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
