Daniel's Forum Replies

For those of us that enjoyed last year's self-titled E.P. from US power metallers Savage Oath (raises his hand), their debut album "Divine Battle" hits the streets next week.

The new "Apocalyptic Onanism" remixes release from English extreme metallers Anaal Nathrakh hit the streets yesterday. It's been a while since we've heard from them so I'm interested to hear what they've got in store for us.

I just checked out the 1975 self-titled debut album from Argentina’s El Reloj & found no metal whatsoever. It’s a progressive rock record with jazz-rock influences.

Quiet Riot’s 1975 “Suicidal Show” E.P. doesn’t contain any metal either. It’s a generic hard rock record.

Here's the running chronological list of my results so far:

https://metal.academy/lists/single/271

This morning's track is Black Sabbath's "You Won't Change Me" which I regard as being heavy metal, mainly due to the thick & powerful metal guitar tone as the strong use of crunchy drawn-out chords could have gone either way given that it's a tool that is just as commonly seen in the heavier examples of hard rock. This track really does sound a lot like some of Ozzy's darker & more brooding 1980's solo work.

Here's my review:

I believe it was my younger brother Ben that first brought Sweden's Slumber to my attention many years ago as he's been quite a fan of the band's sole full-length "Fallout" for a long time now. Slumber was a talented six-piece outfit that only got the chance to put out the one proper release in their nine years of existence which would seem to be a shame based on the evidence here. You see, "Fallout" presents a band with a fully realised sound that clearly already knew who they were & what they aspired to be. Their audience clearly "get it" too as "Fallout" has gone on to become somewhat of a classic release for the doom/death genre over the couple of decades since.

"Fallout" sees Slumber dishing out a sound that's a little difficult to pigeon-hole into a single, well-fitting subgenre. The most commonly used option is doom/death which I agree with but I've never been 100% comfortable with my position on that given that... well... you'll find that it's not particularly doomy if you give it any level of scrutiny. But neither can I find a better fitting tag so it's as good a description as any I guess. The other factor is just how melodic "Fallout" is which sees people tending to label it as melodic doom/death which is getting a lot closer to the truth. People that try to push it into melodeath territory are certainly clutching at straws though because I don't hear any genuine death metal on display here. I do however pickup quite a bit of gothic metal in the instrumentation, production & clean vocals so there's a case for a secondary tag there for sure.

The production job on "Fallout" is wonderfully clean, bright & expansive &, in many ways, represents one of the defining elements in Slumber's appeal. There's no doubt that Slumber are a little more melodic than I would usually go for but it's hard not to see yourself caving in to the attractive packaging the song-writing is draped in here. The other major selling point is the musicianship which is spectacular throughout with all band members being well in control of their instruments & pushing themselves creatively. Bass player Mikael Brunqvist is worthy of particular mention as I find his contribution to be the high point of the album with his clean tone & confident & melodically in-tune backing adding an additional layer of professionalism to an already pretty impressive platform. Front man Siavosh Bigonah's death growls are perhaps not quite so emphatically successful but I wouldn't say that he has a negative impact on the outcome as such. It's just that his death "growls" sound more like death "barks" a lot of the time.

The more uptemo songs like "Conflict" & closer "A Wanderer's Star" tend to offer me a little less appeal than the heavier material but there are no weak tracks included here. The title track is the obvious highlight though with it's Katatonia-inspired melodic theme possessing the sort of ear-worms that have kept me in awe of a record like "Brave Murder Day" for so many years. Opener "Rapture" & "Distress" are probably my other picks of the bunch but "Where Nothing Was Left" & "Dreamscape" are very solid efforts as well. You see, there's very little to complain about with a record like "Fallout" if you're drawn to full-realised & well-executed extreme metal music. It's all just so damn impressive in its achievement of its chosen goal which makes me want to like it more than my taste profile would generally allow for.

If you're the type of extreme metal fan that tends to angle towards the more melodic side of the scene then "Fallout" should be a complete no-brainer because it's very much tailored to you & your musical preferences but I'd hate to think that people will allow comments like that to limit the potential for them to check this record out either because it's won this battle-hardened extremist over pretty comfortably. Finland's Rapture, fellow Swedes Enshine & Amercians Daylight Dies are probably the best points of comparison I can think of at the moment & if those artists already feature pretty prominently in your Spotify world then I hold very few fears of "Fallout" not playing an active role there for some time into the future as well as it's a very solid & accomplished example of the melodic doom/death sound.

4/5

I've never got round to this one, but if the music is as atmospheric as the cover then it should be a treat.

Interestingly, RYM tells me that you rated this release back in December 2017 Sonny. Must have left a deep impression. ;)

Here are few of my hidden gems guys:

The Amenta - "Flesh Is Heir" (2013) Industrial death metal from Sydney, Australia

Glorior Belli - "Meet Us at the Southern Sign" (2009) French black metal

Gnaw Their Tongues - "Abyss of Longing Throats" (2015) Industrial black metal/noise from Suriname

Here's my review:

Polish one-man black act Evilfeast & I first crossed paths back in 2009 when I gave lone contributor GrimSpirit's 2008 third full-length "Lost Horizons of Wisdom" a few listens & really enjoyed it too. This experience would not only see me experimenting with some of Evilfeast's other releases & finding them all to be worth hearing but it would also see me asking myself the obvious question: What exactly IS an "evilfeast"? Is it the food that's evil or the patrons at said feast? If not the food or the techniques used to eat said food then I'd have to question the relevance of calling it an evilfeast actually but anyway... moving right along... I come into "Elegies of the Stellar Wind" (GrimSpirit's fifth album under the Evilfeast moniker) with some experience with both this work & most of his other releases although I've never gotten around to rating or reviewing any of them which seems to be a common theme these days given my self-imposed rules around how & what I review.

Now, I'm gonna be open about the mistake I made coming into this revisit of "Elegies of the Stellar Wind"; an album that a remembered quite enjoying. You see, I chucked it on straight after my third straight listen to our Rollins Band feature release "The End of Silence" which is a much heavier & more intense record. Evilfeast's effort seemed to sound a little lacklustre in comparison to be honest & I started to think that I might have over-stated the level of appeal the album had offered me in the past. The intentionally lo-fi production job certainly contributed to that with the guitars sounding far too distant during the sections where they're isolated in the mix & the vocals sitting too far back in the mix for the most part too which I'm guessing was intentional. The pretty regular use of symphonics saw me recoiling a bit as well as I've never been the biggest fan of the more keyboard-driven black metal model but a couple more listens saw "Elegies of the Stellar Wind" opening up a bit & I ended up finding myself getting a fair bit of enjoyment out of most of it.

Evilfeast's sound is often compared with the more prominent one-man atmosheric black metal acts but I feel that an artist like Burzum offered a much darker & colder package than the one we get here. The keyboards are used in a trancier fashion & the tempos are often pushed into faster territory which gives Evilfeast a lighter feel, even though the influence of the early Emperor releases is obvious at times. In fact, the use of the "atmospheric black metal" tag is actually a little questionable with a lot of this material as some of it would fit a touch better under the symphonic black metal or conventional black metal tags but I think it's the production & general aesthetic that keeps people reaching for the atmospheric variety when describing the album. I wouldn't say that Evilfeast are offering anything terribly fresh or original here though & artists like Sweden's Bekëth Nexëhmü, Switzerland's Paysage d'Hiver & Greece's Nocternity are probably a pretty good gauge of what you should expect.

I think my struggles with my initial revisit of "Elegies of the Stellar Wind" were definitely contributed to by the decision to kick the tracklisting off with the piece that offers me the least in the way of appeal with twelve-minute opener "The Second Baptism... Shores in Fire & Ice" ending up being a bit of a struggle. That kinda set me into a negative mindset from the start & it wasn't until I restarted the album from a different starting point on my drive home from work that I found that I could reset my expectations & really dig into the sounds on offer. I still can't say that I genuinely love anything that Evilfeast have to offer here but the vast majority of it is pretty enjoyable. It's just that there's always one or two elements of each of the six lengthy pieces that sees my smile turning upside down & my issues with the production & the use of simplistic drum programming probably don't help either. Unsurprisingly, it's the darker & more brutal moments that work best for me & they usually come without the bombastic keyboard which helps too.

If I draw back on my past experiences with Evilfeast I'd have to suggest that "Elegies of the Stellar Wind" is one of his better records although it doesn't really sit in my personal black metal wheel-house. Thankfully I managed to accept that fairly early on which enabled me to simply try to enjoy the ride which has worked pretty well for the most part. I definitely needed a couple of listens to get into Evilfeast's sound though so if you experience similar struggles upon your first spin then I'd urge you to have a bit of faith that things will slip into place with repeat listens. I'd also recommend that you draw upon the alternate meaning for the word "stellar" when reading the album title (e.g. "a stellar cast had been assembled") because it makes for a few chuckles if you're not one of those kvlt elitist black metal types. 

3.5/5

This morning's track is Black Sabbath's "Back Street Kids" which is predominantly a chuggy heavy metal tune even though the bridge sees them taking a detour through proggy hard rock:

The last track from Rainbow's "Rising" is the highly influential "A Light In The Black" which is another one that's not quite as straight forward as people seem to make it out to be. The main riff is definitely not a metal riff. It's pure hard rock for mine but the use of double kick from drummer Cozy Powell (a technique that was still very rare indeed & is a defining attribute of metal music) makes those sections a lot more ambiguous. The solo section however is a total metalfest with the strong use of tremolo-picking being the major influence on early speed metal & power metal that Andi was referring to recently. I'm gonna go with a dual tagging of hard rock & heavy metal here which leaves "Rising" with an overall positive result as far as metal credentials go, despite half of the tracklisting having nothing to do with metal whatsoever. Tomorrow we'll be starting a new release in Black Sabbath's 1976 seventh full-length "Technical Ecstasy" which should prove to be a divisive one too.

Also, I gave Thin Lizzy's 1974 fourth album "Night Life" & Deep Purple's 1974 ninth album "Stormbringer" a couple of listens this week & neither offered anything in the way of metal so I've now explored 1970-1974 in great detail & feel that we have complete coverage with the eight releases selected to date. I think I'll start a list this week so that we can keep track of it all visually.

Here's my review:

My initial experiences with California's Rollins Band came through late-night metal radio programming shortly after the release of their 1992 third album "The End of Silence" with songs like "Low Self Opinion", "Tearing" & "You Didn't Need" receiving regular air-time for a good few months there. I remember being struck by just how visceral & aggressive the vocal attack of former Black Flag front man Henry Rollins was & also found myself being impressed by the technical capabilities & general heaviness of his three accompanying musicians. I'd subsequently go about the task of securing myself a dubbed cassette copy of the album from a school mate & would find that the deeper cuts on the album would offer me even more appeal, so much so that I'd find myself obsessing over the album & developing somewhat of a man crush on Henry which would only be exacerbated by my experiences at my first Rollins Band live show at Manly Youth Centre shortly afterwards. As good as Rollins Band may be on record, I can assure you that they went to another level altogether in a live environment with Henry performing in just a little pair of black shorts with his ripped physique & incredible intensity being something that I hadn't experienced before or since. I spent a good portion of their set stage-diving into the swarming mass of euphoric youth in front of the stage but, unfortunately for me, towards the end of the show that swirling sea of testosterone would part just as I dived from the stage which would see me landing very heavily on the hard concrete floor with my arm left feeling that I may have broken it, a fact that was not lost on Henry. After the end of the final song, he would go out of his way to find me & we'd have a discussion that would end with me buying him a drink. I'll never forget how intense & intimidating he was yet he also put me at ease with his confidence & humility. He rejected my offer of an alcoholic beverage & told me that he didn't touch drugs or alcohol. In fact, I think he was already a vegan at the time & his ripped body was clearly his temple. He told me that he couldn't understand why a good-looking young dude like myself would bother to come & see his little band play when he would have been out chasing tail if he was in my shoes & we shared a laugh. It was an experience that I'll never forget & I still hold a great deal of admiration for Henry & enjoy listening to his stories through his spoken-word performances to this day. As for Rollins Band, I'd follow them into their 1994 fourth album "Weight" which was also very strong & would see me once again attending the supporting tour but we'd part ways after that & I haven't heard any of the four records that followed.

"The End of Silence" is a huge record in many ways. It's class & consistency is impeccable with none of the ten tracks ever hinting at being filler. The production is thick & heavy with each of the band members proving themselves to be masters of their chosen instruments, coming together to create some of the tightest grooves you'll find. Despite that though, I'd suggest that Rollins Band's metal credentials weren't all that straight forward as they brought together a number of different sounds but presented the sum of their influences in such a professional & full-realised packaging that it pretty much becomes irrelevant as to what genre they should rightfully sit under. If I had to describe the sound of "The End of Silence" though, I'd suggest that they bring together the post-hardcore edge of Helmet, the doomy alternative metal of Soundgarden & the stoner rock grooves of Queens Of The Stone Age with an undeniable Black Sabbath influence &, even if that may not amount to a metal record overall, I'm not gonna argue the point because it's really a moot point in the grand scheme of things as there's really no doubt that fans of alternative metal will dig "The End of Silence".

The tracklisting begins in very solid fashion with the three big singles all sitting within the first four songs. Little will your average alternative radio-listener know that the real gold is still ahead of them though as Rollins Band were at their best when they went in more expansive directions with the longer tracks allowing them the freedom to fully flex their undeniably impressive muscles. The brilliant twelve minute "Blues Jam" has always been the centrepiece for me personally & it still feels like the perfect representation of what the band were trying to achieve to this day but it's closely followed by "Almost Real" & "What Do You Do" which were both clear anthems for my youth too. While the more up-tempo inclusions like "Tearing" & "Another Life" may seem to be a little less significant than the more drawn-out material, repeat listens see them opening up & digging their teeth in quite deeply which sees the depth in the tracklisting solidifying into an impressive wall of sonic expression.

It surprises me that "The End of Silence" isn't more highly praised to be honest as time has seen it losing none of its impact. The ambiguous nature of its sound also sees it presenting a significant amount of crossover appeal too as it offers just as much to the alternative rock radio audience as it does to the metal scene. The passion that Henry puts into his music is never in doubt but he's definitely challenged for the spotlight by the wonderful bass guitar performance of Jello Biafra, Pigface & Ween bassist Andrew Weiss whose gut-tearing wah-pedal-infused basslines play as major a part in the overall impact of "The End of Silence" as Henry's vocals do. This is rock music at its most potent & visceral & it acts as a reminder of what rock & roll formerly aspired to be but so rarely ends up being in 2024. I'd suggest that "The End of Silence" should be essential listening for all members of The Gateway.

4.5/5

Now we're gonna get really controversial ladies & gentlemen because, despite being a wonderful track in its own right, Rainbow's most influential track "Stargazer" isn't the obvious pillar of metal that it's so often made out to be. In fact, the riffs & drumming are pure hard rock for the most part & I've often viewed "Stargazer" as Rainbow's attempt to make a more epic version of Led Zeppelin's monumental symphonic hard rock anthem "Kashmir". So why is it so often linked to heavy metal? It's because of the over-the-top use of keyboards to create a massively epic atmosphere, the lumbering gallop from the rhythm section, the utilization of exotic Eastern scales within the guitar solo, the soaring vocal performance from Ronnie James Dio & the huge crescendo at the end of the song & I have to admit that these things see me being confused about what outcome is warranted here. Contrary to popular opinion, I strongly feel that "Stargazer" is more of a symphonic hard rock song than it is a heavy metal one but, after listening to it five times in a row this morning & still not coming up with a definitive answer & at the risk of having to change my tune on the metal credentials of "Rising" overall, I'm gonna finally give in by ticking the heavy metal box as well, mainly because this song simply sounds so different to what your traditionally bluesy hard rock number should sound like.

Also, I revisited Randy Holden's 1970 "Population II" debut album yesterday & I can honestly say that it threw a cat amongst the pigeons for a while there because it's doomy heavy psych is easily as heavy as Black Sabbath's debut, perhaps even more so. I'd even go so far as to say that the two versions of "Fruit & Iceburgs" are fully fledged traditional doom metal & opener "Guitar Song" went pretty close to being tagged that way too but the Jimi Hendrix influence ultimately ended up overcoming the Sabbath one & saw me finishing up with a heavy psych primary & a traditional doom metal secondary.

Today's track is Rainbow's "Do You Close Your Eyes" which is clearly hard rock:

Master's Hammer - "Ritual" (1991)

1991's debut album "Ritual" represented my entry point into the world of Czech black metallers Master's Hammer back in the day, an experience that would see me experimenting with most of the remainder of their back-catalogue at one point or another with the exception of their 1995 electronic/experimental third album "Šlágry" which I've never found the courage to investigate. The band's second & third demo tapes were pretty decent as well as their 1992 sophomore album "Jilemnický okultista" but the remainder of the Master's Hammer discography is largely underwhelming with only 2012's "Vracejte konve na místo" seeing me leaving with a positive outlook. It's really this first-up full-length that will forever be the centrepiece of Master's Hammer's legacy though & I'd suggest that it's influence can be easily picked up on many of the early Second Wave of Black Metal releases.

"Ritual" is a funny record for me as I can easily hear its importance in the evolution of the modern black metal sound but there's quite often one element or another that holds me back from fully committing. The riffs are a lot thrashier than most early 90's black metal bands would opt for which was perhaps more of a reflection of Master's Hammer's First Wave credentials than anything else while the primitive blast-beats give "Ritual" a fair whack of old-school street credibility. There's a quirkiness to their sound though that I find hard to put my finger on with the vocals of front man Franta Štorm often taking an unusual yet captivating route, despite the clear influence from Bathory's Quorthon. In fact, the Bathory influence is clear throughout "Ritual" with all eras of that classic artist appearing in one shape or form, the most significant of which being the wonderfully epic closer & album highlight "Útok" which reeks of Bathory's Viking metal period.

The tracklisting is relatively consistent with only the weak "Géniové..." failing to hit the mark but I'd suggest that there aren't enough genuine highlights for me to be considering my higher scores with only the high-quality instrumental title-track & the very solid "Černá svatozář" competing with the closer for highlight status. I do quite enjoy the opening intro piece "Intro (King of the Bohemian Forest)" though & feel that it sets the mood for the album quite well. The rest of the record is nothing more than mildly enjoyable though & doesn't justify the sort of praise you'll see from some parties. I genuinely feel that there's an element of getting carried away from a purely timeline-driven perspective with some reviewers as there's no doubt that "Ritual" was slightly ahead of its time. I find that I can hear their influence the most prominently with Norwegian Second Wave legends Enslaved & would be very surprised if there wasn't a link there. For me personally though, I can't quite position Master's Hammer's debut in as positive a light as I do the debut album from fellow late-First Wavers Samael whose "Worship Him" album from the same year left a noticeably deeper mark on my youth. Perhaps Master's Hammer are just a little too quirky for my taste but I do still enjoy "Ritual" without it ever really commanding that I give it regular revisits. Those with a taste for late First Wave artists like Root, Tormentor & Mortuary Drape may get more out of it than I do though & I'd still recommend that any black metal nut worthy of their bullet belt should at least have an understanding of "Ritual", if only for the sake of completism.

3.5/5

This morning's track is Rainbow's "Starstruck" which is a hard rock/blues rock hybrid in my opinion:

I examined Scorpions' 1974 sophomore album "Fly To The Rainbow" this weekend which was my first experience with it. There's no metal on offer whatsoever. The hard rock tag is certainly appropriate but I can't imagine why RYM wouldn't have a dual tagging with progressive rock because it's obviously required.

This morning's track is Rainbow's "Run With The Wolf" which is a clear example of hard rock:

We'll have to agree to disagree on all of that Andi.

This old favourite has finally packed it in after being structurally weakened by the Queensland sun with both elbows having increasingly bigger holes in them. You can kinda see the fade lines where the clothes line sits too. Clothes lines are metal as fuck, aren't they?

I would suggest that the title track is a simple hard rock song with a poppy hook that’s intended for radio play. It admittedly has a metal gallop behind the chorus but the lightweight percussion does its very best to nullify it. Not that it’s a bad song but I wouldn’t call it metal. I’ve always thought of “Run Of The Mill” as Priest’s attempt to make an atmospheric progressive/hard rock epic like Deep Purple’s “Child In Time”. I don’t hear much metal in that track apart from one short-lived doom metal although it’s the clear album highlight nonetheless.

You don’t hear the Black Sabbath worship in the songs I mentioned? I would say that the back end of “Dying To Meet You” is the part of the album that best foreshadows Priest’s signature heavy metal sound personally.

I gave Judas Priest's 1974 debut album "Rocka Rolla" a few good revisits this morning. There are a few metal tracks included in "Winter", "Deep Freeze" (both stoner metal) & "Dying To Meet You" (traditional doom metal/heavy metal) but it's not enough for a metal primary tag in my opinion. "Rocka Rolla" is more of a hard rock record with heavy metal, progressive rock & psychedelic rock influences for mine.

I would personally also include Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and Scorpions albums In Trance and Virgin Killer, because I also consider those releases equally heavy metal/hard rock, and they're worth discussion to see if anyone agrees with me and if they should end up in the site

Andi, I don't feel like those investigations would be fruitful & I don't want to waste our time when there are so many genuine metal releases to get to. I know two of the albums you mentioned really well (i.e. "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow" & Scorpions' "Virgin Killer") & I've never felt there was much in the way of metal on them. The consensus on RYM is unanimously in agreement too (18-129 & 25-58 respectively with "In Trance" coming in at 33-66) & I've always found that RYM has an itchy trigger finger with wanting to label releases hard rock records as metal so that's pretty telling. I'd rather focus on releases that have a chance of being successful rather than exploring releases that I know aren't likely to reap any rewards. I will however be exploring all of those releases in great detail behind the scenes in order to see if there's any merit for the other project I'm preparing so they may pop up again in the future if there's anything of relevance there. I'm a bit behind this thread in that regard (i.e. in the middle 1974) but will have no hesitation in sticking an older release out there if I see there's potential.

This morning track is Rainbow's "Tarot Woman" which I regard as being close enough to heavy metal, despite the clear presence of hard rock influence:

This week's investigation of Melvins' 1991 third album "Bullhead" has seen me needing to find space for it in my Top Ten Metal Releases of All Time list with it taking up the number 91 position at the expense of Deathspell Omega's "Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum: Chaining the Katechon" E.P. which has dropped out of the list.

https://metal.academy/lists/single/227

Melvins - "Bullhead" (1991)

I don't think I ever really came across Washington sludge metallers Melvins back in the late 1980's & early 1990's. I certainly heard their name once Nirvana blew up in 1991 but didn't think they were any of my business given that they seemed to be associated with the grunge scene more than they did to the metal one. I don't think I'd actually ever hear them until around 2012 when I checked out their new "Scion A/V Presents: The Bulls & the Bees" E.P. & I didn't like it much to tell you the truth. My next encounter with them would come shortly afterwards through 2010's split E.P. with Massachusetts post metallers Isis, mainly because I'd gotten heavily into Isis but I found myself enjoying the Isis tracks but not the Melvins ones. So Melvins didn't actually start to show me what they really had to offer until I checked out their very solid 1992 fourth album "Lysol" which was mainly due to its association with the drone metal genre as its somewhat of a passion of mine. I found that record to be really appealing & have returned to it quite often since. This triggered a trip to its 1993 follow-up album "Houdini" which I quite liked too. But little did I know that the real meat on the Melvins bones was still in front of me with this week's investigation of their 1991 third album "Bullhead" being nothing short of game-changing.

"Bullhead" is only a relatively short record at just 35 minutes in duration but that's more than enough time when the quality is kept at such a consistently high level throughout. It sees the trio totally indulging themselves in amplifier worship with the spectacular production job allowing the listener to curl up in the drum riser or speaker box of a live performance & truly "feel" the reverberations of the music. It's about the clever use of rhythmic interplay between the musicians & the often weird yet perpetually gnarly vocals of front man Buzz (Crystal Fairy/Fantômas/Venomous Concept) which are both unusual & endearing at the same time. The commitment to keep unplanned guitar noise & other slight imperfections in the recording in the interest of building character was a masterstroke too while Crystal Fairy, Shrinebuilder & Porn (The Men Of) drummer Dale Crover's confidence in his own ability to explore new territory yet still hit the right beat at the right moment is staggering. Melvins simply sound like the elite version of what a dangerous live rock band should aspire to be here & it's left me devastated in a very similar way to the finest work from a band like Japan's Boris who I can only imagine were heavily influenced by "Bullhead" based on my experiences here.

The tracklisting kicks off in superb fashion with the epic nine-minute doom metal opener "Boris" (hhmmm... further indication of the potential influence I mentioned perhaps?) which is my favourite track on the album before turning towards a sludgier sound for the remaining seven tracks. The songs that close out either side of the record ("It's Shoved" & "Cow") clearly showcase the influence that Melvins had on the grunge scene that had just blown up on a global scale at the time as both tracks would arguably sit pretty comfortably on a grunge release. In fact, there are several passages across the tracklisting when I get similar chills to those that I'd experience during the doomier moments of your more crushingly heavy Soundgarden songs. Other highlights include the miraculous "Your Blessened" which is a perfect example of Buzz's ability to summon up some of the heaviest Sabbathian guitar riffs known to man & deliver them in the coolest fashion possible, as well as "Ligature" & "Zodiac" which aren't far behind in that regard. The grungier songs aren't quite as effective but the tracklisting never dips below a very solid level & is buoyed by the skyscraping highlight tracks that fill more than half of the run time.

I think it's fair to say that "Bullhead" has hit me as hard as a raging bull & I see it as one of the finest sludge metal releases I've ever heard. In fact, it's made such a big impact on me that I've had to find a place in my Top Ten Metal Releases of All Time list too which is really saying something after all these decades of metal indulgence. If you crave the days when rock music was edgy & dangerous then this record is most certainly for you. You can expect to have to give it a few listens to truly sink in but the rewards are nothing short of spectacular, particularly for those with a penchant for Boris, Acid Bath & Crowbar.

4.5/5

Here's my updated Top Ten Sludge Metal Releases of All Time list with High On Fire's "De vermis mysteriis" dropping out to make way for "Bullhead":

01. Pig Destroyer – “Natasha” E.P. (2008)

02. Isis – “The Mosquito Control” E.P. (1998)

03. Gaza – “No Absolutes In Human Suffering” (2012)

04. Monarch! – “Omens” (2012)

05. Fange – “Pantocrator” (2021)

06. Mastodon – “Leviathan” (2004)

07. Great Falls - "Objects Without Pain" (2023)

08. Melvins - "Bullhead" (1991)

09. Black Cobra – “Invernal” (2011)

10. Ufomammut – “Eve” (2010)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/133

Convulse - "World Without God" (1991)

I can still recall the buzz that Convulse's debut album "World Without God" caused in the underground scene back in the early 1990's but I also remember that I found the reality to be a little... well... underwhelming., especially when compared with the magnitude of the praise being heaped on it. I didn't see the album breaking out into the realms of the more successful death metal bands though which I've always thought of as some sort of justification for my feelings on the record. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy "World Without God" though as it certainly has its moments but they didn't make a big enough impact on me to see me returning to the album until now, more than three decades later, if only to check my own homework given the steady increase in opinion on the album in more recent times.

As a die-hard atheist, the idea of a record entitled "World Without God" is most certainly an attractive one & it's fair to say that Convulse do a good job at sounding as death metal as death metal can be. The album sits very much on the filthier side of the genre where the requirement for technical proficiency is cast aside in favour of that authentic graveyard atmosphere. The ultra-deep vocals of guitarist Rami Jämsä are the clear focal point & give Convulse an additional layer of appeal for those that appreciate that sort of thing with fellow Fins Demilich being a reasonable point of comparison in that regard. Musically though, we get a very similar style of death metal to grisly US gore-masters Autopsy with the use of some pretty similar harmonized doom metal riffs being one of the stronger elements of the album. Despite those comparisons though, "World Without God" still sounds decidedly Finnish & brings to mind artists like Demigod, Abhorrence & Funebre although the more educated listener will also be able to decipher the influence of the Swedish crunch of Entombed, Dismember & co. There's a clear difference in quality between "World Without God" & a record like Demigod's 1992 debut album "Slumber of Sullen Eyes" though & this results in Convulse's debut sounding a little less essential.

Besides the very ordinary dungeon synth introduction piece which was a clear mistake, "World Without God" is still a very consistent album with no real blemishes amongst the proper tracks. It's weakness is its lack of genuine highlights though with the better material (my personal favourite "Incantation of Restoration" & "Godless Truth") still capping out before Convulse manage to reach the upper echilons of the extreme metal spectrum. There's plenty for your average death metal nut to grab onto but there's not anything here that's gonna drag you into the stratosphere, instead seeming comfortable to have your flesh gnawed off your bones at a less transcendent level. There may never be a question about the credentials of "World Without God" to saw your body in half but I wouldn't say that it does it as efficiently as most other supposedly classic death meal bands of the early 1990's did. It would, however, represent Convulse's career high point by a significant margin in my opinion. I would investigate the band's early "Resuscitation of Evilness" demo as well as their next three full-lengths before deciding that only the band's first couple of releases offered me much in the way of consistent appeal.

3.5/5

The final track from Judas Priest's "Sad Wings of Destiny" album is "Island of Domination", a song that I consider to skate along the border between heavy metal & hard rock so a dual tagging is required. 

That leaves me with a result that clearly places "Sad Wings of Destiny" in the metal camp but also sees rock playing a strong part in the result with primary tags in five of the nine tracks so I'm gonna suggest that a dual tagging of heavy metal & hard rock is appropriate here. Congratulations to Judas Priest though! We've finally seen another band dragging genuine metal status outta me after six straight Black Sabbath albums.

Tomorrow we'll be kicking off a new release & a highly divisive one it is too in Rainbow's classic 1976 sophomore album "Rising".

Here are the feature releases nomination recipients for April:

THE FALLEN: Daniel, Ben

THE GATEWAY: Andi, Saxy

THE GUARDIANS: Shezma, Xephyr

THE HORDE: Ben, Daniel

THE INFINITE: Xephyr, Saxy, Shezma, Andi

THE NORTH: Daniel, Shezma, Xephyr, Ben

THE PIT: Ben, Daniel

THE REVOLUTION: Andi, Daniel

THE SPHERE: Daniel, Andi

I've removed Morpheus Kitami from the roster given that he's failed to submit his nominations for the last couple of months in a row & hasn't been seen around the site either so I'm assuming that he's lost interest.

Shezma, Xephyr & Saxy, are you still looking to be a part of the nominations roster? If so then you'll need to get your nominations in before the last day of the prior month as I've had to nominate releases for you recently.

Nailbomb – “Vai toma no cu” (from “Point Blank”, 1994)

xNOMADx – “On Skylines of Embers” (from “On Skylines of Embers” E.P., 2023)

Sadus – “Good Rid’nz” (from “Swallowed In Black”, 1990)

Forbidden – “Tossed Away” (from “Twisted Into Form”, 1990)

Grotesque – “Submit To Death” (from “Incantation” E.P., 1990)

Anthrax - “Protest & Survive” (from “Attack of the Killer B’s”, 1991)

Mordred – “Killing Time” (from “In This Life”, 1991)

Sadistik Exekution – “Agonizing The Dead” (from “The Magus”, 1991)

Nailbomb – “Wasting Away” (from “Point Blank”, 1994)

Dodheimsgard – “Sonar Bliss” (from “666 International”, 1999)

Panopticon – “An Autumn Storm” (The Rime of Memory”, 2023)

Moonlight Sorcery – “The Secret of Streaming Blood” (from “Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle”, 2023)

Neuropath – “Masticated Cadaver” (from “Nefarious Vivisection” demo, 1995)

Entombed – “But Life Goes On” (from “But Life Goes On” demo, 1989)

My Dying Bride – “Vast Choirs” (from “Towards The Sinister” demo, 1991)

Mortician – “Redrum/Outro” (from “Mortal Massacre” E.P., 1991)

Cancer – “Tasteless Incest” (from “Death Shall Rise”, 1991)

Benediction – “Jumping At Shadows” (from “The Grand Leveller”, 1991)

Celtic Frost – “Wings of Solitude” (from “Vanity/Nemesis”, 1990)

Mordred – “Falling Away” (from “In This Life”, 1991)

Cathedral – “Reaching Happiness, Touching Pain” (from “Forest of Equilibrium”, 1991)

Great Falls – “Old Words Worn Thin” (from “Objects Without Pain”, 2023)

March 2024

01. Orphanage – “At The Mountains Of Madness” (from “By Time Alone”, 1996)

02. Dismember – “Dreaming in Red” (from “Indecent & Obscene”, 1993) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]

03. Decameron – “Carpe Noctem” (from “My Shadow…”, 1996)

04. I’m Letting Unseen Forces Take The Wheel – “Jake Is A Mostly Dog Name” (from “Scary Website” E.P., 2023)

05. Cryptworm – “Miasmatic Foetid Odour” (from “Oozing Radioactive Vomition”, 2023) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]

06. Anal Cunt – “Radio Hit” (from “Morbid Florist” E.P., 1993)

07. Nocturnus – “Standing In Blood” (from “The Key”, 1990) [Submitted by Daniel]

08. Nihilist – “Morbid Devourment” (from “The Head Not Found Session ‘89”, 1989) [Submitted by Daniel]

09. Terrorizer – “Doomed Forever” (from “Darker Days Ahead”, 2006)

10. Grotesque – “Incantation” (from “Incantation” E.P., 1990) [Submitted by Daniel]

11. Watchmaker – “Great Misleader” (from “Kill.Fucking.Everyone.”, 2003)

12. Atheist – “Fraudulent Cloth” (from “Jupiter”, 2010) [Submitted by Sonny]

13. Neuropath – “Nefarious Vivisection” (from “Nefarious Vivisection” demo, 1995) [Submitted by Daniel]

14. Mongrel – “Dog Complex” (from “Off The Leash”, 2022) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]

15. Horrifier – “Assimilated Life” (from “Horrid Resurrection”, 2023) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]

16. Wormhole – “Almost Human” (from “Almost Human”, 2023) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]

17. Immolation – “Of Martyrs & Men” (from “Unholy Cult”, 2002) [Submitted by Sonny]

18. Ribspreader – “The Skeletal Towers” (from “Reap Humanity”, 2024) [Submitted by Sonny]

19. Vomit Forth – “Unclaimed Cadaver” (from “Northeastern Depravation” E.P., 2019) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]

20. Deicide – “Carnage In The Temple Of The Damned” (from “Deicide”, 1990) [Submitted by Daniel]

21. Disbelief – “Assassinate The Scars” (from “Worst Enemy”, 2001) [Submitted by Daniel]

22. Plague of the Fallen – “Cycles of Anguish” (from “Amongst The Rats”, 2023) [Submitted by UnhinderedbyTalent]

23. Cave Sermon – “Beyond Recognition” (from “Divine Laughter”, 2024) [Submitted by Sonny]

24. Coma Cluster Void – “Iron Empress” (from Mind Cemeteries”, 2016)

25. Napalm Death – “Puritanical Punishment Beating” (from “Smear Campaign”, 2006)

26. Phobia – “Contest To Amend” (from “Grind Your Fucking Head In” E.P., 2003)

27. Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition – “xx.03.02” (from “2”, 2003)

28. Maximize Bestiality – “Caustic Unction of Ferocity” (from “Extraterrestrial Skolexomorphic Infestation”, 2014)

Devastation - "Idolatry" (1991)

I first wrapped my ears around Texas-based thrash metal outfit Devastation when I experienced some of the material from their 1989 sophomore album "Signs of Life" back in the very early 1990's & I quite liked what I heard too just quietly. The band seemed to offer a fair bit of potential so I found myself checking out the full-length album shortly afterwards, a record that I liked enough to see me heading back to their very ordinary 1987 debut album "Violent Termination". The debut did very little for me unfortunately but when 1991's "Idolatry" third full-length was released it wasted no time in repaying me for my initial faith & is easily Devastation's finest work. It's the record that I reach for whenever I think of this band & is pretty much the only one you NEED to own as a respectable thrash metal fan.

"Idolatry" is often referred to as being a death/thrash hybrid but that's not an accurate depiction of what you can expect because there's really very little in the way of death metal to be found across the eight tracks included. Instead, you'll find a very pure thrash metal sound that's heavily influenced by bands like Slayer, Dark Angel, Exodus & Kreator but simply "feels" more brutal than most other thrash releases primarily because of the savage production, the powerful, driving double kick drum work & the aggressive vocals of front man Rodney Dunsmore which are probably the weak point for the band if there is one as they could certainly have been a little more accomplished. Thankfully though, the same cannot be said for the instrumentation which is absolutely devastating (see what I did there?). Guitarists Dave Burk & Henry Elizondo totally slay with their solos generally placed over the most intense parts of the songs & being made very much from the Kerry King & Jeff Hannemann mold. Drummer David Lozano is the hero here though & proves himself to be an elite exponent of his craft. He doesn't try too many extravagant rolls & fills but what he does contribute is exciting & super-precise which gives Devastation an exceptionally solid basis to work over.

The album kicks off brilliantly with opener "Deliver the Suffering" being one of the highlights of the 44 minute run time. There aren't any weak tracks included. In fact, there's nothing short of being a very solid example of the classic thrash metal model with "Forsaken Hatred" (my personal favourite), "Subconscious" & super-shredding closer "Never Believe" being the other major highlights. Devastation are definitely at their best when they're really going for it at the higher tempos but the slower, chunkier material is also very entertaining as the band seem to have mastered the art of the riff with "Idolatry" providing somewhat of a smorgasbord of delights for underground thrash fans. There's a noticeable class about everything they do with note selection & riff complexity being placed upon a pedestal & Lozano providing the perfect support for each section.

"Idolatry" really does sound like it was tailor made for someone with my particular background & taste profile as it combines so many of the things I look for in my metal. It's such a shame that it'd represent Devastation's final hurrah as the band seemed to have so much still in the tank. Perhaps it's best to leave the scene on such a high though as it certainly helps in maintaining the aura around the band for all eternity. Fans of the more brutal end of thrash metal (think Demolition Hammer, Dark Angel & Morbid Saint) should regard "Idolatry" as the very epitome of the hidden gem & one of the best thrash releases of the 1990's. It's a genuine thrash classic in my opinion.

4.5/5

I'm just gonna say it: Black Sabbath were already heavier than Sad Wings on their barely-metal debut album.

You could argue that Black Sabbath's debut was "heavier" than "Sad Wings of Destiny" but I'd challenge anyone who claims that "Black Sabbath" was as metal as Priest's sophomore album. I don't think it's a very fair comparison anyway as the first four Black Sabbath records weren't really "heavy metal" records per se which means that you're essentially comparing releases from different genres. Early Sabbath took on more of a stoner metal format by today's genre definitions in my opinion & that description would generally bring to mind thoughts of a heavier sound than your average heavy metal band anyway. "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" & "Sabotage" are more of a like-for-like comparison with "Sad Wings of Destiny". Regardless... how many heavy metal bands are as heavy as the early Black Sabbath even today? I'd suggest that the answer is not all that many.

Today's track is Judas Priest's "Epitaph" which I'd suggest fits comfortably enough under an art pop tag:

This week's revisit to Pestilence's "Testimony of the Ancients" album has seen me needing to find space for it in my Top Ten Metal Releases of All Time list which has seen it slotting in at number 86 & forcing Meshuggah's "I" E.P. out of the list.

https://metal.academy/lists/single/227

This morning's track is Judas Priest's "Genocide" &, at the risk of retaliation, I'm gonna have to suggest that you have to wait until right at the end for the climax & fade-out section before you get any legitimate metal on this one. It sounds much closer to AC/DC than it does to Iron Maiden for mine so I have go with my heart & say that it's predominantly a hard rock tune.

For the record, I don't consider any of those band's classic releases to be technical death metal. They're all progressive death metal records in my opinion. The incorrect use of the tech death & tech thrash tags has long been a source of annoyance for me & is one that I'd like to clear up in the Academy database at some point but have had to simply accept until such time as we have an avenue to make the required changes.

I'm sure I'll annoy a few of you with this morning's hot take but I believe Judas Priest's "Tyrant" offers as much in the way of hard rock as it does heavy metal so I'm going with a dual tagging. The verses & guitar solo section are clearly metal but the rest is decidedly grey, particularly the intro, choruses & bridge along with the performance of the rhythm section being predominantly rock based.

Pestilence - "Testimony of the Ancients" (1991)

Dutch legends Pestilence first came to my attention back in 1990 through their classic death metal anthem "Out Of The Body" which was played on late-night metal radio & saw me quickly exploring Pestilence's first couple of albums. I found both of them to be very solid examples of the early death metal scene too & have returned to them quite often over the years but it would be their 1991 "Testimony of the Ancients" third full-length that would really set my world on fire after I picked up a cassette copy of the album upon release. It would be by far Pestilence's most ambitious effort to date as it would see them expanding their musical palette significantly with a more progressive approach that sat very well with my taste profile at the time. For some reason though, I've managed to never get a firm rating down on Metal Academy & I'd like to change that today.

1988's excellent death/thrash debut album "Malleus Maleficarum" & 1989's widely praised death metal classic "Consuming Impulse" were both classy affairs that showcased a band that was willing to push themselves as musicians but were still comparitively straight forward in their structure & composition. The loss of influential front man Martin van Drunen would see a reshuffle in the ranks with guitarist Patrick Mameli stepping up to the microphone & the super-talented Tony Choy taking over Mameli's bass duties which were both extremely positive moves in my opinion. While I do enjoy van Drunen's psychotic howls, I've always found Mameli's more controlled & traditionally deathly vocals to be far more to my taste while Choy's undeniable chops & impeccable tone would see Pestilence reaching a new level of technical proficiency that would no doubt play a role in the musical direction they'd take.

"Testimony of the Ancients" sees Pestilence offering eight full songs in combination with eight short interludes of various styles for a wonderfully expansive take on the death metal model that wouldn't totally isolate old-school fans but would open Pestilence up to a whole new audience of open-minded metal fans. It's still very much a death metal album at its core but the incorporation of more complex song-structures, the wide use of octaves & dissonance within the chord structures & the integration of jazz fusion concepts within the guitar solos would see Pestilence starting to play in spaces previously only traversed by bands like Atheist & Cynic but maintaining a darkness & intensity that neither of those seminal acts could match. The influence of Teutonic thrash heavy-weights Kreator's classic 1988 "Extreme Aggression" album is obvious throughout without the record ever feeling like thrash while the contribution of death metal godfathers Death to Pestilence's music is still as clear as day, although it's certainly worth noting that "Testimony of the Ancients" actually came out before Death's wonderful 1991 fourth album "Human" with which it shares so many of its traits. Pestilence had traditionally followed Death's lead but here we see them making the running in no uncertain terms. The tendency for people to want to call both bands "technical death metal" is misguided though in my opinion with neither being particularly technical in the true sense of the term. This music is far better served by a "progressive death metal" tag as it's a lot more adventurous than simply making the riffs & rhythms harder to play. In fact, a lot of the material isn't actually all that hard to reproduce, even Choy's bass lines which are still fairly faithful to the riffs for the most part.

Despite the inclusion of the many interludes which are quite varied in their effectiveness, "Testimony of the Ancients" possesses an outstanding tracklisting that's full of genuine classics. "Twisted Truth" is one of my all-time favourite death metal tracks & lead the way nicely while "Land of Tears", "Prophetic Revelations", "Stigmatized" & particularly the incredible "Testimony" & "Presence of the Dead" present an elite artist that's at the very peak of their creativity. This all amounts to a record that I still consider to be the clear highlight of an impressive four album run that would etch Pestilence into the annals of death metal folklore for all time. Sadly, the band's subsequent reformation & continuous efforts to match their early works hasn't amounted to anything of significance but they'll always be afforded a position amongst the greats of the genre nonetheless, such was the impact of those late 80's/early 90's releases on the global extreme metal scene. If you're a diehard Death, Atheist or Cynic fan then you owe it to yourself to get across this record too.

4.5/5

Here's my updated Top Ten Technical Death Metal Releases of All Time list with Death's "Symbolic" dropping out to make way for "Testimony of the Ancients":

01. 7 Horns 7 Eyes - "Throes Of Absolution" (2012)

02. Death - "Human" (1991)

03. Suffocation - "Pierced From Within" (1995)

04. Suffocation - "Despise The Sun" E.P. (1998)

05. Death – “Individual Thought Patterns” (1993)

06. Pestilence - "Testimony of the Ancients" (1991)

07. Gorguts – “Colored Sands” (2013)

08. Cynic - "Focus" (1993)

09. Ulcerate – “Everything Is Fire” (2009)

10. Ad Nauseam - "Imperative Imperceptible Impulse" (2021)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/148

30 minutes

This morning's track is Judas Priest's "Prelude" which I feel is best served by a dual tag of classical music & art rock.

Swedish melodic blackened death metallers Necrophobic's tenth full-length "In the Twilight Grey" is due for release on 15th March. They've managed to pull together a couple of more than decent albums since 2013's disappointing "Womb of Lilithu" so I'm expecting more of the same here without ever threatening to produce anything of the quality of their mid-90's peak.