Top Ten of 2014 (part two)

Better late than never as usual. I don't like to to amend my lists, so I wait until the last few days of December to complete my list in case something blows me away in the last week or two. That did not happen this time, so here is my belated top ten full length albums list for 2014.

I would like to start with a couple of honorable mentions that were very good, but did not crack my top ten. Weed Hounds - Weed Hounds is first up with their fuzzed out Delores O'Rioran of The Cranberries singing for Dinosaur Jr. brand of pop rock. This album is everything I love about 90's alternative rock, only 20 years later. They also offer all of their releases for free download(!) on their website which is wonderful of them.

Second, Hounds of Hate - Hate Springs Eternal shows why they are one of the best straightedge hardcore bands in the game, a great, although in my opinion not as good follow up to last years self titled LP. Sing-alongs and stage dives abound as you clamor onto the shoulders of random strangers and your best friends alike at a chance to scream, voice cracking, into the singer's microphone. Check out Hate Springs Eternal on bandcamp.

Now we get into the meat of the list.

10. Holy Tongues - Weak People

Baltimore's Holy Tongues is made up of 3/4 of the hardcore band Ruiner, and if you have heard that bands final full length, Hell Is Empty, this would totally make sense as the logical progression of that sound. 8 post hardcore dirges (5 new, 3 re-recorded from their 2012 demo) with deeply introspective lyrics wrought with feelings of anxiety, hopelessness and self doubt. Although I do honestly prefer the demo mixes of Pale Light, Follow and Smoker (originally titled Sink The Fucker), this is a great debut and hopefully more good things will come from this trio.

Stream "Weak People" on bandcamp

9. Spine - Time Has Gone

Spine are a hardcore band with members from Chicago and Kansas City who also play(ed) in Weekend Nachos and Sorry Excuse among other bands. Having previously released a demo, 7" and a split with The Repos, this is the debut LP from possibly the most pissed band since the members previous body of work. The singer is the size of a treefolk from Lord of the Rings, lumbering around on stage frothing with rage. John Hoffman from Weekend Nachos shows off his other talents on the drums and has released all of the band's material on his own Bad Teeth Recordings. Listeners of Infest, Youth of Today and No Tolerance will be stoked on this.

Stream "Time Has Gone" on YouTube

8. Music Blues - Things Haven't Gone Well

Music Blues is a strange project in many ways. Almost none of this album is readily available to sample online. The album cover is a dirty ass sink with a pile of cigarette butts piled on one corner. The band's name sounds generic at first, however once you delve into this slab of depressive, forlorn riffs, you will understand just how relevant the name is. This is the first solo release from Stephen Tanner of the legandary Harvey Milk. Written from the couch of bandmate Creston Spiers at an all time low point in his life after the death of a close friend and losing his job and relationship, Things Haven't Gone Well is a brooding apex of despair and grief. Completely instrumental drone, which comes across like Earth, The Melvins slowed to a crawl or unsurprisingly like Harvey Milk sans Spiers' vocals and even touches on Black Flag on "Trying And Giving Up". Music Blues is a wonderful soundtrack for when you're life is dragging through the dirt. 

Stream "The Great Depression" from "Things Haven't Gone Well" on YouTube

7. Foreseen - Helsinki Savagery

Straight out of 1987's NYHC scen....er I mean Helsinki, Sweden in 2014 is Foreseen, the new torchbearer's of the 80's crossover thrash sound. Complete with all the galloping circle pit riffs and divebomb whammy bar solos you could ever need, Helsinki Savagery is a fresh take on an old sound that will have you breaking out the flip billed hats and high top Reeboks from minute zero.  If you spend most of your day bidding for Vio-lence and Uncle Slam cassettes on ebay, this is the record for you.

Stream "Helsinki Savagery" on bandcamp

6. Young And In The Way - When Life Comes To Death

Terrifying, Unsettling, Nihilistic. These are terms that can be used to decribe the music of North Carolina's Young And In The Way. With two full lengths and half a dozen splits and EPs under their belts, evil incarnate has returned with When Life Comes To Death. Black metal inspired crusty hardcore that grips your throat and presses against your jugular until you expire.

Stream "When Life Comes To Death" on bandcamp

5. Pharaoh - Negative Everything

One gets a forlorn sense of torment the second that this record begins to play. After two tortured 7" records, the New Jersey doom outfit has finally managed a full length record and what a record it is. 8 tracks of absolutely crushing metallic hardcore influenced doom that tackles the ills of modern society. Prepare to break down or to just be broken by the shear weight of the material.

Stream "Negative Everything" on bandcamp

4. Full of Hell - Full of Hell & Merzbow

Full of Hell have come a long way in just a few years, releasing 2 LPs, 3 splits, a 7" and three tapes of ear splitting noise. Merzbow might have just a little bit of a leg up on these young bucks, with no fewer than 400 releases under his belt. Together they combine for one of the heaviest, noisiest and flat out jarring releases in recent memory. Full of Hell's grinding aggression is complimented well by Merzbow's devastating wall of sound, leaving the listener disemboweled with their headphones melted to the skull.

Stream "Full of Hell & Merzbow" on bandcamp

3. Alaskan - Despair, Erosion, Loss

Few bands these days can touch on both music this heavy and subjects of equal weight. Alaskan's second record does both as it brings to light the tragedy of several victims of senseless crimes including multiple rapes and murders. Alaskan sends out this 33 minute recognition of the brutality that man is capable of inflicting on his fellow man. For fans of Isis and Cult of Luna.

Stream "Despair, Erosion, Loss" on bandcamp

2. Cold World - How The Gods Chill

Still ill after all these years, Cold World returns with the long awaited follow up to Dedicated To Babies Who Came Feet First. River Runs Red meets Liquid Swords in a blender with more guest vocals than both records combined. Cold World continue to break down the walls of genre classification and spit out one of my favorite records in many years. Almost 30 years after Walk This Way and innovations to the rap and rock relationship are still being made. It's a cold world, so keep your long johns on.

Stream "How The Gods Chill" on bandcamp

1. Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden

After a stellar demo and 5 star full length, expectations were high for Pallbearer's sophomore LP. These expectations have been met and exceeded by the might of Foundations of Burden.  5 mammoth tracks and a rare short number from Arkansas' finest doom masters. Once again in the tradition of Warning, Pallbearer succeed in making you feel feelings as you solemnly nod your head to the ever present epic dirge. Being so down never felt so right.

Stream "Foundations of Burden" on bandcamp

Winter Music: A Collaboration

Recent snow fall in Baltimore has inspired us to share our favorite albums to spin when the weather is cold and the days are short. Included is a wide array of music ranging from haunting post punk to droning black metal. These are great albums to take a drive down a snow swept highway or just wander into the woods and slowly succumb to hypothermia. Enjoy.

Josh's picks:

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Well…rather than the obvious and painless route of slapping together five Immortal or Darkthrone albums, I scavenged through my discography via nostalgia and identified five patches of black ice that seemed to coincide with the season and my life over two decades. It just happened that I found them on a freezing winter night, they melted to water in the summer, then came back to their remembered forms when the temperatures once again dropped. Not many heavy, electric heaters in my top 5, but rather quiet, contemplative standstill, as winter should be.

The Cure – Faith

I fucking love The Cure. They were my favorite band in college and remain in my top-10 all-time favorites in my mid-30s. Nothing but great albums but I’m partial to the early 80’s, semi-punk, minimalist recordings such as Seventeen Seconds and this. No winds, no blizzards, just piercing, dead air that pains to breathe. One of very few albums, and bands, able to say less with less, and make more of it. Like planet Pluto, a distant outcast, a grey texture, so far away from the sun, echoes restricted inside lonely helmets.

Listen to "Faith" on YouTube

The Cure – Disintegration

The EXACT opposite of Faith. Wintry in atmosphere but not intent, observed indoors through a fireplace filter and cold hands around warm mugs.  A truly beautiful album, unashamed in its celebrations of love and lamentations of severed companionship. Begins sunshine and snow angels, then drifts to nighttime and snowfall against streetlights.

Listen to "Disintegration" on YouTube

Black Moth Super Rainbow – Falling Through A Field

An obvious fall album I haphazardly observe in the dead of January. Supplemental with recreational drug use, but I’ve always enjoyed through a sober lens as an album regarding the innocence of imagination, and the rebellion of playtime in the face of impending chill. As close to cold as you can get without freezing.

Listen to "Falling Through A Field" on YouTube

Kraftwerk – Computer World

Okay, I’m about as far from discussing heavy metal as humanly possible. Strictly keys and broken German-to-English translations, Kraftwerk pioneers of this sound as early as Pong. Computer World is not the quartet’s trademark expression, but their most accessible, a bookmarked chapter in retro (but not dated) electronica. Not much of a winter album, but I listened to it a lot in winter, sooo... Cute nod to Computer Love by Coldplay 20+ years later.  

Listen to "Computer World" on YouTube

Tangerine Dream – Soundtrack To The Keep

Last winter I went on a huge Michael Mann binge. He’s done excellent films (Thief, Man[n]hunter) and shows (Miami Vice) throughout the 80’s, and progressive/electronic group Tangerine Dream provided score for a few, most notably the misunderstood (but riddled) The Keep, an artsy horror film not exactly in touch with a genre or an identity. This soundtrack is really the best part of the movie, the finale being a fantastic redux of the theme from 1980’s animated short The Snowman (music trivia: David Bowie introduced the feature). Very winter.

Listen to "Soundtrack To The Keep" on YouTube

Cranston's picks:
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Winter is a season which evokes images of grey skies, bleak snow blasted landscapes and feelings of isolation, depression and introspection. I was originally going to include mostly post metal albums, but I decided to vary it a little bit, although still within the realm of heavy music. 

Cult of Luna - Somewhere Along The Highway

Cult of Luna have spent their entire career as a tragically overlooked band. I, for example first heard their second record, The Beyond, back in 2003 after reading a blurb in a copy of Terrorizer. It was over my head at that time in my life and I dismissed it like an idiot. However, after revisiting the album in my early 20's, they have become one of my favorite bands. Most fans point to their third album, Salvation, as their masterpiece. I disagree, Somewhere Along The Highway is an enthralling musical journey through one of the pinnacles of the post metal genre. A concept album lyrically based on loneliness, the listener will be enveloped by a combination of ethereal melodies and bludgeoning riffs. Pay special attention to "And With Her Came The Birds", which features a stripped down sound with mostly banjo and whispered vocals.

List to "Somewhere Along The Highway" on YouTube

Alda - Tahoma

Beautiful atmospheric black metal from Washington State. They are part of the "cascadian black metal" scene made famous(?) by Wolves in the Throne Room. My favorite part of this band is that all the members are naturalists and the band carries themselves like a hippy drum circle, in that the music speaks to them and their performances are a ritual. No corpse paint to be found here, just a group of friends paying homage to nature and the wilderness that surrounds them. The cover art is among my favorites of all time.

Listen to "Tahoma" on bandcamp

Tragedy - Vengeance

This album helped shape the direction my musical tastes would go in my adult life. Bleak, crusty hardcore from the crust capital of the world, Portland, Oregon. Featuring a dual vocal assault in the tradition of His Hero Is Gone (three members of Tragedy are former members of this band), churning guitars and galloping drums. Lyrically the band can be summed up as "hey human race, you're actively fucking up. Thanks."

Listen to "Vengeance" on YouTube

Seraph/The Light (formerly Seraphim) - The Light In The Distance

Impossible to pigeonhole is the best way to describe this record, it has elements of so many different types of music, but does not limit itself to any particular one. Hardcore, post rock, folk, metal, all these genres are at work here. The guitar work on this album is beautiful, a lot of different effects at work. Described by the band's singer as a modern attempt at Dark Side Of The Moon, I believe they have succeeded. My words do not do the record justice, so please listen.

Listen to "The Light in the Distance" on bandcamp

Young And In The Way - I Am Not What I Am

Listen to the opening track through headphones while walking at night, I promise you will develop a paranoia complex. Layers of distorted moans and crys give the impression of ghosts escaping from some otherworldly portal, free to haunt the living. This ambiance eventually gives way to frantic black metal inspired hardcore, pummeling the listener with with the severed head of a pig (this actually happened at one of their shows). Truly dark music to match the darkest days of the year, YAITW are evil personified. If there was ever a band that puritanical christians needed to form a protest against, it's this one.

Listen to "I Am Not What I Am" on bandcamp 

Top Ten of 2014 (Part One)

As the only one on this blog who regularly listens to current bands and new records by older ones, it falls on me alone to share my personal favorite records of the year. I have been making a year end list for at least the last 4 years and now comes the time to share my yearly musical intake with the internet (as though someone cares?).

I am going to do two lists this year, the first is my 10 favorite short releases of the year. This category will be limited to EPs, demos, splits and singles only and the second will be my favorite full length records of the year.



10. S.H.I.T. - Generation Shit 7"

Not exactly sure what the acronym stands for, although a review of their previously released Collective Unconsciousness 7" offers a few suggestions. A busy band, having released 3 records this year. I heard their demo tape a couple of years ago and was blown away. Fast and furious hardcore with a healthy dose of reverb foaming from the singer's microphone.

Stream "Generation Shit" on bandcamp.

9. Wildhoney - Seventeen Forever 7"

Featuring at least one member of one of my favorite Baltimore bands, Surroundings, Wildhoney play shoegazey pop music. This latest release is a precursor to their upcoming LP on Deranged/Forward records. 3 songs of female fronted fuzzy guitar based pop that brings back memories of riding in my mother's car with a plethora of Lilith Fair hopefuls pouring from the stereo.

Stream "Seventeen Forever" on bandcamp


8. Genocide Pact - Desecration 7"

Brutal death metal from the nation's capitol. Vocals evoke Barney Greenway comparisons and the riffs land somewhere between Fear...Emptiness...Despair and Mental Funeral. Solid follow up to last year's demo, cannot wait for 2015's upcoming full length.

Stream "Desecration" on bandcamp

7. Iron Lung - Savagery 7"

12 tracks, 6 minutes, power violence. The latest effort from Seattle, WA's Iron Lung is going to cause your face to melt as you boil over with rage. Their own review does a far better job at summing this up than I can, "Our angriest record, our country's dumbest time".

Stream "Savagery" on bandcamp


6. Red Death - Demo 2014

Described by some as "DC Fight Metal" (genre name overloaddddd), expect a hearty helping of hardcore punk with metal influences ala The Accused. Featuring DC's usual suspects, LP coming out in 2015 on Grave Mistake (home of the best shit on the planet).

Stream "Demo 2014" on bandcamp

5. Windhand/Salem's Pot Split 10"

Richmond, VA's Windhand are responsible for several of the best doom records in the last few years. "Forest Clouds" is another fantastic, sprawling slab of Sabbathian doom, clocking in at just under 10 minutes. Salem's Pot are a strange psychedelic ride, "Pink Flamingos" is as though the members of Foghat got stoned and started having sex with a box of Hawkwind 45's.

Stream "Windhand/Salem's Pot Halloween Split" on soundcloud


4. Iron Reagan - Spoiled Identity 7" Flexi

Released as a free flexi disc through Decibel magazine, this EP is a preview of their LP that followed through Relapse. I personally prefer this to the LP, just because it reminds me so much of early Municipal Waste before they moved away from the punk end of the crossover spectrum. With only one song longer than 40 seconds, this is over in a blur of D.R.I. worship.

Stream "Spoiled Identity" on bandcamp


3. Sleep - The Clarity 12" single

Continuing where Dopesmoker left off, with a few hints of Om. This was originally released as part of Adult Swim's single series, but was repressed through Southern Lord a month or so ago. This is a a tribute to the weedian gods and as Sleep so appropriately put it "The Clarity is a lyrical follow-up to a lifetime of marijuana enjoyment."

Stream "The Clarity" on Youtube

2. Stone Dagger - The Siege of Jerusalem cassette

The solo vehicle of Brenden Radigan (Magic Circle, The Rival Mob), Stone Dagger bring a fresh perspective on the epic heavy metal sound. Fans of Dio and Manowar will be stoked.

Stream "The Siege of Jerusalem" on bandcamp

1. Sumerlands - The Guardian (supposed to be released as a 7" but I don't think that has materialized yet.)

Featuring Phil Swanson from Hour of 13 and Arthur Rizk from War Hungry, this three song demo is traditional heavy metal, but on steroids. Rizk's heavy riffing is as crushing as his other work and Swanson's vocals channel Geoff Tate to the point where you might expect a leather one piece suit to appear over your body as you sing along.

Stream "The Guardian" on bandcamp

MOST LISTENED TO ALBUMS OF 2014

This was a catch-up year for me, a year full of vinyl hunts with the webmaster and intense research through lots of books. After several years of musical ennui and obstinate thinking, 2014 was discovery and invigoration, oftentimes with days I listened to five new albums or more. The compilation below is of the albums I listened to the most in this period, as opposed to my favorite albums to come from 2014 (as discussed in the prior blog). With the exception of #6 and #7, all of the albums on this list were first heard by me in 2014. Better late than never, right? Hey, my disclaimer reads “not historian.” All I know is I know what I like, and I like what I know, quote Gabriel. 

Of all the albums on this list, #1 emotionally affected me the most, which is extremely odd, because; A) all their other albums aren’t that great, B) I ragged on them in a previous blog entry, and C) half the songs on the album were written or co-written by other artists. #2 was my #1 for the first half of the year, and ranks as my #1 album to hear through a good pair of headphones. #3, and the band before his solo incarnation, were my semi-obscure surprises (and obviously the play on my blogger name). The rest are timeless relics, some underappreciated (I get ragged for #8 constantly by you-know-who). You’ve probably heard a lot of these already, and if not, you know where to go. 

MOST LISTENED TO ALBUMS (of 2014)

10. Anthrax - Among the Living

9. Blue Oyster Cult - Cultosaurus Erectus

8. Black Sabbath - Born Again

7. Rainbow - Rising

6. Led Zeppelin - 3

5. Def Leppard - High and Dry

4. Ratt - Out of the Cellar

3. Kim Mitchell - Akimbo Alogo

2. Steely Dan - Aja

1. Nazareth - Hair of the Dog  

TOP 10 FAVORITE ALL-TIME BANDS (as of 2014)

Every December in a furious attempt to justify myself as an aficionado in the fine arts of music, I find myself; A) being too wordy for my own fucking good, and B) making Top 10 lists (and checking them tw---...nevermind). I’ve made two lists this year so you can get a better idea of what I’ve listened to throughout 2014, and what my all-time favorite groups are. It’s hard for me to make a “best albums of 2014” list because I haven’t listened to one album this year, I couldn’t name one album to come out this year, and I don’t have much faith that whatever I’d listen to would be any good. I listened to a Sleep single and that’s pretty much it. But I digress, and please pardon my pessimism. I’ve also done the whole “top 10 all-time favorite albums” thing on Facebook one too many times (I’m tagged for them often, which speaks volumes of how much people respect my opinion), so I’ll hold off making an official list for this blog until I have the energy to do it again. 

So, here’s my top 10 all-time favorite bands list. Very few purist heavy metal groups here with the exception of #10, which is the purest, uncut diamond in the diamond patch. I’ve never been one to call #4 a heavy metal group, let alone any sort of group, as they truly defy labels and genres (although their early catalogue is ripe with one too many blues covers, you could argue they started as a hard rock blues tribute). #9 teeters a line between NYHC and thrash, #2 being a hodgepodge of those things along with doom and 80’s goth. #6 is VERY metal but always lumped into the grunge scene, which (depending on your perspective of that era) isn’t fair. 

My #1 and #2 selections haven’t changed in years, thanks to healthy, consistent catalogs, and my devotion to both that dates back to early teenage times. #3 has playfully frolicked up such a high ranking over the past three years, largely in part to when it came and mattered in my life, and how many new, great things I discover from them through repeated listens. #4, #5, and #6 are teenage fancies that stuck with me as an adult, although of the three, #4 has very few throwaway songs, #5 has had an inconsistent decade, and #6 dropped from my radar for a piece of my 20’s but reemerged strongly when, to me, it mattered. #7 and #8 were respectively #1 and #2 throughout my college years and are always sequentially paired in any lists, but have dropped largely in part to disappointing albums during the 2000’s. #9 is the only band to make this list with only two good albums and a transgender-in-training vocalist (did he change yet?). #10 will probably make its way higher up the 2015 list as my fondness for the obscurities in its discography grows. 

Well, there it is. Keep on rotting and I’ll be back momentarily with more listomania. 

TOP 10 FAVORITE ALL-TIME BANDS (as of 2014)

10. Black Sabbath

9. Life of Agony

8. Depeche Mode

7. The Cure

6. Alice in Chains

5. Nine Inch Nails

4. Led Zeppelin

3. Talking Heads

2. Type O Negative

1. Genesis