Rexorcist's Forum Replies

This only half-surprises me.  From what I understand from my old days there, RYMer's on the forums were generally disdained with the amount of metal albums throughout each modern yearly chart.  But this also means the raters are generally metalheads themselves.  Taking a look now, the new Blood Incantation is number 5 for 2024 at this time, and the charts have been like this for years.

Going on a John Cale marathon right now.

1. Vintage Violence - Very cute and charming, as well as diversified and atmospheric.  9/10

2. Church of Anthrax - Skipping until I've got more of Cale's solo stuff out of the way.

3. The Academy in peril - There are some good classical tracks here and about three boring ones.  7/10

4. Paris 1919: Extraordinarily clever.  Halfway through right now and I'm currently on cloud nine.  10/10 so far.

A couple points:

A: I'll forgive this 73 minute album for its various flavors.  If it was just goth and doom the whole time, chances are I'd get bored.  I firmly believe the greatest artists should have mutliple talents rather than boasting about their target sound on and on with no end.  I've gone on and on about my preferences for eclectic albums before (although I do need some balance).  The personality was a key component helped to balance anything outlandish out, especially since the flow didn't really break anymore than your average Pixies or Nirvana album.  It told you that you weren't just listening to a creepy goth band; you were listening to a bunch of guys having fun.  This album might not be for those who want a singular longlasting genre experience, especially if you're the slow-moving metal type, but it's an impressively bold one that goes above and beyond the call of duty.

B: Maybe their humor is a bit juvenile at times, but it's also another impressive risk considering that metal is all about seriousness.  Maybe it's not like adding synths to black metal, but it's still something you don't easily implement and remain a serious act at the same time.  And I didn't sense anything offensive from the intro, as there's really no way to take that kind of concept as a serious message.  Think about so many cheesy concepts that plague metal, from the satanism in early black metal to the LOTR fantasy of power metal.  Then we've got the sci-fi concept albums.  I think a few jokes on the side are fine.

I look at it like this:

Technical = Consciously complex & hard to play.

Progressive = Utilizes a more expansive palate of thematic, structural & melodic ideas which gives the music a more sophisticated (& sometimes spacey) feel. It can often be quite technical but not always.

Most technical releases could easily fit under the progressive tag in my opinion but I don't feel that the same can't be said in reverse.

That's what I've been thinking, but you phrased it way better.

To me, the "technical" sound is less about weird time signatures and trying to break the genre's standards and more about a less melodic and more robotic, showoff aesthetic.  At least this is the best way I can phrase it.  Prog metal has to have awkward but organized time signatures where as tech metal needs to be able to create awkward, repetitive but technically proficiant riffs and aesthetics without pushing too far into prog territory.

Symphony X: Divine Wings, Twilight in Olympus, V (98, 100, 100)

Metallica: Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, And Justice for All (100, 97, 100)

Happy 40th to Ride the Lightning!!!

... but it's not listen in the anniversaries page.  I just checked the date.

I just watched my 3000th movie.  I'll post a review here tomorrow out of excitement.

That reminds me, I submitted my 1,000th Metal Academy review a week ago. That seems almost impossible on paper but apparently I’ve managed to accomplish it somehow. I wonder how many of them were actually helpful or have even been read?

You've been running this site for a while now.  I'm personally surprised it's ONLY 1000.  Although I typically only read reviews for albums and movies I've already seen, so I've read quite a few of yours.

Del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)

Let's take a look at the countless Resident Evil adaptations that took over since the early 2000's. There was the live-action movie series, the CGI series, the reboot with Kaya Scodelario and finally: the Netflix series which nobody asked for. Eventually everyone was fed up. And now we have a few Pinocchio movies within just the last few years. There's the 2019 live-action film, the CGI film "A True Story," the DIsney one and this. Did we really need so many in such a short time? No. But thankfully, one of those movies is an instant classic for all the right reasons. I watched the CGI one yesterday for number 2,999, and decided I'd get through this one for 3000.

In this version of Pinocchio, he is created by a depressed Geppetto after losing his son to the Fascist war. This Pinocchio is very curios but a bit bratty, and wants to learn as much as he can. Overtime, he is caught and accidents and learns from the spirit world about life and death, and uses it in his interactions with the various friends and enemies he makes.

DAMN THIS KID CAN ACT AND SING. Did they go through ten years of searching to find this kid? Despite all of Pinocchio's realistic shortcomings as an overeager brat, his cheerfulness is and energy are adorable. Watching him learn about good and evil throughout all these circumstances, natural and supernatural, is exactly what this film needed. This performance alone makes the movie enjoyable. Everything else could be halfassed like the live-action 101 Dalmatians and I'd probably watch this twice.

And let's take a look at many of the other performances. Filch himself, David Bradley, delivers a perfectly realistc performance as a self-pitying Geppetto who's definitely prone to alcohol. Just watching him complain his its own burning charm. Ewan MacGregor plays Sebastian the Cricket, and while his performance is fine, I don't feel like he's being challenged here. But he has some of the best dialogue in the movie as Sebastian's excellent at explaining reason. Tilda Swinton plays two sisters: the Wood Sprite who brings Pinocchio to life, and Death herself, living in her own world and explaining the rules of life and death to Pinocchio. We have Ron Perlman issuing a perfect performance as a Facsist Podesta and Finn Wolfhard with an accent playing his son, Candlewick. And get this, a monkey speaks through grunts and speaks perfect English through various puppets. That's Cate Blanchett. It's Cate Blanchett. Let that soak in. First, Patrick Stewart gets excited to play a poop emoji and now Blanchett plays Mel Blanc with a tail.

Oh, and the famous ****wipe Mussolini is played by SpongeBob.

It starts off dark, as I expected it to. And we stick with the darker themes throughout the whole film while we also get some balance in the plot relevance of multiple villains. This is a movie that recalls the true intentions of fairy tales and even the subject matter of classic fairy tale movies. This creates a level of excitement which may require parental guidance but adds another layer to the morality, especially considering that Del Toro changed the time period to Fascist Italy where the war is going on. War themes put Pinocchio through other realistic horrors that the more famous adaptations are unfamiliar with. This can also help recreate certain levels of excitement that the Zemeckis remake failed to recapture, like the dogfish scene. While the role of the giant fish essentially stays the same, turning the Coachman into the Podesta and turning boys into soldiers was a perfect choice, as it helps develop the brotherly relationship between Candlewick and Pinocchio. Excellent choice, Del Toro. While the fox and the cat were turned into Volpe and the monkey, their effect of the plot is maxed out to the point of perfection.

On top of which, every reinvention of a trope or story element taken from the book MAKES PERFECT SENSE. Every bit of dialogue is thought out to make sure the plot progresses naturally with the themes, which is more than I can ask from most nonsensical and random fairy tale adaptations. This is especially impressive considering that Del Toro has a bad habit of favoring theme over magic, as shown in the lacking ghostly horror of The Devil's Backbone and the slim and occasional ventures into the fantasy world of Pan's Labyrinth. Here, we have a perfect balance between magic and theme, which as far as I've gathered hasn't been so perfectly balanced in Del Toro's works since Hellboy.

Now let's talk about the puppet animation: it's the perfect combination of charming, grotesque, cute, cartoony and realistic. Some serious research must've been put into these designs because everyone of them works. Such designs like this are beautifully ugly and rare to come across. It's one thing to create old men with cartoon features that still bear the realism of grumpy old men, but even the design of the giant dogfish and Volpe's red hair bear the kind of ugliness that's fun to watch.

After ranking this in my chart I found that this had become the highest rated fairy tale movie on that chart. And I might find myself watching it many times. This is currently my favorite Del Toro as well. All of the imagination of Del Toro's past movies and the love of thematic exploration is in the best harmony his movies have ever had, and there isn't a soul in this world I would not recommend this movie to. This truth to the source material molded with Del Toro's choice of Fascist Italian subject matter makes for a perfect example of a "faithful artistic rendition," and it only makes me ten times as impatient to see Del Toro's upcoming Frankenstein film. I am perfectly happy that this is my 3,000th film.

I just watched my 3000th movie.  I'll post a review here tomorrow out of excitement.

Hey, there's no SPOSTMANSHIP in wrestling.  Quit it!

Do I need to referee the mods?

Just got through Civerous's debut, Decrepit Flesh Relic.  Totally basic death metal with some perfect production.  58.

Now I'm getting through Maze Envy.  I like it well enough, but despite the advancements, everything here is still stuff I've heard before.  Less than 80.

Based on the mess RYM have made of their genre-tagging in recent years, I wouldn't worry too much about what their members think Rex as there's not a lot of genuine understanding there. More importantly, we need a few more The Guardians members to vote on this release in the Hall of Judgement so that we can achieve a clear position.

I know.  I'm just expressing my pleasure that it's at least staying there for a while.  I don't have an RYM account as the staff isn't making the best decisions, but I wanted a place to express the pleasure anyway.

Oh please last.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/deep-purple/deep-purple-in-rock/

Disillusion - Gloria (2006)

Genres: Prog Metal, Industrial Metal

From what I understand, Disillusion's sophomore album Gloria represents a dramatic change in sound from their debut, which was more straightforward prog but amped up.  Having recently gotten through the first three Shadow Gallery albums, I'm perfectly used to this.  I didn't expect a great album when I came into this, but I theorized I would like it more than many others because IMO the last thing the world needs is more "standard" albums, and we're already gonna get them every week anyway, so I might as well enjoy what I can from their new industrial sound.

I don't know about you, but that super-dark raw and rough atmosphere took me by complete surprise.  It's noisy while still maintaining a sense of melody.  It was also made clear early on that the vocalist Andy Schmidt was taking a few cues from The Sisters of Mercy's own Andrew Eldritch.  He also takes many times to go for spoken word segments rather than singing, which means the band has a clear urban vision for the album.  I'll say this, the urban factor definitely works for the album.  Like I said, I appreciate new sounds, and it's safe to say that this album is pretty unique to the prog metal scene.  There are some very interesting decisions you'd never get on the previous album, such as the choral synths on the title track being combined with spoken word.  Another great example is Avalanche's black metal intro.  That was COMPLETELY unexpected.  The tremelo-picking is tuned down to allow for a funkier rock guitar to take its place, which means there is still some room for evolution in these tracks.

There's a big problem with switching their sound to an industrial one, though.  Their new sound is partially built on the repetition of singular notes heard often in industrial metal, and is contradictory to the melodic prowess that made their first album so good, which means instead of merely switching styles, they also forgot one of their signature skills at times.  The melodies here aren't generally bad, but some are much better than others to the point where another strong comparison to the debut keeps this album from reaching the same heights.  Another little problem is that Schmidt easily had more room for his more melodic vocals, and he largely abandoned them in favor of darker urban vocals that don't have the same effect.

This is one of those cases where a band's ambition creates something good but also alienates the fans.  Not every idea present is a good one, but the band works with what they're doing here pretty well.  I'm not sure why they decided to take such a drastic turn in their sound, but with some more fleshing out, they could've had something brilliant.  Instead, we get something enjoyable and diverse, but uneven and lacking spirit.

77

Disillusion - Back to Times of Splendor (2004)

Genres: Prog Metal

Subgenres: Melodeath Metal

I paid very little attention to Disillusion because people only really talk about the one album, their debut Back to Times of Splendor.  That's a bit of a disappointment to me considering I like to explore plenty of an act's catalog before moving onto the next.  But it's necessary for me to check them out considering that debut album's reputation, my desire to be a professional critic and the list challenge here.  I didn't have any prior knowledge of them, and had no idea what to expect, but was hoping it wouldn't just be another standard prog album like a few of the albums on this same list challenge.

I'll admit, I haven't been extremely impressed with many of the choices on Metal Academy's 2nd-era prog metal challenge list.  So when I started the album, and this vaguely Egyptian prog-death opener assaulted me with a complex rhythm that was extremely easy to get to and heavier than a granite boulder, my attention was at full.  I was especially happy with this considering that I'm just coming off the back of Dan Swano's solo piece, Moontower, which was standard prog metal but could've been a little heavier at times without relying on so many 70's German prog synths.  Instead they rely on a perfect melodic / complexity balance as a focal point, as if they knew they were showing off.  But the thing is, this album never once feels like guitar wankery.  The rhythms are always easy to work with, and the band is in perfect harmony.  Due to how focused everything it, it's obvious that Disillusion is trying less to be "musicians" and more to be a "band."  Even when it switches things around a little, like the death metal middle section of Alone I Stand in Fires, nothing really feels out of place.  It's so consistent that sometimes the cool surprises might go over your head.

Due to the fact that the singer and the guitar tone are pretty standard for 2000's prog, I was more impressed than amazed, as if this was just an upgraded version of standard prog albums like Shadow Gallery's Tyranny.  Think of this whole album as a much more clever (and somewhat heavier) collection of many things that give standard prog its own name, from the guitar tones to the softer acoustic moments to being inches away from death metal to an occasional power metal segment to a romantic adventure story.  So while I didn't get the unique album I was hoping for, suffice it to say, I still got a great one that has a lot of clever technicality and never once loses its grip.  I would easily recommend this, although I wouldn't put it in my top 500 metal albums.  Maybe it'll be the in the lower end of my top 100 prog metal albums, but it might get kicked off soon.

90/100

So German power metal legends Blind Guardian appear to be releasing a re-recorded version of their classic 1992 fourth full-length "Somewhere Far Beyond" next month, a record that I quite like so I may check this out.

Super eager to see where this goes.  They don't need to re-record such a legendary album, but maybe they'll spice it up somehow.

Totally respect that. Crunkcore is among my least favorite genres of all time, but I'd be totally open to hearing an album in the genre that is actually enjoyable. Maybe I'll give it a shot just for fun.

I actually love it when one of my least favorite genres features an album I find amazing.  Nadja helped me explore some more of my least favorite metal genre: drone.

Blind Girls - An Exit Exists

Genres: Emoviolence

Apparently, I've heard multiple Blind Girls albums before a while back and completely forgot about them.  After checking my ratings, I realize that at the time of exploring them I found them overhyped.  I've heard a decent deal of screamo, and I'm on a pretty desperate search for a band that is both unique and creative.  These days, the best I can ask for is the great (but not brilliant) Foxtails, who I'll be closely following.  Having heard most of this group's catalog, I decided to get this apparent "modern screamo essential" out of the way, as RYM seems to be treating it.

Now this is a 20 minute album of a single genre, so I'll keep this review appropriately brief.  As soon as the opener Dissonance finished, I was certain I was in for just another screamo album.  Don't get me wrong, the atmosphere was perfectly fine.  The opener's title really tells you what to expect, but the actual screamo choices are ones I've heard across an entire genre's spectrum already.  The percussions add to the unpredictable and even chaotic nature as they go into jazzy areas explored by hyperactive bands like Deathspell Omega.  So while it's typical, it's entertaining.  Around the time of the 3rd to last track, there are some disturbing ambient sounds which made me wish there was much more of that scattered throughout this album.

I can easily see a screamo fan enjoying this work.  An Exit Exists is pretty typical for a screamo album, but it's still wild and chaotic.  It's one of those situations where you take all the overused ingredients and just keep switching betwene them, keeping it interesting during its tropiness.

74/100

Thankfully, among all the typical choices is a level of unpredictability that completely justifies the album's existence.

Crunkcore

No hate, but I'm am very curious to hear you explain what you like about this haha

I was hoping someone would say that.

I normally really hate crunkcore.  This particular album, however, gave me a feeling that was completely alien to the nearly 1000 hip hop albums I've explored, especially outside crunkcore.  It used industrial influences, noisy production during screams and ambiance to create a feeling that I can only describe as this: the many emotions of a robot seriously questioning if it has a soul.  That was some accidental brilliance for this guy.  I mean, he NORMALLY does better crunkcore than everyone else, but it's usually just OK.

This is why we need clan-central combo genres.

Little of both for me.

^ Gonna review this, too.

I am still a MAJOR noob to the world of epic doom.  I have a little experience in its parent traditional doom, but I'm not even familiar with the works of Solitude Aeturnus, Doomsword, Solstice or Krux.  Having said this, the reason I decided to listen to this today was because I finally have enough room in my top 2024 albums chart for another metal album to potentially make the top 30.  I'm trying to keep it at a 20% max, so as to ensure I explore other genres heavily.  It's been a terrible time trying to expand on it, but thankfully, my saving grace for the day have been that Twikipedia album and new live albums by Can and Yes.  On top of that, checking the charts, it looks like "epic doom" isn't really known for a grand scale of variety among its more popular groups.

Now I just read that the difference between traditional doom, which is bent in more heavy metal and blues influence. and epic doom is the theatrics, which gives this brand of doom more room for an otherwise opposite genre: US power metal, which is much more energetic.  The Stygian Rose makes a point of letting you know that it plans to make the most of energetic theatrics five seconds in, and the riffage is not only impressive, but the progression of each song is both interesting and easy to follow, even when songs change pace.  I mean, it's totally easy to fall in love with that gothic black guitar tone at the beginning of Down in the Hollow.  The stronger changes seemed to be more apparent with each track, such as the tempo changes with Heavy Is the Crown of Bone.  I was just utterly soaking in the combination of traditional doom, funeral doom, USPM and some doses of gothic and black, as well as the progginess of track four.  But the variety itself wasn't the highlight, but the COMPOSITION.  These guys are utter PLAYERS.  Crypt Sermon manage a lot with the album's average runtime.  There are completely hypnotic elements like that synthy beginning to Scrying Orb, which is one of multiple examples of how crystal clear the album's production is without the overpolished reverb of studio necessities.  This is especially handy considering that the band plays with atmosphere the further along the album goes.  Take the noisy yet heavenly funeralism of the closing title track's intro for example.  I have to be honest: that's one of the finest example of composition, aura, produiction and technique I've ever heard in 2500+ metal albums.

And let's talk about the lyrics.  During The Scrying Orb, I noticed something: these guys are about as good at delivering lyrical imagery of other worlds and realms without sticking fully to tradition as Blind Guardian.  I mean, take Imaginations from the Other Side and Mirror Mirror.  Rhyming anyone?  Crypt Sermon aren't as upfront about the experimentation with melody here, but they know how to keep things engrossing on all levels.  Take the line "Blessed be the green lion, the green lion that eats the sun, to see through Orion where two hearts will beat as onе."  I'm just getting customized flashes of ancient walls with highly detailed hieroglyphs moving to the story.  And thankfully, this guy has a totally appropriate voice for both the energetic bits and the atmospheric bits.  I honestly like his voice much more than Messiah Marcolin's.

I've been pretty excited about 2024 this year, even to the point where I feel like I'm overrating albums because there are so many albums this year that completely fit my standards for perfection.  So in my effort to ensure that my reviews are founded on knowledge, I have to ask myself, "how do I know that this album isn't essentially copying another epic doom metal band that I haven't yet heard?"  I think it's a 100% valid question considering that I made the dumbass decision to listen to a 2024 album for a genre I've only heard like 5 albums for, especially since most of those 5 are early Candlemass.

So I'm just going to go based on my standards across 2500+ albums, assuming that's at least enough by this point: I loved it.  There was not a single millisecond I wasn't completely behind.  It might be a bit too diverse for the general traditional doom metal album to really be seen as an epic doom classic, but if Coagulated Bliss is seen as a modern grind classic no matter how many genres it plays with, that I'm going to go by the standards I set up for myself and ask the four questions.

1. What is the goal of this album?  It seems to be a further exercise in Crypt Sermon's growth as a band by once again differentiating their sound from the previous album.

2.  Does the album meet its goal?  100%.

3. What does the band sacrifice or neglect by meeting this goal?  Honestly, I don't think it really neglected anything except maybe standard epic doom behavior, if I'm to believe the RYM track listings.  I guess if I had to compare it to other doom albums, one technicality that isn't quite a flaw but isn't quite as good as another album in this regard is that its variety, while perfect for the album, isn't as wide-ranging as Idolum or The Dreadful Hours.  But it still works perfectly for the album, which pretty much states that there was no real sacrifice if the goal was to expand.

4., Are the sacrifices and negligences made up for by other aspects of the album?  If the above indeed was a sacrifice, then I have to say that in the end, this album is the kind that can probably attract a variety of metal fans by staying true to the band's spirit.

All in all, I just have to call this one of the greatest doom albums I've ever heard.  On my list I'll be putting this at #244 on my list of perfect albums between Peter Gabriel's So and Keith Jarrett's Koln Concert.  This makes the album my #2 metal album for 2024, my #6 2024 album period as well as the seventh 100 for 2024 that I've given.  Haven't had a year like this is a long time.

Just spent my morning looking fore the proper tracklists and songs from the deleted Twikipedia albums.  I didn't know the first few were deleted after dropping, so it was a little difficult.  Couldn't find one song for the debut album or debut EP, but one song isn't gonna make a difference when the rest are all the same and each one's like 90-120 seconds long.

Apparently, he started doing a bunch of comedy rap and digicore, the latter of which I have minimal experience.  But the EP's taught me what I needed to know and now I'm on his 2022 studio album Chronic.  It's actually pretty damn good.  A little on the samey side, but beautifully produced and very melodic.  Not super fond of some of the typical tropes of hip hop lyricism, but overall I'm digging this.

Genres: Prog Rock

Subgenres: Prog Metal, Neo-Prog, Ambient, Modern Classical

This is the point where Shadow Gallery decided to be REALLY ambitious.  Taking a dramatic turn from their previos sound, they experiment with new textures here, risking alienating fans of the first.  At first I found myself pretty annoyed with finding the various track listings on RYM and YouTube make it difficult to find the right playlist.  Apparently there seem to be major changes between releases, so I just went with the one involving the hidden segues.

Right from the start, Cliffhanger fixes the major production problem of the debut, making it more appropriate for tamed metal studio production instead of glittery symphonic prog rock production.  Cliffhanger also bore a new, slower and darker persona.  There's more focus on synths and organs as well as textures.  Whether this was simply a temporary direction on an album with more of the enjoyable symphonics of the previous album or the staple for the rest of the album I didn't know, but I was gonna finish it anyway.  I quite liked the new direction and I was both happy and disappointed that Crystalline Dream carried the sound over due to pros and cons.  The textures become a vital role in the development of the entire side B, which is all one big epic divided into several parts.  The various influences of the album do a bang-up job bringing you into a weird proggy solar system with its own fanciful presence.

Ironically, I really wished there was more strength in the percussions.  The album definitely needs more beat in terms of strength and metallic behavior.  Sometimes this album will drag on and forget to be a metal album.  This is only one example of how the album largely sacrifices the symphonic sound for dramatic epica.  At least these vibes are tamed and never reach melodrama, but I wish it would feel more like a metal album.  Even when guitars go deep it steers to close to ballad territory too consistently to give a metalhead what he needs.  If people are gonna complain about a metal tag for Deep Purple's Child in Time, then I'm gonna complain about a metal tag for Warcry.  It's neo-prog with a little metal in it.

As a prog rock album, this one succeeds hard.  We have a great balance between slow atmospheres and heavy organ symphonics due to the inclusion of ballads.  Although I wish Shadow gallery continued the sound of their first album, I won't deny that I consider the various genres the band implemented to all be well-delivered.  Nicely epic and consistent, this is a step forward for Shadow Gallery.

82.5

Shadow Gallery - Shadow Gallery (1992)

Genres: Symphonic Prog Metal, Symphonic Prog Rock

Subgenres: Neoclassical Metal, Neo-Prog

As you can see, I'm using quite a different genre-tagging than RYM.

At the time of writing this, let it be known that I've spent weeks largely focusing on either genres as well as 2024 releases and the bands associated with them.  Since I like to explore at least parts of discographies when I check out as new artist, it takes a while for me to get through metal albums.  In terms of Metal Academy's list challenges, that takes me even longer.  But today I'm allowing myself some metal for all my hard work.  Today I'm getting through three SHadow Gallerey albums to make it to the one I need to help with the challenge: Tyranny.  But of course, I'm starting with their self-titled debut.

The Shadow Gallery debut is basically everything you'd expect from a symphonic prog metal band.  We've got many diversified elements that bring a sharp and poignant persona to the music, made up of the neoclassicalism present in many 70's prog rock bands adjusted for the metal genre, energetic and functional melodies up the wazoo, contemporary neo-prog bringing to mind the words of Marillion and IQ, and enough light but effective metallic energy to attract less experimental fans of prog metal such as Dream Theater fans.  Everything molds pretty well together to cement the Shadow Gallery identity instantly, and makes one curious about future releases.  Right from the getgo the heavy melodies are almost gorgeous, and the album diversifies itself while staying that way.

However, of all its strong points there are a couple of weak points.  First and foremost, while the delivery is exquisite, the compositions are nothing groundbreaking in the prog metal vein.  We've seen it all before, but the persona's strength gave me hope for future releases to remedy the flaw.  The second most important thing is that the production, while glittery, doesn't really fit the metal vibe.  The album's metal enough to go along, but it felt more appropriate for a symphonic prog ROCK album rather than a symphonic prog METAL album.  In fact, it reminded me of the difference between Twilight Force's impressive debut and the glittery behavior of their sophomore.

I'm glad I had the time for Shadow Gallery today, and you know something?  I really like the direction they took.  They seem to have practiced a lot with their sound and despite the major flaws, the strengths outweigh them, and I'd probably even return to this album later despite the flaws.

77

Just got done with Billie Eilish's first EP and her three studio albums.  Most of her stuff is decent or OK, but her 2024 album kinda rocks ass.  Now I'm on some ghazal music by Arooj Aftab.

Might as well start with my favorite: Metallica

1. Creeping Death (RtL)

2. Master of Puppets (MoP)

3. The Shortest Straw (AJfL)

4. Ride the Lightning (RtL)

5. Blackened (AJfL)

6. Fade to Black (RtL)

7. Sad But True (TBL)

8. Nothing Else Matters (TBL)

9. Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (MoP)

10. Trapped Under Ice (RtL)

Symphony X

1. Evolution: The Grand Design (V)

2. Paradise Lost (PL)

3. Egypt (V)

4. Set the World on Fire (PL)

Smoke and Mirrors (TiO)

The Edge of Forever (TDG)

Of Sins and Shadows (TDWoT)

Through the Looking Glass (TiO)

Legend (U)

The Accolade (TDWoT)

Just a year and two days after this thread died, I revive it to bring up Lingua Ignota, as reminded to me by my current exploration of Uboa, who's apparently got a new album out that may be a strong contender for album of the year.  So I'll check out a couple of works before heading to the 2024.  But yeah, Lingua Ignota deserves a mention.

EDIT: Uboa is so in.

Imagine Dragons - Loom (2024)

Genres: Alt-Pop, Pop Rock

Subgenres: Indie Pop, Alt-Dance, Electropop

So I went through the rest of the Imagine Dragons studio albums to prepare myself for this new one. Those were Smoke + Mirrors, which was nicely diverse but had some filler, Evolve which was only slightly worse than the pretty bad Origins, and Mercury Act 2, which was unnecessary. As planned, I'll be posting my review for their new album. Unfortunately, if I were to write a long review for a simple pop album that only lasts the same measly 28 minutes as a Ramones album, then I'd be spouting a truck load of nonsense for the sake of filler... which would be ironically appropriate for an Imagine Dragons album, not that I plan on making that same mistake.

The glossy but underwritten instrumentals are largely void of proper melodic prowess, relying on the stronger atmospheres that you'd expect to get from that Tycho-knockoff album cover and the simplest of hip hop beats like they've never been done before. Although this means the album's got a consistent flow, it also means there's a serious lack of the variety displayed in Smoke and Mirrors. In other words, they threw together a 28-minute album for the sake of capitalizing on their name. It gets obvious that they ran out of ideas on the overly sappy filler song Don't Forget Me. If you've heard an Imagine Dragons album, chances are you've already heard two or three songs just like that one.

The singles are Eyes Closed and Nice to Meet You, which both feel very empty even when compared to the filler of previous Imagine Dragons albums. I can see these singles being temporary hits for the year, but if they somehow manage to last the next few years on pop radio like maybe Hello by Adele, then I'm gonna throw up, because there is no way any of these songs even hold a candle to Believer, which had attitude and power to it to help make up for lacking instrumentals.

Long story short, I was more entertained by Lulu, the collab album between Metallica and Lou Reed. Imagine Dragons have sunk to a low even deeper than Maroon 5's Jordi. This is a practically brainless album relying on faint catchiness and stereotypical atmospheric alt-pop production. If they hadn't blown too many ideas on their earlier albums, they might feel more pressured to come up with original ideas for future albums. But let's be honest. This is not an album, it's a cashgrab.

22 / 100

I had a good musical day.  Taking a small break from house now that I'm largely satisfied with my lo-fo house studies, I wanted to expand my blues output, largely since in past years I've been struggling with it.  Examples: I don't listen to a lot, John Lee Hooker's ratings on my charts lowered, and I just CAN'T get into Mississippi John Hurt at all.  It might've had a say in discouraging me from blues exploration, but I decided to give it a go again.

Got through three Freddie King albums: Texas Cannonball (94) : Burglar (100) and Getting Ready (100).  Damn this guy's got amazing blues. Burglare is extremely inventive and funky, and Getting Ready does everything possible within straightforward traditional stuff.  The only problem I had with Getting Ready was that tracks 8 and 9 were a bit too similar, but I'm willing to forgive one instance of that.

But right now I want something a little different.  There's a new album out by an otherwise meh band, but I never really hated them, so I'm gonna blow through the rest of their catalog, starting with...

Imagine Dragons - Smoke + Mirrors (2015)

Genres: Pop Rock, Alt-Rock

Subgenres: Indie Pop, Alt-Pop, Dream Pop, Art Pop, Stomp and Holler

Never been a fan, never expected great things from them, never liked the fact that they were the so-called guest stars on the pilot for that short lived Muppets sitcom.  So what am I doing listening to Imagine Dragons?  Simple: getting another popular modern band's catalog outta 'da way.  Based on their album Origins, I expected something largely ambient and sappy, but knew from their debut that something a bit catchier and diverse was still possible, so while I wasn't surprised by the true nature of the album, I was pleased.  So in preparation for the new Imagine Dragons album, here's the first of the few albums I haven't heard.

This album builds itself on repetitive riffs with a lot of attitude and energy, which ironically reminds me of my favorite blues song: Mannish Boy by Muddy Waters.  I like the different directions each song takes, like the industrial behavior of the title track.  The melodies feel like half of a full melody, but they work due to each riff's repetitive nature.  Of course, through the first half I was just waiting for a stomp and holler single to come out, and not knowing what was on the album, I immediately recognized track five as one often played at work: I Bet My Life.  The chorus's exact placement with the beat feels off each time I hear it.  Even Friction has a weird but likable Indian vibe vaguely reminiscent of some Juno Reactor songs I heard, notably on the Zwara EP.  This is a song I'd return to.  Why do they always play that stomp and holler crap instead of some of the weirder stuff here?  The weird stuff's not half-bad.  Of course, following up Friction is a worse, sappier song called It Comes Back to You, and even worst is the utterly boring Dream.  I was practically begging for the weird stuff to come back, but I got an energetic and lush stomp and holler song called Trouble, so I would settle for that due to the energy.

Of course, the album's trying to do a LOT of different things.  All you gotta do is check the genre tagging of the album's singles on RYM to see this.  The dramatic shift between Friction and It Comes Back to You might've been fine if the latter was anywhere near as good as the former, but it's not.  It takes consistency to justify an uneven flow IMO, or at least that's my excuse for Led Zeppelin IV's shift from Rock and Roll to The Battle of Evermore.  Even the weird shift from a cool and catchy dance song like the intro Shots to a glitchy and wacky song like Gold can be a problem, and I sensed it early on but decided to give the album the benefit of a doubt until stuff like the shift between Friction and It Comes Back to You again.  So the quality of the songs and the diversity are a bit randomized.

So with the band's independent attitude displaying a surprisingly powerful force (and a stark contrast to Origins), I can safely say that out of the few Imagine Dragons albums I've heard, this is my favorite of the studio albums... not counting their decent early EP's.  But this is largely for the first half.  While it has a lot of catchy tunes, it has too many and it's trying to accomplish too much.  While I promote the idea of trying out a bunch of new genres, if they kept the songwriting quality a main focus, they would've had a lot less filler and justified the variety more.

61

The Ocean - Pelagial (2013)

Genres: Post-Metal, Prog Metal

Subgenres: Atmo-Sludge Metal, Post-Rock, Metalcore, Death Metal

I'm glad I'm taking this time to go over older albums I've heard for the sake of rearranging some things on my charts.  This was started by a willingness to explore the catalog of Metal Blade, which includes listening to the Metal Blade albums I've already heard for different reasons, such as The Ocean's popular Pelagial, which I've planned on going back to for a while.  Now despite being part of the Infinite clan on Metal Academy, that's mostly for the prog and the avantgarde.  Post-metal isn't generally my thing, but I can spot the good stuff.

The first thing that must be noted is that unlike most post-metal albums, there is certainly not a level of clearcut repetition going on for the sake of exploring overlong ambient textures.  Leave that to Isis and let The Ocean do whatever they want.  I mean let's be honest: Disequillibrated is a death metal song in the same vein as Gojira.  Like past Ocean albums you can sense instances of post-hardcore and metalcore inserted easily, like an off-white patch on a white quilt.  Despite the extremities, The Ocean never forgets that they're making atmo-metal, so there's plenty of time to chill.  As Boundless Vasts starts off heavy and ends its three minute half by quickly getting more and more serene, takes us through a chilling but ambient journey into instrumental deaths while our singer screams like he's trapped at the bottom of the abyss.  Clever work.  Most of these songs are around average length, but there are a couple beautiful segues and two nine-minute tracks near the end.  Let Them Believe may not change things up progressively, but as a post-metal track there's just enough ongoing mutation to keep exploring the oceanic themes.  As well, I completely adore the fact that the eneded the album with a seriously doomy sludge song.

Even though this is definitely a prog album, there is no limit to how accessible this is.  Ironically, this album doesn't border on the questionable nature of the prog tag like some Rush and Dream Theater albums that many metalheads can name.  You can easily take songs like the joining Impasses and The Wish in Dreams and probably play them at work on the same playlist as one with Zep's Ramble On.  This is not only because the band excels with melodicism, but the decisions they make bear a flawless alchemic formula of the post-rock and extreme metal elements even with highly-melodic piano is being played at the same time as death metal screams.

I won't call this a sludge album anymore, but as a post-metal album this is likely my new number one, depending on how I define it and whether or not I'd give the tag to Through Silver in Blood by neurosis.  Pelagial fits every standard of mine for a perfect album.  it sets out to create atmospheres perfectly while balancing out a number of genres in one of the single most consistent deliveries I've ever heard, as well as remaininh 100% accessible in its melodies while testing the borders of extreme metal and prog.  I'm especially happy that I'm currently moving this up to my number 2 prog metal album of all time, as I was afraid that having the top two be the same band (Symphony X) seemed like fanboyism.

100

After some further studies, I found that Nuclear Blast acxtually has a really bad habit of bringing great bands in AFTER their heyday.  Most of the bands I listed were brought in that way.  But it's been difficult looking through metal catalogs and finding one full of my favorite bands and that has a wide array of genres at their helm.  I found one that's most certainly the latter, and full of artists that I've either given five-stars to an album of theirs or more, or I plan on exploring: Metal Blade.  Let's go over some of their properties I've given five stars to.  The bolded ones are ones I would quickly go back to.

Bolt Thrower: Those Once Loyal (Death)

Falconer: Among Beggars and Thieves (Power)

Fates Warning: Awaken the Guardian (USPM, Heavy, Prog)

Helstar: A Distant Thunder (USPM, Heavy)

Immolation: Close to a World Below, Here in After (Death)

Labyrinth: Return to Heaven Denied (Power)

The Ocean: Pelagial, Precambiran (Atmo-Sludge), Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic (Prog, Atmo-Sludge)

Primordial: To the Nameless Dead, The Gathering Wilderness (Folk, Pagan Black)

Trouble: Psalm 9, The Skull (Traditional Doom, Christian)

Non-Metal

Neal Morse: ? (Symphonic Prog)

And there are other bands I want to thoroughly explore like Transatlantic, Dvne, Disillusion, Whitechaple, Gwar, Downfall of Gaia, so I'm likely going to explore more Metal Blade in the coming weeks, especially where clan challenges are concerned.  I might as well go back on Fates Warning tonight after I'm done with Caravanserai.

I certainly hope we do just that.  There are many brilliant albums that came out in the last decade or so that should be represented.

The Remnant is a single.

Considering objections

Emperor (North, not including Prometheus as a prog album)

Alice in Chains (Gateway)

Type O Negative (Fallen)

Morbid Angel (Horde)

Soundgareden (Gateway)

Korn (Gateway)

Killing Joke (Sphere)

Converge (Revolution)

Blut aus Nord (North)

Trouble (Fallen)

Impressive, Rex! I've also been listening to metal for 11.5 years now, and the amount of metal albums I've heard is in the thousands, though it's literally 99% of all music that I've chosen to listen to during that time period. Yeah, I'm more focused on metal than any other music genre.

You're likely higher than me at this point.  I'm only at 2560.  I oftentimes force myself to go through binges on specific genres and bands to make sure I properly educate myself on them.  Right now it's outsider and lo-fi house, and thankfully since lo-fi house is a very EP-oriented genre I can get through about three of those a day and still have time for a couple other albums from other genres I want to explore.  But I need to wait until I can go on another serious metal binge.

If someone listened to 2 albums a day, that would be 730 albums a year. At that rate it would take 19 years to listen to 13,825 albums, and that's without ever listening to an album twice.

I generally listen to at least four a day, and on free days where I have no plans I play albums when I'm doing housework and writing, so I can easily wolf down 2,000 albums a year and still make time for movies.  On top of that, I've listen to a lot of punk and EDM, so EP's also play into that.  I've been doing that for 11.5 years now.

Good news concerning my log of every album I've ever heard.  I'm trying to keep the number of metal albums there to under 20% so I can focus on other genres.  I just did all the math: I have currently heard 13,825 albums and have 2,560 metal albums in it.  I immediately know that 2,560 x 5 = 12,800, so I am 1,025 albums ahead of 20%.  But this also means that the amount of metal is 18.5%, so I'm not as ahead as I'd like to be...

I've had an excellent exercize in music today.  I worked on my lo-fi house studies, made some room to explore Mach-Hommy, and I added one of his albums as well as Hergest Ridge by Mike Oldfield to my top 1000, kicking out Bee Thousand and Dusty Definitely.  I'm not really sure what genre to call that Oldfield album.  I mean, "prog rock" feels totally wrong.  It's more like "art pop" or something.  It's just so diversified that it's almost impossible to peg, but I do NOT wanna call it a rock album.  I guess I'll call it new age based on RY's description: "Broad genre centered on peaceful, meditative melodies, using a wide variety of instrumentation."  New age isn't necessarily slow meditative music like ambient.

I like it.  Thing is, it is feasible with the current script?

Ben, could you please add the new Alcest?  Thanks, peaches.

Sorry to say that I won't be posting this in The North as was my original intent.

Alcest - Les chants de l’aurore (2024)

Genres: Post-Metal, Shoegaze

Subgenres: Post-Rock, Blackgaze, Dream Pop

Once again we have a fine example of Alcest challenging the very notion of evil in the black metal sound.  There will be, however, some debate as to how "black" this album really is, considering that the usage of the genre seems to be limited to certain artistic choices between songs.  In the opener, Komorebi, the blackness that helps to open the song is overshadowed by epic choir vocals like something out of a Hans Zimmer score or a Celtic new age album.  However, L'envol isn't afraid to follow up the new age vocals that take the final act with a direct assault of atmo-black metal and kickstart another uplifting and catchy piece of pure Alcest.  Neige's vocals are just as clear and crystalline as ever.  Thanks to its incredibly cheerful approach, you can look back on a song and think to yourself, "this was eight minutes long!?"  It still spends more time focusing on the post-metal, though.  If you want straight up blackgaze, then Améthyste is the way to go.  You can get just as lost in the atmosphere as you do in the rhythms.

Kickstarting the second half is the last of the two singles, the first being L'envol.  Flamme Jumelle is a post-rock track that carries all the themes through a lighter, more accessible rock sound but manages to maintain the Alcest appeal perfectly, even when incorporating the mesmerizing tremelo-picking.  I can see this being an Alcest stape for future concerts.  Next is a piano and violin semi-instrumental (don't worry, it's only three minutes long), Réminiscence, which features Neige vocalizing in ways that just make me wanna effing meditate.  The incorporation of new age elements was a spot-on choice.  Next is L'Enfant de la Lune, which isn't quite as cutesy as the name would suggest, but makes for a good post-metal track that focuses on anthemic energy.  It carries a heavily noisy approach but never really steers into blackgaze.  Thankfully, this decision made the song more unique to the album as its approach was used similarly in Améthyste.  We end things with L’adieu, which stays soft, ambient and serene throughout the whole five minutes, relying entirely on the sunset calm to recall the imagerey of that album cover in a more realistic fashion.  Perfect ending.

It must be mentioned that Alcest is NOT, I repeat, NOT, trying anything that new.  Just because there's less blackgaze on this album than before doesn't mean it's new for them.  They're essentially repeating the less blackened songs of their past albums.  The one time they changed their style, there was a little backlash, even though the album was alright.  And if you ever read one of my reviews, you'd likely know that I'm the guy who promotes trying new thing and typically hates copying the hits.  The thing is, Alcest's structuring of compositions and rhythms is certainly not conventional, and because of this, five albums of great blackgaze just isn't enough.  Pair this with the fact that there are very few in this wonderful gimmick genre that can butt heads with the likes of Alcest and Deafheaven, and you may find yourself running back to this essential French band for more and more.  Some say Sadness can, but is three bands really enough?  But this album still isn't blackgaze, really.  It's a further exercise in pretty atmospheres that's even less distracted by the depression and evil often associated with black metal.

So time for the four questions:

1. What is the goal of this album?  Seems to be an exercize in uplifting summery atmosphere rather than a blackgaze album, so the goal must be a slightly new direction that fans will still get behind.

2. Does it meet its goal?  Well as an Alcest fan who just read some ratings after the album finished, I can guarantee that this is a major yes.

3. What did the album sacrifice or neglect to meet its goal?  Really, the fact that this new direction is slight means there's some unoriginality involved.

4. Are the sacrifices made up for by other aspects of the album?  Considering that the album still meets my standards for variety, atmosphere, rhythmic prowess, etc., I'm gonna say yes.

So this Alcest album is a grand reminder of what Alcest is capable of, but if you look at it closely, you'll see the band wants to go for something a little new.  Nevertheless, they still put passion in it and are aware of their skills.  I can see this being argued as a contender for best metal album of the year by the masses.  I don't think I'd go that far (my current choice is Coagulated Bliss), but I've been waiting for the new Alcest since Spiritual Instinct, and now I'll be even more eagerly awaiting the eight studio album.  Les chants de l’aurore cancelled out all my worries that Alcest lost its potency, even if their "new ideas" are technically reorganized rehashes of past ones.

96/100

Sorry to be behind the curve here but my quick 2 cents about Blackgaze:

It's definitely one of the smaller Black Metal subgenres that could be encapsulated by just Sunbather, but I think it deserves a bit more than that. I think the current resurgence of Shoegaze/Noise Rock in the indie spheres has been allowing Blackgaze to make some waves again, so limiting the subgenre to one example seems a bit harsh. I did some digging on early Blackgaze releases and of course Alcest and Deafheaven were the only ones to gain any notoriety, so I think we're covered on that. I'd agree that either Souvenirs d'un autre monde or Écailles de lune deserves a spot as Deafheaven doesn't end up where they are if Alcest wasn't a part of the equation. I couldn't find any specific interviews but as much as it's worth Wikipedia cites that Alcest was a pretty big collaborator and influence on Deafheaven before Sunbather released, so I think tracing back that path is worth it for the list. Then I think it's a question whether the list values the "prototype" (Souvenirs) or the stronger early example (Écailles) of Blackgaze. I'd personally go with Écailles if I was forced to choose, but I'm sure most people would see it both ways. 

I know pretty much nothing about Depressive Black Metal so I'll see myself out o7

Thanks Xephyr. I agree that Alcest has to be included. It's just a matter of which album.

It's a difficult one.  Now their sophomore is much more metal, but Souvenirs is much more popular and a bit more lauded.  You could say that the genre was more well focused and cemented on Ecailles, but I think Souvenirs is more relevant to the history of blackgaze's development, so I'll vote Souvenirs.

Ayreon - The Human Equation (2004)

Genres: Prog Metal, Metal Opera

Subgenres: Prog Rock, Space Rock, Folk Rock

I've been a bitdistracted from the prog metal for a couple days since I've been going through so many projects lately, but now I've got the time to take on this 100-minute Ayreon album in one sitting.  I don't like splitting albums in parts unless it's just THAT long, like the 10-hour Grateful Dead Fillmore West comp I once listened to years ago.  I didn't have super-high hopes for this one as Into the Electric Castle didn't amaze me as much as the fans would want, although I still liked it.

Akin to Into the Electric Castle, this 100-minute album shows Ayreon going for another new sound for the band, but a pretty familiar one for me.  This album's a bit reminiscent of the themes and guitar tones of Metropolis Pt. 2 by Dream Theater.  Don't believe me?  Guess who sings as the main character of this concept: James LaBrie of Dream Theater.  To be fair, I skipped over the Universal Migrator albums for the list challenge, so I'm not fully aware of the transition.  But I know the first part of that two-album series has symphonic prog elements from a little research.  The folksy aspects make occasional returns, and sometimes it's just glorious like in the Disc 1 outro: Love.  It's a pretty incredible track melodically and aurally.  And thankfully, the space rock elements of the debut are here without the cheesy symphonia that didn't really add to the emotional core of the debut.  Thankfully there are a large number of influences here.  Some of the electronic elements faintly ring of Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream, while some of the more dramatic vocals on Day 8 and the rhythm have a Meat Loaf ring to them.  The song Loser somehow manages to combine Celtic metal with metalcore screams and still maintain the themes and presence of the song.  Pride's repeating metallic riff can also be attributed to some Devin Townsend influence.  This is no surprise as various characters are played by people such as Townsend, LaBrie, Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth, Mike Baker of Shadow Gallery and even Eric Clayton of Saviour Machine, along with so many more.

The story is certainly an intriguing one.  This one's like a combination of the mystique of Metropolis Pt. 2 and the scene-by-scene history of The Wall or maybe the 1975 Russian film The Mirror, telling the story of a man who gets into a car accident, is comatose, and goes over his history with his childhood, his wife and even his own emotions.  Listen closely to the lyrics as they get incredibly personal.  However, these themes, while well-delivered, aren't entirely new, as they still ring heavily of the psychological lyrical imagery that's been seen in rock operas ever since the emergence of The Who's Tommy.  On top of that, I'm not really sure the album needs to last 100 minutes.  I mean, some themes feel recycled overtime, not having the originality of similar stories like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  Despite these things, the melodies are always beautiful and the number of influences are both consistent and always intriguing and / or catchy.

Now for the four questions:

1. What is the goal of this album?  It seems to be Ayreon's attempt at another "essential" prog metal opera as it fits the tropes.

2. Does it meet this goal?  Considering the melodic quality and variety of each song, I'd say so.

3. What did this album sacrifice to meet its goal?  I'd say uniqueness.  It's tropey and also a little long.

4. Are these sacrifices made up for by other aspects of the album?  Oh, yeah.  The album might be overlong, but its musical prowess is phenomenal.

So overall, I'd say this is EASILY a good 100 minutes of my time that I find myself tempted to go back and revisit.  I didn't think this was gonna be as high on my rating chart as it's gonna be considering that I wasn't wowed by their album The Human Equation which is just as lauded, but this album wowed me a few times.

96/100

My three favourite Maiden albums are Seventh Son, Somewhere in Time and Powerslave, so my list of tracks would definitely have a lot of crossover with yours Karl.

My three favourite Maiden albums are Seventh Son, Somewhere in Time and Powerslave, so my list of tracks would definitely have a lot of crossover with yours Karl.

^^^ Exactly this.

Are you guys my clones?

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook