Daniel's Forum Replies

Very professionally produced US stoner rock for fans of Samsara Blues Experiment, Black Pyramid & early Weedpecker.

Elder - "Spires Burn / Release" E.P. (2012)

So my Top Ten Stoner Metal Releases of All Time list has only been live for four days & I've already made a change to it. This 22 minute two track E.P. from Massachusetts stoner metal outfit Elder has really impressed me. In truth it kinda sits halfway between stoner metal & stoner rock in my opinion with hints of a grungy Smashing Pumpkins/Soundgarden thing going on at times too. The bass guitar sound is absolutely enormous & the instrumentation is really interesting with the touches of psychedelia being of particular interest to me. Elder possibly just need a world class vocalist to bump this band up into the top tier as Nicholas DiSalvo is simply serviceable which isn't all that unusual for a stoner metal act. Overall though, this a very consistent & extremely solid example of the genre which would be unlikely to leave you disappointed if that sounds like your bag. The fact that it's bumped Sleep's "Dopesmoker" out of my top ten should be reason enough to check it out.

For fans of Samsara Blues Experiment,  Black Pyramid & early Weedpecker.

4/5

A wonderfully short & blasting grindcore classic for fans of Napalm Death, Brutal Truth & Cretin.

Repulsion - "Horrified" (1989)

The only album from legendary Michigan-based grindcore godfathers Repulsion was actually a collection of old demos that was distributed by Carcass on their own label Necrosis Records. The band's demos are often recognized as some of the most seminal examples of the early grindcore movement & are commonly credited as being responsible for popularizing the use of blast beats as a primary creative tool which has always added to the appeal of "Horrified" but, despite these claims, it's a damn fine record in its own right. It doesn't sound like a collection of demos to be honest as the vast majority of the tracklisting offers a similar style of song-writing & production. The death metal component in Repulsion's sound is often overstated in my opinion. They really sound very much like a particularly aggressive thrash metal band that has recruited a grindcore drummer, kinda like former Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris has joined Slayer with Venom front man Cronos behind the microphone & that can't be a bad thing. The groovier riffs don't appeal to me half as much as the pure blast-fests like "The Stench of Burning Death", "Crematorium" & "Maggots in Your Coffin" but they rarely hang around for long. "Horrified" is a top five grindcore record for me personally & serves the purpose of the subgenre perfectly i.e. a brutal blast of energy that doesn't require much thought or overstay its welcome.

For fans of Napalm Death, Brutal Truth & Cretin.

4/5

"Never Say Die!", "Technical Ecstasy" & "Forbidden" are the only Sabbath records I don't have time for. In saying that though, I don't think they've released anything essential since "Mob Rules".

I don't wish to be a contrarian (no stop laughing, I really don't!!) but I think TE is unduly lambasted by Sabbath fans, especially considering that it has an average rating on RYM less than The Eternal F@*$ing Idol for chrissakes!! Yes, She's Gone is a bit wimpy, the Bill Ward fronted It's Alright isn't great and Rock 'n' Roll Doctor is a bit naff, but Back Street Kids is a decent opener. You Won't Change Me and Gypsy are brilliant tracks and Dirty Women, besides the un-PC lyrics has one of, if not THE best Tony Iommi solos ever. I get it that if you bought it as the new Sabbath album at the time after following Sabbath through the classic years, you may have found it disappointing, but how many people can say that? Conversely, it was the first Sabbath album I shelled out good money on and as such was my first proper metal purchase, so maybe my opinion is coloured by that, but I still get plenty of enjoyment when I play it (which I do often enough).

Look, I do think that "Technical Ecstasy" starts & finishes quite well (strangely "She's Gone" is the highlight of the album for me) but I really struggle with the four track run in the middle of the record, particularly "It's Alright" & "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor" which are amongst Sabbath's worst failures in my opinion. Also, I think it's a stretch to call it a metal record. I actually don't think it knows what it's trying to be but a hard rock tag seems much more appropriate to me. I'd comfortably take "The Eternal Idol" over it. In fact, I'd take "The Eternal Idol" over six or seven of their albums as I quite like it.

Classic Bay Area thrash metal for fans of Metallica, Exodus & Death Angel.

Testament - "The New Order" (1988)

"The New Order" saw Testament taking on a fresh new sound which included a growing reliance on melody & a more mature approach to song-writing. There are still plenty of the energetic thrash riffs that made "The Legacy" so appealing but the numerous acoustic sections & extra melodic content accentuate the heavier moments which gives them greater significance. Alex Skolnick's guitar solos are the clear highlight here & they lifted him to legendary status with me as a budding young shredder. His ability to create truly memorable lead solos without compromising on the technical wizardry was mind-blowing. Greg Christian's bass performance has plenty of energy & should not be overlooked either. He reminds a lot of Anthrax's Frank Bello at times while Chuck Billy's vocal display is top notch. Unfortunately there are some negatives to speak of though. The production is well short of the mark (especially in the rhythm guitar department) & this removes any chance "The New Order" had of reaching true thrash classic status with me personally. Louie Clemente's drumming is also pretty basic which leaves much of the material feeling like there's some untapped potential that could have been uncovered with a more adventurous & exciting approach.

As for the songs themselves, we have a pretty consistent record overall. The Aerosmith cover "Nobodys Fault" is the clear weak point & sounds more like Skid Row than a thrash band. It should certainly have been omitted as it's simply not at the same standard as the originals but I think the rest of the material is very solid. Of the proper songs my highlights include the title track, "Disciples Of the Watch" & "Into The Pit" but the real highlight for me is two-minute instrumental "Hypnosis" which shows Skolnick's lead guitar skills at their absolute best. It's a soaring & highly emotive performance that easily manages to overcome the production issues that hold back the rest of the album (which is partly due to it's lack of rhythm guitars in all honesty).

Overall, "The New Order" is a quality thrash metal album that had the potential to be a real classic with a bit more care in the production department. It's certainly a worthy follow-up to Testament's more widely celebrated debut which has a slight of edge over it's younger sibling with me these days thanks to its raw & aggressive tone. 

For fans of Metaliica, Exodus & Death Angel.

4/5

45 years old today & still just as disappointing.

Wow, some of these anniversaries just make me seem so old these days. 30 YEARS?? WFT dude!? I picked this release up on CD fairly soon after it was released as I was a really big fan of Vinnie's 1986 debut album "Mind's Eye". Both are outstanding examples of the instrumental guitar shred album. He was one of the most underrated guitar heroes ever in my opinion as he had a wonderful sense of melody & could actually write songs.

For this weekend's weekly top ten list I thought I'd tackle the stoner metal genre:

01. High On Fire – “De vermis mysteriis” (2012)

02. Electric Wizard – “Let Us Prey” (2002)

03. Adrift For Days – “The Lunar Maria” (2010)

04. Electric Wizard – “Supercoven” E.P. (1998)

05. Electric Wizard – “Dopethrone” (2000)

06. Boris – “あくまのうた (Akuma no uta)” (2003)

07. Electric Wizard – “Come My Fanatics…” (1997)

08. Elder - "Spires Burn / Release" E.P. (2012)

09. Down – “NOLA” (1995)

10. Sleep – “Sleep’s Holy Mountain” (1992)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/135

Let's see what ya got guys!

X Japan - "Art Of Life" E.P. (1993)

I'm not sure why I thought I needed to check out this underground classic of an E.P. from Japanese visual kei godfathers X Japan after not finding any enjoyment whatsoever in 1998's "Art Of Life Live" E.P. but I definitely got what I deserved here. "Art of Life" comprises of a single 29 minute epic that takes the listener on a melodic journey through various different movements & phases. It's certainly quite an ambitious & progressive undertaking from a conceptual view point however the base of the work sits within the symphonic power metal spectrum. There's no doubt that "Art of Life" is a beautifully composed & executed piece of art however it's also cheesy as all fuck which isn't terribly surprising for a Japanese power metal release. I particularly struggle with the symphonic component which culminates in a lengthy section where the piano becomes the main focal point. "Art of Life" is far from awful but I think it's fair to say that I had no business venturing anywhere near it. *quickly retreats into his 80's thrash comfort zone*

For fans of Galneryus, Versailles & Light Bringer.

2.5/5

Spectacular Birmingham-based funeral doom metal for fans of Evoken, Thergothon & Skepticism.

Here's my updated top ten (baring in mind that I don't believe in the one release per band philosophy):

01. Pig Destroyer – “Natasha” E.P. (2008)

02. Sunn O))) – “Black One” (2005)

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

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

05. Rosetta – “The Galilean Satellites” (2005)

06. Neurosis – “Souls At Zero” (1992)

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

08. Isis – “The Mosquito Control” E.P. (1998)

09. Isis – “Panopticon” (2004)

10. Celtic Frost – “Monotheist” (2006)

Here's my updated list:

25. Darkthrone - "Transilvanian Hunger" (1994)

24. Carcass - "Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious" (1991)

23. ISIS - "Panopticon" (2004)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10. Death - "Human" (1991)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

02. Burzum - "Filosofem" (1996)

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

Esoteric - "The Maniacal Vale" (2008)

Jesus Fucking Christ! Birmingham-based funeral doom metallers Esoteric's 2008 fifth album "The Maniacal Vale" is utter genius. I'm absolutely blown away by it & think it might actually be the finest example of the subgenre I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Don't let the 100 minute double-album format put you off because the band cover a surprising amount of ground for an artist of this type. The post-metal influence is beautifully incorporated without ever sounding forced & the vocal performance is nothing short of spectacular. What a production job too! Look, I won't bother going into it more than that as Sonny's review sums up my feelings splendidly. Let's just say that Esoteric are comfortably the greatest funeral doom metal band of all in my opinion & this may just be their finest hour.

For fans of Evoken, Thergothon & Skepticism.

5/5

Here's my updated top ten:

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

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

03. Esoteric – “Metamorphogenesis” (1999)

04. Evoken – “Atra Mors” (2012)

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

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

07. Monolithe – “Monolithe II” (2005)

08. Ea – “Ea” (2012)

09. Ea – “Au ellai” (2010)

10. Remembrance – “Fall, Obsidian Night” (2010)

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

Galaxy 2 Galaxy - "A Hitech Jazz Compilation" (2005)

A compilation of old & newer Underground Resistance material that incorporates jazz into their traditional Detroit techno arsenal. I pulled the CD out from a box in my garage this morning. I originally bought it for the opening intro track "Metamorphosis" which I used as an intro to a studio mix I put together back in the mid-to-late 2000's & also for a wonderful track called "Return of the Dragons" which I used to play live. My most memorable moment with that particular track was dropping it as the closing track of an outdoor festival in Kangaroo Valley called "Party Under the Stars". It was 6 AM & there was still a pretty sizable crowd of munted punters on the dancefloor, most of whom were on LSD. The sun was just starting to come up & the green lasers were winding their way through the thick mist that was layered between the hills. It was an amazing site. Unfortunately the rest of the compilation is much too jazzy for my taste to be honest.

Acid Bath - "Paegan Terrorism Tactics" (1996)

Well it hasn't taken me long to make adjustments to the Top Ten Sludge Metal Releases Of All Time list I posted yesterday, has it? I've been meaning to give Louisiana sludge metallers Acid Bath's third album "Paegan Terrorism Tactics" a few spins ever since really enjoying their 1994 sophomore album "When The Kite String Pops" a year or so back & the results have proven to be equally rewarding. Acid Bath are the type of band that are very difficult to pigeon hole as the sludge metal tag seemed to be used predominantly in the absence of anything better suited. Sure, there are definitely a few sludge tracks amongst this lot however there's a lot more to this band than that. In fact, I'd suggest that there's probably as much stoner metal here as there is sludge with a very strong grunge influence & a noticeable Southern feel about everything they undertake. You can also expect to hear a bit of hardcore punk, death metal, darkwave & dark ambient scattered across the tracklisting too if you listen closely however it all somehow seems to sound like Acid Bath which is a definite feather in the band's caps. I love their crunchy guitar tone which is heavy as fuck & reminds me of Crowbar while the vocal performance of Dax Riggs is a major drawcard with his clean delivery sounding like a deeper version of Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme mixed in with a bit of a gothic influence at times. The stripped back acoustic tracks like "Dead Girl" are great but there's no surprise that it's the heavier material like the death metal-inspired "Locust Spawning" & the doomy album-highlight "Graveflower" that really float my boat. "Paegan Terrorism Tactics" is another great record from Acid Bath & I find it impossible to split the band's two classic releases.

For fans of Eyehategod, Melvins & Crowbar.

4/5

Vinny, I'll be surprised if you don't enjoy this one as I know you liked its predecessor & this one is just as good in my opinion.

I actually included one of the tracks from this album in the October playlist a few days ago Xephyr.

Hi guys. Please be aware that the playlist submission limit for The Fallen has now been increased to 30 minutes per month in an ongoing capacity after Andi's recent defection to The Gateway.

I'm late I know. As I haven't listened to much thrash this month - only the playlist and a couple of Anthrax albums - I only have a single nomination, which is Anthrax's The Enemy from Spreading the Disease. .

It's all good Sonny. I actually programmed the playlist for The Pit this morning so you've just got in in the nick of time. Great track too of course.

For the record, I don't want any of our clan members to feel pressured to submit tracks every month if they don't want to. It really doesn't make much difference to the process of compiling the playlists (in fact it adds a little bit of complexity if anything) & I wouldn't want people to think of it as a chore. It's just a fun way to participate in the site & the community for those that want to. :)

For this week's weekend top ten list, I decided to have a crack at my all-time favourite sludge metal releases (which doesn't include any post-sludge).

01. Pig Destroyer – “Natasha” E.P. (2008)

02. Isis – “The Mosquito Control” E.P. (1998)

03. Mastodon – “Leviathan” (2004)

04. Celeste – “Morte(s) Nee(s)” (2010)

05. Black Cobra – “Invernal” (2011)

06. Greenmachine – “D.A.M.N.” (1996)

07. Acid Bath – “When The Kite String Pops” (1994)

08. Acid Bath - "Paegan Terrorism Tactics" (1996)

09. Dystopia – “Human=Garbage” E.P. (1994)

10. Dystopia – “The Aftermath” E.P. (1999)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/133

Feel free to have a crack yourselves & post your results here.

I've loved me some war metal ever since I first heard Blasphemy back in the day. Outside of Canada, I'd suggest that Australia is the other major location in the war metal story with bands like Bestial Warlust & Abominator so I got a lot of exposure to it at a young age. I'm not sure I've listened to enough recently to put together a top ten but I'll perhaps work on it over the next little while. "Triumph Through Spears Of Sacrilege" is my immediate thought for a favourite these days though.

Interestingly, I had the pleasure of witnessing Bestial Warlust in a live environment on a couple of occasions back in the mid 1990's. They were a wall of indecipherable noise but god damn they were cool. Inversely, I also got drunk & had dinner with original guitarist Keith Warslut after a Destroyer 666 show once too. A complete cunt if I've ever met one.

Orbital - "The Box" single (1996)

I whacked on this ol' ambient techno/IDM single from Kent, England while playing with the kids this afternoon. I used to listen to it with my best mate in the early hours of the morning while winding down after drug-fueled nights out at dirty underground clubs in the early 2000's.

September has been an up & down month for me as far as feature releases go. There were a couple of records that did very little for me, a couple more that I quite enjoyed without ever getting too fanatical over, a few really solid records that floated my boat & a couple of genuine classics that had me frothing at the mouth. These were my results in order of preference:

THE REVOLUTION: Botch - "We Are The Romans" (1999)  5/5

THE HORDE: Altarage - "Succumb" (2021)  4.5/5

THE PIT: Infernal Majesty - "None Shall Defy" (1987)  4/5

THE INFINITE: Alcest - "Kodama" (2016)  4/5

THE FALLEN: Monolithe - "Monolithe II" (2005)  4/5

THE GATEWAY: Helmet - "Meantime" (1992)  3.5/5

THE SPHERE: Samael - "Passage" (1996)  3.5/5

THE NORTH: Manegarm - "Vredens tid" (2005)  3/5

THE GUARDIANS: Cauldron Born - "Born Of The Cauldron" (1997)  2.5/5

Well done to Andi for selecting my pick of the month.

A wonderful hour-long single-track album from these Norwegian progressive metallers. For fans of In The Woods..., Novembre & Wolverine.

Green Carnation - "Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness" (2001)

When I first encountered the 2001 sophomore album "Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness" from Norwegian progressive metallers Green Carnation I was absolutely blown away. I simply hadn't heard an hour-long single-track album that not only kept me interested throughout but also flowed effortlessly through any number of different & equally impressive movements. In fact, it made such an impression on me that I saw myself reaching for full marks which is a very rare occurrence.

We're now a good twelve years down that track & I've finally gotten around to revisiting this progressive masterpiece & it's certainly an impressive release that oozes of class. I do have to say that it hasn't connected with me on the same level as it did before though, mainly due to the fact that when I consume it in one sitting I find several parts that don't appeal to me as much as others from a purely stylistic point of view but also because I don't connect with the vocals as much as I'd need to for this record to maintain its place in my Hall of Metal Glory. I do love the sheer ambition in taking on so many different musical styles in the one lengthy piece & it's quite astonishing that they've made it sound so natural & fluent.

"Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness" is a prime example of a release that only really needs the "progressive metal" tag because it celebrates the very essence of progressive music while not really fitting into any of your popular genres. Sure, you can definitely identify the influence of the Peaceville Three in the heavier & doomier riff work (particularly My Dying Bride) & there are even more smatterings of the gothic metal of Type O Negative however you're never left pondering as to what type of album this one is. Don't expect to be dazzled with obscure time signatures & technical gymnastics though. That's not the sort of progressive metal Green Carnation concern themselves with. They're far too busy creating wonderfully captivating soundscapes to worry about anything too showy & that approach has rewarded them with an timeless & enduring release that may not annihilate me like it did over a decade ago but still manages to have me nodding in appreciation of some fully realised potential.

For fans of In The Woods..., Novembre & Wolverine.

4/5

VVVVV  *insert five star review from Andi with great urgency* VVVVV

I personally don't think the Extreme thing solves much. One man's (or woman's) extreme is another's soft. It's pretty subjective, and isn't representative of any particular sound.

That's just my opinion though.

I think it serves its purpose very well Ben. Fans of progressive metal tend to fall into two categories in my experience i.e. those that can tolerate extreme metal & those that can't. Often the fans of the extreme metal variety can't stand the clean stuff either so it makes sense to provide our audience with a way to easily filter out the releases that don't fit their particular taste profile. Also, there are definitely releases that don't fit into any of our traditional brackets & are genuinely built around a core of progressive music as their fundamental building blocks. I don't think it's wrong to bracket those releases together because their fan base generally crosses over. I don't think the meaning of the term "extreme metal" is all that subjective either. It's a commonly used & understood term these days.

I think the practice of taking genre tags literally is thwart with danger Sonny. I mean when was the last time that you found a heavy metal release to be particularly.... well... heavy? Death metal bands wouldn't have a long lifetime ahead of them if their genre name was literal either while the whole post-metal thing would seem to rely on the entire metal genre having completely ceased to exist before it could logically become a thing. I certainly understand what you're saying though & I agree to an extent but I do think that we need to remember what genre tags are really there for & that's to provide a point of reference for the audience. It's open for debate as to whether two bands can sound identical but still be considered to be genuinely "progressive" but labelling a band as a progressive metal artist leads people to develop a clear expectation in the same as any other tag & I don't think that's unreasonable. In my eyes progressive metal doesn't necessarily need to be breaking new ground to be deserving of its label but it does need to take a more expansive & often quite cerebral approach to composition & should also possess accomplished performances, complex song structures, clean & precise production qualities & the ability to build an atmosphere that takes the listener to places that are in direct contrast to their everyday lives.

High quality post-hardcore with smatterings of metalcore from Charlotte, USA. For fans of Skycamefalling, Poison The Well & Underøath.

Wow! My backlog of releases to check out must be really getting out of hand if I'm only now getting around to listening to one of the October 2020 feature releases I personally selected in Charlotte-based metalcore outfit Hopesfall's 2001 "No Wings To Speak Of" EP. Thankfully, I've ended up finding it to be yet another in a long line of really interesting feature releases for The Revolution though. It's not the most extreme of metalcore records. In fact, I'd suggest that it's a stretch to call it a metalcore record at all with the majority of the run time being made up of a melodic brand of post-hardcore that's built around some splendid & quite sophisticated guitar work. The four-song, 20-minute format is perfectly suited to this sort of accessible song-writing with no room being left for filler & the instrumentation is really pretty hard to fault, particularly the excellent post-rock inspired clean sections & reasonably complex guitar arpeggios. Unfortunately the over-the-top, screamy vocal performance lets the team down a touch as it fits pretty comfortably into the bracket of being pretty generic for the metalcore genre. His general tone sounds fairly immature in my opinion but that's not enough to thwart my attempts at indulging in what is a fine example of its type & I'd recommend "No Wings To Speak Of" to all fans of high quality metalcore & post-hardcore.

For fans of Skycamefalling, Poison The Well & Underøath.

4/5

Andi, you should be all over this one.

The chorus from this Swedish power metal anthem simply kills. For fans of Nocturnal Rites, Hibria & Sonata Arctica.

Lost Horizon - "Awakening the World" (2001)

Ok, so it's taken me a full four months to get around to checking out the other full-length album from Swedish power metallers Lost Horizon after I enjoyed their 2003 sophomore record "A Flame To The ground Beneath" so much back in May. I'm glad I've finally gotten there though because Lost Horizon's debut is every bit as solid as its younger sibling. In fact, if pushed I'd go so far as to say that I slightly prefer this one as its tracklisting is a touch more consistent to that of its more highly regarded follow-up which included a couple of flat numbers. This is a very similar package though to be fair with the inclusion of cheesy cover artwork, a similar musical direction, a glistening super-precise production, stunning musicianship & a tracklisting that's bookended by high quality ambient pieces. The vocal performance of Daniel Heiman is once again a highlight as his tone is incredibly pure & he seems to hit those high notes & harmonies far more effortlessly than most of his peers. The guitar solos are also fantastic & often take the song-writing to another level. I do have to stubbornly admit that I enjoy the less popular & slower tracks that seem to be inspired by classic heavy metal a little more than the faster speed metal driven stuff though but that seems to be par for the course with my power metal experiences overall.

This more melodic & symphonic brand of power metal isn't generally my bag but I simply can't go past these guys as they seem to absolutely nail everything they attempt & rarely cross over the dreaded cheese line, even if they do skate along it quite often. I know it's a big call but "Awakening The World" sits amongst the top four or five power metal records I've heard.

For fans of Nocturnal Rites, Hibria & Sonata Arctica.

4/5

A question that has always bothered me is at what point does an extreme metal release become progressive and what exactly does progressive mean when related to extreme metal. Enslaved, for example, have always written more complex music than a large number of their peers, but I think you would be hard pressed to tag albums like Vikingligr Veldi and Eld as progressive even though, for black metal released at the time, some of the tracks were definitely more convoluted than the norm. So at what point did they become progressive (because latter day releases are) and what would be the criteria and definition of the genre? Personally I think progressive when applied to extreme metal is an over-used descriptor - yes it definitely exists, but in genres like black metal that have evolved so much over the years some bands are producing complex and challenging albums that are way more progressive in a literal sense than some of those actually tagged as progressive - compare Orannsi Pazuzu's current output to the aforementioned Enslaved's and see who is breaking more ground, for example. Incidentally, OP are being tagged as avant-garde, but I don't agree with that tag at all. Avant-garde is a tag that is absolutely overused in metal circles.

Good question Sonny. I think the true meaning of the term "progressive" has been lost on a large portion of the metal scene for a good while now. There seems to be a common misconception that "progressive" equals "technical". Although a large percentage of progressive rock/metal tends to be pretty complex, technicality isn't an essential component of progressive music. Progressive music is about exploring more forward-thinking concepts than traditional music, whether that be through the production, atmosphere, song structure, lyrical themes, artwork, influences, musicianship, track lengths or anything else associated with the art in question. Pink Floyd is a great example of this because very few people will claim them to be overly technical or complex yet they're universally claimed as a progressive rock band & rightly so. Progressive electronic & progressive house producers don't often get referred to as technical either. Their craft is similar to that of progressive rock/metal artists in that it's about creating a more cerebral & often spacey experience for the listener to escape from their every-day life for a while. Coroner is a good example of the two ends of the spectrum as their first three albums are certainly very technical but I've never thought they were particularly progressive. Their 90's material saw them finally branching over into a more progressive atmosphere where I'm comfortable with the tag. Similarly, artists like Anathema & Devin Townsend can have some of their material referred to as progressive while much more technically complex bands like Suffocation, Nocturnus or Spawn Of Possession are better suited by the "technical" label.

So to answer your question, a release becomes progressive when it starts reaching beyond the everyday as far as atmosphere & artistic expression go, not merely structural complexity. It's about reaching for the stars in a literal sense as well as a figurative one. Technicality is a great tool for this which is why it's often used in progressive music but it's not essential & there's more required from an artist in order to be regarded as genuinely progressive.

I think the Metal Academy clans should be a secondary consideration to creating a simplified and practical metal genre tree. Or maybe not? 

Quoted Ben

Hhhmmmm.... I think it's important to regard them both as priorities actually because if we don't have releases allocated to the right clans then some of our clan members won't have access to all of the clan-specific functionality that's available to them, like being able to nominate additional subgenres for example. Or playlist & feature list submission for that matter.

Plus there's no reason why we couldn't have a rule that any of the Progressive subgenres are connected with their natural clan and The Infinite.

That's good to know. I wasn't aware of that. I wouldn't think that will allow someone from The Infinite the privileges to nominate an additional subgenre for the release but I would think that's unlikely to be required.

The main problem I have with your suggestion of creating a "progressive death metal" subgenre is that it would mean that we'd then be looking at the need to create a whole bunch of others too e.g. progressive thrash metal, progressive metalcore, progressive deathcore, progressive power metal, progressive sludge metal, etc. Don't even start on other prefixes like avant-garde, symphonic, neoclassical, post, etc. It's way simpler to simply go with the two progressive metal options I've suggested. I think it's fair to say that you can break up the progressive market into those that do like extreme metal & those that don't. Plus, what would you do with a release like "Core" which obviously utilizes death metal tools but doesn't fit in with the death metal crowd. It's a progressive metal record at its fundamental core & doesn't require additional subgenrification in my opinion but it clearly needs to be separated from the Dream Theaters & Queensryches. The extreme progressive metal tag would be perfect for it.

The same idea could be used to solve our "symphonic" problem in my opinion although there is one problem we'd have to overcome. If we had an "extreme symphonic metal" subgenre it'd solve the issue of extreme metal releases residing within The Guardians. The only question would be what clan would you associate an extreme symphonic metal subgenre with. We've already got a symphonic black metal one too.

Because they wouldn't then reside in The Infinite when they clearly should in my opinion.

That actually makes a lot of sense. So extreme prog metal would still reside in The Infinite? A secondary genre tag would also be required to delineate the extreme prog releases, ie death metal for (earlier) Opeth and black metal for (later) Enslaved? Would those releases then also reside in the respective secondary clans? Just asking so I get it straight. If so it sounds like a very satisfactory solution to an irksome issue. I think Extreme Progressive Metal in particular is an excellent denominator. I say go with it.

To clarify Sonny, I'm suggesting that for a release that is incorporates elements of both Death Metal & Progressive Metal (like "Individual Thoughts Patterns" for example) we'd have two tags (i.e Death Metal & Extreme ProgressiveMetal) which would see it residing in both The Horde & The Infinite. Then for a release that incorporates elements of death metal but clearly doesn't belong alongside other death metal releases (like Persefone's "Core" for example) we'd simply give it the sole Extreme Progressive Metal tag which would see it residing only in The Infinite. In the same way, a Dream Theater release may only be tagged as Progressive Metal (conventional) so that it resides only in The Infinite while a release from Queensryche might have both Progressive Metal (conventional) & Heavy Metal so that it resides in two clans.

I dunno guys. I think the word "progressive" is a pretty accurate & universally accepted description of the sound & think it serves its purpose well. I just think we need to separate the extreme metal versions of progressive metal from those that are based on your more accessible sounds. Therefore, I'd simply go with two subgenres to cover each variety:

Progressive Metal (conventional)

Extreme Progressive Metal

Then if you have a release like Death's "Individual Thought Patterns" you can simply layer a Death Metal subgenre over the top of the Extreme Progressive Metal one so that the release comes up in searches on both sounds & resides in two clans. That way you can separate a release like Persefone's "Core" (which Andi & I spoke about recently & doesn't really sit all that comfortably alongside your more traditional death metal releases in our opinion) by it simply having one subgenre tag that will see it residing only within The Infinite but still highlight the fact that it's an extreme metal release.

Thoughts?

Whose idea was this musical atrocity? The drummer's? I'd suggest firing them from the band immediately.

Intense mid-90's Norwegian death metal for fans of Incantation, Misma & Portal.

Molested - "Blod-draum" (1995)

OK, so here's a release where I've never really understood the appeal. 1995's "Blod-draum" debut album from Norwegian death metallers Molested seems to be regarded as somewhat of an underground classic these days but it all sounds like a bit of a mess to me. The band have certainly achieved a genuine graveyard atmosphere here however the song structures & arrangements are so chaotic & the performances so loose that I struggle to make much sense of it all. The super deep Incantation style death growls of front man Øystein G. Brun (also of Borknagar) are great & the guitar tone is superb for this style of extreme metal however this only makes it easier to hear how sloppily executed everything is. Then you've got the use of traditional folk music here & there which fails dismally on the atrocity that is the three minute title track. What a surprise that an instrumental folk piece doesn't sound amazing when smothered in poorly executed blast beats! Whoever would have guessed? On paper Molested should be right up my alley but I'm sorry to say that the reality is a little bit underwhelming. There are some really brutal & decidedly unusual moments on "Blod-draum" but they're unfortunately weighed down too heavily by it's failings. 

For fans of Incantation, Miasma & Portal.

3/5

A nostalgic anthem from my teenage years from New York alternative metallers Helmet. It reminds me a lot of my high school girlfriend actually. For fans of Prong, Fudge Tunnel & Soundgarden.

New York alternative metal four-piece Helmet first became known to me through late-night underground metal radio programs at around the time that their 1992 sophomore album “Meantime” was released & they were pretty hard to ignore to be honest. Helmet’s highly regarded 1990 debut album “Strap It On” had somehow managed to drift past without me even noticing however “Meantime” could not have come at a better time for the band as it was everything the grunge-obsessed rock market were wanting & they lapped it up big time. I kinda found myself watching from afar without ever making any genuine commitment but I developed a respect for Helmet that saw me regarding them as a talented & relevant band for the 90’s alternative generation. Interestingly though, I don’t think I’ve ever actively listened to one of their albums in full until now.

Given my fairly casual acquaintance with Helmet up until now, I was actually surprised to find that my familiarity with “Meantime” extended past the obvious couple of hits in “Unsung” & “In The Meantime”. I was also very familiar with “Give It” & “Turned Out” which turned out to be a big positive for the record's chances of gaining my interest early on. I wouldn’t say that there were any other genuine surprises in store for me though as Helmet had a very good grasp of their sound by this stage & I subsequently found “Meantime” to offer a consistent approach & level of quality throughout it’s relatively short 37-minute runtime. Although it’s been noted that the band seem to have two gears on this album with the more commercially focused & the tougher material being evenly spread, I have to admit that I feel that’s overstating things a touch. All of the ten tracks take a pretty similar direction as far as I can see with only the vocals taking a more accessible & slightly poppy direction on the tracks that are presumably being referred to. I think it’s a bit of a stretch to call that an obvious attempt at hit-writing to be honest as these songs are usually as hard-hitting as the rest of the album from an instrumental perspective.

Helmet’s base sound is very much based on the grungy tone of the time with the guitar sound reminding me a hell of a lot of Seattle-based grunge gods Soundgarden. There’s certainly a hardcore edge to things though with some of the riffs & vocal performances sporting a gnarliness that wouldn’t have seemed out of place on Nirvana’s rough-&-ready debut album “Bleach”. The big difference between Helmet & their peers though is how strongly they rely on precisely executed & often fairly complex groove-based syncopated rhythms within their riff structures. In fact, they remind me a fair bit of fellow New Yorkers Prong in this regard. What we have here is heavily riff-based music that sees all four band members honing in on the one idea & looking to maximise its value with the bass guitar lines of Henry Bogdan playing a major role in accentuating the band’s overall heaviness. If you’re familiar with English sludge metallers Fudge Tunnel then you’ll know what I mean although Helmet are admittedly more rhythmically ambitious. Despite the apparent complexity in some of the unusual time signatures though, this united focus on the riff does tend to make Helmet sound a little less sophisticated than it probably should as there’s not all that much to this album. Every song sports hard-hitting, groove-based riffs that are all beautifully executed but don’t offer a lot of in the way of emotional engagement & depth. The post-hardcore references that seem to gain traction with this album are pretty misguided as there’s nothing “post” about this material in my opinion. It’s as riff-based as you’ll find with little attempt being made to explore anything more atmospheric or textural.

Front man Page Hamilton is the clear focal point of the band & he opts for a shouty, hardcore-inspired delivery a lot of the time. He’s not the most talented of vocalists but often reminds me of a less tone-deaf version of Godflesh’s Justin Broadrick in that he’s more about attitude than he is technique. I have to say it works for him pretty well but I’d be remiss if I didn’t highlight that a more obviously talented front man could have taken Helmet to another level. I mean the fact that I get so many Soundgarden vibes from Helmet’s instrumentation is enough to highlight the obvious gap in class between the two bands & a lot of that comes down to the chalk-&-cheese comparison between a vocal god like Chris Cornell or Alice In Chains’ Layne Stayley & the serviceable performance Page puts in here. I do like the noisy approach to the guitar solos though. It adds a layer of intensity to proceedings just when the song-writing is starting to sound a little too easy on the ear.

Look, despite my minor qualms “Meantime” is a really consistent record. You won’t find a weak track amongst the ten included here with the quality ranging from pretty decent to very solid. In fact, I was a bee’s dick away from upping my score to a 4/5 but eventually decided that I didn’t connect quite as much with Helmet’s sound as I’d like which prevented me from finding any single track to be an alternative metal classic. Songs like “In The Meantime”, “Give It” & “Turned Out” will always get me feeling a little nostalgic for a simpler time but I don’t think I can say that this album competes with the top tier of the genre. It’s a consistently enjoyable listen that delivers exactly what it promises from the first seconds of the opening track. I just would have liked to see Helmet experimenting with a more cerebral & visceral sound on occasion. They definitely had their own thing going on though & it’s actually pretty hard to think of anyone that sounded much like them at the time which is a point worthy of respect.

For fans of Prong, Fudge Tunnel & Soundgarden.

3.5/5

P.S. How obviously did Kansas-based grunge outfit Paw rip off the opening riff from “Unsung” on their 1993 hit “Jessie”?? They’re pretty much exactly the same & neither are all that far from the opening riff from Alice In Chains’ “Them Bones” which came out a few monthly after “Meantime” either.

I picked that Dream Theater live CD up shortly after release actually. Despite having been converted to electronic music by that stage, Dream Theater had stayed with me & I was still religiously checking out every release.

"God Hates Us All" is an underrated Slayer record in my opinion. It sported a much more well defined concept & purpose than its predecessor "Diabolus in musica". It's also really fucking heavy & is possibly their angriest record overall (particularly Tom's vocals). The reason that many critics don't appreciate it as much as some of their other releases from the period is definitely to do with the Machine Head style groove metal influence that had started to weezle it's way into their sound. I agree that the album isn't as anywhere near as closely aligned with my taste as their classic releases were but it's certainly still of a decent quality & is a long way from a sell-out so the album deserves more respect than it generally receives. In fact, I'd take "God Hates Us All" over anything Slayer have put out since "Divine Intervention" to be honest although it's still fairly inessential in the grand scheme of their career.

Without having had a chance to listen to the tracks you've included here (I'll hopefully do that at some stage today), my opinion is that there's certainly a Viking Metal sound. It was defined by Bathory's "Hammerheart" & "Twilight Of The Gods" albums which clearly don't sound like black metal or folk metal as we know them. They're something we hadn't heard before. The problem with the Viking Metal genre is the title though in my opinion. To elaborate, what we've seen since the tag was first created is a bunch of releases that have nothing in common with Bathory being tagged as Viking Metal simply because there are Viking themes included in the music & lyrics. Often we see the instrumentation & arrangements having far too much in common with other subgenres & not much to do with the original intent of the term. The historical & locational slant to the genre title also means that people are hesitant to label bands that might have that sound but hail from outside of Scandinavia as Viking Metal for purely literal reasons. All of that really annoys me. Subgenre tags shouldn't be about lyrics or imagery, locations or eras. They should be purely about the sound coming out of those speakers.

Moonsorrow is a prime example of a band that's blurred the lines as many of their releases incorporate those Bathory elements into a base folk metal sound & their popularity has seen many people starting to link that sound with genuine Viking Metal (i.e. bands that sound like Moonsorrow are considered to be Viking Metal which isn't always the case). Primordial's "The Gathering Wilderness" album comes from another direction in that it definitely incorporates elements of the Viking Metal sound but is never linked to the genre due to their residing outside of Scandinavia. None of it make sense to me to be honest. The Viking Metal sound was always about rhythms & atmospheres that remind the listener of Viking ships being rowed into battle & the gallop of hooves on turf but I hear so many releases receiving the tag when they don't include any of that at all (see the Manegarm feature release for example).

So the moral of my story is that I think there is a Viking Metal sound but there are relatively few bands that are pushing it & even fewer that are doing something other than cloning the originator. I'd like to see the Metal Academy membership taking it upon ourselves to add some clarity to the topic by weeding out the releases that don't belong under the Viking Metal banner using the appropriately named Hall of Judgement.

Ok, so I've completed my now regular Top Ten list for the week & this time I decided to take on the challenge that Sonny joked about a couple of weeks ago by attempting to collate my Top Ten Funeral Doom Metal Releases of All Time list. Here's what I came up with:

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

02. Esoteric – “Metamorphogenesis” (1999)

03. Evoken – “Atra Mors” (2012)

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

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

06. Monolithe – “Monolithe II” (2005)

07. Ea – “Ea” (2012)

08. Ea – “Au ellai” (2010)

09. Remembrance – “Fall, Obsidian Night” (2010)

10. Black Wreath – “A Pyre Of Lost Dreams” (2009)

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

There ended up being a lot of releases & bands that I haven't been able to include due to the long periods of time since I last revisited them (Shape Of Despair & Mournful Congregation for example) but the list is about as good as I could come up with for the moment & I'll continue to improve it as I listen to additional releases. Frustratingly, Mournful Congregation's 1994 "Weeping" demo would have come in at number two on the list but was ineligible due to not being eligible for inclusion on the site.

Porter Ricks - "Nautical Dub / Port Gentil" (1996)

An old single from the German dub techno movement. Repetitive, trance-inducing & hypnotic stuff with an authentic analogue hiss. It definitely works better as background music & should offer plenty of appeal to fans of Gas, Shinichi Atobe & Deepchord.

Alyrah - "The Twin Flame Portal" E.P. (2020)

The latest effort from one of my ex-girlfriends from my late teenage years. It's really fucking good too as she's always been extraordinarily talented. I'd probably describe ithis five-song E.P. as electronic art-pop similar to classic Bjork only with more of a brooding ethereal edge to it.

All good points Ben. I agree with you that you are not well qualified for any of your four clans & should consider not having any. ;)

P.S. Please dump my ass back in The North when you get a minute. *runs off to review the latest Mago de Oz record*