The Rock Blogger

20 …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - The Century of Self

A far more energetic, fluid and fast paced work than its predecessors, The Century of Self has managed to balance their earlier punk-inspired assaults with bombastic segues and progressions, making it a vivid illustration of the band’s lengthy development.

19. Les Discrets / Alcest - Les Discrets / Alcest

A beautiful split release by these two French projects. Alcest continue on with their intricate, post-black, Explosions in the Sky meets Darkthrone awesomeness, composing some of their best work to date. Les Discrets provide airy, intoxicating post-rock, with duelling layeres of shimmering arpeggios and dense metal textures. The lovelorn and sorrowful vocals are a nice touch as well. Both projects are highly innovative and passionate about their craft - I expect even greater things from both of them in the near future.

18. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions

The robed duo return with what is likely to be regarded as their most sophisticated work to date. While the bone-crushingly slow and heavy guitar drones they are famous for remain intact, they are now accompanied by haunting spoken verses (from Mayhem’s Attila), eerie choirs, ambient horns and other atmospheric flourishes. All of these elements weave together to absorb the listener, opening yawning black chasms to the unknown.

17. Converge - Axe to Fall

With the jarring transitions and time-signature changes, Axe to Fall can be an exhausting listen. It’s a brutal and epic marathon that’s both insanely technical and aggressive. As a showcase for instrumentation, Axe to Fall is monolithic, a high watermark for bands following the hardcore genre (or it’s many hybrids).

16. Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough

Its easy to see how divisive such an album can be, especially considering the involvement of avant-garde guitarist Mick Barr (of Ocrilim, Orthrelm fame). As always, his shredding is dense, intricate and highly technical, concerned more with enveloping the listener than maintaining any pleasant melodies. Those with such an acquired taste will be in rapture - the wall of sound created is simply immense.

15. Future of the Left - Travels With Myself and Another

This is some solid rock n’ roll from this wildly inventive Welsh band. On their second LP, Future of the Left lay down crunchy, distorted riffs and punchy punk rhythms to surreal and often hilarious lyrics about drinking, fighting, mischief, Satan, class warfare and losing out in general. Sounding like a strange mash up of Rage Against the Machine, The Clash and The Sex Pistols, FotL’s quick and dirty songs are heavy, raucous and oddly endearing.

14. Enmerkar - Starlit Passage

A simply mind-bending EP from this little known black metal/dark ambient band. A swirling celestial atmosphere hangs over these 5 songs, sending the listener through a cosmic rush against the void. Enmerkar builds an impenetrable wall of sound from waves of distorted tremolo guitars, melancholic drones and distant, rumbling percussion.

13. Have a Nice Life - Voids (Compilation)

Voids is a fan made compilation of demos and b-sides from last year’s stellar Deathconsciousness . The unreleased tracks expand on HANL’s intensely depressive atmosphere and shows hints at powerful things to come. While it is obviously not nearly as polished or detailed as Deathconsciousness , these offerings still cut like a knife.

12. Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs

An absorbing mix of post-punk, black metal and shoegaze riffing with gorgeous female vocals en français . This albums provides many stunning contrasts between crystalline guitar work and dark, misanthropic atmosphere. Layered, detailed and consistently interesting, Amesoeurs make metal sexy.

11. Altar of Plagues - White Tomb

These natives of Cork, Ireland have produced a monolithic epic featuring dystopian lyrics and an atmospheric approach that rivals Wolves in the Throne Room and the latest in their “post-black” ilk. What distinguishes AOP is the sheer scope of their debut. Not only are the black metal barrages relentless and absorbing, they also go to distant places, conjuring up vivid spectacles of collapse as they shift in pacing, rhythm and composition.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 12th, 2009 at 12:17 am and is filed under Lists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.