# 41



James Holden and the Animal Spirits
The Animal Spirits

This one squeaked on to the list at the very last minute.

If I gave this album a few more listens there is no doubt in my mind it would be seated MUCH MUCH higher on this list but here it sits. It's incredibly complex and layered. An electronic album that packs way more in terms of a musical arsenal than contemporary electronic albums today. You'll notice a theme in a lot of my album choices which is that I like a variety of sounds in an album. This has MANY. Electronic, jazz electro, lush psychedelics, krautrock, and what can only be described as spiritual vaporwave. Tracks like Each Moment Like The First just have this wonderful back beat to go along with all this sound coming at you. Just a driving bassline that intensifies as the song progresses.

He takes these simple beats and just turns them into wild compositions. I'm writing this right now wondering why I have it so low. It really is just a FANTASTIC album. I don't want to f*ck up the list any more than I did but I have a feeling after more listens this will be in my top 10.

#40



Mutoid Man
War Moans

If anybody has paid attention to my music taste over the years, one thing you'l see frequently absent from discussion and Heavy Metal or in the case of this album, Stoner/Sludge Metal. I've enjoyed a few tracks here and there from bands like High On Fire or Converge but albums just have never grasped my attention and held it longer for a few tracks. Mutoid Man however have always kind of struck a chord with me. Their earlier work is much dirtier and seems to have this kind of reckless "flying off the rails" feel to it. They hooked me enough to remember their name and routinely revisit. Plus, I generally like bands off Sargent House records.

Their new album War Moans is definitely different from their previous work. It's more polished and the production is cleaner. The aspect that drew me in to the band is a bit absent here.

So why is it on the list? It's a fun record man. It's almost like they're a different band but they still managed to grab my attention with things I just never really highlighted for myself on their previous work. The guitar work and drums on this record are great. It made me revisit the previous albums and realize how I overlooked them. The track Date With the Devil has some really cool guitar work sprinkled throughout and it finishes just really strong with almost an early Mastodon like riff sequence.

The vocals could be a lot better and it's really the main reason why I didn't like this album more than I did. The last track however, Bandages, is probably my favorite track on the album. Vocals fit the song writing very well and the guitar work again was pretty stellar.

Once in a blue moon a riff-heavy heavy metal album will catch my ear. This is one of the few. Bats should like this.

#39



Ex Eye
Ex Eye

We are ten down. The next tier has started.

Frownland gets the credit of telling me about this. Everybody's favorite gigantic sax player Colin Stetson leads this band which also features Zs's Greg Fox on drums, Shahzad Ismaily on bass and synth who has played with Secret Chiefs 3, and unknown to me Toby Summerfield on guitar. A WHO'S WHO OF PEOPLE FROWNLAND MASTURBATES TO AND WHO I THINK ARE JUST AWESOME.

So Colin is basically as big a superstar a modern saxophonist can get nowadays. The dude is turning out great work on his own or is part of some really cool projects, including this one. While never really coming off like a dude who "should" be in a metal band, Colin Stetson has always had this sort of aura about him that I always felt needed some noise and brutality behind it. I feel like he should hook up with my boys in Kayo Dot because I think that team would destroy minds. Until then we have this album. It's a f*cking whirlwind. Blast beats over crazy circular breathing sax blasts give this album a very unique sound and something that can be dissected for a while. Very technical while also stopping once in a while to breathe.

This thing has a lot of things to digest. It builds soundscape walls of free improvisational jazz sludge and has it come crashing down at times where I want to f*cking scream or punch something. These are good metal album traits. It's funny because Colin is the lead on this thing. You have this cacophony of noise led by a crazy man on a bari sax. That's f*cking rad. This whole album is rad.

Highlights include the opening buildup to chaos in Anaitis Hymnal; The Arkose Disc and the pretty much every single second of Opposition/Perihelion; the Coil.

This will not be the last we see of Colin Stetson on this list.

#38



Chelsea Wolfe
Hiss Spun

This actually took me three listens to fully appreciate. I've been a fan of hers for a while. I've seen her live. Abyss from two years ago was one of my favorite releases of the year. This however on the first listen just didn't grab me. It didn't grab me until about the middle of the third listen during the track Static Hum where I realized she is doing so much more on this record than on her last. It made me think of her live performance where you just had this real blanket of dread covering you at all time. She's been building to this full on doom sound and it hit me during that track and, well, now it's on my list. It took a while but I'm glad she's here.

I think my first exposure to her was her album "Ἀποκάλυψις" which was almost lo fi dirty gothy garage tunes. Her last two albums have just fully gone dark and brooding. She's like a creature waiting in the forest now. It's dark, you can't see her at first, but she's there, and she's f*cking powerful. The albums second track 16 Psyche is like a huge loud sludgy nightmare of a song and I love it.

The songwriting leaves a lot to be desired which is why this isn't higher up but the atmosphere she creates on this brings me back to when I saw her and how I loved every minute of it.

Am I goth now? Part of me is I guess.

Anyway, rad rad record.

Originally Posted by Frownland Great broth but could seriously use some noodles tbh. Also Stetson gets no glory from me on his new solo record. Sad!

Originally Posted by Frownland I wish it was more noodly.

#37



The Black Angels
Death Song

Let's get back into this. I'd like to actually finish it.

So I've never really been into this band. I have strong opinions on this new "neo-psych" scene that has popped up with such bands as Tame Impala and Sunflower Bean. Boring bands. Boring bands with boring similar sounding songs. This isn't one of those albums. The bands earlier work may be lumped in with these bands I find boring but this album is not. The first track Currency has some serious bite to it. Lots of crunch fuzz that reminds me a lot of desert rock bands like early QOTSA or Kyuss.

The album goes through ups and downs as far as mood. You have some real meaningful song writing going on in here which is something that I don't really pick up a lot. The vocals on each track have this sort of longing distance to them as if the lead singer, Christian Bland, is singing from another plane. Sounds like David Eugene Edwards from 16 Horsepower too which only adds to my enjoyment. That American gothic sound is neato.

Lot of really great hooks on here too. Most tracks have an additional heaviness going on in the background. Sounds great in the car driving through the forest with the windows down. I've done it. I do those things. Clean guitar work and dirty bass. Love it.

Album even has a song that I'm sure they wrote for people to f*ck to. Grab as much (as you can). Yeah, that's a f*ck song alright.

Best track on the album though has to be Estimate. Slow droning percussion with really ghosty and addicting vocal hooks.

I would love to stay here in this town...

It's kind of seductive.

Yeah. That's catchy stuff right there. I'll link the track below because it's solid.

Awesome album that I need to revisit in the fall because this sound like something that would sound great with a cold breezy autumn backdrop.