Jan 072020
 

 

Welcome to the third installment of this evolving list (you’ll find the first two here). Can you guess why I decided to put these two songs together?

GLOSON

After a certain point everyone becomes increasingly shorter as they age, typically losing almost half an inch (about 1 centimeter) every 10 years after age 40, mainly due to spinal compression and diminishing bone density. But you don’t have to wait for that creeping decline. You can get it all over with right now. The pounding that Gloson administer in “Usurper” delivers decades of spinal compression in minutes. Continue reading »

Jan 062020
 

 

Admittedly, I began this year’s Most Infectious Song list in unusual fashion yesterday, diving deep into the underground with songs by unheralded bands from records released on the very last day of last year. However, these next two songs come from better-known bands (though their names are not yet on the tip of every metalhead’s tongue) and from 2019 albums that have received quite a bit more attention (but still not enough).

MISÞYRMING

Misþyrming’s 2015 debut album Söngvar elds og óreiðu opened a lot of eyes — opened them so wide you could see the whites showing all ’round. But these Icelanders were even better than we knew, because four years later they decided to throw us a curveball. Rather than build on the success of their debut with slight iterations on a proven formula, they spread their wings and flew in a noticeably different direction.

I’m not arguing that their second album Algleymi is better than the first one (choosing between them is a very difficult decision), but the fact that they followed their creative impulses even at the risk of not merely surprising people but perhaps even leaving some behind is worth a big round of applause. Of course, I probably still wouldn’t be applauding if their new one weren’t so fucking good. Continue reading »

Jan 052020
 

 

Well, my fine feathered fiends, here we go again: For the 11th straight year we present our list of the preceding year’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. Sunday might seem an odd time to begin the list, but I did say I was going to start the list this week, and the week is ending today, so here we are. There’s something else that’s odd about this Part 1, but I’ll get to that eventually.

I’m going to dispense with repeating the operative definition of what I think makes a song “infectious”; if you’re encountering this series for the first time, go here to see that. But I will remind you what I do to compile the list, and why I currently have no idea how long it will be or precisely when the rollout will end.

The universe of songs I’ve considered includes a list of candidates that I began at the start of 2019 and continued expanding as the year progressed. It also includes every suggestion made by our readers in response to my invitation, in the comments to this post. It may also includes recommendations from my colleague DGR; he’s the only staff writer who makes suggestions each year, but he hasn’t done that yet (though I believe he eventually will). When you add up my own ideas and those of readers, the universe of candidates includes 452 songs. Continue reading »

Nov 192019
 

 

You may have noticed that last week we announced the beginning of our annual LISTMANIA extravaganza. For those of you new to this orgy, our LISTMANIA blockbuster comes in four parts:

First, we re-print assorted lists of the year’s best albums, leeched from other big web sites and magazines, like the one last week from DECIBEL, which always seems to become the starting gun. Second, we will provide a post in which our readers can share their lists of the 2019 albums and shorter releases they enjoyed the most (we’ll be asking for those on December 2nd, so get ready). Third, we post the year-end lists of our own staff and assorted guest writers. And fourth, I’ll roll out my list of the year’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs.

And that last list is the subject of this request for help.

In case you’ve become an NCS reader since this time last year, here’s what this Most Infectious Song list is all about: Continue reading »