Daniel's Forum Replies
This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination is now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement. I agree with Andi's approach of adding Alternative Metal first before making a play to remove it from The Infinite/Progressive Metal so I've opted to go with that.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
Updated my list following Deathspell Omega's "Fas – Ite, maledicti, in ignem aeternum" successful Hall nomination finally giving it entry into the Avant-Garde Metal genre:
01. Oranssi Pazuzu – “Mestarin kynsi” (2020)
02. Deathspell Omega - "Paracletus" (2010)
03. Kayo Dot – “Choirs Of The Eye” (2003)
04. Ad Nauseam – “Imperative Imperceptible Impulse” (2021)
05. Blut aus Nord - "777 - Cosmosophy" (2012)
06. Kayo Dot – “Moss Grew On The Swords & Plowshares Alike” (2021)
07. maudlin of the Well – “Leaving Your Body Map” (2001)
08. Deathspell Omega - "Fas – Ite, maledicti, in ignem aeternum" (2007)
09. maudlin of the Well – “Bath” (2001)
10. Dog Fashion Disco - "Adultery" (2006)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/156
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
The nomination has now been posted on the Hall of Judgement.
The nomination has been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
This nomination has now been posted in the Hall of Judgement.
It's with great pleasure that I announce that this Hall entry has been successfully passed by the community with a comprehensive vote result of 8 YES & 1 NO. As a result, it has been added the The Infinite under the Avant-Garde Metal genre & subgenre.
So we've finally followed through on our long-term intent to remove Nintendocore from the site with all releases that were previously tagged with the subgenre having been changed to Non-Metal or being left in their other subgenre(s).
I'd suggest that your summary of "Slowly We Rot" fits very well alongside my own feelings Sonny. I've always liked it but I've failed to reach the levels of adoration that so many death metal fans seem to have. "Cause Of Death" is light-years ahead of it as far as I'm concerned & hired gun James Murphy played a big role in my position on that. In much the same way as Death/Massacre axeman Rick Rozz, West's lead guitar work was always a little bit of a struggle for me. Those two are simply one-trick ponies who rely entirely on whammy-bar histrionics rather than melodic or technical highlights. Tardy's vocals are undeniably as unique as they are vicious & he's arguably the best exponent in all of death metal in my opinion so he really shone on the debut but I do think that "Slowly We Rot" sounded more like a collection of songs rather than a flowing album too. It's good but I don't think it's great. I actually prefer the more polished "The End Complete" to it pretty comfortably.
French blackgaze for fans of Jesu, Lantlôs & Sun Devoured Earth.
High quality progressive metal from Atlanta, USA.
Mastodon - "Blood Mountain" (2006)
Don't ask me why but despite being a hhhuuugggeee fan of the records either side of it for many years now I'd never gotten around to checking out the highly celebrated 2006 third album "Blood Mountain" from Atlanta-based progressive sludge masters Mastodon until yesterday. Mastodon have always been a class act so I didn't expect anything other than a polished & accomplished piece of art & there's no question that that's exactly what they've delivered here too. This album appears to be the point in which the band took a turn away from their sludge metal roots & pointed their ship directly towards the progressive metal stratosphere as it's a lot more technical & complex than I remember their earlier material being & I don't think it technically qualifies for sludge status any more either as that's only a small portion of the holistic direction that "Blood Mountain" sees the band taking with stoner elements popping up almost as often. The album offers the usual highlights from drummer Brann Dailor who was a complete phenomenon at this point while it also falls victim to Mastodon's obvious Achilles heal in the vocal department which places a cap on the album's potential to reach the upper eschalons of my affection. In order to make a genuinely classic record you need to be able to write classic hooks &, for all it's splendour in the instrumental department, I'm just not sure "Blood Mountain" offers enough catchiness & memorability to be able to stand toe-to-toe with amazing records like "Leviathan" & "Crack The Skye" in that department. Brent & Troy do their best with the tools at their disposal however neither have the vocal chops to make this consistently solid outing into a truly special one. Still... there are few that can match Mastodon for ambition & execution in the instrumental department & the effortlessness with which they perform complex melodic acrobatics is beyond criticism. You can't really go wrong here if you're a fan of professionally produced & performed progressive metal music.
For fans of Baroness, Dvne & Intronaut.
4/5
There's more than meets the ears, and you would find a lot more if you're a professional listener of experimental jazz/death metal/mathcore....
Quoted Shadowdoom9 (Andi)
There are professional listeners of experimental jazz/death metal/mathcore??? Where do I apply for one of these jobs?
Hahahaha.... Damaged & I have a very long history Andi. I adored them back in the early-to-mid 1990's & thrashed that E.P. to death. I would have seen them play live probably a dozen times too. One of the biggest fans of my band Neuropath went on to become their vocalist shortly afterwards actually. They're one of the most infamous extreme metal bands in Australia's history but are rarely spoken of outside of our country. Their insane drummer Matt "Skitz" Sanders is an absolute legend of the local scene & has played for everyone that's anyone e.g. Abramelin, Hobbs Angel Of Death, Blood Duster, Destroyer 666, King Parrot, etc. Damaged don't fit comfortably into any single box as they really did have their own sound that cherry picked from numerous extreme genres. They're certainly nothing to do with the modern-day deathcore model but I can understand someone stretching that far to find a suitable box to chuck them in. I think deathgrind is a much better fit personally though.
I remember that Delirium record from my tape trading days. It wasn't too bad from memory but I can't say I've been drawn to return to it since. Off the top of my head I think I had it on a cassette with Paradise Lost's "Lost Paradise" actually.
Ben read somewhere that Sandoval was so obsessive about his skills & technique that the band played a joke on him by playing him a recording of a drum machine performing impossibly fast & precise blast beats, telling him it was a human doing it & ribbing him because he couldn't match it. Apparently he went away & practiced so hard that he came back & matched it which left them all completely gobsmacked.
"Altars Of Madness" was a life-changing moment for me. It quite literally changed my life & by the time "Blessed Are The Sick" hit the shelves Morbid Angel was my favourite band. It's without question the greatest death metal release of all in my opinion. 5/5
BTW who's your favourite OBG? Howlin' Wolf and Robert Johnson for me.
I wouldn't say I have one to be honest Sonny. Having been raised in the height of 80's shred, I have to admit that I've always struggled a bit with the restrictive & repetitive nature of blues. It generally gives me a feeling of "heard-it-all-before" & I find myself wishing that they'd just cut loose by throwing their blues & pentatonic scales out the window for a while & exploring some more adventurous territory. For that reason I've always favoured the blues of your more modern & highly skilled guitarists like Stevie Ray Vaughn or rock gods like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page & Jeff Beck. There's just something a lot more exciting about their take on it, at least there is for me personally.
As I said earlier, I've always enjoyed "The Spooky Gloom" although I don't think my attention was fully drawn across to the doom/death subgenre until I heard Winter's shortly afterwards. In saying that, it's been many years since Sempiternal Deathreign & I crossed paths so perhaps it's time to remedy that.
A short & blasting Californian grindcore anthem.
Nails - "Unsilent Death" (2010)
A 13 minute blitzkrieg that combines blasting Napalm Death style grindcore with Entombed's "Wolverine Blues" then throws in a bit of d-beat, crust punk & sludge metal for good measure. "Unsilent Death" didn't do all that much for me at the time of release but my drastically improved score is a sure sign of the development in my taste for grindcore & hardcore punk in general over the last decade.
For fans of Full Of Hell, Dead In The Dirt & Trap Them.
4/5
Have just updated my top ten after submitting a genre tag vote on Terrorizer's "World Downfall" & realising that Nails' "Unsilent Death" needs to be in there somewhere:
01. Discordance Axis – “The Inalienable Dreamless” (2000)
02. Pig Destroyer – “Prowler In The Yard” (2001)
03. Pig Destroyer – “Terrifyer” (2004)
04. Terrorizer - "World Downfall" (1989)
05. Repulsion – “Horrified” (1989)
06. Unseen Terror – “The Peel Sessions” (1989)
07. Nails - "Unsilent Death" (2010)
08. Cretin – “Stranger” (2014)
09. Napalm Death – “The Peel Sessions” (1987)
10. Napalm Death – “From Enslavement To Obliteration” (1988)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/149
John Lee Hooker - "Never Get Out Of The Blues Alive" (1972)
Felt like something different while I bathed the kids & cooked dinner tonight so I opted for the bluesiest blues in Bluestown.
Old-school death metal from Los Angeles, USA.
Sadistic Intent - "Ancient Black Earth" E.P. (1997)
As most diehard extreme metal fans will know, there’s a rare & highly desirable brand of metal that is destined to forever bubble away beneath the service of the underground scene, leaving its blackened mark on only a chosen few who share knowing nods in dark, smoky dungeons of metal worship without ever daring to give up their unholy secret to those deemed to be unworthy. This particular brand of metal isn’t about glossy production jobs, technical prowess or pushing genres into previously untraversed territories. It’s about presenting extreme metal in it’s most evil & primal form & generally resides within the confines of the unholy trio of extreme metal subgenres i.e. thrash metal, death & black metal. The exact ratio of an artist’s composition isn’t important but it dare not step outside of those three. Additionally, there needs to be an element of mystery about the artist in question with much left to the listener’s imagination. It also helps a lot if these artists have never released an album but existed for just a relatively short time, releasing only a few crude demos, 7 inches or limited edition EPs so that the audience can always be left wondering what could have been & if the most pure realization of metal should stay in the underground forever. Sadistic Intent is one of these acts & I love them all the more for it.
I first discovered this underground Los Angeles death metal outfit back in the early 1990’s through the tape trading scene. From memory I found their 1990 “Impending Doom…” E.P. to be pretty interesting but it wouldn’t be until their 1994 “Resurrection” E.P. that they’d really get me raising an eyebrow or two with their talent for creating raw, dark & authentic old school death metal falling right in line with my musical preference at the time. I followed them onwards in the hope that I’d eventually see a full-length album being released at some stage. I’m glad I didn’t hold my breath because that’s still yet to eventuate but they did manage to release another excellent E.P. before drifting out of my sight in 1997’s highly regarded three-track effort “Ancient Black Earth”.
To cut to the chase, Sadistic Intent are a pure death metal band in the traditional sense of the term. They don’t provide a good imitation of late 80’s death metal here. "Ancient Black Earth" IS late 80’s death metal. It’s just that it was written, recorded & released in 1997. See what I’m getting at? These dudes simply get it. They understand what’s required to create a genuine old-school death metal atmosphere as they’ve clearly lived it. This sort of approach has become somewhat of a trend over the last decade or so & has seen lesser bands elevated to much higher levels of acclaim & fandom than Sadistic Intent can ever hope to achieve. They really are their own worst enemies as not releasing a full-length is never a great marketing ploy but one gets the feeling that they don't really care. The quality of their material however is very hard to deny.
It won’t take you long to figure out who Sadistic Intent were listening to around 1989. I’ll give you a hint. They start with “M” & end with “orbid Angel”. Ya with me? The short 16 minute duration of the “Ancient Black Earth” E.P. sounds almost exactly like “Altars Of Madness” & “Blessed Are The Sick” at times which certainly can’t be a bad thing now, can it? Are they as good as Trey & co? Well… in a word no but then who is? I mean “Altars Of Madness” is the still the greatest death metal release of all time in my opinion so I’ll take whatever I can get. Very few artists have been able to accurately replicate the riff structures that Trey Azagthoth created back in Morbid Angel's hey day but Rick Cortez & Vince Cervera make a really good fist of it here & even do a pretty decent job at the insanely chaotic guitar solos too even though they’re not in the same league as far as technical ability goes. The blast beats at the start & end of the title track (my personal fave) sound like they’ve been torn straight from Morbid Angel’s “Blasphemy” & I frankly lose my shit when that happens. Then you toss in some super-evil yet easily intelligible Dave Vincent-style death growls of pure darkness & I’m 100% in… hook, line & sinker. There are also a few riffs tossed in that remind me more of the early 90’s Swedish death metal sound but they’re very well done & still manage to maintain a blasphemous & undeniably evil atmosphere.
If you’re a fan of 80’s & early 90’s death metal then you probably owe it to yourself to give this E.P. a spin or four. “Ancient Black Earth” provides categorical proof that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to make high quality extreme metal. Sadistic Intent deliver on their promise with passion, substance & an unquestionable pedigree & in doing so prove themselves worthy of standing alongside their idols. This is underground death metal of a very high quality.
For fans of Morbid Angel, Repugnant & Mortem.
4/5
So unfortunately I picked up COVID at our sales conference in Melbourne last week. The wife has been away in Sydney for work since Friday morning too so I've been running solo with the kids which has been an additional challenge. She'll be back tomorrow morning thankfully.
Dying Fetus - "Reign Supreme" (2012)
Maryland-based brutal death metal trio Dying Fetus have been on my radar since the very beginning of their recording career when I first picked up on their 1993 demo tape “Bathe In Entrails” through the tape trading scene. They represented one of a fairly limited list of bands that were taking a more brutal approach to the standard death metal model, a sound that I was very much looking for at the time & one that I obsessed over to an extent too. But over the years I’ve found Dying Fetus to be a bit of an underachiever given their reputation & credentials if I’m being honest. They’re certainly amazing live & I’ve been lucky enough to experience them on a number of occasions, including the tour to support this particular record. But their albums often leave me feeling like I enjoy the idea of Dying Fetus more than the reality & there’s a number of reasons for that that we’ll explore here.
The now to kick things off, let me be clear that 2012’s seventh full-length “Reign Supreme” may be Dying Fetus’ finest work. It possesses all of the things that they’ve made their signature over the last few decades & presents it in a very attractive, well-produced & stunningly executed package. Even the cover art is arguably their best. In fact, when viewing the band's credentials on paper anyone that knows me would immediately peg them for a band that’d be right up my alley & justifiably so but there are a few minor quibbles that I have with Dying Fetus’ approach that always seem to get in the way of my affections transitioning from “like” to “love”. The first is their undying fascination with needless technicality. “Reign Supreme” certainly isn’t their most technical record but you can still find pointless scale runs & sweep picking exercises positioned inside their riffs that offer little in the way of artistic value & are clearly intended to showcase the band's technical skills. This approach unfortunately comes at the cost of a little song-writing integrity in my opinion. The second thing is that some of their slower, slammier stuff tends to be a little bit… I dunno… unintelligent? I guess I find some of the structures to be pretty basic & unimaginative at times.
On the positive side though, the musicianship on display here is wonderful, particularly the drumming of Trey Williams who is the very definition of the human metronome. He’s almost too precise to be believable at times & you’ll fairly find someone with more controlled blast beats that are so perfectly synchronized with his machine-gun double kick work. The dual vocal attack of John Gallagher & Sean Beasley is truly monstrous too & should go down a treat with the vast majority of death metal fans. As usual, there’s a noticeable New York hardcore influence incorporated into some of the more crunchy mid-tempo riffs which is somewhat of a trademark for the band & is a major contributor to the band’s live appeal. This gives Dying Fetus a bit of a deathgrind feel at times. You’ll also see the odd thrashy section thrown in here & there, particularly on “In the Trenches” which presents a clear Slayer influence. And don’t forget the old-school death metal bits that Dying Fetus have never been averse to including either. I guess you could say they have many strings to their bow but they all combine to produce a sound that’s well-defined & easily identifiable after all these years.
Overall though, I can’t deny that I come away from “Reign Supreme” feeling a touch disappointed as it doesn’t really live up to the hype around it being one of the elite brutal death metal releases. It won’t see you reaching for the skip button or anything but it doesn’t really fulfill its potential either. Most of the songs have strong sections but they rarely manage to fully capitalize on them by producing a genuinely classic death metal track. Instead you’re left with an enjoyable record that fails to see Dying Fetus elevated to the top tier of their field.
For fans of Suffocation, Nile & Deeds Of Flesh.
3.5/5
My review of "Severed Survival":
Most death metal fans know the story. 18 year-old drummer Chris Reifert joins seminal death metal legends Death in San Francisco in 1986 before taking part in the recording of one of the most important records in the creation of the death metal genre in 1987’s “Scream Bloody Gore”. Death band leader Chuck Schuldiner then decides to move back to Florida & gives Chris the option to relocate. Chris elects to stay in San Francisco & forms another one of the classic old-school death metal bands in Autopsy in August 1987. 1988’s “Critical Madness” demo sees the band signing with UK crust punk label Peaceville Records for the recording of their seminal 1989 debut album “Severed Survival” & the world rejoices. It’s somewhat of a fairytale for a number of reasons really. I mean for every band that goes on to critical & commercial success you’ll find a slew of failed musicians that fell by the wayside never to be heard from again & it’s actually quite rare to see this sort of success story (although there are definite parallels to the Dave Mustaine one with Metallica & Megadeth). And for Peaceville, it would be a change of musical direction that would quickly lead to the creation of a viable full-time business & one that is still going strong a full three decades later. But is “Severed Survival” all that it’s cracked up to be? Let’s find out.
The recording of Autopsy’s debut full-length would be a joint effort with Peaceville bringing in Metal Church guitarist John Marshall to co-produce the record at Starlight Sound Studios in California in January 1989. Marshall had previously produced not only Metal Church’s “Blessing In Disguise” record but also Sadus’ 1988 debut full-length “Illusions” so when Autopsy bassist Ken Sorvari made himself unavailable for the recording of the album for personal reasons, the now legendary Sadus bass virtuoso Steve DiGiorgio was drafted in to complete the recordings as a hired gun. I think it’s probably fair to say that Steve had no idea of just how prominent a role he would play in the way that Autopsy’s album would sound at the time.
The “Severed Survival” album would be released on 24th April 1989 & would sport some grisly cover artwork that depicted an image of some poor soul being torn limb from limb by a number of metallic hooks. Autopsy’s moniker would be displayed in what looked like raw meat which would be a further indication of the depraved sounds you were likely to hear within. It’s a fairly cheap looking effort it has to be said & later re-releases would see it replaced with a much more impressive illustration of some zombified surgeons peering down into the eyes of some unfortunate patient. I greatly prefer the look & feel of the re-release as it looks much more glossy & professional which would see it competing quite well in the extreme metal market environment of the time which saw every band & their dog coming up with increasingly attractive images of pure darkness.
The sound that was captured for the “Severed Survival” album was unlike anything the underground metal scene had heard before & it would go on to become a signature sound for Autopsy throughout their career. It was much sludgier & substantially less precise than most 80’s metal with a huge emphasis being placed on creating a genuinely disturbing atmosphere of death & torture that’s not too dissimilar to the image shown on the original release of the album. In fact, "Severed Survival" legitimately sounds like you’re inside the twisted mind of a serial killer in that it exudes an unsettling feeling of impending doom throughout. In order to achieve this, Marshall & the band have opted for a much sloppier & looser feel than most metal bands of the time were going for & in hindsight it was a stroke of genius. The drums were tuned quite loosely to give the toms & kick drum a deep tub-thumpin’ sound while DiGiorgio’s bass guitar would be elevated right to the front of the mix to provide additional emphasis to Autopsy’s already crushing riffs which were presented with a very distinctive & fuzzy rhythm guitar sound. The guitar solos of Eric Cutler & Danny Coralles seer over the top of the rhythm tracks thanks to a heavily filtered tone that was likely achieved with a stationary wah pedal if I’m not mistaken. Truth be told, it’s a really great sound for death metal & I don’t doubt that it was one of the primary reasons that “Severed Survival” would go on to be so successful for Autopsy.
Musically, Autopsy also offered the death metal community something a little different. The basis of their style was built on the “Scream Bloody Gore” model of old-school death metal that Reifert had played such a strong part in creating only Autopsy were a lot less sophisticated than peers like Morbid Angel, Pestilence or Death. There’s a much punkier vibe going on here than anything we’d hear from those bands & I put a lot of that down to Reifert’s drumming. I probably should have mentioned it earlier but Chris is one of the rare metal drummers that also handles the lead vocal duties & I’d suggest that his signature style is the logical outcome of that arrangement as it’s fairly simple. His best work invariably occurs when he goes for a more tribal feel during Autopsy’s doomier moments but I have to admit that his more up-beat & punk-driven beats are a bit of a let-down for me personally. They’re just not my thing particularly. I much prefer Autopsy’s strong use of slow dirge-like doom metal riffs with bands like Black Sabbath & Trouble clearly having made a substantial impression on the band. In fact, it can easily be argued that “Severed Survival” is the true birthplace of the doom/death subgenre as it’s such a major component of what makes Autopsy so appealing. I absolutely love the crushingly heavy & suffocating darkness in these parts & it’s the uneasiness it leaves the listener feeling that makes it so appropriate for a band whose lyrical themes are so heavily centred around serial killers. When you stick in the occasional off-beat arrangement with clever transitions & some very twisted lead harmonies you’re left with one beast of a death metal sound.
The performance of Steve DiGiorgio isn’t one of his most challenging & experimental but he certainly adds an additional layer to Autopsy’s already disturbing sound. His bass work is truly punishing & I particularly enjoy his use of bass chords at key moments which makes for something a little different. I’d highly recommend that you make sure you have a decent set of speakers before giving “Severed Survival” a spin though as you could be in for a rude shock otherwise. Cutler & Coralles show off some decent chops during their solos however I do think that there’s a little bit of a lack of ambition in their faster solos which tend go for a huge flurry of notes without really saying all that much. Their slower lead work is much more interesting as their note-selection can be quite unnerving at times.
Reifert’s vocals were always going to be a talking point because there’s been very little restraint shown in his approach. I wouldn’t say that he goes for your classic death metal grunt. His performance here sounds more like the crazed bellows & barks of an emotionally tortured & psychologically twisted serial killer. It’s almost like he’s too embarrassed for people to decipher the storylines he’s subjecting us to because I’ll be damned if he isn’t intentionally trying to make his language less intelligible. I have to admit that I don’t love his delivery & I’ve often wondered what Autopsy could have achieved with a full-time front man but it’s definitely worth dwelling on Chris’ sick, gore-soaked lyrical content for a minute because “Severed Survival” would be the record that would kick off a generation of subsequent death metal bands working predominantly with a palate of disgusting & offensive filth…. in a good way of course! Some may say that we’re better off for not being able to understand what Reifert’s saying & one look at the lyrics should tell you very quickly which side of the fence you fall on.
Ultimately I’m always left with mixed feelings about “Severed Survival” & it’s been that way since I first encountered it back in 1989/90. I love Autopsy’s swampy sound & the authentic atmosphere of pure death it pervades. They really did create something very original there & their talent for writing the eeriest doom metal riffs imaginable leaves me wishing that they would have taken that direction in more of a full-time capacity just the once so that I could see what it might have amounted to. Unfortunately, I just don’t find their bouncier up-tempo material even half as appealing & almost every track sees some glorious doom material being tarnished by one or two lethargic & unintimidating punk-driven beats. The overall result is that whilst I enjoy almost every track on “Severed Survival”, I very rarely LOVE any of these tracks. It’s only really “Charred Remains” & “Ridden With Disease” that manage to overcome this issue & for this reason I find this release to be the very epitome of a 3.5/5 release by my rating system. I’m not sure I’d say that “Severed Survival” is overrated. The influence it's so clearly had on a band like Carcass is undeniable so I think it's more just a matter of it not quite fitting in with my comfort zone despite being a generally rewarding listen.
For fans of: Asphyx, Abscess, Pungent Stench.
3.5/5