1. Earth - Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light (Part 1)
Dylan Carlson, the onetime drone doom godhead and heroin buddy of Kurt Cobain, has spent the last deacde reinventing his Earth project by crafting deliberate guitar themes that evoke desolate landscapes and dusty dirt roads. Carlson's guitar style on recent records is about as far as one could get from the ultra distorted ur-riffs of his early work. Instead, Carlson has focused on crafting cinematic epics out of clean tones and endless sustains, with songs deliberatly marching towards some unseen horizon. His playing incorporates elements of folk, country and jazz, all the while revolving around his remarkable phrasing. His beautifully assured improvisations never cease to captivate the patient listener, and if you are willing to come along, Earth will take you on a wonderous aural journey. Since Earth's reboot in the early 2000s, Drummer Adrienne Davies has provided the solid backbone necessary to weld Carlson's airy playing to a terrestrial framework, and her delicate touch gives emotional heft and dynamic range to Earth's music, at any volume. It is to Davies' credit that this music at once seems reliably on time, and yet seems to exist outside of any concept of time itself. Carlson sounds like he could have been playing these tunes for years, exploring every harmonic corner suggested by their lonley chords. The lineup has been tweaked since the equally gorgeous The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull, as departed organist Steve Moore has been replaced by cello player Lori Golston. Golston's contributions give this record a warmth and stark simplicity that the more layered and psychedelic haze of the last record. As usual however, Carlson's guitar playing is the key here, as he plays with different accents and pauses, in love with pure sound. This time the sound is drier and more arid, a long trek though the mesas and deserts of eternity. The sound is more expansive than ever before, the sense of space evoked by these tunes seemingly infinite. Still, this sounds like an intimate gathering of friends making music together, even if it does seems like they could be alone on the edge of the Grand Canyon. Carlson journeys far and wide across the landscape without ever leaving the listener behind. Nothing about this is challenging for the casual listener, but the songs are so intricate in their construction that they are never boring. Although its somber mood and immaculate tones are enjoyable as simple background music (in fact, I've drifted off to a fantastically restful slumber while listening to this music more times than I can rememeber in the past year), you will get much more out of close, detail-obsessed listening. The production here is immaculate, capturing every nuance and subtlety in Carlson's playing, while leaving enough grit to keep these songs sounding road weary and rough. Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light (Part 1) has cemented Carlson as one of the guitar's great innovators. Truly there is nobody making music quite like this today, and for that reason I have to say that this is my favourite album of the year. The best part is that there is no shortage of material where this came from. Part 2 comes out in about a month, and I can't wait.
2. Rwake – Rest
Don’t let the tranquil album title and delicate tones of the opening track fool you. When the guitars drop at the beginning of “It Was Beautiful But Now It’s Sour,” it’s apocalyptic. Rwake’s command of light and shade is truly breathtaking here, balancing bonecrushing heaviness, mighty crescendos, moody interludes and downright pretty passages. The shadows of Mastodon and Neurosis loom large here as they do over the entire post metal genre, but Neurosis have never been as willing as Rwake is here to put dramatic and technically adept guitar solos front and centre in their music. Meanwhile, Rwake is less concerned with overwhelming the listener with technical wizadry and textural density than Mastodon, and more interested in sucking the listener in to a world of their own creation. Rest is a masterful example of space and colour, rewarding patience and careful listening with intricate sonic details and massive payoffs. This makes for a more expressive sound than the effects storms millions of Isis clones are capable of. Songs here might be twelve or sixteen minutes long, but Rwake never sound like they’re killing time, and you’ll never check your watch. Each movement is so singular of purpose that the record moves forward with inexorable momentum, continuously climbing in intensity and power. The vocals are delivered in suitably triumphant bellows, emphasizing these extended pieces stratospheric pieces even further. The playing by each of the musicians is impeccable, with the entire unit proving itself equally adept at complex, off-time passages, straight forward bottom-end rumble and subtle shifts in mood. The pacing here is brilliant, with each track building sequentially on what preceded it. The final track, “Was Only A Dream” is a majestic obelisk towering over everything else up until that point, and it culminates with a bloody apogee. A vivid production job brings the music ferociously, immediately to life, seizing the listener and refusing to let up. The whole album is a force of nature. There are ghostly chasms and crashing waves all over this landscape, a place that is dangerous and harrowing, but entices the adventurous listener onward with promises of great rewards.
3. Radiohead – The King Of Limbs
After 2007’s In Rainbows, I felt that Radiohead had finally settled into a recognizable style and could be expected to produce similar albums from here on in. After all, they had already completely reinvented their sound with each successive release over the preceding decade, leaving me to wonder what they possibly could do to expand their palette any further. In all the hype over In Rainbows’ “pay what you want” scheme, it was generally not pointed out that the record was as conventional and Radiohead-sounding as anything they’d done since The Bends. Imagine my surprise the first time I spun this disc when the opening track “Bloom” sounded like a Flying Lotus track, all skittering beats and warped sonics. Whereas the guitar rock sound that the band originally made its name on had crept onto Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows in a slightly re-aligned form, this record embraces modern electronic music the way Kid A and Amnesiac did a decade ago. The rules have certainly changed since then, meaning this record really does sound like nothing the terminally creative band has done yet. It is perhaps the most rhythmically alluring record the band has made, with each of these songs anchored by Phil Selway’s inventive drum patterns. Radiohead is above all a band however, and each member brings his unique talents to the table in service of the song. At 37 minutes there is no fat on the record, just a tidy collection of solid tunes. Of particular note is the somber “Codex,” a hauntingly beautiful song which acts as the record’s emotional centerpiece. Keep ‘em coming boys.
4. Wolves In The Throne Room – Celestial Lineage
This is a glorious monument of a record, majestic and devastating. Songs here evolve gradually, shifting from pools of placid beauty to briars of total metal holocaust. This is black metal, meaning you’ll be subjected to quadruple time thrash beats, dense tremolo picking, and harsh, screechy vocals, but there is so much more. If you can drop your preconceived notions about corpsepaint and church burnings and give it a listen, you’ll find that the appeal of this record could be much wider than your average Mayhem fan. Relatively little of the album is actually all that brutal though, it’s much more hazy and ethereal than crushing. There is a lightness and delicateness of touch here that would be positively alien to any Immortal or Marduk record. The epic opener “Thuja Magus Imperium” features desolate female vocals and shimmering psychedelic guitar work before exploding into relentless metallic fury. Each piece signals a new approach to heavy music. “Astral Blood,” with its dense fog of grey fuzz gradually intensifying into a suffocating wall of noise, plays with dynamics in a way that metal bands rarely attempt. “Prayer of Transformation” opens like a relentless metal pounding in the vein of Krallice or Liturgy, but it retains a freezing atmosphere that is more likely to envelop the listener. As the piece develops it takes on a stately grandeur, eventually spiraling into a delicate, spacey interlude complete with neoclassical acoustic guitar before settling back into a soaring Burzum-esque ice storm for its mighty apogee. These seemingly contrarian impulses make for an incredibly enjoyable listen that is actually quite easy to get into. Don’t be scared off by the black metal tag. Wolves in the Throne Room have transcended the rules of black metal, crafting a record that is a straight-up classic by the standards of any genre.
5. Russian Circles - Empros
I've read that Russian Circles are considered a post rock band, but from the sounds of Empros its pretty hard to comprehend how these guys got lumped in with Explosions in the Sky or Mono. Their complex instrumental rock might bare some passing resemblance to those bands, but unlike those bands who are content to explore dynamic shifts and texture, Russian Circles are a much hairier proposition. This record opens with a few seconds of ambiance before the doors are kicked in with a rampaging ur-riff over which the huge drums trigger a response in the listener to headbang uncontrollably. This is soon followed by a turnaround section featuring a swinging bass line and strutting half time break down. These guys are much more physical and aggressive than regular post rock bands, not simply loud. They clearly have an understanding of sonic weight too. This record gets HEAVY. It's not really a metal record though. Like Chicago's Pelican, Russian Circles are working a middle ground that allows them freedom to explore their ideas without being caste-bound not to get to pretty or too brutal. "Atackla" progresses from an alluringly majestic build before blindsiding the listener with a crushing stop-start riff that could have come straight from a Neurosis record. These guys have major chops, but they know to supply the blunt force trauma without getting too fancy about it. The album is a finely constructed piece of work that showcases all of the bands' strengths and doesn't overstay its welcome despite runtimes of 6 to 11 minutes on most of these songs. This is a great rock record by one hell of a band.
6. Thee Oh Sees – Castlemania
Thee Oh Sees have never been a headphone band. As prolific purveyors of gloriously sloppy beer-soaked garage rock, they would be about the last band you would ever guess would hole up in a recording studio and begin conducting extensive multi-track recording experiments. They have also never been a band to be held to anyone’s expectations, and damned if Castlemania isn’t a complete clusterfuck of mind-expanding pretensions and sonic tomfoolery. With 16 tracks that clock in at less than 40 minutes, it’s a glorious mess of a record that recalls the most indulgent and hallucinogenic work of the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, complete with weird overdubs, mellotrons and backmasking effects. The crazed rave-ups that John Dwyer and crew are known for are still here, but many of them have been bent into odd shapes. There are sunny power pop numbers that recall any number of flower power hits of yesteryear, but these typically take on a warped lyrical perspective or sometimes simply dissolve into a cacophony of formless, tuneless noise. Although it might seem a bit jumbled at first, repeated listens reveal the layers and layers of detail that went into the construction of this record. Castlemania is a fantastically strange record, almost certainly the best the band has made yet, and a true triumph of human creativity.
7. YOB – Atma
The Maryland doom trio returned from hiatus in 2009 to make the unremittingly bleak and disgustingly heavy comeback album The Great Cessation. This time out they add a little bit more colour to their palette, such as the strange eastern-inspired tunings of “Before We Dreamed of Two” and the beautiful coda to “Adrift in the Ocean.” This makes for a more varied and expansive listen. Close listens are rewarded with tiny sonic details that reveal themselves over time. These new stylistic flourishes are noticeable, but YOB hasn’t forgotten its bread and butter, and the crushing riffs flow here in abundance. The songs ebb and flow with suite-like purpose, the whole album giving the off the impression of a tightly constructed work of art while still retaining a loose feel to the performances.
8. Wooden Shjips – West
I was never really sold on these guys until I heard this excellent number three. Their mix of fuzzy Spacemen 3 atmospherics and psychedelic jamnation was interesting, but somehow something was missing. West changed my opinion. Lushly produced, this record sounds much thicker and fuller than any previous release by this band. Not only that, but now there are songs. They are built the same way, by locking into a head-nodding rhythm and not letting up, but Erik “Ripley” Johnson’s forays into more pop-inspired territory with his Moon Duo project seems to have given him a better ear for hooks and songcraft. These tracks are simply more memorable than anything on either of the Shjips’ first two records. The best one here, “Flight” offers up a stone groove that manages to somehow be catchy and mantra-like, and lays down layers of fuzzy guitars over top of it. This basic formula is repeated on all the tracks here, but it works. Here’s hoping these guys continue to hone their approach, because they just keep getting better.
9. Warbringer – Worlds Torn Asunder
I’ve long been a proponent of California’s thrash revivalists Warbringer, even naming their excellent 2008 album War Without End as my 8th favorite record of that year. Well I’m happy to say that they have truly outdone themselves this time out. Worlds Torn Asunder is the biggest, heaviest, best album they have made yet. Unfortunately for these guys and other bands that go about their business faithfully paying homage to a specific style and time period, condescending words like “originality” and “relevance” get tossed around by critics to mitigate what success they might achieve. I submit that it takes some serious balls to try to make a go at a career playing a style of music everyone thought was dead twenty years ago. In any case, the real criteria should be in the head and body of the listener, and I have to say that the chugging guitars, devastating double kicks and gleefully deranged vocals of Worlds Torn Asunder get my blood pumping and my head banging as hard as any Kreator or Exodus classic you can name. From the truly awesome opener “Living Weapon” to the catchy and relentless closing blast “Execute them All,” this record is a true masterpiece of the genre, even if it does arrive a couple decades late. If these guys’ biggest crime was being born too late, at least they’ve made up for lost time and crafted a record that synthesizes the best moments of all my favourite vintage ‘80s thrash titans and runs it through a clean and powerful production job that one ups the best of what was possible back in the day. A stone classic of the genre.
10. Battles – Gloss Drop
Battles’ 2007 debut Mirrored was one of the most daring and unique records of the past decade. Its fusion of real human musicianship melded seamlessly to a bank of cybernetic gadgetry to create a new type of experimental music. It pointed towards the future. The departure of Tyondai Braxton last year cast doubt on whether or not the band could ever follow up such a statement, but fortunately, the band returned in early 2011 and released a fantastic new album. Making extensive use of looping effects and samplers along with their extensive technical abilities allows Battles to construct songs that are instrumentally complex and rhythmically intricate but strangely catchy. They’ve even brought some friends along to help out. Musicians as diverse as synth pop godhead Gary Newman and Yamantaka Eye of the Boredoms are on hand to lend their own unique perspectives to Battles’ warped take on pop music. Strange non-western scales and heavily treated and cut up instruments constantly keep the listener off balance, while a thick, heavily distorted synth anchors several tracks. This music is quite unlike anything I’ve ever heard, yet it quickly reveals its pleasures to a curious listener. Tunes like “Africastle” and “Ice Cream” are bouncy and fun enough that you could sneak this on at a party. Some guests might get freaked out a bit, but fuck ‘em, they’re squares anyways. It may not be as revolutionary as Mirrored was, but Gloss Drop demonstrates once again that these guys own as singular a band voice as exists today.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
The Top 50 Albums of 2011 - 20-11
11. Krallice – Diotima
I more or less stopped paying attention to black metal about ten years ago. Sure I liked the dense atmosphere and raw, primitive power of Mayhem and Darkthrone, the chilly sweep of Immortal and the epic reach of Emperor, but it was all too rarefied and exclusive for me to feel much of an affinity for. I was turned off by the silly scene politics and extra-curricular activity that went along with the Norwegian scene, from corpse paint to gay-bashings to church burnings to Nazism, not to mention the legions of closed-minded provincial fans that turned on bands for doing something as heinous as make a record that actually sounded good. As a result I missed out on virtually the entire USBM movement, which has been responsible for some of the best metal of the last decade. New York’s Krallice finally brought me back with their intense hybrid of chilling black metal atmospherics and death metal technicality. A supergroup of sorts featuring members of ultra-technical progressive metal bands Dysrhythmia and Behold… The Arctopus! as well as the chaotic experimental extreme metal outfit Orthrelm, Krallice have a style that is utterly unique. Their third album Diotima is a relentless long-form exercise in sensory overload. There is very little respite anywhere on the album from its unstoppable momentum, and with the last five songs each clocking in at nine and a half minutes or more, it can be difficult to digest. At over 68 mostly devastatingly brutal minutes, this is not for the faint of heart. Keep listening though. Eventually you’ll be able to pick out the strange shapes that the guitars cut, intersecting with one another at odd angles even while the rhythm section’s inexhaustible energy drives the band onward. Yes, it can all sound like ice in a blender at first, but if you pay close attention and you can manage to keep up, you’ll be richly rewarded.
12. Tim Hecker – Ravedeath, 1972
Montreal’s Tim Hecker has been making adventurous drone music for over a decade now, and Ravedeath, 1972 might just be his strongest work to date. Everything here sounds vaguely fatalistic, invoking feelings of dread, decay, and inevitability. Still, there’s something redemptive about it as well. The tones here are deep and rich, invoking a sense of gravity. Unlike some drone records that are content to drift on formless texture, there is real expressive emotion to be found here. That emotion might be depressive and claustrophobic, but if you stay long enough to get comfortable with Hecker’s spare compositions, you might just grow to like it in the dark.
13. Lumerians – Transmalinnia
This record has been referred to as “Intergalactic cruisin’ music.” Since I don’t think I’ll be able to top that description, I’m going to move right along. Take a ride on the Longwave.
14. Tombs – Path Of Totality
This record is one hell of a pounding. Brutal, uncompromising and relentless, Paths of Totality is one of the most devastating metal releases of the year. Tombs are hard to pigeonhole with regards to any one type of metal. There are harsh vocals and icy atmospherics that clearly are clearly influenced by black metal, but there are straight ahead thrash and hardcore influences going on here too. If you aren’t ready for a pounding, you’d best stand back, because Tombs are here to get medieval on your ass. The musicians’ performances here are technically spot on, but these guys never let their chops get in the way of the primitive power of the songs themselves. Tracks like “To Cross The Land” and “Cold Dark Eyes” are unremittingly bleak and ferocious, and boast an appropriately crusty production to match their chilly mood. This full measure band is making up its own rules as it goes, and they 'aint done yet. Keep an ear open.
15. Blood Ceremony – Living With The Ancients
This doomy occult rock band’s second album is a consolidation of all the strengths that made their eponymous debut so enjoyable. Fluttering flutes and soaring vocals duel with thunderous riffs. This is heavy prog along the lines of what Tony Iommi had in mind while jamming with Jethro Tull. “The Great God Pan” gets things off to a suitably enormous start, all head banging riffs and mighty refrains. Mystical songs like “Coven Tree” and “Morning Of The Magicians” show plenty of influence from similarly smoky touchstones like Graveyard and Witchcraft and of course, their spiritual forefathers in Pentagram. The closing number, “Daughter of the Sun” runs past ten minutes in length, but the song’s excellent construction allows it to sustain interest throughout and being the album to a strong finish. Light some candles for this one.
16. Moon Duo – Mazes
Moon Duo is the more pop-oriented side project of Wooden Shjips' guitarist Erik “Ripley” Johnson, and he brings plenty of his other band’s tendency to ride tasty psych grooves to this record as well. Songs like “Mazes” and “When You Cut” though are much more concise and catchy than anything those zoned out shamans have ever made. This is not to say that the jams have been cut out, they’ve simply been reigned in somewhat, as demonstrated on spacey opener “The Seer.” This makes the record hit a little harder rather than dissipating its energy on trance inducing head-nodders. This is an easily digestible psych rock record that manages to be accessible and out there at the same time, a most difficult balance to strike.
17. Grails – Deep Politics
Grails has continued to evolve their restless sound on Deep Politics. Emil Amos now is the drummer for trance-inducing duo Om, so he has an outlet for the heavier impulses which were apparent on more recent Grails albums. Deep Politics is much more atmospheric and subtle. The songs here are sometimes spooky, but rarely menacing the way they were on Doomsdayer’s Holiday. Instead, treated violins and bowed and distorted bass are used to craft intricate rhythmic pieces which lay a solid foundation for some acidic exploratory guitar work. Amos of course anchors the sound with his typically inventive patterns and rock solid beats. Another great record from a unique band.
18. Robedoor – Too Down To Die
Robedoor’s newest album feels a little bit less dark and noisy than previous efforts. The influence of Sunn O))) that was felt so heavily on earlier albums has receded somewhat, leaving a sound that is more distinctive and spacey. Opener “Parallel Wanderer” is a finely crafted drone effort which builds in depth and detail throughout its 22 minutes, adding different shades and voices to the sound. This is a mind-expanding collection of jams that works well when lifting off and coming back down. For a group that has built its career on these sorts of long-form pieces, it’s comforting to see them still reaching for the outer limits.
19. Bong – Beyond Ancient Space
Time-stretched doom bass rumble marching onwards towards infinity. The drums here sound like they were recorded in another room, while galactically heavy ur-riffs distend space and time. The evil walking dead atmosphere here recalls prime era Electric Wizard or Om on Quaaludes, while the endless feedback palls and distorted bass tones are reminiscent of early Earth and Sunn O))), maybe even something like Jesu if Justin Broadrick had decided to form that project fresh out of his totally decimating stint with Napalm Death. There is no melody and no up-tempo breaks here to cut the gloom, just endless planet-sized riffs crushing the universe into oblivion. Beyond Ancient Space marks a new landmark in extreme doom metal.
20. Liturgy – Aesthetica
This album is one of the most strenuous listens you’ll come across this year. It’s a fucking chore, absolutely arduous. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but the album is just such a relentless pummeling that it can be exhausting. There are strange, abrasive textures here I’ve never heard in a black metal song (or any metal song) before, and lots of weird samples, chants and non-metal experimentation. Even with all that, it’s almost uniformly brutal. The blastbeats and tremolo picking are still here in abundance. Aesthetica won’t be for everybody, and I’m sure many people will hate it. That being said, it breaks new barriers for black metal, and the record sounds absolutely colossal. The ambition and creativity and musicianship and song craft that went into this album is undeniable. It’s the sound of a band thinking huge and raging against the constraints of any scene or sound. It might piss some kvltists off, but the experimentalists in Liturgy, like contemporaries Wolves in the Throne Room, Baroness, Kylesa, Cormorant, HULL, Baptists, Esoteric, Avichi, Nachtmystium, Krallice, Dirge, Solstavir, Primordial, Year of no Light, Indian, Ulcerate, Altar of Plagues, 40 Watt Sun, The Atlas Moth, Griever, Thou, Decapitated, Tombs, Blut Aus Nord and others are leading the way towards the future of metal.
I more or less stopped paying attention to black metal about ten years ago. Sure I liked the dense atmosphere and raw, primitive power of Mayhem and Darkthrone, the chilly sweep of Immortal and the epic reach of Emperor, but it was all too rarefied and exclusive for me to feel much of an affinity for. I was turned off by the silly scene politics and extra-curricular activity that went along with the Norwegian scene, from corpse paint to gay-bashings to church burnings to Nazism, not to mention the legions of closed-minded provincial fans that turned on bands for doing something as heinous as make a record that actually sounded good. As a result I missed out on virtually the entire USBM movement, which has been responsible for some of the best metal of the last decade. New York’s Krallice finally brought me back with their intense hybrid of chilling black metal atmospherics and death metal technicality. A supergroup of sorts featuring members of ultra-technical progressive metal bands Dysrhythmia and Behold… The Arctopus! as well as the chaotic experimental extreme metal outfit Orthrelm, Krallice have a style that is utterly unique. Their third album Diotima is a relentless long-form exercise in sensory overload. There is very little respite anywhere on the album from its unstoppable momentum, and with the last five songs each clocking in at nine and a half minutes or more, it can be difficult to digest. At over 68 mostly devastatingly brutal minutes, this is not for the faint of heart. Keep listening though. Eventually you’ll be able to pick out the strange shapes that the guitars cut, intersecting with one another at odd angles even while the rhythm section’s inexhaustible energy drives the band onward. Yes, it can all sound like ice in a blender at first, but if you pay close attention and you can manage to keep up, you’ll be richly rewarded.
12. Tim Hecker – Ravedeath, 1972
Montreal’s Tim Hecker has been making adventurous drone music for over a decade now, and Ravedeath, 1972 might just be his strongest work to date. Everything here sounds vaguely fatalistic, invoking feelings of dread, decay, and inevitability. Still, there’s something redemptive about it as well. The tones here are deep and rich, invoking a sense of gravity. Unlike some drone records that are content to drift on formless texture, there is real expressive emotion to be found here. That emotion might be depressive and claustrophobic, but if you stay long enough to get comfortable with Hecker’s spare compositions, you might just grow to like it in the dark.
13. Lumerians – Transmalinnia
This record has been referred to as “Intergalactic cruisin’ music.” Since I don’t think I’ll be able to top that description, I’m going to move right along. Take a ride on the Longwave.
14. Tombs – Path Of Totality
This record is one hell of a pounding. Brutal, uncompromising and relentless, Paths of Totality is one of the most devastating metal releases of the year. Tombs are hard to pigeonhole with regards to any one type of metal. There are harsh vocals and icy atmospherics that clearly are clearly influenced by black metal, but there are straight ahead thrash and hardcore influences going on here too. If you aren’t ready for a pounding, you’d best stand back, because Tombs are here to get medieval on your ass. The musicians’ performances here are technically spot on, but these guys never let their chops get in the way of the primitive power of the songs themselves. Tracks like “To Cross The Land” and “Cold Dark Eyes” are unremittingly bleak and ferocious, and boast an appropriately crusty production to match their chilly mood. This full measure band is making up its own rules as it goes, and they 'aint done yet. Keep an ear open.
15. Blood Ceremony – Living With The Ancients
This doomy occult rock band’s second album is a consolidation of all the strengths that made their eponymous debut so enjoyable. Fluttering flutes and soaring vocals duel with thunderous riffs. This is heavy prog along the lines of what Tony Iommi had in mind while jamming with Jethro Tull. “The Great God Pan” gets things off to a suitably enormous start, all head banging riffs and mighty refrains. Mystical songs like “Coven Tree” and “Morning Of The Magicians” show plenty of influence from similarly smoky touchstones like Graveyard and Witchcraft and of course, their spiritual forefathers in Pentagram. The closing number, “Daughter of the Sun” runs past ten minutes in length, but the song’s excellent construction allows it to sustain interest throughout and being the album to a strong finish. Light some candles for this one.
16. Moon Duo – Mazes
Moon Duo is the more pop-oriented side project of Wooden Shjips' guitarist Erik “Ripley” Johnson, and he brings plenty of his other band’s tendency to ride tasty psych grooves to this record as well. Songs like “Mazes” and “When You Cut” though are much more concise and catchy than anything those zoned out shamans have ever made. This is not to say that the jams have been cut out, they’ve simply been reigned in somewhat, as demonstrated on spacey opener “The Seer.” This makes the record hit a little harder rather than dissipating its energy on trance inducing head-nodders. This is an easily digestible psych rock record that manages to be accessible and out there at the same time, a most difficult balance to strike.
17. Grails – Deep Politics
Grails has continued to evolve their restless sound on Deep Politics. Emil Amos now is the drummer for trance-inducing duo Om, so he has an outlet for the heavier impulses which were apparent on more recent Grails albums. Deep Politics is much more atmospheric and subtle. The songs here are sometimes spooky, but rarely menacing the way they were on Doomsdayer’s Holiday. Instead, treated violins and bowed and distorted bass are used to craft intricate rhythmic pieces which lay a solid foundation for some acidic exploratory guitar work. Amos of course anchors the sound with his typically inventive patterns and rock solid beats. Another great record from a unique band.
18. Robedoor – Too Down To Die
Robedoor’s newest album feels a little bit less dark and noisy than previous efforts. The influence of Sunn O))) that was felt so heavily on earlier albums has receded somewhat, leaving a sound that is more distinctive and spacey. Opener “Parallel Wanderer” is a finely crafted drone effort which builds in depth and detail throughout its 22 minutes, adding different shades and voices to the sound. This is a mind-expanding collection of jams that works well when lifting off and coming back down. For a group that has built its career on these sorts of long-form pieces, it’s comforting to see them still reaching for the outer limits.
19. Bong – Beyond Ancient Space
Time-stretched doom bass rumble marching onwards towards infinity. The drums here sound like they were recorded in another room, while galactically heavy ur-riffs distend space and time. The evil walking dead atmosphere here recalls prime era Electric Wizard or Om on Quaaludes, while the endless feedback palls and distorted bass tones are reminiscent of early Earth and Sunn O))), maybe even something like Jesu if Justin Broadrick had decided to form that project fresh out of his totally decimating stint with Napalm Death. There is no melody and no up-tempo breaks here to cut the gloom, just endless planet-sized riffs crushing the universe into oblivion. Beyond Ancient Space marks a new landmark in extreme doom metal.
20. Liturgy – Aesthetica
This album is one of the most strenuous listens you’ll come across this year. It’s a fucking chore, absolutely arduous. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but the album is just such a relentless pummeling that it can be exhausting. There are strange, abrasive textures here I’ve never heard in a black metal song (or any metal song) before, and lots of weird samples, chants and non-metal experimentation. Even with all that, it’s almost uniformly brutal. The blastbeats and tremolo picking are still here in abundance. Aesthetica won’t be for everybody, and I’m sure many people will hate it. That being said, it breaks new barriers for black metal, and the record sounds absolutely colossal. The ambition and creativity and musicianship and song craft that went into this album is undeniable. It’s the sound of a band thinking huge and raging against the constraints of any scene or sound. It might piss some kvltists off, but the experimentalists in Liturgy, like contemporaries Wolves in the Throne Room, Baroness, Kylesa, Cormorant, HULL, Baptists, Esoteric, Avichi, Nachtmystium, Krallice, Dirge, Solstavir, Primordial, Year of no Light, Indian, Ulcerate, Altar of Plagues, 40 Watt Sun, The Atlas Moth, Griever, Thou, Decapitated, Tombs, Blut Aus Nord and others are leading the way towards the future of metal.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
The Top 50 Albums of 2011 - 30-21
21. Dumbo Gets Mad – Elephants at the Door
This experimental music project is reminiscent of the restless beat merchants in Black Moth Super Rainbow, particularly when it comes to their mutual affinity for textural variety. Dumbo Gets Mad is more song based however, with less of a focus on abstract sound collages. Elephants at the Door is packed with winning tunes like “Electric Prawn,” which are catchy and danceable without coming anywhere close to being dance music. The record contains all manner of digitized cutups mixed with warm bubbling synths and skittering beats, which should please all sorts of fans of the kind of stuff I refer to by the very specific label, “weird electronic music.” A heart-warmingly strange record like this that isn’t difficult in the least is hard to come by. Don’t miss it.
22. Skeletonwitch – Forever Abomination
Ohio’s awesomely-named Skeletonwitch returned once again this year with another furious collection of blackened thrash, and it might just be their best yet. As with their last few records, Forever Abomination is crammed full of classic dual leads and full speed ragers, but this time out things are a little heavier thanks to a dense but clean production job by big time producer Hyde of Slayer and Hatebreed fame. The guitars are given a little more space to breathe between the hyper-speed thrash sections this time out, and there is a little more room for the chilly atmosphere this group is known for to envelop the listener. There is absolutely zero fat on this record. With 11 unstoppable metal assaults clocking in at just a shade over 32 minutes, Forever Abomination might fly by a few times before it fully reveals its charms to you, but given time to sink in, the mix of crushing saw-toothed grooves and epic NWOBHM-style hooks on tracks like “Cleaver of Souls” and “Erased and Forgotten” will please plenty of fans old and new.
23. Machine Head – Unto the Locust
These neo-thrash godheads have released a multiheaded suite that tempers powerful groove metal riffs with substantial ambition. This record reaches back to the days of classic Metallica with each of its songs including substantial shifts in mood and abrupt, unexpected changes in direction. Machine Head brings in all sorts of non-metal elements like violin interludes and a children’s choir to spice up its sound on various tracks, but it’s always done in the service of the song and never seems gimmicky. Lest you worry these guys have gone all progressive on you, “I Am Hell” is a sludge trudge as heavy as anything in the Machine Head catalog, while “Who We Are” is an epic shout along that should get fists in the air and beers chugged the world over. Each listen revels new details and twists, but the record is never dense or difficult. Once again these veterans have proven they are a vital, relevant force in the heavy metal world.
24. Tycho – Dive
Dive is like sitting in a hot tub. It’s warm and relaxing, and sometimes the bubbles tickle you in just the right places. Tycho is an ambient producer from San Francisco, and this is his first LP since 2006’s excellent Past is Prologue. Dive has a little bit more forward momentum, but like its predecessor this record is still dominated by blissful textural experiments. Tycho’s work here is reminiscent of Boards of Canada, but the warm analog synths found here seem far less clinical. Luxuriate in this whirlpool long enough and you might not want to leave.
25. HULL - Beyond The Lightless Sky
Beyond The Lightless Sky opens with a surging epic called "Earth From Water" that exceeds 11 minutes in length and goes from full throttle thrashing to a doomy sludge crawl, to something resembling a gregorian chant, to a psychedelic feedback squall and back again before climaxing with a bloody apogee of crashing riffs and hoarse screams. There are harmonic, manly bellows and epic guitar leads weaving around one another throughout. HULL aren't a band that settle for half measures. Of the bands continuing to mine the Neurosis school of espic post metal, HULL have shown a particular aptitude for multipart suites and dynamic shifts. There is a ton of variety here, combined with some interesting melodic ideas and serious musical ability along with occasional use of non-metal instrumentation to craft a glorious collossus of a record.
26. Vastum - Carnal Law
There is something charming about Vastum’s putrid brand of old school death metal. Everything here sounds like it’s been exhumed, caked with maggots and filth. There are no technical gymnastics here, and very few hyperspeed breaks. Even when they do thrash out a little, they never seem to exceed midtempo. Vastum would rather crush everything like a bulldozer. Lest you think this is some Obiturary knockoff, Vastum have a few more tricks up their sleeves than that. There are also some tasty NWOBHM-style licks here and there, and the vocals take on a harsher, more black metal influenced rasp. That being said, this is the rawest, filthiest, most disgusting extreme metal record I’ve heard this year. Keep on rotting in the free world.
27. The Atlas Moth - An Ache For The Distance
These guys have the potential to be a very big name in the hard rock world. Their second album, An Ache For The Distance has substantially increasred their profile and established the Chicago act as a force in the underground scene, and for good reason. The record is progressive (as opposed to prog) in the truest sense of the word. The Atlas Moth have incorporated a diverse set of influences that reaches beyond the Neurosis/Isis template of post metal to craft an album that is wildly experimental and textured without sacrificing tunefulness or sheer power. There are bluesey shuffles, country twang, hefty riffs, psychedelic mindwarping sonics, pools of sludge, droney textural jams, white noise, hardcore shoutalongs, melodic earworms, mighty choruses, straight-ahead thrashing and folky acoustic breakdowns. All this could add up to one giant fucking mess, but instead its a veritable cournucopia of stylistic flourishes and a triumphant new benchmark for the post-metal genre.
28. Fucked Up – David Comes To Life
For a band that has always played by its own rules even while adhearing to the loud-fast rules DIY ethic of punk rock, Fucked Up have been displaying some serious stadium-sized ambition the last few years. Here they attempt that most excessive of grand gestures, the double album. Unfortunately and as is always the case with these things, the album is too long by at least a handful of songs, but when it works David Comes To Life is a ferocious triumph of human creativity. “Queen of Hearts” is magnificent, a bracing jolt of candy-coated rock and roll that’s so immediate and hummable and flat out awesome that it’s impossible not to get swept along. The sound here is slicker than even their huge-sounding 2008 release The Chemistry of Common Life, and a bevy of guests stars drop in to help out. With their media profile as high now as it’s ever been, this is Fucked Up’s bid for mass success. This is a band that is still unafraid to tinker with punk formulas and doctrine, as evidenced by them number of punks crying sell-out to a band that has gained success entirely on its own terms though hard work and craftsmanship for over a decade. It’s the biggest, shiniest, poppiest release of their career by far, and has enough great songs to keep bringing people back for more while converting new fans along the way.
29. Disma – Towards the Megalith
Disma is hardly the first death metal band to combine extremely downtuned riffs with highly technical double kicks and growled vocals. Like Vastum’s more primitive Carnal Law, Towards The Megalith is the work of a band that is addicted to sheer power. The sound here is fantastic, retaining just enough dirt and grime to mark this album as a throwback to the early ‘90s glory days of death metal. The songs here sound suitably like they've been partially decompopsed, dug up and had horrific experimental surgery performed on them, just the way great death metal should be. Megalith is no mere retread though. What makes Towards the Megalith such a compelling listen is the presence of real songcraft; there is no melodically unresolved thrashing about or pointless floor-punching here. Disma know how to pull you in, to make you wait for that explosive riff or crushing groove. Aside from that, there is a hugeness to this album that belies the brutality that is the band’s most immediate feature. Listening is like embarking on a quest, there is a feeling of triumph as the album builds to its powerful climaxes. Make no mistake, this album can rip your face off if you let it, but there is more going on here than just blast beats and random tapping.
30. The Psychic Paramount - The Psychic Paramount II
The album opens with about 50 seconds of pure sonic terror, palls of white noise and screeching feedback assaulting the listener. This isn't a listen for the faint of heart. Calling their music psychedelic doesn't begin to do justice to the racket these noise terrorists whip up. Free jazz drumming and searing, sustained lead lines call to mind prime King Crimson, but the whole mess is shot though a Pan Sonic filter. Over time the songs underneath the chaos become audible, and you'll even come to appreciate the cool zones scattered thoughout that provide some respite from the chaos. Everything here sounds huge and uncontrolled, the vast majority of the album sounding like the needles are in the red. File this one under complete sonic overload.
This experimental music project is reminiscent of the restless beat merchants in Black Moth Super Rainbow, particularly when it comes to their mutual affinity for textural variety. Dumbo Gets Mad is more song based however, with less of a focus on abstract sound collages. Elephants at the Door is packed with winning tunes like “Electric Prawn,” which are catchy and danceable without coming anywhere close to being dance music. The record contains all manner of digitized cutups mixed with warm bubbling synths and skittering beats, which should please all sorts of fans of the kind of stuff I refer to by the very specific label, “weird electronic music.” A heart-warmingly strange record like this that isn’t difficult in the least is hard to come by. Don’t miss it.
22. Skeletonwitch – Forever Abomination
Ohio’s awesomely-named Skeletonwitch returned once again this year with another furious collection of blackened thrash, and it might just be their best yet. As with their last few records, Forever Abomination is crammed full of classic dual leads and full speed ragers, but this time out things are a little heavier thanks to a dense but clean production job by big time producer Hyde of Slayer and Hatebreed fame. The guitars are given a little more space to breathe between the hyper-speed thrash sections this time out, and there is a little more room for the chilly atmosphere this group is known for to envelop the listener. There is absolutely zero fat on this record. With 11 unstoppable metal assaults clocking in at just a shade over 32 minutes, Forever Abomination might fly by a few times before it fully reveals its charms to you, but given time to sink in, the mix of crushing saw-toothed grooves and epic NWOBHM-style hooks on tracks like “Cleaver of Souls” and “Erased and Forgotten” will please plenty of fans old and new.
23. Machine Head – Unto the Locust
These neo-thrash godheads have released a multiheaded suite that tempers powerful groove metal riffs with substantial ambition. This record reaches back to the days of classic Metallica with each of its songs including substantial shifts in mood and abrupt, unexpected changes in direction. Machine Head brings in all sorts of non-metal elements like violin interludes and a children’s choir to spice up its sound on various tracks, but it’s always done in the service of the song and never seems gimmicky. Lest you worry these guys have gone all progressive on you, “I Am Hell” is a sludge trudge as heavy as anything in the Machine Head catalog, while “Who We Are” is an epic shout along that should get fists in the air and beers chugged the world over. Each listen revels new details and twists, but the record is never dense or difficult. Once again these veterans have proven they are a vital, relevant force in the heavy metal world.
24. Tycho – Dive
Dive is like sitting in a hot tub. It’s warm and relaxing, and sometimes the bubbles tickle you in just the right places. Tycho is an ambient producer from San Francisco, and this is his first LP since 2006’s excellent Past is Prologue. Dive has a little bit more forward momentum, but like its predecessor this record is still dominated by blissful textural experiments. Tycho’s work here is reminiscent of Boards of Canada, but the warm analog synths found here seem far less clinical. Luxuriate in this whirlpool long enough and you might not want to leave.
25. HULL - Beyond The Lightless Sky
Beyond The Lightless Sky opens with a surging epic called "Earth From Water" that exceeds 11 minutes in length and goes from full throttle thrashing to a doomy sludge crawl, to something resembling a gregorian chant, to a psychedelic feedback squall and back again before climaxing with a bloody apogee of crashing riffs and hoarse screams. There are harmonic, manly bellows and epic guitar leads weaving around one another throughout. HULL aren't a band that settle for half measures. Of the bands continuing to mine the Neurosis school of espic post metal, HULL have shown a particular aptitude for multipart suites and dynamic shifts. There is a ton of variety here, combined with some interesting melodic ideas and serious musical ability along with occasional use of non-metal instrumentation to craft a glorious collossus of a record.
26. Vastum - Carnal Law
There is something charming about Vastum’s putrid brand of old school death metal. Everything here sounds like it’s been exhumed, caked with maggots and filth. There are no technical gymnastics here, and very few hyperspeed breaks. Even when they do thrash out a little, they never seem to exceed midtempo. Vastum would rather crush everything like a bulldozer. Lest you think this is some Obiturary knockoff, Vastum have a few more tricks up their sleeves than that. There are also some tasty NWOBHM-style licks here and there, and the vocals take on a harsher, more black metal influenced rasp. That being said, this is the rawest, filthiest, most disgusting extreme metal record I’ve heard this year. Keep on rotting in the free world.
27. The Atlas Moth - An Ache For The Distance
These guys have the potential to be a very big name in the hard rock world. Their second album, An Ache For The Distance has substantially increasred their profile and established the Chicago act as a force in the underground scene, and for good reason. The record is progressive (as opposed to prog) in the truest sense of the word. The Atlas Moth have incorporated a diverse set of influences that reaches beyond the Neurosis/Isis template of post metal to craft an album that is wildly experimental and textured without sacrificing tunefulness or sheer power. There are bluesey shuffles, country twang, hefty riffs, psychedelic mindwarping sonics, pools of sludge, droney textural jams, white noise, hardcore shoutalongs, melodic earworms, mighty choruses, straight-ahead thrashing and folky acoustic breakdowns. All this could add up to one giant fucking mess, but instead its a veritable cournucopia of stylistic flourishes and a triumphant new benchmark for the post-metal genre.
28. Fucked Up – David Comes To Life
For a band that has always played by its own rules even while adhearing to the loud-fast rules DIY ethic of punk rock, Fucked Up have been displaying some serious stadium-sized ambition the last few years. Here they attempt that most excessive of grand gestures, the double album. Unfortunately and as is always the case with these things, the album is too long by at least a handful of songs, but when it works David Comes To Life is a ferocious triumph of human creativity. “Queen of Hearts” is magnificent, a bracing jolt of candy-coated rock and roll that’s so immediate and hummable and flat out awesome that it’s impossible not to get swept along. The sound here is slicker than even their huge-sounding 2008 release The Chemistry of Common Life, and a bevy of guests stars drop in to help out. With their media profile as high now as it’s ever been, this is Fucked Up’s bid for mass success. This is a band that is still unafraid to tinker with punk formulas and doctrine, as evidenced by them number of punks crying sell-out to a band that has gained success entirely on its own terms though hard work and craftsmanship for over a decade. It’s the biggest, shiniest, poppiest release of their career by far, and has enough great songs to keep bringing people back for more while converting new fans along the way.
29. Disma – Towards the Megalith
Disma is hardly the first death metal band to combine extremely downtuned riffs with highly technical double kicks and growled vocals. Like Vastum’s more primitive Carnal Law, Towards The Megalith is the work of a band that is addicted to sheer power. The sound here is fantastic, retaining just enough dirt and grime to mark this album as a throwback to the early ‘90s glory days of death metal. The songs here sound suitably like they've been partially decompopsed, dug up and had horrific experimental surgery performed on them, just the way great death metal should be. Megalith is no mere retread though. What makes Towards the Megalith such a compelling listen is the presence of real songcraft; there is no melodically unresolved thrashing about or pointless floor-punching here. Disma know how to pull you in, to make you wait for that explosive riff or crushing groove. Aside from that, there is a hugeness to this album that belies the brutality that is the band’s most immediate feature. Listening is like embarking on a quest, there is a feeling of triumph as the album builds to its powerful climaxes. Make no mistake, this album can rip your face off if you let it, but there is more going on here than just blast beats and random tapping.
30. The Psychic Paramount - The Psychic Paramount II
The album opens with about 50 seconds of pure sonic terror, palls of white noise and screeching feedback assaulting the listener. This isn't a listen for the faint of heart. Calling their music psychedelic doesn't begin to do justice to the racket these noise terrorists whip up. Free jazz drumming and searing, sustained lead lines call to mind prime King Crimson, but the whole mess is shot though a Pan Sonic filter. Over time the songs underneath the chaos become audible, and you'll even come to appreciate the cool zones scattered thoughout that provide some respite from the chaos. Everything here sounds huge and uncontrolled, the vast majority of the album sounding like the needles are in the red. File this one under complete sonic overload.
The Top 50 Albums of 2011 - 40-31
31. Trap Them – Darker Handcraft
If you feel like Fucked Up has gotten just a little too slick in the past couple of years and you’re looking for some intense but straight-up hardcore uncut by poppy pretensions and ambition, then Darker Handcraft is the record for you. The album clocks in only a shade above half an hour, but the dozen tracks here form one vicious punch to the gut, with hyperspeed thrash beats and furious double kicks nestling alongside sludgy breakdowns and a hardcore barker who sounds like he’s been chewing glass and drinking gasoline. This is heavy as grindcore but still retains a tuneful shoutalong hardcore essence. Listen to “Evictionaries” and you’ll wish you were trashing someone’s apartment.
32. Griever – Inferior
This EP from the up and coming sludge metal outfit Griever boasts an impossibly huge sound, suitable for knocking down walls and ripping roofs from houses. Here they take their cues from spiritual godfather the Melvins, and well as more recent disciples like Baroness, Bison, Fucked Up, Kylesa, and Torche, bands that began with similarly sludge-core styled dynamics and soon developed colossal stadium-sized ambitions. In particular, “The Forgetter” demonstrates Griever’s ability to write a grippingly physical rock song while still retaining a compellingly aggressive shoutalong chorus. What’s more, there’s an understated knowledge of dynamics at work here which is employed at key moments to maximize the concussive power of these songs. A great release by a very promising young band.
33. Blut Aus Nord - 777: The Desanctication
This long-running French black metal project is finally getting some major recognition on these shores for their introduction of avant garde elements to extreme metal. The second release in a planned trilogy, The Desanctication is far more adventurous than its predecessor, but nearly as sonically decimating. The peaks here are soaring and majestic, even introducing a tunefulness that is miles from the ice-in-a-blender sound of classic black metal. More than any band I’ve ever heard, Blut Aus Nord are able to incorporate elements borrowed from electronic and noise music seamlessly into their black metal. Unlike the similarly daring Liturgy, this music is not difficult to get into if you already have a background in black metal. A record that is beautiful and terrible in equal parts, its power is undeniable. An essential listen for any metal fan interested in the future of the music.
34. Ulcerate – The Destroyers Of All
I suppose if Isis got raped by Cannibal Corpse, this is what it would sound like. Over the course of 53 mostly decimating minutes, Ulcerate manages to inject non-traditional sonic dynamics into brutal death metal. It’s an interesting strategy, and one that pays off. By stripping back the uber-technical heavy metal holocaust a bit and making room for some atmospherics, the songs become more memorable and dramatic. They also become impossibly huge, unusual in a genre known for its tendency to go for the jugular. These are compositions, not just blast patterns. The eye of the hurricane breakdown in “Omens” and the Oceanic-like coda of the epic title track are breathtaking. The relative placidity of the slower parts makes the impact of the heavy passages all that much more devastating. Purists need not fear; this is a death metal album through and through, just one that tweaks the formula enough to keep things interesting.
35. Colin Stetson – New History Of Warefare (Volume 2: Judges)
Saxaphonist Colin Stetson’s experimental solo work bears the mark of drone music’s growth in prominence over the last decade, but it cannot be pigeonholed into just one easily classifiable style. Though he has contributed to the work of prominent musicians such as the Arcade Fire, David Byrne, TV on the Radio, Tom Waits, Bon Iver and LCD Soundsystem, Stetson’s own work is a very different beast. Jumping from the solemn, meditative opener to a lurching, pulsing shuffle topped by layers of otherworldly vocal samples on “Fear Of The Unknown And The Blazing Sun” and followed by the avant-jazz shredding of “The Righteous Wrath Of An Honorable Man,” it’s quite clear that Stetson is a restless composer. He likes to try on different hats throughout the record, demonstrating great stylistic range and an intimate command of his instrument. This is a well-crafted record that features all manner of warped sonics and reveals new twists upon every listen.
36. Cauldron – Burning Fortune
This Canadian retro-metal outfit reaches back to a time when legions of denim and leather-clad teenagers fired up by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal turned their youthful exuberance and limited chops towards tackling the complex compositions of the steel lords of Britain. The result was a raw but faithful underground of surging metal charged with a boozed-up party animal spirit that valued Metallica and Mötley Crüe equally. Cauldron’s sophomore effort has a cleaner and thus less charming sound than the awesome Chained To The Night, but fist-pumping metal anthems like “All Or Nothing,” “Miss You To Death” and “Rapid City” prove the band’s skill at writing triumphant crowd-pleasers. What’s more, the musicianship has been upped this time out, as demonstrated most clearly by the facemelting “Eruption”-style lead guitar showcase “Unchained Assault.”
37. 40 Watt Sun – The Inside Room
The Inside Room is a well crafted doom-trudge that doesn’t lose itself in its own sludge. Although the sound is extremely heavy, the mournful vocals balance the density of the riffs very effectively. There is beauty to be found all through this album amid the destruction. The production is massive; the guitars here sizzle rather than bake. There are lots of little flourishes that add sonic variety, such as “Open My Eyes,” which features a gorgeous acoustic coda. Songs here run over ten minutes in some cases, but they don’t ever seem to lose steam or fail to hold interest.
38. Baptists – Baptists
This 4 song EP by Vancouver’s best local band is a crushing sample of their apocalyptic live show. Like a scrappier Tombs, Baptists have ingested a lifetime of underground hardcore which manifests itself in their approach, but a deep understanding of physicality and sonic depth have grounded their sludgy rave ups firmly within the idiom of metal. The best song here is “Bachelor Degree Burn,” a skullcrushing pounder that’s sure to get the pit surging. The best is yet to come; their debut full-length will be out on Southern Lord in 2012.
39. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring for My Halo
Unlike the dark psych rock of 2009’s Childish Prodigy, Smoke Ring For My Halo finds Vile trading in the Violators for an acoustic guitar on what is more of a traditional singer-songwriter roots rock record. Vile is joined by his full band on a few tracks though, with the shambolic rockers “Puppet to the Man” and “Society Is My Friend” being the most notable. The whole record has a dusty, road-weary feeling that recalls past travelling troubadours like Neil Young and Tom Petty without sounding too much like anyone in particular. The sound is all Leslie speakers and gentle acoustic strums accompanied by a lyrical, subdued electric guitar and steady rhythms from the Violators here and there. Moreover, the songs feel lived in, with a classic golden production that makes it seem like they could have been recorded any time in the last four decades. The absolutely gorgeous “Baby’s Arms” might just be the best love song of the year.
40. Gates Of Slumber – The Wretch
From the sounds of it, Gates of Slumber have swapped a good amount of the Candlemass in their musical diets out for more St. Vitus. Unlike 2009’s sprawling fantasy doom opus, Hymns of Blood and Thunder, The Wretch is concerned far more with the demons of everyday life. Songs like “The Scovrge Ov Drvnkenness” rail against more worldly problems than ice worms and triumph on the field of battle. The sound here is similarly monochromatic, without the epic, neoclassical flourishes that marked Gates of Slumber’s brand of doom metal previously. What remains is more singular and immediate, a dark and brooding vision of life in the 21st Century. Now six albums into their career, the Indianapolis group may have yet to escape its influences, but as a bit of inspired homage, The Wretch is hard to beat.
If you feel like Fucked Up has gotten just a little too slick in the past couple of years and you’re looking for some intense but straight-up hardcore uncut by poppy pretensions and ambition, then Darker Handcraft is the record for you. The album clocks in only a shade above half an hour, but the dozen tracks here form one vicious punch to the gut, with hyperspeed thrash beats and furious double kicks nestling alongside sludgy breakdowns and a hardcore barker who sounds like he’s been chewing glass and drinking gasoline. This is heavy as grindcore but still retains a tuneful shoutalong hardcore essence. Listen to “Evictionaries” and you’ll wish you were trashing someone’s apartment.
32. Griever – Inferior
This EP from the up and coming sludge metal outfit Griever boasts an impossibly huge sound, suitable for knocking down walls and ripping roofs from houses. Here they take their cues from spiritual godfather the Melvins, and well as more recent disciples like Baroness, Bison, Fucked Up, Kylesa, and Torche, bands that began with similarly sludge-core styled dynamics and soon developed colossal stadium-sized ambitions. In particular, “The Forgetter” demonstrates Griever’s ability to write a grippingly physical rock song while still retaining a compellingly aggressive shoutalong chorus. What’s more, there’s an understated knowledge of dynamics at work here which is employed at key moments to maximize the concussive power of these songs. A great release by a very promising young band.
33. Blut Aus Nord - 777: The Desanctication
This long-running French black metal project is finally getting some major recognition on these shores for their introduction of avant garde elements to extreme metal. The second release in a planned trilogy, The Desanctication is far more adventurous than its predecessor, but nearly as sonically decimating. The peaks here are soaring and majestic, even introducing a tunefulness that is miles from the ice-in-a-blender sound of classic black metal. More than any band I’ve ever heard, Blut Aus Nord are able to incorporate elements borrowed from electronic and noise music seamlessly into their black metal. Unlike the similarly daring Liturgy, this music is not difficult to get into if you already have a background in black metal. A record that is beautiful and terrible in equal parts, its power is undeniable. An essential listen for any metal fan interested in the future of the music.
34. Ulcerate – The Destroyers Of All
I suppose if Isis got raped by Cannibal Corpse, this is what it would sound like. Over the course of 53 mostly decimating minutes, Ulcerate manages to inject non-traditional sonic dynamics into brutal death metal. It’s an interesting strategy, and one that pays off. By stripping back the uber-technical heavy metal holocaust a bit and making room for some atmospherics, the songs become more memorable and dramatic. They also become impossibly huge, unusual in a genre known for its tendency to go for the jugular. These are compositions, not just blast patterns. The eye of the hurricane breakdown in “Omens” and the Oceanic-like coda of the epic title track are breathtaking. The relative placidity of the slower parts makes the impact of the heavy passages all that much more devastating. Purists need not fear; this is a death metal album through and through, just one that tweaks the formula enough to keep things interesting.
35. Colin Stetson – New History Of Warefare (Volume 2: Judges)
Saxaphonist Colin Stetson’s experimental solo work bears the mark of drone music’s growth in prominence over the last decade, but it cannot be pigeonholed into just one easily classifiable style. Though he has contributed to the work of prominent musicians such as the Arcade Fire, David Byrne, TV on the Radio, Tom Waits, Bon Iver and LCD Soundsystem, Stetson’s own work is a very different beast. Jumping from the solemn, meditative opener to a lurching, pulsing shuffle topped by layers of otherworldly vocal samples on “Fear Of The Unknown And The Blazing Sun” and followed by the avant-jazz shredding of “The Righteous Wrath Of An Honorable Man,” it’s quite clear that Stetson is a restless composer. He likes to try on different hats throughout the record, demonstrating great stylistic range and an intimate command of his instrument. This is a well-crafted record that features all manner of warped sonics and reveals new twists upon every listen.
36. Cauldron – Burning Fortune
This Canadian retro-metal outfit reaches back to a time when legions of denim and leather-clad teenagers fired up by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal turned their youthful exuberance and limited chops towards tackling the complex compositions of the steel lords of Britain. The result was a raw but faithful underground of surging metal charged with a boozed-up party animal spirit that valued Metallica and Mötley Crüe equally. Cauldron’s sophomore effort has a cleaner and thus less charming sound than the awesome Chained To The Night, but fist-pumping metal anthems like “All Or Nothing,” “Miss You To Death” and “Rapid City” prove the band’s skill at writing triumphant crowd-pleasers. What’s more, the musicianship has been upped this time out, as demonstrated most clearly by the facemelting “Eruption”-style lead guitar showcase “Unchained Assault.”
37. 40 Watt Sun – The Inside Room
The Inside Room is a well crafted doom-trudge that doesn’t lose itself in its own sludge. Although the sound is extremely heavy, the mournful vocals balance the density of the riffs very effectively. There is beauty to be found all through this album amid the destruction. The production is massive; the guitars here sizzle rather than bake. There are lots of little flourishes that add sonic variety, such as “Open My Eyes,” which features a gorgeous acoustic coda. Songs here run over ten minutes in some cases, but they don’t ever seem to lose steam or fail to hold interest.
38. Baptists – Baptists
This 4 song EP by Vancouver’s best local band is a crushing sample of their apocalyptic live show. Like a scrappier Tombs, Baptists have ingested a lifetime of underground hardcore which manifests itself in their approach, but a deep understanding of physicality and sonic depth have grounded their sludgy rave ups firmly within the idiom of metal. The best song here is “Bachelor Degree Burn,” a skullcrushing pounder that’s sure to get the pit surging. The best is yet to come; their debut full-length will be out on Southern Lord in 2012.
39. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring for My Halo
Unlike the dark psych rock of 2009’s Childish Prodigy, Smoke Ring For My Halo finds Vile trading in the Violators for an acoustic guitar on what is more of a traditional singer-songwriter roots rock record. Vile is joined by his full band on a few tracks though, with the shambolic rockers “Puppet to the Man” and “Society Is My Friend” being the most notable. The whole record has a dusty, road-weary feeling that recalls past travelling troubadours like Neil Young and Tom Petty without sounding too much like anyone in particular. The sound is all Leslie speakers and gentle acoustic strums accompanied by a lyrical, subdued electric guitar and steady rhythms from the Violators here and there. Moreover, the songs feel lived in, with a classic golden production that makes it seem like they could have been recorded any time in the last four decades. The absolutely gorgeous “Baby’s Arms” might just be the best love song of the year.
40. Gates Of Slumber – The Wretch
From the sounds of it, Gates of Slumber have swapped a good amount of the Candlemass in their musical diets out for more St. Vitus. Unlike 2009’s sprawling fantasy doom opus, Hymns of Blood and Thunder, The Wretch is concerned far more with the demons of everyday life. Songs like “The Scovrge Ov Drvnkenness” rail against more worldly problems than ice worms and triumph on the field of battle. The sound here is similarly monochromatic, without the epic, neoclassical flourishes that marked Gates of Slumber’s brand of doom metal previously. What remains is more singular and immediate, a dark and brooding vision of life in the 21st Century. Now six albums into their career, the Indianapolis group may have yet to escape its influences, but as a bit of inspired homage, The Wretch is hard to beat.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
The Top 50 Albums of 2011 - 50-41
41. Danava – Hemisphere of Shadows
Danava nailed down its take on all manner of spacey, progressive 70’s rock on its self-titled debut a few years back, so it should come as no surprise that album number three is more a re-iteration of ground they’ve already covered than any bold leap forward. That being said, their hyperactive, kitchen sink approach to all kinds of organ addled, laser show rockin’ pre-punk classic rock and roll is kicked up a notch here with some classic heavy metal dual guitarmonies, perhaps at the expense of some of the spacey ambience they featured so prominently initially. The songs here are shorter this time out, but the band still knows how to play their asses off as they tear through their tightened arrangements. It’s like Lark’s Tongues in Space Ritual of the Beast in here. As usual, their strength lies in off the rails jamming, and each song is well crafted enough that the momentum builds and is sustained throughout each track. Once again Danava has turned in a worthwhile listen for devotees of modern art rock.
42. TV On the Radio – Nine Types Of Light
When listened to in a vacuum, Nine Types of Light sounds like the happiest record these New Yorkers have made. In truth, a pall hung over these sessions. Sadly, bassist/keyboardist Gerard Smith passed away from lung cancer just nine days after the album was released. It’s as if the band’s way of coping with the struggle was to dance their problems away. The bleak paranoia of the Bush-era TV On the Radio has given way to a funkier, more dance-inflected sound. The record is not nearly as dense or difficult as earlier opuses, and doesn’t have the spiky attitude that marked them either. Instead, Nine Types of Light is simple and streamlined, the songs crafted to achieve maximum immediacy. Gorgeous songs like “You” and “Will Do” express heartfelt sentiments instead of cloaking them in irony. It’s not as good as their best work, but still a very enjoyable album from a band who’s future would appear to be in doubt.
43. Jesu – Ascension
Justin Broadrick returns once again for a record of slow-motion fuzz guitar meltdowns. His uniquely metallic take on traditional shoegaze dynamics is both suffocatingly heavy and delicate as gauze. Everything here appears to the listener through a codeine fog. Like previous Jesu releases, Ascension has a meditative quality and works equally well as quiet mood music or as a thunderously loud headtrip. If anything, it is even more song-oriented than previous Jesu works, but songs like “Fools” and “Broken Home” are extended riff monsters that march inexorably into oblivion, dissolving into textural bliss. This is music for watching the snow fall gently in the early winter morning, or watching the polar ice caps melt on a doomed planet.
44. Opeth - Heritage
So Opeth finally went ahead and made a straight up ‘70s prog rock album. That’s cool, I suppose if anyone was going to do that it’d be these guys. The name is a pretty obvious allusion to this record’s homage to the types of bands that have been inspiring Opeth since their very inception. Understand this though; nothing on Heritage sounds like metal in any way. The band certainly rocks, and the instrumental chops and compositional ambition this band is known for is here in spades. But don’t go in expecting anything resembling their decade-old progressive black metal classic Blackwater Park, because you won’t find it. This album is all noodly keys and angular guitar solos crisscrossing over bizarre time signatures and clean but abstract vocals. If that hasn’t scared you away, well than have a bombastic neoclassical blast!
45. Primordial – Redemption At The Puritan’s Hand
This album rages like a storm at sea. Primordial have been among the leading lights in the Viking metal scene for a few years now, and Redemption is a new high water mark for them. Music here evolves slowly, with each song containing several riffs. The playing here is sharp, but not particularly technical. The approach here is a little bit rougher than what your average Maiden and Priest-worshipping power metal band would go for, but this is no Scandinavian black metal retread. Each song is an absolute epic, featuring ridiculously heroic manly bellows about war and redemption and triumph. If that doesn’t sound like the soundtrack to your next fantasy role playing game, I’m gonna roll for initiative.
46. Arch Enemy – Legions Of Khaos
These guys have always struck me as faithful disciples of classic metal. Even though the vocals have stayed in the gutter through multiple personnel changes, the dueling leads and classic NWOBHM harmonies of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest have always been their bread and butter. Here the band remains faithful to that template, harnessing a speedy and song-based attack that steers clear of the dirtier tendencies of thrash and death metal. The band takes a highly composed approach to songwriting, and the guitar leads here are tuneful and powerful. Great metal anthems like “Bloodstained Cross” are interspersed with some gorgeous neo-classical acoustic interludes to enhance the dynamic and textural variety of the record, a move that should win points with fans of classic heavy metal fare like Mercyful Fate and Helloween. The record does tend to sag a little with some undistinguished tracks in the middle, but it finishes strong with the awesome “Vengence is Mine,” capped by a brutalized version of the classic Scorpions track “The Zoo.”
47. Six Organs Of Admittance – Asleep On The Floodplain
Another solid record from Ben Chasny’s long-running acid folk project. The 12 and a half minute drone meditation and acid-fried guitar solo of “S/word and Leviathan” is easily the best track here, while the rest is more of the same vaguely eastern-sounding acoustic figures and delicate singing that Chasny has been the master of for over a decade now. “Light of the Light” in particular is one of the most gorgeous songs Chasny has ever written. I’m getting the feeling he can knock these records out in an afternoon if he really wants to. C’mon Ben! Give Ethan a call and get Comets on Fire back together!
48. Exhumed – All Guts, No Glory
These goregrind veterans sound as furious as a band half their age, and twice as technically accomplished. You know the score here. Relentless blast beats, misshapen two and a half second solos, crushing mile-a-minute riffs. There are two vocalists, one doing a deep and guttural growl and the other doing a harsh rasp, both of them spewing unintelligible lyrics that probably resemble the script of a “Saw” movie. But there are also isolated instances of tunefulness, the mark of a band that knows how to balance brutality with songcraft. Warp-speed blasts like “Your Funeral, My Feast” and the title track are genuinely catchy. There are no dungeon production values here either. Everything sounds heavy, powerful and huge, while still retaining a gut-punching immediacy. This record will rip your face off.
49. Absu – Abzu
Abzu is the polar opposite of Absu’s sprawling 2009 self-titled masterpiece. Here the band’s blackened thrash is ripped out at a furious pace with little time for atmospheric interludes or meandering passages. With the exception of the 14 minute epic “A Song For Ea,” these tracks are short, vicious, and unrelenting. Personally I prefer the more ambitious Absu to this record, but the single-minded ferocity with which the band attacks the material is something to behold.
50. Crowbar – Sever The Wicked Hand
These veterans have continually carried the torch for raw southern sludgecore for over two decades now. Sever The Wicked Hand carries on this tradition with a vengeance. Songs like “Isolation” and “Liquid Sky And Cold Black Earth” are dripping with hate and disgust. Everything here goes towards establishing mood, and as the structure of the western world begins to crumble, it’s not too hard to imagine Crowbar’s sluggish riffs and screeching feedback briars serving as its epitaph. If you grew in New Orleans during the early 2000s, you’d be this pissed off too.
Danava nailed down its take on all manner of spacey, progressive 70’s rock on its self-titled debut a few years back, so it should come as no surprise that album number three is more a re-iteration of ground they’ve already covered than any bold leap forward. That being said, their hyperactive, kitchen sink approach to all kinds of organ addled, laser show rockin’ pre-punk classic rock and roll is kicked up a notch here with some classic heavy metal dual guitarmonies, perhaps at the expense of some of the spacey ambience they featured so prominently initially. The songs here are shorter this time out, but the band still knows how to play their asses off as they tear through their tightened arrangements. It’s like Lark’s Tongues in Space Ritual of the Beast in here. As usual, their strength lies in off the rails jamming, and each song is well crafted enough that the momentum builds and is sustained throughout each track. Once again Danava has turned in a worthwhile listen for devotees of modern art rock.
42. TV On the Radio – Nine Types Of Light
When listened to in a vacuum, Nine Types of Light sounds like the happiest record these New Yorkers have made. In truth, a pall hung over these sessions. Sadly, bassist/keyboardist Gerard Smith passed away from lung cancer just nine days after the album was released. It’s as if the band’s way of coping with the struggle was to dance their problems away. The bleak paranoia of the Bush-era TV On the Radio has given way to a funkier, more dance-inflected sound. The record is not nearly as dense or difficult as earlier opuses, and doesn’t have the spiky attitude that marked them either. Instead, Nine Types of Light is simple and streamlined, the songs crafted to achieve maximum immediacy. Gorgeous songs like “You” and “Will Do” express heartfelt sentiments instead of cloaking them in irony. It’s not as good as their best work, but still a very enjoyable album from a band who’s future would appear to be in doubt.
43. Jesu – Ascension
Justin Broadrick returns once again for a record of slow-motion fuzz guitar meltdowns. His uniquely metallic take on traditional shoegaze dynamics is both suffocatingly heavy and delicate as gauze. Everything here appears to the listener through a codeine fog. Like previous Jesu releases, Ascension has a meditative quality and works equally well as quiet mood music or as a thunderously loud headtrip. If anything, it is even more song-oriented than previous Jesu works, but songs like “Fools” and “Broken Home” are extended riff monsters that march inexorably into oblivion, dissolving into textural bliss. This is music for watching the snow fall gently in the early winter morning, or watching the polar ice caps melt on a doomed planet.
44. Opeth - Heritage
So Opeth finally went ahead and made a straight up ‘70s prog rock album. That’s cool, I suppose if anyone was going to do that it’d be these guys. The name is a pretty obvious allusion to this record’s homage to the types of bands that have been inspiring Opeth since their very inception. Understand this though; nothing on Heritage sounds like metal in any way. The band certainly rocks, and the instrumental chops and compositional ambition this band is known for is here in spades. But don’t go in expecting anything resembling their decade-old progressive black metal classic Blackwater Park, because you won’t find it. This album is all noodly keys and angular guitar solos crisscrossing over bizarre time signatures and clean but abstract vocals. If that hasn’t scared you away, well than have a bombastic neoclassical blast!
45. Primordial – Redemption At The Puritan’s Hand
This album rages like a storm at sea. Primordial have been among the leading lights in the Viking metal scene for a few years now, and Redemption is a new high water mark for them. Music here evolves slowly, with each song containing several riffs. The playing here is sharp, but not particularly technical. The approach here is a little bit rougher than what your average Maiden and Priest-worshipping power metal band would go for, but this is no Scandinavian black metal retread. Each song is an absolute epic, featuring ridiculously heroic manly bellows about war and redemption and triumph. If that doesn’t sound like the soundtrack to your next fantasy role playing game, I’m gonna roll for initiative.
46. Arch Enemy – Legions Of Khaos
These guys have always struck me as faithful disciples of classic metal. Even though the vocals have stayed in the gutter through multiple personnel changes, the dueling leads and classic NWOBHM harmonies of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest have always been their bread and butter. Here the band remains faithful to that template, harnessing a speedy and song-based attack that steers clear of the dirtier tendencies of thrash and death metal. The band takes a highly composed approach to songwriting, and the guitar leads here are tuneful and powerful. Great metal anthems like “Bloodstained Cross” are interspersed with some gorgeous neo-classical acoustic interludes to enhance the dynamic and textural variety of the record, a move that should win points with fans of classic heavy metal fare like Mercyful Fate and Helloween. The record does tend to sag a little with some undistinguished tracks in the middle, but it finishes strong with the awesome “Vengence is Mine,” capped by a brutalized version of the classic Scorpions track “The Zoo.”
47. Six Organs Of Admittance – Asleep On The Floodplain
Another solid record from Ben Chasny’s long-running acid folk project. The 12 and a half minute drone meditation and acid-fried guitar solo of “S/word and Leviathan” is easily the best track here, while the rest is more of the same vaguely eastern-sounding acoustic figures and delicate singing that Chasny has been the master of for over a decade now. “Light of the Light” in particular is one of the most gorgeous songs Chasny has ever written. I’m getting the feeling he can knock these records out in an afternoon if he really wants to. C’mon Ben! Give Ethan a call and get Comets on Fire back together!
48. Exhumed – All Guts, No Glory
These goregrind veterans sound as furious as a band half their age, and twice as technically accomplished. You know the score here. Relentless blast beats, misshapen two and a half second solos, crushing mile-a-minute riffs. There are two vocalists, one doing a deep and guttural growl and the other doing a harsh rasp, both of them spewing unintelligible lyrics that probably resemble the script of a “Saw” movie. But there are also isolated instances of tunefulness, the mark of a band that knows how to balance brutality with songcraft. Warp-speed blasts like “Your Funeral, My Feast” and the title track are genuinely catchy. There are no dungeon production values here either. Everything sounds heavy, powerful and huge, while still retaining a gut-punching immediacy. This record will rip your face off.
49. Absu – Abzu
Abzu is the polar opposite of Absu’s sprawling 2009 self-titled masterpiece. Here the band’s blackened thrash is ripped out at a furious pace with little time for atmospheric interludes or meandering passages. With the exception of the 14 minute epic “A Song For Ea,” these tracks are short, vicious, and unrelenting. Personally I prefer the more ambitious Absu to this record, but the single-minded ferocity with which the band attacks the material is something to behold.
50. Crowbar – Sever The Wicked Hand
These veterans have continually carried the torch for raw southern sludgecore for over two decades now. Sever The Wicked Hand carries on this tradition with a vengeance. Songs like “Isolation” and “Liquid Sky And Cold Black Earth” are dripping with hate and disgust. Everything here goes towards establishing mood, and as the structure of the western world begins to crumble, it’s not too hard to imagine Crowbar’s sluggish riffs and screeching feedback briars serving as its epitaph. If you grew in New Orleans during the early 2000s, you’d be this pissed off too.
Monday, January 2, 2012
The Top 50 Albums of 2011 - Honourable Mention
Making a sequential list like this is a 50-way balancing act, and how I feel on any given day can determine whether something ends up at #17 or #43 or even makes the list at all. I do like the sequential list though, because it does weight my favourites more heavily. Giving someone fifty or a hundred bands they've never heard of won't result in them becoming a fan of every single thing on there, or even bothering to check them out. When you read my top ten you will know that I did spend a good deal of time deciding what goes ahead of what. Call me a nerd, but this stuff is important to me. I also want to make sure the most worthwhile music I heard this year gets a mention. So to make sure I don't overlook anything that I did enjoy but didn't feel like writing about for whatever reason, here now are the honourable mentions.
Altar Of Plagues - Mammal
Anthrax - Worship Music
Autopsy - Macabre Eternal
Avichi - The Devil's Fractal
The Beastie Boys - The Hot Sauce Committee (Part 2)
Big Business - Quadruple Single
The Black Lips - Arabia Mountain
The Black Keys - El Camino
Black Pyramid - Black Pyramid II
Black Tusk - Set The Dial
Blut Aus Nord - 777: Sect(s) [scene]
Boris - New Album
Boris - Heavy Rocks (The purple one)
Brutal Truth - End Time
Cavalera Conspiracy - Blunt Force Trauma
Cave In - White Silence
Cormorant - Dwellings
Corrupted - Garten Der Unbewusstheit
Crystal Antlers - Two Way Mirror
Crystal Stilts - In Love With Oblivion
Decapitated - Carnival Is Forever
The Devil's Blood - The Thousandfold Epicenter
Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction
Dirge - Elysian Magnetic Fields
DJ Shadow - The Less You Know, The Better
DoomEastVan - Songs In The Key Of Death
Elder - Dead Roots Stirring
Esoteric - Paragon Of Dissonance
Eternal Tapestry - Beyond The Fourth Door
Eternal Tapestry & Sun Araw - Night Gallery
Explosions In The Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
Graveyard - Hisingen Blues
Hexvessel - Dawnbearer
Hierarchies - Magnitorsk
Indian - Guiltless
Kalki & DoomEastVan - Mandolin Brutality
Krisiun - The Great Execution
Mastodon - The Hunter
Megadeth - TH1RT3EN
Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Motörhead - The World Is Yours
Omnium Gatherum - New World Shadows
Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
Orchid - Capricorn
Prefuse 73 - The Only She Chapters
Primus - Green Naugahyde
Psychic Ills - Hazed Dream
Puscifer - Conditions Of My Parole
Ramssess - Possessed By The Rise of Magik
Red Fang - Murder The Mountains
Sepultura - Kairos
Solstafir - Svatir Sandar
SubRosa - No Help For The Mighty One
Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream
Toxic Holocaust - Conjure & Command
tUnE-yArDs - W H O K I L L
Ty Segall - Goodbye Bread
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Bloodlust
Weedeater - Jason... The Dragon
White Hills - Hp-1
Witch Mountain - South Of Salem
Woods - Sun & Shade
Altar Of Plagues - Mammal
Anthrax - Worship Music
Autopsy - Macabre Eternal
Avichi - The Devil's Fractal
The Beastie Boys - The Hot Sauce Committee (Part 2)
Big Business - Quadruple Single
The Black Lips - Arabia Mountain
The Black Keys - El Camino
Black Pyramid - Black Pyramid II
Black Tusk - Set The Dial
Blut Aus Nord - 777: Sect(s) [scene]
Boris - New Album
Boris - Heavy Rocks (The purple one)
Brutal Truth - End Time
Cavalera Conspiracy - Blunt Force Trauma
Cave In - White Silence
Cormorant - Dwellings
Corrupted - Garten Der Unbewusstheit
Crystal Antlers - Two Way Mirror
Crystal Stilts - In Love With Oblivion
Decapitated - Carnival Is Forever
The Devil's Blood - The Thousandfold Epicenter
Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction
Dirge - Elysian Magnetic Fields
DJ Shadow - The Less You Know, The Better
DoomEastVan - Songs In The Key Of Death
Elder - Dead Roots Stirring
Esoteric - Paragon Of Dissonance
Eternal Tapestry - Beyond The Fourth Door
Eternal Tapestry & Sun Araw - Night Gallery
Explosions In The Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
Graveyard - Hisingen Blues
Hexvessel - Dawnbearer
Hierarchies - Magnitorsk
Indian - Guiltless
Kalki & DoomEastVan - Mandolin Brutality
Krisiun - The Great Execution
Mastodon - The Hunter
Megadeth - TH1RT3EN
Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Motörhead - The World Is Yours
Omnium Gatherum - New World Shadows
Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
Orchid - Capricorn
Prefuse 73 - The Only She Chapters
Primus - Green Naugahyde
Psychic Ills - Hazed Dream
Puscifer - Conditions Of My Parole
Ramssess - Possessed By The Rise of Magik
Red Fang - Murder The Mountains
Sepultura - Kairos
Solstafir - Svatir Sandar
SubRosa - No Help For The Mighty One
Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream
Toxic Holocaust - Conjure & Command
tUnE-yArDs - W H O K I L L
Ty Segall - Goodbye Bread
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Bloodlust
Weedeater - Jason... The Dragon
White Hills - Hp-1
Witch Mountain - South Of Salem
Woods - Sun & Shade
Sunday, January 1, 2012
The Year In Music 2011
As I do every year, I've compiled a list of my favourite records to come out this year. This will be posted incrementally in the coming week. But first, some prologue to that list, an elegy for the year that was. Of course, this is really a general overview of some of the trends I noticed and is in no way an attempt to give a complete look at all the important developments in music this year.
2011 was a big year for metal. I suppose this goes without saying, because with its populist intentions and perpetual generation of new fans and bands, metal as a whole has never really declined. The attention paid to it by the music media has fluctuated wildly in the last three decades, but the music itself never left. In any case, the neo thrash revival, along with continuing developments in USBM away from its source musics, the co-mingling of post metal sonic signifiers with purer strains of extreme metal, the continued plodding of doom and sludge denziens, some good old hardcore abandon, and all those classic twin guitarmonies and phantasmagorical lyrical themes are all prominent features of today's metal scene. With the resurgence of a hard rock ethos in the metal underground, the music that is being made is by and large less rigid than it was a decade ago. Today's metallic musicians have displayed a willingness to embrace other forms of metal (and non-metal) when making their music, allowing for a more fluid approach to songwriting. In other words there's a whole lot of good stuff being made, and fewer restrictions than ever before.
Rock music is also doing well, artistically at least, but you won't hear much about the good young rock bands making a go of things these days. Unless you're the Black Keys or a surviving relic of the early 90s (Foo Fighters, Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers) it seems like nobody wants to fess up that good rock music is still being made. The media and marketplace is in a pop cycle now, so expect they'll find their way back in another year or two. What is really important for rock aesthetically is that the worlds of rock and metal have finally re-converged after a long period of separation, but that's a story for another essay. In any event, if you're looking for some rock that really does rock, you're not going to find it when a description of the band's music has the frankly meaningless prefix "indie" in front of it. In the last 5 years or so, "indie rock" has become a new sort of half-measure for upwardly mobile bands who like to cop the cool of a real rock and roller without dirtying their hands with any of that filthy "rocking out." How passe. A new shadow major label economy has grown up and filled a void in the marketplace left when the majors stopped signing new bands about 15 years ago. Larger indie labels have been quicker to adapt than the majors to how the internet has changed the industry and capitalized in a big way with cross-platform marketing opportunities. This is not to say that the music being produced is bad. Some of it is quite excellent, but the problem is that indie pop is being misrepresented as rock, and this does no one any favors. Critics might grudgingly praise a rock album that embraces and build upon traditional rock elements, but any positive comments will be qualified with sideswipes about relevance and originality. Never mind those bands that are making relevant and original rock music that sometimes do get a boost from the music literatti (Atlas Moth, Baptists, Baroness, Big Business, Black Tusk, Fucked Up, Griever, Kylesa, Lumerians, Russian Circles, Rwake, SubRosa, Thee Oh Sees, Twin Crystals, Torche, Zoroaster... the list goes on), in most cases any coverage they get usually focuses on the non-rock elements of their sound. This middle ground between metal and the non-heavy indie scene is where the real rock is.
2011 was also a major coming out party for the long-lived drone scene. Experimental musicians and avant garde composers have been working this continuum for decades, even predating the rock 'n' drone experiments of the Velvet Underground. Now it seems the appetite for this stuff is exponentially greater than was ever suspected, and regular music fans are finding out that they really like this stuff when they are exposed to it. I would guess that the appeal of 20-minute electronic sound-scapes and minimalist psychedelic mantras is proportional to the overload of 've seen arise since the virtual collapse of the band format in the pop industry. No one actually PLAYS pop music anymore, and in fact no one now listening to pop music even has any memory of played pop music. The oppressively digitized and mass-produced pop music we have today is programmed, as it has been for about 30 years now. The technological freezing of pop music has been destructive to most people's ability to actually hear and understand music, and the vast majority of people don't give a shit. The one unintended consequence of these long term trends that has been beneficial to they pop audience's appreciation of good music in one way at least, and that is in the casual listener's understanding of texture. An ability to derive pleasure out of the tactile surfaces of sound is essential for the enjoyment of drone music, which generally speaking has none of the traditional elements of pop music, hooks, verses, choruses, or rhythms. Drone music also does not require any refined sense of musicality or special skills of its makers to be effective. All that is needed is a desire to explore the possibilities of pure sound. The possibilities here are limitless, because there really are no rules. People are making this stuff up as they go along, a very exciting prospect. As a result, drone musicians have been coming out of the woodwork, and some of them are extremely prolific. The internet has also been crucial for distributing and trading this music, causing the acceleration of the music's development. In 2011, some fabulous recordings were released, and this trend looks to continue into 2012 and beyond.
There were also a few outliers here and there. To get into them all would take too long, suffice it to say that I try to be pretty well rounded and expose myself to quality examples of most types of music. I like lots of different stuff, even if the heavy, freaky, abrasive, noisy weird stuff makes up the majority of my musical diet. The music world is ever widening and evolving and I can't possibly cover it all by myself. If you have any suggestions for things I missed or maybe overlooked, by all means let me know. Moreover, make your own lists. I love reading 'em.
2011 was a big year for metal. I suppose this goes without saying, because with its populist intentions and perpetual generation of new fans and bands, metal as a whole has never really declined. The attention paid to it by the music media has fluctuated wildly in the last three decades, but the music itself never left. In any case, the neo thrash revival, along with continuing developments in USBM away from its source musics, the co-mingling of post metal sonic signifiers with purer strains of extreme metal, the continued plodding of doom and sludge denziens, some good old hardcore abandon, and all those classic twin guitarmonies and phantasmagorical lyrical themes are all prominent features of today's metal scene. With the resurgence of a hard rock ethos in the metal underground, the music that is being made is by and large less rigid than it was a decade ago. Today's metallic musicians have displayed a willingness to embrace other forms of metal (and non-metal) when making their music, allowing for a more fluid approach to songwriting. In other words there's a whole lot of good stuff being made, and fewer restrictions than ever before.
Rock music is also doing well, artistically at least, but you won't hear much about the good young rock bands making a go of things these days. Unless you're the Black Keys or a surviving relic of the early 90s (Foo Fighters, Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers) it seems like nobody wants to fess up that good rock music is still being made. The media and marketplace is in a pop cycle now, so expect they'll find their way back in another year or two. What is really important for rock aesthetically is that the worlds of rock and metal have finally re-converged after a long period of separation, but that's a story for another essay. In any event, if you're looking for some rock that really does rock, you're not going to find it when a description of the band's music has the frankly meaningless prefix "indie" in front of it. In the last 5 years or so, "indie rock" has become a new sort of half-measure for upwardly mobile bands who like to cop the cool of a real rock and roller without dirtying their hands with any of that filthy "rocking out." How passe. A new shadow major label economy has grown up and filled a void in the marketplace left when the majors stopped signing new bands about 15 years ago. Larger indie labels have been quicker to adapt than the majors to how the internet has changed the industry and capitalized in a big way with cross-platform marketing opportunities. This is not to say that the music being produced is bad. Some of it is quite excellent, but the problem is that indie pop is being misrepresented as rock, and this does no one any favors. Critics might grudgingly praise a rock album that embraces and build upon traditional rock elements, but any positive comments will be qualified with sideswipes about relevance and originality. Never mind those bands that are making relevant and original rock music that sometimes do get a boost from the music literatti (Atlas Moth, Baptists, Baroness, Big Business, Black Tusk, Fucked Up, Griever, Kylesa, Lumerians, Russian Circles, Rwake, SubRosa, Thee Oh Sees, Twin Crystals, Torche, Zoroaster... the list goes on), in most cases any coverage they get usually focuses on the non-rock elements of their sound. This middle ground between metal and the non-heavy indie scene is where the real rock is.
2011 was also a major coming out party for the long-lived drone scene. Experimental musicians and avant garde composers have been working this continuum for decades, even predating the rock 'n' drone experiments of the Velvet Underground. Now it seems the appetite for this stuff is exponentially greater than was ever suspected, and regular music fans are finding out that they really like this stuff when they are exposed to it. I would guess that the appeal of 20-minute electronic sound-scapes and minimalist psychedelic mantras is proportional to the overload of 've seen arise since the virtual collapse of the band format in the pop industry. No one actually PLAYS pop music anymore, and in fact no one now listening to pop music even has any memory of played pop music. The oppressively digitized and mass-produced pop music we have today is programmed, as it has been for about 30 years now. The technological freezing of pop music has been destructive to most people's ability to actually hear and understand music, and the vast majority of people don't give a shit. The one unintended consequence of these long term trends that has been beneficial to they pop audience's appreciation of good music in one way at least, and that is in the casual listener's understanding of texture. An ability to derive pleasure out of the tactile surfaces of sound is essential for the enjoyment of drone music, which generally speaking has none of the traditional elements of pop music, hooks, verses, choruses, or rhythms. Drone music also does not require any refined sense of musicality or special skills of its makers to be effective. All that is needed is a desire to explore the possibilities of pure sound. The possibilities here are limitless, because there really are no rules. People are making this stuff up as they go along, a very exciting prospect. As a result, drone musicians have been coming out of the woodwork, and some of them are extremely prolific. The internet has also been crucial for distributing and trading this music, causing the acceleration of the music's development. In 2011, some fabulous recordings were released, and this trend looks to continue into 2012 and beyond.
There were also a few outliers here and there. To get into them all would take too long, suffice it to say that I try to be pretty well rounded and expose myself to quality examples of most types of music. I like lots of different stuff, even if the heavy, freaky, abrasive, noisy weird stuff makes up the majority of my musical diet. The music world is ever widening and evolving and I can't possibly cover it all by myself. If you have any suggestions for things I missed or maybe overlooked, by all means let me know. Moreover, make your own lists. I love reading 'em.
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