This Has Been a Neat Experiment
I kept this project up all 2021 and now I think it’s time to wind it down. It’s been a good way to stay on top of releases, and even though these don’t take much time to write, I think I need to use my writing time for other, more important projects.
Alas! C’est la vie!
I’m also doing two months at once because there were a ton of albums I listened to from November and only a handful from December, and since it was taking me so long to relisten to the November releases I figured I may as well just smash them together and make them kiss.
Behold! The List!
The end of the year had some surprises
Some really amazing stuff from bands both new and old to me surfaced in the November/December releases and I am really excited to share them with you. Everything in A-Tier or above you absolutely cannot miss. Hell, even most of the B-Tiers this time are also necessary listening.
S-Tier
Dormant Ordeal - The Grand Scheme of Things
I am so fucking happy this album exists I can hardly express it. It's brutal and visceral, but so twisty and turny. I love it. It snuck right in at the end of the the year and is definitely one of my favorites to have come out in 2021.
Karybdis - Order & Chaos
Karybdis continue to be one of the most underrated acts in the metal community. Their pummeling thrash/death is intoxicating. This EP has got me really excited for whatever new album is coming down the pipeline. I can take this shit pumped straight into my veins all day long.
A-Tier
200 Stab Wounds - Slave to the Scalpel
This album is the ultimate when it comes to dumb guy death metal hours. So fun. So dumb.
200 Stab Wounds share a sound and label with Sanguisugabogg, but I like 200 Stab Wounds much better (there’s a phrase to be taken out of context).
It’s such dumb guy music I don’t have much more to say about it other than if you want to get your feet stomping, head banging, and lips slobbering to some dumb dumb stupid dumb chuggy riffs, you can’t do much better than Slave to the Scalpel.
MØL - Diorama
What an awesome blackened thrash metal album, though I’d say it’s more thrashened black in this case. You remember that random thrashy single Deafheaven released? “Black Brick?” Yeah, this is like an album full of “Black Bricks.” I love it. God, do I love it.
Diablo Swing Orchestra - Swagger & Stroll Down The Rabbit Hole
I just love this band. I love their sheer inventiveness and will to experiment. None of it sounds amateur. What I mean by that is they don’t ever sound like they’re mucking about in genres they don’t understand.
The thing about them is that they somehow make all of the weird and disparate and surprising elements sound like they were always meant to sound this way, not at all like a gimmicky attempt to smash styles. The true successors to Mr. Bungle at their best.
Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - Bloodmoon: I
Pretty drastically different from the rest of Converge's discography, although they have experimented with a more slow and deliberate sound before.
What a wild collab! This project definitely has more the gothic theatricality of Chelsea Wolfe, but Converge's no-frills harshness compliments it in cool ways. Despite having slowed down, the guitar sounds more noisy than Converge usually do. I don’t know how that’s possible, but whatever they’re doing here works. There are even some stellar post-metal style crescendos in here too. Color me excited for Bloodmoon: II.
Obscura - A Valediction
One of the first technical death metal bands I fell for and they’re still great. What I love about them is that they don't forget to add good song structure and exhilarating driving force to all of the technical wankery.
This time around, the songs are much more straightforward and downright playful than on their earlier albums. It’s totally unpretentious, which is a quality to appreciate in tech death.
Sijjin - Sumerian Promises
Siqq.
Godless - States of Chaos
Sometimes you just need a battering ram of pure unfiltered death metal straight to your skull, you know? No reinventing the wheel here, and all in all a pretty basic record as far as death metal goes, but goddamn do they nail those basics.
In Mourning - The Bleeding Veil
Sometimes groovy and harsh, sometimes transcendent and gothic. A lot of excellent riffs, but those melodic wailing guitars are golden.
B-Tier
Exodus - Persona Non Grata
Exodus are the band I can blame for the mental disease I am forced to deal with called “cravingextrememetalitis.” Shovel Headed Kill Machine and the Atrocity Exhibition albums are singlehandedly responsible for me learning to love harsher forms of heavy metal. It’s been a long while since the last album due to Gary Holt, lead guitarist and songwriter, spending most of the last decade filling in for Jeff Hanneman after his untimely demise in Slayer.
This is a good album, but it feels like Tempo of the Damned: Part 3 with Part 2 being their last album, Blood In, Blood Out. I wanted to love this album, but I’m sad I can only give it a “yeah, pretty good.”
So Hideous - None But a Pure Heart Can Sing
This blackgaze took a little while to sink in, but now that it has, I’m very glad to have listened. The wild horns on “The Emerald Pearl” alone make this album a must-listen.
Hypocrisy - Worship
I hate goofy alien conspiracy shit, but fuck me if this isn't a good listen. Hypocrisy started life as a boilerplate Gothenburg style melodic death metal act with a silly shtick, but each release has seen them top themselves in terms of catchy riffage.
Cynic - Ascension Codes
INTERSTITIAL TRACKS. BETWEEN EVERY SONG. IT’S OVERKILL. IT’S TOO MUCH.
My firm hatred of interstitial tracks is well known to people who have had the misfortune of being around me while very drunk. It says a lot that I was willing to give this album a B despite feeling like the interstitial tracks were constantly causing the album to drag.
But damn if this album isn’t pretty for a metal album.
Volbeat - Servant of the Mind
A lot of this band's output is "bad-to-fine," but every now and then they strike gold with their metalbilly style and marry excellent riffs to smooth rockabilly crooning with an edge. I would definitely say this album has more hits than misses. “Sacred Stones” fucking rules, come at me.
Lock Up - The Dregs of Hades
Lock Up prove they are still reliable go-tos if you’re in the mood for some chunky grindcore.
Portrayal of Guilt - Christfucker
I like this quite a bit more than their effort from the beginning of the year. They’ve still got that raw feeling, but with some proper oomph in the song structure to back them up this time.
Extinction A.D. - Chaos, Collusion, Carnage & Propaganda
The thrash revival ain’t entirely dead! Extinction A.D. haven’t had an extensive career yet, but damn do they have this style totally nailed.
Ethereal Shroud - Trisagion
Some really powerful and soaring black metal with the occasional death metal flourish. These songs meander, but come together incredibly well.
Mortiferum - Preserved in Torment
A cut above some of the other sludgy death metal I endured from this year. The songs build satisfactorily, who would have thought?
C-Tier
Thank You Scientist - Plague Accommodations
Nice and jazzy. They’ve done all this before though. Sound like they’re making music just to make music, not because they have any insightful musical ideas.
Churchburn - Genocidal Rite
This album makes me feel like I’m drowning. In a good way. I love the muddy production. It sounds like all the instruments are struggling and mashing against each other and the vocalist is sinking in the instrumental morass, desperately trying to break free.
Unfortunately, I don’t think they utilize that muddiness well. There’s a lot of slam-death stylings in here which don’t quite work. The album also just kind of… ends. The abruptness normally wouldn't bother me, but the last song felt like it was building up to something.
Daxma - Unmarked Boxes
Pleasant and moving post-metal. For my post-metal tastes, it doesn’t crescendo nearly as well as I think it should, but there are still some satisfying and beautiful moments.
Cân Bardd - Devoured By the Oak
Somehow both vibrant and soul-draining. Someone is going to love this album, but that someone isn’t me.
Mystras - Empires Vanquished and Dismantled
Folky black metal that doesn’t sound goofy. I like how vicious they sound at some moments. I think the songs lack focus and dynamism somewhat.
D-Tier
SeeYouSpaceCowboy… - The Romance of Affliction
There are a lot of fun parts, but this is too Warped Tour for my tastes. My mistake.
Swallow the Sun - Moonflowers
Like In Mourning, also a gothic entry. While I do appreciate how varied this album is, I overall found it a pretty boring listen. The inclusion of “classical” versions of the songs on the back end is intriguing, but they don’t provide much interest besides novelty value.
Hands of Despair - The Crimson Boughs and Other Short Tales
It's proggy death metal, sort of like if Opeth had continued in the same vein as Watershed, though not as creative. I want to like these guys more. The album isn’t a total loss, but it doesn’t have very many high points outside of the opening track either.
F-Tier
Black Label Society - Doom Crew Inc.
Black Label Society are a massive band. They’re also a blindspot of mine. I like the song "Concrete Jungle" a lot, but I never dove into much else.
Well, this album was not a good place to start. Because it sucks.
It’s not totally devoid of enjoyment, but each song has only one or two ideas, and those ideas are just not strong enough to elevate them beyond "fun, next!" I do appreciate simplicity more the older I get, but the simplicity has to still be well-executed
So it’s overly simplistic. So what? The songs still provide some grove. It’s not unlistenable
Well. There are the ballads.
Why are there so many ballads.
Seriously. Why. God, why. Zakk Wylde does not have the voice to pull off a ballad, and the ballads strip this album of the only half-decent thing going for it, which is Zakk’s guitarwork. The mid-album lulls so hard, crammed with with ill-advised ballad or ballad-adjacent tracks.
For an album over an hour long, it’s unforgivable.
I mean, "Forever and a Day" and "Love Reign Down" sound like they should be praising Jesus, what the hell is this, Zakk?
So I don’t get the appeal yet of Black Label Society. I’ve been meaning to check out the back catalogue, but this album has really made me want to not even bother. I can handle a blindspot or two.
Soyonara!
Fitting my last one of these would be way too long and take way too much of my time. I hope the three of you who read these have enjoyed them! I’m sure I’ll be penning more thoughts on metal soon enough.