3) Deafheaven, New Bermuda (Epitaph)
I think I can admit now after a few years that while I liked Sunbather, I liked it more for the idea of it than I did the album itself. Black metal and shoegaze was pretty novel, but at the end of the day, the songs weren’t there. The band more than made up for it with this. Riffs, memorable guitar melodies, and grooves shows the band evolving and likely silencing some of the “they’re hipster metal” naysayers. And while Sunbather, with its pink album cover and custom font, seemed to be making a statement that they didn’t care what metal fans thought, the grim, black cover to New Bermuda felt like another statement – that they were returning to metal. And this is just a better album than it’s predecessor in every way.
Key track: “Baby Blue”
2) Tribulation, Children of the Night (Century Media)
I don’t know why I slept on this album for so long, but I’m glad I discovered it this year at least. Like Kvelertak jamming with Ghost, or Turbonegro gone black metal, this album makes me want to crank it up while drinking whiskey and speeding to a graveyard to dig up a corpse. Upbeat and unabashedly rock with the exception of the by-the-numbers vocals, it’s been in nonstop rotation since I finally gave it a listen a few months back. There’s nothing technically amazing about it, aside from the impressive guitars, but it just works. Oh, and don’t drink and drive – defile graves responsibly.
Key track: “Melancholia”
1) Mutoid Man, Bleeder (Sargent House)
I’ve been a fan of Stephen Brodsky since Cave In’s transformation from metalcore to post-hardcore space-rock. This first full length from the band (following the Helium Head EP) takes his melodic, hooky sensibilities as a guitarist and singer and marries it to Converge-like hardcore (no doubt courtesy of that band’s drummer, Ben Koller). They’re one of the tightest three-pieces around right now, and the economy of their songs, which rarely break the three minute mark, means they cram more into 180 seconds than some bands do into an entire album. Seeing them live just confirms it.
Key track: “Bridgeburner”
Other stuff I spent a lot of time listening to:
So Hideous, Laurestine
Failure, The Heart is a Monster
Ghost, Meliora
Faith No More, Sol Invictus
Lamb of God, vii: Sturm und Drang
Iron Maiden, The Book of Souls
Ratatat, Magnifique
Health, “Stonefist”
Tame Impala, “Let it Happen”
Beck, “Dreams”
