Daniel's Forum Replies

So, are you in or are you out Rex? I don't want people coming into this exercise with agendas as that defeats the purpose. You're free to do whatever you want with your own lists though so I don't know why that should come into it. The fun part is the process more than the outcome & people are encouraged to challenge the status quo in the interest of healthy discussion but majority will rule at the end of the day. Everyone will be entitled to state their cases prior to reaching that outcome though. Where there are initially mixed feelings on the validity of a particular release, we'll examine it track by track as a group in order to come to an agreed membership consensus. Anyway, are you nominating "Deep Purple In Rock" for consideration as the very first metal release?

Personally, I like to have the extra 10% flexibility for releases where the most important songs are the metal ones but where metal doesn't quite make up half the album. 30% definitely doesn't seem like enough to me but I'm OK with 40%. What do the rest of you think is a fair cut-off point for this exercise?

I agree. I've always felt the "Heartwork" cover was pretty ordinary.

Johnny Winter - "Nothin' but the Blues" (1977)

Electric blues from Texas, USA.

That said, Giger's work appears on a lot of albums, including Celtic Frost, Danzig, Atrocity, Sacrosanct, and even Carcass' Heartwork.

Let's not forget the most highly regarded & widely celebrated releases ever to don Giger's artwork in the Neuropath demos Ben.

I can't say that I hear much of the neoclassical component that others have highlighted to be honest.

Ratos de Porão - "Brasil" (1989)

As with most obsessive thrash metal fanatics at the time, I was completely oblivious to the existence of Brazilian legends Ratos de Porão until their countrymen Sepultura blew up with their classic 1989 third album “Beneath The Remains”. Max, Igor & co. were very proud of their homeland & subsequently highlighted to interviewers all of the fantastic metal talent they were surrounded by back home which resulted in me seeking out a few of the more underground bands they mentioned with Ratos de Porão being one of them. The São Paulo crossover kings had been a part of the local crust/hardcore punk scene for almost a decade by that stage so they’d already built somewhat of a legacy in their country by the time Sepultura began pushing their cause internationally but their 1989 “Brasil” fourth album would be my introduction to them in the very early 1990’s.

Their newly found fame saw Ratos de Porão following in Sepultura’s footsteps by graduating from the safety of local Brazilian label Cogumelo Records & joining them at Roadracer where “Beneath The Remains” had just reached stratospheric levels of popularity. Roadracer would engage a serious producer too in German Harris Johns whose resume already included a long string of classic metal records such as Helloween’s self-titled E.P. & “Walls of Jericho” debut album, Kreator’s “Pleasure to Kill”, Voivod’s “Killing Technology” & “Dimension Hatross” & Sodom’s “Agent Orange” so one would think that the Brazilians would have been freaking the fuck out & wondering what they’d done to deserve such luck. Roadracer even sent them over to Germany for the recording sessions which must have seemed so out of line with their experiences to the time. Johns did a great job at harnessing the raw energy of Ratos de Porão’s hardcore roots while also instilling their sound with an all-new clarity & professionalism.

Ratos de Porão’s 1987 “Cada dia mais sujo e agressivo” third album had seen them taking their first steps into thrash territory after 1984’s “Crucificados pelo sistema” & 1986’s “Descanse em paz” had apparently been predominantly hardcore based. I’ve not explored those early releases before but I do quite like “Cada dia mais sujo e agressivo” which presented the band’s intensity quite nicely. “Brasil” saw Ratos de Porão returning with the same four-piece lineup & laying down seventeen tracks of short, sharp metallic hardcore which doesn’t pretend to reinvent the wheel in any way, instead opting to engage the listeners limbs for the purpose of violent thrashing & open aggression. At just 29 minutes in duration, “Brasil” doesn’t overstay its welcome & serves its purpose very well indeed for those with a penchant for this sort of thing. It can get a little samey if you're not entirely onboard with the band's default sound though so you'll likely know very early on whether this record will appeal to you or not.

The tracklisting opens beautifully with two of its finest inclusions in “Amazonia Never More” (my personal favourite) & “Backwards” before settling into a consistently engaging yet slightly less impressive sound that often sees them toying with silly hardcore calling cards without allowing them to outstay their welcome. The back end of the record sees Ratos de Porão finishing in style with songs like “Military Machine” & closer “Will I Receive My Heritage” being of a similar quality to those first couple of tracks so you definitely come out of the record on somewhat of a high. Novelty track “Drink Til You Die” is the only genuine failure in my opinion as it simply sounds a bit dumb compared to the rest of the tracklisting. The musicianship is excellent throughout the album (particularly the solid drumming) & we even get a few well executed & exciting guitar solos which isn’t something I can say for all that many hardcore bands. The more up-tempo parts are clearly my comfort zone with the groovier hardcore moments offering me significantly less appeal but the occasional use of half-time Dave Lombardo-style ride cymbal work is always welcome. The fact that Ratos de Porão never stay in one place for all that long is a definite positive because even when they start to drift away from my taste profile they’ll inevitably start to head back within seconds.

Crossover thrash has never been a subgenre that sees me reaching the highest peaks of the extreme metal world so my scoring is generally capped around the four star region & “Brasil” does nothing to change that but is certainly one of the stronger examples of the style you’ll find. I particularly enjoy the gruff, masculine vocals of front man João Gordo which are undeniably Brazilian in nature & will no doubt remind many of a young Max Cavalera. Ratos de Porão would be consistent producer of this sort of record for the many decades since but “Brasil” may well be their finest work & fans of bands like The Exploited, D.R.I. & Soziedad Alkoholika should definitely give it a few spins.

3.5/5

Here's my updated Top Ten Crossover Thrash Releases of All Time list which has seen Excel's "Split Image" dropping out:

01. Suicidal Tendencies – “Lights Camera Revolution” (1989)

02. S.O.D. – “Speak English or Die” (1985)

03. Agnostic Front – “Cause For Alarm” (1986)

04. Cryptic Slaughter – “Convicted” (1986)

05. The Accused – “The Return Of… Martha Splatterhead” (1986)

06. Agnostic Front – “Liberty & Justice For…” (1987)

07. Ratos de Porão - "Brasil" (1989)

08. Attitude Adjustment – “American Paranoia” (1986)

09. Crumbsuckers – “Life Of Dreams” (1986)

10. Permanent Damage - "End of Innocence" (1987)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/174

Metal Church - "Blessing In Disguise" (1989)

San Francisco-based heavy metal legends Metal Church have been a part of my life since way back when I was in my very early teenage years with their 1989 third album “Blessing In Disguise” being my entry point to the band. My introduction came through the inclusion of opening track “Fake Healer” on a late-night underground metal radio program I used to listen to religiously while recording it for repeat listens during the coming week. That experience would lead to me exploring all three of Metal Church’s 1980’s albums during the next few months, all of which I got some level of enjoyment out of. With my life-long obsession with a more extreme brand of metal just kicking off at the time though, I’d opt not to follow Metal Church into the 1990’s & have heard very little of the eleven subsequent full-lengths they’ve released since 1989. I did enjoy the tracks I heard from their 1991 fourth record “The Human Factor” back in the day but never committed to giving the album a comprehensive review while the only other experience I’ve had with Metal Church has come through their 1981 “Red Skies” demo which I found to be decidedly average. Around seven or eight years ago though, the Metal Academy podcast saw me returning to Metal Church’s self-titled debut for an in-depth historical review & I found it to be a less consistent record than I remembered it to be although it’s highlights were nothing short of mind-blowing. I revisited 1986’s “The Dark” sophomore album only a few months ago &, once again, found it to lack the impact it had during my youth. Both are certainly entertaining records in their own right but I can’t say that I class either of them as being essential these days which leads me back to where I started with Metal Church i.e. their 1989 third full-length “Blessing In Disguise”.

Metal Church had undergone a couple of fairly major line-up changes in the three years since “The Dark” with front man David Wayne & founding guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof having been replaced by Heretic vocalist Mike Howe & Blind Illusion axeman John Marshall (who was famously also James Hetfield’s guitar technician). Drug addiction had gotten the better of Wayne & there are conflicting reports as to whether he quit in order to focus on his rehabilitation or was fired by the remaining band members but he’d go on to form Seattle thrash metal outfit Reverend the following year. Vanderhoof had decided to put all of his time into learning how to produce & engineer records but would remain a part of the Metal Church family in some capacity as he’d continue to contribute to the song-writing despite no longer being a full-time member of the band. Both would return as full-time members of Metal Church almost a decade later in 1998.

Metal Church’s label Elektra Records would engage producer Terry Date for the “Blessing In Disguise” sessions. Terry had produced Metal Church’s highly praised 1984 self-titled debut album & had also handled the engineering duties for “The Dark” so one would imagine that he was almost a part of the furniture by that point. He was also accumulating a pretty decent production resume that already included Fifth Angel’s self-titled & Liege Lord’s “Master Control”, both of which are considered to be minor US power metal classics these days. “Blessing In Disguise” doesn’t sound quite as good as you’d imagine it might though to be honest. Metal Church would certainly have benefited from a thicker, chunkier guitar tone & I’m not the biggest fan of the snare sound either. There’s also a fair bit of variation in sound between the various tracks which is a little bit dodgy. These production issues aren’t a deal breaker by any means but they’re worth mentioning nonetheless as I think “Blessing In Disguise” could have been a fair bit better if it was presented with a heavier aesthetic.

The tracklisting kicks off in massive style with the before-mentioned “Fake Healer” being an all-time classic of the US power metal movement in my opinion. Powerful new front man Howe makes an immediate impact & proves himself to not only be a match for Wayne but to possess a potency that Wayne would struggle to match. Howe sounds noticeably more epic & reminds me of some of the bigger voices in metal like WASP’s Blackie Lawless or Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kursch. In fact, I’d suggest that he’s one of my all-time favourite heavy metal singers so his acquisition can only be deemed to be positive as far as I’m concerned. Unfortunately though, the remaining eight tracks struggle to meet the same stratospheric levels as “Fake Healer” but that doesn’t stop the album from achieving a new-found consistency that was missing on either of the two previous records, both of which suffered from a couple of duds. The first two thirds of the tracklisting are particularly solid with the quality dropping a touch over the back end. Other than the prestigious opener, some of the highlights include “Badlands”, “Rest in Pieces (April 15, 1912)”, “Of Unsound Mind” & “The Spell Can’t Be Broken”.

Stylistically, “Blessing In Disguise” is the very definition of US power metal sound with the tracklisting being a combination of heavy metal, power metal, thrash metal & speed metal. Interestingly, I find the couple of faster, more thrashy tunes (“It’s A Secret” & “Cannot Tell A Lie”) to be some of the least impressive inclusions which is out of line with my taste profile. It’s worth noting though that, as with both of Metal Church’s previous albums, any attempts to tag this record as a genuine thrash or speed metal release are overly ambitious as there is far more of a classic heavy metal vibe going on here. The thrash/speed metal material represents more of a changeup than anything.

I dunno how much to put down to my preference for Howe’s vocals but I can’t help but find “Blessing In Disguise” to be my favourite Metal Church record these days. Perhaps nostalgia has played a role in that position given that it was my introduction to the band at such a young age? It’s certainly possible but I suspect not. I just think those first couple of albums suffered from some inconsistencies in quality while this one seems to have overcome that issue. If you’re into American bands like Flotsam & Jetsam, Savatage & Vicious Rumors then “Blessing In Disguise” should be essential listening.

4/5

Here's my updated Top Ten US Power Metal Releases of All Time list with Titan Force's self-titled debut album dropping out to make way for "Blessing In Disguise":

01. Crimson Glory - "Crimson Glory" (1986)

02. Iced Earth - "Alive in Athens" (1999)

03. Manowar - "Into Glory Ride" (1983)

04. Medieval Steel - "Medieval Steel" E.P. (1984)

05. Crimson Glory - "Transcendence" (1988)

06. Metal Church - "Blessing In Disguise" (1989)

07. Queenryche - "The Warning" (1984)

08. Riot - "ThunderSteel" (1988)

09. Fates Warning - "The Spectre Within" (1985)

10. Griffin - "Flight of the Griffin" (1984)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/127

Here's my new Top Ten Power Metal Releases of All Time list with Kamelot's "One Cold Winter's Night" live release being pushed out by Helstar's "Nosferatu":

01. Kamelot - "The Black Halo" (2005)

02. Iced Earth - "Alive In Athens" (1999)

03. Unleash The Archers - "Apex" (2017)

04. Lost Horizon - "Awakening The World" (2001)

05. Blind Guardian - "Imaginations From The Other Side" (1995)

06. Lost Horizon - "A Flame To The Ground Beneath" (2003)

07. Helstar - "Nosferatu" (1989)

08. Blind Guardian - "Nightfall In Middle-Earth" (1998)

09. Blind Guardian - "Live" (2003)

10. Blind Guardian - "Somewhere Far Beyond" (1992)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/139

Do you mind me asking how you score your releases out of 100 Rex? I assume there's some sort of calculation tool that helps you to come up with those results?

Helstar - "Nosferatu" (1989)

I think it’s fair to say that my experiences with Houston-based US power metal outfit Helstar’s 1980’s releases have been a bit of a mixed bag up until now. My initial impressions of them weren’t particularly positive after reviewing their 1984 debut album “Burning Star” for the Metal Academy podcast many years ago but I can certainly see a lot more potential in them after checking out 1988’s highly regarded “A Distant Thunder” third album last month which has left me wondering whether their supposedly classic 1989 fourth album “Nosferatu” might be the one to hit a home run for me. Let’s find out.

A level of stability can only a good thing for a band that’s building towards something significant & Helstar have certainly benefited from a bit of that with “Nosferatu” not only seeing them returning with the same lineup that was so successful for them on “A Distant Thunder” but also with the same producer in Metal Blade’s prolific house engineer Bill Metoyer. Bill had built up quite the resume by that point in his career with his list of production achievements now including the likes of Trouble’s “Psalm 9” & “The Skull”, Flotsam & Jetsam’s “No Place For Disgrace” & Sacred Reich’s “Surf Nicaragua” so he’d become a significant asset for label head Brian Slagel at the time. Bill’s done a splendid job at harnessing the nuances of Helstar’s sound here too with the band possessing a potent metallic edge but also the clarity to make out every bell & whistle they throw at the listener & there are more than a few of those.

To be more specific, Helstar had always pushed a slightly more complex sound than the majority of their competition but “Nosferatu” is not only the most aggressive release they’d released to the time but it’s also by far & away the most technical & progressive. In fact, it baffles me as to why this album isn’t tagged as progressive metal because it’s clearly ambitious enough for it. Its core sound is the very essence of what the US power metal movement was all about though in that it combines a high-tempo brand of power metal & thrash metal instrumentation with a soaring, operatic & theatrical vocal performance from front man James Rivera (Destiny’s End/Malice/Vicious Rumors/Seven Witches). There’s really very little traditional heavy metal on offer so our current tag is clearly inappropriate, as is the speed metal one because the faster material is better served by the power metal tag given the vocal style & over-the-top performances.

The album is chock-filled with technical flourishes that dazzle the listener as they’re executed with both energy & precision. To be honest, they can sound a bit fiddly at times & I definitely find myself more attracted to the thrashier & slightly more simple material. Perhaps that’s got a lot to do with my aversion to the European brand of power metal because “Nosferatu” has a fair bit of crossover in that department. In fact, Rivera’s vocal performance is definitely too theatrical for my taste & represents somewhat of an obstacle for me. It’s hard to be too critical though as the album is just so unapologetically metal & the contributions of the instrumentalists are outstanding with the dual guitar attack of Andre Corbin & Larry Barragan now possessing some mean chops that enable them to pull off some searing, face-melting solos.

Much like “A Distant Thunder”, I found myself enjoying the entire tracklisting here but can’t quite seem to convince myself to reach for my higher scores. This definitely comes down to taste as much as anything as there’s very little doubt that “Nosferatu” is a quality example of its type. Most fans seem to get hot & heated over the start of the record but I find that the tracklisting doesn’t really start to hum until a particularly solid run from tracks six to nine. I think that has something to do with the A side being more power metal-heavy while the proggier & thrashier material tends to come a little later on & is more in line with my taste profile.

I have to admit that I’ve remained fairly oblivious to the vampire themes that apparently pervade the first side of “Nosferatu” which won’t surprise most of our long-term members as I rarely care much for lyrical concepts. Despite that though, the musical themes that the album is pushing are pretty impressive & I’ve found them to give me a touch more enjoyment than I’ve received from either of the earlier Helstar albums I’ve investigated to date. However, I still can’t say that I’m convinced by this particular arm of the US power metal scene as it’s simply too theatrical & over-the-top for me to fully commit to. Give this record a snarlier thrash singer & I’d likely be all-in though. That said, Agent Steel, Liege Lord & Sanctuary fans will be absolutely all over this record, particularly if they also enjoy the more progressive end of the US power metal spectrum.

3.5/5

Titan Force - "Titan Force" (1989)

Colorado Springs five-piece Titan Force are another highly regarded US power metal exponent that I was relatively unaware of until recently. I’ve been developing a bit of a taste for the more muscular, aggressive & generally epic brand of heavy metal that was coming out of America during the mid-to-late 1980’s so my ears pricked up when I heard mention of this little band &, more specifically, their 1989 self-titled debut album which is apparently regarded as something of a minor classic by aficionados of the movement. Titan Force are very much a family arrangement with the three founding members being a trio of siblings in Mario, John & Stefan Flores who had been floating around the traps since 1983. Things really didn’t start to happen for the band until 1987 with the recruitment of talented Jag Panzer & Satan’s Host front man Harry Conklin who they’d been in contact with since their early days supporting Jag Panzer. This 1989 debut full-length would be Titan Force’s first proper release & it’s a bit of a belter as well just quietly.

The self-titled album would be released on little-known German label US Metal Records who released a short string of US & Swedish heavy metal albums between 1986-90 before disappearing off the face of the earth. “Titan Force” would be the label’s only major success but I’d imagine that they would have had to wait many years to see any sort of compensation as this record seems to have been more of a slow burner than anything else & has probably only come to most people’s attention since the internet came to prominence. The album was recorded at Titan Force’s local Colorado Sound Studios in Denver & I can’t find any information on a producer so there may not have been one allocated with the house engineer simply handling the logistics of recording the band. If that was the case then the results are more than acceptable with the record offering a clear & uncluttered sound that’s no doubt assisted by Titan Force’s natural tendency to leave plenty of space.

To elaborate on that a little more, Titan Force play things pretty safe for the most part & never seem terribly rushed. Instead, they stay within themselves for the majority of the record & focus a lot more of their attention on creating simple yet tight heavy/power metal riffs that enable Conklin’s vocals the room to ensure they secure the maximum effect. This translates into a fairly low-tempo album by US power metal standards but the quality of the riffs & the theatrical eccentricities of Harry’s operatic vocals combine beautifully with some high-quality guitar solos to make for a fascinating heavy metal record that very much fits the bill for US power metal qualification.

The tracklisting is fairly consistent with just the one blemish in the dull “Blaze of Glory” which sits far too close to the European brand of power metal for my liking. The lumbering heavy metal pacing of “Master of Disguise”, the Queensryche-inspired “Lord Desire” & the wonderful album highlight “Toll of Pain” are my pick of the bunch with progressive influences seeping into a couple of tracks like “New Age Rebels”. There’s even a neoclassical guitar shred instrumental that reminds me very much of Vinnie Moore included which was a nice touch.

I’ve really enjoyed “Titan Force”, particularly the highlight tracks which have somewhat carried the album. Much like Dutch heavy metallers Picture, Titan Force seem to really know the value of the riff as not only a focal point but also as a song-writing accompaniment which was a very wise decision when you’ve got such a well-credentialled front man of Conklin (who sounds quite a bit like Queensryche singer Geoff Tate at times just quietly). If you can tolerate the classic theatrical, higher-register power metal style of vocal delivery then I’d suggest that you should definitely check “Titan Force” out, particularly if you’re a fan of US power metal bands like Heir Apparent, Hittman & Slauter Xstroyes who play in similar spaces.

4/5

Here's my updated Top Ten US Power Metal Releases of All Time list with Queensryche's debut E.P. dropping out to make way for "Titan Force":

01. Crimson Glory - "Crimson Glory" (1986)

02. Iced Earth - "Alive in Athens" (1999)

03. Manowar - "Into Glory Ride" (1983)

04. Medieval Steel - "Medieval Steel" E.P. (1984)

05. Crimson Glory - "Transcendence" (1988)

06. Queenryche - "The Warning" (1984)

07. Riot - "ThunderSteel" (1988)

08. Fates Warning - "The Spectre Within" (1985)

09. Griffin - "Flight of the Griffin" (1984)

10. Titan Force - "Titan Force" (1989)

Thanks Sonny. Most appreciated. :)

Leatherwolf - "Street Ready" (1989)

The last decade has seen me developing a bit of a penchant for US power metal which is a movement that I wasn’t always that well versed in. It’s tendency to see what are essentially classic heavy metal bands at their core dabbling in chunkier guitar tones & more modern & extreme brands of metal such as speed metal, power metal & thrash metal is something that offers a fair bit of appeal to this ol’ metalhead so I’ve found myself exploring a lot more of these releases than I would have anticipated previously. It’s also funny that I occasionally stumble across acts that are held in fairly high regard by US power metal enthusiasts but have somehow managed to completely avoid my attention in the 35+ years that I’ve been infatuated with metal music. Californian heavy metallers Leatherwolf definitely fall into this category & I thought I’d better check them out post haste based on the unanimous praise I’ve seen them drawing from some of the more trustworthy Twitter members I follow in recent weeks with their 1989 third album “Street Ready” in particular being held up as some sort of underground classic these days. Let’s see if these dudes can walk the talk then, shall we?

Leatherwolf are a five-piece outfit hailing from Huntington Beach who formed way back in 1981 with their independently released self-titled debut full-length seeing the light of day three years later. They’d maintain a fairly stable lineup through their early years with the only change leading up to their 1989 third album “Street Ready” being that bassist Paul Carman would take over Matt Hurich’s position for the band’s 1987 sophomore album (which, strangely enough, was also self-titled based on Leatherwolf’s new English label Island Records treating the debut as more of a demo). So the band had a fair amount of time to find their sound & gel as a group prior to the recording of “Street Ready” & it certainly shows too. Island had engaged Canadian producer Kevin Beamish (who had previously produced Saxon's 1984 "Crusader" album) for the recording of “Leatherwolf” & elected to go that way once again for “Street Ready” so one would assume that he must have made a pretty reasonable fist of things on his initial engagement. The evidence for that can be found in the stunning results here too as “Street Ready” sports a spectacularly bright & vibrant sound production that is one of its major drawcards, even making some of the less impressive examples of song-writing much more tolerable than they may otherwise have been.

The musicianship on “Street Ready” is also immaculate & often saw me wondering how I could not have heard of some of the individual instrumentalists before given just how capable they are with their chosen tools. The guitar solos of dual axemen Geoff Gayer & Carey Howe are particularly invigorating which begs the question as to why they didn’t receive more coverage in the US guitar magazines I used to read fairly religiously at the time. Perhaps they did feature but I didn’t pay attention to those articles given my lack of familiarity with them? It’s certainly possible but I’d suggest it’s probably unlikely as I generally used to read those mags from cover to cover. Front man Michael Olivieri possessed exactly the sort of voice that you’d want from a melodic US heavy metal singer too with his tone beautifully combining the accessibility of Motley Crue’s Vince Neil with the snarl of Exodus’ Steve Souza.

Although I mentioned the links with US power metal earlier in the review, I have to admit that I can’t really see it on the evidence here. The only track that sits comfortably under that tag is the wonderfully complex & unbelievably well-executed instrumental piece “Black Knight” (which also happens to be my personal favourite) with the rest of the album rarely exceeding the intensity levels of your more traditional heavy metal model. In fact, four of the ten songs included actually veer over into a more poppy glam metal space which leaves Leatherwolf’s sound being somewhat of a cross between glammy hard rockers Icon & the more heavy metal-inclined US power metal bands like Lizzy Borden & Banshee. After consideration I’d suggest that a dual tagging seems pretty appropriate for “Street Ready” too.

The potential for the album to score very highly was actually looking really good when I was halfway through my first listen with all of the highlight tracks sitting on the A side & even the couple of early glam metal tracks being catchy enough to be deemed acceptable. Things take a bit of a dip for the B side though which is a little disappointing, particularly the inclusion of a couple of more disposable glam metal ballads in “The Way I Feel” & “Lonely Road”. Thankfully there’s still enough quality in the tracks around them to keep me engaged but it’s a shame that there wasn’t anything to compare with earlier songs like “Wicked Ways” or “Take A Chance” during the back end of the album which has seen my initial hopes of a high score being dashed.

Look… while it may not take the US power metal direction that I’m led to believe Leatherwolf’s first two records did, there’s no doubt that “Street Ready” is a high-quality example of the middle-of-the-road, radio-friendly American heavy metal record. In fact, I’m baffled that they didn’t become household names on the basis of this release alone as its polished precision is just so easy on the ear. Presumably they were just a little late in the game with the grunge movement about to explode & cause the commercial hard rock scene to do the exact opposite. Perhaps that’s why Leatherwolf dropped off the map altogether after “Street Ready” & have failed to recover ever since? I’m not sure but at least they left us with this hint at what might have been.

3.5/5

Cloven Hoof - "A Sultan's Ransom" (1989)

English heavy metal outfit Cloven Hoof have been floating about since way back in the very late 1970’s & are generally referred to as being a part of the NWOBHM even though their self-titled debut album didn’t hit the shelves until just after the movement had subsided in 1984. I’ve been aware of them for decades but didn’t give them much dedicated attention until I reviewed "Cloven Hoof" as a part of my research for the Metal Academy podcast back in the mid-2010’s. It certainly sounded like a NWOBHM record with its Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, AC/DC & progressive rock influences being par for the course while their lyrics tended to veer towards the darker side. Vocalist David Potter opted for a masculine delivery rather than the operatic approach of a band like Iron Maiden too so Cloven Hoof sat very much in your classic heavy metal space. It wasn’t a bad record either but it suffered from some inconsistent song-writing & relied too heavily on its highlight tracks to carry it over the line. I’d not attempted another Cloven Hoof record up until now but have always been fascinated by the links I've seen being made with power metal as I don't recall much of that on the debut. In fact, Cloven Hoof's 1989 third album “A Sultan’s Ransom” has often been placed on somewhat of a pedestal by fans of the American variety of power metal which interests me significantly more than the European model so I finally decided to take the plunge this week & see what this record has to offer.

The impact of the change in style is immediate upon venturing into the first track “Astral Rider” with Cloven Hoof now sporting a much weightier sound. The production issues that plagued their debut have been overcome with a sound that’s still quite raw but possesses plenty of power & definition. The band were now with the Paul Birch-fronted FM Revolver Records label & recorded the album at Mad Hat Studios in their local town of Wolverhampton under the guidance of house studio engineer Mark Stuart who had some minor NWOBHM experience producing Dark Star’s “Reel to Reel” but wasn’t exactly heavy metal royalty. The result is much more agreeable though with “A Sultan’s Ransom” benefiting from an upfront & chunky yet still inherently raw guitar tone & a metal-as-fuck atmosphere. There’s an in-your-face, electric energy to Cloven Hoof’s sound here that sits much closer to the US power metal movement than it does to the band’s NWOBHM roots & this excited me.

It shouldn’t really be all that surprising that Cloven Hoof sound so different to how they did on their self-titled debut because the lineup had changed drastically with only bassist Lee Payne remaining from those sessions. Vocalist David Potter had left to join French heavy metallers H-Bomb immediately after the release of the debut while guitarist Steve Rounds & drummer Kevin Pountney had also disappeared prior to Cloven Hoof’s 1988 sophomore album “Dominator”. In their place they’d recruited two members of Welsh heavy metallers Tredegar in vocalist Russ North & guitarist Andy Wood as well as drummer Jon Brown, all who were still around for “A Sultan’s Ransom”. This has presumably resulted in Cloven Hoof taking an all-new direction for “Dominator” & from the sound of “A Sultan’s Ransom” I’d suggest that it was a good move too. The hard rock crunch of AC/DC is no longer evident with the band now taking a metal-at-all-costs direction that sees them playing in a similar space to US power metal acts like Liege Lord, Omen & Crimson Glory more than it does their NWOBHM roots, although the influence of Iron Maiden & Judas Priest are still the predominant figures looming overhead while Cloven Hoof power through a succession of melodic metal anthems.

Vocalist Russ North possesses a soaring, theatrical & operatic voice that sounds uncannily like Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson a lot of the time & it’s his presence as much as any that draws Cloven Hoof towards the power metal links. The other key power metal component is the muscular riff work & guitar tone of Andy Wood, particularly during the first half of the tracklisting. Opener “Astral Rider” is pure power metal while clear album highlight “Silver Surfer” reminds me heavily of “Painkiller”-era Judas Priest & is far too heavy for a mere heavy metal tag. The fast paced “D.V.R.” sees Cloven Hoof drawing upon speed metal as their vessel while the ambitious “1001 Nights” opts for more technicality & a progressive metal format. Despite this variation in genre, at least half of the album fits very comfortably under the more traditional heavy metal tag, particularly the back end of the tracklisting with songs like “Notre Dame” & “Highlander” being very much in line with classic Iron Maiden, particularly in the strong use of guitar harmonies. The short & simple "Mad, Mad World" reminds me of some of Judas Priest's more commercially accessible tracks like "Breaking The Law" & I'd imagine it was included for similar reasons too i.e. radio play.

Despite the clear potential I’ve mentioned above, “A Sultan’s Ransom” doesn’t end up delivering as much as I’d hoped & seems to me to be a touch overrated as a result. There aren’t any disasters but tracks like “Forgotten Heroes”, “D.V.R.”, “1001 Nights” & “Highlander” don’t do a lot for me to be honest, all suffering from some lackluster song-writing. Thankfully the wins outweigh the losses though & there are a couple of clear highlight tracks in “Silver Surfer” & high-quality heavy metal number “Jeckyl & Hyde” which ensure that “A Sultan’s Ransom” ends up being a predominantly positive experience. I certainly like it a little better than the self-titled album but there’s not a whole lot in it & I’m not so sure that I’ve found enough here to see me proceeding to investigate much further into Cloven Hoof’s remaining back catalogue in the future.

3.5/5

I revisited Dream Theater's 1989 debut album "When Dream & Day Unite" over the last couple of days & it fits very comfortably into this category for me. It's a fantastic record with stunning performances that is only held back by Terry Date's poor production job. People need to get over the fact that James LaBrie wasn't in the band yet & treat it purely on its merit.

A couple that I've been spinning while playing with the kids in the backyard:

Buddy Guy - "Left My Blues in San Francisco" (1968)

The Blind Boys of Alabama - "Spirit of the Century" (2001)

Anthem - "Hunting Time" (1989)

Prolific Tokyo-based heavy metal outfit Anthem have been on my radar for many years but I’ve never taken the plunge by giving any of their twenty full-length albums a fair crack until now which is a shame because their 1989 fifth album “Hunting Time” has proven to be a bit of a cracker to be honest. The band returned with the same lineup that recorded their previous record in 1988’s “Gypsy Ways” with their Japanese label Nexus Records once again calling upon English producer Chris Tsangarides to oversee the recordings. Chris was very well respected in the metal scene at the time given his previous involvement with records like Tygers of Pan Tang’s “Wild Cat” & “Spellbound”, Anvil’s “Metal on Metal” & “Forged in Fire” & Black Sabbath’s “The Eternal Idol” so Anthem were certainly in good hands & the results speak for themselves because “Hunting Time” sports a ripper of a production job (particularly for 1989) which takes what could have been a just another heavy metal record & thrusts it into the global spotlight.

“Hunting Time” is a ball of bright, energetic metal fury that jumps straight out of those speakers, grabs you by your late 80’s mullet & forces your head to bang in time with its up-tempo metal assault. The musicianship & arrangements show Anthem to be very capable & highly experienced exponents of their craft with the consistent tracklisting containing no weak moments. Anthem's sound sits very much in the metal-for metals-sake space that Judas Priest’s “Defenders of the Faith” built its reputation on & I don’t think we have enough records like that to be honest. The riffs & solos of guitarist Hiroya Fukuda are face-ripping, ball-tearing monsters that possess a weight that often pushes the limitations of the heavy metal subgenre to their limit.

The tracklisting contains just the eight songs & kicks off in very strong fashion with the first three songs being arguably the best on the album. There are a few filler tracks that pop up after that initial barrage however none of them can be considered to be duds. Front man Yukio Morikawa doesn’t seem to be able to decide on whether he wants to sing in Japanese or English, sometimes going for a mixture of the two but delivering his lyrics with confidence nonetheless. He’s quite engaging though & pulls it all off with aplomb, even if the Japanese sections are a little harder to engage with & some of the English lyrics are pretty poor.

“Hunting Time” has proven itself to be a breath of fresh air with its concentration on undiluted molten metal being very much in line with my preferences for your more conventional style of heavy metal. I think it just lacks the presence of a few genuinely classic songs in order to push it up into my more elite rating bracket. It’s consistency & proficiency are commendable though & fans of Japanese heavy metal bands like Loudness, Seikima-II & Metalucifer shouldn’t hesitate in checking it out.

4/5

In Rexorcist's Top 100 Prog Metal Albums list, he has mentioned the need for the "progcore" tag to exist. As a fan of progressive metal and hardcore/metalcore, I absolutely agree with Rex. It's the most accurate tag to describe bands and albums that aren't too progressive or too hardcore but just right. In my opinion, progcore can be used for releases that combine progressive rock/metal with any of the hardcore/metalcore subgenres that also include melodic metalcore, mathcore, deathcore, and post-hardcore. 

So do any of you guys like the "progcore" term, and what are your favorite albums that can fit that term? Discuss!

I'm not a fan of this idea as we're trying to steer away from hybrid subgenres, particularly when they're cross-clan ones as they create logistical problems given that a subgenre can only reside in one clan in our database. Surely a dual tag of Progressive Metal & Metalcore is sufficient for these releases, isn't it?

Ария - "Игра с огнем" (1989)

It was only a couple of months ago that I finally investigated one of Russian heavy metal icons Ария’s highly regarded albums & I generally found it to be a pretty enjoyable experience too. They proved themselves to be a very capable group of musicians who had clearly paid their dues & knew exactly what they were doing. I felt that it was a shame that Ария hadn’t secured overseas record label backing because 1987’s “На службе силы зла” certainly deserved more attention than it received at the time. It did however pique my interest in what Ария’s other classic period releases might have to offer though which brings us to their 1989 fourth full-length “Игра с огнем”.

As with “На службе силы зла”, “Игра с огнем” is once again produced by guitarist Vladimir Kholstinin & bassist Vitaly Dubinin, only this time they’ve achieved a more professional result with the very raw guitar tone of the previous album having been replaced with a crunchy yet far more cohesive one on this occasion. There’s been only the one lineup change since their third album with drummer Sergey Mavrin having been replaced by Alexander Manyakin who would stay with the band until Mavrin's return in 2002. The high-quality musicianship that was a feature of “На службе силы зла” is once again on show on “Игра с огнем”, perhaps even being a little better highlighted by the improved sound quality. Ария were certainly a class act at the time & I’d imagine their live shows (if they played any) would have been well worth seeing.

If you do a little online research you’ll very quickly discover that Ария are generally regarded as an Iron Maiden clone. I could see how people might say that after spending some time with “На службе силы зла” but Ария really doubled down on that approach for “Игра с огнем”, so much so that if you replaced front man Valery Kipelov with someone that sounded a little more similar to Bruce Dickinson then you’d find it hard to tell them apart from the NWOBHM legends. In fact, some of this material is so close that you can pick the exact Maiden track that Ария are trying to emulate at any one time but the fact that they pull it off to a comparable level of quality to their idols is a pretty major feather in their caps. I mean, despite how popular & influential they are, there are relatively few bands out there that have the skills required to accurately recreate the melodic complexities & progressive atmospherics of Iron Maiden in their prime but Ария seem to do it with ease & the fact that they’ve stopped short of recruiting a Bruce-clone & choose to maintain their native language gives them a reasonable point of differentiation. Valery Kipelov is a talented front man in his own right &, despite the instrumental prowess on display, most of the best moments are aligned with Kipelov's more successful vocal hooks. I believe I mentioned it in my review of “На службе силы зла” but it's worth reiterating how much he reminds me of a gruffer version of Scorpions' front man Klaus Meine.

There are a few clear highlight tracks included amongst the seven on offer in the fast-paced opener “Что вы сделали с вашей мечтой?”, the lengthy progressive number “Игра с огнем” & the anthemic “Бой продолжается” (my personal favourite). It’s a real shame that the tracklisting finishes up with clearly the weakest song on the album in the lethargic “Дай жару!” as “Игра с огнем” seemed to be heading towards a very solid four-star rating prior to tripping at the finish line. I also wonder whether I might have rated an album like this one a touch higher if not for the foreign language vocals. I don’t dislike them in any way but I do think metal records with clean-sung, foreign-language vocals are at a slight disadvantage with me in that I’m not sure I can quite reach the intended climax with a chorus hook that I can’t connect with from a lyrical perspective. I think it’s an even playing field until you start to hit that four-star threshold though. It’s not the same with harsh vocals as there’s far less of a reliance on melodic chorus hooks.

“Игра с огнем” is another pretty decent album from a highly talented group of Russian metalheads who weren’t willing to allow politics to dictate to them on how they spend their spare time or express themselves creatively & artistically. I’d suggest that it’s a slight improvement on the already enjoyable “На службе силы зла” from two years earlier although there’s not a lot in it with the improved production perhaps being the clincher. If you’re a fan of Valery Kipelov’s other band Кипелов, don't mind a bit of foreign-language heavy metal like Japan's Loudness or simply wish that Iron Maiden's incredible run of 1980's classics had never ended then I think you could do a lot worse than to give “Игра с огнем” a spin or three.

3.5/5

Here's my updated Top Ten Neoclassical Metal Releases of All Time list after revisiting Yngwie Malmsteen's "Trial by Fire: Live in Leningrad" live album this week:

01. Yngwie Malmsteen – “Trial By Fire: Live In Leningrad” (1989)

02. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Odyssey” (1988)

03. Vinnie Moore – “Mind’s Eye” (1986)

04. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Marching Out” (1985)

05. Jason Becker – “Perpetual Burn” (1988)

06. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Rising Force” (1984)

07. Yngwie J. Malmsteen – “Trilogy” (1986)

08. Cacophony – “Speed Metal Symphony” (1987)

09. Tony MacAlpine - "Maximum Security" (1987)

10. Yngwie Malmsteen – “The Seventh Sign” (1994)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/141

Yngwie Malmsteen - "Trial by Fire: Live in Leningrad" (1989)

My relationship with the music of Swedish neoclassical guitar icon Yngwie Malmsteen began way back in 1988 through his fourth studio album “Odyssey” & would lead to me very quickly becoming infatuated with him. Well… to be fair it was more about his technique than it was the song-writing because I’d honestly never heard anything quite like it. Albums like “Rising Force”, “Marching Out” & “Trilogy” all offered a unanimous level of appeal for a budding young shredder like myself & I’d invariably check out everything Yngwie would put out for the next seven years before losing interest through the middle of the 1990's. In more recent times though, I’ve found myself retreating to these records & have been a little surprised at how enjoyable I still find them to be. Yngwie’s 1989 live album “Trial by Fire: Live in Leningrad” is perhaps the release that I’ve spent the least amount of time with from his peak 1980’s period though. Being a live performer myself, I’m generally open to live releases as they can sometimes bring new elements to the music, often through imperfections that aren’t always a bad thing & that’s certainly the case here. On the contrary, the very slight blemishes in Yngwie’s performance here only provide further proof of his absolute mastery of his chosen instrument.

“Odyssey” is my favourite Yngwie studio album these days so the timing of “Trial by Fire: Live in Leningrad” couldn’t have been much better really, particularly as it features very much the same lineup with bassist Barry Dunaway (Joe Lynn Turner/Saraya/38 Special) being the only addition in order to reproduce Yngwie’s bass lines. Former Rainbow & future Deep Purple & Sunstorm front man Joe Lynn Turner proves himself to be a class act, putting in a highly professional performance that rarely puts a foot wrong while the wonderfully talented Johansson brothers Jens (Cain’s Offering/Rainbow/Stratovarius/Dio/Silver Mountain) & Anders (HammerFall/Manowar/Silver Mountain/Stratovarius/Blue Murder) absolutely slay in their roles behind the keyboard & drum kit, Jens often challenging Yngwie in the chops department.

The tracklisting is fairly heavy on the last two studio records “Odyssey” & “Trilogy” with “Rising Force” having just the two instrumental tracks included & “Marching Out” being overlooked altogether. There’s also an admittedly pretty solid cover version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Spanish Castle Magic” included right at the end of the album too while Yngwie takes the opportunity to showcase his undeniable talents with a ten-minute guitar solo section. I haven’t traditionally found as much appeal in Yngwie’s more neoclassically inspired instrumental pieces & that’s still the case here but there are no weak tracks included. It’s in the material drawn from “Odyssey” that you’ll find most of the highlights though along with Yngwie’s signature instrumental hard rocker “Black Star”. My personal favourite is “Heaven Tonight” whose hooks have lost none of the power of their studio counterpart. “Déjà vu” & “Crystal Ball” are also wonderful examples of the melodic European heavy metal sound.

It's honestly hard to go past a live album like this one given that it showcases most of Yngwie’s best material on the one record. I would have liked to hear a track or two from Yngwie’s very solid “Marching Out” sophomore album but I’m gonna assume that the decision not to go down that path was related to Lynn Turner’s ability to replicate Jeff Scott Soto’s voice as I doubt it had anything to do with the strength of the material. Regardless, it’s hard not to feel like I’ve been missing out over the years when you consider that I haven’t given this record the same level of attention as Yngwie’s studio albums. In fact, this may be my new favourite Yngwie record overall which was certainly unexpected. If you’re into guitar shred artists like Cacophony, Axel Rudi Pell or Alcatrazz then “Trial by Fire: Live in Leningrad” comes highly recommended by this ol’ shred-head.

4/5

I would recommend Pig Destroyer's "Natasha" E.P. as a very diverse take on sludge metal.

My updated Top Ten Technical Thrash Metal Releases of All Time list after revisiting Destruction's "Cracked Brain" fourth album this weekend. Vektor's "Black Future" is the unlucky record to drop out of the list:

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. Destruction - "Cracked Brain" (1990)

08. Аспид – “Кровоизлияние” (1993)

09. Coroner – “Punishment For Decadence” (1988)

10. Vektor - "Outer Isolation" (2011)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/173

Destruction - "Cracked Brain" (1990)

Teutonic thrash heavyweights Destruction & I have always maintained an unusual relationship when compared to that of most extreme metal fans. You see, despite my having quite enjoyed the their early “Bestial Invasion of Hell” demo, I have to admit that I’ve never really gotten on with Destruction’s first couple of proper releases in 1984’s “Sentence of Death” E.P. & 1985's “Infernal Overkill” debut album. It’s not until they became a little more adventurous & added a bit of sophistication to their sound with their 1986 sophomore album “Eternal Devastation” that I saw my interest being held with any sort of regularity & from that point I saw Destruction adding a little more appeal with each release they put out during the back end of the 1980’s. But the reality is that I discovered all of these releases in quick succession & not necessarily in chronological order after first having Destruction brought to my attention through some material from “Sentence of Death” that was playing on a late-night underground metal radio program I used to obsessively follow as an early teenager.

The first & only Destruction release that I’d purchase an original copy of at the time of its release would be 1990’s “Cracked Brain” fourth full-length which came off the back of my favourite Destruction records in 1987’s “Release From Agony” & 1989 live album “Live Without Sense”. Ben & I picked “Cracked Brain” up on cassette & I played it fairly religiously for some time afterwards. It wouldn’t be for a couple of decades that I’d discover that I really shouldn’t enjoy “Cracked Brain” as much as I had been. It’s apparently forbidden for one reason or another, mainly due to the sacking of legendary front man Schmier just prior to the recording of the album from what I can make out. But my memories of “Cracked Brain” are in direct contrast to the consistent criticism I’ve read about it online lately so I decided to see how much of my positivity is caused by nostalgia & how much is genuine quality.

As with all of Destruction’s previous records, “Cracked Brain” was released through legendary German metal label Steamhammer Records, this time with experienced English producer Guy Bidmead sharing the production duties with the band. Guy had certainly paid his dues over the years but his most noteworthy contributions as a metal producer were through Motorhead’s “No Remorse” & “Rock ‘n’ Roll”, Exciter’s “Long Live The Loud” & “Unveiling The Wicked”, Cloven Hoof’s “Dominator” & Coroner’s “Punishment For Decadence”. Unfortunately though, the result of his work on “Cracked Brain” amounted to a wishy washy & slightly muted sounding record that’s a little lacking in brightness. Thankfully though, the quality of the majority of the material is strong enough to overcome the deficiencies in the mix.

That’s right ladies & gentlemen. I said it. “Cracked Brain” is a high-quality thrash metal record that features Destruction’s most complex & sophisticated song structures to date. The angular, technical nature of many of the riffs gives the album a fresh & exciting feel while, contrary to popular opinion, I’ve always felt that the inclusion of a new vocalist in André Grieder of Swiss thrashers Poltergeist breathed new life into the band. Original singer & bassist Schmier had been unceremoniously sacked just prior to the recording of the album, a decision that most (eventually including the rest of the band members too it has to be said) felt was a very poor decision. André’s raspy delivery sounds a little more screamy & psychotic in a Paul Baloff kinda way as opposed to the snarlier Schmier but I think both have their merits & the two guitarists do a great job at picking up Schmier’s bass duties. Where “Release From Agony” bordered on technical thrash metal, “Cracked Brain” takes the full plunge for a good half the album, often sounding as much like Coroner as it does Kreator or Sodom. The way they manage to incorporate melody into their riffs without sacrificing on the darkness is something that really appeals to me personally. Don’t get me wrong though, this is still an aggressive & thrashy as fuck Destruction record with a whole lot of energy & I don’t think any member of The Pit will have too many problems with the musical direction.

This brings us to the obvious exception however & one that I feel is primarily responsible for “Cracked Brain” being treated unfairly by many diehard fans. I’m not sure whose decision it was to include a cover version of The Knack’s “My Sherona” right in the middle of the tracklisting but it was undeniably a very poor one. Again contrary to popular opinion though, I don’t think it’s a bad version of the track if you listen to it in isolation & don’t focus on the fact that it’s been produced by a thrash band. In fact, if you heard it playing in a pub at high volume after downing a few beers with your mates then I can almost guarantee that you’d all be singing along to it merrily. It’s just that it sounds so out of whack with the material around it that’s the big problem here & I simply can’t justify the decision to include it. Thankfully though, the rest of the tracklisting is completely blemish-free & is actually very strong. The opening title track is the clear highlight & is one of Destruction's best tracks overall in my opinion but the rest of the tracklisting rarely dips below a very solid & consistent level of quality with the less ambitious thrasher “Die A Day Before You’re Born” probably being the weaker of the bunch if you exclude the poorly placed cover version.

The musicianship on “Cracked Brain” is nothing short of stunning to be honest & is a real highlight with Destruction once again proving themselves to be miles ahead of the other three Teutonic Big Four members when it comes to technical proficiency. The two lead guitarists Mike Sifringer & Harry Wilkens really go to town on the sweep picking during some highly creative guitar solos that lean pretty heavily on progressive concepts to differentiate themselves from standard thrash metal fodder. Odd time signatures are pulled off with ease while drummer Oliver Kaiser (who joined the band for their last album “Release From Agony”) once again puts in a solid performance that works more to accentuate the music around him than trying for anything too showy.

While I do think that “Release From Agony” just manages to top “Cracked Brain”, I simply can’t understand or condone the consistently lacklustre opinions on what I consider to be a very engaging European thrash metal record & one that I’d take over any of Destruction’s pre-1987 releases. People need to look past their anger at Schmier’s sacking & the silly cover version so that they can reach the gooey centre that clearly seems to have been eluding them up until this point.

4/5

Yeah, I'm a big fan of "Idolum" & Ufomammut in general. If you ever get the chance to see them play live then you should definitely do that too as you won't forget it in a hurry.

Taj Mahal - "The Natch'l Blues" (1968)

A rootsy, organic blend of blues, r 'n' b & southern rock.

Good call Rex. I slightly prefer the Inferno Festival set but still hold a lot of love for the Wacken one so I'll be awarding it an impressive 4.5 star rating.

I put my Top Ten Metal Releases of 1988 list together yesterday after revisiting a number of old records from my past over the last month or so with this being the result:

01. Metallica - "...And Justice For All"

02. Slayer - "South of Heaven"

03. Iron Maiden - "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son"

04. Bathory - "Blood Fire Death"

05. Pestilence - "Malleus Maleficarum"

06. Queensrÿche - "Operation: Mindcrime

07. Godflesh - "Godflesh" E.P.

08. Viking - "Do or Die"

09. Vio-lence - "Eternal Nightmare"

10. Razor - "Violent Restitution"

https://metal.academy/lists/single/239

Vendetta - "Brain Damage" (1988)

My experience with second tier Teutonic thrash metal outfit Vendetta began fairly early in my time as a teenage tape trader back in the early 1990’s when I received their first two albums on either side of the one cassette from a reliable European gentleman I’d been corresponding with. I remember them being quite entertaining too & they both received a good few listens over the coming month or so but I think it’s fair to say that my attention had already been well & truly captured by the thriving death metal insurgence by that stage so I’d suggest that Vendetta were always going to be facing an uphill battle in their quest to justify return visits in the longer term. As a result, Vendetta kinda slipped off my radar until a few years ago when I revisited their 1987 debut album “Go & Live… Stay & Die” & found it to offer an enjoyable brand of speed metal-infused thrash, complete with NWOBHM influences, a wonderfully raw guitar tone, an electric energy & some lengthy arrangements that showcased an impressive attention to detail. The vocals & guitar solos weren’t amazing but it was a decent enough first-up effort overall. Ever since that time I’ve been meaning to revisit Vendetta’s most highly regarded release in their 1988 sophomore album “Brain Damage” which seems to have gained somewhat of a cult following over the years.

"Brain Damage" sees legendary German metal producer Harris Johns returning to produce his second Vendetta album only this time he's under the guidance of experienced executive producer Karl-U Walterbach whose resume certainly proceeded him. Walterbach had worked on a string of classic Teutonic metal releases such as Celtic Frost’s “Morbid Tales”, “Emperors Return” & “Into Mega Therion”, Kreator’s “Pleasure To Kill” & Running Wild’s “Port Royal” while Johns’ own CV sported the likes of Helloween’s self-titled E.P. & “Walls of Jericho” debut album, Kreator’s “Pleasure To Kill”, Voivod’s “Killing Technology” & “Dimension Hatross” & Sodom’s “Persecution Mania” so Noise Records had certainly brought in the big guns & “Brain Damage” sounds less raw & more professional than “Go & Live… Stay & Die” as a result. In fact, the clear & bright production quality plays a pretty major role in the appeal of this record as the song-writing isn’t always up to scratch.

The time that Vendetta put into the arrangements on the debut is once again on show here with some quite progressive & slightly technical moments popping up here & there. The musicianship is excellent throughout with the band's performances being super-tight which gives the arrangements their very best chance at success. Vendetta prove themselves to be well capable of creating some great, chuggy thrash riffs but the NWOBHM influence that was so evident on “Go & Live… Stay & Die” is once again fairly obvious here with Iron Maiden being the clear source inspiration, particularly in some of the more progressive sections where bassist Klaus Ullrich is given the chance to shine such as the lengthy instrumental centrepiece “Fade To Insanity”. I mentioned earlier that speed metal played a role in the make-up of the debut & “Brain Damage” is no different in that regard, so much so that I’d suggest that the dual tagging is warranted here. Thrash metal is still the main player but I don’t think you can disregard the significance of the German speed metal contribution as there's often a little ambiguity about which genre has the ascendency.

Once again though, the limiting factor in Vendetta’s metal assault can be found in the vocals of guitarists Achim Hömerlein & Michael Wehner which don’t really meet the mark for a band with such a melodic sensibility in my opinion. Perhaps if Vendetta took a more raw & aggressive approach similar to Kreator or Sodom then I wouldn’t be discussing it so much but Vendetta’s sound is intended to be cleaner & more accessible so I’m not sure that this result has served then particularly well. The raspy vocals certainly don’t hide their German origin but often remind me a lot of Kai Hansen’s dodgy contributions to the early Helloween releases which I wasn’t much of a fan of to begin with.

Despite this shortcoming, there is some reward to be found in “Brain Damage” as the class in the instrumentation is quite impressive. There are a few weaker numbers to be found across the tracklisting (see the title track, “Precious Existence”, Dominance of Violence” & particularly the pointless “Love Song”) but the stronger material is able to balance it out with opener “War”, the previously mentioned instrumental “Fade To Insanity” & the fast & thrashy “Never Die” (my personal favourite) being the best inclusions. I do have to admit that I’d be more likely to reach for the rawer debut album over this one though as it’s simply a little more consistent. Still… if you really dig some of the more underground bands from the Teutonic thrash scene like Grinder, Darkness & Pyacanda then “Brain Damage” will no doubt be of interest to you.

3.5/5

Rex, can you please repost your last post. My newborn daughter just managed to press the BAN POST button while I was reading it. Sorry about that.

Mgła - "Age of Excuse" (2019)

Polish black metallers Mgła are an intriguing artist. Much like US blackgaze icons Deafheaven & countrymen Behemoth, they’ve managed to largely divide the underground metal community but seem fairly undeserving of their criticism based purely on the quality of their work. Sure, they may not buy into the lo-fi aesthetic that black metal purists seem to value so much which gives them an immediate advantage over the competition in terms of accessibility but they’ve never claimed to be anything they’re not as far as I’m aware & simply continue to do what they enjoy (& very well too it has to be said). Nonetheless, my recent revisit to their 2012 “With Hearts Toward None” sophomore album couldn’t muster more than 3.5 stars which seemed a little out of line with the common consensus that it’s one of Mgła’s best records. My view is that it doesn’t come close to the duo’s exceptional 2015 follow-up “Exercises in Futility” which I consider to be nothing short of a modern black metal classic & that led me to wonder whether perhaps Mgła’s 2019 fourth album “Age of Excuse” may be worth a re-examination given that its predecessor had already seen them transcending the concerns I held for “With Hearts Toward None”. I've been generously rewarded for my efforts too with “Age of Excuse” proving itself to be a worthy entry in Mgła’s illustrious discography.

Mgła is made up of just the two band members in founding vocalist/guitarist/bassist Mikolaj Zentara (Kriegsmaschine/Owls Woods Graves) & drummer Maciej Kowalski (Kriegsmaschine/Crionics/Darzamat/MasseMord) who has been his partner in crime since the band’s second proper release in 2006’s highly regarded “Mdłości” E.P. In the seventeen years since that time M. & Darkside (as they are known under their chosen aliases for this project) have amassed a number of critically acclaimed releases that seem to inevitably draw as much disapproval as they do celebration. I can see why with a record like “With Hearts Toward None” to be honest as the quality levels seem to be a little out of line with some of the fanfare it seems to draw & my only explanation can be that people have fallen for the band's image & aesthetics more than the actual art but the same can certainly not be said for “Exercises in Futility” which is as essential a black metal release as you’ll find in my opinion.

2019’s “Age of Excuse” sees Mgła returning with an album that sounds exactly like you’d expect it to in many ways. The boys certainly knew how to reproduce a glisteningly polished recording of their art by this stage as, just like “Exercises in Futility”, Mgła’s fourth full-length possesses an immaculate production job that goes a long way to explaining its appeal. It’s also quite simple in its structure & the composition is always fairly melodic too which makes it easier on the ear than most of their black metal competition. The performances are pretty spectacular though with both musicians choosing not to push their technical limitations & instead opting to create sweeping soundscapes of perfectly executed & quite musical extreme metal. Despite the basic make-up of this music, there’s no shortage of nuance in Mgła’s sound with M. continuously finding ways to layer melodic guitar arpeggios over his standard tremolo-picked riffs & Darkside once again showcasing his masterful cymbal work. Darkside never really goes for broke here by ascending into realms of sheer battery. He prefers to stay a little more within himself in the best interest of the song-writing & it works nicely for him too as each track is given ample space for which to realise its full potential.

The album begins very well with the opening two cuts being particularly solid examples of the Mgła sound but things really heat up in the middle of the tracklisting. The third & fourth tracks see the darkness & intensity ramping up significantly for what are unquestionably a couple of the best tracks of Mgła’s career to date, particularly the wonderful “III” which will no doubt completely destroy all of the Dissection & Emperor fans out there. It's in these moments that M.'s intimidatingly grim vocals are most effective. He may not possess the most original black metal delivery on the planet (on the contrary, he sounds like any number of other black metal front men) but there can be no denying his effectiveness. Unfortunately though, the remaining two tracks see Mgła opting for a less imposing & more atmospheric sound that’s nowhere near as engaging in my opinion. “V” & “VI” aren’t weak tracks as such but they do seem like a step down from the first four pieces which results in “Age of Excuse” failing to reach the potential it had shown earlier on in the tracklisting.

Don’t get me wrong guys, “Age of Excuse” is another high-quality release from the Polish black metal phenomenon. I guess I’m just left feeling a touch disappointed at the end of each listen because the last sixteen minutes aren’t up to the same level as the first twenty-six. The album is well worth exploring though & should be essential listening for fans of the band as well as those partial to artists like Uada, Kriegsmaschine or Plaga. Just don't expect anything terribly different as Mgła make no attempt to push any creative boundaries here. Instead, they prefer to take a path that's already well-trodden but do it with a class & professionalism that's not all that common in the black metal space.

4/5

Yeah, it's true that I've never genuinely "loved" Ulver. I do have time for everything I've heard from them over the years though. I slightly prefer "Nattens madrigal" to "Bergtatt" as far as their classic metal releases go but neither would reach four stars for me personally.

And yes, I do have a Suffocation t-shirt that I'm wearing as we speak. I haven't owned a Burzum top since my grey "Filosofem" long-sleeve died in the ass a couple of decades ago.

Pestilence - "Malleus Maleficarum" (1988)

Dutch death metal legends Pestilence played an important role in my original defection from thrash metal back in the very late 1980’s through their seminal 1989 sophomore record “Consuming Impulse” & they would quickly become a mainstay in my newly instigated death metal obsession for decades to come. Their position was only strengthened by their classic “Testimony of the Ancients” album (my Pestilence release of choice) in 1991 while I also found 1993’s experimental “Spheres” record to be more than a little intriguing. It’s a little baffling that I didn’t give Pestilence’s highly regarded 1988 debut album “Malleus Maleficarum” more time than I did though to be honest. I’d suggest that it was probably due to its thrashier sound which was a little at odds with the adjusted musical direction I was starting to take. I certainly found it to be an entertaining record but I didn’t find myself pushing its cause with others or reaching for it whenever I was putting together any top ten lists. It’s been decades since I’ve heard it now though & I feel it’s deserving of a revisit given that its reputation has only grown in the many years since.

Shortly after you first press play on “Malleus Maleficarum” it becomes abundantly clear that Pestilence were already a super-classy metal band because this music doesn’t sound much like a debut album from 1988 given the ambition & precision on show. German producer Kalle Trapp has done an excellent job at capturing such a raw & aggressive sound, drawing upon his previous experience in producing popular Teutonic artists such as Destruction, Paradox, Sieges Even & Blind Guardian to create one of the more professional releases to come from the late 80’s extreme metal scene. The musicianship is outstanding with the riffs possessing a consistent memorability that would become one of the band’s calling cards over the next five years. The use of progressive flourishes within the riff structures may not be anything terribly unusual these days but it was well ahead of its time back in 1988 & is executed with surprising confidence for such a young band too.

While “Malleus Maleficarum” is generally regarded as a thrash metal record, I would argue that it’s a genuine death/thrash release because it maintains a level of ambiguity throughout the ten tracks included with many of the riffs sounding like they’d be equally at home on either side of the line of segregation. Pestilence often showcase an angularity that would seep its way into the death metal scene through heavy-weights like Death but also maintain the visceral thrash metal edge that the Teutonic thrash metal scene had built its reputation on. In short, guitarists Patrick Mameli (who spent some time with Dutch groove metallers C-187 in the mid-2000’s) & Randy Meinhard (also of Dutch thrashers Sacrosanct) simply weren’t willing to settle for mere emulation. They wanted to achieve something more substantial & I’d suggest they were successful at that undertaking too. Patrick’s solos may not have been as polished or fully realized as they would become shortly afterwards but the rhythm guitar work certainly sounds pretty impressive for the time nonetheless. The other element worth mentioning in the death metal argument is the vocal delivery of legendary death metal figure Martin van Drunen (Asphyx/Grand Supreme Blood Court/Hail of Bullets) which may not be the psychotic howl he’d build his career on at this point but is deathly enough to be significant in the argument for a dual tagging. He kinda sounds like the love child of Motorhead’s Lemmy Killmeister & Death’s Chuck Schuldiner here but I really enjoy his contribution. Overall, I’d suggest that “Malleus Maleficarum” takes the potent thrash metal of Sodom, Kreator & particularly "Schizophrenia"-era Sepultura & combines it with the early US death metal of Possessed & Death for a best-of-both-worlds sound that ticks all of my boxes in emphatic fashion.

There are no weak moments on “Malleus Maleficarum”. The tracklisting is as muscular as it is consistent but the big moments take place at either end of the run time with opener “Malleus Maleficarum/Antropomorphia” & closers “Cycle of Existence” & “Systematic Instruction” being my personal favourites. The beautiful clean interlude “Osculum Infame” is also stunningly well executed & was a clear hint at the creativity & experimentation that was to come in the future. The middle of the album is more solid than classic but maintains a high level of sophistication throughout.

I’ve been really surprised by how hard “Malleus Maleficarum” has hit me on this revisit to be honest as I don’t often reach for it when I feel the need for a Pestilence hit. My passion for the more aggressive thrash metal of the late 1980’s & early 1990’s has only grown if anything though & that has perhaps contributed to me taking a lot more from the album than I may have anticipated. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it’s just shaded “Consuming Impulse” to become my second favourite Pestilence release behind “Testimony of the Ancients” which is really saying something. It’s also gone very close to breaking into my elite ratings so I'd suggest that “Malleus Maleficarum really should be regarded as essential death/thrash these days & it comes highly recommended from this ol' metalhead.

4/5

XavlegbmaofffassssitimiwoamndutroabcwapwaeiippohfffX - "Gore" E.P. (2016)

I’d suggest that most Metal Academics are probably fairly aware of the fact that subgenres like slam death metal & deathcore are unfairly treated on most other metal websites. In fact, this was one of the major reasons for Ben & I even starting to discuss the possibility of a Metal Academy site in the first place. In saying that though, there are some pockets of the subgenres I mentioned that are more maligned than others & it's hardly surprising that South Africa’s XavlegbmaofffassssitimiwoamndutroabcwapwaeiippohfffX (short for Acidic Vaginal Liquid Explosion Generated by Mass Amounts of Filthy Fecal Fisting and Sadistic Septic Syphilic Sodomy Inside the Infected Maggot Infested Womb of a Molested Nun Dying Under the Roof of a Burning Church While a Priest Watches and Ejaculates In Immense Perverse Pleasure Over His First Fresh Fetus) fit into that bracket now, is it? I mean, you could be forgiven for making the immediate assumption that they’re a novelty band because the reality is that they clearly are, not only because of their ridiculous moniker & completely absurd logo but also because they also seem to want to showcase & highlight all of the commonly criticized traits from both genres. While that may be true though, sometimes I just find that I like what I like & how cool I may appear is not something that I've ever been too concerned with.

2016’s “Gore” E.P. was the Durban duo’s first release with Kris Xenopoulos (Vulvodynia) handling all of the instrumentation & Duncan Bentley (Vulvodynia/Wormhole) taking on all vocal duties. The sound you can expect to hear sits somewhere between slam death metal & deathcore with a slightly stronger emphasis on the former even though the breakdowns often tend to angle a touch more towards the other direction. Kris’ performance behind the drum kit is worth mentioning as he possesses some impressive chops for someone that’s presumably more of a guitarist based on his prior experience. The blast-beat sections are amongst the strongest components to the band’s sound & are accentuated by a bright & crystal-clear mix that brings the kick drums right to the front. It’s a really well produced little E.P. actually which admittedly isn’t all that uncommon for groups that tackle these sort of niche subgenres these days.

Duncan’s vocal performance offers a bit of variety. He’ll no doubt annoy those who can’t stand a pig-squealed “BBBBRRREEEEEE” or two because he seems to be consciously trying to highlight the absurdity of that technique here. He also displays some level of hardcore pedigree at times through some more aggressive beatdown-style deathcore rants. Another element that might piss of the purists out there is XavlegbmaofffassssitimiwoamndutroabcwapwaeiippohfffX’s tendency to indulge in a bit of humour, both lyrically & instrumentally. You won’t understand the lyrics but I’m led to believe that they’re particularly silly (see the weakest inclusion "Dicks Out For Harambe" for example) while the random u-turns into disparate musical genres like djent, groove metal or even jazz require an open-mind but are well-executed nonetheless.

Look, I’m not gonna suggest that any non-believers try “Gore” on for their very first slam or deathcore experience but it’s not half bad when taken on musical value alone. I love me some brutal death metal & there’s certainly some brutality about this stuff. I’m also a bit of a sucker for decent production jobs in my extreme metal & it ticks that box too. I can’t see myself giving this twelve-minute release too many revisits in the future but fans of artists like Acrania, Ingested or the previously-mentioned Vulvodynia will no doubt find some appeal in this unfairly maligned piece of over-the-top extreme music.

3.5/5

Great to hear from ya Shezma & welcome back. You can find the Clan Challenges here:

https://metal.academy/lists/1

Num Skull - "Ritually Abused" (1988)

Illinois brutal thrash metal outfit Num Skull are yet another 1980's band that time seems to have been very kind to, having slowly built up somewhat of a cult following over the several decades since their debut album “Ritually Abused” hit the shelves back in 1988. I was certainly aware of it back in my tape trading days & probably gave it a few more chances to seal the deal with me than I might usually do based purely on my love of the more brutal end of thrash metal. I can’t say that it ever really impressed me enough to become a go-to record when I’m in the mood for that kinda thing though so I never bothered to explore their 1996 follow-up record "When Suffering Comes". Regardless of that, there’s been a lot of water go under the bridge since forming my lasting impressions of “Ritually Abused” so perhaps I’ve been a little harsh on it. I intended to find out when I revisited it over the last couple of days.

The production job on “Ritually Abused” is everything you’d expect from an underground metal release of the time & was handled by legendary scene figure Griffy who was most notable for managing bands like Motley Crue & Death as well as for being the co-promoter of the Milwaukee Metalfest. He also produced releases for a string of respected bands such as Morbid Saint. There’s very little gloss & polish about “Ritually Abused” with Num Skull being presented in a suitably raw fashion that works quite well for this style of music. The levels are often overdriven to the point of distortion but you can still make out all of the instruments & everything feels quite authentic to the late 80’s model of underground thrash. The musicianship is very good for a debut release too & you can easily see that the band had paid some dues during their three years of existence.

Num Skull place their cards down on the table very early on in proceedings with their sound being built upon a few things. Firstly, we have the violent, high-speed thrash assault of Sadus, Kreator & “Darkness Descends”-era Dark Angel. This is done marvelously well at times too, particularly through the hectic Slayer-style guitar solo sections which generally represent a no-hold-barred attack on the senses. Num Skull regularly incorporate chuggier mid-tempo sections that wouldn’t feel out of place on an Anthrax record though & this material isn’t nearly as effective although it’s hard to argue that there needed to be some respite given from the relentless up-tempo stuff. Also worth noting is the vocal delivery of front man Skip McGullam which sits very much in the late-80’s death metal space, particularly reminding me of Death mastermind Chuck Schuldiner. That recipe certainly sounds pretty good on paper & the more aggressive tracks are unanimously successful at what they'd set out to achieve but it’s not all roses in thrash town.

The main detractor I find with “Ritually Abused” is in the mid-tempo material which isn’t bad in isolation but sounds pretty light-weight when placed alongside the more vicious stuff. Skip’s vocal style doesn’t exactly gel over mosh-worthy Anthrax riffs either & subsequently sounds a bit forced. I’d also suggest that even the strongest tracks (such as “No Morals”, “Turn of a Screw”, “Kiss Me, Kill Me”, “Rigor Mortis” & my personal favourite “Death & Innocence”) suffer from a lack of identity in their riffs. To be more specific, the overall energy is fantastic but the riffs aren’t all that memorable & Skip’s vocals don’t offer much in the way of hooks either which prevents any of these tracks from reaching classic status. Then we have a couple of clear duds in “Pirate’s Night” & the decidedly flat speed metal closer “Murder By The Minister” which tarnish a lot of the good work Num Skull had done elsewhere.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot to like about “Ritually Abused” but I can’t say that it’s essential listening by any means. Fans of bands like Devastation, Morbid Saint & Solstice should definitely check it out as there’s not nearly enough extreme thrash around but just don’t go into it expecting a fully-realized & supreme example of its type. You will, however, find a fine selection of tracks to include on your gym playlists though.

3.5/5

I would argue that there are no death metal riffs on "Into Darkness" which means that the only way it can be doom/death is if the vocals clearly bring it back into the death metal space. The vocals sit very much on the borderline between angry crust punk/sludge & death metal though so it's not conclusive enough for the album to be doom/death in my opinion. The instrumentation is a combination of mid-tempo Celtic Frost & hardcore inspired chug riffs & slow doom metal riffs, both presented with a seriously down-tuned, abrasive & oppressive tone. That's a pretty good description of a sludge metal record for mine as sludge is essentially a more abrasive & angry version of doom metal with hardcore influences.

I've decided to pass this Hall of Judgement entry given its currently lop-sided vote tally of YES 5 NO 0. The appropriate database changes have been made.

So I've decided to pass the first half of this submission based on the currently lop-sided YES 5 NO 0 vote tally. The Grindcore genre has subsequently been added to the release as well as the Goregrind subgenre.

I've also added another Hall of Judgement entry to have the Death Metal genre removed from the release here:

https://metal.academy/hall/411

This week's revisit to Winter's "Into Darkness" has seen me needing to find room for it in my Top Ten Metal Releases of All Time list. I've had to drop Cult of Luna's "Somewhere Along the Highway" out of the list altogether so that "Into Darkness" can take up position number 83.

Winter - "Into Darkness" (1990)

New York’s Winter represent one of the Holy Grail bands in the underground metal scene in that they seemed to come out of nowhere with an imposing sound that would prove to be as influential as it was confronting before disappearing in a puff of smoke as suddenly as they appeared, never to be heard of again. I was lucky enough to discover them way back in the early 1990’s when I borrowed a cassette version of their sole full-length “Into Darkness” from a younger mate (who in hindsight had no real business owning such a release) & found it to sound like nothing I’d ever heard before. It was slower & darker than anything Winter's doom & death metal competition had ever dreamt of creating but it also possessed a much more suffocatingly oppressive atmosphere which really appealed to me although I wasn’t quite sure as to why just yet. One thing I was sure of though was that the genre tags that "Into Darkness" was being labelled with didn't seem to me to be entirely accurate as it simply didn’t sound like any of the other early doom/death releases I’d heard up until that point. As a result, I held it up on somewhat of a pedestal for its sheer originality & ambition & could clearly see the influence it had on the early funeral doom scene in particular. I haven’t returned to Winter’s debut album for many years now but have been really looking forward to it as I've long suspected that this might end up being a very high scorer based on my past experiences with it.

“Into Darkness” doesn’t waste any time in building its much-celebrated atmosphere with opening track “Oppression Freedom/Oppression (Reprise)” slowly dragging the listener down deep into Winter’s dungeon of the dreary. It’s a classic opener in all honesty & is probably the only genuine doom/death track on the album if you wanna get technical about it. The only other track that offers much in the way of that death metal feel (think Autopsy) is the closing title track but even then it’s kinda 50/50. The wonderful three-minute “Power & Might” that sits right in the middle of the tracklisting represents one of the earliest examples of the funeral doom metal sound & is possibly even one of the best too but the rest of the album is made up of an abrasive brand of doom metal that, when combined with bassist John Alman’s growled vocals, seems to sit far more comfortably under a sludge metal tag than anything death metal related. There’s really not much death metal instrumentation included on “Into Darkness” in all honesty & the links to Celtic Frost (see “Servant of the Warsmen” in particular), crust punk gods Amebix & sludge metal acts like Crowbar seem like far more appropriate points of reference to me. Are the vocals death growls? I’d suggest they play in the space between sludge metal & death metal but when combined with this super down-tuned & filthy guitar tone they seem to possess a crusty hardcore edge more regularly than they do that grisly Chris Reifert-ish death metal tone. That’s right ladies & gentlemen. I’m suggesting that “Into Darkness” isn’t actually a doom/death record. It’s predominantly a sludge metal one for mine.

The strongest moments on “Into Darkness” are where Winter fully indulge in their slower, doomier side (see “Goden”, “Power & Might” & my personal favourite “Eternal Frost”) & you’ll rarely find as doom-laden a record in that respect. Drummer Joe Goncalves does an outstanding job with his minimal contribution which always maintains a metronomical tightness despite playing in spaces that are rarely touched on as far as tempo goes. Joe seems to know exactly what these tracks require & provides no more & no less that that. Guitarist Stephen Flam (also of fellow New York doom/death outfit Serpentine Path) has achieved a ridiculously heavy guitar tone too but I’d have to suggest that the album would have benefited from his riffs being higher in the mix, despite that oversight contributing to the unique atmosphere that “Into Darkness” pervades. On the occasions when Winter head in a chuggier, mid-tempo direction we see them more openly sharing their crust punk/Celtic Frost roots (see “Servants of the Warsmen” & the start & end of “Destiny” & the title track) & these sections don’t offer the same level of appeal for this doom-obsessed ol’ extreme metalhead.

“Into Darkness” is the epitome of cold, barbarous oppression & perhaps shares this trait as readily with doom/death bands like Australia’s diSEMBOWELMENT or America’s Cianide as it does with its sludge metal contemporaries but that shouldn’t prevent us from labelling the record under its most appropriate genre tag (which is sludge in my opinion). There’s little question that it’s one of the best examples of doom-focused metal music you’re likely to find though which has subsequently forced me to find room in Top 100 Metal Releases of All Time list to cater for it as a result.

4.5/5

I'd actually suggest that Archgoat offer significantly more variety in tempo than 99% of other war metal acts.

Rigor Mortis - "Rigor Mortis" (1988)

Dallas four-piece Rigor Mortis are a classic example of a band that really took advantage of the tape trading scene of the late 1980’s & early 1990’s. They’re raw, aggressive & possess the sort of underground aesthetic that was always going to appeal to an extreme metal aficionado like myself at the time. I became aware of them through exactly that scene a few years after the release of this debut album & recall quite liking it too but “Rigor Mortis” wouldn’t be a record that I’d find myself returning to all that often for one reason or another, despite my having checked out all of the band’s subsequent releases at some point. I can usually judge the magnitude of the impact a band might have had on me as a youngster by using my younger brother Ben as a point of reference. Did I pass “Rigor Mortis” on to Ben as an elite release for him to check out or did it sit in the back of one of my huge boxes of cassettes gathering dust? In this case it sat in the box so I’ve been a little surprised to see the sizeable cult following the album seems to have gained over the many years since. With that in mind, it’s probably time for a revisit to see if I’ve misjudged this record.

The first box that “Rigor Mortis” ticks for any underground thrasher worth their salt can be found in its raw, slightly cold production job which comes courtesy of Skinny Puppy’s Dave Ogilvie who had previously been responsible for producing some of his band’s more highly regarded works such as 1984’s “Remission” & 1988’s “Vivisect VI”. There’s not much gloss about the overall tone & atmosphere which suits Rigor Mortis’ intent quite well. You won’t struggle to make out the individual components though so it’s a nicely balanced portrait of Rigor Mortis’ sound at the same time. This is probably helped by the fact that they haven’t added a second rhythm guitar track underneath future Ministry/1000 Homo DJ’s/Lard/Revolting Cocks axeman Mike Scaccia’s rapid-fire solos which gives the album some much needed space & a distinctly live feel. Mike is well capable of holding his own without them though it has to be said. The rhythm section of bassist Casey Orr (Ministry/Gwar) & drummer Harden Harrison do a reasonable job but it’s Scaccia’s ridiculously fast right-hand endurance that’s the clear focal point & drawcard for the Rigor Mortis’ sound. His solos are utterly shred-tastic & must have left a few budding late 80’s shredders with their heads in their hands while his light-speed thrash riffs give a very clear indication as to why Ministry mastermind Al Jourgensen would recruit him to reproduce the technique on his more intense material. Just check out “Shroud of Gloom” & tell me that you can’t hear the main riff from Ministry’s 1992 industrial thrasher “TV II” for example.

Front man Bruce Corbitt guides Rigor Mortis through the 40-minute, ten-track run time with a muscular, masculine tone that’s well suited to aggressive thrash metal. The references to death metal you’ll sometimes read online are a little misguided although it’s not hard to pickup the influence of Possessed & particularly early Death in some of the riffs on tracks like “Condemned To Hell”. Slayer were clearly the most significant point of inspiration for Rigor Mortis (both their early “Show No Mercy” debut album & their more extreme mid-80’s classics) in a thrash-at-all-costs assault on the senses that doesn’t bring anything terribly new to the table but is unanimously successful in its attempt to capture the diehard metal audience. Speed metal tune “Die In Pain” stands out a bit in the tracklisting given that it would seem to be a tribute to Venom’s faster material if my ears are not mistaken.

“Rigor Mortis” is very consistent in the quality of its song-writing & performances & I’d have to suggest that I get enjoyment from all of the ten tracks included. It’s just lacking those couple of knockout punches that take a decent thrash metal record & make it into an essential one. There are no obvious highlight tracks on offer so even though fans of bands like Deceased…, Gammacide & Evildead will likely find plenty to interest them, I’m not sure that “Rigor Mortis” will end up on too many top ten lists.

3.5/5

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - "Gospel Train" (1956)

Bluesy gospel music from Arkansas, USA.

I agree with you that "Fallen Angel Of Doom…." is overrated & would take "Gods of War" over it pretty comfortably.

Lightnin' Hopkins - "Mojo Hand" (1962)

A highly prolific, lesser-known Texas blues guy.

Muddy Waters - "KIng Bee" (1981)

The last great album from this Chicago blues legend.

Testament - "Practice What You Preach" (1988)

Legendary San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal band Testament represent quite a pivotal band in my life in many ways. My first encounters with thrash metal back in late 1988 were a clear example of love at first sight & I’d subsequently throw myself head over heals into the Big Four with a vigour that I’ve rarely repeated in all the years since. Where Testament fit in is that they, along with fellow Bay Area heavy-weights Exodus, were the first artists to prove to me that there was a thriving underground thrash scene outside of the four senior players & we shouldn’t underestimate that event because it was the key moment that took me from being one of those people that only likes the big, well-known bands to becoming a complete extreme metal obsessive. I’d find myself purchasing Testament’s 1989 third album “Practice What You Preach” blind, based primarily on the feedback I’d received from metal magazines of the time that indicated that they sounded a lot like my beloved Metallica & that ended up being pretty accurate in the end. I wouldn’t adore “Practice What You Preach” to the same extent as the classics from the Big Four or Exodus’ jaw-dropping “Bonded By Blood” but it would certainly become a staple record in not only my own bedroom but also my younger brother Ben’s. In fact, I think Testament probably played an even bigger role in Ben’s life & it was “Practice What You Preach” that kick-started it all. It's been interesting to see Testament’s third album receiving mixed reviews in recent years though as that certainly wasn’t the case back in the day when it became a minor hit for the band. It’s been literally decades since I revisited it though & I’d been wondering if I might find my childhood feelings being tarnished in a similar way to what my recent revisit of Anthrax’s “State of Euphoria” album did to be honest so it’s been interesting to see how big a role nostalgia has played in my long-time position that “Practice What You Preach” is yet another very high-quality thrash record to follow on from their first two full-lengths which are generally held up as pivotal moments for the genre.

The first obstacle that I thought I might need to overcome would be the production as I’ve seen quite a few online murmurings about it being weak in recent times but that’s not the case with producer Alex Perialas doing a pretty reasonable job. He was an experienced campaigner by that point having already produced a slew of classic thrash records like S.O.D.’s “Speak English or Die”, Overkill’s “Taking Over”, Carnivore’s “Retaliation” as well as Testament’s “The Legacy” & “The New Order” so it would have been a surprise to find that he’d cocked this album up but I needn’t have worried too much as it’s certainly an improvement on the weak, thin guitar tone that plagued “The New Order”. The real stumbling blocks are two-fold; firstly, front man Chuck Billy’s tendency to sing out of key during the more commercially accessible moments &, secondly, Testament’s newly found love affair with chuggy, mid-paced & generally fairly unintimidating thrash metal riffs. That’s right, there’s a reason that “Practice What You Preach” was the biggest selling Testament record to date & it comes down to accessibility. My first listen saw me very quickly being reminded of it too & after the first few tracks I was worried that I might find myself needing to realign my feelings on the album fairly drastically with even the legendary title track sounding pretty tame by today’s standards. Thankfully though, things picked up significantly after that.

Having given the album a few full & active revisits now I can honestly say that I’ve gotten used to Chuck’s vocal issues. I remember initially struggling with them a bit back in the day too if I’m being honest but it seems like I just need some time with him. The more lethargic riffs are another story though. I’ve never rated drummer Louie Clemente & feel that he’s one of the main reasons that I’ve never considered Testament’s highly praised 1980’s releases to be tier one thrash records. He simply loves a rocky & accessible beat which may contribute to Testament’s widespread appeal but it doesn’t rock my boat personally. Future Savatage & Trans-Siberian Orchestra lead guitarist Alex Skolnick’s solos are nothing short of fucking sensational though & I’ve very quickly remembered why I worshipped him so much as a budding young shredder. His sense of melody is second to none & he compliments Dragonlord guitarist Eric Peterson’s riffs perfectly. Despite the focus of mid-paced tempos, the duo still present some belter riffs here on occasion which makes tracks like “Time Is Coming”, “Blessed In Contempt”, “Sins of Omission” & instrumental closer “Confusion Fusion” highly captivating. Strangely though, it’s the most obvious attempt at commercialism in “The Ballad” that is the real highlight of the record in my opinion, thanks largely to some stunning lead work from Skolnick. Billy is at his pitchiest here but the doubling of his vocal lines gives them an eery atmosphere that I find quite endearing. The song structure is beautifully constructed too & by the end of the record I find that these moments of brilliance do just enough to overcome a couple of clear duds in the lethargic chugger “Envy Life” & unintelligent thrasher “Nightmare (Coming Back To You)”.

While “Practice What You Preach” is clearly the weaker of Testament’s first three albums, it’s also their most ambitious as it sees the band incorporating some additional elements & expanding their repertoire as musicians. The more progressive touches, the stronger focus on song-writing & their most obvious attempt at a radio hit are all interesting additions but I do crave a little more energy in my thrash which leaves “Practice What You Preach” feeling a little light-weight. This has been offset by the class with which Testament are able to go about their work & the ridiculous skills of their dual guitar attack though which results in a final product that will surely please fans of peers like Metallica, Exodus or Death Angel.

4/5

The "atmospheric sludge metal" discussion has been had many times here at the Academy with the unanimous position of our members being that it's much better suited to post-metal than sludge metal. I'm thinking about removing that subgenre too & simply having the releases tagged as post-metal (& sludge metal where necessary) but we can discuss that elsewhere. Let's keep this thread about deathgrind.