It seems to be a bit weird to write a long post about short albums, right? So we’re just not going to do that. Just one or two paragraphs maybe, as an intro, and then right down into some fast, furious, and short albums. As someone who came into music from a progressive rock background, and who still counts doom metal as one of his favorite genres, I’ve always gravitated towards long releases. There’s something majestic and immersive in an album that takes its time to set things up for you to sink into.
But let’s be honest: sometimes, all you want is to be pummeled in the face with some sick riffs. And, also sometimes, you don’t want that pummeling to go on forever. You want a brief, violent dalliance with a whole stack of riffs, screams, and blastbeats. It doesn’t have to be as short as grindcore but it needs to be straight and to the point. That gives violent music its own edge, the limited runtime looming over the horizon, making things precious, fleeting, and aggressive as all hell.
This column (yes, I’m going to do more of these) is dedicated to those releases. I’ll try and run one of these posts every month or so or whenever my cup spilleth over with those sweet, spicy, mercurial short releases. Also I’m probably going to swear a lot. Enjoy?
Sword
Gulch – Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress (clocks in at 16:25!). Our opening album is literally fucking called Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress! It’s impenetrable! Don’t even fucking try it. This album goes hard, melding death metal, hardcore beats, and just a whole lot of pent up aggression. There’s probably five oughs, bleghs, and other myriad grunts in the first minute alone. Just play it.
Daggers
Battlemaster – Ghastly, Graven & Grimoireless (will last you 23:46). I already wrote a long-ass review about this, like a fucking nerd. It fucks, it goes hard, it goes fast, it has wizards and knights and spells and all that good stuff. Play it loud or don’t play it at all.
Revocation – Teratogenesis (only costs 21:38 of your life and 99% of that is riff). These guys are not my favorite band on this planet but this EP rules absolutely. We’re talking tyrannical sci-fi overlord sort of rule. It comes to use from our Facebook group (join it!) and it absolutely destroys. Thrash, thrash, and then some more thrash (and plenty of sick guitar solos).
Vitriol – Pain Will Define Their Death (shortest album on this post at 12:40). Find me a more aggressive and pissed off album than this. I’ll fucking wait while you fail.
Born of Osiris – The New Reign (all the chugs you can want in 21:31). Bit of a modern classic for you here. That’s right, classic. This album is super underrated and goes hard in a different way than the above; it just keeps pummeling you with its ultra technical idea about what music should sound like. Time to breakdown, cowards.