Crust can basically be boiled down to punks trying to play metal. The name was coined after Hellbastard's demo, "Ripper Crust." Your description of the echo, dark atmosphere and slower sections is fairly accurate to what's heard on the Hellbastard demo.

In regards to Discharge, they were the influence for a genre called d-beat, which is often mixed with crust, but the two shouldn't be confused. D-beat relies heavily on its namesake drum beat, very simple verse/chorus song structures, and generally no crawling paces (but mid-paced d-beat is definitely a thing). Crust is a little more, for lack of a better word, epic.

Thanks for your comment. I can certainly understand your point here. As you know, I used the word ''perhaps''. I have indeed heard people say and write on numerous occasions that said album is a strong legacy of a legend who left us too soon. In my opinion, an album should be reviewed for its inherent strengths and weaknesses and not whether it was coincidentally the last of a group or artist or not. That's all I tried to say but I admit that it sounds a little bit odd in the way I wrote it. My assumption certainly isn't true for the reviewers of this site. If I had to write the review again, I would omit that sentence.

I didn't like TDYK when it was new and my opinion hasn't changed but it was absolutely lauded upon release instead of being retroactively considered a classic after Dio's death. If there was any non-musical extra credit given, it was because people were excited to see the Mob Rules/Dehumanizer lineup back together as old men and still cranking out a good album. It's not like Dio was a Van Gogh type, he was absolutely a legend in his own time and his appearance was going to get people excited long before 2010.

I always had a weird thing in that TDYK and Dehumanizer sound fairly similar overall, but I love TDYK and all those songs and only find Dehumanizer to be adequate - the songs just never hit me really.

I like the 'punks playing metal' description.
Is it trickier to disentangle Discharge in practice? (For bands that have elements of Discharge/D-beat in them along with a darker Amebix vibe.)

Thanks, lads, for such "crust" enlightenment...I no longer gnaw my fingertips in not-so-rueful consternation, as a result.

In my opinion, the d-beat stuff stands out as Discharge worship. Bands like Dischange, Meanwhile, Warcry, and Languid demonstrate this well, as it's pretty straight forward and stripped down songwriting. But then you have bands like Disfear who started incorporating a little more dynamics after a couple albums, but I would still consider them to be a full out d-beat band at the end of the day. I think a band like Tragedy is where the lines start to blur, because there's clearly that straight ahead d-beat style, but they throw in some almost sludgy sounding parts which show off that Amebix/crust vibe, and they also throw in quite a lot of melody, which generally gets attributed to a style known as "neo-crust". Neo-crust generally is filled with d-beats and melodic lead lines, and bands like Martyrdod can be a little confusing because of this. Definitely a little tricky, I hope I'm not causing too much confusion here haha.

Yeah, this was pretty much the reason why I held TDYK is such a high regard and still do to this day, though I don't listen to it quite as often as the other three Sabbath albums Dio participated in. For the most part, Dio is a force unto himself regardless of who is handling instrument duties, which is why I even held Strange Highways in very high regard and only gave Angry Machines a mediocre score instead of outright bombing it due to the confused songwriting. His voice and his lyrics just always struck a chord with me, and no matter what album I'm listening to with him on it (I even love his old doo-wop material from the late 50s, probably the only thing my dad and I agree on musically), it's like being transported into another world. But to be fair, he always surrounded himself with top-notch musicians, so there wasn't really that much slacking going on behind him in the studio. TDYK was as worthy of the Dio-fronted era of Sabbath as any of the other albums in my estimation, and that was my stance the first time I heard it, the very day the CD was released (one of the few times where I was outside a record store prior to it opening).

I think it might also be relevant to note that TDYK reached number 8 on the Billboard Top 200 the first week it was out, well before Dio's passing.

Could it be considered that part of that initial great success wasn't just because it was the Mob Rules lineup making a new album, but the fact that this was the first album from any lineup of Black Sabbath since 1995? Obviously the name is different but just about everyone considers Heaven & Hell to be a continuation of Black Sabbath under a different name.

Cripes, sweetie! Now that you've mildly embarrassed me by slamming Viper Queen, thusly, must find in it my petrified heart to forgive...
(No hard feelings, of course, but I'm deathly concerned, now, what lies in store for Midnight Spell, on your end.)
Really, though? I'll admit the last song is utter crap but otherwise, I didn't notice such glaring re-hashing between, say, the first three. Granted, "Faceless Little Mistress" and "Elektra" do sound the same...

Still, a tad harsh on both band and chairprone, no? Either way, I've no choice but to amend my score, simply to not end up faceless, myself!

In other newz, Demon Fang(banger)'s Black Mask review was a nifty little rise and shiner read. I actually listened to it the other day. Not too shabby...

Hey man I'm glad that you really liked it! I gave it several tries and it didn't live up to what I was hoping it would be. Don't change your stuff based off of mine, lol.

As for Midnight Spell, it was solid enough, probably gonna need to give it another whirl or two before writing that one.

I'm thrilled we're having this little chat! The reason I fell so hard for V.Queen lies in "Black Thunder"...it's got such a killer momentum - reminiscent of Venator's "Blind Ambition" (you should check out their 3-track EP; I can assure you, each track is very different from the next). I also dug the main riff to first song, which reminded me of Deadline, from South Africa, another slick newcomer.

At any rate, the new Midnight Spell is pretty tight. If it weren't for the overt incongruousness of "Mercy", would've rated it 90%, even.
They're an exciting young group, and wish to propel them further along to greatness (or at least do my part).

Right now, man, I can't get enough of Glacier's The Passing of Time. Fantastic riffing! Plus, try singing along to the opener. What fun! (I don't give a crap what my neighbours think or believe; ha! one of 'em, last night, relapsed and tweaked so badly, I wanted to hit him. Edai...(as Mum is won't to say.) Were it not for the third track's marshmallow-y entrance, album would rate a perfect score. I now wish to cozy up to Hell's U and Empyreal, here...Oh, and that Konquest entry I cursorily mentioned, yonder? Awesome stuff, also!

Random aside, seeing DerekB2323 kick off their reviewing on MA with '90s Anthrax was a blast from the past, given that's where I started reviewing too. Not a bad writer by my estimation.

Aside From Sound of White Noize, never quite got into Anthrax (the band), as they've always sounded a bit too abrasive, with many kinks dominating their airwaves...Is For All Kings worth a gleeful spin? The cover is great, I must add...

Also, dude's Sir Lord Baltimore write-up is pure champion!

Tragedy were the band I had in mind when thinking about this. Lots of d-beat but lots of melody and slow bits too. I was thinking about 'neo-crust' when reviewing Ire recently (who borrowed a lot from Acme). Both bands have that ringing, atmospheric heaviness but they're a long way from sounding like Amebix (or Discharge). When I first heard these bands I wouldn't have associated them with crust, but I do think there is a line of influence there. This returns to the idea of crust being a 'feel' rather than a specific genre, perhaps...

I love '90s Anthrax, they're also the only band of the big 4 that I would say don't have a single BAD album. Sure, We've Come For You All is pretty boring but at worst it's "meh." Nothing I'd rate lower than like 60% or so.

Is anyone else not getting Napalm Records promos anymore? I tried to click a couple of links from things they sent last month and it says I'm no longer authorized to view those promos.

Normally, I'd just email them, but I've been pretty publicly vocal that Napalm is very frustrating because they're the only label that does stream-only promos, so I'm wondering if they specifically removed me, or just a more general mass removal of 'zines that are smaller.

Is it through Haulix? If so, it isn't just you, because about a month ago I had the same issue with Clawhammer PR and they fixed it as soon as I emailed them. They said (at the time) several people were having issues.

Ah that's good to know. I'll send an email then, thanks!

Either way, I figured I deserve it if I lose access

Fuck me, my "reviewing list" is out of control! I'm going to have to come up with a random selection i.e. number generator (or simply throw dice) to decide which one to do, next.

I really enjoyed King_of_Arnor's Blind Illusion review; very enlightening, insofar as Les Claypool's original heavy metal adventure is concerned.
(It's a shame their other LP sounds like total donkey bollocks!)

It's yet a further album to add to this "must-listen" list. (Sigh!)

Thank you! That's encouraging since I'm very new to the reviewing business, the only other one I've done so far is Heathen's Victims of Deception and that happens to have Marc Biedermann on it as well.

You're welcome...and welcome! (to Metal-Archives)

When I inadvertently came across this amazing site towards end of 2015 (pre-Trump), felt like I'd bumped into Jesus on the street, with Him inviting me over for supper - definitely not the last!

(I'm curious to hear your opinion on their other, less well received release, the "Demon"-something one...)

I'll admit I hadn't listened to Demon Master until you brought it up just now, but on first impressions, yeah, that 30% or so average score checks out. It's horribly underproduced and barely sounds anything like Blind Illusion, or even metal for that matter. It's in the same situation as Cold Lake, if it was just released under a different band name it'd be much more forgivable.

Aha! Boy oh boy, there's so much good stuff out there, from both past and present, it's truly mind-boggling (or, in my case, wedgie-ing).

I'm also surprised this has yet to be reviewed, let alone lauded:

https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/B ... ion/896302

If through Haulix, as Sweetie says below, there have been issues after they updated stuff. If the site keeps bumping you through links, restart your computer and reopen everything, that's what worked for me.

I'm pretty sure the original edition has a few last time I checked. It's great that you brought up Blazon Stone because I got absolutely hooked on them a few months ago as a fan of Running Wild, it's far better than anything Rolf is doing these days yet I rarely ever see them get a mention here.

Between the two - Running Wild(e) & Blazon Stone - lean more towards the latter, but to be fair, only cursorily listened to former (how's that for an ungainly sentence?). That said, I was blasted by that Return to Port Royal comeback; definitely rates in low to perhaps mid 90%s...

Nice job on the Sky Destroyer, sweetie - you basically summed up the gist in fewer words than I, and glad to hear "Cemetary Queen" is your favourite. Although it duly blew me away the first time, now lean more towards "Lady of the Moonlight" as preferred track.

Thanks! And yes, Lady is definitely up there for me too!

I just want to say that the author of the new Eternal Champion review has an incredible username. It is, and I quote, "LickMyOrangeBallsHalfling".

I will always respect an old Order of the Stick reference

(Southpark's) Stick of Truth, that is...

It happened.

Finally a below 60% score for Bonded by Blood. What's next?

WARNING: Not for the faint of heart.

Anyway, from the latest 0% Poser Holocaust review, EvilAllen really got one thing right:

The album actually has a 100% review from a Thrash_Lord guy whose only intent was, right from its title, deliberately raising the average score for it (not that a single review would make such a difference...), further justified by the fact that it remained his only review more than three years later. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but it seems unacceptable behaviour on this site.

To be honest, it wouldn't really bug me if it weren't for factual inaccuracies such as:

Not counting how ignorant that black metal claim can be on all levels, I'd gladly take Ratamahatta on repeat 10 times every day over this abomination.

At some point, I will be reviewing Cold Lake, and when I do, it will get a 100% score, as to me, it's that fucking EPIC, and the ONLY Celtic Frost album that I ever listen to.

Funny that, that Thrash_Lord dude gave it a 100% score, when even his review writing would honestly make you seriously believe otherwise. His review is a massive contradiction to his score given. Just wow.

Couldn't agree more with what you said... "unacceptable behaviour".... as it really is.

I rolled my eyes when I saw that score. I figured it was from an 18 year old who didn't get it, but the guy is 34.

... I low-key hate Bonded by Blood.

Do you like the Zetro stuff more or are you just not an Exodus fan?

I've never actually heard any other Exodus, I hated it so much I swore off the band. I really hate that "yeah let's fuckin' bash our heads, let's go! Wooooo we are BANGERS!" type of thrasher, and BBB is that vibe personified.

I'm a weird one with Exodus. I LOVE BBB, and the two following are solid, and then I also like Force Of Habit. Anything else can miss me.

That's fair enough - meanwhile, I pretty much place that album to be on the level with Ride the Lightning - it thrashes hard, and it has enough varied lyrical themes that are pretty evil too. To each their own though!

God that review was awful. I mean, what's with the "this highly praised album is overrated" reviews we've been seeing for the pass few months? And this is coming from a guy who wrote a review like that. Could I have unintentionally started a movement on this site?