Pragmatic in dissent
Hey, do you like new music? I like new music. Here's something about one song I enjoyed from each of the first 20 new releases I heard from the current year. For the time being, each of these can be heard in the player over to the right. Y'all know how we do: like the fleeting pleasures of springtime, or the crisp effervescence of Unibroue's impossibly delicious summer brew, Entartete Kunst's playlists are ephemeral. I have no idea if anyone ever listens to them anymore, but I hope someone enjoys this clusterfuck of clashing musical styles while it's still here. In that spirit, I'll try to keep my comments brief, although I probably won't succeed.
1. Alcest, "Là Où Naissent Les Couleurs Nouvelles" (Les Voyages De L'Âme, Prophecy) - OK, this is my favorite song from my favorite album of the year so far. I was never previously a huge Alcest fan, although I've enjoyed Frenchman Neige's output (as well as his efforts with Lantlôs and Amesoeurs) for years. It's strange that the recent Lantlôs record was so lifeless, as Voyages is to me Alcest's defining moment. The material leans more heavily than ever on the dreamy post-rock aspect of their blackgaze sound (this epic is the most "black metal" song on it), but the songwriting feels more vibrant and natural, rendered in golden hues with wisps of bittersweet yearning. And, I swear, the last track on the album sounds eerily like Smashing Pumpkins before they went stale, but French, and metal.
2. Of Montreal, "Dour Percentage" (Paralytic Stalks, Polyvinyl) - As an old-school Elephant 6 fan, I've dipped in and out of Of Montreal's enormous discography over the years and usually have been interested in what I heard. This time out, Kevin Barnes is channeling his frustrations through gaudy dance songs like he did on Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, but the disjointed songwriting of Skeletal Lamping (the last OM release I heard) is also in full effect. It's incredibly twee and self-indulgent, but that's what the dude does, and despite some real tedium at times, Stalks also has its alien earworm moments.
3. Sear Bliss, "Great Cosmic Disorder" (Eternal Recurrence, Candlelight) - A long-running Hungarian act best known for their brazen and shockingly tasteful addition of brass instruments to bombastic black metal, Sear Bliss' latest lineup is almost completely different from that on their previous album back in '07. This helps explain why the material has largely moved to slower, more progressive territory. It's not pretentiously complicated, and the intangibly ominous power remains. At times the material reminds me of recent Enslaved or, for some reason, a less overtly commercial version of what Keep of Kalessin did back on Kolossus.
4. Heems, "Alien Gonzalez" (Nehru Jackets, Greedhead) - His group Das Racist is revered for sprawling, diverse free mixtapes that are better than many purchasable albums, so it's no surprise that Heems' first solo mixtape is comparable to a great rap CD programmed for short attention spans. The tracks, produced by his high school buddy Mike Finito, often delve deeper into the MC's Indian heritage, but also vary jarringly in style and sound quality, which actually becomes a plus over multiple listens. The boatload of hip guests (Danny Brown, Action Bronson, etc.) and ingenious rhymes addressing everything from females to junk food to police brutality make Jackets almost as satisfying as DR's Relax.
5. Overkill, "All Over But the Shouting" (The Electric Age, Nuclear Blast) - Overkill spent too many years toiling in relative obscurity as an aging thrash band with diminishing studio returns. In a metal miracle not seen since the return of Testament, the New York legends rediscovered their white knuckle '80s energy on 2010's awesome Ironbound. The highly anticipated follow-up contains a bit more of the loping geezer metal groove that encumbered much of their '00s material, as well as fewer outbursts of Dave Linsk's melodic guitar glory. For the most part, though, the tunes mosh with snotty speed-freak abandon that almost makes you forget about snoozers like Bloodletting and ReliXIV.
6. Barren Earth, "As It Is Written" (The Devil's Resolve, Peaceville) - After a strong debut that embodied the integration of melodic doom/death, folk and bong rock like no one since Elegy-era Amorphis, the Finnish supergroup (featuring 2 former Amorphis members, plus current members of Moonsorrow, Swallow the Sun and Kreator) continues with a confidently cohesive collection. Mikko Kotamäki's syrupy singing and bloodcurdling growls and Kasper Mårtenson's dazzling vintage keyboards nearly overshadow the soulful guitar work at times. The dense, evocative compositions ultimately reveal a unit that is greater than the sum of its talented parts. Considering the beauty on display here, I hope the guys' main projects never interfere with Barren Earth's future.
7. The Mars Volta, "Zed and Two Naughts" (Noctourniquet, Warner Bros.) - The Mars Volta used to be deleteriously productive, cranking out recordings with little regard for self-restraint. While that was often a good thing, as their fragmented, nervous psychedelic undulations tend to benefit from sheer excess, they could also get bogged down in unchecked, tuneless weirdness. Here, the longest inter-album gap in the band's history, along with a personnel overhaul, yields a winning balance between the more linear numbers of their last outing, 2009's oddly sedate Octahedron, and the trippier excursions of their earlier songs. I don't think it's gonna convince anyone who wasn't already on board their neo-prog freak train, but it shouldn't scare any fans away, either. And although I'm not sure why they named this song after my favorite Peter Greenaway movie, I am not surprised that these dudes are familiar with it.
8. Rage, "Forever Dead" (21, Nuclear Blast) - I don't think I've ever used this site to chronicle my affection for the ancient metal outfit known simply as Rage. Lead by bassist/vocalist Peter "Peavy" Wagner, the Eurometal stalwarts really deserve a rediscovery among the metal scene at large. This is indeed Rage's 21st album; none of them have been complete crap, and a few of them have even been flawless. 21 ranks somewhere in the middle, leaning more to the anthemic power/thrash side of Peavy's repertoire than to his duller symphonic tendencies. This tune succinctly sums up the record's highs and lows, with pummeling groove, surprisingly resonant hooks and often embarrassingly blunt lyrics (say, the perspective of a child abuse victim celebrating the death of his tormentor, as bellowed by a bald, beefy German man who's pushing 50).
9. Steve Moore, "Alternate Quantum Realities" (Brainstorm, Temporary Residence) - The two dudes in Zombi have released an album-length split of solo EPs, and there's nothing on it that wouldn't fly under their main band's banner. Keyboardist/bassist Steve Moore's half consists of four instrumentals in the spirit of vintage soundtrack themes by John Carpenter, Giorgio Moroder or Claudio Simonetti, while drummer A.E. Paterra's half (billed as Majeure) is one long, slow-building mood piece that comes from a similar paradigm. You can never go wrong when these dudes get together, even as ostensibly separate entities.
10. Borknagar, "Frostrite" (Urd, Century Media) - The long-running Norwegian pagan metal supergroup has been pretty uneven in recent years, which makes me happy to report that Urd is the Vintersorg-voiced version of Borknagar's best set yet. It's proggy and heavy in the right amounts, never forcing the black metal aspects to the forefront except for dramatic affect. I'll admit, though, that this is my favorite song on it because they wisely gave the soaring lead vocal part to their former frontman and current bassist Simen Hestnæs, something his former band, Dimmu Borgir, never had the sense to do. Another song has keyboardist Lars Nedland (more famously from Solefald) taking the lead, proving that they're finally incorporating all the great voices in their midst.
11. Napalm Death, "Fall on Their Swords" (Utilitarian, Century Media) - I hadn't heard any of Napalm Death's albums since 1996's much-maligned Diatribes, preferring their early '90s material and not being a huge grindcore guy anyway. General consensus is that they turned things around for the better in the '00s, and I in fact saw the grizzled Brits put on a few great shows throughout the decade, but only gave this new one a spin after several strong recommendations. After fiercely adhering to their patented left-leaning punk/thrash/death metal template, they experiment a little on their 14th album, more successfully than they did in the dire late '90s. Choral chants, industrial chugging and even a John Zorn sax freakout add extra flavors to the blinding beatdowns, making them curiously richer.
12. Curren$y, "Fly Out (Part Deux)" (Muscle Car Chronicles, DD172/Jets International) - I found out about ridiculously productive New Orleans rapper Curren$y due to his appearance at the Pitchfork Music Festival last year, and became quickly entranced by his hazy style. With his surreal, slurred delivery and seductively bleary musical accompaniment, the guy has the laid-back charm and aesthetic synergy to make a sober listener feel stoned (hence all the references to "jets" and "flying"). But Curren$y's got a wider focus than the average weed rapper, which is probably why he decided to experiment with a live band, as he does on this EP-length album that's actually been shelved for several years. While nowhere near as enveloping as his usual studio fare, the brief tracks kind of work, in a loose jam session, side project sort of way.
13. Swallow the Sun, "Hate, Lead the Way" (Emerald Forest and the Blackbird, Spinefarm) - Hey, look, it's Mikko Kotamäki from Barren Earth again! For some stupid reason I lost track of Swallow the Sun after loving their first two albums, even having enjoyed their quintessential gothic doom/death live several times since then. I'm glad to be reacquainted, as the Finns have remained true to the classic template of mournful guitar harmonies, velvet cathedral keys and downtrodden yet driving rhythms laid down by My Dying Bride, Moonspell, Katatonia and others during the genre's '90s heyday. I have a soft spot for this sound when done with minimal cheese and maximum emotion, and though they frequently experiment with cleaner tones (as all the aforementioned bands did by their own fifth albums), they nail the atmosphere throughout... not even a guest spot from Nightwish goth-Kewpie Anette Olzon can spoil the obsidian mood.
14. Lamb of God, "Terminally Unique" (Resolution, Roadrunner) - Fuck the haters, Lamb of God were the cream of the 00s' American metalcore megastar crop. Although it's clear their best days are now nearly a decade behind them, the technically gifted bruisers have picked up some of the slack from 2009's shamefully inert Wrath and delivered a decent aggro-thrash album with few surprises but no major embarrassments. They're always at their best when going balls-out (or building up to it), and the meaty momentum of this number reminds me of why I used to be so into these guys. I totally love Randy Blythe's Dethklok-style "Awaken! Awaken! Awaken!" bark.
15. The Twilight Sad, "Kill It in the Morning" (No One Can Ever Know, FatCat) - I walked into this record cold, my curiosity peaked by having read about The Twilight Sad in just about everything I read about countrymen and labelmates We Were Promised Jetpacks. There's not a whole lot of similarity between the bands, other than a sorta post-punk backbone and a singer with a noticeable Scottish accent. The album's an OK set of gothy indie rock, nothing I'll come back to very often. The standout for me is this number, the only one in which I can detect the band's supposed new industrial influence. That spooky, groovy bass line is straight out of '80s Revolting Cocks or My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult.
16. Naglfar, "Pale Horse" (Téras, Century Media) - I have long appreciated Naglfar as an acceptable substitute for Dissection, who once upon a time drew the blueprint for bracing melodic black/death of Swedish origin before collapsing under stupid personal and musical choices. Unfortunately, Naglfar's latest hasn't really grabbed me, although it's not like these vets did anything wrong this time out. Tracks like this one have all the required teeth-gnashing harmonies at varying tempos with flawless musicianship, but never really sink those formidable hooks in you. Maybe there are only so many ways to deliver the Satanic sugar rush that this stuff should, or maybe the Swedes' songwriting was uninspired, or maybe it's just my current mood.
17. Les Discrets, "Ariettes oubliées I: Je devine à travers un murmure..." (Ariettes oubliées..., Prophecy) - A band lead by a former Alcest/Amesoeurs associate and featuring Alcest's current drummer, Les Discrets offers an even tamer take on shoegaze metal that is nonetheless artsy and European enough to deserve its spot on the venerated Prophecy label. The heaviest the French trio gets here, which is not too heavy, this song nestles perfectly into the dreamy, darkly dramatic realm for which the band is surely aiming. It doesn't stick with me much more than the new Naglfar does, but I suppose this pretty little slice of angst is much more my style circa 2012. What can I say, I typed much of this post while wearing my new glasses. I am old.
18. Soulfly, "Intervention" (Enslaved, Roadrunner) - I have never been a Soulfly fan, not enjoying nü-metal nor placing much trust in Max Cavalera's musical judgement after he cultivated a preference for the mid-'90s chug riff. However, Cavalera Conspiracy, Max's band that reunited him with his drummer brother Igor, has yielded some decent meathead thrash tunes. Soulfly has gradually followed suit by losing the mallcore tendencies and crafting decent meathead thrash tunes, largely thanks to guitarist Marc Rizzo, who is also a key asset of the CC albums. I checked Enslaved out at the behest of a friend, and while I won't come back to it, I'll concede there is a hell of a lot worse out there, and I can probably forgive Max for stealing Borknagar's drummer.
19. Kool A.D., "Girls and Women" (The Palm Wine Drinkard, Greedhead) - As much as I love Heems' mixtape, his Das Racist partner Kool A.D. has historically been a more impressive rapper. This is only the first reason why his own mixtape is a frustrating disappointment, as he raps for about a minute and a fucking half on it. Instead, he focuses on passable chillwave and the sort of shitty hipster dance music that you put up with on a Das Racist joint because there's usually something more interesting going on over it than someone yelling about titties or booties or what have you, over and over and over. This leaves the interlude tracks, lushly-produced sonic blankets that, while not stomach-turning, are still not what most listeners are looking for. Yes, it's a free solo release, which is the proper venue for ruthless self-indulgence and patience-baiting experimentation, and there are some agreeable trifles like this one. It's just a pisser because the dude set the bar for free Internet releases pretty high thus far, and this aggressively simplistic, repetitive gruel is pure demo material.
20. Pallbearer, "An Offering of Grief" (Sorrow and Extinction, Profound Lore) - I will never understand how this young traditional doom metal band from Arkansas found itself celebrated by Pitchfork and NPR as the year dawned. Sure, Profound Lore is probably the coolest North American metal label going, so anything they release these days will be scrutinized by anyone with taste. However, Pallbearer's rock-solid debut contains no concessions to the sort of modern doom accepted by the blogosphere's cultural gatekeepers: no sludgy overtones, no psychedelic canoodling, no tuneless caveman yelling. It's just a fine example of the sort of slow, mournful, towering doom perfected years ago by the likes of Solitude Aeternus, While Heaven Wept and Solace, with real singing and melodic guitar leads and everything. While I'm perplexed at the promotional push they're getting, I'm glad to see this previously unhip style surviving, and these kids are pretty good at it.
1. Alcest, "Là Où Naissent Les Couleurs Nouvelles" (Les Voyages De L'Âme, Prophecy) - OK, this is my favorite song from my favorite album of the year so far. I was never previously a huge Alcest fan, although I've enjoyed Frenchman Neige's output (as well as his efforts with Lantlôs and Amesoeurs) for years. It's strange that the recent Lantlôs record was so lifeless, as Voyages is to me Alcest's defining moment. The material leans more heavily than ever on the dreamy post-rock aspect of their blackgaze sound (this epic is the most "black metal" song on it), but the songwriting feels more vibrant and natural, rendered in golden hues with wisps of bittersweet yearning. And, I swear, the last track on the album sounds eerily like Smashing Pumpkins before they went stale, but French, and metal.
2. Of Montreal, "Dour Percentage" (Paralytic Stalks, Polyvinyl) - As an old-school Elephant 6 fan, I've dipped in and out of Of Montreal's enormous discography over the years and usually have been interested in what I heard. This time out, Kevin Barnes is channeling his frustrations through gaudy dance songs like he did on Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, but the disjointed songwriting of Skeletal Lamping (the last OM release I heard) is also in full effect. It's incredibly twee and self-indulgent, but that's what the dude does, and despite some real tedium at times, Stalks also has its alien earworm moments.
3. Sear Bliss, "Great Cosmic Disorder" (Eternal Recurrence, Candlelight) - A long-running Hungarian act best known for their brazen and shockingly tasteful addition of brass instruments to bombastic black metal, Sear Bliss' latest lineup is almost completely different from that on their previous album back in '07. This helps explain why the material has largely moved to slower, more progressive territory. It's not pretentiously complicated, and the intangibly ominous power remains. At times the material reminds me of recent Enslaved or, for some reason, a less overtly commercial version of what Keep of Kalessin did back on Kolossus.
4. Heems, "Alien Gonzalez" (Nehru Jackets, Greedhead) - His group Das Racist is revered for sprawling, diverse free mixtapes that are better than many purchasable albums, so it's no surprise that Heems' first solo mixtape is comparable to a great rap CD programmed for short attention spans. The tracks, produced by his high school buddy Mike Finito, often delve deeper into the MC's Indian heritage, but also vary jarringly in style and sound quality, which actually becomes a plus over multiple listens. The boatload of hip guests (Danny Brown, Action Bronson, etc.) and ingenious rhymes addressing everything from females to junk food to police brutality make Jackets almost as satisfying as DR's Relax.
5. Overkill, "All Over But the Shouting" (The Electric Age, Nuclear Blast) - Overkill spent too many years toiling in relative obscurity as an aging thrash band with diminishing studio returns. In a metal miracle not seen since the return of Testament, the New York legends rediscovered their white knuckle '80s energy on 2010's awesome Ironbound. The highly anticipated follow-up contains a bit more of the loping geezer metal groove that encumbered much of their '00s material, as well as fewer outbursts of Dave Linsk's melodic guitar glory. For the most part, though, the tunes mosh with snotty speed-freak abandon that almost makes you forget about snoozers like Bloodletting and ReliXIV.
6. Barren Earth, "As It Is Written" (The Devil's Resolve, Peaceville) - After a strong debut that embodied the integration of melodic doom/death, folk and bong rock like no one since Elegy-era Amorphis, the Finnish supergroup (featuring 2 former Amorphis members, plus current members of Moonsorrow, Swallow the Sun and Kreator) continues with a confidently cohesive collection. Mikko Kotamäki's syrupy singing and bloodcurdling growls and Kasper Mårtenson's dazzling vintage keyboards nearly overshadow the soulful guitar work at times. The dense, evocative compositions ultimately reveal a unit that is greater than the sum of its talented parts. Considering the beauty on display here, I hope the guys' main projects never interfere with Barren Earth's future.
7. The Mars Volta, "Zed and Two Naughts" (Noctourniquet, Warner Bros.) - The Mars Volta used to be deleteriously productive, cranking out recordings with little regard for self-restraint. While that was often a good thing, as their fragmented, nervous psychedelic undulations tend to benefit from sheer excess, they could also get bogged down in unchecked, tuneless weirdness. Here, the longest inter-album gap in the band's history, along with a personnel overhaul, yields a winning balance between the more linear numbers of their last outing, 2009's oddly sedate Octahedron, and the trippier excursions of their earlier songs. I don't think it's gonna convince anyone who wasn't already on board their neo-prog freak train, but it shouldn't scare any fans away, either. And although I'm not sure why they named this song after my favorite Peter Greenaway movie, I am not surprised that these dudes are familiar with it.
8. Rage, "Forever Dead" (21, Nuclear Blast) - I don't think I've ever used this site to chronicle my affection for the ancient metal outfit known simply as Rage. Lead by bassist/vocalist Peter "Peavy" Wagner, the Eurometal stalwarts really deserve a rediscovery among the metal scene at large. This is indeed Rage's 21st album; none of them have been complete crap, and a few of them have even been flawless. 21 ranks somewhere in the middle, leaning more to the anthemic power/thrash side of Peavy's repertoire than to his duller symphonic tendencies. This tune succinctly sums up the record's highs and lows, with pummeling groove, surprisingly resonant hooks and often embarrassingly blunt lyrics (say, the perspective of a child abuse victim celebrating the death of his tormentor, as bellowed by a bald, beefy German man who's pushing 50).
9. Steve Moore, "Alternate Quantum Realities" (Brainstorm, Temporary Residence) - The two dudes in Zombi have released an album-length split of solo EPs, and there's nothing on it that wouldn't fly under their main band's banner. Keyboardist/bassist Steve Moore's half consists of four instrumentals in the spirit of vintage soundtrack themes by John Carpenter, Giorgio Moroder or Claudio Simonetti, while drummer A.E. Paterra's half (billed as Majeure) is one long, slow-building mood piece that comes from a similar paradigm. You can never go wrong when these dudes get together, even as ostensibly separate entities.
10. Borknagar, "Frostrite" (Urd, Century Media) - The long-running Norwegian pagan metal supergroup has been pretty uneven in recent years, which makes me happy to report that Urd is the Vintersorg-voiced version of Borknagar's best set yet. It's proggy and heavy in the right amounts, never forcing the black metal aspects to the forefront except for dramatic affect. I'll admit, though, that this is my favorite song on it because they wisely gave the soaring lead vocal part to their former frontman and current bassist Simen Hestnæs, something his former band, Dimmu Borgir, never had the sense to do. Another song has keyboardist Lars Nedland (more famously from Solefald) taking the lead, proving that they're finally incorporating all the great voices in their midst.
11. Napalm Death, "Fall on Their Swords" (Utilitarian, Century Media) - I hadn't heard any of Napalm Death's albums since 1996's much-maligned Diatribes, preferring their early '90s material and not being a huge grindcore guy anyway. General consensus is that they turned things around for the better in the '00s, and I in fact saw the grizzled Brits put on a few great shows throughout the decade, but only gave this new one a spin after several strong recommendations. After fiercely adhering to their patented left-leaning punk/thrash/death metal template, they experiment a little on their 14th album, more successfully than they did in the dire late '90s. Choral chants, industrial chugging and even a John Zorn sax freakout add extra flavors to the blinding beatdowns, making them curiously richer.
12. Curren$y, "Fly Out (Part Deux)" (Muscle Car Chronicles, DD172/Jets International) - I found out about ridiculously productive New Orleans rapper Curren$y due to his appearance at the Pitchfork Music Festival last year, and became quickly entranced by his hazy style. With his surreal, slurred delivery and seductively bleary musical accompaniment, the guy has the laid-back charm and aesthetic synergy to make a sober listener feel stoned (hence all the references to "jets" and "flying"). But Curren$y's got a wider focus than the average weed rapper, which is probably why he decided to experiment with a live band, as he does on this EP-length album that's actually been shelved for several years. While nowhere near as enveloping as his usual studio fare, the brief tracks kind of work, in a loose jam session, side project sort of way.
13. Swallow the Sun, "Hate, Lead the Way" (Emerald Forest and the Blackbird, Spinefarm) - Hey, look, it's Mikko Kotamäki from Barren Earth again! For some stupid reason I lost track of Swallow the Sun after loving their first two albums, even having enjoyed their quintessential gothic doom/death live several times since then. I'm glad to be reacquainted, as the Finns have remained true to the classic template of mournful guitar harmonies, velvet cathedral keys and downtrodden yet driving rhythms laid down by My Dying Bride, Moonspell, Katatonia and others during the genre's '90s heyday. I have a soft spot for this sound when done with minimal cheese and maximum emotion, and though they frequently experiment with cleaner tones (as all the aforementioned bands did by their own fifth albums), they nail the atmosphere throughout... not even a guest spot from Nightwish goth-Kewpie Anette Olzon can spoil the obsidian mood.
14. Lamb of God, "Terminally Unique" (Resolution, Roadrunner) - Fuck the haters, Lamb of God were the cream of the 00s' American metalcore megastar crop. Although it's clear their best days are now nearly a decade behind them, the technically gifted bruisers have picked up some of the slack from 2009's shamefully inert Wrath and delivered a decent aggro-thrash album with few surprises but no major embarrassments. They're always at their best when going balls-out (or building up to it), and the meaty momentum of this number reminds me of why I used to be so into these guys. I totally love Randy Blythe's Dethklok-style "Awaken! Awaken! Awaken!" bark.
15. The Twilight Sad, "Kill It in the Morning" (No One Can Ever Know, FatCat) - I walked into this record cold, my curiosity peaked by having read about The Twilight Sad in just about everything I read about countrymen and labelmates We Were Promised Jetpacks. There's not a whole lot of similarity between the bands, other than a sorta post-punk backbone and a singer with a noticeable Scottish accent. The album's an OK set of gothy indie rock, nothing I'll come back to very often. The standout for me is this number, the only one in which I can detect the band's supposed new industrial influence. That spooky, groovy bass line is straight out of '80s Revolting Cocks or My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult.
16. Naglfar, "Pale Horse" (Téras, Century Media) - I have long appreciated Naglfar as an acceptable substitute for Dissection, who once upon a time drew the blueprint for bracing melodic black/death of Swedish origin before collapsing under stupid personal and musical choices. Unfortunately, Naglfar's latest hasn't really grabbed me, although it's not like these vets did anything wrong this time out. Tracks like this one have all the required teeth-gnashing harmonies at varying tempos with flawless musicianship, but never really sink those formidable hooks in you. Maybe there are only so many ways to deliver the Satanic sugar rush that this stuff should, or maybe the Swedes' songwriting was uninspired, or maybe it's just my current mood.
17. Les Discrets, "Ariettes oubliées I: Je devine à travers un murmure..." (Ariettes oubliées..., Prophecy) - A band lead by a former Alcest/Amesoeurs associate and featuring Alcest's current drummer, Les Discrets offers an even tamer take on shoegaze metal that is nonetheless artsy and European enough to deserve its spot on the venerated Prophecy label. The heaviest the French trio gets here, which is not too heavy, this song nestles perfectly into the dreamy, darkly dramatic realm for which the band is surely aiming. It doesn't stick with me much more than the new Naglfar does, but I suppose this pretty little slice of angst is much more my style circa 2012. What can I say, I typed much of this post while wearing my new glasses. I am old.
18. Soulfly, "Intervention" (Enslaved, Roadrunner) - I have never been a Soulfly fan, not enjoying nü-metal nor placing much trust in Max Cavalera's musical judgement after he cultivated a preference for the mid-'90s chug riff. However, Cavalera Conspiracy, Max's band that reunited him with his drummer brother Igor, has yielded some decent meathead thrash tunes. Soulfly has gradually followed suit by losing the mallcore tendencies and crafting decent meathead thrash tunes, largely thanks to guitarist Marc Rizzo, who is also a key asset of the CC albums. I checked Enslaved out at the behest of a friend, and while I won't come back to it, I'll concede there is a hell of a lot worse out there, and I can probably forgive Max for stealing Borknagar's drummer.
19. Kool A.D., "Girls and Women" (The Palm Wine Drinkard, Greedhead) - As much as I love Heems' mixtape, his Das Racist partner Kool A.D. has historically been a more impressive rapper. This is only the first reason why his own mixtape is a frustrating disappointment, as he raps for about a minute and a fucking half on it. Instead, he focuses on passable chillwave and the sort of shitty hipster dance music that you put up with on a Das Racist joint because there's usually something more interesting going on over it than someone yelling about titties or booties or what have you, over and over and over. This leaves the interlude tracks, lushly-produced sonic blankets that, while not stomach-turning, are still not what most listeners are looking for. Yes, it's a free solo release, which is the proper venue for ruthless self-indulgence and patience-baiting experimentation, and there are some agreeable trifles like this one. It's just a pisser because the dude set the bar for free Internet releases pretty high thus far, and this aggressively simplistic, repetitive gruel is pure demo material.
20. Pallbearer, "An Offering of Grief" (Sorrow and Extinction, Profound Lore) - I will never understand how this young traditional doom metal band from Arkansas found itself celebrated by Pitchfork and NPR as the year dawned. Sure, Profound Lore is probably the coolest North American metal label going, so anything they release these days will be scrutinized by anyone with taste. However, Pallbearer's rock-solid debut contains no concessions to the sort of modern doom accepted by the blogosphere's cultural gatekeepers: no sludgy overtones, no psychedelic canoodling, no tuneless caveman yelling. It's just a fine example of the sort of slow, mournful, towering doom perfected years ago by the likes of Solitude Aeternus, While Heaven Wept and Solace, with real singing and melodic guitar leads and everything. While I'm perplexed at the promotional push they're getting, I'm glad to see this previously unhip style surviving, and these kids are pretty good at it.
posted by SoulReaper at 2:22 PM
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