#12: Tombs - Path of Totality

At this point, I am starting to get burnt out trying to find ways to describe why I liked an album. And really, with an album like Path of Totality (Relapse) I shouldn't have to explain myself. But I have nothing better to do at the moment so I will anyway. Tombs have most often been described as a Black Metal band but that really isn't accurate enough. Path of Totality is more than that. It brings together Black Metal, Doom and Sludge in a cohesive whole. It's more than the sum of its parts. It doesn't sound contrived or forced in any way. It's definitely a very dark album. I don't feel any colours when I hear it. Deep textures and shading paint a bleak picture of  post-apocalyptic urban devastation. (Not sure if that follows what the lyrics are saying. We've talk about my lyrical shortcomings before.) Mike Hill's brusque vocals maintain authority over the survivors but are still multi-dimensional and human. I have a feeling this Path of Totality is a much more intelligent road that I am able to comprehend by more or less scratching the surface as I have. For an album that I have given such high praise to (as well as countless other metal opinion outlets) I should just buy the LP already. Go deeper. Absorb the essence. At least I'd know I was getting my money's worth. Just so long as I don't go down that other Path of Totality released in 2011.

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#19: Hail!Hornet - Disperse The Curse

Many of the albums that I have enjoyed most this year are dark moody affairs that unfold over the whole album. And some albums just fucking ROCK. Disperse The Curse (Relapse) fucking rocks. It boasts an all-star lineup of vocalist T-Roy Medlin (Sourvein, Buzzov*en), drummer Erik Larson (The Mighty Could, ex-Alabama Thunderpussy), guitarist Vince Burke (Sourvein, Beaten Back to Pure) and, this is the part where you bow, "Dixie" Dave Collins on bass (Weedeater, Buzzov*en, Bongzilla). How can you go wrong? I annoy people at work when I listen to this on break because I can't stop moving. Feet, hands, head, all moving. I can't help it! The music is just too infectious. Too energetic. It's like a shot in the ass full of rock-out juice. Pack the bong, pass the bottle and let 'er rip! It's inspiring really. In good and bad ways. I haven't had a drop of whiskey in almost 2 years but it makes me want to get some. On the good side, I'm a bass player. And the bass on this album is amazing. It makes my balls tingle. So it inspires me to actually pick up my bass and play. That's something I sorely need to do. Everyone needs more fun in their lives and for a guy like me, listening to Hail!Hornet puts that smile on my face. It makes me want to have a good time. Now if only it could disperse the curse of me not having any TIME to have fun......

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#22: Exhumed - All Guts, No Glory

It's only taken me 20 years to discover Exhumed. But when I first listened to All Guts, No Glory (Relapse) my reaction was "FUCKING RIGHT!!" I was instantly floored. It isn't something totally groundbreaking but what struck me was the "attitude" of it. Energetic, mosh-ready and almost thrashy at times. It's brutal without being I'm-not-having-fun-anymore brutal. The brutality stems more from the "classic death metal" themes of death and gore. That's my definition of Death Metal. Crunchy chuggy guitars, ripping solos, blasting drums and those vocals!! Sometimes Matt Harvey (vocals/guitar) sounds like a grizzly bear, sometimes like a mountain lion (sometimes both). In every case, the animal is pissed and primed to kill. Without a doubt, my favourite track is "Death Knell".  I want to buy a giant bell just so I can sound it. And the riff that closes the track is dirgy gold. I hope now that the band is "back" we don't have to wait another five years for Harvey and (hopefully) the rest of this stellar lineup of bassist Leon Del Muerte (Murder Construct, ex-Intronaut and more), drummer Danny Walker (Murder Construct, Intronaut, ex-Phobia and more), and guitarist Wes Caley to release another necro-tastic album.

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#32: Weekend Nachos - Worthless

I was familiar with the name Weekend Nachos but not familiar with the actual music. I may have shied away from previous works partially due to the band name. I guess with a name like Weekend Nachos I just thought they were some party band. I'm not saying I'm above party bands but I just didn't feel and urge to check them out. This year however, some unseen force put Worthless (Relapse) on my iPod (read: I can't remember why I decided to download it.). Well smack my ass and call me Sally! (That's the name of a pretty good hot sauce, btw.) Apparently Weekend Nachos is as much of a misleading band name as Worthless is a misnomer for the album! It is anything but worthless!  It's the perfect example of how fluid this list actually is. On any given day, this album could crack my top 10. It's a vicious and burly hardcore album with just enough grind sensibility to trip you up. It's not wildly unfocused but it's not predictable either. Who would predict the 2+ minutes of feedback that finishes "The Meeting" and moves into "Worthless" right in the middle of the album? It's just feedback but I love it!  After some more swirling-pit inducing savagery, the album closes with a track called "Future". A 6 minute slab of some of the most monolithic doom you will hear this year. Why save it for the weekend? These nachos are worth it all fucking week.

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#37: Fuck The Facts - Die Miserable

Ottawa's Fuck The Facts are the first Canadian band to land on this year's list with their latest, Die Miserable (Relapse). Some bands have a live show that tends to be more intense than their recorded material. Not so in this case. I saw FTF play a living room show a few years ago (Yes, the same venue as the Toxic Holocaust show) and "intense" isn't an adequate word for describing the performance and atmosphere. It was almost frightening. On Die Miserable, the band manages to channel that intensity into album form. Describing the album isn't as easy as calling it grindcore, as FTF are generally categorized. It goes beyond anything that simple and straightforward. The seemingly erratic stops and starts and shifts fall together perfectly. The vision necessary to conceptualize the album and the ability to pull it off is a true testament to the talent found in Fuck The Facts. There is no room for weakness. It is also the most consistently heavy FTF album I've heard. Last year, I added a Standout Track to each of my blurbs for AOTY. I decided to forgo that this year mainly because I am an "album guy". But on Die Miserable, "Census Blank" stood out to me as the centrepiece of my listening experience of the album. With just over two minutes left in the track (It's over 7 minutes long. That's not grindcore length!) this monumental riff kicks in with another (tapped?) guitar part flickering around it. It's like Godzilla stomping through the city with a dozen mini-Mothras flapping around his head. I have to stop whatever I am doing and listen. I can't concentrate on anything else til the song is over. Those two minutes alone are enough to land the album on this list.

Fuck The Facts return to Kingston in late January. I can feel the intensity across space-time already.

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