As I've said, I believe 2014 to have been an outstanding year for metal. There were just so many fantastic albums that it's hard to narrow down standouts without feeling as if you're excluding some really strong albums. That said, 2015 is shaping to be another exciting year, and here I will list the bands with work in production, slated for release this year, that have me excited beyond words.
Listing bands by my personal excitement, with my most anticipated album first, after the break!
Uneven Structure - La Partition
Uneven Structure were one of the first bands I got into as I was finally embracing this whole wave of djent, and they have stuck with me as my favorite. They're really an incredible band that deserve more recognition. Their LP Februus is full of beautiful atmosphere and badass groovy riffs start-to-end, while the EP 8 - allegedly made up of rejected Februus riffs - is mathy, dark and heavy as balls. I have faith in this band to deliver another exceptional work.
Vildhjarta
Contrary to my two most anticipated albums being djent, I'm not that much of an addict to the sub-sub-genre, but Vildhjarta are another standout band. While they got attention with Masstaden, to me their EP from 2013 Thousands of Evils showed their enormous potential, building on the same style with a different, more progressive and at times post-y approach that comes out in an insanely dark, ruthlessly heavy work of art that maintains a really haunting atmosphere. I have only recently heard that Vildhjarta are working on another LP, and based on how they came unto their own - very powerfully - with Thousands of Evils, I am insanely excited to see what they come up with.
Enslaved - In Times (March 6)
Enslaved have an incredible streak of quality albums, constantly evolving their sound while maintaining their integrity and quality. Gotta respect that considering how many albums they have at this point! I was very impressed by the released lyric video for the first track. At this point I would be surprised if Enslaved release anything less than outstanding. At the same time, I expect to be surprised by whatever new influences they bring to the plate or expand on this time.
Paradise Lost - The Plague Within (June 2)
Paradise Lost have had a similarly impressive streak of good albums, even considering their short break into a calmer direction. 2012's Tragic Idol was strong and I'm expecting a solid work from this band. Of note, singer Nick Holmes surprisingly joined Bloodbath and released the (in my opinion) outstanding Grand Morbid Funeral LP with them. This could translate interestingly; Peter Tagtgren returned to working with Hypocrisy with added resolve shown in his more-insane-than-ever vocals following his short stint in Bloodbath. In any case, working in Bloodbath with the exceptionally creative musicians from Katatonia and Opeth hopefully rubbed off on Nick in some interesting way! Regardless, Paradise Lost have been going strong and I look forward to this album in any case.
Gojira
Gojira are a very interesting band. Their take on progressive death metal is very unique, and through whatever means (including only tuning down 1 step - look at that!) they come out as Earth-crushingly heavy. I had the privilege of seeing Gojira twice in the past year - and got deliberately drunk for the second time, which was a fantastic idea - and these performances solidified my faith in Gojira, as they still destroy live. I fully expect said destruction to translate satisfyingly to a new LP.
Meshuggah
While consensus holds Obzen and Koloss as being a step down from the godfathers of djent's masterpieces like Catch-33, Chaosphere, Nothing, I etc., I find their recent works really satisfyingly destructive. Whenever a song of theirs comes on shuffle I often think "oh yeah that's right, Meshuggah don't fuck around." Whatever they're working on will probably still sound like the galaxy-crumbling Meshuggah we all know, but I have hopes that they will continue to do what they do best, and show their countless imitators how it's done.
Deftones
While Deftones were kinda lumped in the nu-metal scene with Korn, Slipknot etc, they definitely had something extra going for them that really came to form on White Pony, and went from there. Their return in 2010 with Diamond Eyes, even embracing the 8-string trend while still maintaining their integrity, showed that this band is not letting up any time soon, and the follow up Koi no Yokan showed for sure that Deftones are continuing to evolve and mature their music in really interesting directions. It will definitely be interesting to see how their evolution continues.
Between the Buried and Me
BTBAM have found solid ground as much more of a progressive metal band, compared to their roots in metalcore - even telling audiences to not expect pre-Colors material live in the future. That said, pretty much all of their works from Colors on have shown very interesting evolution, even if they drop some of the heaviness and aggression present on Colors with every subsequent album. The Parallax series (EP and LP) was very strong, full of really cool transitions and riffs amidst technicality and some of the weirdness we love them for, and I'm excited to see where BTBAM go with whatever they're currently working on.
Obscura
Obscura have made a very good name for themselves in modern tech-death. They already have a few very strong albums under their belts; one thing that may set them apart a bit is their pretty great sense of melody amidst their technicality and progressiveness. Omnivium was quite good, and I'm definitely interested in whatever Obscura are working on now.
Tool
This has been in the works for so long, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we don't get Tool's follow-up LP this year. That said, they showed with Aenema and Lateralus that they have enormous musical and creative potential, and I don't expect to be disappointed whenever Tool's long-awaited return LP finally comes around.
Honorable mentions
Carcass
Immolation
Moonspell - Extinct (March 6)
Oceano - Ascendants (March 23)
Dark Angel
Dimmu Borgir
Faith No More - Sol Invictus (May 19)
Fear Factory
Lamb of God
Nile
Testament
...All that said...
The "It's cool that you're still doing stuff, but it's going to suck compared to your work from decades ago, and to stuff newer, exciting bands are doing" bands
Not ruling out a pleasant surprise but the following bands have material coming out as well. You probably know this, though, as these bands dominate most of the metal media. In my opinion, this domination is straight-up pollution; these bands have not produced anything exciting in decades beyond a comeback-for-the-sake-of-a-comeback here and there, and the media would do good to shift at least some of its focus to bands who still have their creativity intact. That said, they've made a name for themselves and admittedly have potential as musicians to surprise me and come out with something actually interesting.
Anthrax
Atheist
Black Sabbath
Dream Theater
Megadeth
Metallica
Morbid Angel
Queensryche (glad to see the real band got the name though)
Slayer
Thanks for reading! What are you looking forward to this year? Am I full of shit for hating on artists who helped establish the genre? Feel free to comment. Have a great day/night, stay metal \m/
No comments:
Post a Comment