Rexorcist's Forum Replies
Hint for tomorrow's Sphere album:
Scorpio.
I gave The Black Halo another spin a couple months ago and put it in my top ten power metal albums. And it's pretty clear you have a similar interest in Blind Guardian to mine.
Do you mind me asking how you score your releases out of 100 Rex? I assume there's some sort of calculation tool that helps you to come up with those results?
Actually, back when I first started getting into albums 11 years ago, I used a .5 system, like 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, etc. Eventually, I heard so many albums that it really just didn't feel accurate anymore. So I've gotten extremely picky about my ratings pretty quickly.
But there is a reason. Anytime I review something, I ask myself four questions:
1. What is the goal of this album?
2. Does the creator meet that goal?
3. What sacrifices or negligences were made to meet that goal?
4. Were these sacrifices made up for by other aspects of the album?
I do the same for movies, books and video games. And after comparing it to other similar albums, which is where the score comes in, I then compare that album to other albums with the same score, which is how I organize my catalog.
I just updated my top 100. The top ten has a couple new surprises. Here it is.
One more thing...
I just discovered something. If there are two conjoined albums two numbers apart, like 13 and 15, if you press up on the lower number or down on the high number, the numbers will be connected properly, say 13 and 14, or 14 and 15.
Thanks for telling me how to fix this.
No, the top 20 section on user control panels. It works differently from list making. Every user has the "Top 20 Releases" page.
OK, so I think I've got my sludge standards re-evaluated, but after having heard several Ufomammut albums, I feel the need to recheck my doom standards again, so I'm going to go over some of my older favorites in the genre, starting with my number 1: The Dreadful Hours. Hard to believe its title opener lasts nine minutes. That's how you know the song hits you: overcoming its length, and this did so by constantly mixing that one song up by switching between post, goth, doom and death like it was nothing.
Review:
Although I don't think I'll be joining the Revolution, I have to admit that I love punk. Right now the only punk genre I represent in a clan is crossover thrash, which is a problematic genre that rarely ever amazes me. Metalcore, IMO, is the superior genre thanks to the presence of more excellent bands. Unfortunately, the genre also gets very tiring thanks to the countless emulators of bands like Born of Osiris, so when someone in metalcore mixes it up, like Zao does with their own strong presence, I tend to feel a sigh of relief so powerful that it's almost like a weight is finally off my shoulders, as if finding creative metalcore has become a literal chore.
This is their most popular work: Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest. At first it starts off pretty typically, even though it's clear that mood and delivery is taken more seriously than punk energy, which is a sigh of relief. The same seems to be true even as it switches from calm acoustic james to slow punk screams in the beginning of the second song. Unsurprisingly, there are faint traces of proggieness and djent in the behavior of the riffage, but not enough to even warrant a sub-tag. This also feels like a smart decision to me because it's very tamed and used specifically for mood. In otherwords, this is the kind of metalcore album that keeps you on your toes, guessing what's going to happen next even as it rarely breaks its genre. There are quite a few instances of slow-paced growling and droning, which seems to me is an atmospheric choice that the band likes to take advantage of. In other words, speed is of little importance, even for a punk album. Very interesting choice, especially considering that there seems to be some sort of Neurosis influence.
But there's also some time taken for melody whether or not speed is a part of the picture. Listen to the openings of March and Ember, and then finish the songs to see where things go, even if certain sections may easily be dragged on too long. Another interesting choice the band made was writing some songs about hypocrisy in the churches, despite being a Christian band. They're tackling a wide range of themes involving personal struggles, even avoiding the preachy side of Christian lyricism. In other words, the band tried to make a Christian album that raw metalheads could relate to. Again, a smart move. But concerning the lyricism and quirky song structures, practically throwing pop structures in the trash, I'm wondering if each section symbolizes something, which would make this album more conceptual than advertised.
I can see why this is considered a metalcore classic. It's a SMART album. So overall, I kinda like this. Zao have gone far beyond what the Christian rock tag might've indicated for the music browser in terms of both style and quality. I can say, however, that I'd prefer a LITTLE more punk energy in certain sections, and that some sections whether fast or slow be shortened to maintain a further punk presence and less of a Neurosis one. Zao did something very artistic here, and they had their bumps but they were still very smart about this.
85/100
I've been waiting!
This is sending major fucking chills.
God I wish this was a full length song. And that the Edge could write stuff like that on actual U2 albums for once.
I revisited Dream Theater's 1989 debut album "When Dream & Day Unite" over the last couple of days & it fits very comfortably into this category for me. It's a fantastic record with stunning performances that is only held back by Terry Date's poor production job. People need to get over the fact that James LaBrie wasn't in the band yet & treat it purely on its merit.
I'm with this entirely. Both times I heard it, even years apart, I thought it was a great debut.
Yes, it is sufficient, Daniel. I'm not suggesting creating a cross-clan subgenre, I just like the tag and this is more of just a discussion thread. There are key bands of this hybrid such as all that's been mentioned so far here, but not enough beyond those bands to constitute a new subgenre, and probably just as well.
Yeah, but filing it as an actual metal genre feels like more of a misnomer, so if anything this is more of a non-metal discussion.
On the subject of cross-clan genres, while I often use these as a way to build custom charts of my own, I think the general idea is a very complex one that shouldn't be discussed right now. I mean, if there was a way to make it work, I already thought of one that probably wouldn't get in the way of clan integrity, but we're so small right now that the idea is best avoided.
I think of it as a punk genre more than a metal genre, though. I've heard the term used, and I generally like the idea of progressive hardcore as I love both, but it's not really a metal genre to me. Some metalcore albums just fall under that category. I guess if you wanted prog metalcore, or "metallix progcore" if you have some proggy crossover thrash or some junk you could, but I just tag any album on my listed with all appropriate genres, including non-metal ones.
But to be fair, prog metalcore or metallic progcore is something worth discussing somewhere on the internet since we have some key bands taking the hy6brid to a progressive nature, notably Between the Buried and Me, Protest the Hero, After the Burial, Architects...
This week's REVOLUTION album:
Zao - Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest (1998)
Genre: Metalcore
Votes: 1
Reason: This is one of the essential metalcore albums, and yet, it only has one vote here?
I think I know what that band is, but I'll let you do the big reveal tomorrow, Rex.
I expected you would. But do you know which album? Look through their catalogue here to try and guess.
Actually, I thought of a better hint. Editing it before too many people see it.
Here's the hint for tomorrow's Revolution album:
We'll be fine. We just need a couple items.
Almost ran late.
Review:
Pure thrash is a thing that's been done to death, and yet we still get occasional classics because there are those that know how to bring personality and technicality to it long after we've heard all of the tricks. One of these bands was Havok for a time, before the reviewers started taking them a lot less seriously once their third album came out. They hadn't had a break for a while, but they made one of the modern thrash classics: Time Is Up, a rare thrash album that captures the oldschool spirit perfectly.
Immediately upon pressing the play button, there's a successful and vicious display of energy with perfectly clean production. It recaptures the same spirit of thrash from the 80's that made the classics so damn good, and its clean production does a lot for its pure thrash sound. There are simple but melodic jammers like "DOA" and "Prepare for Attack," complex bangers like "Scumbag in Disguise" and "Fatal Intervention," slow-burners like "Killing Tendencies" and harsh blastbeaters like "No Amnesty," so this album covers multiple sides of what thrash is capable of, and without ever breaking their single genre. Impressive. This album kept me on my toes throughout its run because it's so wild and independent, which is a compliment I give to so few thrash albums because so many of them are redundant. My best examples of wild and independent thrash albums are No More Color, Rust in Peace and South of Heaven, so there's an easy way to compare this album to the classics.
Of course, there is a con that also acts like a pro, but a con more strongly: DAMN is this album stuck in the days of skater dorks and Ninja Turtles. This is an extremely 80's-sounding album. I mean, it's cool in the sense that it's nostalgic at least, and they pull it off like the album really did belong there, but this really just means that Havok sounds like they're very stuck in the past. In other words: in a way we've heard this music for the last 40 years, even those of us who aren't that old.
I do recommend this for anyone who misses the glory days, because this album is all about the glory days. Havok might not be the absolute best thrash band of the modern age, but they made one of the most fun, powerful and nostalgic albums in the metal world. I would find myself returning to this next time I get in a thrash mood, because there are a couple songs I might even give five stars.
86/100
So until the two albums I asked to be put on MA are here, I'm going to be working on another top 100, one outside of my clan. I decided on sludge, so I'm currently re-evaluating some sludge albums to help cement my current stance on certain sludge albums. This might rewrite the whole way I look at it. But the same Rexorcist here knows what he likes...
Anybody got any good suggestions for very diverse and varied sludge albums, like When the Kite String Pops or Hell III? I know sludge can be about length, but hey, one of my favorites from my sludge binges was When the Kite String Pops, and after finding it online I kept the 100 rating and even raised its list position.
Oh my god. Oh my literal god.
Can you please add the live Alice in Chains EP "Live Facelift?"
I just put together two more top 100's.
The two CD's of the Live Inferno box set are being sold as separate albums now. Can you please add Live At Wacken Open Air 2006 - A Night Of Emperial Wrath?
Rex, can you please repost your last post. My newborn daughter just managed to press the BAN POST button while I was reading it. Sorry about that.
OK. I won't trouble you to place the review in chronological order.
Emperor: Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk (1996)
Genres: Traditional Black, Symphonic Black
Emperor's debut, In the Nightside Eclipse is a classic for many reasons, notably all of the things that made it so unique for its time. Emperor created the symphonic black metal genre by committing a taboo worse than human transmutation, killing your parents or putting pineapple on pizza: synths in black metal. Cue Carmax commercial ending. But because the group took it seriously by using a thin layer throughout the whole with a more gothic and cinematic approach than anything, as well as going head-to-head with some astounding riffs and melodies, Nightside Eclipse became an instant classic.
What we have here is a thematic improvement on every aspect of Nightside. The elements that comprise Nightside are a heavily present but thin layer of dungeon synths, melo-traditional behavior and clean production. On Welkins, everything here is not only improved, but refined like a purified crystal, now with some or another power of night, darkness, yadda yadda. The album is one of those that goes through a plethora of influences ranging from some of the most blatantly gothic synth the genre has, newly found progressive styles, and the original genre components of Nightside, all purified... but like Butcher the Weak, it recycles the same influences throughout more than half of these songs. This is because of the final element of Nightside: the shifting riffs and layouts. This is what united the identities of Nightside as one whole, and it largely does the same here. But I'll be damned if I didn't honestly say that each melody and riff wasn't great if not incredible. I gave Butcher the Weak five-stars for that behavior because it worked, and this 40-minute maelstrom of gothic evil lasts without a real blemish throughout its 40 minutes. I mean, technically each song is predictable when you think about it: heavy start, several symphonic riffs, abrupt ending. But each song is pulled off in an almost beautiful manner.
There is dirty, edgy and speed-based metal like Darkthrone or Immortal which knows how to amaze, and then there's the orchestral presence of Emperor, especially on Welkins, where the album doesn't simply "emit demonic energy: it glows black and violet behind its thickly green album cover, never oozing or dripping, just glowing. The definition of the album is majesty, and is a rare example of me giving an album with "technically" samey behavior on a song-to-song basis five stars. The finest tuned axample of symphonic black metal I can think of, Welkins is a rare breed by a band all about crafting a different kind of breed each album. All of these songs amaze with the various influences, and that shows something: Emperor can actually get away with the behavior that leads many bands to write the same song over and over again, because Emperor still had new rhythmic and melodic tricks up their sleeves.
100/100
SECOND REVIEW FOR PROMETHEUS
I went through the whole discography again so that I could flesh out my black metal opinions even more. I've been very serious about this for a couple weeks, and I pretty much have them sorted out. There are just a couple things I need to get clear, especially concerning the band I went through the whole studio catalog of today (for the second time this month): Emperor, one of the most influential black metal bands in the world for creating, pioneering and perfecting the symphonic black metal sound.
A little Emperor history. They invented a new black metal genre, and it's considered one of the greatest albums of all time. They change up their sound, and it's considered one of the greatest albums of all time. This says something about Emperor: they are NOT conformists, and they weren't gonna stay that way. I may seriously piss somebody off when I speak honestly: if you won't let the non-conformists change their style, then you're not a real fan of them. In short, if you don't like Prometheus just because it doesn't sound like either of the first two albums, then you're not a real Emperor fan. It's one thing to say you prefer the original sound(s), but to act like they're not supposed to sound any other way in general is just unfair to the constant renovators.
Because of its shifting riffs and melodies within the same songs, a trait often found on Emperor songs, it is given a progressive tag. I think a couple songs are prog, mostly "Grey," but this just feels like a different sounding Emperor album with more influences than anything, rather than progressive black. I mean, come on. I've even read criticisms for how often In the Nightside Eclipse shifted its riffs. If people are worried that the progressive metal status and the heavy metal behavior of some of these songs takes away from the true blackness, I find that appalling to even consider. Songs like "The Prophet" and especially the thunderstorm that is "In the Wordless Chamber" have plenty of black attitude and blastbeats to maintain the status, and it's not alone. On a secondary note, what is "tr00 black metal?" I've heard various definitions of that as well. The most common answer when naming the perfect black metal sound, as I have researched, seems to be one of several classic Darkthrone's, usually A Blaze in the Northern Sky. That clean, sympho-gothic work is so far from Blaze that I feel like vomiting when I hear Welkin called "tr00." You might get away with that argument concerning Nightside, but I still find that album very cleanly produced. On the subject of Welkin's sound, I think one of the biggest underlying differences is the large lack of the gothic behavior of the synths, as well as the slight downgrade of necessity in place of more riffs. I have no problem with the decision itself; all I want is to see if it works.
Now that I'm done combining deconstruction of the album with my own personal ranting, I'm ready to go into the more detailed side of the review. Prometheus is, like Welkin was, a collection of various metal genres working together to create something unheard and new. That's Emperor's specialty. Why can't most war metal bands try this out for once? We have storms of fire, ice, wind, water and lightning all taking turns amazing with some of Emperor's healthiest melodic structures. Oh, forgot the earthquakes. Working with the elements of nature re a variety of different vocals all being perfectly delivered by Ihsahn, be it the high-pitched demonic squeals of Nightside, the more nocturnal growls of Welkin or some straight up operatic heavy metal singing and harmonies. He even get a couple 80's metal wails. And the best part? Each song has its own identity, standing out from the rest without any trouble. This is a feat that Emperor struggled with in past albums, even if they were able to bring together a collection of various influences together in shifting ways on Welkin.
What we're facing is the final metamorphosis of a modern Proteus. Emperor were a like a tiny larvae that made a big impact on the world, and once it became a butterfly, half of the metal community wanted them to be a larvae again. Prometheus is a concept album about the titular myth, but is that really what makes the album so strong when a large part of the idea is not to understand the lyrics? It's the monolithic power. This is a collection of a symphonic metal opera, the raging storms of ancient traditions, the further steps of prog, as well as so much more. I'd say that Emperor "accomplished" more on this album than they ever did. If I had to be fully honest, I consider this one of the very few albums that I feel represents a whole side of metal itself, rather than one or two genres. This is about all the extremities that black metal can achieve rather than just being another black metal album. Because of this, I know find myself in a very rare state of mind: I rank this above PARANOID.
Now my third best metal album of all time.
Emperor - IX Equilibrium (1999)
Genres: Symphonic Black Metal, Traditional Black Metal
Emperor had made it into the big leagues and stayed there forever thanks to only two albums: In the Nightsdie Eclipse and Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk. One was a new take on traditional black metal with a whole new sound, and the second was a more cleanly-polished take on the original which a very notcurnal vibe. Emperor always loved trying new things, so where were their ventures going to take them next? Into... straightforward original black metal, apparently. This really isn't a bad decision just because of that, but could Emperor pull it off? Let's see if they "sold themselves out" instead of wanting to try a new vibe.
In some cases, Emperor were attempting straightforward black metal. And if track one, Curse You All Men, proves anything, it's that they can pull it off effortlessly. This is more brutal and maniacal than anything Darkthrone or Immortal ever put out. This is a first time for them when you think about the genre! ANd once again they shift their symphonic sound for a new vibe. It seems that the point of IX Equilibrium is to once again try new things with a very different mood from what we got before. Unfortunately, while this mood has been rarely perfected, this is the first Emperor album featuring an atmosphere that's already been attempted. This is one of the reasons it's considered inferior. But damn if that black metal energy isn't extremely thick and dense. I can't even see out the window of this aural hurricane. Rain covers everything, although I can occasionally hear the symphonic parade of musicians and soldiers marching, as if the stabbing rain didn't hurt them.
Unfortunately, because they're acting more straightforward on this album, a couple of the songs are a little too long, so they tire out pretty quickly. As for any flaws pertaining to other songs, this one's a really easy one. While the absolute maelstrom of sound on this album is nothing short of formidable, there's typical blastbeating mixed in with Emperor's strongest point: melody, so it's easy for one to outshine the other. Now the album has its share of diversity. It covers Emperor's symphonic sound with the newfound original black sound while adding bits of new stuff, including the heavier prog which would be more fleshed out on Prometheus, as well as bits of speed and thrash in sparse places. But that's also a little bit of a con as these little bits are sparse and scattered. This includes the gothic sound of Welkin, which thankfully makes it onto this release, especially during the final track, "Of Blindness & Subsequent Seers" which carries a surreal tone to it.
This third Emperor album is the point where they stopped being "just" a new sound. In an attempt to gain the favor of the followers of ancient tradition, they took part in it. There was some excellent skill in sound, technicality and melody, but there was little drawbacks to this new sound. In other words, Emperor could do just about anything, but couldn't perfect this is it was their first attempt. This is excellent black metal, but not the best compliment to Emperor's prowess.
95/100
Gonna take a break from the war metal to go over the Emperor albums again.
Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse (1994)
Genres: Symphonic Black, Traditional Black
Black metal had been out for about a decade by the point of this album's release. We already had a revolution that was beating Venom at their own game, a dorky club pretending to be a cult before someone killed the founder of the club, and of the genre, and the same year as this album was the long awaited release of Mayhem's debut studio album. By this point, Darkthrone had cemented itself as one of the greatest metal bands on Earth to the masses, and Immortal was just starting. It had a crazy run before we finally got to Emperor. Unlike grunge, black metal lived on because it was a niche market that relied on negative rep. Emperor might've lost their lead influence, but they didn't lose their willpower.
In the Nightside Eclipse was their first outing, and to this day it remains one of the most emulated black metal albums on Earth. In fact, this album represents a lot of firsts. The most notable "first" of this album is the dungeon synthesizers, which were an unholy sin that even black metal fans wouldn't commit. That's boldness for ya'. And it's not ham-fisted or cheesy in anyway shape or form; they're gorgeous in their Gothic behavior, creepy as hell and add a thick layer of personality without being overused. Another one is the clearer production. The guitars might be quite dirty, but through the clean production you get not only the most of the beautiful synths, but the most of the guitars. let the shredding handle the, ahem, dirty work.
Our singer, Ihsahn, has that absolutely perfect voice for the job. If you're familiar with their second album, Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk, you might recognize something about this album. It sounds more like typical black metal, right? Right and wrong. These guys were one of the first bands to really perfect what the pure sound of black metal is with the right production, except they also had a symphonic sound to work with. So instead of being Darkthrone knockoffs, they became something more medieval, fantasy-inspired and epic. In a way, they totally beat Darkthrone, making a new sound even more fresh, something these guys would do continuously throughout their four album streak. They were a great bridge between melodic, traditional and the newly formed symphonic brands of black metal. In other words, this album is purely essential by any definition for technical and melodic proficiency. On top of that, it sounds exactly like its incredible cover wants you to think it sounds like, so there's a perfectly fitting cover, and one of my personal favorites.
Although it must be said that most of these songs sound very much the same. I wouldn't be true to myself if I didn't point that out. Maybe I need to compare this to their "worst" release, Equilibrium IX, but I feel that they had every ability to try to write songs with different approaches and they completely neglected that in the long run, relying on smaller surprises in a few areas rather than trying new things. At least the album never gets boring. But on top of that, I think there's a newfound diversity that's still there, especially for its time. On top of the aforementioned balance between traditional, melodic and symphonic black metal, there are notable traces of gothic metal and prog metal to it, so despite its obvious flaw it's actually quite revolutionary. Because of this, there's a constant aura eminating from what could be a perfect black metal sound in general, something that's difficult to achieve, and Emperor somehow found a way to make it look easy on their first album.
In the Nightside Eclispe will be iconic throughout the rest of metal history. It's going to serve as an example of how to perfect the black metal sound, even though it suffers from monotony in comparison to more creative outings by not only Emperor but by other bands. If your going to check out Emperor, I suggest you do it in chronological fashion. This is the kind of album that will keep you headbanging throughout its entire run. For all of its innovations, this is at least a mile ahead of the earlier traditional black metal classic, A Blaze in the Northern Sky by Darkthrone.
96/100
I always felt like it could easily pass itself off as death, so I voted yes.
Profane Order - Slave Morality (2019)
Genres: Bestial Black
Now that I'm exploring more bestial black metal works, usually one band every couple days, I'm finally at one of the modern icons of the scene, one that's gardered a lot of attention in recent time: Profane Order. If you've hard their popular third album, One Nightmare Unto Another, you'd be familiar with their high jam abilities and flawless production. They weren't always so squeaky clean, however, as many consider dirty production more "appropriate." I, however, consider whether or not the decision works for the album and nothing more. Before their skillful and enjoyable, but samey third album ever saw the light, they made this modern icon: Slave Morality.
The metallic rush of this album is bombastic. The idea of a BBM's sound and production are more akin to a thunderstorm rather than the average snowstorm, so don't expect any Paysage d'Hiver atmospheres here. We have the sound of metallic thunder at its maximum output, as one can tell from surprising tracks like "Ancient Blood" which is among one of the most metallic things I've ever heard. I almost gave that track five stars. And it's quite obvious that all the songs aren't QUITE the same, even though some moments feel too similar to moments from other songs not to take monotony into consideration. But varying riffages, solos and tempo changes are must-dos in this album. And thanks to the slightly dirtier production than their next album, we get another flawless metal atmosphere but with a stronger emphasis on what we expect from BBM. The band easily has a masterful look on what production techniques and traits are needed for a proper metal album. Check out the track "Perverse Demonaic" and see what I mean.
So this is easily one of the most fun things I've ever heard in a genre which has been more or less OK to me considering the classics output. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: a classic like Fallen Angel of Doom by Blasphemy is so poorly-produced, poorly-written and overrated that it has to be easy for later BBM albums to surpass it. But even if that was a tough challenge, this album makes it look easy. We get all of the strengths of the popular One Nightmare Unto Another, but with whatever flaws coming later being more focused on and improved in comparison to many BBM albums of this age and the past.
83/100
Profane Order - One Nightmare Unto Another (2023)
Genres: Bestial Black
I've been putting of the more recent BBM band Profane Order for quite some time ever since I started exploring BBM, mostly to look into the classic bands like Blasphemy and Conqueror. But these bands are hardly satisfying my undying craving for imagination, as most of these classics were either decent, OK or bad. Profane Order is at the front of the modern BBM scene, which isn't that big but is still relevant for black metal fans if they want the most extreme metal they can get (depending on the production and abilities of the acts). Since this 2023 album has gardered much attention, and it is 2023, this had to be my first album by them despite it being their third.
Dirty or clean, I need my production to be JUST RIGHT for whatever sound the band is going for. It's true that dirty production, which is more fit for BBM, could've easily worked with this album. But the clean production still works perfectly. You get the most of its metallic abilities, as much as the production of Ride the Lightning did for that album. On top of that, Illusory's vocals are fucking badass. These screams aren't just maniacal wails of black metal creepiness, but angry bursts of energy with a small bit of that classic heavy metal aura. I mean, it was so perfect for the album that I wanted to scream out with him, even though I don't have that ability and I can't understand the words at all. This combo of production and vocals makes for a perfect example of what war metal should be while vaguely recalling some of the layout and sound traits of the classic early 80's genres that would inspire black metal.
But you know me. I have to criticize something that sounds samey. This is yet another case of effectively writing the same song over and over again. And while this metal sound is top-notch in production and aura, the sad truth is that this tells me that the band is capable of tackling a couple more different types of songs. I mean, you CAN write different types of songs, even within just war metal, and there's hardly any of that. But the constant jam factor of the album keeps things so hard and headbanging that the album maintains its presence throughout.
So in short, I like this album well enough. I'm writing this while listening to Slave Morality, and as I expected, they didn't break form from the previous stuff. Having said that, they maintain their enjoyable vibes without any other blemish, so this is an album I'd recommend just based on the merit that the strengths of the album are perfect, while the flaws are expected and partly made up for by the strengths. This manages to be essential for a BBM list based on the skill, not on the history or influence like some early BBM works.
75/100
I would've never thought to look in lists to be fair, but thanks. Maybe a link to those on the clan page as well? Appreciate the help, will get back in on this now.
Are you on mobile? There should be three bars by your username, go a little under and to the right. Touch that, and a menu will drop down, including a link to the clans page and the lists page. If you're on Desktop, the menu is already expanded, albeit horizontal and not vertical.
Hey all, i've been out a while due to the pandemic and man life has changed quite since i've been here last. Maybe I'm missing something, (and sorry I didn't feel like reading all the posts here in this thread) but what happened to the clan challenges lists, or where can I see them again? I was in the middle of doing the The North's challenges and reviewing all of the first album list but kinda lost track of that. I will say this site runs smoother than before as well and want to get back into things. Appreciate the hard work y'all do to see this still going through these last frustrating years though. :)
Good to have a metalhead back.
Havok - Time Is Up (2011)
Genre: Thrash
Votes: 4
Reason: Modern thrash classic. Enough said.
I'd actually suggest that Archgoat offer significantly more variety in tempo than 99% of other war metal acts.
Thankfully. I just don't feel much of a difference in other areas, though. There are still noticeable amounts of the "write the same song" syndrome there, although it feels more like they're recycling the same few ideas throughout the whole, albiet once again better than Blasphemy did.
Two more bands should be enough to finalize a decent top ten. Right now it looks more like a collective best-of ranking of multiple acts.
Archgoat - The Light-Devouring Darkness (2009)
Genres: Bestial War Metal
OK, so in my bestial black metal ventures, a single album was all it took to prove that Archgoat is a bit better than the iconic Blasphemy. In my earlier review for Blasphemy's debut album, I said that they have invented a standard but it would be easy for many bands to beat them at it. It's pretty obvious that Archgoat was not only one of the bands that were struck with Blasphemy, but would surpass them. Having said that, surpassing the two Blasphemy albums is not a difficult task to me, and their debut was a decent experience. How would their next one turn out?
After the dark ambient into and the first song, I thought to myself it would just be a rehash, but I would soon be proved wrong. The next two songs showed a careful death doom slow pace which was simplistic but fairly hypnotic. If not for their standard sound, I would've been awestruck with it, but remained only impressed with the decision. But then track 5, Sodomator of the Doomed Venus (I typed that shit out and I need to wash my hands) steals the show with a short, black punkish display of spasmatic percussion and raw noise. The noise is further touched up on in the once again simple but purely black title track. So by this point, I'm quite a bit more impressed with their attempts at further exploring extreme metal itself on this record. I mean, I still have an obligation to call this album out for low-grade songwriting, but they're doing much more with this album while maintaining the strengths of their first. The group also makes room for more melody during the slower and doomier moments, but are improving their melodic prowess a little bit in the faster moments, too. Not much, but still.
So while Archgoat clearly still have some training to do in the songwriting department, they've been able to touch up the concept of innovation a little more. Having said that, they don't often overcome the monotony of the first album, but at least they're trying. Easy improvement and a nice direction forward.
68/100
Archgoat - Whore of Bethlehem
Genres: Bestial Black Metal
Alright, so after having been disappointed with Blasphemy's work, I was really hoping my ventures into Archgoat wouldn't become a disaster. Cabinet and Caucasian Concentration Camp are my go-to acts for comparing the good and the bad, as each bands meets their extreme very well. And Archgoat, having their fine share of albums needed for any BBM collection (if there is such a thing), were practically a must do for me. So, I started with one extended play which I won't be reviewing here, just to get a taste for their sound first, and then decided to move through their debut upwards.
After than dark ambient intro, it was pretty obvious that the studio-quality production already gave it a serious advantage over Blasphemy's albums. Thanks to the perfect production, the heaviness is more enjoyable than Blasphemy. All that was left was to see how the songwriting went. And lemme tell you, among the mindless thrashing, there were some MAJOR breaths of fresh air in the "give you a break and put something new on the table" department. Early on, Lord of the Void makes a point of slower doomy moments, and eventually just bursting into seriously unpredictable territory without breaking format, mood or genre. But I decided that unless the band mixes it up a little more, I'm not going to give it the best rating. And Dawn of the Light largely did that, although I appreciate the slow Sabbath midsection. But no matter which song came next, it ended up sounding like a shameless rehash of the last song, so I don't really get the feeling that these guys are bringing war metal to its fullest potential and are just standard.
Archgoat is way better than Blasphemy, that much is obvious. But this is the kind of album that satisfies raw headbangers and thrashers who need a metallic atmosphere, and are nothing short of the very norm that they set up for black metal musicians everywhere. Archgoat's proven they can perform a black metal song with the fury necessary, so let's see them try to do something else.
64/100
Here's the hint for tomorrow's Pit album.
Blasphemy - Gods of War (1993)
Genres: Bestial Black Metal, Black Death Metal
After being sorely disappointed in Blasphemy's Fallen Angel of Doom, I was practically begging this album to show more imagination. I've already found a few bestial black metal albums that I'm really impressed with, and I was hoping that Blasphemy could recreate that for all of their popularity. This album would have to do.
It was pretty obvious from the first track that these guys were making improvements over their overrated debut. The production was studio quality, so the dirtiness of the album was overall more effective. And there were a few little changes in the songwriting as it was much less samey and annoying. The distinction between black, death, thrash and grind was much clearer here, as we do have a few shorter songs working their way into deathgrind territory, and slight progginess helps create moments of the other three genres while the album remains consistent. Bottom line, this album had imagination.
But does this mean that I think the different songwriting makes it brilliant? No, just better than before. The sad truth is, I don't really get a lot out of these songs as all the different types had already been done better by the likes of Venom, Bathory, Napalm Death, and Death themselves. This is still pretty basic extreme metal. I mean, some songs are much better than others, but nothing here really "sucks," it just gets a little boring occasionally. It eventually gets to the point where the band is recycling all the same tricks in an effort to make things look more imaginative than these things are.
So I'll give this album major points for the obvious improvements over the debut. Honestly, I wish these guys had continued into a third album because I would've liked to see where they were headed next. Gods of War is at least a full star over Fallen Angel of Doom, and it's a shame this sophomore release gets second banana to the simple-minded debut.
57/100.
Blasphemy - Fallen Angel of Doom (1990)
Genres: Bestial Black Metal
I need to really thank Metal Academy for motivating me to explore more war metal. A couple days after I get back in black metal, this thread shows up and suddenly a bunch of war metal albums are being reviewed. And of course, there are bound to be a couple reviews for the most famous BBM album ever: Blasphemy's Fallen Angel of Doom. In Daniel's review here, he wrote: "Blasphemy managed to combine all four of the major extreme metal sounds of the time (i.e. death metal, black metal, thrash metal & grindcore) into one swarming mass of largely indecipherable noise." And he was right. It was ONE noise.
I heard this album on DMS, a YouTube channel that provides full metal albums with high sound quality, and that includes really dirty sludgy albums with the proper production for the job. This is just having come off the back of checking out various Teitanblood and Infernal Coil songs, as well as re-evaluating a few black, prog and death albums. Pretty much every song shares a 98% DNA similarity. The production here is only there for the brutality, defeating its own purpose as you can barely here anything beyond the drums which are more or less doing the same thing for all 30 minutes. This production doesn't even sound as dirty or noisy as good black albums tend to be. it's just bad. Also having come of the back of the much lesser-known Cabinet's album Claustrophobic Dysentery, which mixes death and black with occasional doom, noise and ambient for very weird sounds, in comparison this album feels more like a bunch of jokers recording a bad demo for a major label rather than an actual studio album. I'm not kidding. That's EXACTLY what it sounds like. it doesn't even get creative with the concept of non-studio works like Bee Thousand did with the concept of Beatles bootlegs. The heaviness was definitely cool at first, but they practically beat it to death, and they only show their most imagination through small bits in the LAST TWO SONGS for crying out loud.
This album will be mimicked many times throughout history, but most will likely succeed because... DAMN. This album might be brutal, but that's the only strength to me. Otherwise, it's more boring than Bob Dylan's Shadows in the Night and Trapt's self-titled. Stick with Teitanblood, Cabinet and Goatpenis. This is the single most overrated album I have ever heard. I haven't hated a beloved album this much since that obsolete helf-star rating I gave the Ramones debut years ago (upgraded to a 9/10, bion). Please tell me the other one will be better.
32/100
Big respect for the blues binge, especially concerning the two musician choices above. Muddy Waters is my favorite of the normal blues genre, although I haven't gotten around to King Bee yet.
Going off on another vapor EP binge just to make sure I don't put too much metal on my log, although I still plan on getting through at least on metal album a day, notably for the list challenges and to put some war metal on my in-progress top 100 black metal. But it's really nice to have a lot of relaxing oldschool jazzy stuff for a full weekend off.
Ben, please add these last two Cabinet releases: "Pt. III: Get In... (Enter the Cabinet)" and "E.P."
You guys aren't gonna believe this, I found that album I was looking for. It took effort.
Cabinet - Claustrophobic Dystentry (2022)
Genres: War Metal, Death Metal
Subs: Noise, Dark Ambient, Post-Metal, Black Noise
In my recent curiosity pertaining to the controversial war metal genre, I started, but didn't finish, dozens of war metal albums that I would shut off in the event that I noticed am obvious flaw, usually the monotony. I finally ended at a Lynchian journey into the very essence not only of hatred, but of darkness and despair. It's much like a Hell album, but more appropriately for the North and the Horde rather than the Fallen.
This is a surreal exercise in atmosphere, not in conventional music. What rhythm you may expect from this album is largely absent, which in most cases, even for the unwritten rule of it set by BBM as a whole, ends up being a flaw. As Daniel pointed out here, war metal is often about the worship of hatred, although I find that this can be achieved through multiple forms, and thus, through a diverse album. And so, we have a Gira-style reliance on atmosphere and sound rather than melody, one that drags you through its terrifying world with little ambient / noise surprises here and there, oftentimes flawlessly produced. Sound effects turn into instruments and instruments turn into atmosphere, rather than just playing monotonous music. The best example of this may be Hallway of Dacryocystotomic Depriciation. Even immediately afterwards on the next track do we get an extraordinarily fuzzy guitar carefully raising in volume behind the foreground of a clearly produced static buzz accompanied by blowing winds, and pairing with these fuzzy death guitars are clearer and more polished post-black tremelos that somehow pair with the death fuzz flawlessly. This all happens in the first MINUTE of Eternally Pendulemic Flourescent Bulb / Deteriorating Interminably.
Never before have I heard a metal album that is so rhythmless and so full of imagination at the same time. This is music at some of its most reliant on presence before rhythm, and successful as well. It took a real creative genius to achieve something like this and manage to mix clear production with fuzzy production, sadness with anger and ambiance with terror so beautifully and so disgustingly.
10/10. Easily making it somehwere in my top 10 black metal and death metal albums at the same time.
The "atmospheric sludge metal" discussion has been had many times here at the Academy with the unanimous position of The Fallen members being that it's much better suited to post-metal than sludge metal. I'm also thinking about removing that subgenre too & simply having the releases tagged as post-metal but we can discuss that elsewhere but let's keep this thread about deathgrind.
Yeah, there are some bands I don't even consider sludge at all. Namely Rosetta.
But as far as deathgrind goes, then my vote's easy: go for it. Lots of deathgrind feels like death metal to me anyway.
This actually leads to a whole new discussion on its own.
I've been thinking that some genres should be tagged as combinations of more than one parent genre for a while now. Having said that, it's best if we stay WITHIN SINGLE CLANS. For The Horde, the decision is easy. But when it comes to something like atmo-sludge, I've never really considered it a "post-metal" subgenre. Most people on the RYM discussions consider it post because of length and atmosphere. If that's literally all it took, why didn't they include atmo-black metal?
The whole concept of war metal is intended to be pretty limited by its very definition to be honest Rex (i.e. complete worship of metal's most extreme elements) which has probably got a lot to do with why people like Sonny & I love it. There are a few artists that sit somewhere between war metal & other genres like death metal & grindcore (see Infernal Coil, Teitanblood, etc.) but you're not gonna find any acoustic interludes or long progressive improvisational sections here. You're still looking exclusively at pure hatred, vengeance & goat sodomy. Ultimately, if you don't like the more popular bands like Blasphemy, Damaar or Archgoat then war metal is probably not the subgenre for you.
The music itself is fine, I'm just looking for something that's likely to amaze me, something I'd put in my top 500. Otherwise, these kinds of albums will end up being 9/10's at best. Although, it's totally possible to "worship" the concept of hatred in multiple formats. We've got dissonant death, grind, deathcore, black noise, etc. And the thing is I've found some albums with genre tagging somewhat like this on RYM, but the problem is that most of the songs are tackling all these genres based on a "signature sound," so the so-called variety loses its quality.
Besides, if my Emperor ranking proves anything (4, 2, 3, 1), I'm a very against-the-grain metalhead. So I don't really mind looking like a weirdo with it. But I do still have a certain standard of five-stars, so it didn't hurt to ask. Thanks anyway.
Look, I'm not saying that Ben & I won't consider some of this in the future but it's probably worth mentioning what the Clan Challenges are there for in the first place. They're intended to prove that a potential member has a good understanding & interest in the clan in question before allowing them entry to that clan which is the reason that we haven't included challenges based around niche genres as they don't do much to prove a person's commitment to the overall clan. I mean, if someone really only likes Neoclassical Metal but not Heavy Metal or Power Metal then I don't think they're a great fit for The Guardians. The same can be said for Stenchcore in The Pit or Folk Metal in The North.
Do you mean viking metal? I'm just pointing out the ones that are missing but listed on the clans page rather than the lists page, and the subgenres of the ones listed aren't as necessary to me, but more "maybe" than the "maybe" level of the missing prime genres. And on top of thqt, if the research in something is needed but neither you or Ben have the time, I'm happy to do it if you need me to. I mean, much of what I do is go through the RYM charts and choose which ones are both popular and highly rated enough to work. I was a little more merciful on the ratings for my recent deathcore list, though. :P
As far as folk metal goes, I like it well enough. It has enough similarities to the guardians stuff to consider, even though I feel it really does belong in the North for its common reliance on atmosphere. Hell, I've already got 12 five-stars for it, and five for viking metal., which has heavy ties to both genres thanks to several popular and well-recieved bands: Bathory, Equilibrium, Ensiferum, Falkenbach, Finsterfrost, Enslaved, Thyrfing, etc. Now that I list these, did I make a custom list for that?
You know, I'll post my own custom list challenges in my lists page instead.
Maybe you two can help me. I'm into more diverse albums, in black metal terms my favorite examples are The Work Which Transforms God, Verisakeet and Eternity of Shaog. So which war metal albums are the most diversified? I know a lot of them are pretty samey, as I've read.
I just do not buy into this notion that there is any halfway substantial quantity of people out there waiting to join a metal forum/site.
I don't remember a notion specifically being mentioned, though. But it's true that balancing new ideas with a sense of familiarity will broaden the range of attraction. Specifically which of one, the other or both will attract who is basically a coin toss if there's attraction at all, but there's really no risk involved.
As for the general cleanup, that's where some of the smaller things kick in, like the recent idea to put a border over completed lists. And of course, we should just delete the 5th clan mention from the FAQ. As for clan challenges, it's best to handle any edits now before later, since many of them have yet to be completed by anyone, even though many of the clan challenge list categories already have a fine number of them. The missing genres so far are:
FALLEN: Drone
GATEWAY: Maybe Nu depending on our mood.
GUARDIANS: Neoclassical
HORDE: Having a Deathgrind one feels appropriate considering the clan's two focuses.
INFINITE: Post-Metal, not my favorite metal genre but I'm always willing to do the research needed. it's already begging for Agalloch and Solstafir.
NORTH: Viking if there's enough.
PIT: Stenchcore
REVOLUTION: Deathcore and maybe a mathcore one.
SPHERE: It really just needs "era" lists.
The new Cryptopsy, As Gomorrah Burns, it quite simple and absitively posolutely... meh.
Personally, I'd hate it if this site started a discord. I just hate discord. I prefer the effing MLP villain solely by virtue of John de Lancie.
Has Infernal Coil given any word as to a second studio release?