Global Domination

GD's verdicts - Best of 2012: Smalley

27/12/12  ||  Global Domination

1. In Mourning: The weight of oceans

Beautiful, epic, progressive melo death; the atmospheres & emotions In Mourning creates here are weightier than the Lovecraftian monstrosity on the cover and the pressure in the Mariana Trench, and you don’t even need the bank-busting equipment (or ego) of a James Cameron to experience ‘em. Go for a dive and drown in the metal with these fuckers.

Recommended cut: Colossus

2: Ne Obliviscaris: Portal of I
At first, this Aussie debut sounds like another competently-done-but-unremarkable hodgepodge of blackened death, but then that fucken violin takes over, and you get transported up instantly to a whole other plane. Incredible.

Recommended cut: And plague flowers the kaleidoscope

3: Spawn Of Possession: Incurso
Dark tech death taken to its most insane and er, techiest conclusion, with song structures so complicated, you couldn’t hope to ever come close to memorizing ‘em, but since everything just comes at you so fucken intense while they’re on, you won’t give a shit. And that’s a good thing.

Recommended cut: The evangelist

4: Kreator: Phantom antichrist
Though “Hordes of chaos” left me optimistic about Kreator’s future 3 years back, you can still color me super-impressed on this one; at an age when most bands’ best days are far behind them, these old fogeys sound more pissed-off and rejuvenated than ever before, resulting in, dare I say it, the best record of their career. Whatever drugs Mille & Co. are taking, legal or otherwise, plz ship some of it to Metallica stat.

Recommended cut: Phantom antichrist

5: Before The Dawn: Rise of the phoenix
Intricate, intelligent Finnish melo death, with the expected catchy melodies, but also some feel of traditional death metal, with a growler who isn’t afraid to actually fucken growl. Beauty, meet beast.

Recommended cut: Phoenix rising

Honorable mentions:

High On Fire: De vermis mysteriis
Recommended cut: Interlude

Ihsahn: Eremita
Recommended cut: Something out there

Asphyx: Deathhammer
Recommended cut: Into the timewastes

Meshuggah: Koloss
Recommended cut: Marrow

Alcest: Les voyages de l‘Âme
Recommended cut: Là où naissent les couleurs Nouvelles

Disappointment of the year:
Wintersun: Time I

We waited 8 fucken years for this bloated, pretentious, ball-less Nightwish-wannabe followup? And we only got half the album he recorded, too?? Fuck.

Disappointing cut: Time

Scapegoat of the year:
Nile: At the gate of Sethu

I get why some were disappointed with the thin-ish production & (occasionally) weird vocals on this one, but geez, I think I saw some people saying they outright hated this back in June. Just give it another try, and I think that, like me, you’ll discover the same good ol’ badass, intense, refreshingly Egyptian-flavored Nile underneath the changes.

Recommended cut: The gods who light up the sky at the gate of Sethu

Surprise of the year:
Testament: Dark roots of earth

It isn’t the next “gathering” or “Master of puppets”, but I still have to say that “Dark roots…” is a definite step up from Test’s previous effort, and a rare example of solid “middle-aged” thrash done right; y’know, not youthfully blistering or anything, but still energetic enough to satisfy, and appropriate, considering how old these guys are. Oh, and those blastbeats are pretty cool. I get why some didn’t enjoy this at all, but some of it’s definitely pretty fun for me, yes sir.

Recommended cut: True American hate