Sonny's Forum Replies

Hi Ben, could you add Dödsrit (Sweden) and Dusk (Hungary) please.

I think that ultimately you have to decide what works best for you. If you start rating albums on perceived merits or flaws rather than what you really enjoy (or dislike) about them then you run the risk of rating to conform with other's opinions. Sometimes music just makes you feel something special and that's what you need to hold on to, regardless of it's supposed "worthiness". Let's face it, most music snobs already look down on Metal as it is, so fuck  'em and if you love it, rate it up! All opinions are valid.

Thanks, Xephyr. That Elvenking album ain't too bad. I particularly like the folk influence and the vocals are nowhere near as OTT as most power metal I've heard - a real sticking point for me usually. I'm interested enough to check out some of their previous albums anyway. Cheers!

The only industrial metal album I've paid any attention to this year is admittedly a cracker - Yerûšelem's The Sublime. So I guess that's #1 on my list!

Yeah Xephyr, I really can't get into power metal. I do like some early Iced Earth though, so maybe you could rec me an album or two that may change my mind!

That said, there has been some great classic metal out this year - it's great to see young bands still wanting to play this style of metal.

Hi Ben, could you please add the following Fallen related bands:

Tankograd (Poland)

Eremit (Germany)

Encoffination (US)

Alkymist (Canada)

Wolf Blood (US)

Wolf Counsel (Switzerland)

Pinewalker (US)

High Inquisitor Woe (Belgium)

God Disease (Finland)

There's not been a massive amount of quality pit-related releases this year, but I'll give it a go:

#1 Possessed - Revelations of Oblivion

#2 Critical Defiance - Misconception

#3 Inculter - Fatal Visions

#4 Bewitcher - Under the Witching Cross

#5 Aggressive Perfector - Havoc at the Midnight Hour

#6 Sins of the Damned - Striking the Bell of Death

#7 Wraith - Absolute Power

#8 Possessor - Gravelands

#9 Sadistic Ritual - Visionaire of Death

#10 Mother's Tomb - Absent Not Dead

I've not listened to a huge amount of death metal this year, especially if you don't count death doom, which I don't as that is covered by my Fallen list. Still despite that, here goes:

#1 Blood Incantation - Hidden History of the Human Race

#2 Coffins - Beyond the Circular Demise

#3 Vastum - Orificial Purge

#4 Exhumed - Horror

#5 Minenfeld - The Great Adventure

#6 Pulchra Mortem - Divina Autem et Aniles

#7 Immortal Bird - Thrive on Neglect

#8 Gatecreeper - Deserted

#9 Ossuarium - Living Tomb

#10 Tomb Mold - Planetary Clairvoyance

My Guardians related year end list is all traditional heavy metal as I don't much care for power and symphonic metal, my limited experience of both this year being largely negative.

#1 Spirit Adrift - Divided by Darkness

#2 Angel Witch - Angel of Light

#3 Smoulder - Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring

#4 The Lord Weird Slough Feg - New Organon

#5 Sanhedrin - The Poisoner

#6 Grand Magus - Wolf God

#7 Midnight Priest - Aggressive Hauntings

#8 Bloody Hammers - The Summoning

#9 The Ossuary - Southern Funeral

#10 War Cloud - State of Shock

What a stellar year for Fallen related releases. It's a great time to be a fan of doom and sludge metal.

My top albums list:

#1 Esoteric - A Pyrrhic Existence

#2 Inter Arma - Sulphur English

#3 Epitaphe - I

#4 Waste of Space Orchestra - Syntheosis

#5 Witches of God - Into the Heart of Darkness

#6 Gorge - Land Bridge

#7 Totengott - The Abyss
#8 Slow - VI-Dantalion

#9 Werian - Animist

#10 Lord Vicar - The Black Powder

#11 Ataraxie - Résignés

#12 The Red Widows - Fuzzifixion

#13 Palmistry - Behold!

#14 Endless Floods - Circle the Gold

#15 Mizmor - Cairn

#16 Plateau Sigma - Symbols-The Sleeping Harmony of the World Below

#17 Maestus - Deliquesce

#18 Runemagick - Into Desolate Realms

#19 Karyn Crisis' Gospel of the Witches - Covenant

#20 Tankograd - Totalitarian

Another great year for black metal, making it hard to choose, but here goes:

#1 False - Portent

#2 Ultha - Belong

#3 Werian - Animist

#4 Mayhem - Daemon

#5 Saor - Forgotten Paths

#6 Departure Chandelier - Antichrist Rise to Power

#7 Neige et noirceur - Interstellar Enigmatic Throne

#8 Violet Cold - kOsmik

#9 Darkthrone - Old Star

#10 The Great Old Ones - Cosmicism

Honourable mentions:

Nyss - Dépayser

Déhà - Cruel Words

Wormwitch - Heaven That Dwells Within

Nasheim - Jord och aska

Deathspell Omega - The Furnaces of Palingenesia

Blut aus Nord - Hallucinogen

Nocturnal Departure - Cathartic Black Rituals

Kauan's Sorni Nai is one that springs instantly to mind or what about Chelsea Wolfe's doomy 2017 album Hiss Spun?

As  a massive fan of doom metal, my list is heavily weighted towards releases from The Fallen.

Here it is anyway:

#1 Esoteric - A Pyrrhic Existence

#2 Inter Arma - Sulphur English

#3 Epitaphe - I

#4 Waste of Space Orchestra - Syntheosis

#5 Witches of God - Into the Heart of Darkness

#6 Gorge - Land Bridge

#7 Totengott - The Abyss

#8 False - Portent

#9 Slow - VI-Dantalion

#10 Werian - Animist

#11 Lord Vicar - The Black Powder

#12 Mayhem - Daemon

#13 Saor - Forgotten Paths

#14 Departure Chandelier - Antichrist Rise to Power

#15 Ataraxie - Résignés

#16 The Red Widows - Fuzzifixion

#17 Coffins - Beyond the Circular Demise

#18 Blood Incantation  - Hidden History of the Human Race

#19 Spirit Adrift - Divided by Darkness

#20 Palmistry - Behold!

#21 Neige et noirceur - Interstellar Enigmatic Throne

#22 Violet Cold - kOsmik

#23 Angel Witch - Angel of Light

#24 Vastum - Orificial Purge

#25 Smoulder - Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring

Sorry, I couldn't stick to a mere top ten in such a great year for metal releases as this!

Great list for the 80's. Some of my all-time favourite metal albums on there. Looking forward to the challenge!

Hi Ben, please could you add France's Gorgon and Italy's Selvans.

Hi Ben, could you add Sweden's Alastor and the Italian bands Caronte and Midryasi, please.

Yeah, I like it - slots right in between Possessed and Morbid Angel.

Shit, I forgot one of my favourites from '85 - Sacrilege's awesome debut, Behind the Realms of Madness. I'd put it right up there with Bathory and Possessed.

Well '86 was possibly the high water mark for thrash. Several of my all-time favourite metal albums were released that year, so here goes:

#1 Slayer - Reign in Blood

#2 Metallica - Master of Puppets

#3 Kreator - Pleasure to Kill

#4 Whiplash - Power and Pain

#5 Destruction - Eternal Devastation

#6 Megadeth - Peace Sells...

#7 Dark Angel - Darkness Descends

#8 Onslaught - The Force

#9 Exumer - Possesed by Fire

#10 Metal Church - The Dark 

Damn, that's some fine albums right there!

No, I haven't but I will do soon as I can.

Nice lists, here's my effort for '85:

#1 Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion

#2 Possessed - Seven Churches

#3 Bathory - The Return...

#4 Anthrax - Spreading the Disease

#5 Razor - Evil Invaders

#6 S.O.D. - Speak English or Die

#7 Slayer - Hell Awaits

#8 Artillery - Fear of Tomorrow

#9 Exodus - Bonded by Blood

#10 Kreator - Endless Pain

Hi Ben, could you please add Totengott and their brilliant album The Abyss - it's got me hooked!

Continuing the theme of the horrible cover songs thread that was begun elsewhere, much as I like Sepultura's Chaos A.D. (it's actually my favourite Sepultura album and one of the first I ever bought on CD), Max Cavalera's mangling of the vocals on their version of New Model Army's classic The Hunt from their excellent 1986 album, The Ghost of Cain, is just unforgivable. I also agree with Ben about the Megadeth covers - Anarchy in the UK particularly pisses me off and I Ain't Superstitious is so jarring it almost spoils Mustaine's best album.

Been playing Lord Vicar's latest, The Black Powder. I think that now Chritus has left Goatess to concentrate completely on LV they have turned in their best to date. Particularly digging on opening seventeen-minuter, Sulphur, Charcoal and Saltpetre - real Finnish doom that Albert Witchfinder would be proud of.

Hi Ben, could you please add Brume and their new album, Rabbits.

Ben, I completely understand why people don't care for PFA, but it's just so low down and filthy sounding that, for me, it is the epitome of the "fuck you all" attitude of early black metal and Mayhem in particular. I spent an awful lot of time in the 70s and 80s listening to audience taped bootlegs of Sabbath and Budgie shows and believe me, they sounded far worse than this. More than that, this is the beginning of probably the most important band in black metal and the music is actually great, it's only the sound quality that sucks. It's one of those albums that I like to put on way too loud when I'm on my own and feeling pissed at the world... Side "Off", Ghoul - now that's black metal!

As far as Paysage D'Hiver goes, great shout. A band I admit to coming to late, but the 1999 s/t is awesome.

Wrath of the Tyrant is, obviously, one of the greatest BM demos, but too well done to count as lo-fi.

Daniel, I listened to the Damaar ep and thought "I gotta get a copy" but then found out that they're going for £76.99 on Discogs!! Maybe if I drop enough hints someone will buy me it for christmas!

Dwight, I agree, Oath of Black Blood is killer.

Others I think worthy of note are Sodom's Witching Hour (1982, shit, thrash was barely a thing then, let alone black metal) and Behemoth's ...From the Pagan Vastlands.

Quorthorn, like Paul Chain (subject of December's featured release for The Fallen), was a metal visionary who's ambition sometimes over-stretched his technical abilities, particularly in the vocal department. This is probably the most ambitious of Bathory's albums, it's operatic title being  deliberately deployed to evoke the epic Wagnerian telling of the old Norse legends, being one of the earliest examples of what came to be known as Viking Metal. As Daniel pointed out when explaining his selection, this is often overlooked in favour of several of the earlier albums and, to be honest, I prefer the predecessors myself. This is still a great album and by most other bands would be considered one of their finest, but I find it a bit too OTT in places to be a true favourite.

I think the appreciation of this EP (and Paul Chain as a whole) really depends on how you approach him. I look on this as an early-ish doom metal demo and Mr. Chain himself as an innovative ingenue who's ideas sometimes outreach his abilities to deliver them. Personally I love this record, Chain's vision of the early doom sound, particularly of Witchfinder General and Pentagram, expanded on with all manner of synths and effects has the hallmark of a true mad genius reaching for the stars. The lo-fi production quality and his sometime questionable vocal performance, coupled with his killer riffs,  only increase the charm of this record for me. Then again, I have always been a sucker for lo-fi demos and feeling over technicality, but if your taste tends more to well-produced and technically adept metal, then this probably isn't going to be the record for you. Personally, I was made up that Daniel chose this as the first feature release of The Fallen - great choice, my man!

Thanks Ben for clearing that up.

Hi Ben, could you please add Fimbulwinter's excellent Servants of Sorcery.

I'm sorry, I don't think I made myself very clear. How can I submit an album for inclusion on Metal Academy that has not been included because it doesn't have a metal primary on RYM even though I believe it to warrant one? I'm not saying I'm right, but it would be nice to at least be able to submit a release for consideration by the MA consensus. 

As someone who occasionally throws out a review that spans only a couple of lines, I would warn against being too dogmatic about what qualifies as a review, or you end up with a situation like metal archives where people just don't bother reviewing at all as it's just too much hassle and ends up being no fun!

Personally, I just want to give people a flavour of what an album is like so that they can make up their own minds about it, if it sounds like the kind of thing they're would be into, not bore them shitless with irrelevant details or tell them what they should think about it. 

Maybe my opinion of the purpose of a review is different to others, but there are websites that have some terribly self-important reviews that just feel like the reviewer is showing off how intellectual and insightful they are, not how an album feels to them, which I think is way more important than trying to display one's intellectual superiority.

Just saying...

Hi Ben, please add:

Vofa (Iceland)

The Drowning (UK)

Slow (Belgium)

Imber Luminis (Belgium)

Serpent Warning (Finland)

Plateau Sigma (Italy)

Golgotha (Spain)

Profetus (Finland)

Esogenesi (Italy)

Hi Ben, please add Possessor (UK), Bloodthirst (Poland), Black Mass (US) and Mentor (Poland).

Thanks in advance.

Hi Ben,

Please add The Red Widows, Karyn Crisis' Gospel of the Witches and Year of the Cobra.

Very helpful new feature and as the site grows an increasingly useful one, I'm guessing.

Agreed that this is a much needed change. Is there a plan to review the minimum number or instigate some kind of algorithm as the site grows?

Thanks Ben, however I've got one more for you.

They're my favourite stoner band, they're completely underrated and they've got a killer new album out, so can you please add Witches of God...

Hey, Ben. As a massive fan of Lee Dorrian, how about Rise Above Records?

Hi Ben, if I may suggest a few neo-thrashers:

Antiverse

Crucified Mortals

Sins of the Damned

Sepulcher

Defiatory

Division Speed

Subtype Zero

Hi again, Ben. Could you please add:

Atavisma

Hexer

The Slow Death

Coffins

And a few bands with only a single release (so far):

Epitaphe

Gorge (US)

Ashtar

Burial in the Woods

Doom Snake Cult

Thanks in advance...

Sure have!

How about:

Sortilegia

Dusk (Hungary)

Stworz

The Great Old Ones

Horcrux

Lamentations of the Ashen

Alda

Wędrujący Wiatr

Void Omnia

Old Graves

Old Forest

Wildernessking

Hi Ben, could you please add:

Doom: Vs

Ea

Arkham Witch

Doomraiser

The Flight of Sleipnir

Hell (US sludge / doom)

Haunted (Italian stoner / doom)

Slomatics

Cheers in advance.

Hi Ben. Any chance of adding Stilla, Skogen, Downfall of Nur and blackened doom outfits Yith and Gaul?

Some of my favourite trad doom bands I'd like to see added:

Spiritus Mortis

Seamount

Age of Taurus

Briton Rites

Cardinal Wyrm

Goatess

Isole

Hour of 13

Lord Vicar

Monolord

The Wounded kings

Sorry...

Great job with the site by the way.

A few "one and done" releases I'd like to see:

Scald - Will of Gods Is a Great Power

Disma - Towards the Megalith

Sempiternal Deathreign - The Spooky Gloom

Thergothon - Stream From the Heavens

and Inter Arma's latest opus, Sulphur English.

Thanks...

How about Monolithe & Subrosa?