@@@ Mammoth Grinder: Cosmic Crypt (Relapse, 2018) I haven’t heard a ton of metal this year that made me jump up and down but I snagged a few choices off a year end list at the AV club and this one led by the drummer for Power Trip looks engaging. It’s got a nice friendly mosh flavor to it. Just your meat and potatoes smackdown. It doesn’t have the same energy as Power Trip’s 2017 release which I really liked but it’s solid. It’s got a couple of the dudes from Iron Reagan whose name I like but about whom I know little.
@@@ Primal Rite: Dirge of Escapism (Revelation, 2018) This recording has a bit of a different feel to it than the Mammoth Grinder one above. That band name is very accurately chosen and this first tune is a bit math-y with a nice muscular stomp and some punk flavorings. The singer’s voice is fucked with and he sounds like he’s inside a big concrete tube and barely understandable. By the third tune Antivenom the water is at a full boil and the thrashing and grinding about is quite intense. I’m not feeling like this is best of 2018 for my list but it’s got a lot going for it.
@@@ Sumac: Love in Shadow (Thrill Jockey, 2018) Marketed as a largely improvised metal record there are four long ass pieces three of which clock in at over 15 minutes. I’m listening to the second tune right now and it is a noisy and energetic guitar record without being a full metal meltdown kinda record. The focus here is on playing as one would expect with 15 minute pieces. I like how it’s not a sloppy record by any means but it’s looser than most metal records. It is a big metal jam record. I like the sound of it and I will circle back on it when I have closer to 1 hour and 6 minutes.
YTD recordings listened to: 684
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 371
Not good music: 265
Best: 16
Honorable Mentions: 8
Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac
Deep In the Music 