Seth's Top 11 of '11

Hell. I just spent nearly six seconds scribbling a list of 2011's top albums and it somehow caught fire. I managed to salvage the wreckage and now struggle to read my own handwriting, but here's the juice: 2011 was one fuckin' fat year. My world of metal expanded far beyond the reaches of my most reliable belt. From thick, murky, crust-vomit sludge to soaring atmospheric soundscapes, this year stretched boundaries and broadened the spectrum. When I wasn't pretending to love my day job, I was casually admiring dozens of the finest heavy albums the year offered. I'll do my best to scale back the dick-suckin' diatribes, but these albums had me at "dude... you gotta hit this shit."

1. Rwake - "Rest"

"This sludge/doom opus is so broad in vision and scope, I can make no promise this discourse will suffice in validating the exhaustive (and exhausting) beauty of these six tracks. I almost feel like a violator of someone's very personal, metaphysical glaze; this haunting roll through layers of pensive fog is gonna leave a mark."




2. Ironweed - "Your World of Tomorrow"

"Ironweed have struck an incredible balance between their instruments, creating a sound that is confident, honest, and ultimately indisputable. The production of the album is slick, the track selection is dead-on. Ironweed have put together an album that's meaningful without being pretentious, heavy without being over-stuffed, and precise without being clean. What a cool vibe."




3. Vultures At Arms Reach - "+)))((()))((()))((()))-"

"+)))((()))((()))((()))- is 25 haunting and atmospheric minutes that soar, drift, and march to the beat of an otherworldly ocean of sound. Spend some time with this one and see where you're taken. You may find yourself losing track of time, needing less sleep, and fantasizing about a life that doesn't so closely resemble hell. The mood grows ominous and you begin to wonder just what impact this solid three-track EP is gonna have on your frame."



4. Black Cobra - "Invernal"

"This riff-oriented collection is far too immense and far too fast to serve as background music while you wash dishes. Give it your full attention. Let it wear you out like the drunk whore at your block party, and make sure you ask for seconds. Invernal will burn and blister, but it's gonna heal a lot better than the stupid tribal tattoo you just sat through."




5. The Dive - Self-titled

"From the album's ashy lead-off stroke to the final breath of the hidden track's primal, organic, and effortless amalgam, The Dive roll through smoky psychedelic jams that no debut album should rightly boast. Soaring, moon-shot riffs, grooving tempos, and a brilliant vocal high-five make this self-titled the perfect soundtrack to a snakebite hospital rush. Enjoy this; it may not happen again."


6. Wizard Smoke - "The Speed of Smoke"

"From beginning to end, The Speed of Smoke oozes otherworldly psychedelia, doom/stoner grooves, and prog-rock leanings. This is one of the better albums you’ll hear this year. The track placement is perfect, the sounds are jaw-dropping, and the heavy is incessant. Put The Speed of Smoke on your “must-hear” list of 2011 and sit back as you’re guided through a black cosmos."




7. Swamp Witch - "Gnosis"

"Ridiculously slow, heathenistic sludge from the bowels of some clandestine swamp located in Oakland, CA., Swamp Witch decimate your ears with eerie bellowing howls, slipshod grooves, mind-numbing feedback, and a daunting unholiness." - Reg






8. Ethereal Riffian - "Shaman's Visions"

"These thirty minutes have plenty to offer, and you won't be disappointed. Whether it's sludge, doom, stoner, et cetera, you'll find it here. What you'll also find is a trip to a dense, sweltering, untouched world of groove and mist. Bring a backpack, a canteen, and a useless map. Ethereal Riffian is taking you deep into some pretty cool places."



9. City of Ships - "Minor World"

"This album is evanescent. You'll think this is a two-way street, you'll buzz from the stomach-pit butterflies, and then you'll have the rug pulled out from under you. But, of course... you'll go back for more. On Minor World, this trio manages to deliver an effort of staggering thickness, congenial sadness, and wandering cosmic acceptance."




10. Shroud Eater - "ThunderNoise"

Shroud Eater is the reason I write for Heavy Planet. Reg featured them, Toby interviewed them, I bought their cd and t-shirt. ThunderNoise sounds like a spring morning, if spring mornings are cloudy, wet, and fraught with brilliant sludge/doom descent. Few bands play this hard.




11. Belzebong - "Sonic Scapes and Weedy Grooves"

"This twice-baked sack o' ditch is packed with serious sludge and gorgeously fuzzy feedback. Don't bogart it; Belzebong brought plenty of supplies on Sonic Scapes & Weedy Grooves. Your parole agent is gonna be pissed, but Belzebong can take you somewhere he'll never follow. Their Kansas Grass ain't no schwag, son. This swirling, thumping kush frolic is the perfect, uh... score to an after-school session with your pals. Clear your calendar.



I won't call this honorable mention, that sounds terrible. Let's call it "Ten More Albums That Blistered Your Ass":

Weedeater - "Jason The Dragon"
Carcinogenic Corpse - "Noise Farm"
Borracho - "Splitting Sky"
Ponamero Sundown - "Rodeo Electrica"
Giantrider - Self-Titled
Elvis Deluxe - "Favourite State of Mind"
Using Bridge - "And I Will Be Heard"
Archon - "The Ruins At Dusk"
BOAR - Self-titled
Mastodon - "The Hunter"

Album Review: The Dive

Finding a strong balance between fresh fuzz and fully-realized songwriting is seldom successful in this post-everything age. Nothing sounds fresh, nothing sounds organic, and nothing sounds like it deserves an encore spin in your ridiculous E-91-guzzling tin box you call your car. These four Athenians fully represent the sliver of what remains right about heavy contemporary music. The grooves are undeniable and well-constructed, the timing and structure is perfect, and the songs are as beautifully realized as anything you'll hear today.

Starting your day with Fresh Blue Coffee may be the only fun your life allows. The 90's grunge-throwback buzz is enough to get you past that 2:30 feeling and keep your dick hard. Monkey J.'s vocals scream weathered Mike Ness, but the forlorn and dusty guitar licks complement an incredible rolling groove to make you think twice before leaving your car and walking into class. Go with it. Skip whatever you're doing and listen to EVERY SINGLE TRACK.

Throughout The Dive's self-titled debut, they manage to maintain a steady, spacy rhythm that showcases incredible riffs by Monkey J. and Titos, the steadily-bubbled bass of Livy, and Taz's versatile and unparalleled drumwork. Kyuss-worshippers will find comfort in tracks like Lockjaw and Billy Jean, both soaked in fuzzy Homme-tequila riffs. Rocking chair guitars, choppy rhythms, and a shit-ton o' fuzz characterize The Dive's sound, but Monkey's vocals can't be ignored either. His repeptitive, screened-door vocals counter an atmospheric desert trip that may just be the perfect place to let your body lie.

But from the deserts of the west to the craters of Mars, listeners roll through Lydia & The Pigheads on a distant, spacey, gorgeous trip to a neighborhood bonfire on the moon. This cool roll through the galaxy holds rhythm steady as embers reach the heavens. A crunchy granola roll leads the listener to the track's swaying end. What's most stunning is that this barely scratches the paint as a highlight of the album.

The sound on tracks like Desden, Pets In Rabbies, and The Field are likely to spread this band's appeal beyond Greece, beyond Europe, and into the deepest plunges of this ridiculously monstrous solar system. Desden's hollow-pipe guitar fuzz cruises through a stoner dustbowl, between mountains, ultimately landing right where Kyuss allowed Space Cadet's guitars to act like they'd done all they could. Please.

Hums discovered just beneath desert-guitar pleas characterize the sunburned, hand-holding Pets in Rabbies. Friends join the buzz, rhythm settles, and we're fuckin' jammin'! Guitars take their podium here, breaking and bouncing, chopping and bubbling. You may just wanna play this song, slice tomatoes from your neighbor's garden, and pretend you're done thinking for the day.

The Field carries the album's atmospheres to the psych trippiness we'd been expecting the last forty minutes. Drums blaze, guitars fight over the last available seat, and gorgeous fuzz melodies leave listeners believing they've found exactly what's been missing in their lives. The space-warble here could spend under three seconds filling an arena with more sound than the entire Rolling Stone index generated in several decades.

There's so much here. The fuzzy, hot-box sounds of Fabio, Fabio, complete with exasperated vocals and a deep plunge into a scratched space rollick is breathtaking. Iguana's quick fuzz romp is repetitive, welcoming dune-buggy fun. And Plan 9 From Outer Space is heavy on southern licks, hanging like creepy ex-boyfriends on mossy Savannah trees.

From the album's ashy lead-off stroke to the final breath of the hidden track's primal, organic, and effortless amalgam, The Dive roll through smoky psychedelic jams that no debut album should rightly boast. Soaring, moon-shot riffs, grooving tempos, and a brilliant vocal high-five make this self-titled the perfect soundtrack to a snakebite hospital rush. Enjoy this; it may not happen again.



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Heavy Planet was SO impressed with this release that we're pairing up with The Dive and giving away TWO free copies of this album! These will go to the first two (2) readers who send their name and address to heavyplanet2001@yahoo.com. Huge apologies to our readers overseas, this is only open to US residents.