Daniel's Forum Replies

Ben, please add the self-titled Nahvalr album & place it under Black Metal for the moment.

Enbilulugugal - "Noizemongers for GoatSerpent" (2004)

I'm not usually one for completely crucifying metal releases for the sake of melodrama however this 40 minutes of agonizing pain is something a little bit special. It essentially sounds like a bunch of extreme metal fans got together for drinks & things got WWAAYYY out of hand with the results being documented for all eternity. The song-writing is non-existent, the musicianship is completely absent & the production is a dog's breakfast. Essentially this is a bunch of sloppily performed black metal played with complete disregard for traditional musical values & produced in as noisy a fashion as possible with a dude screaming his guts out randomly over the top without any semblance of a lyric. I have no doubt that there will be those that think this is musical genius (Beherit fans, I'm looking at you) but for me it's a waste of time & effort from everyone involved. In the context of my Black Noise experiment, I'd suggest that it sits in between Black Metal & Black Noise with traditional Noise being a secondary influence.

For fans of Abruptum, Gonkulator & Beherit.

1.5/5

Elvis Presley - "From Elvis in Memphis" (1969)

My father-in-law was over on Monday so out came the old Elvis records. This one saw Elvis taking on soul & country music. Jeez, he sounds a lot like Cher at times here. She must have been seriously influenced by him. I can also hear a fair few similarities to Tom Jones on this album in particular. It's not my bag by any means but the old man seemed to dig it. It does include the classic "In the Ghetto" to close out the album though of course.

Gnaw Their Tongues - "Abyss of Longing Throats" (2015)

The Surinamese Black Noise champion produces another release that's blown me away with his twelve full-length offering a sound that sits right in between Black Noise, Black Metal & Industrial Metal. It's certainly the most Black Metal oriented record I've heard from him this month while the Industrial component gives the album its own identity, despite still possessing Maurice de Jong's trademark sound i.e. darkness, torture & general extremity. I can't tell you how much I've connected with Gnaw Their Tongues over the last week or so. It's like he can read my mind with the horrifying atmospheres he creates, the flourishes of ambient beauty, the clinical production, the complete focus on global nihilism in it's most confronting form. I don't think anyone sounds quite like him to be honest & this is another horribly underrated record in my opinion.

For fans of Abruptum, An Axis of Perdition & Vessel of Iniquity.

4.5/5

Nahvalr - "Nahvalr" (2008)

This sole full-length album from US duo Nahvalr is essentially a collage of sounds put together from snippets sent in to the producers by fans of their main band i.e. post-punk legends Have A Nice Life. This release has a bit of a unique sound in that it combines the Black Noise sound with Post-Metal to great effect & I'd actually be inclined to go with a dual primary tag here. There's also enough Industrial Metal on offer to command a secondary tag. The consistency of the tracklisting is excellent with no individual track falling below a very solid & professional level. The way the boys have used the lo-fi aesthetic to create atmosphere is very impressive & I actually found that the record got better as it progressed with the last two tracks being the best of the lot. This is definitely one of the better releases I've come across since I began the deep dive.

For fans of Abruptum, Gnaw Their Tongues & La Torture des ténèbres.

4/5

We've gotten through the harmony test & the twelve week scan unscathed sao it seems that it's gonna happen. We're having a third daughter in March!

The Flaming Lips - "The Soft Bulletin" (1999)

Some poppy neo-psychedelia to keep me interested while I play with the kids & do some housework on my Sunday morning. It's not really my thing as it's a little too quirky & happy for my taste & is more of a pleasant background distraction than being genuinely engaging but fans of this sort of thing will no doubt love the shit out of it.

For fans of MGMT, Dorgas & Animal Collective.

Given the lop-sided tally to date I've decided to pass this Hall nomination at YES 7 NO 1. As a result the Speed Metal genre has been added to the release on top of its existing Thrash Metal one. Thanks to everyone that contributed to this vote. 

Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach - "Painted From Memory" (1998)

Some really smooth adult contemporary pop music that's gone down very well for a cool Saturday morning house cleaning session.

Emit - "The Dark Bleeding" demo (2003)

This seminal underground demo tape seems to receive a lot more attention that it deserves as it's unfocused concoction of textural noise & silly black metal shrieks doesn't really work as a piece of art. As with the debut album from Sweden's Abruptum, it sounds very much improvised a lot of the time with most of the release spent mucking around on a guitar making as repulsive a sound collage as possible by utilizing far too many effects. The vocals & the reliance on guitars as the principle creative outlets keep "The Dark Bleeding" in Black Noise territory but it certainly leans further over towards the Noise side more than it does the metal one. The two lengthier tracks "Dead Before Death" & "Unknown I (Greets Me Again)" really are fucking awful & it's only the very solid traditional Noise piece "Communications with Shadows" that sees this demo veering away from a truly embarrassing rating (not that it should be too proud of the one it's received mind you). Anyone claiming this demo to be a work of genius is simply trying way too hard. It's an intentionally weird mish-mash of abrasive sounds that make very little sense from a musical point of view.

 For fans of Rev. Kriss Hades, Abruptum & Nahvalr.

2/5

Gnawing Their Tongues - "Reeking Pained & Shuddering" (2007)

I think it’s fair to say that many outsiders can’t comprehend why fans of extreme metal spend their time searching for releases that essentially take them further & further into the depths of Hell. There are those release that do it in a subtle way by masking some of the intent through the use of melody & more accessible song structures of course. But then there are those that bask in & celebrate to sheer darkness & evil by steering as far away from anything your average music fan could understand as possible & in doing so ensure that they remain as underground as possible. Well, with his third full-length album Surinamese producer Gnaw Their Tongues didn’t only ensure that he’ll stay well within the unholy confines of the underground but he created an entire new level of musical horror. In fact, “Reeking Pained & Shuddering” may just be the perfect musical representation of Hell itself as I think it may just be the most evil piece of musical art I’ve ever encountered.

In my recent review of Gnaw Their Tongues’ 2018 album “Genocidal Majesty” I questioned the validity of it’s links to metal, despite the inherent darkness & power it possesses within it’s inhuman Power Electronics sound. I won’t be doing the same with “Reeking Pained & Shuddering” however as the glory of extreme metal runs thick in its veins & is the very core of its atmosphere. It certainly fits the criteria for Black Noise qualification as it harnesses both genres equally but also draws upon Drone Metal & Black Ambient to give it a more rounded position with which to spread its message of violence & torture. The riffs here are doomy as fuck while Maurice de Jong’s screaming vocals are as over the top & psychotic as you’ll ever find, even within the realms of black metal. Both represent sensational additions to the Black Noise sound & give the album additional layers. So too do the beautiful gothic ambient accompaniments which further compliment the horrors the listener is witnessing by adding a cinematic quality.

The black metal component is strongest on the record’s most popular song “Nihilisim; Tied Up & Burning” but I tend to find that track to be the least impressive of the six included with its programmed blast beats & more traditional black metal guitar work sounding a little too run of the mill to make the same impact as the other material. The wonderfully titled opener “Blood Spills Out Of Everything I Touch” kicks things off in transcendent fashion & is followed by the very solid & equally well named “Utter Futility of Creation” but it’s the second half of the album that sees Gnawing Their Tongues truly reaching the peak of his blasphemic powers. In fact, I’d suggest that I’ve never heard a more perfect side of metal in my life with the deep dark ambient of “The Evening Wolves” creating an imposing atmosphere for black noise masterpiece “Destroying Is Creating” & the ten minute album highlight “Transition” to capitalize on in the most emphatic fashion.

“Reeking Pained & Shuddering” is a visceral & cerebral experience to say the least & is certainly not for the faint-hearted. It’s audience will be limited even within the extreme metal scene as it simply doesn’t allow for any form of hope or light at the end of the tunnel. It presents the world as the most harsh, barren & generally disgusting place & utilizes the most sickening serial killer associated vocal samples on Earth to drive its point home. There will certainly be times when I won’t feel up to listening to a record like this as it’s simply that depressive. But when I feel the urge to get into nastier territory I’m not sure I’ll find a more blatant example of hatred in music.

For fans of Abruptum, La Torture des ténèbres & Nahvalr.

4.5/5

I basically agree with everything you've said there Ben. That intro track was a particularly poor choice but the rest of the album is very solid & worthy of a comfortable 4/5 rating.

I hope you find plenty of other releases you dig too.

Or is it more in line with the general ethos of The Fallen to wish Vinny no luck whatsoever in finding releases he enjoys in order to maximize the chances of him wallowing in hopelessness & despair?

Gnaw Their Tongues - "Genocidal Majesty" (2018)

I first encountered Surinamese producer Maurice de Jong & his Gnawing Their Tongues moniker upon my return to metal back in 2009 & have had a long & often stormy relationship with him ever since. At times I’ve found it almost impossible to relate to his music which tends to be completely devoid of anything humanly relatable while at others he can create one of the purest soundtracks to the apocalypse you’re ever likely to encounter. For this reason I generally appraoch his releases with a level of caution & self-preservation, just as I have on this occasion with his fourteenth album “Genocidal Majesty”; a record that I’ve committed to investigating as a part of my Black Noise deep dive.

Gnaw Their Tongues’ “music” can be quite an intimidating prospect for the uninitiated. You see, it can often sound completely foreign to your average listener given that it’s very much at odds with the concepts that traditional music is built on. For example you’ll find very little melody here, if any at all. Instead you can expect to be assaulted with buzzing swarms of feedback, scraping metallic abrasions, ear-piercing static, high-pitched electronic data transmissions & big farty dubstep-ish bass tones which often amounts to the unpleasant experience of a close-range encounter with breaking glass. It’s futuristic & inhuman, cold & desolate. And when it’s all over it tends to leave you with a bleak outlook of pure loneliness & despair. Humans inherently need hope in their lives & you’ll find very little of it here in an industrial landscape that’s purely electronic & brings to mind images of suicide & torture. But just like a car crash, I find it so hard to look away because there’s something so visceral & powerful about this art that captivates me in a very different way to your average heavy metal anthem.

“Genocidal Majesty” is an extremely consistent record. Its run time is kept short at just 31 minutes with the entire tracklisting maintaining a very high standard & a finely honed sense of focus. There’s very little doubt that Maurice knew his sound very well by this point in his career as the album represents a fully realised & beautifully executed creative vision. There’s really very little reference to metal here though. The are no guitars or any other form of organic instrumentation included so the record sits far more comfortably within the realms of industrial music than it does within metal. In fact, you’ll rarely find a release that so perfectly fits the description of the Power Electronics subgenre so it very clearly belongs under that banner. Maurice’s insane screams are a definite highlight & offer a lot of appeal to me. I assume that this is where the links to black metal are drawn from but in truth they could just as easily have been lifted from a metalcore record. I could probably have done without the guest vocal contributions from The Body’s Chip King as I’ve never been a fan of his atonal, high-pitched squeals which don’t even sound like they’re vocals to tell you the truth & only end up contributing yet another uncomfortable & unnerving component to what is essentially the soundtrack to a horror movie that’s yet to be made. There’s a strong sense of cinematic drama about “Genocidal Majesty” with the rare appearances of synth pad sounds offering some minor relief from the relentless industrial battering you’re receiving from the remainder of the run time (see the bonus track on the Spotify release “Void Sickness” for example which is perhaps unsurprisingly my favourite track on the record). Given the general professionalism of the overall production though, I have to say that the snare sound could have done with a bit of work as it tends to remind me of chip tune a lot of the time which isn’t a positive comment.

I’ve been really impressed with “Genocidal” Majesty”. Its quest to alienate & isolate the listener has been unanimously successful so it certainly isn’t for everyone but those that seek refuge in the uglier side of underground music in order to take them as far away from every day suburban life will likely find a strange sense of pleasure in the universal unpleasantness of the experience. As far the Black Noise sound I came in looking for goes though there really isn’t much of a connection to this fine example of Power Electronics. I think us metalheads sometimes think we have monopoly on extreme music & like to draw everything in that bracket in under our metallic banner but I think it’s a stretch too far with this particular release.

For fans of The Body, Utarm & Spektr.

4/5

This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

https://metal.academy/hall/260

Abruptum - "Obscuritatem advoco amplectère me" (1993)

The debut album from this cult Swedish artist is one of the weirdest & most ambitious metal-related releases you're ever likely to hear. It comprises of two enormously challenging 25+ minute pieces that seem to be completely improvised. If they're not then I have no idea how they were composed. They also bring into question the concept of what constitutes music because there's some absolutely random shit going on here & it often has nothing whatsoever to do with traditional musical theory. The idea of calling this a black metal or black noise release is questionable at best in my opinion too. There's no doubt that the First Wave of Black Metal sounds of early Sodom & Hellhammer (particularly "Triumph of Death") played a big role in Abruptum's DNA but there's simply so much more that falls WWAAYYY outside of conventional metal ideals going on here. In fact, I'd hazard to describe "Obscuritatem advoco amplectère me" as experimental/psychedelic noise rock meets avant-garde metal. Much of the admittedly pretty doomy guitar work is comprised of feedback & dissonant attacks on open strings which leaves the aesthetic sounding far more Bauhaus than Bathory while a lot of the drumming sits closer to rock than it does to metal. But then you'll get these sudden bursts of unaccompanied blast beats here & there & psychotic vocals that remind me of the Japanese extreme metal scene or a very young Tom Angelripper (Sodom). It's certainly noisy stuff but can I really say this is black noise? I don't think I'd say it's genuine noise music OR black metal to be honest. I think people are simply clutching at straws in a vain attempt to label this musical cacophony which is far more interesting than it is enjoyable.

For fans of Emit, Gnaw Their Tongues & Enbilulugugal.

2.5/5

Μνήμα [Mnima] - "Disciples of Excremental Liturgies" (2022)

Greek outfit Mnima has been around for a good few years now & have put out ten zillion EP's in that time but this debut full-length is the first release I've committed to checking out. For a supposed "black noise" release, I've gotta say that it offers bugger all in the way of genuine noise music though. In fact, this is really just a very raw & particularly lo-fi black metal release with vocals that sound a lot like Burzum mastermind Varg Vikernes & musicianship that's left at the door for the sake of demonic authenticity. The first half of the release is actually pretty decent with the admittedly generic tremolo-picked riffage possessing some reasonably enjoyable melodic hooks. Unfortunately the B side is noticeably weaker which taints the whole experience for me & I'm left wondering how my black noise experiment has found me venturing here in the first place. "Disciples of Excremental Liturgies" is nothing to write home about & there are much stronger black metal releases out there this year.

For fans of Black Cilice, Candelabrum & Burzum.

3/5

La Torture des ténèbres - "IV: Memoirs of a Machine Girl" (2017)

The second phase of my Black Noise deep dive saw me tackling the fourth full-length album from Canadian solo act La Torture des ténèbres (French for “The Torture of Darkness” i.e. as opposed to the wholesome, family-oriented & generally fun garden variety of torture presumably). “IV: Memoirs of a Machine Girl” is an 81 minute marathon for the senses that’ll see your mental stability being well & truly tested so I’d steer well clear of it if you harbor any concerns around your mental health. La Torture des ténèbres is the brain-child of Jessica Kinney; an artist whose creative vision originally began within the more familiar realms of atmospheric black metal but over time has seen her expanding the scope of her metal roots with “IV: Memoirs of a Machine Girl” showcasing a much more expansive array of sounds & possibly even having transcended the confines of metal altogether.

“IV: Memoirs of a Machine Girl” is an absolute beast of a release featuring six very lengthy pieces that all comfortably exceed the ten minute mark. Jess obviously doesn’t care all that much for the vinyl or CD formats of my generation because it almost seems like she’s intentionally extended the album’s run time so that it’s just too long to fit on a single CD. Whatever the reason for it may be though, the run time definitely overstays its welcome a touch & I challenge anyone to actively listen to the entire duration of the album without experiencing some sort of mental fatigue. Personally, I feel that it would have benefitted significantly from the omission of the final track which would have seen it finishing at a still quite indulgent 68 minutes. That’s not to say that closer “Lysol, Scrub Away Your Sanity” is weak in any way but I’m not sure I needed yet another sensory barrage after the first five tracks had seemingly achieved everything that Jess had set out to do.

There are a few different elements to the La Torture des ténèbres sound that are repeated across the tracklisting. The first is the beautiful, dreamy & very Mazzy Star-ish downtempo sections which have layers of effects applied to them in order to give them an eery & sombre feel. I get the feeling that Jess could actually be a very talented performer in that space if she focused her powers on good rather than evil. Then you have the over-the-top noise sections which are much more prevalent & generally see a guitar part providing some sort of melody under a huge & overbearing wall of artificial noise. The first couple of tracks see the instrumentation hinting at a black metal atmosphere but the noise dominates proceedings to such a degree that I’d be reluctant to label this as anything metal related. Outside of those first two tracks I struggle to see the links to black metal though with the general feel of the base music leaning much more closely towards the dreamy post-rock of Sigur Ros. In fact, I’m not even sure the guitars have had any pre-mix distortion applied to them in all honesty so (unlike Wold’s “Screech Owl” that I kicked off my Black Noise deep dive with) most of “IV: Memoirs of a Machine Girl” just doesn’t feel remotely like black metal & I doubt it was ever intended for the black metal audience. The thing that probably sees it being tied back to black metal though are Jessica’s tortured & psychotic screams which sound very much like they could have been taken from a depressive black metal release. They’re relentless in their negativity &, when combined with some pretty twisted samples, ensure that you will find no form of light or empowerment in this music. It’s an ugly wasteland of disgust & disconsolation.

When all of these elements are combined, the result takes the form of a noise release much more than it does a metal one & I tend to think that labelling “IV: Memoirs of a Machine Girl” as a metal release is a bit of a stretch. That’s not to say that it’s not a rewarding experience for the metal audience though. Given my taste profile I’m not surprised that I find the first couple of tracks to be a little more enjoyable than the remainder of the album. The atmosphere of those two tracks hints at a majestic blackened darkness that I find more appealing than the slightly less imposing post-rock driven material but that’s not to say that there are any weak tracks included because there’s not. It’s a very consistent record that could maybe have done with some trimming from a pure indulgence point of view but would also have benefitted from the six tracks having proper endings instead of simply cutting them off dead when they were still in full flight. Overall though, I’d suggest that “IV: Memoirs of a Machine Girl” is a very respectable noise release that seems to sit pretty comfortably under the Non-Metal tag in our database.

For fans of Gnaw Their Tongues, Utarm & Nahvalr.

3.5/5

Here's an example of La Torture des ténèbres at their most blackened:

This submission has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

This nomination has been posted in the the Hall of Judgement.

Cusco - "Apurimac" (1988)

I thought we'd go for some soothing Andean new age music for our family picnic in the park. Little did I know just how cheesy it could get though. This fairly well known release (from a German artist strangely enough) is nothing short of fucking awful!

Whilst Alone is also an awesome record for sure, I don't think it has anything as iconic as Well of Souls or At the Gallows End on it , so is downslope from Nightfall for me. But this is nitpicking as they are both records I would unhesitatingly recommend to any trad/epic doom fan.

Contrary to popular opinion, I've never found "At the Gallows End" to be anything terribly special to tell you the truth. I do quite like it but definitely think of it as one of the least appealing couple of tracks on "Nightfall". "Well of Souls" is certainly an amazing track but my personal favourites are "Bewtiched" & "Black Candles" which I regard as being the equal of anything I've heard from the epic doom metal subgenre. In fairness though, I'd place Solitude Aeturnus' "Scent of Death" right alongside them in that respect.

"Nightfall" was actually my favourite epic doom metal record until last week when the Solitude Aeturnus feature record overtook it. It's certainly my favourite Candlemass release though.

"The Threepenny Opera [Off-Broadway Revival Cast]" soundtrack (1954)

Another one for playing with the kids. Didn't interest me much but the kids seems to find old musical soundtracks fairly calming which can only be a good thing when my six-year old daughter is quite sick.

Sons of Kemet - "Your Queen Is A Reptile" (2018)

The third album from this London-based afrojazz outfit & I don't mind it. There are certainly some tracks that I enjoy more than others but when they hit on something great they really capitalize on it with some wonderfully intuitive group collaboration. It certainly made for a worthy accompaniment to cleaning the house & playing with the kids this morning.

Wold - "Screech Owl" (2007)

OK, so let's kick off with one of the more blatantly black noise releases in the 2007 sophomore release from Canadian artist Wold (can't you tell by their logo on the cover?). If you were thinking that black noise is likely to be an extremely lo-fi take on black metal then you were 100% correct as you won't find a more intentional attempt at audio degradation than you'll find here. In fact, the fading intros & outros of many of the thirteen tracks give hints at what the original music might have sounded like before it had the levels strategically blasted up into the realms of extreme distortion in post-production, all in the quest for a greater textural & atmospheric layer of hideous noise. So, does it work? Well when Wold get it right it certainly does but those moments are so few when you take into account that this bloated release stretches out to an unbearably lengthy 73 minutes in duration.  The ultra-grim black metal vocals of Fortress Crookedjaw are certainly very appealing for extreme metal aficionados like myself but the instrumentation is often lacking in any sort of musical quality, instead taking the form of battering & offensive distortion more than something you'd find genuine pleasure in listening to. When Wold hint at melody through their more ambient excursions though you can clearly see the attraction to this sort of music. They just haven't got the balance right at all here.

The clear standout tracks are the super evil "This Is How I Know" (which is by far the best example of the black noise subgenre included here & is a piece of work that has slowly snuck up on me over several listens before finally encouraging me to label it as a masterpiece) & the super-repetitive & trance-inducing thirteen-minute black ambient/noise closer "Undying Fire Of Urian" which absolutely carry this album. Sadly though it's not enough to make up for the clear failures like the God-awful "Nervosa" & "I'm The Chisel" which are pretty close to as dumb as extreme music gets. The couple of traditional noise tracks included also offer nothing at all from a musical point of view, failing to create any sort of dark atmosphere that you can grab on to. I think it's fair to say that I'm not the target audience for a record like "Screech Owl" but I still have my doubts that it'll be sitting at the top end of the subgenre. If it was then I'd have to think that the incredibly poor cover art would likely taint the entire subgenre & scare off many potential listeners.

But is "Screech Owl" a metal album? That's a very good question. The basis of these tracks is clearly black metal but the music has been brutally warped far enough that the original recordings are pretty much unrecognizable. The black metal vocals definitely reel it back in a bit though & the atmosphere is identifiably black metal for the majority of the run-time so I'm gonna say that, even though this release clearly sounds more like noise music with black metal vocals layered over the top, I'm comfortable with it residing in The North under a black metal subgenre. On the evidence of this release I'd suggest that Black Noise is a subgenre of black metal too. Let's see if I maintain that opinion over the next couple of weeks, shall we?

For fans of Gnaw Their Tongues, Sutekh Hexen & Затухание.

2.5/5

Here's an example of black noise that utilizes synth melodies to offset the ugliness:

And here's my updated Top Ten Conventional Black Metal Releases of All Time list after falling in love with the new Scarcity album (not that it's at all conventional but I don't think it's got much to do with the atmospheric black metal subgenre & we don't have an experimental black metal subgenre at the Academy):

Yeah, I didn't mind "Soul of a New Machine". I wouldn't say that I fell in love with it or anything (which is perhaps why my CD ended up in your possession) but it was something fresh & a little bit different for the time & it also offered a bit of crossover appeal for some of my friends that weren't as into the more extreme underground stuff I was obsessed with at the time. I agree that "Demanufacture" was a significant step up from "Soul of a New Machine" & is clearly Fear Factory's best record still to this day. It wasn't as much in line with my taste profile as the debut was but it was just a classier outing all round.

It was a great month of feature releases for me in September. I was obviously very familiar with the Alice in Chains, Brutal Truth, Dream Death & The Dillinger Escape Plan releases but it was nice to finally get some ratings & reviews against a couple of those after all these years. The Scarcity album absolutely blew my socks off & so did the Solitude Aeturnus one. Both of those have been rewarded with entry into my Hall of Metal Glory. The Red Harvest album was also great, if not quite as appealing as our previous Red Harvest feature release in 2004's classic "Internal Punishment Programs" album. The Ashenspire record had its moments while the fate of many a symphonic power metal album was bestowed on the poor Cross Borns release which was the victim of my taste profile as much as anything else. Well don to Ben for taking the biscuits this month in resounding fashion. Here are my scores in order of preference:

THE GATEWAY: Alice In Chains - "Dirt" (1992)  5/5

THE NORTH: Scarcity - "Aveilut" (2022)  4.5/5

THE FALLEN: Solitude Aeturnus - "Alone" (2006)  4.5/5

THE SPHERE: Red Harvest - "HyBreed" (1996)  4/5

THE REVOLUTION: The Dillinger Escape Plan with Mike Patton - "Irony Is A Dead Scene" E.P. (2002)  4/5

THE HORDE: Brutal Truth - "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses" (1992)  4/5

THE PIT: Dream Death - "Journey Into Mystery" (1987)  3.5/5

THE INFINITE: Ashenspire - "Hostile Architecture" (2022)  3.5/5

THE GUARDIANS: Cross Borns - "Tales of a Winter Night" (2000)  2/5

If Ashenspire did have any black metal roots then they've certainly been tossed aside for this highly regarded sophomore effort, haven't they? It's definitely an unusual release & one that does sit pretty comfortably under the avant-garde progressive metal tag. The most noteworthy elements on display are the theatrical & almost psychotic clean vocals of drummer Alasdair Dunn who continues to rant like a man possessed in his unapologetically Scottish accent throughout the entire tracklisting, mostly speaking or shouting more than actually singing. The other is the use of some extremely jarring time signatures that do tend to interrupt the flow of the song-writing at times. The ambition is undeniable but the execution isn't quite what I'd hoped, particularly the performance of Dunn behind the kit as his drum sound isn't ideal for metal (it's more in line with jazz) & he sounds pretty messy when he gets his blast beats on. The use of violin is done very well & brings to mind Ne Obliviscaris as it provides a little stability in even the most chaotic of movements while the overtly Scottish & emotionally charged vocals combine with some of the more sweeping black metal oriented chord progressions to remind me of Irish folk metal legends Primordial. The sheer insanity & creativity is more in line with a band like Arcturus though.

As you can probably tell, I struggled with "Hostile Architecture" a little bit at times but I can't deny that my overall impressions after four full listens were generally positive. There's no doubt that it's Dunn that's my major obstacle here & I can't deny that I would greatly prefer a more traditional & talented front man but I think I find it hard not to look on a pure form of artistic expression like this one with fondness & endearment as it's not all that common in a market that's saturated by copy cats. In saying that though, I can't say that I'm likely to return to the album in the future. It's an experience that I'm glad that I've had but it simply doesn't tick enough of my boxes to command any level of adoration.

For fans of Primordial, Ne Obliviscaris & Arcturus.

3.5/5

Did you really just suggest that "Arise!" is the best the genre has to offer after stating in the very same paragraph that it's the first stenchcore release you've ever heard Andi? You crack me up sometimes. I think Sacrilege might have a thing or two to say about who put out the first major stenchcore release too.

Fucking hell! This album absolutely slays! The dual tagging of Atmospheric Black Metal & Avant-Garde Metal isn't particularly accurate as I don't think "Aveilut" feels all that avant-garde & it doesn't have much to do with the classic atmospheric black metal sound either. To my ears it's an experimental take on your more conventional black metal sound which incorporates strong post-metal & drone metal influences at times. The way this duo have used the tools of black metal in a very different way but still maintained all of the menace & blasphemy is phenomenal. There is a little bit of dissonance on offer but I wouldn't suggest that it's anything out of the ordinary for modern black metal. The unusual part is the way they've layered the different tremolo-picked guitar lines & tied the psychedelic synths & effects into the wall of sound so tightly. I can't say I've ever heard anything like it but it reminds me a lot of the approach that some post-rock artists take. Those vocals are as grim & frostbitten as you'll find too. They're right up my alley. Interestingly, my two highlight tracks are also the furthest from black metal with "I" being a post-metal affair & "IV" being a wonderful builder of a drone metal piece. Ben, you've really outdone yourself this month as this is easily the best record I've heard from 2022 so far.

For fans of Krallice, Blut aus Nord & Bríi.

4.5/5

After revisiting this old friend over the last few days I was reminded of just how well it fits under the "deathgrind" tag. In fact, it may well be the definitive example of what that term was originally intended to describe because it easily harnesses both sounds in roughly equal portions & perhaps that's why it appealed to this particular death metal fanatic at the time because I've never quite found the same level of appeal in grindcore as I have in my beloved death metal. What we have here are 15 tracks that span a variety of tempos but are still undoubtedly designed to crush your cranium into a soft pulp. Former Winter drummer Scott Lewis' blast beats were indeed the fastest thing we'd ever heard at the time & I have to admit that I can't think of anyone that's surpassed them since without employing the gravity blast technique. He's an absolute machine & his endurance is very impressive to say that least. The combination of slower grind grooves & super-fast blast beat sections goes down a treat while Kevin Sharpe's deathly vocals are nicely contrasted by some searing high-pitched screams (presumably contributed by Anthrax/Nuclear Assault/SOD bassist Dan Lilker) which I find to be a real highlight. It all makes for a very entertaining ride, if not one that offers a lot of depth below the surface but that's not exactly what most of this record's audience will be looking for anyway. You'll no doubt be able to pick up the band's influences very obviously across the tracklisting with a Bolt Thrower riff thrown in here & a Napalm Death or Death one tossed in there but I have to admit that I'd never realized just how heavily influenced by Carcass' early works Brutal Truth were until now. It's glaringly obvious at times but is executed in more of a complimentary way than a plagiaristic one. But the biggest strength of "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses" is in its consistency as it sets a very solid standard early on & never lets it dip throughout a relatively long 45 minute run time for this style of extreme music. It's a real shame that Scott Lewis would leave the band shortly after this album & that Brutal Truth would gradually steer away from their death metal side over the coming albums as they'd really hit on something here & never came close to matching it in my opinion.

For fans of Napalm Death, Terrorizer & early Carcass.

4/5

I actually hadn't ever checked out a full Solitude Aeturnus record until now but was really excited coming in as I've loved what I've heard through the monthly playlists & "Alone" certainly hasn't left me disappointed. This is one absolutely monolithic doom metal record of astronomical proportions. Every track is pure class. The production job is superb, the performances are spot on & the cover art is as imposing as you'd hope for such a depressive gem. Front man Robert Lowe would have to be right up there with the best metal vocalists I've ever encountered with his powerful delivery placing him right in the sweet spot between Ronnie James Dio & my favourite vocalist of all time in Soundgarden's Chris Cornell. The guitar solos offer a super-pure tone & are performed with true precision, even hinting at Yngwie Malmsteen-esque theatrics at times. As with their epic doom counterparts Candlemass, the classic heavy metal sound has clearly been an influence on Solitude Aeturnus but the band's doom credentials are never in question with even through the more chuggy & mid-paced metal riffs possessing enough weight to satisfy even the most selective of doom tragics. When you've got a tracklisting this strong it's often hard to pick out highlights but not on this occasion with opener "Scent of Death" being one of the greatest doom epics ever recorded & "Waiting for the Light" & "Upon Within" also sitting comfortably amongst the top tier of the doom crop. "Alone" is a wonderful example of the doom metal & should be held up as a celebration of everything that's great about the genre.

For fans of Candlemass, Crypt Sermon & Solstice.

4.5/5

I know this may sound blasphemous to you, but if it's so hard for a layman to differentiate between them, does it really matter that much? 

Perhaps not but our market doesn't comprise entirely of laymen & I think you'd agree that it'd be pretty annoying if The Guardians or the Fallen charts were topped by releases that sat on the wrong side of the metal borderline as it kinda brings the integrity of the site & the Metal Academy brand into question. There has to be a line somewhere & the entire clan community has the ability to vote on which side of that line a given release falls on.

I don't mind "Rock 'n' Roll" actually. It's an under-appreciated Motorhead record in my opinion. In fact, I'd probably take it over the previous three albums which are all generally more highly regarded.

I'm very familiar with literally every King Crimson studio album except for those two so unfortunately not. Their 1973-81 period is definitely where my sweet spot lies.

I actually don't think Def Leppard were ever a metal band although I admittedly don't think I've ever heard "The Def Leppard E.P." from 1979 so there's potential to have my mind changed there I guess.

I get where you're coming from Sonny. If you look at it closely, relatively little of Motorhead's material is actually legitimate metal. They were far too blues-oriented to ever fully commit to a metal sound (at least during the first decade of their recording career which is what they're most well known for). There are two main reason they're associated with metal in my opinion:

1. Lemmy's vocals simply sound too gruff to be attached to anything else. In fact, if you put a different singer over the top of the instrumentation then I doubt that anyone would even think about labelling Motorhead as heavy metal (see Girlschool).

2. The fact that Motorhead were heavily responsible for bringing the use of double-kick (& speed in general) to heavy music & this element had an uncanny knack of matching up with the biggest songs from each successive album.

In Budgie's case, I'd suggest that their association with metal is mostly because of their historical association with Metallica. Their self-titled debut was really heavy for a rock record of the time & was certainly influenced by Black Sabbath but I've always felt that it was still far too bluesy to qualify as metal. After that they tended to indulge in Rush-inspired progressive rock & sometimes even folk music more often than they did metal. Sure, there are a few tracks here & there that qualify but not for a full album, at least not in their early-to-mid 1970's prime which is what people are usually referring to when talking about Budgie.

In regard to Motley Crue, I've always thought "Shout At The Devil" is close enough to metal. "Too Fast For Love" is much punkier & I find metal to be more of an influence that a primary genre with that one. I can't say I've heard "Dr. Feelgood" since the early 1990's so I'm not in a position to say. Our father used to cane that record so I'm sure I'd know every song by heart & I actually saw them play live on the associated tour but I tended to steer well clear of Crue's more commercially driven material once I fully committed to extreme metal.

I'm afraid I'm in the same camp as Ben here. I'm really only familiar with Candlemass' 1980's classics & definitely prefer Messiah Marcolin over Johan Lanquist. In saying that though, I've been utterly worshipping at the altar of Robert Lowe over the last 24 hours due to my indulging in this month's The Fallen feature release & I suspect that he'd likely top them both if I was to venture further forwards in the Candlemass discography.

I tried to find a video of someone demonstrating the difference between hard rock & heavy metal & this was the best I could come up with at short notice. This guy can't play much but what he's saying is essentially right. There are more differences in the techniques & the hard rock riffs he demonstrates are excessively bluesy in order to prove his point but it's a good starting point.

I'm afraid this one simply falls into the "none of my business" category. I'm gonna abstain from pulling it to pieces as it was never gonna finish any other way given my general aversion to folky symphonic power metal. I'm more interested to see what people like Rex & Xephyr think of it as their opinions are far more relevant than my own with a release like this one.

2/5

Fair point Sonny & I fully appreciate that not everyone's working from the same experience base. Perhaps I need to find a way to visually/audibly demonstrate what I'm saying rather than simply throwing out these bold exclamations.

Interestingly, Ben & I had a conversation on a very similar topic last week. We posed the question to each other: Can you have metal without metal guitars? There have been various examples of this tossed about over the last couple of years. The Kaatayra record Xephyr mentioned is certainly one of them. I'm interested to hear what everyone else thinks but both Ben & I are of the opinion that you can't have metal without metal guitars. It's like removing the ice from ice-skating. What does everyone else think?

Coil - "Horse Rotorvator" (1986)

Highly-regarded industrial music from London with all sorts of influences floating around from Kraftwerk to Nick Cave to Dead Can Dance to new wave. It's definitely a case of art over substance at times but it's certainly an intriguing listen.

 Viktor Vaughn - "Vaudeville Villain" (2003)

If you dig 90's hip hop with great flow like Wu Tang Clan or GZA/Genius then this beautifully produced East Coast record from MF DOOM should be right up your alley. The beats are fantastic & the song-writing is really consistent.

This is another really solid effort from these Norwegians who must be challenging The Amenta for the title of the most under-appreciated band in The Sphere. Unlike our previous Red Harvest feature release (2004's "Internal Punishment Programs"), "HyBreed" contains a significant Post-Metal influence on several of the more drawn-out tracks with Neurosis being the clear influence, particularly in the use of tribal drumming & repetition with long build-ups & crescendos. There are also a couple of 10+ minute ambient pieces included which are both of a high quality & break the tracklisting up nicely. We even get a fantastically doomy Gothic Metal song in the wonderful "On Sacred Ground" which draws upon Type O Negative & Tiamat for inspiration. There isn't a single track included that's not of a very high quality & there's more than enough variation to justify the very long 78 minutes run time. I've gotta ask the question, what the fuck have these guys done wrong because they should be comfortably sitting alongside the big names of the Industrial Metal tree.

For fans of Godflesh, Yerûšelem & Kill The Thrill.

4/5

I've added an additional Hall of Judgement entry to have this release removed from the Stenchcore genre & The Pit.

Ok, so I've decided to pass this Hall entry given that the current vote tally is so conclusive at YES 7 No 0. I've now added a new Hall entry to have "Killing Technology" removed from The Pit given that it has a second clan to reside in now.