Shadowdoom9 (Andi)'s Forum Replies

A 20-minute epic of sludgy mathcore to please fans of Neurosis, Botch, and Cult of Luna:

One last glimpse at mathcore for this journey before the next subgenre, and a step forward into sludge territory. RIP Didier Séverin... Here are my thoughts:

Lots of cool stuff you can find from Switzerland including metal bands Coroner, Samael, and Eluveitie, along with Tolberlone's triangular chocolates and Swiss Army Knives. Initially, the band only gained attention in Europe, but they would then be heard of in America thanks to Hydra Head Records releasing their first two releases. Challenger is an album that would challenger the Northern lands with unexpected expectations from their sludgy mathcore sound! Their songs often range from the mathcore groove of Botch and Coalesce to the ambient sludge of Neurosis and Cult of Luna, all guided by tempo changes, complex drums, and elevating intensity. The intensity has evolved into one of the best albums I've heard of sludgy mathcore. This excellent music with catch your ears with this pummeling record. It should really be picked up by fans of that sound, especially Neurosis, Keelhaul, and Cult of Luna. Add some sludge spice into your metallic hardcore with the perfect challenge that is Challenger!

5/5

Coming soon: A trek through the releases that started it all for The Revolution....

A speedy aggressive (later turned melodic) metal/mathcore ride:

A slight step down compared to the debut albums of those 3 metalcore/mathcore bands (Deadguy, Coalesce, Cave In) but very enjoyable nonetheless. Here are my thoughts:

From the shadows of Rock and Roll Killing Machine, Drowningman brought the right tools for the sound of this second album of theirs in a noisy mix of elements from hardcore punk and crossover thrash that formed metalcore. It is shocking to find the lack of appreciation this band gets for their strength. They even had the audacity to write a few long song titles, but the songs themselves are short and don't have to feel long because of the sharp relentless riffing attack and occasional melody. Rock and Roll Killing Machine reaches near-perfection with its caustic blend of melody and dissonance in the vocals and guitars, creating crazy monstrous hooks for noisy hardcore punk songs to morph with math metal into their own subgenre. Drowningman has proven that it's hard to replicate the Killing Machine that they are!

4.5/5

Deathcore used to be as problematic as death metal for me, but I started liking it more as I was programming the Revolution monthly playlists, with a few bands I've recently discovered having a more standard deathcore sound as opposed to the bands with progressive/symphonic elements that would fit in the STYLISTIC category of my Metalcore Pyramid Guide. Anyway, here's my top 10:

1. Embodyment - Embrace the Eternal (1998)

2. Make Them Suffer - Neverbloom (2012)

3. The Contortionist - Exoplanet (2010)

4. Born Of Osiris - The Discovery (2011)

5. Iwrestledabearonce - Hail Mary (2015)

6. Attila - Outlawed (2011)

7. Upon a Burning Body - Red. White. Green. (2012)

8. Within the Ruins - Elite (2013)

9. Winds of Plague - Decimate the Weak (2008)

10. Veil of Maya - The Common Man's Collapse (2008)

Slayer-riff-powered mathy metalcore. Start headbanging!

I shall continue with a few other bands with albums that are mathcore or helped develop the subgenre...

One band in the latter category, Cable is not yet added to Metal Academy. While I wait, I'll continue on with that category and the rest of the metalcore journey, starting with...

A progressive-ish mathy metalcore masterpiece from a group of talented musicians, including bassist Caleb Scofield who tragically lost his life a few years before today. RIP. Here are my thoughts:

Their debut Until Your Heart Stops shows what a boundary-breaking band they can be and would make you up for many listens. Instead of going as melodic as Killswitch Engage, expected is the violence of changing rhythms you might also hear in The Dillinger Escape Plan, Coalesce, and Converge, the latter's members Kurt Ballou and Jacob Bannon appearing a few times in the album. Many different elements form the uniqueness in Cave In's mighty sound, for a new underground attitude. The songs range from short hardcore tracks with Slayer-inspired riffing, to longer progressive epics, to one-minute noise interludes. The album is an interesting diverse addition to the metalcore revolution. It's the perfect way to start this band's career that would end up taking a less heavy turn. Don't let their legacy stop!

5/5

RIP bassist Caleb Scofield

Ben, please add Cable (also a Fallen band with their sludge metal albums).

I gave the first two Coalesce albums a listen, and Give Them Rope is one of the best I've heard so far in this journey, reaching a perfect 5 stars (the other one of the best being that Deadguy album)! It's a terrific early example of metallic mathcore, highly technical with underground production in a decent album length. However, their shorter second album Functioning on Impatience might be good for the impatient but not for those who want a full album, pretty much like the Daughter's Canada Songs of Coalesce in terms of length and quality. Maybe someday I'll keep listening to that band full-time and check out their last two albums, but I have other mathcore albums to look out for in my rediscovery saga. I shall continue it with a few other bands with albums that are mathcore or helped develop the subgenre...

I'm currently taking on the first two Coalesce albums, and I'm at another perfect start with the destructive Give Them Rope, with pummeling highlights like this one:

A killer track from the much better birth of mathcore (before the more popular league of Botch, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and 2000s Converge) while in perfect balance with standard metalcore:

Now back to my regular scheduled mathcore journey, where I take on something more standard-sounding and perfect...

My thoughts:

One band to really put the metal in metalcore and the math in mathcore is Deadguy (not to be confused with German power metallers Edguy). There are more popular bands of those genres, but a few of the less active bands would have you keep keep listening. Though I've already experienced Botch and Converge, Deadguy is what's missing for me! For their debut and only album, Fixation on a Coworker, we have the most real metallic hardcore you'll ever witness, with such beauty and chaos to inspire new bands. The production is quite grand yet sharp, as sharp as a razorblade! The angular riffs shred like buzzsaws alongside heavy tom hits. And there's never the need for any recycled emotion, it's just rage all the way through, with fast hardcore riff-wrath, thundering growls, and lots of time changes. With this much technical heaviness, Fixation on a Coworker is the right album for metalcore fans, and it's disappointing that this band ended too soon. Essential metal/mathcore that you can't skip in your life!

5/5

Coming soon: A couple slightly later albums from another essential early mathcore band, and albums from a few bands that are mathcore or helped develop the subgenre.

Here's my recommendation for you, Daniel, that's close enough to the experimental jazz/death metal/mathcore of Candiria. I'm more experienced with Car Bomb and can find my way through their experimental mathcore with hints of jazz and death metal. After your experience with this month's featured release, Mordial, their previous album Meta might be up your alley with those influences, especially a guest appearance from the vocalist of a certain band that took tech-death into more brutal lengths.

Saxy, I know you aren't fond of Mordial, but Meta has a bit more melody and "death metal" stuff that could make you like mathcore slightly more, so this might also be for you. Of course you don't have to proceed further if it's more than you can take.

(Later...)

Well, Daniel, the mathcore professionals say that even though experimentation is key in mathcore, it's hard for even them to find a band other than Candiria that mixes the genre with influences from as much jazz/death metal as Atheist. But there is one album that is close enough, though it's about two decades later and I don't want it to interfere with what I've planned for this journey, So I'll transfer it to the recommendation thread. Hang on...

A wild experimental blend of the earliest mathcore, progressive jazz, and brutal slam-tech-death:

Well, I checked out the two 1995 "deathcore" releases. Notice how I put "deathcore" in quotes? That's because I generally don't think they sound like deathcore as a primary genre. There are influences that would influential in deathcore, but that's not their sound as a whole. The first of those two is an EP by Australian deathgrinders Damaged, which for that aforementioned reason, I didn't mention in this thread. And now for the second of the two...

My thoughts:

I had not known much of this band before this encounter, and it's quite incredibly strange having come across this album for the first time, as if the cover art and title wasn't enough of a tip-off. Many fans have praised this band, but little did they know the existence of this offering! Some things are quite notable when you catch up with the context of the sonic music. It's quite a bizarre combination that works sometimes. There's also lots of death metal groove here, but is this really enough to create deathcore? Well the style I would say is progressive mathcore, and this album is the first of that style, but is more of a mix with that and technical death metal, along with jazz interludes. The album is also known as their only one without longtime guitarist John LaMacchia. Instead they had the late Chris Puma (RIP) who also wrote some guitar parts for their second album that were performed by LaMacchia. Puma's guitar work was quite impressive in those heavier tracks. Though there are a few progressive jazz interludes in which my enjoyment for them is around 50/50, and when the jazz is mixed with the heaviness of the metal tracks, that's where the progressive metal comes in. I'm sure longtime fans of the band would love this offering to bits and probably finally give it the credit and praise that has been missing all these years. But for someone who has just discovered this today, it would have to take a very long time to get used to it before I like it more. There's more than meets the ears, and you would find a lot more if you're a professional listener of experimental jazz/death metal/mathcore....

3.5/5

Since this was quite a false start on the deathcore part of the journey, with the two early albums I was shooting for not actually part of that genre, I'll postpone that part and focus on the other metalcore subgenres, starting with mathcore which is the more suitable primary genre for that Candiria album. The other first ever mathcore album I shall soon listen and write about...

Ben, Daniel, Vinny... This EP from Australian deathgrinders Damaged is a little too intense for my liking, but I'm sure you guys will like it way more than I do. And please let me know whether or not you agree that it barely sounds like deathcore at all. Sonny, I don't know if you're up to adding deathgrind to your death metal rediscovery voyage, but this might be a good test for when you reach the mid-90s.

Apparently, this deathgrind EP was considered one of the earliest deathcore releases. Umm... NO. There are a few slight deathcore elements, but that's not the subgenre I would call this release. Check out this Bathory cover and listen out for if they turned that song into deathcore. I'm sure not...

Winter's sole album Into Darkness is better than the other two death-doom albums I've reviewed, but is it enough to get me to return to doom metal and other Fallen genres? Not right now... I'm actually stunned by the funeral doom tag this album has. Sure it would inspire bands like Esoteric, Funeral, and Thergothon to make albums that brought funeral doom to the light of day, but I think that's more of a secondary genre for Into Darkness. It's not entirely like that because of the occasional bursts of speed that are part of death-doom, like in this highlight below. If any of you Fallen members agree with me here, please vote against the funeral doom subgenre tag. Sorry about this, Ben...

Ben, Daniel, Vinny... The sole album from Delirium is definitely worth pumping up a bit of doomy death metal into you guys' Horde minds. You'll love the majority of this slightly more than I could. Sonny, this could also be another great addition to the 1990 part of your death metal voyage of rediscovery once you get to that year.

Another early death-doom epic, for those who wish to hear a mix of Death's death metal, Cathedral's doom metal, and Celtic Frost's in-between pace:

Another early death-doom album! Just like the Sempiternal Deathreign album, it has mostly the best examples of death-doom but not without a couple duds. My thoughts:

For the sole album from Delirium, Zzooouhh (wow, that wacky title sounds like some kind of snore), we have the smashing guitar, growls, and groove of death metal that then collapses into the slow monstrous doom metal, a captivating mix also done by Winter the same year. It's strange how this style barely caught on as much as other genres like thrash metal. With that said, Delirium's Zzooouhh sounds so fresh and inspiring, with the harsh guitar, riff variation, and tempo changes pleasing heavier metalheads who want more. It's obvious how much the fast-doom ratio has been influenced from other bands like Celtic Frost and Death. The later tracks (from track #5 onward) are prime examples of early death-doom, but a couple ones (track 4 and before), range from slow and doomy to fast and furious, but do not have the same potential as the other category. Still this is essential death-doom for fans of the subgenre and Celtic Frost. Pretty neat if you just start at track 5 and not think too much of the strange album title....

4/5

After one more important early death-doom album that only resides in The Fallen, tomorrow I'm going to continue my rediscovery journey in a much different genre that I know more of and wish to know the most (NOT doom). You can probably guess, but now...that's all in my rediscovery of death metal thread, folks!

One of the earliest death doom epics from Holland's Sempiternal Deathreign

Death metal speed sections and old-school-inspired doom metal rhythms UNITE!!!

One last subgenre stop in my death metal rediscovery is death-doom, and I'm exploring the first 3 releases of the subgenre. I didn't include Paradise Lost because I've already written reviews for their albums that were all deleted when I moved away from most of The Fallen, and I don't intend to check on the bands I already knew. Those other 3 death-doom releases from 1989 and 1990 seem closer to death metal in two of the bands, and that's good for when I'm up for exploring the deathly side of the subgenre. The first one of those 3 bands is...

Coincidentally, I was planning this album ahead before Sonny gave it a review, so I guess now it's my turn to share my thoughts of the first death-doom release ever:

The underground is barely known to the mainstream public, and one band from those illusive caverns would invent atmospheric death-doom. In Sempiternal Deathreign's only album The Spooky Gloom, you can hear slow doomy epics ranging up to 10 minutes and shorter death metal attacks. It's more varied than just a standard mix... There's raw production in the guitar crunch with the equalizing bass fitting right in and sounding audible. So, nothing too special about that bass then... The excellent drumming varies from grind beats to slow doomy power, the latter leveling up the monolithic riffing. There's wild growling vocals all around, and fortunately, the lyrics can be read online in case you don't understand them just from listening. All in all, a great dark instrumentation setup. The longer epics are prime examples of the earliest death-doom, but a couple of the shorter ones, specifically tracks 4 and 5, are fast and furious but do not have the same potential as the other category. Still a very unique album when it came out, practically giving birth to death-doom while different from what you'd expect in the subgenre. This is what your ears crave in the deathly side of death-doom....

4/5

Cool review, Sonny! Coincidentally, I was already thinking of giving the first 3 official death-doom releases a listen, including that Sempiternal Deathreign album, as part of my own ongoing death metal rediscovery.

Get well soon, Daniel.

So I've reviewed albums from technical death metal bands like Atheist, Death, and Pestilence, but what about the one band that's obviously not tech-death but would inspire those bands and many more to mix tech-death with pieces of progressive jazz? Watchtower is that perfect spark of influence, including this 8-minute epic:

Glad you enjoy these feature releases, Daniel, including my submissions! I agree that it is shocking when the bands from my greater clans (Gateway, Infinite, Revolution) aren’t deemed suitable for Metal Archives. A good reason why I quit that site before I first entered the Metal Academy. Anyway, keep up the good work on the feature releases, all! I look forward to more…

The remaining essential album to review from tech-death's first two years heavily relies on alternating between songs and interludes while having great flow. My thoughts:

Two thrashy death metal albums into their career, Dutch band Pestilence decided to test out conjuring a more melodic-ish technical spell in their sound with their 3rd album Testimony of the Ancients. The aggravated atonality of hatred in the genre is expanded by some experimentation. Besides the more technical guitars and bass, the drums are close to Slayer's style, fast while far from blast beats, and there are extreme vocals, slightly surpassing Obituary and Death. The album has an interesting structure of full songs that are each followed by a short instrumental, something Cynic would similarly do 3 decades later in Ascension Codes. Both track categories have a horror element, probably more of that than most of the other early 90s tech-death albums I've reviewed. Obscure riffs play amongst atmospheric power chords and dramatic synths, with some experimental groove to remind some of Morbid Angel. The eerie interludes have the most of the horror feeling, whether it's Psycho-ish strings, screams over dissonant keyboards, or church bell ambiance. So it's easy to find the balance between ritual-sounding and ravaging, alternating between full songs and interludes. Any fan of the genre can identify any of these tracks in a blink of an eye....

4/5

Death at their best tech-death without a doubt:

Besides Atheist making progressive tech-death history in 1991, Death would also go that complex experimental route starting the same year with Human. My thoughts:

Death is a band that is well-respected in the death metal community. I don't intend to explore their earlier standard death metal albums, but I know that Human is essential for me to check out as part of my tech-death expedition. The talented Chuck Schuldiner knew his songwriting ability very well. Pretty much nothing is unnecessary in this bold early example of progressive technical death metal! In the travelling circus of Death, Schuldiner was the ringmaster. For this lineup, backing him up is lead guitarist Paul Masvidal, drummer Sean Reinert (those two later focusing on Cynic), and Sadus bassist Steve Di Giorgio. All in all, a heavenly lineup to unleash hellbent fury of killer tech-death, performing extreme sections of mind-blowing rhythms and unbeatable riffing/soloing, with the occasional catchy while still brutal chorus hook. It's amazing how Death is not only one of the pioneering forces of death metal but also its subgenre tech-death. And it's not just regular tech-death either, it has a great amount of progressive tendencies. They can change their style while sounding original. Any death metal fan should pick up Human. You know the band to thank later!

4.5/5

Coming soon: Two more albums to complete the tech-death chapter, one being another example of the genre and the other not really part of that genre but would inspire it.

I gave the first two Atheist albums a listen, and they're both two of the best I've heard so far in this journey, with Unquestionable Presence reaching a perfect 5 stars! They're both terrific early examples of tech-death alongside the blazing thrash of Piece of Time and the jazzy progressiveness of Unquestionable Presence. Maybe someday I'll keep listening to that band full-time and check out the one Atheist album I haven't reviewed yet, Jupiter, but the early 90s tech-death chapter of this rediscovery saga is still on. I shall continue it with Death's Human and find out how progressive that album is for me...

A highlight from the establishing pinnacle of progressive technical death metal:

Currently I'm taking on the first two Atheist albums, and their debut Piece of Time is probably THE first tech-death album, recorded two years before the other two 1990 tech-death albums. Still there are thrashy Slayer-like tendencies in highlights like this one:

Here's my top 10:

1. August Burns Red - Constellations (2009)

2. Converge - You Fail Me (2004)

3. Every Time I Die - Radical (2021)

4. Underoath - Lost in the Sound of Separation (2008)

5. The Ghost Inside - Dear Youth (2014)

6. Memphis May Fire - The Hollow (2011)

7. Upon a Burning Body - Fury (2022)

8. Motionless in White - Creatures (2010)

9. Polaris - The Death of Me (2020)

10. Make Them Suffer - How to Survive a Funeral (2020)

Strong growl-along early tech-death for extreme metalheads wondering what Atheist, Death, and early Cynic would sound like if more focused on riffing than experimentation:

Ben, Daniel, Vinny... If you guys haven't listened to the debut album from German then-tech-death metallers Atrocity, I highly recommend doing so. You'll love this for sure! Sonny, perhaps this could be a great addition to your death metal voyage of rediscovery.

The second album I've reviewed from the tech-death starter trio is the debut from Atrocity, with a different lyrical concept from that of the Nocturnal album. My thoughts:

Atrocity is known as one of the most chameleon-esque German metal bands, going through different genres such as folky gothic metal, industrial, and even a bit of hardcore groove. They originally started with a tech-death sound, with their debut Hallucinations being one of the most unique albums of the genre, mature with astonishing talent! Like I said before, 1990 was an early year of experimentation in death metal. Atheist hinted at the progressive direction they would take while standing by their pure thrashy death metal sound in Piece of Time, released earlier that year. Then a year later, Death added slightly more melodic and progressive elements to their sound in Human. And of course, we have the jazzy prog-death of Cynic's 1993 album Focus. Atrocity's Hallucinations deserves attention for their underrated part in the early tech-death league. However, they're not combining genres the way those other bands would, but rather they make interesting ideas out of standard tech-death. It's just metal riffing all around in different songs, while sounding interesting and fun for those who can handle the fire. Hallucinations is essential for all death metal listeners. I barely have any complaints, and the album is great enough for 4.5 stars. The heavier metalheads should love this!

4.5/5

Piece of Time and Human are up next in my list, for more of that tech-death experimentation!

From this synth-infused early tech-death album, a song of pure proto-melodeath B.C. (Before Carcass):

1990 was another special early year for death metal when 3 bands expanded the boundaries of death metal to include more technical experimentation, sometimes reaching a progressive level, thus creating the subgenre technical death metal! Here's one of those bands:

Here are my thoughts:

I'm never really a super-fan of old-school death metal, given the Satanism and violent gore that occurs in the lyrics. Nocturnus added a bit of those lyrical themes mixed with a sci-fi concept, and even more surprising to the death metal community is the addition of keyboard atmosphere unusual at that time. They've also added more technicality to the sound as a bridge between Morbid Angel and what Death would have next. Nocturnus made a progressive twist in the genre as those keyboards add a nice touch to the violent assault from the guitar, bass, and drums. The Key is an amazing KEY to the tech-death sound these legends would help create. If it's out of print, it's probably because of that sci-fi-meets-anti-Christian concept that would not go over well with the public nowadays, and that's why it's a few points short of perfection for me. Still it's an easy album to look up for listening, and the music is worth it!

4.5/5

Time to death 'n' roll with that subgenre's creators:

I agree that the vocal style in The Sound of Perseverance was a major stumble, sounding more whiny than growling in a few of the more melodic songs especially that Judas Priest cover. Heartwork was very divisive among the Carcass fanbase. While the earlier fans were stunned by the sudden switch to a more melodic sound and try to deny its existence, the album made history with the spawning of melodic death metal. At the same time, another subgenre arrived with a different band...

Definitely not melodeath, but would plant a seed for other bands in Sweden to popularize it, while pioneering a different subgenre, death 'n' roll. Here are my thoughts:

After making two timeless additions to traditional Swedish death metal, Entombed was ready to try a new approach while keeping their roots. Their 3rd album marked the beginning of a new inspiring era, an era that would later be unappealing when two more albums take the band farther away from their death metal roots. Wolverine Blues, together with Carcass' Heartwork, marked a big historical turn for their label Earache in 1993, attracting new fans with a somewhat more melodic sound. While Carcass invented the melodic death metal genre with barely any prior experimentation, Entombed added pieces of hard rock, hardcore, and Pantera-like groove metal for something more groovy with slight hints of melody, death 'n' roll. Desultory also experimented with that subgenre, but Entombed succeeded in making that potential new hybrid. With a title like Wolverine Blues, was there any relation with the wise invincible Wolverine from Marvel Comics? Yes there was! Even though the band were against anything to do with Wolverine, Earache went behind their backs to make a deal with Marvel for mainstream promotion. That's part of how this album became a successful leap for this band, label, and much of extreme metal. I can understand other aspects of their success. Lars Göran Petrov (RIP), who was absent for their second album Clandestine, returned and stayed with the band until their first breakup. The tone maintains their earlier dark atmosphere while slamming through rock-infused compositions. The 7 tracks from the beginning are prime early examples of the subgenre with searing groove, amazing riffing, and punk-thrashy rhythms, whereas the final 3 and bonus track were a low drop in quality. A slightly flawed ending to the album, but the rest is a better offering of death metal. It was time for the small influences the band hinted earlier to fully see the light of day and the core of their writing, one part of death metal refreshing into different subgenres in 1993. Entombed continue their innovation that would build up a higher following. Unfortunately, they would later fall into the deathless rock 'n' roll manhole....

4/5

Coming soon in my quest: a deeper look into the origins of technical death metal...

Hey there, Sonny! Glad to see a fellow Death reviewer on the move as well. I'm more focused on their progressive era but that's OK. We each have our own death metal voyages.

Another incredible 8-minute deathly progressive metal epic (would be more suited for The Infinite if the album was in that clan):

Well, Daniel, I gave The Sound of Perseverance a listen and review, and what you said is about Death's switching to a more traditional progressive sound is quite accurate. I sense a judgement submission coming on! Anyway, both Death albums I've reviewed show the band's progressive death metal/deathly progressive metal side they had in their last years of activity while influential in expanding the prominence of melodeath and tech-death for newer rising legions to appear. I think after I listen to one more album from a different band that isn't melodeath but planted a seed for other bands in the same country to popularize the genre, it would be time to start the tech-death history leg of my journey....

You are right about Death inspiring Carcass, Daniel, but upon listening to both Heartwork and Symbolic, I hear a bit of a connective exchange in the melodic aspect between those two albums while the latter shows Death expanding the progressiveness of their previous two albums and the melody of those heavy/power metal bands. Melodeath did not start with Symbolic of course, but there are bands influenced from there. Meanwhile in the Track of the Day thread, this track is another example of a stylistic exchange between bands' influences: https://metal.academy/forum/10/thread/188?page=6#topic_10653

For this 8-minute epic, you can hear elements of earlier At the Gates used in a way that would inspire Slaughter of the Soul, especially in the serene clean outro:

You know which band to thank if you're up for the melodeath sound of At the Gates and the late 90s eras of Arch Enemy and Death:

Indeed probably the one album melodic death metal wouldn't have existed without, though not reaching the style of melodeath I'm used to while still enjoyable. My thoughts:

Heartwork is probably the album where Carcass was the most dedicated. They began demoing this album as early as during their tour for the less melodic Necroticism, even playing their new songs on tour. Much of the recording time was wasted finding the right guitar tone and the right ideas from their producer Colin Richardson. Things were going down to Hell for the people working on the album. With all that trouble going on, Carcass was still determined to get things right in order to reach higher lengths. In the end, they've made an offering that the world would recognize as a game-changing classic to this day! I would never disagree with this album's melodic death metal legend status, but to be honest, it's not the most melodic melodeath album I've heard. The Maiden-like melodic harmonies that really make the genre, but that's a small step Carcass was missing here. The melodic harmonies in this album are mostly in just passages and solos, the latter not sounding as perfect as in Gothenburg bands. Mike Amott performed them slightly better in Arch Enemy that would've crystallized Bill Steer's standard riffing and groove here. Still there's often a great amount of harmonies that would give later death metal bands the idea to add more melody than brutality, and it's quite an impressive achievement of a lifetime for this band. Where there any other bands before Carcass and the Gothenburg crew that started adding melody to an extreme genre with extreme lyrics? I think not! However, At the Gates who would make an album two years later that would inspire melodic metalcore bands to rise. In the meantime, enjoy the original melodeath work!

4.5/5

Hi Xephyr, since the single-track suggestions are on for the Guardians playlist, and that's what I'm more comfortable doing, here's my submission for June:

Power Quest - "Master of Illusion" (from Master of Illusion, 2008)