2017 has been an interesting year for music, for realisations, for speaking out and for making changes. Personally, I made a big move to another country (Switzerland) which has been overwhelming at times. I got a job fairly quickly and I’m still trying to figure this country out but mostly I feel settled here.
I thought I should say something here because it’s been at least one hundred years (four months) since I did and somehow a round-up slipped my mind in 2016. It’s been a busy year for writing and sadly this little blog has suffered due to other commitments. I continue to write for Metal Hammer and recently joined the team at the Quietus. I’ve written for Noisey a number of times this year and Scene Point Blank continues to be a big part of my writing life.
This year I contributed to Metal Hammer’s Top 100, the metal list for tQ and Scene Point Blank’s Top 25 – which will be a more general list that includes things other than metal but here on Bleak Metal I will list a few records that I enjoyed very much this year.
2018 has already begun in the writer’s world and I’ve heard a few records already – Watain’s Trident Wolf Eclipse, Tribulation’s Down Below, Portal’s Ion, Summoning’s With Doom We Come and Erdve’s Vaitojimas – and so far the calibre of music coming out in the first few months of the new year is extremely high. My plans are to do more here on Bleak Metal (which I say every bloody year) and as long as my hands don’t fall off then it should be possible.
Thank you for reading this little blog and for taking an interest.
The following records are just some of the albums I’ve enjoyed a lot this year. If there’s a review online somewhere then it’s linked. I haven’t heard everything and there’s a good chance I’m missing something obvious. It’s impossible to hear it all and I work full time and need to sleep occasionally. Let me know if you think it’s a glaring omission and I will try my best to check it out.
Aosoth – V: The Inside Scriptures
Blut Aus Nord – Deus Salutis Meæ
Cavernlight – As We Cup Our Hands and Drink From the Stream of Our Ache
Celeste – Infidele(s)
Dødsengel – Interequinox
Imperceptum – The Eternal Path to Nothingness
Loss – Horizonless
Nortt – Endeligt
The Ruins of Beverast – Exuvia
Schammasch – The Maldoror Chants: Hermaphrodite
Sólstafir – Berdreyminn
Soror Dolorosa – Apollo
Ulver – The Assassination of Julius Caesar
Whoredom Rife – Dommedagskvad
Wolves In The Throne Room – Thrice Woven
Yellow Eyes – Immersion Trench Reverie
Bleak Metal 