The Sum of All Fossils was one of my absolute favorites of 2011. It's nearly a year later and I'm still having a ridiculously hard time trying to choose between it and Mitochondrion's Parasignosis to crown with album of the year honors. Regardless, they're both in the top 5 death metal records I've heard in the last decade and I'm jazzed this is finally being released on the only format that matters through Australopithecus Records. 300 copies are being pressed, 50 on 180gm black, 50 on maroon and 200 on white. A limited edition t-shirt to celebrate the vinyl release is also available for pre-order. TSOAF is a challenging record and not just in terms of technicality (though it is that). It's challenging in that it completely defies pigeonholing and the listener's expectations at every turn. Swirling technical death metal riffs that would sound at home on a Mitochondrion or Portal record butt up against Am Rep style noise rock bits. The Godflesh-esque industrial stomp of the rhythm hammers throughout. The entire record is sprinkeled with ambient parts, grindcore sections and completely triumphal riffs. Even the vocals are hard to pin down, being alternately death metal growls and shouted noise rock fare. I know it sounds like a complete hodgepodge, but what makes this album so great is that Flourishing don't just manage to "pull it off", they make it sound as if combining the influences that make up their sound is completely natural and we were just too blind to see it. Fans of Gorguts, Human Remains, Pyrrhon or even Am Rep style bands with at least a tangential interest in metal should definitely check this out, it's a completely unique record.
Death Grips is a bit of a turn for this site, but for those of you who know me, it's right in my wheel house of weird. I was turned on to this crew earlier this year through a review of a live show in which references to Dalek and Oxbow were thrown around. Color me intrigued. Add to that Hella's Zach Hill's involvment, yes please! The Money Store was my first listen and I was not disappointed. Glitchy, claustrophobic, incredibly raw, and beyond confrontational, Death Grips create not so much a piece of music as they do a manifesto at 120-160bpm. With Stefan "MC Ride" Burrnett's delivery, it's easy to see the comparisons to Oxbow's Eugene Robinson and hip hop luminary Saul Williams. Simply unhinged, unencumbered, and potentially dangerous.
So needless to say, I was more than stoked when the band themselves leaked their new album NO LOVE DEEP WEB. "Claiming" that their label, Epic..yeah they're signed to Epic Records, pushed back the release to an undisclosed date, the crew reacted. Blasting it all over the interwebs, posting full streams on youtube and multiple file sharing site, Death Grips made sure everyone knew that zero fucks are given! Whether you choose to believe that this was a defiant act or a well orchestrated campaign to build up their fan base, (Epic has made no statement regarding leak nor have they tried to take down any of their posts) it worked. Having listened to this album several times now, I can say with the utmost certainty, NO LOVE DEEP WEB is no easy listen. It is just as raw, abrasive, and challenging as their previous work. The "recorded in a bedroom" aesthetic makes this knife fight of an album sound almost intimate at the same time. I also love how this band, to me, are like the hip hop equivalent of a black metal band. No concern for the outside world or any particular trend, bucking conformity to capture the purest form of their very specific world view. They are wholly not concerned with what any one thinks.
While I encourage all to experience Death Grips, I don't expect everybody to like this immediately. Admittedly, with each of their releases, it's taken me a few spins to really get into. But once you find yourself in their head space, you'll find it difficult to leave.
Sickness Will Pass is one of my absolute favorites of 2012. You can read me gushing about it here. So I'm ridiculously stoked that it's finally coming out on the preferred format. Unfortunately pre-orders opened on the same day as ticket sales for Maryland Deathfest, so my bank account hates me right now. Two variants are available for pre-order, red and black marble (limited to 100) and a standard weight black unlimited variant. There is also a super reasonably priced pre-order bundle that comes with a red and black marble LP and a shirt (pictured below). Go to Seventh Rule and buy this fucking thing. Right. Fucking. Now.
The Flenser is currently taking pre-orders for a 12" split between Bay Area black metal/shoegaze/pos-rockers Deafheaven and Bosse-de-Nage, done in partnership with Deathwish Inc. This is Deafheaven's first release since their strong debut LP on Deathwish last year. For Bosse-de-Nage this split comes right on the heels of their newest full-length, III, one of my personal favorites this year. The Flenser is offering a purple marble with black variant limited to 200 copies exclusive to The Flenser webstore, as well as a standard black. It would appear that the Flenser exclusive variant is already more than half sold out at this point, so grab it quick. Deathwish will also be offering an exclusive variant, details to be announced later.
I love it when I stumble on to shit like this! A drunken night rummaging through the interwebs looking for something to jam on led me to this little lovely. This right here is prime, grade-a, cellar dwelling fuzzed fucked filth. This sublime cluster fuck of blackend crust doom punk and closet production comes courtesy of New Hampshire trio Ramlord. First off, sweet fucking name fellas! Secondly, sweet fucking riffs! Their din is reminiscent of acts like From Ashes Rise, Tragedy/His Hero Is Gone (especially in the vocal department), Disrupt, Perth Express, Noothgrush and even some Buzzov*en. My first listen was in the form of there new split with Dallas Texas' Cara Neir. A single 10 minute track of sheer disgust and brute force. Starting off with a dire two minute plus doomed out death march, Affliction of Clairvoyance erupts in a ferocious d-beat maelstrom just to bring it back to a crawl. Then amping it up again into a torrential black metal inspired crescendo . It's pretty awesome. Then came the four song 7 minute piss in the eye of their split with Condensed Flesh. Released last year, this side of Ramlord sees them deliver the the good in no frills all thrills fashion. It's crusty as fuck and straight to the point. It too is pretty awesome. The only fault that I can find with these recording lies within Affliction. While I love the grime the production (or lack there of) provides, the drum sound on this track bothers me at times. I gotta say that the snare sounds like it was recorded at the bottom of a well. Oh well. See what I did there.. Even with that one minor criticism, Ramlord are one hell of a band. I will be watching these guys closely.
The internet went fucking bananas this week when it found out Godspeed You! Black Emperor was selling their first new record in a decade at their Boston show and Constellation confirmed it's existence by opening up pre-orders. I too was among those going bananas on the interhole. Godspeed You! Black Emperor is one of my favorite bands of all time and in the top five bands I've ever seen live. I couldn't fucking wait to hear this record. Luckily we live an an age of instant gratification and I didn't have to wait long. A mere hour after I found out this record existed, a vinyl rip was making its way around the web. In my excitement I almost posted it before even hearing it, but decided to give it a few listens to try and digest it a bit first so I wasn't tossing something up on the blog that I hadn't vetted. In retrospect I'm an idiot for even entertaining the thought that GY!BE might release something less than stellar.
ALLELUJAH! DON'T BEND! ASCEND! features two songs, each of which runs just under 20 minutes and two drones of 6 and 8 minutes respectively. To be honest (and I'm sure this isn't a totally unpopular opinion) GY!BE's drones have never done much for me and these two are no exception. I don't mind some of the field recordings and other things they have done in the past while transitioning into and out of movements, but the standalone drone tracks are somewhat tedious. I get that they're there for atmospheric purposes, but drone has never floated my boat. The two actual songs however? If my ears could ejaculate, they would be doing so right now. Godspeed's approach to songwriting has not changed in the past decade, they still opt for the mood setting -> crescendo -> climax -> diminuendo and/or seemingly random part format. I may be jumping the gun here, but "Mladic" might be one of my new favorite Godspeed songs. After the usual formalities, the song builds into a guitar and drum driven section that reminds me quite a bit of Burning Off Impurities era Grails in it's Sabbath meets the Middle East vibe. It eventually moves into what is quite possibly my favorite section on the record, a classic Efrim weepy guitar line segues into a big swells of shoegazy guitar that will having you rocking back and forth in your chair until the bottom simply drops out. "We Drift Like Worried Fire" is another winner. A pensive opening section builds meticulously under blooms of fuzzy guitar, falls by the wayside and is replaced by volleys of tremolo picking. The song also features what is undeniably the most "poppy" movement in Godspeed You! Black Emperors' history, albeit rather brief.
This album is a complete and very welcome surprise. One of my top records of 2012. Welcome back you magnificent bastards. Now, if you could give the guys in Fugazi a call and get them do a new record this could be the best year for new music ever.
I know I'm in a slump when my queue of albums to listen to balloons to over 300...it's well beyond that right now. Time to get my ass in gear and listen to some new music, but first here's one from the archives.
This album sounds like shit. It's one of the least dynamic albums I've ever heard. Everything is ridiculously loud and pushed to the front of the "mix." It's super abrasive and over the course of it's 47 minutes, this album will fatigue your ears. I think that's one of the reasons why I rank it among the best black metal albums of the 2000's.
The other reason why I rank it so highly is that it's an absolute blasterpiece and a total riff-fest. The production perfectly compliments the music in this case, it's slightly over three quarters of an hour of unchecked aggression and this aggression will stand, man. It's got tremolo picked riffs and blastbeats until the cows come home and gnarly high pitched wails abound. Behexen aren't really interested subtlety or mood-setting on this record. No, they're more interested in grabbing you by the hair and holding your face to a belt sander whirring at 3400 rotations per minute until the air is filled with a fine mist of blood and bone dust. If that sounds like the type of thing you would enjoy, you should definitely check this record out (I'm looking at you, James).
Oh, and bonus points for one of the best black metal album covers ever.
Column Of Heaven's intent is clear. Violence. Comprised of member of the defunct The Endless Blockade, C.O.H picks up right were the latter left off. An unhinged power violence assault, unfettered by any need for extraneous song structures. It's just ball out. Mission From God is the musical equivalent of a deadly weapon. Razor sharp in execution and hits as hard as blunt force trauma. And while all the bash and stab is happening,C.O.H. keep their listeners even more disorientated and unsettled with the addition of noise and electronics. It's a familiar element that Endless used to great but much more sparing effect. This 17 minute, 11 track slab of vitriol is not to be missed. Like this album, I'm keeping this review short and sweet. The end.
