Daniel's Forum Replies
I checked out Rush's 1977 fifth album "A Farewell To Kings" this morning but once again found no metal whatsoever. It's a progressive rock record.
This morning's track is Motorhead's "White Line Fever" which I'm once again gonna tag as hard rock although it does have a metallic component.
This morning's track is Motorhead's "Iron Horse/Born To Lose" which I'd suggest is hard rock:
I checked out 1977's "Knights of Love" sophomore album from Australia's Taste today but found no metal whatsoever. It's a hard/glam rock record with progressive rock influences.
I also explored Thin Lizzy's 1977 eighth full-length "Bad Reputation" which is essentially a hard rock record but does include one genuine heavy metal song in "Killer Without a Cause".
Mortification - "Scrolls of the Megilloth" (1992)
If you don't fit into two unique categories of extreme metal fan then you're probably a little unlikely to have heard much of South Australia's Mortification. The first would you see being a committed member of the Christian faith which isn't all that common in the metal community, at least not in my homeland. The second would see you sporting an Australian passport which I'm lucky enough to be able to boast. You see, Adelaide-based death metallers Mortification have pretty much built their music careers around the extraordinary contradiction that sees them being influenced by some of the most evil artists known to man but then openly pushing the exact opposite lyrical agenda. I've never had any time for organized religion as a rule but the very fact that Mortification were a local band who appeared to be building somewhat of a reputation for themselves on a global scale saw me inclined to check them out back in the early 1990's & I'd end up investigating all of their first four full-length releases before giving them a miss for good following 1994's awful "Blood World" album. Mortification seem to have released about a kazillion records since that time with approximately zero people seeming to give a shit so the concept of addressing my gaps in their back catalogue has never even crossed my mind but 1992's "Scrolls of the Megilloth" was certainly my favourite of the releases I do know & it's time to see how it's held up over the decades since I last visited it.
Mortification's 1991 self-titled debut album wasn't too bad an Aussie death/thrash record actually & I quite enjoyed spinning it a few times back in the day. The band were signed to a US Christian metal label called Intense Records at that time & would stay with them for the follow-up album "Scrolls of the Megilloth" which saw the light of day a year later. "Scrolls of the Megilloth" saw Mortification dropping most of the underlying thrash metal influences that perpetuated the debut with their second album being more inclined to stay in its death metal lane the majority of the time. I wouldn't suggest that "Scrolls of the Megilloth" offers anything drastically different to any other death metal release of its era but it doesn't sound exactly like anyone in particular either with the clear defining factor (& arguably the reason that any of you have even heard of Mortification before) being the use of blatantly Christian lyrical themes. Other than that element though, one could mistake "Scrolls of the Megilloth" for yet another run-of-the-mill death metal record, although it isn't a bad one it has to be said.
The elephant in the room with a record like this one is the production job as it's far from ideal. The awful rhythm guitar tone is the main culprit & gives the whole release a DIY feel. The more mid-paced material is where it's the most difficult to overcome with the faster or doomier passages allowing the flaw a little more leniency. Drummer Jayson Sherlock (Horde/Paramæcium/Deliverance) sports some pretty decent blast-beats which add a lot to the record in my opinion. I'd suggest that he'd spent a fair amount of time worshipping at the altar of Morbid Angel legend drum god Pete Sandoval actually because he gives the riffs a similar feel to the more brutal end of that band's early work. Band leader & front man Steve Rowe's bass guitar is very easy decipherable throughout which isn't always my preference during the more brutal parts but he proves himself to be more than capable nonetheless. He also possesses a pretty guttural death grunt for a God-fearing Christian too just quietly, a gift that he takes full advantage of in delivering his much less imposing message.
The tracklisting is a little up & down to be fair. It doesn't really get going until the middle of the album with the one-two punch of the title track & "Death Requiem" seeing my ears pricking up significantly & lengthy doom/death closer "Ancient Prophesy" allowing things to be closed out in very solid fashion too. There are a couple of clear duds included too though with "Raise The Chalice" & "Inflamed" both falling short of the mark (particularly the former) while the rest of the material is mildly enjoyable, if fairly uneventful, which sees me finishing up with a fairly middling impression of the record overall. There's no doubt that it offers some very solid moments but can't produce them consistently enough to see me wanting to make return visits in the future. Is it Mortification's best record? Well, from those that I'm acquainted with I'd say so but there's a massive wealth of material that I'm never likely to traverse, at least not in this lifetime. Perhaps some of our Christian members might feel the urge to scale that mountain at some point so that they can enlighten us as to its true value. In the meantime though, I'd suggest that "Scrolls of the Megilloth" is unlikely to repulse too many death metal fans, particularly those that get into the religious themes of early 90's Living Sacrifice, the fairly straight-forward old-school death metal of Florida's Massacre or some of the more prominent Australian death metal acts of the time like Canberra's Armoured Angel.
3.5/5
I've updated my Top Ten Melodic Death Metal Releases of All Time list after deciding that Amorphis' "The Karealian Isthmus" is worthy of a dual tag with conventional death metal which has seen The Chasm's "The Spell of Retribution" dropping out of the list. I've always based these lists on the Metal Academy database position of genre-tagging so if you disagree with "The Karelian Isthmus" being tagged as melodeath then feel free to vote against it at the release page if you're a member of The Horde.
01. At The Gates – “Slaughter Of The Soul” (1995)
02. Stortregn - "Finitude" (2023)
03. Carcass – “Heartwork” (1993)
04. Dark Tranquillity – “The Gallery” (1995)
05. Merciless – “Unbound” (1994)
06. Sentenced – “North From Here” (1993)
07. In Mourning – “The Weight Of Oceans” (2012)
08. The Breathing Process - “Odyssey (un)Dead” (2010)
09. Amorphis - "The Karelian Isthmus" (1992)
10. Amorphis - "Tales From The Thousand Lakes" (1994)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/147
Amorphis - "The Karelian Isthmus" (1992)
Finnish death metallers Amorphis first came to my attention when I borrowed a cassette copy of their debut album "The Karelian Isthmus" from Neuropath front man Mark Wangmann back in early 1993. I absolutely loved the cover artwork which drew me in & simply commanded me to check out what this brand new band was all about. I was a massive death metal fan at the time (& still are of course) so I was hungrily lapping up anything & everything that I could find in that space but I think it's fair to say that "The Karelian Isthmus" commanded a level of patience from me as it sounds a little bit different to most of the other material I was listening to at the time. Thankfully though, that patience would be rewarded & I'd eventually come around to Amorphis' more melody-centric brand of death metal. The band would blow up in a major way off the back of their 1994 sophomore album "Tales From the Thousand Lakes" shortly afterwards & my brother Ben would become deeply involved with them at the time so they were never far from my ears but "The Karelian Isthmus" seems to have been forced into the annuls of time for the most part, overawed by the fandom around it's more illustrious follow-up. My taste profile has drifted further away from the melodic death metal subgenre over the years though so I've often wondered whether Amorphis' debut might have reduced the gap between itself & the two records that followed it.
While "The Karelian Isthmus" is generally thought of as a more traditional death metal record when compared to later material, I immediately found myself questioning that position upon it hitting my ears for the first time in decades. There's much more to Amorphis' debut than being yet another Scandinavian death metal record. There's already a clear focus on melody that we'd rarely seen in the underground death metal community to the time with the Swedish melodeath explosion still yet to eventuate. In fact, I'd go so far as to claim that "The Karelian Isthmus" is a transitional record that saw Amorphis sitting midway between the more conventional death metal of their disappointing 1991 "Disment of Soul " demo & very solid retrospectively-released "Privilege of Evil" E.P. (originally recorded in 1991 too) & the more obviously melodic "Tales From the Thousand Lakes" with a dual tag of death metal & melodic death metal seeming far more appropriate to me than simply leaving the album standing out like a sore thumb next to the Morbid Angel's & Obituary's. In many respects "The Karelian Isthmus" sits right in a three-way battle between the Swedish death metal sound of Entombed, the early developments in the melodic death metal scene & the doom/death of the Peaceville Three with the doom metal elements being quite regular but never feeling like they're deserving of equal standing with the first two tags. One of the best tracks on the record is a pure doom/death outing though in the excellent "The Lost Name of God" which seems to obviously draw upon Anathema's early recordings for inspiration, particularly their legendary anthem to general despondency "They Die".
The vocals of front man Tomi Koivusaari (Abhorrence/Ajattara) were pretty par for the course for lesser-known death metal outfits of the time & are probably the weakest link for Amorphis here as they're not very interesting to be honest. I also prefer the slower, doomier & more atmospheric moments more than the faster Swedish-inspired stuff which sounds a little bouncy for my taste. "The Pilgrimage" is a really good example of when Amorphis get things right & is the best of the death metal numbers for mine. There are not any weak tracks included here though which is was a big positive in Amorphis' chances of winning me over with time. The cheesier numbers that cancelled out some of the clear highlights on later albums are nowhere to be found here & this has seen the debut simply feeling a little more consistent in its appeal to my personal taste profile.
You know what? I've never rated "Tales From the Thousand Lakes" as highly as most seem to do. It's always felt like a fairly original record that I mildly enjoy more than one that is vital in my metal journey. I actually rate 2015's "Under the Red Cloud" over it these days to be honest but this week's experiences with "The Karelian Isthmus" have surprisingly seen me placing it above both. I still think 1996's "Elegy" might be Amorphis' best work but it's been so long since I've heard it now that I might need to revisit it in order to firm up that suspicion. In the meantime though, "The Karelian Isthmus" has certainly hit a few runs in the more melodic/atmospheric Finnish death metal space that the earlier efforts from bands like Sentenced played in. Early Swedish death metal acts like Tiamat & Gorement also come to mind as decent points of reference.
3.5/5
The brand new sixth album from female-fronted Canadian power metallers Unleash The Archers (entitled "Phantoma") is due to be released next month. Despite finding their first two melodeath-inclined records to be decidedly underwhelming, I loved their 2017 fourth album "Apex" when it was featured here some time ago so I think this could be a rewarding listen too.
The brand new "You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To" third album from US metalcore stars Knocked Loose is due to be released next month & comes with enormous hype from the media. I have to say that I was well impressed with the music video I've seen for one of the new singles & I quite liked their 2021 "A Tear in the Fabric of Life" E.P. so I might give this one a run at some point.
The brand new Six Feet Under record "Killing for Revenge" (unbelievably their eighteenth full-length) is due for release next month which doesn't excite my much. Everything they've done since their very solid 1995 debut album "Haunted" has been thoroughly disappointing so I can't see how this release is gonna change that.
The long-awaiting seventh full-length from US death metal stalwarts Necrophagia looks like it's finally going to see the light of day next month & is entitled "Moribundis Grim". With the possible exception of 2011's disappointing "Deathtrip 69" album, I usually find Necrophagia records to be worth a listen but don't feel that they've ever really commanded return visits. I'll no doubt give this one the once over at some point though, if only for old time's sake.
English heavy psych masters Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats have a brand new record coming out next month entitled "Nell' ora blu". I quite enjoyed their highly acclaimed 2011 sophomore album "Blood Lust" so might give this one an airing at some stage too although from what I've read the band seen to have drifted away from the more metallic sound of their early days.
Obituary - "The End Complete" (1992)
Florida death metal heavy-weights Obituary played a very strong role in not only my conversion from thrash metal to the more extreme death metal genre in 1989 but also in the consolidation of extreme metal as my life-long obsession. They did so off the back of their first three albums which are generally regarded as being Obituary's creative peak & one that they've consistently attempted to emulate over the many years since. I purchased 1989's "Slowly We Rot" on cassette shortly after discovering the band & found it be a very solid death metal release indeed, if one that saw them still developing their signature sound with the thrash influences of their earlier days still being well in effect. 1990's "Cause of Death" sophomore album (once again purchased on cassette) utterly blew me away though & I still place it up on a pedestal with the true greats of the genre. Hired gun guitar virtuoso James Murphy had made a significant contribution to Obituary's sound & the focus on a doomier & more controlled sound had been nothing short of a master stroke. Legendary front man John Tardy's vocals had become as monstrous as we've heard in metal music & are still the benchmark for me personally. So, when 1992's "The End Complete" third album rolled around I was well & truly onboard, hook, line & sinker. I purchased the CD on the day of release & excitedly raced home to whack it into my player, buoyed by the magnificently glossy cover artwork & the most intense marketing campaign death metal had seen to the time. I loved what I heard too just quietly, certainly not as much as "Cause of Death" but I felt that it was a better record than "Slowly We Rot" at the time. My affiliations with the debut album have only grown over the years though so I feel that it's a good time to see where "The End Complete" fits into the grand scheme of Obituary's back catalogue.
"The End Complete" showcases a band that absolutely knew their sound & has filed it down to a sharp point by this stage of their recording careers. James Murphy had moved on with "Slowly We Rot" lead guitarist Allen West having returned to the band, a prospect that I wasn't so keen on given how just much of a difference Murphy had made on "Cause of Death". I thought of West as a fairly limited whammy-bar bandit at the time too so I was prepared for a significant drop in quality in the solos department. I certainly got it too but listening back now it seems to me that West had taken some influence from Murphy's contribution & made a genuine attempt at some more melodic lead work which is most welcome. The rest of the band are completely united in their quest for the chunkiest & most memorable death metal riffs imaginable though, keeping things very simple in order for maximum ear-worm potential. It works a treat too, particularly when they stay in the slow-to-mid tempo range. The faster, bouncier riffs lose a little bit of that deathly atmosphere in my opinion but it's John Tardy that's predictably the star of the show with his incredible growl being both instantly recognizable & unanimously effective. I became nothing short of obsessed with him during these early death metal years & "The End Complete" only accentuated that obsession.
The production job on "The End Complete" is a major factor in one's enjoyment of the album. There'd obviously been a bit of investment in Obituary by their label R/C Records which was clearly intended to make them into the biggest death metal band in the world & it worked for a period too it has to be said. Trevor Peres' rhythm guitars are so well entwined with the rhythm section of bassist Frank Watkins & drummer Donald Tardy that it's hard to even think of them as separate individuals. They create a thick, dense wall of Celtic Frost-inspired grooves that you'll struggle to keep your head from banging along to. I'm a really big fan of the thick, heavily down-tuned, humming guitar tone but, listening back with modern-day ears, I'm a little skeptical about the brighter drum sound, particularly the light-weight snare drum which sounds very similar to a small stick being broken in half & isn't nearly heavy enough to match the chunky darkness being drawn upon by the stringsmen. Overall though, "The End Complete" presented Obituary as one of the classier acts in a scene that was just about to peak.
The tracklisting on "The End Complete" is extremely consistent with nothing that dips below a very solid level. It doesn't possess the continuous wall of classics that confronted me when I first heard "Cause of Death" though so it took a few listens to come to terms with that & accept that this simply wasn't going to be as classic a record. There are, however, a few classic tracks amongst this lot though with "Dead Silence", "Corrosive" & the dark majesty of closer "Rotting Ways" playing a major role in my teenage years & ensuring that they're very unlikely to ever be forgotten. The best moments unanimously appear when Obituary keep things in the lower end of the tempo band as they highlight that wonderful graveyard atmosphere that the band played such a huge part in creating in the first place. The faster tracks simply aren't capable of achieving those sorts of feelings & a large part of that is due to the fact that John Tardy's maniacal howls are far better suited to the slower material.
I think some people are a little too hard on "The End Complete" at times, perhaps spending too much time comparing it to its older sibling rather than judging it on its own merit. I still feel that it's a better record than Obituary's widely acclaimed debut album "Slowly We Rot" but not by as big a margin as I once would have stated. They're both high-quality & seriously enjoyable death metal records that may pale in comparison to the looming darkness between them but shouldn't be discounted as a result. Fans of bands like Autopsy, Jungle Rot & Asphyx will no doubt appreciate this material as it presents a similarly doomy graveyard soundtrack to that which those bands have built their craft on & does it with a professionalism that those acts have rarely achieved (or even wanted to to be fair). I have to admit that I'm relieved by the result of this revisit as it's proven to me that my childhood feelings were well justified & that the album still has plenty to offer the modern-day death metal crowd.
4/5
Apart from a brief dalliance with "Starstruck", there was actually bugger-all from "Rising" included in general which was the album they were touring behind at the time which was really strange, wasn't it? And I agree that "Vibrator" is the weakest track on "Motorhead" too. I'm not sure I'm well enough across the garage rock subgenre to be drawing upon it as a reference point here though.
Today's track is "Lost Johnny" which I regard as being hard rock:
If you enjoyed our feature release from Brooklyn-based hard rock/heavy metal act Tanith (i.e. their 2019 debut album "In Another Time") as much as I did then you might be interested to check out this brand new live recording:
Canadian black noise solo act La Torture des ténèbres has a brand new album out that's simply called "V". I've enjoyed all three of the releases I've heard from this Jessica Kinney project previously so I'll probably check this one out at some point too.
A brand new live album from Japan's Boris which was recorded back in 1994 entitled "And 2 Years Later". I’ve seen Boris live & can attest to the fact that they’re a wonderful live act to experience. Plus, their “Rock Dream” live album is one of my all-time favourites so I can’t see how this won’t rule, particularly given it’s from their earlier days.
I went to an Earth Crisis live gig a decade or so ago but didn’t think much of them to be honest. Perhaps those of you who are bigger fans will dig this recent show.
I’ve seen Obituary live a couple of times & they’re always rock solid. This will definitely be worth a look.
These two nominations have been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
These two nominations have been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
Never mind, I've added the other Hall of Judgement entry for you Andi.
I'm confused by item one as the release is already in the database under Stoner Metal. I'll just go ahead & remove the release from The Guardians as it no longer qualifies for that clan anyway. I've added an entry to have it added to The Pit under Speed Metal though.
This morning's track in Motorhead's "Vibrator" which I'd suggest is a punky hard rock tune:
Also, I revisited Rainbow's "On Stage" live release yesterday & found it to be a hard rock record but it does include "Kill The King" which I'd suggest is a heavy/power metal number, probably the first example of power metal ever.
I checked out Deep Purple's 1977 live album "Last Concert In Japan" this morning. Of the nine tracks, only closer "Highway Star" qualifies as heavy metal & even then it sounds noticeably less metal than it did on the "Machine Head" album as the rhythm guitar is further back in the mix with the keyboards being much further forward. It's a hard rock record for mine.
I also explored the fifth & final full-length from Australia's Buffalo entitled "Average Rock 'n' Roller". There was no metal there at all. It's a hard rock album with country rock & boogie rock influences.
And finally, I checked out Diamond Head's two-song 1977 demo tape. The opening track "Streets of Gold is close enough to speed metal in my opinion while the other track "Shoot Out the Lights" (which would also be re-recorded for their 1980 debut single) is only hard rock. If we're considering this to be a full release then it technically qualifies as metal given the 45% metal ratio.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
https://metal.academy/hall/473
I have to admit that I don't see it personally. I'd argue that it's potentially more of a post-hardcore release than it is a metal one with post-hardcore covering the more expansive material.
This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
Another change to my Top Ten Death Doom Metal Releases of All Time list after revisiting My Dying Bride's "The Thrash of Naked Limbs" E.P. this week:
01. diSEMBOWELMENT – “Transcendence Into The Peripheral” (1993)
02. Cavurn - "Rehearsal" demo (2017)
03. My Dying Bride – “Turn Loose The Swans” (1993)
04. The Ruins Of Beverast - "Exuvia" (2017)
05. My Dying Bride - "The Thrash of Naked Limbs" E.P. (1993)
06. Anathema – “Serenades” (1993)
07. My Dying Bride - "As The Flower Withers" (1992)
08. Anathema – “The Silent Enigma” (1995)
09. Winter - "Into Darkness" (1990)
10. My Dying Bride – “Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium” E.P. (1992)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/131
Even though I don't think it should technically be classed as a deathcore release, I've decided to add Embodyment's "Embrace The Eternal" into my Top Ten Deathcore Releases of All Time list given that it's still listed that way on the Academy database. I may elect to post a Hall of Judgement entry for it though.
01. Impending Doom – “Baptized In Filth” (2012)
02. Slice The Cake – “Odyssey To The West” (2016)
03. The Contortionist – “Exoplanet” (2010)
04. Whitechapel - "A New Era of Corruption" (2010)
05. Embodyment - "Embrace The Eternal" (1998)
06. Suicide Silence – “The Black Crown” (2011)
07. Born Of Osiris – “The Discovery” (2011)
08. As They Burn – “A New Area For Our Plagues” E.P. (2009)
09. The Acacia Strain – “Wormwood” (2010)
10. As They Burn – “Aeon’s War” (2011)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/179
Here's my updated Top ten Groove Metal Releases of All Time list after voting Exhorder's "The Law" down for groove metal on its release page which sees it no longer qualifying for inclusion:
01. Coroner – “Grin” (1993)
02. Grip Inc. – “Nemesis” (1997)
03. Gojira - "Magma" (2016)
04. Pantera – “Vulgar Display Of Power” (1992)
05. Pantera – “Cowboys From Hell” (1990)
06. Sepultura – “Chaos A.D.” (1993)
07. Pantera – “The Great Southern Trendkill” (1996)
08. Pantera – “Far Beyond Driven” (1994)
09. Anthrax – “Sound Of White Noise” (1993)
10. Machine Head - "The Blackening" (2007)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/175
I've added these two releases to The Gateway Adni as both qualify anyway.
Exhorder - "The Law" (1992)
I've always had a real soft spot for the more brutal end of thrash metal. That's really where my extreme metal roots lie & it's a sound that appears to have discovered a bit of a revival in recent years. One of the earlier exponents of the sound was New Orleans' Exhorder whose 1990 debut album "Slaughter in the Vatican" made some pretty big waves in this early 90's teenager's Walkman at the time. The band's 1992 sophomore record "The Law" has often been overlooked though, perhaps struggling a little to overcome the links to Pantera & the groove metal genre. I was very quick to pick up on "The Law" & have always thought of it as another excellent Exhorder thrash record with its brutal production job giving it something of a differentiator from the crowd. It certainly didn't see Exhorder following the trend for thrashers to move into a grungier & more commercial sound at the time either. I've been looking forward to revisiting "The Law" for quite some time now & have blasted the shit out of my ear drums on the way to work this week. The album has lost none of its zest so let's take a look at it in a little more detail.
"The Law" is a record that simply sounds like no other. In fact, it's instantly identifiable from its ball-tearing guitar tone alone with the searing metallic high-end threatening to sheer your eye drums in two & leave you with ringing ears for a week (like I have right now actually). When these guys hit on a huge thrash, groove or sludge metal riff it's accentuated ten-fold by the extreme amount of metal that's been genetically infused into that guitar tone & I for one applaud them for it. It may pound the listener into submission at times but it also gives me a visceral, primal reaction that sees me returning to it time & time again. If I had to guess I'd suggest that Exhorder were aiming to get close to Exodus' ultra-crunchy tone from records like 1989's "Fabulous Disaster" or 1990's "Impact is Imminent" but things got a little out of hand & they just decided to run with it. Thank goodness they did because it's resulted in one of the most metal records you'll find.
"The Law" does sound a little different to "Slaughter in the Vatican" from a stylistic point of view too though. It's less of a balls-to-the-wall thrasher with more variety in the tempo department. When these boys thrash out they do it with a hell-for-leather reckless abandon that few can keep up with but when they slow things down they can manage to muster some of the most immense riffs from the bowels of Hell. Just look at the outro of opening track "Soul Search Me" for example! How can that riff be beaten?? Answer: It simply can't & it's these moments when the influence on Pantera's sound can be seen as plain as day. Vocalist Kyle Thomas sounds exactly like Phil Anselmo for the most part with his vicious delivery being the perfect foil for the aggressive instrumentation around him. Despite the uniqueness of the guitar tone, you can easily see the parallels with Dimebag Darrell's as they both accentuate the power of the riff in a magical way. And those devastating groove riffs often see the two bands running alongside each other in parallel too. Exhorder are far more consistently fast & thrashy though & aren't tarnished by the same yobbo-isms that Pantera's less sophisticated work has been.
The tracklisting kicks off in splendid fashion & never lets up for the entire 39-minute duration in a super-consistent display of savage metal worship. The incredible "Unforgiven" & the blistering title track were genuine classics in my teenage years but the other seven songs are nothing to scoff at either. Even the sludgier rendition of Black Sabbath's "Into The Void" is a welcome addition in that it not only suits Exhorder's ability to maximize the impact of a big groovy riff but it also takes the original to a slightly darker & more imposing place. Almost every track contains stellar riffs that'll see you struggling to sit still while Thomas grabs the back of your head & progressively smashes your face into the table or seat in front of you. Boy, these guys must have been something to behold in a live environment & I once again find myself reaching for Exodus as a point of comparison. On the negative side, I have no doubt that the iconic guitar tone would tend to make things sound a little samey if you're not committed to the cause. Thankfully, I'm totally onboard with what Exhorder are dishing out though so I've never felt that "The Law" suffered from that affliction.
Now for the elephant in the room i.e. the whole groove metal thing. Look... there's no doubt that "The Law" is a true showcase of where the rumours that their mates Pantera ripped off their sound come from. It's fucking obvious to be honest but that doesn't make "The Law" a groove metal release overall in my opinion. It's far too fast, thrashy & aggressive for that with the groove metal riffs being greatly outnumbered by the thrash ones. In fact, there's only really the one song that should qualify as groove metal in my opinion in the rock solid & more rhythmically structured closer "(Cadence) Of The Dirge". The rest of the original pieces are thrashtastically energetic extreme metal numbers that have been custom made for casual mosh pit murder & I for one can't get enough of them.
Perhaps "The Law" isn't Exhorder's best record but it's a damn fine one nonetheless & I wish more metalheads would give it the credit it deserves rather than simply overlooking it because it sounds a little different to the debut album they've placed on such a lofty pedestal. For those that are uninitiated, if the idea of taking classic Pantera & combining it with Steve Souza-fronted Exodus & then feeding it Demolition Hammer level amounts of testosterone sounds appealing then you know what you need to do & quickly too.
4/5
Yeah, I could get onboard the garage rock call actually. I can easily see a punk rock band playing that song though too.
This morning we kick off a brand new release in Motorhead's 1977 self-titled debut album. The opener is their signature tune "Motorhead" which I'm going to controversially tag as punk rock rather than heavy metal:
Here's my review:
Florida technical death metallers Nocturnus were a fairly big player in our household from very early on in their recording career. I was lucky enough to discover their 1990 debut album “The Key” shortly after it was released & purchased a copy on cassette. It showcased a highly ambitious band of talented musicians that were looking to push the envelope when it came to both atmospherics, imagery & technique & I found it to be a very solid release indeed. Perhaps not the undeniable classic that many death metal fans will have you believe it is but a worthy purchase that has commanded consistent revisits over the years. 1992’s follow-up album “Thresholds” simply wasn’t in the same caliber from what I remember of it although it was certainly worth a listen at the time & didn’t discourage me from picking up this month’s The Horde feature release (i.e. Nocturnus’ self-titled 7” from 1993) on vinyl immediately after it was released. I don’t remember much about it now to be honest & have no idea what happened to the record I owned but I do recall being a touch underwhelmed even if I certainly found entertainment in it. I’m interested to see how those recollections stack up now actually as I recently revisited “The Key” & it’s renewed my interest.
The ”Nocturnus” 7” is nothing more than a two-song single but includes two previously unreleased non-album tracks intended to showcase the band’s brand new lineup. Bassist Emo Mowery had now filled the empty position that was filled by session musician Chris Anderson on the “Thresholds” album while James Marcinek had now joined the fold at the expense of founding member & band leader Mike Browning (Morbid Angel/Acheron) who had been controversially axed. The two songs take a similar stylistic approach to the one found on “The Key” but there are a few notable differences & characteristics that are worth pointing out.
The first & most obvious thing you’ll notice about this release is the shocking production job which is extremely rough & sees Nocturnus’ trademark flashy guitars being largely nullified. It’s a real shame because this flaw goes a long way to ensuring that the record was never going to have much of an impact, even if you absolutely loved the song-writing. Front man Dan Izzo had been brought in for the “Thresholds” album to enable Browning to focus purely on his drum kit. Here we see him trying awfully hard to sound like notorious Deicide vocalist Glen Benton & doing a reasonable job of it too. In fact, I’d have to suggest that it was a good move to swap him in for Browning as his more angry & aggressive delivery would seem to me to be a better fit for a death metal band. So would the drumming of Marcinek actually, at least I’d take it over the simplistic contribution that Browning gave us on “The Key”. The keyboards of Louis Panzer are still on show but don’t play as prominent a role in these compositions which was an interesting move given that this was one of the major drawcards that was seeing people flocking to Nocturnus. The other was the consistent layers of ultra-shredding guitar solos that were a majorly exciting prospect for this budding young lead guitarist but, once again, the solos have been toned down significantly here which I find to be a really strange decision. Perhaps that’s why we’ve seen these two tracks isolated on a dedicated single? I dunno but it was pretty annoying that Nocturnus had dropped a good chunk of their signature features.
When taken for what they are though, these two songs aren’t too bad & certainly offer enough to keep me interested & entertained. The lengthier “Possess The Priest” has a slight edge over the more aggressive “Mummified” but there’s not a lot between them as they’re both decent enough examples of the technical death metal subgenre. I’ve often seen people trying to utilize the progressive metal tag with this record but I don’t think that’s appropriate as this material is far more consciously technical than it is conceptually expansive. The riffs can sometimes be quite thrashy but I never feel that I’m listening to anything other than a death metal artist at any stage.
So, it would seem that the “Nocturnus” 7” single is bit of a mixture of positives & negatives overall, isn’t it? The production is arguably the most unfortunate & release-defining element but I’m pleased that Nocturnus possessed enough class to overcome that failure to give us a reasonable record nonetheless. Sadly, I can’t see it being enough to draw me back to the single at any point in the future but I don’t think your average Death. Atheist or Pestilence fan will find it to be too repulsive, even if it’s not on the same level as the universally worshipped releases that those bands were dishing out during that period. But then, I’m not sure I ever saw Nocturnus on the same level as those artists in the first place. Not many are though to be fair.
3.5/5
I checked out Murasaki's 1977 sophomore album "Impact" this morning but found no signs of metal. It's a hard rock record with one lengthy progressive rock number tossed into the mix.
Today's track is Bow Wow's "Still" which I consider to be hard rock:
This closes out the "Signal Fire" album which I've only found to include two metal songs out of the ten on offer which sees it being ineligible for metal status. Tomorrow we'll be starting on Motorhead's 1977 self-titled debut album which is sure to prove to be controversial.
Here's my review:
English doom/death legends My Dying Bride had thoroughly blown Ben & I away with their first two releases "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium" & "As The Flower Withers". In fact, their 1991 "Towards The Sinister" demo was really strong too so I had extremely high hopes for their next record as a teenager back in 1993. The band's experimentation with the incorporation of violin & gothic elements had proved to be a master stroke so the expectation around what they'd deliver us with next was certainly very high. Perhaps My Dying Bride's label & management could feel that excitement because they opted to deliver us a short three-track taster in order to tide us over until the arrival of the classic "Turn Loose The Swans" album later on that year. "The Thrash of Naked Limbs" E.P. would land eight months before that spectacular game-changer & it'd only see my passion for the burgeoning doom/death scene rising to fever pitch.
"The Thrash of Naked Limbs" E.P. contains just the three tracks across its eighteen-minute duration, two of which take the form of their signature doom/death metal sound with the other being something a little different for My Dying Bride. The production job on the two metal songs isn't perfect with the rhythm guitars sounding a little wishy washy to my ears & the violin coming across as a tad artificial too. Thankfully though, the riffs are as crushing as we've come to expect from a My Dying Bride release with Aaron's iconic death growls being in full effect. There are some subtle differences from the band's debut album on show here. The guitar tone is starting to head away from the filthy death metal graveyard it had resided in previously &, despite the production issues, the overall package just seems to be a little more polished & professional. The violin parts that permeated "As The Flower Withers" aren't quite as prominent here either as they play more of a supporting role than they do the thematic protagonist we were presented with on some of the band's stronger works to the time. I'd suggest that there isn't quite as much undiluted death metal included in this material either. It's a little more consistently doomy than the earlier releases were.
The E.P. kicks off with the title track which is generally regarded as the strongest inclusion of the three. Interestingly, I'm gonna go the other way & say that it's the track that I connect with the least. Don't get me wrong, it's still a very strong piece that borders on being a classic in its own right but I just don't think it quite gels as well as My Dying Bride's most transcendent & timeless material. Easily the most divisive song is the dark ambient piece "Le cerf malade" that splits the two metal numbers & I have to admit that I've always found it to be the highlight of the record. Admittedly I'm a big ambient music fan & this piece absolutely nails the atmosphere it sets out to explore. In fact, I'd suggest that any ambient artist worth their salt would be drooling over this track to be honest. Closing doom/death anthem "Gather Me Up Forever" goes pretty close to equaling it too. It's the doomier of the two metal songs & doesn't taint its more beautiful & melodic doom moments with chuggier mid-paced riffage as much as the title track does so there's not a hint of filler here with every piece offering the listener a significant artistic & atmospheric pay-off.
"The Thrash of Naked Limbs" doesn't get quite as much attention as its more highly regarded predecessors but I have a big soft spot for the more mature & refined composition that predicted the direction the band would soon take & this saw it making just as big an impact on my life. In fact, I've tended to think of the E.P. as My Dying Bride's strongest overall work to the time & this revisit has only strengthened that feeling even though there's very little between the three proper releases. This is not only an essential My Dying Bride record but it's an essential release for the doom/death subgenre overall. It rightfully stands alongside the band's finest work & should have Paradise Lost, Anathema & Novembers Doom fans frothing at the mouth.
4.5/5
Here's my review:
1991's "Worship Him" debut album was a relatively big record for Ben & I back in the early 1990's. I was already a fan of the First Wave of Black Metal when I first discovered Switzerland's Samael & their first full-length possessed some of the best traits from a number of those bands which saw me being heavily attracted to their fairly simple yet deeply atmospheric take on early black metal; their measured & doomy sense of control being in direct contrast to the death metal explosion that I was right up to my eyeballs in at the time. We'd pick up 1992's follow-up album "Blood Ritual" on CD & would give it a very similar treatment & with a fairly similar result from what I recall too. I didn't regard either record as being classics for the genre at the time but felt that they were essential early black metal release nonetheless. I always got the feeling that they sported a timeless quality & that element is still very much in effect with this week's revisit.
"Blood Ritual" isn't as different from "Worship Him" as some reviewers tend to make out. It certainly contains a cleaner, heavier production job that has obviously been inspired by felllow Swiss extreme metal legends Celtic Frost with the thick layers of rhythm guitar being a clear highlight of the record. The slow-to-mid paced tempos of "Worship Him" have only been dialed back a little further with the doomy vibe of the slower material off the debut having been accentuated here. If anything the riff structures are even less typical of the modern-day black metal sound too with thrash & doom metal tools being utilized within the context of a black metal atmosphere. Guitarist Vorphalack's grim Quorthon-inspired vocals always end to tie Samael to the black metal genre too, along with the darker feel & simpler riff structures. This is black metal at its most primitive, only with a production that goes very much against the traditional lo-fi grain that black metal was built on but one that definitely suits Samael's character traits. Celtic Frost are the clear source of inspiration here & (as with "Worship Him") I can't help but wonder as to just how much of an influence the early Samael releases had on Darkthrone's transition into black metal, particularly records like "Panzerfaust". The early works of Greece's Rotting Christ & Varathron also come to mind due to the similarities in style & tempo.
The tracklisting on "Blood Ritual" is very top-heavy with the vast majority of the stronger material residing on the A side. There's a short lull in the middle of the album with the faster title track (a re-recorded track from their 1988 "Macabre Operatta" demo tape) & short interlude "Since the Creation..." failing to hit the mark before things return to more enjoyable territories for the remainder of the record. The most notable inclusion is the incredible "After the Sepulture" which was clearly Samael's finest moment to the time & is still one of my all-time favourites amongst the earlier black metal acts. It represents Samael's first genuine classic & is probably the differentiator between where the two albums stand for me personally. Other highlights include "Poison Infiltration", "Bestial Devotion", the solid opener "Beyond the Nothingness" & the lengthy "Macabre Operatta" (another re-recording from the demo of the same name").
"Blood Ritual" is another high-quality effort from a black metal band that had been around a lot longer than most at the time & showed a clear understanding of the key elements that make the genre so great. There's not a lot between Samael's first two full-lengths but I tend to find "Blood Ritual" just edging out its older sibling overall, buoyed by the impact of the wonderful "After the Sepulture" while "Worship Him" lacked such a transcendent highlight track. 1994 would see Samael topping both records with their career-defining "Ceremony of Opposites" third album but "Blood Ritual" is probably still my second favourite Samael record of the ones I've heard & it should be essential listening for anyone wanting to gain a comprehensive understanding of where the black metal genre came from.
4/5
This morning's song is the title track from Bow Wow's "Signal Fire" album which is once again a hard rock tune:
Here's my review:
I stumbled over the debut album from Texas' Embodyment around 15 years ago while desperately trying to catch up on all of the great death metal releases I'd missed out on during my self-imposed, decade-long hiatus from the metal scene. "Embrace The Eternal" was reasonably well thought of in death metal circles at the time but Embodyment's remaining back catalogue seemed to be frowned upon for reasons I was unaware of so I went into the album with an open mind. I was also unaware of the links with Christianity & the early deathcore scene that now permeate the release & I honestly don't recall thinking I'd discovered the building blocks of a new genre with that experience either so this month's feature release nomination represents a good chance to reassess that position, particularly given the strong statements from our resident The Revolution devotee Andi.
"Embrace The Eternal" is a well-produced & executed record from a band that were already well in control of their chosen instruments. In fact, they can occasionally be guilty of being a little TOO precise to be honest as the weaker moments on the album do tend to sound like they're in autopilot & lacking a bit of electricity. The clinical production is led by a particularly clicky kick-drum so if that element is something you usually struggle with then I'd perhaps give this release a wide birth. In saying that though, current Living Sacrifice drummer Mark Garza is arguably the highlight of the record with his super-precise performance giving Embodyment a particularly solid platform to work off. I mean, clicky kick drums can be very unforgiving at times but here we see Garza pulling everything off effortlessly. Front man Kris McCaddon's contribution isn't your average deep death metal or deathcore growl though. Instead, we see him sporting a screamier approach that sits right at the mid-point between Carcass' Jeff Walker & the classic metalcore delivery. He tends to be a bit of a one-trick pony on the evidence here too as he really does stick to the one thing the whole way through the album's duration.
Now for the elephant in the room... Despite "Embrace The Eternal" being claimed as one of the founding releases for the deathcore genre, I have to question that consensus. You see, there is nothing terribly unusual or original here from an instrumental point of view. This is purely a death metal record from that perspective with Suffocation being the primary source of inspiration. As someone that absolutely worshipped (& at times sought to emulate) that wonderful band, it's really obvious that Embodyment were also bowing down at the altar of "Effigy of the Forgotten", even if they do tend to shy away from Suffocation's more technical side & aren't nearly as brutal. The regular use of breakdowns is certainly worth mentioning but they don't seem to be drawn from the hardcore scene as far as I can tell, instead being borrowed from the early slam death metal one. Unlike Suffocation though, Embodyment's death metal sound has as much to do with your classic old-school death metal model as it does with the brutal death metal one & you should be able to pick up the influence of bands like Morbid Angel at times too. Then during the second half of the album we start to see some more diverse influences seeping in with the odd Fear Factory groove or jumpy Korn-style nu metal section appearing. While that idea might not sound all that appealing on paper, Embodyment seem to have the class to pull it off nonetheless. It's really just the vocals that draw upon hardcore for inspiration though as the instrumentation can basically be summarized under the death metal banner &, even then, McCaddon's tone isn't even close to the super-gutteral, ultra-deep death growl employed by most deathcore front men these days. Therefore, I struggle to see how "Embrace The Eternal" is a seminal deathcore release to be honest. If it's just the vocals that draw it into that space then Carcass' "Heartwork" would surely suffer the same fate & that idea certainly isn't on the table.
With that said, "Embrace The Eternal" is a very solid extreme metal album in its own right with no weak tracks included. There's a clear consistency to the ten songs & the Christian lyrical content will have absolutely no impact on you unless you go out of your way to investigate what McCaddon is going on about. I personally choose not to & are much better off for it given my strong feelings about organised religion in general. I'd recommend that our The Horde members leave any preconceived notions at the door & give "Embrace The Eternal" a chance to win them over because it's really a very solid first-up effort & one that will have you pondering over how Embodyment's next record could possibly fall into the realm of our The Gateway clan.
4/5
This morning's track is Bow Wow's "Tell Me Tell Me" which I'd suggest is hard rock: