Daniel's Forum Replies
Sorrow - "Hatred & Disgust" (1992)
New York four-piece Sorrow are an act that was first brought to my attention back in my 1990's tape trading days with their debut album "Hatred & Disgust" entering & exiting from my life relatively quickly. I didn't find a lot to grab onto as far as I can remember so I don't recall giving Sorrow a lot of time before placing them firmly into the "none of my business" basket. My recent explorations of my youth have seen me wondering if I might have been a little harsh on "Hatred & Disgust" though, particularly given the points of comparison that are most regularly raised when discussing the album, so I decided to give it another chance this week & boy am I glad that I did too.
I'd describe the sound that Sorrow go for on "Hatred & Disgust" as a particularly doomy example of the old-school death metal model with the production possessing that classic graveyard feel. The album is often tagged as doom/death which isn't all that far off the mark but I feel that this is a little too strong in the death metal component to warrant dual primaries. The musicianship is fairly primitive but Sorrow's sound is well-defined & maximizes the limited skill sets of the individual contributors quite nicely. The lead guitar work of Billy Rogan & Brett Clarin is probably the only area that I'd criticize with their solos generally representing the weaker moments on the album. It's the vocals of bassist Andy Marchione that are the main focal point though with his tone sitting somewhere between a less powerful "Blessed Are The Sick"-era Dave Vincent (Morbid Angel) & the whispery delivery of Revenant's Henry Veggian. Marchione's phrasing & accent is heavily influenced by Death's Chuck Schuldiner though & you can also pickup the impact of that band in some of the tremolo-picked riffs & more complex rhythms on "Hatred & Disgust".
The tracklisting kicks off beautifully with doom/death opener "Insatiable" being the clear highlight & the only genuine classic of the six cuts on offer. Death metal stomper "Forced Repression" & epic closer "Unjustified Reluctance" are also very strong & provide great support. "Separative Adjectives" is a bit disappointing but it's not enough to taint what I've found to be a thoroughly rewarding forty-minute death metal experience that fans of Cianide, Cruciform & early Paradise Lost should consider to be required listening. I honestly have no fucking idea why I couldn't see the appeal in this stuff back in the day & would have to suggest that "Hatred & Disgust" is one of the more underrated releases from death metal's heyday.
4/5
This morning's track is Judas Priest's "Here Come The Tears" which I regard is being progressive/hard rock:
Also, I checked out La Tierra Prometida's other 1976 album "Él volverá" which again offers barely any rock music, let alone metal.
This morning's track is Judas Priest's "Raw Deal" which is one that I'm gonna have to go against the consensus & say is hard rock rather than heavy metal:
Also, I checked out La Tierra Prometida's 1976 "Vida" album this week & there's not even any rock there, let alone metal. It just sounds like Mexican folk music to me.
Comecon - "Megatrends in Brutality" (1992)
I first came across Swedish death metallers Comecon at Neuropath vocalist Mark Wangmann's house way back in 1993 when I noticed a cassette copy of their debut album "Megatrends in Brutality" sitting on his bedroom side table. Upon questioning him about it I was advised that the album featured Entombed/Nihilist/Firespawn/Morbid legend L-G Petrov behind the microphone which tweaked my interest & I ended up borrowing the tape so that I could create a dubbed copy for myself. Upon getting home & whacking it into my tape deck I found that Comecon offered a crust punk-infused brand of death metal that was built around the guitars of band leaders Pelle Ström (also of Swedish thrashers Agony) & Rasmus Ekman with the drums appearing to have been programmed. It sounded OK but wasn't something that offered me a lot of long-term appeal so it didn't receive too many return visits after the first few days. We're now over thirty years down the track & I just noticed that the "Megatrends in Brutality" is still yet to receive a rating at the Academy so I've committed to breaking that drought with my first revisit since I was just a teenager.
The production job on "Megatrends in Brutality" isn't too bad which gives the riffs enough weight to offer full value for money. I will say that the drum machine sounds come across as pretty clicky & primitive though which does detract from the enjoyment a bit, particularly given that the programming itself isn't exactly the most sophisticated you'll find with fills & rolls being kept fairly minimal. Blast beats are utilized sporadically across the tracklisting & usually match up with the more hardcore influenced riffs of which there are plenty on offer, so much so that I feel that the album is deserving of a dual tag with deathgrind. I can't say that I've ever thought that Petrov's vocal delivery was anything particularly special but he does a reasonable job here without ever really threatening to create anything worthy of a highlight reel.
The tracklisting begins quite well with three of the stronger inclusions kicking off proceedings before things start to go down hill through the middle of the album. There are a couple of decent numbers towards the back end of the record (particularly album highlight "Omnivorous Excess") but it's not quite enough to save "Megatrends in Brutality" from the abyss as it simply doesn't deliver consistently enough to be worthy of a mention in a period when death metal was at its absolute peak, both creatively & commercially. There's nothing too awful included but one feels that if not for Petrov's contribution then Comecon would likely not have registered the slightest blip on the extreme metal radar. As a result, I'd suggest that "Megatrends in Brutality" is for Entombed superfans only.
3/5
Yeah, I would probably tag it as soft rock, but AOR is a good call, although I associate that more with the Eighties.
I considered going with soft rock but then noticed that it's a subgenre of pop rock which doesn't seem quite right in this situation.
Today's track is Judas Priest's "Let Us Prey/Call For The Priest" which I'd suggest is the earliest example of speed metal:
Kreator - "Renewal" (1992)
Much like Exodus' notorious "Force of Habit" album that I reviewed last week, Teutonic thrash metal heavyweights Kreator's sixth album "Renewal" is widely regarded as the releases that signaled the end of the band's classic period. It saw Kreator going for a fresh new sound & taking creative risks but the public seemed to shun any notion of their German heroes morphing into anything other than the band they grew up with & "Renewal" bombed pretty hard. I was just sixteen years old at the time though & lived in Sydney, Australia where I was somewhat sheltered from the wider global reception. I'd been a HUGE Kreator fan for a good three years by that stage & "Renewal" would be the second of their albums that I'd pickup at the time of release. I went into it with extremely high expectations but, although there's no doubt that "Renewal" was different to what I expected, I was open to following the band down whatever musical rabbit-hole they'd take me on. I don't recall the album being as divisive amongst the local metal community I was a part of at the time either, potentially because we were younger & less inclined to want our metal pigeon-holed into specific genres. It's been a few years since I've heard "Renewal" now so I thought I'd find out if my feelings of nostalgia were still strong enough to see the album holding up in 2024.
"Renewal" sees Kreator taking several bold moves away from the vicious thrash metal attack of the past. For starters, we see them utilizing down-tuning for the first time which was always gonna give them a different feel. The riffs are much simpler too with a stronger focus being placed on building a cold atmosphere than ripping the listeners face off. There's certainly an industrial component to a couple of the tracks but it's not as significant as some critics will have you believe. The elements of groove metal are more noticeable though as we find many of the riffs veering away from thrash altogether & taking a chunkier & more rhythmic approach. Front man Mille Petrozza's vocal delivery is very serious as he barks & spits out social commentary in a fashion that deviates from his traditional raspy tone. I'm not sure I like it as much but it does feel like he's finally grown up a little bit which is possibly something that can be said of the band as a whole as everything sounds more measured & controlled. Possibly the only element that suffers noticeably from the new approach is the guitar solos which are as theoretically incorrect as ever but sound much more incompetent in their newly exposed surroundings.
"Renewal" certainly isn't as immediate as past Kreator albums & takes a few listens to really dig its talons in. It's a darker record than we've seen from Kreator in the past with several parts even feeling doomy. There are no weak songs included in the consistent tracklisting & I ironically find the most popular number "Renewal" to be the least effective piece these days, even though (& perhaps even because) it was the very first song my old death metal band Neuropath covered back in 1993. There aren't many genuine highlight tracks though either & I feel that this fact has been instrumental in the general feeling that "Renewal" is a creative failure which is a very harsh viewpoint in my opinion. The wonderfully doomy "Karmic Wheel" is by far my favourite piece of the nine on offer & has always been an anthem for my early 90's youth.
Look, "Renewal" no doubt presents a very different Kreator to the one we'd known & loved up until that point but it was never intended to be "Coma of Souls Part II" & this is obvious in its title which should have provided a hint as to Kreator's intent. There are still plenty of thrashtastic moments for those that require them but there's also a greater focus on song-writing & a stronger social message than the past which is simply the result of the band maturing & striving for relevance in a changing musical environment. I liken "Renewal" to Sepultura's "Chaos AD" album in many ways & wouldn't be at all surprised if it had been an influence as you'll find many of the same adjustments have been made, although the Brazilian's 1993 fifth album would be infinitely more popular for one reason or another. Regardless of that, I think people are missing out on a really strong Kreator record here, mainly due to the universal impatience that sees a large portion of the listening public only giving a record a listen or two before forming their opinions on it. For me personally though, I'd take "Renewal" over a few of Kreator's more widely celebrated releases like the "Out of the Dark... Into the Light" E.P., their debut album "Endless Pain" & even their highly acclaimed third album "Terrible Certainty" these days.
4/5
This morning's track is Judas Priest's "Last Rose of Summer" which I consider to be AOR or adult-oriented rock:
This morning's track is Judas Priest's "Starbreaker" which I'd suggest is heavy metal.
Also, I checked out the 1976 self-titled debut album from Switzerland's Krokus yesterday & found no sign of metal. It's a progressive hard rock record.
Today's track is Judas Priest's "Diamonds & Rust" which is certainly a tricky one. There's no doubt that it possesses a galloping rhythm which is usually something that's associated with metal but here it's performed exclusively by the bass guitar & reminds me more of a Blondie disco track than it does Iron Maiden. Despite what some people seem to think, I don't think there's any double-kick work here & the rhythm guitars are limited to ringing open-string chords. It sounds pretty unintimidating too so I'm gonna go with hard rock on this one.
I took a look at the 1976 “El Reloj II” sophomore album from Argentina’s El Reloj this morning but found no metal. It’s a progressive rock record for mine.
I also visited the 1976 “Coming” debut album from German singer Jutta Weinhold which is nothing more than hard rock.
I checked out Deep Purple's 1975 "Come Taste The Band" tenth album this afternoon & found no metal at all. It's a pretty pure hard rock record for mine.
Andi, I also gave Scorpions' 1975 "In Trance" third album a couple of listens. The opening track "Dark Lady" qualifies as heavy metal but that's about it I'm afraid. "In Trance" was easily Scorpions' heaviest release to the time but that doesn't make it metal as the vast majority of the album is pure hard rock. There aren't even many riffs included with most of the rhythm guitar work comprised of ringing open-string chords (i.e. hard rock).
Seriously, check out how old Glenn Tipton & Ian Hill look in the new Judas Priest video clip. They can barely move, let alone play! With producer Andy Sneap shown playing as a third guitarist, I'm skeptical about the chances of Tipton (76) & Hill (71) having actually played on the record, particularly given the undeniable skill set of lead guitarist Richie Faulkner. Am I wrong? The track's not all that good either to be honest although there's no doubt that it sounds exactly like Priest.
OK, here's one that you'll all want to hear as it would seem to be a pretty blatant example of plagiarism but from a strangely unexpected source. The chorus to Yngwie Malmsteen's 1992 track "All I Want Is Everything" would appear to copy the chorus hooks of Paula Abdul's 1988 megahit "Opposites Attract". Let me know what you think.
Chilean technical thrash metallers Demoniac have just released a brand new live album entitled "Azote en Mibar". It was recorded at a show from 21st January 2023.
I've been a huge fan of Ulcerate since my return to metal in 2009 & religiously check out everything they put out with an expectation of high quality. It certainly helps that they have the best drummer in the world within their ranks (& I genuinely mean that - all genres too). I don't think technicality is as much of a thing for them as it used to be although the dissonance is still there. They've become one of the more creative extreme metal bands in the world these days & I think their last album "Stare Into Death & Be Still" was their finest work to date.
i think it's pretty safe to say that Rush, great band that they were, have never made a metal record.
Quoted Sonny
Yes, I agree but I'm not just looking for full releases here. The other project I'm preparing for requires me to identify individual songs, techniques & influences so I'm just being thorough & are enjoying the process from an educational perspective.
This morning sees us kicking off a new release in Judas Priest's "Sin After Sin" album from 1977 with the opening cut "Sinner". This has obviously gone on to become known as one of the great heavy metal anthems of the 1970's & with good reason too. It's interesting though that only about half of the track is actually metal. The other half is made up of hard/blues rock (just listen to that riff at 2:20 for example) & a fairly lengthy heavy psych guitar solo section. The drumming sits in the hard rock space most of the time too. So, while it certainly qualifies as metal & I don't think it requires a second primary tag given that it's inherently built around metal concepts, I'm gonna suggest that it's worth a couple of secondaries.
I checked out Rush's 1975 third album "Caress of Steel" this morning & found no trace of metal. It's a progressive hard rock record.
Nice! I really dug "Astral Fortress" so will be keen to see what this one offers too.
Exodus - "Force of Habit" (1992)
By 1992 I'd already been an Exodus fan for a good few years & had enjoyed everything they'd done to the time (with the exception of their primitive 1982 demo tape). Their 1985 debut album "Bonded By Blood" is unquestionably one of the greatest examples of the thrash metal sound & is still an all-timer for me while the two records that followed it ("Pleasures of the Flesh" & "Fabulous Disaster") were both very solid releases indeed. 1990's "Impact is Imminent" had seen many fans jumping off the train but I honestly think it's been harshly treated over the years as it wasn't too bad in my opinion. I mean, it was certainly a step down from the first three records but I still got a fair bit of enjoyment out of it, even if it may not be a release that I regard as essential when exploring the Exodus' back-catalogue. 1992 would see things getting a lot worse for Exodus though with the their fifth album "Force of Habit" bombing in a major way & triggering claims of selling out to the new Pantera groove metal sound. Ben & I picked the album up upon release (on cassette from memory) & I recall us both being pretty disappointed with it. I couldn't exactly recall why when I attempted to draw upon those brain cells recently so I thought I'd give it another chance with a fresh & open mind.
Let me be clear about one thing straight up, "Force of Habit" is a hugely self-indulgent record. It's run time has been stretched out to a ridiculous 68 minutes with a few of the thirteen songs exceeding the duration they should naturally expire at by a considerable margin. We'd started to see Exodus making longer songs for a couple of albums now & it was something that I thought I'd keep an eye on as it didn't always sit comfortably with me but here it can be a little grating. The other major change of note is the stylistic variety on offer with Exodus now including a good half a record (well... a whole record for most bands) of material that wasn't strictly thrash metal. While I do think the calls to tag "Force of Habit" as a groove metal record are extreme given that the few tracks that take that direction don't amount to even 20% of the album, there can be no doubt that their experiments with the newly popular genre were a creative failure as songs like the title track & "Climb Before the Fall" are nothing short of awful. They're actually not all that bad from a purely instrumental point of view but Steve Souza's vocals performances sound completely at sea over the top of this material. He's absolutely phoned in some of these efforts in & I wouldn't be surprised if his poor contribution here had played a role in Exodus going into a twelve-year hiatus following this record because he really is that bad at times & that's coming from someone that's generally a big fan of him too. Another interesting talking point is the inclusion of a few tracks that reside more in the heavy metal camp than they do a thrash or groove metal one & the results aren't too bad actually with some of the better tracks on the album falling into this space.
Unfortunately, the tracklisting is massively inconsistent with none of the thirteen songs achieving classic status. Down-tempo heavy metal chugger "One Foot In The Grave", thrashtastic closer "Feeding Time At The Zoo" & the eleven-minute US power metal epic "Architect of Pain" (my personal favourite) are all classy efforts that are worthy of inclusion on any of the Souza-fronted albums while "Me, Myself & I", "Fuel For The Fire", "When It Rains It Pours" & "Good Day To Die" all offer enough to keep me interested. In fact, there's enough quality material included here to have made for a solid four-star, forty-minute record that would have surpassed some of Exodus' also-ran releases like "Impact Is Imminent" & "Tempo of the Damned" for overall consistency. Why must Exodus insist on including sub-par cover versions on their albums though with The Rolling Stones' "Bitch" or Elvis Costello's "Pump It Up" having nothing of interest to say? It's frustrating to say the least & I can't imagine how Gary Holt must have felt when listening to the final result because there are some ripping guitar solos on this record but they're partially nullified by poor creative decisions & below-par song-writing. It's no wonder I put "Force of Habit" aside & didn't return to it until now. Thankfully "Architect of Pain" takes up a fair chunk of the run time which sees my rating staying closer to a respectible mark than is probably warranted but a three-star rating is still well below expectations for one of the biggest names in thrash metal.
3/5
Just created my Top Ten Metal Releases of 1991 list & it really does show what an amazing year it was for metal & especially for a 15 year old me. In fact, I could almost have created a top 20 releases without running out of records that I regard as genuine classics.
01. Death - "Human"
02. Carcass - "Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious"
03. Morbid Angel - "Blessed Are The Sick"
04. Slayer - "Decade of Aggression: Live"
05. Sepultura - "Arise"
06. Earth - "Extra-Capsular Extraction" E.P.
07. Soundgarden - "Badmotorfinger"
08. Pestilence - "Testimony of the Ancients"
09. Suffocation - "Effigy of the Forgotten"
10. Suffocation - "Human Waste" E.P.
Autopsy - "Retribution For The Dead" E.P. (1991)
I first became acquainted with legendary California death metallers Autopsy through their 1989 debut album "Severed Survival" after hearing some of the more popular songs on late-night metal radio programming in the very early 1990's. I was madly indulging in anything I could find in the way of death metal at the time which saw me seeking out a dubbed copy of the album shortly afterwards but if I'm being completely honest I'd have to suggest that I never quite understood the novelty that led to "Severed Survival" being held up on such a pedestal by most death metal fans. I certainly got enjoyment out of it but found it to be far from the classic it was so often touted as. However, it wouldn't take me all that long to get on the Autopsy train with 1991 spawning my two favourite Autopsy releases in the "Retribution For The Dead" E.P. & their career-defining sophomore album "Mental Funeral" which is still my pick of the bunch. "Mental Funeral" is deservedly the record that most people talk about when referring to Autopsy's legacy but I've always felt that "Retribution For The Dead" served as a great indulgence into a particular element of Autopsy's sound & it's about time that I explored it in a more critical manner so that I can submit a well-informed Metal Academy rating.
"Severed Survival" was very much the prototype for filthy, gore-soaked death metal that didn't take itself too seriously & valued atmosphere & imagery over precision musicality but "Retribution For The Dead" was something altogether different in that it took the doomier elements that were hinted at on the debut & made them the focal point of the three-song affair, so much so in fact that it's left me questioning whether there's even any reason to have the E.P. attached to the death metal genre at all given that it so clearly seems to fit in with the definition of the doom/death one that resides solely in The Fallen. Autopsy have always been at their best when they're at their doomiest so this approach was welcomed with open arms by this particular death metal nut. The up-tempo one-two beats still pop up on occasion but they're kept to a minimum this time which suits me down to the ground.
The production job is interesting here & would be a defining component of both of Autopsy's excellent 1991 releases. The guitar tone has had a little distortion sliced off the top which gives things a completely different feel to most death metal. It's somehow more twisted & repulsive which is kinda genius if you think about it because I wouldn't have guessed that would be the result of such a venture. The song structures are also pretty loose & veer well away from the traditional verse-chorus concept with an anything-goes type of arrangement being adopted instead. The vocals of drummer Chris Reifert (Static Abyss/Abscess/Death/The Ravenous) can tend to cross the line into pure silliness at times which has been a common observation over the years but that's kinda in line with Autopsy's whole tongue-in-cheek image & mentality so can be forgiven for the most part.
The opening title track is mildly entertaining but is clearly the weaker of the three tracks on offer with the two songs that would later appear in a re-recorded format on "Mental Funeral" (i.e. "Destined To Fester" & "In The Grip Of Winter") being the more impressive examples of the early 90's Autopsy sound. I definitely prefer the album version of "In Tne Grip Of Winter" but that's not too much of a criticism as "Retribution For The Dead" had already left its mark on me by the time I purchased "Mental Funeral" on cassette shortly after its release & a couple of months after the E.P. hit the shelves. If you're a big Autopsy fan then you owe it to yourself to explore this record as it's deserving of its place amongst the band's finest works while Asphyx, Winter & Coffins fans should also be placing it in their to-do lists.
4/5
The final track from Black Sabbath's "Technical Ecstasy" album is "Dirty Women" & my take on this one is bound to be controversial. While the first two minutes of this lengthy seven minute track hark back to the traditional doom metal sound that Sabbath had founded on their first four albums, the remaining five minutes sees them veering away from metal altogether which sees my tagging the track as a progressive hard rock piece overall. I just don't think the metal component is significant enough for a primary tag.
So, that leaves "Technical Ecstasy" with a metal ratio score of just 26 which is only enough for a heavy metal secondary underneath a hard rock primary. Tomorrow we'll be kicking off a new release in Judas Priest's classic 1977 third album "Sin After Sin".
Also, I checked out Thin Lizzy's 1975 fifth album "Fighting" this week &, even though it was clearly their heaviest release to the time, there's no metal to found with the majority of the tracklisting indulging in a hard rock sound.
Immolation - "Dawn of Possession" (1991)
The debut album from these New York death metal legends would not only represent my introduction to the band but would also be a pretty big record for me at the time, particularly given that this was the period when death metal was completely taking over my life. That dark & dense Immolation sound is already well in effect here with the most notable component being the unusual rhythmic complexity that I've always found to be very exciting. The performances aren't super-precise but then that was never really Immolation's bag, instead going for a swampier sound that benefits from a bit of looseness in the musicianship. The drumming has always been Immolation's weak spot but here we see Craig Smilowski (Disma/Goreaphobia) putting in much better performance than we'd hear from later Immolation drummers & arguably being the MVP from an instrumental point of view. There's a truckload of Morbid Angel influence on display here which can only be a good thing, particularly when combined with bass player Ross Dolan's monstrously devastating death growls which are some of my favourite in the entire genre. I'm often reminded of Incantation & Gorguts' debut album "Considered Dead" in the way Immolation go about their craft too.
So, if all of the ingredients are here for an elite death metal experience then why haven't I scored "Dawn of Possession" any higher than I have? Well, it comes down to consistency. The A side is most certainly pretty classic, particularly the three-track run of "Despondent Souls" into the title track into "Those Left Behind" which is the album highlight & one of Immolation's very finest works. However, the B side simply offers a very solid run of death metal tracks without any genuine classics amongst the five songs on offer. In saying that, I do regard "Dawn of Possession" more highly than some of the band's more widely celebrated releases like "Here In After" & "Unholy Cult" & it's still my second favourite Immolation release behind the magnificent "Close To A World Below" which is a top five death metal record for me overall. I can't see too many fans of the classic death metal sound not getting some seriously jollies out of this album to be honest as it simply ticks all of the boxes.
4/5
This morning's track is Black Sabbath's "She's Gone: which I'd suggest is best suited to a baroque pop tag:
I have to admit that I, even though "All Out War" certainly isn't as bad as I originally thought it was, it's still not something that I can see myself ever feeling like revisiting again. It sounds more like a demo than a proper release with the production & performances being pretty scratchy. The vocals are enjoyable when they get super-aggressive but they can also be a bit lucklustre at other times. The riffs are pretty generic for the most part too. There's nothing horrible here but there's also not much to write home about either.
3/5
My updated Top Ten Neoclassical Metal Releases of All Time after revisiting this month's The Guardians feature release this week:
01. Yngwie Malmsteen – “Trial By Fire: Live In Leningrad” (1989)
02. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Odyssey” (1988)
03. Vinnie Moore – “Mind’s Eye” (1986)
04. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Marching Out” (1985)
05. Jason Becker – “Perpetual Burn” (1988)
06. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Rising Force” (1984)
07. Yngwie Malmsteen - "Fire & Ice" (1992)
08. Yngwie J. Malmsteen – “Trilogy” (1986)
09. Cacophony – “Speed Metal Symphony” (1987)
10. Tony MacAlpine - "Maximum Security" (1987)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/141
I just wrote a full review of this album & then accidently deleted it so I'm not gonna go through the lengthy process again. Let's just say that "Fire & Ice" is an underrated release that saw Yngwie returning to some level of form after 1990's disappointing "Eclipse" album. The clear highlights are the two wonderful neoclassical metal instrumentals "Perpetual" & "Leviathan" which manage to balance out the three or four duds amongst the fourteen song tracklisting very well. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Yngwie well & truly puts competitors like Cacophony, Jason Becker & Michael Angelo Batio back in their boxes with those because no one can touch him when he decides to get his dark & exotic leather pants on & these two tracks are the absolute peak of the niche genre for mine.
The album jumps around quite a bit stylistically which keeps you on your toes with hard rock, heavy metal, power metal & even glam metal, classical music & symphonic metal getting the odd airing. The semi-regular use of bridges that go full-throttle down a cheesy classical music hole is something I could do without but the more sporadic use of keyboard solos & the wonderfully capable vocals of Göran Edman (Madison/Time Requiem/Vinnie Vincent Invasion) certainly do no harm whatsoever. Was Yngwie simply repeating himself by this stage? Yeah, there's no doubt that he was but I'd actually take "Fire & Ice" over 1986's much more popular "Trilogy" album if I'm being honest so it's far from the misfire people seem to claim it to be these days.
3.5/5
Today's track is Black Sabbath's "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor" which I regard as being hard rock.
Also, I gave Budgie's 1975 fifth album "Bandolier" a couple of listens this morning. It's not a metal record. It's a hard rock release with heavy metal influences for mine. The closing track "Napoleon Bona-Part One/Napoleon Bona-Part Two" is pure heavy metal though.
Here's my adjusted Top Ten Technical Thrash Releases of All Time list after revisiting KAT's "Bastard" this week. Destruction's "Cracked Brain" is the unlucky one to drop out of the list.
01. Coroner – “Mental Vortex” (1991)
02. Sadus - "Swallowed in Black" (1990)
03. Sadus – “A Vision Of Misery” (1992)
04. Coroner – “No More Color” (1989)
05. Hellwitch - "Syzygial Miscreancy" (1990)
06. Cryptic Shift – “Visitations From Enceladus” (2020)
07. Ripping Corpse - "Dreaming With The Dead" (1991)
08. KAT - "Bastard" (1992)
09. Obliveon - "From This Day Forward" (1990)
10. Toxik – “World Circus” (1987)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/173
Here's my review:
I believe that I first came across Poland's KAT when a European tape trader sent me their highly regarded 1988 third album "Oddech wymarłych światów" back in the early 1990's, a release that I quite enjoyed & which led me to explore their 1992 "Bastard" album shortly afterwards. "Oddech wymarłych światów" had seen KAT moving away from their heavy/roots metal roots towards a thrash metal sound that was more in line with my musical preferences but it just lacked the consistent quality in the riffs & those couple of genuine highlight tracks that would take it from being a pleasant one-off experience to a more engaging one worthy of multiple revisits. "Bastard" would see KAT taking their sound to the next level & shows clear evidence that the four-year gap between albums had not been wasted. You see, "Bastard" is much more than your standard early 1990's thrash metal release. It's a complex & expansive beast of a technical/progressive thrash record that takes risks & subsequently offers greater rewards than it's more widely acclaimed predecessor. That's not to say that "Bastard" doesn't have it's flaws though because it certainly does.
The production job isn't amazing with the rhythm guitar tone being a little flat & overly dry but the main detractor is the dodgy Polish vocals of Roman Kostrzewski which don't seem to fit as comfortably over the more technically inclined brand of thrash that KAT were dishing out at the time. I would definitely have preferred a more classically capable singer here to tell you the truth. Thankfully though, the instrumentation is pretty wonderful & offers more than enough in the way of mind-bending rhythmic gymnastics to keep this ol' trasher interested throughout a blemish-free tracklisting.
As with "Oddech wymarłych światów", I wouldn't suggest that there are any genuine classics amongst this lot though. My issues with the vocals goes a long way to ensuring that but there is some good variation in style included to keep the listener on their toes. With the exception of the more straight-forward title track, the first half of the album generally indulges in a challenging technical/progressive thrash sound but KAT change things up a bit in the middle of the record with a two-minute instrumental neoclassical metal piece called "N.D.C." which is very effective in showcasing the flashy sweep-picking skills of guitarists Piotr Luczyk & Jacek Regulski. The tracklisting is also closed out by "Łza dla cieniów minionych" which I could only suggest was an early example of gothic metal & is a far cry from the aggressive tech thrash of the rest of the album. It doesn't seem out of place or jarring though which is a credit to KAT's creative vision & ability to execute in a fluent fashion.
I have to say that it's kinda strange that no one seems to mention "Bastard" when talking about the better examples of the technical/progressive thrash sound as it's emphatic in its statement in that regard. In fact, I'd suggest that it's one of the best examples of that style I've experienced to be honest which is really saying something. KAT are generally compared with bands like Venom, Sodom & fellow Poles Turbo but "Bastard" sits much more comfortably alongside artists like Аспид & Obliveon as well as the more technical Annihilator material in my opinion & if those acts bring a spring to your step then it's a safe bet that "Bastard" will too as long as you can handle the Polish language vocal delivery. It's certainly a step up in class from "Oddech wymarłych światów" in my opinion & is probably the best of the six KAT releases I've heard over the years.
4/5
I would personally also include Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and Scorpions albums In Trance and Virgin Killer, because I also consider those releases equally heavy metal/hard rock, and they're worth discussion to see if anyone agrees with me and if they should end up in the site, but that's just my opinion.
Andi, I revisited "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow" in great detail over the last two days & have to ask where you're finding any genuine metal on that album because I can't identify any personally.
Today's track is Black Sabbath's "All Moving Parts (Still Still)" which I don't consider to be any more than hard rock:
Today's track is Black Sabbath's "Gypsy" which is a hard rock number:
Also, I checked our Rush's 1975 sophomore album "Fly By Night" yesterday & there's no metal there whatsoever. It's a progressive hard rock record.
Here's my review:
English death metal establishment Bolt Thrower quickly became a key player in my youth after I discovered their 1989 sophomore album "Realm of Chaos" through late-night underground metal radio programming during the very early 1990s. Tracks like "World Eater", "Eternal War" & "All The Remains" received regular air-time during that period & I was instantly attracted to their dark, war-worshipping tone. I'd subsequently purchase the album on cassette & it's a record that I still think of with fond memories to this day although I wouldn't say that I've ever regarded it as a classic. It would certainly impress me enough for me to not only explore Bolt Thrower's 1987 "Concession of Pain" demo tape, 1988 "Peel Sessions" recordings & debut album "In Battle There Is No Law!" (the latter two of which I enjoyed) but also to race out & purchase their 1991 third album "War Master" upon release. I'd already been given a taster a month earlier through the "Cenotaph" E.P. which was centered around arguably the best track from the album so I was well up for what was in store for me by the time the full-length CD hit my player. "War Master" would receive many listens from me that year & has commanded regular revisits ever since but, despite it being held up as a genuine death metal classic by many death metal fans, I've never seen it as the equal of the two albums that followed it which is where my Bolt Thrower sweet spot is. It's time I gave "War Master" the time to find out why that is.
"War Master" would very much represent the next step in Bolt Thrower's evolution following two full-lengths that still maintained an element of dirt & grit. It would see the band cleaning up their sound a bit & going for a more professionally presented death metal package that placed a higher value on production & precision. The grindcore component that was still quite evident on "Realm of Chaos" is considerably less prominent on "War Master" which is focused on a slightly more melodic death metal sound with blast-beats being used less regularly. You can still hear elements of the thrash metal influence that was evident in their early works in the guitar solo sections which are pretty clearly inspired by the Kerry King/Jeff Hannemann model. Despite that though, "War Master" would be the record that would define the classic Bolt Thrower sound & style, a model that they'd rarely veer away from for too long over the course of their five subsequent albums.
The glossy album cover is a pretty good representation of where Bolt Thrower were at in their musical evolution too actually. It's brighter & more colourful than the "Realm of Chaos" artwork was, even though they're built around similar "Warhammer" role-playing-game inspired themes. The performances of the five individuals seem more controlled & restrained with a stronger focus on cohesion & precision than sheer extremity. Jo Bench's immense bass tone plays a key role in allowing guitarists Gavin Ward & Barry Thompson the room to explore increasingly more melodic riff structures without losing anything in the way of bottom end. Drummer Andrew Whale does struggle a bit with the increased visibility afforded to him by the cleaner production with his clicky kick drum work coming across as a little sloppy, particularly when compared to the precision performances he would contribute in the near future. I'd also suggest that Ward & Thompson's guitar solos are pretty disposable a lot of the time as neither were exactly virtuosos or, on the evidence here, had a lot to say with their lead work from a creative viewpoint either.
The tracklisting is seriously consistent though with all ten songs achieving a very solid song-writing standard that ensures that the listener knows they're listening to one of the leading players in the scene. There's admittedly starting to be a hint of the formulaic about this collection of tunes but you can easily accept that when the formula is so fresh & appealing. The one-two punch of "Cenotaph" & the title track are the clear classics of this collection &, once you hear those two, it's a little hard to see "War Master" as the classic it's reported to be as the other material is so clearly less emphatic in achieving its goal. There needed to be a couple more tracks of that caliber included for "War Master" to reach a more elite death metal stature with me personally. "Cenotaph" is notable for being the sequel of the best track from "Realm of Chaos" too as it begins by fading in where "World Eater" faded out. "Spearhead" from the next album "The IVth Crusade" would continue that journey.
You won't find a hint of anything less than high quality death metal amongst this collection of tunes as it's an impressively composed, produced & executed record all round, marginally pipping out "Realm of Chaos" for Bolt Thrower's best work to the time. I feel that the band needed another crack in order to fully capitalize on their new vision though with 1992's "The IVth Crusade" being the true benchmark of their career & 1994's "...For Victory" not being too far behind. There can be no denying the relevance of "War Master" at a time when the death metal scene was starting to really explode on a global basis though & it has its main competitors covered pretty comfortably with bands like Benediction, Asphyx & Hail of Bullets having to satisfy themselves with being also-rans rather than genuine competition.
4/5
This morning's track is Black Sabbath's "It's Alright" which I'd suggest sits somewhere between piano rock & pop rock:
My first question has got to be "did Daniel really suggest the Equilibrium track?!" I mean, I quite dug it too, surprisingly (it felt very cinematic), but it seems most unlike him.
It was a pretty lean month for me for The North releases so I thought I'd include it in the interest of diversity. It was probably the least offensive track from an album where I found nothing whatsoever that appealed to me.
The new full-length from Chicago drone outfit Locrian (entitled "End Terrain") is due to hit the shelves on 5th April. I really dug 2010's "The Crystal World" album so I may just need to partake in some of this fine audio.
Italian tech deathsters Hour of Penance are due to release their ninth album "Devotion" on 5th April. I've been a big fan of them for around fifteen years now so I'll be all over it.
For those that are interested (i.e. not me), there's a new Savatage album due to be released on 4th April entitled "Curtain Call". It'll be their twelfth full-length & their first since 2001's "Poets & Madmen".
After absolutely loving 2001's "Worst Enemy" & quite liking 2003's "Spreading the Rage", I'm very interested in the brand new twelfth full-length "Killing Karma" from German death metallers Disbelief which is due to hit the streets on 31st March.
For those of us that enjoyed last year's self-titled E.P. from US power metallers Savage Oath (raises his hand), their debut album "Divine Battle" hits the streets next week.
The new "Apocalyptic Onanism" remixes release from English extreme metallers Anaal Nathrakh hit the streets yesterday. It's been a while since we've heard from them so I'm interested to hear what they've got in store for us.
I just checked out the 1975 self-titled debut album from Argentina’s El Reloj & found no metal whatsoever. It’s a progressive rock record with jazz-rock influences.
Quiet Riot’s 1975 “Suicidal Show” E.P. doesn’t contain any metal either. It’s a generic hard rock record.
Here's the running chronological list of my results so far:
This morning's track is Black Sabbath's "You Won't Change Me" which I regard as being heavy metal, mainly due to the thick & powerful metal guitar tone as the strong use of crunchy drawn-out chords could have gone either way given that it's a tool that is just as commonly seen in the heavier examples of hard rock. This track really does sound a lot like some of Ozzy's darker & more brooding 1980's solo work.
Here's my review:
I believe it was my younger brother Ben that first brought Sweden's Slumber to my attention many years ago as he's been quite a fan of the band's sole full-length "Fallout" for a long time now. Slumber was a talented six-piece outfit that only got the chance to put out the one proper release in their nine years of existence which would seem to be a shame based on the evidence here. You see, "Fallout" presents a band with a fully realised sound that clearly already knew who they were & what they aspired to be. Their audience clearly "get it" too as "Fallout" has gone on to become somewhat of a classic release for the doom/death genre over the couple of decades since.
"Fallout" sees Slumber dishing out a sound that's a little difficult to pigeon-hole into a single, well-fitting subgenre. The most commonly used option is doom/death which I agree with but I've never been 100% comfortable with my position on that given that... well... you'll find that it's not particularly doomy if you give it any level of scrutiny. But neither can I find a better fitting tag so it's as good a description as any I guess. The other factor is just how melodic "Fallout" is which sees people tending to label it as melodic doom/death which is getting a lot closer to the truth. People that try to push it into melodeath territory are certainly clutching at straws though because I don't hear any genuine death metal on display here. I do however pickup quite a bit of gothic metal in the instrumentation, production & clean vocals so there's a case for a secondary tag there for sure.
The production job on "Fallout" is wonderfully clean, bright & expansive &, in many ways, represents one of the defining elements in Slumber's appeal. There's no doubt that Slumber are a little more melodic than I would usually go for but it's hard not to see yourself caving in to the attractive packaging the song-writing is draped in here. The other major selling point is the musicianship which is spectacular throughout with all band members being well in control of their instruments & pushing themselves creatively. Bass player Mikael Brunqvist is worthy of particular mention as I find his contribution to be the high point of the album with his clean tone & confident & melodically in-tune backing adding an additional layer of professionalism to an already pretty impressive platform. Front man Siavosh Bigonah's death growls are perhaps not quite so emphatically successful but I wouldn't say that he has a negative impact on the outcome as such. It's just that his death "growls" sound more like death "barks" a lot of the time.
The more uptemo songs like "Conflict" & closer "A Wanderer's Star" tend to offer me a little less appeal than the heavier material but there are no weak tracks included here. The title track is the obvious highlight though with it's Katatonia-inspired melodic theme possessing the sort of ear-worms that have kept me in awe of a record like "Brave Murder Day" for so many years. Opener "Rapture" & "Distress" are probably my other picks of the bunch but "Where Nothing Was Left" & "Dreamscape" are very solid efforts as well. You see, there's very little to complain about with a record like "Fallout" if you're drawn to full-realised & well-executed extreme metal music. It's all just so damn impressive in its achievement of its chosen goal which makes me want to like it more than my taste profile would generally allow for.
If you're the type of extreme metal fan that tends to angle towards the more melodic side of the scene then "Fallout" should be a complete no-brainer because it's very much tailored to you & your musical preferences but I'd hate to think that people will allow comments like that to limit the potential for them to check this record out either because it's won this battle-hardened extremist over pretty comfortably. Finland's Rapture, fellow Swedes Enshine & Amercians Daylight Dies are probably the best points of comparison I can think of at the moment & if those artists already feature pretty prominently in your Spotify world then I hold very few fears of "Fallout" not playing an active role there for some time into the future as well as it's a very solid & accomplished example of the melodic doom/death sound.
4/5
I've never got round to this one, but if the music is as atmospheric as the cover then it should be a treat.
Interestingly, RYM tells me that you rated this release back in December 2017 Sonny. Must have left a deep impression. ;)
Here are few of my hidden gems guys:
The Amenta - "Flesh Is Heir" (2013) Industrial death metal from Sydney, Australia
Glorior Belli - "Meet Us at the Southern Sign" (2009) French black metal
Gnaw Their Tongues - "Abyss of Longing Throats" (2015) Industrial black metal/noise from Suriname
Here's my review:
Polish one-man black act Evilfeast & I first crossed paths back in 2009 when I gave lone contributor GrimSpirit's 2008 third full-length "Lost Horizons of Wisdom" a few listens & really enjoyed it too. This experience would not only see me experimenting with some of Evilfeast's other releases & finding them all to be worth hearing but it would also see me asking myself the obvious question: What exactly IS an "evilfeast"? Is it the food that's evil or the patrons at said feast? If not the food or the techniques used to eat said food then I'd have to question the relevance of calling it an evilfeast actually but anyway... moving right along... I come into "Elegies of the Stellar Wind" (GrimSpirit's fifth album under the Evilfeast moniker) with some experience with both this work & most of his other releases although I've never gotten around to rating or reviewing any of them which seems to be a common theme these days given my self-imposed rules around how & what I review.
Now, I'm gonna be open about the mistake I made coming into this revisit of "Elegies of the Stellar Wind"; an album that a remembered quite enjoying. You see, I chucked it on straight after my third straight listen to our Rollins Band feature release "The End of Silence" which is a much heavier & more intense record. Evilfeast's effort seemed to sound a little lacklustre in comparison to be honest & I started to think that I might have over-stated the level of appeal the album had offered me in the past. The intentionally lo-fi production job certainly contributed to that with the guitars sounding far too distant during the sections where they're isolated in the mix & the vocals sitting too far back in the mix for the most part too which I'm guessing was intentional. The pretty regular use of symphonics saw me recoiling a bit as well as I've never been the biggest fan of the more keyboard-driven black metal model but a couple more listens saw "Elegies of the Stellar Wind" opening up a bit & I ended up finding myself getting a fair bit of enjoyment out of most of it.
Evilfeast's sound is often compared with the more prominent one-man atmosheric black metal acts but I feel that an artist like Burzum offered a much darker & colder package than the one we get here. The keyboards are used in a trancier fashion & the tempos are often pushed into faster territory which gives Evilfeast a lighter feel, even though the influence of the early Emperor releases is obvious at times. In fact, the use of the "atmospheric black metal" tag is actually a little questionable with a lot of this material as some of it would fit a touch better under the symphonic black metal or conventional black metal tags but I think it's the production & general aesthetic that keeps people reaching for the atmospheric variety when describing the album. I wouldn't say that Evilfeast are offering anything terribly fresh or original here though & artists like Sweden's Bekëth Nexëhmü, Switzerland's Paysage d'Hiver & Greece's Nocternity are probably a pretty good gauge of what you should expect.
I think my struggles with my initial revisit of "Elegies of the Stellar Wind" were definitely contributed to by the decision to kick the tracklisting off with the piece that offers me the least in the way of appeal with twelve-minute opener "The Second Baptism... Shores in Fire & Ice" ending up being a bit of a struggle. That kinda set me into a negative mindset from the start & it wasn't until I restarted the album from a different starting point on my drive home from work that I found that I could reset my expectations & really dig into the sounds on offer. I still can't say that I genuinely love anything that Evilfeast have to offer here but the vast majority of it is pretty enjoyable. It's just that there's always one or two elements of each of the six lengthy pieces that sees my smile turning upside down & my issues with the production & the use of simplistic drum programming probably don't help either. Unsurprisingly, it's the darker & more brutal moments that work best for me & they usually come without the bombastic keyboard which helps too.
If I draw back on my past experiences with Evilfeast I'd have to suggest that "Elegies of the Stellar Wind" is one of his better records although it doesn't really sit in my personal black metal wheel-house. Thankfully I managed to accept that fairly early on which enabled me to simply try to enjoy the ride which has worked pretty well for the most part. I definitely needed a couple of listens to get into Evilfeast's sound though so if you experience similar struggles upon your first spin then I'd urge you to have a bit of faith that things will slip into place with repeat listens. I'd also recommend that you draw upon the alternate meaning for the word "stellar" when reading the album title (e.g. "a stellar cast had been assembled") because it makes for a few chuckles if you're not one of those kvlt elitist black metal types.
3.5/5
This morning's track is Black Sabbath's "Back Street Kids" which is predominantly a chuggy heavy metal tune even though the bridge sees them taking a detour through proggy hard rock: