To all of you red-blooded, blackhearted Americans out there, Happy Fucking Fourth of July. I will be very disappointed if you actually plan to join in that great gorging of gullets with grilled food and cold beer that passes for patriotic observance. Instead, I expect that, like all trve metalheads, you will kill your neighbor’s dog and try to eat it raw, like this dude.
Haha! Just kidding. LOL. I’m an animal lover, so I don’t really want you to kill and eat your neighbor’s dog. You should kill and eat your neighbor instead. And send me pics.
Well, now that we have the gratuitous tip of the hat to the Grand Old Fourth out of the way, let’s get to the real point of this post . . . which is to take stock of the first six months of metal in this glorious year of 2012. I nagged our regular (and formerly sort of regular) writers to give me lists of their favorite albums of the year so far, with mixed success. Some complied, some couldn’t be bothered — which doesn’t bother me, because I’m not putting together such a list myself. Instead, I want to learn about albums I should be hearing by perusing other people’s lists, which is a lot more fun and a lot less work. I may not be smart, but I’m not stupid!
And if you think I’m going to be content just nagging our own writers for their lists, you would be wrong. Because I WANT YOUR LISTS, TOO! Yes, I would like you to stop eating your neighbor’s liver long enough to add a Comment to this post and tell us which albums this year have really caught your fancy — the ones you’ve been listening to the most and think are the best ones among those you’ve heard in 2012. And while you ponder that, let’s have a look at the Best Album lists of BadWolf, the Professor formerly known as groverXIII, DemiGodRaven, Phro, and TheMadIsraeli. Feel free to comment on their lists, too, but please don’t eat them.
NOTE: I asked these guys for their lists in early June, and some responded quickly, so new albums that have come out over the last 2 or 3 weeks may have been missed. Also, as I hope everyone knows by now, groverXIII (now known as Professor D. Grover the XIIIth) started his latest blog project — Oculus Infernus — since answering my request for his list, and if you still haven’t yet checked it out, you should. Also, let me also toss in a plug for Phro’s site, Phro Metal, where every week he publishes short sci-fi stories that will make your head spin (or, in the case of most of you, spin faster).
BadWolf:
Dear readers, 2012 only just passed the halfway mark but already has gone down in my ledger as a great year with a bumper-crop of great albums. Just how good? A comprehensive list of albums that I felt were solid front-to-back would just collapse into senseless mush. As such, I’ve compiled a shortlist of records that I’ve simply listened to more than the rest (Sorry Napalm Death, Unleashed, Nile, and Cattle Decap–I think you will get more as the year goes on!), and as such, it is over-populated with old favorites. I expect the strong debuts to crop up more later in the year.
I have identified a few salient trends defining 2012, so far. Nearly every album on my list falls into this category.
1) strong albums by returning classics
2) amazing sophomore releases by bands with great debuts in 2010
2) melodic doom knocking shit out of the park
3) clear, riff-based Death Metal taking the power back from sludgy wind-tunnel Incantation worship.
4) not-quite-metal music made by metal musicians, usually instrumental, or ambient.
5) and this may be the most important: 2012 is the year of female-driven clean-singing classic rock worship wearing a metal aesthetic. This style is going to spawn so many imitators in the next three years that you’d all better get your fill right fucking now. Thank god almost everyone indulging in this right at the moment is fantastic.
Without Further Ado: Badwolf’s best albums of Q1+2, 2012:
Black Breath – Sentenced to Life
King Giant – Dismal Hollow
Paradise Lost – Tragic Idol
Meshuggah – Koloss
Horseback – Half-Blood
Witch Mountain – Cauldron of the Wild
Royal Thunder – CVI
Gojira – L’Enfant Sauvage
Ihsahn – Emerita
Cannibal Corpse – Torture
********
groverXIII:
Favorites? Hmmm… tough call. I’ll try to keep this list relatively short for you.
Gorod – “A Perfect Absolution”Tetrafusion – “Horizons”Xenocide – “Galactic Oppression”Bloodshot Dawn – “Bloodshot Dawn”Aura Noir – “Out To Die”Sigh -“In Somnium”Be’lakor – “Of Breath And Bone”Hour Of 13 – “333”Mendel – “Subliminal Colors”Bob Wayne – “Till The Wheels Fall Off”Royal Thunder – “CVI”Celldweller – “Wish Upon A Blackstar”John 5 – “God Told Me To”Keith Merrow – “Retrospecial”Huntress – “Spell Eater”The Sequence Of Prime – “Inter-“Pennywise – “All Or Nothing”Tenacious D – “Rize Of The Fenix”Desaster – “The Arts Of Destruction”Diablo Swing Orchestra – “Pandora’s Pinata”Soul Cycle – “Soul Cycle II”Death Grips – “The Money Store”Horisont – “Second Assault”Prong – “Carved Into Stone”High On Fire – “De Vermis Mysteriis”Spawn Of Possession – “Incurso”3 Inches Of Blood – “Long Live Heavy Metal”Hour Of Penance – “Sedition”Soen – “Cognitive”Gory Blister – “Earth-Sick”Eschaton – “Isolated Intelligence”Goatwhore – “Blood For The Master”Brent A Petrie – “The Void”Lascaille’s Shroud – “Restless”Koffin Kats – “Our Way & The Highway”The Omega Experiment – “The Omega Experiment”Innerty – “Tabula Rasa”XII Boar – “Split Tongue, Cloven Hoof
OK, so much for keeping the list short.
********
DGR:
Hour Of Penance – Sedition
In Mourning – The Weight Of Oceans
Paradise Lost – Tragic Idol
Wretched – Son of Perdition
Whitechapel – Whitechapel
Carach Angren – Where The Corpses Sink Forever
Barren Earth – The Devil’s Resolve
Swallow The Sun – Emerald Forest And The Blackbird
Aborted – Global Flatline
Cattle Decapitation – Monolith Of Inhumanity
Anathema – Weather Systems
Soma Ras – Demo
Plague Widow – Plague Widow EP
********
Phro:
I am so fucking behind this year. I’m struggling to barely keep up with the major releases, let alone all the underground releases. Hell, I just found out someone’s in jail. Still not sure who, though, maybe I’ll figure that out next year. My point is: this is my list of the best albums that I personally have gotten my dirty little tentacles around and shoved in my ear holes. Your mileage may (should?) vary.
In no particular order at all…
Torture – Cannibal Corpse
I’m not a Cannibal Corpse scholar (I’m not sure if such a thing exists, but if it doesn’t, let’s make it happen), so maybe this album is just old hat to you. But I enjoyed it. It made me feel like chopping people up into small pieces, freezing the pieces, and then making them into shuriken to harangue children with. What more can you want from death metal?
Favorite Track: “Encased in Concrete” (Mostly for the sing-a-long value at the end of the song)
Utilitarian – Napalm Death
Right. Like this isn’t already pretty much album of the year for everyone and their headbanging grandmother. Whatever, it’s Napalm Death destroying shit with chainsaws and flaming saxophones.
Favorite Track: Don’t really have one here…sorry, you’ll have to form your own opinion on this one without my divine guidance.
Reign Supreme – Dying Fetus
I pretty much agree with TheMadIsraeli’s review on this one. I will say that I really liked the vocals on this album. Dude sounds like a snarling demon dog. Or maybe just a regular dog who smokes too much…
Favorite Track: “From Womb to Waste” (Mostly because of the audio sample. Makes me giggle.)
Promo – Chemical Tomb
Yeah, I’m kind of in love with these guys. You know what? I’m not sorry, and fuck you if you have a problem with it. Every time I listen to this promo, I feel like chopping my dick off, replacing it with a ten inch long piece of very sharp cutlery, and then going around to summer festival slicing watermelons in half with it.
Favorite Track: It’s only 7 and a half minutes long. The whole thing is my favorite track.
Long Live Heavy Metal – 3 Inches of Blood
When I first started listening to metal, 3 Inches of Blood was one of my favorite bands. I still think their early albums (Advance and Vanquish and Fire up the Blades) are a great way to transition from traditional or power metal to more extreme metal. Still, this album is much more in the traditional metal vein, with fewer growlies or howlies or angries. It’s just good, old fashioned rocking out. I skipped the previous album (Here Waits Thy Doom), so I can’t tell you how it compares. Sorry.
Favorite Track: “Leather Lord” (Cam Pipes might be better at the “Painkiller” voice than Halford.)
Global Flatline – Aborted
It’s Aborted being Aborted all over your goddamn carcass. I loved the shit out of this album, as I do with pretty much every Aborted album. I am going to go on record here and say that I think Sven de Caluwé has one of the most distinctive death metal voices I’ve heard. Fuck you in the eye with a straw if you disagree.
Favorite Track: “Our Father, Who Art of Feces” (I just like the name.)
Death Hammer – Flayed Disciple
This album just makes me want to run around screaming in people’s faces. Also, I don’t know what a death hammer is, but I want one.
Favorite Track: “The Westboro Massacre” (While I do like the name, this song grabs you by the throat and tickles your toes until you pee. Awesome.)
Speak in Code – Eve 6
This is more nostalgia for me than anything. If you know who Eve 6 is (i.e., if you were in junior high school/high school in the late 90’s/early 00’s), you already know if you like this album. I’ve always enjoyed Eve 6, and I thought this album was a solid return for the band. No, it’s not metal, but neither is your mother and I still enjoyed fucking her stupid last night. You’ll get over both of those things.
Favorite Track: “Downtown” (Mostly because of the lyrics, but also the song always gets stuck in my head.)
I know I missed a lot of albums, so if your favorite album isn’t on this list, it’s probably because I thought it came out last year. Or next year. I’m really bad with dates.
********
TheMadIsraeli:
There have been so many good albums out this year so far. In the end, I think for metal this has been a far better year than 2011 was. My favorites of 2012 to date are pretty easy to figure out, though. Some albums have just been so far and above the rest to me, and here they are:
1: Outcast – “Awaken the Reason”
Outcast proved to me, once again, that they are one of the most underappreciated and overlooked bands out there right now. Their combination of thrash metal, death metal, djent, and Gojira-esque megaton crushing groove created an album that left me destroyed.
2: Cattle Decapitation – “Monolith of Inhumanity”
This album is just off the fuckin’ chang SON. Cattle Decap have never been this tight, this fast, and this obscenely brutalizing until now. Let’s not forget those melodic vocals that sound like a gang of vomiting zombie pirate cows waiting to devour you.
3: 7 Horns 7 Eyes – “Throes of Absolution”
Progressive melodic death doom always wins with me, but this album? Just utterly otherworldly. It’s masterfully executed and filled with compelling song writing, along with enough grimness and sorrow to force you to contemplate the worth of your own life.
4: In Mourning – “The Weight of Oceans”
Once again, progressive melodic death doom. In Mourning are on a roll, three killer albums in a row. I’ve always loved this band’s music, it’s so full of power, majesty, and sadness. The only thing that could compete with this will be the new Daylight Dies when it comes out.
5: Dying Fetus – “Reign Supreme”
See my review.
6: Gojira – “L’Enfant Sauvage”
More of the trademark Gojira sound, although slightly stripped to the bone for simplicity and precision’s sake. The groove of “Liquid Fire” or the titanic sinking opening blitzkrieg of “Explosia” are enough to get any sane man committed to an asylum.
********
Alrighty then, there you have lists from some of our current and former writers, just to get your mental gears turning. What 2012 albums/EPs have been hitting your sweet spot this year?
95 Responses to “THE BEST OF 2012 TO DATE”
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
I wouldn’t really call myself “former”
I thought he meant grover.
Actually, now that I think about it, I have no idea who he meant.
Also: where the fuck is the Islander list? Lazy bastard.
We have a lot in common this time, tentacle-boy. I guess i do need to listen to Aborted, huh?
In my opinion, FUCK YES.
If you like Aborted, it’s very much an album you will like. Of course,if you’re not a fan, o doubt this album will change your mind.
“Tentacle boy?” Aren’t I older than you? Watch how you talk to your elders! It’s Sir Tentacle!
I have never listened to Aborted. I’m pretty green on slam in general, though I tend to love it, EG: Pathology, Benighted.
If you like benighted, I’d put money on you liking Aborted. Not a total overlap, but both excellent.
I credit Aborted for really getting me into extreme metal.
Aborted are less slammy than Benighted… but also much better. Particularly the vocals. I have a man crush on Sven de Caluwe.
I’m here. I sort of got trashed last night at a friend’s birthday party before finishing this post, and I sort of woke up late, and I sort of want to kill myself now, but I sort of think I probably won’t, so don’t celebrate yet.
But where’s your list? Did the lorises eat your homework?
Stop nagging me. You’re making my head hurt. I can’t make lists because I’m too indecisive. But maybe after my head stops hurting, some time next week, I will add something here. Or not.
Yeah, I meant grover.
Was that my insecurity showing? silly me.
Right city, wrong writer.
Thanks for the plug!
But you’re still a lazy bastard.
That’s not what your mother said.
She’s deceptive.
Well that explains it. When she was screaming “OH GOD!”, it wasn’t really a profession of faith.
HAH!
You win this round.
I want my prize. Send it without delay.
I give you a picture of the ugliness Which is my foot and its pimple.
http://wp.me/s2jqdt-570
Words fail me.
You didnt ask me you asshole…you just feared my list would be too awesome for your website to contain 🙂
So whether you want it or not:
Wrathprayer – The Sun of Moloch: The Sublimation of Sulphur’s Essence, Which Spawned Death and Life
Witchrist – The Grand Tormentor
Pseudogod – Deathwomb Catechesis
Ashencult – Black Flame Gnosis
Desaster – The Arts of Destruction
Muknal – S/T demo
Unleashed – Odalheim
Funeral Whore – Step Into Damnation
Chapel Of Disease – Death Evoked demo
Charon – Sulpher Seraph (The Archon Principle)
Mgla – With Hearts Toward None
Binah – Hallucinating in Resurrecture
Necrovation – Necrovation
Black Breath – Sentenced to Life
Tenchgrinder – S/T demo
What an awesome list. I’m making passing reference to Binah in a later post for today. Still need to check out their album, along with Desaster, Funeral Whore, Chapel of Disease, Charon, Mgla, and Tenchgrinder.
Should that be Trenchgrinder?
Or is there really a band called Tenchgrinder?
I honestly am curious.
Sorry..typing error..thats supposed to be Trenchgrinder with an “R”
dammit..that came out last year..not sure how I screwed that up..Please replace Trenchgrinder with Witch in her Tomb demo
That demo is awesome! One of the best demos I’ve heard in recent memory!
Yeah..thats a really good demo. Its been a good year for black metal so far
Wasn’t the Trenchgrinder demo from 2011?
Yep..see my comment above where I kick myself for screwing that up. I substitute Witch in Her Tomb demo
Aha. I apparently fail at reading comprehension.
That’s what I thought, but then Islander repeated it and he ALWAYS knows what he’s talking about.
Uh, yes, of course I knew that was a misspelling. Er . . . I just didn’t want to embarrass SurgicalBrute. Yeah . . . that’s it.
You let me post an album from last year…but didnt want to embarrass me about a spelling error? Thanks man
Uh, yeah, sure, I knew there wasn’t really a band called Tenchgrinder and that their album which I knew didn’t really exist didn’t really come out in 2012, because I know everything but don’t like to humble mere mortals with the scope of my all-knowing-ness.
Lots of great stuff here that I need to listen to more – Mgla, Muknal, Wrathprayer, Ashencult, Tenchgrinder, and Chapel of Disease. Chapel of Disease in particular was really outstanding! I wish they hadn’t had such a limited release on a dead format.
I didn’t find Charon or Unleashed to be too exciting. I may need to give them another chance.
First time I have found the time to read NCS for far too long, I missed this place, I must try harder to return more.
Most bases seem to have been covered here for great releases so far this year, might I throw a couple of suggestions in? Oh good.
Kreator – Phantom Antichrist.
KRÅKE (Kraake) – Conquering Death.
A quick search on NCS has suggested that KRÅKE have never been in the news here, this is a sin, their new album is absolutely amazing, I will tell you nothing, just go and check them out, Youtube, Facebook, where ever, just do it, your ears will thank you……twice.
That is all.
Interesting coincidence — because over the last week TheMadIsraeli has been bugging me to listen to KRÅKE. I will definitely do that today.
Just updated this post to include TheMadIsraeli’s list . . .
Here’s a list, in no particular order:
3 Inches Of Blood – Long Live Heavy Metal
Accept – Stalingrad
Allegaeon – Formshifter
Cannibal Corpse – Torture
Pharoah – Bury The Light
Desaster – The Arts Of Destruction
Kreator – Phantom Antichrist
Lamb Of God – Resolution
Goatwhore – Blood For The Master
Overkill – The Electric Age
Unleashed – Odalheim
Here’s my list:
Aborted – “Global Flatline”
I can’t recall picking anything else up because I’m poor and don’t get out much.
Well… picking anything up that came out this year, that is.
This must have made it easy to compile your list. 🙂 But seriously, if you were going to pick up only one album, that’s a damned good pick.
Yeah, it’s a great album! I don’t know if you saw my FB status a while ago, but I also got Sven de Caulwe to sign it.
Caluwe*
I guess I’ll give you guys a list of the albums I want from this year which might give you an idea as to what could be on my “Best of”.
~Cattle Decapitation (if you didn’t see this coming you obviously haven’t been visiting this site very long)
~Gojira
~Lamb of God
~Dying Fetus
~Pathology (not out until October, but let’s be honest, slam isn’t very progressive and I like them)
~Deathspell Omega (the first song I heard is a definite grower, but I’m confident I’ll get into it)
I also plan on looking (more) into a bajillion other albums made by the likes of Sigh, Napalm Death, Whitechapel, Job For A Cowboy, Hour of Penance, Goatwhore, Abigail Williams (maybe), Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under, Mares of Thrace (maybe), and probably a bunch of others I’m forgetting and/or don’t feel like typing out.
This is another reason I love this site!!!! In the lists I could see easily my top 10 so far 2012
In no particular order:
GOATWHORE(!!!) – Blood for the Master
Lamb of God – Resolution
Abyssal – Denoument
Cannibal Corpse – Torture
Whitechapel – Whitechapel
Charon – Sulphur Seraph
Okera – A Beautiful Dystopia
Burzum – Umskiptar
Ne Obliviscaris – Portal of I
Stob Dearg – Nocturnal Witchcraft (demo)
GOATWHORE!!!!!
And you liked the latest Burzum? Maybe I need to give it a second chance.
What are Okera and Stob Dearg like?
The new Burzum is excellent nap music, seriously.
Okera is beautiful melodic Death/Doom http://okera.bandcamp.com/, and Stob Dearg is kinda Black-heavy-thrash http://stobdearg.bandcamp.com/. I really think you’d dig Okera.
It sounds like I’d like both of those bands. And I would agree about the latest Burzum being excellent nap music.
There’s not nearly enough love for Sigh’s “In Somniphobium” or Allegaeon’s “Formshifter” around these parts.
This is roughly in order.
10. Marduk – Serpent Sermon
9. Sabaton – Carolus Rex
8. Mares of Thrace – The Pilgrimage
7. Ashencult – Black Flame Gnosis
6. Rage – 21
5. Astra – The Black Chord
4. Master’s Hammer – Vracetje Konve Na Misto
3. Arjen Lucassen – Lost in the New Real
2. Rush – Clockwork Angels
1. Anathema – Weather Systems
The lack of Master’s Hammer love on this website is appalling!
Now THAT is an eclectic mix . . .
It sums up my taste pretty nicely. Prog rock/metal, then more blackened and doom metal, with a bit of power/speed metal mixed in.
And seriously, get on listening to Master’s Hammer! It’ll be worth it.
Yes sir! I will do it.
This is the first year where I’ve really made an effort to stay up on new stuff, but still there are a few albums I have high hopes for that I haven’t heard yet. My list so far, in semi-specific order:
13. Unleashed – Odalheim
12. Outcast – Awaken the Reason
11. Greenleaf – Nest of Vipers
10. High on Fire – De Vermis Mysteriis
9. Dawnbringer – Into the Lair of the Sun God
8. De Profundis – The Emptiness Within
7. Woods of Ypres – Woods 5
6. Mondstille – Seelenwund
5. Lord Mantis – Pervertor
4. Christian Mistress – Possession
3. Lunar Aurora – Hoagascht
2. Cattle Decapitation – Monolith of Inhumanity
1. Sigh – In Somniphobia
How did I forget In Somniphobia?! I really enjoyed that one!
And how did I miss that Lunar Aurora had a new one? I also must remember to listen to the new Dawnbringer.
Lunar Aurora really surprised me. It was the first time I’d heard of them and they’re definitely on my radar now.
I’ve been meaning to review that Lord Mantis album, which is great. But I’ll probably never get to it . . . just like I never got around to reviewing Odalheim, which is also great. Fuck me.
Oh, nice to see DGR put Plague Widow on his list. Everybody should go check them out. I’m guessing if you like reading this site, you like awesome blackened deathgrind.
I definitely second that recommendation. Here are my thoughts about the last Plague Widow EP:
https://www.nocleansinging.com/2012/02/29/short-but-sweet-plague-widow/
I haven’t caught up yet to all of the releases I was looking forward to in June, but here is my list so far –
Candlemass – Psalms for the Dead
Coffins – March of Despair
Deathspell Omega – Drought
Desaster – The Arts of Destruction
Diablo Swing Orchestra – Pandora’s Pinata
Faustcoven – Hellfire and Funeral Bells
Nocturnal Torment – They Come at Night
Occulation – Three and Seven
Pseudogod – Deathwomb Catechesis
Secrets of the Moon – Seven Bells
Noteworthy albums –
Asphyx – Deathhammer
Black Breath – Sentenced to Life
Horrendous – The Chills
Hail Spirit Noir – Pneuma
High on Fire – De Vermis Mysteriis
Ignivomous – Contragenesis
Nekromantheon – Rise, Vulcan Spectre
Overkill – The Electric Age
Pact – Dragon Lineage of Satan
Sigh – In Somniphobia
Wrathblade – Into the Netherworld’s Realm
More that I expect to be at least noteworthy for me, but I haven’t heard in full yet –
Ahab – The Giant
Avenger – Bohemian Dark Metal
Besatt – Tempus Apocalypsis
Binah – Hallucinating in Resurrecture
Blodhemn – Helmengraa
Degial – Death’s Striking Wings
Hades Archer – The Curse over Mankind
Marduk – Serpent Sermons
Necrovation – Necrovation
Nile – At the Gate of Sethu
Nordor – Erga Omnes
Royal Arch Blaspheme – II
Saint Vitus – Lillie: F-65
Witchrist – The Grand Tormentor
Wodensthrone – Curse
Dammit..completely forgot about the Faustcoven. Thats a great album.
I love Asphyx..but honestly didnt think much of Deathhammer. Its not bad…its just dosnt stand out at all
Yeah, I kind of agree with you about Asphyx, but I love them too much not to mention it.
Same here..definitely one of my favorite bands. Even bland Asphyx is still better than 90% of other bands
Anathema – Weather Systems
Arjen Anothony Lucassen – Lost in the New Real
Baroness – Yellow & Green
Ihsahn – Eremita
Lapko – Love
Linkin Park – Living Things
Gojira – L’Enfant Sauvage
Old Man Gloom – NO
The Omega Experiment – The Omega Experiment
Pallbearer – Sorrow & Extinction
Swallow the Sun – Emerald Forest & the Blackbird
Woods of Ypres – Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light
So this is now the second mention of Arjen Lucassen – Lost in the New Real in these Comments. Apparently, this is a name I need to know more about.
Also, I have to ask, is the new Linkin Park really different and better than what they did in the last 2 albums? I used to really like them.
@Islander you should check out arjen Lucassen for sure!!! great prog metal right there in his various projects!! His main one is Ayreon. And Linkin Park are dead to me
I have to thank HBIH for turning me on to Lapko. I don’t listen to that many rock albums anymore but that one is pretty damn good. Also I like the sadness trilogy that closes your list. I really enjoyed all three of those.
I am in the poor position of being unemployed yet still acquiring albums at such a rate that I’m barely listening to any of them. This is bad I know.
Anyway, my list looks like this at the moment. The only ones I’m absolutely confident about are Be’lakor and Paradise Lost. I remain unconvinced about the new Gojira but then The Way of All Flesh took about a year to sink in so I’m going to give it more time.
Be’lakor – Of Breath and Bone
Colosso – Abrasive Peace
Gojira – L’Enfant Sauvage
Gorod – A Perfect Absolution
High on Fire – De Vermis Mysteriis
Karybdis – From the Depths
Paradise Lost – Tragic Idol
The Omega Experiment – The Omega Experiment
Unleashed – Odalheim
Balls. How do I get orange coloured text dammit?
If the color of this text is Orange, then you add
before the text and you add
after it.
Hmm. Well the html code I used worked, but the code didn’t show up. Let’s try this again: Go here to get the html code for orange font:
http://www.htmlcodes.me/color/html-color-code-generator.cfm?colorName=Orange
Man, I’m completely out of tune with a lot of these lists lol here’s mine…
Anhedonist – Netherwards
Anguish – Through The Archdemon’s Head
B.C. – Manifest
Charon – Sulphur Seraph
Ectovoid – Fractured In The Timeless Abyss
Faustcoven – Hellfire and Funeral Bells
Ignivomous – Contragenesis
Jess and The Ancient Ones – S/T
Lord Mantis – Pervertor
Muknal – S/T
Mutilation Rites – Empyrean
Nekromantheon – Rise, Vulcan Spectre
Pallbearer – Sorrow and Extinction
Shroud of Despondency – Pine
Tardigrada – Widrstand
Wodensthrone – Curse
Intriguing list. I’ve only heard about a third of these albums, but based on those I sure wish I had the time to check out the rest. Faustcoven in particular seems to be getting a lot of love in these Comments.
Which have you heard and enjoyed?
Anhedonist, Lord Mantis, Muknal, Mutilation Rites, Pallbearer, and Wodensthrone.
Well for a description of the bands you dont know…
Anguish is basically Candlemass with harsh vocals. Probably in my top 3 at the moment along with Lord Mantis and Faustcoven.
B.C. is basically just old school mid-paced black metal. Think Mortuary Drape. Not even sure it’s officially out yet.
Charon would be my death metal album of the year so far.
Ectovoid is Autopsy with Black Metal elements.
Faustcoven is…Black Doom? Idk.
Ignivomous – OSDM
Jess and The Ancient Ones is Occult tinged female fronted hard rock. But it’s leagues better than all the rest doing it at the moment.
Nekromantheon is thrash without soundling like shitty thrash revival.
Shroud of Despondency and Tardigrada are both Atmospheric BM. Tardigrada is actually a demo.
Thank you for that. I REALLY need to learn how to go without sleep altogether because based on these descriptions, I’d like to hear all of it — even Jess and the Ancient Ones.
Nice list man….the ones I know, I definitely agree did some good stuff this year
Yours is good too, probably more in line with my taste than any other on here. I have a feeling that Ashencult will be on my list by years end.
Wow – lots of good stuff here too. I’ll have to chase down the ones I haven’t heard yet.
I really wanted to love Anguish, but I think some of the vocals really didn’t work (the delivery changed in a strange way, or there were just too many words for the line) – only for two or three songs, but it really detracted from the album for me.
I really loved Ectovoid and Jess and the Ancient Ones (what I’ve heard of them so far) – I’ll buy them for sure – thanks!
There’s been so many interesting lists in these here comments, it shows the strength and diversity of the readers and reveals the kind of in-depth activities NCS’s audience participates in when acquiring the new releases.
It’s cool.
Here’s my unabridged list of this year so far, in no particular order:
Ahab – The Giant
Yama – Seaquake EP
Sons of Otis – Seismic
Pallbearer – Sorrow & Extinction
Ancestors – In Dreams and Time
Om – Advaitic Songs
Gojira – L’Enfant Sauvage
Scott Kelly, Steve Von Till, Wino – Songs of Townes Van Zandt
Ulver – Childhood’s End
Snail – Terminus
Cattle Decapitation – Monolith of Inhumanity
The Machine – Calmer Than You Are
Caltrop – Ten Millions Miles and Eight Minutes
Black Sleep of Kali / Union of Sleep – Split
Ufomammut – Oro: Opus Primum
Meshuggah – Koloss
Stubb – Stubb
Worm Ouroboros – Come The Thaw
Conan – Monnos
Greenleaf – Nest of Vipers
Crippled Black Phoenix – (Mankind) The Crafty Ape
I think that’s everything. An especial recommendation goes to that Black Sleep of Kali Split. It’s phenomenal.
On another note, I am frustrated by High on Fire’s record, I can’t hear a damn riff on that record, the production is too muddy.
Ah I’ve missed Stoner Sunday this year, but I’ve been checking in on the The Obelisk and Soda Shop once in awhile, so I’ve heard most of these. I’ll have to check out that split, along with Sons of Otis, The Machine and Crippled Black Phoenix.
Thanks man, although The Obelisk really is the pinnacle and does such a far better job than I ever did. I do occasionally drop some reviews on The Soda Shop, but infrequent at best and under my name, Sean Thomas. Anyway, do check out that Crippled Black Phoenix, it’s incredible.
Nice to see your name around these parts again. If you ever get the itch to spread your reviews around on scruffier sites, please let me know. 🙂
I definitely will do man, love this site.
As a fan of Townes Van Zandt, I listened to that Scott Kelly, Steve Von Till, Wino tribute album. I thought they did a good job, but man, is it bleak. I’m not sure when I will ever be in the mood to make my way through the whole thing a second time.
I sometimes think we all have the wrong definition for something that is ‘heavy’, because to me that record is crushing in it’s austerity. It’s cool to hear how much of an effect the record had on you, that’s probably what they’d want.
I think it is what they’d want, and I agree that despite it being acoustic and stripped down, crushing is the right word for it.
I haven’t published mine, as you all know I like to do my big series of lists at the end of the year.
That being said, I will say that there has been a real glut of “Disappointing” records for me this year.
But – also some absolutely definitive pieces of work.
Greetings! Old Man Windbreaker returns from a 2 week long trip into an urban desert.
Dammit… Missed so much. Anyway, here’s a list:
Portal of I by Ne Obliviscaris
Pandora’s Pinata by Diablo Swing Orchestra
A Perfect Absolution by Gorod
The Money Store by Death Grips
Soul Cycle II by Soul Cycle
L’Enfant Sauvage by Gojira
Muknal by Muknal
The Omega Experiment by The Omega Experiment
Cognitive by Soen
Koloss by Meshuggah
Tabula Rasa by Innerty
Horizons by Tetrafusion
Gods of Eden by Gods of Eden
Fields of Sanguine by Haemic
The Bulls & The Bees by Melvins
Ursus Americanus by Author & Punisher
Wish Upon a Blackstar by Celldweller
Tr0jans by The Algorithm
In Somniphobia by Sigh
Gateways by Azoic
No by Old Man Gloom
Valtari by Sigur Ros
Blinding white Noise: Illusion & Chaos by Skyharbor
The Symphony of Science Bundle 1.5 by Symphony of Science (although it’s dated as 2011 Sep 06 corresponding to the first version’s release)
Separate Realities by Trioscapes
Although this doesn’t really count, one shall mention the live recording of Mitochondrion at Rites of Darkness III.
Of the albums that one does want to listen to soon and which one anticipates to be enjoyable; one is yet to listen to Periphery‘s Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal, Ihsahn‘s Eremita, Baroness‘ Yellow & Green [this one doesn’t really count as first half of 2012, does it?], and Ulver‘s Childhood’s End.
First of all what is that art above? Awesome.
I’d second that call for ‘Portal of I’ by Ne Obliviscaris, such a phenomenal album. I’ve also been thrashing:
Mencea – Pyrophoric. Spooky yet groovy. ‘Invocation’ has to be the greatest 1:26 tune I’ve heard. Makes me want to summon the dead or something.
Acyl – Algebra. French band, but with Arabic roots. Think world music meets metal ala Soulfly or some Sepultura but with more arabic influence. Think I came across them on this site actually.
In Dread Response – Embers In the Spiritless Void. actually last year release. New Zealand band. Finally some good NZ metal.
Gojira just arrived in the post yesterday so haven’t had a chance to digest that yet.
Looking forward to checking out upcoming or yet to fall into my hands releases:
Sylosis – I didn’t even know they were expecting this year!
Mechina
Nociceptor
Fear Factory
Ihsahn
Alleageon
I agree about the artwork — I really love it. But unfortunately I don’t know who created it. I found it on another web site that had no attribution to the artist. Mencea and Acyl are new names for me. Thanks for the tips.