Favorite Records of 2013 - Number 3

When you think of metal, what do you think of? Hair bands from the 80s like Twisted Sister or Ratt or Poison? Weird Brits singing about the devil and other similar things like Ozzy and Iron Maiden and Judas Priest? Nu-metal from the 90s like Korn and Limp Bizkit and Slipknot? The metal-as-fuck bands that the weirdos in high school listened to like Metallica and Slayer and Megadeth?

To me, only the second and fourth ones qualify as metal. That's just what I think so sue me. The first is glammed up pop, though Motley Crüe was close. The third is just....ugh...it's just not my thing so I will leave it there. I grew up on bands from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, more commonly reffered to as NWOBHM by nerds like me. That's Iron Maiden and Priest and and Mötorhead and even Def Leppard before they went pop. Bands like Metallica and Slayer have definite roots in NWOBHM.

That is all to say is that all music is a progression. The good bands are the ones that build on what came before. There is not too much new ground to tread. I joke that every chord progression has been used up. It is just how you use that progression; how you play that riff. Coming up with something completely new and different, at leafs with guitars and drums and amplifiers turned way the hell up is exceedingly difficult.

To me modern metal is no better exemplified than by a band like Pelican and their new album Forever Becoming. It is all instrumentals. A vocalist is not needed here because the music says it all. It is very hard to pull off but a band does not need a singer when the music is as perfect as this is. Metal can be difficult for many to find accessible. Pelican is accessible. Listen to "The Cliff" or "Perpetual Dawn" or "Immutable Dusk," listen to the prettiness in the passages. No band brings together beauty and aggression together better than Pelican. The songs are all sort-of longish, around seven minutes each. They form and twist and spiral within themselves; heavy aggressive passages power into majestic soaring riffs before spiraling back into black twists and turns. I have said again and again, good music is power. Good music grabs you by the throat and says "listen to me!!!" Forever Becoming grabs hold and doesn't let go, it makes you race back to the turntable to flip side over or hurriedly put on the next disc.

I love heavy bands. I love old-school Metallica, I still love Iron Maiden and admire Slayer for staying true to what they do, and for being one of the few bands I actually fear. HA! Metal today is post-metal bands like Pelican and Isis making heavy, melodically brilliant music. Metal is metal-as-fuck bands like High On Fire and Kvelerator keeping thrash alive. Metal is the Sabbath-worshipers like Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats and Black Tusk and Lo-Pan. Metal is the bands like Mastodon and Red Fang and Baroness that bring metal without ignoring pop sensibilities. Metal is bands like In Solitude and Ghost paying tribute to their NWOBHM forbearers. Metal is the doom bands like Windhand and Wolves In The Throne Room making music frightening. And metal is the progressive bands like Opeth and Anathema and Alcest. It is the most interesting genre of music out there because it has so many facets, so many limbs from the enormous trunk. The future of rock is not metal. Rock will always be metal.

Enjoy "Immutable Dusk." The louder the better.

Up next...number two! Georgia has a plethora of amazing metal acts. Here comes my favorite.

Forever Becoming

The best music is pure power. It attracts you, it reels you in, it envelops you. That is a primary reason why I often retreat to albums through headphones, searching for a powerful construct that overwhelms the sense. I prefer the lights extinguished except for a single candle. I take my contacts out or my glasses off. My primary sense at this point is auditory. Words are not even necessary. Often times it is simply the music that rushes over.

The latest record from Chicago's Pelican is Forever Becoming and it is one of those records. It occupies the post-metal niche but it is more than that. It is not just meticulously crafted but almost created. It is movement and energy. It feels alive.

The album opens with "Terminal." A slow build-up, like an engine turning over on a cold morning. It is after a minute the song finds its footing. Bass and drums driving the slow rhythm, an electric guitar picking notes over the top as the melody builds. It comes to a stop before "Deny The Absolute" crashes like a wave, the tuned down guitars assaulting the record needle. The jarring bass of "The Tundra" that rumbles like a beast. "Immutable Dusk" open the second side of the first vinyl record (the orange vinyl, as compared to the blue), might be the best of those songs, interlacing doom sludge with respite of cascading guitar work.

What sets Pelican apart is that dichotomy. Of power giving way to groove giving way again to power. Without any vocals the music must stand on its own. It cannot give way to predictability but has to be grand in scope. So we have 8 songs that vary in length three-and-a-half minutes to over nine. But none of those minutes feels wasted or for naught. It builds upon itself in emotion.

Here is "Deny The Absolute."

Singled Out!

One of the many cool things about buying vinyl exclusively is finding little 7" singles. Artists use these to release special things (like when I wrote about Record Store Day) or just a way to release odds and ends or just getting something cool out there. Here's some 7" singles I've gotten in the past few months.

Birth of the Pipesnakes by The FED - Truth be told I know these guys and I had the true honor of playing a gig with The FED last night. Happily they were selling copies of their vinyl and I was more than happy to snatch up a copy. They are a great local DC band that do a kind of swamp-boogie-thing. I describe them as Kings of Leon before Kings of Leon started to suck. Their live show definitely makes you move. My favorite track off of this is the first cut on side A, "'83," just a great piece of dirty rock n roll. The rest of it is plenty great to.

"Criminal Fingers"/"The Bear and the Maiden Fair" by The Hold Steady - This was a 2013 Record Store Day buy (actually I cheated and bought it on eBay). The A side is a mellow track called "Criminal Fingers" but it's the B side that is the real jewel: their imagining of "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" from Game of Thrones. The National did something similar with "The Rains of Castamere," keeping to the morose and sad spirit of that track. The Hold Steady do their thing here, bringing their classic exuberance and energy to a fun song. I am going to try to talk my band into covering this!

"Southern Comfort"/"Stars" by Æges. A great progressive metal band from California, leaning more toward the prog side but with plenty of heaviness. They are made up of guys from Pelican, Undertow and Rise (amongst other bands). They do the de-tuned guitar thing but have a great sense of melody and happily the singer sings and doesn't grunt or snarl. The first side is a cut off their great record The Bridge. The back side is a great unreleased tune called "Stars." It has great dynamics with heavy sections broken with mellower spots connected by a great pop sensibility when it kicks into it's groove.

"Deny The Absolute"/"The Truce" by Pelican - Speaking of Pelican, they are another great progressive leaning metal band. Where Æges has vocals, Pelican keeps it to instrumentals. These are two new tracks off their forthcoming record. Like I keep preaching, I love melody, and these guys have a sure grasp of it. The A-side is a great stomper; you can bang your head but not so much that you break your neck.  The B-side is a great acoustic-based number, a really nice touch from a normally heavy sounding band. They are playing DC9 in November...I already have my tickets! I bought both this and the Æges record from The Mylene Sheath. Check them out for a lot of interesting proggy metal acts.

Iron Road by The Old 97s - Last and certainly not least is one of my most favorite alt-country acts The Old 97s. This is another Record Store Day get (though they appear to have released it in greater quantities now). Their are two 7" here featuring 4 tracks from 1996. The first disc is a treat because it has the original outlaw himself, Waylon Jennings, taking the lead vocal on "Iron Road" and "The Other Shoe." Waylon's classic voice fits the Old 97s like a glove. Just a perfect slice of outlaw country. The other disc has demo versions of "Visiting Hours" and "Fireflies."