Sunday, July 31, 2016

25 Words on 25 Even More Albums from 2016

God Body Disconnect – Dredge Portals

If you ignore the intrusive and unnecessary spoken-word bits, this is a brilliant, calming dark ambient journey into the somber trenches of reflection and regret.



Imperial Triumphant – Inceste

I prefer black metal that makes me think of desolate forests instead of desolate clowns. The avant-garde aspect is a little too Pagliacci for me.



Nervosa – Agony

Riff rippers extraordinaire! Three bad ass women from Sao Paolo playing classic thrash that pulls together Slayer, Obituary, and Aura Noir into a tight, explosive package.



Vektor – Terminal Redux

Instead of Barf and Lonestar in a Winnebago, it’s Steven, me, and some frosty road sodas rippin’ donuts on the universe in his turquoise Mustang.



Gorguts – Pleiades’ Dust

The album’s musical complexity and subject matter (the Islamic Golden Age) are fascinating, but this album is most engaging when it relentlessly blasts and roars.



Mourn – Ha, Ha, He.

Jangling, noodly, off-timed guitar music that nudges up ever so slightly against the immense weirdness of early 90s noise rock. Far more pleasant than dissonant.



Eight Bells – Landless

Imagine if Helm’s Alee played smoky, Sabbath-tinged black metal that united atmosphere and aggression to the detriment of neither. Find comfort in feeling constantly adrift.



Endless Melancholy – Her Name in a Language of Stars

Layers of dronescape build and build and build into staggering heights until you are unsure whether you are crushed below or floating above it all.



Funeral Moth – Transience

Plodding. Plod. Ding. Plaw. Deeng. Now, pour some molasses and tar on the word “plodding” and you’ve got yourself this fine piece of Japanese doom.



Fear of Men – Fall Forever

Absolutely intoxicating synth-heavy dreamgaze with a delightful dash of 80s Britpop ennui. Jessica Weiss’ vocals sound like running hand-in-hand through a field full of daffodils.



Mogwai – Atomic

Though not as good as Zidane or Les Revenants, Atomic represents Mogwai’s sonic exploration of the dark underbelly of technological advancement. Gripping, haunting, and magical.



Vow – Kind Eyes

This is the kind of album significant others bond over when they have only slightly overlapping tastes. Then they’ll avoid it after the inevitable breakup.



Rendez-Vous – Distance

Italian dark wave with some serious teeth. At times you wanna dance, and at other times you wanna hassle shopkeepers in your studded leather jacket.



Big Business – Command Your Weather

If you consider uniqueness, song-writing, melody, riffage… doesn’t Big Business’ peak have to rank really high against their contemporaries? (This album’s just Jarred and Coady!)



Puro Instinct – Autodrama

Two sisters from LA playing glitzy glam synth pop with dreamy guitar. Warning: you will pick up your pet and make it dance with you.



Alio Die – Seamlessly Bliss

This album is like if leaves were bells and sunlight shook them when it passed through the trees into your bedroom in the early morning.



Boris – Pink + Forbidden Songs

How do you have “Talisman” just sittin’ in your back pocket for ten goddamn years and then spring it on us outta nowhere? The audacity.



Dark Funeral – Where Shadows Forever Reign

By-the-numbers black metal but the only number is 1 and the only corresponding colour is black. Or maybe like an even darker shade of black.



Schoolboy Q – Blank Face

While Blank Face has a slew of great tracks – “Dope Dealer” and “Ride Out” especially -, it needs to be about 20 to 25% shorter.



Stray Ghost – An Avalanche of Swollen Tongues

Originally from 2009, Anthony Saggers remastered it and considers it a new album. The titular track is exactly what this sounds like. Massive, beautiful dronewash.



Vukari – Divination

Sometimes searching and sometimes searing black metal with the Weekend Nachos vocalist on drums. It all grows more daunting and more chilling with each listen.



Apocryphos – Stone Speak

Field recordings of ghost towns and cemeteries creak and crack over constant waves of drone modulation. At times you can feel it in your eyes.



Cities Last Broadcast – The Humming Tapes

“Glossolalia” is absolutely fucking terrifying. It is an almost unbearable triumph of sonic storytelling and aural texturing. The rest of the album is cool, too!



Uninhabitable – Uninhabitable

Usually when you hear “punk” and “crust,” you don’t think of ten-minute long songs, but these gnarly rippers from Asheville pull it off with aplomb.

Get Crusty!


Various Artists – Piano Cloud Series, Vol. 1

A collection of neoclassical piano pieces that would be perfectly suited for studying or reading if they weren’t all so goddamn wistful. So much wistfulness!






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