DAT TOP THO: 2014 in Retrospective, by Zachary W. R. Baran

So Jon just did a list, and while it was brilliant as always, I felt he missed some stuff that I'm obsessed with and makes me wonder why I ever wasted my time doing things like "giving the third Faceless record a chance" and "purchasing a shower aid so that washing my middle/upper back would be less strenuous" and "pooping". Seriously, not sure if pooping is the best use of my time anymore, given most of the music I listen to is so disturbed and horrific that I can't unclench.

Speaking of clenching, I have some confessions to make regarding the breadth and depth of the listens I have had the chance to have had had had. That is, viz, that there were very little. I remember hearing Morbus Chron earlier this year and thought, "this is fine, I guess; sounds like a bunch of Scandinavians recorded a Death album with Explosions In the Sky-type interludes". Alas, you will not find them on my list, despite their critical acclaim this year; I have not had the time to digest what I'm sure is a genuinely talented group but sounds so far like a slightly less talented Death. I was upset that - with all due respect - Woods of Desolation, whose new album I'm assuming is some kind of new black metal-form of Ambien, was hyped as a Deafheaven of 2014, despite the former's track record of inducing somnolence and torpor. And while I'm aware that Inter Arma released a single song EP that is - since I heard it -  demonstrably worthy of attention, I missed it. No excuse in the world. Just let that one sail on by.

But there are a few things that critics got right, and a few things that, regardless of whether someone gives a shit, were the bees' knees (is it "bee's knees" or "bees' knees"? how many bees are we talking here?). For example, this was the first year in which more than half of the metal by which I felt drawn was doom metal, as opposed to death metal. There are a few examples below, which - while not the majority of my top twenty - make up the majority of the albums I was really really really really really really excited about in 2014. (Other genres that did well this year were black metal, grind, and to a lesser extent, technical death metal.) For another example, there was an exciting, last-minute, surprise entry from a two-person avant-metal side project of Castevet's Andrew Hock. ("Literally? You were entered by Hock?" the reader asked aloud.) And I now have - with their 2014 release - a band in my life that competes with Converge for the coveted title of "ZWB's Favorite Band in the Whole Wide World". Let's jump inside and see!

*JJJJJJJJUUUUUUUUUUUUummmmmmmmmmpppppppppp............*

Top 20/2014:

20. Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire (Admitted tied with At the Gates, so relax.)
19. Black Monolith - Passenger (Deafheaven spin-off goes rogue.)
18. Code Orange - I Am King (OK, one hardcore record.)
17. Pyrrhon - The Mother of Virtues (Avant-grind Top 2 of 2014, second place.)
16. Behemoth - The Satanist (A fantastic return to form.)
15. Piss Vortex - Piss Vortex (It's Danish. So, yeah.)
14. Archspire - The Lucid Collective (My first obsession of 2014.)
13. Agalloch - The Sperpent & The Spire (Another gorgeous album - to be listened to as one piece, if possible, with a fine Bordeaux.)
12. Thantifaxath - Sacred White Noise (Winner of the 2014 Award for Funniest Name For a Thing.)
11. Fluisteraars - Dromers (My Lantlos substitute for this year. Addictive and nicely short.)
10. Vermin Womb - Permanence (Ex-Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire. Ew.)
9. Coffinworm - IV.I.VIII (Avant-grind Top 2 of 2014, first place.)
8. Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden (Happily shocking how good these guys keep being.)
7. Artificial Brain - Labyrinth Constellation (what.)
6. Spectral Lore - III (One-man, avant-garde, symphonic black metal. Yup.)
5. Baring Teeth - Ghost Chorus Among Old Ruins (I ACTUALLY BOUGHT THIS WITH $$.)
4. Psalm Zero - The Drain (Castevet, only weirder and teleported to the 80s. Truly something new, and deeply brilliant material. Highly taken with this.)
3. Inferi - The Path to Apotheosis ("Dhduhssijsjododoodododoissdsjfh." -Inferi's guitar leads.)
2. Tombs - Savage Gold (Tombs is probably now tied for my favorite band on Earth.)
1. YOB - Clearing the Path to Ascend (Unmistakably the best release for this band ever, and a circuitous though fun journey through where doom metal can really go artistically.)

Alright, that's it. You beautiful shit, you.

Twenty Fourteen Top Twenty

Getting the ball rolling early this year folks. I listened to a whole bunch of new albums this year. I tried to expand my horizons a bit and try some new things. I found some things to be wonderful and some things to be awful. No more bullshit, here goes nothing!

20. Artificial Brain - Labyrinth Constellation. Creepy, doom-y, technical. Moon Funeral

19. Unearth - Watchers Of Rule. Metalcore is back! Lifetime In Ruins

18. At The Gates - At War With Reality. Long-awaited comeback release from melodic death metal legends definitely delivers. Eater Of Gods

17. Omnihility - Deathscapes Of The Subconscious. Relentless, brutal, pummeling technical death metal from another great Unique Leader band. Contemplating The Ineffable

16. Pyrrhon - The Mother Of Virtues. Gritty, disturbing, technical craziness. Balkanized

15. Inter Arma - The Cavern. This 45+ minute-long song is officially an EP but I disagree. Instant classic in the same vein as Colors. The Cavern

14. Disentomb - Misery. Extreme, brutal, technical, all of the best things. Chthonic Gateways

13. Trioscapes - Digital Dream Sequence. Jazz-y, heavy, beautiful. From The Earth To The Moon

12. Mastodon - Once More 'Round The Sun. Makes me forget that The Hunter ever existed (in a good way). Halloween

11. Job For A Cowboy - Sun Eater. Completely different release from this band. Lots of bass, very progressive songs, and drums were on point with Danny Walker behind the set. Sun Of Nihility

10. Alterbeast - Immortal. Impressive debut chock full of technical goodness. Forget that they were once called Gary Busey Ambler Alert, Alterbeast's sound is very much melodic in the same way as The Black Dahlia Murder, but the song and riff structures offer more technically. Vile Remnants

9. Archspire - The Lucid Collective. Quite possibly the fastest stuff I've ever heard. And oh so very technical. This release can best de described as "on point." Spontaneous Generation

8. Dimesland - Psychogenic Atrophy. Scatter-brained technicality is on display in this great release. The bass is prominent in the mix, the drums are very heavy, the guitars are exact, and the vocals are frantic in a murderous shrill kind of way. Are They Cannibals?

7. Beneath - The Barren Throne. This is my kind of melodic death metal - more brutal than melodic and originating from Iceland. Second release from these guys and they are only getting better. This release is a perfect blend of brutal, melodic, and catchy. Sovereign Carnal Passion

6. Scientist - Scientist. I think I found this band in the deepest corner of the internet. You can't find it anywhere. No previews, nothing. If you want to hear it, you'll have to come to my basement and go through a series of humiliations before the panel considers your auditory awakening. This release is grind-y, jamming, technical, and cleansing.

5. Fallujah - The Flesh Prevails. This is the prettiest death metal album I have ever heard. Beautiful stuff. Much more progressive than their last effort and still just as technical. Levitation

4. Inanimate Existence - A Never Ending Cycle Of Atonement. Tech death masterpiece. Their debut from two years ago had too much material on it. This release was mature, slender, and efficient. All of the best material made the cut and none of the bullshit made it to my ears. Added a touch of experimentation and this band is ready to take off. The Rune Of Destruction

3. Black Crown Initiate - The Wreckage Of Stars. Between Black Crown Initiate and Rivers Of Nihil, I'm starting to wonder what wonderful things are in the water in Reading, PA. For a place that seems like a shithole, it has produced two of my favorite bands. This release is everything, genre-escaping, progressive, technical, dirty, clean, powerful, and subtle. Withering Waves

2. Inferi - The Path To Apotheosis. This album is two things; technical and melodic. This release is not versatile and it doesn't care because it doesn't matter. Both technical death metal and melodic death metal are executed perfectly on this record. This record is relentless for almost 66 minutes. Marching Through The Flames Of Tyranny

1. Baring Teeth - Ghost Chorus Among Old Ruins. I was excited for this album immediately after hearing their first record, Atrophy. Ghost Chorus Among Old Ruins delivered and exceeded my expectations. Beautifully strange and weird and technical with advanced, intelligent song/riff structures and that characteristic Obscura-era Gorguts sound to top it off. Loved every minute of this album. I can't stop listening. The Great Unwashed

It was a very good year for metal indeed. And I listened to tons of releases so I got some more lists!

Honorable Mentions
21. Misery Index - The Killing Gods
22. Septycal Gorge - Scourge Of The Formless Breed
23. Abhorrent Castigation - Throne Of Existential Abandonment
24. Cannibal Corpse - A Skeletal Domain
25. Revocation - Deathless
26. Abysmal Dawn - Obsolescence
27. Beyond Creation - Earthborn Evolution
28. Allegaeon - Elements Of The Infinite
29. The Kennedy Veil - Trinity Of Falsehood
30. Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways
31. Animals As Leaders - The Joy Of Motion
32. Killer Be Killed - Killer Be Killed
33. Minus The Bear - Lost Loves
34. Cloudkicker - Little Histories
35. Hannes Grossmann - The Radial Covenant
36. Svffer - Lies We Live
37. Conquering Dystopia - Conquering Dystopia
38. Wretched - Cannibal
39. Suicide Silence - You Can't Stop Me
40. Devil You Know - The Beauty Of Destruction

Disappointments
-1. Bloodbath - Grand Morbid Funeral
-2. Decapitated - Blood Mantra
-3. Human Infection - Curvatures In Time
-4. Origin - Omnipresent
-5. Soreption - Engineering The Void
-6. Rings Of Saturn - Lugal Ki En
-7. Slipknot - 5: The Grey Chapter
-8. Gorgasm - Destined To Violate
-9. Opeth - Pale Communion
-10. Carnifex - Die Without Hope

Looking forward to some good shit in 2015 like new Psycroptic!

Friday The 2013th

Well January 2014 is almost over so I guess now is as good a time as any to bend your ear about what I think were the best albums released in 2013. I must confess that I started this list at the beginning of December 2013 but then found out I had a bunch of cramming to do after I didn't recognize much of what was on the best of 2013 lists from the major metal blogs and magazines. In stead of rushing it, I decided to take my time with a few of the late comers to my list. Excuses, etc. 2013 was a fun year for extreme heavy music. There were some new albums from bands that defined their own sub genres like Deeds Of Flesh, Gorguts, and Carcass. There were some rookies releasing their first albums like Rivers Of Nihil, Anciients, and Dysmorphic. And there were bands that found the prime of their career by diving deeply into their established sound like Defeated Sanity, Intronaut, and Skeletonwitch. 

2012 was my personal awakening for grind core. The grind swept me off my feet then proceeded to loosen my asshole and force large objects therein. It was lovely. 2013 did not have any specific awakening for me. I did however check out many new bands. Almost half of the albums on my list were from bands that I was not listening to before the start of 2013. Well enough bullshit, here is the list. Enjoy.

25. Carcass - Surgical Steel. Carcass was before my time so I never bothered, but this is some pretty badass melodic death metal. 

24. Wormed - Exodromos. An album almost 10 years in the making from Spain, viva la muerte. 

23. Misery Signals - Absent Light. I never really gave this band a chance until I found out the current Pig Destroyer drummer, Adam Jarvis, started out with Misery Signals. Good stuff.

22. Mumakill - Flies Will Starve. It sounds like the noises one would make while being anally ravaged by a mammoth tusk.

21. Portal - Vexovoid. This is what I like to call bed time music if you enjoy nightmares.

20. Stomach Earth - Stomach Earth. This is the first release from the one man doom band of Mike 'Gunface' McKenzie of The Red Chord fame. Slow jam of the year.

19. Revocation - Revocation. This album sounds like Revocation but it is definitely a little bit different for them. 

18. Devourment - Conceived In Sewage. This album sounds as disgusting as its title would lead you to believe and I like it.

17. Inter Arma - Sky Burial. Black, droning, dark, blast beats, yes please.

16. Nightkin - Nox Aeterna. This band has some guys who played with The Black Dahlia Murder and Mike McKenzie on vocals. A very different take on the blend of black metal and melodic death metal.

15. Fit For An Autopsy - Hellbound. This band does everything, but the breakdowns on this album are elegant. 

14. Guttural Secrete - Nourishing The Spoil. So many squely's. Brutal, brutal death metal.

13. Unbirth - Deracinated Celestial Oligarchy. Modern technical death metal. This stuff is tight.

12. Euphoric Defilement - Ascending To The Worms. This is the first release from this new brutal death metal band. In the elk of Inherit Disease and Putridity.

11. The Black Dahlia Murder - Everblack. This was not what I was expecting as the follow up to Ritual, but this album kicks ass. 

10. Gigan - Multi-Dimensional Fractal-Sorcery And Super Science. Definitely my favorite album title of 2013. These guys are doing some really fucking weird, awesome things.

9. Dysmorphic - A Notion Of Causality. This is the first release from this band on Unique Leader. I can't help but hear some Obscura and Spawn Of Possession in what they're doing. I'm very excited for their next album.

8. Anciients - Heart Of Oak. Another first release. Full disclosure, I only checked out this album because of how great the cover art is. I'm glad I did because this is what Mastodon should have become.

7. Ulcerate - Vermis. There really aren't any other bands doing what this band is doing. I loose myself in this album trying to figure out what is going on and then it smacks me over the head with something brutal and beautiful.

6. Skeletonwitch - Serpents Unleashed. This is my favorite album from the 'witch since Beyond The Permafrost. There's something blissfully satanic about the sound they've found.

5. Intronaut - Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones). Intronaut continue to evolve with every album and this was definitely the butterfly stage. Progressive but somehow catchy.

4. Gorguts - Colored Sands. Finally Luc Lemay found some people just as weird as him to play with again. This album is intense. Every song is like some sort of classical movement.

3. Deeds Of Flesh - Portals To Canaan. One of the bands I consider to be among the founding fathers of modern technical death metal returned with a punishing release that blew me away. 

2. Defeated Sanity - Passages Into Deformity. The musicianship on this album is other-worldly. On top of the base layer of the music being brutal, all three entities operate separately creating a brutal aurora. 

1. Rivers Of Nihil - The Conscious Seed Of Light. This is by far my favorite release since Incurso from Spawn Of Possession in 2012. It has everything I want to hear. This is only Rivers Of Nihil's first full length album. They have two earlier EP's which are fantastic but I'm really excited for what this band does in the future. 

References

Carcass - Unfit For Human Consumption http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KKYJD09qCk

Wormed - Nucleon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e74WLXdG54o

Misery Signals - Reborn (An Execution) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqoeGuP0678

Mumakil - Death From Below http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzy-wb86Fxg

Portal - Curtain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vyw_FGIhAE

Stomach Earth - Prolong The Death Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eitNNvCiBc

Revocation - The Gift You Gave http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRFHsReWLSw

Devourment - Conceived In Sewage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HfNdTKj_tI

Inter Arma -The Long Road Home http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RarLHOzJiLg

Nightkin - Air So Foul http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-CLvqH2xnA

Fit For An Autopsy - Do You See Him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBTDGbigifw

Guttural Secrete - Deadened Prior To Coitus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZCb8X5T_E0

Unbirth - Sterile Planets http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzhNK2KDxpU

Euphoric Defilement - Abolishing The Divine Structure http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU3mKE8ftFM

The Black Dahlia Murder - In Hell Is Where She Waits For Me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgbChRLC9CQ

Gigan - Electro-Stimulated Hallucinatory Response http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=94182

Dysmorphic - Underlying Reality http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=robBjuGkAPQ

Anciients - Giants http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZtfts0dQEI

Ulcerate - Clutching Revulsion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mGE9DH68xI

Skeletonwitch - I Am Of Death (Hell Has Arrived) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPPPGMGNg8I

Intronaut - Milk Leg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmK1XUI9VQc

Gorguts - Forgotten Arrows http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk7nb-idmdI

Deeds Of Flesh - Amidst The Ruins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfqNG8QYsBw

Defeated Sanity - Naraka http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt4KTdD7Joc

Rivers Of Nihil - Rain Eater http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4Eya-2JfoU

2013's Best (Least Worst) Musical Releases

As I sit here reflecting on the good and bad, fortunate and unfortunate happenings 2013 has presented to me, I have a lot to be thankful for. Life is pretty bitchin', as a whole. However, I have to say that overall, the music I've listened to has been VERY hit or miss. A lot of artists I had high expectations for let me down. Metallica didn't release Ride The Lightning II and instead played a show in Antarctica while a buncha penguins blew eachother. Pig Destroyer is still the laziest touring band in history. Converge played/recorded a live gig in Belgium or something. Integrity's album sounded like every other thing they've ever done. No one has broken into Celine Dion's house yet, tortured her frail, useless Canadian body, sold her organs on the black market, and set her worldly possessions on fire. However, for all of the letdowns from powerhouses I expected more of, there were just as many total surprises. A band, Deafheaven, who I've never bothered to listen to literally MOVED me with their release. This is the first album to give me chills from beginning to end since Terrifyer. I expected a mediocre-at-best release from Dillinger Escape Plan, but this is by far their best material to date. Defeater, another band who was never really on my radar, drops an album that I've listened to at least two dozen times and told countless people to give it a spin. 2013's music was strange for me, to say the least, but immersive, fun and full of discovery and exploration. Like a college cheerleader's sex life. But for your ears. With less yeast infections. Or more. Whichever.

20. Modern Life Is War - Fever Hunting

19. Terror - Live By The Code

18. Portal - Vexovoid

17. Carcass - Surgical Steel

16. Nails - Abandon All Life

15. Noisem - Agony Defined

14. World Of Pain - Improvise And Survive

13. Mammoth Grinder - Underworlds

12. Liferuiner - Future Revisionists

11. Serpent Crown - Serpent Crown

10. Boy Sets Fire - While A Nation Sleeps

9. Dillinger Escape Plan - One Of Us Is The Killer

8. Anciients - Heart Of Oak

7. Rivers Of Nihil - The Conscious Seed Of Light

6. Left For Dead - Devoid Of Everything

5. Doomriders - Grand Blood

4. Coffins - The Fleshland

3. Skeletonwitch - Serpents Unleashed

2. Deafheaven - Sunbather

1. Defeater - Letters Home

Honorable mention to Earthless. Didn't make the list because it's not my proverbial cup of tea, but those guys shred the fuck outta some guitars. There you have it. Hopefully someone was interested enough to read this and check out some tunes you might've missed this year because you were too busy trying to convince yourself that your elitist indie friends are right and that Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend "are total musical breakthroughs with a lot to say."

ZWB's Top 20 of 2013

Alas, since neither Converge nor Baroness released a new record in 2013, Decibel didn't know what to do with themselves. As much as I love both of those bands - the former slightly approximately 1000x times more than the latter - this year still proved to be an astounding little sonic adventure. I enjoyed much more than I can fit into twenty line items, and even given my self-imposed restrictions to metal for these purposes, I will be leaving albums out that I nonetheless listened to furiously. One aspect of this year I wish to highlight, and I hope my list highlights, is what I'll call "doom/black-revival": the return to mass popularity, even to the hipster paradiso of Pitchfork, of doom and black metal acts that are shunning norms about song lengths, lyrical content, and - to put it directly - "scene". I've included numerous such acts in my previous lists on this blog, but never to the extent that I'm about to. Same goes for hardcore. Call me a Decibel-sellout, but metal is evolving, which is what makes it so beautiful. Noise is in; chugs are out. Pig Destroyers and Cattle Decapitations over Lambs of God and Mastodons. This is as it should be, given the strikingly low quality coming from the latter of these groups nowadays. We all yearn - myself less so than others - for another Ashes of the Wake or Leviathan, but it is not clearly in the cards. Until then, we shall - and I argue, should - revel in the splendor of the modern era. Please enjoy the following list (or don't, I don't fucking care):

Dat List

20. Deeds of Flesh - Portals to Canaan

19. The Ocean - Pelagial

18. Castevet - Obsian

17. Noisem - Agony Defined

16. Anciients - Heart of Oak

15. Cult of Luna - Vertikal

14. Defeated Sanity - Passages Into Deformity

13. Altar of Plagues - Teethed Glory and Injury

12. The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us Is the Killer

11. Inter Arma - Sky Burial

10. Portal - Vexovoid

9. Rivers of Nihil - The Conscious Seed of Light

8. Ulcerate - Vermis

7. Coliseum - Sister Faith

6. Intronaut - Habitual Levitations

5. Title Fight - Spring Songs EP

4. Skeletonwitch - Serpents Unleashed

3. Nails - Abandon All Hope

2. Gorguts - Colored Sands

1. Deafheaven - Sunbather

Welcome to the Official Dillinger Escape Plan New Album Review, Brought to You By Underwear and Fresh Strawberries

The Dillinger Escape Plan is perhaps as well-known for their live performances - which are, at least in Philly, an enthralled, collective hyper-mania by which you immediately and unknowingly find yourself utterly transfixed - as they are their unique mix of schizophrenic math-metal and melodramatic pop-rock. Full disclosure: I'm a long-term fan of DEP and do not plan to hide my incessant fawning and infatuation with their music (and style - something perhaps as equally important to DEP). Without being too impetuous, I think I'm prepared to justify the assertion that DEP's newest release One of Us Is the Killer is their best recording, represents a relieving culmination of various moves in their recent musical history, and perhaps sends Dillinger off into uncharted waters going forward. What makes the record so good is subtle and took me a few diligent listens to fully appreciate. If you're like me and are usually too impatient for most of anything, allow me to help you along. I'll probably fail. It's OK, fuck you.

The most striking difference between this record and the rest of the post-Miss Machine catalog (which I tend to regard as a musical unit) is the new, almost pervasive sense of theatricality. This record is the opera of hardcore. Almost every song - perhaps excluding "Prancer", which feels like it was written for Option Paralysis - includes at least a hook, a riff, or a vocal styling that makes you feel like you're visiting the aural equivalent of a circus. The spoken vocal section in "When I Lost My Bet". The post-chorus ambiance of "One of Us Is the Killer". The 5-second, sing-song-like breaks you hear between chaotic sections of chunks in "Hero of the Soviet Union". The guitar noise in "Understanding Decay" that sounds like a borderline trumpet. Pretty much all of "The Threat Posed...". While this isn't exactly a new sonic idiom for Dillinger - you can hear hints of this sense of theater throughout their catalog - but it has never featured as such an integral element of an entire record as it does on OOUITK. Overall, the album leverages a bit more of their pop-rock tendencies, even within songs for which you immediately expect, judging from the opening riff, a single stream of unintelligible mathy-ness. This see-saw aesthetic of the record - the more nimble shifts from otherworldly polyrhythms to their rock and roll, Nine Inch Nails-like persona - makes you feel a delightful bit of vertigo once you catch on. Unlike Option Paralysis in particular, OOUITK is their most unified musical adventure - Ire Works perhaps a close second - and the glue here is this overwhelming freshness their more capricious songwriting gives to the whole piece. It's relative shortness, at ~40 minutes, with songs practically all approximately equal in length, makes it easily digestible in one sitting and gives the impression, emphasized acutely by the last four songs as an obvious "final movement", that you're listening to one long piece. (I feel the last four songs, "CH 375 268 277 ARS" through "The Threat Posed...", could have been an EP - in exactly the order they appear on the record - which alone would have turned heads.)

All of that said, a Dillinger record would be a disappointment without some barrier-breaking in terms of rhythmic complexity. The king of the crop in this department is undeniably "Understanding Decay". The feeling of listening to this song - you can feel the song in your body - is one of constant hesitation, anticipation, and release, the latter of which quickly snatched away from you in the matter of an eighth note or so. It's not a comfortable song. Even their prior attempts at completely shitting on past musical norms in metal have not nearly reached the level of "Understanding Decay". It is arguably the crown jewel of the record - if you're more the type you prefers the more aggressive face of the Janus that is DEP. I am. For those on the other side of the fence, you probably have a lot more to sink your teeth into on OOUITK than you ever have. But you don't have as triumphal a hymn as "Understanding Decay".

A few come close though: the title track, a silky, ultra-melodic downtempo arrangement, features Greg's pleasant falsetto and brusque hints at both ambient Calculating Infinity-era guitar flirtations and something you rarely hear from DEP: simple, meaty power chords, done not distastefully. "Paranoia Shields" incorporates Greg's tight-mouthed, talk-whispered verses broken occasionally by a surprisingly operatic hook. Overall, Greg takes what feels like the lead on these pieces. Like the unappreciative bastards we all tend to be, we quickly forget whilst sucking Ben's dick 24/7 that Greg has an incredible rhythmic intuition, singing and screaming range along multiple style dimensions, and incredibly precise timing. (Listen to "Paranoia Shields" and tell me it doesn't feel like he couldn't be conducting the band with his word placement as his metaphorical baton.)

All together, One of Us Is the Killer is almost pristine - it showcases the songwriting, musicianship, and performance talent of an incredible group. If Metal as a genre had a seat at the United Nations of Music, DEP would be a fitting representative. (They would probably sit next to Nicki Minaj and collectively take a fiery shit on her face.) But it's not perfect. The music has slowly been losing its hardcore edginess ever since Calculating Infinity, and I still miss it deeply - I know I'm not alone here. OOUITK sees Dillinger doubling down on forever closing the door on their pre-Miss Machine music. (And I think that's just fine from a certain perspective.) I find some of the riffs a little too dinky and delicate - the best example by far is "Hero of the Soviet Union": instead of achieving this aggressive break from the moodiness of the title track, you get a short stint followed by a quick relapse into clownery that I didn't find convincingly "Dillinger". All of that said - and I'll admit that these quibbles are particularly subjective - this is their best record. Listening to it reminds me that metal deserves the kind of outward awe and respect earned by some of the most stereotypically "high-minded" genres, let alone the commercial success of everyday, boilerplate pop.

What does this record mean for the future of the Dillinger Escape Plan? Lacking basic fortune-telling abilities, I can only speculate. My intuition is that DEP will become a more "challenging" listening experience as time goes on. They are becoming more "heady", deep, difficult, mentally stimulating. Listening to OOUITK is more of an intellectual exercise than Option Paralysis. In my opinion, this can unfortunately be rocky territory for otherwise successful metal outfits. Between the Buried and Me are now borderline progressive rock in the ilk of Dream Theater, their music becoming ironically less "them" as they've struggled to write longer opuses, longer and complicated transitions, more involved lyrical content, and more dynamic instrumentation. The Faceless' newest record was frankly saddening for similar reasons. The newest Baroness, while explicitly not an attempt at more technical music, was nonetheless an attempt at a new sound, and results were, to put it mildly, mixed. These were premier disappointments for me, all borne out of this underlying (and common among musicians who actually give a fuck) need to innovate, evolve, and continue to be surprise to listeners. This is a high-risk/high-reward proposition, and recent events point to the serious effects of "losing your sound" - why people even loved you in the first place - for the cause of development simply for developing's sake. Music is a fairly undifferentiated genre - the nature of the music is such that it is tough to "find a sound". Trying to achieve this is one of the most rewarding challenges of creating heavy music. But DEP won that game long ago, and perhaps, like BTBAM, are bound to get bored with the spoils of their victory. DEP is showing us their hand on On of Us Is the Killer: they are attempting a similar maneuver towards change. But my judgment is that DEP may pull it off. So far, so good.

Twenty Twelve

Full disclosure; I'm biased. I don't like everything in music. In fact, I don't like most things in music. My tastes are very specific but in general, I like metal; the more technical, the more brutal, the better. I have always felt that the most important component to the sound of a metal band is the guitars. This includes guitar tone as well as what the guitars are actually playing. My favorite guitar tone is one that is precise enough to hear the intricacies of the guitar work that is being played. The guitar work I like the most is fast, full of lots of different notes, chaotic, harmonized dissonantly, with interludes of groovy riffs. From the drums, I like to hear lots of blast beats with lots of double bass that lines up with the rhythm of the guitar and bass work. I am a sucker for fancy work on the bell of the ride symbol and for drum parts which change half way thru a riff adding a whole new sound and rhythm to a riff. I do not like clean singing. Its been done before and should not be done again except for a few select individuals who do it well and use it correctly (i.e. Tommy Rogers). I'm really only concerned about pitch when listening to vocals. I prefer vocals that are on the edges of the vocal pitch spectrum. Vocals in the middle of that spectrum sound too much like hardcore shouting for me to enjoy. I don't pay much attention to the lyrics. An awesome lyrical concept is a bonus, but not something that I must have when listening to music. Thus we come to the bass work. My bias is exponentiated when it comes to the bass work in music. There needs to be space for the bass in an album. It is such an under utilized instrument that is usually forced to play something stupidly easy but similar to the guitar parts. When used correctly, the bass can be the most brutal sounding instrument in a band. I like when I can actually hear the bass when the guitars are playing with it, I like when the bass plays melodies, and I especially like breaks in the music where only the bass plays. 

Enough about me and my hangups. 2012 has been one of the best years for death metal and grindcore in my recent memory. There were big releases from big bands like Cannibal Corpse, Pig Destroyer, and Meshuggah. And there were highly anticipated releases from new bands like Rings Of Saturn, The HAARP Machine, and Murder Construct. Having said that, there were also some big disappointments in 2012. I will talk briefly about those releases as well as my favorite releases of 2012 then give a preview of what's to come in 2013. Here is my list of the top 25 releases this year (read on for discussion of this list):

25. Leichenhaus - Bereft

24. Lingua Franca - T.R.A.M.

23. A Perfect Absolution - Gorod

22. Son Of Perdition - Wretched

21. Dingir - Rings Of Saturn

20. Results - Murder Construct

19. Eclipse - Veil Of Maya

18. The Parallax II: Future Sequence - Between The Buried And Me

17. Disclosure - The HAARP Machine

16. Symbiosis - Abiotic

15. L'Enfant Sauvage - Gojira

14. Aberration Of Man - Kamikabe

13. The Sixth Extinction - Infinitum

12. Metamorphignition - Arkaik

11. Separate Realities - Trioscapes

10. Incongruous - Beneath The Massacre

9. At The Gate Of Sethu - Nile

8. Reign Supreme - Dying Fetus

7. Cryptopsy - Cryptopsy

6. Koloss - Meshuggah

5. The Inherited Repression - Psycroptic

4. Torture - Cannibal Corpse

3. Book Burner - Pig Destroyer

2. Monolith Of Inhumanity - Cattle Decapitation

1. Incurso - Spawn Of Possession

1. Incurso - Spawn Of Possession

Spawn Of Possession has already had two impressive full-length releases, Cabinet and Noctambulant. Before releasing Incurso this year the band announced the addition of Christian Muenzner on guitar (ex-Necrophagist, Obscura) and Erlend Caspersen on bass (ex-Blood Red Throne). I could hardly contain myself. I had always enjoyed Spawn Of Possession but there was definitely an elite, melodic bass presence missing from their music. Erlend definitely brought that and much more to Incurso contributing to songwriting on two tracks; Servitude Of Souls and Deus Avertat. From reading up on the album, Christian did not have much creative influence on the album except for some lead parts but lead guitar parts are what Christian does best and they added that much more to Jonas Bryssling's masterful songwriting. Rounding out this masterpiece is the fresh drum work of Henrik Schonstrom and impressive vocal work of Dennis Rondum. 

Not only is Incurso my favorite release of 2012, it is my favorite release ever. This album completely contains everything that I want to hear in music. I have never heard a more perfect collection of sounds. This release has everything; tempos blazing past 280 bpm, guitars harmonized where it should not be possible to harmonize guitars, lead parts that make every lead played before this album silly, melody on top of melody on top of melody, bass parts that contribute to the sound of the album, orchestration that goes beyond this genre, and some of the most unique compositions my ears have ever witnessed. 

The album exists continuously as one entity rather than a collection of songs. My favorite parts of this continuum of music are Servitude Of Souls, The Evangelist, and Bodiless Sleeper. Servitude Of Souls begins with the best 13 seconds of bass recorded in 2012 and it contains Spawn Of Possession's one and only breakdown ever written. The Evangelist is a clip that comes in just under 10 minutes in length and is relentless in its ferocious pace making it a musical clinic for the rest of the genre. Bodiless Sleeper is a microcosm of Incurso; relentless, constantly changing rhythms from one bar to the next, eerily dissonant harmonized guitars, complex song structure, and an extremely enjoyable adventure of sound. If I could summarize my feelings about Incurso into one phrase, it would be this; listen to it.

2. Monolith Of Inhumanity - Cattle Decapitation

Prior to this year, I did not listen to Cattle Decapitation. I had not even heard of them before (probably because I didn't like grindcore before this year). Not knowing what to expect, I went to a show at Champ's in Trenton where Cattle Decapitation was the main support for Origin with other support coming from Decrepit Birth, Aborted, and Rings Of Saturn. Cattle Decapitation blew me away and stole the show from the headliner, Origin. I had never heard anything more disgusting and beautiful in my life. After the show, I checked out Monolith Of Inhumanity and it was difficult to stop listening to it. 

On Monolith Of Inhumanity, Cattle Decapitation manages to create songs that are filthy, catchy, and epic all at the same time. Admittedly, I am not overly concerned with vocals in general but on this release Travis Ryan makes me listen to his impressive vocal display as he showcases his dynamic vocal range and array of vocal techniques. He utilizes a nasty, melodic scream in A Living, Breathing Piece Of Defecating Meat and shows off his indiscernible low grumblings on Projectile Ovulation. This album is full of disgusting groove and hooks like the one in Dead Set On Suicide that took me in and raped me when I saw Cattle Decapitation live for the first time at Champ's. With this release, Cattle Decapitation have philosophically changed what it means to be grindcore. Previously, there were arbitrary limits on song length, distinguishable song structure, and the number of elements in a riff as well as an expectation of sloppiness. Cattle Decapitation broke all of those rules but still remain grindcore because of the variety of riffs on display in Monolith Of Inhumanity and a fundamental disgust that is central to their sound. 

3. Book Burner - Pig Destroyer

I consider 2012 to be my awakening to grindcore and I'm glad I finally came around to this brutal and diverse genre. The second grindcore band I checked out after my break through with Cattle Decapitation was Pig Destroyer, the undisputed kings of the genre. Just my luck, they released an incredible album this year. This release sticks to the traditional limits of grindcore for the most part, but I still love it. One of my biggest issues with Pig Destroyer, and a big pet peeve of mine is general, is that they have no bass player but Pig Destroyer's riffs force me to forgive their lack of low end. The riffs on Book Burner are exactly one half heavy and exactly one half groovy, an irresistible combination for my ears. 

This album is the band's first with new drummer Adam Jarvis (Misery Index). Jarvis is excellent on this album, grooving with Scott Hull and then blasting past him playing some of the fastest drum parts I have heard this year. All of the staples of classic Pig Destroyer are present on this release; piercing vocals like those in Eve, clever use of samples like in The Bug, fast riffs like in Kamikaze Heart, groovy riffs like in Valley Of The Geysers, chaotic riffs like in Burning Palm, breakdowns like at the end of White Lady, and changes in direction at the drop of a head. Another amazing release from the titans of grindcore. 

4. Torture - Cannibal Corpse

The biggest name in death metal released an album this year and it was certainly an improvement over their last effort, Evisceration Plague. Torture felt more like Kill, but releasing a brutal death metal album better than Kill might be impossible. Cannibal Corpse has been around for a long time and the members of Cannibal Corpse are aging brutally. On Torture, the songwriting improved yet again with Alex Webster experimenting with weird time signatures like 5/4 and 7/8 and with strange feels. My favorites were the Webster written tracks like Intestinal Crank, Rabid, and The Strangulation Chair featuring an extended break in the music for an impressive bass part. There were also some classic, intense Pat O'Brien written tracks on this album like Demented Aggression and As Deep As The Knife Will Go. 

5. The Inherited Repression - Psycroptic

Psycroptic have one the most unique sounds in all of technical death metal, which is a difficult task in my favorite sub genre of death metal. On The Inherited Repression, Psycroptic managed to alter their sound slightly without loosing their identity. If you throw on any song of Psycroptic's latest release, you will be able to figure out who the artist is in a matter of seconds. They seem to have focused more on using the higher-pitched strings on their guitar on this release, but they did not sacrifice anything in the way of technicality. I really came around to this album after a few listens. Some stand out tracks are The Throne Of Kings, Carriers Of The Plague, Deprivation, and Become The Cult.

6. Koloss - Meshuggah

The followup to obZen was about as good as could be expected. I wouldn't want to go after obZen either. Having said that, Koloss does enough to be different from obZen and stand on its own. It is certainly one of the groovier albums Meshuggah has released especially on tracks like I Am Colossus and Do Not Look Down. The approach on this release was more methodical than previous chaotic efforts like obZen and Nothing. My favorite tracks were The Demon's Name Is Surveillance and The Hurt That Finds You First because they are examples (as well as Bleed) of songs that only Meshuggah can write. With songs like The Demon's Name Is Surveillance, The Hurt That Finds You First, and Bleed Meshuggah are doing something that is as artistically creative as anything any painter or sculptor has ever done. Meshuggah takes one idea, one rhythm and goes down every possible path that one idea can allow. Beautiful. 

7. Cryptopsy - Cryptopsy This album is much better than their previous release, The Unspoken King. Very fast, very brutal with some of the fastest picking this year and full of groovy trem riffs.

8. Reign Supreme - Dying Fetus The masters of ridiculousness went back to their groovy slam roots of the early 90s while still incorporating some of the sweeping madness from their two previous efforts, Descend Into Depravity and War Of Attrition. I'd rather have more sweeps and less slam, but still a very solid album.

9. At The Gate Of Sethu - Nile A return to form for the Egyptians from South Carolina. This album was blazingly fast and full of crazy lead guitar work.

10. Incongruous - Beneath The Massacre I really enjoyed this release. It contained everything I want from Beneath The Massacre; sweeping incorporated into riffs, tempos bearing down on 300 bpm, and nasty breakdowns. Much improved over their previous release Dystopia. 

11. Separate Realities - Trioscapes First release from the side project of Dan Briggs (Between The Buried And Me) and it was a good one. With only three instruments, bass, drums, and sax, it was extremely tight in a way that makes technical death metal musicians jealous.

12. Metamorphignition - Arkaik Up and coming technical death metal band that has been around awhile. This album is a refreshing new approach to technical death metal. 

13. The Sixth Extinction - Infinitum The sophomore release from this extreme technical death metal band was very promising but probably a little bit too long. 

14. Aberration Of Man - Kamikabe This is the first full length release from Kamikabe and it is relentless, pounding away at my eardrums and not letting up. 

15. L'Enfant Sauvage - Gojira There were lots of really good riffs on this release but I feel like Gojira beat the dead whale and played them entirely too much.

16. Symbiosis - Abiotic An exciting release from a young technical death metal band but it contained only three tracks that were not on their debut EP, A Universal Plague.

17. Disclosure - The HAARP Machine The music on this album was tight but the clean vocals were unnecessary and self-indulgent. Every time I heard the sitar start playing, I cringed fearing clean vocals were coming.

18. The Parallax II: Future Sequence - Between The Buried And Me Looking ahead last year to releases for 2012, this release was definitely something I anticipated would make my top 5 but Between The Buried And Me went off the deep end and lost me in the process. I feel like most of the creative effort went into strange little things and the main riffs were too often empty and boring.

19. Eclipse - Veil Of Maya Another solid release from a band that understands clean singing is not necessary when a riff is played in a major (happy) key.

20. Results - Murder Construct The first full length album from this grindcore supergroup with Travis Ryan (Cattle Decapitation) on vocals and Danny Walker (Intronaut) on drums. I didn't like the way this album was mixed, it was difficult to hear much other than the mid range of the guitars.

21. Dingir - Rings Of Saturn I fell out of love with this album. Its full of catchy melodies and groovy riffs but lacks that ridiculous breakdowns and sweeping guitar work found in Rings Of Saturn's first release Embryonic Anomaly which contained technicality boarding on Brain Drill level with more interesting song structures.

22. Son Of Perdition - Wretched This release was a crushing one incorporating more sound from black metal than previous Wretched albums. 

23. A Perfect Absolution - Gorod Once again, Gorod demonstrated some great finesse on this release updating the feel of early 90s technical death metal with some of today's modern technical death metal.  

24. Lingua Franca - T.R.A.M. Another impressive release from instrumental guitar duo Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes, this time straight ahead jazz with a horn player but the guitar work was what stood out the most. 

25. Leichenhaus - Bereft This is the first release from the doom metal super group and it is a brutal one full of melodies over slow, crushing riffs.

Two albums that did not make my list but are just as important as all of the releases on my list are the two most disappointing albums of 2012; Resolution - Lamb Of God and Autotheism - The Faceless. I'll tackle Resolution first. Resolution is a dull release. It feels very much like Lamb Of God have gotten too old to be taken seriously in a genre they were on top of less than ten years ago. Lamb Of God had a brutal beginning with Burn The Priest and New American Gospel followed by their best songwriting on As The Palaces Burn and Ashes Of The Wake then came the over thought and disappointing Sacrament which was redeemed by a fast juggernaut of an album, Wrath, that showed that the old guys could still hang. After Wrath, I had hope that Lamb Of God could release an album as well written and executed as Ashes Of The Wake again but I was deeply disappointed with what I got. 

Going into 2012, the album I was most excited for was Autotheism. The Faceless's previous release, Planetary Duality, is one of my favorite albums. It single-handedly made technical death metal my favorite sub genre of music. I have listened to Planetary Duality more than any other album I possess. Leading up to the release of Autotheism, I should have seen the signs but I ignored them. Prior to recording Autotheism, three band members left; vocalist Derek Rydquist, rhythm guitarist Steve Jones, and bassist and co-founder Brandon Griffin. The last departure should have been particularly frightening. The loss of a co-founder definitely signifies a huge shift in musical direction but my excitement at the addition of Evan Brewer (ex-Animosity) on bass masked any thought about the loss of the co-founder of The Faceless. Evan Brewer's impressive solo work plus The Faceless I knew and loved from Planetary Duality seemed like the best possible combination, but I was severely let down when Autotheism was finally released. I can see why the members left now, I certainly would not want any creative association with Autotheism either. It should not have been released under the artist, The Faceless. It should have been released, instead, under the Michael Keene solo project. Autotheism is some of the most self-indulgent nonsense my ears have ever bore witness to. There are a few good riffs here and there scattered about and broken up by numerous strange sections of overdone, dramatic orchestration and musically empty sections full of Michael Keene's dead, monotone clean vocals. I have not been this disappointed since The Hunter. 

2013, A Preview As good as 2012 was for new metal music, I think 2013 will come close. 2013 seems like it will be a promising year for fans of extreme technical death metal. Spearheading the way are demo versions of new tracks from both Deeds Of Flesh and Defeated Sanity. These tracks are intense, very exciting stuff. Italian extreme technical death metal outfit Septycal Gorge is working on new material seen here. Last year, Inherit Disease released this rough footage of a new song. Euphoric Defilement is a band I discovered thanks to Inherit Disease's recommendation. They released a promo last year with three brutal tracks and are putting together their first full length. 

My first listen to Rivers Of Nihil was a live one when they were the surprise (and surprisingly good) local opening band for a tour that was headlined by Decapitated with support from Decrepit Birth, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and Rings Of Saturn. Rivers Of Nihil has since been signed to Metal Blade and will be working with thee Eric Rutan at Mana Studios in Florida on their upcoming debut full length. Needless to say, I'm erect with excitement. Recently, guitarist and co-founding member of All Shall Perish, Ben Orum, left the band and joined Oblivion on bass. They are set to release their first full length in 2013. 

Mike McKenzie has been a busy man. The guitarist has been working on new material for grindcore greats The Red Chord as well as all of the music for his one man doom band side project, Stomach Earth. Intronaut recently announced completion of their upcoming full length Habitual Levitations. This album is definitely in my pre-2013 top 5 after the growth demonstrated on Valley Of Smoke. Gorguts has been teasing new songs live since posting this seven minute epic jam three years ago with new drummer John Longstreth (Origin). Burning The Masses have been promising new material for awhile now. The Absence have been active on Facebook about the recording process for a new album. Evan Brewer may be doing another solo album. Portal. And no discussion of upcoming albums would be complete without perennial sloths Necrophagist and Tool. Dream on. 

2012 was one of the best in recent memory and it may spoil expectations for future years. I will be listening to the albums that came out this year for many years to come.

Hail Satan,

Jon