From Out of the West Comes the Best! The Way's Top Ten of 2014

I knew well before this year had begun that 2014 was going to be a special year for music, metal in particular. I can honestly say that not only was this an almost abnormally great year, there were really no big letdowns either (hell, I even thought that the latest Incantation album was pretty fucking good). Obviously it was a bit difficult to whittle down all of the year's best releases to a mere list of ten, but, as tough as the decision was, here it is...

Before I continue, I must mention the fact that while I knew earlier in the year that there were going to be a few albums off of the Dark Descent label on here on this list, I was constantly in a state of amazement by damn near each album that was put out by the label this year. DD has really grown and matured by leaps and bounds and have earned my respect for not only having an almost preternatural sense of picking out and signing the best and most creative bands of this era but also for their diversity as well. Without a doubt, Dark Descent has become this generation's Earache Records in terms of importance and relevance and I genuinely look forward to the years to come in terms of their output.

10) Vallenfyre - Splinters

Just as good, if not better than their debut.

Splinters is a play by play account of 'how to get it right' in terms of writing a death metal album.

I am beyond stoked that not one, but two members of Paradise Lost have decided to revisit their death metal roots and though I quite enjoyed the latest Bloodbath album with Nick Holmes fronting the band, it is Vallenfyre who have ultimately made the list.

9) Swallowed - Lunarterial

I've never been the biggest fan of Autopsy (sorry, just never "got it") and the same goes for the majority of bands that have shamelessly aped them through the years, however, even though it is rather obvious where Swallowed gets the lion's share of its inspiration from, there is something downright addictive about what they are doing. I knew that they were going to be a great band after hearing their 2010 self titled 'ep' but this... this really blew me away beyond the point of comprehension! Sure, the "blackened" Autopsy" thing is still there, to be sure, but there is so much more to it than that. WAY more!!

8) Moab - Billow

While still heavy as fuck, Moab have opted to take a more "accessible" approach this time 'round. Don't let that statement fool you into thinking that Moab sounds like Green Day all of a sudden. If anything, this album reminded me a lot of Kyuss or Vista Chino with, of course, a MUCH heavier guitar tone. In a perfect world, THIS is the kind of band you would be hearing on the radio all the time had the mainstream not taken a turn for the worse somewhere back in the mid-'90's.

7) Salem's Pot - ...Lurar ut dig på prärien

NOT a fan of the band name. At all. However, the riffs and the vibe they create cannot be denied. There is some fairly gloomy shit going on here and I was quite glad that I decided to ignore the gay name and venture fourth unto the mental landscape wherein the strange and morbid mysticism of the sounds provided here were originally wrought.

With bands such as Salem's Pot and Saturnalia Temple (who are set to release their sophomore LP in early 2015), I think it's safe to say that Electric Wizard's days on the throne are severely numbered from here on out.

6) Blut aus Nord - Triunity

There were three releases by BaN to choose from this year and even though this is merely an 'ep' (a split, at that), Triunity was the one that spoke closest to my heart.

I'll always favor slower, more brooding music over constant blasting or albums that consist of a primarily faster tempo. Not that I don't like that stuff, but it has always been the slower stuff that caught my attention and BaN did just that here, and then some. Truinity is the perfect travel pick for a trip to the brain. Brooding and hypnotic ghoulishness best listened to at night.

5) Electric Wizard - Time to Die

After two extremely lackluster albums, EW is finally back on track. No, this is not the follow-up to 'Dopethrone' that everyone had hoped for. Nevertheless, it would appear that the band has employed hindsight to engineer a sort of "mash-up" of their previous incarnations and have delivered their strongest album since 'We Live'.

While never slowing down to the level of 'I, Witchfinder' or 'Eko Eko Azarak', the band has largely managed to recapture the "occult" vibe of their earlier albums while retaining the structural accessibility of their last two outings. I know that for some reason this is a divisive album, why, I have no idea as I found it to be infinitely superior to both 'Witchcult...' and 'Black Masses'.

4) Corpsessed - Abysmal Thresholds

Monstrously crushing!!!

THIS is how death metal should sound. Forget the cringe-inducing influx of technical wankery or the zombie apocalypse of misguided Incantation wannabes aimlessly wandering around for the last 1/2 a decade or so... THIS is how it's done, folks!

Planet shattering guitar sound? Check.

Evil tremolo riff onslaught wrought from deep within the caverns of planet Earth? Check.

Colossal, mountainous passages of doom and dread liberally placed throughout? Check.

Ultra-demonic vocals drenched in hatred and all-consuming rage? Check.

This could easily have been released twenty or so years ago. It's that good!

3) Verma - Sunrunner

Wouldn't be a proper "year-end" list from me without some sort of "space-rock/kraut/prog/pychedelia" floating around somewhere, so here it is!

While just as "spaced out" as anything they've done prior to this, Verma's latest sees the band going back to the accessibility of 'Salted Earth'. Perhaps even more so. Personally, I'm glad, as while I certainly love to zone out, dazed and confused, drooling and traipsing through a vast mental landscape wrought by master strokes of aural psychedelia, I actually prefer the more confined and direct approach of Verma's songwriting capabilities and am grateful to see the band has not forsaken the ability to do so. Why this band hasn't become "the next big thing" is beyond me.

2) Emptiness - Nothing But the Whole

And here we have the second album on the list to showcase some four-eyed figure on the album cover.

It's really almost impossible to categorize any one album by Emptiness and this one is by far their most scatterbrained and surreal.

Obviously the platform here is a sort of death metal/black metal hybrid (though which of the two comes out stronger is up for debate) yet the band spares no expense in reaching out well beyond the framework of expectation, pulling in some severely bizarre riff sequences ranging from the tranquil and serene to dizzying and hallucinogenic. Morbidly exotic, I find this band to be the most exciting prospect since the days when Blut aus Nord chose to follow their own path and left the traditional approach of songwriting forever behind.

1) Today is the Day - Animal Mother

As I get older, the need to listen to something over and over, no matter how good it may be, has lessened dramatically. I was actually starting to worry about that and began to wonder if I was finally becoming one of the "pod people", immune to the magical effect that good music has on my mind and mood. Then I heard this...

Holy shit!!

It's actually rather funny as I sort of wrote TitD off a while back after a slew of seemingly uninspired outings. I honestly didn't expect much this time 'round. Mistake. BIG time.

While it's easy to say that Steve Austin "went back" to the sound of the GODLY 'Temple of the Morning Star', it's really not that simple. While it certainly can be argued that 'Animal Mother' is a return to the quality of that era, it is really more of a clever recap of the band's career high points with 'Temple...' and 'Sadness Will Prevail' being the most noticeable.

Really, after 'Kiss the Pig' (which was just really not that good) and 'Axis of Eden' (which was much better, musically, but had the misfortune of being drenched in an awful, over bass-y production), I figured that Steve Austin's best days were behind him as usually seems the case with most aging artists. I was wrong and I have never been so happy to admit that in all my life!


Honorable mentions:

Funereal Presence - The Archer Takes Aim

Stellar album that manages to create so-called "orthodox" black metal while adding in a multitude of other elements, keeping things interesting. For a debut this sounds fantastic!

Lumerians - Transmissions From Telos Vol. III

One of my favorite bands returns with yet another outstanding excursion into the warm and fuzzy expansion of the mind's eye. MUCH better last years 'The High Frontier'.

The Cult of Dom Keller - The Second Bardo

Miss the '60's or wish you were alive during that mystical and tumultuous time? Pop on this bad boy and feel yourself warmly slip away. Though this is far from the political crooning of Bob Dylan or Country Joe and the Fish, mind you. This is the kind of shit that'll have you starting a cult of your own, partaking in LSD fueled orgies and going on mass murder sprees. Beware.

Skaphe - Skaphe

Well composed and recorded black metal with moderate death metal leanings. Pretty evil shit and it won't surprise me if you start seeing this band's name all over the place in the years to come.

Godflesh - Decline & Fall

While the inevitable full length had a few stellar tracks, to be sure, I have to admit, I was a bit underwhelmed with how "same-y" it all ended up sounding. Oddly enough, this little "warm-up' 'ep' proved to be far superior .


Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know, I had mentioned earlier that there weren't really any big let-downs this year, but I almost forgot and so I now present to you...

The Stinker of the Year:

Exodus - Blood In Blood Out

When I first heard that Zetro was back in Exodus I was beyond psyched. Personally, my favorite Exodus albums are fronted by Steve and so I was fairly confident that this would be a triumphant return to form. I mean, hell... his work with his kid's band Hatriot was pretty venomous sounding. I figured his return to Exodus would be a flawless endeavor.

Not quite.

Vocally this album sounds like Steve Souza is a social retard. There are so many cringe-inducing moments that had me wondering "what the fuck were they thinking?"

To be fair, much of this has to do with the absolute retardation of the lyrical content, which I'm fairly certain is written by Gary Holt, therefore absolving Mr. Souza of that particular crime against humanity. Nonetheless, a different, perhaps... less "flamboyant" approach may have lessened the blow some to some extent, so he's not totally in the clear here. Honestly, Souza's been on a downward spiral since 'Fabulous Disaster', vocally, though again, the lyrical content does not help. They may have worked back in the '80's but in this day in age they are an absolute abomination.

The other, and perhaps greatest offender here is the production. While the riffs are mostly bloated and lazy sounding, they may have come across slightly better had they not undergone the overproduction that ultimately ruined them beyond repair. Had the production been a bit leaner and Souza's antics toned down some, this may have been a little better. Unfortunately, Alzheimer's seemes to have gotten the better of whoever the decision-maker is in the band and out came this steaming pile of over processed shit.

Corpsessed - Abysmal Thresholds (2014)

Holy fucking shit! This is MONSTROUS!!!! I'm pretty damn sure that this will make album of the year ten months from now! I highly doubt that some band is going to come along with all the proper elements in line and lay a doozy on me somewhere within that stretch. This is pretty much the template here.

Ever since my teenage years way back in the late '80's/early '90's, I have been searching for and hoping to come across death metal of this quality and ferocity. After the mind-blowing triumphs that were 'Realm of Chaos', 'Consuming Impulse', 'Left Hand Path', 'Symphonies of Sickness' and both 'Slowly we Rot' and 'Cause of Death', I had pretty much known at that point that I preferred low tuned guitars and murky riffs. Of course finding music of this caliber was not always an easy thing as most people churning out death metal and releasing tangible material were those obsessed with incessant blast-beating, something that I have always been on the fence about. Sure, they serve their purpose well enough but when overdone they can thoroughly kill the mood and identity of a song.

Corpsessed are certainly a death metal band though they have a better grasp at doom than most bands who fall under that moniker. There are riff sequences that truly conjure conjure the horrors of the cosmos that Lovecraft only hinted at. The music here is truly cataclysmic. The note selections and their respective sequences are satisfying to the utmost. To hear this album is to know the true meaning of death metal.

Beside the stellar destruction and horror wrought by the guitars, the vocals are the quintessential icing on the cake. Death metal vocals can be very "make it or break it" for me. Some bands have insanely great music but in the end everything is reduced to naught as they had made the fatal error of embellishing their work with the likes of some lowly denizen who gargles cocks for a living. This is my opinion of Finland's Demigod. They took an otherwise decent album (The Slumber of Sullen Eyes) and proceeded to urinate upon it by using one of the weakest and most childish sounding "death metal" vocalists I've ever had the displeasure of hearing. Demigod, Corpsessed are not and their vocalist sounds like the human embodiment of a Kraken, roaring and flailing about in a colossal and unearthly rage.

The last thing I'd like to bring to light is the brilliant drumming throughout the album's duration. At one point I had noticed that there hadn't been any blasts and lo and behold "BOOM"! One of the most perfectly placed and executed blast beats came barging out of the speakers. I was stunned. This band can seemingly do no wrong. Nothing is overdone. Everything that is on display is done with master craftsmanship and perfection.

I can only hope that this band remains for some time to come and that they do not take years to follow up this triumphant display of cosmic upheaval.

Sonorous Howl From Beyond the Stars: An interview with Matti Makela of Corpsessed

I understand that you were involved with Wormphlegm prior to the formation of Tyranny. Could you tell me a little about this time and what led to Tyranny's creation?

- Both Tyranny and Wormphlegm actually coexisted simultaneously. 
I formed my first band with Lauri (Lindqvist) in 1998, which later evolved into more doomy expression and eventually became Tyranny perhaps by 2001. The earlier stages were more of experimentation, learning to actually play our instruments and finding out what it was we wanted to do with music. These steps are not really important to other people (outsiders) and not worth digging up or releasing, but on a personal level they are really important phases of growth for me, for sure.
Wormphlegm was started by me and A.K. (or Dirtmaster if you will, the pseudonym he used for most of his other projects) in 2000. So .... Wormphlegm and Tyranny were always kind of parallel, but going through different stages of their own evolution. 
The three of us (me, Lauri and A.K.) had our own very secluded circle, and we had all sorts of projects going on during those years. Later on Lauri joined Wormphlegm as well as a live bassplayer, but he also did some vocal work on the full-length album. 
What led to Tyranny's creation? Our personal need to create something like this, and perhaps it was just inevitable. All the paths taken previously just seemed to lead into this one.

What would you say were the main differences between Wormphlegm and Tyranny? 

- The themes for one, the concept and the people involved in creating it, and the sound as well I'd like to think. The themes in Wormphlegm were mostly Dirtmaster's brainchild being more grittier and savage... even with the way it was written, there's nothing poetic about it, it was meant as an attack or Torture, where as Tyranny was more "artistic" in a way. That's not really perhaps the right word here.
Musicwise - Tyranny, much like the moniker itself, was always very strictly structured and composed and perhaps never really meant as a live playing entity - as it is just the two of us, Lauri and me, recording and handling all the instruments in a studio environment. The music was also constructed as more solemn and perhaps suited for listening alone in a certain mindset.
Wormphlegm was more, dare I say random or chaotic. The riffs and structures were there, sure, but we improvised alot and played the stuff live onto recordings with a more stream of consciousness method. That's probably why with every live performance the songs came out quite different each time, depending on the mood of that night. 
It's kind of ironic that we ended up doing more live gigs actually with Tyranny than with Wormphlegm.

Corpsessed

What were your main influences in regards to Tyranny's sound and lyrical themes?

- The works of H.P.Lovecraft were always a huge influence for us on lyrical level. That sort of cosmic horror where man will realize just how small he is and how indifferent and cold the universe is towards him... that's doom!
I guess we could also add the works of R.E.Howard to some degree. Some movies have also made a great influence on us, I'm especially a huge fan of the Horror genre. You probably won't see that in the lyrics as much, but rather in the music. I try to create similar creepy and tense atmospheres by different means. Fear is a key factor in the atmosphere Tyranny tries to convey. 
The sound was influenced by some doom bands for sure (like Thergothon, Skepticism, Unholy, Hierophant, Dusk, Disembowelment), though the main influences were probably more Black Metal or Death Metal based. That's the stuff we grew up listening to. But we always wanted our music to be very simple yet atmospheric, with heavy emphasis on crushing bass frequencies which was the "ground" of the music. The lead guitars or synths would be the eerie mist floating above it - to give some sort of visual image of what we wanted to achieve, heheh.

Would you say that writing doom is a more "taxing" endeavor than conjuring fourth death metal riffs?

- Absolutely, atleast for me. It requires tapping into a certain mood/mindset to be able to write that kind of material. Sure, it's easy just to bang a few chords extremely slowly but when you are actually trying to channel some emotion through it (wether or not it will ever convey to the listener).... it gets difficult and really taxing, and I can find myself constructing some really minimalistic idea for years even. As someone put it, “The simplest things are often the truest.”
When there is no fluff and you just try to present the most raw and simplest idea, and still keeping it in a monolithic form that flows seamlesly from one part to the next, without becoming "blocky" - that's where the difficulty lies.
I in no way will mock Death Metal riffs either, as I dearly love that genre as well, but it has always seemed "easier" to write. But that's a totally different mood I want to tap into - a more destructive, cold and powerful one, where perhaps cruel emotionlessness (hah, a funny parallel, phlegm [Noun] - apathy demonstrated by an absence of emotional reactions) is even more preferred. 

Wormphlegm

Were you pleased with Fireboxes handling of 'Bleak Vistae'?

- I guess they did a decent job in the beginning, at least promotionwise; they got the name TYRANNY out there which is the most important part. Though a band should always interest you with their music, not by marketingploys. I'm not sure how Firebox is even doing these days, probably not so good? 
I wouldn't make the same kind of deal we did back then anymore though. Don't get me wrong, it has nothing to do with the money... on the contrary, I would much rather take a bulk load of CDs/albums than royalties of sales. That way I atleast can spread my own works to people who contact me directly rather than a faceless record company. The situation was rather annoying at one point... people kept asking me for CDs and I had to tell them sorry, I have none - go buy it at the labels webshop.
After the release of "Tides..." we weren't much in contact with the label at all. Perhaps they thought we were dead. This became very evident when they made re-pressings of our albums last year without our permission or even contacting us at all (the written deal was done, they had no rights to the releases anymore). I think they might have thought they would get away with this without giving us anything. 
Lauri then contacted them, and asked what's the deal here and aren't we at least entitled to some percentage of the CD pressings. Well, they delivered those to us, and I'm happy.... so that's it.


In 2005, only a year after the release of 'Bleak Vistae', Tyranny released the mammoth 'Tides of Awakening', an uncommon feat within the funeral genre considering the wait between most funeral bands material is usually a good five or more years. How were you able to pull this off?

- I'm still quite astounded by that myself as well, considering that it took us about 3 years to write "Bleak Vistae" and now even longer with the third upcoming album (what has it been, 7 years already?).
I think we wrote "Tides of Awakening" within one year, though the fourth track "Arcane..." was a reworking of an older idea dating a few years back. That time was very creative and we worked alot on our music, recording and rehearsing stuff almost 
every weekend. "Tides of Awakening" sort of just flowed out of us. After the album was done, me and Lauri both felt kind of exhausted and agreed that we would need at least a one year break before we even would start to write new material. Just so 
that we would atleast have a new angle on things.
So, the album certainly took it's toll on us.


Unbelievably, the next year would bear more rotten fruit in the form of Wormphlegm's debut album 'Tomb of the Ancient King'. Would you say that you were at your creative peak during this period, in terms of your prolific quantity of output?

- Oh yes, absolutely. Those years were definately a some sort of peak in my creativity. "TOTAK" was actually written and recorded already in 2004, it took us a few years to actually get it out. Perhaps the biggest problem was Dirtmaster's fading 
interest in music, so I had to struggle with things quite much on my own, forcing and kicking Lauri also to contribure to the visual side of things, meaning artworks etc... he must still hate me for being such an asshole back then, heh. I think I was the only one who had any interest in getting this album released outside of our own private circles, and I was also the only outside contact for the band. After the release of the demo people were basically begging us to release something... so I gave in, heh.


The next year saw the birth of your next band, 'Corpsessed'. What were the circumstances that led to this and what were your intentions as a musician in regards to Corpsessed's musical direction?

- Tyranny was on hiatus, Wormphlegm was slowly rotting and inactive as well... so I had to keep myself active somehow, but the music had to be something completely different compared to these outputs.
A local friend asked me to help out his band at one point. Their bassplayer had left and they needed someone to fill in on a few gigs they had booked. Though the music was not really my cup of tea, I agreed to help them out but only joining in on as a session member... Through this band I met the drummer J-P Manner and we seemed to share a similar interest towards Death Metal so we started talking about forming a band of our own together. It didn't take long, and we gathered a group of friends and this band became Corpsessed. The musical direction wasn't really that clear in the beginning, only that it was going to be Death Metal. So, we started rehearsing quite actively trying to figure out what we were capable of and what came to us most naturally. It took a few years and we finally recorded our first EP in 2010.

Tyranny

In 2011 Corpsessed released the instantly classic, 'The Dagger and the Chalice'. Were you pleased with the end result and could you elaborate a bit on the band's rather thunderous guitar tone?

- Yes, that aforementioned EP was released in 2011 by the US label Dark Descent Records. I'm still very pleased how the recording turned out. It's the result of about 3 years of work, granted most of that time we mostly refining the songs to their fullest potential... we also discarded lots of material that just didn't suite the purpose of the band.
The monstrous guitar sound? I'll take that as a huge compliment, thanks, as it has always been me who was in charge of the recordings and sounds when it comes to Tyranny and Corpsessed. The sound owes alot to the experimentation work I did with Tyranny, but now used in a Death Metal environment. A heavy emphasis on the low frequencies and a gritty distortion... that's what it really is, and the way I love it.


What led to the disbandment of Wormphlegm?

- I guess the fading interest of Dirtmaster towards music was the keyfactor, and I would never do that band without him. This happened after the recordings of TOTAK and the few European gis we did in 2004. After that we managed only to record a few rehearsals. 
He was always such a huge part of the whole concept, so the band would never be the same without his presence. He is one of the most eccentric people I have ever met, and he usually dedicates himself totally towards one thing, becomes a master of it... and after that, usually moves on to do something completely else. I mean, Dirtmaster had his creative peak during 2000-2005 as well. I think he wrote and recorded about 10 albums worth of music during that time, of which many are still unreleased and probably will remain that way.
I however somehow still felt that there are things that were left undone, atleast for me, within the type of music Wormphlegm did. That's why I've just recently started to work on a solo project that is a continuation of the sound and themes but from a different angle - the circle must be carved complete, it will haunt me forever if I don't do it. This is the basis for the at this point unnamed project. Let us see what will come out of it.


What is the status with Tyranny at the moment and what can we expect from Corpsessed in the coming months/years?

- Tyranny has been more active during the past few years. We've done a few live appearances and slowly recorded pieces of our upcoming album in short sessions.
The work has been quite frustrating to say the least. Perhaps it's just my perfectionism. We've recorded few of the songs probably now 3 or 4 times. I think at the moment we are getting close to what I want the album to be, but there's still much work to be done. I wont even try to set a release date for this, I know it'll eventually take longer than any time set time plan. Though it would be probably healthy to just eventually let go and say this is it... the album is now done!
Corpsessed also takes a huge amount of my time these days, me and Lauri are also living quite far apart nowadays which has effected our activity alot. We are also in the writing process for a full-length album with Corpsessed which we hope to start recording during the later parts of this year.


What are your thoughts on the current state of death metal? Are there any new bands out there that have caught your attention?

- I actually quite like it how things are currently. Though there are many many new bands (and not all of the probably that worthwhile), I find it exhilarating that somehow the older style of rotting death metal has found new vitality to it's undead husk... New younger bands embrace the morbid stench of the old and even older entities have started rising back from their graves, and of course there are those who never even left but have found such new strength to them.
Some new bands I've enjoyed? Atleast Dead Congregation, Venenum, Inverloch (do they count? haha, love the new EP!), Coffin Texts, Necros Christos, Maveth, Lie in Ruins and Teitanblood I have enjoyed immensly. 

Three albums you cannot live without:

This is a hard one... so many good albums, it changes from time to time what I want to listen, mainly depending on my mood. But let's list three albums that have probably affected me the most.

Devil Doll - Dies Irae
Esoteric - Metamorphogenesis
Deicide - s/t OR Incantation - Mortal Throne... can't choose

Alright Matti, many thanks for taking time out to do this. Any last words for the damned?

I think this covers it for now... this was probably the most indepth interview I've ever given without being cryptic at all. Thank you very much for the opportunity Joshua! And cheers to everyone who had the time and interest to read all of this through.