Wednesday, August 12, 2009

My Favorite Extreme Music Albums of 2009's First Half Part Two

5. Buried Inside - Spoils Of Failure
The thing that I really like about Spoils is that all the songs draws you into a universe that's bleak and to a land of no return influenced by the NeruIsis sound as opposed to relaxing in a dream state. Four years after Chronoclast, they have slowed down their obvious intensity to only present more of it subtly with the Roman numeraled songs where odd at first it says something in that Buried Inside's Spoils of Failure is meant to be listened wholly to witness the full firepower of this Ottawa doom and gloom band.

4. Cobalt - Gin
Experimental progressive black metal? It's not Norway's Enslaved but Colorado's Cobalt where only two people (with Sgt. Phil McSorley currently serving in Iraq) doing probably the best things by Opeth, Neurosis, and even Tool into one record about one special drink and the effects of being drunk. When digesting universally (music and artwork), the mysticism of Hemmingway and Thompson gets farther with contributions by Swans' Jarboe, the everlong silent poem, and the great campfire bonus song at the end (spoilers!).

3. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Agorapocalypse
Split after split after split after split and so on... Drum machinegunners Agoraphobic Nosebleed hasn't released an album in years but did the splits without breaking any bones. After Scott Hull did his time with Pig Destroyer and his solo recordings, he got drone doomy Salome's Katherine to do some vocals along with commons Richard Johnson and Jay Randall to shout on a new form of ANb. Not super mother fucking high speed of messy grind but evolving to a more precise and tactical strikers with realistic drum programming, grooved up guitars, and shouters who want people to suck their dicks just like usual; sorry Kat!

2. Tombs - Winter Hours
Greatest surprise record of the year. Brooklyn shoegazy sludgified black metal Tombs makes a debut that's powerful mixing the wall of sound defined by My Bloody Valentine with the tempos of Neurosis and Darkthrone (especially Darkthrone) where sounds so fresh and warm. Hooky lines of chords and riffs played through by guitar Mike Hill and bassist Carson Daniel James like butter. Mike's vocals also make the awesome sound more awesome with his hollow chants of New York life. Wham bam thank you ma'am!

I have two number ones because they sound equally great in my ears!

1. Altar Of Plagues - White Tomb
Black metal is sometimes hard to digest to especially when it's in something along the lines of Xasthur but for some reason, Ireland's Altar Of Plagues rids of the problem and presents a new and attractive universe of the gloomy aggression to the dynamics of post-rock/metal. There is lyrical and musical sadness and anger against the industrialization of our world ridding of Europe's spring gentian flower especially in "Through The Collapse" arc where Altar Of Plagues presents a dead future without nature and hope that it returns to shine the Earth which these naturalists call the White Tomb.

1. Coalesce - Ox
More than ten years since their pre-first breakup album 0:12 Revolution In Just Listening, finally full length material which continues and expands on the influence of 1960s rock along with the element of spaghetti western soundtracks; not just musically but lyrically. Sean Ingram tells us first person stories of the wild west from long ago were Manifest Destiny was booming and there was trouble and loneliness in the new frontier (listen to "We Have Lost Our Will"). His shouts will intimidate even the bree-ist of folk. Although following in a more simpler tone, the music still is chaotic and unpredictable even with every listen because guitarist Jes and bassist Nathan make it so exciting to find out who is playing on which side! Let's not forget Junior who is a master at the craft of drumming in which without him, Ox would have been left for the crows.

Other great listens:
  • Believer - Gabriel
  • Graves Of Valor - Salarian Gate
  • Kylesa - Static Tensions
  • Victims - Killer

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