Daniel's Forum Replies

I receive emails every time someone private messages me. Do you not receive those emails?

Yeah, I agree with you Sonny. Stoner & Sludge are not all that far away from being Doom subgenres & those three genres represent the very basis of The Fallen in all honesty.

My brief experiences with Southern Metal previously have seen me developing an inkling that there is a Southern Metal sound that people are referring to but it's only a very small deviation from the Stoner Metal model, is rarely represented in more than a few tunes per album & has nothing whatsoever to do with Sludge Metal. It's always seemed more like a descriptor than a genre to me. Time will tell as to whether that's true though as I've really only heard a few Southern Metal-tagged releases in full up until now.

My two cents:

Pagan Black Metal = Black Metal music that utilizes tools borrowed from Folk &/or Viking Metal music without sacrificing on the trademark Black Metal atmosphere & aesthetic.

Folk Metal = Metal music built around Folk melodies & attributes. Often borrows the tools of Black Metal however the Folk components play the role of the protagonist & this doesn't allow the music to consistently achieve the dark & evil atmosphere & aesthetic that defines a genuine Black Metal release.

I've never seen the need for a Pagan Black Metal subgenre to tell you the truth & that may be something that we look at in the future.

It was more of a mixed bag of feature releases for me this month with records at either end of the spectrum & a few sitting in between as well. On the one hand we had a couple of utter belters from Ode & Elegy (a new find for me) & Evoken (an old favourite of mine). On the other we had two albums that didn't do much for me at all (i.e. the "Call Of Duty" soundtrack & the Sabbat album which failed dismally in its attempts to capture my affection after I so generously gave it a second chance after all these years). The Flourishing, Code Orange, Abigor & Mercyful Fate albums were all pretty enjoyable but the only other one that really hit my musical sweet spot was the outstanding Snapcase record which really surprised me. Here were my results in order of preference with Xephyr getting my nomination for release of the month (well done mate):

1. THE INFINITE: Ode & Elegy - "Ode & Elegy" (2022)  4.5/5

2. THE FALLEN: Evoken - "Quietus" (2001)  4.5/5

3. THE REVOLUTION: Snapcase - "Progression Through Unlearning" (1997)  4/5

4. THE HORDE: Flourishing - "The Sum Of All Fossils" (2011)  3.5/5

5. THE SPHERE: Code Orange - "Underneath" (2020)  3.5/5

6. THE NORTH: Abigor - "Totschläger (A Saintslayer's Songbook)" (2020)  3.5/5

7. THE GUARDIANS: Mercyful Fate - "In The Shadows" (1993)  3.5/5

8. THE GATEWAY: Treyarch Sound - "Call of Duty: Black Ops - Zombies Soundtrack" (2011)  3/5

9. THE PIT: Sabbat - "The Dwelling" (1996)  3/5

A hardcore-driven metalcore anthem from New York, USA.

Here's my updated top ten after Snapcase have seen Gulch being unceremoniously dumped from the list:

01. Converge – “All We Love We Leave Behind” (2012)

02. Converge – “You Fail Me” (2004)

03. Converge – “Axe To Fall” (2009)

04. Loathe – “I Let It In & It Took Everything” (2020)

05. Converge – “When Forever Comes Crashing” (1998)

06. Between The Buried & Me - “Colors_Live” (2008)

07. Snapcase - "Progression Through Unlearning" (1997)

08. Every Time I Die – “Radical” (2021)

09. Converge – “Jane Doe” (2001)

10. Disembodied – “If God Only Knew The Rest Were Dead” E.P. (1998)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/178

Ok, so this is a fantastic example of metallic New York hardcore that will surely appeal to the vast majority of our regulars. Snapcase have an extremely well-defined sound that's tight as a nun's nasty & heavy as a bulldozer. You can easily pick out the much talked about influence of alternative metal stars Helmet in the staccato riff structures. The vocals of front man Daryl Taberski are suitably aggressive & entirely captivating while the guitar tone is simply devastating. I can't say that I understand the affection for the snare drum sound which would seem to be a little thin & tinny & stands out like a sore thumb on top of an otherwise superb production job in my opinion but otherwise this is an extremely consistent & thoroughly rewarding hardcore-driven experience that's placed "Progression Through Unlearning" straight into the middle of my all-time top ten for Conventional Metalcore.

4/5

Adam Green - "Musik For A Play" (2010)

This fifth album from New York indie-pop singer/songwriter Adam Green was supposedly intended as a soundtrack to a film about a dog but I'm not sure it's translated all that well to the purely audio format as I found it's quirky instrumental mix of folk, jazz & classical to be pretty poorly executed & frankly pretty boring. And WOW! That cover artwork is pretty special, isn't it?

As I now move into covering 1990 it is becoming obvious that death metal was beginning to mushroom. In 1988 RYM lists 13 death metal albums on it's death metal charts, in 1989 there was 29 and for 1990 there was 59 (incidentally, for 2021 there was 906!!). This means that I will need to be more circumspect in what I cover as I have no intention of covering all 59 albums. I have put together a shortlist of 17 albums, which I won't list here, but I would like Horde members to list a few essentials that you think I should definitely cover. I will be covering all the 1990 albums featured on the Horde 1st Decade Clan Challenge list - Deicide, Left Hand Path, Cause of Death and The Key so if you guys could do me a solid and suggest six or seven others that you think I should definitely listen to in addition to those four then that would be great.

I don't think this exercise would be complete without visiting Atheist's "Piece Of Time", Death's "Spiritual Healing", Napalm Death's "Harmony Corruption", Carnage's "Dark Recollections" & Cannibal Corpse's "Eaten Back To Life".

Pestilence - Conuming Impulse (1989)

I am going to round off my coverage of 1989 with Pestilence's highly praised sophomore full-length, Consuming Impulse. The Dutch masters' debut, Malleus Maleficarum, was a pretty brutal sounding thrash metal album, one I have always had a huge amount of time for, but despite the deathly vocals of future Asphyx frontman Martin van Drunen, it was still a thrash album in the vein of Possessed or Sepultura with little actual death metal. Consuming Impulse on the other hand exhibits a further descent down the extremity rabbit-hole and marks the transformation from brutal thrash to actual death metal.

As Dehydrated leaps kicking and clawing out of the blocks, it is immediately obvious that this is a very different beast to the debut. The production is fuller, clearer and is much more bottom heavy which accentuates the brutality of the performances and is much more in keeping with the band's evolution into a death metal machine. The legion of riffs are powerful, aggressive and exceedingly memorable - I find them running through my head long after I have finished listening, particularly those featured in Suspended Animation, The Trauma and Echoes of Death. Patricks Mameli and Uterwijk trade solos in the vein of Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, their lead work being very strongly influenced by the Slayer guitarists it seems, although I would also say that influenced though they are, they don't just slavishly mimic the Slayer duo, but still stamp their soloing with their own personality.

Mention must also be made of Martin van Drunen's vocal performance. He sounds tortured, deranged and defiant as he rasps and shrieks his words of pain, suffering and death, turning in an archetypal death metal vocal performance. This would be his last recording with Pestilence before jumping ship to join Asphyx - so one death metal legend's loss is another's gain! Drummer Marco Foddis also turns in a fine performance, solid and machine gun-like, adding an understated solidity to the proceedings. There is also a sparse smattering of keyboards employed which, on the two or three occasions they are used, prove to be exceedingly effective.

There seems to be some contradiction as to the bass player on Consuming Impulse - Metal Archives attributes bass duties to guitarist Patrick Mameli, yet I have seen others comment that Martin van Drunen was the bassist on the album. Either way, the bass seems to be the most neglected aspect of the recording, buried as it is underneath the riffing and drum battery, so I don't know whether this confusion is the result of the band not being 100% happy with the bass track. This minor niggle aside, I think the Dutchmen can put their sophomore up against any of the early death metal albums coming out of the USA and hold their collective head high that they can be spoke of in the same sentence as Death, Morbid Angel and Obituary and not come up short.

4.5/5

I've always loved "Consuming Impulse" although I don't think Pestilence quite hit their peak until their next record "Testimony of the Ancients". Their sophomore album saw them borrowing Death's "Leprosy" model & giving it some additional sophistication & a cleaner, more accomplished & deliciously crunchy production job which resulted in another step up for death metal as an art form.

4/5

Ultimately it's always seemed silly to have Melodic Metalcore separated from Metalcore but the melodic branches of Black Metal & Death Metal wrapped under their umbrellas. I've wanted to change it for a long time now.

The Trance Metal topic is unresolved at this stage as far as I'm concerned but it's definitely still on our radar & will be receive attention at some point.

I noticed that & applaud the move. I've been wanting the dissonant brand of death metal to be differentiated from Technical Death Metal for many years as they're clearly two different things in my mind. I've never heard of the term "Skronk Death" to be honest but it sounds particularly shit. We'll definitely consider including a Dissonant Death Metal subgenre at Metal Academy in the future though.

 Ensemble Instrumental de Musique Contemporaine de Paris / Konstantin Simonovich / Luc Ferrari - "Presque rien no. 1; Société II" (1970)

A two track & 48 minute studio album that includes a 21 minute field recording & a 27 minute experimental classical piece, both composed by French musique concrète legend Luc Ferrari. I quite enjoy the tranquil atmosphere of the field recording however the classical piece is all over the place & seems to have very little substance of structure. It's not something I can see myself returning to.

Dissonant death metal from New York.

I remember giving this sole 2011 album from short-lived New York death metallers Flourishing a couple of spins back at the time of release & found it to be quite enjoyable however it didn’t quite captivate me enough to see me returning to it since so the prospect of a return visit to month’s The Horde feature releases was something I welcomed in order to see whether my affections had grown over time. The dissonant death metal crowd is chock full of Gorguts clones that may attempt all sorts of adventurous melodic & harmonic experimentation but rarely manage to identify themselves from the crowd. Flourishing on the other hand offer something a little left of field by incorporating a number of unusual influences which gives them a refreshing differentiator. There’s no question that the basis for their sound has been developed using the building blocks that Gorguts & Ulcerate have popularized however the band regularly stray into uncharted territories that are more reminiscent of an abrasive Godflesh sludge-fest, Sonic Youth’s super-cool take on noise rock or the post-hardcore adventures of bands like At The Drive-In or Fugazi.

Front man Garrett Bussanick possesses a raspy & tortured howl that’s pretty similar to Asphyx’s Martin van Drunen & he does an admirable job at keeping things deathly no matter how far the instrumentation drifts outside of that space too. Garrett’s dissonant guitar work regularly employs the use of natural harmonics to great effect, a tool that immediately sees my ears pricking up due to the similarities to Godflesh mastermind Justin Broadrick’s innovative take on the technique. The heavily down-tuned & distorted bass guitar tone of Eric Rizk also has Godlfesh written all over it & I have to say that I really dig it. Unfortunately drummer Brian Corcoran isn’t quite up to the requirements here which ultimately sees Flourishing leaving a portion of their potential on the table. If you threw a tier one extreme metal drummer into the mix then I feel that “The Sum Of All Fossils” had the potential to be much stronger but Corcoran sounds like his technique & creativity were capping out here which is a real shame. The murky production hasn’t done him any favours but it admittedly works really well for the other two musicians.

At the end of the day I can’t deny that I’m really intrigued by the eccentricities “The Sum Of All Fossils” contains however it doesn’t quite manage to hit my sweet spot consistently enough to warrant my higher scores which has no doubt been contributed to by my struggles with Corcoran. Flourishing’s more dissonant & deathly material is generally at a slightly lower standard to their more expansive excursions through alternate genres but it’s nonetheless a very consistent record that offers plenty to analyse & dissect.

For fans of Aeviterne, Pyrrhon & Gigan.

3.5/5

Please be aware that after much deliberation & discussion the Trancecore subgenre has been removed from the database with the vast majority of releases having been tossed into the Melodic Metalcore basket.

These two submissions have now be posted in the Hall of Judgement.

This closing instrumental progressive rock shredder was my pick from the album Andi:

I have to admit that this release is an interesting choice for a feature release for The Gateway as there's really only two of the seventeen tracks that I consider to fall under the subgenres included under The Gateway. In fact, I'm not even sure that this release qualifies for metal status at all given that only there's only three tracks that are obviously metal & one that's kinda borderline. Of the tracks that I do consider to be metal, one is traditional heavy metal ("Lullaby of a Dead Man"), one is alternative metal ("Beauty of Annihilation") & one is melodic metalcore ("115"). "The One" is more of an alternative rock track that pushes out into alternative metal territory as it builds through the latter half. Other than that we have the usual mixed bag that is the modern video game soundtrack with the rest of the tracklisting covering disparate subgenres like ambient, electronica, chiptune, techno, psytrance & progressive rock. In truth there's a lot more electronic music here than there is rock/metal so I'm inclined to suggest that this shouldn't be regarded as a metal release. The quality also travels the full spectrum from amazingly atmospheric (see gorgeous ambient piece "Voice In Your Head" & closing instrumental prog rock guitar shredder "Undone" for example) to disposable rubbish (see dire chiptune inclusions "Zombies Don't Surf" & "Temple").

Overall I'd suggest that I get enjoyment out of about half of the tracklisting but the other material is simply too far from my comfort zone to allow me a positive overall experience. The female vocals are pretty cheesy but do come up with some nice melodies & I do quite dig some of the less bleepy/quirky electronic stuff but I often find that these video game soundtracks sound very artificial & generic, particularly in their use of dime-a-dozen software synths that come across as lacking in sophistication. The ambient pieces are where this release is most consistent & I do enjoy four of the five rock/metal tunes so this isn't a horrible experience by any stretch but I can't say that it ever really threatened to have me returning for repeat visits in the future.

For fans of metal-related video game soundtrack artists like Mick Gordon, Heaven Pierce Her & Machinae Supremacy.

3/5

Infected - Dark Century (1989)

A completely new one on me - I have never even heard of these Swiss death thrashers before, in fact they seem quite obscure even amongst those in the know. They were very short-lived, forming in '87 and splitting in '90 and Dark Century seems to be their only release. Now this seems to be a great shame as this is a great slab of metal, haunting those hinterlands between death and thrash where so many excellent late-80's releases dwelt. The riffs are energetic and enervating, the drumming is relentless and the bass is fairly pronounced in the manner of the modern Chilean thrash scene. The solos may not be the most invigorating I have ever heard, but they are fine as far as they go and vocalist Amos Gersmann has a pretty decent deathly growl. The production isn't the best, it must be said, but it gives it a cavernous murkiness that gives the album even more underground cred I guess.

I found this to be pretty enjoyable and am stumped as to why it isn't better known - although 1989 had some fucking phenomenal stuff coming out, this is still better than a lot of shit I've heard from the late eighties. Sometimes you've just got to be in the right place at the right time I suppose. Anyway if you have a particular love of early death thrash then I strongly recommend you wrap your ears around this bad-ass slab of red-hot metal goodness. Unfortunately it's not available on Spotify (or anywhere except some ancient rip on YouTube it seems).

4/5

You've got me on this one Sonny. I've honesty never heard of it.

Terrorizer - World Downfall (1989)

I quite like Grindcore but I wouldn't say I love it. I do however love World Downfall - it is one of my all-time favourite metal albums. Much as I enjoy some of Carcass and Napalm Death's earlier albums, when it comes to grindcore I would always reach for World Downfall first. I am not the most clued-in person when it comes to grind and death metal, but I feel that World Downfall is as much death metal as grindcore and comes across as the bastard child of Altars of Madness and Scum - and that is one hell of a lineage. It takes the punky energy of Discharge or Black Flag that has been transformed by being fed raw death metal riffs and shits out a heap of hyper-aggressive, brutal, but still somehow eminently catchy tracks that hit home like a jackhammer to the sternum. The Altars of Madness comparison is probably inevitable and understandable, as half the lineup of Terrorizer were also in Morbid Angel - bassist Dave Vincent and drummer Pete Sandoval (whose skinwork here sounds amazing). Vocalist Oscar Garcia sounds very much like Barney Greenaway with his deep, hoarse, bark/shout vocal delivery and guitarist Jesse Pintado unleashes brutalising riff after brutalising riff like a young Mike Tyson unleashed punches - and to a similar devastating effect.

To describe this as brutal and aggressive, although obviously factual, is to do it a great disservice. It's sixteen tracks are skillfully executed by guys who seriously know what they are about - which is it's great strength as it prevents it from just deteriorating into a moshpit of identikit riffs, blastbeats and growls, but rather it is a precisely executed manifesto of intense extreme metal that would reverberate down through the decades and can still be held up as a masterclass in extremity. For the longest time this was Terrorizer's only full-length and stood as a monolithic testament to a short-lived, but extremely influential band of guys who reshaped extreme metal in their own image. Despite reforming in the mid-2000's the shadow of World Downfall was long and they never approached this level of awesome again, but to have reached these heights even once is not to be easily dismissed. Unfortunately I never discovered World Downfall until much later, but I can only imagine the tear in the fabric of reality it's discovery would have shown me had I come across it in 1989.

5/5

I picked "World Downfall" up on cassette in the early 90's & it very quickly became my grindcore release of choice. I have to admit that I've never thought there was very much of a death metal component though. I seem to be in the minority in taking that position to be fair. Perhaps if there was more death metal on offer I could have got my score up to where I'd always hoped it would eventually sit. As it is I find it to be a very strong release that I throw on whenever I want a shot of adrenaline & aggression.

4/5

Industrial metalcore from Pittsburgh, USA.

Industrial metalcore from Pittsburgh, USA.

I have some time for this album, despite finding some sections to be a little more commercially accessible than I'm comfortable with. It's very much a combination of metalcore & alternative metal with the industrial elements layered over the top. In fact, I'm surprised that it's not already in The Gateway actually as the the alternative component is easily as strong as the industrial one in my opinion. There's plenty of alternative metal & even Linkin Park/Korn style nu metal in Code Orange's sound with a number of tracks that have nothing to do with metalcore whatsoever. "Underneath" doesn't exactly have that cold mechanical atmosphere you would usually expect from a record that's tagged as industrial metal though. I guess you could say that the industrial elements are used more superficially & are layered over the top of Code Orange's base alternative metalcore sound but they're significant enough for a primary nonetheless in my opinion. I agree with Saxy's assessment that they could have better combined the melodic & aggressive extremes to their sound instead of presenting the two separately but Code Orange's most significant weaknesses are that they haven't got the hooks to compete at the elite level & also lack a bit of sophistication at times. They certainly know how to present a crushing metalcore riff or two which can't be a bad thing. 

For fans of Northlane, Motionless In White & Loathe.

3.5/5

The Residents - "Not Available" (1978)

Some weird-ass experimental shit from this highly regarded Los Angeles outfit. TOO weird for me personally. In fact, this record pushes the definition of what constitutes "music" a fair bit further than I'm comfortable with.

Kraftwerk - "Trans Europa Express" (1977)

Classic early electronica from Germany. It's always been a little too quirky for my taste but I still enjoy whacking it on every now & then as it's got a truly unique atmosphere.

3.5/5

Austrian black metal.

Ben & I have been well acquainted with Austrian black metal establishment Abigor since the very beginning of their existence back in the mid-1990’s with releases such as “Orkblut - The Retaliation” & “Nachthymnen (From the Twilight Kingdom)” playing a very major role in our teenage household. Abigor were everything we wanted black metal to be at the time. They were dark, brutal, mysterious & totally underground. It was just the recipe for any aspiring young black metal elitist. Unfortunately though, I’ve found them to be a little hit & miss over the years with records like 2010’s “Time Is the Sulphur in the Veins of the Saint - An Excursion on Satan's Fragmenting Principle” doing very little for me however the news of a resurgence has peaked my interest so I’ve headed into Abigor’s thirteenth full-length with a significant amount of hope.

The album starts off well with a couple of the early tracks offering both strength & depth. I particularly enjoy the urgency & aggression of opener “Gomorrah Rising - Nightside Rebellion” which is probably my album highlight. The avant-garde direction Abigor had taken on their releases from the early 2010’s seems to have been pushed to the wayside in favour of a return to the band’s roots. The drumming is very fast & highly proficient while the dual guitar work is as complex as ever but I wouldn’t say it reaches for the dissonance of Deathspell Omega as often as some reviewers have claimed. There’s simply a lot going on simultaneously & the production job is full of high end which leaves everything fighting with each other a bit & the vocals & solos aren’t really highlighted as much as you would usually expect. It's not all that different from Emperor's overthetop wall-of-sound production approach to be honest but it can be a little exhausting given the lack of dynamics & does tend to leave everything sounding a little samey after a while. Personally I would have liked T.T.’s drums to be a little further forward in the mix in order to better showcase his precision brutality as he’s got some impressive blast beat chops & is capable of some pretty interesting cymbal work too.

There are a few weird moments that don’t quite work scattered across the tracklisting & they sometimes see the song structures threatening to fall over a bit. I’m not too much of a fan of the chanty vocal stuff on a track like “Tartaros Tides” which is the clear weak spot on the album in my opinion too. Silenius’ vocal delivery can be a bit hit & miss as he tries his level best to match Mayhem legend Attila Csihar for general insanity but there’s a decent amount of quality about what Abigor do here overall. They’ve clearly got more technical ability than the majority of the competition & showcase a deep-seated black metal pedigree in every move they make. The use of symphonic elements is professionally composed & executed with an obvious reference to classic Emperor but never seems to overstep the cheese line while the band aren’t afraid to step outside of their dedicated genre for a quick look at more progressive territories on occasion either. Is this the return to form that people are promising? Well, in a word no it’s not but I don’t doubt that it’s probably the band’s best effort in twenty-five years nonetheless.

For fans of Emperor, Lunar Aurora & early Dødheimsgard.

3.5/5

Well I have to say that I fucking loved this release Xephyr. It took me by complete surprise. The size of this dudes balls must be absolutely astronomical to have pulled this off with his debut solo album. It's just so beautifully executed & emotionally engaging. I can understand Saxy questioning whether it should technically qualify as metal or not as the metal component isn't huge but I think it's enough for me to want to link it to Post-Metal as it invites me to recall some of the more stripped back & atmospheric works of bands like Kayo Dot, Neurosis & Anathema. The androgynous vocals are lovely, the strings are very well orchestrated & even though the 55 minute single-track arrangement may seem drawn out to many (if not most) metalheads I never find myself questioning the artist's patience thanks to his exceptional ability to build tension & atmosphere. This record is just pure class from start to finish to be honest & I'm sure it'll be right near the top of my AOTY list come January.

4.5/5

Loudblast - Sensorial Treatment (1989)

Despite being big noises in the black metal scene, I think it's fair to say that other than a few minor exceptions, the French haven't played as big a part as some in the thrash and death metal scenes. Loudblast are from the very north of France and were formed in 1985 and are still extant today. Sensorial Treatment was their debut, released in 1989 after a succession of late-80s demos and has been gifted death metal credentials by some, but truly it inhabits that netherworld betwen thrash and death metal. Personally I think it has both feet in the thrash metal camp, with perhaps a toe or two creeping over the line into death metal territory, but essentially an extreme thrash release with belligerent, brutal, thrash metal riffs and bullish, bellowing vocals in the vein of the Brazilian heavyweights of the time like Sepultura, Mutilator and Holocausto. Unfortunately they lack the songs of a Sepultura and the album as a whole just seemed to fly in one ear and out the other without any hooks for it to gain purchase on the grey matter in between. No doubt Sensorial Treatment has it's advocates and it is decent enough, but I'm afraid it must be filed in the bulging "not bad but far from essential" drawer of late-1980's metal releases.

3/5

I had this one back in my tape trading days. I remember thinking it was pretty decent but it didn't receive the honor of a return visit after those first few listens.

Carcass - Symphonies of Sickness (1989)

Liverpool's Carcass started out in similar vein to Napalm Death musically but with an emphasis on gross-out, gore-drenched lyrical content and pretty much invented goregrind with debut Reek of Putrefaction. Much like fellow Englishmen Bolt Thrower, Carcass refused to stand still and refined their sound with each release throughout the late '80s and early 90s. With sophomore Symphonies of Sickness the Scousers reduced the debut's reliance on grindcore and introduced more death metal and variety into the songwriting mix with consequently longer tracks and a much more satisfactory result in my opinion. There is also a huge leap in quality of the sound from the debut - it is much cleaner and isn't the turgid sonic mess that the debut struggled with. The tone of Symphonies of Sickness is on a rancid offal-pit level of purulent filthiness, Ruptured in Purulence for fuck's sake, have you ever heard a dirtier sounding track? It's almost impossible not to imagine that something has gone off in your fridge while listening to this, yet they achieve this filthy sound without sacrificing clarity in the most part. As anyone who is familiar with my preferences in extreme metal will know that this sort of thing is exactly the kind of sound that I love.

I guess people going into a death / grind album from 1989 would probably expect an album that blurs into one with little progression or variety and that accusation has been thrown by some at Carcass, but if you actually listen to Symphonies of Sickness then you will hear that that is far from the case. There is far more going on here than initially meets the ear and it is evident that Carcass have had few equals in extreme death metal songwriting over the years. They never compromise the songwriting for brutality's sake and equally they don't compromise the brutality of the tracks either. That said, they are certainly not averse to throwing in the odd melodic riff and phrase that sticks a particular track to your memory cells most effectively, but rest assured, there will just as certainly be a blasting dose of grind to blowtorch your grey matter along any second.

Their use of three different vocalists also adds a variety to the different tracks. I don't know who provides which vocal, but they are all quite different with one being deep and rumbling like some nether pit-demon, one is ragged and harsh with an almost black metal level gurgling shriek and the third sits somewhere between the two. I must admit I do prefer the deep rumbling growl that features on tracks like Exhume to Consume - that almost sub-sonic vocal rumble is a vibe I love. I tend not to get too involved with the lyrics as the obsession with pathology isn't really my thing at all and, in all honesty, I also find the cover to be a bit much*, whilst understanding that it is all part of the band's aesthetic and does suit the virulently putrid atmosphere uniquely well.

Overall, for me I think Carcass hit a sweet spot between grind and death metal here that I haven't heard replicated too often. The variety and accessibility of the songwriting coupled with the dark, rotten-stench atmosphere is a masterclass in extreme metal song production and has resulted in an album that is right up there with the very best death / grind releases.
4.5/5

(*the cover above is not the cover on the version I own, which is more autopsy-photo-collage-style like the debut)

This was a hhuuggee record for me personally & I still regard it as a death metal classic. Morbid Angel produced the first genuinely classic death metal record in my life. This one became the second & in doing so solidified it as my genre of choice for all eternity. 4.5/5

db69 - "Fuck Le Pen Mix" (1997)

A slamming 170 bpm rave techno/gabber DJ mix from this English freetekno stalwart. I have to admit that I quite like it for a mindless accompaniment while driving as it's full of energy & doesn't require all that much thought.

DNA - "Taste This" (1992)

European house, breaks & downtempo featuring the vocals of Suzanne Vega on a few tracks including the now legendary "Tom's Diner". It's certainly got it's moments but does sound a bit dated these days.

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

I can vividly remember my first encounter with Japanese blackened thrash legends Sabbat’s fifth & most ambitious album to the time. I’d been aware of Sabbat through the tape trading scene for some time but can’t say that I’d ever really bought into their largely cult following. They’d created a real buzz around the underground due to their undoubted First Wave of Black Metal street credibility however I can’t say that I was ever comfortable that their package could justify comparisons with the elite exponents of extreme metal at a time when that scene was at its peak. By 1996 though that scene was starting to descend from its position of prominence & perhaps that’s why Sabbat felt the need to throw the rule book out the window & produce something truly remarkable with a single hour-long piece that contains so many disparate ideas that you may find your head spinning after a while.

Sometimes music can be just a bit of simple fun that you don’t have to put too much investment in to & at others it can be a genuinely fascinating piece of art whose aim is to change a person & not just in positive ways. It can attempt to get inside your head & mess with the connections, taking you to weird & wonderful places you never imagined, some of them so foreign & surreal that you feel a level of discomfort. Well, “The Dwelling” certainly falls into the latter category as it’s never happy to sit on its laurels & wants to be everything at once, even though that approach definitely comes at a cost. You see, love it or hate it, to describe this record as blackened thrash is doing it a disservice in my opinion. There’s no question that it’s driven by a strong First Wave of Black Metal pedigree but it’s also incredibly expansive & ambitious, far more than Sabbat were capable of at the time in all honesty. Personally, I hear very little genuine thrash metal here with the majority of the thrashier parts sitting more comfortably under the early black metal banner than the thrash one. There’s definitely a classic heavy metal influence to this record that sees it veering much closer to speed metal with a number of parts reminding me of the blackened version of speed metal we heard on the first Bathory record with a punkier Motorhead/Venom feel to quite a few of the faster riffs & much less of the rhythmic precision & complexity we’ve come to expect from thrash. Then you have the extended lead guitar excursions & the just plain outrageously weird progressive rock experimentation which have been pulled straight out of a 70’s prog rock playbook & these are significant enough to command the progressive metal tag in my opinion. Those long guitar solo sections absolutely reek of Mercyful Fate worship only Sabbat are nowhere near as capable at their craft so they end of coming off as very loose & a little amateurish too at times.

The vocal delivery takes a number of directions. I really enjoy the Quorthon-esque black metal approach that sees the words spat out with evil intent. I can’t say that the high-pitched attempts at King Diamond worship get anywhere the mark they’re aiming for though & they end up becoming pretty annoying. The bass guitar work has some very interesting moments when it decides to run off on its own & tell a different story to the other two band members. Unfortunately though, I find a lot of “The Dwelling” to sound too raw & loose in its execution. That may be fine for your average underground extreme metal release but this one is trying for something far more sophisticated & the band simply aren’t anywhere near capable of pulling it all together. It sounds completely improvised a lot of the time but then you’ll see them go into some extravagant changes as a unit & you realise that it can’t be, at least not entirely. There are timing issues across the board, perhaps not major ones but enough to keep me wondering if they’re about to completely drop the ball & have to start again.

For all its failings, “The Dwelling” is a really interesting release. It’s just not all that enjoyable for me personally as I struggle with many of its quirks. It sounds like a few dudes got really drunk, took a mushroom each, pressed record & jammed away for an hour to see what came of it. I admit that idea does sound kinda cool in theory but the reality sees me failing to connect with a lot of it & wanting more professionalism in the execution. Now if anyone goes into a Sabbat record wanting professionalism then they’re clearly barking up the wrong tree which is why I’ve always found myself at odds with “The Dwelling” because I clearly want it to be something that was never going to be. I suspect that some of our other regulars may not fall into that same trap though which is why I picked it for this month’s feature release as I look forward to hearing some different views on this intriguing & unique example of progressive black/speed metal.

For fans of Nifelheim, Abigail & early Bathory.

3/5

Avatar - "Bloody Angel" (6:04) from Hail the Apocalypse (2014) (this album has the alternative metal genre and conventional subgenre, but The Gateway clan is missing from view, plus the song sounds close enough to alt-metal that I personally think would qualify)

Quoted Shadowdoom9 (Andi)

Looks like a data-entry error Andi. I've just fixed that up & it's now showing under The Gateway.

I'll be really interested to hear people's thoughts on where they see this release sitting as far as genre-tagging & clans go. There's potential for a number of different subgenres & clans so please feel free to contribute your honest thoughts. It'd be great if we can collect a number of well-informed opinions so that we can determine the most accurate outcome.

It was my younger brother Ben that first introduced me to New Jersey funeral/death doom metallers Evoken upon my return to metal back in 2009. He could certainly be classed as somewhat of an expert in the darkest & most extreme of the doom metal subgenres & he also knows my taste pretty well so it was no surprise that I found myself totally digging what I was hearing. You see Evoken don't really try to reinvent the wheel with their sophomore album "Quietus". They more or less harness the techniques of their early-90's heroes but do it exceptionally well. In fact, I'd be tempted to place this album right alongside most of them for overall impact & reward.

Evoken have made a name for themselves as being a band that sit very close to the mid-point between the slower & more mournful funeral doom metal of Esoteric & Mournful Congregation & the atmospheric doom/death of diSEMBOWELMENT & My Dying Bride with their extremely consistent back catalogue making them arguably the finest exponents of that sound. If I'm being honest though I have to admit that I've always found "Quietus" to sit far closer to the latter side of that equation, so much so that I've gone ahead & down-voted Funeral Doom Metal on its release page as it really is more of a secondary subgenre here in my opinion. Sure, there are some really slow & mournful sections scattered across its 63 minute run time however there are significantly more parts that draw upon the greats of the death/doom sound for inspiration if you pay close attention. I think it's the dark diSEMBOWELMENT style vocals that tend to fool people into thinking they're listening to funeral doom when a lot of the instrumentation could certainly have come from the Peaceville Three, particularly the drumming which owes a great deal of debt to My Dying Bride. There's a noticeably gothic feel to some of this material that inevitably takes my mind right back to that band's first couple of albums too, not to mention some obvious moments of plagiarism.

The guitar tone isn't perfect however it gets the job done with chuggy, slow & mid-paced riffs of pure doom. The vocals certainly enhance the atmosphere & are generally very well executed however it's the wonderful use of synthesizers that is the real drawcard here for mine, particularly on the lengthier & more epic tracks like "Where Ghosts Fall Silent" & album highlight "Embrace the Emptiness" which is arguably one of the greatest examples of death/doom you'll find. The atmosphere these tracks create is quite wonderful &, even though none of the other pieces are quite able to reach that elite level of quality, there's a strong consistency that flows right through the tracklisting & sees me finding it almost impossible not to dish out a premium rating. You see, Evoken just get it. They know how to create extreme doom metal with a genuinely thick & sorrowful atmosphere & even the tracks that start to drift a bit (see the faster, chuggier sections at the start & end of "Tending the Dire Hatred" for example) are easily recovered once they steer the ship back to troubled waters. If you're a fan of high quality death/doom with a funeral doom edge to it then you owe it to explore "Quietus".

For fans of Ataraxie, diSEMBOWELMENT & My Dying Bride.

4.5/5

Mind-blowing doom/death metal from New Jersey, USA.

Here's my updated Top Ten Death Doom Metal Releases Of All Time list which has seen Evoken's "Quietus" entering the fray at the expense of My Dying Bride's "The Thrash Of Naked Limbs" E.P.:

01. diSEMBOWELMENT – “Transcendence Into The Peripheral” (1993)

02. Anathema – “Serenades” (1993)

03. My Dying Bride – “Turn Loose The Swans” (1993)

04. The Ruins Of Beverast - "Exuvia" (2017)

05. Anathema – “The Silent Enigma” (1995)

06. Evoken - "Quietus" (2001)

07. Katatonia – “Brave Murder Day” (1996)

08. My Dying Bride – “Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium” E.P. (1992)

09. Mar de Grises – “Streams Inwards” (2010)

10. Daylight Dies – “A Frail Becoming” (2012)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/131

John Prine - "John Prine" (1971)

The classic debut album from this Illinois-based singer/songwriter style country/folk performer who reminds me very much of Bob Dylan at times. My wife loved it but I can't say that I see the attraction personally.

I've always had time for "In The Shadows" since purchasing it on cassette at around the time of release. It's certainly not on the same level as records like "Melissa" & or the self-titled E.P. but I don't find it to be too far behind "Don't Break The Oath" in terms of overall appeal if I'm being honest. It's not often talked about in the same terms as those three records but I'd be surprised if any fans of Fate's classics don't find it to be a really enjoyable experience. I have to admit that I've found everything the band have done after that to be thoroughly underwhelming though.

For fans of King Diamond, In Solitude & Portrait.

3.5/5

A beautifully crafted & highly atmospheric post-rock piece from these Swedish post-sludge metallers.

Cult Of Luna - "Salvation" (2004)

The Swedish post-sludge masters' third album is a masterpiece of light & shade with the instrumentation presented in waves of slow-building tension & release. Front man Klas Rydberg's relentless screams are definitely the band's weak point as he's very much a one-trick pony but I simply can't help but give in to the mastery of the musicians around him who all execute their contributions with undeniable class & efficiency. The more subdued moments are the highlights in my opinion (my favourite being gorgeous post-rocker "Crossing Over") & you'll struggle with a release like this one if you're lacking in the patience department as it requires time & attention to reveal it's many qualities. But if you're willing to go along for the ride then you'll find Cult of Luna to have a rare talent for sneaking up on you, utilizing repetition & subtle changes over long periods to create atmosphere before reaching some truly invigorating crescendos. "Salvation" may not be Cult of Luna's finest work but it certainly compares very favorably to wonderful albums like "Somewhere Along The Highway" or "Vertikal". I also regard it as a pretty definitive example of the Post-Metal/Sludge Metal combo with the two elements playing equally important roles in the final product. It's a wonderful release from a band that I have an enormous amount of time for.

For fans of Isis, Neurosis & The Ocean.

4.5/5

Here's the plan for the July feature releases:

THE FALLEN: Daniel, Sonny, Ben

THE GATEWAY: Saxy, Andi

THE GUARDIANS: Daniel, Xephyr

THE HORDE: Ben, Daniel, Vinny

THE INFINITE: Saxy, Andi, Xephyr

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

THE PIT: Sonny, Vinny, Ben, Daniel

THE REVOLUTION: Andi, Daniel

THE SPHERE: Daniel, Andi

My submission for the July playlist is as follows:

Thorns - "Underneath The Universe 1" (from "Thorns", 2001)

My submission for the July playlist is as follows:

Car Bomb - "Vague Skies" (from "Mordial", 2019)

My submissions for the July playlist are as follows:

Ritual Carnage - "Death Judgement & Fate" (from "Every Nerve Alive", 2000)

Ambush - "Don't Shoot (Let 'Em Burn)" (from "Firestorm", 2014)

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - "Organ Farmer" (from "Infest The Rats' Nest", 2019)

Exodus - "Sealed With A Fist" (from "Tempo Of The Damned", 2004)

Voivod - "Korgull The Exterminator" (from "Rrroooaaarrr", 1986)

Vulcano - "Dominios of Death" (from "Bloody Vengeance", 1986)

The Accused - "W.C.A.L.T." (from "More Fun Than An Open-Casket Funeral", 1987)

Aggression - "Forsaken Survival" (from "The Full Treatment", 1987)

My submissions for the July playlist are:

Thorns - "Underneath The Universe 2" (from "Thorns", 2001)

Onirik - "Assigned To Inexorable Flames" (from "The Fire Cult Beyond Eternity", 2020)

Blasphemy - "Intro/Blasphemy" (from "Gods of War", 1993)