10. Obliteration, «Black Death Horizon»
Oh, sure, another old school death metal revival band. Those are a dime-a-dozen. Next! While this may be your first thought, and one we could not sympathize more with, there are however exceptions to every rule. Norway’s Obliteration are accountable for it, not just because they’re one of the best examples of invoking the old spirit (read: slime) but also because they have been doing this for a while now despite their young age. So if you’re still in your mid-20s and you rip through the good ol’ DM like this, you’re doing something right. «Black Death Horizon» is where these kids really come of age and the first 30 seconds of a song like “Goat Skull Crown” should be all the convincing you need. And if our word is not enough, take fellow Kolbot native and Darkthrone master Fenriz’s instead.
9. Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats, «Mind Control»
If you thought «Blood Lust», Uncle Acid’s debut record, was a fluke … well, you might need to think again. Because «Mind Control» is everything you want a sophomore effort to be. And then some. The most striking of its many virtues is perhaps the incredible riff fest contained in its 50 minutes of amazingly groovy retro rock. The other could be how varied this record really is, maximising its replay power all the way to the roof. «Mind Control» retains the lo-fi sound of its predecessor but adds it a little polish, just enough to make it sweet without ruining it. Each song plays like a hit single, yet it sounds like a real album all the way through, never for a second losing sight of what a great rock ‘n roll album should be: fun.
8. Modern Life Is War, «Fever Hunting»
Some bands have this aura around them, that unique quality you cannot really put into words but which renders them special whichever way you look at them. Converge are like that. Darkthrone are like that. And don’t get us started on old classics like Led Zep or Deep Purple. While Modern Life Is War’s cult may be of a lesser dimension than those just mentioned, it burns no less bright. «Witness» put this Marshalltown, Iowa band in a pantheon they would no longer step down from and they didn’t need to come back this year to prove it. That they did, with no fanfare, but simply with what is probably their strongest and most cohesive effort to date. The very first chords open the gates for Jeffrey Eaton’s all-out, desperate screaming of “old fears/new frontiers”, a diptych that perfectly encapsulates what Modern Life Is War is all about. From there, the band dispatches song after song with each and every of their trademarks, stuff to send shivers down your spine as you connect with the deeply arresting power of their lyrics coupled with the intensely melodic guitars and rock-solid rhythm section. Perhaps they will never again soar as high as those iconic first few minutes of "The Outsiders" off «Witness» but that's perfectly OK. Welcome back, guys. We missed you.
7. Satyricon, «Satyricon»
Ever the polarizing band since they decided to leave raw (medieval?) black metal by the wayside after «Nemesis Divina», Satyricon have been sticking the middle finger out for quite a while now. The aptly titled «Satyricon» can stun due to its apparent lack of energy and restrained sound but that's just how tricky it really is, as repeated listens start to reveal different shades of the band's past masterfully melded together. Eschewing a frontal attack in favor of a more calculated one, the stylistic leap is not as big as before but, rewarding as it may be, it still requires the sort of investment that Satyricon fans may not be used to have to dispense with. If, however, there’s one thing that this particular band cannot be accused of, is of being stagnant and treading water. «Satyricon» is not only an incredibly refreshing departure for the band, it’s also the record that perfectly snapshots most of their two-decade career. [RD review]
6. Corrections House, «Last City Zero»
If you voluntarily get Mike IX Williams, Scott Kelly, Sanford Parker and Bruce Lamont in the same room with the purpose of creating new music together… well, you have it coming. The first few moments may have you thinking Neurosis right off the bat but it soon becomes apparent that the whole is way bigger - in every conceivable axis - than the sum of its parts. The end result is a surprising record that twists and morphs into a thousand different forms, never predictable in any way whatsoever. It seems to come with insurmountable talent the ability to write - to create - music spontaneously, doing away with the proverbial game plan while somehow maintaining an unconscious focus. «Last City Zero» sounds like a product of four incredibly apt musicians giving free reign to their inner muses - and their inner demons too. In a day and age where everything has been pretty much done, it’s refreshing to come across a record that somehow shuffles a deck of well known cards, coming up with an incredibly innovative take on portraying chaos, decay and insanity. «Last City Zero» is that record.
5. Beastmilk, «Climax»
A late entry in the year, Finland’s Beastmilk have not reared their head just now, but «Climax» is the record which breaks the secret wide open. Good thing, too, because secrets like these are not meant to… well, be secret. And the thing is, quite frankly, if there’s an impending doom and the apocalypse is coming and all that, being told all about it through incredibly addictive, post-punk rhythms is probably not such a bad idea. Mathew McNerney, aka Kvohst, left Code a while back and if his dark folk project Hexvessel wasn’t reason enough for that, Beastmilk should be. While lyrics like “when the blood starts to rush, I've got a genocidal crush" advise against taking his lyrics too seriously the whole time, «Climax» is simply a hugely addictive album, thanks to its many riffs and melodies that harken back to an unholy, psych-ridden mixture of Joy Division, Danzig and Roky Erickson, with Killing Joke closely looming in the background. Perhaps its uncanny glamour will subside quite rapidly, but while it lasts, it’s immensely enjoyable.
4. Carcass, «Surgical Steel»
Ah, the classic band comeback number. We’ve been seeing many of those, eh? Mixed results, alright, and with Carcass you can even say they’ve been received with mixed feelings. If «Reek Of Putrefaction» and «Symphonies of Sickness» are what Carcass are all about for you, chances are you’ve been thoroughly disappointed with «Surgical Steel». Hell, you probably stopped paying attention when «Heartwork» rolled out in 1993, anyway - if you were even born, that is. On the other hand, if that and «Necroticism» is your thing, there couldn’t have been better news than to have these guys return. Because that’s a pretty safe way of looking at «Surgical Steel». Steer and Walker recruited young blood that technically delivers on every promise made, namely Trigger The Bloodshed’s drummer Daniel Wilding, but that would not have been sufficient if it weren’t for the sheer power and urgency of the album’s 47-minute running time. Sometimes albums like these surrender all the gold in their early stages, losing steam throughout, but «Surgical Steel» never lets its foot off the gas, proof being the insanely grooving riffs that carry along songs like “Unfit For Human Consumption” or “316L Grade Surgical Steel”. Carcass’ penchant for dissecting the dead has not abated since they left and the same goes for their songwriting abilities.
3. The Psyke Project, «Guillotine»
One thing these Danish folks never lacked in their decade-strong career is sheer heaviness. On the back of that however also came quite a lot of complexity in outputting their often intricate post-metal textures, as is the case of «Dead Storm» back in 2009. The will to simplify things, effectively turning them into a plug-n-play kind of band also added an incredible amount of grit to their sound, rendering it dark and ugly like never before. And in the midst of all that, they kept writing great riffs, perhaps even more so. The result is this year’s «Guillotine», an apt title for a beast-like, relentless record that akin to all simple things has a huge potential to turn into addiction. How many 4-minute songs entirely made of a single chord that actually work can you come up with? That’s what The Psyke Project achieved in the form of “Partisan” yet that’s just one piece of this puzzle. Renowned for the intensity of their live shows - check out their Facebook page and get grossed out with the image of their singer Martin puking his guts right on stage - «Guillotine» is a perfect mixture of sludge with blackened hardcore and one that is going to be pretty difficult to beat any time soon.
2. Clutch, «Earth Rocker»
Clutch vocalist Neil Fallon sings a particularly interesting line in «Earth Rocker»’s title track which pretty much defines what these Maryland natives have achieved with their latest outing: “Break it down, to brass tacks / Break it down to just the facts.” And in Clutch’s case, the facts are quite simply bluesy heavy rock to make your groove meter explode. The four-piece has been quoted as saying that recent touring with Motörhead and Thin Lizzy got them in the right frame of mind to write an album like «Earth Rocker» and rightly so. While they have been doing their thing far too long to not have a signature all their own, there’s enough punk flair here coming from the aforementioned bands that helps this record to become the definitive statement in Clutch’s 20-year strong career. Looseness may be an appropriate word to describe the proceedings, from the Screaming Jay Hawkins’ bite to Fallon’s lyric and vocal delivery - especially in the title track - to the incredibly freedom Jean-Paul Gaster enjoys in his drumming, not forgetting the free-floating, wah-induced guitar melodies, everything being supported by the exact right amount of low end in Dan Maines’ bass. When all is said and done, «Earth Rocker» is such a fun album to listen to, packing just the right punch in all the appropriate places that it seems to bear all the hallmarks of a timeless classic, one that doesn’t redefine anything per se, but which does everything just right. And let’s just hope this momentum allows for a new record sooner than the 4 years it took them to follow «Strange Cousins From The West».
1. KEN mode, «Entrench»
Sometimes, for some bands, it just takes finding the right person to fill in the appropriate spot. In KEN mode’s case, Canadian brothers Jesse and Shane Matthewson have stood their ground supporting their vision since 1999, yet the bass player position has been a like a revolving door. That didn’t keep them from writing great records, though, as 2011’s explosive «Venerable» clearly demonstrates. But it was ithe introduction of American bass player Andrew LaCour that seems to have provided KEN mode with that little extra they needed to produce a truly outstanding record, one that doesn’t redefine the band’s sound so much as refines it. They have not done away with the Converge-like math for the most part - they even amplified it in places - and Jesse Matthewson’s vocal delivery became even more aggressive, more demented, all the insanity displayed on stage very much transported into the studio and onto “tape”. One pass through “Counter Culture Complex” though, or “The Terror Pulse”, and it becomes evident how Andrew LaCour’s bass really gives KEN mode a backbone they never really had before. He does not just fill in the gaps, he actually plays the instrument and contributes decisively to the end result, something decisively important when it comes to power trios like these. “No; I’m In Control” is a particularly compelling cut in the way the band keeps evolving the song so that when it reaches boiling point with both Jesse and Andrew barking the track’s title, you can’t help but convulsively headbang. Much could also be said about centerpiece “Romeo Must Never Know” which, beyond its devious title, shows that this band is not all bile-spitting hardcore, they can also pull an understated finesse that is just as effective. «Entrench» is the record that really put KEN mode on the map and it’s not every day a decade-old band gets a second opportunity at a (kind of) first shot. And they sure made the most out of it.
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