Year in Review - the Releases of May 2013

The Dillinger Escape Plan – One Of Us is the Killer

Genre: Progressive Metal/Metalcore

        Early in the year, it came to light that North Carolinan math-mongers the Dillinger Escape Plan were slated to sign to Sumerian Records – y'know, the crabcore label that's currently home to Asking Alexandria. As much of a double-take as I did at the time, Sumerian quickly released that they would be producing the new Dillinger record, One of Us is the Killer, in May, ensuring I had something to look forward to after finals last semester.

         TDEP's thirteen-year resume spans four albums, with Killer as the successor to 2010's electrically spastic Option Paralysis. Their discography is as full of ups and downs and switch-ups as their music, with their first two records being the most intensely unapproachable and mind-melting – everyone knows just how insane '43% Burnt' is as a song. Then, in 2007, the band put out Ire Works, which suddenly toned down the more ridiculous mathrock elements as the band flirted with a dirty word – accessible.

      Killer, and its counterpart Option Paralysis, see Dillinger striking the happy medium between mathrock explosions and more traditional progressive lull, with Killer refining the formula Option Paralysis hit on initially. Killer starts off with two more traditional Dillinger-type songs, 'Prancer' and 'When I Lost My Bet' (the second of which has a mind-bending music video out) before stabilizing into an interplay between clean-studded choruses and verses and note-heavy breaks.

          Perhaps the most striking example comes on 'Paranoia Shields', which features vocalist Greg Puciato alternatively singing and screaming, never with any prompt or hint of what's to come, and an eerie, falsetto-ridden break erupting into a more metal climax. Puciato is especially willing to use clean vocals on this album, something that previous installments (besides Ire Works) were a bit too committed to inaccessibility to feature. It's an interesting addition and gives the band's music more of a prog-like texture, but fans of TDEP's earlier stuff will more prefer the first two songs and the aptly-named pair 'CH 375 268 277 ARS' and 'Magic That I Held You Prisoner' , which goes back and forth suddenly and is as heavy and spastic as it comes.

          That's not to say the new Dillinger album is all singing and no -oomph – it's got plenty of nebulous, unstructured riffs to rain down on your heads, but those elements are a lot more toned down as the album goes on, as if the band put their foot down after 'When I Lost My Bet' and committed to making more predictable music. For the most part, it works well, although Dillinger's skill in playing their older sound is just as strong as before, and on Killer becomes almost tantalizing as the band drops a link to Calculating Infinity so seldomly. But, conversely, having an actually comprehensible riff now and then doesn't diminish how schizophrenic and balls-out insane the band is. Even at the least like their old selves, Dillinger are just as powerful and frantic, but with a whole bunch of other ideas, like the methodical, plodding 'Crossburner'.

          Killer is an interesting record that I'm still divided on. There are heaps of new, interesting ideas contrasted with more old-fashioned Dillinger insanity, but the problem the band continues to face is how well those two work together. If the band is going for jarring instrumentals, Killer is far too gentle. If they are looking to ease up a little, it's still closer to Option Paralysis' level of approachability. This is a record that stands squarely at a crossroad, and whichever road TDEP take it down could work in their favor.

Notable Songs: 'Prancer', 'Nothing's Funny', 'Paranoia Shields'.

Kylesa – Ultraviolet

Genre: Psychedelic/Sludge Metal

         Kylesa, as part of the psychedelia-soaked North Carolina sludge scene – alongside bands like Baroness, Black Tusk, and Mastodon – have been slowly but surely modulating their sound as the years go by into a finely honed, precise balance of murky obtuseness and scintillating bright lights. Their latest effort, Ultraviolet, is a continuation of that process, suspending the listener in layered fields of southern-sunshine and vast space. Indeed, with Ultraviolet Kylesa have strayed the furthest from their more abrasive roots, with only the record's intro 'Exhale' conjuring up memories of Time Will Fuse its Worth. The rest of the record, especially the closer, is nebulous and weird, with fuzz-encrusted notes ringing out into oblivion.

        Ultraviolet can be likened to a man moving from a run to a ponderous crawl – 'Exhale' is as rough-and-tumble as sludge comes, with dissonant vocals and yowling guitars amidst a wall-like backdrop. By the time the record reaches the halfway mark, however, it's all but totally transformed, with clean vocals and melodic licks taking precedence, and by the time Ultraviolet runs its course it's unrecognizable in texture and in sound.

        It's a slow, undeniable, and fascinating direction, with the band letting their vocals take a backseat to the twin-guitar mastery of Laura Pleasants and Philip Cope, who twang flawlessly through the record's eleven songs, surfacing every now and then in an unclean, more distorted verse to contrast with the elaborate, swelling soundscapes in between. Oftentimes, the two hypnotically overlap, such as on the excellent 'Long Gone'.

       New to this record is also the band's willingness to actually use their twin drummers to their full potential – 'Long Gone' features a doubly-intense drum break as skinpounders Carl McGinley and Eric Hernandez go all-out in a rhythmic, pounding assault. Previous Kylesa records floundered a little in the interest department because of a lack of innovation or distinguishing characteristics, and with Ultraviolet this trend is thankfully reversed. Every song on this record could stand on its own as a thrilling, catchy piece of Kylesa's formidable discography.

       I have to mention, of course, the ending three songs, 'Vulture's Landing', 'Quicksand', and 'Drifting', the last of which is Kylesa's most experimental and bizarre output yet. Beginning with 'Vulture's Landing', the band rapidly and unexpectedly slows to more of a crawl than before, allowing Pleasants' and Cope's guitars to ring out monumentally against the plodding percussion and weave ethereal images. It's here where psychedelia runs wild – phasers and fuzz are set to max, building off of one another into an impressive and daunting portrait.

        Ultraviolet as a whole is far slower than Kylesa's previous records, instead opting to focus more on instrumentals and allow the band's musical talent to be on display in all of its impressiveness. The end result is a far more memorable Kylesa record, with riffs and melodies sticking in your head and never letting go.

Notable Tracks: 'Grounded', 'Long Gone', 'Drifting'.

Christopher Lee – Charlemagne: the Omens of Death

Genre: FUCKING AWESOME

       If ever there were a competition for 'Most Metal Human Being Alive', my nomination would squarely rest on Christopher Lee – the British actor who most people know from the Lord of the Rings trilogy for playing Saruman. What a lot of people don't know is that Lee has played enough villains to make Vincent Price scared, including the intensely gory Dracula films of the 60s and Count Dooku in the admittedly-terrible Star Wars prequel movies. Lee has quite a resume under his belt as an epic villain, so imagine how excited I got when, on his ninetieth birthday, Lee announced he was releasing a heavy metal album, a sequel to the unabashed ridiculousness of his 2010 By the Sword and the Cross.

       Let that sink in for a bit: a 90-year old bearded British actor renowned for playing villains with a voice low enough to cause earthquakes has released not one, but two heavy metal albums.

        Charlemagne: the Omens of Death is the answer to what every metal nerd has ever wanted – it's spectacularly camp, but Lee is too badass to care and try and make it believable. It's an epic, sprawling tale of Charlemagne's ghost (played by Lee) recalling a tale from his youth. As would befit the story of a French hero, this record is absolutely oozing cheese, from the orchestral crescendo at the start of 'the Portent' as Lee ominously narrates “these were omens...the omens...of death!” to the 80s pomp and bombast this record thrusts out in spades.

           Because By the Sword and the Cross featured Rhapsody of Fire so much, it had a pretty obvious symphonic lilt to it, which added to the epic silliness that Lee was undoubtedly looking for. With the Omens of Death, that element has been replaced with a more traditionally “heavy metal” sound to things – you'll hear no flutes and horns on this record; instead, brace yourself for fairly standard riffment and melody. It's a small change, but a regrettable one in that this record loses the goofily obvious self-awareness it had on By the Sword and the Cross. That's not say The Omens of Death is totally serious – let's be serious, that would be impossible – you've still got plenty of cheering soldiers and a whole host of vocalists stars to tell a colorful story of Charlemagne's succession, and one look at the album art dispels the concept that this record is meant to be taken seriously.

         The centerpiece of the record is, understandably, Lee, who sings his heart out with enough panache that he could be half his age. It's clear how much fun everyone was having when they made this record, and even though it's hackneyed in its approach to music – long, fast guitar solos after each and every development on 'The Siege' are the name of the game – it's a rollicking, surprisingly historically accurate account of European history following the formation of the Carolingan Empire (seriously, wikipedia that shit).          To The Omens of Death's record, it manages to make a fairly uninteresting history lesson into a lot of fun, with stirring vocals – Lee has one hell of a voice – and equally triumphant instrumentals. And while the lyrics are so packed with drama that you can hardly keep yourself from gasping, they do stumble a bit as the sentences ramble, with everyone trying to cram as much fantastic imagery into the lyrics as possible.

         With the Omens of Death, Lee and his cast of supporting artists show that not only do they understand every heavy metal cliche in the book, but that they're more than willing to exploit them and jam as many as possible into a fairly short record. All that's missing from this epic sojourn of an album are dragons and werewolves to transform this nerd dream into a nerd wet dream.

Notable Tracks: 'The Siege', 'Massacre of the Saxons', 'Let Legend Mark Me as the King'.

ASG – Blood Drive

Genre: Stoner Rock

        With sunshine and heat dripping from every twang, ASG returned to the fray this year with their first full length after 2007's superb Win Us Over. Blood Drive sees the band both explore and mature, abandoning the pop-soaked cheer of Win Us Over for a more methodical, expansive approach that's easily apparent from the striking difference in introductions between the two records – while Win Us Over opened with the distorted, harmonic-studded 'Right Before Death', Blood Drive cautiously pokes its head around the corner with the slower, layered 'Avalanche' as Jason Shi croons 'All the gods are crazy, can't you see'?

         The band has quite a colorful, diverse history, forming in 2000 initially as fairly nondescript Fu Manchu worship before gradually reaching equilibrium in 2005 with Feeling Good is Good Enough, perfecting that in 2007, and then vanishing for six years. In that time, though, ASG have gone from southern frill to jaded, as Blood Drive is a profoundly darker record than previous outings – not just instrumentally, but lyrically it's just not a very happy album. Sure, you've got the good ol' pentatonic licks and catchy hooks the band have always had, but new to this album is the sense that something is amiss – as though the band are keeping a secret that's tearing them apart and giving every impression otherwise. And with vocalist Jason Shi intoning 'Got a long list of foes, and a shorter list of friends...' on the title track, this feeling is magnified.

  

       Blood Drive is a downtrodden, introspective record, and an example of stoner rock being actually quite an emotional experience as ASG rock their way through thirteen soulful ballads with deliberate, heartfelt emotion. ASG aren't just about the blues, though, there's exasperation ('Scrappy's Trip') and ebullient wonder ('Earthwalk') too – and all in all it gives Blood Drive a unique, melancholic lilt that puts ASG's newest at odds with the carefree aesthetic lots of stoner rock bands try to emphasize.

It's a slower record than anything the band has put out so far, with the band utterly shedding any sense of familiarity they had on the album's second half. And while the anthemic element is still there, and in many cases magnified with Blood Drive's slower tempo, ASG's transformation in many ways is total. There's a whole host of new elements and developments in this record, the altered mood aside. Shi shies (god that alliteration) away from screaming, and the few incidences of unclean vocals on the record immediately make you perk up. Secondly is the novel introduction of acoustic guitar, with 'Children's Music' opening with effervescent dual acoustic melodies.

          ASG have already cemented themselves as a band willing to constantly change, so in lots of ways this evolution shouldn't be surprising – but the interest factor in Blood Drive isn't only “oh look ASG sound totally different”, it's “holy crap this new ASG sound is good.” It's a very precise, methodical sound that is difficult to point out why it's as infectious as it is. If Win Us Over was a beer-soaked July cookout, Blood Drive is the hungover next morning – it was as predictable a turn as any, but how exactly that turn would manifest was a matter of debate, and with Blood Drive ASG cement their legacy as a band willing to dive headfirst into something they may not know and come out doing it right. This is a highly recommended record.

     Notable Songs: 'Blues for Bama', 'Stargazin'', 'Mourning of the Earth'.

Blood Ceremony – The Eldritch Dark

Genre: Psychedelic Rock (“Occult Rock”)

        In 1969, a fairly cringe-worthy English rock band called Coven put out their first record, entitled Withcraft Destroy Minds and Reaps Souls, which was quickly and totally forgotten, their countrymen in Black Sabbath reaping the majority of the fame. However, Coven's contribution to metal was far more subtle – not only are they the first band noted for overtly satanic themes, but Coven coined potentially the most well-known metal one-liner ever: “Hail Satan!”

          And even as Coven disappeared into the aether, their aesthetic influence permeated what would come to be heavy metal. Recently, bands like the Devil's Blood, Ghost BC, and Jex Thoth have appeared as part of a 70s revival coined 'occult rock' for its mixture of psychedelic rock and 70s influence. Canada's contribution to this fledgling scene come in the form of Blood Ceremony – a female-fronted act from Toronto who recently put out their newest and most memorable record, the Eldritch Dark.

         It's difficult to describe Blood Ceremony's music, because even while there's enough blues-y Sabbath worship, frontwoman Alia O'Brien's proficiency as a flutist allows her to interject plenty of folk-like rhythm during the Eldritch Dark's numerous breaks. Perhaps most uniquely, her flutework plays with the riffs of guitarist Sean Kennedy, lending Blood Ceremony's music a unique lilt that, even as it struggles with staying unique, makes it quickly identifiable (beyond O'Brien's vocals, of course).

         The Eldritch Dark struggles with the same problems that have plagued the record since their 2008 self-titled, namely that it's interesting for about two songs before it runs its gamut of tricks and resorts to repeating them. I saw the band open for Kylesa back in June, and they were at their best when they were whipping the crowd into a frenzy with the Eldritch Dark's more classic rock-styled songs – people started getting beer halfway through 'Lord Summerisle', easily the record's worst, and returned to the pit for more punishment.

        Blood Ceremony are good at telling a story, and most of the songs on Eldritch Dark weave occult, nerdy yarns that satisfy every metal fan's inner Crowley. This is where the band's folk-ier side of things starts to shine, because O'Brien's prose is a little heavy-handed for good ol' fashioned heavy metal, and when you've got a fiddle or a flute to transport you into the music, it feels less like Blood Ceremony are putting two things at odds with one another and more like the lyrics and instrumentals fit.

        The Eldritch Dark is oodles ahead of Blood Ceremony's previous work, but the band's choice to eschew psychedelics for folk elements nevertheless makes it less interesting for me than bands like Jex Thoth. If you're a fan of their previous work, you'll definitely enjoy this record, but otherwise tread cautiously. It's an interesting ride you may come away from feeling empty from.

Notable Tracks: 'Witchwood', 'Ballad of the Weird Sisters', 'Drawing Down the Moon'.

Indricothere – II

Genre: Progressive/Technical Metal

        I have mixed feelings about extreme metal from New York – on the one hand, you have the pretentious stupidity of Liturgy, but on the other hand, the various projects surrounding the intensely technical, borderline difficult-to-listen-to Behold! The Arctopus are often quite interesting, if equally spastic outings. Colin Marston, BTA's guitarist (who, incidentally, played bass on Gorguts' Colored Sands this past year) has been involved heavily in other progressive projects in the Tristate Area, including Krallice and Dysrhythmia, but his solo project Indricothere was notable this year in that Marston put out two records in the span of six months – the first, II, being more traditional progressive metal, while the second, XI being a bizarre, lengthy ambient album.

  II thunders into being with a more focused, intense idea of what it wants to do, and while it's still riffs on riffs on riffs, there's a lot more cohesion to the distorted mess than there was in 2007 – in fact, II's songs stand by themselves fairly well, and it's almost catchy music – a change indeed from the ridiculousness of Behold! The Arctopus and the self-titled.

      Indricothere's first, self-titled record appeared in 2007 and featured Marston effectively channeling the ideas he had in BTA into an act that was different only in name – it was weird and not very interesting considering Marston gave the impression Indricothere was a sort of cache for ideas he got during BTA recording to be used later. Six years later,

         I've described II to friends as 'djent without AxeFX', and I stand by that definition fully – there's the technical complexity of bands like Structures and Sikth but, (1) Indricothere are totally instrumental, and (2) the guitar tone isn't as soulless and gimmick-y as other djent bands. Marston actually has quite a few genre-bending ideas, including blast-beat ridden blackened passages and thrash-y triplets that flare up just as quickly as they vanish totally.

        There's a near indefatigable load of riffs on this album, and while II is still a highly technical record, the wankery is turned down just enough that riffs get stuck in your head – which is commendable because I need at least a little structure in my music. In any case, it all falls apart on the last track 'IX', which features more tempo changes and ideas than you thought possible on a single 7-minute song.

       I'm a bit reluctant to call this 'progressive metal' because in a lot of ways it's just too extreme to show any sort of 'progress' beyond mainstream metal. It's not like Indricothere decided to start off with Metallica and work their way up – II is 100% technicality everywhere, with riffs layering upon each other into a twitching wall of sound on 'X'. It's definitely not for everyone, but if you appreciate technicality it's quite a fun listen.

     Notable Tracks: 'VI', 'VIII', 'X'.

Sleeping in Gethsemane – When the Landscape is Quiet Again

Genre: Post-Rock/Progressive Metal

        Sleeping in Gethsemane have been one of my favorite underground post-rock bands for quite some time, acting as the perfect balance between Russian Circles' arcane musical weaves and Pelican's lumbering, jolly outlook. Like the two, SIG are a purely instrumental band, opting for a scant few gang cheers now and then and instead letting their instrumental prowess speak for them. Hailing from North Dakota, the band has been putting out material since 2007's excellent The Great White North – whose epic post-rock breaks mixed with progressive eccentricities made it out to be both unique and refreshing to anyone who enjoys riff-heavy post-metal.

         Sadly, SIG disbanded earlier this year after putting out the stellar When the Landscape is Quiet Again, which cements the band's swan song in a burst of frenzied riffwork and lush textures and colors. 'The Brave' is the record's epic debut, and never quite lets the pace up for its three minute duration. Nevertheless, it's massive enough to span whole landscapes as the three-piece hammers away relentlessly. 'Earth is For the Living', on the other hand, slows down and allows itself a lengthy atmospheric wandering before the heaviness returns.

         When the Landscape is Quiet Again, like previous SIG outings, is impressive in that it never feels like the band is running out of ideas – each song on this record has a very clear, defined beginning, middle, and end, and goes out of its way to make the transitions between all of them as smooth as possible. But what makes their final record different than previous outings is that SIG clearly took a much more metal approach to this album than before, and it shows up in the frenetic energy that infects both this record's first half and the listener. The climax on 'the Madness of Men' is absolutely spectacular as the guitarwork passionately echoes into the song's finish.

         For a record about quiet, SIG pack quite a punch on this record, but it never approaches the aloof, distant sound that lots of more punishing post-metal has in spades. SIG's musical embrace is warm and inviting, with comforting, catchy hooks and riffs to put a smile on your face and get you to start banging your head. The band have always been good at mixing technical and atmospheric elements together, and while neither is ever overpowering, it's clear that if the band let one take precedence they'd be amazing at it. Part of what makes SIG's music so unique and engaging for me is that there isn't really anything that quite sounds like it – Russian Circles comes close, but the distant artistry of the music keeps it from having SIG's warmth and fun.

         The record itself follows a rise-and-fall pattern, beginning off quick and heavy before subsiding into the melancholic, bittersweet ending pair 'Leitmotif de Mort' and the aptly-named 'Swan Song'. There's plenty of cocky panache, but there's also reflective, melodic passages evocative of a snowy winter dawn. There's something on this record for everyone, and it's in that regard that SIG's final outing shines so brightly. I said the same thing about Black Pyramid's Adversarial and I'll say it about When the Landscape is Quiet Again – this is a thoroughly satisfying listen; every note, riff, and drum fill from the insane precision and intensity of drummer Shane Heilman feels as though it was meant to go exactly where it fits in this record. There are no bad surprises on this record, and every passing minute left me excited for what was going to come next. There are no frivolities or pretentious tangents – SIG went into this with a guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, oodles of talent, and came out with an amazing record, and as 'Swan Song' fades out ponderously, I can't help but wish there was more.

        Notable Songs: 'The Brave', 'the Madness of Men', 'Letimotif de Mort'.

Orchid – The Mouths of Madness

Genre: Stoner/Doom Metal

       Orchid (not to be confused with the seminal screamo band of the same name) like Black Sabbath. Like, they really like Black Sabbath. As part of the 70s revival movement that's sweeping doom metal at the moment, Orchid have had an eye for the occult and an ear for Ozzy since 2007. They landed on my radar after 2011's Capricorn – a sprawling odyssey with enough doom and gloom to distinguish them from the pack. Orchid's music speaks to the inner Sabbath fan in all of us, but that's where comparisons to the legendary Brits end. Their influences aside, Orchid stand on their own – and the Mouths of Madness is testament to how good that is by itself.

         The Mouths of Madness is an interesting album for a variety of reasons – namely, it approaches the 70s formula for heavy metal with a modern perspective, which result in plenty of delicious anachronisms that make listening to this record that much more addictive. Missing the blues elements that Judas Priest and Slayer did away with in the 80s? Orchid bring it back full force – far more than 70s pioneers like Hawkwind and Zeppelin ever dabbled in. Or perhaps you dig the riffwork of Mr. Iommi (well, who doesn't)? Orchid throw a bone your way with that too – the Mouths of Madness features plenty of rambling solos that echo Iommi's darkened sonic rituals.

         'Silent One', for example, starts off with the most palpable Sabbath influence I've heard in a while, but has just enough modern metal-isms to make it undeniably Orchid – and ultimately answers the question of what Black Sabbath would sound like if they'd taken more leafs out of Zeppelin's book. For all I can compare Orchid and Sabbath, the former's anthemic pieces, which echo the Sword's epic take on metal, puts them in a category by themselves – which is good! Because no one likes a ripoff.

         Orchid have never been a band to throw psychedelics in your face, which plenty of revival bands and 'occult rock' bands are more than content to do. The Mouths of Madness features them in a much more muted role, serving to heighten the band's solos or to add to a climax, as they do on the title song. It's an interesting addition that I'm all in favor of, because instead of disengaging as the weird hues take hold, you're instead sucked in to the catchy riffwork and stylings the band is more than willing to put on display.

         The Mouths of Madness is, in a word, heavy metal the way I like it – heavy, occult, and with just enough blues licks to really get stuck in your head. It's not the most stable trip, however, with the band quickly veering into uninteresting after the spectacular first track, only to make a triumphant return on 'Mountains of Steel', and the excellent 'Wizard of War', which was released as an EP a few years ago.                 Ultimately, though, the most glaring problem on The Mouths of Madness isn't the talent or the ideas, it's all in the execution. This is an album that doesn't really go anywhere. It sits in one small corner and doesn't really branch out at all – a problem that was absent on Capricorn. The band have ideas, but don't know how to pull them off, and that's what leads to the record's downfall – their good ideas, when the band chooses to expound on them, are genuinely excellent, but Orchid don't expound on them very often.

        With the exception of a handful of genuinely amazing riffs, the Mouths of Madness sounds almost identical to the Sword – maybe it's a bit less nerdy, but it's just not a very interesting record. It's difficult to mess up stoner metal, but on the Mouths of Madness Orchid have somehow found a way to make what should sound awesome and fun fairly redundant. It's decent, and rarely stops being anything but that. There really isn't much else to say.

Notable Songs: 'The Mouths of Madness', 'Leaving It All Behind', 'Wizard of War'.

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats – Mind Control

Genre: Stoner Metal

     As I finish up this month's albums, I can't help but notice that this year was quite bounteous for stoner fans – Black Sabbath, Jex Thoth, Windhand...we've truly been blessed by the powers that be. In any case, the shadowy British stoner collective of Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats released their third fuzzy opus this past May in the form of Mind Control – a monumental, delectably slow collection of anachronisms. From the band's name to their vintage album covers, Uncle Acid and co. are fairly obvious in their love of the 70s, but unlike their compatriots in Orchid, Uncle Acid's music has always been about putting heavy first, imitation second. 'Mt. Abraxas' is as quintessentially heavy metal as a song can be – it's heavy and slow, but with just enough flourish and pomp to pull ahead of the flock.

       Mind Control takes cues from more than just heavy metal, though, and while previous outing Blood Lust featured a healthy cock-rock influence in the form of falsetto vocals, Mind Control instead draws from the present to add what some might even consider a drone element to lots of their songs as a simple riff flares against a scant background, as in the aforementioned 'Mt. Abraxas'. Otherwise, the jamming blues of 'Mind Crawler' or 'Evil Love' are the band's best yet, mixing the pentatonic fervor of bands like Pentagram and Blue Oyster Cult with the band's own spellbinding and present-based thinking.

        Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats have always been one of the best bands in the retro-metal movement at fusing the nascent characteristics of heavy metal with modern techniques and approaches to songwriting. This is an album that's both catchy and deep, and as the instruments ring against the warm, whispering backdrop of distortion, the first thing that comes to mind is that for a band as modern as these lads, they've got a spectacular grasp on heavy metal's ins and outs – but instead of inflating the stereotypes humorously like Christopher Lee, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats turn them into something different – and it's that hint of familiar-and-yet-distant that makes Mind Control such an enjoyable album.

        It's nothing new to the band's repertoire, but that doesn't mean it's not commendable. I, for one, was almost disappointed when 'Poison Apple' came to a close as Uncle Acid's fantastic-sounding guitar solo faded out into another catchy riff and the excellently psychedelic 'Desert Ceremony'. Mind Control , at points, goes considerably slower than anything the band has put out previously and this ultimately works out in the band's favor, allowing their massive sound to breathe and stretch as rambling solos fly out effervescently against the methodical, plodding beat. New to this album is the addition of a rhythm guitarist – fellow axeslinger Yotam Rubinger adds to the scope of the record by allowing his guitar and Uncle Acid's to play off of one another or work together, whether it's by doubling the attack of the riff on 'Evil Love' or by trading space in 'Poison Apple'.

        But what's potentially the biggest talking point for this record is the pair of bizarre, overly psychedelic Beatle-worship songs 'Death Valley Blues' and 'Follow the Leader' which come out of nowhere and, while welcome, are totally unexpected. 'Follow the Leader' especially has the band completely eschewing heavy metal in lieu of pure flower power. When you get over the fact that the band actually does it quite well, its rambling nooks and crannies offer up some of the record's biggest moments.

      To conclude, this is an excellent trip through retro-metal done right, and as the band takes its time, molding the elements of what made previous Deadbeats outings so memorable, it certainly shows. For those who enjoy traditional doom in all of its myriad forms, Mind Control is not an album to be missed.

Notable Tracks: 'Mount Abraxas', 'Poison Apple', 'Devil's Work'.

Year in Review - the Releases of April 2013

Bring Me the Horizon – Sempiternal

Genre: Metalcore/Post-Rock

        For lack of a better word, Bring Me the Horizon are one of the most forward-thinking and imaginative metalcore bands making music today. From their deathcore inception seven years ago with Count Your Blessings, to their undeniable peak with Suicide Season, the British act have treated their sound as a fluid construct – molding it as they wish with each subsequent release. 2010's There is a Hell Believe Me I've Seen It, There is a Heaven Let's Keep it a Secret drew simultaneously the ire and approval of their listeners, alienating a fanbase that wanted Suicide Season 2.0 while firmly stating that they weren't content to sit around and chug. There is a Hell was a transition record, and as such stumbled and slipped quite a bit as the band tried to work a This Will Destroy You-style influence into their music, while keeping the obtuse, obnoxious heaviness of previous outings. After retiring to the English wilderness to write their new album, April saw the release of Sempiternal.

         In a word, Sempiternal picks up the slack There is a Hell allowed itself, molding the melody, clean vocals, echoed guitarwork the band tried to put forward in 2010 with frontman Oli Sykes' signature compressed yell and just enough thickness to have the two work together flawlessly. Like most metalcore bands, BMTH play it fast and loose, filling each song to the brim with enough hooks and ebullient vocals, but there's just as much of a rejection of elements that people have chided the band for – you've got a breakdown now and then, but the transition is flawless and they never serve to detract from the music. Post-rock elements fly about at top speed, whether it's layered guitar and synths, or a big ol' ambient section ('And the Snakes Start to Sing') and BMTH remains the first and only band in the genre that can pull them off. Both influences – Norma Jean and Explosions in the Sky – get space on this record, and the nostalgic, -core-heavy pieces are balanced out by lighter, more open passages and entire songs.

           Just as well, Sempiternal is (surprise) a profoundly negative record, which shouldn't surprise anyone who's heard the band's previous output, but it's a very focused negativity, this time alighting on religion, and for all of its mostly juvenile angst - “Middle fingers up if you don't give a fuck!” howls 'Antivist' – a few songs ('Hospital For Souls' and 'Shadow Moses' to name two) are a touch more personal and deal with death on an individual level (which, as an aside, is the concept of one of my favorite albums of all time), and while Sempiternal still features some pretty terrible lyrics, the band's willingness to look at some actual serious subject matter is commendable, and hopefully a sign of further maturation.

           There's that word again – mature. It's almost a joke in -core that when a band stops playing breakdowns about cheating whores and learns how to play competent music, their sound really matures maaan and they morph into 'regular hardcore'. What's missing from that model is that maturation is a very slow, subtle, subjective process – look at people, it takes us nearly eighteen years to mature biologically but who's a functional adult at 18? Sempiternal, and, indeed, the band's output as a whole, are more reflective of that laborious, but ultimately rewarding process. Are BMTH done? Absolutely not, but they're making good progress.

        Notable Songs: 'And the Snakes Start to Sing', 'Sleepwalking', 'Empire (Let them Sing)'.

Woe – Withdrawal

Genre: Black Metal

       Woe, the Philadelphia black metal act that began life as the one-man project of multi-instrumentalist Chris Grigg, has seen its share of ups and downs. Following the release of the stellar A Spell For the Death of Man in 2008, Grigg expanded Woe to feature full-time members for other instruments besides guitar, and the result was 2010's ultimately forgettable Quietly, Undramatically. It was energetic, delectably heavy and catchy as sin, but lacked staying power and came off as stateside Taake worship (aside, I saw Taake at their first North American show ever and it was awesome, you Euros have it lucky).

        A Spell For the Death of Man's charm was that it combined the near-accessibility of bands like Krieg and Taake while simultaneously brutally injecting its own epic passages and portions – the explosion at the start of 'Solitude' is always awesome, and for the most part that trend is continued in Withdrawal, the band's newest effort. Opening track 'This is the End of the Story' wastes no time, as Grigg's delectable guitar tone and the ridiculous drumming of Ruston Grosse never quite lets up for a good chunk of the record.

Withdrawal's saving grace, however, is that it continues A Spell For the Death of Man's ideas while throwing a barrage of flawlessly executed new ideas at you – need a breakdown? There's a breakdown in 'Carried By Remorseless Waves to the Shores of Truth'. Clean vocals? Look no further than the aforementioned 'This is the End of the Story'. Woe has always been an exercise in instrumental simplicity, as Grigg has laughingly admitted he's not a very good guitarist, but simplicity can work well in black metal – see Filosofem - and Woe are prime examples of it.

          The record's simplicity works well because Woe's take includes a good amount of melody, perfect production that's just muddy enough to let the music spread around the listener as a cloak, and enough inter-song variety to keep the record from going stale. 'Song of my Undoing', for instance, introduces itself with a heavy metal-style riff and some wretched vocals before lapsing into an ambient, churning passage with clean vocals and ringing chords. Perhaps it's the fact that the riffs tend to repeat themselves, but Withdrawal is a highly catchy record, which works in its favor to transcend the mistakes of Quietly, Undramatically and make an impression on the listener as an 'I really like this' (at least for me it was the case).

         To conclude, Woe have done it again – Withdrawal is an excellent record, emotional and oppressive yet rapid and headbang-inducing. Check these guys out; it'll be well worth your while.

Notable Tracks: 'This is the End of the Story', 'Song of My Undoing', 'Exhausted'.

The Ocean – Pelagial

Genre: Progressive Metal

       This is one of those albums everyone rants and raves about, claiming it's one of the best progressive records of the past five years, that it's the Ocean's breakout record, blah blah blah, and that I listen to, shrug, and say “it's pretty good”. The Ocean have always completely failed to make an impact on me – Heliocentric and Anthropocentric were decent, if unremarkable, albums, while Precambrian was a pretty good time. That being said, for a band that's been around for almost twelve years to just now figure out how to be memorable is, to be blunt, a tad embarrassing.

       In any case, Pelagial is a concept album, as the Ocean are wont to make, exploring the various levels of (appropriately) the ocean. Predictably, the deeper the band travels the heavier their music gets, but that's only grazing the surface (no pun intended) of what Pelagial has to offer. With Pelagial, the German band's mostly stabilized lineup finally puts out a record worth listening to more than once, and packs every second full of expertly molded prog technicality and intensity.

     There's a healthy shoegaze element to a lot of this record that contrasts with the heavier, more abrasive metal passages, resulting in an interplay between loud and soft that gives lots of songs a more epic, anthemic feel as the band moves between meditative and triumphant. But that's not to say Pelagial is all smooth sailing (hehe I could go on for hours), there's plenty of chaos as the record moves along, progressing deeper into the abyss.

      'Demersal', the record's penultimate track, is claustrophobic and dissonant, and more classically 'metal' than the rest of the album. 'Demersal' features almost no clean vocals, and at almost nine minutes, it's intense and dark, perfectly echoing the atmosphere the band was going for. On the other hand, 'Bathyalpelagic II', which is closer to the surface, is a bigger and more melodic song, and one of the better offerings the record puts forward by mixing the two moods the Ocean play with into a nautical epic. Meanwhile, 'Benthic' closes the record with a crushing, abrasive monolith of a track, the memories of sunlit waters from the start of the album now a distant memory.

       What makes Pelagial one of the best records by the band is that, as they did with Precambrian, the Ocean paint massive soundscapes, and even released an instrumental version of the album. With regards to atmosphere, this is a godsend because the Ocean shine the brightest when they're translating a landscape into music – see my appreciation for their previous record Precambrian. With Pelagial, the order and chaos of the instrumentals echo the crash of waves of the sea, and while the deeply personal lyrics and vocal talent of Loic Rossetti are interesting additions, adding thoughtful discourse to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the fact that plunging headfirst into the ocean with an instrumental album is a possibility is a welcome bonus.

I do quite like this record – it's a damn good progressive outing, with just enough sludginess in the latter portions to satisfy the heavy-seeking demon in me, but what I don't understand about it is why everyone is trumpeting Pelagial as the album of the year. Hell, even in the progressive category, I can name three other bands who put out material I was more attached to than this record. Is it good? Very, but is it the best this year? Far from it.

        Notable Tracks: 'Mesopelagic', 'Bathyalpelagic II', 'Abyssopelagic II'.

Eibon – II

Genre: Doom/Sludge Metal

       When you think of sludge, you think of some deranged Iowa redneck yowling into a microphone while his similarly intoxicated friends crash away drunkenly on their instruments. Eyehategod, Crowbar, Thou...all a proud 'Murrican creation. The Savannah and Louisiana sludge scenes have birthed massive players in the metal world – the almighty Mastodon among them – and thus it's a huge surprise when a sludge band comes out of nowhere, or, in the case of Eibon, from France.

         French metal leans overwhelmingly towards the blackened side of things – hell, there was a Gallic equivalent to the Norwegian Inner Circle during the genre's early days (Les Légions Noires) and the country has spawned acts like Peste Noire and Seth. Eibon, on the other hand, came crashing out of Paris in 2010 with a filthy mess dubbed Entering Darkness – six wretched, drawn-out sessions of filth – and returned this past April with two mammoth songs packaged together as their newest record, simply entitled II.

     This record is heavy – like, really heavy. Like, the feedback intro at the start of 'The Void Settlers' is bigger and more intimidating than you'd think. Their only precedence Entering Darkness, the motley crew of Frenchmen roar into being with a fast, borderline catchy riff and immediately begin to lay waste to everything in their path.

           II as a record deals with World War I, and the dark, punishing riffs, macabre samples and throat-shredding vocals contribute to the chaos and terror of the trenches and the repulsiveness of the conflict. Eibon love to discuss death in their lyrics, and appropriately picked one of the most brutal conflicts in human history to assault your ears with, and as the instrumentals crash like mortar shells around you, you can almost smell the mustard gas in the air.

      Sludge in particular is known for landing on a great riff and proceeding to play the hell out of it, and Eibon deliver on that premise especially effectively, playing patiently and yet immensely on the record's two massive (over seventeen minute) long songs. Of the two, the second piece 'the Elements of Doom' is doom-ier in terms of its ponderous gait and immense proportions, while 'the Void Settlers' takes a lot more from Eyehategod to deliver a faster, but not any less crushing choice. Both support each other, and despite their lengths II flies by. Every note, every break, and every massive void is expertly placed to be at its most destructive, and just when interest starts to wane Eibon are there to grab you roughly and pull your attention back to the battlefields of the Great War, reeling you in with the captivating drumwork of Jerome LaChaud, who beats the hell out of the skins during the record's forty minutes of torture.

        Oddly enough, the closest band to Eibon's sound is actually Cult of Luna – when you compare the methodical, pummeling anger of early 'Luna records like the Beyond or their self-titled, the link between them and Eibon flares into being. It's bizarre to think about, considering Cult of Luna put out the mind-bending Vertikal last January, while Eibon are as primitive as it comes, but the influence is definitely there. There's also even a black metal-type portion on 'Elements of Doom' to shake things up.

        To conclude, II is an awesome, if catastrophically brief, trip back in time. Eibon are two-for-two when it comes to awesome records, so whatever they choose to do next is definitely likely to be awesome.

IRN – IRN

Genre: Doom Metal/Sludge Metal

       But we're not just done with pummelling, crusty sludge yet. IRN are a doom band from Toronto that I had the pleasure of seeing open for Dopethrone this past October. The band's self-titled record, which was released this past April, is their bone-crushingly brutal debut, and similar to Eibon's second, features three lengthy tracks, with the eighteen-minute first track 'Adrift Between Burned Out Villages' predominating. It's an unfortunately short record, clocking in at a little under thirty-three minutes, making it a quick, enjoyable listen if you're in the right (read: angry) enough mood.

       Taking equally from sludge, crust punk, and pure noise, the first noticeable part of this album is notably in just how unapologetic it is. IRN pull no punches, assaulting you with waves of feedback and mutilated, destructive columns of pure sound.

          And then...space.

          As a record, IRN's self-titled plays a lot with dynamics, shoving merciless heaviness down your throat before lapsing into a vacuous, unnerving void. The latter half of 'Adrift Between Burned Out Villages', which features a misanthropic sample on overpopulation amidst a few sparse, bizarre flecks of noise as the heaviness slowly returns, is spine-chilling in its epicness, and even features what you could almost call a '

guitar solo' of seizure-inducing proportions that struggles fitfully against the monolithic, unstoppable juggernaut of the rhythm.

          The remaining two tracks, 'Always Die Slowly' and 'Old Orange Hands', are just as monolithic – 'Always Die Slowly' in particular is almost Primitive Man-like in its size and delivery. It begins with some fast percussion and features vocals much more prominently, and as long as I'm comparing this band to Eibon, IRN are by far the more violent of the two – in many ways, this record is all about pure fucking rage, and the music reflects that perfectly by trampling you and then smushing you into the pavement. Words like 'monolithic' and 'unapproachable' kinda do it justice because that's probably the sense this band was looking for a – juggernaut of misanthropy and anger. Totally badass.

         There's not really much I can say about this record because I feel like I've touched upon this record's main points – it's heavy, it's slow, and it's psychopathic rage given form. Check it out for thirty minutes you won't soon forget.

Aosoth – IV: An Arrow in Heart

Genre: Black Metal

         Aosoth, the French band who feature two ex-members of the influential and legendary Antaeus, are a relatively new face in the sea of French black metal bands, appearing in 2008 with their excellent self-titled debut. Since then, they've churned out three similarly exemplary records, with 2009's dark epic Ashes of Angels taking the cake for me. Their latest record, An Arrow in Heart, however, has Aosoth conveying their darkest and most unnerving mood yet, echoing their countrymen in Deathspell Omega by stripping away the heavy metal frivolities of black metal and instead shrouding the record in a choking black mist.

          When people think of so-called 'ritualistic' black metal, they're thinking of bands like Wolves in the Throne Room who lull the listener into a trance by transporting them to the heart of the forest through thunderous instrumentals evocative of waterfalls and night skies. While the same is somewhat true for Aosoth (minus the forest), the ritualistic element comes in the form of bizarre, ambient sections, such as the break on the title track, which is echoed on 'Temple of Knowledge' or the luminous, ghastly two-part song 'Broken Dialogue'. An Arrow in Heart is music to go along with satanic, candle-lit rituals at midnight - equal parts epic and terrifying, and 100% crushing darkness.

       The comparison to Deathspell Omega starts and ends with the mood of the music – Aosoth aren't content to philosophize at length about the nature of God, they're jumping straight to the sacrilege. The interplay the record has between loud, death-metal inspired riffs and quiet, sinister breaks makes An Arrow in Heart as schizophrenic as it is magnificent. But there's a method to this madness, a lurking horror that sends shivers down your spine and makes you look behind you during the fourteen-minute long closer 'Ritual Marks of Penitence'. The three-piece know exactly what mood they're going for – apprehension, namely – and does their best to make you feel it. The screeching, slid chords on 'One with the Prince of a Thousand Enemies' that breaks into a ringing break is a perfect example of the malevolent majesty this album has.

         Perhaps it's because of the former members' experience in Antaeus, which was similarly riff-heavy, but Aosoth, since their inception, seem to have been blessed with innumerable ideas for riffs and how to exploit them. Stepping away from the atmosphere for a moment, one realizes that An Arrow in Heart features oodles of ideas on the band's part, and under the umbrella of utter darkness each one is explored deeply – with the exception of the drums, which feature a lot of blast beats (as expected) but oscillate back and forth between the front and back of the mix, adding another element of chaos to the album. The production is just murky enough to add to the record's bitter taste, and with songs ending as unexpectedly as they start, An Arrow in Heart is an exercise in good black metal made well. Definitely worth a look.

        Notable Songs: 'Temple of Knowledge', 'Ritual Marks of Penitence', 'One With the Prince of a Thousand Enemies'.

Killswitch Engage – Disarm the Descent

Genre: Metalcore

       Time for an unpopular opinion – I don't particularly like Killswitch Engage. Yes, they're talented. Yes, they're responsible for mixing In Flames and 90s hardcore into what we call metalcore today. Yes, they're from Massachusetts, and yes songs like 'My Curse' and 'Rose of Sharyn' are good, but the band has always left me thoroughly unimpressed. I was far more bowled over by Avenged Sevenfold and Maylene & the Sons of Disaster, who started out around the same time as KSE.

         Well, it's 2013 and there's a new KSE album out, the first featuring former vocalist Jesse Leach since he left the band in the early 2000s to hand the throne over to baritone god Howard Jones, who himself left the band last year. Disarm the Descent is unique and fresh in that, considering Jones lead the band on the whinier side of things (see 'Arms of Sorrow', their entire 2009 album). Leach has returned the band to the classic sound of records like Alive or Just Breathing. It's nice in that there's a shot of testosterone in a scene where the average frontman is an effeminate stick screeching during breakdowns.

          Disarm the Descent runs the gamut of what you'd expect from the band at this point – solid riffs from talented guitarist Adam D., gruff vocals, epic atmosphere, and catchy hooks. But that's just the problem – Killswitch peaked at Alive or Just Breathing and have been releasing steadily more mediocre records ever since, and while Disarm the Descent kinda reverses the trend in that it's a step back towards what was the band's commendable sound, it doesn't do enough. There just isn't enough meat in this record for it to really pack a punch.

         For lack of a better word, Disarm the Descent is a drag. The songs all sound the same, and while the palm-muted guitars have just enough -oomph to position the album above most of metalcore, it doesn't change the fact that the album and the band have been running on fumes for almost ten years now.

         There are a few good songs – 'The Call' and 'Beyond the Flames' are badass metalcore anthems, but unfortunately it's all downhill from there, bottoming out at the grating 'You Don't Bleed For Me', which takes Leach's midrange vocals and Jones' annoyingly personal lyrics and molds them to horrible results. The only reason these songs couldn't have been confusd for a previous KSE album is because Leach is on vocals.

          But lest we forget, this is a step in the right direction. At this record's best, it's a more epic Alive or Just Breathing. At its worst, it makes 2009's self-titled look sincere. Disarm the Descent is an album of extremes as the band sways precariously after Jones' departure. I'm optimistic, though, that the next Killswitch outing will be pretty damn good.

Notable Tracks: 'The Hell in Me', 'Beyond the Flames', 'In Due Time'.

Shining – One One One

Genre: Progressive/Avant-Garde Metal

       Being the lowly plebian that I am, dabbling blindly in music, I can't begin to comprehend what goes on in the insane minds of Norway's Shining (not to be confused with Sweden's Shining, the renowned DSBM act of Niklas Kvarforth). In 2010, the band released their bizarre, spastic magnum opus Blackjazz, which featured less structure than a car in a blender, mixing free jazz velocity with metal's brutal kick into a spellbindingly unique record. It made (and makes) less sense to me than string theory, but good god it's awesome.

       One One One is the band's first since then, and as the bright orange cover art shows, it's bold and here to make an impression, which it does within the first three minutes. Never one for frivolities, Shining erupt with 'I Won't Forget' and within seconds notes are flying around at top speed, stopping only to let you breathe for a few seconds before diving into 'the One Inside'.

        What's unique about One One One (and refreshing, considering I'd just finished listening to the new Killswitch) is that, without prior knowledge, it could be a precursor to Blackjazz, with the band playing it much more tightly and conservatively – although there's still plenty of anarchy to be had, as the various instruments clang together dissonantly at the end of 'I Won't Forget'.

        One One One is almost catchy, playing up and taming the electronic elements that whirled around at top speed on Blackjazz while including more accessible elements like clean vocals and infectious hooks. The result is, admittedly less chaotic and classically 'avant-garde', but just as interesting to listen to. And that's interesting because Shining have been transcending genres for quite a while – before they had even a hint of metal blood in them they played jazz, and use their expertise (and it truly can't be called anything else) to crush tons of influences into one bizarre piece of music.

          Variety is the name of the game here, from the saxophone making a comeback at the start of 'How Your Story Ends' to the nooks and crannies of the instrumental talent throughout the entire album. Making avant-garde music requires you to think outside the box, which the band have proven they're good at, but it's impressive that Shining haven't yet run out of ideas. Indeed, One One One can be viewed as an experiment with the band centering the music around the vocals, instead of the instrumental whirlwind of previous outings, which featured equally structureless lyrics. This is one area where the band have gotten some flack from critics, who see One One One as more tame than its predecessor and cite the looser structure of Blackjazz as better. Personally, I disagree with this outlook on Shining's music, if only because I'm confident they knew exactly what they were doing with this album. Shining don't mess around with stupidities – if they experiment, they do it right.

         Notable Tracks: 'The Hunting Game', 'Paint the Sky Black', 'Off the Hook'.

Altar of Plagues – Teethed Glory and Injury

Genre: Post-Black

      In 2000, a little-known Californian band called Weakling put out their first and only record, Dead as Dreams, before abruptly and permanently disappearing. With their only legacy four intensely long songs, Weakling's howled vocals and ambient breaks amidst heavily sorrowful black metal sowed the seeds for what many people would come to call post-black metal – an evolution of black metal beyond the Norwegian ideas of the early 90s.

         Altar of Plagues, the Irish successors to Weakling's throne, have been putting out lengthy and amazing music for the past seven years. Equally taking queues from Weakling and allowing their own commendable skills room to breathe, the Irish rockers are responsible for 2009's epic White Tomb and 2011's monumental success Mammal, which were massive undertakings of a scant few 10+ minute songs, following the Weakling model.

          Thus, it was a surprise when the band put out Teethed Glory and Injury this past April, swapping long, melancholic narrations on the end of life for tighter, more intense music. Not a single song breaks the ten minute mark on this album, the longest being 'Twelve Was Ruin' at nearly nine. Teethed Glory and Injury retains the pained Altar of Plagues sound, but compresses it into a tight, claustrophobic space that empties and fills abruptly. To compare it to their past work makes no sense, because this work stands squarely by itself. It's undeniably Altar of Plagues, but strays so far from their previous formula that it's almost like listening to a new band at parts.

          Previous efforts by the band featured clean vocals at the zenith and climax of various songs – the mournful 'I was young and you promised me...' on 'All Life Converges to Some Center' springs to mind initially. Teethed Glory features them much more prominently, such as during the ghostly break on 'Twelve was Ruin' or the tense 'God Alone'. Teethed Glory flirts with chaos – not nearly as much as Shining, but it's a highly spastic record, and a new development from the band given they were prone to vast, emotion-ridden soundscapes in previous outings. With the exception of the effervescent introduction 'Mills', the record is all about making the contrast between vacuous space and an empty room as defined as possible.

      James O'Kelly's embittered roar makes a return, but the band has staunchly refused to release any lyrics and, now that they've broken up (to my inconceivable chagrin), it's unlikely we'll ever learn what the album is about. Nevertheless, as before, O'Kelly's vocals never serve to detract from the magical music, and he only strikes when the tension is almost palpable. Altar of Plagues have always been good at making emotional music – Mammal, a record about death on a personal level, was almost tear-jerking in how packed with feeling the music was. Teethed Glory distances itself from that goal, mixing the extroverted panic of White Tomb with the raw fury of Tides or Sol, while sprinkling in a few electronic wobbles to add to the intensity during the lighter portions – because even spontaneous emptying can be scary.

       That Altar of Plagues are intensely talented musicians is no surprise, and every individual listen yields something new to appreciate – the drum leitmotif during the breakdown on 'God Alone', for instance, recurs several times throughout the record. Alternatively, the jolting disparity between 'Twelve Was Ruin' and the following 'Scald Scar of Water' is flawless in its execution.

        What's most infuriating about this record isn't that the band broke up abruptly in October, cementing their entire discography as amazing, but that the album – indeed, their final album, the last song Altar of Plagues will ever put out – finishes on a goddamn crescendo. 'Reflection Pulse Remains' slowly mounts in intensity for six minutes, blaring up to an epic finish – and then, silence. Again, Teethed Glory is about duality, up until the very end, and at least they're going out with a bang.

        Nine songs are over far too quickly. Comparisons to Deafheaven's Sunbather are inevitable, but for me, at least, the gritty, imposing monolith of Altar of Plagues' swan song is the clear winner. Spoiler: this is my album of the year. Absolutely incredible.

Notable Songs: 'God Alone', 'Twelve was Ruin', 'Found Oval and Final'.

Black Pyramid – Adversarial

Genre: Stoner Metal

      Black Pyramid are a western Massachusetts-based stoner metal band that formed recently, and since have been highly regarded in the underground. Known for their relentless, soldiers-marching riffs amidst Dopesmoker-inspired riffwork, the band have been solidly and valiantly riding to battle with every successive release. Touting themselves as 'psychedelic war metal', it's easy to see where they got the name from as they mix down-tuned and distorted guitars with clean, sparkling 70s silliness. Last year, after the release of their intense, excellent second record, the band parted ways with then-vocalist and guitarist Andy Beresky. For their latest endeavor Adversarial, vocalist of local (at least, local to me) band Hackman, Darryl Shepard took up the axe to deliver a sludgy, deliberate, heavy beast of a record. Shepard's vocals also echo all-stars like Matt Pike in their gruff, scratchy timbre, adding to the badass atmosphere of the record.

       Adversarial begins with a sprawling, thirteen-minute long march to battle 'Swing the Scimitar', which features a healthy Sabbath and Pentagram influence as it trudges along relentlessly, forming both the longest and slowest Black Pyramid outing to date. Black Pyramid's sound from last year's release, while just as plodding and epic, has gotten both louder and heavier in volume, and this trend continues until the abrupt blues-y third track 'Aphelion'. It's a sudden shift, but once the dust clears from the transition away from its more nostalgic, faster predecessor 'Issus'.

        New to this record is a sudden, welcome element of southern rock – if Stevie Ray Vaughan had been a little more pissed, and listened to a mite more Black Sabbath, he would have put out a record similar to Adversarial. When it comes to personal preference, I absolutely adore southern rock and metal – Maylene & the Sons of Disaster, Eyehategod, you name it, I like it. And for Black Pyramid to suddenly feature southern rock is a dream come true for me, because all stoner metal sounds better if you add in plenty of pentatonic licks.

          Black Pyramid have always been good at getting you to bang your head, and the catchiness and gnarly hooks of previous outings, along with all the psychedelic fun, hasn't gone anywhere, and what's better is that with the healthy doom influence that's slowed down the band, you can savour each and every ingenious addition. This is a record that pretty much literally goes back and forth between old and new ideas – 'Onyx and Obsidian', 'Issus', and 'Swing the Scimitar' are epic battle hymns, while the remaining two songs take more cues from stoner doom than epic, powerful music.

         Adversarial is a profoundly satisfying listen – it's exciting, fun, and infectious, bundled into a convenient package for your pleasure, but it is a step away from what made albums like II and Stormbringer so memorable. Namely, the upbeat tempo and the peppy, “we're at war” type lyricisms, and while the introduction 'Swing the Scimitar' maintains that aura of grandiose battle, the rest of the record is more subdued and drawn out. That's not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination, but it does mean that if you're looking for more intense, mighty music, Adversarial might be a disappointment.

         Notable Tracks: 'Onyx and Obsidian', 'Aphelion', 'Issus'.

Year in Review - the Releases of March 2013

         Intronaut - Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words with Tones)

         Genre: Progressive Metal/Sludge Metal

             Words cannot accurately portray how much I absolute love this album. This is potentially, if not absolutely, one of my favorite albums of the year. With its dreamy, absolutely delectable mix of jam-y jazz and metal pomp, Intronaut present with Habitual Levitations an absolutely stunning piece of art in the form of a progressive metal album. In a scene dominated by loud, over-the-top bands, Habitual Levitations gets attention by being profoundly quiet in comparison. It's still undeniably metal in its heaviness and feel, but the band never plays itself out too far, indeed, playing each note, lick, and groove with well-thought out intentions, to amazing results.

           This is music to get lost in, with comforting rings and nebulous, echoing vocals – soothing, yet strong. Intensity is not something you'll get from listening to a masterpiece like this, but you'll definitely, beyond the shadow of a doubt, feel yourself positively flying as the insane rhythm duo of Danny Walker (drums) and Joe Lester (bass) melodically and intricately play their way into your soul.
         But that's not to say Habitual Levitations never gets heavy – 'The Welding', the album's second piece, echoes 2010's Valley of Smoke in its jazz-exterior and hard-baked interior. But on the other hand, songs like 'Harmonomicon' or 'A Sore Sight For Eyes' are as open-ended as metal can be, pushing power on the aforementioned badassery of the band's rhythm section. Intronaut have also done away with harsh vocals, allowing the band to move as one without any jarring, sudden shifts.

              While some might call that a shame, it's actually worked well in the band's favour as they went from a purely instrumental band (Void) to including vocals sparsely on Prehistoricisms, to Valley of Smoke where the vocals were upregulated. But in any case, Sacha Dunable's gruff, mid-range uncleans were always at odds with Intronaut's flighty, tumultuous music. In Habitual Levitations, an album all about big ol' grooves and clean fun, Dunable's well-developed cleans complement this fact beautifully.

            Habitual Levitations is a modern classic, as sure to please as it is to amaze. If you haven't yet had the pleasure of enjoying this album, do yourself a favor and get on it soon. I, for one, am unduly excited to see Intronaut open for Deafheaven and Between the Buried and Me in February.

Notable Songs: 'Milk Leg', 'Eventual', 'Blood From a Stone'.

       Wardruna - Runaljod - Yggdrasil

       Genre: Ambient  

      At an Alcest show in September, I had the pleasure of meeting Canadian musician Musk Ox, and amidst asking him what it was like to open for Agalloch and meet Gaahl, the topic of the latter's new music project Wardruna came up. I'd heard mention of the bizarre 'Norse ambient' group featured in the music of a Vice documentary on Norway but neglected to check them out until the snow fell, and then it just became magical.

        Wardruna as a project are focused around traditional Norse instruments, including Jew's harps, fiddles, and big ol' drums made by crudely draping deerskin over a cylinder. Their first album, Runaljod – Gap var Ginnunga, was a meditative yet intense journey through the untamed, snow-shod forests of Scandinavia, with the band offering minimalist open spaces and conjuring up epic, yet still soundscapes. It was the perfect complement to the Vice documentary mentioned above, and when the sun is setting and you're in the middle of a forest I can only imagine how intense the music must feel.

         Runaljod – Yggdrasil (after the cosmic tree of Norse mythology) is the band's newest outing in four years, following the release of single 'Fehu' last year. As a unit, Yggdrasil is far better at transporting the listener to the middle of a fjord. 'Rotlaust Tre Fell', the album's thunderous introduction, is an invocation of the Norse gods, naming them by name and role to serve as the album's definitive start before flawlessly entering the aforementioned 'Fehu'.

         Considering how there are no synths on this album, it's stunning how the band manages to make half the sounds they do. Many ambient albums struggle with what exactly they want to do to their listener, but Wardruna are well aware of their goals and confidently make strides to take you there. Even if you don't speak Norwegian (I've dabbled a bit, but not enough for me to fully grasp what's being said), you can almost feel the pull to the middle of a ritual circle in the pine forests. 'NaudiR' begins with Gaahl's low, resolute vocals but slowly crescendos into a forceful chorus.

         Where Gap Var Ginnunga was atmosphere, Yggdrasil is ritual. The band played down their vocals on Gap Var Ginnunga, preferring instead to explore large soundscapes replete with even some birds, but the new record is an intensely spiritual experience, and the trance-inducing vocals on 'Solringen' or the hypnotic fiddle on 'Gibu', which feature layered vocals, one spoken, the other sung.

           Listening to Yggdrasil in fragmented stretches is a good way to utterly ruin this record. This is meant to be a spiritual, meditative exploration of the Scandinavia of yore, and in many ways it succeeds as a result of its length. There are no singularly good songs, because almost every 'song' on this record is good, but patches of particular intensity and epicness that you can't help but gape at and pray they never end. To that end, I'm not going to claim there are any noteworthy tracks. This is an experience meant to be enjoyed for its full 66-minute duration.

         Kvelertak - Meir

         Genre: "Black 'n Roll"

        “Black 'n Roll”, at least for me, is the ultimate example of people trying to pigeonhole bands into genres. It all started in 2006, when former Swedish black metal all-stars Dissection put out a bouncy, less traditional album entitled Reinkaos, which featured catchy riffs, comprehensible vocals, and a drastic scarcity of tremolos.

        Perhaps in a fit of “maintaining purity”, black metal fans began labelling Reinkaos as a new genre crossover – black metal and hard rock – and thus the designation of “black 'n roll” was born. People sometimes shove Vreid and later Satyricon in this category, and despite my misgivings about the “genre's” name, it's genuinely fun, if not serious, music.

         Enter Kvelertak – an intensely Norwegian band (seriously, their name means 'chokehold') who erupted out of nowhere in 2010 with a self-titled album and enough drunk raucousness to power a small African country. With frantic energy dripping from every guitar riff and howled lyric, Kvelertak took everyone by surprise and their newest album, simply entitled Meir ('More') was eagerly awaited the world over.

         Most people were disappointed in this record, claiming that the beer-soaked, intoxicated ranting of the self-titled stagnated in Meir as the band didn't really change or put anything new forward – and to that I say who cares! Meir takes the form of eleven relatively brief (only one song breaks six minutes) tracks, heaped with as much mass, tasty riffs, and Viking glory as you can stomach. 'Tordenbrak' features the best introduction riff out of almost anything the band has produced, and the single 'Bruane Brenn''s clean breaks are absolutely excellent.

         That Kvelertak love them some classic rock is obvious, but it's on Meir that they really get the swing of things, culminating in the Who-esque 'Evig Vandrar', which features acoustic guitars juxtaposed with an angry, shirtless Norwegian screaming his head off. If that doesn't sound awesome, get your head checked.

        Compared to their self-titled, Meir is far more riff-heavy, and even though the various riffs and ideas always seem to be just related, thanks to the skill of twin guitarists Vidar Landa and Bjarte Lund Rolland, they play off of one another continuously, harmonizing just enough to keep the music interesting – see the spectacular crescendo on the aforementioned 'Tordenbrak' for the best example. 'Trepan', on the other hand, is a far more black-metal influenced song, lacking lots of the catchy hooks and melodies Kvelertak have stuffed Meir with in lieu of getting back to the roots.

         For the most part, Meir works well at what it does – providing a listener with some fun drinking tunes infused with enough pomp to loosen you up, but ultimately the fact that this is the self-titled 2.0 does detract from it. If you go into Meir expecting to hear anything new, you'll be disappointed, but if you found yourself hungry for more after 2010, Meir supplies eleven more tracks to slake your thirst.

Notable Tracks: 'Bruane Brenn', 'Tordenbrak', 'Monelyst'.

        Nails - Abandon All Life

        Genre: Hardcore/Powerviolence

         With enough hardcore rage and thrash metal insanity to shatter the eardrums of anyone unfortunate to get caught in the blast, Nails returned this year with their second auditory violation in the form of Abandon All Life – an intense, crushing 17-minute long journey through hell as Todd Yard (ex-Converge) screams unapologetically at your damned soul. Featuring a 24 second song, and only two songs over three minutes, Abandon All Life is as seizure-inducing as it is concise. The band knows exactly what they're doing, and crams it all efficiently into this mammoth album.

         But what's that? You want variety? Abandon All Life has got variety! 'Wide Open Wound' is torturously slow and sludge-y – imagine Eyehategod on meth and you might approach the song's unimaginable swath of destruction. Or perhaps the random medieval break on the title track, which is so out of place and comprises about half the song (which isn't too long, given it's a little under a minute and a half) that you can't help but do a double-take.

        Amidst the frantic D-beats, breakdowns, and incomprehensible howling, there's just enough give for you to nod along helplessly as you're roughly dragged around and curbstomped by the unfathomably heavy aforementioned 24-second 'Cry Wolf', ending with Yard barking out “something something FUCKING SHIT”.

       'Suum Critique', the closer and album's longest at a little over five minutes (I've known doom bands to have songs longer than this album), follows the same recipe as the aforementioned 'Wide Open Wound' – space things out a little bit more and fill in the space with tasty, heavy kick. Allow the listener to savour the chunky guitars as a final respite before the punishing, stupidly heavy breakdown comes in.

         Abandon All Life knows exactly what it's doing, where it's doing it, and how it's going to go about it. In a genre known for lack of direction and putting message ahead of execution, Nails have everything precisely orchestrated to deliver the maximum amount of punishment that we eagerly lap up. Nails are a band that never drag their feet, rather, they sprint howling for blood, and Abandon All Life is testament to how awesome the result is when a band doesn't feature boring interludes.

Notable Tracks: 'Cry Wolf', 'Wide Open Wound', 'God's Cold Hands'.

        And So I  Watch You From Afar - All Hail Bright Futures

        Genre: Post-Rock

       Post-rock, for all of the virtues of post-rock influenced metal I extol, is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it's an overpoweringly hip genre, so you're going to have a good amount of pretentious hipster bullshit - Bon Iver or Godspeed You! Black Emperor, for instance – but then you have bands like Russian Circles or Mono who, aside from actually being talented at playing their instruments, convey the same atmospheric immensity in a more traditional 'rock' way.

           Heavy Blog is Heavy described Irish outfit And So I Watch You From Afar as 'a metalhead's post-rock band', and his designation is pretty damn spot on. Since their 2009 self-titled debut, the band's put out two undisputably heavy records – 2011's Gangs, which, despite the high-pitched guitar work and sometimes snare-heavy drums, was a mighty affair with enough lightheadedness to excuse the actually quite intricate and driving instrumentals. I've had nothing bad to say about them since I stumbled upon them some time ago – 'Set Guitars to Kill' is a fantastic song – and seeing them earlier in November was well worth sitting through the castrated hipster garbage of TTNG. But I digress.

        I had high expectations, thus, for All Hail Bright Futures, which debuted this March through Sargent House, who put out some of my favorite records this year (Russian Circles, Deafheaven, and Chelsea Wolfe to name just a few), and, while I was a little let down at the start, it was undeniably a very successful, if sudden, evolution.

         If the bright, saturated covers of the album art are any indication, this is a super chipper, upbeat album, compared to Gangs' more muted monochrome, which itself was a continuation of the self-titled. All Hail Bright Futures takes equally from previous outings while spinning itself just a little bit differently than before, the most notable change coming in the form of vocals.

         Yes, it's a change that wasn't taken too well by some (my roommate got intensely disappointed), but, surprisingly enough, it's a change that works well, with the vocals never serving to disrupt the groove of the music. While it still came as a surprise initially, they're used sparingly, and ultimately help more than hinder as they take mostly the form of simple gang vocals or 'ooooohs', like on the psychedelic title track. The record also features a much more prevalent synth and an upbeat element that can't be denied, making it a departure from previous outings who were more focused on an organic sound.

        That's not to say that All Hail Bright Futures came out of nowhere – there's still plenty of fun, sparkling riffs scattered throughout the album, but this is the first record the band has really thrown their weight around and established what they can or can't do, and it's more on the former with this record. Psychedelics and synths aside, the monumental seven-minute 'Brave Minds' is a sprawling, atmospheric epic with a hint of horns lurking in the back as the instrumentals form layers on layers, and it's totally entrancing. Opening pair 'Eunoia' and 'Big Things Do Remarkable', on the other hand, are dainty and fast, featuring the chanted line “the sun is in our eyes”.

         All in all All Hail Bright Futures is, as has been the case with ASIWYA since their inception, a complete success. Fans of the band will find themselves a little taken aback, but in the grand scheme of things everything the band set out to do with this record goes beyond success and enters brilliance. If this is any indication of what the band have in store for us it's exciting indeed.

Notable Tracks: 'Big Things Do Remarkable', 'Brave Minds', 'Mend and Make Safe'.

         Vanna - The Few and the Far Between

         Genre: Metalcore

        As the dust clears from the minimalist title track, which is replete with slowly mounting intensity and some piss-angry spoken word, Vanna return to the fray with their most effective and winning formula yet. The turbulent Boston hardcore act has featured a radically different lineup each release, but 2013's The Few and the Far Between shows promise.

         By trimming the fat and dumb metalcore accoutrements that made their beginning work so boring, 2011's And They Came Bearing Bones was an interesting, if predictable hardcore record. I've had mixed feelings to this band for quite a while, but a combination of following their release of The Few and the Far Between and seeing them open for Every Time I Die (who have held my heart securely for quite some time now) fixed them in my mind as a band that definitely gets the hang of this whole metalcore thing.

     That Vanna are in a difficult genre to make music in is no secret – with labels like Rise and Victory cranking out cookie-cutter, breakdown-festooned love ballads, “true” metalcore bands, that is, a cross between hardcore punk and thrash metal, are becoming a rarity. Fortunately, as is the case on 'Year of the Rat', Vanna know how to equally juxtapose the catchy hooks and clean breaks of the former with the filthy, chunky downcast texture of the other. 'I Said I'm Fine', the track that directly follows, wears its Black Flag influence like a badge of honor, eventually giving way to a vacuous clean break.

 The Few and the Far Between is the logical continuation of And They Came Bearing Bones, and fortunately has left the snorefest of A New Hope and the disorganized screamo worship of Curses deep in the dust. It's still quite obviously a metalcore record, but the band knows how to exploit the sweet spot between dumb and Hatebreed-style dumb and plays it up for all it's worth. There's even a spoken word-style song, which features little drums and melodic guitar ('Please Stay'), and is such an utter departure from the style of the album that I was immediately sucked in on first listen.

      It's difficult to tell if a hardcore band has progressed so much as 'has become interesting to listen to', and Vanna may simply have evolved into the latter category.

          Yet, while it is a step up and easily one of the band's best, The Few and the Far Between lacks staying power – most of the songs leave little to no impression, and the album is over fairly quickly given the longest song is a little over three minutes long. The second half of the record is, for lack of a better word, forgettable in that song structures start to blend together – intro, verse, verse, clean, ringing verse, breakdown, and close.

         Vanna are at their best when they're playing classic hardcore, not trying to spastically inject melody and clean vocals in a shot at accessibility. Commendably, the band has moved quite quickly, and their past two records are testament that they have the ability, if not the will (or label's permission) to make interesting hardcore and transcend the jaws of mainstream metalcore. The Few and the Far Between is Vanna's best record, and is worth checking out if you're a fan of their work.

Notable Tracks: 'Year of the Rat', 'Casket Rhythm', 'The Dreamer/The Thief/The Relic'.