Music

My Top 12 Albums of 2017

Steven Indzeoski

• 8 min read

Another year has gone by and that means another list to write. This year was different in that there weren't a whole lot of albums from favourite bands of mine, but I also started using Spotify and discovered a lot of great bands that I'd never heard before this year.

12. Full of Hell - Trumpeting Ecstasy

Trumpeting Ecstasy

Genre: Grindcore
Origin: Ocean City, Maryland, USA / Pennsylvania, USA
Track Listing:

  1. Deluminate
  2. Branches of Yew
  3. Bound Sphinx
  4. The Cosmic Vein
  5. Digital Prison
  6. Crawling Back to God (ft. Aaron Turner)
  7. Fractured Quartz
  8. Gnawed Flesh
  9. Ashen Mesh (ft. Andrew Nolan)
  10. Trumpeting Ecstasy (ft. Nicole Dollanganger)
  11. At The Cauldron's Bottom (ft. Nate Newton)

fullOfHell

Full of Hell is a band I discovered this year from a ton of people on Twitter talking about them. They're a great band and they almost had two albums on this list, with their latest collaboration with The Body falling just shy of my list. Having two songs featuring members of Old Man Gloom was very exciting for me. I look forward to hearing more from them in the future.

11. name - You Are Mostly Nowhere

You Are Mostly Nowhere

Genre: Metal
Origin: San Francisco, California, USA
Track Listing:

  1. Adsum - Symptoms of a Leveling Design
  2. ...By Jaw & Fang
  3. Ode to the Colossus - The Giant of Circumstance
  4. When Ocean Meets Sky - Cutting Corners in a Circle
  5. Bailey Cedric - I) Bodies in Motion, II) What a Fool Believes, III) Creature Comfort, IV) Qualia

name

name is a band that I discovered on Spotify this year and that I very much enjoy. They are definitely impossible to Google by band name alone. They definitely have some very familiar sounding influences but I can't quite put my finger on what they are. Their sound actually reminds me a little bit of local band Adolyne at times. Anyways, it makes great head-banging music.

10. Primitive Man - Caustic

Caustic

Genre: Blackened Doom Metal / Sludge Metal
Origin: Denver, Colorado, USA
Track Listing:

  1. My Will
  2. Victim
  3. Caustic
  4. Commerce
  5. Tepid
  6. Ash
  7. Sterility
  8. Sugar Hole
  9. The Weight
  10. Disfigured
  11. Inevitable
  12. Absolutes

primitiveMan

This album is hands down the heaviest thing I have ever heard. Primitive Man is a band I'd heard of before but never really listened to before this album came out. I immediately fell in love with the heaviness. Sadly this band came through town earlier this year but it was before I'd discovered that I liked them.

9. Sorxe - Matter & Void

Matter And Void

Genre: Post Metal
Origin: Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Track Listing:

  1. Hypnotizer
  2. Distraction Party
  3. Never to See
  4. Black Water
  5. Eastern Transmission
  6. The Endless Chasm

sorxe

I'm always on the lookup for good Post Metal, and this was the best one this year. Even though they're on Prosthetic Records, which is a bigger label than a lot of the bands on my list, I'd never heard of them before. Also surprising as I didn't think Prosthetic signed Post Metal bands like this. A lot of the riffs, and the guitar tone in general, sound extremely influenced by Neurosis. Check it out if you're into Post Metal.

8. Helpless - Debt

Debt

Genre: Grindcore / Noise Rock
Origin: Plymouth, UK
Track Listing:

  1. Worth
  2. Out of Commission
  3. Grief Vultures
  4. Moral Bankruptcy
  5. Sertraline
  6. Weightless Prayers
  7. Ceremony of Innocence
  8. Sinkhole
  9. Manufactured Consent
  10. Denied Sale

helpless

Helpless was another band I discovered on Spotify this year. A wonderful blend of heavy and noisy. Althought Ceremony of Innocence is the song they released as a single and made a music video for, it was Denied Sale that made me fall in love with this album.

7. Blood Command - Cult Drugs

cultDrugs

Genre: Melodic Punk Rock
Origin: Bergen, Norway
Track Listing:

  1. Ctrl + Art + Delete
  2. Cult Drugs
  3. Quitters Don't Smoke
  4. Nervous Laughter
  5. Gang Signs
  6. You Can't Sit With Us
  7. The Secret Impresses No One
  8. White Skin // Tanned Teeth
  9. Initiation Tape #1
  10. (The World Covered in) Purple Shrouds

bloodCommand

This album is drastically different from the rest of my list, and drastically different from music I listen to in general. I first gave it a chance because of how catchy it was, but without being to much pop. I found that the songs just kept getting stuck in my head and I kept coming back to it. If I had to recommend one song to listen to, it would definitely be Ctrl + Art + Delete, but that one isn't on Youtube it seems, so I'll embed a different song here.

6. The Faceless - In Becoming a Ghost

inBecomingAGhost

Genre: Technical Death Metal
Origin: Los Angeles, California, USA
Track Listing:

  1. In Becoming a Ghost
  2. Digging the Grave (ft. Sergio Flores)
  3. Black Star
  4. Cup of Mephistopheles
  5. The Spiraling Void
  6. Shake the Disease (Depeche Mode cover)
  7. I Am
  8. Ghost Reprise
  9. (Instru)mental Illness
  10. The Terminal Breath

theFaceless

As much as part of me wishes that the lineup for The Faceless was a bit more stable, they continue to put out great albums. This is especially meaningful coming from me as I find most death metal extremely boring and it takes something significant to hold my attention. I love how once again they have a guest appearance by Sergio "Sexy Sax Man" Flores, this time with a sweet flute solo. Also slightly amusing, is how while I was making up my short-list I found out that my favourite song on the album (Shake the Disease) wasn't even written by The Faceless, and is a Depeche Mode cover. Because of that I'm going to post two songs below.

5. Employed to Serve - The Warmth of a Dying Sun

theWarmthOfADyingSun

Genre: Post-hardcore
Origin: London, England
Track Listing:

  1. Void Ambition
  2. Good for Nothing
  3. Platform 89
  4. Lethargy
  5. I Spend my Days (Wishing Them Away)
  6. Never Falls Far
  7. The Warmth of a Dying Sun
  8. Church of Mirrors
  9. Half Life
  10. Apple Tree

employedToServe

Another amazing band I discovered with Spotify. The thing about this band though is that I knew that their name sounded familiar but I wasn't sure why. Then when I was looking up info on the band while writing this list I figured it out. They put out some music years ago on Grindcore Karaoke, which I used to get tons of music from. I hope others enjoy my pleasant rediscovery as much as I did.

4. Myrkur - Mareridt

mareridt

Genre: Black Metal / Blackened Folk Metal
Origin: Copenhagen, Denmark
Track Listing:

  1. Mareridt
  2. Måneblôt
  3. The Serpent
  4. Crown
  5. Elleskudt
  6. De Tre Piker
  7. Funeral (ft. Chelsea Wolfe)
  8. Ulvinde
  9. Gladiatrix
  10. Kætteren
  11. Børnehjem
  12. Death of Days
  13. Kvindelil (ft. Chelsea Wolfe)
  14. Løven
  15. Himlen Blev Sort

myrkur

I've been following Amalie since she first started her Myrkur project and I've loved everything she's put out, and this album follows in the previous ones' footsteps. This album is a slight departure from the previous ones though as it is a little less "black metal" and a little more "folk". There's still plenty of black metal here but I think she's found a good balance and I really enjoyed it.

3. Mutoid Man - War Moans

warMoans

Genre: Metal? / Punk? / Hard Rock? (They're hard to categorize to be honest...)
Origin: New York City, New York, USA
Track Listing:

  1. Melt Your Mind
  2. Bone Chain
  3. Micro Aggression
  4. Kiss of Death
  5. Date with the Devil
  6. Headrush
  7. Irons in the Fire
  8. War Moans
  9. Wreck and Survive
  10. Afterlife
  11. Open Flame
  12. Bandages

mutoidMan

The only "supergroup" to be on my list this year, Mutoid Man consists of Stephen Brodsky (Cave In), Ben Koller (Converge, All Pigs Must Die, Killer be Killed), and Nick Cageao. This album has all the things I want. It's fast, it's aggressive, and it's super catchy. Quite a bit different than most of my music but super good.

2. Code Orange - Forever

forever

Genre: Post-hardcore / Industrial
Origin: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Track Listing:

  1. Forever
  2. Kill the Creator
  3. Real
  4. Bleeding in the Blur
  5. The Mud
  6. The New Reality
  7. Spy
  8. Ugly
  9. No One is Untouchable
  10. Hurt Goes On
  11. dream2

codeOrange

Code Orange came as a surprising discovery to me, as it has been probably over a decade since Roadrunner has signed a band that I was interested in. They're music is doing exactly what I love, heavy hardcore and metal influences but also pulling influences from all over the place, creating a very dynamic and unique sound. I also love when bands have serveral band members doing vocals. At first it was a bit jarring with how the style varies between songs on the album, but after I got used to it I started loving it. Since the style varies so much I'm once again posting two songs below, one with Reba doing the majority of the vocals, and another with Eric and Jami featured.

1. Converge - The Dusk in Us

theDuskInUs

Genre: Post-hardcore
Origin: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Track Listing:

  1. A Single Tear
  2. Eye of the Quarrel
  3. Under Duress
  4. Arkhipov Calm
  5. I Can Tell You About Pain
  6. The Dusk in Us
  7. Wildlife
  8. Murk & Marrow
  9. Trigger
  10. Broken by Light
  11. Cannibals
  12. Thousands of Miles Between Us
  13. Reptilian

converge

I think anyone following the overall theme of the albums I've been liking saw this coming. What can I say about Converge? They're legends, and they've put out another amazing album. Nothing even came close to knocking this out of number 1. They've been doing this for nearly 30 years, they know how to make an amazing record.

You don't! Know what! My pain feels like!