Sonny's Forum Replies

What is the policy currently on submitting tracks that have been submitted previously, Daniel? With me only relatively recently getting fully into death metal I keep coming across tracks I would like to submit only to find they were done previously, albeit a fair while ago.

Ah OK, I get you, Daniel. I must admit my focus has been elsewhere this month, but I will do my best. I will probably wait until quite late on to submit my suggestions if that's OK with you.

OK Daniel. Is there any particular reason why?

Antichrist Siege Machine - Vengeance of Eternal Fire (2024)

Antichrist Siege Machine are relative newcomers to the war metal scene, their debut EP hitting the stands in 2017, but they have taken the genre by the scruff of the neck and laid down some pretty brutal stuff in the seven years since. With latest album, Vengeance of Eternal Fire, ASM have really hit their groove with a release that delivers an all-out aural battery without the muddy production values that robbed so many of their predecessor's releases of any clarity. Yes, I know that muddy, chaotic sound was part of the appeal of early war metal releases from the Blasphemies of this world and I love that archetypal sound too, but here, thirty-five years on from those earliest canoniacal war metal classics, the genre has moved on from that and the best modern war metal acts don't need to hide behind poor production because they have the chops to produce brutal and blasphemous sounds whilst allowing the listener to actually hear everything they are doing.

Of course the basis of war metal is an unholy alliance of death and black metal, with varying proportions of each within the mix. ASM tend towards the more death metal end of the war metal spectrum, dropping occasionally into quite "groovy" slower death metal riffing, just enough to break things up and provide a little variety, but not so much that it distracts from the overarching blitzkrieg that comprises the vast majority of Vengeance of Eternal Fire and shouldn't be seen as any kind of treasonous act against war metal orthodoxy. The drums sit fairly prominently in the mix, so the blastbeats are given plenty of focus, almost as much as the blistering riffs. Interestingly drummer Scott "S.B." Bartley is also the vocalist, so it must be quite a feat when playing live for him to sing whilst launching salvo after salvo of blastbeats. His vocals actually seem to sit lower in the mix than his drumming, thus giving them a distant, buried feel, despite their bellicose viciousness. The high production values allow the listener to distinguish the riffs far easier than on old-school war metal releases and to appreciate the finer details which may have been lost in the past.

I must say, as much as I love OSWM, I do like the fact that a band like ASM employ a cleaner production style, which does make appreciation of the nuances of war metal much easier - and I say this with no ironic intent because it is obvious that, despite the inherent (almost) continuous blasting and breakneck riffing, that these guys really have great command of their instruments and their overall sound is tight, aggressive and technically solid. At the end of the day, they write killer riffs, have a powerful delivery and are extremely capable of capturing the witheringly blasphemous intent of true war metal. For me this is the band's best release to date and call me heretic if you must, but I think this is capable of standing against the very best that war metal has to offer. To (mis)quote the intro to the Fallout 4 video game "war metal... war metal never changes". Except when it does!

4.5/5

There is a packed slate of releases for the coming Friday with albums from Darkthrone, Deicide and Pestilence being joined by releases from lesser known, but still great, acts like Inter Arma, Pentagram Chile, Ard, Morgul Blade and Fluisteraars.

I am falling behind a bit on my new music listening, so I've only just got to ten releases for last month.

Anyway, here's my top 10 for March (so far):

1. Critical Defiance - The Search Won't Fall [Thrash Metal]
2. Altar of Betelgeuze - Echoes [Doom Metal]
3. Coffins - Sinister Oath [Death Metal]
4. Saturnalia Temple - Paradigm Call [Traditional Doom Metal]
5. Hamferð - Men guðs hond er sterk [Doom Metal]
6. Above Aurora - Myriad Woes (Black / Doom Metal)
7. Grey Skies Fallen - Molded by Broken Hands [Epic Doom]
8. Skeletal Remains - Fragments of the Ageless [Death Metal]
9. Exhorder - Defectum Omnium [Groove Metal]
10. Etoile Filante - Mare tranquillitatis [Atmospheric Black Metal]

I also investigated NWOBHM legends Angel Witch's 1978 demo tape & found it to be a total metalfest, perhaps the most extreme release I've found in this exercise to date actually with all seven songs qualifying as genuine metal. It was also pushing the whole Satanic imagery thing earlier than anything else I've encountered to date. It includes early versions of "Sorceress" & "Devil's Tower" which both appeared on their seminal debut album two years later.

Is that the one that kicks off with Baphomet, Daniel? If so, then yes, that is an absolute classic metal demo in my opinion. They officially released that demo in 2017 to help raise funds for the victims of the Grenfell tower block fire disaster - AW always were a class act.

Good call, Daniel. It's a bit late here now, but I'll be all over this tomorrow. Looking at the track listing on Spotify, it's a straight run through of the Into Darkness album.

This morning track is Motorhead's "The Train Kept A-Rollin" which is yet again a hard rock track which sees us closing out the "Motorhead" album without me having identified a single metal tune on an album that generally seems to command a heavy metal tag from most parties. There's not even enough metal included for a secondary tag in my opinion.

i would have to agree, Daniel. Even Lemmy himself always said the 'head were a rock band and he didn't like being tagged as metal (even though they sometimes were). It's still a great album though and I would dual tag it as hard rock / garage rock.

Used the playlist as the soundtrack to my dog-walking activities this morning, so I didn't keep track of the individual tracks, but enjoyed the list as a whole immensely with only three or so songs that missed the mark for me, with the last one (Mordred) being the hardest for me personally to swallow. Some really great stuff elsewhere though and it helped me maintain a good pace throughout my walk-time!

I fucking love Iron Horse, it may be my favourite on the whole album, but yes, hard rock it is.

Lost Johnny is another of Lemmy's old Hawkwind tracks, from 1974's Hall of the Mountain Grill album and I would concur that it is hard rock.

Anything for May, Ben?

Hi Vinny, my suggestions for May:

Critical Defiance - "Critical Defiance" (from "The Search Won't Fall", 2024)
Destruction - "Black Death" (from "Infernal Overkill", 1985)
Exumer - "Fallen Saint" (from "Possessed by Fire", 1986)
Holy Terror - "No Resurrection" (from "Mind Wars", 1988) [On spotify as "Total Terror Disc 2"]
Vulcano - "Spirits of Evil" (from "Bloody Vengeance", 1986)

Hi Ben, my suggestions for May:

Obsidian Tongue - "Winter Child" (from "The Stone Heart" EP, 2024)
Revenge - "Blood Annihilation" (from "Victory.Intolerance.Mastery", 2004)
The Ruins of Beverast - "Euphoria When the Bombs Fell" (from "Unlock the Shrine", 2004)

Hi Daniel, here are my suggestions for May:

Coffins - "Domains of Black Miasma" (from "Sinister Oath", 2024)
Deconsekrated - "The Axiom" (from "The Hidden Paths" EP, 2021)
Hour of Penance - "The Ravenous Heralds" (from "Devotion", 2024)
Skeletal Remains - "Unmerciful" (from "Fragments of the Ageless", 2024)
Mortician - "Mortician" (from "Hacked Up for Barbecue", 1996)

"Vibrator" is the worst track on the record and I would go for a garage rock tag again.

I love On Stage and bought it on the day of release. I remember it was ridiculously expensive, I think I paid £6 for it, when most single albums went for £2.50 and doubles for about £4.50. Definitely a hard rock record though, with a whole side (Mistreated) being blues rock. I'll still never understand why there was no Stargazer included, though.

I think punk rock is a bit of a stretch and I would tag it as garage rock myself. Originally written for Hawkwind in '74/'75 and released as the B-side to Kings of Speed in '75, so proto-punk at best.

Nocturnus are a band it took me a little while to get in to, but once I got to grips with their debut, The Key, I enjoyed it enormously. Nocturnus is a 7" EP from three years later and following some drama around the departure of founder member, drummer and vocalist on The Key, Mike Browning. Firstly, where you listen to it could make a difference to your opinion. I first found it on YouTube, but the sound is terrible, demo quality and muffled to hell, but the version on Spotify (which is listed as a 2001 release, so may be a remastered version) is much clearer-sounding and definitely superior to the YT version.

There are two tracks on offer here, totalling ten and a half minutes runtime. the "A" side is "Possess the Priest", which is a six-minute slab of glorious Morbid Angel-worshipping OSDM and is my favourite of the two tracks with the transitions from the slower sections to the quicker and vice-versa getting my fists pumping and blood rushing in a good, old-fashioned adrenaline surge. The keyboards are still very much present but, as with The Key, they are quite thin-sounding and merely act as atmospheric support for the riffs. "B"-side "Mummified" sounds a bit like Death during their transition phase from conventional death metal to to prog-tech-death gods and, songwriting-wise, pushes a little bit too far into tech death territory for my preference and, without Chuch Schuldiner's songwriting prowess, it ends up sounding too disjointed for me. Still, it doesn't outstay it's welcome and when coupled with such a great "A"-side the release as a whole works very well as a short EP.

3.5/5

So here's my top ten list of Fallen releases for 2024, so far, which is covering the first three months of the year:

1. Mourning Dawn - The Foam of Despair

2. Spectral Voice - Sparagmos

3. Saturnalia Temple - Paradigm Call

4. Hamferð - Men guðs hond er sterk

5. Grey Skies Fallen - Molded by Broken Hands

6. The Obsessed - Gilded Sorrow

7. Acid Mammoth - Supersonic Megafauna Collision

8. Stygian Crown - Funeral for a King

9. Lair - The Hidden Shiv

10. Monovoth - Pleroma Mortem Est

Hamferð - Men guðs hond er sterk (2024)

Hamferð are a six-piece doom metal band from The Faroe Islands. They have been in existence since 2008, but this is only their third full-length release in all that time, their debut having seen the light of day back in 2013 after winning the Wacken Metal Battle competition at the Wacken Open Air festival in 2012 and it's follow-up hitting the shelves in 2018. I must admit, I have only recently got on board with these guys myself during a dive into exploring more obscure doom metal bands, but I found much to enjoy in both of their earlier releases.

The new album's title translates as "But God's hand is strong" and the lyrics are sung in Hamferð's native Faroese, relating the tragic tale of fourteen faroese whalers who lost their lives at sea in 1915, with the album's title being a quote from one of the survivors upon his rescue. Musically they play strongly melodic death doom with both growled and clean vocals provided by singer Jón Aldará (also of Iotunn and Barren Earth) who switches between styles, to good effect, often within the same track. The band as a whole are very proficient with a nice clean sound that perfectly suits their more melodic approach to death doom. This melodic approach doesn't seek to crush the listener under waves of heavy riffing, but rather  attempts to affect them more subtly with sorrowful airs that worm their way into the consciousness, effecting a deeper sensation of melancholy than a merely bludgeoning approach would achieve. Occasionally they become very light of touch indeed, verging almost on the balladic, which may have come off as a bit corny, were it not for the consummate ability of Aldará who, vocally, never descends into overt melodrama, but who maintains a subtle earnestness throughout, for which he deserves great credit.

I may have given the impression that this is a lightweight album and even though it does like to paint it's sonic landscape with lighter shades, there are certainly heavy moments present. Opener Ábær kicks things off and drags the listener in with a suitably heavy, but also melodic main riff and penultimate track, Hvølja, is the album's heaviest with a monster riff that poses a real risk of crushing the air out of the lungs of the unprepared listener who may have been lulled into a comfort zone by some of the preceeding lighter moments. Elsewhere, second track Rikin features a scarily bellowing Aldará threatening to peel the paintwork with his growls on top of a thundering main riff that you feel at gut level.

Although Men guðs hond er sterk is a concept album, thankfully the music is always pre-eminent over the concept, so none of the tracks feel forced, with the possible exception of the final spoken-word piece, although it isn't at all jarring, especially as it is the final track. The overall impression I get from the album is similar in feel to some of Enslaved's later work, such as RIITIIR or In Times, only within a doom metal framework rather than black metal. I don't wish to downplay the others' contributions, but ultimately it is the astonishing vocal talent of Jón Aldará that strikes me more than any other aspect of the album and on the evidence of this he is one of the absolute best vocalists working in the doom metal field and his performance alone is worth the entry fee.

4/5

Grey Skies Fallen - Molded by Broken Hands (2024)

Formed in 1996 as Eve of Mourning and fast approaching three decades of existence, Grey Skies Fallen are another one of a plethora of seriously underrated doom metal bands. None of the New York four-piece's six albums have even got to the modest heights of 100 ratings on RYM and here at the Academy my sole rating for previous album, Cold Dead Lands, is the only one they have received so far, which is a great shame as these are clearly a talented bunch of musicians who deserve more recognition.

The band's approach to songwriting is quite progressive, with a number of shifts in tone during each track which lends them a story-telling, narrative feel. They don't stick to out and out doom metal, nor do they focus on just one style, but rather draw together strands of death doom, epic doom, conventional doom, gothic metal and progressive metal into grand, epic soundscapes that are imbued with an imperial bombast, yet are also tinged with melancholy and regret, like visiting the ruins of a once mighty empire, whose glory days are a distant memory. As well as a deft skill for writing a certain kind of bombastic doom metal, Grey Skies Fallen are also extremely adept performers, with the band sounding exceedingly tight. Guitarist Rick Habeeb also provides vocals and has a fine voice, with convincing deathly growls as well as really nice, soaring cleans and is never left wanting. Interestingly he is also vocalist with grindcore crew Buckshot Facelift, illustrating just how versatile a singer he really is.

The doomy riffs display a nice range of variety from the gloomily gothic a la My Dying Bride to the bombastic and epic, straight out of Rich Walker's Solstice song book, and all points in between. In fact, I would suggest Rich is quite the influence for Grey Skies Fallen because a sizeable proportion of the soloing sounds like it is delivered by guitarists well-acquainted with Solstice's New Dark Age album. In fact the more I listen to this, the stronger the comparison with New Dark Age grows, with even the production sound being similar and anyone who knows my view on NDA knows that is definitely a good thing in my eyes (or ears, as the case may be). I think this is an album that benefits from repeated listens and a cursory exploration may fail to unpeel it's layers, leaving the listener unfulfilled, but time getting to know it is time well-spent as I found it getting better every time I returned to it. I would also suggest listening to it on a decent set-up as I suspect a phone speaker almost certainly won't do it justice.

Ultimately Grey Skies Fallen are superbly talented musicians and songwriters who have languished in obscurity for far too long and Molded By Broken Hands is a high quality doom metal release that deserves a far wider audience than it is likely to garner.

4/5

Could you add Grey Skies Fallen's latest album, Molded by Broken Hands, please Ben?

Acid Mammoth - Supersonic Megafauna Collision (2024)

Released 5th April 2024 on Heavy Psych Sounds

A band called Acid Mammoth and an album titled Supersonic Megafauna Collision will probably hold very few surprises for anyone who has even remotely been paying attention to the metal scene over the last few years. Yes, predictably enough, these Greeks play super-heavy stoner doom metal with psych-inflected guitar solos and washed-out vocals. Their adherence to the cliches of the genre will, I'm sure, have people asking, "well how many Acid Mammoth albums does anyone actually need?" In truth, if you aren't too sold on this style of doom then one is probably sufficient, but as someone who has always embraced psychedelia and stoner culture, I genuinely enjoy Acid Mammoth's unpretentious approach to the genre and usually snap up anything they issue.

Guitarist / vocalist Chris Babalis Jr. has a quite high-pitched, nasal singing style which sounds like a mix of Never Say Die-era Ozzy and Tobias Forge of Ghost and as such may not be to everyone's taste I suppose, but for me it is perfectly adequate and suits this style of psych-stoner doom well enough. The riffs are thick and fuzzy, groove-laden monsters with plenty of "oomph" that instill a stoned-out hypnoticism via repetition and provide the framework upon which the vocals and guitar solos hang. The rhythm section provide solid support for the riffs with solid, capable and decidedly unflashy work. Song titles like Fuzzorgasm (Keep On Screaming), Atomic Shaman and Tusko's Last Trip further illustrate where the band are coming from, with drugs, the occult and outer space providing the lyrical content for all the stoned-out madness.

It really is very simple, if you dislike bands like Electric Wizard and Cathedral then chances are you won't connect with Acid Mammoth either, but the converse is also true, so you pays your money and you makes your choice. Me, I'm all in with the tripping pachyderm.

4/5

Critical Defiance are back with their third album in five years, looking to cement their position as one of the most kick-ass thrash bands in the world. Hailing from Valparaíso, they have been forged in the furnace of Chile's white hot thrash metal scene. This time around main man Felipe Alvarado has secured the services of guitarist Nicolás Young following his departure from Demoniac, joining fellow ex-Demoniac-er, drummer Rodrigo Poblete who has been a member of Critical Defiance since 2018 and has appeared on all of their albums to date.

The Search Won't Fall delivers on all the aspects of thrash metal we have come to expect from the chilean scene and Critical Defiance particularly. Hi-octane, thundering tempos and a blackened edge adding extra visciousness, along with technically tight performances and great production values equals energetic and thrilling thrash metal that destroys almost everything the genre has produced since it's heyday back in the 1980s. I guess there could be an argument that they are a bit over-the-top with their supercharged riffs, heightened aggression and searing soloing, but I think they keep a lid on it sufficiently that it never becomes self-indulgent or out of control, but rather comes over as an exuberant and glorious celebration of metal. The playing is phenomenal with Rodrigo Poblete's work behind the kit worthy of particular praise due to his powerful and busy style that, despite the crazy tempos he is sometimes asked to keep, never misses a beat. With three guitarists the riffs are incredibly strong and, despite the tempo, the guitarwork always remains distinct and razor-sharp, never losing focus or descending into blurry chaos as other, less skilled, thrash practitioners are wont to do.

Very few bands can pull off this level of aggression and sheer musical velocity within a thrash metal framework as successfully as these guys and I know I am starting to sound like a broken record in this respect, but the chilean thrash scene has rarely failed to deliver on quality over the last few years. Bands like Critical Defiance and Demoniac are at last seemingly receiving the credit they have long been due and no longer do they have to watch from the sidelines while lesser lights take all the accolades. Anyone who thinks thrash metal died off in the early nineties are missing out massively if they can't move beyond their old Slayer or Megadeth albums and start appreciating the young bucks from South America who are storming the barricades with a vigour and passion long thought lost to thrash metal practitioners the world over. If an album like The Search Won't Fall doesn't get you excited about thrash again, then I suggest that the problem is yours and not theirs. Me, I'm holding on for sheer life and going along for the ride.

4.5/5

Quite a loaded slate for Fallen releases this week:

Super-heavy, psychedelic stoner doom Greeks, Acid Mammoth, are back with album #4 on Friday 5th April. Looking forward to this one.

Trad Doom Texans, Destroyer of Light, also have a new one out on the 5th.

Detroit's blackened doomsters, Temple of the Fuzz Witch, also release their third full-length on Friday.

And finally, Albert Witchfinder's Friends of Hell have their sophomore out, again on Friday.

According to the releases pages, 31.3% of new releases added to the site have been rated by at least one member, compared to 24.5% for the site as a whole. So it looks like metal is alive and kicking and people are still stoked to get into new releases.

Whilst listening to Blood Ritual, it struck me how early in black metal's second wave 1992 actually was. Contemporary releases to this were debut albums from Burzum and Immortal and Darkthrone's first dive into black metal iciness, A Blaze in the Northern Sky. Surprisingly, though, Blood Ritual sounds far more like modern Darkthrone than it does their unholy trinity, with a lot of slower tempo riffing that feels more doomy than black metal, a path Fenriz and Nocturno Culto have been exploring with vigour over their last two or three releases, so in a way I guess black metal has finally come full circle.

Anyway, that aside, Samael were obviously influenced by their legendary countrymen, Celtic Frost, with the opening riff of Bestial Devotion sounding like it was ripped directly from the grooves of To Mega Therion. Most of the quicker-paced riffing here sounds quite thrashy and certainly has more in common with Tom G. Warrior than the tremolo riffing being touted at the time by their cutting edge norwegian black metal contemporaries. Add to this the beefier production and it is apparent that Samael aren't going to propogate the same kind of frosty atmosphere as the scandinavians, making the album more blunt force trauma than icy stilleto wound.

Of course that doesn't mean this is a bad album, in fact it most definitely is not. The extended attention I have afforded it over the last couple of days has seen me strengthening my impression of it, to the point where I believe it sits very comfortably between Worship... and Ceremony... and has an appeal all of it's own. Blood Ritual inhabits the space where the old becomes the new and feels a bit like Possessed's Seven Churches in that it inhabits a point of transformation that is more extreme than it's influences, but not quite extreme enough to attain the next level.

Performance-wise it is a step up from Worship Them with the less raw production also allowing for greater clarity, enabling the band members to shine. There are some cool riffs and most of the songs exhibit a degree of progression throughout their runtimes and although I wouldn't label any of the tracks as out and out classics, the likes of the standout track, After the Sepulture, along with Blood Ritual, Beyond the Nothingness and Bestial Devotion are plenty memorable and possess all the wallop I like in my metal listening. As a result of this reappraisal I think it only fair that I boost my score for the album that now sees it edging a 4/5.

I have heard this before, quite a while ago, but jammed between Worship Him and Ceremony of Opposites, it didn't make a massive impression on me, so I am looking forward to seeing how it shapes up now.

I was really looking forward to this one from one of the chilean scene's foremost newer bands and I've given it a few listens already with a view to working up a review. So far it has met expectations and provides plenty of the exhilaration I've come to expect from chilean thrash, so things are looking good. Nice choice, Ben.

April 2024

1. Whores - "Tell Me Something Scientific" (from "Ruiner", 2011)
2. Gaul - "Megalodon" (from "Gaul", 2011)
3. Great Falls – “Old Words Worn Thin” (from “Objects Without Pain”, 2023)
4. Motherslug - "Stoned by the Light" (from "The Electric Dunes of Titan", 2017)
5. Häxenzijrkell - "Part 2: Von Zeit und Form" (from "Urgrund", 2022)
6. Mortiferum - "Faceless Apparition" (from "Disgorged From Psychotic Depths", 2019)
7. Rapture - "Nameless" (from "Songs for the Withering", 2002)
8. Fange - "Césarienne au noir" (from "Perdition", 2024)
9. Saint Vitus - "In the Asylum" (from "Die Healing", 1995)
10. Black Boned Angel - "Supereclipse II" (from "Supereclipse", 2003)
11. Dopelord - "Scum Priest" (from "Children of the Haze", 2017)
12. Sempiternal Deathreign - "The Spooky Gloom" (from "The Spooky Gloom", 1989)
13. Cathedral – “Reaching Happiness, Touching Pain” (from “Forest of Equilibrium”, 1991)
14. Kowloon Walled City - "Gambling on the Richter Scale" (from "Gambling on the Richter Scale", 2009)
15. Mesmur - "Refraction" (from "Chthonic", 2023)
16. Memento Mori - "Lost Horizons" (from "Rhymes of Lunacy", 1993)

Hi again Ben. Could you please add finnish doomsters Altar of Betelgeuze and particularly their new album, "Echoes"?

Despite it's progressive tendencies, I would say the tech-death aspect is crucial to the album's identity and is at least as important as the progressive component, if not more so. Hence, I voted "yes".

Did you edit the above post, Daniel, or am I finally losing it completely, because I could swear that earlier the Sabbath album was Vol.4 not Paranoid!?

My only previous experience of Kat was their previous album to this, 1988's "Oddech wymarłych światów" of which I was no great fan. In all honesty, Bastard has done very little to improve that situation. It just sounds oddly sloppy for an album that purports to be a technical-leaning release. I am not the world's biggest tech-thrash fan at the best of times, but this didn't chime with me at all. The riffs aren't engaging enough to appeal on a visceral level and the technical aspect feels forced and, well, just not that special. The pacing seems plodding at best and the soloing felt flat and uninspiring. Add to this the awful clean vocals that are occasionally employed for some reason and I just found myself getting irritated with the whole thing.

2.5/5

I have a deep connection with Bolt Thrower that goes back to the earliest days of them appearing on John Peel's late night radio show which saw them becoming the only death metal band I got into prior to departing from metaldom at the beginning of the nineties. Despite the criticisms levelled against them, such as them producing the same album over and over, I have never bought into this view and think they are one of the most consistent bands in metal and have never produced a bad album. Anyway, here's my review:

Despite making a massive contribution to the birth of metal, the UK hasn't been overly blessed with important acts in the more extreme sub-genres. There were, of course, the twin grindcore godfathers, Napalm Death and Carcass and a few notables in the doom metal arena, but otherwise it has been the US and Europe that have led the way since the early 1980s. The sole exception and lone british banner fluttering among the death metal hordes, was Coventry's Bolt Thrower. War Master was the Midlanders' third album, following the rough and ready, crust and grind-influenced debut, In Battle There Is No Law! and it's much more professional sounding follow-up, Realm of Chaos, which had heralded a direction-change with the band moving into more conventional death metal territory. War Master saw Bolt Thrower heading further in that direction, ditching the grind element altogether in favour of a slower, mid-tempo, more cavernous sound that has more in common with Autopsy than fellow Brits like Carcass.

I must be honest at this point and admit that, for me, Realm of Chaos marks the band's highpoint, striking a perfect balance between the crusty grind of the debut and their later, conventional death metal sound, but that doesn't mean that War Master is any great drop-off in quality, in fact, quite the opposite as it is still one hell of a great record. The riffs on War Master are fantastic, possessing an inherent level of brutality, whilst still exhibiting a degree of melodicism which renders them instantly memorable. The songwriting is very good, and although most of the riffs stay within the mid-tempo range, the band don't shy away from either slowing down further to hulking, death doom pacing, or putting their foot down and letting rip. Karl Willetts has a great death metal growl, almost stripping paint as he barks out the lyrics which deal almost exclusively with the terrors of war, that puts him near the top of my list of favourite death metal vocalists. Production-wise War Master is a step up from Realm of Chaos with a chunkier, more bass-heavy sound that allows Jo Bench's four-string performance to shine and which is more conducive to this type of slower-paced, war-ridden death metal.

The solos are mostly of the brief, squealing style favoured by many death metal stalwarts since they were introduced by Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman back in the day and whilst they are perfectly functional and fit well within the song structures, they aren't on anything like the same level as the riffs. Despite seeing criticism of it elsewhere, I actually really like Andy Whale's drumming on here as it has tons of energy and some nice touches, such as the military tattoo-like beats at the end of Afterlife.

War Master saw Bolt Thrower finally getting near to a sound they were striving for and, as a result, they have often been accused of regurgitating the same material over and over again for the rest of their career, which is a bit harsh and personally I think is bullshit. When a band has hit on what they see as a signature sound, however, I am sure there is a temptation to plough the same furrow again on subsequent releases, and although BT never strayed far from the template they established on War Master, such is the quality of their material that only the most demanding or churlish of death metal fans could complain at the results. Evidently, this is a full-throated roar of challenge from a band in full command of their abilities, producing one of the best albums of their career and spearheading the British fightback against the scandinavian and american death metal hordes.

4.5/5

I have CD copies of both those splits and they are both amazing. I really love this very early Enslaved sound and Vikinglr Veldi is my favourite album of theirs. As you rightly say, Daniel, despite their young ages it was evident from the very off that Enslaved were a cut above most other black metal acts, especially technically and songwriting-wise. They were also savvy enough never to get caught up in the criminality associated with that very early norwegian scene and didn't seem to court much by way of controversy. A truly class act from the very beginning.

Evilfeast is a solo project of Polish multi-instrumentalist Jakub Grzywacz, who goes by the pseudonym of GrimSpirit. The project has been going since 1996, when it was then known as Darkfeast (changing name in '98) so he has some credibility as a relatively early adopter of the atmospheric black metal creed and not just some random bandwagon-jumper. So, I thought I hadn't listened to Evilfeast before and when it was pointed out that indeed I had (thanks, Daniel!), I still had no great recollection of the event. Not exactly a ringing endorsement I think you will agree. However, it says more about my insatiable appetite for listening to more and more unfamiliar metal albums and a resulting lack of retention of any but the most excellent (or utterly terrible), than it does about the quality of the release in question. This is because Elegies of the Stellar Wind is, in fact, a pretty decent slab of black metal with a pronounced symphonic element influenced by none less than the mighty Emperor, I would suggest. Although the keyboards are fundamental to the album's sound, it still feels like it sits more within the sphere of atmospheric rather than symphonic black metal because, although the synth sound can be traced back to Ihsahn & co, it isn't as bombastic as the Black Wizards, but rather it feels like it is heralding the majesty of the natural world rather than the machinations and achievements of powerful men.

The black metal component is generally of the uptempo, quite savage-sounding, thinly-produced type that harks back to a previous black metal age and doesn't contain the lushness of more recent atmospheric black metal efforts, but that feels no less effective for it. I must admit I like it's quite raw black metal stylings, whilst the keyboards are incorporated effectively and even though they have a significant presence they still work well in tandem with the riffing. It never really attains the hypnotic transcendence that the absolute top-tier atmospheric black metal releases achieve and, in truth, it probably feels a little more down-to-earth as a result, but whilst these ham-fisted attempts at describing Evilfeast's sound make it feel like it won't work, it absolutely does, it's just that it's not exactly what you would necessarily expect.

I'm gonna stick with my old RYM score of 4/5

Gave this another couple of playthroughs on this morning's walk and my position on it hasn't really changed. I still feel it leans towards the lighter and more melodic end of the death doom spectrum, with nods to the gothic tendencies of My Dying Bride and their ilk, whereas I prefer the more crushing, cavernous end occupied by the likes of Coffins, Cianide or Evoken. There isn't anything inherently wrong with it and it is competently put together with a high standard of songwriting and musicianship. The problem I have is that it just doesn't really resonate with me or move me inside and whilst I can often appreciate the quality of a recording, if it doesn't engage me on an emotional level or provide a metaphorical gut-punch, then it will always be lacking in my book.

I did actually find myself digging on final track "A Wanderer's Star" more than I remember having done previously, but mostly Fallout just washed over me. I wouldn't necessarily turn it off if it was on, but I would be unlikely to actively seek it out. I will have to stick with my original 3/5 rating, I'm afraid. Sorry Ben.

I hadn't listened to this before today, but it has been on my "to do" list for a while, so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. There are thrash and groove elements present for sure, but I don't think they are pervasive enough to appeal especially to Pit members who aren't also into industrial metal. So that's a "yes" from me.

The Death influence is unmistakeable, so a big yes from me.

Gave this a couple of blasts this morning and a) this is an album I haven't paid nearly enough attention to over the years and b) it contains hardly any thrash apart from the odd Slayeresque solo. I would say it owes it's existence more to Discharge than Slayer. Voted "Yes".

I don't recall ever thinking that "Weighing Souls With Sand" felt doomy to be honest Sonny. I always felt that it fit the description for post-metal & that it didn't belong in The Fallen which was the reason for my Hall of Judgement entry. The doomgaze subgenre seems like another pointless RYM sub-division to me. 

I don't know exactly what it is about this record, but I still think it more likely to gain fans in The Fallen than The Infinite. A fair bit of it sounds in the same ballpark as Nadja and Jesu to me, even though it isn't drone metal. Maybe it's the heavy distortion and cavern-like sound that does it, I'm not sure.

I agree that "Weighing Souls With Sand" isn't drone metal and I agree with the post-metal claims for the album and I have voted "yes" because of this, but it still sounds like an album more likely to find fans in The Fallen than The Infinite to me.

I notice that it is now #1 in the genre chart for RYM's new Doomgaze sub-genre. What do you think of "doomgaze" as a genre? Does it cover the ground for an album such as this that, whilst technically falling within the post-metal remit, still sounds like a Fallen release?

Condolences to both of you on your recent losses. Sad times.

Skeletal Remains - Fragments of the Ageless (2024)

I am unfamiliar with californian death metallers, Skeletal Remains, but a quick glance at the ratings for their five albums on RYM reveals that they must be quite a consistent band, certainly in respect to their recorded output. The opening track is titled "Relentless Appetite" and you'd better have one for brutal-sounding, aggressive old-school death metal worship because that is what you get here, unapologetic and unrelenting, in-your-face death metal, torn straight from '90's Florida and dropped onto the opposite coast thirty years later.

There is little subtlety or innovation here, but I found myself swept along on a tidal wave of relentlessly pummelling riffs with no time (or inclination) to ponder anything deeper than just hanging on for the ride. Chris Monroy's vocals are of the excoriating, sand-blasting kind, the solos are energetic and chaotic and drummer Pierce Williams is a busy man behind the kit, all of which contribute to the dynamism and sensation of being actively propelled through the album rather than being a passive spectator. It is the riffs that are king here, however, and they come thick and fast in a dizzying maelstrom of thundering power, boosted by a meaty production that gives them an unstoppable forward momentum.

Skeletal Remains are obviously influenced by the older death metal stalwarts and are equally obviously uninterested in the modern tendency in death metal towards pushing the envelope ever further with greater technicality, dissonance or whatever is flavour of the season, but instead their only desire seems to be to lay down brutal riffs that promote the lost art of headbanging, rather than the modern obsession with chin-stroking artisitic micro-analysis. It may not be the most artistically demanding, but this is exactly my kind of death metal - aggressive, thick-sounding, heavy as fuck, no-nonsense, unpretentious old-school worship that will leave you with a stiff neck and a feeling of having had a good forty-five minute workout.

4/5

US War Metallers Antichrist Siege Machine have a new album out on 19th April.

Preview track "Vanquishing Spirit" sounds great:

A short trailer for Darkthrone's "It Beckons Us All". The track featured on the trailer sounds awesome. I'm stoked for this one!!

Ufomammut have their tenth album due for release on 17th May.

New track "Leeched" is pretty damn good, so should be another terrific album from the Italians.