Shadowdoom9 (Andi)'s Forum Replies

This is for The Gateway members. Two alternative metal releases in 2019, each from a band with an entirely different metal past! Which one has the greater edge? Choose one and explain the reason!

Cool list idea, Ben! I'm gonna list some albums from one or two of the lists here that I'm both thrilled and surprised about. Of course I mean the good kind of surprised, not the criticizing surprised. I'll start with some albums from SilentScream's list and one of the albums from Daniel's list.

"Thrilling" albums:

Before the Dawn - Rise of the Phoenix

Kamelot - Karma

Persefone - Spiritual Migration (d*mn, I should've added that album to my Top 55 Favorite albums, but I guess I should've also listened to that band more often)

Septicflesh - Codex Omega

Katatonia - Brave Murder Day

My Dying Bride - Turn Loose The Swans

"Surprising" albums:

Anathema - Eternity/Alternative 4 (the two transition albums out of their greater gothic death-doom darkness into the alt-prog rock light)

Lacuna Coil - Black Anima (in their new alt-metal era instead of their greater gothic metal past)

In Flames - Come Clarity (in their new alt-metal era instead of their greater melodeath past)

Modern technical death metal mixed with mid-80s-esque thrash metal. If anyone here is a fan of thrash bands like Sodom and Slayer and tech-death bands like Anata and Rivers of Nihil, plus a bit of Vektor, and wonders what they all would sound like mixed together, here ya go!

I just became more interested in two of the bands from The Fallen Gothic Metal Modern Era Clan Challenge, and they were two bands that I tested out listening to a few songs from them in my earlier epic metal taste but wasn't into them until now. I've finally realized their gothic glory!

Update on my list, now at a whopping top 55 favorite albums! Why did I extend the list that high, you may ask? This video, that's why:

This guy, Bruno Terrosa made a list of 55 favorite metal/punk albums, one per each band, and I thought "Hey I have more than 55 bands I listen to, I can make a list that big too!" Well this is not a competition, I just felt like making a more complete list of my favorite metal albums. For my list, I'll include most of the bands in my current heavier modern era, and the ones that are left out are the ones I for some reason listen to less frequently. And just to make writing the list easier, I'll also alphabetize it instead of ranking it from worst to best. So let's get this list going from A to Z!

1. All That Remains - Overcome (2008)

2. Amaranthe - Amaranthe (2011)

3. Anata - The Conductor's Departure (2006)

4. At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul (1995)

5. August Burns Red - Constellations (2009)

6. Ava Inferi - Onyx (2011)

7. Before the Dawn - Rise of the Phoenix (2012)

8. Between the Buried and Me - Colors (2007)

9. Bleeding Through - Love Will Kill All (2018)

10. Born of Osiris - The Discovery (2011)

11. Bullet for My Valentine - The Poison (2005)

12. Charon - Songs for the Sinners (2005)

13. Converge - Jane Doe (2001)

14. Cynic - Focus (1993)

15. Darkest Hour - Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation (2003)

16. Demon Hunter - The World is a Thorn (2010)

17. Draconian - Arcane Rain Fell (2005)

18. Edge of Sanity - Crimson I+II (1996/2003) (both work better as one full 2-part suite)

19. God Forbid - IV: Constitution of Treason (2005)

20. Gojira - L'Enfant Sauvage (2012)

21. HIM - Venus Doom (2007)

22. Ice Nine Kills - The Silver Scream (2018)

23. In Flames - The Jester Race (2006)

24. In Mourning - Shrouded Divine (2008)

25. Katatonia - Brave Murder Day (1996)

26. Lamb of God - Ashes of the Wake (2004)

27. Leprous - Tall Poppy Syndrome (2009)

28. Lord - Fallen Idols (2019)

29. Make Them Suffer - Neverbloom (2012)

30. Mastodon - Leviathan (2004)

31. Maudlin of the Well - Bath (2001)

32. Meshuggah - Catch Thirty-Three (2005)

33. Moonspell - Irreligious (1996)

34. My Dying Bride - Turn Loose the Swans (1993)

35. Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I (2012)

36. Nevermore - Dead Heart in a Dead World (2000)

37. Paradise Lost - Draconian Times (1995)

38. Parkway Drive - Horizons (2007)

39. Protest the Hero - Kezia (2005)

40. Revocation - Existence is Futile (2009)

41. Septicflesh - Codex Omega (2017)

42. Seventh Wonder - Mercy Falls (2008)

43. Shadows Fall - The War Within (2004)

44. The Contortionist - Exoplanet (2010)

45. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity (1999)

46. The Ocean - Pelagial (2013)

47. Threat Signal - Under Reprisal (2006)

48. Tiamat - Wildhoney (1994)

49. Trivium - In Waves (2011)

50. Type O Negative - October Rust (1996)

51. Veil of Maya - [id] (2010)

52. Vektor - Black Future (2009)

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

54. Unearth - The Oncoming Storm (2004)

55. Within the Ruins - Elite (2013)

Update on my 2005 list, but with a different twist! I was inspired by Ben's "anniversary section" idea (15 years today) to update my list to the top 4 albums per clan.

And yes I know, I've included The Horde, not The Guardians. Since The Guardians has a huge array of power metal bands from my earlier epic metal taste, it would cause some unfair competition against my other clans in which most of them suit my current heavier modern era. Hence replacing The Guardians with my former clan The Horde! Anyway, here's my best of 2005 for each of those clans (plus I'm ranking the clans themselves):

Clan #4: The Horde

4. Children of Bodom - Are You Dead Yet?

3. Scar Symmetry - Symmetric in Design

2. Arch Enemy - Doomsday Machine

1. Dark Tranquillity - Character

Clan #3: The Fallen

4. The Ocean - Aeolian

3. Paradise Lost - Paradise Lost

2. Charon - Songs for the Sinners

1. Draconian - Arcane Rain Fell

Clan #2: The Infinite

4. Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor

3. Meshuggah - Catch Thirty-Three

2. Gojira - From Mars to Sirius

1. Between the Buried and Me - Alaska

Clan #1: The Revolution

4. God Forbid - IV: Constitution of Treason

3. Demon Hunter - The Triptych

2. Bullet for My Valentine - The Poison

1. Trivium - Ascendancy

Update on my list (it's been a couple months):

Classic oldies: 

1990: Paradise Lost - Lost Paradise 

1991: Meshuggah - Contradictions Collapse 

1992: Edge of Sanity - Unorthodox 

1993: My Dying Bride - Turn Loose the Swans  

1994: Tiamat - Wildhoney 

1995: At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul 

1996: Katatonia - Brave Murder Day 

1997: In Flames - Whoracle 

Old-school but newer: 

1998: Meshuggah - Chaosphere 

1999: Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black 

2000: In Flames - Clayman 

2001: Converge - Jane Doe 

2002: Shadows Fall - The Art of Balance 

2003: Darkest Hour - Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation 

2004: Converge - You Fail Me 

2005: Trivium - Ascendancy 

Higher original quality: 

2006: Persefone - Core 

2007: Between the Buried and Me - Colors 

2008: In Mourning - Shrouded Divine 

2009: Revocation - Existence is Futile 

2010: Underoath - Ø (Disambiguation) 

2011: Trivium - In Waves 

2012: Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence 

2013: The Ocean - Pelagial 

New and improved: 

2014: Ne Obliviscaris - Citadel 

2015: Bullet for My Valentine - Venom 

2016: Vektor - Terminal Redux 

2017: Septicflesh - Codex Omega 

2018: Rivers of Nihil - Where Owls Know My Name 

2019: Lord - Fallen Idols 

2020 (first half): Trivium - What the Dead Men Say 

2020 albums I'm looking forward to getting: 

Avatar - Hunter Gatherer 

Amaranthe - Manifest 

Draconian - Under a Godless Veil

Protest The Hero - Palimpsest

Protest The Hero are back with their first new album since 2013. I'm going to be putting quite a bit of time into this one, I like what I hear. I've really warmed up to Protest over the years, so this should be exciting. 

Their comeback album after 7 years (or 4 years if including Pacific Myth)! Upon hearing this album's two singles, I can hear how mind-blowing this is gonna be for both longtime and new fans (me being in the latter category). Can't wait to hear the rest soon. Hardcore-ish progressive metal coming our way!

I have another idea to suggest, Ben. Another member just joined the Metal Academy, named Dani. Nothing wrong with that...except there's another member named Dani!

It can be quite confusing to have two members named Dani, in case one of them is good and the other is evil (not black metal evil, just bad evil). There's a reason why there can't be two accounts with the same name in email websites like gmail and MMORPGs like RuneScape, and that's because they don't wanna cause massive confusion. On top of that, as all of you here know, one of the site's founding brothers is similarly named, Daniel! I'm not judging any names, I'm just saying that if two or three people have the same name, they should have a different username to not confuse people. So my suggestion is: Ben, please PM the two members named Dani and ask them each to change their username, either by changing it to something different, adding another part of their username (for example, "Dani Filth"), or their full name (unless they wanna keep it private). Then once they changed their names, please implement a new rule saying that new accounts can't have the same username as other accounts. OK thanks!

If I'm a huge fan of power metal, but REALLY don't like death metal, I'm probably not going to think very highly of the artwork found on the majority of death metal releases. Let's go with a really well-known cover like Cannibal Corpse's Tomb of the Mutilated. There will undoubtedly be death metal fans that rate that cover 5 out of 5 and think it's awesome, but how many site users that aren't into the more extreme genres of metal would consider it to be a good cover? The same logic could be applied the other way. How do you think those same death metal fans will rate the cover of power metal albums like Twilight Force's Heroes of Mighty Magic?

As a fan of album covers in the "epic" category and avoiding any of the gory ones, I would give covers from power metal bands like Twilight Force high ratings but leave alone covers from death metal bands like Cannibal Corpse. Though there are some melodeath bands with covers that I would consider epic, like Amon Amarth's Twilight of the Thunder God. You might already know this from an earlier thread, but I also enjoy abstract covers from progressive metal bands like Between the Buried and Me and dark but not too graphic covers from metalcore bands like Bleeding Through. In my opinion, those deserve 4/4.5/5-star ratings!

I've just listened to and reviewed both of those 2004 Sphere albums, and I consider them both good 4-star releases that help shape up industrial metal into the modern times. But the one I prefer is... Houses of the Mole! Yeah, I prefer that Ministry album which has a killer mix of industrial riffs with the energy of modern extreme metal that I'm more used to. Rammstein's Reise Reise is good too, but it's a little hard to understand because of the lyrics being mostly German, not to mention ranging from horrific ("Mein Teil") to humorous ("Keine Lust"). Of course, there is some good powerful riffing in the epic title track and the fancy dance-y "Moskau". Anyway, Ministry makes my vote!

Houses of the Mole - 1

Reise Reise - 1

Hey there, Chris! Since you're really into the Jesus Built My Hotrod 12” by Ministry, I'm gonna recommend to you a cover of that song by Burn the Priest (Lamb of God). It has a greater groove feeling while they managed to keep the fast industrial sound of the original and make it sound heavier. I guarantee you would have a fun blast and you can even share it with Rebecca, I assume your sister? Girlfriend/wife? Sorry if I sound personally interrogating there... Anyway, enjoy this!

A true gothic doom anthem from the Portuguese masters of gothic metal:

The ultimate metalcore epic! Say no more and listen more:

I did my review! Here's its summary:

Jane Doe is considered to be Converge's greatest achievement, and that sounds just about right! Everything is in a seamless flow as each band member pours out all their emotion to be able to fuse together this math-metalcore classic album. They have their signature intense screaming vocals, crushing guitar riffs, insane drumming, beautiful undecipherable lyrics, and strongly present killer bass, all put in this perfect cauldron of hardcore metal madness! What's brilliant about Jane Doe is not only the great tracks but also how they flow into a superb concept album. Is this a concept album? Probably... The lyrics focus on heartbreak and separation, whereas the music is powerful enough to pin you to the wall and start punching you in the head and kicking you in the b*lls until you're bleeding and begging for mercy. Proceed with caution! Everything to show you what extreme hardcore is all about can be found from its one-minute "intro" to its glorious 11 and a half minute title epic. I would recommend this ultimate metalcore masterpiece to fans of music that is intelligent, emotional, and brutal. You have to make a full listening experience to put it in the best part of your metalcore collection. Jane Doe ain't anonymous no more!

5/5

Continuing the tournament from the original DIS vs DAT Thread - The Sphere Edition, here are two Sphere albums released in 2004. I haven't listened to any of these albums myself, so this is up to listeners of these albums to decide. Which one of these albums with a different subgenre has the greater edge? Choose one and explain the reason!

Industrial metal:

Neue Deutsche Härte:

Yeah great track. The highlight of "Petitioning the Empty Sky" in my opinion along with closer "Color Me Blood Red".

"Color Me Blood Red" is another great highlight that ends the album (not including the live tracks). Some of the albums I like the best are the ones in which the two best songs are the first track (including intro) and the last track (including outro) because then I can hear its perfection for a promising start and, at the same time, I want the last song to end the album in a satisfying bang with no disappointing flaws at all. Start with the best, end with another best! I call that technique "The Perfect Metal Album Storm". More info about that in a different later thread...

Incubus' Serpent Temptation (1988)

Given I'd never given this band a go previously, I have to say that I'm stunned at how great this is. Ripping thrash metal with lots of great riffs and blast beats. I can understand why it's often listed as death metal due to its intensity, but the vast majority of the riffs are pure thrash. If it wasn't for the somewhat lacking vocals, this could rate even higher than the 4 stars I'm giving it. If you're into the more intense side of thrash (think Morbid Saint and early Kreator and Sadus), then you owe it to yourself to check this album out.

4 out of 5 stars!

Fun fact: When Incubus reformed after an 8-year split, it had to be under the new name Opprobrium because of the alt-funk rock/metal band Incubus. I don't listen to any of those two Incubus bands, but about the alt-funk rock/metal band Incubus, I absolutely agree that their first two albums (Fungus Amongus and S.C.I.E.N.C.E.) are what metal fans really want from that band. Scr*w "Drive"!!

You might not wanna inhale the toxic hardcore punk debut album Halo in a Haystack by the band who would later pioneer metalcore Converge, especially this song to avoid:

Update due to Sonny's vote:

Skeptics Apocalypse - 1

To Mega Therion - 2

I've just listened to and reviewed both of those 1985 Pit albums, and I consider them both great strong 4.5/5 classics that were important turning points in the development of their respective genres back then. But the one I prefer is... Skeptics Apocalypse! Yeah, I prefer Agent Steel's debut which pleasantly brings back a few flashbacks to the late 80s speedy power metal I used to listen to. Celtic Frost's To Mega Therion may fit in as thrash metal but is known for influencing extreme genres like death metal and black metal and that doesn't suit my anti-blasphemous interests. So yeah, Skeptics Apocalypse it is for me!

Skeptics Apocalypse - 1

To Mega Therion - 1

Time for a few more songs in a different one of my clans, past and present!

A band from The Fallen Modern Era clan challenge that I started listening to, celebrating gaining The Fallen as my 4th clan:

A band I've recently submitted to the site that I've became interested in, which has a bit of The Horde while mostly in The Revolution):

And a song from a new album from one of my favorite Revolution bands (can you believe I got the digital edition while the physical version was delayed releasing?):

I finished my May 22 extra credit album challenge!! Here's my stat check:

My Dying Bride (the two extra credit albums) - 4.5

Mystic Prophecy - Fireangel - 3.5

Neaera - Omnicide: Creation Unleashed - 4

So yeah, that's it with my unofficial Metal Evolution band challenge, 3 months after I created it! Amazing, right?! But in July, I actually have one more bigger band challenge to more properly test my interests in all metal genres I've enjoyed, past and present. I'll make and post that challenge for anyone to try, but I won't start doing it myself until July because of my break throughout the rest of June. Coming tomorrow....

And the winner of part 2 is... Spheres, three to one!! Pestilence wins the tournament!

I did my review already, here's a summary:

Type O Negative was a band known for creating some of the most romantic dramatic gothic metal you would ever hear, first getting some impact in Bloody Kisses then later gaining lots of praise in this album, the impeccable October Rust, which is a major improvement in terms of direction, music, and a few Easter eggs. This album can relieve stress with a more gothic rock atmosphere and keyboards while the doom metal elements grow. Despite the suspicious drum machine, I still enjoy the drumming and don't care if its programmed. Josh Silver did a good job implementing pretty keyboards layers and samples, while Peter Steele and Kenny Hickey added choral distortion effect to their bass and guitars, making them more powerful. Peter also sings with more melody. Oh how I'm gonna miss his deep vocals... Many of the songs range from mainly catchy gothic singles to a few long doom monsters, plus a few pointless interludes. Fortunately, this album's perfect 5-star rating is never deducted. It's all about the unique creativity of the band and the album. The majority of October Rust is more gothic metal than doom metal, unlike the band's earlier albums, and has a greater diverse balance of darkness and humor. Type O Negative had never disappointed their fans. Enjoy this gothic metal masterpiece, and until next time, take it easy!

RIP Peter Steele

5/5

Update due to Macabre Eternal's vote:

Spheres - 3

Skydancer - 1

Wow, you guys really like some of Pestilence's albums! That was another easy round! I'll give it 24 hours since the last vote in case someone else here wants a chance to vote, then I might announce the winner of round 2 and then start a new round with two different bands. Stay tuned for tomorrow...

Update due to Chinese Whispers' vote:

Spheres - 2

Skydancer - 1

For me, definitely Skydancer. It is one of the very first melodic death metal albums, though The Gallery would receive more credit. I agree about the noticeable differences in the melodeath sound they started to develop at the time that might put off later Dark Tranquillity fans, but I like it, just not in the same "classic" kind of level as some of their later albums. And of course, you know me as that guy whose favorite death metal genre is melodeath and wouldn't listen to technical death unless it's more technical than death (Cynic (1993), Anata, River of Nihil), not the other way around (Dying Fetus, Nile, Pestilence). I’ll add in my vote along with yours, Daniel:

Spheres - 1

Skydancer - 1

And the winner of part 1 is... Consuming Impulse, three to zero! So for part 2, let's take Pestilence 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 death metal subgenres for this round! So here are two Horde albums released in 1993. Which one of these albums with a different death metal subgenre has the greater edge? Choose one and explain the reason!

Technical death metal:

Melodic death metal:

OMG I DID IT YAY!!! I finished The Fallen Gothic Metal Modern Era Clan Challenge, and completed my Clan Challenge quest for the 4th clan! It was quite a lot of hard work throughout these first 5 months of 2020, but it was a real pleasure. Of course I'm still in the "review challenge" zone with another short unofficial band challenge that I'm gonna do starting tomorrow (https://metal.academy/forum/23/thread/318?page=1#topic_3054). Afterwards, I'll take a well-deserved break from the review challenging action during the remainder of June. Then in July, I actually have one more bigger band challenge to more properly test my interests in all metal genres I've enjoyed, past and present. I'll make and post that challenge about a week from now for anyone to try, but I won't starting doing it myself until July because of my break throughout the rest of June. Anyway, I'll take the moment to write a little list of acknowledgements for my metal journey so far:

Thanks to Daniel and Ben, the founding brothers of Metal Academy whom I really appreciate all this hard work and dedication in making this site for the metal community.

Thanks to all fellow members of this site for their improving contributions and, along with Ben and Daniel, supporting my metal taste and bringing back pieces of my past.

Thanks to my YouTube mate Danny Ultrawiz (https://metal.academy/forum/23/thread/402) for helping me expand my metal horizons to add more heaviness to my melody.

Thanks to my brother who started my entire metal interest. Seriously, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have been interested in metal, nor would I know this site, and instead I would probably be trapped in the radio-pop hole by now. Thank greatness my brother came to get me into metal, the place in the music world where I really am today.

Once again I'm glad and grateful for my metal interest to take me this far and lead me to a website where I can do stuff like share my metal tastes, do metal-related ice-breaking forum activities, rate releases from my favorite metal bands, discover different bands I might like, and push myself to the limit to do reviewing challenges with the founders and other site members supporting me from the sides. This is so f***ing amazing!! So yeah, recapping what I'm gonna do next: short unofficial challenge, break throughout most of June, ultimate unofficial band challenge in July. Thanks again all my fellow metalheads! Peace - shadowdoom9/Andi

PS: Daniel, if you're reading this, please alert Ben about it when he's back from his few-day family holiday so he can confirm my lock-in and reward me that 4th clan. Thanks!

Update due to Daniel's vote:

Consuming Impulse - 3

Horrified - 0

WOW, 3 points already!!! That was fast and easy! I guess I won't have to listen to those two albums for my own vote after all (Whew!!). I'll give it another 24 hours in case someone else here wants a chance to vote, then I might announce the winner of round 1 and then start round 2. Stay tuned for tomorrow...

Update due to Macabre Eternal's vote:

Consuming Impulse - 2

Horrified - 0

Update due to Chinese Whispers' vote:

Consuming Impulse - 1

Horrified - 0

I might give both releases a listen myself to vote which one I think is greater to carry on with the game, but not right now because I'm still doing The Fallen Gothic Metal Modern Era challenge and plan on doing another one of my own extra credit review challenges afterwards. I'll be able to listen to and review those two Horde releases in a week or so.

*shudders at the obscene blasphemy I might soon face*

The French spoken part in this song from one of The Fallen Modern Era albums is so awful that I don't even... Y'know, maybe I'm just not into spoken narrations in gothic metal, yeah that must be it.

For this round, we'll try a couple releases I've listened to myself, one of which I've done only for a Clan Challenge. If you have been following my journey through some of the Revolution Clan Challenges, you probably know which one I like better, but I won't tell you until I get at least one or a few responses. So here are two Revolution albums released in 2007. Which one of these albums with a different genre has the greater edge? Choose one and explain the reason!

Metalcore:

Melodic metalcore:

For this round, we'll try a couple more well-known releases which, even though I haven't listened to them myself, I guarantee some of you Infinite members have listened to them before. So here are two Infinite albums released in 2001. Which one of these albums with a different genre has the greater edge? Choose one and explain the reason!

Avant-garde metal:

Progressive metal:

Update due to Daniel's vote:

Skeptics Apocalypse - 0

To Mega Therion - 1

I might give both releases a listen myself to vote which one I think is greater, but not right now because I'm still doing The Fallen Gothic Metal Modern Era challenge and plan on doing another one of my own extra credit review challenges afterwards. I'll be able to listen to and review those two Pit releases in...two weeks, maybe?

One of only a few great songs from a gothic melodeath album I was reviewing as part of The Fallen Gothic Metal Modern Era Challenge. Not really an album or band I would recommend for myself, but this one's for fans of Dark Tranquillity, Charon, and a bit of Ava Inferi: