Shadowdoom9 (Andi)'s Forum Replies

An utterly sublime remake of a classic doom/death anthem from 1992.

True that! Both versions rule!!

My thoughts on some of the tracks (including my suggested songs):

Evergrey – “Hymns For The Broken” (from “Hymns For The Broken”, 2014)

10/10. I haven't heard Evergrey in a long while, but ever since I left my earlier epic metal taste, they have released another album The Atlantic and they've just announced an upcoming album Escape of the Phoenix to be released in February. This is one of the best melodic progressive metal songs I've heard 5 years ago, with the vocalist Tom S. Englund singing his heart out in the perspective of this concept album's suicidal protagonist. There's even a bonus melancholic piano version. Evergrey is an underrated band that deserves more love. Awesome track from a top-notch album that I haven't heard since so long ago!

Between The Buried & Me – “Silent Flight Parliament” (from “The Parallax II: Future Sequence”, 2012)

10/10. This is the climatic 15-minute epic nearing the end of a two-part saga, with the intensity from high to low, and the vocals ranging from growling to clean, often put in a powerful simultaneous combination. Brilliant!

Enslaved – “Neogenesis” (from “Isa”, 2004)

10/10. Yet another attempt at trying to get into enjoying Enslaved, and maybe this is it! An awesome song from a legendary band, taking you on a journey beyond stars, lightyears, and the universe itself, like that "Cygnus" track. This might just be my key to listening to Enslaved...

Opeth – “The Drapery Falls” (from “Blackwater Park”, 2001)

10/10. A favorite for many fans and probably would be until the end of time. I can definitely understand why! An acoustic intro gives way to a nice riff then calms down back to acoustic guitar as the clean vocals join in. Then it gets stampeded by a bombastic chorus that can give you goosebumps. I got goosebumps an hour before the first time I've listened to that song. Perhaps it's foreshadowing...

My thoughts on some of the tracks (including my suggested songs):

Dee Snider – “Tomorrow’s no Concern” (from “For The Love Of Metal”, 2018)

8/10. Look, it's cool that this playlist has started with classic heavy metal performed by a metal veteran, but that's not really my thing. Though this is actually d*mn better than the Twisted Sister classics I've stumbled upon, and it sounds like Dee still has what it takes. H*ll yeah!!

Edguy – “Mysteria” (from “Hellfire Club”, 2004)

9/10. Here's a tight heavy song that would make a slightly better playlist starter than that Dee Snider track. Vocalist Tobias Sammet yells like a circus ringmaster, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the freak show!!" Then the power metal action begins, having some influences from thrash/speed metal. In fact there's even an alternate version with Mille Petrozza of Euro-thrash legends Kreator on guest vocals as a bonus track in the limited edition.

Hammerfall – “Blood Bound” (from “Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken”, 2005)

9/10. I've listened to this song for the first time in a few years after listening to the live version as part of their new live album Live! Against the World. This killer song is from an album that helped bridge the earlier and middle era, and it has a big chorus you just gotta sing along to.

Elvenking – “Reader Of The Runes – Book I” (from “Reader Of The Runes - Divination”, 2019)

10/10. From the runes of Spotify comes a song available for this playlist. This is a fantastic great monolithic end to the band's folk-power metal return album trilogy that started in Pagan Manifesto, but it might hint at a different saga starting with a possible "Reader Of The Runes – Book II". I was an Elvenking fan a few years ago in my earlier epic metal taste, and now I wish I could have the chance to return to the band for the album that has this song that's probably their best since Heathenreel, especially since it has a killer black-ish soloing section in the middle. I'm grateful for this exhausting yet powerful masterpiece of f***ing impressive epic metal sorcery, greater than the epics made by Helloween. I love it! I might review this album soon. Thanks Xephyr for submitting it and Daniel for accepting it!

Lord – “Chaos Raining” (from “Fallen Idols”, 2019)

9/10. This is from an album that I was asked to do a special review for, but didn't get fully interested in the band until I switched from The Horde to The Guardians. The song shows Lord getting a little more chaotic while staying in a mid-tempo pace, getting up to the level of Trivium's Silence in the Snow.

My thoughts on some of the tracks (including my suggested songs):

Mastodon – “Blood & Thunder” (from “Leviathan”, 2004)

10/10. A great start to this playlist! Furious upbeat prog rock-inspired sludge metal plus a speedier Iron Maiden section to listen to in glee. It's totally an awesome thrashing sludge song that makes this band worth checking out. One of my favorite songs in the album Leviathan!

Monolord – “Died A Million Times” (from “Vaenir”, 2015)

9/10. I've said a million times that I'm never really into the whole stoner metal business, but d*mn this good sh*t's harder than the hardest difficulty in a video game! It seems morbidly fitting for the time of the coronavirus when at least a million people worldwide have died from the virus. RIP

Lacuna Coil – “Heaven’s A Lie” (from “Comalies”, 2002)

10/10. This great hit single sounds a bit anti-religious, but it actually takes you through a relationship that you want to break free from, believing that the vision of love (heaven) is a lie. The song has a mid-paced offering of vocal aesthetics, gothic lyrical themes, and atmospheric keyboards, which is hard to find in an entire album nowadays. Awesome!

Cult Of Luna & Julie Christmas – “Cygnus” (from “Mariner”, 2016)

11/10 (not exaggerating). Get it?? Christmas? Because it's December? All joking aside, this is one of the most intense post-sludge epics I've ever listened to. Cult of Luna's collab album with Julie Christmas, Mariner, is one of my recent favorite albums and an unseen pinnacle of music. I think Perturbator did a remix of this song at one point. "Cygnus" is a 15-minute epic that you need and might just love. This is one of the most inspirational songs of recent times, from when I'm writing my feedback right now with my Beats headphones turned slightly up for a massive boost without deafening myself to looking up to the stars and imagine what the rest of the universe is like at the very edge. Seriously, this is one of my current favorite songs, from the pleasantly killer first 6 minutes to the 3-minute ambient interlude to the intense last 6 minutes, with the drummer building intense tension throughout the song. D*mn, just D*MN, that 6-minute finale part is one of the most brutally insane and greatest moments in post-metal and probably all of metal and music. Before we get to that, let me just say Julie Christmas is beyond g****mn amazing! Her unique vocals helped turned this long track into an epic. Those vocals have stunned me and left me on the brink of emotional tears. The music itself is so unreal and flawless, but she does a grand job helping out. Like I said, what makes this track the best and most epic of the album is that 6-minute ending. The final part starts with a F***ING BRUTAL minute of Christmas screaming at the top of her lungs. Then neurogenesis happens; we transcend across the solar system then beyond the galaxy and the universe itself with magnificently emotional vocals in the foreground over the underlying Twinkle Twinkle Little Star-like background vocal loop. She's a goddess of the post-metal universe! I love this amazing song so much, it might've surpassed the band's previous 3 albums. Also there's a f***ing awesome solo under the 3-minute mark. That whole song is EPIC!!! Thanks for including it, Daniel!

Draconian – “Ascend Into Darkness” (from “Under A Godless Veil”, 2020)

10/10. This is an almost 9-minute epic, just like Sovran's "The Marriage of Attaris" but way better. A long album closer that we've been waiting for since the 15-minute epic that ended Arcane Rain Fell. Heike sings melodic expression of melancholic sentiments and Anders delivers his vocals of growling inferno, while guitarists Johan Ericson and Daniel Arvidsson shine with melodeath riffing reminding some of the slower Insomnium, fitting in with the drumming of Jerry Torstensson and the bass of temporary member Daniel Änghede. This band has perfectly achieved their goal written in that song title!

I did my review, here's its summary:

My Dying Bride's 2001 album The Dreadful Hours truly returns to the aggressive death-doom of As The Flower Withers and Turn Loose the Swans. There are killer heavy riffs worth headbanging, along with top-notch growls by vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe. Their trademark slow sections with clean vocals are still there which is good because it helps with MDB's emotional lyrics of standard melancholy. Those sides mixed together form 8 long death-doom songs of depression and hopelessness that are healthy for the doom soul, including a re-recording of a song from their deadly debut. The Dreadful Hours is a solid album, as perfect as The Light at the End of the World but still a few inches below the majestic level of Turn Loose the Swans with a few new tricks up their sleeves. Pretty much all the songs here help form these dreadfully excellent over 70 minutes!

5.5 (or more specifically 4.8/5)

Since it's been almost 6 months and no further activity has been made in this thread, I'm gonna end it here and declare the winner of part 1, which is... Celtic Frost's To Mega Therion, two to one!! So for part 2, let's take Celtic Frost further into the tournament and pair it up with a different album from a subgenre I'm more familiar with. That's right, we're gonna do unlisted thrash metal subgenres for this round! However, I'm not gonna start part 2 just yet because (spoilers) the other release I have in mind is a Voivod album and I'm waiting for the results of a new different DIS vs DAT thread involving Voivod and another band. For more info and to vote in that thread, it's in this link: https://metal.academy/forum/23/thread/591

Disillusion - "Back To Times Of Splendor" (2004) 5/5 (maybe even 6/5 if I could)

Gaza - "I Don't Care Where I Go When I Die" (2006) 5/5

The Gaza record is a massive mathcore classic, and the impressive Disillusion release has been confirmed to be my current favorite progressive/melodeath album of all time. I'm currently getting those bands' discographies as of this comment. Thanks again for the recs, Daniel!

Fourthed!! Great work guys! 

I'm glad to finally get fully interested in Voivod, thanks to you, Daniel! My slightly older love for Coroner is definitely one of the reasons for that recommendation, so here's another Coroner classic (by the way, I'm sure the missing chorus lyric is "Hatred or justice, die right off"):

And don't worry, I'll listen to and review the Cremator EP, which might definitely never will hit this thread...

Thanks Daniel! I have a review for another album planned today, so I'll give the Cremator EP a listen and a review tomorrow. I'll later unleash my f***ing fury...

It's the same for reviewing only I add a 0 and 0.5 just specifically for anything Machine Head release nowadays.

And the Disillusion feature release apparently.

Back to Times of Splendor?!? I think that's the perfect progressive metal album!! I would give it 6 stars if I could! I guess some things can get both an A+++ and an F---...

Anyway since we came back to this thread, I kinda enjoyed that small challenge 9 months ago of listening to a torturously atrocious d****ebag of an album that deserved a super low rating, and I feel up to doing that again to break my cherry and once again prove that I'm not always a positive reviewer. So I think it would be a great challenge if anyone could please find me an album worthy of 2 or lower. Bring it on!

The issue of there not being much activity in the Hall has been lessened by me now having the ability to close off a request earlier when there is an unbeatable lead. I've just closed off both of the Vektor requests and added both of them to The Infinite.

Great, thanks Ben! Now we can see that Vektor is indeed completely progressive thrash metal.

Thanks to Killing Technology, I've realized the progressive thrash perfection of this Voivod album and the next two. I think that album would fit well as December's Featured Release for The Pit, though you might not agree, Daniel. Anyway, cheers for the rec! 5/5

I also have a special plan for how I would confirm my newly-growing interest in Voivod. More info about that in this list description: https://metal.academy/lists/single/78

Supreme mathcore from Salt Lake City, USA. For fans of Converge, Botch & The Dillinger Escape Plan.

Indeed it is. Thanks again, Daniel!

My thought on one more track:

Gaza – “Hospital Fat Bags” (from “I Don’t Care Where I Go When I Die”, 2006)

11/10 (not exaggerating). This song charges through dissonant rhythmic guitar that often ascend to harmony then is dragged back down by chaos but keeps climbing to create tension. Then everything slows down for a melodic punk-influenced sludge section as a nice parallel. Probably the most killer mathcore song I've heard in ages!

I finished my review, here's its summary:

I Don't Care Where I Go When I Die is an intense, dissonant, and unpleasant album...for some people. But for me, this is awesome! This 2006 release contains some crazy brutal music but in a way that blesses my ears and has got me hooked. Now I plan on fetching their other two albums, and maybe they would cause destructive chaos just like this one did. For this album, after two short grindcore tracks, the album charges through 8 more mathcore songs of brutal chaos and wild intensity with occasional melodic sludge sections. I don't care if people think this album sucks garbage because it's too intense for them, I Don't Care Where I Go When I Die passes this mathcore/grindcore test for finding what I think is the right balance of enjoyment. Hello, Gaza!

5/5

Californian technical death-ish thrash metal from the early 90s, recommended for fans of Coroner, Vektor, and Revocation:

Ben, I just found an issue here, the lists are unable to load in mobile devices like iPhones. Can you please find a way to fix that? Thanks.

You haven't heard a lot of tech-thrash, SilentScream? Well I have some recommendations for you to start with (thrash mixed with progressive also included in my list):

5. Revocation - Existence is Futile (2009)

4. Vektor - Black Future (2009)

3. Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor (2005)

2. Sadus - A Vision of Misery (1992)

1. Annihilator - Alice in Hell (1989)

Those albums can help you start on your tech-thrash journey with some of the greatest bands of the subgenre. The list can also be my current top 5 list with the only difference being Coroner's Mental Vortex tied with that Annihilator album for #1. Enjoy this tech-pack!

Y'know, I think now that we can make our own public lists, these "lists" kind of threads are no longer totally necessary when we can just make our own lists to share and inspire other members to make similar lists. So I say we focus on doing our top 5 or 10 (or any number) releases of a year, clan, or genre in the public lists from now on. I'm gonna head out of this thread and take my top 5 tech-thrash releases with me. See ya on the "list" side! https://metal.academy/lists/single/82

I think the "year/clan/genre" idea is a good fair one, though I might have to split my review to-do list into different categories. I like that idea! So far I've been able to manage my own list and don't see a lot that needs to be improved, but if I come up with any good ideas, I'll share them here. Great new features, by the way, Ben! 

DSBM, another reason for me to avoid black metal. As I've mentioned in an earlier thread (https://metal.academy/forum/17/thread/468?page=2#topic_3966), it's kind of the second wave of black-doom with dark suicidal lyrics of death, depression and human suffering over the lo-fi high distortion and fast tremolo of black metal alongside the droning low distortion and slow timbres of doom metal. I think that subgenre and funeral doom are the two most depressive subgenres of metal and other popular genres. While I do listen to The Fallen genres like doom metal and gothic metal that are depressing in a cool way to impress some of my peers, DSBM is obviously depressing in a "f*** my life, I wanna die" kind of way. I never have that kind of attitude. I love my life, I would never kill myself and break the hearts of all my family and friends, whether by choice or being encouraged via a certain metal subgenre. I wanna sleep in my bed and wake up a happy normal fellow carrying on with my pleasant life, not with a weapon, a noose, or poison next to me. I wanna live and avoid a subgenre that threatens to send me to suicidal Hell. DSBM is not the genre for a happy optimistic person like me! However, there might be some DSBM fans out there who really do get suicidal, I should point out DSBM is not, and I mean NOT responsible for any suicides link to that subgenre or any metal subgenre for that matter (remember a couple incidents involving Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest?). And I'm not saying DSBM should be banned or illegal or anything, artists of the subgenre just have to find the right audience, and clearly some of us members are in that right audience. In conclusion, despite its sadness, depression, and suicide results, anyone can handle DSBM just fine if they have the right mood, and if not, they can just avoid it and live their life. You may listen to a suicidal subgenre, but please don't commit suicide yourself. Just keep living!

Man, I was on a roll when reviewing all those Opeth albums. OK, this is the last Opeth track I'll share for now. Just disregard the "Reverie" part of the title that was meant for its pregap interlude and enjoy the "Harlequin Forest" epic!

An epic melodeath-driven German progressive metal outing.

It sure is! Thanks again, Daniel!

My thought on one more track:

Disillusion – “The Sleep Of Restless Hours” (from “Back To Times Of Splendor”, 2004)

12/10 (not exaggerating). It's a little odd starting this playlist with a 17-minute epic meant to be a grand finale for its original album, but it's an epic way to summarize the progressiveness to come in the rest of the playlist, so let's talk about it. This glorious track starts by building up an acoustic riff into fast heaviness, leading to the furious energy of the harsh vocals from Vurtox before a catchy beautiful chorus. After a few minutes of aggressive riffing, it all pauses for a soothing acoustic part before starting another chorus, this time with every bit of strength from Vurtox's clean singing, creating one of the greatest choruses ever heard in existence. After that chorus, the song halts into almost complete silence with very faint static. You might think that song is over already, and you're about to get ready to leave and think of what a glorious journey that was. But NOPE!! Opeth-like acoustic guitars build the song back up to a powerful mighty 4-minute outro. The band uses all their instrumental energy to create this crushing ending. Even when it fades out, this is not only the grand finale for this song, but also for its original album, a bit like Between the Buried and Me's Colors ("White Walls"). You'll definitely be wanting more after this adventurous epic!

I did my review, here's its summary:

As a mostly positive reviewer, I've stumbled upon albums so good, so great, that I give them the high ratings they may or may not deserve. However, there might be one album that goes beyond great, and I mean far beyond... In order for an album to reach this "beyond" status, it has to attract me enough to get the band's full discography ASAP so you can discover new stuff from this legendary group, stay in my playlist for at least 6 months of maybe for eternity, and keep listening to them during that period of time. And that album is... Disillusion's 2004 debut Back to Times of Splendor!! You won't believe how much I love this epic masterpiece with song lengths ranging from 5 to 17 minutes filled with strong riffs, fast drumming, clean melodic singing, aggressive growls, softer sections, heavier sections, and much more to create the ultimate progressive metal adventure! Anyone who doesn't love this album as much I do might be thinking, "He doesn't mean to really give the album 5 stars, he's probably just biased with so many albums rated like that." No, they're all real, especially my rating for this album. I wish I could give Back To Times of Splendor more than just 5 stars, maybe 6, 10, or over 9000! Every moment is excellent, perfectly helped out by the deep meaningful lyrics. Many magnificent influences and elements in and out of metal creates this epic masterpiece of splendor. This is so incredible! I don't know what else to say, other than...Thanks so much for the rec, Daniel. I thought the ultimate album would never come....but it came!

5/5

Twilight Force - Hydra from Dawn of the Dragonstar (2019)

Raven - Hung Drawn & Quartered from All For One (1983)

W.A.S.P. - Jack Action from The Last Command (1985)

"Hydra" was already in the September playlist. Hope you can think of another suggestion soon. Daniel will close the suggestion thread for December's playlist after tomorrow...

Why would you need to delete a cover rating?  There's an update cover rating button already?

What if you don't like your own cover rating and wanna get rid of it altogether? That's what the delete button is for!

Here are my suggestions for December's playlist, Daniel. Once again, I love how you managed to keep 8 of my suggestions in November's playlist, but I don't wanna push my luck, so back to my usual 7:

August Burns Red - "Carol of the Bells" (from August Burns Red Presents: Sleddin' Hill, 2012) (perfect Christmas metalcore song for the December playlist)

Converge - "The Saddest Day" (from Petitioning the Empty Sky, 1996)

Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas - "Twilight" (from Dance & Scream, 2010)

God Forbid - "To the Fallen Hero" (from IV: Constitution of Treason, 2005)

Underoath - "Anyone Can Dig a Hole But It Takes a Real Man to Call It Home" (from Lost in the Sound of Separation, 2008)

Unearth - "Stronghold" (from The Stings of Conscience, 2001)

Within the Ruins - "Versus" (from Invade, 2010)

Here are my suggestions for December's playlist. Daniel, please choose these songs:

Between the Buried and Me - "Silent Flight Parliament" (from The Parallax II: Future Sequence, 2012)

Evergrey - "Hymns for the Broken" (from Hymns for the Broken, 2014)

Opeth - "The Drapery Falls" (from Blackwater Park, 2001)

Here are my suggestions for December's playlist. Daniel, please choose these songs:

HammerFall - "Blood Bound" (from Chapter V: Unbent Unbowed Unbroken, 2005)

Lord - "Chaos Raining" (from Fallen Idols, 2019)

Trans-Siberian Orchestra - "Nutrocker" (from Night Castle, 2009) (great Christmas metal song to fit in the December playlist, I probably would've chosen a song from one of their Christmas albums, but none of those other albums are metal)

Here are my suggestions for December's playlist. Daniel, please choose these songs:

Cult of Luna / Julie Christmas - "Cygnus" (from Mariner, 2016) (Get it?? Christmas? Because it will be December? I think that song would fit as the final track of the December playlist to conclude the year.)

Lacuna Coil - "Heaven's a Lie" (from Comalies, 2002) (Only if there's room for one more gothic metal song. If not, please save it for a future playlist.)

My Dying Bride - "Sear Me III" (from The Light at the End of the World, 1999) (I was gonna pick the original "Sear Me" from their debut, but since the death-doom quota is full, I decided to suggest its doom metal incarnation instead.)

In a way this is one of the reasons I designed Metal Academy. The clans give us a different way to think about music classifications. The question of whether or not a release fits snugly into a specific genre isn't as relevant here as  questions like "does this release feel right in it's current clan(s)". If it doesn't then, I'd also question whether that release's genre tags are actually relevant. Cradle of Filth is a perfect example. Does calling it Gothic Metal achieve the goal of allowing fans of Paradise Lost to find music they will likely enjoy?

Actually, this is a very apt discussion, as I just ran a best Gothic Metal chart on RYM. Below is the result. Everyone happy with a Cradle of Filth album topping the list?

I'm not totally happy that a symphonic black metal album is dominating a best gothic metal chart list, especially since it has less ratings than those other 3 gothic metal albums that are definitely some of the best albums I've listened to. I might give that Cradle of Filth album a listen and review to decide whether or not it stays in or out of The Fallen. I might not fully enjoy it, but the review is to help contribute to this small debate. My review shall help choose the genre's fate!

Sonny, I'm interested to hear your thoughts on where you think gothic metal should reside if not in The Fallen? I agree that it doesn't sit entirely comfortably there but I struggle to think of another clan that's more appropriate. It probably should be in the same one as symphonic metal though in my opinion. I actually don't see any reason why we should leave Cradle Of Filth releases in The Fallen. If we think they don't belong there (which I don't) then let's simply vote them out in the Hall of Judgement.

Daniel, I know you directed that question to Sonny, but as another gothic metal fan myself, I have some thoughts about whether or not that genre belongs in The Fallen, and I say it still does. Gothic metal originated from doom metal, especially for many bands starting off as doom/death-doom, such as Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Anathema (those first 3 bands forming the Peaceville Three), Type O Negative, Tiamat, Katatonia, The Gathering, and Theatre of Tragedy. However, gothic metal would later become a somewhat mainstream mix of heavy metal and gothic rock, with bands like Entwine and HIM. Gothic metal may be related to symphonic metal in some ways, whether a band mixes both genres together (Tristania), was originally gothic before switching to symphonic (Within Temptation), or just symphonic metal with some goth elements (Nightwish) but I'm not sure if that's enough to make gothic metal closer to symphonic than doom. I'm definitely not an expert in the knowledge of Cradle of Filth, let alone gothic black metal, but that one album from them I've listened to, Dusk...and Her Embrace, is already in the North as a black metal with symphonic gothic elements.