What a month October was! This is the most packed the list has been in some time and every album feels deeply deserving of their place in the spotlight. Often I struggle to fill this list with things that are actually exciting and end up with a ton of albums that could be in the honorable mentions category. That was not the case this month.
It wasn’t even unbalanced either. Both metal and non-metal albums showed out this month in spades. We’ll be going over the maximum email length so I recommend viewing this one in the browser.
Lastly, if you’ve been enjoying this newsletter, that’s fantastic! The end of the year is coming up and that’s predictably the biggest, busiest and most exciting time for a music newsletter. To that end, I’d love for you to share this letter with two people who you think would enjoy it. I won’t ask this of you often, but it really helps the letter grow and makes it much easier for me to write it.
Unlike most other publications I do my year end lists on a strict basis of waiting until all major releases are out, so there’s time to share it before I put out any lists.
Thanks again to everyone reading this, I’ll probably be detailing some changes coming in the new year but for now, here’s the best of October.
METAL ALBUMS
Cloud Rat - Threshold
Following up an album like 2019’s Pollinator should have been a death sentence for Cloud Rat. That album saw the band practically bleed themselves out in the studio. Every track dripped with the unhinged mania that drives many of the best metal albums. Threshold is better. The tracks are just as loud, the screams just as threatening, the mania just as pervasive. From the second you turn it on, this album beats you. It finds you cowering in a hallway and bludgeons you. Every second it’s on I feel like I need to run away, and that’s exactly what makes me run toward it.
Birds in Row - Gris Klein
I am 19 again listening to Gris Klein. I am walking between the Liberal Arts building and the greenhouse on campus listening to A Lot Like Birds. Spoken word poetry bleeding into my ears, making me feel smarter than I am, more emotionally intelligent than I am. To me, Gris Klein embodies the sound of nostalgia, but not through infantile imitation. Instead, they weaponize the yearning, poetic sounds of yesterday’s artists to lament the passage of time and the agonies of growing older, even when you aren’t very old. But this is more than a nostalgia trip, and the sounds weaponized have been freshly sharpened to the point where they seem like a new blade. Lean in close enough and you too can hear how the blade still cuts to the bone, just like it did when you were younger.
Witch Fever - Congregation
Witch Fever brings a special edge to their music. So much metal has rage pinned on its face, spitting aimlessly in all directions. Witch Fever, like many of the best metal bands, know exactly where they’re aiming. Whether it’s the patriarchy, feminine socialization, sexual assault or any other number of issues plaguing humanity, there is no ambiguity in this music. The music itself backs up that direct approach. The guitars are tuned nice and low, rattling with each strum. In some ways it leans a little more punk than metal, but I’m not one to hold that against a band. If anything, Witch Fever uses it to differentiate themselves and commit themselves to using whatever tools they have on hand to attack their subject.
Psychonaut - Violate Consensus Reality
Talking about progressive metal and other technical genres bores me. By and large, I use a vibes based approach for music. I know I probably shouldn’t say that. You are — after all — reading a newsletter where I present myself as an authority. However, it is the truth, and the other truth is that most technically proficient metal bands lose out on soul in favor of difficulty. Psychonaut manages to toe the line just about perfectly. You can feel the frustration, disappointment and fury in the howls of the lead singer just as much as you can feel the proficiency of the songwriting. The production also maintains a raw edge that so many prog metal albums lack, making this both an emotionally impactful journey and a scintillating listening experience.
sadness - Motionless, watching you
One man black metal projects run rampant on bandcamp these days. Truthfully, most of them sound like trash. sadness, however, sounds amazing. Part of what makes sadness such an essential project, and by extension Motionless, watching you, is the willingness to break genre conventions. Unlike many other bedroom black metal projects, sadness actually manages to incorporate interesting vocals, shy away from blast beats and flit between harsh metal guitars and dreamy shoegaze. For my money, there is no band in metal that is as routinely successful at delivering an emotional gut punch than sadness, and I find it hard to believe that will change anytime soon.
Backxwash - HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING
Is this metal? Honestly, I don’t know. The intensity was high enough that it ended up on this side of the newsletter. That intensity is what makes Backxwash so engaging. Whether or not you identify with her struggles you’ll know exactly where she’s coming from on this record. It tackles massive subjects like gender dysphoria, spiritual abuse and more. What makes it special is that it never feels preachy or dour. Instead the album is full of fury and life that pushes you toward action, or at the very least, engagement.
Throwing Bricks - The Burden
Throwing Bricks harnesses riotous energy with shocking ease. In some ways, they remind me of Deafheaven, but not black metal. They incorporate these beautiful soaring passages into songs, creating a space where you can catch your breath or simply survey the landscape. As soon as you feel like you’ve got them figured out though, they’ll beat you back into the earth with a ferocious instrumental assault. The Burden is no Sunbather though, and I mean that as a compliment. While they may have taken some inspiration, the music is lower, more forceful and brutal than most everything that Deafheaven does. The calculated, truly felt juxtaposition of these elements makes this album something very special.
Honorable Mentions:
NON-METAL ALBUMS
Alvvays - Blue Rev
Alvvays doesn’t always work for me (haha, jokes), but this is one hell of a record. It perfectly encapsulates that sad, wistful beach rock sounds that I adore. The instruments are just loud enough that they partially obscure the lyrics. While that may sound like a detriment, it actually turns the lyrics into a treasure hunt. Every time you hear a new passage it rattles around in your brain more profoundly than if it were just sitting there on the surface. Most importantly, it makes you want to get onto your feet and dance around. And let’s be honest, who couldn’t use a little more dancing?
Nnamdï - Please Have a Seat
During the mid-aughts there was a brief period where it seemed like the next big thing in hip hop would be upbeat happy music. Artists like Kyle, Chance the Rapper and Aminé were all over the radio with infectious tracks that were clearly delivered by people who had smiles on their faces. Obviously, that trend turned out to be a flash in the pan, and being temporally situated right before the 2016 election didn’t help any of those artists in the long term. But no trend is ever truly dead. Nnamdï takes the promise of that time period and executes it in a way that is more interesting and not so unbearably saccharine. The songs also tend to be about something, and even the ones that aren’t too insightful are at least innovative.
Open Mike Eagle - Component System with the Auto Reverse
If Nnamdï is bringing back a style of rap that was popular 6 years ago, then Open Mike Eagle is stuck a good 16 years in the past. To a lesser artist, that could sound like an insult, but it is fully meant as a compliment. Not to get all old head on everyone, but lyrical virtuosity like Open Mike Eagle brings is a rare thing today. Certainly there are artists that do it, J.I.D., Kendrick, Smino, Ski Mask the Slump God and others are all just as capable, but Open Mike Eagle is different from them. His flow and production style is more relaxed, more focused on craft than anything else. Most impressively, he manages to be this crafty without making the music too cold. Instead it’s like posting up in front of the TV on a Saturday morning to catch cartoons.
Gilla Band - Most Normal
Depending on whether or not you consider Chat Pile noise rock or something else (imo they’re sludge metal) this is the definitive noise rock record of the year. Like many noise rock bands, Gilla Band has some affinity for post-punk. Unlike many other noise rock bands though (with some exceptions) they weaponize that affinity to make tracks that are both cutting and hilarious in the same breath. Whether they’re hollering about spending all their money on “shit clothes” or catching a case of the “the weirds,” the tracks are always funny and just a little unsettling. Couple that lyrical prowess with some of the year’s most riotous noise passages and you’ve got yourself a piece of magic.
Skullcrusher - Quiet the Room
Skullcrusher makes music that is scarier than anything a metal band could possibly put out. For a proper representation of their sound, simply look at the album cover longer. The music unsettles me, and it should unsettle you too. Mostly comprised of quiet piano ballads that sound plucked from a Grouper record, they occasionally steer into static, silence and upsetting imagery. The album never assaults you with its terror, but lets it build slowly, becoming ever more dissonant and unsettling until you can barely listen. As upsetting as it becomes, it remains too beautiful to turn off. It’s not a nightmare you can’t wake up from, it’s one you choose to stay in, and that makes it all the more haunting.
The Wonder Years - The Hum Goes on Forever
It’s exciting to watch a genre grow up. Sure, there’s an aching sense that the music of today will never mean as much to you as music did 15 years ago, but that doesn’t mean the music of today is any less good. If anything, pop punk right now, thanks to bands like The Wonder Years, is better than it ever was. The Hum Goes on Forever brings a maturity to the genre that reminds me of groups like Spanish Love Songs, and in doing so makes the style more relatable to the people who were the target audience during the genre’s heyday. Simple as it may sound, it’s anything but. Pop punk always exudes a certain sincerity that only youth have. Weaponizing that sincerity for problems that belong to adults makes this album powerful, impactful and nostalgic in the best way.
Dry Cleaning - Stumpwork
When the first Dry Cleaning album came out to critical acclaim, much was made about the rash of talk singing in popular music. While that mostly blew over, the talk singing is back, and it’s better this time. Much like their previous album, Dry Cleaning makes magic through a combination of wry humor and relaxing instrumentation. The reverberating guitars are downright transportive, and while the drumming is rarely a thrill ride, it does exactly what it should. For my money, they dropped one of the year’s best lines with “nothing works, everything’s expensive and opaque, and privatized. My shoe organizing thing arrived, thank god.” That line alone cuts to the core of both the major issues plaguing humanity, and then the vapid consumers we become in spite of those issues. The album flourishes with little moments like this, and of course it sounds excellent too.
Honorable Mentions: