OUR LIST OF 2011’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 13

This is Part 13 of our list of the most infectious extreme metal songs released this year. Each day until the list is finished, I’m posting two songs that made the cut. For more details about what this list is all about and how it was compiled, read the Introduction via this link. To see the selections that preceded this one, click the Category link on the right side of the page called MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2011.

I guess maybe my trolling earlier today on a phony Part 13 of this list was a bit too subtle.  IT. WAS. A. FUCKING. JOKE.  A joke!  Not serious!  (and apparently not very funny either)  So, onward to the real Part 13 of this list . . .

The inclusion of today’s two bands will come as no surprise to regular readers — you could see this coming from a mile off, because they’re particular favorites of most of us who write here regularly. They also released very strong albums in 2011 — albums that included multiple candidates for this list.

DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT

Apart from the fact that Andy Synn’s review of Deconstruction is the most popular piece we’ve ever run at NCS (due in no small part to Devin Townsend’s posting about the review on his Facebook page), we would love this album anyway. It made many of the Best of 2011 lists we published over the last month, including those from Gaia, groverXIII, Stephen Parker, and of course Andy Synn. I shared the sentiments expressed by both groverXIII and Andy:

“Just when I think we’ve plumbed the depths of Devin Townsend’s demented mind, he reaches down and pulls out something else that is completely unexpected. Deconstruction was not the return to Strapping Young Lad that people may have been hoping for, but it was still a massive, chaotic album in its own way. Even now, having heard the album numerous times, I still discover something new every time I listen to it. Staggering.” – groverXIII

“At its heart this record is an expression of one man’s humanity in all its beauty and ugliness. Though its flaws are writ large, in bold, colourful writing, it’s hard to name another artist out there truly willing to go this far and be this open.” – Andy Synn

If there’s anyone in metal who is as exuberantly, prolifically creative as Devin Townsend, I don’t know who it is. On top of that, his vocal range is amazing, and he commands a stage like few other artists, with a rare combination of insanity, intelligence, humor, and warmth toward the audience.

Deconstruction wasn’t a perfect album, but it was a fascinating and addictive listen from start to finish. I had two candidates from the album on my not-so-short short-list for this series: “Sumeria” and “Juular”. Both were strong contenders, but I settled on “Sumeria”, in part because it’s as close as we got in 2011 to a new Gojira song. “Sumeria” would have been damned infectious without the unmistakable Joe Duplantier riffs and guest vocals, but they put the song over the top for me.

“Sumeria”

[audio:https://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Devin-Townsend-Project-05-Sumeria.mp3|titles=Devin Townsend Project – Sumeria]

 

FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE

If there are any sites in the blogosphere who’ve been bigger whores for this band, I don’t know about them. We’ve been promoting Fleshgod Apocalypse almost as long as NO CLEAN SINGING has been alive. But we’re whores with hearts of gold — we talk about this band a lot because our love and admiration for their music are genuine. And we’ve been happier than pigs in shit to see the band finally get the widespread acclaim and popularity that Agony finally brought their way in 2011 — especially because the band members are really nice people in addition to being excellent  songwriters and musicians.

We published not one, not two, but three reviews of Agony — from Phro, TheMadIsraeli, and myself. And among the many writers and musicians whose Best of 2011 lists at NCS included Agony,  Andy had this to say: “Reveling in its own excess, this is a record with all knobs turned to 11. The massive sound harnesses the sheer destructive potential of the band into a colossal monster of symphonic pomp and blast-furnace death metal.”  Yes indeed.

Once again, Agony was an album with more than one viable candidate for this list. Here’s the one I picked:

“The Violation”

[audio:https://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/fleshgod_apocalypse_-_the_violation__edit_.mp3|titles=Fleshgod Apocalypse – The Violation]