By:
Ernesto Aguilar
 |
| Bell Witch |
2017
was a fantastic year for music in general, and metal in particular. If you like
other sounds, this was the year pop from Kendrick Lamar to Lorde handed in
exemplary performances, and major artists went all in on Spanish-language music
(not to mention actual Latin artists like Luis Fonsi, J. Balvin and Bad Bunny
getting English-language exposure). We also got not one, but two, albums from
avant-garde patron saint Diamanda Galas and the visceral entertainment of
watching megastars fight like gladiators for relevance amid the surge of
music's young lions. There have been far worse years to be a music fan,
absolutely.
Paring
down to the best 25 releases is no easy task. Veteran and new bands made some
outstanding and highly recommended albums. Dying Fetus, Immolation and Kreator offered some
impressive works and proved one can still be innovative decades into an arc.
And you are seeing albums from Code Orange, Power Trip and Poison Blood on lots of
year-end lists for good reason: their recordings were really great and worth
your time.
If
you liked the aforementioned Galas as I do this year's bubbling up of noise and
just plain weird into metal, an admittedly weird music to begin with, was
really stimulating. Cavernlight's "As We Cup Our Hands” and “Drink From the Stream of Our Ache,"
Xanthochroid's "Of
Erthe And Axen: Act II" and Lorna Shore's "Flesh Coffin" are just joys
in this regard… joys in a furious, metal sort of way, but nonetheless enjoyable
for their tone, depth and diversity.
I
listen to and write about music of all kinds, and may pick stuff you hate. That
said, my metal releases this year:
25. Royal Thunder, "Wick"
Metal
always has a lot of nostalgia for the 1970s, with major affinities for the
arena rock of Led Zeppelin and the fathers like Black Sabbath. One of the best inheritors of that tradition
is Georgia's Royal Thunder, whose bluesy, hard rocky
sound is one of the more faithful homages to the old school you will hear. What
vaults "Wick" into the
best-of 2017 is vocalist Mlny Parsonz, whose awe-inspiring voice makes you hope
Uta Plotkin gets into a studio soon.
24.
Paradise Lost, "Medusa"
An
all-time MVP like Paradise Lost this low
on a list (but still on said list) is indicative of how great metal was in
2017. The placement of the monumental "Medusa"
here is no shot; the UK's doom/goth trailblazers make consistently solid music
that has, over the years, matured, but is nevertheless some of the best there
is.
23.
Spectral Voice, "Eroded
Corridors of Unbeing"
It
is as if atmospheric black metal were dipped like an ice cream cone into a
thick, greasy soup of noise. Some may hate the churning of subgenres,
electronics and volume. Thankfully for you, Judas Priest is
coming back.
22.
Succumb, "Succumb"
Virtually
all the records on this list have some mammoth guitar work and riffs that are
quite memorable. Succumb is not one of those bands.
Instead its songs wind with at moments progressive, at other turns
punk/hardcore inflected, guitars washed to the bone with noise, distortion and
sheer modulation. 2017 was undoubtedly a year for sonority, with Primitive Man among the loud class. Succumb
just happened to end up valedictorian.
21.
Replacire, "Do
Not Deviate"
The
Boston band avoided the sophomore slump with a technical death metal record
that is as exacting and overwhelming as anything released in 2017. From clean
singing and growls to a superlative guitar attack, Replacire
crafted songs that were original while being slightly familiar. And yet the
quintet managed to stand out with an album that does death metal's history
proud.
20.
Introtyl, "Inside
of Violence"
Music
without understanding the people behind it is, we can probably agree, boring as
fuck. Mexico's all-female death metal dynamos offered an EP early in the year
that largely flew under the radar. Many reasons for that, surely. People ¯\_(ツ)_/¯’ing
music from Mexico/Latin America or female-led metal is probably part of that,
though you would probably hear lots of 'not me' to such insinuations. Coming
back to it, "Inside of
Violence" is affecting for its sound and its story of artists who have
put in quite a journey to get here.
19.
Cannibal Corpse, "Red
Before Black"
Controversial
for years, it is hard for Cannibal Corpse to make
shocking death metal when one has been pretty much the standard by which death
metal is judged. The band succeeded in lifting the bar a bit more with an album
that shows off its musicianship and insane songwriting. As usual, Cannibal Corpse's storytelling is not for casual metal
listeners, but its irascibility is certainly a treat.
18.
Tombs, "The Grand Annihilation"
Tombs' release was part of a larger
movement that saw many bands blending sludge and black metal this year. No one
in 2017 was quite as pensive as the Brooklynites, who have been doing it for a
decade. Its newest offering introduces vocals that make this one an almost
infernally operatic affair, while giving fans the slow-burn riffs and
unrelenting rhythms they've come to love.
17.
Cradle of Filth, "Cryptoriana:
The Seductiveness of Decay"
The
symphonic metal OGs have taken great pains to avoid categorization, but there
is something about their 2017 full-length sure to please most everyone. Grand
orchestration, striking riffs and prodigious vocals made Cradle of Filth's
newest one of the group's better recordings in its 12-deep catalog. In a year
where legendary symphonic acts like Carach Angren returned,
"Cryptoriana" ably showed
why Cradle of Filth is revered to this day.
16.
King Woman, "Created
in the Image of Suffering"
Kristina
Esfandiari's doom project explored, in 2015's "Doubt," her upbringing in a cult. Now a full band, King Woman comes back to these themes in the 2017
full-length. With more contributors in the fold, the release sees Esfandiari
turn in a sensational vocal performance. Here you will also experience lyrics
that are vulnerable, reminding us all that, while violence scars us, betrayal
cuts deeper. Accompanied by a pulverizing blend, "Created in the Image of Suffering" is nothing but
sublime.
15.
Elder, "Reflections
of a Floating World"
Stoner
metal torchbearers Elder turned lots of
heads with "Lore," its 2015
album of massive chords and progressive tilts aplenty. Lofty comparisons to Kyuss and major bands ensued. Undeterred, Elder made 2017 an active year, with several recordings on
the books. This one was by far the Massachusetts crew's best, taking its folky
asides and dreamy stylings into its most comprehensive collection to date.
14.
Pyrrhon, "What
Passes for Survival"
If
nothing else, this was a year for music and politics. Whether it was
top-ten-dead-or-alive rapper Vince Staples, indie icons Broken Social Scene,
Fiona Apple's anthem composed for the international Women's March in January, or
Joey Bada$$' magnum opus "All-AmeriKKKan
Bada$$," shit was not being taken from anyone in 2017. Metal, of
course, has always explored oppression and resistance, and rarely have such
subjects been nearly as potent. Pyrrhon presented by
far metal's most socio-politically conscious record of 2017, taking on bigotry,
inequality and climate change in the most fierce and uncompromising way
imaginable. The result? Music as commanding as its message.
13.
Heathen Beast, "Scam"
Heathen Beast brought out
the punk/hardcore aesthetic to its edge on "Scam,"
a seriously extensive rabbit hole of social and cultural exploration of life in
its native India. You might start Googling all the references and learning more
about castes and income disparities in that country of 1.3 billion people. Or
you may just take in the musicianship, which is stellar. Either way, metal is
better because of bands like this, and "Scam,"
like many influential records, gives us a glimpse into lives most of us know
nothing about.
12.
Dodecahedron, "Kwintessens"
Where
black metal has become a category of everything and nothing over the last
minute or so, what it means to make or claim black metal remains a big
question. Returning after a five-year layoff, Dutch masters Dodecahedron have risen up as the gatekeepers of some of
the subgenre's best qualities: fearsome vocals, relentless guitars and a
suffocating landscape of darkness. "Kwintessens"
is Dutch for "quintessence," an apt description for a breathtaking album.
11.
Monarch, "Never
Forever"
France's
doom outfit Monarch released an incredible album in
September, featuring a KISS cover and plenty
to talk about. Long known as a five-piece tending toward sluggish arrangements
and complex compositions, "Never Forever"
was a departure of sorts. Although its five songs came in at over an hour, with
all the glacial goodness you expect from Monarch, selections
like "Song To The Void" brought
a ghostly sheen to the music. As always, the band shone again with Emilie Bresson
on vocals, with her performance on the "Black
Diamond" cover and on "Lilith"
are among her best.
10.
Below the Sun, "Alien
World"
Who
does not love a good concept record? And 2017 featured some great takes. Few
were as compelling as Russian doom band Below the Sun's spin on
the 1961 science fiction novel "Solaris." In the Stanislaw Lem book,
scientists on a ship studying an ocean-covered planet discover the sea itself
is a single, world-encompassing organism that has been reading their thoughts
and fears and can cast those ideas into material form. Basing music in the Lem
classic is ambitious, but Below the Sun pull it
off with masterful atmosphere, weighty soundscapes and imagination that is
rare, even in this creative genre.
9.
Converge, "The
Dusk in Us"
I
confess Converge is in my top ten largely out of
peer pressure. It is rather high on many best-of lists, though it felt like a
(good and interesting) 1990s-style record when I reviewed it. Extraordinary?
Nope. Important? Not really. However, what Converge does well, it
does lavishly. As it is, "The Dusk
in Us" is an arresting return for Converge and will
likely be a sturdy album even in a year or two.
8.
Aosoth, "The
Inside Scriptures"
Over
the years, you have no doubt come to respect French black metal, which has
cultivated a reputation for extremity through the efforts of groups like Mütiilation, Blut Aus Nord and Deathspell Omega. Gone since 2013's "An Arrow in the Heart," Aosoth rejoined the living this year, embracing the hints
of technical death metal it has incorporated before more fully on this six-song
package. While risky – there are many instances where black/death marriages can
sound like dour dumpster fires – Aosoth makes the relationship work through
attention to detail and its signature intensity. The result is magic… black,
beautiful magic.
7.
Akercocke, "Renaissance
in Extremis"
Since
its 1999 debut, "Rape of the Bastard
Nazarene," Akercocke has tended
toward a quirky appearance (suits, really?) and intellectual Satanism somewhat
reliant on postmodern liberal ideals (its debate with Christian activists is
the stuff of YouTube fable). After 2007's "Antichrist," the band ostensibly broke up, wrapping a
tantalizing black metal footnote. However, when a reunion and new album where
announced, inquiries of where the English progressive black metal quintet would
go next were abundant. The answers lie in goth, thrash and technical
ministrations – all seemingly eccentric yet at home with one the last true
metal iconoclasts. Although divergent from previous releases, Akercocke's latest is an honorable return to form, and
better than 90 percent of the metal recordings out there.
6.
Mastodon, "Emperor
of Sand"
Now
seven albums into its career, Mastodon is one of a
handful of metal bands that can be covered by Pitchfork yet aren't abject
garbage. Such a ruling was very uncertain for a second. The group saw
mainstream exposure with "Once More
Round the Sun," and you might have tasted the fear of Atlanta's
favorite sons going into some "Black Album" territory. Never fear,
for "Emperor of Sand" continues
this impulse to be accessible while remaining obtusely heavy. Where there is the
friendly "Stormbreather"
there is also windier "Andromeda."
These tensions between virtuous fidelity to metal and sinful coveting of dad
rock are palatable, if not wholly a part of our narrative. Yet Mastodon manage to stay on the good side of that line in
2017, with a record that deserves all the recognition it is getting.
5.
Zeal & Ardor, "Devil
Is Fine"
That
there is some consternation that this is even metal at all is endlessly
amusing. No, Slayer it isn't, but if we're being real,
how many Slayer fans
are particularly metal these days? What was once an idea that came from a 4Chan
exchange associating black metal and a racial slur has emerged as 2017's most
subversive metal album, pitching Black music into a style disproportionately
dominated by Caucasians. Manuel Gagneux's mash of black metal influences,
African-American gospel, prison work songs, techno (?!?!), blues and noise
fights actively against your expectations, gets topical without getting in too
deep for those who avoid such things, uses evil as an effective lyrical device
for human evil, and rages far harder than "Song
9,483 About Lucifer" by Pointless Metal Act. If you love artists who will
do things that make you question your music, you may enjoy what this Swiss
one-man act is up to.
4.
Enslaved, "E"
If
Enslaved aren't Norway's best-known metal export, it is safe
to say the band is currently the biggest. 25 years on, the group has built a
rabid following worldwide for its dense music borne of eclectic progenitors.
This go around, Enslaved continues a tradition that it has
gone with in recent years: a more celestial vibe that may at turns remind you
of Pink Floyd. Enslaved's
discography has leaned toward more driving tracks. On "E" the sound is purposeful, paced
and melodic. Rather than punishing, this is a sound you intake. And what an
injection it is.
3.
Myrkur, "Mareridt"
Given
how much praise "Mareridt"
received when it was released a few months ago, you might think it would end up
recognized by year's end. Alas, no, which is surprising, considering its merger
of folkloric elements, black metal and exceptional musicians is one of the more
forward-thinking metal releases of the year. Some of this exclusion could be
chalked up to backlash. Myrkur's Amalie Bruun
has received her share of attention this year – for matters like a Decibel
magazine interview distancing herself from black metal to closing down Facebook
messages over death threats she was getting. However, do know the world has a
lot of myopic assholes in it. The astonishing album still deserves the praise
it got, and a place at the table when we're talking about the best of 2017.
2.
Pallbearer, "Heartless"
Arkansas'
doom powerhouse is still young in its trip, but has won over many listeners
with compositions that break away from traditional themes and subtle sonic
environments that beckon you in. What is unique on "Heartless" and is most striking about Pallbearer is its sophistication. Vocalist Brett Campbell
gives his best performance to date, conveying passion, hope and dread at many
turns. The result is an album that has gotten well-deserved year-end buzz.
1.
Bell Witch, "Mirror
Reaper"
No
releases were as courageous or satisfying as Bell Witch's
glorious return this year. After losing half of the band's creative core to an
untimely passing, it would have been simple to hang it up and call it a day.
Yet Bell Witch reconstituted and dug hard,
examining the duality of life and death, featuring posthumous vocals from their
fallen comrade, in a single, 80-plus-minute track. A passing look might
consider such packaging as self-indulgence. A close listen reveals a fearless
and sorrowful exposition at a universal experience. "Mirror Reaper" had worthy company, but no peer this
year.
