Saxy S's Forum Replies

December 2021

Evergrey – Forever Outsider (2021) 

Sleep Paralysis – Altesia (2021) 

Persefone – Underworld: The Fallen & The Butterfly – Act I: Clash of the Titans (2006)

Vildhjarta – sunset sunrise sunset sunrise (2021)

Crusade – Insatiable (2021)

Leprous – Contaminate Me (2013) 

Dream Theater – Awaken the Master (2021) 

The Ocean – Calymmian (2008)

Cynic – In a Multiverse Where Atoms Sing (2021)

Animals As Leaders – The Problem of Other Minds (2021)

maudlin of the Well – Birth Pains Of Astral Projection (2001) 

Kayo Dot – Void in Virgo (The Nature of Sacrifice) (2021) 

Igorrr – Opus Brain (2017)

Baroness – Rays On Pinion (2007)

Gojira – New Found (2021)

Pain of Salvation – To the End (1997) 

Thank You Scientist – Creature Comfort (2021)

Ghost Brigade – Departures (2014)

Others by No One – Foxjune (2021)

December 2021

So Cold – Breaking Benjamin (2004)

Circle With Me- Spiritbox (2021)

Junkhead – Alice In Chains (1992)

Stinkfist – TOOL (1996)

Sleep Now In the Fire – Rage Against The Machine (1999)

Die tomorrow – Coldrain (2010)

Passenger – Deftones (2000)

Be Aggressive – Faith No More (1992)

Jesus Christ Pose – Soundgarden (2016)

Iron Head – Helmet (1992)

Dozing Green – Dir En Grey (2008)

The Summoning – Hum (2020)

One Hand Killing – Twelve Foot Ninja (2016)

They’re Coming to Take Me Away – Butcher Babies (2015)

Never Never – Korn (2013)

Deliberation – Katatonia (2006)

What I Always Wanted – Kittie (2001)

They Don’t Care About Us – Saliva (2016)

Constipation Of Death – Utsu-P (2016)

Drag You Down – Finger Eleven (2000)

Delirium – Lacuna Coil (2016)

Satellite – P.O.D. (2001)

The Bearer of Bad News – Reliqa (2021)

Metalingus – Alter Bridge (2004)

Who Will Pray? – We Came As Romans (2015)

Guess I should briefly mention my own featured album for this month before it ends.

While Spiritbox do have a very strong ear for melodic hooks that are super catchy, they only truly materialize in Courtney LaPlante's vocals. The instrumentals fall into a very comfortable alternative metalcore sound with a distinct Architects vibe with its leanings towards djent. I have never been a fan of this sound personally and the last Architects album (and its subsequent review) should be evidence of that. Otherwise, the compression in the mix is detrimental to the overall sound, but unfortunately necessary in order to find that crossover appeal.

I described this album during my review as a musical grab bag of popular metalcore trends and I stand by that claim. I would love to hear this group break away from the Architects influence and make a record that, while still indebted, is a sound all their own. I believe that little blue light on the horizon is still attainable.

6/10

I'm gonna be honest here: putting the Gateway playlist together is a lot more challenging than the Infinite. With the larger pool of songs to pull from, I found myself pulling more random tracks than I feel comfortable with. And even then, in making the final cuts for the list, I had to cut at least three tunes because of duplicates that are less than six months old. So I am in favour of keeping submissions around for all members. Any extra help I can get will help!

I'll try to include fewer duplicates in subsequent lists, but this months is mostly personal favourites to get them out of the way early.

You know, on first glance, I would have mostly echoed Daniel's critique about the record having some piss poor electronic percussion, and lengthy tracks that take time to become fully engaged. But as I progressed further, I thought that maybe this isn't quite the negative that I initially thought. For one, the buzzy guitars are not that far removed from Filosofem's best moments, and the album's slower tempos that is entirely absent of throttling percussion, huge guitar chords and kvlt vocal howls seem to be a logical fit. Throughout the space left behind it sounds like the ambience of a Burzum or to a lesser extent, Akhlys. The production of the guitar meant to sound like a synthesizer is all Sun of the Blind needs to go full throttle into processed percussion.

The bookend's of this album take their time to get moving and as a result, run longer than they should. While the punch of the percussion is muted, it is picked up by the bass. Although I will say this album does have a mixing problem in which the record starts quite flimsy with "Cursed Universe" and "Lord of Mind", but by the time you reach "Ornaments" and "Vanitas" the grit becomes more pronounced and more enjoyable. Some sticky riffs in the middle are what push this record over the edge from good to great. Maybe a little same-y at times, but a unique experience on its own.

8/10

After listening to the opening track "Sanctuary: Light & Grief" only once, I knew exactly what kind of progressive metal album Core was going to be. And it's the kind of progressive music that I despise: the one that believes frantically throwing as many riffs as they can on the record at once with no semblance of connectivity makes it "progressive". With so many ideas, why not write multiple isolated tracks instead of attempting an overzealous concept album with three tracks that each last for over twenty minutes? And without connectors, motifs that might sound decent on their own are quickly forgotten about never to be heard from again. 

In addition, I think the production on this record is straight up lousy. There is so much treble/compression in the mix that any semblance of a bass line feels neutered by the rhythm guitars. It is really an accomplishment when Marc's vocals have more girth to them than the actual bass. 

Core is the musical equivalent of a child wanting to play the new shiny toy, but as soon as they next new shiny toy comes out, they want to play with that and dismisses the previous toy. I liken this record to Disillusion's album from around the same time, Back To Times Of Splendor. However, the benefit of hindsight has helped me to see where this band improved over the decade, which culminated in the splendid Aathma from 2017. That said, hindsight does not improve this album at all; not even the remastered version is safe. If I was rating that version, I'd probably give it a 5/10, but as for the OG, I feel no need to return to this ever again.

4/10

I'm not quite sure what your previous comment is supposed to imply Daniel. Are you saying that In The Court Of The Dragon is not really a metalcore album, and therefore not a generic metalcore album? Or that it is a metalcore album with progressive elements... and therefore not a generic metalcore album? I agree with you that from a traditional metalcore point of view, hell even a melodic metalcore state, this album is the least metalcore that Trivium have ever been. And I agree with some of your assessments; mostly that the most extreme moments on this album are child's play compared to Suffocation, Nile or Cryptopsy. I'm also in agreement about your influences/inspirations of Iron Maiden, Dream Theater, Queensryche and At The Gates. 

That said, your comment about this being metal's Nickelback seems disingenuous. Is it easy, accessible metalcore? Yes, especially the obvious single "Feast Of Fire". But I hear more than enough divergences in the sound between songs, let alone albums, to make tracks stand out. I think that, at the very least, Trivium fans will enjoy In The Court Of The Dragon for its heavy thrash/power influences, while the death adjacent is more than enough to make them stand out amongst bands like Killswitch Engage or more recent bands like Northlane and Architects, and closer to that of Protest The Hero. 

By Jeebus they finally did it; Trivium figured out how to properly produce bass lines!

This is the most fun I've had with a Trivium album since In Waves, despite the fact that within the last ten years, this is the album that sounds the least like In Waves! This "progressive metalcore" or whatever the hell you want to call it, infused with thrash, death and power metal is very well performed, produced and executed. It can be a little overwhelming at times as I explained in my review, and I suspect that many people, including fans of this group, will not appreciate the sporadic nature of In The Court Of The Dragon. 

7/10

P.S. I literally LOL'd at the people on RateYourMusic calling Trivium derivative and generic metalcore because they have obviously never listened to any of Trivium's other album's.

hmmm....

I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's good, but it sounds formulaic. Most of this album is one bad haircut away from becoming a glam metal album. Otherwise it sound a lot like Motley Crue, mixed with Michael Kiske-esque vocals. It sounds decent for what it is, but feels naked in comparison to Helloween and the early power metal of Europe from the same time. I feel like I would much rather just listen to that. 

6/10

It has been a while since I found myself looking forward to a new featured release in the Fallen clan, but Sonny has been on a roll with recommending high quality doom metal with Solstice, M.S.W. and the wonderful KING WITCH album Body of Light from last year that was recently featured on RYM's front page.

So when I saw Sonny's stamp of approval on this one, I was excited to hear it. And at first I was surprised to see "Dark Jazz" listed as a subgenre for this album on RYM. My limited knowledge of this genre leads me to believe that it is the deeply atmospheric type of jazz that you hear prominently on TV and in movies. So hearing it implemented over these doom stylings was a breath of fresh air. Interludes on "Leah" and "The Seer" are very ethereal with Rhodes keys and extended chordal harmonies, which are also provided by the vocals of Sara Bianchin. And I'll be damned if they aren't pulled off remarkably well! This album feels very restrained; only barely passing by as a "metal" album as the records heaviest moments never hit with the same intensity or firepower as a band such as Swallow the Sun, or the best of doom metal The Ruins of Beverast. So while the heavier portions might not be as wild, it makes the calming jazz interludes less gimmicky.

As a result, the songwriting is very good. While some of the earliest tracks (i.e. "Snakeskin Drape" & "Leah") have some questionable transitions, they never feel like they have come out of left field, and they are always duplicated, making them feel less like interludes, but rather a part of the whole. "She Knows" has a wonderful buildup leading into "Tulsi", which starts off with tremolo picking/blast beats, but eventually tampers down to a saxophone solo that makes full use of the extended harmony above a relatively simple bass line. The album's second half is considerably improved from the first, including the outro "Da tariki tariqat", which may be one of the best Tool impressions I've heard in a long time.

That said, the production is not the most flattering. The bass lines feel like they are being pushed out rather quickly and have no time to resonate. Take for example, the outro of "Tulsi" with its saxophone solo: the instrumental sounds fine and the accents are powerful, but they die far too quickly while the guitar is still allowed to reverberate. It gives the illusion of depth, but when the bass lines are so simplistic in a doom metal idiom, they can get annoying fast. I think this album's best moments are the closest to traditional doom metal with limited progressive jazz like "White Stains".

Overall, I think the experiments on Feast for Water are exciting and fresh, but not executed with the same amount of precision as a Cult of Luna, or to keep with the jazz influence, Neptunian Maximalism. This group has potential to be breathtaking and I am at the very least, looking forward to a potential new album next year.

7/10

Glad you enjoyed my inaugural list Andi! I'm super excited to fill out the rest of the list alongside yours and Xephyr's recommendations. It has been enjoyable listening to these tracks and finding new music to enhance my own expanse, especially in the Infinite clan. Maybe next month we can find some avant-garde music that is more up your alley...

As someone who does listen to a lot of music outside of heavy metal, I can tell you that this mindset is not mutually exclusive to this genre. The is very much alive and well in how some rock fans treat hip hop even today, and most people who hear the worst of mainstream country music (myself included) have no idea about the leaps and bounds of wonderful music being crafted in the underground.

People who listen to radio friendly pop music are unlikely to explore anything outside of their very small boundaries as what characterizes "good" music to them. And so, when that average pop listener hears...say an Iron Maiden album, they become lost and have no idea what this foreign sound is meant to make them feel. Then when someone says "this is heavy metal music", they will shut out that sound from their mind and anything that even closely resembles it is immediately bad. 

I will say that I have always viewed heavy metal as a bit of a red herring. A lot of it, especially on the extreme side of the spectrum, is not meant to be accessible. Back in the day, it would have been album sales that clued you in. Today it's streaming. Because of this, many of those outside of the circle simply refuse to understand what makes heavy metal so exciting and how we all got here. Now if I may flip the script, I know a lot of fans outside of the metal forums who listen to nothing but heavy metal and anything else is pussy music. Furthermore, any metal music that tries to be a little bit more accessible is poser material and "not true [kvlt] metal" or some stupid shit like that.

I listen to many different types of music and I can find an appreciation in all of it, even if it is in (sub)genres that I do not typically explore. I know that saying that probably makes me sound like a pretentious asshole, but if the music that I'm listening to has good fundamentals, (i.e. good storytelling, melodic drive, engineering, progressive songwriting), I'm gonna like it no matter who is making it! What attracts me to the heavy metal that I enjoy the most is that it is able to pull off the fundamentals, while doing it in a way that is not meant to be accessible. Those are the types of accomplishments that I respect and keep me coming back to Metal Academy for my heavy fix instead of RYM.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, even though heavy metal has a lot of problems, most people are scared of things that they don't understand. And what I really appreciate about this forum is how everyone actually likes it and we can have honest discussions about what is good and what isn't. The next time someone tells you all heavy metal sounds the same, respond with "all hip hop sounds the same" and watch them spin around in circles as they run off all of the different subgenres in hip hop in order to prove you wrong.

Kreator have recently become my go to thrash metal band when I want an old school thrash sound. And I have a suspicion it is because of their geography. You see, whereas most of the iconic thrash metal bands of the 1980s reside somewhere in the United States, Kreator are a German band. And when I think of Germany during the 1980s, it should come as no surprise that I think of Power metal first and foremost. And the earliest Kreator albums, including Extreme Aggression, have the benefit of being very melodic thrash albums in comparison to the mosh heavy, hook lacking thrash of the US. It's why I continue to champion Anthrax as being the cream of the crop of the big four American thrash metal bands, but I digress. 

The album feels like an exploration of how far the power metal elements can be pushed to their limits before it becomes indistinguishable; perhaps more in line with Speed Metal. But the hooks are quite impressive from a purely emotive sense. Mike Petrozza's vocals are some of the freshest sounding in the genre at the time as they split the difference between Tom Arraya/Zach de la Rocha shouting, but maintaining a fluent hook. I liken them more so to Chuck Billy of Testament. The riffs are strong, but never resort to blistering power chords for any extended period of time. The bass lines are prominent in the mix which is always welcome, and the percussion, while technically unimpressive compared to others in this mold, still provides a strong foundation for all of the parts mentioned previously.

The albums biggest fault is more so an issue with almost all of the iconic 1980s thrash albums and that is the baffling mishandling of the production. The engineering is inconsistent as some tracks sound remarkably flat. The biggest culprit of this is "No Reason to Exist", which on its own is a solid track, but when it is sandwiched in between "Extreme Aggression" and "Love Us or Hate Us", the drop off in sound quality is drastic and hurts the drive of the album as a whole.

Otherwise, I would be lying if I didn't have a bit of a bias towards Kreator. They had a sound that was unique for the time, and was only possible because they surrounded themselves with Helloween and Blind Guardian. And their 2010s output is some of the best thrash adjacent music I've heard in years. Solid stuff.

7/10

Very important progressive black metal for me during the 2010s that I would consider not just a great album, but one of the best debuts of any kind. When a lot of people were very disgruntled at Opeth's recent attempts to drop more metal from their playbook, Ne Obliviscaris were more than willing to pick up the slack and do the exact opposite and make Opeth, but heavier. Beautiful production, excellent melodic storytelling, and compositions that are the furthest thing from overzealous.

9/10

My review turned out to be less about the music of The Hunting Party and more so its significance when it comes to "nostalgia farming". So let me say this in the post-notes: The Hunting Party is a more than solid alternative metal album with some catchy melodies and sticky grooves, Chester Bennington has some great crunch in his vocals, and the rap vocals do not feel forced, cringy or dated. That being said, I wish that I liked this album more given how influential Linkin Park were in my adolescence. 

7/10

Atmospheric black metal with an Americana focus and a surprisingly left-wing political agenda that is among some of the best black metal I've heard in years. I think that many extreme metal purists will not find much use for a band like Panopticon since they constantly swap back and forth between the pummeling black metal passages, and the bluegrass inspiration that makes it's way on the foik/protest songs, and the title track. But if you are looking for some beautiful, progressive black metal, there are very few artists that can do it better than Austin Lunn and Panopticon!

9/10

I wish I like blackened death metal more. For a genre that so blatantly implies the crushing sounds of death metal with the atmospherics of black metal, far too often in my experience has this simply resulted in groups resorting to technical death tropes in order to imply a high level of brutality. And Spanish blackened death metallers Altarage are no exception. 

With this album being a newer release I felt obliged to at least give it my due diligence. And what I ended up discovering was that this is more of a sludge metal album with obvious death metal overtones. Nothing about Succumb makes me think of black metal; the guitars are far too coarse and crushing, meanwhile the melodic patterns are frankly non-existent. The percussion is heavily influenced by tech death, but the album has some really slow passages that harken back to a certain type of doom, sludge, or in the case of the closing track "Devorador De Mundos", drone metal. And as a result of this, I feel like the purely death metal tracks that primarily open the album: "Negative Arrival", Magno Evento", "Watcher Witness", etc. are crushing and brutal from a purely technical perspective. However, with the vocals so held back in the mix, and anything that can closely resemble a tune is devoured by the blast beats and furious rhythm guitar.

Furthermore, Succumb has a pacing problem. The albums most crushing moments are put on display right out of the gate and leaves you with very little room to recoup. Then at track four, the nearly eight minute "Foregone" hits, and while the song is an adequate hybrid of death and sludge metal, it becomes noticeable that Altarage are going to follow this abysmal path towards more downtempo tracks with less blast beats, and slightly more prominent vocals. It is too bad that the vocals couldn't follow suit. I was quite relieved when "Inwards" came on and had a heavier death metal influence near the albums end, which, at the very least, gave me a little bit of hope for the conclusion. And being further disappointed by a twenty plus minute noise piece that carries on for far too long to leave any impact. This album doesn't feel like a journey from destination A to B, but rather the cliff notes version of an album.

If there was an artist that could blend the intensity of death metal with the atmospherics of black metal, I would fall for this genre. But far too often this genre is occupied by bands like Altarage. I guess the biggest problem with that is too many would just become melodic death metal wouldn't they? An Abstract Illusion tried this with Illuminate The Path in 2016 and I really enjoyed that album. As it stands, Altarage's Succumb is an okay project that is meant for the tech death freaks out there, but provides more than enough elements of sludge and doom to make it stand out amongst a crowd. But I have to agree with Sonny that cacophonous noise just for the sake of it is a major turn off for me. I guess this just isn't really my thing.

6/10

I don't want to come on here and hate on funeral doom. It makes a lot of sense given the crushing atmosphere that is implied by the subject matter that it sounds like a dirge and gives you the crushing feeling of being lowered six feet underground. But holy shit is it boring! And this is not just a criticism of Monolithe, but many of this genre's most influential figures, like Bell Witch and Esoteric. 

This album took me three attempts to finally get through it in a single sitting. And trust me when I say this: it was almost a fourth attempt because I was so drowsy and uninvolved in the music that was on display, but I forced myself to continue listening through to its deathly conclusion. I am not opposed to single track albums; Light of Day, Day of Darkness is one of my favourite records of all time. But Green Carnation had something that Monolithe desperately lack, and that is a sense of growth, or in the case of funeral doom, decay. It took this album nearly half and hour before it decided to modulate out of its main theme. Leading up to this, Monolithe waste time by having moments that seem like a divergence from the original theme, but only serve as temporary bridges from theme A to... theme A again. There is so much obvious room for refinement and cutting of the fat that this could have worked, but instead, Monolithe are convinced that long, unchanging atmosphere can win me over, when it actually makes me want to go to bed!

I feel horrible for the drummer in this band who does the bare minimum when it comes to tempo support, and is only able to add some occasional double bass and drum fills whenever its time to feed the cat... and the cat died five years ago. The guitar work is okay I guess; most of the record has a rhythm guitar who just chugs away with the lowest power chords, while the lead guitar sounds more like a continuous solo instead of a melodic lead to compliment the synth and vocals. And while I did enjoy the synths on this album, the vocals are so far back in the overall mix that you would be hard pressed to hear them if you weren't using headphones. And the low end of this album is severely lacking; the rhythm guitar is so prominent in the mix with its power chords that the bass has nowhere to breathe. It makes an album that is supposed to be dense and concaving feel remarkably timid.

For the death doom sound specifically, I am reminded of records like The Call of the Wretched Sea by Ahab and Songs From the North by Swallow the Sun. These albums are long, brooding and atmospheric as well, but these records both had the songwriting presence to lead you down the dark and terrifying path and bring you somewhere that is colder and more isolated than where you started. The Monolithe albums hear the starting gun go off, trip before the first hurdle, and then don't even attempt to get back up and try to finish the race. I'm generally not one to criticize an album that typically receives glowing praise, regardless of genre, but I just cannot tolerate this. If you ever wanted to know why my ventures into funeral doom metal are tepid, I present exhibit A. 

3/10

Good choice of album this month Xephyr. It was really cool to listen to an album that I had once previously reviewed, but has been since lost to time. If I can recall, I remember liking Kodama, but not loving it. Going back on it, I do think that of the true blackgaze album's in Alcest discography, this is the one that I return to the least.

Here's a little snippet of what I recall from listening to this album five years ago:

The difficult challenge that many metal fans face is finding a respectable bridge to help cross the chasm into darker subgenres, and in this case, black metal. Alcest are the forefathers of the blackgaze subgenre that has become quite popular through the 2010s. Their first two albums: Souvenirs d'un autre monde and Écailles de lune are considered classics in this subgenre, and after a brief hiatus with Shelter which incorporated more post-rock than black metal, Alcest return with Kodama, a pleasant album for sure, but lacking in the many of the categories that most extreme metal fans would most likely scour at.

The guitars are produced beautifully; the balancing act of the rhythm guitar and the tremolo picking leads are superb and the fundamental bass and percussion are wonderfully balanced. Many of the main melodies however in the vocals and lead guitar feel lackluster in their performance as they feel left behind the heavy handed rhythm section. 

I will say that one of Kodama's biggest faults is how slow it is. Given the fact that this is blackgaze, I cannot say that I find this surprising at all, but the overall simplicity of the tempo charting throughout this album does make it challenging to make any distinguished notes about the tracks on this album. It does have key variations so it is not as monotonous as you might think. "Eclosion" has a pretty melodic leads during the post-rock bridges, and "Oiseaux de proie" delivers an excellent display of pacing as Neige begins with melodic vocals, then opting for harsh screams, then ending with a atmo-black infused outro that serves as the best song on the album. And while "Untouched" attempts to copy this formula, it feels incredibly neutered by the lack of a release point.

If I can give Alcest anything, it that this is some of the prettiest sounding black metal you may ever hear. The wall of sound is not overbearing, and the songwriting leaves a lot of space making for some very comfortable soundscapes. This is the kind of black metal I would listen to on a beach, not locked up in my apartment surrounded by 10+ centimeters of snow. And for that, I give Alcest credit for standing out. While Deafheaven have proven that blackgaze can be just as much intense as the black metal tag would suggest. I do like this record, but would argue that it is one of the bands lesser works. Kodama should be seen as complimentary material to the first two albums.

7/10

Meantime by Helmet is an album of two tales. On one hand you have the more ruckus songwriting of "Iron Head" and "Turned Out", and on the other you have the more accessible version of alternative metal that gave us songs like "Role Model" and of course the big promo single "Unsung". In both cases, these songs are mixed very well with a clear emphasis on the grunge aspect. Guitar parts are muddy, even though the bass lines are well developed. And the percussion has a distinct punk sound to it that had me reckoning back to Minutemen's Double Nickels On The Dime. Page Hamilton's vocals range anywhere from Zach de la Rocha screams to a cooled out Ozzy Osbourne impersonation on "Unsung".

The sounds are impressive and still sound fresh almost thirty years later. I think that this album's biggest flaw is how often it flip flops between the two styles mentioned previously, and while that doesn't bother me as much as it does some other reviewers, I can admit that it does get irritating at times when it is clear that Helmet want to go for a full hardcore punk/metal sound, but feel restrained by record label requirements and promotional singles. This album has more reference points to a band such as Big Black than anything that RATM, Alice in Chains or Tool were doing around the same time. And while I do like this sound, I feel like Meantime could have shot higher.

7/10

Ænigmatum - Deconsecrate

I've been coming across a few melo-tech death hybrids in recent weeks and I found this one to be one of the more fascinating. I kind of wish it was more unique sounding, but the production is exceptional for as gritty as this can get. Xephyr, Daniel might want to give this a try.

https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/deconsecrate

A timely piece for sure. I find less in common between Skycamefalling with Converge and Dillinger, but rather something that is closer related to post-hardcore like Botch or Hopesfall. This record feels a lot simpler than those albums; the breakdowns are monstrous, the vocals are ruthless and quite impressive, and the main melodic counterpoint in the guitar is short, but effective. However, for a "hardcore" album, it feels very predictable after a while, and for an album with twelve tracks and running over an hour, you start picking up very quickly on the repetitive motifs. Near the end, the title track and the closer "An Ocean Apart" really started to drag on and become monotonous. The outro deserves special recognition for being only four-and-a-half minutes, but returns with about a minute-and-a-half to spare, just to continue playing the same riff that faded out the first part! Not a great way to close out an album that's for sure.

Regardless, this brand of metalcore is close to my alley as opposed to the technical parts of mathcore. But for me, something about this record feels less developed than the bands mentioned earlier. While not metal by any stretch, I hear a lot of similarities between this record and a local hardcore output, Alexisonfire, especially that 2002 self titled debut. I don't know; the quality is there I'll give it that, but I am not feeling this the same way that I did We Are The Romans or No Wings To Speak Of.

7/10

Not every sound is for everyone unfortunately. There are a lot of people that would rather just say "this sucks lol" instead of explaining why they don't enjoy something. It's so much easier than writing a fully flushed out review. If those people want to troll then so be it. I try not to let it bother me because I know that those comments don't have an argument. If we at Metal Academy can avoid that by methodology, then it'll just make for a more enjoyable experience for everyone.

The Anthrax influence on this record is unmistakable; from the hot mic'd bass and John Connelly's incredibly over the top vocal style. But given that I really like Anthrax, this album served its purpose and I actually enjoyed it more than I should have. Songs like "Betrayal", "After the Holocaust" and "Nuclear War" all sound fun, energetic and most importantly, catchy. There are some decent hooks on songs like "Cold Steel"  and "Radiation Sickness", but the over the top production in the percussion is enough to blow everything else out. There are some sections on this record that harken back to one of Slayer's better records, Show No Mercy as well. For me, I enjoy this quite a bit simply because of the blatant punk influence in the production and songwriting. Pleasantly surprised to say the least.

7/10

Solid work this month Vinny! I was very pleased with your feature album this month.

As I prepare to enter into my fourth decade on this planet, I'm continually asking myself whether or not I have gotten soft in recent years? As the years go by, thrash metal has become a dead genre to me; what used to be full of life and nonstop energy, now I view it as a black hole of empty chugging and solos, lacking in grooves and melodies and bands devoid of originality and would rather just copy the golden era of thrash of the 1980s. Even more so, my favour with those bands (i.e. Megadeth, Slayer, Metallica) has also faded as they have become tiresome and boring. And as I have grown into extreme metal genres like death/black metal, most of my favourite albums are of the melodic and atmospheric variety. For as epic as Saor and Panopticon albums sound, they won't be winning any "most brutal breakdown of all time" awards anytime soon.

With that being said, I recently gave The Dreaming I by American duo Akhlys a spin and... well I think it is safe to say that my suspicions might be true, but goddamn does Akhlys make the realm of Hades sound like a pretty awesome vacation spot! This is a marvelous record that takes the atmospheric and melodic side of black metal and combines it with some filthy grooves and riffs for one of the most impressive hybrids that I have heard in quite some time.

Whereas most of my black metal is of the open, soaring variety, Akhlys use the atmo-black sound to create a soundscape that resembles the floor opening up below your feet as you are dragged down into the abyss. The extended ambient intro of "Breath and Leviathan" sets the ominous mood right out of the gate, before what can only be compared to a B-list horror movie jumpscare, the serial killer pops up around the corner wielding their perfectly sharpened machete ready to murder you. The wall of sound black metal is sudden and shocking, and may increase your heart rate!

And if that doesn't scare you enough, the chase scene will. This black metal sound is relentless and is complimented by some fantastic sounding lead guitars and a dazzling vocal performance. The way in which this duo is able to effortlessly match their ambient interludes and atmo-black passages is both technically impressive and compositionally sound as they play off one another to create wonderful dichotomy's for cooldowns and making the wall of sound hit that much harder.

While this album is impressive, it does have a little bit of a length problem, in which some songs sound like they begin to lose momentum and would rather fade out to their conclusion, rather than with a full stop, perhaps signaling the end of the road. But perhaps the lack of an ending shows a group that would have you believe that their is no end to this path; it persists far beyond the end of a single song. However, "Consumation" has a definitive ending, but then proceeds to go on another two/three minute ambient outro and it feels out of place.

But forget the minor issues surrounding the length and how songs end! The intros and body are exquisite and the production is spectacular; the bass lines are very prominent adding to the depth. In the end, Akhlys' album The Dreaming I helps to restore my faith (however slightly) in the most extreme metal to still invoke a positive reaction out of me.

8/10

So Christopher Bowes, the dude behind Alestorm and Gloryhammer, is back at it again with another hilariously over the top and slightly questionable band called Wizardthrone who seem to specialize in a slightly Gloryhammer-esque brand of Melodic Death Metal about mathematics, hyperdimensional space wizards, and a ton of other very long and bombastic words. It's not great, don't get me wrong, but I expected much, much worse. It's definitely fun for a few spins here and there. I want to believe this release exists in the same world as the current Gloryhammer story but there aren't any references that I've picked up on. 

I read the titles of these songs and just about spit out my tea. I'm not expecting much given my recent success with Alestorm/Gloryhammer, but I'll check it out regardless.

The instrumental opener "Spectral Sons of the Mictian" has enough melodic tendencies to suck me in to this album before "The Scars of My Journey" begins and brings in the far more common death metal palette, song structures and atmosphere. I must admit that the incorporation of these sounds alongside the tones of the melodic opener are well put together and make for an album that is not as hellacious as Vinny describes. The heavier portions are very balanced and sound guttural and as brutal as they should be, but it never seems like they are becoming a cacophonous mess. The occasional flares of melodic hooks from the guitars are complimentary.

The percussion is very heavy footed and the vocals while not bad, they are very rough and scrappy. Perhaps not a bad thing for a death metal album, but even by comparison to Diabolical Conquest, the guttural vocals felt forced. But I still do enjoy this record. Quite a forceful little project, but lots of groove and melody make it more memorable than most death metal bands of the time.

7/10

Not a whole heck of a lot to say about this album. For a group that was on their twenty-forth album with Thunderbolt, we are already well beyond the "legacy act" tag. This is more than acceptable NWOBHM that contains plenty of nostalgia, while still having some modernizations that may only be surface level, but serve their purpose. The production is solid, the vocals, lead guitar, and fundamentals are well performed and mixed, and some riffs sound like they were borrowed from a similar era Testament album. Beyond that, many issues surrounding not just Saxon, but all NWOBHM and Power Metal artists still apply. Absolutely for Saxon fans, but not much else, and it's been this way for a long time.

7/10

I have repeatedly stood up for both Mike Patton and Devin Townsend on this website, even when these artists are at their creative worst, because they traverse far beyond simple binary genre tags/descriptors. Dog Fashion Disco is another group that could easily fall into that mix. And nowhere is this comparison more appropriate than on the bands 2006 album Adultery.

Now to be fair, the comparison to Devin Townsend off the top is less so in the sound of this album and more so due to its compositional style. The sound of this album is absolutely Mike Patton worship, or more specifically, Mr. Bungle. The heavier portions are complimented by smooth jazz and ska portions that would seem remarkably out of place on basically any other album by any other artist. But here, Dog Fashion Disco found a way for these ideas to somehow flow into each other without the use of whiplash transitions or hard stops. And unlike Mr. Bungle, DFD manages to pull these off in about half of the time.

As for the Avant-Garde tag, I think it is well justified given these songs with their frantic nature. But by comparison to Mr. Bungle, this feels more accessible and welcoming to those who are just trying to get their feet wet in the absolutely absurd. Songs like "The Darkest Days" and "100 Suicides" are meshed well with some cool interludes that continue to play into those main themes, but have enough unique characteristics to add to the quirkiness. And the "technical difficulties" interlude on "The Hitchhiker" literally had me jumping out of my seat with how good it was pulled off!

But like with all quirky albums such as this, your enjoyment will be dependent on how much nonsense you can tolerate. This album has an excess of filler. And while I might really enjoy the early album combo of "Sweet Insanity" and "Desert Grave", I cannot uncover any compositional circumstances for the smooth jazz interlude of "Private Eye", and then ending the album with "Adultery" and "Mature Audiences Only". The last of those getting special mention for featuring a supposed "chilling" conclusion, that is inaudible because the strings are mixed so damn close to the front!

I still do like Mr. Bungle and the comparisons to that group on this band/album have not rung hollow on me. This is absolutely diet Mr. Bungle, but that might not be a bad thing. After all, Mr. Bungle is heavily criticized for being too strange. DFD are not clear of this criticism themselves, especially from a production point of view. But they do avant-garde music in a way that includes better compositions than Mr. Bungle, memorable song structures, and a chilling concept. 

7/10

Sorry everyone, but I need to be a voice to the contrary on this one...

One of the great things about Death Doom/Gothic Metal is how it incorporates atmosphere and texture into the music; not to overshadow the songwriting, but to compliment it. This is what allows for the stellar albums by artists such as My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, Swallow the Sun, etc. to resonate with such frequency for me. Meanwhile, the earliest Katatonia records that incorporated this sound may have some nice texture and the songs lure the listener into a trance, but nothing about the individual songs stand out. In fact, I find Brave Murder Day to be a monotonous album.

The album kicks off with a ten minute opener, "Brave" that sees the group embark on a ten minute dirge that is devoid of structure or form. The use of one riff unaltered and unedited throughout the duration is mind numbing. And while it sounds nice from a production point of view, there is no good reason for me to traverse further into the song. This songwriting technique persists into the next song "Murder" as well as "Rainroom" and for the life of me, I couldn't tell you the distinguishing features between these two tracks. These two songs are broken up by the slower and cleaner "Day", which is a good change of pace, but it follows in step with the others with its songwriting technique. It feels too much like Katatonia took composition lessons from Drone Metal.

"12" actually has a form to it and does not sound like it is just borrowing the same riff from the previous four tracks, making it a standout. The closer "Endtime" starts with promise, but eventually just modulates back into same tempo/riff/melody that I've already heard far too much of for a relatively brief forty minute album.

In the end, I liken Brave Murder Day to a modern day Harakari for the Sky album. These albums are loaded with texture and atmosphere and they sound beautiful, but the songwriting is so painfully lacking in any development or structure that my attempts to latch on to any melody or groove is gutted when the artist refuse to do anything with them. I found that, following this album and the band began ditching the Death Metal adjacent tones for more Alternative rock, while still maintaining their Doom/Gothic aura, it opened up many more opportunities for them as songwriters. I for one am glad, alongside Within Temptation, that they dropped this sound as quickly as they did.

5/10

Quick little update on my part. I was a busy bee during most of 2020 when it came to listening to new music. Not all of it is metal, but I did find myself listening to a lot more than I had in previous years. One of my go to YouTube channel's for discovering new metal music went off the air at the end of 2019 and I feared that beyond that, metal would take an even further backseat then it already was at the time. This has certainly not been the case, thanks to the Metal Academy.

In the last year and a half I have been exploring outside of my clans more than I ever anticipated thanks in part because of the monthly featured albums. Sonny's nominations for Fallen albums have been a treat up to this point, the Revolution releases have been mostly enjoyable; both in Andi's nostalgia being similar to my own, and Daniel's blend of classic metalcore/mathcore, and even though Death Metal is nowhere close to a forte of mine, I have listened to quite a few adjacent albums that peaked my interest, most notably thanks to a mountain of critical acclaim for Ulcerate's Stare Into Death and Be Still from last year.

I have enjoyed exploring genre's outside of my comfort zone such as death metal and mathcore, and hearing how the sound has evolved over time, even if I may be listening to these albums out of chronological order. It does make for some more unique takes on records that may be considered classics, and can hear the influence in later records by other artists.

As I said in my review, the Opeth worship on this album is blatant, but more than varied enough to keep it from sounding like a direct ripoff of that band. As seems to be the case with far too many modern progressive metal bands, their blatant worship of early Dream Theater and mid 2000s Opeth is becoming a tired shtick and Altesia understand this by having very little interest in DT noodling and (hot take incoming) being better songwriters than Opeth. Every note serves a purpose on this record and each riff is connected to every other riff. But Altesia true claim to fame for me is that they were able to blow me away with a trifecta of 10+ minute tunes! Cult of Luna and Wilderun, meet Paragon Circus by Altesia, the final piece of the 2019 trinity of progressive rock/metal!

9/10

1. Tool - Lateralus

2. Alice in Chains - Dirt

3. Deftones - White Pony

4.  Linkin Park - Meteora

5. Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles

6. System of a Down - Mezmerize

7. Moron Police - A Boat on the Sea - not listed as metal anywhere, but the band has roots in it

8. Alice in Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here

9. Faith No More - Angel Dust 

10. Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist

For the record, if Soundgarden's Superunkown was listed as an alternative metal album on Metal Academy/RYM, I'd probably rank it just below White Pony and drop Saturday Night Wrist as a result.

First of all: Sonny, you're remarkable run of selecting top tier doom metal albums is in peak form with Obliviosus as the featured release for this month. This record sounds breathtaking with its control of atmosphere and dynamics throughout the tracks. The mixing on this record is splendid as the bass lines are given ample amounts of space to breathe behind those pummeling guitars. The vocals are very interesting as they alternate between monochromatic chants and the unfiltered screams of the lead vocalist. Even being fully aware that this would be the case, I was still thrown off guard by how the spacing out of these hellacious moments contribute to the darkest moments of this conceptual record.

My favourite track on this album is "Humanity" in the way MSW works through a very simple melodic passage and transforms it into something that is still recognizable, but so distorted and far removed from the texture that was presented near the start. The closing title track shows patience and uses its full twenty minute runtime to change from soft, introspective post-rock, into a fit of rage that is complimented by slow blast beats in the percussion that is reminiscent of atmospheric black metal rather than doom, including shredded vocals. And then ending with an extended feedback loop as the album wains its way to an eerie conclusion.

Where this track does fall off the rails for me is the lack of focus contextually. Extended songs are hard sells in doom metal, since thematic development is sparse. What MSW does is brings together four/five different ideas that play out for a few minutes, then move to the next without much in the way of preparation. Each section is well documented by a return to the original post-rock instrumentation, so why not trim it down to two/three themes that could be meshed together? Furthermore, I don't think the atmo-black adjacent moments on "O Brother" work either; maybe it's a sound that could have been left alone.

With all of that being said, I still do like the closing track, and this album by design. The sound of this record is gorgeous, which helps to exemplify the heartbreaking reality of MSW's position; letting someone go (physically or otherwise) because of addiction. It's a bleak listen, and the long song structures only help elaborate the painstaking reality of it all. Very good stuff!

8/10

I debated nominating Dirt for this slot this month, but felt like the conversation would be more intriguing surrounding this record. So maybe another time...

The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here is Alice in Chains' most unabashed album of their entire careers and I enjoy every second of it! After the loss of Layne Staley, William DuVall was given the insurmountable task of trying to win back AiC fans who would inevitably call this new era of the band lesser work, and nothing other than a reunion with a Layne Staley hologram would suffice. Black Give Way to Blue was nothing more than a comeback AiC record in 2009.

TDPDH was the band making subtle changes to their sound that some may not have even noticed at first, but they helped certify DuVall as the lead vocalist of this band, while still showing respect to the legends of years past. The songwriting takes even darker turns than ever before; the brooding instrumentals play very well into the lyrical content surrounding most notably, religious denialists. I love this album because of its universality rather than the deeply personal moments that persist on Dirt and Jar of Flies.

This album was a slow burner for me as with a lot of people who have come around on it in recent years. As I realized how much was being changed, while still retaining classic Alice in Chains mannerisms, I started to love The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here. Will it ever succeed Dirt, one of my favourite records of all time? I doubt it. But it also showed me that (1.) some greats can continue to impress this many years after their classic output and (2.) William DuVall is not half assing his way through the legacy of Alice In Chains and deserves far more respect from Staley traditionalists.

9/10

The Metallica drop off in quality is actually quite easy to breakdown. They were once one of the most important bands during the 1980s during the rise of thrash metal, but eventually decided to ditch that and go for something that was more accessible with something that more resembled hard rock. S/T is one of the highest selling albums of all time... and longtime Metallica fans were pissed! Many metal fans scour when even the most mainstream of heavy bands attempt to expand their audience further. So imagine how the gatekeepers of thrash felt during the eighties felt; just before the boom of death and black metal.

The rest of the nineties consisted of meandering dreck that was devoid of character and felt like b-sides of the S/T album. For as awful as 2003's St.Anger was, at least it was different. At least the band took risks, and were unabashed with their ambition, and did not care about the backlash they received, as opposed to Death Magnetic; essentially fan service to those iconic thrash albums, and it did even worse! I really need to review that album because oh my god is it horrible!

After S/T, there was a dramatic divide between Metallica fans and to this day has not been sewn back together. Those who grew up with 90s/2000s era Metallica will say they have done nothing less than superior quality, while others will say that everything this band made was shit, while simultaneously purchasing every new Megadeth record. Metallica were heavily overhated during the 90s/early 2000s, justifiably so today, but for very different reasons than what the mainstream metal community would have you believe.

Well I certainly wasn't expecting this: A metalcore album with groove and sludge metal elements, depicting lyrical themes of isolation, self-loathing and even suicide, and goddamn does it not slap! The opening of this EP with "Heroine Fingers" is so well done, almost reminiscent of Jordan Dreyer of La Dispute, one of my favourite modern post-hardcore bands with the alternating between softer spoken word and harsh screams. The hooks are sparse, allowing for the words to be fully understood which I greatly appreciated, but they are produced incredibly well for a twenty-plus year old record; the bass is heavy and these slower grooves are pummeling. If this isn't my type of throwdown music then I need to reevaluate myself!

8/10

Wreche - All My Dreams Came True

OK guys hear me out for just a second: black metal, but instead of guitars...piano. A fascinating little project that pushes the boundaries of what black metal can be. I would very interested to see what Xephyr thinks of this, especially considering how we were both enamored by Kaatayra's two albums last year.

https://wreche.bandcamp.com/album/all-my-dreams-came-true

After Mestarin kynsi won pretty much all of the critics 2020 best metal albums award, it was only a matter of time before those of us who caught on to Oranssi Pazuzu late would have to take the deep dive into the bands 2016 album, Värähtelijä. This album was equally as well received, if not more so, by critics at the time and as an outside looking in, I can only imagine why Oranssi Pazuzu were given such a loose second opportunity.

That's not to say that I do not like Värähtelijä, I absolutely do! But I've heard many atmospheric and psychedelic black metal albums in the years since this album was released and can only see it as a stepping stone towards greater things for Oranssi Pazuzu, including Mestarin kynsi!

First and foremost, I see Värähtelijä as an experimental project by comparison to its later sequel being the more refined mending of ideas together. This album contains a similar number of tracks as its follow up, but the tunes feel less impressive. The obvious outlier here is "Vasemman käden hierarkia", which sounds more like an extended jam session rather than a collection of ideas formulated together into something spectacular. At the very least, Ornassi Pazuzu are smart enough to make each of the tracks distinguishable from one another; a problem that many psychedelic albums face. After "Lahja" and the title track leave lots of space for post-rock elements, "Hypnotisoitu viharukous" drastically ramps up the intensity and is further explored on "Havuluu". And ending the album on the relatively laid back "Valveavaruus" gives this record a truly unsettling conclusion to a mostly unsettling project.

And even though the production on this album is very muddy, it does play into its benefit slightly. Psychedelic rock does not need to be riff-centric when it is the wall of sound technique that has been imported from atmospheric black metal that creates the comfortable, yet unsettling environment. I found that the fewer synthetic sounds did not help matters in making this nearly as unsettling as Ornassi Pazuzu may have thought, but these advances were made on later albums, so once again, I feel like this was an experiment for the band to see what would stick and then develop that sound further on subsequent releases.

But in the end, I know why people enjoy this record so much and while it may not be my personal cup of tea, I certainly appreciate its quality. For me, I prefer my atmo-black metal with sweeping melodic phrases and epic hooks and tales of folklore. Bit for an unsettling taste of psychedelic rock meets atmospheric black metal, you can never go wrong with Oranssi Pazuzu, even though I feel Mestarin kynsi is the culmination of this sound.

7/10

P.S. This absolutely needs to be essential listening if you enjoyed this months Infinite featured release: Lucid Planet II.

Damn Xephyr, you really found a gem with this one!

As I mentioned in my review, I think that this album has all the pieces to be a transcendent album, but falters ever so slightly when it comes to memorable hooks. Instead, Lucid Planet uses repetitive motifs to give the album a sense of unity, which I respect, but these motifs are typically very short spurts, very similar to that of Darth Vader's theme from Star Wars. That being said, the production is magnificent, the interludes are some of the best I've heard on any album in recent memory, and while the phrase "non-metal" does not apply here, the scarcity of the metal elements allow for the electric guitars to hit with additional velocity and power. An album that promises a trip and delivers in spades. Pressure is on for me and my next Infinite featured album!

8/10

ughhhh

I can tell that Unleash the Archers have some very good ideas on display with this album of theirs and I appreciate the craftsmanship being incorporated. For starters, I was very impressed by Brittney Slayes vocals; far too often women in high leverage positions in power and symphonic metal like to resort to highly operatic vocal timbres and tendencies. Which is why I found it so surprising when this album has none of that! the vocals are very comparable to Anneke van Giersbergen and this months featured release in the Fallen clan. In addition, Apex does have some very solid hooks provided by both the vocals as well as the lead guitar. My personal favourite is the major key change during the chorus of the opener "Awakening"; it was unexpected and remarkable. The instrumentals have a lot indebted to Iron Maiden, but they do have their own unique flare making them stand out amongst their influences.

That being said, I really wanted to like this more. Seeing all of these glowing reviews come before me leaves me in a very difficult situation where I have to point out that the production on this thing is terrible! You would think that for a band that is so heavily influenced by Iron Maiden and their specific brand of British Power Metal that this album would have something that resembled a bass line! Instead, the rhythm guitar is forced into doing all of the heavy lifting and it just doesn't work; the low end of this record is so gutted that any breakdowns on "Ten Thousand Against One" and "Earth and Ashes" are left feeling weightless. Contrary to popular belief, I do like a good breakdown, but it has to be implemented well and on this album, they just aren't.

And while the second half of this album does get a little more guitar heavy, I do find that many of the tunes start to blend together, with only "Call Me Immortal" and a drastic key change keeping the back end from falling off a cliff and making me want to turn the thing off. I know what this band was trying to do and I appreciate it... to a point. I know my score has a positivity bias because of their Victoria, BC residency, but this should have been a lot better.

6/10

I had never listened to Uroboros before writing my review and I can honestly say I enjoyed my time with it. As an avant-garde, genre swapping album, there is some genuine quality and care that has gone into each of these songs and highlighting Dir En Grey's influences without overtly ripping anyone off.

That said, this is an album that is very difficult to get through from top to bottom, simply because of all of the whiplash. The tonal shifts are drastic and unprepared, and can quickly diverge from radio friendly alternative metal to music snob, pretentious wanking in only a matter of seconds. I liken this album to last months featured release I Let It In And it Took Everything; both albums see a band splitting the difference between alternative metal and progressive/avant-garde music and metalcore respectively. And in each case, the alternative metal takes precedent, at least for me. I can see why Daniel suggests SOAD as preemptive listening for Uroboros because this album represents the next stages in creating a hybrid of alternative and progressive metal. And while I could never pass up on that (hello Tool), I know a lot of metal snobs who will.

7/10

Consider this my redemption arc following my poor reaction to Within Temptation's debut album that was featured a few months ago. 

Where do I start when talking about The Gathering? In terms of gothic metal coming out of the mid to late 1990s, they are one of the groups frequently left behind in a slew of male fronted bands like My Dying Bride, Type O Negative and Paradise Lost. It certainly shouldn't be the case when you consider Anneke van Giersbergen is a truly magnificent voice in gothic metal, as well as the many guest appearances throughout the years in both power metal and progressive metal. And the sound of this album helped influence some of my favourite gothic/doom metal albums of all time, such as Swallow the Sun and Trees of Eternity with its heavy use of darkwave.

And what we end up with on Mandylion is a solid display of control. Anneke could have easily played the "I'm a woman in metal" card and gone for the bombastic, symphonic vocals of Within Temptation's Sharon den Adel that were used two years later on Enter, but rather we have a plainspoken delivery that sounds blunt and bleak, while still allowing for copious amounts of technical proficiency. And what's backing her up? A well balanced, heavily focused doom metal palette that does go heavy on the texture and atmospherics rather than hook or melody, but they are produced with convincing presence and a forward thinking bass line that prevents these sections from becoming played out and uninteresting.

In addition, the songwriting helps with memorability as well. Mandylion is one of the most forward thinking, progressive doom metal albums of the 1990s that I can recall. And yet it features some of the most infectious melodic drives of any of the great 90s doom/gothic metal albums. Anneke's plainspoken delivery makes these songs feel down to earth, as opposed to the bombast of Within Temptation. The drives are simple and match the lyrical content quite well, and many of these songs have a well constructed form making them feel well worth their extended runtimes, especially "Leaves" and "In Motion #2".

In the end, The Gathering are more of a band that I respect more than I like. I will not deny that the quality of Mandylion is very good with its great production and forward thinking songwriting, but I have heard plenty of 2000s and beyond gothic/doom metal that takes the quality of this record and expands upon it. For me, I see this more as a redemption after reviewing (and not very much liking mind you) Within Temptation's debut gothic metal album a couple of years later. I do like this sound and it can be done well. And The Gathering are one of the early influencers of a sound that I really enjoy and respect tremendously.

7/10

Early metal music was characterized by driving and distorted riffs, aggressive drumming, vigorous vocals, and an all around show of brute force.

Nintendocore is a style of Hardcore [Punk] that fuses the heavy riffing and vocals of Post-Hardcore and Metalcore with Chiptune instrumentation.

Both descriptors are from the RYM pages for Metal and Nintendocore respectfully. With that being the case, I can see why this discussion of "is Nintendocore metal?" exists. There is a fine line between hardcore punk and heavy metal music (more specifically speed/thrash metal). My opinion on genres is faulty for a number of reasons, but if I were to take these demo tracks and answer the question about "is Nintendocore metal?" I would say Sky Eats Airplanes is the only one that mostly represents the true metal framework. HORSE the Band is closer to Hardcore Punk, while Fucking Werewolf Asso is the farthest removed from either of those genre tags. 

Does that mean I think HORSE the Band is metal? No. I say that if Nintendocore does receive a unique genre tag brand on this website, then we should also have a Hardcore Punk tag as well, since so much of this music is influenced by it.

Perhaps it is the benefactor of lowered expectations, but I had very little motivation to check out Grip Inc.'s sophomore album Nemesis. For me, I have had such bad luck with thrash metal in recent years that I've almost begun to start doubting the quality of any thrash metal record released beyond 1990. As we found ourselves moving further and further away from that era, it became increasingly clear that thrash metal bands were less than willing to push the genre forward instead of relishing its golden years of the 1980s.

Someone didn't tell Grip Inc. that. This is probably some of the most fun I've had with a thrash metal album since Vektor. Imagine if Kreator and Pantera had an offspring and you pretty much get the idea as to what this record is all about. There are some faster thrash grooves, but most of this album feels like slower Kreator tracks, complimented by some very obvious Pantera songwriting tips, such as pinch harmonics in the guitar, sung/scream vocals, and strong hooks. Unfortunately, the band were unable to take the great production of those albums with them, most notably in the bass; it is there, but heavily muted due to an overabundance of rhythm guitar.

The sound of this album does feel like a hybrid of those two bands mentioned earlier, but never feeling like a direct ripoff. Grip Inc. know what they want to do with their influences and thankfully transform them into a unique sound that is fresh, even by today's standards. This is probably the most noticeable during the second half of this album from around "Scream at the Sky" into "The Summoning" and carrying on subtly through the album closer "Code of Silence". And that is the Tool influence, which I was not expecting. I was getting a lot of Ænima vibes on these tracks, only heavier to fit in with the thrash/groove vibe of the album. The harsher vocal delivery has throwbacks to Opiate era Tool, but also shares a lot of similarities to Kreator's Mike Petrozza, which I appreciated.

It's a bit of a shame that this band broke up in 2006 because their approach to Thrash/Groove metal through the 1990s into the 2000s was heavily underappreciated. While so many acts were contempt with playing straightforward thrash metal and were unashamed to their blatant idolization of giants like Megadeth and Slayer, Grip Inc. were expanding the genre far beyond simple riffs and solos. This was a treat to hear and a very welcome surprise.

8/10

Anyone who knows my preference for technical death metal already knows that I have very little tolerance for full on aggressive death metal that is more concerned about creating the filthiest mosh pit of all time rather than coming up with a decent tune that I will remember the next day. Suffocation comfortably fall into this mold for me and this record can only be propped up by solid production and good performances all around for so long. It's a passable dose of technical death metal, but I can guarantee that I won't return to this again.

6/10

I did not realize how much I needed to let off some steam in my review, but here we are. I think what upsets me the most about 2000s era Dream Theater is how super talented each member of this group is, as both performers as well as songwriters and how they wasted away on half formed progressive metal albums throughout the entire decade. This band should have been pushing the envelope so hard given their reputation instead of releasing the same album like clockwork bi-annually for ten years. The hooks are empty, the production sounds thin in places where it shouldn't and bloated in others, the "innovation" feels surface level at best, and outside of "Stream of Consciousness", this album wreaks of non-effort in the worst way possible.

4/10

Can we add the new debut EP from Turris Eburnea?

While many of my criticisms of this album still persist from the day that I reviewed it, I can't deny that this album has grown on me in the year since its release. Mostly due to the band recent ambient album The Things They Believe from earlier this year. After such a seemingly dramatic pivot, going back and hearing the band brush elbows with the Deftones on "Two Way Mirror" and "New Faces In The Dark" have received a lot more acceptance from me. If only this band would combine the ambience and shoegaze together, then we could have a truly special album. As it is, Loathe wear their influences on their sleeves, but do enough to that sound that it doesn't feel like a direct copy.

6/10

I have cross referenced Dillinger Escape Plan many times in mathcore adjacent album reviews over the last year, most notably in my two Converge reviews for Jane Doe and All We Love We Leave Behind. Both bands played into two different branches of mathcore around the turn of the century and they both turned out to be equally influential to the genre, even if Converge became the more critically adored. I have always stood by the DEP was the better of the two for their songwriting that was equal parts frenetic energy and aggression, as well as well controlled and thought out melodies and hooks.

Now this album, One of Us is the Killer, can be viewed as one of the heaviest albums in the groups discography. The hectic songwriting, complete with very complex time signatures and unison riffage, is truly a marvel to behold. The way in which this group is able to make these sound good instead of as a technical wank break is commendable for sure. But what makes this album stand out is how it fits in remarkably well with tracks like "Hero of the Soviet Union", "Paranoia Shields" and "Crossburner". That is, how these sections are complimented by their more melodic influenced hardcore sections.

Now this album is remarkably loud and one of the poor examples of an album that fell victim to the loudness war. Quite a shame for a handful of reasons, but the main reason is the guitar riffing being so incredibly close to the front of the mix. Despite having some decent hooks at times, this is still math rock at its core, so leads are sparse, and I don't need to hear the chugging breakdown riffs at the same volume/intensity as I do during the melodic choruses. What's worse is how both the kick drum in the percussion, as well as Greg Puciato's vocals are blasted as compensation! It really is muddy and it hurts the album as a whole.

To be honest, I was hoping that the first DEP album to be featured would be Miss Machine or their fantastic swansong Dissociation from 2016, but those will have to wait for another day. As it is, One of Us is the Killer is a fantastic display of how one can make hook driven hardcore music without falling into already oversaturated pool that is melodic hardcore. But the production holds this album back from higher marks. I really enjoy how this sound has been taken and refined in recent years by a group such as Rolo Tomassi, and they owe a lot of that success to this album

7/10