Metal Related

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Metal Related is a term used on Metal Music Archives (MMA) to describe artists and releases that, although not metal enough to be placed under any of the MMA metal sub-genres, still contain a reasonable amount of metal elements.

While this tag will often be applied to releases by artists who do indeed have more fully-fledged metal releases such as Opeth's Heritage or most releases by A.C.T. after their debut, the site will often take in artists that have no releases in metal sub-genres, as Metal Related artists due to the metal elements on some or all of their releases. Examples of such artists are Neal Morse for his 2007 album Sola Scriptura, Galahad for their later releases and Beardfish for their 2012 album The Void.

As such the actual music on releases with the Metal Related sub-genre can vary greatly, both in terms of the main style and the metal elements that flavour the music.

- Written by adg211288 (August 2015)

Sub-genre collaborators:

The Metal Related team is always the same as the standing admin team. Currently:

  • adg211288
  • Bosh66
  • 666sharon666
  • Vim Fuego
  • Nightfly


Click for Full Sub-Genre Chart

metal related top albums

Showing only albums and EPs | Based on members ratings & MMA custom algorithm | 24 hours caching

SPOCK'S BEARD V Album Cover V
SPOCK'S BEARD
4.91 | 10 ratings
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NEAL MORSE Sola Scriptura Album Cover Sola Scriptura
NEAL MORSE
4.48 | 36 ratings
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TRANSATLANTIC Bridge Across Forever Album Cover Bridge Across Forever
TRANSATLANTIC
4.55 | 23 ratings
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NEAL MORSE One Album Cover One
NEAL MORSE
4.62 | 14 ratings
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PORCUPINE TREE In Absentia Album Cover In Absentia
PORCUPINE TREE
4.34 | 91 ratings
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PORCUPINE TREE Deadwing Album Cover Deadwing
PORCUPINE TREE
4.35 | 76 ratings
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KATATONIA Last Fair Deal Gone Down Album Cover Last Fair Deal Gone Down
KATATONIA
4.40 | 32 ratings
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RIVERSIDE Second Life Syndrome Album Cover Second Life Syndrome
RIVERSIDE
4.32 | 94 ratings
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THE NEAL MORSE BAND The Great Adventure Album Cover The Great Adventure
THE NEAL MORSE BAND
4.76 | 8 ratings
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COHEED AND CAMBRIA The Afterman: Ascension Album Cover The Afterman: Ascension
COHEED AND CAMBRIA
4.54 | 12 ratings
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TRANSATLANTIC The Whirlwind Album Cover The Whirlwind
TRANSATLANTIC
4.38 | 22 ratings
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SPOCK'S BEARD The Oblivion Particle Album Cover The Oblivion Particle
SPOCK'S BEARD
4.61 | 9 ratings
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This list is in progress since the site is new. We invite all logged in members to use the "quick rating" widget (stars bellow album covers) or post full reviews to increase the weight of your rating in the global average value (see FAQ for more details). Enjoy MMA!

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metal related Music Reviews

PORCUPINE TREE Rockpalast

Live album · 2006 · Metal Related
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Warthur
Hailing from a live performance originally broadcast on German television, this hails from the Deadwing tour, coming a month or so after the material captured on the Arriving Somewhere live release. For the most part the setlist concentrates on recent material from In Absentia and Deadwing (and non-album tracks from the same era), though The Start of Something Beautiful and Radioactive Toy pop up to offer something from Up the Downstair and On the Sunday of Life respectively. As one might expect from performances recorded professionally for TV, the sound quality is decent, and overall this is another fine live release, though if you are not a big Porcupine Tree you may find this is a little redundant next to Arriving Somewhere, which draws on a somewhat wider range of their back catalogue at that.

PORCUPINE TREE XM

Live album · 2003 · Metal Related
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Warthur
As the title implies, Porcupine Tree's XM is a live-in-the-studio session for XM radio in Washington D.C. - as such, it doesn't have the ambience of a live album, but it does showcase the capacity of the band to pull off this material in person. As one might expect from a November 2002 session, material from In Absentia features heavily - in fact, six of the titles here come from it, with the remaining tracks all coming from Stupid Dream. We're quite far away here from Porcupine Tree's space rock roots, as a result, and more in the realm of the heavy prog music that they made the focus of their work for the 2000s, with touches of the indie rock-influenced prog of their late 1990s era adding an extra dose of variety here and there. It might not offer a whole lot that In Absentia and Stupid Dream didn't already offer, but when you are dealing with albums that are as good as those two, "more of the same" doesn't sound half bad.

PUNKY BRÜSTER Cooked On Phonics

Album · 1996 · Metal Related
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UMUR
"Cooked on Phonics" is the debut full-length studio album by Canadian metal/punk act Punky Brüster, which is a project by Devin Townsend. The album was released through HevyDevy Records (Townsend´s own label) in March 1996. It bridges the gap between the debut full-length studio album "Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing" (April 1995, Century Media Records) by Townsend´s extreme metal project Strapping Young Lad and his first solo album "Ocean Machine: Biomech" (July 1997, HevyDevy Records).

"Cooked on Phonics" is a concept comedy metal/punk rock album, and it´s not a project Townsend has resurrected since, so this is the sole release by Punky Brüster. It tells the story of fictional death metal act Cryptic Coroner, who by chance start playing punk rock (which at times sounds suspiciously much like Green Day), find out that there´s money to be made, and then change their name to Punky Brüster. Much of the story is spend making fun of the members of the band trying to adapt to their new punk rockstar roles ("Heinous Anus" is for example about the band members having a nervous stomach before Grammy night), their greedy/stupid/arrogant management, and the stupidity of their fans/groupies. It´s a completely over the top story, ridiculously silly, but also quite funny and entertaining. Townsend´s taking the piss on both the clichés of death metal and punk rock here in great style.

...what people should know about "Cooked on Phonics" is that other than the silly/funny story/narrative, the album actually features some very well performed, well composed, and energetic punk rock (and occasionally death metal, harcore, crossover, heavy metal). According to Townsend (said at the end of closing track "Larry's O") the album took a week-and-a-half to write, six days to record, and 12 hours to mix. So it´s a testimony to the skills of Townsend that he can pull an album like this up his hat in such a short period of time, almost without breaking a sweat. He has also managed to create a very well sounding production in such a short time.

The musicianship is on a high level throughout the album. Townsend (vocals/guitars) and his cohorts (J. R. Harder on bass/vocals and Adrian White on drums) play precise, raw, and intense, and although this is a sarcastic comedy release, the band manage to sound both passionate and convincing. They may take the piss on punk rock, but they sure know how to perform it. Townsend´s vocals are incredibly well performed and it´s great to hear him let rip with a raw voice which is often on the verge of screaming, but generally not quite as extreme as his vocals on Strapping Young Lad.

Upon conclusion "Cooked on Phonics" is a greatly entertaining release, and it´s unfortunately often overlooked by fans of Townsend. This has all his crazy humor plastered all over it, great musiciaship, production values, and some very decent songwriting too. It´s well worth the price of admission, and I can highly recommend it. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

PORCUPINE TREE IA / DW / XT

EP · 2023 · Metal Related
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siLLy puPPy
It’s amazing how much material PORCUPINE TREE releases outside of its studio albums. So much that i really don’t want to keep up with it all but something inspired me to check out this newest archival release of bonus tracks from the “In Absentia” and “Deadwing” sessions and that is because that is my absolute favorite period of PORCUPINE TREE! With the rather cryptic title of IA / DW / XT, this four track EP features two tracks that only appeared on the “In Absentia” Deluxe Edition and two tracks from the “Deadwing” Deluxe Edition.

Those Deluxe Editions were only released on CD. Both of those feature an unthinkable amount of bonus material ranging from new tracks to demos, live recordings and everything but the kitchen sink. I never thought much of those but i do love me some bonus tracks that didn’t make it to the actual albums and that’s what you get here. This EP has only been released on vinyl but easily heard on YouTube. The four song EP only lasts about 21 minutes but this is another winner of an EP!

“Drown With Me” and “Chloroform” are from the “In Absentia” sessions and really fit in perfectly with the album with the same ambient space prog meets hard rock and occasional heavier metal. Both these tracks feature vocals and Steven Wilson has never sounded better. “Revenant” and “Mother And Child Divided” are from the “Deadwing” sessions and are entirely instrumental. They tackle the usual PORCUPINE TREE magic but melodic ambient post-rock sounding intros slowly ratcheting up the tension to rock and then heavier rock with the expected crescendoes displaying an excellent uses of psychedelic space rock ceding into more direct heavy prog rock heft.

For only four songs this one has already become quite expensive due to the fact it was limited to only 800 copies on vinyl. I’ll pass as i’m sure one day an entire album of just bonus material will emerge which collectively will constitute an amazing PORCUPINE TREE album in its own right. These four songs are every bit as essential as anything on the “In Absentia” or “Deadwing” albums however those albums are masterpieces in their own right for not only the songs they contain but in how they connect together.

While this EP lacks that cohesiveness when taken as excellent individual tracks unavailable to the vast majority of fans who weren’t willing to shell out big bucks for deluxe editions, this isn’t a bad way to go. It’s also worth mentioning that this record was cleared using an ultrasonic cleaning system and recorded to be run through software that reduces audio defects. The production is crystal clear perfect as always and is a great bit of bonus material that shows the PT in its prime.

ENCHANT Tug Of War

Album · 2003 · Metal Related
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lukretion
If you have been following Enchant’s career, it is hard to miss the obvious Easter eggs the band have placed on the cover of their 7th full-length album, Tug of War. Images taken from all their previous albums appear in the picture, from the LP A Blueprint of the World LP placed at the feet of the mirror, to the iconic billiard-ball from Juggling 9 or Dropping 10 lying on the floor, to posters of Wounded and Blink of an Eye on the wall. When I first saw it, I wondered whether, by providing such retrospective, the band were trying to subtly tell fans time had arrived for curtain call. I was almost proved right given that after this album Enchant went into hibernation for 11 long years, before making a sporadic comeback in 2014 with the mediocre The Great Divide to then disband once again. So were Enchant planning to send us off on a high note or a low note?

Unfortunately, Tug of War continues the downward trajectory of Enchant’s previous album Blink of an Eye and it is a further step down compared to their best works, 1998’s Break and 2000’s Juggling 9 or Dropping 10. The new material is actually not terribly different from the songs included on those albums, but feels less inspired and less compelling. The album’s core sonic identity is once again a simplified form of progressive rock, where AOR and mainstream pop/rock aesthetics are weaved together with the influences of classic and modern prog greats (Rush, Kansas, Marillion, Spock’s Beard) and reinterpreted with a hint of metallic bite (Dream Theater). Doug Ott’s guitar plays predominantly a soft rhythmic role, with light chords and arpeggios, letting Ed Platt steer the material into more metallic directions with his meaty bass licks. Meanwhile, new keyboard player Bill Jenkins adds minimal texture with sound effects and keyboard chords and drummer Sean Flanegan focuses more on groove than rhythmic extravaganza.

The end result is a layered but unobtrusive texture that leaves a lot of space to singer Ted Leonard’s vocal melodies. Alas, these are not very compelling because they often tend to be slightly too convoluted and rarely have immediate appeal. Partly, this may be due to the songs’ complex harmonic developments, which leave Ted struggling to find good melodies to bridge the unorthodox chord progressions. This has been an unfortunate constant throughout the band’s career, with the exception of Juggling 9 or Dropping 10 which stands as their most accessible and accomplished record to date.

Overall, Tug of War is not a bad record, but it isn’t strong either. It is well played and well arranged, but its greatest drawback is that it dabbles in mostly harmless and generic progressive rock. The listening experience is far from compelling. Very few tracks standout, and they are mostly concentrated at the start (“Sinking Sand”, “Holding the Wind”) or end of the record (the proggy instrumental “Progtology”, “Comatose”), which makes the middle part of the album quite challenging to go through. Longtime fans may still find enough good material to enjoy Tug of War, but if you are new to Enchant, you’d be better served by digging into their earlier – and superior – releases.

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NEAL MORSE Morsefest! 5015

Movie · 2017 · Metal Related
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adg211288
Morsefest! 2015 is a live release by US musician Neal Morse. Morsefest! shows are without a doubt the most special Neal Morse shows that a fan could attend – a two day event with a different Neal Morse set each night. Morsefest! 2015 was released on either a 2x blu-ray or 4 x CD/2x DVD package in 2017. Strictly speaking it is The Neal Morse Band playing on the release – Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy, Randy George, Eric Gillette & Bill Hubauer – but Morsefest! 2015 was released under just Neal Morse's name likely due to the event's focus on his albums ? (2005) and Sola Scriptura (2007).

While the focus is indeed on those albums, with ? played in full on night one and Sola Scriptura in full on night two, the set is varied with various extra tracks. The Neal Morse Band had released their debut album The Grand Experiment earlier in 2015 and that album also gets a fair airing across the two nights, particularly in the first half of night one with The Call, the title track and the limited edition bonus track New Jerusalem gets played, while Waterfall was featured on night two complete with some instrument changes for various band members. Three Spock's Beard songs are also brought out, Go the Way You Go on night one and At the End of the Day and Wind at My Back on night two, the latter two featuring Nick D'Virgilio first on drums then co-lead vocals. An edited version of Transatlantic's near eighty minute whole album epic The Whirlwind closes the second night, with further guest vocals by D'Virgilio and guitar by Phil Keaggy, who also makes an appearance on night one and was the support act for the event. Finally the band brings to the live stage for the first time a lesser known Neal Morse epic called A Whole Nother Trip, which appeared on his first solo album while still a member of Spock's Beard amongst what was otherwise a bunch of pop songs. There is also a cover of the song MacArthur Park, originally released by Richard Harris, which has been given the prog treatment by Bill Hubauer on challenge from Mike Portnoy. Neal Morse hates the song apparently and always swore he'd never cover it, but there you go. Hubauer sings lead on it.

The main draw to the Morsefest! 2015 live release is of course the full performance of two of Neal Morse's best known albums. ? is basically one long song in and of itself and is treated like the crowning piece of what Morse describes as a night of epics – a fair description when the shortest song is about seven and a half minutes long. For me personally the performance of Sola Scriptura is the key focal point of the two night show though. That's my personal favourite Neal Morse album, not to mention the one that really got me into his music. It's also one of his heaviest and most metal works which along with various parts of The Neal Morse Band's music gives a metallic edge to those otherwise symphonic progressive rock fuelled double concert.

Morsefest! 2015 is one heck of a show if you're into progressive rock. The scope is tremendous not just through the double show but each night's set is over two hours a pop as well. The amount of musicians on stage at one time goes far beyond the core band – far too many to recite in a review. Suffice to say there's a lot of people involved to pull this off. The sound and picture quality of the blu-ray release is excellent and you certainly get a lot of music for your money. The only fault with the set is that one listed bonus feature called Prog Jeopardy is completely missing from the release. Not sure what the story is there, perhaps it was planned and had to be cut for some reason and they forget to change the inserts before going to the press, who knows? But you weren't buying this for the bonus features anyway right?

There are several of the Morsefest shows released by the time of writing this review in September 2020 so which one holds the most appeal to each fan will of course be different. 2015 was a no brainer for me due to my particular love of Sola Scriptura. Someone else may think 2014's focus on Testimony (2003) and One (2004) or 2017's Testimony 2 (2011) and The Similitude of a Dream (2016) to be better options for them. Regardless any Neal Morse fan owns it to themselves to pick up at least one of these releases for his most special and exclusive concerts.

PORCUPINE TREE Arriving Somewhere...

Movie · 2006 · Metal Related
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Warthur
Focusing on the more metal-oriented material from Deadwing and In Absentia - though notably steering it back in a more rock-oriented direction in order to allow this material to sit a little more comfortably beside the "indie prog rock" stylings of Stupid Dream, Lightbulb Sun and Recordings (picks from all of which surface here). Fans of their earlier psychedelic and space rock styles might be disappointed that those aren't represented, but on the plus side there's a liberal sprinkling of rarities here such as the glorious Buying New Soul as well as Revenant, So-Called Friend and Mother and Child Divided, those three songs having only appeared on various special editions of Deadwing. Not the definitive Porcupine Tree live experience, but a pretty decent one nonetheless.

RIVERSIDE Reality Dream

Movie · 2009 · Metal Related
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progshine
My polish girlfriend gave me this DVD on my anniversary in May, I really didn't know what to expect of the band live cause I only knew their studio recordings. Like I always do, I watched the bonus DVD first, I like to see backstage footage, interviews and extras much more than the proper live presentations on most of the time (maybe the only exception is Live At Wembley by QUEEN).

The first DVD is the show itself, and it's a very good recording, both audio and video, and seeing them live male me wonder how good is Mariusz Duda, cause as a bass player myself, I know how hard is to play some lines while you sing, Mariusz dows a fantastic work live, as the whole band.

I think it's a great buy for any prog rock fan, this polish band deserves more light on our '70's' world.

NEAL MORSE Live Momentum

Movie · 2013 · Metal Related
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Kev Rowland
One of the disadvantages of living at the end of the world is that these days I get most of my promos as downloads, which generally isn’t too much of a pain but here I find myself reviewing a DVD set where I haven’t actually seen the DVDs! Okay, so this has been released as a double DVD (more than 4 hours), along with a triple CD set and it is the latter that I am reviewing. This recording took place on October 11th, 2012 at The High Line Ballroom, New York, and captures the band in incredible form. I have no idea how many live recordings of Neal there are in my collection, from duetting with NDV through Spock’s Beard and Transatlantic and of course his solo work, but there are one or two. I have seen him in concert with SB as well as on the ‘Testimony’ tour and have had the privilege of interviewing him a few times as well, so I guess you can say that I am a fan.

I greatly respect the way that he decided to stand up for what he believed in (even though I don’t share those beliefs), although I still regret that SB never had the chance to tour ‘Snow’ which is easily their finest work. I have never given anything that he has been involved with a bad review, and there is no reason at all to start now as this triple CD set (2 hours 45 minutes) is as close to perfection as one could hope to hear. When it came to choosing the musicians to form the band he brought in close friends Mike Portnoy and Randy George and then used YouTube for the audition process! He ought to do that more often, as during “Sing It High” he gets it right when he says that the guys are “Sick”. Adson Sodré (guitar, vocals), Eric Gillette (guitar, keyboards, percussion, vocals) and Bill Hubauer (keyboards, violin, sax, vocals) do a stunning job. Mind you, it’s handy when you have three multi-instrumentalists in a band as it does mean that you can spread the wings. Vocally they are all in fine voice as well, just listen to “Author Of Confusion” to see what I mean.

Both Adson and Eric really riff and shred as the need requires, and this is probably the heaviest that Neal has ever sounded as he works his way through material from throughout his career: this is much more than just a live rendition of the latest album. The suites from ‘Testimony’ and ‘?’ work incredibly well and it is the longer sections that really allow Neal and the guys to shine. There are four songs more than twenty minutes long and one more than thirty!

But, for me one of the major highlights sees Neal taking a back seat, literally. One of my favourite live albums that feature Neal is ‘One Night in New York City’ by Yellow Matter Custard. This was a band put together by Mike Portnoy to play Beatles’ numbers, and the line-up was completed by Neal, Paul Gilbert and Matt Bissonette. The whole purpose of that band was to provide a new take on classic numbers and have fun at the same time. Well, on “Crazy Horses” Neal takes over on drums while Mike becomes the frontman, and everyone has an absolute blast. Mike says that when he first heard the song when he was five years old that it was the heaviest song that he had ever heard, and the band certainly do it justice. I defy you to listen to this and not smile throughout. There are some people who don’t enjoy what Neal does, and feel that he hasn’t dramatically changed since he left SB, but I sincerely hope he keeps going in this vein for the rest of his very long career as I love it.

So there you have it, a five star review for a DVD set that I haven’t even seen. But to me they are just an added bonus as this triple CD set is just mindblowing. www.insideout.de

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