Tag Archives: power metal

My Top 35 Albums of 2024

Posted on by necromoonyeti

My 2024 acquisition count was 89 albums, although I’m sure I gave a hundred more a 2-4 minute sampling on Bandcamp. You know the drill.

35. Ὁπλίτης – Παραμαινομένη

progressive black metal

Sample track: Ἡ τῶν λυσσημάτων ἄγγελος

Liu Zhenyang hit the ground running in his first year, and I have to admit I didn’t get the hype at all at first. His debut album felt a fair bit overcooked to me, and the second didn’t evolve enough to keep me listening when the third started to really make waves. I decided to give his 2024 album a fair shot when it came out though, and I was impressed by how far he’d come. At this point the initial bias has faded away and I’m very interested to see what’s next. The woodwind incorporation, if predictable for the scene, is a welcome expansion (that might have shown up by the previous album, I am unsure) and applied in more interesting ways than most. The ratio of weird experimental things to repetition has been ramped up quite a bit. It still has more filler space than I care for. I am still disproportionately interested in what he’s doing vs the way it makes me feel. The ambience doesn’t seem quite there yet. But this album has advanced Hoplite from a state of disinterest to definite curiosity. I enjoyed exploring this more than most despite limited replay value. His next album will go in the sample bin without hesitation.

34. Shellac – To All Trains

post-punk

Sample track: Days Are Dogs

To All Trains doesn’t achieve as much as Dude Incredible, but no Albini project has. The last Shellac album was simply higher level stuff few bands can muster in my estimate. This one is more humble–shorter and to the point. I listened to enough music this year that a simple “I enjoyed and remembered it” didn’t always guarantee a spot on the list. Maybe Steve dying made me sentimental, but I want to believe To All Trains got here because it’s fun. Steve’s social awareness evolved a lot over the years, but his underlying attitude was core to his being and continues to resonate here. It’s well-dressed punk. It’s tightly held together but oozes snark along the seams. It’s anti-music, and that always puts a smile on my face. I doubt Steve expected “I Don’t Fear Hell” to be the last song of his career, but it’s as fitting an end as any. Rip you were a legend.

33. Oranssi Pazuzu – Muuntautuja

industrial/electronic

Sample track: Voitelu

Muuntautuja offers a clear progression from Mestarin kynsi into more industrial and electronic territories. The continuity is there, but the styles have certainly evolved. It’s a stretch to call this a metal album, and that’s fine. It ships really chill and dark vibes I have found no struggle enjoying. It doesn’t have the epic progressions and dire climaxes of its predecessor that saw that album near the top of my 2020 list. It’s a more mood-oriented work, and it offers a persistently dark one.

32. Chat Pile – Cool World

sludge noise rock

Sample track: I am Dog Now

It’s easy for me to undersell this album because it’s not God’s Country, but rarely has a band transitioned from my #1 aoty to not placing at all, and Chat Pile are no exception. Instrumentally, the album picks right up where they left off and offers some really imaginative and bleak progressions that hit off a sort of anti-pop aesthetic I can easily embrace. Raygun Busch’s unique vocals wear on me in a way they didn’t last time, such that by the closing track, No Way Out, I’m distinctly wanting something more from him. The compositions often grant that–No Way Out even unexpectedly rips into blast beats–but shouting “no escape” over and over doesn’t hit home on a remotely proximate plane of existence to grimace_smoking_weed.jpeg’s world-ending caterwauls. He just doesn’t feel as consistently engaged with what he’s saying. But I don’t think it’s overly fair to double down on a comparison to literally my favorite album of 2022. Cool World is still a highly rewarding if somewhat front-loaded product. And I swear I will finally watch that movie one day. I still remember the mystique of a PG-13-rated cartoon in the early 90s lol

31. Dirty Three – Love Changes Everything

post-rock/ambient

Sample track: Love Changes Everything VI

I was pretty late to the ballgame with Dirty Three. Warren Ellis is fairly well known for his role in Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, but I first discovering Dirty Three in 2021, close to two decades since they were releasing material on a regular basis. Ocean Songs has since found a home among my all-time favorite albums, and Whatever You Love You Are and She Has No Strings Apollo are way up there. I was pretty surprised to get the bandcamp notice that they had a new album coming this year, their first in a dozen. Love Changes Everything has been slow to grow on me, but it’s been a steady process that, by December, had earned it a spot. It’s not an album I enjoy paying attention to. It’s something I want on in the background to form my mood. It’s chaotic but peaceful. It’s a happy place I easily forget but don’t want to leave once I enter; something I’m prone to put on repeat once I’ve clicked play.

30. High on Fire – Cometh the Storm

stoner metal

Sample track: Lambsbread

If I am being the old guy who won’t let go of his youthful favorites, I am ok with that. Cometh the Storm offers absolutely nothing new and is ideal because of that. I am never going to complain about more Matt Pike doing his thing, and he does his thing completely true to form on this album. I listened to it quite a lot and it became my go-to workout album for a while. It’s just fun and I will never grow tired of their sound.

29. Kurokuma – Of Amber and Sand

groove metal

Sample track: I am Forever

I picked up Kurokuma’s debut album, Born of Obsidian, sampling new metal releases on bandcamp without any rhyme or reason, and it just barely missed out on the top 35 chart I posted end of 2022. I actually forgot all about them and, probably with some algorithmic prioritization, also stumbled into Of Amber and Sand randomly sampling new metal releases on bandcamp. Pleased to say this album feels like an improvement on every level. I keep seeing doom and sludge applied as their style, but I dunno, to me the Sepultura vibes are unmistakable. It certainly does embrace sludge textures. I don’t think those labels are necessarily wrong. Kurokuma just uniquely appeal to me for their rhythms more than their melodies. There’s something deeply tribal to it.

28. Esoctrilihum – Döth-Derniàlh

atmospheric folk black metal

Sample track: Atüs Liberüs (Black Realms of Prisymiush’tarlh)

Three years of keeping up with Asthâghul’s music hasn’t managed to make it any less weird. Or maybe he’s making it more weird with each release, I don’t know and don’t have much desire to look back. It’s a bizarre and moody package I’ve come to expect and look forward to. His vocals are a litmus test for the capacity to enjoy people doing weird things with their mouths, especially lately as he’s shifted the rest of his sound from harsh abrasiveness to somewhat soothing atmospheres. When I first heard Consecration of the Spiritüs Flesh I took it to be some sort of rebellion against convention, but I’ve grown increasingly more convinced that it’s just how he likes to sing. I don’t think this album will appeal to most, but I’ve been enjoying his cosmic vibes as a flavorful background piece quite a bit and the vocals are… certainly an unmistakable watermark.

27. Witch Vomit – Funeral Sanctum

death metal

Sample track: Blood of Abomination, Serpentine Shadows

I went on a big catch-up-on-what-I-missed binge in April that didn’t yield terribly much, but it did yield Witch Vomit, and I’ve been going back to this album pretty regularly all year long. It’s just solid, tastefully produced death metal, encompassing but not overbearing. The songs are never quite too catchy to feel redundant or too abstract to feel like songs. A Scream from the Tomb Below didn’t quite make it onto my 2016 chart and I missed out on Buried Deep in a Bottomless Grave entirely, but Funeral Sanctum rises to the occasion. I mean, my tastes have gravitated a lot more towards death metal in recent years too, so I don’t want to say A Scream was sub-par. Might not have been quite my vibe in the moment. Funeral Sanctum clicked with me immediately.

26. Parfaxitas – Weaver of the Black Moon

black metal

Sample track: Breath of the Thoughtless Light

The latest-discovered addition to my list. I didn’t actually run into this until December, but I’ve listened to it a hell of a lot since so I don’t feel biased placing it. If anything it should be higher. To be blunt, this gave me what I wanted and couldn’t find on the new Akhlys album. It’s the same sort of haunt and horror but delivered in a raw and direct way that permits the instruments to carry. Where that album is so overproduced I just hear soup and lament that something appealing might be lurking below, every instrument shines throughout Weaver of the Black Moon and the quality song-crafting can’t be missed. The bass is especially noteworthy, a rare thing to say about a black metal album.

25. Korrosive – Katastrophic Creation

thrash metal

Sample track: In the Name of Destruction

Every year I need one album to put on when I could not possibly give a fuck about anything. Thank you for providing me with that album this year, Korrosive. Thrash usually turns me off because it’s not heavy enough but this uh lol this is heavy enough.

24. Stagnant Waters – Rifts

weird

Sample track: Gonad Waltz (A)

This album is strange. I do not know what to call it. Instruments are played. People make noises with mouths and other objects. He likes to scream a lot. Electronic things happen too. It’s a neurotic clusterfuck that puts on the outward appearance of containing songs with structure but I’m pretty sure they’re just hitting things and pressing buttons to see what happens. I loved it.

23. Spectral Wound – Songs of Blood and Mire

black metal

Sample track: At Wine-Dark Midnight in the Mouldering Halls

A Diabolical Thirst won me over full force in 2021 and remains one of my most frequently revisited albums from that year. Needless to say, I had this on pre-order the moment it was announced. Not quite so many tracks on Songs of Blood and Mire sear sick hooks in my brain. I didn’t end the year remembering one start to finish to the extent of Frigid and Spellbound. But Spectral Wound didn’t deviate in the slightest from the standard they set, and that’s about as good as straight forward black metal gets.

22. Brodequin – Harbinger of Woe

brutal death metal

Sample track: Diabolical Edict

I picked this up on pre-order based on sample tracks before I even knew they were kind of a big deal. In the vast compendium of bands trying to go hard, these guys just get it done better than most. Rich full textures smash brick walls in robust and flavorful ways. It filled a need for endless pummeling brutality that never grew old throughout the year.

21. Odious Spirit – The Treason of Consciousness

technical blackened death metal

Sample track: The Hissing Pyre

Notes notes notes notes notes notes notes notes notes. This album contains many of them. Two hands on the fret board all day here. (Ok, maybe not for a bit in the sample track I used, but the point withstands!) It hedges on silly, but what metal doesn’t one way or another? I try to keep up with I, Voidhanger releases and hit it off with this one right away. Just kind of landed a sweet spot between fun and ferocious.

20. Scarcity – The Promise of Rain

avantgarde black metal

Sample track: In the Basin of Alkaline Grief

Tune in here if you enjoy Krallice at their noodliest or dial-up modem aesthetics transposed for guitar. This album packs a ton of eclectic licks and endless dissonant tremolo. Where Aveilut offered a distinct journey through a soundscape, The Promise of Rain stays put. I don’t get the sense of the album progressing somewhere. It is perhaps not as grimly inspiring for that, but it certainly tickles my love for chaotically sequenced note soup. This band’s 2/2 now on top quality albums. If you like this, definitely check out Aveilut as well.

19. Nightwish – Yesterwynde

symphonic power metal

Sample track: An Ocean of Strange Islands

Yep! I don’t think I’ve ever included Nightwish on a year end list before… I expected to be wrong on that claim, but yeah my lists goes back to 2002 and I never did it. Well, this is really good. Maybe some of their other albums were too and I just wasn’t in the mood at the time, but I think they nailed this one in a way old bands rarely manage. It’s punchy and well paced. The orchestration is big and bold in that classic 00s way I don’t hear bands pull off nearly as often these days, and that definitely carries the show. I’m always the most leery of vocals in this style of music. Floor Jansen kinda nails it too though, never getting in the way and deliciously complimenting the soundscape rather than trying to steal the spotlight. She certainly has spotlight moments, but they’re catchy melodies and don’t wear out their welcome. It’s been a minute since I gave a Nightwish album a fair shot and now I’m very curious to see if their last few trended in this direction as well. Might turn into a January binge.

18. Kraanerg – Heart of a Cherry Pit Sun

avantgarde jazz metal

Sample track: Heart of a Cherry Pit Sun

A meandering jazzy metal glob that probably won’t sound how you expect that description to. This album breaks from recent trends of jazz in metal. It’s dissonant, certainly, but it feels so alive. I’ve never heard anything quite like it, and it didn’t wear out its welcome when the novelty passed. Some overlap with Botanist in production and instrumentation perhaps, but applied towards a very different sensation. Highly recommend checking this one out even if metal isn’t your thing.

17. Aldheorte – Where Gods Have Eyes to See

black metal

Sample track: Monuments

Some black metal band doing standard black metal things is inevitably going to make my charts just on the massive quantity of this sort of stuff I listen to. Aldheorte appealed to me more than most. Really nice song-writing here if you’re into the melancholy, forlorn side of things. It sometimes had me thinking of Spectral Wound in terms of capacity to ship memorable melodies over relentless pummeling bm standard techniques. Not to say it sounds anything like A Diabolic Thirst or even appealed to me in the same way, but similar elements stood out to me. In a year where for reasons I can’t comprehend I found like a dozen new black metal bands starting with the letter A, Aldheorte overcame their name and cemented a spot among my favorites.

16. Orgone – Pleroma

avantgarde progressive technical death metal

Sample track: Trawling the Depths

A complex, rich, vastly ranging album that I think could readily appeal to fans of maudlin of the Well. There’s so much to absorb here, in the complexity of things going on in the moment for sure but even more so in the abstract, unorthodox stylistic transitions and song progressions that leave my head spinning and wondering what I just listened to. Pleroma has more to yield than I have time to listen to. It’s a treasure. A curious, uncharted territory waiting to be explored. That I didn’t drop everything I was doing to become deeply and intimately acquainted with every moment is a reality I have to accommodate. Its mood doesn’t resonate with my personal tastes quite enough for me to compulsively put it on over and over again. This is a list of my favorites, not of what I think was “best”, but it’s hard to deny this album’s viability for the latter title.

15. Coffins – Sinister Oath

death/doom metal

Sample track: Forced Disorder

Man, this album grooves. Fantastic tempo-dynamic roll that bleeds confidence and touches a sweet spot between the bonecrusher catwalk and a furious pulp machine. Sometimes I’m being eviscerated with a chainsaw and sometimes an ogre is sitting on my face. What’s not to love?

14. Thou – Umbilical

sludge/doom metal

Sample tracks: Narcissist’s Prayer, The Promise, House of Ideas

IT’S TIME TO DIE.

I love Thou. I mean, above and beyond the music. They feel like a crew I could just immediately get along with if life chanced me into their midst. They have such a personable stage presence. They like the shit I do. They covered Soundgarden’s 4th of July and Born Against’s Well Fed Fuck on the same album how fucking cool is that. I want to see Thou succeed. They’ve got that fan base connection only a few artists manage. But that hasn’t compelled me to put all of their albums high on my charts. Umbilical is here because it’s really, really good. It goes a lot heavier than 2018’s Magus and ramps up the personality along the way. This is a weird comparison, but I get similar vibes to Boris in terms of like, an extremely extroverted song-writing process that absorbs everything around it and passes it through a core sound filter. It feels so human despite being ridiculously heavy.

13. Kontact – Full Contact

heavy metal

Sample track: Heavy Leather

I haven’t enjoyed eating shit this much since Dave Brockie died. The album immediately ostracizes anyone with a shred of respectability by way of super-cheesy space alien vocals, and they ride that gimmick the full 33 minute duration. It’s corny as hell in the best possible way, because the guitars absolutely slay throughout and I’m grinning ear to ear listening to them. She’s walkin’ down the alley of the shadow of death, but she’s got nothin’ to fear CAUSE SHE’S EVIL.

12. modest by default – South Cougars Jazz Ensemble

vaporwave

Sample track: 我们杀海盗

I don’t actually highlight vaporwave nearly as much as I listen to it, and I really, really need to fix that, because in the decade since I stumbled into a 100 album Dream Catalogue dump this genre has evolved and expanded with impressive results in every possible direction. modest by default is my current golden standard, and I think if you give it a sample you’ll quickly understand why. I have absolutely no idea to what extent he’s manipulating the source material in these, but be it a ton or just barely, my ears do not care they know that they are hearing gold. Holy hell I listened to this artist 330 times and counting this year. There’s so much material. If you like what you’re hearing you’re in for one hell of an archive. I’m letting this album represent all six of his 2024 releases because it’s the one that I remember the most individually. Having listened to all 36 of his releases this year, I’m not going to even try to figure out which was which.

By the way, wtf is up with zoomers being all fired up for deaths dynamic shroud.wmv? That feels so random lol where’s the 식료품groceries and Hong Kong Express love if we’re fishing through that can of worms.

11. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – “NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD”

post-rock

Sample track: BABYS IN A THUNDERCLOUD

How is it that post-rock is turning 30 but these guys still do it best? Not many artists are as consistently outstanding as Efrim Menuck. Obviously a lot of other musicians are in play for Godspeed creations, but everything he touches is gold. Except All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling I guess, but the lost recording rediscovery adventure in 2022 made that album just as worthwhile in its unique way as the rest. I am an old and I have been listening to Godspeed since f#a#oo was a hot new internet file trading sensation at the turn of the century. I think they just keep getting better. I’ve taken to calling Luciferian Towers their best album, and damn this one comes close. (Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything by A Silver Mt. Zion is still #1 though; go listen to it immediately if you have not.) I didn’t get invested in God’s Pee and I don’t know why, but No Title took no effort whatsoever. It has been an absolute joy throughout its three months of existence and I am nowhere near done listening to it as I write this. Every moment of this album is a blessing. The progressions are absolute bliss. The climaxes never amass anticipation because the journey to them is always just as good. They’re just peaks you never asked for. A nice view along the ride. It does assume a darker tone beginning with the Broken Spires at Dead Kapital interlude, but by then I’m always so high on what I’ve heard that it doesn’t really shift my mood, just expands the palette.

10. Trhä – ∫um’ad∂ejja cavvaj

black metal

Sample track: ah qältak da £ä Kado£ m £ä Nahatlav

Shockingly, this is the only Trha album on my list this year. Don’t worry, I didn’t stop being a sucker for everything Damian releases under the name. He just only released one full length and spent most of his time doing Sadness albums instead. Everything you could want in a Trhä album showed up on demand though. It’s raw lofi bm emo’d to the pit of my sadboi heart. I can’t distinguish his releases in my head anymore, but I want to say this one ships classic black metal more aggressively than most. That’s fine by me.

9. Theurgy – Emanations of Unconscious Luminescence

technical brutal death metal

Sample track: Harmonization of the Sentiments Through the Lush, Spiritual Insights of the Flourishing Inner Shrine

Really masterful tech bdm. The vocals put most of the genre to shame, and I can’t emphasize that enough. I can’t think of anything that sounds this consistently satisfying in pursuit of pig stuck in an unflushed toilet aesthetic. The songs aren’t just interesting in a wtf are they doing sort of way. There are compelling melodic progressions in this package. This is an album that taps so many interests at once for me. It’s brutal and ridiculous, but it’s introspective and kind of thoughtful too.

8. Winterfylleth – The Imperious Horizon

atmospheric black metal

Sample track: In Silent Grace

I’ve listened to most Winterfylleth albums at least once over the years, but the stars never quite aligned to get me engaged with them on the level this album spoke to me. I sense a strong stylistic overlap with Drudkh, one of my all time favorites. But the emotional leverage these songs carry keeps making me think of screamo-black metal hybrid Bosse-de-Nage, maybe an obscure reference but certainly a complimentary one. I feel like a lot of the album is building up around In Silent Grace, a sort of black metal ballad near the later middle of the mix featuring Nemtheanga on guest vox. It’s a break from the other songs, so my comparisons are going to look really silly if it’s the only track you listen to, but it’s definitely my favorite and the highlight cementing this as a top year-end contender.

7. Everything Everything – Mountainhead

indie pop

Sample track: Cold Reactor, Dagger’s Edge

Depending on where you’re reading this you might not have gotten the memo, but over the past two years Everything Everything have grown to compete with The Drones as my favorite radio-friendly unit shifter since Radiohead. Mountainhead feels like a weak album at a glance when I distance myself from it very specifically because the opening track Wild Guess is easily one of my least favorite songs they’ve ever written. But the rest is bliss and as soon as I put it on I remember that again. Mountainhead doesn’t quite encroach on my holy trinity of Raw Data Feel, Get to Heaven, and Man Alive, but damn do I adore this.

If a lyric of the year award exists, the growling of your stomach’s eldritch heart is spilling into waking life deserves it in every universe.

6. Ulcerate – Cutting the Throat of God

atmospheric death metal

Sample track: Further Opening the Wounds

Ulcerate’s ceiling is through the roof. Stare Into Death and Be Still would have taken my 2020 album of the year crown if I’d known about it before it won MA’s album of the year poll. This is the first album they’ve released since they’ve been on my radar, and while Stare Into Death and Be Still remains my golden standard (good lord, this band has accumulated 1200 plays in a span of four years, and their songs aren’t exactly short), I listened to this the most of anything released in 2024 without even trying. They have mastered what I want. This is everything my ears crave. Maybe I’m not as deeply engaged in the things that are happening around me as I was in the heyday of Krallice and Liturgy, but the sustainability of it all is unprecedented. They ship an eternal mood. So full, so rich, so comprehensive. I remember seeing “voidgaze” pop up on fmbot tags and barely going wtf does that mean before understanding it means Ulcerate. Stare into death and be still.

5. Conifère – L’Impôt du Sang

medieval black metal

Sample track: I – Liberté / II – Furia

It’s black metal in French of course it’s good. I mean, I gobble up anything I see with a medieval bm tag, and this was the one I found that held my attention. It’s rather Agalloch-attuned on the folk side and maybe appreciates a bit of Amesoeurs-styled post-punk too, but it isn’t afraid to black ‘n’ roll along the way. Really that’s this album’s greatest strength. It fucking rocks, despite never quite holistically vibing like it will. Like, three and a half into Le Grand Hyver we’re full throttle heavy metal soloing, and it fits but I never hear it coming until I get there. Every track exceeds expectations on attentive listens, and it’s quite satisfying as a background piece as well.

4. Ætheria Conscientia – The Blossoming

progressive atmospheric black metal

Sample track: Astral Choir

The opening track on this album is so good I don’t even have to remember the rest exists to want it high on my charts. Wait, no, I didn’t forget the other songs. It’s just flows like one continuous masterpiece. Progressive and atmospheric conjure very different things to my mind in a metal context. One suggests a lot of twists and turns, the other a highly consistent ride. This is kinda both. Think later day Enslaved if they listened to a lot of Oranssi Pazuzu and also liked prog rock and jazz.

3. Ryujin – Ryujin

symphonic folk/power metal

Sample tracks: Raijin & Fujin, Ryujin

I chose to sample this because I was feeling an itch for power metal this year and it had awesome cover art. It turned out to be one of my most played albums of the year. They’ve got a fantastic range of instrumental and song-writing talent. Every song hits like it matters, whether it’s a power metal ballad or a fast-pumping Ensifereverent folk metal shredder. This album is a collection of anthems. It makes me think of the 00s golden age of folk metal, when a lot of power metal bands were also tapping into that scene’s energy. I don’t remember any Japanese bands fully capitalizing on that potential before and I love hearing it now. I’ll be keeping up with this relatively young band in years to come for sure.

2. Eunuchs – Harbour Century

avant-jazz rock

Sample tracks: Bird Angel Dynasty, Magnificent Stallion, Heroin King

Every year I run a game where like 50+ people submit 8 songs to me, and it is the source of most of my non-metal awareness of new music. I received two Eunuchs submissions this year and the rest is history. This album isn’t metal, but it certainly goes hard. The lyrics are insanely dark. Everything is dark and horrible and wonderful and just listen to it.

THE FEATHERS THE FEATHERS THE FEATHERS

1. Narzissus – Akt III: Erlösung

power folk melodic black metal

Sample track: Empor zum Ideal, Der größte Lohn

From Austin Lunn, to Ayloss, to Damián Antón Ojeda, a lot of solo musicians have claimed my favorite artist of the moment crown over the past decade and a half. If Erech Leleth continues to release music on a regular basis, he’s next. I absolutely fell in love with Chapter Two: The Resistance by Ancient Mastery last year. Unfortunately, it was released in 2022, a bit late to contend for my #1 album of that year. I had Akt III by Narzissus on pre-order, and despite dropping on January 12th, not many albums challenged it. The song-writing is so good aaaaaaaaaaa. It’s like everything I love about folk metal reskinned in black metal a la Falkenbach but with all of the vision of a prog or power metal concept album epic. It’s so filled with creativity and vibrance and life. This album deeply influenced my entire 2023 listening trajectory, compelling me to seek out a lot of more melody-driven artists and giving power metal a new lease on life in my exploratory repertoire. Make no mistake; this isn’t a power metal album. It’s just got that narrative grandeur fully locked down.

My Top 15 Metal Albums of 2015

Posted on by necromoonyeti

Fourteen years posting a year-end list somewhere, and the rule never changes: odd-numbered years produce more good music. Thankfully, we just concluded 2015. 🙂

15. Deafheaven – New Bermuda
14. Peste Noire – La Chaise-Dyable
13. Mgła – Exercises in Futility
12. Veilburner – Noumenon
11. Botanist – Hammer of Botany

10. Enslaved – In Times (track: Building With Fire)

It’s amazing that after 24 years and 13 studio albums, Enslaved still routinely make it into my year-end top 10. They have continually evolved without letting go of their black metal roots, and the consequence lately has been a long stretch of memorable, prog-rock infused releases that keep up with the times and never grow stale no matter how often I resurrect them. If In Times won’t stick with me quite so permanently as Vertebrae in 2008, it still achieves everything I’ve come to expect of them lately and has managed to entertain me more than the vast majority of other albums I have heard this year. I think I have a bit of a subconscious inclination to prioritize newer bands, but #10 was as low as I could justify dropping this one.

9. Krallice – Ygg Huur (track: Wastes of Ocean)

Like any Krallice album, Ygg Huur takes dozens of listens to ingest. What struck me at first as a rather disappointing, spastic blathering of sound comes together much more coherently if you give it its due time. That being said, it is still a sharp break from their previous four albums, and it lacks that element of progression and overarching vision that has traditionally made this band, for me at least, infinitely repeatable. (I have listened to Krallice more than any other band in my life by a large margin, and they only came into existence in 2008.) Ygg Huur is a brief an meandering mood piece that does not, perhaps, maximize the band’s song-writing talents, but I’ve enjoyed it plenty never the less. More avant-garde than post-black metal, am I allowed to love it and still hope it was just a one-time experiment?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg530raHyuo

8. Ghost Bath – Moonlover (track: Golden Number)

This is a pretty gorgeous post-black metal album that I’m surprised more sites haven’t picked up on for their year-end summaries. It lacks a touch of refinement that might have earned it higher standing, but the song writing is fabulous. Moonlover delivers a well-rounded package of post-rock infused metal that seems to pay a good deal of respect to Alcest and Amesoeurs, but their undertone is bleak and depressing. It’s a sad album in a way that makes me think of Harakiri for the Sky’s Aokigahara last year, but peppered with little bursts of joy that will bring a smile to your face.

Oh yeah, metal’s not supposed to make me smile. Check.

7. Sumac – The Deal (track: Thorn In The Lion’s Paw)

I never really got into Old Man Gloom. Make what you will of that. The Deal certainly wasn’t Aaron Turner’s most well-received album, but I personally enjoyed it more than anything he’s contributed to since Oceanic. A lot of that has to do with Nick Yacyshyn’s brilliant mastery of the drum set, but I also feel like Turner’s chugging out riffs that really sink into my head more than I’m used to. It’s like a doom metal reinterpretation of Isis, albeit with less progression, and I love the subtle stylistic diversity he brings to the field on this one. It has moments that remind me of everything from black metal to Converge. (And it probably wins this year’s ‘most listened to in my car’ award. <_<)

6. A Forest of Stars – Beware the Sword You Cannot See (track: Virtus Sola Invicta)

Beware the Sword You Cannot See is one of the most eclectic albums I have heard in a long time that I still managed to really enjoy. If I could begin to put a finger on how to describe it, I would have reviewed it ages ago. Black metal at its heart, it weaves a wild mix of strings and spoken word and avant-garde breaks around that core. I like it, quite a bit, and I think the vocals and lyrics (at least, what I can make of them) might be its strongest selling point. I really don’t know what to say about this album. Hear it for yourselves, and be prepared to give an attentive listen–possibly many–if you want to soak it all in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4uPwXqgo2Y

5. Blind Guardian – Beyond the Red Mirror (track: Grand Parade)

It’s pretty hard to measure the worth of an epic power metal band on a list that is heavily dominated by innovative new styles of music. I don’t think I would have felt entirely comfortable with my positioning of this album no matter where I put it, but I tried to make the cutoff a sort of drifting point between albums that really made me reflect and albums that I just really enjoyed, because there’s never going to be a particularly deep hidden truth to a Blind Guardian track, but they’ve proven a dozen times over to be the ultimate kings of all fantasy-themed music. In the broad scheme of BG’s vast discography, I would probably place Beyond the Red Mirror fourth, after Nightfall in Middle-Earth, At the Edge of Time, and A Night at the Opera. That translates roughly to: it’s awesome.

4. Bosse-de-Nage – All Fours (track: A Subtle Change)

Am I a little biased since I got my initial rip of this direct from frontman Bryan Manning? Probably not, but in my weird little world that’s still a bragging point. 😉 Like Cara Neir’s Portals to a Better, Dead World in 2013, All Fours takes everything I love about screamo and turns it into post-black metal. This might be a coincidence. I’m pretty sure the band claims no direct screamo influence (don’t quote me on that), but the consequence is the same. These guys have worked their way into the top-tier of bands pushing metal in new directions today, and, more so than their previous albums, All Fours really strikes me as a well-rounded composition that possesses the maturity to fully deliver its vision. And Manning has a way with lyrics that’s… well… you just have to read them.

3. Obsequiae – Aria of Vernal Tombs (track: Orphic Rites Of The Mystic)

When I first heard Obsequiae, it was one of those rare moments where I went a-ha, you are that band that’s going to pioneer the style I have always desired but been too inept to create myself. I can guarantee you without much doubt that, of all of the albums of 2015, Aria of Vernal Tombs will find its way into my playlist the most for the longest period of time. Ten years from now, I will probably still be listening to this album when its competitors are all but distant memories. Like Summoning, they fit a unique mood for me that no other band has really begun to approach. (Perhaps Opeth’s Orchid crosses into this terrain, briefly and insufficiently.) A collection of captivating medieval melodies that press themselves upon you by-and-large through euphorically well-mixed guitar and bass (the bass on this album is absolutely gorgeous) rather than traditional instrumentation… my god, I’ve been waiting so long for a band that sounds like this, and they’re easily my favorite new discovery of the year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JBe6JA-DBc

2. Panopticon – Autumn Eternal (track: The Wind’s Farewell)

It’s amazing to think that, in the absence of one album this year that won my heart in a landslide, Panopticon could have taken my #1 slot in 3 out of the last 4 years. To put it bluntly, Autumn Eternal is Austin Lunn’s best album to date, and Austin Lunn is arguably the most accomplished metal artist of the 2010s. An incredibly versatile musician who can sample uninhibited from the melting-pot of styles that is post-black metal, Lunn’s newest offering is a mindblowing amalgamation of post-rock and black metal that leaves the more popular bands of this persuasion choking on his dust.

1. Liturgy – The Ark Work (track: Kel Valhaal)

What can I say…. it didn’t make Pitchfork’s top 25? I will probably look back on The Ark Work as one of the most underrated albums ever recorded, and I think its merits have more in common with Radiohead than with anything that has ever derived from heavy metal. It constantly threatens to collapse into a blundering mire of amateur garbage, from the excessive bell tones to Hunter’s marshmallow-mouthed rap vocals. This might be the turn-off for so many listeners, but it is necessary, and the key to this album is in how Liturgy always manage to somehow hold it together. It’s the musical equivalent of your kindergartener handing you a crayon scribble that, on second glance, turns out to be a Picasso.

On Aesthethica, Liturgy explored a very explicit reinterpretation of black metal that found quite a bit of inspired company among bands who were beginning to recognize and explore the similarities between black metal and post-rock. That album helped to define a movement, but it only achieved the band’s vision in a very direct sort of way: through rhythm and melody and progression. The Ark Work nails Hunter’s vision home with an extremely more robust and precise pallet, bringing lyrics and glitch effects and atypical instrumentation and a totally unorthodox approach to metal vocals into the fray. If you listen to a track like “Vitriol” and can barely take it seriously, that’s part of the point, but barely is the key word. Every risk and gamble they take ultimately works, and I am unabashedly unashamed to blare Hunter’s trap beat ‘occult rap’ at max volume out my car stereo. 😀

You might listen to The Ark Work and hear some childish clusterfuck, but I hear absolutely brilliant attention to detail–a musician completely in control of the degree to which his work teeters on the brink of nonsense. Top 20 all-time contender? I could go there. Leave your fear of speaking too fondly of Hunter Hunt-Hendrix at the door and just embrace this album with the assumption that he knew exactly what he was doing. You won’t be disappointed.

Previous years on Shattered Lens:

2011 / 2012 / 2013 / 2014

Review: Blind Guardian – Beyond the Red Mirror

Posted on by necromoonyeti

If Blind Guardian are not by now regarded with the sort of reverence generated by Metallica or Iron Maiden, it is a crime against heavy metal. Formed slightly before I was born, they might be the longest tenured band in existence that still carry extraordinarily high expectations. No one realistically expects a band to stay at the peak of their inspiration for thirty years, but Blind Guardian are the exception. They’ve never shown their age or wavered towards mediocrity. Does Beyond the Red Mirror keeps that tradition running strong?

“Yes” is the short answer. A thousand times “yes”, and only a fool would deny it. But when you’re talking about a band that released the unequivocal greatest power metal album of all time, there is still plenty of room for discussion.

Blind Guardian pulled off a pretty tough transition in 2002. They followed up Nightfall in Middle-Earth (1998), their magnum opus by nearly everyone’s measure, with a relatively significant change in style. A move like that has spelled disaster for many great bands, but when Blind Guardian traded in an edgier, crisper production for smooth and seamless symphonic beauty on A Night at the Opera (2002), it totally worked. Their next two albums continued in that direction, and I never had the slightest cause to question it. While A Twist in the Myth (2006) ranks relatively low in their discography for me, that resulted from what I felt was a bit of lackluster songwriting–not pervasive, but present enough to leave the album somewhat diminished in the shadow of its two groundbreaking predecessors. At the Edge of Time (2010) was a grand return to form, definitively proving that this band would not suffer a slow decline as the years caught up to them.

Beyond the Red Mirror opens up with a lot less steam than “Sacred Worlds” lent to At the Edge of Time. The first track, “The Ninth Wave”, kicks off with a pretty typical epic introduction, complete with a professional choir and orchestra, but it’s the sort of sound that really hinges on what will follow. We’re used to a sort of constant rise from symphonics into metal, but “The Ninth Wave” is far more brooding at the outset. “Underwhelming” might be the right word for any other band, and nothing about the lead in really grabs me, but let’s not forget what band this is. I feel pretty neutral–not negative–about the album until the first chorus kicks off. And when that point is reached–“Sail on till you reach the promised land. We all drown in the fifth dimension. The ninth wave.“–you get this big dump of pent-up anticipation that you never knew you had. The five year wait is over. Beyond the Red Mirror is here, and the chorus carries all the grandeur you knew would be coming. It feels so complete and full, so Blind Guardian to the core, that the introduction isn’t sour in retrospect. Instead, the slow motion into glory lets the album creep into you. One second you’re waiting for something to happen, the next you’re in love, and they don’t have to resort to anything jarring or sudden to create the effect.

“Prophecies”, “At the Edge of Time”, and “Grand Parade” follow this trend of paced execution, keeping you wrapped in the warm vibe that is Blind Guardian’s sound while ebbing and flowing along. Not out of place on A Night at the Opera, these four tracks suit the album’s production well and deliver without any misgivings.

“Miracle Machine” serves as the album’s only ballad, and the other five tracks… they’re pleasantly not what I expected. For all the big name orchestras involved in recording Beyond the Red Mirror, Blind Guardian actually get pretty old-school. “Ashes of Eternity”, for instance, is heavily driven by rhythm guitar, and André Olbrich’s tasty solo near the middle is cast far more in the spotlight than it might have been on previous albums. “The Holy Grail”, “Sacred Mind”, and “Twilight of the Gods” follow a similar pattern, while “The Throne” exists somewhere in between. My initial reaction to these songs was not entirely positive, but they’ve almost all grown on me over time. They make for an interesting perspective on Blind Guardian’s career. Hansi Kürsch’s gorgeous vocals still feel fairly well rooted in the A Night at the Opera sound, but Marcus Siepen and André Olbrich are bringing back a lot of the band’s more classic power metal sound. With Hansi still largely dominating the choruses and rhythm and lead guitar being more focal in between, the songs take on a novel sort of vibe that feels like quintessential Blind Guardian but does not point directly to any one previous era in the band’s illustrious history.

I definitely dig it, yet I don’t feel like Beyond the Red Mirror will leave quite the lasting impact on me that Nightfall in Middle-Earth, A Night at the Opera, and At the Edge of Time did. The problem, aside from the lack of a really stand-out ‘bard’ track–“Miracle Machine” is nice but has none of the sing-along appeal of say, “Curse My Name” or “Skalds and Shadows”–lies in the production. I can’t help but feel like Olbrich and especially Siepen are getting the short end of the stick throughout. Like the three albums before it, Beyond the Red Mirror sacrifices a lot of crispness to encompass the massive volume of vocals and orchestration. That worked really well before, but here I just don’t know. Lead and rhythm guitar alike rang with crystal clarity on Nightfall in Middle-Earth, and that was a major part of what made the album perfect. If guitar is to play a more central role again, it would be nice if I could properly hear it. My one beef with Beyond the Red Mirror is that, while the band continues to evolve in positive ways, their producer may be failing to keep up.

I think that’s a big issue. This album is awesome, but I would love it so much more if they’d filled the symphonic void with louder, crisper guitar. That goes for about half of the tracks. I just sometimes feel like a few modest tweaks would have made them better. I’m looking forward to seeing some quality live videos of these songs pop up on Youtube, because I think a live venue may do them better justice. For now, Beyond the Red Mirror earns entry into my Blind Guardian playlist with ease, but I’ll not be revisiting it quite so often as Nightfall, Night at the Opera, or Edge of Time.

If you want another song to check out, I think “Prophecies” is my favorite. “The Ninth Wave”, “Ashes of Eternity”, and “Grand Parade” come close.

Song of the Day: Valkyries (by Blind Guardian)

Posted on by Arleigh

In honor of Ragnarök, here’s a blast from the past in celebration.

Arleigh's avatarThrough the Shattered Lens

This pick for song of the day marks the fifth time the “Bards” from Germany has made an appearance. This song marks the third track to be chosen from their latest album, At The Edge of Time. To say that I am a fan of Blind Guardian would be just a tad bit of an understatement.

“Valkyries” is the latest song of the day and it’s Blind Guardian at their most progressive metal. As a band they’ve grown from a German speed and thrash metal band then became one of the progenitors of the power metal subgenre. For the past dozen or so years they’ve evolved their sound to incorporate progressive, melodic, symphonic and orchestral stylings to their basic power metal sound.

This song has lead bard Hansi Kürsch writing about Norse mythology, specifically the concept of the Valkyries who fly and roam above the battlefield to take those…

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Song of the Day: Mirror, Mirror (by Blind Guardian)

Posted on by Arleigh

mm_cover1

The latest “Song of the Day” comes courtesy of one of my favorite bands. Anyone who has been following this site and this recurring feature pretty much knows I speak of the awesome epicness of the German power metal band Blind Guardian. The song from their expansive discography I’ve chosen this time around is the song “Mirror, Mirror”.

This song combines two every epic things together: Power Metal + J.R.R. Tolkien’s Silmarillion = epic awesomeness.

The song itself and it’s lyrics tell of Turgon, King of the Noldor and second son of Fingolfin, brother to Fingon, Aredhel and Argon who builds the famed city of Gondolin during the First Age of Middle-Earth. The city was to be a safe haven for Turgon’s people who were in the midst of an age long war against the fallen Valar, Morgoth. It’s a song that tells of Turgon’s decision to build the city with assistance from the Valar and Lord of Water, Ulmo.

It speaks of the long road and desperation of Turgon to try and save the Noldor from the armies of Morgoth. It’s a tragic tale that hints at the ultimate fate of Turgon and Gondolin. A dream that ultimately will end in the ultimate betrayal from within.

I know that there are people who still thinks that metal is all about fast, loud, discordant guitar playing backed up by screaming and guttural sounds that pass off as singing, but Blind Guardian should dismiss such notion. There’s definitely nothing guttural about this song.

Mirror, Mirror

Far, far beyond the island
We dwelt in shades of twilight
Through dread and weary days
Through grief and endless pain

It lies unknown
The land of mine
A hidden gate
To save us from the shadow fall
The lord of water spoke
In the silence
Words of wisdom
I’ve seen the end of all
Be aware the storm gets closer

Mirror Mirror on the wall
True hope lies beyond the coast
You’re a damned kind can’t you see
That the winds will change
Mirror Mirror on the wall
True hope lies beyond the coast
You’re a damned kind can’t you see
That tomorrows bears insanity

Gone’s the wisdom
Of a thousand years
A world in fire and chains and fear
Leads me to a place so far
Deep down it lies my secret vision
I better keep it safe

Shall I leave my friends alone
Hidden in my twilight hall
(I) know the world is lost in fire
Sure there is no way to turn it
Back to the old days
Of bliss and cheerful laughter
We’re lost in barren lands
Caught in the running flames
Alone
How shall we leave the lost road
Time’s getting short so follow me
A leader’s task so clearly
To find a path out of the dark

Mirror Mirror on the wall
True hope lies beyond the coast
You’re a damned kind can’t you see
That the winds will change
Mirror Mirror on the wall
True hope lies beyond the coast
You’re a damned kind can’t you see
That the winds will change

Even though
The storm calmed down
The bitter end
Is just a matter of time

Shall we dare the dragon
Merciless he’s poisoning our hearts
Our hearts

How shall we leave the lost road
Time’s getting short so follow me
A leader’s task so clearly
To find a path out of the dark

My Top 10 Metal Albums of 2012

Posted on by necromoonyeti

This is embarrassing. Here it is 2013, and my 2012 collection consists of only 38 albums, the majority of which I’ve listened to twice at best. I never heard the new Neurosis. I never heard the new High On Fire. Hell, forget metal, I didn’t even listen to the new Shins and Godspeed albums. I can’t offer an experienced, informed opinion now the way I could at the end of 2011. But I’ve been posting up some sort of album of the year list somewhere for over a decade now, and I’ll be damned if I let the fact that I didn’t really listen to any albums in 2012 stand in my way.

Or something like that. Here we go.

10. Dawnbringer – Into the Lair of the Sun God (track: IV)

It’s not often I get into a standard heavy metal album, but Dawnbringer did everything right in 2012. The songs rock along with a bit of an Iron Maiden drive to them, the power and black metal tendencies are tastefully incorporated to enhance the drive without altering the vibe, and the vocals know their limit. If it sounds a bit generic, don’t let that fool you. Not too many bands can pull this off without giving into the temptation to be more “epic” or “extreme” than they really are. Dawnbringer pull it off without the flare–without ever going over the top–and their accessibility places Into the Lair of the Sun God among the best of the year.

9. Korpiklaani – Manala

I wouldn’t say Hittavainen was the heart and soul of Korpiklaani, but he was an essential component. The band would be at a total loss without Jonne Järvelä, and their consistent line-up over the years has contributed enormously to their success, but Juho Kauppinen’s accordion aside, the folk instrumentation was almost all a product of Hittavainen. When he left due to health issues after Ukon Wacka in 2011, I feared it was the end of an era. Korpiklaani never missed a beat recovering from the loss in 2012. In addition to picking up the highly qualified Tuomas Rounakari as their new violinist, Jonne Järvelä stepped up to fill in the void by recording the mandolin, flute, and whistle tracks. I think I can hear some nuance differences between his and Hittavainen’s playing style, but it might just as well be in my head; Manala sounds like a Korpiklaani album through and through. I don’t like it as much as Karkelo and Ukon Wacka–it’s a bit heavier, too much so for my taste in folk metal–but in the greater sphere of Korpiklaani’s discography it is certainly composed and performed to par.

8. Ensiferum – Unsung Heroes

Ensiferum took a lot of slack for this album. I think a lot of people wanted to hear the over-the-top bombast that worked so effectively on Victory Songs, but in my opinion that was already growing stale on From Afar. Unsung Heroes is down to earth in a way they haven’t been since the 2001 self-titled debut, and I love it. They’re heading in exactly the direction I’d hoped for, and with the exception of the ugly mistake that is the album’s 17 minute closing track, Power Proof Passion, Unsung Heroes does not sound at all like a band past their prime. If they continue to push in the direction of tracks like Pohjola, they’re in position to trump Victory Songs and follow up Unsung Heroes with their best album to date.

7. Wodensthrone – Curse

I wish I’d taken the time to review this album earlier in the year, because I haven’t listened to it since the summer, and their flavor of epic black metal isn’t the sort of thing you can fully absorb in a quick last-minute listen. This is an album that can move nowhere but up in my charts over the months to follow, but for the time being I am content to place it somewhere in the middle. While busting out black metal that’s just as grim and unforgiving as the 1990s greats, Wodensthrone manage to infuse a tremendous amount of emotion that speaks of something beautiful hidden beneath the chaos. It’s buried a bit deeper than say, Femundsmarka by Waldgeflüster last year, but the feeling is similar.

6. Vattnet Viskar – Vattnet Viskar EP (song: Weakness)

If someone were to ask me what black metal sounded like in 2012, I might hand them this EP. It’s kind of cool getting to say that, because one of their members is a regular at the music forum where I get most of my recommendations. I wouldn’t have guessed back in March that they would be signed to Century Media by the end of the year, but I’m stoked to hear it. The whole notion of post-black metal has taken on a number of different flavors in these formative years, and Vattnet Viskar expand the genre by incorporating a lot of the all-encompassing guitar tones I associate with post-rock acts like Mono and This Will Destroy You. Top-notch stuff that’s really at the forefront of an emergent genre I’ve been anticipating for years.

5. Enslaved – RIITIIR

How Enslaved have aged so well is beyond me, but their last three albums have been their best three albums, and 22 years after the formation of this band they remain at the forefront of metal. Their viking-infused progressive black sound of late has done as much to shape the future of the genre as any new-found participant in the current popular trend towards black metal that has been taking shape over the past four years. RIITIIR is another outstanding output by the one classic early 90s black metal band that has managed to weather the ages unscathed.

4. Blut aus Nord – 777: Cosmosophy

The review I wrote of 777: Cosmosophy last month was one of the most thorough I’ve done all year, and there is nothing I care to say about the album that I haven’t said already. It is outstanding in its own right, but it does not feel like an entirely complete finale to their already classic 777 series. The first and third tracks, breathtaking though they may be, don’t seem to sufficiently progress from where the second album in the trilogy, The Desanctification, left off. The second track moreover, Epitome XV, is the weakest link on all three albums. The last two tracks compensate greatly by concluding in proper form, and I certainly think Cosmosophy is excellent. It can only be said to have “shortcomings” in so far as I expected it to be the best album of 2012. Fourth place isn’t too bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc4FeYfUjvA

3. Torche – Harmonicraft (song: Reverse Inverted)

Calling Torche metal at this point is really pushing the limits of the definition. Since their early days writing crushing stoner anthems, they have evolved into a bizarre amalgamation equal parts metal and pop. But it’s not just the uniqueness of the happy, smiley-face hammers Harmonicraft beats you down with that makes it so appealing. Torche have become by all rights the heirs of the 1990s. These guys have more in common with the Smashing Pumpkins than they do with any of their stoner metal contemporaries. This is the sort of thing that 15 years ago we could have just labeled “alternative rock” and gone on enjoying without any need for classifications. While forging an entirely unique, original sound of their own, Torche have managed to capture a song-writing ethos that has been dead for a generation, and Harmonicraft is the cleanest breath of fresh air I’ve inhaled in years.

2. Krallice – Years Past Matter (song: Track 2)

Krallice is my favorite band making music today, and I dare say last year’s Diotoma might be my favorite album by any band ever. Seldom if ever has a band followed up such a masterpiece with something of equal worth, and I was shocked that Krallice had the energy left to release anything at all this year. Years Past Matter is an outstanding post-black metal outing in the vein of Dimensional Bleedthrough. The tracks took longer than usual to grow on me, and usual for Krallice entails dozens of listens, but the payout is always worth the time, and the slow process of appreciation is enjoyable in its own right. Mick Barr and Colin Marston’s dual tremolo is the grand ultimate ear-candy, and so long as they never compromise their commitment to that they will probably remain my favorite band. (Track 3 is my favorite song on Years Past Matter so far, but it was not available on youtube. Track 2 is a worthy substitute.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG7fL8BQ8iE

1. Panopticon – Kentucky (song: Killing the Giants as They Sleep)

The fact that I didn’t review this album is almost embarrassing, because much like Aesthethica by Liturgy last year, it is an album that absolutely demands a thorough investigation to properly appreciate. I can’t easily tell you why I placed it this high, because frankly I don’t know yet myself. When I first read that a Louisville, Kentucky-based band called Panopticon had released a bluegrass black metal album, all sorts of thoughts ran through my head. Kentucky sounds like none of them. Do ignore the cliche “blackgrass” labels; while Austin Lunn listened to plenty of bluegrass in the process of recording this, he does not actually incorporate the genre as we might think of it. Instead he interweaves traditional Appalachian folk–not bluegrass particularly–as distinct tracks separated from the black metal. What folk does emerge in the bm is more akin to Waylander, and certainly far from “bluegrass”. That’s not a bad thing, just an–I think–important distinction to be made, because otherwise we might be left searching for genre stereotypes which simply aren’t present here. What Kentucky really accomplishes is a merging of a musical themes which perfectly juxtapose a beautiful landscape and a totally destitute human condition. The first half of “Killing the Giants as They Sleep” for instance generates landscape imagery with a degree of effectiveness similar to Femundsmarka by Waldgeflüster. (Have I referenced that album twice now? I think it’s time I paid it another visit.). You take a look around, take a deep breath, and really appreciate the natural beauty that surrounds you. About half way through the dialogue begins, and the explosion around 9:15 serves to draw you fully into the atrocities taking place here, both in the exploitation of workers and the desecration of the environment.

I don’t think Austin Lunn intended to make any sort of political statement here, but in succeeding so comprehensively to depict elements of Appalachia and its outskirts, he effectively did so. At a time when the working class of America is inexplicably becoming staunch supporters of big capital, this album hits a bulls-eye on all of the thoughts that have been forefront on my mind of late. His bleak renditions of union anthems like “Which Side Are You On?”, recently covered with such optimism by the likes of Dropkick Murphys, strike me as a painfully realistic reminder that the entire notion of equality as an American ideal is becoming antiquated.

But that might be seen as secondary. Wherever our ideas may lead us, Kentucky is the sort of album that inclines us to form them. It’s an album that makes me think. Like Aesthethica by Liturgy and Diotima by Krallice last year, it forces me to set aside my mundane daily routines and really engage the human experience. That alone, all other considerations aside, suffices to render it my favorite album of 2012.

October Music Series: Смута – Ворон

Posted on by necromoonyeti

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWBbk5KVG5E

From the sweeping, epic introduction to the wild guitar solos falling somewhere between power metal and melodic death, Ворон (Voron) is one of those songs that struck me like a brick the very first time I heard it. Смута (Smuta) are yet another band out of Russia, hailing from Rybinsk in Yaroslavl Oblast. I don’t know much about the band, and I’ve been too hopelessly distanced from anything but my (relatively) mainstream folk metal connections to keep up with them lately, but their 2007 debut full-length, Смута Крови (Smuta Krovi), was a surprisingly well-informed album for a band that doesn’t appear to have any connections to the bigger names of the genre.

The death metal vocals are the only consistent factor throughout the album, with musical themes that incorporate Finntroll-esque folk metal, Pagan Reign/Твердь-styled Slavic pagan metal, some power metal and melodic death guitars, and a uniquely tame approach to black metal. It’s got nothing on Falconer’s Armod for perfecting a merger of the myriad metal subgenres, but it’s a worthy effort, and it grants them a unique sound which, with better production and a little more edge, could evolve into something really amazing. They’ve released two albums since Smuta Krovi that I’ve yet to hear, and revisiting the band here has certainly peaked my curiosity.

Voron is definitely the stand-out track of the album, and the intro says it all. It’s the one track in which their lack of an edge can definitely count as a good thing. The brief opening segment is enough to give a solid fantasy essence to a song that really doesn’t fit that bill beyond the thirty second mark, placing it in the odd context of bearing sort of formal, almost royal imagery that you can somehow pull off your best air guitar imitation to.

October Music Series: Tuatha de Danann – The Dance of the Little Ones

Posted on by necromoonyeti

“Tuatha Dé Danann” refers to mythological pre-Christian inhabitants of Ireland, and contestedly translates as “peoples of the goddess Danu”. If an entirely appropriate name for an Irish folk metal band, what makes Tuatha de Danann especially odd is that they hail from Varginha, Brazil. The band can, moreover, claim to be one of the earliest-formed acts to perform folk metal, dating back to 1995 (though they quite recently broke up.)

Tuatha de Danann are fundamentally power metal–the definitive metal genre of Central and Southern America (I was in Costa Rica when Iron Maiden played there in 2009 and you’d have thought it was a national holiday). I’ve never been a big power metal enthusiast, so I never had much of a desire to explore Tuatha de Danann’s albums further, but the opening track to Tingaralatingadun, released in 2001, does a delightful (and historically, exceptionally early) job of flawlessly merging power and folk metal in a manner somewhat similar to Elvenking during their finer years. It is a bit more earthy than Elvenking, much to its advantage, and the effect of the constant guitar solo doodling, whistle, and generally airy production creates a lighthearted, mischievous vibe that I would describe as more fantasy than folk–or at least, it invokes a more fairytale superstition of early morning magic. Follow these guys into a cave and you might find a few hundred years have passed on your way back out.

The biggest selling point for me in this song is the tone of the whistle. I cannot sufficiently emphasize my love for whistles. There is no instrument I enjoy more, either to listen to or to play (banjos get a close second, though I’d be kidding myself if I claimed I could play one). “The Dance of the Little Ones” is especially successful in generating a sort of ‘through the fog’ whistle tone which I’ve heard employed by such diverse musicians as Belarusian folk band Stary Olsa (Стары Ольса) and Japanese video game composer Miki Higashino, and which I desperately wish I knew how to reproduce.

necromoonyeti’s 10 Favorite Songs of 2011

Posted on by necromoonyeti

I want to hop on the bandwagon. It would be a little silly for me to post my real top 10; for one thing, it would include four Krallice tracks. That aside, nearly everything I’d put on it I’ve either posted on this site as a Song of the Day or included in both my review of its album and my top albums post. So to make this a bit different from my past posts, I’m going to limit myself to one song per band, stick to stuff that I imagine might appeal to people who aren’t interested in extreme metal, and keep it on the catchy side. I’ll list a more honest top 10 at the end.

10. Powerwolf – Son of a Wolf (from Blood of the Saints)

As such, my tenth place selection is about as metal as it’s going to get. Powerwolf’s Blood of the Saints might be simple and repetitive, but it’s about the catchiest power/heavy metal album I’ve ever heard. It indulges the same guilty pleasure for me as Lordi and Twisted Sister–two bands that inexplicably pump me up despite being entirely tame. It also offers some amazing operatic vocals and Dracula keyboards, the cheesiness of which can be easily forgiven. Son of a Wolf might be one of the more generic tracks in a sense, but it’s the one most often stuck in my head.

9. Alestorm – Barrett’s Privateers (from Back Through Time)

The only thing I love more than traditional folk and sea chanties is folk punk and metal. When the latter covers the former, I’m in bliss. Alestorm are emerging as the sort of Dropkick Murphys of metal with all their covers lately, and I hope they keep it up. I loved Barrett’s Privateers before what you’re hearing ever happened, and the metal version delights me to no end.

8. The Decemberists – Rox in the Box (from The King is Dead)

The Decemberists really toned it down this year. Where The Hazards of Love could be described as an epic rock opera, The King is Dead sticks to simple, pleasant folk. But Colin Meloy thoroughly researches pretty much every subject he’s ever tackled, and The King is Dead pays ample homage to its predecessors. Rox in the Box incorporates Irish traditional song Raggle Taggle Gypsy with delightful success.

7. Nekrogoblikon – Goblin Box (from Stench)

With a keen eye towards contemporary folk metal like Alestorm and Finntroll, melodic death classics like In Flames and Children of Bodom, and much else besides, former gimmick band Nekrogoblikon really forged their own unique sound in the world of folk metal in 2011. At least half of the album is this good. Stench is the most unexpected surprise the year had to offer by far.

6. Korpiklaani – Surma (from Ukon Wacka)

Korpiklaani almost always end their albums with something special, and 2011 is no exception. The melody of Surma is beautiful, and Jonne Järvelä’s metal take on traditional Finnish vocals is as entertaining as ever.

5. Turisas – Hunting Pirates (from Stand Up and Fight)

I couldn’t find a youtube video that effectively captured the full scope of Turisas’s sound in such limited bitrates, but believe me, it’s huge. Go buy the album and find out for yourselves. Unlike Varangian Way, not every track is this good, but on a select number Turisas appear in their finest form. Adventurous, exciting, epic beyond compare, this band delivers with all of the high definition special effects of a Hollywood blockbuster.

4. The Flight of Sleipnir – Transcendence (from Essence of Nine)

Essence of Nine kicks off with a kaleidoscope of everything that makes stoner metal great, while reaching beyond the genre to incorporate folk and Akerfeldt-esque vocals. A beautifully constructed song, it crushes you even as it floats through the sky. I could imagine Tony Iommi himself rocking out to this one.

3. Boris – Black Original (from New Album)

From crust punk to black metal, there’s nothing Boris don’t do well, and 2011 has shown more than ever that there’s no style they’ll hesitate from dominating. I don’t know what’s been going on in the past few years with this popular rise of 80s sounds and weird electronics. I don’t listen to it, so I can’t relate. But if I expected it sounded anything nearly as good as what Boris pulled off this year I’d be all over it.

2. Tom Waits – Chicago (from Bad as Me)

Bad as Me kicks off with one of my favorite Tom Waits songs to date. It’s a timeless theme for him, but it feels more appropriate now than ever, and his dirty blues perfectly capture the sort of fear and excitement of packing up and seeking out a better life.

1. Dropkick Murphys – Take ‘Em Down (from Going Out in Style)

In a year just begging for good protest songs, Flogging Molly tried really hard and fell flat. Dropkick Murphys, another band you’d expect to join the cause, released perhaps their most generic album to date (still good mind you, but not a real chart topper). Take ‘Em Down is kind of out of place on the album, but it’s DKM to the core, and as best I can gather it’s an original song, not a cover of a traditional track. If so, it’s probably the most appropriate thing written all year. (The video is fan made.)

If you’re interested in my actual top 10, it runs something like this:

10. Falkenbach – Where His Ravens Fly…
9. Waldgeflüster – Kapitel I: Seenland
8. Liturgy – High Gold
7. Endstille – Endstille (Völkerschlächter)
6. Blut aus Nord – Epitome I
5. Krallice – Intro/Inhume
4. Liturgy – Harmonia
3. Krallice – Diotima
2. Krallice – Telluric Rings
1. Krallice – Dust and Light

And that excludes so many dozens of amazing songs that it seems almost pointless to post it.

My Top 15 Metal Albums of 2011

Posted on by necromoonyeti

The years I most actively indulge my musical interests are the ones I find most difficult to wrap up in any sort of nice cohesive summary. December always begins with a feeling that I’ve really built up a solid basis on which to rate the best albums of the year, and it tends to end with the realization that I’ve really only heard a minute fraction of what’s out there. I’m going to limit this to my top 15. Anything beyond that is just too arbitrary–the long list of new albums I’ve still yet to hear will ultimately reconfigure it beyond recognition.

15. Thantifaxath – Thantifaxath EP
Thantifaxath’s debut EP might only be 15 minutes long, but that was more than enough to place it high on my charts. The whole emerging post/prog-bm sound has been largely a product of bands with the resources to refine it, and it’s quite refreshing to hear sounds reminiscent of recent Enslaved without any of the studio gloss. That, and I get a sort of B-side outer space horror vibe from it that’s not so easy to come by. (Recommended track: Violently Expanding Nothing)

14. Craft – Void
This is the straight-up, no bullshit black metal album of the year. It doesn’t try anything fancy or original. It’s just good solid mid-tempo bm–brutal, evil, conjuring, and unforgiving. Hail Satan etc. (Recommended track: any of them)

13. Turisas – Stand Up and Fight
Stand Up and Fight doesn’t hold a candle to The Varangian Way, but I never really expected it to. As a follow-up to one of my all-time favorite albums, it does a solid job of maintaining that immensely epic, triumphal sound they landed on in 2007. It lacks their previous work’s continuity, both in quality and in theme, but it’s still packed with astoundingly vivid imagery and exciting theatrics that render it almost more of a movie than an album. (Recommended tracks: Venetoi! Prasinoi!, Hunting Pirates)

12. Endstille – Infektion 1813
Swedish-style black metal seldom does much for me, and it’s hard to describe just what appeals to me so much about Germany’s Endstille. But just as Verführer caught me by pleasant surprise two years ago, Infektion 1813 managed to captivate me in spite of all expectations to the contrary. Like Marduk (the only other band of the sort that occasionally impresses me), they stick to themes of modern warfare, but Endstille’s musical artillery bombardments carry a sense of something sinister that Marduk lacks. The dark side of human nature Endstille explores isn’t shrouded in enticing mystery–it’s something so thoroughly historically validated that we’d rather just pretend it doesn’t exist at all. The final track, Völkerschlächter, is one of the best songs of the year. Stylistically subdued, it pummels the listener instead with a long list of political and military leaders responsible for mass murder, named in a thick German accent over a seven second riff that’s repeated for 11 minutes. It’s a brutal realization that the sensations black metal tends to arouse are quite real and quite deplorable, and it will leave you feeling a little sick inside.

11. Nekrogoblikon – Stench
Nekrogoblikon released a folk metal parody album in 2006 that was good for laughs and really nothing else. The music was pretty awful, but that was intentional. It was a joke, with no presumption to be any good as anything but a joke. They’re the last band on earth I ever expected, a full six years after the fact, to pop back up with a really fucking solid sound. But Stench is good. I mean, Stench is really good. It’s still comical in theme, but the music has been refined beyond measure. Quirky, cheesy guitar and keyboard doodles have become vivid images of little flesh-eating gremlins dancing around your feet, whiny mock-vocals have taken the shape of pretty solid Elvenking-esque power metal, pretty much everything about them has grown into a legitimate melo-death and power infused folk metal sound. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still not meant to be taken seriously, but they’re now of Finntroll caliber. (Recommended tracks: Goblin Box, Gallows & Graves, A Feast)

10. Týr – The Lay of Thrym
I thought By the Light of the Northern Star was a fairly weak album, and because The Lay of Thrym maintains some of the stylistic changes they underwent then, a part of me keeps wanting to say it can’t be as good as say, Land or Eric the Red. But of all the albums I acquired in 2011, I’ve probably listened to this one the most. Týr have one of the most unique sounds on the market, and it’s thoroughly incapable of ever boring me or growing old. Heri Joensen’s consistently excellent vocal performance alone is enough to make them perpetual year-end contenders. (Recommended track: Hall of Freedom)

9. Waldgeflüster – Femundsmarka – Eine Reise in drei Kapiteln
This is some of the most endearing black metal I’ve heard in a while. Intended as a musical reminiscence of Winterherz’ journey through Femundsmarka National Park in Scandinavia, it’s a beautiful glorification of nature that takes some of the best accomplishments of Drudkh and Agalloch and adds to them a very uplifting vibe. Someone made an 8 minute compilation of the album on youtube which does a good job at previewing without revealing all of its finest moments. (Recommended track: Kapitel I: Seenland)

8. Ygg – Ygg
Ygg is an hour-long trance, evoking ancient gods in a way that only Slavic metal can. You could probably pick apart the music and discover plenty of flaws, but that would miss the point. I think that a lot of these Ukrainian and Russian bands are true believers, and that the purpose of music like this is more to create an experience in the listener than to be good for its own sake. This is a spiritual journey, and if it fails to move you as such it will probably come off as rather repetitive and generic, but I find it impressively effective. (Recommended track: Ygg)

7. Blut aus Nord – 777: Sect(s)
I don’t know where to put this really. I could just as easily have labeled it second best album of the year. Dropping it down to 7th might seem a little unjustified, but eh, this is a list of my top albums, not of the “best” albums of the year. There’s no denying Sect(s) credit as a brilliant masterpiece, but it’s an ode to madness. I mean, this music scares the shit out of me, and if that means it’s accomplished something no other album has, that also means I don’t particularly “enjoy” listening to it. (Recommended track: Epitome I)

6. Altar of Plagues – Mammal
I never did listen to Mammal as actively as I would have liked. I never sat down and gave it my undivided attention from start to finish. But it’s served as a background piece for many late nights at work. It zones me in–stimulates my senses without ever distracting them from the task at hand. I don’t feel like I can really say much about what makes it great, because that’s not the sort of thing I’ve considered while listening to it, but I absolutely love it. It’s a big improvement from White Tomb, which was itself an excellent album, and more so than most other releases of 2011 I will probably continue to listen to it frequently in years to come. (Recommended track: Neptune is Dead)

5. Primordial – Redemption at the Puritan’s Hand (track: No Grave Deep Enough)
Redemption at the Puritan’s Hand is by no means perfect. It’s got a few sub-par tracks detracting from the full start to finish experience, but when it’s at its best all else can be easily forgiven. Call it folk metal or call it black metal, whichever you prefer, but first and foremost call it Irish, with every good thing that might entail. The vocals are outstanding, the music rocks out in folk fashion without ever relenting from its metal force, and while the lyrics don’t always make sense, they always hit like a fucking truck. Where they do all come together, delivered with Nemtheanga’s vast and desperate bellows, the result is overwhelming. O Death, where are your teeth that gnaw on the bones of fabled men? O Death, where are your claws that haul me from the grave? (Other recommended tracks: The Puritan’s Hand, Death of the Gods)

4. Falconer – Armod (track: Griftefrid)
Prior to 2011 I’d largely written Falconer off as one of those power metal acts that were just a little too cheesy to ever excite me. Maybe it was bad timing. Maybe I just happened to hear them for the first time while Kristoffer Göbel was filling in on vocals. Or maybe Armod is just their magnum opus–a spark of genius they’ve never neared before. Flawless if we ignore the “bonus tracks”, Armod takes that early folk metal sound Vintersorg pioneered with Otyg, merges it perfectly with power metal, and offers up 11 of the most well-written and excellently produced songs of the year. Mathias Blad’s vocals are absolutely phenomenal. (Other recommended tracks: Herr Peder Och Hans Syster)

3. Falkenbach – Tiurida (track: Sunnavend)
A lot of people might voice the legitimate complaint that Tiurida, Vratyas Vakyas’s first studio album in six years, sounds absolutely indistinguishable from his prior four. For me, that’s exactly why it ranks so high. Vakyas landed on a completely unique, instantly recognizable sound which, alongside Bathory, defined viking metal as a genre, and he’s refused to change it one bit. I fell in love with this album ten years ago. (Other recommended tracks: Where His Ravens Fly…)

2. Liturgy – Aesthethica (track: Harmonia)
Yes, Liturgy. It’s immature, childish, and imperfect, but it’s uplifting in a completely new way. No matter how far Hunt-Hendrix might go to embarrass himself and his band mates, behind all of his pompous babble there just might be some truth to it. (Other recommended tracks: True Will)

1. Krallice – Diotima (track: Dust and Light)
More than the album of the year, Diotima is one of the greatest albums ever made. I can’t fathom the amount of skill it must take to perform with the speed and precision that these guys do, but if they battered down a physical barrier to metal in 2008, they finally grasped hold of what lies beyond it in 2011. They claim that the songs on their first three albums were all written at the same time by Mick Barr and Colin Marston, before their self-titled debut. If that’s the case, then it must be the experience of performing together and the creative contributions of Lev Weinstein and Nick McMaster that raised Diotima to a higher level. It’s not just that they’ve improved in every way imaginable; the songs themselves are overwhelming, breathtaking, and chaotic to a degree they’d never before accomplished. Krallice perform an unwieldy monster that took a few albums to thoroughly overcome. Now they’re in complete control, and their absolutely brilliant song-writing can shine through. With the exception of the dubious Litany of Regrets, this is possibly the greatest album I have ever heard. (Other recommended tracks: Inhume, Diotima, Telluric Rings)