LIK - Misanthropic Breed

 

I've been looking forward to this one for a while.  Stockholm's LIK play classic Swedish style death metal; nothing new, nothing surprising, just classic Entombed/Unleashed/Dismember style MH-2 buzzsaw death metal and they play it brilliantly.  Great riffs, great songs, loads of energy, and a great clear production that still keeps all the trademark overdriven grind intact.

Drink.  Headbang.  Kill zombies.

Listen/buy here

Ulthar - Providence

 

To my ears this album sounds a lot as if an alternate reality Immortal were a death metal band.  It incorporates classic death & black metal elements with a crisp and clear production while retaining an old school feel.  It's technical in places, chaotic in others, often melodic melodic, and creepily atmospheric throughout.  There's lots to like about this record.

Listen/buy here

Igorrr - Spirituality and Distortion

A truly progressive mix of drum & bass, baroque, extreme metal, and by the sounds of it whatever else was lying around the studio.  Igorrr has been chipping away at this unique sound for a few albums now and somehow keeps finding ways to make it more interesting.

Some tracks sound like Squarepusher playing death metal, others like Diamanda Galás has gotten into a fight with a Nintendo Entertainment System, and all of it sounds absolutely immense.

Listen/buy here

Underdark - Mourning Cloak

I'd heard the name Underdark but had never paid them attention, what a fool I was.  This is an EP of driving, muscular, black metal.  No fluff, great dynamics, a thunderous production and epic material, I'm completely in love.

Fingers crossed for a full LP from this band in the hopefully not too distant future.

Listen/buy here

Paul Catten - The Beauty of Decay

"A musical diversion. Easy listening in comparison" Paul describes this as on his bandcamp page, and it's certainly slicker and less abrasive than a lot of his other work, such as this or this.

Reminiscent at times of Faith No More at their sleaziest or The Jesus Lizard on downers passed through an English filter, or even 90s indie bands like The Lemonheads or Happy Mondays, without ever feeling dated or like anything other than it's own beast. .  This is the sound of a matured and experienced artist and flexing his muscles and stretching out, and the result is something very varied, slick, and assured. Maybe a diversion for Paul, but me it's one my favourite records I've heard thus far in 2020.

Listen/buy here

Today is the Day - No Good to Anyone

I've been a fan of Today is the Day's noisy grind since the 90s, when Mastodon started I was excited because it was the new band of the rhythm section from the amazing In The Eyes of God album, although the band is really a one man project with a revolving door of musicians.

This new record, their 11th, doesn't have quite the levels of bludgeon that many of the earlier albums do (although it's still plenty heavy), but it is a great noisy rock album with a sinister, creeping edge to it that is super effective and to my ears makes it one of the finest TITD releases to date.

Tombs - Monarchy of Shadows

I love Tombs, a mix of black metal, hardcore, and a bit of doom.  Their material always has a lot of energy, very little flab, and varied, quality songwriting.  I think record will be getting a lot of play from me.

Buy/listen here

Rivers of Nihil - Where Owls Know My Name

Where Owls Know My Name came out in 2018 but I want to post an entry here of posterity, as it's become one of my favourite albums of recent years.  With this record Rivers of Nihil went from being a decent death band to something altogether more special - progressive without being indulgent, bludgeoning without being exhausting, melodic without sounding like the hundreds of bands who just knocked of the Gothenburg sound.

Just an awesome record and a great live band too.

Listen/buy here.

Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden

Most of what I put on this blog are recent or new releases that I've enjoyed and don't want to forget, this album is from 1988 but where has it been all my life?   I was under the impression that Talk Talk were just like all the other 80s pop acts that have one or two songs that I really like but probably not worth much further inspection in 2020.

Turns out Spirit of Eden is a huge, sprawling, minimalist, psychedelic, jazzy, pop-rock masterpiece with not a single single in sight.   I fucking loved it.

Wounds of Recollection - You Were a Garden of Empyrean Light

I've been listening to a lot of Dolly Parton recently, and while this record might not sound much like Dolly (unless I missed her black metal period) it is drawing from the same Appalachian region and has a nostaglic, wistful quality that much of Dolly's early work also did.

Aside from that this a solid one-man black metal album.  Varied and intense with enough space in in the compositions to let the music breath, it feels spacious but still knuckles down when it needs to.

Buy/listen here

Wishfield - Wishfield

Wishfield do that post-black metal, shoegaze thing that is all the rage but with remarkably little straight up black metal.  The record brought to mind the washed out punk of early Kyuss or the racket of The Jesus Lizard with the lo-fi black metal rumblings coming as much more of a texture than a driving force of the album.

Melodic, chaotic, uplifting, and at 32 minutes does not outstay it's welcome.  Highly recommended.

Buy/listen here

Josienne Clarke - In All Weather

Poppy, jazzy, melancholic folk.   Does that beautifully wistful, far-away thing that I love the most in folk music (and that Josienne has made a career of) whilst staying uplifting.  Songs that finish with  a sombre moment give way to breezy upbeat pop track the next second, reminding us - me - to not dwell on the past.

This is a confident, assured, and mature album packed with good songs from an artist at the top of her game, I'm looking forward to hearing what comes next lots.

Listen/buy here

Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi - There is No Other

As a departure from the mostly metal/rock stuff I've been posting, this is a folk album from an American singer-songwriter and an Italian jazz musician.  I heard this referenced while listening to the excellent Dolly Parton's America podcast and it's great, it's an exploration of the history of folk music on it's journey from the Middle East through Africa and Europe and on to America to end up with what we think of classic country music, what you get as a result is a wonderfully varied and interesting record.

Rhiannon Giddens, among a LOT of other work, also has group called Carolina Chocolate Drops who are great, they play a version of old-time Americana mountain music which is steeped in history and modern sensibilities.

I usually link to the act's bandcamp but this one came out on a major label so it's available wherever you'd expect it to be.

Yuri Gagarin - The Outskirts of Reality

Driving, trippy, instrumental stoner rock that revs up in in some pretty familiar desert territory but quickly blasts off to the stratosphere and then on to all manner of weirder and more wonderful places.  Melodic and hypnotic, occasionally heavy, always interesting,  the album builds and builds in a very satisfying way.

Buy/listen here

Caїna - Gentle Illness

Caїna have been a firm favourite of mine for a few albums and this latest didn't disappoint. Ostensibly a black metal act but mostly not, the key BM atmosphere is there but it's not a destination arrived at by a well trodden path as there are all manner of jazzy, noisy, confusing, exciting, diversions to take along the way and it's all the better a journey for it.

Frankly harrowing in places but always fascinating, I'd hugely recommend this album as well as a dive into the large and varied Caїna back catalogue.

Listen/buy here

Other Caїna stuff to listen to here, here, or here.

Holy Fuck - Deleter

Organic sounding electronica band that I wasn't familiar with before this. Starts with throbbing minimalism and gradually builds into a fun, slick, restrained, slightly psychedelic, electro-rock album.

Listen/buy here

Dragunov - Arkhipov

A concept album about a submarine engagement during the Cuban missile crisis, as it's instrumental there's no story directly told but the music can be as crushing and oppressive as I imagine a submarine feels with nods to the alarms and that familiar 'ping' of sonar you've heard in a dozen movies.   It's a dense post-metal record, huge swirling riffs that remind of Cult of Luna, Helmet, or Black Sabbath with lots of variety, driving drums that sounds fantastic, and enough texture added that I didn't miss having vocals at all which can sometimes happen this kind of thing.  

Listen/buy here

Thy Catafalque - Naiv

Swings from classic prog to blackened thrash metal via 80s synths, flute solos, funky bass and lyrics sung or screamed (presumably) in the band's native Hungarian.  A wonderfully varied and odd album that holds together really nicely.

Listen/buy here

Leeched - To Dull the Blades of Your Abuse

My first contender for Album of the Year 2020 is the new album from this Manchester group. Makes me think of 90s Steve Albini produced stuff turned up to 11 through the lense of a monstrous modern hardcore band.  Absoultely raging and gloriously chaotic, two bloody thumbs up.

Buy/listen here

Devourment - Obscene Majesty

Pretty much melody-free modern death metal.  The guitars sound like artillery, the vocals like heavy machinery being dragged across a concrete floor, hardly original but well performed and produced.  This is the kind I thing I find ideal for blocking out the world while on public transport.

Buy/listen here

Marsh Dweller - Wanderer

Really enjoyed this record. Marsh Dweller create a lo-fi doom/hardcore sound which is expansive and otherworldly while still managing to sound like a band playing in a room. Which is odd considering the band seems to be mostly a one person project. For fans of Neurosis, ISIS, Cult of Luna. Buy/listen here