Best of 2018

1) YOB - Our Raw Heart

Another return from years past, but anyone who knows me knows this isn't a surprise. YOB are and will forever be a favorite band of mine. In comparison to previous albums this can be seen as a more minimalist approach. Given what Mike was going through while writing this album, mortality seems to be the primary focus on display.

This is an age when people have been discouraged from thinking about the existential conflict with religion, the funeral industry, the framing of later years as a golden age of travel and freedom from a life of work. There's so much music to choose from that deals with life, love, full days, and fun nights, much less music that deals with death. Our Raw Heart pulls the veil aside and makes you feel all the things you might feel during the decline of one's existence, confusion, anger, sadness, those emotions people spend so much time avoiding. I've always believed a little more exposure to these feelings in a safe place makes people more resilient, more prepared to step outside of their existential comfort zone, less apt to panic and commit violence.

This isn't to say one should spend all their time in existential doom. I have undoubtedly over-corrected and lived most of my life in observance of death and I don't for a second advocate that as a sustainable strategy. But, if you are someone who doesn't spend much time with the idea of non-existence, you could do yourself a favor by giving this a couple spins, reading why Mike wrote it, reflecting on how it makes you feel.

Thanks Mike for doing what you do, for enduring pain and channeling that pain into something beautiful, something unforgettable, something that has defined a part of who I am.

Best of 2018

2) Svartidauði - Revelations of the Red Sword

My love/hate relationship with black metal is an often disappointing thing to navigate. A genre of music this counter-culture is so attractive to someone like me. When first exploring it I devoured everything I could find. A copy of Lords of Chaos is sitting about 10 feet from me right now, a book that changed my perception of how music can define a culture. It can transcend the scope of an album and cause people to take action. Unfortunately, these actions during the infancy of black metal were largely destructive and caused harm. I don't advocate that but music should be that powerful. It should provoke something within us rather than just being in the background while we perform for the people who employ us.

Having said that, people who make "traditional black metal" are now completely wasting my time. Black metal was originally a group of kids who were terrible at playing instruments and terrible at music production who simply wanted to dismantle Christianity. It was symbolic of something profound at the time but didn't carry the thoughtfulness or follow-through required to effect change. Luckily a handful of black metal musicians have understood this and transformed the genre into something more existential and less primitively rebellious. Svartidauði, for example, is an exceptional band writing exceptional music. The primitive hate of traditional black metal pales in comparison to the truly evil music on display here. This is certainly not an album I would suggest to those uninitiated with the history of black metal, but within the scope of the genre it's the bleeding edge of expression I'm always in search of.

Best of 2018

3) Sectioned - Annihilated

You ever wonder what it feels like to have your face scraped across pavement at speed? I haven't really thought about it either, but I have a good idea of what it sounds like now that I've listened to this nightmare of a record. When most would be completely content with the subtle escapism of "going to the movies," I prefer to get my escapism from bands that want to carve me into tiny bits and proceed to feast leaving the ear drums for dessert so I can hear what's going on. Sectioned is non-fucking-stop electro-grind. If I were to write a shameless sound-bite to get to the point I'd say, "If you liked the sadistically violent tendencies of Genghis Tron, you'll LOVE Sectioned." Another prerequisite being a predilection for bleeding from the ear canal.

Best of 2018

4) Owl - Nights of Distortion

Zeitgeister... That's all. I love these German gentlemen and their various projects. I haven't seen Owl on any other Top 10's this year and I'm not terribly surprised. Ever since Valborg's Barbarian I am caught in the vortex that is the Zeitgeister label. I can't help loving their approach to music. It brashly raises a middle finger to convention and comes from somewhere unknown. I mentioned lists and lists ago that I have no idea what their influences are and I still don't. The musicians that keep Zeitgeister money'd are from a different place. And this is what I value most in music, the courage to forget the conventions of this world and create a new existence from nothing but blood, sweat, and bile.

Best of 2018

5) The Black Queen - Infinite Games

You know I fucking hate dancing, right? All these silly people that go dancing, I always think, "What is the fucking purpose there? Is there some release had by dancing that isn't addressed by fucking?" Well, The Black Queen reminded me how much of a fucking idiot I usually am toward the perfectly well-adjusted people around me. Infinite Games speaks to the parts of my inner self I never really understood, the parts that seek physical expression. I've been spending a lot of time trying to figure out why this album effects me so deeply and I think I have it sorted. There's a lot of Nine Inch Nails here. I mean just listen to One of Edge of Two and try to not think of Closer, impossible. And that might be it. When I was really getting into NIN I was young, innocent, my body still did things I didn't understand. This brings me back and it does so by reminding of NIN while taking a different approach, an approach less acerbic and "fuck the world." Infinite Games turns out to be a darkly fun thrill and it's my guilty pleasure of the year not because I feel guilty for listening, but for the actions of my body while listening.

Best of 2018

6) Vanishing Kids - Heavy Dreamer

Speaking of women... Here's another female-fronted act that struck me near the end of the year and I'm really glad they did because this album just fucking rocks man. Vanishing Kids have this intoxicating spaced out 70's psych vibe I've been searching for for a long long time. Psychedelic music so often wanders without purpose. I get it man, the drugs make that amp sound stellar. I have been there, but then you gotta wake up and ask yourself if there's a song there. Heavy Dreamer is song after song of really fucking memorable moments. The vox are haunting and carry the show, but taking some time to focus attention toward the lead guitar and percussion, there's just so much talent on hand here. I feel embarrassed for not knowing about this band before now, but now that I do, I'll be a loyal fanboy.

Best of 2018

7) Messa - Feast for Water

I wanted desperately for this to be good. Belfry, Messa's debut was good but it wasn't complete, there was something missing. I could be judging it harshly because I don't understand drone, or at least didn't want to admit this droney substance was what Messa had intended to write. Feast for Water finds Messa moving away from drone. For whatever reason they decided to edge closer to what the other witchy women in metal are doing ::cough:: SubRosa ::cough:: and they happened to have done a better job than that unmentioned band's last effort. Feast for Water feels raw. It feels like a debut that just happened to strike gold on the first outing, but it's not a debut. It's a follow-up from a band who in my often misguided opinion have found themselves. This is the sort of album that I hope in the deepest, most tender spaces in my heart, attracts more women to the scene of metal, cuz good lord we need them.

Best of 2018

8) Horrendous - Idol

Another welcome return from 2015. Horrendous are still chock full of riffs and licks, so many I don't really understand it. There must be some formula they're tapping into to create the sheer amount of material present on each album, but there isn't anything formulaic about this music. It's as if you pointed a big scary gun at a jazz quartet and told them they can't leave the studio until they hand you a polished death metal record. One might be put off by all the jazzy, serpentine chromaticism, but I wouldn't accept that as a point of dismissal because for every track they manage to pull all their chromatic riffs and runs into something charismatic, occasionally a lovely harmonic minor solo, occasionally a roomy interlude to let the chaos of the rest of the composition germinate into something really memorable. And damn would you look at that album art.

Best of 2018

9) Conjurer - Mire

It's so rare to find good beat-down hardcore with a soft side. Either it's just not heavy enough or it doesn't take a moment to realize the sadness behind all the hate. When these guys get violent it's scary to close ones eyes, the most immediate mental image being a fist hammering your face. You can't stay mad at your aggressor for long though because the following track feels like a heartfelt apology. All the elements that make great hardcore are present, the lurching breakdowns, brutal floor tom and kick fills that rumble the bowels, anger and hatred in the words, even the occasional articulate blast beat, but it's the self-reflection that makes this a special album.

Best of 2018

10) Emma Ruth Rundle - On Dark Horses

This was a late entry, very late, and I’m so glad it drifted quietly into view in the last moment before closing the books on this year’s 2018 list. Emma Ruth Rundle is the vocalist from Marriages which was featured on my list in 2015. She’s here in largely the same form although there’s a little more patience and maturity in the compositions. She seems to be more comfortable wandering in the verses giving a more personal touch to the lyrical narrative of each song. Emma has that elusive quality I’m always looking for in female vocalists, haunting, intoxicating warmth, understated and pure in delivery. That being said, whatever project she finds herself in, solo or otherwise, she always has a place on my list.

Best of 2018

Introduction

Another difficult year for sure. When looking in the mirror I see a tired version of myself. The causes are mostly self-imposed, a little too much drink, a little too much concern for "the way things are heading." The music brought less comfort this year than years past, but it was still good to construct a list. The chores of listening, researching, investing in, and rejecting various albums acted as a flotation device helping me stay above water during the torrential downpours and crashing waves. In the past when I reached this level of disillusionment and resulting prickly demeanor I simply moved away. That isn't an option at the moment, but it should be within the next year or so.

There's an image I've become obsessed with. It's of me living in a decaying wooden structure buried in the woods far away from people. I have things to make music with. I have a camera to capture brief moments of beauty and entropy. I have the ability to sit beside a tree next to a stream and listen to the running water. Colorado is devoid of the rhythmic patterns of insects mating in the night and the sound of gentle water flowing through forest ravines and I've grown to miss those things terribly. Here's hoping I can return to them before too long.

Best of 2017

1) Akercocke - Renaissance in Extremis

I'm always a bit apprehensive when a loved band from the past returns from an extended hiatus. It's been ten years since Antichrist, long enough for there to be some cobwebs to brush off, rusty joints in need of lubrication. This is prejudice however, a prejudice which polluted my perception of the first couple spins of Renaissance in Extremis. The more I listened to this, the more it became clear these musicians did not take ten years off from music. The caliber of song-writing here is the best Akercocke has ever put to album. The musical skill exhibited so tight, so articulate, so filled with purpose it's obvious these musicians have been using the past ten years in their respective home studios and with other projects polishing their chops, becoming better, preparing for something they may not have been aware of before the decision to release a new Akercocke album. The stars aligned for these smartly-dressed London gentlemen and I doubt it'll be the last time.

Best of 2017

2) Pallbearer - Heartless

There seems to be an unwritten rule understood by miserable musicians. The rule states that sad music must not have hooks, that hooks are too joyful for sad music. Very few bands rebel against this and the best of this minority happens to be Pallbearer. The music on Heartless bleeds misery while each song packs enough hooks to make this expression truly memorable. Bleak music is at its best when it has the ability to haunt you, to serve as soundtrack to overcast days and singular, solemn moments. The hooks here could be in the form of a soaring, sing-along chorus or something more subtle, a fleeting over-driven guitar lead with the perfect amount of delay to assist the memory in holding on to it. Heartless is full of these moments, but the reason Pallbearer made it to my number two spot this year is the final track, "A Plea For Understanding." Over the course of its ambitious 12 minute run-time, this final track is melancholy manifest, a perfectly written song that teases and tugs the heart strings before ripping them clean out of your chest by the time the chorus hits. While most albums from past years will gradually lose their place in my rotation, Heartless will have permanence there as long as I'm breathing.

Best of 2017

3) Caligula's Horse - In Contact

Ordering my Top 3 is always a burden and the only reason this album comes in third is because of an emotional connection with the two remaining bands. In Contact is a lovely album, certainly the most accessible on this list, the most optimistic, the most uplifting. Its existence on such an angry list is testament to the song-writing contained. This group of songs is so incredibly hooky, memorable, anthemic. I challenge any rabble to listen and not want to learn the lyrics immediately in order to join the unabashed exuberance with atonal glee. And while singing along, melodic leads will get locked in memory, Vai and Petrucci at their respective peaks come immediately to mind when reviewing the guitar work here. Why this didn't show up on more lists this year befuddles me completely, but hopefully this mention will get at least one or two people to give it a shot.

Best of 2017

4) Igorrr - Savage Sinusoid

Gautier Serre, the individual known as Igorrr, may as well have a reserved place on my year end list. With each release Serre confirms further his obsession with the creation of music. Each composition is an explosion of ideas, some with no discernible influence, plucked out of the ether. This release in particular begins in a very harsh way, out of context screams followed by crushing electric riffage and nonsensical barks. As the album progresses he introduces more tender moments building on each other, operatic passages, harpsichord, percussive sampling, concert piano, and lots of accordion. Among all the instruments piled to the sky, the songs are broken up with spontaneous fits of electronic break-core fragments and stutters. It all coalesces into something unique and in a world full of derivative nonsense, something this strange should be appreciated.

Best of 2017

5) Dodecahedron - Kwintessens

More and more black metal bands seem to be dipping a toe into the progressive realm as of late. I'm not sure why black metal lends itself to forays into the progressive, maybe the counter-culture origins of original black metal provoke budding musicians to extend counter-culture into meta-culture, meta-existence. All I know is I'm a fan of progressive anything, as long as some innovation is expressed, some new ideas exposed, some new emotions and states of mind explored. You can easily draw connections between Dodecahedron's sound and that of Deathspell Omega, revolutionaries of progressive black metal, but though I will acknowledge the comparison, Dodecahedron has a decidedly more industrial, mechanical approach to their music. Kwintessens sounds like a machine churning human existence, processing it, crushing it into nothingness. Easily the most difficult listen on my list this year and only suitable for the unabashed nihilists who revel in the horror of non-existence.

Best of 2017

6) Exhumed - Death Revenge

And here I thought goregrind was dead and buried. I haven't heard even a half-way decent goregrind album since Skinless's Trample the Weak, and before that Impaled's Mondo Medicale. Not to say there has been a lack of content from the genre, the content is just the same as it always has been, speed, guts, and little substance. Then Exhumed released a concept album, that's right, a complete script, not just random bits of anatomic butchery, but a narrative to give it all context. Now that alone would've caught my attention, but the song-writing is the best of the genre to date. The riffs are fresh and razor-sharp chock full of motifs that carry through the course of the album, the solos cut through the dissonant tension built by the bludgeoning riffage with vigorous aplomb, and the three vocal stylings finally have the structure of different characters to fully explore their range. The story unfolds like a blood-soaked nightmare and while certainly not for everyone, those who enjoy b-movie splatter should take notice.

Best of 2017

7) Converge - The Dusk in Us

With the brutal hardcore album covered, it's time to talk about the nuanced hardcore album of the year. There was a lot riding on this album, some would say too much. Converge has a legacy to live up to and thankfully The Dusk in Us does not disappoint. The beauty of Converge is their ability to balance the most scathing music with occasional tender emotion and introspection. Those addicted to extreme emotion, extreme expression should do themselves a favor and give this some time. Eardrums will be pierced, cheeks will be damp, sleep will be difficult and it'll all be completely worth it.

Best of 2017

8) Valborg - Endstrand

The few times I dipped into hardcore this year I was pleasantly surprised. A year like this is bound to have a few raw, caustic manifestations of nihilism, Integrity and Code Orange immediately come to mind. That being said a very non-hardcore album managed to sate my hunger for hardcore this year. Valborg has been all over the map as of late and Endstrand is by far their angriest album to date. Everything is very straightforward and minimal, from the riffs to the occasional song where the only words barked are that of the track title repeated over and over again, but for some reason I can't just dismiss this as bare barbarism. Endstrand oozes with swagger from beginning to end in the most punishing way possible and while each scrap of rusty aural abuse might seem simplistic, the savagery in their delivery is what makes Valborg illuminated in the long night of angry music.

Best of 2017

9) Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun

Chelsea Wolfe has been just outside direct line of sight for some time and with Hiss Spun it's time for me to pay respect. She's obviously an artist who isn't afraid to get a little frayed and grimy, residing in the cross-section of strange avant-garde and metal along with Myrkur, Subrosa, and Julie Christmas. Wolfe has a haunting delivery that takes time to warm up to. There are hooks on here but they aren't immediately rewarding because they're buried in dissonance and walls of distortion. Hiss Spun needs time to sink its teeth in, but once it does little melodies will get trapped somewhere in the consciousness like worms working their way into the deeper gray matter adjacent to memories of old jingles and Led Zeppelin riffs.

Best of 2017

10) Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper

Can a singular idea be stretched, molded, transformed into a compelling 60+ minute album? I was very skeptical upon first spins of this record. The fact that there's only a single track here is scary enough, making you think the only way to consume is all in one sitting. It took a while before I was able to justify spending the time with a full listen and even when I did the skepticism didn't immediately fade, but it did grow softer stoking some strange curiosity strong enough to provoke the second spin. Over time I grew to love this album, not for its variety or number of ideas, but for its purity. The existential sadness expressed here through simple melodies and lyrical poetry is worth drowning in if you can make the time to do so.

Best of 2017

Introduction

Remember that optimism I attempted to express in the preamble to my list of 2016? Well... it now requires a bit more struggling, straining to swim toward shore with an undercurrent persistently tugging at the ankles. Solid ground seems a pipe dream and progress can be made only with the sacrifice of neighbors and friends experiencing the same struggle. Given the turn toward something closer to general pessimism it seems much more appropriate that I listen to the music I have chosen for the following list of reviews. It is angry and hateful, misanthropic and cold, and it helps to temporarily wash the frustration from present thought. We can look at January 1st as a symbolic fresh start to get us up in the morning, but Trump is still our president, success only comes to parasites feeding on the willfully ignorant or disadvantaged, artists are discouraged from innovation and encouraged to create trite, innocuous fodder, and the environment which sustains us has fallen past all tipping points on its inevitable descent toward abject wasteland. I will not deny the possibility of turning the ship around, but let's be honest about exactly what we're toasting our champagne to at the close of 2017.