miRthkon - Vehicle (2009)

If you listened the Fun Machine album I posted a few months back, expect something in the same vein. If you haven't, expect the complexity of an early RIO band, the "brutal-prog" approach of Ron Anderson projects, the playfulness of Samla Mammas Manna (or Mr. Bungle, perhaps), and the slight bit of heaviness also seen in Doctor Nerve. Good cheeky "Avant-Prog"

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Neurosis - Through Silver and Blood (1996)

Imagine living through a nuclear catastrophe. All that was around you now lies in ruins. Imagine moving amidst the devastation, alone, a wandering nomad roaming the bleak landscape. There is nothing but you and your slowly deteriorating sanity. You can hear the sound of impending doom. You know your death is approaching and you know it is unavoidable. Only utter, torturous, despair awaits you. This is the sound of Neurosis.

I still distinctly remember when I had first heard Through Silver in Blood. The only metal I had heard up to that point had been bands like Metallica and Slayer. I originally picked up the album because the name sounded cool and I loved the cover art, but nothing could prepare me for the hell storm I was about to witness. I became entranced by their absorbing, tortured, and melancholic sound; it was unlike anything I had ever heard before.

The tracks on the album are composed of sludgy riffs, distorted bass playing, berserk tribal drumming, eerie ambiance, and tortured shrieks all drenched in a layer of thick, fuzzy sludge. Never has such a feeling of utter hopelessness ever been portrayed in music as it has been portrayed here. Though Neurosis is not just about bombastic blasts of noisy sludge, but also about eerie ambient sections that play off the louder ones. This creates a feeling of rising tension before the jarring noise. They create a bleak atmosphere that is at the same time filled with an intense feeling of uneasiness.

This album was definitely meant to be listened to as a whole, as Neurosis creates an almost hypnotic listening experience. They are able to play a section for just the right amount of time to mesmerize you, but not bore you, something many artists fail to do. Just as you are being hypnotized by a repeating sludgy riff, the band shifts gears, throwing you into a cacophony of jarring noise and tortured shrieks or a vast ambient soundscape that is both beautiful and unsettling.

If there was any one single standout track on this album, it would have to be the opening title track. Some bands create musical universes with their complete work or with an album. Neurosis manages to do that with a single song.

There are few artists that are able to create as much emotional tension as Neurosis does and Through Silver and Blood showcases them playing at their loudest and most intense. It is, in my opinion, their finest album and one of the greatest metal albums of all time.

In short, fucking amazing.

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A Perfect Circle - 13th Step (2003)

If you're like me, you've always wanted to give metal a chance only to be scared a way by hairy men and growling vocals. This the album for you.

A Perfect Circle is a supergroup formed by guitar-player Billy Howerdel (Nine-Inch Nails, Fishbone, Tool, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.) and Tool front-man and vocalist Maynard James Keenan as well as a wealth of other well-known figures in the heavy metal scene.

The majority of the album is smooth instrumentals with Keenan singing in a soft, deliberate voice interspersed with heavy, loud conclusions on many of the songs, you'll find no growling here. It also gets bonus points for being a concept album about the twelve steps of addiction. It's deep, fun, and beautiful.

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Youtube Samples:
The Package
The Noose
The Nurse Who Loved Me

Kayo Dot - Choirs of the Eye (2003)

This album, holy shit. Kayo Dot's music stops time and takes you out of your body. Choirs of the Eye is one of my favorite albums of all time and sets the standard for all music. The first track, "Marathon", is one of the best songs ever. The beginning makes this the perfect song to wake up in the morning, and gives that HOLY SHIT feeling right as you put the CD in the player (or right when you press play in Winamp). I won't give an exact moment in the song because almost everything is amazing. The burst at the beginning, the BRUTAWLITY that there is before, and the ambient second part that starts around 4:30 that can freeze time and suddenly everything is in slow motion. Thankfully after this song there is "A Pitch of Summer" so we can recover from the burst of geniousness.

Did I say the next song helped you rest? Lies! What you think is a ballad like song ends building up into a complete monster that may RAPE your ears. Don't come here unprepared. Then there's "The Manifold Curiosity", perhaps the greatest song on this album. I could simply say that the whole song is speechless. I don't know why every little note from this album touches my heart like no other band does. There are many great moments in this song that make me want to close my eyes and just lie on my bed listening to it. The sudden "musical explosion" that would make people jump if they come unprepared (4:40), the subtle background riff at 5:55 that always makes me smile...

But the real standout of this song is the amazing build up until the end that concludes with the most BRUTAWL piece of music ever. If there is one song that makes people shit, it's this. All the second part of this song is either the build up for this climax, or it. I'm never able to move properly when it comes, I feel nervous, like if the world would end in just a few seconds, and when the guitar begins with the crushing riff at 10:25, I already know it's too late. Don't try to talk me there, because I'll be unable to move. Also, check how loud the snare is at the end, holy shit.

Fortunately (or not) "Wayfarer" is all nice and pretty with cool solo but there isn't any holy shit moments (there are, but nothing that deserves begin in the HOLY FUCKING SHIT list). A cool relax after "The Manifold Curiosity". The final track, "The Antique", is less dramatic than in "The Manifold Curiosity", since the song is overall much heavier and doesn't build up like the other does, but it's still really great, especially when the acoustic riffing comes. Brutality paired up with something beautiful make an amazing pair. Also, the ending after that is really something magic, and IMO, the best thing of this song.

Get this album right now. You won't regret it.

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