Daniel's Forum Replies

I've just added another Hall of Judgement entry to cover your last request Andi.

I guess it comes down to what you understand rock & metal music to be, doesn't it? I was taught the different techniques for playing the two genres when I was in my early teenage years & those theoretical rules have stuck with me ever since so I see a well defined line between the two. As I've already explained in another recent thread, the point of contention shouldn't really be about how heavy or light-weight a release feels. You either have metal guitar & drum techniques being used or you don't as far as I'm concerned. Now, if we're going to be throwing the likes of Guns 'n' Roses, Def Leppard, Scorpions, AC/DC, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, etc. under the metal banner then I have to ask a pretty obvious question i.e. just what is hard rock music then because those are some clear examples of it as far as I'm concerned. To be open & transparent, my personal cut-off ratio for a release to qualify as metal is 40% i.e. if 40% or more of it's run time is legitimate metal then I'm happy enough to include it. Here's ten examples of some very big "metal" releases that I don't think should qualify as metal if we use that philosophy:

Kyuss - "Welcome To Sky Valley"

Boris - "Pink"

Rainbow - "Rising"

Black Flag - "My War"

Motorhead - "Overkill"

Primus - "Frizzle Fry"

Black Sabbath - "Technical Ecstasy"

Alcest - "Kodama"

Voivod - "Nothingface"

Elder - "Reflections of a Floating World"

These were my notes from my last revisit to this one:

The debut album from this Pennsylvania-based thrash metal outfit who sound very much like what Celtic Frost would have sounded like if Tom Araya was their front man. There's a really strong doom element to their sound. In fact, I much prefer the doomier parts over the more up-tempo material to be honest. Also, I have to admit that I spent most of this revisit thinking just how much this record would be up Sonny's alley so I wasn't surprised in the slightest to see that he's rated this a 4.5/5 just now. Saves me from recommending it to him. For fans of Celtic Frost, Hellhammer & Obituary.

3.5/5

Pantera - "Far Beyond Driven" (1994)

I count myself lucky to have been one of the privileged few that picked up on the whole Pantera groove metal phenomenon very shortly after its conception & subsequently had the pleasure of watching them develop & go from strength to strength over a number of years. I wasn’t in any way aware of Pantera during their 80’s heavy/glam metal days but their important 1990’s “Cowboys From Hell” album had already been pleasuring my ears for a good 18 months by the time they completely realigned the global metal scene with their career-defining 1992 sixth album “Vulgar Display of Power”. Despite my being firmly entrenched in the extreme metal scene at the time, it was absolutely impossible not to be impacted by the wave of euphoric adoration that seemed to engulf the band & that would only increase further with 1994’s hugely successful seventh full-length “Far Beyond Driven” which topped the charts in my home country of Australia. Everyone appeared to love it at the time (myself included) but it seems that time has seen it’s qualities down-played versus it’s two older siblings & I thought it was time I investigated why.

Let me start off by saying that there are a few elements that differentiate “Far Beyond Driven” from its highly praised predecessors. For starters, it’s the most focused of the three records in that Pantera had finely honed the groove metal style they were responsible for creating down to an easily identifiable sound & this album sees them thoroughly indulging in that by milking it for every last drop. In doing so we see legendary guitar virtuoso Dimebag Darrell coming up with some of the greatest groove metal riffs ever written but I think it’s fair to say that (unlike “Cowboys From Hell” & “Vulgar Display Of Power” which offered a bit more variety) you really do need to buy into the whole groove metal thing if you’re gonna dig “Far Beyond Driven”. The other major difference is that front man Phil Anselmo takes a consistently more guttural & aggressive hardcore-inspired vocal approach for the vast majority of the run time & in doing so leaves behind any semblance of his higher-register Rob Halford-impersonating singing voice. Neither of these things are negatives as such. They’re simply observations & if I’m honest I found the added focus on pure adrenaline & masculinity to be quite the drawcard at the time even though the public perception seems to have flipped a bit towards a feeling of super-macho posturing over the years.

The musicianship on “Far Beyond Driven” is outstanding & we really see the rhythm section of bassist Rex & drummer Vinny Paul setting the bar extremely high for the competition, particularly Vinny whose performance here is one of the highlights of the album as a whole. In fact, I think Pantera relied a lot less on Darrell’s amazing shredding by this stage & I don’t feel that the production places as strong a focus on him as a result. Instead Pantera come across as a well-oiled & finely-honed unit that know their sound extremely well & conduct themselves with complete professionalism. The production job does sound pretty dated with the rhythm guitar tone being very much of its time but this can easily be forgiven when you consider that Pantera were one of the primary instigators in changing the way we viewed guitar tones in general during that period. It’s very easy to be critical from an historical perspective but if we’re honest with ourselves none of us had a problem with it at the time.

The real difference between the first three Pantera groove metal outings is the quality of the song-writing though & there have been some sacrifices in their true-metal-at-all-costs mentality. Both “Cowboys From Hell” & “Vulgar Display of Power” were very consistent records with no genuinely weak tracks included & “Far Beyond Driven” is no different. What’s missing though are those few genuine metal classics that both of its predecessors contained as I don’t think I can say that any of its twelve tracks included qualify for that level of adoration. Instead we have twelve songs that range from pretty decent to very strong which amounts to a very rewarding listen, just not one that will see my life changing. That’s not to say that ANY of Pantera’s albums have changed my life terribly much as groove metal simply doesn’t appeal to me as much as it does to others but you know what I’m saying. In saying all that, I can’t say that I see “Far Beyond Driven” as sitting all that far behind its more readily celebrated peers. It’s still a very strong release with a lot of positives. I do think that some of its biggest tracks like “Five Minutes Alone” & “Becoming” are a bit overrated though. I’d also suggest that some of the tracks in the middle of the album that are generally regarded as being a bit weaker are actually very good with the two-song run of unusual change-up track “Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills” & the weightier “Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks” being a fine example of that. Even the ill-placed cover version of Black Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan” (the original being an all-time favourite of mine) is very well done even if it is too closely aligned with the original & seems a touch inferior in comparison. For me the highlights of the album sit with muscular groove metal outings like main single “I’m Broken”, super-masculine opener “Strength Beyond Strength” & the thrashy “Slaughtered” but (as I mentioned earlier) there’s not a clear line of delineation between the stronger & weaker inclusions as the quality band doesn’t stretch all that far.

Overall, I’d suggest that “Far Beyond Driven” showcases a band that were still at the peak of their powers & were content to focus purely on further amplifying the things that made them different from the rest of the market when they first broke into the scene in 1990. Was it successful in what it was trying to accomplish? Yeah I think it was for the most part. It’s not quite as strong as “Cowboys From Hell” or career highlight “Vulgar Display of Power” but the gap isn’t large enough to see me scoring it any differently so it’s another essential release for fans of Pantera or groove metal in general.

For fans of Exhorder, Lamb of God & Machine Head.

4/5

I have to admit that Layne's vocals on "Dirt" sit amongst my favourite in all of metal & I regard almost every track to be a genuine metal classic with the exception of the two-track run that contains "Godsmack" & the short interlude "Iron Gland". Some of the less acclaimed tracks like "Dirt" & "Junkhead" absolutely slaughter me. I was a total extreme metal nut at the time of "Dirt"s release but I got onboard very early on in the piece & have my first real girlfriend to thank for making sure I gave records like this one the attention they deserved. You know what though? That slut left me for a dude that we used to hang out with after we'd been together for a year so my nostalgia can relate to the depressive nature of Layne's performance here.

I've always enjoyed this little collaboration between two of the more highly regarded names in metal. The usual Dillinger intensity is somewhat off-set by the avant-garde experi(mental) stylings of Patton which makes for some really interesting listening as you never quite know what to expect next. In fact, I was surprised to discover that Patton's influence has extended far further than I would have thought likely as you could be forgiven for thinking this was a Mr. Bungle record during certain sections. The Aphex Twin cover version was a nice surprise too although it doesn't quite match the original for twisted scare-factor. "Irony Is A Dead Scene" is a unique alternative for fans of either artist & should satisfy those who enjoy Converge, Mr. Bungle & Car Bomb.

4/5

This is not only a wonderful example of the grunge & alternative metal subgenres but it's a marvelous release for music in general. In fact, I completely agree with Saxy's statement that "Dirt" is the best release to come out of the grunge movement. A lot of people tend to froth other AIC's acoustic releases & I don't mind them but for me Alice in Chains are at their best when they're playing doomy Sabbath dirges with those wonderfully drug-laden Cantrell-led vocal harmonies layered over the top & "Dirt" has those things going on in spades. There's no sign of weakness here. It's just wall to wall belters which sees "Dirt" currently sitting at number 13 on my all-time metal releases list (number 1 for alternative metal) & that's not likely to change any time soon.

5/5

P.S. I'm actually wearing my Alice in Chains "Rooster" t-shirt right now actually.

All nine September Spotify playlists are now up guys.

Here's my updated Top Ten Groove Metal Releases Of All Time list after revisting Pantera's "Far Beyond Driven" over the lasy couple of days:

01. Coroner – “Grin” (1993)

02. Grip Inc. – “Nemesis” (1997)

03. Exhorder – “The Law” (1992)

04. Sepultura – “Chaos A.D.” (1993)

05. Pantera – “Vulgar Display Of Power” (1992)

06. Pantera – “Cowboys From Hell” (1990)

07. Pantera – “Far Beyond Driven” (1994)

08. Anthrax – “Sound Of White Noise” (1993)

09. Trepalium – “XIII” (2009)

10. Pantera – “The Great Southern Trendkill” (1996)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/175

Here's the feature release nomination roster for October:

THE FALLEN: Daniel, Sonny, Ben

THE GATEWAY: Andi, Saxy

THE GUARDIANS: Rexorcist, Xephyr

THE HORDE: Ben, Daniel, Vinny

THE INFINITE: Saxy, Rexorcist, Andi, Xephyr

THE NORTH: Vinny, Xephyr, Daniel, Ben

THE PIT: Rexorcist, Ben, Daniel, Vinny

THE REVOLUTION: Daniel, Andi

THE SPHERE: Andi, Daniel

Here's my submission for the October playlist Andi:

Sore Throat - "Phase V" (from "Inde$troy", 1989)

Here's my track submission for the October playlist Andi:

Atka - "1xs{aix:ccc}3xs{/a1:cc}4xs{Ij8}4xs{:::comtlkcc}" (from "Untitled Album 1", 2018)

Here are my submissions for the October playlist Vinny:

Machine Head - "Now I Lay Thee Down" (from "The Blackening", 2007)

Amebix - "Spoils of Victory" (from "Arise!", 1985)

Sore Throat - "Phase 2" (from "Inde$troy", 1989)

Axegrinder - "Rise of the Serpent Men" (from "Rise of the Serpent Men", 1989)

Pantera - "Strength Beyond Strength" (from "Far Beyond Driven", 1994)

Here are my submissions for the October playlist Ben:

Thy Darkened Shade - "Elixir of Azazel" (from "Liber Lvcifer I: Khem Sedjet", 2014)

Deafheaven - "Luna" (from "New Bermuda", 2015)

Here are my submissions for the October playlist:

The Chasm - "Vault To The Voyage" (from "Farseeing The Paranormal Abysm", 2009)

Atka - "2xs{:777ll.}4xs{/:\}5xs{:j7::}4xs{ll}3xs{//}" (from "Untitled Album I", 2018)

Cryptopsy - "Emaciate" (from "Whisper Supremacy", 1998)

Nails - "Friend To All" (from "You Will Never Be One Of Us"

Here's my submission for the October playlist Xephyr:

Amebix - "Chain Reaction" (from "Monolith", 1987)

Here's my submission for the October playlist Saxy:

Northlane - "Carbonized" (from "Obsidian", 2022)

Here are my track submissions for the October playlist Sonny:

Lord Vigo - "Memento Mori" (from "Danse de Noir", 2020)

Sore Throat - "Phase I" (from "Inde$troy", 1989)

Dystopia - "Control All Delete" (from "Dystopia", 2008)

September 2022

01. Immolation – “Noose of Thorns” (from “Acts Of God”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

02. The Halo Effect – “Shadowminds” (from “Days Of The Lost”, 2022)

03. Pestilence – “Soul Search” (from “Spheres”, 1993) [Submitted by Daniel]

04. Xysma – “One More Time” (from “First & Magical”, 1993)

05. Desultory – “Silent Suffering” (from “Swallow The Snake”, 1996)

06. Alien Fucker – “Arabic UFO Party” (from “The First Rape In Space”, 2014)

07. Amon Amarth – “The Serpent’s Trail” (from “The Great Heathen Army”, 2022)

08. Suffering Hour – “Crawling Embers” (from “Time’s Withering Shadow”, 2022)

09. Duma – “Angels & Abysses” (from “Duma”, 2020)

10. The Chasm – “Travelling Through Chaos (I, The Pastfinder II)” (from “Conjuration of the Spectral Empire”, 2002) [Submitted by Daniel]

11. Torture Killer – “Forever Dead” (from “Swarm!”, 2006) [Submitted by Vinny]

12. Arch Enemy – “Deceiver, Deceiver” (from “Deceivers”, 2022)

13. Psycroptic – “A Fragile Existence” (from “Divine Council”, 2022)

14. Imperial Triumphant – “Merkurius Gilded” (from “Spirit of Ecstasy”, 2022)

15. Asphyx – “Forerunners of the Apocalypse” (from “Incoming Death”, 2016) [Submitted by Vinny]

16. Katakomba – “Embalmed in Concrete” (from “Katakomba”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

17. Brutal Truth – “Birth of Ignorance” (from “Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses”, 1992) [Submitted by Vinny]

18. Jarhead Fertilizer – “Product Of My Environment” (from “Product Of My Environment”, 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]

19. Bölzer – “The Great Unifier” (from “Aura” E.P., 2013) [Submitted by Daniel]

20. Go-Zen – “Goronyaaaan” (from “Hitoshizuku”, 2012)

21. Internal Bleeding – “Prevaricate” (from “The Extinction of Benevolence”, 1997)

22. Suffocation – “Anomalistic Offerings” (from “Breeding The Spawn”, 1993) [Submitted by Daniel]

23. First Days Of Humanity – “Fashioning Weapons Out Of Bones & Sinew” (from “Caves” E.P., 2019)

24. Phyllomedusa – “Gulf Inertia” (from “Fijian Fantasies”, 2019)

25. Nasum – “Scoop” (from “Helvete”, 2003) [Submitted by Daniel]

26. Terrorizer – “Storm of Stress” (from “World Downfall”, 1989) [Submitted by Vinny]

27. Wormrot – “Hatred Transcending” (from “Hiss”, 2022) [Submitted by Daniel]

28. Knoll – “Callus of the Maw” (from “Interstice”, 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]

29. Cerebral Incubation – “Gastrointestinal Rape” (from “Asphyxiating On Excrement”, 2009)

30. Devourment – “Unleash The Carnivores” (from “Unleash The Carnivore”, 2009)

Seems like a lazy attitude to me. I'd like to suggest that you add all demos, singles, radio broadcasts, video clips & live performances immediately along with full tracklistings, liner notes, lyrics & instrumental transcriptions.

Rehearsals can come later (see I'm reasonable).

I'm not sure why you'd close your comeback album out with this travesty of musical justice to be honest.

A short blast of crusty Californian sludge metal goodness.

Dystopia - "Dystopia" (2008)

I've been a big fan of Californian sludge metallers Dystopia's 1994 "Human = Garbage" E.P. & 1999 "The Aftermath" E.P. for some time now so I've had their sole full-length album on my radar for a number of years but have somehow managed to avoid giving it my full attention until yesterday. This self-titled comeback release came after a gap of nine years from Dystopia's last record & is generally regarded as somewhat of a classic for fans of crusty sludge metal but I have to admit that my first few listens have been.... well..... a bit underwhelming if I'm being honest. 

The themes are clearly centered around drug addiction with the use of some decidedly negative layered spoken-word samples being somewhat of a trademark for the band by this point. The filthy crust punk production is certainly appropriate but somehow Dystopia have always found the genuinely heavy production job they so sorely require to be quite elusive in my experience. The delivery of dual vocalists Matt Parrillo & Dino Sommese is even more overthetop than ever before, at times bordering on the ridiculous in their sheer insanity & I think that goes a long way to explaining the appeal of a record like "Dystopia" as it really does push the threshold of drug-fueled depression & depravity. There are a couple of problems here that weren't visible on the band's short-form classics though. There really aren't any genuine belters with the two-minute "Control All Delete" being the only one of the proper songs to really get me going. There are also a few clear duds included, particularly the grindcore-inspired "Illusion of Love" & the God-awful waste of space that is the untitled closing track. I find it hard to see how anyone can rate a release like this one the full five stars after listening to that closer to be honest. Surely common sense has to prevail at some point, doesn't it?

Dystopia are certainly at their best when they get their doom on & you can clearly see that during the first half of lengthy opening track "Now and Forever". I also enjoy it when they go for broke in a crusty hardcore direction like they do on the before-mentioned "Control All Delete" but when they start to tail off significantly for me is when they employ groovier riffs &/or bouncier beats & there are a number of those moments scattered across the tracklisting. It would seem to me that Dystopia have made a huge effort to take their strengths & to amplify them in the hope of maximum appeal for their underground fanbase but I don't think it's had the desired effect because the creativity & focus that I found so appealing on their previous material doesn't seem to be here. Sadly, I can't help but think that Dystopia's day in the sun had already run its course & they would have been better off leaving their 1990's legacy untainted.

For fans of Tragedy, Sea of Deprivation & Damad.

3/5

Atmospheric blackgaze from San Francisco, USA.

Deafheaven - "New Bermuda" (2015)

Last month I found myself revisiting San Francisco blackgaze legends Deafheaven's fourth full-length "Ordinary Corrupt Human Love" & being really impressed with what I heard so I immediately popped the previous album "New Bermuda" into my Spotify playlist for this month so that I could see how it compared. I remember thoroughly enjoying it at the time of release & not much has changed in that regard as it's yet another quality release from an extreme metal band that simply couldn't produce a dud if its life depended on it. For the follow-up to 2013's classic (& heavily divisive) "Sunbather" album the band opted to reignite their black metal passion with this record being perhaps their most black metal release however that's not to say that Deafheaven's signature blackgaze approach has dropped off the radar by any means as they tend to skip between the two sounds quite often. There's a little post-metal here & there but I wouldn't say that the post-rock influence is anything that isn't covered by the blackgaze tag. The screaming vocal performance of front man George Clarke is a highlight as usual, as is the blasting drumming of Daniel Tracy. I guess it's fair to say that everything that Deafheaven touch is pure class. They could fart in my face & I'd probably praise the complexity of the fragrance & the textured & melodious tonality of its song. In saying that, the last track "Gifts for the Earth" does see the quality drop a touch & I'm not sure "New Bermuda" ever threatened to enter my Hall of Metal Glory with one of my more prestigious ratings. It just pips out "Ordinary Corrupt Human Love" for the highly sought-after honour of being my second favourite Deafheaven record these days though & I think most black metal fans would really dig it if they gave it a genuine chance.

For fans of Lantlôs, Numenorean & Alcest.

4/5

I'm afraid I've already got enough Metal Academy-directed listening to do every month between the nine feature releases, the Hall of Judgement releases I'm consciously trying to contribute to & the subgenre deep dives I've been conducting in the interest of site integrity. I might leave this one to everyone else for the time being or I'll never get the opportunity to explore my own passions.

I wasn't aware of this until now but Scott is one of my absolute favourite vocalists of all time, probably in my top three actually. In fact Neurosis sit amongst the greatest of all time for me too so this is.... well....... very annoying from a selfish musical perspective. Not to mention very sad in others.

I'd hate to be the mastering engineer on that one.... unless of course I was paid by the hour.

Korn have sold over 40 million records so I think saying that Linkin Park have one-way traffic is a major overstatement even though Linkin Park have sold over 70 million.

Although Godflesh are clearly the best industrial metal act of all time in my opinion, surely Fear Factory sell more records than them by a significant margin, don't they?

And also, I don't know how up to date Wikipedia is but it says that Queensryche have sold over 20 million records to Dream Theater's 12  million.

It's probably also worth me highlighting that swapping a clan will remove your impact on the clan you're dropping too so things like clan ratings & clan charts will immediately see your contributions disregarded, not to mention the logistics of repeatedly changing the monthly feature release & playlist rostered & allocations.

I can't say I agree with this approach. A member's clan assignments are intended to play a strong role in their identity at Metal Academy so I would discourage repeated swapping of clans. It's important to remember why we have clans in the first place which is to ensure that anyone that's voting on a release's clan or subgenre is well qualified & to do so & that there's an easy avenue to differentiate between a devoted & a casual listeners feelings on a release. The Hall of Judgement is such a small part of the site in the grand scheme of things so I don't think we should be diluting the fundamental intent of the site in order to better facilitate fast outcomes there (& in doing so risk the integrity of the voting just quietly too). Remember, not being a part of a clan doesn't restrict you from enjoying the releases & sharing your thoughts on the releases it contains in any way so I can't see why anyone would want to swap to a clan simply because they feel like listening to some releases from that clan. I'd suggest that I have one of the broadest taste profiles at the Academy but there's no doubt that everyone has comfort zones where they're more knowledgeable than others & I'm well aware of what mine are. That doesn't mean that I don't love a whole bunch of releases from each of the other five clans & I don't feel in any way restricted. I know perfectly well that there are people that are more qualified than I am to select the feature releases & nominate the playlist inclusions for the other clans & I treat it as an opportunity to discover new things while I can do the same for others within the context of my own clans.

Thanks for your suggestions Rexorcist. Ben & I have often discussed this topic & I think it's worth highlighting a couple of things. Firstly, we have no visibility of who has submitted votes on the Hall entries. All we can see is the number of votes so we wouldn't be able to allow or disallow votes from our various members without opening the Hall up completely as a free-for-all. Regardless of that, I think it's important that we maintain the integrity of the clan system. If you're not a member of the affected clans then I think it's important that you can't impact the releases in that clan as that's kinda the point of the clans system. Secondly, I have strong evidence that leads me to believe that we have at least one member who religiously votes on every available Hall entry without ever having heard many of the releases attached to them. I have no way of proving that as I can't see who has submitted the votes & have no way of knowing whether they've actually given the releases in question a few spins either but I have a pretty good idea given the clans that it happens on, the obscurity of some of the releases I've submitted, the swiftness of the votes being submitted after being posted & the lack of any other ratings on these releases in our database. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two & two together. As long as that sort of thing is happening I'm reluctant to reduce the pass requirements too much as it has the potential to skew the result one way or the other. I'm certainly open to closing entries out if it's obvious which way they're going to go though (e.g. a score of 6 or 7 to zero for example). We have a number of those situations at the moment which I've highlighted in the "Hall of Judgement submissions that are close to a result" thread I posted in the root "Hall of Judgement" folder. My preference is that we try to get to the required vote numbers wherever possible but (as is always the case at the Academy) we're open to the thoughts of the wider community. What does everyone else think?

I've always been open to demo recordings due to my having spent many years in the underground tape trading scene. They're certainly not for everyone but personally I find some of these crude self-funded releases to contain a level of freedom & authenticity that a lot of bands fail to ever achieve again. Of course, a good portion of demo tapes are complete balls too so you've gotta take the good with the bad.

There were a few reasons we elected not to include demos at Metal Academy. The visual component of the site is very important to Ben & I believe that we have one of the best looking metal websites on the web as a result. Including obscure demos would surely have diluted the site aesthetics given how difficult it can be to secure high quality images of the cover artwork, not even considering how low grade a lot of the artwork is in the first place. Also, the task of adding all of the releases to the site is huge enough without throwing in the zillions of demos & singles as well. I think it was the right decision but that doesn't mean that we can't add the more significant demos on occasion if they're deemed to be important enough to the development of the scene.

Early 2000's brutal death metal from Austria.

Broken Torso - "The Ultimate Abhorrence" (2000)

I was particularly late in the game in discovering this underground release given that it didn't confront my ear holes until around 2009 but I shouldn't feel too ashamed because it really has been one of those records that's built its reputation over many years & kinda crept up on the competition very slowly through word of mouth. This sole album from Austria's Broken Torso now seems to be regarded as somewhat of an unheralded classic amongst brutal death metal aficionados however I can't say that I see it quite as positively as that to be honest.

Despite "The Ultimate Abhorrence" being universally claimed as a brutal death metal release, it's definitely not as cut & dry as that. You see, Broken Torso have a few other strings to their bow & tend to balance out the brutal blast beats with more melodic riffage that's similar to the more accessible sounds of Swedish bands like Edge of Sanity & Dissection. The vocals are super-deep & ultra-dark which adds a nice contrast to some of the more melodic riffs. There are no guitar solos included & I tend to think this may be due to the technical deficiencies of guitarist Alex Mayrhofer because he's obviously the weakest link for Broken Torso. Whereas some fans refer to his guitar work as unhinged & psychotic, I tend to think of him as lacking control & timing because he struggles to stay in time with very capable drummer Thomas Breiteneder throughout this short 27 minute album & this is somewhat of an obstacle for me to be honest. You see, while Breiteneder does a fantastic job at blasting away with genuine precision, it almost sounds like Mayrhofer is having trouble his monitor speaker & can't hear what's going on around him with the other musicians in a live environment. This is particularly noticeable during the middle of the record where things start to fall apart pretty noticeably during weaker inclusions like "Thrill of Terror" & "Unforgotten Sins". Thankfully the quality level picks up significantly over the last couple of tracks & I'm left with a generally positive feeling by the end of the album.

"The Ultimate Obhorrence" may not be the unheralded classic that it's made out to be but it's definitely worth a few spins for those extreme metalheads that don't mind a bit of melody amongst all of the blasting violence. It reminds me very much of bands like Slovakia's Nomenmortis & France's Kronos in that way while the both ways bet Broken Torso take in regard to the more brutal & more traditional styles of death metal should appeal to fans of bands like Dying Fetus whose original band logo the band have so clearly ripped off.

For fans of Kronos, Nomenmortis & Dying Fetus.

3.5/5

Interesting thread Sonny. Here's a few off the top of my head:

Viking metal - Bathory

Gorenoise - Phyllomedusa

Rap metal - Rage Against The Machine

Neue Deutsche Härte - Rammstein

Djent - Meshuggah

Good call. I've been meaning to ask Ben about exactly that as it probably affects me more than anyone given that I've submitted so many Hall entries that I can't remember which ones were mine & which ones aren't.

If you join a clan & then find that your interest diminishes over time then you can always ask to be removed from that clan & undertake another clan challenge for the opportunity take up a new fourth clan.

Hint: If you're genuinely unable to decide between multiple clans that you have identical amounts of interest for,  it will always help the site more if we have more people in the less populous clans. You'll also have more opportunity to contribute to activities like the monthly feature release nominations & playlist track submissions when there are less active members.

It's completely up to you though of course.

Participation in the Hall of Judgement only helps if the member understands & appreciates the clan well & are willing to explore the release in question with an open mind. Otherwise it can just as easily be a hinderance to the accuracy of our genre tagging. There's no point in someone that doesn't really like or understand the symphonic metal genre making calls on a symphonic metal record & that's the whole point of the Metal Academy clan philosophy. It's actually our differentiator over the competition.

It's fair to say that the clan challenges aren't something that's achieved all that often which is kinda the point. Most of our regulars have achieved them & earnt a fourth clan at some point although some of them have since voluntarily dropped a clan or elected not to chase a fourth in the first place due in the interest of keeping the integrity of the clan concept intact.

Oh, I see what you’re saying. Sorry. I forgot you have to complete your existing clans before attacking a fourth. Consider it locked in.

Well you're already a member of The Guardians so I'm not sure what you're expecting here Rexorcist.

Even though we decided not to add Southern Metal to Metal Academy, I decided to create a Top Ten Southern Metal Releases of All Time list for anyone that's interested in checking out what the movement's all about.

Note: I've included some releases that I don't consider to be genuine Southern Metal but that are generally regarded as being included within the genre. I didn't include the Pride & Glory record I investigated because we decided not to add it to the site.

01. Glorior Belli - "Meet Us At The Southern Sign" (2009)

02. Down - "NOLA" (1995)

03. Down - "Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow…" (2002)

04. Alabama Thunderpussy - "Open Fire" (2007)

05. Corrosion of Conformity - "Deliverance" (1994)

06. Floodgate - "Penalty" (1996)

07. He Is Legend - "Suck Out The Poison" (2006)

08. Hank Williams, III - "Hillbilly Joker" (2011)

09. Fireball Ministry - "Their Rock Is Not Our Rock" (2005)

10. Black Label Society - "Mafia" (2005)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/185

Yes, that's true. As you can probably tell, I've been trying to drum up some interest in the Hall of Judgement of late as it's an integral part of the site.

An epic sludge metal marathon from these Californian grindcore kings.

Nails - "You Will Never Be One Of Us" (2016)

I really enjoyed Nails' third record back at the time of release but was perhaps too preoccupied with the Metal Academy podcast at the time which didn't allow me to fully grasp just how much hardcore violence it contains because these guys are kinda unparalleled in that regard. Look, I love albums like "Unsilent Death" as much as the next extreme metal nut & 2013's "Abandon All Life" sophomore album is my all-time favourite grindcore record but I honestly have no idea how this release can be seemingly overshadowed by the band's previous work because it's an outstanding example of the genre with a ridiculously powerful production that could not possibly be better for this style of music. The 22 minute run time is dominated by the eight minute sludge metal classic that is closer "They Come Crawling Back" which perhaps goes part of the way to explaining it but the bass guitar & drum sounds are absolutely immense on this record with Todd Jones' vocals sounding utterly monstrous. Don't believe me? Check out tracks like "Friend to All" or "Into Quietus" & tell me you can sit still, let alone stop flailing your arms around & fly kicking anything in close proximity with complete disregard for your own or anyone else's well-being. With the exception of "Abandon All Life", I've struggled to rate a grindcore release higher than a 4/5 on Metal Academy but "You Will Never Be One Of Us" has come within a bee's dick of achieving that feat with this revisit to what is an outstanding release for the genre.

For fans of Full Of Hell, Dead In The Dirt & Trap Them.

4/5

This doesn't sound like much of a problem to be honest. We'd simply swap out the album in the list & there'd be no implications of doing that. If someone had already completed a review of the album in question then we'd simply accept that as we're not here to nit-pick over technicalities. The intent of the clan lists was always to a) prove that someone has a reasonable understanding of a fourth clan before allowing them to take on membership & b) to promote activity on the site (particularly early on in the website's existence). Whether one of the releases changes doesn't really impede the process much at all & in the case of "Rising" it's still an important release for the early metal scene even it may not technically be metal enough to convince me that it's not more of a hard rock record than it is a metal one.