4 years, 101 albums: time well wasted
When I signed up for this site 4 years ago under the moniker AaronIsCrunchy, I didn't think it'd become as large a segment of my life as it has done. This was initially gonna be a 2 year one for when I started community-ing, but it turns out 4 years worked out a lot better. If I've chatted to you on Dubtrack, you've offered me support on a review, or we've simply had some kinda positive interaction across this site: thanks. You're awesome :] |
101 | | Akelei De Zwaarte van het Doorstane
Best track: Duett - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFFiHHWBa98 |
100 | | Pierce the Veil Collide with the Sky
Best track: One Hundred Sleepless Nights - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S-ODexQkFo |
99 | | Black Sabbath Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Best track: A National Acrobat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1baNhqKLev8 |
98 | | Keeper The Space Between Your Teeth
Best track: The King - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaR040efJ0I |
97 | | Cult of Luna Vertikal
Best track: In Awe Of - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPJoge1wDs4 |
96 | | Converge All We Love We Leave Behind
Best track: No Light Escapes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zLiIYhImqo |
95 | | Damien Rice O
Best track: Delicate - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnL3NfhOsBM |
94 | | Metallica Master of Puppets
Best track: Battery - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md3B3I7Nmvw |
93 | | Bloodbath Grand Morbid Funeral
Best track: Famine of God's Word - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtIA0IF9hK0 |
92 | | Roxy Music For Your Pleasure
Best track: In Every Dream Home A Heartache - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSniBxXjK_8 |
91 | | Zuriaake Afterimage of Autumn
Best track: River Metempsychosis - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=citLcH2elbY |
90 | | Tarsius Tarsier Ceremonia de Atadura de Manos
Best track: Mataviudas - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_3li66s0CA (whole thing) |
89 | | Amenra Mass III
Best track: Némelèndèlle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH71rARl4jY |
88 | | Fightstar One Day Son This Will All Be Yours
Best track: Our Last Common Ancestor - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myznet9PERc |
87 | | Karnivool Themata
Best track: C.O.T.E. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUmARJ0o6Hw |
86 | | Agalloch The Mantle
Best track: Odal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w5cLn0oL5g |
85 | | Converge You Fail Me
Best track: In Her Shadow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHMvYovAaNM |
84 | | Isis Panopticon
Best track: In Fiction - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7KdSSfYG7M |
83 | | Trentemoller The Last Resort
Best track: The Very Last Resort - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m9aZwQOFwM |
82 | | The Smith Street Band Throw Me in the River
Best track: Calgary Girls - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3DNbAvrMFI |
81 | | Downfall of Gaia Suffocating in the Swarm of Cranes
Best track: Drowning By Wing Beats - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaAEJXU7JHY |
80 | | Jeff Buckley Grace
Best track: Dream Brother - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7z_2QRELhw |
79 | | Dir En Grey Dum Spiro Spero
Best track: Decaying Crow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIuu_Y1SafQ |
78 | | Amenra Mass V
Best track: Boden - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NZRzIVURvI |
77 | | Carissa's Wierd Songs About Leaving
Best track: They'll Only Miss You When You Leave - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHEJ8TH_XRM |
76 | | Queens of the Stone Age ...Like Clockwork
Best track: I Appear Missing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9s69kXFkAw |
75 | | Beecher Breaking the Fourth Wall
Best track: Ladder Theory - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOobPWUYeFs (It's actually Red Diesel but I couldn't find a vid for it) |
74 | | Inside The Beehive Drink Bleach; Live Forever
Best track: Bio-Feedback - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh1P16PcRiQ |
73 | | The Dillinger Escape Plan Ire Works
Best track: Lurch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBAbl2b2cck |
72 | | A Forest of Stars A Shadowplay for Yesterdays
Best track: The Underside of Eden - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZp5RsrdecA |
71 | | Pig Destroyer Terrifyer
Best track: Carrion Fairy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88cm6ghqxdM |
70 | | Fightstar Be Human
Best track: Damocles - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPwpUIVOBSM |
69 | | The Great Old Ones Tekeli-Li
Best track: Antarctica - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-J_iCrjW0U |
68 | | Burzum Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Best track: Det Som En Gang Var - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wry9G6rcdQw |
67 | | Ulcerate Vermis
Best track: Clutching Revulsion - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mGE9DH68xI |
66 | | Black Sabbath Master of Reality
Best track: Into the Void - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3hsCiGS9Uc |
65 | | Queens of the Stone Age Songs for the Deaf
Best track: A Song for the Dead - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-8H3gE9dUo |
64 | | Brand New The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me
Best track: You Won't Know - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5mm8ex8Vd4 |
63 | | Coheed and Cambria No World for Tomorrow
Best track: The Hound (Of Blood and Rank) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wUBUjkoXjU |
62 | | Cara Neir Portals To A Better, Dead World
Best track: Closing Doors - https://caraneir.bandcamp.com/track/closing-doors |
61 | | Vi Som Alskade Varandra Sa Mycket Den sorgligaste musiken i varlden
Best track: Vi Som Försvann - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGx90zUBOns |
60 | | Emperor In the Nightside Eclipse
Best track: I Am The Black Wizards - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgQRRI9goFg |
59 | | The Cure Pornography
Best track: The Figurehead - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yls_lhHdfPc |
58 | | Slugdge Born of Slime
Best track: Slime Traveler - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rblFjsutZI4 |
57 | | Barrow Though I'm Alone
Best track: Wither - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg_GGnNco8E |
56 | | Captain, We're Sinking The Future Is Cancelled
Best track: The Future is Cancelled, Pt. 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56FkcxpMlwk |
55 | | Coheed and Cambria In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
Best track: The Crowing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXCsR6tBE-Q |
54 | | Converge Axe to Fall
Best track: Reap What You Sow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2jPlkcv_rg |
53 | | Gackt Mizerable
Best track: Story - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=685F7pCj4V0 |
52 | | Them Crooked Vultures Them Crooked Vultures
Best track: Elephants - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2zIMyjQh8s |
51 | | Fightstar Grand Unification
Best track: Waste A Moment - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVh-J11h9XQ |
50 | | Emperor Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
Best track: Ensorcelled by Khaos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N_cQOy6OOs |
49 | | Coheed and Cambria From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
Best track: The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_6DBLb0jSQ |
48 | | Meshuggah obZen
Best track: Dancers to a Discordant System - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J4Ye7nRT0s |
47 | | Kamijo Symphony of the Vampire
Best track: Sonata - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juqxEY1j8sw |
46 | | Harvey Danger King James Version
Best track: Loyalty Bldg. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbH5Z_ImkpM |
45 | | Altar of Plagues Teethed Glory and Injury
Best track: Burnt Year - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok454hznwoc |
44 | | Rorcal Heliogabalus
Best track: Heliogabalus (duh) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2Rt3fNpBCU |
43 | | Amenra Mass IIII
Best track: Aorte. Nous Sommes et Mèmes Sang - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHfHnu3QH4E |
42 | | A Forest of Stars The Corpse of Rebirth
Best track: God - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZHtPaaLTzA |
41 | | Reuben In Nothing We Trust
Best track: Three Hail Marys - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpdVthaY_uw |
40 | | The Pogues Rum Sodomy & the Lash
Best track: A Rainy Night in Soho - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSyL-TrD_2g |
39 | | Converge Jane Doe
Best track: Heaven In Her Arms - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsLzD1R-QdU |
38 | | Autopsy Mental Funeral
Best track: In The Grip of Winter - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XsWyihKQoI |
37 | | Reuben Very Fast Very Dangerous
Best track: Return of the Jedi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6p-gpkibPw |
36 | | Converge When Forever Comes Crashing
Best track: Year of the Swine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS3_vXOAkHA |
35 | | Ben Howard I Forget Where We Were
Best track: End of the Affair - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unz9gWteR1s |
34 | | Fall of Efrafa Elil
Best track: Dominion Theology - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqCi-x87ec0 |
33 | | Thou Tyrant
Best track: Monstrance - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8ei6cRluUY |
32 | | The Mortal I Am Mortal
Best track: Pain Drop - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hSk1jUurmo |
31 | | Rosetta Wake/Lift
Best track: Monument - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQLndlzHHxQ |
30 | | Reuben Racecar Is Racecar Backwards
Best track: Fall of the Bastille - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiU02zXizXQ |
29 | | Thou Summit
Best track: Grissecon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dIaTn9ogo0 |
28 | | Fall of Efrafa Owsla
Best track: Pity the Weak - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWYR9WuAuhU |
27 | | Ulcerate The Destroyers of All
Best track: Cold Becoming - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIr2kMWdc3c |
26 | | Metallica Ride the Lightning
Best track: Fight Fire With Fire - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjlgUx7_aN0 |
25 | | Alexisonfire Crisis
Best track: Boiled Frogs - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgkMlEn8L2E |
24 | | The Smiths The Queen Is Dead
Best track: Bigmouth Strikes Again - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgxEJOi6GtA |
23 | | Darkthrone Under a Funeral Moon
Best track: Inn I De Dype Skogens Fabn - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQQD1UjiqEc |
22 | | The Ruins Of Beverast Rain Upon The Impure
Best track: 50 Forts Along the Rhine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQQD1UjiqEc |
21 | | Thou Peasant
Best track: They Stretch Out Their Hands - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOsVlNHmxRA |
20 | | Converge No Heroes
My first exposure to Converge remains my favourite. The first tracks of 'No Heroes' pumps me up like very few other things do, and the title track remains, in my opinion at least, one of their finest moments (alongside Heaven In Her Arms and In Her Shadow). The drumming on here in particular is nowt short of staggering.
Best tracks: Vengeance - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQg9oz5Btn8
No Heroes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sq8ZlyvH6E
To The Lions - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAAs5B5cvho |
19 | | The War on Drugs Lost in the Dream
Why do I like this as much as I do? Absolutely no idea. It's repetitive and doesn't really seek to push itself further than it deems necessary. Yet, I keep coming back to it, to the point that it's now arguably my favourite album from the last 3 years. Something about it puts me at ease, taking me back to sunny days.
Best tracks: Burning - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEdwRRK-Hy4
In Reverse - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI3H8myhJBI
Under the Pressure - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkLOg252KRE |
18 | | Pulp This is Hardcore
Pulp's 'anti-pop' album, 'This Is Hardcore' is actually pretty damn bleak. Jarvis Cocker's vocals are still mesmerising, the tunes are still (largely) catchy and less-than-glamorous outlook still remains, but this eschews the hit-appeal of 'Different Class' for something far less pleasant. Could honestly do without the 10 minutes of sweet sod all at the end, but aside from that this is a sobering look inside Jarvis Cocker's head, told through humour, self-awareness, and an uncomfortable presence.
Best tracks: The Fear - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxPu7XIX2Pc
This Is Hardcore - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXbLyi5wgeg
Glory Days - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zULEAMOcOP4 |
17 | | A Forest of Stars Opportunistic Thieves of Spring
A bizarre album, 'Opportunistic Thieves of Spring' is arguably A Forest of Stars' most convincing foray into their self-styled 'Victorian Black Metal' sound. Melancholic, sometimes kinda sideshow-y strings bounce seamlessly off of furious blast beats and a mixture of howls and very British snarls to create a sound unmistakeably theirs; for 72 minutes, it truly is. I always get a feeling of wanting more after listening, and while their entire discography is impressive, this is definitely their finest moment.
Best tracks: Sorrow's Impetus - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMd-Z8ZdIRg
Summertide's Approach - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHTnE8DWNRc
Starfire's Memory - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUHV1j3gwLk |
16 | | Cryptopsy None So Vile
RUH RUH RUH RUH RUH. Riffs. Savage drumming. Yeah. Shit rules.
Best tracks: Benedictine Convulsions - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvoZBB79h58
Phobophile - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbSPRpwZPbs
Lichmistress - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68TmPFFZxsA |
15 | | Rosetta The Galilean Satellites
Even when placed alongside Michael Armine's throat-shredding roars, there's something incredibly mournful about the guitar work on Rosetta's 'The Galilean Satellites' that really creates a fascinating juxtaposition of emotions, culminating in a truly desperate sound. The whole 'one disc post-metal, other disc ambient, but they can be played together' thing doesn't even come across as all that gimmicky. Fantastic stuff.
Best tracks: Departe/Deneb - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXgiY9eDFl4
Absent/Beta Aquilae - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eGDAQrp7sk
Au Pays Natal/Sol - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftHiF4fIDfQ |
14 | | Supercell Today is a Beautiful Day
'Today Is A Beautiful Day' seems to revel in taking the listener on an emotional rollercoaster of sorts - up, down, up, down, all seemingly at the whim of Ryo and his band of versatile Japanese troubadours. It's Yanagi Nagi who truly steals the show here though, with a truly impeccable vocal performance that can switch between fun and carefree (see Love & Roll) to bittersweet (Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari).
Best tracks: Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLPs_w-FepA
Love & Roll - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiiPwZR1trs
Utakata Hanabi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS91FpbGuF8 |
13 | | Karnivool Sound Awake
The first album I remember thinking was 100% totally perfect. While I'm not quite as hyperbolic about Sound Awake nowadays, I still feel it is a ridiculously good album. Ian Kenny's vocals are absolutely majestic, and the usage of bass - especially in Simple Boy and Umbra - is simply fantastic. Is ageing very well for me.
Best tracks: Simple Boy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjvtx3HMUks
Umbra - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA05U0_S2y8
Deadman - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbLEYQo98t0 |
12 | | BUCK-TICK Yume Miru Uchuu
The bookends of Yume Miru Uchuu highlight perfectly what makes Buck-Tick's 18th LP such a fantastic listen. Opener 'Elise no Tame ni' makes a statement with a boisterous, infectious hook right off the bat and an equally catchy chorus, while 'Yume Miru Uchuu' at the other end of the album utilises their innate capacity to sound huge to absolutely breathtaking effect. What these two highlight (and indeed the rest of the album) is how Buck-Tick refuse to make the same song twice on Yume Miru Uchuu, yet nearly every one is an absolute joy to listen to, through being fun, beautiful, or even a little bit pervy. If Ningyo isn't the most fun song ever I don't know what is.
Best tracks: Ningyo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yndf2Ym9pHM
Kinji Rareta Asobi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-KdT-0zl9c
Yume Miru uchuu - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B2nYjhpbAw |
11 | | Gackt MARS
Absolutely flooded with compositional nuances in every section, MARS is particularly notable for how perfectly created it seems to have been. Listen once just for the bass, and you'll have a blast. Do so again for the strings, then for the guitars, then for the synths... and that's not even counting Gackt's fantastic vocal performance. Indulgent it almost certainly is, but it's still totally brilliant.
Best tracks: U+K - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYN7QRNtxdc
Freesia ~op.1~ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hp3wnSDOk0
Mirror - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRnaxrnwWqE |
10 | | Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds Murder Ballads
Murder Ballads appeals to my morbid sense of humour. Nick Cave's distinctive croon is the perfect vehicle for stories of mass murder and revenge killings; only this album could get away with a musically repetitive 14 minute romp about shooting up everyone in a bar. It's absolute best feature though is how it mixes the blackest of humour with some genuinely affecting tales - Song of Joy is legitimately creepy, and The Kindness of Strangers brings out the horror of the songs events in a mature, respectful manner.
Best tracks: Song of Joy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENnmG3B3tvI
Curse of Millhaven - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvnkTUbssbI
O'Malley's Bar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTSpvCV34Ok |
9 | | Yanagi Nagi Euaru
'Euaru' just makes me really, really happy. Following her collaboration with Supercell and then working with Jun Maeda gave Yanagi Nagi some extra funds and materials to work with, and it shows. An eclectic mixture of J-Pop, downtempo, rock, metal and jazz, her voice seems to work with everything equally well. Euaru is an album I can listen to if I want something familiar and cosy, but it warrants closer listening just as easily.
Best tracks: Ao No Parade - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9J70q6f1pE
Concent - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqXlQoXVrHk
Laterality - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbvBCxMvQms |
8 | | Pulp Different Class
I think I mentioned how much I liked Jarvis Cocker's voice, didn't I? My parents used to play this in the car when we went on holiday so this kinda holds a special place for me because of that, but this is definitely the best album from the Britpop era. Funny yet bitter, it's possibly to be greatly amused by this, yet simply by taking a different perspective becoming somewhat morose.
Best tracks: I Spy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mimLpZCO5k8
Monday Morning - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWheWmDbd6s
Bar Italia - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=773fnQDq60I |
7 | | Ulcerate Everything Is Fire
N.B. - Anything from this point upwards could feasibly have been number one.
The Kiwis' masterpiece, Everything Is Fire is basically all I could want from a death metal record, and quite a bit more. Monstrously heavy riffs and crushing atmosphere is one thing, but Jamie Saint-Merat's ridiculous drumming ability and the excellent way that Paul Kelland and Michael Hoggard intertwine their guitar and basswork truly puts this on a whole other plane.
Best tracks: We Are Nil - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgFY3wkNbYI
Withered and Obsolete - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnBBRx4YGVo
Everything Is Fire - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk2MZptsmdk |
6 | | The Cure Disintegration
As soon as the synths break out in opener 'Plainsong', Disintegration grabs me like very few other albums do. Where the first half offers up at least something remotely resembling light, from 'The Same Deep Water As You' onwards, this is pure synthy bleakness. With the exception of the slightly less good 'Love Song' (which is still excellent), it's hard to find flaw with a single second of this.
Best tracks: Plainsong - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSaNXpD49Qw
The Same Deep Water As You - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA-RUfE1MOg
Disintegration - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Prpk5KKfBA |
5 | | BUCK-TICK Kurutta Taiyou
A surging rock album, 'Kurutta Taiyou' is what happens when you take post-punk, J-rock, a smidge of goth and severe sleep deprivation and decide to make gold from it. It's not an instant love - Speed and Sakura stood out early on for me - but it all starts to come together gloriously. Catchy choruses and excellent guitar lines are found everywhere. For me, this album is the embodiment of 3 a.m. bursts of manic energy, where nothing is quite level, but everything seems so right.
Best tracks: Machine
Angelfish - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06rVwSH0rWQ
Sakura - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7__ZsHBJNo
Can't find a decent Machine, so Jupiter is a damn fine track too - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BvTBUGGyDU |
4 | | Fall of Efrafa Inle
I wrote a review on this which basically puts my love for this album in much better perspective, so I will refer you to that instead of writing another monolith, but yeah - the perfect end to a stunning trilogy.
Best tracks: Fu Inle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2o0J8VHYfk
Republic of Heaven - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p1ffhSTeBo
The Warren of Snares - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18AiWl0zjZQ |
3 | | BUCK-TICK 13-kai wa Gekkou
Loosely based on Stravinsky's ballet 'Petrushka' (allegedly... I haven't seen it), Buck-Tick's '13kai wa Gekkou' is a fantastic mixture of theatre and music. Some of the most impeccably performed J-rock is interspersed with genuinely creepy atmosphere, and it's well worth looking up the lyrics to this as some of the imagery (particularly in Passion) is amazing. The live performance of this, 13th Floor with Diana, is the very final piece in a truly special jigsaw.
Best tracks: Ijin no Yoru - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8HY5L1P6_w
Passion - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esht4GgoV6Y
Romance -incubo- - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR2XtoRz9hE |
2 | | Cult of Luna Somewhere Along the Highway
This album took ages for it to finally click with me. It was never an album I disliked (I wouldn't have listened to it enough if I did hate it), but I thought segments meandered, opportunities were wasted and the vocals were, frankly, a bit dull. However, this past 18 months, I've started to appreciate it as a compositional masterpiece. Through not listening closely enough, I missed the gorgeous layering, the hugely important drumming... 'Back to Chapel Town''s bassline. 'Dark City, Dead Town' is arguably one of the best things put to record.
Best tracks: Finland - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDtTI9ryibc
Back to Chapel Town - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGVizr0-WqU
Dark City, Dead Man - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvcdxObKQ6o |
1 | | Giant Squid The Ichthyologist
Giant Squid's tale of a man losing his humanity to the sea is, quite frankly, an incredible work of art. Sitting loosely within the post-metal bracket, I suspect that's because trying to figure out where to actually put it would be far too much ballache. Aaron Gregory's hoarse musings and manic episodes are absolutely captivating, especially when used as a counterpoint to Jackie Perez Gratz's jazzy vocals. The variety, power and excellent instrumentation here means I still get excited about listening to this 5 years after my first time. If I had one desert island album, it'd be this.
Best tracks: Sevengill - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mst4S-0nv3I
Dead Man Slough - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwM1zXEgeA4
Rubicon Wall - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gn68oPCLv0 |
|