Daniel's Forum Threads
Various Artists - "Hadestown (Original Broadway Cast Recording)" (2019)
This two-hour musical soundtrack has really taken me by surprise & has brought something to my life that I'd forgotten ever existed in me. You see, it's full of the purest love & the rawest of tragedy which has really made me feel alive & appreciate those around me this week. The production & performances are utterly incredible with the main singers involved being some of the finest talents I've ever experienced in this format. As with any soundtrack release, there are some less impressive pieces included purely for the storyline however the main highlight tracks (& there are plenty of them) will stay with me forever given just how strong the hooks & arrangements are. I'm absolutely gagging to see this performed live now. American folk artist Anais Mitchell is a musical genius for having written this motherfucker.
For fans of Anais Mitchell, Jess Williamson & Nanci Griffith.
4/5
The Great Old Ones - Kadath (2025)
I have been a big fan of the Lovecraft-obsessed Frenchmen since the release of their sophomore, Tekeli-li, back in 2014. They have always imbued their atmospheric black metal with post-metal and even atmo-sludge elements to add an additional emotional redolence to their tales of eldritch horror. Whilst this latest follows a similar template, the band are also moving in a generally more progressive direction, as exemplified by the ten-minute opener, "Me, the Dreamer" and even more pertinently by the lengthy instrumental "Leng". "Me, the Dreamer" begins in TGOO's recognisably dense atmospheric black metal style, but at midpoint it takes an even more menacing turn, introducing an air of dissonance that sees it covering similar territory to that heard recently on Ulcerate's "Cutting the Throat of God", before making a more triumphal-sounding procession to song's end. The fifteen minutes of "Leng" exhibits even more musical turns, being an epic piece that expresses the faded grandeur and looming menace of long-forgotten and abandoned alien cityscapes better than any amount of words could. This track in particular, without it's reliance on the human voice, reveals how adept the band are becoming at writing metal that can convey atmosphere and mood by instrumentation alone and is a seminal piece for the band. The three guitarists weave in and out of each other with wistful and lighter motifs alongside hulking and towering, darker riffs making this a beautifully constructed and expressive instrumental.
Not only on those two tracks, but throughout it's hour-long runtime, Kadath sounds more ambitious than the band's previous material and feels like a band stretching their wings, having grown more confident in their technical abilities and reaching for more tools to utilise in their quest to produce music that fully conveys the dark and ominous concepts of the Cthulhu Mythos around which they base their ethos. They have always produced epic-sounding black metal, but their new-found confidence in their ability to expand their sound has taken this to a new level, with increasingly light and dark shades contrasting each other to deepen the otherworldly atmospherics. This isn't by any means a sea-change in the frenchmen's sound, but rather an evolution in the way they express themselves, I guess in a similar way that Enslaved successfully managed on their releases during the 2000s. Like the Norwegians TGOO are unafraid to sometimes take a slightly more melodic route with several of their riffs proving to be decidedly hooky, the opening riff of "Under the Sign of Koth" for example, being a particular foot-tapper.
All this has not come at the expense of any inate heaviness, it must be pointed out. Well, maybe a little, but I think that the more reflective moments often serve to throw the heavier sections into even sharper relief and render them consequently more effective. Look, Kadath is not exactly the kind of album you would put on to work out some aggression or for a good headbanging session, but that doesn't mean that it can't shake the foundations occasionally and it possesses enough sonic gut-punches to appeal to any number of discerning metalheads. But that ultimately isn't the aim of the album, it is for reflection and contemplation of the unknown corners of the human psyche and the barely concealed horrors lurking therein, to which end it is reasonably successful, I would suggest.
4.5/5
At The Gates - "Terminal Spirit Disease" (1994)
The third full-length from the Swedish melodeath gods but, in reality, it was never intended it to be. The band wanted to release a six-song E.P. but their record label Peaceville decided to turn it into an album through the addition of three live cuts which are simply tacked onto the end. Despite that, it's still a very consistent record with no obvious weak spots but it lacks genuine highlights with only opening cut "The Swarm" standing out from the pack which makes this an inessential melodeath release. I certainly enjoy all of this material but have to admit that it doesn't tick as many of my musical boxes as At The Gates' previous material & certainly not their classic "Slaughter of the Soul" record from the following year (i.e. my all-time favourite melodic death metal release). The live inclusions are well-produced & executed & possess more of a classic death metal edge than the new material which has seen At The Gates hitting on a purer melodeath sound than they'd managed to achieve previously. That's probably been to the detriment of the album's appeal with someone like myself if I'm being honest though. I do enjoy Tomas Lindberg's raspy shrieks quite a bit but rarely feel like returning to "Terminal Spirit Disease", instead choosing "The Red in the Sky Is Ours", "Slaughter of the Soul" or the early demo tapes whenever I feel like revisiting At The Gates' 90's heyday.
For fans of Dark Tranquillity, In Flames & The Black Dahlia Murder.
3.5/5
Not listed as crossover on RYM, but this is 100% crossover.
Garlic Boys - Smegmania (1990)
Genres: Street Punk, Crossover Thrash
The genre-tagging on RYM's a bit on the screwy side. There's a seriously metallic side to this album that rules almost the whole 36 minute runtime. Having recently re-evaluated some Ratos de Porao and Wehrmacht just a couple days ago, I'm fully convinced this is crossover. Having said that, I don't really need to put this on Metal Academy, and why? Because it's just an alright album. It has some of the melodic tendencies of the previous more punk-rooted album, and the production's clear enough to grasp everything. There's also the fact that the metallic edge was a total and somewhat pleasant surprise. But since the major focus seems to be the crossover sound, there's a little less of that weird variety present in the previous album. Consider that the previous was only 24 minutes and this was 36, we have yet another Master of Puppets scenario with a noticeable drop in quality.
61/100
Dominion - "Demo Tape" (1989)
The one-off demo tape from a talented Melbourne musician by the name of Corey Romeo who would go on to play with progressive metal outfit Hyperion during the mid-1990's. This 34 minute/8 song effort sees Romeo handling all of the instruments in a purely instrumental exploration of guitar-shredder style progressive metal which also touches on speed metal, heavy metal & power metal. The production is the main stumbling block as the sound quality is quite muted which isn't ideal for this type of music as it requires brightness & clarity to have it full effect. You can still make out the potential here fairly easily though & I found myself enjoying the majority of the collection. In fact, I'd even go so far as to suggest that this could have been a fairly significant release with a more professionally produced packaging.
For fans of Jason Becker, Vinnie Moore & David T. Chastain.
3.5/5
Enticer - "Into Reality" demo (1989)
The sole demo tape from this relatively unknown Sydney five-piece whose single from later the same year really impressed me earlier this week. Where that release was a thrash/power metal effort, this one is more of a speed/heavy metal one although you can still clearly hear the influences that contributed to the "Reaper of the Earth/Dying Aged" single e.g. "Kill 'Em All"-era Metallica for example. As with that release, I've enjoyed my time with the five songs that make up "Into Reality", perhaps not quite as much though as I prefer Enticer's slightly thrashier sound. Still... you could do a lot worse than to explore this underground recording as it's generally pretty decent with a more than acceptable production job for a demo.
For fans of Exciter, Acid & ADX.
3.5/5
Enticer - "Reaper of the Earth/Dying Aged" single (1989)
I haven't heard this obscure 7" single since the early 1990's but it's held up beautifully, despite the thin demo-quality production job. Enticer were a five-piece band from my hometown of Sydney whose sound sat somewhere between power metal & thrash metal & this single is a great example of that with the A side "Reaper of the Earth" leaning more towards the power metal side of the equation & the B side "Dying Aged" angling more towards the thrash one. Both are enjoyable inclusions, particularly "Dying Aged" which is a very solid piece of Aussie thrash indeed. The vocals of Steve Sidhu soar over the top of fast tremolo-picked speed metal riffage while the dual guitar solos blaze away around them. This is about as metal as it gets & I've been surprised at my much it's appealed to me to be honest. I'd recommend it to those thrash fans that struggle to find power metal with enough balls to keep their interest.
For fans of Iced Earth, Paradox & Savage Messiah.
4/5
Jinjer - Duél
On the same day that Dream Theater release their newest album, Ukranian's Jinjer return with their fifth studio album Duél. I have no idea what to expect from this since...well a lot has happened in the bands home and native land since 2021's Wallflowers.
Download/stream the album here:
https://jinjer-jinjer.bandcamp.com/album/du-l
No full review from me for this Mechina EP as I generally don't review albums that are just demos or re-recordings of songs from a single album, whether all or some tracks. Two years after the band's debut The Assembly of Tyrants, they decided to re-record 5 of the songs from that album for this EP Tyrannical Resurrection. Basically everything except the death metal demo tracks, the interludes, and the "Clash" remix. The instrumentation and vocals are all slightly improved compared to their debut, which a much less "demo" quality". The songs here are also some of my favorite tracks from the debut. So why am I rating this EP 4 stars as opposed to 4.5 stars for the debut? Simply because it's not the entire album, and it's only two years after the debut. I'd love to hear the whole Assembly of Tyrants album re-recorded for its 20th anniversary, with Mel Rose singing the cleans, including the death metal demo tracks and the interludes, but minus the "Clash" remix. It was actually Sonny who brought up that idea when he reviewed the debut last week. Thanks for that, Sonny! Also it would be better if "Shattered Cry" was put in the beginning of the EP instead of the end, because the extended ending of "The Assembly of Tyrants" has a more proper sense of closure. Fingers crossed for that 20th anniversary full-album re-recording to be made this year....
4/5
Abigail Williams - In the Shadow of a Thousand Suns
Genre: Symphonic Black Metal
This debut album is basically what would happen if a bunch of metalheads discovered real extremities for the first time, decided that Born of Osiris was just as good as Emperor, and then thought they would be the coolest thing on Earth if they decided to mash the two. Well, they didn't end up the coolest thing on Earth, but it's not that bad of a debut.
The most important thing to keep in mind are the veterans these guys got to help with the album, notable a couple of metal veterans: Emperor drummer Tryn, and metal producer James Murphy. High grade celebs. The worst thing to keep in mind is the constant deathcore-infusion, which the symphonics can't quite drown out. The writing itself is pretty good, going into a lot of complex and unpredictable parts while maintaining a constant vibe. But with the album always switching between another blast beat, violins and the bare essentials that symphonic black metal needs, it pretty much becomes 46 minutes of the same thing; it's variations of the same song that gradually get less original and slightly worse overtime. Now this doesn't mean the album eventually sucks. In fact, the first two songs: The World Beyond and Acolytes, are actually very good. Acolytes is almost incredible in a way, largely due to a keen awareness of what extreme metal needs to sound like. Obviously, we have our two veterans to thank for that. But eventually, the album bears the same originality as any Fleshgod Apocalypse album. Thankfully, there's one shining example of great writing on side B: Empyrean. That song really carries some of the Emperor spirit and is one of the heavier tracks. I might even say it's my favorite song on that album.
So, starts of great, finishes decent, has instances of brilliance. Stays brutally heavy throughout, and beautifully produced.
82/100
Today I've just listened to two great albums of Egyptian-style djenty progressive metalcore by Russian band Shokran, their new album being a contender for the Revolution Gallery Awards for 2024:
Rating for both albums: 4/5
By the way, the release year for Shokran's Supreme Truth is actually 2014, though its release page in the site says it's 2004. Could you please fix that, Ben? Thanks. https://metal.academy/releases/26479