Best Albums of 2017

     Best Albums of 2017

     This list is late. That much is certain, my aim to have this out a week after my last list was clearly too ambitious. But I DID get married, move out of my parent's house, move in with Justine and her roommates, back into my parent's house, then most recently move to England. So now that life is finally a bit settled down, I wanted to return to this.

     This is my best albums of 2017 list, like other lists it is entirely subjective and my own personal opinion. For every one, I have tried to link the full album in each heading, either on Bandcamp or on YouTube from the artist's or label's official page or channel. Enjoy!

P.S. I have provided a small curated playlist of my favourite tracks from all 10 of these albums in the left sidebar of this blog, accessible through Spotify.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

10. The Necromancers - Servants of the Salem Girl

9. Loss - Horizonless

8. Paleowolf - Megafauna Rituals

7. Ryuichi Sakamoto - async

6. Lustre - Still Innocence

TOP 5:

5. Shobaleader One - Elektrac

     I would never place a live album on my list, but it just so happens that I have. Because I did not know it was a live album when rough drafting this list, and it even ends up getting bonus points now that I KNOW it is a live album due to the fact that it makes the performance aspect so much more incredible. Anyways, to the point.

     Tom Jenkinson's Squarepusher project is a staple of classic UK Breakbeat/Drum & Bass, and a few years ago he formed a band called Shobaleader One. It consists of several masked musicians who play their own brand of electronic Jazz Fusion; but that's just that, they are playing music that is written on instruments and supposed to be played by instruments. The reason this album is so impressive, is it is the Shobaleader One band playing back catalogue material from Squarepusher. To hear musicians playing breakbeat electronic music with live instruments exactly the way it was engineered originally is beyond impressive. Even when the occasional crowd noises come in through the mix, I refused to believe that this wasn't studio recorded. Everything on this album is crafted so well, and not once is there a flub in the performance of these masterclass musicians.

     Rarely would I say that live performance is better than a studio one, but here that changes. Tracks "Journey to Reedham" and "Iambic 5 Poetry" were meant for this setting, the reverb laden bass guitar and synths are so much more emotive on the latter track than the original, and the natural acoustics of the environment aid this as well.

Favourite Tracks: Journey to Reedham, Iambic 5 Poetry, Squarepusher Theme

4. Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper

     Regardless of the question of whether this is the best album of 2017, one thing is certain off the bat. This is the most depressing and gloomy listen of the year, many would ask why you would even bother listening to something that makes you want to lay in bed for 3 days. Well, Bell Witch are masters of this kind of music and mood. At least they were, until late 2016 when their future was uncertain. Founding member Adrian Guerra died of a heart attack and left a hole in the band, it is hard to continue on musically when one of the only two members of the band passes away. Sole member Dylan Desmond recruited longtime friend of both Guerra and Desmond, Jesse Shreibman.  The newly formed duo went on in 2017 to craft their darkest and most daunting effort today, Mirror Reaper.

     A single 83 minute track makes up the album's length, and it is not at all an easy listen. our first vocals come in at the 7 minute mark, that should give you an idea of the pace of this album. Slower than a funeral dirge, the drums, bass, and Hammond organ instruments that make up the album trudge along at a snail's pace. Guerra conceived the story of the album before his death, and knowing all that happened it is a haunting coincidence. Mirror Reaper is about a recently deceased spirit who does not want to accept their passing, gazing through a mirror from the other side. It is broken into two halves, the first half of the album is the spirit's denial of its own demise, and the second half is its grief and eventual acceptance that it is dead. The transition between those halves is the most macabre, beautiful, and poignant moment in the album, and in my opinion in music in 2017. "The Voice of the Dead" is a cavernous, guttural bellow which occurs around the 43 minute mark of the album, and is meant to signify the spirit's cry at the knowledge of its passing. The reason for it's significance is because Adrian Guerra performs it. Unused vocals from Bell Witch's previous effort Four Phantoms are used as a tribute to Guerra, and give a familiar face and voice to the album's titular spectre.

I'm bound to waves.
The waves of no shore.

     The image of the afterlife given by Bell Witch in Mirror Reaper is a lonely and despondent one, and the band delivers this feeling of grief and isolation well. Guerra may not be alive to witness the success this album has launched his band to, but the album is a lasting tribute that many will remember for a long time.

Favourite Track: ...Mirror Reaper

3. J HUS - Common Sense

     One thing that even fans of Drake cannot deny is the label critics give him of "Culture Vulture". To be fair I do not think that being a culture vulture is an inherently bad thing, if you take influence and find inspiration from something foreign and can make something original and successful then more power to you. Drake recently started using dialect of UK origin, and employing Grime artists on early 2017's More Life. It became very clear that this was Drake's new kick. Of course, this increased interest in the UK Hip Hop scene on both sides of the pond, and this gave Grime/Afrobeats newcomer J HUS the perfect time to enter the scene.

     Coming off the release of only one mixtape and in the 2nd year of his musical career, 22 year old Momodou Jallow released his debut album Common Sense to commercial and critical acclaim.  His brand of Grime/Afrobeat influenced Hip Hop is extremely refreshing in a sea of young rappers riding hooks and trends, rarely without any lyrical content and with extreme repetition. Every track on Common Sense has a coherent structure, and they are all extremely catchy. J HUS is sufficiently multi talented enough to stand out as well, being able to carry a tune with his voice, and can rap circles around modern American exports like Lil Pump or Migos.

     There really isn't a low point aspect of this album, and standout tracks "Did You See", "Like Your Style", and "Common Sense" are boosted to new heights by the pristine production that graces the entirety of the album, thanks to producer Jae5. Many Hip Hop artists today seem to have a "Producer in Residence" if you will, and having one as competent as Jae5 is promising for J HUS' budding career.

Favourite Tracks: Did You See, Like Your Style, Common Sense

2. Akercocke - Renaissance in Extremis 

     London's Akercocke have always been masters of the extreme and the absurd, while still maintaining a level of mystery and enigma. 2005's Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone remains one of my favorite albums of all time, it is a masterwork in Progressive Death Metal. Every one of their albums offers something different and unique from others. In 2010 they informally disbanded, playing a couple shows then simply dissipating into nothing. However, in late 2016 they reformed in effort to release a new album. This resulted in August's Renaissance in Extremis, a bold return to form from a band with their best material behind them. I think it is impossible to top their earlier efforts, and I was very expectant and willing to be neither over or underwhelmed by this album, simply... whelmed. However, Akercocke surpassed my expectations with an eclectic brew of Progressive Metal, Thrash Metal, Goth, Post Punk, and Black Metal.

     Every track on this album works well as it's own effort, and every one can stand well on its own. "First to Leave the Funeral" is their most schizophrenic song to date, a whirling dervish of Black Metal ferocity and carnival instrumentation along with Jason Mendonca's screaming, bellowing, wailing, and believe it or not singing. Alternatively at the tail end of the album, we have "Inner Sanctum" the most poignant song on the album, about mental illness. It starts with a nearly poppy post punk melody and devolves into a Thrash Metal gallop, and lead guitarist Paul Scanlan delivers a supremely beautiful guitar solo to cap off the song.

     But where this album shines truly, is in performance. Every member of the reformed band is a master of their craft, and every instrument present is a vital part in concocting this storm of systematic chaos. Helmed by Jason Mendonca, vocalist and guitarist, we are treated to his best vocal performance on any album yet. 7 years of inactivity have not stopped his vocal chords from being as potent as they were before, at times sounding like an unhinged madman and others crooning over the softer parts of the songs, he has an unnatural ability to sound perfectly comfortable going between styles that really shouldn't work seconds between each other. Drummer David Gray, who is in my opinion the best metal drummer alive today is the glue who holds the entire thing together. His tightness and precision, as well as his technical ability make this album supremely punchy and heavy. Mendonca and Gray have been the two constant members of the band since its inception, and its this tenure that makes them so synchronised and in tune with each other.

Favourite Tracks: Disappear, Inner Sanctum, A Final Glance Back Before Departing

Album of the Year 2017

1. The Ruins of Beverast - Exuvia

     I've never before listened to an album that sounds as hazy and hallucinogenic as this one, this dizzying release from the one man German Black Metal artist is my favourite album of 2017. Alexander Von Meilenwald is a master of atmosphere, as evidenced by this latest effort. Exuvia feels disorienting and ritualistic. Based loosely around Aboriginal myth and ritual, Exuvia is a 6 track, hour long album of far off chants, pounding drums, inebriated vocals, and heavily utilised electronic elements. It is an exercise in buildup, often to explosive result.

     Coming off the creative success of 2013's Blood Vaults, the album which turned me on to this band, Exuvia further expands the sound experimentation that has progressed through The Ruins of Beverast discography. While the fist two albums are straightforward Black Metal, each album afterwards went further down the rabbit hole of the off kilter, culminating in this album. While this album offers a lot of surprises, listening backwards through TRoB's discography, it's easy to see how we ended up here.

     Meilenwald records his vocals purportedly after some heavy drinking, and i'm not sure if it adds to the album, but the vocals assuredly work, whether they are bodily delivered growls, rasping screeches, or tottering baritone singing, they often echo through the imagined desert valley of this album's landscape or bounce off each other, making for a dizzying concoction. This album has few truly fast moments, but all the time the songs spend getting there work extremely well. "Towards Malakia" is the most obvious example: around the 6:50 mark the track opens up to heavily syncopated massive drums beating a steady heartbeat, backed by a distant Aboriginal chant and a simple guitar line. This goes on for a bit, before the drums crash to a final beating, giving way to a Black Metal barrage of blastbeat drums, tremolo picked guitars, and shredded vocal chords. It is this kind of moment that encompasses this albums appeal, there are no flashy technical solos on this album, only a simple primordial atmosphere that Meilenwald sought to deliver through his unique brand of Black Metal, and it surely worked.

Favourite Tracks: Surtur Barbaar Maritime, The Pythia's Pale Wolves, Towards Malakia