Shadowdoom9 (Andi)'s Forum Replies

My thoughts on some tracks (including my suggested ones):

Opeth – “The Moor” (from “Still Life”, 1999)

5.5/5 (not exaggerating). Definitely the perfect song to start this playlist! One of Opeth's finest tracks that shows other progressive metal bands how to make a G****MN AWESOME OPENING TRACK!! After a mysterious two-minute intro, you'll be pulled into under 10 minutes of atmospheric complex progressive metal! I F***ING LOVE IT!!!

Pain Of Salvation – “Ending Theme” (from “Remedy Lane”, 2002)

4/5. Not really the ending theme, there's a lot more to go. This song has a dark mood and Daniel Gildenlow's soothing vocals especially in the great chorus. The talking part is really challenging for me to like without thinking it's dreaded rapping.

Evergrey – “In Remembrance” (from “Monday Morning Apocalypse”, 2006)

4.5/5. I'm quite proud of this band for their amazing melodic progressive metal that made my day in my earlier epic metal taste. There are plenty of good times to remember about this band, but I'm over them while making a few flashbacks to them like when I submitted this cool epic song.

Soen – “Lumerian” (from “Imperial”, 2021)

5/5. Soen has unleashed progressive metal at full power! I love it, especially the crushing riffing and strong commanding vocals of Joel Ekelöf. I might've just found one of the most d*mn important songs of this year. It's so stunning with a h*lla catchy chorus. Joel's singing in the softer parts remind me of Jonas Renkse. That's very great along with the f***ing genuine blend of heavy and melodic. The intro riff opens the song perfectly, and when it returns at around the two and a half minute mark, it sounds great in epic execution, along with the guitar bend and bass finish around 30 seconds later. The lyrics are so amazing! This ripped artful progressive metal sound can remind some of the recent Opeth and Tool. The chorus' triple-melody is f***ing incredible! This has greatly blown my mind more than Dream Theater and Leprous. This tremendous smasher has definitely gotten this month to a great start for me. The remarkable heavy intro reminds me of a progressive Disturbed. This is majestic powerful progressive rock/metal that should live on forever! An amazing killer song to pass the time when stuck at home. With their sound at heavy modern heights, I'm surprised they haven't been signed yet to Sumerian Records. They're definitely far heavier than Steven Wilson's music. Thanks for suggesting this, Xephyr, and thanks for sharing, Daniel!

Devin Townsend – “Sky Blue” (from “Z²”, 2014)

4.5/5. Interesting how I decided to spice up this playlist with a soft electronic-dance track, but this one works! Continuing Devin's willing experimentation, electronic beats and melodies surround soft vocals before a dance-rock chorus where the first half with Devin singing is based on Usher's "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love", and the other half shows Anneke's velvety voice.

The Ocean – “Devonian: Nascent” (from “Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic”, 2018)

5/5. This one I actually submitted to The Fallen, but this also works in The Infinite, a grand progressive post-sludge epic with guest vocals by Jonas Renkse of Katatonia (he was originally gonna be one of the guests in the epic Precambrian album, but he had to bail because of his band's touring and he was chosen to do guest vocals for Ayreon's 01011001). While, the sludgy elements drag along and test your patience, the drum aggression and harsh vocals are balanced out by ambient influences. After the complex experimentation, the song gets repetitive, but never excessively, staying perfect!

Meshuggah – “Humiliative” (from “None” E.P., 1994)

4.5/5. I'm a little surprised that I haven't reviewed this EP yet. Perhaps I should, especially this song that is a great early example of the djent sound Meshuggah would build. Review for this EP coming sometime this month.

Persefone – “Underworld: The Fallen & The Butterfly – Act III: When The Earth Breaks” (from “Core”, 2006)

4.5/5. Core works better as 3 multi-part epics instead of separating them as different tracks, but it's still amazing either way.

Pan.Thy.Monium – “III” (from “Dawn Of Dreams”, 1992)

5/5. Their actually is a name for this song now, "SIEEGEH", whatever that means. Anyway, this is THE SH*T! Awesome prog death that made me wanna enjoy the style a little more. A killer way to end this playlist!

My thoughts on some tracks (including my suggested ones):

Grand Magus – “The Shadow Knows” (from “Iron Will”, 2008)

5/5. An awesome bad-a** song to start this playlist. Thanks for sharing, Daniel! This song has reminded listeners of comic book characters The Shadow and Razorfist, along with Werewolf the Apocalypse. For the music, think of it like a darker Judas Priest/Iron Maiden. The beginning riff sounds similar to the Power Rangers theme. Amazing song. No more words to describe this glory.

Blind Guardian – “Sacred Worlds” (from “At The Edge Of Time”, 2010)

5.5/5 (not exaggerating). This epic song was originally recorded for the video game Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. It feels weird listening to a song I used to think was the ultimate metal song, and still have that feeling despite moving away from listening to this band and my earlier power metal taste. Either way, this is an awesome song that sounds like it could be part of the soundtrack for Harry Potter or Doctor Strange. Epic symphonic power metal to the max!

Riot – “Bloodstreets” (from “ThunderSteel”, 1988)

4.5/5. This heavy power ballad would inspire some of Manowar's ballads and shows that there's a soft heart within the warrior's steel body. Still looking forward to listening to more of this band and expanding my metal time range to the late 70s.

Nightwish – “Sahara” (from “Dark Passion Play”, 2007)

5/5. The album this song is in is from the controversial Anette Olzon era...and I f***ing love this one! One of my favorite songs of the album along with "Whoever Brings The Night" and "Bye Bye Beautiful". Lyrics that remind some of Game of Thrones such as "May he now rest under Aegis of Mirage as sands slowly turn to Elysian Fields" prove that keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen is a lyrical genius. The pace also reminds of "Rise of Evil" by Sabaton. A perfect song as beautiful as the Tarja era!

Accept – “Stampede” (from “Blind Rage”, 2014)

5/5. Another attempt at checking out Riot-like classic heavy metal, this is an incredible song to love! The intense metal riffs are as intense as the bull in the album cover. Accept rules, and I ACCEPT this band!

Angra – “Evil Warning” (from “Angels Cry”, 1993)

5/5. I'm glad that I brought myself back to listening to a bit of this great band, but I'm sad that former vocals Andre Matos is gone. One of the most tragic things to happen since my departure from my epic metal taste, another one being Nightwish bassist/vocalist Marco Hietala's recent semi-retirement. At slightly over the 4-minute mark is an epic rendition of Vivaldi's "Winter". That and the Rhapsody-like intro guitar duel have conjured countless adventurous memories that have almost faded out since when I left my epic metal taste over 3 years ago, which I kinda regret after finding out about those aforesaid tragedies. I still miss the singer of this perfect glory... RIP

Visigoth – “Blades In The Night” (from “Conqueror’s Oath”, 2018)

4/5. A great attempt for epic heavy/power metal, but just doesn't reach perfect appeal. Next!

Machinae Supremacy – “All Of My Angels” (from “Rise Of A Digital Nation”, 2012)

4.5/5. Oh, the great memories of listening to this band and their 8-bit power metal! I almost cried from this power and emotion that I missed for so long. It's a shame that I moved past my earlier power metal taste, but I guess if I want 8-bit metal, I have HORSE the Band...

My thoughts on some tracks (including my suggested ones):

Tiamat – “Whatever That Hurts” (from “Wildhoney”, 1994)

4/5. This psychedelic gothic doom track starts off with strong guitar riffing that may be noticeable by Black Sabbath fans. Then it tones down to the calm without losing its punch. Great suggestion, Ben!

My Dying Bride – “For You” (from “Like Gods Of The Sun”, 1996)

4.5/5. Quite a more optimistically upbeat composition while still having the somber balladry My Dying Bride usually has. It remains another outstanding song with the help of the emotional vocals of Aaron. I don't know if I love this song or HIM's "For You" more. They're both great songs, though this MDB song is slower and that HIM song is more rock-ish with a bit of experimentation.

Paradise Lost – “Victim Of The Past” (from “The Plague Within”, 2015)

4/5. The guitar playing is in impressive aggressive territory, especially in the apocalyptic chorus with some of the fastest tapping and most furious growling ever by the band. That gives the song its own distinct identity compared to the others.

Katatonia – “Velvet Thorns (Of DrynWhyl)” (from “Dance Of December Souls”, 1993)

4.5/5. This is a 13-minute epic that marks the longest song ever made by Katatonia. Guitars slide back and forth through harmonies in uninterrupted hypnotic ambiance. Soon they pick up the pace with a small section of furious energy that's worth great headbanging, sounding a bit like old-school black metal. Then it's back to the slow death-doom, before ending with one of the most mystical keyboard-infused outros I've ever heard.

Cult Of Luna – “Wave After Wave” (from “The Raging River” E.P., 2021)

5/5. Another epic, doing exactly what the title says; hit you with wave after wave of massive flowing transcendence. An epic climax of weaving instrumentation fills up the last few minutes, keeping up the band's lucky album-ending streak.

Thanks Daniel for including this awesome album as this month's Revolution featured release! As soon as I think of ideal submissions for next month's The Fallen and The Guardians featured releases, they shall come to you privately. For now, here's my summary as a sneak peek for anyone to see if they're up for the listening challenge:

You know why I chose In Waves as my favorite Trivium album? Well during my original epic power metal taste a few years ago, I found the music video for the song "In Waves" on TV, then about a year later, the friend I told you about in my first forum thread introduced me to a heavier modern side of metal starting with this band. This album reminds me of how much I owe my friend for bringing my metal taste to a new era. But I can't simply say that this is my favorite album for my own personal reasons, that's so shallow! Fortunately, there's a lot of awesome stuff in this album that makes this Trivium album my ultimate favorite. After the melodic thrash The Crusade and the progressive thrash metalcore Shogun, In Waves marks the band's return to the metalcore roots of Ember to Inferno and Ascendancy. This is also their first album with drummer Nick Augusto, who replaced original drummer Travis Smith (not to be confused with heavy metal cover artist Travis Smith). Augusto has brought the drumming in Trivium to higher, faster levels. Instead of all songs having a balance between singing and screaming, a few songs have only screaming while a few other songs have just singing with very little screaming. I love both vocal styles and that's a new and less boring strategy (not that it was ever boring). You get to hear all that along with simply catchy riffs in 11/13 glorious songs (or 15/18 songs in the special edition). After hearing this album, I now see what an awesome astonishing album it is, and it's nice to once again hear the band's original metalcore sound along with a small bit of their epic progressive side. This album has surely brought in new fans and kept longtime fans. Anyone listening to metal for the first time? I highly suggest starting with this album. Trust me, you'll like it. Trivium, you da best!

5/5 (probably even 6/5)

Recommended songs: "In Waves", "Inception of the End", "Watch the World Burn", "Built to Fall", "Forsake Not the Dream"

For fans of (this album is so perfect that it can be for everyone, but just in case...): All That Remains, Lamb of God, 2000s Dark Tranquillity

I did my review, here's its summary:

From 1998 to 2000, Edguy vocalist Tobias Sammet was dreaming of starting his own metal opera project, and he knew that was the right time to fulfill his vision, with an explosion of new amazing bands and the rise of metal veterans from the late 80s. It was his greatest opportunity to collaborate with many different music from new and old bands from the power metal scene. He and his recruits have united for the massive project that is...Avantasia! The band members are each from many brilliant power metal bands; Tobias Sammet (Edguy), Henjo Richter (Gamma Ray), and Markus Grosskopf (Helloween), plus Rhapsody of Fire drummer Alex Holzwarth. Amazing stellar musicians, though the guest singers are awesome too, including former Helloween vocalist Michael Kiske (credited as "Ernie"), the harsh growls of Virgin Steele vocalist David DeFeis (NO, I don't mean death growls, I mean a bit like ZP Theart (DragonForce) having a cold that makes his voice as gravelly as Tom Waits), Ralf Zdiarstek, Within Temptation's Sharon den Adel, Rob Rock, At Vance vocalist Oliver Hartmann, Angra's Andre Matos (RIP), Gamma Ray vocalist Kai Hansen, and Stratovarius' Timo Tolkki who contributes spoken vocals. This powerhouse of musicians and vocalists help unleash the epicness of these songs, and would continue to shine in Part II. That's right, there a Metal Opera Part II!! The second part might be different but both parts have great content contributed by many musicians. A brilliant project thought of since the year Edguy's debut was released, 1997, The Metal Opera has done its part in saving metal from dying down and gave the genre and many bands more life!

5/5

I did my review, here's its summary:

Linkin Park was a band with elements of many genres combined into one back then. Turntable scratching, heavy yet simple riffing, big bass bursts, metalcore screaming, and fast meaningful rapping are all combined into their modern popular style of nu metal. They released their breakthrough debut Hybrid Theory, and they continued what they had in their greater second effort Meteora! This album is in some ways a sequel to Hybrid Theory. Just like that debut, Meteora is around 37 minutes long with 12 songs (this album has an intro that doesn't count), each at a length range from two and a half minutes to slightly over three and a half. However, each song continuously blends into one another, much more than their debut. You might be annoyed if you just wanna hear one song, but it's great because it sounds like a concept album to me. The stronger points are the good drumming and, of course, the vocals. Mike Shinoda continues his incredible poetic rapping and also put the songs together well as co-producer, while Chester Bennington has great singing range (RIP, my great dude). This album is pretty great, slightly better than Hybrid Theory while still not pushing the envelope a lot, and I'm almost completely over my pre-real-metal days of this band. Perhaps because of me enjoying this band before getting into "real" metal, I enjoy all 5 singles along with 3 other songs that all have powerful guitar, strong lyrics, and great vocals, despite the limited uniformity. The only weak songs are the promo single "Lying From You" and the remaining 3 songs (4 with the "Foreword"). Sadly, all albums after would not have as much heaviness as this album and Hybrid Theory. If you love Hybrid Theory, you can't miss Meteora. Might not sound the best, but it's worth it....

4/5

I finally got to listen to the other new Vektor song, "Dead by Dawn", and well... the first half is a clean Pink Floyd-like prog ballad while the second half continues Vektor's signature thrash, like a "Collapse/Ultimate Artificer 2.0" or something. My third least-favorite Vektor song behind "Collapse" and "Mountains Above the Sun" while still staying solid:

With that, I decided to check out the other band of the split EP, Cryptosis, and let me just say... They're like a Vektor-ized Revocation! Born out of the ashes of Distillator, the death-ish tech-thrash complexity they started developing along with Vektor-inspired sci-fi themes. Here's a great single from them, for fans of Vektor, Revocation, and Sadus:

I'm definitely up for contributing! This would be a great opportunity for active members to select their own valid feature releases for their own clans in a scheduled order of months. As for anyone missing, well the most recently active Sphere member is Chris Van Etten. Can you please PM him, asking if he would like to contribute to the Sphere feature releases? Thanks!

See, that’s kinda the problem. Many people are fine with death metal and heavy metal being secondary genres for Opeth and Dream Theater, and we don’t push them into primary genres. I mean, other than Opeth’s early 90s demos, I don’t think they would qualify as simply a death metal band. And is there anyone out there who thinks Dream Theater are traditional heavy metal? No! If those bands along with Between the Buried and Me, Meshuggah, Disillusion, and Persefone prefer to stay progressive metal without being pushed into a genre that they only have elements of, then that’s what it is. That’s why The Horde in Persefone’s Core has to go.

I think it's a good idea to differentiate the two different styles of progressive metal; the traditional melodic style of Dream Theater and Pain of Salvation, and the extreme death-ish style of Opeth and Meshuggah. That way, it would be easier to determine which bands a fan of one style but not the other would like. For example, I've already moved past most of the more melodic progressive metal style from my earlier epic metal taste, and I'm currently expanding on the more extreme side, so I would probably wanna continue finding those extreme progressive bands without stumbling upon the melodic ones that would've been more suitable for me like 5 years ago.

Progressive metal really is a genre that could easily blend with other metal genres because of how, well, progressive it is! In fact, pretty much half of the amount of bands I listen to are progressive in some way despite staying in their own genres in some or most of their albums. Edge of Sanity? Progressive. Enslaved? Progressive. After the Burial? Progressive. Coroner? PROGRESSIVE!!! So if we end up creating all the possible progressive metal subgenres, we would end up becoming the Prog Academy (sounds like a good progressive metal spin-off site we can make, just sayin')! The idea of just splitting progressive metal into a melodic side and an extreme side seems like a reasonable compromise to add to each progressive release so there wouldn't be that kind of trouble. And it can be possible for an album to be on both sides of progressive metal for anyone who wants the best of both worlds. "Images & Words"? Melodic progressive. "Blackwater Park"? Extreme progressive. "Core"? BOTH!! Finally, it's best for metalheads who like a metal genre but not progressive metal, whether or not it has elements of the genre they like, to stay in the clans they have. Progressive metal is a genre that should have its own sides without interfering with each other unless they feel up for that. Divided it stands!

Definitely! Here's what I think; there's an obvious difference between technical death metal and progressive death metal that some metalheads out there who think they're the same thing (WRONG) don't get. "Technical" has more focus on virtuosity of compositional capabilities, while "progressive" is all about new structures and sounds. Technical death metal has always been a death metal subgenre in The Horde with bands like the later Death, Atheist, Suffocation, and Pestilence. However, progressive death metal bands such as Between the Buried and Me, Opeth, Disillusion, Persefone are mostly in The Infinite, and it makes sense because while there are some death elements, the proof is in the progressiveness. So I say progressive death metal can be a subgenre to progressive metal and The Infinite with releases like Persefone's Core sitting there. Of course we would have to change the subgenre name so it doesn't get confused as a death metal subgenre instead of progressive metal. "Death-prog", anyone?

I've managed to review the February feature releases for all my clans plus The Sphere. Here are my ratings and a quick summary:

The Fallen: The Body - I've Seen All I Need to See (2021) 2/5

The Revolution: Inside the Beehive - Drink Bleach; Live Forever (2011) - 3/5

The Infinite: Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane (2002) - 5/5

The Guardians: Riot - ThunderSteel (1988) - 5/5

The Sphere: Godflesh - Godflesh (1988) - 5/5

The Body album was nothing but electronic drone noise I couldn't stand. The Inside the Beehive album is far out of my mostly melodic metalcore league, just like two other bands Gulch and Fawn Limbs, not to mention the album title that can offend a certain group of people (what would their next album title be, "Eat Tidepods, Be Immortal"?! Seriously just what's up with those guys?). The Pain of Salvation, Riot, and Godflesh releases are perfect examples of their respective genres! Remedy Lane was a grand trip down melodic progressive metal lane, the Godflesh EP has push my industrial metal game further with my newfound interest in that band, and ThunderSteel might be just be my entryway to the late 70s/early 80s of the Riot albums before that one, but please don't expect me to try the heavily popular classic heavy metal bands from that era like Iron Maiden and Motorhead...at least not until I feel ready. You have chosen some of the feature releases well again, Daniel!

Here are my overall ratings for the playlists I've reviewed this month (February):

1. Guardians playlist - 5/5 (number of songs commented: 5)

2. Fallen playlist - 4.5/5 (number of songs commented: 7)

3. Revolution playlist - 4.5/5 (number of songs commented: 12)

4. Infinite playlist - 4/5 (number of songs commented: 11 (formerly 17))

Another rewarding playlist month for me, though this time it's more about the quality than quantity. I love all 5 of the songs in the Guardians playlist including my own requests, though that's probably my earlier epic metal taste talking. The Fallen playlist has a decent amount of tracks I've commented that are very good. I reviewed a massive amount of tracks in the Revolution playlist, ranging from perfect to good to too incomprehensible for 4 stars or more. And I've managed to review all 17 songs from the Infinite playlist, but I ending cutting the list down to 11. Still a good month!

I've seen enough, heard enough, and described enough. Here's my review link: https://metal.academy/reviews/20056/25909

2/5

Thanks Daniel, but the album is still too far beyond my mostly melodic metalcore league, not to mention a title that would offend people with autism and their parents. Again I'm not into the ultra-grind-metalcore of this band and others such as Gulch and Fawn Limbs (Gaza is still OK for me though). I'm not gonna write a summary, I'm just gonna say the link to my review: https://metal.academy/reviews/19991/26049

3/5

A classic US heavy metal anthem for fans of Judas Priest, Running Wild & Helstar.

Great mid-paced ballad from a historical metal masterpiece!

I did my review, here's its summary:

Riot (V) has always powered up their riff machinery, with its velocity inspiring the development of speed metal. It is quite common to view Thundersteel as the older brother of Judas Priest's Painkiller in the kick-A aggression family. It brings complexity to their own genre that would inspire thrash's development. Thundersteel is the half-tank half-robot warrior standing tall to face enemy ground, while Painkiller is the aluminum knight riding a flying dragon motorcycle and taking to enemy skies. Tony Moore's high banshee-like vocals is what keeps the tank-robot warrior at berserk aggression with a gun powerful enough to blast off heads of enemies, leaving the survivors frightened. Mark Reale, the longest-standing member of the band until his 2012 passing (RIP), uses his guitar to power up the weapon to be used like a boss. Bobby Jarzombek's drumming charges up the robot's life power. Don Van Stavern keeps the tank wheels turning with his wicked bass. Together they power up the warrior to battle on through fast melodic songs, along with a heavy power ballad and a progressive epic. This turning point of metal history deserves to be listened to by fans of melodic speed/power metal, classic heavy metal, thrash metal and, more specifically, bands like Judas Priest, Manowar, and Iron Maiden. The power of heavy metal is alive, thanks to the fully-charged tank-robot warrior whose name is.... THUNDERSTEEL!!

5/5

So I decided to try reviewing another heavy metal album before I get to that Riot featured release, and the one I chose was Metallica's controversial hard rock/heavy metal album Reload. Half the amount of songs are pretty good, but the other half? Just some loads of rubbish, such as these two trash piles:

First Gateway stinker shared! Sure the intense guitar riffing is some of the best by Linkin Park, but UGH, the spiked tone in rapping and the bass are annoying as h*ll.

Nothing like a good journey through the memory lane of the alt-metal bands my brother and I used to listen to before I got into "real" metal. The first band to start my journey is the largely successful Linkin Park. While some songs are a bit weak, I definitely enjoy their first two albums' perfectly chosen singles for their first two albums like this one:

I also like a few of their non-single songs from those albums as well, here are a couple of them:

Persefone is one of those bands that I used to listen to quite a bit, with Aathma turning into my favorite release from them after initially listening to Spiritual Migration. Shin-Ken was an interesting concept album too, but I kind of fell out of them after a while. Never checked out Core though, and I think they're due for a revisit for sure.

How about Truth Inside the Shades? I enjoy that debut, though not as much as their other albums. However, their recent re-recording of that album is a grand improvement...

Only a small amount of metalheads have heard of Persefone, a progressive death metal band from a small nation between Spain and France, and that's a shame because their music is so d*mn good. Since Aathma was released in 2017 and the Truth Behind the Shades re-recording in 2020, I'm expecting a new album in the future and maybe also a re-recording of Core. But the original album Core is still an epic masterpiece, and I recommend it to many progressive metal listeners and fans including fellow Metal Academy members Ben, Daniel, MartinDavey87, saxystephens & Xephyr. That Persefone album is a practically unknown masterpiece that deserves to be heard worldwide!

PS: While this album is progressive death metal, it doesn't belong in The Horde. The amount of death in their progressive metal is only as much as other progressive bands like Between the Buried and Me, Opeth, and Disillusion. More info in this thread that is part of my special Horde removal judgement submission week: https://metal.academy/forum/28/thread/688

Very nice! I don't have my own Facebook account, so I just gave your Shameless Plug post a like, and I'll answer one of your questions there in this thread: Which artists/bands do you think are underrated?

Man, there are so many bands to choose from, but the one I'm gonna choose is... Persefone! Only a small amount of metalheads have heard of this progressive death metal band from a small nation between Spain and France, and that's a shame because their music is so d*mn good. More info about them in a couple Infinite threads...

Enslaved's ultimate fusion of styles from all their albums before this one:

OK, time for my suggestions for March's playlist. Since I'm currently the only active Revolution member, and you were able to accept all my suggestions for previous playlists when limited to 7, I'm gonna keep adding them at that limit, at least until we gain more active Revolution members.

All That Remains - "Tru-Kvlt-Metal" (from The Order of Things, 2015)

Betraying the Martyrs - "The Great Disillusion" (from The Resilient, 2017)

Botch - "Hives" (from American Nervoso, 1998)

The Dillinger Escape Plan - "Limerent Death" (from Dissociation, 2016)

God Forbid - "Antihero" (from Gone Forever, 2004)

Unearth - "One with the Sun" (from Extinction(s), 2018)

Veil of Maya - "Dark Passenger" (from [id], 2010)

Here are my suggestions for March's playlist, Daniel. This time, because of the February Infinite playlist being so great that I reviewed all 17 of its songs (later cut down to just 11), I'm gonna try suggesting 4 songs instead of 3, with this first one being the ultimate test of pushing that limit:

Cult of Luna - "Vicarious Redemption" (from Vertikal, 2013)

OK here's the thing about that Cult of Luna song. "Vicarious Redemption" is a long post-/progressive metal epic that I love so much and wanna find it in a playlist. I don't know if you would approve of that song going into this playlist because it's pretty close to the 20-minute limit, and you've learned your lesson after denying my earlier suggestion for a Solstafir epic, but it's a good test to see if you're OK with this one and can accept 4 suggestions rather than just 3 for The Infinite. Here are my other 3:

Devin Townsend - "Sky Blue" (from Z², 2014)

Evergrey - "In Remembrance" (from Monday Morning Apocalypse, 2006)

Pain of Salvation - "Ending Theme" (from Remedy Lane, 2002)

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

Angra - "Evil Warning" (from Angels Cry, 1993)

Blind Guardian - "Sacred Worlds" (from At the Edge of Time, 2010)

Machinae Supremacy - "All of My Angels" (from Rise of a Digital Nation, 2012)

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

Katatonia - "Velvet Thorns (of Drynwhyl)" (from Dance of December Souls, 1993)

My Dying Bride - "For You" (from Like Gods of the Sun, 1996)

Paradise Lost - "Victim of the Past" (from The Plague Within, 2015)

Isn't it a little odd how my two favorite Enslaved tracks from their Viking/black metal era are both their longest epic and their shortest non-interlude song? "Urtical Gods" has extreme atmosphere for the Vikings to wipe out their enemies...

A 16-minute epic of Viking/black metal, hinting at the progressive direction that made me like this band more than I would have about 5 years ago (though I'm not into the vocal reverb):

For my track thoughts here, I originally commented on all of the 17 tracks here because there are so many bands I like and songs from bands that I might like. However, I realized that my comments on some of the songs from bands that I used to and still listen to were outdated, most of which were copied from my own reviews and my opinions on those songs have changed since then. I might give them up and sacrifice their discographies to make room for newer bands eventually if I feel like it, God forbid (NOT one of those bands). So I cut my amount of reviewed tracks to just 11 and rearranged the order of songs here to sound more complete. Here they are:

Meshuggah – “Shed” (from “Catch Thirtythree”, 2005)

4/5. This is the only song from Catch Thirtythree that fits well as a single and a good introductory song for new Meshuggah fans. They unleash their djent action but get more eerie and melodic over the brutal groove.

Angel Vivaldi – “A Martian Winter” (from “Universal Language” E.P., 2011)

4.5/5. Interesting attempt at a djent version of Antonio Vivaldi's 4 Seasons. I kinda love this phenomenal blend of djent and neoclassical shredding. So extraordinary intense, but I'm just not into the whole neoclassical metal motive anymore...

Devin Townsend – “Christeen” (from “Christeen (Plus Four Demos)” E.P., 1998)

3.5/5. Keeping up the "classical-poppy second track" trademark from Ocean Machine, the chorus sounds a little cheesy where the only other repeated lyric is "That's all I ask of you", a little too much like that Phantom of the Opera song. Fortunately, the nice intense bridge is a good lead-in to the final chorus.

Armia – “Wyludniacz” (from “Triodante”, 1994)

3/5. Umm... OK. This is kind of just Voivod-like punky progressive metal with small horn sections, and the lyrics are all in Polish. This song is decent, but with these odd horn sections and Polish lyrics, Armia might not be the band I'm looking for.

The Reticent – “Stage 2: The Captive” (from “The Oubliette”, 2020)

4.5/5. This one's much better, like holy cr*p, listen to those fantastic blended dynamics! I found another powerful underrated band sounding influenced from the older Opeth with a bit of Riverside. Outstanding legends! It's a good bite of powerful prog metal, but I kinda wish it would last longer. The Rivers of Nihil-like heaviness is amazing, but at the two-minute mark, the saxophone is unnecessary and there should've been a guitar solo there instead. Maybe those are the flaws there. Oh well...

Sólstafir – “Ótta” (from “Ótta”, 2014)

4.5/5. For this song's scenario, like the old man in the cover art, you wander around the beach at the dark dawn with just a sliver of sunlight from the horizon beyond the sea. This song is quite amazing, a sad yet serene song that you kinda consider an ambient doomy bluegrass metal ballad. The theme riff being reprised at under the 4 minute-mark and close to the 8-minute mark at h*lla incredible!

Oranssi Pazuzu – “Uusi teknokratia” (from “Mestarin kynsi”, 2020)

4/5. A killer epic of psychedelic black metal to end the playlist, but...NAH. It is killer, but this sounds closer to black metal if most of the metal heaviness was replaced with psychedelic jazz. Great song, but a poor mix of genres.

Lör – “Ruin” (from “Edge Of Eternity”, 2020)

4/5. Sounds amazing as f***, but this unorthodox mix of extreme progressive metal with folk tendencies doesn't quite level up so much enjoyment. It kinda ruins the good memories of my earlier epic metal taste and makes me glad I moved out of there.

Shadow Gallery – “Crystalline Dream” (from “Carved In Stone”, 1995)

5/5. Having tried listening to this band a few times about 5 years ago in my high-school-age years, I decided right now's a great time to try again, and it paid off! Mike Baker sounds like one of the best singers of progressive metal with fantastic clean-singing magic, but sadly he's gone. RIP... Who knows how many years until their next album after this last one that was released over a decade ago? I don't know, hopefully not too long. I just love this great piece of old-school prog metal, no question about it. They're another great band utilizing Dream Theater influences. The world needs more of their music that has dropped jaws, especially that mind-blowing keyboard solo. This is so good, I just hope to get more of this band soon...

Enslaved – “Jettegryta” (from “Utgard”, 2020)

4.5/5. A gigantic-sounding progressive black metal song! More about that in a review I might make for its album Utgard.

Ainsoph – “The Long & Self-Destructive Road” (from “Ω – V”, 2020)

4/5. Amazing, but I'm not into the avant-garde blackgaze sh*t. Let's wrap this up...

Despite the massive cutdown, this is still an amazing playlist, and I'm glad to comment on a great number of tracks. Thanks again for these great playlists, Daniel, and let's hope for more submission participation from the other members for many more to come...

I have not listened to that Deftones album or any of their albums entirely, but I remember a song and music video that I watched on TV 5 years ago that are both pretty cool:

Two killer bands I now enjoy, from the industrial sludge of Godflesh...

...to the Russian-sung Finnish sludgy doom of KYPCK: