The End Time: Best Albums of 2013

Here's what really caught my ear this year. No honorable mentions, no bullshit. I've exhausted these albums and will continue to do so. I've picked 11 because someone once told me that's metal and I want to be as metal as possible.

Fell Voices - Regnum Saturni

With their third album, Regnum Saturni, U.S. black metal act Fell Voices find themselves playing into abstracts and delving deeper into ritualistic chaos. The album was recorded live, a trait that means a lot to me, not only in the band's character, but also in the band's sheer sonic power.Unlike previous efforts, Fell Voices dedicate the first breath to a spoken sample by poet Mary Oliver, a poem which sets the thematic tone of the album and ties into the album's title and mythos. Gone are the repetitive and intricate melodies of the their last lp and instead the band uses tremolo riffing and black metal stylings to create a sort of drone that doesn't shamble, but rather blurs.

2011 From a Vinyl Collecting Nerd

Here's some records I bought in the past year that didn't only sound great, but were some of the prettiest things I could've gotten. Depending on my budget, I'll try and make this a regular section, more or less for materialistic assholes like myself.

Thou - The Archer and The Owle

Gilead Media

Maybe the most lovelingly made of the bunch, the thick jacket with  

a raised design on a pristine white is  a real pleasure when you see 

it in person. Marble swirl wax with old fashion looking prints of owls is the icing on the cake.

Discordance Axis - The Inalienable Dreamless
Hydra Head

After my friend showed me his original pressing of this record, and further introduced me to the band back when I was just a little shit, I realized this is why I wanted to collect vinyl; for this album alone. Being far outside my budget, it wasn't until "Record Store Day" this year that Hydra Head repressed this beauty and I was able to snag one.

Graf Orlock - The Doombox

Vitriol Records
What else is there to say about a 10" ep and the band's 3 LP effort on a CD all housed inside a cardboard ghetto blaster with an instruction booklet containing lyrics and insight to them. Outlandish; maybe, but reading the liner notes and realizing the band's affinity for 90's action flicks is as much a teenager revery as it is a political statement is very gratifying.







Fell Voices - Fell Voices
Gilead Media

The beatifuly dense artwork courtesy of Rainbath visuals might've been enough for me, but Adam at Gilead didn't stop there. A huge poster, great patch, and nice clean looking card with the info on it round out this heavyweight release.

Gridlink - Orphan/Amber Grey
Hydra Head

If you're gonna pay Hydra Head prices, you're going to expect this level of quality. The jacket is beautiful and ridiculously thick and the red vinyl is a beautiful choice. Beyond that, it's the whole Gridlink discography on one record (including a remastered Amber Grey with added guitar and bass). This was the one I was looking forward to all of 2010, happy to have it.

Teiatanblood - Purging Tongues

Anja Offensive

Teitanblood's DLP Seven Chalices is probably one of my favorite records, not only for the twisted and frightening black/death metal they put out, but the absurd amount of detail and attention given in their truely occult and otherworldly artwork/liner notes. The music on Purging Tongues itself is something I'm still unsure about, but looking at the B side etching on this record is a clear indication of how crazy this band can get.

Sweating the Small Stuff: Favorite not-full Lengths of 2011

Here's a handful of stuff that caught my ear this year. Look forward to a list of full lengths (I'm taking my time to backtrack as well as explore anything I might have missed). Share your thoughts, and please point out what I might've missed ( I always need new music). I've listed my 9 favorite not-full lengths of the year because 9 is the most metal number besides 11. Everything's gone topsy turvy since I found out Teitanblood has an ep that's just come out and near impossible to get a hold of. This list reflects that.

9.Suffering Mind/Neon Hole- Split 
Our favorite Polish grinders offer up nearly 4 minutes of the most consistent grind around. Neon Hole's not breaking new crust, but the death metaly grind chaos of their side is just enough to keep up with Suffering Kielbasa.
8.Pilgrim - Forsaken Man 
Old is new again, as Pilgrim fly under the radar of bands trying to recapture earlier magic of stale genres. Forsaken Man is a well executed and riff barrel of doomy goodness.
7.Short Walk -  Don't Be One 
A reminder to the scene that power violence started from punk music, Short Walk are off the wall with this light-hearted thrashfest of a release.
6.Mutilation Rites - Demo (2011) 
Thrashy chops, memorable compositions and great production show this NYC group's ready for the big leagues. Look for them at the forefront of the usbm scene soon.
5.Ash Borer/Fell Voices - Split 12" 
What else is there to say besides there are two of the best black metal bands around? Long, winding, and organic spindles of thread and sewn between the two of these West Coast deities.

4.Vastum - Carnal Law
 Vastum's demo/debut showcases a picture perfect reflection of early death metal channeled into one entity. Riffs reminiscent of Dismember, rhythm and attack familiar to Cianide, and an overall gloom that brings to mind Incantation. Far more than worship, Vastum's ritual form of blasphemy belongs at the top of what passes for death metal these days.







3.Protestant - Stalemate
Protestant's proper check in to 2011 has been yet another solid slab of metallic hardcore that's way more fulfilling than you'd expect an EP to be. Dynamic takes like the opener "Nothing Left" have as much to mosh to as there is to pump your fist and sing along to. A mature and well rounded release from a band that's melded the angst and violence of hardcore with the melodies and intricacies of metal.






2.Ruin Lust - Demo
Ruin Lust's Cyclopean sound burns not only in it's visceral songwriting, but also in the pure animosity within each member's respective instrument. Not since Teitanblood's Seven Chalices has a band sounded so powerfully dark and violent with drums like turbulent storms and vocals that coincide with animalistic slaughter. A step above your average Blasphemy worship, Ruin Lust's laconic demo drowns out the light and thunders in the darkness.





1.Massive Attack Vs. Burial - Four Walls/Paradise Circus
My favorite non full length of the year belongs enigmatic U.K. electronic artist Burial and his rendition of two Massive Attack tracks. This is somewhat new ground for me, so I can't comment about previous efforts, but Burial's treatment of the two tracks is otherworldly and mesmerizing. The slow, hypnotic beat finds it's way through both tracks as a lone familiar singer sings admist the serene passages of varying noises and glimmers. Simply beautiful and darkly touching, this is one of my favorite releases this year period.



0. Teitanblood - Purging Tongues

I don't even know if this is out here in the States, if I'll even be able to buy it, or whatever; but I'm going to do something completely illogical and say this is the best of the year even though I have only this to go on...

"'Purging Tongues' is the revelation of blood-stained truth from behind the wall of life. Death Metal told in blind voices, guided by mute vision from the bottomless pit."

Drought

My creative energies haven't been there as of late and I haven't done much in the way of exploring new music. If you're bothering at all to read this, then I thank you greatly; this isn't the kind of gig I'd carry on for my own entertainment.

To keep on tab with me, and maybe inspire me to respond or facilitate something I've been listening a lot to Polish favorites Self Hate and Suffering Mind, and usbm acts Ash Borer, Fell Voices, and the new Leviathan album which I'll talk about at greater length sometime soon.

There's few albums that I really like that I can't give a concrete answer for. One of which being Self Hate's At the Beginning God Created Fear, another being Conqueror's War Cult Supremacy. I think something both albums contain is an incredible amount of ferocity, speed, and bat-shit vocals. To the former of the bands, the production definitely helps as it's absurdly heavy and viscous, so muddy at times I'd normally complain about it, but here, I'm loving it. It feels at times that things might just spiral out of control and that anxiety of wondering if the band can make it out of the song alive makes it all the more enjoyable.

The aura that At the Beginning... evokes is rare, it reminds me a bit of old Phobia and Brutal Truth, but a lot heavier and darker. I couldn't help but think, if this band were American, they'd be as revered as the other two previously mentioned.

Anyway, I'm finding more and more to like out of Central European acts like those mentioned, there's something great going on their besides hockey, sausage, and beer, and it's their grindcore. I plead to for you to listen to Gride, Lycanthrophy, and Wojtyla.

Ruin Lust- Unittled

Ruin Lust's set at The Brooklyn Union Pool Hall last Saturday was one of the most driven and intense performances I've seen in awhile.This artillery barrage of a show forced me to pick up what I can only assume to be their only release, a titleless demo cassette.

Usually a band has either its recorded experience to live up to, or vice versa; here, Ruin Lust had the latter. What you get with this cassette is 5 tracks of uncompromising black metal that is as heavy as it is fast. Nothing atmospheric, nothing artsy or progressive, instead, it's a vehement, laconic curbstomping that starts as quickly as it ends.

Critics often make the mistake of using absolutes when they're ignorant of what else exists, I myself have probably made the mistake. I say this because I remember reading ages ago a copy of Revolver which stated Nirvana was the 19th heaviest band of all time (Obituary was 45th, just for comparison's sake). So I keep that in mind when people say "heavy" as it's lost its meaning, just like "epic." Well, for what it's worth, I can assure you that Ruin Lust is one of the heaviest bands I've heard in recent memory. The ferocity of Conqueror's s War Cult Supremacy meets a more level headed production and an uncompromising desire to offer something that countless Blasphemy clones can't; decent song writing and varied song structure. Dramatic build ups and primal grunts fly right into Blasphemy pounds (all drums are hit at the same time as fast as possible) as the most perfect guitar tone saws meaty, wet riffs in rapid fire succession. Much like successful grindcore bands, the emphasis on rhythm and structure propels Ruin Lust through dirge like build ups into razor walls of sound and brooding intensity.

While I talked with their drummer briefly about an upcoming Fell Voices release (one of his many projects), I'll be honest in saying I'm much more excited to see what happens with Ruin Lust and hopefully we can see a full length down the road.

Yes I have to bring up Blasphemy, no Ruin Lust isn't some trite clone. Catch the band if you can and look around for their demo, I'm sure it's out there somewhere to buy.

Show Saga Pat III: Urfaust, Black Anvil, Krallice, and Ruin Lust @ The Union Pool Hall

If my ear drums weren't already aching, last Saturday brought another session of top class metal that I was fortunate enough to catch.

Ruin Lust. Courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan.

The night kicked off with the unassuming three piece Ruin Lust. Comprised of members of Fell Voices, Ruin Lust are a far cry from the lengthy and spectral sound of the adforemntioned band. Instead, drummer Mike, pounded his tiny drumset like some frenized berzerker, grunting and screaming all the way. Accurate to call "war metal" but unfairly pigeon-holing the band, Ruin Lust were 100% that night and showed a level of aggression, power and sheer force that no other band matched up to. Well excuted, Ruin Lust set the bar high for the night.

I skipped out on Krallice and hit the bar as I know their shtick, but I overheard they were spot on and the same goes for Black Anvil. The latter interests me far more than the former, but corn on the cob got in the way of seeing the band (the venue has a taco truck situated in its outside portion).

Urfaust

Urfaust came to the stage, humble and on point, rocking right off the bat. The slow, droning chords matched with the unmistakable and truly ethereal vocals of singer/guitarist IX were held together by the rudimentary backbeat of drummer VRDRBR and successfully recreated the trance like quality that the band has perfected after nearly seven years.The crowd moshed as slowly and drunkenly as they could, much to the dismay of some, and to the delight of others. Faint attempts to recreate the German lyrics echoed in the tightly packed venue and people even bought drinks for the guys. The night was topped with a bunch of songs I can't pronounce and pinpoint as many bleed together. Much of the set seemed to be from their latest full length, Der freiwillige Bettler. No ego kept the band from the crowd and they, to much applause, dedicated a track to the late Peter Steele (of Type O Negative fame; Brooklyn's pride and joy) and even haggled the crowd for requests (to which someone called out a tune already played, and silence as the bands titles were intimidating enough to read let alone shout).

I was suspiscious of Urfaust's ability to recreate some of the most absorbing and atmospheric music in the extreme music scene, but they succeeded without the help of keyboards or addiontal members. An impressive show and a fortunate occurrence as the band rarely makes it to this side of the Atlantic.

Look for a review of the Ruin Lust cassette I snagged at the show sometime in the future.

Ash Borer - MMIX - MMXI

"‘I love humanity,’ he said, ‘but I wonder at myself. The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular[...]yet I am incapable of living in the same room with any one for two days together, as I know by experience. As soon as any one is near me, his personality disturbs my self-complacency and restricts my freedom. In twenty-four hours I begin to hate the best of men: one because he's too long over his dinner; another because he has a cold and keeps on blowing his nose. I become hostile to people the moment they come close to me. But it has always happened that the more I detest men individually the more ardent becomes my love for humanity.’ ”

Perhaps, just perhaps, more than any other style of music, black metal contains this similar paradox as outlined by Dostoevsky in The Brothers Karamazov. Now, we're not talking the highfalutin crap that Liturgy claims with its brand of "transcendental black metal" (don't click the link if you actually enjoy their music; it's devastating) but more so the eventual paradox of being a misanthrope yet keeping friends. A celebration of life is obvious in black metal's very Romantic tropes revolving around nature as well as its disdain for life revolving around, well, death. Does this mean Shelley would of liked black metal? I don't know, but what I do know is in its infancy, black metal never strove to make something "beautiful," "enthralling," or "somber." Instead, early acts (first and most second wave) looked to the morbid, the occult and sinister nature of things, mostly for shock value, but eventually in some sort of pseudo post-teenage angst as we saw with bands like Burzum. To avoid a history lesson I'll sum it up by saying, like anything that's given time to develop, evolve, or mature, black metal has explored such a wide variety of emotions and topics that bands like  Ash Borer fully embody in a  multifaceted sound in terms of emotion. On the surface, to be so ugly because of its hollow production, craggy/fuzzy guitars, cacophonous drums and distant screams, Ash Borer ultimately create something sublime in the face of what some might call "harsh."

The whole west coast of the States seems to be a hotbed for brilliant black metal. Some will go on for ages about the absolutely mediocre Weakling, while others overlook the genius of acts like Leviathan and Ceremonial Castings and the current groups like Fell Voices, Leech, and of course Ash Borer. And while I like all the bands mentioned , it's Ash Borer's recent collection done by Land of Decay that's got me absolutely hooked.

von Trier's Antichrist is a nice visual companion to Ash Borer

The sound of celebration and loss come together as one with Ash Borer's collected works. At times triumphant and harmonious, other times somber and bleak, Ash Borer are able to explore and conceptualize the sounds of the human heart, both in strife and in joy. The beauty the band possess is much in the same vein that Eliot's The Waste Land is hauntingly beautiful. Melodic nuisances surge back and forth, to crumble and decay, then to build up once again to momentous breaks. Invoking damp soil beneath your feet, fluttering wings in the distance and decayed timber; Ash Borer create long, winding songs that are completely absorbing and mysterious.

I probably sound like I've been drinking Chai tea all day and reading poetry, but I'm dead serious about all that Ash Borer invoke and achieve. The band is on the cusp at the most fruitful time for black metal in America and I can only hope they continue to elaborate on their sound and approach.

Forgotten Lore: Mohoram Atta

How many times have you bought a split, record or, downloaded something without knowing the band and become completely infatuated with that said band? Now, how many times have you had to suffer the disappointment of realizing that band doesn't exist anymore? This was the story for me when I received my copy of Thou's split with Mohoram Atta entitled The Degradation of Life nearly two years ago.

While I bought the split for Thou's portion, I quickly became enthralled by Mohoram Atta's side. My inability to successfully coherence friends into a band, and as well as to do anything except play the drums had left an undying hunger for two of my favorite styles of music/aesthetics to be successfully combined. I dug through so many bands just to find the perfect mixture of melodic hardcore and black metal, some close (think Martyrdöd) some lacking the His Hero is Gone/ melodic touch I was looking for (think Infernal Stronghold or any recent Mark McCoy project, etc) and some just bad. 


All of that said, I was astounded at the end of Mohoram Atta's split with Thou hearing the track "Forever Sleep" as it completely blew me away. A somber melodic riff  put to building drums and an ajoining second guitar continue to build to one of the most epic crashes I've heard. Picture a song like  Envy's "A Warm Room" covered by a black metal band and you have "Forever Sleep" in a nutshell. 

This comparison isn't to discredit Mohoram Atta's originality, quite the opposite actually. Few times does a band capture exactly what's been humming in your head, or rather, offer something you've always wanted subconsciously, something you can't find and something that's always a goal. As high strung as that sounds, it's true as Mohoram Atta were able to cover a wide breadth of emotion and dynamics. From the mournful cascading mountain of a song like "Forever Sleep" to scathing and melodically driven tracks like "Birthright" or "Cull, " and one such as "Weight of Existence" which encapsulates them both, Mohoram Atta covered every single aspect of their sound.

I would have to say their work on the split with Thou is my favorite. Having been fortunate enough to pick up Desolate Motherfuckers when I was in the U.K. I'd say that's a second favorite, and lastly, out of what I know to exist, is The Weight of Existence demo. The band, at times, employed three guitarists and apparently had an amazing stage presence. 


It's a shame this band didn't continue. However, members have found their way into some great bands. Drummer Mike plays drums in the awesome black metal act Fell Voices, his solo project Sleepwalker (another good black metal act) and  Resin Hits. Singer Brandon has Yarn and Sea, a cute acoustic band with a female singer (not too bad actually) as well as Wolfgöd who play a glam inspired style of hard heavy metal. There's probably a handful I'm missing, but a lot of my information is from word of mouth, crosschecking members lists on Myspaces and Facebooks, etc.

Keep an eye out for any of their releases, or their member's bands.

True/FALSE

Lo and behold, another promising young black metal band pushed into the limelight by our friends at Gilead Media and Howling Mine. If Fell Voices, Krallice, Ash Borer or Barghest don't ring a bell than you've got your day set for you.

False's ferocious, non-stop, high stake style of playing paired together with omnipresent vocals and unexpected, but strangely welcomed synth accompaniments round out False's unique sound. While the two songs span roughly 25minutes, it's unfair to compare them to bands such as Wolves in the Throne Room, Fell Voices, or Leech. Instead, False employs what I can only think of describing as "upbeat" melodies (see the beginning of "Key of Passive Suffering"). Furthermore, unlike other long-song black metal bands, False doesn't rely on atmosphere and repetition, but rather impact and melody. Taken from Gilead despot Adam,

"I first heard about FALSE while sitting around a coffee house in Madison, WI with Bryan and Andy from Thou. They had just played Minneapolis the night prior, where FALSE closer[sic] the show, and everyone in Thou was entirely and completely blown away by how intense and relentless FALSE were live. Just going off their description & the obvious impact left upon them, I knew I had to hear FALSE immediately." 

Relentless would probably the best adjective to describe False as the two songs don't skip a beat in transition and even the slow(er) parts of the songs surge with such urgency it's easy to take the guys from Thou at their word. And while this is all true, there's something that doesn't quite sit right with me. 

I can't pinpoint exactly what it is, but I'm not a fan of the vocals.It might be the tonality or delivery of them, but for whatever reason I can't get into them. Beyond that, my other complaint lies in the cheesy at times synth effects. Throughout "The Key of Passive Suffering" they feel a bit too over the top and flounder in a middle ground of not quite symphonic black metal. That said, everything seems to click perfectly in "Sleepmaker" where the keys sound a bit more subdued and less over the top.

Listen to the full b-side which is streaming at NPR 

Limited shirt printed by Adam of Gilead Media to go with your new LP. Looks beautiful.

Pre-orders up over at Gilead, as well as all the awesome merch we've come to expect to be spoiled with from the label. 

False-"Untitled"2011

Krallice- "Untitled"2009

There's something in the drinking water of Gilead. With 3 black metal albums released in the pass year simply called "Untitled" and the Krallice repress done in '09 by the same name. Also note the similar covers.

Parting words from the band about themselves and their sound.

"Black Metal for post-apocalyptic desolation. Reject the promise of progress and the encompassing void that constitutes fulfillment. Solace in desecration."