Feature / Music
2011: A Year In Review

The top EPs released in 2011

Cheryl's picks

Here's some most excellent EP's from this past year. Black metal, death metal and all round evil.

1. Pale Chalice - Afflicting The Dichotomy Of Trepid Cremation
   Savage black metal from San Francisco.

2. Teitanblood - Purging Tongues
   I haven't heard this yet as the release date was set for December 21st and it's vinyl only - chances are it's absolutely incredible.

3. Sorrows - Lethe
   I know bugger all about this band, information is hard to come by. This EP is just stunning.

4. Cruciamentum - Engulfed In Desolation
   Finally seeing the cold light of day, Engulfed In Desolation hammers home that Cruciamentum are a death metal force to be reckoned with.

5. Chaos Moon - The Ouroborus Worm
   Raw and frantic black metal, unfortunately this group is now disbanded. Really a massive shame, this was amazing.

Michael's picks

1. Withdrawal - Faith, Flesh & Blood (A389)
2. All Teeth - Young Love (Panic)
3. Daybreaker - Northbound Trains (Pure Noise)
4. Unholy Majesty - Demo (Hemlock 13)
5. Phantogram - Nightlife (Barsuk)
6. Crossbreaker - Lows (Holy Roar)
7. Pentimento - Wrecked (Panic)
8. Thou - The Archer And The Owle (Robotic Empire) / To The Chaos Wizard Youth (Vendetta)
9. Whirr - Distressor (Hevi House)
10. Glassjaw - Coloring Book (Independent)
11. Trash Talk - Awake (True Panther)
12. Vice - Get Down, Stay Down (Independent)
13. Little Sister - Reprecussions (Tape Haus)
14. Worship This! - Demo (Independent)
15. Ivy League TX - Summer Sessions (6131 Records)

Bob's picks

2011 was a great year for EPs. In fact, I probably could have done a top 25 without a problem; bur writing them all up would have hurt my brain. Anyone that thinks that 2011 was a lackluster year simply was not listening well enough as a ton of artists released some awesome records. EPs are quickly becoming a go to for me as opposed to LPs, and this batch is just some of the evidence why. This list is in chronological order of how I listened to these releases; a cop out I know, but there was no way to place these in any kind of critical hierarchy… trust me, I tried.

1. Planning For Burial- Untitled (Music Ruins Lives)

Untitled will envelope you in this strange aural haze that is so easy to get lost in the dreamy undulations of sound that emanate from the two tracks (three if you purchased the uber exclusive CD that will make you cooler than sliced Beatles if you own one, so those who are desperate to be a party of the nerdy music literati should get on it ASAP before all the Europeans show how much further along they are than us barbaric far westerners). You will not be able to resist the harsh malaise and mellow musings of these songs.

2. Cremation Lily- Untitled (Strange Rules)

Shards of noise, pounding industrial sounds, screeching, et al lay one of the most droning and hypnotically infectious just under ten minutes that you may ever hear and that is just in the first couple of minutes and then the mood and tenor of the sound changes from the frantic sonic assault to a more mellow and virtually serene aural pasture.

3. Sutekh Hexen- Ordo Adversarial (Wands)

The first time that I put Ordo Adversarial on the record player, it felt like I was cheapening the experience by not getting into the mood; but my level of excitement was so high that I was neither thinking clearly nor did I feel like frightening the other people in my house by initiating some dark rites (though by now I am sure that they are used to bizarre behavior involving my record listening habits). Even still, my excitement was completely justified as the blackened waves of noise enveloped the air around me as my ears were subjugated to two bleak and harsh soundscapes.

4. Black God- Black God (No Idea)

I first called this Pure punk rock power that seethes and froths in the all of the ways that these grizzled old timers could be expected to do so, and I completely stand by this assessment. With only 6 tracks and not a single one being over 2 minutes long, this 7” is over in almost the blink of an eye. It took a bunch of listens to hear just how great this EP is and how good the songs are (don’t believe me? Check out “This Life” and tell me I am wrong); this record gets better with time.

5. Cremation Lily- 2 (Strange Rules)

Maybe a sonic orgasm the aptly titled 2 (as this is the second tape from this project literally elicit this kind of intense and powerful emotional response while the tape plays over and over again while you drown in the hypnosis and depressing malaise. The multitude of sonic layers are mind-blowing as you pick out specific sounds in the whirlwind of white noise and cascading keyboards that hide the slightest of subtle melodies beneath the seemingly ceaseless sonic storm.

6. Gods & Queens- Untitled III EP2 (Sons of Vesta)

This is another hold over from my mid year EP list… and barring the near tragedy that befell these guys this year, their second EP may be the craziest thing that the band did with their time. Three new untitled tracks (and another cover) of the noisy riffing and pounding rhythms that Gods & Queens are becoming known for creating. Whether or not the aim of the band is to literally damage your ears is up for debate (though, being acquainted with Jamie, it might be the closest thing to the truth that you are likely to hear), this record actually betrays their ability to come up with a good melody and bury it amongst the thick, swirling feedback and white noise.

7. Life In The Dark- Hushed Bloom (Sunyata)

I need to stop listening to this, but, wait, no, I really do because it is getting rather ridiculous repeatedly listening to the same piece of music over again and that is exactly what is going on with Hushed Bloom and my headphones; these tones reverberate inside my head as the warm tones caress my tired brow in an utterly depressing but strangely comforting manner. This is a cassette of two sides: one (“Hushed Bloom”), all subtly nightmarish and disturbing without getting loud or overly oppressive and frightening comes complete with a droning female voice which threatens to drag listeners down in to a severely despondent abyss that comes out of a movement that is virtually just percussion and vocal depression while the second side is more dream inducing in a pleasant and almost beautifully tragic manner with a barely audible spoken word part hidden beneath the droning, ambient waves that embrace the listener in an all too strange hypnosis almost certainly guaranteeing the loss of time.

8. REMNANTS- SUSPENSION (Tycho Magnetic Anomalies)

SUSPENSION takes drones, found sounds, atmospheric noise, feedback, loops, and whatever else REMNANTS can find and melds them together into a strangely and satisfyingly uplifting sonic landscape that works on listeners’ psyches on many different levels (just as a great ambient record should); but where some recordings of this nature can sound like one long piece with little or no variation, the four compositions on this tape are all very distinct while all fitting perfectly together.

9. Planning For Burial- Late Twenties Blues (self released)

Self released by Planning For Burial, this tape contains four new pieces of gloom-y hook laden post post dreamy gloom pop ‘o’ rama. Imagine if you will, some of the prettiest paeans to the confusion of late twenties malaise and depression and angst that you will ever hear (at least until someone else writes songs like these or the album versions of these songs drop sometime within the current millennium) pour through your speakers complete with luscious beds of hazy drones, delicious melodies, and the crushed vocals of a doomed and broken man.

10. Sutekh Hexen- Daemons (Dead Section)

Daemons puts the seven inch format to good use as it is one nasty track per side of the record (believe me that is perfect) that pushes the scathing blackened noise to further blackened depths of sonic terrorism while adding some new methods to their assault as they cut back a bit on the total oppression on the b-side (“Haunting”) to create some real tension to their work that had not been explored up to this point what with the almost industrial percussive elements and the subtle tones. “Haunted” (the A-side) is the unadulterated oppression that one might expect from this outfit, although the melodic opening guitar lines did make me do a double take the first time that threw this single on the turntable, and the swirling feedback and harsh noise only intensifies from there as Sutekh Hexen lays down layer upon layer of sound to create a dense piece of music.

Honorable Mention

Iroha- End Of An Era (Denovali)

Was a bit disappointed with the debut album from Iroha, not necessarily because of the music either; but End Of An Era is awesome and everything that I wanted to hear from these guys. These four songs are damn catchy and just plain great to listen to while driving around aimlessly.