Ten (+10) From 2014 #6: The Best Of Noise Not Music
Tuesday, 16 December 2014
Written by Ben Bland
Photo: YOB/James Rexroad
As you may have gathered from the packed, if not exactly consistently available (my apologies, readers) Noise Not Music column over the last 12 months, it's been a brilliant year for all forms of sonic violence. This top 20 is far from definitive, and the rankings are largely arbitrary, but may it serve as an introductory guide to some of the year's very finest releases. See you in 2015…
1. YOB – Clearing the Path to Ascend (Neurot)
YOB are one of the few bands that sound massive enough to justify the fact that they like to capitalise their name. ‘Clearing the Path to Ascend’ tops this list largely because it crushes most of the competition with its sheer sonic battering power. The riffs sound like they were forged from huge chunks of the earth’s core, and Mike Scheidt’s increasingly tuneful howls are more forceful than ever. One of the finest doom records ever put to tape.
2. The Body – I Shall Die Here (RVNG)
When word got around that the Body would be working with the Haxan Cloak on this new album the world of extreme music briefly threatened to implode with excitement. ‘I Shall Die Here’ lived up to all the hype. The Body are more horrifying than ever with the addition of Bobby Krlic’s scything electronics. The Body’s split with Sandworm and collaboration with Thou are also worth seeking out.
I am genuinely stumped as to how Seb Gainsborough managed to make ‘Punish, Honey’ sound so alien and yet so… well, right. This is techno taken way past the point of no return, blended with industrial and a whole host of avant-garde somethings, and then spat out of some unholy generator in the ether. A work of dexterity and savagery.
Everyone’s favourite US grind stalwarts just get better and better. If ‘Darker Handcraft’ was their most ferocious work to date then ‘Blissfucker’ is their most complete. It takes everything the band have done over their decade-plus existence and hones it to a new level of brilliance. An unstoppable band if ever there was one.
5. Have a Nice Life – The Unnatural World (The Flenser)
The long awaited follow-up to ‘Deathconsciousness’ didn’t top its predecessor but did prove that Have a Nice Life still have something to give after that titanic work of genius. This makes the list for atmosphere alone, feeling somewhat akin to Joy Division trapped in a room with Michael Gira and Pete Christopherson. Catchy, inhuman and sinister in all the best ways.
Ali Wells has been at the cutting edge of techno for some years now, but ‘The Power and the Glory’ is his best release yet. An angry beast of a record – one at least partly informed by contemporary politics, see the track David & George – that mixes industrial bluntness with the dystopian remains of the dancefloor. Essential.
Chief proponents of what can loosely be referred to as “black noise”, Canadian duo Wold may have produced their definitive statement with ‘Postsocial’. This is a devilishly unpleasant 45 minutes that sounds like a deep excavation of two particularly pained souls.
8. Kleistwahr – This World Is Not My Home (Fourth Dimension)
This disgracefully limited release from Ramleh’s Gary Mundy, under his Kleistwahr moniker, contains some of the finest noise of 2014. Mixing guitar and electronics with his distinctively feral vocals, ‘This World is Not My Home’ demonstrates why Mundy is such a legendary figure in the world of harsh noise.
Matt Bower and Samantha Davies have taken Skullflower to yet another new dimension with Draconis, an epic release that somehow manages to be both more melodic and yet less accessible than almost anything in Skullflower’s discography. One of the most imposing bodies of work in extreme music just got even more untouchable.
Thou are a force of nature. ‘Heathen’ is a brutal, stunning evocation of anger and despair which, against all logic, is available for free from the band’s website. Everything in their discography is worth a listen, but this is their most supremely devastating release to date. Unstoppable.
11. Godflesh – A World Lit Only By Fire (Avalanche)
The return of industrial metal legends Godflesh certainly did not disappoint. Their mechanical riffs continue to shatter lesser bands with ease. If anything they sound more relevant and alive than they did 20 years ago.
12. Old Man Gloom – The Ape of God (Profound Lore)
Ignore the whole drama surrounding what version of this album is what – for the record I found the band’s piss-taking of the music press hilarious – and focus on the fact that this is Old Man Gloom’s most colossal record to date. Uncompromising sonic brutality from some of the best in the business.
Australian experimentalist Ben Frost has never been short of ideas, and A U R O R A is packed with a selection of his latest noise-making techniques. Powerful stuff from one of the avant-gardes top contemporary practitioners.
14. Thantifaxath – Sacred White Noise (Dark Descent)
If you like your black metal set direct and sharp as a razorblade then Canadian troupe Thantifaxath should be just what you ordered. Sacred White Noise isn’t as lo-fi as purists may like, but it should be visceral enough for the most stalwart of “trve” and “cvlt” aficionados.
Margaret Chardiet kicks ass, and Bestial Burden beat the likes of Shift and Trepaneringsritualen to the title of “Best Power Electronics Release of 2014”. A brilliantly terrifying listen, especially when you factor in the forced vomiting that makes up Primitive Struggle.
Referencing the likes of Maurizio Bianchi and Coil at their most misanthropic, Industriale Illuminato is Lussuria’s darkest release yet. Fitting perfectly with the repertoire of, sometimes subtle and sometimes blunt, depravity that marks out Dominick Fernow’s Hospital Productions, this stands as one of the more overlooked great releases of 2014.
Anarchism, black metal and bluegrass do not belong together, unless its Austin Lunn behind the steering wheel. If Panopticon never convinced you before then ‘Roads to the North’ should be the record to change your mind.
18. Nazoranai – The Most Painful Time Happens Only Once Has It Arrived Already? (Editions Mego)
In which the drone-doom supergroup Nazoranai – messrs Haino, O’Malley and Ambarchi – return with even more confusing song titles and an even weightier collection of improvisations. If this is the most painful of times then I’m fully on board.
19. Full of Hell & Merzbow – Full of Hell & Merzbow (Profound Lore)
What do you get when you take one of the finest young grind acts in the world and pair them with the master of Japanoise? You get this, of course: 23 minutes and 11 tracks of sheer pain.
The Dutch pair Dead Neanderthals – on this occasion joined by regular collaborator Colin Webster – are really nailing this New Wave of Dutch Heavy Jazz thing now. Their excellent collaboration with Machinefabriek – DNMF – is also worth checking out.
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