Shadowdoom9 (Andi)'s Forum Replies

One of only two tracks I like from the poor St. Anger album, this monstrous 8-minute epic should be re-recorded with the improved production the band would have later, guitar soloing, audible bass, and none of the G****MN SNARE:

1. Cannibal Corpse "A Skull Full of Maggots"

2. Neuropath "Incantations of Decrepit Nihilism"

3. Morbid Angel "Where the Slime Live"

4. Mortification "Terminate Damnation"

5. Cryptopsy "Phobophile"

6. Atrocity "Hold Out (to the End)"

7. Death "The Philosopher"

8. Carcass "Heartwork"

Don't get me wrong, I love that Atheist track. It's just that there a lot of Slayer-like thrash tendencies in that track that's still early tech-death but might seem odd in this list that's just pure 90s conventional/technical death metal. I replaced it with this Atrocity track that I've listened to a few years ago and still think it's one of the strongest highlights in old-school tech-death. The lyrics would absolutely make you growl along, "HOLD OUT...TO THE END! RESIST...AND LIVE!!!"

Ben, please add the Any Given Sin EP Forbidden. It's available on Apple Music and Spotify.

Pre-Popular Monster Falling in Reverse isn't really metal nor something I really like, but this kick-A first track of their debut is as metalcore as they could get back then, mixing it with their usual pop punk similarly to early A Day to Remember:

Ben, please add the new Cypecore album Make Me Real.

Speedy verses, melodic chorus, and heartful soloing cover this industrial-ish deathly groove highlight:

The awesome songwriting of heavy verses and melodic chorus is borrowed from Dark Tranquillity and other melodeath bands without ripping them off:

A couple cyber metal tracks I've stumbled upon include this grand 12-minute epic by Mechina that introduces female vocalist Mel Rose:

And Black Light Discipline's nice take on an Alan Walker hit:

I don't know if any of the novels I read capture the metal spirit, but some of my favorite books from children's chapter novel series are the ones that involve the main character and their friends in a rock/metal band. Those include Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Diper Overlode, Big Nate in the Zone, and Middle School: Born to Rock. Those books also help me out for when I'm currently writing a spin-off to my own book series, starring a metalhead and his little sister from the future who both end up in the 1980s (the golden age of classic heavy metal genres) and form their own metal band.

I agree about the unusual spacey psychedelics this album has and will vote YES for this Hall entry, Daniel. But I also hear a lot of progressiveness in the complexity and structure enough to make it qualify as progressive metal. So I'd like to submit an additional entry to have Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus added to The Infinite as progressive metal while staying in The Horde and dissonant death metal.

A violent highlight of reckless percussion and sci-fi horror lyrics:

A progressive dissonant highlight of "madness, disorientation and confusion", as stated in the first line:

Apocalyptica's Aquarela EP is probably the most metal Nat Geo-ish documentary soundtrack I've heard, like half the amount of songs in the EP qualify as symphonic metal, including this 7 and a half minute highlight that borders into extreme progressive metal enough to also qualify for The Infinite as a sole track:

A couple bands that can really push the limits of mathcore:

My renewed interest in melodic/symphonic/progressive death metal really shows as I discover more bands of that sound such as this Swedish melodeath band formed by ex-In Flames members including Dark Tranquillity vocalist Mikael Stanne:

This Roman Legion-themed Canadian symphonic death metal band that is a side project of Kataklysm:

And this progressive/technical death metal band from San Francisco:

Now that I've been given the duty of managing the feature release nomination list, following Daniel stepping down from that role and the roster along with Ben, here's the new updated list for February:

THE FALLEN: SONNY

THE GATEWAY: ANDI, Saxy

THE GUARDIANS: KARL, Xephyr

THE HORDE: VINNY, Sonny, Karl

THE INFINITE: SAXY, Andi, Xephyr

THE NORTH: KARL, Xephyr, Sonny

THE PIT: SONNY, Vinny

THE REVOLUTION: ANDI

THE SPHERE: ANDI

It seems like I'll be the only member submitting The Revolution and The Sphere feature releases, so any Revolution/Sphere members wanting to get in on the feature release action, please PM me or Ben. In the meantime, here's a little something for me to propose: If any of you who's not a Revolution/Sphere member has listened to a release from one of those clans that you highly feel should be featured, please PM me and I'll discuss privately with Ben. And remember to submit your feature release to Ben before the last day of the month. If you miss the deadline, you miss your slot. If anyone has comments about this, please let me know here or PM me. Let's hope the feature releases can stay alive!

Now that I'm in charge of compiling and updating The Revolution and The Sphere Metal Academy playlists, following Daniel stepping down from that role and other aspects, I'd like to note a few things. I'll still do the usual monthly schedule, so I can release new playlists on February, March, April, etc., because I enjoy making the playlists and have a lot of time in my hands, and I want to keep those playlists active in the uncommon chance of attracting new listeners of these genres. Though I might skip a month or a few if I end up busy in the outside world with a job or a college course like when I had that break a couple years ago. I'll also continue my monthly sneak peek submissions (half-hour max per clan) though only from bands/releases I've listened to in the prior month and/or I'm already highly familiar with. As always, contributions are welcome, but the one track per non-clan member rule still stands for the sake of the playlist's legitimacy, though if you send me two or 3 submissions that are all by bands I'm familiar with and enjoy, I can accept them all. While the recommended deadline is the 15th of each month, I'm flexible enough to allow one submission after that date. The maximum deadline is the second-to-last day of the month (clarified in the deadline list below), so I can have time in the last day of the month to finalize the playlist and get it ready for when a new month dawns. If anyone has comments about this, please let me know here or PM me. Let's hope the playlists can stay alive!

Deadlines for next few months' playlists after the February one:

March playlist: recommended - February 15, maximum - February 27

April playlist: recommended - March 15, maximum - March 30

May playlist: recommended - April 15, maximum - April 29

And so on...

Now that I'm in charge of compiling and updating The Revolution and The Sphere Metal Academy playlists, following Daniel stepping down from that role and other aspects, I'd like to note a few things. I'll still do the usual monthly schedule, so I can release new playlists on February, March, April, etc., because I enjoy making the playlists and have a lot of time in my hands, and I want to keep those playlists active in the uncommon chance of attracting new listeners of these genres. Though I might skip a month or a few if I end up busy in the outside world with a job or a college course like when I had that break a couple years ago. I'll also continue my monthly sneak peek submissions (half-hour max per clan) though only from bands/releases I've listened to in the prior month and/or I'm already highly familiar with. As always, contributions are welcome, but the one track per non-clan member rule still stands for the sake of the playlist's legitimacy, though if you send me two or 3 submissions that are all by bands I'm familiar with and enjoy, I can accept them all. While the recommended deadline is the 15th of each month, I'm flexible enough to allow one submission after that date. The maximum deadline is the second-to-last day of the month (clarified in the deadline list below), so I can have time in the last day of the month to finalize the playlist and get it ready for when a new month dawns. If anyone has comments about this, please let me know here or PM me. Let's hope the playlists can stay alive!

Deadlines for next few months' playlists after the February one:

March playlist: recommended - February 15, maximum - February 27

April playlist: recommended - March 15, maximum - March 30

May playlist: recommended - April 15, maximum - April 29

And so on...

I was trying to ease myself through the drama of As I Lay Dying falling apart and their frontman Tim Lambesis involved in domestic violence

What in the actual f***ing h*ll is going on here?!?! Is this drama ever going to end?! A recent case of animal abuse was perpetrated by Tim Lambesis towards his dog. I'm usually one to separate art from the artist, but that's just crossing the line and reminding me more about how bad his past misdeeds are. And I have a pet cat now whom my family and I treat with love and respect. My patience is getting close to its limit, and I have doubts about the future of his band.

I'm not up to getting rid of the feature releases and playlists entirely, since those have been fun and rewarding for me in the site. But I understand if you feel that's the way to go for the sake of yourself and anyone else, Vinny. I won't object.

Oh OK. Well I already have my own Spotify account, so updating the playlists myself should be no problem.

OK, so I'll send the feature release nominations to Ben and continue sending my clan playlists to you. Got it, thanks Daniel.

I'm sorry to hear about your hearing problems, Daniel. I support your decision to reduce your time here in the site for your health. However, I really enjoy contributing to the Spotify playlists and feature releases and don't want to do away with them, so I would say yes to continue driving the feature releases and playlists. On the other hand, how would we make that happen without you and Ben? Will we have to create our own playlists and share them at the start of the following month (which would be great because then we wouldn't have the middle of the month deadline and can have more time to edit our playlists)? Will the Horde and North playlist duties be passed down to the more active members of those clans (Vinny, Sonny, etc.)? And someone has to moderate the feature releases list, right? There is a lot to change, but let's hear what the other members think first...

🤘Thanks very much for all of these excellent recommendations!🤘

Welcome to Metal Academy, Mike! Since it looks like you're up for some speed metal, I have some more recommendations if you haven't checked these out yet:

Blind Guardian - Battalions of Fear (1988)

Helloween - Walls of Jericho (1985)

Helstar - Nosferatu (1989)

Hirax - Immortal Legacy (2014)

Living Death - Metal Revolution (1985)

Speedwolf - Ride With Death (2011)

Voivod - War and Pain (1984)

Warfare - Metal Anarchy (1985)

Ben, please add the Tyrant of Death compilation album Singles & Extras.

What is that 1973 video, Zach? It's unavailable for me.

Same here, Zach. I also like August Burns Red's cover of that NOFX song:

Welcome back, Zach! I found some more dinosaur-themed bands in Metal Archives, more than just death/extreme metal:

The only bands in the list that I've heard of are European power metal bands (here they are, Daniel!) Hevisaurus, SauruXet, and Victorius. Also this Mastodon track kind of counts as Jurassic metal, starting with the mighty roar of a T-rex in Jurassic Park:

Ben, please add Dark Divine.

As much as the spoken interludes are useless, the one f***ing weak track in this Sabaton album is what sounds like a heavily butchered cover of DragonForce's "Cry Thunder", 4 years before that far better DragonForce track was released:

This progressive highlight still reigns as one of the best Sabaton songs for me today, the band's own Black Sabbath "Heaven and Hell":

A strong standout that's both accessible and anthemic, to get the live crowd moving:

The most haunting and heaviest part of a dark mini-saga:

All the beauty and brutality to expect in the new Chat Pile album is summarized right here:

This highlight shines interestingly with soft grunge melancholy while having some brutal death growls in the bridge:

I've just given that Chat Pile album some listening and a review, and I can hear what you mean, Daniel. It is much more, well, alternative than God's Country, and marks a solid offering of noise-ridden sludge/alt-metal. I'll contribute to your Hall of Judgement poll with a YES vote.

Ben, please add these new The Project Hate MCMXCIX albums:

Spewing Venom Into the Eyes of Deities

Abominations of the Ageless

The epic finale of this Project Hate album, having the melancholic melodeath of Omnium Gatherum while still covered in electro-industrial beauty:

A 15-minute deathly storm, apart from some strange but quite welcome dubstep in the middle:

The 11 and a half minute final epic of this Mechina album, filled with tragedy and triumph:

The most of the metallic heaviness and symphonic epicness in this Mechina album comes from this highlight featuring guest vocalist Anna Hel:

The greatest place to start with fantastic riffing in this speedy tech-thrash offering:

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

As the thrash metal scene was making its way into Denmark, Artillery was the band making the genre big over there. Whereas on the heavier end of the thrash spectrum, Invocator take on the technical thrash sound of Coroner, Dark Angel, and Sadus with speed and brutality. And you might know a couple of the band members from their later careers; Per M. Jensen as a former drummer of The Haunted and vocalist/bassist Jacob Hansen as one of the most prolific record producers in metal! The heavy side of the band comes from the speed/death metal elements, and in their debut Excursion Demise, many tracks are a fast blizzard with some slight mid-tempo groove. With all that in mind, Invocator knew how to add variety to their speed so that their listeners can breathe. Fantastic hyperspeed riffing is pretty much the key to many of these tracks. My only complaint is about the two long songs in the middle that still have brilliant heavy speedy sections here and there, yet they're a bit draggy and could've been trimmed down, particularly "Schismatic Injective Therapy". I mean, I like long songs, but there should be more dynamics than just solo noodling. And I know how that kind of thing is done, just listen to DragonForce. The soloing should've been more melodic rather than just fiddling with the notes, and it should balance out with the riffing. However, those tracks still rule, and this album is top-notch tech-thrash before its 90s near-extinction and something an extreme metal fan should never miss out on!

4.5/5

Drum blasts, symphonic keys, and a guest vocal appearance by Shadow of Intent's Ben Duerr make this song guaranteed to be a classic in epic deathcore:

The hardcore heaviness shines the best in this short burst of violent joy:

A rap-ish nu metal highlight in which Freeman's rapping actually works quite greatly:

Quite a solid year for The Revolution. I had listened to and enjoyed all those releases that year, except the Graphic Nature album which I've checked out and reviewed today and is another blessing in the nu metal and metalcore realms.

Quite a solid year for The Gateway. I had listened to and enjoyed all those releases that year, except the Graphic Nature album which I've checked out and reviewed today and is another blessing in the nu metal and metalcore realms.