If only it were! However, it is not. A mere typo, human error, my fault! The text above has been amended to reflect this correction, and Peter Mulders (and I) have you to thank.
I probably shoulda mentioned the "Cemetery" video is directed by Thou's Mitch Wells. Now, the "War" video is one of the best things I've ever seen, and I'm fairly certain this band will never release another visual that comes close (for me, anyway), but if nothing else maybe the Thou co-sign will help to convince a few people who might be immune to my "ecstatic proselytizer hard-sell" approach.
Here's the salient bit from the above-linked article:
"Though Eminem gave the world the image of Stan, Nas showed the world how to put "stan" to work, having used it in his classic 2001 diss track “Ether": "You a fan, a phony, a fake, a pussy, a Stan." His is the first recorded usage of "stan" as a label (and a pejorative one) for an obsessive fan rather than the name of the fan himself."
Good catch! I believe he meant to say noun, and I've amended the text above to reflect that. For reference: https://theoutline.com/post/2425/when-stan-became-a-verb?zd=1&zi=y7iyohlq
"2021" is a total crusher too. "Harmony Hall" obliterates the curve for me because it's just a transcendent and perfect work of art (imo), but "2021" is absolutely on par with my previous/other favorite VW songs (namely "Kids Don't Stand A Chance" and "Contra"). Even if the rest of the LP were just a bunch of filler backing up these two songs, it's still gonna be like a 4.2-WAR album (baseball metric, forgive me). I figure that's a pretty unlikely worst-case scenario and even if it were to occur I'd still have to give the thing some points on my AOTY ballot. Incidentally (in case this isn't already super-common knowledge) "2021" is a mixtape-style track, with Ezra singing directly over a sample from a 1984 minimalist-exotica-synth song called "Talking" by the Japanese artist Haruomi Hosono. It is a BADASS bit of sampling.
https://youtu.be/Zlpva2-5FMs
Nah, I don't have that kinda time to waste. This is 150% sincere bordering on abashed. I could give you a really thoroughly explicated, exhaustive, multi-tiered breakdown of WHY I think it's one of the best songs I've heard in my whole entire life, but I'm not sure I have the time for that either, and even if I did, we already have a few people on staff better qualified than I to cover this one. I just wanted to sound off in a public place because my wife is getting tired of me ranting/raving/genuflecting at home and I can't blame her.
I dunno if I'll ever get a chance to write about this anyplace on the site above the comments, so I'll say it here: I went into these songs with basically no particular expectations for this album -- I love the first two VW LPs but didn't click with MVOTC at all -- so I have no earthly idea what happened, but I legit think this is one of the best songs I've heard in my whole entire life. Each individual aspect is just god-level to my ear, and the whole is even greater than the sum of its parts. And "20-21" is amazing, too! So I went from not really caring much at all to being more stoked than I can even handle. Idk, I guess I'm just sharing in the hopes y'all will make some room for me on the bandwagon. I did NOT expect to find myself here!
I still give a shit, probably more so than anyone else on this site in any capacity, but I definitely wouldn't advise anybody (including Slash) to wait around for this one. It's coming up on five full years since I wrote about the all-done-but-as-yet-unreleased "second half" of Chinese Democracy:
https://www.stereogum.com/1685104/axl-rose-announces-chinese-democracy-sequel-remix-album/news/
It's very sad. You stated it beautifully. GB have always been a really special band. I'll tell you a little story:
When Quicksand were putting out Interiors in 2017, I immersed myself in a few decades' worth of Walt Schriefels interviews, and I noticed this recurring pattern. It seemed like he was never TOTALLY satisfied with his work -- Quicksand, CIV, World's Fastest Car, Rival Schools, his solo stuff, Walking Concert, Dead Heavens, etc. -- but he was always MOST satisfied with two albums in particular: (1) the newest thing he'd just finished, whatever that happened to be at the time, and (2) Gorilla Biscuits' Start Today.
For Walt, that album just stood (and stands) apart: It launched his remarkable career, but to some extent it set for him a standard that he's forever trying to reach a second time. Still.
And yet instead of RESENT that experience, he seems to CHERISH it. They all do. And they are cherished by their fans. GB play in NYC at least once or twice a year, and for a lot of people I think it's become like a ritual or a refuge or a reunion. It's really very beautiful, I think.
I don't know what will happen next, whether they'll continue to play on stage as Gorilla Biscuits, whether they could or should. But I know they mean a lot to a lot of people. My thoughts go out to everyone affected by this loss.
Anyway, quickly back to my anecdote. So, not long after reading all those old Walt interviews, I was writing something about the Menzingers' After The Party for our 2017 midyear list. Now, After The Party is almost a concept album about getting older and looking back at having grown up up in the hardcore scene and maybe having grown OUT of the hardcore scene. And I'd been thinking SO MUCH about how Walt talked about Start Today -- always coming back to it so many years after leaving it behind -- so when I wrote this about After The Party, I was thinking specifically about Start Today:
The truly essential hardcore albums are great not so much for what they are but what they capture: youth in its magic hour; the evanescent moment at which confidence, curiosity, ambition, and ability have reached a convergence point, colliding there with outsize excitement, idealism, and naïveté. That last part is crucial. The young artists behind these albums believe they are at the beginning of something. In fact, they are at the end of something else.
The best NYHC band of all time hands down, one of the best bands period, one of my favorite albums ever. I can't think of too many bands that have mattered more in my lifetime. I'm so sorry to hear this. R.I.P.
I actually think the tide shifts midway into "Oh Yeah," when he just rips into that godhead "Cortez The Killer" solo and goes supernova. Gives me fucking chills. Everything changes right there. And THEN he goes into "Pat," and it's all just ON.
Yes! The back half of that thing is a CRUSHER. But then I think: Part of the reason why the back half rules so hard is because of how the front half gets you there. Like, I get locked in on the very first riff of "Aisle 13" and then it's all undertow till it breaks and then it's a tidal wave to the shore. Idk guys, I think y'all have more successfully affirmed my opinion than shaken it, but mostly you've got me more stoked on ALL this music than I was before we got here. I appreciate all of it!
Oh my god you psychopaths, please stop embarrassing yourselves:
Murmur (1983)
Reckoning (1984)
Fables of the Reconstruction (1985)
Lifes Rich Pageant (1986)
Document (1987)
Green (1988)
Out of Time (1991)
Automatic for the People (1992)
It feels irresponsible to be wasting literal hours of Chris' time on Gchat when I could be wasting all of yours in public, so I'll just say it: You In Reverse and There Is No Enemy are my two favorite BTS albums and I can't shake my belief that they are also the two best BTS albums. I feel CERTAIN There Is No Enemy is objectively the single best BTS album. HOWEVER I'm open to compelling counterarguments if ya got 'em. (NB: I already love and have always loved the '94-'99 albums. Obviously. You don't need to convince me of those albums' greatness, and even if I needed convincing, Chris' outstanding story under which this comment appears would have more than won me over. )
You ever see that Seinfeld episode where the gang is going to a dinner party, and instead of wine and cake, George wants to bring Ring Dings and Pepsi?
"I got news for you: I show up with Ring Dings and Pepsi, I become the biggest hit of the party. People be coming up to me, Just between you and me, I'm really excited about the Ring Dings and the Pepsi!"
That's pretty much exactly how I feel about In Flames.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouxmWDST-kI
Pretty sure Aaron and I first bonded over our mutual conflicted In Flames love/shame, and also that our endless enthusiasm for this subject served as the genesis point for Aaron's obscenely lucrative career as a metal-writer, although it appears evidence of this has been expunged from Invisible Oranges' archive. Or I failed to tag it appropriately. Sorry bud.
Just sent this communique to Aaron via email but it deserves to be shared with the column's readership:
Can't believe you guys didn't include the new In Flames song! I love it!!! (I really do. This should not be confused with a suggestion that YOU or ANYBODY ELSE will love it. Or like it. Or not-hate it.) It's called "I, The Mask." It's the TITLE TRACK from their new album. Only In Flames, boy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0sujFluBlE
Akerlund has gotten more mileage out of that week he spent in Bathory than Quorthon got in his whole lifetime. I think he played on two songs on their first demo? And then literally had absolutely nothing to do with the Swedish metal scene ever again? I doubt Quorthon even remembered the guy's name by the time the first Bathory album was recorded.
November releases sometimes fall thru the cracks? I can't speak for my colleagues, but for me personally that wasn't a qualitative exclusion, just an issue of general bandwidth. I was never a huge Daughters fan so I slept on the rollout, then read some stuff around the release date that made me think I should check it anyway, and then got swamped with other stuff before submitting my ballot. Point being, I've been meaning to go back to that Daughters record and now you've reminded me to do so. Thanks!
While we're here ... I linked it in my mini-list above but want to sufficiently hype that Colours Of The Mind compilation/four-way split LP, too. It's just outstanding front to back, but also, it really illustrates where this style is going, how crazy-deep it goes right now, and how fucking IMPOSSIBLE it is for any one band to stay on top for very long. I'd never heard of any of these bands before, I still don't know a damn thing about them, and now I'm invested in all of them. Just press play on any/all these vids, if you don't wanna click out to Bandcamp. (After you've listened, plz buy it on Bandcamp). I don't even know which one is my favorite, but Ghâsh is probably the most similar to Deafheaven. (Marunata remind me of Amesoeurs, and A Light In The Dark sound like ... the Notwist? Idk, you tell me.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6iAUM9k4lQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZf7t0mHLMI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqBq-27rRds
You're scraping at one of the main reasons why that Rolo Tomassi record was my AOTY running away, and maybe it's also part of what you "don't get" about them (yet)? So this is what I mean: Thou made five records in five different styles. Rolo made ONE album in five (500?) different styles. Rolo didn't come out like, "HEY THERE FANS AND CURIOUS ONLOOKERS! We know that you know that we (Rolo Tomassi), as humans and artists, contain multitudes. We listen to and want to create lots of different types of music! So what does that mean for YOU? Well it means we're gonna do an ambient record, a dreampop/shoegaze record, a prog/fusion record, a post-rock record, AND OF COURSE a record that sounds like Converge-core! Plz to enjoy!" Instead, they had the audacity/confidence/ability to make a record boldly and dramatically informed by ALL those influences (and others) as well as their own quite estimable back catalog. And (to my ear) it sounds truly fucking amazing and exciting and engaging and new. I loved the Armed record for similar reasons. On the other hand, this is also partly why I never really connected with the Panopticon double-LP. Why attempt to quarantine or compartmentalize the different shades and nuances of your own artistic identity? It felt a little defensive to me, and a little too safe, and actually even a little too clever, like those bands were trying to incorporate disparate sounds and explore a multiplicity of meaningful influences but dodge the metal-purist fan backlash that would have followed if they'd made big-statement albums that ACTUALLY incorporated disparate sounds and explored multiplicities of meaningful influences. They just felt a little formulaic to me, and maybe even sorta cynical. (That said, I love Thou and Panopticon, and I don't think of either one as formulaic or cynical in the slightest, and I'm almost definitely misinterpreting their intent or projecting my own issues on to their work or whatever. My apologies!)
Unreqvited might actually be my least favorite of the five albums I listed above (I think those are ranked in the order I had them on my ballot). It's still fucking great obviously. The first question I asked myself when I heard the new Deafheaven was, "is it better than the new Harakiri For The Sky?" And I could never get away from the feeling that it wasn't. (YMMV) No shame in that! It was fucking HARD for ANYBODY to make a better album than Harakiri did. That said, the Møl album, to me, is a revelation, and it's the most exciting thing happening in that "space" right now. I had a blurb written for it, which we wound up not using, but I'll share it here:
Møl – Jord (Holy Roar)
"Blackgaze": a nascent-ish hybrid microgenre splintered off from a popular niche sub-subgenre (atmospheric black metal) of a wildly codified subgenre (black metal) of a parent genre (heavy metal) that sounds absolutely nothing like "blackgaze." Backlash-ready assholes everywhere assumed the "blackgaze" deluge was imminent way back in 2014, after Deafheaven's Sunbather became a cause célèbre among Twitter dudes with strong opinions on Agalloch. It took a while, though, for the new breed to arrive. And lo, here they are. Møl's Jord is at the head of a hot pack. It's an album of pure blackgaze that doesn't waste a sonic second pandering to traditionalists or pretending to belong in an art installation. As such, it's better: the best bits, no bullshit. Maintenant, le déluge. Man, motherfucking finally.
Dudes, I got nothing but love for Deafheaven, but I was drowned in great blackgaze-style stuff this year, and I threw all my year-end points to other SIMILAR albums that I liked more (which didn't make the 50 Best, perhaps making the absence of Deafheaven feel more prominent than it would otherwise). If you want receipts: I assigned points to ALL the following albums, all of which came out in 2018, the same year as OCHL. Listen to all of them! While you might ultimately disagree with my appraisal, you'll at least get a better idea of where I'm coming from.
https://moeldk.bandcamp.com/album/jord-2
https://artofpropaganda.bandcamp.com/album/arson
https://morteminence.bandcamp.com/album/i-iii-v
https://pestproductions.bandcamp.com/album/colours-of-the-mind
https://unreqvited.bandcamp.com/album/mosaic-i-lamour-et-lardeur
Also, while not a "blackgaze" album, that Rolo Tomassi LP really left everything else in its shadow, for me anyway. And after I heard "Contretemps," it was hard for me to hear anything else in this style and judge it favorably.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9PQI6ztN7w
Tim, you know I love that album more than anybody AND I gave it a bunch of points on my ballot ... and even I don't think its absence here is "unbelievable."
Also anybody with a taste for Euro arena melodeath of the mid-period In Flames variety has gotta spin this Parasite Inc. album. It ain't gonna score me any "cool" points (it might actually cost me whatever "cool" points I've still got) but I don't care. Robot-style vocal effect on the bridge? Yes. A drum sound so compressed that it makes a Fall Out Boy radio edit sound like an Albini record? Yes. A song earnestly titled "Headfuck Rollercoaster"? Obviously, yes. Yes! I don't care. I've listened to this song a thousand times this year and I LOVE IT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD9ByRvK8YI
Not sure if this thing is making any lists or getting any love, but as of this moment, the best metal-qua-metal album I've heard this year is Rebel Wizard's Voluptuous Worship Of Rapture And Response. There's a WAY over-the-top quality that maybe makes it seem like a goof (e.g., the title of the song I'm sharing here), but this is a billion-percent legit. I can't believe HOW FUCKING HARD this shit goes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IEiy6WEW_4
I think the cover art for the album they put out in April is even more beautiful tbh -- altho I think this is the superior of the two records. That said, we're talking marginal differences here, I love 'em both.
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0245703733_10.jpg
The lineup reshuffling is very tough to follow. I knew Tetsuya had left, I didn't know till two days ago that he'd returned (six months ago) and that two OTHER members had left. Making it more complicated, if I'm not mistaken, Tetsuya was initially replaced by the frontman from Heaven In Her Arms, and that guy is apparently still in Envy playing drums? I think? It's confusing. Assuming I write about the full-length in 2019, I'll have it sorted by then.
Apologies to Rylo Walks, but Ice-T actually did this version of "Institutionalized" a few years ago with Body Count and it's so fucking great, I'm not sure Kozelek is up to that standard. I can't stress how good this is. "I JUST WANNA KILL SOME MOTHERFUCKERS ON XBOX!!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9jXnZS3ouU
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