Sonny's Forum Replies

I own in excess of 1000 releases on CD, but since my last laptop packed in, well over a year ago now, I have been unable to play them as my new one has no disc drive. I have been getting increasingly frustrated by my inability to listen to my own stuff, especially the ones that don't appear on streaming, so I finally bought an external CD/DVD player for my latest laptop from Amazon. I ordered it at lunch time on Saturday and it was here by teatime, which is frankly amazing to me. It's a cheapo chinese bit of kit (Bunud - never heard of them before), it only cost £20, but it is actually pretty fucking good and I get to listen to all my obscure doom shit once more, so thumbs up all round. 

Sacrilege and Onslaught aside, the UK's thrash output during the 1980's was pretty fucking woeful. It was almost as if we Brits just didn't 'get' thrash metal at all and struggled to get up to speed with this new, more aggressive style of heavy metal and those pesky Yanks and Europeans were just making us look lame and lazy by comparison. As a result I have been on the lookout for decent British Eighties' thrash metal albums ever since, with little to no real success, so I was stoked to see an underground band of thrashers from a north-west England seaside town pop up as a feature and hoped against hope that this would be some kind of underground classic. Oh well, you can't blame me for hoping! As you can probably guess, this falls a fair way short of my, admittedly unrealistic, expectations.

I am guessing that D.A.M. were huge fans of Anthrax's "Spreading the Disease" album, because I think that is what they seem to be striving for here. Vocalist Jason McLoughlin does his very best Joey Belladonna impression, rhythm guitarist John Bury attempts to reproduce Scott Ian's trademark choppy, chuggy riffs and the gang vocals on the choruses that the New Yorkers loved to employ are present and correct. Unfortunately they lack the two chracteristics that made Anthrax what they were back then - the infectious, sing-along choruses and the sheer effusive sense of excitement and fun that set Anthrax apart from their West Coast and European peers. Anyone who loves 80s Anthrax also knows how vital Charlie Benante's lively and energetic drumming was to the band whereas, here, the production has rendered the percussion limp and lifeless, sounding like someone leathering their kit with a couple of fish rather than drumsticks! Hell, "Total Destruction" even starts with a flat copy of Charlie's drum intro to "Indians".

Look, I don't want to sound too down on them for that because, to be honest, for a few years in the 1980s Anthrax bottled lightning and managed to make it work, through sheer force of personality, excellent songwriting ability and technical ability. So, without these essential, but mercurial talents, D.A.M. merely sound like cheap imitators and would maybe have been better advised to plough their own furrow rather than follow in the steps of a unique act like Anthrax. In truth, I actually don't hate "Human Wreckage" but, as someone who was (and remains) a big fan of "Spreading the Disease" and "Among the Living", I can't unhear D.A.M.'s Anthrax worship and so I just keep wishing I was listening to one of those albums instead. I am sure these guys were probably a blast in the metal pubs and clubs of England's North West back in the day, but in the stark, cold spotlight of recorded music they just come up a bit short and sound too derivative.

3/5

The Wounded Kings - "The Shadow Over Atlantis" (2010)

The Wounded Kings were a traditional doom metal band from Dartmoor in Devon who never really gained much traction outside of hardcore doom metal enthusiasts, which is a great shame because they were really great exponents of the doom metal ethos and were superior to many better known acts. They formed in 2004 and released five consistently strong full-lengths and a great split with Cough before calling it a day in August of 2016. Released in 2010, "The Shadow Over Atlantis" was the band's sophomore release, following 2008's very solid "Embrace of the Narrow House" and, for me, is the band's best release. They had a lineup which underwent several membership changes, with the first two albums being produced by the duo of the band's only ever-present member Steve Mills (guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, vocals) and George Birch (guitar, vocals). Mills was actually the original drummer with Lords of Putrefaction, the death doom precursor to Electric Wizard that featured Jus Osborne on guitar and vocals and so has a certain degree of doom metal underground cred too.

"The Shadow Over Atlantis" is essentially a concept album that is a lament to the passing and destruction of ancient civilizations with Atlantis being the metaphor for the eventual passing of all societies, although there is a suggestion in final track "Invocation of the Ancients" that, through the deployment of dark arts, these ancients can be exhorted to return. The band strives for an epic scope as befits the span of the concept, with the album featuring four fairly lengthy, huge-sounding tracks to drive the narrative while a couple of gentle interludes provide some contrast and respite from the lumbering rumble of the meat of the album. Even though the riffing is pretty much relentlessly huge and slothful it does have an inherent melodicism which is also mirrored in the vocals which are entirely of the clean variety and have a really nice, washed-out gothicness to them. Generally the tracks start off with the riff and vocals dominating the early part and then the guitar leads taking over the latter part and it is at these points that the material is given an epic twist. The leads take flight, soaring with mesmerising fluidity in psych-filled flights of fancy that seem to carry the listener above the doom and destruction that is being wreaked on the unfortunate world below, often feeling quite jam-like, although from the sheer professionalism of the sound I guess they are perfectly composed to sound that way.

Production-wise, the sound is quite crisp and clean and even the distortion on the riffs comes through surprisingly clearly. One criticism, if I were to go that far, would be that the bottom end and the rhythm section in particular doesn't sound as deep and foundational as maybe we have come to expect from this style of doom metal. That, however, is nitpicking a little because the material here is so strong and well-performed that it feels curmudgeonly to try to pick too much fault here. Essentially, for me, "The Shadow Over Atlantis" is a top drawer doom metal release and wouldn't be out of place alongside the best albums from the likes of Pallbearer or Monolord, so if you enjoy either of those two I would strongly urge you to check this out. Unfortunately it is impossible to find on streaming, so YouTube may be the only source available outside of physical media.

4.5/5 [93/100]

There are a couple of Emperor classics on "IX" in "Curse You All Men!" and "An Elegy of Icaros", but I agree that it is not an elite black metal album - pretty damn good, but not god tier. I am a little surprised that you don't rate "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk" as highly as "In the Nightside Eclipse" because I get the impression that an awful lot of Emperor fans think "Anthems..." Is a better album. I thought I was the only one who held the view that " In the Nightside... " is much the better release. I do love the four-track s/t EP, though, and would have it in #2 spot.

It's a huge feather in Led Zeppelin's cap that fans place their back catalogue in such different orders but rarely dispute other people's differences of opinion because there's simply no right or wrong answer when it comes to the greatest hard rock band of all time. For me personally, "Led Zeppelin III" would just round out my top five behind "Houses of the Holy (my personal favourite), "Led Zeppelin IV", "Presence" & "Led Zeppelin I".

"Houses of the Holy" certainly has some great stuff on it - "No Quarter" is an all-time great and "Rain Song" is gorgeous. Interesting to see "Presence" feature so high on your list, Daniel, most people have it lower. It has my fave Zeppelin track on it in "Achilles Last Stand", along with "Nobody's Fault but Mine" and "Tea for One", so I would rate it pretty high too.

Look, now I've gone all nostalgic and may have to dig my Zeppelin stuff out and give 'em a spin just for old times sake!

Electric Wizard - "Supercoven" EP (1998)

From the earlier, more jam-centric, three-piece phase of Electric Wizard's career, this EP contains two heavy as hell stoner jams that are the apex of this period of the band's development for me. [90/100]

I'm a big fan of this one. In fact, it'd probably make my top three for Electric Wizard overall behind "We Live" (4.5/5) & "Let Us Prey" (4.5/5) which are both classic releases as far as I'm concerned. 4/5

 "We Live" is the release that got me into Electric Wizard and is very close to my favourite still. I know almost every man and his dog would say "Dopethrone", but I kinda like "We Live" better.

I hadn't heard of these Germans before seeing this nominated as a monthly feature, so went into it completely blind. A bit of background digging reveals that Slaughterday were formed in 2010 and for most of their career to date they operated as a duo with Jens Finger taking care of the six- and four-strings and Bernd Reiners the drums and vocals with a huge cast of supporting drummers, bassists and guitarists helping them out with their live shows. However, for this their fifth full-length, they have inducted reinforcements into their ranks and have expanded the band into a five-piece with Christian Wiesener taking over bass duties, André Janssen drums and Tobias Koops boosting the six-string attack as second guitarist.

So what do we have here? Well, this is pretty much meat and potatoes old-school death metal with obvious influence from usual suspects such as Autopsy, Bolt Thrower and Vader and I say that with no hint of sniffiness because that is exactly the kind of death metal that floats my particular boat. Sure, the more demanding death metal listener will likely feel unfulfilled by the lack of ambition displayed on "Dread Emperor", but I don't imagine that upsetting the Slaughterday guys that much. The performances are very solid indeed, the band obviously know their way around their instruments and have an excellent grasp of what OSDM is about. After a portentious instrumental intro track the band charge out of the blocks with opener proper, "Obliteration Crusade", and proceed to attempt to rip your face off with sheer riff power. Throughout this and the subsequent eight tracks they deploy a withering arsenal of riffs in order to batter down any resistance to their undemanding, but energetic, old-school blitzkrieg. Reiners' vocals are rough, gruff, roaring bellows and are plenty powerful while the rhythm section drive in the rhythmic piles upon which the individual tracks are built in an unshowy wholly dependable way. There is a significant amount of soloing present on "Dread Emperor" and it is with this that I have reservations. The thing is that the solos are actually quite melodic, even to the point of sounding like Maiden or Priest solos at times and I am not completely convinced that they suit the violence of the riffs and vocals, consequenly making the album as a whole sound a lot less aggressive and menacing than it should. I would have preferred more Kerry King and less KK Downing. I have been a big defender of James Murphy's contribution to Death's "Spiritual Healing" where a similar argument can and does get used, so this may be a bit of a hypocritical stance, but I think Murphy's skill was to enhance the more brutal aspects of "Spiritual Healing", where I find the melodicism of the solos here distracting.

Still, that aside, I love the riffs which still manage to give me that warm, fuzzy, OSDM buzz that I can just never get enough of so, derivative and unambitious it may well be and, in truth, I am unlikely to be running out to score a copy any time soon, but I actually quite enjoyed it and that is good enough for me. That cover is pretty badass too. I have been playing the Elder Scrolls Oblivion remake on PS recently and the creature on the cover is exactly like one of Oblivion's Nether Liches, tough bastards that they are!

4/5 [79/100]

Hi Ben, could you please add now defunct finnish doom metal band, Stone Ship, please.

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Stone_Ship/3540306168

Also hungarian doom outfit, Mood - https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Mood/6142

I'm also interested in what you think passes as a conventional style of singing, because I could see a middle ground where Diamond leaves some of the theatrics in but reigns in some of the more crazy parts. Like I feel like "Desecration of Souls" is a nice showcase of what he can do with some restraint and leaving the falsetto in the background, whereas I'm sure the followup "Night of the Unborn" is a bit much for people (I know it is for me). I feel like they could have hit a better sweet spot with how much he jumps around, but at the end of the day it would still make it less special and unique whether it's your thing or not. 

Basically, I think, the question I am posing is, do you think MF had the chops and the songs to make it if King's vocal performances were more like, say, Rob Halford who still hit the falsetto's but in a less OTT manner and with more conventional phrasing? Personally, I think the songs were strong enough to propel the band forward, but the visibility of King, both visually and musically, made them stand out from the crowd and perceived wisdom is that it doesn't matter if what they say is good or bad as long as they are talking about you. It had a negative effect on me personally and I struggled with his style back in the day and never really took them seriously, but now I find it to be quite an endearing idiosyncrasy that I can't really imagine the band doing without. Some of the songs are just so good though that I think they would have hit a decent level of popularity anyway, but may not have had the enduring presence that they did.

I am working on an extensive doom metal list at the minute, so I have been relistening to a lot of my fave doom metal releases.

Todays were: 

Midryasi - "Black, Blue and Violet" (2013)

Pretty groovy italian psychedelic doom metal with some progressive touches that makes it a bit more ambitious than you may expect. [83/100]

Electric Wizard - "Supercoven" EP (1998)

From the earlier, more jam-centric, three-piece phase of Electric Wizard's career, this EP contains two heavy as hell stoner jams that are the apex of this period of the band's development for me. [90/100]

Benthic Realm - "Vessel" (2023)

Female-fronted doom metal featuring Krista van Guilder of Warhorse fame that has a little bit of a viking influence, particularly in the seafaring rhythms found on a few of the tracks. [81/100]

I have reviewed all three previously.

Just a quick comment on the proposed points-per-review system: Some of my very earliest reviews, written before I joined the site and ported over from RYM, are from a time when I wasn't very confident in my reviewing ability and so were very short affairs and wouldn't be deserving of a full 12 points in my estimation. Do you think these should be awarded less or even no points because, frankly, I would be embarrased for them to receive 12 and so would probably just delete them and attempt to rewrite them later?

I do love me some grind and this is lofty praise indeed Daniel, so this is definitely going to have to go onto my "to listen to" list.  In fact there are a few there on your Top 10 list that I haven't heard, so probably need to check out.

Led Zeppelin - "III", (1970)

When I was first getting into "proper" music, mid-70s, there were three bands I was obsessed with. I have spoken of my obsession with Motorhead before, the other two were Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. Of the three, it is Zeppelin who have fallen furthest in my personal pantheon. I don't really know the reason for this because seeing them live at Knebworth Park in 1979 was one of the most amazing musical occasions I have ever experienced, but as the years passed their brand of cocksure hard rock just kind of paled, to the point where I very rarely listen to them at all anymore. However, if the mood does take me, then it is almost invariably "III" that I reach for, probably because it is the most introspective and reflective of their albums.

Kicking off with one of the band's best, heaviest and most iconic tracks, "Immigrant Song", it might be obvious to others why this would be my album of choice, but it is, in fact, the folkier stuff that keeps me reaching for that bizarre picture-wheel cover. "Gallows Pole", a cover of Leadbelly's "Gallis Pole", for example, is one of my favourite examples of Zep displaying their influences, whilst "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp's" banjo-picking tale of one man and his dog out in the english countryside is something to which I can definitely relate. Elsewhere, the heart-rending blues of "Since I've Been Loving You" still has the ability, after almost fifty years, to raise the hairs on the back of my neck and "Tangerine" is a lovely, sweet, balladic reflection on lost love whilst "Out on the Tiles" is a joyful celebration of a current love.

Overall, to me, "III" feels more restrained, but also more expressive, than Zeppelin's big hitters like "IV" and "II" with less swagger and more reflection, making it an easier album to connect with emotionally. So, in ending, all I have to say is, "as I walk down the highway all I do is sing this song..."

4.5/5

OK, yeah, that seems to have done the trick, Ben. Thanks.

  I think (if they do stay) they need freshening up a bit.  In terms of the playlist, maybe give them up to a rotation of the clan members involved in them, like the feature releases have a rota, do the same for the playlists, although this would work better with more active users.

This is a good idea, Vinny, obviously depending on who wishes to be involved. Bringing this idea back to the present, however, between us, you and I are responsible for the playlists for the four clans we are both members of, so I would be quite happy to work out a rota for the two of us to produce the playlists for those clans if that is something you would like to try now.

Thanks Sonny, but right now, time is not on my side.  Between work and effectively setting up my home for scratch following the break up, I would not be doing any of the playlists much justice - struggling to keep up with my nominations as it.  Let’s see how things are rolling into the new site when it comes.  Or if that is some ways off then we could review in new year.

No problem, Vinny. Just let me know if and when you feel it is something you wish to do.

I haven't considered how to improve the clan features aspect, but I'm sure something could be done. We could certainly build in a way to really emphasise those albums on the site each month.

Could each clan's monthly feature be displayed in a prominent position on the respective clan's homepage?

One more question: will the new scoring system mean the end of the clan challenges and their completion in order to lock in clans? How will newer members gain a fourth clan - do you envisage it being by accruing a predetermined number of points in any prospective fourth clan?

  I think (if they do stay) they need freshening up a bit.  In terms of the playlist, maybe give them up to a rotation of the clan members involved in them, like the feature releases have a rota, do the same for the playlists, although this would work better with more active users.

This is a good idea, Vinny, obviously depending on who wishes to be involved. Bringing this idea back to the present, however, between us, you and I are responsible for the playlists for the four clans we are both members of, so I would be quite happy to work out a rota for the two of us to produce the playlists for those clans if that is something you would like to try now.

If you were to implement the new site, Ben, would you still retain features such as the playlists and monthly clan features or do you envision moving on from them or replacing them with something else?

Hi again Ben, could you please add:

Hellreign (USA, Brooklyn)

Över (international)

Úlfarr (UK)

Ulven (USA, Ohio)

Tyrannosorceress (USA, Texas)

Cheers, mate.

 Axatak wouldn't be around for too long though, disbanding in 1988 off the back of frontman Andy Zouman having become a born-again Christian & subsequently producing a film about the influence of Satan on rock music. 

Axatak are widely known for being heavily influenced by KISS. In fact, they started as a KISS cover band so it's no real surprise that their image involved makeup & theatricality. 

As soon as I saw that album cover I thought "cut-price KISS". Their frontman found Jesus and Gene Simmons found money, so there is that similarity between the bands too!

I am a big fan of Wardruna and this is probably my favourite of their's. I guess you already know that mainman Einar Selvik is drummer Kvitrafn from Gorgoroth, Daniel, but you may not be aware of his collaboration album with Ivar Bjornson of Enslaved, "Skuggsjá: A Piece for Mind & Mirror" which they were commisioned to do for some norwegian cultural event back in 2016. If you enjoy Wardruna then this is more of that combined with a little bit of Enslaved's post-black metal and is a damn good listen that I would heartily recommend. They did release a follow-up called "Hugsjá" in 2018 but I didn't think it was as strong an album as the first and isn't as essential a listen.

Purely from a personal point of view, the fact that there are points awarded for various actions will not make any difference to me, as I will most likely continue interacting with the site in much the same way as I do now. I am sure there are people out there who will feel motivated by some kind of reward system and good luck to 'em, but I would never view it as much more than a background feature. I am quite comfortable with my own level of involvement, but I guess if it gets more people interacting it may make things more interesting (although we have had mixed results with that in the past!) I guess I am just a little concerned that a points-based meritocracy will cause an increase in assholery on the site.

Much like Vinny, I have never been that invested in the Hall as I often find sub-genre micro-management to be tedious and not something on which I enjoy focussing too much. Is it heavy, doom, black, death, thrash (the five alchemical elements) or a mixture of the above is usually enough for me!

Interesting stuff Ben and food for thought for sure. My initial thoughts:

I am not fundamentally opposed to a points-based system, but I do forsee issues with it. Members becoming obsessed with point acquisition rather than having genuine enthusiasm for the music being the most obvious, for example writing garbage reviews that add nothing to the conversation in order to accrue points, posting a million times in the "What are you listening to now" threads with just an album name or making a multitude of posts that have nothing to do with metal.

That said, though, if you were intent on introducing a points system then this seems like a very well-thought-out way to do it. I don't think votes on cover art should count towards clan points, though, as you can rate an awful lot of covers in a very short time without knowing anything about the clan's genres, making it the most obvious area for abuse. The Revolution, for example has nearly 6000 releases currently and I could rate every cover with very little thought and zero knowledge of the musical content, but I could accrue 6000 points within that clan - the equivalent of 500 reviews, when in reality I have only rated 32 Revolution releases.

The new "Hall of Judgement" sounds like a very good evolution of that concept and would, hopefully, lead to better and more timely outcomes. It is all looking very exciting to be sure.

Yes please, going to slowly start contributing to all 3 of my playlists by next month. 

No problem, my friend. 

With 4 regular contributors to the North now I want to set a time allocation limit of 25 minutes per contributor per month. This gives me 20 minutes spare that I will use to cover sub-genres not suggested by the four of us with our personal suggestions. If you stray a minute or two over then it is no big deal, as long as I have got 15-20 minutes to play with.

August

Saidan - "Ethereal Blood" (From Fangdriller, 2026)

Vehemence - "En Quête du Graal" (From Assiégé Pour l'Éternité, 2026)

Thanks Xephyr. Can  you confirm if you want to be included back in as a regular contributor, because if so, I can adjust the time allocations to make sure everyone gets a fair crack.

Thanks guys

Hi Ben, could you add german doom metal band Chariot Throne please. They only have one album, but are still a going concern as far as I can tell.

Metal archives: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Chariot_Throne/3540400680

Hi Ben, could you add polish black metallers Bezkresy please.

metal archives: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Bezkresy/3540450893

Death Yell - "Vengeance from Darkness Demo" (1989)

Death Yell formed in 1987 as Pestilence, changing name in 1988, presumably to avoid confusion with the Dutch masters. Their name may be familar from a 1991 split with Beherit or the 1992 "Triumph of Death" multi-band split that also involved the likes of Carcass, Samael and Beherit once more.

This 1989 demo is a great example of how the south american metal scene was throwing everything into the pot in search of extremity. Thrash, death and even semblances of early black metal, particularly in the rabid, screeching vocals of singer Galleta, are all incorporated in this mish-mash of extremity. When this is coupled with demented songwriting that features long-ish tracks containing multiple and rapid tempo and direction changes it all makes for a really compelling release that should at least pique the interest of the discerning extreme metal fanatic. There are six tracks on the demo, including a short ambient interval, which combine for a runtime of almost 32 minutes and a pretty substantial listening experience. The sound quality is fine for a typical 1980s demo, both muddy and tinny at the same time, lending the album a rawness that may be a little at odds with the overtly technical material on offer, yet which turns out to be surprisingly effective.

Death Yell don't just reach for extremity via playing uber-fast or by trying to sound more evil than anyone else, although they are perfectly capable of doing both at times, but the constant change in tempo and tone, lurching from killer riff to dissonant and manic guitar pyrotechnics all accompanied by a pummelling and punishing barrage from the very capable rhythm section of bassist Alejandro Allende and impressive drummer Patricio 'Pato' Diez alongside Galleta's manic screeches, howls and barks make for a release that feels ahead of the curve for 1989 in terms of extremity in metal. Ultimately, if you are in any way interested in the development of either the South American metal scene or extreme metal more generally then I think you would find this demo to be very interesting indeed.

4/5

One other function that would be really helpful Ben would be a wishlist button on releases and a corresponding wishlist on each member's profile page. It would just make it easier to track all those many albums I would like to check out after reading other members' reviews or hearing a track that catches my ear on the playlists.

Karl, your suggestions need to be in by Wednesday in order to make August's playlist.

Karl, your suggestions need to be in by Wednesday in order to make August's playlist.

Dorso - "Bajo una luna cámbrica" (1989)

Dorso formed in 1984 and remain a going concern, releasing eight full-length albums with quite a wide range of genres from thrash/speed metal, grindcore, progressive rock, heavy metal through to black metal. "Bajo una luna cámbrica" was the band's debut full-length, being released in June of 1984 and featuring the only ever-present band member, bassist / vocalist Rodrigo "Pera" Cuadra, alongside guitarist / vocalist Gamal Eltit. Drum duties were shared by four guest/session drummers with Eltit also manning the kit for the track "Críptica visión".

What we have here with "Bajo una luna cámbrica" is principally a thrash metal album, but it is also a fair bit more than that with some quite impressive progressive touches. The album's longest track, "Cíclope" is a really nice piece of progressive metal with some legitimate Seventies' touches and a distinct latin flavour. The song writing is ambitious, certainly compared to their peers, with the band being more interested in keeping things interesting than trying to be as extreme and fast as possible. This certainly doesn't translate to the album being at all lightweight, they can be plenty aggressive and thrash with the best of them when the mood takes them with some pretty killer riffs, check out "Vuela en tu dragón" or "Hidra" and hear for yourself, it is just that this isn't the be all and end all here. I guess this could be termed as technical thrash metal and the guys do seem to be technically very adept, but I think of it as being more progressive than technical with even a jazz influence at times. The short "Suite", for example, is basically a guitar workout in the vein of a heavy Robert Fripp or even Frank Zappa and Gamal Eltit's guitar solo work is generallyxcellent, utilising a number of variations of style as well as really shredding when required to do so.

Sadly, the production doesn't really do the guys a lot of favours and its muddiness does blunt the edge a little, but not enough to cause any drama, being more of a niggle than a major issue. The songwriting really is fantastic and has impressed me mightily. I can't help wondering whether this was an influence on modern chilean thrash legends Demoniac and the curveballs they like to include in with their thrashing mayhem. I am really glad to have stumbled upon this and I would heartily recommend it to anyone interested in hearing a quite unique album from the Eighties' South American metal scene that offers a bit more than straight ahead metal charges.

4/5

Hi Ben, could you add US epic doom band Mind of Evil please.

Hi Ben, could you add german pagan / melodic black metal band Isgalder please.

Sadism - "Perdition of Souls" Demo (1989)

Sadism are probably the most successful and continuously long-lived of the 1980s chilean extreme metal acts. Forming in Santiago as Black Vomit back in 1988, they soon changed name to Sadist and by the time of the release of this, their first demo in '89, they were going under the Sadism banner. I think it is fair to label this as genuine death metal with Death's "Scream Bloody Gore" being a big influence I would guess. The production is very good and is certainly one of the better-sounding of these 1980's chilean demos. The re-released 2022 version is available on Spotify and sounds excellent, but even the original version available on YouTube sounds pretty great, albeit with a more prominent bass than the later version.

The lineup for the demo was Ricardo Roberts on vocals and Juan Pablo Donoso on drums, both of whom are still with the band, alongside dual guitarists Ricardo Reyes and Pablo Pino and bassist Joan Navarro, all three of whom seem to have left the metal scene by the mid Nineties. There are four tracks with a total runtime of less than thirteen minutes, three of the four clocking in at under three minutes and delivering short, brutal blasts of old-school death metal fury. The band sound pretty tight and well-rehearsed for a first demo and display a determination to deliver as brutal a sonic experience as they can. Roberts produces a very creditable reproduction of Chuch Schuldiner's rasping bark whilst the twin guitarists unleash some fairly devastating riffs with a track like "Dark Side of Sadism" having that hanging-on-by-the-fingertips, seat-of-the-pants headlong charge of barely controlled musical violence that I so love about early death metal. Donoso delivers a withering battery of blastbeats and does a great job of providing impetus and urgency alongside the chugging basslines.

I really enjoyed this demo and it definitely marks the arrival of the chileans on the scene with a very creditable south american twist on the floridian death metal of the time.

4/5

Thanks Vinny. 

Glad to hear that you are feeling so positive going forward, Vinny. Life certainly has its ups and downs, but it is how you deal with them that ultimately matters.

Ben has announced he has been working on a new version of the site which looks very cool indeed. You can catch up on the conversation here, Vinny:

metal.academy/forum/29/thread/3032?page=1#topic_26643

Welcome back, Vinny. You haven't missed much, except for news of a possible whole new website!!

Here's my review:

I was a bit more sympathetic to the 'charms' of nu-metal back in its heyday, and regularly spun CDs from the likes of Slipknot, Korn and Spineshank. Mushroomhead's "XIII" was another that I picked up at the time of release. It appealed to me because it felt like it had quite a dark and ominous subtext to it, as opposed to the youthful anger and rage of the more popular nu-metal acts. However, as I succumbed more and more to the seductions of extreme metal, the rap-heavy and ultimately impotent anger of nu-metal dropped out of my metal diet almost completely.

It has been a long time since I last played "XIII" but hearing it for the first time in many years I am reminded of why it had a particular appeal to me in the first place. It kicks off strongly with the ascerbic-sounding "Kill Tomorrow" complete with its hardcore-derived vocals hitting hard from the off, threatening to rip the listener's head clean off. "Sun Doesn't Rise" buys more into the rap side of nu-metal, but it has that ominous atmosphere to it that initially drew me to the album way back when. This dark cloud of ominous uncertainty sets this album apart from the "Iowa"s and "Follow the Leader"s of the time and is much more in keeping with the kind of doom aesthetic that appeals to me most. Alongside this there is often a mechanical throb to the riffs ("Mother Machine Gun" and "The Dream Is Over" for example) a la Fear Factory that gives Mushroomhead's version of nu-metal an industrial feeling at times and which positions them as close to FF as Korn.

The band sound incredibly tight with chunky riffs and a throbbing bassline, although the drums sound a little thinner than I would have liked, particularly the snare which, whilst it is no St Anger, is still a little tinny. The dual vocals contrasts hardcore punk raging with a strong, and faintly bluesy clean style for a quite striking effect. They also had an uncanny ear for a catchy melody with "Nowhere to Go" surprisingly never released as a single, despite sounding more radio-friendly than the album's only actual single "Sun Doesn't Rise" and making me feel like I should be waving a Zippo lighter in the air whilst "Almost Gone" is such a groovy mutha that it may well make even a grumpy old metalhead like me want to start dancing! Obviously such a long album would be much better if it had finished after the 8-minute "Destroy the World Around Me", foregoing the inconsequential "Thirteen" which is quite annoying, particularly with the old 'scratchy needle' sound effect, and the cover of Seal's "Crazy" which feels out of place with the rest of the material here.

The last few minutes aside, listening to this now, over two decades after its release, it feels like it has aged incredibly well, unlike so many of its contemporries from the nu-metal scene and still sounds fresh and exhilharating. Thanks for putting this forward as a feature, Saxy, and allowing me to reconnect with an old friend that I haven't entertained in quite a while and who is actually better company than I remember them being.

3.5/5

First thing to note is that I didn't completely hate this. Yeah I know, no one was more surprised than me, but I was swept along by the obvious enthusiasm and energy of the band and kind of went along for the ride. The speedy riffs and shredding solos are pretty entertaining, the riffs to both "Scream for Me" and "Burden of Time" for example stood out as being much heavier than I would have expected. Vocalist Asami is a big plus, sounding both melodic and reasonably powerful, although I am not so keen when she reaches for those really high notes and becomes a bit screechingly ragged, although this seems to be a feature of power metal generally that I just can't get to grips with. It is power metal after all so, of course, it is larger than life and over-the-top with keyboard overlays and some layered backing vocals, but not in a terribly cringey manner, ultimately being more operatic than pantomime. I do think that the album runs out of steam after "Burden of Time" and tracks like "The Apocalypse", "Inspire" and the godawfully balladic "Edge of the World" (the album's nadir for me) sound more like the kind of power metal that I struggle with.

Look, in truth this isn't going to break into my top 500 (or even 1000) metal albums and I am unlikely ever to pass this way again, but while it lasted I found it entertaining enough and I got through the whole thing pretty easily without a single skip and remarkably few cringes. In fact, if it had ended with "Burden of Time" I would have thought even more highly of it. Damning with faint praise then? Yeah, probably, but for me and power metal this was an untypically positive experience with the guitars and vocals being sufficiently impressive to keep me on board and to allow me to forgive the album its other obvious excesses, not least of which is the ear-batteringly, over-compressed mastering that makes it feel like it is being rammed into your ears with a steamhammer - and not in a good way!

3/5

OK, here are my thoughts:

Firstly I've got to say, I don't feel that Gorgoroth ever get quite the credit they deserve, possibly with good reason in later years, but there was a time when they were a thrilling and devastating proposition and worthy of mention amongst any of the second wave. This, their fourth album, is the product of a band in transition, each track utilising a different lineup, four different vocalists being used for example - Gaahl providing vocals on the opener, Pest, the singer on the previous album singing on four of the remaining tracks, mainman Infernus on a couple more and Malignant Eternal's T-Reaper on The Devil, The Sinner and His Journey. Despite the variety in each track's performers, it doesn't result in a disjointed release as you may expect, rather it is an album that absolutely has an overarching theme and mood and that is one of blistering chaos and nerve-shredding antagonism that feels like the band were trying to produce the most evil-sounding record released up to that point. It sounds to me as if it was heavily influenced by Mayhem's EP of the previous year, Wolf's Lair Abyss, which was also a release that heralded a change in direction.

This time around Gorgoroth's songwriting utilises passages of sheer noise, occasional slowing of tempo and savage, soul-shredding shrieks for vocals in the most part. Despite the noise elements and the savagery on display, underneath there are actually some quite melodic riffs, but they are well-disguised among the intended cacophony yet they enable the tracks to remain in the memory rather than just becoming a dissonant blur. I actually think Destroyer is a great album in it's ability to make an undoubtedly intentionally chaotic-sounding album memorable and like the band that spawned it, it is mightily underrated and should be lauded amongst Nineties black metal afficianados.

4.5/5

I love that album, it is one of the first TD albums I bought, alongside my favourite Rubycon. I was a massive fan of the band back in the 70's and I was lucky enough to catch them live at Manchester Apollo when they were touring their Cyclone album. They had an awesome laser show that really suited their music and made for quite a trippy experience. For all the iterarions of the band since, I think the Froese, Franke, Baumann trio provided the pinnacle of the band's material.

Any chance of uodating the current features release page if you get chance please Ben?

A couple for August Andi please:

Mercyful Fate - "Gypsy" (from "Don't Break the Oath", 1984)

Running Wild - "Diabolic Force" (from "Gates of Purgatory", 1984)

I really like "Die Healing" Sonny. 1986's "Born Too Late" is my favourite Saint Vitus album, followed by the debut but this one is pretty close to both of them in third place. I'd go with four stars for it personally.

My top 5 SV albums:

1. Mournful Cries (1988)

2. Saint Vitus (1984)

3. V (1990)

4. Die Healing (1995)

5. Born Too Late (1986)

Surprisingly I hadn't reviewed this previously, so here are my thoughts:

1995 saw the release of Saint Vitus' seventh full-length album, "Die Healing" and marked the return of original vocalist Scott Reagers to the fold. It followed what is widely considered the band's weakest album, 1992's "C.O.D." which, following the departure of Wino, had featured Count Raven's Chritus on vocals. Now, as much as I love Wino's grizzled vocals, I think Reager's more eccentric style actually better captures the soul of Saint Vitus, so his return was well-timed and he is on fine form here. "Die Healing" was intended to be the band's swansong (although that notion has consequently been proven premature) and it seemed apt for them to end as they began with Reagers behind the mic.

Kicking off with one of the band's best tracks, "Dark World", Die Healing immediately exorcises the ghost of "C.O.D.'s" mediocrity and points towards a band intent on going out in style. Dave Chandler has an ear for simple but effective doom metal riffs and he sounds unlike anyone else with an instantly recognisable and unmistakeable guitar tone that many have tried and failed to adequately reproduce. There is a certain rawness to the best Saint Vitus material, derived from their early days touring with hardcore punk bands, that makes them sound like the sort of band who have just rolled up in a rattling old Transit van, unloaded their own battered gear, plugged it in and just started playing. Now while I am certain that is far from the truth, it doesn't alter the fact that when they are at their best that is exactly how they sound and personally I love that about them.

The tempo here is generally pretty slow, although they sometimes switch it up a little to provide contrast. "Let the End Begin", for example, is one of the album's most sluggish tracks, but contains an uptempo mid-section where Chandler lets rip with a much more energetic riff and guitar solo before reverting back to the creeping grind of the opening section. In fact the guitar solos are generally pretty shred-like with DC going fret-crazy and teetering on the edge of feedback, almost Hendrix-like at times, as on "Trail of Pestilence" for example. The band are also unafraid to lampoon themselves and the wider doom ethos a little bit, with "The Sloth" telling an apocalyptic tale of a marauding Kaiju-like sloth creature slowly laying waste to all around it like a slow-motion Godzilla.

Saint Vitus are unquestionably my favourite of the very early doom metal bands and whilst Trouble, Pentagram et al have their moments for sure, I think SV are the most consistent, C.O.D. aside. Whether it is Reagers or Wino on vocals they just encapsulate that filthy, grizzled aesthetic that so typifies the earliest trad doom scene and which lends them an air of authenticity that feels like they could turn up to play at your local pub on any given night. Great band, great album check it out if you haven't already.

4.5/5

I swear that if I hear one more fucking thing about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's wedding on UK TV then I am going to lose my shit completely and will likely need a new TV set as a result.