THE TEN MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS OF 2009 (Part 1)

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Dec 162009
 

AsphyxBand

It’s the time of year when “Best of 2009” lists are popping up everywhere. As we’ve observed before, one worthwhile reason for reading these lists (and maybe the only worthwhile reason) is to discover good metal releases you might have missed — and with about 5,000 new metal full-lengths appearing annually, it’s easy to miss shit that you might really like.

Here at NCS, we’re putting a different spin on year-end listmania. Ours isn’t a list of the best metal full-lengths of the year. It’s not even our list of the best individual extreme metal songs of the year. That would tax our brains way too much work, and frankly this is the time of year when devoting serious effort to anything is just fucking difficult.

Ours is a list of the most infectious extreme metal songs we’ve heard this year. We’re talking about songs that produce involuntary physical movement. Even on a crowded bus, subway, or ferry, your head starts banging, your fingers start tapping, your foot starts thumping, your legs start twitching — different people have got different body parts that start convulsing when they hear something that’s got a groove to it.

And to be one of the most infectious songs of the year, it’s got to be something that worms its way into your brain to such an extent you can’t get it out (and wouldn’t want to) — you mentally replay it at unexpected times and you go back to the song repeatedly. You know, when the shit is sick. When it infects you like a disease with no available cure. Again, not necessarily the best of the year, but the most infectious. (And because this is NO CLEAN SINGING, it’s got to be NCS Metal or an “Exception to the Rule” to make our list.) (Read more following the jump and see our first entry on the list . . .) Continue reading »

METAL TSUNAMI

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Dec 062009
 

tsunami

For all you horn-headed stat geeks out there, Cosmo Lee has compiled some fascinating numbers that you can read about in detail at his Invisible Oranges site. In a nutshell, in 1986 (which Lee uses as a baseline), 458 full-length metal releases came out. Assuming you had wanted to, you could have listened to all of them at the rate of 38 a month. Last year, there were almost 5,000 full-length metal releases. You’d have had to listen to more than 400 albums a month to cover all of them. And that’s not counting demos — there were more than 4,000 of them released last year.

We can guess about why this flood of metal has built to tsunami-like proportions over the last 23 years. For example, advances in technology have made DIY digital recording much easier and cheaper, and the netz have made it vastly easier for bands to get their music out into the world (regardless of whether the music is worth a shit or not).

None of this means those thousands of metal bands releasing new music every year are making any more money than the 458 who released albums in 1986. In fact, I wouldn’t be shocked if those 458 metal releases generated more total sales (in constant dollars) than the almost 5,000 released last year. Sure, the population has grown since then (in the U.S., from about 240 million in ’86 to about 304 million in ’08). On the other hand, file-sharing and downloads have just about succeeded in putting a stake through the heart of CD sales.

One thing is for sure: The flood of metal has populated every metal micro-genre with lots of choices and has made it increasingly difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff if you’re a listener. As Lee astutely observes in his post:

Such multiplicity means that consensus is likely impossible to reach nowadays. Year-end lists show much less overlap because people have many more choices. . . . In the past, people had limited, overlapping access to information — the same few TV channels, record stores, and so on. Now technology has blasted everything wide open. The only year-end list that matters now is yours.

“BEST OF 2009” (We Couldn’t Resist)

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Nov 242009
 

best_of_2009_so_far

In an earlier post, I speculated about why metal mags and net sites create “Best of 2009” album lists and why fans read them.  I also expressed puzzlement about why these lists are already appearing despite the fact that 2009 ain’t over yet.  Decibel‘s recently published list of the “Top 40” best releases of 2009 prompted all of my blather (although Noisecreep has now released their Top 10 list for the year).  I thought most of the albums on the Decibel list were worth noticing, though I could quibble with the rankings and I had some favorites that I thought should have been on the list in place of others that were.

In an effort to refresh my own memory about what else Decibel left off its list, I polled IntoTheDarkness — the third member of the No Clean Singing triumverate — and asked for his personal list of the Best of 2009 (using the phony assumption that the year is already over).  And here’s his list.  It’s a pretty fucking strong lineup of NCS Metal — and only 8 overlaps with the Decibel list.
Continue reading »

DECIBEL’S TOP 40

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Nov 232009
 

Top 40 Hits

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. Continue reading »

“THE BEST OF 2009” (Really?!)

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Nov 222009
 

dB_cover_0110_large

The latest issue of Decibel magazine arrived in my mail on Friday.  Big photo of Mastodon staring me in the face.  Says on the cover that it’s the January 2010 issue.  My calendar says that Friday was November 20 in the year 2009.  Okay, that’s not so unusual — every magazine advance-dates their copy.  (Even a weekly like Time has got an issue on the stands right now dated Nov 30).  I’m not sure when advance cover-dating started or why.  Maybe you know.   I guess if you publish a magazine you can put whatever fucking date you want on the cover.

But guess what’s inside the “January 2010” issue of Decibel:  Their list of the “Top 40 Extreme Albums of 2009.”  Why does that strike me as odd?  Find out after the jump, and I’ll also give you the Decibel Top 40 list.   Continue reading »

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