The Heavy Metal Album Club
 

http://www.trollheart.com/metalhomer1.jpg
I can't believe nobody has started this. So I am. Surely one of the most popular and discussed genres on this board, it seems only right that it should have its own club. So anyone who wants to join post here and you're in. Now I have to bring you down with some rules. Yeah I know...

1. Like the membership of my other club, the Prog Rock Album Club, this will offer a three-tier system:

A. Core Membership. A Core Member is someone who may or may not be a founder (though the founders are definitely Core Members) but who is asked to put a lot into this club. They are expected to review all albums, no excuses (dispensation will of course be given for illness, holidays, family emergencies etc), have their reviews in on time and generally do what they can to help the club, either by bringing in new members or just policing the thread.

B. Standard Membership. This is the level most people will enter at, where you like to take part but may have time or other constraints. You are still asked to review all albums (unless you can provide a compelling reason why you should not --- and Eddie ate my baby is not an acceptable excuse!) but may be granted a time extension if you want it.

C. Associate Membership. This is for those people who say "count me in!" and then never do any reviews. Or for those who want to participate but find they don't have the time, or that something else stops them. Or those who think it's a good idea at first but quickly lose interest. And also for those who flit in and out, checking back every so often and maybe reviewing the odd album.

Here's how it works currently in the PRAC, and how I intend it to work here, assuming anyone's interested:

1. I choose an album from a list as yet to be decided

2. Everyone listens to the album

3. You have a week (starting off, we'll see how that goes) to listen and form your opinion on it. Generally recommended you listen to the album at least three times, though of course if you know it then that's not necessary. You don't have to listen to it three times obviously: I just find that often my opinion can change radically after a few listens.

4. Everyone posts their reviews into a matrix which I have prepared. There is a comments section there, where you can write as much or as little about the album as you like. It's entirely up to you.

5. Every album is given a rating by each member, chosen from a list I will provide

6. After all reviews are in, I total up the scores and give each album an overall rating. The difference in membership comes into play here. Ratings from Core and Standard Members will be taken into account, ratings from Associate Members will not. After we have reviewed a few albums I will begin a chart or table, shoeing the most and least popular albums.

Albums will be posted every Monday with reviews due the following Sunday latest, after which a new one will be chosen.

There will be no death, speed, thrash, grind or black metal.


Just kidding!
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Is9vrRT7kI...h-you-show.jpg
Any album from the list we use is eligible and I will determine the choice through a random number generator. Please allow everyone their opinion and don't put that of anyone else down. Be friendly. Debate and discussion is welcomed of course but not fights or flaming, and this is primarily a reviewing thread so please don't derail it too much with off-topic subjects. Posture and rant on some other thread, not here. Well, not much.

Whether you love, live and breathe metal or only know it in passing, or even if you're unsure about it but would like to try it, this could be a good place to start. I'm assuming there will be people much more knowledgeable than me on the subject and I'm sure they'll give you their opinion on any album or band you want. Newbs will not be hazed and lack of knowledge of metal will not be laughed at. Much.

Anyone can apply to go up or down in membership, eg from Core to Standard or Associate to Standard etc.

If you want to join post here. Please do NOT send me PMs as my inbox is almost full. It's now Monday so depending on the response we could start tomorrow but it really will depend on how many people are interested, so if you are, post here and let me know.

Also post any questions you may have and I'll do my best to answer them.

Trollheart
https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/2958680064/hE33E0479/

I suggest you keep the 'review matrix' short and sweet, as that is what really takes up the time for a lot of people who have limited time to write these things.

Personally I think that the reviews should be real short and greater emphasis on the post-listen discussion between the members of the club.

It pretty much is short already: just the basics.
By the way, you need to clear out your PM inbox. Can't send you any PMs as you've reached your limit apparently.

I would definitely be in. I love how the prog rock club is forcing me to listen to new things.

You're seriously pushing it.

Count me in, but don't be surprised if I skip an album or something.

Yeah, im in!

Sorry, I don't value your opinion and must put it down. :rofl:

I'll be in on this. I'm notoriously exempt on weekends and slow to do anything but we'll see if I can keep up.

OK well response has been a little underwhelming --- where are all you True Metalheads, huh? ;) --- but here's the first album picked from the list.

http://eu.rymimg.com/lk/s/l/a7d2e09a...3d/1647217.jpg

Sound of white noise --- Anthrax (1993)

Now don't bitch that this is "the worst Anthrax album I could pick" or "why this crap?" or whatever: it's all arbitrary, and think yourselves lucky: we just missed Yngwie by a few places!

So anyway, that's the one. This is Tuesday --- Wednesday now --- so let's say anyone who wants to do a review needs it in by next Saturday --- that's May 3, not this Saturday --- and then I'll kick off with choices every Monday. Or just say fuck y'all and leave it if nobody's interested. But hopefully the former.

I'll post the matrix, such as it is, tomorrow probably.

If anyone for any reason can't get access to the album let me know.

It's not a bad album btw, also which list did you decide to use in the end?

This one http://rateyourmusic.com/list/freis/...of_all_time/2/, thanks to Rostasi.

A great choice and as it's Popoff's list I'll like it. There's also a lot of bands on there that people usually don't expect to see in a metal thread like Alice Cooper, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Rush and Boston etc. Martin Popoff usually goes in for the overall package when it comes to genres than just specializing like some others do.

I'll be intrigued to see if you'll include any of the above mentioned bands if they come up.

I'm listening to this album for the first time in ever. I have no idea why so many people hate it. It's far too boring to hate.

I think it's fair to say that anything that's on that list is fair game, so if anyone here has a problem with, say, Bowie or whatever coming up then take it up with Martin Popoff. I'll be following the list precisely.

Yeah I wasn't that impressed when I reviewed it for Metal Month last year. TBH the only Anthrax album other than that I've heard is "Fistful of metal", and I loved that.

I think you'd love Spreading the Disease. It's sort of at a halfway point between traditional metal and thrash. It's badass but still has a sense of melody that the band toned down a lot later on.

One of the most underrated Anthrax songs of all time.

I genuinely enjoy listening to Rising Force.

I've never actually listened to an entire Malmsteen album. Listening to his music just always felt like listening to classical music that forgot to write actual music.

Wasn't there supposed to be some kind of "review matrix"?

There was. Sorry about that. And here it is.

Generally it's the same as the one we use in the PRAC. The first six sections will likely be already filled in by me, as they're going to be the same for everyone. You can write any comments you want (long or short) in the appropriate box. Ratings matrix next...


Album Title:
Artist:
Nationality:
Year:
Subgenre:
Player(s):
Familiarity:
Favourite track(s):
Why?
Least favourite track(s):
Why?
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad?
Factoids you'd like to share?
End impression:
Comments:
Rating:

All albums require a rating, and you can pick from one of these (slightly amended and abridged from the PRAC one)

5.0- ****in' Valhalla man!
4.5- Bitchin'!
4.0- Headbangin'
3.5- Rocks
3.0- Plods
2.5- Bores
2.0- Gone to sleep
1.5- So angry I could punch someone
1.0- Not even bad enough to be angry at it

Can you guys let me know if anyone is interested in this? Are any of you listening to the album, or do we just leave this to die? I'd like it to work but I have a ton of other stuff to do, so if nobody is interested I'll just let it fade away.

If, on the other hand, people are genuinely interested and are in the process of listening to the album, or intend to, can you just let me know?

If I get no responses I'll assume a general air of apathy has killed this and just drop it.

Thanks

I listened and I am ready.

Just let it ride for another week or so.

x2

Yup I'd like to get into this thread, just discovered it. Will probably listen by tomorrow morning.

What's the album again? Lots of words being thrown around in the last few pages.

Anthrax: Sound of white noise.

It's the album where Anthrax decided that they wanted to put out a more post-grunge sound.

I'll join in here too. :p:

You'd be a very welcome addition. Hah! The PRAC lads strike again huh? :rofl: :band:

I'll join as well.

Album Title: Sound of White Noise
Artist: Anthrax
Nationality: American
Year: 1993
Subgenre: Groove Metal
Player(s): John Bush – lead vocals, Dan Spitz – lead guitar, Scott Ian – rhythm guitar, lead guitar on "Burst", lead guitar and harmony guitar on "Black Lodge" and "Packaged Rebellion", six-string bass, backing vocals, Frank Bello – bass guitar, backing vocals, Charlie Benante – drums
Familiarity: Heard one or two good songs from other albums
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Favourite track(s): Black Lodge, hands ****in down
Why? Groovy while maintaining a trudging thrash feel, chill but hard. The first song I heard that I actually tabbed over to the album to see what it was. It really stood out from the rest for me and gives me hope I don't hate Anthrax as much as I thought.
Least favourite track(s): Invisible
Why? BORING. Went on too long with nothing to show for it.
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? Assumed I wouldn't like it much because frankly I have heard at least a dozen songs by them and only two ever stuck with me.
Factoids you'd like to share? House of Doom has always been a fantastic song that Anthrax fans hate me for liking.
End impression: I straight up don't think their main intentions are my cup of tea. Most of this album wasn't my bag. I did like that it was more on the grunge side than their usual thrash status, but it's also not done in any sort of impressive way really.
Comments: I feel like the album started ****, got better, plateau'd, got worse aside from a song or two that were awesome. They probably could have benefit from a better arrangement, that can really affect someone's opinions on individual songs if it's a start to finish listen.
Rating: 3.0- Plods, if I counted the two or three damn good songs as more relevant than they are in an 11-track listing I guess I could go up to 4.

Thanks Carpe for being the first to post a review! Good one too. I think most people will feel this way. Mind you, you would not believe what's coming next!

BTW if you want to hear real Anthrax you should check out their debut, "Fistful of metal". Now THAT rawks!

Yeah the first one to post does all the hard work for that first section of wiki repostings haha ;)

I'll try to remember to check it out, actually listening to our mix tape right now.

Album Title: Sound of White Noise
Artist: Anthrax
Nationality: American
Year: 1993
Subgenre: Groove Metal
Player(s): John Bush – lead vocals, Dan Spitz – lead guitar, Scott Ian – rhythm guitar, lead guitar on "Burst", lead guitar and harmony guitar on "Black Lodge" and "Packaged Rebellion", six-string bass, backing vocals, Frank Bello – bass guitar, backing vocals, Charlie Benante – drums
Familiarity: Listened to Anthrax a bit back in the day, and have previously heard this album, too.
Favourite track(s): Do I have to pick one? If so, Only.
Why? It almost sounded a bit like classic Anthrax, although it still had the "grunge" influence too. By no means anything I'd listen to over and over, but on an album where the entire time I was saying.. "Is it over?" this was the one song that didn't drag on FOREVER. And I almost found myself getting into it at times.
Least favourite track(s): Invisible and This is Not an Exit.
Why? I felt like ALL the songs were a bit on the long side; But these two really seemed to drag on for freaking ever!
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? I have heard the album before a number of years ago, and I remember not liking it then. I like it even less now, though!
Factoids you'd like to share? "This is Not an Exit" is a tribute to American Psycho.
End impression: Album is entirely too long, boring, and I really couldn't find much positive in it. Just didn't work at all for me, and my taste. Its not a good grunge album, and its not a good metal album.
Comments: I would rather listen to a white noise machine than the Sound of White Noise album again. Boring. Boring. Boring. I guess Anthrax done like most of the big thrash bands done in the 90s, turned bad quick.
Rating: 2.5. I think I've said everything I can about it. 2.5 is as good as I can do ONLY one good track out of a 11 just doesn't average out too good for the album.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...WhiteNoise.jpg

Album Title: Sound of White Noise
Artist: Anthrax
Nationality: American
Year: 1993
Subgenre: Trying too hard Metal
Player(s): John Bush – lead vocals, Dan Spitz – lead guitar, Scott Ian – rhythm guitar, lead guitar on "Burst", lead guitar and harmony guitar on "Black Lodge" and "Packaged Rebellion", six-string bass, backing vocals, Frank Bello – bass guitar, backing vocals, Charlie Benante – drums
Familiarity: Have owned this album since it came out in 1993 and gave it a few spins back then
Favourite track(s): Only
Why? I still think it's a good song and a cut above the rest of the album. If the entire album was as good as that song I think it would be a classic.
Least favourite track(s): Hy Pro Glow
Why? The title seems inane and it just plods like most of the album.
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? No, I knew what I was in for.
Factoids you'd like to share? John Bush is a great singer, highly recommend his work with Armored Saint. Especially Delirious Nomad.
End impression: As boring as I remember
Comments: I bought this album as soon as it came out in 1993 even thought I never really liked Anthrax. I was a big fan of John Bush and his work with Armored Saint and thought he would be a step up from Joey Belladonna (which he was regardless of this album). Black Lodge was getting airplay on headbangers ball and I liked it alright. Kind of cool that it was influenced by the show Twin Peaks. I figured the rest of the album would be even better than what MTV was willing to play. Unfortunately I was wrong. Gave it a few listens, really liked "Only" but the rest never really grew on me. It has sat on my shelf gathering dust for 20 years (damn, that is hard to believe) until now. Still sounds like I remember, just kind of bland, although it's got some good guitar tones and the mix is decent although a bit too polished. Seems like Anthrax was trying too hard to appeal to the masses or something and ended up making a boring album. Too bad, with John Bush it could have been great I think. Never bought another Anthrax before or after. It's going back on the shelf again, see me in 2034 for another review.
Rating: 3.0

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...WhiteNoise.jpg
Album Title: Sound of white noise
Artist: Anthrax
Nationality: American
Year: 1993
Subgenre: Thrash-Hop Metal
Player(s): John Bush (Vocals) Dan Spitz/Scott Ian (Guitars), Frank Benno (Bass), Charlie Benanate (Drums) also appearances from Angelo Badalamenti as orchestrator on “Black lodge” and Terminator X on “1000 points of hate”
Familiarity: Only “Fist full of metal”, which is nothing like this. And Batlord's “Return of the Kings of Metal” featuring Joey Belladonna, who is Sir Not-Appearing-On-This-Album.
Favourite track(s): “Only” or “Black lodge””
Why? Because in the first case it's probably the most melodic of the tracks here and in the second there are some really nice orchestral touches from Badalamenti, whose work on “Twin Peaks” I really admired.
Least favourite track(s): “Hy pro glo”
Why? Metal + rap = fail. I don't care what anyone says; the two genres should not mix. And add Anthrax into the equation and you have a recipe for a really bad song.
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? I knew Anthrax to be one of the big thrash bands so expected better, though Wiki had already let me know this was the point where they “changed their sound”, oh dear...
Factoids you'd like to share? I already reviewed this is last year's metal Month. Shameless plug yes!
End impression: Not “Fistful of metal” but a little far from the sell-out a lot of people seem to believe it is. I'm sure there are better albums in their discography though.
Comments: As above, I reviewed this in full last October and so being the lazy **** I am I'm grabbing extracts from that. And here they are. It's Anthrax, Jim, but not (quite) as we know them. I would harbour the hope Bush is not going to bring rapping to this, one of the "big four" thrash bands.

"Only" has a good hammering drumbeat from Charlie Benante and some powerful solid guitar, and John Bush is certainly a strong singer, but I have to wonder does this still qualify as thrash metal? It's a bit, how you say, melodic? Still heavy as hell but rather catchier than I would expect from a band of Anthrax's reputation. Hmm. Well, "Room for one more" has more of the hard punching sound we've come to expect from the guys, with some fine soaraway guitar. Nevertheless, the vocal still puts me in mind of what a metal rapper would sound like, if such a thing existed. I know Limp Bizkit exist: I said if a metal rapper existed! Holy hell! Is that a version of the "Magic Roundabout" theme opening "Packaged rebellion", or is it just me? Just me then.

Yeah this is more like it. It's like ZZ and Bad Company got together and invited Lizzy along for the ride. Good old-school heavy metal with some great guitar licks and what I'd consider a proper metal vocal this time round. My worries were fading about the influence of hip-hop on the album but they're kind of back a little with the rap-style vocal on "Hy pro glo", though it's still a heavy song certainly. There are definitely new influences leaking in on this album --- vestiges of hip-hop as I already mentioned, and which will probably be laughed at for, and grunge too --- but "Sound of white noise" is still a major heavy album. John Bush brings something different to the sound of Anthrax, and there are some surprises here, but basically it's still the same band I learned to love and who helped teach me to headbang way back in 1984.

Rating 3.5. It's not quite headbanging enough for a 4.0 but still rawks.

And now, for those who are bored already and think the first selection wasn't anywhere near heavy enough, and want to work on the next one, here it is:

I spun a
480
and got this:
http://lossless-galaxy.ru/uploads/po...dead-front.jpg

Restless and dead --- Witchery --- 1998

Happy now? This sounds like the kind of metal I'm gonna hate but we'll see.
Anyone who hasn't yet reviewed Anthrax and wishes to may of course do so but anyone who wants to move on, this is the next one. I'd say two weeks from now for the reviews? But who knows? Let's see how it goes eh?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...WhiteNoise.jpg
Album Title: Sound of white noise
Artist: Anthrax
Nationality: American
Year: 1993
Subgenre: Thrash-Hop Metal
Player(s): John Bush (Vocals) Dan Spitz/Scott Ian (Guitars), Frank Benno (Bass), Charlie Benanate (Drums) also appearances from Angelo Badalamenti as orchestrator on “Black lodge” and Terminator X on “1000 points of hate”
Familiarity: Know the band very well, both the Joey Belladonna era and the John Bush one
Favourite track(s): “Only” "Packaged Rebellion" and "1000 Points of Hate"
Why? "Only" Just a great melodic track that is both heavy and melodic in equal portions. "Packaged Rebellion" great driving riff and John Bush sounds like Steven Tyler nuff said really! "1000 Points of Hate" a pretty bitchin' track.
Least favourite track(s): “Hy Pro Glo” and "This is Not an Exit"
Why? I don't always dig metal and rap, but of course it depends like anything how it's done and I don't think this song works. "This is Not an Exit" Because it sounds too much like a horrible AIC song in its first section.
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? Knew this was the album where they adopted a more post-grunge sound
Factoids you'd like to share? As is commonly known they are one of the big four thrash bands, but usually the least liked of the four.
End impression: I'm one of those metal listeners that enjoys both the extreme stuff and the more melodic stuff equally so I've always dug Anthrax and I dig this album as well.
Comments: Normally I can't stand anything that sounds like Alice in Chains, but AIC producer Dave Jerden has got the band more upbeat sounding than AIC could ever manage and the album just goes to show what can be achieved by injecting a lifeless sludgy sound with some much needed energy and given the fact that Anthrax have always been a somewhat upbeat and energetic band the end result is unsurprisingly good.

I imagine a lot of hardcore Anthrax fans would've hated this sell-out, but personally who cares as this album is pretty gripping from start to finish. I find John Bush's vocals pretty stellar, the drums of Charlie Benante all over the place as they should be and the guitar team of Dan Spitz and Scott Ian pretty lethal where it matters.

But what stops this album being a classic is the fact that it's a blatant commercial ploy to cash in on what sells, so there's nothing original here or even an attempt to disguise what the band are doing but then again Anthrax have never been the most discreet of bands.

Rating 4.0 Headbangin'

OK, is anyone interested in talking about Witchery, the second pick, selected months ago? You don't have to review, just listen and comment, see what people think.

This will be my last attempt to keep this alive. Some people posted (thank you) on the Anthrax album but after that it's been tumbleweed city, so if you're interested speak up now.

Heavy Metal will never die!
Probably....