Sonny's Forum Replies

That's both hilarious and horrifying Sonny! Perhaps it would have been more fitting for Patch to choose Autopsy's Shitfun record.

Unfortunately it was all shit and no fun!

I always use headphones because otherwise it irritates my wife too much!!

Your cat woes reminds me of back in the day when my first wife left back in the mid 80s. I had  a Border Collie called Patch and, unfortunately I had to leave him home alone when I went to work. One day I came home and found that he had shat on the floor, but being an intelligent dog, he had decided to cover it up in the hopes that I didn't discover it and so I was greeted by the sight of my Seventh Son of A Seventh Son and Kill 'Em All LPs lying on top of a pile of shit and clawed up to fuck!!I

Needless to say I never left  LPs out again when I went to work and luckily my mum and dad took Patch in soon after, so he was never left alone all day anymore.

My 30 year-old JVC music system has finally gone to the scrappies and I have a new set-up at last. I've now got an Audio-Technica AT-LP120XUSB Manual Direct-Drive Turntable with a Sony STRDH190.CEK amplifier and a pair of Sennheiser HD 559 wired headphones. It's not exactly top-of-the-range, but it still sounds amazing. There really is no better way to listen to doom or OSDM in my opinion. First album on the new deck was 1914's Where Fear and Weapons Meet. Just been playing last month's Horde feature, Apparition's Feel, that I bought earlier in the week and it really does sound incredible.

Unfortunately I have no CD player at the minute, so it's laptop or PS4 for playing CDs and I've still got a shitty Walkman for tapes.

Reddit’s pretty big on elitism too just quietly. 

At the risk of showing my age, I don't even know what Reddit is! I have seen the name, but have no idea what it is all about. Am I missing out?

I am thinking of becoming a full-time elitist as it seems to pay well, so what is the best site to go to to have my opinions spoon-fed to me?

That's a good question Sonny. I think it's probably because of a) the Ved Buens Ende..... & Arcturus influences that pop up occasionally & b) the unusual use of quirky melodic motifs over your more traditional black metal sound. The use of dissonance isn't anything extreme or terribly unusual for black metal so I can't see how that could be a driver. Perhaps the fact that Tilintetgjort jump around a fair bit stylistically might be encouraging it too. Alternatively it may simply be that Tilintetgjort's label decided to post them in Metal Archives with an Avant-garde Black Metal tag & we all know that the elitist masses will believe anything they read from that particular website, often at the expense of truth & integrity.

One thing is for sure, it has failed my litmus test for avant-garde metal because I actually like it! 

I had been wondering where all these elitist viewpoints were coming from (see RYM's Official Metal thread) and I guess metal archives may be the source after all.

Why do you think there is such an insistence elsewhere that this is avant-garde black metal, Daniel? I don't think it is at all avant-garde and, especially with the epic closer, I would tag it more as progressive than avant-garde. Nice review, by the way, you often seem to be able to express what I mean far more eloquently than I can myself!

Great choice, Vinny. Here's my review.

This debut album from Oslo black metallers, Tilintetgjort, was an interesting listen to be sure and, in the main, it was one which I enjoyed. There is a great deal of variety within it's six tracks and the band seem determined not to plough a singular and uniform black metal furrow throughout it's runtime, but rather to explore a wider swathe of BM subgenres and not paint themselves into a metaphorical musical corner, with an almost punk-like, irreverent approach to black metal convention. In Death I Shall Arise feels like a shot in the arm for a genre which increasingly goes around like it's got a stick up it's arse with it's intense, experimental dissonance bullshit or the dreamy navel-gazing of modern blackgaze, where the single-minded "artistic vision" of bm protagonists is paramount over everything, including actually being enjoyable to listen to. Inevitably, this does comes with a degree of inconsistency as regards the songwriting, although the performances throughout are very good, but it is an approach I applaud. Apparently the bulk of the album was recorded live in the studio over a three day period in February of 2022, with a few overdubs added later, and I think this adds a looseness and a vibrancy to the sound that a more meticulous approach may have crushed out if it and it does feel like an actual band playing music rather than a bunch of technicians wielding the arsenal of recording tools now available to almost anyone with a laptop.

In Death I Shall Arise kicks off with an absolute belter, Kvikksølvdrømmer, the swirling guitar riffing and thunderous drum battery that define the track get the album off to a high-octane start then towards the latter part of the track displaying a punkish devilry when they drop into a Ramones-like riff that almost has you yelling "Gabba Gabba Hey" (in a cracked and devilish shriek, obviously). The second track, Sannhetens søyler, continues with a similar, latter-day Darkthrone, punkish vibe and a really catchy guitar melody which at times threatens to fall apart into dissonance, but never actually does, the overall effect kind of keeps you guessing as to where we are going here.

By the time third track, Mercurial, comes around, it is becoming clear that drummer, Englishman Tybalt (Daniel Theobald), is absolutely central to the material as he is all over it and is a veritable hurricane, blowing away all that stands before him in a flurry of blastbeats and fills that mark him as an incredible talent (to my untrained ear anyway). The basslines of four-string-wielder, Sturt (Jens B. Johansen) are also quite prominent at times, in a way similar to that which a number of the modern Chilean thrashers employ.

Vinter og høst is a track where Tilintetgjort employ a dissonant style that reminds me of tracks on early Ihsahn solo albums and this is followed by another short blaster, Hex, that comes over like a hybrid of Darkthrone and Deathspell Omega. Closing out the album is the twenty-minute epic, Dommedagsmonument (Doomsday Monument). This is quite an ambitious track with a three-part progressive structure that's really nice to hear, regaling us with a tale of cosmic mysticism and power. It's opening evil blasts give way to a Wardruna-like nordic folk section with clean vocals and acoustic guitar, that itself is overtaken by a more bombastic section with earnest-sounding cleans and impactful tremolo guitar work. Part three is a Darkthrone-esque section that I think sounds fantastic as the band really let loose with a black'n'roll riff from hell that illustrates the titular doomsday as Svik's demonic vocal reveals the cosmic visions of destruction. He has got a great line in evil, cracked shrieking that sounds demonically evil and his occasional cleans aren't too bad either.

Overall this is an album that I enjoyed immensely and, in truth, I keep getting more out of it the more I listen to it. The drumming is amazing, the guitar work is busy and propulsive and the vocals are classic-sounding, not dissimilar to Nocturno Culto's. I like the attempt at an ambitious approach that doesn't turn it's back on what makes black metal so great to begin with, but that uses the best of it within a progressive song structure. All-in-all I found this massively entertaining and look forward to where these guys go from here.

4/5

Hi Ben, could you please add Adelaide's Lucifer's Fall.

It is obvious that I am very far removed from the target audience for this album and I really don't like lambasting albums that have been offered up as feature releases because they obviously mean something to the person offering them, but I'm really not sure where to start with what I dislike about Knights of the Cross. I guess the beginning is as good a place as any and, let's face it, the intro is ludicrous, to the point where I actually burst out laughing the first time around. The po-faced intoning of the album's concept by movie-trailer-man and Andrew Lloyd-Webber-esque musical bombast was just too much for me to take and I probably should just have turned it off and walked away at that point.

The thing is that after the silly opening things actually looked up with a rather wicked opening riff to the title track... until the vocals kicked in, that is. I don't like Chris Boltendahl's vocals at all and they even sound like they are about to go out of tune at any time, this is then exacerbated by the power metal staple of a harmonised chorus, a trope that is always guaranteed to get my back up. The album also seems to suffer from a common ailment of concept albums, which is forcing the music to fit the concept rather than the other way round.

I am a history buff myself and am quite keen on the history of the crusades so I was quite hopeful for the album, but oh dear. I hesitate to bring this up and I may be reading too much into it, but there also seems to be a borderline racism within the lyrics - the Muslims are all painted as "fanatic assassins", whereas Richard I is said to be "A man like a Lion, With a generous heart" even though "He executes all prisoners, without regret". This is a concept that is either written by someone who hasn't read a history book or, even worse, has but doesn't care about an accurate portrayal.

The shame about this is that the guitar work is really good. Both the riffing and the soloing are top drawer, but all the power metal window dressing that comes with it just makes it a painful experience for me personally. I've given it a couple of listens now, but I won't be returning to it and Grave Digger will be firmly filed in the bottom drawer marked "None of My Business".

1/5

Excellent work on the playlist once more this month Vinny. It was virtually flawless up until the Depeche Mode cover (I like the original, but this cover didn't work for me). There were a few after that one that didn't really do it for me either, which would be the more groove metal leaning material, but it did finish strongly again with the final couple of tracks.

I loved the Deströyer 666 track, but noticed that the album it comes from, Unchain the Wolves, is labelled as containing Nazi/National Socialist material on RYM. Does anyone know if this is a valid criticism of the band's ideology or not?

Church of Misery - Born Under A Mad Sign (2023)

The Japanese, serial-killer obsessed stoners are back with their first new release in seven years and the band have undergone wholesale lineup changes since 2016's And Then There Were None, in fact bassist and songwriter Tatsu Mikami is the only original member and CoM seems to have latterly become him and a crew of hired hands. For Born Under a Mad Sign Mikami has recruited original Church of Misery vocalist Kazuhiro Asaeda who has seemingly had an on/off relationship with the band and last appeared on 2007's Vol I. The drummer is ex-Eternal Elysium bassist Toshiaki Umemura and EE's main man, Yukito Okazaki handles guitar duties as a guest.

This time around Mikami focusses his attention on the likes of the Beltway Sniper, John Allen Muhammed, Alaskan murderer Robert Hansen and the infamous messiah of Waco, David Koresh. Uncomfortable sometimes though the subject matter is, Church of Misery have made a career out of utilising it in their lyrics and, I suppose, tap into that part of the human psyche that is fascinated by the worst that the human race has to offer. Let's face it, they are hardly alone in that regard as the public's seemingly insatiable appetite for it is also served by an endless stream of true crime movies, TV shows and books.

Anyway, questionable subject matter aside, Church of Misery have knocked out a really great slab of stoner metal this time - and I deliberately use the word "slab" because this is slab-heavy with a great depth of tone to Okazaki's distorted stoner riffs that, despite their groove-laden catchiness, have enough weight to crush a small elephant. The riffs have a bluesy groove that reaches back to metal's earliest days, but that still sound fairly modern due to their sheer weight and his soloing is psych-flavoured, but in a bad trip, Altamont, Charles Manson kind of way. Kazuhiro Asaeda's vocals really suit the band's aesthetic and I think he is probably my favourite CoM vocalist. His singing has a rasping, ragged desperation that sounds like a man with shredded nerves and who is at the end of his tether, pretty much how you imagine several of the lyrics' protaganists may have been feeling. Toshiaki Umemura puts in a fine shift behind the kit with some great fills and impeccable time-keeping, the drums being pushed far enough forward to make their presence felt without swamping anyone else. Apart from his songwriting chops being on display with as good a set of songs as I have heard from the band, Tatsu Mikami's bass growls away in the background like a disgruntled grizzly bear as it underpins the riffs and provides the propulsive force for the tracks. The production bestows a satisfying layer of grime over proceedings and allows the album to reach an extra level of filthiness that works well in it's favour.

I know that it is early days yet, but I keep sneaking back to this one and I am thinking that this may well end up as my favourite Church of Misery album to date.

A strong 4/5

Here's my submission for the July Guardians playlist:

DreamState - "Evolution" (from Evolution, 2012)

I was just reading through these and thought this said "the Judy Garland playlist" and thought I had gone to the wrong site by mistake!!

You’re not soft Ben. It’s just your musical taste, personality & physicality really.

Oooh, that's nasty!!

Anyway Ben, I don't know what to say. You have absolutely nailed it this month. In fact, it is rather embarrassing that the most "wimpy" track is one that I myself suggested (Ovnev). That one track aside, this is two hours of palpable evilness that more than satisfied the devil in me!! To do it without resorting to the more obvious candidates merely adds more kudos to your efforts this month. Consider me impressed.
[I will do a more in-depth analysis at some later date, all being well.]

I wasn't implying that you were soft Ben (I would never accuse an Aussie of softness!) Merely that the playlist in question tended away from the style of black metal that I particularly enjoy towards the more sophisticated end of the black metal spectrum.

Anyway, I am especially looking forward to this one and will be blasting it throughout the day.

Hi Ben, my submissions for August are:

Burzum - "Stemmen fra tårnet" (from "Aske EP", 1993)

Carpathian Forest - "The Swordsmen" (from "Black Shining Leather", 1998)

Armagedda - "Deathminded" (from "The Final War Approaching", 2001)

Black Witchery - "Antichrist Order of Holy Death" (from "Inferno of Sacred Destruction", 2010)

Throne of Ahaz - "Fenris" (from "On Twilight Enthroned", 1996)

Hi Vinny. My suggestions for August:

Torture - "Ignominous Slaughter" (from "Storm Alert", 1989)

Morbid Saint - "Crying for Death" (from "Spectrum of Death", 1990)

Vulcano - "Death Metal" (from "Bloody Vengeance", 1986)

Grave Desecrator - "Black Vengeance" (from "Insult", 2010)

Crucified Mortals - "Dusk of the Advent" (from "Psalms of the Dead Choir", 2016)

Pentagram Chile - "The Death of Satan" (from "The Malefice", 2013)

Lawnmower Deth - "Betty Ford's Clinic" (from "Ooh Crikey It's... Lawnmower Deth", 1990)

As Ben notes, this is a release I am already familiar with, so here is my review:

Tlazcaltiliztli is an album of thick as molasses death doom riffs and awesome bellowing growls for vocals that sound like a wounded bison and remind me somewhat of Japanese death doomers Coffins. Whilst the bulk of the album consists of this crushingly brutal assault on the listener's sensibilities there are also some really cool indiginous Mexican folk interludes that make for something a bit different and are undeniably an interesting diversion. The death doom side of things isn't the most earth-shatteringly awesome or original metal you are ever likely to hear, but it is authentic and it's chugging riffs are heavy as fuck and if you are a fan of extreme doom metal then that, along with the more interesting indiginous music interjections, should at least merit you checking it out (just don't try spelling it!) Me, I'm always a sucker for anything that sounds like it was derived from the early Autopsy sound, which this assuredly is, so for me this is a big thumbs up. Sadly, it is very short at 32 minutes, but it's probably better to leave the listener wanting more than boring them with overlong LPs so I have no complaints about that either.

4/5

July 2023

1. Worship of Keres - "Book 3" (from "Bloodhounds for Oblivion", 2016) [submitted by Sonny]

2. Decadence Dust - "Lighthouse" (from "Lighthouse", 2023)

3. Black Capricorn - "Snake of the Wizard" (from "Cult of Blood", 2022)

4. Toadliquor - "Gnaw" (from "Feel My Hate - The Power Is the Weight - R.I.P. Cain", 1993)

5. Liturgy - "Veins of God" (from "Aesthethica", 2011) [submitted by Daniel]

6. Church of Misery - "Come and Get Me Sucker (David Koresh)" (from "Born Under a Mad Sign", 2023)

7. Nightfucker - "Poisoned Wine" (from "Leechfeast / Nightfucker Split EP", 2023)

8. Windhand - "Halcyon" (from "Eternal Return", 2018) [submitted by Vinny]

9. Messa - "Babalon" (from "Belfry", 2016)

10. Tragedia - "Tiamat" (from "El libro de Enoc", 2023)

11. Minotauri - "Doom Metal Alchemy" (from "Minotauri", 2004)

12. Capilla Ardiente - "The Spell of Concealment" (from "The Siege", 2019)

13. Rippikoulu - "Pimeys yllä Jumalan maan" (from "Musta seremonia", 1993) [submitted by Daniel]

14. Warning - "Footprints" (from "Watching from a Distance", 2006) [submitted by Vinny]

15. Khanate - "To Be Cruel" (from "To Be Cruel", 2023) [submitted by Sonny]

Yeah, Diabolical Conquest is marginally my favourite too, but Onward to Golgotha is just so primal that it really appeals to the caveman in me I suppose. I am just so at home with such an uncomplicated, menacing and utterly abyssal sound that I can't honestly rate it any lower.

What is of massive regret for me is that it had taken me until I am sixty years old to find a sound that I feel so deeply. Sure I've dabbled with it via the likes of Winter's Into Darkness, but bands like Incantation and Autopsy produce something that I feel like I connect with on a molecular level. Sounds like bullshit I know, but it is what it is.

Incantation - Onwards to Golgotha (1992)

Incantation have been one of my big discoveries since joining Metal Academy and their 1998 album, Diabolical Conquest, is one of my top five death metal albums of all time. So, rewinding six years to May of 1992 and the deathly New Jersey crew unleashed their debut, Onward to Golgotha. Incantation were originally formed by John McEntee and Paul Ledney, both of death thrashers Revenant, in 1986 and by the time of the debut's release the band had already gone through several line-up changes, which seems to have been an issue that has dogged the band throughout their almost 35 year history.

When Incantation released Onward to Golgotha it must have become apparent to everyone that the thunderous and cavernous abyssal death metal vibe pioneered by the likes of Autopsy had just been lifted to another level. Onward to Golgotha is the soundtrack to a subterranean hellscape that had only been hinted at before, but which now was revealed in all it's deathly and fiery glory, an album that exuded a demonic evilness that sought to corrupt and defile anyone caught in it's aural embrace. This is an album that should have the subtitle "Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

There is a foul gritiness to the sound of the guitar riffing that is so overwhelmingly hellish that I swear I could detect a noxious, sulphurous odour emanating from my speakers whilst listening to it. Then, as if that wasn't enough, Craig Pillard's deep death-growls intoning their blasphemous diatribes push things well beyond all that had gone before and it was apparent that a new king ruled in hell. Onward to Golgotha's forty-five minutes is unrelentingly bruising and brutal-sounding, with even the slower doom death sections seemingly serving only to torturously draw the riffs out and enhance the menace and when the band really let rip, like they do on Immortal Cessation, it feels like you are being physically battered, such is the brutality on show. The solos are fast and furious dagger-slashes that serve only to rub salt into the wounds caused by the flying debris from the maelstrom of the breakneck riffing and are for people who think Kerry King sounds too much like Jimmy Page!

This is real primal music, music that is completely shorn of all sophistication and pretension and doesn't try to be anything other than what it is. It is so neanderthal-sounding that I swear drummer Jim Roe is banging on a mastodon skull with a pair of human femurs. I think Incantation may well be usurping Autopsy as my favourite death metal band because this is exactly the kind of stuff I lose my shit over. For me, this is undiluted essence of death metal and is one of my favourite releases ever.

5/5

A mixed bag for me this month with a huge spread in appeal (or lack of it), but I did get through them all again.

Vinny gets the award for top feature this month with Apparition's glorious celebration of OSDM., Feel.

The Fallen: Hexer - Cosmic Doom Ritual (2017) 5/5

The Horde: Apparition - Feel (2021) 4.5/5

The Pit: Nocturnal Graves - An Outlaw's Stand (2022) 4/5

The North: Lunar Aurora - Andacht (2007) 4/5

The Gateway: Katatonia - Sky Void of Stars (2023) 4/5

The Revolution: Suicide Silence - The Black Crown (2011) 3.5/5

The Sphere: Strapping Young Lad - Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing (1995) 3/5

The Infinite: Dødheimsgard - Black Medium Current (2023) 2.5/5

The Guardians: Darkmoon Blade - Darkmoon Rising (2022) 2.5/5

I am no expert on Katatonia by any means, I really like Brave Murder Day and really dislike Last Fair Deal Gone Down, so my opinion on them is "variable" at best. Still, approaching Sky Void of Stars with no strong expectation either way, I was quite pleasantly surprised by what I found within it's fifty minutes runtime. 

This is a really tuneful and melodic album that references the progressive sounds of bands like Porcupine Tree and Riverside. Unsurprisingly, as he wrote all the material on Sky Void of Stars, the vocal performance of Jonas Renkse is absolutely central to the album. It is fortunate, then, that his performance is top-notch with a strong presence and impressive consistency. I don't wish to demean the contributions of the other band members as they too are of the highest quality, but they are more restrained and are used as the foundation and support of the vocals. This feels similar to the way that the E-Street Band back Springsteen's singing, they are all superb musicians in their own right, but The Boss is the main event. Personally, I would have liked to have heard the band as a whole let off the leash and the album lean more towards a progressive sound with some lengthier instrumental sections. There were a couple of times where it seemed about to happen, but it never really materialised. That said, that is obviously not what was intended here, the focus being less on progressive instrumental explorations and more on precise melodies and memorable musical phrases, with the lyrics and vocals being placed front and centre. To that end Sky Void of Stars is inordinately successful and I got plenty of enjoyment out if it. No doubt I will return to it at some future point, the scales of judgment on Katatonia now weighted more towards the positive as far as I am concerned.

4/5

I don't really know enough blackgaze albums to generalise I suppose, as it's a genre I have little interest in, but the Sadness track just felt so jarringly out of place in The North playlist that I felt I needed to ask the question. The blackgaze I have heard strikes me as using the black metal toolbox to produce music that is so far away from black metal's roots as to be an almost unrelated style of music. As for folk metal not sitting in The North, what would be the alternative home for it, because I can't really see it elsewhere?

I think I am probably just feeling a bit disillusioned with black metal and the direction it is taking. I understand the desire to evolve a musical style, but a lot of modern black metal acts seem to be moving so far away from the artistic core and aesthetic that it is losing it's appeal for me personally. I'm not trying to set myself up as some "guardian of trve kult black metal" or anything like that, as I think some of the more modern stuff is great, but some of it is a step too far for me and I will have to leave it to you young 'uns!!

Not enough evil in my North playlist?! That's something I'll have to remedy next month. 

I'm looking forward to it already!!

Interesting playlist this month Ben. It felt like it had a very "modern" slant to it. I must admit I was longing for a bit more savagery and evilness as it progressed, but I guess the nature of black metal is moving ever away from what it stood for in the Nineties and it is becoming much more experimental and/or melodic as it is assimilated into the musical zeitgeist. I suppose I sound like an old bastard moaning about how things were better in my day (they were!!), but I miss the blasphemic, two-fingers-to-the-world attitude of the bands of yore. Enough bitching anyway, big plusses were Akhlys (obviously), Lamp of Murmuur and Ifernach in addition to my own choices of Árstíðir Lifsins and Emperor. I just can't get my head around Sadness being on a black metal playlist, though - sorry.

Absolutely killer playlist this month, Vinny. Nicely done, especially seeing as it was mostly free of the bigger names. The Cacophony and Sieges Even tracks were the only ones that didn't work for me which, seeing as they were the technical tracks, is no great surprise. The first ten tracks especially made for a brilliant opening salvo. Must check out that Slaughterlord album ASAP.

Firstly, there are plenty of good ideas within Black Medium Current, and I really do get why people would love it. To me though, it is a bit like the Oscar-winning movie, Everything, Everywhere, All At Once with just too many ideas being crammed into it's (admittedly, suitably lengthy) runtime. I also understand that the fault is entirely mine and my lack of sophistication, or maybe intellectual capacity, are the real reason I can't wrap my head around it's myriad of ideas, but I just can't hold everything it has to offer in my head all at once. Another issue for me is, frankly, the terrible clean vocals that are the real villain of the piece here. I much prefer the black metal sections because it means we get a few moments of respite from this vocal torture.

I did enjoy how they employ the keyboards and the occasional excursion into space rock was welcome. To be honest, though, I think Deathspell, Blut aus Nord and especially Oranssi Pazuzu do this sort of thing much better (or at least, more to my own taste). I have been determined to give it sufficient listens to allow it to reveal itself, but after four full listen-throughs, I have been relieved every single time when it has ended, so I guess it is just one of those albums that really isn't for me.

2.5/5

Darkmoon Blade are a heavy metal three-piece from South Carolina, all three members are also in the black metal outfit, Molag and a couple of them are in melodic death/black crew Somat, all of which have released albums in the last year or so, so they have been busy bees indeed. DB seem to be striving to reproduce the lightning-in-a-bottle of early Venom, but almost seem to be trying too hard. Whereas Venom produced their classic material seemingly effortlessly and so consequently authentically, Darkmoon Blade sound forced, never more than in the vocal department where singer Velda seems so intent on reproducing Cronos' rasping delivery that he sounds uncomfortable and staid, never coming anywhere near the Geordies' natural-sounding likeability but rather producing more of a tight-throated croak.

It isn't all bad news, some of the riffing and lead work is quite fun and although the band are really only producing very basic heavy metal, when they hit their stride they provide some passable headbanging material. Of course it has to be brought up, but the more ambitious My Darling in the Fire is really bad. The vocals are at their nadir on this track and the songwriting seems to be trying to take a leaf out of King Diamond's mini-opera-like style, but is so all over the place that it is actually cringeworthy.

I really don't like doing down metal albums but this isn't anything I could, in all honesty, say I would ever return to as the bad significantly outweighs the good and it is hard to forgive such a poor vocal performance.

2.5/5

Carcass - Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious (1991)

For context: despite not being a massive fan of death metal for the longest time and getting into the genre fairly late in the day, there is a small number of bands that I do have some history with, Carcass being one of them, Napalm Death and Bolt Thrower being the others. This is mainly due to all three being championed by the much-missed John Peel on his late night radio shows and the fact that they were from my neck of the woods, as I am from a shithole roughly at the midpoint between Merseyside and The Midlands and so they did get some promotion in local specialist record shops. This exposure was mainly focussed on their early grindcore material as by the time of Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious' release, I was on my self-imposed hiatus from the metal scene.

Anyway, personal history aside, Carcass' sophomore and predecessor to Necroticism, Symphonies of Sickness, saw Carcass evolve from the brutal grindcore of the debut in a more conventional death metal direction. Necroticism itself continues this evolution, further moving the band's sound away from their grindcore roots and introducing much more by way of melody into their writing with the grind elements being merely vestigial by this point. I am probably in the minority here, but I actually think that SoS marks the sweet spot between the grind and Death metal elements of Carcass' sound. That does not in any way mean I don't like Necroticism, quite the contrary in fact but, for me, SoS is the high water mark for Carcass, at least from a personal preference point-of-view. That said, there is loads to enjoy here, with memorable riffs thrown out like confetti, Bill Steer's growls competing with Jeff Walker's shrieks for vocal supremacy, a thunderous rhythm section and viscerally aggressive guitar solos.

The tracks on Necroticism are, in the main, even longer than those on Symphonies and, in addition to the increasing emphasis on melody there is also a more noticeable technicality about the songwriting. Necroticism also marks Michael Amott's recorded debut with the band and the interplay between him and Steer, particularly the solos, marks a major evolution for Carcass' sound with a more Maiden-esque approach, similar in effect to that of James Murphy's contributions with Death on Spiritual Healing. The emphasis on the solos is such that each even has a name: opener Inpropagation (a song about using cremated human remains as fertiliser), for example, has solos named "dust in the mausoleum", "compost humous horticulture" and "humanure". Elsewhere there are solos named "a heaving organic puzzle", "viscous residue snorting" and "administration of toxic compounds", continuing the gore-laden verbosity of their track and album naming convention.

The production is excellent and lies at the perfect point between the roughness of the earlier work and the slickness of their later releases, providing a thick and meaty quality to the riffing that still allows a flowing clarity to the leads during the solos and enables the rhythm section to be clearly discerned rather than them sinking into the mire of a muddier production. Drummer Ken Owen must receive kudos for turning in an understated, yet absolutely integral performance that lays a particularly solid foundation upon which the sterling guitar work could be built. The forensic gore aesthetic was something of a feature for the band and set them apart, seeming even more disturbing than the slasher gore of other early DM outfits like Cannibal Corpse, due to it's feet being placed more in the real world than the movie world and this provided inspiration to any number of later gorehounds. The samples that introduce a number of the tracks are suitably unpleasant and, I suppose, in a way they force us to face up to a certain distasteful aspect of life that most normal-minded people don't really dwell on much.

Overall, this is an important record in the evolution of a branch of death metal from it's earliest grindcore roots towards a more universally acceptable sound, whilst still retaining a brutally uncompromising aesthetic that was sufficient to prevent the band "selling-out" to mainstream acceptance.

Initially this did not grab my attention as much as I hoped it would. The first couple of tracks just sort of washed over me with the liturgical singing of the opener sounding merely gimmicky rather than fundamental to the track. Now I don't know if this was because I went into it in the wrong frame of mind, but as the album proceeded I found myself getting more and more into it and on subsequent listens those earlier tracks chime a lot better with me. One thing that is absolutely certain, however, is that these guys have a real ear for a good melody. Most of the six tracks feature at least one hooky melody that endows each of them with a degree of memorability. Less-skilled atmo-black practitioners may release albums where the tracks all merge into one and that are largely forgettable, or rather just don't have much onto which the listener can grab and find a way in, but these melodic hooks offer an easy way into all the six tracks present on Andacht.

Whilst being in the main blisteringly fast and pummelling black metal, there is more than enough going on around it to provide plenty of variety and depth. Taking the opener, Glück, as an example, the tremolo riffing is light-speed fast and the drums are programmed for maximum blasting, but those chanting vocals and a nice acoustic guitar melody during a section of relative calm make such an impact that they stick with you and pull you into the blasting maelstrom that surrounds them. Most of the tracks are well-constructed and display some development during their runtime, but it is the melodies that ultimately keep calling me back to this as they add a soaring beauty to what may otherwise have been a fairly ordinary atmospheric black metal album.

The vocals are decent enough black metal shrieks and growls, with those chanted cleans interjecting occasionally. As I mentioned, the drums are programmed and they don't sound too bad, although it is fairly obvious that they aren't a live drummer. The production is crisp and clear, so the subtleties of the album are easy to pick up on throughout. All in all I would say that this is a creditable effort that maintains the vicious savagery of black metal, whilst tempering it with a melodicism that makes it more accessible than is often the case and which adds a different dynamic to the whole.

I am kinda struggling between awarding a 3.5 or a 4, but those mournful-sounding keys on Dunkler Mann that sound like a violin have won me over and swayed my score upwards.

4/5

Oh, yes, nice one Vinny!

This is most definitely centred right on my death metal g-spot! The instant it's gloriously downtuned, cavernous riffage infested my earbuds, I was hooked. OK, it's Autopsy worship does absolutely nothing original, but is so well executed and is just so much to my taste that I don't intend to criticise it for not diverting from the template set down by Chris Reifert and company more than three decades ago now. Although the album as a whole is somewhat generic, in that they don't try to do anything unexpected, the band have a genuine grasp of what this corner of the death metal world requires.

The riffs are massive with some real killers amongst them, although they don't push the needle much beyond medium-paced with very little blasting even on the pacier sections, the beginning of Perpetually Altered probably marking the album's peak velocity. The subsonic vocals even rival Reifert's growls for sounding like the ravings of some infernal, abyssal demon and are a big part of the draw of Feel for me. The downtuned riffage and generally cavernous atmosphere make it feel more doomy than it actually is, as they don't stray into purely death doom territory as much as you think, slowing the pace to a crawl only for a short time during most tracks. Each of the tracks are artfully constructed and the variety in pacing throughout is worked very well. An extra layer of atmosphere is supplied on the most doom-laden track, Nonlocality, with the inclusion of thin but atmospheric keyboards that reminded me of the keys used by Thergothon on their classic Stream From the Heavens with the thinness of the keys' sound being in marked contrast to the meaty heft of the guitar sound.  The production is very effective with a cloying thickness to the atmosphere, whilst still possessing sufficient clarity to do each of the instruments justice and never descending into an indiscernable morass.

This is most definitely the kind of release I can revisit time after time as I live for this kind of cavernous sound, absorbing it like plants absorb sunlight. Consequently a vinyl copy is winging it's way from Amazon to Sonny's crypt-on-the-hill as we speak!

4.5/5

So, for all clans together and albums I had never heard before:

1. Incantation - Diabolical Conquest (1998)
2. Shining - V - Halmstad (2007)
3. Nehëmah - Requiem Tenebrae (2004)
4. Pestilence - Spheres (1993)
5. Ufomammut / Lento - Supernaturals - Record One (2007)
6. Gorement - The Ending Quest (1994)
7. Boris - Boris at Last -Feedbacker- (2003)
8. Henbane - Cultes des Ghoules (2013)
9. Necrodeath - Into the Macabre (1987)
10. Ne Obliviscaris - I Portal (2009)
11. Persefone - Core (2006)
12. Dead Congregation - Promulgation of the Fall (2014)
13. Coffinworm - IV.I.VIII (2014)
14. Amorphis - Under the Red Cloud (2015)
15. Helmet - Meantime (1992)
16. Monarch! - Omens (2012)
17. Neptunian Maximalism - Éons (2020)
18. Thorns - Thorns (2001)
19. Leprous - Tall Poppy Syndrome (2009)
20. Sinister - Diabolical Summoning (1993)

These are all awesome albums and some actually changed my outlook on certain aspects of metal.

I was thinking this morning how the feature releases have introduced me to some really great albums that I would possibly never have heard otherwise. So I wondered, what are your Top Ten feature releases for your clans that were nominated by other people (so no cheating with including your own nominations) and which hadn't you heard before?

I'll start of with my Top Ten Fallen features not nominated by me. An asterisk indicates I hadn't heard it previously and a double asterisk indicates I hadn't even heard of it prior to it featuring.

1. Evoken - Quietus (2001)
2. Paul Chain - Detaching From Satan (1984)
3. Reverend Bizarre - III: So Long Suckers (2007)
4. Celtic Frost - Monotheist (2006)
5. Ufomammut / Lento - Supernaturals - Record One (2007)**
6. Electric Wizard - Dopethrone (2000)
7. Boris - Boris at Last -Feedbacker- (2003)*
8. Coffinworm - IV.I.VIII (2014)**
9. Monolithe - Monolithe II (2005)
10. Monarch! - Omens (2012)**

So what are your greatest discoveries from the features?

I would just like to add my greetings, Gulasch. We are a small but inclusive and welcoming band of metal obsessives so I hope you enjoy your interactions here. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on all things metal.

Work? Ah, yes I remember it. That was the stuff that got in the way of me doing the stuff I really wanted to!!

But seriously, it's fine Ben, no problem at all.

Hi Vinny. My suggestions for July:

Bulldozer - "Art of Deception" (from "Neurodeliri", 1988)
Flotsam and Jetsam - "No Place for Disgrace" (from "No Place for Disgrace", 1988)
Hallows Eve - "Speed Freak" (from "Monument", 1988)
Whiplash - "Snake Pit" (from "Ticket to Mayhem", 1987)

Anything for July, Ben?

Fires in the Distance - Air Not Meant for Us (2023)

I felt compelled to check out Air Not Meant for Us after it's opening track, Harbingers, appeared on June's Horde playlist and caught my attention. I'm glad I did too, because it is a release that adds a twist to a well-established metal trope. It is a combination of melodic death metal and death doom, which is not so unusual, but the twist is that the piano plays a prominent and integral part in the album's six tracks, to a degree I haven't had the pleasure of really hearing before. The result of this is that the melodocism is enhanced by the piano's refrains and it also often adds a wistfulness to the tracks with it's showers of gently tinkling notes falling upon the more solid and earthy doomy riffs.

The band prove themselves to be capable songwriters with the tracks being of perfect length to establish themselves and exhibit a degree of progression without falling into self-indulgence and becoming bloated. The riffs are melodic whilst still retaining a reasonable amount of hulking heaviness and there are one or two interesting solos. The vocals are fairly standard death growls and are handled perfectly capably without standing out as anything extra special. As a general comparison they kind of remind me of early My Dying Bride shorn of any of the gothic elements that the Yorkshiremen revelled in.

However, I am not really able to dish out the highest marks to Air Not Meant for Us because of the very things that I name above as being interesting. The melodicism and wistfulness that make it stand out from the crowd also makes the album feel a lot less threatening and ominous than I usually enjoy from the very best doomy death metal and so an upper echelon score is not going to happen. This is still, however, an interesting addition to the genre and is one that I thoroughly enjoyed discovering. It is a really good album in it's own right, even if it maybe does fall just a little bit short. As a postscript, it does feature a voiceover sample of Christopher Hitchens, one of the smartest individuals I have ever heard speak, on the track, Idiopathic Despair, reassuringly telling us how death is nothing to fear even as he himself faced it.

4/5

Godflesh - Streetcleaner (1989)

I figured it was high time I gave the much-lauded Streetcleaner, one of the most well-known industrial metal releases of all time, a listen. Well, it's early days yet, but I was not blown away anything like as much as I thought I would be. However, as someone who has previously railed against people judging metal releases out of context, I will be delving into this much further over the coming weeks. One thing is for certain, and that is that I wasn't anything like hip enough to be listening to anything remotely like this back in 1989. There is much that warrants further exploration that's for sure, but it is such a well-regarded album, piling up plaudits from all and sundry, that I suppose I was expecting far more than it is reasonable to expect and as such I feel, initially, a little let down by it being merely decent rather than transcendent. I don't yet wish to ascribe a numerical value to relativise my enjoyment of Streetcleaner, as I think it has far more to offer up than I have yet discovered, so I will leave it at that until much later.

Unsurprisingly, to those who are familiar with my taste, the two doomier tracks from Fires In The Distance and Temple Nightside stood out especially to me this month and both bands will have to be subject to further exploration before long. In fact, I was really enjoying the playlist as a whole until it reached that terrible Phyllomedusa track - has he really made 280+ albums of that shit? Despite this I resisted the skip button and endured the entire 8 minutes so that I never make the mistake of listening to him again! Chop (x7)'s cybergrind was not my cup of tea either, but at least they had the decency to only last just over a minute. There were one or two others near the end I didn't much care for, Sulfuric Cautery and Extermination Dismemberment would fall into this category. The death 'n' roll of Blood Duster's Pornstorestiffi (shown on Spotify as Pronstorestiffi for some reason) was ridiculous but kind of enjoyable in some capacity. I don't know if I would like an entire album of such light-hearted dm, but as part of a playlist it was good fun. Others that hit home for me this month were Kommand, Slaughter Lord, Massacre, Suffocation and CC.

Thanks Daniel for yet again producing an entertaining playlist.

To get it our of the way first, I'm a bit surprised this is a Pit feature as I don't really hear any thrash metal here. It sounds much more like blackened death metal to me, although I have been wrong before! That aside, this is a damn good record that displays plenty of deathly musculature in it's riffing with a blackened patina that gives it a nice evil atmosphere. Nocturnal Graves are powered by main man, Jarro Raphael (aka Nuclear Exterminator) who takes on the role of lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, bassist, drummer and, presumably, also major songwriter. He is ably aided by a couple of lead guitarists in Denouncement Pyre's Paul Lang (aka Decaylust) and ex-Deströyer 666 guitarist Shrapnel.

There is no attempt to sugar-coat this deathly black attack - this is an all-out, aggressively relentless and spiteful-sounding assault on your brain. The riffs are fast and furious and, whilst not treading any new territory, are cool as fuck and hit the spot just right for anyone who loves evil-sounding extreme metal. Jarro Raphael is an impressive metal maniac - his one-man rhythm section is brutally functional and whilst he doesn't really go in for any fancy shenanigans, he is not short of ability in these departments and his performance here powers the whole endeavour and underpins the guitar work with an impetus that is as solid as it is breakneck.

The dual leads realise some tasty solos, quite often referring to heavy metal tropes as much as death or thrash metal ones and their contributions certainly help to elevate An Outlaw's Stand from out of the pack. If you enjoy guitar solos then you won't go away from this disappointed as there seem to be more than you would normally expect from a death or black metal album and these may well be the source of many people claiming this as a thrash album, although I maintain the meat of the album, ie the riffs, is firmly rooted in black/death metal. JR's vocals sound suitably spiteful and evil as he spits or vomits the lyrics out at the listener and is the most black metal aspect of the album, capturing the essential misanthropy at the heart of all the best black metal. All-in-all this is an album that is worth your time if you love straight-up, fuck everything black or death metal as it exhibits a vitality and lack of pretentiousness that encapsulates exceedingly well why I love extreme metal.

4/5

I am fully behind doing away with the atmospheric, post-, or whatever we wish to term it, sludge genre as I have never been a fan of the term. Sludge metal and post-metal should adequately cover most examples (in varying proportions, depending who you're listening to). Hexer sit more at rhe sludgy end and for them to be removed from The Fallen would be a bureaucratic travesty in my opinion as Cosmic Doom Ritual so obviously sits there rather than in the Infinite.

For some reason Devin Townsend has always rubbed me up the wrong way. He is obviously an immensely talented individual and I have no real basis for saying this, but he seems to revel in his own cleverness and his sometimes goofy humour just gets my back up. I was once lent a couple of SYL albums by a workmate (I think one was Alien), but I couldn't get into them at all. Not exactly a very promising preamble to this review then, but I did go into this with an open mind and now, after half-a-dozen full listen-throughs, I think I have probably got everything out of this that I am going to.

Industrial metal, to me, should be innately super-heavy as it is intended to replicate the sound of heavy machinery in operation and to this end SYL have been, in the main, successful in this endeavour here. The combination of the riffs and the full-blooded rhythm section, which includes both real and programmed drums, produce an impressively heavy sound that, at times, rivals even the mighty Fear Factory at their best. There are also some killer hooks in a couple of the tracks, particularly early on in the album (that again sound a fair bit like hooks FF would produce).

From what I can glean from the internet this is basically a Devin Townsend solo album with a few guest musicians as well as being songs collected from a number of demos - and it shows. Despite the nursery rhyme nonsense that bookends the album it doesn't feel at all consistent, but rather than a coherent album it feels more like a compilation of disparate tracks. This is not at all aided by Townsend's vocal performance being markedly different on nearly every track, on Goat, for example, it seems like he is just taking the piss and sounds like it is based on Bill Hicks' least funny sketch, Goatboy. That "goofy" humour, as exemplified by the awful closing track and the Black Adder-plagiarising album title, combined with Devin screaming "I fuckin' hate you" over and over on the opener like a spoilt teenage brat and ruining what is otherwise a pretty good track, turns me away from any of the good things he was doing elsewhere on the album.

Look, unlike Devin's screaming inner teen, I don't fuckin' hate this, but it is too inconsistent and exhibits an immaturity I struggled with, to be honest. There are a couple of tracks that I would be OK with on a Spotify playlist, In the Rainy Season and the groove of Critic, but other than that I am unlikely to return here.

3/5

I am always quite nervous when suggesting little-known releases as I often wonder if they are unknown for good reason, ie they aren't very good, and I just can't see it. I had a sneaking suspicion that you may enjoy it though, Daniel, as we have often seen eye-to-eye on similarly psychedelia-infested releases in the past. 

I would also highly recommend their sophomore, Realm of the Feathered Serpent, as it too is a great record. Their most recent album, Abyssal, has seen the band reduced to a duo with some stripping back of their sound and, for me, is a little bit of a step down, but it's still a good album.

When I saw that The Black Crown was a deathcore release I went to RYM to check my rated releases to see if I had anything against which to reference it. Turns out I have never knowingly listened to a deathcore album before, which is not really that surprising as I will admit that I often struggle with 'core-related releases, chiefly because I struggle with the vocals. Well, first point goes to Suicide Silence, because I had no issue at all with Mitch Lucker's vocals as they stayed well below the "shouty teenager" level that is my cut-off point, whilst remaining particularly savage and pissed-off sounding. Musically, I actually had a pretty decent time with this, although it is aimed a fair distance from my metal sweet spot. I don't aim to pretend I know what I am talking about regarding a release like this that is so far removed from my usual fare, but I did find myself getting into the groove with a fair few of the riffs and, generally, the whole did provide me with a decent amount of enjoyment on a day when I may well have been in a frame of mind for something a bit different. On several occasions I found myself thinking, oh that sounds a bit like early Slipknot, a band not to everyone's taste I know, but I think they wrote some pretty decent metal tunes and it is meant as a compliment to Suicide Silence, not as a gripe against them. There is a surfeit of angst and vitriol on display and although such anger doesn't really translate to a retired sixty-year-old walking his dog on a beautifully sunny June morning, I can still relate to the sentiment.

As a band Suicide Silence seem very tight and economical - there is very little by way of  superfluous embellishment, the rhythm section is there to drive the tracks forward, not to impress the listener with fancy fills or bass runs. The guitar sound is pretty dense and the riffs are effective with one or two killers - You Only Live Once, for example. Personally I enjoyed the second half of the album more than the first as it adds a couple of small, but cool touches that enhance the experience for me. The opening few songs feel like a band blowing off steam and are totally focussed on aggressive delivery, but after the interlude of March to the Black Crown, which provides a nice mid-album breather with it's ominous sound and choral-style vocalisations, things get a bit more interesting. The interlude is followed by my personal favourite, "Witness the Addiction" which maintains the pissed-off aura of the album, but feels more considered with it's clean vocal sections providing more accesibility without compromise. The acoustic guitar parts of The Only Thing That Sets Us Apart fit into the song very nicely too and is a nice touch.

Overall, I would contend that whilst The Black Crown will probably never feature in my top 100 metal albums, it did provide sufficient enjoyment for me to return to it at some point in the future and, rather like Trivium's In Waves, it may well be an album I turn to when I fancy something outside my usual listening fare. I must also add my agreement with both Daniel and Vinny that, whilst respecting Metal Archives right to regulate their own content, it doesn't follow that this is unwelcome there whilst Rush, Deep Purple and Scorpions are all represented. Metal is metal surely and The Black Crown is certainly worthy of it's inclusion here at Metal Academy.

3.5/5

That's two positive experiences with Revolution features in consecutive months. Maybe I need to reassess my general feeling towards the clan and perhaps I have misunderstood it all along. Conversely, maybe the last two features have just been outstanding choices.

Here's my new review:

Cosmic Doom Ritual is perhaps a little rougher around the edges than it's successors, but I believe that emphasises the dirty sludginess of their sound more than a crisper and cleaner sound would. The album consists of three tracks each of 11 or 12 minutes duration, long enough for them to develop each track's ideas but not so long as to become self-indulgent and bloated. Each features an atmospheric sludge / post-metal building of tension and atmosphere through their runtime, arriving at a cathartic crescendo as it resolves itself, but each of the tracks has a very different character and all three have their own diverse atmosphere. They are also marvellously evocative and I always find myself conjuring amazing mental pictures to accompany the soundtrack that the album provides. Opener Merkaba, for example, begins serenely enough but soon builds into a dark and ominous sound, that brings to mind the gathering of huge, black thunderhead clouds suddenly erupting in a storm of blackened fury.  My favourite track of the three is the middle one, Pearl Snake, which combines the band's sludgey doom with mystical eastern sounds, evoking the ritual chanting of some long-forgotten Indian death cult. I am always a bit of a sucker for eastern folk sounds being used on metal records and Hexer do make excellent use of the eastern theme here. Album closer, Black Lava Flow, is a throbbing, pulsing slab of sludginess with some black metal hints that really brings to mind the flowing of dark magma from deep in the bowels of some hellish underground volcano. It culminates in a great psychedelic section, complete with analogue keyboards, that feels organic and natural and not at all like it's forced into the song in an attempt to do something unexpected, but seems entirely the way the track should complete it's journey.

I think on this debut Hexer come across as aiming for a sound similar to Ufomammut but with less of a stoner influence and more sludgey, with even a hint of a black metal flavour. Oh, and did I mention that it is heavy as fuck?! Personally I love the thick, crawling riffs and the pounding rhythms that combine to produce an atmosphere dripping with naturalistic and mystical significance and if there is any justice in the world then these guys will become held in much greater esteem in future.

5/5

My suggestions for July Ben:

Dauþuz - "Schwarzes Wasser" (from "MONVMENTVM", 2019)

The Great Old Ones - "Visions of R'lyeh" (from "Al Azif", 2012)

Ovnev - "Oxygenation" (from "Transpiration", 2020)

For July please Sonny:

Warning - "Footprints" (from "Watching From A Distance", 2006)

Windhand - "Halcyon" (from "Eternal Return", 2018)

Top choices, Vinny! Very glad to include them.

I will go with the Tyrant's Reign ep, thanks.

Over to you Vinny.

I will go with the Nordjevel album.

OK Vinny, you're up next.