Archive for December, 2014

Scott Williams’ Top 10 Albums of 2014

Saturday, December 20th, 2014

Scott Williams of RTRFM’s Critical Mass breaks down the best 10 albums of the year.

Honourable mentions:
Entombed A.D. — Back to the Front
Exodus — Blood In, Blood Out
Opeth — Pale Communion
Abysmal Dawn – Obsolescence
Anaal Nathrakh — Desideratum

10. REVOCATION – Deathless
Deathless is another fine example of Revocation’s impressive talents, blending tech death, thrash and the occasional progressive interlude. Doesn’t quite top previous releases, but still a stupidly good album.

9. BEHEMOTH — The Satanist
After kind of losing their way since Demigod, the band has found a new focus and hit the nail on the head with this release. Crushing.

8. TOMBS — Savage Gold
Post-metal with more than a dash of black, Savage Gold is dissonant, haunting, extreme – and one of the surprise releases of the year. See also their excellent cover of Bowie’s ‘Heroes’.

7. VADER — Tibi Et Igni
Polish death metal veterans continue on the winning path with their brand of extreme thrash – consistently brutal with bangover-inducing riffs and beats.

6. INSOMNIUM — Shadows of the Dying Sun
Greater than or equal to 2011’s One For Sorrow, Shadows blends the melo-doom-death formula for a perfect result. The best band of this genre on the planet right now.

5. WOLF — Devil Seed
Heavy metal from Sweden in the vein of Iced Earth/Judas Priest/King Diamond etc. Razor sharp riffs, bombastic drums and one of the best vocalists of the genre. If they could drop a couple of the filler tracks, they could easily knock Iced Earth off their perch. Repeat after me: “SHAAAARK… ATTAAAAAAAAAACK!!”

4. ALCEST – Shelter
Taking listeners further into melodic, dreamy, atmospheric territory and leaving the black/post-metal to the past, this album is still on high rotation despite being one of the first releases of 2014. Neige has created yet another album full of beautiful sounds to add to his already impressive back catalogue.

3. TRAP THEM – Blissfucker
Holy SHIT. This album knocks you to the ground right from the get-go, leaving you breathless from start to finish. Skull-crushing riffs over pounding D-beats reminiscent of Converge/Napalm Death, yet mixing it up enough to stand on their own and deliver an album with enough variety for repeat listens.

2. THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT — Z2
Townsend has to be admired, not just for the great music on this album but for the projects he takes on in general, the majority of which are born from his bizarre and brilliant mind. Z2 is a double album (condensed down from 50 songs originally), the first part being a typical DTP “pop metal” album taking elements from Epicloud and Addicted, though it feels more mature. The second half is a War Of the Worlds-style rock opera featuring the return of Ziltoid (Devin’s alter ego, a coffee-loving alien hellbent on world domination) similar in musical style to the first Ziltoid album but with a bigger scope/budget. The Ziltoid tale will also be taken to the musical theatre stage next year at the Royal Albert Hall for a show that sold out within weeks.

1. NE OBLIVISCARIS – Citadel
Extreme progressive metal at its finest, Ne Obliviscaris have been impressing metal audiences for a few years now, and have delivered another fine feather in their cap with Citadel. Epic in terms of song length and musicianship, and a perfect blend of the light and dark sides of metal.

Scott Williams joins fellow Life is Noise contributors Scott Bishop and Deryk Thomas in hosting RTRFM’s Critical Mass on Wednesdays at 9PM Perth time (+8 GMT.)

Check back next week as we continue to count down our top records of the year.

Jack Payet’s Top 10 Albums of 2014

Friday, December 19th, 2014

From the experimental to the ethereal, Antennas to Heaven columnist Jack Payet counts down his favourite releases of the year.

10. VESSEL — Punish, Honey

Punish, Honey is a weirdly chaotic journey reflected through human and robotic spheres. With the members of Vessel having produced and built many of the instruments on here, the whole affair wouldn’t be out of place on a freakish alien rave party on Mars, albeit one in which the partygoers are all under the influence of some hellish futuristic drug.

9. SHABAZZ PALACES — Lese Majesty
Easily some of the most ambitious music to come out this year, Shabazz Palaces deliver less of an experimental hip-hop album and more of an intergalactic journey via “songs” and tripped out vignettes of production wizardry. Combined with Ishmaels Butler’s smooth flow, they give the whole thing a feeling of zero gravity, taking Shabazz Palace’s medium and blasting it into the stratosphere.

8. CHRISTIAN FENNESZ — Becs
At times wholly crushing, Becs can bludgeon with the force of the most abrasive electronic music — see the drudging pistons of ‘The Liar’ a lobotomy via jackhammer. But just as soon as it’s likely to unsettle you, Becs will offer up the most perfectly sculptured waves of static noise that you’d swear you weren’t ten minutes earlier about to have a panic attack. Such is the nature of Fennesz’s latest offering; a duality that has the power to make you feel either very safe or very scared, but never nothing.

7. BATTLE TRANCE — Palace of Wind
Some of the most moving pieces of music likely to be released this year have come from an instrumental album – no less an album centred around saxophones – yet perhaps it’s unsurprising given the enormous mental and physical strain the members have invested. In the year we celebrate the 100th anniversary of jazz legend Sun Ra, it’s fitting a release such as Palace of Wind arrives to highlight the continued lifespan of one of music’s most human instruments.

6. TUNE-YARDS — Nikki Nack
Merril Grabus has that special ability to convey the ugly truth with the welcoming arms of great pop music, a wildly eccentric character whose vision rings true on Nikki Nack: a gloriously freewheeling ride of a multi-colored palette and a contrast to the black and white opaqueness of protest in modern pop.

5. PERFUME GENIUS — Too Bright
Mike Hadreas once crafted deeply personal tales portrayed with such stark frailty you almost expected him to collapse half way into a song. On Too Bright, we can remove all notions of the shy introvert and replace it with a bombastic troubadour who’s upended his sound and in turn elevated the quality of his work enormously.

Whether it’s on the electro crazed jig ‘Grid’ which features the most unsettlingly desperate howl you’ll hear in a long time, or the creeping truck stop blues of ‘My Body’. Hadreas is a man who knows what he wants to say how he wants to say it, even if that means making a few people uncomfortable along the way.

4. CYMBALS EAT GUITARS — LOSE
Lose is the moment everything clicked for Cymbal Eat Guitars, their noodling tapestry of ambitious indie rock was always enjoyable but at times a little scatterbrained. On LOSE, they’ve tightened things up considerably with the band producing a much more focused and enjoyable listen, combined with lyrics on par with a Pulitzer-winning novel, Cymbals Eat Guitars have produced their finest work to date.

3. PROTOMARTYR — Under Color of Official Right
Protomartyr’s second album struts with the brazen self-confidence of Bono but with about a hundred times more justification. Inspired by some less than savory characters from their hometown of Detroit, the band draw from a rich history of garage rock steeped in a strong admiration for Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. A shot in the arm for all tepid garage rock pretenders.

2. OUGHT — More Than Any Other Day
These crazy Canadians make music that rises and falls with such gleeful enthusiasm that it’s impossible not to be swept away in the ride. By focusing on the banalities of human life and channeling king weirdos The Feelies and David Byrne, Ought capture a sound that for the most part goes unexplored in modern music. Making the choice between whole and two percent milk has never sounded so life affirming.

1. ICEAGE — Plowing Into the Field of Love
Plowing Into The Field of Love is everything people love about Iceage and a whole lot more, the songs still wallow the same bleak mirth Iceage bathe in, but dense, nihilistic moods are now littered with the sounds of folk and an undeniable country swagger, which might sound odd to some fans but by damn you wouldn’t have it any other way.

The whole album is like a punch in the guts, but it’s the sort of punch you’re grateful for, the one where once you’ve managed to start taking in oxygen again you reach out and gladly ask for another. It’s bold, aggressive, mangled and so perfectly enjoyable — an example of a band leering ten feet above their contemporaries.

Check back next week as our writers continue to count down the best records of the year.

Scott Bishop’s Top 10 Albums of 2014

Thursday, December 18th, 2014

Scott Bishop of RTRFM’s Critical Mass counts down the best heavy releases of 2014.

2014 is nearly over. It’s been a great year for heavy music, including a reformation album many of us thought we would never hear (At The Gates). Ultimately on these lists there will be a few albums that didn’t make the grade due to various reasons and unfortunately we at Critical Mass can’t hear every metal album, as presenters though we do our best to dig a little deeper and present our personal top 10s (with 5 honourable mentions).

5 honourable mentions:
At The Gates — At War With Reality
Eyehategod — Eyehategod
Tryptikon — Melana Chasmata
Behemoth — The Satanist
Babymetal — Babymetal

10. EARTHROT — Follow The Black Smoke
From Perth. Gnarly, abrasive, crusty and everything in the red. Love it.

9. VALLENFYRE — Splinters
A surprise release, not being familiar with their back catalogue, the pedigree of members had me thinking of a different sound (slow doom death) but it got much better!

8. ELECTRIC WIZARD — Time To Die
Took me a while to come around to this, especially since vocally it sounds like Jus Oborn sounds like he’s singing down the corridor, but it’s the heavy/slow DOOMY riff fest that you want and desire from EW.

7. ENTOMBED A.D. — Back To The Front
Back indeed! Stripped back and with fire in their bellies the Swedish masters show the young’uns how its done.

6. GRIDLINK — Longhena
The final album from the grind perfectionists. Ravenous riffage and vocals shrieking all over the place. Some well placed violin and clean guitars make this a perfect end game for Jon Chang and co.

5. DYING OUT FLAME — Shiva Rudrastakam
Coming straight out of Nepal with their self-styled Hindu/Vedic death metal. Some brutal riffs mixed with chanting and traditional instrumentation. Best debut for sure!

4. THE AUSTERITY PROGRAM — Beyond Calculation
Noisy metal/punk with heavy chugging bass and angluar guitar. Justin Foley is part insane preacher and part Michael Douglas in ‘Falling Down’.

3. VOYAGER — V
Excellent songs and production. These guys have finally found a sound that bridges the melody and the heavy. Pop structures and anthems that deserve to shouted along too at massive European festivals.

2. THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT — Z2
Almost cheating with a double album here but it’s DEVIN TOWNSEND! All the crazy, layered, symphonic, bombastic sounds you could ask for! The pop metal of Sky Blue and the epic, heavy metal space opera of Dark Matters.

1. MORBUS CHRON — Sweven
Morbus Chron took death metal into all kinds of weird and surreal dimensions with Sweven. Weird instrumental passages, howling vocals that drift in and out, heavy headbanging riffs. It’s so wrong and so right, I just want to hear it again and again!

Scott Bishop is a host of Critical Mass on Perth’s RTRFM from 9pm-11pm Wednesdays (+8GMT). You can stream Critical Mass from RTRFM.com.au.

Check back this week and next as Life is Noise contributors continue unveiling their top 10 records of the year.

The Black Captain’s Top 10 Albums of 2014

Wednesday, December 17th, 2014

10. HAIL SPIRIT NOIR – Oi Magoi
Oi Magoi is a strange and clever creature. The melding of black metal with early ‘70s psychedelia, prog rock, and touches of Hammer horror kitsch has a more natural and less forced quality than the debut. The result is something slippery that’s quite difficult to nail down, yet quite fun to try. The band has produced something distinctive from the bulk of heavy music around today, and certainly from the more typical sound of Greek heavy metal. With ironing out the odd kink, Hail Spirit Noir could go on to be a special cult favourite amongst heavy music fans. Not quite sure it’s worth the 666 Euros as listed on Bandcamp, but good on them for trying!

9. KAYO DOT – Coffins On Io
A tortured and thoughtful sci-fi noir hybrid of suave neuromanticism, 80s darkwave, and frenetic prog rock, Coffins on Io is an outstanding work by a daring and divisive musical treasure. It demands being listened to in its entirety, continuously revealing details and emotions within the densely packed compositions with each play. Even with their best record yet, it is simply too much to expect near unanimous love. Thankfully for those who are exhilarated by music that keeps the listener on their toes, it’s not in Kayo Dot’s nature to seek out those types of dreams. The ones they share with us are far, far superior.

8. OCCULTATION – Silence In the Ancestral House
The New York trio mixes apparent influences from Mercyful Fate, Black Sabbath, NWOBHM, and just an edge of goth on this theatrical gem released through Profound Lore. Nameless Void from Negative Plane supplies riffs that tick all the boxes for any heavy metallurgist, driven on by the solid drumming of Viveca Butler. Annu Lilja puts in an amazing vocal performance alongside her wonderful bass grooves, elevating the band’s sound into an epic haunting occult rock gem. Produced by Converge’s Kurt Ballou, Silence In the Ancestral House is is chock full of great moments for fans of old school metal with a few twists.

7. FVNERALS – The Light
Swoon at the brilliant production and elegant compositions of gloomy yet multi-faceted post-rock on this debut LP from Brighton’s Fvnerals. The expansive sound created by hypnotic synths, guitars that drift between deliberate dirge-like mantras and shimmering jangly strums, and down-tempo drumming is crowned spectacularly by the haunting, sensuous surrender to despair of vocalist Tiffany. Together, the three musicians have swept well beyond the suggested potential of their EP. Their capacity for deep, meditative mood of such moreish grimness is impressive. A bright future beckons for these souls calling from the shadows.

6. INTER ARMA – The Cavern
Is this the most metal thing that has ever happened? Just under 46 minutes of riffs, all from the top shelf and surpassing pretty much anything else Inter Arma have tried their hand at before (which is really saying something)… The Cavern is a masterpiece that never once feels tired and overdrawn at any point across its epic journey. Engaging from start to finish, the moment you start to make a sarcastic Spinal Tap dig you are slapped hard in the face mid-sentence by another mind-blowing progression, with the opus continuously evolving into something better as it blazes away. The musicianship is breathtaking, full of surprises and soaring melodies amidst the whirring savagery. If you’ve yet to explore this, plan to set the required time aside and be thoroughly rewarded.

5. PALLBEARER – Foundations of Burden
Wearing their hearts on their riffs, there is smoothness to Pallbearer’s doom that avoids the sense of pastiche that is so pervasive in metal. Whilst their debut was certainly a great effort,Foundations… sends Pallbearer hurtling into the echelon of heavy divinity. Pallbearer’s gift for crafting layers of melody to achieve their intensity on Foundations of Burden will leave you speechless. The songs are free from the staple production values of a heavy record. It’s not that it hasn’t been done before, just so rarely this well. “The Ghost I Used To Be” and ‘The Watcher In the Dark’ are magnificent highlights, showcasing the immensely pleasing irony of just how elevating doom metal can be for the spirit.

4. BEHEMOTH – The Satanist
It seems Behemoth are a love/hate proposition. For those who decry an independent music reviewer praising such polished, slick production and a record that took Satanic death metal into the upper regions of the American charts for the first time ever, I say nick off and have a pow-wow with the Poles who want to jail the band, the Russians who deported them, and all the other gatekeepers. The Satanist is pure excellence, driven by shameless ambition, total lack of self-consciousness, and intense tribulation Nergal has experienced over recent years. The pride taken in the band’s work shows clearly in its outstanding, bar-setting production for death metal. A landmark work in the genre, and one that will create even more expectation at their next step… which Behemoth will gladly meet head on.

3. YOB – Clearing the Path to Ascend

And now, reaching the point where virtually nothing separates the albums on this list going forward, YOB’s Clearing the Path to Ascend was virtually undisputed amongst aficionados of independent heavy music as one of the best albums of the year. Crowned by a song bound for a timeless regard in the world of heavy music, “Marrow”, the rest of the album gradually emerges from the blinding supernova of the closer across multiple listens to burn slowly into the mind as one of the most outstanding albums made in heavy metal history. Scheidt can make it seem as though drawing upon an utterly deadly riff is as easy as breathing for him, and is quite happy to let you have it methodically and relentlessly over a period of time where other bands would have played twenty different ones. This is doom deep in a trance. YOB is meditative. YOB is introspective, and deeply moving in its sincerity. On this record, YOB is godlike.

2. MERKABAH – Moloch
Somewhere in the Abyss, there’s a room packed with the souls who lost their way searching for a volatile sound blended from the extremities and sanity-proofed experiments on the fringes of jazz, hardcore, post-rock, and psychedelia. They stand transfixed by a sense of imminent disintegration, engulfed by volatile transmissions of psychosis, spread outwards upon a incendiary command of sound and vision by the five demonic vectors that make up the perfection through chaos that is Merkabah. The band’s Moloch is a pitiless and unforgiving pleasure, provocative and asphyxiating in its brilliance. Within the tremendous invention and intensity of the songs, there is the deep sense that, at their peak performance, Merkabah must be an incredible live band. I have half the mind to travel all the way to the bristling cauldron of exceptional music these days that is Poland simply to find out. Without question, this release from way back in March was one of the most unique and captivating albums of 2014.

1. RAISON D’ETRE – Mise en Abyme
For those who know the man’s work, it’s pretty much a given that anything Peter Andersson releases under his project Raison d’Etreis going to be bloody brilliant. After a 5 year break between releases, Andersson produced not only the best album of 2014, but the best of Raison d’Etre’s catalogue across the 22 years of its recorded existence. Mise en Abyme is the singularity, effortlessly sucking you into the deepest recesses of your psyche. Four tracks, adding up to just a skerrick under an hour, provide the ideal soundtrack for witnessing the abandonment of reason that characterizes our times, the anthem for the stench of humanity as it wantonly destroys itself and everything it comes into contact with through ingrained hagiographic values of greed and self-importance. The drones and ambient frameworks are filled with incredible detail, transporting the listener inwards with the purpose of introspection and self-discovery. Whether it is peace or panic,Mise en Abyme will show you things about yourself you may never have known were inside you. This is a supreme soundtrack for being placed within the abyss (the translation of the album’s title), befitting a year when elements within humanity too often showed their bottomless capacity for sinking into decrepitude.

Check back later in the week as the rest of our writers’ count down the best releases of the year.

Jack Midalia’s Top 10 Albums of 2014

Tuesday, December 16th, 2014

10. YOB — Clearing the Path to Ascend
Clearing the Path to Ascend is not easy going. From just before the five minute mark of album opener ‘In Our Blood’, things really kick in as the Oregon band slow drip doom into our ears. With vocals that swing between the hauntingly beautiful and the brutal, coupled with merciless and punishing instrumentation, Clearing the Path to Ascend is a four-track, hour-long journey into dark territory. The record briefly picks up the pace a bit on the second track, ‘Nothing To Win’, before ‘Unmask The Spectre’ and ‘Marrow’ settle things back down to get the listener ready for more slow-pummelling. YOB throw enough diversity and moments of respite onto the record to keep your attention and stop things getting too monotonous, but Clearing the Path to Ascend is overwhelmingly a loud, brutal and brilliant ride.

9. REAL ESTATE — Atlas
Real Estate’s Atlas is a summer album that’s perfect for winter. There’s enough of everything you know and love from Real Estate to make this record a perfect companion to a sunny day (reverby, cutting lead guitars and playful, pretty instrumentation), but there’s enough of a hint of melancholy, both lyrically and musically, to make Atlas perfect for a winter night with a scotch by the fireplace. While not quite up there with Days, there’s no doubt that Atlas represents a maturation of Real Estate’s sound to something that, despite sounding simple and effortless, is a complex and dense work.

8. SILVER MT. ZION — Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything
In case you didn’t know what you were getting into with Silver Mt Zion, the band has helpfully named their latest record to remove any impressions this might have been a quiet folk release or something like that. Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything is a cacophonous and beautiful mess.

The album begins with a recording of Efrim Menuck and Jessica Moss’ child (“We live on the island called Montreal and we make a lot of noise, because we love each other”) that could be an introduction to Fuck Off Get Free… or, equally, a summation of the bands’ worldview. Musically at least, there’s a feeling of celebration and joy, albeit mixed in with heavy doses of the usual Silver Mt Zion protest and anger and depressing song titles. ‘What We Loved Was Not Enough’ forms the centre of the album, telling the story of apocalypse, self-destruction, riot, war and poverty. Nestled in all that mayhem, however, is a little sliver of optimism — the hope that our children will be strong and selfless enough to live like we couldn’t.

7. BILL CALLAHAN — Have Fun with God
I may be bending the rules ever so slightly in putting this record in here, in that Have Fun with God is a dub version of last year’s Dream River. However, as I somehow overlooked Dream River in 2013, I’m partly using this as an opportunity to make up for it.

On Have Fun with God, Callahan’s voice takes less of a front-seat to the instrumentation, augmented with buckets of echo and reverb. It’s an interesting experiment on Callahan’s part, and the songs on Dream River generally work well in this new format. Have Fun with God manages to be both bleak and uplifting at the same time, while maintaining the late-night-listening feel of its predecessor. Somehow sounding unrelentingly sparse, even with additional effects, Have Fun with God is a welcome addition to Callahan’s catalogue.

6. PIXIES — Indie Cindy
Terrible title and a lack of Kim Deal aside, the first Pixies’ record since 1991 is a welcome return. From the opening track, ‘What Goes Boom’, it’s clear that Indie Cindy might occasionally be a little bit Pixies-by-numbers, but after 13 years it’s just nice to have new Pixies material. Tracks like ‘Blue Eyed Hexe’ and ‘Bagboy’ are right up there with the band’s best work; Frank Black’s voice swings between nonchalant cool to piercing scream as well as ever, Dave Lovering remains one of my favourite understated drummers in rock, and Joey Santiago’s guitar still gives me goosebumps. The hooks are still there, the tunes are still there… what’s not to love?

5. THE WAR ON DRUGS — Lost in the Dream
Lost in the Dream is another effortlessly dreamy walk into Americana from The War on Drugs. The Philadelphia outfit stick to what they do best — pounding freight-train drums and conspicuous nods to Springsteen, mixed with liberal doses of reverb and psych meanderings. Tracks like ‘Under The Pressure’, ‘An Ocean In Between The Waves’ and ‘In Reverse’ continue the tradition of excellent War on Drugs road trip songs, while ‘Suffering’ and the title track give a taste of the band in ballad mode.

It’s heartening to see a band that has been slogging away for a while now start to get the traction that Lost in the Dream appears to have received. It’s certainly well deserved.

4. SWANS — To Be Kind
Michael Gira is a without a doubt the scariest human being on the planet. Swans at their loudest and heaviest are a terrifying beast, but it’s the quiet moments of To Be Kind in which Gira seems to be at his sneering, menacing worst. Boasting more than a hint of the industrialism of Einstürzende Neubauten, this is a record I would regularly put on as background music, only to find I’d that I’d either stopped whatever I was doing and that an hour had passed in the blink of the eye. There are certainly worse ways to spend a couple of hours.

Additional mention of the cover art, which is either the best or the worst album artwork of 2014.

3. SHELLAC — Dude Incredible
Dude Incredible simply gets the job done. Clocking in at just over half an hour, the record is Shellac stripped of anything that might be considered superfluous, leaving less a record and more a precise, surgical airstrike. From the prowling bass of ‘Riding Bikes’ to the snarl of ‘All the Surveyors’, Dude Incredible manages to pack real menace into an austere half hour. Nothing is overused and nothing is overdone (both in terms of songwriting or production), a fact that won’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows Shellac and Albini’s form. Key tracks include: ‘Dude Incredible’, ‘All the Surveyors’, and ‘Gary’.

2. PARQUET COURTS — Sunbathing Animal
This record followed me around all year, whether it was the solid month where I basically listened to nothing else, the fact that most people in my life were obsessed by it, or seeing the cover art on a 10-metre-high mural — Sunbathing Animal was inescapable. It seemed to have wormed its way into all corners of my existence, so the high rating of Sunbathing Animal might be due to some kind of musical Stockholm Syndrome as well as the fact that it’s a brilliant record.

All the usual suspects are here in terms of a detached, super-hip influence: Modern Lovers, Pavement, Velvet Underground, etc, but there’s enough originality and personality on this record to make it more than the sum of its parts. The selling point of Parquet Courts is that perfect Malkmus-style “loose but still in total control” balance between technical ability and sloppy noise. Having said that, the quieter moments on Sunbathing Animal (‘Dear Ramona’, ‘Raw Milk’) are certainly worth a listen as well.

Highlights include: “What Color is Blood”, “Bodies Made Of”, “Black and White” and “Instant Disassembly”.

Note: They put out two records this year, but I haven’t spent enough time with Content Nausea to include it here so Sunbathing Animal it is for spot number two.

1. HARMONY — Carpetbombing
I knew this was my number one record of 2014 from the first time it entered my earholes. Combine ragged guitar with soaring crescendos and breathtaking harmonies, nuanced songwriting and stark-but-beautiful production, and you’ve got one hell of an album. It’s a distinctly Australian-sounding record, in the same difficult-to-explain way that The Drones sound Australian beyond merely the accents.

I could throw around adjectives all day, however to put it simply: Carpetbombing nails the balance between the beauty and trauma of being alive and condenses it into 43 minutes of music that demands to be played loud and with total attention.

Check out Life is Noise’s Top 10 Albums of 2014 and check back later this week for more of our writers’ best records of the year.

Life is Noise’s Top 10 Albums of 2014

Monday, December 15th, 2014

Our staff count down the best records of 2014 — from the heavy to the hallowed and everything in between.

10. TINARIWEN — Emmaar

Even though the songs are sung in their native tongue, Tinariwen’s epic desert blues transcends barriers of language and culture. It helps that the Malian band’s brand of rock — a label that does little justice to Tinariwen’s diverse and often spiritual aesthetic, but feels more appropriate than any other term in Western music criticism — bursts with flourishes of familiarity, from Hendrix to Dylan. Emmaar feels like a bridge between worlds, a fact best exemplified by its opening gambit ‘Toumast Tincha’, a riff-filled odyssey that’s equal parts intriguing and recognizable, grooving and introspective. Emmaar is the perfect soundtrack to journeys unknown. — Matthew Tomich

9. VOYAGER — V

Excellent songs and production. These guys have finally found a sound that bridges the melodic and the heavy. Pop structures and anthems that deserve to shouted along too at massive European festivals. — Scott Bishop

8. SUN KIL MOON — Benji

Though Mark Kozelek’s year has been marked by petty feuds and pettier insult songs, he was also responsible for one of the most moving and honest records of the year in Benji, an ode to the minutiae of contemporary life that spans from San Francisco to Ohio to Newtown and back. There’s as much darkness as there is light in Benji, though it’s more poignant moments are the most heart-wrenching like opening track ‘Carissa’, where Kozelek uses his guitar and voice to make sense of the accidental death of his cousin in and give her life poetry. Rarely does an album feel like it’s being written and played right in front of you, the stories unfolding in real time as Kozelek seemingly finds the words as he goes to narrate the lives of those around him. Worth countless repeat listens. — Matthew Tomich

7. TOMBS — Savage Gold

Post-metal with more than a dash of black, Savage Gold is dissonant, haunting, extreme – and one of the surprise releases of the year. See also their excellent cover of Bowie’s ‘Heroes’. — Scott Williams

6. SHELLAC — Dude Incredible

Dude Incredible simply gets the job done. Clocking in at just over half an hour, the record is Shellac stripped of anything that might be considered superfluous, leaving less a record and more a precise, surgical airstrike. From the prowling bass of ‘Riding Bikes’ to the snarl of ‘All the Surveyors’, Dude Incredible manages to pack real menace into an austere half hour. Nothing is overused and nothing is overdone (both in terms of songwriting or production), a fact that won’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows Shellac and Albini’s form. — Jack Midalia

5. ICEAGE — Plowing into the Field of Love

Plowing Into The Field of Love is everything people love about Iceage and a whole lot more. The songs still wallow the in same bleak mirth Iceage bathe in, but the dense, nihilistic moods are now littered with the sounds of folk and an undeniable country swagger, which might sound odd to some fans but by damn you wouldn’t have it any other way. This whole album is like a punch in the guts, but it’s the sort of punch you’re grateful for, the one where once you’ve managed to start taking in oxygen again and you reach out and gladly ask for another. It’s bold, aggressive, mangled and so perfectly enjoyable, an example of a band leering ten feet above their contemporaries. — Jack Payet

4. SWANS — To Be Kind

Michael Gira is a without a doubt the scariest human being on the planet. Swans at their loudest and heaviest are a terrifying beast, but it’s the quiet moments of To Be Kind in which Gira seems to be at his sneering, menacing worst. Boasting more than a hint of the industrialism of Einstürzende Neubauten, this is a record I would regularly put on as background music, only to find I’d that I’d either stopped whatever I was doing and that an hour had passed in the blink of the eye. There are certainly worse ways to spend a couple of hours. Additional mention of the cover art, which is either the best or the worst album artwork of 2014. — Jack Midalia

3. THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT — Z2

Devin has to be admired, not just for the great music on this album but for the projects he takes on in general, the majority of which are born from his bizarre and brilliant mind. Z2 is a double album (condensed down from 50 songs originally), the first part being a typical DTP “pop metal” album taking elements from Epicloud and Addicted, though it feels more mature. The second half is a War of the Worlds-style rock opera featuring the return of Ziltoid (Devin’s alter ego, a coffee-loving alien hell bent on world domination) similar in musical style to the first Ziltoid album but with a bigger scope and budget. The Ziltoid tale will also be taken to the musical theatre stage next year at the Royal Albert Hall for a show that sold out within weeks. — Scott Williams

2. ELECTRIC WIZARD — Time to Die

It took me a while to come around to Time to Die, especially since vocalist Jus Oborn sounds like he’s singing down the corridor, but it’s the heavy/slow DOOMY riff fest that you want and desire from The Wizard. — Scott Bishop

1. YOB — Clearing the Path to Ascend

YOB’s Clearing the Path to Ascend was virtually undisputed amongst aficionados of independent heavy music as one of the best albums of the year. Crowned by a song bound for a timeless regard in the world of heavy music, ‘Marrow’, the rest of the album gradually emerges from the blinding supernova of the closer across multiple listens to burn slowly into the mind as one of the most outstanding albums made in heavy metal history. Scheidt can make it seem as though drawing upon an utterly deadly riff is as easy as breathing for him, and is quite happy to let you have it methodically and relentlessly over a period of time where other bands would have played twenty different ones. This is doom deep in a trance. YOB is meditative. YOB is introspective, and deeply moving in its sincerity. On this record, YOB is godlike. — The Black Captain

Check back over the next two weeks as we reveal our individual writers’ top 10 records of 2014.

THAW — Earth Ground

Thursday, December 11th, 2014

The Polish black metal “wschodz?ce gwiazdy” that are THAW were touched on earlier this year when they released a split record along with Echoes of Yul. Roughly a year and half after their self-titled debut LP, they return with their second release of 2014: Earth Ground.

THAW have shown they have a capacity to deviate from the black metal scripture, particularly on the split release. But they are, first and foremost, a black metal band. With that in mind, one should generally know what to expect when you listen to one of their records, with dissonant open-string tremolo picking and conflagrations of speed aplenty. That is, after all, one of the reasons for following this path… Black metal bands are not out to create wholesale innovations. The posturing of certain sceners has created the impression that any such attempt is strictly verboten, perhaps unfairly. There have always been black metal bands attempting to create subtle shifts within a very tight auditory field whilst staying true to the genre’s essence. THAW are one of those who do it quite well, with phases of flourishes and progressive approach that move them closer to the distinctive with each subsequent production.

Earth Ground departs from the intriguing tangent of the similarly named split record and brings back the high-pressure livid aorta of ichorous black metal running through its core. However, throughout the twists emerge, always retaining their furious and swarthy elemental character. Tracks like ‘Sun’ throw a vocal change-up, breaking off from malevolent rasp to something more akin to Neurosis. As THAW have explored previously, there are also those wonderful streams of ambient noise and drone that the band have made a concerted effort to establish as a hallmark.

There appears to be a chronological arc in the progression of songs, at least from the titles, sonically traversing three days in a hellish world. The midpoint of ‘Second Day’ expresses something like a nod to hardcore punk. On either side of this, the songs shift between the familiar, but high quality, black metal and oozing downtempo menace. Tracks like ‘Soil’ in the second half of the album even dabble with a soaring element of post-rock, but without trying to be too pretty or shoegazey about it as to take away from the overall feel of the record for the sake of generic deviance. All the while, Earth Ground maintains a purposeful malevolence, with enough well-chosen kinks to keep you engaged, with ‘Winter’s Bone’ a great example.

THAW should win plenty more admirers as they traverse Europe on tour in support of Behemoth next year. Most black metal fans will love Earth Ground for its distinctive experimental moments mixed in with the dissonance and ringing open chords. Never mind the ones too precious to deal with a band that tries to stand out from amongst the overcrowded gaggle of peers. Whilst the album has already been available digitally for a couple of months now, pre-orders for the vinyl release are now being taken. Get in!

The Black Captain hosts RTRFM’s Behind the Mirror on December 24 at 11pm Perth time (+8 GMT) and Drivetime on December 31 at 5pm. You can stream both shows, and the rest of RTRFM’s lineup, live at RTRFM.com.au.

Two Minutes With Frown

Tuesday, December 9th, 2014

Before they support Sleep at The Hi-Fi in Brisbane on December 11, we spend a couple of minutes with Frown and find out what’s new…

What’s going on in the world of Frown?
Well we’ve just released our first LP The Greatest Gift To Give and played a couple of live offerings around Brisbane and up in the sleepy town of Nambour with some of our favorite local hellions, Last Chaos, Black Deity, Shackles and Hobo Magic. Oh and a show with Methdrinker from New Zealand and Whitehorse from Melbourne. We’ve also been working some new material for some possible compilations we were asked to be a part of for next year.

What motivates you to make music?
I think a lot of it comes from hearing bands that really hit that heavy spot in us. An extension of that catharsis you get when you hear something for the first time, when your world gets shattered by an insane sound you’ve never heard before and all you want is more. So that inspires us to try and create a combination of visceral energy and mental transportation in our music making, bridge the gap between the visible and invisible.

What have been the high and low points of your musical experiences so far?
Since the incarnation of the band it’s been mostly high points. We’ve had the pleasure to support Church Of Misery last year for Doomsday Festival — they fucking rule — and Corrosion Of Conformity this year, that was real fun too. Just about every show we’ve got to played has been a high point and we have been lucky enough to play with very varied bands, from crust punk to black metal. And soon supporting Sleep! I don’t know if you can get higher thank that!

What music are you listening to at the moment?
Reverend Bizarre, Ruins of Beverest, Celtic Frost, Bong, Cosmic Dead, Black Cobra, Earthless, BL’AST, Beast In The Field and Sir Lord Baltimore just to name a few.

If you were stranded on a desert island, which member of the band would get eaten first?
I think that would have to Ben our bass player. We were a three piece (just two guitars and drums) for the demo cassette and then just after the recording of the LP Ben joined for a bit more bottom end snarl. So I guess we’re a bit less attached to him, haha. He kills it though, so only suitable that we should kill him, for survival off course.

Here’s an opportunity to bitch about something, whether music related or not. What really pisses you off?
Hmm, that’s a big ‘ole can of witchetty grubs there and would take more than two minutes, there’s a lot of stuff going on in the world at the moment that pisses us off. But more people are starting to pay attention.

Musically there’s a lot of amazing new bands appearing in Australia, and internationals touring here to (thanks to likes of Life Is Noise, Heathen Skulls) so things are on the up for the most part, great bands are just sometimes underappreciated and end up going nowhere because of it unfortunately. But I suppose that just comes down to population and media. Often Australian bands have to make it big overseas before they get the recognition they deserve back home. That’ll do, no high horses, nothing too heavy. Things are on the up.

You’re putting together your perfect gig featuring Australian artists. Who would you get to play and where? Feel free to include acts/DJs/bands/venues that no longer exist.
Well think I’ll have to go for the fantasy line up on this one. Buffalo, Coloured Balls, Blackfeather, Mackenzie Theory, Masters Apprentices, X, Radio Birdman, Dirty Three, The Birthday Party and The Saints at something like Meredith or the Sunbury Festival… and maybe a necromancer to raise a bunch of members from the dead. That would make for a good show.

Frown join Golden Bats in support of the mighty Sleep at The Hi-Fi in Brisbane on Thursday December 11. Tickets on sale now from lifeisnoise.com.

Eat a Bag of Mix: Sacred Flower Union

Monday, December 8th, 2014

Eat a Bag of Mix is the name of a feature here on life is noise where we get a DJ, musician, producer, industry figure or just someone with good taste in fucked-up and weird music to give us a mix of music that has influenced them, or tunes that are currently rocking their world.

This week, our bag-of-mixer is Perth-based Sacred Flower Union, who joins a slew of excellent local acts and DJs in support of UK post-industrialists Factory Floor at The Bakery on Saturday December 13.

Since conception, Sacred Flower Union has released music at a frantic pace and toured consistently, drawing sonic comparisons to Dan Deacon, Holy Fuck, Animal Collective, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Stag Hare, Mark McGuire and more.

Starting out as a bedroom project, Sacred Flower Union has quickly found a place on the stage opening for a variety of artists from Grails to Cashmere Cat, Little Jabba, Holy Fuck and more.

Eat a Bag of Mix: Sacred Flower Union by Lifeisnoise on Mixcloud

1. Gold Panda — You
2. Teebs — Mondaze
3. Kap Bambino — Plauge
4. Tobacco — Mexican Icecream
5. Holy Fuck — Super Inuit (studio)
6. HEALTH — Die Slow
7. Factory Floor — Here Again
8. The Octopus Project with Black Moth Super Rainbow — Psychic Swelling
9. Animal Collective — Daily Routine
10. Dan Deacon — Surprise Stefani
11. The Oh Sees — Lupine Dominus
12. Oneohtrix Point Never — Up
13. Gang Gang Dance — Blue Nile
14. Sun Araw, M. Geddes Gengras & The Congos — Thanks and Praise
15. High Places — Canary
16. Fuck Buttons — Flight of the Feathered Serpent
17. Lilacs & Champagne — Battling the City
18. Mark McGuire — Firefly Constellations

Sacred Flower Union joins KU?KA, Craig Hollywood, Rex Monsoon and The Monarchy in support of Factory Floor at The Bakery on Saturday December 13. Tickets on sale now from lifeisnoise.com.

Two Minutes With Hydromedusa

Sunday, December 7th, 2014

Before they support Sleep in Adelaide at Fowler’s Live on December 9, we catch up with Hydromedusa guitarist Joe Steele and find out what’s new…

What’s going on in the world of Hydromedusa?
We will hopefully expand our art into a multifaceted mental and physical experience — mapped with smell, touch, taste, love and fear. Before all this our LP is coming out in the next few months, we’re going to the US next year, we’ve also been writing some new songs. This week Dieter got a new bass and my new guitar broke. Troy’s delay pedal for his vocals also broke but Ben bought an effects pedal that has the ‘Soulfly’ logo on it! Tom has become a drum teacher but still lives in a big shed next to the river.

What motivates you to make music?
Why if we told you that, everyone would be doing it. Rather everybody would know the bits of all the Sabbath songs we’ve simply stolen and played in a lower tuning. At the heart of it though it’s just the fun we have working on ideas together. It’s mostly this coupled with the drive of constant and uncompromised ego that makes us better than everyone else.

What have been the high and low points of your musical experiences so far?
There are no real low points when you are flying so close to the sun. But probably my happiest memories are all the gigs we’ve played where people dance. I don’t remember any of these times specifically.

The lowest point I can imagine is an all-day-gig we played years ago where I realised I had been inside a nightclub called L!VE for about fourteen hours. By the end of the evening I was in the club’s panic room dangling my dirty, bare feet in an empty jacuzzi smoking crystal meth from a cocktail test-tube that turned out to be plastic. The gig was a lot of fun don’t get me wrong it’s just for some reason I can never forget this when I look at myself.

What music are you listening to at the moment?
I personally have been enjoying Brisbane’s WOODBOOT, truly an excellent band, wicked sound, proper assholes. Their cassette is sold out but you can download it from their Bandcamp.

POWER from Melbourne are also great. Awesome live band. I hope more high quality Aussie R’n’R like this will start to emerge in the next few years.

If you were stranded on a desert island, which member of the band would get eaten first?
I’m sure a painfully drawn out democratic vote would take place with lots of indecisive answers, short attention spans and fickle decision making abilities. Realistically we would starve. We would starve on a desert island. We would probably starve holidaying in Ireland. “What coffee shop do I want to go to” versus “let’s just drive on to the next town we’re making good time” or “let me just shit in this bin here” are all very plausible last words before the starvation would take us.

Here’s an opportunity to bitch about something, whether music related or not. What really pisses you off?
Lately I’ve enjoying hating on white Australians that call themselves Gypsies because they choose to dress in tattered clothing. Also cancer, terrible stuff.

You’re putting together your perfect gig featuring Australian artists. Who would you get to play and where? Feel free to include acts/DJs/bands/venues that no longer exist.
I have always wanted to play for tens of millions of dollars, by ourselves, at a grand stadium. A concert where the fans don’t necessarily like your music, or any music for that matter, but you have become a commercial entity so large you’ve achieved the same allure as a circus, car race or KISS concert. A real Hydropalooza. I probably wouldn’t care who was there or why. However if we can be hypothetical I’d have Jack Black serve as a rug and lie underneath the drum kit so it doesn’t move around when Tom’s playing it.

Hydromedusa join Iron Worzel in support of stoner doom legends Sleep on their first ever Adelaide show at Fowler’s Live this Tuesday, December 9. Tickets on sale now through lifeisnoise.com.