Daniel's Forum Replies

A beautifully constructed & executed acoustic folk piece that represents the highlight of German power metal legends Blind Guardian's "Somewhere Far Beyond" album from 1992 for me.

Blind Guardian - "Somewhere Far Beyond" (1992)

Another quite enjoyable effort from my favourite European power metal band Blind Guardian. "Somewhere Far Beyond" jumps out of the gates beautifully with two of the albums most anthemic highlights in "Time What Is Time" & "Journey Through the Dark" before retreating within itself for the majority of the remainder. There are a couple of tracks that don't do much for me in "Theatre Of Pain" with its incredibly dated & cheesy synth work & the instrumental bag-pipe piece "The Piper's Calling" which is nothing more than a waste of one minute of your life but the rest of the album is all more than decent. As usual it's the speedier & more aggressive parts of the album that tend to offer the most appeal but interestingly it's the acoustic folk piece "The Bard's Song - In the Forest" that leaves the most long-lasting impression on me & rightfully stakes its claim for classic status. "Somewhere Far Beyond" doesn't challenge "Imaginations From The Other Side" for my favourite Blind Guardian release but it's not far behind "Nightfall In Middle-Earth" & "Live" for the minor medals.

For fans of Helloween, Stormwarrior & Savage Circus. 

3.5/5

Yeah I thought it was a particularly impressive group of feature releases this month too. In fact, there wasn't a dud amongst them in my opinion.

THE FALLEN: Solstice - "New Dark Age" (1998)  4/5

THE GATEWAY: Linkin Park - "Meteora" (2003)  4/5

THE GUARDIANS: Avantasia - "The Metal Opera" (2001)  3.5/5

THE HORDE: Dead Congregation - "Promulgation Of The Fall" (2014)  5/5

THE INFINITE: Animals As Leaders - "Animals As Leaders" (2009)  4/5

THE NORTH: Nehëmah - "Requiem Tenebrae" (2004)  4.5/5

THE PIT: Sacrilege - "Behind The Realms Of Madness" (1985)  3.5/5

THE REVOLUTION: Trivium - "In Waves" (2011)  3.5/5

THE SPHERE: Killing Joke - "Killing Joke" (2003)  4.5/5

The clear highlight for me was the Dead Congregation album which is likely to push for inclusion in my all-time death metal top ten & that's saying something given that it's my metal subgenre of choice. The Nehëmah & Killing Joke records are also genuine classics in my opinion. The Solstice & Animals As Leaders releases were both very solid & I have to admit to being very surprised at how much I enjoyed the Linkin Park record. If I'm honest I found the commercial elements of the Trivium record to be a lot more challenging than that of "Meteora" & I don't think there's all that much of a gap between them as far as underground credibility goes. It was nice to see that my commitment was repaid with some enjoyment in the Avantasia album & my generally positive impressions of Sacrilege's debut haven't faded in the slightest over the decades.

It might be commercially successful but this Linkin Park mega-hit still really does it for me. For fans of Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach & P.O.D.

Ok so I went into this feature having never listened to a Linkin Park album before to be honest. I saw them live at a festival back in 2013 & thought they had some good energy about them but I've always assumed that their records would be too commercially focused for my taste & you know what? I was wrong. I ended up really enjoying "Meteora". It's certainly not an expansive effort. Linkin Park had definitely hit on a formula that worked for them at the time & the album is chock full of different variations on a common structural theme however they also knew what their strengths were & worked really well within those confines.

Musically, "Meteora" didn't offer anything we hadn't heard before. This is quintessential nu metal with all of the trademark characteristics on display & those people that claim Linkin Park were never a metal band are trippin' because there's more than enough crunch about this material to warrant entry to the hall. They were a tight band that placed all of their attention on building atmospheres leading into big hook-laden choruses. The rapping vocals of Mike Shinoda are the clear weak point for mine. I quite like underground hip hop but Mike definitely lacks the authenticity to pull this stuff off without sounding a bit corny. Thankfully the real star of the show is front man Chester Bennington whose powerful & anthemic chorus delivery completely captivates me. In fact, Chester takes an average commercial metal record to a level that I wasn't really expecting to be honest.

The tracklisting is very consistent with only the popular single "Breaking The Habit" failing to make an impact on me. Songs like "Easier To Run", "Nobody's Listening" & the classic closer "Numb" are both highly potent & extremely memorable with the main hooks digging their talons in hard & ensuring that you feel like starting the journey all over again at completion. This is more than likely contributed to by the very short 36 minute runtime too. 

"Meteora" really surprised me & provided strong proof that we shouldn't make assumptions when it comes to music. One man's lunch is another man's garbage & I'll happily take a serving of two of "Meteora".

For fans of Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach & P.O.D.

4/5

Welcome to Metal Academy Theo. It's great to see a new & active member of The Gateway & The Revolution.  We have a very cool little community & a lot of really exciting & interesting features here at the Academy (e.g. monthly clan-specific forums, playlists & feature releases, clan challenges, highly filterable charts, an anniversary page, the ability to rate album covers, etc.) so I'd encourage you to explore the site & be as active as possible. Our regular contributors are very welcoming of new members as they all share our inclusive philosophy so have fun & I'll see you around the site.

Definitive death metal in all its glory. For fans of Incantation, Immolation & Morbid Angel.

OK so I've officially had my mind blown. I'm sure everyone knows that the more extreme end of death metal is where my absolute musical sweet spot is by now &, that being the case, "Promulgation Of The Fall" spends its entire duration incessantly pressing its finger right on top of my audio g-spot. It's cripplingly dark, relentlessly brutal & stunningly produced & executed. Sure there are some obvious influences here that Vinny has already gone into in his review however I'd suggest that Dead Congregation match them with ease here. In fact, the sheer precision gives Dead Congregation an edge over most of their peers. The drumming is outstanding, the deep death growls are suffocating & the atmosphere is situated right in the middle of a fog-filled, zombie-ridden graveyard at midnight. This record is the absolute epitome of what death metal aspires to be & I can't fault it. Unbelievable stuff!

For fans of Incantation, Immolation & Morbid Angel.

5/5

Last day to get your playlist suggestions in guys. Here's the run down of the current allowances (yes I know it's all a bit too complex at the moment but I'm hoping to clean that up after we trial a few things this month):

THE FALLEN: Strictly 30 minutes max. No track number or track length limitations. Clan members only.

THE GATEWAY: Clan members get a maximum of five tracks. Non-clan members get a maximum of one track.

THE GUARDIANS: Clan members get a maximum of five tracks. Clan members only.

THE HORDE: Clan members get a maximum of five tracks. Clan members only.

THE INFINITE: Clan members get a maximum of five tracks. Clan members only.

THE NORTH: Clan members get a maximum of three tracks. Clan members only.

THE PIT: Clan members get a maximum of five tracks. Clan members only.

THE REVOLUTION: Clan members get a maximum of five tracks. Non-clan members get a maximum of one track.

THE SPHERE: Clan members get a maximum of five tracks. Non-clan members get a maximum of one track.

Interesting. I find "Built To Fall" to be one of the less appealing tracks on the album to be honest. This one was my clear favourite:

This one has really tested me. It's taken me much further outside of my musical comfort zone than even some of the recent European power metal feature releases have to be honest. I mean I'd certainly heard the odd Trivium track here & there previously (particularly during "The Revolution" Spotify playlist creation process) but I never quite realized just how commercially accessible their sound was until now. Let's be completely transparent here.... a fair chunk of "In Waves" is a lot closer to Linkin Park than it is to "Master Of Puppets" & I even found myself making comparisons to Nickelback at times which isn't something that any self-respecting metal band would usually be comfortable with. But having said that, there's certainly a place for a poppier brand of metal when it's done well & it's done well here.

Colin Richardson's production job really is the player of the match for "In Waves" because he gives a lot of this material more grunt than it actually deserves. The performances & execution are outstanding but if you analyze many of these tracks in detail you'll find that there's not all that much substance. There's definitely a case for some of these tracks having been needlessly extended (see the last minute & a half of the title track for example) but in general everything seems to be in the appropriate place. It's a real credit to Richardson that he's managed to take such simple & accessible song-writing & make it into a fairly decent metal record.

For a release that's generally regarded as melodic metalcore, there's actually not very much hardcore on offer here. It's much more of a combination of commercial heavy metal & melodic death metal in my opinion but the vocals & breakdowns see it hanging onto its -core tag for dear life. I'm just not so sure that too many punks are gonna be jumping onboard the Trivium train based on this offering. Despite the screamy vocals & occasional blast beat, Disturbed & Metallica's "Black Album" seem like more appropriate counterparts so no one should really be claiming "In Waves" under the extreme metal banner. In fact, the vocals are probably the weakest part of the album for me as I'm not all that big on the generic nature of the screamed delivery & the clean stuff tends to be... welll... pretty Linkin Park like really (no offence to Linkin Park who are sitting in my playlist for the coming week) which only exacerbates the pre-existing feeling that I'm listening to a Stock, Aitken & Waterman version of modern metal.

At the end of the day though, I rate releases on how much I enjoy listening to them & I'd be lying if I said that I didn't find a fair bit of enjoyment in the majority of "In Waves". Sure there are a few duds thrown in here & there (see "A Skyline's Severance", "Built To Fall" & particularly the radio-friendly closer "Of All These Yesterdays") & there aren't really all that many genuine highlight tracks but there's enough high quality metal here to keep me interested even if I don't find my head bopping up & down all that often.  Thankfully I just love a well produced & tightly performed metal record & can look past Trivium's failings for the most part.

For fans of Bullet For My Valentine, As I Lay Dying & Shadows Fall.

3.5/5

Andi, you'll probably dig this month's Animals As Leaders feature release.

One of the highlights tracks from Animals As Leaders' self-titled debut. For fans of Plini, Mestis & Arch Echo.

I was a big fan of instrumental guitar records from my early teenage years all the way through the my mid-to-late 20's. In fact, most of you won't be aware of this but there was a time when I had ambitions in this space myself & I still have my 1999 solo CD to show for it. Why do I mention it? Well I'm just setting the scene for you so that you can understand why someone like myself might be more inclined to find appeal in a record like Animals As Leaders' debut than your average metalhead. There's an air of experimentation to a lot of this material that defines what progressive music is meant to be with the incorporation of jazz fusion & electronic components adding a fair bit of interest to the complex progressive metal backbone however (despite my strong background in both genres) I find that the more metal oriented material is the most effective here, particularly the tracks with a stronger emphasis on exotic melodies. And then there's Tosin Abasi... I can tell you this dude isn't just a super-talented guitarist. He's utterly mind-blowing for an old shredder like myself. Like some of the things he does here are on a level that I didn't even think was physically possible so that element alone keeps me on my toes throughout the runtime.

At it's core, "Animals As Leaders" is a guitar shred record & guitar shred records certainly have a niche market that they're aimed at so if you've gone into "Animals As Leaders" expecting something more than an impressive show of virtuosity & versatility then you might be disappointed but if you can accept that limitation then you'll leave yourself open to an entertaining showcase of the skill sets of the various band members. I think the fact that you don't simply see Abasi's name on the cover kinda leads the listener's expectations away from the reality in that respect. I have to admit that I would have preferred Abasi to put a bit more of a focus on melody but I can't complain much as I pick the shattered pieces of my musical ego up off the floor. Sure the production is a little bit wishy washy but it's nothing I couldn't overcome after my initial listen. This was a very interesting feature release selection in my opinion.

For fans of Plini, Mestis & Arch Echo.

4/5

Ben, please add US doom metal outfit My Threnody.

A majestic & atmospheric French black metal tribute to classic Burzum.

This one's outstanding Ben. Nehemah don't reinvent the wheel but they certainly know how to take me back to my black metal glory days. I'd suggest that "Requiem Tenebrae" sits somewhere between conventional black metal & atmospheric black metal. Possibly a little closer to the conventional side of the equation. It's not a perfect record as there are a couple of faults. The drum sound is pretty ordinary, particularly that ride cymbal that stands out like a sore thumb. There's also the odd bouncy punk beat tossed in here & there that isn't 100% my bag (usually in honour of similar Darkthrone & Hellhammer riffs) but the vast majority of the album offers a stunningly cold atmosphere enhanced by some wonderfully evil vocals. "Requiem Tenebrae" makes for one of the best examples of Second Wave of Norwegian Black Metal worship I've heard in a long time & I loved it.

For fans of Darkthrone, Burzum & Immortal.

4.5/5

Ben, please add Brazilian heavy metallers Ignited's album "Steelbound".

About that Trivium song... Sorry, Vinny, it's just so good! And sorry if you were thinking of suggesting a song from the In Waves album, Sonny.

Andi, please pick another song. Sonny already said in another thread that he intends on picking a track from "In Waves" & you've got a lot more options to choose from.

Pretty blatant Dio worship going on here but I can't help but fall for the strength of the massive chorus hook. For fans of Kamelot, Edguy & Stratovarius.

Ok so I think we're all aware that European power metal & I don't see eye to eye but I committed to giving "The Metal Opera" a good Aussie try by really focusing on it over the last couple of days & I'm reasonably pleased I did because I have to admit that I don't actually mind it. My first impressions weren't amazing for a couple of reasons though. Firstly, there are very few legitimate riffs on offer here as this material is completely vocal driven. The simple power chord or tremolo-picked backing work from the rhythm guitarists is not something that I'm usually comfortable with as it all sounded pretty tame to my untrained ears. The second thing that initially put me off was the lop-sided tracklisting which offers a significantly stronger B side. My lack of interest in much of the A side saw me putting my walls up on first listen & it took me a couple of revisits for the album to fully open up. But open up it did & I'm pleased to say that I eventually found the soaring vocal harmonies to be a bit of a drawcard. 

Honestly, I couldn't care less about the storyline & concept but the album can just as easily be listened to as a regular album because it's not obviously structured as your classic filler-ridden concept record. It's also not all that obvious that there are loads of guest vocalists unless you're familiar with the original intention of the album as many of the singers sound very similar to each other. The use of symphonics isn't over the top either (which I'm very thankful for).

Overall, this album isn't ever going to be a favourite for me but I respect the talent & ambition of Tobias Sammet & found it to be a generally enjoyable listen that further confirms my broader musical evolution over the last decade or so. I mean I never would have gotten through my first listen back in the 80's or 90's but now I find myself being capable of making an unbiased judgement call on a European power metal record which is quite the achievement for this ol' extreme metal fanatic.

For fans of Kamelot, Edguy & Stratovarius.

3.5/5

To be honest I've been making my selections based on the gaps that needed filling since day one so that everyone else got theirs. Luckily I really dig drone metal. :)

As for picking a track from In Waves for next month's playlist, I didn't really think anyone would be interested in listening to a track from the previous month's featured release again so soon.

I feel a little differently on that topic. I religiously include a track from the monthly feature releases because they're the most listened to releases by each clan in any given month & that works into my ambition to have the playlists reflecting our current listening habits. It's also worth remembering that these playlists are listened to by far more casual Spotify users than they are by our Metal Academy regulars.

My thoughts exactly Sonny. In fact, in order to give our three other contributing members of The Fallen as much runtime as possible I was intending to use my own thirty minutes to fill in gaps in our subgenre coverage for this first one. Perhaps if we continue with this format & expand it across the other clans then I could leave an allowance for an additional person so that I can use that space for this purpose. Good discussion.

We still have a three track limit for The North playlist Vinny. That's mainly because of the longer track durations that people have been selecting which tend to fill up the run time without the need for anything additional but also because most of those selections tend to be in the same couple of subgenres so I leave a little room to add some material from the large number of other subgenres.

Hahahahaha..... yeah I could have saved you both the trouble as I knew perfectly well that Amaranthe wouldn't be up Sonny's alley (or mine for that matter) but I don't like to put words in people's mouths when it comes to music.

The allocated April feature release owners:

THE FALLEN: Andi, Ben, Daniel, Sonny

THE GATEWAY: Daniel, saxy

THE GUARDIANS: Andi, Vinny, Xephyr

THE HORDE: Ben, Daniel, Vinny

THE INFINITE: saxy, Andi, Xephyr

THE NORTH: Vinny, Xephyr, Sonny, Ben

THE PIT: Vinny, Ben, Daniel, Sonny

THE REVOLUTION: Daniel, Andi

THE SPHERE: Daniel

Ben & Chris, you're both gonna love this one.

Elite level industrial metal from Notting Hill, London. For fans of Ministry, Nine Inch Nails & KMFDM.

Ok so this record is fucking superb just quietly. "Killing Joke" has exceeded my expectations by a very wide margin. I've heard bits & pieces of Killing Joke over the years but nothing's ever grabbed me enough to draw me into spending extended periods of time with them. This album however is much more metal oriented than I remember from them & is also beautifully produced & executed. The performances are absolutely phenomenal, particularly the stellar efforts from front man Jaz Coleman & guest drummer Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Queens Of The Stone Age). It's certainly not the most industrial of industrial metal releases. In fact, I'd actually question the validity of that tag here as there's really not much electronics going on but it certainly sounds a lot like Ministry at times (it's worth noting that bassist Paul Raven would join Ministry a couple of years later & had played with Godflesh just prior to rejoining Killing Joke) so I think that's where the link comes from along with Killing Joke's history of dabbling with industrial sounds. In saying that though, a more suitable genre tag doesn't easily spring to mind for this release. Alternative metal perhaps?

Killing Joke incorporate a few of their signature post-punk elements here & there with mixed results (i.e. the one completely post-punk dominated track "You'll Never Get To Me" is the only weak moment on the album) but when they decide to be heavy they really go to town with a brilliant use of layering & texture. There's a case for the tracklisting being a little top heavy with all of the highlights coming in the first six tracks however that's not to say the last few are weak by any means. They just don't take me to the same peaks as songs like opener "The Death & Resurrection Show" (the album highlight for mine), the very Ministry-like "Asteroid", Implant", "Blood On Your Hands" (with its indie rock verse that sounds like The National) or "Loose Cannon" do, all of which are elite examples of their type. Only decades of experience can produce records of this class & you can easily hear that in the use of tension & release. This is a top ten industrial metal release for me. My only question is why anyone would put out a self-titled record in 2003 when their most well known album (i.e. their 1980 debut) was also self-titled. Were they making a conscious effort to confuse potential fans?

For fans of Ministry, Nine Inch Nails & KMFDM.

4.5/5

I was simply asking why you didn't pick a track from the Trivium album you liked Sonny. Feel free not to though.

If you want to know what trance metal is all about then give Amaranthe's 2014 album "Massive Addictive" a few spins. They're by far & away the most significant & definitive trance metal band.

And yet you've only just listened to the monthly feature release for The Revolution & reported back positively Sonny. That qualifies as having an opinion as far as I can see.

Hi everyone. We're going to trial something a little different for the April playlist. Instead of limiting you all to a maximum number of track submissions, we're going to try something that Sonny & I have been discussing by limiting each of you to 30 minutes of music. We have four contributing clan members so that should work nicely. Also, I'm not going to limit you to a maximum track duration for this month & we'll see how it turns out.

Hi everyone. Please be aware that we're going to trial something a little different for the April "The Revolution" playlist. Given that we only have one contributing clan member for The Revolution, we're going to open up the opportunity to members of other clans to contribute one track suggestion each.

Also, we're adjusting the limit for The Revolution clan members to a maximum of five tracks each.

I like Sonny's idea but would only suggest that we implement it for The Gateway, The Revolution & The Sphere & only until we get at least two or three legitimate clan members contributing. The move will be purely to gain more internal engagement in these particular playlists. I think we already have a good balance in some of the other playlists like The Fallen & The North & I've just increased the maximum number of clan member submissions for others so I don't feel that they require the additional push as much. I've already picked the tracks for the April The Gateway & The Sphere playlists so we might kick off with The Revolution next month & see what the engagement is like.

In regards to Andi's suggestion, I don't see any reason to limit which clan members are eligible. There's no reason you need to contribute to clans that you aren't interested in.

Hi everyone. Sonny & I have both been wondering whether it might make sense to give each member a maximum time allocation for their suggested inclusions in each month's clan-specific playlist rather than a track number limit. What do you think of that idea?

Yeah I was only considering that option a couple of days ago to be honest. I think that option has some advantages as well as introducing some additional challenges. I might open the topic up to the whole membership group & see what everyone thinks.

A couple of the other YouTube versions have significant sound issues, so I hope no-one judges the album without hearing it the way it was supposed to be heard.

God forbid that anyone's forced to endure an underground black metal release with a lo-fi sound production Ben. ;)

A very solid mid-80's crust punk anthem from Birmingham crossover thrashers Sacrilege.

My relationship with "Behind The Realms Of Madness" goes right back to my tape trading days but it's not an album that I return to all that often to be honest. I certainly enjoy it whenever I do but I wouldn't say that it commands return visits out of me. The production is very much in the rough 'n' ready hardcore punk tradition with the drums being very high in the mix & the guitars a bit too far back but this fuzzy DYI approach kinda works for Sacrilege here as it gives the album an authenticity that's quite important to the end result. I really enjoy Tam's unusually aggressive female vocal delivery too as she simultaneously creates a point of difference & gives the music the required surge of energy.

Musically, "Behind The Realms Of Madness" has always been categorized as a thrash metal & crust punk hybrid & that's a very accurate description in my opinion. For that reason it's always seemed strange to me that it's never been referred to as crossover thrash given the intent of that term. Perhaps it's due to the fact that the two styles don't actually cross over all that often. In fact, when you take a close look at the six individual tracks you'll find that three of them fall into thrash territory while the other three sound more like straight-up crust. Given that knowledge, I guess it makes sense for a site like RYM to keep the tags separate so that the release appears in searches on both subgenres but for Metal Academy I'd prefer that it was referred to as crossover thrash so that people can clearly see that it's not your standard thrash record & has a significant hardcore component.

I guess the main reason I don't rate "Behind The Realms Of Madness" as the underground classic that so many of my peers seem to is the generic nature of a lot of the riffs. I mean there's definitely a "thrash riffs for dummies" feel to some of this material & I have to admit that I find the more aggressive hardcore based material to be a touch stronger. I also think that some of Andy Baker's beats are a little bouncy & punky for my liking. Thankfully an authentic underground 80's metal atmosphere is always in effect which does a good job at combatting the flaws but I don't believe that I've ever really been able to see Sacrilege's debut as anything more than a reasonably enjoyable crossover release despite it's significant influence on bands like Bolt Thrower, Unseen Terror & Napalm Death. For me Sacrilege didn't peak until their 1987 follow-up release "Within the Prophecy".

For fans of Hellbastard, Détente & early Onslaught.

3.5/5

P.S. The album cover is pretty fucking bad ass, isn't it?

An absolute doom monster from this month's The Fallen feature release.

Strangely, I'd never given "New Dark Age" a spin before a couple of days ago but I'm glad that I did now because I really dig it. Not all of it mind you but the overall majority. It took a few listens to really dig it's teeth in though, particularly given that I don't like the opener "The Sleeping Tyrant" much which, given its eleven minute duration, tended to leave my defenses up for the rest of the album until I could get used to its overall quality.

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

"New Dark Age" is an album of peaks & troughs in my opinion but thankfully the peaks significantly outweigh the troughs. To my ears it's the more heavy metal focused numbers that offer the least appeal with the previously mentioned "The Sleeping Tyrant" & the equally disappointing "Hammer Of Damnation" seeing me struggle to engage. The ten minute epic "Cromlech" has a little more success but still never manages to get my blood pumping like the doomier material. The rest of the album is absolutely top notch though with the short interlude style folk inspired pieces adding a hefty dose of atmosphere  & the crushing doom monsters like "Cimmerian Codex" & twelve minute album highlight "New Dark Age II" seeing me pummeled by gargantuan riffage of the highest order. I do find Morris Ingram's vocals to be a little underwhelming though if I'm honest. He's not bad as such but definitely lacks the power, charisma & talent required to take Solstice to the elite level in my opinion. He sounds much better over the doom & folk material than he does over the more traditional heavy metal tracks where a more potent vocal force was required to accentuate the song-writing. The lead guitar work could also have been better & I'm left with the feeling that the dual guitar attack were working within their own technical limitations.

Still... when taken in holistically I find "New Dark Age" to be a very enjoyable & quite varied listen. I actually think that some of the less substantial clean tracks like "Alchemiculte" & "Blackthorne" sit amongst the best inclusions & this makes up for the less appealing metal moments that champion a more melodic metal sound than I'm comfortable with, even hinting at melodeath or folk metal inspiration on occasion. I was definitely expecting something more consistently doomy but I'll no doubt settle for the slightly unexpected yet no less appealing result.

For fans of Candlemass, Atlantean Kodex & While Heaven Wept.

4/5

Great idea Vinny. And thanks a lot for taking the initiative there. This is the overall feature release list for each clan if you want to update those further (although it's in no particular order):

THE FALLEN

Celtic Frost – “Monotheist” (2006)

Paul Chain Violet Theatre – “Detaching From Satan” E.P. (1984)

Swallow The Sun – “Plague Of Butterflies” E.P. (2008)

My Dying Bride – “The Dreadful Hours” (2001)

Tiamat – “Wildhoney” (1994)

Type O Negative – “October Rust” (1996)

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

The Angelic Process – “Weighing Souls With Sand” (2007)

Neptunian Maximalism – “Eons” (2020)

The Body – “I’ve Seen All I Need To See”, 2021)

Mastodon – “Leviathan” (2004)

Isis – “Panopticon” (2004)

Rosetta – “The Galilean Satellites” (2005)

Sleep – “Dopesmoker” (2003)

Electric Wizard – “Dopethrone” (2000)

THE GATEWAY

Faith No More – “Introduce Yourself” (1987)

Primus – “Frizzle Fry” (1990)

Primus – “Sailing The Seas Of Cheese” (1991)

Deftones – “Around The Fur” (1997)

Tool – “Lateralus”(2001)

Tool – “Aenima” (1996)

Faith No More – “Angel Dust” (1992)

System Of A Down – “Toxicity” (2001)

Deftones – “Ohms” (2020)

Katatonia – “The Great Cold Distance” (2006)

Deftones –“Koi no Yokan” (2012)

Rage Against The Machine – “Rage Against The Machine” (1992)

Rage Against The Machine – “The Battle Of Los Angeles” (1999)

Korn – “Korn” (1994)

Deftones – “Adrenaline” (1995)

THE GUARDIANS

Picture – “Diamond Dreamer” (1982)

Black Sabbath – “Paranoid” (1970)

Black Sabbath – “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” (1973)

Riot – “ThunderSteel” (1988)

Iron Maiden – “The Number Of The Beast” (1982)

Manilla Road – “Mystification” (1987)

Eternal Champion – “Ravening Iron” (2020)

LORD – “Fallen Idols” (2019)

Blind Guardian – “Imaginations From The Other Side” (1995)

Helloween – “Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II” (1988)

Gamma Ray – “Blast From The Past” (2000)

Therion – “Theli” (1996)

Therion – “Secret Of The Runes” (2001)

Jason Becker – “Perpetual Burn” (1988)

Tony MacAlpine – “Maximum Security” (1987)

THE HORDE

Sepultura – “Bestial Devastation” E.P. (1985)

Undeath – “Lesions Of A Different Kind” (2020)

Incantation – “Diabolical Conquest” (1998)

Immolation – “Here In After” (1996)

Asphyx – “Necroceros” (2021)

Death – “Symbolic” (1995)

Cryptopsy – “None So Vile” (1998)

Delusional Parasitosis / Ecchymosis / Dissevered / Bleeding – “Scaphism 4-Way Split” (2017)

Entombed – “Wolverine Blues” (1993)

Insomnium – “Above The Weeping World” (2006)

Discordance Axis – “The Inalienable Dreamless” (2000)

Terrorizer – “World Downfall” (1989)

Genghis Tron – “Dead Mountain Mouth” (2006)

Dead Infection – “A Chapter Of Accidents” (1995)

Phyllomedusa – “Desiccation In Progress (Version II)” (2011)

THE INFINITE

Warning (Ger) – “Warning” (1982)

Kayo Dot – “Choirs Of The Eye” (2003)

Ved Buens Ende….. – “Written In Waters” (1995)

Today Is The Day – “Sadness Will Prevail” (2002)

Oranssi Pazuzu – “Mestarin kynsi” (2020)

Dream Theater – “Images & Words” (1992)

Opeth – “Blackwater Park” (2001)

Green Carnation - “Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness” (2001)

Disillusion – “Back To Times Of Splendor” (2004)

Devin Townsend – “Terria” (2001)

Pain Of Salvation – “Remedy Lane” (2002)

Meshuggah – “I” E.P. (2004)

Agalloch – “Ashes Against The Grain” (2006)

Solstafir – “Kold” (2009)

Solstafir – “Svartir Sandar” (2011)

THE NORTH

VBathory – “Twilight Of The Gods” (1991)

Bathory – “Hammerheart” (1990)

Falkenbach – “Heralding : The Fireblade” (2005)

Falkenbach – “Ok nefna tysvar ty” (2003)

Moonsorrow – “Verisakeet” (2005)

Moonsorrow – “V: Havitetty” (2007)

Heol Telwen – “An deiz ruz” (2005)

In Extremo – “Sunder ohne Zugel” (2001)

Darkthrone – “A Blaze In The Northern Sky” (1992)

Deathspell Omega – “Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum: Chaining the Katechon” E.P., 2008)

Serpent Column – “Endless Detainment” E.P. (2020)

Burzum – “Filosofem” (1996)

Deafheaven – “Sunbather” (2013)

Kvelertak – “Kvelertak” (2010)

Shining – “V – Halmstad” (2007)

THE PIT

Acid – “Maniac” (1983)

Helloween – “Helloween” E.P. (1985)

Helstar – “Nosferatu” (1989)

Venom – “Welcome To Hell” (1981)

Artillery – “By Inheritance” (1990)

Overkill – “Feel The Fire” (1985)

Warbringer – “Weapons Of Tomorrow” (2020)

Testament – “The Legacy” (1987)

Overkill – “Horrorscope” (1991)

Hexecutor – “Beyond Any Human Conception Of Knowledge” (2020)

S.O.D. – “Speak English Or Die” (1985)

Vektor – “Black Future” (2009)

Pantera – “Vulgar Display Of Power” (1992)

Sepultura – “Chaos A.D.” (1993)

Pantera – “Cowboys From Hell” (1990)

THE REVOLUTION

Earth Crisis – “Gommorah’s Season End” (1996)

Converge – “All We Love We Leave Behind” (2012)

Hopesfall – “No Wings To Speak Of” E.P. (2001)

Sunami – “Sunami” E.P. (2020)

After The Burial – “Rareform” (2008)

Converge – “Jane Doe” (2001)

Gaza – “I Don’t Care Where I Go When I Die” (2006)

Botch – “An Anthology Of Dead Ends” E.P. (2002)

Inside The Beehive – “Drink Bleach; Live Forever” E.P. (2011)

Protest The Hero – “Kezia” (2006)

HORSE The Band – “The Mechanical Hand” (2005)

Enter Shikari – “Rat Race” E.P. (2013)

Blood Stain Child – “Epsilon” (2011)

Amaranthe – “Massive Addictive” (2014)

BABYMETAL – “BABYMETAL” (2014)

THE SPHERE

Godflesh – “Selfless” (1994)

Ministry – “Psalm 69” (1992)

Godflesh – “Streetcleaner” (1989)

Strapping Young Lad – “City” (1997)

Nine Inch Nails – “Broken” E.P. (1992)

Strapping Young Lad – “Alien” (2005)

Mick Gordon – “DOOM (Original Game Soundtrack)” (2016)

Uniform – “Shame” (2020)

Godflesh – “Godflesh” E.P. (1988)

Rammstein – “Mutter” (2001)

Rammstein – “Sehnsucht” (1997)

Rammstein – “Reise, Reise” (2004)

Sybreed – “Antares” (2007)

…And Oceans – “A.M. G.O.D.” (2001)

Jamie Christopherson – “Metal Gear Rising: Reveangence Vocal Tracks” (2013)

A wonderful example of mid-90's death metal from Coventry, England. For fans of Benediction, Asphyx & Autopsy.

Bolt Thrower - "...For Victory" (1994)

English death metallers Bolt Thrower really did cap out on their development with 1992's classic "The Ivth Crusade" & its associated tour in my opinion. Their previous couple of records were very strong however it was their fourth effort that finally saw their potential coming to its fullest realisation & once I saw them perform those tracks live from the front row & got to make eye contact & stage dive repeatedly from just a step away from my idols I think I personally placed a sticky note in my mind to say that Bolt Thrower couldn't get any better than that moment. So when "...For Victory" was released in 1994, I feel that my anticipation was so high that they would take that sound even further that it tainted my judgement a little on what is essentially another classic release from the band. See, the issue for me was that there had been no further development on the sound that I loved so much on their previous record & if I analyze it to the nth degree I find that it can't quite match its older sibling for highlights however this revisit has seen me finally able to appreciate it as a classic release in its own right. I mean this is still a spectacular example of the classic early 90's death metal sound. It's tight as hell, heavy as fuck, beautifully produced & executed, there are no weak tracks & it has atmosphere for days. In fact, with the exception of some minor inconsistencies in vocalist Karl Willetts' performances from track to track, Bolt Thrower really get their themes across beautifully here. I've underrated this album for decades now but I'm thrilled to have finally seen the light & to be able to claim "...For Victory" as an essential death metal release. Forget 2005's "Those Once Loyal" which seems to be heavily overrated by fans these days. It was certainly a solid "welcome home" for Willetts however it's no match for Bolt Thrower's early 90's material. For fans of Benediction, Asphyx & Autopsy. 

4.5/5

Crocheted Donut Ring - "Two Little Ladies (Azalea & Rhododendron) / Nice" single (1967)

A sweet little 7" single that combines The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" & "Magical Mystery Tour" era psychedelic pop sound with Brian Eno style ambient. It's actually really good & I'm not sure I've heard an earlier example of legitimate ambient music than the B-side "Nice" which is the highlight here.

4/5

We'll go with a maximum of five monthly The Pit playlist submissions each moving forwards guys.

We'll go with a maximum of five monthly The Infinite playlist submissions each moving forwards guys.

I've upped the limit to a maximum of five monthly The Horde playlist submissions each moving forwards guys.