Daniel's Forum Replies

I really enjoyed this little E.P. which offers a muscular take on the metalcore subgenre. It includes five short songs that are built around hard-hitting, heavily down-tuned metal riffage & Aaron Weseman's angry hardcore vocal delivery. The weight of the guitars often sees me flirting with the sludge metal tag actually although I never see myself fully committing to the concept. There's a clear Machine Head influence in the inclusion of a number of groove metal riffs spread across the tracklisting while Godflesh has clearly had an impact on the band too with several parts showcasing a similar use of guitar harmonics & open-strings. "Dislocation" highlights a clear affiliation with my beloved Slayer too but it's the sheer enthusiasm of this E.P. that gets me.  Where many modern metalcore outfits turn to melody & commercial hooks these days, it's refreshing to hear a band that focuses purely on a more aggressive sound that takes no prisoners with the effect being similar to a blunt instrument to the cranium.

For fans of Sunami, Earth Crisis & late 90's Converge.

4/5

Classic Teutonic thrash for fans of Kreator, Slayer & Destruction.

So, just like with our The Gathering feature release, I've found that my feelings are very much the same as the last time I reviewed "Agent Orange" back in December 2013. I've always thought it was a very solid example of the Teutonic thrash sound however I've never regarded it as the classic that so many seem to & there's a few reasons for that. The faster & thrashier sections are absolutely sublime & sit amongst the absolute elite of the thrash scene with Tom Angelripper's vocals ripping shreds off my brain & force-feeding them to me. This is a much cleaner & more cohesive Sodom than we'd ever heard before with the tightness in the rhythm guitars & bass making for a more professional sounding package. But as with their previous album "Persecution Mania", we find Sodom making a conscious effort to include chuggier & much more generic sounding mid-tempo sections in every song, often at the expense of any sort of fluency in the song-writing &, in the end, leaving the strong impression that the band had simply pasted together unrelated parts in a haphazard fashion & called it a song. Some of Frank Blackfire guitar solos leave a lot to be desired too & I think a bit more attention to detail could have been shown there. Still, I can't deny how much I love the thrashier parts of the album & the simple hooks which see the song-titles more often than not making up the entirety of the choruses.

Songs like the title track & "Incest" have become thrash classics for me but none of them are perfect due to the band's insistence on those mid-tempo sections. I don't think there are any weak tracks though so there's an undeniable consistency about the tracklisting. The slower & heavily Celtic Frost influenced "Remember The Fallen" & the energetic Motorhead-worshipping "Ausgebombt" provide the album with some good variety however I'd also argue that they do sound a little out of place between the other six thrashers. I dunno.... "Agent Orange" is certainly essential listening for any fan of the genre but I simply can't agree with those that place it on a pedestal & I think it's fair to say that this sums up my feelings on Sodom in general actually. The rawer "Persecution Mania" remains my favourite Sodom release but I don't think I'll ever regard any of their records as genuine classics.

For fans of Kreator, Slayer & Destruction.

4/5

Great review saxy. One of your best. I'm really glad you got into that one. I was wondering what you'd think of it when I was doing my review actually

I would suggest that this Stuttgart-based heavy metal band fits the mold to a tee:

https://metal.academy/bands/1272

The pinnacle of this Norwegian industrial metal outfit's seventh album "Internal Punishment Programs" is also the longest, slowest & most melodic inclusion on the album & reminds me a bit of some of the premium post-sludge artists. For fans of Strapping Young Lad, Fear Factory & Ministry.

Fucking hell! What a powerful fucking metal album this is then! I can't believe I've never given these guys a proper run before & now that I have I'm finding it difficult to understand how they haven't gone on to bigger things. Perhaps it's just a matter of timing as they certainly missed the industrial metal boat by a couple of years when they released their first album of any note in the mid-90's. Regardless, "Internal Punishment Programs" was their seventh album to the time & it really shows as there can be very little doubt that Red Harvest knew how to write a crushingly heavy metal song by this stage in their development. If you can imagine the groove metal inspired industrial metal sound of Fear Factory crossed with the high octane excitement of Ministry & throw some aggressive sludge metal vocals over the top then you won't be far off the mark. The riffs are generally pretty simple but are inevitably really catchy & heavy as fuck at the same time which is very much in line with the classic Al Jourgensen model. Don't expect anything radical here as Red Harvest tend to tread familiar ground however they do it in such emphatic fashion that I rate them well ahead of 90% of their peers.

For fans of Strapping Young Lad, Fear Factory & Ministry.

4.5/5

Pole - "1-3" compilation (2000)

A brilliant box set of the first three studio albums (1998's "CD 1", 1999's "2" & 2000's "3") from German producer Pole. They all sound very similar so this compilation sounds quite fluent. You can expect to hear 139 minutes of very deep & relaxing glitchy ambient dub techno like only the Germans know how.

Old-school English death metal for fans of Incantation, Dead Congregation & Disma.

I quite liked English death metallers Cruciamentum's 2011 debut E.P. "Engulfed in Desolation" back at the time of release but have to admit that I haven't returned to it since so it's hard to recall the finer details. I think it's fair to say that their debut full-length "Charnel Passages" has a made a bigger impact on me though as I've thoroughly enjoyed my listening experience over the last couple of days. There's very little doubt that Cruciamentum are huge fans of early 90's death metal as this release is pretty much an exact replica of that sound with very little attempt at development or expansion being made but, for someone like myself that spent their formative years basking in the glory of that particular scene at the height of its powers, "Charnel Passages" represents a lovely reminder of just how much that period means to me. You won't find any self-indulgent progressive excursions or over-the-top technical wankery here. This album showcases the true death metal atmosphere beautifully & comes complete with corpses, graveyards & unholy blasphemy while drawing its influence from the darker end of the extreme metal spectrum. The deep death growls are extremely similar to Karl Willets from fellow English death metallers Bolt Thrower while the instrumentation draws equal influence from "Covenant"-era Morbid Angel & classic Incantation with the performances maintaining a level of looseness in much the same way as the latter, particularly in the grindy blast beat sections. Also in line with Incantation is Cruciamentum's penchant for doomier sections & those tend to be the most effective parts of the album for me. The tracklisting is extremely consistent with the album highlights being positioned right where they should be (i.e. the first & last tracks) & I simply find it pretty hard to fault "Charnel Passages" despite the fact that it does nothing to push the genre forwards. In my defense though, that quality has never been a must-have for me with extreme metal. It's all about atmosphere & the feeling of empowerment I draw from it & I get that in spades here.

For fans of Incantation, Dead Congregation & Disma.

4/5

Ben & Sonny, you should really dig this release.

You chose the correct clan to post about “Black Metal” in my opinion Vinny. Well done!

P.S. “Sabotage” is my second favourite Sabbath studio album from “Paranoid”.

"Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" was actually my introduction to doom metal back in the late 1980's. I couldn't get into it initially (which was likely because due to the vocal style & my obsessive taste for extreme metal) however it majorly grew on me over time & I ended up really digging it. I think it was a genuine landmark for the genre because it nailed that doom metal atmosphere better than anyone had done previously. Come to think of it, I'm wearing my old "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" t-shirt right now actually. Their sophomore album "Nightfall" is my favourite Candlemass record these days but it's not that far in front of this one.

No need to apologize Tymell as I wasn't referring to you either. I guess I'm just a bit sensitive to the consistent references to other sites of late, particularly suggestions that we should do something with Metal Academy simply because others have. I probably need to get over it.

For the record Sonny, I had no problem whatsoever with your posts & was really enjoying the conversation around epic doom metal until the thread got high-jacked.

I have to admit that I'm getting a little frustrated at the insinuation that Metal Academy should blindly follow the direction of a competitor that is in no way the authority on metal. We're trying to set a new standard for a metal website here & I have zero concern for what RYM, Metal Archives or anyone else are doing with their subgenres. In fact, long-term I'd like to think that Metal Academy will become the sole point of call for all metalheads seeking new music. I can also tell you that it is our intent to make some changes to the subgenres over time (in fact we're currently looking at a change now & you should see that play out over the next week or so) but those changes will be made purely on the informed opinions of ourselves & our senior clan members. Not what other sites are doing.

Daniel, if you are enamoured with IE's Alive in Athens I would strongly recommend the double disc set, Days of Purgatory (my particular favourite Iced Earth release). It features re-recorded versions of previous IE tracks with vocalist Matt Barlow who sings on Alive in Athens and it's songs  makes up most of the playlist of AiE.

I'm very well versed with Iced Earth's 90's material Sonny but have to admit that I've somehow managed to overlook "Days Of Purgatory" despite enjoying the majority of their other albums from the period. I'll add it to the list so as to complete the set.

I wouldn't say that I'm particularly knowledgeable about this topic however I've never heard anything on releases that are generally regarded as epic doom that left me feeling that they needed their own subgenre to be honest. If we take a look at what I said in my summary of "New Dark Age" a few months ago:

"Solstice are fairly hard to categorize in my opinion. Are they doom metal? Yeah, sometimes. Are they heavy metal? Well... yeah... they are at times too. But I'd suggest that their sound doesn't sit all that well under either banner as they're more up-tempo & melodic than you would usually expect from a doom metal band. There's an obvious NWOBHM influence about them with the twin-guitar harmonies of Iron Maiden providing plenty of inspiration but they also possess a down-tuned heaviness that simultaneously defies the heavy metal label. I guess that's why people came up with the epic doom tag but, despite the epic characteristics of some of this material, I don't really think it's necessary to be honest. The traditional doom metal tag was created to cover a heavy metal infused doom sound & I think it would have served the purpose just fine here too."

It's worth noting that I don't even like to label "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" as traditional doom metal if I'm being honest. It's true doom metal as far as I'm concerned. Possibly the very FIRST true doom metal release actually. Sure there's some classic heavy metal inspired material on there but not all that much in comparison to the doom component which is amongst the doomiest doom that anyone had heard to the time.

I'm certainly open to being proven wrong here though so perhaps you can school us all on this topic Sonny.

Despite my real passion for Anneke van Giersbergen's gorgeous & powerful vocals, my favourite track from The Gathering's highly regarded 1995 "Mandylion" album is actually this ominous, majestic & heavily Dead Can Dance inspired tribal ambient piece.

I last reviewed "Mandylion" way back in 2013 & don't think that I've returned to it since so it's been really interesting to find that my initial review pretty much exactly summarizes my feelings today even though I didn't read it until after I'd given the album a full four listens over the last couple of days. Here's my slightly updated review:

It’s been quite a while since I last listened to The Gathering’s “Mandylion” but it still serves its purpose nicely. Admittedly I think it sounds a little dated at times which probably comes down to the simplicity of some of the instrumentation but Anneke’s voice never gets old. I don’t think she soars quite as much as I remember her doing on the follow-up album “Nighttime Birds” so the highlights are not quite as spectacular but she certainly carries the band through the slightly flatter moments on this record before really taking off on the last couple of tracks. It’s a very consistent release with no weak tracks. The first half generally receives most of the praise but I think my favourite songs are the last three (the heavily Dead Can Dance influenced title track, the epic atmospherics of “Sand and Mercury” & beautiful closer “In Motion #2”). It’s here that I find the tingles appearing up my spine thanks to Anneke’s stunning performance. The best moments from an instrumental point of view are generally those where there’s a bit more complexity as the more basic sections are where The Gathering start to flatten out a little. It’s the type of album that sneaks up on you though & I find myself wanting to give it repeat listens as it’s really very pleasant on the ears which is a nice change for a metal album. I was pretty close to going for the extra half mark here but I think 4/5 is a fairer assessment of the quality on offer.

For fans of The 3rd & the Mortal, Theatre Of Tragedy & Tiamat.

4/5

I'm sure Daniel must have an opinion at the very least. He's never short of one.

Damn right I do Ben. This is my sweet spot right here. Before I give you my top ten, here's a few things worth noting:

1. I haven't considered Terrorizer's "World Downfall" for inclusion as I regard it as a straight-up grindcore record rather than a death metal or deathgrind one. Otherwise it would have come in at number three on my list as it was a big release for me personally.

2. I've included the Sepultura & Protector releases despite their generally being more closely linked to thrash metal. The first couple of Sepultura releases are about a 50/50 death/thrash combination in my opinion while the Protector E.P. is pretty much a mid-way transition point between "Seven Churches" & Morbid Angel so I've never understood why it's not regarded as an early death metal release in all honesty.

3. I've omitted Sepultura's "Bestial Devastation" E.P. (despite the fact that it's strong enough for inclusion when viewed in isolation) due to the fact that it was only available as a part of the split E.P. with Overdose during the 1980's which reduces its quality & also makes it more thrash oriented as an overall package. "Bestial Devastation" was re-released as its own entity in the early 1990's but came with an additional re-recording.

Anyway.... here's my top ten death metal releases of the 1980's:

01. Morbid Angel – “Altars Of Madness” (1989)

02. Carcass – “Symphonies Of Sickness” (1989)

03. Pestilence – “Consuming Impulse” (1989)

04. Death – “Leprosy” (1988)

05. Protector – “Misanthropy” E.P. (1987) 

06. Bolt Thrower – “Realm Of Chaos” (1989)

07. Morbid Angel – “Abominations Of Desolation” (1986)

08. Sepultura – “Morbid Visions” (1986)

09. Death – “Scream Bloody Gore” (1987)

10. Obituary – “Slowly We Rot” (1989)

A simply outstanding review Xephyr. Loved it! It really sums up my feelings on the album beautifully.

Blistering Canadian power metal with classic metal influences that kinda sounds like Gamma Ray meets "Painkiller"-era Judas Priest.

I sit very much in the same boat as Vinny with the power metal genre in general but this release has smashed any expectations I may have had coming into it. In fact, I think it's just become my new favourite power metal record (at least as far as studio releases go as Iced Earth's "Alive In Athens" would still maintain the crown overall). This album is metal as fuck &, despite the fact that it sits very much on the US side of the power metal equation for the most part, I'd suggest that a decent point of reference would be Gamma Ray meets "Painkiller"-era Judas Priest. I absolutely love the shredding guitar tone, the slaying solos, the machine gun double kick drum & most of all those stunningly powerful vocals which have the ability to challenge even the true greats of melodic metal. I don't even mind the occasional vocal foray into extreme metal to tell you the truth.

There are certainly a few tracks that are instrumentally a little less impressive than others but Brittney Slayes manages to lift them up to much greater levels of appeal than they probably deserve through brilliantly executed harmonies, unwavering conviction & a total commitment to her craft. The lacklustre "Earth and Ashes" is probably the only song that she can't revive & the clean male vocals on that track are a big disappointment in comparison to his engaging front woman. Interestingly, while the record starts off pretty strongly, the middle of the tracklisting is where the real sweet spot is with the four track run from "Cleanse the Bloodlines" through to the killer album highlight "Ten Thousand Against One" leaving me thrashing around like it was my first time hearing high quality metal. As with the first few tracks, the album finishes with a couple of solid numbers that don't hit quite as hard as the outstanding mid-section however anyone even remotely into power metal should get right on this.

4/5 

My favourite track from Japanese outfit Dir en Grey's 2008 "Uroboros" album is this progressive example of the alternative metal sound. For fans of Mr. Bungle, System Of A Down & Korn.

I can't say that I enjoy "Uroboros" anywhere near as much as Andi does but I can't deny that it has a unique charm about it. The production & musicianship certainly made it a much more appealing prospect than it may otherwise have been & I respect the over-arching ambition behind a lot of this material. There's a whole plethora of different influences getting tossed around here but if I had to find the best description for Dir en Grey's sound it would be "progressive nu metal" which isn't a term that I ever thought I'd hear myself utter before now. Sure there are a couple of tracks that take a more conventional alternative metal route (see "Torugo" & "Dozing Green") but there's far more material that sounds like Korn in my opinion. There's a general aura of experimentation about the album that sometimes crosses over into the genuinely avant-garde on tracks like "Red Soil" & "Reiketsu nariseba" however when taken in holistically you'll find that the album is more progressive than it it bizarre with "Glass Skin", "Ware, yami tote..." & "Inconvenient Ideal" all residing firmly within the confines of the progressive rock banner.

There are a couple of things that I struggle with a little here. Firstly, I'd be lying if I said that the Japanese language vocals don't annoy me a touch. Kyo is clearly influenced pretty heavily by Mike Patton's more psychotic efforts & does his level best to create the most unusual & polarizing sounds imaginable at times. At others he goes for a deep deathcore grunt that I find pretty annoying while his normal singing voice is nothing out the ordinary for Japanese metal & sees him achieving a mixture of rocks & diamonds. The other qualm I have with the album is its general quirkiness. The word "quirky" & I don't get on & never have. I like my music to be predominantly fairly serious so the eccentricities of Dir en Grey's sound sometimes go straight over my head. As do some of the nu metal riffs.

But at the end of the day, it's hard not to like a record that's this artistically challenging & well-executed, even if it is a little jerky at times.

For fans of Mr. Bungle, System Of A Down & Korn.

3.5/5

This Aussie progressive metal record is horribly underrated in my opinion:

A beautifully realised example of progressive metal mixed with various widely disparate influences. For fans of Tool, Karnivool & Soen.

Xephyr, this was an absolute beauty of a feature release selection mate. I loved every minute of it & are baffled as to why I didn't know about this band earlier given that they're Aussies. Andi & saxy, you definitely need to get onto this one.

Here's my review link:

https://metal.academy/reviews/21388/25331

4.5/5

Just finished listening to this playlist. Was a great reminder of just how much I love those W.A.S.P. & Diamond Head tracks which are some of my favourites from those respective bands & undisputed heavy metal classics for me overall. I quite like the Riot track but my God they don't even try to hide the fact that they're trying to rewrite Judas Priest's "Exciter" there, did they? (Check it out Andi.) I haven't listened to that Nevermore album in years & years but really enjoyed that song so I might have to return to it some time soon. I have a soft spot for the Yngwie Malmsteen & Dokken tracks from my childhood & Vinny has really dug deep with a couple of his inclusions which added some intrigue. Overall it was an interesting listen from a clan that I generally regard as being the lest attractive for me personally.

An unbelievably epic example of Finnish progressive black metal for fans of Hail Spirit Noir, A Forest Of Stars & Nachtmystium.

Ok, so Sonny's ridiculously strong run of June form continues here as "Värähtelijä" is quite frankly another spectacular release from one of the absolute elite performers in modern metal. Oranssi Pazuzu's 2020 album "Mestarin kynsi" absolutely blew my head off & not only topped my end of year list but also made my all-time greatest metal releases chart. Its older sibling takes a very similar approach to that classic release only it's more overtly psychedelic & the black metal component is a touch more significant, even though there's still very little actual black metal in the instrumentation. The grim & gravel-throated vocals are sensational of course. As is the use of tribal beats & repetition to create a truly cerebral experience that's so far up my alley it's not funny. You'll definitely be able to hear the space rock & krautrock influences all over the place here but, as with "Mestarin kynsi", I'm gonna make the bold claim that this is more of a post-metal record than a black metal one & there's very little doubt in my mind that it belongs in The Infinite. A blackened post-metal tag seems like a pretty good fit to me as opposed to the commonly used post-black metal one which indicates that the basis is in black metal which it clearly isn't. Those long atmospheric build-ups, the huge crescendos & the more textured & layered composition all have a lot in common with Swans with the guitars generally adding colour over the powerful basslines rather than playing traditional riffs.

In the end the only reason that I haven't dished out the full five stars here is that the couple of more avant-garde tracks ("Hypnotisoitu viharukous" & "Havuluu") don't offer quite the same sort of next-level appeal that highlights like "Lahja", the title track & the absolutely epic eighteen minute centrepiece "Vasemman käden hierarkia" do but I'll be very surprised if any admirer of extreme art doesn't become enamored with the sheer class & ambition that shine through across the entirety of "Värähtelijä". It's simultaneously gorgeous & lush as well as dark & ominous which is a sure sign of a superior artist.

For fans of Hail Spirit Noir, A Forest Of Stars & Nachtmystium.

4.5/5 

Yes

That version of "Am I Evil?" is actually in this month's playlist Vinny.

Welcome to the Academy Paul. We're very please to have you. The first thing I wanted to ask was whether you're happy with residing in just the one clan. All new members have to option to choose up to three. Let me know if you'd like to add any more & I can arrange it for you.

A wonderfully atmospheric & cerebral post-sludge excursion from the Massachusetts gods of metalcore.

Converge - "Axe To Fall" (2009)

I dunno why it's taken me so long to get around to checking out Massachusetts metalcore legends Converge's 2009 seventh album "Axe To Fall" as they've been a pretty big band for me for a long time now & never leave me disappointed. There's no exception being made here either as we see the band presenting us with their most ambitious offering to the time & collaborating with a number of mutually-respected musicians to great effect. The album really sounds very fluent & well-defined despite covering a fair amount of musical territory & I particularly enjoy the contribution from Neurosis' Steve Von Till given my strong affiliations with the post-metal masters.

Converge's classic metallic hardcore sound receives good coverage & is complemented by some straight-up hardcore punk tracks ("Effigy", "Losing Battle", "Dead Beat" & "Slave Driver"), a sludge metal monster ("Worms Will Feed, Rats Will Feast") & even a couple of more atmospheric & cerebral post-sludge excursions ( "Cruel Bloom" which reminds me very much of Tom Waits meets Neurosis & the epic album high point that closes out the album "Wretched World"). They've included just enough compositional complexity to keep the listener on their toes & reminded of the elite class of the artist they're indulging in without ever feeling overly showy or pretentious which is a rare quality in this form of art. The production & musicianship are unsurprisingly spectacular too, particularly my man Ben Koller behind the kit who is always the highlight for me. Front man Jacob Bannon puts in one of his best performances too which is well appreciated given that I haven't always loved his delivery. He seems to have gotten better with age with more weight behind his screaming violence.

Unlike most fans, I've never regarded Converge's early 2000's classics as their creative peak, despite the undoubted quality they offer. I've always found the band's appeal to grow stronger as they started to take alternative routes & expand on their sound with 2012's "All We Love We Leave Behind" representing a real highlight for the metalcore subgenre & my personal favourite. "Axe To Fall" very much leaves the impression of being the entrée for that main course & I subsequently rank it as my second favourite Converge release these days. It should be essential listening for all fans of more serious metalcore/hardcore.

For fans of The Chariot, Every Time I Die & Norma Jean.

4/5

P.S. The album cover is absolutely stunning too & beautifully compliments the music in my opinion.

Welcome Makntak. I think you'll fit in nicely around here. We have a broad cross-section of age groups at the Academy but have found some of our more seasoned members to be amongst our most devoted & most valued in the community. We've built a completely inclusive environment here at MA & intend on keeping it totally free of the sort of judgement & elitism you'll often find at other metal sites so we encourage our members to indulge themselves in whatever way they feel & to share as much of your thoughts & feelings as they like. There's absolutely no subgenre bias allowed.

Here are a few cool features to check out if you'd like to get amongst it early:

1. The monthly feature releases for each clan are released on the first day of every month & are chosen by our clan members in a rotating roster. All of our members then rate, review & discuss the chosen releases on dedicated forum threads. You can find the whole list of June feature releases under the FEATURED tab with links to the threads. If you'd like to be added to the rosters for some (or all) of your three clans then let me know.

2. Each month we release a two-hour Spotify playlist for each clan. Each playlist has a portion of its tracklisting made up of tracks that are nominated by the members of the associated clan so that it truly represents that clan's current listening habits. You'll see that there is a playlist suggestions thread in each clan where you can make your submissions & each clan has its own limitations for how much runtime each member can submit for inclusion. Let me know if you'd like to be a part of that & I can adjust the associated playlist limits to include you.

3. Under the LISTS tab you'll find the CLAN CHALLENGES. These challenges enable a member to earn a fourth clan of their choice. Some people love the idea while others (like myself) are happy with just the three. Maybe check it out & see if it's for you.

4. And finally, we love to see as much rating, review & forum activity as possible so go nuts! This is a great place to meet like-minded people & you'll find that once we all learn a bit about your unique taste profile you'll be getting some great recommendations from the rest of our members. This is probably the best part about being a member of the Academy actually. We look after each other.

Have fun & we hope to see you around!

Sonny, you were on fire with your submissions this month. Those Apostle Of Solitude & Sepulcros tracks are absolutely superb.

It's a big no from me as well gents. Not much metal on offer there as far as I can see. Let's wait & see if anyone else has an alternative view point before talking about how we proceed from here. In the meantime, have a think about what you'd do with Sky Eats Airplane in the event that we elect to remove the Nintendocore subgenre.

Ok so it's becoming very clear that most of our regular contributors don't feel that the HORSE The Band & Fucking Werewolf Asso tracks qualify as metal. Both are pretty indicative of what you can expect to hear across the tracklistings of their respective releases in my opinion. As is the Sky Eats Airplane track actually. So where does this leave us? Well it's a mixed result given that the Sky Eats Airplane track is undeniably metallic. But is that band just a one-off &, if so, does it warrant it's own subgenre of metal? To provide a little more clarity & substance to the discussion, why don't we check out one final track from the only other noteworthy Nintendocore act outside of the three that we've already investigated & see if it gives us a clear consensus.

Here's the guidelines for playlist submissions for July 2021:

THE FALLEN: 24 min each clan member, no track limits

THE GATEWAY: 30 min each clan member, no track limits, one track for non-clan members

THE GUARDIANS: 30 min each clan member, no track limits

THE HORDE: 30 min each clan member, no track limits

THE INFINITE: 30 min each clan member, no track limits

THE NORTH: 24 min each clan member, no track limits

THE PIT: 30 min each clan member, no track limits

THE REVOLUTION: 30 min each clan member, no track limits, one track for non-clan members

THE SPHERE: 30 min each clan member, no track limits, one track for non-clan members

If any new members are interested in being added to the contributors list then please let me know as I'll have to make adjustments to the submission guidelines listed above.

Here's the list of feature release contributors for July 2021:

THE FALLEN: Sonny

THE GATEWAY: saxy

THE GUARDIANS: Andi

THE HORDE: Ben

THE INFINITE: saxy

THE NORTH: Ben

THE PIT: Sonny

THE REVOLUTION: Andi

THE SPHERE: Daniel

If any new members are interested in being added to the contributors list then please let me know & I'll have you included in the roster moving forwards.

Just to be clear Andi, I never said that this experiment was going to decide the fate of Nintendocore. I was just interested to see if people generally agreed with me before talking to Ben about what direction to take. Also, the votes that have come in aren't people saying that they want Nintendocore releases to be made non-metal. They're simply saying that they don't believe that those particular tracks should be classified as metal. I'm expecting a couple more votes to come in & will then have a discussion with Ben about where things stand. I'm not looking to analyse any additional subgenres until this one is resolved.

I might also try reviewing that Virgin Steele album from the other day as well...

It’ll be much more up your alley than it is mine Andi so I’d encourage you to go down that path.

Brilliant mid-80's heavy/power metal from Florida USA for fans of Queensryche, Savatage & Virgin Steele.

My revised list as of 30th May 2021:

25. Metallica - "Master Of Puppets" (1986)

24. Dead Congregation - "Promulgation Of The Fall" (2014)

23. Darkthrone - "Transilvanian Hunger" (1994)

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

21. ISIS - "Panopticon" (2004)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

09. Death - "Human" (1991)

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

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

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

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)

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: Rainbow – “Rising”

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: Wolves In The Throne Room – “Two Hunters”

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

2009: Alice In Chains – “Black Gives Way To Blue”

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: Mgla - "Exercise In Futility"

2016: Leprous - "Live At Rockefeller Music Hall"

Crimson Glory - "Crimson Glory" (1986)

Andi & Xephyr, now that I've warmed you up with "Transcendence", let's move on to the real deal because Crimson Glory's debut is not only a step up in class from their sophomore record but it's also a top ten heavy metal release for me overall. The stunning vocal hooks & harmonies, the searing guitar solos, the anthemic atmosphere.... it's all there & it's a testament to the quality of this release that it still makes such a significant impact on me after all these years. Vinny, you should get on this one too if you haven't already.

For fans of Queensryche, Savatage & Virgin Steele.

4.5/5

P.S. Much like "Transcendence" , I have to question the relevance of the US power metal tag that seems to so often be associated with Crimson Glory. There's one (possibly two) tracks that fit that mould but the majority of the tracklisting isn't anything drastically different to what the Priests & Maidens were doing so I see no reason to differentiate it as such. It seems to me that some people get so hung up on the operatic & slightly more theatrical vocal style of records like this one that they try to drag them into power metal territory unjustly but should remember that the Halford's & Dickinson's are also known to head in that direction but don't tend to be treated in the same way.

A great little heavy metal anthem from the great Dane's solo catalogue. For fans of Mercyful Fate, Judas Priest & Angel Witch.

King Diamond - "Them" (1988)

It may surprise a few of you to learn that I actually prefer King Diamond's solo material over anything that Mercyful Fate have ever released. I understand that that opinion is a little bit out of character for an old-school extreme metal fan like myself however I simply can't go past the more modern sounding metal-as-fuck approach & Andy LaRocque's stunning lead guitar work on records like 1987's "Abigail" (my King record of choice) & 1989's "Conspiracy". Unfortunately for 1998's "Them" album, it's surrounded on both sides by those two great records which has perhaps tainted my opinion of it a touch in comparison.

"Them" relies significantly more on its sinister storyline than either of those releases did as they contained some more immediately impactful heavy metal anthems. Lyrical themes have never been something that I've cared all that much about compared to other metal fans anyway to be honest. Concept albums? Even less so as it often annoys me that the music is forced in directions that it shouldn't naturally go in order to promote a unified storyline which more often than not sees the tracklisting being tainted by filler (at least from a purely musical point of view). So what I'm really trying to say here is that even though I enjoy almost all of "Them", I find that it's lacking in genuine highlight tracks & has been short-changed in the memorability department in comparison to the other late 80's King Diamond albums. There's no doubt that it's a pretty good heavy metal record performed by skilled craftsmen but at the same time I don't think it ever sees me making a glorious metal claw & holding it aloft towards the heavens. Ultimately I just think it's a little bit overrated.

For fans of Mercyful Fate, Judas Priest & Angel Witch.

3.5/5