I don't like the new Therion that much either (and I'm a guy who likes Rhapsody of Fire AND Judas Priest's Nostradamus), but your larger point about bands like this getting written out of metal history by critics is very important. Something similar goes on in jazz, and I talked about it in this month's Ugly Beauty column after reading a whole book on 1970s jazz that dealt almost exclusively with the avant-garde figures from that era, totally ignoring the groups that actually sold records (back when jazz records occasionally sold). I guess if your band is doing really well, it's easy to shrug off a lack of critical appreciation, but it does tend to screw with history.
I like the new Tribulation a lot. I saw them open for Cannibal Corpse and Behemoth, and they were great. I don't like the dude's vocals at all, but the music is glorious. The new Agrimonia is also really, really good - a mix of Swedish death metal and goth that makes 12-minute songs work somehow? In non-metal news, the second Marmozets album comes out today, too, and it rules. They used to be screamy math-rock, and they're still sort of that, but they write ballads every once in a while now, too.
I'm actually gonna be talking about that album next month, I think, because as of now it's not streaming anywhere, and the only place you can buy it is on iTunes or through their own webstore - it's not even available on Amazon.
Wormed and Obituary. (The Obituary album that came out this year was totally crushing, and Wormed have one of the most amazing vocalists either of us has ever heard.)
Yeah, I like basically all of those. I didn't consider the Graves album, for the record, because an earlier, shorter, self-released version (it had only four long tracks) came out in 2016. I heard that one - interviewed him at the time, too - but then when Motema picked it up for release in 2017, I'd kinda moved past it, I guess. I heard that band really blew people away at this year's Detroit Jazz Festival, though.
I'm not familiar with it, but am gonna check it out on Spotify. I'll offer you a recommendation in return: South African pianist/bandleader Nduduzo Makhathini's Ikhambi, which came out in late September (but I just heard it this week). Really good stuff in the vein of Pharoah Sanders/non-devotional Alice Coltrane, with occasional vocals.
Thanks to everyone who's been reading Ugly Beauty all year. There will be a December column, and I'm looking forward to 2018. Already got the GoGo Penguin album arglebargle and Rentaballoon mentioned, and Walter Smith III (saxophonist on Ambrose Akinmusire's albums) has a new one coming, too.
I'd never (consciously) heard him before that McLaughlin show. (I'm POSITIVE I'd heard him before that without knowing it, because I used to edit Metal Edge magazine, which shared office space with Relix, and there was definitely some Widespread Panic coming out of the office stereo, though I wouldn't have recognized it at the time.)
I talk about the ECM news a little bit in this month's Ugly Beauty column - what's great about it is that it's ECM's WHOLE catalog, so you get all the weird shit they put out in the '70s in addition to all the chill(y) Nordic stuff people seem to know them for. I swear, having that stuff is worth my $10 monthly subscription fee all by itself.
Ghostemane sounds a lot like Death Grips to me. It's not bad. I appreciate that all the songs are two minutes long, 'cause that seems to be right about where I start thinking I've had enough.
There's a relatively famous quote from a critic, which I'm garbling, that rock wasn't best from '64-'69 or whatever set of arbitrary calendar years you pick: rock is best from 12-17.
I've never been a huge Mercyful Fate/King Diamond fan - I could appreciate what they were about, without ever feeling the need to get neck-deep in it - but man, that Attic song is amazing and has me thinking I need to dive into the King's '80s catalog and see what I've missed.
Honestly, because I didn't get the album until this morning (I pre-ordered it on Bandcamp). But Stereogum streamed it in full a couple of days ago. (It's great, of course, and people should absolutely buy it.)
The album in question is called Radio Flyer, and here's a sample track:
https://soundcloud.com/highnote-savant-records/radio-flyer-jd-allen-from-radio-flyer-savant-records-scd-2162
Bought this (along with "Lore" and the two-song "Spires Burn/Release" EP) on Bandcamp today. Definitely excited to check them out. Also out today: the new album by saxophonist JD Allen - it's his regular trio (Gregg August on bass, Rudy Royston on drums) plus guitarist Liberty Ellman, who works with Henry Threadgill a lot. Some of it sounds remarkably like late 70s/early 80s Ornette Coleman.
I agree. When I'm listening to a group of guys in their 20s, I would MUCH rather hear them playing songs they wrote than hear them wax-museuming through a version of "Autumn Leaves" or something.
Yeah, the new song is really good and the video is terrific. I'm waiting for the full EP to appear and will have something to say at that point, for sure.
Agree - the '70s Arista albums are amazing, particularly New York Fall 1974, Five Compositions 1975, and The Montreux/Berlin Concerts. All of his Arista albums were reissued a few years ago as a box set by Mosaic Records, but that's out of print now, too. Worth picking up if you can find one, though.
It took a long time for Berne to click with me. What ultimately did it was his Science Friction band - they have one studio album and a 2CD live set, all of which has since been combined into a 3CD set. Marc Ducret on guitar, Craig Taborn on Fender Rhodes, laptop, and organ, and Tom Rainey on drums.
You got me - I downloaded that Délétère album, and I HATE 99% of black metal. (It was the mention of "submerged organ" that convinced me it was worth a listen.)
I like his playing with Billy Cobham (as mentioned by best fwends), and he was great in Miles Davis's '80s bands. Beyond that, I'm not that much of a fan, particularly not of his funk/jam-band stuff. I will also admit my description above is a little unfair - it makes the new record sound like some boring-ass Bill Frisell shit, which it ain't. But my broader point stands, I think.
I have it, but haven't had time to check it out yet. (Man, do I wish the Clean Feed label would release 1 or 2 titles a month, instead of batches of 8 titles at once 3 or 4 times a year - it would be much less overwhelming.)
I haven't heard it yet, but I liked the one before this. I'm actually more interested in this one than many of their other albums, because it's broken up for LP sides - I don't have time for hour-long tracks very often.
That Ominous Circle album is really, really good. (As is the new Immolation.) Also, just want to mention that Black Army Jacket's 222 (their only album) and Closed Casket (a collection of 50 tracks from splits, compilations, etc.) are being reissued - digital only, no physical versions - later this month, so if you need some old-school pissed-off grind, keep an eye out.
I didn't mention this in the blurb, but the last track on the album is an Afrobeat reworking of the same song (pianist switches to organ, bassist goes electric) that's killer. I stumbled on her album basically out of nowhere last week and just loved it.
Metheny's really good on Cuong Vu's album on Nonesuch this year, too. Also, Logan Richardson has a trio called Dunstan, with two Finnish musicians, Antti Lötjönen and Teppo Mäkynen, on bass and drums. I think all they have out is a limited edition 10", of all things, but who knows, maybe they'll make an album.
I suspect the response was a lot more muted than it would be today, just because albums like How Will I Laugh Tomorrow... came out pre-Internet, when haters' only recourse was, like, writing an angry letter to Flipside. My personal belief is that Muir (and Henry Rollins) were major, if too rarely acknowledged, catalysts for making it OK for heavy music dudes to talk about their feelings.
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