Sonny's Forum Replies

OK, so I've never even heard of Monarch! before, let alone heard any of their albums, so I went into this completely blind, apart from having an inbred aversion to bands who use punctuation marks in their names. Anyway, not to worry as this is right up my street. Slowly heaving, mega-distorted drone riffs with arresting female vocals, whether they are screaming in red-faced frustration or angelically crooning to the heavens. This is exactly how I love drone metal to sound, with the vocal atmospherics used as a counterpoint to the monolithic droning of the riffing, a siren call of redemption set against the crushing weight of the instrumentation. The almost twenty-minute closer, Black Becomes the Sun, is a fantastic piece of disturbing, droning wonderfulness with a seriously unhinged vocal performance from the terribly-monickered Eurogirl.

Count me all-in on this one and kudos for a brilliant underground selection, Daniel.

4.5/5

I'm fascinated to see Caladan Brood at number 4 and yet no Summoning. Is it a matter of the apprentice surpassing the master in your opinion? I haven't heard of Mist of Misery, so prob should check it out.

I make sure to include at least one symphonic black metal track in every North playlist, and not just because it should be represented. I've always been a sucker for it when it's done well. That said, I agree that Emperor have yet to be bettered.

Yes, I think it is Ben. Summoning just feel so OTT to me that they rub me up the wrong way. In all fairness I have only listened to a couple of albums for this reason, so they may have produced a classic I haven't heard.

Symphonic black metal is perfectly valid for inclusion in the North playlists as itseems to be quite a popular sub-genre, it just isn't one I personally enjoy massively. It is a great mystery why Emperor were so much better than all the rest though.

Does anyone else know of a sub-genre where one band so far outclasses all the competition or are Emperor a one-off?

I must admit to struggling with most symphonic black metal, with the obvious exception of Emperor. Wonder why they were so much better at it than everyone else? Great to see you have Live Inferno rated so highly, Daniel. It is one of the all-time great metal live albums in my opinion. I would have to echo your top three, so here's my somewhat limited top ten, bearing in mind there is a massive drop-off from #3 to #4:

01. Emperor – “In The Nightside Eclipse” (1994)

02. Emperor – “Live Inferno” (2009)

03. Emperor – “Anthems To The Welkin At Disk” (1997)

04. Caladan Brood - "Echoes of Battle" (2013)

05. Emperor - "IX Equilibrium" (1999)

06. Cradle of Filth - "Middian" (2000)

07. Mist of Misery - "Temple of Stilled Voices EP" (2014)

08. Abhor - "Occulta religiO" (2018)

09. Samael - "Passage" (1996)

10. Sigh - "Hangman's Hymn" (2007)

Do you think you could also add Swedish trad doom band Left Hand Solution and nineties French doomsters Astral Rising please Ben?

Demoniac - So It Goes (2020)

For the longest time I believed that thrash metal held no more surprises for me. That, however, was before I had heard Demoniac's incredible 2020 sophomore release, So It Goes. Sure, I have been very impressed by the vitality of the contemporary South American thrash scene, but the albums I had heard to this point were in the main existing tropes, taken and sharpened to the point of lethality. Some excellent stuff that had rekindled my interest in new thrash metal material, but Demoniac have gone well beyond that and So It Goes is a complete revelation to my jaded sensibilities. They play intense thrash metal with blackened vocals and hints at progressive tendencies and with a technical proficiency that is exceedingly impressive. The opening couple of tracks illustrate that these guys can out-thrash the shit out of almost anyone currently playing thrash metal. Fast, vibrant riffing, snarling vocals and a rhythm section that will destroy your apartment block if they play within a mile of it, deliver everything you could ever want from a thrash metal album. Then, following the opening one-two salvo, Extraviado opens up with a.. jazz clarinet. This is a weird and wonderful kind of doom and jazz number that may well leave you scratching your head, but I personally think is a glorious curveball that lets you regain some composure before the next neck-mangler. Equilibrio fatal is another riff-fest of lightning-powered thrash that will remove the skin from any unprotected body parts as it hurtles from riff to riff and contains some terrific soloing and superb basswork from Vicente Pereira.

This then brings us to the second half of the album, which consists solely of the almost twenty-minute suite of the title track which is a thrash metal tour de force and the track where Demoniac really show their chops and leave the competition eating their dust. Riff follows riff, solos rise and fall, that awesome, crunchy bass keeps baring it's teeth, Javier Ortiz snarls and sneers his way through the lyrics and our old friend that crazy clarinet even makes a reappearance. This track is one of the most glorious, OTT celebrations of thrash metal you are ever likely to hear and with the searing power of the shorter tracks from side one makes for one of the greatest thrash albums I have ever heard. Believe me, if this was released in the late eighties this would still be held up as an out and out classic. If, like me, you thought thrash metal was dead then spin So It Goes and behold thrash's Lazarus-like resurrection.

...oh, and could you please add Albert Witchfinder's new band Friends of Hell. Thanks.

Hi Ben, could you add Bulgarian doom band Obsidian Sea please?

Brief thoughts on this month's playlist:

1. Spirit Caravan - "Dead Love / Jug Fulla Sun" from "Jug Fulla Sun" (1999) [submitted by Sonny]
Spirit Caravan is a Wino-led trio that laces their stoner doom with acid. This is my favourite track from their debut and is one of my all-time top stoner metal tracks.

2. Anathema - "Radiance" from "Eternity" (1996) [submitted by Daniel]
Builds really effectively to a Comfortably Numb-style guitar solo climax.

3. Worm - "Empire of the Necromancers" from "Foreverglade" (2021) [submitted by Ben]
Heavy as fuck blackened doom from one of last year's great albums.

4. Cult of Luna - "Cold Burn" from "The Long road North" (2022)
It's CoL doing what they do and doing it supremely well. Quality atmo-sludge no more no less.

5. Crowbar - "Like Broken Glass" from "Broken Glass" (1996) [submitted by Daniel]
It's Crowbar doing what they do and doing it... What? I've used that one already? OK, but you know what I mean yeah?

6. Lethian Dreams - "Shades" from "Red Silence Lodge" (2014) [submitted by Ben]
I really like this album - I have a CD digipak with a nice message and signed by Carline Van Roos that I bought from Bandcamp when it was released This is a gorgeously melancholy track with terrific vocals from Carline that eventually explodes towards the end.

7. Internal Void - "Utopia of Daze" from "Standing on the Sun" (1992) [submitted by Sonny]
This is one of the great unheralded early 90's Sabbath-influenced trad doom albums and Utopia of Daze is my favourite track from it. I finally tracked down an original CD copy recently on Discogs from a guy in South Africa and it was worth every penny!

8. Melvins - "Vile" from "Ozma" (1989) [submitted by Sonny]
Melvins are one of those bands who baffle me with how they can go from ridiculous to sublime seemingly at will. This is a sublime moment and one of my favourites from the US sludgelords - what a brilliant crawling, creeping riff this is.

9. Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - "Blood Moon" from "Bloodmoon: I" (2021) [submitted by Daniel]
The Fallen Album of the Year for 2021 is well represented by this track which beautifully illustrates the strength of this collaboration and the contrast between the two protagonists.

10. Khazad-dûm - "Transmuted" from "Hymns from the Deep" (2020) [submitted by Ben]
If you are a fan of the LoTR books or movies then you will recognise exactly what Khazad-dûm are aiming for - to use funeral doom to recreate the atmosphere of the dwarven mines from whence the band get their name, a task at which they have been supremely successful and no more so than on this brilliant track. Another criminally underappreciated album from the last couple of years.

11. Candlemass - "The Well of Souls" from "Nightfall" (1987)
A genuine classic of epic doom from the Swedish masters with Messiah in full flow. Epic doom doesn't get much beter than this!

12. Swallow the Sun - "Keep Your Heart Safe From Me" from "Moonflowers" (2021)
A real heartbreaker from one of the more emotionally-charged albums in metal.

13. Abandon - "Pitch Black Hole" from "The Dead End" (2009) [submitted by Sonny]
It kind of came out of nowhere and blew me away this one. A mix of sludge and funeral doom that really hits the spot for me.

14. Windhand - "Woodbine" from "Soma" (2013)
I fucking love that uber-fuzzed guitar tone on this album and Dorthia's washed-out vocals suit it just brilliantly. One of the best female-fronted doom metal albums out there.

15. My Dying Bride - "A Doomed Lover" from "Songs of Darkness, Words of Light" (2004) [submitted by Ben]
My old pals are back on the playlist! Still, this is MDB at their best - fortunately Aaron Stainthorpe puts in a quite restrained vocal performance that doesn't overdo the ham. Builds really nicely too.

16. Ufomammut / Lento - "Infect Two" from "Supernaturals - Record One " (2007) [submitted by Daniel]
The January Fallen feature was pretty much universally praised by the membership and with damn good reason too. Black hole-density metal fused with space rock aesthetics for some truly mind-blowing astral projection.

We all know Candlemass, Saint Vitus, Trouble, The Obsessed and Pentagram, but here are my top ten underappreciated Traditional Doom Metal albums of the eighties and early nineties. Less than 300 ratings on rym needed to qualify (in fact, all but one have under 200).

1. Internal Void - "Standing on the Sun" (1992)
2. Memento Mori - "Rhymes of Lunacy" (1993)
3. Penance - "The Road Less Travelled" (1992)
4. Mercy - "Witchburner" (1985)
5. Paul Chain - "Life and Death" (1989)
6. Revelation - "Salvations Answer" (1991)
7. Lost Breed - "Save Yourself" (1995)
8. Requiem - "Via Crucis" (1990)
9. Astral Rising - "In Quest" (1995)
10. Mourn - "Mourn" (1995)

April 2022

    
1. Dawn of Solace - "Erase" from "Flames of Perdition" (2022)
2. Penance - "A Wayfarer's Tale" from "The Road Less Travelled" (1992) [Submitted by Sonny]
3. Neurosis - "Through Silver in Blood" from "Through Silver in Blood" (1996) [Submitted by Daniel]
4. High On Fire - "Return to NOD" from "Death is This Communion" (2007) [Submitted by Sonny]
5. Mournful Congregation - "As I Drown in Loveless Rain" from "The Monad of Creation" (2005) [Submitted by Ben]
6. Mansion - "Traitor's Dirge" from "Altar Sermon EP" (2015)
7. Counting Hours - "To Exit All False" from "The Will" (2020) [Submitted by Ben]
8. Thou - "Inward" from "Magus" (2018) [Submitted by Sonny]
9. Space Coke - "Bride of Satan" from "Lunacy" (2022)
10. Deathbell - "The Stronghold and the Archer" from "A Nocturnal Crossing" (2022) [Submitted by Sonny]
11. Paradise Lost - "Gothic" from "Gothic" (1991) [Submitted by Daniel]
12. Konvent - "Pipe Dreams" from "Call Down the Sun" (2022) [Submitted by Ben]
13. Messa - "Serving Him" from"Close" (2022) [Submitted by Ben]
14. Inter Arma - "The Survival Fires" from "Sky Burial" (2013)
15. Ahab - "The Hunt" from "The Call of the Wretched Sea" (2006) [Submitted by Daniel]

I listened to this whilst out with the dog this month so I didn't have a tracklisting to hand whilst it was playing. It started off a bit slowly for me, unless it was the presence of Seek & Destroy early in the list laying waste to the tracks around it. It still grieves me greatly to recall what happened to Metallica when listening to their early stuff and how they completely shat on their own legacy. Anyway, it took Kreator to really shake me out of my reverie and from then on things really went up a gear. Old favourites like Venom, Sadus, Holy Terror and Hallows Eve interspersed with some less familiar ass-kickers like Dekapitator, At War and Cryptic Shift hit the spot.

The couple of groove metal tracks from Alien Weaponry and Biohazard didn't do too much for me unfortunately. Then we have a couple of bands I've only heard about and never bothered with as I didn't think they were that serious. Austrian Death Machine's Get to the Choppa is actually pretty good though and not at all what I expected (when will I learn?) I remember seeing Lawnmower Deth everywhere at one point in the eighties (here in England anyway) but thought that they sounded a bit silly - and so they are, although this is actually quite a fun track I don't know if I could take a full album or if it would rub me up the wrong way like M.O.D.

Things then get real and we have a pretty solid run to the end. I've never heard or heard of Détente before, but I quite dug the punk/thrash vibe they exhibited here. Of course we end with a classic Slayer track, which has my second favourite Slayer intro (Raining Blood being #1).

Seriously though, I've been feeling the brunt of this bias pretty heavily albeit in a more indirect way. I don't really interact with or care about the ratings/downvotes of certain sub-genres because I just listen to what I feel like listening to, write my own reviews and lists, and move on. But, I pretty much use the RYM current year Metal charts to scroll through and see what I can find that piques my interest pretty much all year. What I've found is that I end up listening to, like Daniel said, an extremely disproportionate amount of Black and Death Metal. I've found myself having to specifically search for and target Progressive, Power, and Heavy Metal (among other sub-genres) in order to even out what I'm listening to and get some variety, so the strain is still felt just from a music discovery standpoint even before getting into ratings/comments.

I find the best way to use the rym charts is to use genre-specific charts and I quite often just limit them to the ratings of people I follow on rym who's tastes are more closely aligned to my own than the membership at large. For example, whilst compiling the Fallen playlist I will generate a current year chart for doom, sludge, drone, stoner and gothic metal, include the sub-genres, exclude albums I've already rated and see what new releases come up that I can include in the list (after listening to them obviously). So there are ways to make the rym charts work for you.

To be honest Ben, a lot of the reactions to releases on rym makes me wonder if some of these people even actually like music or not. It seems that a few people just get a kick out of shitting on anything and anybody, which is a pretty sad way to live your life if you think about it.

Another factor to take into consideration is the "positive rating system" that seems to be gaining favour with an increasing number of people on rym. For those who don't know, this involves rating everything you don't particularly like 0.5/5 and thus giving a wider range of scores to rate the stuff you do like. So for these people a 2.0 is more likely a 3.5 for normal people. Now whilst I can see why some people may like to use such a rating system, it fucks things up for everyone else unless all members use it.  So, even though it is still a minority who use this method, this may too contribute to the lowering of ratings on rym. 

The great thing about Metal Academy is the trust that has been built between members that if someone rates something highly then it is probably at least worth checking out. It may not eventually be your sort of thing but the rating will be an honest one as we are thankfully free of trolls and edgelords! Most importantly is that most regular members back up a significant proportion of their ratings with words, so you can get an idea of how they think about music and so are able to understand where they are coming from, which is more in keeping with a normal human interaction than spewing random bile in a comment box. I have discovered much more interesting stuff and releases from outside my own comfort zone (well outside sometimes) since joining Metal Academy, mainly because of this trust in the other members views. Long may it continue!

Right, thanks Daniel, I understand exactly what you mean now and I wholeheartedly agree. Whilst rym does have it's uses there's no denying, I have long thought it is a bit sniffy towards a lot of music. Look at how many people claim to be massive jazz nerds on the site, when in real life how many people do you know who actually listen to jazz that much? Metal Archives is notorious for it's bias against certain genres and how it can possibly  claim to be an encyclopaedia whilst ignoring many bands for not being their kind of metal I don't know. 

Metal is sufficiently diverse to be able to produce some albums that genuinely do take your breath away with their originality and complexity. There is no doubt these will always garner decent ratings and be fully deserving of it, but may not always appeal to all metal fans universally. In real life a lot of metal fans (possibly the more casual fans) are quite conservative in their tastes and often stick within a quite narrow set of genres and aren't necessarily interested in the more experimental or diverse releases. A site like rym (and maybe any online music rating site) is, by the nature of the beast, going to appeal more to music "nerds" and so, as a consequence, will favour the more "nerdy" (for want of a better word) releases and artists.

I completely agree with your observation that rym downrates so-called generic releases. I have many times wondered exactly how some people can claim to be a fan of a particular genre when they are shitting on albums only for sounding like other great albums, irrespective of the quality of the songwriting or performance. RYM's comment boxes are notorious for such assholery. It has got to the point where I sometimes even doubt my own ears as to what I have heard as some of these comments make me feel stupid for thinking what I do about some perfectly good, albeit generic, releases.

In respect of Metal Academy, the clan set up is a great way to remove some of these inevitable biases against certain genres. For example, it is becoming increasingly obvious that I will probably never get to grips with The Revolution, but my lack of understanding and appreciation for the clan's releases is countered on the site by the fact that my ratings can be discounted via the clan-only ratings, thus allowing the true and more knowledgable fans of the clan's style to have more of a say in the releases' ratings. The more I think about it, the more ingenious a solution it seems.

The ironic thing is that there is no objectively right or wrong way to think about or appreciate music of any sort, yet some of these sites perpetuate certain views as dogmatically as any religious or political zealot and openly ridicule or persecute anyone who disagrees with their dogma. At the end of the day, it's all just shit that helps us get through life so let us all enjoy what we like without some asshole telling us we're wrong all the time!

Hi Vinny, I know it's a little early but here are my suggestions for the May playlist:

Metallica - "...And Justice for All" (9:45) from "...And Justice for All" (1988)
Demoniac - "RSV - Fools Coincidence - Testigo" (7:25) from "So It Goes" (2020)
The Bleeding - "Storm of the Hellspawn" (3:35) from "Morbid Prophecy" (2019)
Cryptosis - "Transcendence" (4:02) from "Bionic Swarm" (2021)
Kreator - "Under a Total Blackened Sky" (4:28) from "Enemy of God" (2005)

Total runtime: 29:15

1. Negativa - XXIII (from 04, 2022)
Nice and expansive atmo-black that doesn't do anything new, but is still pretty good. I'll give this album a listen sometime when I get chance.

2. Spectral Wound - Diabolic Immanence (from A Diabolic Thirst, 2021) [Submitted by Daniel]
Fuck yeah, this is superb ass-kicking, real black metal. Loved this track and indeed the album from whence it came.

3. Violet Cold - Immersive Collapse (from Səni Uzaq Kainatlarda Axtarıram, 2022)
A little too inoffensive for me - kOsmik is still my preferred album from this guy.

4. Archgoat - In Extremis Nazarene (from Worship the Eternal Darkness, 2021) [Submitted by Sonny]
I love these guys and this is monstrously demonic BM.

5. Dark Forest - Vesperia (from Land of the Evening Star, 2012)
Starts off well, but I'm less enamoured when the vocals kick in as they are a little too viking metal for me.

6. Vorga - Fool's Paradise (from Striving Toward Oblivion, 2022) [Submitted by Xephyr]
Quite enjoyed this one too, sort of melodic, but still with a bit of a bite to it.

7. Mare Cognitum - Ataraxia Tunnels (from Solar Paroxysm, 2021) [Submitted by Daniel]
Another of last year's top-knotch black metal albums. Mare Cognitum sits very near to the top of the atmo-black tree for my money (which I did spend on a limited edition coloured-vinyl copy of Solar Paroxysm).

8. Sargeist - Black Fucking Murder (from Satanic Black Devotion, 2003) [Submitted by Vinny]
I really like this album. Proper, unpolluted black metal with an old-school early second wave sound.

9. Odium - The Brightness of the Weeping Kingdom (from The Sad Realm of the Stars, 1998)
Unfamiliar with these guys and this, their only album. Very much influenced by Emperor I would guess and not bad at all. Not overly symphonic, so doesn't become cheesy at all.

10. Leviathan - Made as the Stale Wine of Wrath (from Massive Conspiracy Against All Life, 2008) [Submitted by Sonny]
This is fucking intense, man! Wrest is seriously a guy not to be fucked with if he can summon up this level of firepower at will.

11. Onirik - Melodies of Reflection and Praise (from The Fire Cult Beyond Eternity, 2020) [Submitted by Vinny]
I REALLY like this album. Gonius Rex takes his black metal in a progressive direction with his busy and relentless guitar work and temporal twists and turns. Complete with Abbath-like croaky bullfrog vocals!

12. Panopticon - Chase The Grain (from Roads To The North, 2014) [Submitted by Xephyr]
Roads to the North is the album that got me into Panopticon, so it will always have a place in my black metal heart. Obviously this is also fantastic as are 90% of Panpticon tracks.

13. Anaal Nathrakh - Satanarchrist (from In the Constellation of the Black Widow, 2009)
I've never listened to Anaal Nathrakh despite seeing their name everywhere for the last 20 years. Not intentionally, it's just one of those things I guess. Anyway, this is fucking manic, so now I guess I'll have to check them out properly.

14. Burzum - My Journey to the Stars (from Burzum, 1992) [Submitted by Sonny]
I'm one of those annoying, contentious motherfuckers who thinks Varg's debut is as good as anything else he put out (and a damn sight better than most - only Hvis lyset tar oss coming close) and I love this song especially. So sue me!!

15. Ninkharsag - The Necromanteion (from The Dread March of Solemn Gods, 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]
Decent English black metal bands are in short supply, so it's nice to ear a bit of decent Dissection worship from good ol' Blighty.

16. Det eviga leendet - Estrange (from Reverence, 2022)
Not heard these guys before, but I like this a lot. I see it has Jacob Buczarski of Mare Cognitum on vocals which can only be a good thing. Pounding rhythm and swirling guitar work gel really well with JB's excellent vocals

17. Festung - Fallt! (from Der Turm, 2022)
Obviously taking it's queues from Paysage d'Hiver, albeit with a meatier sound than Pd'H's lo-fi approach, this is a decent slab of atmo-black. Not too original, but good nonetheless.

Hi Ben, I know it's a little early, but while it's on my mind can I enter my playlist suggestions for May:

Deathspell Omega - "Enantiodromia" (11:56) from "The Long Defeat" (2022)
Enslaved - "Ethica Odini" (7:59) from "Axioma Ethica Odini" (2010)
Runtime: 19:55 mins

I haven't as yet but I plan to get to it shortly. And no there's nothing conventional about Deathspell Omega's sound. Unfortunately we don't have a dissonant/progressive/avant-garde black metal thread as yet.

Considering the popularity of just such releases here at The Academy maybe we had better start one!

Deathspell Omega - "Mass Grave Aesthetics" E.P. (2008)

Most metalheads have a few bands that simply tick all of their boxes, bands that they find very hard to fault & are consistently dazzled by with each successive release. French black metallers Deathspell Omega are one of those bands for me. In fact, if classic Burzum is the pinnacle of the black metal sound for me then Deathspell Omega would quite possibly be in second place & that's a huge achievement for a band that I initially found difficult to tolerate.

2008's "Mass Grave Aesthetics" E.P. is one of several single track releases from the band & is yet another triumph following on from "Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum: Chaining the Katechon" which was released just a week earlier. (Weeeeelllll... if we're getting technical it was actually released as part of a split release with fellow Frenchmen  Malicious Secrets back in 2005). It's got everything that I love about Deathspell Omega: the unbelievable drumming, the best black metal vocals in the business, the dissonant experimentation, the ever-changing song structures that leave you wondering what insane twist lies around every corner, the darkest of black metal atmospheres, the stunning technique...  What's not to love??

4.5/5

Are you sure the conventional black metal thread is the best place for a DsO release Daniel?!

Anyway, more to the point, have you heard the new album yet? I'm still forming an opinion on it, although the first track has definitely got me hooked.

Since the war in Ukraine started the UK media are acting like Covid has gone away, but infections here are higher than at any time during the pandemic, they're just not reported much. I guess the governments of the world have decided that their economies have to recover and are all starting to unlock (except China) so we're going to have to learn to live with it. Guess now we'll all get it at some point. Luckily these new variants don't seem as lethal and the vaccinations do appear to lessen the severity, so at least that's something. Anyway, hope you guys and your families are OK and recover soon.

I bought this album when it was released after being knocked out by their Preacher Man single and still have it to this day, along with the Preacher Man 12". It's been a while since I played it, but it's a pretty decent slab of 80's goth rock. Along with The Sisters of Mercy, The Mission, New Model Army and The Cult they made some of my favourite 80's rock and were where I turned when I fancied a change from thrashin' (or needed to give my neck a rest)!

Sort of only know most of these bands by name as opposed to having heard their music.  Playing The Mission "God's Own Medicine" now as getting a real penchant for this stuff at present.  Heard The Cult before, recall that "Electric" was in the pile of albums my older cousin let me borrow back when I first started to discover metal.  I am sensing the need to listen to less metal increasingly at the moment and so this seems like a convenient (if not relevant) avenue.

I would strongly recommend New Model Army's Ghost of Cain album. One of the most underrated albums of the 1980s for my money, more post-punk than goth though. Sisters of Mercy's Floodland is another brilliant record and definitely goth. Gods Own Medicine is great too, but The Mission put out several 12" eps before ever releasing an album which were even better. If you're interested in The Cult, personally I prefer 1985's Love to Electric. Wow, you've really got me tripping down memory lane now, Vinny!

Killing Joke's 1985 album Night Time is definitely worth hearing too if you haven't already.

I bought this album when it was released after being knocked out by their Preacher Man single and still have it to this day, along with the Preacher Man 12". It's been a while since I played it, but it's a pretty decent slab of 80's goth rock. Along with The Sisters of Mercy, The Mission, New Model Army and The Cult they made some of my favourite 80's rock and were where I turned when I fancied a change from thrashin' (or needed to give my neck a rest)!

Not one of my favourite months to be honest. There's been some solid albums but also a larger than usual percentage of stinkers too.

1. Bestial Warlust - "Blood & Valour" (1995) 5/5

2. Ihsahn - "angL" (2008)  4/5

3. Vastum - "Hole Below" (2015)  4/5

4. Killing Joke - "Hosannas From The Basement of Hell" (2006)  4/5

5. MonumentuM - "In Absentia Christi" (1995) 4/5

6. Hellfekted - "Woe To The Kingdom Of Blood" (2020) 3/5

7. Haggard - "And Thou Shalt Trust... The Seer (1997) 1.5/5

8. The Bread Scientists - "Troposphere" (2021) 1/5

9. Demon Hunter - "The World Is A Thorn" (2010) 1/5

OK, I really wasn't looking forward to this one - stupid band name, shit album cover - so far, so DIY... oh and it's an instrumental only album to make matters worse. On the upside it's only 25 minutes long, but on the downside is.. everything else - especially that irritating cymbal sound that I can even hear over my tinnitus and is even more annoying than tinnitus!

In truth, this was always going to be ahard sell to me and has been proved to be such. If you are keen on electronic music as well as metal then there may be something here for you, but for me there is nothing.

1/5

Hi Ben, could you add Swedish atmospheric / pagan black metallers Bhleg please?

Mares of Thrace - The Exile (2022)

Released 25/03/22 on CD & vinyl by Sonic Unyon. Digital version available via Bandcamp.

Mares of Thrace are a Canadian sludge / post-hardcore duo and The Exile is their third album and the first for almost a decade. The mainstay of the band is vocalist / guitarist Thérèse Lanz who has latterly been joined by drummer and bassist, Casey Rogers (who also produced The Exile), since original drummer Stefani MacKichan departed some time ago. I quite enjoyed The Pilgrimage, although it's been a while since I listened to it, so I was reasonably interested when I saw MoT had a new album coming out. Well now it's here I've got to say I'm impressed and I think it is actually better than The Pilgrimage, mainly due to the fact that it is more doomy than the former release with less focus on the post-hardcore element and as such would always appeal more to an old doomhead like me. Rogers, as producer, obviously knows what he is about because the production is way more suited to a doom-driven album with a thicker, heavier sound than previously. Thérèse's vocals still sound as aggressive as they did previously, the intervening decade not curtailing her vocal savagery one iota. The songwriting seems to have matured somewhat this time around, the songs sounding more complex and the playing more technical, sometimes briefly flirting with atmospheric sludge, all without compromising the band's innate aggression. Overall, something a little different to the usual doom / sludge template and a nice progression from the band.

Hi Ben, could you add Polish prog metallers Art of Illusion please?

Firebreather - Dwell in the Fog (2022)

Firebreather are a Gothenburg stoner three-piece and Dwell in the Fog is their third full-length since forming in 2016. They play a heavy stoner metal with plenty of doom influence and an extra layer of heaviness added by incorporating a bit of Mastodon-like sludge, the most obvious comparison being High on Fire. It's not especially original but it is well done and undoubtedly it is heavy as fuck. It's six tracks all hover around the six minute mark with the album clocking in at just under forty minutes - a perfect length for an album of this type I would suggest. If you are a fan of well made, ultra-heavy stoner music looking for a new jam then Firebreather may well tick all your boxes.

4/5

OK, I'll give it a go:

1. Kvist - For kunsten maa vi evig vike (1996)

2. Ancient - Svartalvheim (1994)

3. Les Chants de Nihil - Le tyran et l'esthète (2021)

4. Melechesh - The Epigenesis (2010)

5. Windir - Likferd (2003)

6. Dawn - Nær sólen gar niþer for evogher (2004)

7. Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane (1995)

8. Vinterland - Welcome My Last Chapter (1996)

9. Véhémence - Par le sang versé (2019)

10. Rotting Christ - Non Serviam (1994)

MWWB - The Harvest (2022)

Released 25/03/22 on New Heavy Sounds (vinyl, CD, cassette and download).

MWWB (having abbreviated their name from the mouthful it was previously) return with an even more atmospheric album than 2019's Yn ol i annwn. Alternating between dreamily-voiced, atmospheric doom metal and futuristic synthwave tracks it feels like a sci-fi concept album. The doom tracks are understated, but no less effective for it, relying on building an atmosphere rather than crushing the air out of the listener with massive riffs, Jessica Ball's ethereal vocals soaring over the instrumentation like a siren call. Don't get the wrong impression, this is still most definitely doom metal, I merely want to state that laying everything to waste with mournful sonic heaviness isn't the music's sole intention. The Blade Runner-like synth-driven interludes are a nice touch and help give the album a definite identity and aid it in poking it's head above the crowded field of female-voiced doom metal. A nicely interesting release that gives doom metal fans something a little bit different to digest.

Hi Ben, could you please add Mancunian thrash/speed band Aggressive Perfector.

The opening track from DsO's latest, The Long Defeat, is my favourite on the album so far.

Deathspell Omega - The Long Defeat

Those cheeky French jokers are back with another lightweight collection of pop songs for our perusal...

But really... I've only given it three listens so far and I think I've still got a way to go until I've got a handle on it. Opening (and longest) track, Enantiodromia, is my pick of the bunch so far. The album contains the angular dissonance we are used to from DsO, and I have been getting quite a lot from it, but it just feels a bit short of their best material. It is still a far from comfortable listen, but it does feel a bit more conventional than maybe we are used to from the band. Maybe the recruitment of Mgła's M. has influenced the songwriting to some extent. As with most DsO material, this is obviously an album that provides greater rewards the more the listener is prepared to invest, so I had better get back to it!

A doom-drenched track from the heart of Enslaved's Axioma Ethica Odini album that shows them trying a different angle to their sound to terrific effect.

Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini (2010)

I have a very nice CD copy of this, complete with a bonus 7" vinyl single, but it's been quite a while since I listened to it, so I decided it needed a revisit.

It's even better than I remember it being and now is firmly ensconced as one of my favourite Enslaved albums, which is heady praise indeed as they are one of the most  consistent bands in metal even over such a long run of releases.

Full review:

I must admit it had been quite a while since I last listened to Axioma Ethica Odini, with Isa and RIITIIR being my go-to albums if I fancy a bit of late-era Enslaved so it was long overdue a revisit. After a strong run of albums from 2003's Below the Lights to 2006's Ruun, Enslaved released Vertebrae in 2008 and, for me, it was one of their weakest albums in quite a while, lacking any kind of punch at all. So this disappointment left me a little apprehensive for the release of Axioma Ethica Odini and the direction in which Enslaved appeared to be heading. Happily these fears are expelled within moments of opener Ethica Odini kicking in and it becomes apparent that this a completely different beast to Vertebrae. Ethica Odini contains more bite than the entirety of Vertebrae and is an excellent opening track. The black metal sections pummel the listener and sound more savage than Enslaved had for a while, as if the band had rediscovered their passion anew, and the clean-sung sections retain this viciousness whilst simultaneously coming off as quite melodic. Ultimately the song concludes in a gentle coda that then sets up the next track, Raidho very nicely.

The mood and methodology of the opener is continued throughout the album, with Grutle Kjellson's black metal vocals sounding more evil than they had for a while and being beautifully countered by the cleans, the black metal / prog metal dichotomy being at the very core of the album's success as the band switch seamlessly between the two contrasting styles. As had always been the case with Enslaved, the performances are quite exemplary - it was apparent very early on that Enslaved were technically a cut above most of their Norwegian contemporaries and they just continued to get better and better as time passed, becoming an ever tighter unit in the process. Special mention must go to Cato Bekkevold's performance on drums which is super-efficient but never less than spot-on.

There are some killer riffs here - Ethica Odini, The Beacon and Singular to name but three - are fantastic and the guitar sound is chunky and muscular - long gone is the weak sound from Vertebrae and the thin, tremolo-heavy sound of their early work. Keyboards are deployed exceedingly tastefully throughout the track listing. They are ever-present, but never swamp the sound or allow it to stray into symphonic metal territory. There is even a short, futuristic instrumental with a dystopian atmosphere (Axioma) in the middle of the album to provide a break from all the surrounding heaviness which is followed by one of the album's most interesting tracks, Giants. During this epic, Enslaved seem to draw on doom metal influences with a couple of the riffs and the track plumbs whole new depths of heaviness, sounding absolutely brutal when Grutle's black shrieks hit hard. The songwriting is never anything less than stellar and few progressive bands are as concise when it come to composition as Enslaved, they manage to explore and expand without wandering down musical dead ends or indulging in instrumental excess.

Axioma Ethica Odini is possibly Enslaved's heaviest later-era release and, along with subsequent release RIITIIR, mark a high watermark for their progressive metal styling, their more recent releases falling increasingly short of these two classics (despite still being pretty good records in their own rights, such is Enslaved's quality). In revisiting this I have got to admit to being even more impressed than I originally was and, even though I always liked it, I now consider this to be one of the bands premier releases and I will most definitely be returning to it more often.
4.5/5

Madder Mortem - Deadlands (2002)

Madder Mortem are a five-piece progressive metal band from Oslo formed by brother and sister, guitarist Birger Petter M. Kirkevaag and vocalist Agnete M. Kirkevaag, who are the only two original members still with the band. Deadlands was released in 2002 and I used to have a ripped CD-R copy I got off a friend at work when it came out, but that has long since disappeared in one of many clear-outs. I was a big fan of the album when it came out, but it has been a long time since I last heard it, so I thought it would be ripe for a revisit. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then and I have consumed a lot of music in the intervening years so how does it stack up now? Well, I must admit to not being as blown away by it now as I was back then, I guess my exposure to more and better progressive metal albums have taken some of the shine off this. Don't get me wrong, it is still an interesting album and certainly has it's moments, but it certainly isn't a prog-metal classic.

After a short intro track the album proper begins with the track I remember best, Necropol Lit, with it's groove-laden, doomy main riff it is still an attention-grabber of a track, although it doesn't satisfy in the same way as it once did. Next track, Omnivore, is much better and Agnete's vocals are really on full power on this track, which may be my favourite on the album. A lot of the albums riffs are of the chugging type that is often associated with nu-metal, and about which I am somewhat ambivalent - here they are passable in the main and work quite well in the context of the album and in combination with those terrific vocals. Generally the guitar work is pretty good, with both dissonant and melodic lead passages. The production isn't bad at all, the bass and drums get plenty of space in the mix and aren't swamped by everything else, Pål Mozart Bjørke's basswork in particular is exemplary.

Deadlands has quite a menacing, brooding, gothic vibe to it and gives off an almost cultish atmosphere. The songwriting isn't as complex as a lot of other progressive metal, but it does incorporate some nice temporal and tonal changes and the songs are very tight and efficient with very little technical showiness and window dressing, which is illustrated by over half the album comprising tracks around the five minute mark. The track I struggled with most seems to be one of the album's better-loved, Jigsaw (The Pattern and the Puzzle) which just lays the nu-metal vibe on a bit too thickly and nudges into my nu-metal red zone. Overall, it hasn't held up as well as I thought it might, although it is a fairly unique-sounding release and still has several tracks that are worth checking out.

At least it was a good album!

The best! Funnily I have been considering it for some time, but most regulars are familiar with it I think, so I've stuck with less well known ones.

Hi Ben just looked at the Fallen list you have put up and it is showing Watching From A Distance as the feature for Jan '22 but it was the Ufomammut/Lento collaboration album Supernaturals - Record One for that month.

OK nice one Ben. Hope it's not too much of a drag.

OK I know - I'm seven month's overdue with this one, but better late than never eh? Anyway here's my thoughts:

Leprous are a Norwegian progressive metal band led by Einar Solberg who is Ihsahn's brother-in-law and Tall Poppy Syndrome is their second album, originally released in 2009. Their music is very much like a heavier version of Porcupine Tree and, despite being fairly complex, is actually quite efficiently composed, with very little that is extraneous and redundant. The band are obviously extremely competent musicians but, luckily, don't feel compelled to prove it every two minutes and thus have eliminated any excessive wankery from their songs.

The album starts off quite strongly with the track Passing which undergoes several twists and turns, but does showcase one of the weaker aspects for me, which is the harsh vocals. They certainly aren't terrible, but they aren't the greatest either and I much prefer the cleans. As this is the only Leprous album I have heard to date, I don't know how this aspect develops on their later releases, but I would have liked to hear the harsh vocals done by someone more proficient, maybe a guest vocalist as, otherwise, Passing is a very good opener. Harsh vocals aren't a prominent feature of the album as a whole, so there isn't much damage done anyway.

The whole album is of a very high standard, but the final half an hour's three tracks elevate this to even loftier heights in my book. After opening with one of the album's heavier moments, Not Even A Name becomes a bit jazzy with tinkling piano and crooning vocals before the highly melodic (and somewhat catchy) chorus kicks in. It has quite a late-metal-era Opeth vibe, with Einar Solberg's clean vocals sounding very like Mikael Akerfeldt's although the harsh vocals are sludgy rather than death growls. The title track seems to be one of the lesser liked tracks, but I think it is my favourite. The heavy instrumentation and the spoken-word vocals combine to great effect as the band rail against the titular syndrome that society employs to keep talent suppressed and people in their place (a syndrome particularly prominent here in the UK sadly). No doubt the band drew complaints of being closet fascists or something for this, but any sane person knows that's utter bollocks. Me, I like a good bit of biting social commentary. Closing track White has a fair bit of the harsh vocals I dismissed earlier in my review, but the awesome guitar work and fantastic keyboards more than make up for that - I've always been a sucker for that Hammond organ kind of sound.

So in conclusion, I would say that initially this may not blow your socks off, but it has many hidden depths and requires several listens to get the full effect. The songwriting is stellar, with ebbs and flows, heavier and gentler sections gorgeously interposed with one another. Technically marvellous, both performance and production-wise this could proudly sit on my shelves between my Opeth and Porcupine Tree albums with no fear of being outclassed. Luckily the Tall Poppy Syndrome mustn't be in full force in Norway or this may never have seen light of day!

I think there is a lot of sense in what you say there, Daniel. I am not as well-versed in atmospheric sludge as others (although I am trying to learn!) so I don't have a definitive answer, but a lot of the stuff I hear doesn't especially feel like it has a whole lot in common with most of the rest of the Fallen genres, apart from the vocals. I don't see as we need to get rid of the tag, as well as the hassle and expense for Ben, it is a recognisable sub-genre for people who may be new to Metal Academy, whereas introducing a completely new genre tag, no matter how apt, may become confusing. I think it is just a matter of it residing in the correct clan. If it was moved to the Infinite then releases that still contained a fair percentage of actual sludge could be dual-tagged as atmo-sludge and regular sludge, thus allowing them to reside in both clans.

My original question was in relation mainly to the playlist for the Fallen. As I said earlier, about 10% of the playlist is dedicated to atmospheric sludge and more obviously recognisable Fallen genres like funeral doom, drone and epic doom have less than 5% each (2.5% for epic doom) so dedicating such a chunk of time to a contentious genre sits a little uneasily with me.

So, is Atmospheric Sludge to still be considered as part of The Fallen or solely an Infinite subgenre as the decision will make a huge difference to The Fallen playlist which I currently try to make 10% atmo-sludge. Daniel and Ben do you want to make an executive call on this or do we need a vote?

I'm not really sure I can contribute to this in any meaningful way Andi. I have made no secret of the fact that The Revolution is the clan I have most difficulty with as I have hardly any history with metalcore and find it extraordinarily difficult to enjoy. I'm not even sure I could name ten Revolution songs to be honest with you!

Good lists. I appreciate Sonny's list since it really plays into the last of my stipulations about getting into Prog while already being a metal fan. The inclusion of heavier, extreme metal divisions like Oranssi Pazuzu and Blood Incantation are a nice touch. But the inclusion of the Ihsahn track at the end makes a lot of sense!

I think in general, putting this kind of a list together for the Infinite clan is much harder than any other genre due to extended runtime, which is where Sonny's list could push a few people away. I think Andi's list is probably the closest to how I would put a list together, but with some slight alterations. It would probably look like this:

1. Dream Theater - Pull Me Under

2. Queensryche - Eyes of a Stranger

3. Tool - Schism

4. Mastodon - Blood and Thunder

5. Opeth - Face of Melinda

6. Devin Townsend - Deadhead

7. ISIS - So Did We

8. Agalloch - Not Unlike the Waves

9. Leprous - The Price

10. Animals As Leaders - Physical Education

Actually Saxy, I discovered prog at the same time as I discovered metal, around the mid-seventies when my two favourite bands were Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd (well three really, as I was a Zeppelin nut too, but they are irrelevant to this conversation). These were quickly followed by Yes, Jethro Tull, Judas Priest, Motorhead and Tangerine Dream as I expanded my listening. I have been a huge prog rock fan ever since, including a number of lesser-known seventies outfits and a number of neo-prog bands like Marillion, Magenta, Galahad and of course Porcupine Tree and Riverside. I even like Opeth's last few albums! I did have an issue with what I perceived to be prog metal though as I thought it all had to sound like Dream Theater a band of whom I am not the biggest fan and although I had been a fan of Opeth for a number of years I believed them to be an exception. Obviously, especially since joining Metal Academy, my ignorance has been dispelled and I have found many interesting prog metal albums through monthly features, playlists and forum posts. I would almost now venture that if I were to claim a fourth clan at some point it may well be The Infinite as the other possibilities i.e. The Guardians or Horde have too many sub-genres I don't enjoy much. In truth I would have to say that I probably prefer extreme prog metal to it's more traditional counterpart, but I have still found several straight-up prog metal albums to enjoy in recent times.

Also, in defence of my selected tracks extended runtimes, I've always been a sucker for really long prog tracks. Thick as a Brick, Close to the Edge, Karn Evil 9, Supper's Ready and Echoes are just a few of my favourite prog rock tracks so tracks like those from Venenum, Blood Incantation and Opeth's Deliverance will always find me an easy target. That said, they still have to be damn good though and length ain't necessarily a guarantee of quality.

It's absolutely worth it. The loading speed of the homepage is incredibly quick now.

Just to clarify, I would never attempt to apply pressure on someone to change their view or opinion on something as subjective as music. My intent was to clarify what we were aiming to achieve in my own mind, as I thought the point was to pick ten tracks that we personally liked, but that gave an overall sense of the clan in question to someone who was unfamiliar with it. Hence my own list included tracks by Manowar, Helloween and Nightwish that, though I do actually enjoy those tracks, would never get near a "My Top Ten Guardians Tracks" list, but do cover the whole Guardians spectrum at least to some extent.

In addition, if anyone does feel pressured by anything I post please feel free to tell me to fuck off.

Is it possible to talk about essential Guardians tracks and have nothing from Black Sabbath, Judas Priest OR Iron Maiden?

If most of the list is full of power/symphonic/neoclassical metal as opposed to classic heavy metal, yes.

So it's not an essential Guardians list then, just a specific sub-group within it?

Your list very much surprises me Andi. I had no idea that you had any affiliation with most of these bands/releases, let alone regard their songs as the absolute pinnacle of the clan. Or have I misunderstood what we're trying to achieve here? Aren't these threads supposed to showcase our personal tastes & what we each find to be the most appealing tracks from a clan rather than simply collating the popular opinion which would inevitably see us all posting the same list?

I thought we were trying to pick ten songs that whilst being appealing to us as individuals also gave a good flavour of the clan in question and not necessarily just a "my top ten (clan name) releases" list.

Anyway, The Gateway is another clan I only have a limited exposure to and an even smaller number of albums I actually enjoyed, but here goes:

1. Slipknot - "Vermillion" from "Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)" ( 2004)

2. Faith No More - "Epic" from "The Real Thing" (1989)

3. Soundgarden – “Jesus Christ Pose” from “Badmotorfinger” (1991)

4. System of a Down - "Toxicity" from "Toxicity" (2001)

5. Rage Against the Machine - "Freedom" from "Rage Against the Machine" (1992)

6. Tool - "Schism" from "Lateralus" (2001)

7. Helmet - "In the Meantime" from "Meantime" (1992)

8. Drain S.T.H. - "Crack the Liar's Smile" from "Horror Wrestling" (1996)

9. Korn - "Freak On A Leash" from "Follow the Leader" (1998)

10. Alice in Chains - "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here" from "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here" (2013)

It's different strokes for different folks I guess. Maybe a history with the original makes a difference with cover versions. Possibly a whole forum thread to itself right there! Anyway, the original was a classic of the early eighties' synthpop scene (which I wasn't involved with - they were far too concerned with fashion and other meaningless crap, but I did like some of the songs and this was one of the better ones).

I didn't actually say I disliked the vocals other than initially. As I invested more into the album I came to feel that they suited the material fairly well. Maybe I didn't make my point very well - so what's new!!

One other thing - am I the only one who thinks that cover is creepy as fuck?

I've posted these in chronological order:

1. Black Sabbath - "War Pigs" from "Paranoid" (1970)
2. Judas Priest - "Victim of Changes" from "Sad Wings of Destiny" (1976)
3. Motörhead - "Overkill" from "Overkill" (1979)
4. Diamond Head - "Am I Evil?" from "Lightning to the Nations" (1980)
5. Iron Maiden - "Powerslave" from "Powerslave" (1984)
6. Manowar - "Blood of My Enemies" from "Hail to England" (1984)
7. Mercyful Fate - "Evil" from "Melissa" (1983)
8. Helloween - "Halloween" from "Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I" (1987)
9. Iced Earth - "Pure Evil" from "Night of the Stormrider" (1991)
10. Nightwish - "Elvenpath" from "Angels Fall First " (1997)