Dave's Underground Laboratory: Best Of 2011

Taake, the malevolent force unleashed from the creativity of band mastermind Hoest, return with another vicious slab of old school, second wave Norwegian black metal with Noregs Vaapen. Although not a household name in black metal, Taake should be well known to those with a taste for exceptionally high quality black metal, and Noregs Vaapen only serves to cement their status among the elite.

Noregs Vaapen is a varied album coming from the starting point of a very solid, traditional base. Rasps, droning riffs, speed, and a slightly thin, yet very powerful, sound are the traditional genre elements in play, but Taake really mix things up with a few weird moments involving such devices as melodic solos and even a banjo.

Sometimes you just want to have your head caved in. In that, Greece's Ravencult do so quite nicely on their second album, Morbid Blood, with just plain ol' balls out fast black metal. Fast riffing with a pace that alternates between all out blasts and a few mid-paced passages, loud, rancid vocals, and some really good songwriting all back up a brutal assault on Morbid Blood, an album that makes no pretense except that it exists to tear your head off.

Sporting vocalist/scene mastermind MkM from Antaeus, Aosoth's previous releases were now, in retrospect, the first steps of a nascent band looking for its own path, now found on the release of III. Aosoth have morphed from a blastbeat ridden beast to one now more introspective and atmospheric. Although quite good as an all out assault on previous efforts, one could not help but picture Aosoth as a band following the template of Antaeus, but not quite being able to stake out their own identity and emerge from the shadow of that act.

Blastbeats are still present in spades on III, but the songwriting is considerably more varied, atmospheric, and dissonant than 2009's Ashes Of Angels. A vague sense of unease pervades, nicely enhanced by a few moments of dark ambiance that appear here and there, mostly at the end of individual songs, indicating that Aosoth are no longer focused upon simply blasting your head off. The shift in focus is welcome and warranted, as Aosoth have taken a giant stride towards scene leadership with III.

Nightbringer are another of only a handful of USBM acts to be convincingly described as orthodox. Like other orthodox acts, Nightbringer have the necessary, serious religious imagery adorning the album, and the requisite mysterious atmosphere surrounding the band. Hierophany Of The Open Grave is a generally slow affair with lots twisting riffs that seem to cascade up and down the fret board. The songwriting has an air of majesty about it, and is also quite introspective with the album’s subject matter given an obvious serious treatment.

A few blasts do appear here and there and the production is clean, but it never becomes bombastic or pompous. Of particular note is the vocal delivery, an intense, throaty roar. In short, Hierophany Of The Open Grave is a well done, serious orthodox black metal album.

Wisconsin's Jungle Rot prove again that there is still a niche for meat and potatoes death metal. Immensely entertaining in concert and always able to deliver listenable, solid albums, Jungle Rot have carved a place for themselves by belching forth catchy, brutal death metal that never flirts with technicality, nor never quite descends into the slam subgenre.

Sounding like a collision between early to mid-period Cannibal Corpse and Bolt Thrower, Jungle Rot are all about the catchy riffs and a loud, thick bass. True to form, Kill On Command has those riffs in spades to go along with good songs and a pace that barrels along at a gallop. A few blasts appear, a few nods towards slam appear, but greatly aiding the cause is a thick, organic production from producer Chris Wisco (Novembers Doom, Lazarus AD). The production gives Kill On Command a dense weight, a weight that is absolutely necessary to successfully crush the audience with well done, straight forward death metal.

Nominally descended from the Darkthrone-inspired school of black metal, Craft step on the pedal and push pure hatred as far as they can go with Void. Horrid rasps, a generally rough, mid-paced approach, and a full, thick production herald the arrival of Void, but two things really stand out in my mind to separate Craft. First and foremost, there’s some really good songwriting with various genre elements used very effectively. There are a few blasts, lots of atmosphere, powerful riffs, and moments of droning, twisted harmonics and riffing, all interwoven together into very cohesive songs.

Second, and most importantly, Void is very able to effectively evoke a feeling of pure bile and hatred for humanity, something that can sometimes be lost in black metal that focuses on religiosity. That misanthropy is quite welcome, and pushes Void into the top tier for the year.

Vastum tread heavily in old school death metal with influences running the gamut from early Death and Autopsy to a few of the doom-laden, darker Swedish bands. Carnal Law is their debut, a devastatingly heavy weight. Huge, deep, and simple, yet catchy, riffing is built around a slow and mid-paced to galloping percussion. Vastum utilizes a dual vocal attack. Dan's vocals are deeply growled, while Leila's consist of a slightly higher pitched growl, yet never sounding shrill. The slightly different vocals provide a good contrast.

A thick, organic production adds to the music's density, resulting in a crushing slab of darkened death metal. Those of you with a great enthusiasm for OSDM of the particularly dark, deathly heavy variety should definitely check out Vastum, yet another great band emerging from the increasingly dynamic Bay Area scene.

3/5th's of Vastum's lineup are also in Acephalix, another Bay Area death metal band. Very heavy, crushing death metal with a great deal of weight behind it and a huge, thick sound is the focus, like that of Vastum. The production found on Interminable Night is nearly identical to that found on Carnal Law.

The difference between Acephalix and Vastum is mostly in terms of the pacing. Vastum have a tendency to focus on a slower means of crushing the listener, incorporating more than a subtle hint of doom. Acephalix, instead, was borne out of a crossover of metal and crust influences when the band members first came together and, although exceedingly heavy, Interminable Night retains a crossover feel with an up tempo, d-beat pace. Acephalix also lack a dual vocal attack, and are a bit more straightforward in their delivery, drawing heavily upon the old Sunlight Studios sound of Swedish death metal.

The Salutatorian in this year's class is Obsequiae.

Blondel de Nesle, the brains behind the ecological doom/drone project Celestiial has an offshoot entitled Obsequiae, which is about the best melodic, nature themed take on black metal that I’ve heard since the early days of Drudkh. An entirely different animal than Celestiial, Obsequiae is a duo, essentially a continuation of Autumnal Winds, a band that never really made it past the demo stage, yet has a legendary status as a band that wasn’t able to live to its potential. That potential is now realized in a big way on Suspended In The Brume Of Eos.

Tempos vary from the slow to, strangely, a near blast, with enough fluidity to keep the songs startlingly fresh. The guitar, however, is what really causes you to sit up and take, notice, as you’ll become increasingly drawn into de Nesle’s muse with repeated listens. Hauntingly beautiful, alternatively harsh and soft, Suspended In The Brume Of Eos is a standout album in a genre that’s rarely heard from, especially from American soil.

And our Valedictorian, the top of the class for 2011, is Atriarch.

Portland’s Atriarch is a doom metal supergroup of sorts, being comprised of members of Trees and Graves At Sea amongst others; all well regarded bands from the same scene. Forever The End is the debut full-length from Atriarch and is a gigantic slab of fuzzy, funeral doom with a surprising amount of variation.

An incredibly heavy, dense sound with big guitar riffs, screeched vocals, and a generally slow, pounding percussion lays the foundation, but variation creeps in with quiet moments of dark ambiance and clean vocals, often soft and muted. But this only tells half the story, as each of the four songs on Forever The End have an uncanny sense of timing. Each song is able to start off with a slow, doom laden feel, give rise to a definite sense of crescendo, and then slowly fade and segue to the next track. In short, Forever The End succeeds with some truly stellar songwriting.