Daniel's Forum Replies
Brooklyn avant-garde/atmospheric black metallers Scarcity have their brand new "The Promise of Rain" sophomore album hitting the shelves on 12th July. Their 2022 debut album "Aveilut" was extremely divisive at the Academy with Ben & I bowing down in worship & the majority of our other members thinking it sucked royal ass. I for one will be absolutely all over this release so NER!!
Finland's Amorphis are releasing a live rendition of their classic 1994 melodic death metal sophomore album "Tales From the Thousand Lakes" in mid-July. I quite liked that record so I may have to check this one out at some point.
The brand new fourth album "Infinite Evolution" from New Jersey thrashers Blood Feast hits the streets in mid-July. I quite liked their first couple of albums back in the day but their 2017 comeback record "The Future State of Wicked" did very little for me. I'll probably give this one a quiet spin at some point though.
The brand new ninth full-length "Heavenly Down" from Hungarian melodic black metallers Sear Bliss hits the streets next week. I've quite liked most of their releases over the years so this will likely be worth checking out at some point.
The brand new "Justice" E.P. from Ukrainian black metallers Hate Forest will be released next week & I'll be all over it as all of their recent material has been worth hearing.
The brand new "Live on Tour!" live album from Aussie alternative metallers Thornhill hit the streets yesterday.
Lo-fi hip hop producer lonelyboy has released a fourteen song collection of lo-fi, chilled versions of Korn songs called "lofi chill vibes with korn". Here's a sample of what you can expect:
The new split album between US sludge metallers Melvins & Japanese drone metallers Boris "Twins of Evil" hit the shelves a week ago. I'm a fan of both bands so I'll probably check this one out at some stage.
I'm not sure if anyone noticed this new Metallica live material floating around over the last week or so.
I have no doubt that it's possible to add but it will definitely require our developer's involvement which will cost money. I'll speak to Ben about it as a potential option for the future.
Malevolent Creation - "Stillborn" (1993)
By 1993, Buffalo death metallers Malevolent Creation had managed to build themselves a really strong following in, not only the global metal community, but also my own household with both Ben & I having been very impressed with their first two albums. I’d first discovered them through their 1991debut album “The Ten Commandments” which I found to be a very solid example of thrashy US death metal indeed. Their 1992 sophomore album “Retribution” would see Malevolent Creation dropping most of their early thrash leanings for a more pure death metal sound that would offer me even more appeal than their widely acclaimed debut, even if it still stayed just a touch behind the leading players in the US death metal scene. These positive experiences gave Ben & I a lot of hope that the band would manage to finally step up to the tier one plate with their next release though so we wasted no time in picking up “Stillborn” as soon as it hit the shelves. Sadly, I recall my initial listens to be a touch disappointing though, mainly due to a lackluster production job. With so much great death metal around at the time I saw no reason to persist with “Stillborn” & it would quickly find resigned to the annuls of history. I haven’t found any reason to return to it since however I recently noticed some very positive online reviews for it & found myself wondering if I’d been a bit hasty in drawing judgement which brings us to this… my first revisit of “Stillborn” in literally decades.
My first impressions upon reigniting my “Stillborn” flame were one of significant optimism. Hhhmmm… sure, the production job isn’t wonderful but it isn’t in any way unlistenable either & I’ve certainly heard a lot worse. The rhythm guitars are a bit muddy & the drums have a bit too much high end & the snare sounds a little wishy washy at times, strangely seeming to change from song to song. The volume between the tracks on the Spotify version of the album is a little variable too which would seem to be a mastering issue. In saying all that though, all of the instruments are in balance & easily identifiable so I found that I could forget these flaws easily enough, especially since the quality of the song-writing is of such a high standard.
Yep… I did just say that. In fact, I’m gonna go one step further by gushing a little bit about just what a great death metal band Malevolent Creation were at the time. The professionalism in the riff construction, transitions & overall compositional work is absolutely top notch & sees the band playing very much in my ball-park of choice. I just love this sort of shit. It’s brutal enough to get my blood pumping but maintains enough of an understanding of the importance of melody to ensure that each piece remains memorable & catchy. Front man Brett Hoffmann’s death growls are a brilliant call to arms for fans of this style of music while the guitar work of Phil Fasciana & new kid on the block Jon Rubin (formerly of Monstrosity) is excellent. Where things fall apart a bit is during some of the blast beats sections though with drummer Jason Blachowicz struggling for control & timing & the production job not allowing the cohesion the band would usually be used to achieving.
Thankfully the song-writing is well & truly strong enough to overcome any flaws that “Stillborn” may suffer from. There are no weak tracks included although “Geared for Gain” does suffer more than the others from those blast beat issues I just mentioned. Opener “Dominated Resurgency” sits right up there with those from the previous two albums (i.e. “Premature Burial” & “Eve of the Apocalypse”) as Malevolent Creation’s finest works to the time & was a fantastic way to start the record. The title track & closer “Disciple of Abhorrence” aren’t far behind either & have really surprised me with just how classy they are. The remainder of the tracklisting is all of a very solid standard too so I very quickly found myself realizing that I had indeed been a little hasty in judging “Stillborn”.
This is quite clearly a more significant record than I’d given it credit for. The fact that I could remember so much of the album without having listened to it since the mid-1990’s speaks volumes for its depth. Perhaps the production issues may give the tracklisting a more "samey" feel than is actually the reality but if you give it time you’ll find that the class in the arrangements shines through. In fact, I’m gonna go so far as to say that I enjoy “Stillborn” just slightly more than “The Ten Commandments” these days & it gives “Retribution” are run for its money as top dog too. Is this just a guilty pleasure for someone like me whose musical allegiances so clearly fall into the same space as the one Malevolent Creation are playing in? Possibly but I can confidently say that this is a seriously underrated release that I should have given more of a chance back in the day.
For fans of Monstrosity, Deicide & Sinister.
4/5
I checked out the 1979 "Slay The Dragon" E.P. from British outfit Holocaust (not the Scottish band that were made famous through Metallica) yesterday which was their only release & is often touted as an early NWOBHM record. Spoiler alert: It's not. Of the three songs included, only the title track is metal with the other two clearly falling into the hard rock space.
Here are the adjusted feature releases nomination recipients from July with Karl being added into the roster for The Guardians, The Horde & The North from next month:
THE FALLEN: Daniel, Ben
THE GATEWAY: Saxy, Andi
THE GUARDIANS: Xephyr, Karl
THE HORDE: Ben, Daniel, Karl
THE INFINITE: Xephyr, Saxy, Andi
THE NORTH: Xephyr, Daniel, Ben. Karl
THE PIT: Ben, Daniel
THE REVOLUTION: Daniel, Andi
THE SPHERE: Andi, Daniel
I really only mention that release as it's generally considered the earliest example of the sound, which I'm interested in assessing. Do you have any feedback on any of the other releases or are we out of your wheelhouse?
Despite being generally across all of the releases you mentioned, you're right that the depressive black metal subgenre isn't exactly my wheelhouse as I've always felt that a) it wasn't consistent enough in its use of its differentiators to justify its own subgenre & b) it completely goes against the feeling of empowerment I generally look to gain when listening to metal music. I was across the Strid & Bethlehem releases back in my tape trading days but I don't recall people talking about a new subgenre at the time. My gut feel is that it only really coalesced into a movement of any note in the 2000's so, as with blackgaze, I don't think the most influential release should necessarily be one of the earliest ones. Of the releases you've listed, I'd suggest that the Leviathan one would be the one that I feel has left the most significant mark on the black metal scene so I'd probably go with that one personally.
Ben, the Strid self-titled released was technically only a 7" single. Should it even be considered here?
So, Sonny has decided to take a break from programming this playlist so I'm going to step in for the time being. Given that my experiment with The Horde where I've extended the nomination allowances to take up the entire two hours has been so successful thus far, I'm intending on doing the same with The Fallen. So, if there's any members of The Fallen that would like to participate in track nominations then please let me know right away. If not, then Vinny & I will have 60-minute limits each for the August playlist.
I've kicked my exploration of 1979 with a couple of less obvious ones in the "Doomsday" debut album from Germany's Gravestone & Plasmatics' "(Meet the) Plasmatics" E.P., neither of which offered anything in the way of metal. "Doomsday" is progressive krautrock while "(Meet the) Plasmatics" is punk/hard rock.
And the final 1978 release to qualify for our list has come from Sweden with Stockholm trio Heavy Load's debut album "Full Speed at High Level" being released in November of that year.
Once again this isn't a straight down the line metal record like we see so regularly these days & I've tagged it as follows which has resulted in a 41% metal ratio:
A1 Full Speed at High Level (4:14) - Heavy metal
A2 Midnight Crawler (3:53) - Heavy metal
A3 Moonlight Spell (4:33) - Heavy metal
A4 Storm (11:33) - Progressive rock/Blues rock
B1 In Two Minds (5:39) - Heavy metal
B2 Rock 'n' Roll Freak (5:18) - Hard rock
B3 Caroline (8:17) - Progressive rock
B4 Son of the Northern Light (4:43) - Heavy metal
Here's the updated chronological list:
https://metal.academy/lists/single/271
Black Sabbath
01. War Pigs
02. Black Sabbath
03. Iron Man
04. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
05. Symptom of the Universe
06. Sweet Leaf
07. Snowblind
08. Hole In The Sky
09. Planet Caravan
10. Headless Cross
Ok, so I've done a quick list that I think is pretty accurate. Here ya go:
01. Aces High
02. Wasted Years
03. The Number of the Beast
04. Powerslave
05. The Evil The Men Do
06. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
07. Caught Somewhere in Time
08. Run To The Hills
09. Moonchild
10. Flight of Icarus
My three favourite Maiden albums are Seventh Son, Somewhere in Time and Powerslave, so my list of tracks would definitely have a lot of crossover with yours Karl.
^^^ Exactly this.
For transparency's sake, it's impossible to determine when the last two successful entries into the chronological list (i.e. the 1978 Zarpa Rock & Alkana albums) were released as there's simply no information available online. For that reason, I've decided to take an even bet by placing them right in the middle of the year with the Zarpa Rock one coming first simply because it sounds more primitive.
That leaves the next release to successfully qualify as a genuine metal release as Judas Priest's 1978 "Killing Machine" fifth album which, despite being a touch more commercially focused & Priest's least metal release since their debut "Rocka Rolla", came in with a metal ratio of 49%.
Here's how I tagged "Killing Machine":
A1 Delivering the Goods (4:16) - Heavy metal
A2 Rock Forever (3:20) - Hard rock
A3 Evening Star (4:05) - Hard rock
A4 Hell Bent for Leather (2:39) - Heavy metal
A5 Take on the World (3:02) - Hard rock
B1 Burnin' Up (4:00) - Hard rock
B2 Killing Machine (3:02) - Heavy metal/Hard rock
B3 Running Wild (2:57) - Heavy metal
B4 Before the Dawn (3:22) - Progressive rock
B5 Evil Fantasies (4:14) - Heavy metal/Hard rock
Here's the updated chronological list:
Satyricon/Enslaved - "The Forest Is My Throne/Yggdrasill" compilation (1995)
For those of you who thought my brief overviews of the early Norwegian demo tapes were interesting enough to explore further, I'd highly recommend going for this bootleg over the original versions of Satyricon & Enslaved's tapes because it includes a couple of bonus tracks that are amongst the best material on the CD which gives it a little more value.
3.5/5
Satyricon - "The Forest is my Throne" demo (1993)
I revisited this early Norwegian black metal demo that I picked up during my tape trading days this week & found that it's maintained a fair amount of its appeal too. Satyricon were still in their formative stages at this point with their sound being very much the sum of what was going on around them however they clearly already understood the key ingredients that make up good black metal. The band was only a three-piece at the time with 17 year-old front man Satyr being pretty much the creative force behind this demo. He's ably supported by 17 year-old guitarist Håvard Jørgensen (Ulver/Dold Vorde Ens Navn) & legendary drummer Frost (1349/Gorgoroth/Keep of Kalessin/Zyklon-B) who puts in a pretty tame performance by his modern-day standards here at just 19 years of age.
"The Forest is My Throne" is a three-track affair that includes two raw & lo-fi black numbers in "Black Winds" & the title track as well as an early version of the dark folk piece "Min hyllest til vinterland (Skogsvandring i mørket)" that appeared on Satyricon's debut album "Dark Medieval Times" later on 63.the same year. Although I wouldn't suggest that any of this material is essential listening, it's all more than acceptable, particularly for such a young bunch of kids. You should be able to pick up the clear influence of Bathory, "A Blaze in the Northern Sky"-period Darkthrone & "Wrath of the Tyrants"-era Emperor in the riff structures & atmospherics.
For fans of Taake, Emperor, Darkthrone.
3.5/5
To cut to the chase on Alkana's "Welcome to My Paradise" album from 1978, I've surprisingly found that it contains enough metal to qualify for inclusion in our chronological list & would describe it as a combination of hard rock, progressive rock & heavy metal. The A side only included the one track that I tagged as being legitimate metal but all three songs on the B side hit the mark which saw it finishing with a metal ratio of 66%. Interestingly, a couple of tracks on the B side are bordering on progressive metal but don't quite get there as the prog rock components are generally kept separate from the heavy metal ones rather than being combined to form progressive metal.
Here's a link to our chronological list of legitimate metal releases so far:
Sorry Andi but I deleted your post as it didn't quite reflect what I'd like to say about the playlists. Please see below:
Are there any prerequisites for me to participate or am I free to just jump in?
All clan members are free to participate however you should reach out to the playlist administrator first to advise them of your intention prior to submitting any material so that they can review (& potentially adjust) their limits for each individual member & advise the rest of the clan on any changes that are decided upon.
For which month should I post my suggestions? Is it early enough for July or should I go for August?
Track nominations are open for submission from the first day of each month for inclusion in the playlist that is released on the first day of the following month. I've always stipulated the 15th of the month as the cut-off for submissions but would encourage everyone to simply get them in as early in the month as possible in order to give the playlist administrator the most time to program them. You are too late for the July playlists but have plenty of time to make the arrangements for you to start nominating tracks for the August ones.
What are the current constraints regarding track count and overall duration? Are there any other guidelines?
This varies pretty drastically between clans & is left for the playlist administrators to negotiate with the other clan members. It's based on time rather than the number of tracks. Adding another nominating member may see those limitations changing moving forwards so, if you're interested in participating, you should reach out to the playlist administrator(s) to advise them of your intention & they can guide you on how you should proceed. For your reference, I manage The Horde, Ben manages The North & Xephyr manages The Guardians. There are a few clans that allow a single-track nomination from outside their membership group however this is entirely the clan's decision & isn't a Metal Academy requirement so that could change at any time. Those clans currently include The Gateway, The Guardians, The Revolution & The Sphere. You must be a clan member to make nominations for the other five clans. If you'd like to participate in The Horde then the limit will remain at forty minutes per member as I've just had a member opt out & can do a straight swap. Speak to Ben & Xephyr about The North & The Guardians.
The only other guidelines you need to be aware of are that we don't encourage the repeated inclusion of tracks that have appeared in that particular clan's playlist previously. For that reason, there are Past Playlist threads in each clan forum to keep track of what's been included in the past & all contributing members should check those threads (preferably using CTRL-F to search the thread for strings of characters) before nominating a track to ensure that it hasn't been included previously. Different clans have different rules on whether you can include tracks that are taken from releases that fall outside of that clan as long as they are in line with the subgenres encompassed by the clan (i.e. nominating a track that is clearly death metal but is taken from a release that resides solely in The Gateway for example). I'm personally fine with that practice but would check with the associated playlist administrator before doing that or you risk your track being omitted. As a general rule we like to limit playlist administration rights to one per member so that they can receive that administrator's full attention (& hopefully promotion). At the moment there are three examples of people administering multiple playlists i.e. I program The Fallen & The Horde, Saxy programs The Gateway & The Infinite & Andi programs The Revolution & The Sphere. We're looking to move away from that model once we identify a suitable owner for some of those clans. It is up to the clans themselves to promote their playlists & I encourage as much of that as possible as time has shown us very clearly that if you don't do anything then your playlist following will stagnate. We've only recently changed the playlist names to allow them to come up more readily in Spotify searches so it's a great time to start promoting them.
(How) do the rules differ between The Horde, The North, and The Guardians?
Yes. I think I've already answered that already.
Ben, please add Ætheria Conscientia's new "The Blossoming" album.
I've been thinking that this track-by-track investigation has run its course now as there's not much interaction going on any more. I might just post the full albums as I finish my analysis of each one instead. I've just finished investigating every metal-related release I could find from 1978 & have a few to add to our running chronological list. Here's a couple that didn't make the cut though:
Sorcery - "Stunt Rock" (1978)
This is a different Sorcery to the one that released "Sinister Soldiers" in the same year. This one's from Los Angeles with this being their lone full-length. It's actually the soundtrack to a theatre performance strangely enough. There's a little bit of metal here, primary in the tracks that bookend the tracklisting, but it's a long way from being a genuine metal release.
Centaurus - "Centaurus" (1978)
Another one-off American album that's obviously more hard rock than it is metal. In fact, "Centaurus" really only has the one heavy metal number included in its nine tracks so I'm baffled as to how people can justify any claims for metal being a primary genre here.
Sacred Reich - "Independent" (1993)
Phoenix thrash metallers Sacred Reich may not have been a member of the infamous Big Four or even one of the close runners up like Testament or Exodus but this didn’t stop them playing a significant role in the childhoods of Ben & I. I first picked up on them through their very solid 1988 “Surf Nicaragua” E.P. before heading back to check out their equally impressive 1987 debut album “Ignorance” & things only escalated further when Ben got onboard for 1990’s “The American Way” sophomore album whose steady stream of quality riffs could be heard emanating from our bedrooms for many a weeknight. While the impact of “The American Way” has faded for me a touch over the years, it’s still a pretty decent thrash record that had the two of us showing more than a little interest when its follow-up “Independent” hit the shelves in 1993. Sadly though, my initial exposure to “Independent” through metal radio programming hinted at a different sound that I wasn’t so onboard with & this caused me to hesitate a little before rushing out to buy the album. I opted to take the safer option of picking up a dubbed cassette copy through the tape trading scene rather than dishing out my hard-earned cash for a legal version &, once I heard the album in full, I was glad that I took that direction as “Independent” wasn’t everything I’d hoped it would be. It’s been decades since I last heard the album though &, given that I’ve found a new appreciation for Overkill’s notorious “I Hear Black” record over the last week, I thought I’d give it one more chance to win me over.
My first impressions upon revisiting “Independent” were that the production job is a little unusual for a supposed thrash metal release. The guitars are tuned down a half-step & have been given a thicker, heavier tone that’s more commonly associated with groove metal than it is with thrash which isn’t a coincidence. You see, despite what most online resources will tell you, “Independent” isn’t a thrash metal release or a heavy metal one for that matter. It is, in fact, a pretty obvious example of the groove metal sound that had quickly stolen thrash metal’s crown following the Pantera explosion. The riffs are far more simplistic & rhythmic than you’d expect from thrash which is more fast-paced, incisive & exciting. There is some tremolo-picked stuff here at times but it’s nothing out of the ordinary for your average groove metal release to be honest.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with this stylistic deviation in theory but there are a couple of obvious problems with “Independent” that make it feel like a poor option for Sacred Reich to have taken. The first is that bass-playing front man Phil Rind’s voice doesn’t suit this material as well as the thrash metal of the band’s roots as the less cluttered riff structures give him a lot more space to work with & he’s simply not a good enough singer to pull it off. It’s not that he’s consistently pitchy or anything (although he certainly is in places). It’s just that he feels a little bit out of his depth most of the time. The other issue is that some of the song-writing is subpar, particularly the God-awful heavy metal ballad “I Never Said Goodbye” & the double-whammy of “Crawling” into “Pressure” which is really very dull indeed. There are some positives though as almost half of the tracklisting offers something of interest. The high-quality, mid-paced chugger “Product” is my clear favourite but I also enjoy the more aggressive, hardcore-driven numbers “Independent”, “Supremacy” & “Do It” as well as the pretty folk instrumental “If Only”. The guitar solos of Wiley Arnett are also excellent & often represent the high points of the songs.
Look, there are worse records out there than this one but it was clearly a misguided attempt to cash in on the growing popularity of the groove metal movement & it didn’t pay off for Sacred Reich who were previously regarded as a consistent performer in the thrash scene. I would check out each of their subsequent releases, if only for reasons of nostalgia, but none of them could compete with their early releases so “Independent” is very much the tipping point for them as a band. It’s a real shame as releases like “Surf Nicaragua” & “Ignorance” showcased a clear talent that I expected to flourish into something genuinely special at some point but it was apparently not to be.
For fans of Machine Head, 90's Anthrax & "I Hear Black"-era Overkill.
3/5
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This morning's track is Alkana's "Freedom Lady" which I would suggest is hard rock:
I'm comfortable with the blackgaze status of "Souvenirs d'un autre monde" & would agree that it's the most influential Alcest release Ben. I don't think we'll need it though as "Sunbather" is all that's required here in my opinion. The popularity & profile of blackgaze took off exponentially after that record blew up.
Overkill - "I Hear Black" (1993)
As an old thrasher from way back, I’d suggest that my relationship with New Jersey second tier stalwarts Overkill might surprise a few people. You see, despite finding most of their material to be pretty enjoyable, it’s very rare that I find any of their releases to be anything like essential with only their very solid 1991 fifth album “Horrorscope” ticking all of the required boxes. Their other widely claimed classics like “Feel The Fire”, “Taking Over” & “The Years of Decay” simply don’t get me going as much as they do the rest of the extreme metal community for one reason or another yet I’ve still religiously kept up to date with each successive release since first discovering their “The Years Of Decay” album back in 1989. In fact, my enthusiasm for Overkill was probably at its highest point leading up to the release of their 1993 sixth full-length “I Hear Black” given that it came off the back of what was comfortably my favourite Overkill record to this day in “Horrorscope”.
My younger brother Ben would end up picking “I Hear Black” up on CD at the time which suited me just fine as it enabled me to continue focusing on my unquenchable thirst for death/black metal. That arrangement would only become more favourable for me after I heard “I Hear Black” for the first time too as their brand new opus showcased a very different Overkill to the one I was expecting &, upon first impressions at least, it wasn’t for the better. Unfortunately, Overkill seemed to have succumbed to the dreadful virus that was going around at the time: influ-Pantera (I know… I couldn’t come up with anything better at short notice). As with many other prominent thrash bands of the early 1990’s, Overkill had opted to follow the current trend towards Pantera’s groove metal sound in the hope of receiving a similar level of riotous attention. It didn’t work for them however & “I Hear Black” would be regarded by most as a creative flop but is it as bad as I (& the vast majority of the metal community) thought it was at the time? Well, if the last couple of days have taught me anything it’s that sometimes music needs a second chance because “I Hear Black” isn’t half bad.
As with all Overkill records, “I Hear Black” is a reasonably well produced album with strong performances, particularly from front man Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth & the twin guitar attack of Merritt Gant & Rob Cannavino who pretty much do enough to carry the album thanks to some high quality vocals & some equally strong guitar solos. The appeal of the rest of the album’s components really does come down to how open you are to hearing Overkill playing groove metal though &, at the time of release, I don’t think I was ready for it. Now though, I can appreciate the song-writing a lot better given that I know what I’m in for & haven’t touched on Overkill for a while. Don’t get me wrong, it’s never gonna be a memorable, vital metal record, even for the groove metal crowd, but it is worth listening to & doesn’t deserve the flack it cops from some stubborn thrashers out there.
The major drawback with “I Hear Black” is its inconsistency with four of the eleven songs doing very little for me. These songs generally match up with the more groovy material with my least favoured inclusion “Spiritual Void” even sounding like stoner metal at times. That still means that the decent tracks outweigh the duds though which is a clear sign that the album has been a touch underrated, at least in my household. That’s not to say that there are any classic tracks here though with my three favourite songs heavy/thrash number “World of Hurt”, grunge piece “Shades of Grey” & the atmospheric interlude “Ghost Dance” all being more solid than they are unforgettable but the rest of the material is still decent enough to leave me with positive experiences overall.
Look, I’m not gonna deny that “I Hear Black” was the weakest Overkill album to the time because I believe that it was but not by anywhere near as much as people seem to think. In fact, I’d comfortably take it over the 1984 self-titled or 1987 “!!!Fuck You!!!” E.P.’s these days if I'm being honest. If you categorically hate groove metal then you may have a dealbreaker on your hands but I think the genre has its moments & have been very pleasantly surprised to find that “I Hear Black” has a lot more to offer than I gave it credit for over the years.
For fans of Pantera, 90’s Anthrax & latter-day Annihilator.
3.5/5
US doom masters Pentagram would record this early stoner metal anthem some time in 1973. Just listen to those blues rock-inspired stoner riffs, psychedelic clean sections & Jimi Hendrix influenced lead solos! Filthy stuff!
Today's track is Alkana's "On Our Own" which I'd suggest sits somewhere between heavy metal & glam metal:
Rex, as an unbiased third party, I can tell you that you came across as telling people that enjoy "Fallen Angel of Doom....." that they are wrong to do so. Even that statement about your "four question method" is insinuating that Blasphemy fans' rating methodologies are shallow & inferior to your own. You seem to be saying that if I rate this record much more highly than you do then I'm only looking at one element of the music which simply isn't the case. Saying things like "I don't enjoy the album because...." or "I don't understand the appeal & feel that it's overrated" are fine. Saying things that insinuate that your taste is superior to others (whether directly or indirectly) is not & that's what I took away from some of your above comments. I'm aware that this wasn't intentional but that's how it was perceived. No more attempts to justify your position please. Let's learn from it & move on now thanks.
"Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" also included "Killing Yourself to Live", an expansive & creative piece that combines heavy metal, hard rock & stoner rock in engaging fashion. Despite the general consensus, it's actually more rock than it is metal but the chorus is metal as fuck which ensures it qualifies for metal status.
This morning's track is Alkana's "Montezuma's Sweet Revenge" which I'd suggest in hard rock with it's cool Led Zeppelin-ish, behind-the-beat swagger:
Alright, let's move onto one I'm not massively knowledgeable about, although I might be just experienced enough to know the major influences. It's not exactly a subgenre filled with creativity and has remained relatively the same over the years, so I'm hoping this is pretty straightforward.
WAR METAL
Thankfully this subgenre has one very clear instigator, being Blasphemy from Canada. Their Fallen Angel of Doom.... album from 1990 is certainly the most influential release of this style. The big question is whether or not anything that has come after it has done enough with the blueprint or created enough of a stir to hit a most influential black metal release list.
Probably the only release I can come up with is Conqueror's War Cult Supremacy, which took things to an unprecedented level of destruction, undoubtedly encouraging others to pick up their instruments and try to obliterate the world with them.
Other possible bands are Beherit and Bestial Warlust, but I'm not sure if I could justify their inclusion in a list like this. I'm going with Blasphemy as a likely inclusion and Conqueror as a possible inclusion. Thoughts?
Blasphemy - Fallen Angel of Doom.... (1990)
Conqueror - War Cult Supremacy (1999)
No argument from me on a lone Blasphemy entry.
Just completed my Top Ten Metal Release of 1992 list which has ended up surprising me a little bit. Who would have thought that I'd have three industrial metal releases in there & only two death metal!? And it'd be topped by an alternative metal record too!!
01. Alice in Chains - "Dirt"
02. Neurosis - "Souls at Zero"
03. Ministry - "Psalm 69"
04. diSEMBOWELMENT - "Dusk" E.P.
05. My Dying Bride - "As The Flower Withers"
06. Nine Inch Nails - "Broken" E.P.
07. Godflesh - "Pure"
08. Darkthrone - "A Blaze In The Northern Sky"
09. Bolt Thrower - "The IVth Crusade"
10. Seance - "Fornever Laid To Rest"
I can’t agree that Immortal & Darkthrone were essentially doing the same thing. That’s simply not the case. I’m not gonna dispute that “At the Heart of Winter” has been Immortal’s most influential release though & would suggest that it will probably be the one to make this list. I will however suggest that it’s heavily overrated (why am I the only one that notices that Abbath can’t play guitar to save his life?) & should have been included in the meloblack section if anywhere at all.
I would argue that "Sons of Northern Darkness" saw Immortal watering down the sound that made them so special to begin with to be honest. It's a pretty decent record in its own right but I don't buy into the concept of it (or "At The Heart of Winter" for that matter) being any sort of classic/essential release. I would have thought that a list like this one would call for a "Pure Holocaust" or "Battles In The North" well before either of those releases.
My position on Marduk is similar to that of Sonny's. I love my black metal to be dark, aggressive & brutal but I'm not sure that I'd call any of Marduk's releases essential even though there are a few that give some serious jollies.
And for the record Ben, after giving it some thought over the last day or so I'm tending to favour "Enthrone Darkness Triumphant" over "Dusk and Her Embrace".
Black Sabbath released their highly celebrated fifth album "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" on 28th December 1973 & it included this high-quality, multi-faceted stoner metal anthem:
Today we kick off a new release in Alkana's "Welcome To My Paradise" with opening track "California Rock 'n' Roll Queen" being an early example of glam metal in my opinion:
It’s not really surprising. Dimmu Borgir play at opera houses with pop singers & on TV talk shows. They might as well be a boy band. They also appeal to the female market, particularly the goths which opens them up to a whole world of opportunity. In fact, the three bands were looking at here are probably the top three for sales (CoF a close second) which tells you that the added accessibility of the symphonics is a strong selling point.
I read that Dimmu Borgir are the biggest selling black metal band of all time recently. It wouldn't seem right not to consider one of their releases when you take that into account.
I think three melodic black metal releases is about right but do we need more than one symphonic black metal release? "In The Nightside Eclipse" would cover it for me personally.