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Leading up to the end of the year, Revolver has asked some of our favorite artists to pick their Top Albums of 2012 and tell us why each record rules. Here, Cristiano Trionfera (pictured left), guitarist of the symphonic death-metal band Fleshgod Apocalypse, selects his faves.
5. Aborted, Global Flatline
“This is a powerful album and it goes back to what Aborted sounded like some records before. Love it.”
4. Testament, Dark Roots of Earth
“They made it again. It is amazing how you have the chance to listen to Testament new stuff and enjoy it as much as the great old ones. They will always stay among the big ones and this album still sounds fresh.”
3. Enslaved, RIITIIR
“Love the way they create their atmosphere. I enjoyed their previous album very much and so I do for this one.”
2. Cannibal Corpse, Torture
“Cannibal Corpse are one of those bands you could never get bored with. The point is, they write pretty much always the same music and it is always awesome.”
1. Moonspell, Alpha Noir/Omega White
“It has taken a few Moonspell albums to make my attention go back on them. This is a great album, and they are really good live, which adds a lot nowadays to the process of enjoying the music.”
Leading up to the end of the year, Revolver has asked some of our favorite artists to pick their Top Albums of 2012 and tell us why each record rules. Here, Cam Pipes (pictured left), vocalist of the power-metal band 3 Inches of Blood, selects his faves.
5. Overkill, The Electric Age
“Even after 20 or so albums, these veterans can still deliver a thrash album that puts a majority of the young buck thrash revival bands to shame. We just did a tour with them in Europe and they are not slowing down.”
4. Bison b.c., Lovelessness
“Bison b.c. stand out from the pack of all the sludgy, doomy bands out there. They are growing with each record because there’s some intangible quality that makes their riffs just that much more punishing than their peers.”
3. Accept, Stalingrad
“The last Accept album was, to me, a shockingly good return after such a long hiatus. Stalingrad continues to show why Accept still are an important band in the metal scene. As long as they keep putting out albums, I expect they will all be great.”
2. Goatwhore, Blood for the Master
“Blood for the Master is crushing as all hell. Unrelenting in its delivery. These guys never let up.”
1. Enslaved, RIITIIR
“I’m such a huge fan of this band. Every time Enslaved release a new record it makes the top of my list for the year. They’re one of the few band I expect to put out a fantastic album every time and they never let me down.”
All Photos: Stephanie Cabral
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Since the entire extreme metal sub-genre is typically overlooked, I’ve decided to list five pivotal bands that have shaped the sound, lyrics and aesthetics of extreme metal from the early 80s to present-day. So I humbly present to you my picks for the most important architects of metal’s darkest, most iconoclastic sub-genre:
Bathory: Bathory’s self-titled debut record marked the true birth of the black metal sub-genre, transforming black metal from the tongue-in-cheek occult posturing of Venom into a sober, artistic pursuit. Lo-fi production values, epic Viking lore, eerie atmospheric passages – Bathory’s enigmatic founding member Quorthon (RIP) almost singlehandedly forged a template that would inspire legions of Scandinavian black metal bands.
Possessed: Ratcheting up metal’s evil quotient with ultra-low guttural vocals, songs about ritual sacrifice and images of giant flaming upside-down crosses and blood-splattered human skulls, Possessed made their 80s Bay Area thrash metal counterparts look like half-assed part-timers. Not to mention that the final track on their seminal debut Seven Churches, “Death Metal,” would coin an entire sub-genre to be.
Carcass: Featuring over-the-top song titles like Genital Grinder, Cadaveric Incubator of Endoparasites, Crepitating Bowel Erosion – Liverpool’s Carcass introduced a brand of extreme metal was at once absurd and clinically precise, and sent most 80s extreme metalheads to their local medical libraries to find out exactly what the hell “crepitating” meant. Pioneering so-called “grindcore” along with fellow Brits Napalm Death and Bolt Thrower, Carcass’ sound was brutally raw, impossibly fast and indeed grinding.
Death: Death leader Chuck Shuldiner (RIP) was the Bach of extreme metal. Eschewing the primitive for the progressive, Chuck and Co. took the brutality of Bathory, Posssessed, Autopsy etc. and added complexity, virtuosity and lyrical depth, proving that extreme can also be elegant. And with album titles like Spiritual Healing and Human, death metal was now about more than decapitation and limb dismemberment: it was a social commentary.
Enslaved: Who said extreme metal couldn’t be spiritual? Hailing from the fjords of Norway’s rugged westcoast, Bergen’s Enslaved began their career amidst the pack of Norwegian black metal bands that exploded in the early 90s. But by decade’s end they had matured into an eccentric blend of black-meets-prog-meets-folk metal, with lead growler/bassist Grutle Kjellson recounting Norse mythology in long-extinct dialects. Recent albums Ruun and Axioma Ethica Odini demonstrate that extreme metal can be a vehicle for both savage aggression and oral history, suggesting a brave future for metal’s most transgressive sub-genre.
Want to see a special “lost” episode of the Metal Evolution series dedicated to nothing but extreme metal? Check out www.indiegogo.com/extrememetal to see what killer perks you can get for helping make it a reality!
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Every Tuesday–the day that new music comes out–we will be listing the hard-rock and metal releases that hit stores, and every Wednesday we will be offering you, the fans, the chance to pick the Album of the Week. Below, check out the albums, EPs, singles, and DVDs that came out this week; pick your favorite, and feel free to vote as many times as you want. Voting ends on Monday, October 8, at noon, when the results will be announced.
UPDATE: The poll is closed. Thanks for your vote. To view the results, click here.
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It’s Tuesday–the day that music comes out–and this one sees shit from Papa Roach, Enslaved, The Amity Affliction, Sybreed, AxeWound (the supergroup featuring members of Bullet for My Valentine and Cancer Bats), and more hitting stores. Check out the list of releases below and let us know which ones you have already or are planning to pick up.
- Acaro – The Disease Of Fire
- The Amity Affliction – Chasing Ghosts
- AxeWound – Vultures
- Bone Dance – Bone Dance
- Deserted Fear – My Empire
- Enslaved – Riitiir
- Glamour of the Kill – The Summoning
- Helstar – 30 Years Of Hel
- Holy Knights – Between Daylight and Pain
- Jodis – Black Curtain
- Menace Ruine – Alight In Ashes
- Muse – The 2nd Law
- Obsession – Order of Chaos
- Papa Roach – The Connection
- Sabbath Assembly – Ye Are Gods
- Savage Annihilation – Cannibalisme, hérésie et autres sauvageries
- Sybreed – God Is An Automaton
- Three Days of Grace – Transit of Venus
Swedish metallers Ghost have announced plans for their first-ever North American tour to take place this fall. The mysterious band have risen to prominence since the release of their debut full-length Opus Eponymous late last year. Supported by Enslaved and Alcest, the three-week tour kicks off on September 23. Full dates below:
09/23 Springfield, VA. Jaxx
09/24 Pittsburgh, PA, Mr. Small’s Theatre
09/25 New York, NY, Gramercy Theatre
09/26 Boston, MA, Middle East
09/28 Quebec City, QC, Imperial de Quebec
09/29 Montreal, QC, Café Campus
09/30 Toronto, ON, Opera House
10/01 Columbus, OH, Outland Live
10/02 Chicago, IL, The Bottom Lounge
10/03 St. Paul, MN, Station 4
10/05 Winnipeg, MB, West End Cultural Centre
10/06 Regina, SK, The Exchange
10/07 Edmonton, AB, The Starlite Room
10/08 Calgary, AB, Dickens Pub
10/10 Vancouver, BC, Rickshaw Theatre
10/11 Seattle, WA, El Corazon
10/12 Portland, OR, Hawthorne Theatre
10/13 San Francisco, CA, Slim’s
10/14 Hollywood, CA, The Troubadour
Check out the title track from March of the Norse below: