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1000 results for “zenlan”
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@financialtimes For the Danish angle I also usually cast an eye (or an ear) over #Zetland's morgenoverblik and often DR's #genstart.
The blend of "legacy" and new media is quite satisfying
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Finished a tile tonight. I use masking fluid to create a reverse border and string before applying a watercolor wash. The rest is done with ink and colored pencils.
https://mwop.net/art/1eff972b-2569-6de2-834e-be1bce49369e.jpg/
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📰 Nieuw-Zeelanders kunnen sneller scheiden door nieuwe wet over huiselijk geweld
https://nieuwsjunkies.nl/artikel/ZiH
🕖 19:00 | NOS Nieuws
🔸 #Scheiding #Contactverbod #Slachtoffers #Zeeland -
📰 Nieuw-Zeelanders kunnen sneller scheiden door nieuwe wet over huiselijk geweld
https://nieuwsjunkies.nl/artikel/ZiH
🕖 19:00 | NOS Nieuws
🔸 #Scheiding #Contactverbod #Slachtoffers #Zeeland -
Environment watchdog flags worries over Govt science sector shake-up https://www.byteseu.com/740084/ #arguing #concerns #could #crown #damage #environment #Flags #Governments #govt #Grave #institutes #NewZealand #over #plans #proposed #raised #Research #Science #sector #Serious #shake #shakeup #splitting #that #watchdog #worries #zealands
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De subsidie voor wolfwerende maatregelen in de provincie #Zeeland wordt voor de tweede keer opengesteld. Ditmaal alleen voor landbouwhuisdierhouders in de regio #Tholen en #Reimerswaal. Aanvallen van de #wolf in Zeeland vonden vooral hier in de afgelopen jaren plaats. Daarom zet het provinciebestuur van #Zeeland nu in op bescherming in deze risicogebieden. Lees hier meer: ⤵️ https://www.bij12.nl/actueel/opnieuw-subsidie-voor-bescherming-tegen-de-wolf-ditmaal-voor-tholen-en-reimerswaal/
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Zeeland zegt NEE! Tegen apartheid door OV!
Abdijplein, Middelburg, vrijdag 24 januari om 12:45 CEThttps://acties.todon.nl/event/zeeland-zegt-nee-tegen-apartheid-door-ov
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Zeeland zegt NEE! Tegen apartheid door OV!
Abdijplein, Middelburg, vrijdag 24 januari om 12:45 CET
https://acties.todon.nl/event/zeeland-zegt-nee-tegen-apartheid-door-ov
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Zeeland zegt NEE! Tegen apartheid door OV!
Abdijplein, Middelburg, vrijdag 24 januari om 12:45 CEThttps://acties.todon.nl/event/zeeland-zegt-nee-tegen-apartheid-door-ov
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Zeeland zegt NEE! Tegen apartheid door OV!
Abdijplein, Middelburg, vrijdag 24 januari om 12:45 CEThttps://acties.todon.nl/event/zeeland-zegt-nee-tegen-apartheid-door-ov
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Zeeland zegt NEE! Tegen apartheid door OV!
Abdijplein, Middelburg, vrijdag 24 januari om 12:45 CEThttps://acties.todon.nl/event/zeeland-zegt-nee-tegen-apartheid-door-ov
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Wellington, New Zealand, is the best capital city in the world for mountain biking https://www.byteseu.com/629966/ #Article #articles #best #bike #BikeBlog #biking #blog #capital #city #Europe #for #in #is #mountain #MountainBike #MountainBiking #mtb #new #NewZealand #News #Singletracks #the #wellington #World #zealand
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Saunders and Felagund’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024
By Dr. A.N. Grier
Saunders
Rather than delve into the not-so-good parts of a rollercoaster 2024, which had its share of rough circumstances, I’m using this rare soapbox moment to focus on the positives of another action-packed year of metal. Celebrating ten years of writing at Angry Metal Guy was an achievement that crept up. All these years later I remain beyond stoked and privileged to still be contributing in a small way as the blog has snowballed into the juggernaut it is today.
Unfortunately, I haven’t quite fulfilled my writing productivity goals in 2024. However, even when motivation slips, it still gives me great satisfaction to have a platform to share my thoughts and opinions on the music I love. I cannot match the writing chops or word smithery of our most esteemed scribes. However, honing my craft within my own abilities and drawing inspiration from the excellence of my fellow writers continues to motivate me and hopefully steer listeners toward some great music.
While it may not compete with some of the top-shelf individual years over the past decade, 2024 featured a lot of top-shelf stuff across a multitude of genres sprawled over the heavy spectrum. As per usual, the plethora of releases was overwhelming and again I stumble into the end-of-year chaos with a hefty list of stuff I need to check out or spend more time with. Nevertheless, from the numerous albums, I spent quality time with throughout the year, I eventually arrived at the releases that mattered the most to me, with many gems to no doubt uncover in the end-of-year wash-up. This is probably one of the more eclectic lists I’ve cultivated during my time here. Not sure exactly why that was the case, but a year of fluctuating, uneasy shifts on personal and professional fronts perhaps contributed to the more diverse listening rotation.
To wrap up, a heartfelt thank you to our beloved readership for making this all worthwhile and to all my colleagues/writing buddies and general crew of awesome people comprising the ever-expanding blog. Also shout-out to my list buddy Felagund, here’s hoping our combined powers partially align or otherwise complement and provide some listening inspiration. Lastly, a special heads-up to Angry Metal Guy, Steel Druhm, and the rest of the AMG editors and brains trust for whipping us all into order and doing the behind-the-scenes heavy lifting to keep this great thing chugging along. Cheers.
#ish: Anciients // Beyond the Reach of the Sun – Personal dramas, line-up shuffles, and an extended stint away from the studio failed to hamper the triumphant return of Canada’s progressive-stoner-sludge heavyweights Anciients. Beyond the Reach of the Sun marks a strong return that expands the band’s songwriting vision through a standout collection of ambitious, heavily prog-leaning cuts. Loaded with dazzling guitar work and gripping songwriting, Beyond the Reach of the Sun finds the band recalibrating and hitting their songwriting straps without compromising the genre-splicing traits and character they formed across their first couple of albums. It is not a perfect album by any means, with some niggling elements rearing their head, mostly via the way of some bloat, sequencing issues, and a flat production job. But with songs of the outstanding quality of “Despoiled,” “Is it Your God,” and “The Torch” leading the way, the album’s issues fail to extinguish my overall enthusiasm.
#10. Madder Mortem // Old Eyes New Heart – I came to veteran Norwegian progressive metal outfit Madder Mortem late in the game, just as they appeared to be hitting modern-era career peaks via Red in Tooth and Claw, and most recent album, 2018’s Marrow. Six long years in the wilderness and Madder Mortem return without missing a beat, continuing to pump out expressive, powerfully composed jams of their trademark mix of Goth-tinged progressive/alt metal. Although I enjoyed the album from the outset, if anything it has grown in stature since its early year release. The album’s subtleties and bevy of emotion-charged hooks bury deeper into the brain upon repeat doses. The tough period the band endured prior to the unleashing of Old Eyes New Heart is reflected in the album’s raw, potent swell of emotions and overall depth. This is further reflected in the diverse nature of the colorful songwriting, swinging from bluesy, melancholic restraint (“Cold Hard Rain”), pop-infected prog (‘Here and Now”) to urgent, dramatic, and infectious rock powerhouses (“The Head That Wears the Crown,” “Towers”).
#9. Opeth // The Last Will and Testament – As a longtime Opeth fanboy, it is a cool feeling to be genuinely enthused about a new LP, nearly three decades since their underrated Orchid debut. All the pre-release buzz centered on the return of Åkerfeldt’s famed death growls. While certainly a cool and unexpected touch, the fourteenth album The Last Will and Testament is not merely a nostalgic throwback to the band’s glory days. Instead, Opeth fuses those quirky, vintage prog tools from their modern-era material and fuses them into an intricate concept album that is a significant step up from the past couple of uneven efforts and easily their best work since at least 2014’s Pale Communion. Dazzling musicianship, jazzy licks, and inventively crafted, yet notably more focused and concise writing marked an album that features better production and tighter, punchier songs than the band has written in a while. It is also Opeth’s heaviest, most riff-centric release in many moons. Despite the trademark melancholic moods and darker shades, it also sounds as if the band is having real fun, reinforced by the abundance of bouncy, infectious riffs, shreddy solos, and boisterous grooves littering the album. Likely would have earned higher honors with time, as I still feel there is much more to discover.
#8. Oceans of Slumber // Where Gods Fear to Speak – Previously enjoyed the idea of Texan progressive metal powerhouse Oceans of Slumber, more than the execution and finished product. In particular, 2016’s Winter has grown in stature over the years. Yet for much of their career, it has felt like a case of incredible talent and potential not fully realized. That changed on Where Gods Fear to Speak, arguably the band’s most complete, consistent, and hook-laden release. When I felt the prog itch throughout 2024, Where Gods Fear to Speak was often the go-to. An album of lush, moody, drama-filled compositions, deftly contrasting soaring melodies, and skyscraping hooks with muscular riffage and heftier bouts of aggression, the writing is tighter and more compelling than previous efforts. Cammie Beverly’s scene-stealing vocals may take center stage, but this is very much a complete effort, where the rich soundscapes, brooding atmospheres, and technical musicianship shine brightly. Loaded with killer jams, including stirring highlights, “Don’t Come Back from Hell Empty Handed,” “Wish,” and “Poem of Ecstasy,” Where Gods Fear to Speak finally finds Oceans of Slumber firing on all cylinders.
#7. Pyrrhon // Exhaust – In theory, Pyrrhon should be one of my favorite bands. I used to eat up all manner of skronky, dissonant, and abrasive extreme metal. Perhaps my thirst for the weirder, experimental forms of death metal and dissonance has softened over the years. However, while largely enjoying Pyrrhon’s career up to this point, Exhaust feels like the album I have been waiting for the band to deliver. Exhaust dropped unexpectedly and that element of surprise flowed through another oddball, deranged platter of wildly inventive, chaotic, yet oddly accessible (in Pyrrhon terms) extreme metal. From cautious, challenging early listens, I found myself increasingly compelled to revisit Exhaust on a regular basis, marveling at its flexible, fractured songwriting, nimble musicianship, and raw hardcore punk edge infiltrating the dissonant, experimental death metal at the core of the Pyrrhon experience. Gritty production, perfectly unhinged vocal performance from Doug Moore, and occasional burst of groove and shred of accessibility punctuating the chaos (“First as Tragedy, Then as Farce,” “Strange Pains,” “Stress Fractures”) lend the album a refreshingly addictive edge to counterbalance its abrasive, challenging angles.
#6. Replicant // Infinite Mortality – New Jersey’s Replicant previously exhibited their brawny, yet brainy mix of gnarled dissonance, technicality, and knuckle-dragging street grooves to powerful effect. However, third album Infinite Mortality levelled the playing field as the band upped their game to elite levels of controlled chaos, while the writing remained challenging yet strangely accessible and memorable. In spirit, the ugly mix of harshness, discordance, and headbangable blockbuster grooves reminds me of the great Ion Dissonance. Meanwhile, the contrasting blend of unorthodox melody, jagged dissonance, and stuttering, complex song structures come together with cohesion and blunt force, punctuated by the occasional warped solo. Like a harsh, harrowing soundtrack to a bleak dystopian future, Infinite Mortality is a mean, chunky, technical, and deliciously primal slab of advanced disso-tech-death excellence.
#5. Noxis // Violence Inherent in the System – Notably death metal in 2024 was dominated by brutal, dissonant varieties, designed to scramble brains and challenge minds while battering the listener into submission. Refreshingly, unheralded surprise packet Noxis unloaded a killer debut LP to savor. Drawing from an array of old-school influences and ’90s touchstones without ever aping one particular band or style, Noxis unleashed a nostalgic yet unique death metal platter. Managing to at once sound raw and unclean, technical and brutal, thrashy and proggy, sharp and refined, Noxis blaze their way craftily through memorable, riff-infested wastelands with unbridled aggression, speed, and finesse, rubber-stamped by some exceptional bass work. Remnants of the classic Floridian scene mingle with powerful influences, including early Cryptopsy, later-era Death, Atheist, and Cannibal Corpse, resulting in a finished product that sounds fresh and vital, while containing an endearing, workmanlike old-school charm. It works a treat, and the top-notch and frequently inventive writing reveals impressive depth and character that rewards repeat listens.
#4. Dissimulator // Lower Form Resistance – There are some serviceable, enjoyable thrash-aligned albums in 2024, but one stood head and shoulders above the competition. Comprised of a grizzled bunch of underground Canadian musicians hellbent on fusing advanced technical thrash assaults with sick old-school death-thrash, a fuckton of killer riffs, quirky vocoder action, and razor-sharp hooks, Lower Form Resistance has consistently provided an adrenaline-filled shot of thrash when needing that specific fix. Dissimulator rewires thrash in intricate and intriguing ways, giving me the same giddy rush as past experiences with the likes of Capharnaum, Vhol, and Revocation. Excited to hear what these dudes conjure up next. In the meantime, Lower Form Resistance will continue to keep my thrash cogs oiled through potent bangers like “Warped,” “Automoil & Robotoil,” and “Hyperline Underflow.”
#3. Huntsmen // The Dry Land – After somehow sleeping on 2018 debut American Scrap and subsequently their apparent sophomore slumping second album, I finally righted my wrongs by delving into the strange and wildly unique woodlands of Chicago metal troupe Huntsmen and their phenomenal third LP, The Dry Land. A raw, rustic, and emotionally striking explosion of genre-bending excellence, where blackened sludge, doom, post, prog, folk, and Americana influences coalesce into an intoxicating and frequently thrilling musical formula, rich in detail and emotion. The skilled genre mashing is cohesive and genuine, loaded with surprises, structural twists, dramatic ebbs and flows, deep burrowing hooks, and contrasting vocal trade-offs to seal the deal on a remarkable album. Despite only a small handful of songs comprising the album (six in total), Huntsmen make every moment count, from blazing longer numbers with stunning contrasts and peaks (“This, Our Gospel,” “In Time, All things”) to plaintive folk dusted rock (“Lean Times”), through to the stunningly moving, compact power of “Rain.” Huntsmen occupy a unique space in the metalverse.
#2. Borknagar // Fall – I have a slightly odd history with Norwegian legends Borknagar. I recall being taken by their excellent 2012 album Urd, yet oddly enough I didn’t extend my listening beyond that isolated release. Things changed with 2019’s True North, a typically solid offering that inspired my explorations of portions of their vast and consistently engaging catalog. The twelfth album Fall marks their first album since True North and again features an outstanding line-up of talents, including founding mastermind Øystein Brun, multi-talented keyboardist/clean vocalist Lars Nedland, and ace up their sleeve bass/vocal powerhouse ICS Vortex. Fall smacks of a veteran band not merely content to coast on their laurels but rather carve freshly creative trajectories for their now signature blend of epic prog, triumphant Viking, and icy black metal to thrive. An extra shot of old-school blackened aggression and fuller production boosted an album of consistently high quality. Fall became a true all-occasions album in 2024; often uplifting me when I felt down or giving me a punchy charge when the need arose. Wall-to-wall prime cuts feature, headlined by the storming “Summits,” moody earworm, “The Wild Lingers”, and the striking, epic shimmer of “Moon.” Stalwarts still operating at the top of their game.
#1. Counting Hours // The Wishing Tomb – Not since Fvneral Fvkk’s remarkable Carnal Confessions debut has a doom album struck as hard as the second platter of sadboi misery perpetrated by Finland’s excellent Counting Hours. While doom and its death-doom companion may not always dominate my listening habits, when an album does hit that sweet spot, it usually leaves a profound impact. Few forms of metal generate the emotional resonance of quality doom and Counting Hours tears at the heartstrings through a riveting collection of gorgeously played and executed death-doom ditties, spearheaded by former members of the hugely underrated Rapture. Ilpo Paasela backs up the stellar musicianship, superb guitar work, and tight, addictive songwriting with a stunning mix of emotively raw, stately cleans and rugged death growls. The whole package packs an emotional wallop, yet its soulful edge and hopelessly addictive hooks and sing-along moments prevent a drop too deeply into depressive waters, as such earwormy gems as “Timeless Ones,” “All That Blooms (Needs to Die),” and “Starlit / Lifeless” attest. The Wishing Tomb is an epic album to lose yourself in.
Honorable Mentions:
- Blood Incantation // Absolute Elsewhere – Did I overrate Absolute Elsewhere? Possibly. Is it overhyped? Absolutely. Yet Blood Incantation remains a brave, adventurous band and Absolute Elsewhere represents a welcome return to form from these gifted, star-gazing space cadets. A flawed but effective fusing of their death metal roots with an increased focus on ’70s-inspired progressive rock and trippy psych flourishes.
- 200 Stab Wounds // Manual Manic Procedures – I barely took notice of Cleveland’s 200 Stab Wounds debut LP, but sophomore album Manual Manic Procedures provided one of the real surprise packets in 2024. It very nearly cracked the main list sheerly through heavy rotation. A meaty, adrenaline-charged shot of muscular death into the veins.
- Ripped to Shreds // Sanshi – Another reliably awesome slab of old-school death from Andrew Lee and co. Increasingly shreddy, extravagant solo work and a grindier edge powered one of their best albums yet.
- Nails // Every Bridge Burning – Nails is back and that is a great thing. New line-up, the same mode of short, sharp, blast-your-skin-off aggression, head-caving grooves, and hate-filled energy.
- Unhallowed Deliverance // Of Spectre and Strife – A pleasant surprise and one of the best debut albums in 2024. German tech-slam-brutal death juggernaut Unhallowed Deliverance knocked it out of the park with limited subtlety but a heap of talent, creativity, and songwriting smarts.
- Wormed // Omegon – With Ulcerate’s latest release not quite hitting me on the intense level of others, and having run out of time to properly digest and rank the obvious high-quality new Defeated Sanity, Wormed’s long-awaited return gave me my fix of calculated brutality via futuristic, slammy, technical brutal death executed in typically warped, mind-blowing fashion.
- Khirki // Κυκεώνας – Following up an impressive, well-received debut LP is no easy feat. Kenstrosity steered many of us from the AMG community onto Greek band Khirki’s Κτηνωδία debut in 2021, so I eagerly anticipated Khirki’s return for the second go around. The resulting album met expectations through a fiery, passionate, and eclectic mix of metal, rock, and traditional Greek folk.
- Sergeant Thunderhoof // The Ghost of Badon Hill – A late-year list shaker, underappreciated UK psych-prog-stoner outfit Sergeant Thunderhoof unleased a more restrained, psych-enhanced, and introspective album, showing signs of being a genuine grower since its November release, despite not quite hitting the irresistible highs of 2022’s This Sceptred Veil.
Disappointments o’ the Year:
- Several highly anticipated albums did not quite land the killer blows I was hoping for. Respectable to very good albums, but I expected better from Vola (admittedly a grower), Caligula’s Horse, Ihsahn, and especially Zeal and Ardor.
Non-Metal Picks:
- St Vincent, SIR, Michael Kiwanuka, Allie X, MGMT
Song ‘o the Year:
- Counting Hours – “Timeless Ones”
There were any number of standouts and potential Song o’ the Year candidates that could have nabbed top honors, including several counterparts from Counting Hours’ spectacular sophomore album. In the end, I settled on the (proper) album opener of my album of the year, as the tune that really hooked me initially from an album that captivated my soul. A rich, emotive piece of dark, melodic death-doom with superlative guitar melodies and a chorus for the ages. Honorable mention to Huntsmen’s “Rain.”
Felgund
I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of living in interesting times. But as that wizened sage, Gandalf so wisely reminds us: “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
So what have I been doing with the time that has been given? A fair amount, as it turns out. 2024 has certainly been a tumultuous year for our small family. On the one hand, the business that I launched in 2023 has been chugging along for well over a year and a half now, and I think I’m far enough along in the process that I feel (at least somewhat) comfortable calling it a success. The baby that we brought home from the hospital is now, inexplicably, a whip-smart 7-year-old. My wife’s career continues to blossom as she continues to moonlight as my business manager. Things are good.
And yet 2024 also proved to be harder than I’d ever imagined. My dad died back in April, an experience that remains both devastating and surreal. He’d had multiple sclerosis for well over a decade, and as I’m sure many of you know, MS is a grasping, grinding petty little disease. But for as much as it stole, it proved incapable of taking away who my father was; it couldn’t quite make off with what made him him. He was my best friend before his diagnosis, and he remained my best friend up until that impossible evening in a hospital room in early April. Truth be told, he’s still my best friend, only now he’s free to walk wherever I see fit to imagine him.
Despite my best efforts, I realized pretty quickly you can’t capture a life in a few paragraphs. I couldn’t do it in his eulogy, and I certainly won’t attempt to do so on a heavy metal blog. But I will share this:
My dad was a carpenter by trade and an artist by choice; he was a fisherman and a cook; he was a handyman, a builder, a designer, and a writer; he taught himself how to play guitar, and he’s perhaps the singular reason why I’m writing for this website today. Because while he wasn’t a fan of metal himself, he instilled in me not only a love for music, but an interest in the process; in the people who create it, the minds that shape it, and the passion that births it.
He played in countless bands in his youth, and I can think of no better way to honor his memory than by sharing some of his music with you all. With Steel’s blessing, I’m embedding a two-song demo (“A Place in Time” and “Street Legal”) ripped from a cassette my old man recorded in the late 80s, so apologies in advance for the questionable quality. He composed both the music and lyrics, played guitar and bass, and sang on both tracks, which were devised when he was perhaps at his Rush fanboy peak. It’s been a delight and a balm hearing his voice again, captured as it was in a moment when he was young, vibrant, and doing what he loved.
So here we are. Despite (or perhaps because of) this, I managed to consume a fair amount of metal this year. And while I was far less productive as a writer than I’d hoped and I wasn’t able to listen to as much as I originally planned, I discovered a plethora of new music here on AMG that soothed what Neil Peart once referred to as his “baby soul.” And surprisingly, I found much of that solace in the discordant, the dissonant, and the off-kilter, as the list below probably reflects. But more importantly, I found compassion, support, and understanding amongst the writing staff here. And while they may not know it, I will be forever thankful for the folks who showed me such boundless kindness during a year that felt decidedly unkind. Thank you, my friends.
Now let’s get to to it. Here are my top ten(ish) albums of 2024.
#(ish). Beaten to Death // Sunrise Over Rigor Mortis – It almost feels like cheating to place an 18-minute album in my Top 10(ish), but here we are. 2024 proved to be a year where my interest in grind and grind-adjacent acts expanded, and this “ish” is the result. While I wasn’t aware of Beaten to Death prior to this release, I was quickly swept away by Sunrise Over Rigor Mortis’ ability to bludgeon its idiosyncratic way into my brain and coil there like the most glorious of infections. Beaten to Death has delivered a concise helping of grinding goodness, with crispy prog edges and a schmear of off-kilter humor. Back catalog, here I come!
#10. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum // Of the Last Human Being – Gardenstale’s gushing review of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum’s fourth album Of the Last Human Being was a tough endorsement to ignore, as was an invocation of Diablo Swing Orchestra. So I threw caution to the wind and leaped headlong into this experimental maelstrom. And I’m so happy I did. Don’t let the runtime dissuade you; Of the Last Human Being doesn’t feel nearly as long as it is, and over that relatively brief timespan, you’re provided with a front-row seat to the aural equivalent of perhaps the most fun kind of performance art. Hard-edged riffs, off-kilter instrumentation, ominous theatrics interlaced with beautiful, sparse melodies, and all capped off by the deranged croons of chief carnival barker Nils Frykdahl. If I’d spent more time with this record it may have placed higher, but as it is, I’m happy it’s making an appearance at the number 10 spot.
#9. Sur Austru // Datura Strǎhiarelor – Despite Twelve underrating this album, I suppose I should commend him for introducing me to Sur Austru in the first place. This Romanian outfit’s third full-length Datura Strǎhiarelor is a potent blend of rumbling, blackened fury, and melodic folk metal, with plenty of flute work, orchestration, choral elements, and plaintive keys thrown in. And, while the gruff, chanting growls might rub some listeners the wrong way, it was this aspect more than any other that first grabbed my attention, and proceeded to keep it. And while I haven’t a clue what the vocalists are shouting at me, the tone and placement in the mix feels just right, especially for this brand of folk-infused black metal. Such is the strength of Sur Austru that this album began as my “ish” before eventually working its way to ninth. Mightly bold of them.
#8. Necrowretch // Swords of Dajjal – Some of the entries on this list were either late discoveries or took some time before they got their dirty little hooks in me. Necrowretch’s Swords of Dajjal was not one of them. As soon as I spun it back in February, it was love at first listen. Swords of Dajjal focuses on the greater deceiver in Islamic mythology, and explores that tradition through the use of ferocious blackened death metal (with perhaps a dollop or two of thrash thrown in). Although, as Carcharodon rightly pointed out in his review, the “blackened” part is doing most of the heavy lifting here. And that’s not a bad thing, as Necrowretch is more than adept at crafting memorable hooks and an engaging atmosphere without sacrificing heft or freneticism. Swords of Dajjal is an unmitigated success, and my only real gripe is that Necrowretch dropped a new platter so early in the year that it may go overlooked on too many end-of-year lists.
#7. The Vision Bleak // Weird Tales – Grier and I may not see eye to eye on music, but what can I say? The man knows his way around gothic metal. So when he awarded a 4.0 to Weird Tales back in April, what was I to do? If you said wait several months before bothering to press play, you’re correct. But folks, I may have been late to the party, but it’s a rager nonetheless. The Vision Bleak has produced an emotive, memorable, downright heart-wrenching concept album; one that is both lush and harsh, both achingly melodic and morosely heavy. Weird Tales isn’t my usual cup of tea, but The Vision Bleak has rejected my assertion by doing what many similar acts appear incapable of doing: cohesively balancing “gothic” and “metal” without lessening the impact of either. A well-earned addition, indeed.
#6. Stenched // Purulence Gushing from the Coffin – While Rots-giving may have been tarnished by a less-than-stellar release from Rotpit back in November, I’ve moved on since then, and am now proudly celebrating Stenched-mas. The Manly n’ Mighty Steel reviewed this one-man grimy death outfit last month, and even though I was still smarting from my failed attempt to poach Purulence Gushing from the Coffin for myself, I can’t in good conscience deny how hard this globular mass of funerary muck rips. From the first track to the last, you’ll be rocking a near-permanent stank face, and you can’t blame that solely on the fungal miasma wafting from your speakers. The truth is, Stenched has delivered a masterclass in riff-heavy, moss-encrusted death metal; the kind that’s perfect to drag your knuckles to. Purulence Gushing from the Coffin is the exact kind of no-frills, all-guts death metal I needed in 2024, and that’s why it’s sitting pretty at 6.
#5. Aklash // Reincarnation – How are we already at the Top Five? And what better way to kick off this most treasured of positions than with the melodic black metal stylings of Aklash on their fourth album Reincarnation? Aklash received a solid write-up in June’s Stuck in the Filter by our very own Kenstrosity, and their most recent outing has continued to climb higher and higher on my list the more I’ve spun it. Part black metal, part progressive metal, part trad metal (epic choruses included), Reincarnation packs a wallop in just a short 37 minutes. overflowing with varied instrumentation and keen lyrical chops, grandiose in scope and medieval in tone, yet more personal than it has any right to be, Aklash is firing on all cylinders here, and, as such, is perfectly suited for anyone’s top 5.
#4. Devenial Verdict // Blessing of Despair – And, just like that, more death metal rears its ugly head. I’m still surprised at how high up Devenial Verdict’s sophomore album landed on my list, primarily because their 2022 debut Ash Blind failed to connect. But Blessing of Despair seems to have arrived just in time for my increasing flirtation with the cruel mistress that is dissodeath. As such, I found myself utterly taken with Devenial Verdict’s latest, overflowing as it is with equally heavy doses of discordant ferocity and mournful melodicism. And while Blessing of Despair is an undeniably heavy record, it makes sure to leave plenty of room for quieter moments, where slower sections and sparse instrumentation have room to bloom and breathe. This approach not only results in a wonderfully balanced album but ensures the bludgeoning that’s sure to follow is all the more impactful. Consider me reformed.
#3. Aborted // Vault of Horrors – I’m fairly certain that any death metal fan worth their salt is legally required to include the latest Aborted release on their end-of-year list. Over 25 years and 12 albums into their carnal career, these death metal titans need no introduction. Blood-drenched, gore-soaked, and happily grindy, Aborted are in a league all their own, and it shows on Vault of Horrors. The music remains tight and explosive, building a menacing atmosphere that pervades only the stickiest of grindhouse theaters. Besides, with songs dedicated to classics like Return of the Living Dead, Hellraiser, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, how could I do anything other than include this gem of an album in my top 3? I for one welcome our horror-themed overlords.
#2. Noxis // Violence Inherent in the System – What began as a random pick from the promo sump by one Kenstrosity quickly rose to become a favorite of the death metal maniacs (those with good taste, anyway) on the AMG staff. Now, more importantly, it’s nabbed the second-highest honor on my year-end list. Noxis’ first full-length album Violence Inherent in the System sounds like the product of a much more experienced band. The songwriting is top-notch, the performances are big and bold without being overwrought, and the sticky riffs stay wedged in your mind long after the album ends. And yet for all of its bombast, Noxis is still able to infuse their debut with oodles of atmosphere, not to mention a level of balance between death metal orthodoxy and fresh bells and whistles (and horns) that would make even Thanos grimace in jealousy. Special attention must also be paid to Joe Lowrie’s snare tone and Dave Kirsch’s godlike bass performance.
#1. Pyrrhon // Exhaust – I suppose I was always destined to end up here, I just didn’t know it right away. Pyrrhon’s fifth full-length Exhaust didn’t initially grab me the way some of my other entries did. However, on repeat spins, I found myself falling deeper and deeper into its frenetic, dissonant embrace, discovering both nuances and subtleties amidst the proggy cacophony. On an album that thoroughly explores the universal theme of exhaustion, be it physical, mental, social, or economic, Pyrrhon’s brand of noise-tinged death metal feels like the ideal tool with which to scrawl their livid manifesto. But what truly sets Exhaust apart is its unrelenting groove, stoked by Pyrrhon’s inventive capacity to not only feature but to uplift its unique brand of melodicism amidst the unrelenting maelstrom. It’s hard to overstate just how critical this aspect is to Exhaust’s success, especially since it would have been so easy to excise. But Exhaust’s manic ferocity, which swerves jerks, hops, and heaves, is all the better for it. And while its charms were initially lost on me, I found it easier and easier to finally succumb to its tremulous tendrils. Any record with that kind of staying power (not to mention a theme so applicable to my own experiences this past year) has more than earned my top spot for 2024.
Honorable Mentions:
- Defeated Sanity // Chronicles of Lunacy – Defeated Sanity is a brutal tech death stalwart at this point, and now seven albums in, Chronicles of Lunacy only further cements that status. Chronicles of Lunacy provides the listener with track after aggressively intricate track exploring lunacy in its many forms, but the real treat here is Lille Gruber’s masterful performance on the drums.
- Full of Hell // Coagulated Bliss – while I don’t think I’ve become a complete grind convert, albums like Full of Hell’s Coagulated Bliss and Beaten to Death’s Sunrise Over Rigor Mortis certainly set me on the path to one day become a proud proselytizer. You can’t deny Coagulated Bliss’ infectious groove and whirlwind pace, although I agree with the Dolphin’s rating adjustment.
- Undeath // More Insane – no, it’s not as good as It’s Time…to Rise from the Grave, and there’s no reason to pretend that it is. Nor does it need to be. While More Insane may not reach the lofty heights of its predecessor, it still showcases an Undeath doing what it does best, while also hinting at an undeniable ability to evolve into an even sharper, more fetid OSDM beast.
- 200 Stab Wounds // Manual Manic Procedures – while I wasn’t entirely kind in my review of 200 Stab Wounds’ debut, Mark Z suggested I take their follow-up Manual Manic Procedures for a spin, and I’m glad I did. It’s clear they’ve grown as artists, and their sophomore effort reflects that heightened maturity. Keep stabbing on, your crazy diamonds!
- Mamaleek // Vida Blue – I’m confident this album captures what it would sound like if Tom Waits listened to too much Ashenspire before leaving for the recording studio. Long, difficult, and bold, I found myself returning again and again to Vida Blue no matter how challenging I found the experience. While this album didn’t make my top 10, I’m convinced a future Mamaleek release will.
Song o’ the Year:
- Noxis – ”Skullcrushing Defilement”
This song goes hard. Exceptionally hard. In truth, there are any number of tunes from Violence Inherent in the System that fit the “Song o’ the Year” bill, but I had to give the edge to “Skullcrushing Defilement.” Not only does it begin with an absolutely searing bass solo, but it sets the stage for the four-string onslaught that’s to come. There’s a noticeable Cannibal Corpse influence that I can’t help but love here, alongside heaping doses of maniacal melodicism, turbocharged technicality, and an earworm chorus to boot. Abandon all cervical spines, ye who enter here.
#200StabWounds #2024 #Aborted #Aklash #AllieX #Anciients #Archspire #Atheist #BeatenToDeath #BlogPosts #BloodIncantation #Borknagar #CaligulaSHorse #CannibalCorpse #Capharnaum #CountingHours #Crytopsy #Death #DefeatedSanity #DevenialVerdict #DiabloSwingOrchestra #Dissimulator #Dissonance #FullOfHell #FvneralFvkk #Huntsmen #Ihsahn #Khirki #Lists #MadderMortem #Mamaleek #MGMT #MichaelKiwanuka #Nails #Necrowretch #Noxis #OceansOfSlumber #Opeth #Pyrrhon #Rapture #Replicant #Revocation #RippedToShreds #Rotpit #SaundersAndFelagundSTopTenIshOf2024 #SergeantThunderfoot #SIR #SleepytimeGorillaMuseum #StVincent #Stenched #SurAustru #TheVisionBleak #TomWaits #Ulcerate #Undeath #UnhallowedDeliverance #Vhöl #Wormed #ZealAndArdor
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Doom_et_Al’s and Dear Hollow’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024
By Doom_et_Al
Doom_et_Al
2024 was the year my reviewing fell off a cliff.
I had plenty of good excuses. An infant son (Grayskull) who totally rocks my world but who gobbles up free time and good sleep habits like Pacman on a tear. A new role at the hospital, for which I was initially out of my depth, and that required enormous effort to stay afloat. An exhausting book tour for a memoir I published earlier this year. These are all incredible things for which I am extremely grateful. I just found that at the end of every day, when I should have been critically assessing music, all I wanted to do was sleep.
This significant reduction in free time has forced me to reassess my relationship with metal. In the beforetimes, I would inhale it. I was not picky; the more the merrier. Now, I have to be judicious with what I listen to. I have a lower tolerance for bad music, and less inclination to listen to it multiple times. I sometimes yearned for a time when I could focus on music I wanted to listen to, not music I was being asked to critique. This caused me to wonder if I had any business reviewing music at all.
I can’t tell you if 2024 was a good year for metal or not, because the free time I had was focused on music that brought comfort. I therefore spun fewer albums, but those I did spin got a lot of earball time. I do know that despite everything, metal continued to bring me enormous joy and happiness. Part of this is thanks to the incredible AMG team, and AMG Himself, who have created, without question, the best metal site on the planet. Special thanks to the Steely One, who could have fired me many times, but didn’t for some reason. I’d also like to thank my fellow writers who are good, kind, supportive people whose only flaw is their collective questionable taste.
Returning to the question of why I’m still here: a few weeks ago, I was playing Gaerea softly on the stereo. Grayskull crawled in, heard the music, stood up, and with the biggest grin on his face, began growling and gesticulating. He was loving it, and his unbridled joy reminded me of how glorious good metal can be. It inspired me to try to review more next year. I hope some of that rubs off on you and that you have a beautiful, prosperous and happy 2025
#10. Sgáile // Traverse the Bealach – This type of noodly prog isn’t usually my thing. But Sgáile’s Traverse the Bealach is so damn catchy and epic that it transcends the usual pitfalls of the sub-genre. Importantly, it captures the essence and majesty of the Scottish Highlands (albeit in post-apocalyptic form) in a way matched only, perhaps, by countryman Saor. It’s also an album that improves the longer you listen to it. An unexpected delight.
#9. Misotheist // Vessels by Which the Devil is Made Flesh – A band that hasn’t forgotten that black metal is supposed to feel ugly and dangerous, Vessels picks up where For the Glory of Your Redeemer left off, and is just as remorseless, claustrophobic and scary as its predecessors. Misotheist do their usual thing and knock out 3 dissonant bangers in under 40 minutes. When people complain that black metal has gone soft, point them in the direction of Misotheist
#8. Dissimulator // Lower Form Resistance – Thrash so tasty, even non-thrash fans like myself had to take notice. Complex, technical, ferocious… the only thing I don’t love is the vocals, and those I can get past because the rest is so good. Loaded with killer riffs from start to finish, this should appease the cave-man in you, while tickling those neurones as well. This one stayed in rotation for me all year. Thrash never does that. Which should tell you all you need to know.
#7. Spectral Wound // Songs of Blood and Mire – Although not as immediately spectacular as its predecessor, Songs of Blood and Mire is still a ferocious collection of vital and vivid black metal. Melding melodicism with fury, Spectral Wound create music as monstrous as it is catchy. Perhaps because it lacks the outright bangers of A Diabolic Thirst, perhaps because it is even more caustic, this one flew under many a radar. Don’t let it fly under yours.
#6. Kanonenfieber // Die Urkatastrophe – Building on the promise exhibited in earlier albums and EPs, Kanonenfieber realize their full potential with Die Urkatastrophe. So aggressive, so confident, so accomplished that I knew after one listen that it would list. The notion that “war is hell” is patently clichéd, yet Kanonenfieber subvert the usual trappings by cleverly mixing the faux-sunniness of war propaganda with the brutality of black metal. It works brilliantly.
#5. Selbst // Despondency Chord Progressions – Don’t let the hideous AI art turn you off. Selbst have come out of nowhere to create the year’s most chaotic, yet compelling, collection of tracks. Channelling Suffering Hour, this is music that finds the beauty in the messiness of its composition. Miraculously, the insanity never becomes wearying, only more interesting. By the time the final chords fade, you’ll want to throw yourself in all over again.
#4. Dawn Treader // Bloom & Decay – File under “surprise of the year.” I nearly snapped this one up from the promo sump, and then, like an idiot, passed it by. Joke’s on me. Capturing the warm, fuzzy side of black metal (a la Deafheaven, or a good version of Ghost Bath), Dawn Treader manages to pack a deep emotional punch despite all the prettiness on display. Alcest’s effort this year was fine… but when I wanted that transcendent experience only good black metal can provide, it was to Bloom & Decay that I kept returning.
#3. Gaerea // Coma – Gaerea have always been absolute masters of catharsis. The ability to take music that is baseline intense, and ratchet it up even further, is a rare gift. With Coma, Gaerea dial things back. Their tenderest, most intimate collection benefits from adding a gentler emotional core. This makes Coma less immediate than, say, Mirage,but ultimately more varied. And when it hits, the highs are some of the best of Gaerea’s rock-solid career.
#2. Ulcerate // Cutting the Throat of God – Arguably the best band in metal release another absolute barnstormer. Using every trick learned over the previous albums, Ulcerate deploy a devastating assault of dissonant death metal that captivates as it overwhelms. Insane drumming, complex time shifts, forceful melodies, thematic cohesion… Cutting the Throat of God has it all.
#1. Iotunnn // Kinship – First things first. Kinship not Access All Worlds Part 2. It’s more ambitious. It’s more sprawling. It’s shaggier and looser. And truthfully, on my first few listens, I thought it was a bit bloated and ill-disciplined. A 4.5 hiding in a 3.0, if you will. But a weird thing happened. I kept coming back. And every time I came back, I discovered something new. The incredible cymbal work on the chorus of “Mistland,” the gorgeous ending of “The Anguished Eternal.” Soon I realized Kinship, and its songs, are exactly as long as they need to be. Jon Aldara’s amazing vocal work elevates the stellar material even further, adding emotional complexity and yearning to the spell-binding complexity. The result is ethereal, complex, spiritually satisfying prog-death. It’s the best album of the year.
Disappointment o’ the Year:
Zeal & Ardor // Greif – I love the band. The live show still rocks. But this is a disappointing misfire.
Songs o’ the Year
- “Silver Leaves” – Wintersun
- “Mistland” – Iotunn
- “A Mercy Fall” – Counting Hours
- “Withering Flower” – Gaerea
- “Neuronal Fire” – Dark Tranquillity
- “Matricide 8:21” – Fleshgod Apocalypse
Dear Hollow
Welcome to the end of 2024! We at AMG hope the year has been kind to you – that your lives are filled with love, your hearts with joy, and our world with peace. I hope that you have found your people, and have those you can lean on. If we have ever given you a voice, a platform, or just love and support when you need it, then we have done our jobs.
2024 has been a roller coaster for the Hollow household. Our toddler is now a three-year-old encroaching on kidhood, with all the sass and sick burns she can muster.1 Fun news: we will be welcoming another kiddo into the world come summer of 2025! I also finally graduated with my master’s in secondary education this past year (mainly for the pay raise). While I’m unsure how much I will use from those classes, I have stepped up my class offerings to science fiction, true crime, and archaeology, alongside myriad others.
My metal reviewing has found a bit of a crossroads in 2024. At the end of 2023, I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression with potential ADHD, with a ton of childhood patterns and religious trauma rooted in my upbringing. As I unpack my need for productivity, I have had to take some steps back and see where my values actually lie as I’ve acclimated to medication, counseling, and just trying to rewire my brain. I’ve been reading and relaxing more, instead of cranking out reviews as religiously as I have. I’m trying to live without religion – of any kind.
Special shout-outs to those who have been instrumental in my journey this year: the ineffable and tireless Steel Druhm, the genre-confusing Dolphin Whisperer, and those who have been supportive all year (Thus Spoke, Maddog, Carcharadon, Holdeneye, and Mystikus Hugebeard). Couldn’t have done it without y’all.
On to the metal!
#ish. Sumac // The Healer – The amorphous and fluid nature of The Healer is exactly what I’ve wanted out of post-metal. Its organicity is its greatest asset, accomplishing rich and trembling tones across its mammoth 76-minute runtime. Improvised material largely fails due to its lack of direction, but direction was never a focus for Sumac; rather, it dwells in its own devastation – the warhead and the fallout. Electronics simmer, noise erupts, sludge riffs hit with the weight of a thousand suns, and vocals command the attack with vitriol and mania alike. The Healer wounds and heals.
#10. Sidewinder // Talon – I never thought a stoner-inclined album would make it to my list, but here we are. I scoffed, but then the first riff of “Guardians” hit, and collided with vocalist Jem Tupe’s formidable and rich belts, the pleasure was so immense I threw a table over. The full-bodied, fuzzed-out blues riffs continue into jam seshes that keep me coming back for more, with them bluesy vocals floating like a weed-piloted spaceship atop the seas of psychedelia. The New Zealand act boasts range, zeniths in the low and slow, and cuts loose with southern fried riffage. I haven’t been able to shake the riff from “Prisoner” for months.
#9. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum // Of the Last Human Being – As a recent convert to 2004’s Of Natural History, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum scratches the itch I didn’t know I had. In essence, an art rock and jazz foray, Of the Last Human Being goes from snappy blasts of UneXpect-style metal meltdowns, multilayered vocal attacks, wonky and hypnotizing dream sequences,2 to brass drawls, anachronistic industrial electronic, to art-funk, and more! Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is confidently locked into its own stylistic fluidity – Of the Last Being picks up as if seventeen years haven’t passed since its predecessor.
#8. Mamaleek // Vida Blue – Taking what made predecessor Diner Coffee so great and blowing it up with a palpable pomp, Vida Blue simultaneously pays homage to member Eric Livingston and the relocation of the Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas. Mamaleek establishes these tracks upon much shiftier sands, free jazz at its core, while jazz- and blues rock, post-punk, prog-rock, and pure experimentalisms are glossed over progressions rotten to the core. From flute and brass explosions to anarchic punk driving, you’d be hard-pressed to find an album as bewildering – and as utterly brilliant – as Vida Blue. Home run or whatever.
#7. Thou // Umbilical – While Thou has always been excellent, Umbilical foregoes the post-metal sensibilities that populated Heathen and Summit in favor of a cutthroat hardcore influence. Blessedly, while it feels harsher than much of their previous material, it doesn’t change the core that defines this Baton Rouge collective. Doom and sludge still dominate the pain and smothering that Umbilical represents, with the thick riffs reeking with the putridity of swamp water and vocals haunting with the vitriol of the bayou’s ghosts dominating the ears aplenty, with a vicious hardcore urgency biting through the humidity.
#6. Ataraxie // Le Déclin – The bleak edge of funeral doom has never felt so appealing. Recalling Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal in its audio and existential weight, the French collective balances the heft of funeral doom with the punishment of death metal – without the bells and whistles of modern atmospherics. Leads dominate the melodic portions with mobility and competence, death metal collapses regularly imminent, tension and bleakness hanging high in an empty sky. Four tracks of patient starkness greet the ears with overwhelming weight and tortured meditations on devastation.
#5. Ingurgitating Oblivion // Ontology of Nought – Easily my most returned-to album of 2024, the German duo creates a death metal album that embodies the outer extremes of the style. It’s dissonant beyond what many consider dissonant, punishing beyond what’s considered punishing, and easily one of the most exploratory albums of the year. Five long-form tracks showcase labyrinthine songwriting, experimental melodic structures, mind-flaying technicality, and a strange sense of catchiness radiating from deep within. Perhaps the most puzzling release of the year that requires and demands your full attention, the unearthed rewards are plenty.
#4. Orgone // Pleroma – Stephen Jarrett emerges from a ten-year hiatus of Orgone for a definitive piece of metal that defies explanation. Featuring a technicality that exists in a league of its own with an adventurousness and organicity that aligns its vast range of influences neatly, with its core landing somewhere among technical death metal and post-hardcore a la Amia Venera Landscape. Riffs and sweeps maintain a certain unhinged and intensely calculated tedium, while stylistic wilderness is explored in real-time. Post-metal, death metal, post-hardcore, and jazz are all tied together with crescendos and organic breadth that sway from lush harmony to scathing dissonance seamlessly. Orgone returns with an opus and pilgrimage of beauty, adventure, and pain.
#3. Ulcerate // Cutting the Throat of God – I was this close to writing off Ulcerate’s newest as too accessible and too forward, lacking the atmospheric prowess of The Destroyers of All or Stare Into Death and Be Still. Then I let Cutting the Throat of God whisper and breath. In between these stormy blusters came the answer, and a sentience emerged. It wasn’t about a broad showcase of dissonance and technical prowess, but a holistic cohesion that stitches the music together with the nuance and sinews of being. The vicious and the ethereal blended into unspoken horror, with meditations ranging from the frantic to the morbid. Cutting the Throat of God is the most human of its releases but in the tragedy it becomes and the metamorphosis it undergoes – the murder of God.
#2. Aborted // Vault of Horrors – I’ve never been terribly keen on the Belgian deathgrind legends, but Vault of Horrors curb-stomped a special place in me – namely because it sounds like deathcore. I’m not willing to banter about that specificity, but all I know is that Vault of Horrors kicks serious ass. Ripping tempos, bludgeoning riffs, and an unhinged technicality align for an album deserving of the act’s reputation, bolstered by a legion of guests.3 Highlight after highlight rolls by with reckless abandon and pulverizing intensity, until your body is so bruised and beaten you have nothing else to offer. I don’t care if it’s deathcore; it’s brutal, bouncy, and wicked, and I’m just happy to have my skull caved in.
#1. Convulsing // Perdurance – Thinking of the meteoric trajectory of Australian one-man project Convulsing and its albums, it’s no wonder that Perdurance has lasting success. Dissonant death metal has a high standard this year with established juggernauts Ulcerate, Gigan, Mitochondrion, Devenial Verdict, Pyrrhon, Replicant, and Ingurgitating Oblivion releasing scathing blight upon the world in monolithic and ruthless fashion. In this way, Perdurance takes the world in a whisper. Encapsulating a sound that is both unforgivingly dense and painfully claustrophobic, while also starkly and lushly atmospheric in its layered crescendos and exploratory songwriting, few artists profess the level of songwriting the way sole member Brendan Sloan utilizes: intricate and gradual evolution of riffs and melodies, achieving a level of organicity and sentience seen by few. Twisting convention with a knife firmly planted in devastation, Perdurance achieves a truly iconic and transcendent voice in the best album of the year.
Honorable Mentions:
- Paysage d’Hiver // Die Berge – It might not best Im Wald, but it’s a damn good conclusion to the Wanderer’s journeys, scathing black metal and frigid ambiance conjuring the majesty of mountains.
- Stenched // Purulence Gushing from the Coffin – I’ve never quite gotten what Steel Druhm has been on about with filthy, putrid death metal, but now I get it. Ugh, I need to take a shower.
- Defeated Sanity // Chronicles of Lunacy – Brutal death metal darlings don’t hesitate to bring the ouchy, but armed with enough technicality and insanity to keep us guessing, it’s a tough album to beat.
- Apes // Penitence – What appeared to be a total Nails ripoff turned out to be a much more atmospheric and thoughtful affair, the Quebecois group still managing to cave my skull in.
- Pillar of Light // Caldera – With a pulverizing yet restrained palette aimed at evocation through sludge and post-metal, this Detroit collective scratches the itch that only Amenra could have.
- Charli XCX // Brat – Well, color me Brat green and call me 2012 The Hobbit’s portrayal of the Misty Mountains. It’s a pop album that caught me by surprise. Hooks and experimental sensibilities align with a deceptively bare-bones album with a strong and palpable theme coursing through. I have not been able to get “Sympathy is a Knife” out of my head.
Biggest Surprises:
- Everyone and their Kitchen Sink // La Suspendida – What. The. Fuck.
- Jeris Johnson // Dragonborn – “Siren’s Song” is a perfect holiday track, as it interpolates the central melody of “What Child is This?”!!! Merry fucking Christmas. God.
- Two La Torture des Ténèbres albums in one year – I like it raw, boys.
- Three Monolith records in one year: blackened hardcore, doom/deathcore, and aquatic atmoblack. Impressive, fellas.
- How crucial darkwave bands Lazerpunk, Perturbator, and Sleepless Droids were to finishing my master’s. Thanks for the recommendations, Mystikus!
Songs o’ the Year:
- Assemble the Chariots – “Evermurk”
- Firtan – “Hrenga”
- Melvins – “Pain Equals Funny”
- Shiverboard – “Vitamins of Darkness”
- Convulsing – “Endurance”
- Charli XCX – “Sympathy is a Knife”
#2024 #Aborted #Apes #Ataraxie #CharliXCX #Convulsing #DawnTreader #DefeatedSanity #Dissimulator #DoomEtAlSAndDearHollowSTopTenIshOf2024 #Gaerea #IngurgitatingOblivion #Iotunn #Kanonenfieber #Mamaleek #Misotheist #Orgone #PaysageDHiver #PillarOfLight #Selbst #Sgaile #Sidewinder #SleepytimeGorillaMuseum #SpectralWound #Stenched #Sumac #Thou #Ulcerate #ZealAndArdor
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For #TuneTuesday today the theme is #2024MusicDiscoveries. Music I've first discovered this year, but that wasn't necessarily released this year.
I don't want to mention #CharlotteWessels yet again, I'm convinced there was *something* else, right?
Well, turns out I discovered #ZealAndArdor this year!
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For #TuneTuesday today the theme is #2024MusicDiscoveries. Music I've first discovered this year, but that wasn't necessarily released this year.
I don't want to mention #CharlotteWessels yet again, I'm convinced there was *something* else, right?
Well, turns out I discovered #ZealAndArdor this year!
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Jan de Breet – Leven in Tidorp, een persoonlijk verslag
In de begintijd van het boeddhisme in ons land, mei 1983, meldde ik mij bij de boeddhistische leefgemeenschap Tidorp, gelegen in Burgh-Haamstede, op het Zeeuwse eiland Schouwen-Duiveland. Deze commune werd geleid door de architect Bruno Mertens. Hij had in 1965 kennisgemaakt met de leer van de Boeddha en in 1975 Tidorp gesticht. De naam was gebaseerd op de door hem gepostuleerde oersyllabe ‘TI’, die verwees naar de energie van de kosmos en die volgens hem ook in het Chinees was terug te vinden.
Tekst Jan de BreetTidorp bestond uit een terrein van ongeveer een hectare direct achter de duinen. In het centrum stond een aantal woonwagens en caravans. In één daarvan was de keuken annex eetkamer gevestigd, in een andere de bibliotheek. In de laatste waren ook twee kamertjes voor bewoners. Eén kamertje stond op dat moment leeg en dat kreeg ik toegewezen.
Bruno Mertens op 90-jarige leeftijd in Nieuw-Zeeland. Hij stichtte er in 1995 een boeddhistisch ambachtelijk centrum als opvolger van Tidorp..
Op het terrein waren verder o.a. een boomgaard, een moestuin, een kippenren met kippenhok, een mestvaalt, een put, een toilet, een meditatietent en een huisje, waar de vrouw van Bruno soms logeerde. Er was geen stromend water en geen elektriciteit, dus gewassen moest er ‘s ochtends worden bij de put en lezen kon men ‘s avonds alleen bij een olielamp. Tidorp was namelijk niet aangesloten op het waterleiding- en elektriciteitsnetwerk, noch op de riolering, omdat dit van de gemeente Westerschouwen niet mocht. Volgens het bestemmingsplan mocht het terrein alleen een agrarische functie hebben. Officieel woonde er dus niemand en dat er mensen onder primitieve omstandigheden in woonwagens huisden, werd door de gemeente door de vingers gezien.
Bruno maakte van de nood een deugd en gebruikte deze omstandigheden om Tidorp aan te prijzen als een oord van het natuurlijke en zuivere leven. In de winter konden de caravans en woonwagens wel verwarmd worden met kacheltjes waarin hout en briketten gestookt konden worden. De keuken beschikte dankzij een watertank op het dak over stromend water. Deze werd regelmatig met behulp van een elektrische, door een generator aangedreven waterpomp bijgevuld vanuit de put.
Enige tijd na mijn aankomst in Tidorp initieerde Bruno een nieuw project, het bouwen van een gemeenschapsgebouw, waar wij o.a. zouden kunnen mediteren en waar het ook in de winter – door middel van verwarming – aangenaam zou zijn. Op het dak zou een tuin moeten komen. De gemeente moest weer misleid worden door het gebouw te presenteren als een oogstschuur. Alle bewoners hebben een tijd lang hard gewerkt aan het gebouw onder de bezielende leiding van Chris, en de muren, het dak (inclusief tuin!) en de kelder zijn er gekomen, maar het gebouw is nooit voltooid. Als ik het me goed herinner, is de bouw gestaakt omdat de gemeente had laten weten dat ze nooit toestemming zouden geven om het te gebruiken als meditatiehal.
Plattegrond TidorpToen ik aankwam, woonden er ongeveer tien mensen in Tidorp. Een van hen was Chris, een Nieuw-Zeelander, die fungeerde als een soort bedrijfsleider. Hij zorgde voor het technische reilen en zeilen en leidde de werkzaamheden als Bruno afwezig was. Hij woonde met zijn Franse vriendin Annie in een van de grotere woonwagens. Een ander opvallend persoon was Ingrid, die tot boeddhistisch non in de theravadatraditie gewijd was en – hoewel de gebruikelijke kleur kleding voor theravada-nonnen oranjegeel is – altijd witte gewaden droeg. Er was ook een meisje dat continu liep te kletsen en waarvan Ingrid zei dat ze niet meer naar haar luisterde. Verder had ik in de bibliotheekwagen een buurmeisje met wie ik veel samenwerkte, met name in de moestuin. Zij had aan anorexia nervosa geleden, maar was daar al grotendeels overheen toen ik haar ontmoette. Wel was ze nog steeds erg mager. De andere mensen ben ik vergeten.
Ik herinner me nog wel een paar mensen die later kwamen dan ik en ook eerder weggingen. Zo was er een Australiër met een zwarte baard, hij heette geloof ik Harry, die een zwerftocht over de wereld maakte en her en der werkte of verbleef in spirituele centra. Hij had o.a. gewerkt als kachelplaatser in Londen. Ook een Fin die het in Tidorp bij een paar graden boven nul vreselijk koud had, terwijl het in Finland ‘s winters wel -30 °C kan worden. Een jongeman die, toen hij vuilnisman was, iedere dag twintig of dertig rauwe eieren at, en in Tidorp iedere middag een foto van zijn volgeladen kom met eten nam. Een schizofreen die tijdens de meditatie zwaar ging hallucineren en een hoop kabaal maakte. En Joske, een verstandig Vlaams meisje dat vrij lang is gebleven, misschien wel langer dan ik.
Dagprogramma
Het dagprogramma, het hele jaar hetzelfde, zag er ongeveer als volgt uit:
6.00 uur Opstaan en wassen bij de put
6.30 uur Loopmeditatie in de meditatietent
7.30 uur Zitmeditatie
8.30 uur Werkverdeling
8.45 uur Ontbijt
9.30 uur Werken
14.30/15.00 uur Warme maaltijd
15.00/15.30 uur WerkenZonsondergang Loopmeditatie gedurende een half uur.
Daarna Zitmeditatie gedurende een uur.Vervolgens kon iedereen doen wat hij wilde. Je kon bijvoorbeeld brood met beleg gaan eten in de keuken, gaan lezen of iemand bezoeken op zijn of haar kamer.
Enige maanden na mijn aankomst werd de tijd dat je op moest staan vervroegd naar 5.30 uur. Het was nu de bedoeling dat je vóór het mediteren nog een half uur ging hardlopen op de wegen buiten het terrein.
Mediteren en zwemmen
Logo TidorpDe oproep tot opstaan, mediteren en eten vond plaats met een gong. Bij het wassen bij de put was het de bedoeling dat je twee emmers koud water over je heen goot, zomer en winter. Het zwemmen in zee was niet verplicht. Bruno had er begrip voor als je de kou van de zee ‘s winters niet kon verdragen.
De meditatie werd geleid door Bruno Mertens, als hij aanwezig was. Als hij niet aanwezig was door Ingrid. Als Bruno aanwezig was, viel hij meestal tijdens de zitmeditatie in slaap.
Het verzorgen van het ontbijt en het warme middagmaal vond bij toerbeurt plaats. Degene die het ontbijt moest verzorgen, moest ook de gong voor het opstaan slaan. Die moest dus nog iets eerder opstaan dan de anderen. Het ontbijt bestond uit in water gekookte graanvlokken van de een of de andere graansoort. Het warme middagmaal bestond uit gekookte hele granen van Nederlandse bodem – zoals tarwe, rogge of haver –, gekookte peulvruchten – zoals bruine bonen of kapucijners – en groente uit de eigen moestuin. Er werd in Tidorp geen vlees of vis gegeten en ook geen zuivel. Er werden wel eieren geproduceerd voor de verkoop, maar niet door de bewoners zelf geconsumeerd. Koffie, zwarte thee en chocolade (waar ook cafeïne in zit) waren in Tidorp niet aanwezig.
De voorraden graanvlokken, hele granen en gedroogde peulvruchten bevonden zich onder de keukenvloer, in een ruimte onder de grond.
De verdeling van het werk werd door Bruno en Chris gedaan. Je kon o.a. werk in de moestuin krijgen (zaaien, wieden, oogsten), in de boomgaard (snoeien, oogsten), in de kippenren (schoonmaken, voeren, eieren rapen) of in de houtschuur. Ook kon het zijn dat je met Bruno, met een kar getrokken door een stokoude tractor, paardenmest moest gaan halen uit de naburige manege. Of je moest compost van de mestvaalt op het land brengen of het toilet legen op de mestvaalt. Soms waren er kippen ontsnapt uit de kippenren. Die gingen we dan met het hele stel vangen, door ze in te sluiten. Als we ze te pakken hadden, werden ze gekortwiekt.
Iedere maandag vertrok Bruno, samen met de Tidorp-bewoner die daarvoor aan de beurt was, in een besteleend naar Amsterdam om daar onze groente, fruit, kruiden, eieren en kiemen te verkopen, aan groentewinkels en aan de biologische supermarkt. Ook ging hij dan granen etc. kopen voor de bewoners van Tidorp. Het brood kreeg hij gratis van de biologische bakkerij Manna. Dit was namelijk brood dat over de datum was, wat je soms wel kon proeven.
De zondagavond eraan voorafgaand gingen we met alle bewoners oogsten wat er geoogst kon worden, wat ook inhield dat de topjes van de welig op het terrein tierende brandnetels werden geplukt (met name in de zomer). De keer dat ik mee was met Bruno, zijn we ook naar een vriend geweest die op een woonboot woonde, en naar zijn boerderij in Bodegraven gegaan, waar ik zijn vrouw ontmoette. Dinsdag of woensdag waren we weer terug in Tidorp. Bruno bleef soms nog langer weg.
Op 29 oktober 1983 hebben alle bewoners van Tidorp inclusief Bruno meegedaan aan de grootste demonstratie uit de Nederlandse geschiedenis, in Den Haag tegen het plaatsen van kruisraketten op de Vliegbasis Woensdrecht. Aan deze demonstratie deden ongeveer 550.000 mensen mee waaronder mijn ouders, die ik er ontmoette. Op ons spandoek hadden wij geschreven: ZOEK DE VREDE IN JEZELF! Een dubbelzinnige boodschap dus.
Afscheid
MeditatiehalIn maart 1984 ben ik vanuit Tidorp naar een dorp bij Überlingen aan het Bodenmeer in Duitsland gereisd om daar een ‘Klausur’ voor kandidaten voor het ordelidmaatschap van de Arya Maitreya Mandala (AMM) bij te wonen. Na afloop besloot ik niet terug te keren naar Tidorp en ben ik tijdelijk ingetrokken bij mijn zus in Arnhem. Daarna ben ik nog vijfmaal teruggekeerd naar Tidorp.
Twee keer om er een paar dagen als vanouds mee te doen met het werk en de meditatie. De tweede maal daarvan (waarschijnlijk in het voorjaar van 1992) stelde ik vast dat de discipline er sterk achteruit was gegaan. Niet iedereen deed mee met de meditatie en als het tijdens het werk ging regenen, ging men naar binnen om kruidenthee te drinken, terwijl wij indertijd gewoon een regenpak aantrokken en doorwerkten.
Een keer heb ik er met Rob Janssen een beleefdheidsbezoek afgelegd. Bruno was toen, geloof ik, niet aanwezig en Chris was al met Annie vertrokken naar Frankrijk. We hebben gesproken met de ‘bedrijfsleider’ van dat moment.
Een keer daarna was er een bijeenkomst van de Boeddhistische Unie Nederland (BUN), een zogenaamde kennismakingsbijeenkomst (KMB), die indertijd (sinds 1989) ieder half jaar in een boeddhistisch centrum in Nederland gehouden werd. Bij die gelegenheid bleek dat Bruno de meditatietent had omgetoverd in een koepelgebouw door er beton overheen te storten. Ook had hij een kleine sauna laten aanleggen.
De laatste keer dat ik er was, was om afscheid te nemen. Dat was in 1994. Bruno had besloten om Tidorp op te heffen en het terrein te verkopen, omdat de zaak niet goed meer liep, door drugsoverlast en het bezoek van onaangename mensen. Hij had alle oud-bewoners van wie hij het adres had, uitgenodigd voor een afscheidsbijeenkomst. Tidorp zag er toen nog hetzelfde uit als tijdens de KMB. Het schijnt dat hij het verkocht heeft aan overjarige hippies die iedereen van het terrein afjagen, maar het terrein en de opstal vrijwel ongewijzigd hebben gelaten.
Dit verhaal is oorspronkelijk geschreven op verzoek van Rinus Laban als document voor het Nederlands Boeddhistisch Archief (NBA). De illustraties komen uit het archief van het Nederlands Architectuur Instituut (NAI). Rinus Laban heeft een aantal NAI-archiefstukken gefotografeerd en in een map samengebracht.
Bruno Mertens (Renkum, 1914) was architect, schilder en beeldhouwer. Hij woonde met zijn vrouw, de schilderes Susan Burki, in Zwitserland, Spanje, Frankrijk, Zweden en Noorwegen, voordat zij zich in 1960 vestigden in een eeuwenoude boerderij in Bodegraven. In 1965 maakte hij door een lezing van de echtgenote van de toenmalige Thaise ambassadeur in ons land kennis met het boeddhisme. Zij leerde hem vipassana-meditatie. Later verbleef hij een jaar als monnik in het Vivek Asom Meditation Center in Chonburi (Thailand), waar Phra Achaan Thawee zijn meditatieleraar was. Toen in 1969 in Amsterdam het eerste Nederlandse meditatiecentrum, De Kosmos, werd geopend, ging Bruno Mertens er als eerste vipassana-leraar van Nederland vipassana-onderricht geven. Van 1975 tot 1994 leidde hij de meditatie-, leef- en werkgemeenschap Tidorp in Haamstede (Schouwen-Duiveland). Bruno was een man die op iedereen die hem ontmoette een bijzondere indruk maakte. Vipassanameditatie zag hij vooral als een training in voortdurende aandacht. In Tidorp drukte hij de mensen altijd op het hart om steeds ‘erbij te zijn’. Hij had daarom een sterke afkeer van drank en drugs, waartoe hij ook wierook rekende. Na de opheffing van de gemeenschap in 1994 vertrok hij met zijn vrouw naar Nieuw-Zeeland, waar hij nabij het dorp Kerikeri op het Noordereiland opnieuw een meditatief-ambachtelijk centrum stichtte. Op 20 april 2010 overleed hij. Hij is 95 jaar geworden. Voor zijn dood had hij zijn huis en de omringende grond al geschonken aan de Pannarama Buddhist Centre Charitable Trust. Zijn atelier/werkplaats werd daarna ingericht als meditatiehal. Bruno Mertens, de indiaan uit Bergen op Zoom. Dit artikel verscheen eerder, op 20 september 2013, in het magazine van de stichting Vrienden van het Boeddhisme. En werd eerder in het BD geplaatst. Jan de Breet overleed op 24 november 2021.Dit is een automatisch geplaatst bericht via ActivityPub.
#biologischeBakkerijManna #BrunoMertens #Haamstede #JanDeBreet #NBA #PannaramaBuddhistCentreCharitableTrust #RinusLaban #Tidorp #VivekAsomMeditationCenter #woonwagens #Zeeland
#biologischeBakkerijManna #BrunoMertens #Haamstede #JanDeBreet #NBA #PannaramaBuddhistCentreCharitableTrust #RinusLaban #Tidorp #VivekAsomMeditationCenter #woonwagens #Zeeland -
#Zeeland heeft nu toch wel extra pech met slechte #luchtkwaliteit door de #houtrook van #houtkachels, het had zoveel beter kunnen zijn.
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#Zeeland heeft nu toch wel extra pech met slechte #luchtkwaliteit door de #houtrook van #houtkachels, het had zoveel beter kunnen zijn.
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#Zeeland heeft nu toch wel extra pech met slechte #luchtkwaliteit door de #houtrook van #houtkachels, het had zoveel beter kunnen zijn.
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Got some tangling in - more color, and a ton of different media. It's a challenge, but I'm enjoying the final product.
https://mwop.net/art/1ef9a445-22d3-60b2-8e99-0242ac120007.jpg/
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Music for Halloween.
Hope you enjoy!Zeal and Ardor - Blood in the River
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB4nXQWyAugModest Mussorgsky - Night on Bald Mountain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCEDfZgDPS8Ghost - Cirice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOrXKiSy8ZYHatesphere - The Killer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wot8hXAaO5APerturbator - Tactical Precision Disarray
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAWGBBmTDEo2/3 :p
#TheHalloween #Music #HEAVY #ThursdayFiveList #Halloween #Horror #ZealAndArdor #Mussorgsky #Ghost #Hatesphere #Perturbator #Metal #Experimental #DarkSynth
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Sidder og hører den nye serie fra #Zetland omkring #Minksagen. Det er virkeligt et fremragende gravearbejde og genfortælling man får der. Samtidigt giver den et virkeligt godt og alternativt perspektiv på sagen i forhold til det som var i medierne på daværende tidspunkt - f.eks. en brancheorganisation som slet ikke ønskede at redde erhvervet, en opposition der ville udnytte sagen politisk (for skatteborgernes penge) osv. Lyt/læs med her https://www.zetland.dk/historie/seWly2jb-me6Er3MN-54036
#dkmedier #danskertoot #dkpol -
What Air New Zealand is telling travel agents about tough new rules for US flight disruption https://www.byteseu.com/519107/ #about #agents #air #Airlines #authorities #automatic #crackdown #disruption #face #flight #flights #following #for #from #is #new #NewZealand #refund #rules #states #strict #telling #there #through #tomorrow #tough #Travel #united #US #What #zealand
