Sonny's Forum Replies

Hi Ben, could you please add Agvirre (UK), Gloosh (Russia) and the new Marrasmieli album Between Land and Sky.

Ben, please add Doomfall (US), Soul of Salem (Italy), Dark Matter (UK) and Earthmass (UK).

Manchester's masters of atmo-black return with a new album in May. Preview is the title track The Reckoning Dawn and will be instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with the band's black metal renderings of English folk history.

Yeah, Xephyr. I'm a big fan of Sojourner and am definitely looking forward to this one. Have both their others on CD. Will check out the preview later... 

...preview track The Deluge is epic. Atmospheric black metal with folk metal stylings. A bit heavier than their previous releases.

Ben, please add Diespnea (Italy).

I was originally turned on to this via a recommendation through RYM about three years ago. I got hold of a copy and listened to it for the first time whilst out walking during one of the worst snowstorms we had experienced in England in years. Sometimes things just feel right and the album's icy atmosphere perfectly suited the surroundings. I've loved this album ever since.

4.5/5

Ben, please can you add Déhà and Apokryphon.

Hi Ben, could you add the new MDB, Ghost of Orion and the Atavisma / Void Rot split, please.

That being the case, would you prefer we didn't request split releases to be added to the site?

Hi again Ben. Could you please add Khazad-dûm (UK), Devil Seed (Hungary), Konvent (Denmark) and Proscrito (Spain). Thanks.

Xephyr, I too was a massive fan of The Black Powder and although this is good I don't think it's anything like as good as Lord Vicar's opus. A couple of other traditional(ish) new albums are Saturnalia Temple's "Gravity" (psych-doom) and Doomraiser's "The Dark Side of Old Europa". Both are worth checking out.

Ben, please could you add Markov Soroka's Drown project (US).

As I argue in my review of Panopticon, I believe that bands like Isis have taken metal music beyond the realms of mere songs and into the world of true art. For too long critics were sneering and dismissive of metal, it's working class origins and lack of liberal bias not buying into the elitist worldview of the artistic critic. But with works like Panopticon, I think that metal now deserves more credit for expanding it's scope and horizons to artisitic interpretations of the human condition that constitute what is considered "art".

Nice one,  Ben. 

The new Suum album, Cryptomass, is damn good for anyone  who's a fan of scandi-doom like Reverend Bizarre and Lord Vicar (although the band are Italian).

4/5

Hi Ben, could you add Acid Witch (US) and Suum (Italy) please.

Yeah, likewise. Although I'm only really buying physical copies of 4 star or better albums now as I've switched to almost exclusively buying vinyl and the price is making me a bit more selective in my purchases.

My system looks a lot like Daniel's, except that I may be a bit too generous with my 5 star ratings sometimes. I don't know if there's that many "perfect" albums, if you define perfect as every track being a 5/5. Even stone cold classics often have one track that's a bit less awesome than the rest. I rate more on how an album makes me feel and how much I would want to hear it again, so it doesn't have to be perfect as long as it gives me that indefinable feeling that I know makes it a classic - to me at least, in other words a "go to" album.

I don't define a perfect album as having every song being a 5/5. It's more about the average being closer to a 5/5 than a 4.5/5. So you can afford one 3.5/5 track as long as the rest are right up there. You probably couldn't have any real duds or else the average won't be able to recover.

Fair point Daniel.

I had to give that Exterminator album a listen and I can't believe the artwork isn't the worst thing about it. That accolade must go to the guitar "solos" - truly the worst I've ever heard.
This ain't kvlt.. this is shit. (Think I'm gonna get that phrase on a T-shirt!)

Thanks Ben. That was quick!

My system looks a lot like Daniel's, except that I may be a bit too generous with my 5 star ratings sometimes. I don't know if there's that many "perfect" albums, if you define perfect as every track being a 5/5. Even stone cold classics often have one track that's a bit less awesome than the rest. I rate more on how an album makes me feel and how much I would want to hear it again, so it doesn't have to be perfect as long as it gives me that indefinable feeling that I know makes it a classic - to me at least, in other words a "go to" album.

4.5s are second-tier great, with maybe a very minor niggle.

4s are very good to good albums that have plenty of replayability.

3.5s are decent to good but flawed and may get the odd airing in future.

3s are kind of OK but unlikely to feature much in my future listening. 

2.5s are the bottom limit to anything that I would even consider listening to or a poor album with one or two good tracks.

2 - 1 not interested. May not even have got through the whole album.

0.5 Intolerably awful. An affront to music. If a metal album gets this rating (and some have) then I consider it to be execrably poor and it's probably some form of nu-metal!

Andi,  if you've never rated an album 2 or less then you're not listening to enough black metal bedroom warriors.

Also, could you add Saturnalia Temple (Sweden), please.

Ben, could you please add Acolytes of Moros (Sweden), Skeleton Gong (UK) and The Wandering Midget (Finland).

Hi Ben, could you please add the new On Thorns I Lay album, Threnos.

Daniel, you omitted to say it's like Slayer on PCP! It's rare to hear an album that sounds so damn enthusiastic. I can really imagine the singer completely losing his shit on stage. It's a shame this isn't more popular than it is, it puts to shame any number of better known releases by sheer force of personality alone.

Ben, I think you will enjoy the new Godthrymm album.

Main man Hamish Glencross was a member of both My Dying Bride and Solstice... and it shows!

Thanks guys!

Gonna take a break from the challenges for now and catch up on some new releases.

Godthrymm - Reflections. Released 14/02/20 on Profound Lore.

Debut album from Hamish Glencross' latest band that should appeal to any fan of UK doom metal.

I believe I have completed The Pit challenge, Thrash Metal - The 80s.

Next up for me is The North. Probably the Black Metal - The 1st Decade challenge.

My favourite is a guy who has only recently come to prominence, particularly because of his painting Essence of Freedom being used as the cover of Bell Witch's Mirror Reaper album and that is Mariusz Lewandowski. His portentous, supernatural-themed paintings have a singular melancholy atmosphere to them. His work has also graced the covers of recent albums by Mizmor, False, Abigail Williams and Elder Druid to name but a few.

Ben, could you please add Mansion (Finland).

Hi Ben, could you add Psychotic Waltz's new album The God-Shaped Void please.

Ben, could you please add Castle (US).

Thanks for clearing that up Daniel. I had a feeling that it would be considered ok for the Academy (as I believe it should be). Just checking because, as you rightly say, some websites make completely arbitrary decisions on what constitutes being "metal enough" - a position particularly odd in the case of metal-archives as they claim to be an encyclopaedia of metal music yet dismiss many valid artists out of hand because of personal bias.

Yet another example of why Metal Academy is a superior site for the Metal connoisseur!

Frayle - 1692. Released 14th February on Lay Bare Recordings.

Doom metal with light and ethereal female vocals.

... oh and Frayle (US). Thanks, in advance.

Hi Ben, please add Schattenvald (Germany) and Eneferens (US).

Hi again, Ben. Could you please add Space God Ritual (US), Iron Void (UK), Funeral Horse (US), Sabel (Sweden) and Endless Floods (France).

... sorry, and Serpent Noir (Greece).

Nobody embodies black metal better than Fenriz and Nocturno Culto. Even after all this time they don't bow down to anyone and just keep making the music they want, the way they want. Natassja in Eternal Sleep is one of, if not the greatest track in Black Metal. This isn't just track of the day, it is track of any  day!

Hi Ben, could you also add All Hell (US).

Obsidian Tongue: Volume III on Bindrune releasaed 31/01/20.

Epic and atmospheric black metal from a severely underrated US duo.

Preview track Return to the Fields of Violet:

Ben, could you please add Obsidian Tongue (US).

Great call for '74, Tymell. Burn is one hell of a track, certainly one of Purple's best and definitely the best album David Coverdale ever recorded.

Compiling a list like this it's great to see how Metal has ballooned in popularity and availability. Obviously for most of the 70's there are very few choices, especially for the early years, but as the time rolled by those choices become harder and harder. It's almost impossible to choose an absolute favourite from some years - 1986 for example, Reign in Blood, Master of Puppets, Peace Sells, Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, Darkness Descends, Pleasure to Kill and In the Darkness (Paul Chain) - tough decision indeed.

Are we including live albums here Sonny?

Hey man, it's your list, include whatever you want...

Yyyyeeeaaaahhhhh….. I love this shit so I'll be getting mine together. By the way.... "Kill 'Em All" was 1983. Not 1981.

You know what, I have no idea why I put Kill 'em All down for '81. I actually meant to put my favourite Iron Maiden album, Killers. Must have had some sort of brain freeze (it happens as you get older, you know!!)

Hi Ben again. Sorry, but could you add Italian bands Black Capricorn, Zolfo, Bretus, Hands of Orlac, Messa and Temple of Pain.

Hi Ben, I guess you forgot, but any chance you could add these, please?

Panopticon's 20 minute tribute to his young son after he underwent major heart surgery.

Awesome and epic atmospheric black metal from one of the genre's premier exponents.

Now this is my kind of record store...

Ben, I would say give it a try. Like you, I shied away from Boris for the longest time, but gave this album a go a couple of years ago and found it reasonably accessible. It's probably fair to say that this is pretty much entry-level for drone metal, not really being too extreme - it's certainly not Khanate. Loud, heavy, feedback-drenched psych jams and post-rock sections contrast with it's sustained droning chords for a nice variation in sonic textures. As much a sensation to be experienced as it is music to be listened to.