markm

No Cannibal Corpse or King Gizzard?

From the many things you might have missed in 2023 listings: Kurelty/Untopia/Japanese OSDM with an obvious Swededeath nod along with some hardcore and doom. Pretty good. Sermon/Of Golden Verse-progressive metal but clearly not limited to prog fans-heavy melodic dark gothic rock maybe...Katonia'ish but hits heavier than todays Katatonia. Some Toolisms, Porcupine Tree. This has some appeal for me, but on the softer part the vocals, like a lot of prog vox is way too pristine and saccharine and I feel like I'm listening to a Richard Marx pop song, ugh.

Dead is a complex, troubled dude. At one time I thought he was pretty much an educated white supremist neo Nazi type dressed up in work clothes with his love war as the most successful human endeavor in its innovation of human progress and belief that Caucasians organize their societies more effectively than brown skinned ethnic groups shit. Then, he was on good behavior more recently. OK, you skudmuffins are breaking my new release flow and so I'm checking out some of y'alls shit: Komodus/ Wreath of Bleeding Snowfall-I don't hate this by any stretch 3 tracks in and could grow on me. Summoned by the goat god gave this one a listen-Rorcal/Silence-Ah yes, a blackened post sludge sort of album here....a bit like LLNN with a blackened stretched out sludge vibe. Pretty cool 3 tracks in or so.

More 2023: Big/Brave-Nature Morte-experimental drone/noise/doom-I've had this all year-mesmerizing experimental drone noise album Outer Heaven/Infinite Psychic Depths -uh, death metal-big fan of this one Scowl/Psychic Dance Routine (hardcore) Thy Catafalque/Alföld -progressive metal-a heavier affair than the last one Ne Obliviscaris/Exul-prog black PASSÉISME – Alternance -melodic, ecstatic BM, think I'll pick this one up Rezn/Solace (rock) Gel/Only Constant/Hardcore Year of the Knife/No Love Lost-hardcore/metallic hardcore-want to revisit this Lamp of Murmuur/Saturnian Bloodstorm -just grabbed this on Bandcamp-BM with a strong Immortal influence on this one which suits me fine Boris/Heavy Rocks (2002)-Boris has put out 3 "heavy Rocks" albums and the 2002 version is the best. I've been looking for a copy for years but it was out of print. Thanks to Chris Voss's list on Nine Circles. I learned that in 2023, they finally released Heavy Rocks from 2002 on vinyl, CD and streaming. In the early 2000's they were mostly playing drone. Heavy Rocks started their exploration into heavy psyche stoner rock and it's awesome. This is a great entry point for their pull no punches rock style before they started experimenting with post/gazey genres, hardcore and the like. Now, I need them to rerelease Dronevil from '05. https://boris.bandcamp.com/album/heavy-rocks-2002

Crymych/Endless Fucking Winter (23)-This one is growing on me. It's so unusual, I had to listen to it a couple of times. Essentially, it's weird, ambient low-fi ish synthy drones with haunting black metal vocals buried in the background. It's a little like the ambient pieces of Paysage d'Hiver's Im Wald without the scathing black metal parts. There's something alluring about it though.

Yeah man, I'm sure you have!

Yeah, it is hard keep a good crew going. We had our fun back at M-F and saw loads of people come and go. Who knows why, exactly? I was all over the boards at one time and then lost some enthusiasm....other interests...life. I think I thought the big releases were higher quality. There were developments I found exciting and then some of the sub genres played out for me and got stale. The desire to connect with random strangers who then become online friends and the unwavering focus you have...you're a unique personality suited for the long haul. I really come to get recos and keep my foot in the community but my extra curriculars take precedent. I don't have the relentless interest in the constant hunt for music. And I get weary of the daily banter that seems to fascinate some of you. The chit chat. It reminds me of a quote from A Merchant of Venice...I had to look it up as I couldn't place it. I played a comic character named Gratiano in Merchant in a college Shakespeare troupe over 30 years ago Another character (Antonio I think) describes the character I played, Gratiano saying, Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff: you shall seek all day ere you find them, and when you have them, they are not worth the search. I used to spend a lot of time putting together my gear and that was an interest. M-F at the beginning was the right group of nerds who came together over sound and interest in heavy music. At one time, I had a group of guys with more cross over in taste that were fun to shoot the shit with. And, then some of the more eccentric jerk offs got irritating. It's not easy finding like minded music fans you connect with that aren't dicks. I've had a good time here. The winter is a good time for me to hole up with new music and get through the dark months. I find myself this time of year with a stack of downloads and CDs and it's fun when I have more new music than I can realistically absorb while still listening to new stuff. I'm trying to listen to my new albums in my "listening room" in stereo something I don't do for long stretches of time. A lot of it sounds amazing. I'll try to follow some new releases for a while and then get bored with the grind of new releases in the Spring and probably fade for a while. Or, who knows, maybe I'll keep up more in '24.

For reals?

I liked it also. The digital purchase on Bandcamp is $333 which is slightly out of my price range, but a 50% discount from the number of the beast so maybe it's the bargain of the century. Just a wee bit. People love the goofiness. It's so ridiculously bad it's funny. I lasted 3-4 tracks. That's about all I can take. But it is pretty hilarious.

Curta'n Wall - Siege Ubsessed! 2023-I don't know what Surge is talking about? AOTY material. Spirit Posession/Of the Sign (2023)-Took a second listen-but this is pretty awesome.

More 2023 shiiite: Desenterro/Assombrado Pela Ajuda Futurista (from the general as it were) Passéisme/Alternance (black metal)-kinda diggin' on this. Probably not a purchase yet, but it has it's cultish, but not necessarily cvlt'ish (there is a difference) charms Pupil Slicer/Blossom (pop/Nu metalgaze influenced math metal, um Converge-dillinger escape plan-Marilyn Mansoncore, and I'm totally fine with this LOL)-not sure if this qualifies for GG's teeny bopper metal, but it might come close. I still enjoy such drivel on occasion. Harvest/Ruin-Medieval crust punk anyone? Fuck yes, sign me up! This is kinda great in all kind of ways

somehow I found this dude on Youtube...some of his choices gave me a surgical Brute and maybe GG vibe but maybe not nasty enough, some of it seems kind of experimental....checking out some of his recos Crymych-endless fucking winter (2023)-ambient black metal anyone? You'd think this would be some raw black goat shit, but it's quite a head scratcher. Passéisme/Alternance Poison Ruin/Harvest Curta'n Wall - Siege Ubsessed! Spirit Posessed/ Of the Sign... Oh, and I checked out Cannibal Corpse/Chaos Horrific-meh

Yep, we have quite different metallic tastes but there is some crossover and I like to listen to the occasional bestial, neandermetal and will usually give some of your top purchases a quick listen to see if anything strikes my fancy.

I do like checking your EOY recos out when you make strong endorsements. I typically look stuff up on Bandcamp, save to wish list to listen to later. I couldn't find Blazing Corspe, The first video. That's one of my issues with the really underground stuff-hunting it down. If it's on Bandcamp or Spotify, I'll give it a go.

So, I think that Cruciamentum album is underrated. To me it's one of the best death metal albums I've heard this year. A notch down from Vastum and Outer Heaven but that's because the production feels veiled like the whole thing is covered with damp moss-it doesn't quite pop as shinier, glossier DM which to me is part of it's charm. It's just solid dingy DM that's neither cavernous nor modern sounding-an interesting headspace for DM that requires a certain settling in and patience from the listener, but really good.....that's my take anyway.

Fires in the Distance/ Not Meant For Us (2023)-Did somebody say 90's alternative rock? OK maybe not, but throw in some grunge and sludge and imagine an album with hooky, memorable tracks....and yeah....this. You could do far worse for a hit of punchy 90's nostalgia.

NP: Hellcrash - Demonic Assassinatiön (from Surge's post above). Yup, this is pretty bad ass.

Dying Fetus (first time Dying Fetus listener)/Make Them Beg for Death 2023(I've also never listened to single solitary Cannibal Corpse album). The term I'd use for this is-generic. Krallice/ Mass Cathexis 2 - The Kinetic Infinite (2023)-on F.A.'s reco-wow, this was really interesting-much more, uh, brutal than I was expecting. Damn you F.A., I don't need another '23 purchase but I'm digging on this. Convocation/No Dawn For The Caliginous Night (2023)-Funeral doom (ish) Fires in the Distance/Air Not Meant for Us (2023)-Melodic Death Metal-ethereal doom inflected melodies with lush keys. Godthyrmm/Distortions (2023) Doom-With it's MDB pedigree, I was hoping to like this better than I did. It's a pass for me. Trad doom used to be one of my favorite genres, but so many of the newer trad doom bands like Pallbearer, Khemis etc. don't connect with me beyond a cursory listen. Smoulder/Violent Creed of Vengeance (23)-One of the better power metal albums I've listened to recently, but doesn't hit hard enough, the vocals are too pretty. I want more rough in power metal. Mutoid Man/Mutants (23)-Been meaning to check these guys out for a while. I don't always connect the dots with band members who play in multiple outfits, but sometimes you recognize a sound that's just a little too familiar. Stephen Brodsky plays in any number of experimental/alt outfits like Cave In and Old Man Gloom. His stamp on Heavy Pendulum (2022) is instantly recognizable in this album-rock, punk, metal, prog, what some would call metalcore I suppose. Heavy Pendulum had this 90's grunge influence I like. Whereas Mutoid is more cerebral, wacky, high anergy, catchy but ultimately annoying to this listener. There's a Voivod comparison to be made, but I like Voivod more.

Thanks for that. I wanted to take some time to see some of the interview you posted-I just watched the first 30 minutes of the video. Cody seems like a down to earth, articulate guy, naught a broootal demon degenerate. Like, kind of a normal dude. Anyways, cool that you have a relationship with Cody. Given your immutable tastes in all things filthy and corrosive, it demonstrates the strength of a personal connection. As the guy for whom anything after Leprosy in Death's discography is too proggy and technical, I can't image there would be any way this album with it's prog, and gasp post/ambient, gag/alternative influences would see any daylight in the GG rotation. It's an interesting listen and just might get a purchase from me even though this is far out of my usual metal habit. I'd been dipping my toes into this album prior to your post since Afterbirth have been just bathed in praise during list season and as you know, I like to check out anything from any style if I think it might be something new in heavy music I might be missing that might strike my muse, particularly at the end of the year when the dust starts to settle from endless releases. I'm sort of intrigued by this so called sub genre of brutal progressive/technical DM. My sense of "brutal DM" was absolutely NOT THIS. For any new browsers, the GG is a real person and someone who I'll always know by his former online doppelganger, Whitenoise and further, with whom I date back in time with another forum at a site called Metal-fi. We both apparently started listening to extreme metal in our 40's. But while I was a causal fan back in the day, GG as he's affectionately known here, the quintessential New York metalhead lifer, was plugged into the underground since the dark mediaeval times of the mid 70's (that would be the 20th century, kids) or something, whereas I consider myself a music fan first and foremost, who happens to like rock, metal and some punk more than other forms of music but I don't adopt "metal head" as my tombstone title epitaph. The GG and I got to meet IRL at mi casa and he was nice enough to introduce me to Maryland Death Fest before Covid and let me hang out with him and Surgical Brute and their extremo crew. I started listening to death/black in the aughts by way of the internet and usually opted for well known albums I'd see on blogs. So that was a lot of middle of the road DM and second wave Black like Kataklsym, Dark Tranquility, Gorgoroth, Satyricon, those early seminal Darkthrone albums, Immortal, Emperor and Opeth and began gravitated to the OSDM revival later on the late aughts/early 20-teens. GG also used to share these death and black lists which I used to go back in time and put together a DM classic library a few years ago. But, I'm really more of a voyeur than a hardcore enthusiast. My sense of technical brutal DM; my personal reference point coming into it in the aughts would include bands like Nile, early Cryptopsy, Suffocation, maybe Demigod era Behemoth. I'll occasionally check out newer tech death but typically the usual fare of Archspire, Artificial Brain and modern tech death is my least favorite DM genre. And, "The General" despises the genres about 100 times more than I do-LOL. Which brings me back to the post about Afterbirth and the word that comes to mind is-ironic. So, I've been listening to this Afterbirth and Wormhole and Afterbirth, in particular are definitely a different brand of tech/prog DM. IDK, if it's the "brutal" or the "slam" tagline (not gonna lie, I don't really have a handle on what Slam means haha), but it's not the sort of modern slick hyper produced sound I associate with techdeath.

Excellent work as always Sir for your most refined list. There are several including your #1 I will endeavor to investigate!

QOTSA/In Times New Roman...(2023) Smoulder/Violent Creed of Vengeance (2023) Wormhole/Almost Human (2023)

That's a surprise. Thoughts?

Ah, didn't realize there were two. The first one was what came up on my Spotify account. I see it was a 2020 release. I'll have to try the new one. It's definitely not a zone album for me, but I always like putting new and different things in my ears.

Krallice/Mass Cathexis

Yep, I can't get out out of the addictive EOY cycle. Find albums that get me excited, buy albums, read more lists, buy more music. I keep meaning to dig into the music I bought, but then more lists pop up and I keep finding albums I kind of like, listen a 2nd and maybe 3rd time and then like them a lot more and buy more. It's like one of those existential depictions of hell, except I'm having too much fun! Here's what I've been listening to over the past couple of days that I can't get enough of: The Keening/Little Bird: You ever wonder what Sub Rosa would have sounded like if they did an entire album of the folksy, witchy acoustic bits without any metal? OK, probably not, because you're troo and cvlt and Sub Rosa made arty femme post doom, but I love Sub Rosa. Rebecca Vernon must have been integral to their sound, because she was not part of the The Otolith which I liked but was lacking some depth. Here she produces a mostly acoustic album of ghost stories as near as I can tell with that Sub Rosa violin thing and adds some more orchestration here and there with some random metal adjacent, make that very-like six degrees of separation adjacent- for a kind of gothic chamber music folk noir with hints of doom and it's freaking gorgeous. But it took me a couple of listens because, probably like you, I was listening to a bunch of lowbrow death metal'n'shit and my ears weren't primed for what was an album that sounded like a sort of mix of Chelsea Wolfe and Loreena Mckennitt. It's really good, assuming you like tasty female witchy folksy gothy acoustic music, and unlike me, you're probably a real metalhead so I know you you'll hate this. Actually, don't even listen to this. Witch Ripper/The Flight After the Fall-man their promo blurb in Bandcamp namedrops more stoner oriented bands than you can shake a stick at. But, these guys do kinda, sorta sound like you mixed Mastodon, High on Fire, Queen and maybe David Bowie into a blender. Now, if that isn't enough to get Jon's dick hard, then, I need to dress in a slutty outfit and send him pictures of my pussy. JK, I don't have a pussy. Well, I have two-their names are Connie and Luna and I just cleaned their litter boxes because my wife is visiting her brother. Anyway, Witch Ripper is catchy AF. I can't get enough of it atm. Ghorot/Wound-OK, I was just praising the new MIzMOR album which I will buy, because MIZMOR rules. I need another blackened doom album, like I need a hole in my head, or another boring OSDM album or whatever. Took me a couple of spins but I am digging on this album! The vocals are sick and the guitar sludge reminds me a bit of Eagle Twin in spots whom I love. This is pretty dang good. Vastum/Inward to Gethsemane-I love Vastum, but for some reason this didn't connect at first. Now it does. I bought it. Good OSDM with those dual vocals and warped sound. Vastum are one of my favorite DM bands. Great Falls/Objects without Pain-So, just in case you think I fall for every album I see listed, this is on a bunch of sites. I'm going to give it another go, but I'm not feeling it now. Apparently, it's a post hardcore, noise/sludge breakup album and, I mean it's not horrible, but I don't get the hype, whatever....I'm also not feeing Afterbirth with those gurgly burby Demilch vox. I'll take Ken Mode's Void album over this in a heartbeat. Of all the noise albums I've heard (noise in general is having a moment in heavy music, huh? Or maybe it has for a while)-Void is the winner for me with it's eclectic post punk sounds.