While it might seem like a fitting number to wrap up the best music of the year, 40 really isn’t a lot. There always are really great records that don’t end up in that list that still are unreal recordings. Here are five that ended up outside the top 40 but still remain some of our favorites from 2016.
ALCEST, “Kodama” (Prophecy): It’s not totally proper to consider “Kodama” Alcest’s comeback record. It’s not like they went anywhere or took a gigantic break from recording music. “Shelter” has just come out two years previously. Instead, “Kodama” is the band, led by Neige and backed by drummer Winterhalter, reaching back into their roots and bringing some heaviness and fierce vocals back to mix into their dreamy, intoxicating post-metal. I feel kind of stupid not putting this is the top 40, to be honest, it’s that good, but that’s how strong the field was. Six songs spread over 42 minutes are atmospheric, blistering, and imaginative, running through the title track, “Eclosion,” and “Oiseaux de prioe” that stand up there with some of the strongest material Alcest released to date. (Sept. 30)
GATECREEPER, “Sonoran Deprivation” (Relapse): Gnarly, nasty death metal always goes down right, and when you throw in stellar riffs and cool melodies, you have Gatecreeper’s debut record that pays homage to their rugged desert home. Ripping out over 33 minutes, a perfectly dosed album, the Arizona-based band chugs and blasts you over nine songs, often smearing gore over everything. From the opener “Craving Flesh” through “Rotting As One” into “Patriarchal Grip” to closer “Grotesque Operations,” this quintet launches into a stampede of blood and fury, one that marks this band as one of the more promising new death metal groups going. (Oct. 7)
SAVAGE MASTER, “With Whips and Chains” (High Roller): It used to be OK for metal to be fun and full of debauchery. It’s not that Savage Master are, like, Poison or something, but they definitely bring the 1980s vibe where danger is afoot, leather is strapped to everyone, and you might get to see something catch on fire. Savage Master’s great second record “With Whips and Chains,” a 10-track, 35-minute affair, also is aptly titled, because that’s what will be on your mind the entire time you listen to the music. Uh, but that’ll be drenched in blood, sweat, and piss, with Stacy Savage out front in total command of this metallic army. “Dark Light of the Moon,” “Vengeance Is Steel,” “Burned at the Stake,” and the pummeling title track should keep your adrenaline flowing and you willing to battle long after your body has succumbed to exhaustion. (April 22)
VEX, “Sky Exile” (Eihwaz Recordings): A drought might not seem like the most metal topic in the world, but that subject matter hit home hard for Texas death metal unit Vex. So, on their latest record “Sky Exile,” they revisit the 2011 drought that ravaged West Texas, an event that ravaged the people of that area. The result is some of the most inspired work of Vex’s run, which started way back in 1998, and the music here is marked by heaviness, texture, fury, and compassion. The material spreads over 11 songs and 58 minutes, with riveting epics (“Antithetical Age,” “Nowhere Near,” “Dark Skies Painted”) mixing with stirring instrumentals (“Dry River Days,” “Empyrean”) on an album that really deserves to have gotten more traction than it did. If you missed out on this one, definitely go back and check out one of death metal’s best-kept secrets of 2016. (June 2)
PHOBOCOSM, “Bringer of Drought” (Dark Descent): Weirdness and innovation are two elements that have made Phobocosm one of the most enthralling bands in the underground scene. Their dark death metal bubbled to the surface again this year on their second effort “Bringer of Drought,” a four-cut, 35-minute excursion into morbid mysteries. Thick, mucky playing mixes with sections where things get surprisingly atmospheric and proggy, pummeling you over and over again on tracks including “Engulfing Dust” and the massive closer “Fallen.” Boiling fury and sci-fi-laced twists and turns not only will keep you sustaining body bruises, but it also will remind you that you don’t have to accept run-of-the-mill returns when it comes to brutal death metal. You always have Phobocosm. (May 13)
There are those record that, when you hear them the first time, you know your perspective is going to change. The music becomes a part of you, grows on you, shifts its meaning for you, and ultimately stays with you like an added body part.
Emma Ruth Rundle’s amazing third album “Marked for Death” was that for me this year. I already was a big fan of hers from her work with Red Sparowes and Marriages, as well as her solo albums, but this album went above and beyond. The tales of love, loss, struggle, and death are very real, and each song on here reached out and impacted me. Rundle was kind enough to answer some questions for us about the record, her experience recording it, the personal nature of the songs, and what she has coming up. This is the first year we’ve ever done a non-metal record of the year, and I can’t think of a better album or artist to kick off this feature than this one. Thank you again, Emma, not only for taking time to give us your insight, but also for your music.
Meat Meat Metal: We’re primarily a metal site, but our love of music goes beyond that. “Marked for Death” was my favorite non-metal record of the year and I found it an incredibly raw, emotional experience. I know you went through a lot making this album. How is the music sitting with you now that you’ve had some time to reflect on it?
Emma Ruth Rundle: Hi Brian, thank you for the kind words. It’s good to know that the emotional content translates. I recorded MFD last December after spending some time alone post-tour, writing at the Sargent House Farm in the freezing high desert of California. It’s been a year since then, and while I’m not one who really listens to their own recordings, I have had to go out and perform some of these songs this year. To be completely honest, getting back into these songs it psychologically difficult in that I feel it seems to cause an emotional backslide for me. I believe some music can be therapeutic to perform, but not so much this project. It motivates me to try and live a happier life in the hopes that the songs that come out aren’t rooted in some of the twisted themes of MFD. So far, I have yet to write a happy song, but I won’t stop trying.
MMM: How do you view this record emotionally? Was this sort of a bloodletting for you? Cathartic? Was it simply just necessary to get all of these things out of you? Something else?
ERR: All of the above. Writing is sort of a calling out, naming the creature, and then putting it in a glass jar for examination. If I had my druthers, I would probably shelf each one right away and just keep pulling them out until I feel clean. Ha.
MMM: There are so many high points on this record, but the closer “Real Big Sky” crushed me on first listen and has every time I’ve visited since. It feels like the beginning and end of something, a point where acceptance comes in. And it’s particularly well placed at the end of the record. Tell me more about this song.
ERR: Thanks. I feel attached to “Real Big Sky.” It came to me after a few “dry” days in the desert during which I was bereft of feeling. Totally numb. I had a conversation on the phone with my sister that touched on some memories and family stuff. Without getting too specific, the song describes the degradation of the body, the knowledge of eminent dusk, but the hopefulness of a possibility that there is something beyond—free from the pain, suffering, and loss that affect us all in our human experience. The finished version of the song is almost exactly like the original demo. There were some deviations in the studio, other attempts, none of which were appropriate. There is a little film Brandon Kapelow made about and for the song (below). I’m very happy with how this piece turned out, and it talks a little bit more about the record with a particular focus on this song.
MMM: There also is, as the title of the record makes clear, the pall of death. From some of your words in “Hand of God,” the title track, and even “Heaven,” why was death so present in these songs?
ERR: It’s hard not to feel self-indulgent or like I’m dwelling on dark times and Death. I acknowledge that there are different forms of loss and suffering, and that mine is surely trivial compared to that of others. It is not my intention to perpetuate the sad girl stereotype, and sometimes I feel disappointed in myself when it appears to me as though this work did the opposite. I am interested in an exploration of transformation. “Heaven” describes the ideas of simple life-type happiness slipping away, returning to the church of the earth, and into the fire of revelation. The sublimation of the common or physical form. A lot of my work has been focused on death. Without talking too specifically, it’s coming from my personal life and history. “Hand of God” is really a song about shame particularly around sex, relationships, and my own twisted nature. Or at least that’s the interpretation today.
MMM: All three of your solo albums have been so different from each other, yet mistakably Emma Ruth Rundle. Did you know going in that “Marked for Death” would head down this path musically, or did it come about as your creative process went on?
ERR: The record really came together in the studio. There were a lot of songs, but I discarded many ideas after writing newer stuff during the time at The Farm. The bulk of the record was written there or at least completed there. We actually recoded MFD there as well. I had wanted to make a more “folk” album at one point and really struggled with the decision to either have drums on the record or not. I knew by adding instrumentation I might be setting myself up for logistical/financial problems when the time for touring came, but as the songs developed, it was clear that the record needed to be as it is now. Perhaps the next one will be more stripped down. Sonny DePerri was very helpful throughout the process, and I felt safe sending him my demos and in making choices about which songs to include vs abandon.
MMM: You’re no stranger to heaviness with your work in Red Sparowes and Marriages. Could we ever hear any heavier sounds in your solo work, or does this hold a different purpose for you?
ERR: I feel that MFD was a step in the heavy direction, and I certainly don’t want to limit the future. Right now I want to do something a little more restrained and sparse as well as finish up “Electric Guitar 2,” but touring this record might change my mind. All the touring Marriages did in 2015 certainly influenced the more drum-heavy direction MFD seems to have gone in.
MMM: You’ve got some dates coming up with Deafheaven. What else are you planning to do in 2017?
ERR: Yes, I love Deafheaven and am very pleased to be joining them as well as This Will Destroy You for the Feb/March dates (see dates below). I will be returning to Europe in April for Roadburn as well as some touring surrounding. As I said before, I would like to finish up “Electric Guitar 2,” complete some of the visual art I’ve been chipping away at. Maybe more Marriages, definitely aiming to record another solo record and improve my skills as a guitarist. Always working, while I am lucky enough to be doing so.
Our other favorite non-metal releases, in no particular order:
STURGILL SIMPSON, “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth” (Atlantic): Tremendous third album by this true country artist, whose nine-song collection acts as an open letter to his son. It’s a more full-bodied effort complete with a great horn section and stellar songwriting.
ANGEL OLSEN, “My Woman” (Jagjaguwar): The best record Olsen has put out to date, highlighted by highly energetic “Shut Up Kiss Me” and “Sister,” an amazing eight-minute song that starts soft and ends up a face melter.
BIG THIEF, “Masterpiece” (Saddle Creek): Perhaps the best new band of the year. Their debut record is rugged and emotional, at times playing things delicately (“Paul,” “Lorraine”) and at others tearing the roof off things (the rousing title cut, “True Love”).
MITSKI, “Puberty 2” (Dead Oceans): At just 26, “Puberty 2” is already Mitski Miyawaki’s fourth record and the one that should rip open ears. “Your Best American Girl” is a barnburner and has one of the best choruses (both for sounds and words) of the year, while “I Bet on Losing Dogs” and “Thursday Girl” unleashes her vulnerability.
SAVAGES, “Adore Life” (Matador): This English four-piece managed to eclipse their excellent debut with “Adore Life,” where the band really comes into their own. Noisy and alluring, the Jehnny Beth-led band splinter your ears and your hearts on “The Answer,” “Sad Person,” and “Adore,” which builds to a crescendo that could end you.
BLACK MOUNTAIN, “IV” (Jagjaguwar): This psychedelic space rock band finally returned after six years with one of their most expansive works yet, as they also level some trippy doom into the mix. The zapping synth of “Florian Saucer Attack” and the morbid funeral love of “Cemetery Bleeding” are so good, you’ll listen over and over.
ESBEN AND THE WITCH, “Older Terrors” (Season of Mist): This great post-rock band found a new home on typically metal label Season of Mist and made a compelling record as unsettling as anyone else on that roster. Four epics dot this album that’ll make the woods seem scarier than ever before.
CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX, “Bronze” (Season of Mist): This UK psychedelic rock band never hid their love of Pink Floyd, and that runneth over on “Bronze,” perhaps the best-timed record of the past decade (especially if you’re an American). Feeling lousy about the state of the world? Immerse yourself in “Bronze” and come out psychologically charged and devastated.
WARPAINT, “Heads Up” (Rough Trade): This record didn’t get nearly the amount of attention it deserved. Following their self-titled 2014 breakthrough effort, the band responded by turning down the lights, chilling out, and putting together an effort that pulsates your darker inhibitions and constantly keeps you stimulated.
Emma Ruth Rundle on tour this Spring with Deafheaven and This Will Destroy You:
February 23 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent (Noise Pop)
February 26 Las Vegas, NV @ The Bunkhouse Saloon
February 28 Albuquerque, NM @ Sister
March 2 Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
March 3 Dallas, TX @ Trees
March 4 Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live Studio
March 5 New Orleans, LA @ The Republic NOLA
March 7 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
March 8 Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
March 10 Charlotte, NC @ The Underground
March 11 Richmond, VA @ The Broadberry
March 12 Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Sound Stage
March 13 Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
March 14 Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
March 15 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
March 17 Detroit, MI @ Shelter at St. Andrew’s Hall
March 18 Bloomington, IL @ The Castle Theater
March 19 Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater
March 20 Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
March 21 Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
March 23 Denver, CO @ The Summit Music Hall
March 24 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
March 26 Seattle, WA @ Neumos
March 27 Eugene, OR @ WOW Hall
April 23 Tilburg, Netherlands @ Roadburn Festival *
With the year winding down, everyone everywhere is taking a look back on the music of 2016. The best albums list always is the biggest feature for most people, but we’re careful in these parts not to forget about the smaller releases that populate the year’s music output.
We have a nice bit of EPs and split releases that occurred during the year, which we didn’t include in our top 40, because we kept that specifically to full-length records. But these releases are worth your time for sure, as they are some of the better non-full-length efforts of the past year. Make sure you give them some love, respect, and even better, your money.
DAWNBRINGER, ‘XX” (Ektro/Full Contact): The final act from this Chris Black project was released digitally in February and got physical versions later in the year via Ektro and Full Contact. It’s a slim, trim 20-minute collection that rules from front to back. With half-ballad “Why Would You Leave Me” starting off the EP, the music then hammers into tried-and-true metal glory with “Into the Maze” and “North By North,” which are crushers, and the whole thing ends with instrumental “The End of the Beginning.” Black has moved onto making more of High Spirits and some solo work, but he left Dawnbringer on a real high note on an EP that stands up with the rest of the band’s catalog.
GRAVE MIASMA, “Endless Pilgrimage” (Profound Lore): Guttural death metal that feels like it is chewing away at your innards yet also pummels you with instrumental prowess is not something every band can pull off. But UK death monsters Grave Miasma are not your run-of-the-mill offenders, which they prove on their new EP “Endless Pilgrimage.” While a smaller release, the 33-minute run time still is longer than other bands’ full-lengths, and it’s as meaty and massive as any other death metal release this year. The group clobbers you over and over on mesmerizing opener “Yama Transforms to the Afterlife”; infernally damaging “Utterance of the Foulest Spirit”; and devastating closer “Full Moon Dawn” that lets the charnel winds coat your lungs with soot as you crawl to your certain doom.
VILE CREATURE, “A Pessimistic Doomsayer” (self-released): This Canadian doom duo ruffles feathers among metal’s narrow-minded war bros with their support for vegan and LGBTQ issues and their distaste for oppression and abuse. But that’s never stood in this band’s way—if anything, it likely galvanizes them—and their awesome one-track, 17:50 EP is a massive, emotional journey that is heavy as it gets. The band buries itself in works of fiction, records, TV shows, you name it, in which they find solace when the outside world gets to be too much. It’s their self-made preservation zone, which is a healthy way to combat what ails you, and along with singer Laura Minnes lending her powerful vocals, the core band members Vik (drums, vocals) and K.W. (guitars/vocals) pummel you with smothering sludge and devastating doom that’s weighty and delivered right from their bruises souls. When the howl, “This world has no safe space for me!” it’s as much a desperate cry as anger-lathered battle cry that it’s clear that, despite barriers in their way, lets you know they’ll stop at nothing to have their voices heard and make metal their damn way.
MARE COGNITUM/AUREOLE, “Resonance: Crimson Void” (Fallen Empire): Often split releases contain a collection of songs by two bands or more that are in no way connected. They’re just packaged together. But Mare Cognitum and Aureole had different ideas on “Resonance: Crimson Void,” making it one of the most noteworthy split releases of the year. The two bands come together to create a black metal-smeared space opera that centers around the Citadel Alunar, its bell tower, and a civilization that is in collapse as its inhabitants reach to the stars for answers. The citadel eventually encounters and is engulfed by the Rosette Nebula (see the amazing cover art), causing chaos, a great struggle, and the suffocation of life by hands emerging from the bell, until the bell tower finally collapses. Yet, the citadel lives, and from this, it emerges with newfound knowledge and must rebuild itself. It’s a story that’ll totally mesmerize you and your desire for cosmic sagas, and the music will envelop you whole when it’s all said and done.
BOTANIST/OSKOREIEN, “EP3: Green Metal/Deterministic Chaos” (Avantgarde Music): Two one-man projects unite here for a traditional split, and a damn fine one at that. Botanist continues his foray into the Verdant Realm, where the good and green of nature continue to plot their revenge on destructive humanity. The project’s hammered-dulcimer-and-drums sound has continued to morph, and this is more compelling stuff from one of this site’s favorite acts. Oskoreien got their active year going with “Deterministic Chaos,” two tracks of industrially sooty black metal force that’s the work of Jay Valena. He offers up one twisted track of his own and then does a transformative number on Placebo’s “Without You, I’m Nothing,” a track you likely won’t even recognize right away. Or even when it’s done. These are two of the most interesting bands in underground metal, and their every turn is worth your attention.
Other noteworthy EPs: Krallice, “Hyperion”; Paroxsihzem, “Abyss of Excruciating Vexes”; Tombs, “All Empires Fall”; Mesarthim, “Pillars,” “Spires,” and “The Great Filter”; Candlemass, “Death Thy Lover”
Splits: Palace of Worms/Thaobath; Waldgeflüster/Panopticon; Blut Aus Nord/Ævangelist; Spectral Voice/Phrenelith
No matter where you stand, you can’t deny it. We’ve lost a ton of great artists to death. The United States somehow elected a race-baiting orange goblin as its Commander in Chief. Fake news is more impactful on people than facts and evidence. It’s been a goddamn blast, let me tell you. Over the next two weeks, we’re going to celebrate what’s been great about metal this past year because, as bad as things have been otherwise, we’ve had a lot of excellent heavy metal to distract us from the shit comet that slammed into us over and over again. It’s the right thing to do.
But before we get there, let’s take one last bloody spit of the bad stuff from the metal world this year. There have been some not-so-great records, some embarrassing garbage that continued to bog down this great style of music, and some things we’d sooner forget. So here we go, one last trip through the bullshit from metal before we get to the stuff that was really good.
Opeth’s “Sorceress”: I get that Opeth isn’t a death metal band anymore. It’s a stupid idea. But I get it. This band that created some seminal classics such as “Morningrise” and “Blackwater Park” has been on this prog rock thing for far too long now, and the new record, while well played, is a boring disaster. Just because you like prog rock doesn’t necessarily mean you should re-program the band to play only that. And holy shit, can we dial back the organs just a little bit? If they weren’t one of the great and more forward-thinking death metal bands in the world, that would be one thing. Them not being a particularly strong prog band is something else. This record is grating from front to back, and as much as I’d like to honor them for following their dusty muse, this just isn’t working anymore.
Naming “Hardwired … to Self-Destruct” metal album of the year: So, this is a new one, and that’s because this just keeps happening. I like the new Metallica record. In fact, if you took LP 1, lopped off track three and added “Spit Out the Bone” to the back end, you might have an argument. This is as inspired as Metallica has sounded in ages. But in a year when we’ve had some really great pieces of metal bombard us, this is the equivalent of awarding some washed-up legacy band a Grammy just because they made a record where they didn’t fall ass backward into their own shit. The second record/CD of this album? Not very good at all. Metallica isn’t washed up, but they also didn’t make the best metal record of the year. They made a good one, and part of the excitement is over these guys creating baffling garbage for two decades and finally doing something right. Celebrate that they’re playing well again, but don’t choke on hyperbole.
Acting like an adult still not kvlt: Accidental rhyme, but I’ll let it stand. Another year, another embarrassing experience interacting with the metal community. I know, people hardened in the black metal movement seem to think that people want a cozy place to stay and music that isn’t dangerous. Yeah, no one fucking wants that. People got into many forms of metal because it was dangerous. That makes it fun and cathartic. What sucks is people being shit on for wanting LGBTQ and minority folks to be able to enjoy the music and go to shows without being harassed. Or exist online and discuss the music they love without being threatened. You can toss the SJW “insult” all you want, but it comes off like people ill-equipped for a political debate using the derogatory terms for liberal and conservative. And yeah, the Antifa shit may have good intentions, but the threats of violence and terror undoes any of that and makes the right that much more galvanized. It would be nice if we could enjoy metal, get our negativity out of our systems with it, and leave people the fuck alone already.
That Bolzer album: The less said about “Hero” the better.
Nails put out decent album, act like babies: “You Will Never Be One of Us” is a pretty difficult album title to misconstrue. Split verbs, guys! You’re not their friends, and you never will be. Based on the way their leader Todd Jones acted this year, I’m cool with that. As a member of the media, I’ve been subject to attacks from subjects I’ve written about. Shit, I wrote a piece two years ago that still results in me being called every name in the book. Good thing people get over things! Jones losing his mind over stories written about his band (including one that contained a positive review of the band’s third record, which is pretty rad, by the way) reeked of someone with thin skin not being confident enough in his own abilities and band to let things go. Well, come to think of it, we just hired a president who does the same thing. It was so bad, as were the people who wished misfortune and bad luck for the band, and it put a slimy feel on what should have been a pretty cool year for Nails.
Nuclear Blast sign, push Ghost Bath: You know, the band that claimed to be Chinese when their “Funeral” and follow-up “Moonlover” was released getting signed by one of the biggest labels in metal is a joke. Not that the North Dakota-based band is bad or anything. But shit, you pull off a dumb thing like claiming you’re from China instead of a seemingly boring state in the Midwest, that should leave you desolate as a band. Nope! Wide distribution and seemingly everyone forgetting all about this.
Metal also has shitty deaths: Fuck off, universe, for taking away: Bill Bumgardner (Indian, Lord Mantis), Caesar Cole (Dawnbringer, Superchrist), Nick Menza (Megadeth), Adrian Guerra (Bell Witch), Karl Pendragon Weiss (Atlantean Kodex), and even though they aren’t metal, David Bowie and Greg Lake. Leave and never come back, 2016.
Today is a monumental day, as it means we have come to the end. Not of the site. Stop celebrating. No, we’ve come to the end of the review year here at Meat Mead Metal, and we have one final Pick of the Week for you to sink your teeth into before we overdose in year-end coverage starting next week. So why not talk about something jointly released by two labels we like a whole lot?
Bindrune Recordings and Nordvis Produktion have become reliable partners, releasing exciting new underground music that sounds as good in a forest as it does over your headphones. Hell, there’s a T-shirt celebrating the labels’ relationship, and they cap off 2016 with another good one, “Gudatall,” the second effort from Swedish black metal duo Murg. This is a guess that this is a duo, as they don’t publicly release their identities. But their promo shots contain shadowy images of two figures, so we’ll go with that. They debuted last year with their interestingly titled concept album “Varg & Bjorn,” and now, a year and a half later, they’ve offered up this eight-track, 45-minute opus of traditional black metal that pays homage to the sub-genre’s roots but doesn’t paint by numbers. The album is crushing and exciting, a stampeding fury that comes for your head but also is very enthralling.
The title track gets things started with morbid tones and guitars slowly awakening before it rips open with a fury. The music is spacious, though it walks hand-in-hand with punishment, while the vocals pierce the flesh as things end in fiery chaos. “Sorgeblot i gångarna” has pained, wrenching vocals that pull the song into a pool of blackness. The song itself is raspy and melodic, with riffs churning, the pace pummeling, and everything swirling in a tornado. “Djupt ner, där frosten inte biter” has a clean beginning, but darkness is looming on the horizon. The guitars are dusty for a stretch before the song bursts into flames, and the riffs are spirited. The guitars spill down, while the thick fog rises, and that misty atmosphere piles up and barrels into a crashing ending that lets smoke pour. “Den siste i brödraskapet” has strong melodies lapping and an understated ambiance. Savage shrieks arrive as the cut builds momentum then takes a weird turn in the opposite direction. Some clean tones bring serenity, but it’s not long before the cut stampedes toward the finish line.
“Mästarens resa i mörkret” is full of guitar madness and epic riffs, with the full load unleashing violence and harsh shrieks cutting at your flesh. Jarring shifts keep your bones crunching together, while the music later takes on the feel of a rain shower, soaking the ground beneath you and leaving you struggling in the mud. “Vargens ständiga vakan” is the longest song at 7:28, starting with waters rushing and guitars chiming and entrancing. As the band comes to life, meaty thrashing is unleashed, while wild howls slash away at you like a cold wind. Pace changes keep things unpredictable, with the skies darkening and melodies looping to leave you in a pall of confusion. “Midnattsmässan” is a shorter blast, with the guitars leading the charge and sounds rupturing, then cascading. The song smothers with dramatics before crushing the way toward closer “Törstens kval.” There, guitars drizzle while riffs gush blood, pushing the pace as hard as possible, with vicious snarls adding insult to injury. But as the song builds toward its finish, the elements sprint into the stratosphere, filling your lungs with cold air. From there, riffs trudge, and the music feels like water flowing into a larger, massive body of water.
Murg’s second record may be arriving very late in the year, but it’s perfect fodder for when the days are darker longer, and the weather chills your bones. “Gudatall” is a great follow-up effort for this mysterious duo, and it fills the gap in our hearts for true, honest black metal. We always want to end the year on a strong note, and Murg’s music hammers an exclamation point at the end of 2016.
The age-old argument of how black metal is supposed to sound like will burn on until the end of time. Or until the style of music burns itself to the ground once and for all. For many, only a rough, crude sound that seems barely produced will work. But we’ve progressed, and a smoother, cleaner sound has become more accepted.
For Nachtzeit, he tends to stretch in each direction, depending on his project. For his dreamier Lustre, you get a flush of sound, a rush of textures that surround you and carry you into space. But on his self-named band, we’re into basement aesthetics, the grimiest of the grime, where you must struggle and claw to hear all the elements mixed into each other. On his great new EP “Sagor I Natten,” he mashes all kinds of madness into four tracks that last about 16 minutes combined. It sounds like utter chaos if you simply put in on in the background and don’t pay attention. Don’t make that mistake. There is a lot of melody and nuance hidden within the mire, and while it might not be an easy listen first time around, the layers open each time you go in.
“Ett Fjärran Minne” gets the EP off to gruff, brutal start, as wild, animalistic howls can be heard penetrating the thick noise cloud, and those get more feral as they go on. The aforementioned strong melodies are there, lying beneath a ton of muck as they loop away and spiral a hole to the bottom of this thing. “De Färdas Genom Natten” tears right open and gushes colors everywhere. Even amid the soot and dirt, various shades help thin lasers of hues push into the picture, while a death haze arrives and takes over. Melodies lap underneath, sinking into infectious noises that warm your blood, even if the rest of you is freezing, and the back end storms heavily right up to its conclusion. “Över Myr Och Mark” is a quick interlude of dungeon synth, as visions of sharpened swords and shields being prepared to hunt dragons spill into the mind. At least it did into mine. Closer “Där Allting Har Sin Början” is the longest song at 6:48, and it gets off to a raucous start, charging hard and bringing with it harsh noises and creaky growls. Melodies drive and coat the skin like a spring storm, while the track continues to unload, with weird, monstrous fires blazing, the vocals sounding like they originate from a creature in a lost cavern, and the remnants of the track washing away.
Nachtzeit has only given us two EPs under his solo moniker, and both have been sooty, smothering affairs. Whatever his reason for choosing this approach must be a good one, because he sure isn’t trying to hide a lack of skill or fascinating ideas on “Sagor I Natten.” This is an EP that might sound best amid a total whiteout snow storm, where your senses already are heightened trying to figure out what’s around you.
Sometimes if you want something done right, you have to go to the experts. We’ve heard the kids piddling around with death metal, and truth be told, many of them are pretty damn good at it. But you want something war-torn, bloodied, and true, it never hurts to gather together a group of well-traveled veterans to let them have their way with the stuff.
That takes us to international superpower Echelon and their clobbering second record “The Brimstone Aggrandizement.” OK, look, it’s a mouthful to say. We’ll admit it right off the bat. But beyond that you uncover death metal the way it was meant to made, that being right off the battlefield with body parts still burning and the blood flowing fresh. In this unit, we find a slew of hardened dudes who have been around and seen some shit making this thunderous eight-track record, the follow-up to last year’s word soupy “Indulgence Over Abstinence Behind the Obsidian Veil,” itself a fucking crusher. This lineup, and get ready for this, consisting of vocalist Dave Ingram (current Hail of Bullets frontman, who also headed Benediction and Bolt Thrower), guitarists Kjetl Lynghaug (Mordenial, Paganizer) and Rogga Johansson (Down Among the Dead Men, Johansson & Speckmann, his duo with Master vocalist Paul Speckmann, and formerly of Soulburn, Foreboding, Bloodgut, and like a zillion other bands), bassist Johan Berglund (Demiurg, The Grotesquery), and drummer Travis Ruvo (Among the Decayed, Cropsy Maniac, Wormfood) has insane resumes, in case the past 90 lines were unclear, and bring all of their violence and power to this killer band.
“Plague of the Altruistic” kicks off the record heavily, and from the title alone, you should not expect anywhere to run and hide. The track is instant death, as Ingram unleashes his growls, and furious leads cut through the track. The bass bubbles, as Ingram wails about “a sacrifice to your unforgiving god,” feeling punishing and threatening all at once. “The Forbidden Industry” has a tempered start before it rips open. The chorus is a mauler that’ll stick with you, while weird robotic speaking strikes near the end, and the cut comes to a destructive finish. “Lex Talionis” starts with Ingram howling, “Let the punishment fit the crime!” before a thrashy assault starts, further growls gurgle, and the soloing scorches. The back end has a classic death metal flavor, finishing with Ingram vowing “a tooth for a tooth.” “Of Warlocks and Wolves” has hounds snarling and an Amon Amarth-style approach, striking a nice balance between melodic and murderous. The playing is strong and channeled, with the guitars ruling and a nice dose of crunch landing.
The title cut has a flurry of guitars, as the lead work surges, and a fast, crushing pace begins breaking bones. “Weld the power of autonomy!” Ingram howls, delivering his battle cry to rally the troops, and the song keeps punching on all cylinders before it races toward the finish line. “Vital Existence” greets you with strange voices before the song erupts and heads your way. A grindy, fiery tempo brings pain, while creaky growls and all guns blazing come to an abrupt, breath-robbing end. “The Feared Religion” heads down the left-hand path, with thrashy playing and things heading toward the fires. The soloing spirals out of control, dragging you on an unpredictable trip, while the band stands tall, chugging and giving off chest-caving smoke. Closer “Monsters in the Gene Pool/Sonic Vortex” starts with a Vincent Price cackle and the song taking a different road than the ones before. The pace is more rock-oriented, though Ingram howls like a beast, and the guitars are allowed to smear and show off a little more here. About halfway through, the song fades out, and in its place are whimsical sounds and dialog clips that bring this to a really strange conclusion.
There’s no doubting Echelon’s heart and bloodied hands on “The Brimstone Aggrandizement,” as they’ve been there, conquered, and still are telling their filthy war tales. This record is a punishing, yet fun reminder of death metal’s hungry early days when fires were freshly burning, and a whole new world was out there to discover. The history has been written, the scars have hardened, but we’re lucky to still have veteran musicians such as the ones from Echelon to remind us of what death metal means in the first place.
I’ll be honest: It’s late in the year, and we start our best of 2016 stuff next week. Finding things to fill out this final week never is an easy task. Usually there’s a lot of barrel scraping involved. Weirdly, that’s not the case this year. These final few days of 2016 reviews contain some really intriguing stuff, starting with today’s record that might twist up your brain.
We visited with Virginia-based maulers Bearstorm last year for their “Americanus” release (a re-recording of the 2013 record of the same name), and even then we knew this would be a band we’d need to follow into the future. Now with their burly new EP “Biophobia,” they have proved that assertion true. These guys play with a lot of sounds fairly common in the metal terrain—black metal, death, doom, prog—but it in a unique way. Their approach is both brutal and fun, meaning you can lose some blood listening to their stuff, but you’ll be enjoying yourself too much to worry about it. These five songs (technically four full tracks and an intro piece) establish how creative this band is, and the music is such that every time you visit, something new reveals itself.
Bearstorm got started as a band in 2009, immediately mixing their weirdness and heaviness right off the bat. Their debut record “Horribilus” reached the world two years later, and then in 2013, they issued their first stab at “Americanus.” Two years later, after piquing the interest of Grimoire Records, the band did the aforementioned re-do of that album, and that version started turning more heads. The band—vocalist Michael Edwards, guitarists Kelsey Miller and Greg Bates, bassist/keyboardist Jay Lindsey, drummer Patrick DeRoche—now have offered this new EP to give everyone a taste of where they are right now and likely whet our appetites for their new full-length.
“Dawn Chorus” is a quick intro cut that has birds chirping and a strange buzzing noise that makes it feel like you’re locked in a bizarre dream. Then it’s into the title track, where an infusion of melody strikes right away and locks horns with heavy guitars chugging. Edwards’ raspy growls begin to land shots, and then it’s into doom land, with a thick bassline driving hard and stoner-style leads burning brightly. “Get down on your knees!” Edwards commands, while the song goes into a foggy haze and then a death spiral. “Cravers of a Second Birth” has a clean start before heading into prog star fields, then erupting. The track sprawls through tricky playing, creaky vocals, and a thrashy assault before it shifts yet again. From there, the playing is tough and dizzying, the growls gurgle, and the finish smolders. “Agaric Catechism” is an instrumental that starts with clean playing before Southern rock-style fumes rise and give the song a kick in the ass. From there, the playing gushes and chars, heading right toward closer “Cryptobiotic Filth Destroyer.” The cut begins with jerky guitars and bloody growls, simmering both in prog and Mastodon-style grit. Later, calm arrives, and the band goes in a jazzier direction, with soloing so smooth you could slip on it. Maiden-inspired leads mix in with dirty southern attitude before the song disappears into a cloud of noise.
It’s clear that Bearstorm remain in the experimentation phase, and if they keep coming up with stuff as bizarre and heavy as “Biophobia,” that’s totally fine. They do a lot of things really well, and their sound actually could pull in some listeners who have been hanging on the mainstream periphery but could stand to dine on something heavier.
We’ve taken a lot of spacious, atmospheric adventures this year in metal, and that’s been one of the saving graces of what’s been an awful year. I didn’t purposely set out to mention 2016 sucking in every review this week, but it just worked out that way. Anyway, here in the final weeks of the year, another trip into the stratosphere is very welcome.
You’ll have to wait until the very last day of this year to get a copy in your hands, but Irish doom band Soothsayer (not to be confused with the band of the same name from Pittsburgh) is unleashing their second overall recording “At This Great Depth,” out on Transcending Obscurity. While it’s considered a full record, the effort contains two songs that last about 25 minutes combined, but, make no mistake, this is a massive effort, as substantive and satisfying as a record twice its length. This is the follow-up to last year’s “The Soothsayer,” a three-track effort that ran about 37 minutes, so they now have a little over an hour of material with which to overwhelm you.
Soothsayer came to form in the closing days of 2013, rising from the rubble of doom band Íweriú. The group looked to continue their dark, bleak path into the future under this new banner, bonding with members of now-defunct melodic death metal band Days of Night. The band—vocalist Liam Hughes, guitarists Marc O’Grady and Con Doyle, bassist Steve Quinn, and drummer Will Fahey—certainly continued to blacken their ways, which is clear from their first release. But over time, they’ve also added dreamier, more oxygen-infused elements into their music, making them equally brutal and mind enhancing. Their music can bash your senses, but it also can help you float away with them and see the carnage in some sort of out-of-body manner.
Opener “Umpire” is the longest track at 16 minutes, and it washes in on weird noises, faded-out guitars, and a desolate gasp into space. The melodies bleed and fold onto each other, as eeriness spreads, and odd voices call out from the distance. The song begins to stretch itself pretty far, and then it snaps, with the heaviness unloading, and cavernous growls leaving craters. The track pounds heavily and toys with the emotions, sometimes giving you a boost in airy, yet cosmic terrain, and at others burying you into the soil. As the track travels on, the cut continues bursting, with wild yells bellowing, intergalactic doom weighing down on you, and the melodies bleeding away. “Of Locusts and Moths” is the closer, getting off to a solemn start, as chants and whispered words form a vortex. The ambiance gets morbid and chilling, with the pace hitting a higher gear, stomping and kicking as a variety of colors mix into the background. The vocals wrench while guitars gaze hard, and then things turn ugly and death-ridden. Yes, there remains a sense of melody, but all of that is engulfed by total darkness and a destructive final stretch that brings the record to a sudden end.
Soothsayer still are operating deep on an underground level, and that’s fine for now. If they keep coming up with records as strong as “At This Great Depth,” it won’t be long until more ears are tuned into their spacious, yet devastating brand of doom. Their run the past year has helped strengthen their core, and as this effort proves, Soothsayer have a lot to give the metal world and are more than willing to take us all on one last adventure in 2016.
The status of Finnish metal is pretty damn solid, and you don’t need a dork like me to tell you that. From Demilich to Abhorrence to Convulse to Amorphis, that land has done the genre quite well, and really, there’d be no argument if the folks from that country took it easy for a while and enjoyed their country’s well-earned success.
Yet, the well never stops flooding over, and now we have a new death unit Sepulchral Curse raiding the land and spreading their gurgling chaos all over. It’s always a shame when these releases drop so late in the year, because they tend to get lost in the sea, but their new EP “At the Onset of Extinction” is a crusher, and it’s bound to satisfy any fan of Finnish metal … or metal in general. The band only has been active for the past three years, and we’re getting a follow-up to their 2014 “A Birth in Death” two weeks before this cursed year gasps its last. The band—Kari Kankaanpää (vocals) Jaakko Riihimäki and Aleksi Luukka (guitars), Niilas Nissilä (bass), Tommi Ilmanen (drums/vocals)—also adds flourishes of black and doom metal and sounds ferocious and violently aggressive on these four songs.
“Envisioned in Scars” gets the collection off to a brutal start, with all elements boiling with a fury and Kankaanpää’s gurgling growls unleashing blood and tar. Actually, as strong as the growls are, they tend to overpower the music at times, though it’s a minor issue. Melodies are pressed beneath the din, while wild blasts rip out, the riffs chug, and the track comes to an abrupt finish. “In Purifying Essence” is speedy at the front end, with the bass bouncing around, and the growls are chased with crazed howls. Classic-style death guitars take over, as the band hits a massive groove, and a destructive spiral brings outright obliteration.
“Gospel of Bones” is built on strong riffs and a tempo that absolutely reeks of doom. The song bursts out of its seams, as fierce shouts and a stomping assault start accumulating a body count. The playing grinds and burns, spiraling into vile pools. Closer “Disrupting Lights of Extinction” is beefy at 9:46, and it slowly comes to life, bringing heaviness but delivering it in a calculated manner. Doom clouds return as the cut gets going, and a few minutes into the humidity, the band unleashes it power. The riffs are muddy and ugly, while the growls are gruesome, and as the song gets dizzying and disorienting, Kankaanpää wails over the madness. The music keeps lapping over and over, continuing to deliver massive body blows, while the final minutes slip into cold gloom, bringing the track to a pounding finish.
Sepulchral Curse are proving blood still flows in the land of the thousand lakes, and their “At the Onset of Extinction” EP shows the band more willing than ever to go for the guts. But there’s a technicality and artistry to what they do as well, so it’s not just violence for violence sake. They’ve spent the past few years trying to find the right sound to convey their blackness, so let’s see what they can do with a full-length release.
ALCEST, “Kodama” (Prophecy): It’s not totally proper to consider “Kodama” Alcest’s comeback record. It’s not like they went anywhere or took a gigantic break from recording music. “Shelter” has just come out two years previously. Instead, “Kodama” is the band, led by Neige and backed by drummer Winterhalter, reaching back into their roots and bringing some heaviness and fierce vocals back to mix into their dreamy, intoxicating post-metal. I feel kind of stupid not putting this is the top 40, to be honest, it’s that good, but that’s how strong the field was. Six songs spread over 42 minutes are atmospheric, blistering, and imaginative, running through the title track, “Eclosion,” and “Oiseaux de prioe” that stand up there with some of the strongest material Alcest released to date. (Sept. 30)
GATECREEPER, “Sonoran Deprivation” (Relapse): Gnarly, nasty death metal always goes down right, and when you throw in stellar riffs and cool melodies, you have Gatecreeper’s debut record that pays homage to their rugged desert home. Ripping out over 33 minutes, a perfectly dosed album, the Arizona-based band chugs and blasts you over nine songs, often smearing gore over everything. From the opener “Craving Flesh” through “Rotting As One” into “Patriarchal Grip” to closer “Grotesque Operations,” this quintet launches into a stampede of blood and fury, one that marks this band as one of the more promising new death metal groups going. (Oct. 7)
SAVAGE MASTER, “With Whips and Chains” (High Roller): It used to be OK for metal to be fun and full of debauchery. It’s not that Savage Master are, like, Poison or something, but they definitely bring the 1980s vibe where danger is afoot, leather is strapped to everyone, and you might get to see something catch on fire. Savage Master’s great second record “With Whips and Chains,” a 10-track, 35-minute affair, also is aptly titled, because that’s what will be on your mind the entire time you listen to the music. Uh, but that’ll be drenched in blood, sweat, and piss, with Stacy Savage out front in total command of this metallic army. “Dark Light of the Moon,” “Vengeance Is Steel,” “Burned at the Stake,” and the pummeling title track should keep your adrenaline flowing and you willing to battle long after your body has succumbed to exhaustion. (April 22)
VEX, “Sky Exile” (Eihwaz Recordings): A drought might not seem like the most metal topic in the world, but that subject matter hit home hard for Texas death metal unit Vex. So, on their latest record “Sky Exile,” they revisit the 2011 drought that ravaged West Texas, an event that ravaged the people of that area. The result is some of the most inspired work of Vex’s run, which started way back in 1998, and the music here is marked by heaviness, texture, fury, and compassion. The material spreads over 11 songs and 58 minutes, with riveting epics (“Antithetical Age,” “Nowhere Near,” “Dark Skies Painted”) mixing with stirring instrumentals (“Dry River Days,” “Empyrean”) on an album that really deserves to have gotten more traction than it did. If you missed out on this one, definitely go back and check out one of death metal’s best-kept secrets of 2016. (June 2)
PHOBOCOSM, “Bringer of Drought” (Dark Descent): Weirdness and innovation are two elements that have made Phobocosm one of the most enthralling bands in the underground scene. Their dark death metal bubbled to the surface again this year on their second effort “Bringer of Drought,” a four-cut, 35-minute excursion into morbid mysteries. Thick, mucky playing mixes with sections where things get surprisingly atmospheric and proggy, pummeling you over and over again on tracks including “Engulfing Dust” and the massive closer “Fallen.” Boiling fury and sci-fi-laced twists and turns not only will keep you sustaining body bruises, but it also will remind you that you don’t have to accept run-of-the-mill returns when it comes to brutal death metal. You always have Phobocosm. (May 13)
Meat Mead Metal 