This marks probably the 10th time I've purchased something Burning Witch-related. Over the last ten years, I've bought numerous CD releases and a few t-shirts from this Seattle doom band. I first heard them in highschool and couldn't get over how intense their music was. In fact, it's one of those bands whose work can't be appreciated on anything other than vinyl. Which is why when Southern Lord announced they finally got the Burning Witch 4xLP and DVD set together, I sprung for it.
As the Bloglin's primary Metal reviewer I was tasked with compiling the Bloglin's top 10 Metal albums of the year. 2011 was a rough year for metal. Compared to years past, the good albums were few and far between and most of them were immediate follow ups to last year's releases. New bands came into focus, but their work just wasn't there. These ups and downs come every few years and while some of the top 10 metal albums aren't as great as their preceded releases, they're still better than 90% of the field. Maybe this is just a sign of the end of the world in 2012? Who knows but we can all hope and pray to Oden that things pick up a bit more.
While blackened thrash dominated the 2010 rankings, 2011 saw a pique in black metal acts. While a majority of lo-fi releases were strictly released on cassette, the forefront was manned by some of the longest-standing names in the black metal genre. From Norway to the States, bands brought out some of their best work in years. And then came the new wave of British heavy metal. Bands like Devil, Ghost and Capricorn emulated acts like Sabbath and Saint Vitus. As Cathedral played their last show ever, earlier in December, a slew of new bands picked up the torch and marched onward.
While this list might not be in agreeance with your top 10 picks, keep in mind, I tried to represent some of the more prominent acts of the year. You may notice that my list doesn't follow how I graded these 10 albums in my original reviews. There are some rank shifts, putting higher graded albums below lower graded albums. I wanted to revisit the rankings for the list because over the course of the year opinions on an album can change. This list was ordered by albums I kept to coming back to time after time over this past year.
You'll probably notice the Metal albums here vary some from the Bloglin's general Top 50 abums of 2011 in inclusion, exclusion and placement (No Liturgy this time, sorry folks!). That is because this is entirely my list of the best Metal releases for the year, unlike the Top 50, which was a group effort. So without further ado, here's the top 10 metal albums of 2011, which still holds nothing on 2010's list!
If you buy one death metal album this year, you should highly consider Vallenfyre's A Fragile King. This album, from beginning to end is nothing but the best in breaks, wailing riffage and brutal, spine tingling vocals. I haven't been such a fanboy about a death doom act since Hooded Menace! But what makes this music so moving? It's the story behind it. Vocalist and guitarist Gregor Mackintosh's father died from cancer and A Fragile King was born from the grief and torment. As you can imagine, A Fragile King is a journey through pain and despair. Gregor (how metal of a name is that?) almost intentionally makes his vocals clear to share with us his pain. This album packs a fucking serious punch. He walks us through this tormented landscape with a razor blade collar, yanking if we begin to fall behind.
Last year when they put out their EP, Magister Mundi Xum , Devil became an instant hit. This NWOBHM band came out of nowhere with a refreshing and addicting sound. Everything about Devil embodied doom and heavy metal at its finest. You really can't go wrong here. When the band released their new full-length, Time to Repent, my palms began to sweat. After many rotations, one thing is obvious: Time to Repent is void of any ostentation. There's no futile attempts at creating anything epic or over-produced. What we have here is down to Earth (or under-Earth) doom metal.
Coming hot off "The Welcome (intro)" is "Break the Curse" and it's a scorcher. Its tempo and the fact that the solo kicks in at the right moment jump starts the album with confidence. Next up is "Blood Is Boiling," a catchy and melodic trip into doom! One familiar track is "Time to Repent", the cover track. This was by far my favorite cut off Magister Mundi Xum and the re-recording sounds better than ever!
"This Horrifying Force (the Desire To Kill)" off Forever Abomination
I'm really beginning to wonder when Chance Garnette begins to lose his luster because as of now, Skeletonwitch is three albums deep in a stomping circle pit of blackened thrash anthems. Like many, my introduction to Skeletonwitch was their 2007 release Beyond the Permafrost, which was trumped by Breathing the Fire in 2009 and now, Forever Abomination attempts to mark their catalog as the best release under their spiked belts.
And it's doing just that. Forever Abomination is a no bullshit experience. 11 tracks and 32 minutes of blackened thrash that is only trumped by their live show and chants of "EAT SOME FUCKING PUSSY". "This Horrifying Force (the Desire To Kill)" and "Reduced To The Failure Of Prayer" introduce Skeletonwitch's almost comedic song titles. I say comedic because when you watch them live, you can tell these guys are all about a fun time. Behind the sneer is a beer.
Ok, so it's been a while but what a perfect album to bring about the return of Tuesday Teardown!
I'm a hypocrite. When Oregon-based Wolves In the Throne Room released Black Cascade, their homage to the Cascade Mountains of their home state, I sang praises for weeks about it. Then I started to really listen to the album and after putting it on heavy rotation, I lost interest. Why? I still don't know. Maybe because there were much better black metal releases that year, or because I felt like they were getting too much praise for too little work. Years later, I'm back into Black Cascade but I've yet to warm up to their Two Hunters EP. Again, I'm not exactly sure why.
This year, the whole metal industry has been salivating for the release of Celestial Lineage, the new Wolves album. People wondered what they'd cook up for this release and me being the cynical fuck that I tend to be when it comes to overhyped music, already had an idea what it would be like. Was I right? Kind of. Wolves makes such an effort to break up their music with angelic singing and other sounds, focusing on the composition more so, at least in my opinion, than on their actual music. Celestial Lineage has, in many ways, lived up to my preconceived opinion.
"Thuja Magus Imperium" begins with windchimes and a harmony sung by a women, straight out of Lord of the Rings. This creates a contrast that in my opinion, muddles the album as it morphs from this introduction to Wolves' signature tremelo picking and distortion. And it's like a beast escaped from a cage. This is a whole new Wolves. The writing has improved immensely, the drums, guitars and basslines are fucking sharp and before you know it, it's a jam fest. Now if only this momentum would continue.
Oh my fucking god. Ahhhhhhhh. Pardon my enthusiasm, let me turn this album off because I can't even concentrate long enough to write this review. Byfrost's second full-length, Of Death kicks the fucking shit out of just about other thrash album of 2011. Remember back when you were a whipper snapper and you got your first intro to the Swedish tech death craze of the early 90's? Think about At the Gates but blackened and with a much better production budget (and blast beats, oh god the blast beats!)
Rip open the top and chug down "May The Dead Rise". This is what Immortal would sound like if they weren't such huge fucking pussies. Gah! Chop their heads off. "Eye For An Eye" just hammers away for over 5 minutes. The blast beats arise out of the chasm and demons are let loose, ripping your soul to shreds as they dine on your finger tips. If you haven't caught wind of how crisp and icy this album is by now, you're an idiot. This shit is sharp. The band produced Of Death themselves with help from Enslaved's producer, Herbrand Larsen. Usually high-production equals douchey show-boaters. Remember, I said this wasn't Immortal. Byfrost is about as gnarly as you can get when it comes to blackened thrash. Their shit-kicking, FUCK YOU, attitude continues with "Buried Alive" where we're bent over on madame guillotine herself and await execution.
Check out more of this review over at the Mishka Bloglin!
Why it's taken me this long to review the work of Judd Madden in a Tuesday Teardown post is beyond me. Drown is a part of a triptych of self-released albums from Melbourne-based musician Judd Madden. While it's easy to call albums "ground breaking", "monumental" and "epic", Drown definitely hits all of those on the head with precision, especially when compared to the other albums in the series: Float and Waterfall. What makes this doom-ridden series so dynamic is that each of the albums are entirely different beasts. Drown makes up the most recent in the series of experimental albums and is by far my favorite. Featuring crushing riffs and menacing drums, Drown evokes a sensation that's understood immediately.
In just 7 tracks, Judd brings the weight, totaling an hour of playing time. Doom metal ain't that tough to nail down and yet, Judd Madden's work is so effortless in achieving that classic sound that it really makes you wonder how smart he really is. "Path" and "Riptide" begin their reign of bass and riffage, raking in an impressive 14 minutes for the pair. Drown's sound is a familiar one. There's obvious Sleep influence but it's not as monotonous as Isis or Pelican can be. If I were to compare it's sound to anything, it'd come in close with Flood. For a more experimental and softened tone, check out "Waterlung" with its ripping opening riff and cascading symbols. This classic sludge track echoes the days of Sabbath and Vitus.
Check out more below, including the entire album streaming for free!
Kits are like investments in future memories. For instance, my Box Dog Bikes kit will forever be my "Melbourne road ride" kit. You'll always remember what you were wearing when you had those epic moments with your friends. Speaking of Melbourne, check out what I got in the mail today from down under.
Melbourne ain't exactly the sunny, surfer bro city you'd expect it to be. Where there are foreboding skies, there will be metal. This week for Tuesday Teardown, I thought I'd give you a look at the premiere metal music and book shop in Melbourne, Ritual Music and Books.
So yesterday, a local reader named Dylan hit me up asking how I'd feel about featuring Ritual for Tuesday Teardown. Sure enough, I was stoked to see a grassroots record store and was eager to check out what people were digging here.
Check out more from my special edition of Tuesday Teardown below!
I was beginning to wonder about Book of Black Earth. Especially with frontman TJ Cowgill's new found love for Satanic Folk and Actual Pain's success as a clothing label. But we all know that metal is eternal and the newest album from Book of Black Earth, The Cold Testament is living proof. The band is back with its fast-paced and brutal approach to metal. It's not exactly black, death or power metal and yet it speaks clearly to fans across all genres.
Check out more of my Tuesday Teardown featuring The Cold Testament below!
It's Tuesday Teardown and this one will make you break your chain in a furious sprint!
All hail the mighty motherfucking BONGRIPPER. The Chicago four-piece has been wrecking speakers and houses for so long that any other band with BONG in their name must drink their bong water. When this band releases an album, much less a 7″, marijuana plants worldwide bud up and release a pheromone that entices pot smokers and riff-heads to spark one up!
Sex Tape/Snuff Film picks up right where the god dammed juggernaut Satan Worshipping Doom left off last year. Expect the gravity defying riffs to crunch your speakers and Beelzebub himself to grace your opium den with pentagrams and naked whores. Put on “Sex Tape” and daze the fuck out. As the first riffs drop, the sky rumbles and walls collapse as the heaviness sets in, obliterating everything in its path. BOOM!
Check out the rest of this review at the Mishka Bloglin!
NYC black metal and I don't get along too well, unless it's Krallice. Over the years, Krallice has been honing their sound and after two successful albums, Krallice and Dimensional Bleedthrough, the band has created a great album entitled Diotima.
Where do I begin with their sound? The initial track, "_" sounds much like their earlier work: tremelo picking, blast beats and endless loops of chaotic bliss but there's something different now. In Diotima, the lead singer's vocals have begun to take dominance over the tracks. But it's not the typical black metal vocal stylings, they're more akin to death metal and they compliment the fast-paced chaotic sound perfectly. There's a power behind the music now and the dainty presence their music has had in previous albums is now irrelevant.
Just listen to "Inhume" for a key example, it's fucking kick-ass! Same goes for "The Clearing", another quasi-artsy composition that would normally be too shoe-gazey for my taste but the vocals just balance it all out. The title track "Diotima" is a bit slower and more epic than the other tracks. One slight critique of Diotima is the way most of the songs begin. They all start with the same reverb but the beast that lies sleeping is about to awaken.
Check out the rest of this review over at the Mishka Bloglin!
Here I was, thinking to myself that there needed to be an album in 2011 that gave Richmond-based Cough a run for their money. A few hours later and I came across the new album from Chicago's Indian. This is one of the first 2011 albums that I see making through the metal masses and sticking around for years to come. As their first album on Relapse and forth in their collection, Guiltless delivers on all fronts.
The guys have come a long way since their 2008 album, Slights and Abuse / The Sycophant. Their sound is bigger and the production kicks ass. Not to mention the anger that was evident in Slights and Abuse / The Sycophant has been sharpened and honed for a much more impactful delivery. The twisted vocal stylings of Dylan O'Toole bring their sound to new, emotional lows in ways that I can't even come close to describing. While the wretched sounds are heavy, they do lack that refinement that other doom acts posses after years of playing. Don't look to Guiltless for a modern-day Burning Witch or Electric Wizard, these guys have a different tinge to their music.
Check out the rest of this review at the Mishka Bloglin!
Since I forgot to put up a Tuesday Teardown post yesterday, the newest from Hessian Hobbies will serve as an apology to the metalhead readers. You remember the last one right? This time they're mixing it up with some Black Breath! Thanks to the one and only Crocus Bocephus for sharing. This is Viking-approved!
Man, it's been a while since I posted anything on a Friday afternoon that was bangin'. Oh wait. Could this be considered a Friday Afternoon Banger? Sure. Why not. Benny L's newest edit for FIT comes out swinging. With that flat wall to bar and the hard smith to fakie nose mannie, not many will argue with that!
With their sound bouncing and reverberating all over the place in the last few years, it's hard to determine where Blut Aus Nord is taking their unique approach to black metal next. Maybe that's a by-product of the genre dying out, or at least changing scope. Bands that take it seriously are often led down the path of mockery to the original intent of a cold and essentially compressed, low-fi genre. Gone are the compressed vocals and distorted sounds and now all that remains are the few lone acts who consistently nail down the feel by using their own experimentation with cross-genres. That's where Blut Aus Nord's new album, 777 Sect(s) comes into play. It's clearly black metal but it's a redefinition of said genre.
777 Sect(s) may just be the most significant black metal release in years. Its cold and cavernous feel creates the same depressed and compressed sound made popular by the early Norwegian acts. From their 2009 release, Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue... and into their more recent EP, What Once Was… Liber I, the French band effortlessly turn the dials of the apocalypse with one finger. Each track is entitled "Epitome" and they range from 1-6 offering a solid 45-minute experience.
Check out the rest of this review at the Mishka Bloglin!
Where do I begin with Monkeypriest? The last I heard from them was their first EP entitled Defending The Tree and I was not into it at all. The main reason I like doom metal, well good doom metal, is the power that’s inherent in the genre. I want fierce drums, heavy riffs and some damn strong vocals. Maybe my disdain for Defending The Tree was accentuated after hearing their newest release The Psalm. After sitting through this heavy-as-fuck rain of power, Defending The Tree seems like it may have just been a bit of musical foreplay.
“Hanuman’s Dance” becons to the gods. The elder ones who created the Earth. This precession of percussions and muddy riffage opens up the book that is The Psalm. It’s all instrumental, with simple drum rolls and head-dropping breaks. “The Word Of The Priest” begins with a war drum. Slow and steady riffs overlay and finally the doom and gloom sets in. Quickly the pace picks up and we’re introduced to Monkeypriest#1 and Monkeypriest#2′s vocals. How killer is that? They’ve reduced themselves to numbers. This track is Sabbath worship if I’ve ever heard it but the vocals and production are fucking killer.
Check out the rest of my review of Monkeypriest's The Psalm at the Mishka Bloglin!
