Thursday, January 24, 2013

Excursion

Seattle's Showbox near Pike Place was the scene of my first great show of 2013 on January 5th. A smoking quadruple bill topped off by the most influential metal band of the past quarter century. Since we were on the road for this one, I've recounted the details of the trip there and back, because that's always half the fun.

After a snafu involving stubhub charging me more than double the ticket prices, (it was recitfied in the end, and I paid normal price. I gladly would have paid 70 bucks for a show of this calibur if the tickets actually cost that much, but not if other people were buying them for 35.) my friend and I departed for the 3 hour drive to Seattle in the mid afternoon. To the strains of Neurosis's excellent 2007 album Given To The Rising, we hit the border as darkness was falling, and spent 45 minutes dealing with the needlessly rude and utterly humorless American border guards. Our own scruffy appearances notwithstanding, the useless secondary inspection turned up nothing of note, so we were free to go. Good thing we're coming into your country to spend money and inflate your sagging economy boys.

A Taco Time stop along the way was soundtracked by the new Converge record. Did you know they have spaced-aged pop dispensers with like 60 flavors and digital touchscreens in the states now? I thought that was freaking awesome.

We stopped at the liquor store outside a casino along I-5 so my passenger could mix a JD and coke for the road (as driver, I stuck to cherry coke. In the States, booze is so much cheaper I'd probably be drunk all the time if I lved here.) and enjoyed Featherwolf's Live at the Vogue and No Horses' self titled record as we crested the final hill into Seattle. It's quite a beautiful city as you drive up to it, a jewel nestled next to the water and plenty of green hills surrounding it. An hour to kill before showtime was hardly a problem even in the rain -- we parked the car in Seattle's entertainment district, grabbed a couple of huge American beer cans and headed for shelter from the downpour. Underneath a bridge on the ass end of town, my buddy and I discussed with growing anticipation what awaited us down the street.

Stoneburner was already playing when we entered. I had passed up a chance to see them open for Sleep at Neumo's during the summer, and I'm glad I caught part of their set this time. The showbox is much larger than I expected it to be, but with good sightlines. We watched the almost completely full show from various vanatge points, and got a good view and fine sound from everywhere. Aside from one of the security guards hassling me in the washroom for taking too long in a stall (those things can be used for things besides snorting coke, guy! What the fuck do you think I was doing?) I'd say the venue was fantastic. Stoneburner's heavy sludge reminded me of the Melvins more than anyone else, their slow trudges, deliberate riffs and massive drum fills impressing me more than I had expected. A solid opening act that the next bands built upon.

We watched Black Breath's set from the beer garden. I was a little disappointed with their rendition of "Feast Of The Damned," their set opener and my favourite song from the new album. Whether it was nerves or simply a case of finding the range, by 2 songs in they had the Showbox MOVING, their sludgy yet speedy hardcore resembling nothing if not prime Slayer circa 1985. The old timer at the bar in front of us seemed to agree, sagely nodding his head in amusement. The difference is that ultra thick buzzsaw guitar sound that Swedish death metal bands like Entombed, At the Gates, Edge of Sanity and Grave popularized during the '90s. That monstrously thick tone was on glorious display on this night, although live it was not quite as suffocatingly dense as on record. Bashing out a set of tunes which was comprised heavily of stuff from their excellent new album Scentenced To Death, the 5-piece harnessed barely-controlled dual leads, shatteringly fast thrash beats, dub-tuned ultra distorted bass and gut wrenching growls into a relentless tornado of sound. Closing with their album Heavy Breathing's first track, "Spit On The Cross," they capped their set in suitably vicious (and decidedly anti-Christian!) style.

We headed down to the floor for Tragedy's set. My friend and I had only recently discovered the d-beat happy crew, who had released a modern hardcore classic in 2003 with Vengeance, and just returned from a 6 year hiatus last year with Darker Days Ahead, a slower, heavier record than any of their previous work. The set was a mix of new and old, althought probably heavier on the slow stuff than I would have liked. Understandable given who they were opening for. The quartet showed their stuff admirably though, getting a rumbling circle pit going, and showing off their crusty gang vocals with plenty of heroic monitor stands and epic claw of the gods posing from the frontline. They were tight and heavy, though perhaps less energetic than Black Breath had been.

And then Neurosis hit the stage. Ahhhhh yes... Neurosis. What to even say? Their longtime visual accompaniest departed the band last year, meaning it fell to the 5 musicians onstage to hold the audience's attention. This was not a problem as the whethered crew morphed back and forth between apocalyptic doom, full tilt thrashing, misanthropic sludge, pensive, folky breakdowns, throat shredding primal howls and electronic soundscapes. It was music in constant, inexorable motion, relentlessly laying waste like some slow moving but unstoppable tropical storm front. The band played for over 2 hours, drawing material from throughout it's career, and weaving them all together amid a tapestry of wandering electronics that served as respites from the ultra heavy guitars and exqually powerful growls from Scott Kelley and Steve Von Till. A particular highlight was At The "Well" the best track from their new album, Honor Found In Decay. The deep, manly bellows of the 4 vocalists in the band made the song's brutal climax and spine-tingling experience.

It was nearly 2am by the time my friend and I stumbled onto the street, myself with a brand new vinyl copy of Enemy Of The Sun clutched in my hands. We managed to avoid the bar stars that congregated around the district we were in and made our way out of town exhausted and numbed by the overwhealming force of what we had just witnessed. Emeralds's soothing synth drones on their massive Allegory of Allergies double record provided the necessary cleansing of our distorted decibal detectors as we hit Jack in the Box to fuel up for the ride home. Our encounter with Canadian customs took all of 15 seconds, and we arrived home shortly before 5am. A fantastic night, and one that I won't soon forget.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

The Top 50 Albums Of 2012 #10-1

10.     Car Bomb - w^w^^w^w
Holy hell this album is brutal. Car Bomb play Meshuggah-style calculator metal with grinding syncopated downtuned riffs criss-crossing every which way. Vocals are encrusted in filth for the most part, but every so often a snatch of clean melodic singing shines through, though it is usually heavily distorted. Clean vocals can be a make or break proposition with many people, but their used sparingly, and a little goes a very long way here. These bits of tunefulness make the heavy sections all the more jarring and discordant, and believe me, w^w^^w^w  (how the hell do you even say that?) is 99% sonic holocaust. What’s more, Car Bomb have a much more bluntly aggressive, hardcore inspired lurch which Meshuggah’s precise mechanistc pounding lacks. There are very few bands out there that sound like Car Bomb right now. I think that’s gonna change soon.

9.     Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind
Although they’ve been relentlessly re-defining hardcore for the better part of two decades now, it took me a very long time to come around on Converge. I was aware of their work and their reputation, but I found their spastic mathy tendencies too chaotic to sit through. I even saw them a few years back, and although I was impressed by their chops and intensity, I still couldn’t get into them. Well, my opinion started to change with their last album, 2009’s Axe to Fall, a record that finally offered the kind of sludgy riffs and suffocating atmosphere I like to complement their highly technical breakdowns. This time out the sound is even bigger and the songs are more memorable, balancing on a razor’s edge of overwhelming aggression and supremely controlled fury. It is quite clearly the most accessible record of their career, but this is no radio bid. “Aimless Arrow” kicks off with the kind of wicked shredding and choppy drumming that Mastodon made its name on, and elsewhere “Sadness Comes Home” has a death grip riff worthy of Neurosis. Perhaps the best song here is the title track, with opens with a subduded bass intro before exploding into more superb explosions of sound and contains the album’s most anthemic moments. The sound here is huge, loud and heavy, thanks to the production work of guitarist and metal’s 2012 MVP Kurt Ballou. Fresh off recording some of this year’s other great records like the new ones from Torche, Gaza, Black Breath and High On Fire, it seems like everything he touches turns to gold. It has been a year of triumphs for the man, and Converge just seem to get better and better.

8. PallbearerSorrow & Extinction
Must be something in the zeitgeist of 2012 which has made mid-tempo undesirable to most bands. It seemed to me like most of the best heavy music this year was being made by hyperactive hardcore units and snail-paced doom metal outfits. Pallbearer fall in the latter category, and the mournful funeral trudge they display on this record is one of the most addictive and emotionally satisfying sounds you’ll hear all year. Anyone can tune their guitars low and play 16 beats per minute, but it takes a special band to take the standard doom template and wring a maximum amount of feeling and depth out of it. Pallbearer shame every one dimensional doom trudge act out there with the very first song on this remarkable full length. “Foreigner” opens the album with a plaintive semi-classical acoustic guitar figure, drawing the listener in and tantalizing with possibility before the apocalyptic mega-riffs drop. And make no mistake, those huge guitars are there, and all over the album. No song is less than 8 minutes long, but they never seem to feel long because they are so well structured and relatable. There are beautiful shimmering passages alternated with molasses-like head nodding groove. Right down to the band’s very name, the whole thing seems tailor-made for funeral bells. There are shades of Forests Of Equilibrium –era Cathedral here as the band makes frequent use of doubling heavily sustained harmony guitar leads over the depressive doom riffs. But the lonely high pitched and heavily reverbed vocals here create an atmosphere of very human sorrow. You don’t need to know what the songs are about to get sucked into this whirpool of sadness. When Pallbearer reach for transcendence, as on “The Legend” or “An Offering Of Grief,” the effect is truly breathtaking. Pallbearer have crafted one of the finest doom metal albums in a very long time.

7.     Black Breath – Sentenced To Life
Black Breath’s debut Heavy Breathing straddled the line crossover thrash and very heavy sludge metal. It was an enjoyable record, but something about it didn’t quite grab me. This time out they’ve shifted gears into a full on hardcore sprint, and with that slight tweak to their sound they immediately grabbed my attention and didn’t let up the whole time. Nearly every song on Sentenced To Life barrels ahead at a breakneck pace and features relentless drumming, serrated bellowing and as thick and heavy a buzzsaw guitar sound as you can imagine. These guys have clearly brushed up on their Entombed and Disfear records, but it’s the quality of the songs and the intensity of these performances that make Sentenced To Life such a satisfying listen. This isn’t just some background noise for speed junkies. Each song contains memorable shout along choruses from a singer who sounds like he’s been guzzling razors and gasoline for about 20 years. Take one listen to “Feast Of The Damned” and try not to turn whatever room you are in into a slam pit. It sounds like fucking Slayer. There are elements of classic heavy metal inserted sparingly amid the relentless onslaught, such as the gorgeous leads that emerge seemingly out of nowehere on “Obey.” Not to mention the fact that the sound of the record is fucking huge. I dare you to call yourself a fan of punk or hardcore or any kind of metal and not love this album.

6.     Purity RingShrines
Many of my favourite records are simply worlds unto themselves. Shrines is kind of like that, a self-contained wonderland where only ghostly synths, skittering drum machines and spectral vocals with only the vaguest hint of a human voice peeking through. I’m not really sure what these songs are about, but whatever is being said sure is creepy. What I do know is that Purity Ring makes some chilling electronic music with just the vaguest bits of pop sunshine shimmering through the snow. Everything here is hazy, sparse and lonely. Yet somehow there are moments of tender intimacy curled up amidst the darkness. I’ve probably listened to this album as much as anything else I’ve heard this year, yet I can’t quite pin down why it resonates with me so deeply. It’s soundtracked some pretty memorable moments in the past year, both good and bad ones, and I’d be hard pressed to cal the record either happy or sad. Depending on my mood, it’s been unsettling, lonely, romantic and joyful. It simply is, a strange world that you can visit whenever you need to look at ours through a different lens.

5.     Blut Aus NordCosmopoly
The third installment of this french bedroom black metal project’s 777 trilogy of albums that began with last year’s Sect(s) [scene] and The Desanctication is also the best of the three. Although avant garde and electronic elements have been creeping into Blut Aus Nord’s music for a long time now, here they are melded more seamlessly than ever before with the band’s ripping metallic fury.

Opener “Epitome XIV” (Cosmopoly continues the track naming scheme of the last 2 records) serves as a palette cleanser, leading off the record with several minutes of absolutely gorgeous textural guitar noise before the extremely synthetic sounding drums begin to march the track inexorably toward the horizon. Bolstered by a crystalline production job, the heavily reverbed and highly melodic guitar leads spiral ever upward, reaching for transcendence. Meanwhile the rhythm guitars are mixed low to match frequency profiles with the underlying synth beds to add colour and fullness. This is a record made for headphones, and the devil is most definitely in the details. It’s absolutely beautiful, and will shatter any notions that this is just another wannabe Darkthrone retread.

The creepy death disco of the second track shows a definite industrial influence, complete with creepy synths and Vindsval’s robotic French monologue. Soon enough it explodes into a full on assault, but before long the intensity recedes and fades into a mournful slowburning hymn to the gas giants, before ending on a pregnant dropped beat and fading to black. The division between assault and airiness is a line that Blut Aus Nord have straddled many times throughout their career, but here they’ve perfected it.

There are enough moments of sheer beauty here to even convert non metal fans. The gothic tone of the album may unsettle some, but the romantic atmospheric drift of “Epitome XVI” could easily appeal to fans who have never heard a Slayer record, much less a Mayhem one. The crescendos in these 6 to 11 minute long tracks remind me of a number of post rock bands in how they evolve from quiet beauty to triumphant destruction. But what Blut Aus Nord is not anywhere close to the likes of what the legions of Neurosis and Isis clones have been peddling for the last few fears. The preoccupation with texture is clearly shoegaze inspired, but the mechanical precussion pulls the locus of the band’s sound away from guitar-centric genres altogether, birthing a cybernetic hybrid of red blooded aggression, human warmth, and mechanical precision.

4.     Krallice Years Past Matter
Jaw-dropping feets of technicality married into impossibly brutal arrangements that run for marathon lengths is nothing new for Krallice. The thing that makes Years Past Matter the best album this extreme metal super group has ever made is the newly mastered sense of space and tunefulness that they bring to the table this time out. The album opens with some ominous and ghostly synth ambience before erupting into a jackhammer burst beat that’s straight out of the USBM playbook. But the kicker comes just a few second later, as the beat dissolves into a vast soundscape of epic swelling harmonics before exploding back into a frenzied atonal black metal assault as the drums grind out quadratic equations on your skull. It’s pretty clear here that Krallice don’t just want to kick your ass, they want to END YOUR FUCKING WORLD.

Music as complex and devastating as Krallice’s risks exhausting the listener without space to breather. Throughout the album are limpid pools of shimmering beauty, which exist like an oasis in the endless wasteland of the album’s scorched landscape. Elsewhere there are dark, droney soundscapes which build tension and dread in the listener before Krallice undertake yet another obliterating assault. What’s more, some of the band’s best ever riffs can be found all over this record, such as the off-kilter stomper that opens the album’s sixteen minute finale.  Superbly well crafted and paced, Years Past Matter is a clinic in how to make music that is musically complex and totally decimating without alienating the listener.

3.     Cloud NothingsAttack On Memory
In the past the Cloud Nothings specialized in short, punchy pop punk tunes. While enjoyable, something about those early records struck me as a little bit lightweight, maybe even immature. The harrowing Attack on Memory is another matter entirely. Urgent, forceful, and emotionally devastating, the depth of this record was only hinted at on earlier recordings.

The album opens with a dark slate clearing track entitled No Future/No Past. For four and a half minutes, the song vamps on a simple piano figure, building in tension and intensity before climaxing in a volley of explosive guitar release and primal howls from mainman Dylan Baldi. Cathartic and gripping, the track is a complete turnaround from the sort of fare that has previously dominated the band’s work. No question about it, this is a statement. It also might be the best song the band has ever written.
Clearly this is an ambitious work from a band eager to grow as musicians. The almost 9 minute long “Wasted Days,” demonstrates the band’s far more accomplished musical approach. In particular, it shows off the band’s viciously powerful rhythm section, which sustains an awesome level of intensity throughout the track without losing momentum.  There isn’t an ounce of filler on this record. “Stay Useless” is a catchy anthem to the joys of being lazy, but still plays with themes of alienation and regret. The album closes with the devastating one-two punch of “Our Plans” and “Cut You.” Baldi pours all his rage, hurt, insecurity, bitterness and jealousy into these two tracks, and the affect is captivating.

This record is heavily influenced by a number of 90’s post hardcore bands like Jawbox, Dismemberment Plan, Fugazi, Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbreaker, and even Nirvana. But the quality of the songwriting, and the great performances of the musicians make this record is as good as anything those bands put out. It’s a definite classic, and a must listen for anyone who likes their rock music to have emotional heft as well as physical power.

2.     Japandroids Celebration Rock
It would be all too simple to point to the Hüsker Dü guitar sound or the anthemic hooks of this record as the reason for its appeal. The Vancouver guitar and drums duo was already known for their spastic high fuzz-low fidelity take on drunken, anthemic rock n’ roll. Their debut earned rave reviews for its sweet but rickety hooks and catapulted them to the top of the indie blogosphere sweepstakes. This time out they seem fully aware of their chance to make the big time, and gave Celebration Rock a more crystalline production. With bigger sound, Japandroids’ exuberance is given room to breathe, and the result is some of the most life-affirming music you’ll ever hear.
This wouldn’t have worked so well had they not packed their sophomore album with a full complement of irresistible tunes. The album contains no wasted space whatsoever, with 8 perfect songs that clock in at just a shade over 35 minutes. What really grabbed me about these songs was how they managed to capture equal measures of elation and melancholy felt by old friends growing older together. “Nights Of Wine & Roses,” “Adrenaline Nightshift” and “Younger Us” celebrate the full throttle credo of living in the moment that young rockers espouse with the knowing wisdom of guys who have grown up. The music is as exuberant as the title suggests, but there is a weary, ragged quality to the music. It sounds lived in, like the band are comfortable with this music, and with themselves. The record is joyously immediate and raw while still expanding their sloppy distortion-drenched racket that they made built their rep on but expanding it into a triumphant call to arms. There is no room for regret or doubt, just the full intensity and sheer joy of living in the moment. When you listen to Celebration Rock, nothing sounds more epic than a drunken night of hilarity your best friends. Japandroids have managed to make lo-fi sound stadium sized.
1. BaronessYellow & Green
Baroness’s last two albums established them firmly among the first tier of today’s hard rock bands. Although in their early days they churned out swampy sludge in the realm of Bongzilla or Down, their ambition and flair for songwriting led them to incorporate elements of their homeland’s more traditional musics into their ever-percolating brew. Meanwhile they've incorporated more of the psychedelic touches that they and also Kylesa have recently adopted make for a heady brew of the best elements in guitar-based music. The colour theme is appropriate, as they have continually broadened their palette with each successive release. These days they are one of the only acts you could properly call a modern classic rock band, as popular with adventurous metalheads as in the know indie rockers. At this point, it’s silly to even think of them as a metal band, and really they were always too rootsy and naturalistic for something that rigid anyways. They simply are one of the best bands on the planet period.
 
Yellow & Green is a culmination of this evolution, seamlessly melding the Appalachian folk melodies and country twang that they had previously toyed around with to the sledgehammer riff assaults that are their bread and butter. From the very first moment you hear those gorgeous opening notes of “Yellow Theme” give way to the steamroller that is “Take My Bones Away,” it sounds undeniably like a classic.  Unsurprisingly, the riffs are awesome and just about each song has an explosive earworm of a hook. They’ve really developed a knack for the triumphant harmony-laden chorus, as the record is packed with the kind of shoutalongs that will get fists pumping, bodies flying and chests heaving in moshpits the world over. And the whole thing sounds just plain huge. Granted, not everything works, and some people won’t be sold on some of the more adventurous tracks (that disco drumbeat in Cocainium might not be for everyone). But the point is, this is a band at the peak of it’s powers, and they are determined to stretch out to the limits of their abilities, challenging expectations and striving to shatter conceptions of what a heavy band can sound like.

I feel like this is the best album of the year because we need Baroness. There should be a big, super successful stadium filling band that actually kicks ass and isn't afraid to push the limits of their sound. It's that world conquering ambition, taking the risk of falling flat on their faces, that makes Baroness so special. These guys are doing spiritually for rock now what Led Zeppelin was doing 40 years ago. And I know a lot of old fans might be disappointed in how commerical the mix is, how low the guitars are compared to the vocals, and the lack of rough edges in the recording. I get that, and I understand why it's not for everyone. It's not always for me either. But they've been pushing this way for quite a while now, and you have to hand it to them for having the balls to write a record that really does sound like it could conquer the world. And that's why there was nothing I liked better this year.
Currently the band is recoving from some very serious injuries sustained in a tour bus accident just a couple months after the album was released. Here’s hoping they get back to it soon. We need more like them.


Friday, January 4, 2013

The Top 50 Albums of 2012 #20-11

20. Witch MountainCauldron Of The Wild
Witch Mountain emerged from a long hiatus with last year’s well-received South Of Salem. This year they decided to get all productive on us, releasing another record to capitalize on the momentum built by their reformation. Siren Uta Plotkin's powerful pipes take centre stage here, but equally impressive is the rhythm section’s controlled feel for the song, be it a doom trudge, a death grip riff, or behemoth groove. Guitarist Rob Wrong meanwhile gets to stretch out and lay down some tasty fuzzed out leads all over this bad boy. Throughout the playing is sharp, the songwriting is compelling, and Plotkin’s bewitching vocals are immediately recognizable and instantly unforgettable. It all adds up to the most addictive and replayable stoner rock record of the year. At a time when straightforward hard rock seems to have slumped into complacency, Witch Mountain has proven that there’s still some life left in the old beast yet.

19. Hundred WatersHundred Waters
Hundred Waters make beautiful and dreamy electronic music that incorporates alien hooks and a feel for texture into an easily digestible package. I found the gentle, percolating synths and ethereal vocals on this album to be absolutely irresitable. Although its ghostly qualities are similar to other futuristic pop acts like Grimes and Purity Ring, Hundred Waters are never as dark or as willfully weird as either of those two artists. They are also not as interested in grabbing you with a hook, instead being content to let explore sounds and textures, closer to drone music than the kind of future pop those artists are hinting at. The mood here is calm and tranquil, the perfect backdrop for relaxation and a fine launchpad for the imagination.

18. Gojira - L'Enfant Sauvage
Gojira’s technical precision and capacity for outright brutality are above reproach. Since the late 90s, these French environmentalists have been decimating eardrums and championing green initiatives. On this, their fifth full-length, they add even more variety to their vocabulary, such as the dead-on staccato riffing of the title track to the mind-expanding tones of “The Wild Healer.” Upon your first exposure to the band, you might be a little overwhelmed by the all out ferocity and deathly precision of their sonic assault, but subsequent listens show this to be Gojira’s most dynamic record to date.

17. Andy Stott Luxury Problems
Andy Stott’s newest album did something for me I thought was impossible… it made me enjoy the kind of pulsating four on the flour dance beats that electronic dance music is built upon. Let’s get this straight. I don’t dance, and I don’t like the kind of utilitarian, insistent drivel that drives people to gyrate in dimly lit rooms on MDMA. I HATE that shit.

Well, somehow Luxury Problems takes that one element and weaves a whole tapestry of textures and sounds around it. This has been done before, notably by artists like Cariboo and the Knife, but Stott’s work is even less geared to the dance floor, or car commercials. It’s drab and unsettling, music that sounds closer to a dystopian cyber punk future than any hedonistic utopia. Each track unfolds slowly, gradually adding and subtracting elements while using repetition to create a hypnotic effect. Stott’s brand of dark house music utilizes a similar aesthetic to a lot of the weird electronic stuff I do like; it’s music made for listening to, and it can be unsettling at times. Nobody’s having a good time here.

16. Liberteer - Better To Die On Your Feet Than Live On Your Knees
By working folk instruments and real working class grit into their grindcore, Liberteer have managed to take a familiar template and twist it into something epic. No two ways about it, this record is a call to arms, a battle cry for the downtrodden to take up the mantle of class warfare and attack with relentless blast beats and guttural screams of defiance. Not since Napalm Death christened the genre with Scum has a grindcore record sounded so revelatory, so fresh, and above all so NECESSARY as this . Class war has never meant so much.

15. Grimes - Visions
Sometimes an album is just so good but I don’t really have anything to say about it that hasn't been said better already somehwere else. “Genesis” might have been my favourite song of the year, even if it does sound a lot like the intro to Rush’s “Subdivisons.”
14.Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Although I knew that GY!BE had never officially broken up, I never seriously expected them to release another album. Then they did. And it’s good. It’s SO good. The best thing about the record is that it truly does sound like the work of a band playing together in a room. The guitars have real edge to them, the strings line the sound with a desperate urgency, and the crescendos thunder with the kind of power this band is legendary for. The quiet passages are equally as intense and unsettling, and never fail to captivate. Their last album, 2002’s Yanqui U.X.O. sounded meticulously crafted, but it lacked energy, a staid re-enactment of a formula that had worked before. Somehow the spark that lit their earlier triumphs was absent. I think Godspeed recognized this, and decided to hang up their spurs until they felt good and ready to pick up where they left off. This time out it feels like their speaking because they have something very important for us to hear. The world now is very different from what it was like in 2002, but we need to listen now more than ever.

13. High On FireDe Vermis Mysteriis



Would you believe it’s the heaviest High on Fire album yet? After their razor sharp and airtight 2010 album Snakes for the Devine, you might be forgiven for worrying that the Oakland power trio had gotten away from its roots somewhat. Well, Matt Pike and company must have felt so too, since De Vermis Mysteriis is a sprawling, earthy tribute to the power of the riff. Produced by Kurt Balou (who else?) , everything on this album is absolutely gargantuan. What’s more, Pike sounds more comfortable with his legacy as a member of Sleep than ever before. On the 7 minute Madness Of The Architect, he conjures up a riff as ferocious as anything his old band ever summoned. On “Samsara” he allows himself to stretch out, playing a slow-burn guitar solo and exploring tones and colours he hasn’t used since journeying to the riff-filled land. The earth shaking rumble Jeff Matz on the bass, Des Kensel’s primal pummel, and of course Pike’s savage guitar playing combine to summon a sound as powerful as it is primal. With elemental fury these songs bludgeon with a force rarely seen from anyone else. What’s more, De Vermis Mysteriis features some of Matt Pike’s best singing to date – check his bellows in the utterly massive “King Of Days.” Unfortunately Matt Pike checked himself into rehab during the summer, but I am happy to report that as of 3 weeks ago he was in fine form playing with Goatwhore and Ancients at Venue in Vancouver.
12.     SamothraceReverence To Stone
The only reason this wasn’t the best doom album of the year was that the Pallbearer record was so good. Samothrace more or less matched that record with a gorgeous statement of their own. But at just 34 minutes and only two (sidelong) songs, Reverence To Stone seems a little slight in comparison to the more expansive Sorrow & Extinction. But, Samothrace understand patience and how to leave an audience wanting more as well as anyone, as it’s been a full five years since their equally masterful debut album Life’s Trade. That they most certainly do on Reverence to Stone, which boasts miles of beautiful guitar terrain as well as a shamanic title to die for. The tones here are magnificent, and Samothrace bring an astute sense of texture and space which allow them to judiciously work beautiful post rock atmospherics with some jaw-dropping shredding guitar leads. Like Pallbearer, Samothrace too work from a solid emotional core, imbuing their work with real feeling as well as sonic heft. I might have wished for a little more material, but it’s far better than larding up a record with unnecessary filler. Let’s just hope they don’t wait so long before gracing us with another record.

11.     Flying LotusUntil The Quiet Comes
Cosmogramma was a game changer, no question about it. It was impossibly dense, pulling sounds and musical techniques from all over the last century of music. Where else could Flying Lotus go? He must have recognized that he was staring into the void of the future, because Until The Quiet Comes sounds like Flying Lotus meditating on the wisdom he’s acquired at time’s edge. It’s as welcoming and comforting as Cosmogramma was harsh and confrontational.

It’s usually difficult to isolate individual tracks on a Flying Lotus album, as his albums tend to resemble a mosaic, but there are several standouts here. “Heave(n)“ “me Yesterday//Corded” have the kind of mellow drift to them that Tycho used so successfully on his Dive record last year. “Electric Candyman” has a wobbly sort of strut that’s easy to like even before you know Thom Yorke popped in to make an appearance. “The Sultan’s Request” even seems like a tongue in cheek stab at the kind of heavy bass music that’s taken over the dominant perception of electronic music the last view years. Its regal stomp isn’t nearly as aggressive as the dubstep that currently shakes subwoofers. The point is, Flying Lotus is a master of his craft, and if Until The Quiet Comes isn’t as revelatory or groundbreaking as Cosmogramma, that’s only because the rest of the world needed to catch up. It might actually be a little bit more fun to listen to anyways.






Thursday, January 3, 2013

The Top 50 Albums of 2012 #30-21

30. GazaNo Absolutes In Human Suffering
Gaza mash up blast-beat obsessed grindcore, sludgy death metal and filthy crust punk into a rigid extreme metal alloy that is as rigid as it is ferocious. This 44 minute monster slams the listener against a wall and steals his lunch money. There are some extremely heavy riffs here and plenty of hyperactive breakdowns amid the pummeling, but Gaza never let things get too complicated. Everything goes towards establishing a malicious, hate-filled atmosphere with a minimum of technical frills or filler. The result is the work of a band who don’t fuck around. With Kurt Ballou manning the boards (who else?!) you know the production here is dead on, thick, heavy and totally in your face. They might not fit easily into one particular category or subgenre, but it’s pretty clear that Gaza has crafted one of the finest metal albums of the year.

29. GlowsunEternal Season
Veterna French power trio Glowsun were one of the few stoner rock bands who to me seemed to rise beyond mere homage to their influences this year, although it’s hard to pinpoint one thing that makes them stand out from a raft of retro-rock revivalists. Heavy on the grooving jams and only a few vocals peppered in here and there, this is an extremely well recorded, fuzzed out take on psychedelic hard rock with plenty of highly melodic and wah-drenched lead guitar work. Used as background music it can get your head nodding, but those lead breaks will get stuck in your brain for days, while uber-fuzzed bass and caveman drums hammer the riffs home with authority. Glowsun know how to build a mountain of sound slowly, adding the kind of layers and nuances that reward close listening and enough spacey effects to send you to the moon. A highly enjoyable rock album from a band that deserves to see it’s star rise in 2013.

28. CandlemassPsalms For The Dead
It’s surprising to me that in a year that saw so many bands mining the epic funeral bell doom metal that Candlemass helped birth, more people aren’t talking about what a great record this is. What’s more, it is supposedly the Swedish institution’s final album, at least according the guys in the band. If they are running out of steam, they sure don’t sound like it, as “Prophecy” immediately blows the doors of their hinges with one of the finest up-tempo sludge rockers the band has ever put to tape. Elsewhere things settle into a classic Candlemass death trudge as songs like the title track and the truly awesome “Waterwitch” bring crushing but awesomely memorable riffs that stick in your head for days. “The Killing Of The Sun” even opens with a bone-simple drum beat that sounds like total “Iron Man” played in double time before smacking the listener upside the head with a shatteringly heavy riff. The band is of course in top form, and Robert Lowe, one of many vocalists to front the band over the years, gives a top-notch performance. His powerful vocals and excellent phrasing help engrave these songs in your brain, unlike the work of snail-paced crushers like Anhedonist or Corrupted who are content to mearly suffocate with atmosphere for half an hour at a time. Unfortunately he left the band immediately after the album was completed, and although they have announced that they will continue to play live for the time being, this will be their final studio album. If they really are finished, then Psalms For The Dead is a fine capstone to a legendary career.

27. NekromantheonRise, Vulcan Sceptor
You could be forgiven for thinking this album actually came out in 1984. These guys lay down some vicious blackened thrash that recalls the earliest days of extreme metal. Nekromantheon’s music falls squarely into that sweet spot where primitive heavy metal, nascent, speed-obsessed thrash, and raw black and death metal meet. The album kicks the door down with the raging “Cast Down To The Void,” which sports a hyperspeed groove and raspy vocals that Kreator would be proud to claim as their own. The rest of the album is no less intense, getting its point across in just over half an hour and featuring 8 face-ripping, neck snapping assaults on the eardrums. It’s much darker and rawer than most thrash offerings you’ll hear these days, and if you’re anything like me, that means it should be your cup of blood.

26.The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Aufheben
As far as I know, Anton Newcombe has been holed up somewhere in Iceland for the past few years, gotten clean and possibly married, and immersed himself in all kinds of world music. I haven’t looked any of this up, since online rumors about the man can get pretty murky. What I do know is that Aufheben is the best BJM record in at least a decade. Anton’s role here is less as a player or singer than as a sort of arranger and musical shaman similar to Miles Davis’s role on his gigantic mid-70s acid funk double LPs. He’s taking elements of different musical styles and running them together in interesting ways, such as the motorik groove, elegant synths and arresting middle eastern instrumentation that open the record. There are a few classic jangly psych pop classics here as you would expect on any BJM album, with “Gaz Hilarant” getting my nod as the most immediately likable song on the record. This is probably out of necessity given the nature of working with Anton, but his increasing experimentation with synthetic precussion has opened up new avenues for his songwriting while still retaining the classic BJM sound, as on “Walking Up To Hand Grenades.” What’s more, his willingness to keep his own voice and role somewhat in the background, particularly on the first half of the record, allows Aufheben to come off as more of a collaborative effort than some of his most recent albums. It’s this feeling that the record is the work of a full band that makes the album that much more inviting.

25. Horseback – Half Blood
Horseback’s unique take on black metal based experimentation is one of the more interesting threads running through music in 2012. Building on the sounds of their excellent 2009 record The Invisible Mountain, Half Blood is a curious mashup of tortured vocals, dark, groovy bass vamps, powerful drumming, and psychedelic jamming. I’ve seen people refer to this band as being some sort of vaguely metallic version of an atmospheric roots rock band akin to Earth on their recent albums, but the droney psychedelic elements present here are less spacious and rustic sounding. There are some hypnotic bass lines and fuzzed out guitar that skirt much closer to a jamming stoner rock band or even some trippy krautrock from the '70s than any Norwegian Kvltist. At times it reminds me of the never-ending synth and bass jams on side 2 of the first Black Mountain record, particularly during the “Hallucigenia” trilogy that closes the album. Half Blood is a genuinely new layer of resin in the burning bowl of rock, and should appeal to fans of any number of musical styles.

24. Torche – Harmonicraft
It’s been five years since Torche released its last album, the excellent Meanderthal, but it seems like time hasn’t changed their approach very much. Their blend of bright riffage, ultra-economical songwriting, punchy production, crusty sludge and radio-ready hooks is still an interesting hybrid. No one really makes these kinds of heavy alternative rock records anymore, and it’s a damn shame. These guys are too heavy to ever seriously make a dent on the airwaves, but metalheads and rockers who can appreciate a good pop song will devour Harmonicraft, and maybe a few adventurous indie kids, grunge fans from the ‘90s or classic rockers will find something to like amid earworms like “Letting Go” or “Reverse Inverted.” “Walk It Off” should have been a hit and it’s better than anything Dave Grohl has written since that Probot record, but you know it’ll never happen.

23. Meshuggah Koloss
Once again Meshuggah have unleashed an ultra-heavy, technically superb collection of skull-grinding downtuned riff syncopation. At this point it’s not particularly surprising to hear anything that Meshuggah does; they always sound like themselves regardless. What is interesting to note is that since their last album dropped in 2008, a number of bands have popped up proudly wearing Meshuggah’s influence on their collective sleeves. A sound that was once exclusively theirs has now been copied by a raft of disciples wielding 8 string guitars and 7/13 time signatures. What’s impressive is how excellent Koloss is. There is still no one out there who can pull off this style any better than Meshuggah. They might finally be getting their due as one of the most significant bands in the history of the heavy music, but it doesn’t look like they’ll be running out of gas any time soon.

22. Xibalba - Hasta La Muerte
Xibalba remind me of Nile and Morbid Angel in that they have a way of making very heavy music that retains a sense of mysticism and tribal primitivism. This music sounds ceremonial, as appropriate for rituals to honour the dead as to make moshpits full of the living collide with one another. But unlike those technically advanced high priests, Xibalba comes from a hardcore background rather than a metal one, meaning their music is more straightforward and less complex. Perhaps a better comparison would be to Sepultura, who also managed to streamline and simplify their sound to accentuate the bottom end and maximize the gut-punch impact of the riffs. The focus here is on slamming physicality rather than fleet-fingered fretwork and mathematical drumming, complimented by vocals so filthy and dirt encrusted, they sound like they’re emanating from the centre of the earth.

21. The MenOpen Your Heart
The Men followed up their very good 2011 record “Leave Home” with a great one. Open Your Heart takes about the last 45 years of guitar rock and compresses it into 45 minutes of raw, raccous rock ‘n roll. You’ve probably heard people say that there are no good rock bands anymore… people have been saying that for as long as there’s been rock. Open Your Heart is for those people. It has all the minimal production and cranky guitars a rock fiend could ever want. As if the title of that first record weren’t enough, the opening track on this one kicks in the door like prime Ramones, while “Animal” rides a big chorus all the way down your spine. “Country Song” is a languid, Quaalude-doped junkie blues complete with ragged slide guitars, and “Candy” is even a straight rip of the Rolling Stones’ “Dead Flowers.” Let your dad take a listen.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

The Top 50 Albums of 2012 #40-31

40. Anaal Nathrakh Vanitas
I listen to a lot of metal. Black metal, death metal, grindcore, whatever. I like things that are heavy and brutal. But the thing is, your eardrums get calloused over time. You can only listen to so many bands that are trying to be the heaviest, sickest, most brutal motherfuckers in the world before you start to kind of think you’ve already heard all of the final frontiers of extremity. So when I first heard “The Blood-Dimmed Tide,” the first song on Anaal Nathrakh’s new album Vanitas, I was taken completely by surprise. Actually, it ripped my fucking head off. This record is so insanely over the top aggressive, so technically pristine, it’s blastbeats so ferociously fast and its vocal howls so dementedly tortured that it’s hard to comprehend anything else amid this onslaught. What gives Vanitas its extra degree of ferocity is the production, particularly the layer of corrosive noise that accompanies the inhuman bellows that pass as lyrics, as on the throat-rending roar on “Forging Towards The Sunset.” What’s more, there are actual songs here, with clean Nordic bellows offering a glimpse of tunefulness through the cacophony. The effect is not unlike finding your way through a blizzard by following the ringing voice of your Viking companion. Just be careful he doesn’t shank you for your plunder though.

39. Black Moth Super Rainbow – Cobra Juicy
These guys have made a career out of mangling traditional sonic conventions and sound structures into a sticky paste, and grabbing whole fistfuls of noise to throw at a blank canvas. Hyperactively jumping from one sound to another, Black Moth Super Rainbow take what should be a clinical, academic approach to making music, add a good dose of nonsensical humor and plenty of warm analog synths and invite the listener into a colourful funhouse of chaotic electronic music. Cobra Juicy is a fine example of their style, injecting a serious penchant for groove and alien dance hooks, funking up those fuzzy bass lines and throwing their heavily processed vocal nonsense on top. The result is a headphone record for listening to with friends, experimental music that you can dance to. It sounds difficult but it’s really not. The pop-friendly sensibility at work makes unfamiliar sounds easy to grasp. Pore over it exhaustively or simply relax and soak it in gradually. Many people will get different things out of this music, but no matter what you are into, you should have no trouble enjoying it.

38. Earth - Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light (Part II)
Dylan Carlson has continually mined the same sound for a decade now, a desolate take on sparse, wide-open guitar themes that march toward the horizon at a snail’s pace. Last year’s triumphant Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light (Part I) might have been the finest example of his dedication to that sound yet, and although that record’s sequel doesn’t quite grab me the way the first one did, it may only be because I’ve started to take for granted what a new Earth record will sound like in 2012. This isn’t to say that there is nothing new here, just that the tweaks are very subtle. Opener “Sigil of Brass” is a three-minute palette cleanser that forgoes the steady pacing that the drums usually provide, and sets Dylan free to wander on his own for a time before the rest of the band joins him. It is probably the bleakest and most ear-catching moment on the record, and a truly interesting variant on what could be a very narrow sound in the hands of a lesser group of musicians. Elsewhere the nuances of Carlson’s interplay with the band makes for a captivating listen, but one need not overanalyze this record to enjoy it. Earth know how to establish a certain mood, and there’s no one else on Earth who does it better.

37. Secrets Of The Moon – Seven Bells
It’s telling that the legendary Thomas Gabriel Fischer served as producer for Teutonic warriors Secrets Of The Moon’s newest album. Seven Bells retains much of the adventurous spirit and obsession with power that Fischer’s Celtic Frost embodied on their epochal late ‘80s work. Secrets Of The Moon might not be as muscular or brutish as Frost were, but they embrace a more streamlined approach that incorporates traditional black metal dynamics blown up to stadium size and filled out with Fischer’s full, rich guitar sounds and cavernous drums. A key here is the bottom end, which is so often neglected in this style of music. Sevens Bells melds melodic guitar leads with aggressive thrashing, enjoyable midtempo riffing and doomy funeral marches, all topped off with harsh but catchy vocals. This is not a record for black metal purists, but anyone who has only a passing familiarity with black metal and wants to hear a fine example of what went down in 2012 would do well to check this one out.

36. Drudkh – Eternal Turn Of The Wheel
For roughly a decade now shadowy Ukranian black metal naturalists Drudkh have been churning out consistently excellent albums that seem to straddle both the raw and evil work of traditional black metal while subtly tweaking the formula in interesting and creative ways. For a musical style that is often rife with backbiting and vitriolic accusations of selling out, it’s truly rare to see a band that so consistently puts out a high volume of material without ever repeating themselves or opening themselves up to criticism from the Kvlt. Drudkh’s reputation as paragons of the black metal vanguard is above reproach, and they’ve pretty much released at least one album per year since their formation. Eternal Turn Of The Wheel revises their familiar template somewhat by alternating aggressive thrashing with some more laid back but still dense slower parts that are rich in distorted harmonics. A full, authoritative bass sound rounds out a very powerful mix. Often synths and clean guitars poke through the claustrophobic murk, adding colour and accents while howling winds and nature sounds add atmosphere. It’s these little touches that make Eternal Turn Of The Wheel a far more satisfying listen than most of the black metal that get released these days. Running just a hair over 36 minutes, the album makes its point quickly and delivers exciting multipart songs that twist and turn but never meander. By rejecting the primitive bashing of luddites who think black metal should never evolve, Drudkh continue to strike a fine balance, and deservedly keep their place among the upper echelons of the black metal pantheon.

35. St. Vitus – Lillie: F-65
The reunion of Scott “Wino” Weinrich with doom metal pioneers Saint Vitus kind of snuck up on me. Things like this are usually rumored about before they ever come to fruition, but the band released its first album with their longtime singer on vocals since 1990 with very little fanfare. I had heard something about a few shows here and there with the classic lineup sporadically until the death of original drummer Armando Acosta, but thought his passing would be the end of it. The thought of the band actually recording never crossed my mind. Perhaps that was a wise move, as Lillie: F-65 literally sounds like nothing ever changed for these guys. It has everything a St. Vitus album should have. Acosta’s replacement, Blood Of The Sun drummer Henry Vasquez, does a fine job laying down that classic Vitus sludge trudge alongside Mark Adams’ timeless troglodyte plod and Dave Chandler’s heavily distorted fuzz squall. Over top of it all is the unforgettable voice of Scott Weinrich, warning mankind of the pitfalls of its own desires. Take one listen to “The Bleeding Ground” and tell me you aren’t glad to have these guys back together again.

34. The Ty Segall Band – Slaughterhouse
Someone’s gotta tell Ty Segall to lay off the amphetamines a bit. The guy is cranking out more songs and albums than his fans know what to do with. After winning recognition with the messy yet catchy garage rock of records like Lemons and Melted, he inverted the songcraft to scuzz ratio on the oddly subdued Goodbye Bread, winning further accolades in the process. Not being a fan of the cleaned up and now much poppier retro-pop of that record, I was delighted to see him in 2012 release first a raw garage psych collaboration with White Fence, then a month later whip out Slaughterhouse as the Ty Segall Band. This is a return to the kind of cranky rock n’ roll the guy made his name on, this time with a fuller, heavier sound on it than his early stuff. Everything here is fuzzed, out, freaky, and in the red. It’s as if he traded in his Electric Prunes and Dead Moon 45s for some bad acid and a couple Stooges and MC5 LPs. Slaughterhouse is bigger, noisier, and sludgier than anything he’s yet put to tape, and for this reason it’s my favourite of his releases this year. And he’s not event done yet, his third album of 2012, Twins, is an amalgamation of all the musical personalities he’s shown thus far. With a discography that now numbers 7 full length albums in 5 years along with a multitude of singles, EP’s, collaborations and non-album releases, he might want to think about slowing down to stave off the inevitable burnout that always accompanies such a torrid pace. Thankfully, no signs of that are audible yet.

33. BisonLovelessness
Leadoff track “An Old Friend” opens with a flourish of Thin Lizzy leads, before lurching into a shambling gait. Suddenly it launches into full tilt thrashing, racing onward with intensity levels jacked. The track closes with a quadrilateral dual guitar fadeout. It’s clear early on that this is definitely going to be the band’s most rock-inspired work yet. “Anxiety Puke/Lovelessness” kicks off as a straight ahead rager, but an early song collapse and then magnificent buildup about a minute and a half in builds to a mammoth riff jam. These songs are more varied in their approach than previous outings. “Last and First Things” has a furious middle section that will get the blood pumping, then downshifts into a cavernous resin-caked half time jam. There is some flailing about going on at times, and not everything works well. They sometimes forget the keys to what made their sludgy thrash appealing in the first place. This isn’t to say the record is a curve ball for Bison, as there is still more than enough of the band’s trademark chug and grind to satisfy fans. There are signs of the band trying new things, but Lovelessness has the hallmarks of a transitional record. It neither reaches the heights of Dark Ages or is as consistent throughout as Quiet Earth. At its best, Lovelessness is an interesting display of creativity from a band deciding where to go next.

32. Municipal Waste – The Fatal Feast
Municipal Waste tweaked their crossover party thrash formula somewhat on 2009’s Massive Aggressive, a stone-faced, lightning fast rumination on nuclear disasters and media literacy that traded in Suicidal Tendencies’ sense of humor for Megadeth’s astute political concerns.  Although solid, the record seemed to lack the energy that made their early record so enjoyable. I’m happy to report that The Fatal Feast is a return to the gross out humor and B-Movie shlock that makes these guys to fun to listen to. This time out there is a bit of a sci-fi twist to some of the material, akin to something like zombies in space. It’s not all fun in games, as some tracks still deal with real world problems, but it seems like the band has been able to work its adult concerns with the real world into its eternally goofy teenager aesthetic. The title track details the horrors of flesh eating disease, while “Covered In Sick/The Barfer” is a classic anthem to the joys of irresponsible drinking. About their ability to thrash there has never been any doubt, as these 17 tracks fly by like a whirligig of powerhouse drumming, serrated riffing and irresistible shoutalong choruses. It sound like they’re figured out a way to grow up and still have fun, and it bodes well for a band that originally seemed like it would only last as long as it’s first EP.

31. Trash Talk - 119
Trash Talk is a hardcore band signed to Odd Future’s record label. With 119 clocking in at 14 songs in under 22 minutes, they set the song to minutes ratio as high as anyone since about the first D.R.I. album. Aside from a couple of guest appearances from luminaries like Tyler, the Creator and Hodgy Beats as hype men on the sludgy “Blossom and Burn,” there is nothing here to suggest the band is attempting to crossover to anything though. This is angry, aggressive, ferocious punk rock that benefits from a viciously heavy and thick production job that allows their occasionally doomy tendencies to shine through during the brief snippets when they allow the bottom end to resonate a fraction of a second longer. The vocals come courtesy of a calloused shouter who sounds like he’s got lymph nodes on his vocal cords. The whole package adds up to a lean, mean, punishing beatdown of a record that is as truly punk rock in the traditional sense as anything else out there. So if none of that excuses them being distributed by Sony to the fickle guttersnipes who love to throw ambitious and skilled bands under the bus, just think how awesome it could be if the teenagers were listening to this instead of Down With Webster.