Written by Maco on 01.02.2016 at 08:26


Apparently Chaos Echoes only have 1 demo, 2 EPs and a Live album.

Ok, thanks for the info! I don't have anything against this nomination then. On their bandcamp they don't seem to catalog their releases as such and the lenght of some is considerable as well.

Written by [user id=126528] on 01.02.2016 at 01:52

Did everyone forget that Soilwork existed for the melodeath category?

Best melodeath in at least half a decade.


Also wondering how the likes of Tribulation ended up in death metal considering there isn't any death metal on that album. I think Chaos Echoes would have fit much better in avant-garde than death metal too. Undersmile seems like your stereotypical extreme doom record so looks very odd sitting in doom. I would have also put Sannhet in post metal too, seeing as it's not a metalgaze record.

Glad to see Echoes of Yul get a nomination. Very deserving, and they had very little fanfare this year.

Which genre would The Slow Death's Ark go?

Written by M C Vice on 01.02.2016 at 10:27

Which genre would The Slow Death's Ark go?

Doom, by the sounds of it. Sounds Funeral / Death Doom-y but quite light sounding + clean vocals etc.

Written by [user id=4365] on 01.02.2016 at 09:42

Best melodeath in at least half a decade.
Also wondering how the likes of Tribulation ended up in death metal considering there isn't any death metal on that album. I think Chaos Echoes would have fit much better in avant-garde than death metal too. Undersmile seems like your stereotypical extreme doom record so looks very odd sitting in doom. I would have also put Sannhet in post metal too, seeing as it's not a metalgaze record.

Glad to see Echoes of Yul get a nomination. Very deserving, and they had very little fanfare this year.

Melodeath: Couldn't help on that one as I didn't take part of the process because, well... melodeath, ew.
Tribulation: Urgh, I was tired after all the discussions. Consider that Death metal tag as a good ol' "fuuuuuuuuuck it", at least from me to you babe <3
Chaos Echoes: Disagree. I can see where you are coming from with the avant tag but I just dont see it. Maybe I got so used to the album after reviewing it that it didn't felt that weird anymore(?) Who knows.
Undersmile: Yeah, agree on that one but I wasn't working on that one either.
Sannhet: Eh, to me this is fence-deal. Could have gone to either two.
Echoes of Yul: Yeah man that shit was nice. I'm pretty glad with the ambient cat myself... The only BUT is that I feel like I fucked up by forgetting friggin LOCRIAN!

Written by X-Ray Rod on 01.02.2016 at 11:09


Melodeath: Couldn't help on that one as I didn't take part of the process because, well... melodeath, ew.
Tribulation: Urgh, I was tired after all the discussions. Consider that Death metal tag as a good ol' "fuuuuuuuuuck it".
Chaos Echoes: Disagree. I can see where you are coming from with the avant tag but I just dont see it. Maybe I got so used to the album after reviewing it that it didn't felt that weird anymore(?) Who knows.
Undersmile: Yeah, agree on that one but I wasn't working on that one either.
Sannhet: Eh, to me this is fence-deal. Could have gone to either two.
Echoes of Yul: Yeah man that shit was nice. I'm pretty glad with the ambient cat myself... The only BUT is that I feel like I fucked up by forgetting friggin LOCRIAN!

I just glanced at my comment in the Sannhet thread and I mentioned post-rock shimmeriness so I may have remembered that one a bit wrong.

Chaos Echoes though. It seems such a blurry mix of approaches that death metal feels like it only represents like 30% of the album. When you really think about what avant-garde is, that Chaos Echoes album just seems about as avant-garde as it gets, even if to us two it's not that out there sounding. I guess the awards runs the risk of stuff like avant-garde becoming a dumping category for anything that isn't easily categorised, though.

Not surprised that Tribby got a lot of talk behind the scenes. I can see why, but after awhile for me it felt pretty clear that it's just a heavy metal album with a really interesting and unique sound, (and borrows little bits from here and there). I would wonder where it would be had they not had a death metal history.

Awww you guys
Thanks for the nomination

Written by [user id=4365] on 01.02.2016 at 11:16
I guess the awards runs the risk of stuff like avant-garde becoming a dumping category for anything that isn't easily categorised, though.

Not surprised that Tribby got a lot of talk behind the scenes. I can see why, but after awhile for me it felt pretty clear that it's just a heavy metal album with a really interesting and unique sound, (and borrows little bits from here and there). I would wonder where it would be had they not had a death metal history.

I'm afraid for that to happen to Avant indeed. Overall I'm still damn sattisfied with the awards (specially with Hardcore which I took in as a baby <3 ). I feel that I could have done more in the pre-game section during the second half of the year but well, thesis and all. I'll definitely try to be more out there by then.
Also Tribby sounds like a pet name to a cute dog. Tribbles is the cat version. If Tribulation continues with the trend and takes even more out-there turns, there's definitey a strong case in rethinking the genre category, indeed.

Post metal cat tough this year, could vote for any of them. And a lot of good ones didn't even make the ballot...Rosetta, The Moth Gatherer, Wovoka, Kalpa.

I wonder what will be written in to every category this year?

That prog category is so sweet. I literally don't know who I'm gonna choose

Really, really strong this year.

SoD in doom its light but not that light. Imo they made a album that defines what mainstream funeral should sound like 2015.

But thanks for the nominations! lots of stuff I havent heard.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 01.02.2016 at 11:36


I'm afraid for that to happen to Avant indeed. Overall I'm still damn sattisfied with the awards (specially with Hardcore which I took in as a baby <3 ). I feel that I could have done more in the pre-game section during the second half of the year but well, thesis and all. I'll definitely try to be more out there by then.
Also Tribby sounds like a pet name to a cute dog. Tribbles is the cat version. If Tribulation continues with the trend and takes even more out-there turns, there's definitey a strong case in rethinking the genre category, indeed.

Hardcore does look interesting. Lots of stuff there I've never heard of. Nice to see Oblivionized there. Insane band.

Tribulation becomes a pain to type after a while, so they got cutified for my convenience =P

Only heard all the nominees in post- and prog (and most of a a few other categories). Post- selection is good but not quite up with the amazingly strong field from last year. Prog isn't the greatest really - BTBAM was pretty good but a lot of the rest was a tad underwhelming. I don't think this year in general was a strong as the last one or two, but there's still some good stuff, and most of my top albums from the year are nominated somewhere or other so it's all good. Probably the only glaring omission for me is Maladie but I know that rather flew under the radar, and AFOS probably beats it anyway if it falls under BM.

[In response to Che's now deleted post]

Glacially slow: borderline drone; largely free of conventional and obvious melody; discordant and heavy as the sun; unconventional, highly off-kilter vocals; patently difficult to swallow for 90%+ of the metal populace.

What the hell isn't extreme about Undersmile? The cleaner passages don't dull the extreme nature of the rest of the album. I can think of few doom outfits more extreme than them.

Aaaahhhh, I love the shoutout to me as a Darth Bane fanboy in the Awards text. Thanks, SSUS

I'm pretty happy with where everything ended up at the end. And VERY happy that the DIS/GTT collab made it into Extreme Doom, even though Ahab and Skepticism are probably going to dominate it. Still would've loved to have seen Chaos Echoes in Avantgarde though, even if it is "mostly death metal." Also, as a prime advocate for Undersmile in this year's MSA, I don't know what Rod and Joe are smoking up there, but there is nothing "extreme doom" about that band. Only other category they could've fit in is sludge, but that's probably it.

Aaaaaand my baby, the new Ambient/Drone category, makes its debut for the second time this year! Gonna be VERRRRYYYY interesting to see who wins it though, since there really aren't any "big name bands" in there at all. Oh noes, no popularity for everyone to decide easily without listening! How shall the innocent survive?

Which category does Chelsea Wolfe's Abyss fit in the best? I would guess Gothic or Alternative, but I've seen it wrote in Industrial/Cyber/Electronic as well.

Written by togo95 on 01.02.2016 at 15:48

Which category does Chelsea Wolfe's Abyss fit in the best? I would guess Gothic or Alternative, but I've seen it wrote in Industrial/Cyber/Electronic as well.

Pop?

Fuck, I just realized that I might end up eating my words about Ambient/Drone having no easy winner because there aren't any big names in it... totally forgot about Midnight Odyssey. God fucking damnit. I hate you all. Everything sucks.

Written by [user id=157444] on 01.02.2016 at 15:49

Written by togo95 on 01.02.2016 at 15:48

Which category does Chelsea Wolfe's Abyss fit in the best? I would guess Gothic or Alternative, but I've seen it wrote in Industrial/Cyber/Electronic as well.

Pop?

Yeah, the other option is neither.
I don't think Pop would do if there was such category though.

Written by Auntie Sahar on 01.02.2016 at 15:38

Also, as a prime advocate for Undersmile in this year's MSA, I don't know what Rod and Joe are smoking up there, but there is nothing "extreme doom" about that band. Only other category they could've fit in is sludge, but that's probably it.

Hes probably smoking the same stuff that he smoked when he called Chelsea Wolfe darker than 99% of all metal bands.

Written by [user id=157444] on 01.02.2016 at 16:02

Hes probably smoking the same stuff that he smoked when he called Chelsea Wolfe darker than 99% of all metal bands.

99.9% actually. Get your statistic right

Written by [user id=4365] on 01.02.2016 at 16:04

99.9% actually. Get your statistic right

But really though, without being a dick about it, I am curious to know why you label Undersmile as E. Doom. Where's the "extreme metal" in their sound, exactly?

Written by Auntie Sahar on 01.02.2016 at 16:09

But really though, without being a dick about it, I am curious to know why you label Undersmile as E. Doom. Where's the "extreme metal" in their sound, exactly?

From the previous page:

Quote:
Glacially slow: borderline drone; largely free of conventional and obvious melody; discordant and heavy as the sun; unconventional, highly off-kilter vocals; patently difficult to swallow for 90%+ of the metal populace.

What the hell isn't extreme about Undersmile? The cleaner passages don't dull the extreme nature of the rest of the album. I can think of few doom outfits more extreme than them.

Sometimes I think people think "extreme" is just having growls and not much else. Undersmile are far more challenging than the vast majority of doom I've ever heard.

Written by [user id=4365] on 01.02.2016 at 16:11

Sometimes I think people think "extreme" is just having growls and not much else. Undersmile are far more challenging than the vast majority of doom I've ever heard.

It's not that, it's just that usually when you use "extreme doom" as a label, people understand it as meaning that the band in question infuses extreme metal (i.e. death, thrash, and/or black) into their larger doom sound. Undersmile have no influences from either, I would say... that's why your comment confused me at first.

But with your elaboration that you're talking "extreme" in a different respect, I see what you mean, and I wouldn't entirely disagree.

Undersmile certainly are extreme doom and a lot more at that than most of the nominees in that category.

Thank God we put Shape Of Despair in regular doom. Okay, they play funeral doom but such a light version of it that it isn't extreme at all.

The thoughts on what "extreme" means is definitely something I will keep in mind by next year... I'll have much more time in my hands to discuss about genres (because ntohing else goes on in my life!).

Written by Auntie Sahar on 01.02.2016 at 16:14

It's not that, it's just that usually when you use "extreme doom" as a label, people understand it as meaning that the band in question infuses extreme metal (i.e. death, thrash, and/or black) into their larger doom sound. Undersmile have no influences from either, I would say... that's why your comment confused me at first.

But with your elaboration that you're talking "extreme" in a different respect, I see what you mean, and I wouldn't entirely disagree.

I've never really quite understood the "extreme" definitions of the forum categories tbh. Funeral doom comes under extreme, yet funeral doom can be some of the fluffiest sounding music around, or some of the most crushing and unpalatable. Thrash to me is also so basic and conventional that I have trouble thinking of it as extreme either, these days anyway. The awards to me usually shook things up when it comes to "extreme" stuff though. I think it's best to take bands on their merits as only a few make it.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 01.02.2016 at 16:15

Undersmile certainly are extreme doom and a lot more at that than most of the nominees in that category.

Thank God we put Shape Of Despair in regular doom. Okay, they play funeral doom but such a light version of it that it isn't extreme at all.

That bait looks so tasty.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 01.02.2016 at 16:15

Undersmile certainly are extreme doom and a lot more at that than most of the nominees in that category.

Why didn't you make any noise about them being nom'd in regular doom then, Boss Man?