2009: The Year in Metal, Part II
I bid you a considerably tardy welcome to 2010. Naturally, here is my second and final all-metal look back at 2009, which, all things considered, was a pretty decent year for the genre. As it ages, metal continues to expand its borders to new levels of restraint and garishness, aesthetic refinement and primal indulgement. Although none of the following selections made my personal top ten, there is a lot of amazing stuff to be found in here, including a number of my favorite local bands.
And what exactly did make the top ten, you ask? Well, you might be able to guess some of its contents by what's been missing from these retrospectives, but I think overall you'll be as surprised as I was. That list may not be up next, but you'll see it at some point. I am proud to say I'm starting a new job on Feb. 1, so between that and the Netflix subscription (many thanks to Uncle Dennis and Aunt Chantal, this month I've already enjoyed such great subcultural documentaries as "Not Quite Hollywood," "Jesus Camp," "The Gits" "Small Town Gay Bar" and "Heavy Metal in Baghdad," plus "Teeth," Guy Maddin's "Cowards Bend the Knee," Takashi Miike's banned-from-Showtime "Masters of Horror" episode and most of the first season of "True Blood") we'll see how much time I have for bloggin'. Plenty, I hope!
1. Between the Buried and Me - "Disease, Injury, Madness" (The Great Misdirect, Victory): The best progressive metalcore act on the planet (from North Carolina, of all places) followed the masterpiece that was 2007's Colors with another towering acheivement, one slightly chillier in its more "professional" sheen but still teeming with menacing tech-grind, bright arpeggios, spacy prog-grunge and left turns aplenty.
2. Slough Feg - "Shakedown at the Six" (Ape Uprising!, Cruz del Sur): Traditional heavy metal never sounded so effortless, yet so thoroughly sweat-soaked, as it does in the hands of Slough Feg guitarist/vocalist/Bay Area philosopher king Mike Scalzi, who this time indulged a "Planet of the Apes" fetish among his classic high-flying fretboard fireworks.
3. Absu - "Amy" (Absu, Candlelight): Revived by percussion shaman Prosciptor McGovern after an eight-year hiatus, the Texan cult act offered an outstanding blackened thrash feast that harnessed their trademark ferocious precision to surprising segments of anthemic melody and occult weirdness.
4. Hypocrisy - "The Quest" (A Taste of Extreme Divinity, Nuclear Blast): Veterans of Sweden's melodic death metal empire, Peter Tägtgren and crew's 11th album is one of their strongest to date. While every bracing speedfest and groovy rocker is a winner, it's long been the trippy death metal ballads like this one that set Hypocrisy apart.
5. Korpiklaani - "Kultanainen" (Karkelo, Nuclear Blast): Although they're often unfairly singled out as all that's silly and superficial about the folk metal explosion, Finland's working class sextet isn't all about beer, vodka and beer, as this somewhat brooding number ("Golden Woman") inspired by the Kalevala attests.
6. Slayer - "Psychopathy Red" (World Painted Blood, American): Improving on the gains of 2006's so-so Christ Illusion, the California thrash institution got closer to earning back its deadly reputation, trading the rote petulance of the late '90s/early '00s period for genuine anger and violence, finally delivering an album that's at least as good as 1994's Divine Intervention.
7. Gorgoroth - "Satan-Prometheus" (Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt, Regain): At last, guitarist, founding member and ex-con Infernus was legally granted the right to his own band's name again, bringing back vocalist Pest (along with a rhythm section hailing from Dark Funeral and Obituary) for another star-studded slab of gloomy, melodic, traditional Norwegian black metal.
8. Suidakra - "Conlaoch" (Crógacht, Wacken): I lost track of folky melodic death metallers Suidakra some years ago, but checked out the Germans' latest after a particularly good live show, finding a strong mix of Celtic tones and rousing riffery that should appeal to anyone who likes their folk metal more muscular than mirthful.
9. Candlemass - "Hammer of Doom" (Death Magic Doom, Nuclear Blast): Sweden's eminent slowpokes upped the ante on their second disc with Solitude Aeturnus' Robert Lowe's dramatic wail commanding the mic, their best album since their '80s heyday. Every track is genius, but the best is this massive tribute to the first song on the first Black Sabbath album... the genesis of doom metal itself.
10. HORSE the band - "Big Business" (Desperate Living, Vagrant): Growing up in fits from their early Nintendocore spazziness, California five-piece HORSE further evolved into the Faith No More of the '00s with this surprisingly expansive alt-prog-core opus, one still steeped enough in amusing ugliness to both reference John Waters and sample "Xavier: Renegade Angel."
11. Wolves in the Throne Room - "A Looming Resonance" (Malevolent Grain, Southern Lord): While the Washingtonians' full-length Black Cascade was excellent, the sharper recording is a little too harsh and contained, whereas the year's preceding Grain EP dipped more into the fuzzy, hypnotic black-ish metal we know and love. As on their debut, former Hammers of Misfortune siren Jamie Myers aids them on this track.
12. Obscurity - "Im Herzen des Eises" (Várar, Trollzorn): One of very few metal bands I discovered for the first time in '09, this scrappy little German horde stomped across black and death metal borders with a hawk-eyed heathen intensity rarely heard in these days of generically melodic "extreme" metal, the no-frills sound of epic battle personified.
13. Novembers Doom - "I Hurt Those I Adore" (Into Night's Requiem Infernal, The End): Our first Chicago act, the venerable doom/death institution dredged forth another set of textured melancholy, not as forceful as their last outing nor as heart-rending as the one before, yet still slotting comfortably among the quintet's solid recent work, worth a listen for any fan of the slow, sad and self-reflective.
14. Anaal Nathrakh - "The Lucifer Effect" (In the Constellation of the Black Widow, Candlelight): One of the planet's most genuinely extreme acts, the British duo tore into full-length number five like demonic jackals, hurling bloody chunks of grindcore, black metal and stunningly triumphant metal might into the machinery for one of their most consistently eye-popping sets to date, with songs like this one perfect for scaring other midsummer drivers.
15. Glittertind - "Glittertind" (Landkjenning, Napalm): It's been a long wait for another full-length by this formerly-one-man Norwegian outfit, and while the disc's a little too short and mellow for my taste, a few tracks, like this jolly folk/punk/metal theme song for the band, justify my allegiance to the unabashedly patriotic duo.
16. Nachtmystium - "Life of Fire" (Doomsday Derelicts, Battle Kommand): Chicago's enigmatic post-black psyche freaks dropped a typically diverse under-the-radar EP running the gamut from traditional black metal to campy blackened thrash to the artsy post-punk pace of this atmospheric rocker, easily the most unique track on this stopgap release.
17. Paradise Lost - "Last Regret" (Faith Divides Us — Death Unites Us, Century Media): The first new Paradise Lost album I've bothered to listen to in fourteen years turned out to be worth the spins, the aged British quintet having settled into a respectable gothic groove ruled by the classic razor-sharp guitar melodies of the venerable duo of Mackintosh and Aedy.
18. Samael - "Earth Country" (Above, Nuclear Blast): The fastest, most extreme-sounding disc in the Swiss act's 23-year existence revives the martial thrashings of their mid-'90s industrial days, smears on the imperial atmosphere of their more recent records and jacks up the tempo to Norsecore blitzkreig. Imposing and enveloping and completely unexpected, Above very nearly made my top 10.
19. Arkona - "Pamiat" (Goi, Rode, Goi!, Napalm): If the Scandinavian and Teutonic pagan metal scenes have become too predictable for you, look to Russia's vaunted Arkona, whose ambitious (if overlong) fifth album combines somewhat jolly traditional ethnic singalongs with a rougher, black-ish sort of metal and lots of glorious Slavic choirs, all fronted by a diverse-voiced woman nicknamed "Scream."
20. The Chasm - "Entering a Superior Dimension" (Farseeing the Paranormal Abysm, Lux Inframundis): My favorite Chicago band (via Mexico) self-released their seventh ritual to minimum hype, making the curious choice to exclude Daniel Corchado's bizarre vocals from half of the eight tracks, laying bare the infectious, otherworldly urgency that suffuses their one-of-a-kind epic death metal with the strength of cult suffering and unheralded genius.
And what exactly did make the top ten, you ask? Well, you might be able to guess some of its contents by what's been missing from these retrospectives, but I think overall you'll be as surprised as I was. That list may not be up next, but you'll see it at some point. I am proud to say I'm starting a new job on Feb. 1, so between that and the Netflix subscription (many thanks to Uncle Dennis and Aunt Chantal, this month I've already enjoyed such great subcultural documentaries as "Not Quite Hollywood," "Jesus Camp," "The Gits" "Small Town Gay Bar" and "Heavy Metal in Baghdad," plus "Teeth," Guy Maddin's "Cowards Bend the Knee," Takashi Miike's banned-from-Showtime "Masters of Horror" episode and most of the first season of "True Blood") we'll see how much time I have for bloggin'. Plenty, I hope!
1. Between the Buried and Me - "Disease, Injury, Madness" (The Great Misdirect, Victory): The best progressive metalcore act on the planet (from North Carolina, of all places) followed the masterpiece that was 2007's Colors with another towering acheivement, one slightly chillier in its more "professional" sheen but still teeming with menacing tech-grind, bright arpeggios, spacy prog-grunge and left turns aplenty.
2. Slough Feg - "Shakedown at the Six" (Ape Uprising!, Cruz del Sur): Traditional heavy metal never sounded so effortless, yet so thoroughly sweat-soaked, as it does in the hands of Slough Feg guitarist/vocalist/Bay Area philosopher king Mike Scalzi, who this time indulged a "Planet of the Apes" fetish among his classic high-flying fretboard fireworks.
3. Absu - "Amy" (Absu, Candlelight): Revived by percussion shaman Prosciptor McGovern after an eight-year hiatus, the Texan cult act offered an outstanding blackened thrash feast that harnessed their trademark ferocious precision to surprising segments of anthemic melody and occult weirdness.
4. Hypocrisy - "The Quest" (A Taste of Extreme Divinity, Nuclear Blast): Veterans of Sweden's melodic death metal empire, Peter Tägtgren and crew's 11th album is one of their strongest to date. While every bracing speedfest and groovy rocker is a winner, it's long been the trippy death metal ballads like this one that set Hypocrisy apart.
5. Korpiklaani - "Kultanainen" (Karkelo, Nuclear Blast): Although they're often unfairly singled out as all that's silly and superficial about the folk metal explosion, Finland's working class sextet isn't all about beer, vodka and beer, as this somewhat brooding number ("Golden Woman") inspired by the Kalevala attests.
6. Slayer - "Psychopathy Red" (World Painted Blood, American): Improving on the gains of 2006's so-so Christ Illusion, the California thrash institution got closer to earning back its deadly reputation, trading the rote petulance of the late '90s/early '00s period for genuine anger and violence, finally delivering an album that's at least as good as 1994's Divine Intervention.
7. Gorgoroth - "Satan-Prometheus" (Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt, Regain): At last, guitarist, founding member and ex-con Infernus was legally granted the right to his own band's name again, bringing back vocalist Pest (along with a rhythm section hailing from Dark Funeral and Obituary) for another star-studded slab of gloomy, melodic, traditional Norwegian black metal.
8. Suidakra - "Conlaoch" (Crógacht, Wacken): I lost track of folky melodic death metallers Suidakra some years ago, but checked out the Germans' latest after a particularly good live show, finding a strong mix of Celtic tones and rousing riffery that should appeal to anyone who likes their folk metal more muscular than mirthful.
9. Candlemass - "Hammer of Doom" (Death Magic Doom, Nuclear Blast): Sweden's eminent slowpokes upped the ante on their second disc with Solitude Aeturnus' Robert Lowe's dramatic wail commanding the mic, their best album since their '80s heyday. Every track is genius, but the best is this massive tribute to the first song on the first Black Sabbath album... the genesis of doom metal itself.
10. HORSE the band - "Big Business" (Desperate Living, Vagrant): Growing up in fits from their early Nintendocore spazziness, California five-piece HORSE further evolved into the Faith No More of the '00s with this surprisingly expansive alt-prog-core opus, one still steeped enough in amusing ugliness to both reference John Waters and sample "Xavier: Renegade Angel."
11. Wolves in the Throne Room - "A Looming Resonance" (Malevolent Grain, Southern Lord): While the Washingtonians' full-length Black Cascade was excellent, the sharper recording is a little too harsh and contained, whereas the year's preceding Grain EP dipped more into the fuzzy, hypnotic black-ish metal we know and love. As on their debut, former Hammers of Misfortune siren Jamie Myers aids them on this track.
12. Obscurity - "Im Herzen des Eises" (Várar, Trollzorn): One of very few metal bands I discovered for the first time in '09, this scrappy little German horde stomped across black and death metal borders with a hawk-eyed heathen intensity rarely heard in these days of generically melodic "extreme" metal, the no-frills sound of epic battle personified.
13. Novembers Doom - "I Hurt Those I Adore" (Into Night's Requiem Infernal, The End): Our first Chicago act, the venerable doom/death institution dredged forth another set of textured melancholy, not as forceful as their last outing nor as heart-rending as the one before, yet still slotting comfortably among the quintet's solid recent work, worth a listen for any fan of the slow, sad and self-reflective.
14. Anaal Nathrakh - "The Lucifer Effect" (In the Constellation of the Black Widow, Candlelight): One of the planet's most genuinely extreme acts, the British duo tore into full-length number five like demonic jackals, hurling bloody chunks of grindcore, black metal and stunningly triumphant metal might into the machinery for one of their most consistently eye-popping sets to date, with songs like this one perfect for scaring other midsummer drivers.
15. Glittertind - "Glittertind" (Landkjenning, Napalm): It's been a long wait for another full-length by this formerly-one-man Norwegian outfit, and while the disc's a little too short and mellow for my taste, a few tracks, like this jolly folk/punk/metal theme song for the band, justify my allegiance to the unabashedly patriotic duo.
16. Nachtmystium - "Life of Fire" (Doomsday Derelicts, Battle Kommand): Chicago's enigmatic post-black psyche freaks dropped a typically diverse under-the-radar EP running the gamut from traditional black metal to campy blackened thrash to the artsy post-punk pace of this atmospheric rocker, easily the most unique track on this stopgap release.
17. Paradise Lost - "Last Regret" (Faith Divides Us — Death Unites Us, Century Media): The first new Paradise Lost album I've bothered to listen to in fourteen years turned out to be worth the spins, the aged British quintet having settled into a respectable gothic groove ruled by the classic razor-sharp guitar melodies of the venerable duo of Mackintosh and Aedy.
18. Samael - "Earth Country" (Above, Nuclear Blast): The fastest, most extreme-sounding disc in the Swiss act's 23-year existence revives the martial thrashings of their mid-'90s industrial days, smears on the imperial atmosphere of their more recent records and jacks up the tempo to Norsecore blitzkreig. Imposing and enveloping and completely unexpected, Above very nearly made my top 10.
19. Arkona - "Pamiat" (Goi, Rode, Goi!, Napalm): If the Scandinavian and Teutonic pagan metal scenes have become too predictable for you, look to Russia's vaunted Arkona, whose ambitious (if overlong) fifth album combines somewhat jolly traditional ethnic singalongs with a rougher, black-ish sort of metal and lots of glorious Slavic choirs, all fronted by a diverse-voiced woman nicknamed "Scream."
20. The Chasm - "Entering a Superior Dimension" (Farseeing the Paranormal Abysm, Lux Inframundis): My favorite Chicago band (via Mexico) self-released their seventh ritual to minimum hype, making the curious choice to exclude Daniel Corchado's bizarre vocals from half of the eight tracks, laying bare the infectious, otherworldly urgency that suffuses their one-of-a-kind epic death metal with the strength of cult suffering and unheralded genius.
posted by SoulReaper at 9:26 PM
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