ABCs Challenge

[HamburgerBoy]

Yeah, good underrated album. Shadow of Death is almost like a prototypical melodeath song.

Glenn Tipton - Baptizm of Fire [1997]

Avoided this one for a long time because I heard it was shit, but I recently heard Painkiller again after a while and it was almost like the first time all over again, noticed all sorts of amazing riffs and stuff I never had before, and the leads still blow me away. Anyways, I thought that this might be one of those weird maligned albums that actually has something kind of unique and interesting about it. Nope, this is garbage. I'm only on track 5 right now tbh but I can't imagine it getting much better from here, one shitty Paint it Black cover and four grungy groovy things, and he can't sing worth shit, fuck this. 2/10.

 

[The Ozzman]

"Pull Me Under" was surprisingly full of angst in a bad way.

Well, Hamlet was full of angst too and that song is about the play so it makes sense.

 

[Elric of Melniboné]

I can see that, but it's interpreted through a very immature lens and is pretty insufferable if you ask me. The lame vocals don't help at all either.

 

[Phylactery]

Well shit, I was actually going to try to do this challenge but HamburgerBoy is on a spree and it looks like he's got this.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Plenty of forum to go around friendo.

Hellias - Closed in the Fate Coffin [1991]

Decided to glance over ClassicThrash and TheThrashMetalGuide's entries under H for something old-school I wasn't familiar with. Never even heard of these guys, Polish thrash. Described on both websites as darker and a bit unusual, I just kinda hear slower and moderately 88-90 period Slayer stuff. Vocalist is a little like Schmier though and there are some melodic interludes and odd-time riffs for the seeming sake of it that vaguely remind me of the Slayer-goes-proggish Czech band Anachronic. Those parts are dragged down by a lot of repetitive triplet chugging though. Not bad, but not really good enough that I'll give it a second chance any time soon to see if it grows. 4/10.

Inanna - Transfigured in a Thousand Delusions [2012]

This is how contemporary prog death should be done. A few melodeath riffs and slightly sappy bits, but it always stays busy and works for me, nice incorporation of a little black metal riffing to set a mood too. Despite many songs exceeding seven minutes nothing feels particularly overlong or repetitive. Vague Bolzer vibes actually. Starting with a somewhat conservative 7/10, not sure if this is still quite the style that I would ever love, but it's definitely good.

 

[Elric of Melniboné]

Ereb Altor - By Honour

6/10

Reasonably cool Viking doom thing. Not outstanding.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Johnny Touch - Inner City Wolves [2014]

Danke again to FuneraryDoom for submitting these guys for one of the metal themes. Black Company is probably still the highlight on first impression, but this whole thing is pretty damn great melodic trad with subtly progressive arrangements and quality intricate riffage. Radiation Axeposure (awesome title) and End of Daze seem almost as good. Stargazer should just break up and dedicate all their effort on this. 8/10.

Krabathor - Orthodox [1998]

Clinical but very effective death metal with just the right amounts of thrash and groove. This is the kind of album that I could potentially get sick of very quickly, or that could become a strong staple work/background album. The song To Red Ones has a shitty chorus and is overlong, but otherwise I'm digging this. 30 minutes long is the perfect length too, fuck all these other bands that think you need anything longer. 7/10.

Macrocosmic Emotions - Her Soft Emotional Announcement [1998]

I've been looking for this one and their last album forever, glad they've finally made it to the internet. Their first album from 1995 is basically a really weird kind of ambient thrash, total outsider metal. First impression, this developed the sound to a level of competency that almost validates it. Lots of cheap MIDI keyboards and chord progressions that feel more electronic in origin, but the riffs are still reasonably propulsive and the songs don't feel tedious and repetitive. I think this will grow on me, 6/10 for now.

 

[The Ozzman]

Eluveitie - Slania

Wow. I did not like this album at all when it first came out but there are some solid ideas on this album and this will be revisited again soon

6/10 from a preliminary listen. I'm starting to get an interest in folkier elements of music and Celtic influence so this might be a good start

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Neuromist – Move of Thought [2010]

Sometimes thrashy, sometimes djeny tech-death. Has qualities that might ordinarily make it sound cheap or off (very dry guitar tone, kinda amateur vox) but the performance is tight enough that it doesn’t sound as cookie-cutter as a lot of tech-death feels, although the songs aren’t generic either. Super choppy and rhythmic, no lameass 90s Death meloshit or anything here, though there are hints of Watchtower that I appreciate. Maybe comparable to Pestilence’s Spheres, but much more technical and riff-focused. Mechanical. A couple brief mild missteps but overall a good first impression, 7/10.

Obituary – The End Complete [1992]

I’ll admit that Cause of Death did grow on me a bit with many repeated listenings, but I’m still going to call this one boring for now. Fuck Scott Burns so much. Like does a song Back to One sound heavy to anyone anymore? It sounds like a very basic thrash metal song in death metal tuning with a totally hollow sound. When will people admit that the first wave of death metal died just as soon after its inception as thrash metal, if not even sooner? I’m in Pain and Sickness are the only ones that sound like they took more than five minutes to come up with, shit this is some tedious music. 3/10.

 

[Elric of Melniboné]

Falcon - Falcon

8/10

A good heavy rock album with some good callbacks to Cirith Ungol. "Shelob's Lair" is fantastic.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Protector – The Heritage [1993]

A lot cleaner than I expected, this almost sounds more like early 2000s Destruction or Exodus or something, thick chunky grooves and really wiry guitar tone, although consistently faster and heavier. I take it back, Convicts on the Street is some kind of blues-swing-thrash that would perfectly replace a Throwing Down. Overall, damn solid stuff, I was expecting a continuation of the dry death metal sound of A Shedding of Skin, but this was a nice surprise. 7/10.

Quick Change – Unreleased EP [1990]

Shitty letter, so I’ll just try a short release from a shitty obscure band. I don’t remember their full-length well enough to say whether or not this is an improvement, I’ll just say it’s mostly really boring speed/thrash. Surgical Splatter is a retarded song. 3/10.

Root – Madness of the Graves [2003]

Another danke for whoever it was that submitted a song from this album for a playlist, this album is so much better than the two other Root albums I know. Riffs fucking everywhere and all sorts of different song ideas. Semi-conservative 7/10 but this might be the key to making them click for me, strong growth potential.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Review more you homos.

Sinister Angel – S/T [1984]

Mediocre sloppy trad metal. I want to enjoy it because there are vague Di’Anno-era Maiden vibes and if it were a lot faster it might come off as enjoyably unhinged, but this is just kinda eh. 4/10.

Tyton – Castle Donnington [1984]

Also not very noteworthy trad metal, but tighter and less NWOBHM influence. The song Salem’s Cove is neat though, some proto-epic doom vibes, big weepy guitars and chanting effects. Actually, ‘The Tower, The Climb’ is neat too, sounds like it could be a Siren song. Take it back, either the second half is a lot stronger than the first or this needs more listens. Potential here. 6/10.

Undertaker – Eternal Dormancy [1991]

I think ‘U’ might be even worse than ‘Q’. Very slow death metal with no interesting atmosphere. 2/10.

Verscythe – A Time Will Come [2013]

Randomly came across this, in a way it’s just ordinary and safe melodic trad metal, not too different from modern Maiden’s shorter tracks, but for some reason I like this more. Everything about it sounds squeaky clean without being exactly clinical, kinda soft but the hooks are working and the singer is really good. Halfway through it hits a few bumps with some weaker balladic songs or ones that sound incomplete, but still better than most Bandcamp metal I happen upon. Future listenings required to determine if it has staying power. 6/10.