I resisted making a "best of" list last year, thinking that it was just too normal and expected. I just decided on a whim (which is how this blog was started) that it might be fun to look over my past year's picks. Here they are! I narrowed them down to 10 and consider them all pretty equal in quality.
What a nice surprise this was. No Zodiac are purveyors of Heavily Death Metal influnced Beatdown Hardcore. The grooves run slow and thick as tar, with enough blastbeats and thrashy moments to keep tensions high. The considerably seismic guitar tone (I'm guessing A-tuning?) will surely devastate any yuppies or hipsters within a 50 foot radius. The vocals are a bit run-of-the-mill and could use more neanderthal fury, but they get the job done. This is what I wish the Xibalba full-length sounded like. Smash all your Bane and Comeback Kid cd's. This is the real shit.
Black Metal done in true Norse tradition. To me, Morbid Prayer sounds half way between the epic, melodic style of early Gorgoroth and the primitive hammering of Darkthrone. The atmosphere and production are near-perfect for the style. The songwriting is a bit understated, but works very well. You all know that prefer the unusual and progressive, but there's always room for humble, traditional offerings.
A mix of olde tyme hardcore styles covered by a cloud of vicious distortion. A fusion of familiar American hardcore with the D-Beat/Raw Punk battery of the Swedish and Japanese. I hear some faint Nordic Black Metal influence, but maybe that's just coincidental. Sometimes it's up-tempo, sometimes it's rigid and minimal, but always harsh and grimey as the DC/Baltimore streets that birthed it.
Remember when I posted Risk's second album? That was almost a year ago now, which means it's been long enough to post their third (and best) album: Dirty Surfaces. Everything that you liked (or hated) about Hell's Animals can again be found, only more refined this time. Here we see Risk picking up the pace and showing that they're a real Thrash band and not middle of the road fence-sitters. The technicality and lyrics have also been improved making this record better than it's predecessors in every way.
It's been a while since I posted something really complex and technical (especially in the Black Metal realm), but here it is. Drottnar remind me very much of late-era Mayhem and Satyricon's most underrated Rebel Extravaganza. It's ultra-modern Black Metal with musicianship seldom heard in the genre. I feel obligated to inform you that Drottnar are a christian band. Turn you off? Too bad. This band kills it. And I'd rather listen to this than any of the shit Varg is farting out these days.
What we have here is my favorite Hardcore album of the season. This shit is tough-as-nails and packs enough surprises to keep the interest high. There's just enough tasteful spits of blast beats and Death Metalish riffs to break up the mosh. The production is nice too. True, the lyrics are at times misogynistic, but I think most of you won't notice or care. If you do care, feel free to skip it. I mean, tough Metalcore like this is usually sketchy in some way or another. It's good, but it ain't Posi-core.
Hello again! Sorry for the long pause, but I've been hella stressed with the process of moving. I'm getting more settled in now so I should be approaching the sad attempt at regularity that I'm known for.
So here's an album that I downloaded a couple weeks ago. Hell Theater remind me a lot of Portrait (whom I posted a while ago). There's a strong Mercyful Fate influence and an overall early 80's vibe. They don't bring that vintage feel as well as Portrait does, but this is still a valiant effort. They do, however, succeed in combining their Black, Speed, and Classic Metal influences into one cohesive whole. In reality, those sub-genres really were not that different from each other 30 years ago. The inherent cheesiness, aggression, and epic sensibility that Metal represents is well displayed here.
An unusual post for me, but also totally run of the mill as far as my tastes go. Lene Lovich is a true heroine in the Post-Punk, Proto-Goth, "crazy girl" scene of the late 70's. I always thought of her as the American equivalent to Nina Hagen. She may not have the classical chops of Nina, but she still has attitude and character for days. The songs are simple yet strange with Lene's voice always as the focal point. You really have to hear this to know what I'm talking about.
Greetings, poglodytes. I'm now transmitting from the "Rose City" Portland, Oregon (soon to be renamed "Bro's City"). That means that I'm now living in a place with an actual scene. I might even start doing concert reviews, who knows?
So anyway, there's this new record that I got on my computer and it's pretty good. Konkeror play moderately melodic Death Metal and do so very well. Their style is vaguely reminiscent of The Chasm and Necrophobic, yet more brutal and modern. You might like it.
