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Running on no sleep, just caffeine and iron will supplemented by heavy metal thunder and a burning deadline that I’m gonna miss anyway: this is your weekly installment of our makeshift buyers guide, as presented by a stretched-too-thin lunatic. Let’s cut the pleasantries and listen to some shit.
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ALBUM OF THE WEEK (SHOULD RULE HARD)
Converge never flag in quality. They never stumble. Confidence, taste, and sheer talent keep every release up to the standards of excellence we’ve come to expect over the past two decades. They simply slay, record after record, song after song, year after year. Where Axe to Fall spread out and burrowed into the stranger corners of the band’s sound, their latest reels it back in–-we get the core sound of ripping hardcore mixed with angular psychedelic sludge. These tunes kill, and the alternating short bursts in between longer, slower songs makes for a 17-song record that doesn’t feel long, or boring, or anything other than awesome. More leads and oddly traditional solos are welcome new additions, though the album succeeds almost entirely on the strength of its songs and its ferocity of execution. This is absolutely fucking essential.
Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind [Buy CD / MP3] / [Deluxe Edition MP3] (contains 3 extra songs)
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Converge – “A Glacial Pace”
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MIGHT RULE HARD
Cauldron sound kinda shitty on first listen, like a torn-spandex throwaway from a forgotten age of NWOBHM. Those vocals . . . are a tough sell. That said, if you give yourself into the songs and loosen your mental screws (beer helps), it slowly starts to make sense. The riffs start to rule and you feel your ass start to shake. The solos grab your balls and squeeze, and suddenly those vocals aren’t so bad. Oddly they don’t sound much like the retro-trad-throwback that they actually are, which is a good thing. Like Dawnbringer, they own the aesthetic to the point that it feels honest, if not actually old.
People seem to like Daylight Dies, and I can see why. This is my first time hearing them. For a melodic, progressive/depressive doom band, I hear nods to the Peaceville 3, some Akerfeldtian clean manly-singing, and something intangible that holds it all together and makes it sound rad (my guess is confidence). If I were rowing to the center of a lake to drown myself, I’d throw this on to steady my resolve.
I haven’t spent much time with the new Enslaved yet, though if you’re even interested in their twelfth album, I assume you have. How is it? The single (“Veilburner”) feels like yet another incremental step towards prog-mania, complete with a nifty arrangement and some sweet guitars, but I’m starting to think I’ll never get used to the awkward shifts between growls and clean vocals. Such is life.
Talk about a flashback to a forgotten age of not-that-long-ago: Sylosis dig up the millenial death/thrash that the rest of the world shrugged off and casually ignored years ago. Add in lots of acoustic intros and progressive melodies on top of the A-grade death/thrash riffs, and you’ve got a serious little ripper. This is what I wish The Haunted sounded like.
Cauldron – Tomorrow’s Lost [Buy MP3] / [Preorder CD] / [Preorder LP]
Daylight Dies – A Frail Becoming [Buy CD]
Enslaved – Riitiir [Buy CD / MP3 / LP]
Sylosis – Monolith [Buy CD / MP3]
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Cauldron – “Burning Fortune”
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Daylight Dies – “Infidel”
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THROUGH THE CRACKS
This is it, kids. The final Hydra Head release. Ever. I missed covering it last week-–it was released on 10/2-–so I’m calling attention to it now. Aaron Turner, James Plotkin, and Tim Wyskida reunite as Jodis for their second album: a fascinating meditation in ringing chords, clean vocals, quiet electronics, and sparse (occasionally pounding) drums. It’s not metal, but who even cares at this point. It’s a gorgeous, glittering denouement for one of the best labels of our generation.
Jodis – Black Curtain [Buy CD / MP3 / LP]
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Jodis – “Broken Ground”
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I think Converge have almost defeated themselves. The new album is great, really great. Yet, as you point out, they are consistently great.
However, this consistency makes it almost an expected fact that they will bring out the goods. Which makes it easy to overlook how good All We Love We Leave Behind is. For my ears, Bannon’s vocals sound as good, if not better, than they have before. And everything else on the album is ball-tearingly awesome.
They are like the person you have been married to for twenty years: it is so easy to overlook how beautiful and ‘right’ they are for you.
wasn’t really expecting much from a new converge album, they are always good and all, but somehow just you know more of the same… but when i played this i could not stop half way and i played it all the way through and it completely tore my face off. every song killed it, and the vocals were better than ever. looking forward to seeing them in december.
i wish enslaved would just get rid of the death/black metal vocas altogether, it’s so hard for me to get into their albums full on. there are always several standout tracks and the rest kind of just melts together to my ears. that said, if more tracks on the new album were like “maternal” it would be a solid best of the year contender. that song is beyond fantastic.
i’ll have to check out cauldron.
Converge is a top-10er for the year, maybe even top-5er. Their best since No Heroes, maybe since Jane Doe. Can’t wait to get my hands on the 180 gram vinyl.
Deathwish sent me a full download as a consolation for the vinyl being delayed. I’m saving. It for a full weekend immersion. I like the way it’s shaping up as a back to basics counterpart to the diversity of axe to fall. This could be a fifth top notch release in a row, putting the band in rare company.
I’m a little bit in love with the new Enslaved. “Roots Of The Mountain” in particular is a stunning track.
Just to clear things up, this is NOT the last Hydra Head release. They will be releasing more new material until December.
Taken directly from the press email that Aaron Turner sent out last week:
“This is to be the last full length album released by Hydra Head before we shutdown the new releases sector of the label….”
doesn’t Mamiffer/Pyramids come out on the 16th from Hydra Head? Turner is a pothead hippie. What’s you excuse Wash? That’s just bad fact checking. Ha, I kid.
the Enslaved is truly stunning, it’s absolutely amazing.
Daylight Dies should be so much bigger, they are an incredible band.
and the new Between the Buried and Me is fantastic!
The new Converge is indeed fantastic. When the first track trickled out, I was surprised at how good it was, and the full album does not disappoint. And I loved Axe To Fall; I almost can’t believe how strong this new one is. Wish they were coming near me on this upcoming tour :’(
Man, that Daylight Dies track was pretty cool. Thanks for posting that. I’ll wait for the full album stream somewhere before pulling the trigger on it.
Demonic Death Judge – Skygods. Album of the week this week.
The less we speak about Cauldron the better. Plain fucking terrible.
Nothing is more essential than Enslaved. Most prolific band in metal right now. I wouldn’t expect IO to give them more attention than a band like Converge, but at least spend some time with the fucking thing before writing about it.
Riitiir has been gathering dust since my first few spins, which is usually a sign that it’s not all that good. I’ve enjoyed their recent output to a degree, but the prog/black metal marriage has been sounding awkward for some time now. Isa was the last really great album they did.
I’m glad Enslaved get your motor runnin’. Anything that gets you excited is worth celebrating, which is what I try to do with this series when I can. But just so there’s no confusion: this column is just a discussion of stuff coming out this week. These are not reviews. None of this is definitive or binding or meant for long-term, lasting value. I try to strike a balance between stuff I’m personally excited about, stuff I know our readers will be excited about, and stuff that just looks interesting. It’s a way to spread awareness of interesting new releases and encourage support for the bands we love. That’s it.
I agree about the Enslaved, battling with Sigh for my album of the year. Converge do absolutely nothing for me.
I havent heard all of the new converge or enslaved but Im stoked, even if thoughts like hammers left me with nothing. This new daylight dies song sounds really cool, Ive been hoping they would branch out more for a while
Converge fucking sucks. People who get excited about a new Converge album in 2012 are fucking wack. Awfull band. Fucking cheap.
Isn’t the new Coverage only 14 tracks not 17?
Oh extra tracks, duh
“Converge do absolutely nothing for me.” [2]