For those of you (if any) who’ve been following this series like bloodhounds on a fox’s trail, you will have noticed that I missed adding entries for the last two days. I was more distracted than usual (usually I’m distracted by things like passing cars and the need to chase them), but let’s forget about the explanations and just forge ahead.
For more details about what this list is all about and how it was compiled, read the introductory post via this link. For the other songs we’ve previously named to the list, go here.
TRIPTYKON
The next song I’m adding to the list is “Aurorae” from Triptykon’s Melana Chasmata. I’m adding it not just because of the gripping drum beats or the gravelly riffs or the lead guitar chimes or the transfixing solo or the transfixing vocals or the vivid atmosphere of the song. In addition to all that, in addition to the music’s infectiousness, there’s this:
The video made for the song is superb. I failed to watch it for the first time until only a couple of weeks ago when my brother BadWolf showed it to me on his phone. I don’t know how or why I missed it. Put it with the song, and they make an irresistible combination. I was toying with the idea of picking one or two other songs from the album for this list, but the video changed the calculus.
https://www.facebook.com/triptykonofficial
MAJESTIC DOWNFALL
I first heard this next song on April 4, 2014, the day it became available for streaming. I was blown away by the first listen, and wasted no time going on and on about it in a post the same day.
The song is “The Dark Lullaby” and it’s by Majestic Downfall, the solo project of Jacobo Córdova. It appeared last year on a fantastic split release with The Slow Death. If I repeated everything I wrote about the song last April, I’d triple the length of this post. But here’s a slightly revised portion of it:
It’s an amazingly rich and varied tapestry of sound that makes full use of its 13 minute run-time, a song that’s full of contrasts and one that’s impressively dynamic, both in its pacing and in its changing moods. It joins together massive guitar tone and huge, brutish bass hammers with light, ringing guitar harmonies. It incorporates melodies that are both entrancing and drenched in sorrow. It pairs gargantuan roars that come up from some bottomless abyss with harrowing howls that convey sensations of intense anguish.
Slow, skull-splitting riffs and gut-punching drums cohabit the song with ripping tremolo- and blastbeat-driven storm fronts. And in the song’s second half, you’re treated to a squalling guitar solo that will seize your attention, followed by a heavy guitar motif that wouldn’t be out of place in a Scandinavian-styled melodic death metal anthem.
One more thing: In addition to being one of my favorite songs of 2014, it’s also one of the most infectious.
9 Responses to “OUR LIST OF 2014’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 24”
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I might’ve picked “Tree of Suffocating Souls” to be a bit catchier off of Melana Chasmata, but I can completely respect “Aurorae” as a pick, as not only is it a close runner-up to “Tree” for me, along with a few others in the first half of the album, in terms of catchiness, but it’s also easily the best and most beautiful songs on the album, and a crowning achievement in Tom G. Warrior’s already legendary career.
I hadn’t listened to “The Dark Lullaby” in a while – that was clearly a massive mistake: this track is emotionally heavy, and with a damned infectious riff to boot.
Majestic Downfall is so great, everything from the songwriting to the production is just top notch 🙂
Boleskine House, you mug!
To be fair, every song that is not “Waiting”, is fantastic. Near perfect record.
That was probably the one I would have chosen until I saw the video. 🙂
Very Aronofsky. Much good. Wow.
I had never give Triptykon the attention they needed, this track is awesome, and I just bought both their albums.
Very, very cool to see this. Because apart from trying to have some fun, our main mission is to turn people on to what we think is good music that they might not have otherwise found.
I haven’t been clicking on all of these Most Infectious posts, but I randomly clicked on this one because I’m feeling the need for something new that would kick my ass. Lo and behold, this Tryptikon song has handed me my ass. For some reason I thought I had heard them and wasn’t interested, but after seeing that video, I remember when it was posted a while ago and had a similar ass crushing experience. You have saved me from forgetting about it entirely.
Then that’s a good deed done for the day, though probably offset by many bad deeds.