A black metal band that leans very heavy on EBM music, is that real? It is. And the end result is getting more spacey by the record. As put forward by Cheryl in her Only Death Is Real series: "Mesarthim use their electronic impulses to work in a wholly different way as their music reaches higher than the stars". And she is right. The first couple of tracks shine brightest, but they are radiant like a star.

After an absence of 11 years, Dutch band Akelei (finally) returns with new music and they continue as if no time has passed at all. Considering the almost glacial pace of their music, this kinda makes sense. The opener is almost acoustic which was a bit of a surprise. This setting lends itself very well for the typical Akelei mood. The subject tackeled on this release is connectedness and loss. This EP will give me something to chew on for now, but I do hope the band will not let me wait this long again (the note accompanying the CD I ordered tells me I will have something to look forward to in 2022, oh yeah!).

Grandeur cramms riffs for ages in only four songs. Grandeur also manages to blast them together into coherent songs. This is no mean feat, especially considering the amount of projects the man behind Grandeur runs. I am always scared that people that run many different, but connected projects loose focus. This does not seem the case here. This is top notch black metal.

There are two bands in the post-punky metal scene that I like and follow. One is Unto Others, whose album this year left me disappointed. There are a couple of real bangers on that album, but as a whole I think it is a big step down from their debut. So when Rope Sect released a new EP I was careful not to be too excited. I did not need to worry, Rope Sect did not let me down. This EP follows right in the footsteps of their debut album. Nothing new, but I think that is just what I wanted from them.

I can almost hear you think: but Dennis, this is out for just a few days, how can you put this in your best of list so soon? Well, dear reader, with music this direct it doesn’t exactly take a thousand spins to digest the music, right? Pus does what they did so well on their EP: mix black metal influences with crust and punk and add loads and loads of reverb on the vocals. I loved it and I love to hear it again. SXFXCX is less to my liking to be honest. Their side of the split is very raw grindcore, where I like my grindcore Nasum like.

A mixture of modern metal, hardcore and some Tunisian folk music to top it of. That is Znous. This band is three EP's in and all three are so incredibly good. This is my most played EP of the year and I highly recommend you giving it some airtime too.

This EP feels a bit like Travoltas wanted to experiment with a different influence: eighties hard rock. They took the sunny side of that music and incorporated it into their own brand of punk rock with great results. If you need some more sun in your life this might be just for you.

Reading my colleagues review of this EP will take you longer than this EP lasts, but somehow that only increases it's replay value. To quote Campbell: "raw energy and enthusiasm filled with ideas that evolve as they’re being recorded, and just enough disregard for precision to maintain the NYHC spirit". Could not have said it better.

I can't say I know much bands from Panama. I do know one now. And I can't say I regret knowing them. Hez plays some dark and noisy hardcore. I love this stuff. It's fast and furious and it is making good use of the echo effect. How could I not love this to bits?

Altough not the most coherent EP (something I do hope the band will work on in the future) I keep returning to It Falls Apart. I would really like the band to get more focus in their writing, as this EP is mainly a promise of better music to come.

Another band from a scene I did not know about. This Morocan band plays very a very basic and rough kinda punk. The production is equally rough. The energy the band manages to transfer is incredible! This EP is way too short, that's the biggest downside. This gem is later released by La Vida Es Un Mus under the name Victory Belongs To Those Who Fight For A Right Cause. In my bandcamp-collection it is labeled as an independent self-titled release so I'll stick with that for now. 

​​​​​​​This two-song EP (we want more!) is the synth-y brainchild of Carson Cox, best known for his guitar and vocals with Merchandise, but who has also supplied phenomenal rhythm and percussion for Too Free and Clear Channel. I’ve been on the Carson Cox train since the early 2010s and with everything he does I sink further into my seat. While his band Merchandise has always had a penchant for noisy effects, drum machine beats, and swirling synths cushioning the guitars, Romeo Blue ditches guitars entirely. On this record, he leaves us with just his dreamy deep voice and his drum machine brilliance which evokes 80’s new wave, synthpop, and electronica like Depeche Mode and his favorite band, New Order.

​​​​​​​Gag offers a fresh take on classic 80’s hardcore punk. It’s sometimes a little slower in tempo, but huge in attitude. Quick feedback-ridden dissonant chords and chunky bass lines are backed by brilliant cymbal-heavy syncopation, leading us to highly anticipated slow sweaty breakdowns. After the creepy, airy noise intro, the echoing screaming vocals don’t let up on 10 two-minute or shorter tracks, until a final synth-y techno outro – something less often found on hardcore punk records.  

A punk and hardcore supergroup - featuring Ross Farrar and Jake Casarotti of Ceremony, Cody Sullivan of Sabertooth Zombie,  and Ian Simpson of Creative Adult - SPICE combine take their wheelhouses to churn out melodic 90’s flavored punk rock with tinges of grunge. Their sense of melody is highly attributed to the addition of violinist Victoria Skudlarek, whose harmonies weave in and around the sharply distorted guitar riffs, heavy drum beats, and Ross Farrar’s newfound style of singing and shouting that he began perfecting on Ceremony’s last album. Farrar takes us through moody peaks and troughs with his artistic imagery. The tempo varies throughout, guiding us through heavy punk and onto the edge of reverb-y emo and shoegaze. It’s under 30 minutes, but it’s quite the journey.

​​​​​​This powerful debut album from Sweeping Promises definitely swept me off my feet. It’s pure DIY post-punk with aggressive bass lines, spirited vocals, and sharp lead guitar hooks. Their lo-fi sound is filled out by simple synth lines, adding a catchy pop tinge to the punk urgency.

​​​​​Kid Cudi is royalty in the realm of emo-rap. On this album, like many of his previous, he vulnerably details his mental struggles and the fight to overcome them. Cudi’s croons are backed by catchy atmospheric beats and melodies courtesy of producer Mike Dean, Kanye West’s music director. This album spans genres and his guests assist: Skepta and Pop Smoke add bold bars to the hard-hitting rap track, “Show Out”; indie queen Phoebe Bridgers lends a verse on the electro-emo ballad “Lovin’ Me”. Samples from films Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Castaway, and Stand by Me are sprinkled throughout and add to the playful nostalgic feeling Cudi has mastered.

Undead zombiecore thrash metal 4 piece Send More Paramedics announced a reunion tour to celebrate their 20th anniversary falling on Halloween 2021. In the summer of this year they brought us news that they had recorded a brand new 9 track album The Final Feast (15 years after their last album) which they self released on Bandcamp in Sept '21 in time for fans to digest this new offering ready for their tour dates. The first song from The Final Feast we heard was "Totenkopf", with its unique opening riff plunging straight into their frantic thrash and wonderfully ferocious vocals spat out at quite a pace by frontman B'Hellmouth, it was everything I had hoped it to be. Having called it a day back in 2007 and only resurfacing to play some anniversary show dates here and there, it was always a bit of a worry that they might not be as great as I remembered but I needn't have worried. Send More Paramedics were back to true form with The Final Feast and "Totenkopf" was the best choice for the first single. Not only is it a tribute to Jesus Franco's zombie B-movie "Oasis Of The Living Dead" (1982) but a huge nod to Dead Kennedys "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" (1983). The line "Nazi zombies fuck you!" is the sing along outro you never knew you needed. After my first listen of "Totenkopf" I actually felt a little bit emotional as I was so pleased to hear such great new material from a band that are still one of my all time favourites! The rest of The Final Feast is a triumph of an album but the joy that "Totenkopf" still brings me means it deserves the top spot on my list!

 

One of the most devastating pieces of news to reach me about a week into 2021 was that Alexi Laiho had passed away, my heart just broke. Having had an obsession with Children Of Bodom for the last two decades and still reeling slightly from the fact that COB had split in 2019 I was hopeful that Laiho and Freyberg would do great things with their new band Bodom After Midnight... and they did but unfortunately it was very short lived. Alexi was the original "Wild Child" and he partied hard but news of his death still hit me like a brick. Luckily Bodom After Midnight had hit the studio back in 2020 and recorded a 3 track EP titled Paint The Sky With Blood and I have chosen this EP's title track as my number 2 because it was the first track I had heard since Laiho's passing and it did things to me emotionally. Lets face it Alexi Laiho was Children Of Bodom and where he goes the music follows so Bodom After Midnight are just like COB and it was so good to hear that style again. I would say it is a bit more raw than COB's later albums which really brings back the excitement and pace of albums like Hatebreeder or Hatecrew Deathroll.  I don't feel sadness when listening to this or the COB back catalogue but it was just so great to hear his voice and that guitar one last time.
 

A recent incarnation of the Dog Fasion Disco family. Beyond Paranoid are a thrash/punk band featuring the talents of Todd Smith, Jasan Stepp and Brian "Wendy" White who are all current members of Dog Fashion Disco with Tommy Sickles, ex- Nothingface, on drums. These prolific song smiths have once again pulled it out the bag showing that they can turn their hands to pretty much any sub genre within the alternative metal market. "Night Stalker" is from their debut album Dead Meat and has a horror movie theme running all the way through it with their lyric video being absolutely stacked with classic horror movie clips. As the title suggests it is loosely based on serial killer Richard "Night Stalker" Ramirez and other unsavoury characters plus the innocence of childhood spent hanging around graveyards. To people of a certain age the line "The killers and the crazies, God I miss the 80s, those were the best of times" will hopefully bring up pangs of nostalgia. Beyond Paranoid remind me a lot of early Dog Fashion Disco and Polkadot Cadaver incorporating a little bit of a later incarnation Knives Out!, hence the reason I really rate this single and the rest of the album. Again, I have been a Dog Fashion Disco fan for well over 20 years now and always look forward to their new projects and Beyond Paranoid are well worth checking out.
 

As my first three choices have been bands that I have been familiar with for many years I thought I should really try to mix things up a bit, so my number 4 is a band that is new to me. Deathcore band Fit For An Autopsy have been around since 2008 (I think) and although I was aware of them I had just not really paid that much attention to them until I came across this song kind of by accident. I had a YouTube playlist on as I was doing some chores and this absolute belter made me stop what I was doing and finally give them the time of day. I adore this song!! It's one that makes me wanna play it again as soon as the last chord has rung out. The technical guitar licks and softer melodic vocals of the intro draw you in then and then WHAM! you're slammed with the speed of the intro riff cranked up a few BPM and then that drum heavy chugging section starting at the 1:16 mark is just pure adrenaline. I absolutely love this,  it makes me want to hug someone then promptly smack them over the head with a 2x4 for no apparent reason... this a normal reaction to this band right??? "Far From Heaven" is the first song released from their new album Oh What The Future Holds which isn't out til January '22 so I know what one of the first purchases of 2022 will be for me. This has since led me to check out the rest of their stuff and whilst I'm still obsessed with this song I have to admit to wishing I had bothered to check these guys out  a lot sooner as I'm really enjoying what I hearing and it gives me something to look forward in the New Year!
 

To be honest with you I'm kind of surprised that I decided to put Sleep Token on my list too as they are not my normal listening and again I am very new to this band so know very little about this mysterious mask wearing alternative/progressive metal collective but I do know that I love "Atlantic". The very first time I listened to this was just after I had been to a wake to remember an old friend and this just completely went with my mood and hit me right in the heart. Musically the melancholy meandering is beautiful yet simple and stripped back. The lyrics hinting at self harm and eating disorders are a little unnerving yet weirdly feel so soothing almost like you're floating. The vocalist has a style that seems really familiar but at the same time I can't quite place where I know it from. Wherever it is I do or don't recognise him from really doesn't matter as you kind of forget everything and zone out (in a good way) when you hear him start singing this song, he has an amazing vocal range and subtle vibrato that nothing else really matters. "Atlantic" is the opening track of their album This Place Will Become Your Tomb which was released in Sept '21, one of these days I will get around to listening to the whole album but right now I still can't get passed this track to pay attention to the rest of the album. It may have just been perfect timing when I decided to listen to "Atlantic" and maybe if I had been in a happier mood I would have dismissed this song entirely but this is the way music works. To me Sleep Token might just have this one track that I love but I'm glad I came across this when I did as I will not forget it in a hurry.