Ba'al

More waffling about music we’ve been listening to this month – enjoy our revolving door of misery in the playlist below.

Joe – Vocals

Toadeater – Molten Gold (Down Your Throat)

Another to list under “great band, bit of a silly name”, but this is a lengthy black metal track that oozes atmosphere and pivots and turns like a creepy short story.

Omega Infinity – Iron Age

I’m a sucker for bands that have a space/science theme and Omega Infinity do this with aplomb. This track is dense and hypnotic, guest vocals by the always awesome Adrienne Cowan are the icing on the cake.

Anorexia Nervosa – The Shining

I mentioned them in my last playlist, gone but not forgotten. This is very much what would happen if Emperor channeled Fleshgod Apocalypse.

Abduction – Dismantling the Corpse of Demeter

Utilising traditional black metal but with engaging riffs and innovative song structures, Abduction are a rough diamond. It’s easy to see why they are revered on the UK black metal scene and rightly so.

Hellripper – The Nuckelavee

I used to collect Monster In My Pocket, a series of little rubber figurines linked to a card game back in the early 90’s. My favourite was Nuckelavee, I even wrote a song about it myself in my past band Lacrota. This track by Hellripper is absolute fire and does the terror of the Orkney Islands proud. 

Chris – Guitar

Amon Amarth – Twilight of the Thunder God

I make no secret of my love for Amon Amarth – they remain a delightful bastion of bouncy melodic death metal riffs and OTT Viking themes. I listened to this track a few times last month for writing inspiration for a short comic, and it remains a fun banger.

Orphaned Land – All Is One

Super uplifting progressive metal which incorporates a ton of middle-Eastern instruments into their soundscape: check! This isn’t their strongest album (Mabool still takes the crown for me) but it is one of their most anthemic and hopeful songs.

Pyramid Mass – Eyes Wide

If space-infused death-doom with a weighty production that sounds like obsidian slabs crashing to the surface of a distant alien planet is your thing, then Pyramid Mass are here to help. Lovely cover artwork too!

Metroid Metal – Tallon Overworld

Speaking of alien planets, I’ve smashed through the remastered version of Metroid Prime recently (once on normal, once on hard) and it’s reminded me of my love for Metroid Metal. This track is just groovy as fuck, and the leads are *chef’s kiss*.

Zef/Danimal Cannon – The Lunar Whale

Extremely beefy chiptune here, with production that’s like being punched in the stomach by a pixellated boxing glove. Danimal Cannon does a lot of shred guitar type stuff, so his metal influences on this bouncy, fierce collaboration really stand out to me.

Richard – Bass

Alrakis – Gas und Staub zwischen den Sternen

Following Joe’s theme of spacey metal (and my own from last month with Almyrkvi), I’ve been revisiting the superb first Alrakis album recently, Alpha Eri. Where Swiss masters Darkspace aim to scare you with the looming, black abyss of space and all it could conceal, Alrakis instead focus on the melancholy and loneliness of floating through the void, hosting depressive black metal introspection in the cosmos and enriching it with deep ambience.

Blue Hawaii – In Two

Dreamy, electronic indie pop featuring the vocalist of Braids and underpinned by some chilled but propulsive dance beats. Lovely, relaxed stuff that still grooves.

Aes Dana – Heights

Did somebody say ‘lovely, relaxed stuff that still grooves?’ Oh, it was me. Well, that couldn’t be more accurate in describing Aes Dana’s music too, albeit in a different way. His genius lies in psybient soundscapes driven by trance kick drums and a heady, gently trippy atmosphere. If you’ve ever been to Secret Garden at the Hallamshire House in Sheffield, you’ll know the vibe.

P.O.S – Savion Glover

I’m really late to the game getting into P.O.S’ revered 2009 album of leftfield hip-hop, Never Better, but I’m loving it at the moment. Conscious, political messages in tight, impeccable flows and a real mix of musical genres, taking in classic boom-bap beats, rock riffs and more, this is a must for hip-hop heads.

Nickelback – Savin’ Me

Am I trolling? Maybe a little bit. However, Nickelback’s output up until about 2005 has a special, nostalgic place in my heart, and Nick and I have often talked about how they genuinely had some great moments. The album All the Right Reasons is absolute hilarious trash lyrically, but for my money has some of their best tunes, and this midpaced, overwrought number is the pick of the bunch, even if it is basically ‘How You Remind Me, Pt. II”.

Nick – Guitar

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Atlas Stone

Spent a good 7 minutes saying the name over and over until I could say “Pigs” the correct number of times without counting to 7 in my head. Incidentally this track is the 7th track on the album and I first listened to it on my birthday (which is the 7th). Apologies to any heptaphobes reading this, I mean no ill will.

Hangman’s Chair – Cold & Distant

Recently went deep diving through a Pallbearer-tinted lagoon and came across this band. As expected they carry a similar weight of stacked guitars and delicious clean vocals but it’s got some subtle grunge/shoegaze notes thrown in there too, lovely. Speaking of grunge…

Alice in Chains – Man in the Box

I’d put money on this track being on one of our playlists before, courtesy of Richard if not myself, but it’s that good we’re having it on here again, I don’t give a toot. Despite how fickle I can be, it’s no risk for me to publicly declare this track one of my top five favourite tracks from the nineties and AIC are comfortably my preference over the other ‘big three’ grunge bands.

Hologram Earth – Circadian

A massively under-appreciated band. I had resigned myself to the belief that Hologram Earth were sadly no more due to their lack of online activity, but hark! They recently announced they have a new album coming soon, so all is good, as they say, in the hood.

Boss Keloid – Peykruve

Had the pleasure of sharing a stage with these gents on my birthday, a joyous way to enter my 28th year. Melted on the Inch is absolutely one of my all-time favourite prog releases and to hear parts of it live (alongside their other stellar material) and performed with such precision and heft was pretty groovy.