WM's Top Ten for 2016

It’s that time of year people, there is snow on the ground, the fireplace is flickering its satanic majesties in the background and I just curled up in my red and green Snuggie^TM with a Jameson neat to give you the gift that keeps on giving.  Yes, it’s time for my Top Ten List of new albums for 2016.  

2016 was a tough year, my spiritual guide Lemmy died three days before it started.  Then Bowie died and everyone else it seems.  But the music of 2016 was amazing.  We saw some new bands and some familiar ones put out an astounding number of great albums.  To put all of those together into a list of ten based on my personal preferences is tough to do because there was so much that I enjoyed this year.  But for you good people, I will do my best.  

10. First up is Mississippi Bones and their fourth release 2600 A.D.: And Other Astonishing Tales.  

Heavy, crusty blues rock from this 6 piece band from Ada, Ohio that is so prolific they don't have time to take themselves too seriously.  2600 A.D. is catchy, very well done and one I found myself going back to frequently this year.  



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9. Next we have from Bordeaux, France Mars Red Sky and their third release Apex III: Praise For The Burning Soul.  The album is a wonderfully crafted, complex journey of sound.  The ability to take a song from the first few notes of massive and crushing fuzz to a delicate meandering piano accompanied only by vocals, as they do in the title track Apex III, shows their mastery of dynamics and arrangement.  

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8. In the eight spot is Nine Years from Montreal, Quebec's Mountain Dust.  Pure, gritty, beautiful heavy blues rock and roll in all it's glory.  Nine Years is one you instantly fall for and fall hard.  It is a turbulent love affair and the emotion is always center stage, but brought forth in tones that shift from boozy bravado to placid introspection.  A tremendous album and now one of my favorite bands.      
   


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7. Orion by King Buffalo takes my seventh spot.  This album is a gorgeous and dizzying journey of heavy riffs and driving percussion delivered with vocal elegance from this Rochester, New York trio.  This is not one of those albums you skip from song to song trying to get to your favorites, it is an experience that can only be undertaken properly from beginning to end.  

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6. Whores. Gold. A raucous front kick in the face that is almost as good as seeing them do what they do in front of a crowd.  This album hits hard again and again and then it hits you once more for good measure after the cops have locked them in handcuffs.  This three piece out of Atlanta, Georgia have made an album that has taken aggression to its most beautiful state, completely raw and unforgiving with the sarcastic brilliance of the lyrics being the only thing as malleable as the title of the album.

     

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5. In my fifth spot I have the return of one of my favorite bands.  Greek stoner legends 1000mods brought us their third full length release Repeated Exposure To... and it is everything I could have wanted. 

 
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4. Coming in at the number four spot is the London four piece Elephant Tree and their self-titled first full length album.  This album is beautiful, cohesive and impressive.  Combining elements of blues, stoner rock, doom and psychedelia this is where music is headed.  The sixth track Echoes is my song of the year and a great illustration of their abilities to bring all these elements together and move music forward.  

 
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3. In the third spot is Swan Valley Heights from Munich, Germany and their self-titled debut.  You know you are listening to something special when after each spin you find something more to enjoy, your favorite song changes again and again until it covers every single one on the album.  This album is a masterpiece. 

 
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2. The second spot goes to Borlänge, Sweden's one and only Greenleaf and their Rise Above The Meadow.  With each listen I am more impressed with the talent, songwriting ability and obvious love of their craft that these four gentlemen possess.  Individually they are all amazing in their own right, together as they show through this release they are somehow even more.   

 

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1.  My album of the year goes to Boston's own Gozu and their fourth release Revival.  What struck me from my first listen of Revival is how resolute these four gentlemen are in their single purpose of  bringing something different and truly their own to the table.  To do so with the precision, style and fearlessness they display on this album is a triumph we all get to share. 
 
 

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Album Review: Revival by Gozu

Damn, sometimes you just fall in love and fall hard.  It happens, it’s a beautiful thing.  You never expect it and are never looking for it in that moment and then all of the sudden twelve tons of love fall off the dump truck right on top of yours truly.  

Boston’s own Gozu is that twelve ton dump truck and their third release Revival is all the love you can handle.  How could that not be the case with a band named for a face-licking cow head in a low budget, absurdist yakuza movie?  Well actually, I am glad you asked.

What we are dealing with here is eight songs that were properly assembled to interconnect and create what is the finest military-grade, ass shaking machine the western hemisphere has had the privilege to develop.  Revival is a triumph of style, rockandroll, and diesel engineering.    

First things first, Mark Gaffney’s vocals set the tone to the entire album.  His delivery is fearless and he fits in each and every song with a precision that was probably reverse engineered with technology from alien spacecraft.  It is that good that I question whether he really is one of us.  Could this man who plays guitar and sings over these heavy riffs be from beyond?  My research is inconclusive at this point.  Listen to the fifth track Oldie and you be the judge.  

The guitar work by Doug Sherman throughout the album is why we like what we like.  Heavy, driving and when combined with the bombastic rhythm section of Joe Grotto on bass and Mike Hubbard on drums creates an unconscious reflexive motion of the head forward and backwards in a subtle to violent fashion in men and significant lateral swaying of the lower torso region in women.  It’s science as you can see with the tracks Nature Boy, Big Casino, By Mennen, and in the anthem named for my doppelgänger, Lorenzo Llamas.  

Their first album on the beloved Ripple Music label will be released on June 10^th and will be on my list of favorites for the year.   

With or without face licking, you are gonna love it. 

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- WM

[this review contains 1 umlaut]  

Justin's Top Ten List.

I'm snowed in here in Michigan, but I'm lucky enough to have power and I've spent these last few cabin fevered days working through the past year's releases and deciding which ones really made an impression on me. I set a goal of ten for this list and after a bit of bargaining with myself, settled on the ten releases that I kept going back to this past year.

There are some obvious choices on my list. Some albums, some artists, you just expect to see. But I hope a few albums that might have gotten past you in 2013 will be brought to your attention now. To help get you reacquainted I've thrown in a song for you to sample, lest you forgot how awesome some of these albums are.

And here it is ladies and gentlemen, straight from the Polar Vortex, my Top Ten List.

10. The Sun & Sail Club- Mannequin = Gang Justice

9.  Mojo Waves- Lo! and Behold = Great White

8. Gozu- The Fury of a Patient Man = Bald Bull

7. Stone Magnum- From Time... To Eternity = Lonely God

6. Blood Ceremony- The Eldritch Dark = Witchwood

5. Beast in the Field- The Sacred Above, The Sacred Below = Wakan Tanka

4. Horisont- Time Warriors = Writing on the Wall

3. Age of Taurus-  Desperate Souls of Tortured Time = A Rush of Power

2. The Freeks- Full On = Secret Pathway

1. Monster Magnet- The Last Patrol = Mindless Ones

SPACE ROCK!!!!!

Heavy Planet's Top 20 of 2010: #10 to #6

 #10. Gozu-Locust Season (Small Stone)

Here is a band that just surprised the absolute shit out of me. As I was perusing the Small Stone records website, I came across Gozu and figured I'd give them a listen, and man am I glad I did. The tunes are not only catchy but chug along with that warm and fuzzy stoner rock groove. Think of a heavier version of Queens of the Stone Age but with a better singer (sorry not a big fan of Josh Homme's vocals). Listen. Repeat. Listen. Repeat...

What others had to say:

Gary Suarez. MetalSucks.net

"No matter how you feel about the Kyuss reunion under the Kyuss Lives moniker, I hope it has at least rekindled your interest in that heavy desert rock the boys used to make for us. Fortunately, Small Stone Recordings has been carrying the flame while the rest of you have been trendhopping like a bunch of bitches. (How’s that blackened deathgrind re-thrash emocore working for ya?) And as with last year’s revelation House Of Broken Promises, the label has given us another rare hunk of hard rockin’ gold in Gozu." Read more...

The Editor, The Dreaded Press

"OK, hold everything – I’ve just discovered what happened to the band that Queens Of the Stone Age somehow (and rather disappointingly) avoided turning into. They’re called Gozu, they’re on the perpetually reliable Small Stone Records, and their new album Locust Season is riffomatic fast-drivin’ music with a splash of dumb pop sensibilities and its tongue just a little in its cheek." Read more...
 
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#09. Sasquatch-III (Small Stone)

This is where the homage to Small Stone Records ends. This label released some magnificent releases this past year. The last four albums exemplify how truly great and important this independent label has become. I think that this band just keeps getting better after each release.

What others had to say:

KK, CosmicLava.com

"With every new album, Los Angeles' power trio SASQUATCH are getting better. Well, that phrase sounds flat and empty, but it's indeed the case. At least, for my taste. This does not mean, however, that I think that the band had a bad start with their first two albums. Since the beginning it was obvious that they have the decisive potential to perform powerful riff-driven heavy rock which will be remembered for a longer period. Of course here, nothing new will be invented, but that doesn't matter as long as the tracks are packed with solid hooklines and crunchy riffs, and, boy, are SASQUATCH good at it! Their third record aptly named 'III' is a hard rocking, fuzzed-out titan which contains some of their best tracks and shows quite clearly that SASQUATCH has grown together into a strong unit over the last nine years. It is a consistent, powerful album that hits really hard at gut level." Read more...

Ollie, The SleepingShaman.com

"Now, if the mythical Bigfoot, or Sasquatch with whom this band shares its name were to listen to music you can bet your ass that the big hairy bastard would kick back with a few beers and listen to big hairy bastards like Sasquatch!!!

Now, many people would say that rock and roll isn't big or clever, and there are an equal number of people that would claim that that is exactly what makes it so fucking awesome in the first place!!! The finest rock and roll bands have made careers of keeping it simple and not messing with a winning formula…AC/DC, Motorhead, the Stones…etc. If they have ever tried to mess with the formula they've invariably come unstuck and produced a turd pile bigger than old Bigfoot would be capable of!!! Sasquatch understand that to be effective rock and roll needs to be simple, powerful, fundamental and primal and so take the fuzzy grooves of stoner and mix it all up with a greasy 70's blues vibe that aims straight for the heart and the crotch." Read more...
 
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#08. Lonely Kamel-Blues For the Dead (Transubstans Records)
 

This album was a very pleasant surprise. I received it for review and passed it along to Zac. After reading his review I decided to take a listen myself. This is a great album. Very classic rock feel with amazing riff heavy blues guitar. A hidden gem.

What others had to say:

Zac Boda

"Blues for the Dead." and "Lonely Kamel." I really had no idea what to expect upon first listen. I wasn't blown away by the cover art; which I know may be odd, but cover art is an important part of the whole experience for me. I decided to head over to the bands myspace page and see Oslo, Norway. Nice, I have an obession with Scandinavia. First, I must say the artwork grew on me after the first listen. This is excellent! I hear thick and groovy blues rock. This album is solid. The majority of these tunes are 4 out of 5 with "Stick With Your Plan" being the stand out song. This song has a slow and steady intro and just jams at approximately 1:45! Some of the grooves in this track just bring the vision of a lovely woman's hips swinging! For me, everything just melts together and flows through you, and it feels damn good. If you are looking for some groovy, blues influenced, hard rock, this is the album for you."

ZeeZee, MyGlobalMind.com

"BLUES FOR THE DEAD is certainly an interesting album, and one that I quite enjoyed. Who it will directly appeal to however is something I’m still not too sure of. Musically LONELY KAMEL certainly have their own distinct sound, which is made up by a combination of classic blues rock/psychedelica and the more modern style of stoner rock/desert rock. Which in essence means that they sound like a combination of HENDRIX, CREAM and GREATFUL DEAD with some CLUTCH, WOLFMOTHER and KYUSS mixed in." Read more...
 
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#07. Dusted Angel-Earth Sick Mind (Mankind Records)

By looking at the cover you would think that this would be pretty lame, to the contrary! What hides inside is a truly great mix of classic metal, doom, stoner and a bit of psychedelia. If you have not heard this release then you most certainly should.

What others had to say:

Craig Hartranft, DangerDog.com

"If you've ever wondered what Hawkwind may have sounded like if Lemmy stayed, went to lead vocals, and the band stayed on its psychedelic, neo-stoner, path, then you might have California's Dusted Angel and their first full length disc Earth Sick Mind. But that's mostly pure speculation on my part. Dusted Angel borrows heavily from the whole classic heavy metal motif and add equal doses of stoner rock and doom metal, with a glimmer of madcap psychedelic. There's enough images, inspiration and nuances from Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss, Black Sabbath and, maybe, some Helmet. I think you get the sonic picture." Read more...

Paul, TheSleepingShaman.com

"Maaaaaan, that Clifford Dinsmore dude sure gets around! From Bl'ast, to Spaceboy, to the criminally underrated Gargantula, and now on to Dusted Angel, he has been yelling up a storm since 1982!! Jeeeeez, it's a wonder the guy has an vocal chords left!!

Thankfully for Clifford's Otolaryngologist (look it up smart guy!), the guy has a lot more room to breathe in Dusted Angel than in the furious hardcore of Bl'ast or the claustrophobic drugscapes of Spaceboy and Gargantula. Clifford's vocals here are certainly more restrained than in any of his previous outfits, but still intense and on-the-money. It's more of a throaty howl here than the full-on gonzo attack of Bl'ast or Spaceboy, but anything harsh would NOT suit the more straightforward, 'listener friendly' sounds of 'Earth Sick Mind'. Dusted Angel refer to themselves as 'Doom Rock', and I guess that is as apt a description as any. Too upbeat and rockin' to be Doom, yet too intense to be Stoner Rock, I guess 'Doom Rock' is what they are!" Read more...
 
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#06. Black Tusk-Taste the Sin (Relapse Records)

I really started to get into this band after seeing them open for Stoner Rock legends Fu Manchu. They played a blistering set and I loved the energy of the band. It looks like Georgia is becoming the hot bed for some great bands of late. Compared to luminaries such as Mastodon and Baroness, Black Tusk stamps their unique take on the ever so crushing mix of Southern-fried hardcore sludge metal.

What others had to say:

Grayson Currin, Pitchfork.com

"The single, substantive frill of Taste the Sin, the excellent Relapse debut album by Savannah, Ga., metal trio Black Tusk, comes as the final track begins. "Well, hell, World War II gave us the ball point pen," says the actor Charles Tyner in a monologue excerpted from his hilarious role as the militant Uncle Victor in the 1971 film Harold and Maude. With tales of war and murder, and his well-decorated uniform, he brings the lugubrious teen Harold to some uncomfortable intersection of euphoria and orgasm. "I say get the krauts on the other side of the fence where they belong. Let's get back to the kind of enemy worth killing." Read more...

Evan Roper, TheNewReview.net

"Savannah is a small southern town that time forgot. Isolated in antiquity and surrounded by swamp and a lot of nothing, next to nowhere, the setting provides an interesting context for a heavy metal music scene. Bands like Kylesa, Baroness and Black Tusk have sprung up out of the Georgia marsh to gain a surprising amount of influence and recognition considering their small town roots.

Make no mistake; while Black Tusk carries the distinct sounds of their Savannah folk heritage, they are very much their own band with their own sound. Kylesa wander in psychedelic aural landscapes and Baroness pushes forward with much more progressive musings in their song structure, but Black Tusk is perfectly content to smash through their own path, with thick and bottom-heavy, punchy riffs. More aggressive and more direct than their swamp sharing brothers and sisters, Black Tusk displays punk sensibilities much like punk-sludge pioneers Eyehategod and Buzzoven. The European version of the album includes a cover of Buzzoven’s “Toe Fry” which solidifies the influence of the late sludge band on Black Tusk. If you are lucky enough to get the version of the album with “Toe Fry” included, it closes the album nicely." Read more... 
 
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Read #20-#16 here.

Read #15-#11 here.

Heavy Rotation-Gozu-"Locust Season"

Here is a band that just surprised the absolute shit out of me. As I was perusing the Small Stone records website, I came across Gozu and figured I'd give them a listen, and man am I glad I did. The tunes are not only catchy but chug along with that warm and fuzzy stoner rock groove. Think of a heavier version of Queens of the Stone Age but with a better singer (sorry not a big fan of Josh Homme's vocals). Listen. Repeat. Listen. Repeat...



Bio:

Gozu first appeared on the scene in 2008 with the the release of their seven track EP. Consisting of members of bands such as Wargasm and Triphammer, Gozu laid down the rock but also brought the groove on songs such as the human-empowerment anthem “Rise Up” and D.A.R.E.-baiting “Meth Cowboy”. Fronted by the man with a plan, Marc Gaffney, aka Gaff, who has the pipes Chris Cornell used to possess before he started modeling men’s cologne, Gozu plays the sort of rock tailor made to be blasted out on radio airwaves nationwide, ala early Queens of the Stone Age. It’s the kind of rock music that pulls up alongside you while you’re walking down the street minding your own business, demands that you “get in the f@*ing car”, proceeds to drive 90 mph down the wrong side of the highway, and then drops you off miles from home at some abandoned rest stop. After a line-up change which brought on board bassist Jay Cannava of Miltown and Clouds infamy, Gozu continues to chug along at its own pace. Axe slinger Doug Sherman peels off riffs and solos like they’re going out of style and drum god Barry Spillberg beats his drums like they owe him money, and the whole thing just cruises along on a bed of melodies most bands would die for. Small Stone Records snapped up Gozu in 2009 and the band is currently working on its debut for the label, which will no doubt leave many a listener scratching their head, wondering how in the hell Gozu does it and makes it look so easy. But don’t let your guard down, because next thing you know you’ll be on the outskirts of town wondering how you got there and what that catchy song stuck in your head is and where it came from."

What others are saying:

"Gozu, man. Seems like they came out of nowhere, and no, that’s not a slag on Boston. I just mean it seems like the four-piece formed in 2008 and got signed to Small Stone almost right off the bat. Now they’re finally giving the public a taste of their riffily metallic wares with Locust Season, offering a bit of East Coast aggressive crunch with the swaggering rock. It’s their first full-length, obviously, and as an introduction, it is driven with some surprisingly individual flourishes that add character to the songs and an overall nuanced feel only heightened by song titles like “Kam Fong as Chin Ho,” “Regal Beagle” and “Jan-Michael Vincent.”

They aren’t shy about toying with pop sounds and quirky guitar lines, and that has earned them comparisons to Queens of the Stone Age, but Gozu are far more heavily toned guitar-wise than the Josh Homme outfit, whatever similarities of playing s t y l e might crop up. The vocals of guitarist Marc Gaffney are a point of commonality, however, and huge part of what sets Gozu apart from the pack. He is both soulful and well-enunciated, not losing sight of the fact that early Locust Season cut “Mr. Riddle” is a rock song even as he adds a second accent layer of higher-pitched vocals behind his straight-up track. He’d done the same thing on the catchy but wordless chorus of opener “Meth Cowboy,” and it appears at several other intervals, but as each track on Locust Season seems to have something to distinguish it from the others, that’s what does it there.

“Jan-Michael Vincent” is perhaps the poppiest of the songs on Locust Season, at least in the radio-friendly sense of the word. It has some competition for catchiest track, especially from “Regal Beagle,” but at just under four minutes, the atmosphere is less weighty than in the chugging verses of that song, which is propelled almost frenetically forward by the rhythm section of bassist Jay Canava and drummer Barry Spillberg. “Kam Fong as Chin Ho” works some keys in with Gaffney’s and Doug Sherman’s guitars, perhaps appropriately evoking a television theme song while treading close on the edge of a misstep to derail the song and not quite crossing over. The organs on “Jan-Michael Vincent,” liberal ooohs and aaaahs throughout and spells of quirky bounce have already shown that Gozu can get away with plenty when they feel like veering from the norm.

The swagger picks up and continues through the jam that eventually fades out on “Jamaican Luau,” with Spillberg’s performance just as much of a highlight there as the guitars of Sherman and Gaffney. The two six-stringers get their revenge on “Rise Up,” however, which is a (once again) catchy stoner rock song that makes heavy use of the space it has left for lead playing. “Rise Up” is something of a comedown from “Jamaican Luau,” and a relative drag point on Locust Season, since it doesn’t really add anything new that Gozu haven’t already presented on the album, but taken out of the context of everything around it, there’s nothing actually wrong with the track, it’s just a less than perfect fit where it is on the record.

I can hear a lineage of Small Stone bands (Roadsaw, Dixie Witch, etc.) continuing and being refreshed on “Meat Charger,” on which Gaffney’s vocals are again a highlight. It’s easy to sound overproduced when slipping into and out of harmony with yourself, but he doesn’t, and in fact the elaborate arrangements only work to enhance the songcraft. One of the label’s many offerings to have been put together at Mad Oak Studios in Allston, MA, by engineer Benny Grotto, Locust Season definitely benefits from the professional-grade recording job it’s been given. As the slower-paced “Alone” (also the longest track at 7:56) closes out the album, the focus is less on catchy straightforward rocking or even adding new elements than it is on embracing that elaborateness entirely and giving the sound of the band over to it. The result is Gozu doing something different, but it also works with the eight tracks preceding.

After the song has rumbled to a close, a little girl comes in to sing “Tomorrow” from Annie. I cannot condone artists putting their children on a record, but it’s easily-enough skipped in this age of technological wonder. They get a pass on it because it’s their first album and all the rocking and whatnot.

It should be interesting to see over the course of their duration if the heavier crunch of their guitars or the more rock-based elements of Gozu ultimately win out in their sound, or if perhaps by blending them seamlessly the four-piece can concoct a brew entirely their own. Keeping in mind just how new a band they actually are, there’s still a lot of growth to come, but there’s no denying that with Locust Season, Gozu are off to the proverbial great start." (JJ Koczan-StonerRock.com/The Obelisk)



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