OUR LIST OF 2010’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 5

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010  No Responses »
Jan 012011
 

Happy New Year!  Wonder if anyone will be sufficiently conscious this morning (or all day, for that matter) to read us? Will these words exist if no one reads them? Does a sound exist if no one hears it? Am I completely full of shit or only partially full?

I’ll leave these questions to the philosophers and forge ahead. I particularly don’t want to spend time thinking about the last question. Instead, we will roll out the next two entries on our list of the year’s most infectious extreme metal songs.  For a full explanation of what we mean by “most infectious”, read this. And to see the songs we’ve named so far, click the Category link over on the right called MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010.

In a nutshell, what we’re doing is listing, in no particular order, the catchiest songs from a wide range of extreme metal sub-genres — not necessarily the best metal of the year (though lots of these songs would qualify for that kind of list), but the ones that most effectively got our heads and other parts of our bodies moving, and then got stuck in our skulls on mental replay long after they ended.

Today’s two additions share a certain musical style. They feature garage-punk chords, snarling attitude, and a clarion call to mosh-pit mayhem. In a word (or two), they fucking rock. Follow along with us after the jump as we talk about Coliseum and Kvelertak . . . Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2010’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 4

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010  7 Responses »
Dec 312010
 

Another day, and two more entries on our list of the year’s most infectious extreme metal songs.  For a full explanation of what we mean by “most infectious”, read this. And to see the songs we’ve named so far, click the Category link over on the right called MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010.

In a nutshell, what we’re doing is listing, in no particular order, the catchiest songs from a wide range of extreme metal sub-genres — not necessarily the best metal of the year (though lots of these songs would qualify for that kind of list), but the ones that most effectively got our heads and other parts of our bodies moving, and then continued to ring in our tiny brains even after they ended.

We ended Part 3 of this series with a band from Finland — Kalmah — and we’re starting Part 4 with another unique Finnish juggernaut: Finntroll. And then, in keeping with the folk-metallish theme of today’s entry, we’re following that up with a song from Switzerland’s Eluveitie.

Times like this, I wish I had really long hair, because these songs make me want to whip it around in a big fucking windmill. On the other hand, with my luck it would be caught in an air intake vent and be torn out by the roots. Or the cat would freak out and leap for my head with claws bared. So, maybe it’s just as well.

Where was I?  Oh yeah. Two more songs!  (read on, and listen, after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2010’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 3

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010  4 Responses »
Dec 302010
 

Here we have the next two entries on our list of the year’s most infectious extreme metal songs.  For a full explanation of what we mean by “most infectious”, read this.

In a nutshell, we compiled a list, in no particular order, of the catchiest songs from a wide range of extreme metal sub-genres — not necessarily the best metal of the year (though lots of these songs would qualify for that kind of list), but the ones that most effectively got our heads and other parts of our bodies moving, and then continued to ring in our tiny brains even after they ended.

Our fifth and sixth additions to the list are songs from albums we reviewed earlier in the year, one by Canada’s Kataklysm and one by Finland’s Kalmah.

KATAKLYSM

In our review of this band’s 2010 release, we called Heaven’s Venom “an irresistible onslaught of powerful grooves and dark melody, fist-pumping anthems and mosh-pit missiles.” (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2010’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 2

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010  6 Responses »
Dec 292010
 

Today we have the next two entries on our list of the year’s most infectious extreme metal songs.  For a full explanation of what we mean by “most infectious”, read this.

In a nutshell, we compiled a list, in no particular order, of the catchiest songs from a wide range of extreme metal sub-genres — not necessarily the best metal of the year (though lots of these songs would qualify for that kind of list), but the ones that most effectively got our heads and other parts of our bodies moving, and then continued to ring in our tiny brains even after they ended.

Yesterday we began the rollout with some old-school death and black/death metal. Today we have two diverse entries that in quite different ways show once again how aggressive metal can light up your life like genital electrodes — except in a good way.

KEEP OF KALESSIN

Norway’s Keep of Kalessin made a big mark on 2010 with the release of Reptilian. When we reviewed it in June (here), we noted its stylistic diversity and praised it as an album full of gems, organized in homage to the terrible majesty of the dragon.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2010’s MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 1

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010  8 Responses »
Dec 282010
 

We didn’t prepare our own official NCS list of 2010’s best metal albums. That was too damned much work, and we’re too damned half-assed to do it. Fortunately, we had a lot of other contributors and readers who were willing to do it for us. And to all of them, we offer our heart-felt thanks for all the fascinating lists to which we devoted most of last week’s posts.

Although we didn’t distill our own list of the year’s best albums, we do have a list. It’s our list of the year’s most infectious extreme metal songs. For a full explanation of what we mean by “most infectious”, read this.

In a nutshell, we compiled a list, in no particular order, of the catchiest songs from a wide range of extreme metal sub-genres — not necessarily the best metal of the year (though lots of these songs would qualify for that kind of list), but the ones that most effectively got our heads and other parts of our bodies moving, and then continued to ring in our tiny brains even after they ended.

Today we’re rolling out the first two entries. This is NO CLEAN SINGING, and so we’re starting our list with some old-school death metal, or maybe you’d call one of the songs blackened death metal.

Anyone who says death metal isn’t catchy, isn’t infectious, isn’t memorable — well, all you’ve got to do is listen to these two songs and wise up. These songs make us proud to be metalheads. To quote NCS reader Bob MacBobbob — he of the beer can Christmas tree — “We’re as proud as men who have just busted a shit that won’t flush!” Have a listen after the jump . . . Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2010’s MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010  No Responses »
Dec 272010
 

For 10 days last December, we dribbled out “The Ten Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs of 2009” (the complete list is here). We decided to do it again this year, and tomorrow is the start of the roll-out. But we made a few changes.

For one thing, we changed the title of the list. We’re no longer calling it “the” ten most infectious songs, which in retrospect was pretty fucking pretentious. Instead, we’re calling it “our” list, because that’s all it is. We didn’t listen to every extreme metal album released in 2010. In fact, based on our reading of “best of 2010” lists in metal mags and on metal blogs over the last couple of weeks, we missed out on lots of music that other people thought were better than many of the albums we did hear. So, we surely missed some great songs, and therefore we’re making explicit that this list is drawn only from what we heard.

For another thing, our list this year is longer. Making a list of our Top 10 last year was tough enough, but doing it this year proved to be impossible. Driven by the need to write a full year of posts for NCS, we listened to a lot more music. A lot more. We also gathered reader recommendations for candidates, and we listened to every song that was suggested. In the end, we just gave up on the idea of whittling the master list down to 10. Way too much work, and way too painful. Work and pain are things we avoid whenever possible.

So how long is our list? Fuck, we don’t know yet! We started with a master list of about 75, but by the time we’d reduced it to 30, we hit a wall. For every song we cut at that point, we added another one back. Reminded us of the Greek myth of Sisyphus, who the gods punished by compelling him to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this throughout eternity.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

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