CULT SOUNDS OF 2010

DARK FORTRESS – “Ylem” German melodic black metal. Ylem is a pitch black masterpiece with invocations of the death principle; this album signifies the end of everything that exists now; slow, very heavy with insane blastbeats and orchestral darkness. V. Santura also in Triptykon plays some of the best guitar I’ve heard in years. 

HOUR OF 13 – “The Ritualist” Occult doom metal from North Carolina. This album is a true doom masterpiece that delves into themes of the macabre, darkness, satanic panic, cold atmospheres and complete bleakness.

TRIPTYKON – “Eparistera Daimones” Thomas G. Fischer legendary frontman of Celtic Frost and Hellhammer, unleashes this beautiful black/gothic/avant-garde masterpiece. It’s darker, heavier and more experimantal than anything he’s done before. V. Santura does another impressive job on guitar.

DANZIG – “Deth Red Sabaoth” The master of death blues metal is back with his best work this decade, memories of black magic rituals and satanic sacrifices.

HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS – Mr. and Mrs. Reznor create beautiful industrial/electronic noise with the help of Atticus Ross and Rob Sheridan.

SWANS – “My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky” First Swans album from Michael Gira in 14 years, different than his previous experimental/industrial rock lp’s but equally as good.

ZOROASTER – “Matador” Psychedelic/sludge/doom metal from the swamps of Atlanta, a good trip when your high.

THE FUNERAL PYRE – “Vultures At Dawn” Melodic blackened death metal from CA. One of the best extreme metal albums this year, very dark, eerie and doom laden.

KYLESA – “Spiral Shadow” Psychedelic/sludge metal from Savannah. This album is very early 90’s indie rock influenced, with two vocalists and two drummers, it gives it a unique touch.

INTERPOL – “Interpol” Creepy, morose and sinister dark indie rock with touches of post-punk and shoegaze from a great band from NYC.

FEAR FACTORY – “Mechanize” A cold, menacing mass of mechanical precision with industrialized depth, it hits harder than a truckful of tungsten. Industrial metal from L.A. their best since their 1st album.

DEFTONES – “Diamond Eyes” An album with crushing density, heavy crunchy guitars, soulful and blazing vocals, Deftones at their best.

INTRONAUT – “Valley Of Smoke” A progressive/sludge/jazz metal album, with clean vocals, fluid bass lines, long instrumental passages and excellent percussions. 

THE HIGH CONFESSIONS – “Turning Led Into Gold With…” Psychedelic/industrial rock noise from 4 great artists. Anything that Chris Conelly sings in is great.

TWILIGHT – “Monument To Time End” Blake Judd (Nachtmystium) and Aaron Turner (Isis) creating black metal, enuff said.

CIRCLE OF ANIMALS – “Destroy The Light” A dark and hypnotic industrial album brought to you by Sanford Parker (Minsk) and Bruce Lamont (Yakuza).

HIGH ON FIRE – “Snakes Of The Divine” Thunderous, abrasive roaring blasts, colossal riffs and grim metal with a brute force approach from Mike Pike and the boys.

GRINDERMAN – “Grinderman 2” Nick Cave’s psychedelic/garage rock album, hypnotic at times, it doesn’t get better.

THE TEAR GARDEN – “Have A Nice Trip” Edward Ka-Spel and Cevin Key take us through another great trip into their warp minds.

NACHTMYSTIUM – “Addicts: Black Meddle Part 2” Blake Judd creates another black metal masterpiece that is not black metal.

UNEARTHLY TRANCE – “V” The soundtrack of your soul’s descent into the pits ov hell, pure evil sludge/doom.

NEW MUSIC

GRINDERMAN – “Grinderman 2” – Seedy, psychedelic-blues punk from Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey and Jim Sclavunos. This their second album is more like a blanket of noise, more psychedelic/drone feel to it, it still has Mr. Cave’s dark vocals, but with a much noisier background. Best songs are “Evil,” “Kitchenette,” “Worm Tamer” and “Heathen Child.”     

SWANS – “My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky.” Experimental noise rock from legendary avant-garde artist Michael Gira. On his first album in 13 years, the music is a hallucinatory vision on a wall of sound pummeling on a seasick rhythm, an it closes on a note of starkly beutiful music. “Folk Noise.”

UNEARTHLY TRANCE – “V” – Sludge/doom metal from Brooklyn NY. It’s like “an electric, urban funeral drone that summons great evil,” it has a black metal vibe mixed with a sludgy doom sound and great ambient/drone passages. Like the soundtrack of your soul’s descent into the pits of hell, pure evil. 

NEUROSIS – “Live At Roadburn 2007” – Experimental/doom metal from Oakland, this album was recorded live at The Roadburn Festival in Tilburg-Netherlands. The album is a pitch black piece of music, which drives the listener into the ground and crushes it’s surroundings. A bleak and agonizing display of ferocity with explosive riffs and roaring voices, ambient soundscapes, the perfect soundtrack to the apocalyptic end of the world.

SUICIDAL TENDENCIES – “No Mercy Fool!/The Suicidal Family” – Venice Beach skate punks re-recorded tracks from their old lp “Join The Army” and Mike Muir’s (vocalist) other band, No Mercy.

GNAW THEIR TONGUES – “L’Arrivee De La Terne Mort Triomphante” – Schizophrenic experimental/noise from the Netherlands.

DEATH ANGEL – “Relentless Retribution” – Legendary thrash metal from the Bay Area.

MINISTRY – “Mixxxes Of The Mole” – Track by track remix of 2004 lp “House Of The Mole,” “Trance-metal.”

BXI – 4 song Ep collaboration between Boris – Japanese psychedelic/doom rock band and Ian Astbury – Lead singer of The Cult. 

RIOTGOD – “Riotgod” – Metal from 2 members of Monster Magnet.

KNIGHTS OF THE ABYSS – “The Culling Of Wolves” – Death metal from the rascist state (Arizona).

THE ETERNAL SUFFERING – “Miasma” – Blackened death metal from Greece.

DEMIURG – “Slakthus Gamleby” Progressive old school death metal from Sweden.

THE SWORD – “Warp Riders” – Sludge/stoner metal from Texas.

ISOBEL CAMPBELL & MARK LANEGAN – “Hawk” – Alt-rock from Scottish singer Isobel and multi-band vocalist and solo artist Mr. Lanegan.

DALE WATSON – “Carryin’ On” – Alt-country singer from Texas.

MOGWAI – “Special Moves” – Live concert from Scottish post-rock/shoegaze band.

CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE – “The Well” Legendary blues harp player since 1967, the “White Bluesman.”

KATAKLYSM – “Heavens Venom” – Canadian death metal.

MALEVOLENT CREATION – “Invidioud Dominion” One of the original death metal bands from the Florida scene.

CITY OF FIRE – “City Of Fire” – Fear Factory “lite” featuring Burton C. bell and Byron Stroud.

ION DISSONANCE – “Cursed” Mathcore metal from Canada.