Daniel's Forum Replies

High quality progressive deathcore from Chicago. For fans of After The Burial, Veil Of Maya & Within The Ruins.

Here's my review:

I came kinda late to the deathcore subgenre. It wasn’t really a thing during my 1980’s/90’s heyday & would only start to develop as I found myself losing interest in the scene & defecting to electronic music around 1998/99. The first I heard of it wasn’t until my return to metal in 2009 & I have to admit that I was more open to it than most extreme metal fans at the time. Despite the generic elements at play on most releases, I found it hard not to enjoy the high-quality musicianship & clear & precise production jobs &, when you added in the progressive approach of some of the more expansive outfits, I found myself kinda digging it. Not to the same extent as your more traditional death metal mind you, but enjoyment was had nonetheless. Fast forward another twelve or so years & you’ll find that not a lot has changed for me in this regard. I don’t find myself racing out to track down the latest deathcore release but, when the opportunity arises, I’m up for the task & can see the merit when the subgenre is done well (as it is here).

My first experience with Chicago-based six-piece Born Of Osiris wouldn’t come until shortly after the 2011 release of this album “The Discovery” which was the band’s third full-length & is generally regarded as the pinnacle of the band’s career to date as far as I can tell. And it’s not very hard to see why either to tell you the truth because this is one outstandingly well composed & executed piece of deathly metalcore with a penchant for the more spacey & progressive end of extreme art. I wouldn’t say that it ever transcends the subgenre because all of the signature deathcore elements are at play for most of the album but there’s been a strong push for expansion & development of that sound too. For this reason, I find “The Discovery” to stretch the boundaries of my taste palate a little further than I’m entirely comfortable with but to somehow manage to keep from ever bursting out. Let’s start with the positives because there are plenty for your more open-minded metalhead to enjoy.

As is so commonly the case with US deathcore outfits, Born Of Osiris are a shit-hot group of musicians. I mean these guys can all really shred like bastards & their performances here are outstanding. They occasionally hint at crossing over into self-indulgence but I think they actually do a really great job of reining themselves in just before that occurs. Guitarists Lee McKinney & Jason Richardson are particularly skilled & show themselves to not only have the chops to match most high class shredders on the market today but also to have an impressive sense of exotic melody with some of the lead work pushing Born Of Osiris out further into progressive metal territory than they already were. In fact, I’d be very surprised if the boys haven’t been influenced by early Cynic because they’ve taken a similar approach to much of the melodic content & this is a real feather in their cap as I love a more expansive & exploratory style of guitar solo. Drummer Cameron Losch proves himself to be extremely capable with his powerful & high-precision double-kick work keeping the band sounding punchy & tight at all times. The continued use of spacey synthesizers from full-time keyboardist Joe Buras is also worth mentioning as Joe’s contribution sees “The Discovery” sporting somewhat of a sci-fi atmosphere & his short interlude pieces serve to break the album up really well without ever sacrificing on its overall heaviness. In saying that, I do think that the occasional electronic beat could be hard to stomach for some of the more traditional members of the metal audience & in truth I don’t think they add a lot to the album. You won’t be able to fault the production job as “The Discovery” ticks all of the boxes in that regard. If anything, you may be tempted to say that it’s over-produced however I think that would be a harsh assessment as I think the result generally highlights the best elements of Born Of Osiris’ sound.

Now for the album’s challenges & we’ll start with the djent component. As with many of the more progressive deathcore outfits, there’s very little doubt that Born Of Osiris have been influenced by Meshuggah or bands that Meshuggah have influenced. Now that’s not a bad thing in itself because I fucking love Meshuggah as they really are in a league of their own when it comes to the whole djent thing. It’s just that a lot of the band’s they’ve influenced do sound very samey due to the continued use of high-precision & purely rhythmic off-beat single-note riffs & you get a whole shit-tonne of those here. Thankfully they’ve been filed down to the sharpest point imaginable so as to ensure that they hit as hard as possible but they still do sound pretty generic at times. As do the trademark deathcore breakdowns which still permeate “The Discovery”. The band try to disguise them through the use of progressive colouring & they’ve had a reasonable amount of success to be fair but I still think I could generally do without them. And lastly, the most challenging part of the album for me is the dual vocal delivery which is over-used & continuously thrust down the listeners throat. As far as I can tell, front man Ronnie Canizaro employs the deep guttural death growls while keyboardist Joe Buras regularly chimes in with silly metalcore screams in support. These vocal lines have been brought right to the front of the mix & are used so consistently that they can sound fairly monotonous a while. To be fair, I don’t really like that vocal style to begin with but this is more of a comment on the overall genre than it is about Born Of Osiris in general.

Regardless of these flaws, I can’t really fault the tracklisting which includes fifteen tracks ranging from good to excellent. Unsurprisingly, it’s the more deathly tracks that float my boat the most along with the synth-driven interludes which are particularly well done. It’s kinda difficult to explain but, even though I struggle with some of the elements I mentioned above, the overall class of Born Of Osiris somehow seems to transcend my misgivings & sees me throwing myself in head first after the first few tracks. I guess I’m just a sucker for well-produced & precisely executed extreme metal so I can’t help but see through the more generic elements so that I can grab on to the more expansive ones & this sees me finding it very hard to be too critical of Born Of Osiris who are unquestionably at the peak of their subgenre. I mean if you like high quality US deathcore then I can’t see that you won’t love “The Discovery” because it ticks all of the boxes while adding in some of its own for good measure & in doing so has created the strongest & most interesting example of the djenty progressive deathcore sound that I’ve ever experienced.

For fans of After The Burial, Veil Of Maya & Within The Ruins.

Kensuke Ushio - "Ping Pong" The Animation Soundtrack (2014) 2 x CD bonus disc edition

Over two hours of music taken from a Japanese animated television show. It spans a huge wealth of electronic subgenres including techno, trance, progressive house, drum 'n' bass, IDM, downtempo, ambient, etc. There are a few really great tracks included, particularly the techno & ambient material which is most closely aligned to my taste however there's simply far too much filler here & I find the cheesy trance & quirky IDM stuff to be pretty hard going.

That’s fantastic. Your support is greatly appreciated Vinny.

It's also the second track in a row shared in this thread with the word "the" in its title to be fair.

This epic closer was the clear highlight from Boston progressive metal legends Dream Theater's 2003 "Train Of Thoughts" album in my opinion. For fans of Fates Warning, Haken & Pain Of Salvation.

Here's my review:

I can be a strange fucking creature at times. I mean I was a huge fan of Boston-based progressive metal legends Dream Theater from the moment I first heard their 1992 sophomore album “Images & Words” & there was a time in the late 90’s/early 2000’s when they were right up there with my favourite bands. So why in the actual fuck has it taken me this long to check out their 2003 seventh album “Train Of Thought”? Well, I guess it has something to do with the fact that I became completely obsessed with electronic music around the turn of the century & tended to focus all of my attention on my new obsession until I returned to metal a decade later. Since that time, I’d suggest that the generally middling reviews of Dream Theater’s later works have never really encouraged me to investigate them for fear of disappointment although I did check them out their live shows in both 2008 & 2014 & have always really enjoyed myself.

There’s been a lot of talk about “Train Of Thought” online & it’s reputation as one of Dream Theater’s most divisive albums was certainly well known to me before giving it my first spin. Many people claim that it saw the band trying to tap into the nu metal craze that was the flavour of the week at the time while others suggest that it was simply an attempt to make a classic metal record after getting great crowd responses to their cover performances of Iron Maiden & Metallica albums as well as their heavier original material on the preceding tours. Some say that the album lacks the ambition of past works due to the consistent focus on a heavier sound too & even suggest that some of the artistic license the band have taken has simply fallen in a jumbled heap. Then you have those fans with a slightly heavier taste in metal who claim this as one of Dream Theater’s best works so I really did go into the album having made a very conscious decision to keep an open mind & develop my own opinion.

 The first thing I’ll say about “Train Of Thought” is that I can understand where ALL of those assessments are coming from. Dream Theater’s fan base is one of the most passionate & devoted you’ll find so it was almost inevitable that even the slightest change in direction would trigger some fairly extreme responses & whether they’re valid or not is really up the individual to decide. One thing that can’t be disputed though is that “Train Of Thought” was the band’s heaviest release to the time. John Petrucci makes full use of the lower register on his 7-string guitar & utilizes a bottom-heavy tone that you’d be more likely to expect from an alternative metal band than a progressive one. To capitalize on that, the band have given their heavier side an increased focus & you’ll get significantly less of the introspective atmospheric parts & poppier sections that perpetuated their past classics. This will no doubt please some metalheads & I probably fall into that category as I’ve always wondered what Dream Theater could accomplish if they simply tossed aside their shackles & went for broke. Unfortunately for your less open-minded fans though, there are a few sections that draw on nu metal for inspiration & those are generally the parts of the album that appeal to me the least however that only amounts to a riff or two here & there which isn’t out of line with Dream Theater’s history of toying with different subgenres, often within the context of the same track. The same could be said of the Metallica influence actually as there are some pretty blatant instrumental & vocal homages to them here, particularly their classic late 80’s period. I actually don’t think the band have even tried to disguise these parts as they’re so just so similar. To be fair, I’m not sure James LaBrie was up to a dirtier & more aggressive Hetfield style delivery though to tell you the truth.

But these moments are simply included to create interest in an otherwise very engaging & professional Dream Theater outing in my opinion. Despite what some people may have you think, “Train Of Thought” doesn’t really sound all that different to the Dream Theater of old. Mike Portnoy’s incredible drumming is as potent as ever with the unified rhythmic complexity being pulled off in a nonchalant fashion that thumbs its nose at the prog metal pretenders while the lead trade-offs between guitarist John Petrucci (my all-time favourite axe-man) & keyboardist Jordan Rudess are utterly ridiculous so there’s plenty here for the prog crowd as well as the metal one. So why isn’t “Train Of Thought” regarded as being in the same class as the classic Dream Theater releases of the 1990’s then? Well for me personally it’s about lack of genuinely anthemic vocal hooks. James LaBrie’s performance is certainly serviceable. In fact, he performs the role admirably however I can’t shake the feeling that he’s working within constraints these days & doesn’t explore his higher register unless there’s no alternative. This results in many of these long epics (there’s just seven tracks across the 69 minute run time) showing great promise but lacking the knock-out punch that would see you singing along with them in your head for the rest of the day like a “Pull Me Under” or “Take The Time”. You certainly enjoy them all while you’re listening to them & it’s hard to fault any of these tracks as this is a very consistent tracklisting but you have to wait until lengthy closer “In The Name of God” to reach the sort of heights you’ve become accustomed to from a top tier Dream Theater record. I actually feel like “In The Name Of God” is a magnificent piece of work that sits comfortably alongside the band’s best work but here it serves the additional task of reminding me that, while the rest of the tracklisting offered me some particularly solid progressive metal, it also fell a little short of what the band are capable of as song-writers. There certainly weren’t as many killer harmonized vocal hooks to dig their teeth in. Has the increased focus on the heavier aspects in their sound contributed to this? Perhaps but the closer certainly proves that the right balance can be achieved with that format.

So, the moral of the story here is that “Train Of Thought” is a rock-solid progressive metal outing that should well & truly satisfy both the prog & metal audiences if they can overlook the occasional inclusion of a simpler nu metal riff or laclustre attempt at more aggressive vocals. These moments are certainly the exception rather than the rule & have been overstated by many reviewers over the years. The rest of the album offers some chunky progressive metal performed by the very best in the business & if that’s not enough to float your boat then I feel that you’re hard to please.

For fans of Fates Warning, Haken & Pain Of Salvation.

4/5

Vinny, we actually included that Frozen Soul track in our March playlist. Would you like to pick a replacement?

Wwooohhhh cowboy! Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. There’s absolutely no reason to compare trancecore & trance metal if trancecore ends up being deemed as non-metal (which I suspect there’s a good chance of). 

And for the record, Trance Metal was lumped in with The Revolution because we thought the most likely crossover of fan bases was with the Melodic Metalcore crowd (which has proven to be accurate if you’re anything to go by). We had to put it somewhere initially & didn’t have any better ideas. We certainly weren’t going to give it its own clan. Anyway, it’ll be looked at down the track so let’s just take things one step at a time, starting with Nintendocore.

In all due respect Andi, I think we need to determine if trancecore is even a subgenre of metal at all before looking at moving it under another primary genre, particularly as trance metal isn't exactly a well defined genre in itself with only a few bands sitting under the tag with any regularity.

The Sky Eats Airplane qualifies as metal in my opinion. It's based on the generic metalcore/deathcore model with loads of breakdowns.

The Fucking Werewolf Asso track has fuck-all to do with metal & a quick skim through the rest of that release has shown me that the rest sounds pretty similar.

I'm very keen to hear what other members think on this topic & don't feel that you can't completely disagree with everyone else.

I've gotta say, I just gave that HORSE The Band track a full listen & there's very little metal there at all in my opinion. It's heavily hardcore punk based other than a small section that utilizes double kick drumming & one short bit of arpeggiated lead guitar work. It doesn't sound anything like metal to me to be honest.

Can we stick to the one experiment for the moment please Andi? What about the other two tracks?

Back on this topic, how about we conduct an interesting experiment. I'm suggesting that we ask all of our contributing members (from all clans, not just The Revolution) to listen to three carefully selected popular tracks from the subgenres in question & make comment on whether they actually think each track qualifies as metal or not & why. There should be no mention of quality. We're only focusing on whether these tracks are metal or not. Let's start with Nintendocore as it's the most niche subgenre:

Here's the guidelines for playlist submissions for June 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

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

Essentially I've just increased the time allowance for The Pit after Ben decided not to contribute & I've removed the option for non-clan members to nominate a track for The Revolution after Theo Wyoming became a second contributing member which will give us a good half of the playlist coming from the clan members.

In my honest opinion, the playlists have been getting better & better over the last few months which is mainly due to the increased contributions of the various clan members & my growing experience in programming them over time. I'm sure you all know a few people that might be interested in checking them out even if they're not too keen on the website so I'd encourage all of you to help us promote the Metal Academy brand by spreading the word & publicizing the quality of our playlists. This might be through word of mouth, sharing links, on other websites or on social media. It all counts towards building a steadily increasing membership which makes for a more interesting & fun experience for all of us. Ben & I don't consider this to be solely our website. We don't make any money from it & you all contribute to the way it looks, feels & functions. If we can collaboratively work to grow our playlist following then I feel that this will subsequently filter into our website membership numbers too, particularly once people realise that they can make personal contributions to the playlists (Hint: underground bands & labels will find this an attractive option). Growing the playlist following is probably a little easier than growing the website membership too as there's no expectation of any sort of commitment from the user. New followers get to listen to an outstanding selection of music that's well tailored to their tastes for zero effort on their part. I'd also encourage everyone to follow our Metal Academy Spotify profile & like all of our playlists (at least during the associated month)  because the total number of follows/likes does provide encouragement for some casual Spotify users. Good luck & let us know if you end up being responsible for bringing any new members in.

Me neither. That's the reason I picked it actually. It was a pretty big record for me at the time. I think Ben might have bought it after I got him into the band through their debut from memory. I saw them on the associated tour & they were great too.

Here's the rostered nominators for the June feature releases for each clan:

THE FALLEN: Daniel

THE GATEWAY: Daniel

THE GUARDIANS: Xephyr

THE HORDE: Vinny

THE INFINITE: Xephyr

THE NORTH: Sonny

THE PIT: Daniel

THE REVOLUTION: Daniel

THE SPHERE: Ben

I coincidently seemed to pop up on lots of these in the one month (likely because I put myself as last in each of my clans when first devising the roster) so I've asked Ben to nominate The Sphere for a bit of variation.

Possibly the best doom/death track ever recorded. It still absolutely decimates me 26 years later.

Ridiculously awesome doom/death from this New Jersey death metal establishment. For fans of Immolation, Dead Congregation & Disma.

Incantation - "Mortal Throne Of Nazarene" (1994)

Vinny, I assume you're across this one but thought I'd check as it would appear to be your jam.

Sonny, get on it if you haven't already.

I was only joking Andi. I'm fine with the result if that's the way the members have voted but, just to be clear, I wouldn't class ANY of Venom's first four records as legitimate speed metal as (in much the same way as Motorhead) there's no more than the odd speed metal song here & there. Take the "Black Metal" album for example. Of the ten songs included, I challenge anyone to identify more than two tracks that qualify for the speed metal tag. It's really only the title track & "Heaven's On Fire" as far as I can see. The rest all fall under traditional heavy metal with the possible exception of "Teacher's Pet" which is more of a blues/punk/hard rock effort than it is metal. Is 20% of the tracklisting enough for a legitimate speed metal tag? I don't think so as the fact that it's 70% heavy metal comfortably outweighs any speed metal reference but that's just my two cents.

Next month we'll be extending the monthly submission limit to 30 minutes per clan member for The Pit as Ben has opted not to contribute.

Gamma Ray - "Land Of The Free" (1995)

I'll just leave this one here & wait for the inevitable flaming to begin then. *Grabs his battle armour & a few boxes of popcorn.*

My favourite track from German power metal icons Gamma Ray's highly regarded 1995 fourth album "Land Of The Free". For fans of Helloween, Blind Guardian & Judas Priest.

Manilla Road - "The Deluge" (1986)

Another Manilla Road record that I quite like but can't seem to connect with on the same level as most other metalheads seem to. I find it to be pretty overrated to be honest. What does everything else think of it?

Epic US power metal piece from Wichita, USA. For fans of Brocas Helm, Omen & Eternal Champion.

Yet another massively overrated Savatage album:

Savatage - "Gutter Ballet" (1989)

Apparently these two ballads sit amongst the most highly regarded songs in the entire Savatage back catalogue. My opinion on them couldn't be more opposed as not only do I find them to be the clear low points of the "Gutter Ballet" album but I wouldn't hesitate to label them as heinous crimes against music. Does anyone agree with me  or am I all alone in these feelings?

So apparently he's pleaded guilty & is facing up to 30 years in prison so it'll be interesting to see what the outcome is now.

Welcome to the Academy Ludo. I think I speak for all of our senior members when I say that we're very pleased to have you. We have a very diverse group of passionate metalheads here at MA, many of which I feel a very strong bond with after sharing so many intimate details over the years. I'd like to encourage you to contribute as much as you feel like because we're a completely inclusive & non-judgemental community that's genuinely interested in hearing your thoughts on all things metal. We have a huge variety of features too, some that you won't find at any other metal-related website. So take a look around & don't be shy if you have any questions.

Necrophobic - "The Nocturnal Silence" (1993)

Vinny & Ben, you might wanna check this one out if you haven't previously.

Some very solid early-90's Swedish death metal with melodic black/death metal overtones. For fans of Dissection, Unanimated & Dismember.

Necrophobic - The Nocturnal Silence (1993)

It's been many years since I've revisited Swedish death metallers Necrophobic's 1993 debut album "The Nocturnal Silence" but I still find it to be a very solid piece of work. Whilst you'll harbor very few doubts that they hail from Swedish origins once the needle hits the wax, Necrophobic (who were led by Dark Funeral guitarist Blackmoon) had a lot more feathers in their caps than many of their contemporaries & you'll hear all sorts of influences popping up here as they do their very best to name drop almost every great death/thrash/black metal band of the early 1990's & do it all with great aplomb too.

The early Necrophobic sound seems to have been put together by combining the various different elements they were hearing from their local Stockholm scene at the time as far as I can see. You had the classic old-school death metal of Dismember, the melodic black metal of Dissection & the melodic death metal of Unanimated, all fused together & mixed in with regular Bathory references & one-off hints at international acts like Death, Deicide, Obituary, Bolt Thrower, Slayer, Emperor, etc. In fact, I'd suggest that they've borrowed their evil lyrical themes & imagery from Dissection & Deicide too if I'm not mistaken. I wouldn't say that this results in a product that's particularly focused or well defined but the band certainly had the skills to pull it off &, when combined with a production job that offers a good balance of underground rawness & melodic clarity, the result is a fairly accessible yet energetic extreme metal release that's tailor made for an audience that favours a melodic, crunchy & undeniably Swedish brand of death metal.

For fans of Dissection, Unanimated & Dismember.

4/5

OK, so I've gotten through all nine of our April feature releases now. Unfortunately I didn't discover any records that will be challenging for inclusion in my personal hall of metal glory this month but there was some pretty good stuff in there nonetheless as well as a couple of albums that were simply too far away from my taste to offer much in the way of appeal despite giving them a good Aussie crack. Here's the list ordered by preference:

THE INFINITE: Evergrey - "Escape Of The Phoenix" (2021) 4/5

THE SPHERE: God - "The Anatomy Of Addiction" (1994) 4/5

THE REVOLUTION: The Dillinger Escape Plan - "One Of Us Is The Killer" (2013) 4/5

THE HORDE: Martyr - "Feeding The Abscess" (2006) 4/5

THE PIT: Total Annihilation - "...On Chains Of Doom" (2020) 3.5/5

THE GATEWAY: Devin Townsend Project - "Addicted" (2009) 3.5/5

THE NORTH: Cultes des Ghoules - "Henbane" (2013) 3.5/5

THE FALLEN: Within Temptation - "Enter" (1997)  3/5

THE GUARDIANS: DragonForce - "Inhuman Rampage" (2006)  2.5/5

Well done to saxy for taking out my pole position this month too. "Escape Of The Phoenix" really surprised me in a positive way.

Ben, please add Dallas-based thrash metallers Steel Bearing Hand.

Fucking loving this death/doom metal monster from Dallas-based blackened death/thrash outfit Steel Bearing Hand. It reminds me of doomy death metal outfits like Asphyx, Incantation & Dead Congregation.

Steel Bearing Hand - Slay In Hell

Paging Daniel and Vinny.

Thanks a lot for the heads up on this one Xephyr. I hadn't heard of Dallas-based thrashers Steel Bearing Hand before but really fucking enjoyed this album. It's kinda hard to describe Steel Bearing Hand's sound as they combine so many different elements but not often at the one time. Instead, they tend to drop bits & pieces of widely disparate influences on the listener without ever really attempting to tie them all together but, in doing so, show themselves to have such a good understanding of the individual elements that you find yourself easily forgiving them. Three of the six tracks sit fairly comfortably under the blackened thrash tag as they layer black metal vocals over a speed metal-infused thrash sound similar to Destruction. "Lich Gate" on the other hand seems to sit somewhere between the death 'n' roll of Entombed, the more brutal Swedish death metal of Grave & the death/thrash sound of Deceased.... But it's the two lengthier closers of both sides that really do it for me as they both beautifully straddle a crushingly heavy death/doom metal sound that brings to mind the slower works of Asphyx & Dead Congregation. Hell, you'll even hear parts of this album that sound very much like "Blood Fire Death" era Bathory or classic Cannibal Corpse so there's a lot to take in across the relatively short 39 minute duration. The production perfectly balances clarity with a rawer underground authenticity & the performances are all excellent so there's a lot to like here, despite the apparent lack of focus. There's been no sacrifice on melody in the quest for intensity either. "Slay In Hell" is a metal-as-fuck excursion through all the things that make extreme metal so great & I'm very surprised Steel Bearing Hand haven't received more attention as this is unquestionably the best 2020's thrash metal release I've heard to date.

For fans of Deceased..., Destruction & Asphyx.

4/5

P.S. Sonny, you'll want to check this one out too.

Rip-snorting New Jersey mathcore for fans of The Callous Daoboys, Botch & Rolo Tomassi.

In general, I’ve enjoyed everything The Dillinger Escape Plan have put out without ever really feeling that I could fully relate to their sound enough to claim any individual release as a genuine classic for me personally. I’m not entirely sure why that’s the case as I’ve managed to overcome that obstacle with several other mathcore exponents but with Dillinger I inevitably find myself to be very impressed but can never seem to find a higher rating than 4/5 & that’s still the case with 2013’s classic fifth album “One Of Us Is The Killer”. It’s a different record to anything they’d produced previously without ever seeming to alienate the band’s existing fanbase. The technical complexity factor is as spasmatic as ever with the band experimenting with some incredibly off-beat & mind-bending rhythms but there’s somehow a greater level of accessibility at the same time. The incorporation of some strong melodic hooks on songs like the title track & “Nothing’s Funny” will likely see the well-informed listener reaching for comparisons with alternative metal legends Faith No More, particularly the vocal performance of Greg Puciato who seems to have been heavily influenced by the off-the-wall yet incredibly capable vocal stylings of Mike Patton. He's an enormous talent really. I can't possibly imagine how shredded his vocal chords must be after recording an album like this one as he truly screams his fucking lungs out across a large part of the run time but he also proves himself to have a great understanding of musicality & melody when he chooses to explore it.

If you really look at Dillinger’s delivery closely here you’ll find that the band’s sound is built on hardcore more than it is on metal. There’s an uncompromising urgency & aggression about everything they do that keeps the listener on the edge of their seat at all times. The incredible intricacy in their rhythms is both their strength & their enemy in my opinion as not only does it ensure that I’m always interested & engaged but it also sees me often struggling to find a groove that sees me banging my head like I want to do when listening to good metal. In a way I think this sees a lot of Dillinger’s material simply washing over me in a wave of vitriolic electricity without seeing as much of it sticking as I’d like & this is never made more clearly apparent than when they finally get the balance just right. The final two tracks on “One Of Us Is The Killer” (album highlight “Crossburner” & “The Threat Posed By Nuclear Weapons”) are absolutely killer & fall very much into this category. To be honest, I think the key reason I feel that way is because they have simpler, heavier metal riffs interspersed between the chaos & this gives this old metalhead a little more meat on the bones of Dillinger’s spasmatic hardcore sound. It’s strange that they left those two tracks till right at the end but this isn’t to say that there’s anything like a weak song or even a half-decent filler track amongst this lot. It’s all high quality stuff but it’s only the final climax that sees me fully letting go & succumbing to The Dillinger Escape Plan’s incredibly detailed plan of escape.

Overall, I think “One Of Us Is The Killer” is another very strong DEP record. It’s pretty incredible that they managed to maintain their screaming intensity & ridiculous technicality whilst simultaneously infusing their sound with an additional layer of accessibility but it’s paid off for them big-time here. Is it their best release? Perhaps… but it’s hard to compare their records as they’re all so similar in terms of quality. If pushed though, I’d suggest that I’d take this album over a record like “Irony Is A Dead Scene” which seems to be extremely highly regarded these days. Dillinger represented a breath of fresh air for a scene over-flowing with followers & I’m not sure that we’ve found anyone to fill that gap since their unfortunate departure. I’ll always have the fondest memories of experiencing this material in a live environment as there simply isn’t anything to compare to the violence & excitement of a Dillinger live show.

For fans of The Callous Daoboys, Botch & Rolo Tomassi.

4/5

Aggressive thrash metal from Switzerland for fans of Legion Of The Damned, late 80's Kreator & "Agent Orange"-era Sodom.

As a fan of the more intense European thrash metal sound, last year's third album from Swiss five-piece Total Annihilation (entitled "...On Chains Of Doom") ticks a lot of boxes. It's beautifully produced with a seriously brutal guitar tone that's more in line with death metal than it is thrash. It's also very tightly executed with the band working well within their technical limitations to give us a relentless brand of thrash that's not afraid to slow things down for some crunchy doom style sections on occasion. Front man Daniel Altwegg has a grindy & fairly monotonous European style of vocal delivery that keeps Total Annihilation firmly situated in the underground & the total run time is just about right for a modern thrash record. So it's needless to say that I quite enjoyed "...On Chains Of Doom".

What's stopping me from reaching for the higher ratings is a few things. Firstly, the composition is lacking in ambition & the construction of the riffs is relatively basic which brings some of these tracks an element of heard-it-all-before. The song-writing is also a little lacking in the way of memorability with none of these tracks standing out as particular highlights despite only one track falling short of an acceptable standard (see "Experience The Terror"). And finally, the guitar solos are very ordinary & don't really serve much of a purpose as they don't enhance the music in any way. It's pretty obvious that this is meerly a technical limitation & if I were in the band I would have advised against including them at all.

But, all criticisms aside, "...On Chains Of Doom" is a very heavy & generally enjoyable thrash record that makes up for its flaws with pure aggression & a good understanding of what makes underground thrash special. In fact, I'd take it over the 2020 Warbringer & Hexecutor albums we featured recently. 

For fans of Legion Of The Damned, late 80's Kreator & "Agent Orange"-era Sodom.

3.5/5

There were a couple of real duds on Within Temptation's 1997 debut album "Enter" however I have the most issues with this one:

Dutch gothic metal for fans of Draconian & 90's Theatre Of Tragedy & Tristania.

Accept's 1980 sophomore album "I'm A Rebel" was a bit of a dud when taken holistically however the one-two punch of "Thunder & Lightning" into "China Lady" right in the middle of the album is nothing short of magic in my opinion:

I don't consider these albums poor, but certainly on the weak end of metal at least, and these tracks stand out especially amidst the surrounding material.

Born Again - Born Again, Black Sabbath

Run of the Mill - Rocka Rola, Judas Priest

Until it Sleeps, The Outlaw Torn - Load, Metallica

Fixxxer - Reload, Metallica

Sinister Soldiers is a good example, but I would have picked the track Last Good-Bye!

Quoted SilentScream213

I quite like Black Sabbath's "Born Again" album to tell you the truth but interestingly the title track is one of the few tracks that I don't have time for. I don't think there are any genuine classics included but the first three tracks are where the highlights reside in my opinion with "Disturbing The Priest" being my pick of the bunch.

Judas Priest's "Rocka Rolla" is a massively underrated record in my opinion although I agree that "Run Of The Mill" is the clear classic amongst the tracklisting.

I have no time for Metallica's "Load" whatsoever so I agree that it's a poor album. I don't think it includes any genuinely great tracks though. "Bleeding Me" would be the clear highlight for me personally. "Until It Sleeps" is OK but I don't actually like "The Outlaw Torn" to be honest.

"Reload" is an even worse album for mine & I think only "Carpe Diem Baby" & "Devil's Dance" are at a reasonable level. Interestingly I actually rate "Fixxxer" as one of the weakest tracks on the tracklisting & for Metallica as a whole.

Yeah "Last Good-bye" seems to be the other track  that people rate from "Sinister Soldiers" but I've always found it to be a bit flat personally. "Snowshit" is the only track from the album that I have any time for & it's nothing short of a 5 star classic in my opinion.

Ok, so it'll shock approximately no one that 1997's  "Enter" debut  from Dutch gothic doom metal exponents Within Temptation wasn't for me but perhaps not for the reasons that many of you might suspect. I did hear bits of Within Temptation back in their early days but never paid a lot of attention to them given that my taste in metal was on the polar opposite end of the metal spectrum & that's still essentially the case. I mean, despite the link to the gothic doom metal movement, "Enter" isn't all that far away from the band's later symphonic metal label given that around half of the tracklisting would likely qualify for that tag when examined in isolation. Sure, the strongest element at play & the most comfortable way to pigeonhole "Enter" is via the gothic metal subgenre but there sure is a lot of synth work going on around it. Also, any metal fan worth their studded battle vest would be remiss to overlook the fact that the majority of the riffage is based purely on 1990's death doom metal &, given the inclusion of cookie monster vocals in roughly half of the tracklisting, it's no surprise that "Enter" is often linked with doom metal.

Surprisingly, the female vocals of Sharon den Adel are the clear highlight of the album for me & I definitely prefer the sections where she takes centre-stage whilst accompanied by predominantly clean instrumentation. The more extreme end of Within Temptation's sound was still very much an evolving concept at the time & is far less convincing here. In fact, the musicianship on display is a significant stumbling block for me given that the instrumentalists were so clearly still learning their craft, particularly the guitarists who suffered from a poor production job & aren't exactly convincing with their re-enactments of these slow-paced & simple doom riffs. Keyboardist Martijn Westerholt also struggles for timing on occasion &, more often than not, his chosen synthesizers sound pretty dated too. This isn't an attractive look given my pre-existing repulsion towards synth-driven metal. And finally, the death growls of guitarist Robert Westerholt rank relatively poorly when compared with other half-decent cookie monster wannabes. 

So it might sound like there's really not all that much going for "Enter" & that's true to an extent however I still find myself enjoying a good half of the eight tracks included & that enjoyment inevitably lines up with the tracks that utilize less of the synthesizers & death growls & more of Sharon's sweet vocal lines. There's no doubt that Within Temptation cross the line into being over-dramatic a little too often for my liking but when they hit on something with a little more maturity about it I find myself struggling to maintain my general feeling of apathy. One can tell that there are some good ideas in there somewhere but the band are still a little too green to know what to do with them. Then there are a couple of real shockers in "Gatekeeper" & "Blooded" which see me genuinely struggling to keep from offloading a cringe-faced look of revulsion. 

Ultimately, there's little doubt that I'm not the target audience for a record like "Enter" but, at the same time, there are far too many flaws for it to overcome here & I can't see myself returning to the album any time soon.

3/5

P.S. Andi's three band links are exactly the three that I was gonna go for so well done with that mate. 

Hhhmmmm... interesting. I'd argue that The Body's "The City Is Shelled" is the clear highlight of an extremely consistent album with no weak tracks but that come down to taste I suppose.

How about this beauty from Chicago-based hard rock/heavy metal/proto-doom exponents Sorcery's 1978 debut album "Sinister Soldiers":

A terribly misguided commercially focused ballad from Devin Townsend Project's 2009 alternative metal album "Addicted".