Sonny's Forum Replies
I've noticed a number of reviews refer to the use of cowbell on this album and my hearing is not the best, but aren't the bells heard here predominantly tubular bells? I may be wrong, but that's what they sound like to me.
Computer software eh. What a fickle damn thing it can be sometimes!
That's all I usually do Vinny. I guess Ben will need to look into it.
Will do - I'll get back to you on that. Sorry, I should have paid more attention!
My picks for June's Pit playlist:
Hydra Vein - Rabid (4:39) from Rather Death Than False of Faith (1988)
Indestroy - U.S.S.A. (3:41) from Indestroy (1988)
Sacred Reich - Death Squad (4:21) from Ignorance (1987)
Num Skull - Turn of a Screw (4:13) from Ritually Abused (1988)
Evile - The Thing (1982) (4:54) from Hell Unleashed (2021)
Lich King - Combat Mosh (4:39) from Born of the Bomb (2012)
Skeletonwitch - Vengeance Will Be Mine (3:08) from Beyond the Permafrost (2007)
Total runtime: 29:35
My suggestions for June's playlist:
Wolves in the Throne Room - I Will Lay Down My Bones Among the Rocks and Roots (18:16) from Two Hunters (2007)
Yith - Risen (5:30) from Passage (2021)
Total runtime: 23:46
My June suggestion (if non-clan members are still allowed one):
Drain STH - Crack the Liar's Smile from Horror Wrestling (1996).
Well, you're not wrong Vinny. Milton Keynes is one of the most soulless places in the UK!
I have posted a review for this, although I don't feel it really does it justice, but to summarise:
At first listen I wasn't exactly over-enamoured by this, as it seemed like it was wantonly disjointed and felt like an attempt at some kind of avant-garde black metal collage, but subsequent listens have allowed me to recognise that underneath it is quite a primal black metal record that hasn't actually strayed all that far from the genre's earliest roots. I've bought in to it's jagged, sharp-edged structure and the disconcerting effect it has on the listener, like a painting or picture that is viewed from a weird perspective. The result of all this is a real one-off of an album that I have heard very little to compare with (this of course may be a failing of my own and perhaps there are loads, but I don't think so). Yet another album that proves black metal is still a long way from having run it's course and can still turn out original releases of exceptional, thought-provoking quality.
My suggestion for June:
Fear Factory - Pisschrist from Demanufacture (1995)
Just given this a couple of blasts and posted a short review.
I really enjoyed firing this up again - as I said in my review, it really does feel like a call from an old friend you haven't heard from in ages and didn't realise you missed as much as you evidently do. Some great memorable tracks here - Dog Day Sunrise, Body Hammer and Hunter-Killer to name but three. Love the play-off between the harsh and clean vocals on this album and Dino's riffing is really powerful and the machine-like rhythms are bang on the money. A great album of genuinely dystopian atmosphere where the remnants of humanity pitch against the machines' pitiless hive mind.
"Crown of black thorns, Human skin, ripped and torn, Where is your saviour now?" still gets me every time!
June's suggestions:
Sepulcros - Magno Caos (8:57) from Vazio (2021)
Apostle of Solitude - Sincerest Misery (1,000 Days) (14:02) from Sincerest Misery (2008)
Total runtime 22:59
So people are actually interested enough in this shit to care?
The Werewolf's Asshole track contains 0% metal to my ears.
Horse the Band is about 10% metal and Sky Eats Airplane is about 50% metal.
Is that enough to maintain it's place in MA? I would guess probably not, but I'm no expert on what these crazy kids listen to nowadays.
If it means I don't have to listen to it again then I vote Kick It Out!
This has no ratings on the site yet, but Daniel & Vinny I think you both may find something to enjoy in this obscure gem of UK thrash from 1988:
Hey, I think I've got the CD somewhere. I'll have to dig it out and give it a respin or two - not heard it in ages.
Yes, nice one Vinny!! One of my favourite albums. Grand Magus are one of the great underrated trad metal bands. Will definitely have to summon up a review for this one.
My favourite band Darkthrone announce their new album called Eternal Hails...... out on 25th June.
Five tracks from seven to nine and a half minutes and according to the blurb on Bandcamp should be a bit more doomy than usual.
"With the highly revered Norwegians remaining ever-dedicated to the art of the riff after 35 years of existence, Darkthrone return for album number nineteen and a new dose of metallic godliness. On the back of 2019’s triumphant ‘Old Star’ opus, the duo of Nocturno Culto & Fenriz present a 41 minute maelstrom of Epic Black Heavy Metal across five sprawling compositions. Organic and dynamic, the album is an exploration of the very finest vintage metal and the best of doom, all delivered in the unmistakable Darkthrone style, whilst also incorporating instruments such as the Moog to further expand upon these soundscapes."
Can't wait...
I'm only just hitching a ride on the Incantation bandwagon since Diabolical Conquest was the featured release a couple of months back so I will definitely check this (and the rest of their stuff) out.
My favourite track from possibly the 21st century's best thrash album.
Combining old-school death doom and thrash, Steel Bearing Hand's Tombspawn is awesome:
"I'm very surprised Steel Bearing Hand haven't received more attention as this is unquestionably the best 2020's thrash metal release I've heard to date" is dead right indeed. In fact, I didn't register at first that it was a new release at all. I was convinced it was early 90's through and through. Thrash, death, black metal and best of all filthy-sounding Autopsy-style death doom. At 26 minutes it's a short, sharp shock like a dagger between the ribs that packs as big a punch as Mike Tyson on Angel Dust!
Here, here Vinny, "detachment of the art from the individual is key in metal I find" is dead right. Metal artists have no end of unpalatable beliefs and have done no end of unpalatable acts, so if you can't separate art from artist then metal is probably not for you. The obsession with so-called celebrity lives (including metal musicians) and subsequent cancel culture is bordering on some kind of mass mania. Personally I couldn't give a damn what these people do or believe, as you say, within limits (no Lostprophets played here either) but why should we care what goes on in these people's lives just because they have some kind of minor celebrity? Let's focus on the music and ignore the bullshit.
By the way, I wasn't defending Schaffer in any way, but I feel he and his cohorts have been horribly manipulated by those with vested interests. The real culprits for the situation at the Capitol building will never find themselves anywhere near a courtroom and will continue to sow hatred and division unchecked. Just saying, as a bemused onlooker from the UK.
What a great playlist this month guys, possibly my favourite to date. Some fantastic stuff on here, the only drop-off being tracks 6 to 8 and even those weren't too bad - I've always loved Christina Scabbia's voice, despite not being Lacuna Coil's biggest fan and even the Within Temptation track was OK. I was already familiar with a lot of the material, but the tracks by Corrosion of Conformity and Paradise Lost are new to me and require further exploration. I've also never listened to Sunn O)))'s Black One but the track Báthory Erzsébet is dark as f**k and I will now definitely be checking that album out. I will certainly keep this list saved on Spotify and will probably spin it up from time to time because it's just so good. Nice one!!
Jon Schaffer's biggest crime was being taken in by the rantings of a malignant narcissist and his right-wing idealogue enablers in the media. He probably believed what he was doing was patriotic (the US constitution allows for the overthrow of a corrupt government by the people) as he and the rest of the people who stormed the Capitol building that day had been horribly exploited by cowardly pundits and manipulators. This isn't even close to the same as the heinous acts of Ian Watkins. There's also no chance Schaffer will get 30 years.
One of my absolute favourite Italian Doom tracks. I just can't stop playing this mutha at the minute!
From Doomraiser's 2006 album Lords of Mercy:
Hey Ben, could you please add the following:
Zaklon - Belarus
Wounds of Recollection - US
Wampyric Rites - International
Vindland - France
Utstøtt - US
Hi Ben, please add Oakland's War Cloud.
Sorry, but enough is enough and I heard more than enough of Within Temptation and their ilk back in the early 2000s. This month I am afraid I'm gonna pass on listening to the Fallen featured release as I've already tried re-listening to one album that I despise (Inhuman Rampage) and I can't pull that trick off twice in a month - life's far too short for that! Needless to say, my memories of this (and the many others like it) are not good and not an experience I wish to repeat any time soon.
Agreed, Xephyr. I've currently got it sitting at #1 on my albums of 2021 list on RYM.
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Sonny92/a-new-day-dawning-2021-releases-previewed-ranked-and-rated/
Agreed, Xephyr. I've currently got it sitting at #1 on my albums of 2021 list on RYM.
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Sonny92/a-new-day-dawning-2021-releases-previewed-ranked-and-rated/
My suggestions for May's playlist:
Selvans - Clangores Plenilunio (9:26) from Clangores Plenilunio EP (2015)
Archgoat - Black Crusade (3:31) from Whore of Bethlehem (2006)
Morbid - My Dark Subconsious (4:40) from December Moon (1986)
Wode - Lunar Madness (6:12) from Burn in Many Mirrors (2021)
Total Runtime 23:49
Hi Ben, I've been doing a bit of tidying up so could you please add:
Yidhra - US
Yearning - Finland
Wretch - US
World Below - Sweden
Woorms - US
Plaguewielder - US
I have submitted a review, but in summation:
At first listen I was underwhelmed by another slab of Kreator-worship, but by the fourth listen-through there were certainly elements that appealled to me - the production is stellar, I love the moments when the bass is allowed to shine through, the energy level of the tracks is high, and tracks with a bit more to them like Dead Souls and Tunnelratten are actually very good indeed. On the downside there are too many songs that feel like filler and, as Vinny points out in his review, Daniel Altwegg's vocals are a bit monotonous and a track like Dead Souls really needs a more varied vocal delivery to reach full potential. I now judge how good an album is by whether I would buy a physical copy or not and I have to admit, in ...On Chains Of Doom case I would not (unless I get it for a couple of quid second hand). Even saying that though, there is enough in this album for me to be optimistic that TA have a great album in them yet - this just isn't it.
My suggestions for the May playlist:
Cathedral - Stained Glass Horizons (5:29) from Supernatural Birth Machine (1996)
Hell - Mourn (18:08) from Hell III (2012) [sorry!!]
Total runtime: 23:37
My suggestions for May's playlist:
Megadeth - Into the Lungs of Hell (3:22) from So Far, So Good, So What.. (1988)
Protector - Holocaust (3:46) - Misanthropy EP (1987)
Sepultura - Nomad (4:59) from Chaos AD (1993)
Vio-lence - Eternal Nightmare (6:11) from Eternal Nightmare (1988)
SSS - 3:06 (0:56) from The Dividing Line (2008)
Municipal Waste - The Thrashin' of the Christ (2:30) -from Hazardous Mutation (2005)
Razor - Behind Bars (2:14) from Violent Restitution (1988)
Total Runtime: 23:58
A nice strong start to this month's playlist with the first five tracks, but it died off for me with the next few and the more folk metal-related material, even the Bathory track is one of my least favoured of his. Picks up again with the Аркона track again and is very consistently high quality from thereon in, albeit with one caveat - I still can't get to grips with Bethlehem the way other black metal fans do. Several less familiar bands I've come away interested to discover more of include Yoth Iria, Malokarpatan, Barathrum and Dark Fortress. Also a reminder that I need to go back to the Suffering Hour album and spend a bit more time with it as it's a very interesting record.
After having DF rammed down our throats courtesy of the metal mags of the mid-2000s, I took the plunge and bought a CD-r copy of Inhuman Rampage from a guy at work who dealt in dodgy CDs and DVDs. Possibly the biggest waste of a quid-fifty I have ever suffered! I have never felt the compulsion to explore further, but on the strength of this Transformers of an album, Dragonforce are the Michael Bay of metal music - all flash and zero substance. I can just imagine that on countless spare room shelves there are 6" plastic action figures of the band all laid out among the Power Rangers and Star Wars figures.
That said however, in the same way that Mr. Bay's awful movies may perform some service by getting youngsters into cinema, then Dragonforce may act as an M&M trail for some disaffected teens to get into more substantial metal - and for that they should be applauded!
However for me, who never wanted to hear this album ever again, I gave it a go and got as far as second track, Revolution Deathsquad, when I realised I was glad an advert had popped up on Spotify to give me some respite. When that happens it's time to switch off. Absolutely not my thing at all and I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but I have tempered what I really wanted to say a little!
1/10
One of my all-time favourite proto-metal tracks:
THis band are so much more than Don't Fear the Fuckin' Reaper!!
I'm starting to feel a bit spoiled by black metal releases this year. This weekend has seen another terrific album released.
This time it's a band fairly local to me and a band I feel are heavily underrated - Manchester's Wode with their Burn in Many Mirrors album.
I've put together a Spotify playlist of tracks from my favourite black metal albums of the year to date (although I couldn't access the Pan-Amerikan Native Front album unfortunately, so i've had to give it a miss).
Black Metal of 2021 playlist
Another great album from Andy Marshall (Saor), his second under is Fuath alter-ego.
Also, I'm a bit late to this one, it being released in early February, but this is a fantastic black metal album that tells the story of the Battle of the Wabash, a massive victory for the Western Confederacy of Native Americans against the American Army in 1791.
Hey Vinny, Spectral Lore has actually done a couple of collab / splits with Mare Cognitum - 2013's Sol and last year's Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine, both of which are really great, especially Wanderers. Both bands are extremely accomplished at the whole cosmic black metal thing, don't you think?
I've just posted a review, but to summarise: this is an absolutely original and demented black metal release that genuinely feels like the band have poured something of their own souls into it. With a guitar tone borrowed from early 90's death metal and one of the most insane-sounding vocalists out there, this is a real diamond standout and a dagger to the heart of cut-and-paste black metal acts. The sheer variation of pacing and atmosphere on each of the five tracks is impressive and the ritualistic drum rhythms add another layer of unease to the whole occult-ridden shebang.
With this from Vinny and Ben's cracker from last month I'm now getting worried about letting the side down with my pick when it comes up for June - the pressure's building!
I must admit that I tend only to listen to the playlists I'm interested in (North, Pit, Fallen, Horde - usually in that order). I would never be able to take 2 hours of the Gateway or The Revolution in all honesty and I find the Guardians tough to get through with so much symphonic and power metal. Those I do listen to I tend to listen to in two one-hour sessions as my listening time (especially streaming) has become fairly limited recently. Nice long weekend this week though, so managed to have an uninterrupted listen-through to The Pit playlist on Friday which felt like a real luxury!
...oh, and could you also add Pan-Amerikan Native Front.
The picture on the Immortal page was fucking hilarious.
Pretty good playlist this month. Some obvious old favourites and a few surprises - Mr. Bungle and Cryptosis particularly are both new to me and impressed. I haven't listened to the latest Sodom album yet because I was worried that it would disappoint too much, but I enjoyed the track here, so I think I'll risk it now.
On the downside, I still can't get excited about Overkill and I didn't really like the Angelus Apatrida track. The production on DRI's I Don't Need Society made it stick out like a sore thumb too on such a meaty-sounding playlist.
But overall, a neck-wrenchingly awesome way to spend a couple of hours on a Good Friday afternoon, so thanks to all.
...could you also add Yith's latest, Passage, too please (also a Fallen release).
I was hoping to choose this truly awesome slab of planet-killing drone metal for my (sole) suggestion on May's playlist, but wouldn't you know it - it's not on Spotify.
So here it is - listen and weep, oh fragile humanity!!
Ben, please add the new Aara album Triade I: Eos.
PS: Sonny, I'm sorry to hear that your clans have a shorter time limit for your song submissions, but I wish the best for your songs to be worth those 24 minutes in each clan!
I'd better make them count then!