Daniel's Forum Replies

I think it's fair to say that deathcore has got a really bad reputation in underground metal circles. It's notorious for being unintelligent, unsophisticated & frustratingly generic & those traits are admittedly not hard to find if you only look on the surface however I'm going to stand up & make a bold statement here today... I'm a fan of high quality deathcore & I'm not afraid to admit it. In fact, I think it's reputation is both overthetop & a bit unfair because if you look a little deeper you'll find that there's a side to the subgenre that offers plenty of appeal to the average extreme metal fan with California's Impending Doom sitting firmly in that space. I first discovered them back in 2012 when this fourth album came to my attention & it made such an impression on me that I found myself traveling back to explore the rest of Impending Doom's back catalogue. Their 2005 debut E.P. "The Sin & Doom of Godless Men" didn't offer much but all of their subsequent work is worth checking out if you like the idea of well-executed & professionally produced precision violence. "Baptized In Filth" remained their most impressive work however & I've thoroughly enjoyed this revisit a decade later.

Can Impending Doom be labelled as being generic? Well, you'll certainly hear most of the traits that the deathcore subgenre has made it's calling cards (breakdowns, single note riffs, gravity drops, etc.) but the sheer vitriol that the band are able to produce allows them to stand over the try-hards & push their faces forcefully into the turf. This is an unapologetically metal-as-fuck release right here & the band clearly don't give two shits about whether you like it or not. The death metal component is a little more significant than many other deathcore bands can claim with the regular use of blast beats & a bunch of angular riffs that remind me of Cannibal Corpse seeing my ears prick up. These guys certainly don't shy away from the more rhythmic & djenty riff structure that deathcore is known for either but thankfully their sound & execution are super-tight & ridiculously heavy which should be enough to draw in any self-respecting metal fan. But it's the brutal vocals of Brook Reeves that are the real highlight for me personally. He sounds positively scary & unhinged here, kinda like what I imagine Phil Anselmo might sound like if you stole his last bag of heroin. Just sheer, undiluted violence & aggression from start to finish so you'd honestly never guess that these guys are a Christian band if you didn't read it in the press. Yes, that's right. Just like 7 Horns 7 Eyes who claimed this month's The Horde feature release, Impending Doom are another bunch of Christians who enjoy the exhilaration of the most brutal metal they can muster & good luck to them I say. I honestly couldn't give a fuck what they do before going to bed at night when they can produce metal of this quality but I'd dare say it's cost them some of their credibility with the more narrow-minded & elitist punters out there.

"Baptized In Filth" isn't a perfect album by any means. It's certainly top heavy with the first four tracks being the best of the ten on offer & the cleaned-sung & more melodic  second last track "My Light Unseen" standing out like a sore thumb in a tracklisting that's otherwise completely focused on brutality (is it just me of does Reeves sound a fair bit like a better version of Nickelback's Chad Kroeger on that track?). The quality never dips below a really solid base level though & the three track run from "For the Wicked" to "Deceiver" sits amongst the strongest I've heard from the deathcore subgenre. I can honestly say that I get really pumped up by this music & feel like it's the perfect way to get my aggression out. It's also worth noting that "Baptized In Filth" was one of a number of records that contributed to me wanting to work on this website with Ben in the first place. It's always frustrated me that certain genres of music unanimously seem to receive such poor ratings on RYM regardless of the merit of the release as a representation of the sound (for the record "Baptized In Filth" is currently sitting at a pathetic 3.08 from 150 ratings after a full ten years since release) & the fact that Metal Archives don't even consider most deathcore releases to be metal enough for inclusion on their site but are happy for Rush & Scorpions to take part is mind-boggling. This made me want to help create an environment where fans of all types of metal can identify the best releases for their personal preferences &, low & behold, that's what we've done, isn't it? Anyway... I strongly urge any death metal fans out there who think they don't like deathcore to give "Baptized In Filth" a few spins. You may be surprised at the outcome.

4.5/5

I've been putting them on while my wife is out & I'm left to play with the kids solo Sonny. It gives me a break from being so focused & analytical with all of my metal listening & I really enjoy being able to zone in & out without having to worry about missing some significant element. I think The Fallen playlists are going splendidly just quietly. In fact I'd suggest that they're possibly my favourite Metal Academy Radio playlists actually. They're certainly the most consistent (at least they are for me which is likely contributed to by the fact that I enjoy pretty much the whole list of subgenres the clan contains). The appeal has definitely improved since you took over the programming from me too Sonny as it was simply too challenging a task for me to put together nine playlists a month & still maximize their potential. I think we've naturally got a pretty good mix of underground & classic, old school & new due to the listening habits of the three contributors being fairly opposing in that regard. You're doing a good job at including all of the subgenres too. I think there's probably less tracks being included that sit on the fringes of the clan definition now too which is positive in my opinion.

German power metal with fire & substance.

I struggled with "Hammer King" a bit to be honest. It holds some pretty cool hooks at times but the impact of these are often cancelled out by the usual German power metal traits of overblown cheese (see the epic "King Of Kings" for example which I really want to like due to its a wonderfully anthemic chorus but are left just short as I simply can't overcome the world of pomp & schmaltz that surrounds it). We've got this album tagged as a Heavy Metal release on the Metal Academy database at present but one quick spin should leave the listener with very little doubt as to the inaccuracy of that tag as this is quite clearly a European Power Metal record. While it may often reference the US brand of Power Metal & is heavily influenced by Iron Maiden, it's really only the one-two punch of Maiden-worshipping "Into The Storm" & the more traditionally focused "Ashes To Ashes" that see Hammer King leaning over into the more classic style of metal for any prolonged duration.

Former Ross The Boss front man Patrick Fuchs is a more than capable vocalist but I can't help but wish that he sounded a little more ballsy. As it is he's got that unintimidating Geddy Lee kinda thing going on during most of the verses & it's only really during the more powerful & anthemic choruses that I can start to admire his prowess. Much admired guitarist Gino Wilde is another one that I'm not completely onboard with. He clearly doesn't have the technical skills of your average European power metal axeman so he stays very much within himself & in doing so ends up sounding... well... a bit flat & dull I guess. It becomes immediately obvious as to what he's missing when Isaac Delahaye (Epica/God Dethroned/MaYaN) makes a guest appearance on "Hammerschlag" with a shredding display that lifts things up significantly for a fleeting moment & that kinda sums up my feelings on this album to an extent. It's all a little too basic & easy on the ear while those trademark European power metal choir style backing vocals easily manage to get my goat & further taint my experience. Still.... there are some pretty enjoyable moments here when Hammer King can keep their more bombastic tendencies in check (see very solid opener & album highlight "Awaken the Thunder" for example) & I'd probably suggest that I find around 40% of the tracklisting to be fairly entertaining. Unfortunately it's not enough to see me returning to "Hammer King" any time soon though.

3/5

Relentless German black metal.

Back at the time of release "Infektion 1813" was in high rotation in my car & remained in my playlist for a good few weeks. I think it's fair to say that it made a pretty big impact on me as I was crying out for a more aggressive style of black metal in a market that was becoming increasingly less imposing but time has seen me realigning my view point a touch & dropping my score by a half star. I generally love the ultra-brutal, super-blasting style of pure black metal so there's no surprise that this is my bag but it's not quite as consistent as I remember it being & I wonder if I'd still prefer it to Endstille's previous album "Verführer" which I'm also a fan of. "Infektion 1813" is generally well executed & I don't mind a band that sticks to the classic black metal model when that's the case. I do think I enjoy the more blasting material more than the rest of the tracks though with "When Kathaaria Falls", "Wrecked" & the heavily Immortal-influenced album high point "Satanarchie" being genuine classics in my world. Unlike Vinny, I do think these tracks reach climaxes during the best material, mainly through the intelligent use of transitions between some quality tremolo-picked riffs. The rockier sounding "Bloody H (The Hurt-Gene)" doesn't compare terribly well despite still being pretty enjoyable however the ten minute closer "Endstille (Völkerschlächter)" is simply too lightweight & repetitive for my taste & I could definitely have done without it. Regardless... I love the grimmer stuff included here, especially the vocals when they're at their darkest. I also love the blast beats even if the snare sound is pretty over-powering & could have been better produced. If you love the bands like Marduk, 1349 & Dark Funeral then you'll surely find a fair bit to enjoy here.

4/5

Although I seem to enjoy this album a bit more than the rest of you, I have to admit that the closing ballad is pretty flat & was a poor option in my opinion. It's the only track on the album that offers me little in the way of appeal.

Congratulations Sonny. That's an exciting lifestyle change alright.

My family are taking one ourselves actually. We sold our two bedroom apartment on the Northern Beaches of Sydney a week & a half ago & then bought a five bedroom house with a big pool on the Gold Coast in Queensland. We'll be moving up there in early April.

Perhaps that’s because the only thing black metal about “Mestarin kynsi” is the vocals Andi. It’s really a post metal record in my opinion. Make sure you vote for this release in The Hall.

Thanks for the heads up Andi. I haven't heard those albums before. I know you're not a fan of any of the bands you've compared these records to though. What gives these records the edge over the Gulch's & Inside The Beehive's of the world?

Beautifully executed mid-90's thrash metal from Perth, Australia.

Several of you have expressed feelings of nostalgia at having revisited this month's Chevelle feature release. I was previously unfamiliar with that particular album however this one sits very much in that nostalgic space for me personally as some of these songs have left permanent marks on my youth & bring back a multitude of memories of being an active member of the Aussie extreme metal scene in the early -to-mid 1990's. Despite the fact that Allegiance were from Perth, they didn't mind travelling & picked up several big name national support slots so I was lucky enough to see them live on numerous occasions. Boy, they were a great live band too & I feel that this album is made more appealing by my recollections of those live experiences to be honest. Conrad Higson is a very talented & charismatic front man & all of the instrumentalists are first class & obviously fairly experienced performers which gives Allegiance an edge over much of what was going on around them at the time. They just seemed to get it if you know what I mean.

"D.E.S.T.I.T.U.T.I.O.N" doesn't do much different to what the Americans were doing in the late 1980's & early 1990's but it matches the majority of them for class & consistency. Names like Metallica, Exodus, Anthrax, Sacred Reich, Slayer & Sepultura often spring to mind while experiencing the truck load of fantastic riffs on offer here & they're further enhanced by some really intelligent arrangements. I have to admit that I'm not much of a fan of the sporadically used death metal vocals which come across like a poor man's Karl Willetts from Bolt Thrower. The occasional blast beat is more successful in its execution though & adds a nice differentiator from your standard Bay Area fodder. The lead guitar solos are wonderfully executed & are a definite highlight as they often elevate the song-writing to new levels & help to create wonderful transitions & climaxes. If only Allegiance had been able to more consistently maintain the impressive level of song-writing that made "Chaos Ends" & "Morally Justified" such classics for an 18 year-old me. There are no weak tracks per se but there's a definite gap between the best material & the filler. Regardless, this is possibly the best Aussie thrash release of the 1990's & it's when looking at releases like this one that you can see the major holes in the coverage of a site like RateYourMusic which only has 44 ratings for this record 28 years later. 

4/5

Speaking of live CDs, the new songs in Metallica's S&M I think work better than just playing their earlier songs with the orchestra in the background, like this grand piece:

Yeah I have a bit of time for this track. It's probably helped by the fact that it isn't tainted by my having already known & loved it as a non-orchestral version like much of the other material on "S&M" which I find to be a pretty disappointing release. Surprisingly I find "Nothing Else Matters" to be the highlight track which was very unexpected

I actually regard "Something Wicked This Way Comes" as my second favourite Iced Earth record behind 1995's "Burnt Offerings". I quite like "The Dark Saga" & the self-titled debut too but could never get into "Night of the Stormrider" to be honest. Iced Earth's best work is the "Alive In Athens" triple CD though in my opinion.

That's a pretty solid power ballad right there Andi. I've always really enjoyed the chorus hook. Big-time KISS influence in my opinion.

Can't promise I won't swap that track out with this one during the playlist transfer though.

Ground-breaking industrial metal from Seattle, USA.

So this release is every bit as unusual as it's descriptors would suggest. On RYM it's tagged as digital hardcore, industrial metal & industrial rock primaries with nu metal & jungle secondaries. Now I don't know much about digital hardcore but the only thing hardcore here (at least in the punk sense) is the aggressive vocal delivery which would fit seamlessly on a metalcore release from our The Revolution clan. There's no punk in the instrumentation whatsoever & I have a real problem with genre-tagging being reliant on just the vocal style. The other tags are very accurate with the exeption of industrial rock which isn't really required here. The guitar work here is heavily distorted with rhythms that often remind me of bands like Ministry or Fear Factory however the beats that surround it are heavily influenced by jungle/drum 'n' bass as well as pounding up-tempo hard techno & gabba. The inclusion of some nu metal style rapping isn't very well received by this metalhead unfortunately but you only see that very occasionally. The Shizit certainly make an almighty racket but ironically the moments that I enjoy most are when they embrace their more atmospheric electronic side with beautiful Moby style synths presenting a tranquil outlook before the savagery returns. There's no doubt that this is an interesting & original work but does it all work? In a word no it doesn't but the failures are easily outweighed by the wins & I left the experience with a largely positive feeling.

3.5/5

Not if you've worn it. I know where you've been.

Please replace it with these ones Sonny:

Anathema - "Radiance" (from "Eternity", 1996)

Crowbar - "Like Broken Glass" (from "Broken Glass", 1996)

I'd suggest that some of the releases in the Metal Academy lists are being boosted by having been awarded feature release status given the low rating numbers required to enter the list (see "Inhuman Rampage", "Dawn Of Victory", "Power Plant", etc).

Ben, if you're reading this, please implement that ability!

You already can from the releases page. The charts page is pretty much redundant these days as Ben's done a great job with the releases page.

Here's my revised list:

1970: Black Sabbath – “Paranoid”

1971: Black Sabbath – “Master Of Reality”

1972: Black Sabbath – “Vol 4”

1973: Black Sabbath – “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”

1974: Budgie – “In For The Kill”

1975: Black Sabbath – “Sabotage”

1976: Judas Priest - "Sad Wings Of Destiny"

1977: Quartz – “Quartz”

1978: Judas Priest – “Killing Machine”

1979: Judas Priest – “Unleashed In The East”

1980: Diamond Head – “Lightning To The Nations”

1981: Motorhead – “No Sleep Till Hammersmith”

1982: Ozzy Osbourne – “Speak Of The Devil”

1983: Slayer – “Show No Mercy”

1984: Metallica – “Ride The Lightning”

1985: Exodus – “Bonded By Blood”

1986: Slayer – “Reign In Blood”

1987: Bathory – “Under The Sign Of The Black Mark”

1988: Metallica – “…And Justice For All”

1989: Morbid Angel – “Altars Of Madness”

1990: Slayer - "Seasons In The Abyss"

1991: Death – “Human”

1992: Alice In Chains – “Dirt”

1993: diSEMBOWELMENT – “Transcendence Into The Peripheral”

1994: Darkthrone – “Transilvanian Hunger”

1995: Suffocation – “Pierced From Within”

1996: Burzum – “Filosofem”

1997: The Gathering - "Nighttime Birds"

1998: ISIS – “The Mosquito Control” E.P.

1999: Botch - "We Are The Romans"

2000: Immolation – “Close To A World Below”

2001: Tool - "Lateralus"

2002: ISIS – “Oceanic”

2003: Boris – “Boris At Last -Feedbacker-“

2004: ISIS – “Panopticon”

2005: Deathspell Omega – “Kenose” E.P.

2006: Celtic Frost – “Monotheist”

2007: Ufomammut/Lento - "Supernaturals - Record One"

2008: Pig Destroyer - "Natasha" E.P.

2009: Dragged Into Sunlight - "Hatred For Mankind" (2009)

2010: Deathspell Omega - "Paracletus"

2011: Inside The Beehive - "Drink Bleach; Live Forever" E.P.

2012: 7 Horns 7 Eyes - "Throes Of Absolution" (2012)

2013: The Amenta - "Flesh Is Heir"

2014: Dead Congregation - "Promulgation Of The Fall"

2015: Akhlys - "The Dreaming I"

2016: Mick Gordon - "Doom (Original Game Soundtrack)"

2017: Fen - "Winter"

2018: Messa - "Feast For Water"

2019: Altesia - "Paragon Circus"

2020: Oranssi Pazuzu - "Mestarin kynsi"

2021: Fange - "Pantocrator"

Here's my updated list:

25. Suffocation - "Despise The Sun" E.P.

24. ISIS - "The Mosquito Control" E.P. (1998)

23. Dragged Into Sunlight - "Hatred For Mankind" (2009)

22. diSEMBOWELMENT - "Transcendence Into The Peripheral" (1993)

21. Neurosis - "Souls At Zero" (1992)

20. Botch - "We Are The Romans" (1999)

19. Rosetta - "The Galilean Satellites" (2005)

18. Slayer - "South Of Heaven" (1988)

17. Immolation - "Close To A World Below" (2000)

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

15. Suffocation - "Pierced From Within" (1995)

14. Boris - "Boris At Last -Feedbacker-" (2003)

13. Alice In Chains - "Dirt" (1992)

12. Death - "Human" (1991)

11. 7 Horns 7 Eyes - "Throes Of Absolution" (2012)

10. Morbid Angel - "Altars Of Madness" (1989)

09. Metallica - "...And Justice For All" (1988)

08. Mick Gordon - "DOOM (Original Game Soundtrack)" (2016)

07. Akhlys - "The Dreaming I" (2015)

06. Sunn O))) - "Black One" (2005)

05. Ufomammut/Lento - "Supernaturals - Record One" (2007)

04. Pig Destroyer - "Natasha" E.P. (2008)

03. Deathspell Omega - "Kenose" E.P. (2005)

02. Burzum - "Filosofem" (1996)

01. Slayer - "Reign In Blood" (1986)

Amazing progressive death metal from Washington, USA.

I have very different feelings to Vinny on this one. Drastically different in fact. I have to say that this may be the finest example of progressive death metal that I've ever encountered. It's everything I've ever wanted the genre to be in one fully realized & incredibly cohesive package. It's utterly astounding to see how far this band have come since their debut EP. The one thing I do agree with Vinny on is that this is instrumentally much more in line with progressive metal & djent than it is with your classic death metal sound. The Dream Theater & Meshuggah influences are obvious throughout but the vocal delivery is so crushingly brutal that it never allows the listener to entirely let go of the death metal tag. This record is ridiculously complex but never feels forced or jerky. It's unapologetically progressive yet never feels meandering or artsy. There's plenty of melody & the regular incorporation of keyboards for atmospherics but it never loses it's menace & I never feel myself reaching for melodeath as a point of reference. The instrumentalists all put in wonderful performances with the guitarists putting on a scintillating display. But it's the vocals that are the highlight here for me. I just love them to death.

So why is "Throes Of Absolution" so overlooked in the scene? Well, I would guess there's a number of reasons that I can think of. Their metalcore roots haven't done them any favours whatsoever but I don't share Vinny's view that you can hear any inkling of that sound here. It's completely gone as far as I can see. These roots have led to sites like Metal Archives not even giving 7 Horns 7 Eyes an entry pass into their database which is absolutely ludicrous in my opinion & once again shows why true music fans should shun that website. Another reason 7 Horns 7 Eyes have failed to gain traction would be the incompetent & inappropriate genre tagging of sites like RYM. This is clearly not a classic death metal or melodeath record so those going into it expecting to hear those sounds may be disappointed. And the third reason that I'd suggest "Throes Of Absolution" is underrated is the fact that 7 Horns 7 Eyes are openly Christian & their lyrics are focused on Christian themes. That's a sure-fire way to piss off the elitist death metal community. Thankfully Metal Academy is free of that elitist bullshit so I'm hoping this can be the place that champions this unbelievable example of extreme progressive metal (& yes this is another example of why I think we should consider creating that genre tag in our database in my opinion).

5/5

My updated Top Ten Drone Metal Releases Of All Time after replacing :

01. Sunn O))) – “Black One” (2005)

02. Boris – “Boris At Last -Feedbacker-“ (2003)

03. Jesu – “Jesu” (2004)

04. Monarch! – “Omen” (2012)

05. Neptunian Maximalism – “Eons” (2020)

06. Boris with Merzbow – “Rock Dream” (2007)

07. Corrupted – “Llenandose de gusanos” (1999)

08. Earth – “Extra-Capsular Extraction” E.P. (1991)

09. Sunn O))) – “Monoliths & Dimensions” (2009)

10. Naked City - "Leng Tch'e" (1992)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/137

Fabulous Tool-inspired alternative metal from Illinois, USA.

As I said above, this was my first attempt at a full-length Chevelle record & I've gotta say that I was well impressed. Much like last month's Karnivool feature release, there's nothing terribly original going on here but the material is all full realized & beautifully executed. I'd suggest that Chevelle's sound sits right in the middle of your early-to-mid 90's alternative rock/grunge sound & a heavier alternative metal one with Tool, Deftones & Bush all being strong influences. Hell, the title track even seems to draw on classic Soundgarden for inspiration. Vocally, front man Pete Loeffler certainly sounds very, very close to Tool mastermind Maynard James Keenan & that will always see the bands tied together. Rightly so too. I mean you can't really miss the Tool worship right from the very first seconds of opening cut & album high point Family System as it's fairly blatant in nature. Thankfully I'm a big Tool fan & wish they'd released more material so I actually value this release for partially filling that gap & in order to do that Chevelle needed to really nail their sound, a task that they've succeeded at with flying colours by utilizing a similarly powerful guitar crunch to Tool axeman Adam Jones. Does this record reside in the poppy post-grunge camp with the likes of Creed & Nickelback as some critics seem to indicate? Fuck no it doesn't! It's certainly catchy as hell but it's got a fuck-load more integrity & weight than that. I don't find it to be repetitive as others mentioned above & can't see where there's any lack of talent either. Once the hooks dug their talons in each of the songs gained their own personality & I actually think most metalheads with an interest in alternative metal will really dig this record as long as they don't go into it with any misleading preconceptions.

4/5

Earl Sweatshirt - "Sick!" (2022)

A short 24 minute & fairly artsy west coast hip hop album that had its moments but was generally pretty underwhelming. I have to admit that I often find myself struggling with the more abstract hip hop & crave a more traditional, dark & aggressive hardcore style.

I do still enjoy those Guardians releases, but like Vinny says, burnout is inevitable. I might feel burned out with heavy/power metal at times mainly because I haven't made power metal my primary target of interest in over 4 years, yet at the same time, I try to build up that part of my metal taste based on recs and what I might like. Kinda like when my dad cooks for dinner some stir-fry chicken that I used to like and even though I've lost some of its appeal, I would eat it anyway. Sooo... I'm going to give some of the 14 Guardians releases I've rated since October each a good review and see if that's enough to motivate me to continue my Guardians submissions beyond my ones for March. Time to check if I still have the heart of a Guardian!

Why would you feel burned out with those subgenres if you haven't made them your primary target of interest in over four years Andi? I would have thought the break would do the complete opposite & prevent any possibility of burnout. My point is that there's actually no need to HAVE a primary target of interest. There are truckloads of metal subgenres to explore so why tie yourself down to only a few & why commit to reviewing all of those releases you've already rated in the hope of revitalizing your interest? Why not simply put on whatever you feel like it & enjoy it for what it is in that particular moment? 

Also, your comparisons with force-feeding yourself your dad's cooking is confusing me because you've been rating the vast majority of these The Guardians releases 4.5/5 or 5/5 which is giving the impression that you think they're amongst the most enjoyable releases you've ever heard. Is that not the case?

Not feeling as much of the heavy/power metal vibe as much as I used to, so these submissions might be my last for now. Will explain more about it later.

It's interesting to hear you say that Andi because your ratings don't reflect that at all. In fact they indicate the exact opposite. If we look at all of your The Guardians related ratings since October 2021 they average a score of 4.54/5 across 14 releases which is a phenomenally high result. There wouldn't be another member that could compete with that across any clan actually. I don't mean to overstep my welcome but do you think that your tendency to commit to rating/reviewing every release in a band's back catalogue is contributing to your drop in enthusiasm given the large commitment that takes? I would think it would certainly make it a challenge to come up with fresh playlist ideas. I know when I've been too scripted about my listening habits I've started to feel boxed in & the best thing to do has been to just listen to whatever the hell I feel like for a while & all of a sudden music just seems a whole bunch more fun again. Variety is the spice of life after all. Feel free to tell me fuck right off though of course. Sometimes I well & truly deserve it. 

I find this list less surprising than you do Sonny. It all comes down to RYM's market which is heavily weighted towards the United States. Iron Maiden have always struggled to gain the same sort of traction in the USA as they have in Europe for example while the likes of Rage Against The Machine & System Of A Down are easily more popular in the USA than they are anywhere else in the world.

RYM also has an inherent bias towards certain genres & subgenres of music for the same reason actually. I've often noticed that genres like hip hop, folk, progressive rock & indie rock seem to pick up enormous numbers on RYM compared to where I would think those genres sit with the rest of the world. In metal circles it's very hard for a traditionally focused metal album to score well these days with the more progressive, avant-garde & atmospheric releases inevitably scoring more interest. This was one of the reasons we started up the Metal Academy website in the first place actually. Plus, there are pockets of the globe that receive very little attention compared to others. Take my home country of Australia for example. There are loads of great Aussie releases that have been around for years/decades but are still yet to receive 100 ratings on RYM & these are often worthy of much more adoration than some of the top rating releases (see last month's The Sphere feature release for example which was my album of 2013 yet is only sitting at 81 ratings at present). Hopefully we eventually see MA taking off a bit & giving us a more rounded view of the wider metal opinion.

Nah... Epica won out by sending me a 1349 COVID mask & a set of limited edition Devourment condoms. I dunno why my wife freaks out so much when I wear them simultaneously though. It's a mystery.

What?! Where's Exterminator's "Total Extermination"?? 

Don't lie Ben. You know perfectly well that we did it the same way as all the other major metal sites by awarding the win to the highest bidders & the bands that send us the most free shit & share the most of their blow.

Crushing German funeral doom metal.

My updated list:

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

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

03. Esoteric – “Metamorphogenesis” (1999)

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

05. Evoken – “Atra Mors” (2012)

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

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

08. Monolithe – “Monolithe II” (2005)

09. Ea – “Ea” (2012)

10. Ea – “Au ellai” (2010)

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

It's been more than a decade since I first witnessed "Call Of The Wretched Sea" but I've returned to it several times & it never fails to capture me with its deep, nautical atmosphere. The super gutteral vocals are a real highlight & there's a consistent quality to the entire tracklisting but the album sneaks up on you as it progresses as it doesn't peak until the final two tracks which are nothing short of extraordinary. I love the short dark ambient interlude "Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales" that sits in the middle of the record too as it's beautifully executed & breaks the tracklisting on nicely. As Saxy implied earlier, Ahab's brand of crushingly slow extreme metal is perhaps a little too simply structured to compete with Esoteric at the very top of the funeral doom mountain however it stands tall with the best of the rest & I come out of it feeling empowered by its miserable majesty.

4.5/5

The Every Time I Die record was a worthy winner here in my opinion although I was pleasantly surprised by the Bullet For My Valentine one & it wasn't as far behind as I would have thought prior to giving it a few spins. "Radical" is beautifully executed though & it showcases a high class outfit that have sadly since dissolved due to internal conflict.

I agree with you Xephyr. I wouldn't say that I'm anywhere near as on top of new releases as some of our other members are but I had four black metal releases in front of "...And Again Into The Light". There's no doubt that it's a very strong release & I'd comfortably take it over a lot of previous Panopticon records but Mare Cognitum took my bikkies over Ethereal Shroud, Spectral Wound & Le Chants de Nihil with Panopticon finishing in a respectable fifth place. I wouldn't say that I checked out a The North release that captivated me at that very top level this year though. None of these records reached "classic" status for me personally.

"Colors II" was on my list to check out in January but I sadly ran out of time. Between The Buried & Me's consistently strong "Colors_Live" live album really impressed me but it's been too long since I've checked out its studio partner to remember who I felt about it. Perhaps that's why I wasn't jumping out of my skin for "Colors II". Oh well... my loss I guess.

Altarage's "Succumb" album just pipped "Imperative Imperceptible Impulse" at the post for my The Horde release of the year but that doesn't stop it from being a deserved winner nonetheless. The class & ambition of that record are nothing short of astounding.

"Omega" was actually our highest rating release of the year overall however I can't see it being something that'd appeal to me so I've given it a wide birth. Perhaps I'll re-evaluate that position after this result though.

P.S. I'm surprised to see that Accept cover artwork winning. Must have been slim pickings this year.

I never actually got around to listening to "Niratias" although I did enjoy all of the tracks I selected for the monthly playlists so it definitely shows strong potential. Perhaps I'll see how I go with this month's feature release first though as it'll be my first attempt at taking on a full Chevelle record.

Yeah, "Bloodmoon: I" was my The Fallen Release Of The Year too. It grew on me so much with each successive listen which is a sign of its depth & character. It just oozes class, particularly the way it starts & finishes.

Relentless brutal death metal from South Carolina, USA.