Daniel's Reviews

I’ve been a big fan of Tokyo trio Boris for a very long time now but they’re so prolific & their back catalogue is so extensive that it’s really pretty hard to keep up with them. They also cover so much musical ground (often within the confines of the same release) that you never know what to expect as they jump wildly between different genres at random. I really enjoyed the high quality stoner rock of Boris’ 2002 “Heavy Rocks” album recently though & noticed that they’ve also released two more albums with the exact same name in 2011 & 2022 (presumably intended as a thematically linked trilogy) so I thought I’d give the 2011 sequel a few spins to see what it has to offer.

If ever Boris have failed to commit to a defined direction with an album it’s here as the 2011 “Heavy Rocks” album suffers a real case of ADD with so many genres stuffed into the ten tracks that it’s almost impossible to tag this release with anything that seems appropriate. It's generally regarded as a stoner rock/metal record but I’d suggest that those genres only really account for a couple of tracks included here with the others exploring a whole array of sounds including neo-psychedelia, alternative rock, hardcore punk, post-rock, post-metal, doom metal & thrash metal. To my ears there’s not enough metal to warrant a metal primary tag though if I'm being honest. In fact, I’d estimate that only about a third of the tracklisting is legitimate metal with stoner metal opener “Riot Sugar”, the epic thirteen minute post-doom metal monster “Aileron” (my album highlight) & short thrash metal closer “Czechoslovakia” being the sole contributors. If pushed I’d probably go with post-rock & alternative rock as the best fit for primary tags on this one so I’ll be submitting a Hall of Judgement nomination to have “Heavy Rocks” removed from The Fallen & added the Non-Metal shortly.

From a general quality perspective, the consistency of the tracklisting seems to be pretty jerky & a good half of the songs included don’t do all that much for me. Some of their signature pitchy vocal melodies sound a bit flat which doesn’t help but thankfully the two best tracks on the album both exceed twelve minutes which saves “Heavy Rocks” to an extent. There’s a very casual feel to the way Boris present themselves here though. I know they’ve always pushed that dangerous edge that the modern rock scene seems to be so lacking in but at times they push things a little too far & can tend to sound a bit lazy in my opinion. Boris are certainly at their best when they’re at their most cerebral with the post-rock inspired excursions & the more psychedelic stoner material being clearly more appealing than the messy alternative rock & punk material but... I dunno.... I can’t help but be a touch disappointed with 2011’s “Heavy Rocks” even though it’s a pretty enjoyable experience when viewed holistically. I guess I just know that Boris are capable of so much more & feel that a little quality control might go a long way at a time when they seem to be releasing three or four full-length albums per year. This may well be the weakest Boris album I’ve heard actually but thankfully it’s still not a bad listen & their prolific past ensures that I’ll likely never run out of unexplored gold either.

The final release in my cybergrind deep dive is the debut album from a multinational artist by the name of Thotcrime, a release that sounds very different to any of the other nine records I’ve investigated thus far. Now, it’s worth noting that I use the term “album” very loosely here because the eleven tracks included on 2020’s “ønyøurcømputer” clock in at just over fifteen minutes in total duration which I’d suggest is more than pushing the friendship when it comes to claiming album rights. Regardless though, I’d have to say that the length of the record is fairly appropriate in this case as I feel that the novelty would wear off fairly quickly.

What we have here is a release that takes the sounds of The Revolution & injects them with a raw infusion of grindcore & electronics to give it an additional dose of chaos. There’s certainly not enough grindcore on offer to be able to justify cybergrind being claimed as a primary genre though & I’d suggest that a dual mathcore & Nintendocore tag would be all that’s required when you consider that a lot of the electronic component leans towards that old-school video-game sound. There are a few touches of traditional metalcore included & even the odd hint at avant-garde metal at times but the dominant elements of this album are clearly rooted in the mathy end of The Revolution.

The screaming male hardcore vocals aren't anything terribly unusual for a metalcore based artist & tend to come across as a little generic if I'm being honest but Thotcrime also include some clean female vocals to change things up a bit, although I have to admit that they don’t really work & I find them to be a touch annoying so the vocal side of” ønyøurcømputer” is certainly its weak point. The instrumental side of the band is much more interesting with the use of blast-beats & blindingly fast double kick work being the major points of excitement for this ol’d extreme metalhead. The performances are very tight with the guitarists pulling off some highly technical & progressive riff structures that include melodic runs that are quite similar to those utilized in the modern tech-death sound. I really enjoy it when the band hit on some of their simpler power-chord driven metalcore riffs too.

It's worth noting that the second half of the album is stronger than the first so I’d suggest that you show a bit of patience if you find yourself struggling a bit midway through the tracklisting. Unfortunately though, despite the wins out-weighing the losses here, I wouldn’t say that there are any individual tracks that stand out as genuine highlights. There’s a consistency to this material that sees the difference between the stronger material & the weaker songs simply amounting to the inclusion of one annoyingly quirky riff or verse. When taken holistically though, I can’t deny that “ønyøurcømputer” offers something of value & I’ve quite enjoyed the experience overall.

The 2008 sophomore album from French cybergrind duo Whourkr is one truly unusual beast & I’m honestly not sure I’ve heard anything like it before. These guys take a penchant for extreme metal genres like deathcore & slam death metal & combine it with a bizarre array of electronic weirdness & then layer the most psychotic vocal performance you’ve ever heard over the top to create a record that will certainly startle the unsuspecting listener. A great production job certainly helps with the thick guitar tone really accentuating the chunky riffage on offer. The incorporation of cut-up breakcore beats has worked nicely here too as that component has been well integrated into the band’s sound but it’s the vocals of - i snor that are the really alarming element at play. If you took Mike Patton’s weirdest efforts & multiplied the insanity level by a margin of three then you’d be getting close to understanding what this twisted individual has been able to muster here. It’s a feather in his cap that he’s able to continuously come up with new & ever more ridiculous forms of oral battery & I’d imagine it would be almost a full-time undertaking.

As for the cybergrind thing… weeellll…. I’m not really hearing a lot of grindcore here to be honest. The clear protagonist is the avant-garde nature of this music & I’d hazard to suggest that the only primary genre tag necessary with “Concrete” is the avant-garde metal one given that they have a lot more in common with Mr. Bungle & Arcturus than they do with Pig Destroyer or Nasum. Interestingly though, it’s the two more traditional & progressively inclined tracks in “Santo” & closer (& album highlight) “Plantea” that really float my boat with some of the other material perhaps taking me a little too far in regard to unhinged experimentation. “Concrete” is a pretty entertaining record nonetheless though & I’d suggest that there might be a few members of The Infinite that might get more out of it than I have. Ben too actually.

I’ve really been enjoying Massachusetts-based trio Elder over the last couple of years since discovering their excellent 2012 “Spires Burn/Release” E.P. which triggered my subsequent exploration of the band’s back-catalogue. I’d eventually nominate their 2011 sophomore album “Dead Roots Stirring” as a The Fallen feature release & also got stuck into their 2017 “Reflections of a Floating World” fourth album at some point while contributing to the Hall of Judgement, both of which presented Elder as a highly professional & seriously talented group of creative musicians. It only makes sense then that I would look to fill in the gaps between those very solid records with 2015’s “Lore” album which seems to be just as highly regarded as the releases I’d already experienced.

Despite being consistently linked to the stoner metal genre, Elder have always been a bit of an anomaly as far as genre tagging goes. I found “Dead Roots Stirring” to sit firmly within the realms of stoner rock with some psychedelic influences popping up here & there. “Spires Burn/Release” saw them upping the heaviness & working its magic in the space between stoner metal & stoner rock but “Reflections of a Floating World” possessed a more progressive sound than those two records so I’ve tended to tag it as progressive stoner rock. This left me wondering whether “Lore” would represent the starting point for Elder’s more progressive excursions & I’d eventually discover that this is the case as I’ve found it to sit a little closer to its successor in terms of ambition & technique although I don’t see as much psychedelia as I’ve heard from them in the past. Despite including a number of metallic riffs, "Lore" isn't a metal record in the true sense of the term as the production is intentionally centred around a more organic 70’s sound & the guitar work never stays in Sabbath mode for long before returning to a more ambitious & techy approach akin to progressive rock icons like Yes. I do hear a fair whack of Tool in some of the grungier parts of the album though which can’t be a bad thing while some of the riff structures also recall a band like Mastodon.

I remember mentioning in the past that the limiting factor in Elder’s chances of reaching my higher scores is the vocals & that’s still the case here. It’s not that they’re not well done as I actually think they’ve improved since “Dead Roots Stirring” but it’s a question of whether they can hit upon melodic hooks of the highest calibre. As has become the norm for Elder, the vocals are used fairly sparingly with the instrumentation generally taking the front seat so when they do come in they have the opportunity to make a bigger impact. We can see an example of that on album highlight “Legend” whose memorable hooks see it overflowing into classic territory. I don’t think Elder quite get there with the remainder of the material though & it’s left to the more progressive moments to capture me which they do with utmost ease.

Ultimately, I have to say that I challenge any fan of mature & ambitious rock music not to like a record like “Lore” as it’s yet another triumph for a band that had already well & truly proven themselves by that point. My affection may still be a little stuck behind the confines of its more palatable rock packaging but it’s almost impossible not admire the skill of a band who seems to be incapable of making an ordinary record. I have to say that I favour Elder’s more progressive releases over their earlier works these days with “Reflections of a Floating World” still remaining the high point of my Elder experience to date but “Lore” has done extremely well to come in a close second after a couple of very rewarding days of listening pleasure.

I have to admit that legendary underground metal producer James Plotkin’s Phantomsmasher project (or Atomsmasher as it was called at the time of this release before being legally forced to change the name) is one that I’ve been giving a wide birth for several years now after hearing snippets of it while exploring the monthly playlists for The Horde. Those experiences usually left me wondering what in the actual fuck I was hearing & being baffled as to how an artist like this one was attached to the clan, let alone metal in general. But this cybergrind deep dive has led me to finally bite the bullet which was an imposing prospect to say the least so I made the conscious effort to clear my mind of any preconceptions prior to taking the plunge. While doing so I reminded myself of other Plotkin projects like Old, Khanate or even some of his solo production work that I’ve quite enjoyed over the years to give this music a fair chance to engage with me.

Despite all of that mental preparation though, I challenge even the most well-informed listener not to find “Atomsmasher” to be one of the most bizarre pieces of art they’ve ever experienced. Plotkin has become known for giving the musical boundaries a good ol’ stretch over the years but he completely decimates them here with an album that pushes the definition of what can be considered to be music to breaking point. Is this cybergrind? Absolutely not. Despite the use of cut-up & heavily effected blast-beats (from Burnt By The Sun/Human Remains/Discordance Axis/Exit-13/Municipal Waste/Melt-Banana skins man Dave Witte no less) & psychotically screamed (& generally ridiculous) vocal shenanigans, there isn’t really any trace of grindcore here. Hell, there’s nothing even remotely like metal if I’m being honest! Metal is built on heavy guitars & riffs but there’s next to no guitars included on this record. To my ears it’s a combination of avant-garde experimental music, electronic music, psychedelia & noise; a concoction that sits far closer to the electronic & avant-garde genres than it does to even the more ambitious metal subgenres like avant-garde metal. It’s really pretty hard to fathom how someone can have conjured up this racket within the confines of their brain, so much so that I’d suggest that they actually haven’t & have simply laid down tracks until they’d created this cacophony out of pure chance.

That’s not to say that there’s no value in this album though. No, don’t misunderstand me on that point because, despite my non-commital rating, there’s only one track that I regard as being truly terrible (see “Skitchy” which provides no value whatsoever & is the very definition of filler). The majority of the remaining tracks can be a bit of a struggle though if I’m being honest. There are really only two “songs” that I achieve much connection with, the first being the superbly ambient “Gilgamesh” which is the best piece of work on the tracklisting by a fair margin & the second being the lengthiest inclusion in “Skull Shot” which takes the listener in a number of different directions & may not always be successful but ultimately saw me buying into its strange & mysterious charms. You see, “Atomsmasher” sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard before & it should be commended for that but the question has to be asked as to whether I can say that I genuinely WANT to hear it again. I’d suggest that the answer is no, at least for the moment. And I also have to ask what benefit a record like this one brings to your average metalhead’s lives as the cybergrind tag is so fucking misguided it’s not funny.

At the end of the day, I think there will always be a market for consciously silly & ridiculous music like Phantomsmasher have produced here. I’d say that market would be the same people that seem to rate artists like Naked City or Painkiller so highly as there are some similarities here, only they’re taken in a much more electronic direction. As for our Metal Academy regulars, I’ve got my doubts about the appeal of a record like this one. One thing’s for sure though, if it is going to offer any sort of pleasure it’d be to those more inclined towards The Infinite than The Horde.

When it comes to the niche cybergrind subgenre, the debut album from Melbourne’s The Berzerker is one of the more appropriate & deserving releases to receive the tag. Released on legendary UK extreme metal label Earache Records, “The Berzerker” sees creative mastermind Luke Kenny presenting a soundscape that combines the dark & twisted industrial beats of speedcore & gabber with the down-tuned grind riffage of early Carcass, a particularly extreme musical hybrid that shows promise initially but doesn’t always work if I’m being honest.

The album starts really well with album highlight “Reality” kicking things off & a string of decent inclusions following close behind it. Things start to get a little shaky towards the middle of the tracklisting before the ball gets dropped altogether over the last few tracks which include a couple of fairly pointless (& quite lengthy compared to the rest of the album) noise tracks to close things out. You’ll notice some obvious industrial influences on tracks like “February” & “Ignorance” while there are a couple of tunes that draw upon black metal for inspiration too (see “Forever” & “Ignorance”). It’s the over-the-top electronic beats that differentiate The Berzerker from your run of the mill deathgrind bands though & they can be a touch intrusive at times, particularly when they’re played at light-speed. I also find that the simpler power chord riffs lack a bit of ambition which detracts from the impact of the more brutal blast-beat sections.

Look, “The Berzerker” isn’t a total disaster but there are enough issues here to leave a slightly unpleasant taste in my mouth. I dig it from a conceptual point of view & appreciate the ambition, influences & atmospherics but it doesn’t quite gel consistently enough for my liking.

I first encountered US duo OM (a side-project of legendary stoner metal trio Sleep) back in 2013 through their very solid 2009 fourth album “God Is Good” & immediately picked up a ticket to their show at the Annandale Hotel in Sydney which ended up being of a similarly high quality. Their bottom-heavy brand of psychedelic stoner metal really hit my sweet spot & I found the lack of any guitars (other than the bass variety) to be intriguing. The vocals of Al Cisneros were probably the limiter when it came to how far OM could travel within my musical stratosphere as they probably weren’t any more than serviceable but instrumentally these guys comfortably exceeded their meagre numbers. Strangely OM seemed to drift off my radar from there & I’ve only really gotten around to giving them a bit more of my attention now, a full decade later & this time with their 2006 sophomore album “Conference of the Birds”.

“Conference of the Birds” is comprised of just the two epic tracks; a sixteen-minute atmospheric psychedelic rock number called “At Giza” (which reminds me a lot of The Doors up until the last two & a half minutes when it takes off into crushing stoner doom territory) & an even more gargantuan seventeen-minute stoner metal monster in “Flight of the Eagle”. The former took some time to fully dig its teeth in but eventually became an engaging trip through a retrospective sound that has always appealed to me, capped off with a suitably immense crescendo that seemed unlikely halfway into the track. The latter had a more immediate impact due its more consistent focus on slumbering doom riffs of the highest order & should satisfy anyone with more than a passing interest in the stoner metal genre. I love the way Al works his ever-moving basslines into the pieces, in the process filling out the space that would usually be smothered with guitars. His tone during the heavier sections is filthy & I'd imagine that a lot of unsuspecting listeners may assume that they're hearing some seriously down-tuned guitars anyway. Let's just say that OM make one hell of a racket for a duo.

As with “God Is Good”, “Conference of the Birds” is another very high quality release that possesses both weight & substance but those vocals are again the reason that I’m not tempted to even take a casual glance above that 4/5 region. Let’s not let that distract us from the positives here though as I doubt OM have it in them to produce anything that’s significantly below par. I’d suggest that this release will likely offer plenty of appeal to someone like Sonny.

Some of you are probably aware that I recently compiled & posted a list of my ten worst metal releases of all time, a task that I took quite seriously. Upon completing the task, I subsequently encouraged others to attempt something similar in the interest of healthy conversation. The planning for my cybergrind deep dive was well underway by that stage & I’d already selected the releases that I was going to explore so it was a little disconcerting when I noticed that our fellow member Rexorcist had included Hello Kitty Suicide Club’s “^_^” album at number three on his own worst-of list given that it was included in my list of ten cybergrind releases. I wondered whether that would just be a taste thing rather than a reflection of quality (or lack there-of) so I decided to charge through regardless & I now have to admit that the whole exercise has ended up being one of the most tedious experiences I’ve had since we began our Metal Academy journey. My stubborn unwillingness to break my minimum-three-listen rule has ended up being my worst enemy here as, despite Hello Kitty Suicide Club’s sophomore album only being 24 minutes in duration, this whole exercise has felt like a thousand years given just how little of substance there is to grab onto here. In fact, I’d have to suggest that “^_^” may well be the worst release I’ve heard in all of my years of rating & reviewing metal.

Let’s get one thing straight, Hello Kitty Suicide Club is not meant to be taken seriously. A brief look at the track titles should tell you that. In fact, I’d hazard to suggest that the prime intent of it’s two contributors was to make the worst album ever recorded, a task they’ve succeeded at emphatically. The sound they’ve chosen to achieve such a feat? An attempt at emulating the most primitive brand of underground extreme music using only the cheapest & most outdated electronic equipment they could find with some psychotic & completely random screaming over the top. Yes, you can expect to hear some grind riffs produced on something that sounds like the Casio keyboard you remember from your childhood only it’ll be intentionally played out of time & there will be some extraordinarily annoying & abrasive high-pitched screaming invading your ears simultaneously. You can also expect to hear humorous film & TV samples from cult classics like “Anchorman” & “South Park” thrown in for good measure as well as some genuine synth pop moments that remind you of Kraftwerk at times too with those elements being clearly the least repulsive parts of the album.

Is this metal? Not in the slightest. Whoever the fuck thought it was appropriate to link this record with grindcore has no concept or understanding of what makes something metal. There are no guitars included here & the only thing I can see that has any relation to metal are the horrific vocals & occasional use of fast electronic kick-drums & pseudo-blast beats. This album is purely an avant-garde electronic music release & sounds a gazillion miles more like the soundtrack to the earliest computer games than it does Napalm Death. In fact, even if you were going to accept it as metal you’d have no hesitation in lumping it in with avant-garde metal as opposed to grindcore. Show me a death/grind nut that is comfortable with this cover art being associated with their chosen passion & I’ll be very surprised as Hello Kitty Suicide Club have done everything in their power to leave those serious individuals with nothing to grab onto here in what must surely be the most heinous musical atrocity ever committed to tape. “^_^” categorially has no place at the Metal Academy. Hell, it has no place residing anywhere on Earth! It really is that bad that it’s creators are probably receiving royalties from underground crime syndicates across the globe who have the ultimate tool of torture at their disposal here.

I was already very aware of Massachusetts blast-merchants Agoraphobic Nosebleed prior to conducting my cybergrind deep dive this week & they're apparently the most well-known cybergrind artist if online resources are to be believed but this third full-length has left me questioning my understanding of the parameters of the genre to be honest. You see, "Altered States of America" is really just a grindcore record that uses a drum machine & to me that doesn't constitute a new genre. I mean if you didn't know it wasn't a real drummer then what's the difference really? Of course, you DO know it's not a real drummer as no drummer alive could play as fast as these blast-beats.

The album can make for a significant challenge for some listeners (Ben, I'm looking at you) as it includes a full 100 tracks across it's very short 21 minute duration which makes it pretty hard to rate but I have to say that I found myself buying into the band's dark, twisted & satirical social themes & don't pay much attention to the track numbers changing within seconds of each other. This is some seriously brutal grindcore but you can make out every nuance of the riffs very easily & they're generally of a pretty high quality too. I also really enjoy the psychotic vocal delivery which only accentuates the sheer extremity of what must surely be one of the most intense bands on the global scene. They certainly aren't for everyone but then... neither am I!

I can't say that "Altered States of America" is a cybergrind record because there's really nothing "cyber" about it other than a drum machine. It's definitely best represented by The Horde though. There's no question about that.

It’s funny how I occasionally find myself in a situation where I’ve maintained a position on a certain record for many decades only to finally undertake a reassessment of it's value & decide that I don’t think I’ve even heard it before because nothing about it sounds familiar. It doesn’t happen very often but it’s occurred over the last couple of days with the 1988 debut album from New York’s Living Colour. I'm sure that I first discovered them shortly after the release of this record through the inclusion of their big hit & opening track “Cult of Personality” on a compilation I’d acquired & I know that song back to front but the rest of the album? Nup… I can’t honestly say that I recognise a single second of it so I don’t think I actually checked it out even though Living Colour’s 1990 sophomore record “Time’s Up” got quite regular plays around my home as a teenager so this gives me the opportunity to approach it with unbiased ears.

Living Colour were known as one of the big players in the early funk metal movement & became really popular in Australia off the back of their 1991 hit single “Love Rears It’s Ugly Head”. I quite liked them at the time but remember questioning their links to metal & “Vivid” certainly sees me revisiting those feelings as there’s very little genuine metal on this record. I can only think that people have had their opinions influenced by “Cult of Personality” more than anything as it’s clearly the most metal track on the album & even then it’s kind of a heavy metal/hard rock hybrid. The rest of the record sees this talented outfit championing a sound that’s better described as an unintimidating blend of commercial hard rock & bouncy funk rock with some poppier moments scattered across the tracklisting. Unsurprisingly, those poppier tracks are the clear fails here too & “Vivid” is a lot less consistent than I thought it’d be, particularly when you consider the talent on show.

Living Colour’s main focal point is definitely band leader & guitar virtuoso Vernon Reid who absolutely slays here, his exciting jazz fusion guitar solos representing the high point of almost every song. I’m a big fan of his expansive & experimental style & the album is worth listening to solely for his contribution but bass player Muzz Skillings & vocalist Corey Glover also put in stellar performances & you get the feeling that the band was always going to make it big given the collective weight of their musical chops. This makes it a bit of a shame that they opted to explore a few obvious cash-grabbing opportunities on this album because when they extend themselves creatively they’re a more than decent & very likeable unit. Sadly though, poppy filler like “I Want To Know” & “Glamour Boys” see the shine taken off the better material. I’m not sure it sees my score dropping at all but it’s definitely reduced my opinion of Living Colour just a touch.

Ultimately, “Vivid” is a competent rock record produced by a class act that really knew what they were doing. It’s just not one that offers me the sort of appeal to see me returning to it in the future. My childhood memories recall “Time’s Up” being a more complete piece of work but I’m starting to question myself on that now & may have to give it a fresh assessment at some point before committing to claims like that. In the meantime I’ll be raising a Hall of Judgement posting as I really don’t think “Vivid” has a place at the Metal Academy if I’m being honest.

Now if I ever had my doubts about the authenticity of the Cybergrind subgenre & it's credentials for qualification into The Horde then the 2004 debut full-length from Virginia's Gigantic Brain has well & truly put those to bed. "The Invasion Discography" is an enormous release that features a ridiculous 63 tracks spanning an exhausting 59 minutes. Essentially what you can expect here is a sci-fi inspired brand of goregrind that revels in taking you into the weird & avant-garde through head-caving electronic dissonance & over-the-top artificial blast-beats. Gigantic Brain certainly don't take themselves too seriously but they can also come across as fairly disposable for that very reason as there's really very little of substance here. The vocals aren't too bad, despite pushing the threshold of the silly & absurd at times.

"The Invasion Discography" is actually a compilation of all of the Gigantic Brain's work up until that time & it's not too hard to hear where one project ends & another begins as the production & volume can be a little variable. The tracklisting actually begins with a lot of promise as I quite enjoy the majority of the first twelve or so tracks. Unfortunately I suspect that those represented the newest material on offer as the remainder of the release sees a noticeable drop in quality & excitement with a fair chunk of the tracks bordering on self-indulgence or repetition. There's no doubt that I enjoy the extremity of Gigantic Brain's sound but when they fail to engage me it's generally because they've gotten too silly, have opted for annoying electronic sounds or have included some fairly bouncy, almost nu metal-ish chug riffs.

Overall, I'd suggest that "The Invasion Discography" is simply too ambitious for it's own good. It doesn't work as an album because it's far too long & the material is inconsistent. I think Gigantic Brain would have been far better off releasing this material in bit-sized chunks, particularly the first portion of the album which is actually pretty good.

I've always found that I get some enjoyment out of Scorpions records but have never found myself gushing over them like the majority of rock/metal fans seem to. Sure, the guitar solos are great but they have a fair amount of cheese included on every record too & I'm pretty sure that all of our regular contributors clearly understand my aversion to that abominable trait by now. I was familiar with the full string of five albums from 1976's "Virgin Killer" up until 1982's widely celebrated "Blackout" record (not to mention their 1978 "Tokyo Tapes" live release) prior to coming into "Love at First Sting" with all of them sitting at that 3.5/5 mark but the Germans highly regarded 1984 ninth full-length may be the first album I've heard from them where I struggled to overcome the commercialism with fully-fledged glam metal raising its head on more than one occasion.

The tracklisting begins quite well with the heavy rock of opener "Bad Boys Running Wild" being pretty entertaining however proceedings descend significantly after that with five lacklustre efforts in a row before the band miraculously resurrects things with three quality hard rock numbers to close out the album. Closing ballad "Still Loving You" is the clear album highlight & leaves me feeling better about the whole experience but I can't quite shake the memories of glam metal numbers like "Rock You Like A Hurricane", "The Same Thrill" or "Big City Nights" with their obvious pop hooks that were so clearly intended to crack the American rock radio circuit. There's no doubt that Matthias Jabs' guitar solos are exhilarating & my ears prick up every time he steps up to the plate but, as with every other Scorpions record, I have serious doubts about the metal credentials of "Love at First Sting". There's really only the one song that I regard as being genuine metal in the fairly dull "Coming Home" although "Bad Boys Running Wild" kinda skims along the borderline between hard rock & heavy metal. I guess they're a metal band if you think that Van Halen, AC/DC or Guns 'n' Roses are but I very strongly disagree with that sentiment.

"Love at First Sting" gives 80's Scorpions fans exactly what they want but I'm afraid this is where they've started to lose me & I'm a little fearful about what's to come from their later material given that it's not regarded anywhere near as highly as the band's classic era which ended with this record.

English retro outfit Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats seemed to get a whole bunch of attention in the early 2010's, no doubt buoyed by (& partially responsible for) the revival of interest in the old-school heavy psych & traditional doom metal sound. That sound has always offered me a fair amount of appeal however I've somehow managed to steer clear of exploring a full Uncle Acid record until now. I've certainly heard a few tracks here & there but can't say that I've heard anything that made me stand up & pay attention. They did however seem to be unintimidating enough for me to play while driving my young kids around in the car so I thought I'd pull out the band's most highly regarded release to see what all the fuss is about.

2011's "Blood Lust" has clearly been intentionally tailored to sound like the late 1960's/early 1970's with a thick layer of fuzzy distortion having been layered over the top of everything (including the vocals). It's like the levels have been intentionally overdriven & this leads many people to link the band to the heavy psych movement because there is a reasonable amount of psychedelia on offer in some of this material. There's also a fair whack of stoner rock/metal about these songs with the riffs often taking a groovy, mid-paced direction with the rhythm section opting for a bluesy rocking-to-sleep style beat that references traditional doom metal without fully committing to the oppressive atmosphere & sluggish tempos. "Withered Hand Of Evil" is the clear exception as it sees the band descending into fully-fledged doom territory while CD bonus track "Down To The Fire" is a lovely way to close out the album with it's references to the British folk rock scene. The whiny higher register vocal delivery of front man Kevin Starrs is very effective & the added distortion gives him a similar mystique to that which Electric Wizard have often achieved with their vocals.

I enjoyed "Blood Lust" quite a bit with every one of its nine tracks offering me some level of appeal. I definitely would have preferred a bit more of the genuine doom metal I was expecting though as much of this material is a little more mid-paced & groovy than I'd hoped but I do buy into the whole retro vibe it's been so successful at recreating & there's no doubt that "Blood Lust" succeeds in building a lovely thick atmosphere. At the end of the day I think I can see why Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats have been so successful but I don't think they'll ever reach the same level of affection with me personally, even if I get a general feeling of enjoyment out of their music.

I hadn't heard of Tokyo-based duo Noism before but I'm unlikely to forget them after experiencing (yes, experiencing) their one-off 2008 album "±" as I've rarely taken such a musical battering & that's saying something given my taste profile. You see, the racket this artist produces across the short 21 minute duration of this release is almost unparalleled. Imagine a continuous barrage of freeform breakcore drum machine programming with seemingly random psychotic death metal guitar noise underneath it, changing wildly from one idea to the next without any warning or thought for compositional integrity. It's relentless in it's savage attack on the senses, confusing the mind so as to ensure that identifying the individual components is almost too tiring to attempt. It's a confusing ride & it's probably a good thing that Noism opted to leave the album purely instrumental because I'm not sure my ears could stand another component.

"±" is certainly short for an album but there's little doubt that it needs to be as there's no way to differentiate between the individual tracks. They all sound very much the same, kinda like an argument between a nail gun & a machine gun has gotten wwwaaayyyy out of hand. It's just so fucking extreme though which sees my eyes being continually drawn to this creative car crash. Why do I find myself liking this cacophony so much? I think it's the underlying hum of authentic underground deathgrind in the guitar work which pays no attention to traditional structure but manages to fill the space with an authenticity that I can relate to on a purely visceral level. This is genuine cybergrind ladies & gentlemen. It fits the description perfectly & has single-handedly proven to me that the niche subgenre has some basis for existing in the first place. Approach this release at your own peril but, if you're prepared to take that risk, accept "±" for what it is & enjoy the undiluted chaos it throws at you from close range.

I really enjoyed Genghis Tron's 2006 debut album "Dead Mountain Mouth" when I nominated it as a feature release for The Horde back in 2006. It sounded so fresh & original at the time (not to mention well produced) however I do remember questioning it's credentials for the clan & those feelings have stayed with me ever since, only being further exacerbated by my experiences in programming cybergrind material into the monthly The Horde playlists. It only makes sense then that I would begin my cybergrind deep dive by exploring Genghis Tron's debut release in 2005's "Cloak of Love" E.P.

This little record offers more of a taste than a meal with it's run time flying by in just twelve minutes but I get the feeling that these sort of releases are better off not overstaying their welcome with the risk of their novelty value wearing off being rather high. There are five short tracks on offer here & things start off rather well with the first three tracks all being pretty interesting & generally rewarding. Unfortunately though, the remaining two see Genghis Tron's quirky silliness being pushed a little too far & see the overall result being tainted for me.

So, is this cybergrind? Well, "Ride The Steambolt" certainly is as it uses grindcore as it's basic building blocks but I'd suggest that the other four tracks use it more as a tool than a core component. Those four tracks have more electronica & downtempo than metal & when the blast-beats come in they're often sporadic & rarely overstay their welcome. The atmosphere these songs create is really quite bizarre too & I feel that they're far better suited to an Avant-Garde Metal tag as you'll rarely find a stranger sounding metal record. And this is a metal record. Let's be clear about that because despite the strong electronic focus the blast-beats & screaming vocals work to completely alienate anyone that's not already associated with those techniques so I can't see too many fans of EDM coming in for a casual listen.

As with "Dead Mountain Mouth", it's the smooth downtempo moments that really shine here & I even enjoy the more quirky electronica more than I do most of the metal too. I can't help but feel that perhaps Genghis Tron would have been better suited to creating some more serious electronic releases than going for an off-the-wall approach like they have here. But, in saying that, they seem to have found somewhat of a niche in the market & are doing pretty well for themselves so what would I know.

I found this CD lying around in a big box of old CDs in the back of the cupboard & felt like revisiting it this week. "Louder Than Love" was my introduction to Soundgarden (& probably the grunge scene) back in the day through the video clips to "Hands All Over" & "Loud Love" which used to be played on a music show called "Rage" on late-night Australian TV. It was through these songs that I fell in love with Chris Cornell's voice & he'd go on to become my all-time favourite singer. "Louder Than Love" covers a lot of different musical territory with grunge, stoner rock & stoner metal being the most prominent in my opinion. There are a few genuinely doomy & sludgy moments & even a hint at southern rock but overall I think this record is best served by a dual Metal Academy tag of Alternative Metal & Stoner Metal so I'll be putting a Hall of Judgement nomination through to get stoner metal added shortly.

Soundgarden have always been at their best when they're at their Black Sabbath-inspired heaviest & that's definitely the case here. A lot of that has to do with Cornell having his leash taken off so that he can truly soar with those soul-piercing shrieks but the way the band build tension & use tinges of psychedelia is also pretty amazing. There are some truly sublime tracks on this record, some of Soundgarden's finest ever in fact. Both sides open with two utterly killer monsters & it's not hard to see why the grunge movement blew up off the back of that stuff. Unfortunately both sides take a downward trajectory after that with the B side sadly descending a little too far over the last couple of songs which leaves the album finishing on a poor note. If you can look past those filler tracks though, there is some wonderful material included from a band that was packed with stars & featuring one of the greatest rock/metal front men of all time in his absolute prime. Cornell would continue to ride that peak into 1991's all-conquering & career-defining "Badmotorfinger" record & "Louder Than Love" has tended to be overlooked ever since but I can assure you that it's worth exploring if you're into rock/metal music in general (which you obviously are if you're at the Academy).

I'm glad that I selected this album as our February 2023 feature release as it's ended up delivering what I'd hoped it would &, in doing so, has probably surpassed it's more familiar 2012 follow-up "One Wing" in terms of creative aggression too. If you simply can't get into the modern metalcore sound with young, skinny white dudes with long fringes, huge round ear rings & obscene neck tattoos swinging their limbs violently around in windmill fashion then I'd suggest that you might struggle a bit with "Long Live", particularly with vocalist Josh Scogin's continuous barrage of rude screaming. However, if you're partial to the odd rebellious breakdown & give "Long Live" enough time to reveal its charms then you may just discover the highly professional & super-intense band within. There's a great electricity & urgency about everything that The Chariot produce for us here & I never found myself reaching for generic metalcore terms, despite the fact that The Chariot are not attempting to reinvent the wheel here. The A side flashes by in an instant & without too much complaint or fanfare but it's the B side that contains all of the real gold in my opinion with the mathy "The Earth", the post-hardcore inspired "Robert Rios" & the crushingly epic album highlight "The King" taking the album to another level & carrying it up a half mark in my eventual rating. The production is spot on for this type of music as it captures every nuance while losing none of it's visceral edge. If you enjoy high quality, no-holds-barred metalcore then I'd suggest that you check out "Long Live".

OK, so I really tried with this one. I genuinely wanted to like it (particularly as the guitar solos are so spectacular) but I just couldn't quite get it over the line in the end & it wasn't because it's a power metal record as the reality is that it's actually not. I challenge anyone to identify more than two or three of the thirteen tracks that are genuine power metal here. The two obvious ones ("Spread Your Wings" & "The Temple of Hate") fall into that Helloween/Rhapsody space & are pretty intolerable to me though so I guess the genre has still had an impact on my overall enjoyment factor. If you examine the tracklisting closely though you'll find that most of the album is actually made up of a fairly ambitious brand of Dream Theater-inspired progressive metal which sounds good on paper but in practice ends up being too laden with cheese for my taste. It was a bit frustrating to find that I enjoy just over half of the individual tracks but that the inclusions that I can't get into are so wide of the mark that it taints the whole experience for me.

As I said, those solos try their very best to salvage things for me as they're as good as you'll hear (Better than Dream Theater though Andi? That hurts! Petrucci is my guitar idol!). Front man Edu Falaschi tries really hard to sound like James LaBrie for the majority of the album & pulls it off pretty well for the most part while the orchestration is really well done but it's the usual concept album tropes that drag things down with numerous filler tracks being included purely for the sake of a storyline that I have next to no interest in. The symphonic element is predominantly used as an accompaniment rather than a focal point which was a relief but Angra simply lose me too often to warrant me returning to "Temple of Shadows". Instead I find the record to be a good source of playlist tracks with songs like "Winds of Destination" & "Morning Star" being high quality examples of the progressive metal genre.

I'm glad Ben choose this release as this month's feature because it's been on my radar to revisit for a while now & I'd probably have checked it out this month at some point anyway. I remember not being as positive about it as I'd hoped at the time of release which is probably why it's taken me all these years to get back to it &, to be honest, not a lot's changed. Ben's been a massive fan of "Screams & Whispers" for a zillion years now but I just can't see what the big deal is. It's a serviceable progressive metal record with some thrash metal influence. I don't think it's accurate to call it a progressive thrash release as the progressive side of Anacrusis' sound dominates this tracklisting with a fair amount of US power metal in their sound. The thrashier parts remind me a lot of Testament's "Practice What You Preach" & "Souls Of Black" albums & vocalist Kenn Nardi seems to try to sound like Chuck Billy during his more aggressive moments too but I'd compare "Screams & Whispers" more to bands like Watchtower, Mekong Delta & particularly Nevermore more than I would to Coroner or Vektor.

Unlike Sonny though, I'm gonna have to admit that I find the vocals to be one of the weaker components of "Screams & Whispers". I wouldn't say they're much more than serviceable & think that a record like this one is sorely lacking a top line front man. I also find the production to sound noticeably dated with the rhythm guitar tone suffering from a hollow frequency scoop that was very much of its time & the keyboards being pretty random & more than a bit cheesy. I don't really find the album to get going until it makes a late surge through the one-two punch of the Voivod-inspired "My Soul's Affliction" into "Driven" but sadly the tracklisting dies in the ass shortly afterwards with the lengthy closer "Brotherhood?" which is the clear low point of the album.

I dunno. There are some really good things going on here (particularly the proggier lead guitar work which generally elevates things) but I'm afraid I don't see this record as the minor underground classic it's widely regarded as being. Enjoyable? Certainly but, despite the clear talent on display, I find it a bit hard to look past the flaws here.

Interestingly I'd never given Glenn Danzig's widely celebrated self-titled debut an active listen until now. I was certainly across the couple of tracks that got flogged on underground metal radio back in the late 80's/early 90's ("Twist of Cain" & "Mother" specifically) but the rest of the record was previously unknown to me. I didn't mind Danzig's 1990 sophomore album "Danzig II: Lucifuge" though so I thought I might also enjoy the debut & I do to a similar extent. Neither album are particularly to my taste but both offer a crunchy brand of bluesy AC/DC style hard rock with a darker Black Sabbath edge & a vocal delivery that pays homage to Elvis Presley. Is it a metal release? Not even close in my opinion. There are a couple of legitimate heavy metal tunes amongst the ten on offer (see "Am I Demon" & "The Hunter") but I can't say that I ever really find myself considering a metal-based tag for this one. The consistency of the tracklisting is certainly pretty good though as there's not a weak track in sight but, in saying that, I don't think there's a truly classic song here either. In fact, the two most popular tracks are probably the ones that I enjoy the least amongst this lot. I do dig the bluesy feel & the warm & uncluttered back-to-basics production but I don't think "Danzig" will be one that I return to all that often. I'd probably take the follow-up over this one by a slim margin.

Sweden’s Gorement are one of those unique cases of an extreme metal band that has built up a following very gradually over many years before finally being placed on somewhat of a pedestal by underground enthusiasts who all swear blind that they were into them back in the day. The reality is that unless you were an obsessive tape trader then you probably didn’t encounter the band until long after the year of release. There was a bit of a buzz around the tape trading scene about Gorement’s solitary full-length in the mid-1990’s & I was lucky enough to pick the album up through an Aussie trader I was involved with who was utterly infatuated with Swedish death metal, particularly of the doomier variety as we find here.

I have to say that “The Ending Quest” didn’t blow me away at the time though & it’s been fascinating to see their cool-factor gaining momentum over the years. I’ve been meaning to revisit the album for a good four or five years since I noticed it had been remastered & released by Century Media, mainly because I wanted to see if I’d been missing something back in the day. I also had a strong suspicion that “The Ending Quest” might be something that would interest our beloved Sonny given that one of my strongest memories of it was that it sat somewhere in the grey area between death metal & doom/death.

Upon review, I’d have to say that that’s a fairly accurate recollection because, despite most websites claiming Gorement to be doomy death metal in a similar way to that of bands like Autopsy & Asphyx, I’d suggest that “The Ending Quest” is actually a more genuine hybrid & worthy of a dual tagging (& clanning too if you want to get technical). Gorement combine the classic mid-paced death metal of Bolt Thrower & early Amorphis with the melodic doom/death of early Paradise Lost & Katatonia but they do it with the sort of grimy underground authenticity that appeals to an audience that was raised on crudely dubbed demo tapes. The execution is fairly sloppy & unsophisticated with the musicianship not being high on the list of priorities however those aren’t criticisms as such as those elements tend to work in with Gorement’s whole image & mystique to tell you the truth. I think it’s the contrast of the dark brutality of death metal with the catchy melodies of doom/death that gives them a unique atmosphere & appeal that’s quite rare these days & the filthy production job only further enhances that.

Front man Jimmy Karlson does a splendid job at the death growls & he may well be the highlight of “The Ending Quest” although there’s also an argument for the atmospheric guitar melodies during the doomier moments too. Unfortunately for me though, I’ve always favoured the more sophisticated American brand of death metal over the comparatively more primitive Scandinavian style & that position sees me craving a little more professionalism here. Despite quite enjoying almost the entire tracklisting, I can’t say that I find any of these tracks to really hit my sweet spot. It’s only really the noticeably weaker “Darkness Of The Dead” that I regard as being subpar with the other nine songs possessing an impressive consistency, even if the level they’re maintaining isn’t close to the top tiers. I tend to find the doomier moments to be more attractive than the up-tempo death metal riffs & I think that comes down to the band’s lack of precision as much as anything.

After giving “The Ending Quest” a few active listens in recent days I’ve reached the conclusion that not a lot has changed in regard to its appeal for me personally. It’s certainly an enjoyable listen but I can’t say that I feel like I’ll be returning to it any time soon. Is it worthy of the praise it seems to receive these days? Well… no, I don’t think it is. There was much better material being released at the time & I kinda get the feeling that it’s the albums primitive aesthetics that are as responsible for its lofty status as much as anything else. I mean, just take a look at that album cover, particularly the logo which seems to have been hand-drawn & pasted on with glue! If that’s not authentically underground & primitive then I dunno what is.

I recall being very pleasantly surprised by the 2004 debut album from German progressive metallers Disillusion when I finally got around to checking it out many years ago. I hadn’t heard all that much about it & just kinda stumbled over it a good five years after its release which left me wondering what rock it’d been hiding under for all those years. Ben didn’t hesitate in advising me that it was me that’d been hiding under a rock which is probably true but given the impression that “Back To Times Of Splendor” left on me at the time it’s a little surprising that I haven’t checked out any of the band’s subsequent releases until now, even more so after being thoroughly captivated & enthralled by this spectacular example of progressive metal music.

You see, “Ayam” is everything a prog metal fan could reasonably want from an album. The production is expansive & glistening, the musicianship is to die for & the song-writing is layered & ambitious. The melodic death metal component of Disillusion’s sound has almost completely disappeared since the debut but has been replaced by a stronger focus on melody, dynamics & atmosphere. This could be viewed as a negative by some fans but for me personally this has ended up being a positive. The instrumentation still reminds me of the less intense material from some of the premier extreme progressive metal bands like Opeth, Persefone & Ne Obliviscaris however Disillusion are a little more restrained & introspective these days. In fact, I’ve found myself making comparisons with Anathema’s more progressive works at times such is the refined sense of emotion in Disillusion’s modern sound. I simply adore the vocals of front man Andy Schmidt who sounds uncannily like Beck at times & possesses a tone that competes with Katatonia’s Jonas Renkse in terms of smoothness. Another highlight comes in the form of some wonderfully progressive guitar solos which refuse to be held back by traditional rock conventions & soar above the rest of the music with some truly angelic melodies that harness the exponent’s obviously impressive technique rather than being purely a showcase for it. Don't forget drummer Martin Schulz either cause the dude can play!

The tracklisting is without blemish with each of the eight tracks being very strong in its own right. Unlike “Back To Times Of Splendor” though, I’ve found that "Ayam" possesses a few truly transcendent tracks that enable the album to reach a higher level of adoration for me personally. Eleven minute opener “Am Abgrund” sets to tone beautifully & is probably the heaviest song included. “Longhope” is pure class too but it’s the most introspective piece of the eight that captured me to the highest degree in closing number “The Brook” which has probably ended up being the track that’s seen me tempted to push “Ayam” up into the running for my higher scores. Throw in some heavenly cover art that I can’t seem to see myself looking away from & you’ve got one of the best metal albums of 2022 & an essential release for members of The Infinite.

I quite liked Sigh when they first hit the scene back in the 1990’s but when I returned to them following my decade-long absence from the metal scene I found that they’d gone way too far with the weirdness & albums like “Scenes From Hell” & “In Somniphobia” left me nothing short of repulsed. As a result, my expectations for their twelve full-length weren’t exactly high if I’m being completely honest but I’ve been left pleasantly surprised because last year’s “Shiki” has seen them dropping their avant-garde side for the most part, instead concentrating on a beautifully produced & well-composed progressive metal sound that's full of chunky riffs, blackened vocals & well integrated references to space rock & traditional Japanese music. The recruitment of session musicians guitarist/bassist Frédéric Leclercq (Dragonforce/Kreator/Loudblast) & drummer Mike Heller (Malignancy/Fear Factory/Raven) have proven to be very positive moves but unfortunately the Japanese-language black metal vocals are somewhat of a limiting factor here as I don’t think they’re powerful or professional enough to allow “Shiki” to reach the heights it was so clearly intended for. As usual I find myself being drawn to the album’s least popular tracks more than its obvious drawcards too with the three shorter intro/interlude/change-up tracks being the parts of the tracklisting that appeal to me the most (particularly the stunning space rock piece “Kuroi kagami”) but there aren’t any weak numbers included & I found “Shiki” to be an intriguing & generally rewarding experience that's probably the best material I've heard from Sigh.

I really struggled with unusual American solo-act Effluence's 2021 debut album "Psychocephalic Spawning" as it just seemed to hold nothing of musical value so I've been very hesitant to return for another helping, despite the continuous stream of praise being heaped on them from my beloved underground death metal scene. However, the fact that Effluence's "Liquefied" E.P. is one of the top rated BDM releases of 2022 has seen me feeling that I simply had to give it a crack but unfortunately I'm now regretting that decision because this little release is right up there with the worst metal records I've ever encountered. It's essentially an attempt to make as much of a cacophony of silly noises as it's humanly possible to achieve & I've never been one that appreciated humor in my extreme metal.

The death metal component brings to mind bands like Defeated Sanity, 7.H Target & Dripping with the over the top blast-beats & super-deep, unintelligible vocals but every track might as well be the same because there aren't any themes or differences in atmosphere to grab onto. As absurd as it sounds for a death metal record, there seem to be several references to the kitchen here with the inclusion of blender sounds & the cover art & track titles being angled towards food preparation themes. I find it all so hard to tolerate to be honest & I also struggle to think of who the target demographic for a release like "Liquefied" might be. Perhaps they're not even metalheads but teenage stoners looking for a laugh? Certainly not any of our Metal Academy regulars & I'd encourage everyone to give Effluence a wide birth.

Single track E.P.'s are often found to be guilty of over-indulgence but this 25 minute piece from English death metal duo Qrixkuor has cast aside any potential for musical wankery by creating a unique & (at times) quite frightening soundscape that takes the listener through uncharted territory. The basis for Qrixkuor's sound sits in the darkest & swampiest depths of the death metal spectrum however they've managed to differentiate themselves from the crowd through the incorporation of symphonic elements in such a way that it reminds me of a horror movie soundtrack rather than any cheesy attempt at atmosphere. You see, Qrixkuor's dense wall of darkness is far more complex & possesses a lot more integrity than the vast majority of bands that are linked to the term "symphonic". The guitar & bass work is highly complex & layered, the drums are used in an almost military fashion at times & the growled vocals are as deep & cavernous as you could want. As the song structure runs its course, you'll encounter several acts that make up the overall piece but it's unquestionably the crescendo that takes place during the last 5 or 6 minutes that's the kicker here & it represents the culmination of all of the band's hard work during the build-up of the first 20 minutes or so. You'll rarely hear something more unnerving or genuinely scary.

"Zoetrope" isn't the perfect piece of art however. The drumming isn't as accomplished as it could be which is a shame because there's definitely some unfulfilled potential left here. I do feel that the piece could have been a little snappier & a little culling could have gone a long way here but it's hard to be too critical when as artist has created an horrific world that sounds like nothing you've experienced before. The purely death metal component will likely draw comparisons to the likes of Teitanblood, Portal & Antediluvian but it's presented in a way that pulls Qrixkuor away from their peers by giving them their own identity. I have to admit that I can't pick up any of the black metal influence that's seen Qrixkuor being tagged as blackened death metal on many competitor's sites. "Zoetrope" is as death metal as they come as far as I'm concerned & it comes highly recommended for devotees of the darker end of the genre.

I don't mind the latest release from prolific Swedish one-man atmospheric black metal artist Bekëth Nexëhmü. It was his second album for the year, following just two months after "De evigas gravrit" which is self-indulgent enough in itself if not for the fact that this new record is 104 minutes long which is just taking the piss, isn't it? You can expect a very raw, lo-fi production, the consistent use of tremolo-picked riffs & blast-beats & those distant, tortured Varg Vikernes style screams, kinda like a more brutal example of the cold & atmospheric sound that other solo acts like Paysage d'Hiver, Trhä & Burzum champion. There are quite a few interludes included which comprise of some post-black metal inspired pieces as well as a couple of lengthy folk guitar instrumentals. The black metal material is hit & miss for me as some of the tracks can sound a bit too consciously epic & triumphant, occasionally turning to glistening melodic riffs that remind me of blackgaze artists like Deafheaven. The brutality factor is a definite plus for me though & the quality of some of the interludes is excellent with a few of those pieces being my favourite moments on the album. Overall, this release will probably satisfy a lot of our The North members but doesn't compete with the top tier in my opinion.

I quite liked Birmingham NWOBHM outfit Quartz' 1977 self-titled debut album & also their 1980 sophomore record "Stand Up & Fight" which saw them upping the metal significantly. I'd never ventured further forwards than that in the band's discography until now but thought I'd take on the third of their more well-known releases in 1983's "Against All Odds" third album. Quartz would split up later the same year, only to reform in 2011 & they're apparently still around today & have in fact just released a brand new album. Anyway... "Against All Odds" isn't as entertaining as its older siblings with the wishy washy production job & uninspired song-writing missing the mark they'd previously reached. You can certainly expect to hear the hard rockin' brand of heavy metal that became the calling card of the NWOBHM but the tempos are sluggish & the chorus hooks are a bit lacking this time, particularly when they attempt their more accessible numbers. The best moments inevitably occur when we find Quartz channelling metal idols like Black Sabbath & Judas Priest but there are a couple too many failures overshadowing the album highlights here in my opinion. My suggestion is that you stick to the first two Quartz records if you're looking to expand your NWOBHM horizons.

The early 80’s releases from all-female London NWOBHM four-piece Girlschool have generally offered me a fair bit of appeal in the past. Their 1980 debut album “Demolition”, 1981 “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” split E.P. with Motörhead & their 1982 third album “Screaming Blue Murder” all possessed enough rock ‘n’ roll electricity to keep me entertained although I strangely found their most widely celebrated 1981 sophomore album “Hit & Run” to be a little flat in comparison. I’d never ventured any further into the band’s back-catalogue however, perhaps being scared off by the claims that they’d sold out by taking a more polished & commercially accessible direction with their subsequent albums, so it's high time that I investigated a) whether that is indeed the case & b) whether it’ll have a detrimental effect on their appeal.

The album cover certainly gives you a strong indication that Girlschool had moved on from their dirty Motörhead-inspired roots, doesn’t it? And opening track “Going Under” (the only genuine heavy metal song on the tracklisting) does nothing to turn that impression around as it sounds much more like Def Leppard’s over-produced post-NWOBHM releases than it does Girlschool’s much rawer previous albums with its use of synthesizers & meticulously harmonized backing-vocals not being the only time those tools would pop up amongst the ten tracks. It’s a catchy number though & sees the record getting off to an entertaining start. Unfortunately, the remainder of the album makes for a rocky ride with some of the tougher hard rocks songs (see the title track, “Rock Me Shock Me” & album highlight “Running For Cover”) getting me nodding my head & humming the chorus hooks while the filler tracks around them left me slightly bemused & a touch bored, particularly the god awful “High & Dry” which is nothing short of terrible. There are even a couple of songs that I’d suggest cross over into… *gulp*.. US glam metal territory which I don’t regard as a positive move & I much prefer the material that sticks to an AC/DC-style crunch over those numbers.

There can be no denying the quality of the production job here as everything sounds crisp & attractive. Perhaps that’s not a good thing with a band like Girlschool though as a big part of their appeal lay in their grimy, working-class attitude & care-free, punk-rock image. Both of those things have been cast aside with “Play Dirty” & it’s been hard not to let that fact taint my impression of a record that was clearly intended for the US market. Sadly, it’s ended up being the band’s weakest release to the time & Girlschool have apparently never managed to right the ship in all the years that have passed since as far as I can tell either. “Play Dirty” may not be awful as such but I’d nonetheless suggest that you stick to records like “Demolition” & “Scream Blue Murder” if you’re looking for a bit of danger in your hard rock music.

Yet another stunning highlight from a band that is now the clear leader of the post-sludge metal movement, “The Long Road Home" is an album that creeps up on you slowly, gradually attaching itself to your heart-strings & ever so gently increasing the tension until Cult of Luna have you strung up so tight that you feel you'll likely burst at any moment. The album starts off in fairly predictable fashion & (as Sonny spoke of in his review) you're very unlikely to be surprised by what you receive with a new Cult of Luna record however I simply cannot deny that the class & sophistication that this band possesses places them up above their peers when I experience the stunning attention to detail & compositional complexity they invariably produce.

Things only start to really get going with the glorious atmospherics of earie third track "Beyond I" but they rarely subside from that point onwards. As usual with me, it's the least popular tracks that I rate the highest with short post-rock piece "Full Moon" & closing ambient number "Beyond II" stealing the show from wonderful post-sludge epics like "An Offering to the Wild" or "Blood Upon Stone". "The Long Road Home" is perfectly suited to it's title as it's a lengthy record at 69 minutes but will continue to open up with each listen, offering increasingly greater rewards for the active listener's investment. "Somewhere Along The Highway" may still be Cult of Luna's crowning achievement however "The Long Road Home" isn't all that far behind their best work & I'd even go so far as to say that it has a slight advantage over their classic 2004 third album "Salvation" for me these days. Essential listening for post-metal fans.

This was an historical live recording of a gig from 1978 & I get the feeling it was more of a cash-grab intended to milk the band's growing popularity than anything else as the production is pretty much radio quality & the performances aren't their best either although guitarist Fast Eddie Clarke consistently gives us a whole bunch of his most electric solos. I've never been a fan of Motörhead's pre-1979 work as it's a bit too rock 'n' roll based for my liking & "What's Words Worth?" is another example of that with songs like "On Parole", "Leaving Here" & "I'm Your Witchdoctor" sounding pretty damn flat compared to the much more exciting & visceral material we'd hear from the band the following year. "Iron Horse/Born To Lose" & "White Line Fever" have always been great songs so they manage to stand out of the pack but the rest of the album is pretty uneventful to tell you the truth & is a hell of a long way short of the standard 1981's classic "No Sleep Till Hammersmith" (my favourite Motörhead record) set. It baffles me that people might think this is a metal record too. It's fucking miles away from metal in my opinion.

Ultimately "What's Words Worth?" is an inessential release for completists only. I'd take it over Motörhead's 1976 debut album release "On Parole" (released in 1979) or the 1980 "Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers" E.P. but that's about it for Motörhead's back catalogue to the time I'm afraid.

I recently read Ben's review of this popular sophomore album from Tokyo, Japan & wasn't surprised to see him give it a thorough panning. I guess the blackgaze meets post-hardcore tag was a little scary for me too if I'm being honest & I suspected that it might not be for me either but that hasn't ended up being the case in the end. Despite the numerous examples of non-metal genres scattered across the tracklisting (post-hardcore, screamo, downtempo, etc.), "Island" is definitely a metal record; a black metal related one to be more specific. The shoegaze component may not be as prominent as it is on some releases but there can be no denying the generally positive feel to almost all of the riffs & melodies on offer because Asunojokai seem to be a consciously working against all traditional black metal calling cards here, even though they're clearly using black metal tools such as open-string tremolo-picked chords & blast-beats. The vocal delivery sounds very similar to Emperor front man Ihsahn & is pretty effective but it's the class in the executive & production that really shine here & make it hard not to enjoy "Island". The level of musicianship is outstanding which seems to be a prerequisite for most Japanese metal these days. It's a shame that the album peters out at the end with a couple of tracks that overdo the positive vibes because the majority of the tracklisting is really pretty comparable to bands like Deafheaven or Alcest, if taking things another step further in regard to the uplifting melodies. The cover artwork is also a little bemusing given that it's so clearly making a conscious attempt to push the elitists buttons. Regardless of these flaws though, there's easily enough quality (black) metal here to keep me interested, even if a record like "Island" was never going to make a play for my best-of lists.

Last year's debut album from this Oklahoma four-piece seems to be getting major attention recently so I thought I'd see what all the fuss is about. "God's Country" is being tagged as a noise rock & sludge metal hybrid but there's a lot more going on here than that. There's certainly a strong Sonic Youth/noise rock influence present but I don't think this a rock release so I find the use of a rock subgenre as a primary tag to be a little deceptive. This is more of a metal meets hardcore thing in my opinion with the vocals being firmly planted in psychotic hardcore realms & the instrumentation being predominantly metal with post-hardcore & noise rock leanings. The thing that most listeners seem to be missing though is that the biggest influence being championed on "God's Country" would seem to be Godflesh &, as a result, I'd suggest that this is actually just as much of an industrial metal record as it is a sludge metal one, perhaps even more so. There's even a noticeable Korn influence in some of the rhythmic riffage which is done very tastefully.

All that aside, "God's Country" is also a high quality release that's worthy of a lot of the attention it's receiving. The vocals are emotion-charged & meaningful while the riffs are heavy & intense. The field recording/acappella piece "I Don't Care If I Burn" is a bit of a waste of space but the rest of the tracklisting is very consistent without ever really hinting at any genuine highlights. Fans of Godflesh & Fange should definitely check it out.

I wasn't aware of New York progressive metal outfit Moon Tooth prior to Saxy nominating "Phototroph" for The Gateway feature release status this month but it's been a pleasant surprise for me as I've found them to be a capable & classy metal outfit. I'd suggest that they're probably more of a progressive metal band than an alternative metal one & "Phototroph" might have been a slightly better fit for The Infinite but there can be no denying Moon Tooth's alternative edge, particularly in the vocals of John Carbone who sounds very much like Sevendust front man Lajon Witherspoon to me. There's a strong Mastodon influence here with many of the riff structures being quite complex but there are also some tracks that take a more accessible alternative route. I particularly enjoy the lead guitar work of Riot V axe man Nick Lee who showcases a clear Eric Johnson influence in his fluent & speedy runs. The only track I didn't enjoy was the lightweight "Carry Me Home" but this was easily compensated for by the stunning progressive metal highlight track "O My Isle" which is a couple of steps up from the rest of the material (& is apparently the least popular track on the album according to RYM). Fans of fairly melodic & accessible yet structurally ambitious metal are unlikely to be disappointed with a record like "Phototroph".

With the New Year now upon us, I’ve notice that last year’s “Moon of Foul Magics” sophomore album from mysterious Toronto extreme metal outfit Autonoesis seems to be hitting a lot of people’s end of year lists so I thought I’d better see what all the fuss is about given that their 2020 self-titled debut managed to slip past me too. The second Autonoesis record is being touted by fans as being a total riff-fest, somewhat of a tribute to the greatness of metal. Well, let’s see if all of the praise is warranted, shall we?

“Moon of Foul Magics” can be a confusing & overwhelming experience upon first listen. There’s a lot of flip-flopping between different influences & subgenres going on which makes it hard to know what to make of it until you’ve given it a couple more airings. Black metal, thrash metal, progressive metal & even a bit of death metal & Viking metal (see the Bathory inspired “Valhöll) are all represented here but if you examine the tracklisting in detail you’ll find that the record is really built on a melodic black metal platform, similar to Dissection, Sacramentum & “At The Heart Of Winter”-era Immortal (particularly in “Nihility, Endless Winter”). The thrash component is very obvious in the classic half-time Slayer/Dave Lombardo breakdowns & more technically complex Coroner/Vektor riffs but I think it’s a touch ambitious to suggest that a release like this one should sit in The Pit alongside the Metallicas, Panteras & Exciters. It would appear to me to be a much more comfortable fit for The North. The progressive component is more sporadically used & is most apparent in the Opeth style clean sections which are beautifully executed just quietly.

The guitar work is very skilfully performed with a high degree of musicality & melody being employed at all times. I can’t say that I enjoy the neoclassical slant on the solos though as I’ve always struggled a bit with that particular technique when it comes to extreme metal, particularly when there’s lots of wanky sweep picking being used like there is here. The black metal screams are fairly generic & uneventful & I can take or leave them but the real weakness in the Autonoesis sound is in the drumming which lacks ambition & sophistication, particularly when you consider how much creative license has been taken with the rest of the instrumentation. This left me wondering whether Autonoesis are really a one-man band & the more I think about it the more I feel that I might be onto something there.

I have to say that I’m a little surprised at the overwhelming acclaim that “Moon of Foul Magics” is receiving online. Perhaps it just comes down to personal taste as the more melodic side of extreme metal has never been my strong suit but I don’t find anything particularly classic here to tell you the truth. It’s certainly an enjoyable metal record with a lot to say but I tend to find it to be a little unfocused & light-weight, not to mention a bit lengthy. It’s like Autonoesis have used the album as a place to showcase how broad their taste in metal is with many songs starting in one place & ending in a drastically different one. I have time for most of the nine individual tracks (with “Crypt of Thought” being the exception) but none of them manage to quite hit my musical sweet spot. I guess I’m just not the target audience for a record like “Moon of Foul Magics”.

San Francisco blackgaze outfit Deafheaven certainly got a few people’s attention with their 2010 demo & I had a bit of time for it myself but it was their debut full-length “Roads To Judah” that really grabbed my attention, pissing off many a kvlt elitist in the process too. You see, despite their undeniable black metal aesthetics, Deafheaven somehow manage to beautifully incorporate the dreamy melodic ideas of the shoegaze genre into their riffs which on paper would seem to be a very poor fit for black metal but in practice sounds like a bit of a masterstroke. The contrast the relentless blast-beats & tortured screams offer to the shoegaze chord changes is certainly different yet I find it to be strangely soothing & somehow both uplifting & melancholic at the same time. Deafheaven went on to master that sound with their classic 2013 sophomore album “Sunbather” but their debut should not be overlooked as it’s a very solid piece of work in its own right.

“Roads To Judah” is a relatively short album by modern standards, clocking in at just 38 minutes in duration which feels appropriate at its completion. The four lengthy tracks all have merit & generally explore multiple different soundscapes within the same piece which often sees the album receiving a dual tagging of blackgaze & post-metal as a result. The blackgaze tag is certainly warranted as the majority of the record is black metal focused & the influence of shoegaze is undeniable on at least three-quarters of the tracklisting. I’d suggest that the post-metal tag is a little ambitious though. Sure, there are several post-rock inspired sections scattered across the album but the blackgaze material is much more prominent & I think that tag inherently covers a bit of post-rock influence anyway so to my ears the post-metal element is more of a secondary component. Front man George Clarke’s blackened shrieks would unquestionably get better over the coming years but he does an admirable job here, as does drummer Trevor Deschryver who blasts away with everything he’s got but would be replaced shortly afterwards by the more obviously talented Daniel Tracy before the recording of “Sunbather”. 

Despite being somewhat enamoured with the quality of the overtly blackgaze inclusions, I can’t help but find the track that showcases the least amount of shoegaze influence to be the clear highlight of the album in closer “Tunnel Of Trees” which begins with five minutes of savage black metal extremity & finishes with another five of glistening post-metal atmospherics. It’s a stunning piece of work that really sees the album finishing on a high. The rest of the tracklisting is of a consistently high quality but fails to connect with me on quite the same level, presumably due to the lack of genuine darkness in some of the chord changes & atmospherics. “Language Games” is probably the best example of that as it begins in fine fashion but loses its way a touch around the middle of the song with some lighter-weight melodic ideas. It’s very hard to fault tracks like “Violet” & “Unrequited” though as they seem to complete their mission with emphatic success, despite my tendencies towards a darker brand of extreme metal.

It’s very easy to be critical of “Roads To Judah” by being drawn into like-for-like comparison with its successor but “Sunbather” hadn’t been recorded when I first wrapped my ears around “Roads to Judah” so I wasn’t afforded that luxury until some time later & it deserves to be experienced as an isolated piece of work in its own right regardless. You know what? Fuck the elitists that brutally put this band down because they don’t deserve it. It’s all posturing bullshit as these guys know their black metal alright but they also give it their own original spin that sounds as professional as it does musical. Deafheaven can’t put a foot wrong & sit at the pinnacle of their chosen subgenre as far as I’m concerned.

I have to admit that there are some pretty big gaps in my knowledge of post-1980’s Voivod. I was always a fan of the band in the late 80’s & early 90’s but they somehow dropped off my radar to an extent with 1995’s “Negatron” & 2011’s “Warriors of Ice” live album being the only releases I’ve checked out since 1989’s highly regarded “Nothingface” album. I guess they never really sat 100% within my taste profile so I tended to stick closer to my lane for the most part, even though I generally enjoyed their material. I recently noticed that the fanfare around the Canadian progressive metal icon’s eighth studio album “The Outer Limits” seems to have slowly gained momentum over the years though, so much so that it seems to be held up as another prog classic of sorts. That’s been the catalyst for me exploring the album this week & with generally positive results.

The “Nothingface” album had seen Voivod moving away from metal to an extent with the band having adopted more of a progressive rock sound &, from what I can make out by the critical response, their 1991 seventh album “Angel Rat” took them even further away from metal realms. “The Outer Limits” sees Voivod returning to metal in the most part & sounds quite familiar (if that can ever be said of a Voivod release). The angular & unusual guitar riffs of guitarist Piggy are as potent as ever & lead proceedings with Snake’s signature vocal delivery ensuring that you’re never in any doubt as to which band you’re listening to. You see, there’s simply no one that sounds remotely like Voivod, even if they’re consciously trying to. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’re a complete musical anomaly & that’s extremely rare in the modern music scene. “The Outer Limits” certainly fits into the progressive metal genre pretty comfortably though & I’d suggest that fans of that particular scene are the most likely audience for a record like this one with very little speed/thrash metal to offer those that are hanging out for a mid-80's revivial. “Le Pont Noir” & “Wrong-Way Street” see Voivod traversing the rockier prog territories of “Nothingface” while the epic seventeen minute album highlight “Jack Luminous” is a psychedelic monster that oozes of Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd influence. We even find the boys attempting some alternative rock sounds that wouldn’t feel out of place alongside the Detroit elite on “The Nile Song”.

Unlike Voivod’s very strong trio of progressive albums from 1987-1989, “The Outer Limits” struggles a touch in the song-writing department. There are no weak songs included with all nine tracks being presented with class & professionalism but the hooks aren’t consistently strong enough to see the album competing with the band’s best work. In saying that though, I do slightly prefer it to Voivod’s early speed metal releases like “War & Pain”, “Rrröööaaarrr” & the “To The Death” demo. It's always refreshing to hear these Canadians taking on spacey sci-fi topics as there are few artists that have the ability to sound so alien & “The Outer Limits” is yet another example of why we need bands like Voivod in a modern metal market that’s flooded with copy cats & pretenders.

What we have here is yet another underground also-ran from the NWOBHM movement in the debut album from Cumbria-based outfit Bitches Sin. The cover art gives you the distinct impression that you'll be in for a heavily metallic experience (perhaps something similar to Satan?) but the reality is very different to that so it's a bit misleading. Bitches Sin's sound sits somewhere between hard rock & heavy metal with the production sitting a little closer to the rock side of the equation. In fact, the production is the biggest detractor here as the guitars are miles too low in the mix with the pitchy vocals booming over the top but front man Tony Tomkinson's somehow manages to make up for his technical inadequacies in sheer charisma, regularly bringing to mind the blue-collar approach of original Iron Maiden singer Paul Dianno. The lead guitar work may be a little primitive but it oozes attitude (particularly in the electricity of the lightning fast bluesy pentatonic runs) & this helps to carry the weaker material. There are a couple of very catchy songs here that somehow manage to overcome all of the flaws that are doing their damnedest to draw your affections away (see "Lady Lies" & "Looser") but at the end of the day "Predator" was always destined for the second-hand bins & the dustier back pages of NWOBHM history.

Unlike with the other Peaceville Three bands, I never checked out Paradise Lost's early demos back in the day, perhaps because their first couple of albums didn't make as big an impact on me as My Dying Bride & Anathema's did. I thought I'd rectify that omission this week through this compilation which draws together 1988's self-titled demo, 1989's "Frozen Illusion" demo & 1989's ""Plains of Desolation" live bootleg. Be warned that this is some very rough stuff as far as production & sound quality goes so it's lucky that I have a long history with tape trading. As with Paradise Lost's early albums, the performances are very primitive but Nick Holmes' vocals are excellent & he represents the focal point for the band at this point, particularly as Gregor's guitar work isn't always far enough forward in the mix or perfectly in tune.

The three releases showcase Paradise Lost's evolution from a fairly standard death metal band into one of the earliest exponents of the death doom metal subgenre. The self-titled demo & "Plains of Desolation" sit very much at the centrepoint between the two genres while "Frozen Illusion" sees them having transitioned into a genuine doom/death band & is much the better for it. You'll find a few tracks being repeated across the three releases but they're not always in the same format & have slightly different atmospheres. "Paradise Lost" & "Plains of Desolation" are very poorly recorded with the latter having the guitars sitting miles too far back in the mix but Nick somehow manages to keep things from being a complete disaster through his charismatic delivery. The drumming is particularly poor on "Plains of Desolation" too.

Thankfully though, the "Frozen Illusion" demo is really quite good with "Paradise Lost" & the title track being very entertaining & highly atmospheric examples of early death/doom. It's versions of "Paradise Lost" & "Frozen Illusion" are the clear highlights of the compilation & make it worth checking out for completists & fans of the band but I wouldn't recommend "Drown In Darkness" to casual listeners as it can be a bit of a hard slog at times, even though it certainly offers a fair bit of authentic 80's underground death metal atmosphere. Think Autopsy meets Celtic Frost & you won't be too far off the mark.

I got onboard with Italian extremists Fleshgod Apocalypse very early on as their 2009 debut album "Oracles" landed right around the time that I was returning to metal after a decade-long hiatus. I thoroughly enjoyed it's super-brutal brand of techy death metal too it has to be said but found myself struggling a little with 2010's "Mafia" E.P. (widely regarded as the band's best work) due to the cheesy neoclassical component & the excessive use of over-the-top blast beats which saw the tracks bleeding into each other. "Agony" landed the following year & saw Fleshgod Apocalypse taking the symphonics they'd hinted at previously & bringing them into the foreground to create a genuinely symphonic brutal death metal sound. Now if that sounds like a bit of a contradiction of terms then you wouldn't be entirely wrong as the orchestration definitely sounds a little out of place over what must surely be one of the most consistently brutal releases ever to grace our ears. The ultra-fast drumming of band leader Francesco Pauli is utterly mind-blowing in its execution & you'd have to suggest that there is no one that can top him in the speed & precision but there's no doubt that the individual tracks struggle to differentiate themselves from one another for much the same reasons as I mentioned previously so I kinda find myself torn given that it's Pauli's drumming that I find to be the main attraction with a record like "Agony". Ironically, it's the slower sections that work best given that the symphonic arrangements simply make for a better accompaniment when they're given more space to create atmosphere. I do find the neoclassical lead guitar work to be better integrated into the band's sound on this occasion though & the solos often work as crescendos of sorts.

At the end of the day I think a lot of extreme metal fans will appreciate "Agony" for it's novelty value more than anything else. It's an exhausting listen at times as the sheer weight of sound is relentless & it could definitely do with more dynamics. The Italians seem to hold the title in terms of brutality these days & if that's the case then Francesco Pauli may just be the central figure in the local movement given his ties with Hour of Penance who also push the limitations of human endurance to their most extreme levels. Unlike their buddies though, I can't say that I easily connect with Fleshgod Apocalypse's music on a more visceral & aggressive level as I'm not a fan of symphonics in my metal. It's lucky for them that I'm a sucker for elite level extreme metal drumming & they certainly aren't short of that.

You kinda know what you're gonna get with an Overkill record, don't you? And their twelfth album won't disappoint too many fans in that regard as you'll find the same fairly simple, well-executed thrash metal tunes with Blitz's signature snarly vocals delivery here along with the groove metal influence the band had been touting since the mid-90's. The production is great, Bobby's vocals are excellent (particularly given that he'd only recently suffered a heart attack on stage) & the shredding guitar solos are outstanding with a searing tone. There's not a lot more to say about it really. It's yet another workman-like effort that sporting a couple of clear highlights in opener "Devil by the Tail" (with it's awesome Slayer-inspired bridge section) & my personal fave "The One". It also contains a couple of flat tracks in "Damned" & ""Unholy". The rest is just kinda middling i.e. pretty enjoyable but not something that's likely to see me returning to the album in the future. "Horrorscope" will remain as the only Overkill album that I genuinely love but "Killbox 13" isn't all that far behind the band's other highly regarded records like "The Years of Decay", "Taking Over" & "Feel The Fire" in all honesty. I guess I'm just not that big an Overkill fan but I'd suggest that this was Overkill's best work in a decade from what I can remember.

For fans of Exodus, Testament & Anthrax.