loading...| Deathfuck | November 26, 19:05 |
| Revolver | November 26, 19:05 |
| Alkohomania | November 26, 19:05 |
| Abysmal Serpent | November 26, 14:02 |
| Necrotic Curse | November 26, 13:59 |
| Schizophrenic Warfare | November 26, 13:58 |
| Vagatio Substantiae Apaticae | November 26, 13:57 |
| Distant Legacy | November 26, 12:12 |
| Radio Resistencia | November 26, 10:17 |
| Image | November 26, 10:12 |
more...
| Tysondog | November 26, 21:31 |
| Todeszone | November 26, 21:31 |
| Thrakatulûk | November 26, 21:30 |
| None | November 26, 21:30 |
| Canopus | November 26, 21:26 |
| Scorpions | November 26, 21:25 |
| Embittered | November 26, 21:20 |
| Misericordiam | November 26, 21:18 |
| NailGun | November 26, 21:11 |
| CryptKeeper | November 26, 21:07 |
more...
| Infectious Jelqing / Arseny | My Wife Recently... | Nov 26th |
| Burzum | Elfland | Nov 26th |
| Brodequin | Instruments of... | Nov 26th |
| Lorna Shore | I Feel the... | Nov 26th |
| Esophagus | Killing for Sport | Nov 26th |
| Iron Maiden | The X Factor | Nov 26th |
| Esophagus | Point-Blank... | Nov 26th |
| Pseudostratiffied Epithelium | Into the Flames | Nov 26th |
| Cemetery Rapist | From My Puddled... | Nov 26th |
| Silent Civilian | Ghost Stories | Nov 26th |
| Cephalotripsy | Uterovaginal... | Nov 26th |
| Virus | Pray for War | Nov 26th |
| Pentagram | Lightning in a... | Nov 26th |
| Full of Hell | Trumpeting Ecstasy | Nov 26th |
| Draugveil | Cruel World of... | Nov 26th |
| Abraded | Ethereal... | Nov 26th |
| Toxik | World Circus | Nov 26th |
| Violent Force | Malevolent... | Nov 26th |
| Xerxes | Beyond My... | Nov 26th |
| Blot Mine | Porphyrogenesis | Nov 26th |
more...
| Slôdder | Narcissist | November 26th |
| Unlucky Morpheus | Gate of Heaven | November 26th |
| Master's Hammer | Maldorör Disco | November 26th |
| Fessus | Subcutaneous Tomb | November 26th |
| Ergot | Decade | November 26th |
| Puritan Bone | Ecstasy on the... | November 26th |
| Inthraced | Neon Frontiers | November 26th |
| 12Gaugedentalwork | Purulent... | November 26th |
| Bloodcurdling | Descent into... | November 26th |
| Slaughterday | Dread Emperor | November 26th |
| Anima | Elämän viha /... | November 26th |
| Nachtmaar | Sempiternal... | November 26th |
| DragonForce | Dragon Smash Goblin | November 26th |
| Peter Crowley's Fantasy Dream | Don't Forget to... | November 26th |
| Buckethead | Pike 715 - Live... | November 26th |
| Anima | Yllä... | November 26th |
| Liberacion Diabolica | Sangre de Cristo | November 26th |
| Esoctrilihum | Monarchy of... | November 26th |
| Esoctrilihum | Lumière Avortée | November 26th |
| Glorification / Wyrmvold | Twin Deathdragon... | November 27th |
more...
Our classic reviews challenge will soon be upon us yet again.
This challenge is a time-honored tradition among our reviewers here. Every spring and autumn, reviewers are encouraged to spend a week writing and submitting as many quality reviews as possible. The challenge is focused on virgin albums: those with no reviews so far.
Every day, the reviews submitted and accepted are tallied, so that participants can see how they compare with one another and whether or not, altogether, we've been able to surpass previous challenges' totals. There's no prizes or rewards except knowing that you've given a review to an album that didn't previously have one. There's also bragging rights for the most reviews, if that matters to you. Please read this thread for the rules and to discuss the challenge!
The challenge is named in memory of our friend Diamhea, a long-time contributor to the challenge and staff member here at Metal Archives, who sadly passed away on May 21st, 2018. He was the first person to have ever written 100 reviews for a single challenge!
The challenge will run from 12:00AM EST on Monday December 1st until 11:59PM EST on Sunday December 7th.
Everyone is welcome to participate - all you have to do is submit reviews as usual during that week.
Looking forward to your participation! \m/
There are no words that could truly capture the importance and influence of Ozzy Osbourne for heavy metal. After a poignant farewell concert (raising an amazing 140 million pounds, likely the highest grossing charity concert ever) just a few weeks ago, the legendary metal icon left us at age 76, leaving behind an indelible and immortal legacy. None of us would be here, creating, enjoying and celebrating heavy metal, without him and Black Sabbath.
Thank you Ozzy and may your songs continue to echo throughout the ages. 🤘
Leave the earth to all its sin and hate
Find another world where freedom waits
It's nearing the end of the year, and so that means another Album of the Year poll, this time for 2024!
How does it work? Select your top ten metal albums of the year; they have to be metal, they have to be new, original material, they have to be on MA, and they have to have been released in 2024. Put your list in order, with #1 being the album you liked the most. Once you're certain you have your list, send it to BastardHead by private message (pm) on the forum. You have until 12:00AM EST on January 1st, 2025 to submit your list to him - once the year changes, the polls are closed!
You get one ballot, and your account on MA must've been registered before November 30th, 2024 in order to participate. Please read the first post here for more details on how the poll works.
The results of the poll will (ideally) be ready by January 1st, 2025 or shortly thereafter. In the meantime, you can discuss the poll and your picks here.
Have fun, and look forward to your participation. \m/
Recently, there has been a noticeable uptick in the number of bands being submitted to the site which have AI generated music. We want to make it clear what our position is on these bands, and how we plan to move forward in assessing them.
It went without saying, at least up until now, that when we imagined growing the largest and most complete database of metal music, part of that vision was the preservation of art and human expression through music. Until AI, that was a given. The music described on the site is, in some way, played, programmed, and composed by a human being. That still remains an important criterion for us, and it is our belief that AI generated music does not satisfy that requirement.
With the above in mind, we won't be accepting bands with AI generated albums, and we will scrutinize more thoroughly submissions suspected of having AI generated music.
For those users submitting bands, if you have a band suspected of having AI generated music, we may call upon you to provide evidence to prove otherwise, whether it's behind-the-scenes material, statements from the band or its label, evidence the band played live, promotional material showing the band is genuine, and so on. The more evidence we have to show that such a band is real, and its music composed by a human being, the better. Our goal isn't to make this harder on you, or anyone for that matter, but we do want to stay true to our vision for the site.
This policy isn't perfect and is a work-in-progress which may evolve over time. We know there will be some bands with AI generated music mistakenly added to the site, and we also know mistakes can be made and bands without AI generated material may be flagged for having AI generated music. With your help, we hope to avoid this as much as possible.
Thank you. \m/
The results of the Album of the Year poll for 2023 are now available here.
Well, with December now upon us, it's time for the Album of the Year poll for 2023!
How does it work? Select your top ten metal albums of the year; they have to be metal, they have to be new, original material, they have to be on MA, and they have to have been released in 2023. Put your list in order, with #1 being the album you liked the most. Once you're certain you have your list, send it to BastardHead by private message (pm) on the forum. You have until 12:00AM EST on January 1st, 2024 to submit your list to him - once the year changes, the polls are closed!
You get one ballot, and your account on MA must've been registered before November 30th, 2023 in order to participate. Please read the first post here for more details on the way the poll works.
The results of the poll will (ideally) be announced on January 1st, 2024 or shortly thereafter. In the meantime, feel free to discuss the poll in the thread located here.
Have fun, and look forward to your participation. \m/
Harkening back to a news item from over 7 years ago, the band research thread now comes with a neat and shiny list in HTML table form. This list has already helped us tremendously in getting a better overview as well as resolving many entries from that gargantuan and ever-growing thread. If you know anything about any of the listed bands or you're just really into sleuthing work for old forgotten stuff, we'd be grateful for any help in thinning out the list and contributing to the Archives' completeness. Or who knows, maybe you are even so graciously inclined and willing to purchase a release in order to get our collective aural mitts on some crucial piece of music.
See the thread's opening post for more information. If you have any questions, requests or suggestions for the HTML list in particular, feel free to post in the thread or email me directly.
Cheers!
On March 31, 2023, a severe storm caused the roof to collapse on attendees at a metal gig in Belvidere, Illinois. One man was killed, while another 28 people were injured, including five with severe injuries.
If you would like to provide support, a GoFundMe has been set up for the family of the man who was killed, to help with the costs that come along with losing a family member:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/fred-livingston-jr
Donation pages were also created to help with financial relief for severely injured attendees:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/financial-relief-for-michelle-il-roof-collapse
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-paul-rojas-after-apollo-roof-collapse
https://www.gofundme.com/f/dylans-recover-from-the-apollo
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-metal-mark-apollo-theater-roof-collapse
https://www.gofundme.com/f/daniels-recovery-apollo-roof-collapse
https://www.gofundme.com/f/financial-relief-after-roof-collapse-for-victoria
https://www.gofundme.com/f/vmq5j6-medical-and-monthly-bills
If there are additional official donation pages, we will add them. Our thoughts are with the victims, their families, and all those affected by this tragedy. The metal community is here for you.
Hey gang,
I've got a couple bad news. Firstly, there is unfortunately no magic AI that will help us manage the band queue. That was just a bit of April Fools Day wishful thinking. Who knows, maybe one day!
Secondly, black metal will remain on the site.
Hello everyone,
There are some big changes coming to the way we do things here on MA. I'm sure most of you have noticed the recent rapid advances in AI technology, such as the amazing results that software like ChatGPT and Midjourney can produce. So we've begun to think, could something similar be used for the betterment of MA? One of our main jobs is of course to evaluate bands for inclusion on the site. This is a very time-consuming process, often leaves people dissatisfied (both mods and submitters), and while we do our utmost to reach an impartial consensus on our decisions, the human element means that there is always a degree of subjectivity involved. Would it be possible to use AI technology to develop an entirely unbiased and scientific way of determining if a band is metal?
As it turns out, yes. Yes, it is. We've spent the last couple months training an AI algorithm on hundreds and hundreds of songs of every genre and have ended up with a very solid model for predicting whether a band is metal or not to a high degree of accuracy. This means that in the near future, we will be able to evaluate band submissions completely objectively based on sound wave analysis and cold computer logic. For the moment, we will be using this AI model manually to double check the results, but we hope to eventually be able to simply let submitters give a Bandcamp or Spotify link, and the automated system will do the rest!
Now, there is one small issue. Algorithms like this create their own way of "thinking" about things, so to speak, and this can sometimes find patterns and details that escape human beings. As such, one very surprising result about metal subgenres came out of our experiments. See, if we throw, say, doom metal at the model, sure, that's fine. Death metal? No problem. Traditional heavy metal? Of course! It's even quite good at determining if the more borderline genres are predominantly metal or not. But... Black metal? It was quite a shocking discovery, but it does appear that when analyzed scientifically, it turns out that black metal isn't actually metal. I know! We were taken aback, too! We even spent a good amount of time redoing the tests while tweaking the parameters and such, but the results remained very consistent: scientifically speaking, black metal is false.
Now, what shall we do about this? Remove all black metal from the site? Well, it sounded crazy at first, but the more we thought about it... It might actually make sense. MA has always prided itself on its accuracy, and now that it can be scientifically proven that a good number of bands on here aren't metal, it stands to reason that they shouldn't be here at all. It's not completely unprecedented either, since there have been purges of some niche subgenres in the past, though on a much smaller scale. In the end, we think that the opportunity to be 100% consistent and objective in how we do things trumps the inconvenience. Besides, let's face it, I think deep down we all know that black "metal" has always been the worst subgenre. This move should also cut down on at least 70% of band-related drama on the site. Overall, I think we can consider this a win-win.
This is why, in the next few days, we will begin to remove BM bands from the site. This will be a gradual effort since every band needs to be evaluated again. Of course, many black metal bands also incorporate elements from the true metal genres in their sound, and these will be allowed to remain if they are determined to be predominantly metal. This way, you can at least rest assured that the better bands in the genre will stay on MA.
Thank you for your comprehension, and we hope this new technology and classification can usher in a new age of enlightenment for the metal community as a whole.