Feature: Johnskibeat's Best 20 Albums Of 2013

2013 has seen large growths in the, quite frankly, already sweaty regions of punk n’ roll, progressive metal and retro blues rock. Naturally, this has made me a very jolly fellow. You might be able to spot a few of the more impressive additions in my all-singing, all-dancing end of year list. Happy xmas to one and all!

20. Iron Tongue – The Dogs Have Barked, The Birds Have Flown

Iron Tongue roughly feed their country affectations and hefty, blues-tinged rock through the chomping maw of old school doom metal to inspire Steve Von Till to comment that The Dogs Have Barked has… “a power and an edge and soul that rarely exists in music today”. [Review Here]

19. Gorguts – Colored Sands

Those 12 years of waiting between albums were worth it. The vast leaps made in production quality mean Gorguts have given us the gift of a powerful and precise shock to the system. Colored Sands is gritty, powerful and effortlessly precise and with songs like the epic title-track tearing us asunder it really is harem-scarem technical death metal of the finest quality. [Review Here]

18. Karnivool – Asymmetry

The essence of their post-rock forbears has always weighed heavy on Karnivool‘s work and, unsurprisingly, their third long-player Asymmetry shows all the same hallmarks. Song by song they draw upon the karmic power of giants like Tool, Deftones and The Mars Volta to grant us the opportunity to gaze upon yet another stunning, colour-streaked soundscape. [Review Here]

17. Motörhead – Aftershock

This album is proof that Motörhead are adapting beautifully to old age. It’s a little flabbier and it has a few more wrinkles, but this still comes with plenty of snarl amidst the laconic blues and gravelly rock n’ roll. Aftershock may not have come from the same dark hole that spawned Overkill or Bastards but it’s right up there with them. [Review Here]

16. Extol – Extol

Construction meets deconstruction as Extol lay waste to our perceptions of what is sonically possible. By turns, scrawling, visceral and beautiful, this magnificent spot of post-everything allows us a glimpse of the endless possibilities when boundaries are shattered beyond repair. [Review Here]

15. The Dillinger Escape Plan – One Of Us Is The Killer

Antagonistic short spurts of bloody hate, this contextually profound lump of chaos is DEP at their most vindictive. Just beware those misleading pop hits – those are there to tempt in the suckers amongst us. How mean. [Review Here]

14. Cult Of Luna – Vertikal

Patience is the key. The stylized emotional flow throughout is spasmodic, yet thought-provoking and utterly engaging. Beware, because when these beasts get their gnarly on, Vertikal‘s neanderthal sludge can become the monster of your nightmares. [Review Here]

13. Deafheaven – Sunbather

The ultimate sonic lightning bolt out of blue, Sunbather smears the visceral guts of black metal onto the blank canvas that is shoegaze. For an hour, they effortlessly fuse their songs together to do nothing less than break our hearts in two. [Review Here]

12. Funeral For A Friend – Conduit

Trimming a little off the sides and adding plenty of honest and committed metalcore power to the melting pot, FFAF give us yet another welcome stepping stone on their path back to glory. [Review Here]

11. Hatebreed – The Divinity Of Purpose

A stunning assertion of dominance designed to incite total mayhem, this hardcore behemoth provides sheer brute force to beat down the doubters. Predictable? Maybe. Empowering? Oh my god, yes. [Review Here]

10. Spirits Of The Dead – Rumours Of A Presence

It was inevitable that after producing such a brilliant debut, SOTD would become one of the finest of the current crop of retro bands. Rumours Of A Presence rams that thought home by worshipping at the twin altars of doom and prog; reinventing their forbear’s artistic touches to fit a thoroughly modern template. [Review Here]

9. Clamfight – I Versus The Glacier

Not just a pretty name, Clamfight‘s latest is one hefty statement of intent. First they ram it home with absolute power. Next, they open it all out into strong, hook-laden tracks and then they take their collective foot off the accelerator. Impressive stuff. [Review Here]

8. Palms – Palms

This ambient-minded supergroup’s debut is littered with moments that remove your capacity for resisting emotion and motion – your heads will nod, your hair will stand on end and your spine will shiver. [Review Here]

7. The Ocean – Pelagial

It is not by chance that you can sense the increasing depth, pressure and diminishing light as you progress through this album. What we have here is a conceptual masterpiece with genius to be found in both its shifting, beguiling, expansive post-metal wash and in those thick, dark brushstrokes that produce such thunder. Performed live, it has transformed The Ocean from an all-too-wieldy wall of screaming sound into an absolute tour-de-force of atmosphere. [Review Here]

6. Dark Buddha Rising – Dakhmandal

Mile-thick chants that sound like they come from the throats of a coven of hooded giants. Know that Dark Buddha Rising’s latest, no matter how gloriously trance-inducing it may seem, is pure evil and as such it should be restricted to small amounts and is definitely for personal consumption only. [Review Here]

5. Pelican – Forever Becoming

Rather than lament guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec’s decision to move on, Pelican have come out fighting and their fresh, beefed-up approach has resulted in a conveyor belt of riffs and wave after wave of warming euphoria to bathe in. Acceptance and absolute absorption in the rhythmic drive is essential; achieve that and you’ll reveal an absolute tour-de-force. [Review Here]

4. Secrets Of The Sky – To Sail Black Waters

Secrets Of The Sky fearlessly dive into their subject matter of death with real abandon and without restriction. By doing so, they treat us to monstrous production and five forms of vocal attack. The combined force of this results in an atmospheric, doomy, subversively black, richly progressive and bollock-janglingly heavy debut that marks these Californians out as real forgotten heroes. [Review Here]

3. Steak Number Eight – The Hutch

Prepare for luminescent flourishes à la Torche, Isis-rich thundering and cherry-picked moments from the entire Baroness’ discography. Prepare for slack-jawed, clean vocals, thick, rotational riffs and dark melodious washes. Then, as malcontent is piled upon upon disillusionment and ‘core edges are sharpened, prepare to acknowledge The Hutch as nothing less than the organic masterpiece that it is. It is SN8′s “coming of age” album; a deal-maker. [Review Here]

2. The Safety Fire – Mouth Of Swords

Both soothing and vicious, Mouth Of Swords glows with a fluorescent vitality. The constantly burbling, rise-and-fall guitarwork, the crisp tone and accurate switch-up from ripped invective to soft melody is TSF at their finest. They have developed into a unique, inspirational force and the verve of this album has rightly set the benchmark, not just for them, but for much of their competition. [Review Here]

1. Man The Machetes – Idiokrati

Fast, bombastic, anthemic, groove-riddled and utterly addictive, Man the Machetes’ debut long-player Idiokrati is a behemoth of Norwegian punk n’ roll. From the fire and swagger of opener “Sluk Det Rått”, through the “Slagen” gang chants and short rhythmic pauses for breath to the joyful menace of “Hjemkomst”, these Norwegian’s prove themselves more incisive than Kvelertak and more explosive than Oslo Ess. Their album is the very definition of “grip it and rip it”. [Review Here]

Also online @ Heavy Blog Is Heavy = http://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/2013/12/16/farewell-2013-john-skibeats-top-20-of-2013/

Further musings on the soundtracks that rocked 2013 can be found here =  http://www.avenoctum.com/2013/12/albums-of-the-year-2013/

Article: Desert Island Discs - 10 Of The Greatest Albums Ever Made

I don't like to think of myself as a geek, but knowing how often I've made a list of all my favourite things of various sorts, then I'd have to admit to being a little bit of a nerd-bucket. When it comes to music though, I think we all do it. As lovers of the artform, we are all eternally locked in our own private tribal battles over whether something is "the bollocks" or "just plain bollocks". To seal the deal, of course, we keep in our minds (or commit to paper) which few choons we'd take with us when we're journeying out on foot, by public transport or in the car or when we pack up to go on holiday.

Well, your "Desert Island Discs" list is your list of the ones you would take with you to a desert island, your own tropical sandpile, for an indeterminate amount of time. This is the place where modern civilization matters little and having your favourite music with you is the key to maintaining sanity. The whole concept might struggle to work in reality, what with battery issues and the like (I'm imagining some kind of solar powered MP3 player and a pair of headphones), but just go with it. This is your ultimate list - the, and I've expanded the format a little to suit here, ten albums that mean more to you than any others.

The list below are the ones I'd want by my side. I encourage you to consider them (take a chance and spin them, be it for the first or the hundredth time) when making your own minds up.


Nirvana - Nevermind (1992)
Album highlight = Lithium
How could you not take this? It changed the face of rock music. It brought a whole underground scene up and into the mainstream. Some actually attribute the death of hair rock to this very album. It certainly ended badly for it's creator but it doesn't change the impact it had on us, nor the infectious songwriting that lurks within it's baby blue cover. And yet, I still struggled to decide whether I'd take this or Nirvana's reactionary In Utero or their masterfully understated live performance as they went Unplugged In New York.

Metallica - "The Black Album" (1991)
Album highlight = Wherever I May Roam
You can keep your Master Of Puppets and your Ride The Lightning; this is Metallica's masterpiece. It manages to perfectly align anthemic melodies with addictive lyricism and backs it all up with a hefty dose of groove-heavy thrash metal. Every single track is a winner. There are simply no weak tracks. And next year, they're performing the thing in its entirety - Download Festival 2012 can't come soon enough.

Megadeth - Countdown To Extinction (1992)
Album highlight = Architecture Of Aggression
It's beyond me how far removed this album is from anything else Megadeth have created. Not even Rust In Peace comes close. When you consider that most bands struggle to stick two cracking songs side by side, it blows your mind to learn that Countdown's opening salvo manages five. Five of the greatest songs you'll ever hear, one after another. And this thing doesn't even seem to wane with age. It's still as staggering as it was 19 years ago. Yep, come next year, we'd better be lauding this bad boy's 20th anniversary.

The Doors - L. A. Woman (1971)
Album highlight = L.A.Woman
I've been in love with this album for a long time. It's not just "Riders On The Storm" that swings it, it's the whole laconic feel that the album is wrapped in. From the title-track's rickety Hammond organ and rocking vibe to the staccato hep of "Been Down So Long" and the blissed-out sashaying of "Hyacinth House", the album flows through the emotions better than any other I own. It's a complete joy.

Iron Maiden - Powerslave (1984)
Album highlight = Back In The Village
Maiden have played such a major role in my life - they've helped me through times both good and bad. No album of theirs is more deserving a place than Powerslave. I'd take Killers, Number Of The Beast, Live After Death and No Prayer For The Dying too if I had space. Both "Back In The Village", their finest moment, and the instrumental braggadocio of "The Duellists" demand I take this. Add on to that "Aces High", "2 Minutes To Midnight" and the epic "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" and you'd have to agree I made the right choice.

Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger (1991)
Album highlight = Searching With My Good Eye Closed
I love the way grunge, as a genre, sucks up the mischievous stoner underworld and the fearsome rock middle ground. It's still alive today but no-one affected me quite like the combination of it with the vocal of Chris Cornell. He doesn't sing so much as he transmits emotion. Add to this, the fact that I experienced the most intense musical experience of my life whilst listening to this album being toured, and you can see why it's lying there in my trunk.

Machine Head - The Blackening (2007)
Album highlight = Aesthetics Of Hate
Machine Head did the impossible with this album; they surpassed one of the greatest metal albums of all time - their own Burn My Eyes. You just have to listen to the majesty of "Halo" and the nail-gargling 10-minute multi-part "Clenching The Fists Of Dissent" to see how they did it. In fact, the album was so good they toured it for four whole years. Jesus wept, that's impressive.

Pearl Jam - Ten (1991)
Album highlight = Even Flow
Pearl Jam's debut has everything. It is an album so perfect in design and delivery that they will never top it. If they do, I'll eat my hat. Every single track has its own voice, its own vibe and its own place. Ten has sold 10 million copies and is pretty much on every list of greatest albums of all time. No surprise then that when it was re-released for its 20th anniversary, it sold 60,000 copies in its first week. It's a masterpiece.


Oh, and here's another ten albums I'd leave my clothes behind to squeeze in:
Faith No More - Angeldust (1992)
The Verve - Urban Hymns (1997)
AC/DC - Highway To Hell (1979)
Lamb Of God - Sacrament (2006)
Gojira - The Way Of All Flesh (2008)
Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine (1992)
Isis - Wavering Radiant (2009)
Biffy Clyro - Infinity Land (2004)
No Made Sense - The Epillanic Choragi (2009)
Funeral For A Friend - Casually Dressed & Deep In Conversation (2003)
Mastodon - Crack The Skye (2009)
Chimaira - The Infection (2009)

Truth be told, all these are pretty much in order, but of course it's an ever-changing, ever-evolving list. Some are inked in, some are pencilled in. All are absolute works of art. You think otherwise, you know where I am.

Feature: Johnskibeat's Best 20 Albums Of 2010

Happy 2011, folks. Time for a quick look back at what rocked my socks off in 2010, and a chance for you to spend some of that money you got for Christmas. My Top 10 are absolute must-haves.

1: Purified In Blood - Under Black Skies (Spinefarm)
This Nordic sextet make a mockery of the supposed "difficult second album" by spinning this utter goliath of a record at us. Describing its sheer power in words simply won't do it justice, so here's a simplified attempt. Matt Bayles, crepuscular, bellicose, hardcore, black metal, demented, swaggering, invasive, consummate.

2: Ihsahn – After (Candlelight)
The former Emperor vocalist is clearly a man inspired. Here, a change of pace and direction has breathed new life into his solo career. Where before he's always focussed on finding our weak spots with the use of force, 'After' soaks itself in a devilishly powerful black attack before soothing its way into sublime, inevitably Opeth-esque, meandering rhythms and moods. The genius introduction of jazz sax has lifted proceedings even further, transforming it from mere charred, progressive metal driftwood to a focal point of blindingly brilliant light. 

3: Barn Burner - Bangers (Metal Blade)
These Canadian newbies have sparked up and created the burning weld between The Sword and Bison B.C. by adding copious amounts of beer and weed. Clearly making music for the love of it, Barn Burner dig out a conveyor belt of infectious riffs and run them over the wheels of rock n' roll - it's a headbanger's wet dream. Finally, has there ever been a finer track title than 'Beer Today, Bong Tomorrow'?

4: High On Fire - Snakes For The Divine (E1 Entertainment)
From an opening track straight out of left field to an assured powerhouse that invents new ways to deafen as it goes. As usual, the band ram it home by slowing the pace allowing them to stick their brutal hooks in deep. One round of 'Bastard Samurai' and you'll be left gasping.

5: No Hawaii - Snake My Charms (Sound Pollution)
Ranging from deeply progressive melodies to raging hardcore, No Hawaii's debut album presents the kind of dilemma that newcomers to bands like The Ocean and Isis represent. Plenty will dismiss them early on for being too lightweight or not heavy enough, but either move would be a terrible error of judgement. Simply by allowing the monstrous complexity of the whole album to fully invade your senses, you'll rapidly discover their wild inventions are utterly infectious.

6: Lower Than Atlantis - Far Q (Wolf At Your Door)
Having been inspired by 90s grunge bands, you'd expect LTA to batter you with screwball tactics, but what this album achieves above everything else is to powerfully invigorate, combining punk-fuelled aggression with breaks of sublime purity. The fact it's supplied with an assured conviction in their abilities is the ultimate cherry on top.

7: The Contortionist - Exoplanet (Good Fight Music)
Complex beyond belief, 'Exoplanet' manages to effortlessly blend jarring math-metal with spasmodic deathcore and hooky pop rock melodies and still achieve a vital sound that will force you to reassess just what can be achieved with so few musical notes.
 
8: Chickenhawk - Modern Bodies (Brew Records)
This is imaginative, hopelessly angry, scarily mathematical screamo in the vein of Ghost Of A Thousand or Dillinger Escape Plan that will inexorably draw you kicking and screaming into the pit. There's more going on here than first appears and it'll take a few listens to fully understand where the source is, but a careful listen to 'The Pin' and everything should become clear.

9: Humanfly - Darker Later (Brew Records)
This is sludge, doom, psych and stoner all piled on top of each other in a richly cloying and ultimately fulfilling gloop. Even, the unnecessarily lengthy and over-dramatic guest narrative from Rose Kemp on the 17-minute 'Heavy Black Snow' cannot change just how important this album will prove to be for the band.

10: Bison BC - Dark Ages (Metal Blade)
It's bruising monstrosities like 'Fear Cave' and 'Two-Day Booze' that mark this as the continuation of utter riff domination that littered this album's brutal forerunner, 'Quiet Earth'. This is High On Fire's awesome grunt with Saviours' blistering pace and punk nuts thrown in for good measure.

And the best of the rest;
11: Black Breath - Heavy Breathing (Southern Lord)
12: Iron Maiden - Final Frontier (EMI)
13: The Sword - Warp Riders (Kemado Records)
14: Return To Earth - Automata (Metal Blade)
15: Airbourne - No Guts, No Glory (Roadrunner)
16: Nightfall - Astron Black And The Thirty Tyrants (Metal Blade)
17: Norma Jean - Meridional (Razor & Tie)
18: 65daysofstatic - We Were Exploding Anyway (Hassle Records)
19: Rosaline - The Vitality Theory (Good Fight Music)
20: Hail Of Bullets - On Divine Winds (Metal Blade)

Feel free to leave your own opinions on what I've picked and what I've left out.

My list also online @ MTUK = http://www.metalteamuk.net/bestof2010.htm

Gig Review: The Drift – Man On The Moon, Cambridge 14/05/08

The Man On The Moon is a curious venue. It’s dark, grimy and has a bizarre set-up with the sub-woofer located under the stage and a wiring system so complex that it enables the soundman to only alter pairs of monitors at a time. With the lights rigged up to blaze out only a red glow it’s almost like being in a quirky Dutch brothel.

Tonight’s promoter, Xavier, doubles as the opening act, Twenty Three Hanging Trees. He’s hunched over his guitar making a warping wall-of-sound belch forth with the use of heavy reverb and loops. The venue’s mural of an astronaut floats behind his head and this only increases the whole other-worldly appeal of it. Above him hangs a dead disco ball and before him the audience sits cross-legged reverentially rocking back and forth in time with the warping guitar. He reaches across to pick up two musical boxes, in turn, which he carefully places on his pick-ups and a steady, tinkling tune is heard over the reverb as he winds them. It’s all a little too cosmic and somewhat peculiar, but there is a certain magic within his music.

Urbantramper & 10,000 Times Glorious, candidates for the most pretentious bandname ever, seem at first to be the very definition of “twee” but have the substance to back it all up. The lead-singer, the aforementioned Urbantramper, resembles a vicar with his shirt done up beneath his chin but he displays an obvious talent for the guitar, confidently plucking out simple, catchy folk rhythms. Sitting by his side, gazing up at him, is Eli D on tambourine and xylophone. Her harmonies are simply beautiful tonight and along with keyboardist George’s punchy vocal style they provide excellent back-up. They appear to be suffering a little from nerves but it doesn’t show in the music and their strong, upbeat songs are well-received by the sparse crowd.

By the time The Drift take the stage the venue is by no means at capacity but with many still sitting it appears fuller and quite a fair turn-out for a Wednesday night. After some early technical problems with the sound, the band begin recreating their complex mix of ambient jazz, gentle post-rock and dub with a surprising level of consistency.

Jeff Jacobs is the focal point raising his battered-looking trumpet to slowly eek out a resplendent blare that dips and rises gently. Across from him, Danny Grody ducks up and down as his guitar oozes a warm, melodious echoed arrangement. Intermittently he turns to his keyboard to mimic the trumpet but it’s a less harsh, lusher sound that emerges. Meanwhile, Safa Shokrai, bearded and bespectacled, stands in the background working his enormous upright bass with nimble fingers, occasionally whipping out a bow to produce longer notes. All the while his thick, black specs slip slowly down his face only to be swept back into place when the music allows him time to. Finally, we have Rich Douthit on drums, disciplined enough not to overuse his kit, employing an uplifting beat before dropping out to produce an ambient wash of cymbals.

Together, the band and their music are simply awesome. They kick off with ‘If Wishes Were Like Horses’ with it’s slow, steady, “come hither” teasing, follow through into ‘Uncanny Valley’, all jazzy trumpet, bright and sharp, with a pulsing afrobeat and rich dub wash before giving us all a glorious rendition of the dramatic ‘Land’s End’. As their set comes to an end they seem happy to take a shouted request and play a stunning track from an earlier EP (I missed the track title) that includes a stunning array of percussive tricks including some outstanding rim-scrapes which involves dragging the drumstick over the ridges at the centre of the cymbal.

The only thing missing tonight is a drop-screen light show and even that might even have ended up intruding on the purity of the music. The Drift are off to continue their mad dash around the dives of Europe whilst we lucky few are tonight more than grateful for their insanity.

Photo courtesy of Rich E

This review originally appeared on Sonic Dice and TLOBF