LISTMANIA CONTINUES: NPR’S TOP 10 METAL ALBUMS OF 2012

 Listmania, LISTMANIA 2012  20 Responses »
Dec 222012
 

Although we’re far along in our own series of Listmania posts by NCS staff and guests (and have more to come this weekend and throughout next week), we’ve continued to keep an eye out for lists appearing at “big platform” sites around the net. Today brought one more we’ve been expecting: a list of the Top 10 Metal Albums of 2012 by NPR.

Once again the NPR list was compiled by Lars Gotrich, who has a good ear for metal and a nice way with words, too. Last year, NPR’s list was 25 names long, so this year’s list reflects even greater selectivity. However, although NPR apparently insisted on 10 and 10 only, Lars included 15 more on his personal blog. So, it’s still really 25. Actually, Lars also named the five best splits on his blog, and that list is worth seeing, too.

The Top 10 aren’t ranked numerically, but alphabetically, and links to full-album streams were provided where available.  I think you have to say this is a highly personal list, rather than an attempt to cover a genre waterfront. And although NPR’s audience is predominantly not-metal, the Top 10 list isn’t an attempt to pander to cosmopolitan (or hipster) tastes.

The list includes veteran names such as Asphyx (pictured above) and Testament, Pig Destroyer earns yet another high finish, and there’s a healthy dose of doom-influenced metal to be found as well. In addition, I was interested to see the appearance of a band I’ve heard about only recently through recommendations by multiple sources — Pittsburgh’s Derketa. In fact, I was writing about them for a post that will appear later today when I saw the NPR list. Continue reading »

TOURISM: MARDUK, TODAY IS THE DAY, AND CRADLE OF FILTH

 Metal News  1 Response »
Dec 222012
 

Much earlier this month we reported the announcement of the VOICES FROM THE DARK tour of North America, co-headlined by Marduk (Sweden) and Moonspell (Portugal) and including the talents of Inquisition (U.S.), The Foreshadowing (Italy), and Death Wolf (Sweden) (which features members of Marduk). At the time of our earlier report, no dates had yet been announced. Now they have.

I’m gratified to see that it will be stopping in Seattle. I know this will make you happy, because I know you want me to be happy and I am indeed happy about this tour, especially because of the chance it will give me (finally) to see Marduk and Inquisition. Maybe you will be able to see this tour, too. But if not, I will still be happy, and therefore you will still be happy.

FEBRUARY

2/20 Springfield, VA @ Empire
2/21 Poughkeepsie, NY @ The Chance
2/22 Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
2/23 New York, NY @ Gramercy Theatre
2/24 Montreal, QC @ Club Soda
2/25 Toronto, ON @ Wreck Room
2/26 Millvale, PA @ Mr. Small’s Theatre
2/27 Chicago, IL @ Reggie’s
2/28 Saint Paul, MN @ Station 4 Continue reading »

THE CHURCH OF THE RIFF’S RIFFARIFFIC YEAR-ENDER

 Listmania, LISTMANIA 2012  6 Responses »
Dec 222012
 

(I successfully prevailed upon Ben C, the proprietor of the immensely entertaining Church of the Riff, to share with us his year-end list of 2012’s best albums.)

Were you ready for the end of days? I was stocking up on porn, Cheetos, and liquor since January. Was gonna watch this sucker go up in style.

Anyway.

I hadn’t really intended on making a year-end list, as just the thought of sifting through the heaps of good music released this year was making me feel like taking a nap. However, once I was horribly mutilated – I mean, graciously asked – by Islander, I hiked up my underoos and set to work.

I should probably warn you now that these aren’t strictly metal albums but instead run the gamut of metal’s extended family, from sleazy skate rock to energetic pop-sludge. The majority of the ten albums I’ve picked will hopefully be new to your ears, as only two of them have been featured here on NCS. So without any more jibber-jabber, let’s get to the music shall we? Continue reading »

KATAKLYSM: “SORCERY”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Dec 212012
 

(In this post, TheMadIsraeli continues his reconsideration of the music of Kataklysm. To see what this is all about, check out his introduction to the series here.)

As you can see, this cover is for a version of Kataklysm’s 1995 debut album Sorcery that includes the EP I just reviewed.  There is actually an EP before this album called Vision the Chaos that only has two songs on it, but I decided not to bother as the Kataklysm fandom doesn’t seem to give two shits about it either.

Sorcery is the band’s first fully fledged album, and one that within its first seconds immediately distances itself from the style of hyperblast insanity found on The Mystical Gate of Reincarnation.  The first thing you’ll notice is that the band has actually tuned their guitars UP from their EP days, moving from C to D (for all the guitar geeks out there who care), and the tone of the music has an overall sort of blackened edge to it.  The mix is very trebly, very harsh to the ears in comparison to The Mystical Gate…, which was rather well rounded for a mix at its time.

The music is also far less manic, still as deadly but with a more precise yet varied attack.  The thing about this album that will throw people off, I think, is that the band almost sounds as if they didn’t know what they wanted to bemusically.  Some of these songs are blistering death metal mammoths that are all over the place and have more of an emphasis on alien or unconventional melodies, while those numbers are completely contradicted by trailblazers that are purely melodic death metal.  Continue reading »

LISTMANIA CONTINUES: MSN ENTERTAINMENT’S TOP 50 METAL ALBUMS

 Listmania, LISTMANIA 2012  6 Responses »
Dec 212012
 

We’ve been re-publishing the Best Metal of 2012 lists that we’ve seen on other web sites, focusing on sites that have really big audiences — which sorta means, by definition, that they’re not metal-only sites. So far, we’ve reported about the lists on Pitchfork, Exclaim!, Stereogum, PopMatters, and Loudwire (and we also included DECIBEL magazine’s Top 40 list and a list from Amazon.com). You can catch up on all that by using this Listmania link.

Today, we’re reporting on The Top 50 Albums of 2012 as selected by Adrien Begrand for MSN Entertainment. MSN Entertainment (which is owned by Microsoft) is another broad-scope entertainment site that includes coverage of music, film, games, videos, celebrity gossip, and a wide range of music. They claim over 23 million unique visitors to the site every month, narrowly edging out NCS in audience size. Once again, we’re featuring their list of the year’s best metal because we’re curious about what mass-audience outlets are touting from our precious underground genre.

MSN Entertainment has been rolling out their Top 50 list all week in segments, and as of this morning, the list is now complete. To see the list at MSN Entertainment, along with Adrien Begrand’s comments about each album, GO HERE.

A few thoughts about the list, plus the list itself, appear after the jump: Continue reading »

A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): A PERSONAL TOP 10(S)

 Listmania, LISTMANIA 2012  13 Responses »
Dec 212012
 

(This is the fifth and final installment in NCS writer Andy Synn’s week-long series of year-end lists. To see his lists of the “Great” , the “Good”, the most “Disappointing”, and the “Critical Top 10” albums of 2012, go here, here,  here, and here.)

Cards on the table here, this list is a lot more fun, and involves a lot less second-guessing and self-awareness, than the others. I just pick the ten albums I’ve loved and listened to most this year. Some of them might not be objectively the ‘greatest’, but I love them all the same. They’re heavy, they’re fast. They’re melodic, they’re brutal, sometimes they’re even a little beautiful. But they all just ‘clicked’ with me better than any other albums this year.

To add a bit of variety to things I’ve even included an extra list of my ten favourite songs of the year, each drawn from a different album, just to give you more of an insight into the workings of my twisted mind.

So, without further ado, here are the ten albums, and ten tracks, that have defined my experience as a listener and a fan (and not as a critic/journalist/blogger/whatever) this year. Continue reading »

FIVE OF MY FAVOURITE . . . SONGS ABOUT THE APOCALYPSE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Dec 212012
 

(Andy Synn wrote this latest installment in the “Five of My Favourite” series.  He seems pretty smug, given that today isn’t over yet.)

Well since the world didn’t end (you’re welcome by the way…) how about a quick column on five of my favourite songs about… the end of the world?

 

SCAR SYMMETRY – “CALCULATE THE APOCALYPSE”

Ah, what a tune. Thick and crunchy cyber-ised melodic death metal, with lyrics about the destruction of the world via the medium of a gigantic asteroid. Our inevitable destruction has never been so catchy.

‘Estimate time of impact
Calculate the fatal fact
Estimate the cataclysm
Calculate the apocalypse’

Continue reading »

THE BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2012 (A LIST FROM MIKE YOST)

 Listmania, LISTMANIA 2012  20 Responses »
Dec 212012
 

(We welcome back Denver-based writer Mike Yost, who amiably agreed to my request for his year-end list. I have a feeling that everyone is going to find something new in here.)

I’m a writer, which means I spend most evenings bent over a keyboard, starving from lack of funds.  Crafting resplendent prose consumes time and regurgitates very little money.  Please don’t ready the gallows if an album slipped beneath my radar this year (many have).  So, with that said, here is my 2012 list of the best fucking metal albums I discovered between bouts of writing, reading rejection letters from publishers,  drinking, rereading rejection letters while weeping on the floor in the fetal position, drinking more, masturbating, self loathing and sleeping (usually in that order).

A few caveats:

First, some of the albums on this list were released in 2011, but I didn’t discover them until 2012.  In my book, that counts.  If you don’t agree, I’ll throw my book at your head.  And it’s a heavy book, too.  Over 1,000 pages.  Bound in metal (of course).  Sure to leave a welt.

Second, my list has thirteen albums.  Not ten.  Why?  Because FUCK the number ten, that’s why.  It’s a conceited attention whore constantly demonizing other numbers.

Third, random these in are albums order.

Finally, my cat told me last night if I didn’t include one of his favorites, he would claw my face off while I slept.  I dare not call his bluff.  Some mornings I wake up with my feline friend sitting on my chest, kneading the blanket with those sharp claws, staring at me with unblinking, haunting yellow eyes that say to me without words, “If I were bigger, I would eat you.” Continue reading »

NEW SONGS FROM CLOUDKICKER AND ARKHUM

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Dec 202012
 

I’m still catching up on new songs from the last few days. Here are two you should hear.

CLOUDKICKER

Cloudkicker is the alter ego of Ben Sharp, a one-man instrumental wizard, maybe the king of all the one-man instrumental wizards who have made their mark over the last 2 or 3 years. Today I learned that Cloudkicker has bestowed upon metaldom a Christmas gift, which takes the form of a new song named “Signal/Noise”. The song is a free download on Bandcamp. It is better than most Christmas gifts you will receive, unless you’re expecting someone to give you your own island or a sex slave.

The beats of the song have gotten under my skin, and the distorted guitars have abraded it from the outside. It scampers and pulses and rotates like a burrowing machine as it digs through my head. Merry fucking Christmas. Continue reading »

HIGHER CRITICISM: KATAKLYSM’S “THE MYSTICAL GATE OF REINCARNATION”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Dec 202012
 

(In this post, TheMadIsraeli begins his reconsideration of the music of Kataklysm. To see what this is all about, check out his introduction to the series here.)

It’s time to begin our journey into the music of Kataklysm.  I really couldn’t think of a benchmark for how far back I should start in reconsidering a band’s music, but in this case I figured the band’s debut EP The Mystical Gate of Reincarnation was a good place to begin.

I feel it best to start by noting the line-up differences between then and now.  Kataklysms’s current line-up is Maurizio Iacono (vocals), Jean-Francois Dagenais (guitar), Stéphane Barbe (bass), and Max Duhamel (drums).  Iacono and Dagenais are founding integral members of the band, but they had a different drummer at the time of this EP (Ariel Saied), as well as someone else who handled the vocal duties by the name of Sylvain Houde.

Sylvain Houde played a huge part in what made early Kataklysm what it was, as he had one of the most overwhelming bestial voices out there.  Iacono played bass at this time, providing backup vocals here and there.  Dagenais’ guitar style was also quite a bit different.  The mix for the time (’93) is really good for an underground death metal EP.

The style going on here is sludgy, messy, but most of all bestial.  The fast-as-fuck-full-of-riffs-and-transitions style of writing is something pretty atypical of death metal at the time. You could hear this kind of shit on the early Cryptopsy, Suffocation, or Immolation releases as well, and it works.  Continue reading »

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