So now it’s just Daysend, Kamelot, and Primal Fear
These days, I have to separate the art from the artist when it comes to music and film. Otherwise, I would probably have to stop paying attention to both.
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“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.”― Thomas Sowell
Possibly my favorite Canadian.
He has 2(!) albums coming out next week. Crazy, eh?
Just behind Rush for me! What are your favorite Devy records?
I like Ocean Machine, Ziltoid, and Sky Blue. Transcendence also awesome. That said, I like most of what he does, and own a fair amount of his stuff on vinyl.
Katatonia is one of my favs! Also: My Dying Bride Paradise Lost Emperor (going to see them live in 2022, can't wait) Ihsahn Angra Almah André Matos Shaman Darkthrone
Let me recommend brazilian Edu Falaschi's new album VERA CRUZ:
The best of 2021 imo.
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"Some people just doesn't understand the dangers of indiscriminate surveillance."
Just behind Rush for me! What are your favorite Devy records?
I like Ocean Machine, Ziltoid, and Sky Blue. Transcendence also awesome. That said, I like most of what he does, and own a fair amount of his stuff on vinyl.
I also like all of his records, but my favorites are Infinity, Terria - the first one I listened to - and Epicloud.
I hope you get to see him live if you haven't already because his shows are so much fun. They might as well be part metal show, part stand-up comedy because he has such a zany, self-deprecating sense of humor.
I also like all of his records, but my favorites are Infinity, Terria - the first one I listened to - and Epicloud.
I hope you get to see him live if you haven't already because his shows are so much fun. They might as well be part metal show, part stand-up comedy because he has such a zany, self-deprecating sense of humor.
I caught the Ziltoid II tour with Animals as Leaders. I wasn't over the moon for that record, so i wish i had caught him on a different tour, but it was still awesome.
If I had to choose, I prefer part 1, but both are stellar. For this progressive black metal band to drop not one but two fantastic full lengths in one year is impressive. This band combines thoughtful music passages with beautiful vocal harmonies with savage black metal vocals peppered through out.
Part 2 is the more aggressive of the pair, and also includes a feature vocal from Borknagar's Lars Nedland.
Unleash the Archers
Phantoma
Canadian power metal project Unleash the Archers unleashed their latest concept record, with the premise this time being centered around Phantoma, a newly awakened sentient AI with an overwhelming desire to become human. Twin guitar leads and absolutely killer vocals from Brittany Slayes are the draw here.
Iotunn
Kinship
Bombastic and complex, with soaring clean vocals and crushing harsh vox, all centered around the guitar wizardry of another duo of fretboard magicians. It's not just flash here, though. Song after song of complex and beautiful metal cascade over your ears for the entire run time. One has to be in the mood for an intense journey, but when the fancy strikes you, this is a spectacular release from Denmark's Iotunn. Check out this 14 minute opus that opens the record!
Fires in the Distance
Air Not Meant for Us
Melodic death metal from...Connecticut? Hey, these guys are pretty much my neighbors! Doomy and rich, with some piano mixed in for good measure. I hadn't heard of these guys before, but this record took me by surprise earlier this year and has stayed with me ever since. Not a perfect record, but a damned fine slab from an up and coming band.
And last, but most certainly not least...
Poppy
Negative Spaces
Back around Halloween, if you ad asked me who Poppy was, I would have just raised an eyebrow. If you told me she used to do those weird performance art videos on YouTube, in which she played a little Illuminati robot girl, set to David lynch style sound effects and music, I would have vaguely recalled maybe seeing a couple of those videos a decade or so ago. If you then told me she was about to release a record that would not only be in contention for my metal Album of the year, but somehow also be almost a shoo-in for my pop album of the year, I would have laughed in your face.
Also, here we are, and Poppy's Negative Spaces is in pretty much constant rotation wherever I happen to be at any given time during the day. With influences including but not limited to Nine Inch Nails, Bring me the Horizon, Garbage, Avril Levine, Lights, Knocked Loose (!!!), Hole, a film noir jazz interlude and yes, even the Poppy-bot glitching out during another interlude, this is an album that defies categorization. Including a couple of short interludes, this record has 15 tracks on it, and there isn't a weak joint to be found. Poppy slides in an out of disparate genres like a chameleon, crafting everything from face melting extreme metal that is almost completely unhinged, to slick, candy filled bops and everything in between. 90s grunge-rock, spacey dream rock, Core, techy industrial...
The odd thing is that there isn't anything innovative here - that's not the aim of this record. Instead, this album is full of a bunch of fresh but familiar music that is drenched in what-does-this-remind-me of nostalgia, is all expertly crafted and performed, and is wrapped in super slick and punchy production. This is all quite intentional, and now that I have explored some of her previous records, quite different from previous records in her catalog. I heard a single or two back when this first released, bought the album, and then did a proper first listen in a dark room with headphones on. When the last track was ending, I was almost in tears, as the final track is a melancholy closer with a crispy vocal and massive, spacey production. I felt conflicting emotions: I was joyful that I found a record that moved me in so many different ways, while being both hauntingly familiar and constantly surprising at the same time, and I was also wistful that I was only going to have the chance to hear this record for the first time once, and it was about to end.
New music so rarely moves me these days, as I become more jaded and harder to surprise in my middle age. When something like this comes along, I am not going to waste time questioning whether or not the music is worth the emotion - I am just going to go with it.
If I had to choose one of the above titles as my AOTY - a spot I was almost certain with would be taken by Amiensus until Negative Spaces dropped - I would most certainly put Poppy up there and the undisputed and most fun record of the year. Is it overwrought and overproduced? Probably. But man, I just can't stop hitting play...