Yes, it’s
December again. Where oh where do the months go? Another year is coming to
close, and needless to say 2011 has been a busy, hectic year across the world
and here in Ireland. We had a general election, a worsening economic climate,
more reports on clerical child sex abuse, and a new president to mention a few.
Elsewhere, the Arab Spring kick started with Gaddafi’s eventual death, Osama
Bin Laden was killed, the Euro is struggling for its survival, and riots laid
waste to London. That really is only a handful of things that happened this
year.
In the realm
of music, there was plenty going on with more stunning albums and
unfortunately, on the flip side, its fair share of turds, Lulu? Illud Divinum
Insanus? Anyone? Meanwhile, Cathedral, Dismember and Maruta called it a day.
Black Sabbath reformed and so did em… Coal Chamber. And Garry Moore, Phil Vane,
Seth Putnam, Scott Columbus and Jonas Bergqvist all passed away, and James
Murphy’s brain tumour returned after first beating it several years ago.
Moving on to
more positives things though, it seems appropriate that the first of this three-part end of year report starts with a look at the best Irish releases of
the year, considering that there was a lot happening across the island
throughout 2011. Let’s have a look at some of the best albums, EPs, demos etc.
of 2011 with the top 10 Irish releases of the year.
Honourable
mentions
Firstly, the
honourable mentions go out to great albums/EPs/demos from Crows, Shardborne,
Friend?, I’ll Eat Your Face and Sickener.
I was in two
minds about including splits in this list but seeing as it is two Irish bands,
I went for it. I wrote a blog post recently, espousing the wonders of Trenches’
side of this split and Drainland’s didn’t get mentioned too much. But
unsurprisingly their three servings are blistering.
For a lot of
people, this is probably the best thing to come out of the country this year. It’s
certainly one of the best anyway. It was a long time coming too, many years in
fact for the Cork hardcore veterans to release their first full-length and it’s
the victory lap it deserved to be.
Standout
track: ‘Evolution’
I’ll be honest,
I never heard of Michael ‘Owensie’ Owens before December last year. He’d been
in a few local bands prior to going solo and acoustic but I’m not familiar with
them at all. This I’ve become very familiar with though since its release in
January – beautiful and bare alt. folk, with an unavoidable Nick Drake flavour,
and this guy has one of the most affecting voices you’ll ever hear.
Standout
track: ‘Tied To A Name’
Is this
cheating? Including two releases in one spot; maybe. Overhead, The Albatross
released the EP Lads With Sticks in January followed by the mini-release/single
Mr Dog in August, consisting of two tracks. The former is a sleek, beautiful
and short trek through wondrous post rock climes while Mr Dog expands on every
idea on the EP with lush, sprawling strings and jaw-dropping crescendos.
Standout
tracks: ‘Footprints in the Blood Soaked Snow’ & ‘Pigonometry’
06: Rites –
Rites EP
Galway’s
Rites released this 12” EP back in June to much love, and rightly so. Crushing
sludge with penchant for a big riff or two, you can’t go wrong, can you? Two
new songs were put online lately and a new release from the band couldn’t come
sooner.
Standout
track: ‘Vessel’
05: Twisted
Mass – Twisted Mass EP
No frills
d-beat is what Twisted Mass do and they do it very well with five tracks here
for their debut EP, released in July. This short effort is just storming from
the pummelling opening of ‘Behind The Veil’ to the blazing gallop in the
closer, ‘Weeping City’.
Standout
track: ‘Weeping City’
04: This
Tongue Is Poison – demo
This Tongue
Is Poison’s four track demo of wrenching emotional hardcore really took me
aback on first listen. It’s simple enough really and the production isn’t great
(it’s only a demo after all), but the quality of the short tunes shines through
all that.
Standout
track: ‘Weaker’
03: Bacchus –
Bacchus
“Raging”.
That’s the word that Bacchus uses to describe themselves. Pretty apt, it has to
be said. Galway’s finest hardcore sons dropped this powerhouse of an LP during
the summer and it didn’t disappoint. It’s ferocious, unrelenting crust that
simple kicks your heard in for 35 minutes.
Standout
track: ‘Hopeless Daggers’
02: Altar of
Plagues – Mammal
If you’re
surprised by how good this album is then you haven’t been paying attention,
have you? 2009’s White Tomb truly marked the arrival of Cork’s post-black metal
outfit, Altar of Plagues, in breath-taking fashion, after some EP releases.
Followed by another spectacular EP last year entitled Tides, it seemed the
stars were truly aligned for Altar of Plagues to release something utterly
spellbinding. Mammal is it.
Standout
track: ‘Neptune Is Dead’
01: Refraction
– Refraction
Refraction
finally released their debut album in January, and twelve months on, it hasn’t
lost any of its bite. The four-piece play an absolutely captivating brand of
instrumental metal, with blends of post rock and the progressive all sprinkled
on for good measure. Refraction’s strength is its fluidity. It’s very much a
complete album with not one dull moment to be found from the avalanching riffs
of ‘Light Fades’ to the mesmerising crescendos found in ‘Into Nothing’ and
‘Until We Reach’ to the sultry lead guitars of ‘Mortal’. All wrapped up in a
near-perfect production, there really isn’t anything to fault with this album.
Check back
tomorrow for the lowdown on the EPs and demos of the year and Wednesday for the
all-important Top 25 albums of the year. Some of the releases mentioned here
may be rearing their heads again.
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