death metal thing so it was good timing & the demo became quite influential on a number of young bands who headed to Jungle Studios to record their own demo tapes off the back of it. It was really well received by those that heard it from the wider Australian scene too but we didn’t have enough connections to truly capitalize on it at the time. We did however use it to get ourselves higher calibre gigs at inner city or western Sydney metal shows which was always the end goal.

AOS: How many copies of the ‘Nefarious Vivisection’ demo were made? Back then I recall you could get 250 copies of a tape printed for around $300aus, which is crazy compared to the prices these days, but after adjusting for inflation, it was still quite a cost for some young blokes (Centrelink didn’t pay much!). Was it easy for you guys to fund the band or was it a challenge?

I’m not entirely sure how many tapes were produced but I’d suggest that it was only 100. I don’t think we had too much trouble drawing the money together to be honest. I had literally just scored myself my first full-time job while the other guys were still so young that they had to draw upon their parents for support. We shared the costs equally between us & there was at least one band member that struggled to pitch in at times but I wouldn’t say that it was an ongoing issue. Anthony Watson’s parents were particularly generous, embracing the idea of the band & letting us hang out at their house a lot.

AOS: Where were copies of ‘Nefarious Vivisection’ sent and what were the reactions like? Did you have an understanding of the role of fanzines at this point?

Given that we didn’t have too many copies to throw around, we mainly sold them to our friends & targeted the more prominent Sydney record stores like Sandy’s Music, Red Eye Records, Utopia Records & the Hammerhouse. We also chucked a copy to all of the Sydney metal radio programs which resulted in a few airings. We were printing all of the covers ourselves using colour printers & sticking the labelling on the cassettes by hand so the product didn’t come fully assembled. We honestly didn’t know what to do with them other than to share them with my tape trading network & sell them at metal shows. Our involvement with fanzines was more coincidental than anything else & we were contacted by a few but it wouldn’t really ramp up until the second demo hit the streets.

AOS: The band is reported to have played live a lot during this period. How would you describe the Sydney Death Metal scene at this time? What bands were you playing with? I heard you played with Lord Kaos. Were there any other notable bands you shared the stage with?

The Sydney thrash metal scene was pretty strong at the time with bands like Addictive, Dark Order, Cryogenic, Blathudah, Fester Fanatics. Neophobia, Frozen Doberman, Segression, Mortality, Dearly Beheaded & Tribe Maelstrom all floating around but the more extreme death/black metal scene was noticeably weaker than some of the other Australian cities with very few prominent metal bands still in their prime. Cruciform, Nazxul & Sadistik Exekution were probably the main ones people would know but Cruciform kinda imploded when they were on the cusp of greatness & Sadistik played very few live shows (although they were a major event when they did happen). Most of the interstate bands would bring support bands with them or play with the same more established bands all the time so it was really hard for a new artist to secure opportunities to play. We’d end up playing with the other lower-tier local outfits that were struggling away along with us, sometimes outside of the extreme metal space altogether. It’s a bit hard to remember all of them now but I recall shows with bands like Kilswitch, Tscabeze, Oracle of the Void, Persecution & Deadspawn & I’m sure we would have played with Elysium & Progrom/Across The Scarlet Moat too. Lord Kaos were probably the most prominent of the Sydney up-&-comers at the time so they inevitably seemed to pop up wherever we ended up being.

AOS: A band trying to make a name for themselves in the live scene can be tough at first. Were any gigs a total disaster? What was the worst experiences that you can share?! I’ll go first if you like.. in 1996 when I was in Encabulos, we arranged a gig with Inverted Prophet in Bendigo. We knew nothing about the scene up there (or lack of), but wanted to give it a try. Inverted Prophet pulled out at the last minute.. and when we got there, there was only two people. TWO! One of them was Glenn from Destruktor though, so it wasn’t a total loss haha

For every exhilarating blinder of a show there was a disappointing one with very few people in attendance. I mean, even shows from the more established extreme metal bands weren’t exactly packed to the rafters in Sydney at the time & most gigs were in small venues. The worst one I can remember us taking part in was at Wentworthville Hotel where we’d played previously. Warhead had a regular thing going there & would rotate their bands across their weekly night. On this occasion though, we arrived to find that there’d been a mistake with the advertisement that went out in the free music media magazines each week & we weren’t listed as playing. When we arrived we found that there wasn’t a single Neuropath fan there as they simply didn’t know that we were playing. This particular venue had a policy that if they didn’t earn more than a certain amount through the bar on the night then the bands would have to pay the remainder themselves. We ended up telling the venue to go fuck themselves & left without performing.

AOS: The ‘Desert Of Excruciation’ demo was a big step up in song writing and playing skill. The recording took place in 1995 but the release by Warhead Records took about a year after the studio session ended. What happened during this time delay? Did it affect the band's momentum?

I honestly don’t know what Warhead were doing. It wasn’t a full year but I’d suggest that it was a good six months & it annoyed me more than anyone. The delay certainly halted our momentum & by the time the final product eventually saw the light of day we’d already evolved quite a bit further as a band. I’m not sure that things wouldn’t have ended up playing out a bit differently if the tape had been released right away because we definitely failed to capitalize on any sort of buzz given that there was a lot of water under the bridge during that period. The cracks were already starting to show in the band by the time of the release too & I can’t help but think that some of that was caused by a lack in interest given that we’d essentially been treading water & finding it just as hard to secure shows as we always had.

AOS: How many copies of the second demo were made? Were you getting more support from fanzines and underground maniacs once it was released? Do you recall which fanzines the demo featured in? Were you getting many interviews at this point?

I can’t recall how many copies we manufactured but I’d be surprised if it was more than a couple of hundred. I did a lot of fanzine interviews over the next couple of years, even after we’d broken up. Those opportunities appeared far less often prior to “Desert of Excruciation”. I can’t recall which specific fanzines we featured in as it’s been too long & I no longer have copies but I know that one of them was an English one called Kentucky Fried Afterbirth as I caught up with the author only recently. To be completely transparent, we had no idea that the demos were so well received internationally as we were simply too detached from it. Warhead never told us what they did with their allocation & we never received any royalties for anything as far as I can recall either so we didn’t have any gauge on how well the tape was received other than from our direct interactions. It’s only decades later that we’ve stumbled upon pirated CDs being released throughout Europe & the many streams of positive online content. Perhaps I should have been paying more attention.

AOS: In the track, ‘Copulation of Insanity’, there is a spoken word/sample at around the 1:50 mark. What is this taken from?

I actually had no idea when I read the question but with a bit of help from Google I’ve discovered that it’s sample from the 1988 horror film “Hellbound: Hellraiser II”. I assume our lawyers negotiated for us to use that legally of course.

AOS: Can you talk us through the band breaking up? Was there a specific moment this took place? Who led the conversation? What were the main reasons for the end? Were there tears and fist fights at this momentous, final blasphemous band meeting?? These days if you want to end a band, you can just send everyone a txt bro. What an age we live in..

It was definitely me that instigated the split but the other members weren’t averse to the idea once I raised it either as far as I could tell. For me, there were a few things that caused me to want to go this way. Firstly, I’d become increasingly frustrated with the ever-growing effort required of me just to keep the band moving forward. I’d always written all of the music which was easily the most rewarding part of being in the band for me but I also took on the bulk of administrative, managerial & promotional tasks too which I was generally fine with as long as I felt that the others were appreciative, motivated & attentive. Once we started to gain some level of respect back from the scene around us though, there seemed to be more of an interest in partying & socializing than rehearsing & performing which was perhaps inevitable given our ages. It became more of a battle just to get everyone to rehearsals or to learn a new song, particularly as the song-writing was becoming increasingly more complex. There were certainly some strained relationships within the group for a number of reasons too. I was starting to be offered opportunities to work on other projects with older musicians where I wouldn’t be required to put in all of the extra effort & I was surprised to find myself starting to consider some of them. I’d begun writing material for a doom/death solo project that I intended to build a band around once I’d finished the writing process but now I had the opportunity to not only prioritize that project but also to remove myself from the exhausting task of dragging the Neuropath train along for a while.

My other major motivation was the de facto relationship I was in at the time. My partner was well known in the Sydney scene & our relationship hit some pretty major speed-bumps in full view of the metal community. The judgement was taking its toll on me emotionally & I felt that I needed some time away from our social group in order to work things through & get my head straight. I always intended on going back to the metal scene eventually but the circumstances of the ultimate breakup of that relationship left me so scarred that I needed a long time to recover & subsequently chose to distance myself even further from the metal scene & metal music in general. My hiatus from metal would last for just over a decade but I’d eventually return to it & have never looked back since.

As far as the details of the breakup of Neuropath go, I believe that I called each of the band members over the phone after a few weeks of inactivity where I didn’t see anyone making any attempt to get anything moving. I suggested the idea of us taking a break for a while & I don’t recall anyone being particularly against it. I knew full well that it was very unlikely to be just “a break”. Our two newest members Frank & Ali always had their own tech death project on the side so I imagine that they saw it as a good time to explore that while I could tell that Mark was as ready for some time away from the band as I was. So, there was no final showdown as such. It all just kinda ended & I often wonder if I would have made a different decision if I could have seen that Neuropath’s music would still be talked about for several decades to come. We had no idea at the time & it all just seemed like a lot of work for very little reward at the end of the day.

AOS: Let’s pretend for a moment that the band didn’t split up back then… In this alternate universe scenario, what would the ideal Neuropath debut album have looked and sounded like? What would have been a good title for it? Would it have been all new material or feature any re-recordings?

I think it would have looked & been titled a lot like “At Damnation’s Core” actually as we intentionally picked the artwork around the idea that it might have been the cover of our debut full-length back in the day & the title was basically our description of the image it portrayed. We’d left the gore-soaked imagery behind by that stage so it wouldn’t have taken that direction. I think we might have re-recorded “My Bleeding Mortality” & “Incantations of Decrepit Nihilism” but the rest of the demo material would have been left in the past. Those two were the songs that I feel were pretty much at the level that I’d always envisaged. The rest of the album would have seen us further expanding on our pre-existing musical palate with increased emphasis being placed on structural complexity & general brutality but covering a wider range of influences. The couple of new tracks we were performing at live shows just before we split were comfortably our most aggressive & technically demanding with a much greater range of tempos & dynamics being explored. The recruitment of Ali & Frank were certainly precursors to heading down that path as they were generally more capable of handling the material than our previous members would have been given that they were a little older & more experienced as musicians. I’d started to cherry-pick elements that I loved about the more extreme examples of black metal & doom metal I was hearing & was experimenting with integrating them into the most brutal death metal I could imagine. I think those tracks were up there with our best work actually so it’s a shame that we didn’t get the chance to record them. On the other hand, rehearsals became a bit less fun as we were certainly challenging ourselves physically & technically.

AOS: I’ve heard you say that Suffocation are your all-time favourite Death Metal band still. What do you think of their albums after the 90’s and more recently? I don’t think they were ever on par with previous material after ‘Souls To Deny’ came out.

There are a few bands that would vie for my all-time favourite band. Classic Slayer & Morbid Angel would certainly come into the discussion but when Suffocation are at their best I find it very hard to argue against their sound being the one that’s the most closely aligned with my ideal of what extreme music should be. There’s no doubt that the 1990’s was when they were at their peak but I think they’ve released some killer albums since that time too. Hell… I’d even go so far as to claim records like 2006’s self-titled & 2013’s “Pinnacle of Bedlam” as genuine death metal classics & would definitely take either of those over 2004’s “Souls To Deny” or 1993’s “Breeding The Spawn” which both have their appeal limited for me by production issues.

AOS: So what did you all do after the band ended? Did you all become qualified Neuropaths? Did you quickly cut your hair and get a nice job in an office? Do you stay in touch with the other guys?

Honestly, I just needed to get away from metal for a while after leaving the scene in the late 1990’s & didn’t hesitate to indulge myself in other styles of music which saw me feeling reinvigorated pretty quickly. I already had a customer service job at the time & my career path saw me gradually veering into the dreaded “management” territory over time. That process was certainly accelerated when I cut my long hair off in the early 2000’s. The band really didn’t stay in touch much at all after we split so I hadn’t talked to any of the boys since the late 1990’s when I reached out to them about the “At Damnation’s Core” project in late 2022. It’s been great to reconnect with everyone after all these years & I think a few of us will definitely be staying in contact moving forwards.

AOS: In November last year, Sphere Of Apparition Records (AUS) released ‘At Damnations Core’, a compilation CD consisting of both Neuropath demos. How was the connection with SOA Records established and the idea proposed? How long did the whole release take to plan?

Jason from Sphere of Apparition reached out to me over Facebook some time around October or November 2022 to speak with me about his proposal. I honestly didn’t know there was all that much interest in the Neuropath material until he pointed it out to me at which point I felt quite honoured. There really wasn’t much hesitation on the band’s part as we had nothing to lose & all dreamt of having our own CD while the band was active. I think the whole process took about 18 months to come to fruition. People might be surprised at how long it can take to get a professional package put together, especially when you need to seek agreement from a number of people who reside all around the country & are often in different time zones from one another.

AOS: What’s the response been like now that the compilation has been released? Are you happy with how it all turned out? Have you had old contacts from the Underground reach out from the woodwork to say hello again?

We couldn’t be happier with the reception actually. The feedback from around the world has been almost unanimously positive & it seems like there’s a real appetite for authentic 90’s death metal these days which probably helps. I wouldn’t say that I’ve had too many of our old contacts reach out though. Most of the interest has been coming from a fresh batch of fans, many of them too young to have been there the first time & others that simply weren’t exposed to it at the time.

 I’m particularly happy with how the old recordings sound now that they’ve received a bit of polishing from Grave Upheaval/Temple Nightside/Grotesque Bliss mastermind Bjorn (aka Dredged Oblivion). The B side to “Nefarious Vivisection” was the biggest challenge for us as it seemed to have significantly less high end than the A side & we had to do a fair few trial runs to get those two tracks sounding decent. The artwork is exactly what we wanted too & we have Jason & Dave from D’Jenerate Creations to thank for that as they went to great lengths to ensure that every finer detail was scrutinized & we didn’t settle for anything that wasn’t perfect. They prioritized the band’s vision over all else (including Jason’s own financial position) which I’m sure isn’t all that common with most record labels.

AOS: When it comes to Death Metal, what are you listening to now? Do you listen to any current Death Metal bands or just stick with the golden oldies? Do you still go to any live shows now in your old man twilight years?

I run a metal rating/review/forum style website called Metal Academy with my younger brother Ben so I’m still heavily exposed to all eras of death metal & metal music in general. I hold a deep, unbreakable love for the old classics but feel that the modern metal scene is really healthy with a smorgasbord of different sounds & variations on offer for the discerning listener. The last three death metal releases I’ve listened to were German death thrashers Protector’s “A Shredding of Skin” from 1991, Finnish death metallers Gorephilia’s “In The Eye of Nothing” from 2020 & Canadian progressive/melodic death metallers Stortregn’s “Finitude” from last year, all of which are of a very high quality. Unfortunately, I had to give live shows a miss nearly a decade ago for a couple of reasons. The first is the ever-worsening tinnitus problem I’ve suffered from for more than two decades now, potentially first triggered by continuously rehearsing next to Luke Burns blasting away on his kit. I simply don’t want to tempt fate as I’m addicted to loud music as it is without subjecting myself to even greater extremes. The second is more to do with the financial & time restrictions placed on me by my young family. I do miss the energy of a live show sometimes but I take solace in the fact that I’ve been lucky enough to experience most of the great metal bands of all time in a live environment at some stage over the years over the years so I don’t have too many unattended lines on my bucket list left anyway.

AOS: So, the inevitable question now is will there ever be a rebirth of Neuropath? Has anyone proposed a reformation?

I can confidently state that there won’t be a Neuropath reunion. No one from the band has even tried to propose it as our lives are simply so different & hectic now that it would be far too challenging an undertaking to contemplate. Sphere of Apparition have loosely tossed the idea about at times but we’ve never seriously considered it as we wouldn’t do it without the involvement of a few core members & there are unfortunately some relationships that will never be mended amongst that small group with one key member being estranged from the rest of the band. Besides, Mark says that he can’t do the vocals any more anyway.

AOS: I’ve enjoyed getting re-acquainted with the bands material since the compilation CD has come out. I can hear the band with fresh ears, as opposed to 1997 when I first heard the second demo through a boom box while sitting in a van. I think it’s aged very well and is still distinctively connected to the sounds of that era. What final ‘misty eyed’ recollections would you like to share at this moment? Any regrets?

I’m not sure I regret anything much to be honest, partially because I know that we wouldn’t have been able to hold it together even if we’d all staunchly committed to do that. I love metal music with a burning, undying passion but are satisfied to have been able to give a little back to the scene through the Metal Academy podcast & website which seems to keep my musical thirst quenched for the most part.

Apostle of Sodomy: Ok mate, thanks for spending some time with me for this interview. It is greatly appreciated. Please state your farewells as we head for the exit.. HAIL DEATH.

Thanks a lot for the opportunity to share my thoughts. I hope that you & your readers get something out of the insights I’ve shared & the “At Damnation’s Core” release which is something that myself & the rest of Neuropath are very proud of. And please… keep up the support for little labels like Sphere of Apparition & passion projects like Devoured Death zine as it’s these people that are the fundamental building blocks of the scene that brings us all so much joy.

The final track from Zarpa Rock's "Los cuatro jinetes del Apocalipsis" album is "El hambre" which I'd suggest should qualify as metal & sits somewhere between heavy psych & heavy metal:

That leaves the album with a metal ratio of 40% which just meets the minimum requirements for qualification into our chronological list of metal releases at number 11.

https://metal.academy/lists/single/271

Tomorrow we'll be starting a new release in Black Sabbath's 1978 sixth album "Never Say Die!" which I'm guessing could prove to be fairly controversial & divisive. Please feel free to join me.

On 8th December 1972 Deep Purple released their "Made in Japan" live album which included this version of their influential heavy metal anthem from the "Machine Head" album:

Here's my review:

Despite all my years of committed exploration into the metal genre, it still has a habit of surprising me quite regularly with releases that I've thus far overlooked but that very much demand to be heard. The 1998 compilation album "Crippled Lucifer" from Seattle's Burning Witch is one of the better examples of that concept that you're gonna find as it's a fucking pearler. Burning Witch were formed out of the ashes of death doom metal act Thorr's Hammer (whose 1996 "Dommedagsnatt" demo tape I'm a big fan of) & included the legendary Stephen O'Malley (Sunn O)))/ÄÄNIPÄÄ/Gravetemple/Khanate/Pentemple/Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine/Thorr's Hammer/House of Low Culture) on guitar & George Stuart Dahlquist (Asva/Sunn O)))/Goatsnake) on bass with Brad Mowen (Asva/Cryptic Slaughter/Lesbian/The Accüsed) & Jamie "Boggy" Sykes (Thorr's Hammer/Atavist) sharing the drumming duties on this release. The two 1998 E.P.'s that these individuals combined to create on this CD ("Rift.Canyon.Dreams" & "Towers") both offer a sound that's so cold & oppressive that it leaves virtually no hope left for humanity or existence in general.

The version of the release that I've explored kicks off with three of the four songs from the "Rift.Canyon.Dreams" E.P. which is probably the stronger of the two as far as I'm concerned, particularly because the first two tracks "Warning Signs" & "Stillborn" are utterly magnificent, virtually perfect examples of doom/sludge metal with hints at the band member's subsequent drone metal projects. The "Towers" E.P. is more solid than it is mind-blowing but it still contains an absolute beast of a song in "Tower Place" which I've also been forced to place in my Hall of Metal Glory, such is its immense weight & intensity. The production job could not have been better for this style of music with the thick & heavily down-tuned guitar tone sucking me in & slowly crushing me under its pure desolation & I'm often reminded of Melvins sludgier material. The vocals swap between a clean Electric Wizard style doom metal delivery & a savage & visceral hardcore one. I have a preference for the latter but I don't think this release would be what it is without the balance that's provided by having both.

Honestly, it was a big mistake to keep this CD at arm's length for so long as it's everything it's cracked up to be. The quality levels never dip below four-stars & there's a class in the execution that belies the pedigree of the artists in question. I fucking love this shit just quietly.

For fans of Thou, Cough & Sunn O))).

4.5/5

This morning we take a look at one last track from Black Sabbath's 1972 album "Vol. 4" in the lengthy closer "Under The Sun" which generally seems to be associated with doom metal & heavy metal but I'm gonna dispute that. Once again, I'm gonna have to suggest that this song sits much better under a stoner metal tag. Sure, it kicks off with a riff of pure doom but everything that transpires outside of that one riff must surely void any claims to a doom metal tag as that's the only doom component you'll find & it makes up a fairly minimal percentage of the overall duration. The verse riff certainly has claims to heavy metal but it has a clear swing to it that's more commonly found in stoner than it is in heavy metal. Things change up noticeably at the two-minute mark with a pop rock section that sounds more like The Beatles than metal before flying into a frantic Tony Iommi blues rock guitar solo, again not things you'd usually expect from heavy metal which by definition removes the blues component from hard rock. Then finally we have a lengthy psychedelic outro that takes up the last two minutes of the song with multiple layered guitar solos which is clearly more stoner than anything else.

You'll no doubt be picking up a common theme in these threads over the last couple of months. I've never seen anyone else make this claim but I have no hesitation in stating that stoner metal shared the limelight with heavy metal as the dominant genres in metal for the first few years of its existence. The people that vehemently deny stoner metal's existence before Kyuss in the early 1990's are basing their positions purely on historical labelling rather than the technical attributes of the music itself. It really doesn't matter whether anyone had penned the term "stoner metal" at the time. If it looks like a duck & it sounds like a duck then it is a duck as far as I'm concerned.

2 critera: 
1) Does the band embrace itself as Heavy Metal?
2) Does Heavy Metal accept that band?

I disagree. There are very clear lines between metal & rock from a purely technique point of view as far as I'm concerned & I find it very easy to identify those but over time I've discovered that progressively less metalheads seem to understand what those guidelines are, potentially due to the virtual death of hard rock in the modern music world. It's got very little to do with vocals, lyrics or image & it's all about the way the guitars & drums are used & sound. I've been thinking that I might conduct an educational video on it at some point in order to share the defining characteristics of each genre are & how to identify them. This thread is about dispelling the myths that have gotten well out of hand over time. There are many bands that simply shouldn't be associated with metal but strangely seem to be when they've got no stronger claim to than other bands that are nailed to hard rock. There's no logic to it & I've always hoped that Metal Academy could become the place for people to go when they want to seek clarity on these critically important topics for mankind.

Anyway... today's track is Zarpa Rock's "La guerra cruel" which I'd suggest fits best under heavy psych:

Wow! I’ve rated, reviewed or are otherwise well across 85 of those 100 releases which is a little surprising given that heavy metal isn’t amongst my metal subgenres of choice. That still leaves a fair few to explore though.

My Scoring system is something like this.

.5-Absolute garbage that I never want to hear again,  usually something about it sonically offensive or it's just extremely dull.

1.-It's bad but it's not sonic torture

1.5-It's bad but it's so bad that it has a comedic effect and I'm entertained with it if for all the wrong reasons.

2.0-It's an otherwise average affair but is plagued by some detriment like bad production (bad not raw, raw can be good). 

2.5-The album is utterly average, it's not good or bad, it is something that could be inoffensively left into a playlist, but nobody would miss it's absence. In someways this is the worst thing I can say about a piece.

3.0-This is an average offering but it's from a band that I like, or a subgenre that I like so much that even the mediocre stuff suits me fine.

3.5-Either a low performing album from a great band, or an album where an otherwise unremarkable band punched above their weight.

4.0-This is a good album for the general metal audience, and a great album for fans of it's clan.

4.5-This is a great album for both general metal audiences and fans of the clan.

5.0-This is an album that I would enthuastically reccommend to anyone inside or outside of metalheads.

I'm a bit perplexed by this statement of yours: "They weren't intended to be easy to complete. That's why they're called "challenges" after all."

That reads to me like you chose albums that were intentionally difficult to get into, is that the case? If so, I'm not sure why you go for that as opposed to just bringing out the best stuff, but this is your house so I'd still roll with it.

OK, so it would seem that your scoring system isn't all that different after all. It's just that you're not a fan of the more universally loved releases of their era (at least not on first listen) which is entirely your choice. We haven't intentionally chosen releases that are difficult to get into in any way. On the contrary, we've simply collated the perceived essential releases of the era. What I meant by "They weren't intended to be easy to complete. That's why they're called "challenges" after all" was that it's a lot of work to commit yourself to fully understanding 25 releases & formulating a written expression of your thoughts on each of their respective merits.

Miasma - "Changes" (1992)

This one-off album from Austrian death metallers Miasma slipped under most people's radars back in the day but made a significant impact on a teenage me when I was lucky enough to pick it up from one of my tape trading associates at the time. It offers just the sort of stuff that made the tape trading scene so great with Miasma showcasing a very clear understanding of the death metal ethos. They certainly don't rely on technical skills or precision, instead focusing all of their attention on atmosphere which is majorly enhanced by one of the filthiest guitar tones you'll ever heard & some of the most brutal death growls in existence. This is dirty, sloppy & repulsive death metal for death metal purists only & I, for one, are still well & truly down with this sort of shit. The doom metal infused sections are particularly suffocating & a unanimously positive way. My only criticism is that the album fades away a bit in the back end with the tracklisting being noticeably top heavy.

For fans of Molested, Infester & Rottrevore.

4/5

This morning's track is Zarpa Rock's "Contaminación" which I'm gonna suggest sits best under the heavy psych tag. I can't find a YouTube link for the individual song so you'll have to skip to 11:14 in this full album link to hear the song:

Another one of the metal tracks from "Vol. 4" is "Cornucopia" which is built on some stomping groover stoner metal riffs & possesses a well-orchestrated psychedelic section through the middle. This is certainly not the heavy/doom metal track that most people seem to claim it as & is a clear candidate for stoner metal in my opinion.

I just didn't like a lot of the stuff on that list. Outright hated some of it and found most of it very middle of the road. That said I am 35. Which I wouldn't call old, but maybe old enough to be out of touch.  I'd like some other peoples opinions; was the modern era a bit unkind to death metal? Is it just that those particular selections weren't the best examples of output during that time? Am I just old and out of touch? Do I just need more doom elements in my death metal?

The modern death metal scene is in really good shape in my opinion & Ben selected these releases because they're the most highly celebrated records of their era. In all due respect, could it simply be that you're not giving these releases enough time & attention to sink their teeth in? I mean, most of our members take at least a month to complete a clan challenge with no more than one release being reviewed per day. They weren't intended to be easy to complete. That's why they're called "challenges" after all. Admittedly your scoring system is a bit lower than most people's too. My cut-off point for records that I enjoy is 3.5 stars. Yours seems to be a good star lower than that.

Pelle, if you click the video camera image at the top of the reply box & paste the YouTube link in there you can embed it into your post rather than simply presenting a written link.

Welcome Kosie. We're thrilled to have you & I've enjoyed reading your initial reviews which present a clear & well-defined point of view. If there's anything that I can help you with then simply flick me a private message. Ben & I strive to make the Academy a place where members can be open & honest without the risk of criticism or attack so please feel free to indulge in as much or as little of our functionality as you'd like.

Thanks mate. I think it'll work better this way moving forwards so I'll be continuing in that fashion. It simply means that I'm not including any tracks that haven't been fully vetted by a knowledgeable party purely in the interest of variety. Variety isn't as important as quality. If anyone else wants to proceed with their clan playlists in this manner then I'd support it.

This morning's track is Zarpa Rock's "Llega la destrucción" which I regard as being heavy psych:

Black Sabbath's most stoner-oriented record continues with the cocaine-fueled stoner metal anthem "Snowblind" which possesses a doomy atmosphere, psychedelic references & a classic groovy stoner bridge riff:

So, I've done a bit of promotional work for The Guardians & The Horde playlists over the last couple of days to see if I can drum up any interest:

1. Posted about them on the Metal Academy Facebook account (with links included) & shared that with my personal one too. Unfortunately, every time I try to do paid advertising on these posts I'm getting an error message telling me that I can't "boost" these particular posts & I haven't been able to figure out why as yet which is annoying because that's probably our best avenue for promotion.

2. Tweeted about them on Twitter with links.

3. Posted them in Spotify Playlists Subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/SpotifyPlaylists/)

4. Posted them in Spotify Playlist Exchange (https://community.spotify.com/t5/Music-Exchange/Playlist-Exchange/td-p/4529644/page/130)

5. Have just started to contact the bands I've included in these lists to see if they'll agree to share links to them with their followers.

Let's see if that makes any difference then!

Yes it was. Ben & I were obsessed with the figurines. Me in particular.

I just checked out Japanese hard rockers Bow Wow's 1978 fourth album "Guarantee" but found no metal whatsoever. To my ears it's a hard rock record with AOR tendencies & was clearly an attempt at cracking a more commercial market as any sign of the band's harder edge have been smoothly filed off in the name of accessibility.

I must have had Hawkwind on the brain because I incorrectly named the album from which Sabbath's "Into the Void" is taken as "Master of the Universe". Now corrected, before anybody had chance to point out what a numpty I am!!

I had the whole collection of Masters of the Universe when I was a kid. Sold them to a collector for a significant amount of money years later too strangely enough.

Black Sabbath reign continued when they returned with their fourth studio album "Vol. 4" on 25th September 1972, a record that included "Tomorrow's Dream" which is a track that most people seem to claim as heavy metal but that I'm gonna suggest is much closer to stoner metal:

This morning's track is Zarpa Rock's title track from their 1978 debut album "Los cuatro jinetes del Apocalipsis", a song that I'd suggest should qualify as heavy metal:

I honestly can't imagine where you're finding any metal in songs like the titled track & "The Shed" Andi but anyway... we'll move on.

I checked out the 1978 self-titled debut album from Sarajevo outfit Divlje Jagode today but didn't find any metal. It's a progressive/hard rock record as far as I'm concerned.

Crematory - "Denial" E.P. (1992)

This one-off E.P. from a little-known Swedish death metal band created a fair bit of hype in the tape trading scene back in the day so I ended up picking it up & quite enjoying it. I wouldn't say that it's anything terribly original but Crematory offer a very consistent fifteen minutes of extreme metal with a clear penchant for the underground. I find it really strange that literally no one on the internet has commented on the very clear grindcore component going here as it's significant enough for "Denial" to qualify as deathgrind in my opinion. I mean, there's so much here that reminds me of early 1990's Napalm Death & particularly "Symphonies of Sickness"-period Carcass (which I suspect was the primary influence) to balance out the classic Swedish death metal characteristics. All four songs are pretty decent. Unfortunately none of them stand out as highlights though which leaves "Denial" as one of those releases that I dig while I'm listening to it but rarely find myself returning to.

For fans of Carcass, Wombbath & Dismember.

3.5/5

My revised Top Ten Deathgrind Releases of All Time list with "Denial" doing just enough to usurp Napalm Death's "Mass Appeal Madness" at number ten:

01. Napalm Death - "Utopia Banished" (1992)

02. Cattle Decapitation - "Monolith of Inhumanity" (2012)

03. Brutal Truth - "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses" (1992)

04. Full of Hell - "Weeping Choirs" (2019)

05. Lock Up - "Necropolis Transparent" (2011)

06. Cephalic Carnage - "Misled by Certainty" (2010)

07. Damaged - "Passive Backseat Demon Engines" E.P. (1995)

08. Napalm Death - "Harmony Corruption" (1990)

09. Napalm Death - "Mentally Murdered" E.P. (1989)

10. Crematory - "Denial" E.P. (1992)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/223