10-13-2014, 04:00 PM
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#74 (permalink)
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Certified H00d Classic
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Bernie Sanders's yacht
Posts: 6,129
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Some specific spotlighting in 2014 metal (so far). AKA, my impressions on a bunch of great albums all in one shot! 
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Revocation - Deathless
Their impressive self-titled didn't quite make the cut for me last year, but Deathless has literally clawed its way up out of the "to check out someday" pile to "holy balzak" in the space of mere hours to a few days via pure, unadulterated thrashy swagger. And I haven't even bought the damn thing yet: the full stream has been available a few days though. Booooom!
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Issues - Issues
People like to either cite this album or that Babymetal record as the worst "metal" release of 2014, but not all of us are that small minded. Stirring up some New Jack Swing, dubstep, chiptune, metalcore with a swig of Djent ranks right up there with some of the stranger stuff you'll run into all year, but such an uneasy mixture actually makes it stand out as one of the most interesting albums of the year. And Linkin Park never could have cooked up a song as good as 'Sad Ghost', that's for sure.
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Nightbringer - Ego Dominus Tuus
Black metal perfection along the lines of classic Emperor or maybe Dissection. And they're from the good ol' U.S.A. of all places too! And best of all, the production is a blood-soaked cavern where everything sounds simultaneously titanic yet somehow your ears can follow the whole thing without losing the thread.
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Teramaze - Esoteric Symbolism
My favorite progressive metal album of the year, bar-none. You've heard this "vibe" before if you've spent any time with groups like Karnivool or Tesseract, but these Australians aren't afraid to knee you in the face with roller coaster hooks to the jaw over and over again: very refreshing methodology considering how much noodling that tends to come with the aforementioned "prog" metal tag. So yeah, very straightforward with no major surprises, but that's not a bad thing when you pull it off this much finesse.
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Hail Spirit Noir - Oi Magoi
Every year has "that" one really amazing experimental metal album that doesn't fit easily into any particular box. These guys are notable as being one of the very few true-blue successful hybrids of black metal and 70's heavy psychedelia, and the experience that you get with Oi Magoi is definitely something special. I liked their previous output, but this one steps up the songwriting game considerably.
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Fallujah - The Flesh Prevails
Death metal is rarely "beautiful" beyond the aesthetics and tropes people who are already fans of the genre look for, but the vast spacious production these guys choose to play in makes you feel like your falling through the sky while listening, and that's a rare thing outside of, say, the land of Devin Townsend and his ilk. The guitar textures that serve as "scenery" throughout The Flesh Prevails are simply mindblowing.
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Yob - Clearing The Path To Ascend
The kings of contemporary sludgy doom that eats into your bones over and over and over again. Pallbearer and Bongripper are good n' all, but this album is on a dimensional plane all of its own.
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Malpractice - Turning Tides
Progressive pop-punk metal with a juicy early 90's alternative rock edge that drew the uninitiated among us to bands like Failure and Faith No More back in the day. These guys have struggled to find an audience for years now despite their knack for crafting some helluva memorable material, and if this album doesn't finally wake people up then I'm going to be really pissed.
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Sanctuary - The Year The Sun Died
Sure it ain't Refuge Denied or Into The Mirror Black, but what is? Warrel Dane is is fine form here and the songwriting is better than the last few Nevermore outings. Plus there's something oddly satisfying about hearing vaguely late 80's USPM material being filtered through a more modern lens. Little things like that are what warrant repeat listens to an album that's been talked about for years but nobody ever thought would see actual release.
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Last edited by Anteater; 10-13-2014 at 04:08 PM.
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