Sonny's Forum Replies

I completely agree Daniel as far as latter day notoriety and sales go that Venom would have the edge. I was considering it more from the perspective of the time of the movement itself. 

To be honest, I'm not, and never have been, convinced that the NWOBHM should even be considered a genre. It was a localised scene / movement with a slew of bands that were influential on later acts but could be quite diverse musically. Maiden, Praying Mantis, Demon, Girlschool, Tank and Venom are all very different musically yet fall under the same banner. It is a complete misnomer too as few of the acts actually played heavy metal at all as you rightly pointed out 

Maybe as the premier metal website Metal Academy should drop NWOBHM as a genre.

What do you reckon?

Saxon for definite.

Then I would go for Diamond Head.

It's then a toss up for me between Angel Witch and Venom. Just because I have such fond memories of them I would go for Angel Witch and save Venom for speed metal. Venom were not actually much loved by the NWOBHM community and had the piss taken out of them quite a bit, being little more than a peripheral member of the NWOBHM and more of a regional phenomena in the North East, despite what media revisionists might tell you now. They were a little too extreme for 80/81 I suspect.

Anyway, I'm all for disbarring Def Leppard - I really dislike those motherfuckers.

If you want to use metrics such as record sales and recognition of an act outside of metal circles, then for NWOBHM you must consider Def Leppard (much as I dislike the band). They may not in hindsight have much to do with metal but, for better or worse,  they were very much part of the NWOBHM scene.

I've just checked Wikipaedia and their estimated record sales are 100 million - more than Genesis and David Bowie!

Wow, you guys put a lot of thought into reviewing to actually be able to have a "style". I tend to just try to put my thoughts down as coherently as I can with varying degrees of success. I don't try to overanalyse albums as I think people need to make up their own minds, but rather just try to give a flavour of the release so that maybe people can judge if it might be something they would enjoy or not. As I've said before, I have zero musical talent and know nothing of musical theory, but I do know how music makes me feel and I figure if I can communicate that to others then it may help them discover something new (and maybe entertain a little at the same time).

Also, with the site being relatively new, we still have a majority of releases with no reviews, so I figure it's better to say something about a release, even if it's only a paragraph or two, rather than nothing. Maybe this approach sometimes makes me sound like an asshole who hasn't got a clue what he's talking about, but frankly I don't care. Hopefully, at least my passion for the subject comes across if nothing else! Either way, it's what I do and will continue to for as long as the music moves me.

So, Dad passed away in hospital this afternoon. We all did manage to get to see him on Tuesday evening when it was obvious he had taken a turn for the worse, so that was a blessing. To be honest it's kind of a relief because he was in a lot of distress and was being fed a lot of medication towards the end.

And so life takes another turn...

A quick question, excuse my ignorance. Who or what is Loudwire and should I care?

If you only want to list the most popular four artists in any genre then surely there is no discussion - facts is facts and all you need are sales figures.

I think I am in a very small minority of people whose favourite Burzum album is the debut (especially the version that includes the Aske EP). I know that the three subsequent albums are actually more accomplished affairs and I certainly can't argue with people who like them better (except maybe Filosofem - that endless ambient track does my head in, to be honest) but I just really love the raw and rabid delivery of the debut.

Interesting. I regard "Filosofem" as the pinnacle of black metal & place it only behind "Reign In Blood" for metal overall.

Interesting that an album that is only just over 60% black metal is so highly considered by black metal fans. Sure, the black metal is really good but I just can't ignore that massive ambient snoozefest. In fact, on a more general point, I really don't get the huge amount of ambient stuff that you find on a lot of black metal albums, an awful lot of it is just fucking dull and sounds like those new age CDs sold in garden centres. There, I said it! Someone had to!

I think I am in a very small minority of people whose favourite Burzum album is the debut (especially the version that includes the Aske EP). I know that the three subsequent albums are actually more accomplished affairs and I certainly can't argue with people who like them better (except maybe Filosofem - that endless ambient track does my head in, to be honest) but I just really love the raw and rabid delivery of the debut.

I also prefer Battles in the North to virtually everything else Immortal did except Damned in Black. Is it true that they sped the recording up artificially though? I've never heard that before.

This month I went for The Guardians for a playlist outside of my three clans and I'm not going to lie, this one was a real struggle for me. My distaste for power metal didn't serve me at all well here and the first 45 minutes were painful. In fact the only tracks I really enjoyed were Rime of the Ancient Mariner (obviously) and the Shadowland track. There was another two or three that were OK - Accept, Metal Church and Kryptos.

I think I may reconsider going for The Guardians for my fourth clan as I don't think I'll fit in at all well.

I've been a big fan of Forndom for some time and bought the CD of Dauðra Dura back in 2016. I love the ritualistic ambient style, it's weirdly relaxing as well as being a little dark. One of my favourite dark / ritual ambient albums and I actually prefer this to the nordic folk of Wardruna or Heilung even though they are both excellent.

Swords and axes - the proper wall adornments for any real workplace! I have now managed to get myself ensconced in a shitty little office on my own at work, although I still spend half my time on the shop floor. This allows me to listen to my own music on headphones rather than have to suffer listening to fucking daytime radio all day as headphones aren't allowed on the shop floor - forklifts and all that, don't you know. Looking back to last year's posts I too vowed to listen to less new music and mostly failed, although I have gone from just over 240 new albums in 2020 to just over 140 in 2021. I wouldn't like to stop listening to new music anyway - there were so many great albums released in 2021 - Kanonenfieber, 1914, Ophis, Les Chants de Nihil, Nekromantheon, Skepticism, Body Void, Steel Bearing Hand, Yith, Flight of Sleipnir and many more that I have really enjoyed. Plus, with most of us now running monthly playlists, we gotta keep ahead of the game haven't we? It's just a matter of balance I suppose as there is quite a lot of older stuff I would like to revisit.

Pretty solid playlist this month. Some nice discoveries - I really dug the Scarecrow track, Korzus, High Command and Mortal Vision were great too. Obviously it's always good to hear the classics: Demolition Hammer, Xentrix, Messiah, Slayer and Mutilator are always welcome. I obviously didn't like the Prong track as much as the rest of you guys and the one-two of Carnivore and Bezerker tested my patience a little. Plenty to enjoy though and a great way to spend a couple of hours - nice one Vinny!

The way England are playing, it shouldn't be too much of a stretch for you Aussies to take the series.

Oh, in that case, the guitar playing is awesome too. Pity they went downhill after this though *ahem*.

I know it very well Sonny. In fact, I used to hang out in the same circles as Sadistik Exekution back in the day & knew them all personally. Bassist & band leader Dave Slave was actually my ex-girlfriend’s best friend & came round to my house for lunch every now & then. He gave me my copy of “The Magus” for free. Guitarist Kriss Hades was her ex-boyfriend & there was no love lost between us.

Ah, err.. Well that's a bit awkward! I still like the album, although obviously the guitar playing is crap!

Seriously though, I was very impressed by this, it seems quite technical and varied, despite the poor production (although I love this kind of ratty production job on extreme metal anyway).

Kudos for hanging out with dudes who can produce such cool music.

Picked up this after seeing it mentioned on the RYM official metal board (it is good for something then!) I don't know if you're familiar with these fellow Aussies Daniel, but no one has rated any of their stuff yet. Think you may dig their raw deaththrash. Vinny, you may want to get onto this as well.

Thanks for the answers guys. One thing that  leaps out at me that we all seem to have in common is the fact we are the introspective types. Do you guys ever seem to get comments along the lines of "You think too damn much" like I do? Like Vinny I see metal very much as ""mine" and it doesn't bother me at all that no one around me has the same taste (my wife is a sixties/seventies rock fan - Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Yes etc, although she does love Wardruna, but hates metal).

Another interesting thing is that despite people hating extreme metal because of it's supposed aggression and inferred violence, I get the feeling that you guys are not at all violent people (I know I'm not). I'd rather listen to violent and aggressive music than actually be a violent and aggressive person. The rejection of commercialism is another very sound reason - I hate the rampant commercialisation of virtually everything - I never eat at McDonalds or other mass market fast food joints, I never wear clothes that make me look like a walking advert for some sportswear company and I hate Hollywood movies. Good luck to all those marketing motherfuckers getting more people to buy Autopsy, Esoteric or Blasphemy albums!

After checking out Cretin's Stranger for this month's Horde feature, I said that I should probably check out more grindcore as I have rated the limited number of albums I've listened to in the genre quite high. So in search for more of the same, I picked out Insect Warfare's World Extermination. Now, I was completely into it from the outset, but that's not really the point of this post. I was listening to it for the third time whilst taking the dog round the block this evening and I got to thinking "Why do I feel drawn to this kind of extreme music? Grindcore and war metal are not really the kinds of music (almost) sixty year olds go for, nor do the vast majority of younger people for that matter, so what's up with that?" The only viable and honest answer I could give myself was that these kinds of short, chaotic bursts of nihilism are, in fact, reflections of what it's sometimes like inside my head. I can hear a grindcore track or a war metal track and recognise and relate immediately to that chaos as if it was a musical reflection of my incoherent, but silent, mental railing at the world.

So what I'd like to know from any other grindcore, war metal or any other super-extreme metal fan is "Why do you think you listen to it?" Be as honest as you can in your answer as I am genuinely interested because for 99.9% of the population it is just an unholy fucking racket so I'd like to know what attracts us extreme metal fans to the music we love but almost everyone else hates.

Life is a bit tough in my home right now. My wife was three months pregnant with my third daughter when we found out that the baby had died due to a chromosome issue last Wednesday. She had to have surgery to remove the foetus the following day & has been an emotional wreck ever since.

So very sorry for your loss Daniel. Thoughts go out to you and your family at such a difficult time. Life seems very cruel sometimes.

My apartment was hit by a freak tempest/cyclone on Sunday afternoon. It killed someone a couple of blocks down from us & we were without power, internet or phone reception for at least 36 hours. The streets are strewn with trees & pieces of roofing at the moment. It was the scariest weather experience I've ever had by a significant margin. Fucking Armageddon shit!

Unfortunately for us all, as long as the current crop of greedy, corrupt arseholes parading themselves as the leaders of the world are in charge of the battle against climate change then we're all going to have to get used to this type of freak weather event which will probably get even worse as time goes on. Don't know about any of you, but I don't believe our leaders have the will to do what is required and that's worrying for all of us.

Thanks guys. Sadly there's only really one realistic outcome for this situation, but that is all part of life isn't it?

Unfortunately my 86-year old dad is very ill and has been hospitalised (not covid-related) and it looks unlikely that he'll be going back home as he can no longer take care of himself. To be honest, it's been inevitable for a while, but the NHS has just implemented new covid measures and we're not even allowed to go and see him, so that's a real bummer. 

Could you add Bretus' latest album, Magharia please Ben.

Oh, and Count Raven's The Sixth Storm that was also released this year.

Hi Ben. Thanks for adding Blóð. I have another request to allow me to compile my end of year Fallen list - Swedish doomsters Altareth. 

Hi Ben, could you please add French doom / atmospheric sludge outfit Blóð please. I can't complete my end of year list without them!

I should probably listen to more grindcore than I do. It is a genre whose albums I consistently rate highly, although I've only listened to a limited number. Cretin's Stranger is yet another example of the genre that I thoroughly enjoyed. After yesterday's miserable experience getting to grips with Majestica and Bad Wolves as I make a concerted effort to cover all the featured releases this month, I was feeling a little jaded by the whole experience. Then along comes a gut-punch like Strangers and suddenly all is good with the (metal) world again. I was completely unable to engage on pretty much any level with those two other releases I mentioned, but Strangers hit a mainline right to my heart. Uncomplicated, unpretentious, irreverant and loaded with full-on aggression, the perfect palette cleanser after yesterday's musical junk food bonanza. It's unsurprising that the band are so adept as mainwoman Marissa has had spells with both Repulsion and Exhumed as well as being the mainstay of Cretin since 1992, so is obviously well-immersed in the grindcore scene.
Sure, it's good to try to step outside your comfort zone occasionally, but it's even better to "come home".

Hmm... I think I should refer you back to my comments on the new Trivium album a month or two back. Sounds more like a commercial enterprise than an artistic statement to me. Mix together the sound of several commercially successful bands (Slipknot, Nickelback, Trivium) then sit back and watch the money come pouring in.

Or, alternatively, I'm just an out-of-touch old fart who doesn't understand "the kids". Either way, I don't like it. (I'm sorry Daniel, but I can't even be bothered to get too wound up by it - but I did prefer the christmas carol record to this, so that can't be good).

I think I'll give it a 1.5/5 (I do like the black metal wolf peering out of the cover).

Hi Scarecrow.

Anyone who loves Panopticon AND Watching from A Distance (the greatest album ever released in my book) is a friend of mine!

I'm sure you are all waiting for me to pour bile and vitriol all over Majestica's A Christmas Carol, but even if it is nearly christmas, I'm going to disappoint you. In fact I'm going to do something much worse and that is to damn it with faint praise. Firstly, it is no worse than any other European Power Metal album I've ever heard as it's cheesy, overblown and pompous-sounding, which is pretty much par for the course for EUPM in my experience. Secondly, this pomposity and excess seems actually very suited to a christmas-themed concept album as nothing says over-indulgence quite like christmas. In fact the two are so well-suited I can't believe no one has done it before (unless they have, in which case I apologise for my ignorance). Furthermore, at least the subject matter is based on classic literature and not some half-baked, sub-Tolkienesque fantasy bollocks so you get a decent story too. I'm also surprised Andrew Lloyd-Webber isn't knocking Majestica's door down to get a West End stage production on as it doesn't seem a million miles away from Phantom of the Opera or one of his other overpriced stage productions. 

Anyway, I've listened to it once and will never play it ever again, so in that respect at least, it is the perfect summation of the christmas spirit!

Just listened to the Shape of Despair single and it's sounding good for the new album!

This sounds more like heavy post-punk and industrial rock with some metal influence rather than an out and out metal album. That's certainly not a complaint and it makes for a very interesting listen. The vocals are what initially stood out and are the highlight for me, possessing that kind of grizzled "cigarettes and whiskey" quality that reminded me of The Pogues' Shane McGowan. Aesthetically, it sounds like a melancholy and sometimes bitter love letter to the rundown industrial towns of a world deep in the process of decay. It has an almost cinematic quality, like watching a black and white movie of strangely beautiful, but terribly neglected, small towns the world over. I haven't heard too many releases quite like this and when the mood strikes I can definitely see myself returning to it for a little sombre reflection.

4/5

Thoughts on the December's playlist's tracks:

01. Krux - "Black Room" (from "Krux", 2002)
Krux were one of Leif Edling's bands from outside of Candlemass Black Room is the opener on the first of their three albums and what a calling card it is. Love this track.
4/5

02. Crowbar - "The Lasting Dose" (from "Sonic Excess in Its Purest Form", 2001) [submitted by Daniel]
I have never had anything to do with Crowbar so I don't know how typical this is, but this really kicks vast quantities of ass.
4/5

03. Light Field Reverie - "Dreamwalker" (from "Another World", 2020) [submitted by Ben]
Contrary to popular belief I am not hard-wired to hating anything and everything even remotely gothic related so it may come as a shock when I say I found this track quite delightful, even though I am no fan of the album from which it comes.
3.5/5

04. Moanaa - "Inflexion" (from "Embers, 2021)
Pretty nice expression of the tension between the serenity of post-metal and the aggression of atmospheric sludge metal. There are bands who do this better, but it's not bad at all.
3.5/5

05. Haddock - "Captain Wolfe's Journey" (from "Captain Wolfe's Journey to the Center of the Sea", 2016) [submitted by Sonny]
Great, high-energy stoner metal from an underrated band.
4/5

06. Monolord - "The Siren of Yersinia" (from "Your Time to Shine", 2021) [submitted by Sonny]
Monolord have returned to some kind of form with Your Time to Shine, despite still not recovering to Vaenir's level of awesomeness, and this is my favourite track from the album.
4/5

07. Grief - "Come to Grief" (from Come to Grief, 1994) [submitted by Sonny]
Filthy, greasy and depraved sludgy doom metal that is exactly as it should be. When it kicks in it has a killer riff too.
4.5/5

08. Boris - "Huge" (from "Amplifier Worship", 1998)
Boris yet again supply the soundtrack to the end of the world.
4/5

09. Void of Silence - "Farthest Shores" (from "The Sky Over", 2018) [submitted by Ben]
I am a big fan of Italian doom and am already familiar with this album which is very solid indeed. This is a great track of mournful doom that may not be as crushing as some, but has a gorgeous atmosphere.
4/5

10. Adrift For Days - "The Leech" (from "The Lunar Maria", 2010) [submitted by Daniel]
Kind of cocky-sounding, bluesy stoner metal that smells of whiskey and cigarettes.
4/5

11. Saint Vitus - "Mystic Lady" (from "Hallow's Victim", 1985) [submitted by Daniel]
What can you say about Saint Vitus? One of the coolest guitar tones in metal and one of the most revered and iconic bands in the doom scene for good reason.
4/5

12. The Flight of Sleipnir - "Thaw" (from "Eventide", 2021) [submitted by Sonny]
The best track from one of my favourite's new album. Flight of Sleipnir deserve to be huge with their blackened vocals and memorable doom riffs. Is there such a thing as viking doom metal?
4.5/5

13. Ba'al - "Sepia" (from Reverence EP, 2019)
Chugging and throbbing sludge metal with a great riff. Not the greatest mix, but I love this track all the same.
4/5

14. Ophis - "Default Empty" (from "Spew Forth Odium", 2021) [submitted by Ben]
Superb example of melodic death doom. Sounds like MDB would if they omitted the gothicky bits and just stuck to doom.
5/5

15. My Dying Bride - "The Crown Of Sympathy" (from "Turn Loose The Swans", 1993) [submitted by Daniel]
Look, I really like the riffs but the sub-Hammer Horror theatrics that begin halfway through just makes me want to shout out "He's behind you!!" they are so pantomime-like. Please see previous track for how this style of death doom should be done.
3.5/5

Classic thrash metal, done with a power metal mentality.

I have an original vinyl copy of this album I bought blind back in the day, but it kind of failed to excite me in the same way as other high-profile releases from the same time: Master of Puppets, Reign in Blood, Pleasure to Kill and Peace Sells all coming out around the same time, but I do remember Hammerhead being the best track. I think it's probably time to dig it out and give it a reappraisal as I don't think I've listened to it since Jason Newsted joined Metallica.

Hi Ben, could you please add US Power Metallers Morgul Blade.

I've got a feeling, Ben, that this may well be one of those albums that I think differently about depending on how I'm feeling myself, because I can forsee times when the more melodic and lighter tracks may well appeal to me more than they have over the last few days. That said, the tracks I mentioned in my review should continue to hold lasting appeal as I found them to be really good and very much in a vein I consistently enjoy. So it may come to pass that I up my rating some time in the future. I also think it may have inadvertantly suffered as I have been alternating it with the new Ophis album which is briliant - thanks for suggesting a track from it in the Fallen monthly playlist and tipping me off to it.

Anyway, I'm still glad you nominated it as Rapture are a band I've been meaning to check out for a while and it was certainly no dud.

With what I understand of your taste in death doom I can certainly hear why you nominated this release Ben. I have reservations on it, although I can understand why it is a well-received album. Anyway I have posted a review and reposted it here:

Rapture are yet another melodic death doom band I have been aware of but not listened to until now. I have often seen them compared to Katatonia, a band I can either take or leave, so that's probably why I haven't been too rigorous in checking them out up to this point, especially as I prefer my death doom to be of the filthy, old-school kind rather than the melody-driven style employed by Katatonia et al.

I must admit that I found the first couple of tracks a bit lacklustre, but when the riff to This Is Where I Am kicked in then I felt much more comfortable. It sounds very much like early Opeth with a doom vibe (I had to check the album information just to make sure it definitely wasn't Mikael Akerfeldt on vocals) and that certainly is not a bad thing, this comparison also feeling appropriate for next track The Fall by which point I am very much more invested in this. These two tracks are fairly uptempo when taken in the context of the death doom sound, but are where the band sound strongest to me and along with the title track are the album's high water mark. Unfortunately, when the band try to infuse their songwriting with a bit more subtlety they seem to lose momentum and just feel a bit weak, as illustrated by the massive drop-off from Futile to the frankly sappy Someone I (Don't) Know and so I much prefer the tracks with the more muscular riffing which are mostly concentrated around the middle of the album.

I can certainly hear why Rapture are held in high regard within the melodic death doom community, as there is no doubt, even to my ears, that they are very accomplished both as songwriters and performers, their music effectively utilising the contrasts of light and dark. But as any rating I dole out has got to be subjective and a reflection of my own personal enjoyment then I am unable to give it the highest of marks as there are parts I personally didn't enjoy, despite there objectively being nothing wrong with them. In fact reading this review back it sounds more negative than I intended, because I really enjoyed the more uptempo (and darker?) tracks, This Is Where I Am, The Fall, Futile and the excellent closer (About) Leaving but the rest I found somewhat forgettable I'm afraid.

3.5/5

Wow good call Vinny, this album fucking rips. Really got off on this one. I rustled up a review in between being beaten black and blue by it's relentless aggression:

I'm sure you are all familiar with that scene in Pulp Fiction when Vincent Vega hits Mia Wallace with an adrenaline shot after a heroin overdose and she sits bolt upright with a huge gasp. That was the effect this album had on me the first time I sleepily put it on just after waking up one morning. There is no subtlety here, there is no light and shade, this is nothing more or less than an adrenaline shot to the heart that will energise you and thrill you. Condor are a Norwegian three-piece and blackened thrash metal is their meat and drink, red and raw. The songs in themselves aren't especially memorable (and that isn't a criticism) - there are no melodic hooks or riffs for your brain to cling on to, but they are aggressive and they are relentless. For thirty-six minutes this album makes you feel like you are on a runaway train without any means of braking, holding on for dear life as it hurtles along. In a way it kind of reminds me of Reign in Blood, in that occasionally the band sound like they are barely holding it together and are on the verge of it all falling apart into chaos, but somehow they manage to maintain the integrity of the songs, which makes for a remarkably thrilling listen. Lyrically the songs mirror the music in that they deal with violence, horror and evil and Chris Sacrifice's ragged shrieking vocals perfectly fit in with this aesthetic. Condor have managed to pull off the extremely difficult trick of, to a certain extent, reproducing the sound of their heroes, such as Sodom, Kreator and Slayer whilst also making it sound modern and relevant to younger audiences as well as appealing to original fans of those bands.

Apparently Condor are members of the Kolbotn Thrashers Union, a loose grouping of thrash bands from the Kolbotn area of Norway, brought together by Fenriz of Darkthrone and include Nekromantheon who have released one of 2021's best thrash albums. In my opinion blackened thrash albums like Unstoppable Power and the aforementioned Nekromantheon's Visions of Trismegistos have saved thrash metal from it's twenty-year long sojourn in the wilderness and bands playing this style are now starting to sound relevant again. Long may it continue as these albums have made me enthusiastic about thrash metal once more.

4/5

Hi Ben, could you add Arkham Witch's new album Three Bladed Doom please.

An entertaining playlist this month. I would be lying if I said I enjoyed everything on it, but it was a very interesting listen.

1. Marduk - Beast of Prey (from Panzer Division Marduk, 1999) [Submitted by Sonny]
5/5 Brutal Metal of War.

2. Thyrfing - Döp dem i eld (from Vanagandr, 2021)
4/5 Pretty good - enjoyed it.

3. Mare Cognitum - Occultated Temporal Dimensions (from Luminiferous Aether, 2016) [Submitted by Sonny]
4.5/5 Swirling atmo-black that sweeps you away with it's lush atmospherics.

4. Antichrist Siege Machine - Carried Into Darkness (from Purifying Blade, 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]
4/5 Thundering war metal. I'm a fan of this album.

5. møl - Serf (from Diorama, 2021)
3/5 Not really for me - a bit lightweight for my taste.

6. Havukruunu - Rautalintu (from Havulinnaan, 2015) [Submitted by Xephyr]
3.5/5 Decent if not great pagan BM.

7. Serpent Column - Disobedience (from Katartisis, 2021)
2.5/5 Serpent Column are currently one of the darlings of the BM scene and I get that we're all supposed to dig this cacophony, but it doesn't do anything for me. Guess that makes me the uncool one... again!!

8. Empyrium - Über den Sternen (from Über den Sternen, 2021)
3.5/5 A bit cheesy, but I did like the doomy vibe.

9. Inferno - The Wailing Horizon (from Paradeigma (Phosphenes of Aphotic Eternity), 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]
4/5 Proper infernal and filthy sounding - liked it a lot.

10. Blasphemy - Demoniac (from Blood Upon the Altar, 1989) [Submitted by Daniel]
5/5 I love Blasphemy and this sounds like ass - which only makes it even cooler!

11. Code - The Rattle of Black Teeth (from Resplendent Grotesque, 2009)
2.5/5 Not for me - I especially didn't like the clean parts at all.

12. Drudkh - Sunwheel (from Autumn Aurora, 2004) [Submitted by Xephyr]
4.5/5 Drudkh are almost always high quality and this is no exception.

13. Antaeus - Inner War (from Cut Your Flesh and Worship Satan, 2000) [Submitted by Sonny]
4/5 Proper filthy, misanthropic black metal that makes no pretence to being anything else.

14. Cradle of Filth - Crawling King Chaos (from Existence Is Futile, 2021)
3.5/5 Despite still not being up my proverbial alley, surprisingly I didn't hate this within the context of the playlist, although the thought of a whole seventy minutes of the full album is still too much for me to contemplate.

15. Astrophobos - Liktal (from Corpus, 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]
4/5 Really liked this. Simple, old-school black metal.

16. Untamed Land - A Nameless Shape (from Like Creatures Seeking Their Own Forms, 2021) [Submitted by Xephyr]
3.5/5 I like the spaghetti western atmospherics better than a lot of the more usual european folk metal crap that gets bandied about a lot nowadays within atmospheric black metal circles. Whilst not being exactly my cup of tea, it makes for an interesting mix.

17. Burzum - Spell of Destruction (from Burzum, 1992) [Submitted by Daniel]
4.5/5 I guess I am one of the few who enjoys Burzum's debut more than his other releases. I know it's not objectively better than Hvis lyset tar oss or Filosofem, but I just enjoy it's naive and basic sound more. If I had ever made a black metal album I would have wanted it to sound like this.

18. Cantique Lepreux - Lune défroquée (from Sectes, 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]
4/5 Love this old-school sound like the Astrophobos track.

19. Panopticon - Black Soot and Red Blood (from Kentucky, 2012) [Submitted by Daniel]
5/5 I think I have made my feelings on this album well known before so will say no more about it other than Panopticon are very, very near the top of the tree when it comes to atmospheric black metal.

My suggestion for January:

Borgne - To Cut the Flesh and Feel Nothing but Stillness (5:50) from Temps Mortes (2021)

And if you need any more to lighten the load Daniel:

Yerûšelem - Eternal (5:15) from "The Sublime" (2019)

Master Boot Record - Virdem (3:21) from Virus.DOS (2018)

Phobonoid - Omega (2:50) from Orbita (2014)

My suggestion for January:

Tool - Triad (6:35) from Lateralus

My suggestions for January's playlist Vinny:

Eternal Evil - Terror of the Sphinx (5:11) from "The Warriors Awakening Brings the Unholy Slaughter" (2021)
Craven Idol - Iron Age of Devastation (3:58) from "Forked Tongues" (2021)
Blood Tsunami - Horsehead Nebula (12:31) from "Grand Feast for Vultures" (2009)
Celtic Frost - Jewel Throne (4:01) from "To Mega Therion" (1985)
Viking - Berserker (3:42) from "Do or Die" (1988)

Runtime: 29:23

January playlist suggestions:

Wormwitch - Canadian Denim Mountain Attack (4:19) from Wolf Hex (2021)
Gloosh - Hexenring (9:53) from Sylvan Coven (2021)
Khandra - Irrigating Lethal Acres With Blood (6:29) from All Occupied by Sole Death (2021)

Runtime: 20:41

December 2021

01. Krux - "Black Room" (from "Krux", 2002)

02. Crowbar - "The Lasting Dose" (from "Sonic Excess in Its Purest Form", 2001) [submitted by Daniel]

03. Light Field Reverie - "Dreamwalker" (from "Another World", 2020) [submitted by Ben]

04. Moanaa - "Inflexion" (from "Embers, 2021)

05. Haddock - "Captain Wolfe's Journey" (from "Captain Wolfe's Journey to the Center of the Sea", 2016) [submitted by Sonny]

06. Monolord - "The Siren of Yersinia" (from "Your Time to Shine", 2021) [submitted by Sonny]

07. Grief - "Come to Grief" (from Come to Grief, 1994) [submitted by Sonny]

08. Boris - "Huge" (from "Amplifier Worship", 1998)

09. Void of Silence - "Farthest Shores" (from "The Sky Over", 2018) [submitted by Ben]

10. Adrift For Days - "The Leech" (from "The Lunar Maria", 2010) [submitted by Daniel]

11. Saint Vitus - "Mystic Lady" (from "Hallow's Victim", 1985) [submitted by Daniel]

12. The Flight of Sleipnir - "Thaw" (from "Eventide", 2021) [submitted by Sonny]

13. Ba'al - "Sepia" (from Reverence EP, 2019)

14. Ophis - "Default Empty" (from "Spew Forth Odium", 2021) [submitted by Ben]

15. My Dying Bride - "The Crown Of Sympathy" (from "Turn Loose The Swans", 1993) [submitted by Daniel]

High Ben, please could you add Sweden's Eternal Evil.

Great debut album from a band of young Swedes obviously raised on a diet of Slayer and the giants of Teutonic Thrash that is a throwback to the days when every release didn't have to push the envelope or change the world, but it was enough for an album just to be great for headbanging to.

A bit of a mixed month for me with some highs and lows, including an old favourite, a couple of goodies I hadn't heard before and some I'll never listen to again. Anyway, in order of preference:

1. The Horde: Nile - Annihilation of the Wicked 5/5

2. The Pit: Exumer - Rising from the Sea 4.5/5

3. The Infinite: Persefone - Core 4.5/5

4. The Fallen: Messa - Feast for Water 4/5

5. The North: Sun of the Blind - Skullreader 4/5

6. The Guardians: W.A.S.P. - The Headless Children 2.5/5

7. The Gateway: Spiritbox - Eternal Blue 2/5

8. The Revolution: Trivium - In the Court of the Dragon 1.5/5

9. The Sphere: Dusk soundtrack - sorry still can't bring myself to spend two and a half hours listening to a video game soundtrack!

Exumer are one of the lesser lights of the Teutonic Thrash scene behind Kreator, Sodom and Destruction, releasing a couple of classic albums before originally splitting in 1991 of which Rising from the Sea is my favourite. Their sound is typical of 1980's German thrash and Exumer do a great job of harnessing the requisite aggression and intensity that is the hallmark of the Big Three Teutonic giants. They are obviously  heavily influenced by Slayer, bassist / vocalist Paul Arakari in particular doing a more than passable impression of Tom Araya - Decimation sounding incredibly like Jesus Saves from Reign in Blood for example. There is a kind of polished rawness to the album, it actually sounds better than you imagine it does, this being no demo-quality lo-fi grasp for kvlt kudos, but it has pretty decent production values (although saying that I am most familiar with the 2001 re-release so it may have been polished up from the original version).

This isn't a perfect album and the band certainly have limitations, but they write fantastic riffs have a palpable energy and dynamism and, for me, encapsulate a lot of what was best about 1980's thrash. This is no-bullshit, heads-down, neck-wrenching metal from the days when every album didn't have to make a statement or re-invent the wheel, but it was sufficient for it to be merely a great record for headbanging along to (how I miss them!)
4.5/5

I chose this as a featured release because I am particularly fond of the Italian take on doom metal and more specifically I like that Messa have tried to do something different with one of the more stale doom metal sub-genres, ie female-fronted stoner doom where nearly every new band seems to want to be Windhand so they just recycle the same old tropes and very rarely come up with much new and exciting. Anyway I've posted a review which I will repost here:

Italian metal and specifically doom metal, has a fantastic ability to throw us fans a few curve balls now and again - Paul Chain anyone? Messa are another band that attempts to push the envelope and do something a little different with tried and tested metal tropes, in this case female-fronted doom metal which has been very much in vogue over the last few years and has become a bit tired and stale as a sub-genre as successive acts merely regurgitate what has gone before with little attempt to produce anything new or exciting. So when a release like Feast for Water comes along it is like a genuine breath of fresh air.

Following a short intro, the first track proper is Snakeskin Drape which is the most metal track and is fairly orthodox doom within the context of this album. To be honest, despite it being a decent slab of metal, if the rest of the album sounded like this I certainly wouldn't regard it as highly, as there are bands who do the straight-up female-fronted doom thing much better. I presume the track's placement is to ease the listener into the album and not to scare them off by getting too diverse from the outset. The subsequent track Leah also has a very heavy intro, but from then on things become a little less typical as the song alternates between gentle minimalism and crooned vocals to reverb-laden heavy chords with a more earnest vocal.

Messa prove more than willing to bring in other, more mainstream, influences from outside of the metal sphere, such as during the bluesy Seer, but they aren't merely a bolt-on effect to possibly add more mass appeal, rather they become a synergy between the heavier, metal-based material and the more traditional musical styles resulting in seamless transitions between the contrasting styles. She knows has a kind of smooth jazz feel, led by Alberto's gentle piano keys and Sara crooning vocals, being punctuated by a heavy riff-led chorus before segueing into the intriguing Tulsi which begins with what almost amounts to a blast beat and a soaring guitar solo before settling down into it's main riff. The track eventually returns to the jazzy vibe of She knows and actually ends with a brilliant saxophone solo. White Stains has the most memorable riff and chorus and is one of the album's heavier tracks. Closing track Da Tariki Tariqat is an instrumental affair, heavily flavoured with a middle-eastern vibe that builds in intensity to it's zenith and a final release.

The songwriting is excellent, the technical prowess is flawless and Sara Bianchin's vocals are a treat. Messa really are a bit of one-off and are very Italian in their approach to metal, being unafraid to incorporate other influences and take the music to places more cautious and conservative acts would fear to tread. It may not ultimately be to everyone's taste but I applaud the band for their vision and a genuine attempt to push the envelope of what has become an increasingly stale sub-genre.

8/10