Daniel's Forum Replies
My updated Top Ten Technical Thrash Metal Releases of All Time list after Annihilator's "Alice in Hell" became ineligible (i.e. is rightfully no longer listed as Technical Thrash Metal at Metal Academy) & my revisit to Vektor's "Outer Isolation" drew unexpectedly favourable results:
01. Coroner – “Mental Vortex” (1991)
02. Sadus – “A Vision Of Misery” (1992)
03. Coroner – “No More Color” (1989)
04. Cryptic Shift – “Visitations From Enceladus” (2020)
05. Ripping Corpse - "Dreaming With The Dead" (1991)
06. Toxik – “World Circus” (1987)
07. Аспид – “Кровоизлияние” (1993)
08. Coroner – “Punishment For Decadence” (1988)
09. Vektor - "Outer Isolation" (2011)
10. Vektor – “Black Future” (2009)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/173
Annihilator - "Never, Neverland" (1990)
This Canadian thrash metal outfit made a big impression on Ben & I with their 1989 debut album "Alice In Hell" (4/5) & Annihilator's sophomore record is generally regarded as another essential listening experience for any self-respecting thrasher. I have to admit that I've never quite seen it that way though if I'm being completely honest. The replacement of front man Randy Rampage with Coburn Pharr is certainly an obvious point of difference but I think Coburn does a reasonable job here, even if he does give the album a very different feel to the more aggressive & less melodic Randy. Jeff Waters guitar work is sensational & potentially tops his first up effort. His performances alone are really on another level to the rest of the thrash competition. The links to technical thrash metal were misguided with the debut but here Jeff has ramped up the complexity (particularly during the first half of the tracklisting) & I feel that the tag sits much more comfortably this time.
The album starts off in a rich vein of form with one of Annihilator's best tracks in "The Fun Palace" before continuing in solid fashion for the remainder of the A side. The B side sees the quality dropping a touch though with all of the highlights sitting on the other side. The only weak track as such is the silly "Kraf Dinner" but the rest of the B side is pretty decent without ever really commanding your attention. As with "Alice in Hell", there are a couple of speed metal numbers included in "Kraf Dinner" & "Reduced To Ash" while "Phantasmagoria" & "I Am In Command" take a more traditional thrash metal approach. We also get a little traditional heavy metal in "Stonewall" while the title track & "Imperiled Eyes" are fully fledged progressive metal works so there's certainly enough variety of offer. It just comes down to consistency & I'm afraid to say that "Never, Neverland" hasn't quite lived up to its potential when compared with its highly celebrated older sibling. Diehard fans of the more technically inclined thrash bands like Coroner, Heathen & Toxik might disagree though.
3.5/5
Ozzy Osbourne - "No Rest For The Wicked" (1988)
Another decent if inessential Ozzy solo record, this time featuring the wonderfully precise & powerful lead guitar work of Zakk Wylde. Highlights like "Breaking All The Rules" & "Fire In The Sky" are very solid but only "Miracle Man" (which was my introduction to Ozzy back in 1989) meets classic standard while the couple of rock tune are both disappointing, particularly the God-awful glam metal song "Crazy Babies". I actually like this one a touch more than the over-produced "Bark At The Moon" these days & it won't disappoint fans of classic heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath, Dio & Iommi.
3.5/5
A very solid heavy metal guitar shred anthem from the Megadeth/Cacophony axeman.
Liturgy - "93696" (2023)
So I thought it was about time that I checked out the most heavily hyped black metal-related release of the year so far in the sixth full-length album from unusual Brooklyn outfit Liturgy. I've found their career to be a little hit & miss over the years since first drawing my attention back in 2009 but there's no question that records like 2019's "H.A.Q.Q." & 2011's "Aesthethica" (my personal favourite) are interesting takes on the extreme metal medium that push the boundaries of what the scene was originally intended to cover.
"93696" sees Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix & co. taking their creativity to a number of weird & wonderful places with a sound that may utilize black metal tools but in reality is in direct opposition to the very ethos of what black metal stands for. I mean, I believe that this release is intended as a soundtrack for the process of ascending to Heaven for fuck's sake which is hardly common-place black metal territory now, is it? Here we find Liturgy drawing upon "Lawrence of Arabia" style cinematic sounds, quirky Frank Zappa-esque jazz rock, Tool-ish progressive metal & full-blown experimental music for inspiration & they pull it all together in a way that leaves the listener consistently on edge. Despite the use of tremolo-picking & blast-beats, the only genuine trace of black metal left in Liturgy's sound can be found in Hunt-Hendrix's shrieking vocal delivery to be honest as the atmosphere simply doesn't feel like black metal any more.
The album is certainly built around two 14+ minute epics but there are a number of other lengthy tracks that take the listener on a mini-journey as well. Interestingly though, I find many of the short interludes to be nothing short of outstanding & some of the most rewarding pieces on offer while there's really only one failure amongst the fifteen tracks in the loose & pointless "Red Crown II". The hugely ambitious 82 minute run time probably needed a fair bit of risk-taking & adventure in order to maintain the listener's interest in all honesty though so you can forgive the odd misstep, especially when the holistic package represents Liturgy's best work in more than a decade. The more hardened black metal disciples should take a look within deep themselves before attempting "93696" as it definitely requires an open mind but fans of more expansive artists like Krallice, Victory Over The Sun & Jute Gyte shouldn't hesitate to check it out.
3.5/5
Echo & the Bunnymen - "Heaven Up Here" (1981)
Post-punk/gothic rock from Liverpool, England.
It defeats the purpose for me to revisit the album as I'm not a member of either clan so I can't vote on the Hall of Judgement entry. I'll let those with more of a vested interest battle it out at the below link. It's fair to say that I don't think "Biomech" qualifies as either Alternative Metal or Industrial Metal though.
I've added a Hall of Judgement entry to have the release added to The Gateway under Alternative Metal first as we can't remove it from The Infinite until it has another clan.
It's certainly not clear-cut & I remember pondering over the correct tag at the time but ended up conceding in the end. Feel free to nominate it for the Hall of Judgement as that's what it's there for.
Yes, I’d suggest that it qualifies as progressive metal.
Jane's Addiction - "Nothing's Shocking" (1988)
Despite being thoroughly infatuated with extreme metal, I've always been open to all types of music, even from quite a young age. Evidence of this can be seen in my deep emotional attachment to the first couple of albums from this Los Angeles alternative rock outfit. I first discovered Jane's Addiction through their 1990 sophomore record "Ritual de lo habitual" shortly after release & worked my way backwards to their debut studio album "Nothing's Shocking" as well as their self-titled 1987 live album. "Ritual de lo habitual" is the undisputed high point of their career but "Nothing's Shocking" is still a wonderful listen in it's own right. It's certainly not as consistent as it's younger sibling but there's a crap-tonne of variation & the highlights are truly magical.
I've recently seen "Nothing's Shocking" being claimed as an alternative metal release at other online resources but that's pushing the friendship way further than it can sustain in my opinion because metal only makes a small contribution to the album with the rock component outweighing it by a significant margin. When they do get their metal on Perry Farrell & co manage to create a vital & hard-edged sound that may well have provided some influence for a band like Tool. At other times you can expect everything from a fairly unintimidating brand of alternative rock that sounds like it was the inspiration for bands like Spin Doctors & Blind Melon to ambitious psychedelic & acoustic rock outings that bring to mind Led Zeppelin's more experimental mid-70's records to funk-infused alternative groovers similar to what Living Colour were doing at the time to intense & dangerous hard rockers ala Guns 'n' Roses. There's certainly a couple of misses (see the disposable "Standing In The Shower...Thinking" & "Thank You Boys") but the hits confront you with the power of ten zillion jet engines, leaving the most inspired tracks like "Up The Beach", "Ted, Just Admit It" & particularly "Summertime Rolls" & "Mountain Song" sitting amongst my favourite memories of being 14 & 15 years old. I tend to go for the heavier & more stripped back & atmospheric tracks at either end of the spectrum the most but if you're in any way inclined towards late 80's/early 90's alternative rock & grunge then I'd encourage you to check out "Nothing's Shocking".
4/5
"The IVth Crusade" is my favourite Bolt Thrower release these days. They have a number of classic releases in my opinion but I think everything came together in perfect unison on this album & seeing them on the associated tour was an almost life-changing experience. 4.5/5
A very solid hard rocker from one of the elite singers in all of metal.
Sanguisugabogg - "Homicidal Ecstasy" (2023)
Ridiculously monikered Ohio-based death metallers Sanguisugabogg (Latin for blood-sucking toilet) first entered my world back in 2019 through their debut “Pornographic Seizures” E.P. which I had a bit of time for to be honest. Unfortunately, I lost some of that initial interest following their 2021 debut full-length “Tortured Whole” which seemed to receive a whole bunch of hype but, in reality, didn’t offer a lot in the way of substance. 2023 has seen the band redeeming themselves to an extent though with their brand new sophomore album “Homicidal Ecstasy” seeing Sanguisugabogg hitting on enough quality riffs & grooves to keep my body moving & my face smiling.
You see, a band like Sanguisugbogg isn’t meant to be taken too seriously & the comments I made about their debut album are perhaps defeating the purpose because I’m not sure it was ever the band’s intent to create a package that required much in the way of in-depth thought. I’ve made no secret about my preference for a more serious brand of extreme metal so it ironically takes me a fair amount of effort to come around to bands that focus on simply having a bit of fun. Thankfully that effort has proven to be worth it on this occasion though with “Homicidal Ecstasy” utilizing a lovely thick production & some very tight (if simple) performances to create a chunky set of death metal anthems that are made for live performance.
Strangely, “Homicidal Ecstasy” seems to be being tagging as a brutal/slam death metal release which is entirely inaccurate in my opinion. I can see why people are being fooling into going that way as Sanguisugabogg certainly utilize a lot of heavily palm-muted & mid-tempo death metal riffs that aren’t too dissimilar to those used by most slam death metal bands in their breakdowns. Also, the use of a horribly pingy snare drum sound is one of the signature tools in slam so I can kinda understand the casual listener going down that path. The clear differentiator though is the distinct lack of brutality because Sangisugabogg don’t make much of an effort to savage the listener into oblivion, instead looking to hit on a fun & catchy groove metal riff or create a bouncy beatdown rhythm that’ll no doubt have the masses swarming across the dancefloor in violent worship.
There’s still not a lot of substance here it has to be said & I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to that absence presenting somewhat of a challenge for me. In fact, in many ways “Homicidal Ecstasy” sounds a lot like what you always wished Six Feet Under might sound like but don’t take that as a bad thing because, while Sanguisugabogg may not challenge you from a brutality or a technicality point of view, they more than make up for it in their execution which sees them sitting fairly comfortably alongside other modern death metal bands like 200 Stab Wounds, Frozen Soul & Fulci.
3.5/5
I don't actually think Metal Archives' issues are related to a misguided understanding of what metal is. My impression is that the key players simply don't like certain genres & use their platform to try to warp people's impressions of them which is something that I'm very much opposed to.
With other platforms it comes down to education or the methodology for adding bands & releases to their site in my opinion. People need to stop believing everything they read on the internet because the ability to create & finance a website does not make someone (including me) any less ignorant. How else can you explain the argument Rex mentioned earlier whereby some people are tempted to link those last couple of Death albums to thrash?? Also, no administrator can possibly listen to every band/release before adding them to a database so you have to use something as a guide which leaves you open to the accuracy of that guide. We certainly experience that here at the Academy but thankfully we've developed a community & a platform that are more conducive to accurate outcomes than our competition which was kinda the point of creating the site in the first place.
And for the record, I wouldn't say that the hair metal argument is a joke. Many of those releases are a combination of metal & hard rock so there are examples that fall on either side of the equation or both.
Please bare in mind that everything I'm about to say is just my opinion & I raise it purely in the interest of healthy discussion Rex but personally I don't think anyone is being disadvantaged by being dual tagged. In fact, I'd suggest that it's an advantage as there's a greater potential for fans of both genres to investigate the artist in question. I don't think the lines are as blurred as you're making out either. Perhaps they USED to be back in the 70's & 80's, mainly because a lot of the trademark sounds were still being defined so there was a lot of cross-pollination & the actual written definitions hadn't been firmed up as yet. That's not the case now though as we have clear definition around the attributes that each subgenre should possess in order to qualify. Sure, there will always be bands that represent hybrids but I don't see anything wrong with that.
I actually think that a lot of the confusion you mention comes from people that don't take the time to understand what a particular genre is all about by exploring the important releases that prompted the genre's creation in the first place & paying attention to the key elements at play before using the label to tag releases. Many people simply end up taking the genre names at face value & creating their own interpretations of what constitutes an x metal release. I'd suggest that's the case with the speed metal example you raised earlier as you need to go back to the underground scene of the 1980's in order to understand that genre properly but, once you do that, I don't think it's all that hard to identify. As an example of where the lines have been blurred unnecessarily, the term "melodic death metal" doesn't refer to ALL death metal that employs melody. It refers to a particular sound that contains some defined attributes but we often see people overlooking those by tagging any death metal that's remotely melodic as melodeath. The same goes for sludge metal. People seem to want to tag anything with a guitar tone that they deem to sound "sludgy" as sludge metal. Another example? "I hear a breakdown here. Must be metalcore then!" Is there actually any genuine hardcore influence though? Often the answer is no. I could go on & on & on about each genre in a similar manner but the moral of my story is that music doesn't just need to be "heavy" in order to qualify as metal in my opinion. It still needs to possess the attributes of the genres definition. If it possesses all of the key attributes of the hard rock definition but just happens to be heavy then it's simply a heavier example of hard rock. I don't think there's all that much of a grey area in the definitions. It's all in people's interpretations of them as a release either possesses the required attributes or it doesn't. If it possesses the attributes of both heavy metal & hard rock then a dual tagging is fine. There's no confusion there at all as far as I can see.
I think I heard this album as a youngster but don't recall much about the experience so I don't have a position on its eligibility for metal status at this stage.
I've posted it in the Hall of Judgement for voting though so let's see what people think.
My feelings on this one are the same as I detailed in the GnR thread. I don't think Deep Purple (or Budgie for that matter) should qualify as metal.
Let's see what everyone else thinks though. I've posted this nomination in the Hall of Judgement.
Guns 'n' Roses certainly have a heavy sound in comparison to most other rock music (as well as some of the lighter heavy metal releases to be fair) but the instrumental techniques utilized are still drawn from rock rather than metal in my opinion (i.e. a bluesy feel, open-string riffs, pentatonic licks, 4x4 rock beats, no use of double-kick, minimal use of palm-muted down-strokes, a groovier edge to their riffs & rhythms that has you tapping your foot rather than banging your head, etc.). Scorpions have a few metal tracks here & there but for the most part sit much more comfortably under the hard rock tag too in my experience (which amounts to their run of six albums from 1976 through to 1984). The only Scorpions album I've heard that's worthy of a metal tag is "Blackout" which, to my ears at least, contains a mixture of hard rock & heavy metal songs.
Let's see what others think though as I've just posted this nomination in the Hall of Judgement.
German heavy metal. Comfortably my favourite track from this month's The Guardians feature release.
My Dying Bride - "Songs of Darkness, Words of Light" (2004)
The eighth full-length from Halifax's finest doom/death exponents is another strong effort that combines their various components in possibly the most cohesive way yet with the doom/death, gothic metal & conventional doom metal elements being perfectly entwined to create a focused & unified journey. The album begins in solid fashion over the first few tracks before dropping the momentum a little through the middle, only to recover in the most emphatic way possible by closing with two of My Dying Best tracks ever. Aaron's clean vocals are perhaps his best to date as I don't find them half as repetitive as he is sometimes guilty of. His harsh vocals do sound a little weak through the first half of the album though before recovering for the stronger material at the back end of the tracklisting. While there are no weak tracks included, the mid-album lull does prevent me from reaching for my higher scores but there's not doubt that "Songs of Darkness, Words of Light" is a strong release that fans of bands like Paradise Lost, Anathema & Draconian will do their fair share of frothing over. In fact, I'd take it over 2001's widely praised "The Dreadful Hours" album & only place it behind My Dying Bride's classic 1992-1995 material in their overall back catalogue these days.
4/5
Seminal mid-80's death/thrash from the Teutonic scene.
Poison - "Into The Abyss..." demo (1987)
This German death/thrash outfit's seminal third demo tape which has gone on to become somewhat of a cult classic over the years. I picked it up in my early tape trading days & recall quite liking it but don't remember it blowing me away in similar ways to what many seem to claim these days, perhaps because extreme metal was travelling forward at such a rate of knots that the scene had already moved past this sound by the time I got to it in the early 1990's. My opinion on the merits of "Into The Abyss..." hasn't changed much either as I don't find it to be much more than a pretty decent (if quite aggressive) Teutonic thrash demo with some unusually intimidating death metal vocals that offered a similarly deranged edge to Dead (Morbid/Mayhem). The musicianship & production are very good for this type of release but I wouldn't say that they're anything particularly special. The riffs range from chuggy (& often generic) thrash-by-numbers to the more visceral up-tempo thrash of Teutonic contemporaries like Kreator & Sodom to a doomier sound that reminds me of the slower moments on Death's "Scream Bloody Gore" album. It's really just the psychotic vocals of front man Virgin Slaughter that differentiates Poison & makes them so influential with the more extreme death/black metal artists to come in my opinion. "Into The Abyss..." is definitely worth a listen if you want to hear the transition from the thrash metal of the early 80's to the death metal of the late 80's openly playing out before your eyes with Sweden's Merciless, Chile's Pentagram & Australia's Slaughter Lord being pretty good points of reference.
3.5/5
Marty Friedman - "Dragon's Kiss" (1988)
The debut album from the much-loved Cacophony & Megadeth shredder is very much a mixed bag that sees Friedman utilizing progressive metal, speed metal & heavy metal bases for which to support his amazing neoclassical lead guitar stylings. I tend to find the heavier & less classically-inspired moments to be the most effective but it's unfortunately when Marty hints at his future new age direction with some very positive & quite cheesy melodic ideas that I find myself switching off, particularly during the horrid closer "Thunder March" which has proven to be the deciding factor in my chances of "Dragon's Kiss" achieving a respectable rating. If (unlike myself) you can overcome the failings of those couple of tracks then there's a fair bit to enjoy for fans of Jason Becker, Cacophony & Michael Angelo Batio though. In fact, I spent a fair bit of time marveling over Friedman's undeniable chops as a young fella so it's surprised me that this revisit hasn't amounted to a greater result.
3/5
Here's my updated top ten list:
01. Vinnie Moore – “Mind’s Eye” (1986)
02. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Marching Out” (1985)
03. Jason Becker – “Perpetual Burn” (1988)
04. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Rising Force” (1984)
05. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Odyssey” (1988)
06. Yngwie Malmsteen – “Trial By Fire: Live In Leningrad” (1989)
07. Yngwie J. Malmsteen – “Trilogy” (1986)
08. Cacophony – “Speed Metal Symphony” (1987)
09. Yngwie Malmsteen – “The Seventh Sign” (1994)
10. Marty Friedman – “Dragon’s Kiss” (1988)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/141
Updating my Favourite Metal Release of Each Year list to include my latest discovery:
https://metal.academy/lists/single/217
1970: Black Sabbath – “Paranoid”
1971: Black Sabbath – “Master Of Reality”
1972: Black Sabbath – “Vol 4”
1973: Black Sabbath – “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”
1974: Budgie – “In For The Kill”
1975: Black Sabbath – “Sabotage”
1976: Judas Priest - "Sad Wings Of Destiny"
1977: Quartz – “Quartz”
1978: Judas Priest – “Killing Machine”
1979: Judas Priest – “Unleashed In The East”
1980: Diamond Head – “Lightning To The Nations”
1981: Motorhead – “No Sleep Till Hammersmith”
1982: Ozzy Osbourne – “Speak Of The Devil”
1983: Slayer – “Show No Mercy”
1984: Metallica – “Ride The Lightning”
1985: Exodus – “Bonded By Blood”
1986: Slayer – “Reign In Blood”
1987: Bathory – “Under The Sign Of The Black Mark”
1988: Metallica – “…And Justice For All”
1989: Morbid Angel – “Altars Of Madness”
1990: Slayer - "Seasons In The Abyss"
1991: Death – “Human”
1992: Alice In Chains – “Dirt”
1993: diSEMBOWELMENT – “Transcendence Into The Peripheral”
1994: Darkthrone – “Transilvanian Hunger”
1995: Suffocation – “Pierced From Within”
1996: Burzum – “Filosofem”
1997: The Gathering - "Nighttime Birds"
1998: ISIS – “The Mosquito Control” E.P.
1999: Botch - "We Are The Romans"
2000: Immolation – “Close To A World Below”
2001: Tool - "Lateralus"
2002: ISIS – “Oceanic”
2003: Boris – “Boris At Last -Feedbacker-“
2004: ISIS – “Panopticon”
2005: Deathspell Omega – “Kenose” E.P.
2006: Celtic Frost – “Monotheist”
2007: Ufomammut/Lento - "Supernaturals - Record One"
2008: Pig Destroyer - "Natasha" E.P.
2009: Dragged Into Sunlight - "Hatred For Mankind"
2010: Hate - "Erebos"
2011: Inside The Beehive - "Drink Bleach; Live Forever" E.P.
2012: 7 Horns 7 Eyes - "Throes Of Absolution"
2013: The Amenta - "Flesh Is Heir"
2014: Dead Congregation - "Promulgation Of The Fall"
2015: Akhlys - "The Dreaming I"
2016: Mick Gordon - "Doom (Original Game Soundtrack)"
2017: Cavurn - "Rehearsal" demo
2018: Infernal Coil - "Within A World Forgotten"
2019: Esoteric - "A Pyrrhic Existence"
2020: Oranssi Pazuzu - "Mestarin kynsi"
2021: Fange - "Pantocrator"
2022: Scarcity - "Aveilut"
2023: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - "PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation"
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - "PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation" (2023)
Another very solid metal outing from Melbourne's super-prolific King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. I really enjoyed their 2019 "Infest the Rats' Nest" album but I think their latest work might even be a little better. This time they've taken a much more complex approach to the riff & song structures & have pulled it off with ease on what is predominantly a progressive metal release that plays in similar fields to Mastodon, Elder & Tool, only the Gizzard work within a base stoner metal sound that's similar to High On Fire. This is interesting & expansive stuff that will no doubt please members of The Infinite. The links to thrash metal are some of the most misguided & ridiculous I've ever seen in all my days so I've taken great pleasure in removing this release from The Pit where it clearly has no place.
4/5
Sonny, I don't wanna go on about it in a public forum but I've had some personal experience hanging out with Destroyer 666 & let's just say that they fit the criteria mentioned above quite accurately.
Dio - "Dream Evil" (1987)
As a long-term metalhead with a life-long relationship with the genre, it’s almost a rite of passage that you become heavily involved with the various works of the great Ronnie James Dio. RJD is rightfully known as one of the greatest metal front men of all time & I don’t think too many people would dispute that. Whether through his fantasy-fueled work with Rainbow, the doom-laden classics he created with Black Sabbath & Heaven & Hell or the legacy he built with his anthemic solo work, Ronnie proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that he possessed the talent & drive to be deserving of his position at the very top of the metal pile. As a result, I’m well versed in most of his back catalogue, at least the releases that are considered to be essential listening for anyone claiming themselves to be a metal historian or aficionado. But for me there’s always been one glaring omission… I’d never heard Dio’s classic 1987 fourth album “Dream Evil” until a few days ago, a record that’s widely regarded as Ronnie’s last essential studio album. I had heard a few songs from the album on the excellent “Dio at Donington UK: Live 1983 & 1987” double live release & enjoyed them all thoroughly but, despite placing “Dream Evil” on my must-hear list shortly after that experience, I’d never gotten around to ticking this one final box until the last week. Let’s see how it fared?
“Dream Evil” represented Ronnie’s first solo work without highly underrated guitar shredder Vivian Campbell who had experienced a major falling out with the Dios since 1985’s “Sacred Heart” album. Ronnie would replace him with the relatively unknown Craig Goldy of Los Angeles-based hard rockers Rough Cutt & heavy metallers M.A.R.S. & I had reasonable hopes for Craig after hearing his performance on the live release. Returning once again would be former Rainbow bassist Jimmy Bain, former Black Sabbath & future Kill Devil Hill, Last in Line & Heaven & Hell drummer Vinny Appice & Goldy’s former Rough Cutt bandmate in keyboardist Claude Schnell, all of which had been involved with Dio’s previous albums. I’d imagine that this would have put a bit of pressure on Goldy given the big shoes he had to fill, particularly given how highly I rate Campbell as an artist of the highest quality. To his credit, Goldy does a pretty reasonable job & proves himself to possess some impressive chops too but I can’t say that he stands out quite as much as Campbell did as he was one of the very rare musicians to not have been forced into a purely supporting role when paired with Dio.
It becomes apparent very quickly after pressing the play button on “Dream Evil” that you shouldn’t expect anything drastically different to Dio’s previous works as everything sounds so familiar. In fact, I’d go so far as to use the word formulaic as the style & song structures are so cookie-cutter in their approach. The educated ear will likely pick up some moments of self-plagiarism too which isn’t something new to Dio with the last couple of albums also being guilty of this crime at times. The verse riff in the title track is a classic example of it as it sounds oh so similar to Rainbow’s classic “Man On A Silver Mountain”. There are also references to the work of other artists here too though. Check out the chorus of “Sunset Superman” & then compare it with Accept’s “London Leatherboys” or consider whether “Overlove” might be an attempt to emulate Van Halen’s hard rock stomp. That’s not to say that these tracks are poor examples of their type however as the tracklisting begins pretty well with the A side being very consistent. The B side is a little more hit & miss with the clear album highlight in hard rocker “Naked In The Rain” making for a fantastic mid-album peak even if I don’t think it reaches the same dizzying heights as the 1987 Donington live version which is nothing short of life-changing. Radio-friendly AOR single “I Could Have Been A Dreamer”, on the other hand, jumps well & truly over the cheese line while the cheap synth accompaniments in disappointing hard rock closer “When A Woman Cries” sound horribly dated. Now, you’ve probably noticed me using the word “rock” quite a bit here so I should probably clarify that. Despite what most people seem to think, Dio’s early solo albums generally contain a combination of hard rock & heavy metal songs & “Dream Evil” is no different in that regard, so much so that the album should receive a dual tagging in my opinion. The metal tunes tend to sit at a fairly consistent quality while the rockier numbers are a little more up & down.
So, how does “Dream Evil” compare with Dio’s other solo material? Well, I haven’t heard anything later than this album so I can only compare it to Dio’s first three records & I’d have to say that it’s another reasonably entertaining (if inessential) effort that sees Ronnie & the band making very little effort to expand their repertoire. I mean, there’s not much that I haven’t heard before included here. I’d also suggest that, while Dio clearly peaked very earlier with his best album “Holy Diver”, each successive record saw the quality dropping just a touch from the previous album. He hadn’t come close to releasing anything that might be considered to be a failure as yet but it would seem quite likely that he might have achieved that in subsequent releases if he continued with the downward curve. 1985’s “Sacred Heart” is generally considered to be a weaker record than “Dream Evil” but, despite the fact that “Sacred Heart” reached some lower points at times, I think it offered more genuine highlights too so I slightly prefer it. Regardless, if you’re a diehard fan of classic heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath & Iron Maiden or the gritty hard rock of Rainbow then you’ve likely already spent a fair bit of time with “Dream Evil”. If not then it’s definitely worth a few listens. Just don’t expect it to compete with Dio’s best work.
3.5/5
Killing Joke - "Night Time" (1985)
Post-punk/gothic rock from London, England.
I certainly agree that it should reside in The Horde as a dual tagging but I think you’d find that the ratio of doom/death to death metal falls a little towards the doom/death side of the equation here if you actually timed it.
Teitanblood - "Seven Chalices" (2009)
My first impressions around Spanish death/war metal outfit Teitanblood were instigated quite early on in their recording career upon my return to metal in 2009. The band had already released a demo & a couple of split releases in the mid-2000’s but their debut album “Seven Chalices” would be their first record of any significance & the timing of its release matched up pretty much perfectly with the recommencement my extreme metal journey. Given that a lot of the metal I was hearing at the time was attempting to dilute the very core of what I felt that metal music should be, I have to admit that the idea of “Seven Chalices” & its consistently savage & deeply underground approach really appealed to me & looking back I’d suggest that I really WANTED to love this record, perhaps a touch more than it actually deserved too. With that in mind, I’ve always suspected that perhaps I might have been overrating it a little, particularly in the wake of my passion for Teitanblood’s later albums. Given that I’ve only recently revisited & reviewed those two outstanding examples of the war metal sound, it’s only natural that I give the Spaniards’ debut the same level of attention.
It's clear right from offset that “Seven Chalices” is a very different record to 2014’s “Death” & 2019’s “The Baneful Choir”. The five year gaps between these full-lengths have given the band a lot of time to grow & develop their sound so it’s hardly surprising. “Seven Chalices” is far less modern & presents more of an old-school sound that’s noticeably rawer & lacking in the density of Teitanblood's more sophisticated work. Unlike the band's later releases which are more heavily weighted towards war metal, the dual tagging of both death metal & war metal seems more appropriate on “Seven Chalices” due to the consistent use of doomy, lower-tempo, Celtic Frost-inspired death metal riffs, particularly on tracks like opener “Whore Mass” & the epic album centrepiece “The Abomination of Desolation”. During those moments I’m reminded a lot of Finland’s Archgoat with the very structure of the down-tuned hum of a guitar tone sounding like it’s almost on the brink of completely breaking down. When Teitanblood up the tempo into genuine war metal territory however, they’re as violent & chaotic as a drunken brawl at a Sadistik Exekution show with the scatty, layered vocal ranting of FSK sounding nothing short of psychotic & the intentionally sloppy guitar solos veering a lot closer to pure noise than towards anything close to a defined theme or structure.
Somehow though, “Seven Chalices” doesn’t seem to gel anywhere near as much as Teitanblood’s more accomplished later works. It’s simply not as cohesive which possibly has something to do with the production which is more about atmosphere & aesthetics than it is about depth & substance with the drums being too far back in the mix to really drive the songs from a rhythmic point of view. In fact, despite there not being any weak tracks as such, I actually find the four dark ambient interludes that have been provided by fellow Spaniard Like Drone Razors Through Flesh Sphere to be more accomplished than any of the metal material. Don’t get me wrong, “Seven Chalices” is certainly an entertaining listen & if you’re a fan of bands like Proclamation, Pseudogod & Archgoat then you’ll no doubt enjoy it but I’m not sure there’s as much meat on its bones as there is on Teitanblood’s later albums. It’s a more than decent first-up full-length but was still a work in progress in my opinion.
3.5/5
Here's my updated Top Ten War Metal Releases of All Time list:
01. Infernal Coil - "Within a World Forgotten" (2018)
02. Teitanblood - "The Baneful Choir" (2019)
03. Teitanblood - "Death" (2014)
04. Damaar - "Triumph Through Spears of Sacrilege" (2007)
05. Archgoat - "Whore of Bethlehem" (2006)
06. Bestial Warlust - "Blood & Valour" (1995)
07. Conqueror - "War Cult Supremacy" (1999)
08. Blasphemy - "Blood Upon The Altar" demo (1989)
09. Revenge - "Behold.Total.Rejection" (2015)
10. Teitanblood - "Seven Chalices" (2009)
Russian heavy metal for fans of Кипелов, Iron Maiden & Loudness.
Ария - "Герой асфальта" (1987)
Russian heavy metallers Ария are a great example of one of those super-cool underground bands that no one had ever heard of at the time but whose reputation has slowly built up over the years, predominantly through word of mouth. Some of their mystique is most certainly contributed to by the fact that they’ve opted to deliver their vocals in their native tongue but there’s a little more to it than that. All four of their 1980’s albums were released independently & only in a reel to reel format too. If you’ve got no idea of what I’m talking about then go & Google it because the only people I knew that still had reel to reel technology in their home when I was a kid back in the 80’s were my grandparents. Ария didn’t pick up a record deal until their fifth full-length in 1991 & by that point they should already have been superstars in their home country based on the current reception of records like 1989’s “Игра с огнем” & this, their highly acclaimed third album in 1987’s “На службе силы зла”.
I’m ashamed to say that I’d never actually heard much of Ария before finally giving into temptation this week but had always been intrigued by their reputation as the Iron Maiden of the Iron Curtain. And, as it turns out, that reputation is completely warranted but this band are more than just a tribute act. You see, Ария were a highly skilled group of musicians who clearly knew what they’re doing. They appear in complete control throughout the record &, even though they most certainly borrow many of their tools from the kings of the NWOBHM, they also have a fair bit to say of their own accord too.
The production job isn’t perfect of course & you wouldn’t expect it to be with an independent release from the mid-80’s. It does have its charms though with the tone sitting in a happy medium between raw & warm. The guitar tone is lovely & organic, despite the fact that the rhythm guitars often slip too far back into the mix with the vocals & rhythm section dominating proceedings. Bassist Vitaly Dubinin was very clearly inspired by Steve Harris but competes quite well with his prestigious idol to be fair with Ария’s gallops being a particular highlight of their sound. Another highlight is the very capable guitar solos which take full advantage of the lovely warm lead tone & display some quite significant chops too. The focal point of the band though, particularly given the fact that the guitars are a little far back in the mix at times, is front man Valery Kipelov whose delivery reminds me a of a Russian version of Scorpions’ Klaus Maine. When Ария get everything right (as they do on the strong opening title track & the epic & quite progressive closer “Баллада о древнерусском воине”) it’s usually off the back of Kipelov’s most soaring & memorable vocal hooks. When they get it wrong however (as they do on the disappointing “1100”) it’s more to do with the instrumentation sounding a little too tame.
Despite the Russian language vocals which are certainly a limiter when it comes to the potential an album like “На службе силы зла” has to achieve my higher scores, Ария prove themselves to be some of the more capable heavy metal musicians around at the time & present their art in a highly professional & sophisticated format that was crying out for some decent label backing. If you’ve heard Kipelov’s solo work under his Кипелов moniker then you’ll know what to expect but diehard Iron Maiden & Loudness fans should also find a fair bit to keep them entertained here.
3.5/5
Aborted - "Goremageddon: The Saw and the Carnage Done" (2003)
The very enjoyable if inessential third album from these Belgian brutal deathgrinders. "Goremageddon" is a very consistent record however I don't think it has the riffs to worry the bigger boys of the death metal scene. The rhythm guitar tone is a touch dry but the blasting performance of future Soilwork/Megadeth drummer Dirk Verbeuren is exceptional & the energy levels are always kept high with the dual vocal attack being borrowed from the grindcore scene. If you listen closely you should be able to pick up the influence of Carcass' classic "Heartwork" album in some of the more melodic riffage too. It's been a long time since I heard it but I think I might prefer Aborted's 2001 sophomore album "Engineering the Dead" over this one but "Goremageddon" will no doubt be of interest to fans of grind-infused brutal death metal bands like Benighted, Cattle Decapitation & early Dying Fetus.
3.5/5
P.S. Aborted were absolutely psychotic when I saw them play live just over a decade ago & may just have created the most violent mosh-pit I've ever seen in my life which is saying something.
My weakness is definitely when bands go in a cheesy direction. This is the reason I struggle so much with subgenres like folk metal, trance metal, power metal, etc. I also find the going hard when an artist takes a quirkier or humorous approach to their metal as I prefer a more serious brand of metal.
I can generally deal with poorly executed or dull vocals as long as they're not regularly out of key. I can also tolerate sloppy guitar playing to an extent but what I can't seem to overlook is out of time drumming. It really irks me.
I checked my ratings on RYM and this appears to be the first deathcore album I have ever listened to
I would have thought it would have been the Suicide Silence feature release from last month then Sonny.
I found a lot to enjoy this month with the list enticing me into eight of the nine features. There weren't any new classics for me unfortunately but there was certainly a consistent quality about most of these records. The Grave Digger one was always gonna be a struggle for those of us that aren't particularly onboard with power metal but I was hoping I'd get a little more out of it than I did. Ben takes the honours fairly comfortably this month after having selected my top two features of the month. There was only a bee's dick between them too. I was very pleased at how my affection has grown over time with the Scorn & Whitechapel albums, neither of which I connected with as strongly in the past. The Tómarúm record is a very impressive piece of work too.
THE FALLEN: Tzompantli - "Tlazcaltiliztli" (2022) 4/5
THE HORDE: Bloodbath - "Unblessing the Purity" E.P. (2008) 4/5
THE SPHERE: Scorn - "Vae Solis" (1992) 4/5
THE REVOLUTION: Whitechapel - "A New Era Of Corruption" (2010) 4/5
THE INFINITE: Tómarúm - "Ash in Realms of Stone Icons" (2022) 4/5
THE NORTH: Tilintetgjort - "In Death I Shall Arise" (2023) 3.5/5
THE PIT: Blood Tsunami - "Grand Feast For Vultures" (2009) 3.5/5
THE GUARDIANS: Grave Digger - "Knights of the Cross" (1998) 3/5
This short E.P. can categorically be labelled as being "my cup of tea" & is one of Bloodbath's best releases in my opinion. "Unblessing The Purity" very much represents a tribute to the great death metal releases of the 1990's, only it's put together in a more modern way. The production & performances are outstanding, particularly those of front man Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) & drummer Martin Axenrot (Opeth/Nifelheim/Witchery). Bloodbath are more commonly associated with the classic Swedish death metal sound of Grave, Entombed & Dismember but this four-track release sees them traversing territories that are much closer to Vader, Behemoth & particularly Morbid Angel with Åkerfeldt sounding a fair bit like "Blessed Are The Sick"-era Dave Vincent which is a big plus in my books. I absolutely love the stunning blast-beat sections! "Unblessing The Purity" is an undeniably high quality death metal release that should satisfy any fan of the genre.
4/5
Yeah, I really enjoyed this feature too. I wasn't familiar with Tzompantli prior to this album being released but ended up giving it a couple of fairly casual listens after reading Ben's review last year. On paper it should have been totally up my alley & it certainly delivered with a crushingly dense guitar tone, super-deep death growls & a plethora of ultra-heavy riffs. This revisit has only further enhanced my position with Tzompantli's sound sitting somewhere between death/doom & your more conventional death metal sound. I prefer the doomier & more atmospheric side of their sound as the straight-up death metal sections tends to be a touch generic, even if they're still pretty effective due to the excellent production & execution. Mortiferum, diSEMBOWELMENT & Spectral Voice are pretty good points of reference.
4/5
Here's my revised Top Ten Deathcore Releases of All Time list with Alice Through The Windshield Glass' “Brutalis Australis” dropping out to make way for Whitechapel third album which I've added a half-star to upon this week's revisit:
01. Impending Doom – “Baptized In Filth” (2012)
02. Slice The Cake – “Odyssey To The West” (2016)
03. The Contortionist – “Exoplanet” (2010)
04. Whitechapel - "A New Era of Corruption" (2010)
05. Suicide Silence – “The Black Crown” (2011)
06. Born Of Osiris – “The Discovery” (2011)
07. As They Burn – “A New Area For Our Plagues” E.P. (2009)
08. The Acacia Strain – “Wormwood” (2010)
09. As They Burn – “Aeon’s War” (2011)
10. Impending Doom – “The Serpent Servant” (2009)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/179
Here's my review:
2010’s “A New Era Of Corruption” third album from Tennessee six-piece Whitechapel is another one of the slew of deathcore releases I found myself indulging in during a three year period upon returning to metal after a decade-long hiatus in 2009. Despite the weight of opinion residing predominantly in the negative though, I found a fair bit of appeal in the stronger deathcore releases. Sure, the generic breakdowns & over the top vocal performances could become a little grating on occasion but the relentless aggression, professional production & clinical performances all offered plenty of appeal to someone with my musical background. “A New Era Of Corruption” wasn’t one the releases that I placed at the top of the pile but it certainly afforded me a few days of enjoyable body-thrashing so I was keen to see how time has treated it a full twelve years later.
“A New Era Of Corruption” is a very consistent deathcore release to be honest. There’s not a weak song amongst the eleven on offer & I can’t see Whitechapel presenting us with too many in the future either as they seem to be an artist of high quality. The band members all seem to be so in tune with one another which helps to create a pummeling, super-tight sound that’s clearly hellbent on smashing your skull into a concrete wall. Of course, the failings of the deathcore genre are all still evident with the djenty single-note breakdowns sounding very much like you’ve heard them all before but there’s a hell of a lot more to see here if you can accept those for what they are & focus on squashing your up against the inside wall of your skull instead of stroking your elitist chin.
Front man Phil Bozeman has a super-deep death growl delivery & sounds genuinely angry throughout. He’s backed by some higher register supporting growls that aren’t nearly as effective as they sound a little gurgly. I absolutely love the progressive lead guitar work that’s smattered across the tracklisting though. In fact, I find it to be the clear highlight of the record &, when combined with some impressively technical rhythms & riff-structure at times, you can easily see where Whitechapel might be going in the future. It’s kinda strange that you get those simplistic breakdowns between some wonderfully complex & quite melodic progressive work though & I could probably do with the occasional use of bouncy one-two hardcore beats too.
The tracklisting is worth mentioning because, despite not including any failures as such, it could have been programmed a touch better. You see, three of the first four tracks tend to be some of the less impressive inclusions on the album while the B side is much stronger than the A side with wonderful closing track “Single File To Dehumanization” being the clear album highlight & leaving me feeling pretty invigorated afterwards. Perhaps that’s the intention as it certainly encourages me to want to take the whole journey again but I can’t help but feel that Whitechapel might have been better served by bulking out the start of the album a little more. Perhaps it’s just a taste thing as the back end is where you’ll find the stronger influence of the classic death metal sound & some of the classier progressive work.
To date “A New Era Of Corruption” is still the only Whitechapel release I’ve heard but I’m very pleased to be able to say that it’s a very strong one & this revisit has only seen it growing in my esteem with the reward being an additional half-star. In fact, I’d suggest that this is one of the better deathcore releases I’ve encountered over the years & I once again have to ask exactly what it is that some critics have against it as it does exactly what it says on the tin & executes it in a very efficient & professional manner. If you hate deathcore then you’ll no doubt hate this record too but for those of you that don’t mind a bit of Carnifex, Thy Art Is Murder or Job For A Cowboy then you’re in for a minor treat.
4/5
Reddit’s pretty big on elitism too just quietly.
That's a good question Sonny. I think it's probably because of a) the Ved Buens Ende..... & Arcturus influences that pop up occasionally & b) the unusual use of quirky melodic motifs over your more traditional black metal sound. The use of dissonance isn't anything extreme or terribly unusual for black metal so I can't see how that could be a driver. Perhaps the fact that Tilintetgjort jump around a fair bit stylistically might be encouraging it too. Alternatively it may simply be that Tilintetgjort's label decided to post them in Metal Archives with an Avant-garde Black Metal tag & we all know that the elitist masses will believe anything they read from that particular website, often at the expense of truth & integrity.
I absolutely love that soundtrack Vinny. I would have bought it on CD shortly after release & it's stayed with me ever since.
This afternoon's listening while doing puzzles with my four year old daughter:
Lowlife - "Permanent Sleep" (1986)
English post-punk.
This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
Here's my review:
I have to admit that I’d never heard of Norwegian black metal outfit Tilintetgjort prior to their brand new debut album “In Death I Shall Arise” being nominated as this month’s The North feature release so I had very little idea of what to expect going into it. Upon investigation I found that there are a couple of links to bands that I’m familiar with though. Bassist Sturt plays with symphonic black metallers Troll who I quite like while English drummer Sathan currently fills the role that legendary Mayhem skinsman Hellhammer used to fill in fellow Norwegian black metallers Den Saakaldte so the band members appear to have a bit of pedigree about them. After perusing a few reviews & other online resources it would seem that Tilintetgjort sit on the more avant-garde side of black metal though which isn’t always a space I like to play so I kept my wits about me going into my first listen to “In Death I Shall Arise” (which really should be the name of a death metal record in all honesty & the wonderfully deathly cover artwork only further enhances the chances of misleading your average consumer).
The first thing you’ll notice about “In Death I Shall Arise” is the unusual production job. I’m sure you’re all well accustomed to a raw, dirty & lo-fi recording style with Norwegian black metal by now but this one is a little different, even if it certainly sits comfortably under those terms. The mix has been afforded a lot of mid-range & the guitars sound very thin & fuzzy which leaves them struggling to compete with the rhythm section who dominate the mix, particularly the bass guitar of Sturt which seems to be the main focal point for the most part. This is especially noticeable when the guitarists go for higher register tremolo-picked melodies as there just doesn’t seem to be enough weight behind them which leaves them sounding weak, unintimidating & overly exposed. It’s a shame really as I think Tilintetgjort have left a bit of potential on the studio floor to be honest. Sturt on the other hand takes full advantage of his favourable position in the mix by showcasing some very inventive bass lines that create a lot of additional interest within some already quite expansive song structures.
It's interesting that I don’t find “In Death I Shall Arise” to be anywhere near as avant-garde as it’s made out to be at other online locations. To my ears, it’s not doing all that much that hasn’t been done before by forward-thinking Norwegians but it’s presented in a quirkier way that sees it standing out as something a bit different nonetheless. Tilintetgjort display a wide variety of home-grown influences from Darkthrone to Ved Buens Ende….. to Ulver to Arcturus but also dip into Celtic Frost waters at times. The blackened vocals of Svik are suitably grim & croaky but never lose intelligibility while guitarists Hazzlegard & Den Gamle offer a whole slew of interesting melodic ideas that once again have me reaching for that unusual term for extreme metal in “quirky”, a word that I have to admit I usually stay well away from in my metal music. Their harmonic counter-play sounds quite off-beat & unique at times. I also enjoy the occasional use of dissonance while the incorporation of some particularly Norwegian sounding acoustic guitar parts & clean Viking/folk vocals (that remind me of Garm from Ulver/Arcturus/Borknagar) is well executed, if not being something that I usually go for. There are some punky drum beats employed on occasion too which briefly takes things into similar territory to the niche subgenre of black ‘n’ roll.
The 46-minute tracklisting contains just the six tracks but is heavily weighted towards the epic 21-minute closer “Dommedagsvmonument” with the other five songs all finishing under the seven-minute mark. I enjoy all but one of the six with the overly quirky “Mercurial” being a bit of a struggle for someone with my taste profile. My clear highlight is unsurprisingly the shortest & most conventional of the six in the very Darkthrone-ish “Hex” which may not try anywhere near as much as the other material but succeeds emphatically in the area of simple & repetitive tremolo-picked riffage & evil, blasphemic black metal vocals. “Vinter og høst” is where you can most clearly see the influence of Ved Buens Ende….. & it saw me wishing that Tilintetgjort had explored that sound a little more to be honest. In saying that, “In Death I Shall Arise” sees the band jumping around quite a bit from a stylistic point of view but still ends up sounding pretty cohesive which is a feather in the band's caps. It also sounds distinctly Norwegian which I’m sure isn’t a coincidence.
At the end of the day “In Death I Shall Arise” is more of an interesting record than it is one that I can see myself genuinely falling for. I like the ambition more than the reality & a lot of that comes down to taste but I feel that the production job has a lot to answer for too as I can’t deny the feeling that it’s reduced the impact of some of this material. Still… it’s nice to see a new band that can not only pay homage to their influences but also present a sound that presents them in a fresh new way.
3.5/5
Here's my review:
I’ve been aware of Norwegian thrash metallers Blood Tsunami for many years now since first giving them a glancing listen around the time of this 2009 sophomore album. I believe my attention had been drawn to them by the inclusion of drummer Faust (Emperor/Thorns/Aborym/Djevel) whose notoriety within the underground extreme metal scene had only been enhanced by his incarceration for murder back in 1993. I recall quite liking “Grand Feast For Vultures” too but not enough to give it much dedicated attention so it had to settle for more of a background music role at the time. It’s not terribly surprising that my recollections are a bit hazy around the finer details of the album now then as I’ve never really given it the active-listening time required to confidently rate or review it so it’s nomination as this month’s The Pit feature release seems like a great opportunity to correct that omission & potentially reinvigorate my interest in a band that I haven’t kept abreast of for a full decade.
“Grand Feast For Vultures” is certainly a professionally executed release. The cover artwork is attractive & is somewhat of a drawcard for thrash metal fans while the production job is clean & powerful with the guitars sitting front & centre as they should be on any riff-driven metal record. All of the performances are high quality too & one gets the feeling that Blood Tsunami were consciously keeping well within their capabilities while recording this record, possibly in the interest of keeping things as accessible as possible. All in all though, I’d have to say that they’ve given their second album every chance of digging its talons into me as there are no obvious flaws in the packaging & presentation so it really comes down to whether or not the song-writing can deliver.
While generally being labelled as a thrash metal band, there’s a little more to Blood Tsunami’s sound on "Grand Feast For Vultures". Sure, the Slayer influence is fairly pronounced at times, particularly during the first half of the album, & I can’t deny that those are the moments that offer me the most appeal as classic Slayer is pretty much the best thing humanity is responsible for having created in my opinion. An obvious point of difference comes in the vocal delivery of front man Pete Evil (I really hope that’s his real name) though as he steers well clear of your traditional thrash space by opting for a blackened shriek that sounds almost metalcore-ish in the way he spits out his lyrics. He’s supported by some deeper & fairly generic death metal growls that don’t add much of value. As the tracklisting progresses you’ll also notice the presence of an additional musical component in the influence of Iron Maiden & the melodic death metal scene on Blood Tsunami’s sound, often in a way that sees the listener unable to tell from which of those two options the band have been inspired. You’ll find several examples of up-tempo & melodic riffs that could have been lifted straight off an At The Gates album while also having your attention drawn to some well executed guitar harmonies that will leave you in no doubt that “Powerslave” was being played on repeat during drinks breaks at the Blood Tsunami rehearsal room, particularly during epic album centrepiece “Horsehead Nebula”. This combination of influences works quite well for the most part but I’m not going to try to hide the fact that I’ve never been the biggest fan of melodeath so the thrashier parts of the album definitely offer me a lot more appeal than the more melodic & harmony-driven ones.
Another element that’s worth noting is the use of long track lengths with the 51-minute record only including seven tracks, the last two of which exceed the ten-minute mark. I don’t see this as a weakness as I don’t think the song structures sound overly indulgent. Instead, they tend to run their own course without ever leaving the impression that they've been needlessly extended. The main detractor for me though is that this is a pretty basic sounding record to be honest. Some of the riffs sound a little generic & undercooked while the components that Blood Tsunami have borrowed from their influences are often presented in a way that sees them trying to emulate their idols rather than using their inspiration to create something fresh & original . When you add that to the strong focus on melody & a vocal delivery that’s nothing more than serviceable then you get a record that’s generally enjoyable but rarely impressive. To be fair, there’s only the one track that I struggle with (i.e. the disappointing “Laid To Waste” which suffers from a very ordinary melodeath chorus) but I have to say that the remaining six never have me bouncing off the walls even though they have some really cool parts.
Overall, I’d suggest that “Grand Feast For Vultures” is worth a listen or two for those with a penchant for well executed & professionally produced thrash metal, particularly if you don’t mind a bit of melodic death metal or a blackened thrash vocal delivery. As a point of reference, Blood Tsunami’s sound sits somewhere in the space between Toxic Holocaust, Skeletonwitch & Kreator’s post-2010 works & if that sounds like your bag then you may be in for a treat.
3.5/5
Here's my review:
German power/heavy metal stalwarts Grave Digger have eluded me for most of the many decades I’ve been involved with the metal scene. I guess we simply sit on opposing sides of the metal spectrum but that hasn’t dampened my urge to remove the mystery around them at some point, if only so that I can tick a reasonably important box in my understanding of the classic metal bands. Prior to checking out this month’s feature release my only significant experience with Grave Digger had been through their 1984 debut album “Heavy Metal Breakdown” which I investigated for the Metal Academy podcast many years ago. It saw them delivering a fairly traditional Judas Priest/Accept style of classic heavy metal with a brute of a guitar tone & a few seriously good riffs but unfortunately the song-writing & lyrics were pretty poor which left me feeling a bit flat about the album overall. 1998’s “Knights of the Cross” is a much more highly regarded record though so I’ve gone into this month’s The Guardians feature release hopeful of a more positive outcome.
If the online information is to be believed, Grave Digger headed off in a slightly different direction after the 1980’s with their signature sound being somewhat of a hybrid of power metal & heavy metal. “Knights of the Cross” (Grave Digger’s eighth full-length) is a prime example of that although it’s possibly a touch heavier on the power metal than it is the heavy metal of their early days. The production job is clear & effective with the rhythm guitar tone helping the album to achieve a metal-as-fuck feel without taking the distortion to extreme levels. Interestingly, front man Chris Boltendahl is the only remaining member from Grave Digger’s debut album so it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that they've taken a slightly different path over time. That’s not to say that “Knights of the Cross” sounds like a different band or anything though as it maintains some of the same traits as “Heavy Metal Breakdown” as well as some of the same failings.
As with the debut, Grave Digger keep their riff & song structures very simple & quite generic for the most part, presumably in the interest of giving band leader Boltendahl plenty of room to move as, let’s be honest, this type of music is all about those soaring vocal hooks, isn’t it? Boltendahl’s gruff vocals are a nice change from the higher-register operatic style that we’re so used to hearing from European power metal acts. I’ve never been big on concept albums though as the continued focus on delivering a storyline tends to have an impact of the quality of the music more often than not in my opinion. For this reason I generally find myself ignoring the concept & judging these releases as traditional albums. That’s not all that easy to do with “Knights of the Cross’ though as the themes of The Crusades are presented so blatantly with the lyrics being easily intelligible which makes it hard to ignore their intent. Sadly, I don’t think Grave Digger have improved on their ability write mature lyrics as these are pretty obvious & often kinda dumb which leaves the album relying really heavily on those vocal hooks to carry it through.
So, do those hooks deliver a rewarding album experience? Well, at times they do but this is a very inconsistent record to be honest. I quite like the more mature power metal numbers like the opening title track & epic closer “The Battle of Bannockburn” as well as a few of the heavy metal-oriented numbers such as “Fanatic Assassins”, The Curse of Jacques” & particularly the very solid album highlight “The Keeper of the Holy Grail” but there are also a slew of creative failures included. None of them are truly disastrous but the losses outweigh the wins for mine which leaves “Knights of the Cross” ending up on the wrong side of the acceptability line. In fact, I’d suggest that I slightly prefer “Heavy Metal Breakdown” over this one which might not be all that surprising given my much stronger affiliations with heavy metal over power metal. Fans of German power/heavy metal acts like Running Wild, Rage & Rebellion will no doubt be much more open to a record like this one than I will & there’s unquestionably a lot worse power metal records out there too but that doesn’t make “Knights of the Cross” any more interesting for someone with my particular taste profile.
3/5
Flower Travellin' Band's next album "Satori" is pretty great. I used to wear the t-shirt around religiously many years ago.