Daniel's Forum Replies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

03. Mastodon – “Leviathan” (2004)

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

05. Black Cobra – “Invernal” (2011)

06. Greenmachine – “D.A.M.N.” (1996)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Orbital - "The Box" single (1996)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4/5

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

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

That's just my opinion though.

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

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

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

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

For fans of Skycamefalling, Poison The Well & Underøath.

4/5

Andi, you should be all over this one.

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

Lost Horizon - "Awakening the World" (2001)

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

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

For fans of Nocturnal Rites, Hibria & Sonata Arctica.

4/5

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

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

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

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

Quoted Ben

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Progressive Metal (conventional)

Extreme Progressive Metal

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

Thoughts?

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

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

Molested - "Blod-draum" (1995)

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

For fans of Incantation, Miasma & Portal.

3/5

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

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

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

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

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

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

For fans of Prong, Fudge Tunnel & Soundgarden.

3.5/5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

02. Esoteric – “Metamorphogenesis” (1999)

03. Evoken – “Atra Mors” (2012)

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

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

06. Monolithe – “Monolithe II” (2005)

07. Ea – “Ea” (2012)

08. Ea – “Au ellai” (2010)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I think that having an aversion to Folk within Metal is rougher going than something like Gothic influence or, in my certain case, having Death Metal steer clear of grind influences. There are a good number of North albums that, although they aren't necessarily Folk Metal, tend to use folky tendencies as a natural progression of their sound even if they're playing a traditional style of Black Metal, which is why I agree in that it's a pretty tough deciding factor for The North in general. 

Quoted Xephyr

In fairness, I have no problem whatsoever with the inclusion of genuine folk music into metal. In fact, I quite enjoy the inclusion of acoustic folk songs or interludes to break up an extreme metal release. Where it creates a problem for me is when an artist elects to play jovial folk melodies over (or using) metal instrumentation & that rules a line through the a large portion of folk metal, medieval folk metal & Celtic metal as well as a percentage of Viking metal & Pagan folk metal. Some of the traditional folk instruments sound really wrong with extreme metal too in my opinion. On top of that, I generally find any subgenre that has the word melodic or symphonic in front of it's genre tag to be a little challenging & that includes a significant chunk of symphonic black metal & melodic black metal. Then you've got depressive black metal which I often find to work directly against the empowerment I like to receive from my black metal, blackgaze which is a bit too light-weight most of the time & black 'n' roll which is simply too rocky for my taste so I'm left with just black metal, atmospheric black metal & war metal that I can rely on to float my boat with a level of consistency. Is that enough to warrant a move back into The North? Perhaps it is given that it encompasses over two thirds of the overall clan releases. I dunno.

Here are the latest adjusted rules for playlist submission:

THE FALLEN: 30 minutes each for clan members only.

THE GATEWAY: 30 minutes each for clan members & one track from non-clan members.

The GUARDIANS: 30 minutes each for clan members only.

THE HORDE: 30 minutes each for clan members only.

THE INFINITE: 30 minutes each for clan members only.

THE NORTH: 20 minutes each for clan members only.

THE PIT: 30 minutes each for clan members only.

THE REVOLUTION: 30 minutes each for clan members & one track from non-clan members.

THE SPHERE: 30 minutes each for clan members & one track from non-clan members.

The gloriously textured shoegaze piece that closes out French post-rock outfit Alcest's 2016 "Kodama" album. For fans of Old Silver Key, "Melting Sun"-period Lantlôs & the self-titled Amesoeurs album.

Thanks for nominating this one Xephyr. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Here are my thoughts:

I've had an up & down experience with French blackgaze outfit Alcest over the years. I've always liked the idea of what they respresent more than the actual result but have certainly given them more than their fair share of chances. I think the long & short of it is that I simply prefer a more dark & imposing sound so I often find myself feeling a touch outside of my element while their ethereal & uplifting brand of post-metal washes over me & that's still very much the case with 2016's fifth full-length "Kodama" although I've definitely seen myself feeling more comfortable & accepting on this occasion. Perhaps I'm simply softening up in my old age but I suspect otherwise.

I can see why Xephyr has selected "Kodama" for feature release status because I consistently found myself asking an obvious question during each listen. Is this a metal release? It certainly seems to be universally regarded as one on other metal-related internet resources & RYM has this album tagged as Blackgaze (152-9), Shoegaze (126-27) & Post-Metal (62-20) primaries with Post-Rock (127-10) & Dream Pop (101-23) secondaries. Now, that's all well & good but I'm gonna throw a cat amongst the pigeons here by claiming that there's not more than a couple of minutes of actual metal on the whole album & even then it's borderline. The inclusion of the occasional black metal scream does not tie a record to metal in my opinion & that's about the extent of it here. The instrumentation is absolutely in line with the modern Post-Rock model with several of the tracks drawing on Shoegaze for inspiration too. I'd be happy with Post-Rock as the sole primary but can see the logic in a dual arrangement as well. I'm just not hearing where all of these people are picking up the metal thing from as there's not a sign of it here. In all honesty, "Kodama" sounds much closer to Coldplay than it does to Deafheaven & that's not meant as a criticism. If it was played straight after a Sigur Ros record you certainly wouldn't feel startled & likely wouldn't miss a beat.

Musically, this is very every bit an Alcest release. It's dreamy & melodic with the primary focal point being the layers of jangly guitars & the soft & unintimidating male vocals which see the listener being transported to a warm & positive world that's very much in opposition to the one we generally associate with a clan like The North. The consistency of the tracklisting is excellent with no weak tracks included & I find the whole experience to be very rewarding even if I do inevitably feel the craving for something more savage afterwards. It's often nice to be taken outside of your musical comfort zone by a quality artist that knows their craft very well & executes their plans with precision & that's exactly what we have here. "Eclosion" sees me drawing comparisons with latter period Anathema while the final track "Onyx" sees Alcest continuing their trend of finishing their albums with something a little different from the rest of the tracklisting, this time a darker & beautifully textured instrumental piece that I find to be the highlight of the album.

"Kodama" is not the sort of thing that'll I'll find myself reaching for all that often however it'll no doubt provide me with ongoing rewards whenever I do stumble on it while looking for something more specific. In fact, it's left me wondering as to whether I may have been too harsh on Alcest over the years. Perhaps a revisit of some of their earlier releases is required as God knows my taste profile has never been wider & more diverse than it is now.

For fans of Old Silver Key, "Melting Sun"-period Lantlôs & the self-titled Amesoeurs album.

4/5

Great selection Andi. In fact this is one of my all-time favourite records. Here are my notes from a year ago:

Most of our regulars would be aware that I don't dish out the full five stars very often at all. A release has to be absolutely perfectly in tune with my personal taste & also be impeccably performed & executed with an unparalleled level of creative ambition even to be considered. But 1999's sophomore album from Washington-based mathcore outfit Botch is not only an amazing release for the subgenre but it may well be the best mathcore record I've ever experienced. I honestly didn't know that this style of music could reach these heights. This is truly superior metal music that thumbs its nose at the competition.

For fans of Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan & Gaza.

5/5

Great selection Ben. Here are my notes from my last revisit:

The 1987 debut album from Canadian thrash metal outfit Infernäl Mäjesty is an aggressive riff-fest with a dark atmosphere & an impressive level of class in the song-writing & arrangements. Slayer has obviously been a major influence on the band which can't hurt however they offer enough of their own to differentiate themselves from their idols. The guitar solos aren't amazing & the drum production is a little stale however there's a nice level of separation between the instruments. Some of the riff structures hint at what would become death metal & I can't help but shake the thought that Morbid Angel's Trey Azagthoth might have been quite the fan because I can hear some similar ideas here. Overall, this is a very consistent & high quality thrash record that will appeal to fans of Slayer, Razor & Sacrifice.

4/5

Underworld - "Pearl's Girl" E.P. (1996)

65 minutes of ridiculously great techno & progressive house highlighted by my all-time favourite Underworld track (i.e. the title track) which was a huge one for me as a techno DJ. I have particularly memories of dropping the full version of "Pearl's Girl" as the second track in an early morning set I played at an extremely messy house party in Bondi to a pack of munted punters back in December 2008. I played two different versions of a more techy & understated track from a Japanese producer (whose name escapes me now) on either side of it & extended the mixes in & out using loops for a long period so that it was kinda like a journey all in itself. I also extended the breakdown to amplify the tension & release. I recorded that set & it went on to gain a little bit of a reputation amongst my fanbase as the hardest set I ever played which was a pretty accurate description to be honest. I didn't have much of a choice though as most of the people in attendance were into hard trance.

Interesting choice Andi. "Shining Kingdom" is the track that holds the least appeal on "Passage" for me personally. This one is my personal favourite as I really love the Slayer influence in the intro & verses.

I certainly understand your point there Sonny & it's one that I've pondered over on many occasions over a long period now. If folk metal was the only subgenre in The North that I struggled with then I probably wouldn't hesitate in rejoining but of the thirteen subgenres contained by The North I'd suggest that I only really consider myself to be a big fan of three. Interestingly though, those three subgenres make up around 65% of the release base for the clan so there's an argument that many of those niche subgenres are pretty insignificant. Anyway... I'll have a think about it.

I really love the ambience of this beautifully executed ambient piece which sees the listener observing an epic Viking battle from a safe distance.

This is the very epitome of everything I hate about the Folk Metal subgenre.

OK, so this one was always going to take me well outside of my comfort zone & I experienced some significant struggles with it if I'm being honest. Don't get me wrong. It's a very well produced & executed example of the Folk Metal sound & you'll find that my score reflects that but I think it's fair to say that I find this subgenre to be tougher going than any of our regularly contributing members, so much so that if I was to rank each of the eleven tracks included here you'd likely find that my feelings are the polar opposite of the rest of you. It's really only the excellent ambient interludes & traditional folk pieces that enable "Vredens Tid" to achieve the score that I've awarded it & even then I was pretty close to going a touch lower to be honest. I simply can't get into cheesy folk melodies within the context of extreme metal & there are truck loads of examples included here along with those horrid fiddle gigs which are undeniably none of my business. You'll even find some of those God-awful rubber band sounds that Moonsorrow love so much. Thankfully though, we have some splendidly executed atmospheric pieces to balance them out a bit with the wonderful Viking-themed "Preludium" being my clear album highlight along with the relaxing traditional folk music of "Svunna minnen". Unlike some of our other members, I actually quite enjoy the female vocals which provide a nice juxtaposition to the harsh male screams of the front man. His Black metal style vocals are pretty decent but when he backs off the extremity a bit I find that he tends to further reduce the intensity of the music a touch.

Let's be clear that (despite what competitors sites my tell you) there is very little genuine Viking Metal included here. You won't find any rhythms that remind you of oars in the water or the galloping of steeds. You're also very unlikely to find any of the atmosphere of Melodic Black Metal. "Vredens tid" is a pure Folk Metal release in my opinion & for that reason it was always gonna be a stretch for me find enough enjoyment to award it a pass mark. As with Moonsorrow (who were probably their main inspiration here), this is undeniably a beautifully put together representation of what the band were trying to achieve & it sports a stellar guitar tone that perfectly balances clarity & extremity. I applaud Månegarm for that but unfortunately "Vredens tid" simply resides too far outside of my wheel house & you'll rarely find a finer example of why I struggle with the concept of returning to The North. I mean if my rating was to count against the clan rating for this record then it would see our whole beloved clans system breaking down. It's a quandary that I'm yet to come up with an answer for as this record is so clearly derived from black metal yet is almost the polar opposite in its atmosphere & aesthetics. With that said, I think I kindly hand "Vredens tid" back to you Folk Metal fans with a gentle smile & a knowing nod to say that I've given it a fair chance & I respect it for what it is but it's clearly not for me.

For fans of Moonsorrow, "Far Far North"-era Einherjer & the last couple of Falkenbach albums.

3/5

*scrunches up idea & throws randomly over shoulder into unsuspecting wife's face*

For me it would likely be The Horde which is probably not much of a surprise to most of you given my past involvement with the death metal scene. I'm not into the few more niche subgenres it draws together (death 'n' roll, cybergrind, gorenoise) but the rest of the clan is right up my alley, particularly as I'm probably the only regularly contributing member that has much time for grindcore. Melodeath is certainly a little hit & miss for me but there's enough quality out there to keep me interested if Ben's playlist submissions are anything to go by.

I do find that I also have a very strong affiliation with The Fallen given that my taste profile encompasses the majority of the subgenres it contains. I'm probably more heavily into the drone metal & conventional sludge metal sounds than the rest of the group as well as having a life-long love of all brands of doom so that clan suits me really well. The Pit is also a strong clan for me however I have to admit that I'm never going to be a huge fan of speed metal, groove metal or crossover thrash. They're all more of a passing interest than anything else.

Interestingly, since voluntarily dropping The North some time ago my love of dark, blasphemic black metal has never subsided & I find myself consistently grappling with the idea of returning to the clan given that I regard some of its subgenres as the most dear to my heart (who says that about black metal?). The conventional & atmospheric black metal sounds sit amongst my all-time favourites while I also love my blasting war metal but I struggle with most of the other subgenres contained within The North which I often find tending to dilute the things I love about black metal. Perhaps I should just get over it & rejoin as the two more senior subgenres are by far the most dominant & the more informed contributing members we have in each clan the better.

Hhhmmm.... perhaps I was a little ambitious on the regularity. Would a fortnightly or monthly arrangement be more agreeable? We could just do one multi-subgenre round for each of the nine clans over 18 or 36 weeks with three semi finals & one final taking us to six months or a year. I'm not hellbent on the idea so feel free to pooh-pooh the whole concept if you don't find it appealing.

An epic 50 minute French funeral doom metal excursion for fans of Ea, The Howling Void & Remembrance.

I really enjoyed this one Ben. Here's my review:

The funeral doom metal subgenre & I have a long & rewarding history as it’s a movement that I got involved with very early in its evolutionary timeline back in the early 1990’s. I really bought into the feeling of isolation it promotes & felt that it was just what I’d been looking for at the time. Over time though, I tended to find that it wasn’t the type of thing that I could listen to all that often without becoming restless & also that there weren’t nearly enough bands that were doing anything particularly different with the original prototype so these days I opt for an occasional return to key bands & releases that I find to be genuinely rewarding. After the last couple of days though, I’ll be adding French four-piece Monolithe to my list of agreeable options.

Single-track albums haven’t been something that I’ve had a particular interest in over the years. I rarely see the point in extending a single piece to those levels of excess with only very rare examples of releases that genuinely manage to captivate me by taking me on a cohesive journey that’s worthy of my undivided attention. Green Carnation’s “Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness” & Meshuggah’s “Catch Thirtythree” immediately spring to mind however for every win there are several examples that fall by the wayside. In order for a single track of that length to achieve a consistent level of intrigue it must take the listener through a number of rewarding movements that are easily differentiated from each other but still work together as a fluently flowing piece in its own right. Does the fifty minute “Monolithe II” work in this capacity? Well yes & no. Unlike Edge Of Sanity’s “Crimson”, this is definitely one long piece rather than sounding like a bunch of different parts pasted together & whether that’s something that you have the patience for is up to the individual really. “Monolithe II” certainly doesn’t stray too far from the theme it begins with but, at the same time, it’s not all that hard to identify highlight sections of the album such as the significantly more intense & climactic period that appears at around the 25-30 minute mark. It just takes a fair amount of building to get to that point with the atmosphere tending to sneak up on you so that when the peak finally arrives you’re not all that sure how you got there.

Monolithe champion a melodic brand of funeral doom metal that’s not unlike that of many of their peers however they do offer a point of difference in the consistent use of accordion as a melodic centrepiece along with the strong use of keyboards for atmospherics. There’s a conscious sense of grandeur about this album. It isn’t the most desolate example of the subgenre as the tempos don’t get as ploddy as some of their contemporaries & the overall concentration on melody gives it a lighter feel. For this reason, I often find myself reaching for comparisons with the death doom metal subgenre as there are some easy comparisons to be made with the simple melodic guitar themes of bands like My Dying Bride & Paradise Lost here. The death-growled vocals of Richard Loudin aren’t the most original you’ve ever heard either but they’re certainly serviceable. I do feel that he could have opted for a little more variation though as he doesn’t really command the listeners attention all that often, instead tending to compliment whatever melodic concept the instrumentalists are exploring at the time in order to accentuate the big atmosphere that Monolithe are trying to create.

Ultimately, “Monolithe II” is a very strong example of the funeral doom metal sound & I can understand other members awarding it some of their higher scores. For me personally though, there are a couple of things that will always keep it grounded in the upper realms of the also-rans. Whilst the use of accordion certainly creates an interesting point of differentiation, I can’t say that I think it fits the funeral doom format all that well as I find it to sound a little bit cheesy at times. In fact, I regularly find myself thinking that it might sound more at home on a Summoning record which isn’t a positive thing if you know my feelings on that particular artist. I’d also like to see Monolithe making a greater effort to change things up a bit. A stronger focus on light & shade might have made the 50 minute run time seem a lot less arduous in my opinion. Regardless of these minor blemishes though, “Monolithe II” definitely possesses enough atmosphere to successfully maintain my interest for its duration. It just doesn't peak in intensity enough to command my higher ratings. It’s an impressive accomplishment from a classy outfit but it’s not as emotionally engaging as the premier releases in the funeral doom subgenre.

For fans of Ea, The Howling Void & Remembrance.

4/5

OK, I'll bite. DDM primary on Rob Your Mates required:

1. Winter - Into Darkness (1990)

2. Rippikoulu - Musta seremonia (1993)

3. Cianide - A Descent Into Hell (1994)

4. Monolithe - Monolithe III (2012)

5. Epitaphe - I (2019)

6. Ceremonium - Into the Autumn Shade (1995)

7. Coffins - Buried Death (2008)

8. Sempiternal Deathreign - The Spooky Gloom (1989)

9. Convocation - Ashes Coalesce (2020)

10. Atavisma - The Chthonic Rituals (2018)

Sorry, I know it's considered sacreligious not to have MDB, Anathema et al on a death doom list, but I do genuinely struggle with the whole gothic death doom schtick (in case you hadn't noticed)!

I've also not included any albums that are principally considered funeral doom, so no Evoken and the likes.

Really interesting list mate. That Winter record was a strong contender for my list however it's just been too many years since I lastrevisited it so I couldn't quite decide where the level of my adoration sits for it these days. Cruciform's "Paradox" demo would have been a strong contender too but I wanted to create a list in our Public Lists section so could only select proper releases.

This track just sounds like a big mess to me. The focus on rhythmic complexity has gotten wwaayyy out of control.