Daniel's Forum Replies
A beautifully tranquil post-minimalist world music piece from this Brazilian black/folk metal producer.
Kaatayra - "Inpariquipê" (2021)
I was drawn to the fifth album from this Brazilian atmospheric black metal producer through the consistent feedback that it offers a totally unique & original take on metal music & also through the interest created by Xephyr's wonderful review. Did it live up to the hype? Well... in a word YES... it certainly did but not in the way I thought it might. You see this record is not a metal record in any way, shape or form & I'm absolutely baffled as to how it's even found its way to this site. In fact, I'd suggest that if this album had a different moniker on the cover then we'd never have ended up encountering it in our lifetimes. There literally isn't a single second of metal music on it. The links to metal are entirely based on the historical space the producer has played in. What we get here is a wonderfully engaging mixture of traditional Brazilian avant-folk music, krautrock, post-minimalism & even a bit of early 80's Latin jazz with the inclusion of some fast drumming with double kick & the occasional black metal shriek fooling metalheads into clutching onto the extremely tenuous links to metal. It's a thoroughly captivating listen though with the post-rock structures seeing each track slowly building in tension before reaching rich climaxes or taking upexpected u-turns towards an atmosphere that's entirely different to the one they started with. In truth the sections that include elements of metal are the least impressive parts by a significant margin in my opinion & I actually wish that Kaatayra had gone with a sound that was focused entirely on their more stripped back world music sound with the stunning opening track "Tiquindê" & the stonerific second half of "Dundararaiê" being prime examples of why. If you're looking for the latest folk metal jig or dissonant avant-garde black metal masterpiece then don't come looking here. But if you've got an open mind & are keen to change things up a bit with something completely different though then do yourself a favour & give "Inpariquipê" at least a few spins to sink in. It's very much a diamond in the rough.
4/5
It's been a great month of feature releases with a whole slew of high quality releases. Once again I struggled with our The Guardians submission & it's becoming pretty clear that it's my least favoured clan these days. My two personal submissions were guaranteed winners for me as I'd previously rated them both the full 5 stars & neither disappointed. In fact, the Ufomamut & Lento record has now gone into my top five metal releases of all-time & it's absolutely absurd that no one knows about it. My best new discovery was the Malignant Altar album that Ben submitted. He certainly knows what I like. Anyway... here are my monthly ratings in order of preference:
THE FALLEN: Ufomammut/Lento - "Supernaturals - Record One" (2007) 5/5
THE SPHERE: The Amenta - "Flesh Is Heir" (2013) 4.5/5
THE INFINITE: Mastodon - "Crack The Skye" (2009) 4.5/5
THE HORDE: Malignant Altar - "Realms Of Exquisite Morbidity" (2021) 4/5
THE GATEWAY: Karnivool - "Themata" (2005) 4/5
THE PIT: Sadus - "Illusions" (1988) 4/5
THE REVOLUTION: Bullet For My Valentine - "Bullet For My Valentine" (2021) 4/5
THE NORTH: Borknagar - "Borknagar" (1996) 3.5/5
THE GUARDIANS: Rhapsody - "Dawn Of Victory" (2000) 2/5
A blasting death metal-influenced black metal track from this Kentucky-based solo artist.
Given the high ratings from most of our regular contributors, I thought I'd better check out Panopticon's "...And Again Into The Light" record for myself before the end of January & I can see why it's so highly regarded. It was certainly a grower for me as a) I've never been entirely comfortable with Lunn's approach to black metal due to the focus on country/folk elements & shimmering melody & b) I initially struggled with the limitations in Lunn's drumming skills, but repeat listens saw me being able to see through those obstacles & gain access to the gooey centre they encompassed. While there are no weak tracks included, I don't find the first three tracks to be as appealing as the rest of the album which is very solid indeed. That appears to be a taste thing though as fans & critics seem to regard a couple of those early tracks as album highlights but it definitely meant that I needed a couple more spins to overcome the initial feeling that this was just another mildly enjoyable Panopticon release. The blasting death metal-influenced "Moth Eaten Soul" is upsurprisingly the one that appeals to me the most & I think the deeper vocals are slightly more effective than Lunn's usual black metal shrieks. I also really enjoy the more stripped back post-rock inspired sections which are beautifully done. The parts that I find to be less appealing are the more orchestrated metal sections which I feel sound a bit more pretty & uplifting than I'm comfortable with from my black metal. Still.... this is a high quality extreme metal record that I rate more highly than our recent feature release in Panopticon's 2012 fourth full-length "Kentucky".
4/5
A pop song with death growls would be very interesting, but it wouldn't really catch on.
My five year old daughter listens to BABYMETAL & they have a few tracks that tick that box.
A fantastically catchy alternative metal anthem from Boston, USA.
Poppy - "EAT (NXT (Soundtrack)" E.P. (2021)
So, in the interest of increasing the validity of next month's 2021 The Gateway & The Revolution Release of the Year results, I thought I'd give this short fourteen minute alternative metalcore TV wrestling soundtrack E.P. a few spins to see why it's so highly regarded & I've come out of the experience with a confused smile on my face more than anything else. You see, of the five tracks included the first two seem to be the ones that have become fan favourites but I found them both to be pretty flat personally. In fact, after those two songs I was feeling like this release may not be for me however the remaining three tracks are all quite fun with the shortest cut on the E.P. "Breeders" having some pretty amazing hooks it has to be said.
Poppy's sound is certainly pretty unique & draws influence from some unusual places. It's edgy & fresh & in your face but never fails to remind you that it's essentially a pop release. Does it really warrant the metalcore tag though? I would go with a resounding no in that regard. There's only really one track that goes down a route that's pretty much deathcore from an instrumental perspective (i.e. "Say Cheese") but the rest of this release is far poppy for a metalcore primary (see what I did there?) & there really isn't all that much genuine hardcore influence anyway. The alternative metal tag is sufficient to cover this release in my opinion. The long & short of it is that while I'd suggest that "EAT" is definitely worth a quick spin it's unlikely to make too many dedicated metal fans AOTY lists.
3.5/5
Super-aggressive Californian thrash metal.
It's been fun to return to this record after so many years. I still really enjoy it too. It's not a perfect thrash album as it has its flaws but its very hard to deny the youthful electricity on display. It's very obvious that Sadus decided to make it their own personal mission to outdo "Reign In Blood" & "Darkness Descends" in the speed department as they really throw the kitchen sink at it. The consistently high velocity makes the short run time pretty much essential & ensures that I don't get bored. The execution & production are a little inconsistent & lack the polish of the tier ones. Although Steve DiGiorgio's bass playing is a real highlight of the Sadus sound, I have to say that he doesn't sit all that well in the mix here. He's too far forward in my opinion. I do love Darren Travis' psychotic vocals though. Boy he can spit out some words in quick succession & the Slayer-esque guitar solos take some of these songs to another level of extremity. I think the main appeal of a record like "Illusions" is that it just sums up the era so beautifully, a time that I was going through the most exciting period of musical discovery in my lifetime & one that I'll always treasure.
4/5
My family & I are currently in the initial stages of relocating interstate from New South Wales to Queensland which includes the sale of our apartment & the purchase of a new one in the Gold Coast. The logistics of this are astronomical in a COVID environment with two little kids at home & both of us working. If I could snap my fingers & travel forwards in time by two months I wouldn't hesitate.
I think I probably have a very high tolerance for extremity after all these years of indulging in the more intense end of metal. I usually only refer to something is being super-extreme if it sits in the brutal/slam death metal, grindcore, war metal or the more blasting black metal space although I think drone metal, sludge metal & mathcore can all touch on these levels of extremity at times, as can your more modern death metal & tech death outfits.
Doomy old school death metal from Houston, USA.
I really enjoyed this one. Of course it doesn't do anything new whatsoever but it never claimed to & instead offers an easily palatable & professionally produced brand of death metal that should satisfy all fans of the genre. Malignant Altar sit right in the sweet spot between Morbid Angel & the darker, swampier Incantation sound which seems to be a bit of a trend in recent times but they do it all exceptionally well. I particularly enjoy the doomier sections which are clearly a strength for the band. The two minute dark ambient title track is staggeringly good & may well be my favourite track actually. You can't really go wrong with this one. The quality never dips below tier two level & you can easily tell that Malignant Altar have a very strong death metal pedigree.
4/5
I wouldn't recommend that we add Deathcore to The Horde Andi. Most Death Metal fanatics have problems with Deathcore in my experience & the intention of the clans is to is to link subgenres that are likely to appeal to the same audience. I think it's fine residing only in The Revolution although I could be convinced that it's better as a main Genre rather than a subgenre of Metalcore.
On the Trance Metal topic, after putting together The Revolution playlists for a couple of years & religiously including a Trance Metal track I've become very much aware that it doesn't sit all that comfortably alongside the Metalcore subgenre set. I'm interested to get everyone's feedback on whether you think it would sit better in another clan &, if so, which one that might be. The Gateway perhaps? Even The Guardians given the similarities to Power Metal & Symphonic Metal? Thoughts? Where do you think Trance Metal belongs?
On the Trancecore topic, from my playlist programming experience it seems to me that it's more of a variation on Melodic Metalcore than anything else. Am I wrong?
NOTE: Please bare in mind that all this talk is just hypothetical at this stage because it's a significant exercise to make changes like these.
Post-stoner doom from Italy.
Here's my updated list:
25. ISIS - "Panopticon" (2004)
24. Suffocation - "Despise The Sun" E.P.
23. ISIS - "The Mosquito Control" E.P. (1998)
22. Dragged Into Sunlight - "Hatred For Mankind" (2009)
21. diSEMBOWELMENT - "Transcendence Into The Peripheral" (1993)
20. Neurosis - "Souls At Zero" (1992)
19. Botch - "We Are The Romans" (1999)
18. Rosetta - "The Galilean Satellites" (2005)
17. Slayer - "South Of Heaven" (1988)
16. Immolation - "Close To A World Below" (2000)
15. Esoteric - "The Maniacal Vale" (2008)
14. Suffocation - "Pierced From Within" (1995)
13. Boris - "Boris At Last -Feedbacker-" (2003)
12. Alice In Chains - "Dirt" (1992)
11. Death - "Human" (1991)
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)
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: Exodus – “Another Lesson In Violence”
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: Deftones - "Koi no Yokan"
2013: Gorguts - "Colored Sands"
2014: Dead Congregation - "Promulgation Of The Fall"
2015: Akhlys - "The Dreaming I"
2016: Mick Gordon - "Doom (Original Game Soundtrack)"
2017: Fen - "Winter"
2018: Saxon - "Thunderbolt"
2019: Altesia - "Paragon Circus"
2020: Oranssi Pazuzu - "Mestarin kynsi"
2021: Altarage - "Succumb"
OK, so I've given this release three full revisits over the last couple of days & it's nothing short of breath-taking. Not only do I regard it as highly as I did when I first experienced it more than a decade ago now but my feelings may even have developed further. It's quite simply everything I look for in a The Fallen clan release brought together to make up one life-changing package. I'm a big fan of Ufomammut but this transcends anything I've heard from them individually. The way it draws together the crushingly slow riffage of doom metal, the mind-expanding psychedelia of stoner metal & the stripped back tribal structures & slowly building tension-&-release of post-sludge is nothing short of remarkable, as is the production job with the guitar tone being pure perfection for this style of music. I saw someone suggesting that "Supernaturals - Record One" reminded them of Electric Wizard crossed with Neurosis & that's a pretty accurate description as I'd probably tag it as post-stoner doom. Is this a live album as listed on RYM? I very much doubt it but it's a top five metal release for me personally & will comfortably retain its position at the top of my doom metal top ten. Remarkable stuff!
5/5
Great review Saxy. You've summed "Crack the Skye" up beautifully. It's an undisputed classic as far as I'm concerned & I've also gone with a 4.5/5. It comes in a close second to "Leviathan" (also 4.5/5) in Mastodon's overall career for me. I guess I just prefer "Leviathan"s dirtier, sludgier sound that little bit more but there's not a lot in it.
Hi Scarecrow. Very valid questions. When we originally created the Metal Academy website we had to decide on a reasonable configuration & wouldn't profess to be experts in every metal subgenre so we simply went with the most well informed position we could at the time. In saying that though, we're always looking for ways to improve the site & have made dozens of changes over time. I agree with you that in hindsight Melodic Metalcore should be under Metalcore & it's likely be something that we'll look to change in the future. Just bare in mind that every change we make to the database structure can create a considerable logistical challenge as we've already got tens of thousands of releases in play under the current structure. There's also a financial cost for us to make most changes so we tend to do them in batches in order to get the most bang for buck with our developer.
As for why there's not a trance metal clan challenge, that's because there are very few genuine trance metal releases of any note which makes it pretty irrelevant as a guide to a potential new clan member's understanding of The Revolution. In fact, I'm now of the opinion that Trance Metal probably doesn't belong in The Revolution & may not even warrant its own subgenre. That might be something we look at over time too.
As far as I'm aware, "extreme metal" is a term that was originally created to encompass all of the genres that are generally hard on the ear for your average music fan. That comprises of anything related to thrash metal, death metal, black metal & grindcore & includes subgenres like death doom metal & funeral doom metal. I've never considered speed metal to be a part of it as it's essentially just sped-up heavy metal & generally includes more melody than the more rhythmic thrash sound. It's interesting that the elitists out there have never allowed for deathcore to be included under this banner when it clearly should be. I'd argue that a lot of mathcore & sludge metal are also pushing into that territory but I'm reasonably comfortable with where the cut-off is at the moment.
Is it hard to define what "extreme metal" is these days due to our ever-increasing desensitization? I don't think we need to take it too literally. I'm comfortable with the intent of the term & it serves its purpose in my opinion. I mean you could argue that "heavy metal" isn't really all that heavy by today's standards but we all know what it means so why fix what's not broken.
For this weekend's top ten list I've decided to do my Top Ten Djent Releases of All Time, a task that was always going to end in an extremely one-sided result.
01. Meshuggah – “I” E.P. (2004)
02. Meshuggah – “Catch Thirtythree” (2005)
03. Meshuggah – “Destroy Erase Improve” (1995)
04. Meshuggah – “Koloss” (2012)
05. Vildhjarta – “Måsstaden” (2011)
06. Skyharbor – “Blinding White Noise: Illusion & Chaos” (2012)
07. Meshuggah – “Alive” (2010)
08. Meshuggah – “Nothing” (2006)
09. Meshuggah – “Nothing” (2002)
10. Meshuggah – “obZen” (2008)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/155
Mid-90's Norwegian black/Viking metal.
It's been a very long time since I've checked this album out. In fact, I don't think I would have heard it since the late 1990's. I remember finding it to be a mildly enjoyable listen at the time but feeling that it wasn't worthy of the praise it was receiving from many fans & critics. As a result, I didn't often feel the urge to return to it & that position has been maintained with a few key flaws preventing me from fully committing. The more brutal black metal sections are great but I'm not as into the more melodic parts of the fully fledged black metal songs which often have a bouncy half-time feel to the drumming which sounds pretty loose & primitive for such a highly regarded artist. The harsh black metal vocals are pretty good but I don't always love the chanty Viking stuff which simply isn't to my taste. I wouldn't say that this is a Viking Metal release though. It does take influence from the genre at times but I think the Black metal tag is enough to cover the majority of the album.
Borknagar may well have been a supergroup of sorts at the time but that doesn't reflect in the quality of the musicianship on display, particularly that of founding member & guitarist Øystein G. Brun & Gorgoroth drummer Grim, both of whom contribute some patchy performances. The keyboard work can often sound pretty cheap too. In saying that, I do generally enjoy all of the genuine black metal tracks included as they definitely offer some good Scandinavian atmosphere. It's some of the five interlude pieces that I find to be pretty ordinary, particularly the very weak two track run of "Ved steingard" & "Krigsstev" which falls well beneath the bar. Overall I think "Borknagar" is worth a listen for fans of the Second Wave of Black Metal but I wouldn't expect it to offer you a life-changing experience.
3.5/5
Super extreme industrial death metal from my home town in Sydney, Australia.
Wonderfully atmospheric industrial death metal from Sydney, Australia. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.... Oi, Oi, Oi!
After giving this album a few revisits over the last couple of days I think my review from back in 2013 still holds up very well. These guys are generally listed as residing in my home city of Sydney but that's not entirely true as they're really more of national collaboration with Malignant Monster vocalist Cain Cresall coming out of Perth (which is over a four hour flight away from Sydney) & legendary Psycroptic, Abramelin & Ruins drummer Dave Haley residing in the island state of Tasmania. Regardless, these guys are like metal royalty here in Sydney & have blown away many a touring act in the live environment too. Dave is widely regarded as one of the best metal drummers in Australia (along with Ne Obliviscaris skinsman Daniel Presland) & is globally renowned while Cain is quite simply one of the most theatrical & psychotic front men you'll ever see & the album cover is a very true representation of what you could expect to see at one of his live shows. He's truly intimidating & creates a seriously imposing atmosphere. Anyway... here's my review:
I've always been a big fan of this band. Their first two albums were outstanding examples of industrial-edged death metal & their live shows are a true spectacle. I class them as my personal favourite from the current crop of Aussie metal bands so I had very high hopes for this release & it certainly hasn't let me down. In fact they've stepped it up to another level altogether. The production is better than ever before & it presents the songs in the best possible light. If you don't like triggered drum sounds then look no further because they don't get much more mechanized & up-front than this. It really does enhance the industrial vibe though & the drumming is a real highlight. This is some of the most extreme metal you will find anywhere. Stylistically they sit somewhere between Damaged, Anaal Nathrakh & Godflesh. It's extremely dark & chaotic with the electronic component adding to the insanity of the atmosphere. The slower sections are outstanding & push this dark atmosphere even further. They've included a couple of high quality industrial tracks evenly distributed amongst the metal tracks to give you a little respite from the non-stop assault on your senses & they fit the purpose well. I honestly can't fault this album. Amazing!
4.5/5
I wouldn't but it's not a perfect exercise. The clan members may nominate tracks from those releases anyway.
I've been assumed to be a bot by RYM a number of times while putting together playlists in the past which I found really annoying. Lately I've been thinking that I'd rather not use a competitors site for the task anyway & are planning on trialing the prioritized use of our Latest Reviews page (filtered by the clan in question) & the Track Of The Day threads in each clan forum so as to guide my track selection in a way that most accurately highlights the listening habits of the site. I can easily see the dates of each rating on the Latest Reviews page which makes it easy to pick the ones that you've all been listening to within the month in question.
This English melodic metalcore outfit deliver a super-heavy tribute to classic Pantera.
Ok, so I have to admit that I went into this record with a fairly skeptical mindset given the generally mediocre response that Bullet For My Valentine seem to draw from most dedicated metalheads. I'd only heard bits & pieces of the band previously through my time programming The Revolution playlists (mainly through Andi's track submissions) but had never made the commitment to explore a full album which is hardly surprising given my usual aversion to melodic metalcore (or melodic anything for that matter). This record has really surprised me though & I think it deserves to be given a chance as it's one heavy muthafucka! Don't get me wrong, you can still expect to hear a fair few Linkin Park style choruses but they're done very well for the most part with the hooks offering a bit more than your average pop metal schlock can muster. There are some guargantuan metal riffs included that bands like Judas Priest or Pantera would be proud of though & the production job is absolutely metal as fuck. Michael Paget's lead guitar tone may shred the paint off your walls actually.
To my great surprise I found that I quite like all of the ten tracks on offer here & can see myself returning to "Bullet For My Valentine" in the future too. I don't see where the links to alternative metal or the comparisons to Trivium are coming from because this is about twenty times as metal as those references would seem to indicate. In fact, there are significant thrash & groove metal influences here with album highlight "Shatter" being taken straight from Dimebag Darrel's old playbook. I certainly can do without the commercially angled gang vocal parts but this is a quality metal release that deserves more respect than it's received online to date. It may not be the most original metal record ever but when has that ever stopped metalheads from enjoying well executed & supremely heavy metal music.
4/5
Perth-based Aussie alternative metal for fans of Tool, Chevelle & Korn.
Yeah, I really enjoyed this release too. I knew pretty well what to expect going in as Karnivool are very popular over here (in fact, "Themata" reached number 41 on the pop charts & stayed in the top 20 of the independent charts for 165 straight weeks in Australia). It's very easy to see why critics label them as a poor man's Tool though as there's absolutely no doubt as to where they've borrowed most of their sound from. It's just lucky that they do a great job of it with the vocal hooks being plentiful enough & the execution & sophistication of the instrumentation being impressive enough to pull it off pretty comfortably. There's not a dud amongst the twelve tracks other than the pointless twenty seconds of silence that makes up "Omitted for Clarity". "Shutterspeed" & album highlight "Synops" are both perfect examples of the alternative metal sound & are genuine Aussie metal classics while "C.O.T.E." & "Mauseum" aren't too far behind either. There's a bit of a drop in quality through the middle of the tracklisting when Karnivool decide to expand their horizons a touch by creating a couple of much jumpier tracks that sound a lot like Korn & Rage Against The Machine but this is more of a taste thing for me rather than a creative failure. I do prefer Karnivool's 2013 third album "Asymmetry" over his one as they'd defined their own sound a little better by that stage but I doubt too many members of The Gateway will struggle to find enjoyment in a record like "Themata".
4/5
We're having our two bedroom apartment internally repainted on Thursday, Friday & Saturday. We'll be packing the kids into the car & heading south of Sydney for a few days while it's done. My wife is currently forcing me to make a decision between ten different shades of white. One of us is taking this decision far too seriously while the other couldn't give a flying fuck which shade we go for & is getting very annoyed with having to be involved. I'll let you guess which one I am.
The end of January Sonny.
Yeah I do.
I haven't experienced this before Vinny. I don't usually do longer lists though. Mine are usually limited to ten entries.
Slayer – “Repentless” (from “Repentless”, 2015)
4/5. SLAYER!!!!!! This song really sums up humanity in a nutshell, with good sound quality. Drummer Paul Bostaph replaces Dave Lombardo once again in the final album before Slayer's farewell tour and retirement. Bad-a** thrash right here! Except the more popular thrash bands are kinda out of bounds from my thrash league. Thrash tastes better as an underground dish, that's part of the appeal of Morbid Saint and Viking that I'm glad to discover.
That's kinda like saying you prefer masturbation over a blow job in my opinion.
I'm afraid my feelings on this one are very much the same as they were for Majestica's "A Christmas Carol" feature release from last month. I've made no secret about my not being capable of dealing with the cheesier & more consciously epic side of European power metal. I also hate the vast majority of symphonic metal, are repulsed by almost all folk metal & think neoclassical metal is really boring & repetitive most of the time so, let's be honest, no one was really expecting me to like this record. It's just lucky we have such a cool clan rating feature so that my piss poor score doesn't effect the likelihood of others who are destined to be more fortunate discovering this release which is admittedly very well produced & impressively executed with Yngwie J. Malmsteen being drawn upon for inspiration at times. If pushed I'd probably take this one over the Majestica one but there's very little in it.
2/5
Sonny, the main reason for doing these posts is to drum up some interest in clans like The Sphere, The Gateway & The Revolution where we have very few ratings so I was wanting to give people an easy guide to the most likely releases as we only have a month to go. The Sphere is the best example as none of the more popular releases have even a single MA rating & if we took the current leader as the winner then it'd go to a release that hasn't even made a dent elsewhere with only two MA ratings (e.g. it hasn't even come close to reaching 100 ratings on RYM). If you'd like to post some of your own suggestions for The Fallen then I'm sure everyone would appreciate it.
Sonny, the release of the year will simply be decided on the highest scoring release using our Site Ratings & whatever minimum rating cut-off seems to make sense. The shortlists I'm providing are not intended to tell everyone the only releases that are in contention. That's not the case at all. Metal Academy obviously only has a small number of regular contributors at this stage so the shortlists are intended to draw people's attention to the releases that are getting the most attention on social media & other metal-related websites. The Dvne release has been included in the shortlist because (despite the fact that it only has one rating on this site) it has been popular on other metal mediums e.g. it's been making a number of well-informed people's AOTY lists on Twitter where I spend a fair amount of time & has scored highly with a large number of ratings on competitor's sites. The long & short of it is that I'm looking to minimize the chances of important releases slipping under the radar of our small group if at all possible. I'm not saying that these five releases are the only potential winners.
The monthly playlists are all updated guys so please feel free to create your new playlist threads & add the January tracklistings to the Past Playlist threads. It's also time to start submitted your track suggestions for the February playlists in the relevant clan forums.
Here's the February feature release nominators:
THE FALLEN: Sonny, Ben, Daniel
THE GATEWAY: Andi, Saxy S
THE GUARDIANS: Vinny, Xephyr, Andi
THE HORDE: Daniel, Vinny, Ben
THE INFINITE: Andi, Xephyr, Saxy S
THE NORTH: Daniel, Sonny, Ben, Vinny, Xephyr
THE PIT: Daniel, Sonny, Vinny, Ben
THE REVOLUTION: Daniel, Andi
THE SPHERE: Daniel
Here's my submission for the February 2022 playlist:
Kill The Thrill - "Us & Them" (from "Tellurique", 2005)
Here's my submission for the February 2022 playlist Andi:
Cold As Life - "All Alone" (from "Born To Land Hard", 1998)
Here are my submissions for the February 2022 playlist:
Dark Angel - "The Death Of Innocence" (from "Leave Scars", 1989)
Condor - "Riders Of Violence" (from "Unstoppable Power", 2017)
Destructor - "Maximum Destruction" (from "Maximum Destruction", 1985)
English Dogs - "Ordeal By Fire" (from "Forward To Battle", 1985)
Exciter - "I Am The Beast" (from "Long Live The Loud", 1985)
Hallows Eve - "Plunging Into Megadeath" (from "Tales Of Terror", 1985)
Here's my submissions for the February 2022 playlist:
Wodensthrone - "Those That Crush The Roots Of Blood" (from "Loss", 2009)
Archgoat - "Luciferian Darkness" (from "Whore Of Bethlehem", 2006)
Ulver - "Hymne II - Wolf and the Devil" (from "Nattens madrigal: Aatte hymne til ulven i manden", 1997)
Here's my submissions for the February 2022 playlist:
Cretin - "Freakery" (from "Stranger", 2014)
Cryptopsy - "Defenstration" (from "Blasphemy Made Flesh", 1994)
Abominable Putridity - "A Burial For The Abandoned" (from "The Anomalies Of Artificial Origin", 2012)
Carcass - "Hepatic Tissue Fermentation II" (from "Tools Of The Trade" E.P., 1992)
Cannibal Corpse - "Devoured By Vermin" (from "Vile", 1996)
Dark Tranquillity - "Insanity's Crescendo" (from "The Mind's I", 1997)
Aborted - "Skullfuck Crescendo" (from "Engineering The Dead", 2001)