For those who missed our last installment, We post biweekly updates covering what the staff at Heavy Blog have been spinning. Given the amount of time we spend on the site telling you about music that does not fall neatly into the confines of conventional “metal,” it should come as no surprise that many of us on staff have pretty eclectic tastes that range far outside of metal and heavy things. We can’t post about all of them at length here, but we can at least let you know what we’re actually listening to.
As is typical of these updates, there are numerous inclusions that have received the Heavy Blog seal of approval via a positive review. Leprous‘ The Congregation (review here), Sirens‘ Surge (review here), Lamb of God‘s VII: Sturm Und Drang (review here), Northlane‘s Node (review here), Hope Drone‘s Cloak of Ash (review here), We Lost the Sea‘s Departure Songs (review here), Between the Buried and Me‘s Coma Ecliptic (review here), Cattle Decapitation‘s Anthropocene Extinction (review here), August Burns Red‘s Found in Far Away Places (review here), Dreadnought‘s Bridging Realms (review here) and Khemmis‘ Absolution (review here) are all excellent albums from this year that are definitely worth your time. Due to Dr. Dre releasing his first album in sixteen years, it is no surprise that the album – Compton – appears among our hip-hop head heavy staff. Dre’s other two albums – The Chronic and 2001 – also appear this week, as well as two projects featuring MF DOOM (Bl_ck B_st_rds and Madvillainy) and Madlib (Madvillainy and Piñata), Kendrick Lamar‘s spectacular To Pimp a Butterfly and eminent producre Flying Lotus‘s excellent Cosmogramma and You’re Dead, all demonstrating our staff’s solid taste in the genre.
For those that would like to participate as well (and please do) can drop a 3X3 in the comments, which can be made with tapmusic.net through your last.fm account, or create it manually with topsters.net. Also, consider these posts open threads to talk about pretty much anything music-related. We love hearing all of your thoughts on this stuff and love being able to nerd out along with all of you.
Head past the jump to see which receiving regular rotation on our headphones, stereos and turntables:
Scott Murphy
Bell Witch – Four Phantoms
FKA Twigs – LP1
Jamie XX – In Colour
KMD – Bl_ck B_st_rds
Krallice – Ygg Hurr
Madvillain – Madvillainy
Marissa Nadler – July
Suffocation – Souls to Deny
William Basinski – Cascade
Kellan Ketchum
Architects – Hollow Crown
Bleeding Through – The Truth
Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind
Circle Takes The Square – Decompositions: Volume Number One
Drake – If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late
Fear Before The March Of Flames – Art Damage
Thursday – Full Collapse
Norma Jean – O’God The Aftermath
It Dies Today – Forever Scorned
Mark Valentino
Gates – Bloom and Breathe
Dream Theater – Stream Of Consciousness
Dream Theater – Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
Last Chance To Reason – Level 3
The Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine
Tiny Kingdoms – Withered EP
Harm’s Way – Blinded
Stray From The Path – Anonymous
Sannhet – Known Flood
Ahmed Hasan
Leprous – The Congregation
Gorod – Transcendence
Leprous – Coal
Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly
Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma
Janelle Monae – The ArchAndroid
Flying Lotus – You’re Dead!
Exivious – Liminal
Madvillain – Madvillainy
Simon Handmaker
Kill Bill – RESIN
King Geedorah – Take Me To Your Leader
Gorillaz – Demon Days
Coheed and Cambria – The Second Stage Turbine Blade
Katalepsy – Autopsychosis
Arkaik – Reflections Within Dissonance
Full Of Hell – Rudiments Of Mutilation
Full Of Hell & Merzbow – Full Of Hell & Merzbow
Sirens – Surge
Kit Brown
Rivers of Nihil – Monarchy
Lamb of God – VII: Sturm Und Drang
Anathema – We’re Here Because We’re Here
Anathema – Distant Satellites
Anathema – Weather Systems
Xasthur – Nocturnal Poisoning
Pelican – Arktika
Portal – Vexovoid
Pelican – Australasia
Eden Kupermintz
Porcupine Tree – In Absentia
Northlane – Node
Kubbi – Ember
Yes – Fragile
MONO – The Last Dawn / Rays Of Darkness
Counterparts – Tragedy Will Find Us
Ahab – The Boats of the Glen Carrig
Stateless – Matilda
Coheed and Cambria – The Afterman (Ascension)
William France
Hope Drone – Cloak of Ash
We Lost the Sea – Departure Songs
Cattle Decapitation – The Anthropocene Extinction
Between the Buried and Me – Coma Ecliptic
Asecretdeath – Epilogue
August Burns Red – Found in Far Away Places
The Great Discord – Duende
Orpheus Omega – Partum Vita Mortem
Counterparts – Tragedy Will Find Us
David Aleksov
Get The Blessing – OC DC
We Lost The Sea – Departure Songs
*shels – Plains Of The Purple Buffalo
Merkabah – Molloch
Acronym – June
Weather Report – Black Market
Nicolas Jaar – Space Is Only Noise
Gorod – Leading Vision
Orphx – The Sonic Groove Releases Pt. 2
Ryan Castrati
Northlane – Node
Dr. Dre – 2001
Dr. Dre – The Chronic
Dr. Dre – Compton
Johari – Pale Blue
Dark Sermon – In Tongues
Raising the Veil – Bosonic Quantvm Phenomena
Tame Impala – Currents
Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – Piñata
Aaron Lambert
Sevendust – Animosity
Sevendust – Cold Day Memory
Sevendust – Black Out the Sun
Porcupine Tree – Fear of a Blank Planet
Nails – Abandon All Life
Khemmis – Absolution
Dreadnought – Bridging Realms
Cattle Decapitation – The Anthropocene Extinction
Rivers of Nihil – Monarchy
Nick Cusworth
Afformance – Through Walls
Vijay Iyer Trio – Accelerando
Dreadnought – Bridging Realms
So Hideous – Laurestine
Dumbsaint – Panorama, in ten pieces
Blueneck – Scars of the Midwest
Blueneck – The Fallen Host
The Dear Hunter – Act I: The Lake South, The River North
Vijay Iyer Trio – Break Stuff
-SM