Year End Blah 2011 (Solicited & Unsolicited lists)
December 21 2011 at 09:43:14 PM  Putrid
1. DISMA - Towards the Megalith, The Manifestation and their split with Winterwolf. I absolutely cannot tear myself away from these releases. It's borderline psychotic how much I love this band. I'm even thinking about pulling a John Lennon on mastermind Daryl Kahan (Whoa! Just kidding dude!!). Maximum audio devastation is the beast known as Disma and I really hope this Death Metal Juggernaut keeps crushing skulls. 2. CIANIDE- Gods of Death. Never has there been a more appropriate title to a record than this, cause Cianide is exactly that, the fuckin’ GODS OF DEATH METAL. All other bands that claim to play this form of music should build temples to these evil deities. This album is.....well, GODLY!!!!!!! 3. UNDERGANG- Indhentet Af Doden (2011), "T.D.O.S."(Demo), Havntorst (this is a slightly incorrect title as the original is in Danish and I don't know how to get the appropriate Danish characters. This is a single by the way) Anyways, the 2 latter releases were '11 so I'm counting the entire discography from them. Anyways, this is some incredibly fuckin’ dense, thick as molasses Death Metal from Denmark. I think Rottrevore, Autopsy, Winter, Crematory, Pungent Stench and Mortician would be good comparisons. Not only does the music make you want to crawl "into the grave" but guitarist and vokiller Torturdods’ accompanying artwork is a splatter geeks wetdream! Totally foul, dripping and nauseating, it solidifies Undergang as the entire fuckin package of brutal death!! I drench Undergang in waves of gore support! 4. Raise a callused hand if you have tugged it anywhere from 1 to a thousand times to RACHEL STARR!!! Good god in hell is this woman fantastic. I'm a die-hard boob man (she's got this area covered as well) but all that goes out the window when she starts the motor up on that ass, it's like whoa... 5. MYSTICAL MUSIC 'zine #16- The obsessive Germanic Death Metal maniac Ralf Hauber has once again executed another printed slab of morbid death perfection. The line up is pretty insane here with Autopsy, Morgoth, Blaspherian, Gravehill, Necros Christos, Weapon, Bastard Priest, Disma, Lockup, Brutality, Repuked, Detest Records and a shitload more!! It also comes with a fold out poster of Asphyx and Autopsy and a CDR sampler packed to the gills with all kinds of deranged tunes. Inject this 'zine into you veins, a must have. Period. 6. RITES OF DARKNESS III - What a great fuckin weekend!!!! All the bullshit aside and, to be honest, I really wasn't overly upset with some of the cancellations as I'm not the biggest Black Metal fan (Mortuary Drape though would have been excellent however). Everyone was extremely cool and I got to crush thousands of beers with some of my favorite bands such as Anatomia, those dude's are great and what a set they played. UGH! It was deathly bliss...Some of the highlights were of corpse Cianide, Midnight, Grave Upheaval, Anatomia, Black Witchery, Ares Kingdom, Demigod (Slumber Of Sullen Eyes in its entirety was insanely HEAVY!), Inquisition, Ignivomous (“World Eater” cover came outta the blue and was the PERFECT ender), I could keep going with this as all the bands played their fuckin’ hearts and black souls out so a mountain of respect to all the bands that made that weekend unforgettable. 7. THE WEIRD WORLD OF EERIE PUBLICATIONS - This book leveled me with inspiration and was the straw (anvil) that broke the camel’s back in getting me to finally start up my fanzine Organ. A six year labor of love delving into history's most reviled and tasteless comic horrors: the Eerie Publications (Tales Of Voodoo, Terror Tales, Witches Tales, Weird, Tales From The Tomb and even a one off Tales From The Crypt rip off haha!). Mike Howlett scoured the earth for every man, woman and child that had a part in this gory saga and it really is a monumental amount of information and imagery. If you're a horror comic fan this book should be your fuckin’ bible, I wish this came in pocket size so I could carry it around with me everywhere I went. (Goddamn it to hell I thought this was for sure at the very beginning of '11 but then I found out it was '10, this year shit can be hard sometimes...Oh well I'm counting it anyways dammit). 8. I really wish I could talk about some killer Horror films that came out in 2011 but to be honest I really have not seen jack shit that has impressed me unfortunately. I watched the splatter/goofball anthology Chillerama and though I was entertained through most of it, as a whole it sucked. I'm no homophobe but the gay/werebeast musical was fuckin nauseating, mostly because I cannot stand musicals of any kind (the one exception being Cannibal The Musical but that's it!) Fuck new horror though when you have company's like CODE RED releasing killershit like Mardi Gra Massacre, Rituals, Nightmares In A Damaged Brain and Cut Throats Nine. Get these titles and flip the bird to the remakes! 9. METALLION: THE SLAYER MAG DIARIES - The War And Peace of metal zines!!! 10. Lastly, I think I came pretty darn close to my goal of drinking 2,011 beers in 2011, hooray!! 2012 is gonna fuckin’ RULE. [Putrid is the alias of a Chicago-based artist, titty-muncher and VHS mutant. Visit him online at PutridGore.com]
Photo by: Steven Karl Metzer
Mark Shelton
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality Deep Purple - Fireball & In Rock Opeth - Black Water Park the new album (that I don't remember the name of) by Protest the Hero Grip Inc. - Nemesis Candlemass - Death, Magic, Doom King Crimson - In The Court of the Crimson King & Red Rush - Caress of Steel Slayer - God Hates Us All Voivod - Killing Technology Pink Floyd - Meddle Hawkwind - Sonic Attack [Mark Shelton is the founder and riff master for epic Metal heroes Manilla Road]
Dave "Slimer" Slimer Ride For Revenge -- Under The Eye
Morbus Chron -- Sleepers In The Rift
Disma -- Towards The Megalith Thantifaxath -- S/T Demotape Negative Plane -- Stained Glass Revelations Low Threat Profile -- S/T LP (I foolishly didn't get ahold of this til' 2011). Black Sabbath -- Born Again (2011 was an especially good year for this classic) The Hells Headbangers "Death Metal Calvin pissing on the cross" t-shirts. That blew my mind. Metallica 30th Anniversary shows/press releases/associated media (Continually morbidly fascinating, straight through 2011) The apparent demise of 5th rate Dorito-thrash Finding the Upper Echelon 12" for $8.95 [Dave Slimer co-publishes Canada's excellent Chorimium Dioxide Mag, The Arn Anderson of Metal Zines]
 Ian Christe
FIVE BANDS I WOULD HAVE SEEN FOR SURE IN 2011 IF CHUCK SCHULDINER WERE HERE TO CURATE ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES OR ROADBURN: Watchtower King Diamond Toxik Hades Sortilège [Ian Christe is the author of Sound of the Beast: The complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal and the editor/publisher of Bazillion Points Books.]
Scott Waldrop A'll I've been listening to this year is Deaf Dealer, Ramones, Blondie, Sex Pistols, early 90's Death Metal on Youtube when I'm drunk, and I've been fantasizing about Mila Kunis and the chick that plays Pam on True Blood. [Scott Waldrop is the founder and guitarist of Twisted Tower Dire] Tyler
IVES - Abandon cassette (Primal Vomit). Fuck. The first track sounds like the riff in “Plunging to Megadeath” by Hallow’s Eve, but this is more Integrity fueled hate that’s been influenced by Darkthrone than some retro Metal thing. This thing is ferocious in a way that a lot of Metal hasn’t captured lately.
DEATHCHARGE - S/T LP (Unseen Forces). This is a perfect blend of much of the formative soundtrack of my youth - notably early Christian Death, Discharge, Amebix and Antisect. Killing Joke wasn’t on my radar in my teenage years, but one can’t dismiss the influence of their first album on the sound here, too. TEITANBLOOD - Purging Tongues (NOEVDIA). This one-sided 12” makes one realize that it ain’t all about over-doing it. One song is enough to leave you feeling bruised and battered in all the wrong places. VILLAINS- Road to Ruin (NWN). Fuck me if the licks these guys keep on coming up with aren’t tapping some current long since neglected. Vicious and uncompromising the way they’ve always done it, but somehow this thing ups the ante. ALARIC (20 Buck Spin). Not your typical label fare. Yes, it’s from Oakland, but, no, it’s not the sludgy, doomy thing. Instead this one has studied the blueprints of early LA goth/deathrock. The cover art is pretty lack luster, but if you have yearned for some newer, updated music in this style, here you go. This, to my ears, sounds way fresher than all the other goth revival stuff going on. PHAROAH OVERLOAD - Out of Darkness LP and Horn LP (Svart). A total surprise that won me over with their cover art alone and it’s audacity set amidst so much of the “let’s see how dark we can make our cover” type of stuff. The music- catchy, riffy, rocking tunes. The track “No Speed Limit” and the great backing vocals which reminds me of “Endless Blockades” by GISM. “Devastator” is repetitious as fuck. It’s got diversity without losing its sense of self and spontaneity. Likewise their live album, ‘Horn,’ is a totally different beast, but equally as captivating. Whilst the ‘Out of Darkness’ album was covered with lyrics and had an 80s feel to it, this live album is the exact opposite. It’s got enough grit to hold onto, enough rhythm to headbang to, enough repetition (Lalibela might as well be a locked groove for the second half of the song) to fall into- which is probably why people call it stoner rock, although this is far beyond that narrow classification. It feels imperative that I check out their other stuff now. THE DEVIL’S BLOOD - The Thousandfold Epicentre (Van). This many-limbed seduction is doing right by me so far. I totally dug their last one (much to Stew’s chagrin), but I fail to see the excitement of Blue Oyster Cult, so what do I know or have it to judge against? The new TDB is a pretty encapsulating experience. It’s far more expansive than I would have expected. The arrangements and instrumentation and experimentation are all exceptional and push this album to the next realm. It’s succeeded in trumping the previous effort. Admittedly, time has not been made available to delve into the full extent of the album with lyrical accompaniment, but at least one can read the lyrics this time should you choose to truly experience the album in full. That was not an option last go ‘round. ROOT - Heritage of Satan(Agonia) has more of the feel of Black Seal or The Book in composition and lyrical delivery than the forgettable ‘Madness of the Graves” (which is 8 years old now, yikes!)…Never even knew about the full length that happened in ’07… Some other curiosities: AOSOTH – ‘III” (Agonia) which sports my favorite cover for the year, and has a more grueling sound and pace than their earlier efforts. The ‘Variations of Violence’ (SPK) album is ‘III’ minus the vocals. I’m glad someone finally decided to offer the results of such an experiment as sometimes vocals can ground the listener a bit more than desired. This alternate version has a Vierling piece on the cover, so it gets extra points for that. RAM - 7” (High Roller) injects some adrenalin to carry one on ‘til the release of their next full length. “Under the Scythe” is Swedish speed metal with turbo charged vocals. The flip is Fate’s “Evil” done better than the other covers of Fate I’ve heard. DANAVA - Hemisphere of Shadows (Kemado) is where the band finally roped me in. With a love for 70s, well, everything, these guys nailed it with the riffs, the vocals, the production, the cover tune. The cover’s a bit strange and deceptive, but if you appreciate the formative years of hard rock this should appeal. SLOUGH FEG’s The Animal Spirits is a gift that just kept on giving this year and DEATH’s For the Whole World to See finally landed in our hands a year late. [Tyler is an occasional contributor to The Left Hand Path. He lives in Fangorn, Oregon.]
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