Sonny's Forum Replies

Well Ben, first off I'm always up for more shit to rate!

Secondly, I am a massive cover art nerd, as I believe you are too (I seem to remember we discussed it on RYM a while back). I love the idea of a chart purely based on the artwork - should present some interesting results. 

I have already started cover rating but I've encountered a bit of a dilemma. I began intending to rate covers purely on aesthetic appeal (to me). Now I'm not sure if that's what you intended when you introduced the feature. For example, do you think a cover should be rated highly if it is particularly appropriate to the atmosphere or aesthetic of the music, despite not being a great piece of "art"? I'm thinking here of genres like black metal with some very simple b&w covers that aren't necessarily great artistically, but really convey the music's ethos well (early Darkthrone albums for example) and the more shocking death metal related covers that I don't appreciate at all artistically but, again, very successfully convey the music's brutality. By extension is it valid to rate the cover of an album you have never listened to?

I guess ultimately it comes down to whether you consider an album's cover a piece of art, or a piece of packaging. Speaking for myseIf, I don't know much about art (or music), but I do know what I like - and what I don't!

Anyway must go, I got me some covers to rate...

Hi Ben, please add Greek blackened thrashers Ravencult (North / Pit)

Daniel, have you heard this from Greek blackened thrashers, Ravencult?

Hi Ben, could you update the releases for Déhà to include his 2020 albums A fleur de peau - II - Burdening Everyone and A fleur de peau - III - A Fire That Does Not Burn (the latter HAS been released, despite RYM giving August 28th as the release date (I have my copy) - see Bandcamp link below.

Bandcamp for A Fleur de Peau - III - A Fire that does not burn

2020 has been a pretty good year for stoner metal releases, despite everything.

My top 10 stoner metal albums so far this year:

#1 Rosy Finch - Scarlet

#2 Blacklab - Abyss

#3 Dopelord - Sign of the Devil

#4 Planet of the Dead - Fear of a Dead Planet

#5 Psyclops - Amalgam

#6 Elephant Tree - Habits

#7 Acid Mammoth - Under Acid Hoof

#8 Kurse - Prophecies, Episode I : The Awakening EP

#9 Forming the Void - Reverie

#10 Tortuga - Deities

Completely agree. This makes accessing the featured releases way simpler.

Just one question. Will this only list the current month's featured releases? Will we no longer be able to see what were featured releases in previous months?

I've previously submitted a review for Sunbather, so I'll summarise. Blackgaze is quite a divisive sub-genre of black metal, owing more to post-metal than black metal in a lot of cases. For me I find it is one of the metal genres that gives me the widest possible reactions, from wholly positive to inutterably negative. It is a sub-genre that, it seems to me, has very little margin for error. Like a high-wire walker, if the band get it wrong, then they crash and burn horribly. Fortunately Sunbather is one of the better Blackgaze albums, but with it's pink cover and positive vibe, it's never going to find favour with the legions of the trve. Me, I like it and it's great for when I want something a little more mellow, but with a bit of a black metal edge. Like just now, actually. In fact it's a perfect black metal Friday feeling of an album!

The main problem I can see with this feature Ben, is when you see an album is, say fifteen years old and you immediately go "Shit man, I can't believe that's fifteen years old, it only seems like yesterday!" A feature that forces us all to face our own mortality. What have you done?!

Thanks Ben, now we can get rid of all those lonely-looking zero-rated releases!

Those are great points you make Daniel. As an older metalhead I now have less demands on my finances and time, but I completely understand where you're coming from and have certainly been there myself as I've referenced previously.

Another problem I do find myself mulling over from time to time with collecting is from the environmental point of view. I justify this to myself by the fact that I aren't much of a consumerist in any other way and surely we're all allowed a little vice, aren't we. I mean, were not all bloody saints are we? I know I'm not!

Don't misunderstand, I still listen to a lot of music in digital format (my wife isn't much of a black metal fan!) a lot of it on tablet and earphones whilst out with my dog or in the car to and from work. But I do really enjoy those times when I have a bit of time to myself and can settle down with a cup of coffee and a Darkthrone LP and really soak that shit up. Helps me deal with all the other crap that goes on in life.

Great point about Bandcamp Fridays where 100% of the proceeds go to the bands, Xephyr. Now that most bands are unable to play live gigs it's more important than ever that fans support them by actually buying their music. Many times buying from Bandcamp I have had a short note or even on odd occasions a full letter from the band expressing their appreciation - it really means a lot to these guys. Very often they send extra stuff, too - stickers, badges, posters, even promo CDs they have lying around.

Also, the art is absolutely one of the main pulls of vinyl over CD and their are some gorgeous packages available nowadays. Last year's Esoteric album, A Pyrrhic Existence, for example, was a triple gatefold that no CD booklet could ever do justice to.

While I understand why most folks no longer feel the need to actually own music anymore due to technology advances, I guess it depends where you're coming from. Getting in to metal and heavy rock back in the day meant just one thing - physical product and for me that physical contact with my music is something I've never been able to shake. I did sell a massive proportion of my collection of vinyl back in the late 90s when vinyl seemed dead and money was tight and I've regretted it ever since. I got rid of loads of 80s thrash and 70s hard rock LPs that would cost a bomb to replace now. Currently my collection is close to 1000 CDs, 400 LPs and a couple of hundred cassettes (mainly 70s and 80s bootlegs bought from record fairs years ago). Luckily I have a spare room I can store them all in and I justify the cost from having given up smoking -  something I finally managed nearly ten years ago! I usually buy from Bandcamp whenever I can or direct from the labels so that the bands get more of the cash, but if it's an out of print rarity I will sometimes use Discogs and buy second hand. Unfortunately high street stores usually just stock the usual Kerrang! darlings if they stock metal at all so I have pretty much given up on them. It's just a pity postal charges are so high. Sometimes postage costs as much as the album itself and importing to the UK from the US in particular is ridiculously expensive, especially now the pound has taken a nosedive. Anyway must go - got to reorder my collection again!!

Come on, surely this album is actually encoded into the DNA of all self-respecting metalheads. It should be required teaching on any school curriculum. Personally it's the album that began my love affair with metal. I'd been listening to more mainstream rock in the early half of the seventies, The Who, Queen and Alice Cooper being particular favourites, but when I heard Paranoid around '76 something clicked in my brain and I knew I was home! In fact my obsessive need to check out new music, I am convinced, is down to my need to reproduce that very first hit as War Pigs boomed out of those shabby old speakers and I felt a rush unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. This album was the introduction to a lifelong obsession and I will be eternally grateful that it exists.

Hi Ben, sorry but could you please add Battle Dagorath (US) also.

I've just realised I've not posted a list on this topic yet, so here goes:

#25. Melechesh - The Epigenesis

#24. Monolord - Vænir

#23. Triptykon - Melana Chasmata

#22. Černá - Restoring Life

#21. Enslaved - RIITIIR 

#20. The Ruins of Beverast - Exuvia

#19. Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper

#18. Psicosfera - Beta

#17. Tchornobog - Tchornobog

#16. Esoteric - A Pyrrhic Existence

#15. Pallbearer - Sorrow and Extinction

#14. Blood Ceremony - The Eldritch Dark

#13. Kauan - Sorni Nai

#12. Saor - Aura

#11. Windhand - Soma

#10. Yith - Immemorial

#9. Inter Arma - Sulphur English

#8. Grand Magus - Hammer of the North

#7. Winterfylleth - The Mercian Sphere

#6. Venenum - Trance of Death

#5. SubRosa - More Constant Than the Gods

#4. Monolithe - Monolithe III

#3. Panopticon - Kentucky

#2. Hell - Hell III

#1. Oranssi Pazuzu - Värähtelijä

Boy, that was tough - there's so many more I wanted to include.

Looks like none of mine match the original list. Guess I'm just not hip enough!

What most non-metalheads fail to realise is that true metalheads couldn't give a rat's ass what they think!

Ben, please add Witchskull's new album A Driftwood Cross.

Could you add German atmospheric sludge band Moribund Mantras please Ben.

Hi Ben, could you add Belarusian black metal band Raven Throne (not to be confused with Austrian folk metallers Raventhrone).

Chimp Spanner must be the latest band whose name came via the "Acme Random Band Name Generator" software!

Ben, could you please add Polish thrashers Gallower.

Necrodeath - "Into The Macabre" (1987)

Sonny, this has got your name all over it.

How have I never heard of this band - a debut as awesome as this and a total of thirteen albums released and I've never heard a note of them before!?

They may be Italians (hardly a hotbed for thrash, Italy is it) but this absolutely kicks the shit out of a ton of better-regarded outfits. Even for 1987 this is a stand-out album, the aggression of death metal in the vein of Possessed makes their thrashing sound super-evil. I'll have to check out the rest of their releases, but they'll need to be good to not disappoint after this.

Keep them recs coming Daniel, there's been some real killers recently for which you have my undying thanks!!

Ben, please add Havukruunu's latest album Uinuos syömein sota.

I'll give it a spin...

Could you add Italian black metallers Fides Inversa please, Ben.

Hi Ben, please add Eremit's new EP, Desert of Ghouls.

Jettegryta, the second preview track from Enslaved's new album Utgard, due out October 2nd. Better than the first preview, Homebound, as it exhibits more of Enslaved's black metal roots woven into it's progressive metal.

Exumer - "Rising From The Sea" (1987)

Am I the only one who finds German thrashers Exumer's least celebrated sophomore effort to be better than their highly regarded debut "Possessed By Fire" from the previous year? From my brief googling it would seem to be that way. Everyone seems to say that it was a bit of a misfire with flat riffs & very little energy but I can't for the life of me see where that opinion's coming from. Sure it's not as raw, is slightly more accomplished musically & is a complete & utter rip-off of "Hell Awaits" & "Reign In Blood" era Slayer but metal doesn't get any better than classic Slayer & the band do a pretty good job at interpreting it so who fucking cares. The new vocalist is pretty bad ass too & he contributes a more than decent Tom Araya impression. Despite a stupid two minute S.O.D. style comedy number I find this to be a massively underrated record.

4/5

I've just reviewed Exumer's second (better) album and I completely agree Daniel. Sure the first is good, but this is the best Slayer-influenced album I've heard outside of the masters themselves. Some people just get too caught-up in over-thinking metal - sometimes you just gotta let go! We're not talking Mozart here for fucks sake!

Holy Moses - "Finished With The Dogs" (1987)

Rip-snorting Teutonic thrash with amazing riffs & aggressive female vocals. It's tight & focused as hell & I love it. In fact, it's a world away from Holy Moses' lackluster speed metal debut "Queen Of Siam". This is pure thrash metal from start to finish.

4/5

Just checked this out. What an amazing leap in quality from the original. Thanks for highlighting this Daniel.

Blue Oyster Cult - Tyranny And Mutation (1973)

Hard rock is the flavour of the day for Sunday, as the sun is out for the first time in about a week.  The sophomore from Blue Oyster Cult is a bright sounding record that is still full of their trademark shadowy allure.

Great album, especially side one.

Tracks like Hot Rails to Hell and 7 Screaming Dizbusters whilst not being metal as such, enormously influenced metal, especially thematically.

Ben, I think you may well enjoy the latest Convocation album.

Epic death doom with a little extra!

Full album at Bandcamp

Hi Ben, could you add Iceland's Äkth Gánahëth please.

Hi Ben, please add Croatian doomsters Old Night.

One small issue I have with the clan challenges is that due to the nature of the charts on MA, the albums in the challenges have a disproportionate advantage in the charts as more members are encouraged to review them.

I actually think it's the other way around. The less ratings a release has the more likely that it hasn't been shit-canned by someone & that's why we see some strange inclusions at the top of the charts that only have the bare minimum quantity of ratings to qualify yet all have come from obsessive fans that rate it extremely highly. This will disappear over time as we up the minimum rating requirements for the charts.

I thought we were all "obsessive fans" here, that's one of the main attractions of the Academy for me. I for one hope MA's charts don't merely reflect the charts of RYM and the likes where only the most well-known and obvious albums rule the roost. With a minimum rating threshold which is currently one sixth of the most-rated album's number of ratings (Ride the Lightning's 30) as long as no one is cheating (as was exposed recently) then surely any album on the chart deserves it's place.

Something very different to their usual stoner doom from Electric Wizard as they try their hand at ritualistic drone:

Sounds to me like we're in danger of over-complicating matters here. I actually agree with Daniel that you can have too many clans and challenges and I applaud his decision to opt out of the North. I myself was caught up in the clan challenges without stopping to think if I even wanted a fourth clan and now I have given it some thought I've realised that I really don't as I dislike too many sub-genres of both the Guardians and the Horde (one of which my 4th clan would have to be) to make a meaningful contribution to those clans. I also agree that if a main clan challenge feels like a nightmare to you then you're probably barking up the wrong tree. I'd rather now review or comment on releases that have actually made an impression on me (positively or negatively) than to churn out reviews on stuff I could care less about.

One small issue I have with the clan challenges is that due to the nature of the charts on MA, the albums in the challenges have a disproportionate advantage in the charts as more members are encouraged to review them.

The new album from M.S.W., who is the guy behing US sludge / doom outfit Hell, is amazing.

You can hear the whole album at Bandcamp

No is brilliant, but only a couple of songs are metal, the majority are fast-as-hell crust and hardcore punk - which is OK by me, but if you are expecting Feedbacker, then it isn't that.

Hi Ben, please add M.S.W. (US) and his absolutely brilliant new album Obliviosus.

Technically, remixing and uploading without the copyright holder's consent IS actually a crime. And if you think I wouldn't yell anything rude at the radio then you don't know anything about me!

I will leave this alone now Andi, but I presumed that as you had made a post on an internet forum that you were interested in interaction from others. Now I will always give my honest opinion, so if you are offended by it I apologise and will bear this in mind for any future discussions.

Doom Metal, particularly the more extreme sub-genres such as funeral doom is paced to create a specific atmosphere of mournfulness, sorrow and desolation. It is impossible for me to grasp why you would want to nullify the artist's intention and the overriding purpose of the music. If you really don't like the music as produced and it's intended atmosphere why would you bother listening to it at all? This doesn't make any sense to me. Would you change the colours on the Mona Lisa because you like orange more than brown? I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but I really don't get where you're coming from here. I've also got a feeling the band's involved will probably be none too amused if you are altering their music and posting it online.

Sonny, have you checked this one out before? I think you'll probably dig it as I know you loved their debut.

I was led to believe that their later albums weren't very good, but this is great.

Sounds like Vice Squad and very early Slayer jamming together.

The longest and doomiest track on Count Raven's final album Mammon's War.

For lovers of Ozzy, Sabbath and any good true doom metal:

Seriously, someone would bother doing this? To what end? I must be so out of touch because I just don't get it.

Perhaps each user could have the option to choose an album of the month that they can display on their profile page? I think it might make for an interesting talking point that encourages connection & recommendation.

Yes, I could really go for this idea. A good way to start conversation and a touchstone for other members to get an idea of where you're coming from. Also a nice touch of personalisation that let's you put a "flag in the ground".

Daniel's choice for July's The Infinite featured release immediately made me think of this.

A fantastic live version to boot (damn these guys were good!!):

I've just gotta add my praise and love for this record, sitting as it does slap-bang in the middle of Opeth's Triple-Fives: Still Life, this and Deliverance (Still Life taking the title for me). Not many bands have ever managed a run of albums that awesome before and definitely  not since.

A rare track from Cathedral now only available on the Serpent's Gold comp, the briliant Schizoid Puppeteer, twelve minutes of WTF?? Stoner Doom:

I must admit, I shied away from tracks that are an entire album, otherwise I would also have seriously considered including Mirror Reaper, along with Monolithe III and Ogre's Plague of the Planet. But I agree with Xephyr, after 44 years of listening to metal this is a nigh-on impossible task!