Daniel's Forum Replies
Some more new releases for April:
Full of Hell - "Coagulated Bliss"
Pestilence - "Levels of Perception"
Deicide - "Banished By Sin"
Today we start a new release in Bow Wow's 1977 sophomore album "Signal Fire". Here's the opening track "Prelude" which I regard as being progressive rock (yes, the link also includes the second track):
Two more new releases coming our way from old 70's/80's bands this month:
Teutonic thrash metallers Darkness have their seventh album "Blood on Canvas" coming out on 26th April. I haven't heard anything they've done since their 1988 sophomore album "Defenders of Justice" but have time for both of their first two full-lengths so this might be one I throw on at some point.
Marty Friedman - "Scenes" (1992)
Washington-based guitar virtuoso Marty Friedman first came to my attention during the late 1980's when I stumbled across his Cacophony project with teenage prodigy & fellow shred master Jason Becker. Their 1987 debut album "Speed Metal Symphony" gave me a reasonable amount of pleasure, if mainly due to the ridiculously accomplished technique on display from both of the protagonists. I'd soon explore the duo's debut solo records with Becker's 1988 "Perpetual Burn" being significantly more interesting than Friedman's "Dragon's Kiss" from the same year. "Dragon's Kiss" is generally regarded as an essential release by guitar enthusiasts but I simply found its weaker tracks to overshadow the stronger material with his penchant for cheesy melodies having the final say on whether the album made the cut with me or not. Thankfully though, Friedman would join Megadeth soon afterwards & would go on to contribute to all five of their 1990's albums, the most notable being 1990's "Rust In Peace" which is still held up on a pedestal as one of the great thrash metal releases of all time in the present day. I also quite liked 1992's "Countdown to Extinction" & 1994's "Youthanasia" but in between those two commercially successful heavy metal records Marty would enter the Californian home studio of renowned Japanese new age music producer Kitaro to record his second solo album "Scenes" which would be released in November 1992. I'd forgiven Marty for the inadequacies of "Dragon's Kiss" by this stage, mainly because he absolutely blew my fucking face off with his performance on "Rust in Peace", so I picked up a copy of "Scenes" upon release, eager for more of Marty's exotic neoclassically-inspired stylings. What I got though was not what I was expecting at all because little did I know that Marty had been taken under Kitaro's wing & that "Scenes" would appear to be somewhat of a tribute to his master.
The metal credentials of "Scenes" aren't actually that straight forward because I'd suggest that the larger portion of the album is made up of genuine new age music of the Japanese variety. That's not necessarily a problem but the way it's been produced here sounds terribly dated & cheesy at times with cheap sounding synthesizers seemingly being the order of the day. Perhaps this shouldn't have been a surprise in retrospect given that the keyboards are performed by Kitaro's band mate Brian BecVar who has gone on to become known for his work with commercial pop artists like Celine Dion, Michael Bolton & Richard Marx. Friedman's clean guitar work appears to have been intentionally composed to reflect the whole Japanese theme & the way he uses string bends to accomplish this is really quite ingenius. His melodies are rarely dark or mysterious though. They're more often pleasant & uplifting which isn't usually my bag but I've made an honest attempt to overcome my preconceived notions here. The other significant component of the album is made up of heavy metal instrumentation with Megadeth drummer Nick Menza contributing the beats & most of the metal material is at least pretty decent. Hell, the short & brooding "Trance" is absolutely outstanding & I can't for the life of me understand why Marty wouldn't have elaborated on that idea any further as it's the clear highlight of the album for mine. Other strong inclusions include new age opener "Tibet" & "Realm of the Senses" which is very much a hybrid that explores both new age & Yngwie Malmsteen-ish neoclassical metal.
Look, there are actually more hits than misses on "Scenes" so it's not an absolute disaster. It's just that the weaker inclusions are bad enough to see them nullifying all of that good work which is a little disappointing to be honest. As I said, I'm not the biggest fan of "Dragon's Kiss" but I'd still probably take it over "Scenes" which doesn't say a lot for Marty's ability to produce a consistently compelling solo album. I mean, there's not even all that many moments where Marty shows off his dazzling technique here which would at least be something to grab onto for an old shred-head like me. Maybe I'm destined to never hear the great record that I'm sure Friendman has inside of him but you know what? I'm at peace with that.
3/5
My Dying Bride - "As The Flower Withers" (1992)
As with Anathema whose debut E.P. I revisited only last week, Halifax doom/death legends My Dying Bride can lay claim to providing the soundtrack to a considerable chunk of my youth. Ben & I discovered both bands in the very early stages of their recording careers & would follow them religiously for many years to come. 1992's "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium" was my introduction to My Dying Bride & it flattened me in no uncertain terms so their debut full-length "As The Flower Withers" had a lot to live up to. It's been a while since I've revisited it but all of my recollections indicated that it totally lived up the expectations too, despite often being overlooked in favour of My Dying Bride's impeccable 1993 sophomore album "Turn Loose The Swans" & classy 1995 follow-up "The Angel & the Dark River". Going into this revisit I would have said that that pecking order wasn't all that unfair but I was hopeful that the gap would prove to be a lot smaller than my memory would suggest. That's certainly proven to be the case too with "As The Flower Withers" pleasantly surprising me with just how fully realised it was for such a young band.
The title track from "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium" had seen My Dying Bride touching on a fresh new sound that no one in the extreme metal scene had yet been bold enough to attempt. The use of violin to accentuate its gothic grandeur was nothing short of a masterstroke & would spark a wave of copycats worldwide. None would be able to touch My Dying Bride in their execution however & this element would go on to become the calling card for the band's early works. The other two tracks on the E.P. were vastly different in their structure & style though which begged the question as to what direction the debut full-length would take. Well, what ended up transpiring was a record that still represents a band that's in transition from their early death metal roots into a full-fledged gothic doom metal band. Of the six proper songs included, there are three gargantuan doom/death masterpieces that are similar to "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium" in what they aim to achieve but then we also get some less ambitious & more obviously death metal focused pieces as well as some that fall somewhere in between. The production job is still quite raw which also sees the death metal scene keeping a close watch over My Dying Bride, particularly in regard to the rhythm guitar tone which could have been pulling straight off an Autopsy or Bolt Thrower record. Front man Aaron Stainthorpe's vocal delivery is still limited to his imposing death growl too & I for one are really happy about it as I've always thought Aaron's grunt was one of the more unique & powerful in the extreme metal scene while his clean vocals have sometimes bordered on being whiny & repetitive.
The neoclassical darkwave intro piece "Silent Dance" performs its task brilliantly & leads into one of the band's finest works in the epic "Sear Me" which immediately takes my heart-strings & splays them all over the room. The life-changing "The Bitterness & the Bereavement" & the masterful "The Return of the Beautiful" take a similarly mournful & downtrodden violin-led doom direction & it's this material that categorically proves that My Dying Bride are the real deal when it comes to this subgenre as they've rarely been matched & have never been surpassed by the competition that they were responsible for inspiring in the first place. The more death metal inclined "The Forever People" & "Erotic Literature" aren't nearly as ambitious but aren't anywhere near as magical in their effectiveness either. They're definitely not to be overlooked though as neither could be regarded as being weak as such. It's pretty telling that the doomier parts of both are the most appealing parts of the songs though as it provides clear proof that My Dying Bride were heading in the right direction. "Vast Choirs" kinda sits in the middle ground between the two styles & is not a bad summary of the album really.
Despite the inclusion of some less significant tracks, "As The Flower Withers" is built around & carried by its highlights with the elite material also being by far the longest inclusions. I simply can't fault My Dying Bride while listening to those pieces & feel that the overall album was always destined to achieve one of my higher scores, regardless of how much less impactful the remainder of the record proved to be. The band would veer away from death growls & violins at various stages of their career & I feel that it says a great deal that I've always found those records to be missing something. What it tells me is that My Dying Bride had perfected their sound very early on, at least they had for me personally. As good as "The Angel & the Dark River" was, I can't deny that I favour "As The Flower Withers" over it these days, primarily because it's more closely aligned to my personal taste profile. The debut still offered a gothic feel but it doesn't resort to overly melodramatic emasculation to get there, instead taking a much more muscular yet no less beautiful approach that possesses a timeless quality that sees it aging much better. Fans of Novembers Doom & the early works of Paradise Lost & Anathema simply must own this album because it was as responsible as any of the early doom/death releases for defining the parameters that the subgenre would traverse over the many decades to come.
4.5/5
Once again I find myself adjusting my Top Ten Death Doom Metal Releases of All Time list with Evoken's "Quietus" making way for "As The Flower Withers". I've also dropped Meshuggah's "I" E.P. out of my Top 100 Metal Releases of All Time list to enable it to slip into number #71 there too.
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. Anathema – “Serenades” (1993)
06. My Dying Bride - "As The Flower Withers" (1992)
07. Anathema – “The Silent Enigma” (1995)
08. Winter - "Into Darkness" (1990)
09. My Dying Bride – “Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium” E.P. (1992)
10. Anathema - "The Crestfallen E.P." (1992)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/131
Today's track is the closer from Quartz's 1977 self-titled album in "Little Old Lady" which I'd suggest is best suited to a progressive rock tag.
That leaves "Quartz" with just three metal tags out of the nine tracks included which is not enough for me to qualify it as a genuine metal release. Tomorrow we'll be beginning a new release in the 1977 "Signal Fire" sophomore album from Japan's Bow Wow. It's often referred to as the root of Japanese metal & I've long held some fairly strong opinions on that so let's see how it holds up to more detailed scrutiny, shall we?
As a taster for that exercise, I decided to check out Bow Wow's self-titled 1976 debut album yesterday but didn't find any metal there. It's a hard rock record with heavy psych & boogie rock influences for mine.
Here are the feature releases nomination recipients for May with Sonny coming back into the roster after a few months off:
THE FALLEN: Ben, Sonny, Daniel
THE GATEWAY: Saxy, Andi
THE GUARDIANS: Xephyr, Daniel
THE HORDE: Daniel, Sonny, Ben
THE INFINITE: Saxy, Andi, Xephyr
THE NORTH: Sonny, Xephyr, Ben, Daniel
THE PIT: Sonny, Daniel, Ben
THE REVOLUTION: Daniel, Andi
THE SPHERE: Andi, Daniel
I've removed Shezma from the roster given that he's failed to submit his nominations for the last couple of months in a row so I'm assuming that he's lost interest.
Saxy & Xephyr, are you still looking to be a part of the nominations roster? If so then you'll need to get your nominations in before the last day of the prior month as I've had to nominate releases for you recently.
Godflesh – “Someone Somewhere Scorned” (from “Slavestate” E.P., 1991)
PSYCHO-FRAME – “The Plot To Nuke The Midwest” (from “Automatic Death Protocol” E.P., 2023)
The Crown – “Dead Man’s Song” (from “Deathrace King”, 2000)
Demoniac – “Acaro” (from “Nube Negra”, 2023)
Hellripper – “The Cursed Carrion Crown” (from “Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags”, 2023)
Anacrusis – “Paint A Picture” (from “Manic Impressions”, 1991)
Running Wild – “Straight To Hell” (from “Blazon Stone”, 1991)
Iced Earth – “Stormrider” (from “Night of the Stormrider”, 1991)
Trhä - "Tëmana olh qëtën colvënna bé'jar lhëlh tun lhaja enΩëjëda£ehan inqom" (from "Alëce iΩic" E.P., 2023)
Neuropath – “Vulgar Rebirth” (from “Nefarious Vivisection” demo, 1995)
Entombed – “Crawl” (from “Crawl” E.P., 1991)
Pungent Stench – “Splatterday Nightfever” (from “Been Caught Buttering”, 1991)
Morgoth – “Body Count” (from “Cursed”, 1991)
Napalm Death – “Mass Appeal Madness” (from “Mass Appeal Madness” E.P., 1991)
Gorguts – “Inoculated Life” (from “Considered Dead”, 1991)
Massacre – “Succubus” (from “From Beyond”, 1991)
Sodom – “Resurrection” (from “Better Off Dead”, 1991)
Anthrax – “Bring The Noise” (from “Attack of the Killer B’s”, 1991)
Oromet – “Diluvium” (from “Oromet”, 2023)
Solitude Aeturnus – “Mirror of Sorrow” (from “Into The Depths Of Sorrow”, 1991)
April 2024
01. Cenotaph – “Crying Frost” (from “Epic Rites: 9 Epic Tales & Death Rites”, 1996)
02. Children of Bodom – “Lake Bodom” (from “Something Wild”, 1997)
03. Hypocrisy – “Adjusting The Sun” (from “The Final Chapter”, 1997)
04. My Dying Bride – “Vast Choirs” (from “Towards The Sinister” demo, 1991) [Submitted by Daniel]
05. Entombed – “But Life Goes On” (from “But Life Goes On” demo, 1989) [Submitted by Daniel]
06. Neuropath – “Masticated Cadaver” (from “Nefarious Vivisection” demo, 1995) [Submitted by Daniel]
07. Benediction – “Jumping At Shadows” (from “The Grand Leveller”, 1991) [Submitted by Daniel]
08. Unaussprechlichen Kulten – “Die teufelsbucher” (from “Häxan Sabaoth”, 2024) [Submitted by Sonny]
09. Internal Bleeding – “Driven to Conquer” (from “Driven to Conquer”, 1999)
10. Theory in Practice – “The Visionnaire” (from “The Armageddon Theories”, 1999)
11. Pyrrhon – “The Invisible Hand Holds a Whip” (from “What Passes For Survival”, 2016)
12. Gutalax – “Toi Toi Story” (from “Shit Happens”, 2015)
13. Massacre – “Dawn of Eternity” (from “From Beyond”, 1991) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]
14. Cancer – “Tasteless Incest” (from “Death Shall Rise”, 1991) [Submitted by Daniel]
15. Coffins – “Hour of Execution” (from “Beyond The Circular Demise”, 2019) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]
16. Verminous – “Salvation by Extermination” (from “Impious Sacrilege”, 2003) [Submitted by Sonny]
17. Found Dead Hanging – “Solar Powered Sun Destroyer” (from “Dulling Occams Razor” E.P., 2003)
18. Behemoth – “Here & Beyond” (from “Zos Kia Cultus (Here & beyond)”, 2002) [Submitted by Sonny]
19. The Ritual Aura – “Precursor of Aphotic Collapse” (from “Laniakea”, 2015) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]
20. Incantation – “Blasphemy” (from “Blasphemy”, 2002) [Submitted by Sonny]
21. Contaminated – “Cosmic Shit Show” (from “Celebratory Beheading”, 2024) [Submitted by Sonny]
22. Mortician – “Redrum/Outro” (from “Mortal Massacre” single, 1991) [Submitted by Daniel]
23. Cannibal Corpse – “Frenzied Feeding” (from “Chaos Horrific”, 2023) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]
24. Malevolent Creation – “The Will To Kill” (from “The Will To Kill”, 2002) [Submitted by Sonny]
25. Tower of Rome – “They Say She Died Because She Was Too Honest” (from “All is Lost, All is Lost, All is Yet to be Found”, 2004)
26. Sete Star Sept – “Pilot Error Snooze” (from Beast World”, 2016)
27. Sissy Spacek – “Meat Slave” (from “Disfathom”, 2016)
28. Cephalic Carnage – “Zuno Gyakusatsu” (from “Lucid Interval”, 2002) [Submitted by Sonny]
29. Karmacipher – “Necroracle” (from “Necroracle”, 2016)
30. Fulci – “Gore Life” (from “Opening The Hell Gates”, 2015) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]
31. Glossectomy – “Self Mangled Malformation” (from “Impediments From Dysplasia” E.P., 2014)
32. Hymenotomy – “Orgasm Achieved By Disemboweling Pregnant Women & Inserting Decapitated Fetuses Into Hairy Anus” (from “Some Necrophiles Having Sex With Naked Autopsied Bodies In the Morgue”, 2015)
I explored Thin Lizzy's 1976 seventh album "Johnny The Fox" this morning but didn't find any metal there whatsoever. It's another pure hard rock record as far as I can see.
This morning's track is Quartz's "Pleasure Seekers" which I've tagged as being hard rock:
Thanks for submitting your vote on this one Sonny. It's seen us meet a reasonably strong consensus at YES 5 NO 0 so I'm going to pass this nomination. The release has been adjusted accordingly.
Yeah I did. I fixed a mistake.
Checked out Deep Purple's 1976 "Made in Europe" live album this afternoon but found no metal material. It's a straight-up hard rock record for mine.
These are the releases that are currently very close to a result in the Hall of Judgement:
Pink - "Boris" (The Fallen)
Turbo - "Dorosłe dzieci" (The Guardians)
Motorhead - "Motorhead" (The Guardians)
maudlin of the Well - "Leaving Your Body Map" (The Infinite)
Katatonia - "The Great Cold Distance" (The Gateway/The Infinite)
Cryptic Shift - "Visitations From Enceladus" (The Horde/The Infinite/The Pit)
Månegarm - "Vredens tid" (The North)
7 Horns 7 Eyes - "Throes of Absolution" (The Horde/The Infinite)
Metallica - "Through the Never" (The Guardians/The Pit)
Author & Punisher - "Krüller" (The Fallen/The Sphere)
Death - "Live in L.A. (Death & Raw)" (The Horde/The Infinite)
Hexer - "Cosmic Doom Ritual" (The Fallen/The Infinite)
Black Sabbath - "Paranoid" (The Fallen/The Guardians)
Metallica - "Ride The Lightning" (The Guardians/The Pit)
If you're familiar with any of these releases but are still yet to cast your vote then what are you waiting for!
Despite the shredding Uli Jon Roth guitar solos, there's not a genuine metal track on 1976's fourth Scorpions album "Virgin Killer". It's pure hard rock as far as I'm concerned.
I've decided that the YES 5 NO 0 vote tally is enough to get this one over the line so I've added "Malleus Maleficarum" to The Horde & the Death Metal genre on top of its position in The Pit under Thrash Metal.
I checked out Rush's 1976 double live album "All The World's A Stage" this morning but found no metal there. It's a progressive hard rock release for mine.
This morning's track is Quartz's "Around & Around" which I'd suggest sits somewhere between heavy metal, hard rock & progressive rock. I'm gonna say that it ticks the metal box though.
I checked out the 1976 "Tickle Your Fancy" debut album from Australia's Taste this morning. It's certainly pretty heavy for the time but I don't think there's a genuine metal tune here as such. I'd suggest that it's a hard rock record with heavy metal & boogie rock influences.
The brand new High of Fire ninth album "Cometh the Storm" is being released on 19th April. I absolutely love their 2012 "De vermis mysteriis" record but haven't really given them a lot more time over the years. Perhaps this is my chance.
The brand new Melvins album "Tarantula Heart" comes out on 19th April. I haven't checked out anything they've done since 2012's "Scion A/V Presents: The Bulls & the Bees" E.P. but have been really digging their early 90's material of late so perhaps I'll give this one a spin.
The new My Dying Bride album "A Mortal Binding" is coming out on 19th April. I don't think I've checked out anything they've done since 2011's "The Barghest O' Whitby" E.P. but they've obviously been a big band in my life so there's every chance I'll check it out at some point.
US metalcore outfit Zao have a brand new live album hitting the shelves on 19th April entitled "Live From the Church". I didn't mind our recent Zao feature release in 1998's "Where Blood & Fire Bring Rest" album so this might be worth a listen or two.
New York heavy/power metal legends Riot V have a brand new album coming out on 12th April entitled "Mean Streets". I don't think I've heard any of their gazillion albums since 1988's excellent "ThunderSteel" but enjoyed all of their 1980's records so I'm a little curious.
Australian alternative metallers Northlane have a brand new E.P. coming out on 12th April entitled "Mirror's Edge". I really enjoyed their 2022 sixth album "Obsidian" so this one might be worth a look too.
French brutal death metallers Benighted have a brand tenth new album coming out on 19th April entitled "Ekbom". I'm partial to some of their records so I might need to check this one out.
A Perfect Circle, Puscifer and Primus are set to drop a new joint EP, "Sessanta E.P.P.P.", in celebration of their upcoming joint "Sessanta" tour. The EP will feature a new song by each band that was co-written alongside Maynard James Keenan. The track titles are: "Kindred" (A Perfect Circle); "No Angel" (Puscifer); and "Pablo's Hippos" (Primus). The EP will be released on March 29th, just days before the tour kicks off. It will be available digitally and on vinyl.
Hypocrisy - "Penetralia" (1992)
Swedish extreme metal establishment Hypocrisy have generally built their reputation within the more melodic death metal circles over the years but some may not be aware that they originally began life as a more conventional death metal band back in the early 1990's. In fact, I still kinda think of them in more traditional terms if I'm being honest because we have a very long relationship. Hypocrisy & I first crossed paths when I noticed a cassette copy of their 1992 debut album "Penetralia" on one of my early visits to Neuropath vocalist Mark Wangmann's house in early 1993. I'd ask to borrow it so that I could make my own copy & it'd receive a fair few spins in my Walkman that year. Interestingly though, I never really thought of "Penetralia" as being anything too special, instead treating it as a fairly uneventful meat-&-potatoes death metal release that didn't bring anything new to the table but ticked many of my boxes from a sound point of view. For that reason, I haven't found myself returning to "Penetralia" since the 1990's but my recent period of nostalgia for that period has seen me tempted into a much overdue revisit.
Look, I certainly wasn't wrong with my assessment back in the day because "Penetralia" is every bit your standard early-90's death metal offering. Despite coming from the powerful Swedish scene of the time though, it doesn't take on the wall-of-noise production format that peers like Entombed & Dismember built their entire sounds on, even if there are many similarly structured riffs & punky one-two beats included. Here we find Hypocrisy taking an each-way bet with the US death metal model playing just as big a role in the outcome as their fellow countrymen which is not really all that surprising when you consider that multi-instrumentalist band leader Peter Tägtgren (Pain/Bloodbath/Lock Up/The Abyss/War) had spent a fair bit of time in the United States prior to forming Hypocrisy which was originally intended to be a solo project. "Penetralia" sees Tägtgren performing not only guitar but also all of the keyboards, most of the drums & some of the vocals so "Penetralia" would seem to be very much Peter's pet project. The drumming is admittedly very basic with the simple beats of Tägtgren & Lars Szöke (The Abyss/War) playing a purely supportive role & clearly pushing their limited technical abilities right to the brink of collapse although I do have to admit to enjoying the blast beats sections, despite the fact that they're not the most precise you'll find. The deep death growls of front man Masse Broberg (Dark Funeral/Witchery/Demonoid) are certainly very effective but are also pretty generic which only adds to Hypocrisy feeling more like an also-ran than a leader of the burgeoning young death metal scene.
"Penetralia" offers ten tracks across its 42-minute run time & begins in very solid fashion with two of the best few songs kicking off proceedings (see "Impotent God" & "Suffering Souls"). Unfortunately, the rest of the album doesn't manage to live up to that potential with only the more brutal "God Is A..." competing with those two early highlight cuts. That's not to say that there are all that many disasters along the way though with only a couple of flat tracks ("Jesus Fall" & "To Escape Is to Die") spoiling Hypocrisy's party. Deicide would appear to have been a pretty big influence on Tägtgren as you should be able to identify a number of riffs & beats that appear to have been borrowed from Florida's most notorious Satanists while the lyrics are clearly an attempt to emulate the sheer evil that Glen Benton & co. were able to muster on their 1990 self-titled debut album. Unfortunately for Hypocrisy though, their lyrical efforts come across as extremely immature in comparison & are possibly their most significant weakness when you consider that the vocals are generally pretty easily deciphered too.
There's no doubt that "Penetralia" was an acceptable release for the time & I doubt there would be too many genuine old-school death metal fans that would complain about it much after a blind purchase as it certainly ticks most of the required boxes. It just doesn't do that with a high-quality pen if you know what I mean with "Penetralia" coming across as decidedly third tier when compared to the wealth of classic releases the genre was dishing out to its rabid audience at the time. I have to admit that it does remind me quite a bit of the early Neuropath material though which is perhaps more of an indication that Tägtgren & I come from similar musical backgrounds than it is any indication of any sort of influence. If the idea of an early 90's US/Swedish death metal hybrid sees your ears pricking up then perhaps give "Penetralia" a few spins but I wouldn't expect anything too original or life-changing.
3.5/5
This morning's track is Quartz's "Smokie" which I'd suggest fits best under the folk baroque tag:
I revisited Rush's 1976 fourth album "2112" today but found nothing in the way of metal. It's purely a progressive hard rock record.
Von - "Satanic Blood" demo (1992)
Continuing on with my exploration of some of the old black metal demos I used to listen to back in my tape trading days, Von's third demo tape "Satanic Blood" would go on to become comfortably the most significant American black metal release to the time. I don't think I ever heard Von's two earlier demos but I did think this one was pretty decent back in the day. It's an incredible simplistic & intentionally primitive collection of short songs with each of its eight tracks being built on just a single riff that's repeated for the entirety of the piece with the drumming containing no fills or rolls whatsoever. That might sound unappealing to some but this technique creates that old-school extreme metal atmosphere that I miss so much & would no doubt have an influence on bands like Darkthrone who would utilize a similar technique on their upcoming releases.
The lo-fi production sees the intros suddenly giving way to the proper songs in a ridiculously jerky fashion with the intention apparently being to leave the impression that the tape was produced by a bunch of incompetent goblins & if that was the case then Von have no doubt succeeded. The vocals of guitarist Goat (also of Von Goat) sit more in the death metal space than they do a black metal one but the dodgy use of echo effects is certainly in line with the black metal model & this sees Von drawing comparisons with bands like Beherit, Blasphemy & Profanatica more than to your more pure black metal acts.
In truth, "Satanic Blood" does contain its fair share of flatter moments but the better material carries the release well enough to see it just managing to drag a respectable rating out of me. Opener "Devil Pig" is a pretty engaging way to kick things off but it's the doomy "Veadtuck" & the blasphemous "Christ Fire" that have always been my picks of the bunch. Regardless of what your personal song preference is though, there can be no doubt that "Satanic Blood" was an important release for the American underground & it's certainly worth a few listens for black metal completists, even if it's far from essential from a creative point of view.
3.5/5
This morning's track is Quartz's "Devil's Brew" which I'd suggest justifies a triple tagging of heavy metal, progressive metal & hard rock:
Anathema - "The Crestfallen E.P." (1992)
Liverpool doom/death legends Anathema represent such a pivotal band in my life for many reasons. You see, no matter what style of music they've opted to pursue, the results of their endeavours inevitably manage to tear my heart-strings to shreds so they've played a significant role in my up-bringing & have gotten me through the hardest periods of my 48 years on this planet thus far. Ben & I were lucky enough to have discovered them very early on in their recording career too which has enabled us to follow them throughout their many decades of transformation & development. It feels more like a privilege than anything else at this point & while revisiting Anathema's first proper release this week I was reminded of just how talented these five 17-20 year-old musicians were even at such an early point in their careers.
Anathema of course make up one third of the infamous Peaceville Three alongside Paradise Lost & My Dying Bride, a group of English bands that were responsible for popularizing the still fairly young doom/death sound to a romantically & gothically inclined global metal audience. Anathema were by far the most sophisticated & musically talented of the three though & "The Crestfallen E.P." already highlights their creativity & ambition very clearly. The early Anathema sound was built on complex layers of interwoven guitar harmonies that appear on the surface to be entirely unique from each other but when brought together create a beautiful tapestry of melodic themes that perhaps have more in common with classical music than they do with metal. The fact that the song-writers were still so young when these songs were written is nothing short of mind-blowing when taking in a piece of the melodic complexity of the title track & I'm perennially left wondering how they even possessed the influences required to create material of such maturity.
Anathema's first proper release is also their most doomy & deathly record as its focus stays predominantly within the scope of the doom/death subgenre & remains free of the gothic, progressive & alternative influences that would see them taking a life-long journey of development & reinvention. "The Crestfallen E.P." is full of thick, chunky, riffs layered over lumbering rhythms & highlighted by transcendent melodic themes. The vocals of original front man Darren White are certainly an acquired taste but once you've accepted that he offers something a little different you should be able to appreciate the clear depiction of genuine sorrow & melancholy he is able to create with his voice. His delivery here is not as deathly as we received from him on Anathema's two demo tapes but it's still monstrous enough to keep the death metal crowd satisfied, even if he is generally regarded as the point of contention for Anathema fans that got onboard through their post-1995 releases. Personally, I feel that White's contribution is an essential part of the appeal of a record like this one as his layers of depressive lyrics are presented in a way that really does drag the listener down to a mournful state that's essential in understanding the appeal of early Anathema.
The tracklisting begins in stunning fashion with opener "...And I Lust" being one of Anathema's finest doom/death works. The E.P. also closes with the imposing "They Die" which was somewhat of a signature tune for the band's early period given that it was also the centrepiece of 1991's "All Faith Is Lost" demo tape as well as their 1993 debut album "Serenades". I hold these two tracks up as some of the most important extreme metal songs of my lifetime so it's really pretty hard to put their impact on me into words. The three songs in between are perhaps not as universally classic but still maintain a very solid level of quality with "The Sweet Suffering" possessing one of those eternally memorable melodic themes, the sweet, female-fronted folk piece "Everwake" giving the listener a well-earnt break from the emotional battering they've received from the opening two tracks & the sheer melodic complexity of the 10+ minute title track being nothing to sneer at.
While "The Crestfallen E.P." may not be Anathema's best record, I still think it deserves to at least be in the conversation. As with "Serenades", it's too often down-rated by Anathema's later audience which has seen it being unfairly overlooked by its prospective fanbase at times. There's no doubt that it was a step up from the two demo tapes that preceded it & it set a marvelous platform for the two classic doom/death albums that would follow it over the next three years. Personally, I still rate "Serenades" as the peak of that era of the band, closely followed by the more gothically inclined "The Silent Enigma". But "The Crestfallen E.P." follows very closely behind those two for mine & deservedly owns a position in my Top Ten Death Doom Metal Releases of All Time list. If you're a devotee of the classic era of this subgenre & worship the early-to-mid 1990's releases from bands like Katatonia, Paradise Lost & My Dying Bride then this record should be regarded as essential listening.
P.S. Please be aware that the Spotify version of "The Crestfallen E.P." inexplicably contains demo versions of the title track & "They Die" in place of the versions I have on my CD copy & this most certainly degrades the overall product.
4.5/5
Here's my revised Top Ten Death Doom Metal Releases of All Time List with Katatonia's "Brave Murder Day" being the unlucky one to drop out:
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. Anathema – “Serenades” (1993)
06. Anathema – “The Silent Enigma” (1995)
07. Winter - "Into Darkness" (1990)
08. My Dying Bride – “Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium” E.P. (1992)
09. Anathema - "The Crestfallen E.P." (1992)
10. Evoken - "Quietus" (2001)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/131
Enslaved - "Yggdrasill" demo (1992)
Another early example of the Norwegian Second Wave of Black Metal sound from one of the long-time protagonists of the movement. I discovered Enslaved through their 1993 split release with Emperor & proceeded to pick up their debut album "Vikingligr veldi" upon release in 1994. I really enjoyed both of those records so when I spied a split bootleg CD that included Enslaved's second demo "Yggdrasill" & Satyricon's 1993 "The Forest Is My Throne" demo a year later I didn't hesitate in purchasing it. As with the Emperor demo I discussed yesterday, "Yggdrasill" already showcases a pretty mature black metal sound that possesses most of the calling cards that the Norwegians would become known for over the next three or four years. The band were just a young trio at the time with 19 year-old bass-playing front man Grutle Kjellson (Trinacria), 15 year-old guitarist Ivar Bjørnson (Borknagar/Trinacria) & 18 year-old drummer Trym Torson (Emperor/Zyklon) creating a soundscape that seems quite well defined for such a youthful group. It was certainly miles ahead of Enslaved's 1991 "Nema" demo tape which didn't do much for me if my memory serves me correctly. Opening track "Heimdallr" is the clear highlight of the five pieces on offer although there are parts of "Allfǫðr Oðinn" that really hit the spot too. The strong use of open-string tremolo-picked riffs is worth paying attention to given that we were still a couple of years out from Darkthrone's genre-defining "Transilvanian Hunger" record. Kjellson's super-abrasive vocals are also impressive & sound a little more maniacal than he'd end up going with for most of his career.
I have to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of the final proper song "Niunda heim" & the quality does tend to slowly dip after a very strong start to the tape. For this reason, I do tend to favour the Emperor demo over this one for overall consistency but it's still worth a listen, particularly from an historical perspective as it was certainly ahead of its time. The main reason for checking it out would be to experience some pretty high-quality tremolo-picked riffs at such an early stage in the Norwegian black metal scene's development. Despite the trio's age, you can already tell they were a class act too. The way they utilize synthesizers is a good case in point as, despite sounding a little clunky at times, Enslaved were already setting trends rather than following them. Think of "Yggdrasill" as an interesting yet inessential look at a scene that was bubbling away beneath the surface of the underground & just about to explode onto the world stage.
3.5/5
This morning's track is Quartz's "Hustler", another one that often seems to be referred to as heavy metal or NWOBHM but which I'd suggest is nothing more than hard rock:
I investigated Budgie's 1976 sixth album "If I Were Brittania I'd Waive the Rules" this afternoon but didn't find any genuine metal/ It's a progressive/hard rock record for mine.
Emperor - "Wrath of the Tyrant" demo (1992)
I got onboard the Emperor train very early on after picking up their split release with Enslaved on CD upon release back in 1993 & by the time their debut album "In The Nightside Eclipse" was released the following year I was absolutely sold on them. So, when I spotted an original copy of their 1992 "Wrath of the Tyrant" demo tape at the Hammerhouse in Sydney shortly afterwards I didn't hesitate to pick it up. "Wrath of the Tyrant" is a nine-song effort that features a lo-fi production job & includes all of the early Emperor recordings with many of them going on to become more significant pieces in future years. Emperor was just a three-piece at the time with a 16 year-old Ihsahn (Thou Shalt Suffer/Hardingrock/Peccatum/Zyklon-B) handling all of the guitars & vocals, 16 year-old dungeon synth master Mortiis (Cintecele Diavolui/Fata Morgana/Vond) playing bass & an 18 year-old Samoth (Scum/The Wretched End/Arcturus/Gorgoroth/Thou Shalt Suffer/Satyricon/Zyklon/Zyklon-B) behind the drum kit. The drumming is still fairly primitive which isn't surprising when you consider that Samoth is generally known as a guitarist rather than a drummer. In fact, there aren't actually very many blast-beats included here yet but the notorious atmosphere of the early Second Wave of Black Metal is certainly there is droves, despite the noticeable lack of Emperor's signature symphonics. Those of you looking for something akin to Limbonic Art, Dimmu Borgir or Vargrav will be sorely disappointed as "Wrath of the Tyrant" is far more traditionally constructed with the early works of Mayhem, Darkthrone & Burzum as well as 1985-87 period Bathory being the clear sources of inspiration. It's not a bad listen either it has to be said with no weak tracks included but it rarely reaches the sort of levels we'd come to expect from Emperor in the coming years with "My Empire's Doom" & "Witche's Sabbath" being the pieces that I'd suggest are the most impactful. Overall, I'd suggest that this crude, lo-fi demo tape is more of a rewarding novelty for the completists than it is an essential piece of the black metal puzzle.
3.5/5
This morning's track is Quartz's "Street Fighting Lady" which I'm gonna suggest is generally mistagged as heavy metal when it's really no more than hard rock.
I checked out the 1976 self-titled debut album from Japan's Murasaki this week. It certainly threatened to throw a cat amongst the pigeons early on as it starts with two tracks that I'd suggest should qualify as heavy metal but the remainder doesn't continue in that vein with Deep Purple being the clear influence. I'm going with hard rock & blues rock for primaries with heavy metal & progressive rock as secondaries.
I would put Confessor's self-titled 1992 E.P. into this category & would recommend it to anyone that wonders what progressive stoner doom might sound like.