(I found an article I wrote many years ago for 8w Magazine and thought I would post it here before I misplaced it again.)
You cannot, or maybe should not, go home again
A driver better suited to the
endurance environment he entered into after a long and presumably satisfying
GP career, Thierry Boutsen could be described as one of the eighties' steady
campaigners par excellence. Never one to overcook it or set the
world alight with a storming qualifying effort, the Belgian nonetheless
pleased team bosses on race day by delivering consistently for over a
decade, refining the art of bringing the car home safely.
His
subdued outward appearance matched the lack of thrill in his driving
style and was highlighted by his cool under pressure, perhaps best exemplified by
Thierry holding up a train of cars - led by Ayrton Senna - on the twisty
Hungaroring to score his finest victory.
It was on these
occasions so typical of Boutsen that we understood why, as a kid with no
racing background, this lanky Walloon wanted to become a racing driver
instead of a bank manager. But as Emilio de Villota showed, even bank
managers can have a twisted need for speed.
All
the pieces were in place for the Belgian fans: the Belgian GP had
returned to Spa for the first time since 1970, and an eager young local
lad was set to race for the perpetually promising Arrows squad. Boutsen
came to F1 with a reputation as a scrappy racer, who fought hard in
Formulas Two and Three, scoring second place overall in each of those
junior series. He represented, perhaps, a new Belgian racing hero, the
first bright light since Jacky Ickx retired to sports cars after the
1979 season. Paralleling this was the return to Spa, and an attempt to
move forward after the tragic death of Gilles Villeneuve at Zolder the previous
year.
Regardless of the fact that his seat was secured due to a $500,000 cash injection, in Boutsen the Arrows team had found a driver to build
around, after enduring a parade of has-beens and never-wills
masquerading as F1 drivers. The ever changing drivers' line up at Arrows
was matched only by their schizophrenic liveries, which changed from race to race as the team scrambled to find sponsorship. Once arriving, Boutsen stayed with Arrows
until the end of the 1986 season, a partnership which peaked with a fine
second place at Monaco in 1985. Never a threat to win in those days,
Boutsen employed a conservative and consistent style that would result
in the occasional points-scoring drive.
And so, Boutsen's F1 debut came in 1983, on the same track he said goodbye on, at home at Spa. Replacing Chico Serra at Arrows, Thierry retired due to suspension failure after having qualified a respectable 18th. His first season truly got underway in Detroit,
where Boutsen transformed a promising 10th in qualifying into a terrific 7th
at the chequered flag. In a race in which more than half of the starters retired this would typify Boutsen's style, for Thierry
averaged perhaps one retirement by driver error per season - at most.
Only when he moved to
Benetton in 1987 did he begin to score more regularly, reaching the
podium three times in 1988, leading the Benetton team to third overall
in the constructors championship. 1988
was the classic Boutsen season, the Belgian outpaced on sheer speed by
young new team mate Alessandro Nannini but consistently delivering on
Sunday afternoons. His four podiums, finishing best of the rest to the
all-conquering Senna-Prost steamroller, took him to third in the final
driver standings, very much in the same conservative way Elio De Angelis
had salvaged a march on the remaining opposition in the previous
McLaren-dominated era.
Snapped up by Williams for 1989,
Boutsen finally came good, winning in Canada and in Australia and helping
the Williams crew to a distant second place. Despite another win in
1990 Boutsen was forced out of the Williams camp to make room for
the prodigal Mansell, and Thierry's career began its decline. He took the number one
seat at Ligier, in those days a guaranteed ticket for
experienced campaigners to leave F1 in a slow and painful way, and for two years made do with unreliable and slow
equipment.
The
chance to join the precocious Jordan team in 1993 looked okay but young Rubens Barrichello was in a
reputation-killing mood that season while Thierry was nowhere to be seen in that
first handful of Grands Prix.
Nevertheless, the idea arose to turn
the 1993 Belgian GP into a symbolic event for the nation's best driver
since Jacky Ickx. Ten years on, the Spa race was just as much a non-event for
Boutsen as his debut there, Thierry uncharacteristically retiring on lap 1 with a
broken gearbox.
Those few races with the then backsliding Jordan team in
1993 closed out a longish career with certainly enough high points to
make up for some of the lows.
You're Here by Accident. Make the Best of It.
A Mostly But Not Entirely Chicago Blackhawks Thing.
Thursday 10 January 2013
Jury's Top 10+ albums of 2012
This was an unpublished (read: rejected, due to being "too eclectic" and not "metal enough") commission from a popular (?) music website. An altered, less honest version was settled upon, but this is the real story. Let's go!
10. Pig Destroyer Book Burner
With a five-year gap between this album and 2007's brilliant Phantom Limb, as well as two or more years of "we're going into the studio in a month" kind of remarks from the band and their label, the hype machine was running at maximum capacity by the time sample tracks started surfacing last summer. Expectations were incredibly high and I was fully prepared to be disappointed.
I needn't have worried.
Book Burner is simply Pig Destroyer's most coherent record yet. Taut, tense, and inventive, it's just flat-out good. There seems to be less concern with horrific imagery than on previous releases; the horror is still there, rest assured, but it's not as obvious and far more subtle than I'm used to finding on a Pig Destroyer release. The creepy samples they are notorious for are still here, but they are more vague and lead the listener to more carefully consider their meaning and relationship to the music.
Underpinning the entire effort is Scott Hull's incomparable guitar work. A single guitar and drum set up (which Pig Destroyer is, essentially) is not that uncommon these days, but the result is usually a far more spare sound, so how Hull manages to create such a fulsome effect is a mystery to me. He switches from standard metal chugging to blistering riffs with no apparent effort, adding the most unique fills and unexpected time changes you're likely to hear anywhere. It's Hull's playing, I believe, that makes it difficult to pin down Pig Destroyer; are they metal, or hardcore? Grindcore? They fall into each and none of these genres. It might be best to just call them "extreme", or maybe just "Pig Destroyer" will suffice.
JR Hayes' vocals perfectly complement the brutal guitar/drum assault. On previous records Hayes' vocals were heavily processed, but on Book Burner they seem to be mostly distortion-free, lending a less contrived but no less malevolent feel. The addition, vocals-wise, of Kat Katz's desperate rasp on a pair of tracks add some welcome urgency.
The bonus disc of punk covers is a throw in and, apart from an enthusiastic rendition of Angry Samoans' Lights Out, was interesting but not particularly memorable.
Key tracks: Eve, The Bug, The Diplomat
Listen
9. Mares of Thrace The Pilgrimage
This Calgary-based duo features a guitar/drum format and a decidedly stripped-down sound, but one with some unique qualities. Guitarist/vocalist Thérèse Lanz uses a baritone guitar with one guitar pickup and one bass pickup which creates a deceptively full sound . Lanz' vocals, however, characterize the group's persona, with a demonic howl being most prevalent, but she switches adeptly to a guttural growl and soft whispering at various times throughout the ten-track CD.
The CD starts off tentatively but quickly gains speed, fury and menace, before it's quieter, almost contemplative conclusion. Fierce, original and peppered with unpredictable, but not unpleasant, time changes, this is a record that might not impress much on the first listen but is definitely one whose merits are more apparent after repeated listening.
Key tracks: The Perpetrator, ... and the Bird Surgeon
Watch
8. Christian Mistress Possession
A guilty pleasure, maybe, but there's a lot to like about this album that went completely undetected by me until the inclusion of their Haunted Hunted track on the 2012 Relapse Records sampler. Possibly metal, maybe hard rock, or maybe even stoner rock, Christian Mistress nails an incredibly earnest take on 70's-80's hard rock and metal. Technically solid, their galloping rhythms, effortless grooves and vocals best described as "a female Ozzy, but with range" are diabolically infectious. I often find myself playing this disc many times in succession, which is kind of a big deal given my complete lack of focus.
I refer to stoner rock, above, and I stand by that if only because of some subtle things, like the completely un-self-concious, throwback vocals and the great sounding low end, but don't pass on this CD because you're expecting something smoky and glacial; there are hooks a-plenty here and it's mostly up-tempo and totally booty shakin'.
A great record, let down only by the title track, oddly enough.
Key tracks: Haunted Hunted, Conviction
Listen
7. Metz Metz
Clearly it's been a very good year for Canadian music, as this indie band out of Toronto is fast becoming a going concern in Europe and the UK. With good reason, too, as their basic guitar-bass-drums, feedback-laden sound is familiar enough but loaded with originality. Frantic, slicing guitars, insistent drumming and punchy bass complement the anguished vocals - the singer really does sound troubled a lot of the time. Plenty of other sounds creep in here and there...squawks, buzzes, "oh-oooh" vocals slipped in way down in the mix, resulting in a sound more complex than it seems on the surface, which was surprising being as this was originally described to me as "sludge-punk". Yeah, there's sludge, and I guess there are punk elements, but this CD is way more than the sum of those parts. Noisy, heavy and rifftastic, at their best moments Metz almost sound like a pop band, with terribly catchy hooks, albeit far too grimy for commercial radio. More than once on this disc songs suddenly stop, or nearly stop, and seem to struggle to regain momentum, almost like they're driving a twenty-year-old truck with a crappy clutch and it's all they can do to keep it from stalling, before triumphantly lurching back into motion, all the more furiously after having been inconvenienced.
Early Therapy? comes to mind, although Metz are already creating more interesting arrangements and are much better recorded. Therapy?, however, evolved into an engaging and unpredictable entity in their early-mid years, so it will be interesting to see where Metz takes their sound, as well. Another comparison that comes to mind is England's Blacklisters; in fact, the first time I heard Wet Blanket I assumed it was a new Blacklisters single. The fact that this record displaced BLKLSTRS, another fine 2012 release, from this list should speak volumes. My only fear is that the Canadian media will latch onto Metz' international attention and attempt to propel them to Crystal Castle-like status, which I'm unsure their "sludge-punk" genre can sustain.
Key tracks: Wet Blanket, Get Off, Headache
Watch
6. Baroness Yellow and Green
This should have, could have been the year of Baroness. The early summer release of their ambitious double-album, Yellow and Green followed by a comprehensive world headlining tour may have positioned them up there with Mastodon in the heavy and extreme music hierarchy, but a terrifying bus crash after only the first date on their tour put paid to that. Nevertheless, the music's the thing.
Red Album and Blue Record remain two of my favourite records of all time, so I was pretty excited to tear the wrap off this disc about 20 seconds after it came out.
At first, disappointment. Not by the first song or the first ten minutes, I just wasn't feeling this record. It just wasn't...heavy, it wasn't brutal in the least. There were some very good parts, of course, and some great playing, but the whole thing kind of felt like "Baroness Lite". After four or five listens it was put away.
It wasn't until October that I even thought about this record again. I had downloaded the Relapse Records annual sampler and had it playing as background music, when I heard this rollicking drum and bass part, followed by these incredible guitars, sometimes playing in lock-step but just as often one would swirl away from the other, in and out of harmony with each other. I checked to see who this incredible band was and, you guessed it, Baroness. I wondered why they hadn't put this gem on the Yellow and Green album but, of course, when I dug out the CD there it was, disc one, track three, March to the Sea.
Needless to say, this led to many, many more listens, critical listening this time and, obviously, I came to really enjoy this record.
My earlier assessment was not all wrong; this record is hardly what one would call brutal, as parts of their earlier albums are, and apart from a moment here and there, is not even particularly heavy. I'm not prepared to say that Baroness has moved past metal and are seeking some sort of crossover middle ground - that's for the band to say - and it's not exactly post-metal, either. Their style has simply evolved; on previous records they were a heavy band with melodic qualities, but maybe now they are a melodic band with some heaviness to them. Whatever the case, they remain terrific songwriters and musicians who are still quite capable of melting faces.
The record is not all perfect but, being a double album, I figure they get a few mulligans. If we cull the forced and awkward Back Where I Belong, the painfully off-kilter Psalms Alive, as well as the intro/outro tracks on each disc which are, as usual, essentially the same piece of music reworked a bit, we're still left with a good one-and-a-half records' worth of material. That's half an album more than anyone else bothered to create this year.
Key tracks: March to the Sea, Board Up the House
Listen
5. Norah Jones ...Little Broken Hearts
Apparently, Norah Jones' previous album, 2009's outstanding The Fall, was written largely in the wake of a break up. It must have been one hell of a break up, because ...Little Broken Hearts continues that theme and, sorry for Ms. Jones, but if these are the records she's gonna make when she's hurting, bring on the pain.
The twelve tracks on ...Little Broken Hearts spin a tale of betrayal, loss and acceptance. Strangely absent is forgiveness, but the fact that she's got two albums worth of material out of this dust up may help explain that. The majority of the songs are beautifully melancholy and unapologetic. At first blush the songs seem to possess the same mood and a similar tempo but, upon more careful listening, the depth of the songs and their individual merits come alive, ever so gradually.
As always, the musicianship is excellent, and Ms. Jones' voice is as good as ever, but these elements all come together with the evocative lyrics and create something truly special.
The album starts, as one might expect, with the betrayal and loss part of the program, with Good Morning and Say Goodbye setting up the situation, while the tone gets slightly bitter on She's 22, possibly the most heartbreakingly beautiful song she's recorded. Midway through the record, we get to the acceptance and moving on phase, with songs like Travelin' On and Out on the Road, in which Jones puts on a slightly unsteady swagger, as if to say "I've put this behind me, but...". Only toward the end of the record does the veil of sadness and loss lift a bit, with a small sense of redemption shining through in the defiant Happy Pills and even the shame-on-you message in Miriam. The final track, All A Dream, is a little harder to peg, as it could be describing denial, or maybe wishful thinking that, she now realizes, will never come to be a reality.
Jazz scmazz and metal schmetal. This is a great album.
Key Tracks: She's 22, Happy Pills
Listen
4. Stars The North
With this, their sixth full length album, Toronto's Stars have quite possibly created their masterpiece. While slightly uneven, with a couple of tracks that add little, this is a slice of near-perfect, very smart pop music. At turns melancholic and melodramatic with some incredibly uplifting parts, the sound is best described as synth-pop, and if that seems limiting let's then say "indie-pop". The sound is clean, almost sparkling, with the exception of The Loose Ends Will Make Knots which sports a lo-fi quality that would make it worthy of being the next Magnetic Fields single. The lyrics are clever, possessing an indefinable sadness that, bizarrely, makes you happy when you hear it. Hormone pop?
On my second listen-through of this record I received some incredibly bad news and with me, and for better or worse, that event and this CD will be forever linked.
The instrumentation is outstandingly simple, yet lush and always precise. The finest moments of this record are when co-lead singers Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan team up, as they do on about half of the twelve tracks. My favourite lyric of the year appears on this disc: take the weakest thing in you / and beat the bastards with it. Words to live by.
Key Tracks: Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It, The Theory of Relativity
Listen
3. Maserati VII
After hearing Maserati's first six full length CDs plus a handful of singles and split CDs I had assumed that "they" were one or two guys in a basement with a tonne of computers, a drum machine and all the DIY stuff one needs to make a record these days. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon some live video of Maserati and learned that they are four guys, playing guitar, bass and drums. Not a drum machine or a sequencer in sight.
Anyway, all that aside, with some very small exceptions you pretty much know what you're going to get with any given Maserati record; athletic guitars, tumbling over each other, elastic, brawny bass and drums so exact, so precise you'd swear it was a machine. I'm at a loss to label their all-instrumental masterpieces. Space rock? Riff rock? Whatever. Just be assured that while the rhythm section is keeping things steady and real the guitarists are dueling like their lives depend on it, one tearing off a blistering, melodic riff while the other dazzles with some intricate plinking, barely in the background. Then they trade off and do it all again.
It used to be, for me, that a Maserati album would be a good stop gap when there's no new Trans Am record, but the more I hear these guys the more I like them. As it is, VII outdoes anything Trans Am have put out in several years. Bring on VIII.
Key tracks: Eliminator, Solar Exodus
Listen
2. Indian Handcrafts Civil Disobedience for Losers
The opening riff got my attention but, seconds later, with that first "WOO!" they had me. In a year with no shortage of great songs the opening track, Bruce Lee, may be my favourite. The crunchy, super-fast riffing and the shouted, echo-heavy vocals just get me every time. They're not quite able to sustain the excitement throughout the entire eleven tracks here, but they come oh-so close.
Indian Handcrafts are yet another Canadian guitar/drums duo (and the fourth Canadian record to make this list) who remind me a lot of another duo, Montreal's Death From Above 1979. Both bands, at their best, create incredibly catchy songs with hooks that stick with you for days. While DFA'79 were masters of the low end (being a bass/drum combo, after all) Indian Handcrafts' domain is the mid range, with plenty of grit and grunt propelling them on, but with a bonus shot of true lead guitar closing the deal.
Somebody online had the cheek to refer to these lads as stoner rock but, lifestyle choices aside, I don't get that. The majority of the songs, here, are delivered in full-on-attack mode, with some of the fastest drumming I've heard in awhile, a far cry from Sleep or Saint Vitus. I hear these boys as heavy rock with a smidge of punk thrown in and with a fair dose of humour, as well. These guys are a lot of fun, and they sound like they're having fun, too.
Key Tracks: Bruce Lee, Starcraft, Worms In My Stomach
Watch
1. Royal Thunder CVI
I was taken completely by surprise by this Atlanta four-pieces's first full-length album. Their debut EP from 2009 left me cold, so I had resisted checking this out until quite late in the year. Simply put, I was blown away.
It's difficult to articulate what, exactly, makes this record so great, as there's just so much going on. Being on the predominately metal label, Relapse, they have been warmly embraced by the metal and extreme music crowd but to try to peg Royal Thunder as a metal band is too limiting. Yes, they can be crushingly heavy, but never in a heavy-at-all-costs way. In fact, some of the most striking aspects of this beautiful, haunting disc are the quieter moments, made all the more effective when the band effortlessly shifts gears from slow and sultry parts to devastating power chords and soaring guitar solos. While the music and the recording quality are near-perfect it would all be wasted if not for singer/bassist Mlny Parsonz' bluesy, soulful vocals. Her performance here is a revelation; she is uninhibited, completely without pretense and 100% committed.
Parsonz displays incredible versatility, able to pull off a range of styles, not just across the album but sometimes within the confines of a single song. In Whispering World, alone, she manages to bellow, croon and wail and make it all work. The epic Blue again showcases Parsonz ability to stick her neck out, vocally, with the main verses being sung in a standard rock/blues style but backed up with distant-sounding "whoa-whoas" and sweet harmonies during the bridge.
Musically diverse, I hear bits that remind me of Zeppelin, Neurosis as well as fellow southerners Jucifer and Lynyrd Skynyrd. The quick and dirty No Good would be right at home on a The Duke Spirit record.
Some of the tracks may be a bit overlong, but I won't complain about too much of a good thing.
If you only click one of the links on this post, do yourself a favour and click the one below, and turn up the volume.
Key Tracks: Blue, Whispering World
Listen
Short Stuff - quickie reviews of my Top 5 EPs in 2012
5. DROM Hectop
I'm filing these Czech post-metallers under "promising". This four track effort clocks in at a generous 38 minutes which might be a tad longer than necessary, as the opener Kruh z Ohne a Oceli meanders more than a little bit and, at almost 11 minutes long, made me impatient. The reward for getting stuck in, however, is some well rendered blackened post-metal. The recording is very good, particularly the drums, but the record is let down a bit by the weak, one-note vocals. Still, there are some very good heavy parts interspersed with atmospheric stuff. The lyrics, available in Czech and English (but sung entirely in Czech) are interesting, concerning the life of Ukrainian anarchist Nestor Makhno.
Key track: Hrob z Ledu a Kameni
Listen
4. Pelican Ataraxia/Taraxis
After the tedious What We All Come to Need I expected little but was delighted to find 3/4 of a fine EP, here. Only the opening cut, Ataraxia, disappoints, as it just fails to get going anywhere at all, but what remains is solid, classic Pelican. Of special note is the woozy lead guitar and out of tune acoustic strumming on Taraxis. An encouraging return to form, for sure.
Key Track: Taraxis
Listen
3. Black Table Sentinel
From the sludge pits of New Jersey comes this decidedly un-sludgey post-metal quartet with a very rewarding four track debut. These kids really know what they're doing, technically, as they are tight as hell and fully prepared to get adventurous with their compositions. The bass playing, in particular, impressed me, being crisp and inventive but not show-offy. Singer Mers Sumida tries really hard, and achieves a creditable death growl, but her performance lacks spark and, for me, holds the rest of the band back, a bit. Musically on par with Cobalt and Altar of Plagues but let down by the vocals.
Key Track: To Tear Down
Listen
2. Stallone American Baby
I know nothing of these guys except that their CD cover is disturbingly bad (are those tapeworms?) and that they've cranked out an outstandingly fun EP of all instrumental rock. Maybe the band's name is unfairly influencing me but I wanna say this is "Trans Am for dudes who drive Trans Ams", whatever the hell that means. Effects pedals abound and they wear some of their influences on their sleeves, right next to the pack of Lucky Strikes. Beyond is a raucous blend of Clutch and Maserati and even features a funky wah-wah intro. Seriously! Anyway, you get six tracks of thundering, hard-driving guitar rock that will pummel you into submission, puke in your car and hit on your mom. What's not to like?
Key Tracks: Ancient Infant, Beyond
Listen
1. Deathspell Omega Drought
Not sure how or why but France keeps churning out these mysterious black and blackened metal bands that just get better and better. This six track EP took some stick online but I think it's terrific and their best stuff yet. These songs are menacing, not only through sheer force but also by guile, as even the parts that are not laced with lethal doses of blastbeats sound creepy and dangerous. The vocals are, I believe, the best in their genre; guttural and foreboding but never shouted or screamed. This EP is laced with great moments, jagged, trebley guitars that remind me of Fire Dances era Killing Joke and the surprising riffs and sudden, breathless conclusion to Scorpions and Drought. Evil never sounded so good.
Key Track: The Crackled Book of Life
Listen
Also considered:
Bad Brains Into the Future - not terrible but it made me sad that HR has been reduced to talking instead of singing. Disappointing.
Behold...The Arctopus Horroscension - busy, overwrought, complicated for no apparent purpose other than being complicated.
Night Flight Orchestra Internal Affairs - just missed the Top 10. Can you imagine modern metal musicians doing a serious 70s-80's style radio rock album? You can? Then you just imagined this album. Bjorn Strid can really sing. Who knew?
Family Portrait - another near miss. Great grooves, intricate yet brutal, furious but not angry.
Black Breath Sentenced to Life - decent but not groundbreaking hardcore.
Bell Witch Longing - dry, ponderous doom metal.
Blacklisters BLKLSTRS - only out of the Top 10 due to Metz ploughing this particular row a little more effectively. Therapy? and Scratch Acid influences shine through although this lacks the variety of those two classic bands. The constant, sinewy bass makes me want to cause trouble, and they have the BEST song titles.
Blut Aus Nord 777 Sect - discordant and disappointing. Beaten at their own game by Deathspell Omega.
Blut Aus Nord 777 Cosmosophy - a series of tracks utilizing the same basic composition. Atmospheric, melodic and the dissonance is better managed than on 777 Sect.
Burning Love Rotten Thing to Say - relentless, explosive, desperate punk rock. Great hooks but 35 minutes of full-on rage vocals are wearing to listen to all the way through. Yet another Canadian band to keep an eye on..
Cancer Bats Dead Set on Living - although I liked it more each time I listened to it this is a far cry from their best stuff. Despite great production, punchy guitars and clear, rumbling bass, Liam Cormier's voice dominates and, a lot of the time, he's just shouting until he's hoarse.
Gaza No Absolute in Human Suffering - I really wanted this to be great but it was merely good. I find their aggressive anti-religion stance interesting; how can someone care that much about what someone else cares about? Anyway, a solid but unspectacular blackened something or other. Absolutely furious with tonnes of unexpected time changes.
Gojira L'enfant Sauvage - another disc I really looked forward to. Despite it being, in my opinion, awfully similar in a lot of ways to their previous stuff, there's a lot of really good stuff here. Joe DuPlantier's vocals are plenty metal yet he's always understandable, which is critical since Gojira actually have something to relate in their lyrics. A near miss on my Top 10, only left behind by their failure to break new ground.
High On Fire De Vermis Mysteriis - hard out of the gate and no looking back, as thundering drums, frantic riffs and growling vocals press on until dawn. Some definite prog elements come out in a few tracks as well as hints of Mastodon and Motorhead. Solid.
The Okhrana Ten Month Campaign - legit, hip swinging and head banging death metal, or maybe, more correctly, war metal. Basic, but capable playing throughout with distinct, refreshing vocals. Let down, somewhat, by iffy production in which solos often seem slapped on top. Somebody sign these guys.
Converge All That We Leave Behind - for all the praise heaped on this record this year I still firmly believe No Heroes is far superior. Not that this disc isn't good, it's just not the punk-metal miracle that some folks seem to suggest. Several songs start promisingly only to devolve into shouting, leaving only a handful of adventurous tracks to stand out.
Pallbearer Sorrow and Extinction - another disc that I didn't "get" after so many music writers declared this to be the prog/doom crossover the world has been waiting for. Certainly able and full of great grooves and outstanding tone, these songs demand soaring, dramatic vocals. A brave attempt is made but is ultimately compromised by a thin voice.
Dreaming Dead Midnightmares - solid, enjoyable but largely unexceptional death metal. Think Death with a female singer.
Drudkh Eternal Turn of the Wheel - well, is so-so Drudkh better than no Drudkh? Pretty standard stuff; drone, followed by furious crescendo. It's good but, apart from some excellent bass playing, this is nothing special.
Killing Joke MMXXII - I used to look forward to being unsettled and feeling weird after hearing a Killing Joke record. Those days are long gone, as KJ no longer seem interested in shocking or provoking anymore, but there's still a lot of value in a good Killing Joke record. This is a good but not great disc, largely indistinguishable from much of Absolute Dissent and maybe even Pandemonium. The playing is top notch throughout and Jaz Coleman, somehow, still sounds as menacing as ever and has even affected a bit of a majestic air. On first listen I almost chucked it after two consecutive clunkers (the bizarrely personal In Cythera, and Primobile in which Jaz fails to pull off whatever it was he was trying to accomplish) but Glitch came on next and saved the day. Uneven but worth a listen.
The Mars Volta Noctourniquet - gibberish. It's frustrating that musicians this good continually disappoint with completely dumb, unenjoyable records.
Meshuggah Koloss - a fine record but not much different from any of the last three or four Meshuggah albums. Still, there are some great moments here such as the squawking guitars on Swarm, the remarkably minimal I am Colossus and the moody Break These Bones Whose Sinews Give it Motion. Nothing wrong with it but nothing new, either.
Metric Synthetica - this may have made the Top 10 had Stars The North not captivated me so. On my first listen I was irritated first by the gratuitous "I'm just as fucked up as they say" and secondly the plodding pace of the opening track. The second track, Youth Without Youth goes a long way toward improving relations with its galloping bassline and slashing guitars a-la Andy Gill. Much of the rest of the disc is loaded with potential singles with more hooks than a...what...a crochet class....a butcher's cooler? I'm still surprised to not be completely bored with Emily Haines' detached, nasal talk-sing delivery, but it always seems to work, somehow. Lost Kitten is another highlight and is oddly light and sweet for these guys. The only real letdown on the disc is Wanderlust, in which Haines duets with Lou Reed, with horrible results (and it's all Lou's fault). Call it an 8/10.
Mgla With Hearts Toward None - seven numbered tracks should have been a clue that this disc might be a bit same-same from one track to the next. The record actually starts promisingly, with a very nice chugging rhythm and convincing vocals but it wasn't long before I was put off by some ratty drumming and sloppy, too-trebley guitar. The compositions are actually good, if a little too similar, but the playing is inconsistent and, apart from Tracks I and IV there is little to distinguish from the other. Nevertheless, these Poles are probably worth keeping tabs on.
Sleigh Bells Reign of Terror - Sleigh Bells have a quandary; they seem to have used up all of their girl-shouting-and-chanting-vocals credits but, when she tries to sing like a normal pop singer they're completely uninteresting. I'm sad to see them jump the shark after only one good album.
Of Monsters and Men My Head is an Animal - ok, straight up, Dirty Paws is terrific and one of my favourite songs from this year. Soaring, triumphant and, dare I say wise-sounding, it's one of those perfect pop moments, sounding a lot like Bjork fronting Fleet Foxes. The rest of the record...not so much. There are some nice moments like the cheerful Mountain Sound and the quietly unsteady Love love love, but these little gems are surrounded by a lot of pretty generic folk-pop. Apparently Little Talks was a huge hit for this group but I actually found it grating and hope to never hear it again. Ah, well, I'll always have Dirty Paws...
Old Man Gloom NO - a lot less than the sum of its parts, being as this is a "supergroup" of sorts. I expected more than a few isolated moments of merit here and there, with large chunks of tedium between some actually pretty great stuff.
The Sword Apochryphon - as usual for The Sword, there's some excellent playing and some absolutely kickass songs here but, also as usual, the thin, weedy vocals ruin the whole thing for me. At least Maserati and Stallone have the good sense not to sing.
Syberia Renaissance - I'm a sucker for post-metal instrumental bands but these jokers will not get the drop on me! Certainly capable but largely uninspiring and probably worth checking in on for future releases in case they choose to move forward from being Pelican on a mediocre day.
Ufomammut ORO: Opus Alter - another near-miss from my Top 10, I think I played this disc ten or twelve times in a row at one point. Hypnotic, relentlessly heavy with an definitely sinister vibe, these Italians punctuate their long, doom-laden tracks with anguished cries and pitiful wails. The first time I listened to this, two or three minutes into the first track I was thinking "this is as heavy as a very heavy thing but the level seems low" and with that I turned up the volume, only for the BASS TO COME IN seconds later, after which, heavy took on a new meaning. The centerpiece of this tremendous record is the middle track, the mesmeric Sulphurdew, clocking in at over 12 minutes with not a second wasted. I may never listen to Sleep's Dopesmoker again, this record is that good.
Unraveller Kinship Synthesis - one of the most fun records of the year, made by a guy who seems waaaay too serious to do something like this. Mike "Gunface" McKenzie is the guitarist for the uber-intense The Red Chord and seems an unlikely candidate to make a "metal" album composed entirely of 8-bit tones - exactly like the music and sound effects on a twenty-year-old Nintendo unit. These are like little soundtracks for imaginary video games and are all arranged so that they kinda sorta resemble how metal songs would be pieced together. Yep, it's a bit one-trick, but it's a hugely entertaining and successful trick. I would love to hear some of these compositions recorded with guitar/bass/drums.
Vaura Selenelion - it's difficult to say why this didn't click for me, as there are some great moments throughout the disc. Many of the songs seem to be building up to something that never truly materializes and they don't really take any chances until midway through the fourth track En/Soph. It may be a lack of variation in the tempo and the overall mood of the record, and the vocals are pretty ordinary. Only the falsetto vocals in Obsidian Damascene Sun offer anything unusual.
Thank you for reading. Comments and disagreements are welcome.
10. Pig Destroyer Book Burner
With a five-year gap between this album and 2007's brilliant Phantom Limb, as well as two or more years of "we're going into the studio in a month" kind of remarks from the band and their label, the hype machine was running at maximum capacity by the time sample tracks started surfacing last summer. Expectations were incredibly high and I was fully prepared to be disappointed.
I needn't have worried.
Book Burner is simply Pig Destroyer's most coherent record yet. Taut, tense, and inventive, it's just flat-out good. There seems to be less concern with horrific imagery than on previous releases; the horror is still there, rest assured, but it's not as obvious and far more subtle than I'm used to finding on a Pig Destroyer release. The creepy samples they are notorious for are still here, but they are more vague and lead the listener to more carefully consider their meaning and relationship to the music.
Underpinning the entire effort is Scott Hull's incomparable guitar work. A single guitar and drum set up (which Pig Destroyer is, essentially) is not that uncommon these days, but the result is usually a far more spare sound, so how Hull manages to create such a fulsome effect is a mystery to me. He switches from standard metal chugging to blistering riffs with no apparent effort, adding the most unique fills and unexpected time changes you're likely to hear anywhere. It's Hull's playing, I believe, that makes it difficult to pin down Pig Destroyer; are they metal, or hardcore? Grindcore? They fall into each and none of these genres. It might be best to just call them "extreme", or maybe just "Pig Destroyer" will suffice.
JR Hayes' vocals perfectly complement the brutal guitar/drum assault. On previous records Hayes' vocals were heavily processed, but on Book Burner they seem to be mostly distortion-free, lending a less contrived but no less malevolent feel. The addition, vocals-wise, of Kat Katz's desperate rasp on a pair of tracks add some welcome urgency.
The bonus disc of punk covers is a throw in and, apart from an enthusiastic rendition of Angry Samoans' Lights Out, was interesting but not particularly memorable.
Key tracks: Eve, The Bug, The Diplomat
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9. Mares of Thrace The Pilgrimage
This Calgary-based duo features a guitar/drum format and a decidedly stripped-down sound, but one with some unique qualities. Guitarist/vocalist Thérèse Lanz uses a baritone guitar with one guitar pickup and one bass pickup which creates a deceptively full sound . Lanz' vocals, however, characterize the group's persona, with a demonic howl being most prevalent, but she switches adeptly to a guttural growl and soft whispering at various times throughout the ten-track CD.
The CD starts off tentatively but quickly gains speed, fury and menace, before it's quieter, almost contemplative conclusion. Fierce, original and peppered with unpredictable, but not unpleasant, time changes, this is a record that might not impress much on the first listen but is definitely one whose merits are more apparent after repeated listening.
Key tracks: The Perpetrator, ... and the Bird Surgeon
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8. Christian Mistress Possession
A guilty pleasure, maybe, but there's a lot to like about this album that went completely undetected by me until the inclusion of their Haunted Hunted track on the 2012 Relapse Records sampler. Possibly metal, maybe hard rock, or maybe even stoner rock, Christian Mistress nails an incredibly earnest take on 70's-80's hard rock and metal. Technically solid, their galloping rhythms, effortless grooves and vocals best described as "a female Ozzy, but with range" are diabolically infectious. I often find myself playing this disc many times in succession, which is kind of a big deal given my complete lack of focus.
I refer to stoner rock, above, and I stand by that if only because of some subtle things, like the completely un-self-concious, throwback vocals and the great sounding low end, but don't pass on this CD because you're expecting something smoky and glacial; there are hooks a-plenty here and it's mostly up-tempo and totally booty shakin'.
A great record, let down only by the title track, oddly enough.
Key tracks: Haunted Hunted, Conviction
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7. Metz Metz
Clearly it's been a very good year for Canadian music, as this indie band out of Toronto is fast becoming a going concern in Europe and the UK. With good reason, too, as their basic guitar-bass-drums, feedback-laden sound is familiar enough but loaded with originality. Frantic, slicing guitars, insistent drumming and punchy bass complement the anguished vocals - the singer really does sound troubled a lot of the time. Plenty of other sounds creep in here and there...squawks, buzzes, "oh-oooh" vocals slipped in way down in the mix, resulting in a sound more complex than it seems on the surface, which was surprising being as this was originally described to me as "sludge-punk". Yeah, there's sludge, and I guess there are punk elements, but this CD is way more than the sum of those parts. Noisy, heavy and rifftastic, at their best moments Metz almost sound like a pop band, with terribly catchy hooks, albeit far too grimy for commercial radio. More than once on this disc songs suddenly stop, or nearly stop, and seem to struggle to regain momentum, almost like they're driving a twenty-year-old truck with a crappy clutch and it's all they can do to keep it from stalling, before triumphantly lurching back into motion, all the more furiously after having been inconvenienced.
Early Therapy? comes to mind, although Metz are already creating more interesting arrangements and are much better recorded. Therapy?, however, evolved into an engaging and unpredictable entity in their early-mid years, so it will be interesting to see where Metz takes their sound, as well. Another comparison that comes to mind is England's Blacklisters; in fact, the first time I heard Wet Blanket I assumed it was a new Blacklisters single. The fact that this record displaced BLKLSTRS, another fine 2012 release, from this list should speak volumes. My only fear is that the Canadian media will latch onto Metz' international attention and attempt to propel them to Crystal Castle-like status, which I'm unsure their "sludge-punk" genre can sustain.
Key tracks: Wet Blanket, Get Off, Headache
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6. Baroness Yellow and Green
This should have, could have been the year of Baroness. The early summer release of their ambitious double-album, Yellow and Green followed by a comprehensive world headlining tour may have positioned them up there with Mastodon in the heavy and extreme music hierarchy, but a terrifying bus crash after only the first date on their tour put paid to that. Nevertheless, the music's the thing.
Red Album and Blue Record remain two of my favourite records of all time, so I was pretty excited to tear the wrap off this disc about 20 seconds after it came out.
At first, disappointment. Not by the first song or the first ten minutes, I just wasn't feeling this record. It just wasn't...heavy, it wasn't brutal in the least. There were some very good parts, of course, and some great playing, but the whole thing kind of felt like "Baroness Lite". After four or five listens it was put away.
It wasn't until October that I even thought about this record again. I had downloaded the Relapse Records annual sampler and had it playing as background music, when I heard this rollicking drum and bass part, followed by these incredible guitars, sometimes playing in lock-step but just as often one would swirl away from the other, in and out of harmony with each other. I checked to see who this incredible band was and, you guessed it, Baroness. I wondered why they hadn't put this gem on the Yellow and Green album but, of course, when I dug out the CD there it was, disc one, track three, March to the Sea.
Needless to say, this led to many, many more listens, critical listening this time and, obviously, I came to really enjoy this record.
My earlier assessment was not all wrong; this record is hardly what one would call brutal, as parts of their earlier albums are, and apart from a moment here and there, is not even particularly heavy. I'm not prepared to say that Baroness has moved past metal and are seeking some sort of crossover middle ground - that's for the band to say - and it's not exactly post-metal, either. Their style has simply evolved; on previous records they were a heavy band with melodic qualities, but maybe now they are a melodic band with some heaviness to them. Whatever the case, they remain terrific songwriters and musicians who are still quite capable of melting faces.
The record is not all perfect but, being a double album, I figure they get a few mulligans. If we cull the forced and awkward Back Where I Belong, the painfully off-kilter Psalms Alive, as well as the intro/outro tracks on each disc which are, as usual, essentially the same piece of music reworked a bit, we're still left with a good one-and-a-half records' worth of material. That's half an album more than anyone else bothered to create this year.
Key tracks: March to the Sea, Board Up the House
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5. Norah Jones ...Little Broken Hearts
Apparently, Norah Jones' previous album, 2009's outstanding The Fall, was written largely in the wake of a break up. It must have been one hell of a break up, because ...Little Broken Hearts continues that theme and, sorry for Ms. Jones, but if these are the records she's gonna make when she's hurting, bring on the pain.
The twelve tracks on ...Little Broken Hearts spin a tale of betrayal, loss and acceptance. Strangely absent is forgiveness, but the fact that she's got two albums worth of material out of this dust up may help explain that. The majority of the songs are beautifully melancholy and unapologetic. At first blush the songs seem to possess the same mood and a similar tempo but, upon more careful listening, the depth of the songs and their individual merits come alive, ever so gradually.
As always, the musicianship is excellent, and Ms. Jones' voice is as good as ever, but these elements all come together with the evocative lyrics and create something truly special.
The album starts, as one might expect, with the betrayal and loss part of the program, with Good Morning and Say Goodbye setting up the situation, while the tone gets slightly bitter on She's 22, possibly the most heartbreakingly beautiful song she's recorded. Midway through the record, we get to the acceptance and moving on phase, with songs like Travelin' On and Out on the Road, in which Jones puts on a slightly unsteady swagger, as if to say "I've put this behind me, but...". Only toward the end of the record does the veil of sadness and loss lift a bit, with a small sense of redemption shining through in the defiant Happy Pills and even the shame-on-you message in Miriam. The final track, All A Dream, is a little harder to peg, as it could be describing denial, or maybe wishful thinking that, she now realizes, will never come to be a reality.
Jazz scmazz and metal schmetal. This is a great album.
Key Tracks: She's 22, Happy Pills
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4. Stars The North
With this, their sixth full length album, Toronto's Stars have quite possibly created their masterpiece. While slightly uneven, with a couple of tracks that add little, this is a slice of near-perfect, very smart pop music. At turns melancholic and melodramatic with some incredibly uplifting parts, the sound is best described as synth-pop, and if that seems limiting let's then say "indie-pop". The sound is clean, almost sparkling, with the exception of The Loose Ends Will Make Knots which sports a lo-fi quality that would make it worthy of being the next Magnetic Fields single. The lyrics are clever, possessing an indefinable sadness that, bizarrely, makes you happy when you hear it. Hormone pop?
On my second listen-through of this record I received some incredibly bad news and with me, and for better or worse, that event and this CD will be forever linked.
The instrumentation is outstandingly simple, yet lush and always precise. The finest moments of this record are when co-lead singers Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan team up, as they do on about half of the twelve tracks. My favourite lyric of the year appears on this disc: take the weakest thing in you / and beat the bastards with it. Words to live by.
Key Tracks: Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It, The Theory of Relativity
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3. Maserati VII
After hearing Maserati's first six full length CDs plus a handful of singles and split CDs I had assumed that "they" were one or two guys in a basement with a tonne of computers, a drum machine and all the DIY stuff one needs to make a record these days. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon some live video of Maserati and learned that they are four guys, playing guitar, bass and drums. Not a drum machine or a sequencer in sight.
Anyway, all that aside, with some very small exceptions you pretty much know what you're going to get with any given Maserati record; athletic guitars, tumbling over each other, elastic, brawny bass and drums so exact, so precise you'd swear it was a machine. I'm at a loss to label their all-instrumental masterpieces. Space rock? Riff rock? Whatever. Just be assured that while the rhythm section is keeping things steady and real the guitarists are dueling like their lives depend on it, one tearing off a blistering, melodic riff while the other dazzles with some intricate plinking, barely in the background. Then they trade off and do it all again.
It used to be, for me, that a Maserati album would be a good stop gap when there's no new Trans Am record, but the more I hear these guys the more I like them. As it is, VII outdoes anything Trans Am have put out in several years. Bring on VIII.
Key tracks: Eliminator, Solar Exodus
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2. Indian Handcrafts Civil Disobedience for Losers
The opening riff got my attention but, seconds later, with that first "WOO!" they had me. In a year with no shortage of great songs the opening track, Bruce Lee, may be my favourite. The crunchy, super-fast riffing and the shouted, echo-heavy vocals just get me every time. They're not quite able to sustain the excitement throughout the entire eleven tracks here, but they come oh-so close.
Indian Handcrafts are yet another Canadian guitar/drums duo (and the fourth Canadian record to make this list) who remind me a lot of another duo, Montreal's Death From Above 1979. Both bands, at their best, create incredibly catchy songs with hooks that stick with you for days. While DFA'79 were masters of the low end (being a bass/drum combo, after all) Indian Handcrafts' domain is the mid range, with plenty of grit and grunt propelling them on, but with a bonus shot of true lead guitar closing the deal.
Somebody online had the cheek to refer to these lads as stoner rock but, lifestyle choices aside, I don't get that. The majority of the songs, here, are delivered in full-on-attack mode, with some of the fastest drumming I've heard in awhile, a far cry from Sleep or Saint Vitus. I hear these boys as heavy rock with a smidge of punk thrown in and with a fair dose of humour, as well. These guys are a lot of fun, and they sound like they're having fun, too.
Key Tracks: Bruce Lee, Starcraft, Worms In My Stomach
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1. Royal Thunder CVI
I was taken completely by surprise by this Atlanta four-pieces's first full-length album. Their debut EP from 2009 left me cold, so I had resisted checking this out until quite late in the year. Simply put, I was blown away.
It's difficult to articulate what, exactly, makes this record so great, as there's just so much going on. Being on the predominately metal label, Relapse, they have been warmly embraced by the metal and extreme music crowd but to try to peg Royal Thunder as a metal band is too limiting. Yes, they can be crushingly heavy, but never in a heavy-at-all-costs way. In fact, some of the most striking aspects of this beautiful, haunting disc are the quieter moments, made all the more effective when the band effortlessly shifts gears from slow and sultry parts to devastating power chords and soaring guitar solos. While the music and the recording quality are near-perfect it would all be wasted if not for singer/bassist Mlny Parsonz' bluesy, soulful vocals. Her performance here is a revelation; she is uninhibited, completely without pretense and 100% committed.
Parsonz displays incredible versatility, able to pull off a range of styles, not just across the album but sometimes within the confines of a single song. In Whispering World, alone, she manages to bellow, croon and wail and make it all work. The epic Blue again showcases Parsonz ability to stick her neck out, vocally, with the main verses being sung in a standard rock/blues style but backed up with distant-sounding "whoa-whoas" and sweet harmonies during the bridge.
Musically diverse, I hear bits that remind me of Zeppelin, Neurosis as well as fellow southerners Jucifer and Lynyrd Skynyrd. The quick and dirty No Good would be right at home on a The Duke Spirit record.
Some of the tracks may be a bit overlong, but I won't complain about too much of a good thing.
If you only click one of the links on this post, do yourself a favour and click the one below, and turn up the volume.
Key Tracks: Blue, Whispering World
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Short Stuff - quickie reviews of my Top 5 EPs in 2012
5. DROM Hectop
I'm filing these Czech post-metallers under "promising". This four track effort clocks in at a generous 38 minutes which might be a tad longer than necessary, as the opener Kruh z Ohne a Oceli meanders more than a little bit and, at almost 11 minutes long, made me impatient. The reward for getting stuck in, however, is some well rendered blackened post-metal. The recording is very good, particularly the drums, but the record is let down a bit by the weak, one-note vocals. Still, there are some very good heavy parts interspersed with atmospheric stuff. The lyrics, available in Czech and English (but sung entirely in Czech) are interesting, concerning the life of Ukrainian anarchist Nestor Makhno.
Key track: Hrob z Ledu a Kameni
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4. Pelican Ataraxia/Taraxis
After the tedious What We All Come to Need I expected little but was delighted to find 3/4 of a fine EP, here. Only the opening cut, Ataraxia, disappoints, as it just fails to get going anywhere at all, but what remains is solid, classic Pelican. Of special note is the woozy lead guitar and out of tune acoustic strumming on Taraxis. An encouraging return to form, for sure.
Key Track: Taraxis
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3. Black Table Sentinel
From the sludge pits of New Jersey comes this decidedly un-sludgey post-metal quartet with a very rewarding four track debut. These kids really know what they're doing, technically, as they are tight as hell and fully prepared to get adventurous with their compositions. The bass playing, in particular, impressed me, being crisp and inventive but not show-offy. Singer Mers Sumida tries really hard, and achieves a creditable death growl, but her performance lacks spark and, for me, holds the rest of the band back, a bit. Musically on par with Cobalt and Altar of Plagues but let down by the vocals.
Key Track: To Tear Down
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2. Stallone American Baby
I know nothing of these guys except that their CD cover is disturbingly bad (are those tapeworms?) and that they've cranked out an outstandingly fun EP of all instrumental rock. Maybe the band's name is unfairly influencing me but I wanna say this is "Trans Am for dudes who drive Trans Ams", whatever the hell that means. Effects pedals abound and they wear some of their influences on their sleeves, right next to the pack of Lucky Strikes. Beyond is a raucous blend of Clutch and Maserati and even features a funky wah-wah intro. Seriously! Anyway, you get six tracks of thundering, hard-driving guitar rock that will pummel you into submission, puke in your car and hit on your mom. What's not to like?
Key Tracks: Ancient Infant, Beyond
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1. Deathspell Omega Drought
Not sure how or why but France keeps churning out these mysterious black and blackened metal bands that just get better and better. This six track EP took some stick online but I think it's terrific and their best stuff yet. These songs are menacing, not only through sheer force but also by guile, as even the parts that are not laced with lethal doses of blastbeats sound creepy and dangerous. The vocals are, I believe, the best in their genre; guttural and foreboding but never shouted or screamed. This EP is laced with great moments, jagged, trebley guitars that remind me of Fire Dances era Killing Joke and the surprising riffs and sudden, breathless conclusion to Scorpions and Drought. Evil never sounded so good.
Key Track: The Crackled Book of Life
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Also considered:
Bad Brains Into the Future - not terrible but it made me sad that HR has been reduced to talking instead of singing. Disappointing.
Behold...The Arctopus Horroscension - busy, overwrought, complicated for no apparent purpose other than being complicated.
Night Flight Orchestra Internal Affairs - just missed the Top 10. Can you imagine modern metal musicians doing a serious 70s-80's style radio rock album? You can? Then you just imagined this album. Bjorn Strid can really sing. Who knew?
Family Portrait - another near miss. Great grooves, intricate yet brutal, furious but not angry.
Black Breath Sentenced to Life - decent but not groundbreaking hardcore.
Bell Witch Longing - dry, ponderous doom metal.
Blacklisters BLKLSTRS - only out of the Top 10 due to Metz ploughing this particular row a little more effectively. Therapy? and Scratch Acid influences shine through although this lacks the variety of those two classic bands. The constant, sinewy bass makes me want to cause trouble, and they have the BEST song titles.
Blut Aus Nord 777 Sect - discordant and disappointing. Beaten at their own game by Deathspell Omega.
Blut Aus Nord 777 Cosmosophy - a series of tracks utilizing the same basic composition. Atmospheric, melodic and the dissonance is better managed than on 777 Sect.
Burning Love Rotten Thing to Say - relentless, explosive, desperate punk rock. Great hooks but 35 minutes of full-on rage vocals are wearing to listen to all the way through. Yet another Canadian band to keep an eye on..
Cancer Bats Dead Set on Living - although I liked it more each time I listened to it this is a far cry from their best stuff. Despite great production, punchy guitars and clear, rumbling bass, Liam Cormier's voice dominates and, a lot of the time, he's just shouting until he's hoarse.
Gaza No Absolute in Human Suffering - I really wanted this to be great but it was merely good. I find their aggressive anti-religion stance interesting; how can someone care that much about what someone else cares about? Anyway, a solid but unspectacular blackened something or other. Absolutely furious with tonnes of unexpected time changes.
Gojira L'enfant Sauvage - another disc I really looked forward to. Despite it being, in my opinion, awfully similar in a lot of ways to their previous stuff, there's a lot of really good stuff here. Joe DuPlantier's vocals are plenty metal yet he's always understandable, which is critical since Gojira actually have something to relate in their lyrics. A near miss on my Top 10, only left behind by their failure to break new ground.
High On Fire De Vermis Mysteriis - hard out of the gate and no looking back, as thundering drums, frantic riffs and growling vocals press on until dawn. Some definite prog elements come out in a few tracks as well as hints of Mastodon and Motorhead. Solid.
The Okhrana Ten Month Campaign - legit, hip swinging and head banging death metal, or maybe, more correctly, war metal. Basic, but capable playing throughout with distinct, refreshing vocals. Let down, somewhat, by iffy production in which solos often seem slapped on top. Somebody sign these guys.
Converge All That We Leave Behind - for all the praise heaped on this record this year I still firmly believe No Heroes is far superior. Not that this disc isn't good, it's just not the punk-metal miracle that some folks seem to suggest. Several songs start promisingly only to devolve into shouting, leaving only a handful of adventurous tracks to stand out.
Pallbearer Sorrow and Extinction - another disc that I didn't "get" after so many music writers declared this to be the prog/doom crossover the world has been waiting for. Certainly able and full of great grooves and outstanding tone, these songs demand soaring, dramatic vocals. A brave attempt is made but is ultimately compromised by a thin voice.
Dreaming Dead Midnightmares - solid, enjoyable but largely unexceptional death metal. Think Death with a female singer.
Drudkh Eternal Turn of the Wheel - well, is so-so Drudkh better than no Drudkh? Pretty standard stuff; drone, followed by furious crescendo. It's good but, apart from some excellent bass playing, this is nothing special.
Killing Joke MMXXII - I used to look forward to being unsettled and feeling weird after hearing a Killing Joke record. Those days are long gone, as KJ no longer seem interested in shocking or provoking anymore, but there's still a lot of value in a good Killing Joke record. This is a good but not great disc, largely indistinguishable from much of Absolute Dissent and maybe even Pandemonium. The playing is top notch throughout and Jaz Coleman, somehow, still sounds as menacing as ever and has even affected a bit of a majestic air. On first listen I almost chucked it after two consecutive clunkers (the bizarrely personal In Cythera, and Primobile in which Jaz fails to pull off whatever it was he was trying to accomplish) but Glitch came on next and saved the day. Uneven but worth a listen.
The Mars Volta Noctourniquet - gibberish. It's frustrating that musicians this good continually disappoint with completely dumb, unenjoyable records.
Meshuggah Koloss - a fine record but not much different from any of the last three or four Meshuggah albums. Still, there are some great moments here such as the squawking guitars on Swarm, the remarkably minimal I am Colossus and the moody Break These Bones Whose Sinews Give it Motion. Nothing wrong with it but nothing new, either.
Metric Synthetica - this may have made the Top 10 had Stars The North not captivated me so. On my first listen I was irritated first by the gratuitous "I'm just as fucked up as they say" and secondly the plodding pace of the opening track. The second track, Youth Without Youth goes a long way toward improving relations with its galloping bassline and slashing guitars a-la Andy Gill. Much of the rest of the disc is loaded with potential singles with more hooks than a...what...a crochet class....a butcher's cooler? I'm still surprised to not be completely bored with Emily Haines' detached, nasal talk-sing delivery, but it always seems to work, somehow. Lost Kitten is another highlight and is oddly light and sweet for these guys. The only real letdown on the disc is Wanderlust, in which Haines duets with Lou Reed, with horrible results (and it's all Lou's fault). Call it an 8/10.
Mgla With Hearts Toward None - seven numbered tracks should have been a clue that this disc might be a bit same-same from one track to the next. The record actually starts promisingly, with a very nice chugging rhythm and convincing vocals but it wasn't long before I was put off by some ratty drumming and sloppy, too-trebley guitar. The compositions are actually good, if a little too similar, but the playing is inconsistent and, apart from Tracks I and IV there is little to distinguish from the other. Nevertheless, these Poles are probably worth keeping tabs on.
Sleigh Bells Reign of Terror - Sleigh Bells have a quandary; they seem to have used up all of their girl-shouting-and-chanting-vocals credits but, when she tries to sing like a normal pop singer they're completely uninteresting. I'm sad to see them jump the shark after only one good album.
Of Monsters and Men My Head is an Animal - ok, straight up, Dirty Paws is terrific and one of my favourite songs from this year. Soaring, triumphant and, dare I say wise-sounding, it's one of those perfect pop moments, sounding a lot like Bjork fronting Fleet Foxes. The rest of the record...not so much. There are some nice moments like the cheerful Mountain Sound and the quietly unsteady Love love love, but these little gems are surrounded by a lot of pretty generic folk-pop. Apparently Little Talks was a huge hit for this group but I actually found it grating and hope to never hear it again. Ah, well, I'll always have Dirty Paws...
Old Man Gloom NO - a lot less than the sum of its parts, being as this is a "supergroup" of sorts. I expected more than a few isolated moments of merit here and there, with large chunks of tedium between some actually pretty great stuff.
The Sword Apochryphon - as usual for The Sword, there's some excellent playing and some absolutely kickass songs here but, also as usual, the thin, weedy vocals ruin the whole thing for me. At least Maserati and Stallone have the good sense not to sing.
Syberia Renaissance - I'm a sucker for post-metal instrumental bands but these jokers will not get the drop on me! Certainly capable but largely uninspiring and probably worth checking in on for future releases in case they choose to move forward from being Pelican on a mediocre day.
Ufomammut ORO: Opus Alter - another near-miss from my Top 10, I think I played this disc ten or twelve times in a row at one point. Hypnotic, relentlessly heavy with an definitely sinister vibe, these Italians punctuate their long, doom-laden tracks with anguished cries and pitiful wails. The first time I listened to this, two or three minutes into the first track I was thinking "this is as heavy as a very heavy thing but the level seems low" and with that I turned up the volume, only for the BASS TO COME IN seconds later, after which, heavy took on a new meaning. The centerpiece of this tremendous record is the middle track, the mesmeric Sulphurdew, clocking in at over 12 minutes with not a second wasted. I may never listen to Sleep's Dopesmoker again, this record is that good.
Unraveller Kinship Synthesis - one of the most fun records of the year, made by a guy who seems waaaay too serious to do something like this. Mike "Gunface" McKenzie is the guitarist for the uber-intense The Red Chord and seems an unlikely candidate to make a "metal" album composed entirely of 8-bit tones - exactly like the music and sound effects on a twenty-year-old Nintendo unit. These are like little soundtracks for imaginary video games and are all arranged so that they kinda sorta resemble how metal songs would be pieced together. Yep, it's a bit one-trick, but it's a hugely entertaining and successful trick. I would love to hear some of these compositions recorded with guitar/bass/drums.
Vaura Selenelion - it's difficult to say why this didn't click for me, as there are some great moments throughout the disc. Many of the songs seem to be building up to something that never truly materializes and they don't really take any chances until midway through the fourth track En/Soph. It may be a lack of variation in the tempo and the overall mood of the record, and the vocals are pretty ordinary. Only the falsetto vocals in Obsidian Damascene Sun offer anything unusual.
Thank you for reading. Comments and disagreements are welcome.
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