MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2025

Okay, some musical highlights first...

THE SUN THROUGH A TELESCOPE - I released my 4th full-length album WARM, GREY DAY earlier this year. Almost 12 months later and I'm still pretty happy with it. I also managed to bring TSTAT to the stage not once but TWICE! All thanks to a few friends throwing me some massively supportive bones. The first show was part of the amazing FESTIVAL FANTÓME in Quyon, Quebec - opening for SECRET CHIEFS 3, no less! The second was part of SUSTAIN 2 - an amazing night of drone/noise performances. I was joined by GARY THIBERT (from THEY GRIEVE) on bass and SEB CHOQUETTE (of FUCK THE FACTS and MERDARAHTA) on drums. It was an 18 year itch that finally got scratched! Pretty damn cool.

PALLBEARER INDUSTRY - We released our 4th full-length album CONSTELLATION SCEANCE along with the AFTERLIFE EP. Played a few solid gigs this year as well, including the latest installment of PSYCHFEST! Always an honour and a pleasure to be included. More new music to come in 2026!

GREATHUNTER - We released one new song - DAY OF THE DEAD - from our upcoming album/EP (not sure what it's gonna be yet). Another lineup shakeup as well - we lost our backup vocalist and are currently a 4-piece. Lots of cool gigs played this year and more to come in 2026.

COASTAL PIGS - A quiet year. We will reconvene at some point, I'm sure. 

MERDARAHTA - We jammed a bunch of times after a 10-year hiatus. Really fun to lay into this stuff again with the guys. There is a show booked this summer. Stay tuned!

Myself and BLAKE - still jamming, still hoping to bring some other poor souls into our orbit to help out with our knuckle-dragger death metal songs.

And finally, a look back at some of the bands I was fortunate enough to catch in 2025 - SLOWDIVE, MOGWAI, BRAINIAC (I found out weeks before the MOGWAI show that BRAINIAC were the opening band - BONUS!!!!), FABIO FRIZZI, CLUTCH, KURT VILE, THE PIXIES, MEN I TRUST, DARK PLAINS, BIIPIIGWAN, ALASKAN, DEFTONES (this one was especially fun because I went with my daughter as well as my friends - we all rocked out), IDLES, MORISSEY (also super fun - went with my wife AND daughter!), NO JOY, SKYLAB '73, FAMILY MAN, SECRET CHIEFS 3, NEIL HAMBURGER, MAJOR ENTERTAINER, MR. LET'S PAINT, and THEY GRIEVE (saw them on 2 separate occasions - once doing an ambient set and the other was an insanely loud guitar-drone set).

And now, here are the releases from 2025 that I enjoyed the most (in no particular orders):

1)  NO JOY - BUGLAND "This album is probably my frontrunner for best album of the year. Highly anticipated and did not disappoint! It's the perfect crossroads between the more electronic vibes of 2020's MOTHERHOOD and the 80s/90s shoegazing alt-rock of MORE FAITHFUL, WAIT TO PLEASURE, etc. The production is vibrant and exploding with every colour of the sonic rainbow. Layers upon layers of sounds. I had the good fortune to share the stage with them earlier in the year (with GREATHUNTER) and they were as good as ever."

2) XEELAND - MASTER BUILDER "An album recommended by a friend who knew exactly who the "target audience" was when he did so. Ambient, cold, atmospheric, monolithic, empiric! Some tracks are on the minimal side with droning synths over simple beats. And other tracks are even MORE on the minimal side with the same droning synths over no beats. It all shines a cold light into the nooks and crannies of my long dead soul! What fun!"

3) THE COSMIC TONES RESEARCH TRIO - S/T "Some absolutely wonderful spiritual jazz with hints of modern classical and ambient. I know nothing about this group and don't remember how they came across my radar (I enjoyed the EP they put out last year), but I do know this - if you're having an absolute shit day, this could help."

4) FAMILY MAN - SO IT GOES "I was lucky enough to catch this band when they played in Ottawa a few months ago. A crushing take on noise-punk and their live show is very confrontational in the most kind-hearted way. There's definitely some 90s noise rock vibes happening here but you're also getting the influence of all the "The Whatevers" bands from the early 2000s. Abrasive meets anthemic."

5) JONNY NASH - ONCE WAS OURS FOREVER "Not to be confused with local-to-Ottawa rocker and long-timer JOHNNY NASH! That will only register if you're from Ottawa and old. Anyways, this is very far removed from anything that rocks (despite the name - Jonny Nash sounds like a guy who looks exactly like Kenickie from Grease and plays a hollow-body guitar). Rather, this album is several pieces of guitars layered one on top of another to create some truly beautiful ambient soundscapes. Vocals are intermittent, it's mostly instrumental. Gorgeous music to get lost in."

6) SLOW CRUSH - THIRST "This is that brand of shoegaze that is for the rockers (a la WHIRR or the first couple of NOTHING albums). Which is to say it can get pretty heavy a times. But from Belgium! Crushingly beautiful. Hey, the band name is making sense!"

7) TORTOISE - TOUCH "There's not much to say about this album other than TORTOISE released a new TORTOISE album and it sound exactly like TORTOISE! Bless em!"

8) SHINER - BELIEVEYOUME "Well, SHINER decided to keep it going after 2020's SCHADENFREUDE. Me who dwells permanently within the 90s post-hardcore idiom says "thank you!"."

9) CARDIACS - LSD "Now, this is an album with an extensive backstory. CARDIACS are a band with a long and storied history, as far as progressive-punk goes. A few years ago, singer/guitarist TIM SMITH attended a MY BLOODY VALENTINE concert and, that same night, suffered a stroke. He spent many years convalescing but was also afflicted with dystonia which meant he was incapable of playing music at all. All the while, this album was in the works. Well, we lost TIM in 2020 at the age of 59 but the album did not follow him into oblivion. Rather, the extended CARDIACS family rallied to see it come to fruition (almost entirely due to the demands of the FUCKING ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN). So, TIM is all over this album but the parts that lacked his contribution are rounded out by a stupendous cast of characters, including one of my favourite musicians (and self-proclaimed CARDIACS superfan) MIKE VENNART. Anyways, backstory aside, this is a jaw-dropping collection of pop songs put through a filter of indescribably dense prog-punk psychedelia. The album ends with that familiar 4 tones familiar to those familiar with CARDIACS lore that only serves to twist the knife even further - that is to say "and so ends the final CARDIACS album - hope you enjoyed it". Well, I did. And yes, I am crying." 

10) MIDWIFE / MATT JENCIK - NEVER DIE "A truly mesmerizing collaboration between MIDWIFE (who I've been a huge fan of for a few years now) and MATT JENCIK (with whom I am not familiar - he played on one DON CABALLERO album and in the live version of SLINT, both very cool credits). The much-loved, fuzzed-out, minimal take on shoegaze shines brightly on here (that would be the MIDWIFE contribution). Near as I can tell, the MATT JENCIK side of things involve elements of a dark take on new wave and dream pop with some lo-fi ambient thrown in as well. The overall vibe is bleak and comforting at the same time. Brew a tea, sit in a comfy chair, and put this on."

11) WITCH BOLT - MARIGOLD "Well, the goddamned Youtube algorithm let me know that Dungeon Synth is a thing! After wading through some AI-generated garbage, we find a standout artist in the form of Kentucky's WITCH BOLT. Despite the funny genre tag, this is basically ambient or dark ambient, whichever you like. Very minimal and very soothing. Sad and not sad at the same time. But there is a LOT more going on than just the music. There seems to be a ton of lore behind every release, with this one in particular having an accompanying book available to order with the cassette. I've yet to dive in to the details but I do appreciate the "no-half-measures" approach that is taken here."

12) BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT - IF YOU ONLY KNEW "An absolute crusher of an EP from this Portland, Oregon based group. A fantastic blend of mellow and heavy, cycling through passages of Psych/Stoner/Doom/Shoegaze, and all very witchy to boot. Sweet RADIOHEAD cover too!" 

13) BLOOD MONOLITH - THE CALLING OF FIRE "Deathgrind for sure but more grind than death, I'd say. Except for the song lengths, which are epic by grindcore standards (almost all of them are over 3 minutes!!!). Nevertheless, this ticks a lot of my boxes when it comes to extreme metal - the big one being that it's more chaotic than unbelievably tight and precise (an approach which usually puts me to sleep). A plethora of kickass, brutal riffs are the constant shining star here. Interesting pedigree here too, members of NAILS, UNDEATH, and ULTHAR."

14) QUADE - THE FOEL TOWER "An excellent take on post-rock from these Bristol-based young men. Shades of SLINT, BARK PSYCHOSIS, MOGWAI, and the last 2 TALK TALK albums abound. Spacious, pastoral, and dreary. A good description of this album as well as the land from which they hail."

15) SNÖÖPER - WORLDWIDE "At first listen, this sounds like a pretty goofy band. And they are. But there's a whole lot going on here. Speedy hardcore meets new wave meets funk-infused post punk. The vocals keep pace with the frenetic music in such a fun and odd way - almost deadpan and over-enunciating everything. This is a band that found their sound from the get-go and are just drilling down."

16) DEFTONES - private music "Their best album since DIAMOND EYES and maybe even their best album ever. Seriously - WHITE PONY sucks and AROUND THE FUR, I listened to it a million times back in the day and it's got some killer tracks that still hold up but, overall, it just sounds half-baked to me. For some reason, this band just keeps getting better. There's at least 3 songs on here that are right up there with their very best stuff. The screamy vocals are pretty much absent and I'm okay with that. I saw them earlier this year and couldn't believe the amount of young people in attendance. A 90s band that are currently releasing their best stuff and are as relevant as ever."

17) THE BUG vs GHOST DUBS - IMPLOSION "Another beautifully dark and impenetrable slab of ambient dub from long-timer THE BUG, except this time he's going tit for tat with GHOST DUBS who serves it up just as vile and stanky. This is the soundtrack to driving throughout the urban sprawl on a dark, dismal, rainy day. Hoodies up!"

18) MOGWAI - THE BAD FIRE "I've said this before, and I'll keep saying it every time this band makes the list - when it comes to MOGWAI, I am an idiot. Totally missed the boat on them the first time around. Willfully. Like, people were practically thrusting YOUNG TEAM down my throat when it was brand new. My MR. BUNGLE addled brain had different priorities, it would seem. Lucky for me, MOGWAI have decided not to meander into sucky oblivion, as is evidenced on this album which is an amazing collection of tunes - half of which are the kind of slow, cinematic, epic post-rock we've come to expect from the band; the other half being upbeat, poppy, anthemic, and occasionally with lead vocals! A very pleasing variety of sounds."

19) DEAFHEAVEN - LONELY PEOPLE WITH POWER "One of the very few albums that also made the end-of-year lists that people actually read (look, I checked out the GEESE album, it's good and sometimes it's great but let's not lose our heads, okay?). This album basically encapsulates all the things that DEAFHEAVEN dipped their toes into throughout their past releases. It's got longer-form slow burners a la ORDINARY CORRUPT HUMAN LOVE, the ferocity of NEW BERMUDA, a few nods to the shoegaze style of INFINITE GRANITE, and the emotional weight of SUNBATHER. The final 2 songs on the album (WINONA and THE MARVELOUS ORANGE TREE) are up there with all their best stuff. In short, another super solid album from this fantastic band.

20) THE YOUNG GODS - APPEAR DISAPPEAR "Bless these Swiss men for continuing to put out quality music. It's certainly not the (sampled) guitar-forward stuff they were doing in the 80s/90s. Rather, it's deviated over the years into a sweet blend of psychedelic, electronic, ambient, cinematic...hard rock? Is that still a term? Let's bring it back."

21) THE WORLD PROVIDER - THEMES "A fantastic new album from this art-damaged, glam-infused, pop sensation! Never mind the fact that he's a good friend of mine and NEVER MIND the fact that I play guitar on the opening track! This is a stellar collection of THE WORLD PROVIDER's usual brand of catchy pop songs offset with a nice dose of less-than-typical (for him) ponderous numbers. Extroverted and introspective all at once! Ya can't lose!!!"

22) BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW - SOFT NEW MAGIC DREAM "For me, there are certain bands where to get more of the same is a gift. BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW would fall under that distinction. They've basically been releasing the same album for years and I can't get enough. I'm sure the brains behind the band (I think it's actually just one person - TOBACCO) would be totally insulted by that statement - me boiling down the blood, sweat, and tears that no doubt went into this latest release to "Oh cool, more of the same!". And for that, I do apologize. Just because these songs are interchangeable with anything off their previous 5 albums, it doesn't lessen their validity whatsoever. Gimme more of that cracked, hallucinogenic, synthesizer and vocoder worship!"

23) PROJECTOR - CONTEMPT "No idea how this band came across my radar. Probably a case of listening to an album on Spotify, said album ending, and Spotify keeping the party going by playing something similar. Which is probably a practice I should be highly critical of since I've heard tell that Spotify in particular prioritizes certain artists who pony up the required dough to jump to the front of the queue. Being that I am an active practitioner of SELECTIVE NIHILISM - I don't give a fucking shit (the same applies to why I haven't jumped ship to Tidal or whatever). So......what are we...oh right, PROJECTOR. This album is super cool. A particularly jagged take on post-punk or whatever. Some songs are total gut-punchers and others are quite laid back and beautiful. A nice variety of sounds on here. Sounds like all 3 members provide lead vocals, which provides even more variety.  Just when you think it's all blah-blah-blah tuneless spoken vocals, they hit you with a super catchy chorus. I love a super catchy chorus!"

24) NINE INCH NAILS - TRON: ARES "On one hand, this album is a bit of a step backwards when considering the last 3 major NIN releases (NOT THE ACTUAL EVENTS, ADD VIOLENCE, and BAD WITCH), all 3 of which (2 EPs and a full-length) blew me away. BAD WITCH in particular had a completely scummy and broken (not BROKEN) sound that had not been heard on any previous NIN release and scratched a certain itch for me. This album sounds a lot more like the NIN we know and have whatever feelings about them that we have. That said, I do enjoy it quite a bit. It's basically a few proper tracks with vocals and lyrics surrounded by instrumental, film-score type ditties. There is a distinct difference between this and the stuff that TRENT REZNOR and ATTICUS ROSS have been doing over the years which makes the decision to label it as a NINE INCH NAILS production make a lot of sense. It's basically your garden variety industrial, EBM type stuff which is a-okay by me. Also, the song WHO WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER is probably one of the best things T REZNOR has ever done."

25) FACS - WISH DEFENSE "A fun and enthralling amalgamation of post-punk, new wave, and noise rock. The bass plays a constant lead role with the chorus pedal almost always on. The guitar shimmers overtop, soaked in reverb. The band name is apparently a reference to the FACTORY RECORDS numbering system. This is very appropriate."

26) THE BLACK DOG - LOUD AMBIENT "An IDM collective from the UK who have been at it since the early 90s. And I only just became aware. CLASSIC Leigh Newton! Anyways, the album title pretty much says it all - it's ambient electronic over driving beats. Everything I love and want from the genre is basically contained within this album. Now to familiarize myself with the rest of their discography. * I just learned that KEN DOWNIE, the main man behind this project, passed away on December 20th of this year. What a shame."

27) MARK MOLNAR - EXO "An incredible collection of contemporary classical pieces from my super/multi-talented friend MARK MOLNAR. We played a lot of music together in the 90s, lots of it pretty goofy. This album...is nothing like that stuff. This is dark, haunting, beautiful; sometimes minimal in arrangement but always lush and dense in instrumentation. And a vinyl release on CONSTELLATION RECORDS! Way to go, MARK!"

28) VARIOUS ARTISTS - 2015-2025 LES DISQUES BONGO JOE: 10 YEARS OF SONIC EXPLORATIONS "I checked this out based on a list on Discogs. I know nothing about this record label or any of the artists contained within. This album is an extremely eclectic compilation of sounds from around the globe - funk, electro, afrobeat, jazz, fusion, and more (I may delve into the individual artists' respective catalogues at some point - a project for another day)! Anyways, it's a lot of fun and it makes you feel like a high-minded individual for having such varied taste in music. And then you can put MASTER OF PUPPETS back on, guilt-free."

29) MILKWEED - REMSC­­ÉLA "No clue how this came across my radar. This band or act or duo or whatever it is are totally weird. Seems like there's 2 of them, from the UK, self-released cassettes...fuckin A! Lo-fi, psychedelic, folky, kind of an eastern tinge at times. Lots of traditional songs set within a larger framework of messed-up sound collage type stuff. Kind of reminiscent of SUN CITY GIRLS. There can be no motivation whatsoever to make this kind of music other than the simple desire to do it. Kind of reinforces my thought that music can never be fully ruined by idiotic AI garbage."

30) DEAF CLUB - WE DEMAND A PERMANENT STATE OF HAPPINESS "A fine and dandy substitute for THE LOCUST who are still sorely missed. This stuff actually has a lot more in common with some of the other JUSTIN PEARSON / THREE ONE G stuff (SOME GIRLS, HOLY MOLAR, RETOX). If that's your jam then this is more of the same blistering shit."

31) BRANDON WARS - WALMARTYR "The once bassist/lead-vocalist for the sorely missed bass/drums, VENOM/MOTORHEAD worshipping duo FLYING FORTRESS has proven himself to be an adept at the cold-wave/new wave thing over the past few years. With his band CHOIRZ or as a solo artist like we see here on his second full-length. Synthesizer worshipping pop songs that are steeped in gratuitous effects and haunting (and sometimes detuned) vocals. Ambient explorations sandwiched between some serious bangers."

32) IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT - GOLDSTAR (NINE CLASS A TUNES) "You wouldn't expect a band playing blackened death metal to be so zany but here we are. It starts with the album title and goes from there! In and of themselves, the music and riffs are super dark and brutal. But there are also more twists and turns on here than a MR. BUNGLE album. There's also horns, deviations into some pretty unlikely genres, and some neat guest spots, including vocals from YOSHIKO OHARA of BLOODY PANDA - remember them!? They (IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT, not BLOODY PANDA) also released another full-length this year consisting entirely of piano pieces. Admittedly, I prefer this stuff but I love that they did that. It's funny, I normally don't seek this kind of super proggy metal stuff out. I generally prefer my heavy music to be one-minded to the knuckle-dragging extreme. But when it works, it WORKS! 5 gold stars!"

33) PAINKILLER - THE GREAT GOD PAN / THE EQUINOX "Time has not watered down the magic that happens when BILL LASWELL, JOHN ZORN, and MICK HARRIS join forces. 2 full-length albums released this year. The former features 2 long form pieces and is comparable to the quieter moments heard on the almighty EXECUTION GROUND. The latter contains several shorter songs driven by programmed beats, actually reminding me a little more of some of LASWELL's DIVINATION releases. That is to say, there is not a trace of the style heard on BURIED SECRETS or GUTS OF A VIRGIN - the beats are all programmed except for a brief, 10-second burst on the second track of THE GREAT GOD PAN (the only real callback to the heavier PAINKILLER moments of yore)."

34) BIG|BRAVE - OST "An extreme left-turn from this band who normally fall under the drone-doom/post-metal umbrella. This album would find them filed under the "experimental" section of the record store, or possibly "film score" since, as the album title suggests, this is basically a series of soundtrack pieces to a movie that doesn't exist. A very cool deviation and one which proves that this Montreal trio does indeed have the sensibilities for this particular musical approach. Very dark, very abstract, and toeing a perfect line between ambient and abrasive."

35) ZANE ALEXANDER - MIDREALM "Through my fondness for the synthwave thing, certain artists stuck out amongst the crowd as being ones to investigate further. This would be the case with ZANE ALEXANDER who seems to know how to inject a little emotional depth and distinctiveness into his take on the 80s synthpop worshipping thing (nothing in the 80s sounded remotely like any of this stuff). There's very little in the way of 'upbeat' going on here. This, much like the previous album discussed, sounds more like a soundtrack to a movie (or video game, more like it) that does not exist. Maybe this guy's Youtube algorithm brought him to the dungeon synth thing too!"

36) DISEMBODIMENT - SPIRAL CRYPTS "So, here's the thing - Quebec LOVES death metal. And any kind of metal. And prog too. But death metal for sure! I came across this Sherbrooke quartet by happenstance and am so glad that I did because the serve it up just the way I like it! Old school, brutal death metal, just like momma used to make! On her Charvel guitar through a Peavy Bandit! No. But yeah, this is DM for the old dads, including the cartoony cover art and knuckle-dragger riffs. And some keyboard parts to boot which sound like they were played on a Casio. Can I borrow it?"

37) SWANS - BIRTHING "A continuation of the musical explorations SWANS have been delving into ever since their "comeback" in 2010. That being a melting pot of all the drastically different musical approaches they've taken over the years. The apocalyptic sounds of COP or PUBLIC CASTRASTION IS A GOOD IDEA are absent, but the intensity of those albums is very much present, albeit in a much different cadence. Likewise, the pop/folk sounds of THE BURNING WORLD are not featured but traces of them can be heard (if you squint...with your ears). In short, this is art-rock to the extreme. And, in not short at all, this album is 2 hours long. So be sure to block out an afternoon before throwing this on."

38) FULL OF HELL - BROKEN SWORD, ROTTEN SHIELD "A compact EP featuring 7 songs in 15 minutes. This release encompasses what makes FULL OF HELL such a special band within the grindcore genre. Much of their diversity is captured here - hyperspeed grindcore, mid-tempo metal, sludgy doom, industrial noise. It's not their best offering by any stretch. Rather, it's a solid selection of tunes to tide us over until the next major release. These guys do not let much time go by between releases - they are consistently putting out some seriously solid work into the extreme metal world."

39) RITCHOT TEXTILES - ii "A super cool EP from a band about whom I know nothing. They are from Vancouver and the 3 members also play in a band called BLESSED who are pretty cool. Anyways, this is a saucy mix of synthesizer-heavy post-punk with driving beats and distorted bass pushing everything along. The requisite dissonant guitar lines are here too. The vocals are haunting and reverb-soaked which blends well with the aggressive music. I enjoy this."

40) DEAD HAND - NERO "Another release from a band I know nothing about (and not for lack of trying either). This came to my attention via a paid ad on Instagram, of all places. Through a bit of detective work, I can confidently say that they are...German. All that to say, who cares. This stuff is super sludgey doom metal with some nice clean(ish) vocals overtop. Very reminiscent of ELECTRIC WIZARD circa DOPETHRONE. Nothing wrong with that!"

41) HELL - SUBMERSUS "A one-man doom metal project? You bet I can get on board with that! And when I say doom, I mean DOOOOOOOOM! This stuff is steeped in grim. Slow, sludgey, abyssal, glacial, all the stupid words. There's some nice, quiet moments of introspection to give the listener a break from being crushed into a fine powder. The production value definitely has a lo-fi/DIY quality and yet there is still a ton of weight behind it. The man behind HELL also releases drastically different sounding stuff (ambient, classical) under different monikers. A very intriguing artist!"

42) XIAO - CONTROL "Swedish hardcore that is brutal, ugly, and pissed off. A fine and dandy replacement for that band GEL who took a great big poop this year."

HONOURABLE MENTIONS - YOUNG WIDOWS, MEN I TRUST, BURIAL WAVES, AGRICULTURE, SACRIFICE, rROXYMORE, OKKYUNG LEE, PANOPTICON, MODEL/ACTRIZ, SLEEPYHEAD, IRON LUNG, METH LEPPARD, MIEN, MELVINS, FILMMAKER, RWAKE, BOB MOULD

SHUDDER TO THINK released a banger of a 2-song single this year, looking forward to the full-length! I have a ticket to see NIN in February. That should be fun. Here's some bands I checked out in 2025 that did not release new music but were relatively new to me - OCEANSIZE (my new favourite band, basically), RESTORATIONS, HALA STRANA, THE BUDOS BAND, UNCOMMON NASA, FLOATING POINTS, BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE, PAUL HORN, THE BLUE NILE, PART CHIMP, SIERSC, SLIM AND POPULAR, SCIENTIST, NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS (yes, finally, shut up). Happy new year!

MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2024

As always, I'll begin with the personal highlights from the past year (the musical ones)...

THE SUN THROUGH A TELESCOPE - I managed to release some new music this year, that being the A CHASM / TURN ON YOUR LIGHT single. I thought I'd also get a full-length album in under the wire before the year was out but I just missed it. Anyways, the release is literally days away so stay tuned for that.

GREATHUNTER - We released the MOON single and re-released an updated mix of THE LONG HOLIDAY along with a remix of said song (done by me). Lots of works in progress as well, much of which should see the light of day in 2025 (I probably said the same thing about the same songs last year).

PALLBEARER INDUSTRY - The incredible WE, HERE AND NOW! label went WAY above and beyond by putting out a vinyl release of LIVE AT OTTAWA PSYCHFEST III 2023 (our set from last year's Ottawa Psychfest, in case that wasn't obvious). No gigs this year but hopefully we'll get a chance to hit the stage soon.

COASTAL PIGS - Pretty quiet year for us but we jammed off and on, hopefully we can get some momentum going again.

Myself and BLAKE aka NECROBURGER (of WORLD WAR 4) have been jamming on some sweet death metal riffs of his. Hopefully this will develop into some kind of "band" or "group" or "combo" at some point.

Another great year for concerts/gigs/shows! OTOBOKE BEAVER, COLIN STETSON & FUJITA, NECROT, SOUL GLO, EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY, THE WAR ON DRUGS & THE NATIONAL, KEN MODE, FULL OF HELL & BETTERS LOVERS, and ZEAL & ARDOR

And here are the albums that came out in 2024 that I enjoyed the most (in no particular order):

1) FULL OF HELL - COAGULATED BLISS "These guys just refuse to stop bringing it. And while I always appreciate their past albums being wall-to-wall grindcore noise with the occasional track deviating from this formula to introduce some variety - THIS album sees them making variety the name of the game! Oh sure, the brutal grindcore tunes are here in full force (I'd like to give a special mention to drummer DAVID BLAND's embracing of the old school MICK HARRIS style blast beat). But we also get treated to a nifty cross section of heavy music within the 12 tunes that make up this album (doom, industrial, post-metal, avant garde, and more). And at 25 minutes, these guys know how to NOT overstay their welcome! Keep it coming, fellas! *they also released a second full-length this year SCRAPING THE DEVINE which sees them collaborating with several industrial/noise musicians (mainly ANDREW NOLAN but JUSTIN BROADRICK is also in there) and it is also awesome."

2) ORANSSI PAZUZU - MUUNTAUTUJA "I'm so glad one of the weirdest bands in heavy music has chosen to rear its collective weirdo head again. I was super into this Finnish quintet's 2020 album MESTARIN KYNSI (I should probably work backwards from this album at some point - they've got a ton of releases!) and this one is no less of a devastating mish-mash of styles and moods. This is relentless fever dream music that leans heavily on distorted bass and incongruous keyboard/synth parts. The production is wild too - pretty slick but also way over the top at times, pushing the needles far into overdriven chaos. I have no idea what the songs are about. Probably something not very nice."

3) THE CURE - SONGS OF A LOST WORLD "Thank God they finally stopped messing around and put this album out (it had been sitting in the barn for a few years, I guess). They included a handful of songs from it in their set when I saw them last year and I was completely blown away at how good those songs sounded. This is basically DISINTEGRATION meets HEAD ON THE DOOR meets BLOODFLOWERS. Beautiful songs that take their time to develop. Every song is memorable in one way or another. And how is it that ROBERT SMITH sounds exactly the same as he did in the 80s? It's fucking unbelievable. I honestly think this album stands up with some of their best material. Well done, old guys."

4) ZEAL & ARDOR - GREIF "Probably the album I listened to the most this year. Kind of funny because my initial reaction upon hearing it was a little bit let down - I was super into their last self-titled release and felt like this one was slightly worse in every way. However, something about it made it impossible to dismiss. Repeated listens saw my appreciation for it grow to a point where I now think it's maybe their best one yet. Also funny that the first time I saw them (opening for DEAFHEAVEN and BARONESS a few years ago) my impression of them was "yeah, good not great". Cut to last month, got to see them again - easily the best show I'd seen all year. Probably in my top-10 best shows of all time! So yeah, I dig this."

5) BETTER LOVERS - HIGHLY IRRESPONSIBLE "This one kind of snuck up on me. I had tickets to see them and FULL OF HELL (the band I was really going to see [they did end up being the best band of the night]) with BETTER LOVERS being an added bonus (I liked the EP they'd put out last year). This new one came out leading up to the show so I figured I'd better check it out beforehand. And DAMN! This is a BURNER! Heavier than hell and a lot of fun. The band is made up of the singer from DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN (GREG P, not DMITRI M) and most of EVERY TIME I DIE and that's pretty much what you get. The best elements of late-90s metalcore/mathcore but coming from a group of seasoned musicians who've been at it for the past 20 years or so. Having said that - LOTS of breakdowns. Love it."

6) MIDWIFE - NO DEPRESSION IN HEAVEN "Ugh! Get outta here with this stuff! Too good, too sad, too achingly beautiful! Minimal, atmospheric, lo-fi...it's funny, these songs would work equally well as tight-knit indie rock or all-out post-metal. As they are, it is a very extreme version of shoegaze. KILLDOZER is the top track on here - kind of reminds me of the BREEDERS first album a little bit."

7) DIIV - FROG IN BOILING WATER "I've been vaguely aware of this band's existence for a little bit but never thought to check them out. I'm glad I was urged to by a friend of mine because this album ticks a ton of boxes at once! Shoegaze, check! 90s, check! ......okay, two boxes! Still, this stuff is both amazingly catchy and super weird - a nice combo when you can get it! Definitely in the same vain as the semi-current crop of the more "rockin" shoegaze bands (NOTHING, WHIRR, GLEEMER, etc) but, like I said, there's more at play here. Very odd chord progressions that shouldn't work until the vocals come in, which turn them into the catchiest pop songs you've ever heard. Getting some FAILURE and MEDICINE vibes from this album as well (90s)."

8) ANCIENT TEETH - HUMANIZER "This band's debut album (last year's DEATHBED) snuck up on me and totally blew me away. This one is more of the same good stuff. Somewhat 90s, somewhat grungy, somewhat shoegazing, a little bit of post-hardcore thrown in as well. Great hooks and great vocals. Great!"

9) BIG BRAVE - A CHAOS OF FLOWERS "And another band who put out an album last year (NATURE MORTE) which knocked my socks off. And another case of "more of the same good stuff". Actually, one major change here - ALL clean vocals this time out. Which is surprising since vocalist/guitarist ROBIN WATTIE has an incredible voice for screaming. But an equally incredible voice for singing so no complaints from me. I must try and apply myself a little harder in 2025 to actually catch this band live (they're from Montreal after all, can't be that hard). I'm thinking it'll bury the intensity needle. Anyways, this is atmospheric, experimental doom metal or post-metal or something and it rules."

10) THE BUG - MACHINE I-V "KEVIN MARTIN has been on my radar ever since I was bowled over circa 1994 by the album ANATOMY OF ADDICTION by his then project GOD (heavy involvement by JUSTIN BROADRICK on that album). On and off my radar, more like it. I really dig some of his stuff and some just isn't for me (which is not to say it isn't all great or worthwhile, just a preference thing). So glad it occurred to me to check in with his latest output because this collection of EPs or whatever it is (5 separate releases compiled onto a compilation) is just right up my alley. Dark and ugly ambient dub. Heavy on the atmosphere. Nightmare chillout music for a dystopian future."

11) ALCEST - LES CHANTS DE L'AURORE "Uplifting shoegazing black metal, innit?! From FRANCE! The main guy in the band named himself NEIGE! That's french for snow. What are you waiting for!??!"

12) BLOOD INCANTATION - ABSOLUTE ELSEWHERE "This death metal band has been piquing everyone's interest for a few years now. Not least of how by releasing a fully ambient synthesizer album a couple of years ago (we're talking no guitars, no drums, no vocals). There's clearly more at play here than your typical death metal offering. On their latest album, they decide to go all-in on the diversity. This is pure death metal one minute and PINK FLOYD the next. This kind of variety is prevalent throughout the album (death metal, post-metal, psychedelic, prog rock, and back to death metal) and it could be an absolute mess but these guys know just how to rein it in."

13) REZN - BURDEN "I decided to check in with the latest offerings from SARGENT HOUSE (a record label with an extremely high level of excellent output) and discovered this band. They've been putting stuff out since 2017, this album being their first SARGENT HOUSE release, and ALL unbeknownst to me. This is doom metal with strong doses of spacey psychedelic derivations. Almost like a much darker (all male) version of HELMS ALEE (another SARGENT HOUSE band). Very cool indeed."

14) THOU - UMBILICAL "Oh THOU. Will you ever end up letting us down? Not for the foreseeable future, it would seem. One never knows what one will get on any given THOU release. Could be super heavy, could be super mellow, and it could be all BLACK SABBATH covers (okay, that happened once and probably never again)! In this case, it is pure sludge metal delivered with a magnum dose of intensity. Thank you, THOU!"

15) JON HOPKINS - RITUAL "Came across this completely randomly thanks to our friend The Internet. This guy has been active for about 25 years, tons of albums, soundtrack/film score stuff, lots of collaborations. I'm sure I'll do some digging into that stuff cuz I really like what I hear on this album. It's a little similar to the film and television score stuff that TRENT REZNOR and ATTICUS ROSS have been doing as of late (which I'm also super into) albeit with an almost complete absence of the cold/dark vibes. One song flows into the next, making everything a bit of an aural journey as one mood transitions into another. This is lovely, dreamy, atmospheric, electronic, ambient explorations is what it is."

16) SLEEPYHEAD - GJENFØDELSE "Another happenstance discovery. Don't really know anything about this other than it's UK based (but the song titles and lyrics are in Norwegian), possibly one person or maybe 2 or maybe one person collaborating with others? Who cares! It's fantastic. Basically, super dreamy post-rock traversing the SELECTED AMBIENT WORKS VOLUME 2 dimension."

17) MOLDER - CATASTROPHIC RECONFIGURATION "Now this is my kind of death metal. Ugly, brutal, and straight to the point. Some serious DEATH - LEPROSY vibes! Very old school (like me)."

18) NALA SINEPHRO - ENDLESSNESS "Discovered this at the same time as the JON HOPKINS and SLEEPYHEAD releases (trolling the internet for current ambient releases). Another artist I know nothing about but I'll definitely be paying attention moving forward. This is laid back funky jazz (or jazzy funk) interwoven with ambient electronic music. You're either in or you're out, based on that description."

19) CHAT PILE - COOL WORLD "This is yet another CHAT PILE album that sees CHAT PILE doing their thing with pumping noise rock through a weird 80s new wave/cold wave filter. There's some grunge in there, some sludge metal. More of the same great stuff, in other words. I have to give extra props to the vocalist for keeping things interesting. Not easy when you only have a few things in your arsenal (screaming/yelling/rambling) but this guy really knows how to make things memorable! His name is RAYGUN BUSCH."

20) TYCHO - INFINITE HEALTH "Awesome, ambient, instrumental post-rock from these guys (or this guy - it was a solo project but I think it's been a band for a while). A sweet blend of electronic and analogue instruments. Like a more upbeat, less weird version of BOARDS OF CANADA."

21) JORDY WALKER - GIFTED WITH FICTION "JORDY and I played music together throughout high school. Even back then, he was a gifted musician and songwriter. My knowledge of musical theory is very limited but, what little I have can be traced back to our experiences playing and writing music together. I'm excited that JORDY has released some of his music again, especially since it's really good. It has, of course, evolved leaps and bounds since the 90s. And yet, I can hear traces of those formative days in there. YOU ARE A WILD ANIMAL is the top track on here."

22) JK FLESH - PI11 "Ugly, minimal dub care of JUSTIN BROADRICK. Very much in the same vain as the previously praised THE BUG album (unsurprising as, like I said, there is a connection there). So, basically everything good that I had to say about THE BUG album also applies here."

23) GLEEMER - END OF THE NAIL "Their last full-length (2020's DOWN THROUGH) really knocked me out. After not having listened to them for quite some time, I decided to check in on any GLEEMER updates (right after I namechecked them in the DIIV writeup within this post), only to discover that they had released their new album that very day!!! How's that for serendipitous? What I was hoping for was another collection of GLEEMER sounding songs (ie: dreamy indie rock/shoegaze) and that's exactly what I got. No complaints!"

24) CHOIRZ - ECDYSIS "An excellent EP of coldwave/darkwave bangers. This group features BRANDON WARS who used to front the amazing FLYING FORTRESS as both lead vocalist and lead bassist. He's been doing the CHOIRZ thing for a few years now and it is amazing to hear his amazingly catchy songwriting skills within a totally different cadence than his previous stoner/doom outfit."

25) THE SMILE - CUTOUTS "This is the second of 2 albums released this year by THE SMILE - the first being WALL OF EYES. While I did enjoy the former (not overly), for some reason, CUTOUTS is much better. An awesome blend of everything I enjoy about this band with many standout tracks. And again, both of these albums are essentially RADIOHEAD albums in all but name (and a few missing band members)."

HONOURABLE MENTIONS - REDD KROSS, EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN, THE JESUS LIZARD, MELVINS, DARKTHRONE, MELT-BANANA, MOUSE ON MARS, JAPANDROIDS, UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS, SUMAC, J MASCIS, HIGH ON FIRE, METZ, NECROT, CROSS DOG, THE COSMIC TONES RESEARCH TRIO, UNIFORM, PISSED JEANS, CELL PRESS, ACXDC, SQUAREPUSHER, IDAHO, ZOMBI, AMEN DUNES

My "honourable mentions" contains quite a few bands that have blown me right away at some point or another (MELVINS, SQUAREPUSHER, JESUS LIZARD, DARKTHRONE, MELT-BANANA, and more!). Ya can't stay on top forever, right? But all of those bands continue to keep the fire burning and we love them for it. Speaking of older music, here's some older stuff I enjoyed for the first time this past year - THE BLACK DOG, SUSUMU YOKOTA, LUDICHRIST, LOS JAIVAS, VOX DEI, THE POP GROUP, PYLON, HIGH RISE, INDEX, SHOP ASSISTANTS. I dig music!

MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2023

It's 2024 now! Here are some personal musical highlights from last year:

GREATHUNTER shook up our live lineup a little bit with the addition of a new vocalist and new guitarist. We played many shows throughout the year. A new song will be available January 26th with many more new recordings in the works as we speak!

PALLBEARER INDUSTRY released our 3rd full-length ANTARCTICA RISING and, with MASSIVE support from Canadian Label WE, HERE, NOW; American label ECHODELICK; and UK label UP IN HER ROOM - this album saw a physical release on vinyl. WE, HERE, NOW also did a cassette release called ALIVE IN THE MILLS which compiles some of our "live in the jam room" moments, as well as some unreleased studio tracks. We played a couple of shows as well, one being a sweet spot on night two of JOHN WESTSHAVER's PSYCHFEST! An awesome night indeed! Much more to come in 2024.

COASTAL PIGS put out our second full-length album GLASS CRIME TERROR. An album comprising several years of recording sessions. Awesome to finally get it out there. We hope to hit the stage again in 2024.

CELLAR made our live debut a couple of times this year. Really fun to blast that stuff out. I survived (somehow).

HAMN played a show.

Nothing new from THE SUN THROUGH A TELESCOPE but many new songs in the works with a full-length to be released....sometime prior to December 31st of this year.

2023 also proved to be an excellent year for seeing some amazing concerts and gigs. To name a few - SKINNY PUPPY (final tour), BRUTUS (in New York City), THE CURE, THE WAR ON DRUGS, THE SMILE, MR. BUNGLE, IGGY POP, GODFLESH, CLAUDIO SIMMONETI'S GOBLIN (performing the SUSPIRIA score along with the movie), BOTCH + CONVERGE + CAVE IN (in Boston), and hometown heroes FUCK THE FACTS!

Anyways, here's all the music I loved that came out last year. As always, in no particular order:

1) KEN mode - VOID "More unrelenting ugliness and biting sarcasm from one of Canada's finest. As per usual, it's the reliable JESUS LIZARD-through-a-MELVINS-filter vibe being augmented by some excellent deviations - this time out: speedy hardcore, post-punk, and seldom-heard cleanly-sung vocals. But again, the core elements are here in full force and I find it fascinating that, while obviously they've evolved and improved over the years, they basically figured out the sound of the band from the very start. That's pretty damn cool."

2) OOZING WOUND - WE CATER TO COWARDS "This is one of those 'Ah Christ, why didn't I think of that?!?' albums. The ideas are simple enough and never really break any new ground but still manage to sound totally fresh. These guys have been pretty grindy in the past but on this release, they're tapping deep into the pre-NEVERMIND grunge vibe. Lots of TAD/BLEACH flavours to be had. The grindcore sound rears its head here and there as well."

3) FULL OF HELL / PRIMITIVE MAN - SUFFOCATING HALLUCINATION "An excellent collaboration yielding some truly murky results. Both bands have proven themselves to be absolutely relentless within their respective realms of extreme music. Melding all these elements together makes perfect sense. Grindcore meets sludge with some real tasty passages of super dark droning ambience. Nice and compact at 5 songs too! Not a wasted moment!"

4) ANCIENT TEETH - DEATHBED "Infectiously catchy grungegazing 90s style shit from a bunch of oldsters like myself. The bassist is JAHMEEL RUSSELL who used to play with KITTENS (and KEN mode). Also, the dreadlock guy from MONEEN is in there. Speaking of KEN mode, JESSE MATTHEWSON was bigging this album up when it came out, which is how I happened upon it. Probably listened to this album more than anything else this year (ie: more than twice)."

5) BIG BRAVE - NATURE MORTE "Some crushingly heavy stuff from this Montreal trio. I loved their last album and this one is just as good. Not a lot of riffing going on here, just huge and brutal chords. But really, it's the vocals that make this band exceptional. Beautiful and desperate. Often walking a tightrope between a lovely melody and a guttural scream. Bleak."

6) KHANATE - TO BE CRUEL "I'm sure everyone, like myself, assumed these guys were done for good years ago. So, another release from this band is an absolute gift. And the many intervening years have only served to season the respective players in their collective approach to space and emptiness. The restraint these terrifying men show is unreal. Which makes it all the more effective when everything lets loose. The ugliest sound imaginable to come from your basic 'rock band' setup. The beats and the riffs are few and far between. Mostly claustrophobic atmosphere. Bleaker."

7) GODFLESH - PURGE "It's pretty rare that a year will go by without JUSTIN BROADRICK making the list in one form or another (or several). Here, he seems to be reacquainting himself with his love of old school hip-hop, much the same way as these elements seeped into 1992's PURE. Music for ugly, greying dads to dance to. GODFLESH are a beautiful and special band and we are very fortunate that their story isn't finished yet. I had the good fortune of finally seeing them live for the first time earlier this year. The fact that the 24 hours leading up to the show involved circumstances that left me mentally and emotionally shattered and left my not being able to attend the show a serious possibility right up until the last minute made it that much more of an incredible and cathartic experience." 

8) EMPIRE STATE BASTARD - RIVERS OF HERESY "Another album that I gave multiple spins over the course of the year. This is some kind of BIFFY CLYRO (I've never heard a note from this band) side-project that also features DAVE LOMBARDO on drums. It is some iteration of metal or hardcore but with different elements of noise and indie rock creeping in here and there. It is, at times, very beautiful and, at other times, like applying acid to one's eardrums. Having said that, I'm still not sure I'll ever check out BIFFY CLYRO."

9) JAMES PLOTKIN - THAESEA "JAMES PLOTKIN has been teasing this project, in a way, for a while now via  his many IG posts that show him to have taken a serious deep dive into the word of modular synthesizers. Each post would leave me hypnotized with the amazing sounds squeaking out of my stupid little phone speaker. Suffice to say, when he announced a DOUBLE ALBUM full of these modular explorations, I made a purchase sight-unseen (or sound-unheard). So, what you get is almost 3 hours of squelchy electro-industrial goodness. Absolute ear candy for the likes of me."

10) CEVIN KEY - BRAP & FORTH VOLUME 9 "My one and only Patreon subscription belongs to this man and it pays for itself time and time again. CEVIN has got to be THE most generous musician out there when it comes to fan service. Case and point - I've been privy to the early SKINNY PUPPY demos that make up this release for couple of years now. It only made sense to compile them into yet another BRAP & FORTH compilation and I'm super glad he did it. The seeds of REMISSION and BITES are all over this stuff. Fascinating for a die-hard SP fan and probably pretty enjoyable even if you're not."

11) THEY GRIEVE - TO WHICH I BORE WITNESS "Ottawa's finest example of crushingly heavy drone-doom. This duo just keep getting better and better. An excellent blend of sluggishly slow riffs and beautiful ambient passages. Props have to be given to TOPON DAS who recorded, engineered, and mastered the album. He knows how to turn anything into a full-on aural assault."

12) LOUD AS GIANTS - EMPTY HOMES "As I said, it's rare that ole JK BROADRICK will only make one appearance on my end-of-year list. This project sees him collaborating with DIRK SERRIES (real name of VIDNA OBMANA) on some truly beautiful, ambient soundscapes. This basically sounds like the more uplifting side of JESU with all the vocals and heavy guitars stripped away. I like it - it's good."

13) SLOWDIVE - EVERYTHING IS ALIVE "An incredibly strong late-career release from this band which I know next to nothing about. They are one of the classic shoegaze bands from back in the day. That's about the extent of my knowledge of them. Anyway, who cares. This album is damned enjoyable! Why can't more bands stay consistently good decades after their inception? Is it that hard? It probably is. For LOSERS!"

14) THE BLOOD OF HEROES - NINE CITIES "The third full-length from this collective of producers, musicians, DJs, etc. after an 11-year gap. The first album had some involvement from BILL LASWELL (which may have been how I first became aware of this project). No sign of him here but most of the other constant contributors are present - SUBMERGED, DR. ISRAEL, ENDUSER, and JUSTIN BROADRICK (there he is again) along with a longer list of newer contributors. Cool mix of dub, electro, industrial, dancehall, drum n bass, ambient, etc. Lots of awesome flavours."

15) SPIRIT POSSESSION - OF THE SIGN... "A fun mix of first-wave black metal (these guys have the CELTIC FROST thing down pat - there's no shortage of 'UGH!!!!' to be had on here), second-wave black metal, and a variety of other sounds for seasoning. All from a band consisting of only 2 members (I assume there's a DARKTHRONE type dynamic happening here as far as who plays which instrument)! The vocals are constantly drenched in delay which adds a chaotic element that you don't often hear in metal. I love the dry production too. The drums sound like DRUMS (not a typewriter)."

16) MIDWIFE & VYVA MELINKOLYA - ORBWEAVING "A tasty little something from the FLENSER label. This is shoegaze taken to a pretty extreme level. Drums/beats are few and far between. Every vocal sounds like it's coming through a dying kitchen radio. Songs consist of 1 or 2 parts/lyrics repeated over and over for 5 - 12 minutes apiece. Very cool, very soothing, almost mesmerizing. The shoegaze equivalent of  WILLIAM BASINSKI's THE DISINTEGRATION LOOPS? Sure, why not?!"

17) GEL - ONLY CONSTANT "I love this style of latter-day hardcore that just never lets up with the bulldozing. GEL do it exactly right. Compact songs chock-a-block with brutal riffs and excellent, pissed-off vocals overtop. It's no surprise this band is gaining some serious ground these days. They get it!"

18) THE PSYCHOTIC MONKS - PINK COLOUR SURGERY "I allllmost passed this band by due to their TERRIBLE name. My friend sent me their KEXP performance and I was hovering over the X button to close the window when the bass synth line from CRASH kicked in and got my strict attention. From there, it was a buffet of post-punk, post-rock, electro-industrial, artsy-fartsy, foo foo Frenchy fun! There's something for everyone here - whether you're a fan of THE JESUS LIZARD or DEUTSCH AMERIKANISCHE FREUNDSCHAFT!!! Ya just can't lose!"

19) TEENAGE WRIST - STILL LOVE "By all rights, I should hate these dorks. I probably would if I spotted them walking down the street. But damn if they don't know how to write a catchy tune! All set within a grunge-gazing cadence that is sure to put the hook right into Mr. Leigh Newton! Thanks fellas, I appreciate it."

20) THE DIRTY NIL - FREE REIN TO PASSIONS "All of the above basically applies to this album too. Additionally, I was in no hurry to check it out as their previous album was a HUGE letdown for me. Fortunately, they figured out how to bring it again. And nobody's perfect. All is forgiven."

21) BORIS / UNIFORM - BRIGHT NEW DISEASE "I never would have put these 2 bands together but it made perfect sense from the first note! UNIFORM's guttural noise rock blends perfectly with BORIS (in full on stoner/doom mode, that is). It's almost like flicking a switch between the 2 bands several times within each song. Also, I lied - BORIS isn't fully in stoner/doom mode here. There are a couple of excellent poppy/electro moments on here, complete with super catchy vocal hooks to really lift things up."

22) KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD - PETRODRAGONIC APOCALYPSE; OR, DAWN OF ETERNAL NIGHT: AN ANNIHILATION OF PLANET EARTH AND THE BEGINNING OF MERCILESS DAMNATION "Now that's a friggin' album title! Unsurprisingly, this is KG in heavy metal mode. No matter what style of music these guys put their hands to, however disparate, they manage to enliven the proceedings in a very unique way (ie: super-proggy, so-good-they-actually-piss-me-off). Lots of speedy, razor-sharp riffs flying around on here. Lots of cool, shout-along choruses too (GILA! GILA! GILA! MONSTER! WOO!!!). Excellent!"

23) JEREMIAH CHIU - IN ELECTRIC TIME "This release kind of came out of nowhere. Basically the result of Spotify playing similar music to the album I had been listening to once it ended. A collection of incredibly tasty improvisations utilizing a collection of vintage synthesizers at some crazy synthesizer museum in LA. It basically sounds like if APHEX TWIN spent a day conducting the 1960s era BBC orchestra."

24) ANDRE 3000 - NEW BLUE SUN "Okay, this was an absolute shocker to me and I can only assume I'm not alone here. Nothing against the guy or his music at all but my gut reaction to 'you should check out the new ANDRE 3000 album!' is almost always gonna be 'pass'. 'Hey Ya' is great and everything but, what do I care? However, when someone says 'you should check out ANDRE 3000's new FLUTE album!'.....okay, sure. Even at that, I was expecting it to still be at least remotely in the realm of a rap album. But no, this is full-on instrumental, experimental jazz a la ALICE COLTRANE or HERBIE HANCOCK* (*70s) with not one vocal to be found and only 2 of the 8 songs clocking in at under 10 minutes. Some seriously enjoyable sounds with layers upon layers of instruments, all played very freely (I'm assuming a lot of improvisation took place). A ballsy move, to say the least! Well done, Mr. 3000."

25) DAVE LOMBARDO - RITES OF PERCUSSION "A very cool album from a drummer who is so much more than your average thrash metal musician. As fantastic as some of his drumming is on the early SLAYER albums (the overplaying in the choruses of the song Seasons in the Abyss is beyond ridiculous), I think it was when he started playing with FANTOMAS, BLADERUNNER, and DJ SPOOKY (to name a few) that his drumming really started to develop. This album is most likely the end result of the wide variety of artists he's been playing with over the past couple of decades. It's basically the soundtrack to a non-existent movie. Heavy on the percussion, sure, but lots of other elements at play here. It almost comes off like a darker version of MARTIN DENNY style 'exotica'."

26) FULL OF HELL / NOTHING - WHEN NO BIRDS SING "An awesome melding of 2 fantastic bands who sound nothing alike. And yet, in many indirect ways...they do? Shoegaze meets grindcore? You betcha! This is beauty and brutality constantly vying for attention. Nice and compact at 6 songs, all within the 5 minute range. Every tune is a standout! Great!"

27) VERSTÄRKER - JENSEITS "Oh cool! A German band with a German name doing a modern take on classic German motorik....oh, they're from Kentucky. Cool. But seriously folks, this album rips. These Kentucky boys have got it! Excellent, spaced-out, droned-out jams. Love the production too. It sounds like they're all playing in a giant room together. Are we sure they aren't German?"

28) FIDDLEHEAD - DEATH IS NOTHING TO US "I guess you'd call this hardcore or maybe even emo, I'm not too sure. It's extremely catchy and very 'from the heart'. I found myself constantly coming back to this album. So many memorable parts that I wanted to hear again and again. Boston band, described as a 'supergroup', which probably means a few or all of them were in PIEBALD at some point."

29) SLOW WHITE FALL - FLOOD "This came out on JUSTIN BROADRICK'S AVALANCHE RECORDS label so I was more than inclined to give it a shot. He is the man, after all. Glad I did because this is a fantastic release that ticks many different boxes all at once. Industrial, ambient, experimental, post-punk, even some metallic elements here and there! Some dark and aggressive stuff counterpointed by spacious textures of gorgeous drones. Rock on!!!"

HONOURABLE MENTIONS - FANGE, GREAT FALLS, WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, TIM HECKER, MUTOID MAN, BARONESS, BETTER LOVERS, TEENAGE DAZE

I believe I talked shit about THE SMILE in last year's sign-off. Well, I was dead wrong. Their album is fantastic and they were amazing to see live. Whoopsies. If I would have heard the most recent OTOBOKE BEAVER album when it came out last year, it definitely would have topped my list. Looking forward to seeing them in Montreal in a few months. I finally managed to delve into some bands that were on my "permanent backburner" - YO LA TENGO, GALAXIE 500, KRAFTWERK, WIPERS, WIRE. Every single thing is available at all times so there's no excuse. Happy new year!

MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2022

2022 is over and it is now 2023. I got to play a LOT more music in 2022 than I did in 2021! Here's what I did:

As THE SUN THROUGH A TELESCOPE, I put out the TORTOISE worshipping 2-song single FORM which I'm still pretty happy with (3 months later - that's usually enough gestation time to go from "like" to "loathe" so a good sign there). Check it out HERE!

My dream-pop/indie rock band GREATHUNTER finally managed to release our 2nd album ROAMER which we are also quite pleased with! Not only that, but the standalone track THE THINNING OF THE VEIL, as well as a contribution to the first edition of the OTTAWA GATINEAU COMPILATION SERIES (cofounded by GREATHUNTER's own Andrew Grosvenor). Check out some GH music HERE and the compilation HERE!

The punk/hardcore band CELLAR which was started up last year put out the RUBY EP this year. 5 songs in about 10 minutes! Ya can't say no to that! Check it out HERE!

PALLBEARER INDUSTRY managed to be the most prolific of my bands again this year with UNDEAD ANXIETY (our second full-length release), OVER THE CREST / ECLIPSE INAUGERATION (a 2-songer), and a live recording of our very first show! Said show was also my first time back on the stage since the pandemic (it would have been with GREATHUNTER but I managed to get Covid a week before the show). Awesome to be playing live again and especially with my fellow PI bandmates, both of whom I haven't shared a stage with since high school! Surreal! Check out some PALLBEARER INDUSTRY music HERE!

2023 promises to see some activity from COASTAL PIGS (we have a great many recordings in the can which we will surely release this year.....surely!), HAMN (we have a show booked in June!), and SOME kind of iteration of WORLD WAR 4 (whatever it is, it'll be less thrashy and more death metally). And more from the aforementioned bands as well.

But enough about me! Here are my favourite releases of 2022! As always, in no particular order:

 1) BORIS - W / HEAVY ROCKS "As far as W goes...well, their last album 'NO' was a full-on hardcore/sludgefest so, naturally, the only way to follow that up is....incredibly abstract, minimal, and (mostly) very mellow post-rock? Sure! This stuff is quite textured with many disparate parts working against each other, or at least they should. Lots of Wata vocals too (does that explain the album title?). You think you're gonna remain in this one sonic realm...and then the crushingly heavy guitars come in (not til track 5 though). 

And then we get HEAVY ROCKS (the 3rd time they've used this as an album title). Sounds like doom/hardcore/crust-punk being played by a garage band. Fuckin awesome. I tend to enjoy everything this band puts out."

2) BIOSPHERE - SHORTWAVE MEMORIES "I became aware of this Norwegian fellow through his collabs with HIGHER INTELLIGENCE AGENCY many a moon ago. Sadly, I keep forgetting to check in with his musical output. Before I know it, years have gone by and I've got some serious catching up to do. Glad I caught wind of this release in the moment because it's just lovely. An excellent blend of ambient, dub-techno, and downtempo groovy beats - all seamlessly blending together from track to track. It's a real journey!"

3) BLOOD INCANTATION - TIMEWAVE ZERO " What's that you say? A pretty cool death metal band has put out an entirely ambient album? You're talking wall-to-wall synths with nary a crunchy guitar chord in sight? You can bet your sweet bippy I'm on board with that! We're talking TANGERINE DREAM type ambience. Real analogue synth, 70s flavours (it really comes as no surprise if you've seen their episode of "What's In My Bag" - holy, what a bunch of NERDS!!!! [I love it]). And, when their next release (which will almost certainly be a return to straight up death metal) is available, I'll be checking that out too because they're pretty damn good at that stuff as well."

4) SOUL GLO - DIASPORA PROBLEMS "If RUN THE JEWELS were a fiery hardcore band, it would sound like this. It's breakneck punk one minute, lo-fi hip-hop the next. A bit of grindcore thrown in for good measure, some dirty soul with dirty horns. Awesome mish-mash of awesomeness!"

5) VOIVOD - SYNCHRO ANARCHY "Easily my favourite of the 80s French-Canadian sci-fi tech/thrash bands! Not to mention one station of the cross that is the Holy Trinity of Canadian Rock (along with SKINNY PUPPY and NOMEANSNO, of course)! So yes, another stellar late-period album from these guys. It was such a shame to lose Piggy so many years ago but his replacement Chewy has proven himself to be an absolute savant when it comes to emulating the very distinct VOIVOD guitar sound. The flavour on here is much the same as their last album - that being equal parts DIMENSION HATROSS, NOTHINGFACE, and ANGEL RAT. Works for me! Keep em coming, les gars!"

6) CAVE IN - HEAVY PENDULUM "The horribly tragic death of CAVE IN bassist Caleb Scofield seems to have drawn an undeniable line in the sand when it comes to the before and after. He was clearly a huge part of the songwriting process in this outfit since this album is quite different from everything that's come before. Not to say there aren't many, many trademark CAVE IN moments on here because there certainly are. Having said that, they seem to have shed all traces of the JUPITER sound. Is that a bad thing? I think it's a rad thing! This album rips!"

7) HELMS ALEE - KEEP THIS BE THE WAY "This band has proven to be extremely gosh darn reliable ever since they reared their incredibly unique collective head. This album features music that is textured, pastoral, meditative, as well as catchy, intense....grungy sometimes? I dunno! Adjectives! It's a great record!"

8) MAMALEEK - DINER COFFEE "Discovered this band as I was taking a look at what the excellent San Francisco-based weirdo metal label THE FLENSER had put out as of late. This grabbed me almost immediately and proved to be constantly intriguing and engaging with its many musical twists and turns. This sounds, to me, like the soundtrack to a David Lynch movie that doesn't exist. Or maybe what would happen if TOM WAITS decided he wanted to front a metal band and wrote all the music for it. Either way, it's jazzy, it's noisy, it's harsh, and it's waaaay out there, man!"

9) KEN mode - NULL "It's safe to say that, if this band of merry-makers put out an album, it's gonna make my list! NULL does not disappoint. It's the tried, tested, and true Km sound with some new elements in the mix (more horns, more synth parts). Some nice, long-form, cinematic tunes as well. Breaks up the usual pummeling quite nicely. Oh, and the opening line - 'I don't feel bad for insufferable people'. Perfect."

10) GREBER - FRIGHT WITHOUT "These cats are so damn feral and beastly, I can't not picture them playing their instruments with femurs and viscera and various ligaments and whatnot. But seriously folks, this dynamic duo are capable of some truly damaging stuff and this album is their best yet. Not only because of the constant, constant pummeling. There's some texture here too! And then it's back to the pummeling."

11) ZEAL & ARDOR - S/T "I heard their albums, saw them live, nothing really clicked for me. This album really grabbed me though. An excellent blending of sounds including blues, industrial, ambient, dreampop - all with a consistent black metal backdrop (this reminds me, at times, of that band SHINING [the proggy one, not the self-harm one]). Excellent vocals too. Equal parts bluesy torch song and shrieking witch black metal."

12) BRUTUS - UNISON LIFE "I always find myself at a loss when recommending this band to someone and trying to describe the sound. It's hardcore....but also new wave, dream pop, post rock, and......I guess we can just call it post-hardcore and leave it at that. Super intense and incredibly epic."

13) CHAT PILE - GOD'S COUNTRY "Been looking forward to hearing what this band would come out with next after a couple of really strong EPs released in 2019. They do not disappoint on this, their first full-length. It's a particularly brutal take on noise rock, that's for sure. Nowhere near as metallic as KEN mode but dipping into that realm for sure with some death metal style vocals here and there and I maybe heard a blast beat at one point? Maybe not. For all of it's metal edge (that was the name of a shitty metal mag, btw), there's just as much post-punk/new wave flavour. Creepy, chorusy guitars and are the drums programmed or is that actually a human playing, I seriously cannot tell??!?!?! Nevertheless, this is a sweet collection of dirty, ugly songs."

14) HOLY FAWN - DIMENSIONAL BLEED "Nice blend of mostly shoegaze with traces of black metal that come barfing through at times. Not sure how I came across this but I'm glad I did."

15) VIO-LENCE - LET THE WORLD BURN EP "Most of the 80s thrashers who are still at - God love em for continuing to put the pedal to the METAL but, more often than not, their contemporary studio work has very little substance to it (I'm looking at you OVERKILL, DEATH ANGEL, TESTAMENT). Such is not the case when it comes to this tightly wound batch of rifferama. This is a stellar tribute to the classic Bay Area sound c/o some classic Bay Area thrashers. These guys still got it!"

16a) PALE SKETCHER - GOLDEN SKIN "The moss does not get a snowball's chance in hell of collecting on the rolling stone that is J K Broadrick! First off, we have a welcome return to his PALE SKETCHER persona after leaving it silent for many years. I guess this would be the only real PS full-length as the first one was basically a JESU remix album. Apparently, this was originally supposed to be released by REPHLEX right before they closed up shop in 2014, so I'm guessing it's been sitting in the barn since then (which would explain the years of inactivity). Backstory aside, this is a lovely mix of unrecognizable samples that have been repurposed into an ambient.....techno isn't the right word but something along those lines. This basically sounds like WILLIAM BASINSKI's 'DISINTEGRATION LOOPS' with a dance beat."

16b) JK FLESH - NEW RELIGIONS OLD RULES / SEWER BAIT / VENEER OF TOLERANCE "Yeah, that's three fresh releases from Broadrick's industrial/dub/techno infused ugliness. Heavyweight beats, brain-shaking bass, and lots of eerie sounds overtop."

16c) JESU - PITY / PIETY "Getting one more in there right at the end of the year! A lovely 2-songer that features all the things we know and love about JESU. The hopeful hopelessness vibes are in full effect here in epic proportions, with each song clocking in at just under 18 minutes apiece. This man cannot be stopped!"

17) MARC URSELLI'S STEPPENDOOM - STEPPENDOOM "An excellent combination of psych/doom featuring a variety of guests, most notably the amazing Tuvan throat-singing group HUUN-HUUR-TU! Trey Spruance, Tanya Tagaq, Matt Pike, Steve Von Till are also on there, among others. I've always thought that throat-singing and doom metal were a hand-in-glove combination (check out the TSTAT 'ORANGE' EP for an example of that) so this is more than right up my alley!"

18) RUSSIAN CIRCLES - GNOSIS "I often forget this band exists which is a shame since I'm always into whatever album they manage to crank out every few years or so. Not that they're the kind of thing you can just throw on. Instrumental post-metal - definitely time-and-place kind of music that demands a little more patience than most stuff. Grindy, almost black metal guitar riffs with a variety of unlikely rhythms going on underneath. I love the cover art on this one too!"

19) DEAF CLUB - PRODUCTIVE DISRUPTION / BAD SONGS FOREVER EP "One can assume that, due to the untimely and horribly shitty loss of drummer Gabe Serbian, THE LOCUST are no more. DEAF CLUB serve as a perfectly fine substitute, filling the unfortunate void nicely. Both bands are equally crazy and spastic - it's in the finer details where the differences can be found. This stuff is more of a bulldozer of heavy riffs (compared to THE LOCUST's screechy, math-rock infused assault). But still with plenty of skronking synths (or synthy-sounding guitar pedals maybe?) and Justin Pearson's trademark nerd-screech to go around. Also, with a song title like 'BUT DOES IT FART?', how can you go wrong?"

20) DEAD CROSS - II "I was pretty hyped for this band when they first came out, then did an about-face when I heard Mike Patton was taking over the vocal slot. I've since come around on their first album. Not sure what changed, I just gave it another chance and it sounded damn good! This one, however, is a huge artistic side-step! The bombast is missed ever so slightly but I'll take these interesting new sonic avenues any day. Surf rock, post-punk, noise rock - it's a well-rounded package! And of course, the grindy hardcore parts do crop up here and there. Not to mention a song where Patton namechecks both SNFU and SNFU vocalist Mr. Chi Pig! Very cool!"

21) BLACK MAGNET - BODY PROPHECY "The fact that I really enjoy this album at age 46 is about as good an illustration as any that my musical tastes never had a hope in hell of maturing. I guess the most accurate way to describe this would be industrial-metal which should naturally send one barfing for the hills. I certainly wouldn't have hit play on this if those 2 words had been side-by-side in the recommendation. However! There's a lot more going on here than a techno beat with some token guitar chords at the end of every bar. Dark and moody EBM meets crushing riffs. This is like if THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL weren't a complete piece of shit! And I'm pretty sure it's just one guy doing everything on this album! Also, a remix c/o Justin Broadrick. Nice stamp of approval right there."

22) KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD - OMNIUM GATHERUM "These nutcases had a total of TEN official releases this year (most live, one remix album, but still!!!)! I've been loving this band for a few years now but a person can only do so much! I like other bands too! Even this particular album starts off with an 18 minute track and goes from there with an additional 15 tracks. Normally, this would be an immediate turnoff for me as, the older I get, the more my belief in "less is more" becomes more and more like religious fervor. But I can't resist these charming dorks. The pure love of all things musical just explodes off of their albums and this one is no exception. They just can't help it, the scamps!"

23) DIAMANDA GALÁS - BROKEN GARGOYLES "This woman has been unsettling the bejeezuz out of us for a few decades now. As is evidenced on this, her latest release, she has NOT lost her touch! Not one iota. Her voice is in as fine a form as it ever was (not bad for 67 years old). Her explorations into blues standards and whatnot over the past few years and releases were not really my cup of tea. This album is something of a "return to form" as it recalls the truly terrifying atmospheres that can be found on THE DIVINE PUNISHMENT and LITANIES OF SATAN. Music that would send even the most corpse-painted of black metal fiends crying to their mommies."

24) NO DEVOTION - NO OBLIVION "Nice blend of the less-heavy side of NIN and the more-anthemic side of TEARS FOR FEARS. All with a kind of shoegazing thread running through it. 80s, 90s....maybe some 70s too! It's all here! Enjoy!"

25) DARKTHRONE - ASTRAL FORTRESS "Probably their most black metal release in many years, though still through the tried, tested, and true NWOBHM filter. No punk or hardcore to be found here, nor is there much of anything in the faster tempo regions. This is slow, crawling, and very gloomy."

26) OFF! - FREE LSD "I was expecting some of that tried-and-true, classic BLACK FLAG style hardcore when I hit play on this. What I got instead? Well...THAT but through a serious stoner/doom filter! Much the same as when BLACK FLAG infamously took on the SABBATH mantle on MY WAR! Was this deliberate?? Actually, this stuff isn't so much SABBATH, more KYUSS meets SOULS AT ZERO era NEUROSIS. Shocking, to say the least! But it was probably time to try something new, rather than rewriting the NERVOUS BREAKDOWN EP yet again. However, that vibe is definitely still present. Long story short - this album rips!"

HONOURABLE MENTIONS - KRALLICE, THE YOUNG GODS, LAUNDER, ALEXISONFIRE, MINDFORCE, THE OTOLITH, BITCHIN BAJAS, HIGH VIS

And that is that. Nothing really blew my mind this year, it has to be said. But a solid collection of releases nonetheless. I can't believe I have anything positive to say about ALEXISONFIRE (I always thought they were the lamest band) but I saw them put on a fantastic show at Bluesfest this summer which prompted me to check out their latest album and it's pretty damn good! They are the RADIOHEAD of the punk/hardcore world. Who knew? Speaking of RADIOHEAD, I gave THE SMILE album a good, honest chance but I just don't get it. What is the point of having a RADIOHEAD side-project that sounds exactly like RADIOHEAD??? Of course, the answer might be - "because we only get to release RADIOHEAD music once every decade if we're lucky so please enjoy this workaround." Fair enough. Happy new year!

MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2021

2021 was fantastic, much the same way that 2020 was.

Didn't get to play very much music this year, not with other humans present at least. Here's what I got up to musically in 2021... 

We, the members of GREATHUNTER, have been sitting on a finished album for a few months now. Not too sure exactly how to move forward with it. The natural instinct is to play a show to celebrate the release of said album! Since that's not an option, I imagine we'll just quietly release it into the ether and that'll be that. While we busy ourselves with working on the follow-up to said unreleased album, we did manage to get one song released to the general public. Well, 2 versions of one song. It's called TO THE SEA. Check it out here! 

I also started playing drums in an as-yet unnamed punk/hardcore band as of about 2 months ago (featuring my friends Andy from GREATHUNTER and Kevin from ORNAMENTS). Coming along quite well and my first taste of playing music with other sentient beings again since March of 2020 so that's been a real gas, to say the least. 

Probably the most prolific musical endeavor of mine of late has been PALLBEARER INDUSTRY who managed to release one full-length (ASTRAL POLLUTION) and one EP (MAP OF THE MISTS), both in 2021. This band actually thrived as a result of the pandemic so that's been a bit of a beacon of hope for me. Check out some PI music here!

2022 - Really hoping to get back on track with COASTAL PIGS, HAMN, WORLD WAR 4 (if that's a band anymore, I'm not totally sure), as well as my own THE SUN THROUGH A TELESCOPE endeavors. We shall see.

On with the list! As always, in no particular order!

1) GENGHIS TRON - DREAM WEAPON "An awesome reinvention of sound from this band as they return from an extended hiatus. I liked em before when they were all screamy and grindy. This album, however, is a huge step up. Not a blast beat or a distorted vocal to be found. Cool, hypnotic stuff."

2) QUICKSAND - DISTANT POPULATIONS "Probably the album I listened to the most this year. INTERIORS - the album prior to this one (their 'comeback' after being broken up for many years) was a good one. This one is even better. Super catchy, super memorable, and proof positive that not all the great guitar riffs have already been written. Check out the song 'Colossus' to see what I mean."

3) DINOSAUR JR. - SWEEP IT INTO SPACE "I'm just a sucker for the 90s bands who refuse to call it a day, huh? Actually, of the 4 albums DJR had released since reforming, FARM was the only one that really hit me hard. This, however, (their 5th) is pretty damn great. I love how it starts off quite mellow and works its way up into a rockin frenzy! What fun!"

4) NARAKAH - BLAST HAVEN EP "I don't remember how I came across these Pittsburgh-based deathgrinders. Probably cruising through some blog or another (Invisible Oranges, I'm guessing) to see what's good in metal. I'm always on the lookout for grindcore that hits just the right way. The problem is, I have the attention span of a gnat for this stuff and usually decide within 5 to 10 seconds whether or not a given band is worth a continued listen. This EP contains many interesting elements. It's fast and brutal, it's also ambient and strange. It also does not overstay its welcome which is a crucial component in metal. Oh, and the album art is also very cool and somewhat atypical of the genre."

5) DEAFHEAVEN - INFINITE GRANITE "A huge left-turn for these guys. Then again, it's one that we heard glimpses of on all previous releases, more and more as time went on. They basically took the vibe of the mellow interludes that show up in many of their twisted metal songs and made an entire album out of it. And that is just okay with me! Awesome blend of shoegaze, dreampop, mixed with some lingering heaviness. Some quite lovely clean vocals from mostly-screamer George Clark as well."

6) MIDWIFE - LUMINOL "THE FLENSER is a fantastic record label (found out about it via HAVE A NICE LIFE) so I check in from time to time. That's how I discovered this beautiful release from Denver, Colorado's MIDWIFE. Self-described as "heaven metal" which is pretty accurate. Strange, droning, ambient, experimental, minimal, you know. All those words that describe something very cool and unique."

7) KOWLOON WALLED CITY - PIECEWORK "A very interesting take on sludge metal from this band - you could almost call it math-sludge...post-sludge...I don't know. Lots of unfuzzed guitars, angular chords, and clean(ish) vocals. Also a lot of slow tempos with tons of space between the parts. I'm reminded very much of 90s post-rock by this, albeit with that unmistakable sludge thing running through it."

8) MOGWAI - AS THE LOVE CONTINUES "When it comes to MOGWAI, I am a complete idiot. Insomuch as I COMPLETELY ignored them the first time around. I mean, people were telling me about them from the very start and I was like "naaaaahhh, sounds stupid!!!!". Well, as we all know, I am the one who is stupid. So I'm making up for lost time here and, fortunately for me, these guys are still putting out amazing stuff. Beautifully textured post-rock for all to enjoy (unless you're an idiot, like I was)."

9) BIG BRAVE - VITAL "Another fantastic release from this Montreal-based band. Slow, sludgey heaviness with incredible vocals overtop. I'd love to witness this in a live situation if the world ever decides to stop having sex with itself."

10) THE WAR ON DRUGS - I DON'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE "I like this band. For me, I've always found that they had a good song here, good song there (Black Water Falls is a big favourite of mine). Never really found an album of theirs that did it for me. This one though really makes with the goods. I found myself coming back to it several times. Some fantastic songwriting and equally fantastic production. I get a real TEARS FOR FEARS vibe in spots."

11) SIGIL - NETHER "Again, I have no memory of how I came across this band. A fortuitous recommendation, I'm sure! After a striking, string-based intro, we get some totally decent blackened doom metal vibes. But then all these other sounds start creeping in. Eerie, ethereal guitar parts, very reminiscent of KILLING JOKE in places! Lots of atmosphere going on. And then its back to the pummeling riffs. Not your typical metal stuff, that's for sure! And you know that's right up Mr. Newton's alley!!! He hates the generic metal bullshit, don't he just?!?!?"

12) FULL OF HELL - GARDEN OF BURNING APPARITIONS "Hey, speaking of non-generic metal stuff! Here we have yet another full-length offering from a band within the grindcore/deathcore/etc genre who I've found to be just consistently on point. For 10 years now, these guys have been serving up the goods and this latest offering is more of the same. An incredible mix of brutal riffs, piercing noise, blast beats, slow & churning chuggers. Every song manages to have some kind of character to it in terms of memorable parts, even the super-fast ones. Well done again, fellas."

13) COLONIAL WOUND - DEGRADATION EP "A very cool 3-songer from this fairly new Florida band. A sweet mix of hardcore, post-rock, noise rock, all delivered with an air of desperation. Very tasty indeed."

14) TECH LEVEL 2 - DEPTHS EP "Turns out Justin Broadrick, along with being Mr. GODFLESH, JESU, JK FLESH, etc, also has a drum n bass alter ego and this is it. And it sounds pretty much the way I would have imagined his take on DnB would sound - old school and evil."

15) DARKTHRONE - ETERNAL HAILS...... "The band have stated that this album is their take on doom metal, which is pretty much right on the money if we're talking about the 80s/90s version of doom (think early TROUBLE or CANDLEMASS). Which is to say, it's got that gloomy vibe to it whilst still being fairly uptempo throughout. Which is to say, doom metal doesn't always default to 20 beats per minute. Which is to say, this is a great album! And it's so great that people are still making these kinds of albums!!!"

16) ARTILECT - INFINITE TENSION EP "If you like your drum n bass dark and eerie, then this is your guy. Not much more to say. He delivers the goods!"

17) FIDDLEHEAD - BETWEEN THE RICHNESS "Pretty sure I came across this band thanks to the 'Fans Also Like' section on Spotify (probably linked to GLEEMER or NOTHING or something). They've got that 90s emo sound down pat and do it up real nice. Every song is more or less an anthem. This band hasn't been around for very long but, since all the members look approximately my age, I'm sure there's a collective history there (if only there were some way to look into that oh well)."

18) EMMA RUTH RUNDLE - ENGINE OF HELL "A very stripped down offering this time around from ERR. Lots of piano, lots of acoustic guitar and lots of dry vocals overtop (the heavy reverb is almost completely absent). With nothing to hide behind, the songs must speak for themselves and what they have to say is 'we are incredibly beautiful songs!'. I agree, songs."

19) TEENAGE WRIST - EARTH IS A BLACK HOLE "A sweet mix of alt-rock, shoegaze, dreampop, and grunge. More 90s shit, basically. It's probably enough already, huh? Anyways, I really dig this. One super catchy song after another. It's the kind of thing I almost wish I disliked but it's not really up to me, is it? My ears told my brain that we enjoy this! Who am I to argue?!??!"

20) PORTAL - AVOW / HAGBULBIA "PORTAL put out 2 albums this year - a more typical sounding one and a 'weird' one which, in and of itself, is an absolutely ludicrous statement with regards to this band as a typical sounding album of theirs is the sound of an alternate universe where only indescribable nightmare beings exist ripping a hole through the fabric of space and time in order to pull you into said demonic existence for 30 to 40 minutes. So yeah, you get your reliable PORTAL fix with AVOW and then HAGBULBIA is kind of an ambient, atmospheric version of the band. Both are delightful."

21) FILMMAKER - SCREENING PLEXUS / MULTIVERSE NIGHTMARE / COUNTERSPELL / VLAD TAPES "4 releases in a year? Yeah, that oughta do it, I think! I love this guy's take on industrial music. Very old school, very colourful, very without vocals."

22) NADJA - LUMINOUS ROT "I'm dumb because I keep forgetting that this amazing Montreal duo exist and wind up missing the 4 or 5 releases they put out each year. I'm glad this managed to fly across my radar because it's so damn good. Ambient, shoegazy, industrial, doom metal with weirdo, lo-fi production and super droney vocals overtop. It somehow manages to be incredibly catchy and memorable as well."

23) SUGAR WOUNDS - CALICO DREAMS "This may or may not be someone's solo project. The precious little info I can find about this 'band' on the 'internet' would suggest so. Well regardless, what we have here is a full-on mashup of shoegaze and grindcore. Like a DISCORDANCE AXIS/MELT-BANANA/LUSH triathlon. Super spazzy with gratuitous use of the Whammy pedal."

24) BOTLFY - LOWER THAN LOVE "Awesome metallic noise-rock from these Halifax dudes. They might win best lyric of the year with 'I'm not here to impress/I'm just trying to feel less depressed'. Yes indeed."

25) GROUPER - SHADE "One of the few albums that might also show up on the more high-minded lists (Pitchfork, et al). Chances are, if Liz Harris aka GROUPER puts out an album, I'm gonna love it. That's been the case so far, at least. And continues to be, thanks to SHADE! Another beautiful offering of her very specific brand of ambient folk music. These songs would definitely stand on their own 2 feet if presented within a standard mix but what really does it for me is the insanely weird, lo-fi production value. If you don't like this, well that's okay. It's certainly not for everyone."

26) WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM - PRIMORDIAL ARCANA "When it comes to atmospheric black metal, these students have, without a doubt, become the masters. All the elements are here - blast beats, eerie riffs galore, keyboards, passages of acoustic guitar, witchy vocals. This is like a pagan-themed journey through a freezing cold forest at night. They really nail it on the production value as well. Definitely a step up from the "necro" (shitty) quality of the 2nd wave black metal stuff but nowhere near the disgusting polish of some of their contemporaries."

27) KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD - BUTTERFLY 3000 "Really like the other album they put out this year as well but THIS one just grabbed me from the start and never let go. KGATLW are not unlike MR. BUNGLE in their ability to masterfully take on several different genres. The difference being, where BUNGLE will throw many different styles onto one album (or within one song even), KING GIZZARD will usually dedicate an entire album to a specific sound. In this case -  bright, shiny psychedelic pop with heavy, heavy usage of modular synths. Some serious DEVO vibes on here. Constantly catchy, even when things get really proggy. Just a darn tootin good time!"

28) PLEBEIAN GRANDSTAND - RIEN NE SUFFIT "This band has been putting out absolute nightmare music for about a decade now. Their sound falls somewhere within black metal, hardcore, industrial, and all out avant garde noise. Seriously intense and scary stuff! Have fun with it!"

29) CEDRIC NOEL - HANG TIME "I was fortunate enough to discover this New Brunswick-native, one-time Ottawa resident, now Montreal musician when he opened for NO JOY a few months ago (one of 3 shows I managed to see this year). He played stripped-down renditions of his songs (just him and his guitar), many of which appear on this album, and I was just floored. The album itself is filled out with a bit more of a 'band' feel to it plus a plethora of gorgeous vocal harmonies. Kinda folky, kinda indie rock, kinda singer-songwriter. An amazing collection of songs."

30) SWARM OF SPHERES - BROTHER, TAKE FIVE EP "One of Ottawa's finest offerings! So glad these guys are back at it! Another firey collection of cranked-up stoner/doom, complete with Mr. Jay Wishmaster's awesome barking vocals and the AMAZING drumming of Mark McGee! Well done, fellas!"

31) TEEN DAZE - INTERIORS "I had never heard of this British Columbia electro-dude until this year. Lo and behold, he has an extensive discography which I fully intend to dive into (at some point before I die). Starting with this! An excellent blend of ambient and house music."

32) CEVIN KEY - RESONANCE "Yet another installment in CEVIN KEY's neverending worship of all things synthesizer. Be it SKINNY PUPPY, DOWNLOAD, or a solo album, chances are I'm really gonna dig what this guy puts out (that's been the case for the past 30 years, give or take!). Some excellent contributions from Edward Ka-Spel, Otto Von Schirach, among others!"

33) GNOD - LA MORT DU SENS "These Manchester lads have been at it for a little while now. I've been vaguely aware of their existence for some time but finally checked em out thanks to a recommendation from a friend. And this is the album I checked out. And it's great! Super weird blend of doom metal, noise rock, psych, experimental, etc. Tons of driving rhythms. Oh, and you better believe there's some sax in there too!"

34) CONVERGE - BLOODMOON: I "A very cool collaboration between CONVERGE, Chelsea Wolfe (whose music I am almost totally unfamiliar with, gotta rectify that), and Stephen Brodsky of CAVE IN. The basic CONVERGE framework is there but what's really interesting is hearing them get way outside of their usual cadence. The sound of a hardcore/metalcore band branching out into folk, goth, and almost classic rock in places. The variety of vocalists on here (4, including bassist Nate Newton [great name]) is a real treat as well. Excellent!"

HONOURABLE MENTIONS: U-ZIQ, FRONTIERER, ZOMBI, TOBACCO, FAILURE, YEAR OF NO LIGHT, TOMAHAWK, HTRK, MOUTHBREATHER, CRUELTY, SCORN, TUNE-YARDS

And that's that. I feel like the new FAILURE album could grow on me, the last one certainly did. My initial impression was "good, very good, not great" even though the first single 'Headstand' really blew me away. THE DIRTY NIL, on the other hand, really had nothing for me. Hard to say why, it just rang really hollow for some reason. Then there's BLACK MIDI who I more appreciate than actually enjoy. Impressive as all hell but, I dunno, I just don't listen to that kind of music, I guess. I don't feel it's gravitational pull ever. I think probably, in this case, I'm wrong. I can't think of anything else to dump on. Thanks for reading! Happy new year!!!