The Rock Blogger

50 . Nadja. Desire in Uneasiness . Full Review
Yet another LP from Toronto’s prolific drone doom masters. Desire in Uneasiness is a noticeably more organic sounding record with fluid rolling drums cascading against earth-shaking waves of noise. All five songs are long instrumentals that revel in a relaxed, spacey atmosphere, making this an ideal album to simply sit back and vegetate to. The hypnotic drones, driven along by the swirling percussion, are crushingly heavy but also show the duo’s newfound restraint, as they pare back their more chaotic tenancies to produce something more transcendent.

49. Loma Prieta. Lost City. Full Review
Short and sweet, thats how I would describe Loma Prieta’s Last City . This Oakland CA band plays speedy hardcore/screamo jams with impressive technicality, running through time signatures and epic melodies with incredible ease. As the mathematical riffs swirl around cymbal crashing and rapid fire rhythms, the howling vocals provide the emotional release for all the tension that’s built up. The occasional piano melody and gentle guitar parts help balance things out as well.

48 . Russian Circles. Station. Full Review
Chicago’s Russian Circles play kinetic and aggressive post-rock in the same sludgy tradition as city mates Pelican, crafting expansive instrumental songs that are filled with shimmering guitars and powerful rhythms. Continuing on with the success that was their 2006 debut Enter , Russian Circles’ latest offering pares back on their metal flourishes as they venture to cosmic planes, opting for a sound that is interstellar but not pretentious. These virtuosoes avoid self-indulgent noodling and instead anchor their songs with strong driving beats and deep, fluid bass lines. By carefully blending their metal and post-rock aspirations together, Russian Circles steer clear of derivative Mogwai and Isis worship and create something that is both intense and stratospheric.

47 . This Will Destroy You. S/T Full Review
This music is graceful, trippy and emotionally engaging. These qualities are amplified further by the ambient, celestial atmosphere that carries over this LP’s entirety. So post-rock fans, of everything from Slint, to Caspian, to Explosions in the Sky, you’ll find something to like in these guys.

46 . Nine Inch Nails. The Slip Full Review
Trent Reznor is on a roll. Just two months after NIN’s epic ambient release Ghosts I-IV , and not even a year after the excellent dystopia that was Year Zero , Reznor has unveiled another full length work - a more traditional sounding album that merges noisy industrial metal with hook-laden arena rock jams, all for free from the band’s website. Presented as a gift to NIN’s loyal fan base who made Ghosts a financial windfall, The Slip is a solid and accessible collection that, while not groundbreaking, still showcases Reznor’s newfound artistic freedom and energy.

45 . Urfaust. Drei Rituale Jenseits Des Kosmos Full Review
Urfaust is a maniacal black metal band from Holland that incorporates noise rock and doom elements into their swirling, disturbing compositions. This recent EP features three long untiled tracks that waver between hypnotic drones, terrifying screeches and some stunningly operatic vocals that give this a baroque edge. The level of experimentation here is impressive and pushes their sound into dark ambient passages. Intense and expressive, Drei Rituale is one of the more unique contributions to the genre and serves as an adequate introduction to a challenging band.

44 . Her Name is Calla. The Hertiage Full Review
The Heritage is a mini-album from a Leeds based post-rock band that places emphasis on haunting vocal performances and tense song writing as well as instrumental passages and atmosphere. The attention to lyricism, in tandem with melodramatic buildups, gives Her Name is Calla a slight advantage over the competition.

43 . The Drift. Memory Drawings Full Review
San Francisco’s The Drift specialize in chilled out, emotional post-rock that is heavily influenced by jazz and dub traditions, crafting a warm and boisterous sound that should please fans of Tortoise and Toronto’s own Do Make Say Think. Relying on tight interactions between the trumpet, synths, wiry guitars and offbeat drumming, the melodies on their sophomore album Memory Drawings are instantly captivating.

42 . Conifer. Crown Fire . Full Review .
Confier play psychedelic sludge metal in the same vein as Pelican and The Russian Circles, pushing heavy, wiry instrumentals to stratospheric heights. Making Crown Fire stand out, aside from its stellar musicianship, is its organic flow and Eastern-tinged flourishes. Its spiraling riffs and cyclical percussion roll on hypnotically, creating a immersing, stoner-friendly torrent of sound.

41 . Harvey Milk. Life…The Best Game in Town Full Review
Life…The Best Game in Town succinctly summarizes the essence of Harvey Milk’s sound - thick as a brick and just as heavy and dangerous. Yet for all its violent outbursts there lies a tragic and longing heart within, hopelessly sentimental in its whiskey-soaked stumbles. I personally wanted to see more of the fragility that stealthily peaks its head out amid the Southern-fried mayhem, but oh well, sludge bands are rarely subtle in their approach anyways, so even the slightest nuance is quite remarkable. So yeah, if you like doom, sludge, hardcore punk and all that, check out Harvey Milk, they seem to encompass all that gritty territory quite well.

40. Sunn O))). Dømkirke. 2008 Full Review
Dømkirke may not sound as direct or metal as 2005’s Black One, but the thick graveyard atmosphere and dense production remains fully intact. The inclusion of monk vocals and the chosen recording space also lend Sunn O))) even more gravity to pull you down into their murky pits. As a band willing to take risks with their already unconventional and disturbing sound, Sunn O))) have once again shown their intense mystique and musical craftsmanship.

39. October Falls. The Womb of Primordial Nature. Full Review
This album marks a dramatic departure from the calm neofolk sound of October Fall’s previous work Marras (2005). With The Womb of Primordial Nature, October Falls has matured into a full-fledged black metal band. While the beautiful acoustic guitar passages are still well intact, they now interwoven with electric tremolo riffs, distant growls and rapid percussion. The transition is a tremendously successful, as the shifts between folk and metal aesthetics are organic, fluid and well produced.

38. Encomiast. Bathed in Sunlight. Full Review
Bathed in Sunlight is a beautiful ambient/post-rock album from Colorado natives Encomiast that features five blissful songs that incorporate an impressive variety of ethereal sounds and instruments.
Fans of minimalist music, film scores and ambient rock like Labradford will find much to like here.

37. Protestant. The Hate The Hollow. Full Review

The Hate The Hollow is a killer crust punk/hardcore album from a little known Milwaukee band. Protestant takes the grit and grime of early crust bands like Amebix and infuses it with the technicality and raw power of modern hardcore. The result is an intense storm of grinding riffs, raging vocals and suffocating bass lines.

36. Sculptured. Embodiment: Collapsing Under the Weight of God. Full Review
Sculptured’s latest offering is a solid prog-metal release that features intricate compositions and clear production, integrating complicated guitar riffs, symphonic keyboards and frantic drumming into a cohesive and dense package. While Sculptured’s impressive lineup features Don Anderson and Jason Walton from Agalloch, their sound is completely different, with labyrinthine song structures that dart from guttural metal to progressive passages in an instant, switching between time signatures and moods with surprising transitions.

35. Plants and Animals. Parc Avenue. Full Review

Yet another musical gift from the indie oasis that is Montreal, Plants and Animals bring bombast and warm vibes to their epic debut. While the arrangements on Parc Avenue’s tracks are lush, classically inspired and eclectic, they avoid the tragedy and harrowing drama found in their contemporaries The Dears and The Arcade Fire, producing a masterpiece that is laid back, adventurous and drunkenly optimistic.

34. Ashes Divide. Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright. Full Review
A Perfect Circle’s Billy Howerdel returns with his new solo project Ashes Divide, providing a logical extension to where his last efforts left off. he music itself is also very similar to APC, with spiraling, angular guitars and propulsive drumming, but moves at a generally faster pace, rarely breaking down into the slower, more depressive territory his previous band had been known for. Gorgeous piano and cello accompaniment often creeps into the mix to round out the songs, providing anchors for the epic guitar wails. The overall style of the album is avowedly alternative, avoiding progressive or psychedelic tendencies to produce tight, concise song structures that are accessible and hook driven.

33. Red Sparowes. Aphorisms EP. Full Review
The latest EP from Red Sparowes is not only a fine step forward for the band, but its also one of the most solid post-rock releases of the year. Taking the Isis-meets-math rock approach even further, Aphorisms has all the shimmering tones you would expect from a modern post-rock album yet the rhythmic quality and metal influence here distinguishes their melodies from the rest of the pack.

The three instrumental tracks here are far more streamlined than those on previous albums, as Red Sparowes trims away the drawn out intros, crescendos and sound effects to keep the focus on tight song craft. This new found cohesion gives their work a more refined sense of urgency and is just more listenable overall.

32. Coldworld. Melancholie² Full Review
Germany’s Coldworld (aka Georg Börner) has created a highly accomplished black metal album with dense melodic layers and spooky ambient flourishes. While Coldworld clearly fits within the genre with its relentless blast beat percussion and tremolo riffs, its use of symphonic elements and strings (”Tortured by Solitude”, “Escape”) makes this album stand out. In its more atmospheric stretches, Coldworld seem to blend drone, post-rock and shoegaze elements together in well crafted torrents. The clear production work reveals Börner’s talent for composing, drawing in disparate sounds to direct an expressive musical vision. While many of these passages are certainly bleak, they do have a ghostly beauty to them, as distant choral samples and keyborads give off an icy sheen.

31. Earth. The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull. Full Review
This is music for stoned, post-apocalyptic cowboys, like the Mad Max set, but more relaxed and pining for a peyote journey. The influential and experimental Earth, who revolutionized stoner rock with the minimalist drones of 2, return to the doomed Western landscapes they began exploring with 2005’s Hex. The jams here are slow, heavy and hypnotic, luring you with its steady, slithering bass grooves and catatonic drumming. The mood they establish is introspective and sedative, nudging you into an ancient and primal feelings.

30. Dragontears. Tambourine Freak Machine.
A late comer to the list but still a fantastic album nonetheless. Hazy psychedlic tunes with spaced-out vocals and dizzying electronic effects. Great, well-sung cover of Bob Dylan’s Masters of War on this as well. This is likely to provide one of the better head trips of the year with its many jangly guitar jams and drum solos. Has a very relaxed, stoned colorful aesthetic.

29. Darkspace. Darkspace III. Full Review.
This album is total insanity. With open wintry keyboards and furious black metal riffs, Darkspace create a crushing atmosphere that swallows everything around it. If you are familiar with Switzerland’s Paysage d’Hiver, you will know what to expect here, as Darkspace features PDH’s Tobias Möckl on guitars and vocals. While PDH was barren, lo-fi and rustic, Darkspace’s sound sports slightly better production and its ragged guitar rhythms are given more room to breathe. The sound created here is cold, grim and bleak but is also feverishly paced, running through torrents of visceral blackness.

28. Torche. Meanderthal. Full Review
Sounding like a cross between Queens of the Stone Age and Pelican, Torche’s songs are full of tight melodies and furious riffs, moving along at a speedy pace while still laying down the heaviness. The majority of the tracks here are short and sweet, with only one song pushing past five minutes, making Meanderthal a breezy and accessible listen that begs repeating.

27. Sigur Rós. Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust. Full Review.
Globe-trotting recording sessions and intimate tours of rural Iceland has given their work a more rustic, eclectic, and optimistic flavor, with greater emphasis on acoustic instruments and simple song structures.

26. Jóhann Jóhannsson. Fordlândia
Stirring neoclassical/ambient music from this Icelandic composer. It has a cinematic quality to it, with soaring lifts and compelling ambiance. Both pastoral and electronic textures are used and contrasted against each other, producing a work of haunting beauty. This album is vivid and alluring, instrumental music at its finest.

25. Snowman. The Horse, the Rat and the Swan. Full Review.
Their sound can be poorly described as the spooky artiness of Liars mixed with the Gothic industrial sounds of Coil. Even some traces of New York’s avant-noise scene slip in here, with some of the bleaker psychedelic passages reminding me of early Swans (White Light, Children of God). Far from being a mere encyclopedia of rock’s darker corners, Snowman is compellingly original, with foot-stomping darkwave grooves pounding behind psychotic vocals and eerie guitar work. Despite the gritty asylum atmosphere haunting the whole affair, this album is surprisingly accessible, as the songs are direct and full of alternative hooks to keep them focused.

24. Nine Inch Nails. Ghosts I-IV. Full Review.
Following the lead of Radiohead’s In Rainbows, Reznor left his major label (Interscope/Universal) the pursue his own online business model (free downloads, expensive box set) and escape the creative boundaries associated with conventional distribution. The result is a four disc, 36 track instrumental album that sees Reznor laying down moody ambient pieces, melancholic piano compositions and full throttle industrial jams, experimenting beyond the traditional NIN sound and showcasing Reznor’s artistic maturity.

23. Bonnie Prince Billy. Lie Down in the Light. Full Review.
Lie Down in the Light , the latest offering under Oldham’s BPB moniker, is one of his most summery and optimistic efforts to date, blending alt-country and folk traditions together for a laid-back and
rustic outing. The inclusion of traditional instruments really complement Oldham’s wide-eyed lyrics and finely-weathered vocals.

22. Titus Andronicus. The Airing of Grievances. Full Review.
What a great debut from this New Jersey band. The Airing of Grievances is a raw, noisy and spirited indie rock album that has shades of The Walkmen and early Trail of Dead. Not only are these songs emotionally charged, reflecting the caustic frustrations of the suburban soul, they also incorporate bombastic piano, horn and brass flourishes. By blending the orchestral with the lo-fi, Titus Andronicus have produced a truly epic work of art-punk.

21. Suffocate for Fuck Sake. Blazing Fires and Helicopters… Full Review.
Blazing Fires is a daring, if not downright suicidal, album from Sweden’s post-hardcore newcomers Suffocate for Fuck Sake. Gorgeous instrumentals, complete with sorrowful piano keys, shimmery post-rock guitars and strings frame a dark narrative of depression and redemption, as told by an institutionalized young woman. Just as Matthew Good’s Hospital Music expressed the toils of mental illness with dramatic shifts in mood and song phrasing, SFFS plot a winding trajectory for their tortured protagonist that goes to remarkable extremes. From the cold spoken word performances to fiery screamo fits of rage, this album is an emotional roller coaster.

20. Mogwai. The Hawk is Howling. Full Review
While about half of this album has Mogwai returning to some of their better ideas, there is enough of an experimental edge to this to keep it interesting and fresh. Its a satisfying work to be sure, and it manages to solidify Mogwai’s position as a intense and influential creative force in post rock. The Hawk is Howling may not have the same effect on 2008 as Young Team had on 1997, but its still an impressive accomplishment, both in terms of its tight cohesion and its tense, spiraling compositions.

19. And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead. Festival Thyme. Full Review

Festival Thyme is, like any other TOD release, grand and climatic, with songs like “Creation Bells” building from soft orchestral chimes to bloody, propulsive crescendos. Those explosive moments may be loud and cathartic, but they also remain in the same shimmering, progressive prism the band has so steadily crafted over the last few years. It seems like all the hard, and often risky work has finally paid off. That delicate balance between alternative rollicking and artful grandeur has finally been struck, as every crashing transition flows beautifully across this EP.

18. Esoteric. The Maniacal Vale. Full Review.
The sound here is quintessentially doom metal, with plodding guitars that scream and echo over unintelligible growls and slow, crashing percussion. Arpeggio riffs and ambient passages also lead to some psychedelic moments, adding to the expansive, swirling torrents of sound. The song structures themselves don’t vary too drastically, but they do contain clear movements that go through peaks and valleys, making The Maniacal Vale a captivating albeit exhausting journey. As an exercise in cathartic release, The Maniacal Vale is masterful in its execution. While some of its sections could have used some more direction and streamlining, its excessive qualities are part and parcel to Esoteric’s singular, uncompromising vision. Let it wash over you.

17. Amon Amarth. Twilight of the Thunder God. Full Review.
The album is well-balanced and consistently heavy, moving along at a rapid pace through fiery guitar solos and brutal bass lines. Amon Amarth have managed to be both musically tight and genuinely epic in their compositions, as each mammoth track flows steadily into the next, making this an addictive listen that begs repeating. The vocals, while not going far beyond the traditional death metal fare, work terrifically with the music and provides a bestial undercurrent for the soaring melodies.

16. The Evpatoria Report. Maar. Full Review
The key to this album’s success is not its heartbreaking melodies, or its masterful union of ambient and neoclassical elements. What fasciantes me about Maar is its incredible restraint - each epic track here takes its time to slowly swell with dramatic tension, letting the drones, synths, violins and jangly guitars breathe and play against each other. No great deal of patience is required, because the effect these orchestral elements have is not monotonous or overwrought, but soothing, hypnotic and above all emotionally stirring.

15. A Forest of Stars. The Corpse of Rebirth.

A wildly imaginative album from the UK that blends neoclassical post-rock orchestration (a la A Silver Mt. Zion) with intense black metal passages. The long, climatic tracks here are dramatic, chilling and reflective, evoking an array of different emotions. The inclusion of female vocals on some songs also lends a pastoral atmosphere. An artful and innovative debut.

14. Grouper. Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill. Full Review
Grouper’s latest album is a stunning gem, with some of the most soothing vocal harmonies you’ll hear this year. Centered on the soft, calming performance of Elizabeth Harris, Grouper’s melodies seem to defy gravity, floating over dark reverb and ambient loops. The vocal tracks are kept distant in the mix, sounding like an ethereal spirit, while gliding drones and gentle acoustic guitars move dreamily along.
While the lyrics remain cryptic under the hazy instrumentation, there is a strong feeling a peace throughout these songs, moving you into a deep and relaxed psychedelic state. The psych-folk aesthetic here is presented with serene clarity that shines through the album’s entirety, making this a unified experience rather than a collection of distinctive songs.

13. Nahvalr. S/T. Full Review.
Nahvalr, described by its founders as “open source black metal”, is nothing less than a landmark in originality. Dan Barrett and Tim Macuga from Connecticut’s equally brilliant Have a Nice Life have taken submitted noises, samples and instrumentals from across the web and melded them together into 8 terrifying movements that shift between ambient, doom, drone and black metal styles. These impenetrable walls of sound are as compelling as they are suffocating, rich with grotesque detail and atmosphere. While numerous dark ambient acts have touched on the same blackened corner stones as Nahvalr, both the innovative creative process and the density of this album is remarkable.

12. Moonsorrow. Tulimyrsky EP. Full Review.
Helsinki’s Moonsorrow have produced a monster of an EP with Tulimyrsky, surpassing the full lengths of most black metal bands with its sheer scope and grandiosity. Running well over an hour, Moonsorrow’s latest redefines what an EP should be, as they produce long, winding epics that incorporate Norse mythology, folk music and historical themes with an intensely cinematic presentation. With what may be the longest EP of the year (if not of the entire genre), Moonsorrow have created a fine masterpiece.

11. Deerhunter. Microcastle. Full Review.
Deerhunter’s much anticipated followup to last year’s breakthrough Cryptograms is a dreamy shoegaze record full of trippy melodies and crystal-clear ambiance. The majority of the songs on Microcastle are far more focused than those on their predecessor, with a more streamlined, psych-pop structure that delivers quick bursts of shimmering energy. Beautiful numbers like “Never Stops” wash over you with their cool, hazy atmosphere, sending off druggy, blissful vibes not unlike My Bloody Valentine. The expansive production also lets psychedelic songs like “Little Kids” breathe with full vigor, spreading out into a sea of mellowing reverb.

10. Njiqahdda. Nji Njiijn Njiiijn. Full Review
Njiqahdda (pronounced Nee Gee Kaa Daa) is a mysterious black metal/psychedelic act from Illinois that focuses on abstraction, experimentation and a dense layering of sounds to produce their ritualistic compositions. Underneath the drawn-out shoegaze riffs, bizarre percussive trances and waves of distortion lies an album rich with spiritual and musical concepts. Like the equally obscure offerings of Velvet Cacoon, Njiqahdda speaks its own artistic language far removed from decipherable convention - there are no allusions to nationalism, satanism or the occult to be pulled out from here. What remains in these 4 incredibly long tracks is pure and all-consuming catharsis, a rare and raw specimen of rock completely separated from image and meaning, one focused only on the exploding pools of color inside the mind’s eye.

9. Genghis Tron. Board Up the House. Full Review.
This is easily one of the most innovative and satisfying albums I’ve come across this year, in any genre. If Jesu, Battles, and Between the Buried and Me had all collaborated, they might have produced something as technically brilliant and stylistically unique as this. Genghis Tron mix blistering electronic touches with grinding metal riffs, establishing an awe-inspiring “cybergrind” sound of their own. Interwoven between their tight mathcore assaults are sublime ambient passages, melodic vocals and crisp IDM breaks. The sonic diversity within these complex compositions is wondrous to listen to, as the many shifting moods and textures draw you into explosive psychedelia.

8. The Gutter Twins. Saturnalia. Full Review.
This stunning alternative album is a collaboration between grunge legend Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age) and Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs) who have been working together on this project for over three years. The result is a refined, post-grunge masterpiece that boasts stellar songwriting, strong vocals and powerful rock hooks, drawing you into a murky and blues-inspired emotional trip.

7. Fleet Foxes. Fleet Foxes (Ragged Wood) Full Review.

Seattle’s Fleet Foxes offer a beautiful slice of Americana with their debut album, playing warm psychedelic folk songs full of glorious harmonies and earnest songwriting. While there may be some immediate comparisons to contemporaries My Morning Jacket and Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes expands on the rural sound with a more open and optimistic approach, crafting something that truly has an air of timelessness. These songs are full, lush and exquisitely executed, centered on gracefully finger-picked guitars and Robin Pecknold’s stunning falsetto which is often supported by soothing harmonization from his band mates. The incorporation of banjos, pianos, flutes and even the mellotron also add to the sweeping drive of this record. Its not grand, epic or pretentious, but rather inviting and melodic, as these progressive elements help illuminate the sunny imagery conjured up by the serene vocals.

6. The Tallest Man on Earth. Shallow Grave. Full Review.
Sweden’s Kristian Matsson is The Tallest Man on Earth, a finger-picking virtuoso who plays inspired Dylan-esque folk songs. Matsson’s unique, crackling voice, lyrical imagery and complex guitar work puts him head and shoulders above the genre’s current mainstays, delving into a nostalgic and timeless sound. The songs here convey a feeling of weather-beaten discovery, where runaways and wanderers trace highways and open plains.

5. Wolf Parade. At Mount Zoomer. Full Review.
After the much beloved, high-strung, art-pop weirdness that was Apologies , these fellows had a high watermark to surpass, and they have clearly met it with this geyser of creative energy. From the opening keyboard jittering of “Soldier’s Grin”, you can tell that the band have found their sound, combining whacked-out, electronic dabbling with charismatic indie-rock artiness, wrapped around strange evocative lyrics and undeniable charm.

4. Krallice. S/T. Full Review.
When I first heard Mick Barr’s impenetrably fast guitar shredding on his experimental Ocrilim project, I thought his wall-of-sound technique would be perfect for atmospheric black metal. Now, just a few months later, Barr has found just the right niche for his unconventional style with Krallice. Each of the six punishing tracks here run long, most over 10 minutes, extending into suffocating fits of mania.
The trace-like effect of Barr’s wailing riffs, along with the pounding drums and raw, distant screams is quintessentially black metal, yet startlingly unique at the same time. Barr doesn’t just play with impossible speed, he plays as if he is hypnotized, scaling across patterns with an almost inhuman precision. While this may all sound very cold and detached, the fluidity of Krallice is incredibly powerful, carrying you along its relentless current rather than drowning you in a wash of white noise.

3. Agalloch. The White EP. Full Review.
Taking a step away from the growls and punishing instrumentals often associated with metal, Agalloch’s ambient exercises mark a significant departure from convention. The shift is dramatic without betraying the quality of their past (heavier) work, as the acoustic compositions express Agalloch’s organic approach toward crafting evocative sonic landscapes, focusing on an aesthetic that sets the group apart from their many contemporaries.
The White EP essentially calls for a return to nature, as the songs conjure images of snow covered wilderness (”Birch White”), contemplative seclusion (”Isle of Summer”) and paganism’s worship of the elements (”Sowilo Rune”). The whole experience, made complete with natural sound effects like chirping and rustling, is meditative and comforting, conveying a deep and eternal connection with our natural surroundings.

2. Sun Kil Moon. April. Full Review.
With Sun Kil Moon, Mark Kozelek has lived up to and extended the legacy he built for himself with the shoegaze/rock band Red House Painters in the 90s, further developing the slow, brooding sound that once made them so endearing.
In April, Kozelek remains in a deeply reflective mood, drawing the listener into his dark pools of memory, vividly illustrating scenes of dusty city streets, night skies and small towns where love had once blossomed. While I won’t go into too much detail here about the lyrics, as my descriptions can’t possibly capture the alluring spirit that hides within them, but I can tell you that they are indeed moving and will be sure to stir romantic visions of long lost muses, moments and longings.

1. Have a Nice Life. Deathconsciousness. Full Review.
This record delivers an emotional wallop that seems unparalleled. A mysterious synthesis of post-punk, shoegaze, metal and post-rock, Have a Nice Life’s ghostly ruminations aren’t just careful homages to their favorite genres and influences, they instead push the boundaries of them to get to their dramatic core, presenting a perfect summation of where the underground has been and where it will be going.

The album, sprawling across two discs, conveys the black spirit of Joy Division, The Cure and Killing Joke with stark, lo-fi production, pulsing bass lines and gritty drum beats while also pushing the post punk aesthetic into deeper abstraction, leading to long and ethereal bursts of droning noise and menacing reverb. The vocals are serene, distant and beautifully harmonized, adding a layer of sentimentality to the crushing sadness these compositions. The hypnotic atmosphere, existential themes and stirring climaxes make Deathconsiousness one of the greatest artistic statements to grace the alternative scene since Radiohead’s Kid A.