Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order by artist):
The Black Dahlia Murder-Servitude
Denzel Curry-King of the Mischievous South Vol.2
Judas Priest-Invincible Shield
Kendrick Lamar-GNX
Remi Wolf-Big Ideas
10.Ripped to Shreds-Sanshi:
Buried deep on the roster of Relapse Records, San Jose-bred Ripped to Shreds is my personal choice for the unfortunate title of Most Exciting Upstart Extreme Metal Band That Basically No One Has Heard Of. They deftly combine a variety of styles (traditional death metal, melodeath, deathgrind) to create a blistering yet consistently unpredictable sound, Brian Do's frantic drumming hits like a fucking artillery attack and vocalist/guitarist Andrew Lee is doing some crazy David Davidson-esque shit with the way he's laying down blistering leads and an array of vile screams on every single track. If this sounds even remotely appealing to you, please go check out Sanshi ASAP.
Top Tracks: 1.Cultivating towards Ascension 2.Feast of the Deceased 3.Force Fed
9.Undeath-More Insane:
Undeath's previous record It's Time... to Rise from the Grave took their old school death metal revival act a bit too far as it had production that was so muddy that it bypassed charming throwback and entered straight into "did they record this is in a sealed bank vault?" territory. Tweaking their sound to something cleaner and catchier on their 3rd LP More Insane proved to be a major win. Embracing something that more closely resembles an homage to Cannibal Corpse than the early Death and Obituary records they were drawing inspiration from previously really elevated their energy level and the volume of killer riffs/breakdowns they pack into these 10 tracks is frankly absurd. Hopefully this style isn't a just pit stop for them because More Insane sounds like a band that has finally found its identity after years of searching for it.
Top Tracks: 1.Disupatious Malignancy 2.More Insane 3.Cramped Caskets (Necrology)
8.Charli XCX-Brat:
Sometimes humility is overrated. For damn near a decade, Charli XCX has been steadily operating on the outskirts of mainstream pop music while getting overshadowed and leapfrogged by a bunch of similar artists that were less seasoned than her. Brat is her way of seizing the stardom that has long alluded her and letting the whole world know that she no longer accepts being treated as anything less than one of the genre's most important artists. Her charmingly overt brashness is perfectly paired with the thumping electronic dance production from her longtime collaborator A.G. Cook and the streak of vulnerability she deploys on tracks like "Sympathy is a Knife", "Girl, So Confusing" and "Talk Talk" adds a surprising layer of raw honesty to this raucous collection of party anthems.
Top Tracks: 1.Sympathy Is a Knife 2.365 3.Von Dutch
7.SeeyouSpaceCowboy...-Coup de Grace:
There's a certain degree of pain that comes with watching SeeYouSpaceCowboy... further distance themselves from the mathcore sound they had when they first gained national attention in the late 2010's. The good news is that sacrifice led to the creation of something that's also great as their further embrace of the post-hardcore/emo-pop sensibilities they introduced on 2021's The Romance of Affliction resulted in their best album to date in Coup de Grace. Make no mistake, there's still a lot of heavy shit present on Coup de Grace as the breakdowns and Connie Sgarbossa's screams remain as vicious as ever, they're just wonderfully juxtaposed with a lot of bouncy melodic riffing and huge sung hooks from guitarist Ethan Sgarbossa. Missing out on seeing these fun-ass songs live on their headlining tour last summer will haunt me for some time.
Top Tracks: 1.Subtle Whispers to Take Your Breath Away 2.And the Two Slipped into the Shadows 3.Rhythm and Rapture (feat. Nothing, Nowhere)
6.King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard-Flightb741
Flightb741 answers a question I previously never would've thought to ask: What would a ZZ Top record sound like if it was made by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard? These delightful Australian weirdos are having the time of their life laying down goofy, bluesy grooves and the kind of playful, southern fried-rock hooks that the world hasn't heard since The Dukes of Hazzard went off the air 40 years ago. The day they decide to explore this sound again 3-5 years down the line is going to be a great one.
Top Tracks: 1.Le Risque 2.Field of Vision 3.Sad Pilot
5.Job for a Cowboy-Moon Healer
The long-developing Job for a Cowboy comeback album proved to be well worth the 9+ year wait. Moon Healer marks a natural extension of their prior record Sun Eater as it takes an atmospheric approach to progressive death metal that takes great pride in establishing an unbreakable layer of lingering evil and dread. While it suffers a bit from lacking the show-stopping fireworks that filled Sun Eater, the more methodical songwriting that allows more space for the gloomy textures of the compositions to really flourish ultimately makes it a similarly rewarding listen.
Top Tracks: 1.The Sun Brought Me Ashes So I Sought Out the Moon 2.Into the Crystaline Crypts 3.Beyond the Chemical Doorway
4.200 Stab Wounds-Manual Manic Procedures:
Are 200 Stab Wounds still too new to the game to be dubbed death metal royalty? Without question. However, their sophomore LP Manual Manic Procedures has them hurdling towards earning such a prestigious distinction at an impressive speed. The Cleveland-bred outfit cranks up the dynamism of their gritty old school sound by adding ambient synths, acoustic guitars and even the occasional prog (!) tinge to the mix without sacrificing the emphasis on punchy, riff-driven brutality that has allowed them to stand out among a sea of acts that harken back to the genre's gory glory days of the late 80's/early 90's.
Top Tracks: 1. Manual Manic Procedures 2.Flesh from Within 3.Release the Stench
3.St. Vincent-All Born Screaming:
Nobody knows what the hell is going to come flowing out of the relentlessly experimental brain of Annie Clark when she sits down to make a new St. Vincent record. On her seventh LP, All Born Screaming she cooked up what just might be her most satisfying release to date. All Born Screaming is really just a glorious case of many of the most interesting sides of St. Vincent (industrial rock, neo-psychedelia, synthpop, alt-rock) converging into one anxious, somber beast of a record that delivers home run after home run over its perfectly conceived 41-minute runtime.
Top Tracks: 1.Broken Man 2.Sweetest Fruit 3.Hell is Near
2.Better Lovers-Highly Irresponsible:
Better Lovers is no longer just the band that brought together ex-Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Greg Puciato, comically employed guitarist/producer Will Putney and 3/5 of Every Time I Die's final lineup. They're now their own standalone force delivering metalcore that has bite, soul and enough electricity flowing through their veins to power an entire fucking continent. Obliterating the novelty that comes with the dreaded "supergroup" tag so soon after their formation is an incredible feat and a testament to how well these guys work together. May they continue to deify the cliches that tend to plague bands that were birthed in similar manners for years to come.
Top Tracks: 1.Drowning in a Burning World 2.Future Myopia 3.Everything Was Put Here for Me
1.Knocked Loose-You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To:
Since their inception, Knocked Loose has been making exceptionally heavy music. Even with this established track record of heaviness, what they conjured up on their third LP You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To is astonishing to hear. This isn't run-of-the mill extreme metal anger, it's a concentrated attack of feral, uncompromising rage that has been boiling underneath the surface for years just waiting to be unleashed on the world in its full incendiary glory. Packaging so much intensity into just 10 tracks that run for approximately 27 minutes elevates the efficiency of this auditory onslaught to downright devastating levels. I'd like to thank the people who attended and preached at the Northern Kentucky churches the members of Knocked Loose attended growing up for helping put something so beautifully aggressive into the world. The overwhelming disdain for organized religion and the people that use God as a tool to justify their hate-fueled worldview that fuels this record likely wouldn't exist if they hadn't spent so much time around people like you. Everyone who prays at the altar of Knocked Loose will be forever thankful for what you blessed them with.
Top Tracks: 1.Blinding Faith 2.Piece by Piece 3.Suffocate (feat. Poppy)
No comments:
Post a Comment