Saxy S's Forum Replies

More folk-y black metal from me guys! This one is from New Zealand and, while I did like this album far more than Skyforest's A New Dawn, this is still far more in the blackgaze subsection of the genre as opposed to Dzö-nga or Izthmi. Certainly an acquired taste, but good stuff from a very niche subgenre.

7/10

https://sojournermetal.bandcamp.com/album/premonitions

As I mention in my review, I am a complete pleb when it comes to trance metal. My original conclusion was that it would sound like a heavier version of the similarly named electronic dance music genre and the rest would fall into place, but I don't really get that from Massive Addictive.

Now to be fair, my opinion on what classifies as "trance music" is vastly different from most so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I still do like some of what's going on here. The melodies are pretty nice in small doses, the production is mostly solid beyond some blaring synths and the male and female vocals create some pretty decent chemistry.

When I think of getting lost in a trance, I think of a genre such as shoegaze; one that locks the listener into a sleeplike, hypnotic state with its wall of sound production style and this album doesn't give me that, but then again, trance music doesn't give me that feeling at all anyway! When I need trance music, I listen to an artist like deadmau5 in the techno/house side of electronic music. I would love to get some more guidance as to where I could look to find a better understanding of trance metal as a whole!

6/10

Guys, the new Green Carnation album, Leaves of Yesteryear, is pretty damn great. The band have returned to their long form compositions for this one, but on a smaller scale. It sounds fresh, while still paying homage to Light of Day, Day of Darkness. Not bad for a fifteen year layoff!

8/10

https://greencarnationsom.bandcamp.com/album/leaves-of-yesteryear

Please don't crucify me!

When I look back on the origins of the second wave of black metal and the sounds that were presented by Burzum, Mayhem and, of course, Darkthrone, I vaguely remember my distaste for the subgenre, and extreme metal in general. Part of this is inevitably my age; I was never around to experience this wave first hand and my introduction to power metal in my youth deeply skewed my preferences in the genre are towards the more bombastic and power/symphonic side as I got older.

So going back to listen to the album that is considered by many as one of the genre's landmark albums, I felt...underwhelmed. The mixing of the guitars is bad. I've listened to original 1980s records of hardcore punk albums that had better guitar tones than this! The songwriting wasn't much to write home about either. There were some ideas and some of them did sound pretty good on their own, but not as a collective and certainly not in their frequency.

Again, maybe it's my age and growing up with a fully grown tree rather than a root in the ground, but I'm still not a fan of this album. I will always respect it for what it did and pushing the genre forward, but this doesn't hold any weight for me in comparison to albums by Emperor or Dissection.

6/10

I'm really glad the Sólstafir album chosen for this month's challenge was Köld and not Ótta because for as good as that album is, I did want to talk about the album that really pushed Sólstafir over the edge from black metal into progressive/post-metal. And to be fair, this group did start moving this way before this record on Masterpiece of Bitterness. But this was the final step and it is good, but not among one of the all time classics.

For one, the production is wonky. The guitars almost never have a consistent mix from one track to the next, to the point where I have to question if these tunes were even created for the same album! From a compositional standpoint, while the songs are pretty and lush, tunes like "Pale Rider" just fall flat because thy have no melodic drive to them. The album could have fared a lot better if they could have developed some consistent hooks or grooves on some of these tunes rather than having them just feel like extended jam sessions.

That said, the album does have some good points; the melody on "Köld" is very nice as well as on "She Destroys Again". And the slow crescendo on "World Void Of Souls" is one of the better displays of dynamic control I have heard from a metal band.

I believe that this band refined this sound and made more complete records in the 2010s, but looking back on the O.G. reminds me about what can go right (and wrong) in post-metal in the following decade.

7/10

I sure do miss the golden age of power metal. Now granted, I wasn't around for most of it, but I mean that simply from the standpoint of someone who has only experienced bland, paint by numbers power metal for the better part of two decades. Whereas Blind Guardian are a group that have been evolving and changing the game for the better part of three decades.They have been one of this genre's most consistent acts throughout the years, and Imaginations From the Other Side is the band at their peak.

And looking back on it today, I can hear how the thrash metal genre was formed out of the power metal scene. Lots of fast grooves, palm muted guitar passages and big drum work. Unlike a lot of thrash metal though, Blind Guardian have an uncanny knack for infectious melodies and phrases, making them instantly recognizable among their peers. And Hansi Kürsch sounds incredible on this record as well. His booming voice is strong and powerful, which adds to the layers of machismo that this album is covered in. Sometimes Hansi's vocals do get in the way of the pieces themselves, but those only occur on the slower tunes, and even then, it's only a minute detail.

I am glad to see that Power Metal gets its respect when it's most famous names are brought up, and in the case of this record, are generally reviewed favorably. Unfortunately, besides Helloween, this genre is usually blasted for being redundant and boring. But if you're in the right mood for it, Imaginations From the Other Side is a monumental achievement in the subgenre.

9/10

I have made a lot of statements since becoming a music critic that have earned me a lot of flack. But not statement I have ever made has been more controversial than me believing Ænima is the bands worst album. I'll spare the details, but in short, the interludes that break up the track listing have a high brow sense of humor that made the album, as well as the band, sound like pretentious assholes.

That feeling is gone on Lateralus. Every track is fluent and flows into the next with effortlessness. The groups songwriting and performances are the best of their entire career. And while this album still does wreak of pretentiousness, I can't fault it because the storytelling is among the best I've ever heard across a single album.  Daniel says that this is "cream of the crop" and he isn't wrong. There is no reason for songs like "Schism" to have crossed over onto rock radio stations in 2001/2. But it did, probably out of sheer will of the people. And I couldn't be any happier that it did.

10/10

When you look back on the legacy of Celtic Frost, I don't think you will see such a drastic pivot in musical style and timbre than that of Monotheist. This is a group that had not released an album in over a decade, so expectations were incredibly high for some, and for others, theywere absolutely certain that this album could NEVER live up to the sky high expectations.

This album helped pave the way into the 2010s for some of those in the darkest side of metal. The lyricism on display is top notch and makes you feel uncomfortable and cold. It isn't a moshing album that's for damn sure, but it hits like a ton of bricks either way.

When I listen to the modern era of doom metal, this is the gold standard that all other albums are compared to. The breakdowns are rewarding, the lyricism is dark and sombre, and the tinges of drone and black metal make it stand out among its influences and influencers.

9/10

Oh for sure Daniel. I completely agree that their is a specific sound palette that needs to be attained by an artist or group in order for it to fall in specific genre categories. And I agree with your statement that Frizzle Fry does not really contain enough of an edge to separate itself from "hard rock" or "heavy metal".

But I think part of my point was misrepresented in my original post. Probably because I didn't really explain myself all that well! And it's an issue that Alternative Metal has had to deal with for decades. Hell, Metallica and Opeth have had to deal with it over their history. When a band drastically changes their sound to something more "accessible", a large portion of their audiences abandons them because their sound is "not heavy enough" anymore. And alternative metal gets a bad reputation among most metal fans as not being heavy enough and is, usually, received unfavorably. Even if, in the case of Frizzle Fry and Primus in general, they were never meant to be viewed as a heavy metal band.

I can tell that you're pretty smart Daniel and I'm confident that you aren't one of those people I referred to in the last paragraph. There is a lot of great music out there and not all of it is heavy metal. Obviously, I don't think that Frizzle Fry is a "great" record, but it isn't for stylistic reasons. And I think that the discussion on whether something falls under the banner of heavy metal is a separate matter from the quality of the music itself. That's all.

When I wrote the review for this album, I wanted to talk about the music itself and whether or not it actually stood up as a piece of art. I'm not going to recap that review very much here because of the less formal nature of the forums, and because I know what Daniel really wants to hear.

In my opinion, I think that there is not enough in the way of heavy metal tendencies to call this a "metal" album; much more of a subgenre while the funk and math rock elements are given prominence. But that brings me to a larger question: how much "metal" is too much/not enough? While I certainly am not the biggest fan of their more recent output, Opeth have been making much heavier music since Sorceress, but because it doesn't have harsh vocals or heavy as hell guitar riffage, it gets blasted by many as "not being metal enough".

What does this mean for artists like Poppy? Sure her first album, Poppy.Computer was electronic dance pop, but her most recent output, I Disagree, has metalcore breakdowns and industrial tendencies, and breaks up the monotony with dream pop passages. Does that mean that album isn't metal? I put a review up on this website so at least someone thought it was.

I think that our perception of metal should not be based on how heavy it is, but by how it makes us feel. This album toes a fine line between what is "hard rock" and what is "heavy metal" and we should critique this album as a hybrid of the two styles, rather than not being heavy enough. I encourage anyone else who participates in this months clan challenge to approach this record the same way.

6/10

Dzö-nga - Thunder In The Mountains

This one's from a little bit further back in the vault, but deserves way more attention. This is epic symphonic/folk inspired black metal that is an early AOTY contender for me.

9/10

https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/thunder-in-the-mountains

Olhava - Ladoga

I remember seeing blackgaze discussed in the forums not that long ago, but I thought I might introduce you all to something new in the genre. This is very pretty sounding black metal that reminds me a lot of Panopticon. It even comes mixed with ambient, field recording bridges, to break up the intensity of the really long black metal tunes.

7/10

https://olhava.bandcamp.com/album/ladoga

The Number of the Beast is one heavy metal's most important and influential albums to ever be released. 9/10, but you all knew that already.

...Well, I guess I should elaborate. I mentioned in my review for this album that heavy metal seems to have one of the tightest knit communities across all genres. Where the best music that heavy metal has to offer is almost universally praised and becomes immortalized by those who listen to it. It's one of the reasons I came to this website in the first place! Most of today's music in the genre is very difficult to find. And having a website like this dedicated to talking about heavy metal was about as good a place as any to start!

As for this band themselves, Iron Maiden is where much of my knowledge of heavy metal started alongside many of the Iron Maiden adjacent groups. And this album still holds up to this day. Which is amazing because this album only saw the group scratching the surface in term of potential; simply put, this might be the bands third best album (so long as Powerslave and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son exist).

Influence is important, even in a genre like heavy metal. We owe it to ourselves to promote our favourite groups even after they become mainstream, provided, of course, they don't kill their own artistic integrity. Because they may influence the next generation of heavy metal. You have no idea how many non-metal fans I know have zero problem jamming the hell out when "Run to the Hills" comes on. You should try it the next time you're in a room of people. You'll be surprised by how many sing along.

9/10

I hate to be "that guy", but djent has never been my subgenre of metal. Djent, for me, has always felt like the hybrid of the groove heavy nature of metalcore, combined with the technical proficiency that is technical death metal. And while I do believe that their are bands that can pull this kind of sound off well, Meshuggah have never been that group.

This album sounds like a collection of ideas left on the chopping board from previous albums that were slapped together with no sense of direction or intention. The transitions are non-existent between the different ideas and the first half of the track leaves no emotional impact on me whatsoever. The second half is more memorable and I point those moments out in my review.

But I also take time to discuss my general distaste for modern trends in progressive metal and the rise of djent as a subgenre over the last few years. There are instances in which djent can be pulled off well, but they need to be controlled and balanced with something else to allow for the technical stuff to hit with more authority. When the entire song is chugg-chugg-chugg, it loses it grandeur after a while. I also mention long songs with no sense of direction or inter-connectivity. If I was a six or seven song EP, I might be a little bit more forgiving... but these guys sold this as a twenty-one minute song, and as a result, I have to critique it like a twenty-one minute song!

Meshuggah have never been for me, and will probably never be "for me", and that's okay. Melodic songwriting has never been Meshuggah's bread and butter; rather their dank grooves, and their is an audience for that. But so long as "progressive metalcore" bands like August Burns Red, and more technical djent bands like Animals As Leaders and TesseracT exist, I won't be joining the masses to sing this songs praises.

5/10

Let's keep this thread alive shall we?

I don't know very much about Robert Andersson or Morbus Chron, but this album, The Eternal Resonance by Sweven just appeared on RYM and early returns have been remarkably high. I'm listening to it right now and wanted to see if what anyone else thinks.

https://sweven.bandcamp.com/album/the-eternal-resonance

I don't dive too much into "Avant-Garde" music simply because of the very drastic differences in quality that you can get from artist to artist. But Kayo Dot's debut record is one of the most bizarre and yet, enjoyable experiences I've had with one.

Yes, this album is flawed. Many of these flaws exist through the revolving door of genre bending that is taking place here. Sometimes the album can become a little too overwhelming such as on the outro of "The Manifold Curiosity", and these moments can change your opinion on this album if you aren't prepared for them.

On the other hand, the album is mixed incredibly well, and the band do a wonderful job of having their dynamics sound raw and authentic. The songwriting doesn't spend too much time worried about hooks or melodies, but a couple of these tunes do become memorable through their long lived ideas and distortion of those ideas.

I was not familiar with Kayo Dot until late last year when I heard their album Blasphemy and I felt like I had no reason to return to Toby Driver's pet project. So thank you Daniel for bringing this record to my attention. Very solid record, even if it will not be for everyone.

7/10

Neo-classical virtuoso guitar albums don't leave me with very much to say in the best of times. But I will say this: Jason Becker had chops. Holy crap, the cleanliness in every note that he played on this album was crisp and precise.

However, playing a lot of notes really fast doesn't always mean the music sounds good. This album does have a lot of compositional faults that I highlighted in my review, but many of them stem from the fact that, Becker is the only thing that your ears can hear. Everything else is pretty generic and safe.

I will say that this album does get better later on, but getting over that first hurdle can be a difficult one. When you see the album cover of Jason Becker and his guitar and that's it, you already know what you're getting yourself into by listening to this. When it comes to shredders, John Petrucci and Steve Vai do it way better all around.

6/10

...Well I was expecting this. Since the featured album of the month for February was S/T by Rage Against the Machine, the precursor to nu-metal, it only made sense that we would talk about the OG at some point.

To be honest, Korn have always been my least favourite of the nu-metal pioneers. Their production has always been lousy, the songwriting has always felt unfinished, and Jonathan Davis writes lyricism from the perspective of an angsty, privileged teenager. I might have excused this if the production was better, instead of having the bass sound like it was replaced by a toddlers rattle toy!

When I think back to my youth, when nu-metal was extremely prominent in the mainstream, I clearly remember how much I detested this band compared to their contemporaries and going back and listening to this album again was a chore. There are a handful of terrible debut albums from nu-metal bands that I would rather listen to again than S/T by Korn. Give me Disturbed's The Sickness or Mudvayne's L.D. 50 any day over this. 

3/10

I might be a little less qualified to talk about this record than most, but allow me to follow-up what I talked about in my review.

Panopticon is a great post-metal album that builds upon the trends that were being dabbled with in the 1990s by a band such as Neurosis. For too long in the 1990s, before post-metal became an established genre in metal, much of the metal of that decade had been merely about who can play the fastest or slowest, depending on the genre. Melodic dominance was never given the importance it rightfully deserved. Sure, progressive metal outfits like Queensryche, Dream Theater and Opeth were trying, but many found their music too difficult to appreciate.

So enter ISIS and their album Panopticon, a record that took sludge metal and gave it a new coat. It was still clearly progressive, but without all of the odd time signatures, technically demanding solos, and meta narrative. It was progressive metal for those who just wanted to relax, perhaps take in some illegal substances, and get lost in a way not that dissimilar to more traditional sludge/doom metal.

ISIS along with their "step-siblings" Agalloch in black metal, would create new waves of progressive metal in the 2000s; ISIS specifically influencing the likes of The Ocean and Cult of Luna. It might not be a perfect record, but I can respect its cultural significance and what metal would become.

8/10

Hey Ben, could we get Astronoid (USA) added to the website?

Wow Daniel, you really hit us with a behemoth this month!

I wrote a review just now, so I will be brief. Ashes Against the Grain is one of the crowning achievements in all of metal. It, alongside The Mantel, served as my introduction to more extreme tendencies in heavy metal and showed me how beautiful it can sound, instead of chugging guitar riffs, pummeling blast beats, and gurgled vocals. I can listen to this album from top to bottom at any time and never skip a moment. And going back and listening to it again for this, I only find the album to be even better than I remember. There are a lot of folk/post-metal bands trying to replicate this sound and failing to this day. I think that represents the true essence of lightning in a bottle.

10/10

I got to see these guys live way back in the day when Kezia was brand spanking new and I was very pleased with what I heard. Later that week, I bought a copy of this album from my local HMV and spun it nonstop for weeks. This is metalcore with a ton of technical prowess from the entire ensemble, but not in the tech death or mathcore sense. These virtuoso's use their instrumental competence as a integral part of the music itself; that is to say, these songs have some genuine grooves and melodies, as well as some crushing metalcore parts.

In hindsight, this album still sounds great, but now stands in the shadows of the almighty Fortress, an album that pushed the boundaries as to what progressive hardcore could sound like. But this is certainly no slouch. Kezia stands out even today as one of the most unique sounding metalcore albums that I've heard. And, of course, Canadian content. We have a lot more than just Nickleback up here.

8/10

I went back and listened to this album again recently to see if it held up. And it turns out that it mostly did. This album was able to establish Deftones in the mainstream, as they received lots of mainstream adjacent airplay with this album and its singles during the nu-metal boom. But this album does seem more heavily influenced by post-hardcore music rather than nu-metal. Those influences are still there, but not as prominent as I remembered. Unfortunately, songs like "Rickets" and "Headup" do hold the album back considerably. And Deftones realized this by abandoning much of those tropes in 2000 with White Pony and beyond. White Pony is still their best record by a considerable margin, but Around the Fur is still no slouch.

7/10

Dream Theater's Images and Words is a monumental album that put this group on the map. Perhaps a little too well.

While this album has aged incredibly well, its influence can be heard on numerous progressive metal albums today. You can still hear its influence on Dream Theater albums today! And I do view that as a problem. As a band who were so innovative and pushing boundaries as to where metal could go, to see them lock into a formula in recent years is disheartening.

Talking about this album, it does sound like the band dipping their feet in the water to see if anything will bite, before making the full dive later on. "The Miracle and the Sleeper" is easily my favourite moment on the album, with its free form composition, which was unconventional for metal at the time, and how it planted the seed that would influence the bands superior albums, Scenes From a Memory and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence.

This is still a great album, but one that has dampened on me over the years. I can appreciate the musicianship on display as well as what the band was able to accomplish, but it just.... loses its grandeur when you have heard it so many times.

8/10

Veil of Imagination is the third LP from Boston based Wilderun. It's progressive metal that hovers mostly around the symphonic side. There is also a little hint of melodic death metal as well.

https://wilderun.bandcamp.com/album/veil-of-imagination