Albums:
Evanescence - Synthesis
Evanescence need no introduction, so I’ll try not to give you a full Wikipedia article. Following the release of their self-title album in {insert year here}, lead singer Amy Lee announced that the band would not be focusing on making new music for the immeadiate future, but would continue to tour. This year saw them release Synthesis, which contained only two new songs on a {insert number} song tracklist. Core to this album is the idea of re-interpretation: the remaining tracks on Synthesis are previously release songs that have been taken back into the studio and been re-recorded under a more orchestral lense, or a more electronic lense (or indeed some mixture of the two). When many artists re-release old material, promising that it will be different in some way to the original, I am often hesitant to get on board. However, this is one case where I do not feel, as a paying customer, that I have been cheated. The new versions on this album, really do offer something different to what would have been heard in the originals. And these reinterpreations bring out elements in songs that fans will doubtless be pleased to hear. Granted, this is not an album of new material, but it is still worth checking out. Lee’s vocals are so rich, you just feel like you’re being wrapped up in a massive velvet blanket and stuffed full of decadent belgian chocolates. What more could you ask for?
AK/DK - Patterns/Harmonics
AK/DK’s new album is one that I’d been looking forward to since they announced it’s release (I was one of those worryingly keen people who pre-ordered the vinyl within about 60 seconds of it going on sale). This is another album that brings the fun (not in an over-the-top Pop Punk way) - the music itself is fun and makes you want to move. The album sees the introduction of more vocals by {name} and {name} in comparison to previous release {album}.
Nordic Giants - Amplify Human Vibrations
This is less an album, and more a social project. With Amplify Human Vibrations, Nordic Giants look to draw greater attention to environmental issues and how our attitudes and behaviours as a society need to change. The album is accompanied by a mini-film, part of which are displayed with their couterpart songs during live performances. It is in this live setting that the project truly comes to life, inspiring you out of apathy, making you want to do something, empowering you with the feeling that what you do does, in fact, matter.
Arcane Roots - Melancholia Hymns
I might spend this time raving about x, y and z, but Arcane Roots are one those bands that I feel can’t be bigged up enough. They do everyhting - heavy, soft, fun and bouncy, dark and emotional. You feel that there is an honesty, a sincerity in their music, that it comes from somewhere personal for these guys. And what they write resonnates with people.
Marilyn Manson - Heaven Upside Down
I’m not sure that this is really a highlight, but it wouldn’t feel right not mention a Marilyn Manson in an end-of-year roundup. This year’s Heaven Upside Down doesn’t get the blood pumping in the same way that early album Holywood did, but at the same time it doesn’t leave the listener cringing in the way that Eat Me Drink Me did. This album is, to me, a distinctly satisfactory Marilyn Manson album - I could quite easily listen to almost all of it (apart from that song), but it really doesn’t have me running back for more. Also, minus points for this endless splurge of music videos that are essentially softcore pornography in whcih the male cast are Manson and Johnny Depp.
The Black Dahlia Murder - Nightbringers
The Black Dahlia Murder are a band that I probably should have given more time in the past - their reputation as a Death Metal band who write songs that are more-than-just-endless-tremolo-picking sounds sort of like something that would intereset me. Either way, their {month} release - Nightbringers - as my real entry point…and what an entry! This album, for me, is a very strong contender for best Metal album of the year. It essentially has everything you could want from a Metal album, with perfectly delivered vocals, guitars that offer equal parts groove and shred, and this is all topped off with clean, crisp production.
Grave Pleasures - Motherblood
Grave Pleasures, Beastmilk, whatever we’re calling them, are great.
Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun
Chelsea Wolfe is, it seems, in a world of her own, one that she explores by looking in, and feeding upon what she finds there to produce her dark and often doomy music. {year}’s Abyss was an absolute triumph, and Hiss Spun sees her offering up more of the same.
Gary Numan - Savage
If you’ve read anything I’ve written about Gary Numan in the past, then you’ll know that I’m a big fan. So it shouldn’t come as any surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed his most recent album - Savage. Sonically, this album picks up where previous release Splinter left off back in {insert year}, drawing us further down Numan’s industrial rabbit hole, continuing to evolve and refine. There are plenty of artists who could learn a thing or two about growth from Numan, as he seems discontent with residing in the past (which he could easily do with the litany of hits that he had at the beginning of his career), and hungry to chart out new musical territories.
Brutus - Burst
Another ArcTanGent band Fronted by a drummer-vocalist, something that you don’t see too often.
SiKth - The Future in Whose Eyes?
{insert month here} saw the return of SiKth to full length albums, having only released mini-album Opacities since reforming. The release of The Future in Whose Eyes? saw SiKth doing what SiKth do - constructing complex and intricate Metal without indulging in the tendency of many progressive musicians to labour their themes. This appeals to those who like their music with a little bit of something different, but don’t want to have to give up the next 15 minutes of their life just to listen to one song. If you’ve spent any time listening to what nowadays gets called Djent, and thought to yourself, “Some of this stuff isn’t too bad, but I d wish they’d get on with it and stop playing around with ridiculous key signatures”, then this album is for you.
Tricot - The
Another new discovery for this year are Tricot - I only found out about them when they were announced to play at this year’s ArcTanGent Festival. All I can say is: “Why did it take me so long to find this band?!” I supppose if you want to find a genre to slot them into, they’d be most closely aligned with Math Rock, making broad use of non-standard time signatures and… But to reduce them to such a label really does them a disservice. Their music makes you want to jump around, to dance - it makes you feel happy to be alive. The highlights on this album are…
Oathbreaker - Rheia
Ho99o9 - United States of Horror
I would consider Ho99o9 to be my first new discovery of 2017, having not a clue who they were until the morning before I saw them in London, supporting the Dillinger Escape Plan. In my musically formative years, I chose very firmly to turn my back on the side of music that would be considered Hip Hop, Rap, etc., siding with guitar-based music such as Rock, Metal and Punk. However, over the last year or two, I have taken some time to broaden my palette a little, and whilst I’m still mostly dissatisfied with what I find, there have been some gems. And Ho99o9 are one of those gems. Their brand of punk-tinged industrial Hip Hop (it sounds more complicated than it is) has a visceral quality to it, harking back to pioneers like Bad Brains. This blend really gets the blood pumping, making you want to get up and take a stand for something.
Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me
I struggle to call this album a highlight. This is not to suggest that it lacks quality - indeed, the simplicity of instrumentation and the lyrics express such human emotions endow this album with a certain beauty. However, the lyrical subject matter makes this less-than-easy listening. Seriously, you may want to bring a box of tissues.