!FUCKED BY NOISE'S BEST OF 2014! - Joe's Picks (Part 3: LPs)

This list was even harder to narrow down than the others but I did my best.  So, without anymore delays or any further ado...

Part 3: LPs

'Molestador'
Sesso Violento

On this one-sided 12", Sesso Violento deliver 8 tracks of disgusting, mosh inducing raw black metal/punk with nods to industrial/noise and neofolk. If you like dirty, yet catchy riffs, sinister vocals, and layers of fuzz, then this bad boy is for you. If you don't like at least one of those things, then I'm not entirely sure why you're on this blog.





'Precipice'
Column Of Heaven

This band (and the people involved with it) is (are) always pushing boundaries in extreme music and this tape is no different. Column Of Heaven has moved away from powerviolence and into much stranger territory, combining grindcore, black/death, and industrial/noise to create something truly horrifying. Please stop making the lazy comparison to The Endless Blockade just because the bands share members, this is something entirely different.








'Cigarette Burns'
White Wards

I'd been waiting for this LP for quite some time since White Wards set a high bar with their 2011 7". Despite that, 'Cigarette Burns' still surpassed my expectations. White Wards is everything I want in a hardcore punk band; ripping fast parts, stompy parts, noisy and weird parts, it's all here. If you're looking for some freaky, fucked up, raging hardcore punk, you're in luck.

'Labyrinth Constellation'
Artificial Brain

I know I say "spaced out" a lot on here, but I don't think that describes anything better than this release.  Imagine if Demilich and Arizmenda joined forces to create some of the most ridiculous scifi inspired death metal you've ever heard. Well, you don't have to imagine anymore. To use a corny cliche, this album is out of this world (I'm so sorry).

'Norymberga'

Norymberga

This is some truly fucked up shit. Norymberga (which translates to "Nuremberg") dished out some absurdly disturbing and distorted noise rock filtered through a raw black metal/punk lens. I guess it could be compared to something like Sexdrome or Garrotte, but it feels far more menacing than those bands. Oh, and there's a seven minute track that's a field recording of zebras.  

'Death'

Teitanblood

Do you want raging black/death that never lets up? Here you go. Teitanblood are relentless and no amount of preparation will make you ready for this LP. This thing is flawless. 

'Simulacrum'

Xothist

Xothist's brand of spacey, ambient black metal really caught my attention with their 2011 demo (which I didn't hear until 2012) and when I found they'd dropped a new LP, I was pretty excited. This album makes their demo look weak. Its atmosphere is haunting and truly horrifying; lovecraftian might even work here. And that doesn't even cover the terrifying, dissonant riffs and tortured screams which tie everything together. 

'Mental Hygiene'

Internal Rot

This release is a little more straightforward than the others on this list, but it still packs quite a punch. I'd recommend this to anyone who is a fan of killer riffs, groovy grooves, and raging blast beats. Please keep your arms and legs inside at all times, because this album is going to take you on a wild ride. 

'Privacy'

Raspberry Bulbs

When this album dropped, I listened to it over and over for a couple days because of how much I loved it. It's Raspberry Bulbs' most fully realized release to date; it combines their trademark dark, noise rock and deathrock influenced, black metal tinged punk with industrial/noise interludes, resulting in something totally twisted. Imagine if Rudimentary Peni, Coil, and Drunks With Guns collaborated and you'd have a pretty good idea of how this album sounds. 

'Full Of Hell & Merzbow / Sister Fawn'

Full Of Hell & Merzbow

Okay, so this has been on just about every list this year and there's a good reason why: it's fucking amazing in the literal sense of the word. However, that being said, I don't think most people fully appreciate what this album is doing, nor do they understand just how important it is. I cannot remember a time I've seen a grindcore/noise album get this much attention from such a diverse group of people -- grind fans, noise nerds, hardcore jocks, twinkle emo kids, tumblr hypecore dorks -- everyone is all about this collaboration. It's weird because I doubt many of these people (tumblrcore, emo, and hxc crowds in particular) really get what's going on here and where this album sits in regards to grindcore and noise; it's kind of like people who listen to modern hardcore punk, but have little to no knowledge of the late 70s/early 80s bands who shaped the genre. This album hits me so hard because I recognize the artists who have influenced this material and hearing those artists put together in such a beautifully devastating way makes me feel excited beyond belief. I've watched Full Of Hell grow and change since I first saw them in the summer of 2011 in a tiny basement in Newark, DE, and I'm in awe at how they continually top themselves by building on their previous work and drawing from under-appreciated, yet seminal artists such as Gasp and countless others. On this release, Full Of Hell have honed their vicious sound even further than before, delivering some of the most destructive and well written grindcore I've heard in a while. The Merzbow dominated part of this collaboration is also fantastic in its own way, playing on haunting soundscapes which match the intensity of the Full Of Hell dominated part even though the two parts play on totally different types of intensity. This album is a grindcore/noise masterpiece and I could gush about it for days. 

Honorable Mentions:

-Thou 'Heathen' (sludge/doom)

-Impetuous Ritual 'Unholy Congregation Of Hypocritical Ambivalence' (atmospheric black/death)

-Dogmatist 'Worn Out Welcome' (raging, crust influenced hardcore punk)

-Volahn 'Aq'ab'al' (black metal)

-Arizmenda 'Stillbirth In The Temple Of Venus' (spacey atmospheric black metal)

-P.L.F. 'Ultimate Whirlwind Of Incineration' (grindcore)

-Zom 'Flesh Assimilation' (black/death)

-Idylls 'Prayer For Terrene' (noisy/mathy grindcore with a Venom P. Stinger cover)

-Perspex Flesh 'Perspex Flesh' (off kilter, weird hardcore punk)

-The Lowest Form (noisy, blown out chaotic hardcore punk)

Dishonorable Mentions:

-Young And In The Way

-those bands Whirr and Nothing (are they the same band I can't tell)

-Boston Strangler

-Water Torture

-OFF!

-Iceage

-Cult Leader

-ACxDC 

-Punch

-Code Orange [Kids]