Sylosis, from Reading, close to London, UK, is most definitely my favorite band at the moment and most probably my favorite band of all time. Their optimal mix of technicality and ‘song-sense’ is like a supermodel licking my ear lobes.

I’ve played their 2011 full-length Edge of the Earth close to one billion times and it still manages to intrigue and entertain the hell out of me. The songs flow masterfully, choosing the path that works best, like a small stream flowing down a mountain. The result is generally as logical as it is unpredictable.

Anyfuck, huge was my happiness when I heard the Brits have a third album coming out this year. It’s called Monolith and it will be released worldwide on October 9^th. Ahead of that date, Sylosis has released two songs off the album yesterday. We’ve got these tracks, occupying positions 8 and 10 on the record, lined up for you past the jump.

In a sudden bout of spontaneity, I found myself on a train heading down to London, bound for a concert in a new venue and a rather motley lineup of punk and metal. The Purple Turtle in Camden is a cozy little venue with a bar alongside the stage and boasting a very competent sound system/team. I pitched up just as the first act, the amusingly titled The Cockrockets, were doing a soundcheck.

Following a period of instability and line-up changes, English tech-death purveyors Foreboding Ether release ‘Beyond Conjecture’ – a punchy, unrelenting effort that showcases a band with great promise.

As native of the area of England I was raised, I feel a degree of pride reviewing the second EP from Foreboding Ether. Just where the hell were decent local bands like this when I was growing up? A friend of mine introduced me to this band over the summer and I figured they were a good place to start with my first review for the site. Seriously though, local scenes have gotten a shitload more sophisticated since my youth. This is the kind of band local kids are going to see these days!? When did this happen? How old am I!?

There are many bands that can be lauded for their innovation and eccentricity, able to meld together seemingly opposing styles into a unique blend that feels more like an adventure than a collection of songs. Unfortunately, UK groove metallers Place Of The Hidden God have not quite reached this plateau, although certainly not for want of trying. The band describe the album as a journey fully open to interpretation both lyrically and musically, symbolizing struggle against control either as a personal or government-wide vendetta (appropriate enough in this current political climate). Taking two parts polyrhythmic rumbles of Meshuggah / The Ocean with one part Down / Lamb Of God, they tread the line between groovy Math Metal and Djent with their début album In Liberating the Conscience, We Free Ourselves from Restraint. Go read/watch!

For a long time I thought Sludge / Doom was a genre who couldn’t afford decent instruments and equipment and that moreover had no clue on how to play their shit. But why then does it still sound so brilliant?

Grimpen Mire is the cause to such philosophical contemplation in my head today. It’s a three-piece, from Wolverhampton, UK and has been sludging its way in and out of venues since 2007. With Paul van Linden doing vocals and bass, James Goad on guitar and more vocals and Ian Davis on drums, the band employs nothing more than the bare minimum, but the sound springing from these dudes’ hands is rich nonetheless. As rich as can be in a minimalistic genre like Sludge.

Just a quick dump of awesome here today. As an operator of a Metal blog, I find that my name is on the mail list of a whole load of different labels and PR agencies. Consequently the amount of news messages poppin’ into my mailbox on a daily basis is quite huge, to use an understatement. Usually I open them, check for one prerequisite that’s usually missing and then disregard them. What’s the prerequisite? There has to be a link to a video! I’m not copying prefab news statements, but need something to talk about. Logical second requirement then is that the video tickles my long John and with this one that has definitely been the case! More than definitely.

The news message that was sent to me in the first place already hinted at this being good shit. It said: ”Betraeus to support Xerath and Scar Symmetry in the UK”. Hadn’t heard of Betraeus yet, but Xerath and Scar Symmetry are a couple of big names and high quality bands and I didn’t figure they would hire the first bunch of loose guns to come and play their show opener. Looked into things a bit further and it turns out these guys are definitely a rising act in the UK Metal scene and this is probably just one of their first steps.

From a UK band whose name is a palindrome I’ve got a short but capturing little EP to review today. The band in question we’ve written about and reviewed before. Based on that experience with the guys I was expecting some mildly melodic, atmospheric sludge, breathing darkness, a bit of despair and light tints of anger. I praised the band’s 2011 EP Mammalian as a ”a good piece of freak-fuckin’ underproduced Metal”, as well as ”an accessible step up” into the genre of Sludge. Nothing wrong with that!

Where Mammalian was, with its nearly forty minutes, an EP of considerable proportions. This year Naisian members must have had to spend more time working and / or studying though, as Monocle contains only two songs adding up to thirteen odd minutes. And as a result of its limited length nothing that’ll keep you satisfied for too long. But that’s absolutely the only reason why that’d be the case.

As per the usual for me lately I’m short on time. Running a small electrical contracting business and having my one employee out for family troubles means I get to do every-fuckin-thing. It sucks. What doesn’t suck is a discovery I made a few days ago in the form of one of many bands known as Abyssal. This one hails from the UK and came into existence in 2010 before unleashing their debut, Denouement, on the second day of this year.

The sound on this beast is what you may expect from a band called Abyssal as it’s straight out of the abyss. Imagine if you mixed the most blistering elements of Black Metal with the finer points of Brutal Death Metal and topped it off with some dissonance reminiscent of Ulcerate. This is an album that will kick the shit out of you, seriously. And it won’t cost you a cent, because these generous bastards have released it as a straight-up free download via Bandcamp.

Yeah I know, the last supper wasn’t on Boxing Day and there weren’t any Jack Daniels shirts at the time either, but I still thought this vid to be appropriate for today. After all, Boxing Day, or Second Christmas Day as we call it in the Netherlands, is a day off because of a Jesus-related celebration. And the dude’s in this vid too. That’s a big enough bridge for me.

Anycock, what it’s really about of course is the band entertaining the last supper guests, a UK band called Blue Origin. I know pretty much nothing about their history, but if they played to Gesus, they must be pretty friggin’ old. What I do know is that they’ve got four EP’s out since 2007 (technically one’s a demo) and they’ve recently released a single.

Yes! Part 2 of the most important list in the whole wide world of Metal. The list of best albums I have reviewed all year. You can’t possibly get a more complete overview of what happened in the Metallic world, anywhere.

Seriously though, this is just a list. My own little list of fifteen albums that struck a special chord with me this year. But then again, I do hear a fuckload of Metal over the course of a year and the fact that these fifteen stood out as the top albums does make them a little special, don’t you think? Hence they are albums that I highly recommend you to listen to, and buy when you can get your grubby hands on them and have no more fuckin’ debts to pay off.