JUST ANOTHER END OF YEAR LIST

2012 was a great year, so many great bands, so much great music. I really hope the next years can keep up with that. This list represents the 10 releases I listened to the most. To make it a little easier I sorted them alphabetically.

BLIGHTED - Deliberate

http://blighted.bandcamp.com/

CONVERGE - All We Love We Leave Behind 

http://www.convergecult.com

DEAD NEANDERTHALS - Jazzhammer / Stormannsgalkap

http://deadneanderthals.bandcamp.com/

EMPLOYED TO SERVE - Built To Last

http://employedtoserve.bandcamp.com/

MESHUGGAH - Koloss

http://www.meshuggah.net/

NAPALM DEATH - Utilitarian

http://napalmdeath.org/

RAPE REVENGE - Paper Cage

http://raperevenge.bandcamp.com/

THEDOWNGOING - Athousandyearsofdarkness

http://thedowngoing.blogspot.de/

UNDERSMILE - Narwhal

http://undersmile.bandcamp.com/

VØID WØRSHIP - Demo 2012

http://voidworship.bandcamp.com/

Of course there are way more great releases this year: ANAAL NATHRAKH, BEYOND PINK, DYSTOPIAN ARCHITECT, GREEDY MOUTH, NACHTMYSTIUM, NEUROSIS, PIG DETROYER, SCAPHE, SIX BREW BANTHA, WAKE, WATER TORTURE have all released great albums, EP's, splits and whatnot. And I guess there's loads of stuff that I just missed.

THANKS and HAIL to all of you who keep the undergound alive! You're awesome!

RAPE REVENGE - Paper Cage

RAPE REVENGE describe themselves as a "feminist queer vegan straight edge band from Calgary". Pissed  rabid ultraviolent one might add. The level of aggression is extraordinaryly high.

The members of RR are all involved in various social projects of all kinds giving them enough topics they write their songs about. Frontlady Samantha expresses her anger towards the social and political injustice we're all facing with bloodcurdling screams, supported by guitars that construct a quite dissonant building on the solid foundation that are bass and drums. The sound is brilliantly balanced giving every intrument the necessary definition without losing the raw edges that powerviolence needs.

If you like any kind of aggressive fast music, do yourself a favour and buy this awesome 7" on vinyl or download it via bandcamp. "Paper Cage" is one of the best releases of 2012!

[9.0/10]

DYSTOPIAN ARCHITECT - Superlove/Superfuck

A new release by the DYSTOPIAN ARCHITECT. The last one, Krybbedod, was beyond creepy and the most excrutiating release this year so far. So why even bother and give this a shot? Because I refuse to wuss out!

And though this oddly named piece of sound is still noise and drums scrunched by distortion it seems more accessible than it's predecessor. The four tracks are blazing their trail to your brain to play catch with your mind. And, frankly, your mind will lose. A subtle illusion of structure that isn't there, the hunch of a melody that you didn't hear leaving you both stumped and inquiring at the same time, eager to unravel the sensations that pure noise is able to give you.

You ready for a game that you can't win? Download Superlove/Superfuck for free on the Architect's Bandcamp.

[Mind/Loss]

EMPLOYED TO SERVE - Long Time Dead

Third release this year by ETS, a band that was just founded last year by singer Justine Siân Jones and guitarist/singer Sammy Urwin, who are currently looking for a drummer to play some live gigs.

"Long Time Dead" is reducing their music to the bone and mincing the carnal leftovers to a rabid mixture of underground noise. Post-HC, Grindcore, Powerviolence or, as EMPLOYED TO SERVE say themseleves, "ugly music for an ugly world". Hell yeah, just as ugly as we all like our music.

Please support this very promising band and download "Long Time Dead" at a price you name on their Bandcamp, you will not regret it!

[8.5/10]

KREATOR, MORBID ANGEL, NILE, FUELED BY FIRE

Live, Nov 02, 2012 (Gießen, Germany)

Due to endless rushhour traffic jams I unfortunately miss FUELED BY FIRE and arrive only just in time to see NILE play a furious set covering both older and newer material. The sound could be a little better and the band could be a little more enthusiastic on stage, nevertheless the Egyptologists blast their brutal technical Death Metal to the audience who are celebrating the band with some ruthless mosh pits.

MORBID ANGEL are next on stage and what a freaking blast it is to see these guys perform an old school set that makes you wet your pants. The performance is cool, the sound is exellent and the songs are nothing less than a lesson in how Death Metal has to be played! MORBID ANGEL's immortal rites make us fall from grace and during the 75 minute set we're all pulled under to where the slime live until we meet our gods of emptiness. Awesome show from Alpha to Omega!

After this morbid inferno the stage is covered behind a big curtain on which during the intro pictures from KREATOR's history are projected. When the curtain falls the band introduce us to the Phantom Antichrist as a start for a best-of show. A cool stage-setting and a lavish light show complete the band's ass-kicking performance and so, after raising the flag of hate with our tormentor, every single fan is leaving the arena already looking forward to the KREATOR's return! 

This is definitely one of the best line ups in extreme metal in the last years touring Europe for two months! If you have the opportunity to see these four bands somewhere, don't you dare miss it!