Midyear Report
Showed up for the midterm, will see you again for the final
Favorite Albums
No gods. No masters. No list order.
Goran Kajfeš Tropiques - Tell Us (We Jazz Records)
Genre: jazz
From: Sweden
With an RIYL that includes Alice Coltrane and Steve Reich, Goran Kajfeš Tropiques rightfully earns its tag of “hypno-jazz.” Tell Us features three long songs from the Swedish quartet with additional contributions from a cellist and violinist. What you get are songs that slowly unfold without any of the expected smeariness. For instance, the groove on “Magmatique” goes hard, recalling the glory days of rich, experimental jazz from the ‘70s. Clear as a bell, and that somehow makes it all the more psychedelic.
Abyssal - Glacial (Transylvanian Records)
Genre: funeral doom
From: Mexico
The heirs to Corrupted’s throne once again stun with a long-form, slow-paced sludgester cloaked in an appropriate funeral air. That said, while it can crush loudly, the Mexican band is equally comfortable with the quiet, spilling its guts with lachrymose arpeggios. What you hear in the still of the night when you think the world hates you.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
Glacial is indeed darker, using a starker palette of timbres. Ruiz, who handles vocals, guitars, and bass on the album, is joined by session drummer Fernando Morales and longtime member Luna on “additional spoken words.” Except one exception, all three set their contributions to crushing dismalness in all possible volumes. For instance, “Glacial” begins with a slow build of quietly despondent guitars. Soon, that first strum of deafening distortion kicks in, mirroring the album artwork created by Primitive Man/Vermin Womb’s Ethan Lee McCarthy, a textured miasma of harsh blacks and grays. From there, the song acts like an exorcism of negativity, delving deep into pitch-black portions of the soul, something that’s effectively conveyed via the various sections with whispered vocals.
https://www.stereogum.com/2269791/heavy-metal-roundtable/columns/the-black-market/
Despondency - Matriphagy (New Standard Elite)
Genre: brutal death metal
From: Germany
Brutal death metal fans have been waiting a long time for the creators of God on Acid to stir themselves from their slumber. While only vocalist Konstantin Lühring remains, this German crew can still bring it on one of the best pure BDM albums of the year. The raw-meat chunkiness is glory-days NSE to a T, which will please those puzzled by the label's new direction.
freak puke - future toast (self-released)
Genre: zeuhl / prog
From: Texas, USA
This is the year of zeuhl metal. Baring Teeth’s Jason Roe gets weird on this wonderful collection of miniature freakouts. Think if Zoogz Rift was reincarnated as Psudoku.
Kevin Drumm - dB (self-released)
Genre: ambient / drone
From: Chicago, IL
Tone master and noise maker Kevin Drumm may be known for his strident works like the appropriately titled Sheer Hellish Miasma, but some of his finest releases are his quietest. dB, a collage of sparkling tones, sits closer to the all-timer Imperial Horizon and is the true ambient ideal, blocking outside stimuli while being music to get lost within.
Aseitas - Eden Trough (Total Dissonance Worship)
Genre: death metal / omnicore
From: Portland, OR
More bands should follow Aseitas’s lead by making their incredibly complex music go down easier with absolute ass-kicking riffs. Eden Trough pulped my brain in two ways, twisting it into knots with legit progressive passages while smashing it with a death metal sledgehammer. I donate whatever remains of my mind to science.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
As Aseitas says, “Writing was a balance of indulgence and keeping things lean,” and that’s no clearer than on “Tiamat.” The 10-minute penultimate brain-melter is the epitome of what makes Eden Trough unique. “‘Tiamat’ was conceived with a mind to explore counterpoint guitarwork,” and, jeez, do the guitars get a workout here. The opening riff is that prog death good stuff. Guitarists Gage Dean, who also plays bass, and Travis Forencich keep that riff moving, continually iterating on its badassery while it dips and dives through numerous permutations. Drummer Zack Rodrigues stuns with an avalanche of rhythms that always land in the right spots. And vocalist Nathan Nielson is able to dexterously dart in and out of the pocket while maintaining a varied and engaging delivery. Then, at 4:40, “Tiamat” takes a turn toward one of the best stretches of metal this year. After a brief reset with quieter guitars, Aseitas launches into a glorious section that’s like if Opeth commandeered Nothing-era Meshuggah. It is absolute bliss if you’re a particular type of metal fan. And the fact that this song fosters flow states that make it feel like a tenth of its actual length is a sonic miracle for a work this dense and complex.
https://www.stereogum.com/2269791/heavy-metal-roundtable/columns/the-black-market/
Kraanerg - Heart of a Cherry Pit Sun (Not Music)
Genre: zeuhl / prog / RIO
From: Houston, TX
The fact that two metal bands named after the Xenakis composition are pushing the boundaries of the form makes sense, I guess. Metal: multitudes. Anyway, Kraanerg is another zeuhl-y workout that has RIO tendencies. A few of the usual Wolf’s Week suspects are present among the sextet: Angel Garcia from Laktating Yak, D. L. from Kostnatění, and Zelig-like figure Markov Soroka.
STABS - Sadursme (self-released)
Genre: noise / post-metal / industrial
From: Latvia
Huh. What if Cult of Luna became a noise rock band and invited the industrial artists in the practice room next door to cook up a racket. Not as abrasive stark as my beloved Officine, but close. h/t to Rennie, as always.
Morgue - Close to Complete Darkness (Godz ov War Productions)
Genre: death metal
From: France
The best thing a death metal band can do is go hard, and this French duo does precisely that. Close to Complete Darkness is more of a streamlined death metal steamroller than past grindy BDM efforts, which may help the band finally break out.
Hull of Light - Gilded Liminal Shrines (self-released)
Genre: post-punk / black metal
From: Parts Unknown
Neat little EP that mines a mood that can only be described as dreamlike, provided one dreams in propulsive post-punk. Imagine walking down a fog-shrouded alley in Yharnam.
Shellac - To All Trains (self-released)
Genre: alt rock
From: Chicago, IL
RIP Albini. Tough listen because of that but rewarding for that same reason.
Brutally Deceased - Chasms (Doomentia Records)
Genre: death metal
From: Czechia
Answers the question: What if Dismember but heavier? HM-2 plus USDM density is a winning combination. Also, compelled to write this: *Smokey Robinson voice* Chasms.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
Of course, what makes Brutally Deceased sound so fresh is that it’s evokes the familiar without being a carbon copy. The clobbering “Deus Mundi,” which opens Chasms without any unnecessary scene setting, has the hallmarks: the hornet-nest buzz, mutated Maiden leads, heavy metal drum fills, and gruff growls. But while it’s working within the idiom, Brutally Deceased has its own quirks. None of the old guard stomped the gas quite like these five do. Guitarists Adam Kulich and Marek Štembera, both from the sonic-booming black metal band Somniate, seem to take extra pleasure in pushing past the redline. The reason they’re allowed to rip is thanks to the super sturdy foundation laid down by bassist Petr Kleňha and drummer Tomáš Mařík, both of whom crush their duties with aplomb. Mařík, in particular, is a great addition, giving the blasts a more brutal preciseness while loosening things up with swinging fills. And lone original member Michal Štěpánek has so much character in his voice, setting himself apart from the style’s usual dimestore LG Petrov (RIP) worship. In other words, Brutally Deceased goes hard as hell, which is its own kind of magic.
https://www.stereogum.com/2269791/heavy-metal-roundtable/columns/the-black-market/
Couch Slut - You Could Do It Tonight (Brutal Panda Records)
Genre: noise rock
From: New York, NY
No other band walks the fine line between sardonic and downright scary better than Couch Slut. You Could Do It Tonight takes the discomfort of Brainbombs, layers on squalls of guitars that sound like amps being tortured, and uses all of that as a bed to tell some of the year’s best short stories. Pulls off the sleight of themes by being bleak, furious, and funny simultaneously. “The Donkey” is one of my favorite songs this year.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
“The Donkey” is classic Couch Slut, a madcap tale that threads the needle and sews together the surreal, sardonic, and scary. “Here’s what happened when my friends and I got fired from the haunted water park,” singer Megan Osztrosits sneers like someone still living with the ramifications of its ending. It’s a hell of a hook, a lead worthy of Edna Buchanan. From there, the story tumbles down a dark hole that is alternately absurd and far too real. And if you can believe it, “The man has sawed his arm to the bone” somehow isn’t the wildest line on the album.
That’s Couch Slut in a nutshell, really, a band that continues to push its sonic punishment to the limits. Osztrosits, drummer Theo Nobel, guitarist Amy Mills, and bassist Kevin Hall have added Pyrrhon guitarist Dylan DiLella to the fold for You Could Do It Tonight. (Pyrrhon vocalist, and our former leader, Doug Moore guests on the album. You can’t miss him.) DiLella adds layers of scuzzy, squiggly guitars that sound like a rat king collectively dying of an aneurysm. It magnifies Couch Slut’s hair-raising qualities, which were already plenty hair-raising for a band so adept at making its creeps crawl.
Yambag - Mindfuck Ultra (11PM Records & Convulse Records)
Genre: fastcore / hardcore
From: Cleveland, OH
Like if Yacøpsæ was Double Negative in disguise. A ridiculous fastcore ripper that made me want to start a band again. No higher praise and nothing people want less.
New Money - Dinero Nuevo (self-released)
Genre: metalcore / noise rock
From: Denmark
A bracing update of Breach-y Euro metalcore, just with more grooves. Somehow, exactly the record you’d expect from ACME acolytes with a desire to chip their walloping neck-snappers into stone. Some of these juds will stand the test of time.
Take “Performancer,” the longest song here, and it doesn’t even clear three minutes. Doesn’t matter. New Money don’t need more time. No, they seemingly pack each second with behavior-altering earworms that make you bang your head until it bids your neck adieu. The riffs indeed rip in that decapitating sense, ranging from Knut-esque sludge annihilators, Botch-y metalcore concussion causers, Swarm Of The Lotus-like sea-sick undulators, AmRep-style noise rock ragers, and more. If New Money were around in the ’90s, they’d be booked on an all-timer tour with Breach and Acme, and future nerds would pay $500 a pop for the shirts commemorating an event they weren’t there to see.
All of this riff par excellence makes sense, naturally. New Money are staffed by Danish scene luminaries. Niclas Jürs Sauffaus (drums/vocals) and Christian Bonnesen (guitars/vocals) played in the expertly named Piss Vortex, with the former also hitting the column last year in Elitist and the latter punching the clock in the Black Market-approved LLNN and the Psyke Project. Simon Tornby (bass/vocals) blows out eardrums in Fossils. That’s a hell of a members-of resume. (Our former leader, Doug Moore, has a guest spot on “Blood Covenant.” Not going to talk about that one for obvious reasons. You’ll see more of Doug in this column next month.) And you can hear strains of the related projects in what New Money brings to the table: Fossils deep bass buzz, Elitist’s go-harder mentality, Piss Vortex’s swirling chaos, and Psyke Project’s 10-ton heaviness.
https://www.stereogum.com/2265752/rezn-burden-interview/columns/the-black-market/
Various Artists - Lost Paradise: Blissed Out Breakbeat Hardcore 1991-94 (Blank Mind)
Genre: breakbeat hardcore
From: All over the world
What it says on the tin. Put it on, pretend you’re an extra in Hackers, live your best life.
Lanark Artefax - Metallur (AD 93)
Genre: IDM
From: Scotland
Cut from the same cloth as Richard D. James’s weirder sound experiments. Sounds timeless mainly because it exists out of time. Hell of a headphone album.
From Dying Suns - Calamity (self-released)
Genre: death metal / death/thrash
From: Québec
All hail the Galy Riff. “Ascent” absolutely rules, one of the finest contributions to the Witchery School of Kick Ass Instrumentals.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
Right from the first riff, you can tell that From Dying Suns are not our usual. If you wanted to fit the Quebec quintet’s debut full-length, Calamity, into the typical Black Market sphere of coverage, you could maybe say its high/low growls and general desire to max the speedometer makes it sound like Uphill Battle if it changed course to chase melo-inflected neo prog death downhill. Or, more succinctly, perhaps this album will even scratch the itch for long-suffering Capharnaum fans desperately seeking a modern alternative. (The PlayStation 1-style album art is pretty telling in that regard.) And that’s just it: From Dying Suns make more sense within a widdly, hook-rich metal milieu, an elevated version of the ’00s metal that we typically eschew covering.
https://www.stereogum.com/2265752/rezn-burden-interview/columns/the-black-market/
Walk Through Fire - Till Aska (self-released)
Genre: funeral doom
From: Sweden
Heavier than Skepticism riding on the Bagger 293, the biggest vehicle in the world. Speaking of vehicles, I'm pretty sure this album’s low end is why my driver’s side door no longer closes correctly.
Pizza Hotline - Polygon Island (WTWTFWW Records)
Genre: drum & bass
From: UK
If Soichi Terada dropped a track on the Logical Progression mixtape. Befitting of its monolithic PlayStation album cover.
Effluence - Destructive Transfixed Incorporeality / Necrobiology (Putrefactive Recordings)
Genre: brutal death metal / extremely hard bop
From: California, USA
lol.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
Matt Stephens's psychotic blast break once again pushes the limits of loud music. In a sense, that's what Stephens does in all his projects, an ever-growing stable of bizarro style fusions that houses Tantric Bile, Meticulous Butchery, and the perfectly named Gorenette Coleman, among others. And, true to form, Destructive Transfixed Incorporeality evolves even on Effluence's past exploits. Where some Effluence material has a ramshackle quality emphasizing the looseness of free jazz, Destructive Transfixed Incorporeality is almost Defeated Sanity-esque in its pursuit of pioneering new levels of ferocity out on the fringes of death metal.
Sexual Jeremy - Bleachers (Decoherence Recordings)
Genre: noise rock
From: Texas, USA
Moves these weirdos past their US Maple fixation to something even more theatrical. Liner notes mention “Polvo crossed with Pavement,” and while I don’t know about that, mainly because Pavement sucks, it’s definitely closer to something alt rockers will be able to stomach. Uranium Club would be the dream tour package.
Nerve Debt - Pleural Hymns (self-released)
Genre: doom / noise rock / sludge
From: Greenville, SC
As a practice, I don’t recommend writers trying to derive comps from members’ ex-bands, but Nerve Debt is like what would happen if early Today is the Day turned into a sludgester.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
What unites these songs is Nerve Debt’s uncompromising heaviosity, a compulsion to crush. While existing in different worlds, Pleural Hymns reminds me of Buried At Sea’s Migration, a loud-ass album that would’ve been delighted if it were the last thing you heard. Maybe that has always been the aim of chaotic doom, funeral hardcore, and hospital punk: pounding a listener into dust. If this is the music playing me out, I accept my fate. Ashes to ashes.
Sulaco - Black Cloud (self-released)
Genre: death metal / grind
From: Rochester, NY
Still got it. Riffs are ridiculous. Bonus: A song about Chopped!
And that’s where we find Sulaco on Black Cloud, a band that has undeniably changed but still fits nicely next to what it has always been. Well, not everything has changed. For instance, in typical Sulaco style, “Dying On the Pass” cribs its title from restaurant lingo while focusing its subject matter on the cooking competition show Chopped! Seriously. With an excellent strangled scream, singer Jason Leone even emits a searing “chopped!” during the bridge. This is Sulaco, folks. And, of course, the band sounds as bonkers as ever, especially at the song’s shreddy conclusion. But Sulaco also sound different. It’s subtle. It’d be hack to say the band is reinvigorated or newly smoldering with the spark of the reborn. But it does sport a fresh looseness and toughness. It’s the sound of a band that has been through the crucible once again and asked fate, “Is that all you got?” It’s just what Sulaco do. And when a band is this good for this long, you know that black cloud will burn away eventually.
https://www.stereogum.com/2265752/rezn-burden-interview/columns/the-black-market/
Dysrhythmia - Coffin of Conviction (Nerve Altar)
Genre: math rock / prog
From: Queens, NY
As brain-borking as ever on the technical front, but now with more memorability. Doesn’t hurt that they’re giving the riffs time to breathe.
Coffin of Conviction isn’t short on memorable material. The opening title track reprises some of the propulsive thrash-ish qualities of 2019’s excellent Terminal Threshold, particularly the bass-less, twin-guitar squiggliness of the centerpiece “Twin Stalkers.” Like that track, “Coffin of Conviction,” and the album that shares its same name, utilizes a newer writing process for Dysrhythmia. It begins with “drum ideas” that Hufnagel then builds riffs around, a flip on the prior process. Because of that songwriting shift, Coffin of Conviction has a more rhythmic quality. But, as Hufnagel has said, the biggest benefit is the guitar-second approach helps emphasize a sense of space. Every second of “Coffin of Conviction” could be overflowing with notes. Instead, that space adds another layer of rise and fall, creating this fascinatingly onion-like listening experience where different elements are rising and falling alongside each other. Even if you don’t immediately perceive the effect, you certainly feel it.
https://www.stereogum.com/2269791/heavy-metal-roundtable/columns/the-black-market/
Julie Christmas - Ridiculous and Full of Blood (Red Crk)
Genre: alt rock / prog
From: Brooklyn, NY
Nailed the title. The triumphantly harrowing return of one of the great modern rock singers. Like if Tim Singer was Björk. It’s partly my fault this got tagged as nu metal on the socials. My bad.
Uhritoimitus - Paine (self-released)
Genre: grind
From: Finland
Grind for grinders.
But of course, I’m not just recommending Uhritoimitus because I’m a bloated-wishlist-having mega mark for this kind of grind. Paine differentiates itself from the pack. Lord knows the ’00s glut of Nasumites caused many to tire of this formula. (Let me introduce you to an entire CD booklet of promos I got from this period. To anyone born after 2010, a CD booklet is a-you know what? Nevermind.) An underlying punkiness to tracks like “Inho” reminds me a bit of something like Infest or Iron Lung, a tense aggressiveness that sharpens the riffs. And there’s a freewheeling, exploding-head extremeness that boils over in the same way that the wilder Blastafuk bands, such as Internal Rot or the criminally overlooked Roskopp, were able to harness. So, Paine hits the grind spot but also slightly expands that spot, making me even more jealous of Tomi Salmela.
Nimbifer - Der böse Geist (Vendetta Records)
Genre: black metal
From: Germany
These days, I really only listen to black metal out of professional obligation, but damn did this record blow my socks off. Colder than a castle’s keep in the dead of winter. Fulfills my desire to hear ‘wizard pissing into the wind’ tremolos. Also, this is what the unrecoverable bodies on Mt. Everest are hit by every day.
Here’s what I mean: Curiously, while Der böse Geist could be characterized as castle metal, with production that sounds like a cold wind blowing through a keep, the leads are actually pretty inviting, maximizing their hooky humability. The bracing aspect, then, is Windkelch and Sturmfriedt’s playing, which must’ve cost each musician a pint of spilled plasma. In tortured music critic speak, this is a spirited performance. Less euphemistically, goddamn, this stuff is mean. If Final Eclipse’s The Dark World, a killer record that pairs well with this one, was an album you could scale a mountain to, Nimbifer’s Der böse Geist is when the post-blizzard rescuers find your body, and you’re wearing a mask of ice. Absolutely intense, biting stuff.
Hurray For the Riff Raff - The Past is Still Alive (Nonesuch Records)
Genre: folk
From: New Orleans, LA
Alynda Segarra’s best set of songs with their best band. A bunch of lyrics that have been burned into my brain: “Thawing out my heart like meat/ I see your track marks poking through your hoodiе sleeve/ Tic-tac-toe game to thе destiny/ I grieve” (“Alibi”); “I know that it's dangerous, but I wanna see you undress/ Wrap you up in the bomb shelter of my feather bed” (“Colossus of Roads”); “You hold my hand so patient/ Sometimes, I yell and scream and throw shit, and/ Then the moment's over, and/ Suddenly, a boulder is just sand/ In an hourglass” (“Hourglass”). Sat in the sonic shotgun seat on many drives home.
Indek - Yope (Yope Lizards)
Genre: IDM / glitch
From: Kent, OH
While V-snares hibernates, Indek fills the void. Caterwauling glitch insanity.
Tantric Bile - Cursed Conception (Putrefactive Recordings)
Genre: extremely hard bop / noise
From: California, USA
lol.
Raoul Eden - Anima (self-released)
Genre: American primitivism / folk
From: France
Strictly for my Robbie Basho heads.
divr - Is This Water (We Jazz Records)
Genre: jazz
From: Switzerland
A jazz trio with experimental touches. Reminds me a bit of Vijay Iyer Trio’s Accelerando regarding its pulled-taffy approach to time.
Fuera De Sektor - Juegos Prohibidos (La Vida Es Un Mus Discos)
Genre: punk / post-punk
From: Spain
Driving, goth-adjacent punk in the mold of X but with guitars that glisten like sunshine on water.
Chaser - Planned Obsolescence (Decoherence Records)
Genre: noise rock
From: New York City, NY
Snotty noise rock that has a technical, mathy quality. Did you like Luge? You’ll like this.
Real Bad Man & Lukah - Temple Needs Water. Village Needs Peace. (Old Soul Music & Real Bad Man Records)
Genre: hip hop
From: Los Angeles, CA / Memphis, TN
The ‘Memphis by way of NY boom bap’ flow of my favorite current MC gets a warmer production. Uh huh!
Agriculture - Living is Easy (self-released)
Genre: black metal
From: Los Angeles, CA
Good on record, even better live. The electricity connecting the crowd as one ecstatic organism made these songs click.
Jenny Don’t and the Spurs - Broken Hearted Blue (Fluff & Gravy Records)
Genre: country / punk
From: Portland, OR
The hard-touring quartet cuts this year's best ‘suns out, windows down’ record. Oodles of charisma along with a wide-open Western atmosphere.
Intranced - Muerte y Metal (High Roller Records)
Genre: heavy metal
From: Los Angeles, CA
Recalls the glory days of ‘80s real-deal heavy metal in Los Angeles. Can imagine these shredders grabbing a drink at the Rainbow Room after a Dio-attended set with Hellion.
Asphalt - E.P. IV / V (self-released)
Genre: death metal / sludge
From: Portland, OR
Heard you liked big, stupid riffs that’ll make you stomp around like a dinosaur with a brain injury.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
Asphalt recently posted a behind-the-scenes look at the recording process for “Melted Skull,” a song that they tacked onto E.P. IV after its initial release. (This is a trend. Every one of these EPs has had an expanding tracklist. It’s one of the better deals in metal because you’ll know you’ll get more eventually.) It’s about what you’d expect: M.S.W. and T.A.S. pounding away at a deadly groove, and then T.A.S. recording vocals that sound like a bear trained to take over the mic if Catacombs ever resurfaces. But what separates Asphalt from the morass of try-less bong-toke burnouts and strung-out sludge impressionists that have diluted the effectiveness of the style is that this two-piece has “it.” That’s a hard thing to quantify, but you know it when you hear it when your head reflexively starts to bang to a riff. The critical ingredient that makes this Asphalt alchemy work, then, is M.S.W. and T.A.S.’s feel for the material, a sixth sense of knowing precisely when to trigger the grimace you make when the riff is too sick. I used to love this stuff, so it’s nice to hear a collection of songs that remind me of the glory days. And, given that 2024 already contains E.P. IV, along with a comeback from Toadliquor and a rebound from Iron Monkey, perhaps the sludgenaissance is finally upon us.
https://www.stereogum.com/2253671/alvaro-domene-interview/columns/the-black-market/
Álvaro Domene & Tom Law - Warning Bells (Iluso Records)
Genre: jazz
From: New York, USA
One of the most creative guitarists in jazz is joined by Tom Law. The result is like if Kevin Drumm started getting into Frippertronics. Dark yet beautiful. Domene released four other bangers this year, but for the sake of space, I wanted to highlight the one that impacted me the most.
You can read a whole dang profile on Álvaro Domene by clicking here.
Noor - Mother's Guilty Pleasure Part One (self-released)
Genre: power metal
From: Québec
Delighted they’re still making these bands down at the prog power factory. Where did this come from? ‘80s-style USPM, but it’s from Canada. Think Crimson Glory or even the more powered-up side of Liege Lord. Everyone will have this patch on their vest in a few years. Sew it on now.
Nicolette & The Nobodies - The Long Way (self-released)
Genre: country
From: Canada
Hard-rockin’ country with just enough twang. “Rodeo” would wear out the jukebox buttons in a honky tonk. Makes sense a place with a national motto of “sore-y” would be so good at country.
Genital Shame - Chronic Illness Wish (self-released)
Genre: black metal
From: Pittsburgh, PA
A breath of fresh air in experimental black metal, using that experimentalism to cut together memorable tracks that aren’t didactic exercises in performative weirdness.
Kvadrat - The Horrible Dissonance of Oblivion (Total Dissonance Worship)
Genre: death metal
From: Greece
What I’ve wanted out of Ulcerate for a long time. Fitting album title. If oblivion has these kinds of riffs, perhaps it’s time to take the trip.
Gordon Grdina's The Marrow - With Fathieh Honari (self-released)
Genre: jazz
From: Canada
Gordon Grdina leads this jazz quintet, shredding the heck out of the oud. Fathieh Honari’s vocals are stirringly beautiful. An album for a weekend afternoon. An album for your soul.
Convulsing - Perdurance (self-released)
Genre: death metal
From: Australia
A triumph in the burgeoning field of BIG FEELINGS metal. Think Crimson III if Edge of Sanity were tasked with scoring the most soul-wrenching movie of all time.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
But the near-13-minute “Endurance,” Perdurance‘s closer, although there’s a bonus track treat if you buy the album, makes me feel the most. To me, the song gets at something that has been on my mind lately: While this world crashes and burns, the connection fostered within relationships and community will help ameliorate that sense of hopelessness. And, I mean, of course, the music is dynamite. “Endurance” is Convulsing at its most dynamic and evocative, an alternately brutal and beautiful death metal track that hits all of the project’s high points, from the inferno blasts to the journeying progressive progressions to the lush and lachrymose death/doom trudges. But what wallops me, taking the wind out of me every time, is the feeling. “The depth of a love/ restores me in all moments/ how precious you are/ I’ll endure a while longer.” Perdurance is an album that will do precisely that: It will endure and inspire you to do the same.
Justicar - Outbound Flight (self-released)
Genre: power metal / prog
From: USA
The only Star Wars-related project I’ve cared about in decades. Turns out, I just need riffs to keep me interested.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
The pitch is simple: Justicar’s debut EP is power metal about Star Wars. But unlike other things that sound too good to be true in the garbage reality we unfortunately inhabit, everything about this group keeps improving the more you learn about it. For one, Outbound Flight, the band’s two-song hello-there, cares not for the mainstream Star Wars canon, choosing instead to explore the Expanded Universe, particularly the works of Timothy Zahn. For another, the lineup oozes talent, consisting of some Black Market regulars: Guitarists Alicia Cordisco, Joshua Payne, and third/live shredder Jeff Taft, along with bassist Leona Hayward, have been in these pages before for Judicator, Transgressive, Owlbear, Project: Roenwolfe, and Wraithstorm. Joining the crew is Valyria’s Jordan Rutledge on vocals, providing the soaring singing these majestic riffs deserve. And that’s the other thing: the nearly 10-minute “Outbound Flight” rips. Think of feeding prime Blind Guardian riffs into highly active song structures. And, like smugglers on the run, “Outbound Flight” doesn’t stop moving, making fine use of its power metal hyperdrive.
The Fearless Flyers - The Fearless Flyers IV (Vulf Records)
Genre: funk
From: Los Angeles, CA
As catchy as it is mind-twistingly technical. And yet, somehow loose. I mean, listen to that expansive pocket. Nate Smith is a god, and I offer myself as a sacrifice for the continued divinity of his snare tone.
Toadliquor - Back In the Hole (Southern Lord Records)
Genre: sludge / drone
From: Arroyo Grande, CA
Cultly beloved sludgesters hit the comeback trail with an album that is better than anyone could’ve expected. The authors of “Charred,” one of the best sludge/doom songs ever recorded, break a nearly 25-year hiatus to make a record that sits comfortably alongside its 1993 debut, Feel My Hate - The Power Is the Weight. Recommended to masochists who want to get clobbered by crushing heaviness and despairing, ‘I’m dying’ vocals. Finally, heh heh, Back in the Hole.
Public Acid - Deadly Struggle (Beach Impediment Records)
Genre: punk / hardcore
From: North Carolina, USA
Zero bullshit punk pummeling via the trusty d-beat. No more, definitely not less.
Shock Withdrawal - The Dismal Advance (Brutal Panda Records)
Genre: death/grind
From: Los Angeles, CA
Equally death and grind. Like if Assuck made its own Harmony Corruption.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
When the trio’s powers combine, “Pain Absorption Threshold” is what comes flying out, Dismal Advance‘s most high-octane burner. That said, don’t say Shock Withdrawal isn’t just a high-tempo blur. Even that wild-eyed rager contains a near-melodic bridge that is Nasum-esque. To yank on the e-break and fly around a corner so deftly demonstrates a real sense of craft that only comes after putting in the reps. To that end, Luna has some fine advice for up-and-comers, telling New Noise Magazine in a different interview, “Enjoy the fucking ride, no matter how pointless and bleak it might feel. Create some art. Help someone. Play some fucking grindcore.” If Dismal Advance is the result, I think it’s worth heeding Shock Withdrawal’s advice.
Yurei - Oslo Hollender (Bjeima)
Genre: alt rock / prog
From: Norway
Do you miss Virus? Yurei helps to fill that hole in all of our hearts. Doleful and dexterous, this Norwegian outsider spins out riffs that sound like noir films look.
Reggie Quinerly - The Thousandth Scholar (Redefinition Music)
Genre: jazz
From: Los Angeles, CA
Reggie Quinerly is an absolute beast of a drummer, somehow playing with an undaunted power and subtle gentleness. Here, the leader is joined by three others to explore Afro-Cuban music. All players bring it, but shout out to pianist Manuel Valera for shining extra bright.
Water Damage - In E (12XU)
Genre: prog / noise rock
From: Austin, TX
Four side-long explorations of fuzzed-out grooves. It’s cliche to say, but In E is an album one sinks into, not unlike Terry Riley’s In C. However, this dectet will escalate your tinnitus.
Frail Body - Artificial Bouquet (Deathwish Inc.)
Genre: screamo
From: Rockford, IL
The skramz renaissance is in full swing.
Hannah Frances - Keeper of the Shepherd (Ruination)
Genre: folk
From: Chicago, IL
Obsessed with this album. The depth of Joanna Newsom in a package I find less precious, almost like if Hissing-era Joni Mitchell cut a country-adjacent album. The title track is stunning, a labyrinthine jazz-country picker with a rhythm like a wagon rolling over rough terrain. There’s a bunch of sick Pentangle guitar stuff underneath the layers, too. If you like Laura Marling, you owe it to yourself to jam this one. In a year full of gold, Keeper is a diamond.
Crimson Twilight - Luminous Residual Energy (Nebulae Artifacta)
Genre: black metal
From: Parts Unknown
For those who bemoan black metal’s tendency to misplace the bass, here's your release. This solo project from Boreal’s AEF goes hard on the low-end widdles, giving these four tracks of ripping black metal in the Ukrainian mold some satisfying sproinginess.
Volp - Vortex (Zegema Beach Records & Tomb Tree Tapes)
Genre: metalcore
From: France
What Hellmotel was to Converge, Volp is to KEN mode. I think Vortex is more fully realized, though, standing on its own. That said, the nostalgia is there if you hold it in your heart. I definitely thought this was a band that I caught on tour with Breather Resist for a second.
The Minneapolis Uranium Club - Infants Under the Bulb (ANTI FADE & Static Shock Records)
Genre: punk
From: Minneapolis, MN
Somehow more and less quirky than its previous album, the outstanding The Cosmo Cleaners. The conceit remains the same: what if Minutemen but Devo. However, this quartet keeps pushing the boundaries of what it can be while polishing its songs into hook-filled nuggets.
Bilious Miasma - Bilious Miasma (Ordo Vampyr Orientis)
Genre: black metal
From: Parts Unknown
Ordo Vampyr Orientis strikes again. Like the initials suggest, Bilious Miasma is Black Metal, but a suitably twisted version, like a deranged vampire starved of blood. Oneiric, of Doldrum and the kvltly beloved Erraunt, goes the extra mile with the vocals.
meth. - Shame (Prosthetic Records)
Genre: noise rock / sludge / metalcore
From: Parts Unknown
I recently caught meth. live (perhaps telling my job I was heading into the city for meth. wasn't the brightest idea), and the experience made me appreciate this heaving slab of noise even more. Meth. does to sludge what early Swans did to no wave, turning the style into a terrifying outlet for examining trauma while sonically inflicting it.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
So, to me, SHAME sounds like a struggle, the Sisyphean pursuit of trying to find yourself when you’re trapped within trauma’s chaos. “Blackmail,” one of the more chaotic tracks of the bunch, complete with a Pyrrhon-esque commitment to aural annihilation, feels like trying to tread water during the Sturm und Drang of life’s low points. Put more simply, it feels real. Authentic. Thus, that authenticity, that vulnerable griminess, is cathartic in the way that someone recognizing and empathizing with your pain can be freeing. In turn, that catharsis feels more earned than a labored-over groove scientifically engineered to make one’s head nod.
https://www.stereogum.com/2253671/alvaro-domene-interview/columns/the-black-market/
Wolf-Rayet - Emperium (self-released)
Genre: black metal
From: Oakland, CA
Void Omnia quietly called it a day back in 2019 and thus exited one of the better USBM bands that could race along the ramparts with the same intensity as Weakling. Wolf-Rayet contains half of that band's deadly tremolo battery: guitarist Tyler Schroeder. Vocalist Jamison Kester (Labored Breath, Wretched Stench) is here, too, making Emperium something of a mini-reunion. But where Void Omnia's Dying Light was the sound of a sentient star trying to escape a black hole, Wolf-Rayet is more earthbound. You can almost hear the clink of chain mail as knights prepare their swords for battle.
Drahla - angeltape (Captured Tracks)
Genre: post-punk
From: UK
It’s fascinating how a band this biting and jittery can sound so cool and collected at the same time. It’s like if there was a supergroup uniting Essential Logic with The Waitresses.
Radical Kitten - Uppercat (a metric crapton of labels, I’m not listing all of them)
Genre: punk
From: France
Let’s not overthink this one: “Fake as Fuck” rips, pinging around with rrriot-esque calls and responses. Been on every mixtape I’ve made this year, whether people like it or not.
Cave Sermon - Divine Laughter (self-released)
Genre: omnicore
From: Australia
Charlie Park, Cave Sermon’s sole proprietor, taps MICO’s Miguel Méndez to add vocals to Cave Sermon’s appropriately varied and layered omnicore. The result is a deeper listen that resonates with the power of the human voice. But Park’s compositions are also stronger this time around, emphasizing the contrasts between darkness and light, and achieving this rare duality that feels like a whole.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
“Beyond Recognition” contains all of Cave Sermon’s components: soul-rending black metal riffs, pneumatic press death metal lurches, and Breach-y post-metal trudges. But what’s most striking on those first few listens are the avant-garde stretches, such as the Stars Of The Lid-like drone break in the middle of the track that follows a brief noise section that’s like a hungry black hole devouring the song. That layered swell, of something bursting forth from nothing, feels like the sun rising. And, at the song’s conclusion, those aforementioned black/death/post-metal fusion riffs seem to sparkle because of it, as if fragments of melody are refracting that sunlight.
Winifred Horan, John Williams, Katie Grennan, Utsav Lal - Reverie Road (self-released)
Genre: folk
From: New York, NY
Nifty, modern take on Celtic music that adds a jazzy undertow. Not for everyone, but if this is your thing, it’ll really be your thing.
MooM - Plague Infested Urban Dump of the Future (so many labels)
Genre: powerviolence
From: Israel
The Spazz we need for this darkest timeline. A ruthless blender of rapid riffs, thunderous blasts, and defiant howls, all played with the kind of desperation incited by feeling the pull of the void.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
Like Stress Positions, Eastwood, No Faith, or any of the other core/violence bands I’ve unapologetically crammed into this metal space, MooM’s sped-up sludge riffs, blazing blasts, and searing screams provide an accessible bridge for metalheads. In other words, Plague Infested Urban Dump Of The Future goes hard as hell, taking the Spazz/Slap-a-Ham template and reforming it to fit the band’s own voice. Drummer Ariel H. Oliva and bassist Gad Torrefranca lock in to create pounding passages that leave bruises. Idan Ezra’s guitar slashes and bares its teeth like a cornered alley cat. Brami yelps and screams, giving one of those cathartic performances that feels like turning the relief valve on your most frustrating day. And, if you find yourself a citizen of the Plague Infested Urban Dump Of The Future, MooM’s voice is your voice, too.
Ὁπλίτης - Παραμαινομένη (self-released)
Genre: black metal / zeuhl
From: China
Easily the Chinese solo outfit’s most eclectic release, tempering its characteristically incensed chaos with saxophone and other surprises. “I have been fighting for a long time, my soul is torn apart,” read the translated liner notes, “but I am angry and angry... and you, are you angry?” Yes.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
Even “‘Ἡ τῶν λυσσημάτων ἄγγελος,” ΠαραμαινομένηὉπλίτης most caustic offering and closest to the Ὁπλίτης that ripped through everyone’s Bandcamp collections last year, is a massive leap forward in its experimental inclinations. The song features two of ΠαραμαινομένηὉπλίτης recurring elements: a zeuhl-y saxophone (think Zao or Laktating Yak) and spoken word delivered in what I believe is hexameter (as you can judge by my writing, I am neither a poet nor a linguist). Still, what keeps me coming back to the track is its all-out rhythmic absurdity. There are riffs on this song that sound like Converge’s When Forever Comes Crashing sucked into a wormhole that spills out into Florid Ekstasis’ where’s-the-one universe. And then, check out the precise jackhammer riffs at 1:42 that are like molten Meshuggah chugs poured into the twisted molds of Thantifaxath. Somehow, that’s not even “Ἡ τῶν λυσσημάτων ἄγγελος”‘s centerpiece. No, that’s at 4:58 when Ὁπλίτης erase the song in the same way Rauschenberg did to a de Kooning, leaving a stretch of negative space and brief flashes of boo-scare chords that pop out from the void and would give even Car Bomb heart palpitations. Wild. I’d love to say I can’t wait to hear what’s next, but I think I’m going to be untangling Παραμαινομένη for a long time.
Who knew the person behind Ὁπλίτης was so into zeuhl? That's one of the takeaways from a recent edition of "The War Inside My Head" that ran on Machine Music. "Younger Zeuhl bands like Le Grand Sbam definitely deserves more attention instead of 100 monthly listeners," the prolific musician said. Hot damn, a Le Grand Sbam sighting. That's not something I would've expected before listening to Ὁπλίτης's newest album, Παραμαινομένη. Now, it makes perfect sense.
Ellie Bleach - Now Leaving West Feldwood (self-released)
Genre: pop / alternative
From: UK
Fun concept EP about the fictional locale West Feldwood. Bleach’s witty lyricism and hooks are what carries this collection, though. “Pamela” is bound to be an early morning earworm for the rest of time.
Hands of Goro - Hands of Goro (Nameless Grave Records)
Genre: heavy metal
From: San Francisco, CA
Imagine if Mortal Kombat were scored by Slough Feg doing a scummier version of Deep Purple. Tremble, meek Earthrealm residents.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
“Goro will dominate over Earthrealm,” goes Hands Of Goro’s one-line Bandcamp bio, and by Raiden, this trio delivers. Joining Maestas and Draper is distinguished drummer Avinash Mittur, who was last in these pages for Wretched Stench and Nite and is also my friend, thus why Hands Of Goro, the band’s debut album, is popping up in the bonus section. Together, the three have crafted eight killer selections that mix Trad Belt-style heavy metal with a deep purple hue with something the group has appropriately dubbed as scumbag rock. It’s all driving rhythms, riotous riffs, and odyssean song structures. And “Uncanny” is the right entry point because of course it is. Goro already knew it would be.
https://www.stereogum.com/2253671/alvaro-domene-interview/columns/the-black-market/
USA Nails - Feel Worse (One Little Independent Records)
Genre: noise rock / post-hardcore
From: UK
Boy, do we ever, USA Nails. The abrasive and acidic quartet carries on the sonic tradition of Mclusky while exploring its own societal dislikes.
Mean Mistreater - Razor Wire (Dying Victims Productions)
Genre: heavy metal
From: Austin, TX
A delightful road trip-ready album of speedy heavy metal that doles out hooks with the same zeal as a people-pleasing pill pusher. Janiece Gonzalez can absolutely wail.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
“Life’s much sweeter when you’re speeding.” Mean Mistreater, put it on a shirt. That quintessentially heavy metal line comes from “Let ‘Em Roll,” one of the many highlights on the Austin quintet’s debut full-length, Razor Wire. You might recall one of the other highlights: “Bleeding The Night,” the song I built an impassioned plea around to award these speedy tradsters the 2023 metal song of the summer. But that was back when the weather was warm, and I wasn’t afflicted by Seasonal Affective Disorder. So, the question is, in the frozen part of the calendar customarily reserved for the starkest/dorkiest black metal, would Mean Mistreater similarly ensorcell me with their NWOTHM gusto? Yeah. Of course. This band and album run hot, turning any listening session into the fist-pumping freedom of a summer night. And it pulls this transformative metal magick off by being itself, which is precisely what singer Janiece Gonzalez told us a few months ago when I asked how Mean Mistreater set themselves apart from 50 years of heavy metal history.
https://www.stereogum.com/2253671/alvaro-domene-interview/columns/the-black-market/
Replicant - Infinite Mortality (Transcending Obscurity)
Genre: death metal
From: NEW JERSEY DEATH METAL
If you ever wished Disembodied got Steeve Hurdle on guitar, here's your album. Tech-ish widdles and total dissonance worship meet the kind of chugs that lead to your face getting stepped on if you stand too close to the stage.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
Right, in a write-up following the New Jerseyans’ previous album, 2021’s Malignant Reality, Doug Moore told the tale of an internet commentator trying to roast the band for being “Gorguts for morons.” Instead, this put-down gassed the band up, becoming something of a credo. True to form, Infinite Mortality is ruthless in pursuing meathead riffs. And, goddamn, does it ever flex its muscles in that regard.
Look no further than Infinite Mortality‘s opening track, “Acid Mother.” Within the first few moments, we’re already fully in the blech zone, with singer Michael Gonçalves unleashing a hearty one. “When I approach vocals, I go for what comes naturally,” Gonçalves said to Burning Ambulance. “I admire the stylings of John Tardy (Obituary), Steeve Hurdle (Gorguts, Negativa), and Tomas Lindberg (At the Gates), so I try to achieve something within that realm. My goal is to channel my emotions through the vocals rather than pure guttural brutality. Besides, I don’t have the vocal chops to do those super brutal vocals, so I just stick with what I know.”
Knoll - As Spoken (Total Dissonance Worship)
Genre: grind / death metal
From: Tennessee, USA
Your mileage may vary with the lyrics, which are like James Joyce writing fortune cookies, but the music rips universally. Think the cryptic death metal of Portal condensed into furious grind. Plus, the occasional bleat of a trumpet keeps you on your toes. I recently saw Knoll live and can attest it's as crushing in person as it is on record, particularly singer James Eubanks's screams, which reminded me of an even more incensed Mark Moots from December.
Take “Revile Of Light,” a track that is particularly intense — another word that feels like a cheap stand-in for the kind of onslaught that Knoll are now pursuing. The opening, with its squelch-slinging riffs from guitarist Ryan Cook and bassist Lukas Quatermaine, inferno-inducing blasts courtesy of drummer Jack Anderson, and paint-peeling screeches from vocalist James Eubanks, is unrelenting, intense, brutal, and a host of other ineffective words that could illustrate its power as well as the raised areas on a topographical globe represent a mountain range. Because, jeez, you want to talk about power? Listen to “Revile Of Light”‘s middle, which features guitars swirling around a trumpet like a stormy sea swallowing a fishing boat that shouldn’t be out that far. Or sink into the the finale, a dark ambient drone recorded in the space between life and whatever is next, which might as well be those doomed sailors pulled under, watching the moon’s light vanish as they sink toward their tomb.
https://www.stereogum.com/2253671/alvaro-domene-interview/columns/the-black-market/
Madder Mortem - Old Eyes, New Heart (Dark Essence Records)
Genre: prog / doom
From: Norway
As the title implies, an older, wiser Madder Mortem that continues to refresh and redefine its sound. The wax/wane of the aggressive songs giving way to ballads provides Old Eyes, New Heart an immersive flow. But each song seems uniquely positioned to explore the human condition via introspective lyrics or passages that are hummably infectious on the surface and hideously complex underneath. Also, goddamn, can Agnete M. Kirkevaag sing. One of metal's wonders.
“Master Tongue” is one of those angry songs taking on a different form. Musically, the fascinatingly intricate and detailed primal scream sounds like Virus fusing with Mastodon. The oblique, spidery runs in the verses set up the heaving sludge of the chorus and bridges. It’s muscular yet delicate, a descriptor that could also be applied to singer Agnete M. Kirkevaag’s world-class dynamic and nuanced delivery, that singular voice inspiring every metal writer to beseech you to listen to this band whenever it releases an album. And, like those vocals, you can lose yourself in all the sonic details of the song — guitarists BP M. Kirkevaag and Anders Langberg and bassist Tormod Langøien Moseng must’ve burned a whole riff notebook on this song alone. However, the sheer force of “Master Tongue”‘s impact makes it one of the most immediate on Old Eyes, New Heart. Compare it to “My Name Is Silence,” one of the great singles from Madder Mortem’s early days, and you can hear how much the band has grown. “For us, I think it’s been more of an ongoing transition from starting up relatively inexperienced and learning a lot on the way that has led us to this point,” BP explained to No Clean Singing in 2016. “Also, it seems like the albums are always somewhat a reaction to the previous one, although not intentional.”
Scavenger - Beyond the Bells (No Remorse Records)
Genre: heavy metal
From: Belgium
Delightfully glittery heavy metal muscle. Slavishly ‘80s but fresh enough to keep a 2024 BBQ entertained.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
The best track of the bunch on the pleasingly consistent Beyond The Bells is “Nosferatu,” which edges the rest thanks to a chorus earworm as persistent as its namesake’s bite. A lot of that catchiness is courtesy of Callebaut’s vocals, which are like a second lead guitar screaming across the track like a jet. When the band locks in for the hook, Callebaut’s call and response with herself is that classic ’80s songcraft, maximizing its sonic payload of satisfying heavy metal fromage. And then you get to the solo section, and oh baby, does Scavenger ever level up. Guitarists Demesmaeker and Tim Naessens go full blowtorch mode while bassist Vincent DL and drummer Gabriel DS cook underneath, avoiding the hamfistedness of its forebears. It’s a killer example of a new band subtly tweaking an old formula to work in the present, which is fitting considering Scavenger’s history. A Metal Song of the Summer contender has emerged.
https://www.stereogum.com/2265752/rezn-burden-interview/columns/the-black-market/
Pestilength - Solar Clorex (Debemur Morti Productions)
Genre: death metal / sludge / black metal
From: Spain
Considering this Spanish bass/drum duo can shake the earth with more force than Krakatoa, it's intriguing that Solar Clorex's most affecting moments are its quietest. "Enthronos Wormwomb," a death-rattling death/doomer that otherwise sounds like Impetuous Ritual having a nervous breakdown in the middle of a monster truck rally, has a beautiful near-jangle middle section with chiming Portraits of Past-esque guitars swallowing the still-extremely barfy vocals. Dope. Digression: I'm still convinced this band is related to some heavy hitters in the Spanish scene, much like how we learned that Wormed's Phlegeton is in Altarage.
Contaminated - Celebratory Beheading (Blood Harvest Records)
Genre: death metal
From: Australia
Fun synthesis of death metal and punky grind from members who have logged time in Roskopp and Rawhead, among other bands. Still, Celebratory Beheading’s best moments are when the quintet slows down to a death/doom stomp, dialing up a death metal density that’s like Legion-era Deicide deciding to do an Incantation. Oh, I should also mention that there’s a song titled “Apex CHUD.” Finally, caught ’em live. Worth your time. However, I regret to inform you that the related Rawhead is dunzo.
Coffin Curse - The Continuous Nothing (Memento Mori)
Genre: death metal
From: Chile
This duo that shares members with Inanna like their death metal as if it crawled out of the same primordial pool that birthed bands like Necrovore, just spliced with a Dutch thrashiness and the frenzied spirit of Chilean classics.. Despite its progressive inclinations, Inanna likes to call itself simply death metal. Coffin Curse leaves no question when it comes to that designation.
REZN - Burden (Sargent House)
Genre: doom / psych
From: Chicago, IL
I wrote a whole ding dang profile about ‘em.
Ischemic - Condemned to the Breaking Wheel (self-released)
Genre: doom / death/doom
From: Canada
Not unlike Triptykon in its pursuit of bone-crunching heaviness, but far closer to a slowed-down Bolt Thrower.
Insect Ark - Raw Blood Singing (Debemur Morti Productions)
Genre: doom
From: Germany
All hail the return of Dana Schechter on vocals. With drummer Tim Wyskida in tow, this is easily the best Insect Ark album, making fabulous use of negative space.
What I’ve written elsewhere:
On “Youth Body Swayed,” Schechter’s voice is like a thunderhead forming in the distance over a desert plain, gently reverberating with long-off rumbles that have a power to what they portend. She can convey so much with her tone alone, simultaneously voicing the text and subtext, weaving the two together. Naturally, Wyskida is a perfect foil for that style. If “Youth Body Swayed” is a wide-open Western expanse, with Schechter’s bass acting as an ever-present wind that uproots the piano arpeggios tumbleweeds, then Wyskida’s backbeat has a cowboy-spurs-esque stomp. But the more you listen to it, the more you’re drawn to what’s happening between those stomps. Wyskida’s ghost notes are like turning over a rock and seeing how much life is teeming in a harsh terrain. That’s Insect Ark in a nutshell. It examines the infinities between whole numbers, showing how much exists in the void.
https://www.stereogum.com/2265752/rezn-burden-interview/columns/the-black-market/
Vijay Iyer, Linda Oh & Tyshawn Sorey - Compassion (ECM)
Genre: jazz
From: USA
What a trio. Iyer is, of course, a master of wringing emotion out of passages, and Oh and Sorey are right there with him. Sorey, in particular, continues to be one of the most interesting drummers in jazz.
Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown (Domino Record Co.)
Genre: folk / post-rock
From: UK
Initially thought this was as close as we’re going to get to a Portishead album, but Lives Outgrown does indeed outgrow that narrow appraisal. The album I put on most nights.
Cassie Kinoshi's seed. - gratitude (International Anthem)
Genre: jazz
From: UK
Makes up for quantity (Reign in Blood-ass runtime) with quality. Jazz with strings? I’m always in, but especially glad I made it in for this one.
***
Shout out to every album I forgot. I’ll make it up to you in six months.
Check out Wolf's other garbage: https://linktr.ee/wrambatz
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