Arson Panda

Best of Metal 2017: #5 Cormorant-Diaspora

In 2017, Cormorant probably had the greatest leap forward than any other band. Diaspora was their clarion call to the rest of the metal world to wake up and notice that there is a serious new player on the scene. I’ve been a fan of their previous work, but this new album is just so ambitious. They reached for heights they hadn’t attempted in the past and their ambitions are rewarded in one of the most quality releases to come out this year. The album is composed of only four songs. So, the album takes an investment on the listener’s part. However, if you give into it, you will be rewarded with a wonderful sonic journey. Kudos, Cormorant! I really hope to see you guys play these songs live at some point in the near future.

Release date: 10/6/2017

Personnel: Marcus Luscombe-vocals/bass, Nick Cohon-guitar, Matt Solis-guitar, Brennan Kunkel-drums

Origin: San Francisco, CA

Rating: 5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:

5. Cormorant-Diaspora
6. Bison-You Are Not the Ocean, You Are the Patient
7. Mastodon-Emperor of Sand/Cold Dark Place
8. Wolves in the Throne Room-Thrice Woven
9. Quicksand-Interiors
10. Alluvial-The Deep Longing For Annihilation
11. Byzantine-The Cicada Tree
12. Sorcerer-The Crowning of the Fire King
13. Zaius-Of Adoration
14. Royal Thunder-Wick
15. Steven Wilson-To the Bone
16. Pallbearer-Heartless
17. Spotlights-Seismic
18. Cavalera Conspiracy-Psychosis
19. Ancient Ascendant-Raise the Torch
20. Galactic Cowboys-Long Way Back to the Moon

Best of Metal 2017: #6 Bison-You Are Not the Ocean, You Are the Patient

Sludge. It does the body good. Bison does the sludge real good. Therefore, it reasons that listening to this new album by Bison will do you some good.

This is a deceptively simple album. First time through, you might think it’s a fine little album. But, each spin, it will take you a little deeper. This album has a gravity in its sound and in it’s lyrical content that will make it hard for the listener to escape. And it just has one of the weirdest album titles I’ve come across. I can’t tell you how long I’ve pondered what the hell they were getting at. What do you mean I’m not the ocean? Why am I the patient? I don’t understand. Well, I stumbled across the following passage from the band that helps explain where their heads were at during the creation of this album. Spoiler: it’s bleak as fuck.

“You are not the ocean. You do not orchestrate a beautiful cacophony of life and death, struggle and destruction, creation and dependence. You are not the sole reason for the existence of a nation of creatures to live and abide your stark and simple rules. You are not married to the moon. You do not allow the constellations to be your map. You do not destroy cities and drown their citizens. You do not embrace land’s golden hem as your child, with calm and tenderness. You do not crash and spray craggy shores with fury and passion. You are not unstoppable. You are not powerful. You are not necessary.

You are the patient. You are controlled. You are cared for, out of duty. You are maintained with medicines and examinations. You are met with cold hands and protocol. Your most intimate self is put on a form. You are questioned about pains and thoughts. You are dependent on those with knowledge. You are helpless. You are tired and bed ridden. You do no harm and you do not help. You are monitored and caged. You are kept away from others. You are contaminated. You are sick. You are keeping yourself sick. You do not know how to recover. You do not want to recover. You do not know what recovery is.”

Release date: 7/7/2017

Personnel: James Farwell-guitar/vocals, Dan And-guitar/vocals, Shane Clark-bass, Matt Wood-drums

Origin-Vancouver, Canada

Rating: 5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:

6. Bison-You Are Not the Ocean, You Are the Patient
7. Mastodon-Emperor of Sand/Cold Dark Place
8. Wolves in the Throne Room-Thrice Woven
9. Quicksand-Interiors
10. Alluvial-The Deep Longing For Annihilation
11. Byzantine-The Cicada Tree
12. Sorcerer-The Crowning of the Fire King
13. Zaius-Of Adoration
14. Royal Thunder-Wick
15. Steven Wilson-To the Bone
16. Pallbearer-Heartless
17. Spotlights-Seismic
18. Cavalera Conspiracy-Psychosis
19. Ancient Ascendant-Raise the Torch
20. Galactic Cowboys-Long Way Back to the Moon

Best of Metal 2017: #8 Wolves in the Throne Room-Thrice Woven

This should be the official soundtrack for the Northwestern United States. Everything about this album screams constant mist and deep foreboding forests. There are sounds of a crackling fire, echoing dripping from deep inside a cavern and narration from a grizzled old man talking about the Old Ones and how “We are becoming.” The whole thing is primitive and dark and ominous as fuck. This is pretty much as close to perfection as American Black Metal can get.

Release date: 9/22/2017

Personnel: Nathan Weaver-vocals/guitar, Kody Keyworth-guitar/vocals, Aaron Weaver-drums

Origin: Olympia, WA

Rating: 4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:
8. Wolves in the Throne Room-Thrice Woven
9. Quicksand-Interiors
10. Alluvial-The Deep Longing For Annihilation
11. Byzantine-The Cicada Tree
12. Sorcerer-The Crowning of the Fire King
13. Zaius-Of Adoration
14. Royal Thunder-Wick
15. Steven Wilson-To the Bone
16. Pallbearer-Heartless
17. Spotlights-Seismic
18. Cavalera Conspiracy-Psychosis
19. Ancient Ascendant-Raise the Torch
20. Galactic Cowboys-Long Way Back to the Moon

Best of Metal 2017: #9 Quicksand-Interiors

Interiors was the big reunion for Quicksand that was nearly 20 years in the making. I wasn’t even aware of Quicksand during their original stint together, so my anticipation for this album was nil. However, I’m sure that fans of the band were out of their minds with joy upon hearing the final product. This is just a super solid ball of well constructed post-punk songs. It’s just catchy as hell. You’ll find yourself subconsciously head-boppin’ along to all of these songs. It’s impossible not to. It is that infectious.

Release date: 11/10/2017

Personnel: Walter Schreifels-vocals/guitar, Tom Capone-guitar, Sergio Vega-bass, Alan Cage-drums

Origin: New York City, NY

Rating: 4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:

9. Quicksand-Interiors
10. Alluvial-The Deep Longing for Annihilation
11. Byzantine-The Cicada Tree
12. Sorcerer-The Crowning of the Fire King
13. Zaius-Of Adoration
14. Royal Thunder-Wick
15. Steven Wilson-To the Bone
16. Pallbearer-Heartless
17. Spotlights-Seismic
18. Cavalera Conspiracy-Psychosis
19. Ancient Ascendant-Raise the Torch
20. Galactic Cowboys-Long Way Back to the Moon

Best of Metal 2017: #7 Mastodon-Emperor of Sand/Cold Dark Place

Merry Christmas, you bastards!

So, Mastodon is one of the higher profile bands on the list this year and also one of the more prolific. They managed to drop a full LP in Emperor of Sand in March and then whipped out a surprise release with the EP Cold Dark Place in September. You just don’t see bands putting out new material this quickly anymore and it was really cool to get this much new quality music out of them. So, I’m going to slot both of these gems at #8 in the list. Emperor of Sand is a definite reclaiming of Mastodon’s former glory in my opinion. It really feels like it was a statement record for the band after a somewhat lackluster prior release, Once More Around the Sun. It’s got all the trippy, grungey, spacey slogs that you’ve come to expect out of Mastodon. Cold Dark Place is a completely distinct and original piece of music from Emperor of Sand. It is a quieter and less chaotic Mastodon than you are used to, but it really works. My only complaint is that it wasn’t a full album of material. The songs on this EP are some of my favorites to come out this year.

Emperor of Sand release date: 3/31/2017

Cold Dark Place release date: 9/22/2017

Personnel: Brent Hinds-guitar/vocals, Bill Kelliher-guitars, Troy Sanders-bass/vocals, Brann Dailor-drums/vocals

Origin-Atlanta, GA

Rating: Emperor of Sand: 4.5 flip flops out of 5
Cold Dark Place: 5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:

7. Mastodon-Emperor of Sand/Cold Dark Place
8. Wolves in the Throne Room-Thrice Woven
9. Quicksand-Interiors
10. Alluvial-The Deep Longing for Annihilation
11. Byzantine-The Cicada Tree
12. Sorcerer-The Crowning of the Fire King
13. Zaius-Of Adoration
14. Royal Thunder-Wick
15. Steven Wilson-To the Bone
16. Pallbearer-Heartless
17. Spotlights-Seismic
18. Cavalera Conspiracy-Psychosis
19. Ancient Ascendant-Raise the Torch
20. Galactic Cowboys-Long Way Back to the Moon

Best of Metal 2017: #10 Alluvial-The Deep Longing For Annihilation

At first glance, this album doesn’t seem like one this is going to make a huge mark. It’s a guitarist-type album, i.e. an album created by guitarists, for guitarists. However, this is a guitar album that achieves the perilous balance delivering both total guitar dork wankery while still resulting in a collection of well-crafted songs. Sometimes these kinds of albums can end up going off the rails into self-indulgent crap. This album from Wes Hauch (Black Crown Initiate/ex-The Faceless) and Keith Merrow contains all of the fretboard gymnastics that will sate the guitar wonks, but they never let it get out of control. The technical flourishes don’t overwhelm the songs. In addition to the technical flash of the solos, the riffs and arrangement choices made throughout this album are really interesting and creative. As a result, you have an album that I have been coming back to over and over throughout the past year.

Release date: 1/6/2017

Personnel: Wes Hauch-guitar, Keith Merrow-guitar

Origin: Portland, OR

Rating: 4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:

10. Alluvial-The Deep Longing for Annihilation
11. Byzantine-The Cicada Tree
12. Sorcerer-The Crowning of the Fire King
13. Zaius-Of Adoration
14. Royal Thunder-Wick
15. Steven Wilson-To the Bone
16. Pallbearer-Heartless
17. Spotlights-Seismic
18. Cavalera Conspiracy-Psychosis
19. Ancient Ascendant-Raise the Torch
20. Galactic Cowboys-Long Way Back to the Moon

Best of Metal 2017: #11 Byzantine-The Cicada Tree

Byzantine is a metal powerhouse. It is just sad that they haven’t become a household name. Every single album that they have put out is fantastic. Each one has its own sound and style. The Cicada Tree continues this stellar tradition of providing solid, forward-thinking metal. You’ve got aggression and melody in equal parts throughout this album. It is just a sneaky album that I really wish had shown up on a few more year-end lists.

Release date: 7/28/2017

Personnel: Chris “OJ” Ojeda-vocals/guitar, Brian Henderson-guitar, Sean Sydnor-bass, Matt Bowles-drums

Origin: Charleston, WV

The list so far:
11. Byzantine-The Cicada Tree
12. Sorcerer-The Crowning of the Fire King
13. Zaius-Of Adoration
14. Royal Thunder-Wick
15. Steven Wilson-To the Bone
16. Pallbearer-Heartless
17. Spotlights-Seismic
18. Cavalera Conspiracy-Psychosis
19. Ancient Ascendant-Raise the Torch
20. Galactic Cowboys-Long Way Back to the Moon

Best of Metal 2017: #12 Sorcerer-The Crowning of the Fire King

Scandinavian doom is an entirely different creature than American doom. Scandinavian doom is a little more emotional and theatrical than its American cousin. And it seems that Sweden holds the rights to perform this kind of music properly. This is right from the foundations of Candlemass. Long songs, slow dirge, soaring vocals. If any of that sort of thing whets your whistle, then jump on board the good ship Sorcerer.

Release date: 10/20/2017

Personnel: Anders Engberg-vocals, Kristian Niemann-guitar, Peter Hallgren-guitar, Johnny Hagel-bass, Richard Evensand-drums

Origin-Stockholm, Sweden

Rating: 4 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:

12. Sorcerer-The Crowning of the Fire King
13. Zaius-Of Adoration
14. Royal Thunder-Wick
15. Steven Wilson-To the Bone
16. Pallbearer-Heartless
17. Spotlights-Seismic
18. Cavalera Conspiracy-Psychosis
19. Ancient Ascendant-Raise the Torch
20. Galactic Cowboys-Long Way Back to the Moon

Best of Metal 2017: #13 Zaius-Of Adoration

It seems like there are always going to be instrumental bands included on my best of lists. As I said before, I’m not really a vocals-centric kind of guy. So, bands that can create an interesting musical tapestry without the need for a vocalist always stick out to me. Zaius is a band out of Chicago that just dropped their debut album late in the year and they will be perfect for fans of If These Trees Could Talk, Pelican and Russian Circles. I’m certain we’ll be hearing lots of good things out of these guys for years to come.

Release date: 10/6/2017

Personnel: Dann Dolce-guitar, Ian McConnell-guitar, Jeremy Bellen-bass, Mike Imbordino-drums

Origin: Chicago, IL

Rating: 4 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:

13. Zaius-Of Adoration
14. Royal Thunder-Wick
15. Steven Wilson-To the Bone
16. Pallbearer-Heartless
17. Spotlights-Seismic
18. Cavalera Conspiracy-Psychosis
19. Ancient Ascendant-Raise the Torch
20. Galactic Cowboys-Long Way Back to the Moon

Best of Metal 2017: #14 Royal Thunder-Wick

Every year there are albums in which my appreciation of them grows the longer I spend with them. Wick by Royal Thunder is one of those albums. When it first came out, my impression was that it was a good, solid release, but I didn’t feel it really reached that stellar range. However, now that we are 8 months out from its release date, I really have a whole new appreciation for how sneaky good this album really is. It is just full of catchy riffs and melodies. It also helped that I saw them perform a chunk of these new songs live. I keep saying it, but it needs to be said once more: Mlny Parsonz is hands-down the greatest vocalist going in the metal/rock world today. She just pushes her soulful voice to the breaking point on every song.

Release date: April 7, 2017

Personnel: Mlny Parsonz-vocals/bass; Josh Weaver-guitar; Will Fiore-guitar; Evan Diprima-drums

Origin: Atlanta, GA

Rating: 4 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:

14. Royal Thunder-Wick
15. Steven Wilson-To the Bone
16. Pallbearer-Heartless
17. Spotlights-Seismic
18. Cavalera Conspiracy-Psychosis
19. Ancient Ascendant-Raise the Torch
20. Galactic Cowboys-Long Way Back to the Moon