Bang, here’s the best stuff from October. Heads up that we’ve got nudity on one of these album covers, so don’t read this next to your kids if you’ve got ‘em.
The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Illusory Walls
TWIABP is a band that has flown under the causal listener radar for far too long. Perhaps it’s their proclivity toward epic songs and post-rock influenced instrumental sections, but whatever it is, nothing should stop you from checking out Illusory Walls. Like many of their emo and rock contemporaries, TWIABP has taken something of a leftward turn in recent years. Though the themes have certainly always been there, the twin spectres of economic distress and late stage capitalism are twisted into the DNA strands of this record. Lyrics like “I crave them all, luxury disposables, a beautiful gym to have a heart attack in.” pepper the record like bullet shells in a warzone. Each a landmine waiting to inject “radical” ideas into your skull, should you choose to analyze them. But what sets this record apart from the other excellent left-leaning emo records of late is the burning message of hope that undergirds the album. The final two tracks, which run together in a way that makes them feel like a single 35 minute song rather than two distinct parts, close out hopeful, reminding us that “The world is a beautiful place, but we have to make it that way.”
Fire-Toolz - Eternal Home
The internet has made more things possible than we ever could have imagined. Even in this landscape of foreign objects, Fire-Toolz stands out as a unique impossibility. After years of blending vaporwave and black metal, it still feels like something that shouldn’t work, but every time Fire-Toolz releases a new album, it shows a surprising sense of growth and scale within this tiny sandbox, indicating that either the walls have been broken or the sandbox was actually a great desert the whole time. Whatever the case, Eternal Home, while being slightly overlong, is a stunning culmination of everything Fire-Toolz has attempted to date. Gone are the days when the vaporwave and black metal felt at odds with one another, now they stand together, operating simultaneously to create one of the most mind-bending pieces of music ever assembled.
Frontierer - Oxidized
This is an absolute tropical storm of an album. Every second is more violent and furious than the previous, and the band refuses to give you a single break. At times, the guitars flare in such alien ways that you naturally assume them to be electronic stabs straight out of a Merzbow album. At the same time, the rest of them leave the guitar to shoot you in the head while they break your knees backwards. In some ways, this maddening soundscape is the natural evolution of modern metalcore like Knocked Loose and Vein, but this is so much more manic, so much more oppressive, that it feels like a transgression in a way that metal so rarely does these days.
Full of Hell - Garden of Burning Apparitions
In comparison to something like Frontierer’s Oxidized, one could argue that Garden of Burning Apparitions is practically a lullaby, but the slight tamping down of intensity (emphasis on slight) gives Full of Hell the space they need to cave your face in. Instead of a hail of close range punches, the record is an avalanche of heavy mauls, each spiked or rounded to a perfect heavy edge. Put in music terms, the songs have just enough breathing room that you can hear the doomy chugs, the death metal riffs and, of course, the powerviolence blast beats. These elements blend into one another, allowing each to shine and combine at turns, resulting in a cacophony worthy of earplugs that is so well-assembled you’d be loathe to put them in.
Knocked Loose - A Tear in the Fabric of Life
Ever since Laugh Tracks, Knocked Loose has established themselves as the heir to metalcore’s throne. After seeing where their career has led them to on A Tear in the Fabric of Life, it’s hard to argue that they don’t deserve to reign. Each second of this EP brings in new and fascinating ideas into Knocked Loose’s wheelhouse. Gone are the days of breakdown after breakdown, in their stead are death metal influenced riffs, doomy chugging, hints of groove metal and, of course, breakdowns so heavy that I’m surprised my apartment still has any walls.
Archspire - Bleed the Future
Technical death metal, often shortened to tech death, is generally accepted to push the limits of good taste in metal. But if metal was originally stretching the boundaries of good taste in rock music, then shouldn’t we always expect bands to exist on the bleeding edge of tastefulness? If that razor’s edge is a place that interests you, then stepping out onto that cold blade, you’ll doubtlessly encounter Archspire. Being composed of blast beats, ludicrously technical riffs and incomprehensible bass lines, you might expect the instruments to be the star, as they are in virtually all tech death bands. But the vocals are the real standout here. It stretches the boundaries of taste further than any tech death band I’ve yet to encounter, but if the prospect of death grows at Tech N9ne speed holds any appeal to you, then Archspire may yet become your favorite band.
Be’lakor - Coherence
I like my metal big and epic, but it’s hard to find bands that can nail that sound without coming across as corny. Thankfully, Be’lakor manages to hit this sweet spot in a manner that is both sincere and decidedly not atmoblack, which is great because honestly every band is doing the atmoblack thing lately and some do it a lot better than others. But enough about other bands, Be’lakor’s Coherence is a metal exploration of outer dimensions that actually has some heart to it. The riffs feel emotional, spiking and soaring while held aloft by perfectly deployed vocals and a consistent, but engaging drum beat. If straightforward metal holds your heart and the experimentation of recent years has begun to grate at you, then you’d be hard pressed to find something as compelling as Coherence.
BADBADNOTGOOD - Talk Memory
In the past, BADBADNOTGOOD has been hailed as a modern arbiter of the jazz sphere. They sit alongside contemporaries like Flying Lotus and Thundercat, all of whom bring digestible versions of this oft-obtuse genre to hip-hop, R&B, soul, funk and even rock. But Talk Memory sees BBNG proving that they’re more than just the best hip-hop jazz group working today. This is the album where they decided to show us just how good at the pure jazz thing they actually are. Populated by lush string arrangements, bouncy grooves and knotty instrumental passages, Talk Memory is a much needed reminder that jazz can be just as interesting alone as it can be when fused with other, more popular genres.
Wiki - Half-God
Wiki’s off kilter flows and nasally voice have garnered him quite the fanbase over the years, and have almost certainly scared off even more people. His trademark style, which is both incredibly unique to him and undeniably NYC, is deployed more effectively on Half God than it has been in years. The instrumentals are delightfully smooth and jazzy, while remaining sparse enough that Wiki’s voice shines through, giving his impressive lyricism a perfect bed on which to lay. If you found Wiki abrasive in the past, Half-God is unlikely to change your opinion, but his more relaxed beats do make this the best showcase of his skill set in recent memory.
Magdalena Bay - Mercurial World
Those who have remained up to date on indie pop trends over the past several years will find themselves unsurprised by the direction that Magdalena Bay’s Mercurial World has taken. But in this instance, predictability does not indicate a lack of originality, instead, Magdalena Bay makes good on all the promises of the past decade of indie pop. The group flawlessly blends influences from artists like Poppy, CHVRCHES, Purity Ring and even Robyn to create a record that is as danceable as it is emotional, and as catchy as it is curious.