Morpheus Kitami's Forum Replies

Budgie - S/T

Budgie is such a weird band in historical context. While there have certainly been some metal songs at this point, they tend to trend towards the lighter side of things. Nobody really seemed to have the riffing and the heaviness Black Sabbath had. Budgie follows that format, albeit in comparison to Sabbath's strangeness, these guys feel more mundane.
To start with, vocalist Burke Shelley is a great deal more mundane as far as vocalists go. He's your basic hippy with a high-pitched voice you'd expect to hear in a rock album from this time. There's a fluctuating heaviness to the album, but it mostly centers at, less heavy than Sabbath, way heavier than the competition.
The album starts off strong with Guts, a very bass heavy song which as its only flaw is that the rest of the song is overpowered by the bass. It's well constructed, but with such a nice bass line that it feels somewhat wasted to have all these neat little guitar flourishs going on. It's just so driving and doomy.
I have two problems with the album. Basically every song plays out the same. They're good songs, but outside of a few acoustic parts, they're about the same speed and structure. By the end of it, the album feels like it's dragging quite a bit. It can be quite hard to understand what is going on lyrically even with the lyrics in front of you.
Ultimately, I think it's a good album, and my issues probably have more to do with me overlistening to it for a review than any inherit to the album.

4/5

Cirith Ungol tends to get thrown around a lot with early doom, but it kind of is a case of a band who did a lot without ever really committing to a genre like Death SS mentioned above.

Have you considered Mercy, Messiah's pre-Candlemass band?

Could you add Ravendust please?

Ben, could you add Holy Pain? Albeit, Metal Archives seems to be wrong about their genre. First album's just heavy metal, third's groove, can't find enough about the second to comment.

Here's one that'll be some cause for thought:

Finished reviewing in just in time:

At first glance, Light Will Consume Us All is a nearly unremarkable album. On Metal Archives, the band is listed as doom/sludge, and the similar artists tab lists many, many other doom/sludge bands who form a similar niche that I have little interest in. There is something slightly remarkable about Chrch though, it's that they have a female singer. This is unusual for a band in this niche, does the music follow up on this?
Well, yes, and that sludge part is somewhat misleading. It takes a while before the album gets to anything resembling metal rather than just a dark ambient piece, and when it does, it's just doom. But that dark ambient is interesting, it reminds me of sludge the strongest out of the entire album, because it sounds like the clean bits from Subrosa, even though this doesn't carry over to the metal parts. It's very effective, especially once the vocalist starts kicking in. She's got a lot of the same energy Dawn Crosby did, and it really works in creating a haunting atmosphere.
At times the metal part of the equation actually makes the album worse. Not like it's a bad album because of it, but it just feels like it's there to be there. The opening track relies a lot on a more ambient sound, building up tension for the eventual metal parts. Other tracks feel like they're missing them, and while there are some nice guitar solos to compensate, those feel oddly tacked on.
Ignoring these issues, this is a surprisingly pleasant album, well worth a listen.

4.5/5

It does seem like you're letting him get to you too much, considering how much you've written about it. Making a topic about it on another forum is letting him get to you, even if it isn't as much as it could be. No idea what he said, but if it's any indication based on his review, he seems to be so pretentious that he misses his point to go off to use big words and then lose track of where his sentence was supposed to go. Frankly, the topic made me think it was much more serious than random asshole on the internet who apparently doesn't read reviews. Don't take that the wrong way, I'm just pointing out that angry asshat who randomly crapped in your PMs is not something you should dedicate any amount of time to.

Visual Kei and NWOBHM were there for a long time beforehand, at least as far back as when I still used the site. Probably because they had more of a solid thing going for them. NWOBHM is a scene, see how we don't call people who sound like Venom NWOBHM imitators even if Venom is a NWOBHM band. There is a general style someone can imitate, but it's a faux passe to rate an album that isn't part of the scene with it. Visual Kei meanwhile, well, I think you have to pay a bit more attention to Japanese media to get it, but that's also something that has an affect on the music most of the time even if it is based around a band's fashion. It's not really relevant to a metal site.

Otherwise, I'd have to say no based on those offerings. Can't talk about the black metal one, but NOLA Sludge sounds like something someone made up to sound more important than he really is, plus, aren't half the albums there also supposed to be southern metal or something? I'm not really sure what they're trying to do with Gothenburg, since half those bands aren't from there, just imitating someone who is. Which if we treat as a genre, is weird, because the big three have vastly different sounds, and I say that even not really caring much for MDM. TBH, I'm surprised they haven't already included stuff like the New Wave of American Metal from the '00s and the New Wave of Traditional Metal which has been going off and on since the late '00s.

My review:

Vendel answers the question nobody ever asked before, what if Judas Priest was a doom metal band? A simplification, but close enough to understand what these guys are about. Another simplification would be to call them another one of these epic heavy/doom metal bands that take epic metal and it with doom metal that seem to be a thing now.
If this sounds odd, it's because it is. I understand there's probably a virtue to this, but Priest generally works when they have energy to them, something that is unusual for a doom metal album. So this is sliding between two different styles and never quite working out right for them. They try, but fail through no fault except combining two styles that are exceedingly difficult to blend together.
Their attempts at the two styles are not created equal, however. While not setting the world on fire, the more traditional side of the album has a stronger idea of what does and does not make that genre work. In particular, they are quite skilled at galloping guitar sections. The doom sections tend to feel like they're just rehashes of other, better works, and as stated. Which unfortunately, combined with other issues tend to drag the album down.
One odd thing I noticed is that a lot of the guitar solos seem to be trying to invoke the guitar solos in the soundtracks to The Incredible Machine games. Even outside of me feeling it has similarities, it's a lot more showy than what the album is going for and seems out of place even discounting that.
While I don't dislike the album, I can't say there's really a reason to listen to it even if there is derth of great bands doing whatever it is these guys are trying to do. It's not objectionable, but unless the idea appeals, it's just not that interesting.

3/5

Hi Ben, could you please add Sadistic Hannibal and Eradicator (GER) please?

Hi Ben, could you please add the compilation albums Marge Litch released?

Hi Ben, could you add Horror on Black Hills?

This one's a bit challenging, as there are no genre votes (or reviews) on RYM for any of their releases. Metal-Archives has the band listed as Blackened Death Metal, so I don't think I have enough information to categorise the band's releases. I don't suppose you've heard any of them Morpheus?

I have heard the debut, I'm not sure if I'd say death metal, but I would say black metal.

Hi Ben, could you add Horror on Black Hills?

Flower Travelin' Band - Satori
A weird whistling sound. A man screaming like he stubbed his toe. These sounds proceed the music of this album and it does not give confidence. For such a respected album, I'm surprised at the disconnect the music has starting off. You get a guy wailing over some heavy sounding music and it is such a goofy sound. He eventually gets serious, but it's such a poor introduction.
Once the music starts, it gets pretty interesting. Musically, there's quite a journey going on here. A pleasant little trip through psychedelic mysticism. The ebbing and flowing of a nice, long instrumental track. It's very simple, yet it feels like nothing I've ever heard before. I suspect this is down to the guitar tone, it's an odd one, sounding quite different to most guitar tones I've heard.
This is pretty much a guitar and drum show, everything else is secondary. There are some more vocals besides that awkward wailing, but I think outside of the second track it just sort of detracts from the piece. This album doesn't really work when it's trying to be more mundane in it's intentions compared to when it goes more freeform. I do think the lyrics on the second track fit the vibe the album is going for though.
An overall nice album with some distinct flaws.

Thin Lizzy - S/T
Thin Lizzy is a weird inclusion, because most people will know them exclusively from The Boys are Back in Town and maybe the album it's from, which isn't quite metal, yet I know they did have a metal album later on. Sadly, this debut isn't a metal album, instead it's some kind of weird acoustic prog thing. I like me some acoustic stuff, but this feels like stuff I just don't care for. There are occasional bits of electric guitars, but they're firmly in the realm of rock rather than metal. Doesn't really interest me.

After this I checked to see if I removed any Lucifer's Friend albums from my list, since I'm not entirely sure I see the point, I didn't, but I was shocked to discover that they had a reunion dating back about a decade. I wonder if this is strongly connected to the reason why they're on M-A?

1 feels like a weird point, because while an art might not fit the genre, which can be odd when you first listen to it, does that make the piece not good? For instance, Molly Hatchet has Frazetta paintings despite sounding completely different to how that should sound, and to use a metal example Richard Corben did art for Heaven's Gate, which is a bit out there for the genre.

I d also point out that 2 has some genuine backing to it, can't sell albums if you're, say a band called Nemesis with an album called Heathen or something, and the font doesn't make it clear which is which.

3 is probably something few disagree with. It's certainly disgusting, but it's no longer shocking. Shocking was when Carcass did that, then when Cannibal Corpse has the fancy paintings. (which isn't the same thing, I know, it at least has some artistic merit even if you don't like it) These days, images of something disgusting are just what people do in warfare now. ISIS with those beheading videos, and I'm pretty sure Russia is weaponizing gore in their invasion as a demoralizing tactic. It's also not shocking simply because a lot of that sort of stuff is basically on network TV, or at least was, I don't watch much new stuff. I'm also reminded of a band who released a demo with uh..."cheese pizza", as an image, which frankly wins the shocking argument and buries it in a shed. (if you don't know what I mean, think about the initials there)
That said, my heart goes out to you Ben, for having to spend a good chunk of time looking for the perfect image of a baby getting shat out of an anus and all that good stuff.

I also agree with Andi's points on AI. Sure, you probably aren't an AI band, but come on, it's your first impression. I know we like to mock the crappy covers that feel like they had no effort put into them in the past, but if it's obvious it's AI, why should I bother? There's more stuff in the world than anyone can ever enjoy, don't make things harder on yourself. Even actual bands I know who used AI seem to be phoning in their albums with AI cover art.

Excursion Demise is one of those albums that wants to put its fingers in both of the cooler styles of thrash's pies while not really committing to either. In this case, brutal thrash on one and tech thrash on the other. In theory this could be very nice, but this is dragged down by a few factors.
To start with, the production job is on the softer side, which wouldn't hurt a tech band, but when it goes more brutal it doesn't really work to the strengths of such an assault but keeps the weaknesses. On occasion, I found myself annoyed by the spots of brutality, since it can and does degenerate into noise. It's not that this part is bad, it's competent but not very notable in of itself.
The technical half, meanwhile, feels half-hearted. I can tell it is supposed to be there and it isn't people on the internet making something up. They're too spotty, just sort of there because they liked it, but not with enough confidence to fill it out more. There are even distinct shifts between the two modes, which shows the stronger side of what they were trying to do. But it just doesn't shift enough to make that worthwhile.
It has some nice ideas, and it's pleasant, but it's not interesting enough to really recommend.

3.5/5

Not to dissuade the love towards Sixteen Horsepower, who are amazing, but there is quite a bit of that stuff floating around, something you could sort of attribute to Johnny Cash, since his last few albums trended towards the very dark too. Even if mainstream country decided that what they were going to be was generic rock music with twang. I know a few others went towards that style with good results, Ray Wylie Hubbard for one.

Another obvious staple is Robert E Howard, who had the influence on barbarianism in fantasy, in addition to other influences you wouldn't necessarily know of without being familiar with him like his influence on Lovecraft's works. Most of the others in Lovecraft's circle could also count, August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert Bloch.

On a different note, Stephen R. Donaldson works well with doom metal with a fantasy theme, and Armor by John Steakley is one, at least in the parts depicting the bug war.

There's something odd going on with the cover ratings on this album. The whole site ratings are fine, but if you check the clan cover ratings, you'll see that 0 votes give it a 2.0, but once you click on it to see who rated it, you get Daniel giving it a 3.0. I can accept Danny swinging the ol' admin dick around to give himself all clans, but in that case shouldn't it have an average of 3 from 1 vote? What's issue going on under the hood here?

I was going to say the only thing I've heard was the new Nasty Savage, but I remembered I heard new band I Am the Intimidator, which absolutely amazing despite the batshit insane premise. Seriously, every single metal related thread on every forum I've been to has had someone praising the later, not bad considering their debut is basically just above a demo.

This year I'm going to try not to sleep on new releases and aim to do 52 new releases this year. It's a drop in the bucket of course, but at least it's a drop compared to the very little I've had the past few years.

I really don't need to worry about the things most people do resolutions for since, well, I already do most of them. One could always do better on them, but something like getting fitter or learning a new language don't really have concrete endgoals. I guess get better at guitar, but that's something I've been slowly working on for a few months. I guess sticking to these things requires you not just do them because it's a new year...

Valkyria - Valkyria
Valkyria is one of those weird foreign thrash metal bands. I've seen many things said about them. Prog thrash, tech thrash and thrash/speed. Yet of these, I would say the most important aspect of the band's sound is none of them. Instead, it's a little cheap keyboard making symphonic sounds that fulfills this band's sound as a not quite symphonic thrash metal band.
I say not quite, because the symphonic parts are sporadic, but their presence elevates this album from being a well made thrash album to something quite unique. Yes, there's something unorthodox in the song structure, and yes, the album has that speed metal sound, but it's nothing compared to a great thrash guitarist sitting back and letting someone do a MIDI violin solo.
One issue I noticed is that a lot of the solo sections have a sound similar to Doom E1M1. In the sense that the backing tracks match how it goes to some extent. The guitars are somewhat different, but the drums are clearly riffing on almost the same idea.
But the big issue is the production. Some might call it bad, pathetic, wimpy, or muddly. I prefer charmingly bad. It's obviously a cheap job with a lower range than it should have. The aspect that suffers the most is the vocals, the dude's a shrieker emulating Halford to some degree, and it crushes the hell out of his range, often blending into the guitars.
Overall, I really like this album, and I think even if it has flaws, the strengths outweigh them. If nothing else, this is a solid addition to the collection of any fan of weird thrash.

I haven't listened to the last Darkthrone yet, or probably ever, but based on the last one, I imagine someone not inclined towards their usual sound wouldn't care for it very much.

How about the latest Nightwish? It's better than the last two imho, but that isn't saying much since I didn't care for those at all.

I know we're frosty towards each other, but I hope you get better sooner than you think, stinks getting sick around this time.

Coroner - No More Color

It's odd how many tech thrash bands have made a conscious effort to copy Voivod over the years. It's not like it's a negative thing, they used it as a starting ground for amazing things. I just wouldn't think of Voivod as influential off-hand. It makes me wonder if you can divide the genre into camps based on whether they owe more to Voivod or to Watchtower.
The album starts off quite strong with Die By My Hand, while it's aggressiveness and technical prowness is obvious, that's not where it's strengths lie. Instead, the chorus is incredible. There are no real melodic elements in this moment, it's a pure rhythm piece with a group shout; Yet it works thanks to the already simple nature of the vocals and lyrics combined with the whole band playing in perfect harmony with each shout of the title.
Really, you could take a moment as memorable as this out of any song and construct a paragraph out of it. Beneath a surprisingly dirty production job lies a very musically varied album. But this also leads into the one big problem this album has, that this is basically a solo guitarist album that doesn't know it's one. If the bassist/vocalist and drummer are as skilled as the guitarist, you'd never know it from this album, for they remain purely background material. While they are a tight unit, I just wish they were a little more.
4.5/5

I don't think it's been that drastic a change, but I have spent more time in general on an album before moving from one these days. Sometimes a bit too much. I feel like it's helping my appreciation of things, even if I know I have a very, very, very, long way to go.

That said, I have been noticing some of the newer doom releases I've spent time on have left me with the same feeling that a lot of modern power metal has, that people are running out of interesting things to do and do half-string imitations of stuff from the past. I suppose it was always there with doom, I've just now noticed it.

Kind of, but the lyrics (and I suspect vocal lines) are all new. Which just struck me as something where if you don't check it might come off as a straight rip-off, since people have been that blatant before.

Here's a curious case:

Before you say anything, check the video information on the Ningen-Isu song. Just a curio, really, but I found it an interesting case.

I've never really listened to much Sepultura. I've listened to most of the albums from the classic period, and while I've liked some, I've never really revisited them. They're certainly one of the oddest groups, going from near death metal to nu metal sellouts is one heck of a career trejectory. I haven't heard anything since Roots or so, but people love these guys again, so clearly they did something right.
What surprised me when I first listened to this album was how much it sounded like modern Testament, which forced me to ask the question, who did it first? I mean, Testament did start off like Metallica before getting heavier, so I took a moment to check. The answer's complex, since I think Testament hit on the exact package first, but vocally they only thing they really stole, as such, was the way the vocals here sounded. It's very clearly an influence, since both are gruff, deep guys who frequently do near growls.
As an album, it's pretty good, feeling like a mix of their best moments. Songs tend to blend more sell-outy parts with harsher bits. Normally, that's not really a combination that I think works, usually the style differences seem awkwardly sewn together. But these guys make it work, which I find amusing since I gave up on them because they were getting crappy because of some elements. Here they blend the two pretty well, sometimes even in the same song. It comes off as unique, like if it weren't them you'd get something incredibly mediocre.
What I was surprised at was the occasional bits of prog leanings that sneak in. Never an entire song or anything, but a strong undercurrent. Even some of the requisite tribal music is thrown in. That said, a lot of times it feels less like a genuine attempt at expanding and more like someone got really into listening to Joe Satriani during the recording of this album. Sometimes it seems like passages are copied note for note.
I ultimately enjoyed this, as the negatives generally seem minor. I daresay this might even end up being my favorite Sepultura album.

4/5

Hi Ben, could we get folk metal/folk rock band Theigns and Thralls added? (they're sort of ambiguous, but the first album is metal enough to be included)

Probably not fitting your Skinny Puppy thing, but Bloodstar fits as an experimental band. Sort of Celtic Frost if they did Industrial Metal kind of thing. (...but bear in mind I'm hardly someone usually listening to Industrial Metal)

I would point out that every description I've seen of stoner rock and metal is that Black Sabbath is one of the primary influences. It's really not that silly that something that was an influence on a genre has a song in that genre. You could also say that Black Sabbath isn't Heavy Metal or Doom Metal either, considering that it took about a decade before those genres got going too.

(and I say this as someone who has absolutely applied strict time definitions to actual scenes like NWOBHM, it ain't the same thing)

The first couple of times I listened to this, I didn't really get much out of it. Do I still like epic doom metal, I thought to myself?
But as I listened to more of the album, it struck me that my problem wasn't me, it was the album. It's not exactly epic doom metal, at least not as I recognize it. It's not epic doom metal, it's doom metal with epic metal attached. It's a doom metal album with a strong Manilla Road influence, and I don't think that combination really works. The crushing, heavy guitars combined with that heroic fantasy feeling is just jarring.
It doesn't help that the four songs on this album don't really do much to distinguish themselves from each other. Without distinguishing themselves, how can they be distinguished against others? Beyond that sense of heaviness, this album doesn't really have much that sticks out in my mind. There are no interesting riffs, heaviness is the point, and the solos are decent enough. The vocalist even just sounds like he's taking after someone else, but not doing it in an interesting way.
While I obviously didn't like the album, I do like that they tried to do something with their music that's just a bit out of left field. I think if they continue in this direction, they should go for something shorter. As contrary as it might seem, the greats used a mix of both short and long songs. Endless epics aren't necessarily better than short songs, and getting your point across in three minutes are as much a skill as making something ten minutes long.

2.5/5

I'm not really sure I have enough thoughts on that aspect of the album to say much about it one way or another. I see parts that are black metal, but I also see parts that are gothic metal.

Novembre is one of those bands I can't actually recall, but sounds like one I've probably encountered in passing. Anathema in the suggested bands on M-A, probably vaguely popular enough that I've seen them without really knowing what it is.
The vocalist and some of the earlier songs really reminded me of the sort of vaguely metal alt rock that seemed to fill pop music during the decade this was released. It's the clean vocalist who really sells it; He's one of those whiny guys who you usually hear singing about another breakup or about how they're really going to do it this time. I think it's a shame because the lyrics are far too good for the guy singing them.
This isn't to say I don't like the album, it's nice, but as a package it's missing something else. It's just...fine. It definitely has that doom metal Pink Floyd vibe that Anathema had, so it isn't that. Despite the album taking a while to get going, even on the second half I get that eh feeling. I'd say the material doesn't quite work with the production it has. That said Swim Seagull in the Sky, even with this lifeless feeling, still works.
With that said, it has been done many different ways, since I'm hearing a remastered version, and even this album is a remake of an earlier album. The question is, did it change because the earlier productions were worse, or because they didn't quite like it and ended up here? I think for now, I'll be content to just wait to answer that question.

3.5/5

I blame Atheist for giving me such high expectations for tech death metal. While there are many good tech death bands, few can match what this album accomplishes; and none can match the elegant simplicity of the intro to Mother Man. In ten seconds we get the bass leading, then a surprisingly simple guitar riff, and finally the focus is on the drums. Each part in harmony, creating a whole that is much more than it seems. It's rare an album that can show exactly how well it works in it's opening notes.
It's not that there isn't anywhere else for the genre to go after hearing this album, it's just that it's hard for anyone to come up with something that doesn't sound worse. Each factor that goes into making a song good, does here. A perfect blend of aggression, technicality and melody. And unlike a lot of guitar solos where it comes down to a case of technicality or artistry, this never comes up here. If I had to complain, I'd say that even after years of extreme metal and having the lyrics, it can be hard to decipher the vocals.
I really don't have much critical thought on this one simply because it was almost everything I wanted out of tech death. What more did I want? Elements.

10/10

What's wrong with the production? Because I've never really considered anything wrong with that.

I don't really think there's anything special about them in that sense. They primarily shift between psych and hard rock, and on this album, I think the hard rock wins out. On the whole there's the third album, but that one does not sound like it was recorded in the '70s, so I can't help but think of it somewhat negatively. Like that one Italian band who did the obvious modern recordings claiming to be some lost '70s metal band. (and IIRC, did have some actual '70s recordings, which didn't sound unusual in this regard)

Sir Lord Baltimore - S/T
If nothing else, Sir Lord Baltimore is not content to sit on their laurels since Kingdom Come. A lot of bands, in so short a time, would release something similar to the last album, but this is not the self-titled, no sir, this is something different. At least for them, in general this sounds more like a typical rock album of the time.
To start with there's the epic Man from Manhattan. It's not bad, but it isn't that interesting either. It strikes me as unfocused, and in some places like a poor copy of Thin Lizzy. (Yes, I know this was before Thin Lizzy, it still sounds like a copy) It's an odd choice to start the album off on.
I have to wonder if Henry Conklin heard either of these albums at some point, because this is the first time I've heard someone like him before he started singing. Maybe this guy was always like that and I only noticed on this album because it's a stronger resemblance.
The album is a lot more approachable. There's still that crazy guitar, but it no longer drowns out everything else to the detriment of the song. Now it's more of one part, though this comes at the cost that some solos feel like there's only there because that's necessary. The non-10 minute tracks are all broadly good. I dig Chicago Lives for it's bizarre proto-Blaze Bayley Iron Maiden sound; Caesar LXXI for being a simplistic but effective predecessor to epic metal.
It's a shame that the band dropped off after this, because I think here they managed to start finding their groove. Alas, outside of a rerecording of old material three decades down the line, this is it for Sir Lord Baltimore.

7/10

Was anything off the new Nasty Savage album ever on a playlist? If not, Schizoid Platform off the new one.

Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Paranoid is more what I expect out of a Black Sabbath album, but still finds ways to be odd in retrospect. The sort of thing that reminds you that this is still really before metal is metal as we know it. We might owe heaviness to Sabbath, but in many ways it just isn't what we expect of metal.
Take War Pigs. There's nothing weird about War Pigs, right? Wrong. No one outside of a progressive or technical band would make anything like War Pigs. Metal bands don't devote sections of their song to short guitar riffs followed by drum fills. The more loose song structure here is far more alien to the average metal song, than say, a comparable hard rock song from a non-metal band.
In this sense, the hero of the album is Bill Ward. He might as well be called Peter, for he is the rock the rest of the band is built around. There might be better technical drummers, but in this moment, there is no drummer more precise than him. No drummer more perfect than him. Without him, songs like Paranoid or Iron Man would still be as heavy, but without him, they would lose that feeling of tightness that they enthralled the world with.
On an album full of hits, I feel like the real best song on the album is Electric Funeral. Keeping the doom metal spirit alive through sound rather than vibes. Takes a lot of skill to make a song with effectively one riff work for 5 minutes. Oh, sure, it has variations, but it's one riff. I guess there's a solo, but it has to be the simplest solo ever made.
Paranoid still remains within the confines of this weird heavy rock that retroactively became heavy metal. I think if anyone else did what this album did you'd see a progressive tag for sure. Which isn't a mark against it, just an observation about how it remains beloved in and out of the metal community.

9/10

That's something we already have. I just had God in the Schizoid Mind as the alternate name for that band. I just changed it to GISM and you can now search for that name on the Bands page.

Isn't that like a joke name they have? IIRC, each album has a new standing for what the name is supposed to stand for. Isn't it like putting We are Sexual Perverts as W.A.S.P.'s alternative name? Hang on... *checks* Did WASP have an alternative name before now? You didn't even put "We Ain't Sure, Pal".

Do you think it would be possible for band AKAs or something to be added? I was looking up G.I.S.M. a few moments ago and typically expect it to show up as just GISM. It's more a mild annoyance with them, I'm sure there are other bands for whom such things can be aggravating or confusing. (I would say Accuser, but that apparently actually works if you don't type the weird symbol?)

Interesting, I didn't realize how much a lot of it is like Jimi Hendrix, since I never really sat down with him, just hearing hits on the radio. That does make their inability to make it big back then, since I think they do have the sensibilities to be looked back fondly on by the same audience who usually listens to classic rock radio.

Back in the day I used to think quite highly of this album compared to it's predecessors and successors. I can't see why now. Gone is the power part of the equation that was so great about Oceanborn, yet it doesn't quite embrace the more fully symphonic sound that the Olzon-era would become. Instead, it's just sort of awkwardly sitting in '00s chug.
I daresay that if it was someone else who made this album, it would be a lot more controversial at best, outright hated at worst. (In the metal world, anyway) I Wish I Had an Angel, in particular, you could just slap into any dance club mix and it would fit perfectly; Right down to the sexy lyrics which are far more dark than they are on the surface. I can't rightly put my finger on why I like it compared to something like Evanesence.
Which isn't to say I dislike the album. I think the first four songs (including I Wish I Had an Angel, that's just an observation) are possibly the best Nightwish have ever done. Dark Chest of Wonders is a good opener, oddly structured. The chorus is incidental to sweeping instrumental sections, only appearing twice. The use of a choir singing sharp, short notes is odd, but I don't listen to enough opera to know if that's truly as odd as it appears to me. It really strikes a good balance between symphonic and metal, reminding me why Nightwish still kind of is the top of the roost when it comes to the sub-genre.
But then we get Creek Mary's Blood, which starts off Nightwish's trend of long, overwrought and pretentious self-indulgence. Stopping everything for an important message, though the Trail of Tears is less pretentious than 15 minutes of "it sucks being Toumas Holopainen". Nightwish's grand symphonic sound clashes with the depressing nature the lyrics invoke of people being torn from their ancestral land. It's not that it's a bad subject for a song, Satan and Running Wild did the same broad subject, I just don't think Nightwish can do effectively a funeral dirge about it.
I wouldn't say songs after this get bad or anything, but they definitely suffer coming after this song. Doubly so on extended versions of the album. By the time Ghost Love Score is over, I'm about done with the album, yet on the version I listened to, there were still five more songs. Even with just two more songs on the normal version of the album, that's a lot to go through.
Lyrically, it's a lot of cheesy, sentimental self-loathing from a Finnish man with a questionable grasp of English, and I love it. There is a subtleness, that perhaps I'm imagining, to the package, that you can't get solely by hearing the album or reading the lyrics. This comes out most strongly in Planet Hell, in which one line is supposed to be "you wanderer", but Tarja clearly sings "you murderer". Considering the content of the lyrics otherwise, I'd be surprised if that was accidental.
In the end, I still stand by my original thought that this sits awkwardly between better albums, even if it has really strong elements to it. I can see why someone else would think of this as their favorite.

4/5

Sir Lord Baltimore - Kingdom Come
Of those early metal albums, on casual listens Sir Lord Baltimore was an odd duck. It always seemed to me to be just as firmly in the genre as Black Sabbath, yet it's presence was far less talked about than arguably less important bands like Deep Purple and Rush.
Paying attention to things this time, I can kind of see the reason now. I think occasionally we metalheads forget that non-metal (and non-punk) bands can be frantic and aggressive too. This isn't to say there aren't metal tracks, but it's not a hidden, undiscovered metal band from the '70s. Not really helped by it feeling like a lot of songs were done by different bands.
I'm going to say something I'm shocked I would say, but the franticness of the album works against it. The guitar never stops doing something new, but oddly, the vocals feel far more like a backing element to the guitar dancing around. It's like the vocalist is the backing track to a never-ending guitar solo. Which in theory I don't have an objection to, except that I usually don't listen to the sort of psychedelic hard rock this is, and thus to my ears it can frequently turn into noise. A lot of these tracks would just be better without vocals. Not because they're bad, but because vocals are ill-fitting for the sound the band is usually going for.
Aiding this impression is that most songs have a similar structure, BPM, and lyrical content. It wears when very song can be summed up with, doodooduldedo, WOMAN, doodoodolololo, LEEEEEEEEEEEFT ME, lululhudoo! It's telling that the song that has always been on my mind is the title track. The song finally lets every element breathe. But I suppose it shows why they did what they did. You can make their songs into a three minute piece going incredibly fast, or you can bring it out to six minutes. I guess in theory they can't win.
In the end, this album feels like a monkey's paw. Occasionally I'll think the backing bits during the vocal parts of another band's song will be boring, but this album shows exactly why they do it that way.

3/5

Isn't there some way for forum software to automatically make a thumbnail of an image that's too big? I don't know how it works on this forum, but I've seen it on other forums.

People tend to divide manga from comics, but there have been some metal related manga over the years. Often moreso related or referencing the genre than western counterparts. (Dunno about most Eurocomics though) Detroit Metal City is a comedy series about a guy who was somehow forced into a black metal band despite being into poppy singer/songwriter stuff. I have no idea if most of the stuff it references is based off something real, but a lot of it just works off simply off reputation. Yeah, you'd believe a metal band would think up this goofy gimmick for themselves or some sort of crazy event. There's also Bastard, which has a lot of references, and generally fits the whole dark fantasy vibe a lot of metal goes for. I didn't read it yet, so I can't tell you the specifics.

I will say that if you haven't, you should watch Heavy Metal 2000, it's just a good, well-made movie. It'd work even if it wasn't based off a story in the comics, with all the licensed music.

Oh, it wasn't specifically about metal. Oh, well. I like the usual stuff, haven't read nearly as much as I'd like. Some just haven't gotten around to, others are in languages I can't read. I'd like to read more Dylan Dog, that Italian horror comic series which is massive over there, but thanks to a looser view on copyright, hasn't really been done well in English circles. My Japanese is getting good though, so soon I think I'll pay for Amazon Japan's Kindle Unlimited and see what wonders untranslated '70s manga has in store for me. Back to stuff I've actually read, I'd suggest Astro City if you haven't read it. It plays out like the culmination of the superhero comic, sort of the philosophy of the whole genre. Because it isn't tied into a particular universe it's more free to do what it wants, but doesn't abuse that freedom to make something screwy.

Surprise.

Black Sabbath - S/T (1970)

Let's see if I can say something unique about this one. Probably not. I've been trying to get back into playing the guitar, which I generally can't make as intelligent observations about my own skill or lackthereof outside of stuff like "how the fuck do you play that chord?" or "made that note high-pitched". Every skill from guitar to language learning has observations you can make as an amateur and observations you can only make if you actually know what you're doing.
This applies here in that there are two albums called Black Sabbath. The Black Sabbath we all have in our head that's heavier than everything released until 1982, which is really just the first song, and then the other Black Sabbath, which has that and then far more psychedelic music flow throughout it. I don't need to explain the former album, even if you haven't listened to Black Sabbath its the exact thing you have in your head from reputation or the album cover, it's the latter that needs explaining. The album minus the title track.
While the album is very heavy for 1970 it is not so out of place for the most part. Other bands occasionally reached the heaviness on one or more tracks an album. Basically every single distinct song on this album is at least a bit metal. The key word is distinct song. There is a lot of more jam session-esque pieces on the album bridging songs. Not Dream Theater, more Grateful Dead. An almost ambient backing, carrying the dark mood far more than most metal bands would do afterwards.
In this regard, no one imitating the band has gotten close to them. It's very easy to imitate the heavy sound these guys had, but it's another to imitate the whole package. To start off with something that sounds like it should be playing over the apocalyptic wastes before switching to a heavier version of '60s bluesy rock instrumental. To not make it sound forced or obviously distinct, but for it to just be. Not their doom metal imitators, nor their occult rock imitators. Even my personal candidate for the band carrying on the original Sabbath spirit, Ningen Isu, only ever get as far as imitating most of their elements. If metal is defined as imitating Sabbath, metal has failed.
This is back in the days when Ozzy still sounded weird and alien, rather than a coked out methhead behind a 7/11. You get some strange contrasts. On The Wizard, despite sounding dark and depressing, comes off as oddly upbeat which by all accounts should come off as deeply sarcastic. Especially since the album ends with a song in which he laments about a love he never had. It's one of those things that happens because this is the era where a band doing X genre absolutely must do so and so lyrically.
Sabbath's debut is just as unique now as it was originally. Did it invent heavy metal? Basically, but it's not just that, and that's why 50 years down the line it's worth listening to even as probably millions have imitated it in some way.

9/10

Being one of the heaviest things in the early 70s counts for a lot in that regard.

I don't see why it counts for anything at all to tell you the truth. We're comparing these releases to the modern-day understanding of what metal is. Not what it was back then when it was still yet to be defined.

It does for a lot of people....a point you already acknowledged when you said we had differing opinions. Heavy is very much a factor for some people in a genre called heavy metal. Some people don't consider power metal to be metal because of that. Further, for the most part, in the early '70s you basically have them and Sabbath as your big (generally accepted) options, they sound fairly similar to each other and quite different from the sounds of even their immediate successors. People generally work off what they know, and if it quacks like a duck...