What the heck is going on with this month's list? I really couldn't tell you. From slam metal memes, through comeback albums from bands everyone thought were gone and suddenly sprung to explosive live, and all the way to gothic black metal and Australian tech-death, this post seems to have it all.
Which is just how we like it over on Editors' Picks, is that not so? Also, as usual, please make sure to peep that Further Listening section. It has an exceptionally long number of fantastic albums. Alright, enough chit-chat. You know what it is. Let's get to it!
-Eden Kupermintz
Neurosis - An Undying Love for a Burning World
Art, of any kind, is nearly impossible to divorce from context. The framework through which we judge the critical value (whatever that means) of a work compels an author and partaker to create some form of maze for the work in question to live. Parameters of genre matter, as do the immovable pyres of an artist or group’s previous output. Layers upon layers of critical analysis to sort through/choose from/adhere to as a work is dissected and given some form of attributable value. It’s imperfect. It kinda sucks. But thus are the current and inherent limitations of popular critique.
Neurosis, legends of post-metal that they are, present a particularly difficult path of discussion without massive amounts of contextual mapping. Especially given the fact that they’ve released arguably 4 or 5 genuine masterpieces up to this point and are indisputably one of the most influential and well-respected/loved bands in extreme music. But none of that potential treasure trove of analysis looms larger than the expulsion of band mastermind Scott Kelly for some fairly unspeakable reasons. 2019 was, in effect, the year that Neurosis collapsed as a band. As members stated themselves, not only were the accusations against and removal of Kelly a seismic shift in the potential future of Neurosis, but a decisive blow to their view of their own legacy. It was a genuinely heartbreaking circumstance, and most if not all of the metalheads I know were convinced that Fires Within Fires would serve as the band’s last will and testament. To our great surprise and delight, rumors of Neurosis’ death were greatly exaggerated.
An Undying Love for a Burning World comes to us as an unexpected, fully realized shot into the void. A complex, epic, glorious wail into the emptiness and anguish of our current existence that is as timely and poignant as any release I can remember. I say this without exaggeration and with full sincerity: My brain, and I don’t believe I stand alone in this, needed this kind of album right now. And boy oh boy do these boys deliver.This is above all else a tribal, primordial clarion call of sadness and rage meant to feel both deeply personal and intimately collective. In this it succeeds in every conceivable way.
Compositionally and performatively, Undying immediately catapults itself above the band’s most recent work with a sense of immediacy and earnestness. It doesn’t take long after pressing play to begin to understand Neurosis’ intent here. “We Are Torn Wide Open” makes sure we’re all crystal clear on where the band sits in the current zeitgeist. Opening salvo “Mirror Deep” and “First Red Rays” follow suit, building on the album’s opening call with stunning musical dexterity and clarity. But this immediacy thankfully does not sacrifice complexity, as tracks like “Seething and Scattered” and album finale “Last Light” provide listeners with all the quintessential twists and turns one might expect from a top-tier Neurosis project. In addition to compositional excellence, those worried about musical rust can rest at ease, for there’s none to be found here. The performances across the board are excellent throughout.
That said, none of the musical highs in Undying feel particularly surprising for a Neurosis record. Again, context being a key contributor to this summation, the band has built its reputation on dark, knotty, sneakily complex instrumentation and composition, so on that front one could honestly say Undying is simply standard Neurosis excellence. But what context cannot provide is the absolute Zeus-sent bolt from Olympus that the inclusion of Aaron Turner (he of SUMAC, Old Man Gloom, and Isis fame) is to the equation. Turner is one of those collaborators that makes so much sense as both a stylistic and aesthetic fit that you kick yourself for not having predicted it years ago. Turner’s lyrics and intense vocal delivery are a nearly perfect foundation upon which the latest House of Neurosis has been built, and it’s my sincere hope that we get more from this lineup.
It’s difficult to write about Neurosis without getting tangled in the past, both artistically and personally. There’s so much water under the band’s bridges at this point. But given all that baggage (both great and terrible), Undying feels like one of the most personal, inviting, and devastating albums of their long career. A work that doesn’t feel like a culmination or career retrospective, but an entirely new raging fire, burning the thorny bramble of their past and continuing on, destroying and purifying the land for a new Neurosis to emerge, for however long it may last. I don’t think I’m alone in welcoming it. Hail to a bright and powerful returning. Hail Neurosis.
-Jonathan Adams
Party Cannon - Subjected to a Partying
I’ve had this image saved to my camera roll for ~6 months, screenshotted from Instagram like a boomer. Is it cringe to keep it? Quite possibly. But the pain is real: a great deal of my time and my brain capacity is dedicated to slam, brutal death metal, and other primitive forms of so-called music, to the point where there’s not much else to say when a well-meaning coworker asks what I do outside the office. I listen to, ponder, broadcast, and occasionally even write about big dumb riffs and bigger dumber blastbeats. Even with middle age lingering on the horizon, nothing jolts my lizard brain like swampy gargles and guitars that have been downtuned to Hell.
Party Cannon’s latest sonic assault is an unhinged homage to the lizard brains, especially those of us drifting further and further away from the excuse of teenage years. Containing 4 new songs, 3 remixes, and 2 live performances, Subjected to a Partying captures the sheer joy and silliness of slam from all angles. Starting with a member of the band instructing (begging?) the audience to “lock in and get this over with” despite the fact “all of us are dumbasses,” Party Cannon unleashes new waves of obscene absurdity, replete with incomprehensible pig squeals, skronky riffs, chugging blasts, and bizarre samples. Productions has been pulled back by a few degrees, leaving even more space for the band’s antics to shine. If you like slam and brutal death metal, you’ll love this. If you don’t….at least keep an open mind.
Each remix brings its own special sauce to the album, amplifying different facets of slam into warped – but equally satisfying – versions of itself. Pulling extreme sounds into new realms of extremity proves one thing: lots of us like to lower our IQs, we just have different ways of doing so.
- “Thirst Trap (Kmac2021 Remix)” - A maniacally energetic and off-kilter burst of sound
- “Low IQ Behaviour (Frontierer Remix)” - All about that drum’n’bass, y’all. The brain-numbing, bass-thumping heart of slam wrapped in a dancefloor-ready skin.
- “High Tariff Overture (Ritual Remix)” - Oddly majestic and haunting, extracting the distant atmospheres of Party Cannon and expanding them into the score for a highbrow horror film.
Subjected to a Partying, fittingly, closes with two live tracks recorded in Party Cannon’s homeland. The long goodbye feels appropriate, given that the band spent most of its life as a touring act. Lest we forget, the 2020 shutdowns were the first time that Party Cannon really sat down to write…despite starting in the very early 2010s. Live performances were, and are, the key ingredient fueling this 15+ year journey. The strange, stupid, and delightfully odd antics of the Scottish horde may have started as a pipe dream of the young, foolish, and possibly stoned, but Subjected to a Partying reminds us that in the face of taxes, KPIs, and other grownup bullshit, the escape provided by slam becomes even more important.
- Bridget Hughes
The Silver - Looking Glass Hymnal Blue
I absolutely love Ward of Roses, The Silver’s debut release. There is something so theatrical and gothic about it, elements which blend very well with its penchant for high speed, frenetic, black metal explosions. In that regard, Looking Glass Hymnal Blue is not what I expected. Those elements are still there but they are far more muted. However, that is not to say that the album is a disappointment. Far from it. The more gothic elements of the band’s sound have been replaced by a melodic progressivism that is a joy to the ears, turning Looking Glass Hymnal Blue into a denser, more challenging and, in exact measure, more rewarding.
Check out “Two Candles” for example, the album’s longest track. While it starts with that sable draped, operatic sort of gothic sound, it quickly devolves into a whirling mass of chaotic hardcore, black metal adjacent, haggard vocals, and a whole lot of musical ideas blending together. There is also a massive chorus which houses perhaps one of my favorite riffs of the year. It is so groovy and catchy, leaning on an infectious kind of chromaticism that shifts beautifully into the heavy metal guitar solo. But around these epic moments, there is so much else happening: intricate bass riffs that run counterpoint with the guitars all through the minutes that precede that big chorus, absolutely exquisite play offs between the harsh and the clean vocals, an absolute massive blast-beat section near the end of the track, and then the triumphant return of the maelstrom from the beginning of the track.
But everywhere those gothic, epic tendencies recur, even as they emerge from the background. Whether it’s in the clean vocals that announce that blast-beat section, in the flamboyant tone of the guitars, or the overall gestural, grandiose production of the track, “Two Candles” is gothic. It’s more subtle than on Ward of Roses, and it’s easy to misplace it in everything else that’s happening, but it’s definitely there, still bubbling at the core of The Silver.
Each of the other tracks on the album are just like this one, worlds unto themselves with multiple points of intricacy and complexity. Looking Glass Hymnal Blue sees The Silver diving deeper into progressive experimentation, drawing power from all across the spectrum of their influences. The genius of it is that they are still able to maintain the core of what makes them unique, that heady blend between dramatic excess, compositional tightness, and musical execution. Looking Glass Hymnal Blue is The Silver unfurled, manifesting the full promise of their sound. I can’t wait to hear where they go from here but for now, we can luxuriate in this momentous keystone of their career.
-EK
Growth - Under the Under
With their second full-length Under the Under, Australian death metal group Growth have crafted a uniquely approachable blend of dissonant death metal that is one of the stronger releases in the genre this year. There are waves of Ulcerate-like dissonance, but it never dominates their sound for extended periods. Instead they find a really strong balance between melody, groove, and atmosphere, with sharp, technical discordant riffs and less-structured progressive song-writing. It’s almost a sound I wish Rivers of Nihil or Black Crown Initiate had grown into, but it’s hard to see even them nailing it quite like this.
For an abstract, dumbed down analogy of sorts, let's imagine sub-genres of metal as shapes. Modern tech death often feels very polygonal, with limitless sharp pointed edges and straight lines. This lends to how dissonant and technical riffs are often (over) described as “angular.” Now progressive metal (excluding most djent, it’s definitely on team polygon) feels more like an amorphous blob. It's less defined and fluid. Listening to this album, you can hear those jagged, complex geometric shapes. Just look at their last two album covers. Yet, like their covers, some of the edges here are rounded down and smoothed into curves, keeping things from feeling too cold and mechanical. There’s an organic quality to their sound, highlighting the strong equilibrium between technical prowess and soulful emotions, expressed with aggressive conviction and passion. That progressive influence also comes across in their differing pacing, taking unpredictable swirling turns and giving breathing room and depth sometimes lacking in technical death metal.
Unlike some of their dissonant peers, this album is fairly polished, oddly adding to its distinctiveness. They didn’t go full Gaerea here, but it is surprisingly digestible and treads the line where it may isolate some fans yet surely invite new ones. Some of the clean vocals seem to be polarizing in turn, but they work for me. They’re strong and a little ragged on the edges, almost comparable to Slugdge’s use of them in how they bend between harsh and clean, something of a theme for this entire album. Additionally, I can certainly see some listeners preferring if this band leaned harder in either direction. A heavier, more guttural and extreme approach would surely be a menacing force, but as is, Under the Under occupies a worthwhile and uncrowded space in the death metal landscape.
-TB
FURTHER LISTENING
Antropoceno – No Ritmo da Terra (post-blackened bossa nova)
I wrote a full review of this album this month but I couldn’t help but include it here. If you think you know what this album sounds like from the genre tags above - you don’t. Please give this album a listen. It will transform what you think is possible with metal.
-EK
Object Unto Earth – Memory Tyrant (prog rock)
I am so proud that the blog’s Patreon was able to support this album’s release. It’s another step in bringing the excellent, unique Object Unto Earth sound to light. Flashing daggers, frog anti-heroes, and a whole lot of excellent guitars.
-EK
Gutvoid - Liminal Shrines
Canada’s Gutvoid are poised to become your favorite death metal band’s favorite death metal band. And it makes total sense, given their sophomore release Liminal Shrine’s foundational aesthetics. Blending old school ballistics with a detailed songwriting dynamic that elevates their music beyond Cannibal Corpse-core (said with love because Corpse still rules), Gutvoid are creating a sonic space within the genre that honors their forebears while cutting out their own slice of the pie, sounding both like many of your favorite old school classics and somehow completely like themselves. Top-tier shit.
-JA
Chamber - this is goodbye…
This new Chamber album is almost exactly what I expected from them, but it’s hard to complain about that when the execution is this strong. A fiercely violent, debilitating experience at the cutting forefront of modern metallic metalcore. Squealing laser beams of mathcore riffs and harmonics greet you like an air raid siren before you’re divebombed by their breakdowns. A hell of a listen, made for the moshfloor.
-TB
- Don Broco – Nightmare Tripping (nu alt/pop-metal)
- Bekor Qilish – Consecrated Abysses Of Dread (weird/progressive black/death-metal)
- Hellripper – Coronach (black thrash)
- Kal-El – Astral Voyager Vol. 2 (stoner metal/doom)
- Poison The Well – Peace In Place (post-hardcore, metalcore)
- The Dear Hunter – Sunya (prog rock)
- Egregore – It Echoes In The Wild (deathened black metal)
- Lord Of Confusion – The Weight Of Life (post/black/prog doom)
- Tangled Thoughts of Leaving – The Floating Realm (progressive post-rock)
- wthAura – Tsuma (progressive post rock)
- Lamb Of God – Into Oblivion (groove thrash)
- Eternal Champion – Friend of War (heavy/power doom, ambient?)
- Lesotho – A Flashing On Plain Glass (post doom)
- Xenobiotic – Dante (progressive/technical-deathcore)
- Blackbraid – Nocturnal Womb (black metal)
- Black Lung – Forever Beyond (posty prog-rock)
- Bosse-de-Nage – Hidden Fires Burn Hottest (progressive/post-black metal)
- Moon Tooth – Bastard (alty prog-metal)
- Rosa Faenskap – Ingenting Forblir (“patricidal black metal”)