Jan 19, 2022
This week, #2 album. Next week, #1! See below for Best Album Art.
0:25-6:50
MORAL COLLAPSE (Bengalaru), album - S/T (Death,
Modern)
Abandoned rooms of misspelled agony
— Vivid, storytelling death with plenty of seething and
explosions. Loved the experimental sections with creepy violins and
sexy saxophones. Made for parties with music snobs.
8:17-14:32
ESOCTRILIHUM (France), album - Dy'th Requiem For The
Serpent Telepath (Black)
Baahl Duthr
— Imagine an alien god that injects cold malevolence into its
warriors. This is what they listen to get enraged, and then soothes
them in death.
14:57-20:17
STORTREGN (Switzerland), album – Impermanence
(Black & Death)
Timeless Splendor
— All the genres embedded and aligned. Swirling technical
guitar solos with demonic chatter that spreads to a touching
melodic black.
20:50-27:12
PARANORM (Sweden), album – Empyrean
(Speed/Thrash)
Intelligence Explosion
— A black metal screech in a playful and moody thrash dance
that makes you leap in joy mid-mosh.
27:34-31:37
FRACTAL GENERATOR (Ontario), album – Macrocosmos
(Death)
Ethereal
— Yet another multi-faceted vocalist with headbanging riffs
and angular pace with bouts of jazz influence. Just,
surprising.
32:25-37:51
CLOAK OF ALTERING (Netherlands), album - Sheathed swords
drip with poisonous honey (Black, Modern)
I have missed the light so much
— This is made for me. Industrial and experimental synth that
made me nostalgic for the first time I listened to the
brain-warping legends of yore. These guys inject modern romantic
black metal for the wretched part of your soul.
38:16-42:42
CRYPTOSIS (Netherlands), album – Bionic Swarm
(Speed/Thrash)
Game of Souls
— Another most infectious thrash that races and careens off
kilter with proggy pace. Somehow finds time for some synth just
because they want to blow your mind.
43:04-48:08
SPECTRAL WOUND (Montreal), album - A Diabolic
Thirst (Black, Melodic)
Fair Lucifer, Sad Relic
— Feral and textured black metal, sharpened with pain and
slowed to create the aching, and a vocalist that stains your
brain.
48:39-57:16
AD NAUSEAM (Italy), album - Imperative Imperceptible
Impulse (Black & Death)
Horror Vacui
— Snaking compositions of black pummeling, death growls,
horror atmosphere and suddenly, unexpectedly, heart-palpitatingly
breaks into a soothing solace.
56:37-1:01:41
KANKAR (Germany), album - Dunkle Millennia
(Black)
Thüringer Schwarzmetall
— Of course, German black metal with a stunning style of rock
and melodic that also that weaponized vocal that straightens your
toes.
1:02:06-1:06:50
INFERI (TN), album - Vile Genesis (Death)
No Gods But Our Flesh
— Dramatic, explosive, swarming and harmonizing guitars with a
range of vocals. But basically this just shreds.
1:07:11-1:11:56
STORMRULER (St. Louis), album - Under The Burning
Eclipse (Black)
At the Cliffs of Azure City
— That exquisite screech with raw black metal fury that allows
your head to decapitate to a chomping riff. Technical and pure at
heart.
1:12-19-1:15:46
PUPIL SLICER (UK), album – Mirrors (Extreme)
Husk
— Abuse and torture in a package that ripples with tension,
with modern grind and hardcore and spectacular breaks into melody
and groove. Strength and agony.
1:16:03-1:23:40
SPIRE (AU), album - Temple of Khronos
(Hypnotic)
Hymn IV - Puissant
— Theatrical, carnivalesque black metal in a meditative
atmosphere that envelops your brain. You know, hypnotic.
1:24:06-1:27:52
OBSCURA (Germany), album - A Valediction (Death,
Melodic)
The Beyond
— Twirl with me to Obscura, hair whipping behind until you are
just part of that noodle-y death chomp, the sharp edges mixed with
beauty. Oh those vocals bounce and crash on top.
1:28:18-1:34:43
CIVEROUS (LA), album - Decrepit Flesh Relic
(Death, Doom)
Herodacy
— Atmosphere filled with ash, a crawling heated vocalist
follows with a badass pummeling pace. The sound mixes an
atmospheric doom and a murky textured death. Perfect for car ride
and a fist out the window.
1:35:06-1:40:43
KHEMMIS (Denver), album – Deceiver (Stoner,
Jams)
Obsidian Crown
— Khemmis has that lead singer that is unbelievably expressive
in both beauty and menace. The songs vary from majestic to stoner
and heavy metal. All of it memorable.
#2 Album of 2021:
1:41:18-1:45:53
GABESTOK (Denmark), album - Én gang rådden, altid
rådden (Black, Modern)
På gravens rand
— This stood out to me starkly against the rest of the albums,
with the weird raw production, notes of 60’s garage rock, and the
sexy rocking psychedelic meandering black metal that stayed weird
and creepy and evil. An album that sounds different with every
listen.
Best Album Art
Scarred (Luxembourg), album - S/T https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3968482678_10.jpg
KLUVIM (Israel), album - Om Mani Padme Hum https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2708034658_10.jpg
Altered Dead, album - Returned To Life https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1572633909_10.jpg
Werewolves, album - What A Time To Be Alive https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0103034480_10.jpg
Eximperituserqethhzebibšiptugakkathšulweliarzaxułum (Belarus), album - Šahrartu https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0764825667_10.jpg
Mordkaul, album - Dress Code: Blood https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2692337893_10.jpg
Black Hole Deity, album - Lair Of Xenolich https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4162162910_10.jpg
Culted (Sweden), album - Nous https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0649041842_10.jpg
Anatomia (Japan), album - Corporeal Torment https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2876908082_10.jpg
Nightfall (Greece), album - At Night We Prey https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0263275372_10.jpg
Turris Eburnea (Italy), album - S/T https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1506248864_10.jpg
Grima (Russia), album - Rotten Garden https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4211161359_10.jpg
Unflesh (New Hampshire), album - Inhumation https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2586676173_10.jpg
Spectral Lore (Greece), album - Ετερόφωτος https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2232699247_10.jpg
Grey Aura (Netherlands), album - Zwart vierkant https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1722429475_10.jpg
Oryx (Denver), album - Lamenting A Dead World https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4001120803_10.jpg
Erdve (Lithuania), album - Savigaila https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1393930651_10.jpg
Graveslave (MN), album - No Center https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3232968585_10.jpg
Creeping Death (TX), album - The Edge of Existence https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0368191437_10.jpg
Atræ Bilis (CAN), album - Apexapien https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3070867920_10.jpg
Hate (Poland), album - Rugia https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4023207229_10.jpg
Sunless (MN), album - Ylem https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1261055484_10.jpg
Worm (FL), album - Foreverglade https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1911764557_10.jpg
Burial (Italy), album - Inner Gateways To The Slumbering Equilibrium At The Center Of Cosmos https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1334662437_10.jpg
Abscession (Sweden), album - Rot of Ages https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0057203844_10.jpg
Civerous (LA), album - Decrepit Flesh Relic https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1981082110_10.jpg
Khemmis (Denver), album - Deceiver https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2933389309_10.jpg
Cadaveric Fumes (France), album - Echoing Chambers of Soul https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2766636704_10.jpg
Ferriterium (France), album - Calvaire https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2987418005_10.jpg
