Shadowdoom9 (Andi)'s Forum Replies

Here's my review summary:

August Burns Red has one of the most solid discographies to come from a metalcore band. They've made great albums in their career, including the perfect Constellations. I've always wondered if there would ever be another August Burns Red that as much of a masterpiece as Constellations. Well I shall wonder no more with their new offering Death Below! The album is a much further throwback with their fast pacing in songs that I can consider total bangers. Plus a few songs each have a guest appearance from a vocalist or guitarist of another well-known metalcore band, and that's often a grand treat. Those guests includes Killswitch Engage vocalist Jesse Leach, guitarist Jason Richardson (known for his work with All That Remains, All Shall Perish, Born of Osiris, and Chelsea Grin), Erra's JT Cavey, and Underoath vocalist Spencer Chamberlain. An alternate version of "The Cleansing" also includes the one and only Will Ramos of Lorna Shore. Oh yeah, "The Cleansing" and "Reckoning" are two of the greatest highlights here, two nearly 8-minute epics that are the band's longest, not including the closing epic of their 2005 debut, all full of stylistic transcendence. All in all, Death Below can show you how to overcome the dark struggles of this decade and look into the light, through heaviness and despair. August Burns Red's 10th album can very well be their greatest, most ambitious work yet!

5/5

Recommended tracks: "The Cleansing", "Ancestry", "Backfire", "Revival", "Dark Divide", "Reckoning"

For fans of: All That Remains, Erra, Killswitch Engage

Here's my sneak peek submission for the September Guardians playlist:

Kiuas - "Warrior Soul" (from The Spirit of Ukko, 2005)

Update for September:

THE FALLEN: SONNY, Vinny

THE GATEWAY: SAXY, Andi

THE GUARDIANS: KARL, Andi, Sonny

THE HORDE: SONNY, Karl, Vinny

THE INFINITE: ANDI, Saxy

THE NORTH: VINNY, Sonny, Karl

THE PIT: VINNY, Sonny

THE REVOLUTION: ANDI

THE SPHERE: ANDI

Annihilator is one of the most prolific bands around, as well as one of the chameleon-esque bands when it comes to its lineup, having dozens of lineup changes throughout these past 4 decades. This includes having several different vocalists throughout their tenure, one of them being remaining founding member Jeff Waters. I enjoy all of those vocalists, but if I were to do a ranking of all the ones that appear in different albums, here's what it would be, from worst to best:

7. Joe Comeau - Carnival Diablos, Waking the Fury

These early 2000s albums are a couple of the most furious releases by the band. However, Joe Comeau's vocals are OK but not so great. If the band could've re-recorded those two albums with Dave Padden while he was still in the band, I would've enjoyed them more.

6. Jeff Waters - King of the Kill, Refresh the Demon, Remains, Suicide Society, For the Demented, Ballistic Sadistic

As much as I enjoy the guitarwork of Jeff Waters, his singing, not a huge lot. It's the same problem with Scorpions' Uli Jon Roth; better at guitar than vocals.

5. Aaron Randall - Set the World on Fire

I don't have to explain much when the one album Aaron Randall was in is one of the lowest but still enjoyable parts of the discography.

4. Dave Padden - All for You, Schizo Deluxe, Metal, Annihilator, Feast

Dave Padden is the vocalist who was able to stay with the band the longest without leaving or passing vocal duties to someone else, with a decade-long run of 5 consecutive albums. Metal is one of my all-time favorite Annihilator albums besides the first two. Though he still can't beat some one of the one-off vocalists in my opinion.

3. Stu Block - Metal II

I'm familiar with the vocals of Stu Block from Into Eternity and Iced Earth, so hearing him in the Metal re-recording was like a cherry on top an already perfect metal sundae.

2. Randy Rampage - Alice in Hell, Criteria for a Black Widow

The albums with Randy Rampage are two of the most awesome albums by the band, and rightfully so. Rampage's vocals rule! RIP... However, there's one other vocalist that I think should've had more time in the spotlight...

1. Coburn Pharr - Never Neverland

Since Coburn Pharr's passing last February, I've given the one album he appeared in, Never Neverland, some more listening, and believe it or not, I just realized how glorious he sounded! No disrespect to Randy Rampage and other vocalists, but Pharr really should've stayed with the band, as I think his vocals would've made them more popular and less everchanging in the lineup, at least in the vocal department. Sadly he's gone now. RIP

Anyway, all of these vocalists are quite good, and not super terrible in any way. I just prefer some over others, and that's my true opinion. Any vocalists you think shine more in Annihilator's discography? Discuss!

My favorite track in the more alternative side, shining with Jess Allanic's vocals:

Although this Calva Louise album isn't progressive enough for The Infinite, there are a few tracks that stand out in the clan on their own, like this unpredictable highlight:

An awesome alt-metalcore blast often turning into pop and dubstep:

Ben, please add Dead Silence Hides My Cries (also qualifies in The Revolution as deathcore).

Ben, please add these bands:

Decode the Design

Subliminal Fear

Just weeks after his final concert with Black Sabbath, it became time for his true farewell. Ozzy Osbourne, Prince of Darkness, metal's forefather.... May he rest in peace.

A couple more of my favorite metal YouTubers I've been watching lately include Steve Terreberry (definitely in the "funny" category) and Jared Dines. For the latter, Jared hosted a contest for vocalists to write their own chorus to perform for a song he wrote for his project with Howard Jones (ex-Killswitch Engage, Light the Torch), Sion. The winner would have their chorus added to the final product. NO, I didn't participate. I may be good at clean/harsh vocals, but I'm so not ready for the spotlight. Still I had a blast listening to around 150 vocalists sing and scream their hearts out. However, that's not all of them. It's only around 5% of the total, because Jared had actually received 3000 ENTRIES!!! Wow! This proves that there are still so many vocalists with confident passion this year besides the professionals out there. And it might just be the biggest metal vocalist contest in YouTube history! Anyway, the contest is over, and while the winner has gotten what he earned, we can still appreciate what other people have submitted, 100 of whom can be found in this video (quite a long one, so you don't have to watch it all if it's too much):

Here's a list of all the singers I enjoy from that video (consider this a list of who I would recommend listening to if you can't sit through the whole thing):

1:23 JOHHNY CIARDULLO (known for his Lorna Shore clean-sung covers, I enjoy his melody towards the end)

3:18 SPENCER (DAMAGEJOY) (quite some killer vocals here)

5:07 SAM POWER

6:22 ZSANI

7:36 MARIJE

8:51 HEAVY HOLDEN

9:31 YULIYA

11:32 DRYSTAN BARNETT (some of the most natural vocals here)

12:45 LAUREN

15:20 BENNY MARSON KHONGWIR (from delicate air to deathly fire)

17:32 SPRING HOLLOW

18:10 KURT WONDRELY

18:47 KOTTI (despite not winning, he had some potential)

19:23 LINUS

23:50 DANNY CHAVIS

27:03 NICOLAS GONZALEZ

30:05 JEREMY GRAHAM (such an impressive vocal range)

33:43 DAN ROHDE (Bring Your Pet Dog to a Vocal Contest Day)

39:27 MATTEO MAGAZZINI

42:26 PATRICK RUSSEL (that metal synthwave guy)

43:03 CHRIS HUFF

50:03 ASTRID CAROLINA (beautiful voice and beautiful hair, my personal favorite in the female category)

50:46 BOGDAN HASAS

51:24 BRANDON RENEGADE (probably the closest sounding to Howard Jones here)

52:00 BRYCE GARLAND

52:37 CAM HESSELBROCK

53:16 CAM WALCH

54:37 BEING HUMAN

56:41 CURTIS BLAND

57:28 DOOMICK THE PANCAKE

58:03 THE STEPMOMS (interesting band name)

58:40 EMIL SKOLD

59:20 EMIR BEKBOLOTOV (my personal favorite in the heavy category)

59:59 FELIPE QUEIROZ

1:04:50 JORDAN HOUGHTON (the most pop-ish one here)

1:06:40 KASEY KARLSEN

1:08:04 LINUS (SAWCON) (the German lyrics really pack a punch)

1:08:41 LOGAN GAMESON

1:16:31 NIGHTFARER (reminds me a bit of Issues)

1:17:49 PETER MITCHELL

1:22:45 LEO KRACK (amazing blackened-ish screaming, but hard to hear the song)

1:26:55 YELLOWSTAR

1:28:58 ZOKZO (my personal favorite in the melodic category)

1:29:39 DARIO SAVINO

1:30:55 SOHEIL AVAKH (my personal favorite in the category that blends heavy and melodic)

1:31:30 ADAM R

1:40:42 JOEL DICKSON (excellent, but why did he only do the first half?)

1:43:48 CHRISTIAN O'NEAL (impressive highs, close to post-hardcore category)

As much as all those vocalists deserve their time to shine, of course, there could only be one winner. I won't spoil who won, but I'll say he's easily one of my top 10 in the list. If you'd like to know the winner, see this video at 15:40, 21:20, and 23:40:

All the best, Daniel and Sonny.

Take good care of yourself, Sonny, and hope everything will still be OK for you.

Today I decided to check out those two bonus cover songs from the Warkings album Morgana. As much as they really nailed their Powerwolf cover... they really butchered one of DragonForce's greatest hits. First of all, why did they add a low G-tuned 7th string to the guitar?! Everyone knows a DragonForce song shouldn't sound djent-ish! And now it sounds more like that sh*tty Sabaton song "Union" that I said was like a f***ed-up version of "Cry Thunder". Just stick with the 6-string guitar and play the song in C-minor! Or was the Tribune (Georg Neuhauser) not able to reach the highs of Marc Hudson? Second, Morgana's growls just don't sit well in the verses, making it sound like Arch Enemy covered the song with Marc Hudson's vocals as a not-so-generous way of paying back for having Alissa White-Gluz appear in the guest vocalist edition of "Burning Heart". Third, THE SOLO AND FINAL CHORUS ARE SHORTENED!!! It's like a radio edit or something, and not even DragonForce did that with the original! All in all, a recipe for failure:

Today I decided to check out those two bonus cover songs from the Warkings album Morgana. Their cover of this Powerwolf hit is just SPOT-ON, really doing the original justice. Thumbs-up for this one! Unlike the other cover song that I'll mention soon...

Epic crushing sorrow to end the new Born of Osiris album:

Everything experienced so far in the new Born of Osiris album is put together in a trancey metalcore fiesta:

An epic throwback to the band's blackened side of their past, packed with sounds of deathly destruction:

This melancholic finale marks yet another epic deathcore album ending with the best climax:

A grand blend of the symphonic melodeath of Skyfire and early Starkill with the deathly metalcore of Bleeding Through:

The new Shadow of Intent masterpiece album closes with another one of the darkest epics in deathcore:

The earlier Deadguy fans' 30-year search for the perfect song to surpass the debut is over. What they've been looking for is right here:

Awesome vocals, awesome guitars, awesome bass, awesome drums... All that I want more of from this band:

PAIN isn't the only band Peter Tägtgren is known for. He is also known as the founding member of melodeath band Hypocrisy. Check out this band for some atmospheric alien-themed melodeath!

Taking over the Guardians playlists has allowed me to get back in touch with material from bands I've long forgotten about and encounter some fascinating discoveries. Could that be enough for me to consider proposing my re-entry to the clan? Maybe... In the meantime, here are 5 power metal bands that I've heard of when I was still completely in that zone 10 years ago (except Warkings), but didn't start listening to them full-time until I rediscovered them in the playlists that I've assembled in the last few months:

Ben, please add these new releases:

Kiuas - Samooja: Pyhiinvaellus

Visions of Atlantis - Armada LIVE Over Europe

Warkings - Armageddon

Thanks, Sonny. I'll add that to the playlist soon.

An outside-world friend of mine has just showed me this song from one of the new Mobile Suit Gundam games. He says it's a mix of many genres, but I've narrowed it down to Japanese alt-metal/electronicore similar to other bands whose songs were used in Mobile Suit Gundam like Coldrain, Crossfaith, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas:

Good list, Rex! I enjoy the opening tracks for those Neurosis and Killing Joke albums as well.

Ben, please add In Chasms Deep.

While many of the other songs in this Slipknot album are heavy classics in the overhated genre of nu metal, the 15-minute closing title epic is an incredible journey for those who are patient and never restless:

An insane highlight in which the band sings about themselves and their greatness:

A highlight from this month's Revolution playlist, one of a few new dark heavy bangers by Dal Av, featuring Hollow Front vocalist Tyler Tate:

The perfect progressive ending epic for this excellent album:

Truly my favorite song in this new era of Cave In, having some muscular sludgy groove:

The Black Sabbath tribute covers are really pouring in this weekend, the weekend of Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne's true swansong show. Lamb of God have made their own killer rendition of "Children of the Grave" that combines the original's classic heavy metal sound with the groove metal Lamb of God is known for:

What's supposed to be the title opener attempts to emphasize vocal distortion but sadly really butchers it:

Some of the band's most vicious aggression since their 1998 debut:

Thanks, Daniel.

With Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne's final show ever going on later today, there's no better time than now for me to share Cave In's awesome cover of this early heavy metal classic, enhanced with atmospheric metalcore instrumentation:

A slow acoustic stinker that sounds too programmed:

A true majestic alt-metal epic that has taken what they had in their early 2000s material and made it way better:

I've done my review, here's its summary:

Now this is something Cave In wanted to do, make a post-hardcore/alt-metal release that balances their earlier heaviness with the alt-ish tendencies they were sucked into. They started off with metalcore in Beyond Hypothermia and Until Your Heart Stops, adopted more of a spacey alt-rock sound in Jupiter and Tides of Tomorrow, and was signed to RCA to make the accessible Antenna. That last album was not worth it for the band and their longtime fans. Heading back to the more lenient Hydra Head, Perfect Pitch Black shows the band taking their sound from Jupiter and making it heavier, even adding in the harsh vocals last used in Until Your Heart Stops. If the objective was to regain their earlier fans with songs having a better balanced structure, they've done it. Though not by a long shot... I enjoy the heavier and well-structured songs of the album and Stephen Brodsky's soaring cleans have beautiful strength and wider range compared to the previous two albums. And then there are Caleb Scofield's cool growls. His screams and bass give some songs instant memorability. RIP... And of course, I've struggled with the shorter softer tracks. Perfect Pitch Black may not be Cave In's return to their 90s peak, but it's a slight improvement from their previous two albums and has more enjoyable tracks. A decent comeback to the earlier aspects they've revolutionized....

3/5

Although Beyond Hyopthermia is a great underrated start for Cave In, this track causes the release to lose some power as the weakest sh*t here:

Truly an epitome of classic metalcore:

A simple yet killer standout from this month's Guardians playlist, Sabaton's new single about the Hungarians battling against the Mongol Empire:

Here's my one submission for the August Fallen playlist, Sonny:

Trail of Tears - "Disappointment's True Face" (from Profoundemonium, 2000)

Here are my sneak peek submissions for the August Sphere playlist:

A Dark Halo - "It Never Sleeps" (4:01) from Omnibus One (2023)

Fear of Domination - "Legion" (4:19) from Distorted Delusions (2014)

The Interbeing - "Ruin" (4:22) from Icon of the Hopeless (2022)

Mechina - "Machine God" (6:56) from Tyrannical Resurrection (2007)

Omega Lithium - "Pjesma" (4:11) from Kinetik (2011)

Sybreed - "Emma-0" (4:27) from Antares (2007)

Total length: 28:16

Here are my sneak peek submissions for the August Revolution playlist:

All That Remains - "Six" (3:22) from The Fall of Ideals (2006)

Eighteen Visions - "Vanity" (5:46) from Vanity (2002)

Lorna Shore - "Unbreakable" (4:49) from Unbreakable (2025)

Parkway Drive - "Karma" (3:49) from Deep Blue (2010)

The Red Chord - "Face Area Solution" (2:01) from Fed Through the Teeth Machine (2009)

Underoath - "Thorn" (4:36) from Voyeurist (2022)

Wolves at the Gate - "Lights & Fire" (3:30) from Eulogies (2022)

Total length: 27:53

Here are my submissions for the August Infinite playlist:

Calva Louise - "W.T.F." (3:27) from W.T.F. (2025)

Cynic - "Sentiment" (4:23) from Focus (1993)

Shylmagoghnar - "I Am the Abyss" (8:50) from Emergence (2014)

Waidelotte - "Opulent Mirage" (5:35) from Celestial Shrine (2024)

Watchtower - "M-Theory Overture" (3:49) from Concepts of Math: Book One (2016)

Total length: 26:04