I Got One More In Me
Season’s greetings, Toileteers. With list season over, along with the staggering amount of coal in your stocking, I am here to lay upon you a final gathering of dissonant presents for you to unwrap. Thank you all for reading these silly posts throughout this year and I am looking forward to continuing to irritate your ears many more times in the months to come.
Misanthropy – The Ever-Crushing Weight of Stagnance (December 13)
If you have been following my posts this last year, you have likely stumbled upon my general dislike of tech death. There are only so many ways to make blinding speed, sweeps, and exercises in music theory interesting to me over an entire album, let alone a single track. Therefore, it should come as high praise that I am including a technical death metal band on an esteemed Brock Samson disso article. Always shifting between interesting ideas rather than sped up guitar warmup exercises, The Ever-Crushing Weight of Stagnance is both technically impressive while engaging, a true unicorn in these trying times.
Misanthropy craft wonderful metal arrangements that shift between death, prog, and even some funky foot-stomping moments, recalling acts such Revocation or Alkaloid. As soon as the opening track “Of Sulking And The Wrathful” ended, I was sold. Dissonant chords paired with tech death chops and interesting arrangements? Bands just make liking them easy when the product they present is this solid and fun as well. Is tech Brock becoming a thing? Definitely not, but seriously, don’t miss out on this beast.
Owl – Ivory Eye (December 5)
Now back to our regularly scheduled program… or is it? Owlare back with their second EP of this year and they have delivered another spectacle in dissonant metal, but this time pulling back the overall aggression and focusing more on dreamy post-like atmosphere. The first track is more of their brand of overwhelming density and crushing tone, but the last two focus heavily on mood-setting. It so happens that this mood is equally as crushing, just in a more emotional way. Don’t feel like with a pulling back of the non-stop vitirol towards the listener that Ivory Eye is any less heavy.
Track two entitled “Memorial” leans heavily into dreamlike soundscapes paired with morose clean vocals that match the feeling of sinking beneath the weight of everything the world constantly throws at you. The opening melancholic synths and chugging provide the platform for allowing your consciousness to drift through a mental state of longing for something that will never come. This proceeds to shift to an atonal assault to kick you back into reality, only to deftly submerge you in the somber atmosphere yet again. Surely, Owl continue listening for many more spins to come. [hehehehe bird jokes ~Roldy]
Choir – Smithe Thee Smoldering Province (December 17)
And now for my final gift to you, dear reader, but this will not be a happy one. I’ll start off by simply stating this: you think you have heard some uncomfortable and heavy things this year, but you have yet to experience the soul-crushing experience that is Smithe Thee Smoldering Providence. Being previously uninitiated with Choir, I was surprised to learn it is the work of a single figure simply known as The Choir (or Thaian Oliveira) who calls Singapore home. Well, I will be atoning for my previous sins of omission by now yelling the praises of this project because this shit is the definition of heavy.
Cavernous death metal with plenty of doom, noise, and malice that seeps through the speakers. Come prepared or be left beaten by the onslaught. Just imagine an amalgamation of Altarage, Portal, and Defacement and you will only be slightly ready for what is to come. Presented as a two-part album, Smithe Thee Smoldering Providence is described by its mastermind as follows:
Side A symbolically cleanses our post-industrial sins in ocean water, while side B rips at the seams of the ongoing starvation many still endure
This is an experience designed to test your limits as a listener and it absolutely had me hooked immediately. All I can say is that if this released even a little earlier in the year, my AOTY list would have likely looked a bit different, it’s that good.
