Shadowdoom9 (Andi)'s Forum Replies

Here's my review summary:

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 challenge the Northern lands with unexpected expectations from their sludgy mathcore sound! One moment they have a Botch-like math-metalcore groove, and the next is slow sludgy intensity. The songs are decently short, each lasting up to 5 minutes, except for a monstrous 20-minute epic saved for last. All in all, it is expected to be unexpected. The intense music has evolved into one of the best albums I've heard of sludgy mathcore. This excellent music will catch your ears with this pummeling record, the perfect challenge that is Challenger!

5/5

Recommended tracks: "Whacked Out", "El Niño", "Neon Guide", "Ice Will", "March"

For fans of: Botch, Coalesce, Cult of Luna's 2001 self-titled debut

Hi Xephyr, now that the complete DragonForce discography is available on Spotify, I thought I would seize the chance to request a song from one of the formerly unavailable DragonForce albums (The Power Within, Maximum Overload, Reaching Into Infinity), so here's my rare Guardians suggestion, for the February playlist:

DragonForce - "The Edge of the World" (from Reaching Into Infinity, 2017)

I also agree. If any of us clan playlist creators want to check on playlist tracks that have appeared in the past few months to make sure they don't repeat too many too soon, that's what the past tracklistings threads are for.

This is one of my brother's current favorite songs, and throughout the different times he played it during one of my car rides with him driving, it has grown on me to the point that I like it too. Although it's closer to the alt-rock/metal that he likes while having a bit of melodic metalcore elements, it's good enough for me to request the song to be added to the January Gateway playlist that will appear this Sunday.

The new video game Metal Hellsinger has a soundtrack of original metal songs featuring several well-known metal vocalists, and those songs play an important role in the game where you can shoot and reload to the beat for extra points. These two tracks, featuring Mikael Stanne and Alissa White-Gluz, respectively, has some epic heavy melodeath that sounds almost like a much heavier take on their respective bands:

The new video game Metal Hellsinger has a soundtrack of original metal songs featuring several well-known metal vocalists, and those songs play an important role in the game where you can shoot and reload to the beat for extra points. This one, featuring Serj Tankian, sounds like a more epic take on his band System of a Down while keeping some of the band's humor:

The sad part about a taste in a genre changing is when a song you once enjoyed in the past you consider a weak stinker today. This was the case for this Johnny Cash cover that I now find the weakest point of the band's discography and probably the only DragonForce song to qualify in this thread:

Maximum Overload is a mostly enjoyable DragonForce album with lots of enjoyable tracks such as hyperspeed thrash assault featuring Trivium's Matt Heafy:

And this vicious highlight in the deluxe edition's bonus section:

10 years since I first listened to this glorious song, and it still screams epicness:

I've decided to revisit a few albums from one of the only two power metal bands I still want to keep in my memory, DragonForce (the other band being Kamelot), to complete my discography reviewing journey for this band. This highlight, only available in the Japanese special edition, really should've been in the standard album, with keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov taking the spotlight:

Nothing but a sh*tty lengthy rant from a foul-mouthed cop:

A superb old-school industrial metal cover of a Black Sabbath tune:

To quote one of my earlier posts, while a good amount of metalcore lovers also enjoy a bit of trance metal, some might get confused about trance metal being in the same clan as metalcore. The Revolution's superior genre, metalcore has their roots from mixing metal with hardcore punk and lyrics of rebellion, and if trance metal bands like Amaranthe have an electronic-infused sound that leans more towards symphonic/power metal than metalcore, that would cause quite an issue. Then again, I still believe Amaranthe often has some melodic metalcore going on, especially in the earlier material. So I agree that it makes sense to have trance metal taken out of the site, with all those bands/releases you've reviewed for this thread moved to whichever clan/genre they fit well in. A trancecore deep dive would be a good idea to see which releases belong in melodic metalcore or not, but for now, you've earned your rest from deep diving. The fate of trance metal is nigh!

Merry metal Christmas! This is one of my favorite songs from August Burns Red's Christmas EP Winter Wilderness, and a great selection for the December Revolution playlist:

Good to hear, Sonny!

Sure thing, Daniel.

As you and I have noticed, there are elements of different genres within the trancecore sound, one of them being metalcore, which can be found in some of the vocals and instrumentation, most notably in the highlight I've shared above. For this reason, I'm not entirely comfortable with deeming Clarity a non-metal album. The heavily trancecore-focused bands such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and 2000s-era Enter Shikari I believe has melodic metalcore prominence in the more notable songs in those releases, so I wouldn't want them to be considered non-metal just like that, so I think their move to melodic metalcore might've been the right choice there. But if you don't think of Clarity as a metal album, I won't stop you from making your own judgement submission, it's your call.

To quote my judgement submission, there's more emphasis on both the hardcore and melodic sides, with the former including the riffing, harsh vocals, and occasional breakdowns, and the latter including the synths, clean vocals, and J-pop influences. So this is more of a trancecore album, but trancecore has been deemed a hardcore subgenre and taken out of the site, with all the trancecore releases being moved to melodic metalcore. With that, and not wanting to completely lose the trance metal subgenre for the album, I've done what you've suggested in your submission for Northlane's Obsidian, which is to propose adding the melodic metalcore subgenre next to trance metal.

Well, Daniel, I've done my listening and reviewing for that PassCode album, and it's indeed J-pop-infused trancecore, basically what Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas sounds like with a Babymetal-like lineup. It's certainly different what you can hear from the majority of Amaranthe. With emphasis on both the hardcore and melodic sides, I wouldn't think of Clarity as just a trance metal album, and it deserves a judgement submission nice and early. Coming right up!

Here's one of their heavier highlights (you've already shared this before, Daniel, but I still strongly agree here):

A true sludgy highlight of tight tough heaviness:

The only track from that Admiral Angry album Buster to come close to qualifying for The Revolution in the riffing and drumming, while still primarily sludgy:

I agree, Daniel. A lot of the album's sound is slow heavy downtuned sludge, often as djenty as Meshuggah, with a few occasional brief hardcore speed-ups. Only one of the songs, "Plastic Bath" sounds close enough to metalcore in the drumming and riffing. When this release ends up in a Hall entry, I'm definitely voting yes.

I did my review, here's its summary:

Formed in San Francisco, Admiral Angry can feed listeners some anger that might be terrifying for the inexperienced. Originally a grindcore band, they then switched to their own sound that combines the sludge of Neurosis, the hardcore of Black Flag, and the doom-ish heavy metal of Black Sabbath. Vocalist Chris Lindblad delivers some of the most tortured-sounding vocals in extreme metal/hardcore. The sludgy low tempo shows some talent in writing, while being a bit restrained. What you can expect is slow heavy downtuned sludge, often as djenty as Meshuggah, with a few occasional brief hardcore speed-ups. In fact, there really isn't any metalcore prominence, and only one of the songs sounds close enough to metalcore in the drumming and riffing. The rest is tight tough heaviness you wish for more of from the band members. Sadly, founding guitarist Daniel Krauss passed away from cystic fibrosis at age 22 after recording this album and one more EP. I felt some pain in my heart when I found out because I lost an outside-world friend of mine last month (as of this review), same age, similar cause of death. In the beginning of my full review, I asked you all to remember the work of this band and their fallen guitarist. Buster is a good album with some of the heaviest dread. RIP those two young fellows gone too soon; Daniel Krauss and my outside-world friend....

4/5

OK, thanks Daniel.

Epic progressive/symphonic black metal to please the extreme progressive metal masses:

I've given Act I a review, here's its summary:

Do you ever wonder if bands combine the epicness of symphonic black metal and complexity of progressive metal? This band can! They've done it with great magic that many other bands of similar styles lost over the years. However, it's not like a Christmas present that I've really desired (and it is close to Christmas as of this review) in some parts, but there's no way this will ever make me as disappointed as I was about Opeth's prog-rock era. Of Erthe and Axen (Act I) is quite an exciting thrill-ride, and it was definitely worth the 5-year wait fans of the band had since their debut. This is kind of a throwback to around the time of the album's release, when I was an older teen listening to other band of the more epic progressive metal shortly between switching to its extreme side and more modern genres. It really satisfies what I've expected! The band members have done a brilliant job turning this album into a near-perfect masterpiece. While I hear a good amount of symphonic black metal, the album is not entirely like that, balanced out with tremendous progressive metal. Even the story is planned out to be as structural as the music, setting up a climatic tale from beginning to end, told through heavier metal songs and softer acoustic/orchestral ballads. The heavier tracks showcase the symphonic black metal sound in the orchestration, tremolos, and blast-beats, along with vocals ranging from unclean to clean, and the progressiveness is added to the brutality. In the end, we have a beautiful first part of the Of Erthe and Axen saga. Will I ever be up to checking out the exciting conclusion? Not today, but perhaps one day when I'm fully up to exploring more of non-satanic black metal and the more cinematic progressive metal. And this epic offering has given me a bit of motivation!

4.5/5

1. Gateway playlist - 4/5 (number of songs commented: 12)

2. Infinite playlist - 4.5/5 (number of songs commented: 6)

3. Revolution playlist - 4.5/5 (number of songs commented: ALL 30)

4. Sphere playlist - 4/5 (number of songs commented: ALL 25)

So far, I've only commented on 12 tracks in the Gateway playlist and 6 tracks in the Infinite playlist, but for the other 2 of my own clans I've listened to the entire playlists! I'm grateful to Saxy and Daniel for their playlist works. I really dig what I've listened to in the Gateway and Infinite playlists made by Saxy, and I'm glad the Revolution and Sphere playlists made by me paid off. I recommend them to any fan of those 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: Parkway Drive - "Darker Still" (2022) 4/5

THE GUARDIANS: Virgin Steele - "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: Part One" (1994) 4.5/5 (as I recall from the rating I had until last year)

THE INFINITE: Xanthochroid - "Of Erthe and Axen: Act I" (2017) 4.5/5

THE REVOLUTION: Admiral Angry - "Buster" (2009) 4/5

THE SPHERE: Mnemic - "Mechanical Spin Phenomena" (2003) 4/5

Both of my feature release submissions, Parkway Drive's Darker Still and Mnemic's Mechanical Spin Phenomena, along with Admiral Angry's Buster each receive a great 4 stars. They're not the best but they're really enjoyable, and I would recommend them to fans of their respective genres. I also commented on Daniel's Guardians feature release submission that I haven't listened to in nearly a year, Virgin Steele's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: Part One, and I stand by my 4.5-star rating. Xanthochroid's Of Erthe and Axen: Act I is also a near-perfect epic masterpiece that deserves 4.5 stars. It's been a great month so far. Keep up the good work on the feature releases, all! I look forward to more...

Hope you recover soon, Vinny.

Good requests, Xephyr, but Revel in Time is already in the site: https://metal.academy/releases/35090

Thanks, Saxy.

Good luck, Daniel! I look forward to seeing what you think of their new album.

Probably until the end of the month.

I'm up for it! I look forward to some more Infinite release discoveries. May I please be added to the roster?

To paraphrase part of my review, the EP was known as a blueprint for the modern deathcore, and after this band's split, the members would continue in more famous deathcore bands. Indeed not really a household name, yet their sound would be popularized by the avenging league.

Amazing how a band that only made a few songs in their two-year existence can make a big impact in the deathcore scene, isn't it?

A thunderous deathcore epic, the way the genre is meant to be done:

I would very much be the one who called it, it's just so epic for me! Also in that article, there's a motivational Facebook post from Will Ramos in 2014 (long before he joined Lorna Shore) that basically combats Nergal's suggestion. While there are consequences such as relentless amounts of touring and recording and how much money to make, it's a good dream. I might not be able to accomplish such a feat today, but I might in the future if I can practice doing what I can when I can. You just gotta not put yourself down and instead believe in yourself. There's never too many bands or too much music, there just needs to be a balance in everything. No standstills and no overloads.

Getting back into the early deathcore zone, this band can make pure absolute mayhem:

One of the absolute worst stinkers in death metal and metal in general. I don't f***ing need to say more:

Awful Marilyn Manson-sounding bullsh*t:

I'm no fan of Morbid Angel, or at least never dared to explore more than just this album, but this has pleased me as much as it can please longtime fans of the band:

I decided to give this album a listen after you mentioned its industrial elements pointed out, plus a few tracks appearing in the earlier monthly Sphere playlists (before the ones I created), and I hear what you mean. I can hear some machinery drumming and industrial rhythm. Needless to say, "Radikult" is one of two awful sh*tters in the album, sounding too much like Marilyn Manson. So I definitely agree with your Hall submission, DinaricWarrior. Now we wait until Daniel adds this entry to the Hall...

There are a couple highlights worth mentioning from Demon Hunter's new album, including a beautiful 7-minute epic featuring Tom S. Englund of Evergrey:

And this one having incredible radio single potential:

I've crossed through the new Saint Asonia and Disturbed releases, now what's one more release from one of the bands my brother likes? Nickelback's new album Get Rollin' starts promising with their heaviest song since "This Means War", the lead single "San Quentin", filled with Avenged Sevenfold-like hard rock/heavy metal. "Skinny Little Missy" follows with a bit of the hard rock/alt-metal instrumentation of the more melodic songs from the aforementioned Saint Asonia and Disturbed releases. Then afterwards, the quality dropped hard for the rest of the album, mostly just pop rock/melodic hard rock with slight hints of country, in around the same rock level as their previous two albums. Although I might recommend this album to my brother, there's no chance I would ever get rollin' with this, other than those two killer opening tracks....

2.5/5

The new Saint Asonia and Disturbed releases each start strong in the first half, but I've struggled a bit in the second half, especially with a couple weak sh*tters, such as this one tearing down what would've made this EP great:

And this ballad featuring Ann Wilson of Heart, which might appeal to the softer melodic fans, but for the heavier ones such as myself, not so much:

Back with a vengeance is one of my brother's favorite bands, and a good band for me too, Disturbed:

Daniel, I'm glad you enjoy Mnemic's debut Mechanical Spin Phenomena. I've started a listening/reviewing marathon for the band's discography, and while the debut is indeed an underrated start of a journey for the band and their listeners, it's their second album The Audio Injected Soul where the band perfected their modern futuristic metal style. I'm sure you can find a great kick of enjoyment out of this one:

For fans of Three Days Grace, Staind, and Shinedown who wanna hear heavier melancholic groove from the ex-frontman of the former band: