Sweatin' the Small Stuff, Part II: Best EPs, Splits, Comps, and Demos of 2012

Hope everyone's had a good holiday. I ate way too much, played too much Wii U and got to see my newborn nephew, so it was great.

Check out my favorite albums of the year and part 1 of my favorite eps, comps, splits, and demos if you haven't already.

Without further delay, here are my favorite eps, splits, demos, comps of 2012.

10.

Meth Lab - Demo

Knuckle dragging power violence smothered in a cloud of basement brewed meth and plenty of shifts in rhythm make this demo a year's favorite for getting some aggression out. P//S Review



9.

False Light - False Light

Brackish, down tuned power violence with enough beatdowns and feedback to make your stupid Hatebreed fan friend a true believer in power violence.


8.

Obolus - Lament

Dense and distant black metal with enough doses of WITTR and the like, but sans the fat and length. Perfect for winter nights.



7.

Beatriz Carnicero - No Reces

An impressive showing from these upstarts from Uruguay. Classic Slap-a-Ham nostalgia wrapped up with a robust production and plenty of dynamics to keep your arms swinging. P//S Review




6.

thedowngoing - athousandyearsofdarkness

One of those bands you "need to know" Australia's thedowngoing mix torrents of feedback, modulated vocals, angular guitars, and cascading drums into a coherrant mess of noisy grindcore that's absolutely gripping. P//S Review


5.

Water Torture - Shellfire!

Maybe my new favorite band, Buffalo's Water Torture are making up for their hometown sports team's horrid showings with a recent slew of releases. The band does the unthinkable in actually being good without having a guitarist. Heavy, vicious, painful and alluring, Water Torture find an odd balance between catchiness, heaviness, and energy with their brand of noisy power violence. Few things stick as well as the ending breakdown with the words shouted "everyone I know is fucking dead to me" and jumping right into this jazzy kind of synth run.

4.

Burial - Kindred

I was hesitant at first due to the fast and constant beat, but I should know better as U.K. godhead Burial is his normal self in creating an alluring, foggy, and urban sounding soundtrack to a night lost on the street. Listen here.


3.

V/A - Monomaniac Vol. 1

A great "who's who" of modern fast music encompassing unreleased material from grindcore, power violence, and even black metal bands. Particular highlights are Bodyhammer, thedowngoing, Cloud Rat, and Diocletian. P//S Review.


2.

Flourishing - Intersubjectivity

A fast dirge of dissonance, melody, and brutality makes Intersubjectivity one of the most unique and best things to come out this year. While I couldn't get into The Sum of Fossils I think this one is so paradoxically perfect in so many ways that it's hard not to get lost in. Pushing the envelope right out of the door, Brooklyn's Flourishing are on point with this one. P//S Review



1. 

Deathspell Omega - Drought

One of those releases where I struggle to talk about it like I'm some nervous wiener on his first date. There's just so much to say about this gift of an ep. It's what Deathspell Omega's been working towards ever since Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice. Where they got a bit ahead of themselves and lost with Fas - Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum, Paracletus finally bridged the gap between dissonance, abstraction, and melody yet was still very chaotic. With Drought DsO's simply perfected their sound. I don't know if the band will be able to outdo Drought's uncanny ability to weave in between multiple moods without space in between and to never be uncomfortable or jarring. The best release this year by a long shot, Drought is a wisp of a dream fully fleshed out into something tangible and perfect. Listen.

Flourishing - Intersubjectivity

While I couldn't get my head around Flourishing's debut full length, The Sum of Fossils, I've become quite a fan of their latest release Intersubjectivity. Nestled somewhere in between their signature uncomfortable shamble and a newer, more inviting territory, Flourishing have finally bridged the gap between dissonance and warmth. The warm and robust production does wonders, especially for the hallow sounding drums and the guitars when they get all wonky. That section midway through the title track is so great and mysterious sounding and that's where they're supreme.

Hard to pinpoint, but I'd say they fall in the realm of death metal- in the most abstract kind of ways.
Immediate comparisons would be newer Deathspell Omega and Ulcerate as they've managed to create paradoxically inviting yet dissonant music in a similar way yet at a much slower pace. Saying Portal, Gorguts or even Abyssal sound similar wouldn't be a far stretch but not enough credit to the band as they're really pushing the envelope.



Check out on the bandcamp for their label, The Pass Less Traveled.

Tour of Duty: France

LLN Ikon

France has always been a favorite of mine when it comes to black metal. The LLN acts such as Torgiest, Vlad Tepes, and Mütiilation (the only one to last) had their lo-fi charm and tried to combat the infamy of the Norwegian scene. Immediate successors such as Peste Noire and Celestia continued the raw and melodic style that's become such a go to for many acts around the world. Like those two mentioned, Mystic Forest brings about a huge dose of melody, but in a very classical and virtuoso style that's nearly unheard of in black metal. Diamatregon's forged themselves a bizarre path as their 2009 full length Crossroad is an homage of sorts to American blues (you won't really hear it in the music, but the album is a true grower and has such a great, raw, and dismally deep sound akin to the hardships Robert Johnson and the like sang about). Epheles had the aggression and straight ahead attack that some of those others lacked, but added a strong synth touch to the mix. Antaeus, like their namesake, were all about strength as their sound and nihilism has gone unmatched for quite sometime. Finally, there's Glorior Belli's who strangely enough also had a blues influenced album (Meet us at the Southern Sign) and have created a stable, polished style of black metal that's gotten wider distribution than most. 

This cover still baffles me. Note the dog in the foreground,  and his stupid face. The wheelchair is just a whole 'nother story.

Not included due to length and an overall lack of quality is Pensées Nocturnes whose track "Coups de Bleus" is a very faithful and well done marriage of black metal and blues. I'm just saying this because France has such a peculiar scene, from NSBM bands to shoegazers like Alcest to pioneers Deathspell Omega Blut Aus Nord and bands with a complete admiration for U.S. black southern music. There's a lot of other great acts, hope this is just a good jump off.

Download

1. Torgeist - "Devoted to Satan" - Devoted to Satan

2. Vlad Tepes - "Untitled" - Broullions I

3. Mütiilation - "Travels to Sadness, Hate & Depression" - Remains of a Ruined, Dead, Cursed Soul

4. Celestia - "Prisoner of a Morbid Cradle" - A Cave Full of Bats

5. Peste Noire - "Paysage Mauvais" - Folkfuck Colie

6. Mystic Forest - "Braver Les Ombres" - Welcome Back in the Forest

7. Antaeus - "Blood War III" - De Principii Evangelikum

8. Diamatregon - "Wine" - Crossroad

9. Epheles - "Les Siècles D'ignorance" - Souviens-Toi

10. Glorior Belli - "Manifesting the Raging Beast" - Manifesting the Raging Beast

Download

Forgotten Lore: Malicious Secrets

Whether it's the psychotic crap spasm that's their contribution to the excellent From the Entrails to the Dirt 4 way split, their buried EP Apostle of Him or their downright nasty demo from '99, Malicious Secrets were an absolute backdraft of black metal that played the game the way it wanted to. Their pinnacle being three tracks from the aforementioned French black metal love-fest 4 way, Malicous Secrets were always sure to keep an astounding freight train of energy going. At times the band sounds like a free-for-all, each instrument (and voice) fighting for dominance in the span of mere minutes; drums blasting, noodely leads crumbling apart and vocals just ranting on. If you've ever seen Jacob's Ladder, that hospital scene is the film equivalent of this band.

Part III: Send Me To Hell Day of Wine and Thorns

Their last track from the From the Entrails to the Dirt split.

Largely forgotten in the scope of things, Malicious Secrets were a short-lived project of Mutiilation brain baron Meyhna'ch, Tenebras of French weirdos Nuit Nore and most surprisingly, the best part of the band (the guitars) were the work of TND, some dude who played session bass in Celestia for the early part of their career (oh yeah, then there's some shlub who played bass with the great name X Daemon).

I guess true to their name, I've rarely- if ever- seen this band's name in any kind of discussion, review, or whatever else.It's a shame as this small body of work is so jagged, anxiety ridden and at times nonsensical in the best of ways (kinda like Black Flag when they just got noisy). The guitar playing and strange accents/syncopation of the drums are definite highlights and the main catalyst that drives you through meth frenzies like "Part I: Interior Crack Psycho Angel Bitch" (whatever the hell that means) or "Twisted Mental Void."


If you're familiar with related projects, such at Mutiilation, Nuit Noire or even fellow countrymen/splitmates Antaeus there's some similarities. Meyhna'ch's signature drawl is here, even though the drummer's from Nuit Noire, his style here really reminds me of the guy from Antaeus who tends to do these blast beats that fall apart in a fill at the end of each measure. If you're lucky enough to own From the Entrails to the Dirt, then good for you, but if you're not one of the elite few, be sure to get these tracks, as well as the whole split as it's a great showcase of a now aging French scene (Deathspell Omega's the only relevant band there, and they've made great strides since).

Now go and tell your friends.