2R0I2P0, this instant, DAM!
― imago, Thursday, 11 March 2021 15:12 (three years ago) link
how the hell did I forget to vote for Afterbirth. jesus, that thing was massive.
― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Thursday, 11 March 2021 15:17 (three years ago) link
same with Undeath. I was doing a scan of all the albums and must have overlooked that one too. Afterbirth woulda been much higher, of the two.
― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Thursday, 11 March 2021 15:18 (three years ago) link
#36
Aktor – Placebo
211 points, 5 votes, 1 #1 vote
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2949008585_10.jpg
https://aktor.bandcamp.com/album/placebo
Chicago's Professor Black and Finnish musician Jussi Lehtisalo are two of the most underappreciated — and versatile — musicians in rock music. The former has capably juggled melodic thrash with DAWNBRINGER, catchy rock anthems with HIGH SPIRITS, and tributes to the sounds of MOTÖRHEAD and early BATHORY under his own name. Lehtisalo has spent nearly three decades as the mastermind of psychedelic kraut-rock wizards CIRCLE and stoner-prog greats PHARAOH OVERLORD while indulging in death metal, punk rock, electronica, and more with dozens of side projects. Comparatively, AKTOR — a collaboration where the duo are joined by Lehtisalo's fellow CIRCLE bandmate Tomi Leppänen on drums — is a more straightforward rock project.AKTOR's first proper full-length, 2015's "Paranoia", was a fun blast of sci-fi-influenced throwback rock that was full of catchy anthems for fans of '70s rock acts such as BLUE ÖYSTER CULT and CHEAP TRICK. "Placebo" sees the trio's obsessions with outer space and a good hook form a winning combination once again. While not explicitly marketed as a concept record, the album's lyrical themes and musical progression ebbs and flows like a good sci-fi story. AKTOR keeps the musical proceedings accessible throughout, with the feeling at the end of the record resembling the experience of having watched a breezy episode of the "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" television series from the early 1980s.
AKTOR's first proper full-length, 2015's "Paranoia", was a fun blast of sci-fi-influenced throwback rock that was full of catchy anthems for fans of '70s rock acts such as BLUE ÖYSTER CULT and CHEAP TRICK. "Placebo" sees the trio's obsessions with outer space and a good hook form a winning combination once again. While not explicitly marketed as a concept record, the album's lyrical themes and musical progression ebbs and flows like a good sci-fi story. AKTOR keeps the musical proceedings accessible throughout, with the feeling at the end of the record resembling the experience of having watched a breezy episode of the "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" television series from the early 1980s.
https://www.blabbermouth.net/cdreviews/placebo/
― Oor Neechy, Thursday, 11 March 2021 15:25 (three years ago) link
what were you saying about the worst cover art
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Thursday, 11 March 2021 15:26 (three years ago) link
these Finnish lads get everywhere!
― imago, Thursday, 11 March 2021 15:27 (three years ago) link
No
I thought Aktor was going to be my big Circle/Ektro-related release of the year until I heard 6. I still liked & voted for it but it dropped off through the year
― more haim than good (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, 11 March 2021 15:31 (three years ago) link
A mock early-80s AOR concept album about death made for some eerie listening during lockdown
― more haim than good (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, 11 March 2021 15:33 (three years ago) link
20 seconds into Aktor and I know I am going to like this lol
― imago, Thursday, 11 March 2021 15:45 (three years ago) link
Very fun record that reminds me of lots of early '80s New Wave bands like Oingo Boingo, Devo, the Cars and Wall of Voodoo.
― o. nate, Thursday, 11 March 2021 15:45 (three years ago) link
Next up I guess you could call them a 90s legacy act these days
― Oor Neechy, Thursday, 11 March 2021 15:53 (three years ago) link
no guesses?
― Oor Neechy, Thursday, 11 March 2021 15:57 (three years ago) link
Ulver?
― imago, Thursday, 11 March 2021 15:58 (three years ago) link
Hum?
― to party with our demons (Sund4r), Thursday, 11 March 2021 15:58 (three years ago) link
^probably got a decent # of votes but not high-ranking ones, I think
― to party with our demons (Sund4r), Thursday, 11 March 2021 15:59 (three years ago) link
deftones
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:00 (three years ago) link
#35
Deftones – Ohms
214 points, 6 votes
https://open.spotify.com/album/0VEFy5MsBiq0u2lWL0OwOd
https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/5f7208b29c52ebb23ff66518/1:1/w_600/ohms_deftones.jpg
For Deftones fans, the relationship between frontman Chino Moreno and guitarist Stephen Carpenter carries mythological importance: two opposing gravitational pulls that keep the band’s beautiful and bludgeoning music hovering precariously in between. Carpenter is the proudly unreconstructed metalhead, delivering slabs of distorted low end on 7- and 8-string guitars and publicly airing grievances about songs that aren’t heavy enough. Moreno is the sonic experimenter and starry romantic, with a voice that sounds misty and ethereal even when it breaks into a scream—the man whose band gave a generation of angry young rock radio listeners their first exposure to the Cocteau Twins. Moreno and Carpenter’s personal relationship is surely more nuanced than that, and Moreno is clearly a metal fan, too. But the push-pull between musical elements is real, and the reason why Deftones albums continue to feel exciting and alive while nearly every other band once labeled nu-metal now looks like self-parodic kitsch.The Deftones catalog is full of moments that illustrate this fundamental tension, but none satisfies in quite the same way as “Urantia,” the third song from their ninth album Ohms. It begins with a jagged one-one riff played with disorienting power, gearing you up for a sustained assault. Instead of attacking, the song veers hard in the other direction: spacious and tender, riding a variation of the lithe, hip-hop-influenced hi-hat groove drummer Abe Cunningham developed around the time of 2000’s high-water mark White Pony and has been refining ever since. It’s a satisfying reversal, and becomes something greater than that when the riff comes back—as big and loud as it was the first time, but newly seductive and agile, guiding Moreno’s airy vocal through a series of pop chord changes toward a chorus that floods the room with light. Suddenly, the band’s two driving instincts are no longer in tension at all, but perfectly natural complements, each lifting and twirling the other like partners in the world’s most brutal figure skating routine. For the first time—after years of strife and a hard-fought comeback in 2016’s Gore—Deftones are making it look easy.
The Deftones catalog is full of moments that illustrate this fundamental tension, but none satisfies in quite the same way as “Urantia,” the third song from their ninth album Ohms. It begins with a jagged one-one riff played with disorienting power, gearing you up for a sustained assault. Instead of attacking, the song veers hard in the other direction: spacious and tender, riding a variation of the lithe, hip-hop-influenced hi-hat groove drummer Abe Cunningham developed around the time of 2000’s high-water mark White Pony and has been refining ever since. It’s a satisfying reversal, and becomes something greater than that when the riff comes back—as big and loud as it was the first time, but newly seductive and agile, guiding Moreno’s airy vocal through a series of pop chord changes toward a chorus that floods the room with light. Suddenly, the band’s two driving instincts are no longer in tension at all, but perfectly natural complements, each lifting and twirling the other like partners in the world’s most brutal figure skating routine. For the first time—after years of strife and a hard-fought comeback in 2016’s Gore—Deftones are making it look easy.
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/deftones-ohms/
― Oor Neechy, Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:00 (three years ago) link
Ah
― to party with our demons (Sund4r), Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:01 (three years ago) link
not quite a top tier 'tones for me but pretty great, as usual.
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:01 (three years ago) link
Sund4r making out like Hum aren't top 5 in this lol
― imago, Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:04 (three years ago) link
hum are going to win
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:04 (three years ago) link
I'm not sure where Hum will end up, I know there was a lot of ILM love for it, but I didn't see a ton of overlap with the metal crowd. And one of the album's biggest boosters didn't vote in this poll. We'll see.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:05 (three years ago) link
Why wasn't I personally informed about Aktor btw?
― imago, Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:06 (three years ago) link
I like "Change" and I guess White Pony is all right but I never got that heavily into this band or got their whole deal. Something like an even more smeared/compressed Machina-era Pumpkins with a punk vocalist singing through delay pedals?
― to party with our demons (Sund4r), Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:08 (three years ago) link
This is like...Lemon Demon Does Hard Rock
― imago, Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:08 (three years ago) link
I mean, if you listen to the opener on Ohms and it doesn't do anything for you, you can safely ignore em. but imo no one else can pull off that weird alchemy they've got going on.
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:12 (three years ago) link
I think they frustrate me because the dreamy/heavy thing is something i usually like a lot but there's something about their take on it that doesn't connect and feels kind of unpleasant. Maybe the production?
― to party with our demons (Sund4r), Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:21 (three years ago) link
can we just observe that our boys in Aktor are riding a horse through space
― imago, Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:26 (three years ago) link
The Ghost Of Time just took out Skullseeker with one blast of a raygun
― imago, Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:27 (three years ago) link
I will say I HATE the Ohms cover art, which evokes Mudvayne
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:28 (three years ago) link
#34
Mystras – Castles Conquered and Reclaimed
215 points, 6 votes
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2677610465_10.jpg
https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/castles-conquered-and-reclaimed
Castles Conquered and Reclaimed is the first release from Mystras, another outing from Ayloss of Spectral Lore fame. Following the epic Spectral Lore and Mare Cognitum split, which only dropped in March, I for one did not expect to see anything else from Ayloss in 2020, and certainly nothing of the scope and scale of this latest project. Castles seems pretty much designed to win me as a friend and avid advocate. First, it’s got a cool-sounding and intriguing title. Secondly, it comes wrapped in that gorgeous, monochrome, line-drawn artwork. Thirdly, it’s a mix of raw black metal assaults and traditional medieval folk songs. Lastly, you know, it’s the guy behind Spectral Lore. On paper then, I am Mystras’ official fanboy #1, but how does that bear out in practice?Castles is raw, stripped back black metal. Forget the mournful beauty of Spectral Lore’s Gnosis or the epic grandeur of his contributions to Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine and Sol. The first of Castles’ nine tracks launches its assault with only a split second’s warning before the blast beats kick in and the mid-paced tremolo picking begins. Thereafter, the tracks alternate between medieval folk – sourced from English, Cypriot, Greek and Turkish, and Occitan history and legend – and brutal, almost second wave black metal. There is, however, significantly more subtlety on show here than in those heady days of the early 1990s, as Mystras combines harsh heaviness and a melodic edge with a storytelling ethos to generate a real sense of weight. The starkly beautiful ferocity of album closer “Wrath and Glory” is, appropriately, the peak of this for me, though for many it will be the epic “The Murder of Wat Tyler.”
Castles is raw, stripped back black metal. Forget the mournful beauty of Spectral Lore’s Gnosis or the epic grandeur of his contributions to Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine and Sol. The first of Castles’ nine tracks launches its assault with only a split second’s warning before the blast beats kick in and the mid-paced tremolo picking begins. Thereafter, the tracks alternate between medieval folk – sourced from English, Cypriot, Greek and Turkish, and Occitan history and legend – and brutal, almost second wave black metal. There is, however, significantly more subtlety on show here than in those heady days of the early 1990s, as Mystras combines harsh heaviness and a melodic edge with a storytelling ethos to generate a real sense of weight. The starkly beautiful ferocity of album closer “Wrath and Glory” is, appropriately, the peak of this for me, though for many it will be the epic “The Murder of Wat Tyler.”
https://www.angrymetalguy.com/mystras-castles-conquered-and-reclaimed-review/
― Oor Neechy, Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:30 (three years ago) link
OK now this RULES
― imago, Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:32 (three years ago) link
My #7. It's all incredibly righteous but 'The Zealots Of Thessaloniki' is one of the greatest folk/BM interpolations of all time imo, and it's all about ancient Greek underclass uprising! :D
― imago, Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:33 (three years ago) link
the dreamy/heavy thing is something i usually like a lot
Just put on the first track from the Jesu album, which feels like a warm blanket at this point. Will return to poll material soon.
― to party with our demons (Sund4r), Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:34 (three years ago) link
This is good as hell and only missed my ballot cause I wanted to spread my votes out and preferred the other big Ayloss release of the year.
― Judi Dench's Human Hand (methanietanner), Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:36 (three years ago) link
if anyone ever says 'isn't BM a bit fash' play them this
― imago, Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:39 (three years ago) link
Wow, cool album cover.
― jmm, Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:41 (three years ago) link
Conrad Keely used the same method for the Century Of Self cover! Biro skillz
― imago, Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:48 (three years ago) link
Ha, 30s into Mystras, I'm sold on the sound itself.
― to party with our demons (Sund4r), Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:53 (three years ago) link
Aha, it must be a drawing of Mystras!
https://www.greeka.com/photos/highlights/peloponnese/mystras/byzantine-churches-480.jpg
― jmm, Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:54 (three years ago) link
― jmm, Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:55 (three years ago) link
Some Finns up next. LJ care to guess?
― Oor Neechy, Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:58 (three years ago) link
I'm guessing it's Wastement Unit 2
― imago, Thursday, 11 March 2021 16:59 (three years ago) link
totally forgot about that Mystras. it was indeed really good. didn't make my ballot cos...I forgot I had it!
― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Thursday, 11 March 2021 17:00 (three years ago) link
#32 TIE
Dark Buddha Rising – Mathreyata
218 points, 6 votes
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1121024153_10.jpg
https://darkbuddharising.bandcamp.com/album/mathreyata
I read somewhere that the standard of a good drone record is that good drone isn’t catchy, good drone catches you. When I was listening to Dark Buddha Rising‘s 2020 release Mathreyata, I was making quizzes at my desk before school started. “Sunyaga” came on at about 8:30 am, and I found myself pausing my work and letting myself succumb to the waves of drone and ritualistic atmosphere. Suddenly, my students walked in at 8:45 for class. I had gotten so lost in the Finns’ seventh full-length’s trance-inducing doom swells that I had completely lost track of time. The big question is: did I get lost in it for its impressively effective atmosphere or did I simply doze off from boredom?Dark Buddha Rising is a Finnish band, formed in 2007 and packing six full-lengths and an EP under its belt. For a collective that channels drone, doom, and sludge (you’d be safe to throw some stoner doom in there too), their megalithic songwriting is surprisingly restrained, relying on simple bass riffs, distant vocals, and other instruments to communicate their psychedelic soundscape as it reaches a drone climax. While albums like Abyssolute Transfinite and Dhakmandal were densely expansive trips to the void, sprawling beasts in their hour-plus exercises, while 2015’s Inversum and 2019 EP II found the band streamlining their sound into more concise listens that nonetheless channeled its colossal sound albeit to shorter and crisper ends. 2020’s Mathreyata continues this trend, offering the most “accessible” installment yet, in a droning, sprawling, and psychedelic listen that benefits from its more concise runtime and cleaner production.
Dark Buddha Rising is a Finnish band, formed in 2007 and packing six full-lengths and an EP under its belt. For a collective that channels drone, doom, and sludge (you’d be safe to throw some stoner doom in there too), their megalithic songwriting is surprisingly restrained, relying on simple bass riffs, distant vocals, and other instruments to communicate their psychedelic soundscape as it reaches a drone climax. While albums like Abyssolute Transfinite and Dhakmandal were densely expansive trips to the void, sprawling beasts in their hour-plus exercises, while 2015’s Inversum and 2019 EP II found the band streamlining their sound into more concise listens that nonetheless channeled its colossal sound albeit to shorter and crisper ends. 2020’s Mathreyata continues this trend, offering the most “accessible” installment yet, in a droning, sprawling, and psychedelic listen that benefits from its more concise runtime and cleaner production.
https://www.angrymetalguy.com/dark-buddha-rising-mathreyata-review/
― Oor Neechy, Thursday, 11 March 2021 17:00 (three years ago) link
Yep, Wastement Unit 2 it is!
This is completely sick as hell, my #5
― imago, Thursday, 11 March 2021 17:04 (three years ago) link
Tracks 1 and 3 set 'em up, tracks 2 and 4 despatch
love that mystras record
if you aren’t that into spectral lore, still worth a shot. it’s a very different sound and one that i personally prefer
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Thursday, 11 March 2021 17:09 (three years ago) link
Catching up…
Afterbirth does indeed feel too low even though I didn't vote for it myself. A brilliantly paradoxical record, no doubt about it.
As for the Eternal Champion, 'Skullseeker' is eternally hilarious and the album itself is top-notch power metal imo.
The Boris was pleasant enough (like Simon, I'm not much of a stan, mind you).
Undeath was my #9 – no-nonsense DM of the best possible kind and yes, the ultimate 2020 album cover.
The Aktor did precious little for me when I sampled it, sorry.
Deftones was my #20 – among their strongest albums, full stop, although admittedly nothing in it will convert the skeptics.
Mystras is the best Spectral Lore-related project of 2020 imo, ahead of his contributions to the Mare Cognitum collab.
Last but not least, this is going to be an unpopular opinion but not only is the Dark Buddha Rising awesome, I honestly prefer it to the Oranssi Pazuzu.
― pomenitul, Thursday, 11 March 2021 17:13 (three years ago) link
I mean it's not so much of a gap in quality that I'll even strenuously disagree. DBR have discovered the magic of how very minimalistic music can go on an immense journey. They're masters of tension and its ratcheting
― imago, Thursday, 11 March 2021 17:15 (three years ago) link