New Music Report – September 25, 2020

This past week has been a really incredible one for music. It’s actually been really hard to stay on top of everything cause I feel like I’ve been stuck on each of these albums individually for days at a time and I struggled to leave it alone to move on to the next one. Overall, that’s a pretty decent problem to have

PS. Not only am I late, but I went so overboard with this one cause all these albums are incredible, so enjoy.

Svalbard – This album is one of the reasons why I write these posts. Everyone knows about the Deftones, everyone is excited about that album. Svalbard is one of those underrated, special, relatively unknown bands that I’m just really excited to show to as many people as I can. This is a really cool combination of post-hardcore, post-metal, elements of shoegaze and atmospheric black metal, and even a little bit of screamo reminiscent of Envy, which is especially apparent in the interplay between the raw, desperate vocals and airy, atmospheric instrumentals. So needless to say, it’s really, really impressive and incredibly unique, there are so many unique elements coming together to create something truly special. This is just such a complex piece of music, driven by incredibly intense and honest emotions and a primal, raw power delivered throughout the album. And really, I could go on and on. There are so many individual elements of this album that are worth pointing out and drawing specific attention to, but in the end it’s really the final product that harnesses the beauty of the diverse and eclectic minutia to create an almost overwhelmingly powerful piece of music. It’s one of those albums that takes several listens to truly appreciate, not to say it’s overly dense, but the more you become accustomed to it, the greater the experience becomes, and the more familiar you are to all the details that have been lovingly written into this really beautiful album. Listen to this album. Listen to it like, 10 times.

Deftones – I mean, what is there to even say about this one? It’s the Deftones. How can you not be excited? I know it’s 2020 and you can’t really expect another monumental album like White Pony, really, but the Deftones can really do no wrong and they leave us all surprised time and time again by just constantly living up to the hype. It’s absolutely amazing how the Deftones have been able to create something truly special, decade after decade, somehow willing lightning to strike not only twice, but time and time again, with each passing album. And this is yet another example – an incredible example – of how the Deftones will never cease to create absolute magic. I think the charm has to do with the raw emotion combined with an undeniable, almost sexual energy, and a brilliant juxtaposition of heaviness and ethereal ambiance. The result is something truly gorgeous in a way that really only the Deftones can capture. The album has this captivating groove throughout layered with ambient textures and a latent aggression that all culminate in something that is just… magnificent. And maybe it’s just the flashiness of the new thing to obsess over, but this is definitely a top 5, maybe even a top 3 Deftones record, and that is no small task to accomplish. This is all just top tier Deftones, and absolutely deserves a place alongside White Pony or Diamond Eyes.

Alpha Wolf – I’ve been a bit of a broken record this year talking about all the great metalcore albums that have been coming out in 2020. Honestly, I felt like I was getting a little tired of it at this point. There have been so many good metalcore albums that I was starting to feel like they were all blending together. There were so many that I just didn’t really care about a new Fit For a King album. I went into this expecting more of the same, to be perfectly honest. But Alpha Wolf have proven that theory quite wrong. Man, did they prove me wrong. This isn’t the most technical album of the year, it’s not the most unique, not the heaviest, but it has this soul to it. It has this energy where every single piece and component comes together just right, and the end result is really remarkable. It has all the right ingredients in all the right quantities, and it came together to – and again, I realize I’ve said this a million times this year – one of the best metalcore albums of the year. At the very least, one of the best written metalcore albums, and one of the most interesting to listen to.

The Ocean – It kind of feels weird to track an album in anticipation for months and months these days. With the overload of information, albums come and go, and while there are a few that I’m more excited for than others, a lot of them blend in. But this one was absolutely remarkable. With an absolutely untouchable technical prowess and song writing ability, The Ocean have been setting forth to raise the bar yet again for progressive/post metal. In an upper echelon filled with a list of truly remarkable bands that have been pushing the limits for years and years now, it’s fairly hard to write something truly remarkable, but it comes as no surprise that The Ocean was able to meet and exceed the high expectations set by not only their contemporaries, but indeed by themselves as well. This album is the final installation of a two part release and it perfectly complements the earlier release, in fact I recommend listening to them in tandem. But either as a standalone or part of a greater story, this album is full of remarkable mood changes, superb pacing, and epic builds, interspersed with mind-bending technical sections and crushing breakdowns. This album really does have a bit of everything, and if you’re interested in hearing some of the most impressive songwriting in progressive metal, I would highly recommend this album.

Idles – This band is fucking bonkers. That’s really all you need to know going into this album. The whole thing is just a nonstop assault on your senses; just an onslaught of pure chaos and punk rock energy. And by the end, you feel like you’ve been hit by a bus. It’s exhausting, it’s insane, and it’s fucking brilliant. It’s really hard to say properly summarize this album. it’s awesome, it’s so, so awesome, but it’s also so challenging to listen to with intentionally abrasive hooks and just this incredibly weird vibe that just never lets us. And I guess that’s just it, this album is WEIRD and intense. It’s an excellent post punk album that fits incredibly well within the trying and honestly pretty fucked up landscape of 2020. That may or may not be a compliment, but regardless it vibes heavy with where we’re at right now, and if nothing else it deserves a lot of recognition for taking that burden directly head on and executing it in a really fun way that, despite all the oddities and difficulties inherent in this album, never seems too fatalistic, at least not at the expense of a good time.