(NCS writer Austin Weber brought us this big list of his personal favorites from 2014, divided into 7 categories.)
I hate to begin with the obvious and easiest intro, but 2014 really was one hell of a prolific year for quality metal releases from all stripes and sub-genres. I felt slightly overwhelmed, but I found a lot of killer releases by new bands this year, in addition to new releases by the many bands I was already aware of, many of whom took evolutionary leaps my feeble mind could not have possibly predicted. And the future still looks bright for metal potential. So, all is well.
As I did with my last two years’ “best of” lists, I chose to skip over many of the names that would appear on most lists, in favor of more underground or less championed fare. This is to give you, the reader, a shot at hearing more quality releases from the year, beyond the same pile of releases whose names will be hammered into your brain by a multitude of other year-end lists. The intro to this article goes on for too long; if it’s TLDR to you, skip to the lists.
It does pain me not to do a typical list sometimes, because obvious names such as Archspire, Thantifaxath, Gridlink, Artificial Brain, and many, many more, would be at the very damn top. A few bigger names do appear below, but only because I feel they won’t be on very many year-end lists; they may be known in some circles, but in spite of their brilliance, have failed to break through into the many times unquantifiable, but somehow real, greater metal “consciousness”.
In order to save time, yet still provide a reason to listen to the music listed here, I will quote from my reviews/articles, with some new write-ups interspersed for music I loved but ran out of time to review in full before this point in the year. I hope our readers enjoyed my posts from 2014, and I look forward to bringing a lot of song premieres next year, as well as covering a lot of bands you probably won’t know but should!
One last point: If you have followed my posts from this year, there are only going to be about 25 releases you won’t know about. So, those in that camp may be familiar with some/many on the following lists. I mainly compile this list to cram all the notable quality underground stuff I wrote about for the year in one post, because I know most people probably never saw even half of what I wrote about this year. Without further ado, and in no particular order per style….
LIFE METAL
Dimesland - Psychogenic Atrophy
I hesitated in deciding where to place Dimesland on my list, as they defy pigeonholing and truly live up to their self-described label of Abstract metal. But I decided to place them in the death metal category since there is a fair bit of it in their sound, as well as some of the darker, drearier aspects of black metal and some non-obvious but noticeable Voivod nods in the mix. In a way more structural sense than in the actual sound of the music, they also bring to mind the riffs, jazzy factor, and rhythmically bonkers nature of Atheist.
Dimesland are masters of discomfort and alienation; nothing about this is easy listening. Yet, in spite of the amorphousness that makes categorizing or comparing the music very hard, it’s a damn interesting album to listen to and very rewarding.
Vocals are very sparsely employed, but with as many hairpin twists, turns, and unexpected sonic pit-stops into new territory as Psychogenic Atrophy contains, it never feels like vocals are missing, or necessary when they aren’t there. Now that’s the sign of a damn good band — the music truly speaks for itself.
When the music does contain vocals, it’s almost exclusively a reverb-soaked yell that comes across like a mix between Kelly Schaefer (Atheist) and Denis Bélanger (Voivod), with a few howls from time to time, but they aren’t quite death metal. Every time I spin Psychogenic Atrophy, I am reminded of Mr. Bungle, because like them, I feel like I’m hearing 4 or 5 different records of different styles mashed into one unholy hell that is brilliantly composed and an insanely immersive experience unlike any other.
As someone who hears significantly more metal than your average fan, and likewise has heard so much more than most, it takes a lot to impress me. But all I could think while taking in the bewildering experience of Psychogenic Atrophy was ”holy fuck”. These days, not a lot of records make me recoil with bulging eyes and a dropped jaw, so it was a real treat to experience Psychogenic Atrophy, and to be so pleasantly befuddled and brain-scrambled by it that my inner mantra became stuck on “holy fuck”. Definitely one of the most original and daring albums I’ve heard all year.
*Psychogenic Atrophy is being released today, December 9th.
http://www.stereogum.com/1718219/dimesland-dying-foretold-stereogum-premiere/mp3s/
http://www.decibelmagazine.com/featured/stream-bound-in-stone-by-dimesland/
Desecravity - Orphic Signs
Every time I listen to Desecravity, I scratch my head as to why they haven’t broken through into the greater death metal conscious of fans and writers. Maybe it’s because they are from Japan, maybe it’s that Willowtip doesn’t promote them enough, as evidenced by their new album not getting sent out to most reviewers, which would have greatly increased their presence. Or maybe it’s that they have never toured the US, or Europe, as far as I am aware. Whatever the explanation may be, if you haven’t heard these guys before, now is your chance.
The band have largely kept the hyperactive chaotic sound of their first record, Implicit Obedience. Which for those unaware, comes across like a rabidly rampaging Hate Eternal-meets-Origin crossbreed with a penchant for blatantly obvious, but awesome, Jon Levasseur (Cryptopsy)-influenced solos littered throughout. Although mainly following the template they came up with on their debut, Orphic Signs finds ways to show signs of growth and evolution in the band’s sound. They occasionally let a Cryptopsy influence in beyond their solos, featuring more subtle, brief pauses from the mania, sprinkling in a higher ratio of more “traditional” sounding meaty death metal riffs, and including an extended instrumental opening on my favorite track, “False Signs”.
But the biggest change is the even more sophisticated and complex songwriting, no small feat considering what the band came up with on their first record. Beyond the ridiculous sweeps, there is a more pronounced lead guitar presence on this record, even venturing into hybridized neo-classical playing that is pretty damn stunning. While many records are front-loaded, Desecravity invert that tradition by featuring the album’s strongest material in the last three tracks. I must stress, though, that just because the last three are my favorites in no way means the rest of the material is not up to par.
To make things simple, if you liked this years Archspire album, you will love Orphic Signs.
https://willowtip.bandcamp.com/album/orphic-signs
Hadal Maw - Senium
“Sonically, Hadal Maw come across like an Australian counterpart to what those modern uniters of various strands of death metal, Rivers Of Nihil, have accomplished in the U.S. Hadal Maw are masters at creating thoroughly ferocious death metal spiked with memorable leads, backed by a penchant for hefty grooves courtesy of their usage of 8-string guitars, and rounded out with a tendency to let atmospheric passages build. All of their combined attributes converge into a sound that, while modern and influenced by Gojira and Morbid Angel among others, is a cut above most of their peers in both delivery and songwriting. Senium is a mesmerizing self-released debut album, very professionally done and quite multi-faceted. “
https://hadalmaw.bandcamp.com/
Primordium - Aeonian Obsolescence
“Imagine the slithery nature of Spawn Of Possession or Gorod meeting the brutality and heft of Beneath The Massacre, with the end result getting a hefty injection of melody, and you would arrive at the sound of Primordium. Primordium are a new upstart technical death metal group from Indianapolis, Indiana, and Aeonian Obsolescence is their very first release as a band.”
https://laceratedenemyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/primordium-aeonian-obsolescence
Embryonic Devourment - Reptilian Agenda
“With their latest release, Reptilian Agenda, Embryonic Devourment have even further embraced old school death metal tendencies into the fold of their technical brutal carnage that warns of the true reptilian nature of reality. This is a big step up for them, and fans of old school death metal should certainly give this a listen. In spite of its swarming Origin-meets-Malignancy veneer, a lot of the riffs are superbly evil, meaty, and groovy in an old school way. “
“Reptilian Agenda is not an album to skip over; this is one of the best death metal albums I’ve heard in awhile. High-quality releases such as this are precisely the reason why I’m not impressed by a lot of the death metal I hear.”
http://embryonicdevourment.bandcamp.com/album/reptilian-agenda
Warforged- Essence Of The Land
I don’t know who “they” is, but I keep on hearing that “they” say time is money, so I continue expecting shorter and shorter metal releases that keep me coming back with the same frequency as full-lengths. Sadly, few EPs this year seemed to match the weight and awe-inspiring power of the multitude of quality exploding full-length releases I heard. Yet Warforged and their brief EP, Essence Of The Land, rose above the clatter and bitter cries for recognition that clamored for my attention, and yours.
I will sadly admit that in a state of probably (un-music related) irritated reading, I initially dismissed them as “just another band”. Thank god (or satan), for the power of a live performance, because seeing the intensity and emotional gravitas that Warforged brought to the stage certainly changed how I felt about them.
I became instantly hooked after seeing them in my hometown of Louisville, KY, and perceived a new dimension to their music, one that, while not lacking on record, seems to come to life differently in a live setting. Yes, I am totally in the wrong for failing to click with them until seeing them live, but hell, better late than never.
If ever a new rising star in tech-death were appointed, these guys are gunning for it, not only for their sonic diversity, but for their unique genre mix employed in their songwriting and perfect balance of atmospheric meets aggression that transcends genre tropes, while including keyboards and black metal in a sometimes tired formula. In doing so, they deliver a foreboding sensibility into a genre I love, yet that often comes across as soulless, in spite of how much I hate that overused characterization.
https://warforged.bandcamp.com/album/essence-of-the-land
Orbital Frame - Orbiting Catastrophe
“It’s a wild trip, traversing a space-oriented journey fueled by a fusion of melodic, technical, and progressive strains of death metal. Orbital Frame’s frequent proggy keyboard inclusions certainly set them apart and are interwoven in a way that would likely appeal to fans of Lascaille’s Shroud and Nocturnus. Orbital Frame is a band to watch for sure.”
https://orbitalframe.bandcamp.com/
Hannes Grossman - The Radial Covenant
This also breaks my year-end rule of focusing on lesser-known artists, but it fucking has to, because this album is too damn good for me to miss seeing it on year-end lists. Shame on everyone!
http://hannesgrossmann.bandcamp.com/album/the-radial-covenant
Pyrrhon - The Mother Of Virtues
While Pyrrhon technically break my rule of not covering well-known bands on my year-end lists, they deserve it, mainly because The Mother Of Virtues seemed to garner more praise from metal writers than from metal listeners. And for that, I say fuck you to those unwilling to invest the time required to truly understand and enjoy a record such as this one. The other reason it appears here is that I don’t suspect I will see it on many year-end lists. And to that, let me throw another fuck you at the metal community!
If you are looking for death metal that spends more time playing non-death metal, then The Mother Of Virtues is the 21st century deconstruction of the genre that you’ve been waiting for. For all the weird and experimental music I heard in 2014, this takes the cake in terms of originality and boldness. If you haven’t already checked it out, you really need to do so. Unless your idea of a good time is the new Slipknuts record, in which case, move along.
https://pyrrhonband.bandcamp.com/album/the-mother-of-virtues
Orgone - The Joyless Parson
“Pittsburgh extreme death metal act Orgone came to fruition at the right time in tech-death’s growth during the mid 2000s. During that period there seemed to be a bit more experimentation, versus the largely codified style and sound of what we expect when we hear that term now. Orgone released a stupefying, near-impenetrable debut called The Goliath in 2007 and then disappeared. Now they’ve returned with The Joyless Parson, a further test in pushing the boundaries of death metal.”
“The Joyless Parson is supported by a graceful chasm of sprawling doom, which the band use as eloquent unfolding cesspool pockets that balance and support their furious jaunts. The mood of The Joyless Parson is one of wounded anguish, still fiery, but more contemplative than the apocalyptic chaos conjured on their first record. Tortured black metal riffing and jazz elements likewise find their way into their back-and-forth flailing songwriting, as do piano playing and cello on one track. The analytically focused, at times almost poetic, lyrics are quite an interesting accompaniment to the heady, potent music.”
http://orgoneus.bandcamp.com/album/the-joyless-parson
Ingurgitating Oblivion - Continuum Of Absence
“It’s been a long wait for this for me and it does not disappoint. Continuum Of Absence has some nice doomy Immolation and black metal influence upgrades, while retaining the Suffocation-meets-Gorguts-inspired rampage they started with. The end result twists and turns in and out of horrid labyrinthine corridors, never ending, merely blasting off into new pockets of insanity and blast-beat beatdowns.”
“Consider Continuum Of Absence a very fine addition to this new trend of dissonant black metal and Ulcerate-influenced death metal. They’ve chopped up all their influences in such a way that they do indeed have a sound all their own. Continuum Of Absence is a creepy album, so come get your creep on ya’ll! This album is not one to pass over; in fact, it’s quickly become one of my favorites of the year.”
https://willowtip.bandcamp.com/album/continuum-of-absence
Defilementory -The Dismal Ascension
“Defilementory do not play a typical slam-oriented or straightforward version of brutal death metal. Their brutal death leanings instead carry them into more technical and frantically choppy territory. Defilementory further fill in their identity with interesting and strangely placed clean guitar passages, subtle Deathspell Omega-esque black metal riff nuances, and a terrific, prominent bass performance that often gets to shine solo and adds further dimension and variety to The Dismal Ascension.”
“The Dismal Ascension sees Defilementory stake their own take on the atmospheric death metal style. There’s an immersive richness to the album, one that reaches a strangely meditative state at times. Don’t miss out on one of the ugliest and most misanthropic outpourings of death metal to come out this year.”
http://defilementory.bandcamp.com/album/the-dismal-ascension
Noneuclid - Metatheosis
“One might also be tempted to characterize the music as thrash/death, but this isn’t thrash with a death metal bite, nor is it death metal that gallops and is guided by thrashy outriders. This is a full-on science experiment, muddling the two styles into contrasting, coalescing forms that are inseparable yet elastic. From thrash, they cycle to prog, demolish with demented death metal, and collapse into doom — all of which has been done somewhere before, but not in this order, nor composed with these ingredients amorphously clustered and countering each other in the way they do here.”
“Re-thrash has its place as temporary fun, but Metatheosis is a work of higher art with a longer shelf life. Noneuclid improbably reach into the past and freshly distill and recombine what they unearthed in an adventurous way that is not limited to thrash alone. When bands like Noneuclid take thrash to such new and challenging heights, can we really say that thrash is played out?”
http://blood-music.bandcamp.com/album/metatheosis
Posthumous Blasphemer - Exhumation Of Sacred Impunity
“They aren’t your average technical brutal band. Their songwriting is in a higher class than a lot of groups plying this sort of style. Unholy mind-bending jams await. Hit play now, and absorb the tumultuous insanity within.”
http://posthumousblasphemer.bandcamp.com/album/exhumation-of-sacred-impunity
Invidiosus - Malignant Universe
Did this year’s Origin not live up to what you expect from the band? If so, Malignant Universe will be exactly what you are looking for.
“With so many different people (collectively) having written the music contained on Malignant Universe, there is a healthy diversity to their generally grind-blasted death. Malignant Universe exhumes the past and yet doesn’t reside their. It takes restrained guidance from modern, more technical deathly forms, and yet doesn’t wholly reside there either.”
http://invidiosus.bandcamp.com/album/malignant-universe-2
Inanimate Existence - A Never-Ending Cycle Of Atonement
Quotes from my review:
“With their first record, 2012’s Liberation Through Hearing, Santa Cruz-based Inanimate Existence showed themselves to be much more than a technically competent brutal death metal act. A full half of the album was an experimental instrumental affair of great diversity. As a result, the evolution of their sound present on their sophomore follow-up, A Never-Ending Cycle Of Atonement, is not completely surprising. Yet it’s still stunning that they’ve managed to merge their progressive and experimental side with a series of ferociously cutthroat, frenetic death metal songs.”
“While this record would have been golden even if it had only focused on pounding listeners into dust, it certainly displays a higher, multifaceted ambition with the lofty, epic, and graceful excursions on which the band thrive. Inanimate Existence continue to write some of the most interesting and memorable songs of any group toying with similar sonic ingredients. A Never-Ending Cycle Of Atonement is a fascinating effort, a true journey for your ears and mind that’s well worth experiencing again and again.”
Terracide - Existence Asunder
I just want to say that this is my favorite melodic death metal album of the year. An underrated gem any fan of the genre should look into.
“Terracide cover quite a bit of ground, residing somewhere between Into Eternity, Allegaeon, and Iced Earth. There’s quite a bit of cheese present, but it’s basically a finely aged premium Swiss type of cheese if anything. Existence Asunder is one of the fresher sounding melodic thrash-y, death-y, metal-y albums I’ve heard in awhile. Pump your fists and feast on goopy aural cheese, Existence Asunder has finally arrived.”
http://terracide.bandcamp.com/album/existence-asunder
Solace Of Requiem - Casting Ruin
“Overall, their style weaves around massive bone-crushing columns of racing riffs and brimstone-exploding blast beats, topped off with highly venomous vocals. But to further dissect it, the death metal side of their sound often brings to mind the jackhammering propulsive beatings that Hate Eternal brought to life. In addition, they accent each song with a plethora of aggressive melodic leads and round them out with scathing infusions of blood-curdling black metal blasphemy.”
“The band’s unique push and pull between frenzied melodies and steamrolling spasms frequently converge into memorable collisions that lend their music the sensation of a roller coaster. The songs on Casting Ruin are largely non cyclical in structure, making for a jagged, twisting mass whose course cannot be controlled or predicted. This lack of repetition in the songs gives each of them a unique depth and flow and makes for a staggering amount of music to absorb.”
https://vicisolumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/casting-ruin
Diskord - Oscillations
“Diskord are firmly rooted in old school death metal, but the delivery comes across in a more modern way — revolving around a spastic, stop-start, blast-and-lurch approach. Although the production follows a natural and grimy old school death metal aesthetic, the music itself doesn’t squarely fit into the box of new old school death metal, at least when compared to the purely primitive manner with which other bands are delivering it. This is something else entirely, and to my ears, far more interesting.”
“Their previous material sounded like a Frankensteinian, stitched-together bastard of old Gorguts, Demilich, and Atheist stewing in a cesspool of doomy pauses in the vein of Autopsy. For Oscillations they’ve kept the same framework of influences, but have stepped up their game, as it’s certainly more complex material this time around. Fortunately, the songwriting still retains its trademark manic, chaotic nature — the band writhing and thrashing about like newborn animals, blind and bereft of the indifferent world into which they are being born. By this point in their career, Diskord have their own sound and style that is recognizable and distinct, no small feat in today’s crowded metal scene.”
https://diskord.bandcamp.com/album/oscillations
Phobocosm - Deprived
“A lot of modern death metal is shiny, flashy, and in addition, purely cutthroat. Well, the Montreal-based group Phobocosm are nothing like that. They are relentlessly ugly and unforgiving, often content to stew in misery at a slower pace, entrenched in massive, sickening riffs that churn bowels and cause minds to enter a state of hopeless insanity. If a cutthroat death metal record feels like a physical assault, then consider Phobocosm masters of taking that assault directly into your brain, feeding you clouded questions that don’t lead to any answers, submerging you in a sadness and longing that reeks of perversion. Deprived offers an evil and different take on the death metal sound. Yes, there is plenty of lively double-bass, and the album has its frenzied moments, but often this is a skulking, wounded beast — preaching a horror beyond gore, beyond death.”
https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/deprived
Singularity - Singularity
“Singularity are experts at fusing a malleable, shifting mixture of black metal and technical death metal together, to arrive at a new, previously unexplored horizon of majestic grimness. They are aided in their goal by a grandiose veneer of powerful orchestral key work, a characteristic present on all tracks, in a way somewhat akin to Fleshgod Apocalypse. Yet musically, they are a completely different group whose music is worlds apart; the orchestral sound just happens to be integrated and fuels the fervor of the tracks in a similar way.”
https://singularityaz.bandcamp.com/album/singularity
The Conjuration - Surreal
“After a long wait, The Conjuration’s new album, Surreal, has finally emerged—and it’s a gloriously twisted avant-garde beast that lashes out in progressive and schizophrenic fits. This is death metal turned upside down. Corey Jason has proved once again that he doesn’t need a band, only himself. He composed all of it, played all the instruments, did the vocals, and handled the production himself, too.”
“On Surreal, Corey skillfully pushes the limits of what a one-man death metal act is capable of creating. Most acts of this nature that play death metal are lacking compositionally and all too often create music that is too samey in the songwriting, and too often lacking a vital creative spark.”
https://theconjuration.bandcamp.com
Serdce – Timelessness
“Serdce have been creating Meshuggah groove-gliding-influenced death metal long before most of the pack who followed that lead, and they continue to do it better than most. But for those who are groove-averse, that’s far from the totality of what they have to offer. Throughout Timelessness you will hear a lot of piano playing and orchestral/carnival-esque synths, and in addition, the vocals are primarily sung this time around. Overall, the strong Cynic-vibe of the record comes not only from the riffing and fusion elements; the effusive, prominent, and exploratory bass playing brings that comparison to mind as well.”
https://blood-music.bandcamp.com/album/timelessness
Baring Teeth - Ghost Chorus Among Old Ruins
“To my ears, Baring Teeth’s music resembles what would happen if Dysrhythmia decided to adorn their heady progressive essence with an avant-garde death metal veneer. It’s hard to grasp, and even harder to get into, but once Ghost Chorus Among Old Ruins sinks in, it hits like a goddamn nuclear bomb. It lingers and haunts you, beyond its overwhelming initial explosive impression and heft. The record leaves something with you that never goes away, continuing to poison and influence your every cell.”
http://willowtip.bandcamp.com/album/ghost-chorus-among-old-ruins
Super Massive Black Holes – Calculations Of The Ancients
“Super Massive Black Holes are truly a modern death metal band, in the sense that their sound is a composite of multiple influences and sounds that are entirely non-death-metal. Few have attempted to cook the sort of mix-and-match brew they’ve crafted. Calculations Of The Ancients consists of melodic-rooted death metal that diverges into fusion, thumps with a thicket of grooves, and builds up delicately with jazz and progressive layers. “
“Tracks like ‘Holographic Principle’ remind me in several ways of almighty legends Martyr. Yes, I just compared them to Martyr, and it’s an accurate and non-exaggerated comparison that is a testament to the high caliber of metal offered up on Calculations Of The Ancients.”
http://smbhmusic.bandcamp.com/album/calculations-of-the-ancients
Architect Of Seth - The Persistence Of Scars
Okay, this one is cheating, because it came out in December 2013. But, I didn’t know about it then, and an album this damn good only comes along every once in a rare while. Plus, they are not well known, and you need to hear this. Trust me.
Architect of Seth fit confidently within technical death metal realms, but they are not so heavily focused on the usual shred-heavy approach, more so because of their quite complex riffs, though there are a lot of killer leads in between those spidery, ripping and roaring riffs.
This intricacy makes each song on The Persistence Of Scars a chaotic and unpredictable experience. At times, the intensity and ferocity hit an apex that can only be labelled with the hard-to-describe tag of “extreme metal” — notably on tracks such as “Transhumance astrale”, “Embrace of anguish”, and “Hybrid consuming flesh”, all three of which play back-to-back and together serve as the angrier part of the album, the other tracks filling in different shades and employing experimental tactics. At other points, things get quite proggy, sometimes even piano/orchestral–synth-infused or celestial in nature.
Hard to believe this album is the work of just two guys, Paul Rousseaux on guitar/programming and one other guitarist named Yohann Kochel. The Persistence Of Scars sounds mature and multi-faceted, like the work of a full band. They list acts such as Death, Theory in Practice, Coroner, Atrocity, Pestilence, Nocturnus, Emperor, Martyr, and Necrophagist as influences. Since theirs is a heavily hybridized and compact sound, I would venture to say that the influence of every one of those bands can be heard at various points during The Persistence Of Scars. Drawing from such a vast span of ideas and styles lends a jack-of-all-trades aspect to the album, and creates a whole hell of a lot of variety and different parts to keep track of.
https://architectofseth.bandcamp.com/
CULLED KVLT COLD CUTS
Downfall of Gaia - Aeon Unveils the Thrones Of Decay
“While my metal tastes are not as honed in on the ongoing post-metal wave as on other genres, I can always respect and love a band of any stripe who go beyond the tropes and usual containments of a style to find their own identities, alone in a place none have gone before. Bands like that are worth the investment of time in what they have to say about the world and themselves.
“That’s precisely how I feel about the new Downfall Of Gaia album, Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay. The only other reference that might give you a ballpark idea of their territory is Agrimonia — both have perfected a blend of post-metal and crust-punk woven into a swirling, multi-genre template that retains an aggression lost in most post-metal, although Downfall Of Gaia thread in a lot of menacing black metal, full of killer riffs, into their tapestry, with many more aggressive moments than in Agrimonia’s music.”
https://downfallofgaia.bandcamp.com/album/aeon-unveils-the-thrones-of-decay
Stargazer - A Merging To The Boundless
For many years now Stargazer have churned out some of the finest and strangest black/death metal to ever come from Australia. The band don’t fit in any single-genre box or specific point of reference. What they do comes across very progressive, and yet primitive and hearkening back to old school black and death metal at the same time. It’s this very dichotomy that fuels their sound — that, and an old school heavy metal influence in odd places. Prominent-in-the-mix bass playing has always been a Stargazer staple, and this time very little of the bass playing follows the guitars, making for much richer songs overall.
Softer Eastern sounding melodies and quieter moments punctuate and swell throughout, yet Stargazer find a way to make these moments just as rich and beautiful as the rest of their faster, oddball, twisting parts. It’s been a long time since their last album, so my anticipation for A Merging To The Boundless was very high. Let’s just say, I’m not disappointed, and I think a lot of people would really love this record as well. It’s a fresh take on how to conjoin black and death metal, while supplementing that core with a variety of other sounds and sonic explorations. Also, the artwork is a great, and to me it fits as a visual metaphor for how they’ve broken out of the normal mold, and found themselves in a new place adorned with a different form.
https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/a-merging-to-the-boundless
Veilburner - The Three Lightbearers
“Veilburner are a two-man death/black band from Pennsylvania whose strength lies in oddball mania, conjuring an unearthly interstellar feeling. Veilburner burnish an esoteric atmosphere throughout The Three Lightbearers as they dig in dissonant ditches, arising frequently with technical guitar-led passages, some of which bring Gorguts and Obscura to mind. Veilburner often back up their aggressive core with experimental soundscapes of an industrial and occult feel that is oddly psychedelic in nature.
“Simply hellish stuff, and damn fun to listen to death metal infused by a cold clinical black metal embrace. This album is killer from start to finish, and to me, frequently sounds like a black metal companion to the immersive insanity Gigan conjure — rife with psychedelic inclinations and robotic/reverb heavy vocal effects amid a massive mix of horrific undulating riffs and spine-shattering drum work. I recommend listening to the whole album at once, but if you need a starting point, go with “Nil Absolute”. The Three Lightbearers rips wormholes open in your mind, leading to self-collapse from within. Get your mind explosion on!”
https://veilburner.bandcamp.com/releases
Epistasis - Light Through Dead Glass
“While the band take a scathing, blazing approach to portions of the music, their off-kilter experimental side still exists and manifests itself at just the right moments, eloquently breaking up the black metal sensations. This is challenging, unpredictable music that cycles through numerous sonic amalgamations and combinations of black metal, doom, noise rock, and classical music (courtesy of Amy Mills’ mesmerizing trumpet playing). Epistasis do this with class and a skill at scraping together hair-raising sickness, noisey grooves, and mournful beauty, stirring all the ingredients together in a way that will both shatter you and seep into your brain.
“Taken as a whole, Light Through Dead Glass is a dizzying, dissonant dream that blooms with cold melodies. The six songs contained within overflow with distinctly different feelings, flavors, and textures that beg to be replayed to better fully experience them.
“By shifting their direction after already establishing a unique sound, Epistasis have become purveyors of a highly varied and unpredictable strain of experimental black metal unlike anything I’ve ever heard. If Light Through Dead Glass doesn’t show up on numerous year end lists, I quit.”
https://crucialblast.bandcamp.com/album/light-through-dead-glass
Exhausted Prayer - Ruined
“Melo-death riffs and melodies are cleverly spun inside torrential black metal storms throughout the album’s duration. The manner in which they execute this makes for some chilling, as well as fist-pumping, moments. Yeah, melo-death integrated beautifully into black metal, it’s certainly an impressive oddity. In execution it comes together like a torrid mix between Enslaved and At The Gates – with a pinch of brutal death metal, Death, and Opethian prog sensibilities given room to flourish throughout in equal measure.”
“This is not a record that tries to be the most evil, the fastest, the angriest, or the epitome of any other genre trope — Ruined merely exists in its own sphere, as a unique statement.”
https://exhaustedprayer.bandcamp.com/album/ruined
Jute Gyte - Ressentiment
“Ressentiment stands as yet another soundtrack to apocalyptic endings and split-second trainwrecks embodied in a tortured microtonal form of black metal comparable to none. Put succinctly, Jute Gyte is a world unto itself, and the nightmare realms explored within are so strongly fermented by disgust that it’s almost too much for the average person to want to venture inside. But for those who crave ugly sounds, Jute Gyte is among the best at creating it.”
“Like many of his releases, these new songs are of an extended, multi-part nature, covering a range of tempos and vacillating between abyssal faster riffs and swallowing, emptier, shrill chords that scrape at the insides of your brain.”
https://jutegyte.bandcamp.com/album/ressentiment
Jute Gyte – Vast Chains
If you find yourself drawn to Ressentiment, this will appeal to you as well. Much more need not be said really. Except that this is equally album-of-the-year material, and I didn’t just put it on here because it’s another album by him.
“The first track ‘Semen Dried Into The Silence Of Rock And Mineral’ is a swallowing, lumbering introduction to the unearthly aura Jute Gyte vomits forth freely, and track two ‘Endless Moths Swarming’ is the unsettling dissonant arena where things kick into high gear. Additional props go to the title of the next track, ‘The Inexpressible Loneliness Of Thinking’; couldn’t agree with that title more, and the musical picture it paints of that theme is vividly morbid.”
https://jutegyte.bandcamp.com/album/vast-chains
Plebeian Grandstand - Lowgazers
“Sometimes a band’s evolution is so extreme, it’s as if a totally different group has emerged, completely shedding its sonic skin and realizing a new sound. It’s rare for this to happen, but in the case of Toulouse, France natives Plebeian Grandstand, it’s taken them to a whole other level.”
“How they sound on Lowgazers is a deep departure from how they began, which was a sort of experimental take on Converge’s style of hardcore with some mathcore and punk elements in the mix. They’ve largely traded in their prior stylings for dissonant, bone-chilling blackness, energizing the sinking weight of their sorrow with grind and powerviolence at just the right moments.”
“This is ugly music that’s hard to love, but filled with a hate that’s hard not to love. You won’t find any hooks, flashy guitar-work, headbangable moments, or grooves — but what you will find offers more doom than a doom record and it will leave you profoundly disgusted and dreary. Lowgazers thrives on discomfort, and the band’s execution leaves the listener with a desire to hide, fall down a flight of stairs, or physically lash out at someone, rabidly. The experience is frightening throughout, and for those who enjoy it, may make you question why you get so much pleasure out of something so perfectly disgusting.”
<a href="http://plebeiangrandstand.bandcamp.co
