Articles : Sam Maher’s best of 2011

The beautiful thing about writing a ‘Best of’ article is that it so obviously and completely subjective that I get to abandon all pretences of neutrality, impartiality and seriousness. Below you will find this reviewer’s opinion on the cream of the crop of the year 2011, minor gushing and the occasional attempt at humour. If you agree with what you find below then congratulations: you have brilliant taste in music. I recommend leaving a comment below to inform the world of your moral superiority. If for some reason you happen to disagree with my choices then you are of course still welcome to leave a strongly worded message, though I’m not sure I would be so willing to publically embarrass myself.

2011 was not altogether a bad year for metal. There were dozens of fantastic releases (they are below, in case you were a little slow on how these things typically work) along with plenty of crappy attempts at music (Opeth, Arch Enemy, Devildriver…did I mention Opeth?) alongside several awesome shows, both foreign and local, to dazzle the seedy stages of underground Australia (Tesseract, Anno Domini, Bastardfest, Sonic Forge etc.). Before we launch into the most prestigious of awards, the royal we have a few random prizes to give out to releases that didn’t quite make the cut.

Album Most Likely to Have Made the Top 10 if Only it Had Not Been Released Too Late In the Year for Me to Pick it Up:

Arbrynth – Arbrynth

Seriously, who releases their album on December 23? Despite their deficiencies in music marketing 101, from what I have heard of the Melbourne progressive folk (???) outfit’s debut release it sounds pretty damn awesome so I am just going to go ahead and plug them hard despite not actually owning the album yet…plug plug plug. Plug.

Album Most Likely to Alter Parts of Your Anatomy:

Ouroboros – Glorification of a Myth

Take the speed and aggression of thrash metal and then take out all the lameness, corniness and elements that have otherwise been done to death and replace them with a clear, vicious and precise  technical death metal sound. Ouroboros are technical and brutal, yet still refreshingly interesting.

Song of the Year:

Ne Obliviscaris: “And Plague Flowers the Kaleidoscope”

The preview song from Ne Obliviscaris’ forthcoming 2012 album Portal of I is nothing short of a masterpiece. When I warned earlier about potential gushing this was the most likely candidate and rather than put up with that you should just go listen to this song . If my editor is kind enough, you may even find it embedded below: (either that or I am going to look really silly with that colon)

With that aside, the choice cuts of 2011, arranged reverse hierarchically for maximum suspense:

Best albums of 2011

10) Animals as Leaders – Weightless

Animals as Leaders are without a doubt leading the way in experimental, progressive metal. Weightless is a mind-boggling collection of instrumental artistry that will keep you coming back again and again trying to figure out exactly what the hell is going on. The album is a zany mixture of heavy and soft, sensible and bizarre. The album is characterised by jazzy lead guitar work, Meshuggah-style 8-string chugs, weird glitchy rhythm patterns and the occasional shred break, spaced out with peaceful interludes and ambient breaks. Who needs a vocalist when you can make a guitar sing like Tosin Abasi can?

Recommended track: “Odessa”

9) Katabasis – Katabasis

You can read my more in-depth review of this album here. The abridged version goes something like this: Katabasis are good.

…

Alright, fine. Take an abrasive black/death metal sound combined with remarkable diversity, similar to what Opeth’s first two albums displayed, but take the whole thing and add boatload of atmosphere and you have a fine basis for an album. Katabasis beautifully mixes screaming desperation with haunting atmospheres and creepy ambient passages that manage to sound absolutely enormous despite their careful subtlety.

Recommended track: “Aphelion”

8 ) Machine Head – Unto the Locust

This album can also have the award for second-most divisive album of the year (#1 obviously goes to a certain Swedish progressive “death metal” band’s latest opus). With the amazing success that The Blackening was Machine Head had big shoes to fill, and depending on who you ask they either did so with flying colours or failed dismally. I am most certainly in the former camp; while it does not quite meet the quality of its predecessor, Unto the Locust is certainly still in the same league. Musically you will be treated to headbang-inducing riffs aplenty, six million awesome guitar harmonies and Phil Demmel and Robb Flynn’s (awesome) signature dual lead guitar style. These dance a graceful duet with the gigantic growls of “I am Hell”, the passionate clean passages of “Darkness Within” and everything in the middle to produce another absolute machine of an album.

Recommended track: “Be Still and Know”

7) Between the Buried and Me – The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues

I can’t believe there is a year in which I do not give Between the Buried and Me album the year; both The Great Misdirect and Colors received my pick for their respective release years. In all fairness however, this release is only a half-hour EP and it is still bloody awesome. Much like their last several releases BTBAM manage to shift easily from insane technical metal passages into quirky piano interludes, long soft passages lead by Tommy Roger’s beautiful clean voice and the band’s mega-tight complex instrumental jams. Between the insanity and serenity, it is really quite difficult to try to describe BTBAM’s sound…you need to hear it yourself. For those that are familiar with the band, The Parallax follows stylistically in the footsteps of The Great Misdirect though it is a little bit more light and quirky

Recommended track: “Augment of Rebirth”

6) Devin Townsend Project- Deconstruction

I have a confession to make: I somehow managed to miss the Devin Townsend train some time ago and am only now just catching up. Deconstruction (and its introverted little sister Ghost) was my introduction to the crazy world of Devin Townsend and, oh my, this was an introduction akin to being kicked in the jugular while being dangled from a hills hoist with your pants around your ankles. Infectiously groovy riffs accompanied by some strangely cheerful melodies feel a little bit like getting beaten up by a giggling five-year-old. Devin’s monster of a voice screaming alongside The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and a full seven-million-piece choir is an experience quite unlike anything I’ve ever heard. This is not to mention a suite of guests including members from Opeth, Between the Buried and Me, Ihsahn, Gojira and more. The utter insanity of the album mixed with not-so subtle humourous elements (a choir chanting the ingredients for a cheeseburger? Starting your song with a gigantic wet fart? What the face??) is truly something unique. When broken down it sounds downright stupid but put together it is truly delicious.

Recommended track: “Stand”

5) Obscura – Omnivium

While they may have started out as the obscure little German band made up of former Necrophagist members, it really did not take long for Obscura to position themselves as far better than their parent band (though I do love me some Necrophagist) and Omnivium is the latest testament to that fact. The two bands do share a lot in common (for some strange reason): a similar technical death metal approach (I’m talking holy go-shit-a-brick technical) and some incredible lead guitar wizardry…but that is mostly where the commonalities cease. Unlike anything Necrophagist have ever done, Omnivium actually displays an awesome vocalist, both in terms of sound and diversity (clean vocals in tech-death! Amazing!), creative song structures and infusions of different styles within their sound. I suspect Omnivium is going to be one of those albums that I keep coming to in the future looking for that little bit extra in my music, be it technicality, diversity, feeling or a guitar solo that likely to threaten my personal safety.

Recommended track: “A Transcendental Serenade” (or “Ocean Gateways” for a non-instrumental)

4) The Project Hate MCMXCIX – Bleeding the New Apocalypse

This is another project that I was introduced to recently, despite them having a fairly extensive back catalogue. The band is actually somewhat amusing for the fact that they seem to style themselves as being the most brutal of gory death metal bands;  the band name, album names, songs names and lyrics all scream this, but, and I don’t hate to say it, the music just doesn’t back it up. Rather, The Project Hate (is the MXCXIMCXIXMXIX really necessary?) display some of the most intelligent progressive melodic death I’ve heard in a long time. Bleeding the New Apocalypse features five amazing tracks, all around the 10-minute mark, featuring vicious riff upon vicious riff, dozens of great melodic guitar hooks and a dual-fronted vocal approach from “Lord K. Phillipson” (see what I mean?) and Ruby Roque. The contrast between his Lordship’s brutal death growls and sickening screams and Roque’s heavenly operatic pipes perfectly matches the diversity found through the rest of the songwriting. The band sounds a little bit like what would happen if Septic Flesh and Epica had a one-night stand and then left the progeny to be raised on the nurturing streets of Gothenberg.

Recommended track: “Bring Forth Purgatory”

3) Tesseract- One

Alright, now we are really getting to the good stuff (prepare for some gushing). When I bought this album early in the year it was the first album I’d heard in a long time that I simply could not stop spinning. There is just something about it that makes it absolutely irresistible; whether it is Dan Tompkins’ soaring voice, the groovy rhythmic arrangements or the melody and ambience infusing the whole piece. More likely it is the interaction of all of the above- Tesseract’s ability to infuse mid-tempo djenty grooves with so much melodic feel really makes them stand above the rest of that scene. Tompkins’ stunning clean voice dances perfectly along with the melodic motifs of the tracks but is also well capable of turning up the grit for some of the heavier sections. From riffs likely to cause some permanent neck damage to those that you can just close your eyes and lose yourself to, this is one experience you cannot afford to miss.

Recommended track: “Sunrise”

2) Chaos Divine – The Human Connection

This is another album that received a more extensive breakdown earlier in the year from yours truly, and once again I am struggling to find the words to describe this album. Every time I try to describe Chaos Divine’s sound to anyone the only non-gushy adjective that comes to mind is beautiful. This is not a word used all too often to describe a metal band, but for an album defined by divine melodic feel, truly progressive sensibilities and one of the most stunning vocal performances I’ve ever heard (and easily the best of this year) it only seems appropriate. The album is intelligent without being overly idiosyncratic, emotive without being whiny, creative without being unfocused and overwhelmingly powerful in so many different ways. I’m sick of trying to use words to describe this band, so feel free to read my full review for a more detailed analysis or just go get yourself a copy. I was so sure this would be my album of the year right up until October hit (though it does manage earn Australian album of the year), and even now it feels somehow wrong to have it sitting at number 2.

Recommended track: “One Door”

Without further ado, your album of the year for 2011 is:

1) Vildhjarta – Måsstaden

“Rage like a fire to turn all things black”

Even with all the hype it received on certain underground circuits, when this album finally dropped it was even more explosive than anyone ever expected. If I were to make a list of my favourite riffs of all time a truly unfair number of them would come from this album- Måsstaden is one gigantic earful of the most insane riffage ever stuffed into 50 minutes. The band follows fairly unashamedly in the footsteps of Meshuggah but have removed all even vaguely normal aspects to the Swedish juggernaut and replaced them with their own zany insanity and brutal fury. Everything about Vildhjarta is completely unconventional- the album is a frenzy of hair-raising dissonance and syncopated, frenetic timings. Yet somehow through the musical abuse there are more grooves laid down through the course of Måsstaden to move your whole body to than on every corrugated iron roof across rural Australia. On the vocal front you will be sonically abused by the gravelly screams of Daniel Ädel and the violent death growls of Vilhelm Bladin. The dual vocal approach sounds a little bit like what would happen if you cloned Jens Kidman (Meshuggah), put both copies on steroids and then told them to fight over vocal duties. The wild, heart-stopping end result is an album that will leave you battered, bruised and utterly confused…yet somehow itching for more.

Recommended track: “All These Feelings”

And that is thall folks! Looking forward to 2012 we have plenty of awesome things happening on the Australian front with new releases from Ne Obliviscaris, Paradigm, Anno Domini, Beyond Terror Beyond Grace, The Schoenberg Automaton and more and, in more mainstream, foreign circles we have all sorts of fun from the likes of Lamb of God, Epica, Meshuggah, Gojira, Periphery and plenty more that Wikipedia just hasn’t made me aware of yet.

Til’ next year!