~~~ 2014 ILM METAL POLL TRACKS & ALBUMS COUNTDOWN! ~~~ (Tracks top 30 first then Albums)

Thank you to all who voted. 53 album ballots (not sure about tracks) was really worried by tuesday that poll was dead so thanks to everyone on behalf of myself,fastnbulbous and seandalai.

Was going to do a top 25 tracks but since im posting 5 tonight and there was enoigh points to do it here it comes.

Will commence albums countdown on sunday evening after tracks poll finishes probably.

There will be Spotify playlists too
Tracks - http://open.spotify.com/user/pfunkboy/playlist/3JEQkwsSD5C7VsXMg4k1HX
Albums - http://open.spotify.com/user/pfunkboy/playlist/6fsnIonKsPLF5NzZ9hJg27

and onwards we march...

TRACKS RESULTS

#30    purson - well spoiled machine    44.0 Points,   3 votes
http://youtu.be/bZREiMkfxRQ
http://open.spotify.com/track/6Dxi9YtDdTL5sOEJ4dLfx8
spotify:track:6Dxi9YtDdTL5sOEJ4dLfx8 

They dont sound as I expected. A lot more proggish?

ALBUMS RESULTS

#1 Kanye North - Beezelbus 666 Points, 53 votes (12 #1s)

Next up this years most controversial metal sellout ballad!

29 Watain - the wild hunt 45 Points, 4 Votes
http://youtu.be/0lShs9BKYmU
http://open.spotify.com/track/7IE6ItDLs85bg21wo92ujV
spotify:track:7IE6ItDLs85bg21wo92ujV

Heh I forgot to change d/n

and I posted wrong video (apparently the ballad wasnt nominated)

29 Watain - The Wild Hunt 45 Points, 4 votes
http://youtu.be/XdOVrhQ5VOs
http://open.spotify.com/track/1VUeKqXw88wOdoutBfBSus
spotify:track:1VUeKqXw88wOdoutBfBSus

28 Darkthrone - leave no cross unturned    46 Points,   4 Votes,   One #1 
http://youtu.be/b0tsFqTulM8
No Spotify

27    Dillinger Escape Plan - prancer    48 Points,   4 Votes
http://youtu.be/X01H4icz5aU
http://open.spotify.com/track/2s3hOukwXcnYQ1DXlmLX38
spotify:track:2s3hOukwXcnYQ1DXlmLX38
  

I didn't expect to like the newer, less black Darkthrone track, but it's definitely working for me. The power metal intro is amazing.

This is different for Watain. Now I get where the Nephilim comparisons were coming from. I like the intention behind it but the track isn't that exciting. If you wanna be goth-occult-Nephilites you need big magick.

Last one for tonight....

26    SubRosa - The Usher    50 Points,   3 Votes
http://youtu.be/7wenNqTd5hU
No Spotify

This one is pretty badass, epic and doomy and heavy. The sorta vocal breakdown around 10 minutes in is incredible.

My comment up above was about the first Watain song, by the way, "the ballad."

Am I the only one who voted for tracks? LOL, almost everything so far is on my ballot.

92 tracks received at least one vote. But I'm not sure how many tracks ballots there were. Metal fans on ILM, are like metal fans in general - they prefer albums.

I think there was 16 tracks ballots.

so what poor track got no votes?

AG is that your first time listening to Purson? They are a bit proggy. I've recently been listening to old psych-prog albums from 1969-70 by Affinity, Axe, Goliath, Julian's Treatment/Julian Jay Savarin, all with female singers, and noticing a lot of similarities with Purson, Blood Ceremony and others.

My landlord is mixing a sort-of-prog album with female lead vocals in my basement, so for just a split second hearing that Purson track I thought maybe someone was playing a weird joke on me.

25    Inter Arma - the survival fires    51 Points,    3  Votes
http://youtu.be/W-85l1QWI6A
http://open.spotify.com/track/5k09LZjCoHRpE2azjhYIvE
spotify:track:5k09LZjCoHRpE2azjhYIvE

The quiet bit around 5:00 of this one had me wondering if I was going to skip the rest, but the payoff totally makes it worth it. It looks like these guys are on tour with KEN Mode and Russian Circles in February, I might look into going to see that.

24    Anciients - faith and oath    52 Points,    3 Votes,   One #1
http://youtu.be/XMaI0xqVwok
http://open.spotify.com/track/4TvCcRi0D2qJilaH9KOONR
spotify:track:4TvCcRi0D2qJilaH9KOONR
  

Good stuff that

23 Bölzer - Entranced By The Wolfshook 54 Points, 3 Votes , TWO #1s
http://youtu.be/BXkP4WS8Y_Y
No Spotify

Glad to see an Anciients track, as they've been slightly underrepresented on most polls. We'll see how they do on albums.

Wasn't fond of the Anciients track, apparently I'm in the minority. 25 and 26 have been my favorites so far, for those keeping track.

That Bölzer track is massive. I hope their full length lives up to expectations (whenever it arrives). They are onto something special methinks.

22    Carcass - the granulating dark satanic mills    56 Points,    3 Votes,   One #1
http://youtu.be/5ppON4k_1kI
http://open.spotify.com/track/0CNArqK4FWOf6PzN0SyCP4
spotify:track:0CNArqK4FWOf6PzN0SyCP4

Wolfshook is the best thing ever. I'm so hyped for Bölzer, can't wait to see what they do next.

21    Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Mind Crawler   57 Points    5 Votes
http://youtu.be/yACaB6fzt_c
http://open.spotify.com/track/4FKXVuHbKGGJZ5OEQA42Tk
spotify:track:4FKXVuHbKGGJZ5OEQA42Tk

20    Windhand - Woodbine    62 Points,    4  Votes
http://youtu.be/XC0MQog6Omg
http://open.spotify.com/track/59ML0d8TWN9YIUK1KG62NC
spotify:track:59ML0d8TWN9YIUK1KG62NC

for years i have avoided 'metal' cos i never enjoyed it, well, certainly not the stuff i heard.
yet the last few months i have been listening to bands that are classed as metal (qotsa/mastodon/sunn 0)))/earth/ghost) more than anything else.
so, thought i'd try a few of these youtubes.

darkthrone : love it - but not sure i could listen to a whole album.
watain : oh yes. will investigate more.
uncle acid : top 10 album of 2013 for me.
dillinger : nah ..
anciients (great name !) : like this ..

so, looking forward to using this thread as a reference point to help me find more ...

is the onset of my midlife crisis taking form in a newfound love of a genre i have never really enjoyed ..

well it sure beats you listening to nu-metal!

haha.

carcass : i realise the importance and the love for these guys, but i aint feeling this. have tried before when the new album came out.

windhand : not sure ..

will dip back into this thread and check more, but i need to get back to tackhead now ..

windhand sound like the latter day Electric Wizard stuff you like

19    Suffocation - eminent wrath    63 Points,    4  Votes
http://youtu.be/IgOMuiRSJpA
http://open.spotify.com/track/3ZzF989swBny8VeqpQqeZB
spotify:track:3ZzF989swBny8VeqpQqeZB

saw that reference to EW in the youtube thread.

my local source of rock music, i.e. hmv !, has a few of the EW albums on cd ..

not hit the pay option yet, but could happen next week ..

xpost, agreed re: Mark's opinion on Darkthrone, that track is pretty much an album by itself. It's a lot to digest, they cover a lot of ground all in fifteen minutes (esp. for such a kvlt black metal band). Works great as an album side, though.

18    Noothgrush - Thoth    66 Points,   4 Votes  One #1
http://youtu.be/8yzZr68JfOc
http://open.spotify.com/track/2nN4RVg11hPat1dKdifstR
spotify:track:2nN4RVg11hPat1dKdifstR

17    Vhol - Grace    66.0 Points,   5 Votes
http://open.spotify.com/track/3Ap3V7FvHcrfkQOemkUX7M
spotify:track:3Ap3V7FvHcrfkQOemkUX7M

16    Ghost - Ghuleh/Zombie Queen    67 Points,    4 Votes,  One #1  
http://youtu.be/dQDaWoWwqdM
http://open.spotify.com/track/4yrxgaL6zAsxkeMCwCtORS
spotify:track:4yrxgaL6zAsxkeMCwCtORS

album highlight ..

such an immense track ..

genuine question : what makes ghost part of the 'metal' genre

to me the ghost album is more psych ..

with a ton of pop rock thrown in ..

Well, metal wasnt always "extreme" Blue Oyster Cult were still 'metal'
plus
this is guys from other metal bands (though identities are supposed to be 'secret')
subject matter and image is very old skool metal.

Some welcome a return to old skool metal with real singing (and some dont)

it matters not, as i love love love this album ..

i love the whole sonic excess, the image, the secrecy.

bands with a plan, an identity, a look etc always push my buttons.

(had no idea this was folks from other bands, as i have never felt the need to do the digging ..)

I didn't love the album, but I love this song. This is where they stuffed all of their good ideas.

15    Fen - Consequence    73 Points,    5 Votes
http://youtu.be/F0Zj3gtosAU
http://open.spotify.com/track/2fhcVncNegVhyZdbfQP3ck
spotify:track:2fhcVncNegVhyZdbfQP3ck

14    Deafheaven - Dreamhouse    75 Points,   5 Votes,   2 #1s
http://youtu.be/RWyVhIBmdGw
http://open.spotify.com/track/6l3A2EWZSOA8LTMmzRCyD3
spotify:track:6l3A2EWZSOA8LTMmzRCyD3
  

remember there's a spotify playlist for the tracks results
http://open.spotify.com/user/pfunkboy/playlist/3JEQkwsSD5C7VsXMg4k1HX
spotify:user:pfunkboy:playlist:3JEQkwsSD5C7VsXMg4k1HX

13    Ghost - Monstrance Clock    81 Points,    6  Votes
http://youtu.be/KCkoIEbjbsM
http://open.spotify.com/track/27n116KPPtEaryhXyMiTrN
spotify:track:27n116KPPtEaryhXyMiTrN

i have said all i need to say re this band.

clearly i am not alone in my love for their excess.

Best track on the album and best song they've ever done imo.

More occult rock up next..

12 Jess and the Ancient Ones - Astral Sabbat 82 Points, 6 Votes, One #1
http://youtu.be/5hgWxb1bXkE
http://open.spotify.com/track/72bB7G3kyg28jAA8lH65n0
spotify:track:72bB7G3kyg28jAA8lH65n0

mark e i think you would dig this band (its from an ep, check out their only album too)

Nice song. Weird that stuff like Jess is still subsumed under metal. The occult-psych trend could be this decade's freak-folk.

well its still heavy rock innit?

Last one for tonight coming up

11 Grayceon - Pearl 85 Points, 6 Votes
http://youtu.be/Ygk6iEmajJw
http://open.spotify.com/track/1gfVjGhMDDrk40JfZec9ml
spotify:track:1gfVjGhMDDrk40JfZec9ml

I totally slept on that Grayceon album.

Like Ghost and Purson, it dips a bit into 70s proto-metal. I felt the first Ghost album was definitely more metal than the newer one though.

It was an ep rather than album though

I'm just catching up now but I must first say -- WAY TOO LOW for Carcass - Granulating Dark Satanic Mills!
Also too low for Astral Sabbat! (the #1 vote was mine)

well its still heavy rock innit?

Yeah true. Actually I'm not sure why I called it weird, this stuff is definitely heavy metal, especially in the 70s sense where "heavy metal" just meant badass heavy rock band.

Occult rock revival is definitely heavy rock at least -- if Deep Purple and Bloodrock can be considered metal so can all the stuff like Ghost and Jess and stuff.

I've heard it referred to as "Lava Lamp Bullshit" hahaha

The funny thing is that in an old metal band I was in we had a nearly identical organ vamp to the one in Astral Sabbat. They stole my song!!! lol.

I love me some lova lamp bullshit!

did not like the purson thing at all.

saw them mentioned on another blog rundown (fastnbulbous ?) .. dreary and boring.

guess i like lava lamp bullshit more.

some people 40 and under think sabbath and priest/maiden are metal but nothing inbetween.
Some people of that age think Metal began with slayer/metallica thrash.
No doubt some kids think only extreme death or black is metal.

i am 45.
to me metal meant metallica, slayer, iron maiden, sabbath, megadeath, judas priest, dio, and a plethora of crap hair metal crap ..
in fact i think it was the hair metal thing that put me off for a long time.

yeah but you admit you were never into metal. Im talking about people who are but basically have no idea how heavy metal started bar sabbath.

the kind who think anything that isnt extreme isnt metal.

hair metal sure put me off at the time though too until i heard better stuff in the early 90s

nu-metal had the same effect on metal that hair metal did to us older types too

love a bunch of these: ghost bc, jess + ancient ones, windhand -- i didn't vote in tracks but great list so far

some big hitters still to come too so make sure everyone is around late sunday afternoon UK time for the top 10 then the start of the albums countdown in the evening.

idk why metal just is not a tracks genre for me. it is very rare that i can name a single track title on even a favorite metal album.

"Proto-Metal" has been subsumed into Heavy Metal for a while now AFAIK, and bands that are going back to that retro sound thus count as Metal. Everything old is new again.

Because they all sound the same? ;)
xp

Tracks results playlist
http://open.spotify.com/user/pfunkboy/playlist/3JEQkwsSD5C7VsXMg4k1HX

recap
30 Purson - well spoiled machine 44 Points, 3 votes
29 Watain - The Wild Hunt 45 Points, 4 votes
28 Darkthrone - leave no cross unturned 46 Points, 4 Votes, One #1
27 Dillinger Escape Plan - prancer 48 Points, 4 Votes
26 SubRosa - The Usher 50 Points, 3 Votes
25 Inter Arma - the survival fires 51 Points, 3 Votes
24 Anciients - faith and oath 52 Points, 3 Votes, One #1
23 Bölzer - Entranced By The Wolfshook 54 Points, 3 Votes , TWO #1s
22 Carcass - the granulating dark satanic mills 56 Points, 3 Votes, One #1
21 Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Mind Crawler 57 Points 5 Votes

20 Windhand - Woodbine 62 Points, 4 Votes
19 Suffocation - eminent wrath 63 Points, 4 Votes
18 Noothgrush - Thoth 66 Points, 4 Votes One #1
17 Vhol - Grace 66.0 Points, 5 Votes
16 Ghost - Ghuleh/Zombie Queen 67 Points, 4 Votes, One #1
15 Fen - Consequence 73 Points, 5 Votes
14 Deafheaven - Dreamhouse 75 Points, 5 Votes, 2 #1s
13 Ghost - Monstrance Clock 81 Points, 6 Votes
12 Jess and the Ancient Ones - Astral Sabbat 82 Points, 6 Votes, One #1
11 Grayceon - Pearl 85 Points, 6 Votes

I love Purson, that was a top album of the year for me, I def. voted for that track. I can understand not "getting" Purson but to me I think they are producing some pretty awesome weird proggy folk-revival heavy rock tinged stuff that I can dig pretty hard.

Mordy & AG - Nail on the head, there's usually not "stand out" tracks on most metal albums I like... there's ones I prefer but really it's mostly the sound of the whole album that metal goes for. Metal bands don't typically focus on singles, but album cohesion -- just a fact of the culture surrounding the genre.

BTW I am really really into the recent trend of the increasing inclusion of females into the world of metal... finally some gender parity going on!!

I dunno, a lot of albums still have standout songs on them. People have favourites they want to hear at gigs for instance.

yeah that's true for sure... I didn't get around to nominating a lot of tracks I liked this year, and I don't think I was alone in that, but yeah -- fan favorites are "a thing."

gotta go do some chores for a bit so I'll be gone from the countdown for a few hours.

this is almost certainly bc i am a metal dilettante and metal listening only makes up to at most 15% of my music listening over a given year. that said i do have orphaned land track faves so there are exceptions to everything. these 2 ghost tracks btw i didn't recognize by name, but listening now they were definitely 2 of the best on the album. i feel like their album kinda got a critical panning or overlooking? too corny for mainstreamers??

the only thing on here so far that kept my attention was the Noothgrush, Inter Arma, and that Suffocation track... and I'm not a fan of Suffocation.

haha but you hate "singing"!

will start the top ten soon

and here we go...

10    Nails - Suum Cuique    105.0 Points,   7 Votes,   Two #1s   
http://youtu.be/GXd8DVlGvsY
http://open.spotify.com/track/4gKomxifSnukn7D65PNFtt
spotify:track:4gKomxifSnukn7D65PNFtt

Results Playlist
http://open.spotify.com/user/pfunkboy/playlist/3JEQkwsSD5C7VsXMg4k1HX
spotify:user:pfunkboy:playlist:3JEQkwsSD5C7VsXMg4k1HX

9    Jesu - Homesick    105 Points,    8 Votes,  One #1  
http://youtu.be/rxWEes8WZvo
http://open.spotify.com/track/4GJWAOdD3zmImgpVXvAWX3
spotify:track:4GJWAOdD3zmImgpVXvAWX3

8    Melt-Banana - The Hive    107 Points,    7 Votes,  One #1   
http://youtu.be/vsVH9CqrTeA
http://open.spotify.com/track/5WDpk8hngqHB2J8DZp1mjp
spotify:track:5WDpk8hngqHB2J8DZp1mjp

This song rules. I still have to hear the album.

I await the "they're not metal protests"

I'm seeing Godflesh soon and wish it would be a double bill with Jesu.

Melt-Banana are not remotely metal, but hey someone's gotta give 'em love. I saw them open for Shellac at a comedy club back in '94.

the good thing with this tracks poll is that nobody knew what will be in the top 30 and still dont really with the top 10

Melt-Banana album placed in the Decibel Albums Of The Year list iirc

Nobody is even prepared to guess the top 5 haha

7    Black Sabbath - God Is Dead?    108 Points,  7  Votes
http://youtu.be/OhhOU5FUPBE
http://open.spotify.com/track/42wFRybIJ2n5RoD7r9R8Rz
spotify:track:42wFRybIJ2n5RoD7r9R8Rz

next one up got FOUR #1 votes

6 Summoning - Old Mornings Dawn 123 Points, 7 Votes, FOUR #1s
http://youtu.be/-Y9TsxeWGt0
http://open.spotify.com/track/0WFTNQFHN57d5Z5ybNsdDg
spotify:track:0WFTNQFHN57d5Z5ybNsdDg

Great track

Kind of nice. I haven't looked into Summoning all that closely, they seem like not my thing.

I don't get the excitement around that Sabbath track at all. Nine minutes of tedium.

Jesu is boring live... Although I love Godflesh, I'm guessing they might me a bit sleepy live as well.

Saw Jesu live supporting Isis (Panopticon tour) when the 1st Jesu album was out. It was great. You wont be able to mosh to it obviously

5    In Solitude - Sister    131 Points,    9  Votes
http://youtu.be/R4EiRvFHrCo
http://open.spotify.com/track/6nAdP8LqFhEbJ95HE2AIoF
spotify:track:6nAdP8LqFhEbJ95HE2AIoF

4    Carcass - Thrasher's Abattoir    132 Points    8  Votes
http://youtu.be/n1YhxHLbqvM
http://open.spotify.com/track/0buuMlA8DY2I1ovnWicXnI
spotify:track:0buuMlA8DY2I1ovnWicXnI

what are the chances Carcass take up the last 3 slots?

Sad I only voted in the albums poll and not the tracks poll now.

Any guesses for top 3?

hah that was an xp

dog latin - there wasn't much enthusiasm for tracks poll sadly and hardly anyone subscribed to the nominations playlist to check songs out but we got enough ballots for a decent list i think. Just a shame more didn't vote.

3    Kylesa - Unspoken    136 Points,    8 Votes
http://youtu.be/VlbC-hk25Aw
http://open.spotify.com/track/4Vuk0wkvcchcx3dyYOCF6Q
spotify:track:4Vuk0wkvcchcx3dyYOCF6Q

If I'd voted for tracks, my #1 would've been the first one on the Rotting Christ; that's the song of their career, for me. I didn't think they'd ever top "Archon," and that was ... 18 years ago.

2    ASG - Avalanche    142 Points,    8 Votes,   One #1
http://youtu.be/oafRJH1F4Cs?t=6s
http://open.spotify.com/track/2uTYQHExe7ZrSbN5YzHmcQ
spotify:track:2uTYQHExe7ZrSbN5YzHmcQ

My #1

Anyone wish to predict the #1?

ILM METAL TRACK OF THE YEAR
1    Hell - Darkhangel    160 Points,    10 Votes,   One #1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZCdPcanZkw
http://open.spotify.com/track/4Ast7knf3y8JzPqufGFOJZ
spotify:track:4Ast7knf3y8JzPqufGFOJZ

Utterly ridiculous OTT brilliant live clip from Bloodstock that you need to watch!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol1KyuCHC8U

I think they're
playing UK dates in february. Looks like a must see!  

Will start albums countdown shortly!

Bit of a tragic backstory for Hell

Hell are an English heavy metal band from Derbyshire, formed in 1982 from the remaining members of bands Race Against Time and Paralex. Due to a series of unfortunate and tragic events, the band originally folded in 1987, but were generally regarded as being many years ahead of their time, and have been cited as an influence by many notable musicians and bands of the genre. They were amongst the first bands to wear proto-corpse paint as part of their stage show, which features hysterical ranting from a Gargoyle- adorned pulpit, along with the use of a pyrotechnic exploding Bible which caused outrage amongst the clergy when it originally appeared in 1983.

They signed to the Belgian label Mausoleum, but two weeks prior to the recording of their debut album, the label collapsed into bankruptcy. Kev Bower subsequently quit the band. He was briefly replaced by Sean Kelley, though Hell split up soon afterwards, which led to the suicide of Singer Dave Halliday by carbon monoxide poisoning.

Although they were largely ignored by the media and record companies in the 1980s, their music became known through the underground tape trading phenomenon, and the band achieved a degree of cult status. In 2008 they reunited, and were signed by Nuclear Blast.[1] Their first full-length album, Human Remains, was released May 2011.[2] The album topped at No. 46 on the German album chart in its first week of release.[3]

The remaining original members of Hell reunited in 2008 to finally record their album which was entitled Human Remains. Sabbat members Martin Walkyier and Andy Sneap agreed to play on the album to replicate Dave Halliday's vocals and guitar tracks respectively, with Sneap also acting as the producer. Although Walkyier completed recording vocals for the entire album, the band have stated that no-one was really happy with the outcome since Walkyier's voice was so distinctive, and the result sounded "more like an unreleased set of Sabbat songs". Kev Bower's brother David (who is known as David Beckford in his career as a stage and television actor) was invited to do a voiceover for the song "Plague And Fyre" and subsequently joined the band as lead vocalist, re-recording all the lead vocal parts. Sneap subsequently also joined the band as their permanent second guitarist.

By the beginning of 2013, Kev Bower and Andy Sneap had completed demo recordings for the majority of songs which would appear on the band's sophomore album, with recording proper set to commence in the Spring. Since no early demo recordings were this time available to fill a bonus disc, the band elected to record a live DVD as a bonus complement to the album, and this was shot and recorded at the band's first 2013 show at Derby Assembly Rooms (UK) on February 23. The sellout event also unveiled the band's full Church Of Hell stage set and pyrotechnic show, with fans travelling from 13 different countries to attend. The band played a headline show at the R-Mine Metalfest (BE) and also appeared at Turock Open Air (DE), Hammer Open Air (FIN), Bang Your Head Open Air (DE) and made a return mainstage appearance at Bloodstock Open Air as one of the most heavily requested bands on the BOA user forum, and once again won the 'Best Mainstage Performance' vote. It was subsequently discovered that technical problems with the DVD recording at Derby had made some material unsalvageable, so additional footage was added from the band's appearance at this festival.

It was announced in August that the second album would be entitled 'Curse And Chapter'. To coincide with the album release, Hell were subsequently announced as being principal support for Amon Amarth and Carcass on the whole of their extensive European tour, taking in 25 shows in 13 countries, opening in Oberhausen (DE) on November 7.

Hell are most often described as a NWOBHM band, although they strongly distance themselves from this movement, citing that the NWOBHM was already in rapid decline by the time the band actually formed. Their progressive musical style incorporates elements of thrash, power, symphonic, gothic, speed, doom and black metal, encompassing great variety, and with no two songs ever sounding exactly alike. Underlying lyrical themes in much Hell material focuses on the occult and the darker sides of human nature. Typical themes include a distaste for organised religion, alien abduction, political imprisonment, mental illness, and historical events such as the Black Death and the Bubonic Plague. Although primarily guitar-driven, the band's sound is fleshed out by the use of keyboards and digital sampling to add depth and texture to the material. Their approach to songwriting is often unorthodox, with numerous complex tempo, time signature and key changes, along with a signature series of atmospheric, theatrical interludes and introductions to their songs.

really enjoyed that, thanks Kerr

well, not that (as int he tragic story), i meant the countdown. also the live performance of that track is awesome.

Remember to vote in this ILM 2013 | End of Year Albums & Tracks Poll | VOTING THREAD (Voting closes MIDNIGHT EST on Friday, January 17th, 2014)

Cheers, Charlie. It's a great song but the live version is even better. I really want to go see them now!

Tracks results playlist
http://open.spotify.com/user/pfunkboy/playlist/3JEQkwsSD5C7VsXMg4k1HX

2014 METAL TRACKS POLL TOP 30 RECAP

30 Purson - well spoiled machine 44 Points, 3 votes
29 Watain - The Wild Hunt 45 Points, 4 votes
28 Darkthrone - leave no cross unturned 46 Points, 4 Votes, One #1
27 Dillinger Escape Plan - prancer 48 Points, 4 Votes
26 SubRosa - The Usher 50 Points, 3 Votes
25 Inter Arma - the survival fires 51 Points, 3 Votes
24 Anciients - faith and oath 52 Points, 3 Votes, One #1
23 Bölzer - Entranced By The Wolfshook 54 Points, 3 Votes , TWO #1s
22 Carcass - the granulating dark satanic mills 56 Points, 3 Votes, One #1
21 Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Mind Crawler 57 Points 5 Votes

20 Windhand - Woodbine 62 Points, 4 Votes
19 Suffocation - eminent wrath 63 Points, 4 Votes
18 Noothgrush - Thoth 66 Points, 4 Votes One #1
17 Vhol - Grace 66.0 Points, 5 Votes
16 Ghost - Ghuleh/Zombie Queen 67 Points, 4 Votes, One #1
15 Fen - Consequence 73 Points, 5 Votes
14 Deafheaven - Dreamhouse 75 Points, 5 Votes, 2 #1s
13 Ghost - Monstrance Clock 81 Points, 6 Votes
12 Jess and the Ancient Ones - Astral Sabbat 82 Points, 6 Votes, One #1
11 Grayceon - Pearl 85 Points, 6 Votes

10 Nails - Suum Cuique 105.0 Points, 7 Votes, Two #1s
9 Jesu - Homesick 105 Points, 8 Votes, One #1
8 Melt-Banana - The Hive 107 Points, 7 Votes, One #1
7 Black Sabbath - God Is Dead? 108 Points, 7 Votes
6 Summoning - Old Mornings Dawn 123 Points, 7 Votes, FOUR #1s
5 In Solitude - Sister 131 Points, 9 Votes
4 Carcass - Thrasher's Abattoir 132 Points 8 Votes
3 Kylesa - Unspoken 136 Points, 8 Votes
2 ASG - Avalanche 142 Points, 8 Votes, One #1

1 Hell - Darkhangel 160 Points, 10 Votes, One #1

Thanks to all who took part!

Onwards to Albums Poll Countdown...

Hell live clip is bonkers ..

did wonder why the band look old (and the gargoyles are very spinal tap !), but the backstory explains.

would i listen to an album ?

i doubt it, as the vocals are too much for my delicate ears, but if they appeared on a festival that was at, i would love it.

ta for all this AG .. been interesting.

It was fun. A good list I think and a great #1.

now onto albums presented to you by fastnbulbous,myself and with a lot of help from seandalai...

2014 ILM METAL ALBUMS POLL TOP 101
Albums Playlist please SUBSCRIBE http://open.spotify.com/user/pfunkboy/playlist/6fsnIonKsPLF5NzZ9hJg27

101 Monster Magnet - Last Patrol 146 Points, 6 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/dmR1GZ3.png
http://open.spotify.com/album/708B29H3PbtlXWxpabDkIb
spotify:album:708B29H3PbtlXWxpabDkIb

http://www.deezer.com/album/6935494

our canadian friends and those who refuse to use spotify can use deezer :)

good album

i love the monster magnet album i have despite it apparently being one of their worst - monolithic baby

guess i should track down a few more.

I've see people say it's their best since Spine Of God

I'd say best since God Says No

They would need to get John McBain back to get anywhere near Spine Of God

100    Watain - The Wild Hunt    150 Points,    5    votes
http://i.imgur.com/ch9Kfbu.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/1FCdcUH6lumfoNYHTX5nz1
spotify:album:1FCdcUH6lumfoNYHTX5nz1

http://www.deezer.com/album/6824858

Monolithic Baby is great! Some seriously killer tunes on that one.

I was not much into Last Patrol tbh.

99    Woe - Withdrawal    153 Points,    4  Votes
http://i.imgur.com/Q4eyUKY.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/73yVPWPgaspivlcbqD6ztT
spotify:album:73yVPWPgaspivlcbqD6ztT

http://www.deezer.com/album/6485829

obv genre descriptions are very controversial but maybe albums could have the encyclopedia metallum genre desc posted w/ them? i'd love to know what to check out but i'm not interesting in hunting down another thrash album for example

rateyourmusic.com have genre descriptions as well, and rankings of albums for the top 1000 in the year

e.g Woe - Withdrawal
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/woe_f1/withdrawal/

ranked: 417
genre: Black Metal

its enough work as is tbh but if someone else wants to go for it

98    Corrections House - Last City Zero  154 Points, 5 votes
http://i.imgur.com/QHFnuoV.jpg
http://www.deezer.com/album/7002606

Genre:
Drone/Doom/Experimental

97    Sahg - Delusions of Grandeur    155 Points,   5  Votes
http://i.imgur.com/mmuw62Z.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/7EAHkXYObQkiqLO0L8JZ6K
spotify:album:7EAHkXYObQkiqLO0L8JZ6K

http://www.deezer.com/album/6999998

Genre:
Doom Metal

Not actually heard this yet

woe is kind of a… punky, thrashy, post-hardcoreish strain of black metal, not much by way of gimmicks or stylistic hybridization or drama or what have you, save that they sound modern and u.s. and… i dunno. blazing leads, fast drums, throaty howls.

i listened to it a fair bit, a fairly solid, satisfying record.

96    Goatess - Goatess    158 Points,    4 Votes,  One #1  
http://i.imgur.com/L8K6oHB.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/192IbdIGft39UMkx7cino4
spotify:album:192IbdIGft39UMkx7cino4

http://www.deezer.com/album/6723799

Genre:
Doom/Stoner Metal

Playing this now for first time

Worst album cover of 2013?

95    Obliteration - Black Death Horizon    162 Points,    4  Votes
http://i.imgur.com/DzqHTph.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/0MRxKCVH1bWQEY0U7eeoTf
spotify:album:0MRxKCVH1bWQEY0U7eeoTf

http://www.deezer.com/album/7045912

Genre:
Death Metal

94    Ovo - Abisso    163  Points,  6 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/v07M2PA.png
http://open.spotify.com/album/4vRrt449NhNLSmRDuxDeS6
spotify:album:4vRrt449NhNLSmRDuxDeS6

http://www.deezer.com/album/7161730

Genre:
www.google.com

Will take it down to 91 tonight.

That's a great record.

Ha ha, I love that Goatess cover. Seems effective in creeping people out! Mixed feelings about the placing, glad it made the list, but feel it deserves higher, being at the top of my ballot. Similar with Sahg, my CD came in just a couple days ago and am listening to all four of their albums, and the band definitely deserve attention.

That oVo is freakin intense. Would be interested in seeing them live.

hang on, google is a metal genre now.
fuck, i have so much to learn.

93    Lumbar - the first and last days of unwelcome    164 Points,    7 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/fHxajOC.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/4ME8872T5RIFqKvxLDbnAl
spotify:album:4ME8872T5RIFqKvxLDbnAl

http://www.deezer.com/album/7081968

Genre:
Doom/Sludge Metal

Goatess right up there with that other great baby cover:

http://www.metal-archives.com/images/9/0/9/5/9095.jpg?4754

Corrections House was only okay. It wasn't Pinkish Blackish enough for me

92    Ataraxie - L'Être et la Nausée   166 Points,    5  Votes
http://i.imgur.com/MX0dxWA.jpg

Genre:
Funeral Doom

One more to go tonight

That Ataraxie record is really good. Also notable was that the band also announced that Joey DeMaio of Manowar would appear on this as a guest musician. Of course, this news came out on April 1st...

91 Cult Of Luna - Vertikal  I&II  166 Points,    6 Votes  
http://i.imgur.com/b5Nzyt6.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/2RxFn9IzCEouUQxfDaBYH2
spotify:album:2RxFn9IzCEouUQxfDaBYH2

http://www.deezer.com/album/7160365

Genre:
Atmospheric Sludge/Progressive Metal/Post-Hardcore

Will resume around tomorrow lunchtime (UK) I guess.

Well I missed the countdown for today. Damn. My wrap up: Tracks list was great!! Happy to see Hell take the top spot!

SAHG album's waaay too low, feel like a lot of people slept on that, it's really good.

And my challops: What is this new trend of death metal bands making album covers that look like black metal? I got excited by the cover of that Obliteration album and then it was all growly death. I mean a band can design their logo however they want and there's always been the cryptic hard to read logo thing in all branches of extreme metal, but something about the combintion of their logo and the cover art made me assume it was black metal... feels like false advertising in a way. It doesn't do what it says on the tin!!

That Summoning track is the only one not available on the album on US spotify so I never listened to it... damn I would have given it a high spot in my track ballot, its incredible! Reminds me of Dissection in its heavier parts, and also Finntroll, lol... it's great.

Direct Link to poll recap & full results

I voted for two of those!

Which? (I dont have ballots to hand) or I would try to find out who voted for the album in last place..

319    jeff treppel and ozzy hamster sings/sqeaks - the best of nightwish    1 Point,   1 vote

hahaha!

I can't stop listening to that Hell song. So OTT but great at the same time.

I was gonna throw Treppel a few points but I kinda ran out of time to make my ballot

90    Baptists - Bushcraft    167 Points,  5  Votes
http://i.imgur.com/0MxUCpG.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/5HOIiR27srlahjG5iX6GpM
spotify:album:5HOIiR27srlahjG5iX6GpM   

what's awesome about these countdowns is i get to see the album covers. metal album covers are either terrible or completely insane awesome but often i don't get to have a good look at them whihc is a real shame.

89    Deveykus - Pillar Without Mercy    168 Points,    7 Votes , One #1
http://i.imgur.com/aPTrFdZ.jpg
Genre:
Mordy Metal

lol

sweet! i love u guys.

such an amazing album if u haven't heard btw - i highly recommend

i will - not heard it yet but it's waiting a play.

yeah, that looks promising!

Who do you THINK voted for me?

get over yourself it was clearly a vote for the hamster!

This is a great record. Just realized I forgot to vote for it.

88    Palms - Palms    169 Points,   6 Votes 
http://i.imgur.com/w0DNSWq.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/24WTbZrWbS60hP5T8gQwD5
spotify:album:24WTbZrWbS60hP5T8gQwD5

http://www.deezer.com/album/6566379

Genre:
Post-Metal

Obliteration too low! Though I'm glad I got my ballot in, otherwise it probably wouldn't have placed at all. Also glad to see a few of my track votes place.

voting always counts!

PALMS #17 SPIN metal poll, and also #17 in Rock-A-Rolla.

87    Batillus - Concrete Sustain    173 Points,   6 Votes   One #1
http://i.imgur.com/Ww3kmTr.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/7b6q1SXByofKQ9n1AkqDGu
spotify:album:7b6q1SXByofKQ9n1AkqDGu

Genre:
Blackened Doom Metal

#40 on Decibel

http://youtu.be/q6fvwo9mQEM

85    Ulver - Messe ix-vix    178 Points    6  Votes
http://i.imgur.com/bZiMGtb.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/6ndzj2gJbDqlIkNSSpIyZL
spotify:album:6ndzj2gJbDqlIkNSSpIyZL

http://www.deezer.com/album/6906860

Ulver didn't appear in any other metal polls that I know of.
http://youtu.be/4EtSWs9729s

Not many options to stream Deveykus it looks like. I really don't think withholding that is going to help their album sales any. http://youtu.be/LCyLZEqBUwQ

they're on Tzadik which takes the Drag City approach to digital distribution options as far as I can tell

85    Sungod - Contakt    178 Points,    6 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/yyVIrWS.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/17udet9gLZzBZFdLQvcF4H
spotify:album:17udet9gLZzBZFdLQvcF4H

http://www.deezer.com/album/6399455

Genre:
Psychedelic Doom/Sludge Metal

Dunno about the doom/sludge part, but it's some great psych.

https://holodeckrecords.bandcamp.com/album/contackt-hd011

84    Obelyskkh - Hymn to Pan    184 Points,    6  Votes
http://i.imgur.com/PacOre2.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/3JWPIjx9z8VhhkwXaVbpUW
spotify:album:3JWPIjx9z8VhhkwXaVbpUW

http://www.deezer.com/album/6864372

Genre:
Psychedelic Doom/Stoner Metal

Hymn To Nan, luv from Obelyskkh XXX

Hpsmn To Pan is mor like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBb6sggwQ3k&list=PLHqsnP6B8kBfrjLagweULj6FhM51kOwNW&feature=share

Other genres that could apply to Sungod - space rock/kosmische, drone, electro-prog ;)

Dangit, sorry, wasn't supposed to embed.

Anyway, awesome to see it place, I don't think I even campaigned for it, was just outside my top 20.

83    Mammoth Grinder - Underworlds    193 Points,    6 Votes   One #1 
http://i.imgur.com/FHhSuad.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/41ReW9h9vBto0EJjjF1wLQ
spotify:album:41ReW9h9vBto0EJjjF1wLQ

http://www.deezer.com/album/6759707

Genre:
Death Metal/Hardcore  

This one is new to me. Yours for just $6.66 USD: http://mammothgrinder.bandcamp.com/album/underworlds

Really? That Mammoth Grinder is AWESOME. Should've been higher – but I guess you pussies couldn't handle the thrash attack.

RYM Genres: Crust Punk, Grindcore, Sludge Metal, Hardcore Punk.

So do you all generally agree with the genre tags on Rateyourmusic?

The problem with RYM is that the people that use it are prog metal dorks, so anything scarier than Dream Theater they just label as grindcore.

It's been useful for my research in 1968-72 psych prog, but yeah I can see there being problems with current metal genre tagging.

82    Suffocation - Pinnacle of Bedlam    196 Points,    7 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/hcLkjEk.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/7fejZtBjRFsJpUVHQz81RE
spotify:album:7fejZtBjRFsJpUVHQz81RE

http://www.deezer.com/album/6345777

Genre:
Brutal Technical Death Metal  

http://youtu.be/NsFD2AVrIaY

81    Purson - The Circle and the Blue Door    202 Points,    5 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/imkW06i.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/4PcI4cy6cGEc6BPrMtiMLZ
spotify:album:4PcI4cy6cGEc6BPrMtiMLZ

http://www.deezer.com/album/6485041

Surprised this wasn't higher up. Maybe not enough people considered it metal.

Possibly

I was a sceptic at first, but that Suffocation record is really really good.

#17 Decibel, #17, Stoner HiVe, #32 Captain Beyond Zen

"The Contract" - http://youtu.be/47CP2-f5mdg
"Leaning On A Bear" - http://youtu.be/c90mXA_Jrc4

Kind of shocked that mark e. called them "dreary"! Dark, swirly heavy occult psych, measures up to the great Jess and the Ancient Ones track upthread IMO.

80    Russian Circles - Memorial    204 Points,    6   Votes
http://i.imgur.com/6fJe7Zo.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/2169qq2aiycEtmgwEQlwgp
spotify:album:2169qq2aiycEtmgwEQlwgp

http://www.deezer.com/album/6928938

Genre:
Post-Metal

#12 Pop Matters Metal, #20 Rock-A-Rolla

http://russiancircles.bandcamp.com/album/memorial
http://youtu.be/klVU-O5M-jA

I think this album's status may grow over time.

Also #13 on Pitchfork Metal list.

A popular enough band but doesn't get much of a look in on ilm

Mammoth Grinder is amazing, but like Power Trip the record falls short of their awesome live show. Spellbindingly good.

Which also could be said about this..

79 Clutch - Earth Rocker 205 Points, 5 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/v6Gpo2a.jpg

Genre:
Stoner/Jam rock

Metal Hammer #1 AOTY

Another one that was high on my list.

#11 Pop Matters, #30 Rock-A-Rolla, #8 Metal Sucks writers, #1 The Obelisk, #1 The Obelisk readers, #2 Stoner HiVe

http://youtu.be/YrfZdv4PEXI

Clutch are hugely popular. I wasn't feeling it most of the year but have warmed to it somewhat.

never cared for them, mainly due to the vocalist

78    Hey Colossus - cuckoo live life like cuckoo    205 Points,    6 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/HYcLvur.jpg

That Mammoth Grinder is so good. I usually don't go for the crustier stuff but between the album art, the reverberant spookiness in the production, and some of those lead guitar lines, I feel like I'm listening to a crusty death metal version of In the Nightside Eclipse.

This one didn't show up in polls, and I haven't heard it yet myself.

https://soundcloud.com/miemusic/sets/hey-colossus-cuckoo-live-life

Here's poll placings for 101-91. It's interesting to see which mags/sites align with yr tasts.

101 Monster Magnet - #2 The Obelisk, #5 Obelisk readers, #18 Captain Beyond Zen, #6 Stoner HiVe, #49 Metal Hammer
100 Watain - The Wild Hunt - #9 Metal Hammer, #17 Revolver, #37 Decibel
99 Woe - Withdrawal - #37 Stereogum
98 Corrections House - Last City Zero - #38 Decibel, #5 Rock-A-Rolla
96 Goatess - Goatess - #16 Captain Beyond Zen, #16 Stoner HiVe
91 Cult Of Luna - Vertikal I & II - #6 Decibel, #6 Rock-A-Rolla, #31 Metal Hammer

tastes!

Hey Colossus from London, been around since 2003, several albums of sludge/noise, really should get on Bandcamp at least.

I have a lot of their stuff. Great band. dont own this one yet

77    Agrimonia - Rites of Separation    208 Points,    6 Votes   One #1
 http://i.imgur.com/08ji9cY.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/0KcauY8yEYKotAznu2CPJn
spotify:album:0KcauY8yEYKotAznu2CPJn

Genre:
Post-Metal/Sludge Metal/Crust

that Hey Colossus record would have got a vote from me, had I voted. Good run-down thus far, looking forward to the rest!

#27 Stereogum, #6 Metal Sucks, #2 Pitchfork, #50 Terrorizer

http://agrimoniasl.bandcamp.com/
http://youtu.be/dOaiSsHKowc

76    Intronaut - habitual levitations (instilling words with tones)    208 Points,  7  Votes
http://i.imgur.com/w7Kzz3Q.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/25zQ59bRfI7d2E8X8CJe75
spotify:album:25zQ59bRfI7d2E8X8CJe75

http://www.deezer.com/album/6319198

Genre:
Progressive/Post-Meta

The Agrimonia is great, I just missed it in the list.

some more comparisons

Terrorizer Albums of 2013
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Technogoat/terrorizer_albums_of_2013/
Top 50

Metal Storm - Top 20 albums of 2013
http://www.metalstorm.net/bands/albums_top.php?album_year=2013
rankings constantly changing
Number 1: Obscure Sphinx - Void Mother

Sputnikmusic.com - Best Metal Albums of 2013
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/best/albums/2013/metal
Top 200 !
Number 1: Hell (UK) - Curse and Chapter

#5 Metal Sucks, #7 Metal Sucks musicians poll

http://youtu.be/NVcxDsY3vv4
https://soundcloud.com/centurymedia/intronaut-sore-sight-for-eyes

Terrorizer albums that have placed here so far:

3 Watain - The Wild Hunt
6 Clutch - Earth Rocker
11 Purson - The Circle and the Blue Door
16 Corrections House - Last City Zero
18 Cult Of Luna - Vertikal I & II
50 Agrimonia – Rites Of Separation

75    Magic Circle - Magic Circle    214 Points,    5 Votes,   One #1
http://i.imgur.com/sD5jhhq.jpg

Genre:
Doom Metal/Occult Rock

off to a meeting

74    Exhumed - Necrocracy    216 Points,    6 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/FDx7h9F.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/4iWkgAmG4TEVNQQIjyN2kf
spotify:album:4iWkgAmG4TEVNQQIjyN2kf

http://www.deezer.com/album/6763873

Genre:
Death Metal/Grindcore

liking Clutch ..

may have to get this if i see it in the racks.

Clutch are the best. Catch them live if you can.

TIE
219 Points, 6 Votes

Coffins - The Fleshland  
http://i.imgur.com/3QJexWw.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/5X5rSTPkU8KkwChroBm751
spotify:album:5X5rSTPkU8KkwChroBm751
http://www.deezer.com/album/6413144

Doom/Death Metal

True Widow - Circumambulation
http://i.imgur.com/MmcmS6k.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/5xkD0KbkpBYK3n8rDA0y6j
spotify:album:5xkD0KbkpBYK3n8rDA0y6j

http://www.deezer.com/album/6688188

AMG says:
Experimental rockers from Texas, influenced by wall-of-sound styles like drone, post-rock, and shoegaze.

Exhumed are the perfect example of the band I will happily see live any time, but will never pull out one of their albums at home.

Love Hey Colossus.English Flesh is an amazing track with a great video to boot

True Widow, on the other hand, are great on record but SUPER boring live (especially if they go on after midnight).

J3ff on the money re: True Widow. Hate to knock my friends, but the live show is a snore at best.

71    MUTation - Error 500    221 Points,  6 Votes,  One #1
http://i.imgur.com/KRokOJ1.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/0ilr042uLSqsOSI0zCIKK4
spotify:album:0ilr042uLSqsOSI0zCIKK4   

http://www.deezer.com/album/6930370

http://thequietus.com/articles/13929-mutation-error-500-review

Ginger Wildheart & friends inc Merzbow/Napalm Death/Mark E Smith/Hawk Eyes/Cardiacs/Amen

70 Cult Of Fire - मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान    223 Points,    7   Votes
http://i.imgur.com/9qvMhvV.jpg

Genre:
Epic Black Metal

Oh man, all you people that didn't vote for that one need to check it out ASAP.

69    Ken Mode - Entrench    223 Points,    8 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/v9wm2Ea.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/3RdXIb0vTPCACtBHDPxGau
spotify:album:3RdXIb0vTPCACtBHDPxGau

http://www.deezer.com/album/6340175

TIED
225 Points,    6  Votes

Bölzer - Aura
http://i.imgur.com/Yih6cez.png

Genre:
Black/Death Metal

Cloud Rat - Moksha
http://i.imgur.com/kf9aAca.jpg

Genre:
Grindcore
Lyrical themes:
Women's Rights, Vegan, Self-empowerment

That Cloud Rat is phenomenal. Thanks to Kim Kelly for steering me towards it.

Kim told me about it too but its not on spotify or anything. and I'm not buying grindcore 'blind' as its not exactly a genre I'm into but I'd like to check it out

It's on bandcamp:

http://haloofflies.bandcamp.com/album/moksha

Stream it in it's entirety here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVBoZw04LZs

66    Indricothere - ii    228 Points,    8   Votes
http://i.imgur.com/HdPvE0r.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/4Db4JofaDxR6C3ZHBQIkRG
spotify:album:4Db4JofaDxR6C3ZHBQIkRG
http://www.deezer.com/album/6974415

Genre:
Avante Progressive Metal
Colin Marston

Yes big thanks to Kim from me too, and I think it got an early mention on the rolling grind thread so thanks to that person too, Moksha came in really late and snuck really high up my list.

Also my contribution to the impromptu Cloud Rat awareness campaign, it was hard to find but the band themselves put the album up for free digital download via link on their site:

http://cloudrat.blogspot.com/p/discography-lyrics.html

scroll down to the Moksha section at the bottom and there's a mediafire link.

cheers I'll check it out!

65    Tribulation - the formulas of death    230 Points,    7 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/oH9zwuK.jpg
http://www.deezer.com/album/6496372

Genre:
Death Metal

this is the second year in a row death metal has made a comeback on ilm. Influx of new American posters or a genuine rise in quality the past few years?

Yes.

Wish I could participate but got more meetings. You trying to finish this all up in 2 days??

i'll assume jeff says yes to both

fnb nah

might finish thursday with 20 a day might just finish friday with a top 10. who knows. Just winging it just now.

taking it down to 61 tonight

64    Raspberry Bulbs - Deformed Worship    238 Points,    7  Votes
http://i.imgur.com/FIk9XJy.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/68NO4FDXOsUAYwD4HfAriO
spotify:album:68NO4FDXOsUAYwD4HfAriO

http://www.deezer.com/album/6875419

Genre:
Black Metal/Punk
Bone Awl related

could even do 15 each day tues-fri

63    Amon Amarth - deceiver of the gods    240 Points,    7  Votes
http://i.imgur.com/QmENRq8.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/3UgW8SaWQ1r1hCIJRlQEYV
spotify:album:3UgW8SaWQ1r1hCIJRlQEYV

http://www.deezer.com/album/6959716

^ now that's a fucking album cover

Didn't vote for much, but I did vote for Batillus (love the control and restraint in their aggression, kinda reminds me of the Swans) and Hey Colossus (some heavy Can vibes on that thing eh?). Have been a bit wary of that Raspberry Bulbs record cos just about everything else I've heard on Blackest Ever Black has been a no contest triumph of style over substance, but I guess this is my cue to give it a whizz.

I have a Raspberry Bulbs lp somewhere but not that one. It's good though.

62    Ruins of Beverast - Blood Vaults: the Blazing Gospel of Heinrich Kramer    243 Points,    6 Votes,  One #1
http://i.imgur.com/VAx8YHz.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/4yImCANhDj8ygyzQOhMWbs
spotify:album:4yImCANhDj8ygyzQOhMWbs
http://www.deezer.com/album/6913590

Genre:
Atmospheric Black/Doom Metal

Last one for today coming up

61    Orchid - The Mouths of Madness    244 Points,    8  Votes
http://i.imgur.com/kHFXMxJ.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/0YApj7YuIN5oyydA642YKp
spotify:album:0YApj7YuIN5oyydA642YKp

http://www.deezer.com/album/6539531

Genre:
Doom Metal/Occult

Magic Circle - #17 Obelisk
http://youtu.be/o-5RdDRZOoQ

In my top 15, love it.

Exhumed - #24 Decibel, #17 Pop Matters, #9 Metal Sucks, #26 Pitchfork
http://exhumed.bandcamp.com/releases

Coffins
http://youtu.be/6oMiU5QYUPk
http://coffins.bandcamp.com/releases

True Widow - #19 Rock-A-Rolla
Mutation - #31 Rock-A-Rolla

Cult Of Fire - #36 Stereogum
https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/album/cult-of-fire

Ken Mode - #44 Stereogum, #4 Metal Sucks musicians, #24 Pitchfork
http://kenmode.bandcamp.com/album/entrench

Bölzer - #12 Stereogum
http://youtu.be/mvkoqNrHFdw

Indricothere
http://indricothere.bandcamp.com/album/xi-3

Tribulation - #10 Decibel, #16 Pitchfork, #27 Terrorizer
http://youtu.be/xFxhzKUI-Go

Raspberry Bulbs - #50 Stereogum, #38 Pitchfork
http://blackesteverblack.bandcamp.com/album/deformed-worship

Amon Amarth
http://youtu.be/lgWtCD9T3lg

Ruins of Beverast - #20 Decibel, #29 Stereogum, #19 Pitchfork
http://youtu.be/BXo-yy83s_A
http://www.20buckspinshop.com/products/the-ruins-of-beverast-blood-vaults-cd

Orchid - #16 Obelisk readers, #7 Captain Beyond Zen, #36 Metal Hammer
http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/orchid-exclusive-album-stream-the-mouths-of-madness/

Direct Link to poll recap & full results

Another 15 on Tuesday then

Things I voted for:

100 Watain - The Wild Hunt, 150 Points, 5 votes
76 Intronaut - Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones), 208 Points, 7 Votes
67 Cloud Rat - Moksha, 225 Points, 6 Votes
65 Tribulation – The Formulas Of Death, 230 Points, 7 Votes

Things I will check out hopefully:

101 Monster Magnet - Last Patrol, 146 Points, 6 Votes
99 Woe - Withdrawal, 153 Points, 4 Votes
97 Sahg - Delusions of Grandeur, 155 Points, 5 Votes
96 Goatess - Goatess, 158 Points, 4 Votes, One #1
91 Cult Of Luna - Vertikal I & II, 166 Points, 6 Votes
87 Batillus - Concrete Sustain, 173 Points, 6 Votes, One #1
86 Ulver - Messe ix-vix, 178 Points, 6 Votes
83 Mammoth Grinder – Underworlds, 193 Points, 6 Votes, One #1
81 Purson - The Circle and the Blue Door, 202 Points, 5 Votes
80 Russian Circles – Memorial, 204 Points, 6 Votes
75 Magic Circle - Magic Circle, 214 Points, 5 Votes, One #1
72 Coffins - The Fleshland, 219 Points, 6 Votes
72 True Widow – Circumambulation, 219 Points, 6 Votes
63 Amon Amarth – Deceiver Of The Gods, 240 Points, 7 Votes
62 Ruins of Beverast - Blood Vaults: The Blazing Gospel of Heinrich Kramer, 243 Points, 6 Votes, One #1

i don't think i've heard that purson album before the poll but it's fantastic

Pretty sure Hey Colossus is the only one I voted for so far. Had the pleasure to see Purson support uncle acid at their first official show and to be honest they blew the main act out the water I'm sad to say.

Wish I saw that. Not sure why Uncle Acid supported Sabbath in Europe but not the U.S. More of these bands need to cross the Atlantic dangit.

Remember to vote in ILM 2013 | End of Year Albums & Tracks Poll | VOTING THREAD (Voting closes MIDNIGHT EST on Friday, January 17th, 2014)

I just voted in it.

What do you guys prefer finishing on Thursday or finishing on Friday?

It's nicely set up for either. It can be 15/15/15/15 or 20/20/10/10 or 20/20/20 to finish thurs.
Im not bothered either way - whatever suits the majority of those who can be arsed to reply.

Hope everyone is enjoying the poll and making new discoveries.

All thoughts on already placed tracks/albums are welcome.

never heard of Purson until today. extremely curious to hear them based on how people have been describing their sound!

btw, i vote finishing the poll by Thursday

Thursday

I thought ilxors preferred a slow rollout over 5 days

If we decide to finish by thursday I will need to start earlier each day at around 2pm so we're not rushing it and finishing after people have gone home. That's not so bad when countdown just starts but we cant rush the top half.

Are those on the west coast of the USA ok with that?

Remember you can subscribe to albums playlist
http://open.spotify.com/user/pfunkboy/playlist/6fsnIonKsPLF5NzZ9hJg27

Will resume in about an hour or so, hopefully most will be awake by then.

Still time to say whether you want a thurs or friday finish

ok lets go....

before I post the next one.... just out of interest is anyone using deezer? Should I keep posting the links?

60 Coliseum - Sister Faith 247 Points, 8 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/GaYdhJw.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/5wBu50BQLZiAv7XmuVVBMD
spotify:album:5wBu50BQLZiAv7XmuVVBMD

http://www.deezer.com/album/6424231
http://www.stereogum.com/1337832/album-of-the-week-coliseum-sister-faith/top-stories/

This used to be what indie rock sounded like. During the 1990s, Elephant 6 and Belle And Sebastian were outliers, and the genre (which really was more genre and less loose lifestyle appellation) hadn’t erased all traces of the get-in-the-van ’80s hardcore that helped birth it. As late as a decade ago, when the Louisville trio Coliseum formed, the term “indie” evoked images of Pretty Girls Make Graves or Blood Brothers as much as, I don’t know, Beulah, and it was still vaguely novel to hear a flugelhorn on a Sub Pop record. These days, Coliseum are creatures of the loose metal underground that’s become our greatest resource for facepunch guitars, but they’re not really a metal band. The ingredients of their sound come from other places: Pummeling locked-in bass-thuds from Girls Against Boys, swampy-but-skronky guitar fuzz-bursts from Sonic Youth, beardedly beery vocal blurts from about a thousand different bands. And with their new Sister Faith, Coliseum have made an album that stews all those influences into something powerfully satisfying and maybe even nourishing. It’s not an innovative album by any means, but it might scratch an itch that you didn’t even know you had.

Here’s the best way I can think to describe Coliseum’s sound. It starts with another Louisville band: Slint, who did math-rock throb with a distant but hot emotional fire and who are, low-key, one of the most influential metal bands of the past few decades despite not being remotely metal. But plenty of bands start with the Slint blueprint and take it nowhere; Coliseum do something interesting with it by speeding it up like Motörhead, turning it into no-bullshit rage-out adrenaline music. They’ve been doing it for a while now, growing into their sound and internalizing it, getting better at it to the point where it’s entirely theirs. Sister Faith is their fourth album, and it’s their second with producer J. Robbins, whose involvement is also an important key to this thing. Robbins used to lead Jawbox and Burning Airlines; he’s a principal architect of the post-hardcore clangor that finally mostly disappeared into emo. Those bands blew minds because they led with the rhythm section, keeping everything rigorous and disciplined on the low-end while guitar and voice freaked out, tied melodic knots, threw tantrums. They brought the sense that the rhythmic lockstep was the only thing holding those stretched-out and distended guitars together, the last line that kept them tethered to the earth. And even though Coliseum frontman Ryan Patterson riffs more than Robbins ever did, he brings those same dynamics — all tension, no release, but with a beat that keeps things pushing forever forward.

It’s hard to pick out their individual contributions, but Coliseum called in a whole mess of friends to help out on Sister Faith, turning it into a community affair, and that list of names is a fascinating and illuminating thing. Robbins played on it, of course, and Sister Faith is the first album recorded at his new Baltimore studio. (A note to bands: Use this guy more. Baltimore is a cheap and lovely place to stay, Robbins could always use some extra money for very noble and important reasons, and he will make your drums sound like they’re ready to cave in chest cavities.) Boris frontman Wata, whose own band fits just as uncomfortably into the metal scene as Coliseum does, is here. So is Jason Loewenstein, from the comparatively wussy Sebadoh, whose most iconic song is about the exact moment when a hardcore kid decides that he’s an indie rock kid. Another guy, Jason Farrell, comes from Swiz and Bluetip, two of the bands that pushed DC hardcore into further-out sounds. And so is Elizabeth Elmore, whose bands Sarge and the Reputation came at the tail end of the riot-grrrl boomlet and put a vulnerable human face on the feelings behind that movement. These are all good people, and none of them dictate the direction of the album, but all of them find room for themselves in the racket.

Listening to the album, you’re not necessarily thinking about the people involved in making it, or what their involvement might express. It’s too fun for all that. “Last/Lost” is all strained propulsion, like Hüsker Dü in full attack mode. “Under The Blood Of The Moon” has a big, meaty stomper of a riff working for it. “Everything In Glass” sounds like At The Drive-In if they were a half-step slower; it’s got that same righteous chaos to it. At its climax, “Bad Will” reverts back to straight-up old-school hardcore, its final chorus the sort of thing that demands a raised-fist gang-chant. This is the sound of guys playing hard, aggressive music because it’s what comes naturally to them; it’s the stuff their fingers feel themselves playing when they’re touching instruments. God knows, the world doesn’t need a million more bands like this, and we weren’t necessarily better off when bands like this were the exception rather than the rule. But it’s still an absolute pleasure to hear a band like this is still around, playing this music and playing it well.

Sister Faith is out today on Temporary Residence.

excellent album btw

One I got for xmas actually.

flowers growing vpon the skull of a man

the reason I posted that review btw is because i had a conversation on ilm somewhere (with edward iii, hellhouse and possibly contenderizer (where is he?) ) about how indie rock is so fucking boring now everyone has migrated to metal now to get the sonic kicks they used to get and how that might be bands are now adding tropes from 80s and 90s indie rock as more "indie" fans get into metal and start bands which leads to metallers hearing new to them non-metal from ye olden days. (yes not everyone approves I know)

dog latin you must have thoughts on that!

uh...

wut?

you usually have lots of thoughts on things!

i dunno...

maybe i should hear the album and read the review at the same time. i'm not sure about the assumption that indie is boring now.

59    Argus - Beyond The Martyrs    248 Points,    9 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/U5Rkzbf.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/5HNwj591St7iS8pZTh4znj
spotify:album:5HNwj591St7iS8pZTh4znj

http://www.deezer.com/album/6976647

Genre:
Heavy/Doom Metal

bbbbut indie IS boring now!

that coliseum review mentions a whole bunch of bands I like too so it helps explain why I like the band so much

Argus are awesome too btw

So far I've listened to Agrimona and Sungod albums while working, both seemed pretty good, will def listen again more attentively.

Listening now to Coliseum - it's great! Don't really hear PGMG/Blood Brothers comparisons in most songs as much as standard late 90s or early/mid 2000s hardcore? But it's not a bad thing obv, love that music.

i don't listen to much metal btw so looking forward to rest of the results.

Argus disappointed me. It's a good record, but pales before their last one. It sounds too safe.

Coliseum not only made a great record, they toured the shit out of it and fucking rocked live. One of the best shows I saw all year, which is saying something.

High Praise!

antoni welcome! always nice to see people checking out the results and commenting.

58    Aeternus - And The Seventh His Soul Detesteth    251 Points,    6 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/WQHHvRX.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/6ZUnEP5WNVNv5MqGXxHmhB
spotify:album:6ZUnEP5WNVNv5MqGXxHmhB

http://www.deezer.com/album/6425136

Genre:
Death Metal

57    Kadavar - Abra Kadavar    253 Points,    7 Votes,   One #1  
http://i.imgur.com/rHa2YjV.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/6pSduW2CtbBc87aPyhEKxc
spotify:album:6pSduW2CtbBc87aPyhEKxc

http://www.deezer.com/album/6501910
Genre:
80s Synthpop Revivalists

Abba Kadavar

56    Ulcerate - Vermis    258 Points,    8  Votes
http://i.imgur.com/fplRThK.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/0FR1Vn0vo2p8J8WT67eTYz
spotify:album:0FR1Vn0vo2p8J8WT67eTYz

http://www.deezer.com/album/6794719

Genre:
Technical Death Metal

Can't remember if I voted for the Ulcerate, but this one didn't connect with me the way Destroyers of All did. Color Sands was this year's Destroyers of All for me.

#27 Decibel, #35 Rock-A-Rolla, #25 Metal Sucks
http://ulcerate.bandcamp.com/

Coliseum - #32 Decibel, #26 Rock-A-Rolla
http://coliseum.bandcamp.com/album/sister-faith

Argus - #43 Metal Hammer
http://shadowkingdomrecords.bandcamp.com/album/argus
http://youtu.be/KJHCwRYBFrY

Argus has been left out in the cold in most polls, so props to ILM!

Aeturnus - no other poll love
http://youtu.be/L_gRlS6iaOg

Kadavar - #27 Obelisk, #6 Obelisk readers, #13 Captain Beyond Zen, #5 Stoner HiVe
http://youtu.be/I7FBmbyDGaA

man, i think half my ballot has already shown up. out of the ilm metal mainstream :...(

80s Synthpop Revivalists

Ha. Seriously though, this was my #1. At first I preferred the debut, but the more I listen to this the more I like it. These guys can write a hook, the bass lines are awesome, and I like the singer's voice. It may seem like they're just doing a retro-revivalist shtick, but there's nothing cookie-cutter about it. This stuff holds up against the '70s hard rock dinosaurs they plainly admire (Zeppelin, Sabbath, Hawkwind, etc). There may be nothing especially innovative about them, but it's so pleasurable to just listen to a great band playing great songs that I don't really care.

I like the quotes/review blurbs, also worked well on the disco poll: ...AND THE BEAT GOES ON! The GRAND ILM DISCO POLL results are revealed!

Yeah Kadavar grew on me the past month. Love their video for "Come Back Life" - http://youtu.be/4xgi91s7zf8

xp With 415 total albums in the poll, you're doing alright to get most of your ballot in top 100.

(old ILM quotes are always nice to kickstart/restart discussions)

55    Autopsy - The Headless Ritual    258 Points,    9 Votes
http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/loudwire.com/files/2013/07/autopsy-the_headless_ritual.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/2w3bjJMGoiTHtBjTAGTbDh
spotify:album:2w3bjJMGoiTHtBjTAGTbDh

http://www.deezer.com/album/6638153

Genre:
Twee Pop
Lyrical themes:
Fluffy Bunnies, Hello Kitty, Cardigans.

siegbran feel free to post some! I've got enough to do as is!

I'm definitely feelin' this Kadavar business. At least the couple songs I've sampled so far.

#15 Decibel, #11 Metal Sucks musicians, #23 Pitchfork, #38 Metal Hammer, #17 Terrorizer
http://youtu.be/B88XiAjqaqc

54    Morne - Shadows    259 Points,    8  Votes
http://i.imgur.com/Bn4sqA0.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/6QxxWZR17E5i1XZvJwZtcR
spotify:album:6QxxWZR17E5i1XZvJwZtcR

http://www.deezer.com/album/6966792

Genre:
Sludge/Post-Metal

http://morneband.bandcamp.com/releases

53   The Ocean - Pelagial    261 Points,    8  Votes
http://i.imgur.com/L9QSw1i.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/6R9cHdJ7hljxDDYq2tUCdO
spotify:album:6R9cHdJ7hljxDDYq2tUCdO

http://www.deezer.com/album/6959409

Genre:
Progressive/Atmospheric Sludge Metal/Post-Hardcore

#9 Rock-A-Rolla, #3 Metal Sucks, #8 Metal Sucks musicians
http://youtu.be/JfZMTDcqKnQ

52    fen - dustwalker    261.0    9 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/aPpPigN.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/0TCydMhfBWdkVufpSUxdhH
spotify:album:0TCydMhfBWdkVufpSUxdhH

http://www.deezer.com/album/6202706

Genre:
Atmospheric Black Metal/Post-Rock
Lyrical themes:
Solitude, Sorrow, Landscape, Nature

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/54547/Fen-Dustwalker/

Review Summary: Atmosphere, melody, and brutality mixed together into a potent musical brew.

Dustwalker embodies a spectrum of moods and sounds that convey a rather compelling musical performance. It's a very meticulously arranged collage of atmosphere, melody, and brutality that exhibits an eclectic range of musical styles. Throughout the album, we witness Fen regressing back to the nature of their previous albums, while yet fusing them with a better understanding of themselves and what emotion they want to convey in their music. There's an array of genres and concepts present within the album as we continue to see Fen embracing an affinity for borrowing and breaking down whatever musical styles appeal to them, and then mixing them together into a potent brew of melodies and rhythms that go well beyond the average metal repertoire. In a nutshell, Dustwalker retains the aggression of Black metal, while adding a delicate touch of ambience and euphony to their music. Certainly an elaborate plot to work with, but it's nothing that hasn't already been explored by other artists. There's a very conspicuous influence which can be felt throughout the album that is distinctively derived from other bands well within their musical vicinity, such as Agalloch, Negură Bunget, and Altar of Plagues who have all pioneered the various possibilities of connecting the charismatic essence of Black metal with outside influences like Shoegaze, Folk, Post-rock and even to an extent, Progressive rock.

A song like "Hands of Dust" really illustrates the overall musical concept of Dustwalker. There's an array of different musical conventions uniting here to compose a sound that aspires to be as engaging as possible, and in that aspect, it succeeds with ease. "Hands of Dust" opens with an introductory guitar arrangement that is embellished with a graceful echoing dissonance, thus exuding an ambient allure to ease our descent into its ever-fluctuating musical realm. This is one of the many times in the album where the progressive influences are at their most consciously evident, because this whole song is a constant ascension to a different mood with every passing second, yet it tends to operate with rather contrasting dynamics in style. For example, during the song's dreamy shoegaze section in the beginning, we hear the vocals alternate from a soothing tone to a more frustrated growl, and yet the music remains well in its calming state. And it isn't until the latter portion that we hear any distorted riffs and relentlessly manic drumming, but even then, though discreetly lingering in the background, we can still hear the echoing remains of its initial ambient texture.

"Spectre" yet again reflects the band's affection for spacey musical environments, though this time they incorporate a more folk-influenced sound. The primary melodic framework of "Spectre" is exuded by a gentle acoustic arrangement, which is accompanied by an electric guitar that lets out a sonic wave of psychedelic radiance in the background. This is definitely one of the highlighting moments of the album because it is just such a beautifully composed piece. The vocals, especially, are sung with an exquisite harmony that really vitalizes the music with a graceful aura. The only flaw in "Spectre" is that it probably lasts longer than it should. After the vocalized section reaches its climax, the song arrives into an instrumental passage that dissolves among a haze of ethereal ambience. And as mesmerizing as these soundscapes may be, you will indeed find yourself noticing how needlessly prolonged this interlude gets after the first 2 minutes, which kind of makes "Spectre" lose some effect from its trancing spell, but overall it is still an exceptional piece. Depending on the preference of the listener, one may find that this sense of repetition actually works thematically with the atmospheric ideology of "Spectre", but Fen, whether consciously or not, tends to exhibit a lot of monotony and repetition within their other compositions, though to a less than inspired degree.

The final two epics, "The Black Sound" and "Walking the Crowpath", seem to surpass their state of relevancy long before they reach their end. Both songs clock in a little over 10 minutes, and within that time Fen embrace their metal attributes much more intimately than any other moment in the album. There's an excessive usage of slow tempos and heavy rhythms being deployed here that express an overall pessimistic sentiment, and though there are some invigorating riffs and bombastic drum rhythms to be found, that's all they really have to offer, lacking any sense of ingenuity to coerce our intrigue enough to eagerly hit the repeat button. "Wolf Sun", on the other hand, is the one and only redeeming song in the latter half of the album, and the reason for that lies in the one quality that "The Black Sound" and "Walking the Crowpath" failed to harness, an innovative approach. "Wolf Sun" displays a combination of alternative rock instrumentation with infuriated Black metal shrieks and raspy vocals. Of course, there is prominent usage of 'clean' singing throughout the song as well, but it is still very compelling to hear the two contrasting musical styles compliment each other in such an irresistibly harmonic fashion.

At its final moments, Dustwalker can very well be considered an even further progression in style from Fen's prior efforts, The Malediction Fields and Epoch, one that focuses more on their Shoegaze and Post-metal influences rather than Black metal. For anyone that was hoping this would be the direction Fen would explore more after hearing Epoch, then Dustwalker will be an experience well worth your time. As I mentioned before, there's an impressive level of creativity being expressed in their songwriting here, particularly in the methods of combining their different musical influences in a way that is both coherent and appealing. This is definitely a 'fan-pleaser', and though it's merely an addition to atmospheric Black metal and nothing that is particularly revolutionary or innovative in the genre, it still makes for a truly satisfying listen to anyone willing to give it a try.

http://youtu.be/z3xu8WO4Yqo

Kadavar were in my top five. Maybe my favorite of all the throwback rock releases this past year. Just great songs.

Production also sounds great. Really makes a difference with this stuff.

51    Cathedral - The Last Spire    263 Points,   8 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/GlpFWLm.jpg
http://www.deezer.com/album/6475137

Genre:
Doom Metal

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18020-cathedral-the-last-spire/

After nearly a quarter century, 10 albums, a major-label stint, and a deserved reputation as an act that helped pull doom metal from its stylistic exile, exactly how will Cathedral end its final album? That’s the question that hovers above The Last Spire, the excellent eight-track LP that will mark the end of the long-running, ever-restless English quartet. Early last year, Cathedral played their final show in Australia before returning to England to chart their own demise. For the last two decades, the band has pushed far beyond the slow-growing and wide-set roots of its foundational debut, 1991’s Forest of Equilibrium, to incorporate thrash blitzes, psychedelic tangents and 70s rock bombast. Talking through each entry in the band’s catalogue with Terrorizer earlier this year, frontman Lee Dorian acknowledged the deliberate nature of his band’s non-linear development. Sometimes they wanted to retreat from doom, and sometimes they wanted to retreat into it. “I hate complacency,” he said. “It’s not something you should ever feel, especially in terms of art.”

That perspective has kept Cathedral interesting for the long haul, even if it hasn’t resulted in necessarily great records. For instance, the band’s most recent LP, 2010’s The Guessing Game, spent 85 minutes dipping and diving into prog rock aberrations that sometimes felt excessive and often unnecessary. Cathedral kept twisting free from its traditionally lugubrious mid-tempo maul with an assortment of influences, from Uriah Heep to Genesis. Mostly, it made you wish Cathedral would just settle back in to doom again.

And for a moment at the close of The Last Spire, it seems that Cathedral will indeed exit with a sentimental reminder than that they’ve generally been more than a simply gloomy squadron. “This Body, Thy Tomb”, the final song, opens with a low-strung, generously distorted riff, which Dorian pairs with appropriately funereal imagery: “I exist in this coffin,” he opens from a backlit pulpit. “Murdered trust and misfortune has evolved into strife.” Just past the three-minute mark, though, Dorian and the strangling tone of Garry Jennings go quiet, fading into a series of somber instrumentals-- a twinkling acoustic guitar, a glass-eyed electric solo, a music box melody played on mellotron. Cathedral, it seems, will fade into their own apoptosis.

But the mighty band enters one last time, pounding at Jennings’ lead harder than it has for the entire record. Brian Dixon locks into distended drum rolls and swings hard coming out of them, while keyboardist David Moore and bassist Scott Carlson build steep walls around the riff, conjuring claustrophobia even while heading for the exit. No treacle here: Cathedral ends exactly as it started-- heads down in heavy doom. Swansong attachment aside, that return-to-basics approach is one defining characteristic of The Last Spire, an album that reconnects with Cathedral’s beginnings without simply repeating them.

Another is restraint: In an interview with Ghost Cult Magazine published the week after The Last Spire was released, Jennings admitted that the band left a lot of recorded material on the cutting room floor for this album. Of those five omitted tracks, he said, at least one of them was a 30-minute Cathedral farewell that was never finished. At 56 minutes, however, The Last Spire is very much the right length for a band whose most consistent handicap has been not knowing when to say when, or how to move toward the next track or album. No, efficiency has never been Cathedral’s bailiwick, but on The Last Spire, they operate with surprising and newfound economy. They surround lengthy tracks with much shorter ones and generally just get out of their own way. The first half of the record, for instance, moves as swiftly as anything Cathedral has ever done. A terrifying introduction of swelling field recordings, tolling church bells and grating noise passes quickly into “Pallbearer”, a 12-minute anthem that pauses just enough for an acoustic interlude before sprinting headlong into a burst of thrash. It’s an extended number, but Cathedral anchors shifting momentum to a grim mantra00 “War, famine, drought, disease!”-- and a center of doom gravity. You almost want it to keep going, a rare quality for this band. “Cathedral of the Damned”, meanwhile, crisscrosses samples between verses, choruses and solos, while “Tower of Silence” adds a dose of punk ire to its unfettered seven-minute march. By not pausing to take stock of its progress, Cathedral testifies to its true purpose and power.

The Last Spire is so close to the spirit of Cathedral’s earliest works that Dorian has said it’s the record he’s hoped to make since their debut, Forest of Equilibrium. Importantly, though, it does not feel like a microwaved visitation with the past or some self-obsessed tribute. Rather, these pieces sound like the work of a band hoping to fortify their legacy at the end of their career rather than simply prolong it. The last two decades of exploration reappear here, certainly-- listen for the sidewinding second guitar in the distance during “Tower of Silence”, or, more obviously, the playful and possibly avoidable keyboard-and-bass fantasy that sits at the center of the otherwise morose “An Observation”. But these are simply the positive after-effects of years of auditory experimentation, not the driving force for the record itself. They’ve got too much to fit into an hour for self-involved excess.

If The Last Spire is the end of Cathedral, it’s a lofty exit for a band that’s often tripped over its own artistic ambition and unease. These eight tracks serve as a swift, sinister reminder of why Cathedral mattered at the start and why they intrigued for so many years in the middle. When it mattered the most, they had the sense to recognize that their work was done and to experience the end with dignity-- and, thankfully, doom.

#33 Decibel, #46 Rock-A-Rolla, #11 Metal Hammer, #15 Terrorizer
http://youtu.be/ucXybRkZUpw

Cathedral have called it quits, played their last live show, made their last video and the somewhat cleverly titled The Last Spire (released through Rise Above/Metal Blade) is reportedly to be their final album. One never knows for sure — surely over their time together the band must have amassed suitable fodder for rarities collections, live albums, greatest hits, cover records and so forth — but if it actually is the end of their run, The Last Spire is also the point at which the album Cathedral wants to make meets with the album that fans want to hear. It is an 56-minute victory lap that — far from actually sounding like one — presents eight songs of the dark, dreary doom that has come to be thought of as traditional in no small part because of Cathedral‘s crafting of it. The band’s lineup of vocalist Lee Dorrian, guitarist Gary “Gaz” Jennings, bassist Scott Carlson and drummer Brian Dixon present some progressive moments reminiscent of or at very least nodding toward The Guessing Game – the synth interlude that interrupts the sluggish lumber of “An Observation” comes to mind; David Moore‘s contributions of Hammond, Moog, synth and mellotron aren’t to be understated in establishing The LastSpire‘s murky atmosphere — but in their structure and in their intent, cuts like the early “Pallbearer,” “Cathedral of the Damned” and “Tower of Silence” underline the doomed feel for which Cathedral have become so known both in their home country and abroad. They are Cathedral at their most Cathedral. And rightly so. One couldn’t possibly hope for more of them than that.

The aforementioned trio occur sequentially following the intro “Entrance to Hell,” which finds Dorrian repeating the phrase “Bring out your dead” — which in my mind always goes right back to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but he sells it well — over suitably plague-addled atmospheres, with “Pallbearer” as the longest track on The Last Spire at 11:39 and marked aside from its strong hook by the backing vocals of Rosalie Cunningham behind Dorrian‘s signature semi-spoken delivery and the chorus of “War, famine, drought, disease” repeated to memorable effect. There’s a mournful acoustic break in the middle, but by and large, Jennings, Carlson and Dixon sound big, thick and threatening, and when the acoustics (backed by organ) give way to the resurgent groove and faster push of the song’s peak movement, the effect is fluid and entirely metal. They end slow and offer a more mid-paced distortion on “Cathedral of the Damned,” which is marked out by the spoken guest vocal by Chris Reifert of Autopsy and the line “Living in the shadow of a damned cathedral,” which may or may not be Dorrian dealing with his own legacy and the prospect of moving on after ending the band. Either way, it’s the riff and the buzzsaw guitar tone that stands out most as the band meet their longest track with the shortest full song (that is, non-interlude or intro), slamming head-on into the chorus as they do with no diminished returns on the subsequent “Tower of Silence,” the pair affirming Cathedral‘s potency on all levels as they round out The Last Spire‘s first half, whether it’s the vocals, Jennings‘ righteous solo, the heavy nod of the bass and drums, or the overarching catchiness of the chorus itself: “A tower of silence/Is waiting for me/Looming before/An astral sea.”

Really, one could read a lot of The Last Spire as being emblematic of Cathedral‘s self-awareness as regards their own ending, but when it comes to “Infestation of the Grey Death” starting off the second half of the album, the vibe is more of a return to “Entrance to Hell”‘s plague thematic than the band saying goodbye. Jennings smoothly layers acoustic and electric guitars in the chorus and post-chorus, Dorrian‘s vocals are caked in effects, and Dixon‘s thudding drums provide more than ample punctuation in the tempo’s slower push in comparison to “Tower of Silence,” verses and the chorus following the riff in doomly fashion and a more raucous second third giving way to a return to the heavy-trodding miseries for a sendoff. “An Observation” is the point at which The Last Spire is the least fluid, keeping the ambience consistent early on with the tracks preceding before rumble and synth strings (mellotron maybe?) give way to a synth solo at 5:42 that follows comparatively awkwardly behind a couple seconds of silence, as though the band, in realizing that nothing would offer a smooth transition between one part of the track and the next, opted not make a transition at all. They bring it into context with accompanying guitar and vocals, but just that initial change is enough to pull the listener out of the song’s flow, if only momentarily. Parts flow into each other well in the final minutes of “An Observation” as Jennings builds to a climax before moving into a more Carlson-led section of chugging push, and when “An Observation” is over, it’s time of “The Last Laugh,” which, at 38 seconds, is just that, the last time Lee Dorrian laughs on a Cathedral record. He’s done it plenty, so I guess the band felt it was appropriate to mark the occasion.

More importantly, brief though it is, the interlude does well in giving a couple seconds’ respite before “This Body, Thy Tomb” arrives as the closer. Pacing-wise, it’s an agony, but there’s still movement at its core thanks to Dixon and Carlson, and here as well the organ features heavily in filling out the sound. Mirroring the opener, there’s an acoustic interlude met by mellotron that comes on in much the same manner but still with better continuity than on the song before and a break of footsteps or churning water that leads back into the central figure of the song. It’s the last march — Cathedral‘s last march, to hear them tell it — and with the organ, guitar, bass and drums all firing together toward a single idea, it’s hard to argue against their having gone out in a manner befitting their legacy. The truth is, Cathedral probably could easily have been putting out records like this all along. Nothing on The Last Spire feels especially challenging for the band or the listener. But that they didn’t makes their decision to write this as their epitaph all the more special. It’s an album that, even if one isn’t familiar with the context surrounding or with the legacy that Cathedral will leave behind them, would make a surprisingly good place to start for a first-timer, since it’s accessible and it summarizes so much of what’s always been most appealing about the band. Since that unmistakably was their intent in creating it, The Last Spire is as true to Cathedral‘s idea of who they are as any of their work has ever been. – The Obelisk

Whoa, that's WAY lower than I was expecting Cathedral to place.

maybe ilm metal thread regulars have gone off doom

8 votes on 50-something ballots? Color me surprised, too.

yeah I thought more 50 year olds would have voted for them too

I feel like a good chunk of my top 10 has already placed.

50 Voivod - Target Earth 266 Points, 7 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/GwWKxcg.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/5Woxw6C2pG4ZPzIbQ7xvlr
spotify:album:5Woxw6C2pG4ZPzIbQ7xvlr

http://www.deezer.com/album/6158267

http://www.spin.com/reviews/voivod-target-earth-century-media/

by Chuck Eddy

So you know how heavy metal supposedly, suddenly, got all avant-garde and high-IQ in the past few years, enabling its embracement by the hippest of the bearded Brooklyn hip? Well, whoever you're banging your microbrewed brainbox to, odds are Voivod beat them to their best ideas by a quarter-century.

Weirdness came naturally to these four French Canadian street-hockey pucks born around the dawn of the '60s, raised inhaling toxins from the planet's most enormous aluminum plant in Jonquiére, in the nexus of Quebec sovereignty country. In 1969, with Away, Blacky, Piggy, and Snake in grade school —l Front de libération du Québec terrorists bombed the Montreal Stock Exchange; by 1970, in the October Crisis wake of separatist kidnappings and murder, the province was all but under martial law. The boys soaked it all in, and by 1982, had started a band.

At first, Voivod seemed like a joke, apparently not on purpose. They had those silly nicknames, for one thing, and early on, that's all they went by. War and Pain — released in August 1984, a year or so after Metallica's debut, eight months after Slayer's — was called "probably the worst record I have ever heard in my entire life" by Paul Sutter in Kerrang, "like a moose being squashed by a steamroller (the vocals), whilst putting a strong magnetic current through a dustbin half-full of ball bearings (the band)." Their follow-up, 1986's umlautriffically named Rrr öööaaarrr, was some new species of fallout-shelter caveman splatter, complete with are-they-kidding? song titles on the order of "Ripping Headaches"; people lumped them in with thrash and/or speed metal, but already Voivod sounded like nobody else. They were listening to anarchist Brit hardcore (Rudimentary Peni, Discharge); left-field '70s Euro-prog (Birth Control, Egg, Amon Düül II, Nektar) that had a surprising Quebec following; 20th-century classical stuff; goth stuff and horror soundtracks; biker rock; Sonic Youth and Public Image Ltd.; and industrial firms like Einstürzende Neubauten and Laibach, whose T-shirts certain Voivoders wore at '80s gigs captured on 2005's D-V-O-D-1. They had a ridiculous concept — Voivods are time-hopping Viking vampires, see — but meticulous cover design and calligraphy from not-quite-here drummer Away (hence his name) and vegematic riffs from porcine guitarist Piggy to put it over.

Then, on Killing Technology (from 1987; note the two-faced title) and Dimension Hatröss (1988; note the recurring umlaut), they blasted it all into a deep and dense and ulcerous black hole of quantum sound, hanging ten on the galaxy's outer edge atop a jungle-drum rumble and stretching song matter toward ambient anti-matter via algebraic equations that later critic-approved metalgaze droners from Neurosis and Isis to SunnO))) and Liturgy and Pallbearer still haven't figured out how to calculate. Their convoluted structures, meanwhile, presaged entire metal subgenres largely preceded by the prefix "tech," but mainly populated by dorks opting for boilerplate brutality over having personalities.

On Nothingface (1989), Angel Rat (1991), and Outer Limits (1993), Voivod eased their claustrophobic congestion some, letting in more psych/prog/goth beauty, alternate-reality pop hooks, two late-'60s Pink Floyd covers, one 17-minute epic, and melodic college-radio jangle two decades before Baroness. The years since have been tumultuous: five often grumpy studio albums (plus live and outtake sets) between 1995 and 2009, including two with a vocalist who wasn't Snake, three with a bassist who wasn't Blacky but who used to be in Metallica, and two recorded after colon cancer killed Piggy but featuring guitar parts he'd cranked out before he died. Voivod (2003) is one of the band's catchiest records; Katorz (2006) one of their most rhythmic.

Target Earth, their new one, deserves to be the album whereon social-media-era tastemakers finally anoint them legacy heroes, in the amusingly eons-behind-the-curve tradition of Swans, Nick Cave, and Voivod's own early inspiration Killing Joke. Blacky's back, and if new guitarist Chewy from Quebec tech-deathers Martyr is no Piggy (nobody is), he holds his own — his fills in "Kaleidos" are nutso. As albums by Treponem Pal, Mekong Delta, Angel Witch, and others have demonstrated in the past year, great metal bands have a jellyfish knack for eternal regeneration when lineups change, and Voivod remain as sui generis as, oh, the Fall — their noise still can't be mistaken for anybody else's. The self-production here is a bit murky, maybe, and the drums and vocals have seen sharper days. But these dudes still turn sharp corners. Seven of 10 tracks last 5:45 or longer, but not even the 7:35 "Mechanical Mind" (first released last fall on one-sided, logo-etched seven-inch vinyl) wears out its welcome. It just builds, from wind-chiming start through yawping bad-dream multiverses and impatient time signatures and nyah-nyah-nyahs unto insanity: "Night arrives! / The guilt inside! / The worms of mind! / Scarred me for life!"

There are all sorts of idiosyncrasies tucked into the album's wormholes: Inuit throat singing and an almost lounge-jazzy midsection in the First Nations folklore-derived "Kluskap O'kom"; a Mediterranean intro credited to Greek oudist Perikles Tsoukalas making way for traffic-jam honking and extended staccato rhyming in the black-ice depressive "Empathy for the Enemy"; rain-forest polyrhythms under conspiracy theories of suppressed alien visitation ("skulls with conical shape, a map of outer space") in "Artefact"; intercepted satellite static or aluminum-smelting musique concrète opening several tracks, presumably courtesy of Blacky, who has dabbled in electronic music in recent years. "Corps Etranger," cold and clammy then raging, is recited in French, and seems to concern a parasitic disease — maybe Piggy's cancer.

In the world of extreme-metal experimentation, writing songs you'll remember once the album's over isn't cool; either that, or most bands don't know how. Voivod have for ages — environmental horror and nuclear/biological/chemical warfare and chaos theory and drone weapons of the formerly future frontier have been obsessions since Killing Technology days. Target Earth kicks off with cyber terror: a hacker attacking the power grid. But somehow, Snake's nasally accented repetitions, more robotic than monstrous, manage to consistently communicate shades of emotion — worry, despair, but also a hopeful calm — outside metal's usual purview.

So a dystopian nuke-wasteland dirge like "Warchaic" ultimately finds him looking to rebuild a "brand new world" like a 16th-century New France settler, then up next is the swinging punk protest "Resistance," not entirely un-skeptical yet actively embracing gas-masked street demonstrators toppling champagne-sipping gargoyles from ivory towers — a shout of solidarity with Occupy anarchists or Arab Springsters or Montreal students rioting over tuition hikes or Wal-Mart workers trying to unionize in Jonquiére. Eventually, we conclude with an odd, ominous minute-and-half snippet called "Defiance": black clouds, world in flames. But it doesn't feel like the end. Just the opposite; it feels unfinished. To be continued…maybe forever.

#16 SPIN, #25 Metal Sucks musicians, #21 Terrorizer
http://youtu.be/itHcrRaZhXs

I had pulled that same review, doh.

Cathedral was decent, just outside of my top 50. There was so many other great doom albums.

49    Progenie Terrestre Pura - Uma    275 Points,    7  Votes  One #1
http://i.imgur.com/Dza14do.jpg
http://www.deezer.com/album/6963455

http://lastrit.es/reviews/7028/progenie-terrestre-pura-u-m-a-

If I’m being completely honest, I should probably admit that Progenie Terrestre Pura had me hooked before I ever heard a note of its debut album U.M.A. Not only am I a certified sucker for almost anything even vaguely categorizable as post- or industrial black metal, but that cover. I mean, seriously, take a good look at that gorgeous cover art. Accepting the band’s invitation doesn’t mean I have to stay for the whole party, though. Luckily, the album is every bit as classy and satisfying as its futuristic artwork implies, and U.M.A. announces the arrival of a hugely promising new talent.

The funny thing is, Progenie Terrestre Pura is a hell of a tough thing to describe. It’s nominally black metal, I suppose, but what else? Symphonic? Sort of. Ambient? Sure. Industrial? Of a kind. Atmospheric? Certainly. But if we combine any of those terms with black metal - symphonic black metal, industrial black metal, etc. - you’re sure to get the wrong idea. How about this: The first time I dived into U.M.A.’s deep, tremulous pools, the overwhelming impression that came to mind was that this is the album to answer the unasked question: What if Devin Townsend’s Ocean Machine was a black metal album? Superficially, there’s almost no real similarity here with Townsend’s masterpiece, but I still can’t shake that initial thought. There’s something about U.M.A.: its production, maybe, or its dense yet spacious sheen, or just some damned, intangible...feeling.

The album’s opening tune doesn’t even bother getting around to any actual blasting until near the four-minute mark, and even then, nothing sounds in the least bit aggressive, even as the guitars tremolo constantly, and the programmed beats pound unerringly, and the vocals float above the fray in a hoarse, detached whisper. The closest to properly “heavy” the song gets is when the drums lock in to a double bass pattern in the last minute or so. But even then, sheesh, this is like jackhammering through a rolling countryside of cloud-hills from 30,000 feet.

As the album unfolds, Progenie Terrestre Pura consistently reminds me of countless other artists and sounds without the entire assembled package ever sounding quite exactly like anyone or anything else. Imagine, I suppose, if DHG had set up shop in Star Wars’s Cloud City rather than the dank bowels of the Death Star to record 666 International. Or, I don’t know, if Darkspace and Blacklodge took some tranquilizers and fiddled around with the space disco of Lindstrøm and Pantha du Prince. The band’s sound is split almost cleanly down the middle between space-age black metal tricks and mellow, soundtrack-y bits stuffed full with all the retro-futurist-sounding bleeps and bloops of, hell, Tangerine Dream? Maybe some Windham Hill compilation?

Given the clear difficulties I’m having in communicating Progenie Terrestre Pura’s expansive vision, is it...is it cool if I dub this “new age industrial black metal”? Probably not, at least to anyone but me, but boy oh boy, this album is a pure sensory treat. And of course, to call any portion of this album “black metal” in any restrictive sense of the genre is a stretch. But still, lineage matters: I can’t see quite how you get to a world with Progenie Terrestre Pura without first moving through Mysticum, Limbonic Art, Aborym, and Dodheimsgard.

The most important point, though, is that U.M.A. is one-hundred percent about mood. You’ll find some muted clean vocals way toward the end of “Sovrarobotizzazione,” and “Droni” sees the band whip up some (relatively) intense interplay between the programmed drums and mechanistic riffing, which later transitions into a classic heavy metal gallop, but almost certainly by design, U.M.A. is a single, 51-minute journey through pillowy atmospheres and sharp outcroppings of metallic suggestion, like crude three-dimensional polygons barely glimpsed through the glittering haze of a comet tail. Elsewhere, the instrumental interlude “La Terra Rossa Di Marte” swoons and plunks away like Joe Satriani playing a Perdition City pinball machine in Tron, because, well, of course it does.

For all its brilliant, gleaming surfaces, though, Progenie Terrestre Pura seems to understand the tension, the undercurrent of whitewashed unpleasantness that simmers in all utopian futures. By grafting this sort-of industrial black metal onto such beautifully atmospheric soundscapes, U.M.A. occupies the same aesthetic terrain as a Minority Report or a Blade Runner. Maybe U.M.A. takes the listener on a similar journey to Ocean Machine, after all, except that the referent unit is an entire civilization rather than an individual, cast into an uncertain future and left to consider the conditions of its inevitable end.

It’s like a death becomes musical, but this one’s for the life.

http://progenieterrestrepura.bandcamp.com/album/u-m-a
http://youtu.be/cFOO1qSXS6Q

I'm not a big doom guy but would have tried it out and I never even heard the Cathedral and it's solely because I couldn't find it on Spotify -- I just did, but it's not in their main profile, it's part of some splinter profile and I notice AG didn't include a Spotify link for it either:

http://open.spotify.com/album/48bUcwkqymPVOyptcyNrph
spotify:album:48bUcwkqymPVOyptcyNrph

One of the more annoying aspects of Spotify, I wonder if anyone else out there was stymied by this.

48    Vista Chino - Peace    276 Points , 9 votes
http://i.imgur.com/EtOyXpA.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/7tiZXwV3bxIY1bOReyVroe
spotify:album:7tiZXwV3bxIY1bOReyVroe

http://www.deezer.com/album/6900186

http://www.spin.com/articles/vista-chino-peace-napalm-records-kyuss-album-stream/

"It's very simple to play Kyuss songs," says Vista Chino frontman John Garcia. "Anybody can do it, but you've got to have character."

From 1991 to 1995, Garcia was the frontman for Kyuss, the band who helped pioneer stoner rock's husky dude-rock vocals and charging post-Sabbath melodies, fogging up the alterna-landscape like a smoking steamroller. Since their breakup, the band's guitarist, Josh Homme, has certainly stayed busy, yet Garcia and drummer Brant Bjork cycled through band after band with a fraction of the spotlight until reforming (with livewire bassist Nick Oliveri) as Kyuss Lives! in 2010

Renamed Vista Chino in 2010, Garcia and Bjork still have that Kyuss character in spades on their debut, Peace, writing bulldozing stoner anthems that live up to the legend of their former band. They released the record under the new moniker after Homme sued them for "trademark infringement and consumer fraud," but the sound is like classic Kyuss never missed a swinging, bluesy beat in 18 years. "We don't like getting speeding tickets, let alone fucking federal lawsuits slapped on us," Garcia says. "There were times when we had to be doing depositions when all we really wanted to do was be in the fucking studio. But names are obviously not important to us. We're going to be making music anyway. And nobody has a fucking right to take our joy away. We're lifers. We're grateful to be here."

Hear this blistering reunion in full below, and read a track-by-track breakdown where Garcia explains what it was like singing through Jim Morrison's microphone. Tour dates below the tunes. Pre-order the album from Amazon here and from iTunes here.

"Good Morning Wasteland"
John Garcia: Kyuss, as well as Vista Chino, will always do instrumentals. "Good Morning Wasteland" is an example of a song that didn't call for lyrics. It just has a very organic feel to it, and that's what Brant Bjork was going for as a producer. That's why we didn't go to a studio in Hollywood or Los Angeles, but instead built a studio from the ground up in Joshua Tree, California.

"Dargona Dragona"
Some people have told me that the vocals on this song sound raw and distorted, and that's because I was singing into Jim Morrison's U87 [microphone]. Our engineer, Harper Hug, is in the process of building Robby Krieger's studio in Los Angeles. So they've become really good friends and were talking about Vista Chino. Robby Krieger told him, "Hey, Jim sang out of this microphone before. What do you think the guys would think of using it?" And of course when you put a U87 in front of me that Jim sang out of, of course I'm going to be a little bit intimidated, but it was also inspiring as well. And I was honored, because I'm a fan.

"Sweet Remain"
For me as a singer, this song is a totally out of my range. It's very, very high for me, but it was super fun to experiment with that range. Singers' voices tend to deteriorate just a little bit as they get older. And mine has, knock on wood, held up, and I really wanted to test the boundary of my vocal ability.

"As You Wish"
I remember around the time we were working on this one, a lot of people were asking me what the record was going to sound like. I honestly didn't know. This is a song where Brant and I learned to trust each other again. We went through a couple of different versions of it until we found one that works.

"Planets 1&2"
"Planets 1" is one of my favorites. Brant Bjork called me one day and said, "Hey dude, would you mind if I sing this song?" And I said, "Absolutely. 100 percent please. Go for it." His vocals bring out another side of this band. And then "Planets 2" is just so minimal; it's the less-is-more thing. It's just six lines. Believe it or not, it's hard to be simple. I love to fill up every single minute of a song, and when you do that, you wind up finger-fucking it, ruining it.

"Adara"
All it takes is the first line to get a story going, and then it just flows. "Adara" was a direct product of that. It's very fun to sing, and, for lack of a better word, it's very, very classic Garcia for me.

"Mas Vino"
That was a live recording one night. Bruno and Brant were in the studio, and they called me up and said, "Come on in and cut some vocals." Listening to them play it, there was a great vibe, but because of where the song sits in the sequence of the record, we decided not to release it with the vocal on it. I think eventually we might release the piece with the vocal as a B-side. Until then, I think like a fine wine, it needs a little bit of time.

"Dark and Lovely"
I can see this becoming a 15-minute jam, where it's a trip. It's a very classic-Kyuss type of tune. If you partake in smoking the herb, that one's going to be one where you light back up. I think a lot of people think this band partakes in that a little bit, when actually, in reality, I can't remember the last time I smoked a bowl or a joint or a bongload. It's been that long. I'm waiting for the right time and the right moment to be able to sit down and do exactly that to this one.

"Barcelonian"
This song is just a perfect example of this band beginning anew. "Barcelonian" is not a song Kyuss would have played. But that's great. What we wanted was exploration, and "Barcelonian" is a direct product of going down a tangent. I don't mean it to be crass to the band, but the music sometimes gets redundant and boring. So exploration is fun.

"Acidize – The Gambling Moose"
I did eight different vocal takes on "Acidize." Because I did eight different versions, it was one of the last songs we recorded. And then "The Gambling Moose" is very classic — not to be talking about myself in the third person — but very classic Garcia. It's a fun song to sing. I love the snare sound when it comes in. It's a fitting ending chapter to this book.

#27 Rock-A-Rolla, #4 Obelisk, #2 Obelisk readers, #9 Captain Beyond Zen, #1 Stoner HiVe, #49 Terrorizer
http://youtu.be/3LWvOl8ZqRY

If, like me, you thought the idea of a reunion sans Homme and Reeder – and only intermittently featuring Nick Oliveri, who's become a one-man turnstile in the band – was kind of half-assed and pointless, you're liable to be a little stunned by what the quartet have put together for their debut album under the rebrand, Peace. A few notable moments aside, Peace is where you figure Kyuss would have eventually ended up when they got tired of creating spacier, more drawn out songs and decided to get back to basics. Kind of a no frills ying to Homme's Queens of the Stone Age yang.

"Dargona Dragona" bypasses all of Homme's latter day flirtations with farflung strands of blues rock and 70's metal and zeroes straight in on that Blues for the Red Sun template, shedding aggro-fuzz riffs like a dog with mange… we're instantly transported back to an era where it was just these guys and Fu Manchu and it was still desert, not stoner, rock. The other previously leaked single, "Barcelonian", features a more melodic, string-bending guitar line that is the most Queens-like thing on the album, deceptively so if it's the only thing you've heard so far.
Brant Bjork's ace drumming pretty much steals the show from "Sweet Remain" onward; there's a compressed, small room touch to the album's production which seems to benefit Bjork's kit the most… you can almost envision the dude hammering away at the skins in a basement with faux wood paneling while a modest crowd of beer-swilling yokels do a few 12 oz curls and nod along approvingly. If a drum solo is in the works for the live show it surely belongs sandwiched between "Sweet Remain" and it's album follow up, "As You Wish".

In spite of the overall stripped down approach, Vista Chino do prove that they can still throw down the heavy duty space jams in two specific instances, both coming at what would (presumably) be the last song on each side of the vinyl or cassette: "Planets 1 & 2" is the more restrained of the two, sticking with a fairly conventional songwriting framework but going all Jam Room in the middle. The finale, "Acidize/The Gambling Moose" is – like the title suggests – a multi-part suite, the first half settling into the first real chill out segment of the album, crooning vocals and jazzy licks providing counterpoint to Bjork's unflappable drumming. The back nine ("The Gambling Moose") ends the album on an extended boogie note, more Hooker & Heat than Jam Room this time.

It's pretty much a given that cats are gonna want to take sides, some claiming that Peace is merely QOTSA-lite while others insisting that Vista Chino are the better band for their sense of focus, but this is hardly an either/or proposition here: the truth is that both acts are at the top of their game right now, and for former naysayers like me who'd written Kyuss Lives! off as mere legacy act cashing in on former glory, it's time to eat a bit of crow and acknowledge that Peace is the best work any of these guys have done since the mothership crash landed back in '95. Bravo, gentlemen. – Jeremy Ulrey, Metal Injection

Another album I thought would be higher

47    Portal - Vexovoid    282 Points,    8 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/l5P61hk.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/0PtGwwqM6zFvawkY3JHtfq
spotify:album:0PtGwwqM6zFvawkY3JHtfq

http://www.deezer.com/album/6965793

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17576-portal-vexovoid/

Musical density can falsely suggest volume: Listening to a two-sided, 40-minute, wall-to-wall extreme noise record, for instance, can seem like an hours-long gauntlet, especially compared to a 12-track LP of the same length filled with breezy pop songs, each guided by its own system of verses, a chorus, and a bridge. For the latter, the clear striation of parts lends a certain momentum to the listening experience, goading the music toward a clear finishing line, and then repeating the process. But that 40-minute noise record might stuff as much sound as it can into that equivalent space, supplanting pop's rests and dynamics with a barrage of musical information. If you don't think intensity can warp your sense of time and space, remember the notion the next time you're at the gym.

Excepting their 2003 debut, Vexovoid-- the fourth and most recent album from Australian heavy metal abusers Portal-- is the band's shortest full-length to date and their first to fall just to seven songs. At 35 minutes, it is barely longer than your average primetime sitcom or less than a quarter of the music rock'n'roll votary Ty Segall released last year alone. But parsing Vexovoid, Portal's first as a quintet and first since 2009's addled and diverse Swarth, should take you the better part of this calendar year. Initially forceful and ultimately complex, Vexovoid redirects the image of death metal through a dervish funhouse, where the expected shapes have been mutated and multiplied into orders so strange they seem surreal. Rhythms stay the course where you expect them to shift before finally switching without warning. Sharp-barbed riffs emerge from and climb above dins that once seemed irreparably unordered. Songs that, for the first minute, appeared to have but one aim and direction find a half-dozen new missions and vectors in a five-minute span. Hearing it all go by-- the forms flux, the pieces connect, the momentum volley-- provides an exhilarating, bewildering sort of audio whiplash. Vexovoid is a gauntlet that, to run again and again, is every bit as exhilarating as it is exhausting.

Portal has long tapped into sounds beyond death metal basics to warp their core, with traces of doom metal and stoner rock, black metal and noise rock trapped within their already-claustrophobic music. But Vexovoid eliminates the seams better than ever before, with alien sounds woven perfectly into the native space. "Orbmorphia" splices the kind of technically daunting sprints that canonized Meshuggah into rote death metal blitzes. "Plasm" hammers away with similarly primal simplicity, but Portal perverts it via sly embellishments-- molten waves of repetition rather than riffs that slice and flee, or the slow quake of the bass rather than an ordinary game of four-string keep-up. When the drums disappear after three minutes, they give way to a corrosive drone. The transition is surprising but deserved and brilliant, a conclusion foreshadowed by the now-obvious maneuvers of the tune's first half. Likewise, the guitars of closer "Oblotten" radiate grimly with the lock-step tremolo of black metal, while drums boom in the distance, as though industrial samples have been slingshot randomly into the frame. Hidden behind each of those percussive quakes, there's a sad little riff shared between the bass and a guitar. When the cacophony finally chokes out, though, only that riff remains, creeping quietly into nothing.

Go back and trace its progression: It's the kind of detail that you might miss the first dozen times you hear Vexovoid, especially if you've persevered its meticulous and merciless 35 minutes in one sitting. Such intricacy is precisely what makes Vexovoid-- a trove of interconnected themes and variations, distractions and redirections, barbed by the one of the heaviest bands in the genre-- so rewarding. If these 35 minutes feel like twice that, it's because Portal thought through every step, packed all of its ideas as tightly as possible, and left it for you to decode.

ILM's voters are loving their death metal this year.

#31 Decibel, #19 SPIN, #23 Metal Sucks musicians, #19 Terrorizer

http://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/vexovoid
http://youtu.be/olWih7eajpk

An album with three #1 votes up next. Anyone wanna take a guess?

Beyonce!

46    Stara Rzeka - Cien Chmury Nad Ukrytym Polem    287 Points,    7  Votes, Three #1s
http://i.imgur.com/XaCNHjK.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/11gK31t01ictIPjrWJwSlQ
spotify:album:11gK31t01ictIPjrWJwSlQ

http://www.deezer.com/album/6806667

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/stara-rzeka-cien-chmury-nad-ukrytym-polem

Poland didn’t experience a wave of nostalgia for the countryside through its music or art in the same way that countries of the West did. After WWII, most Eastern Bloc states were involved in large-scale, pressured urbanization that drove people from villages and small towns into industrial cityscapes, which soon began expanding at the hands of Stalin’s economic development strategy. This had a huge impact on Poland in particular, because it was destined to provide the region with coal — the fuel of the empire — and required the use of a strong labor force. While musicians across Western Europe, the UK, and the US juxtaposed tales of agraria with insights concerning the scope of urban development, censorship brutally reigned over any Pole brave enough to demonstrate their affection for the livelihoods they had left behind. Urbanization continued deep into the 1980s, and by the time music expurgation started to soften, artists such as Kazik and Jacek Kaczmarski had set a consistent discourse in motion, which raged, quite understandably, about the state of political affairs, Solidarnosc, and governmental abuse, as opposed to the disenchanted memories of lives led outside the city.

The few musicians who did express rural reminiscence in ways that didn’t confirm to government-dictated aesthetic preferences often found that their output was limited to low-key performances for friends in underground bars instead of large public concerts and radio airplay. Artists bearing such inclinations risked imprisonment when censorship was at its most heightened, and this meant Poland bypassed any Americana-tainted trends to land itself slap-bang in a cultural zeitgeist that revels in admiration for the cosmopolitan cities it has done so well to develop; Kraków, Wroclaw, Gdansk, Warszawa, Lódz, Poznan, etc. Stara Rzeka is a product of that stepping stone in absentia, of a musical landscape that went from mass deprivation to instantaneous bombardment in half a decade, and despite the project’s channeled objective, it draws influence from a wonderfully varied selection of stylistic sources.

The outfit is fronted by guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Kuba Ziólek, who also plays in Alameda Trio, Innercity Ensemble, and Ed Wood, among others. On his first solo effort as Stara Rzeka, he uses a range of guitars, effects pedals, synths, and a MicroKorg to meld transcendental acoustic folk music with drone, kosmische, and black metal to mind-blowing effect. Cień Chmury Nad Ukrytym Polem ramifies a sense of nostalgia and longing in the modern era by exemplifying the understated beauty of the Polish countryside, along with a sonic depiction of hard graft in working the fields and a warmhearted appreciation of the surrounding topography.

Ziólek has used his Bandcamp page to pry apart the intentions, inspiration, and content of this mysterious and little-known full-length. The text is all in Polish, but Google’s translation is relatively accurate if you can forgive minor glitches in the algorithm. In accompanying notes for the album’s brilliant opener, “Przebudzenie Boga Wschodu,” Ziólek recalls taking a cocktail of psychedelics and watching the sun rise; he discusses the importance of this process in every day life and identifies how such a phenomenon is taken for granted as a consequence of its frequency. His aural interpretation sends acoustic guitar stings calmly into a wave of grainy feedback and synths, which unfold over the 12-minute track’s mid-section and the first point at which the record takes an unexpected turn — a rattling cage of distortion, vicious drum ricochets and scorched vocals — an astute contrast to the initial chords, which leaves you feeling as though the music could go in any direction. Fortunately, the path it takes is selective in its variation, as it boasts rich and sumptuous overtones that leak across the confides of categorization.

Those first few minutes encompass a fascinating sequence, because at that early stage, the album is still building its hypnotic momentum. The track title translates as “The God of the East Awakens,” and as an opening piece, that sentimentality for the countryside and the importance of agricultural Slavic traditions begin to unfold, whether they are conscious or otherwise. Even though Ziólek is more interested in the village as a contemporary phenomenon, where farmers use loud machinery to drown out the squealing of pigs as they are slaughtered for black market trade, and where every second dwelling has an internet connection, the project’s namesake translates as “Old River” and is in fact a settlement just outside of Tuchole in Northern Poland. The region is home to one of the country’s most superb National Parks; it’s a perfect setting, typical of an area encompassing natural wonder, and a miniature model for the Polish village that saw its community split apart during mass urbanization. Throughout its history, Poland has seen so much tumult as a consequence of its geopolitical situation, while the rural landscape has remained the same — the sonic personification of that image is expertly rendered through Ziólek’s use of historical references, sylvan imagery, and symbolism, from the reef knot (often used to tie bales of hay) on the cassette version of the album’s cover to his appropriation of Avraham Halfi’s poetry. This is not an album that merely wallows in the sanctity of the countryside, but it embeds itself deeply within the culture while gesturing towards daily toil and the supernatural components that come with it.

It’s difficult to listen to the hurling black metal tirade of “Tej Nocy” without paying particular attention to the bells that chime through the opening bars. It brings to mind the presence of the Catholic church and the influence it yields in every village throughout Poland. As a structure, it remains dominant, a place of worship and importance, but not necessarily of promise, as the clusters of drunken men drifting around the outsides of the parish will tell you. However, the religious connection is carried from the church to the fields and the areas that people work. Priests ceremoniously visit these localities during the beginning of May and bless them to ensure a bountiful harvest. With Stara Rzeka, ecclesiastical connotations extend far beyond “Bron Nas Od Zlego” (“Deliver Us From Evil”) and are transported through the hypnotic, trance-enducing drone sequences of the title track, as well as the graceful and punishing “Nächtlich Spaziergang Durch Klinger.” The album deals equally in darkness and in light, regardless of the spectral tones it conjures and the recording errors that resulted in its delay — Ziólek has achieved a fascinating production that thrives on the intensity of everything it borrows from.

Cień Chmury paints a fragmented picture of the humble life, pulling forcefully on a swarm of influences that range from musical curiosity and 19th-century poetry to rural tradition and beyond. What makes this effort so captivating in practice is the way that these stylistic preferences blend together like a fresh slab of kaszanka, bitter and potent, congealed in dried blood. The depth of this unparalleled synthesis is flaunted through an incredible cover of Nico’s “My Only Child,” which operates as yet another symbol — this time depicting Ziólek’s fixation on decline and transformation, themes he finds entrenched deep within Desertshore, as well as in the passing of an era in European history. Where in the past, yearning for the countryside was seen as a regression antithetical to urban planning, Stara Rzeka flips that notion on its head, not only through illustrating its value in a society that remains dominated by the role of the city, but with an honest and accurate depiction of the beauty there to be found.

01. Przebudzenie Boga Wschodu
02. Tej Nocy/Broń Nas Od Złego
03. Cień Chmury Nad Ukrytym Polem
04. Prześwit
05. Nächtlich Spaziergang Durch Klinger
06. My Only Child

http://stararzeka.bandcamp.com/album/cie-chmury-nad-ukrytym-polem-cd-instant-classic

I enjoyed the Stara Rzeka track on the Spotify tracks playlist. I wish I'd had more time to listen to this properly, I might have voted for it. Still looking forward to checking out the whole album.

45    black sabbath - 13    294 Points,   10 Votes   One #1 but no Bill Ward
http://i.imgur.com/ZqkVBAR.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/1WLFpcTap1kwv9j2IHuqRg
spotify:album:1WLFpcTap1kwv9j2IHuqRg

http://www.deezer.com/album/6651515

#1 Revolver, #12 SPIN, #25 Rock-A-Rolla, #6 MetalSucks musicians, #10 Obelisk readers, #13 Stoner HiVe, #3 Metal Hammer

http://youtu.be/VWa3mPQLWHg

"We decided to write horror music" is how Ozzy Osbourne describes Black Sabbath's birth in the great new heavy-metal oral history, Louder Than Hell. And that's exactly what they're doing, once again, on 13 ? a reunion set with three-quarters of the original band ? that revisits, and to an extent recaptures, the crushing, awesomely doomy spectacle of their first few records.

Needless to say, this is kind of a big deal. It's impossible to imagine heavy metal without Sabbath's groundwork. And Osbourne hasn't made a studio record with the band he founded for 35 years, not since he was ousted for being an unreliable alcoholic drug casualty after 1978's Never Say Die! Moreover, this reunion comes at a time when the evil germ of the evil gene of their sound is deeply resonant: See Southern heavyweights Mastodon and Baroness; experimental metal acts like Liturgy and Boris; and hundreds of other bands around the world that owe a debt to the godfathers of gloom.

13 is steered by superproducer/superfan Rick Rubin, and it shows that, for all their innovations, Sabbath were a product of their era ? at core, they're a blues-rooted prog-rock band, and 13 may surprise some people in its proto-¬metal traditionalism. The eight-minute opener, "End of the Beginning," goes through various time shifts, beginning with a sludgy stomp, switching to a galloping midsection and ending with a floaty, almost Beatlesque outro. "Zeitgeist" recalls "Planet Caravan," from 1970's Paranoid, with shimmering acoustic guitars and gentle-Druid hand drums set against restrained jazzbo soloing by Tony Iommi, the man who revolutionized hard-rock guitar with his downtuned tritone riffing. After some reverse-recorded psychedelic spirals, "Damaged Soul" goes from molten blues to a hot boogie jam powered by Osbourne's harp; it's not far from Cream or Hendrix.

Philosophically, of course, 13 is more monstrous, at times comically so. "Down among the dead men's vision/Faded dreams and nuclear fission," Osbourne whines on "Zeitgeist" in a voice as piercingly unpretty as it was back in the day; on the single "God Is Dead?" he rhymes "gloom," "doom" and "tomb" ? metal's unholy poetic trifecta. Osbourne is the main wild card here. In the early Aughts, his drug-addled dark-lord persona evolved into reality-TV caricature. Yet he takes to his task here with full aesthetic sobriety, as if conscious of his responsibility to teenagers facing existential terrors for the first time.

The other wild card is drummer Brad Wilk, formerly of Rage Against the Machine, filling in for original drummer Bill Ward, whose disagreements with his former bandmates have sadly reached a point where he's even been cropped out of photos on blacksabbath.com. Wilk doesn't have Ward's subtle swing. But he's a powerhouse, and his head-cracking style gives 13 a more modern feel. Above all, this reboot shows that the genre Sabbath helped birth remains timeless, insofar as the devil remains gainfully employed on Earth, and heavyweight rock shredding still kicks ass. ? Will Hermes, Rolling Stone

http://www.merchmethod.com/prod_images/xlarge/HF044.jpg

lol

STARA RZEKA!

44    Power Trip - Manifest Decimation    303 Points,    9    Votes
http://i.imgur.com/wwla9F0.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/4MmnkDKnBnvUcXDFtV5NLf
spotify:album:4MmnkDKnBnvUcXDFtV5NLf

#15 SPIN, #11 Stereogum, #4 Pitchfork

http://powertripsl.bandcamp.com/releases
http://youtu.be/N-T8JbG9ht4

Before Manifest Decimation, Power Trip were one of those groups people said you needed to see live to understand. This isn't to take away from the EPs and singles they released before this LP, because they contained good songs. It's just that they were still eclipsed by frontman Riley Gale and company's whirling dervish stage presence. There's a reason they've toured plenty with their west coast pals, Trash Talk: they play bridge shows, they make liberal use of gang vocals, their fans are very into circle pits, and, hell, they shout out straightedge hardcore bands on their Facebook page. But this debut eight-song collection, their first release for Southern Lord, is such a strong record that you could never see Power Trip live and still understand what makes them special.

The Dallas, TX, quintet play crossover, i.e. thrash that draws from hardcore punk. The guitars, placed up front, are clean, dexterous, and fast; the vocals and drums, in the back, are draped in sludge and reverb. Those elements will, at times, remind you of the darker side of the old-school thrash spectrum (Slayer), but the spirit of this stuff pulls more from the hardcore scene, like their Astoria forebears Leeway or, on the burlier side, Cro-Mags. Unlike other contemporary thrash bands, Power Trip create a legitimately violent atmosphere, and don't go around wearing sleeveless jean jackets with the front of their baseball caps turned up. They sound less like they're here to party, and more like they want to kick your ass.

You could safely say Power Trip are a punk band. Their whiplash fight song, "Power Trip", includes the lines "We ride as one/ We?re ruled by none," and you believe them. Manifestcloser, "The Hammer of Doubt", was originally out, in different form, on a 2010 compilation called America's Hardcore. They've covered Prong. They could easily cover Black Flag. They remind me of my early days in high school when I was coming out of a steady diet of hardcore and getting into bands like Metallica, D.R.I, Suicidal Tendencies, and Anthrax.

The music on Manifest Decimation is bleak, dirty, heavy. It's also very catchy. At any given moment, Gale can sound like Lemmy fronting Cro-Mags, Discharge, or Exodus. At other times, he locates a grizzlier tone that evokes guys wearing corpsepaint. There are samples about death and Texas from movies like Robocop 2 and Blood Simple. The Italian artist Paolo "Madman" Girardi offers detailed old school apocalyptic metal cover art. The lyrics deal with government and religious suppression like so: "Histories trapped in illusion, who sees through who?/ For every mindless vision of who owns the truth/ For every one who spoke out, thousands were slain/ Torture and bloodshed in the sake of some holy name." That's the classic side of things, but while Manifest Decimation does sounds vintage (the chug-chug-chug, the whammy-bar abusing solos), these guys aren't stuck in 1986.

What helps makes this album great, outside of the excellent riffs and choruses, is the way Power Trip mix in flourishes that place Manifest Decimation firmly in the present. (In that sense, you'll also think about another Texas band, the now defunct Iron Age.) There's nothing obvious; it's little touches, like the weirdo echo effect on Gale's voice throughout. The album opens with a blast of swirling feedback and ominous synth tones, something threaded throughout the album via brief, almost industrial snippets. The feeling's picked up in some of those headier vocal effects, too-- the phased pan on "Conditioned to Death" (which features some great early Metallica riffing), the disembodied backing vocals on the frantic "Murderer's Row" (complete with some Slayer-like soloing). It adds to the urgency and intensity, and also sets them apart. That said, none of it would matter if they weren't writing songs like the swarming title track or the Motörhead-banging "Heretic's Fork".

Recently, people who take metal seriously have spent some time talking about whether or not thrash is dead, or if we're actually in the midst of a thrash revival. Power Trip have found a way to create something new by pulling from the past. In that way, it feels like they exist on both sides of the argument without giving a shit either way. ? Brandon Stosuy, Pitchfork

Should also include Nate's epic review - http://www.cvltnation.com/the-end-of-the-end-black-sabbath-13-review/

It’s possible to make good heavy metal music and to hate the Beatles (though I wouldn’t recommend it.) It’s not realistic to play in a metal band and thoroughly dismiss Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, early Scorpions, Motörhead, or some era of Iron Maiden. Those are the building blocks upon which all have since constructed. You can argue with me on this, but it will be your ultimate loss because all of the aforementioned bands wrote Timeless Shit, and little that’s followed has been as crucial or as successful.

In the late ‘80s, it was popular to bash on Black Sabbath. It was schoolyard lore that they couldn’t play their instruments. Zeppelin were supposedly the better musicians and certainly the richer men. Metallica was faster and more modern. There was a lot of misinformed revisionist mythology going around. But then Grunge happened, and every band in that canon spoke loudly on record and interviews of being heavily influenced by Sabbath. All of a sudden the rough edges had value again. And eventually Sabbath heeded that call and came back to us.

In 1997, the Reunion happened. A live double CD set followed. And with it came two brand new songs—the first that Iommi, Butler, Ward, and Osbourne had produced together since their 1978 swansong Never Say Die. The reaction was mixed on the concerts, and relatively unanimous (not in a good way) on the radio single “Psychoman.” Ozzy was not in good form on this tour, and fans alternately reveled in Bill Ward’s good nights and chastised the entire band when he was off or on medical leave. Ward missed a lot of the reunion shows due to ill health. In fact, he had a heart attack before the tour began, and even when he was present on the road, there was another drummer being paid to wait behind a curtain in case he was needed.

Now let me pause for a moment here to say that I love Bill Ward as a drummer and a mythological figure. From every interview I’ve seen, he’s the sweetest man you could imagine. Along with Bonham, Moon, and Crover, he’s one of the greatest rock drummers to ever walk the Earth. His personal influence on my life and drumming cannot be discounted. And the night I saw him play with Black Sabbath on the 1999 leg of the Reunion tour brought me literally to tears. But I can certainly see how it was a very different experience for the other members of Black Sabbath.

When Ozzy was finally fired from Black Sabbath back in 1978, the dirty job was delegated to Bill Ward. He and Oz were friends, and it was assumed that the bad news would be best received from his mouth. At the time however, Ward was only in slightly better shape than Osbourne. His bouts with alcohol, drugs, and prescription pills were pretty legendary by the mid-80s. It’s a well-known bit of Sabbath lore that Ward recorded on the Heaven & Hell album in 1980, but retains absolutely no recollection of doing so.

By the time Mob Rules rolled around, Ward was out entirely, the throne occupied by Vinnie Appice. When Dio left after disputes that Iommi was sneaking in at night to turn up the guitars on the mix of their Live Evil album, Appice also fled the sinking ship and sailed into glory with Ronnie James. Ward found himself back for the Born Again album with Ian Gillan (which really is their last great record until Dio and Appice returned for Dehumanizer in ’92), but only rejoined the group sporadically for the remainder of Sabbath’s career. That is, until the official Reunion in late 1997.

By the time Ward returned to Sabbath, he had not made a lot of big career moves. The Bill Ward band released an album called Along the Way in 1990, which got a little bit of attention thanks to a cameo from Ozzy. It’s actually a pretty cool record, but it does beg the question: do you own this album? Did you even know about it?

While Ozzy was writing multi-platinum discs and touring the world, Iommi was dragging Sabbath’s name through the muck, and Geezer Butler was ping-ponging between those two projects. Meanwhile, Ward was–among other things–a high school guidance counselor.

With significantly less miles under his belt than the other three members, Ward was admitted back into Sabbath for the Reunion, then proceeded to have a heart attack before the first show. Though he performed on the shows recorded for the Reunion album in 1997, he had to be replaced by Mike Bordin of Faith No More for all but two of the gigs in 1998.

Reunion is primarily a live record, but each CD contains one new studio cut. “Psychoman” is a hint at how Sabbath perceived itself in its original lineup at the cusp of the millennium. It rocks, but admittedly sounds both forced and rushed. At the time, Iommi was quoted that he preferred not to make a new album unless it was on par with their first three records. That had many of us convinced that they would never even bother.

The other new track was called “Selling My Soul.” Remember that one? No? Well, it’s not a terrible track. But it is only about three minutes long. And the drum part was performed by a machine because Ward was reportedly unable to keep time.

What I’m trying to get at is this: as much as I love Ward, as much as he seems like a genuine human being and a visionary percussionist, he just wasn’t reliable. If I played in a band with a guy who needed to be replaced by a machine in the studio, and by a session player on stage, and someone who simply wasn’t investing in his instrument and career on the same level as the rest of the band, I too might not want to share 25% of the proceeds and glory with such a fellow, regardless of his disposition.

Don’t get me wrong—I do not prefer Ward’s replacement in this scenario either. Brad Wilk is a fine, fine drummer. But I never liked a note of Rage Against the Machine. I’ve done my best to pretend that Audioslave never existed. The fact that Wilk was the compromise is a sincere bummer. Why couldn’t the band have hired Tommy Aldridge, Ginger Baker, Jason Bonham, anyone from their era or homeland or position of prestige and experience? It’s a fucking drag, and it’s one of the biggest reasons that folks don’t even want to give 13 a chance.

When Black Sabbath came out on 11/11/11 with their big announcement that it was all the original members, people were excited. I can’t say I had much faith in Ozzy, but Iommi and Butler had just knocked it out of the park with the Heaven & Hell band. And if you’re not keeping 2009 masterwork The Devil You Know in heavy rotation, you’re doing it wrong. That is truly the best Black Sabbath album since the 70s. But it’s always going to remain in the shadows thanks to the brilliant legal loophole that the Osbourne’s lawyers wove into the reunion contract.

Despite the fact that Tony Iommi was the one man to never quit or be fired from Black Sabbath, although he kept using the name for album after album into the mid-90s, he was no longer legally allowed to use it following the 1998 reunion unless Ozzy was involved. But for over a decade, Ozzy was busy with his television show, his lackluster solo albums and repeated last-ever-final-see-me-now-or-never-ever-ever tours. And so Iommi got tired of waiting, made amends with Dio, and reactivated Black Sabbath.

In 2007, Iommi, Butler, Dio, and Appice released three brand new tracks (two great ones) as bonus material on Rhino Records’ The Dio Years anthology under the name Black Sabbath. You may notice that Bill Ward was not invited to that party either. A lot of folks want to believe that Ozzy and Sharon are the greedy gargoyles responsible for Ward being ousted from the 13 album and tours. But hmm, in 2007 he was MIA again.

Ok Sharon and Ozzy are in fact greedy gargoyles. Let’s not pretend otherwise. They shut down this particular version of Sabbath with a cease & desist & “our lawyers will feed your lawyers to starving children in third world countries” efficiency. With the risk of killing off a highly functioning unit, Iommi and co hastily renamed the group Heaven & Hell, and then proceeded to record and tour.

The resulting album was 2009 doom metal masterpiece The Devil You Know. I smacked my forehead in disbelief when I read reviews of this album that dismissed it as “slow, turgid, and doomy.” Since when is doom metal not monotonous? The songs on this album are slow, apocalyptic, and evil, one after another after another. It’s a fantastic example of what a really mature metal band is capable of when egos and financial speculation are removed from the picture. Truly, it’s one of the purest visions of unadulterated heavy metal in the 21st century. And because it bore a name other than the one it deserved, it sank out of sight like a stone.

When I saw the band live in 2010, the venue was half full at best. Lucky for me, it was the one show of the entire US tour in which the support was not Coheed & Cambria. The night I saw them was a one-off in Seattle with Neurosis. Yes, I saw Black Sabbath and Neurosis, and most of my friends stayed home to save 75 bucks. What a supreme loss they felt when Dio passed a matter of months later.

There was almost no way that 13 could compete artistically with The Devil You Know. I was well aware of that in advance, and prepared for the disappointment brought by Ozzy and his committee of puppeteers. When 13 finally came out in the US on June 11, I drove to my favorite record store in Portland – 2nd Avenue Records – and picked up the double vinyl the day it was released. And damn was I pleasantly surprised.

Now I did have some idea what to expect. The album’s single, “God Is Dead” was released while I was on tour in Europe in April/May 2013. In fact, I had the pleasure of visiting and performing in Birmingham, England, while the song was in heavy rotation. There was something really magical about being in Sabbath’s hometown and hearing their new tune being played on the radio, hourly. I imagine that’s how it feels to be in Cleveland or Toronto when a new Rush album drops.

“God Is Dead” is a pretty impressive return to form. Yes, it’s consciously retro Sabbath. No, Bill Ward is not with us. But otherwise, Ozzy is not embarrassing himself; Wilk is doing his job without overstepping his bounds; and Iommi and Butler are absolutely delivering. It’s heavy as hell, and almost nine minutes long. Not exactly what one could easily peg as a sellout maneuver.

When I turn on popular rock radio, I do not hear music like “God Is Dead.” Most of what Clear Channel programs for us is a host of sure things from the past, from artists who paid their dues, jumped through hoops, and are being rewarded in retirement or the afterlife for playing a good game. A select few like Tom Petty or John Fogerty get their new songs played on classic rock radio alongside “Hotel California” and “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” Focusing on actual new chart hits, I couldn’t begin to tell you. Big Time Rush and Yeezus simply do not write songs that I want to hear. “God Is Dead” is pretty damn good fare for a brand new recording in rotation on popular radio, and stands out on every level.

This was the first track, and the first target. Now that new music (sans Ward) had been revealed, it was time for the first crowd-sourced potshots. The vocals were “mixed too loud”. The lyrics were corny. It sounded more like solo Ozzy than classic Sabbath. Bill Ward was being cheated. I don’t really agree with any of these criticisms.

The first thing I noticed was that Ozzy wasn’t singing through Auto-Tuner. Ever since he’d first employed the technology (and Ozzy was certainly the first singer I ever heard use it) back on 1995’s Ozzmosis, it’s sounded awful to me. Rick Rubin got Ozzy off the Auto-Tune teat. That’s almost like saying that he got him to put down the bottle or to quit pissing his pants. Also, the song rocks and is well recorded, crafted, and composed.

There are thousands of bands mining the ore that Sabbath once wrought. Can you think of any with as good a guitarist? How about a bass player as good as Geezer? Or a drummer as talented as Wilk? Or with a singer as charismatic as Ozzy? Or with the songwriting skills and craftsmanship of these four with a world class production courtesy of Rick “Slayer/Danzig/Public Enemy” Rubin? No, most bands would kill to operate on this level, or produce material of this quality. I hear you balking, but please, stay with me.

The new album 13 opens with “End of the Beginning.” This is another tune over eight minutes in length, and crushingly heavy. The lyrics are a bit more clever than the poetry you wrote you in high school, and smack of wisdom hard won through experience. Perhaps that’s because they (like most of Sabbath’s lyrics) were written by bassist Geezer Butler—a man with a high school education, a lot of book reading, and a life filled with peaks beyond most of our imaginations.

For my money, “End of the Beginning” is probably the best song on the record. Apparently somebody else agreed, as there’s no more modern formula than to front-load an album with the best track first. If you don’t lure in the listener right away, you may never have them. The true denouement of this song isn’t until the end of the entire record, but we’ll get to that later. Suffice to say, the best riff in this song is the last one. Iommi repeatedly finds ways to save the best for last, and end on the most heavy and epic note possible.

Next up is the single, “God Is Dead.” My one real qualm with this song is that the lyric is a bit of a cop out. When I first heard the title, it sounded heavy. And when Ozzy laments “God is dead,” it has a serious impact. But by the end, he’s singing, “I don’t believe that God is dead.” A bit weak, wouldn’t you say? It’s a controversial title and chorus, severely under-mined in application. But hey, maybe it will keep those protective mothers from burning records and putting hexes on these nice boys from Birmingham.

On Side Two, things change. Yes, I’m listening to this record on vinyl, the way it was intended. Maybe a lot of kids in the ‘70s also listened to Black Sabbath on 8-track, but I don’t see that format being offered here. So as far as I’m concerned, the right way to listen to this album is on vinyl, in front of big wood cabinet speakers, with a freshly loaded bong. If you’re evaluating or condemning this album bone sober over tiny computer speakers, you’re not really showing a great deal of respect, are you?

Track three is called “Loner.” It’s an ode to all the lonely, outcast, misunderstood, burnout Black Sabbath fans. That’s really 99% of their fan base, and apparently they know it. When John Darnielle wrote his 33 1/3 series novella about Master of Reality, he recognized this too, and made the main character in his book just such a loser, locked in a psych ward, yearning for his Sabbath tape.

What’s really cool about “Loner” is how much the main riff recalls the blatant underachiever vibe of the Technical Ecstacy era. It’s clear that the same man who wrote “All Moving Parts (Stand Still)” and “Gypsy” penned this tune. It even recalls something Dave Chandler of Saint Vitus might have come up with around the time of Children of Doom. At 2:12 the sleaziest riff on the entire record slinks in, bringing images of this “loner” kids cruising the gut after midnight with bleary eyes, drinking Sparks, eventually sleeping solo in his room above his parents’ garage.

Finishing Side Two is “Zeitgeist.” This song is my one personal complaint on the whole album. There’s actually nothing particularly wrong with it. But one of the primary criticisms folks have leveled at 13 is that each song seems to correspond pretty directly to another from Sabbath’s back catalog. I would argue that most of the songs are no more referential here than might be expected. Since when should a band that invented a genre not be allowed to rip itself off? What if—gasp–a new Kraftwerk album sounded like an old Kraftwerk album? There’s no doubt that if Sabbath had come out with an entirely new, updated, 21st century sound, literally everyone would hate it.

But “Zeitgeist” may be both the safest and laziest move here as it’s so clearly “Planet Caravan” mark II. From the bongos and classical guitars to the kooky outer space lyrics, it’s an exercise. Sure, it breaks up the flow of an otherwise very heavy album. It also reflects on they way the band arranged its classic albums with tunes like “Solitude,” “Embryo,” “Changes,” and “Laguna Sunrise.” There were always mellow Sabbath tunes, and most of them were great. This one is simply a copy of perhaps the twenty-fifth best Sabbath song and the very best Pantera song. Sorry Phil.

Side Three kicks off with “Age of Reason” – a seven minute slab of doom that sounds like a hybrid of Volume IV and Heaven & Hell. I should note here that throughout this album, Iommi’s leads are absolutely top notch. Perhaps it’s because instrumentalists like him don’t really get worse as they get older. The years are much harder on singers and drummers, much more physically demanding instruments. The other factor is that while recording this album, Iommi was undergoing treatment for lymphoma. There was a very real possibility that this would be his final album, and he’d just watched Cancer silence good friend Ronnie James Dio. So while there is a certain sterility to the recording overall, the leads sound very much alive—leaping out of the speakers—a conduit from wicked modern metal to classic selling-your-soul “Crossroads” blues.

Next up is “Live Forever,” another apocalyptic doom track concerned with no lighter subject than mortality. Younger bands could never get away with a lyric like “I don’t wanna live forever, but I don’t wanna die.” Somehow when it’s being sung by sextagenarians, it carries the weight it deserves. It’s also cool that the faster groove in this song shares a certain cadence with “Johnny Blade” off Never Say Die.

“Damaged Soul” is a blues number that accentuates the band’s patented 6/8 swing. The production reminds the listener that Rick Rubin famously worked with the Black Crowes. It’s here that the harmonica finally comes out. And right at 3:51, Iommi is playing with such spirit that he flubs a note and leaves it in the song. It’s one of the most magical moments on the album and really underscores that this really is just four guys making music. As produced as it is, there’s no keyboard, no backing choir, and no guest rappers.

The last song on 13 is “Dear Father,” another mournful dirge that would have fit somewhere in the various Dio eras, or could have been the closer on an Ozzy solo album. If you like “Disturbing the Priest” from Born Again, skip right to this track. It’s gruesome and grungy and unrelenting in its darkness. Toward the halfway point, it kicks up into a “Children of the Grave” style gallop before descending back into the tar pit. And (spoiler alert!) it ends with the sound of rain and church bells, bringing us full circle to the “End of the Beginning” and to the original song “Black Sabbath” from their eponymous debut on Feb 13, 1970. Clever, poetic, a bit stupid—in other words–pure Sabbath.

All in all, 13 is a helluva record. It’s telling that Tony Iommi thanks Rick Rubin in the liner notes “…for producing this record and for his insight in what it should be.” While any of us can sit around and speculate about what this album could or should have been, this is what we have. I don’t believe anyone sets out to write a doom metal album with chart success in mind. None of these guys really need the money. 13 was made as a final monument to one of the all time great rock careers that was stifled too many times by booze, bad business, and worse luck.

The band had been flirting with Rick Rubin since 2000, knowing full well that he’s a master at putting wind in the sails (and in the sales) of artists in the later stages of their career. I’m no Death Magnetic fan, but it’s clearly more vital than St Anger. As revisionism goes, the American Recordings album series that Rubin helped Johnny Cash lay down before the Man in Black died is all class. Rubin possesses the skill to focus on what is great and mythic about a band, and to help the band recognize that. Seeing yourself from the outside is difficult for any of us, and even more so for superstars with decades of lousy reviews and millions of adoring fans.

If you’ve read this far and you’re still gutted that Bill Ward wasn’t on the record, well, I’m with you. Maybe the other guys feel that way too, because all three of them thanked Bill pretty sincerely in the liner notes. Brad Wilk certainly did an ace job as “guest musician / drums & percussion.” He plays well and safely throughout the record. And I can’t blame him for doing his job, but there are risks Ward used to take that gave the songs dynamics and life. His off-the-rails hybrid of blues, jazz, and rock was truly inspired. There are tom rolls on 13 that are so precise that my ears yearn for the sound of an accidental rim shot, or two sticks clicking together, or that weird little one-off cowbell tone heard when Ward accidentally hit a mic in “The Wizard.” But I also believe that if Ward had been involved, this album would have taken a long time to record, and we wouldn’t have it now. Or maybe ever.

But there’s still hope. Ward is alive. The fans have spoken. Many voiced their opinion online (the Facebook fan page “No Bill Ward, No Black Sabbath has 595 members.) But in the real universe, people came out in droves, buying enough copies of 13 to push it to #1 in the UK—the first time the band has topped their homeland charts since Paranoid came out in 1970. And as of June 19, 2013, Sabbath dethroned Queens of the Stone Age for the number one spot in the US. That’s a first for Sabbath or even Ozzy. And it’s a good sign that dark, occult-themed metal can overcome all obstacles. Satan’s sitting there, he’s smiling.

In Greek mythology, the Titans begat the gods. The way people talk about 13 makes me feel like the Titans awoke after thousands of years and stormed up Mount Olympus to show off their lightning. And the people said, “Big deal. Zeuss pisses lightning three times a week.” Perhaps these people don’t understand the rules of de-evolution. Or entropy. The nature of the universe is that things get worse, and energy dissipates into nothing. When that doesn’t happen, it’s a bit miraculous.

When Eric Clapton or the Rolling Stones put out a new album of soft-core tracks for baby boomers, I’m not interested. But when Priest brought Halford back in 2005 for the Angel of Retribution album, that was fucking impressive work. In 2012, Rush wrote a 66 minute concept album called Clockwork Angels that is creatively on par with anything they’ve ever done, and heavy as hell to boot. This is the company that 13 belongs in, alongside other traditional doom masterpieces of the 21st century—2005’s eponymous Candlemass (the best reunion album I’ve ever heard), and 2009’s The Devil You Know by Black Sab—I’m sorry—Heaven & Hell.

13 is not perfect. It’s not the all time masterpiece, nor the crown jewel in Sabbath’s catalog. But considering the popular music of today, and the number of lousy Sabbath albums that came out between 1984 and 1995 (seriously, check out Ice T’s cameo on “The Illusion of Power” off Forbidden), this is firmly in the better half of their catalog. If this album had come out any year between 1979 and 1991, it would be considered one of THE classic Black Sabbath albums. But now, I guess we just know too much. Our idols are puppets for our amusement. We love to raise them up and then cast them down.

I love Black Sabbath. Their music has changed my life on all sorts of levels. I own all their albums, including the bad ones. I never thought I’d see those four guys on stage together, and in 1999 it happened. Never thought the band would make another album—and certainly not one that sounded so much like the band I grew up with. 13 years after it was promised, here it is. Cue thunderclouds and church bells.

Special thanks to Erik Highter and Robert Ham for their two cents, and to my girlfriend Sivonna West for buying the 13 LP for me as an early birthday present.

Stara Rzeka album is one of my favorites of the decade so far; that being said, it's probably too much to hope that Jute Gyte is going to show up now :/

if only sund4r had voted

or imago

hunt them down dam

43 The Body - Christs, Redeemers, 307 Points, 8 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/zzEqqGX.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/1ZapNoH3eRFzDaJHKPTjpY
spotify:album:1ZapNoH3eRFzDaJHKPTjpY

#7 Rock-A-Rolla, #31 Pitchfork
http://youtu.be/SSQ4Feyrl8E

In metal (or at least the type of metal that could be loosely classified as 'Trve' ? i.e. leather, not spandex) vocalists are descended from three distinct character classes. There is The Magus (the grand vizier of truth and illusion; one who sees through the veil - Ronnie James Dio is a good example), The Beast (most low and accursed; a grunting ork warrior who lusts only for blood and triumph in battle - see Cannibal Corpse's Chris Barnes) and The Penitent. The Body's Chip King hails from the latter category. The penitent is a man torn to pieces by the uncaring universe; screaming for his life in the talons of some gargantuan animal which may or may not be a metaphor for the hellish depths of his own soul; utterly dwarfed by the hideous undulating movements of the world around him, like a sand crab crushed by a tank track. The Penitent is a man in pain, and the men behind the deadly serious assault of Christs, Redeemers know a thing or two about pain. Both the giving and receiving of it.

Christs, Redeemers starts unexpectedly, with a looping, woozy choir and a female sung folkish lament. The vocal is warm and clear ? almost welcoming - and it's only in the tracks final minutes, as the wooze sours and begins warping and blurring at the edges that you realise that you've been had. By the time the first perfectly weighted hammer strike of churning guitar and filth encrusted drums comes down on your head you're on the floor with your legs uncontrollably kicking like that poor sap in Texas Chainsaw Massacre - a pig ripe for the hook.

Choirs and folksy elements are nothing new in metal, of course. These combinations of the sacred and the profane go back at least as far as Black Sabbath's clanging church bell. What makes The Body such a different proposition is the way that these purified ingredients are utterly degraded by the filth surrounding them. The sweeping strings and choir of a track like ?An Altar Or A Grave?, while initially threatening to push the album toward bathos, give way to ?Failure To Desire To Communicate??s punishing crackle and roar, which wouldn't sound out of place on a Werewolf Jerusalem or Taint record. Sure, the crossover between extreme metal and harsh noise is a much more established one these days, but The Body never sound like they're incorporating these elements for the sake of it. Each usage evokes something, a feeling or an image that suits the conceptual thrust of the album as a whole: a broken spinning turbine, the clang of heavy machinery, rain falling onto a punctured tin roof.

What message The Body are choosing to impart is pretty much obscured due to the impenetrability of the lyrics. I would hazard it is not a positive one, seeing as the vocalist sounds disgusted by the sheer fact of his own existence throughout, but none the less the images the album conjures are strong enough in their own right to give Christs, Redeemers conceptual weight. It can't be overstated how important the seamless introduction of noise elements serves to lift The Body beyond the reach of pretty much every other extreme metal band. A track like ?Shrouded?, for example, is little more than static and a steady, defeated pulse with the vocals set into the far back of the mix, like a man being drowned in wet cement, yet it sounds so hopeless. It sounds like weakness and despair and is brutally affecting. More so than a lot of more 'traditionally' played music in the genre.

That all of these separate elements come together without ever compromising the album's impact is a testament to the vision and surprising levels of compositional depth that The Body bring to play. No one element is ever allowed to dominate but, rather than spreading their ideas too thin this serves to fill the album with variety while ensuring it never wavers from its nihilistic mission. I've been listening to it for two whole days now and I'm still discovering new features, like a man up to his arms in tar pulling out body parts and splinters of bone. In a year that's been dominated by the spectacle of former noise musicians funnelling their abrasiveness into more conventional arenas,Christs, Redeemers is a welcome fetid volley from the keep-noise-hideous brigade and an album that will keep you horribly transfixed for a long time to come. ? Mat Colegate, The Quietus

AG, See email with attachment with reviews that won't have all the ?s

ok

btw is ANYONE using Deezer links?

42 Paysage d?Hiver - Das Tor, 316 Points, 9 Votes, One #1
http://i.imgur.com/sakVyvd.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/5dhZUJlNVn2oH2yfWU2LEH
spotify:album:5dhZUJlNVn2oH2yfWU2LEH
http://www.deezer.com/album/6571752
http://youtu.be/QeWQrrCN8jU

Founded in 1997, Paysage d’Hiver (“Winter Landscape”) is a side project of Darkspace’s very own vocalist/guitarist Tobias Möckl a.ka. Wroth or Wintherr (depending on the season). Now if you’ve heard of Darkspace, but thought Paysage d’Hiver was a specialty cheese, that is not all together surprising. Witherr has made the barrier to entry unquestionably high for potential Paysage fiends. Many of his early releases were issued on cassette format only, limited to a few hundred copies each. It has only been very recently that Wintherr’s own label, Kunsthall Productions, has made Paysage’s back catalog readily available on A5 digibook format.

Putting the project’s frustrating distribution choices aside, Paysage has been consistently releasing high quality material for over a decade. But after 2007′s Einsamkeit, the Paysage camp went suddenly dark. And it was only until last year that Wintherr broke his silence and hinted at a new release. Now after a six year long wait, the latest “demo,” Das Tor (“The Gate”), is finally upon us.

As the project’s name implies, Paysage focuses on a frigid mix of howling wind, ambient synth, and atmospheric black metal. Each release is typically composed of no more than six tracks, many of which shoot past the fifteen minute mark, and each expresses some ambient aspect of Wintherr’s favorite time of the year. At almost an hour and twenty minutes long and composed of just four monolithic tracks, Tordoes not break with tradition. Instead, it continues down the path of incremental growth and subtle refinement to its original frostbitten formula.

And part of that formula is its heavy use of post metal. As your ears peel back all the layers of blast beat and guitar driven cacophony, the post metal influences here are quite obvious. Opener “Offenbarung (Revelation)”

is a shining example of that fact, as it’s immediate whirlwind of blast beasts and black metal riffing lays down the foundation for the several minute long crescendo that ensues. And like all post enterprises, Wintherr employs subtle chord shifts and repetition as he continually overlays one theme after the next. Around eight minutes in, a sinister riff emerges as the song reaches its climax and begins its gradual denouement. Wintherr does a masterful job of not over using one particular structure to the point of monotony, which is something I’ve felt he has been guilty of in the past.

But one technique that I seem to not get enough of is those fantastic synth effects that give each Paysage song a certain joie de vivre. For example, “Macht des Schicksals (Force of Destiny),” contains haunting keyboards about four minutes in that gently hover over the blast beats and buzzsaw below, adding just enough texture to make the whole exercise worth it. Their influence is then felt several minutes later, providing the melody in which all the fury now centers around. Fans of Kristall & Isa and Nacht will feel right at home with this record, as the exact same techniques are revisited on Tor.

The last two tracks are really separate movements of one massive body of work. “Ewig leuchten die Sterne (The Stars Shine Forever)” slows down things considerably, introducing a simple melody that takes on a very cinematic quality as it repeats and unfurls over the next few minutes. Then the last track, “Schlüssel (Key),” repeats the same theme, but drowns it in distortion and buzz. What was haunting beautiful a moment ago now sounds cold and despondent.

Das Tor was recorded and mixed in Berne, Switzerland by Wintherr himself, and then mastered for CD and LP by Fredy Schnyder of Nucleus Torn. Wintherr continues to opt for the Burzum-esque production of the early ’90s that long time fans know and love (sigh). But what is a pleasant surprise this “demo” time around is this record actually sounds dynamic! With Tor, Schnyder proves that you do not need to compress to modern day insanity just to keep your “kvlt” status intact. In fact, there is a bit of sparkle in this wintery mix that you can easily discern despite Paysage’s penchant for hum and buzz. As is a sub-genre tradition, Wintherr’s vocals are mainly set in the distant background and come and go as they please. They act as sort of an aural wind chill factor on this record. All in all, given the lo-fi objective, this record does a remarkable job of balancing underground aesthetics while still maintaining a modicum of dynamics (Fell Voices, pay attention!).

Das Tor is the most cohesive Paysage record to date despite the fact it doesn’t really break any new ground or ruffle any feathers. It’s simply a solid slab of atmospheric black metal and for fans of Fell Voices, Ash Borer, and their elk, a must own. – Alex, Metal-Fi

wrong image for Christs, Redeemers but that EP was amazing too

if only sund4r had voted

― pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Tuesday, January 14, 2014 2:36 PM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

or imago

― pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Tuesday, January 14, 2014 2:42 PM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

I hope you hold a grudge

anyways:

there's quite a few showing up that were on my 'hope to check out b4 voting' list but I just totally dropped the ball this year :/

Imago refused to vote. You shouldn't take that lying down

41 Castevet – Obsian, 325 Points, 11 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/NzEg7rJ.jpg
#13 Stereogum, #37 Rock-A-Rolla, #20 Pitchfork
http://castevet.bandcamp.com/album/obsian-2

Music is inescapably physical, whether it rivets you to your chair or propels you to the dance floor. This physical dimension is not uniformly distributed across genres: death metal tends to churn harder than black metal; thrash metal harder than power metal; and so forth. (This isn’t limited to metal, either: compare dubstep to IDM, or hard bop to free jazz.)

The counterweight of physicality is often intricacy or technicality. It’s not impossible to be intellectual and dispassionate while also striking with the force of a clawhammer, but it takes skill to balance the two. Think of Tool’s “Ænema” video: a clay figure inside a box which is then thrown. You can anticipate the arc of a rectangular prism in motion, but the effect on the flesh inside is both horrifying and unpredictable. New York’s Castevet call to mind such imagery on their nervy, harrowing second album, Obsian.

Castevet’s debut album Mounds of Ash condensed the slow creep and explosive crescendo of post-rock-influenced metal into tighter, mathier songs. Obsian manages a similar trick, but by exploding those structures from within, such that each song feels like build and burst — tension and release — are happening simultaneously.
That seeming paradox is possible because of Castevet’s command of rhythmic precision — largely thanks to drummer Ian Jacyszyn’s fierce economy, and the band’s willingness to spring from unison to contrapuntal dissonance in a flash. “As Fathomed by Beggars and Victims” is a fine, disorienting example; it opens with a groove that one can hardly pin down before it dives straight into lock-step machine-gunning. “Cavernous,” meanwhile, is not spacious and echoing as its title would suggest, but instead jitters and stutters and always winds back in on itself.
Castevet’s tonal palette is limited — this is a three-piece band, after all — but much like Ulcerate, that limitation is embraced as a challenge, leading to a hermetic album that is inventive, restless, and bristling with a singular vision. Obsian is Castevet’s first album with new bassist Nick McMaster (also of Krallice, with whom Castevet share an aesthetic kinship). McMaster’s bass often plays a lead role, as on the closing groove of “The Curve,” where his high-fret twangs snake up and out of the instrumental torrent below.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Obsian is that its mood is so mercurial. The overall tone seems equal parts malevolent and sorrowful, which is largely produced by the contrast between guitarist Andrew Hock’s vocals and melancholy chord voicings, which are odd even before they’re run through the band’s choppy rhythmic blender.
Though the mood feints and shimmers, the album’s closing two songs combine to form a relentlessly morose ten-minute suite. The band introduces some understated clean vocals (courtesy of Nick Podgurski of Yukon and Extra Life, among others) which call to mind the similarly goth-leaning excursions on Tombs’s Path of Totality. Although the album’s last minutes hint at some small glimmer of light, even that small cloud-break dissolves into a single, faint trumpet note, left to waver in the dark like an unanswered beacon.

No balance between body and brain — no matter how cunningly struck — can subvert momentum, not when the trajectory of all is to dust. – Dan Lawrence, Invisible Oranges

40-21 tomorrow around the same time!

Thoughts on todays results or indeed any previous ones?

Direct Link to poll recap & full results

Already there's stuff piling up that I need to hear this year and now here's the ghost of 2013 reminding me of all I missed. I just got that Obliteration from the Omega's recent sale and it indeed slays. I'm again realizing though that I'm out of step with a good deal of this board: the 'new retro doom' thing does little for me, and anything with 'post-' in the genre tag does even less. I'm already looking forward to whatever the next fads are. Personally I vote for Colored Sands' creating a symphonic progressive doom sludge subgenre.

Not really.

Quite a few rolling metal thread regulars dont do polls. So I wouldnt say you were out of step at all. This poll is only those who voted (obviously) plenty of others hate polls (funnily enough theyre usually the death metal loving doom not caring post-metal despising etc)

Stuff I voted for:

50 Voivod - Target Earth, 266 Points, 7 Votes
45 Black Sabbath – 13, 294 Points, 10 Votes, One #1
43 The Body – Christs, Redeemers, 307 Points, 8 Votes
42 Paysage d’Hiver - Das Tor, 316 Points, 9 Votes, One #1

I was happy that the EP by The Body made the list since I nominated it.

I think Voidod would have been higher if it wasn't released the first week of January.

The Paysage d’Hiver is so brilliant; it was #2 on my list (to something that might not even place).

Stuff I want to check out:

60 Coliseum - Sister Faith, 247 Points, 8 Votes
55 Autopsy - The Headless Ritual, 258 Points, 9 Votes
53 The Ocean – Pelagial, 261 Points, 8 Votes
51 Cathedral - The Last Spire, 263 Points, 8 Votes
47 Portal – Vexovoid, 282 Points, 8 Votes

I other news, I posted that incredible live video of HELL on my Facebook. A couple of friends chimed in on liking or disliking. And then the guitarist came along to post much to my shock... The internet is fun!

I'm still in the process of hearing 2013 stuff that would've made my list but for either procrastination or, in this case, total obliviousness: Keldian's Outbound, total cornball AOR/power metal with some kind of sci-fi theme. They did a crowdsourced run of physical discs and apparently will be an mp3-only outfit until they get a decent distro. I've been parked on their FB listening to their albums. For days. Definitely would have infiltrated my top 10 (which is to say, my entire list) and been the only album of that genre to do so. I meant to look back through the 2013 rolling thread to see if they were ever mentioned but it takes forever to load.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Keldian/133028643515879

ok NOW you're out of step

I certainly didn't expect to like, nay, love something that sounds like Europe and Stratovarius. Those choruses just make me all bubbly inside. (Actually what they really remind me of is Devin Townsend's Accelerated Evolution, which until now had been my cornball threshold.)

Not enough death metal on the list.

Too much! not enough non-americans voting!

Please remember to subscribe to the Album Results Playlist
http://open.spotify.com/user/pfunkboy/playlist/6fsnIonKsPLF5NzZ9hJg27
spotify:user:pfunkboy:playlist:6fsnIonKsPLF5NzZ9hJg27

Oh and please go vote in
ILM 2013 | End of Year Albums & Tracks Poll | VOTING THREAD (Voting closes MIDNIGHT EST on Friday, January 17th, 2014)

Lots of metal to vote for as well as other fine non-metal. Make your vote count!
Ballot: http://docs.google.com/forms/d/1IQ4ICRvEzhsG-xwd5T3hr8oqPMJI7UMFzNdTXMnGMeQ

Will resume in 20 mins or so after I have lunch

great. unexpected good timing for me.

Why you still up?

just a bad habit sustained over the xmas period. plus it's too damn hot!

1am right? what temp is it at 1am?

probably not so hot outside -- 24 C or something? inside is a different matter.

40    Manilla Road - Mysterium    326 Points,    10   Votes
http://i.imgur.com/ex86y25.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/0GMgU7XFeng3UVJGR1gJUE
spotify:album:0GMgU7XFeng3UVJGR1gJUE

http://www.deezer.com/album/6198954

http://youtu.be/71rTcilIZ7E
http://shadowkingdomrecords.bandcamp.com/album/mysterium

As is the case, I would imagine, with most of you, I spend time with people who have little to no knowledge of any music outside of the pop world. To my friends and acquaintances in spotify:album:0GMgU7XFeng3UVJGR1gJUEthe real world, I’m “the metal guy,” popping up at social events in a comfy Napalm Death shirt or my trusty King Diamond hoodie. And so it happens that, periodically, an adventurous soul will engage me in one inevitable conversation, sometimes phrased more politely (and sometimes not), but either way boiling down to: “How can you listen to that stupid/cheesy/ugly/loud/screaming $&#!?”

When the question is presented politely, the answer I give is usually some variation upon this: Though there are exceptions and some are borderline embarrassing, for the most part, I prefer music that is as unconcerned with mass appeal madness as music can be. Generally speaking, no one makes extreme metal with the express purposes of great fame or wealth. Sure, those who play any music want to be popular in some capacity because the ultimate goal is to at least make a comfortable living as a creator of music – only the mostmisanthropic of basement black metal miscreants would argue that they don’t seek at least some of the validation that comes with people embracing their work. But it’s a smaller, more personal validation, and in the end, in the underground and below, metal musicians make metal because they love metal.

A shorter, albeit less explanatory, form of that answer would be, “Because of bands like Manilla Road.”

For the entire duration of my life (not to make you feel old, Shark), Manilla Road has flown the flag of true heavy metal, all whilst being largely ignored by anyone outside the underground. I’m sure that the flag-waving has been anything but a highly lucrative career choice for Mark Shelton and friends, and their decades-old status as kings of the underground leaves them with a fan base that numbers but a fraction of that of many lesser bands. But, most importantly, there’s no denying the rabidity of the Manilla Road fans, and so theRoad goes on, ever forward, doing what they do for those who love metal because they themselves love metal. And God bless ‘em for it.

Mysterium is Manilla Road’s sixteenth album in thirty-five years, and it stands among their finest since their 1980s glory days, largely because, of their post-reformation discs, it’s the one that most feels like Crystal Logic, The Deluge, and the like. Gone entirely are the death-ish growls of the previous few, and only a few of the thrashier bits that characterized some later-day records are held over. And, though it still revels in that specific Manilla rawness, Mysterium thankfully rectifies the production stumbles of 2010’s Playground Of The Damned, which lost power through a mix that tucked much of Shelton’s guitar beneath an uncomfortably brittle drum sound. Complaints about Playground’s production led Shelton to seek outside help for the mix on Mysterium, and it paid off. It’s true that four ears are better than two, and Mysterium sounds the way a Manilla Road record should sound. The drums are live and punchy, but not clicky and dry; the guitars have been returned to their rightful place as the instrumental focus of the tracks.

More important than anything, however, is that Mysterium also brings its share of killer Manilla Road songs, particularly those that open and close, bookending and conveniently propping up a few slightly lesser entries towards the album’s midsection. (I’m looking at you, “Hermitage” and “Do What Thou Will.”) From the opening drum fill of “The Grey God Passes,” it’s evident that Manilla Road is back, bringing the epic, fist-in-the-air heavy metal that is virtually synonymous with their name. Concert crowds singing along to that track’s “Battle is nigh / raise up your EYYYYEEES!...” refrain is virtually guaranteed, and further suitably anthemic moments arise in “Stand Your Ground”
(“Defenders of the clans / onward we ride, hellbound...”) and “Only To The Brave” (“Wielding death by the hammer / glory comes only to the brave...”). The eleven-and-a-half minute title track ends the album on its most epic note, exactly the type of multi-part, guitar-driven, deftly layered song that Road fans love and crave.

Also of note: One of Mysterium’s standouts is also its least metallic. “The Fountain” is a great lilting, acoustic number, all 12-string guitars in 6/8 time with harmonized vocals and lyrics that effectively sum up the band’s longevity, the fountain of youth a metaphor for the power of heavy metal.
Search to the end of all time if I must
I’ll never give up my beliefs
Carry the torch ‘til my life turns to dust
Never let go of my dreams
No, I’ll never let go of my dreams
Still I believe...

Manilla Road remains both one of metal’s standard-bearers and one of its best-kept secrets, and only time will tell if Mysterium will grow their fan base or just appease the ardent followers they already have. If you’re new to the band, you can start here or with Crystal Logic or Open The Gates. And for those already traveling this Road, this album should land itself a cushy spot towards the uppermost reaches of the band’s extensive catalog. Thirty-five years and counting, and still making classic heavy metal... Great fame and fortune or none at all, that’s something to be damn proud of. Another one well done, Shark. Keep ‘em coming forever. – Jeremy Witt, Last Rites

I was surprised at how good this album was tbh. Gotta hand it to them, still got it after 30 years.

Someone needs to photoshop Mystery Inc into the background on that cover

think i struggled with the sound of this one (not the songs themselves). have tremendous respect for the band.

39 Church Of Misery - Thy Kingdom Scum, 335 Points, 11 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/mTrNOBa.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/39I4LiTaYVpI6KcZAArBul
spotify:album:39I4LiTaYVpI6KcZAArBul

http://www.deezer.com/album/6586515

#12 Obelisk
http://youtu.be/HYHb42yTIqo

In some ways, it makes sense to think of the new Church of Misery album, Thy Kingdom Scum (Rise Above/Metal Blade), as a sequel to Houses of the Unholy. Like that 2009 full-length (review here), the title is a pun with a religious theme also based on a classic album — the Japanese outfit had a song “Kingdom Scum” on their first album, Vol. 1, that finally got released in 2007 with an Emetic Records reissue in 2011 (review here) and was a take on Sir Lord Baltimore‘s 1970 debut, Kingdom Come . Both Houses of the Unholy and Thy Kingdom Scum also have seven tracks with one cover from the canon of classic heavy — on the 2009 album, it happened to be “Master Heartache” from the aforementioned Sir Lord Baltimore LP, and on Thy Kingdom Scum, it’s the bluesy “One Blind Mice,” a single from Quartermass that’s been included on reissues of their 1970 self-titled debut. Both covers are even placed the same, as the fifth of the total seven tracks — track five is also a cover on 2001′s Masters of Brutality and 2004′s The Second Coming. And of course the band’s long-running adherence to serial killer-worship and raw, Sabbath-derived heavy doom rock remains at the core of what they do. Like no one else on the planet, Church of Misery are able to make familiar riffs sound new again, and Thy Kingdom Scum continues that tradition. True to its predecessor and everything the band has done up to this point, these songs offer unhinged bombast propelled by druggy grooves that reflect the madness and psychopathy their lyrics convey. As ever, each song is about a serial killer. As ever, bassist Tatsu Mikami resides at the center of the songwriting. As ever, they are among the best in the world at what they do.

Thy Kingdom Scum shares a number of similarities on a number of levels with Church of Misery‘s last effort — which along with sundry fest appearances throughout Europe and the US and extensive touring in both territories, helped establish them as one of the heavy underground’s most potent acts — but even more pivotal to its ultimate success are the differences between the two. The methodology behind their craft is largely the same, Mikami feels no apparent need to deviate and at this point, Church of Misery have turned their obsessions into their aesthetic, but the personnel involved is different. Guitarist Ikuma Kawabe has come aboard as a first-timer, and vocalist Hideki Fukasawa returns from Houses of the Unholy, but has been in and out of the band along the way, while Mikami – appropriate enough for the bassist — is the anchor as the only remaining founding member and drummer Junji Narita marks the 13th year of his tenure. Mikami‘s songwriting is also more hammered out on Thy Kingdom Scum, and some of the elements that made cuts last time around like “Shotgun Boogie (James Oliver Huberty),” “Blood Sucking Freak (Richard Trenton Chase)” and “Born to Raise Hell (Richard Speck)” so memorable find further development and realization within “Lambs to the Slaughter (Ian Brady/Myra Hindley),” “Bother Bishop (Gary Heidnik)” and “Düsseldorf Monster (Peter Kürten),” as well as the mostly instrumental opener “B.T.K. (Dennis Rader),” which makes an immediate chorus of its riff and relies on samples to carry across vocal ideas. Not an unfamiliar tactic either for Church of Misery.

While the penchant for gruesomeness has only seemed to add to the band’s charm over the years, they’ve had to get fairly obscure in their source material. Easy enough to look up who Dannis Andrew Nilsen is (the British Jeffrey Dahmer) and what he did (killed people and ate them, duh), but I have to wonder at what point Church of Misery might just decide to go back to some of the mainstays of serial killerdom and shift their approach somewhat. They started out with the likes of John Wayne Gacy and Ed Kemper on 2001′s Master of Brutality, and to go from that to John Linley Frazier and Peter Kürten begs the question why they couldn’t just write a second song about Charles Manson. Hell, there’s an entire album’s worth of material there. Why not do a whole record about the Manson Family, or Ted Bundy? Some killers, with countless books written about them and studies done, are legends worthy of another look. I’m certainly not going to complain about the surprisingly strong hook to which “Brother Bishop (Gary Heidnik)” arrives when Fukasawa guts out the line, “We shall make a new world!” or Mikami‘s ultra-righteous Geezer Butler-ing in the same song, and I guess there’s an endless supply of killers to choose from — and at this point it seems unrealistic to ask Church of Misery to write a song about anything else – I just wonder at the need to spread the theme so thin. Would anyone get mad if Church of Misery did another song about Aileen Wuornos?

In that end, that has little to do with the thrust of the songs itself, which again, is in some ways the most accomplished of Church of Misery‘s career. Where earlier offerings like The Second Coming were unbalanced in the mix, Thy Kingdom Scum sounds both rough and crisp, so that as the band departs the freakout swirl that emerges in “Brother Bishop (Gary Heidnik)” for the slower groove of the early stretches in “Cranley Gardens (Dennis Andrew Nilson)” — though they’ll get back there by the time the song is past fives minutes in and Fukasawa is issuing “I’m gonna fuck you/I’m gonna kill you” threats — the bombast holds no more sway than it’s meant to, and though I’d never accuse the band of being refined, there’s little doubt they have their process and their formula nailed down by this point, and as Thy Kingdom Scum relates to Houses of the Unholy, there’s no question it’s a formula worth reapplying. “Cranley Gardens (Dennis Andrew Nilsen)” (which also appeared on the 2008 EP, Dennis Nilsen) crashes and feedbacks into the Quartermass cover “One Blind Mice,” Mikami and Narita seeming to especially revel in the shuffle as Kawabe takes an echoing solo soon met by swirls of wah bass en route to the thicker fuzz of “All Hallow’s Eve (John Linley Frazier).” The penultimate groover on Thy Kingdom Scum stops short initially where one expects a landmark chorus, but the second time through, Fukasawa‘s shouts and screams provide enough catchiness to give the track its base, setting up more choice interplay between Mikami and Kawabe.

At 12:46, closer “Düsseldorf Monster (Peter Kürten)” is the longest track ever to appear on a Church of Misery full-length. Cuts upwards and past 10 minutes have shown up on the band’s slew of EPs and live albums, and the closing title-track to Master of Brutality was over 11, but by and large, the band has steered away from getting as expansive on their LPs as they do to finish out Thy Kingdom Scum. Kürten, whose mugshot also graces the album art, was dubbed the “Vampire of Düsseldorf” and is obviously significant to the band, otherwise wouldn’t get the treatment he does here, gracing the cover and longest song. Even the intro, which is a take on Sabbath‘s blues jam that starts “Wicked World” feels special. Maybe it has something to do with the reception the band has gotten in Europe that they’d close with a German killer, or maybe the jam just emerged in the studio and they decided to roll with it, but it makes a fitting end to Thy Kingdom Scum either way, devolving into a psych boogie that shows off Kawabe‘s fluidity and finally emerges into one of the album’s most satisfying instrumental sections. Just before 10 minutes in, there’s a slowdown started by Narita on the drums and the central riff reappears to lead “Düsseldorf Monster (Peter Kürten)” out on one final run through the chorus, underscoring the fact that although Church of Misery demand and get a lot of attention because of their serial killer thematic, there’s a consistency in their songwriting that proves to be the root of a lot of their appeal. Thy Kingdom Scum doesn’t do much to expand the band’s palette, but it doesn’t need to. “If it ain’t broke…” and all that. The band comes into Thy Kingdom Scum with arguably their most momentum ever, and since they deliver exactly what’s expected of them while also continuing to grow the process that’s resulted in those expectations, there’s nothing here to disappoint longtime fans or give newcomers a reason not to return for more of Church of Misery‘s particular brand of debauchery. - The Obelisk, http://theobelisk.net/obelisk/2013/06/13/church-of-misery-thy-kingdom-scum-review/

Checking out the Portal, with Progenie Terrestre Pura to come (its description has me seeeeeriously excited). Portal is excellent. Maybe I should have voted huh :P but I can still discover loads of cool shit here

Portal is great! Voted for that and for Stara Rzeka in the last batch of results.

Early start today. Manilla Road headlined the Alehorn Of Power VII last year (was held later in the year than usual, November at Reggies -- next one should be back on schedule in summer and Slough Feg are coming so I hope some Midwest ILMers make it!) and they were so great. I hadn't been feeling that particular album previously, but after the show I checked out most of what I'd skipped since their 80s albums.

stara rzeka I already know & love, going on my main-poll ballot 4sho

yeah dont want to finish too late when ilxors have gone home but dont wanna rush countdown either. I'd rather post it at a nice pace that suits me. Plus the earlier days no uk workers were around as I was starting at 5 to get the west coast americans

38 Pinkish Black - Razed To The Ground , 358 Points, 9 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/d4MP39h.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/3ZVGco7dF7o3m8bsyXW3Ia
spotify:album:3ZVGco7dF7o3m8bsyXW3Ia
http://www.deezer.com/album/6901165
#48 Stereogum
http://youtu.be/s0NN-GmszLI

Just in time to provide the perfect soundtrack for those cold winter nights, Pinkish Black‘s sophomore album ‘Razed To The Ground‘ comes to us through a surprising new alliance with Century Media. Spawned from the ashes of the late, great Yeti, this follow up to the debut album from 2012 builds beautifully on the established characteristics of the duo’s sound and sees them soar higher and at the same time plunge, when necessary, into lower depths.

A duo comprising vintage synths and drums topped with the velvety, Morrison esque crooning of Daron Beck, Pinkish Black have that wonderful gift of having a sound that wears influences on its sleeve – think hints of the Doors, Christian Death, Goblin and perhaps even Tangerine Dream in places – but welds them together into an entirely individual identity. The minimal line up does nothing to prevent them creating a massive wall of dark, beautifully cosmic sound.

Atmosphere is key here but not at the expense of the songs. The pair have taken a mostly synthetic approach in instrumentation but produce results that are anything but the robotic, soulless sound you’d expect. Through rhythm and textures, this music is dripping with emotion – often melancholy or sadness as personified on the likes of ‘Astray Eyes’ or ‘Bad Dreamer’.

But it’s not all woe. Far from it. ‘She Left Him Red’, the opening track, is the sound of aliens landing and running amok, almost Zeuhl style in its jagged drumbeats and menacing synth attack.

And the track ‘Rise’, the second to last here, has in some ways been an absolute curse to me in trying to review this record for the simple reason I can’t get past it, I’ve had it on repeat for weeks.
It sums up the two sides of the band perfectly and blends them expertly – opening in an ominous but propulsive fashion with a cascade of rumbling drums and swirling keys over a dark, distorting sounding bassline. Beck’s expressive baritone adds drama in the verses and reaches its peak in the chorus. Unexpectedly then after this forward motion, the tempo drops into an almost funeral pace that has more in common with the average doom band. But rather than wallow in abject misery, the synths seem to expand, layering over one another and taking the song into a whole other, spacey direction. It’s like Neurosis trying to cover Eno & Kluster. One of the best songs I’ve heard this year and the perfect taste of what this band is all about. The Gothic and the Galactic meeting head on.

It feels like the closing ‘Loss Of Feeling Of Loss’ with its more luxurious pacing (it’s the longest track here) allows the band to let themselves get swept fully away by the tides their music creates around them, engulfing them, letting them slowly fade beneath the sonic mist. You should join them. It’s fine place to get lost. - The Sleeping Shaman, http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/album-reviews/p/pinkish-black-razed-to-the-ground-cd-lp-dd-2013/

Happy to see my non-metal friends make the top 40.

37 Inquisition - Obscure Verses For The Multiverse, 362 Points, 10 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/6C9hIdn.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/6hQRzUfPW4bflNzPzg2CGc
spotify:album:6hQRzUfPW4bflNzPzg2CGc

http://www.deezer.com/album/6937798

#5 Decibel, #3 Stereogum, #3 Pitchfork, #48 Terrorizer

http://inquisitionbm.bandcamp.com/album/obscure-verses-for-the-multiverse
http://youtu.be/QQwat8pB8Ko

When I was a very young child — before I had any interest in heavy metal or music in general, for that matter — I had a bad experience with peas. Didn’t like ‘em. Spat ‘em up. Refused to eat them again until much later in life. Of course I love them, now. This is not a unique story: our tastes change as we grow, mature, add new experiences to our lives, and expand our palates. That knowledge is so ubiquitous, actually, that people sometimes take it for granted.

Case in point: Inquisition. This Colombian black metal duo’s last album, Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm, garnered rave reviews from many sectors of the metal underground, though admittedly not here. Like Cosmo, I didn’t like it. Spat it out. Didn’t want to listen again, until I remembered those peas. I’m glad I did, because Inquisition’s new album, Obscure Verses for the Multiverse tastes good.

There’s been enough verbiage crafted about this record’s good qualities in the weeks since its promotional copies dropped to make any more pontificating moot. Suffice it to say that Inquisition have managed to land in the precise middle ground between ’80s prog-thrash and modern black metal. Guitarist/vocalist Dagon invests all of his hooks in guitar riffs, and employs some tasteful natural and artificial harmonics—guitar techniques one doesn’t hear so often in black metal. The song structures launch forward, then lurch to a halt, and occasionally kick into high gear once again. In a genre that struggles with dynamic songwriting, Inquisition specializes in stitching moments into movements.

Inquisition lose fans at first listen for one reason: Dagon’s voice. Even for an extreme metal singer, his intonation is abrasive. He’s kept his vocal style on Obscure Verses, but added a little bit of emotion, and a few deeper death growls. The remaining croaking blends in better with the mix, as opposed to bobbing on top of it. Those slight changes make the whole sound go down much smoother — sometimes there’s only a hair’s breadth between ‘aggravating’ and ‘tolerable.’

Dagon’s detractors often describe his voice as frog-like, but a more accurate description might be Abbath’s Cylon duplicate. In fairness, that’s a perfect fit for the subject matter. Dagon’s lyrics straddle the line between Satan and Carl Sagan. Inquisition’s blend of occult and science fiction elements, as well as focus on memorable guitar work, call me back to the first few times I spun Watain’s Sworn to the Dark.

Obscure Verses for the Multiverse prompted me to give Inquisition’s back catalog another shot. On return listens, I like what I hear, even if their newest entry is the best of the bunch. This band has acquired a loyal (and growing) fan base based on merit. I’m sure many of those fans were turned off at first glance, as I was.

Listen to Obscure Verses for the Multiverse. Then, listen to something else by an artist you disliked before. Second chances come with rewards. - Joseph Schafer, Invisible Oranges, http://www.invisibleoranges.com/2013/10/inquisition-obscure-verses-for-the-multiverse/

dunno this

The music is great, but I'm never gonna warm to the toad vocals.

36. Earthless - From The Ages, 368 Points, 11 Votes, One #1
http://i.imgur.com/eytO1YO.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/1gD5vrYMJHGaR8LAwah7T2
spotify:album:1gD5vrYMJHGaR8LAwah7T2

http://www.deezer.com/album/6849244
#8 Obelisk readers
http://youtu.be/ymLczhr4pLs

From the Ages is the first studio recording from instrumental power trio Earthless since 2007’s Rhythms From a Cosmic Sky. Though the silence may have been deafening for their small but devoted cadre of fans, the wait was worth every moment. From the Ages finds Earthless at their most concentrated, and that distillation of psychedelic rock, stoner metal, and electric blues is a heady brew in the hands of Messrs. Rubalcaba, Eginton and Mitchell.

What makes this such a powerful mix—and what separates Earthless from other stoner rock bands with a tendency to go on (and on and on)—is that rarely, if ever, do they sound like a band merely jamming. Earthless is about improvisation, more akin to jazz than the noodling stoners that follow in the patchouli-drenched wake of jam band “explorations.” Listen closely to opening track “Violence of the Red Sea”, and hear the band state a theme, build a solo from it, and then react to the impact of the solo upon that initial form. This is not “Blues in A”, but a constructed form given room to breathe because of the near telepathic connections between the players.

Isaiah Mitchell is the obvious first attraction. His guitar playing is a constant surprise, soaring, diving, streaking through the sky like a hawk playing in the updrafts along the face of a cliff. But Mitchell isn’t untethered; listen closely, as time and again drummer Mario Rubalcaba and bassist Mike Eginton pull Mitchell out of a groundward spiral with a lift of cymbals or a rising bass line that meets Mitchell and buoys him upward. Or conversely, an insistent kick and snare line tugs downward when the guitarist seems ready to break free of gravity’s pull, the bass joining in to drag Mitchell back, the Stratocaster in his hands kicking and screaming. Earthless is like a stunt kite, and though you may be watching the guitarist and his acrobatic flights of fancy, it is the steady hands at the base that control the motion.

Even when the band dials things back, as on the nearly meditative, nearly OM-like “Equus October”, Earthless levitates in contemplation, unable to truly ground itself. Eginton’s soft, supple playing is a through line for the conversation of drums and guitar, and as those two instruments ramp, chatter, and rise in pitch and forcefulness the bass holds things neat and strong. His bass never controls that conversation, but like a good moderator he keeps it from turning into a screaming match.
All of this structure, connection, and conversational improvisation is what makes the title track work despite its more-than-30-minutes run time. “From the Ages”, first released on 2008’s Live at Roadburn, is where one measures one’s ability to handle what Earthless dish out. If “Equus October” was a pint, and “Violence of the Red Sea” and “Uluru Rock” fifths, then “From the Ages” is a gallon of the distilled spirit of the band.

In the five years since that Roadburn performance, Earthless have grown in restraint. While the live recording is a full-on burner, a nearly relentless charge from the entire band, here the themes are allowed time to evolve and reach a sense of resolution. It’s never a chore to listen to, and there are moments of pure delight greater than anywhere else on the record. But chore or no, it wears. It’s tiring to focus on their playing for such a long spell, even though that focus brings many rewards. For example, listen to the hypnotic, Arabic loops of bass, drum and restrained guitar that bubble up naturally out of the dense fug of aggressive riffs around the 13-minute mark. The slow, almost languorous build out of that passage, and the control of tension Earthless exhibit, is masterful. It isn’t the flashiest section, but the conversation these musicians are having is worth that close attention. But again, not everyone has the tolerance to drink in such a potent concoction.

Those who make it to the end, and who choose to listen again and again, will find a new Earthless; a band that has grown through side projects and geographic separation, yet returned with greater chemistry, intuitiveness, and understanding. From the Ages is not just the latest album from this long running band. It’s their best. - Erik Highter, Pop Matters, http://www.popmatters.com/review/176139-earthless-from-the-ages/

Boy, I totally slept on that Inquisition record. I'm going to correct that (and probably wish I could go back in time and edit my ballot!).

Earthless is too low. My #1 vote.

Oh, just noticed what review you used. Cheeky.

I feel like "pummeling" is the mot juste for the Inquisition

I've been following, enjoying (esp the covers!), could not vote but i want to say that this is otm re earthless, which is so great

Earthless is about improvisation, more akin to jazz than the noodling stoners that follow in the patchouli-drenched wake of jam band “explorations.” Listen closely to opening track “Violence of the Red Sea”, and hear the band state a theme, build a solo from it, and then react to the impact of the solo upon that initial form. This is not “Blues in A”, but a constructed form given room to breathe because of the near telepathic connections between the players.

the blurbs are collated by fastnbulbous

Mwa ha. If it weren't for AG's FB I wouldn't have even known that was you. I got to see Isaiah Mitchell do a cool solo acoustic set at Aquarius Records when I was in the area in October, but have not yet seen Earthless live.

Sorry if I don't always pick the best reviews, was just kind of rotating between different sources. Though EZ's review was certainly one of the best.

Thanks!

35 Anciients - Heart Of Oak, 370 Points, 11 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/KRMyjnB.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/6PaahtS8l43DjnCkd7YLKX
spotify:album:6PaahtS8l43DjnCkd7YLKX
http://www.deezer.com/album/6347460
#28 Decibel, #19 MetalSucks writers

http://anciientriffs.bandcamp.com/album/heart-of-oak
http://youtu.be/7VPkxD5yglg

Many people will argue that there are two types of bands: those that strive to perfect a previously established sound, or those that push for a completely new sound altogether. However nowadays it’s becoming increasingly easy (and lazy) for a band to claim to attempt both of these in one swing by simply calling themselves “progressive”. Modern progressive music is sort of an oxymoron, as it’s a genre that encourages a lack of genres. Bands tend to get slapped with this label by their producers when the reality is, they are just stereotypes of another band. We’ve all heard the Opeth clones and the Porcupine Tree wannabes, so how can we call these guys and their followers progressive if they are clearly forming a niche that can be replicated?

Whether or not Anciients have asked themselves this during recording isn’t really important. What is important is how they managed to perfect this stale and rehashed “prog” sound. What do I mean by this? Well what the Anciients have done here is nothing short of excellent. They have tried to do what many bands do all the time: blend a multitude of sounds to create a juxtaposed mess of music to garner a progressive label. This time, however, they have done it right. There is rarely a dull moment on this release and I’m not afraid to make that claim. Listening through front to back is pure pleasure and never a chore. Throughout it are elements of soft rock and extreme metal, and everything in between the spectrum. What separates Heart of Oak from every other band that has tried this before is how every riff, drum beat, bass line and vocal melody belong here. It sounds like they represent the perfect ambassador for whatever genre they may seem to be playing in at that moment. Unlike a lot of other “prog” releases, Heart of Oak has filtered out of any music that should not be there. Nothing sounds strained or like a missed attempt for the sake of being progressive. In layman’s terms, there are seldom, if any, forced passages on this.

The softer moments are great and can easily hold their own if alone on the album. Instead, they act as silver linings to the already astonishingly powerful metal-driven moments that make up the meat of the record. These heavier sections are incredible to say the least. The bone-crushing chugs twist around pounding double bass until they are rocketed into the next black metal riff of pure insanity. The rhythms are catchy and the solos are great. What is most surprising is how good it sounds on the first listen, even with the complexity kicked into full gear.

Heart of Oak is one of those albums that is so well done, it makes you wonder why other bands can’t do something like it more often. Then again, that would just become fuel to the vicious progressive paradox that has plagued many before. Other acts should still, however, take this release as proof that it is possible to push the envelope on what defines progression without having to take a blind leap of faith into uncharted territory. - TheSpaceMan, Sputnik Music, http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/56611/Anciients-Heart-Of-Oak/

my mate made me listen to the new Earthless a few days ago while we were hammered and it sounded really good, as I guess you'd expect it to

I was surprised how many middling reviews there are of this album. Lots of complaints about influences, though the fact that they range from Opeth to High On Fire, Mastodon, Baroness and more, and no one seems to agree which is dominant is a good sign. I think it's a great album and the band has loads more potential.

34 Kvelertak - Meir, 375 Points, 12 Votes
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/31/Meir_cover.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/5PAjZGAD8j0XZANLxJWulb
spotify:album:5PAjZGAD8j0XZANLxJWulb

http://www.deezer.com/album/6284707
#4 Revolver, #2 SPIN, #9 Pop Matters, #22 Stereogum, #19 Obelisk readers, #12 Stoner HiVe, #18 Metal Hammer, #37 Terrorizer

The Needle Drop review - http://youtu.be/6KelOf9JfaY

On their second album Meir (simply, "More"), Stavanger six-piece Kvelertak haven't exactly refined the kitchen sink formula that made their eponymous 2010 debut one of the most welcome surprises of recent years; rather, they've bottled it, destroyed the recipe and knocked back gallons of the stuff like Vikings at a post-pillage feast. The Norse wild-men have thrown together a whole bunch of influences - some heavy, some not so much - that really shouldn't gel as well as they end up doing here and magically turned them into brain-meltingly brilliant hard rock party anthems.

There are probably a dozen metal sub-genres represented in some capacity over the course of Meir's fifty minutes, and whilst you might expect black metal and stoner rock, or folk metal and hardcore punk to coexist about as happily as hungry dogs squabbling over a dropped steak sandwich, they actually end up playing very nicely together. All metallic life is here, from Slayer to GNR to Mastodon to Converge (whose guitarist Kurt Ballou produces), but there are also nods to more mainstream heavy rockers, both past (Thin Lizzy, Aerosmith, Meat Loaf) and present (Foo Fighters, Queens Of The Stone Age), Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac, Slade and melodic pop-punks NOFX, to name but a few. On paper it's a train wreck, a mess of contrasting ideas and opposing ideologies, but these guys make it work, belting out hoarse-throated Cookie Monster vocals and terrace-style group chants over three-part guitar harmonies, thrashy solos and a rhythm section that turns on a dime from grindcore blast beats to glam rock stomp and back again.

This is a band that seem genuinely unconcerned with stylistic boundaries, who would no doubt be just as happy opening for Dave Grohl's Sound City project as they would touring with more obvious contemporaries like Torche or Kylesa; what’s more, you can be sure they would end up converting every crowd into a rabid, rapturous mass of wild-eyed believers.
 
So, will Meir make Kvelertak one of the biggest metal bands on the planet? Unfortunately, I don't think so. Although it lacks the element of surprise that boosted the debut's stock, Meir is a better, stronger, more accessible record overall; however, while kudos is due to new paymasters Roadrunner for allowing the band to use the same producer and even the same cover artist (Baroness' John Baizley) as before, they might have missed a trick by not insisting they throw a few choruses into the mix for non-Scandinavian fans to scream along to. Are American frat-boys really going to flock to download an album by a band whose name they can't pronounce, whose lyrics they can't understand and whose artwork suggests some kind of Game Of Thrones-fantasy over the English-speaking likes of Darkthrone or close spiritual cousins Turbonegro? Unlikely, but will Kvelertak give a flying fart? Certainly not, and neither should we: it doesn't matter one bit whether they're singing about burning bridges or finding trolls under them, and if you’re going to choose a moniker that doubles up as a battle cry (it translates as “chokehold”), then who can blame them for going full Motorhead and recording a band anthem with the same name?

Besides, coming from a country where heavy metal is basically the music of the gods, Kvelertak are working for a higher power than the global marketplace, and as long as they keep coming up with this awesome AC/DC-meets-Kiss-meets-Metallica racket, with music that feels this vital, then I’d no sooner argue with them than I would with Odin himself. Nobody could question the fact that these guys mean it with every fibre of their being, and Meir is music to make Norway proud; a new majestic fanfare to welcome hog-riding warriors into Valhalla. - Michael Dix, The Quietus, http://thequietus.com/articles/11778-kvelertak-meir-review

that album is great, voted for it in the main poll