Metal Bands-you-might-have-missed-camp 2017

By Calen Henry. Things you might have missed. I'll be honest, I only checked out Dumblegore because of the band name, among the best of 2017. It turns out, though, that they totally rule, though they don't sing about Harry Potter.

By Calen Henry.

Things you might have missed.


I'll be honest, I only checked out Dumblegore because of the band name, among the best of 2017. It turns out, though, that they totally rule, though they don't sing about Harry Potter.

Dumblegore play "Spooky Metal" the stuff drenched in B-movie horror tropes, but their spin on it is unique. They marry fuzzed out stoner doom, spooky organ, and a kind of "laid-back Mantar" vocal approach with punk rock attitude (and often song structure). It's a little bit black metal, a little bit stoner rock, a little bit punk and a whole lot of fun. The master is decent too, a respectable DR 8.

Come for the silly name stay 'cause they rock.

Vaivatar are Finnish. That seems to be the only information available about the band which is always a great sign!

They play a strange mix of symphonic but raw black metal. It's extremely busy, but extremely melodic with very inorganic sounding synths. It gives them a sound like Havukruunu meets Master Boot Record by way of Castlevania. The guitar distortion and the synths are eerily similar so it can be hard to tell which is which adding another outré layer to the music

It's epic, but mysterious, dense but soaring, and Pay What You want, also a nice master at DR 8.

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Cover art by Bring.

I LOVE Angel Sword but feel like I'm mostly alone in my love of their mix of Motorhead vocals and sloppy Iron Maiden instrumentals, but I don't care. They rule! Their 2016 release Rebels Beyond the Pale is still in heavy rotation for me, and though this is only an EP more Angel Sword is more Angel Sword.

I initially checked them out because of their so bad it's amazing album covers, and wrote them off as inept traditional metal due to some odd chord structures and vocals but I was missing out. Underneath the intentional roughness of their presentation are fantastic songs. They keep it classic; nothing is lighting speed, lots of the songs are in major keys, and many are even about heavy metal. But it's all so well done, just sloppy enough to seem totally genuine but get across the wicked riffs, choruses, and gang vocals.

Things I missed, but apparently no one else did.

Cover art by Paolo Girardi.

2013's Manifest Decimation didn't click with me so I glossed over Nightmare Logic until it was all over year end lists, metal and otherwise. Boy, was I missing out. Power Trip play reverb drenched throwback thrash with pop sensibilities. Every riff and every chorus is so catchy. It's one of 2017's most fun and most relevant releases. While a lot of metal concerns itself with how everything is terrible, Power Trip implore us to get out and do something about it. Thankfully since the album's release many have!

Unfortunately the album's production, reverb drenched though it is, isn't a total throwback. It's mastered incredibly loudly and clips almost as hard as it rips. Musically, though, it's a total win.

Track o' the Year


Not metal, but The Deep is the best single track of the year. Commissioned for the podcast This American Life, it's an homage to Detroit electronic artist Drexciya, extending their mythos wherein the children of pregnant African women thrown overboard from slave ships were born and adapted to life underwater.

It's a microcosm of what made Splendor & Misery so compelling; fascinating concept, exquisite execution, and great production. The production matches the watery theme with beats and accents that sound "bubbly"

In The Deep the water-dwellers go from peaceful existence to climate change worry to full-on war with the "two-legs" from the surface. The track is divided into movements as the situation escalates. It starts of slow and laid back but each revelation towards confrontation and eradication of the two-legs increases the pace of the music and lyrics and adds more layers to the beat.

Though I love Splendor & Misery, it was criticized by some for its lack of immediacy, essentially required a full listen through to properly experience it. The Deep is the answer to that. Five minutes for one of the best, and most immediate "concept albums" of 2017

clipping. - Splendor & Misery

By Calen Henry. Last year one of the records I listened to most was a sprawling, experimental, science fiction concept album, but it wasn't Terminal Redux. It was clipping.'s Splendor & Misery.

By Calen Henry.


Last year one of the records I listened to most was a sprawling, experimental, science fiction concept album, but it wasn't Terminal Redux. It was clipping.'s Splendor & Misery.

clipping. don't make metal but they are metal. Check out their playlist, "Some metal from 2016". Their Sci-fi cred too is beyond reproach. Splendor & Misery is up for a Hugo award; the first album since 1971 to be nominated.

clipping. are a deconstructionist hip-hop group. Using a backdrop of noise and power electronics they create rap songs both in opposition to and reverential of mainstream hip-hop. Splendor & Misery is where, for me, everything clipping. does comes together perfectly. The noise backdrop, the story, and the varied vocal approaches work beautifully to create a truly compelling concept album in which I keep discovering new details even a year after its release.

In a mere 37 minutes Splendor & Misery tells the story of the sole survivor of an intergalactic slave ship rebellion, the ships's computer that falls in love with him, his rise to intergalactic outlaw, his fight against space and time as the computer abandons him and ultimately his embrace of hope and trip to a "better place". The story itself is interspersed with vignettes that flesh out the world. The story is told through every aspect of the music, building up a fractured narrative that demands attention but proportionally rewards it.

The noise soundscapes, the backdrop for the story, layer Vangelis inspired synths with industrial pounding and all manner of static creating exactly the right mix of oppression, urgency, awe, and desperation to communicate Cargo #2331's plight. Each track sounds like a hulking empty spacecraft hurtling through space but different sounds are layered to create different moods within that spectrum before the lyrics even hit.

Daveed Diggs lyrics and vocals give a huge emotional range to the story. Depending on the voice, whether Cargo #2331, the ship's computer, or story vignettes the cadence and delivery changes as does the post processing applied. Rounding out the story are the excellent gospel vocals from Take 6. The caveat to all this is the album really only works as an album and demands attention to really unpack. It's certainly not light summer listening, but it is essential listening for those at all interested in sci-fi, concept albums, or any kind of experimental music.

From the Graveyard Shift - Hip-hop for Metal Fans

By Professor D. Grover the XIIIth. Greetings and salutations, friends. It is I, your most humble Professor, returned from the sleepless land inhabited by those so blessed (or cursed, depending on where you stand) to have a newborn child while also working the graveyard shift. I was given a special task, one that may seem at odds with the very mission of this particular blog

By Professor D. Grover the XIIIth.

Greetings and salutations, friends. It is I, your most humble Professor, returned from the sleepless land inhabited by those so blessed (or cursed, depending on where you stand) to have a newborn child while also working the graveyard shift. I was given a special task, one that may seem at odds with the very mission of this particular blog, but bear with me. You see, I have been enlisted to provide to you, fans of metal music, with a handful of hip-hop artists that might appeal to your sensibilities, a goal I hope I will have achieved by the end of this missive. Let us begin.


[Note: This article originally started with a look at Death Grips' classic mixtape Exmilitary. It is no longer available on Bandcamp, so we go straight to the second artist]

It’s hard to mention Death Grips and not mention clipping., as both groups have a basis in noise and feature distinctive frontmen. However, the difference between the two groups couldn’t be more pronounced. Where Death Grips are the hip-hop equivalent of a brick to the head thanks to MC Ride’s blunt style, clipping. are more of a surgical scalpel to the throat thanks to Daveed Diggs’ razor-quick flow and street life lyrics. (If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Diggs won a Tony over the summer for his role in the smash-hit musical Hamilton.) Musically, clipping. are as experimental as Death Grips, but take their experimentations in a different direction, from the straight harsh noise of Midcity to the more varied, industrial CLPPNG. The group has released the brilliant Wriggle EP already this year and are following it up with the dystopian sci-fi concept album Splendor & Misery, which was released Sept. 9 and is an utterly brilliant new direction for the trio.

This was a difficult choice, because I very nearly went with the entirety of Minneapolis’ Doomtree rap crew, rather than settling on a single member. The five rappers and two beatmakers that comprise the group have released several collaborative albums, and although each member brings something different to the table, they work incredibly well as a single unit. However, I felt the need to focus on a single member of the group, and ultimately the choice came down to P.O.S or Dessa, and P.O.S won by the barest margin, in large part due to the influence of his punk background, something that bleeds through into his music. His wry sense of humor and nimble delivery suit his anarchic, intelligent lyrics perfectly, allowing him to match up with a number of different musical styles.

First, a confession: this slot was originally going to be occupied by El-P (whom you may best know as half of Run The Jewels), but unfortunately, his solo work isn’t on Bandcamp aside from a few demos and b-sides, so I had to find another pick. Fortunately, there’s a ton of great rappers out there, and so finding a replacement was simple. Tonedeff was a logical choice due to his versatility, as the man raps, sings, produces, and makes his own beats. His most recent release, Polymer, is the culmination of several years of work spanning three EPs, each of which represent a different aspect of his style. These three EPs are joined by a fourth set of tracks to create a full album showcasing his many talents. And then there’s perhaps the most distinctive element to Tonedeff’s style, the sheer speed and smoothness of his flow, which reaches some dizzying heights (see "Crispy", which sees him hitting 14 syllables per second while still maintaining recognizable lyrics).

Cover art by Alex Pardee

I conclude with my favorite rapper of all time, the incomparable Aesop Rock. Aes possesses a highly distinctive voice that pairs with the most verbose, adventurous sense of lyricism that hip-hop has ever seen to create something wholly unique. To put it quite simply, there is no one like him in all of music, and if you can find it within you to pierce the massive wall of words that the man throws at you on every track, you will find something truly special. There are few rappers who can even keep pace with him (most notable is Rob Sonic, Aes’ collaborator on the Hail Mary Mallon albums and one of the few artists out there who can nearly match him phrase for phrase while bringing a similar gift for lyrical non-sequiturs), and any track that features him as a guest is immediately elevated. His most recent album, 2016’s The Impossible Kid, is his most personal and intensely emotional album, laying out his life like only Aesop can. It is at this point in the year my favorite album of 2016, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

Other artists of note that are worth checking out:
Busdriver
MC Frontalot
Dessa
Astronautalis
Sage Francis
Del The Funky Homosapien
Jesse Dangerously
Watsky
Rob Sonic
Prof
More Or Les
Open Mike Eagle