Kvelertak-Kvelertak
Electric Wizard-Black Masses
Ghost-Opus Eponymous
Why aren't these on the list you ask? It's actually quite simple; all of these fine albums technically came out in 2010, but weren't released stateside until this year (Ghost and EW's records came out on January 18th, with Kvelertak seeing release on March 15th). So I figured that it would be cheating if any of these placed higher. Electric Wizard never disappoints, and on their 7th full length, they stick to what they know well and churn out something that I think could easily compete with their now classic Dopethrone. Can't wait to see them at Maryland Deathfest! Ghost are, admittedly, overhyped. People are treating them as if they're the biggest thing to come along in metal in years, which is just silly. The record is really damn good though, like Blue Oyster Cult covered by Lucifer himself. Kvelertak is just plain fun, even though I understand absolutely none of the lyrics (all sung in Norwegian). Black n' roll + John Dyer Baizley artwork is an almost guaranteed hit for me.
Now, we move on to the actual list. Yeah, there is that after all...
20. The Boston Strangler-Primitive. I just got turned on to these dudes (here comes the jokes). Just plain good old school hardcore with members of Mind Eraser, No Tolerance and The Rival Mob. Lyrics are appropriately pissed and the music is pretty short but sweet (for the most part). Get circle pitting.
19. Entrails-The Tomb Awaits. You sure this wasn't an Entombed record? Shit, it even LOOKS like an old Entombed record right down to the logo. But in this case, the old phrase "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" is perfect to use here. I'm quite liking this NWOSDM (New Wave of Swedish Death Metal). DEM RIFFS. DEM VOCALS.
18. Miasmal-Miasmal. Speaking of Sweden, this record just rips. Members of Martyrdod making an old school DM record where the influences from Entombed, Dismember and even Motorhead shine. A record that will please the metal and crust scenes equally.
17. Weedeater-Jason...The Dragon. Weedeater rules, there's no other way to really say it. Lyrics and song titles are pretty absurd, Dixie Dave's tendency to sip on Robotussin during performances is strange, they're ABSURDLY loud during said performances, and they're just plain pretty odd (but nice) guys outside of them too. But damn it I love the sludge metal they make. I'm not saying I advocate smoking illegal substances and listening to this, but I'm not NOT saying it. Did I mention they're from Wilmington too? Yeah, you probably already knew that.
16. Lock Up-Necropolis Transparent. I honestly forgot Lock Up were even still a band, but this will remind me to stop being such a cheese-eating surrender monkey. Just as punishing and brutal as the band's previous death/grind records are, and that new guitarist is a pretty damn good replacement for the late Jesse Pintado. True, it could use a bit more variety, but it's grindcore, I don't think many will be asking for that. I hope I can make one of the U.S. dates next year, would love to meet Tomas Lindberg.
15. Harm's Way-Isolation. If early 90s Earache ever decided to get into the heavier side of hardcore, I imagine this is what they'd look for and sign almost instantly. That and if anyone can take a sample from Hellraiser VI and make it sound cool, they've earned my respect. An excellent followup to the "No Gods No Masters" album that made my top 10 last year. YER MOSHIN'.
14. Darkest Hour-The Human Romance. I hadn't really written this band off per se, but with the departure of Kris Norris prior to the recording of their last album, my hopes were a tad bit low. Thankfully this is the strongest album in the band's catalog since the "Hidden Hands..." days. Great solos and melodies to be found here (minus John Henry's singing, which is more awkward than bad), and the first instrumental (Terra Solaris) to be found since then too. Welcome back boys.
13. Trap Them-Darker Handcraft. Yes it's nowhere near as good as Seizures in Barren Praise, but it's still uncompromising as all hell. The grind/death n' roll/crust/hardcore/whatever machine continues to roll on and it really hasn't lost any of it's previous power either. The final track "Scars Align" does sludge metal better than most bands in their own genre.
12. Oathbreaker-Maelstrom. Belgium rules, and not just because it produces awesome women and awesome bands. Well, okay, it IS because of that. Along with Rise and Fall and Amenra, these guys and gal are helping put one of the beer capitals of the world on the map. Great female-fronted metallic hardcore that's as much for fans of Converge as it is Tragedy.
11. Gridlink-Orphan. 12 songs in 12 minutes. All killer, no filler as they say. And by killer, I mean fast, technical, screeching grindcore done exceptionally well. Get moving.
10. Rotten Sound-Cursed. It's better than Cycles. Yeah, I said it. The Finnish grind masters have officially equalled Nasum imo, if not surpassed them. It's more varied, groovy and punishing than the previous records, and it works in it's favor. Now tour the states again damn it!
9. Young and in the Way-I Am Not What I Am. North Carolina, you did good. Blackened crust/hardcore with a just plain miserable vibe that shrouds the entire record. These guys will be huge within a couple of years, and I can only say good for them. Might be a bit of a bummer for us Carolinians who won't get to see them as often though.
8. KEN Mode-Venerable. This might slowly creep itself into my top 5 in a few days from this post. Just plain awesome sludge/noise rock/hardcore from 3 very angry Canadians with a lot on their mind. Also one of the loudest bands I got to watch this year, and the only to feature a frontman wearing a cowboy hat (made even better by the confused looks on the Raleigh kids' faces). "Book of Muscle" man, "Book of Muscle."
7. Victims-A Dissident. The D-Beat Swedes do their D-beat well as always. Never has human frustration sounded so catchy, at least in the more aggressive side of punk.
6. Yob-Atma. I know some will argue that this isn't as good as The Great Cessation, and I'd agree. That being said, it's still a damn fine slab of doom and gets me all the more excited that I'm seeing them in May. And that Scott Kelly cameo is the cherry on top, if you know what I mean. The only thing bad about any and all Yob records is having the play the waiting game for the next one.
5. Tombs-Path of Totality. The soundtrack to the end of times. Or a drugged out satanic ritual that leaves you feeling suicidal when you return to this world. Whatever you call it, it's a monster. The NY trio's post-black metal/sludge onslaught is incredible here, though I admit the overuse of blast beats can become a bit tiring. Mike Hill's growls, bellows, and yelling will more than make up for it though.
4. In Solitude-The World, The Flesh, The Devil. I really can't stand most of the bands I've been hearing lately who do the whole "old school" metal thing, but this is worship/retro done right. Mercyful Fate fans will pop a boner over this, but I think it's more tolerable than that. Wish I could have seen them with Down a few months ago.
3. Junius-Reports From the Threshold of Death. Beautiful, ethereal, haunting, memorable, and undeniably heavy. I first got into these cats after seeing them steal the show from Valient Thorr a year or so ago. Their Prosthetic Records (who are turning into quite the label now imo) debut doesn't disappoint. I'd have to describe this as either Radiohead playing really heavy & catchy post-rock/metal or Katatonia having an illegal love child with the Deftones. Really eager to see where this band goes from here, because this is gonna be hard to top.
2. Foo Fighters-Wasting Light. This one had me nervous. I've always thought FF were arguably one of the best alternative/hard rock bands of the past 15 years, but they hadn't exacting been churning out classic albums recently. Sure the lead singles from those albums were fantastic, but the rest of the album would just sort of lack anything to make it worth repeating. Thankfully welcoming Pat Smear back into the fold must've reinvigorated the band, because this is the best thing the band has done since The Colour and the Shape. Seriously, it's THAT good. I could see damn near every song becoming a single and one that I wouldn't get tired of either. Dave Grohl sounds more passionate here than usual, and we're all damn happy for it. Keepers of the (Foo) faith, you've been rewarded.
1. Fucked Up-David Comes to Life. I know it's cliche to pick this, as most sites, be they devoted to heavier music or not, will be choosing this as their #1 AOTY. But I really don't care. This is just amazing. I tend to hate concept records, but this was one of the few exceptions. A hardcore punk rock opera should NOT work. But somehow the 6-piece Canadian vets did it. Amazingly catchy tunes with a myriad of emotions (and outside genres) mixed in. If the first real song on the record "Queen of Hearts" doesn't end up stuck in your head after a few listens, this may not be for you. But me personally? I think this will end up as a classic within a few years, the culmination of hard work, great songwriting, a very unique (and identifiable) concept and great playing mixing together perfectly.
Here's some other ones worth downl...err, picking up.
Anthrax-Worship Music. Loses a bit of steam towards the end (plus that Refused cover is pretty bad), but otherwise very solid stuff from the thrash veterans. "Fight Em Til You Can't" and "I'm Alive" are gonna be stuck in your head for a while. Good to have Belladonna back too.
Leviathan-True Traitor, True Whore. RARRRRR BLACK METAL. After a rocky (bad) first song, this one started to win me over the more it went on. Too bad the dude's probably going to jail.
Mastodon-The Hunter. It's gonna take a bit to grow on me, but it's Mastodon after all. I personally think they've never made a flat out bad record.
Opeth-Heritage. A fantastic "fuck you" record. While this didn't make the top 20, if I had a top 20 songs, "Slither" would easily fall into the top 10 of that list.
But for every good record of the year, there are those that are the audio equivalent of having a Zuluzinho take a shit on your head. So, for shits and giggles, here's my bottom 3 of 2011.
3. Korn-Path of Totality.
Easy target? Of course. But god damn, I heard about 2-3 songs from this and wanted to fist fight what remains of this band with Freddy Krueger gloves. The 14 year old in me would have been ashamed of this (yeah I was a Korn fan when I was younger), and as it turns out, the 26 year old me hates this too. Korn + Dubstep = one of the worst things I've heard since the Black Eyed Peas ditched socially conscious rap in favor of commercial pop garbage. I would love to sit down with the writers at Revolver Magazine and ask how they could have chosen this as their AOTY over the thousands of other records released this year. Because, uh, I just don't see it.
2. Morbid Angel-Illud Divinum Insanus.
What more needs to be said about this? It's death metal's St. Anger, a complete embarrassment from the once immortal Floridians. I'm not even sure I want to watch their set at MDF next year now. On the plus side, it's the best Front Line Assembly record you'll probably ever hear.
1. The Haunted-Unseen.
How was this worse than the new Morbid Angel? Well, for one thing, the new MA contains at least two or three songs that sound vaguely like, well, the band's previous efforts. This does not. This is a failed experiment in every way possible, with pathetic songs and pitiful playing. If that's what they were trying to go for, then they succeeded. If not, then we're in for deep trouble. I was shocked to see more than a few publications giving this glowing praise. I can only imagine copious amounts of money and drugs were involved in giving this a GOOD write up. A truly wretched and downright insulting record, especially sad considering the past history of this band. Marco Aro is probably having a good laugh right about now.
I also asked around on Facebook to assorted friends and acquaintances as to whether they could contribute some of their favorite albums of the year as well. And here's a select few.
Rain Howard (hair dye afficionado)-
Megadeth-Th1rt3en
Anthrax-Worship Music
Ghost-Opus Eponymous
Mastodon-The Hunter
Machine Head-Unto the Locust
Amon Amarth-Surtur Rising
The Devin Townsend Project-Deconstruction
The Devin Townsend Project-Ghost
Between the Buried and Me-The Parallex: Hypersleep Dialogues
Opeth-Heritage
Dan Todd (Salvacion, Beard of Antlers)-
Symphony X-Iconoclast
Primordial-Redemption At the Puritan's Hand
Opeth-Heritage
Iced Earth-Dystopia
Destruction-Day of Reckoning
Voyager-The Meaning of I
While Heaven Wept-Fear of Infinity
Tyr-The Lay of Thrym
Nightrage-Insidious
Mastodon-The Hunted
Dream Theater-A Dramatic Turn of Events
Lew Cabral (all around dude, one of the only metal guys I know who resides in Boone)-
1. Junius-Reports From the Threshold of Death
2. Mastodon-The Hunter
3. Wolves in the Throne Room-Celestial Lineage
4. Graveyard-Hinsingin Blues
5. Red Fang-Murder the Mountains
Anthony Peer (consistently cultivating mass, Nick Diaz superfan, http://swolepeer.blogspot.com/, twitter.com/goreygibbler)-
1. KEN Mode-Venerable
2. Maruta-Forward Into Regression
3. Virus-The Agent That Shapes the Desert
4. Sulaco-Build and Burn
5. Electro Quarterstaff-Aykroyd
6. Secret Samurai-Zanshin
7. Ulcerate-The Destroyers of All
8. Elder-Dead Roots Stirring
9. Charles Bradley-No Time for Dreaming
10. Wu-Tang Clan-Legendary Weapons
Alan Wierdak (a man who knows his beards and his beers)-
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats-Bloodlust
Midnight-Satanic Royalty
Skyzoo-The Great Debaters
Brainoil-Death of this Dry Season
Ghoul-Lunatic Hour
Noisear-Subvert the Dominant Paradigm
Exhumed-All Guts, No Glory
Jesu-Ascension
Graveyard-Hisingen Blues
Triac-Always Meant to Hurt You
Earth-Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light
The Wounded Kings-In the Chapel of the Black Hand
Brown Sugar-Sings of Birds and Racism
No Tolerance-No Remorse, No Tolerance
Weekend Nachos-Black Earth
Defeatist-Tyranny of Decay
If you've read through this entire thing, good for you. If you've just decided to skim over most of this, hey, that's fine too. Lemme know what you think, whether you agree/disagree with anything on here, and we'll discuss this like fine gentlemen. Or just yell at each other, I don't really have a preference.
