Jan 17, 2018
This is the “Best of 2017” Part 1: winners in my categories Next week is Part 2, where I let you know my favorite album of the year!
Best
Thrash
KREATOR (Germany), album -
Gods of Violence
Song: Gods of Violence
(0:25-6:07)
— It was Sophie’s Choice between this
and Power Trip, but everyone picked Power Trip. I went for the
legendary band. Chomping power riffs and anthemic heavy metal says
that old people can still make badass rippin’ metal. Fuck
Metallica.
Runners-up:
Power Trip (Dallas), album
- Nightmare Logic — Power Trip skips out, fists
flailing, legs kicking, tongue in cheek, savage and gleefully
groovy. Catchy to the extreme, but every song has its own story,
powerful and just made to blast your face in.
Foreseen (Finland), album - Grave
Danger — Finnish band Foreseen does a crossover style of
thrash, blending in the energy of hardcore into their dirty as hell
gritty thrash with tons of ripping groove that you just tighten
your hand into a fist to punch the air. Blows Iron Reagan's new
album out of the water in terms of crossover
perfection.
Earthling (VA), album - Spinning in
the Void — Earthling excels in what I love about thrash -
the riffs bro, the riffs. Tempo-changing adds to their well
thought-out compositions. This ain't just the straightforward
thrash diddlies of yore.
Bloodlust (Perth), album - At The
Devil's Left Hand — Tight, evil, hard-hitting, galloping,
moshpit skipping melodies.
Best
Doom
RED SCALP (Poland), album -
Lost Ghosts
Song: Lost Ghosts
(7:47-17:30)
— Lumbering, multi-instrumentation,
crooning lovely vocalist, psychedelic and space. From beginning to
end, just perfection.
Runners-up:
Pallbearer (Arkansas), album –
Heartless — The focal point of Pallbearer is the vocalist,
who has been extremely influential, including bands on this list.
Melodic-heavy and lyrically-beautiful. I'm a little tired of this
"funeral" doom-style; I think it is getting dated. Hence, I picked
Red Scalp, who blew me away.
Destroyer of Light (Austin), album -
Chamber of Horrors — Crooning, moody doom that breaks into
chugging riffs. Beautiful, epic song-writing
Spirit Adrift (Arizona), album -
Curse of Conception — Take Over and Destroy's guitarist
created this one-mand band, which is a full band now. The vocal
style of Pallbearer - a bit whiny, emotional. On the slow spectrum
of doom, but breaks into great riffs.
Obelyskkh (Germany), album - The
Providence — When it breaks, it breaks into full headbanging
riffage. Huge lead-ups.
Best Death
Metal
VENENUM (Germany), album -
Trance of Death
Song: Trance Of Death Part III -
There Are Other Worlds... (18:40-32:34)
— Please listen to the runners-up:
Vampire is the best retro Swedish melodic death; and Immolation was
serious death metal. Venenum is like a death metal demon did peyote
with Oranssi Pazuzu.
Runners-up:
Vampire (Sweden), album - With
Primeval Force — Vampire does this incredible job of
capturing a retro style, with bite. Totally Swedish death metal
with melodic mixed with heavy thrash. It is a fucking versatile
album within each song, it hella swings. There is so much to
headbang to here, but also a bit of folk and ballad creating a
fully-rounded and thoughtful album. And they just let loose, this
shit would be wild live. This is their second, more polished album,
after a hiatus of 3 years.
Immolation (NY), album –
Atonement — Serious fucking death metal. Lead singer does
his style so well, unflinchingly rumbling guttural, so fucking hot.
Versatile and groove-filled, filled to the brim with massive riffs
and unusually splintered melodies. The drumming. . . fuck, the
drumming.
Spectral Voice (CO), album - Visions
Of Psychic Dismemberment — Members hail from Blood
Incantation, but this is another style of death – falling into
horror noise and the unexpected.
Necrot (Oakland), album - Blood
Offerings — More speed-infused than most of my list; this
rages forward, head down and horns up. But it is not unrelenting -
it breaks into slower tempos and less-dense compositions. Heavy on
the guitar work.
Artificial Brain (NYC), album –
Infrared Horizon — Pummeling, technical, progressive death
that is just fucking painful all around; and with aching melodies
strung through.
Witch Vomit (Portland), album -
Poisoned Blood — A formerly 2-piece, now 3-piece creating a
grisly, bloody, indecipherable but somehow groovy straight-forward
style of death.
Incantation (PA), album - Profane
Nexus — Dense, intense, and what you expect from a death
metal band - bombastic and crushing, and unafraid to slow it
down.
Best Noise
Rock/Punk
IDLES (Bristol), album –
Brutalism
Song: Exeter (33:26-37:23)
— Young, intelligent,
emotionally-driven punk album with fantastic lyrics. The vocalist
is a huge part of this album, grieving his mother through the
songs.
[NSFW]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuQG6_evFc8
Runners-up
Maggot Heart (Sweden), album - City
Girls — Linnea Olsson was a guitarist in the legendary
Beastmilk who changed their name to Grave Pleasures, who are in my
"Best of Post-Punk" category. She now fronts her own noisy art punk
band Maggot Heart. Melodic pop and guitar is at the forefront, her
voice is sharp and sexy croons. Just four songs pack a
punch.
Dead (AU), album - We Won't Let You
Sleep — Australian two-piece alternative noise-rock band
mixed with doom and sludge. a bit of nostalgic Pixies-style rock
minimalist, some songs dive into a distorted thick psychedelic
sound. It's got the energy of a middle-aged punk band. They're
weighted with experience and wit.
Public Psyche (Belgium), album - No
New Violence — Public Psyche has a unique take on post-punk,
incorporating a less synthetic sound - post-punk mixed with
krautrock and noise experimental.
Best NY
Metal
EX EYE (NYC), album –
S/T
Song: Opposition / Perihelion; the
Coil (38:00-48:43)
— Liturgy drummer and Secret Chiefs 3
bro, creating an album that is surprising at every turn. The fact
that I chose this band from the list below should say it all. Part
improvisational, part jazz, part extreme, part
meditative.
Runners-Up:
Buckshot Facelift (NY), album - Ulcer
Island — Monstrous, meaty and mind-blowing.
Belus (Brooklyn), album –
Apophenia — Dense, intense, and hella passionate shimmering
black metal with an incredible raspy singer.
Belltower (Brooklyn), album –
Hereafter — Wicked black metal erupting in brutal riffs,
head wrenching, melody underlying.
Floods (Brooklyn), album – S/T
— Debut album with roovey riff element, chugging sludge, unexpected
dynamics, and erupts in cold black metal when needed. The vocalist
is a treat.
Luminous Vault (NYC), album –
Charismata — 2-piece supergroup, includes the bassist of
Artificial Brain.
Artificial Brain, album – Infrared
Horizon — Pummeling, technical, progressive death that is
just fucking painful all around, but with aching melodies strung
through
Krallice (NYC), album – Loüm —
This is the album with Dave Edwardson. Yet another push into
complex math structure, difficult and challenging, abstract and
completely fucking enjoyable. Let your brain be
bludgeoned.
Yellow Eyes (NYC), album - Immersion
Trench Reverie — Yet another dive into melodic black metal
with mind-melding tempo changes, rousing riffs. Dense and
spectacular yet again.
Couch Slut (Brooklyn), album –
Contempt — Tormented raw aggro noise mixed with emotional
vocals, bleak and anger mixed, the vocals are difficult to come to
terms with, but I like that in my face. Like fuck me, you're right.
I want to hear a woman scream, it makes me pull the blanket to my
side a bit more.
Pyrrhon (NYC), album - What Passes
for Survival — Pyrrhon is just out there. They are brutal
death and grind, angular, and drift to the unexpected. They are
here to torture, and you won't know what hit you. Fucking weird,
but effortlessly. Which obviously is the highest
compliment.
Woe (Brooklyn), album – Hope
Attrition — A blast of fury, relentlessness, with plaintive
melodies. Woe has created a masterpiece of Brooklyn-style metal,
the vocals is one of my favorites, extremely emotive and
escalating, heating your blood.
Best
Retro/Retro Doom
KADAVAR (Germany), album -
Rough Times
Song: The Lost Child
(49:43-55:20)
— These bands borrow from the best
decade – the 70’s, infusing floating psychedelic and a vocalist
with honeyed vocals. Lovely. One of my favorite bands, and
this is their best album.
Runners-up:
Demon Head (Denmark), album - Thunder
on the Fields — Sexy psychedelic groove, emotional epic
vocals accompanied by moody melodies. Just yeah
bro.
The Wizards (Spain), album - Full
Moon in Scorpio — Sexy blues rock fully immersed in their
love of the 70's, jamming solos, the power vocalist and
song-writing is epic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=bw7ezvR-fuM
Doublestone (Denmark), album -
Devil's Own/Djævlens Egn — Stunning stoner psychedelic.
Frigging warm jamming delicious. Holy shit. Fuck yes, Denmark.
Lyrics-rich, vocalist crooning magnificence.
Night Demon (CA), album - Darkness
Remains — Magical summer night hard rock. Night Demon
doesn't shy from their roots, with songs titled Maiden Hell, We
Will Rock You, Welcome to the Night and so on. They remind me of
Chris Black projects, melodic power and hooks, this is mullet and
beer metal.
Pagan Altar (UK), album – The Room of
Shadows — Pagan Altar are old dudes, around since 1978, and
about 20 years actively making music. The original singer and
guitarist are father and son. In 2014 they were set to release
Never Quite Dead, and then Terry Jones, the singer, died of cancer.
His son and some original members spent time touching up the album,
the sound melancholy and nostalgic, and finally released it. There
is a touch of folk, the vocalist spinning stories with a lilting
vocal. The sound is reminiscent of their sound 40 years ago, and
that is just badass.
Demon Eye (NC), album - Prophecies
and Lies — I'm just fine with Americans taking influence
from the Swedish revitalist gods, especially when the result is as
perfect as North Carolina's Demon Eye.
Best
Sludge
HELL (Oregon), album -
S/T
Song: Inscriptus
(56:20-1:01:20)
— Filthy bleak sludge, pure and
distilled, shrieking through a black hole.
Runners-Up
Sloth Herder (MD), album - No Pity,
No Sunrise — Holy shit, their first fucking album; and they
definitely have the Maryland influence of brutal and grind. This
album shreds and pummels, from harsh disjointed sharp notes into
epic fist pumping into haunting atmosphere into thick melodic
sludge and a stint into grind, short as fuck songs infusing their
album; and all of it results in this massive claustrophobic journey
of an album.
Seer (Vancouver), album - Vol. III &
IV: Cult of the Void — This is their second album, lots of
unrushed acoustic, nature sounds, and when it finally explodes, the
lead singer is at the helm, lush and emotional.
Céleste (France), album -
Infidèle(s) — Sinister French music is the trend, and
Céleste creates that dense black metal structure with hardcore,
gritty doom that creates a sonic sludge sound.
Best
Post-Punk
ROPE SECT (Germany), album -
Personae Ingratae
Song: Pretty Life
(1:02:05-1:05:58)
— Shimmering guitars and emotional
vocalist, blues and doom thread through.
Runners-Up:
Grave Pleasures (Finland), album –
Motherblood — Previously Beastmilk, Grave Pleasures just
annihilates every post-punk sound out there. Beastmilk won my 2013
Best Post-Punk, they have converted themselves to Grave Pleasures
and have released their second album. What makes this band stand
out compared to other bands in their goth-influenced genre is their
production value, their ability to be unrelentingly catchy but
completely unique. They surprise you with how emotional their sound
is, how romantic, how nostalgic for dark basement
clubs.
Partisan (Belgian), album - We Have
Been so Terribly Betrayed — Lyrically dark, enough for you
to shiver into your black cloak. The thickly plucked guitar is
melancholy; and shoe-gaze, but in the right way.
Nerve Quakes (Perth), album - A New
State — Political goth mixed with post-punk and synth
pop.
All Your Sisters (SF), album –
Uncomfortable Skin — A local duo creating their modern take
on this genre.
Public Psyche (Belgium), album - No
New Violence — Public Psyche has a unique take on post-punk,
incorporating a less synthetic sound - post-punk mixed with
krautrock and noise experimental.
Best
Avante-Garde/Experimental + 2nd BEST ALBUM OF THE
YEAR
THE RUINS OF BEVERAST
(Germany), album – Exuvia
Song: Maere (On a Stillbirth's Tomb)
(1:07:24-END)
— I always lean towards experimental;
and this album is unique, ethereal, black, demonic, tribal. My
brain floated in their vivid imagination. This album grows the more
I listen to it.
Runners-Up
Drug Honkey (Chicago), album - Cloak
of Skies — Gritty, experimental groove, a bit of industrial
vocals and epicness, death vocals, tied to a weird personality of
jazz sax and psychedelic noise effects and just
loud.
Gigan (Chicago), album - Undulating
Waves of Rainbiotic Iridescence — It is the manifestation of
strange brains dreaming. There is streaming psychedelic pulsating
through veins of brutal and master technical extreme. This is their
4th album.
Pyrrhon (NY), album - What Passes for
Survival — Pyrrhon is just out there. They are brutal death
and grind, angular, and drift to the unexpected. They are here to
torture, and you won't know what hit you. Fucking weird, but
effortlessly. Which obviously is the highest
compliment.
Czar (WA), album - Life Is No Way To
Treat An Animal — Animal-loving psychotic weirdos Czar
create a bubbly electronic grind album that will soundtrack your
fever dreams. FREE DOWNLOAD:
https://czar.bandcamp.com/album/life-is-no-way-to-treat-an-animal
Venenum (Germany), album - Trance of
Death — Won my Best Death Metal album
Behind My
Vocals
New Order, Ministry, Cabaret
Nocturne, She Past Away, Zanias, Sixth June, Dead Husband,
Manicure