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Queen of Liars

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  1. Queen of Liars
    10 - Ænigma by In Vain
     

     
    A brilliant piece of progressive death metal. Atmospheric and captivating, the album features consistently great instrumentation and songwriting.
     
     
    9 - Push The Sky Away by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
     

     
    A beautiful art rock/chamber pop album with a sense of danger. It feels like a relaxing listen, but at the same time it always feels tense thanks to some excellent choices in terms of the songs' tempo.
    Beyond the great lyrics and really cool vocal style, there's a lot of subtleties here, such as sparse string arrangements, which add a lot of texture to the album.
     
     
    8 - Nice Hooves by Nice Hooves
     

     
    An excellent debut, the heavy hardcore punk of Nice Hooves is filled with blistering riffs and crushing vocals that you can't help but nod your head along to.
    Big thanks to Ryuujin for letting me know about this. It's free on the band's bandcamp page, so go check it out.
     
     
    7 - Meir by Kvelertak
     

     
    Kvelertak are back with their second album of hardcore punk/black metal/rock 'n' roll (or black 'n' roll as some would call it) goodness, and I still can't get enough.
    Fast paced and energetic, with great riffs and songwriting everywhere, Meir is not quite like anything else you've heard before.
     
     
    6 - Des Winters finsterer Gesell by Angizia
     

     
    Angizia bring forth a very unique offering of a combination between avant-garde metal and dark cabaret, and they nail it.
    They incorporate the traditional metal instruments with violin and piano to produce some incredible compositions.
    Atmospheric and mysterious, this album is a journey that constantly twists and turns in new directions.
  2. Queen of Liars
    5 - Exit! by Fire! Orchestra
     

     
    Exit! is an experimental big band free jazz record with a lot going on. There's over twenty musicians on this album, and you'll often be hearing many of them play at once in what builds up to a complete pandemonium.
    The album is chaotic and organised, both at once. There are times where you'll have stuff like a steady bass line and drum beat while at the same time saxophones, clarinets and pianos will be going insane, all synergising to create these incredible compositions. Compositions which twist and turn into completely unpredictable directions, always maintaining suspense.
    This is a truly great jazz album.
     
     
    4 - Weapon by Skinny Puppy
     

     
    I think it's fair to say that Skinny Puppy are the one of the most important bands in industrial music, and to many, myself included, they're also by far the best. So like many bands with such acclaim, whenever they release a new album, it will inevitably be met with an air of cynicism from certain fans and comparisons to their past masterpieces, which is rather unfortunate.
    Is Weapon another Last Rights or Too Dark Park? No, of course not, nor does it attempt to be. Like most of the post-reunion era of Skinny Puppy, Weapon is much more energetic and straight-forward electro-industrial as opposed to the dark and abrasive soundscapes that were the focus of albums like Last Rights. Which is not to say that they don't do experimentation anymore or that their current stuff is much more accessible (Weapon definitely took me a couple of listens to get into and recognise everything that is going on in the music), but the last four albums have been substantially different from what the band were doing before they broke up.
    A more apt point for comparison would be the 1984 EP Remission, especially since the new album contains a remake of the song Solvent. Weapon is very much a refinement of the style found on the EP with added elements of the modern Skinny Puppy, and it's something that ends up working very well.
    With Weapon I think Skinny Puppy have continued the trend of each post-reunion album being better than the last, which should say something as all of them are great. Weapon contains some very good song writing with a lot of subtle melodies over the great beats, all accompanied by the usual abstract and political lyrics.
    Something Skinny Puppy have always been great at is maintaining an atmosphere and theme throughout their albums, and this one really gives the sense of a cyberpunk dystopia to me, which is fantastic.
    While I wouldn't put Weapon up there with Last Rights, Too Dark Park and The Process, it is still a great album which makes me feel very happy that Skinny Puppy decided to reform ten years ago.

    3 - Earth Rocker by Clutch
     

     
    This is without a doubt the 2013 album I listened to the most this year. I suppose that's in part due to it coming out back in March, but mostly what I'm getting at is that it's an incredibly addicting album that I just can't get enough of.
    Earth Rocker is an absolutely fantastic hard rock album with a hint of blues rock that is overflowing with great riffs, vocals and songwriting. Every song is infectious, from the title track opener, to the slow and especially bluesy Gone Cold, to the loud and rocking closer The Wolf Man Kindly Requests.
    It is an incredibly fun album to listen to. As far as pure enjoyment goes, this was the most I've had of it this year.
     
    2 - Vertikal by Cult of Luna
     

     
    From the pure fun of Earth Rocker, we come to the bleak and miserable atmospheric sludge metal journey that is Cult of Luna's Vertikal.
    And a journey it is. Very thematically and atmospherically strong, Vertikal is an absolutely captivating piece of beautiful melancholy with incredible instrumentation and the incorporation of many influences from post-rock, electronic and ambient. Well over an hour long, the album never drags or gets boring and just continues to surprise the listener.
    Cult of Luna are clearly the masters of their craft, and with them announcing an indefinite hiatus, this coupled with the equally amazing EP Vertikal II is their final artistic statement.
    I'm sad to see them go, but what a note to end on.
     
    1 - Das Seelenbrechen by Ihsahn
     

     
    The Breaking of the Soul. Taken from Nietzcshe's writings on art, there could hardly be a more appropriate title for this masterpiece.
    Das Seelenbrechen is the fifth solo album from the mastermind behind the most influential and innovative black metal band Emperor, and is easily the best thing he has done. Considering how incredible his work with Emperor, Peccatum and his solo project is, for Ihsahn to outdo himself again is no small feat.
    Created in an entirely different manner than his previous four albums, Das Seelenbrechen is a largely improvised piece that gives us a deep personal look into Ihsahn's true psyche.
    It's very difficult to describe it. I suppose it's because of albums like this that we have terms like avant-garde. Stylistically, it's all over the place in the best possible way. You have the opener Hiber which deliberately reels you in with a false sense of familiarity to the progressive black metal of his previous albums, but that familiarity is shattered barely half-way through the song when it takes a completely different turn. Following this are tracks like the symphonic Regen, the electronic tinged beautiful and personal Pulse, the experimentation with time signatures in the terrifying recreation of black metal Tacit II, the atmospheric spoken-word piece M, the chilling experimental drone-influenced See, and five other tracks, all of which are very unique.
    Despite it's chaotic nature, the album still feels very coherent and all the tracks very much act as one continuous experience.
    Das Seelenbrechen is a display of incredible musicianship in every aspect. Beyond that, it is a display of creative genius.
    It's definitely not an album that will appeal to everyone, but to me this not only blows everything else from this year out of the water, but it ranks amongst the greatest albums I have ever heard.
  3. Queen of Liars
    15 - Once More 'Round the Sun by Mastodon
     

     
    A huge improvement over 2011's The Hunter, this album is a really fun trip through Mastodon's signature blend of progressive and stoner metal.
     
     
    14 - Our Time Will Come by KMFDM
     

     
    Celebrating their 30th anniversary, KMFDM release a pretty big improvement over their last two rather average albums.
    Fitting for the occasion, this album contains pretty much everything you would expect to see from KMFDM. There's the tongue in cheek satire and self-parody, and there's the songs dealing with more serious political issues, all delivered via both their signature fast paced industrial rock/metal that you can't help but nod your head along to, and slower, more personal tracks.
    KMFDM are clearly showing that 30 years later, they have no intention to stop. A lot of the songwriting is as good as ever, with great use of electronics and instrumentation. Lyrically, there's lots of references to songs from previous albums, some deliberately silly songs like Genau - the lyrics to which are composed almost entirely of random German words which have found their way into English usage (schadenfreude, zeitgeist, blitzkrieg, etc) - but there's also serious songs with really well crafted lyrics and imagery such as Blood vs. Money.
    It doesn't do anything new or groundbreaking, but given the occasion, it doesn't have to. This is just a really fun album to mark 30 years of the ultra heavy beat. While not reaching the heights of their 90's classics, it's right behind Blitz and Hau Ruck as one of their best post-reunion albums.
     
     
    13 - Where Greater Men Have Fallen - Primordial
     

     
    A crushing and grandiose piece of folk metal, with influences from doom and black metal.
    This album sounds absolutely colossal, with beautiful melodies and soaring vocals over heavy and tight instrumentation.
     
     
    12 - Splinters by Vallenfyre
     

     
    This one's just relentlessly crushing, without the grandiose.
    It's the second album from this death metal supergroup, formed back in 2010 by Paradise Lost's lead guitarist Greg Mackintosh to help him deal with his father's death. With such origins, the album is unsurprisingly dark and crushingly heavy, suffocating you with its bleak atmosphere.
    Greg is one my favourite guitarists, and here he continues to display as to why. The songwriting on this thing is just fantastic. Vallenfyre know when to play at break-neck speeds and when to be methodically slow, all the while delivering excellent music.
     
     
    11 - Ghouleh by Starofash
     

     
    A project recorded by Ihriel over the course of 2013, with one song written for each month, this is a great neoclassical darkwave/art pop journey.
    Very varied and atmospheric, this is a fantastic album which is pretty hard for me to describe.
    Listen to it on her official BandCamp
  4. Queen of Liars
    10 - Aura by Saor
     

     
    An amazing atmospheric black metal album with many elements from Celtic folk music.
    The way the folk and metal instrumentation interact with each other is excellent, creating both heaviness and stunning beauty.
     
     
    9 - Citadel by Ne Obliviscaris
     

     
    Citadel is an excellently written progressive metal album with undertones of melodic death metal.
    The pacing here is great, with very well timed intros, bridges and interludes creating a really cohesive experience. The musicianship is top notch, with fantastic guitar parts and a cello providing a haunting beauty over its dark and heavy atmosphere.
     
     
    8 - Full of Heck & Merzbow by Full of Helmets & Merzbow
     

     
    For their third album, Full of Helium enter a rather surprising collaboration with the legendary Japanese noise artist Merzbow.
    The results are a fantastic combination of Full of Hegemony's absolutely crushing powerviolence/grindcore and Merzbow's deafening blasts of noise, proving that this collaboration is totally worthwhile.
    Full of Hello Kitty provide some absolutely brutal music at breakneck speed, while Merzbow adds a lot of subtlety and texture to it, adding a lot of depth to the album. And subtlety really is a big part of Merzbow's presence on the first disc, to the point that some fans expressed disappointment at it being hard to notice his contributions outside of when songs transition into noise. However, his presence is definitely there and adds a lot to Full of Hemoglobins' delightful attack on the ears.
    Now, I mentioned the 'first disc' earlier. The thing is, I guess this is technically a double album, but disc 2 is only available with the physical release. I've ordered the digipak album straight from Full of Hematosis' BandCamp, but I live in the UK and it is being shipped from Canada, which coupled with delays caused by the holidays means that I haven't been able to get my hands on it yet. However, I am told that disc 2 is a more noise oriented album. Basically if disc 1 is Full of Hemingway featuring Merzbow, then disc 2 is Merzbow featuring Full of Hexagons. Which sounds pretty excellent. As much as I now enjoy Full of Heliocentrism, Merzbow was the reason I checked this album out in the first place, so I am definitely looking forward to hearing the second disc.
    Either way, the first disc is more than great enough for Full of Heterozygosity & Merzbow to earn a spot on my list.
     
     
    7 - Arche by Dir en Grey
     

     
    Dir en Grey doing what Dir en Grey do. With a fantastic and varied mix of alternative, progressive and avant-garde metal, Arche makes for a very unique listen through a series of very well written tracks.
    The only disappointing thing is that the physical release of this album is not available outside of Japan. I want to give you money for your CD, Dir en Grey. Help me do that. (Yes, I know that in all likelihood it's their label's fault)
     
     
    6 - Z² (Sky Blue and Dark Matters) by Devin Townsend
     

     
    This is a double album, containing Sky Blue and the long awaited Dark Matters, which is the sequel to Devin's 2007 album Ziltoid the Omniscient.
    Sky Blue builds off of 2012's Epicloud, delivering a similar 'pop metal' sound, mixing Devin's trademark wall of sound and progressive metal tendencies with lots of melody and catchiness. Anneke van Giersbergen returns once again to provide the female vocals, and at this point it's getting hard to imagine hearing one of them without the other. Their voices go together amazingly well.
    The songwriting is incredible as usual, and unlike Epicloud which was a very positive and happy album in tone pretty much throughout, Sky Blue has real hints of anger and tension behind some of the songs, which really adds to the feeling of the album overall.
    Dark Matters is the continuation of the comical space opera story of Ziltoid from the previous album. With his home planet dying, Ziltoid arrives on Earth with the intention to colonise it, choosing Earth in particular because of its coffee. However, in order to accomplish this, Ziltoid steals a creature known as a Poozer from the war princess Blattaria of planet Titan, which invokes her wrath and starts an intergalactic war between them, with Earth as the prize.
    Musically, it sounds absolutely immense. It's not often I use the word 'epic', but this album merits it. With an array of guests, a backing choir and Devin himself making full use of his incredible vocal range over top of fantastic song writing and instrumentation, there's not much room for breathing outside of the interludes with story dialogue.
    Z² marks the end of a chapter for Devin, and after doing one final show in April he will be taking a hiatus from music for at least a year. With the ridiculously high amount of brilliant music he's been releasing over the past few years he definitely deserves the rest, but I will be eagerly awaiting his return.
  5. Queen of Liars
    5 - Longhena by Gridlink
     

     
    The final album by Gridlink is a ferocious technical grindcore goodbye with incredible musicianship.
    Over the course of just 23 minutes Longhena delivers one of the most intense listens of the year. It's fast and brutal, yet filled with a sorrowful beauty.
    Farewell, Gridlink.
     
     
    4 - Noise by Boris
     

     
    The 19th Boris album has a rather deceptive title, as there is in fact pretty much no noise contained within.
    What it does contain is a trip through several styles across eight tracks, and Boris doing what only Boris do.
    Opening with a couple of incredibly catchy and enjoyable stoner rock tracks not too dissimilar form their 2011 Heavy Rocks album, it carries on into highly atmospheric ambient and post-rock, before hitting the listener with a J-pop song.
    While all this sounds fantastic and is excellently written, the crown pieces here are without a doubt tracks 6 and 7 - Angel and Quicksilver.
    Angel is a 19 minute epic of Boris' experimentation through melancholy and beauty, with both a fantastic build up and an incredibly satisfying climax. Quicksilver on the other hand is the closest the album comes to its title. It's an eccentric and fast-paced 10 minute blast through excellent riffs and melodies, with clean vocals in the foreground and dissonant screams in the back.
    Both tracks feature incredible songwriting, accompanied by the usual guitar mastery one has come to expect from Wata. I think at this point it can safely be assumed that she is no mere mortal, and her talent and skill with the guitar are of supernatural origins.
    With Noise, Boris continue their constant evolution and refusal to sound the same. Can't wait to see where they go next.
     
     
    3 - The Satanist by Behemoth
     

     
    One of the most talked about metal albums of the year, and it deserves all of its attention.
    As the first Behemoth album since Nergal's lengthy battle with leukemia, The Satanist stands tall as a statement of his defiance of death.
    Incredibly grandiose, and just as brutal and crushing, this album contains the most well written music Behemoth have done. Filled with great riffs and captivating vocals, its an enthralling piece which doesn't let you out of its grip until it's done.
    Displaying Nergal's Nietzsche-inspired philosophy on art, it is ugly and beautiful in equal parts, going with ease from fast-paced death metal assault on the ears to enchanting spoken word parts, before it all culminates in the absolutely incredible closing track.
    The Satanist is quite the statement.
     
     
    2 - Enter by Fire! Orchestra
     

     
     
    Fire! Orchestra are a 28-piece experimental big band/free jazz group, which delivered one of the best jazz albums of the century in 2013, with Exit. They are now back just a year later with Enter - an album that lives up to, and in some areas surpasses, its predecessor.
    Like Exit, this album sounds huge. With such a large cast, it is chaotic and organised at the same time, with a ton going on in the music at any given moment. At times it pushes even further into experimental territory than Exit did, but at other times, such as the closing track, it can be a lot more straight forward and easy to follow. Well, by Fire! Orchestra's standards, anyway.
    It's a magnificent album unlike anything else.
     
     
    1 - Dark Space III I - by Darkspace
     

     
    Darkspace are an enigmatic band which fuse dark ambient and atmospheric black metal, with lyrics about... well, dark space and the mysteries of the cosmos.
    With three tracks adding up to just over an hour of music, Dark Space III I is an absolutely captivating experience with a strong eerie atmosphere and excellent instrumentation. It's an ethereal and terrifying journey through the darkest and blackest depths of space, with only the infinite void surrounding you. Indeed, even the flow of time seems distorted with this album, as throughout its long duration it never once drags or leaves you anywhere else but the edge of your seat.
    Listen to it on BandCamp.
    The MP3 is also currently stupidly cheap on Amazon, at $3/£3. Do yourself a favour if you like metal or atmospheric music and pick it up.
  6. Queen of Liars
    15 - Asia, Urban Dance and Warpath by Boris
     

     
    I'm going to treat these three albums as one for the purposes of this list, just to make it easier. Which should be fine, since they were released at the same time, and are obviously meant to be part of the same trilogy.
    They released a pretty big album last year, so for the most part this is just Boris relaxing a bit and doing some noise and drone rather than writing songs, and as usual, doing it very well. Usually one probably wouldn't describe releasing three albums at once as "relaxing", but this is Boris after all.
    However, between all the noise and soundscapes, there is an actual song hidden here. Surrender, which is the second track on Urban Dance, is actually a very nice post rock piece, interspliced with a little bit of noise, which comes as a nice surprise.
     
     
    14 - Hades (The Nine Stages of Change at the Deceased Remains) by 死んだ僕の彼女 (My Dead Girlfriend)
     

     
    I know it might seem like this would be a pretty bleak album, but it's actually some pretty upbeat shoegaze/noise pop, though there is the occasional darker and more atmospheric song. A very enjoyable album with some great melodies and riffs, as well as some truly fantastic atmosphere on those occasional tracks.
     
     
    13 - A N D by tricot
     

     
    Not quite as good as T H E, but still an excellent math rock album. Catchy, and filled with great instrumentation.
     
     
    12 - Cuts of Guilt, Cuts Deeper by Merzbow, Mats Gustafsson, Balázs Pándi & Thurston Moore
     

     
    A big collaboration resulting in a great free improvisation record, with plenty of harsh noise and jazz within. A very crushing and abrasive album, but one that is quite the experience.
     
     
    11 - The Dreaming I by Akhlys
     

     
    That cover sure reminds me of Behemoth's The Satanist from last year. As do some aspects of the music contained within. I mean, it's not a rip-off or anything, with the music being quite different, but Akhlys definitely took some inspiration from that album here, and have created a great black metal album with elements of dark ambient, and much like The Satanist, a great sense of atmosphere and grandeur.
     
     
    10 - Graveward by Sigh
     

     
    The production on this album may be quite bad, but it does not hide Sigh's signature avant-garde/black metal brilliance. Great riffs, excellent songwriting, and of course the usual Sigh weirdness.
     
     
    9 - Atheist's Cornea by Envy
     

     
    An excellent mix of post-rock and post-hardcore, with some great atmosphere, and moments of both slow beauty, and fast paced aggression.
     
     
    8 - Abyss by Chelsea Wolfe
     

     
    A mesmerising album of haunting and ethereal beauty, which sounds exactly what the cover looks like - dark, eerie and desolate.
     
     
    7 - Into the Shadows by Anoice
     

     
    A beautiful and melancholy album, blending post-rock with modern classical for some incredible compositions. It's very easy to get lost in the world that this album creates.
     
     
    6 - Fantasy Empire by Lightning Bolt
     

     
    An excellent noise rock/math rock album, with some fantastic instrumentation. The production gives it a very nice sound, with a layer of noise and muted vocals over top of the band rocking out on their instruments. Amazing riffs too.
     
     
    5 - Frozen Niagara Falls by Prurient
     

     
    A terrifying mass of harsh noise and industrial, which you can't break away from. It grabs and suffocates you, while taking you on a journey through bleak and hopeless soundscapes, with the occasional glimmer of beauty which inevitably gets drowned out in cold darkness. An experience unlike anything else.
     
     
    4 - Sgùrr by Thy Catafalque
     
     

     
    An amazing progressive metal album with an avant-garde flavour. Full of long and winding songs with incredible instrumentation and unique atmosphere, often going off in unpredictable directions. The riffs on this thing are seriously out of this world.
     
     
    3 - The Plague Within by Paradise Lost
     

     
    Paradise Lost continue their streak of perfect albums, this time seeing the return of growls and other death metal elements which have been long absent. Combining these elements with their current sound, Paradise Lost have achieved one of the best albums of their long and already highly impressive career. Great songwriting and riffs, their own brand of haunting beauty, the occasional symphonic elements, it's all here and it all makes for an incredible album.
     
     
    2 - The Battle of Being by Outside the Coma
     

     
    The latest project of Mikee Goodman, known for SikTh and Primal Rock Rebellion, is quite a wild ride. I don't even know how to describe it, to be honest. I guess that SikTh would be the closest point of comparison, but the experimentation and insanity is turned up to a whole different level here. It's a bizarre and eccentric album, and probably the best thing that Mikee's done, which is definitely no small praise when that means outdoing SikTh.
     
     
    1 - Freedom by Refused
     

     
    It's been 17 years since Refused revolutionised music with The Shape of Punk to Come - which I happen to think is the best album of all time. And for those 17 years, the world was convinced that there would never be another Refused album. Yet, here we are. And I couldn't be happier about it.
    Is Freedom as good as TSoPtC? No, of course not, don't be silly. It's not even close. Nothing is. So it's a good thing that Refused are not concerned with trying to replicate it, and instead do the same thing they've always done: change their sound with every album and never stop evolving.
    17 years, but Refused have not aged a day. The band is still as skilled and talented as they've ever been, and deliver an album of infectious punk anthems with plenty of twists to keep it interesting and unique. Although lacking the bold experimentation of the previous album, there's still plenty of new ideas here, and the excellent songwriting has not gone anywhere.
    Welcome back, Refused. Long live the New Noise.
     
     
     
    So that's my list done. Now it's time for the honourable mentions, since I can't be bothered to do a separate entry for them this year:
     
    Thier by Amestigon
    Arcturian by Arcturus
    Crypt of the NecroDancer OST by Danny Baranowsky
    Near Death Revelations by Blaze of Perdition
    The Devil by Blue Stahli
    Psychic Warfare by Clutch
    Lore by Elder
    Beware the Sword You Cannot See by A Forest of Stars
    Holographic Violence by Grave Babies
    Enki by Melechesh
    II by METZ
    Exercises in Futility by Mgła
    Autumn Eternal by Panopticon
    Monotony Fields by Shape of Despair
    International Blackjazz Society by Shining
    Opacities by SikTh
    Ordeal by Skepticism
    The Ride Majestic by Soilwork
    Never Were the Way She Was by Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld
    The Moon Lit Our Path by Tempel
    The Children of the Night by Tribulation
     
     
    And that concludes my look back at 2015's music. Here's hoping that 2016 is anywhere near as good.
  7. Queen of Liars
    Before I do my top albums list, I thought I'd give a quick mention to some albums that didn't quite make it, but still deserve to be recognised:
     
     
    Kveikur by Sigur Rós - A beautiful post-rock album with hints of dream-pop and a rather dark and foreboding atmosphere which makes for a pretty interesting listen.
     
    Sunbather by Deafheaven - A fantastic cross between shoegaze and black metal that pulls you in and doesn't let go until the album ends.
     
    Seesaw by Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa - The second collaboration by these two, and between Hart's soulful voice and Bonamassa's fantastic guitar playing, it makes for a great blues rock album.
     
    Pain Is Beauty by Chelsea Wolfe - A fitting title for this dark and atmospheric journey through quite a mixture of genres.
     
    Quartoze Pièces de Menace by Dale Cooper Quartet and the Dictaphones - A very interesting combination of dark jazz and drone. It is beautifully composed, but carries with it a sense of foreboding doom.
     
    Colored Sands by Gorguts - A fantastic technical death metal record that is crushingly heavy, but maintaining a powerful atmosphere. The instrumentation is wonderfully complex and sounds absolutely colossal.
     
    Echogenetic by Front Line Assembly - When this album was announced it seemed that a lot of fans were getting hyped over the band choosing to not use guitars on it, which seems like a strange thing to get hyped over to me. Besides, I actually thought that the sparing use of guitars greatly contributed to Artificial Soldier and Improvised Electronic Device being the best FLA albums since Implode. But coming back to Echogenetic, yes, the band ditched the guitars in favour of looking a bit into dubstep. They're not the first industrial act to do so, but I'd say that they pulled it off rather well. However, I do think that the album starts to feel like the band are trying to repeat their older stuff a bit, and it's definitely weaker than the previous two records (three if you count the AirMech soundtrack). Despite that, it's still a very solid and extremely enjoyable album by one of the greatest industrial bands.
     
    Old Mornings Dawn by Summoning - A fantastic atmospheric black metal album, thematically and lyrically inspired by Tolkien's Middle-Earth. Do I need to say more?
     
    One of Us Is the Killer by The Dillinger Escape Plan - A great chaotic and abrasive mathcore album. Perhaps a bit more accessible than the band's other work, this record is still a behemoth that beats you down without mercy. As usual, some excellent playing and vocals are to be found here.
     
    Marriage of Metals by Daniel Menche - One of two albums released by Menche this year, Marriage of Metals experiments with drone music by fusing it with Gamelan gong instruments, which results in a very atmospheric and mesmerising experience.
     
    IV by earthtone9 - earthtone9 return with their first album in 13 years, and they pick up right where they left off with arc'tan'gent. The band's unique blend of progressive metal, alternative metal and post-hardcore provides for a fantastic album with very tight playing and some great riffs.
  8. Queen of Liars
    With most video game sales being over by now, here's what I got over the holiday period:
     
    Steam:
     
    Deus Ex (lost my physical copy a while ago, so this will replace it)
    Deus Ex: Invisible War
    Mark of the Ninja Special Edition DLC
    Braid
    Sequence
    Resonance
    Poker Night 2
    Another World
    Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
    Serious Sam 3: Jewel of the Nile DLC
    BIT.TRIP Beat
    Rush
    Dinner Date
    Paranautical Activity
    Counter Strike Complete
    The Walking Dead: 400 Days DLC
    Star Wars: Balance of the Force and Ms. Splosion Man tables for Pinball FX2
     
    The Humble Store:
     
    The Novelist
    Guacamelee
     
    Overall, some pretty nice stuff I guess. Looking at it, I picked up quite a few games, but the sales still felt a bit lacking. It's kinda gotten to the point where I already own most of the stuff I'd want, and the stuff I don't have yet either didn't go on sale or was still too expensive for me to justify picking it up.
    I ended up spending very little actual money thanks to selling a lot of Steam trading cards, so that's nice.
    Although I have no idea when I'll have the time to actually play all this stuff. My backlog of games is huge enough as it is.
  9. Queen of Liars
    Well, the first of the albums that I ordered arrived today and it's so good that I had to change my wallpaper.
    It'll be nice having this guy staring at me everytime I close a window.
     
    ...And just changed it again after finding this one. I have been listening to Unto The Locust a lot lately and this one looks nice. Maybe I'll just have it cycle between those two.
  13. Queen of Liars
    There is now a trailer for the Thief reboot, and of course it doesn't tell us much about the game at all, but it still has me pretty excited.
    Although I am a bit worried about what direction they'll be taking it in, I have high hopes for it after Eidos Montreal's masterpiece with Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Just hoping it doesn't end up like the somewhat disappointing Hitman: Absolution from last year.
     
    I mean, it turns out they're not gonna call it THI4F after all, which is certainly a good sign.
  14. Queen of Liars
    A new song from the upcoming Nine Inch Nails album, Came Back Haunted, has been released today.
    Alongside that, Trent confirmed that the album will be titled Hesitation Marks and that it will be released on the 2nd of September.
    It's definitely my most looked forward to album this year. Can't wait
  15. Queen of Liars
    That's seven years I've been on BZP now, which is a pretty long time actually. The more I think about it the older it makes me feel.
     
    Not much else to blog about besides that.
    The Steam sale is coming to an end, and as much as I dislike buying digital games when physical copies of them are available, couldn't resist picking up a couple of bigger titles, as well as some indie stuff.
    Didn't think that the sale was all that great though. It seemed like the same handful of games going on sale again and again. Granted, there were lots of great indie games with big discounts throughout the whole sale.
  16. Queen of Liars

    Paradise Lost

    By Queen of Liars,

    So, I got myself a copy of Paradise Lost's album Believe In Nothing, which has finally completed my collection of their studio releases. Thirteen albums and one set of demos. And you know, it's worth every penny. They are a fantastic band.
    This is, and will likely remain, my only complete collection of a band with a discography of this size, as I can't really think of any other band with 10+ albums, all of which I'm interested in having a copy of.
     
    Also, I'm really loving Century Media's Metal for the Masses campaign. Picked up the reissue of One For Sorrow by Insomnium today for £7. It's pretty rare to find albums at a record store cheaper than online these days, so this is pretty nice.
  17. Queen of Liars

    Paradise Lost

    By Queen of Liars,

    Well, I just got back from Paradise Lost's 25th anniversary show at The Roundhouse.
    It was an absolutely fantastic night, and I'm happy that it was recorded for a live CD.
     
    Katatonia were on first, playing Viva Emptiness in its entirety to celebrate 10 years of the album. Backwards for some reason, but hey, it's still Viva Emptiness and Ghost of the Sun makes for a fantastic closer.
    I'm not sure if the album necessarily translated into a live setting fantastically, but they were still great.
    Highlights of the set: Criminals, Ghost of the Sun
     
    Lacuna Coil were up next and were great too.
    They're one of those bands that I never really looked into despite liking quite a few songs that I've heard. Will that change after tonight? Possibly.
    They were pretty energetic and got the crowd going.
    Highlights of the set: Intoxicated, Spellbound
     
    And then it was time for Paradise Lost.
    They were absolutely brilliant.
    The setlist was... interesting. They left out a lot of songs that seemed like the obvious ones to pick and that they usually play, like Erased, As I Die or The Last Time. Which I think was a great decision as it allowed for songs like So Much Is Lost off of Host, which is without question their most underrated record. Looking over it, they probably couldn't have come up with a better setlist for their 25th anniversary. Containing great songs from albums that often seem forgotten, like the aforementioned Host or Lost Paradise and Paradise Lost, it was a great reminder of the glorious 25 years of their music.
    Highlights of the set: So Much Is Lost, Gothic, Tragic Idol, Never for the ******, Isolate, Say Just Words, One Second, True Belief
     
    Here's to 25 years of Paradise Lost, and hopefully to many more.
     
  18. Queen of Liars

    Paris

    By Queen of Liars,

    Hey, something that actually merits a blog entry. Gonna have a bit of a spontaneous trip to Paris for New Year, because why not I guess.
     
    I'll be leaving tomorrow morning, and staying for about five days. It'll be really nice to get away from everything for a short while before my January exams start. Really not looking forward to those, I'll admit.
     
    Not sure what the internet situation will be like, but hopefully I'll get some access. I'd like not to be too late with my albums of the year list, as this time I've actually gone through my entire backlog already.
     
    It'd be nice to catch the remainder of the Steam sale too, even though it's been really underwhelming so far. Picked up The Wolf Among Us and Transistor (+ soundtrack), and that's it.
    I'm actually really disappointed that Invisible, Inc didn't win the last community vote. It's one of the games that I'm the most excited for, and while it is still in early access, it's by one of the few developers who actually do early access right. That it didn't even lose to a noteworthy game just rubs salt in the wound.
  19. Queen of Liars
    It's been a while since my last music collection post, so here's my recently completed collection of Rage Against the Machine related stuff:
     

    ^Click for a slightly bigger picture
     
    So, here's what we have, going left to right:
     
    The special edition 20th anniversary reissue of the self-titled album.
     
    Rage Against the Machine stuff consisting of:
    Rage Against the Machine
    Evil Empire
    The Battle of Los Angeles
    Renegades
    Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium
    Bulls on Parade single
    Guerrilla Radio single
     
    Tom Morello's solo project, The Nightwatchman:
    One Man Revolution
    The Fabled City
    Union Town EP
    World Wide Rebel Songs
     
    No Spiritual Surrender by Inside Out, which was Zack de la Rocha's pre-RAtM hardcore punk band
     
    The self-titled One Day as a Lion EP, which is a project Zack formed after RAtM
     
    ...and that's it. With the B-sides from the singles and the bonus tracks from the self-titled reissue, I think I have every song RAtM have recorded, as well as the band members' other worthwhile projects.
     
    What's that? 'Audioslave'? You must be mistaken. I don't think such a band exists, and if they did I probably wouldn't be a fan.
  20. Queen of Liars
    So I decided to get myself a copy of the 20th anniversary special edition of Rage Against The Machine's debut album. Although usually I try to avoid reissues, especially of albums I already own, the demos and unreleased tracks included on the second CD were enough for me to get this one.
     
    I'm quite happy with it. As you can see, the packaging is great and includes some good pictures of the band, although more liner notes from the band members themselves would have been nice. The remaster of the album barely sounds different, which is good as the original was absolutely fine. It's the same ten songs that still sound as fresh, relevant and hard-hitting today as they did in 1992. I do believe this to be one of the finest rock records of the last 20 years. From that iconic guitar and bass riff which opens the album with Bombtrack, to Zack de la Rocha's last calls for freedom on the record's closer, Freedom, this is a relentless onslaught of revolution which just doesn't get old.
    The extra stuff on the second CD is also very nice for a big Rage fan like me. The unreleased songs are very good, and the demos are interesting to listen to as well. There's also a DVD with some live performances, although I haven't watched it yet.
    So yeah, a good purchase, I think.
     
     
    Oh, and I also managed to get a used limited edition copy of Paradise Lost's 1997 album, One Second, for just a few pounds. I just can't resist limited editions if they're a good price.
  21. Queen of Liars

    Refused

    By Queen of Liars,

    After two weeks of delays, I finally received my limited edition copy of the new Refused album.
    Protip: don't buy stuff from Kings Road Merch. I wouldn't have, since this isn't the first time I had problems with them, but it was the only place you could get the limited edition from.
     
    Anyway, the new Refused album. Freedom. 17 years after releasing what I consider to be the greatest album of all time, The Shape of Punk to Come, Refused have finally returned, and I couldn't be happier. I'm still not over the fact that this album actually exists. For 17 years, a new Refused album seemed like it would never happen. Yet, here it is:
     

     
    Such an excellent album too. It's no TSoPtC of course, but that's fine. Nothing is. And Freedom doesn't try to be anyway. Just like they used to do on their previous albums, Refused drastically changed their sound again, continuing to experiment with new things, while retaining the unmistakable Refused qualities.
     
    I guess it's time to show off my updated Refused collection, which are words I did not think I would get to say:
     

     
    On the left:
     
    This Just Might Be... The Truth
    Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent (limited edition digipak)
    The Shape of Punk to Come (2010 deluxe reissue)
    Freedom (limited edition book)
     
    On the right:
     
    This Album Contains Old Songs and Old Pictures Vol. 1 (Also Known as The EP Compilation)
    This Album Contains Old Songs and Old Pictures Vol. 2 (Also Known as The Demo Compilation)
    The New Noise Theology EP
     
    Hopefully this time around it won't be too long until there's another thing to be added to this collection.
    Long live the New Noise.
  22. Queen of Liars

    Results Day

    By Queen of Liars,

    Well, tomorrow is A-Level results day and for the first time, I'm genuinely terrified of results, as these will determine whether I get into university or not. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now.
     
    Not really sure where the summer went. Hardly did anything, and did pretty much nothing of what I was planning to do. Why does that always happen?
  23. Queen of Liars
    Note that the friend in question is the guitar, not the cat. Cat's been here for a few years already. She does love the guitar bag though.
     
    But yes, I have this guitar now. Which is exciting. I've still got a couple pieces of equipment to arrive in the post in the next couple of days, but then I'll be all good to go and start failing at playing it.
     
    Here's a slightly better picture as well. As it turns out, black guitars are not great for taking pictures of in the night with a phone.
     

  24. Queen of Liars
    ...forever
     
    So today was my last day of sixth form. It's been an interesting couple of years and I will definitely miss these rather simple, but fun times. I've met some amazing people and had some great experiences and I'm sure that I'll look back with fondness on this time in the future. Ah, how quickly time passes, even when it seems slow in the moment.
     
    To celebrate/mourn, I'll be going to see Judas Priest and Saxon with a few friends tomorrow. This will probably be the last show I'll go to for a while, as I'm foreseeing that I'll neither have the time nor the money once I'm in university. But hey, what better last show than two of the most legendary British Heavy Metal bands of all time?
     
    High school, check; sixth form/college, check; university, here I come.
  25. Queen of Liars
    Having done my last exam a couple of days ago, I have now finished my second year of university, which feels pretty good.
    The exam in question was really nasty, and I don't think I did very well on it. Still, I doubt it was bad enough to not even pass, and my assignments were good, so that will bump the grade up.
    This year hasn't been anywhere near as good as the last. It's been really stressful and I'm glad it's finally over. It feels really nice to be able to relax guilt-free for a while and I can finally start catching up on all the movies and games I've bought.
     
    Also, got my hands on this:
     

     
    Steelbook DVDs are pretty awesome.
    Now I just have to wait for Ghost in the Shell: Arise to finish and hopefully get an actual release over here. I'd very much like to have a complete GitS collection.
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