Music 2010-2019 (Part 2)

Honorable Mentions and Other Stuff

My previous post had all my absolute favorite stuff from the decade, but there are still plenty of things I'd like to call attention to! The order here is going to be pretty random.

Blut Aus Nord- 777 The Desanctification

Blut Aus Nord- Hallucinogen

Blut Aus Nord really bookended the decade for me with two albums I absolutely adore.  Both are black metal inspired, but beyond that the similarities are minimal except for the obvious genius behind both of them. The Desanctification is an industrial, dissonant nightmare while Hallucinogen is proggy and pretty and trippy in all the right ways. 

Gorguts- Colored Sands 

Ulcerate- The Destroyers of All

Slugdge- Esoteric Malacology

Gorguts- Pleiades' Dust

Horrendous- Idol

I promised there would be death metal! These are five of my favorite death metal releases of the decade. In my heart I always feel like the kind of guy who likes death metal that is filthy and gross, but as you can see here it turns out I actually seem to prefer it techy and proggy.  These are all fantastic albums.

Super Unison- Auto

Code Orange- Forever 

Destroy Boys- Sorry, Mom

These are some of my punk and hardcore inspired favorites. Super Unison just has amazing energy, and absolutely killer vocals.  Code Orange is a real crusher and one of the best heavy hardcore albums I've heard in a long time.  Destroy Boys is a new discovery for me, and the only real punk rock band I've listened to recently.  When I went to see them in Brooklyn, there were at least twenty young women with pink hair at the show.  Fun as hell.

Vhol- Deeper Than Sky

Power Trip- Nightmare Logic

This is the thrashy stuff. Power Trip could easily have made Part 1 as one of my real favorites of the decade. Incredible album, and really amazing live band.  And good politics from Texas!  The Vhol album is super cool proggy space thrash. 

Neurosis- Fires Within Fires

Neurosis- Honor Found in Decay

Neurosis put out two albums this decade, and it would be weird if I did not talk about them. I'll be honest- I think these are pretty good albums (maybe even great!) but I'm just not really able to be rational about Neurosis albums. Also, when I'm in the mood to listen to Neurosis, there are so many 9.5+/10 albums to choose from it is hard to be at the point where I'm going to choose one of these.  Still these albums are solid and the songs were great live and Neurosis are still Gods who have chosen to share their gift with us.  The greatest band that has ever lived. 

Nails- Abandon All Life

These guys act like meatheads on social media all the time and it is pretty embarrassing for everybody, but all their albums are pretty damn good. They are not very long though. As quick and heavy as it gets.  

Agoraphobic Nosebleed- Arc

This is a grindcore band that decided to have each member write an album in a different style, so Kat wrote a doom metal EP.  This shit is crushing and awesome. Just absolutely fantastic stuff.  

Pig Destroyer- Head Cage

I am not a big grindcore guy, so maybe I lack Pig Destroyer street cred, but I think this is the best thing they have ever done. Army of Cops is one of the tracks of the decade.  

Bolzer- Hero

Alcest- Kodama

While we are talking about tracks of the decade, these are both great albums that each feature tracks that I went DEEP on this decade. I listened to Bolzer's Phosphor (discovered via Spotify algorithm) and Alcest's Oiseaux de proie hundreds of times each.  Just absolute 100/100 tracks.  2016 was the best year for metal ever.  

Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas- Mariner

Subrosa- More Constant Than the Gods

Lord Mantis- Nice Teeth Whore

Frontierer- Orange Mathematics

Tombs- Path of Totality

Thou- Rhea Sylvia

In Solitude- Sister

Cobalt- Slow Forever

Wow that is a lot of amazing albums! I got excited just putting all those covers next to each other.  There really is something for everybody here- this is a really wide range of styles (vocal styles too!).  These have all been good friends to me the past few years. 

Sometimes I Do Not Listen to Metal

Mitski- Be the Cowboy

You could make an argument that my favorite album of the decade is Be the Cowboy.  Every track is a treasure. Most of the tracks are under two and a half minutes and yet there are so many surprises and so many little moments to look forward to.  

Emma Ruth Rundle- Marked For Death

Emma Ruth Rundle- On Dark Horses

I've seen Emma a bunch over the past two or three years, and I'm grateful for it. These are beautiful albums, and heavy in their own way.  Loving Emma is pretty standard in the metal world these days, and I do not break out of this stereotype. I love Emma.

Angel Olsen- Burn Your Fire For No Witness

Her newer albums have been very hyped and she has blown up a bit, but this is far and away my favorite Angel Olsen album.  Forget "Shut Up Kiss Me", this is the real stuff.

Arcade Fire- The Suburbs

Lana Del Rey- Ultraviolence

Nothing underground or weird about these two, but they are two of my favorites.  I've enjoyed the newest Lana album as well, especially the track Mariners Apartment Complex. 

So That's It?

I'm sure I've forgotten some favorites, and I know I could add some more sections (best live shows? old albums I did not discover until this decade?), but I feel like this is a pretty solid representation of what I have spent time with and loved for these past ten years.  Getting deeply back into music has changed my life (mostly for the better!), and I'm very optimistic about the next decade as well. There is going to be a lot of great music, even if everything else is falling apart.