Metal Matt Recommends: Week of March 27 - April 2

I'm trying something new. Every so often I'll take what the last.fm generator makes for my collage, even though it's not an accurate representation of what my last week of listening was, and say a few words about each one. Sound like fun? I hope so. And I hope this gets me to pay a little more attention to Kingdom of Noise. Anyway, let's do this!

Blood Ceremony - Lord of Misrule (March 26, 2016 on Rise Above)

This album is fantastic! Somehow their previous album, The Eldritch Dark slipped right by me. I've yet to go dig it up because I can't stop listening to this one! Few bands do the "retro occult rock with female singer" thing as well as Blood Ceremony. Alia O'Brien is just one facet of what makes this album so good. The riffs are smooth and catchy, the mood is perfect, and O'Brien's double threat wins on both sides with her powerful voice and folky flute. Not to mention the songwriting. There have been days I've listened to Lord of Misrule on repeat from the time I wake til I turn in for the night and I was just as excited about it at the end of the day as I was at the beginning. This one's going to put up a good fight for Album of the Year.

Blood Ceremony on Facebook 

Amon Amarth - Jomsviking (March 25, 2016 on Metal Blade)

Good ole reliable Amon Amarth. I named Twilight of the Thunder God my favourite album that year. They keep making new albums but they don't keep topping my list. See, at the time it was the first I'd heard the band. They were fresh and new to me and I loved it. But three albums later it's not fresh or new anymore. I still enjoy them but churning out album after album of the same stuff doesn't always work for me. It might for many but maybe I'm just not fun. Melodic death metal about Vikings and stuff is cool and all, and I don't even know what they could do to change it up, but it's getting stale at this point. Truth me told, I have enjoyed Jomsviking more than Surtur Rising and Deceiver of the Gods.

Amon Amarth on Facebook

Conan - Revengeance (January 29, 2016 on Napalm)

CAVEMAN BATTLE DOOM!!!! Can't put it more plainly than that. Heavy as Hell doom battered out with epic screams and bellows carrying between the mountain peaks. They've picked up the pace a bit on this one, moving away from their stereotypical slow and steady march. Or at least the march you expect. No matter the pace Conan are great and Revengeance has become my go to album for when I can't decide. It delivers for me every time. It's bloody massive and I love it!

Conan on Facebook

Black Cobra - Imperium Simulacra (February 26, 2016 on Season of Mist)

This duo can bring it. Punishing sludge with a sort of punk energy and tendency for violence. Their aggressive style gives the listener a thorough beating. Take High on Fire, the Melvins and the spastic nature of noise rock and blast it out of a tank as it flattens humanity before it and you get the idea. Black Cobra were supposed to play locally a couple years ago with Black Wizard and Anciients but they didn't get across the border. Man, that would have been a killer set. I love this kind of stuff live. My neck and back have different ideas though. It's been a few years since they've released an album but Imperium Simulacra makes the wait totally worth it.

Imperium Simulacra on Bandcamp

Rotten Sound - Abuse to Suffer (March 25, 2016 on Season of Mist)

Who doesn't love Rotten Sound, right? Losers, that's who. They've long been a band that doesn't believe in reins and just lets it fly. Explosive grind with nuclear capability that knows when to slow down and let the heaviness do the torturing. Vengeful vocals tough enough to break down all defences. If memory serves correctly Abuse to Suffer is a little more controlled in general than 2011's Cursed and 2013's Species at War EP. But that doesn't mean the bone-breaking tone and bath salt-equivalent extremity don't make me want to dismantle the world with my bare hands. Because that's exactly what I want to do.

Abuse to Suffer on Bandcamp

Church of Misery - And Then There Were None (March 4, 2016 on Rise Above)

I admit I wasn't all that into Church of Misery until now. Bear in mind that was more ignorance than distaste. I just didn't listen to them much. I've got a split around here somewhere. And neither was I much for Repulsion. Same. I might have heard Horrified a couple times. So I wasn't as excited as many when word came down that Scott Carlson was taking over vocal duties for a revamped lineup for And Then There Were None. But damn. This is killer shit. About killers and shit. I knew to expect that much. Slow jammed, Sabbath influenced serial killer stoner doom that goes down smooth and leaves a warm feeling inside from veteran musicians feels pretty good to me. Now it's time to dig in to that back catalog.

Church of Misery on Facebook

Wormed - Krighsu (March 25, 2016 on Season of Mist)

On Twitter I said Krighsu was like "I'm hurtling through a wormhole screaming about cool, interesting stuff but you can't understand a fucking word!" That was my first impression and it still holds. I just can't get with this kind of tech death. I just can't. I didn't like the latest Gorguts either. Or Obscura. Or just about any of the super-technical, piq-squeely writhing ball of space maggot stuff that falls into this style. Have at it though. I'll stick to Archspire. I can handle them.

Krighsu on Bandcamp

Rotting Christ - Rituals (February 12, 2106 on Season of Mist)

I don't have any real knowledge of Rotting Christ's work before Aealo but I love that album. Kata Ton Diamona Eaytoy didn't stir up the same emotions for me. I can't say Rituals does either but it's pretty much what I expected from the Greeks this time. All their stylistic touches are present and accounted for and it's those Eastern and folk touches that set the band apart. They've got a massive sound lush with melody and power fit for crushing the enemy. It's the kind of black metal that makes you feel alive. The more I listen the more I like it so I have a feeling it will stick around my playlist for a good while.

Rituals on Bandcamp

Wytch Hazel - Prelude (April 22, 2016 on Bad Omen)

It's a fun album if not exactly the sort of thing I listen to regularly. Fairly dramatic, clean vocals, traditional heavy metal sort of thing. Not Maiden clones but he does hit some high notes. The press materials paint Prelude as a mix of Jethro Tull, Wishbone Ash, Thin Lizzy and NWOBHM. I can't argue with that. Based on medieval influences and sporting a sense of grandeur often found at LARP events, there's all kinds of uplifting moments. It's pretty good stuff for the style but there's only so much of it I can handle in one sitting.

Prelude on Bandcamp

My 40 Favourite Albums of 2010: 30-21

*DISCLAIMER! All rankings are based on 3 major factors. 1. I actually have to like the album. Nothing is included because it's on everyone else's list or because I think it would make my list look better. 2. I can listen to it no matter what I am in the mood for. 3. Overall play count/I actually paid money for it.  Remember, this is my opinion. It's not overly analytical. Most, if not all, rankings are VERY fluid. Don't get your panties in a bunch because your favourite band is lower than "that fucking piece of shit band!"*

#30.  Misery Index - Heirs to Thievery (USA, Relapse): It's kind of hard to describe Misery Index other than to say it's high-fucking-quality deathgrind. It's a vicious, high intensity aural assault. Wikipedia says "Misery Index's lyrical subject matter is left-wing, often coinciding with radical and anarchic aesthetics and focusing mostly on the ills of modern society." So basically, while having your eardrums pounded with a hammerdrill, the barely intelligible lyrics might actually make you think. How often does that happen? Standout track: "A Carrion Call"

#29.  Early Man - Death Potion (USA, The End): From the moment I heard Early Man back in early '06 I knew I loved this band. They became part of the upper echelon (IMO) of the thrash revival with '05s Closing In. The Beware the Circling Fin EP was a bit disappointing but Death Potion more than makes up for it. It's got loads of catchy riffs, Mike Conte's unique vocal delivery and speed to spare. I'd recommend it for a great driving record but it's way too easy to get really caught up in it and that could be dangerous. It could also make it..... (Standout track) "Someone Else's Nightmare"

#28. Exhale - Blind (SWE, Dark Balance): This Swedish grind outfit is vicious, vicious, vicious! It's like getting peppered with machine gun fire. But it feels good. Every year there is an album that I describe as "sounding like what happens in my head". Usually it's something like Gridlink (New album 2011!) or ASRA. This year it's Exhale. I'm in a massively different head space this past year than I have been in a long time but I still love a record that sounds like all the pent up rage inside me just explodes for about a half hour or less.  Don't forget to Exhale. Standout track: "Sick Addiction"

#27.  Black Breath - Heavy Breathing (USA, Southern Lord):  Southern Lord seems like an odd label for Black Breath to be on. I associate Southern Lord more with stoner/doom bands than bands like Black Breath. What are they like? Well, would D-beat Swe-death Thrashcore be an accurate descriptor?  Hardcore style vocals, thrash speed, D-beat groove, and Swedish Death Metal buzzsaw guitars. If that doesn't sound like a recipe for awesome, nothing does. I think what I like best about Heavy Breathing is that it's intense, high energy and serious fun. Not goofy fun. It's the kind of album that makes me want to stomp around my living room moshing with an imaginary pit. A real pit would be great too but this way I keep all my teeth.  Standout track: "Virus"

#26.  Exodus - Exhibit B: The Human Condition (USA, Nuclear Blast):  Bay Area thrashers Exodus have shown me that I missed a LOT of great music in the last 30 years. My thrash world consisted of the Big 4 and that's it. If any of Exodus' previous 8 albums were any bit as good as 9th effort Exhibit B: The Human Condition, I really missed out. This follow-up to 2007's The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit A is so good that it made me question my very existence. Just kidding. But it did reaffirm my conviction that the best music is not always (barely ever) the most popular music. Modern day Metallica and Anthrax have nothing on what I consider 2010's Thrashterpiece. I wonder how many times Kirk Hammet thinks "Would they have taken me back after Metallica?" (as he rolls in money) Standout track: "Beyond the Pale"