Metal Thread Vol. VIII -- The Angry Red Planet

[Xray the Enforcer]

OK, some albums I enjoyed this year (in no particular order, although somewhat alphabetical because I am scrolling thru my mp3 player):

Trenchrot

Nightmare City

Vallenfyre

Dead Congregation

Diocletian

Doombringer

Gridlink

Heavydeath

High Spirits

Howls of Ebb

Iron Force

Iron Reagan

Infiltrator

Sacrificio

Seven Sisters

Slough Feb

Terminal'

Vampire

Vanhelgd

non-metal

Hateful Abandon

Lost Tribes

Albez Duz (gothic rock/doom)

Undecided

Perfume Genius

I'll create a more targeted, specific list in a bit. But I just felt that I had to post this shit now, or I'd never get it online.

[all swedes are racist]

This year, due to a bunch of factors going on in my life (paying for a wedding, moving to a new, less music focused store), I have not had the opportunity to discover as much new music as I like, or a I normally would. So this is less a "Best Of" or even "My Favorites", but essentially the shit I got to hear that I actually enjoyed.

Agalloch -The Serpent and the Sphere

I haven't always been the biggest Agalloch fan, though they've been constantly growing on me for the past year or two. This has actually been my favorite Agalloch album to date. I think it was a little more unified and straight forward, which I appreciated, but I can see how other fans could be disappointed in the lack of little, I dunno, flourishes and flairs that were more distinctly "Agalloch" on older albums.

Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden

Fine, maybe I'm just caught up in the hype-machine behind these guys, but goddamn this is a beautiful record.

Yob - Clearing the Path to Ascend

Fucking killer. At first I was going to totally disagree with Durckad, but after a few spins this really ignites and frankly, as much as I loved it, blows Pallbearer out of the water. First listen through, first track seems a bit underwhelming, at least compared to 2012s unfuckwithable Atma... But as soon you flip over to side b...

It was like getting hammered to a granite wall with a 800lb cast iron spike. These guys are consistently interesting, creative, and progressive (not in the sense of prog-rock really, but keeping what is metals arguably oldest, most core sub-genre or whatever, fresh and new) if this was a just world, these guys would be all the recognition, if not acceptance, of Pallbearer or Isis (and 10 years ago too...)

Winterfylleth - Divination of Antiquitity

(Ugh, phone typing sucks, shitty pompous review coming soon...)

Pig Destroyer - Mass & Volume

Ok, so yeah... There's a lot of doom on this list... Fuck it. What really solidified Mass & Volume in my mind was thinking of this as a single, despite the EP appellation on the sticker. Ok, so it's a like 28 minute fucking single, but nonetheless. The two tracks are almost as polar opposite styles as you can get under the "epic doom!" tent. The first track, "Mass & Volume" is pure tone and drone, reminiscent of old Sunn O))), but instead of hooded and cowled wizards playing at occult rituals, this is the actual demons summoned come out to play. JR Hayes remains one of my absolute favorite extreme vocalists, and he really makes this song.

"Red Tar" is more traditional take on sludgy doom, and you can really hear the rest of the Phantom Limbsession on this one. After the slow and heavy intro, you expect the furious PD frenzy to rip your face off, but it just keeps trudging and crushing. Sometimes, I'll even play this 33 1/3 side at 45rpm, and it's still a pretty gnarly thrash cut, although still about half the speed of typical Pig Destroyer song.

Old Man Gloom - Ape of God

YOB is giving these guys a run for their money, but this, at the moment, is my record of the year (and I haven't even pick up Part I yet). I hear many similar (sonic, if not stylist) elements as Altar of Plague's "Teethed Glory & Injury", but where that was a bands epic swan song, "Ape of God" sounds like a veteran band finding their vitality again. Layered and finely textured, but still moves with a juggernauts momentum, this keeps unveiling new details and aspects every time I listen to it.

Edit: first of all, I fucking love the marketing stickers for the "Ape Of God" LPs. These guys may be giant raging asshole, but they're pretty funny raging assholes.

Also, I finally got the first part of this, and holy hell it's a ripper. Taken as a whole, this album definitely comes out on top. Makes me want to hear the bullshit advanced copy they sent out to reviewers.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

All right fuck it, my 2014 list won't get any more definitive than this. No particular order:

Evergrey - Hymns for the Broken (Prog/Power Metal) --- This band has finally rediscovered the sound that made their first 4 or 5 albums great. A satisfying reprieve from the string of mediocrities they released post-Inner Circle.

Panopticon - Roads to the North (Appalachian Black Metal) --- More richly textured work from masters of hill country metal. I didn't think they could top Kentucky but I actually like this better.

Nightbringer - Ego Dominus Tuus (Black Metal) --- Nasty, ominous, rip-roaring stuff. Apocalpytic in scope and feel.

Mare Cognitum - Phobos Monolith (Cosmic Black Metal) --- Massive, enveloping sound, best appreciated all at once.

Winterfylleth - The Divination of Antiquity (Black Metal) --- Had me hooked from the first listen. These guys are more impressive with every release.

Teramaze - Esoteric Symbolism (Prog Metal) --- I didn't hear much quality pure prog metal in 2014; this might have been my favorite.

Septicflesh - Titan (Symphonic Death Metal) --- Choirs! Drama! METAL! Entertaining as fuck.

Agalloch - The Serpent and the Sphere (Agalloch Metal) --- Deep and brilliant. Not quite the same level as The Mantle for me, but then again nothing else is.

Sovereign - Sovereign (Instrumental Cyber Metal) - This little gem kicked my ass harder than anything else all year and has been my primary "get shit done" music for months now. Heavily inspired by the Mass Effect series, which of course makes it that much better.

Hour of Penance - Regicide (Death Metal) --- This got mixed reviews but I loved it. No surprises here, just face-slamming technical death with the right touch of brutal.

Exmortus - Slave to the Sword (Thrash) --- Hard-hitting and relentless. My top old school metal/thrash of the year by a wide margin.

Arx Atrata - Oblivion (Atmospheric Black Metal) --- A fine debut, perfect for whiling away the long years between Summoning albums. (technically released Dec 14, 2013)

Ancient VVisdom - Sacrificial (Folk/Doom Rock) --- Like a thoroughly modern reimagining of early Black Sabbath. Their first couple albums were pretty good but this is loads better.

Special mention:

Alcest - Shelter (Ambient/Shoegaze) --- Neige doesn't really do metal anymore, but that doesn't keep him from releasing a soul-calming masterpiece every few years. This was my most anticipated release of 2014 and it did not disappoint.

[Xray the Enforcer]

Heads up for all of you West Coast dwellers! The organizers of MDF are launching California Deathfest next year. It's a much smaller festival that isn't intended to be a replacement for MDF. Here's the announcement with a partial lineup:

MARYLAND DEATHFEST PRESENTS:

CALIFORNIA DEATHFEST

October 9-11, 2015 @ Oakland Metro 630 3rd Street Oakland, CA 94607

First round of confirmed bands:

Ævangelist

Antediluvian (Canada) - First time in the US. Exclusive US appearance!

Autopsy

Disma - Exclusive West Coast appearance!

Ghoul

Gnaw Their Tongues (Netherlands)

Impaled

Loss

Noothgrush

Worship

California Deathfest is a 3-day event that will take place from October 9-11, 2015 at the Oakland Metro Operahouse in Oakland, California. The show on Friday, October 9th will feature grind, punk, and hardcore bands, and the shows on October 10th and 11th will feature death, black, and doom metal bands. Various merchandise and food vendors will also be at California Deathfest.

The organizers of Maryland Deathfest recently decided to give it a go with an event on the West Coast. Let it be known that Maryland Deathfest in Baltimore is not going anywhere. We simply wanted to get our feet wet with another festival elsewhere in the US. California Deathfest is not meant to be as big as MDF, as it will take place in an intimate club setting with only 1 stage.

From my own perspective, that's a killer lineup. I've seen most of those bands already (I've marked them in bold), so it'll take a couple more announcements like Antediluvian to get me to consider committing, as it's during a very busy time of the year for me at work. But for those who haven't had much of a chance to enjoy some of these excellent bands, I recommend considering this fest!

[Space Bandito]

Okkultorkrati - All I want for Christmas is glue! (And maybe a few tickets to Maryland Deathfest)

I'll work my way listening to some of these lists. Always fun to discover, or re-discover a new band.

[Inigima]

Thanks Xray, I have put the word out to my west coast metalhead friends. :)

[Xray the Enforcer]

HOLY SHIT my East Coast friends!!!

In NYC:

March 13-14, 2015

Riot V
Liege Lord
Destructor
Machine of War - Featuring NME's Brian Llapitan to perform Unholy Death in its entirety
Aggression (Canada) - Legendary Speed Metallers from Quebec. First show in the U.S.
Magic Circle

Saturday:
Exciter - The First U.S. show with the original Beehler, Johnson, Ricci, line-up in 30 years.They will be performing classics from the first 3 albums.
The Rods
Brocas Helm - First East Coast show
High Spirits
October 31
Cauchemar (Canada)
Natur

And on Sunday March 15:

Nifelheim

Ares Kingdom

+ 2 other bands.

Seriously gonna rock. GET YOUR COCKS OUT

[Mr. X]

ARES FUCKING KINGDOM!!!!

[Xray the Enforcer]

I keep meaning to give a more specific run down of my preferred albums of 2014, except I am a lazy sumbitch.

Iron Reagan -- Tyranny of Will (Thrash/crossover/hardcore) People call this a supergroup, but I don't really know how much that applies when your members are all in other relatively obscure bands. But whatever. Dudes are also in Municipal Waste and Cannabis Corpse. Shit sounds exactly the way it should be, which is FUN. Just listen to it.

Cauldron Black Ram -- Stalagmire (black/death) These pirate-obsessed motherfuckers are from Adelaide. They play a hybrid of NWOBHM + black/death, kind of like that other well known band who does this mix but also is crippled by accusations of incorrigble racism. AFAICT, Cauldron Black Ram are not celebrating the slave trade. So enjoy the fuck out of their music and drink rum while fighting poisonous mammals to the death.

Gridlink -- Longhena (technical grindcore) Who knew that technical grindcore could even exist? I thought that would be like mashing matter and anti-matter together, resulting in nothing but a huge liberation of angry energy. Wait...that is exactly what Longhena sounds like. SCIENCE! Seriously, these guys rule. RIP Gridlink.

Howls of Ebb -- Vigils of the Third Eye (weird-ass shit + black/death) It's like if Anderson, Bruford, Bender, and Frye discovered black/death metal. Shit is crazy psychedelic death metal magic. Recommended for those who like prog rock, psych rock, mushrooms, and galactic sodomy.

Funereal Presence -- The Archer Takes Aim (black metal) WE HAVE MANY FEELS

Diocletian -- Gesundrian (black/death) WE HAS NO FEELS AND WE WILL KILL EVERYTHING YOU LOVE ESP. IF YOU ARE A WEAKLING

High Sprits -- You Are Here (hard rock/metal) Get the fucking party started already.

Heavydeath -- various demos (death/doom) This shit is really heavy and slow but it's not crappy.

Iron Force -- various demos (speed/thrash) The executioner calls.

Vanheldg --Relics of Sulphur Salvation (death) This band continues to make amazing abyssic oppressive occult albums.

Non-metal

Infidel -- demo (post-punk/death rock) Where the fuck is my guyliner?

Hemgraven -- can't remember, something impossible to spell (death rock) And where the hell is my leather jacket, too?

More later.

[Arkash]

Some albums I'm really looking forward this year :

Nightwish untitled album so far. Floor is just perfect for the band ! I am so confident this will be their best in years, if not the best NW album ever ! Tuomas has always been the pure mastermind of the band and with Floor, his musical and writing talent have found a perfect match. Their performance at Wacken 2013 is one of my best concert ever !

Blind Guardian Beyond the Red Mirror. Guardian never disapoints and is one of my favourite bands ever. I have high hopes for this album as well.

Ensiferum. One Man Army. I've listened a lot less Ensi lately, but they're still one of the bands that hooked me to Metal.

Battle Beast. Unholy Saviour. I know all the criticism one can give to a band so cliché as BB but heck, it works on me and Noora's voice is just shivering (for me). Go listen to what she give on a song like Let It Roar. Wow !

[Ferrum Aeternum]

Iron Reagan was close to making my list - fun, indeed. From those descriptions I need to give Cauldron Black Ram and Howls of Ebb a listen, pronto.

Some albums I'm really looking forward this year :

Nightwish untitled album so far. Floor is just perfect for the band ! I am so confident this will be their best in years, if not the best NW album ever ! Tuomas has always been the pure mastermind of the band and with Floor, his musical and writing talent have found a perfect match. Their performance at Wacken 2013 is one of my best concert ever !

Blind Guardian Beyond the Red Mirror. Guardian never disapoints and is one of my favourite bands ever. I have high hopes for this album as well.

Ensiferum. One Man Army. I've listened a lot less Ensi lately, but they're still one of the bands that hooked me to Metal.

Battle Beast. Unholy Saviour. I know all the criticism one can give to a band so cliché as BB but heck, it works on me and Noora's voice is just shivering (for me). Go listen to what she give on a song like Let It Roar. Wow !

Looking forward to all of these too. I'm also expecting great things from Nightwish with Floor (haven't seen them live since she joined, but that live album/DVD was phenomenal).

The last Ensiferum album was very disappointing. It wasn't awful really, just tepid and boring which I had not come to expect from such a great band. Hopefully it was just a bump in the road.

[Tsavong Lah]

Not a complete list (already grabbed some new stuff from X-Ray's list to listen to), and very loaded with albums from the first half of the year. I'm not sure if that's because I thought the first half was stronger, or just didn't listen to as much the last six months. Anyway, my favorite albums of 2014 (so far, since I'll probably "discover" some stuff years from now):

Top 2:

Archspire - The Lucid Collective: The first half of this year saw a ton of awesome tech death albums released, and this was by far my favorite.

Nux Vomica - Nux Vomica: I don't even know how to describe these guys. Encyclopedia Metallum calls them Melodic Death/Crust, but I think that's outdated. They are definitely part crust, part post-hardcore, with some black and doom elements. Kind of a modern day Catharsis. "Reeling" is my favorite song of 2014.

Rest (in no order):

Trap Them - Blissfucker: Are you angry? Because I'm angry.

Abysmal Dawn - Obsolescence: Not as good as Leveling the Plane of Existence, but I really loved tech death this year.

Artificial Brain - Labyrinth Constellation: More tech death

Bastard Sapling - Instinct is Forever: One of the few black metal releases that really spoke to me this year.

Devin Townsend Project - Z2 (Disc One): As much as I loved the first Ziltoid, I didn't really feel that side of this double album. However, the first disc, completely disconnected from the Ziltoid story, was absolutely beautiful.

Diocletian - Gesundrian: What X-Ray said.

Inanimate Existence - A Never-Ending Cycle of Atonement: Did I mention I liked tech death this year?

Iron Reagan - The Tyranny of Will: So I resisted listening to this album for a long time. It was partially my bleeding-heart pinko-commie revulsion at the name "Reagan", and part just completely misjudging what this would sound like. I'm glad I gave it a chance.

Lord Mantis - Death Mask: I liked this album a lot, but I feel like it's being over-hyped right now.

Old Wainds - Nordraum: The other black metal release this year that really spoke to me.

Primordial - Where Greater Men Have Fallen: I used to think I would love anything these guys put out, then they put out "Redemption at the Puritan's Hand", which I pretty much hated. Thankfully "WGMHF" is a much better album, not groundbreaking, but exactly what I want to hear when I put on a Primordial album. Some bands you want to hear push boundaries and try something new, but Primordial isn't that type of band for me.

Sea Bastard - Scabrous: In a year with a lot of great sludge/doom I wasn't really feeling the genre. But I did like Sea Bastard. Maybe it hit me at the right time and others missed that window.

Skull Fist - Chasing the Dream: This is pure heavy metal throwback. This is what it would sound like if White Wizzard was faster, better, and had balls.

Soreption - Engineering the Void: Yep, more tech death.

Guilty Pleasures:

Destrage - Are You Kidding Me? No - Kinda metalcore, but really fun. This is party metal.

Inferi - The Path of Apotheosis - I don't always listen to melodeath, but when I do I want it to sound like this.

Overall I think this was a very strong year for tech death, sludge and doom (YOB almost made my list, but I haven't listened to it enough as I haven't been in the mood for it), and a weak year for black and thrash. But, I know that from year to year my tastes vary and for some reason this was definitely a death metal year for me.

[Arkash]

Looking forward to all of these too. I'm also expecting great things from Nightwish with Floor (haven't seen them live since she joined, but that live album/DVD was phenomenal).

Trust me, it was so worth it being there ! A blast, a pure blast !

C'mon Tuomas, give us your best album yet ! I trust you !

The last Ensiferum album was very disappointing. It wasn't awful really, just tepid and boring which I had not come to expect from such a great band. Hopefully it was just a bump in the road.

Unsung Heroes had it good moments (some great), but all in all, yeah, not the good ol' Ensiferum (I sadly derived from this days but love to listen to once in a while).

[all swedes are racist]

Wait, Artificial Brain came out this year? Shit, whoops. Definitely need to add that to my list.

[Xray the Enforcer]

METAL THREAD WHY YOU ON PAGE 8?

[theprincethatwasntpromised]

How have I missed this thread?

[Xray the Enforcer]

Wait, Artificial Brain came out this year? Shit, whoops. Definitely need to add that to my list.

yo bish. Artificial Brain playing in Brooklyn in two weeks, supporting HORRENDOUS.

Also, I have more non-metal for you.

[all swedes are racist]

yo bish. Artificial Brain playing in Brooklyn in two weeks, supporting HORRENDOUS.

Also, I have more non-metal for you.

No shit? there is a very slim chance I may be in town for a night the first week of Feb... I think maybe the 4-5th?

And sweet! I look forward to it, even being from weak, inferior genres.

[Xray the Enforcer]

It will have to wait until I am not drunk (cannae focus on lists). Sadly, the show is Jan 31, so outside your visit time. But if you are in town, drop me a line. we'll find some Proper shenanigans.

[MercenaryChef]

Would love to see horrendous. Not going to happen though.

Gonna try to take the wife to cannibal corpse in march though.