Kaze’s best 15 releases of 2019

Dear all,

2019 was a year full of great releases in a variety of genres in the wide spectrum of the underground. As every year, somewhere towards the end or somewhere close to the start of the next year (in my case 🙂 ), it is a tradition to have each member of our crew to share their favorite releases. With the best of articles, we summarize some great albums of the previous year & directly recommend them to you. A great way to accumulate some really damn good releases.

Hereby, I present you my favorite releases for 2019. I hope you enjoy it!

#15. Portrayal of Guilt – Suffering Is A Gift EP
Origin: Texas, U.S
Genre: Post-hardcore
Release date: 30 August 2019
Label: Closed Casket Activities

#14. Mock the Mankind – Sorge
Origin: Athens, Greece
Genre: Doom
Release date: 13 September 2019
Label: Independent

#13. King Gizzard & The Lizzard Wizard – INFEST THE RATS NEST
Origin: Melbourne, Australia
Genre: Stoner rock, psychedelic rock, thrash metal
Release date: 16 August 2019
Label: Flightless, ATO

#12. Imha Tarikat – Kara Ihlas
Origin: Germany
Genre: Black metal
Release date: 18 January 2019
Label: Vendetta Records

#11. Darkthrone – Old Star

URL: Youtube
Origin: Kolbotn, Norway
Genre: Black metal, heavy metal
Release date: 31 May 2019
Label: Peaceville

#10. Russian Circles – Blood Year
Origin: Chicago, Illinois, U.S
Genre: Post-metal, post-rock
Release date: 2 August 2019
Label: Sargent House

#9. Pelican – Nighttime Stories
Origin: Evanston, Illinois, U.S
Genre: Post-metal
Release date: 7 June 2019
Label: Southern Lord Recordings

#8. Body Void – You Will Know The Fear You Forced Upon Us EP
Origin: San Fransisco, California, U.S
Genre: Sludge/doom metal
Release date: 15 March 2019
Label: Seeing Red Records

#7. Martyrdöd- Hexhammaren
Origin: Sweden
Genre: Crust-punk, hardcore punk, metal
Release date: 24 May 2019
Label: Century Media

#6. Malignant Altar – RETRIBUTION OF JEALOUS GODS EP
Origin: Houston, Texas, U.S
Genre: Death metal, doom
Release date: 22 March 2019
Label: Maggot Stomp

#5. Cult of luna – A Dawn to Fear

Origin: Umeå, Sweden
Genre: Post-metal, sludge metal
Release date: 20 September, 2019
Label: Metal Blade Records

#4. Tool – Fear Inoculum

URL: Youtube
Origin: Los Angeles, California, US
Genre: Progressive metal, post-metal
Release date: 30 August 2019
Label: Volcano, RCA

#3. STORM {O} – FINIS TERRAE
Origin: Feltre, Italy
Genre: punk, crust, hardcore, noise
Release date: 4 October 2019
Label: Moment of Collapse Records, Pundonor Records, Left Hand Label, Skeletal Lightning, To Lose La Track, Shove Records

#2. Alcest – Spiritual Instinct
Origin: Paris, France
Genre: blackgaze, post-metal
Release date: 25 October 2019
Label: Nuclear Blast

#1. Coilguns – Watchwinders
Origin: La Chaux De Fonds, Switzerland
Genre: Noisecore, mathcore
Release date: 25 October 2019
Label: Hummus Records

Ebabeleba’s bestest of 2019!

Dear all,

I would like to start by thanking our dedicated (growing number of) followers for listening, liking and sharing our anniversaries and reviews throughout Facebook! The casual comments on how these posts remind you of the good ol’ days or that you discovered an album through our page really motivates us every day to keep the content coming!

It’s been a great year with some amazing gigs, inspiring festivals and mind blowing music. By engulfing ourselves in what we love most (music! music! music!) we meet new like minded people everyday, be it IRL or through the world wide web strings that bind us. Sure we’ve had a few hecklers this year trying to ban our page and some pages copying our work but we kinda see that as a compliment and the real credit goes out to the artists that inspired this page in the first place.

My wishes for 2020 are that we keep supporting the underground and on a worldly scale:

Pull the trigger,
Bend the bow,
Wield your mighty lances!
It's time for new tales of resistance!

Lyrics from “Raise the Flails” – Behold Sedition Plainsong by Dawn Ray’d

Without further ado, here’s my bestest of 2019!

Best Compilation

Riffs for Reproductive Justice by Various Artists

Genre: black metal, death metal, extreme metal, punk, grindcore, hardcore
Release date: July 2, 2019
Label: independent (Black Flags Over Brooklyn)

Best Collaboration

Curse These Metal Hands by Pijn & Conjurer

Origin: UK
Genre: sludge, doom, post-metal, post-rock, progressive
Release date: August 16, 2019
Label: Holy Roar Records

Best Split

4 Way Split by Dopelord, Major Kong, Spaceslug and Weedpecker

Origin: Poland
Genre: heavy psych, stoner, doom
Release date: February 1, 2019
Label: independent

Best albums top 20

#20 Pressed in the Earth by Mar

Origin: Providence, Rhode Island
Genre: doom, noise, punk, sludge
Release date: January 20, 2019
Label: independent

#19 Jupiter by Reka

Origin: Moscow, Russia
Genre: punk, post-hardcore, post-metal, post-rock, sludge
Release date: April 19, 2019
Label: Moment of Collapse Records

#18 Champ du Sang by VOUS AUTRES

Origin: Nantes, France
Genre: black metal, death metal, doom, post-hardcore, sludge, shoegaze
Release date: March 1, 2019
Label: Sleeping Church Records, Sludgelord Records

#17 Louse by Quitters

Origin: Copenhagen, Denmark
Genre:  doom, punk, sludge
Release date: August 2, 2018
Label: Wargame Records

#16 Floating Being by Earth Tongue

Origin: Wellington, New Zealand
Genre: fuzz, psychedelic
Release date: June 21, 2019
Label: Stolen Body Records

#15 Fimbultýr by Golden Core

Origin: Oslo, Norway
Genre:  doom, sludge, stoner, progressive
Release date: November 1, 2019
Label: Fysisk Format

#14 Darkness by Trapped By Lies

Origin: Tacoma, Washington, US
Genre:  metalcore, punk, hardcore
Release date: January 12, 2019
Label: Independent

#13 slake by WOORMS

Origin: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Genre: sludge, postmetal, punk, noise
Release date: January 18, 2019
Label: Sludgelord Records

#12 DEATHCHANT by DEATHCHANT

Origin: Los Angeles, California, US
Genre:  doom, psychedelic, stoner, heavy metal
Release date: January 10, 2019
Label: King Volume Records

#11 Glorify by Diploid

Origin: Melbourne, Australia
Genre:  grindcore, blackgaze, experimental, hardcorepunk, noise, screamo
Release date: November 22, 2019
Label: Art As Catharsis Records, Black Wire Records, Lacklustre Records

#10 Endless by Holy Serpent

Origin: Melbourne, Australia
Genre:  doom, psychedelic, stoner
Release date: October 18, 2019
Label: RidingEasy Records

#9 MERE MORTALS by The Lumberjack Feedback

Origin: Lille, France
Genre: doom, post-hardcore, postmetal, sludge
Release date: April 26, 2019
Label: Deadlight Entertainment

#8 Hexhammaren by Martyrdöd

Origin: Sweden
Genre:  crust, punk
Release date: May 24, 2019
Label: Southern Lord Recordings, Century Media

#7 Modern Panic by Deaf Radio

Origin: Athens, Greece
Genre:  desert rock, psychedelic, rock ‘n roll
Release date: November 15, 2019
Label: Ihaveadrum Records

#6 Vol. 6 by Seer

Origin: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Genre:  doom, progressive, sludge, black metal
Release date: February 8, 2019
Label: Artoffact Records

#5 Sacrifice by Vicious Irene

Origin: Sweden
Genre:  crust, d-beat, punk
Release date: July 8, 2019
Label: Ruin Nation Records

#4 A Dawn to Fear by Cult of Luna

Origin: Umeå, Sweden
Genre:  postmetal, progressive, sludge
Release date: September 20, 2019
Label: Metal Blade Records, Red Creek

#3 II by Wolf Blood

Origin: Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
Genre:  doom stoner, punk, thrash
Release date: May 1, 2019
Label: Riff Merchant Records

#2 FINIS TERRAE by STORM{O}

Origin: Feltre, Italy
Genre:  punk, crust, hardcore, noise
Release date: October 4, 2019
Label: Moment of Collapse Records, Pundonor Records, Left Hand Label, Skeletal Lightning, To Lose La Track, Shove Records

#1 Behold Sedition Plainsong by Dawn Ray’d

Origin: UK
Genre:  black metal
Release date: October 25, 2019
Label: Prosthetic Records, Action Now!

 

Thanks for reading/listening, hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to comment below!

Greets,

Ebabeleba

Gamma’s most pleasant musical delicacies and sound treats of 2019

Hello humans. It has already been 2019 (?) Christmases since the birth of our lord and savior Jesus Fucking Christ, and as is customary I was obliged by company management asked to draft a list with what I consider to be the most ear pleasuring releases of last year.

Although it was quite a slow period at the end of last winter/spring, after the summer (or at least towards the end of it) there were quite a lot of releases that made me happy.

Honorable mention:

We Know That The Heavens Are Empty – Ragana https://ragana.bandcamp.com/. A really well written record, by the duo from California. After the split-EP with Thou they left many promises. Reeeeaaaaalllly good stuff.

#10 to #7

In cauda venenum – Opeth http://www.opeth.com/. Opeth continue to piss off every traditional metalhead-stereotype person with every release and for that reason alone, they deserve a place in this list. Bonus fact: Probably their best prog-era release.

Nighttime stories – Pelican https://pelicansl.bandcamp.com/album/nighttime-stories . The quartet from Chicago provided a sturdy release, possibly the peak of their musical journey up to this date. I hope to see more of the same in the future.

The Heretics – Rotting Christ https://rottingchrist.bandcamp.com/album/the-heretics. Rotting Christ continue to evolve and stretch their genre into paths that have not only not been explored before (see concepts/motivation) but also set quite a remarkable example.

Life metal & Pyroclasts – Sunn O))) https://sunn.bandcamp.com/album/life-metal. They are to me an extremely creative approach to experimental heavy sound that evolve relentlessly.

Periphery IV: Hail Stan – Periphery http://periphery.net/. A great release by the independent label of 3DOT recordings (their own label).

#5 to #4

Gold and grey – Baroness https://yourbaroness.com/music/gold-grey/. Progressive. Harmonic. Creative. Baroness are not the sludge machine of the past, but instead they are sneaking their way into the realms of progressive music better than ever.

Fear Inoculum – Tool https://toolband.com/releases/fear-inoculum/. Long awaited release. Hard to understand and even harder to appreciate. Tool did it again. Hardly a surprise pick.

#3

A different shape of blue – Knocked Loose https://purenoise.bandcamp.com/album/a-different-shade-of-blue

Question: What is Kentucky known for? Think again and this time try to find a reason that does not have to do with chicken. Knocked motherfuckin Loose. These guys play great hardcore music. After Laugh Tracks, A different shade of blue left me wanting more from them.

#2

Behold sedition plainsong – Dawn Ray’d https://dawnrayd.bandcamp.com/album/behold-sedition-plainsong

I was impressed by those guys FUCK YEA. Amazing songwriting, inspiring lyrical work, tons of energy in their performance. I am not going to ramble on about their background and their take on how music should be made (although spot on). Would have been number one if it weren’t for the motherfucking Cult of fucking Luna and their master fucking piece

#1

A Dawn to Fear – Cult of Luna https://cultofluna.bandcamp.com/album/a-dawn-to-fear

I am a huge fanboy. What can I say. According to me, they redefine the genre with every release. They push their art to its boundaries, they explore and evolve relentlessly. I am unable to produce a negative thought about the Mooncult (sic). I am sorry. There are very few records (just so I don’t say none) that end with a better song than The Fall.

Behold Sedition Plainsong by Dawn Ray’d

The Liverpool-based crust-black trio Dawn Ray’d have released their second record, Behold Sedition Plainsong, a rebel’s guide into today’s society.

The record is divided into 11 tracks, all of them mixing black metal with some crust elements, thus betraying some of their influences (Iskra, Fall of Efrafa). They result in a strange sort of raw black metal, which becomes melodic & folk-ish at times (with the atmospheric use of violin as well as acoustic parts) , but always remains undiverted to the genre’s aggressive characteristics.

Musically, the trio evolved greatly since their last piece of work. It looks like the band learns to leave (musical) space where space is due, be it a lamenting violin section, a bark of earth shattering drum sequences, or attacks of striking guitar riffage. This kind of musical clothing suits their lyrical ideas perfectly. Not following the traditional black metal themes, their dialectics include serious social points such as xenophobia, ecological catastrophe, capitalism and industrialism. From the start (Raise the flails) to the end (The curse, the dappled light), there is an anti-Nazi rhetoric to Behold Sedition Plainsong. It was made evident from their previous works as well as their live performances, that this is a very political band, expressing a voice always underrated and frowned upon in the scene/genre ( ¡No pasarán! ).

As a whole, the record shows the character of the band. Serious, sturdy, well-written. It is not the most technical black metal record, but neither does it aim to. Dawn Ray’d do not aim for commercial success or critical acclaim. It feels that the message they want to convey carries greater significance than facebook likes and spotify clicks. This record is a rebellion manifesto.

Favourite tracks: Like smoke into fog, To all, to all, to all!, Songs in the key of compromise, A stone’s throw.

 

A Dawn To Fear by Cult Of Luna

Being a diehard-passionate- hardcore-fanboy of the mooncult band, I was really excited and curious to find out what the gang from Umeå were up to. After the critical accolades received for Vertikal and the masterpiece created with Julie Christmas in Mariner, my expectations were not high. How can anyone top that?

With this release Cult of Luna do exactly that: They topped their last releases. They created a heavy record, full of growling guitars, heavy and dominant drum lines. Attention to the lead section: Harsh vocals and organ melodies seems to pair in an extraordinary way. I feel that Johannes’ vocals are harshest than ever. Mooncult have a fantastic ability to combine heavy shredding vocals with elegant harmonies, and in that sense A Dawn to Fear resembles Vertikal and their earlier works.

There is clear experimentation with drone sounds and moreover clear homage to their doom past, with slow and heavy patterns.

A lot of “start slow and build it up to Armageddon” is to be expected. There are clean vocals, but don’t ever become tiresome. The harsh vocals are absolutely shredding. A lot of weight is given on the keyboard over the last productions. The presence of Kristian Karlsson is focusing around a somewhat heavier use of organ, rather than keys, as in previous releases and is an element that binds perfectly with the atmosphere.

Original songwriting is a definite plus. However, knowing when to escalate and when to build is what they know how to do best and what makes them so talented. After the work they have put through for the last decade, Cult of Luna grew to be a titan in the scene of post-metal. And deservedly so.

They simply redefine the genre with each release.

Favourite track: The Fall

a DAWN to FEAR

Fear Inoculum by Tool

Quite a few tons of (internet) ink have been spilled over analyzing the music and lyrics behind the art of Tool. And after 4872 since their last release “10,000 days” they did their (long overdue) duties releasing their latest record “Fear Inoculum” on 30th August 2019, chosing to work again with producer Joe Barresi (“10,000 days“ ).

In general, the record tells the story of a symbolic apocalypse: A global means of deceit spreads fear into peoples minds. Sucked into the spiral of their illusion, the impeding doom seems inevitable. Tool love the idea of symbols in their work. Here, this means of deceit can be (social) media, politicians, etc. Society itself is being paralleled with war. Humans are unable to resist, stream their whole existence, part by part, online and failing to deal with the problems that threaten their very survival and destroying nature in the process. Little do they know, that in fact nature always finds a way to survive, with or without mankind.

Fear Inoculum. The story starts with an introduction of the bad guy. Here “the deceiver” spreads poison (fear) all over its prey (“The deceiver says, he says; You belong to me; You don’t wanna breathe the light of the others; “). This process of projecting fear, results in the development of an alter ego of sorts (” My own mitosis; Growing through division from mania; “) among each human, only a faint reminder of their once conscious selves.

Pneuma. Spirit. Breath. This is a straight reference to what is known as collective unconcious in Jungian psychology. In short, it describes a series of behavioral ensticts, shared by members of the same species. It seems like the deceiver’s attempt to spread mass fear is working, and humans are acting instinctively: Rallying, acting as a single united entity, the mass. And the narrator struggles to warn humans against this (“Child, wake up; Wake up now, child; Wake up;”). He urges them to keep their individuality, because he knows that the mass is extremely stubborn.

Litanie contre la peur. Litany against fear. It seems like the narrator’s desperate attempts for awareness is futile. The narrator knows the war against fear is inevitable and prays, as if before the battles about to come.

Invincible. The battle starts. The battle against what is now the new status quo, set by the deceiver. In the new status quo, the narrator is an old-fashioned existence (” Beating chest and drums” – reference to gorillas and old tribes perhaps to signify how primitive/different he is compared to the new society that the deceiver has formed). In this new status quo, the warrior struggles (“Warrior struggling to remain relevent; Warrior struggling to remain consequential;”). This new society depresses the warrior, who recalls the old days (reference to Juan Ponce de León ‘s Fountain of Youth).

Legion Inoculant. As in every war, the time has come to face the legion of the enemy. In our case, the legion is the hordes of mezmerized, social-media-obsessed humans, against who the warrior/narrator and people like him, greatly struggle. This war is similar to peer pressure how society dictates certain models. You either fit in, or you become an outcast much like the narrator.

Descending. The outcome of the battle is defeat. In the last hour, the warrior, still deep in the battle (“Stay the grand finale; Stay the reading of our swan song and epilogue”), pities the enemy. Seeing people struggling so much to fit in molds that destroy individual character is one thing, but seeing how ignorant the enemy is to this disaster (“Falling isn’t flying“), the narrator almost feels for them .

Culling voices. Now, only a fading voice remains of what once was conscious thinking. Fear paralyzes its victims, making them unable to think. Thinking is described as an internal dialogue and this is exactly what is meant by “psychopathy”. Only now, there is hardly any space left for second voices.

Chocolate chip trip.

Tempest. These molds cast by the deceiver act as an illusion, until you are confronted by the facts, which in this case hit you like a tempest (“Miss-lead; Flash, don’t blink; Follow the evidence” – Don’t use your lies as defense). A final wake up call, the aftermath.

Mockingbeat. This is a post-apocalyptic scenery. Animal sounds, etc. Ignorance brings the destruction of nature. However, it only leads to the destruction of humankind, whereas nature itself continues to exist, with or without humans.

In its totality, the records is meant to be listened to from start to finish, as a whole part. Which highlights the fact that there are interludes in between.

The work done by Adam Jones on the guitar and Justin Chancellor on the bass, is phenomenal. Although their sound has hardly changed since 10,000 days it is still fresh and SO heavy. Maynard James Keenan, has offered lyrics of the highest quality, tailor-made for the music created by the gentlemans above. Poetic and mystic, keeping the standards of their previous work. Some parts remind me of Aenema or even Undertow (Tempest), some parts remind me of Lateralus (Descending, Pneuma), but overall this is the album of the year.

A separate mention to Danny Carey. This record is his moment to shine. Easily the heaviest drum sounds I have ever heard.

Spectacular production. Huge congratulations to Joe Barresi.

 

Tool Official Website

Tool’s Fear Inoculum on Spotify

 

Gold and Grey by Baroness

A couple of days ago, Baroness released their newest work entitled “Gold and Grey” as a natural closure to their chromatically-themed record-sequel. They started off with  Red (heavy, aggressive & raw), then went on to Blue (their most sludgy work). Then explored their progressive side with Yellow and Green, a colour that symbolizes fear (a change of direction towards their proggier side perhaps), on to Purple (a colour that is used to imply stability & creativity – perhaps a settle down phase on their progressive side).  

The natural closure to this story of symbols is offered by Gold and Grey, as the peak and at the same time end of their work with the sense of achievement. As a whole, this album starts right where Purple left off. This heavy/progressive side is slowly transitioning into works that are by far the most emotional of the band. The use of harsh vocals is restricted and gives way to more harmonic vocals, doubled by Gina Gleason. This is the first album that features Gina and she absolutely nails it. Her vocal output matches that of John Baizley greatly. She offers perfectly matching harmonies throughout the music. This is solidified by the following fact: There is less heavy shredding in this album, and far more guitar harmonic parts between Gina and John, which acts as an extension to their vocal coordination. This work was devoid of Peter Adams, who left the band mid 2017.

The rhythm section remains faithful to the standards raised by Baroness since Red. The work of Sebastian Thomson and Nick Jost is strong and sturdy, but at the same time more innovative and of course more prog-friendly as is the whole flavor of Gold and Grey.

There is only one drawback to this record and sadly enough it’s nothing new to the music world. The mixing is sloppy, especially towards the later stages of the album.

All in all, the music is a lot different since Red came out. The band has evolved both musically and culturally and Gold and Grey is probably one of their best works so far.

Favorite tracks: Front Toward Enemy, Tourniquet, Anchor’s Lament, Cold-blooded Angels

You can listen for yourself here:

https://www.facebook.com/YourBaroness/

https://baroness.bandcamp.com

https://yourbaroness.com/