By Ian
1. Mefitis, The Skorian//The Greyleer (2024).
I think this is incredible as far as progressive black/death metal goes. There’s shades of real musical ability interspersed with the usual headbanging sorts of riffs. Plus, I dig it when an album or band really leans into the whole “concept album” bit. I imagine they probably wrote about their dungeons-and-dragons campaign or something, which to me is incredibly, awesomely self-indulgent, and I crave more.
2. Duster, In Dreams (2024).
Duster returns to form with less scuzz and feedback, with slower, more thoughtful, songs making up the bulk of this record. Though it came out near the end of the year, it fits perfectly with the usual grey and brown that accompanies November and December. Those who know me know I love music that hits speeds around or above 200bpm, but Duster and other slowcore bands all have a special place in my heart.
3. Hologram, No Longer Human (2021).
I have no fucking clue how I missed this band. Signed to Iron Lung records, this band is everything I crave from punk music. None of that self-indulgent “down with the system” stuff is here. Taking their title from the Osamu Dazai book of the same name, this album is pure “meanness” distilled into uncompromising, battering riffs that reek of inner turmoil, thrashing introspection, and a rage against society at large. It’s an album that, upon repeated listens, might give the listener a permanent stank face. It’s that good.
4. Pyrrhon, Exhaust (2024).
Great dissonant death metal from Pyrrhon once again. I felt like it was a little more calculated and less spazzy than their previous output, but I love it all the same. The vocalist’s angsty, cough like yowls truly fit with the angular, jagged guitar work and breakneck drumming; it tells of a world headed for ruination with no looking back.
5. Torture, 4: Enduring Freedom (2023).
The bassist from my band Chasmlurk turned me onto these guys while we were driving down to Vegas to play a show there. This is, by far, the most ignorant, caveman-esque shit I’ve ever heard. I hate breakdowns in metal or punk songs with a truly uncompromising fervor, but somehow Torture manages to sound like a brutal death metal breakdown for an entire song that stretches up to five minutes, and then they did that for 13 songs and called it an album. It is so blissfully, beautifully stupid. Slam riffs, pig squeals, zero guitar solos and the like. And it’s unabashedly Iraq War themed, with a fitting ignorant sound that reflects the sheer stupidity of our politicians who got our country into that mess. It’s brilliant.
6. Adversarial, Solitude with the Eternal (2024).
Another dissonant blackened death metal record. I really like these guys in that they take dissonance to such an extreme that it somehow becomes melody again. And it’s fucking fast.
7. Mamaleek, Vida Blue (2024).
Mamaleek is a strange band. They started off as “black metal,” but as their music has changed with each release it now resembles a weird amalgam of jazz, chamber music, rock, and a sprinkling of metal that I’ve not heard anywhere else. Apparently, this record is about a famous baseball player—in what way this is significant, I have no idea. This is one of those records where I didn’t do much digging about its themes or lyrics and just kinda let the album take me wherever. It’s a journey, for sure, and I recommend any fan of experimental music to give this a try.
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