Rexorcist's Forum Replies

For anyone who's not part of the NUWRLD Mix Club, Deaths Dynamic Shroud has American Candy on YT right now.  I don't think it's gonna stay, so grab it before it goes away.

Beautiful stuff.  The whole thing is about slow, catchy atmospheres.  It's great music for relaxing and reading, or in my case writing.  Kinda like a mix between Tim Hecker and Flaming Lips.

Sentries - Snow as a Metaphor for Death (2024)

Genres: Noise Rock, Post-Hardcore

I listened to their previous two EP's and their debut album before getting to this one.  So far, this is their best effort.  2024 has been a good year for new efforts by improving bands.  I also checked out works by Brittany Howard and Mannequin Pussy, and they're joining the collective here.  Even though these guys aren't making a super hardcore album, and it's kind of light in that regard, there's still an excess amount of ferocity here, like these guys overdosed on methylene blue.  There isn't a lot of genre diversity here in comparison to their last two albums, as the switches between punk, post-punk and rock are very tame.  But this is also an improvement over previous albums as the weirdness and inventiveness no longer messes with the flow, allowing the more creative aspect to be focused solely in the layouts.  So the overall effect is pretty solid, if not ever reaching great heights.

Judas Priest - Invincible Shield (2024)

Genres: Heavy Metal

Six years later, right?  Seems a bit long to wait for another Judas Priest album after they've had a SECOND comeback.  But maybe that length was taken for the band to really hone their skills again and try to improve.  If that's the case, they succeeded, because their new album is some purified metal with a nostalgic feel that also acts as a step forward from the overly-80's Firepower, being its own thing and having been seen as the next essential in the Priest catalog.

I was totally taken by surprise with those totally-synthed up Def Leppard drums and guitar sounds for the intro, which eventually becomes a flat-out power metal song on par with the works of Gamma Ray.  Halford's voice and the backing voices work together with a pure and shining harmony that to me is like a metal version of Simon and Garfunkel.  Halford's gotten a stronger hold on his voice, which can be clearly heard on this album, even while the production assaults you with a wild range of metal noises and effects.  Two songs in and this is already a huge improvement over Firepower.  Of course, by the time the title-track came along, I was afraid the album was going to be quite samey, which is something that Firepower largely avoided until the last third, as it was too long of an album not to fall victim to it.  Thankfully, the title track had levels of metal energy that rival the Arrange Edition of the F-Zero X soundtrack.

The entire first half was a bit samey with difference largely just going to the tempos, so whatever weirdness came from the intro wasn't going to be common.  Thankfully, side B starts with a ballad: Crown of Horns, so there change in pace is powerful without damaging the flow, as this song is quite a good ballad that shows that Halford still has vocal range.  And despite its ballad status, this doesn't stop the instrumentation from being thick and featuring a dense metal atmosphere.  Of course, the album goes right back into thrash territory immediately afterwards, but this is still good because nothing on Side A was as heavy lightning-speed-driven as the song As God as My Witness.  So I interpret this as the album doing two new things on Side B to compensate for a samey side A.  This sounds familiar: Hounds of Love? Trial By Fire even experiments with the rhythm some while teetering on the balance between heavy metal and metal ballad.  So By this point I'm fine with another song sounding like something from the first half.  The tunes take a little of a drop in rhythmic quality once they go back to the normality of the first half, but are still enjoyable.

Invincible Shield shows a noticeable improvement over Firepower and is a greater testament to what Judas Priest is capable of.  Through denser metal atmospheres and instrumentation, as well as a willingness to push even further than Painkiller, Invincible Shield overcome the 80's nostalgic vibe that could be interpreted as "being done before," and stands as a modern classic.

Judas Priest - Firepower (2018)

Genres: Heavy Metal

Judas Priest were lighter than what metal should be interpreted as for many of their early albums, and that all chanced with the surprise comeback album Painkiller, which perfected the metal tropes that the same band's earlier albums helped to influence.  They had steered into Metal Church and Metallica territory and reinvented themselves.  Unfortunately, nobody liked what came after that until almost 30 years later, when these 70-year-olds put out Firepower, their second comeback album.  Now Judas Priest are once again the talk of the metal world.  However, does this even come close to Painkiller?

As far as attacking the entire heavy metal genre goes, most of these songs are exercises in one or another typical stle of heavy metal.  The album dives into speed, power, thrash and even arena rock territory without ever fully crossing those borders, allowing Judas Priest to both stay true to their Painkiller sound while addressing the variety of the genre they influenced.  And boy, does this trope fest give you ALL the goods.  Each melody and riff is quite catchy and packed with energy that almost reaches Painkiller heights.  Right from the get-go, you know what your getting as its opening title track punches you in the face with its own energy.  And even though it's obvious that Halford's voice aged, he's still able to hold the metallic sound of it very well, perfectly fitting into Priest's style yet again.  And lyrically, the album's loaded with all the metal themes of the classic age: the warnings against Satanism and the horror stories that come from it, the machine guns blasting over the battlefield, comparing your sex appeal to weather like you're suddenly a Norse god, etc. etc.  And these lyrics are all pretty good and easy to sing along with.

So basically, you kind of have to say that this is the kind of album that's been done before, not only by Priest before but by other bands.  I occasionally even got a WASP feel.  The real clincher here is that none of these tropes are poorly delivered.  So the fact that these guys can stay this good after a series of failures between Painkiller and this shows that they're becoming more aware of what they must be, and it looks like the success stemming from their awareness carries on into Invincible Shield.  Firepower is one of the most spirited metal albums of the 2010's.  If you don't like heavy metal at all, you might find this generic.  If you do, you really should check this out.  If it was released around the time British Steel was, it would be one of their original classics.  On the other hand, you could say it bears a strong nostalgic touch thanks to its spirit, as is the justification for "pizza thrash,"  I mean, let's be honest.  Priest weren't quite this metallic and loud in the 80's, and this sounds just like an 80's album by another band that was heavier at the time, so the weird thing is that while this is a generic but good album, it's also an album that the band HASN'T DONE BEFORE.

86 / 100

Gonna end my lengthy music binge today by checking out a few of the works of Roc Marciano, starting with his debut.  I'm not really into this one as much as RYM seems to be.  He's got decent beats with a strong urban vibe, but the songs don't really progress and kind of drag on.  On top of that, I don't think much of Roc's rhymes.

Couple of punk bands have new albums this year: Alkaline Trio and Strung Out, so I'm gonna check them out before heading to the new Vampire Weekend.  They say this might be their best.

After hearing the new cabinet and the Hoplites catalog, I've edited my top 100 black metal albums again, but I'm going through Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia since I already kicked Enthrone Darkness Triumphant out.

When I get back into metal, I've got to find one or two more symphonic black acts that will absolutely blow me away.  Why?  Here's my top 10

1. Emperor - Prometheus

2. Emperor - Emperial Live Ceremony

3. Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk

4. Summoning - Stronghold

5. Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse

6. Limbonic Art - Moon in the Scorpio

7. Antestor - The Forsaken

8. Cradle of Filth - Dusk and Her Embrace

9. Emperor - IX Equilibrium

10. Abigail Williams - In the Shadow of a Thousand Suns

So five of my top 10 are Emperor, and four of those are in my top 5.  Now you know why I need a couple others.

Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She

Genres: Darkwave, Post-Industrial

The album is like a combination of Portishead and Lingua Ignota, but the lack of a backing rhythm makes it feel emptier than a great album should, so 8/10.

Currently going through the Hoplites albums.  Might check out the other Liu Zhenyang projects later.

The Grateful Dead - Live Dead (1969)

Genres: Psych Rock, Jam Band

Years ago I spent three days in a row listening the the 2005 compilation album Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings.  Some of the songs on Live Dead were there with a different mix and different track times, but I figured since I already heard five of the seven songs by technicality on Fillmore West 1969, it would be weird to technically go back to these tracks on a different album.  Nevertheless, as a music buff, it's the first live jam album by the world's foremost jam band, and the truth of the matter is that it's still a very different album for having a different mix and a different tracklist, so I'll get through it.  After this, I'll check out Grateful Dead's Europe 72.

Btw, while listening to that live Can album, I read a good third of a gift that my grandmother got me: Song of Kali by Dan Simmons.  I'm begging any metalheads here to make a psychedelic doom album out of it.

ONE MWOOOR THING!  I made my decision about that Moody Blues album.  98.5.  While I admire the balance between simplicity and complexity with slight teeters into each other, I felt like the more simple songs were still a little too simple, being a couple verses and choruses without a lot of imagination.  Even MJ had imagination.

Time to go back to some krautrock.

0 votes for no.  Now I know for certain: everyone here has taste when it comes to death.

Moody Blues - To Our Children's Children's Children (1969)

Genres: Prog Pop, Prog Rock

This is an oddball for me.  In its foreground of poppy (and maybe even syrupy) simplicity and lushness, it's an unpredictable and astral collection of care and complexity masquerading as another pop rock album.  The atmosphere are obviously the focal point here, which allows the compositions to achieve a careful and slightly teetering balance between conventional and inventive, as if it's that ONE album that can appeal to both the radio and experimental markets.  It's so weird because every TECHNICAL flaw I can think of is justified by its opposer: the conventionality is justified by the experimentation and vice-versa.  Despite its love of poems and ballads, these ballads connect perfectly with faster-paced rockers, but it's so lush that it almost feels about as "rock" as a dream pop album.  The technical apsects of my brain are locked in place, trying to sort out what I just heard.  Every time I want to complain about something that doesn't feel fleshed out, I find a way to justify it.  Moody Blues may have created the perfect example of how to do a "pop" album right, how to keep it simple and complex at the same time with the finest balance between the two I've ever seen.  But before I assign a numerical rating, I'm gonna compare this to In Search of the Lost Chord.  I just need some time to flesh out my opinion and I'll need another example from Moody Blues to help.  The only thing I'm sure about is that it's not as good as Days of Future Passed.

Autechre - Chiastic Slide (1997)

Genres: IDM

I was taking inventory of my highest-rated artists on my log and found that I had only heard three Autechre albums, and one of them was pretty underhwelming.  It's time I got through some of the others.  Confield was a bit repetitive for my liking, and LP5 needed a little more mutation, so I'm really hoping one of these other albums gives me that creative burst I found with Tri Repetae.  The first song was a very glitchy and proggy piece which built itself on a balance between consistent vibe and mutation.  And this second track is a noisy drone two-minute piece that bears a similar effect to MBV's Touched when going through Loveless.  And this third track keeps the weird glitchy behavior going, but despite its speedy activity its BPM is slow and its backdrop is tame.  I'm heavily reminded of that awe-inspiring handling of electronic in OPN's Replica, but with a slight Kid A touch.

I'm gonna spend the day checking out 2024 albums and a few from Adrianne Lenker.  I've already checked out a few albums by her band Big Thief, so I might as well, considering RYM's going nuts over her new solo album.  Problem is, I'm not really fond of the genre tagging of her solos albums:

Contemporary Folk, Singer-Songwriter

Indie Folk

I've heard a million albums with this kind of genre tagging before, and the only two who ever amazed me with such a simple and east concept as a person with his/her guitar are Leonard Cohen and Michael Chapman.  Even Johnny Cash had to go into a little alternative rock territory with American IV to spice it up.  Even the Mountain Goats struggle to amaze me.  So I'm gonna check out a few of her albums first and then head to her 2024 album and EP and see if they live up to the hype.

Rush is never gonna be metal.  The closest thing to Rush metal is Dream Theater.

I've had quite the busy day for albums.

Joni Mitchell - Hejira: 90

McCoy Tyner - Enlightenment: 96

Tim Buckley - Goodbye and Hello: 99

Revisted Testament - The Legacy: 96

And now to end the musical day with a long-needed replay of Trans Europe Express by Kraftwerk.

I would put Confessor's self-titled 1992 E.P. into this category & would recommend it to anyone that wonders what progressive stoner doom might sound like.

I like the sound of that.

For y'all Revolution and Horde junkies, who wants Lovecraftisn slam death with metal core and electronic?

Disfiguring the Goddess - Deprive

Gil Scott-Heron - Relfections

Genres: Soul, Soul Jazz

I need some more soul and jazz in my top 1000.  A fifth of it is metal, so I've been looking for albums that are gonna blow me away.  I already tried a jazz album by Andrew Hil and the fourth DIM release and neither made the cut.  In fact, 8/10 is very underwhelming when I'm looking to improve a top 1000 of 9.6's or higher.  Finally I was getting impatient and started a couple of albums that were dragging on until I came across this.  Storm Music is a pop reggae soul hybrid with a lot of authenticity and spirit, but Grandma's Hands is just owning the intro with its unique and spiritual atmospheres that are unlike anything soul's given me.  Right now I'm on the third track, Is That Jazz.  The evolution of this album's "sound" is challenging and never fully consistent, but Gil's persona brings it together as he's known for being extremely eclectic.  I've already given perfect ratings to Pieces of a Man and his live album with Brian Johnson.  I guess this is Gil's attempt at saying "I can do anything," and for the most part, he's succeeding.  Even if the sons aren't always brilliant, he's making up for it in successful variety.  After this I think I'll head towards more Terry Callier.

RYM tags it as "doomgaze," a genre tag I wouldnt mind if it WASNT ACTUALLY DOOM METAL.  But it's a post-metap subgenre there, so there's that.  I'll check it out later as Im in the Infinite, so I csn vote in it.  I've heard SOME drone metal abd have a good idea of it, so I'll see if I agree.

Ouch.  That's horrible.  Here's wishing you well, Vinny.

Armand Hammer - We Buy Diabetic Test Strips (2023)

Genres: Experimental Hip Hop, Abstract Hip Hop

This has got to be the most intriguing hip hop album I've ever heard so far, and I'm only six tracks in.  if this keeps up, it'll be a shoe-in for my list of 500 perfect albums.  Having said that, I still wouldn't put it anywhere near as high as Exmilitary, but maybe in the same league as The Money Store.  The weird thing is that despite having the same general song lengths as the Harem, the songs on this album don't feel too short, probably because there's more to this songs in their short runtimes whereas Harem should've been stretched out some more for the atmospheres to live up to their full potential.  I guess the songs here are just generally living up to that potential in such short times.  Not always, but mostly.  Trauma Mic deserves another minute.

Thanks for trying to keep this thread alive, but you gotta choose only one album every week, switching out clans.

My grandmother passed away last month.  Due to the circumstances of it all, I went through a depressive state.  But now I'm forcing myself to stand up tall.  I'm on a strict "write two pages a day" rule.  Other than that, there's no water in my house right now, and since I live on a well, the neighbors are having the same problem.  I'm back on albums, and I'm currently blowing through the earlier stuff of Acidgvrl before I get to Armand Hammer.

I've never been able to get into Shpongle, despite having quite an appetite for Psybient & the darker end of Psytrance during my 2000's electronic music heyday. They were simply too quirky for my taste.

Quirky is exactly what I love... as long as it doesn't mess with the flow.

Speaking of quirky...

Exuma - Penny Sausage

Genre: Caribbean Folk

After this album, I'll be only one album away from hearing the full Exuma catalog.  His late-career albums have been way harder to find over the last few years, but now the only one I need is From Africa to America to Junkanoo to Armageddon, which I only found the opening track for.

I'm back, fellow cuntfuckers.  And what better way for me to celebrate being back than to review the newest album by my favorite bestial band.

Cabinet - Hydrolysated Ordination

Genres: Bestial Black Metal, Blackened Death Metal

Cabinet, also known as Sxuperion since 2014 and member of Oreamnos since 2023, is garnering favor among underground metal fans as one of the most unsettling metal musicians of all time due to a perfectly healthy sense of texture.  His album Claustrophobic Dysentery is my current pick for the best war metal album of all time for its masterful use of noise and ambient as frightening textural instruments while the black and death metal guitars reached extremities unheard of before.  I wasn't going to listen to a lot of metal albums for a while sine I want to get some more albums of other genres in my top 1000, but for Cabinet I will maliciously and gleefully break that rule like a Kitkat bar.

On "Masticated Inurnment of Dysphagiactic Soils," We start with an oddly dissonant death take on black noise which intentionally varies in production quality going from too noisy to proper to totally atmospheric, and we see the shifts just like this through the entire album.  it's like a fucking Neurosis track.  This is the typical genre-shifting behavior I expect from Cabinet, but they're clearly more focused on the black noise atmosphere taking a stronger, fuzzier charge than what was seen on previous albums.  The four minutes here masterfully shift from one place to another, while its noise also creates an industrial atmosphere that gives it an almost science fiction approach.  The way I see it, this has to be classified as an avant-garde metal album, as its experimentation is heavy and unrelenting.  Just listen to track 9, Worms Squirming Into Your Occiput / Turning To Mush, and tell me this does not qualify as an experimental album.

For the best example, the title track shows no hesitation in delivering weird and wild collections of black noise and dark ambient teaming together to create unsettling Blut Aus Nord style atmospheres.  This is the slowest track so far, and definitely the most disturbing, as there is less of a mechanic feel to it and is more traditional in the vein of general extreme metal.  This welcome addition to both the diversity and flow of this ever so unpredictable with a singular strong persence throughout really displays Cabinet's unwavering willingness to fuck around and just creep you out to the point of vomiting.

Some of these songs, however, are pure experiments in texture.  While these two minute songs will be packed with shifts from one general sound to another, these songs still feel too short in the end, especially since four of these songs take up the entire middle section.  This is a similar criticism I give to several songs on Low by David freakin' Bowie.  Although, the progression of these songs was nice, and almost akin to the variety of the so-called "melody" that took up much of side B of Abbey Road.  The nature recordings at the end of track 7 were especially welcome.  Even within the two minute songs, we never know what robotic or ghostly sirens will overtake any noisy, industrial guitar rhythms or when the next tidal wave of pure black noise will assault us.  However, it should be said that, while "Worms Squirming Into Your Occiput / Turning To Mush" is a fine example of this experimentation, its second half is too long and a little unwelcome.

Well, I'm once again very happy with the direction Cabinet took.  I've been eagerly awaiting another Cabinet ever since I discovered them, and I was hoping this would end up just as experimental as ever.  This is a finer example of what trying to be creative with an otherwise lacking genre can do.  Bestial black metal needs more bands like Cabinet, and along with Claustrophobic Dysentery, this is proof.  Even though this album has some flaws stemming from lengths, this is a weird and unique black metal album and one that I highly recommend.

96/100

Now Rising deserves a slot. Hard rock heavy metal perfection.

I don't really care if it's stoner or heavy or what.  I have a top 100 of genres spanning from metal to ambient to pop to experimental.  I will literally compare an apple to an orange at the snap of a finger.  The real secret is to compare the two items to their like items first, and then compare the scores.  In terms of heaviness, neither fit the bill.  But if we have to get technical, I'd say it's all about the spirit.  I feel like Sabbath's brooding atmosphere is more in tune with what metal should be than Judas's pre-Meat Loaf fantasy style.  And even then, Rainbow did that better.  You could say that Black Sabbath had a better idea of what metal should feel like, and their delivery of "stoner heaviness" in comparison to other stoner bands outweights Judas's heavy metal delivery in comparison to other hard rock bands.

Daniel's comment initially made me wonder whether he'd finally gone insane, but I just listened to the track and there really is very little in the way of metal. If this is metal, then yes, AC/DC is too.

And don't worry Sonny, Slayer at the very least will always be fucking metal!

One of the first songs I think of when I think about "metal riffs" is Silent Scream.

I'm just gonna say it: Black Sabbath were already heavier than tSad Wings on their barely-metal debut album.

I hope it's something a little new.  MDB have been essentially doing the same thing every album for the last few releases.

In other words, you'd make an average deathcore album :P

Ambient: Imagine if King Crimson and Tangerine Dream got together.  It would be a little jazzy, occasionally folksy, throw in an emotional rollercoaster with some chamber and black ambient, and maybe include a Philip Glass cover.

How would you make a folk pop album?

A war metal variant of Disharmonium Nahab with some Mico-style metalcore and grind.  But I'd leave some room for Lovecraftisn vibes.

How would you make a cyber metal album?

Shpongle - Ineffable Mysteries from Shpongleland

Genres: Psybient, Psytrance

Trance is loaded with many generic, repetitive and overlong albums.  This is not the case here.  This is proper psybient, with many unpredictable and constantly progressing songs.  I admit it's difficult to take a band named "Shpongle" seriously, despite the fact that they invented a relevant and influential genre in the EDM scene.  But this is an album of pure intelligence, having shown that the style they've been supposedly forming since their debut is now at full force.  The genre-tagging on RYM is way off.  There's not just psytance / psybient, here; this is a very experimental album with a perfect flow.  I don't even know what genre I'd call this song.

I'd call it "In Heat" and use growling dog vocals with some faint, atmospheric female moaning.  Of course, it will be fifteen tracks and only last 7 minutes.

How would you make a new age album?

how would you make a prog rock album?

The atmospherics of Pink Floyd, the structural complexity of Yes, the rhythmic technicality of Rush & the production of Porcupine Tree.

Next question?

Very nice.

I'd suggest that Bal-Sagoth would probably fall into this camp, wouldn't they?

That is fucking prime.  I've heard one of there albums before and this is perfect.

Although I get the rationale behind RYM being a guide for adding releases, I had thought (may be incorrectly) that the point of MA was to breed a little common sense on these frankly irritating, constant waves of new tags and subgenres that are clearly out of control over there.  Bizarre then that RYM seems to get so much press here really.

Probably because they're being so active in attempting to be a database of all "possible genres."  Of course I never would've mentioned it if we didn't have a good share of genres being carefully dissected in a series of forum reviews.  Reading Daniel's reviews is an integral part of the forum activity here, and I admit I posted this genre here under the impression that there may be merit here.

Of course, considering his response, I should've chosen noisegrind instead.  As a fan of grind and noise rock, I wanna check this out pretty badly.

Well based on past metal discussions and reviews I've read over the years, I find there are those who avoid "fantasy metal" as they like to slur symphonic power metal with and listen to "more serious" power metal like Scanner, and there are those who easily prefer the symphonic sound more because they're fantasy nerds.  I think once we get enough Guardians talking things over here, this discussion will in fact come up later.

Of course, this is all based on my experiences with other power metal fans on more active websites, and I can't speak for everyone else's experiences.  Also, I have a habit of trying to get these little details out of the way as soon as possible on the chance that it's necessary, or just to keep things organized, which is a habit stemming from my early days editing wikias / fandoms.  Or maybe I'm just Huey Ducking it and trying to get it as accurate as possible because I'm also the type who differs "traditional power metal" from "melodic power metal."  Having said that, I have more than enough awareness to know that THAT discussion would be overdoing it.

Random but serious question: Are all of these new subgenres coming from the basis of Electronic genres? 

I only ask because the label "Downtempo Deathcore" seems to only differentiate based on tempo, not actually what style of music is being played. I've only seen tempo be so monitored on certain Electronic genres, saying stuff like "140-150 bpm" acting like there are different categorizations for each subgenre based on beats per minute. Which I guess is a useful categorization but it seems absurd to me looking in from the outside? 

I'm aware that if you, say, slow down a Thrash riff to a certain BPM it eventually isn't a Thrash riff anymore, but I can't say I'm a fan of people (obviously not the folks here at MA) wanting "Fast" and "Slow" versions of the same genre.

That's a pretty good point, and it ties in with my own annoyance of doing just that with various EDM genres.

HEY ASTRAL PROJECTION!  Listen to some JUNO REACTOR and call me in the morning!

At the same time, this feels more like an atmospheric choice, like the difference between black metal and atmo-black metal.  I mean, some bands like to use slowness to drag out an atmosphere, even if they're still using a slow beat with repetition of the same note.  Hence black metal, or even songs like The Glowing Man.  And if this decision can have a very different appeal from standard deathcore, which gets very samey and overdone, I'll give this a shot.  Proving how much you can do with one notable difference is the benchmark of making new genres.  So once the RYM chart comes out, I'll give it a go and see if I can make something of it.  I heard "Sex With a Stranger" by Admiral Angry and think it MIGHT have some meat.  Emphasis on "might."

OK, to answer these questions.

1. YES.  There is a vast difference between a typically symphonic band like Therion and a symphonic power metal band like Rhapsody.  The vast majority of symphonic power metal is capitalizing off of the influential sound of Emerald Sword for the most part.  They can also be highly differentiated from other standard power acts like Helloween, Scanner, Gamma Ray, Running Wild, Iron Savior, etc.  Basically, it's all about that fantasy aesthetic.  Most symphonic metal is largely focused on taking the epic sound of movies and applying it to metal, regardless of things like high-energy melodies and guitar driven solos.  Take Therion, later-stage Nightwish, Lacrimosa, and even many Tristania songs.  These are songs focused more on the pretty or even dramatic atmospheres of cinema, regardless of whatever genres may come along, such as Tristania's gothic sound or Arcturus's avant-garde compositions.  Bands like Rhapsody combine it with the compositional traits, extreme riffage and catchy melodies of power metal constantly.  Hell, many of these songs are blatantly ripping off Emerald Sword.

2. The way I see it, symphonics are applied to different metals depending on the instrumentation that's necessary.  For example, bands like Emperor and Summoning use the fantasy LOTR influence in less hyperactive ways like Rhapsody and Twilight Force due, largely because the genre isn't quite as reliant on high-energy melody as much as it is on the border between dark aesthetics and epica.  There weren't a lot of violins or trumpets in the first two Emperor albums, and many of Summoning's songs are more reliant on the same type of dungeon synth electronics as Emperor's first two albums.  Now to me, "symphonic death metal" represents a bit of a middle point between the darker aesthetics of symphonic black and the high energy of symphonic power, and because there's less of it, there doesn't seem to be as defined of a ruleset beyond "death metal with symphonic instruments."

This is not to say there won't ever be albums that fit both symphonic metal and symphonic black / death / power metal, as that's entirely possible.  The way I'd handle that is simply to see how often one genre outweighs the other unless both the original format and the influenced sub-brand are balanced out perfectly.

3. Any metalhead worth his salt could identify the differences between symphonic power metal and traditional power metal.  I've seen these discussions all over the place.  There will always be similarities between a parent and the child, but it's no different than identifying blues from blues rocks.  Of course, there may end up being some debate between power metal albums that occasionally steer into the border, such as the mid-to-late-90's albums of Blind Guardian.  So I usually determine this by how much the orchestral aspects are shoved in yo' face.  A band like Rhapsody is blatant, but a band like Blind Guardian is a bit too diverse to really say beyond their 2010's albums.  It's also vital not to get either confused with neoclassical metal.

4. If it doesn't have to be RYM, we can simply handle any albums that are tagged as both here.  The idea is that it's a hybrid of two connected and often combined genres in the same clan, then simply using either RYM or Metal Academy's own database would keep things simple, and any questionable releases could simply be put in a Hall. But once again, there's a level of subjectivity there.  The only way I can see us doing it is if we take any releases tagged as both here and give them the tag.  The only problem with putting this into play is Metal Academy's current limitation in the Releases search of not being able to filter albums with both albums from albums with only one.

One thing I forgot to mention is that we have symphonic black metal and symphonic death metal. I think it would feel right if that subgenre were also included in the more appropriate clan.

Glass Beach - Plastic Death (2024)

Genres: Indie Rock, Art Rock

At the risk of sounding like Diane Chambers, I have to say, this is the most innovative albums I've heard in the vein of balancing melody with genre experimentation.  It's incredibly balanced and consistent, yet surprises me constantly.  The only flaw is a simple one: while the lyrics are charmingly cryptic, they don't have that personal grip that other cryptic artists like Paul Simon do.  It's a little "too" cryptic and random at times.  Of course, I'm only halfway through.  There has to be a major screwup for me not to give this five stars by this point, and they just pulled out the violin for an indie ballad.

Robbie Basho - The Voice of the Eagle (1972)

Genre: American Primitivism

This is one of the most beautiful albums I've ever heard.

Just added Septicflesh to my top 100 alltime and top 100 death lists.

https://metal.academy/lists/single/261

https://metal.academy/lists/single/253

Metallica - And Justice for All (1988)

Genres: Thrash, Tech Thrash

It's about time I reviewed this album.  Metallica is my number one metal band, but it's been ages since I gave this whole album a spin.  Part of it is that I prefer the more atmospheric production of Ride the Lightning and the catchiness of Master of Puppets.  But I really do love a good prog album, and easily find myself making up proggy rhythms on a daily basis for fun.  Honestly, I haven't been living up to my status as a Metallica fan, and I need to at least memorize a couple of the lesser-known songs from this album.  So since I've been doing a lot this week, I'm taking a little relaxation today to just chill and re-evaluate this album, instead of going through some jazz to help with a couple lists I'm working on like usual.

This is basically Metallica's "hey, look what we can do" album.  No joke.  This whole album was about showing off.  Don't believe me?  Listen to "Blackened" and tell me its outlandish and outrageous behavior doesn't bring to mind Frank Zappa.  We have pieces of 3 different songs taped together in a brutally bold and experimental thrasher that challenges any aspiring guitarist's mental capacity while remaining as catchy as it is intriguing.  And that's within six minutes.  The title track is different.  it's slower and more melodic, going into groovy and even solemn solos like these nine-minutes are just another three.  I had accused Master of Puppets of being bloated before, and still say that it feels as such when compared to the shorter Ride the Lightning, but this one song fixes that.

"Eye of the Beholder" barely has any progressive behavior to it, largely encompassing the time change in the chorus.  Otherwise, it's about as proggy as the least proggy songs on MoP.  And up to that point, it's the shortest featured song (by ten seconds).  It bears an almost groove metal sound.  Ironically, its repetitive main melody combines perfectly with the more healthy melody of Hetfield's lyrics.  It would stick out like a sore thumb if not for the usage of the same instruments, tones and emotions of the opener.  it's a straightforward song that acts as a reminder that you're listening to Metallica, and not some heavier King Crimson knockoff.  Good choice on their part, and a good justification for the simplicity in comparison.  This decision brings to mind the lowering levels of heaviness in side A of Ride the Lightning, where For "Whom the Bell Tolls," track 3, was barely grasping the thrash tag for love of gothic poetry.  So while this song is still a great one, it's probably the worst thus far, whereas the same can't be said for For Whom the Bell Tolls.

And now for "One," which is the big hit from AJFL.  As is standard for Metallica albums at the time, this is the point where the ballad behavior comes in.  And this one's serious about that singer-songwriter guitar style.  The acoustic and electric effortlessly mold into a serene but chilling intro into a lyrical memory of war. This song is a heavy reminder that Metallica are just as lyrically relevant as they are technically.  Of course, the band was never afraid of bringing the ballad into a heavier realm.  We have breakdowns for the third act, and after what we just got, this turn of events brings our despair into anger and potential insanity.  This slow and simple behavior expands into hyper-velocity hypnotism that takes us on a metronomic journey through an explosive battlefield via aural presence rather than lyrics.  Eventually, it just jams and rocks it like a tux.

Disc 2 begins with "The Shortest Straw," which kicks off with tribal drumming and riffing with a slightly industrial approach in its composition.  But afterwards, its song structure becomes more typical and even dives into the heavy jamming of speed metal bands like Venom and Exciter.  You can sense some punkish energy coming from Hetfield in this one.  Kicking off the second disc with a more blatant "speed / thrash hybrid sound as opposed to pure thrash was a good choice.  After it seemed like all of Metallica's tricks had been used up on this song, you may have forgotten the speed metal they dabbled in since Kill 'Em All.  This song is also the most melodic and riff-oriented song so far.  There isn't any time for repetitive riffs after the short intro is done, until the third act.  It's all about boasting that jamming you know rock and metal for.  The third act goes back to the behavior of the intro with a guitar solo attached or about 30 seconds before the final verse.  Honestly, for its more poppy and speedy sound, this feels like one of the most (but not THE most) creative songs on the album.  It made me hyped for what was coming next.

"Harvester of Sorrow" is a favorite among Metallica fans, but up to this point, I'm ashamed to admit that I had no recollection of it until it came on.  Lars was back to standard Metallica behavior as a gothic tone took the intro and slow and steady took the rhythm with haunting backing effects.  There's a powerful evil edge in the slow pacing.  Makes sense considering the lyrical content is about a man snapping and abusing his family.  This is maybe the darkest song so far.  If it were speedy, and had more background detail, it would likely lose its potency.  The weird thing is that it's the shortest song so far, even though its potential could've been expanded on considering the overly experimental quality of the intro, so it's a bit of a shocker to me that this song didn't have an extra two minutes attached for some weirder directions.  But, it still never lost its power.  Lyrically, the subject matter reminds me of the first time I read about a father murdering his family, the father of young actor Judith Barsi.

Now at song seven, I had decided that since only two songs out of six fit the prog bill, I was hoping this next song would fix that and get back into the prog game.  "The Frayed Ends of Sanity" begins with a metallic version of the guards' song in Wizard of Oz.  Better than when Septicflesh wrote the song "Communion" and accidentally did a symphonic death metal variant of the Meow Mix theme song, right?  This song goes back into the most standard behavior one expects from Metallic and sounds like something right from Master of Puppets.  It has more melodic and rhythmic capacity (more notes) but despite its strong grip, it's not quite as dark as "Harvester of Sorrow."  But since it sounds like a recreation of the previous album, I still give it points for unpredictability.

Now we get to some real craziness: "To Live Is to Die."  This is normally the part where Metallica whips up a nine-minute instrumental epic.  As an acoustic solo is overtaken by a simple metronome of deep and heavy drumming and sluggish riffing which Melvins would be proud of, one immediately comprehends that the black distortion of "Blackened" may return.  Its jam factor largely follows suite for a few minutes allowing the song to slightly mutate overtime in its own repetition.  Eventually, it caves into the somber side of the word, "epic," but never breaks tradition or goes into Hans Zimmer territory.  Halfway through, our metal does become quite and give us a slight bit of violin, following the metronomic pattern of some pieces of this song.  And we end with the song getting more quiet and melodic overtime, representing a full mutation.  So we have a perfect balance of simplicity and complexity here, as this song shows the band is proud of the changes they put it through for nearly ten minutes.

The final song is the fastest, nastiest and the shortest of them all: "Dyers Eve."  It bears the temple of "Fight Fire with Fire," starkly contrasting with the previous song's ending and bearing connection to the first half of "To Live Is to Die" via genre.  It's a beautiful clash of styles that even further justifies the album's creativity over more than an hour.  This straightforward thrash song recalls the desperate attempt at heaviness that most early thrash bands were trying to achieve, being known for breaking the sound barrier of metal rather than being known as great songwriters.  And this album recalls Metallica's success at combining both approaches to metal.

I'm actually very happy about this decision I'm about to make: And Justice for All is more suitable of a metal album for me than Master of Puppets.  See, Master of Puppet's relationship to Ride the Lightning makes the album feel a bit bloated with its extra ten minutes, raising RtL's 45 to 55.  But And Justice for All is constantly changing the game and manages to overcome this behavior while adding ten again.  It's 65 minutes of variety.  The band never changes their instruments or expectations, but becomes a more technical and progressive band at the same time.  And Justice for All shows Metallica not only having further mastered their signature sound, but going into stronger variety.  Unfortunately, all of this was still beaten by the fresher RtL.  But this album has its own edge that has earned its place among the "Best Metallica Album" debate which RtL currently seems to be winning.  Many would debate RtL verses MoP and laugh at those justifying The Black Album.  But in recent times, AJfL has been resurging in popularity, and it perfectly deserves it.  No longer may those who grew up with conventional songwriting knock this album off for being too weird.  So I'm lowering my rating and position for Master of Puppet swhile raising both for this one.

100

I'm aware of that Rex. I'm actually conducting this exercise as a part of another initiative I'm looking at doing in the future though & it's important that I check out or revisit all of these proto-metal records if I'm gonna make a good fist of that. And for the record, I don't think "Thunder & Lightning" is a metal record either just quietly.

Ah.  Yeah, I tackle multiple initiatives a lot, so I can get behind that.  There have been and will be times I'm working on three lists at once.