Warthur

MMA Metal Reviewer · Metal Reviewer
Registered more than 2 years ago · Last visit 28 days ago

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1844 reviews/ratings
BLACK SABBATH - Black Sabbath Heavy Metal | review permalink
BLACK SABBATH - Paranoid Heavy Metal | review permalink
THE STOOGES - Fun House Proto-Metal | review permalink
THE STOOGES - Raw Power Proto-Metal | review permalink
BLUE ÖYSTER CULT - Secret Treaties Hard Rock | review permalink
KISS - Alive! Hard Rock | review permalink
JUDAS PRIEST - Sad Wings Of Destiny Heavy Metal | review permalink
RUSH - A Farewell to Kings Hard Rock | review permalink
RUSH - Permanent Waves Hard Rock | review permalink
MOTÖRHEAD - Ace of Spades Heavy Metal | review permalink
RUSH - Moving Pictures Hard Rock | review permalink
IRON MAIDEN - The Number Of The Beast NWoBHM | review permalink
MERCYFUL FATE - Don't Break the Oath Heavy Metal | review permalink
METALLICA - Ride the Lightning Thrash Metal | review permalink
IRON MAIDEN - Powerslave NWoBHM | review permalink
METALLICA - Master of Puppets Thrash Metal | review permalink
CANDLEMASS - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus Traditional Doom Metal | review permalink
SLAYER - Reign in Blood Thrash Metal | review permalink
KING DIAMOND - Abigail Heavy Metal | review permalink
TROUBLE - Run to the Light Traditional Doom Metal | review permalink

See all reviews/ratings

Metal Genre Nb. Rated Avg. rating
1 Non-Metal 180 3.77
2 Progressive Metal 158 3.67
3 Heavy Metal 150 3.66
4 Black Metal 125 3.71
5 Hard Rock 118 3.50
6 Metal Related 94 3.69
7 Thrash Metal 81 3.76
8 Power Metal 79 3.41
9 Proto-Metal 68 3.68
10 Atmospheric Black Metal 64 3.86
11 Gothic Metal 58 3.38
12 Doom Metal 57 3.78
13 Death Metal 54 3.94
14 Traditional Doom Metal 45 3.87
15 US Power Metal 41 3.46
16 Stoner Metal 38 3.78
17 Avant-garde Metal 38 3.78
18 Industrial Metal 33 3.44
19 Symphonic Black Metal 30 3.20
20 Technical Death Metal 25 3.84
21 Melodic Death Metal 25 3.94
22 Death-Doom Metal 23 4.13
23 Melodic Black Metal 22 3.91
24 Atmospheric Sludge Metal 20 3.98
25 Hardcore Punk 19 4.21
26 Heavy Psych 16 4.06
27 Funeral Doom Metal 15 3.70
28 Folk Metal 14 3.32
29 Symphonic Metal 14 3.04
30 NWoBHM 13 4.23
31 Alternative Metal 12 3.25
32 Technical Thrash Metal 12 4.13
33 Sludge Metal 11 3.95
34 Speed Metal 11 3.73
35 Depressive Black Metal 10 3.45
36 Drone Metal 9 4.00
37 Funk Metal 9 3.78
38 Groove Metal 8 3.63
39 Viking Metal 8 3.63
40 Crust Punk 7 2.93
41 Brutal Death Metal 5 3.70
42 Grindcore 5 4.10
43 Death 'n' Roll 4 4.50
44 Crossover Thrash 2 4.50
45 Glam Metal 2 2.50
46 Pagan Black Metal 2 3.50
47 Nu Metal 2 4.00
48 War Metal 2 3.00
49 Stoner Rock 2 3.50
50 Metalcore 1 3.00
51 Neoclassical metal 1 4.00
52 Heavy Alternative Rock 1 3.00
53 Mathcore 1 3.00

Latest Albums Reviews

PORCUPINE TREE We Lost The Skyline

Promos, fans club and other releases (no bootlegs) · 2008 · Non-Metal
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This is an intriguing live release sourced from a Porcupine Tree appearance at a Florida record shop. Due to the constraints of the venue, a full band performance proved impossible, so the band adapted and instead offered up a trimmed-down unit of just Steven Wilson and John Wesley, performing trimmed-down arrangements of some of their material.

Though this is not quite an "unplugged" set - Wesley is backing on electric guitar, Wilson uses electric guitar at points - there's enough focus on Wilson's acoustic guitar to give it that sort of vibe, and this casts the material in a very different light, like a matured take on the indie rock-influenced direction the band took around the time of Stupid Dream, Lightbulb Sun, and Recordings. Still, despite that point of comparison it's a unique entry in the band's discography, and it's perhaps a strength of these songs that they lend themselves to this sort of very minimalistic interpretation just as much as the lusher incarnations we are more used to.

PORCUPINE TREE Ilosaarirock

Promos, fans club and other releases (no bootlegs) · 2009 · Metal Related
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This is one of several live releases which capture Porcupine Tree performing in the wake of Fear of a Blank Planet, perhaps the height of their 2000s powers before 2009's The Incident split opinions and took a little of the shine off the band.

As the title implies, it's taken from their appearance the Isolaarirock Festival in Finland, and as is often the case with festival sets that makes it a somewhat different beast from live releases sourced from a concert where the act in question is headlining. The necessity to stick to a festival running time prompts Porcupine Tree to pick out a setlist tightly focused on more immediately gripping songs, and whilst it also limits the extent to which they can zoot off on flights of fancy, this nonetheless is a capably performed set performed for a clearly appreciative crowd.

Save for Lightbulb Sun, only songs from In Absentia, Deadwing, and Fear of a Blank Planet are included, and on the whole the setlist makes a good case for the band's 2000s-era output.

PORCUPINE TREE Nil Recurring

EP · 2007 · Metal Related
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Nil Recurring is a fairly simple EP to review in some respects. Did you like Fear of a Blank Planet? Would you like more Porcupine Tree in that particular vein, consisting of a brace of songs (some devised in those sessions, some only coming together afterwards)? Does the idea of Robert Fripp paying a visit to lend his guitar and some blessing to a band as important to progressive rock in the 2000s as King Crimson was in their heyday appeal to you? Then you probably already have listened to Nil Recurring - but if you haven't, don't snooze on it, because whilst some secondary Porcupine Tree releases are a little ancillary (Metanoia, for instance, is an acquired taste), Nil Recurring is of much the same standard as the album that preceded it.

Or do you think Fear of a Blank Planet was rubbish? I don't agree with you... but Nil Recurring won't persuade you to like this phase of Porcupine Tree any more than you already do.

PORCUPINE TREE Rockpalast

Live album · 2006 · Metal Related
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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 XMII

Live album · 2005 · Non-Metal
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This is the followup to XM, and is another live-in-the-studio recording by Porcupine Tree for XM radio in Washington D.C., this time from 2003. The original XM leaned very strongly on material from In Absentia, recorded as it was early in the process of touring and promoting that album.

This album ends up being a somewhat more varied prospect, as well as a highly interesting one - because the first XM used so much In Absentia material, here they go lighter on it (though it's not absent - there's a nice version of Trains here) but fill out the setlist with tunes from a more diverse range of releases. These go as far back as Up the Downstair, but the band also lean heavily on Lightbulb Sun for these performances.

What really gets interesting is that the band are still very much in In Absentia mode when they are playing this material - adding an extra dose of edge and heaviness to the proceedings, with the result that you get a somewhat fresher take on familiar stuff here.

The end result is a rather unique setlist - certainly not something the band would have put together if they'd had a completely free hand in song choice, but because so much of their recent material had been already used on the first XM session and they wanted to avoid redundancy, we ended up with this intriguing, one-of-a-kind performance.

Latest Forum Topic Posts

  • Posted 1 year ago in Scott Kelly (Neurosis) retires from music
    Coming to this late but echoing what other people have said: I don't trust Kelly's statement an inch.I've known people who've gotten into a cycle of regularly making big dramatic apologies for their behaviour and spurting all sorts of promises they're going to change... but actually, the apologies and promises are what they do instead of working on themselves. They just use them as a delaying tactic to convince people to give them a bit more time before writing them off entirely.Apparently, this isn't the first time Scott's done this particular dance - just the most public one - so it smells like a similar situation to me. If the band don't see any reason to back him up on this - and they might have been out of touch with him a while, but they surely know him better than me - I don't see any reason to differ.
  • Posted more than 2 years ago in A name for "progressive metal punk?"
    If most of the examples LightningRider's thinking of are usually described as some flavour of 'core, why not just go with "progcore"?
  • Posted more than 2 years ago in Sean Reinert R.I.P.
    An ugly coda to the story: despite strongly believing in organ donation, and despite the fact that he was clean of STDs, Sean's wish to donate his organs was denied simply because he was a gay man with a normal, active sex life:https://www.metalsucks.net/2020/02/11/sean-reinerts-organ-donor-request-was-denied-because-of-his-sexual-orientation/If any of us want to do some small thing in Sean's memory, I'd say making a monetary donation to a charity that supports transplant patients wouldn't be a terrible idea.

Shouts

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Stephen wrote:
more than 2 years ago
agree, welcome to the site and please keep them coming friend
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
You write some really good quality reviews. I hope to see more from you in the future.

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