Radical Research Podcast

Our third in the Permeable Lines series takes a query from a Radical Research listener regarding Voivod's "Rise" and Dodheimsgard's "The Snuff Dreams Are Made Of." We're game...and we invite you to send in your bids for comparison in this ongoing Point 5 series. Music cited in order of appearance: Voivod, "Rise" (Phobos, 1997) Dodheimsgard, "The Snuff Dreams Are Made Of" (Supervillain Outcast, 2007) Stay tuned for episode 152, on Todtgelichter's 2010 opus, 'Angst,' with discussion on the worthiness (or lack thereof) of the albums that bookend it.

Much like their hometown of London, England, Akercocke at once embody urbanity and the bucolic, depravity and erudition -- constantly blurring the lines between seemingly opposite poles. In Akercocke’s world, nothing is quite as it seems. Herein, we dissect the most recent half of their discography, which is some of the most adventurous, beguiling metal we have EVER heard. Note I: Jeff’s Voivod book, ‘Always Moving: The Strange Multiverse of Voivod,’ is now available. You can purchase a copy of the 540-page, 3-pound behemoth HERE: radicalresearch.org/voivod Note II: The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We are offering tiered subscription levels for those who want a set-it-and-forget-it donation option. As ever, if you choose to support us, we are humbled and grateful! patreon.com/RadicalResearchPodcast Music cited in order of appearance: “Verdelet” (Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone, 2005) “Shelter from the Sand” (Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone, 2005) “Eyes of the Dawn” (Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone, 2005) “Words That Go Unspoken” (Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone, 2005) “Axiom” (Antichrist, 2007) “My Apterous Angel” (Antichrist, 2007) “Man Without Faith or Trust” (Antichrist, 2007) “The Dark Inside” (Antichrist, 2007) “Familiar Ghosts” (Renaissance in Extremis, 2017) “A Final Glance Back Before Departing” (Renaissance in Extremis, 2017) “One Chapter Closing for Another to Begin” (Renaissance in Extremis, 2017) “A Particularly Cold September” (Renaissance in Extremis, 2017) Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.

We conclude our 2-part, 4-hour deep dive into one of our favorite bands in the universe, the mighty Anathema. This second part looks at their 2001-2017 phase, surveying the six albums they released in that 18-year span. They are no longer active, but they’re very much alive in our hearts and sound systems, an eternal source of inspiration for the hosts of this podcast and their legion of fans across the globe. This is a love letter.   Note I: As we were perusing the list of inspiring songs listed on Judgement, in the early part of this episode, we concluded that “Albatross” had to be the Corrosion of Conformity song. While that would certainly track, we’ve come to think it was maybe this Fleetwood Mac song Anathema were referring to instead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QooCN5JbOkU Note II: We mention Antimatter, where we saw bassist Duncan Patterson go after leaving Anathema. It should be noted that while Duncan was a huge part of that band’s early years, Antimatter has been driven since inception by co-founder and longtime leader of the band, Mick Moss. Note III: At the 1:01:55 mark, Hunter makes a slight error in the title of the Sieges Even album he’s referring to. It’s ‘The Art of Navigating by the Stars’ (2005). No biggie, but as sticklers for detail, we had to correct that. Note IV: Jeff’s Voivod book, ‘Always Moving: The Strange Multiverse of Voivod,’ is now available. You can purchase a copy of the 540-page, 3-pound behemoth HERE: radicalresearch.org/voivod Note V: The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We are offering tiered subscription levels for those who want a set-it-and-forget-it donation option. As ever, if you choose to support us, we are humbled and grateful! patreon.com/RadicalResearchPodcast | Music cited in order of appearance: “Looking Outside Inside” (A Fine Day to Exit, 2001) “Leave No Trace” (A Fine Day to Exit, 2001) “A Fine Day to Exit” (A Fine Day to Exit, 2001) “Closer”  (A Natural Disaster, 2003) “Flying” (A Natural Disaster, 2003) “Violence” (A Natural Disaster, 2003) “A Simple Mistake” (We’re Here Because We’re Here, 2010) “Universal” (We’re Here Because We’re Here, 2010) “Untouchable Part 1” (Weather Systems, 2012) “The Storm Before the Calm” (Weather Systems, 2012) “The Lost Song Part 1” (Distant Satellites, 2014) “Anathema” (Distant Satellites, 2014) “Springfield” (The Optimist, 2017) “Can’t Let Go” (The Optimist, 2017) outro: “Restless Oblivion” (The Silent Enigma, 1995) Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.

Liverpool, England’s Anathema are one of the bedrocks of the Radical Research musical adventure. It’s why we’ve chosen to commemorate our 150th episode with a two-part dive into their entire catalog, from the harrowing wretchedness of their early demo work to the graceful final statement of 2017’s The Optimist. We rejoice and weep, praise and cry, as we explore all of their 1990s output in episode 1 of this 2-part indulgence. Note I: As explained in this episode, we aren’t giving short shrift (whatever shrift is!) to the Eternity album. It’s just that we covered it in great detail on episode 125, which you can find right here: https://www.radicalresearch.org/episode-125-do-you-think-were-forever-anathemas-eternity/ Note II: We’ve been doing this for years now, and after 150 episodes, Jeff still can’t get it right: the lack of fidelity on his voice in the first half of this episode is because he had the microphone backwards. He finally corrects this around minute 59. C’mon, Wagner, get with the program already! Note III: Jeff’s Voivod book, ‘Always Moving: The Strange Multiverse of Voivod,’ is now available. You can purchase a copy of the 540-page, 3-pound behemoth HERE: radicalresearch.org/voivod Note IV: The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We are offering tiered subscription levels for those who want a set-it-and-forget-it donation option. As ever, if you choose to support us, we are humbled and grateful! patreon.com/RadicalResearchPodcast Music cited in order of appearance: “The Lord of Mortal Pestilence” (An Iliad of Woes demo, 1990) “At One With the Earth” (All Faith is Lost demo, 1991) “…And I Lust” (The Crestfallen EP, 1992) “Crestfallen” (The Crestfallen EP, 1992) “Sweet Tears” (Serenades, 1993) “Sleepless” (Serenades, 1993) “We, the Gods” (Pentecost III, 1994) “Memento Mori” (Pentecost III, 1994) “Shroud of Frost” (The Silent Enigma, 1995) “Cerulean Twilight” (The Silent Enigma, 1995) “The Beloved” (Eternity, 1996) “Re-Connect” (Alternative 4, 1998) “Inner Silence” (Alternative 4, 1998) “Pitiless” (Judgement, 1999) “Judgement” (Judgement, 1999) “Wings of God” (Judgement, 1999) Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.

It's back to Norway for Radical Research, although this time, it's not about weirdness, unless you consider us covering an album like this a little weird. But we adore this band, especially this 30-minute masterpiece. And for years, we’d talked of spotlighting Tell No Tales with none other than Bryon Dudley and Aaron Alcott of the excellent Hair Metal Memories podcast. We finally got down to business and in this episode, we dissect all the beauty, joy, audacity and high, higher, highest of this great band’s greatest album. This collaboration felt really natural, and we might do another one with these guys, dudes who aren’t quite at opposite poles as much as one might assume. As Aaron says here, Tell No Tales is “something that should be known beyond the borders of its genre.” Note I: Led by two gentlemen well-versed in a wide variety of music genres, we encourage our listeners to check out Hair Metal Memories, which explores the genre with nerdy passion and a fresh, informed perspective it rarely receives. Find them here: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/hair-metal-memories/ Note II: Jeff’s Voivod book, ‘Always Moving: The Strange Multiverse of Voivod,’ is now available. You can purchase a copy of the 540-page, 3-pound behemoth HERE: radicalresearch.org/voivod Note III: The Radical Research Patreon page is now set up and ready for your patronage. We are offering tiered subscription levels for those who want a set-it-and-forget-it donation option. As ever, if you choose to support us, we are humbled and grateful! patreon.com/RadicalResearchPodcast Music cited in order of appearance: [all snippets from TNT, Tell No Tales (1987)] “Everyone’s a Star” “10,000 Lovers (in One)” “As Far As the Eye Can See” “Sapphire” “Child’s Play” “Listen to Your Heart” “Desperate Night” “Northern Lights” “Tell No Tales” Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.