Shadowdoom9 (Andi)'s Forum Replies

A winning standout with the sharp riffing of industrial metal:

One of the darkest-sounding tracks I've heard in industrial metal, almost like funeral doom before that subgenre was fully developed:

A fantastic standout of synth-infused djenty metalcore variety from Veil of Maya's killer comeback album:

Unearth is back with a vengeance in this album that you can consider both the end of an era and the beginning of a new one:

Death is the most obvious one but I'd also nominate Converge & Gorguts.

Can't forget about Converge, though I say their greatness starts from their second album, Petitioning the Empty Sky, onwards.

Having done my reviewing journey through the Amorphis and Fear Factory discographies this month, I'm amazed by how solid these two bands are throughout each of their over 3-decade tenures. Their mid-90s classics are a few of the best masterpiece albums I've heard, and Amorphis restored some of that perfect glory in the second half of the 2010s. Even what is considered those bands' weakest albums from the mid-2000s still have some greatness in them, though they're not without one or two stinkers. And their 1992 death metal debuts are solid albums that I would recommend to fans of that genre. With so many amazing albums, it's no wonder Amorphis and Fear Factory are two of the most well-praised metal bands today! A couple other bands fitting this category that come to my mind include Annihilator and Kamelot, the latter having a 4-album perfect streak (from The Fourth Legacy to The Black Halo) which is one reason why I still haven't let go of that power metal band along with DragonForce.

No problem, Sonny! Glad to see that Amorphis release have good reception here.

Some more metalcore/deathcore bands I now enjoy thanks to what I discovered when assembling the Revolution playlists:

Ben, please add the new Deathstars album Everything Destroys You.

Ben, please add these new releases:

The Acacia Strain - Step Into the Light

The Amity Affliction - Not Without My Ghosts

Ben, please add the new The Ocean album Holocene.

Ben, please add these new releases:

Atreyu - The Hope of a Spark (EP)

The Amity Affliction - Everyone Loves You... Once You Leave Them

Ben, please add the new The Acacia Strain album Failure Will Follow.

For June could you add:

Ningen Isu - りんごの泪 (it's on two different albums, but it doesn't matter which one you pick)

Hey, Morpheus. I don't see your clans anymore, what happened to them?

Doom rock is apparently a nickname for occult rock, and a few early bands of the genre such as Blue Oyster Cult and Coven are considered influential in developing heavy metal, doom metal, sludge metal, and stoner metal. I've heard a few songs by Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, would they be considered doom rock, considering their slow tempo yet focused on rock more than metal in their recent material?

The godfather of death metal hard at work on Death's 1998 tour for the "The Sound of Perseverance" album.

Lots of mind-blowing rhythms, along with bass pumping through the thrashy yet technical heaviness with a bit of similarity to early Sadus.

I decided to give this live Death album some listening and a review to once again test out my interest in the band. The performance is highly focused on the band's 90s progressive/tech-death era, with only two songs from their 80s standard death metal albums. A lot of the progressiveness can be found in songs from the band's last two studio albums which cover over half of this release. So this entry is definitely getting a YES vote from me.

Forget any claims I've made about that Nirvana cover being Fear Factory's lowest point of the career, this is f***ing worse:

The metal covers I like are ones that metalize the original song, but this sh*tty attempt at a Nirvana cover is so not the way to do it:

One of the best songs by the band, though the quality of this album would then slowly descend:

They just had to taint an otherwise perfect album with some f***ing rap metal sh*t:

Similarly to Amorphis' Far From the Sun, I can find the best songs of this underrated Fear Factory album in both the standard edition...

...And the deluxe digipak edition:

A melodic standout anthem with a mighty chorus and riffing. I would recommend starting at the beginning of the album though if you're going the story route.

Despite the song name, this is a total industrial mind-smasher of epic drama:

1. Gateway playlist - 4.5/5 (number of songs commented: ALL 22)

2. Infinite playlist - 4.5/5 (number of songs commented: 10)

3. Revolution playlist - 4.5/5 (number of songs commented: ALL 27)

4. Sphere playlist - 4/5 (number of songs commented: ALL 27)

For the clans I've made the monthly playlists for, along with the one for the Gateway, I've listened to the entire playlists! I'm grateful to Saxy and Daniel for their playlist works. I really dig the tracks I've reviewed in the Infinite playlists made by Saxy, and I'm glad all those other playlists I've reviewed paid off. I recommend them to any fan of the clans' respective genres and anyone who isn't into those genres but wants to get into a great start in enjoying them. Thanks, Daniel, for accepting these playlists, and good work all!

THE GATEWAY: Klone - "Meanwhile" (2023) 4/5

THE GUARDIANS: Persuader - "When Eden Burns" (2006) 4.5/5

THE INFINITE: Amorphis - "Under the Red Cloud" (2015) 5/5

THE REVOLUTION: Gaza - "He Is Never Coming Back" (2009) 4/5

THE SPHERE: Fear Factory - "Soul of a New Machine" (1992) 4/5

This month has proven to be a pretty great one for my clans. My Infinite nomination shows the Tomi Joutsen era of Amorphis at their best, and I would recommend it to fans of that band and melodeath-infused progressive metal. That Persuader album is an excellent revisit. Keep up the good work on the feature releases, all! I look forward to more...

Explosive death metal chaos from a band that would later become one of the master bands of modern industrial metal:

Clean vocals, deathly heaviness, industrial production, and groove riffing, all in one place:

I did my review, here's its summary:

In the somewhat distant past of the year 1992, metal genres were kind of at war. Before that year, thrash/speed metal were on the rise, and then came death metal/grindcore, and finally, industrial/alternative metal. Those 3 genre categories were competing for the reign, and the first one lost its fame, the second one became underground, and the third one became mainstream. One band was up to mixing the extreme underground with one of the metal genres hitting commercial success those days... Back then, most metal bands seemed to focus on making compositions based on a particular riff, rather than full-fledged arrangement. Released in the same year as the debut of another band that started as death metal (Amorphis), Fear Factory's debut Soul of a New Machine built their sound from a technological concept. The tone and arrangement are as important as the composition in the songs, and that then-rare aspect is what made this band unique in their debut, showing that there's a little more to metal than just guitars and vocals in front and bass and drums in back. Industrial ambience, spoken samples, and more bass prominence make their entrance! Many songs have the right balance between clean hooks and deathly heaviness. Some shows the band's more destructive side of explosive death metal chaos, a few still having melodic treasure to be found in the deathly sea. In the end, we have witnessed the band's idea of combining the industrial metal of Godflesh and the deathgrind of Napalm Death into their own unique mix with mechanical riffing with some bits of melodic alt-metal and groove metal. It's a pretty great fresh idea that was never tried before and has proven highly influential. Of course, the issue here is the big amount of tracks (17) that many people can't remember all of. However, it's so cryptic and unique that your mind won't turn away from such creativity and aggression that was uncommon outside the underground in the early 90s. Not too over-the-top while not too accessible, this band sure knows how to conceive and present such a game-changer. Once rare but now more common is unique genius....

4/5

PS: Even after that thorough listening for my review, I don't find enough groove metal in the debut to be a primary genre for the album. You are right about the songs you mentioned having groove metal riffing, Daniel ("Scapegoat", "Martyr", "Scumgrief"), but it's more of a secondary genre for this album along with grindcore and alternative metal. Industrial death metal is the primary sound for this band's debut.

This band Persuader, has pleased heavier power metal fans with their sound combo of Nevermore and Blind Guardian, the latter any of those fans know why:

Still awesome throughout the past two years! The latter year being when I was shutting myself off from most of power metal until just recently.

I did my review, here's its summary:

When Eden Burns still blows my mind away even after the downfall of my power metal interest revival! With melodic yet heavy riffing and amazing vocals, I'm glad to still recognize most of the greatness of this Swedish power metal band Persuader. Many songs are fast enough to almost be considered melodic thrash while the power metal sound dominates. The impressive vocals remind me of Blind Guardian's Hansi Kürsch (YES, I had to say it!). There's also a small amount of harsh vocals having a bit of a Children of Bodom vibe. All that's missing is keyboards for soloing, but that would cause too much cheese. With strong determination in their writing, When Eden Burns should've given this underrated band more attention!

4.5/5

A dark complex progressive alt-rock/metal epic in which all you can expect is the unexpected:

I did my review, here's its summary:

Klone has quite some brooding atmosphere in their music. Seeing how this band made 7 albums including this one in nearly two decades, I'm stunned by how little attention they've received, so much so that I haven't even heard of this band until now. Their new album Meanwhile shall keep you engaged to its technical emotion. Guitars and bass sweep nicely under the powerful vocal harmonies of Yann Linger. The songs each have an average length of over 5 minutes, while making interesting subtle changes in time signatures. The band can really have some confidence and control when it comes to that ability. And in the more complex parts, you can let go of any expectations and witness the unexpected magic happen. With this mournful yet powerful blend of guitars, bass, and vocals, Meanwhile shows how grand progressive alt-rock/metal can be. Despite a bit of hauling in a few tracks, you know how much confidence the band has when experimenting with darkness and light....

4/5

A sinister track of epic folk-ish melodeath-infused progressive metal that can fit well for a worldwide adventure:

Amorphis' Queen of Time shows that perfect lightning can strike twice, and then twice again, proven by epic highlights like this one:

A highlight from Amorphis' return to their mid-90s perfect glory:

I did my review, here's its summary:

Amorphis has remained consistently excellent throughout their career, but it's their 12th album Under the Red Cloud that marks the band's rise back up to the total perfection of their mid-90s gems. I can listen to this masterpiece anytime with headphones while working. It's the perfect peak of the Tomi Joutsen era! Under the Red Cloud summarizes all the band has done so far with Joutsen, including his unique blend of deep growls and baritone cleans. Of course, the full band has to back him up for the full atmosphere that he creates for his voice to shine amongst them. As a result, the songs flawlessly flow, each to the next, all to savor the atmosphere. That's something essential from their mid-90s era that didn't make its full return until this incredible gem. Alongside Joutsen's incredible vocals, all of the instruments (keyboards, guitars, bass, drums) are performed together to get the listeners headbanging non-stop. Several guests tag along to enhance this glorious experience, including folky flute performed by Eluveitie founder Chrigel Glanzmann, serene yet eerie singing by late Trees of Eternity vocalist Aleah Stanbridge (RIP), and the spiritual lyrics penned by Kalevala writer Pekka Kainulainen. Under the Red Cloud can very well be the best album of 2015 for me. It's a journey you gotta feel in your heart!

5/5

Recommended tracks: "The Four Wise Ones", "Bad Blood", "Death of a King", "Dark Path", "White Night", "The Wind", "Winter's Sleep"

For fans of: Opeth, Disillusion, Eluveitie

Converge, System of a Down, Bring Me The Horizon, and The Contortionist deemed not metal enough... Meshuggah only accepted based on Contradictions Collapse... If we include Deathstars and Rammstein being deemed not worthy for Metal Archives, it seems like most of my clans would practically be non-existent there. A good reason why I prefer to stay in a more inclusive site such as here in Metal Academy.

One of my top 10 favorite Amorphis songs! And right on time shortly before the less innovative second half of that album:

I don't recall hearing a lot of groove metal in Soul of a New Machine, but I'm up to double-checking when I give it another listen for reviewing.

Here's my submission for the June Guardians playlist:

Trivium - "Endless Night" (from The Sin and the Sentence, 2017)

This one's just some weird sh*t, pretty much the only Amorphis track to qualify for this thread, more likely to attract spacey progressive rock fans than metalheads:

The one track of Am Universum that really stands out compared to the rest of the songs of the album, in which some of those other songs are still good:

The last bit of death growls from Amorphis before its absence from the two albums after this one:

A 7-minute doomy progressive metal creation that's out of this world:

Daniel, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on Amorphis' debut The Karelian Isthmus. Though not as much of a classic as their next two albums, it's something I would recommend for true death metal fans who don't mind a small bit of melody that doesn't overshadow the extremeness of standard death metal:

A relentless doomy swansong for this band's career:

Absolutely dexterous mathcore violence:

A 15-minute Neurosis-like progressive post-sludge Crusade that should've been considered part of the album rather than a hidden track:

Kick-A dissonant grind-ish mathcore: