Sonny's Forum Replies
Imperial Triumphant - Alphaville (2020)
I have tried with Imperial Triumphant, I really have, but someone is going to have to tell me what I am missing here because this is fucking horrible to my ears, especially the first half of the album. Admittedly from "Transmission to Mercury" onwards the album is better and if their writing was always in this more coherent style then I would be more on board with it. The first half, though, sounds like the art-school project of an internet edgelord and has zero musical value for me at all. It feels like the band listened to Mayhem's "Grand Declaration of War" and thought "anybody can do that" and this patently proves that they can't. It sounds to me like a group of guys wanted to be in a metal band but couldn't wrire a riff to save their lives, so they threw out some tuneless shite in the hopes that chin-stroking intellectuals could come up with some deeper meaning to justify its existence. Genuinely, I would like someone who digs this to explain to me what I am missing - hopefully without resorting to artsy bullshit words like "deconstruction" and "subversion".
Sorry, I really don't mean to upset anyone here, I am probably just angry that I have wasted another hour on this fucking band after being bitten on the arse by their previous album and not learning my lesson, but fuck this shit.
1.5/5
Here's my review:
I never really know how to approach an album like Sodom's latest. A band that are into their fifth decade and with a lengthy string of releases put out an album of familiar-sounding material that, nevertheless, I still find hugely entertaining. This leaves me wondering exactly what I can say about it that may be of any interest or value to anyone other than "here is another Sodom album where they do their thing". Whether you love it or hate it depends entirely on your already probably long-established opinion on the band because this is so typical of them that it won't budge your prevailing opinion one way or the other. In fact, Sodom are so established a name that most people had probably made up their mind about The Arsonist long before actually hearing it. I don't think the Germans always get the praise I feel is their due and when they do it almost feels grudgingly given compared to the plaudits for their countrymen like Kreator or Destruction. In that respect I kind of look on them as the german version of Anthrax. Personally I look on Sodom as a bit of a poseur-filter, by which I mean that I see them as a band beloved only by dyed-in-the-wool thrashers and not really being one for the casual genre tourist.
Anyway, on to the Arsonist. I have to say I have had a pretty good time with this over the last two or three days. Their aggression seems undiminished by time with Angelripper often sounding like he is about to burst a blood vessel such is the viciousness of his vocal delivery, they still dish out some titanic thrash riffs and unleash several pretty tasty solos. There are two or three real belters on here with "Trigger Discipline", "Sane Insanity" and "Twilight Void" being the tracks that particularly tickle my fancy. I don't feel the need to say that this is a great album considering the band has been in existence for so long, because that would be condescending, but I have to say that is a good album by a band who have been around the block many times and who know exactly what they are about and who their target audience is.
If there is one caveat to all this positivity then it is the album's production. The Arsonist is undoubtedly the latest casualty in the Loudness Wars, with massive compression that sees everything cranked up well beyond 11. The drums also feel pushed too far forward in the mix and even run the risk of occasionally drowning out the riffs. That aside though, this is a decent album that shows that Sodom can still deliver the thrash metal fix that some of us stubborn thrash-heads crave and for that I am extremely thankful.
4/5
I am loving the cover art on ths one - one of the best they have had.
Karl, please submit your suggestions by close of play on Monday if you want them included in October's playlist.
Vinny, Karl, can you please let me have your suggestions by the 15th September (35 minutes max).
@David, any suggestions need to be posted by 15th.
This issue has raised its head on a new list today, to the point where it has rendered the list unusable with multiple duplicate entries. The final entry was triplicated and there were 7 other entries duplicated out of only 50 entries. Deleting and re-adding didn't work, so in the end I have just deleted it altogether.
This is a long-standing funeral doom favourite of mine and my original review still holds up, so here it is.
Worship were a funeral doom duo formed in 1998 and based in Munich comprising Daniel "Pan" Vaross and Maximilien "The Impaler of Trendies" Varnier (aka Fucked-up Mad Max). They recorded this four-track demo in April of '99 and released it as a limited edition cassette via Max's own Impaler of Trendies record label. It was then picked up by Weird Truth and received another (very) limited cassette release. And so it would probably have ended, except that in June of 2001 Fucked-up Mad Max lived up to his name and commited suicide by throwing himself off the Edmonton High Level Bridge during a trip to Canada. The ensuing notoriety ensured that the demo had several more widespread releases on both vinyl and CD and word soon got around.
So to the actual music! Sometimes it is hard to come to a release without any bias, especially one as notorious as this, but in the realms of funeral doom, this is about as authentic as it gets. The production isn't great, obviously as it was a demo recording, but I don't ever consider that to be a problem in extreme metal, be it doom, black or any other type of metal for that matter. In fact, a rough sound can add a certain edginess or filthiness to a release that a cleaner production fails to deliver and is certainly the case here.
First track Whispering Gloom is an extremely well-written track and is probably the most interesting on the album, consisting of morbidly slow, sustained chords, Max's guttural growls and soaring lead work, which is then thrown into sharp contrast as the track pauses for breathe with a minimalistic spoken word section, before kicking back in, sounding even more desperate than before, the inate despair highlighted by a particularly mournful-sounding piano picking out single notes over the glacial central riff.
A personal favourite of mine is the closing track (of the tape version anyway), Worship, a sheer titan of a track that crushes any clinging hopefulness out of the listener before album's end. The CD also features a bonus track, Keep On Selling Cocaine to Angels, which was released as Worship's side of a split EP with belgian grindcore act, Agathocles and features more of the same utter misery which is great to hear, although I do prefer the original tape ending with Worship's chaotic climax.
There are, arguably, few better examples of the true expression of funeral doom metal than Last Tape (or CD, or Vinyl) and it's unremittingly bleak vision, completely lacking in solace or, indeed, any positive emotion whatsoever. If you're adverse to introspection then you're probably best advised to steer clear of albums like this, but if you have no fear of gazing into the abyss then you really need this *record / tape / disc (*delete as necessary). Possibly the best doom metal demo ever released.
5/5
September 2025
1. Emperor - "Towards the Patheon" (from "In the Nightside Eclipse", 1994)
2. Hades - "An Oath Sworn in Bjorgvin" (from "...Again Shall Be", 1994) [submitted by Karl]
3. Nattverd - "Hvisk Deg Vekk" (from "Tidloes Naadesloes", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
4. Aara - "Todesbiwak" (from "Eiger", 2024) [submitted by Saxy]
5. Satyricon - "The Pentagram Burns" (from "Now, Diabolical", 2006)
6. Wode - "Celestial Dagger" (from "Servants of the Countercosmos", 2017) [submitted by Vinny]
7. Sühnopfer - D.S.F.R. (from "Nous sommes d'hier", 2023) [submitted by Karl]
8. Waidelotte - "Celestial Shrine" (from Celestial Shrine, 2024) [submitted by Andi]
9. Odium - "Towards the Forest Horizon" (from "The Sad Realm of the Stars", 1998) [submitted by Karl]
10. Vorna - "Maa martona makaa" (from "Sateet palata saavat", 2019)
11. Deafheaven - "Honeycomb" (from "Ordinary Corrupt Human Love", 2018) [submitted by Sonny]
12. Profane Order - "A Sombre Passage" (from "One Nightmare Unto Another", 2023)
13. Gorgoroth - "Maaneskyggens slave" (from "Pentagram", 1994) [submitted by Sonny]
14. Infernal War - "Crush the Tribe of Jesus Christ" (from "Terrorfront", 2005) [submitted by Karl]
15. The Great Sea - "The Maze" (from "Noble Art of Desolation", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
16. Primordial - "No Nation On This Earth" (from "To the Nameless Dead", 2007)
17. Sinmara - "Shattered Pillars" (from "Aphotic Womb", 2014) [submitted by Vinny]
18. Obtained Enslavement - "Soulblight" (from "Soulblight", 1998) [submitted by Karl]
19. Krallice - "Telluric Rings" (from "Diotima", 2011) [submitted by Sonny]
September 2025
1. Mizmor & Hell - Pandemonium's Throat (from "Alluvion", 2025) [submitted by dk1]
2. Marble Orchard - "A Life Not Worth Living" (from "Ruminations of Ruin", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
3. Caronte - "Sagittarius Supernovae" (from "Spiritus", 2025) [submitted by Sonny]
4. Bloodhorse - "Illumination" (from "A Malign Star", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
5. Thou – Floyd the Barber (from "Doused in Mud, Soaked in Bleach", 2016) [submitted by dk1]
6. Evoken - "Grim Eloquence" (from "Atra Mors", 2012) [submitted by Sonny]
7. Throne - "Tortura" (from "Ossarium", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
8. Yob – Prepare the Ground (from "Atma", 2011) [submitted by dk1]
9. Paradise Lost - "Silence Like the Grave" (from "Ascension" [preview], 2025) [submitted by Sonny]
10. Pentagram - "Lady Heroin" (from "Lightning in a Bottle", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
11. Alunah - "Awakening the Forest" (from ""Awakening the Forest", 2014) [submitted by Sonny]
12. Mantar - "Church of Suck" (from "Post Apocalyptic Depression", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
13. Black Sheep Wall – White Pig (from "I'm Going to Kill Myself", 2015) [submitted by dk1]
14. Hell - "Mortem" (from "Submersus", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]
15. Mourning Dawn - "Blue Pain" (from "The Foam of Despair", 2024)
16. Monolord - "Cursing the One" (from "Vaenir", 2015)
17. Worm - "Murk Above the Dark Moor" (from "Foreverglade", 2021)
As I mentioned previously, I have only had a brief, but exceedingly positive, association with Aeternus. Their 1995 "Dark Sorcery" EP is one of my favourite black metal EPs and their 1997 debut album "Beyond the Wandering Moon" isn't bad either, so I went into this in a positive frame of mind. Luckily, this uncharacteristically positive attitude wasn't misplaced and this is a nice slab of medium-paced, melodic, norwegian black metal that was very easy to get into with Immortal being an obvious touchstone for me.
A striking atmosphere is set with the introduction to the epic opener, "There's No Wine Like the Bloods Crimson" which starts off with a warrior's raging and a brief snatch of liturgical singing before giving way to a martial drum beat which sets the conflict-riven battlefield scene where most of the album's events take place. The theme here is the horrors and glories of war, particularly toe-to-toe, whites-of-their-eyes, blood and guts medieval warfare. The riffs are fairly melodic and memorable enough to catch yourself humming along occasionally. The odd riff also has a folk metal component to it, with second track "As I March" containing a prime example. The sound is pretty thick, not the lo-fi, washed out and icy thin sound often associated with nineties black metal, but with a noticeable death metal influence which is well-suited to the blood-riven theme of the album. I always love a good drum track and Vrolok's percussive contribution is well-handled here. The track "Blodsverging", where he really gets to let rip, is a great example. I am not clued in enough to know how technically good Vrolok is, but the drums sound absolutely brilliant and I love what he was doing with the aggressive, but well-controlled, battering that he is visiting upon his kit. There is some fairly sparse utilisation of keyboards, but they are subtly handled and never smother the riffs, merely adding a thin atmospheric layer to proceedings.
I am not going to claim that "...And So the Night Became" is a top-drawer norwegian black metal classic or anything, but it is very good and I found it exceedingly easy to get into with a musical consistency and atmospheric integrity that showcases the songwriting skills of all involved. Aeternus may not get a huge amount of credit or acknowlegement in the black metal world, but here they reveal themselves to be a very accomplished black metal act that almost certainly deserve more plaudits than they receive. There is some really good stuff on here and this is definitely an album I will return to in the future.
4/5
https://metalinjection.net/news/zoe-federoff-posts-her-contract-with-cradle-of-filth-details-how-little-she-was-paid
Wow! Not a great look for Dani Filth & management.
All that + a collaboration with Ed Sheeran = zero credibility.
Hi Ben, I am going through all my Fallen ratings to see which bands are missing that I have any familiarity with, so I may have a few suggestions upcoming. No rush for these as most are pretty obscure.
Could you please add:
Aathma (Spain)
Akem Manah (USA)
Albez Duz (Germany)
Albino Python (USA)
Altareth (Sweden)
Archon (USA)
Attalla (USA)
Atten Ash (USA)
Averon (Sweden)
Well, that's the "A"s done anyway!
I have checked out the three-track preview EP on Spotify and it's not bad. Possibly leaning a bit more into death doom than they have for a while.
In fact, the bottom end of my ratings database if littered with metal filth, most of it being far worse than Justin Bieber.
Wow, that must be some seriously bad shit.
The only things I can think of that are even remotely that bad are Piledriver and Exterminator. In fact, out if my 3800+ ratings on the site I only have 8 with a 0.5 star rating and just over 100 with 2 stars or less, so I reckon I still have plenty of room for all the shit metal I haven't heard yet.
Onslaught - Killing Peace (2007)
I am a big fan of Onslaught's first two albums. Let's face it they were one of the very few thrash metal bands of any real consequence that hailed from the UK, so a bit of local bias came into play to endear them to me, even though those two albums are really good anyway. However, I have never listened to any of their post-reformation albums. Well, the intervening years between the 1991 split and 2004 reformation had seen the thrash world fall under the thrall of the groove gods, with the shadow cast by the likes of Pantera and Machine Head proving to be almost all-encompassing. In the 21st century it feels like the thrash world split into two distinct camps, the bands who embraced extremity and incorporated more death or black metal into their sound (let's call these the good ones) and those who sold their souls to the groove gods (for argument's sake we will call these the bad ones) in the hunt for increased record sales. Listening to "Killing Peace" it is obvious that Onslaught took the latter path, despite their earlier stuff suggesting they would be more likely to embrace the former.
To be honest, after only a handful of tracks I had had enough of this, it's groove-oriented approach sounding far too much like a knock-off Machine Head for me to stomach it for long. I stuck it out until the end as I was out dog-walking and it was easier to keep listening than change it. However, come album's end I had the horrible empty feeling in the stomach that I get when I realise a band I once really dug has sold out and is nothing more than a trend-following shell of its former glory. In fairness only two of the guys who recorded "Power From Hell" were present on "Killing Peace", drummer Steve Grice and lead guitarist Nige Rockett who had even relegated himself to rhythm guitar in the new band, but even so, the latter album sounds like it was conceived and recorded by a completely different band, possibly one from a different dimension such is the lack of connection I make to it. For me, this is akin to the chasm in quality between St Anger and Master of Puppets.
On the plus side the production is super clean, as you would expect from an album recorded this century and there are a couple of quite gnarly solos, with opener "Burn" being a case in point. Steve Grice's drumming is very good too and is one of the only reasons to listen to this more than once, which I am doing right now, so dedicated am I to delivering a considered opinion! The lead vocals are pretty horrible though ("Destroyer of Worlds" is just painful), the gang backing vocals are even worse and those bouncy, groove-oriented riffs are anathema to all I hold dear. Add in yet another overused "I am become death" Oppenheimer sample and I have just about had it with this.
I originally had this pegged as a 2.5, but further listening has hardened my opinion agaginst it and I can't bring myself to go higher than a 2.0. I will definitely stick with Onslaught's 80s stuff and file their reform albums in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet in the shed at the bottomof the garden marked "Do Not Listen - Ever".
Fucking bummer. As an ex-biker myself it always hits hard when I hear of someone killed in a motorcycle accident. RIP and ride forever on, man.
Straying from the original topic here, but I have been thinking about my ratings for a lot of stuff, particularly the more average scores, say 2.5-3.5 star ratings and I am starting to think that my ratings should be more severe here than they are on a general music website like RYM. Now stay with me on this, my reasoning is that if ratings measure 0.5 as the absolute worst music has on offer and 5 is the absolute best, then on a general website 0.5 includes some of the absolute worst monstrositites human art has ever inflicted on the world. I am thinking Crazy Frog, Joe Dolce, Justin Bieber levels of utter shite. As adevout metalhead, as I would expect most on Metal Academy to be, there are very, very few metal releases I would consider to be objectively as bad as those steaming piles, so I am thinking that maybe my criteria for rating on a specialist site such as this should be stricter, as I am better inclined on a genetic level to the music covered by the site.
For example of what I am saying, this morning I was listening to Onslaught's 2007 album, "Killing Peace" album and I was thinking that it was very average indeed, "A definite 3 star" I thought to myself. But then I thought, "But on a site like Metal Academy where the standards and criteris for a metal album should be higher than on a general music site, I don't think this even stacks up as a 3 and 2.5 seems a far more appropriate rating".
Does this ring any bells for any one else and if not, do you have any comments to help me resolve this personal quandary?
I tend to spin this record about once a month and this recent remaster of The Gits' classic 1992 "Frenching the Bully" album is an absolute beauty so my vinyl order has just gone into Amazon. This is one of my all-time favourite US punk albums, up there with Bad Brains first, DK's Fresh Fruit and The Ramones "It's Alive". This remaster has given it a sharp cutting edge and cements it's place as a punk rock classic. The murder of singer Mia Zapata, apart from cutting short the life of a vibrant young woman, robbed the world of one of the best punk singers ever committed to tape. RIP Mia...
While I am on the subject, here are my top ten Punk Rock albums:
1. The Stranglers - Rattus Norvegicus (1977)
2. Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980)
3. Ramones - It's Alive (1979)
4. The Gits - Frenching the Bully (1992)
5. The Clash - The Clash (1977)
6. Bad Brains - Bad Brains (1982)
7. Misfits - Earth A.D. (1983)
8. Suicidal Tendencies - Suicidal Tendencies (1987)
9. Subhumans - From the Cradle to the Grave (1984)
10 Discharge - Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing (1982)
Caronte - Spiritvs (2025)
I am a big fan of this Parma five-piece and was stoked to see they had a new album out, with minimal fanfare from the metal world, a long six years since previous offering "The Wolves of Thelema". Their brand of doom metal sits smack-bang between the stoner and the epic, with a wide streak of occult psychedelia, in the vein of The Devil's Blood, running through it's dark heart.
They have a quite distinctive sound, chiefly down to mainman Dorian Bones' vocals which come on like a mixture of the gothic flavour of Paradise Lost's Nick Holmes and the expansive epicness of a Robert Lowe. Over the previous decade and a half they have also become exceedingly proficient at writing more memorable, uptempo doomy riffs that are likely to be rolling around your head for hours after the record stops spinning. The rhythm section is exceedingly solid, with both drummer Mike De Chirico and bassist Henry Bones solidly and unshowily driving the tracks along and providing a solid foundation on which everything else is built.
The opening one-two of the punchy and catchy "Scarlet Love" and the slower and doomier "Aiwass Calling" sees the album kick off in fine style with two of the album's strongest numbers. Most of the tracks are mid-paced affairs, but the band do include a couple of slower, more doom-laden numbers with the aforementioned "Aiwass Calling" and the penultimate "Fire Walk With Me" being well-placed to prevent the album from sounding too samey. I feel there is a bit of a drop-off in the middle, though, with side one closer "Antikristos" and side two opener "Beyond Daath" not really hitting the spot for me. "Antikristos" feels like the band are fishing to catch the Jex Thoth / Devil's Blood crowd and "Beyond Daath", despite having a decent riff, leans too much into the occult theatrics vocally. Luckily things pick up with the album's doomiest (and my favourite) track "Fire Walk With Me" imparting a bit of class before closer "Interstellar Snakes of Gold" rounds things out with a melodic chorus and nice riff.
As much as I enjoyed Spiritus, I find myself being reluctant to impart a top-tier score. The main reason for this is the lack of adventure the band display, particularly in the restraint with which the guitar leads are deployed and their willingness to stick to the same old formula which has, admittedly, served them very well over the years. I think the album is lacking a really good solo or two with the leads mainly used to add melody over the riffs when I couldn't help feeling that on a couple of occasions they could have really let rip, but feel constrained by the tight discipline of the songwriting. The closing section of the aforementioned "Fire Walk With Me" is the only really extensive solo and even that feels like it is being held in check when it should howl and soar.
In truth, I don't need a band to constantly be pushing the envelope and redefining themselves for me to enjoy them, but sometimes they can be found sitting just a little bit too comfortably and I feel like that about Caronte at this point in their career. There are some good tracks here, but it feels to me like there is a little too much filler too with "Antikristos", "Beyond Daath" and "Interstellar Snakes of Gold" almost feeling like a band going through the motions and I hate saying this about a band I enjoy as much as I do Caronte.
I'm afraid I can only award it a measly C+
I've made the move to Florida and I am immediately a much happier man. Sunshine everyday is nice after 10months per year of darkness up north. People are friendlier too and my wife is happier at her new school so far. I just have to get my own ball rolling. All in due time.
I haven't felt inspired to write reviews for a while.
I got to see Crowbar live down here, and that was amazing, Kirk's wife was working merch, so I know he got the hallmark card from my wife and I. Life is good down in dixie.
I was wondering how you were getting on as we hadn't heard from you in a while and it is great to hear that things are working out well. Good luck with your new life.
-16- - Guides for the Misguided (2025)
I haven't listened to a whole lot from L.A.'s 16, but what I have, I have always found to be angry and confrontational, from a band railing at the world, their relationships and even themselves. Guides for the Misguided starts off in much the same vein with a couple of quick-tempo efforts, Bobby Ferry's anguished and angsty shouting almost making me suspect that they are trying to grab the attention of the metalcore crowd and the band coming off as the result of a cross-pollination of Crowbar and Converge.
However, things soon take a turn down a different alley with third track, "Blood Atonement Blues". Starting with a piano intro that is rapidly swamped by a really nice bluesy, howling lead. The track then turns down an unexpected gothic metal sidestreet, complete with a catchy chorus which isn't as good as the rest of the track, although that howling guitar lead does make a very welcome return. At this point I must admit I was now a bit thrown off track, thinking I knew what I was getting here, but subsequently having those expectations trashed. "Fortress of Hate" is a groovier slab of sludge metal that I would, once more, associate more with Crowbar than I would -16-. This groovier approach and the deployment of generally more catchy choruses continues with "Proudly Damned" and especially "Fire and Brimstone Inc" which has one of those choruses that you just can't shift from your head.
I am then even more confounded by "Desperation Angel" which sounds like a sludge metal track that has been written by Dave Grohl and, even though it is more aggressive-sounding than most of the preceeding tracks with the harsh vocals coming back to the fore at last, it just doesn't quite hit hard enough for my liking. In fact it isn't until "Resurrection Day" that I get the anger and visciousness that I turn to a -16- album for, although the track is a little bit patchy in truth. This is followed, though, by the quite short "Give Thanks and Praises" which has much more of a hardcore feel and so is a better representation of what I personally look for from the band and which, despite it's brevity, is probably my favourite track. Admittedly the album does finish more strongly with "Give Thanks" being followed by the hulking "Kick Out the Chair".
In conclusion, "Guides for the Misguided" probably threw more curve balls at me than I was expecting. This may not be entirely out of character as this is only the third album I have heard from the band, but it does seem at odds with what I have heard previously, not with a massive departure exactly, but it feels like an album from a band toning down their aggressive tendencies in order to garner wider acceptance. Look, this is not a bad album and has some fine moments, it may turn out that this is one hell of a grower and I may look back in future days perplexed at my intital reactions, but at this moment in time I am a little disappointed that -16- have seemingly watered-down their venom.
3/5
Looking forward to it, Vinny.
Good feedback, Sonny! And sorry about those first two tracks affecting your plan to switch clans.
In truth, I never would have anyway, Andi. There are just too many of my all-time favourites in The Pit for me to abandon it, even if really great new releases are exceedingly few and far between.
I have been listening to and really enjoying a fair bit of Guardians-related stuff recently and I have even been toying with the idea of leaving the Pit and joining the Guardians instead. However, within the first two songs of this month's playlist I had put that notion away in the mental drawer marked "Do not open again - EVER!" Sabaton was bad enough but [checks notes] Battle Beast presented one of the worst, cringiest metal songs I have ever heard in my 50 years of metal patronage. The thing is that, after that, although the LoG Sabbath cover would have been better replaced by the original, this is a pretty damn good playlist with some familiar goodies and some unfamiliar crackers. Admittedly, after the Mercyful Fate track where a lot of the power / symphonic stuff was placed, I found less that appealed to me, but generally speaking after the opening ten minutes or so I had a blast with it.
I know I am a day late (I thought I had already posted a suggestion this month) and if you wish you can ignore it, Andi, but I would like to suggest Accept's "Shadow Soldiers" from 2012's "Stalingrad" album for September's playlist.
I can't comment on why artists use such images, only on what the images say to me. In terms of the power lines thing, I get a sense of connection as what I am seeing (even though I actively avoid gaze, where this appears to predominantly be the home of the trend). Equally though, the pagan in me could also interpret them as mans intrusion on the landscape, in some of the more open landscape photos at least.
A few years back I had a bit of a flirtation with photography with trees and woodlands being my favourite subject. One of my particular favourite photos from then is of a thick woodland with a set of powerlines running through it and it appealed to me for exactly the reason Vinny states above, the intrusion of man on the natural world. Now I don't know why these bands use these images, but seeing as a lot of the -gazey. post-metal bands are environmentally conscious, it is a distinct possibility.
For the interest of any aspiring, environmentally-conscious blackgaze act out there looking for a cheap album cover, here is that photo:
Thanks guys...
Here are my submissions for September, Vinny. Sorry I am a bit late.
Aggressive Perfector - "Devil's Bastard" (from "Havoc at the Midnight Hour", 2019)
Death Angel - "Truce" (from "Relentless Retribution", 2010)
Heathen - "Undone" (from "The Evolution of Chaos", 2010)
Kreator - "Coma of Souls" (from "Coma of Souls", 1990)
Necrodeath - "Graveyard of the Innocents" (from "Into the Macabre", 1987)
Parkcrest - "Impossible to Hide" (from "...And That Blue Will Turn to Red", 2019)
Sacrilege - "Lifeline" (from "Behind the Realms of Madness", 1985)
Torturer - "Arachnophobia" (from "Oppressed by the Force", 1992)
Just under 39 minutes, I think.
Great review Vinny. I don't feel that way about it myself, obviously, but your articulation of what it means to you personally is passionately and masterfully handled. I love hearing about music that means so much to someone, even if I am not so keen on it myself.
If you are willing to take submissions from non-clan members, Saxy, then I would like to nominate
Threshold - "The Man Who Saw Through Time" (from "Legends of the Shires", 2017)
Hi Ben, could you add the latest album from Italy's Caronte, Spiritvs.
Thanks everyone.
Vinny / David, suggestions by the 15th please, 35 minutes limit.
Thanks Vinny. I wish I could get into some of this avant-disso stuff, because a lot of people really seem to get a lot out of it and I feel I must be missing out, but I suppose I must accept that this type of metal isn't for me and probably never will be.
I don't recall ever having crossed paths with this Brisbane disso-death crew before - and I think I would remember if I had! In all honesty, Vexovoid inhabits a place so far outside my comfort zone that I need a telescope to see it. It consists of the kind of dissonant elements that provides me with a notion of what it must be like to teach a class of ADHD-affected toddlers. Flitting from musical idea to musical idea like a moth round a flame, it doesn't give me anything to attach an anchor to and so leaves me feeling adrift and detached from the disconcerting and infernal chaos they summon. The sound is huge for sure and it bludgeons and batters like any good death metal should, but it piles elements upon each other like a motorway crash and has a similar effect on me, making it terrible to behold, whilst also making it hard to ignore. Occasionally, such as during the first half of the track "Plasm", it reminds me of some of the more brutal war metal efforts, and this is when it appeals to me most, but its constantly shifting focus means I find it difficult to stay the course and I end up wishing I was listening to actual war metal instead.
All this being said, I can't help wondering that if I were to persevere with this whether it might reveal the appeal others evidently find in it. There are individual fragments that sound great with a huge tidal wave of sound that threatens to sweep away all before it, but I find these to be momentary and fleeting as the band soon turn yet another sharp corner and leave me wondering where they have gone. Look, I know that the problem is mine and that my low tolerance for both the dissonant and experimental is the deciding factor informing my opinion here, but that is a barrier that Vexovoid is never going to surmount, I don't think. Even though it may be one of the best examples of its ilk available, I would venture that this is never going to find much favour with me. On the plus-side, it is very short.
This all makes it very hard for me to attach a quantitative score to because I can't tell whether it is actually any good, so I am going to employ the "how does it make me feel" theory of music rating and award it 1.5/5
I have been following Mares of Thrace for a while now, since their 2012 album The Pilgrimage in fact and I was a big fan of previous album The Exile, so I was looking forward to this one. The Loss is essentially a concept album dealing with the five stages of grief, a theme eminently suited to the band's desperate and anguished version of sludge metal.
Band mainstay, guitarist / vocalist Thérèse Lanz has always had a striking vocal approach, maintaining levels of aggression many can only futilely hope to achieve, but here on The Loss she has ascended to a whole new level of vocal anguish and fury, imparting additional heft to the album's concept of grief and loss. Production-wise, since Casey Rogers jumped on board as musician and engineer / producer the band have never sounded better with his production work increasing the depth and basic heaviness of their sound, adding real weight to their already existing nihilistic aggression. The riffs are very good and are rendered crushingly heavy by Rogers' work behind the desk with a huge bottom end which also doesn't appear to flatten out the upper registers or compromise Thérèse's anhuished shrieks or wails.
The instrumentation and songwriting has once more improved with The Loss taking on aspects of atmospheric sludge, often combining the hulking, atmospheric layering of Neurosis with the visceral rawness of Eyehategod which has the effect on the listener of being bowed by crushing weight whilst being sharply stabbed with stinging barbs. The album is instrumentally coherent, yet never becomes samey with each track having a feel of its own, in keeping with the theme of each track covering a different stage of the grieving process.
I find an honesty and openness in Mares of Thrace's releases that you don't necessarily encounter that often, with Thérèse's vocals in particular giving the impression that she probably has an intimate knowledge of this latest album's concept. But not only that, she also has the vocal expressiveness to be able to impart a convincing taste of the awful and debilitating effects of dealing with such an emotionally charged subject. This is the kind of release on which the Fallen thrives and, despite the emotionally challenging material, this is a genuinely impressive and relevant addition to the clan's canon and if this is a just world it will see the duo gain much wider acclaim.
A solid "A" grade from me (4.5/5).
Yeah, genre fatigue can be a very real thing sometimes. I have had a similar crisis of faith with traditional doom metal, where every album begins to sound the same after a while with all the newer acts just trying to rip-off the classics in the hope that some of the magic rubs off on them, but it rarely does. I am not one of those people who constantly needs bands to push the boundaries, but sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. One of the reasons I am so enthused about Darkthrone's recent doomy efforts is that they are producing something I am eminently familiar with, but in an uncompromised and genuine way that sets them apart from the crowd who are climbing over the legacy of better acts and each other in an attempt to get noticed.
Some of my disenchantment with the record is more to do with my exhaustion with the thrash scene as a whole as opposed to this being a terrible album though.
I feel the same way. Is this a problem that many people, particularly long-standing metalheads, are having with thrash metal? Do you think it is because of the quite restrictive nature of the genre because there are not actually that many variations on the thrash metal theme are there? Unlike death, black and doom metal that can span whole different spectra of sounds, thrash generally has to conform to a tight set of criteria which can make many records sound the same. Don't get me wrong, the classics are still great, but it is very hard to find much thrash after 1990 that is genuinely awesome. Are we dealing with a dead end street here?
In all honesty my love of thrash metal has faded somewhat over more recent times as I have explored further into other genres like death metal and even metalcore, plus a bit of a resurgence in my love for old-fashioned heavy metal. This has meant that I haven't really put a lot of thought into my Pit feature suggestion this month, so I just dragged a name out of my list of thrash albums from the last decade or so that I quite liked but which nobody else had rated and came up with Crucified Mortals' 2016 sophomore full-length album.
Crucified Mortals is basically a duo of vocalist, bassist and guitarist Craig Horval, aka Reaper, and drummer Ash Thomas who is actually guitarist and vocalist in a number of Ohio death metal bands. They have been joined on Psalms of the Dead Choir by Detroit lead guitarist Victor "Lore Lord" Ruiz in a guest capacity. The album is very much based on the old Slayer sound, with Reaper's vocals sounding like he is a big admirer of Max Cavalera. The riffs are pretty decent, albeit not the most original you will ever hear, but this is thrash metal almost 30 years removed from its heyday, so what do you expect? The soloing is where I scratch my head the most because Lore Lord sounds like a pretty good lead guitarist, but his solos here seem almost hesitant, as if he is uncertain of himself. Whether this is down to a misperception on my part or some hesitancy to fully express himself or lack of confidence on his part in a band that he is only performing with as a guest, I have no way of knowing. Check out the soloing towards the end of "Into Eternity" to get an idea of what I am getting at - it feels like he really wants to let rip, but is holding back for some reason.
I guess this doesn't really hold up as well as I was hoping when I suggested it and I feel my 4-star original rating is maybe a bit generous upon relistening to it. It is a perfectly fine, third tier thrash metal release that holds very few surprises for the seasoned inhabitant of the Pit. My favourite part of the album is probably the hulkingly slow intro riff to "Dusk of the Advent" which left me wondering why more thrash acts don't slow things down to a more menacing pacing sometimes, for variety's sake if nothing else. Ash Thomas' drumming is probably the one real highlight of the album for me and he seems like a very talented skinsman, despite it not necessarily being his day job.
At the end of the day this is a "C", maybe a "C+" thrash metal release and just adds fuel to the fire of my belief that the South Americans are now the only game in town when it comes to thrash metal.
The automated bots don't succeed in actually creating an account here as it would have to select clans during the process. We've only ever had a small amount of successful fake users created and I'm convinced it's done manually (as in a person actually bothered the manually create the account for the purpose). Anyway, I've deleted the user and review. It just takes a bit to disappear off the front page.
Thanks Ben. Once more your dedication is admirable.
No wonder the world is so fucked when there are so many bums trying to scab their way through life with no respect for anything or anyone.
Bummer! Get well soon, all.
I agree with the sentiment that personal context is massively important to how we as individuals perceive a release, which is why I will always take Blizzard of Ozz over Diary of a Madman. Blizzard was massively important to me at the time as an indication that Ozzy was going to be OK after leaving Sabbath, whereas Diary was just another album amongst a plethora of stuff coming out during the NWOBHM that felt fresher and more exciting than what the old guard could muster.
Is this someone hacking actual accounts or is it people (or bots, I am not well-versed in such technological shennanigans) making accounts for the express purpose of spreading this shit?
Interesting choice. I'm not aware of these guys.
It is getting more difficult to suggest albums that everybody isn't already familiar with because, in a way, The Pit is the most restrictive clan (after the Sphere) I feel. So I tend to check whether anyone else has rated or reviewed a release before I suggest it nowadays. Plus I have heard so many Pit releases hundreds of times that excessive familiarity often kicks in. I tend to stick with the South Americans nowadays for my thrash fix, but thought I would have a change this month.
I bought "Speak of the Devil" virtually the day it was released and I have to confess I felt cheated. It just seemed like a hastily-assembled cash grab by the label (or maybe an early maneouver by Sharon) to make some money and take the gloss off the impending "Live Evil" Sabbath live album. I stil have that copy, but I bet I haven't played it for forty years. "Diary of a Madman" doesn't do much for me either, but I would still have preferred an Ozzy live album which showcased where he was going, not where he had been and featured material from the two solo albums with maybe a smattering of Sabbath tunes.
I guess it just goes to show that people can like the same things, while at the same time not.
Here you go Sonny:
Nattverd - "Hvisk Deg Vekk" (from "Tidloes Naadesloes", 2025)
Wode - "Celestial Dagger" (from "Servants of the Countercosmos", 2017)
Sinmara - "Shattered Pillars" (from "Aphotic Womb", 2014)
The Great Sea - "The Maze" (from "Noble Art of Desolation", 2025)
That's weird, I ordered the new vinyl version of their classic Dark Sorcery EP only yesterday. I've not listened to this, so looking forward to it.
Here is an updated version of my review from a few years back:
And so it came to pass that, after their Tenth Anniversary World Tour, Black Sabbath and their charismatic frontman John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne parted ways. Although it was a huge disappointment at the time, in hindsight it was the only real way forward for all parties involved. I had seen Sabbath on that tour and if I was being brutally honest I would have to say that Ozzy was fucked-up big time. He was obviously shit-faced on stage and at times not far from incoherent. To make matters worse the band were supported by an up-and-coming US outfit called Van Halen who had an energy and vitality that the Sabs sadly seemed to have lost. So in a way, it was obvious even then that time was running out for the original lineup.
Anyway, 1980 saw the release of albums from both the revamped Sabbath, who had recruited diminutive ex-Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio, and Ozzy's new band who were going by the name Blizzard of Ozz. Sabbath dropped their new album, Heaven and Hell, in April to much acclaim from fans and critics alike so the pressure was on for the Oz to produce. Ozzy had also procured the help of an ex-Rainbow alumni in bassist Bob Daisley and veteran Uriah Heep drummer Lee Kerslake completed the solid rhythm section of Ozzy's new crew. However it was in the recruiting of electrifying and hugely talented guitarist Randy Rhoads from Quiet Riot that Ozzy revealed his masterstroke. Rhoads was a classically trained guitarist who's technical ability allowed him to push the limits of what metal guitarists were doing at that time - he is often cited as one of the leading influences of neoclassical metal guitar playing - and his energy seemed to have revitalised Ozzy and given him back his edge. It only really occurs to me now, but maybe Ozzy witnessed Eddie Van Halen's electric style of playing during the previously mentioned Never Say Die tour and decided that was the way forward for metal and he wanted to feed off some of that energy these young guys were bringing to the genre.
September of 1980 saw the release of the Blizzard of Ozz album and a new dawn called for the former Sabbath singer. The album featured eight tracks and a short instrumental, ran for almost forty minutes, had a nice variety of pacing and some killer hooks. I Don't Know is a solid opener and is a bit more uptempo than we are used to hearing from the Ozz. Randy Rhoads' more flamboyant style contrasts really well with the solidity of the rhythm section and pushes Ozzy himself to a new level. With the now overfamiliar yell of "All aboard" the band launch into the riff that launched a thousand sporting events and a song that may be even more famous than Paranoid - Crazy Train. It's an energetic celebration of a track that is very difficult to listen to objectively any more due to overexposure, but at first it sounded awesome. Next up is the balladic Goodbye to Romance which really should be a bit too cheesy and overly sentimental for my usual taste but, mainly because of Ozzy's charismatic vocals, I really like it and it is the track which has given me a bit of a teary eye when listening to it in the shadow of Ozzy's passing. Dee is a short instrumental piece where RR gets to show off some of his classical training and leads us into one of my album highlights, Suicide Solution, a real belter of an early eighties' metal track and the closer of side one.
The second side begins with Mr. Crowley which both tonally and thematically is the most Sabbath-like track on the album. This is followed by most people's least favourite, No Bone Movies, which is no classic, but doesn't, in my opinion, stick out like a sore thumb as being especially terrible either. Then we come to my favourite part of the album. For me, the last two tracks are where it's at with this album. Revelation is a classic Ozzy track and is the most heartfelt song on the album with a brilliant build and a triumphant ending that leads straight into the sledgehammer riff of Steal Away (the Night) which brings proceedings to a close in thunderous style.
The album isn't perfect, some of the lyrics are a bit painful, but there are some brilliant songs on here, Ozzy sounds rejuvenated and Randy Rhoads' riffing and solos are worth the entry fee alone. I don't know if this is a controversial opinion, but I prefer this to Sabbath's Heaven and Hell album (although it's not quite as good as Mob Rules). We are all going to miss this guy, believe me.