Metal Thread VIII-Playgroundklok

[Feytalist]

It's almost time to recap our favourite records of the year...

That's all the encouragement I need

2014 was a good year in terms of new metal. I discovered at least five new bands that released amazing debut albums this year. Some established bands had good releases as well, but this was a year for the debut I think.

So, here's my top whatever:

Spoiler

Show

Bast - Spectres - (This was released either late last year or very early this year; reports vary. Whatever, I heard of this in 2014 so it's a 2014 album.) Debut album. Some sort of hybrid between sludge and stoner doom with a very nice mix between wall-of-fuzz and trippy psychedelic guitars, with absolutely crushing lead vocals buried way down in the mix. Nothing novel, but masterfully put together. I said it at the start of the year and it's still true: probably my favourite metal release of the year.

Darkspace - Dark Space III I - Slightly off-kilter soul-deadening spacey black metal. Pretty much like their previous albums. But this one contains almost martial rhythmic segments to balance the leaden atmospherics and other-side-of-the-galaxy screams. Even the programmed drums seem to fit into the whole concept. Mind-blowing, claustrophobic black metal.

Dreamgrave - Presentiment - Another debut album. I have no idea even what to call this. Melodic doom? This band seems to pull inspiration from old-school doom/death, gothic metal and some of the more overblown progressive metal out there. And somehow it all fits. Soaring female lead vocals, with a growling backing vocalist who sounds like a young Mikael Åkerfeldt, with the music flitting effortlessly between proggy keyboards, Opethian riffing and even some jazzy swing at times, with the occasional quiet neo-Katatonia passage. Sounds messy, but like I said, somehow it works. This album has almost not a single misstep. And from a debut, even. Wow.

Infestus - The Reflecting Void - Atmospheric, depressive Austrian black metal. The majority of the album is mired in thick, heavy-seeming drumming and riffing, with rather excellent raw screams layered over the top. But every so often, this crystal-clear almost progressive picking bursts through which totally throws you for a loop. Nothing really stand-out on this album, but the cohesive whole does an extremely good job of creating a moody, suffocating atmosphere.

Orange Goblin - Back From the Abyss - I'm pretty sure Orange Goblin still thinks it's the 80's. They've always played this old-school pub rock, stoner, beer-soaked, rough and ready heavy metal. And nothing has really changed. But they do it so well. The guitars are dirty and immediate, the drumming is laid-back, and the vocalist sounds like a hairy, cigar-and-whiskey-filled cranky bear. Their newest album contains some bluesy southern rock-styled songs, some straightforward old-school Sabbathian heavy metal, and even one or two stoner doom-influenced melodies. Not much variation, but it's low-brow, testosterone-fueled, and so damn catchy. And isn't that really all that you want.

Saor - Aura - Another entry in the UK atmospheric black metal scene (although this one is Scottish). Saor used to be Àrsaidh, and released an album called Roots, but then changed its name and released Aura. And this one is so much more polished. It's got the by-now-standard array of distorted blackened guitars, sweeping atmospheric strings, flutes and expected bagpipe (of course), pained blackened screams and choral chants, along with some low-key progressive riffing and very subtle Celtic-folky melodies. With these kinds of bands, atmospheric cohesiveness is a huge factor. If that doesn't hold, the album is basically a failure. And Aura holds together beautifully. Andy Marshall seems to be looking for the perfect sound for his musical outlets. First Askival, then Falloch, now Àrsaidh/Saor. Let's hope he found it with Saor, because I'd love to hear more of this.

Wayfarer - Children of the Iron Age - Another debut album! And also, more UK atmospheric black met- or, wait. Denver, Colorado? ...huh. This is everything the new Winterfylleth should have been. This album places a great emphasis on the guitar lines, and it's a good thing too, because the riffing is fresh, and crisp, and rather excellent. This, backed with the distorted backing guitars and the powerful, oddly compelling screamed vocals (which sounds scarily like Winterfylleth's), forms a really refreshing variation on the theme. The musical framework is familiar, but these guys to something really interesting with the interior. We'll have to see what they do next, but for now, it's enough.

Wolvhammer - Clawing Into Black Sun - These guys combine dirty, fuzzy blackened sludge with truly catchy, driving minor-key melodies and vitriolic, rapid-fire screams. Undercut with a vaguely punkish immediacy. To be honest, there isn't much variation on this album (or the previous one, actually), but it's such a tight package and so relentless that you never get bored of it.

Some honourable mentions:

Spoiler

Show

Agalloch - The Serpent & The Sphere - It took a couple of spins for me to get this, honestly. I do like the cohesive concept of the album, but really there isn't all that much here to grab the attention. I didn't even like Marrow of the Spirit, but I honestly think that was a better album. Still, the opener is amazing, and there are some nice moments in here.

Arkona - Yav - Yav is a bit more immediate and up-front than the two most recent albums. The songs are tighter and more focused, and even slightly thrashy in their aggression. But it's still good old Arkona, and that's never a bad thing. Masha probably has some of the best metal vocals of this day and age.

Elvenking - The Pagan Manifesto - Yeah, I wasn't expecting this to be good at all. I personally thought Era was a mess. So imagine my surprise when this album was catchy and driving, the folky bits wrapped up in sing-along choruses and - surprisingly - fun. Elvenking will never be the most cerebral music, but you can do a lot worse than a catchy, folksy album like this.

Iced Earth - Plagues of Babylon - Proof that Jon Shaffer still knows what he's doing, and that Stu Block wasn't just a one-time wonder. A couple of missteps on the album, and nothing shockingly new in terms of music, but Iced Earth still know how to rock.

Skogen - I Döden - They're not particularly well known, but I enjoy Skogen's brand of depressive, keyboard-driven pagan black metal. I Döden is their best album yet, as simple as that. Very few changes to the formula, but the production is pretty good and the music still sounds as advertised. Win and win, as far as I'm concerned.

And these albums are only metal-adjacent, but they deserve a mention:

Spoiler

Show

Lethe - When Dreams Become Nightmares - Comprised of Tor-Helge Skei of Manes and Anna Murphy of Eluveitie, Lethe isn't metal, but instead some sort of experimental gothic/industrial trip-hop. Or something. What it is, is amazingly emotional, darkly beautiful music. Anna Murphy really has an amazing and versatile voice, and I cannot stress that enough. Everything about it evokes a kind of schizophrenic, dreamy claustrophobia. It's another debut album, and there are one or two missteps (especially the relentlessly dense music that doesn't really give any one element chance to shine, and also the over-use of movie samples), but it does way more right than wrong. Probably my favourite album of the year.

Nebelung - Palingenesis - I know almost nothing about this band, except that they play quiet and hauntingly soulful neofolk, driven by cello and acoustic guitar. There's nothing flashy about this band, everything is low-key. It's like October Falls in acoustic, Marras-mode. Amazing music. Another debut release, and this is a band I'm keeping on my radar for the foreseeable future.

Sólstafir - Ótta - Okay, so I might have said this is album of the year material directly after it came out. I do still find something incredibly beautiful and cathartic in this music, and it's probably still the best example of its kind out there. It's stark and melancholy and I love it.

That being said!
If any of you want to write up a top 10 of 2014 list (or top 15 or top 5 or whatever) for my blog, Two Guys Metal Reviews (Linked in sig) hit me up, I can guarantee it should get a fair amount of traffic and it could be a fun thing to do!

I'd do it, sure. It's basically just going to be more or less this list though

[grimbold]

Finals week so I don't have much time, but here goes nothing, a first draft i suppose:

1. Cynic - Kindly Bent To Free Us
2. Yob - Clearing the Path to Ascend
3. Agalloch - The Serpent and the Sphere
4. Insanity Alert - Insanity Alert
5.Supercharger - Broken Hearts and Fall Aparts
6. Revocation - Deathless
7. Cretin - Stranger
8. Cannibal Corpse - A Skeletal Domain
9. Gridlink - Longhena
10. Lord Mantis - Death Mask

[Feytalist]

I might have to revise my list up there; I just heard Witch Mountain's latest album and holy ****, guys.

It's like Sabbath, but if Ozzy was Janis Joplin. I can't get over that vocalist. She's so good. The only problem is, for a doom album it's so short. It's less than 40 minutes. Hell, that's short for any album.

[Comrade]

It's less than 40 minutes. Hell, that's short for any album.

Personally, I think 30-40 minutes is ideal for most types of metal music. Any longer than that, I find most of the time, is due to fat that could easily be trimmed without leaving the album any worse for it, and probably better.

But maybe I'm just used to Brodequin whittling off a ten-song album in twenty five minutes.

[Feytalist]

Personally, I think 30-40 minutes is ideal for most types of metal music. Any longer than that, I find most of the time, is due to fat that could easily be trimmed without leaving the album any worse for it, and probably better.

But maybe I'm just used to Brodequin whittling off a ten-song album in twenty five minutes.

Depends on the music type, I think. 30-odd minutes is great for a trash or tech death album, but for a doom metal band, whose music tends to be slower and drawn out, it's too short for much variation in the music. (Progressive metal as well. They need somewhere to put at that guitar faffery.)

It's down to personal taste too, I'll admit. I personally like longer, meandering or even repetitive music. Can be hit or miss, though. A 15-minute track of bad doom is torture. But with enough variation in the songs, it's great.

[Killer Angel]

That's all the encouragement I need

The first ones that come to my mind (not in order):

Agalloch - The Serpent & The Sphere
Iced Earth - Plagues of Babylon
Impaled Nazarene - Vigorous and liberating death
Eluveitie - Origins

[grimbold]

I might have to revise my list up there; I just heard Witch Mountain's latest album and holy ****, guys.

It's like Sabbath, but if Ozzy was Janis Joplin. I can't get over that vocalist. She's so good. The only problem is, for a doom album it's so short. It's less than 40 minutes. Hell, that's short for any album.

Right? I saw them.. 3 times this year and every time was better than the last.

Admittedly there drummer is kind of my adoptive father so I'm biased

other albums i need to include
Eyehategod - Eyehategod
Indian - From All Purity
Lord Mantis - Death Choke

[Feytalist]

Eluveitie - Origins

I like this one too, actually. But it's basically just more of the same from them. Not that that's a bad thing in any way.

Right? I saw them.. 3 times this year and every time was better than the last.

Admittedly there drummer is kind of my adoptive father so I'm biased

:O

that's pretty cool

Shame that the vocalist is leaving now. She was like, 70% of the awesomeness of the band.

[grimbold]

Shame that the vocalist is leaving now. She was like, 70% of the awesomeness of the band.

Eh, for me it was always the guitar riffs that make this band worth listening too. Don't get me wrong, I love Uta, the way she lays into it is AWESOME but I think that Robs guitar riffs are not to be underestimated


Also, I have a lot of... kind of awesome stories involving that bands drummer
He introduced me to Electric Wizard in literally the coolest way possible, I can't go into further detail because of forum rules, but I think saying that alone suggests what happened

[Kodr]

I'm enjoy a wee bit of metal and hardcore music. I've always been a bigger fan of when musicians really warp a genre. Has anyone here heard of Deaf Heaven? They sound like if Beach Boys played black metal with hip hop percussion influences. One of my favorite bands to date.

[grimbold]

Has anyone here heard of Deaf Heaven?

Do you know what eldritch powers you have invoked? Here comes the storm...


But as for bands that warp a genre, check out SubRosa they will blow your mind

[Kodr]

Do you know what eldritch powers you have invoked? Here comes the storm...

Oh no! What did I do? I'm just a fan of music. I don't want magic or storms on me!!!

[Comrade]

Oh no! What did I do? I'm just a fan of music. I don't want magic or storms on me!!!

Deafheaven (or is it DFHVN these days?) is one of those bands metalheads just love to lose their **** about, usually with something about the 'sanctity of metal being violated!' or 'hipsters are destroying trve metal!'. Although I don't think I've actually ever seen any of that around here...

Anyway, if you like them, you might also like Wolves in the Throne Room, Alcest, or An Autumn for Crippled Children (lame name, decent music)!

[WhamBamSam]

Deafheaven (or is it DFHVN these days?) is one of those bands metalheads just love to lose their **** about, usually with something about the 'sanctity of metal being violated!' or 'hipsters are destroying trve metal!'. Although I don't think I've actually ever seen any of that around here...

Anyway, if you like them, you might also like Wolves in the Throne Room, Alcest, or An Autumn for Crippled Children (lame name, decent music)!

I don't really care enough about Deafheaven to hate on them all that hard, but I know my younger brother despises them. He and some of his music school friends suffered through them when they opened for some show or other, and he was just not happy about it at all.

I've never got the impression that Deafheaven were hated though. Quite the opposite. The internet seems to love them.

[Feytalist]

Deafheaven is simply extremely overrated. Nothing they do is particularly unique or noteworthy. An Autumn For Crippled Children does everything they do better, and did it first. Deafheaven was just featured on Pitchfork, and so now they're the Internet's darling.

SubRosa is pretty good, yeah. Also try Windhand. Similar style.


Although for true genre-bending, there's always Vhöl.

[Nameless]

I actually rather like what I've heard from Deafheaven, they seem to have pretty solid and enjoyable material, but they're nothing at all unique. There's plenty of other bands who have done what they've done and taken it further, so I can understand how tedious it starts to get when an army of iPad wielding Hipsters who don't really know much about Metal (let alone even touched upon Post-Metal) praise them for doing something unique and revolutionary, when all they've really done is jumped on the Post-Metal/Blackgaze bandwagon and presented it with Hipster aesthetics to appeal to a different audience, consequently making them appear to be new and unique to said audience.

As a band though, they're pretty awesome. Some great music.

[Comrade]

On the subject of great music: I recently stumbled upon a band that melds deathcore, slam death metal, and beatdown hardcore into one package.

I'm in chug heaven right now.

[Nameless]

On the subject of great music: I recently stumbled upon a band that melds deathcore, slam death metal, and beatdown hardcore into one package.

I'm in chug heaven right now.

"This is my aesthetic"

Spoiler

Show

(I'm sorry, I couldn't resist xD)

[grimbold]

I love this. Holy cow. It's a heavy psychedelic splendor.

The weird part is the main songwriter doesn't do drugs :O
She's also kind of my mom...

If you like them check out Oxcross It's the drummers other band, they're pretty rad!

Also Nameless, that is what I envision your children looking like...

In other news, my sister started asking me about Bikini Kill today... I've never been so proud!

[Comrade]

"this is my aesthetic"

Spoiler

Show

(i'm sorry, i couldn't resist xd)

these breakdowns are my childhood, mom >:[

edit: today I learned the forum auto-edits all-caps posts! Figures.

[Feytalist]

The weird part is the main songwriter doesn't do drugs :O
She's also kind of my mom...

Damn you grimbold. Why do you know all these awesome people. I hate you. And I want to be you.

On the subject of great music: I recently stumbled upon a band that melds deathcore, slam death metal, and beatdown hardcore into one package.

I'm in chug heaven right now.

This is super not my aesthetic


Edit: Also wow. Oxcross is kinda awesome.

[grimbold]

Damn you grimbold. Why do you know all these awesome people. I hate you. And I want to be you.

Probably not a good time to mention I have Zakk Wyldes phone number...

But seriously dewd, if you wanna write for me, message me

[Feytalist]

Probably not a good time to mention I have Zakk Wyldes phone number...

But seriously dewd, if you wanna write for me, message me

>:|


Yeah, I've thought about it actually. But I've tried doing some reviews, but I'm not actually all that good at it

Also, I'm pretty busy with, like, work and stuff. So any writing schedule would be pretty erratic.

[Comrade]

I feel like discovering some new metal, so... everybody who feels like doing a Comrade a favour, please post any and all music you think I might or might not like! Death, black, power, prog, -core, doom, whatever it may be, I'm looking for anything I haven't heard before. If you've seen me post here before you probably know my preferences, but I've been in a rather 'adventurous' mood as of late, so to speak, so I'll pretty much listen to anything you put in front of me.

Just so it ain't all take and no give, I'll start off by linking some stuff. On the black metal end of things, there's Tukaaria, whose split with Odz Manouk is honest to Satan some of the best black metal I've ever heard. For those in the mood for something slower, Stomach Earth produces some truly crushing death/doom, and Augurs brings to bear a gruesome melange of doom, black, and crust. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Noisem is one of my favourite up and coming thrash bands, and Realm, more of an oldie, is one of few bands I feel can inject thrash with a helping of power metal without sacrificing its aggression. For fans of melodic death metal, I recommend The Absence, and those seeking more brutal fare might enjoy Dismal Divinity and Abnormality. Folks in search of deathcore that isn't all about mindless breakdowns might want to check out Animosity and Burning Skies, and those in search of deathcore that totally is all about mindless breakdowns should check out Acranius.

Hopefully at least one person finds something here they like or haven't heard before. I'm not sure necessarily how well known some of these bands are, so for all I know some of them are already very well known, but I tried to avoid 'classic' bands and focus on stuff people might not have heard before.

[Feytalist]

I feel like discovering some new metal, so... everybody who feels like doing a Comrade a favour, please post any and all music you think I might or might not like! Death, black, power, prog, -core, doom, whatever it may be, I'm looking for anything I haven't heard before. If you've seen me post here before you probably know my preferences, but I've been in a rather 'adventurous' mood as of late, so to speak, so I'll pretty much listen to anything you put in front of me.

Well, I generally post new metal I find here anyway, so if you're on this thread you've already heard of Aeternam (Middle Eastern-flavoured melodeath), Bast (blackened sludge doom), Be'lakor (melodeath), Bhleg (pagan black), Dreamgrave (gothic/melodeath), Evertale (power metal), Eye of Solitude (doom/death), Infestus (Austrian black metal), Saor (atmospheric black), Skogen (pagan black), The Howling Void (funeral doom), Vinterbris (melodic black), Wayfarer (atmospheric black), and those are the ones I can think of off-hand.

Oh! I am also in the process of checking out Bog Oak, The Flight of Sleipnir, and Isole. All three some form of doom metal. (Isole is slightly more well-known, I think.)

[WhamBamSam]

I sorta suspect you have come across these already, but I've been pretty enamored of late with Calm Hatchetry and Horrendous on the death metal front. The new Black Crown Initiate album was pretty fun too, and was especially welcome what with Opeth turning into a crappy version of Porcupine Tree and all.

Something I'm fairly sure you won't like, but which made me very happy this year was the new Allen Lande album. Their past two albums were sort of plodding, mournful fare that was more miss than hit with me, but the fun of their debut is back. Nice, straightforward power metal with singers whose voices have some actual heft to them. Highly recommended for anyone who likes the subgenre.

I've been meaning to give Realm another shot for a while. They didn't really click for me the last time I listened to them, but they're clicking now. So thanks for that. The death metal was all pretty solid too. Abnormality ought to go somewhere on my list of things to check out in more depth eventually.

[Nomrom]

Just about all the metal I find is from the Angry Metal Guy reviews, so if you read them none of this will be new to you.

Not really into black metal that much, but the new Emptiness album is pretty nice.

This one is more death metal (maybe? I don't do the "harder" genres well), but the new Onheil album is really nice as well.

Power/epic metal is my favorite genre, but I haven't found much new stuff in a while, so Crom is one of my favorite bands that I don't think is that well known.

[Comrade]

Feytalist: There was some good stuff here! I definitely enjoyed Saor and Skogen, and even enjoyed Evertale more than I would have expected given the genre (power metal has never really been my thing). I'd already heard Be'lakor (whom I rather like), but the rest were pretty unknown to me.

WhamBamSam, admittedly, I've already come across Horrendous, Black Crown Initiate, and Calm Hatchery (who at least win points for having the least death metal name ever), and Allen Lande was a little too rockin' for my taste. Thanks for the recommendation though!

Nomrom, I think I'd classify Onheil as blackened thrash. That Emptiness was pretty decent! I even like the aesthetic they were going with on their album art.

Some more music: Earthling makes some pretty dark and, I think, rather unique thrash metal that smacks of crust and Venom/Bathory influences. Vesperian Sorrow are symphonic metal in which the symphonic elements maintain a consistent presence throughout the music without sounding cheesy, and Insentient released an EP of pretty good, diverse blackened death last year. Lastly for now, on the more technical end of death metal, there's Formless, whose 2010 demo boasts some of the most ridiculously technical but satisfying riffs I've heard in a long, long time.

[WhamBamSam]

Feytalist: There was some good stuff here! I definitely enjoyed Saor and Skogen, and even enjoyed Evertale more than I would have expected given the genre (power metal has never really been my thing). I'd already heard Be'lakor (whom I rather like), but the rest were pretty unknown to me.

WhamBamSam, admittedly, I've already come across Horrendous, Black Crown Initiate, and Calm Hatchery (who at least win points for having the least death metal name ever), and Allen Lande was a little too rockin' for my taste. Thanks for the recommendation though!

Nomrom, I think I'd classify Onheil as blackened thrash. That Emptiness was pretty decent! I even like the aesthetic they were going with on their album art.

Some more music: Earthling makes some pretty dark and, I think, rather unique thrash metal that smacks of crust and Venom/Bathory influences. Vesperian Sorrow are symphonic metal in which the symphonic elements maintain a consistent presence throughout the music without sounding cheesy, and Insentient released an EP of pretty good, diverse blackened death last year. Lastly for now, on the more technical end of death metal, there's Formless, whose 2010 demo boasts some of the most ridiculously technical but satisfying riffs I've heard in a long, long time.

Heh. Up until now, I'd been reading it as the somewhat more metal Calm Hatchetry, as in hatchet work. Ah well.

I liked Earthling and Formless were indeed pretty fun. They remind me of Dissonance in Design.

[Feytalist]

Something I'm fairly sure you won't like, but which made me very happy this year was the new Allen Lande album.

Perhaps I should give them another listen. Like you said, the previous albums were a bit of a let down. But both Allen and Lande are amazing musicians. Worth it to try again.

Just about all the metal I find is from the Angry Metal Guy reviews, so if you read them none of this will be new to you.

Heh. Same here. So some of my recommendations might be familiar to you

and even enjoyed Evertale more than I would have expected given the genre

I know, right? They don't really do anything that hasn't been done before, but they do it damn well. One of my favourite finds this year.