The Top 50 Albums of 2012 #20-11

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

13. High On Fire – De Vermis Mysteriis

Would you believe it’s the heaviest High on Fire album yet? After their razor sharp and airtight 2010 album Snakes for the Devine, you might be forgiven for worrying that the Oakland power trio had gotten away from its roots somewhat. Well, Matt Pike and company must have felt so too, since De Vermis Mysteriis is a sprawling, earthy tribute to the power of the riff. Produced by Kurt Balou (who else?) , everything on this album is absolutely gargantuan. What’s more, Pike sounds more comfortable with his legacy as a member of Sleep than ever before. On the 7 minute Madness Of The Architect, he conjures up a riff as ferocious as anything his old band ever summoned. On “Samsara” he allows himself to stretch out, playing a slow-burn guitar solo and exploring tones and colours he hasn’t used since journeying to the riff-filled land. The earth shaking rumble Jeff Matz on the bass, Des Kensel’s primal pummel, and of course Pike’s savage guitar playing combine to summon a sound as powerful as it is primal. With elemental fury these songs bludgeon with a force rarely seen from anyone else. What’s more, De Vermis Mysteriis features some of Matt Pike’s best singing to date – check his bellows in the utterly massive “King Of Days.” Unfortunately Matt Pike checked himself into rehab during the summer, but I am happy to report that as of 3 weeks ago he was in fine form playing with Goatwhore and Ancients at Venue in Vancouver.

12.     Samothrace – Reverence To Stone
The only reason this wasn’t the best doom album of the year was that the Pallbearer record was so good. Samothrace more or less matched that record with a gorgeous statement of their own. But at just 34 minutes and only two (sidelong) songs, Reverence To Stone seems a little slight in comparison to the more expansive Sorrow & Extinction. But, Samothrace understand patience and how to leave an audience wanting more as well as anyone, as it’s been a full five years since their equally masterful debut album Life’s Trade. That they most certainly do on Reverence to Stone, which boasts miles of beautiful guitar terrain as well as a shamanic title to die for. The tones here are magnificent, and Samothrace bring an astute sense of texture and space which allow them to judiciously work beautiful post rock atmospherics with some jaw-dropping shredding guitar leads. Like Pallbearer, Samothrace too work from a solid emotional core, imbuing their work with real feeling as well as sonic heft. I might have wished for a little more material, but it’s far better than larding up a record with unnecessary filler. Let’s just hope they don’t wait so long before gracing us with another record.

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

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

The Top 50 Albums of 2012 #30-21

30. Gaza – No Absolutes In Human Suffering
Gaza mash up blast-beat obsessed grindcore, sludgy death metal and filthy crust punk into a rigid extreme metal alloy that is as rigid as it is ferocious. This 44 minute monster slams the listener against a wall and steals his lunch money. There are some extremely heavy riffs here and plenty of hyperactive breakdowns amid the pummeling, but Gaza never let things get too complicated. Everything goes towards establishing a malicious, hate-filled atmosphere with a minimum of technical frills or filler. The result is the work of a band who don’t fuck around. With Kurt Ballou manning the boards (who else?!) you know the production here is dead on, thick, heavy and totally in your face. They might not fit easily into one particular category or subgenre, but it’s pretty clear that Gaza has crafted one of the finest metal albums of the year.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Top 50 Albums of 2012 #40-31

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Top 50 Albums Of 2012 #50-41

50. Dying Fetus – Reign Supreme
Dying Fetus is an institution in the goregrind scene, marrying technically dead-on performances with laughably putrid lyrics, undeciferable pitch-shifted vocals and a singleminded focus on absolute sonic decimation. Depending on your immediate reaction to the band’ s name, this might sound absolutely awesome or tasteless and horrific. If you do actually give the album a chance, you likely won’t need to listen beyond the senselessly fast doublekicks and ridiculously downtuned doom breakdowns of 2 minute long opener “Invert the Idols” before deciding if the record is for you. Should you proceed further, you will be rewarded with one of the most devastating sonic experiences one could sensibly conceive of. Reign Supreme is the work of a veteran band (it’s their 7^th album) comfortable with its sound and with the recording studio; it’s clearly been painstakingly assembled using the finest of studio enhancements.  Sometimes this sort of thing can get tedious for the well-seasoned extreme metal listener, so what makes the album stand out is the actual songs that are here. “Subject To A Beating” and “From Womb To Waste” contain myriad twists and turns amid their byzantine song structures, but they also feature memorable riffs and licks, and Dying Fetus know how to make you wait before dropping those tasty giblets in for maximum impact.

49. Unsane – Wreck
For some reason I’ve listened to Wreck only sporadically since it’s release early this year. But every time I put it on, the thing knocks me flat. It could be because I’m still a relative newcomer to these guys.  It’s not for lack of memorable songwriting – that riff in “No Chance” is an absolute steamroller. Throughout they grind and stomp like the kind of band the Jesus Lizard would have been if Paige Hamilton from Helmet was the guitarist. This is noisy, loud, bloody rock n roll played as a weapon of blunt force trauma. But it’s not all pummel. “Stuck” might be the best song on the album, a slow-burner that builds sporadically with some tasty slide guitar before exploding into the hammer to the temple parts. I’ll definitely be spending some more time with their catalog in the future. People talked a lot about how good the Metz record was this year (and it was, it barely missed cracking my top 50), but I’m not sure how many people were aware that these guys have been mining pretty much the same territory since ‘89.

48. Moonless – Calling All Demons
For some reason, Sweden seems to be the home for quality stoner rock these days. Moonless is axiomatic of the kind of bands we’re seeing out of them. While they don’t do anything radically different from thousands of other psychedelic-tinged hard rock bands who have been around since the 70’s, they get by on the strength of their great riffs, solid songwriting, compelling instrumental interplay, and a ballsy vocalist who drinks razors and gasoline. I didn’t hear a ton of bands in this style that rose any higher than mediocrity this year, but I’m happy to say that these guys sound truly inspired. As long as bands like Moonless are around, good old fashioned rock n’ roll will be just fine.

47. Neurosis – Honour Found In Decay
Nothing particularly unexpected here. Neurosis has crafted a new post metal opus, burrowing deeper into a sound that they basically invented but has been virtually done to death in recent years. However, Neurosis are still the kings of the genre, and they prove it here with a record that cements their reputation as iconoclasts of the modern metal scene, even while the title knowingly winks at charges of obsolescence. “We All Rage in Blood” opens the record with the kinds of majestic builds and galactic heaviness that listeners have come to expect. The 10-minute “At the Well” brings the epic, with doom riffs suffocating the life out of you in between bouts of pensive psychedelic exploration. The sprawling journeys  that dominate the album for the most part replicate a familiar template; Moody, brooding interludes building to glacial riff crescendos and Scott Kelley’s wizened bellow over top. Hey, this sound is as much theirs as anyone’s, so if that’s what they wanna stick to, good for them. They spent the first 20 years of their career forging a band new heavy metal archetype, so I think they can be forgiven for a little legacy consolidation. They still do this kind of thing better than anyone else.

46. Napalm Death – Utilitarian
Since inventing grindcore as the world’s fastest band in the mid to late 80s, Napalm Death have been grinding out ferocious, professional death metal records as a matter of course. These have varied in quality but never strayed too far from template. What sets the great ones (Fear, Emptiness, Despair and Enemy Of The Music Business come to mind) apart from the merely good ones are that intangible feeling you get when a song or riff hits your ears… you can just tell when they are really on fire, and when they are just punching the clock. That’s why opener “Circumspect” is such a thriller. From the slow, ominous beginning to the cavernous riffs that follow, the song immediately sets the tone for a fine LP from a band that still does sonic death and destruction as well as anyone. Exploding into a full on hyperspeed assault complete with stop-on-a-dime calisthenics, “Errors in the Signals” follows up this great opening by playing to the band’s strengths while subtly adding those little nuances that sets a good metal album apart. This isn’t just one-dimensional bashing. Actual dynamics you say? Why yes actually. Technically sound yet still human sounding performances? The record has the beefiness and presence of four dudes jamming in a room combined with the economy of sound that comes from a highly practiced veteran unit. And there are a pile of memorable songs here. “Protection Racket,” “Fall On Their Swords” and “A Gag Reflex” are all fantastic. A band that has been around as long as these guys can be intimidating for the neophyte who doesn’t know where to start, and runs the risk of seeming redundant  to the old fan who thinks they’ve heard it all before. If you truly do care about extreme music, you’d be doing yourself a disservice to let this one get by you without a listen.

45. The Acacia Strain – Death Is The Only Mortal
This is one serious skull-scraper of a record. I’ve seen the Acacia Strain referred to as a “deathcore” or “death and roll” band, but since this record was my first encounter with the band I took them as a straight up death metal unit. Their ultra low riffs and liberal use of punishing double bass drumming and growled lyrics that resemble the play by play of a slasher movie certainly led me to that initial reaction, but The Acacia Strain have more than just that going on. Rather than simply barrel ahead into an impenetrable morass like so many brutal death outfits, album opener “Doomblade” cuts from it’s unsettling intro into a rigid ultra-heavy lurch, showcasing the band’s technical proficiency, and their predilection towards sheer gut punch impact. Elsewhere “Braindeath” sports a guitar solo with enough dive bombs and pinch harmonics to make Dimebag sit up and smile. I’ve heard their brand of extremely downtuned, syncopated guitar riffs called “djent,” an onomatopoeic reference to the sound of this music. It’s the Meshuggah sound. And make no mistake, the influence of that band is all over this record, but combined with enough brutally violent and mysoginistic imagery to make most Cannibal Corpse fans happy. Lots of bands have started copying that style in recent years, but The Acacia Strain is one of the few who are putting their own unique stamp on it.

44. Aluk Todolo – Occult Rock
A vast, multiheaded suite of icy Nordic riffs, feedback sprawls, relentless blast beat onslaughts and psychedelic interludes and contemplative drones. At nearly 90 minutes in length, Occult Rock is an intimidating beast, but one that is meant to be swallowed whole. The entire album undulates and evolves through a number of different chapters, tweaking and playing with the standard black metal palette in interesting ways throughout. It starts with the kind of suffocating blizzard of chaotic drums and barely controlled guitars that you might expect from prime-era Darkthrone, but it doesn’t take long for these guys to go off script. Utilizing the variable level intensity of what Liturgy’s Hunter Hunt-Hendrix refers to as the burst beat, they soon pull the sound back from full throttle pounding while retaining much the same tempo. The sound eases into a more relaxed and spacious tempo while exploring the tones and emotional moods possible on this wider canvas. Although undeniable heavy and brutal parts show up, much of the album retains a psychedelic feel for texture and repetition that should appeal to many non-metalheads. Influences as diverse as jazz, krautrock and drone music can be seen rearing their heads up out of the murk. Throughout its considerable runtime, Occult Rock is a journey that never fails to hold the listener’s interest. Not everyone will be prepared to take the pilgrimage, but those that do will be richly rewarded.

43.Serpentine Path – Serpentine Path
Featuring former Electric Wizard and Ramesses member Tim Bagshaw on guitar along with all 3 members from now defunct Long Island doom institution Unearthly Trance, these doom metal lifers know exactly what sound they are going for, and the nail it on their first record as Serpentine Path. Opener “Arrows” kicks things off with the kind of horror movie evil priest type intro you’ve heard on a thousand metal albums, then crushes the life out of you with a thick, oozing guitar tone that bashes out of the speakers with considerable alacrity for a band in this weight class. Serpentine Path adhere steadfastly to the doom rulebook, but these musicians are as sharp as they come and the quality of the performances are top notch. Unlike a number of extreme doom bands that have flooded the scene in the past few years, the DNA here isn’t too far mutated from the hard rock origins of the genre. These songs move and gain power and momentum, rather than sag and drag the way the music of so many of their peers does. A fine record from a band of veterans keeping the flame burning strong.

42. The Secret – Agnus Dei
Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou seemed to be associated with every other awesome record that came out this year. On Angus Dei, the fourth album from superheavy Italian d-beat hardcore unit The Secret, his viciously loud and crushing production work meshes well with the band’s ultra-aggressive attack. The vocals here are so covered with grime and filth they might as well have been recorded in a grave. They also know how to slow the tempo to a torturous crawl and suffocate you with that ultra-dense buzzsaw guitar tone, as on “Heretic Temple.” Recalling vintage Tragedy as well as Entombed and any number of European metal bands you’d like to name, The Secret have tapped into a vein of heavily Swedish-influenced hardcore that’s been bubbling under the radar for some time, only to emerge only recently as the most vital strain of modern heavy music.

41. Clinic – Free Reign
Clinic has been a consistently solid band for over a decade now, churning out album after album of slightly off kilter psychedelic indie rock. But on Free Reign, it sounds like they might be smoking something a little darker than their usual stash. This record is a full on drone rocking drug trip, mashing up motorik rythms, skittering electronics, free jazz harmonics, dub bass, fuzzed out guitars and ethereal vocals into a dark, undulating bag of gloom. Showing a heavy influence from Austin’s Black Angels, Free Reign is going to soundtrack countless blacklit basement gatherings in the years to come. It also happens to be Clinic’s best record in about a decade.