The Year That Was In Metal: 2014 Part 2

D.M: Before this gets hijacked and turns into a discussion of Taylor Swift, let me get a couple thoughts down before we move on.  I mostly agree with your sentiment.  I would wholly agree, but I haven't heard the whole record, only the parts that mass media have made unavoidable.  That said, here's my Taylor Swift rant.  I am in no way a Taylor Swift fan, and I recognize that as far as the population at large goes, that puts me in the minority and I accept that.  I don't get the infatuation with her, personally.  I don't care for her songs, I don't particularly care for her voice, I don't find her especially attractive.  In short, she's just not for me.  That said, I always respected that, at least by legend, she wrote her own material.  With this new record, and the amount of production fuckery that went into it, that seems patently impossible.  Why abandon something that made you so unique and cross-genre promotional?  Ah well, I guess I'll have to stick by Sara Bareilles (confession time: I like "Love Song."  I don't give a shit what anybody says, that's a good tune.)

Also, taking a minute to highlight Gunther and Sunshine Girls, the Swedish fashion model who teamed up with attractive women to record ridiculous songs.  I can't be sure how much irony is woven into his performance (it's probably a mix - he seems pretty genuinely dedicated to the Euro disco scene,) but either way, God bless that man.  

Anyway, moving on.

Something you said caught my eye, which is where you talked about the depression you would experience if you listened to every second of what we got sent, which dovetails nicely into a conversation we started months ago and still seems pertinent.  For all the melody and spirit of this year's musical selection, there was very little middle ground in terms of emotional context.  Everything was either about perseverance (or more sophomoric, partying!) or hating yourself and everything around you.  Not just the lyrics, but the music itself of several releases ran dark.  What was the deal this year with music that seemed made to put you in the doldrums?  I know you have a very large soapbox to stand on about Behemoth in general (not that I don't,) but there were more than that.  Doom as a genre seemed to make a comeback, and while I think all metal fans instinctively have a few doom records they like, there was some stuff in there that was pitch black.  Triptykon, a metal media darling that I know neither of us really gets, had a much improved record this year, but still not something I would call 'good.'  If you put a lot of this stuff on at a party, you're not gonna have a party anymore.  (Sidebar: the antithesis of this is Andrew WK's "I Get Wet," which again, I don't give a shit what anyone says, is still a great record.)  I fear I'm in danger of being an out-of-date old man here and not 'being in touch with the young people,' lobbing grenades similar to when the grunge and alternative and metal movements were lambasted as suicide music.  I'm not going nearly that far, but I am sort of existentially asking what the purpose of such dreary tunes are?  Shit, even Bach composed a couple cheery pieces.

I sometimes wonder if the stagnation in creativity among bands who only do one thing well is a product of the digital generation.  Attention spans for music have gotten appreciably shorter (though I offer only anecdotal data to back up my point,) so one can't help but postulate that perhaps artists now feel like they only need to do one thing.  If everyone's boy Psy can become a worldwide sensation doing only one thing (and some would argue less than that,) overnight, then perhaps the current school of thought is that it only takes one hook to be seen and the audience will come to you.  Any yahoo with a router can post his or her personal wankery on the internet (including us, let's be fair,) and so long as some other wankers think it's got value, off you go (except our readers, who are not wankers.  They are all erudite, beautiful, modern urban visionaries.  Respect.)  Of course, this opens the door to a potentially large and more damning can of worms, which is the question of whether the attention span or dedication of the songwriters themselves has also gotten shorter.  Has the ease of distribution and the availability of cost-effective software tools slowed the creative musical zeitgeist to a crawl?  My head hurts.  I need a cookie.

Regardless, that plays into another thing that bothered me this year, which was the considerable slow-down in quality of the thrash revival.  Maybe we've just gotten to the point where the first, critically acclaimed wave has receded to work on their next opus and we're left with the detritus of also-rans and sound-alikes, but this was not a great thrash year.  I was fully prepared to go out without a single thrash album on my shield this year until a late entry by Cripper (spoiler alert - Cripper's probably in my top ten or at least an honorable mention.)  We seem to have been inundated by thrash acts who learned all the wrong lessons from the golden days of the genre.  They picked up on the speed, but missed out entirely on the cadence, the open space, the function of big, killer riffs and not least of all, the weird, counter-intuitive tongue-in-cheek fun of the Anthraxes and Overkills of the world.  With the future of both Warbringer and Lazarus AD currently in doubt, what's left for the new breed of thrash?  Can anyone step up and carry the banner?  In the meantime, the rush to fill the void has been filled with bands who are examining the wrong aspects of the music.

That said, I feel like we both agree that this was a great year, but we've spent more time bagging it than praising it.  What else went right?

Before I hand it back, I'm going to deal with your second question first, the one about life-changing albums.  I feel like we've been dancing around this issue for a couple years now, primarily as part of our annual tribute project.  I don't know that we've ever addressed it head-on or come to a satisfactory conclusion.  There's a lot of psychology mixed into this subject, which is well above my pay grade to attempt to sort out, but let me get those questions at least on the table to frame the argument.  The base question here is whether or not an album can change our lives (which itself is subjective - I prefer to use the word 'enrich' in place of 'change,') once we've passed our most impressionable point.  Some of that is going to come down to the individual.  I think the three of us on this site would call ourselves life-long students, so we're always going to be open to new and different influences and knowledge.  Someone who lacks that predilection may shut off after a certain point, which probably explains how Bruce Springsteen remains so popular (annual Springsteen dig!  I got it in there!)  I fully admit that the albums which tend to resonate the most with me are the ones that have at least a thread of connection to the music of my formative years, but grunge is certainly quite dead, so I'm clearly not getting that exact audio impression anymore.  (Sidebar: There's an even larger soft science question floating here, which asks how we come to identify with certain musical types, which then can be parlayed into a socio-economic breakdown of music genres, which you know I've long wanted an explanation of the socio-economics of metal.  But I'm tabling that because I'm not nearly qualified enough to take it on.)  I will say though, that if I was forced to compose a list this minute of my top ten albums of all time, yes, there's going to be some White Zombie and Public Enemy and Alice in Chains and Slayer records in there, but there will also be "Turisas2013," an album that didn't come out until I was thirty years old.  Did it shape my life?  Probably not, but it most certainly enriched it.  So, answering your question in a hopelessly roundabout way, the stars probably align less frequently, but they can still make an impression on me.

Now the first question last before I hand it back.  This will probably spoil most of my top ten list, but here were the new(-ish) comers who broke through for me in 2014 and really made waves.  Destrage's "Are You Kidding Me? No." was a wonderful mix right on the borderline of crazy and articulate.  Red Eleven's "Round II" is a frankly brilliant record that surprised the hell out of me coming from Europe but channeling Faith No More.  Anti-Mortem's debut record strikes hard on the same line as the Texas Hippie Coalition - it's that clever balance of swagger, blues rhythm and metal fuzz that gave them a great record.  As mentioned, Nim Vind was excellent and I thought Cripper's "Hyena" was fantastic. Even though this is their fourth record, it's probably their biggest and best.  There were other side projects and new lives that I thought were excellent - Death Penalty, Emigrate, Red Dragon Cartel and Killer Be Killed all had great records.  There's still some stuff I have yet to listen to that I think might make an impression.

Looking ahead, what excited you for next year?

CHRIS: I'm actually with you about not buying in to the Taylor Swift hype.  Previous to now, I can't say I had ever listened to more than a handful of her songs, although I wouldn't say the same thing about her level of attractiveness.  Then again, we had these sorts of discussions in college, and I was always the odd one out during them.  The simple answer to why she abandoned writing all her own material is simple; success.  I have a feeling she wanted not just to make a pop record, but make a massive pop record, and for that she needed the help.  It certainly worked, so she knows what she's doing.

Regarding depression, I think it comes down to a fundamental truth of music; some people make and listen to music for the emotion they are experiencing, and some do it for the emotion they want to experience.  Metal has always carried with it the stereotype of being music for angry people, and there was a good reason for it.  There is a lot of truth to the statement.  Without trying to delve into the psyches of musicians, it's quite clear that there are many angry and miserable people who are in metal bands.  And many of those people make music not to try to lift themselves out of those feelings, but to reflect them.  It goes without saying that, if that is the attitude being taken, the end result is going to be dark, depressing music.  We all have a dark side, but there are a lot of people in the metal world who too readily embrace it, and use it as their entire identity.  I have always felt a bit out of place listening to metal, even when I was younger, because I didn't have any of those feelings.  I wasn't miserable, nor angry, so the people who made music for those reasons had no emotional impact on me.  As I've gotten older, that hasn't changed, and I've actually moved more into a direction where in additon to not feeling that way, I wouldn't seek out that kind of music even if I did.  Music is certainly a stirrer of the emotional pot, but whether I'm in a good mood or not, I don't want to put on an album that is designed to bring me down.  Life is too short to spend it intentionally making yourself miserable, which is something metal has not seemed to embrace.  I understand that there are a few artists out there who are legitimately channeling their pain into art, but the vast majority are people making noise for less than the right reasons.

I take a different train of thought regarding the one-note nature of so much of music today.  Rather than it reflecting an erosion of the attention span, I think it's a byproduct of the fractured nature of music.  Rather than in the old days, where a rock or metal fan heard everything from Metallica to Iron Maiden, from Zeppelin to the Stones, fans today find their sound of choice and have a myriad of identical options to choose from.  After spending enough time listening exclusively to one variety of music, they lose sight of everything else that's out there, and instead bury their head in their cozy little sub-genre.  We've talked about this when discussing why the genres themselves ultimately descend into a run of poor copies, and I think it applies here as well.  When we were growing up, it would have taken serious work on our parts to listen to only one specific type of music.  Variety was still everywhere, and that isn't the case anymore.  When we listen mainly through Spotify, and it recommends us music that is similar to what we already listen to, it reinforces a self-sustaining cycle.  We can't escape from it without wanting to listen to a wider variety of music, and I'm not sure there's much of an appetite for it anymore.  It's much the same phenomenon we've seen in politics; we want our beliefs reinforced, not challenged or expanded.  Personal growth is an impediment to instant gratification.

Let's be honest, even the original thrash bands wore our their welcome.  The revival has been going long enough that the bands are moving on to their second, third, and fourth records, by which time even the best thrash bands were beginning to fade.  Thrash is specific enough that I'm not sure it can sustain itself over the length of a career.  You're right that the modern thrash bands need to embrace the slower moments, but not just for the sake of each album.  Like the complaints that arise with every Motorhead album, if speed is all you do, it's going to get old.  I would recommend all of the modern thrash bands take a step back, try something different for an album or two, and then they will have renewed vigor for the sound.  We will too.

We both took up the challenge of listing our favorite albums ever, and one of the things that I took away from that experience was that I don't actually listen to many of them anymore.  They are favorites seemingly because they once were, and presumably always will be.  I've listened to a few of them in recent months, and what struck me is that, despite the nostalgia associated with them, I didn't enjoy them any more than the great albums of recent years.  So no, maybe they won't ever be life-changing in the sense albums from the past were, but I'm happy to say that I see no reason that records being released as we continue aging can't still have deep impact.  I certainly think that was true for Dilana's "Beautiful Monster" last year, and is once again true for my top pick this year.  They will never have formative experiences grafted onto them, but they do reshape my thinking and hit me at gut level.  I'm always afraid that being a critic will render me jaded to that feeling, but knowing it's there is reassuring.  Oh, and that jaded feeling is why Springsteen remains popular.  That and inertia.

We do tend to accentuate the negative here, but I think that has to do with the fact that we covered the best material throughout the year in our reviews.  It's easier to find the words to explain our gripes, as opposed to rapturizing a second time on the better stuff.  Plus, we each have our list of favorites coming up, which gives us the space to talk about everything great from the year.

Looking ahead to 2015, there are a few things I'm excited about.  There is already a fabulous new Nightingale album (which has been released everywhere but America already - staggered release dates are a topic for another rant) to kick us off on a good note.  Steven Wilson has a new record coming, that will be interesting even if it's not fantastic.  Orden Ogan will also be putting out a new record in the first month of the year, which I'm hoping can return them to the form of two of my favorite power metal records.  Urban Breed has yet another new band, Serious Black, that I'm interested in, though not overly so.  There is supposedly going to be a new Meat Loaf album with significant contributions from Jim Steinman, but considering what scraps are left on the table, I'm not expecting much from it.  Likewise, I'm curious to hear the new Slayer album, if for no other reason than to reaffirm my suspicions.  Halestorm finished recording a new album, but I have a feeling it will be veering away from the sound I would like to hear.  There is also hope for a new Graveyard record, which I have heard rumblings of being in the works.  Plus, underdog favorite Bad Salad have talked of a new album coming sometime in the new year.  Most of all, right now the two things I'm most eagerly anticipating are the new Neal Morse Band album in February, and the yearly proposition of at least a new EP from Tonic.  One of these years it will happen, and it will be awesome.

What has you frothing at the mouth to turn over the calendar?

D.M: What I find interesting in the depression part of the discussion and the emotional interpretation of music is that two different people can express their same inner turmoil (assuming they have actual inner turmoil,) in two totally different means.  Some artists use the medium of music as a panacea to vent their frustrations in a healthy way and share in some experience making with those around them, while still others use music to try to drag others into the murk.  That still doesn't let Thomas G. Warrior off the hook, but the point remains.  I'm pretty sure that's a first-year psychology examination I just brought up, but that doesn't make it less interesting and besides, I never took psychology in college (I also never took a lab science.  Bonus!  Lesson to the kids out there - read the course catalog carefully.)

See, I think your view of Spotify (and services like it,) as it relates to variety might be too narrow.  The variety of music still very much exists, if anything I think there might be too much.  Yes, you can slam into Spotify and have it make recommendations along the same line, but the internet makes all things worldwide available to you at the touch of a button.  The sheer selection available is crushing and mind-boggling and anxiety-inducing.  Now, finding value within that cornucopia of music is the real challenge, hence why variety remains, as always, the spice of life.  My argument here goes in circles, but I think you see what I'm getting at.  So, can we both be right?  That the variety we want exists but as a music listening society we've become too acute in our tastes to embrace it?

Anyway, next year.  Lots of good stuff on the docket, not the least of which is a new album from the Cancer Bats, a band that blew me away two years ago and now has a chance to follow up.  Powerwolf is launching another record, Faith No More will actually release an album in the spring (cue the frothing mass of the cult of Mike Patton,) and the Slayer album....well, we'll see.  I can't say I'm optimistic about it, but I'm not pessimistic, either.  There are consistent rumors that King Diamond may make some music and Fear Factory will have another chance.  Finally, we've recently seen some solid intelligence on the long-awaited Blackguard record "Storm," so that might come in 2015, too.  I also would like to see some new rap music cross my desk.  It was a quiet year for good rap and except for the RZA's Wu-master-auction, not much of a headline year.  I know there's other stuff, too, but those are the ones that jump to mind and as always, I'm looking forward to being surprised, too.  And, you know, because I'm sentimental, I'm looking forward to a Mets season that may not suck.  I said 'may,' I won't go out on a farther limb than that.

The only thing that gives me trepidation as we turn the page is a demon of my own making.  You know how I love wild calendar conspiracy theories that only I believe in about the cyclical nature of music?  Well, 1975 was a decent year (Black Sabbath's 'Sabotage',) but 1995 saw the seams tear apart and grunge descend into post-grunge (*shudder.*)  2015 therefore gives me some pause.  Nevertheless, let us charge boldly into that new year!  May you all have a fine and peaceful holiday season.

All that's left is the final word.  I started, so I'll open the floor.  Take us home, boys.

CHRIS: A little amateur psychology isn't so bad.  I took a few psych courses before we knew each other, although I will confess I hardly remember any of it by this point.  The psycho-babble actually can go a step further than what you mentioned.  Forgetting the intentions of the artist, listeners can experience the same piece of depressing music in different ways as well.  I was having a conversation with someone else about this topic (centered around Tom G Warrior as well, I might add), and I was amazed by how different we were.  I was saying how I am done with intentionally listening to miserable music, whereas they were saying miserable music makes them feel better by showing it is a shared condition.  The armchair psychologist in me can understand that, but it doesn't even come close to making me reconsider my position.  I'll take my experience over an academic position anytime.

I might not have been exceedingly clear.  Of course variety still exists, and maybe even in larger quantity than ever before, with the ridiculous splintering of sub-genres.  What I was angling towards was the notion that variety is no longer forced upon us.  I remember the days when the avenues of discovering music were diverse enough that I had no choice but to hear a little bit of everything.  Today, that isn't the case.  We have so many tools that we can indulge our whims to listen to nothing but what we already like.  I just worry that might be a bit dangerous.

As for a final word: Like you, I worry that 2015 is going to be a disappointment.  Yes, I've said that every year we've been doing this, but I'm more confident of being right this time.  This year has been such a home run that this is the point where, in a movie, we would drop the mic and walk away.  But we are not quitters, and so we soldier on!  The coming year will be filled with the normal twists and turns, and we will continue to find great music to go along with the less than great stuff.  Those moments are why we still do this, and I know there are plenty still to come.

Wizard: This has been a fascinating read and you gentlemen have touched upon a lot of topics. Frankly, I'm surprised by the number of Taylor Swift references. Sadly, or maybe not so sadly, I am so far out of the pop music scene that I can add nothing to that particular chapter of the discussion.

I will chime in on the emotional interpretation of music. My very first metal experience was listening to "The Number of the Beast" from Iron Maiden. I was around 11 years old and I had lent my friend $5 so, as collateral, he gave me the cassette to hold on to until he repaid me. I still remember playing on the floor of my bedroom when that voice came out of my speakers; "Woe to you of earth and sea, for the devil sends the beast with wrath...". It scared the crap out of me! I thought I was going to go to hell just for hearing it. Up until that point I listened mostly to Elvis, 60s bubblegum rock and classic country. But the way Iron Maiden made me FEEL changed my life forever.

My point is, at that moment, I knew I wanted to live metal. I wanted to BE metal. I embraced the feeling of power that came along with being a metal head. Metal helped change me from being a "nice boy" to someone who was just a bit more sinister, if only in appearance. As I moved into my teen years, I experienced typical teen angst, insecurity and the feelings of  rebelliousness that go along with them. I found sanctuary in heavy metal music with lyrics expressing isolation, dissatisfaction with the status quo and rising above it all. Heavy metal helped me deal with those tough times and replaced feelings of insecurity and depression with a sense of belonging.

As Chris stated, "Regarding depression, I think it comes down to a fundamental truth of music; some people make and listen to music for the emotion they are experiencing, and some do it for the emotion they want to experience". I agree with this statement. In fact, I'll take it a step further. I feel that most great art (music, paintings, sculpture, writing) has been made by people who were depressed. 

Depression is a powerful emotion and one that I think most folks can relate to on some level. Metal, by virtue of being outside of the mainstream, is a natural place for people who feel disaffected to gather. There is a brotherhood between metal heads. More so than any other musical genre. At some level, it goes back to something  tribal. So, is there a tendency for heavy metal to be depressing? Since many heavy metal bands use "real life" as inspiration for their songs, I think, yes, there is a certain level of depressing lyrics to be found just as there is a certain level of depressing news to be found on your tv, in your newspaper or in your life.


Briefly, I'll mention a couple of disappointing albums from some of the big names; Motorhead, Corrosion Of Conformity and Prong. While each band put out what I'll call a "solid album", the positivity of the reviews had as much to do with their overall body of work and a desire to remain supportive as anything else. Perhaps disappointing isn't the right word. It's more like a hope that their new work will be better than their previous releases as in, "Sure, Ace of Spades was good but this new record blows it out of the water". So, while not horrible, all three records come in at  a solid "not horrible".

As for bands that impressed me this year, the first would have to be Jeremy Lombardo's (son of Dave Lombardo) band To Humans. Technically, this album was barely metal in spite of the fact that the record label promoted it like it was the second coming of Slayer. In actuality, it has more of a Queens of the Stone Age feel. It's more progressive than a lot of the more traditional metal I heard this year. 

And speaking of progressive, another album that impressed me was the Devin Townsend Project's "Z2". It was as crazy as the man himself but as someone who pretends to be a musician I couldn't help but be impressed by the technical acumen demonstrated in both the playing and engineering of this album.

You'll notice that both are filed under "progressive" which, for me, is the metal I enjoy most these days. I can still get behind a straight up thrash record or old school punk like the album Calabrese put out this year but I find that as my tastes mature I'm looking for something that challenges me artistically instead of just appealing to my teenage baser instincts.

Perhaps the reason we're so put off by the seeming lack of good new music is the sheer amount we're exposed to. And Drew's point about the ease with which we're able to gain access to all of this new music is also valid. It used to be, in order to find something new and exciting, one had to spend hours at the record store pouring over title after title until you found one that piqued your interest and then you had to take a gamble and BUY it. For every Metallica, there were a hundred Impalers. For every Faith No More, there were dozens of Sleez Beez (really). There have always been innovators and there have always been imitators. The struggle to separate the wheat from the chaff is not new nor will it ever end.

As for 2015, I look forward to weeding through the many to find the few. I'm reminded of a time when I bought a compilation album from Continuum records titled "Kamikaze; Music To Push You Over The Edge". It was 12 tracks by 12 different artists, most of them terrible. But there was one group that had a song which, at the time, I thought was one of the best I had ever heard. The artist's name was Kid Rock and the song was "I Am The Bullgod". This was in 1995, several years before his breakthrough, multi-platinum "Devil Without A Cause" album came out. 

There is great music out there and it may be just one song on one album but that is the song I live for. I'm always looking for the song that moves me. The song makes me think or wonder or just feel good. I give credit to any group that is able to create music together and have it heard by the public. I may not enjoy it but somebody somewhere does. I don't know exactly what makes a great heavy metal song great but I think it's like that old saying, "I don't know anything about art but I know what I like".

 

D.M

Music Editor

D.M is the Music Editor for Bloodygoodhorror.com. He tries to avoid bands with bodily functions in the name and generally has a keen grasp of what he thinks sounds good and what doesn't. He also really enjoys reading, at least in part, and perhaps not surprisingly, because it's quiet. He's on a mission to convince his wife they need a badger as a household pet. It's not going well.