I’ve gotten terribly behind in my music updates: the last one was written back in March; meanwhile, the new music keeps on coming. In my defense I’ve been busy with the biography, and while I have indeed heard new stuff, I haven’t been able to spend a lot of time with it, let alone write about it. However, the last few weeks have found me in between authorial sessions, so I’ve had the chance to get caught up on the backlog. With the exception of two albums (Kauan’s Wayhome out November 7 and Seeming’s The World in December) everything has been released. Yes, the new Lunatic Soul is still a couple weeks away for you plebeians, but I’ve had it for a while. Of course the year isn’t over yet; there could be more out there. 

I have to say, this has been one of the better years for music in a long time. I’m not sure why. Along with outstanding releases from old favourites, there have been some new discoveries, but there usually are. However, what sets this year apart is the fact that there are a couple or three outfits who had basically disappeared, but chose this year to return to life as it were, bringing some exceptional music with them. 

Even more than that, though. One of those resurrected groups has thrown my calculations right off. I knew I had one solid contender for Album of the Year: I did not expect two, let alone that they would both be so monumentally epic — two extraordinary albums that almost beggar description. Yet here we are. The World Under Unsun (Lunatic Soul) clocks in at a shade under 90 minutes, and LSD (Cardiacs) just a few minutes shorter, and both albums have achieved the near-miracle of making every one of those minutes count, creating musical experiences so immersive that both albums feel much shorter than they are. Expect full reviews (the LS very soon, in fact). 

So far there are 20 albums flagged for Year-End consideration, but that number will certainly change – although it is currently not clear by how much. Seven of them had been released by the end of March, and I talked briefly about them in that update. I’ll just link to it rather than rehash it here. The genres cluster around rock: stoner, doom, psych, and hard; and metal: post, folk, industrial. Some electronica/trance/ambient; and a bit of prog – but most of that is fusion. There is one alternative/postpunk, and for Cardiacs I simply wrote “Whatever the hell they are” because….well, I dunno. 

Below is a list of the albums that have come out since March, in order of release date. I have a rough idea of how they’ll stack up by the end, but I’m not ready to try and order them yet.

 

Gosta Berlings Saga: Forever Now

Intricate and smart instrumental prog from Sweden, with a bit of fusion and a bit of psych thrown in. Very lush and atmospheric, sometimes quite grand and perhaps a bit too ambitious, it strikes me as a more interesting album than their last one. I talked about them a bit more back in March with the first single.

 

Pelican: Flickering Resonance

The Chicago post-metal icons got back with their original guitarist, and on this album revisit their original post-punk/post-metal/sludge stylings. Heavy and melodic, and pretty good stuff, if that’s what you like (and I do). Post-metal can be a tricky genre to explore, because so much of it can end up sounding the same, but Pelican are a mainstay of the style, and for good reason. 

 

Gaupa: Fyr

A short EP-length album of haunting stoner/doom metal, and the first track “Lion’s Thorn” is a droning folk/psych monster, Björk wailing like she’s watching the world end. It sets a high bar for the rest of the tracks, but they are pretty good as well, dense and heavy with atmosphere.  

 

Witchrider: Metamorph

Austrian (Graz) stoner rock. I noticed them with their 2014 album Unmountable Stairs, didn’t pay much attention to their 2020 effort, but this one, a 5-track EP, is a huge improvement. They were always good with riffs, but they’ve taken their songwriting chops to the next level. Concise, cheerful, melodic and captivating, every track is a little gem. One of the stronger releases of the year.

 

Salt of the Chief Cornerstone: Blood, Salt and Tears

I was really happy to see the return of Salt after eleven (!) years of silence — they just suddenly appeared in my social media feeds in the summer with “Hey we’re back and we have a new album!!” They were a revelation back in 2014 with their debut Intelligent Design, crazy, massively riff-heavy post-metal with insane drumming. Their new one, Blood, Salt and Tears, is very much in the same vein, but trimmed lean and with some pretty interesting ideas you wouldn’t expect to hear in post-metal. Like… banjo. I hope they play some shows, because (if the past is any indication) they are insanely good live. Expect a longer review at some point. 

 

 

Rhys Fulber: Memory Impulse Autonomy

Fulber is the co-founder (along with Bill Leeb) of Front Line Assembly, Delerium, and Noise Unit, and remains hugely influential behind the scenes. This is pure industrial/techno at its best, electronic and hypnotic, showcasing his years of experience in the genre. Another really strong album. 

 

 

Amorphis: Borderland

Finnish folk metal from an outfit I do tend to like, but this album is pretty… well, I don’t want to say “boring,” because it isn’t. It is quite lush and cinematic, and given how melodic it is, and with much less growling than usual, I’d describe it as metal for folks who think they don’t like metal. It’s a pretty pleasant and safe album, chugging along nicely while it’s on but in the end it is not particularly memorable.

 

Cardiacs: LSD

Heh. When I heard that there was a new Cardiacs album coming, naturally my first thought was how is that possible?? Tim Smith, the genius behind the band, had been completely physically disabled since 2008, and dead since 2020… was this a tribute effort or something? It’s no secret that a fair number of other musicians are abject fans of the outfit, and there had already been a gloriously perfect cover of “Tarred and Feathered” by brother Jim Smith and guys from all over the metal map in 2021, and a tribute concert last year (or the year before, I forget). Then the singles arrived, and they sounded pretty Cardiac-like, but still… 

It turns out that LSD had mostly been written before Smith’s stroke, and was supposed to have been released in 2008, but it languished unfinished until 2021. He obviously couldn’t complete it himself, but he could direct those who were willing… and once a new vocalist (Mike Vennart formerly of Oceansize, who I must admit is damned near perfect for the job) was found, the project took off. 

I plan to try and write a longer review at some point, as befits one of the contenders for Album of the Year. It is some album. And so very marvelous that the band has been able to continue in a form that is both Cardiacs and a tribute to Tim Smith’s vision. 

There are so many great tracks I could link to…

 

Author and Punisher: Nocturnal Birding

Tristan Shone, up to this point the only Author and Punisher, has added a permanent guitarist, so it is no longer just him and his specially-built “drone machines”. I think it works; at least, I like this album better than his last one. He’s back to the unrelentingly brutal industrial metal of Beastland, turning bird calls into the most uncompromising environmental activism possible. 

 

Lunatic Soul: The World Under Unsun (to be released Oct. 31)

I wanted to say more about this album (hell, I want to say a whole lot…!), but I think it is a bit too soon. I’ll have to leave you with: It goes beyond all I ever hoped for and it has exceeded every expectation and I love it to death, and in a couple weeks I’ll be able to tell you why. 

I can’t link to the song(s) I’d like to yet, so here’s the first single.