Music

Top 5 Metal Releases: September

by Tyler Munro

Each month, tons of new music from many taste-spanning genres is released into a fast-consuming, unforgiving audience; it can be tough to get a handle on what’s new before it’s on to the next. In an attempt to highlight the standout releases, at the end of each month, AUX staff re-cap the month in Punk, Metal, Indie/Pop/Rock, Hip Hop, Pop, and Dance with the top five releases in each. Consider it your cheat sheet for year-end lists.

Top 5 Metal Releases: September

Amebix – Sonic Mass

Amebix has always been one of the few crust punk bands willing to delve into the artier side of things and on Sonic Mass, their first album in eight years (and fourth in over 20) takes that approach to the next level, all but abandoning the punk side altogether. The attitude is the same as ever, but on Sonic Mass they’ve joined fellow former punks Neurosis on the bridge-building path of bass rumbling post-metal. Of course it’s not without their trademark scowls and the occasional post-industrial twist (here’s where I’m supposed to name drop Killing Joke, but fuck that). There’s a lot to love on Sonic Mass, but in the end it’s only worth focusing on the obvious: that this is 43 of the most cohesive minutes of music, metal or otherwise, that you’ll hear in a long time. It’s punishing and sprawling without being overt and over-long. This takes their iconic jacket patches and sets them on fire. Here’s a band rising from the ashes of their own moderate pace, crafting one hell of an album as a result.

Vader – Welcome To The Morbid Reich

Anyone who says death growl’s don’t have differing tones obviously hasn’t heard Vader, whose vocalist has been lighting the dividing line between death heads on fire since he took up duties behind the mic way back in 1986. And yeah, that means these guys are old as dirt, but you know what? Welcome to the Morbid Reich proves they can churn out buttery smooth, thrash rattling death metal as well as anyone. Okay, so the drums get a little muddy, but I’ll take some blurriness over abrasive triggers any day, and here’s an album that relies as much on a change of pace between slow-to-mid tempos as it does neck rattling blasts. While they might be stretching a little too far towards an over-reliance on technicality on this one, it could still end up their best when all is said and done. Plus the over-reliance on technicality features some bomb ass guitar work.

Mastodon – The Hunter

It’s remarkable how often people talk about the evolution of Mastodon’s sound given how little they’ve actually changed over the years. They’ve gotten a little cleaner, sure, and added a few more hooks to their increasingly concise song structures, but most of their changes over they years can be chalked up to usual refinements and added production values. The Hunter, their 6th full length, keeps up with Mastodon’s sound that is so uniquely their own: unrelentingly filled with drum fills, uniquely iffy vocals and a jarring mix of Sabbath-ian hooks and sludge-packed grooves. The Hunter isn’t better than Crack the Skye and it’s definitely not better than Leviathan, but it’s better than Blood Mountain and that’s something worth holding onto. And if you’re not one for discographical (it’s a word now) comparisons, think of it this way: they wrote a song called “Octopus Has No Friends” that’s so good it begs you to take it seriously. Well played, Mastodon. Oh, and Scott Kelly’s on this one, so bonus points there.

Evile – Five Serpent’s Teeth

Thrash metal’s been in a state of stagnation since, well..1989, so it makes each of the genre’s worthwhile releases (of which we finally seem to see an increasing number of) all the more enticing. England’s Evile’s have been working towards saving the genre since riding onto the scene in 2007, and this, their third album, solidifies them as one of the thrash metal bands to beat. Stylistically, Five Serpent’s Teeth is tailored to anyone who thought Metallica peaked with Ride the Lightning: the vocals are remarkably Hetfield-ian without the caricatured “huahs” James started belting out in the 90s. But a cheap clone Evile is not: the guitar work on Five Serpent’s Teeth is precise and technical enough to make Kirk Hammett blush (because Kirk Hammett sucks) and the energy on here is absolutely invigorating. Huah!

Glorior Belli – The Great Southern Darkness

Glorior Belli’s The Great Southern Darkness might be the first black metal band to unironically name drop Pantera (Viking Crown can fuck right off), but it’s Phil Anselmo’s other, other band that serve as this French black metal outfit’s unlikely influence. Yes, the rumours you’ve heard are true: Glorior Belli somehow manage to mix their countries uniquely powerful black metal sound with an inexplicably enticing southern metal twist. What’s most jarring, though, isn’t the melding of two typically incomparable genres; it’s how natural it all actually sounds in context. Put each song on individually and the obvious gimmick becomes the focus, but in the scope of this album’s 48 minutes the band’s unique emphasis on actual riffs and grooves (as opposed to the genre’s conventional tremolo heavy approach) work as compliments to their otherwise orthodox modern black metal aesthetic.

Surprises, disappointments and albums to watch for next month

Surprise of the month: When it comes to Heritage I’m not at all surprised by the lack of Mikael Akerfedlt’s once trademark growl, since that’s been failing him for years, nor am I surprised by the band’s insistence in launching in to full fledged King Crimson mode. No, what surprises me most about Opeth’s is how hard of a time I’m having figuring out whether or not I like it. Songs like “The Devil’s Orchard” and “Slither” are up their with the band’s bests, and I’ve always been a supporter of their softer side—give me Damnation over any of their other albums not named Blackwater Park, Still Life or My Arms, Your Hearse any day—but there’s just something…off about Heritage. It’s certainly not the musicianship, which is tighter than it’s ever been, especially concerning the rhythm section, who, especially on “Folklore,” does most of the technical heavy lifting. Maybe it’s the emphasis on dynamics? At times it’s like Opeth’s working too hard even as they step further back from the heaviness their fans so desperately crave. There’s an urgency in these songs that somehow fails to go anywhere, and when there isn’t they just don’t go anywhere. There’s no middle ground on Heritage and that’s why, for me, this is a transitional album: I recognize it, but for the first time in Opeth’s discography since their underwhelming first record (1995’s Orchid), they’ve gone and put an album out I’m almost entirely indifferent to (except for “Famine,” which is explicitly shitty).

Disappointments: Though I sometimes feel like I’m the only one who genuinely liked Black Cascade, I can’t help but feel like Celestial Lineage hammers the nail in Wolves in the Throne Room’s eco-friendly coffin. Closing a trilogy of albums that began with Two Hunters, Celestial Lineage is an interlude filled collection of songs that blend the band’s more scathing side with its atmospheric noodling. That’s cool, but they’ve somehow managed to combine their two sides in the least interesting way possible. I mean, there’s some chanting and wind chimes and other useless atmospheric bullshit like that tossed in intermittently but, ultimately, who cares? Not me, that’s for sure.

Out in September: Root’s Heritage of Satan, Insomnium’s One For Sorrow, Fuck the Facts’ Die Miserable, Absu’s Abzu, Blotted Science’s The Animation Of Entomology and Metallica/Lou Reed’s Lulu…just kidding on that last one.