Let me get this out of the way, so people won’t misinterpret this post: Although I have only a few drops of Scottish blood in my mongrel lineage, I love Scotland, bagpipes, the poetry and lyrics of Robert Burns, single malt whiskey, and even the taste of haggis. I’m also a huge fan of Glasgow death-metal band Man Must Die (witness this post from December 2009).

I also like to hear Scots talk — though in terms of their intelligibility to my American ears, they might as well be speaking Swahili at least half the time. Seriously, the accent is fucking dense. It’s thick enough that you could cut it with a carving knife.

So, even though I’m not a big fan of video reports from the studio that lots of metal bands release these days to build interest in their forthcoming albums, I just couldn’t resist the temptation to watch the one that Man Must Die just put up — partly because I wanted to catch a glimpse of the new music and partly because I just wanted to hear these dudes talk.

It cracked me up, and I’ve got to share it. It also reminded me how good this band is, so I’ve got a song for you, and it also reminded me of another Scottish-themed video clip (this one is intentionally funny) that I’ll throw into the mix.  (after the jump . . .)

Alan McFarland (Man Must Die)

First up, I’ve got this video update from the band. It features vocalist Joe McGlynn and guitarist Alan McFarland seriously answering questions about the song-writing process. I’m really not trying to make fun (see all my confessions of love at the outset of this post), but this video could have used subtitles. Watching it reminded me of this quote from George Bernard Shaw: “England and America are two countries separated by a common language.” And he wasn’t even talking about the Scots.

Or this line by Oscar Wilde dating back to 1887: “We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language.” And he wasn’t talking specifically about the Scots either, but you get the point.

By the way, though I found this thing unintentionally funny, I also found the riffage in the background particularly tasty, and the part at the end shows that McGlynn is a pretty fucking mean shredder in addition to being an awesome vocalist. Man Must Day’s next album remains on my “most anticipated” list for 2011.

And just to remind you why the next album is worth anticipating, here’s one of my favorite tracks from Man Must Die’s last release, 2009′s No Tolerance for Imperfection. It’s a blistering indictment of man’s inhumanity to animals, and it’s a blistering song to boot.

Man Must Die: Kill It Skin It Wear It

The mind follows unpredictable paths sometime. I mentioned earlier that watching McGlynn and McFarland talk put me in mind of something else Scottish-related that’s intentionally funny. It’s got nothing to do with metal, and it doesn’t even feature a real Scot. Perhaps I should have found something by Billy Connolly. But this is what came to mind first, so we’re going with it, and it is pretty fucking funny.

BEFORE THE DAWN UPDATE

Oh, one last piece of news, which has nothing to do with anything else in this post, except perhaps the anticipation of new metal. We’ve written before about Finland’s Before the Dawn and their next album, Deathstar Rising, which is due for release on February 25. The news is that the whole album is now streaming at the band’s Facebook page, which is here. I’ve just started listening, and it’s delicious.

There you have it. Enjoy the rest of your fucking day, won’t you?

Alan McFarland (Man Must Die)

As 2009 draws even closer to the end, we’ve continued to think back about albums we really enjoyed this year.  Among them were releases from five UK bands that could loosely be classified as death metal, though they sound almost nothing alike.  Four of them — Man Must Die, Viatrophy, Ignominious Incarceration, and Xerath — turned out killer new albums in 2009, and the fifth — Theoktony — was a prodigiously talented band we only discovered this year, though sadly its future is in doubt.

We don’t pretend that this post is a comprehensive review of the best UK death metal of the year, because we’ve no doubt there are awesome 2009 releases we simply haven’t heard.  The five we’re covering here are simply albums that happened to grab our attention  — and didn’t let go.

MAN MUST DIE

These Glaswegians had a breakout year with the 2009 release of their third full-length, the sonic runaway train called No Tolerance for Imperfection.  The album garnered widespread critical acclaim and paved the way for a UK tour with Decapitated and Kataklysm.  The Scots will be touring Europe next spring with such awesome bands as Dying Fetus, Origin, Beneath The Massacre, and Revocation.

On No Tolerance, MMD displays an impressive mix of crushing intensity, clanging basslines, chugging grooves, percussive pyrotechnics, and occasional Goethenberg-style melodic riffing.  And Joe McGlynn‘s rapid-fire death vocals are outstanding — particularly memorable in the chorus of “Kill It Skin It Wear It.”  The song structures are intricate and every track on No Tolerance is a distinctive, in-your-face winner.

As a one-time visitor to Glasgow, I can attest that it’s a gritty, unpretentious, blue-collar town. A “Glasgow kiss” is the vernacular for a vicious head-butt to the cranium, and I can’t think of a more apt description of No Tolerance for Imperfection. Total rabble-rousing fun that you really shouldn’t miss. Damn, but I’d like to see these dudes stir up the shit on stage!

Have a listen to “Kill It Skin It Wear It”:

Man Must Die: Kill It Skin It Wear It

VIATROPHY

I originally tuned into this band with the release of their 2007 EP, Chronicles, which I liked tremendously.  One extraordinarily infectious song from the EP, “Misanthropes,” I’ve played dozens of times.  So, I listened to the band’s 2009 self-titled debut full-length with great anticipation and some anxiety — and breathed a sigh of relief, because it’s really good.

Pulsating guitars and galloping drums, a capable blend of high-pitched and gutteral death vocals, and the kind of groove- and hook-laden melodies that made Chronicles so compelling. The pace of the songs alternates between a furious breakneck rush and slow ambient melodic passages that verge on prog metal, with the occaional deathcore-style breakdown.  The album includes two mesmerizingly beautiful instrumental tracks (“Aurora” and “Lux et Tenebris”) and a third, long song, “The Final Light,” that’s largely instrumental and quite memorable.  In short, the album is amazingly good and not quite like anything else I heard this year. It’s become one of my favorites.

Have a listen to “Futile Prayers.” And for the hell of it, below that you’ll find a link to that song “Misanthropes” from the band’s EP.

Viatrophy: Futile Prayers

Viatrophy: Misanthropes

THEOKTONY

I first discovered this band because Man Must Die’s guitarist Alan McFarland recommended them in an interview earlier this year.  Based on that alone, I tracked down a copy of  their lone album, a 2008 release called “I“.

This is serious slab of technical, no-holds-barred, heavily blackened death metal, played with a lot of heart. Vicious death vocals, a very heavy low end with absolutely insane non-stop blast-beat drumming, and grinding riffs — all performed with real technical flair, a healthy dose of groove, and a mournful sense of melody.  With its use of infectious rhythms and cascading walls of buzzing guitar, Theoktony reminds me at times of Rotting Christ, a superb Greek black metal band. Mind you, this isn’t light fare or for the faint of heart. It’s a non-stop sonic maelstrom: grim, powerful, epic, apocalyptic, original music to get absolutely lost in. There simply aren’t any weak spots, either in conception or execution.

And did I mention the insane drumming?  I did?  Well, I’ll mention it again.  It’s insane.  Drummer’s name is Steve Powell, who I gather is the live drummer for another impressive UK black metal band, Anaal Nathrakh.

Unfortunately, it appears that Theoktony has now split apart, which is a real fucking shame.  Guitarist Liam Millward writes that he is continuing to record music, providing all the instrumentals and vocals himself, and is hunting for musicians to fill out the band.  I hope he succeeds, because his work on “I” is brilliant.

But whatever might result from his searches won’t be the band that recorded “I“.  On this one album, these very capable dudes had all their shit completely together.  Go spend yo money. This album is worth tracking down.

Help yourself to two samples from Theoktony:

Theoktony: Cockroach Genetics

Theoktony: Plagued By the Wretchedness of Man\’s Desire

IGNOMINIOUS INCARCERATION

This young band’s 2009 debut, Of Winter Born, is billed as melodic death metal — but it’s more death than melodic.  You’ll find rapid-fire, precise playing in a tech-death style with some great dual-guitar shredding.  The songs are indeed laden with hooks and melodic guitar riffs, but they are kept rooted in dark earth by Andy Wardle‘s excellent death vocals and sharpened to a dangerous edge by the dissonant, furious interplay between Steve Brown and Danny Guy on guitars. The production is sharp and clear but far from antiseptic.   This is an impressive debut by some dudes with real playing chops, and I’m looking forward to what they produce in the future. Oh yeah, Of Winter Born sports a way cool album cover, too.

Please yourself with this sample:

Ignominious Incarceration: Deeds of Days Long Gone

XERATH

My co-author Alexis turned me on to this band and its 2009 debut release — also called “I“, and I found it to be just as addictive as she did.  I’m probably pushing the envelope to call this death metal.  Certainly, Xerath doesn’t use that label.  With tongue in cheek, it has variously described its own music as “extreme symphonic metal,” “filmscore metal,” “orchestral groove metal,” and “chug-score metal.” But I’m including it in this year-end review anyway, because the album is so damned interesting.

Xerath practices an unusual form of melodic death metal, combining the more typical elements of the genre (high-pitched and mid-range howling vocals, thick melodic riffing, blast beats) with orchestral synthesizer bridges that often bring a goth or black-metal flavor to the sound, Meshuggah-like complex rhythms, and even choral passages.  The songs often bleed into each other so that the album as a whole can be heard as a single work. Immensely appealing.

Here’s a sample from “I“:

Xerath: Alterra

A couple days ago, we reported on Decibel magazine’s (premature) publication of its “Top 40 Extreme Albums of 2009” and gave you the list of 40.  Many more “Best of 2009” metal lists will soon be appearing on the netz and the newsstands.  Why do people create these kinds of lists and why do we read them?  Music is a matter of personal taste.  These lists represent the personal tastes of particular critics and fans, no more or less valid than my favorites or yours.  So what’s the fucking point?  I’m not sure there is a fucking point, but I’ll make a stab at it.

One reason I like to read these lists is to learn about metal that’s new to me.  I spend an extreme amount of money buying new extreme metal releases (I’m happy to download music for free, but only if the band or its label hasn’t given me an option to pay for it – but that’s just me.)  But I’m still always missing out on shit I would like if I knew about it.  The writers and editors at Decibel collectively listen to a much bigger and more varied collection of releases than I do, and if they think something I’ve never heard is good enough to be included in a Top 40 list, then I’m at least tempted to check it out.

For example, their top 20 includes 3 bands I’ve heard of but never heard – Cobalt (#5), YOB (#16), and The Atlas Moth (#20).  Based on the accompanying Decibel write-ups, I doubt these bands are going to give me the kind of buzz I want from metal, but I’m going to check em out anyway.  The bottom 20 also include bands I’ve never listened to, and some I’ve never even heard of.  But I’ll probably at least sample their stuff on MySpace.

Human nature being what it is, some people also probably read these “Best Of” lists for validation.  We see albums we like on a “Best Of” list and it somehow makes us feel like our preferences are more righteous.  I don’t know why anybody feels that way — particularly headbangers, who generally pride themselves on not giving a fuck what anyone else thinks.

On the other side of the coin, when we see albums on a list that we think suck, or we see a band we consider mediocre ranked higher than one of the gods in our personal metal pantheon, some of us want to torch the perpetrator of the list in print.  Venting makes the world go round, and stirring up shit is one way that mags and bloggers generate interest and keep their community engaged.

Though really, what do people think they’re accomplishing by insisting (for example) that it’s fucking turd-minded for Decibel to rank Goes Cube’s album above the latest from Suffocation, or Immortal’s newest above Goatwhore’s, or to name Baroness’s Blue Record the best release of the year — or to leave off the list altogether the 2009 releases of bands like Hypocrisy, Revocation, Buried Inside, August Burns Red, Behemoth, Pelican, Dying Fetus, Shrinebuilder, Stonecutters, Malefice, Man Must Die, Darkest Hour, Impending Doom, Vader, Viatrophy, Xerath, Reign Supreme, Iron Age, and Suicide Silence?

After all, it’s just a matter of personal taste.