Daniel's Forum Replies

meganeko - "The Cyber Grind" (from "The Cyber Grind" single, 2020)

None from me this month Andi. I didn't listen to any Revolution releases in July.

Here's the feature release nomination list for September:

THE FALLEN: Ben, Daniel, Morpheus, Sonny

THE GATEWAY: Saxy, Andi

THE GUARDIANS: Morpheus, Rexorcist, Xephyr

THE HORDE: Vinny, Ben, Daniel

THE INFINITE: Xephyr, Saxy, Rexorcist, Andi

THE NORTH: Ben, Vinny, Xephyr, Daniel

THE PIT: Morpheus, Rexorcist, Ben, Daniel, Vinny

THE REVOLUTION: Andi, Daniel

THE SPHERE: Daniel, Andi

Sorry guys. I've been on flights all day. Just got it done now. You're gonna have to be patient with me these days as my work life is only getting more hectic.

August 2022

01. Vomitory – “Chaos Fury” (from “Blood Rapture”, 2002) [Submitted by Vinny]

02. Loudblast – “Cross The Threshold” (from “Cross The Threshold” E.P., 1993)

03. Flourishing – “Momentary Senses” (from “The Sum Of All Fossils”, 2011) [Submitted by Daniel]

04. Six Feet Under – “Genocide” (from “Graveyard Classics IV: The Number Of The Priest”, 2016) [Submitted by Daniel]

05. Nightfall – “As Your God Is Failing Once Again” (from “Macabre Sunsets”, 1993)

06. The Chasm – “The Funeral Cortege:Sepulchre: / Final Flight of the Hateful Raven / Portal to the Isolated Domain” (from “The Scars Of A Lost Reflective Shadow”, 2022)

07. Death Breath – “Twisted In Distaste” (from “Let It Stink” E.P., 2007) [Submitted by Vinny]

08. Imperial Circus Dead Decadence – “腐蝕ルサンチマン、不死欲の猿楽座。” (from “殯――死へ耽る想いは戮辱すら喰らい、彼方の生を愛する為に命を讃える――。”, 2022)

09. Death – “The Philosopher” (from “Individual Thought Patterns”, 1993)

10. Circle of Dead Children – “Ten Fingers (My Last Ten Minutes)” (from “Erotic Sense Decay”, 1999)

11. Brutal Truth – “Dead Smart” (from “Sounds of the Animal Kingdom”, 1997)

12. Rompeprop – “Kńijnen met un V-hals” (from “Gargle Cummics”, 2010)

13. Entombed A.D. – “Elimination” (from “Bowels Of Earth”, 2019)

14. Carnal Savagery – “Torn From The Grave” (from “Zombie Infested” demo, 2020) [Submitted by Vinny]

15. Monstrosity – “Fatal Millennium” (from “Millennium”, 1996) [Submitted by Vinny]

16. Coffin Nail – “By Hand Of Glory” (from “Years Of Lead”, 2022)

17. Altars – “Perverse Entity” (from “Ascetic Reflection”, 2022)

18. Deeds Of Flesh – “Trading Pieces” (from “Trading Pieces”, 1996)

19. Discordance Axis – “Typeface” (from “Jouhou”, 1997)

20. Hate Eternal – “Nothingness Of Being” (from “Upon Desolate Sands”, 2018) [Submitted by Vinny]

21. Phyllomedusa – “Devour The Crickets” (from “Molesting The Frogeater”, 2010)

22. Origin – “Chaosmos” (from “Chaosmos”, 2022)

23. Excruciating Terror – “Life Ends” (from “Expression Of Pain”, 1996)

24. Kraanium – “Double Barrel Penetration” (from “Ten Acts Of Sickening Perversity”, 2009)

25. Skinless – “Endvisioned” (from “Trample The Weak, Hurdle The Dead”, 2006) [Submitted by Daniel]

26. Knoll – “Throe Of Upheaval” (from “Metempiric”, 2022)

27. Esoctrilihum – “Thertrh” (from “Consecration of the Spiritüs Flesh”, 2022)

28. Malodorous – “Eyes of Abomination” (from “Amaranthine Redolence”, 2007)

29. Fulci – “Splatter Fatality” (from “Tropical Sun”, 2019) [Submitted by Vinny]

30. Severe Torture – “Hands & Head Not Found” (from “Fisting The Sockets” E.P., 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

It's probably worth mentioning that there are also another couple of new subgenres on RYM in Black Noise & Pornogrind, neither of which will be considered for the Metal Academy database without having conducted extensive research to ensure that they're a relevant differentiator. We both feel that RYM's growing subgenre list has gotten out of hand recently & we won't be following them blindly. The genre voting on that site has gone from bad to worse in recent years too with a few senior members often leading the masses up the garden path. 

Chunky progressive sludge metal from Atlanta, USA.

A crushing metalcore-infused stomper from the Atlanta progressive sludge masters.

Mastodon - "Remission" (2002)

Revisiting the debut full-length from this legendary Atlanta outfit has seen me viewing it in a new light. I'd previously felt that it was a touch overrated & found that I enjoyed it less than their later work however I tend to think that my judgement may have been clouded by to the fact that I came to it immediately after having first encountered Mastodon's most classic albums "Crack The Kye" & "Leviathan". When taken in isolation & with fresh ears though I've discovered an entirely new appreciation for the ridiculously well-executed progressive sludge metal the band were wielding at the time. As is usually the case with Mastodon records, drummer Brann Dailor is the clear highlight & boy does he go to town here! He may just be one of top few drummers of all time these days & I can't get enough of his trademark fills & snare rolls. There's a metalcore influence on a couple of tracks (particularly on short opening track "Crusher Destroyer" which is the highlight of the album for me) but anyone labelling "Remission" as a metalcore release is misguided. The tracklisting kicks off with some major impact given that tracks 1 & 2 are the best of the eleven tracks but that's not to say that the rest of the record is a disappointment by any means as there's a solid consistency to every track included. There's just not the hooks to see me adjusting my opinion from a "very solid" release to the "classic" one that some people seem to claim it is. Still... anyone who enjoys a more expansive take on sludge will get a lot out of "Remission". In fact, I'd probably take it over a record like 2006's "Blood Mountain" these days.

For fans of Baroness, Dvne & Intronaut.

4/5

Avant-garde progressive metal from Oslo, Norway.

Ved Buens Ende..... - "Written In Waters" (1995)

It's been many years since I revisited this seminal & quite bizarre one-off record from Norwegian avant-garde progressive metal outfit Ved Buens Ende..... & that really needed to be rectified because it's a truly confounding & resoundingly original piece of work from a band that were far too young to achieve such a feat. I first encountered Ved Buens Ende..... through the 1996 Blackend Records compilation "Blackend: The Black Metal Compilation Vol. 1" via one of the highlight tracks in "Carrier of Wounds" & immediately found myself captivated but it took time for the full effects to take hold because there's simply far too much going to be able to grasp it in one or two sittings. There are enough common traits to comfortably determine that Ved Buens Ende..... hail from the Norwegian black metal scene of the early 90's & you'll see plenty of evidence of that across the tracklisting however to describe them as a black metal band is far too limiting. You can expect to hear dissonant & completely atonal open-string guitar work that wouldn't seem out of place on Voivod's more ambitious records mixed in with jazzy experimental drumming & unusual & quite powerful clean vocals that somehow seem to draw upon dark melodies that perfectly compliment the tense atmosphere. Then a simplistic & consciously grim old school black metal section will appear out of nowhere & the snarliest, croakiest blackened vocals this side of Darkthrone will leap forth to penetrate your calmed state & remind you that this is still a release that has been born from the darkest pits of extreme metal territory.

For all those positives, Ved Buens Ende..... don't get it all right here. I rarely find an entire track to ticks all of my creative boxes with only the lengthy "Remembrance of Things Past/To Swarm Deserted Away" doing enough to qualify as a genuine metal classic in my opinion. There are also a couple of pretty ordinary atmospheric pieces included in "Autumn Leaves" & the hidden track that closes the album, both of which suffer from being too loose & wishy washy. Thankfully though those are the exception rather than the rule with the more substantial works being much more successful in their realization of an ambition that's stood out amongst its peers ever since. The best moments occur when the clean vocals manage to penetrate my soul in a way that leaves their eery melodies still easily recalled by my brain all these years later. More often than not these melodies are accompanied by a majestic & often dissonant guitar arpeggio that could only have been drawn from the Norwegian black metal scene yet somehow doesn't feel like black metal at all & it's this sort of contradiction that makes "Written In Waters" an enthralling ride, despite all of its imperfections.

For fans of Dødheimsgard, Fleurety & In the Woods...

4/5

One of the more hardcore punk-driven tracks from the Brazilian's sixth full-length.

Sepultura - "Roots" (1996)

It came as a bit of a shock to me but I actually don't think I've ever listened to "Roots" up until now. I was previously under the distinct impression that this was the point that Sepultura lost me but given that I've experienced no semblance of familiarity with most of the tracklisting I can only assume that my interest was simply too heavily entwined in the extreme metal scene to pay any notice to the Brazilians sixth full-length. But you know what? It's not a bad record to tell you the truth. It was certainly the band's least appealing offering to the time & is far too inconsistent to even think about my higher scores but I can't say that I find it to be as repulsive as many other ol' thrashers seem to.

"Roots" offers an interesting combination of styles with Sepultura having completely dropped their trademark thrash metal sound by this stage, instead adopting an approach that sits somewhere between groove metal, nu metal, hardcore punk & Brazilian tribal folk music. I can't say that it always works & there are a fair few failures along the way (particularly the God-awful "Ratamahatta") but when the band get it right they can still produce a very solid piece of bottom-heavy metal music, even though it won't be as musically & melodically impressive as they were capable of in their late 80's/early 90's prime. The Korn influence is plain for all to see but that's not to say that Sepultura do a bad job at incorporating nu metal into their sound. The parts that annoy me the most tend to be when they use the scatty Brazilian vocals over a metal backing or even opt for snippets of turntablism. The hardcore sections sound really natural though with gravel-throated Max Cavalera fitting the mould very well while the expanded focus on the traditional music of their Brazilian homeland was the natural destination for the journey they'd started with 1991's classic "Arise" album. The noticeable omission is Andreas Kisser's lovely touches of lead guitar melody seem to have become the victim of a more modern approach which is a shame.

While this might not be the most inspirational or addictive Sepultura release it's hard to deny that the band's intentions were in the right place as they can't be accused of simply repeating the formula that they'd built their career on. My personal preference in metal isn't really in line with the groove/nu metal direction that "Roots" has taken but the simple riffs contain enough quality to keep me interested, especially on the darker songs like "Cut-Throat", "Lookaway" & "Ambush". The beautiful acoustic folk guitar piece "Jasco" is a nice addition too. "Roots" may not be essential listening but I think it's worth a few spins nonetheless.

For fans of Soulfly, Machine Head & Korn.

3.5/5

It's been 35 years since this beast of an E.P was released today. I could never get into the first couple of Destruction releases as a young fella & that hasn't changed over time but their run of 1986's "Eternal Devastation" into "Mad Butcher" into their 1987 fourth full-length "Release From Agony" (my favourite Destruction record) has always been right up my alley & represents the peak of the band's creativity in my opinion.

A Swedish grindcore blastfest.

Have just updated my top ten after revisiting Nasum's "Helvete" today & realising that it needs to be in here somewhere:

01. Discordance Axis – “The Inalienable Dreamless” (2000)

02. Pig Destroyer – “Prowler In The Yard” (2001)

03. Pig Destroyer – “Terrifyer” (2004)

04. Nasum - "Helvete" (2003)

05. Terrorizer - "World Downfall" (1989)

06. Repulsion – “Horrified” (1989)

07. Unseen Terror – “The Peel Sessions” (1989)

08. Nails - "Unsilent Death" (2010)

09. Cretin – “Stranger” (2014)

10. Napalm Death – “The Peel Sessions” (1987)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/149

Nasum - "Helvete" (2003)

Blasting ball-out grindcore from Sweden. This genre doesn't get much better than when Nasum lets go of the shackles & just goes for it. The slower tempo groove sections aren't as strong but they maintain a nice level of consistency across the 22 tracks with no obvious weak tracks. I fucking love the ultra-aggressive vocals & drumming. "Helvete" kicks serious arse in my opinion.

For fans of Rotten Sound, Wormrot & Brutal Truth.

4/5

Post-blackgaze from San Francisco, USA.

Classy post-blackgaze from San Francisco, USA.

Deafheaven - "Ordinary Corrupt Human Love" (2018)

2013's "Sunbather" record was one of the most divisive I can remember in my extreme metal journey & it's not hard to see why either but I'm not afraid to confidently state that I fell firmly into the camp that thought it was a masterstroke. Deafheaven's debut album "Roads to Judah" was a really solid example of post-blackgaze however "Sunbather" saw the band maximizing all aspects of their sound &, in doing so, set the metal world alight. Given the magnitude of that album, future Deafheaven releases were always going to be compared to it & that can probably be seen as a disadvantage, particularly given the tendency for people to prejudge based on past experiences. And this brings us to Deafheaven's fourth full-length album "Ordinary Corrupt Human Love" which sees the band taking their sound even further away from the black metal scene's comfort zone.

If you come in looking for black metal here then you'll be disappointed as there's really very little on offer apart from George Clarke's Ihsahn-like gurgles. In fact, it's quite hard to identify much in the way of any sort of metal for most of the record to tell you the truth. Instead the instrumentation draws from widely disparate (yet universally accessible) forms of rock music & manages to pull it all off with an ease that only the elite artists in the scene can manage. Melodic shoegaze? Tick. Stripped-back post-rock meanderings? Tick. Whispy dream pop vocals? Tick. Lush & progressive art rock excursions? Tick. Ethereal darkwave atmosphere? Tick.... & all executed with aplomb too. Opening track "You Without End" offers about the only weak point on the record via some ill-guided black metal shrieks layered over some particularly easy-listening art rock instrumentation which sounds well out of place. Thankfully the musicians execute their parts with enough sophistication to leave the track feeling predominantly positive as a whole but I have to admit that it was a strange decision to open with the weakest number on the tracklisting. From that point on Deafheaven don't put a foot wrong but in saying that they don't ever really see me thinking about reaching for my higher scores either. I guess the musical positivity that Deafheaven surround themselves with is still a little too far away from my sweet spot for that however I can't deny that they've managed to fully realize yet another brave & ambitious artistic undertaking here.

The more intense parts are still my favourite parts which won't surprise anyone but the indulgent post-rock sections are nothing short of lovely too. It's interesting that, despite the lack of genuine metal here, I still think the album is best described as post-blackgaze, mainly because George's vocals simply don't belong anywhere outside of the metal spectrum. There's not even all that much shoegaze on offer here either but there isn't another black metal-related subgenre that could possibly encompass the positivity in these melodic themes so it just seems to fit.

I'm honestly not sure that Deafheaven can put a foot wrong at this point no matter what subgenre they tackle & "Ordinary Corrupt Human Love" is yet another strong release that sees them flexing their creative muscles. Thankfully the extreme metal world seems to be ready for it too.

For fans of Alcest, Ghost Bath & Oathbreaker.

4/5

Two & a half hours of Henry Rollins telling the story of his days in Black Flag. It'll completely reset your vision of the rock star lifestyle forever.

It's been an intense last couple of weeks at work & that's not likely to change any time soon as I'm heading to New Zealand tomorrow morning to spend a week traveling around the country visiting key customers. It's a little bit stressful to be doing that right now as the COVID risk is rising again in Australia & there is the chance that the borders may be shut at some point. It's also made worse by the fact that my 81 year-old father-in-law has COVID at the moment & is being monitored by my wife. I've already cancelled this trip twice before though so I think I'm reluctant to do that again & are just gonna have to play it by ear.

This release has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

Glorious psychedelic funeral doom metal from Birmingham, England.

My updated list after revisiting Esoteric's "The Pernicious Enigma" over the last couple of days:

01. Esoteric - "The Maniacal Vale" (2008)

02. Esoteric – “Paragon of Dissonance” (2011)

03. Esoteric – “Metamorphogenesis” (1999)

04. Ahab - "The Call of The Wretched Sea" (2006)

05. Esoteric - "The Pernicious Enigma" (1997)

06. Evoken – “Atra Mors” (2012)

07. The Howling Void – “Shadows Over The Cosmos” (2010)

08. Thergothon – “Stream From The Heavens” (1994)

09. Monolithe – “Monolithe II” (2005)

10. Ea – “Ea” (2012)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/132

Esoteric - "The Pernicious Enigma" (1997)

When I first heard English funeral doom masters Esoteric's highly regarded sophomore album "The Pernicious Enigma" back in the day I found myself struggling with various different elements. There's no doubt that the production job could have been much better & that was my main obstacle however I also found the continuous wave of layered vocals & the extreme length of this release (i.e. a 115 minute double album of funeral doom metal can be daunting at the best of times) to be a challenge. Since that time Esoteric have become one of my absolute favourite bands though & this revisit has seen the penny finally dropping for me with everything the band were trying to achieve now being hungrily lapped up by this fussy ol' bastard.

That's not to say that "The Pernicious Enigma" is a perfect record(s) by any means. The occasional use of more up-tempo sections are nowhere near as effective as the rest of the material with the short industrial death metal piece "At War With the Race" failing to meet expectations. There are a few attempts at off-beat drumming that don't really stick the landing either & the fact that they've had to resort to using a drum machine for a few tracks tells a pretty clear story about fill-in drummer Anthony Brewer's talents. Nonetheless, the consistency with which Esoteric are able to deliver wonderfully monstrous masterpieces of psychedelic depravity is unprecedented & one needs only take a cursory glance at the likes of "Dominion of Slaves" or "Sinistrous" to realise how all-encompassing that idea can be when all the planets align. The incorporation of a diverse array of influences also helps to free the band from the strict stylistic confines of the funeral doom metal genre with Godflesh style industrial moments & slowly building post-metal build-ups proving to be invaluable assets here along with Esoteric's inimitable penchant for mind-expanding psychedelia.

Esoteric are untouched in their field & even a thin production job where the rhythm guitars have nowhere near the weight that they deserve is not enough to stop them from looking down on the competition from their funeral thrones while we bask in yet another glorious procession of unwavering doom.

For fans of Evoken, Thergothon & Skepticism.

4.5/5

I added an entry in the Hall of Judgement for this release to be added to The Pit. If that's successful then we'll add another one to have The Guardians removed. Otherwise we could potentially be left without a clan.

I don't see any reason to remove these releases to be honest. They've obviously been deemed to be pretty close to metal or metal-related by some people & we've always intended the site to be very much against the "gatekeeper" style approach of some of our competitors. As long as these releases are marked as Non-Metal then I don't see that they cause any harm unless they're an obvious piss-take.

C A S I N O ☆★☆★☆ M A S T E R - "☆★☆ ボーナススピン幸運 ！！！" (2014)

This release is a 14 minute collage of sounds which sees the English producer taking samples from casinos & making them into an arrangement that loosely resembles music. I don't mind it purely for background atmospherics as I don't really need to focus on it & the sounds are completely foreign to my everyday life. Still... it's completely disposable from an artistic point of view.

Swedish melodeath.

In Flames - "The Jester Race" (1996)

If the style of death metal I like most is a full-bodied & complex Barossa Valley red wine then "The Jester Race" is a simple, sweet-fruited & light-bodied Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc with a floral bouquet. There's no denying that it's a well composed & executed metal record but it's simply far too light-weight for my taste, particularly the rocky drumming which has very little to do with death metal. I can feel my manhood shrinking with every repeat listen so I've been left with little alternative other than to place this album back into the "not-for-me" box where it's resided ever since I first encountered it back at the time of release.

For fans of Dark Tranquillity, At The Gates & Soilwork.

3/5

Tim Armstrong - "A Poet's Life" (2007)

The debut album from this Californian ska artist. It's not bad for what it is but didn't really connect with me stylistically.

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

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

This release has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.

Swiss death metal.

Bölzer - "Aura" E.P. (2013)

A 23 minute, three track beast of an E.P. from this Swiss duo. I really dug this record at the time of release & it's still ticking my boxes today with it's thick & murky brand of death metal.

For fans of Grave Miasma, Malthusian & Lantern.

4/5

Early sludge metal from California, USA.

Black Flag - "My War" (1984)

This album is widely regarded as the birth place of sludge metal & I can see why. The A side is made up entirely of shorter hardcore punk songs while the B side sees Henry Rollins & co. embracing their Black Sabbath influences & getting their doom on. In fairness there's really only two metal songs out of a tracklisting of nine so I think it's a pretty big stretch to call this a sludge metal release. It's predominantly a hardcore punk album with some sludge & post-hardcore moments. It's also a wildly inconsistent record in my opinion. I genuinely enjoy over half of the material but the fails are significant enough to drag down the stronger material & leave an unpleasant taste in my mouth. The musicianship is ridiculously bad too but it has its charms in that DYI space I guess.

For fans of Superjoint Ritual, Pulling Teeth & 16.

3/5

Townes Van Zandt - "Townes Van Zandt" (1969)

Put this man-&-his-guitar style country album on over the last couple of days to accompany casual home time with the family. It's much more my wife's thing than it is mine & I found myself getting a bit bored apart from a couple of songs.

Here's my adjusted Top Ten Traditional Doom Metal Releases Of All Time list:

01. Solitude Aeturnus - "Alone" (2006)

02. Candlemass – “Nightfall” (1987)

03. Saint Vitus – “Born Too Late” (1986)

04. Candlemass – “Epicus Doomicus Metallicus” (1986)

05. Paul Chain Violet Theatre – “Detaching From Satan” E.P. (1984)

06. Pentagram – “Pentagram” (1985)

07. Candlemass - "Ancient Dreams" (1988)

08. Saint Vitus – “Saint Vitus” (1984)

09. Trouble – “Psalm 9” (1984)

10. Candlemass - "Tales of Creation" (1989)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/129

Epic doom metal from Stockholm, Sweden.

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

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

A Texas thrash metal anthem from my youth.

Here's my updated Top Ten Groove Metal Releases Of All Time list after revisting Pantera's "Cowboys From Hell" this weekend:

01. Coroner – “Grin” (1993)

02. Grip Inc. – “Nemesis” (1997)

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

04. Exhorder – “The Law” (1992)

05. Sepultura – “Chaos A.D.” (1993)

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

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

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

09. Trepalium – “XIII” (2009)

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

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

Pantera - "Cowboys From Hell" (1990)

Let me set the scene for you. It’s mid-1990 & a fourteen year-old boy (admittedly a very good looking one) sits in his bedroom in Sydney late at night with his headphones on listening to the radio with a cassette player set to record the show at the same time. The track changes & a chuggy throb starts up that’s unlike anything the youth has ever heard before. A guitar appears & starts playing a palm-muted melodic run then all of a sudden… IT HITS! The whole band kicks in & starts slamming out one of the tightest, chunkiest grooves metal had ever heard to the time. It's fair to say that the young man’s ears have more than pricked up by this stage but what’s this? The guitar solo comes in unaccompanied in a similar way to his idol Eddie Van Halen. And Jesus Christ this dude can shred! He’s got chops for days, weeks & years! And those vocals! They exude a powerful hardcore attitude but still maintain a strong sense of melody. The boy would replay this song repeatedly over the next week until the late night metal show returned the following week. This time we had another inclusion from this supposedly new band Pantera but it was a heavy metal inspired ballad with soaring vocals & dive-bombing guitar solos like none he’d heard before. This ongoing week-to-week process would go on for some time before the boy felt the need to pick the full album up through tape trading & he would give it a good ol' thrashing over the next year or so. Pantera would release their breakout sixth album in 1992 & would subsequently change the world with their story going down in metal history for all eternity.

I imagine that this would be a fairly familiar story for many of us but it’s one that I remember vividly. It was immediately apparent that there was something different about Pantera’s “Cowboys From Hell”, an album that most fans assumed was their recorded debut until they’d learn otherwise. You see Pantera had begun life as a decidedly run-of-the-mill heavy metal band with an unusually talented lead guitar virtuoso in their early teens under the guidance of Darrell & Vinny’s record-producing father. They’d release four albums between 1983 & 1988 that would drift a long way under my radar before finally discovering a new sound & taking it to the world. The resulting “Cowboys From Hell” album not only showcased that new direction to the world but it would also signal somewhat of a changing of the guard for a thrash metal scene which was starting to decline in the wake of the fast ascending grunge phenomenon that would completely explode the following year. But listening back now it’s hard to deny that “Cowboys From Hell” was very much a transitional album too as the tracklisting doesn’t completely embrace this new sound (known as Groove Metal) at the expense of past glories. I think it’d be more accurate to suggest that it incorporates it as the primary source of creativity while blending it with more familiar sounds. As a result, I find it hard to deny that this is as much a thrash record as it is a groove metal one with the remnants of Pantera’s Judas Priest worshipping US power metal experimentation still showing their head on quite a few occasions.

I think it’s important to note that if I had of rated this album back in the day I would likely have scored it a bit higher than I have here but it’s also worth mentioning that I’ve somehow managed to shun it completely for a good couple of decades which seemed kinda strange too. When listening to “Cowboys From Hell” with new ears now though it’s certainly not a perfect record & I can easily see why it wasn’t the soundtrack for my youth that it was for so many others. You see it hasn’t aged as well as I’d hoped. The production sounds kinda dated now, particularly the rhythm guitar tone which left so many jaws on the ground back in the day. It’s also easy to forget that there are three or four weaker tracks amongst the twelve on offer. No weak ones mind you, it’s just important to recognize that it wasn’t all hits. I have to admit that the whole groove metal thing isn’t really my cup of tea & that’s reflected in my opinion on some of the supposedly classic tracks on the album. Songs like the title track & “Domination” don’t smash me like they do/did other metal fans. I certainly like them (& I adore the guitar work in particular) but they aren’t going to see me reaching for my elite scores. Those are reserved for the tracks that steer away from the new groove metal sound with thrash metal anthem “Message In Blood” being the clear album highlight for me. It’s interesting that it’s also one of the least popular tracks on the album but that’s not unusual for me. The other track that completely slays is the classic heavy metal ballad “Cemetery Gates”. The main riff has clearly been inspired by Randy Rhoads era Ozzy Osbourne & is one the greatest in the history of metal in my opinion, particularly when used in conjunction with Phil Anselmo’s wonderfully emotive chorus hook. What an amazing climax Darrell & Phil created at the end too!

The new groove metal sound is best championed on the title track, “Primal Concrete Sledge”, “Clash With Reality”, “Medicine Man” & “The Sleep”. “Heresy”, “Message In Blood” & “The Art Of Shredding” are pure thrash metal though while tracks like “Psycho Holiday”, “Cemetery Gates” & “Shattered” give hints towards US power metal & even your more traditional heavy metal. The fact that you can very easily differentiate the different songs & parts of songs into their various categories tells you that Pantera’s sound was still a work in progress at this stage. It was a very impressive work in progress of course but I wouldn’t say that “Cowboys From Hell” is where we see groove metal being truly defined. That would have to wait for Pantera’s 1992 sixth album “Vulgar Display Of Power”, a record that I’ve now decided I appreciate a touch more than this one after all these years. There can be no denying the power of this band as a unit though. The rhythm section were as tight as you’d find & when they hit on one of their classic grooves it draws a physical response from the listener. For me though I’d suggest that there’s not a lot of depth to some of the groovier material outside of that head-nodding, body swaying thing that happens. I find songs like “Heresy”, “Domination”, “Clash With Reality” & “The Sleep” to be more of a pleasant experience than essential listening. Phil’s vocal performance still has one foot in the higher register Rob Halford camp most of the time & I wonder whether my knowledge of his screamier & more aggressive hardcore-inspired future is seeing me subconsciously craving a bit of that when listening to “Cowboys From Hell” these days.

Ultimately it’s very hard to be critical of this record as it sounded so fresh at the time & changed the metal landscape forever in several ways. While my score is still a good one it’s definitely limited by my musical comfort zones. I think I might need to revisit some of Pantera’s later works over the next few months to see how those records have been treated by time too. I suspect that I might find at least one of those to overtake the two early 90’s big boys at this point in my life.

For fans of Soulfly, Sepultura & Exhorder.

4/5

Singaporian grindcore.

Wormrot - "Hiss" (2022)

Singapore's metal pride & joy return with another enjoyable blast of grindcore shenanigans, this time choosing to dilute their blasting grind sound with a whole range of different subgenre shifts in the name of creativity. You'll even find the use of strings on a number of tracks although still in a fairly stabbing & abrasive manner for the most part. To be honest though, I still listen to grindcore for the short, sharp shock of brutality that only that subgenre can bring so I found myself enjoying the more traditional tracks a lot more than some of the more artsy ones. "Hiss" doesn't overstay it's welcome at just over half an hour for the 21 tracks though & ticks most of the grindcore boxes along the way but I can't say that it's something I can see myself returning to all that often even though I enjoyed it while it was on. It may be the talk of the town on Twitter right now but there's better grind releases out there in my opinion.

For fans of Insect Warfare, Nasum & Pig Destroyer.

3.5/5