Stuff I Missed

Ok, I published a best-of list a few weeks ago, but with so much great music released last year, it was pretty much impossible to stay on top of it. So, in the interests of giving coverage to as much quality music as possible, here are some of the best albums that I didn't hear.

Rectal Hygienics
Even the Flies Won't Touch You

These guys are a real find - a filthy, sludgy, misanthropic quartet from Chicago, they put out Even The Flies Won;t Touch You in late 2012, but apparently the vinyl version only came out last year, so I'm putting them on here. Also, they're just too awesome not to include. If you like your music as brutal and nasty as they come, but are looking for something other than standard grindcore or death metal, then listen to this. Or, better yet, go out and buy it.

Rating: 9/10

David Bowie
The Next Day

To be honest, I didn't exactly miss this album - I knew it was out, and I even gave it a listen or two, but I never got round to writing a reciew of it. It really is a hell of an album. I'm not sure I quite understand most of the songs on The Next Day, but then I could say the same about plenty of Bowie albums - it's not about understanding, it's about listening. The Next Day is refreshingly original, a fresh start for Bowie - which, ironically, makes it a fairl;y typical David Bowie album.

Rating: 8/10

Pig Destroyer
Mass and Volume

Ok - wow. I genuinely can't belive that a new Pig Destroyer EP passed me by. They released it in March, in memory of the late Pat Egan, and freind and fellow traveller of the band. It's olny two tracks, but "only" is the wrong word in this context - at a total of 25 minutes, those two tracks add up to more music than most grindcore albums. The 19-minute title track is a noise-doom epic reminiscent of Natasha in style, but in tone it's completely the opposite. While Natasha is frighteningly dark, "Mass and Volume" has the same uplifting beauty as a hymn or an Arvo Part composition. It's a moving, elegiac peice, but it still has that Pig Destroyer heaviness that we all know and love.
 "Red Tar," on the other hand, is a brutal slab of deathgrind that will knock you for six.It's no-nonsense heaviness is a great palate-cleanser after "Mass and Volume," but even though it's a pretty heavy track, it has some unusual major-key elements, and it even gets (dare I say it?) kind of melodic at times. Seriously, even for PxDx, this is great stuff. And all proceeds go to the college fund of Pat Egan's daughter, so you should totally buy it.

Rating: 9/10

Primitive Man
Scorn
Not only did I hear this album, but I wrote a review of it here. I'm re-reviwing it now, because I think I was far too harsh on it the first time around. Maybe it was because my atention span had been ruined by too much grindcore, or maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it, but I completely failed to get the brilliance of Scorn. It's genuinely one of the best sludge records I've ever heard - noisy, nasty, misanthropic, and just fucking amazing. This should have been in my top ten albums of the year. Sorry guys.

Rating: 9/10