Daniel's Forum Replies

Is Rage - Light into the Darkness (the acoustic version, if possible) okay?

I just checked on Spotify & that track is available in my region so it should be fine.

Witch Fever - "Reincarnate" E.P. (2021)

I've really been digging this 19 minute, six track E.P. from Manchester all-girl outfit Witch Fever this week. If you miss the early-90's classic grunge days then this is the release you're looking for. Think "Bleach"-era Nirvana meets that aggressive Babes In Toyland & L7 style riot grrrl sound with a few nods to Black Sabbath. Why aren't these girls really big right now? Perhaps they are & I've just missed the memo?

Polish black metal

So I've managed to blast my way through our feature releases this month really quickly thanks to some time off work & some self-imposed isolation due to illness. I didn't find anything to add to my Hall of Metal Glory this month but there were some very appealing records amongst this lot nonetheless & I only have myself to blame given that I nominated a fair few of these records myself. I really enjoyed my revisits to the Type O Negative & Pestilence records which were old favourites from my past. The Every Time I Die album really impressed me only recently so I was already very familiar with it. The Thornhill & Plini albums were probably the nicest surprises & I find it hard to split them for the best discovery of the bunch. I'll take Thornhill by a nose I think. The Parkcrest, Pagan Altar & Furia records were pretty decent & the only release that I struggled with was the Heaven Pierce Her video game soundtrack which I find to be badly overrated. Here's the nine releases in order of preference:

THE NORTH: Type O Negative - "World Coming Down" (1999)  4/5

THE REVOLUTION: Every Time I Die - "Radical" (2021)  4/5

THE GATEWAY: Thornhill - "Heroine" (2022)  4/5

THE INFINITE: Plini - "Homemade Cities" (2016)  4/5

THE HORDE: Pestilence - "Spheres" (1993)  4/5

THE PIT: Parkcrest - "...And That Blue Will Turn To Red" (2019)  3.5/5

THE GUARDIANS: Pagan Altar - "Mythical & Magical" (2006)  3.5/5

THE NORTH: Furia - "Płoń" E.P. (2009)  3.5/5

THE SPHERE: Heaven Pierce Her - "ULTRAKILL: INFINITE HYPERDEATH" (2020)  3/5

2009’s widely celebrated “Płoń” E.P. represented my initiation into the world of highly regarded Polish black metal outfit Furia shortly after my return to metal the same year. I’d noticed the praise it was receiving amongst some of the more reputable online metal resources & felt compelled to see what the modern black metal scene had to offer given my past passions for the genre. Given it’s short duration, I was possibly able to justify a few more repeat listens than I’d generally give to a release that doesn’t immediately tick a few of my boxes too so Furia can’t say that they weren’t given a fair crack at winning over my affections. I guess the only question remaining is how successful they were in this endeavor so let’s dig right into that then, shall we?

“Płoń” is an interesting release in that Furia manage to cover almost the complete scope of the subgenre set contained by The North in just a short 15 minute package which is most unusual, especially when you consider that the overall result doesn’t sound terribly jerky & works pretty well as a representation of a defined Furia sound. You’ll find elements of everything from your conventional black metal model to atmospheric black metal to melodic black metal to black ‘n’ roll to Pagan black metal to folk metal to Viking metal to post-black metal on this three track E.P. which made it a pretty good candidate for a feature release in my opinion (thus me selecting it I guess). There’s something for everyone here but it’s Furia’s sweeping & consistently melodic black metal riffage that ties everything together & ensures that “Płoń” doesn’t sound in any way jerky, despite jumping from subgenre to subgenre fairly regularly.

Furia’s sound is quite organic in black metal terms which ties in well with the Pagan aesthetic of some of the material. Vocalist Nihil (also the mastermind behind Polish black metal outfit Morowe) offers a tortured yelp more than your traditional black metal scream & often brings to mind self-mutilating Shining front man Kvarforth in that regard while Namtar’s drums possess a refreshingly natural tone that’s light-years away from the clicky triggered sound of most modern black metal drum kits. It simply sounds like a real kit that could be sitting in the room with you & is being played by a real human being. The guitars have a warm tone too which accentuates the tremolo-picked & arpeggiated riffs nicely.

The E.P. opens up with “Zgniję, nie odpowiem!”, a track that frustrates me to be honest because it simultaneously holds the releases best & worst moments. The drawn-out post-metal breakdown in the middle of this track is beautifully ambient & atmospheric & shows the potential in Furia's sound but this is surrounded by parts that offer me very little appeal. I struggle at the best of times with a lot of folk metal & Pagan black metal & this track is where you’ll find the most obvious references to those subgenres along with some black ‘n’ roll beats that were never likely to go down too well with this old extremist. All of this unfortunately amounts to a disappointing opening to proceedings. Things pick up from there though with the more traditional black metal of “Ohydny jestem” & the album highlight title track being much more to my taste. I can’t say that either tick all of my boxes though. There’s still a bit more melody than I’m comfortable with at times as this isn’t the most sinister sounding black metal you’ll find. The Viking section (complete with the backing of a choir) in the title track isn’t something I’d usually go for but I can’t help but be won over by the atmosphere in that track nonetheless.

Look, I’m not going to tell you that “Płoń” is an essential release or a hidden gem but I chose it because I think it’ll offer a broad cross-section of our members plenty of appeal & likely more than it does for myself. My own feelings haven’t changed terribly much as I still don’t love this record as much as a lot of the underground seems to but I can see the reasons that it’s regarded so highly as it’s an accessible yet artistically diverse release that’s well composed & executed.

For fans of Odraza, Morowe & Plaga.

3.5/5

I can still vividly remember the day I picked this CD up very shortly after release. I'd been a hhhuuugggee fan of Pestilence's previous album "Testimony of the Ancients" so I had very high hopes for its successor. I had no idea of what to expect going in though so I was as surprised as anyone with the band's new direction which took some huge creative risks through the full integration of jazz fusion influences into their signature death metal sound. Atheist had already gone down that path a couple of years earlier with their classic "Unquestionable Presence" album but this was a very different kettle of fish sporting a totally fresh take on the concept.

As Ben suggested above, "Spheres" was almost unanimously panned within underground metal circles at the time but we never really paid a lot of attention to what the masses thought & both found the sheer ambition & creativity of this album to be nothing short on invigorating. I don't think there's any doubt that Ben's enthusiasm was a little more intense than my own though & this revisit has reminded me of why. You see, while there's no denying that Pestilence deserve a lot more credit for their bold adventurousness here, there are plenty of moments that simply don't work too. You'll find overly complex rhythms that push the musicality limits a little too far, cheesy & dated sounding synth lines that sometimes clash with the metal riffage & intentionally off-key leadwork that crosses over the line into sickly territory but then there are also some stunningly angular riffs that remind me of Swiss tech thrashers Coroner as much as anyone & some wonderfully entertaining jazz drumming & bass playing to accompany Patrick Mameli's signature death growls which I'd loved for many years by this stage. Tracks like "Soul Search" & "The Level of Perception" are up there with the band's finest work but other pieces seemed misguided & over-ambitious & fell on their own swords in the name of art (see the jazzy "Personal Energy" or closer "Demise of Time"). It's intriguing stuff. You can't deny that. But it's not quite fully realised in my opinion. The sentiment was right but the execution got a little bit ahead of itself. Perhaps Pestilence just needed another record between "Testimony of the Ancients" & this one to test the waters & try things in a less extreme format before taking the plunge? I think that's probably the case but credit where it's due because "Spheres" represented one hell of a side-step for extreme metal.

There's no denying that "Spheres" was unfairly crucified by the metal public who weren't quite ready for this sort of experimentation from one of their death metal pin-up boys at the time but for me "Spheres" represents a very brave move from a well established band that were always looking to take death metal to its next logical step. The positives comfortably outweigh the negatives & I generally find the experience to be thoroughly rewarding with even the parts that failed to gel earning brownie points for ambition. Don't believe everything you read about this record because it's well worth your time.

For fans of Death, Atheist & Cynic.

4/5

Classy Dutch progressive death metal from 1993.

Just finishing five days of annual leave. The first two spent looking after sick kids. The last three spent sick as a dog from whatever I caught from them. Back to work tomorrow. It never ends!!

One of the more metal focused tracks from Sydney-based guitar virtuoso Plini's 2016 debut album "Handmade Cities".

I've been aware of Plini's existence for a long time now given that he hails from my home town of Sydney although I've never gotten around to giving any of his records a spin until now & I can honestly say that I've been very impressed with the experience too. The dude not only has chops to burn but he also understands the value of quality song-writing. What we have here is a combination of djenty progressive metal, artsy progressive rock & experimental jazz fusion (three styles that offer a lot of appeal for me personally), all bundled up into your classic late 80's instrumental guitar virtuoso style package. Plini wears his influences on his sleeve as I can easily pick up elements of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Allan Holdsworth & Al Di Meola in his sound however he still manages to give his solos his own personal touch as well. The thing that really dazzles me is his restraint & his stunning use of phrasing. This is certainly NOT your showiest guitar shredder record & that's a credit to Plini's understanding of what makes good music, something he's likely learnt from Satriani's philosophies on composition. He sounds like he's in total control at all times & there's not a note that's played without purpose & conviction. The simpler Satriani-esque melodies are definitely the highlight for me here, along with the more stripped back solos where Plini can be more emotive & expressive. Where he starts to lose me a bit is when he ventures into that quirky & joyous Frank Zappa-inspired territory that Steve Vai has so often made his own in the past. It all gets a little too arty-fartsy for my taste once things head in that pleasantly unintimidating early 80's jazz fusion direction but I don't ever feel like pressing skip because the promise of something more interesting is always only a few moments away.

Overall I'd suggest that "Handmade Cities" is a really solid example of the instrumental guitar record & has enough of a point of difference to represent a fresh take. What it lacks though is those one or two standout tracks that can elevate a "very solid" record to an "outstanding" one but you get the feeling that Plini has that in him on the evidence here & he may have already delivered on that potential for all I know.

For fans of Liquid Tension Experiment, Joe Satriani & Steve Vai.

4/5

Shoegazy, djenty alternative metal from Melbourne, Australia. Aussie Aussie Aussie.... Oi Oi Oi....

I really got into this one thanks Saxy. The production is massive & overthetop (in fact, there's a strong case for suggesting that it's actually a touch over-produced) which gives every element ample opportunity to contribute to some wonderfully glistening soundscapes that are filled out by the generous use of synthesizers. Vocalist Jacob Charlton may sound very familiar (see Chino Moreno from Deftones for a point of reference) but there can be no denying his talent. The consistent use of microphone distortion has been quite effective here too it has to be said. The rhythm section is unbelievably tight & every time they come together with hard-hitting djent stabs it raises the intensity a few notches. The guitar tone is crushingly heavy too & the instrumentalists perform their craft with the utmost precision. I think RYM have got the genre tagging just right for once because Thornhill seem to have taken that shoegazy Deftones althernative metal sound & added in a much stronger djent component, perhaps taking reference from bands like Loathe & Northlane in that regard. From what I can make out Thornhill used to be a Metalcore outfit but if that was the case then they've dropped that sound completely in favour of a more accessible approach that really should take them to a much wider audience of enthusiastic fans. I must admit that the quality does drop a bit over the second half of the album but I can't deny my enjoyment of what is a highly professional & classy effort from a band that seems to know their sound very well these days.

For fans of Deftones, Loathe & Northlane.

4/5

I quite enjoyed "...And That Blue Will Turn To Red". I'd never encountered Parkcrest before but ended up really liking the way they harness the Bay Area, the Teutonic scene & the South American scene all at once. They certainly possess a really fantastic energy. The more intense & thrashier stuff is clearly Parkcrest's comfort zone & they seem to excel once they're drawing upon "Darkness Descends" & "Beneath The Remains" for influence. They've also spent a fair bit of time listening to classic Iron Maiden over the years though too as there are plenty of places where they throw in an unaccompanied Steve Harris style bass riff during a midtempo section or a melodic guitar lead that wouldn't have seemed out of place on a record like "Powerslave". The drumming isn't as polished as a Dave Lombardo but there's an undeniable urgency & electricity about the consistently high tempos & I think Nicolás Villanueva has done himself some big favours by examining Igor Cavalera's transitions on the classic Sepultura thrash records. The bass playing plays an important role here too with Sodom's Tom Angelripper being the source of inspiration I suspect. This is an absolute riff-fest though with the twin guitars jumping from one impressive riff to another in a never-ending stream. Javier Salgado & Diego Armijo can both certainly play fast but when they start to get a bit more technical & attempt some emotive lead work you can start to see their technical limitations starting to show.

I find "...And That Blue Will Turn To Red" to be top class in patches & these signs all point to Parkcrest's next record having the potential to be a really big one for them but I don't think they're quite there yet. They've crammed these tracks full of content & a lot of it is extremely strong but there are also less impressive inclusions tacked into every song as well so I feel that a little quality control would go a long way. The six minute closing title track didn't do very much for me either & has resulted in me dropping my score from a 4/5 which is disappointing given how strongly the record started over the first few tracks. It deserved a better climax than that in my opinion. Another thing that limited my scoring a touch were Salgado's vocals which are serviceable but don't really possess the charisma of the top tier thrash front men. He sounds great during the more violent stuff but sounds a bit flat when he's barking over simple power chords during a couple of the choruses. So yeah... a promising release for the future with some untapped potential still yet to be drawn to the surface.

For fans of Ripper, "Darkness Descends"-era Dark Angel & late 80's Sepultura.

3.5/5

P.S. What the fuck are they doing choosing such an inappropriate moniker?? What in the actual fuck even IS a "Parkcrest" other than the name of a rich suburb in some posh part of town?

English heavy metal with a nostalgic feel & a classic Sabbath/Dio/Maiden gallop.

I came to London's Pagan Altar relatively late in their career while putting together the Metal Academy podcast several years ago & immediately found them to be an interesting prospect. They were generally labelled as one the early exponents of the doom metal sound & I found their 1982 self-titled release to offer a fair bit of enjoyment even if there were a few flaws in their sound that I struggled with. They definitely weren't a pure doom outfit either as there was also a lot of traditional heavy metal in their sound as well as a touch of psychedelia. I later experimented with Pagan Altar's re-release of their early demos (entitled "The Time Lord" which was released in 2004) & found it's combination of doom metal & 70's hard/psychedelic rock to be just as entertaining. In fact, at that point I started to label Pagan Altar as the first true exponent of the traditional doom metal sound given that those recordings dated way back to 1978/79. And this brings us to "Mythical & Magical" (Pagan Altar's third full-length album released in 2006) which is a record that seems to receive universal praise from somewhat of a cult following within the underground metal scene & I was very keen to find out why.

The first thing I noticed about "Mythical & Magical" is the raw production which doesn't sound anything like the clinical modern-day metal production jobs we're so used to hearing these days. This one is thinner, dirtier & sounds very much like it could have surfaced from the early 80's NWOBHM scene which I would guess was something the band were likely aiming for. Much like Pagan Altar's earlier material, "Mythical & Magical" offers an interesting mix of styles & influences although it's well worth noting that there's very little doom metal on offer here. This time the band have opted for a sound that seems to draw upon the hard rock-driven NWOBHM sound of early Iron Maiden & Judas Priest, the more epic US power metal of Cirith Ungol & Manilla Road & the more organic & bluesy American hard rock of the 1970's with dashes of progressive rock, folk & even country tossed in for good measure. The high-pitched vocals of Terry Jones are instantly recognizable & are still just as repetitive as they ever were so if you've struggled with him previously then you shouldn't expect much respite here while the emotive & creative lead guitar work of his son Alan is as impressive as I remember it being & is the obvious highlight of the album with most of the tracklisting's peaks appearing at the crescendos of his lengthy solos. Things do get a bit cheesy at times, particularly during the guitar harmonies & the more epic sounding sections. I actually find the more expansive & progressive tracks to be the most consistently interesting (see "The Sorcerer" & "The Erl King") with the simpler hard rock numbers sounding pretty tame & boring in comparison. When Pagan Altar focus purely on a heavy metal sound they're generally very successful, particularly on opener "Samhein" which utilizes a dark Sabbath/Dio/Maiden gallop (there are several across the tracklisting actually) & builds in intensity gradually over time. I could definitely do without the country rock number "The Crowman" as it sounds like it's been torn straight off US country radio while the short & fairly lightweight folk instrumental "Sharnie" doesn't add much to the album either in all honesty.

In the end I found "Mythical & Magical" to be a bit of a mixed bag with the tracklisting struggling for consistency. In fact, I'd suggest that I really only got enjoyment out of half the album. Thankfully the stronger material is classy enough to carry the dull moments which has resulted in the experience feeling fairly positive overall. I still can't say that I see what the big deal is with Pagan Altar though as this is once again a release that I've enjoyed while I listened to it but are unlikely to return to very often in the future. In terms of the band's discography, I'd suggest that this is probably the least appealing of the three Pagan Altar releases I've checked out to date & I suspect that's got a fair bit to do with the lack of doom metal on offer but there's not all that much between the three really. "Mythical & Magical" is a nostalgic ride through a period in rock/metal history that I was too young to fully take in & it serves that purpose quite well but I can't say that I see it as being in any way essential.

For fans of Cirith Ungol, Manilla Road & early Cauchemar.

3.5/5

The other thing is that it's a noticeably top-heavy release with all of the weaker material residing in the back end of the tracklisting. There aren't any bad tracks as such but there's a noticeable lull from tracks 9-12 in my opinion.

Whereas this has some very impressive melodic doom on the back half (most notably the title track and "Everything Dies") but the first few tracks are bafflingly bad. "White Slavery" and "Everyone I Loved Is Dead" are atrocious and I would not blame a soul for turning the album off prematurely. If you can make it through the first six tracks, you'll find some of Type O Negative's best songs.

Quoted Saxy S

Hahahaha.... there's only one thing you can rely on at the Academy & that's diversity of opinion. 

John Massoni with Sonic Boom - "The Sundowner Sessions" E.P. (2000)

After doing Elvis I felt that it was time to push the threshold again with some highly cerebral experimental ambient music. Pretty good stuff too. Really repetitive & hypnotic.

"Deicide" was absolutely life-changing for me at the time. I picked it up from an older school-mate very early in the piece & was completely blown away as it was comfortably the most evil sounding thing I'd heard to the time. It's also totally devoid of filler with the songs all being really well defined & realised by that point. Benton's sheer anger was a highlight but I love the super shredding lead solos which beautifully balanced technique with pure chaos. They clearly came from the Kerry King school of solos but the mid-heavy tone made them cut through the mix to slice my teenage face off.This was basically an album full of death metal anthems & I don't think Deicide have come close to matching it in all the years since.

5/5

I actually think the three longer interludes add further weight to the depressive atmosphere so i don’t mind them. The eleven second joke track that kicks off the album is an absolute travesty though & should be eliminated from existence immediately. Much like Tool, Type O Negative seem to have no inkling that their fans don’t want their serious metal music diluted with redundant humour. It only detracts from the overall product & this would likely be another reason why Ben traded me his CD as I know he hates that shit.

Yeah it’s probably worth doing but there’s really not a lot we can do about it to be honest. I don’t think it’s worth changing the playlists when there could be any number of licensing concerns depending on what part of the world you’re streaming from.

Doomy gothic metal from New York, USA.

I really enjoyed revisiting this record over the last couple of days. I don't recall it being claimed as any sort of classic back in the day. That seems to have been something of historical thing but I'm not sure it's warranted despite "World Coming Down" being of a consistently high quality. Sure, this is one ToN record that is well & truly deserving of the dual gothic/doom metal tag & on paper I'd suggest that it really should be my Type O Negative record of choice given it's darker, doomier sound however that's not really the reality here. For me, ToN have always been about those huge vocal hooks backed by glistening early-80's goth rock-inspired instrumentation & there's significantly less of that on offer than was the case with its glorious predecessor "October Rust" (ToN's best work in my opinion). The sheer depth of the doom material is as crushingly heavy as you'll find (see tracks like "White Slavery" or the title track for example) but I don't think they manage to completely capitalize on it with strong enough hooks to see "World Coming Down" being spoken of in the same sort of terms as "October Rust". The other thing is that it's a noticeably top-heavy release with all of the weaker material residing in the back end of the tracklisting. There aren't any bad tracks as such but there's a noticeable lull from tracks 9-12 in my opinion. Still... this is a really solid release & I haven't quite discovered why Ben felt the need to part with it. Perhaps it's the Beatles cover version medley that closes the album as I know he hates covers. It's admittedly a really good example of one though with the band giving the songs there own lumbering, ultra-heavy spin.

For fans of A Pale Horse Named Death, Paradise Lost & My Dying Bride.

4/5

I have to agree with a lot of what you've said there Sonny. I've always found "Left Hand Path" to be decidedly underwhelming given all of the hype. I first experienced it shortly after release & remember thinking that it sounded really fresh but I just couldn't seem to find that sweet spot at any point & ended up moving on relatively quickly even though it was a generally enjoyable listen. "Clandestine" was another kettle of fish altogether though & completely blew my socks off. These days I'd even take "Wolverine Blues" over "Left Hand Path" if pushed to decide between the two. My position is obviously a complete anomaly within the death metal underground of course however I believe that Ben thinks "Left Hand Path" is somewhat overrated too so it could well be something to do with our metal upbringing.

3.5/5

Elvis Presley - "That's the Way It Is" (1970)

My wife has very traditional tastes in music & I've been pushing the threshold a little bit in relation to the music I've been playing around the house of late so I thought I'd better put on something that's more in line with her preferences this morning. This album was from Elvis' period performing at Las Vegas casinos & you can definitely hear it in the material. It's not really my bag to be honest.

Alice Coltrane - "Turiya Sings" (1982)

Wonderfully deep new age music to wind down to from this legendary jazz musician & wife of John Coltrane himself. I've found myself returning to this release again & again over the years. It was only ever intended to be a meditational support tool for her religious group & was only made in a limited number of cassettes.

Yeah, I've found this release to be pretty disappointing too Xephyr. It suffers from all of the trademark attributes of all but the elite video game soundtracks in that it jumps around all over the place & doesn't offer a lot of attention to detail. The industrial metal component is only evident for around a third of the run time so I don't actually think this is a genuine metal release either, particularly given that the metal elements tend to be used in more of a supporting capacity with drum & bass being the stronger contributor here. You also get smatterings of a bunch of other genres including jazz, breakbeat, ambient, classical, industrial & progressive electronic. The tracklisting is very inconsistent & this is further exacerbated by the fact that the release is generally too long as well. I do really enjoy some of this material but unfortunately the stronger inclusions are out-numbered by the ordinary ones so I can't see myself returning to "ULTRAKILL: INFINITE HYPERDEATH" any time soon.

For fans of The Blood Of Heroes, Andrew Hulshult's "DUSK" & Mick Gordon's "Doom" soundtracks.

3/5

Really struggled with this sloppy drum & bass/industrial metal hybrid. The metal component sounds uninspired & phoned in.

I dunno where that Vanilla Ice track came from but it wasn’t there before. I just removed it.

Loving this dark breakbeat-driven industrial metal track from Heaven Pierce Her's 2020 "ULTRAKILL: INFINITE HYPERDEATH" video game soundtrack this morning.

Six Feet Under's 2016 "Graveyard Classics IV: The Number of the Priest" Iron Maiden/Judas Priest covers album certainly offers more than its fair share of genuine stinkers (see "Invader", "The Evil That Men Do", "Night Crawler" & "Flash Of The Blade" for example) but I think this particular musical travesty may be the worst of them.

Hi everyone. I'm very pleased to advise that one of our newer members Morpheus Kitami has requested to be added to the feature release nomination roster so I've made some adjustments to include him under his three clans. The new August roster will be as follows so as to give him a chance to start immediately:

THE FALLEN: Morpheus, Sonny, Ben, Daniel

THE GATEWAY: Andi, Saxy

THE GUARDIANS: Xephyr, Morpheus

THE HORDE: Daniel, Vinny, Ben

THE INFINITE: Andi, Xephyr, Saxy

THE NORTH: Sonny, Ben, Vinny, Xephyr, Daniel

THE PIT: Vinny, Morpheus, Ben, Daniel

THE REVOLUTION: Daniel, Andi

THE SPHERE: Andi, Daniel

OK, so I'm a couple of full listens into this release & I'll be interested to hear some of your thoughts around whether there's enough genuine metal on offer to qualify as a metal release at the Academy or not.

Here's my synopsis from the time of release:

I first became acquainted with Buffalo-based metalcore outfit Every Time I Die back in 2012 through their "Ex Lives" album which I really enjoyed so I thought I'd check this one out after seeing it receiving a fair bit of praise from fans & media. It's a very solid release too. You'll find all of the usual metalcore traits here but the difference is that Every Time I Die are a class act & execute everything splendidly. There's a sophistication to the instrumentation which occasionally borders on mathcore complexity but there's also plenty of variation with the band throwing in a few more commercially focused alternative rock influenced numbers that show off a surprising amount of talent in song-writing & hook-development amidst their usual hardcore-fuelled ferocity. Front man Keith Buckley screams his fucking head off as expected but also showcases a variety of alternative influences from Tom Araya to Serj Tankian to Zack de la Rocha at various times. The album opens & closes with its best tracks which are both absolutely sublime & I left the experience feeling well satisfied with my efforts.

For fans of Coalesce, Ithaca & Drowningman.

4/5

Yes. There's nine other Mournful Congregation releases available to us.

Nah... I'll just listen to those tracks elsewhere. The irony of Mournful Congregation being unavailable to the Aussie audience though.

For the record, I simply cut & paste the entire playlists across so if there's a track missing at any stage then it'll be because I can't see it at all under the Metal Academy account.

Also, it would appear that Spotify is having some issues with track durations today. Ben & I have done a bit of testing with multiple accounts & there are quite a few releases which are showing 0:29 for all tracks. See Carcass' "Torn Arteries" for example. The tracks all seem to play to their full length though as far as I can tell.

I can see those two tracks in your Spotify playlist now that I'm on my usual work laptop Sonny but they're still not accessioble in my region. I've added them to the playlist.

July 2022

01. Blood Incantation – “Inner Paths (To Outer Space)” (from “Hidden History Of The Human Race”, 2019) [Submitted by Daniel]

02. Horrified – “Elisaph” (from “In The Garden Of The Unearthly Delights”, 1993)

03. Disharmonic Orchestra – “A Mental Sequence” (from “Not To Be Undimensional Conscious”, 1991)

04. Entombed A.D. – “Down To Mars To Ride” (from “Dead Dawn”, 2016)

05. Carcass – “Wake Up & Smell The Carcass / Caveat Emptor” (from “Torn Arteries”, 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]

06. Repulsion – “Black Breath” (from “Horrified”, 1989) [Submitted by Vinny]

07. General Surgery – “Restrained Remains” (from “Corpus In Extremis: Analysing Necroticism”, 2008)

08. Horrendous – “Soothsayer” (from “Idol”, 2018) [Submitted by Vinny]

09. Obituary – “Infected” (from “Cause Of Death”, 1990) [Submitted by Daniel]

10. Grave – “Haunted” (from “Into The Grave”, 1991) [Submitted by Vinny]

11. Suppression – “Lifelessness” (from “The Sorrow Of Soul Through Flesh”, 2022)

12. Malthusian – “Dissolution Of Consciousness” (from “Time’s Withering Shadow”, 2022)

13. Rotting – “Sexually Tortured” (from “Crushed”, 1998)

14. The Chasm – “No Mercy (Our Time Is Near)” (from “Deathcult For Eternity: The Triumph”, 1998) [Submitted by Daniel]

15. Bolt Thrower – “War Master” (from “War Master”, 1991) [Submitted by Vinny]

16. Napalm Death – “Scum” (from “Scum”, 1987) [Submitted by Vinny]

17. Septicflesh – “Coming Storm” (from “Modern Primitive”, 2022)

18. Haunter – “Overgrown With The Moss” (from “Discarnate Ails”, 2022)

19. Immolation – “Incineration Procession” (from “Acts Of God”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

20. Lock Up – “After Life In Purgatory” (from “Pleasure Paves Sewers”, 1999)

21. Misery Index – “The Eaters & The Eaten” (from “Complete Control”, 2022)

22. Hate – “Erebos” (from “Erebos”, 2010) [Submitted by Daniel]

23. Dying Fetus – “From Womb To Waste” (from “Reign Supreme”, 2012) [Submitted by Daniel]

24. Infernal Revulsion – “Deep Down Human Being” (from “Devastate Under Hallucination”, 2007)

25. Disentomb – “An Edifice Of Archbestial Impurity” (from “Misery”, 2014) [Submitted by Vinny]

26. Nails – “Conform” (from “Unsilent Death”, 2010) [Submitted by Daniel]

27. Decapitated – “Just A Cigarette” (from “Cancer Culture”, 2022)

Playlist tracklisting now submitted using a USB keybopard I bought from K-Mart for $7.50.

KOM-teatteri - "Porvari nukkuu huonosti" (1972)

A musical theatre soundtrack featuring a folky sound that's uniquely Finnish. I didn't find it to be particularly interesting.

Don't do anything as yet Sonny. Let's wait until I get my work laptop going again because it seems that there's quite a few tracks that I can't see on my old personal laptop but I didn't experience similar problems with my work one. FYI my kids knocked a full glass of wine on the keyboard last night & now the ENTER button doesn't work so I can't even enter the BitLocker code to start to laptop up.

Andi, I can't see that Sinisstar track at all so I can't add it. Please wait until I get my work laptop going again because it seems that there's quite a few tracks I can't see on my old laptop but I didn't experience similar problems with my work one.

Please change my track submission to "Erasure Scan" from the same album.

Here's my submission for the August playlist Andi:

Code Orange - "Underneath" (from "Underneath", 2020)

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

Snapcase - "Killing Yourself To Live" (from "Progression Through Unlearning", 1997)

I won't be submitting any tracks for August Vinny. My month was consumed with my Southern Metal research & the only The Pit related release I listened to was the Sabbat feature which a) isn't on Spotify & b) would be too long anyway.

Here are my August track submissions Ben:

Abigor - "Gomorrha Rising/Nightside Rebellion" (from "Totschlager: A Saintslayer's Songbook", 2020)

Glorior Belli - "Meet Us At The Southern Sign" (from "Meet Us At The Southern Sign", 2009)

Here are my August track submissions:

Flourishing - "Momentary Senses" (from "The Sum Of All Fossils", 2011)

Six Feet Under - "Genocide" (from "Graveyard Classics IV: The Number Of The Priest" (2016)

Skinless - "Endvisioned" (from "Trample The Weak, Hurdle The Dead", 2006)

Here's my submission for the August playlist Xephyr:

Black Label Society - "Death March" (from "Mafia", 2005)

Here's my submission for the August playlist Saxy:

Floodgate - "Running With Sodden Legs" (from "Penalty", 1996)