Hello? Is this thing on?

Good grief, it's been a while hasn't it? This unplanned lull has come about due to many, many things going on from house moves to illness to Bloodstock. Suffice to say it's been a busy couple of months, and indeed continues to be so.

So what has happened since July? Quite a bit, it would seem.

Picking up from where I left off, A Forest Of Stars' new album, A Shadowplay For Yesterdays is as good as I had hoped. Gatherer Of The Pure is a somewhat isolated track, the others swirling and cascading around it. Which isn't to say the rest of the album isn't good. Far from it, in fact.

Gatherer Of The Pure is still my favourite track on the album, but I wonder if it's more based on familiarity than anything else. I'll be honest and say that I'm not entirely convinced by the rather overwrought voiceover on the first track, but that aside it jumps straight in to some beautifully eerie riffs and turns. There are little crossovers between tracks, such as the "I don't want to be left behind here" motif that appears a few times, and each track is distinct and yet blends wonderfully into the whole.

I also picked up Gojira's latest opus, L'Enfant Sauvage. I won't bother you with "Baby Sausage" jokes, but instead say that I enjoy it immensely. I know a lot of people have said that it's not a patch on The Way Of All Flesh, but rather than go down the route that so many have trod, writing off an album as bed when it's merely not topped their existing favourite, I'll say that it's a solid album with some good tracks that's kept me coming back for multiple listens. I'm not entirely sure what The Wild Healer is all about though. A bleepier or bloopier track I don't think I've heard since the early 90s. Most peculiar. And for some reason it puts me in mind of 80s action movies. Everything else, though, it tip-top Gojira material and it pleases me greatly.

And of course Bloodstock happened. I'll do a proper little post about what happened there in a bit, but for now let Vassily, the metal meerkat, sum it up for you all:

On the prog front, I have picked up the new albums from Big Big Train, Mostly Autumn and the mighty Threshold, and on the awesome front I am currently awaiting my copy of Epicloud and matching t-shirt from the man himself.

Creepiest Video This Year - A Forest Of Stars

As a huge fan of creepy and disquieting metal, I was intrigued to discover this new video of Gatherer Of The Pure from The Gentlemen's Club Of A Forest Of Stars (or just A Forest Of Stars for short). A 7 piece band producing a deathly ambience, chilling riffs and a beautiful if deeply disturbing video. Using the shadow puppet theatre style recently seen in the Drag Ropes video from Storm Corrosion, this takes it to a new level of intrigue.

It's all very steampunk-esque, if the band name didn't give it away. A peculiar, eccentric variant of black metal produced by people with names like Mister Curse, Katheryne, Queen of Ghosts, and The Gentleman. Faux Victoriana abound, smog and streetlamps and murderous intentions. I recommend watching this video full screen, high resolution with headphones on. It's really quite lovely, if something this deranged could ever be called lovely.

Brief Update: I gather from the band's somewhat chaotic website that the new album that Gatherer Of The Pure is from is due out in three weeks. I shall be sure to check it out.

A Glut Of Agalloch

Good news for Agalloch fans today. The band's new song, Faustian Echoes, is available for immediate download. Clocking in at over 22 minutes long, it's the longest Agalloch song ever, leaving the 17.5 minute Black Lake Niðstång a distant second place. Have a listen here, then go to the bandcamp page with $6 if you want a nice, high bitrate version of your very own.





But if that wasn't enough, also available are the older EPs The White EP and The Grey EP, priced at $7 and $5 respectively. I've never heard them before today, but have been giving them a spin this afternoon and have enjoyed them thoroughly. There are also a bunch of other older singles available for $1 a pop from the main Agalloch bandcamp page if you fancy being completist.

My Top 10 Essential Metal Albums

While watching Gojira at the Corporation in Sheffield the other day, I was challenged to produce my Top 10 Essential Metal Albums. The albums that I keep going back to, or have some special meaning to me. It's obviously a very personal list and I can guarantee that just about everybody in the world will find fault with it, but that's the point of these things, isn't it?

Dark Tranquillity - We Are The Void Dark Tranquillity's latest album (although it is now five years old), and the one I have played most by a very large margin. I have even played it twice as much as Projector, my previous favourite. Featuring some shudderingly creepy melodeath riffs and covering all the classic Gothenburg bases, you can't go far wrong with this one. It's hard to choose a favourite track of this album, but I guess Shadow In Our Blood or Iridium would take it. Or Her Silent Language, or The Grandest Accusation. One of those, anyway.

Opeth - Ghost Reveries There will always be controversy over choosing a favourite Opeth album, but this is mine, narrowly beating Blackwater Park to the top spot (thanks to my decision to only have one album by any given band in the list). Of all the Opeth albums I have on my iPod (most of them) it's the one I return to time and again for my fix of proggy deathy growliness. The Grand Conjuration is probably the best track, but like We Are The Void there are too many good ones. The cover of Soldier of Fortune is bloody good, too.

Lacuna Coil - Comalies From way back in the days when I was finding my metal feet, as it were, Comalies contains just enough heavy, just enough catchy to get me hooked. This was my gateway drug to a love affair with melodic death metal, of all things. Top track would be Tight Rope, which gives me a little nerdgasm for recognising the game the voiceover samples are taken from.

Agalloch - Marrow Of The Spirit I heard about Agalloch long before I heard Agalloch, and when I finally did hear them, I wondered why I hadn't looked them up before. Dark and disquieting and epic in equal measure. Favourite track would have to be, um, all the tracks. Seriously, I can't choose between them.

Judas Priest - Painkiller The one and only venture into NWOBHM on this list. As must as Iron Maiden is seen as the pinnacle of British heavy metal, you just can't beat Painkiller for volume or tempo. I did air guitar to the title track a couple of months ago and my left shoulder still hasn't forgiven me. My favourite tracks are Painkiller, obviously, and Night Crawler.

Insomnium - Above The Weeping World Although in recent months it has been pushed aside in favour of One For Sorrow, Above The Weeping World is still Insomnium's magnum opus, and proof that they are still one of the finest melodic death bands in the business. I'm starting to think I shouldn't have tried to include a favourite track. On this one The Gale, Mortal Share, The Killjoy and Devoid of Caring are my choices.

Wolverine - Still One of my favourite albums ever. I first heard Sleepy Town on a friend's shuffle, and wanted to know what the rest sounded like. I was amazed, and have been a fan of the band ever since. Sleepy Town itself is high on the list of favourite songs ever, too.

Sylosis - Edge Of The Earth As grandiose and epic as it is proggy as it is ear pummeling. I originally dismissed Sylosis as being too -core for my tastes based on looks alone. Big. Mistake. This album was one of the surprises of 2011 and still gets regular rotation on my commute. It's hard to pick favourite tracks because the whole album flows so well together, although Empyreal (both parts) deserve special mention.

Eluveitie - Slania Is it folk metal, or is it Gothenburg melodic death with a hurdy gurdy? I don't really know, but it's bloody good. I first heard of (and, indeed, heard) Eluveitie at Bloodstock '08. I rushed to the CD sales tent, only to discover that I had missed the rush and every copy of Slania had been sold in 30 minutes. Inis Mona is the definite highlight of this folk juggernaut.

Ghost Brigade - Isolation Songs I originally found out about Ghost Brigade from Last.fm, recommended due to my constant playing of Dark Tranquillity and Insomnium. I'm glad the recommendation engine worked this time! Possibly the most depressing death metal band I've ever heard. Highlights include Into The Black Light and Lost In A Loop.


I was also graciously allowed 5 "honourable mentions" for those albums that I love, but didn't make the top 10. To be honest this was harder to come up with than the first 10. There are so many albums I love  that narrowing it down proved difficult.

One in particular that gets regular plays is Skyforger by Amorphis. A random purchase at HMV led me to discover Amorphis, a sort of hybrid of melodic death and folk that's both heavy as a heavy thing and melodic as an, um, melodic ... thing. Aerolithe by Fall Of The Leafe (which led to the coining of the term "fotling", meaning "listening to Fall Of The Leafe") is another that I throw on a lot when I fancy something a bit more utterly nonsensical.

Perhaps a controversial choice because it is the least metal of anything I've put so far, but How To Measure A Planet by The Gathering is a long standing repeat listen. A fine work among a body of fine works. More recently, and definitely less controversially, is Woods of Ypres's final album Woods 5: Grey Skies And Electric Lights. Sure, it's depressing, but it's frankness and honesty elevates it from pointless morbidity into something far deeper and more philosophical.

And finally I can't forget to mention Monuments by Sheffield's own Northern Oak, the album I've seen played (in parts, at least) more than any other. If I fancy listening to it, I could put on the MP3s, or I could just pop to a local gig to enjoy it with an ale or five. 

And now for something completely different

If you only watch one metal video this year, make sure it's this one by Agonyst. I won't say any more, lest I ruin the ... experience.

Seriously, watch it. I make no apologies for what happens to your mind.

Half Time Review 2012

It's that time again; June, halfway through the year, the summer solstice. Half the year done with already, but what a cracking half a year it's been, musically speaking. Some surprises, few disappointments, many new and exciting things.

Getting straight on with business, here are my top 5 albums of the year to date. These are the albums I've got most excited about, tweeted about, played over and over and over, and generally got "in to". So, in no particular order:

Cormorant - Dwellings

A complicated mix of progressive black metal, a touch of folk and a good dose of hard rock. Starting the year with style, Dwellings was the first album I bought this year, and is still one of my favourites.

Anathema - Weather Systems

Anathema doing what Anathema does best, following nicely on from We're Here Because We're Here but improving in almost every respect. Heavier, noisier, calmer, cooler, and perfectly orchestrated.

Woods Of Ypres - Woods 5: Grey Skies And Electric Light

Doom, gloom and epic riffs. A collection of utterly miserable, yet somehow wonderfully listenable songs. More than a passing nod to the style of Type O Negative, throw in some black metal influence and add an oboe. Perfect.

In Mourning - The Weight Of Oceans

In Mourning create precisely the sort of melodic death metal I like. From the strident, monumental opening track to the more progressive latter half, this is as much a musical journey as it is an fantastic listening experience.

Krokmitën - Alpha/Beta

Why have multiple songs when you can have a single 46 minute death metal opus? When I first heard of the multimedia event that is Alpha/Beta I was fascinated. Then I heard it, and was amazed.

Of course, the problem with choosing the top five in a year like 2012 is that there are loads that don't quite make the cut, while still being great albums. Some honourable mentions include: Bloodshot Dawn, a cracking death/thrash explosion with some amazing artwork, Sanguine, with their self-titled debut hot on the heels of last year's Bloodstock New Blood appearance, Mortad, female fronted politic death metal with some clout, Gwynbleidd, proving that prog metal really can be all heavy, all the time, and Alcest, whose soporific blackened folk still chills me in two senses of the word.

There are a few albums who I would have liked to have heard this year but haven't. Maybe I'll get round to it later? A.A. Lucassen's Lost In The New Real is definitely on my to-get-round-to list, as is the new Before The Dawn, Phoenix Rising, conspicuous for its lack of clean vocals.

So, that's my quicky round-up for the first half of 2012. Marvellous. And now, on to Bloodstock, where much metal, mayhem and mild inebriation await!

Gwynbleidd - Nostalgia

One album I missed from yesterday's roundup of the last month's listening was the new album from Brooklyn prog death outfit Gwynbleidd. Nostalgia was actually released in 2009 but has taken a while to get across the pond and into my ears.

At first I assumed the band were Welsh, given the rather bizarre name, but no. New Yorkers they are. Well, expat Poles living in New York. The name apparently comes from A. Sapkowski's "The Sword of Fate" and is the name given by some elves to some other guy. I haven't read the book so I can't really elaborate meaningfully on it.

The album itself, then, is an interesting beasty. On first listen, your response is likely to be similar to mine; they sound just like Opeth. Except, they don't. There are many similar elements, downtuned riffs, mournful guitar punctuating the complex bass and drum backing. It's more like taking the heaviest bits of Opeth from Orchid to Blackwater Park, grinding them up and using them to inspire and fertilise a bush of progressive death metal. Sinuous vines of lead guitar weaving in and out of the dense branches of bass and growled vocals, the drum providing a solid, unmovable root and the topmost leaves comprised of the delicate percussion that gives texture and depth. Okay, so the bush analogy is a bit weird, but you get the idea.

The album flows from section to section, passage to passage smoothly and logically. The soundscape it creates sounds more like one long composition than separate songs, and this is definitely an album you'll want to listen to in its entirety. I'm not sure why it's taken so long to hear anything from this band, but I'm glad I finally have.