Matt’s Top 30 Extreme Metal Albums of 2017
Greetings everyone from your morning news anchor in Philadelphia who happens to like music that gives your parents, your grandparents and maybe even your dog or cat a headache!
Before we begin, a quick thought: the easier it has become to discover and stream new music, the less value I find in having such broad access to every song ever created. Sometimes I’ll look at my Spotify or Bandcamp apps and ask myself “What should I listen to?” I’ve tried the auto-playlists, I’ve tried shuffling, I’ve tried pot-luck, and it’s just not the same. I miss the days when a band I was really into was releasing a new CD, and heading to the music store on the release date, seeing it on the shelf, purchasing it, popping it into the CD player and listening to it 10-20 times in a row. I just don’t do that anymore.
And I always feel like I’m behind in listening to new music.
(BTW here is my list from 2016)
The caveat here is that I think the quality of music these days is superb. Most artists who play metal aren’t trying to make it big, they are just doing what they love. They know there will never be another heavy band like Metallica or Iron Maiden that breaks through all of the noise and enjoys massive, worldwide appeal. Most new bands, even the best ones, find themselves lost in a sea of genres, sub-genres and sub-sub genres that float in the electric internet waiting for someone to listen - and maybe only for about 25 seconds.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that while having multiple choices is good, sometimes having too many choices is bad. The hunt, the chase, the detective work in finding great new music is not the same. Rather than trying to find an obscure band under some rock in the woods, we are being bombarded by new bands composed of musicians who are all in five or six other bands - a cross-pollination effect, if you will. I am simply overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, Lady Gaga performed with Metallica (which by the way, I loved!).
Enough of this. Here are my favorite extreme metal albums from 2017. Start head banging!
(By the way, click on the album title for a link to listen and sample. No one asked me to do this in a promotional sense, just trying to offer some convenience. NOW we begin...)
1. Akercocke - “Renaissance in Extremis”
This record blew me away! I knew I’d have it atop this list as soon as I gave it the first spin (remember when we said that as we played a CD, or, ahem, a record?). Tracing the trajectory of these country gents from their very raw first album to this super-enjoyable, poppish, brutal, melodic, offensive, soothing and punishing comeback album makes complete sense. Jason Mendonça has become even more creative with his vocals, of which the clean singing I undoubtedly enjoy the most. If I had bought this back in 1985 I would have worn out the cassette by now. That’s as big of a compliment I can give to any band these days. Akercocke, congrats, you are #1! (At least with this guy)
2. Slaegt - “Domus Mysterium”
Iron Maiden is abducted by a superior alien race in the year 1998. The band is replaced with reptoids that look exactly like them. While Phony Iron Maiden carries on, the true band members spend the next few decades learning the ways of the Norwegian second wave. The aliens drop them off in a studio nearly 20 years later, they name themselves Slaegt, they record Domus Mysterium, and BAM! They release one of the more interesting post-black metal albums I’ve heard since Nachtmystium’s Black Meddle Part 1.
3. Krallice - “Go Be Forgotten”
Krallice are from the future. It is the only way to explain how they are so prolific and so, well, futuristic. The cover reminds me of early Bathory and the music reminds me of Krallice’s first two releases (which I prefer over their flat-out bizarro later material). This band is talented, no doubt. They are supremely creative, no doubt. And I’m pleased to see they condensed their attack a little bit to offer songs that are less guitar freak-outs. Krallice, you may return to the future to record more!
4. Woe - “Hope Attrition”
Chris Grigg used to do it all himself and sound like he had a band backing him up. Now he has a band backing him up and the Philadelphia-based dark rockers fire away with their best album yet. There is so much great stuff on this thing. Songs that destroy right out of the gates, songs that build up to a skyscraper-toppling crescendo, songs with melody, tight thrash licks - well done, Chris, well done. Oh, and he has Lev Weinstein from Krallice on the kit now. Fine choice. Philly proud!
5. Belus - “Apophenia”
Telegraphing that Chicago black metal vibe you tend to hear from bands like Wolvhammer, the previously mentioned Nachtmystium, recent Abigail Williams and maybe Lord Mantis. Well-produced, rock-based, groove-oriented, creatively composed with a focus on writing balanced songs. Dig it.
6. Sacred Son - “Sacred Son”
You’re probably looking at the cover of this album and thinking it must be a mistake. Or a joke. It is neither and it is hilarious! Metal has to take a breath and not take itself so seriously. If you’re going to put together a one-man black metal album and you want to grace the cover with sunglasses on, a thrifty haircut and a warm smile while fronting a gorgeous background, so be it! Probably the most controversial cover since Deathheaven’s “Sunbather.” But it does not even begin to describe the unsettling nature of the music inside. Think Darkthrone’s “A Blaze in the Northern Sky.”
7. Vinsta - “Vinsta Wiads”
Opeth had a blackened folk metal baby. And we shall name the child “Vinsta.” Outstanding riffing that sounds like it comes straight from “Deliverance” or “Blackwater Park.” Toe-tapping extreme metal music. Gorgeous, extreme, stunning at times.
8. Pillorian - “Obsidian Arc”
Agalloch dies, Pillorian is born. John Haughm left the Portland,Oregon act at the top of its game (although I personally wasn’t very happy with Agalloch’s swan song “The Serpent & the Sphere” as I felt it lacked the emotional quality of their previous releases) to bring us something new. And Pillorian is new but very much aligned with the heavy side of Haughm’s previous band. If you’re looking for shades of “The Mantle” here, you might be disappointed. If you’re looking for “Marrow of the Spirit,” you will be quite pleased. I predict you will see a bit more experimentation in Pillorian’s next release.
9. Coldfells - “Coldfells”
I will listen to anything Aaron Carey is involved with musically as I see him as a very promising voice in USBM. He knocked it out of the park with Nechochwen’s latest album “The Heart of Akamon,” and you will hear a resemblance to its heavier moments with Coldfells. Not to be confused with a British band called Cold Fell which released a pretty decent album called “Irwell” in the same year. Strange coincidence, indeed.
10. Falls of Rauros - “Vigilance Perennial”
Falls of Rauros are a special band. I profiled them after their last release “Believe in No Coming Shore” and was really looking forward to the follow-up. “Vigilance Perennial” does not disappoint. Waving the folk metal flag along with their brethren Panopticon to show how deeply emotional and sophisticated extreme artists can be on this great continent.
11. Totengott - “Doppelganger”
Let’s get this straight: Totengott is a complete Celtic Frost/Hellhammer/Triptykon ripoff. In fact, they used to be a Celtic Frost cover band. Totengott get away with it because they are not trying to hide it at all - hence the name of the band (a Frost song) and the title (which of course you know the meaning). They take a tamper to “Morbid Tales” and “Eparistera Daimones,” mash it up really good into a zesty sauce, and just run with it. The songs are a bit long and repetitive, and you can always get your current Tom Warrior fix by listening to the real thing as Triptykon has 2 1/2 semi-new releases out, but it is fascinating to hear Totengott’s interpretation of extreme metal’s most influential artist.
12. Yellow Eyes - “Immersion Trench Reverie”
It took them a few releases but Yellow Eyes have finally found their sound. Heavy, jarring, menacing, technical, fast and ripping. Black metal intelligence. Converge without the zaniness.
13. JoDöden - “Sittandes i sjön med vatten över huvudet”
Listen the whole way through and you’d think all of these songs were recorded during different times and by different people. You’d be right about the former, as JoDöden (the artist himself) admits as much. Ulver’s early Trilogie is definitely an influence. And why is the guy on the front cover rowing inside a house?
14. Spirit Adrift - “Curse of Conception”
A tribute to Metallica’s “Ride the Lightning” and “Master of Puppets” presented in doom fashion. Another former one-man-band artist who decided to hire some help with great results. Pallbearer-type doom without all the weepiness.
15. White Ward - “Futility Report”
Dramatic music, pure artistry at work here. The use of a saxophone is prominent and makes perfect sense. Reminds me of Ihsahn’s “After.”
16. Quicksand - “Interiors”
Runner up for comeback album of the year? The post-hardcore heroes from New York City decide to get back together and remind us of all the good things about alternative music from the 1990′s. Fugazi without the deliberate weirdness, Alice In Chains without the chunkiness.
17. Aosoth - “V: The Inside Scriptures”
Still trying to wrap myself around this one. A difficult listen indeed. Somewhat frightening, as if this is the soundtrack to that dream you had where you became lost in the basement of a house that is pitch black with no windows, a muddy floor and some unsettling noise coming from the corner.
18. Der Weg Einer Freiheit - “Finisterre”
Fans of Deathspell Omega: presenting the latest band to spawn off their French supremacy. As brutal as it is emotionally powerful.
19. Drudkh - “Somewhere Sadness Wanders”
Only two songs (for some reason, Drudkh’s last three releases have been splits, odd for such a prolific band). Spend more time in the studio, Saenko!
20. Elder - “Reflections of a Floating World”
One of the best doom bands out there right now. I fell in love with their previous album “Lore” right away, and believe it will be looked upon as a classic album in the genre. This album doesn’t reach that pinnacle, but that is what happens when you set the bar so high.
21. River Black - “River Black”
Basically a comeback album from the majority of the guys who manned Burnt By the Sun. Tough, mature, abrasive and unpretentious. A band that is locked in.
22. Lorn - “Arrayed Claws”
So the first song is an absolute rager and about 3/4 of the way in, the music gets really soft. Huh? It was a nice surprise as there are plenty of extreme bands who try to pummel you to death, track-by-track.
23. Fell Ruin - “To the Concrete Drifts”
I love how the drummer seems ready to fall of a cliff at any moment, but keeps up with the relentless assault. Maybe a bit more diverse than “The Climb” which was one of my favorites in 2015.
24. Dodecahedron - “Kwintessens”
Like the previously mentioned Der Weg Einer Freheit, an understudy of Deathspell Omega ready to present its atrocities to the world above.
25. Immolation - “Atonement”
Saw them at the Decibel Beer and Metal festival earlier this year. It was worth the price of admission just to see guitarist Robert Vigna do what he does with his axe. He looks like an air traffic controller, or Mozart, or a yoga instructor who drank a gallon of coffee. The guy doesn’t stop moving! For a band that has been around for three decades, they certainly laid waste to everyone else that night. Their best release in quite a while.
26. Mord’a’Stigmata - “Hope”
Art-metal? These weirdos always come up with strangely assertive compositions. They do more with a 12-minute song than most bands do with four albums.
27. Dumal - “The Lesser God”
A late add. Discovered them while perusing the “like artists” feature on Spotify. Swore I would find members of Woe in this band, which also has connections to Philadelphia. Like Woe, excellent, hardcore-infused black metal but with some ambient touches that offer interesting textures and pensive breaks from the madness.
28. Drab Majesty - “The Demonstration”
Duran Duran meets The Cure in a bar and gets into a brawl with Joy Division. And a warning - this is not metal! If you get a chance, read the back story on the person behind this fascinating, LA-based post-wave project. Bottom line - that person is as strange as that person is creative.
29. Jassa - “Incarnation of the Higher Gnosis”
The drumming on this album is flat out incredible. The fills are fantastic, the snare sound is deep and pure, the toms are tuned just right - I’d love for my set to sound like this every day. Death-tinged black metal with hint of shoegaze.
30. Locust Leaves - “A Subtler Kind of Light”
The weirdest one on this list by far. Reminds me of the band Sculptured, which was formed by some members of Agalloch. Super progressive, super bizarre, super technical and really just mind blowing. The vocals may be a little much. Gets help from Ayloss, the man behind the equally strange Spectral Lore (who was kind enough to answer some of my questions about his impressive album “III” a few years back). The cover reminds me of Deathspell Omega for some reason.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Foscor - “Les Irreals Visions”
Satyricon - “Deep calleth upon Deep”
Pallbearer - “Heartless”
Tau Cross - “Pillar of Fire”
Selbst - “Selbst”
Forgotten Tomb - “We Owe You Nothing”
Mastodon - “Emperor of Sand”