Latest / Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast / PODCAST: Episode 872 - Ghost Cult's 2025 Album of The Year Countdown (40-1)

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PODCAST: Episode 872 - Ghost Cult's 2025 Album of The Year Countdown (40-1) · Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast

0:53
What's up everybody? And welcome to
0:55
ghostcultmag.com's 2025 Album of the Year Countdown.
0:59
We're going to countdown the Top 40 albums of 2025 as voted on by
1:05
our staff. Rock, metal, rock and metal
1:08
adjacent, sometimes other things.
1:11
I'm going to be joined by an esteemed crew of our staff, both
1:15
current and former. And I'm.
1:18
I'm really jazzed for this. We are going to have a swell
1:21
time and I'm a little bit more organized than I was at this
1:25
time last year. So hopefully, even though I
1:27
don't have my new ADHD Med jet, hopefully I will prevail.
1:33
So without further ado, let me bring in the team.
1:37
I'll drop a tip menu soon or whatever.
1:40
If anybody's watching and they want to tip us some money, I'll
1:42
spread it between our staff. Any money goes call lever makes
1:45
from advertising or otherwise we put back into the company or
1:49
share if we can. So here we go.
1:51
First things first, I want to welcome in the Papa Emeritus to
1:55
my sister Imperidor Steve Tovey, back in it.
1:59
How are you, Sir? I'm good mate, I'm good.
2:02
I wasn't expecting that introduction so.
2:04
Yes I know, I planned it for weeks so.
2:08
It was your first sister, Grand Moff, so I don't know what that
2:10
makes me in the Star Wars world, so.
2:12
Yeah, I think, yeah, I think the the Grand Moff, right, the Grand
2:15
moth to an emperor. Also, you know, the senior edit,
2:20
the the editor emeritus. That's what we'll call you for
2:22
today because that's what you are.
2:24
Steve is our former senior editor in charge of the reviews
2:27
team. He has once again briefly joined
2:30
us to organize the countdown for us and collect the votes that
2:34
the staff made. And it's just a pleasure to have
2:37
you back. I know you know you have taken
2:40
some time away, but I still feel like you will contribute well,
2:43
having been part of this process.
2:46
Of course, the current editor, the managing editor of Ghost
2:51
Cult, is Tom Osman. Or Osman, which I always say
2:55
wrong with his. Incredible.
2:57
Osman, his alternate universe Star Trek beard.
3:01
How are you doing, Sir? I'm pretty good, thank you.
3:03
I was thinking I don't know if I can carry on the Star Wars
3:06
references, but am I Steve's padawan?
3:08
Is that? Well you were his padawan and
3:11
then you became the master. So kind of like Anakin before he
3:15
went complete bad shit. Insecurity and jealousy will
3:18
fuck your whole life up. Don't watch the Diddy
3:21
documentary like I did all weekend.
3:23
OMG worse than I ever thought. One of my oldest here.
3:28
Tom, I think that at some point you've got sabotaged the site.
3:30
Just go off on some weird kind of slagging like spree or
3:34
something, yes? Yes, yes.
3:35
Well, I know Will is here for that also.
3:37
So will. And I might have something to
3:38
say about Opeth later. Yeah.
3:40
Oh well, they don't have a record till maybe next year.
3:42
Suzanne, how are you doing? The oldest ghost called this the
3:45
older than me even I think or we came in around the same time.
3:48
Only in terms of age, I just in terms of tenure.
3:50
Yeah, no, not old. I'm the I'm the oldest, but I
3:54
meant the longest serving member of Ghost Coat.
3:56
Suzanne is here from the magazine days.
3:59
She's got a bottle of wine. Lovely to see.
4:01
You only a glass the bottle. Was only a glass, the bottle's
4:07
gone. Like I said, I was not sober
4:08
last year at this time. I am sober and I was hoping to
4:11
have my Ritalin but I don't have it yet.
4:12
Oh well, Ritalin Riddle out, what are you going to do?
4:16
Will Zipper is here. Will has been just a master of
4:21
the last few years on a lot of reviews, probably the second
4:24
most reviews on the site besides Gas.
4:27
Gary Alcock. Will, how are you doing today?
4:30
Good. How's it going?
4:31
Great. Thank you for joining us after
4:33
work on a Sunday. I appreciate you Sir.
4:37
And of course, my my hetero life mate Don de Lamont of Talking to
4:41
Talk with Don, the Glacial Musical broadcast rocking the
4:45
Jess and the Ancient Ones shirt. New Jess and the Ancient Ones,
4:48
hopefully next year. Don, how are you today?
4:51
Good Nanu Nanu everybody. That is totally two different
4:55
things. Live long and prosperous.
4:57
Not nanu Nanu, but I get it. It's it's, it's my mash up.
5:00
Man, I'm glad you watched that. You know, I'm a big fan of the
5:03
mash up shirts. So 2026 is going to be the year
5:06
of the mash up sayings and hand gestures.
5:09
I do miss Robin Williams, so let me do a little bit of the quick
5:12
minutiae before I go around the room and ask everybody really
5:15
quick about their favorite records this year.
5:17
And you know, not too long, but let's I made a little thing
5:21
here. I thought this graphic was fun
5:24
and interesting. There's there's a tip menu.
5:27
If people want a tip, that's fine.
5:31
You know, I appreciate support. Anyway, it comes in supposed to
5:35
be launching channel memberships on the huge list of everything
5:39
else I'm supposed to be doing. Hey, Q is here and John is here
5:43
from Waterford Comments. What is up and Star Trek I I
5:48
randomly love Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica,
5:51
Space 1999, everything obscure and different.
5:54
Looks like we got a nice little crowd watching here on the tube
5:56
view. Thanks everybody for being here.
5:59
I will try to get to some comments as well as we go
6:01
through the list. And we're still giving away
6:05
tickets to see, God forbid in Brooklyn, but I'll plug that for
6:08
tomorrow. There's our QR code, yadda
6:10
yadda. So let's do this, the Brady
6:13
Bunch view and hey, look at that.
6:15
I feel like we're almost all, are we all here?
6:17
I think we're all here. Look at that.
6:21
Look at that handsome crew. I feel like everybody is in,
6:25
right? OK, So yeah, let's go around the
6:31
room. I mean, I know you've been kind
6:33
of away from music, Steve, but did you have, you know, favorite
6:36
records this year or, you know, like, did you rediscover some
6:40
fun things while doing this voting process and culling the
6:43
votes for us? Culling the votes I.
6:46
Mean sweeping the votes. Sorry.
6:48
That was cool. It's been quite an interesting 1
6:50
and I think I go through the cycle sometimes where even when
6:53
you're involved with Ghost Code, you can kind of get used to
6:55
listening to 4050 records a week.
6:59
And I think I listened to about 40 or 50 records a year, which
7:02
is good this year, but I've got to give more time to each of
7:04
them, which I think is something that I've missed.
7:06
You know, I think you can kind of get caught up in the conveyor
7:09
belt when we're heavily in the reviews, particularly in the,
7:12
you know, the annual cycle, the thing.
7:14
So it was quite, quite handy. I haven't revisited too much of
7:17
the stuff that's appeared on the list yet, but I've got a big To
7:19
Do List to happen over Christmas about to check out.
7:21
But but yeah, for me, I won't go into my top top favourites
7:25
because they will appear later on the list.
7:28
So I'll give some thoughts on those later on.
7:30
But I just wanted to shout out a couple that won't be appearing
7:32
in our Top 40. Sorry to spoiler for those
7:34
people that may be hanging on for these to come up later, but
7:38
I wouldn't saw Sabaton this week.
7:39
So I want to say I really enjoyed the new record legend.
7:42
Oh yes. First thing on Better Noise and
7:46
I really I thought they had. I always doubt every Sabaton but
7:49
the last two World War records perhaps one of my favourites,
7:54
and I think this is a real bright return to kind of bouncy
7:57
fun of earlier Sabbath song on on Legends.
8:00
And they were at their stage show this week.
8:01
Just ridiculous. They had a big massive castle,
8:04
more fire than Satan's arse, you know, It was just kind of
8:09
ridiculous. So good love with my power metal
8:11
this year, which is not necessarily great for my credit
8:14
as a guy in a death doom band. So I'll shout out Honey Refarges
8:18
with Revelations From the Void as my favorite underground
8:21
record of the year. I don't know if I pronounced
8:23
that right, I could never tell for the bands with the long
8:25
Latini type names, but that's a good doom death record for my
8:30
recommendation. And just two others that
8:32
probably the two albums I've listened to the most that aren't
8:34
in the top list. I love the new Baby Battle
8:37
album. I haven't been massively sold on
8:40
them over the years. I like the singles but the new
8:42
one's ridiculous. I think Rat a Tat A tat with
8:46
electric Corboy is my. Favorite song of the year?
8:48
Love it. I can't, can't stop playing it
8:50
and I want to give a shout out to Employee to Serve with Fallen
8:53
Style, which I think is the album I have listened to the
8:54
most this year. Just kind of like a massive step
8:58
forward for them in terms of launching themselves into the
9:00
mainstream in Europe. I don't know if they've landed
9:02
at all in the States, but loads and loads of big rifts.
9:05
Some great guest vocals. Will Ramos and Jesse from
9:08
Killswitch, sorry, different Svalbard, but guesting on them.
9:12
Just a really, really big contemporary modern metal
9:15
record. So hey guys, 5544 for me.
9:19
Right on, right on. And I and I'm hopeful we're
9:22
going to get new music next year.
9:23
Steve, I know you don't want to reveal too much, but I'm
9:26
hopeful. Hopeful I'm.
9:28
Hopeful Tom. Speaking of, you also put out
9:30
some music this year, but what were your some of your favorite
9:33
records? You certainly interviewed quite
9:35
a bunch of bands for us and reviewed quite a bit and of
9:38
course helped manage the team with the great help of shout out
9:41
to Matt Cook who maybe he'll watch this later.
9:44
Yeah, I was going to say it's, I don't know if it's exactly a
9:46
coincidence, but quite a lot of the things which are my
9:48
favourites are by people who I then interviewed.
9:51
But I feel like it's just my amazing good fortune that I get
9:54
to talk to a lot of my heroes. So I probably my favorite record
9:58
for the year is actually Admission, the latest record by
10:02
Cheer Accident. And I got to interview Tim Jones
10:04
and I wasn't actually that familiar with Cheer Accident
10:07
until pretty recently. But they've got a huge back
10:08
catalog and I really love this record.
10:11
It's like I'm not a huge prog rock guy.
10:13
And it's kind of funny because when I interviewed Tim, I, I
10:16
like mention these different reference points of what I think
10:19
are sort of in the DNA of chair actually.
10:20
So just one band that you haven't thought of.
10:23
And I couldn't figure it out and it was Genesis and I don't
10:25
actually really know Genesis at all, but Tim Jones has
10:27
subsequently been breaking me into Genesis.
10:30
So now I'm just like, oh, I'm actually a Genesis guy.
10:32
Even some of the Phil Collins stuff as well.
10:34
So yeah, they they've got all kinds of interesting stuff
10:38
going, great instrumentation, lots of like brass and pianos
10:43
and just really inventive and varied.
10:45
And Todd Ritman's involved from dead rider in US Maple and I,
10:49
you know, Skin Graft Records is the label that it's out on.
10:52
I love Skin Graft records. Mark is great.
10:54
So yeah, that's that's probably one I've been listening to more
10:57
than anything else. Possibly my favorite band at the
11:00
moment. Like I, I find, but the next
11:03
thing I'm about to go on to, I have a thing where like
11:06
different places that I live tend to end up or different
11:09
years sort of get associated with different bands.
11:11
And this year for me is like today is the day year I've loved
11:15
Today is the day for years. But I'm just like, they're kind
11:17
of the gift that keeps on giving for me.
11:19
I go back to all these different albums and just like keep
11:21
relisting and keep hearing more and more and more and the the
11:25
latest Today is the day record never give in, I think is
11:27
amazing. I absolutely love it.
11:30
Steve Austin always does something different in terms of
11:32
the the playing and the production as well.
11:34
He's always got interesting production movies.
11:36
He never goes for something simple.
11:37
And I really appreciate that. And I think that's part of why
11:39
they're they're such a kind of enduring band for me because
11:42
every time I go back to them, they're doing something
11:44
different and I hear things that I hadn't heard before.
11:46
Someone else. I don't know how familiar people
11:49
are going to be with David Clemens, who a while back in the
11:52
early 90s was in a band called Damn The Machine with a former
11:56
Megadeth drummer, Chris Poland. And he's gone on to have quite
12:00
an extensive solo career. I guess for people that aren't
12:04
familiar with David Clemens, I'd say he's like he's got something
12:07
in the sort of grand, epic scope of Pink Floyd with sort of this
12:11
like kind of brood and grunge element of like mad season with
12:14
sort of pop sensibility of heart.
12:17
And his latest record, Everything a War is a record
12:19
that I've really enjoyed. This year it's more kind of like
12:24
anthemic and unapologetically kind of rousing and uplifting in
12:28
a way that I might get cynical about, but I don't with that
12:31
record. So I really appreciate it for
12:32
that. And the Archer by Masters of
12:36
Reality. If I was just wearing AT shirt,
12:38
I could show off my Masters of Reality tattoo.
12:41
I am a huge Masters of Reality fan, a massive Chris Goss fan,
12:45
total legend of the desert rock scene, producer of Caius and
12:50
producer and affiliate of Queens the Stone Age.
12:53
Got to interview him for Ghost Cult Absolutely love the guy, I
12:56
think his music's amazing. First album in 16 years.
12:59
Really really great record and I don't know if anyone else is
13:02
going to mention it but the latest Anavon Housewolf record
13:06
Iconoclasts. Totally amazing record.
13:09
Like, I sometimes I don't know if I like, avoid records that
13:13
make me feel too much, but this is one of these records that
13:16
actually almost made me cry when I was listening to her.
13:19
I was just like, this is actually really powerful.
13:22
She's got an incredible voice. The instrumentation's gorgeous.
13:24
The duet with Iggy Pop is tremendous.
13:27
So yeah, those are my 5 that I'd like to highlight.
13:32
Right on Justice for Phil Collins, Don de Lamont pumped
13:35
his first at the mention of Anna von Haus Wolf.
13:38
Well, I am also a huge fan of Don.
13:41
What are some of the records you've been jamming on?
13:43
Well, First off, I got to say mad props to Tom for the Anna
13:46
von Hauswilff. That is such an incredible
13:49
record. I just I love her.
13:51
But you know, I got scolded a little bit because I know we
13:55
weren't supposed to have like re imagined albums.
13:58
But for my personal number one album was it was definitely the
14:02
Bruce Dickinson balls to more balls to Picasso, like fucking
14:06
absolutely brilliant. Like I love that album and when
14:10
it came out, I have a very personal connection to it.
14:12
So to hear it kind of done in this magnificent, almost epic
14:17
fashion was just like hearing it for the first time.
14:21
It was incredible. But the the numerous and Adler
14:25
album some incredible melancholy dark folks.
14:30
I don't know Tom, if you're familiar with her at all, but
14:32
like if you like Anna von Hauswolf and Emeroth Rundle,
14:38
like Marissa Nadler's going to be like right in your ballpark.
14:42
So yes, and let me see who else the new Mesa album, the spin
14:49
that I didn't see that coming a mile away.
14:53
And the only reason I even heard about it was because I
14:56
interviewed them for ghost Cult and I was so blown away by just
15:01
I mean, how do you how do you mix metal, doom and jazz?
15:05
Like it's they just knocked it out of the park.
15:07
And and I think some of my other favorites did just kind of move
15:10
quickly was the Jackojakshik album son of Glenn, who is the
15:15
singer and guitar player for King Crimson.
15:19
Children of the Sun from Sweden had an incredible album called
15:22
Leaving Ground and then I'll just fly through some of these
15:25
real quick. I had more metal on my list this
15:27
year than I've had probably in the last three years or so.
15:30
Like I really loved the Castle Rat blew my mind this year with
15:35
the BCRE Karidi. It was still life was
15:38
incredible, Frail Heretics and lullabies, the new Sabaton, the
15:43
new Paradise Lost. I don't know.
15:45
This was just a hot year for metal for some reason that I
15:48
felt like so many bands were firing on all cylinders that
15:52
when a new, when an album was coming out, these bands were
15:55
like really delivering a great record, you know?
15:57
So it was a great year. It was a great year.
16:01
Right on. Will let us hear some of your
16:04
favourites this year. I know you had many, you
16:05
reviewed many, you reviewed many for other things you do and you
16:11
you've been you're killing it on the Abysmal Hymns podcast.
16:14
So I, I guess I'm going to bring up some albums that are kind of
16:20
out of on the left field of here and so stuff that's not on the
16:24
list. And according to, so I use like
16:27
I don't use Spotify or streaming services, but I do use last FM
16:33
to kind of keep track of my listening.
16:37
And it said that I listen to the album I listen to the most was I
16:41
play. This is not just like song
16:44
plays. This is how many times I played
16:46
the album was 222 times was Ethel Canes will be Tucker, I
16:53
will always love you, which for some reason I got obsessed with
16:57
this album. It is kind of like, so if you
16:59
take like Marissa Nadler and that type of thing and add like
17:04
the drone of the Swans to it, but give it the Sheen of a white
17:09
trash Lana Del Rey, then you're headed in that direction.
17:16
And it was one of these albums that felt heavier than like a
17:18
metal album, just like emotionally, like Tom was
17:21
talking about the emotional music and, you know, I mean,
17:25
there's some kind of poppy moments.
17:26
I like pop music. So yeah, that was that was
17:30
probably the one I listened to the most.
17:33
I also got really into there was kind of a weird, quirky, dark
17:40
wavish type project called Heartworms and their album
17:46
Glutton for Punishment. I listen to a ton, which is kind
17:50
of like steampunk version of Susie and the Banshees.
17:57
Maybe the I know it's it's kind of it hasn't come out yet, but
18:01
it's I've been listening to it a lot.
18:03
It's the new health album. Conflict LLC is weird for them.
18:08
I mean, you know, I kind of felt like it was a weird.
18:12
You're from metal in general or heavy music.
18:14
I mean, health is a metal, but yeah, 'cause it's like super
18:18
streamlined and they're using like a pop producer on it, but
18:22
the hooks are there. So I mean, if you got like
18:24
catchy songs, I'm all in. As long as you're like, at least
18:29
singing about dying and things like that.
18:30
So that won me over. Yeah, if you any anything, you
18:36
can be heavy as hell, but if you're like super happy, I'm
18:38
like. Out of here.
18:42
Let's see also there's another kind of new one by a combo like
18:48
hardcore boy band called Homefront and they combine like
18:54
hardcore with like weird new wave.
18:57
On this album. It's kind of they're stepping
18:59
more into a new wave direction and their albums called Watch It
19:03
Die. That was a big one for me so
19:07
far. And let's see.
19:10
So I'm at 3 Hotline TNT. They're kind of a indie rockish
19:18
shoegaze band. They have an album called
19:19
Raspberry Moon, which, you know, so I'm really big on and I
19:23
probably say it in reviews a lot, but I'm always more for
19:27
like songs over sound because I think you can like get the plug
19:31
insurance, you can buy the equipment, you can get the
19:34
bright producer, you can get the sound.
19:36
But can you write a fucking song?
19:38
And these guys wrote some songs and they're great and I listen
19:41
to them. So that works.
19:43
And then there's also another kind of weirdish post rocky,
19:50
post punky band called Imaginary People.
19:54
And they put out a really cool album called Alibi that is like,
19:59
if news wasn't trying to be Queen and we're really depressed
20:02
and listen to Joy Division, then that's that's where that would
20:07
find us. I feel like news does listen to
20:10
Joy Division but they can't get it out of them.
20:11
You know everything they make too upbeat and shit and happy.
20:16
I reckon either way I'd still hate them.
20:18
I love it, you know. You just haven't.
20:21
Suffered enough? Right, yeah, They need to get
20:24
like some drug habits going. They need to go off whatever
20:27
medication they're on. It's like they.
20:32
Just said happy childhoods. Make sure, like as soon as you
20:36
know Freddie, I'm in love. That's my classic bathroom
20:41
break. Like I don't want to hear Robert
20:43
Smith happy. I don't want to hear Matt
20:45
Bellamy happy. I mean, who wants to hear like,
20:47
think about it, Jeff Buckley happy.
20:49
Really. Come on.
20:51
We know that that always ends at the bottom of a river.
20:53
But it's OK, I'm. Not ready man.
20:56
I mean his. His dad got into the sex funk,
20:58
so maybe if Jeff Buckley had been around for longer he would
21:00
have had that too. Yeah.
21:02
Probably I. Always think about like, what
21:04
would Jeff Buckley's be doing right now?
21:07
Would he be like playing Coachella with like would that,
21:11
would that, would we have to hear that?
21:14
No, we wouldn't. Like on full Scott Walker.
21:19
Yeah, you mean you're doing some bands?
21:21
You said you had some underground, some mainstream.
21:24
Oh yeah? Well my entire 20 album list is
21:27
pretty left filled. There's some of them that are
21:29
coming up and the one that I was most excited about this year has
21:33
to be Igor because it is pretty much everything in about Thunder
21:36
and somehow it works. And any person who can use a
21:40
excavator in a recording by dropping it on a piano and make
21:44
it sound good. You're fucking awesome.
21:47
So that was one of my top ones. Listening to a lot of
21:50
Perturbation as well. New album is it's got a few low
21:54
points, but it's generally fucking good.
21:58
And I kind of want to throw up a couple of like smaller bands
22:01
that I've put on my list, one of them being Sarkiser, which is
22:05
strange for me because I'm usually not into trash.
22:07
They're like super young band from Sweden.
22:10
I seldom play with Hell Ripper. I was like, how does this kid
22:13
have the stage presence as if he's been on stage for 20 years,
22:17
even though he's like 20 years old.
22:19
And they put on an album this year and it's it's still all
22:23
trash. It's all songs, but every single
22:26
song has like a different genre put through it and it's there's
22:30
no brakes on this album. It's really good.
22:34
Also kind of have to plug my locals Noctambulist who are a
22:41
well they started off as a bit more of a old school do me band
22:47
with black metal influences and the new album they released this
22:50
year, The Drone. It is very shoe gazy.
22:55
Reminds me a lot of Ulcest, but somehow is both sadder, more
23:00
melancholic, and more hazy in its layering.
23:04
It's it's a very good listen if you like kind of the shoegazy
23:09
dark, dreamy stuff. It's very cool.
23:14
And well, I'm going to, I'm going to throw out my left Field
23:19
album, the new grandson album, Inertia.
23:24
He's not even metal, but this album is really metal or punk.
23:28
It is just there's he's got a band, there's a guitarist.
23:31
He's more like talk singing with a bit of a bit of screaming as
23:35
to his voice. And it's just all anger.
23:37
It is all topical and all pissed off.
23:41
And it's I was very surprised by that because I was like, wait,
23:44
what the hell, this is good. Wow.
23:48
So. Fun, fun fact, I saw grandson,
23:51
Youngblood and MGK horrendously at the same music festival four
23:56
years ago and I was most impressed with grandson and then
23:59
I kind of lost track of him. So you brought him up recently.
24:01
So I'm going to dive back in and listen to that again and.
24:05
That album is it's it's it's it's very good because I thought
24:10
like I found one song I was like, well, maybe it's a one hit
24:12
wonder, but no solid throughout, right?
24:15
On we've got some folks joining on the Instagram scooter, What
24:20
up, What up, What up? But yeah, OK, awesome stuff from
24:25
everybody. So now I'm going to go through
24:27
the list and I'm probably going to whiz through some of them.
24:29
I I'm going to do my own live stream with my top 20 in a few
24:33
in like a week. But I'll give some thoughts as I
24:35
get along. We're going to kick it off, Don,
24:40
please, whoever's typing too loud, please stop typing or mute
24:43
yourself when you're typing because I can't hear it.
24:46
Like a pet peeve of mine, sorry. Suzanne just gave herself away
24:49
to just and she was like. Yeah, my bad.
24:52
It's fine. It's usually done, but it's OK.
24:54
I know. That's why I had the hands up.
24:55
I was like, it's not me. Sorry, everybody, yeah, we'll
25:00
yeah, we're gonna we usually do, by the way, like stay tuned to
25:04
ghost called socials, especially Instagram, because we usually do
25:08
like a little staff spotlight as well as guests who make their
25:12
end of year post too. So that's all coming.
25:15
Stay tuned. If you guys want to be you know,
25:16
just e-mail me or DM me and send me your list.
25:20
I don't, I don't I I'm sure I was CC Ed on all the ones to
25:23
Steve, but I also my inbox is insane.
25:26
ANYWAYS, kicking off the 40 countdown 40 to one kind of a
25:32
mild surprise. It's a great record, but I was
25:34
like super stoked. Is that Sumac and warm mother
25:38
the film? This is like an experimental
25:41
record. I've seen sumac many times, sort
25:45
of former members of the band Isis and other things and botch
25:48
and Russian circles and more mother who's incredible.
25:51
And I saw more mother solo and with God flash at Roadburn 2018
25:55
with Suzanne. And it's it's really, really,
25:59
you know, I, I highly recommended it.
26:01
It it's, it's a little out-of-the-box for both of them.
26:03
It is truly a collaborative record.
26:05
It's a bit, it's on the avant-garde side, but it's like
26:08
it's do me. Plus I, I don't only know how
26:12
else to explain it. Coming in at 39, Lorna Shore,
26:17
who I feel has been like the little girl with the curly it
26:19
girl, I feel the ever black festering within me.
26:22
A little surprised that it wasn't higher, but we have kind
26:24
of a little less death metal focused staff these days than we
26:28
used to. You know, I think they've taken
26:31
this progressive deathcore about as far as it can go.
26:35
And I used to remember Maynard from Tool was like he after Tool
26:39
got famous, people would come up to him in LA and be like do the
26:42
thing, do the thing. And he's like, what thing?
26:44
The screen, the screen thing you do.
26:45
And I feel like Will Ramos from Warner Shore is starting to
26:49
like, become the thing. Like this ungodly deep, guttural
26:53
vocals are great sounding. But like, like, they're a great
26:57
band. Bands were doing what they're
26:59
doing a long time before them. They're just doing it the best
27:02
right now. Like relentless, it's just a bit
27:07
too much, you know, Like I like to have my head smacked in, but
27:10
it's 6667 minutes. It's just.
27:13
Yeah, nothing. You know what?
27:15
I. Mean no let up.
27:17
It's a little much, I got to be honest.
27:19
But here's 38 and I know both Will and Suzanne are huge fans
27:27
of this band and I'm a big fan of this band.
27:28
Haven't seen them live. They've changed the line up a
27:30
bit. This is Igor with Amen on Metal
27:32
Blade Records. Again.
27:34
They call it baroque industrial metal.
27:38
Will, I know you were a fan of this record quite a bit.
27:42
You know, kind of everything all in, in the in the sink, the
27:44
kitchen sink approach, right? Right.
27:47
Yeah. Although this time it felt to me
27:50
because if I compared it to like and for me, when we get into
27:53
like bizarre progressive music, the bar goes, you know, to like
27:59
Mr. Mongol and Frank Zappa. Which this one?
28:02
Of them play with it. Yeah, definitely descended from,
28:10
but they used a little less of the glitchy electronics and it
28:15
seemed to be a little more straightforward at times,
28:19
although they brought in the classical elements and and that
28:22
type of thing. But I think it was like, and
28:25
this is like a stereotypical review thing to say, but they
28:29
matured on this album. It feels and and the songs feel
28:33
more. There's less of that kind of
28:36
spastic funhouse jerking to it. So yeah.
28:42
And it was fun. Well done, Suzanne.
28:46
What do you think about the evolution of Igor?
28:48
You followed them from pretty much the beginning.
28:50
They were a rogue burn band multinational, mainly French,
28:54
but like now they've got a little bit of a different line
28:56
up. I love JB from Gloria Belli is
29:00
now in their band, you know. What are your thoughts on their
29:03
change? Because I agree with Will about
29:05
the maturation thing. So I found Igor, I think in 2013
29:12
when somebody sent me Brutal Swing back when it was still a
29:18
great gory solo project. And so for me, here you guys go,
29:22
oh, they have matured. Now it's like, no, that's what
29:25
happened with Sinusoid for me. Because before that it was just
29:30
good years just being balls to the wall and doing whatever the
29:32
fuck he felt like. And but he has grown into that
29:38
kind of vibe and I feel like this record actually brings in
29:43
more of the stuff he used to do. If you listen to Nostril or if
29:48
you listen to well God Snuff, I've gotten the name of the Pink
29:54
album. This is great.
29:55
Anyhow, the the stuff when he was still completely solo and
29:58
like doing a lot with glitch. But the thing that has changed
30:02
is instead of finding samples online or using samples, he now
30:07
just has people record the weirdest sounds and uses those.
30:12
And that gives it kind of more of a cohesion.
30:18
But the weirdness that he's always had in there and also the
30:21
sense of humor, it's still there.
30:24
I have, however, discovered there's a bit of a formula with
30:27
the names. So if they are very
30:30
ecclesiastical names or like Theo Moni on this album or
30:36
Limbo, then you get like a really grand song.
30:39
And if you get nouns or food that it's going to be somewhat
30:44
silly. And if it's just a random word,
30:47
it is going to be some of the weirdest stuff you've ever
30:50
heard. So there, there is a little bit
30:52
of logic there. And I think that sound wise in
30:58
the maturing, I think it's mostly that he he has a very
31:03
Group, A very good group of people that he now works with,
31:05
like with JB and with with like the drummer he has is
31:11
incredible. It's insane.
31:15
And it's guitarist as well. But it's it's also that
31:18
everything is now recorded in the same setting.
31:22
So it all has the same sound ambience.
31:27
Let's put it that way, Instead of being things he found from
31:32
other places and put together. Right on.
31:36
I'm going to keep it with you, Suzanne for 37 Gaul's word
31:39
another a legend of braiding the stories on season of Miss Great
31:44
label. You know, the progression of
31:48
Gaul's word again kind of reminds me very similar to what
31:52
Tom Q Warriors done with Trypticon, right?
31:54
Like just continue to express and expand the writing.
31:57
But this is a record you were very high onto.
32:00
Yeah, I, I love that they themselves also said this is not
32:06
a black metal album. And it is and it isn't for me.
32:13
So there is definitely blackened elements, definitely still, you
32:16
know, some of that aggression and some of the guitar work and
32:18
stuff like that. There is also a whole lot of
32:21
esoteric stuff going on and like beautiful things.
32:25
But in its character for me is where it's still black metal
32:28
because it is still very much dealing with with like these,
32:33
these concepts of sadness, loneliness, the after the other
32:41
and all of that in kind of a dark sense and in a kind of
32:46
occulty exploratory way. It is a record that you
32:50
definitely have to listen to because it's nearly impossible
32:52
to to describe what it sounds like because it takes from so
32:55
many places. Right on.
32:58
Beautifully said. Coming in at 36 is Imperial
33:03
Triumphant with Gold Star on Century Media Records.
33:06
I feel like we were one of the first websites, publications,
33:10
what have you, that we're in on this band.
33:12
I happen to know the drummer from his other work in the New
33:15
York City area when I lived there.
33:17
And you know, there are blackened death metal jazz
33:20
bands, but not like them. And I do feel like they've kind
33:24
of pushed this as far as they can go.
33:26
And I think it'll be interesting to see what they do in the
33:28
future. But I absolutely love this
33:31
record. And yeah, no shame on this
33:35
coming. This is pretty funny.
33:36
Coming in at 35 is a favorite band of mine.
33:39
Melvin's the Melvin's 1983 line up with Thunderball.
33:44
Again, another James Bond reference perhaps on it, the CAC
33:47
recordings. And I almost messaged Steve when
33:48
he gave me the list to say which Melvin's record, because they
33:51
usually put out a few a year. They put out a collab record
33:55
with EP with Napalm Death that sold out immediately and they
34:00
probably recorded like 3 records while we started this video.
34:03
Thunderball's awesome again. I it's a, it's a little
34:06
different animal when they bring in the 83 lineup, but Steve
34:09
McDonald is basically a permanent member now.
34:11
And a shout out to Reza Mills for his particularly great
34:14
review on Melvin's this year. And then for 34, as I'm trying
34:19
to bring this through a little faster than last year.
34:22
I'll I'll kick it to will on this and Grisa Gobog.
34:25
However you say it's Snoop Doggy Dogg with hideous aftermath.
34:29
I think they're not yet where Lorna Shore is like Lorna Shore
34:33
has done done it to death now. And I think like everybody is
34:38
catching up to the band with the horrendous, you know, the
34:41
horrendous logo of illegible logos and beat down death metal.
34:46
What do you think Will of this record?
34:47
So yeah, so I always called them sandwich Sugar Bear.
34:51
I think that you know, this album, this album is my favorite
34:56
death metal album of the year. And it's in saying that it means
35:01
that they have focused more on once again, Ding Ding
35:06
songwriting. So I'm not calling them a grind
35:12
slam. Whatever meme you want to find
35:15
for death metal that the kids are calling it these days.
35:19
And yeah, I mean, it's like just really tight grooves, you know,
35:25
it's not just hammering you in the head, although they do that,
35:28
you know, But for me, like, just being heavy alone doesn't work.
35:36
You have to like, you know, have give me something to latch onto,
35:40
give me some hooks. And it's a extremely to be as
35:45
like on the extreme side of death metal.
35:49
They've made a very like accessible album for like the
35:52
kids going to like Rockville and Sonic Temple and all of those
35:57
big metal fests. So I think that they will, I
36:01
don't know if they'll get to Alana Shore level, but I mean, I
36:05
think that this is the going to open them up to a bigger
36:08
audience for sure. Pippen has joined the chat.
36:14
Suzanne's cat keeping it with you for a few more will by
36:18
comparison, do you think Sanguis of the bog is going to make like
36:23
they're going to make people open the door and discover a
36:25
bunch of death metal bands? Because next on the list of 33
36:28
is glorious Depravity, which you recently reviewed Death never
36:31
sleeps on one of my favorite labels, transcending obscurity
36:35
and, you know, a different animal, not as grindy, straight
36:40
up old school death metal in a modern, you know, cast you you
36:45
reviewed this excellently, I thought.
36:47
And you know, just I wonder if those people will then pick up
36:54
and check out the classics. Are they going to just check out
36:56
all the new bands? I mean I.
36:57
Think they're going to check out band like, you know, so Devin is
37:01
pretty good about name dropping and interviews the bands that he
37:06
was into, which, you know, were kind of like descendants of
37:11
Cannibal Corpse. So they're going to probably
37:13
find that school of death metal. I don't know if they're going to
37:17
go back and dig into Bolt Throw or maybe I don't know.
37:22
I mean, you know, who knows? I wouldn't with the way like
37:26
kids are finding music these days.
37:27
I wouldn't have never have guessed that, like, Acid Bath
37:30
would be having one of the, like, hugest comeback tours of
37:34
the year when I was like, one of three people I knew that
37:37
listened to them for, like, most of them early teens, you know?
37:43
So, yeah. So I mean, that was kind of a
37:47
surprise, but. Right on.
37:52
Yeah, right on, man. Yeah.
37:53
I, I, I feel like I missed Trevor Stennod from Black Dahlia
37:57
Murder, who did so much work in uplifting, like, very obscure
38:00
underground bands. And I don't know if anybody else
38:03
has really filled that void, but maybe Devin is going to be that
38:05
guy. I don't know.
38:07
And then do it too. They they definitely talk about
38:10
bands like Weakling and stuff like that, you know?
38:14
Right on, right on. Another will one.
38:17
I'm going to kind of zip through the next few before we start
38:19
spending more time on these. 32 has Hangman's Chair Sediction,
38:24
Sediction, Sediction. Nuclear Blast Records.
38:26
Not a band that I particularly vibe with, but I respect what
38:30
they do and I know they're kind of like a bigger cult band in
38:35
Europe than here in the States. But you know, excellent record
38:38
nonetheless. Even if it's not my jam, I can I
38:41
can appreciate it. At 31, we have calloused
38:44
Dowboys. I don't want to see you in
38:45
heaven on Monarch Heavy. Honestly, I like their last
38:50
record much more than this one. But I understand like where what
38:53
they're trying to do. Also sort of the next
38:56
generation, you know, more diverse spirit box more, you
39:02
know, trying to be equally weird as I wrestle the bear once, who
39:06
I also loved prior to spirit box.
39:10
I just think I like the last record more personally,
39:12
celebrity therapist. But this one is is good.
39:16
Again, probably not a band for most of us on this call.
39:20
And then 30. This is a really good one
39:24
rounding out the 30s thirty to, you know, 40 down to 30 Beast
39:29
Colossal on Century Media, phenomenal old school death
39:33
metal. And Steve and I used to talk all
39:38
the time about like a long a certain timeline.
39:41
As much as bands try to go technical and progressive and
39:44
everything, most bands are just meat and potatoes, as we say
39:48
here in the States, solid at death metal.
39:51
And this is they tried to do some different things with their
39:54
death metal, but it's a straight up death metal record at its
39:57
core. And I think that's why this
39:58
record kind of resonated with me.
40:02
And very, very strong. And then maybe one last one
40:07
where I zip through these and then we'll slow down a little
40:09
bit more for the 20s. Twenty 9 is Peeling Flesh kind
40:13
of the more underrated band? In this sort of genre, I
40:18
basically slammed death metal, but other things, other flavors
40:21
come in there. Peeling Flesh Radio 2 or PF
40:24
Radio 2 on the very unsung Unique Leader Records.
40:29
And you know, they sample in hip hop.
40:31
They've got like very good grooves, but they're definitely
40:35
more of a modern band. So it's really fun to me that
40:39
there's quite a bit of death metal in our list this year,
40:42
even though we don't have, you know, we have a few.
40:44
I think next year we'll be a little stronger on the on the
40:47
team in terms of like the straight up, I only like death
40:49
metal people. But yeah, Peeling Flesh I was
40:53
pleasantly surprised to see pop up in the Top 40.
40:57
And now I'm going to bring it. I'm going to slow it back down a
41:00
little bit. 28 is Vows and this is a record I love personally.
41:04
I'll fill your house with a, with an army out of line music.
41:07
Will is a fan of this band, as am I.
41:10
Tell me what you love about this Vows record, because I have so
41:13
many things I could say. So, yeah, so it kind of, you
41:17
know, reminded me. It took me back to, like the
41:19
90s, you know, and kind of first I thought they were like going
41:26
off into, like a new metal direction.
41:28
But then it gets darker and gloomier and, you know, so
41:33
nothing. That's when I got on board.
41:35
You know, as soon as everybody gets depressed.
41:37
You having a bad time? Come on.
41:38
Here we go. I knew that was coming.
41:46
Right. I'm trying to multitask.
41:47
Yeah. I love this record so much and
41:49
it's absolutely it's a vibe. It's absolutely a vibe, a total
41:55
vibe for me that record 27 the record I had.
41:58
I personally have very high this year, but of course I'm biased.
42:02
Biohazard from my hometown in New York City, Brooklyn, NY.
42:05
Zone divided we fall come back record classic line up.
42:09
We kind of broke the news that they were reuniting We are
42:11
friendly with the band. They've always been very fair
42:14
and nice to us. I They did what they needed to
42:17
do. Let's make a record that sounds
42:18
like 95 in 2025. And I loved every second of it.
42:22
I. Think you misprinted?
42:23
You didn't say. By a motherfucking hazard, you
42:27
can't say. Yeah, no, I'm trying to not get
42:30
us banned off of YouTube, but I hear you.
42:32
Kefi, I do have to echo that that was an album that came out
42:35
that reminded me that I was a Biohazard fan 'cause I had,
42:39
yeah, hadn't listened to them in years.
42:41
And then all of a sudden it came out and I was like, oh shit,
42:44
this is like 95 again. Like exactly what you were just
42:46
talking about. Yeah, I, I, I, yeah.
42:49
I'm, I'm really thrilled that they, you know, if other bands
42:53
can do this, it'd be nice. I'm not so keyed into nostalgia.
42:57
I agree. Nostalgia is a very powerful
42:58
drunk for music fans. And on that note, at 26, Steve,
43:04
we have machine head with Unatoned, which is the sequel to
43:07
the 2022 album of the year. And you know, I know Steve like
43:14
I, you know, as am IA huge machine head fan.
43:16
What did you did you get a chance to hear this record yet,
43:19
Steve? I, I have to say I am, I let
43:22
myself be put off by the the advanced tracks and some of the
43:27
noise. I don't normally go by what
43:28
other people say on things, but I don't know, I think there's
43:31
been a weird kind of conflict with Machine Heads probably
43:34
since Burning Red, where I think Rob wants to write stuff like
43:37
Burning Red and Catharsis and I love those two albums.
43:40
One of the few, I think we talked about Catharsis before
43:43
that will go to bat for it. I think it's a strong record
43:45
lyrically, a little bit here and there, but I think, I think the
43:50
new one kind of just felt from the bits I heard and I haven't
43:53
heard the full record in one setting, just a little bit all
43:56
over the place and kind of caught between the fans like
43:58
this sort of machine head. But I want to write this sort of
44:00
machine head and I may be adding my thoughts on to what they've
44:03
done and coming up with my own interpretation there.
44:05
But it was one I didn't feel invited in to come and enjoy it,
44:11
if you know what I mean. You know, I get that.
44:14
And I, I would say like I thought the idea of a concept
44:17
record for them was so great on the on the last one.
44:20
And I thought this was just overall a step down.
44:23
I don't mind the continuation of the story.
44:25
I appreciate Rob. They just went back to doing an
44:29
evening with show again, which is like they had stopped doing
44:32
before the last record and obviously the plague and
44:35
everything else, the plague years.
44:36
But I think it's an excellent record.
44:39
I think it's a bit down from the last one, which was our record
44:42
of the year and I love quite a lot.
44:45
And they again also kind of have a new line up with a different a
44:49
new lead guitar player. No vogue cause.
44:53
Vogue is busy and decapitated and that may make a difference,
44:56
even though I think Reese is fantastic as a lead player.
45:00
To Matt Austin, because he's I've met Matt a few times over
45:02
the years. He's from about 1020 miles from
45:04
from me. So come on.
45:06
Great guy. Swell, a hometown mate.
45:09
I love it. Speaking of extreme metal bands,
45:13
a legion or a legion depending on how you talk to them and who
45:18
tells you what the name is, The Ossuary Lens.
45:21
I thought this was an interesting record.
45:23
It wasn't in my top of mind for the best records of the year,
45:26
but it's absolutely a strong record and I think that was like
45:28
the record they needed to make with the return of Ezra, Ezra
45:31
Haynes, you know, they're split with their previous vocalist
45:35
who's now retired from music basically, except for some side
45:38
projects. Really good stuff.
45:41
And again, more in the technical death metal camp than just
45:45
extreme brutal slam, right. So they're they're they're
45:48
definitely guitar wizard dudes. I'm going to kick it to Tom for
45:53
this next one, Although I'm sure most of us could talk about this
45:55
author and Punisher Nocturnal burning on Relapse records.
46:00
You know, it's very risky after you've done something well for
46:04
like 10 years to then add a completely new facet of the
46:08
band. As in this guy was a solo artist
46:10
and now he is a two person band and he wrote with that person in
46:14
mind. They broke together, they
46:15
collaborated together. He changed how he does vocals.
46:18
Some of the it's not the same sounding band as the band.
46:23
A lot like Color was their last or Color curler, whatever.
46:26
It was their last record. I can't pronounce shit today.
46:31
You know, what did you think of this record?
46:33
And, and you know, I don't know if you are a fan of Tristan's or
46:36
not. I feel like you might have
46:38
interviewed him also for your other podcasts.
46:41
I think you've got the wrong guy.
46:41
I don't know this album. OK, so much for that.
46:46
That's the first one of those. It'll probably be more.
46:48
I do. Yeah.
46:50
You do. You know it.
46:51
We we know. We know Tristan from Rd.
46:53
Burn and other things. Suze, what do you think about?
46:57
I mean, anyone who takes electronic music and then goes,
47:02
but I want to build my own shit to make it look and sound cool.
47:07
So I'm still doing something live instead of pushing keys on
47:10
the computer. Great.
47:13
And he has always been like pushing boundaries with that
47:17
while being incredibly aggressive and abrasive in his
47:21
music. And that's still very much here
47:23
in this album and working with someone new, you can really hear
47:28
that there is like, I used to have a teacher who would say, if
47:33
you have the right partner, 1 + 1 is 11.
47:37
That's kind of what was happening here, and that's
47:42
fascinating to hear with someone who was already this creative in
47:45
the way he made music. I I really wish that they were a
47:51
bigger band, like with a wider fan base, but maybe they're just
47:55
meant to be an underground band and I have it wrong.
47:58
But I need a track. Of guitars.
48:01
Could, yeah, I mean, well, now he has the guitars so.
48:03
But it's not traditional. It's a guy who does sounds with
48:06
guitars, not like riffs per SE. Yeah, he's doing layer layering
48:10
and textures and not doing like. One of the.
48:12
Reasons why I love. One of the reasons why I love
48:15
Ghost Gold is because I get to bring in like the not
48:19
traditionally metal bands because other places that I've
48:22
inquired about writing, they're very much but does it have
48:25
guitars? If it doesn't have guitars, we
48:27
do not cover it. Which is like what?
48:30
No, yeah, I'm. I'm so weird and broad on my
48:34
things that I love. I think maybe The thing is that
48:36
Arthur and Punisher was always like their publicist put put it
48:39
into doom and fans think of it as a sort of industrial band,
48:43
but not a typical 1. So I just think it's hard for
48:45
people to catch if it's hard to classify.
48:48
It's sometimes not for everybody, but maybe not for
48:50
everybody who's good. In this case, 23 is astronoid.
48:53
I was kind of surprised at how high this ranked Star God on
48:58
three dot recordings. This is Misha Mansour's label
49:01
for Periphery, and it's always sort of progressive, widdily,
49:05
widdily metal. But, you know, I did one good
49:07
listen through with this and I liked it.
49:10
They're they're. Yeah.
49:11
They're moving away from their early dream thrash is what they
49:14
called it. It's like dream pop and thrash,
49:16
which is a very strange combination.
49:18
But, you know, they're great musicians.
49:21
I don't think I would repeat listen to this or buy this on
49:23
vinyl to have it, but like it's a very good record in terms of
49:26
what it's made to be. And then here's one I know you
49:29
can do, Tom. And I'm not going to try to
49:30
pronounce this album title if I on Jordan's blood.
49:38
I believe it's on Jordan's blood or Gravan's grip.
49:41
Oh, thanks so much, because I couldn't fucking say that.
49:44
And. That's what I was going to say.
49:47
No Norwegian. I'm Swedish, a bit of both from
49:51
what I remember. So he's Autoclet is the main guy
49:55
and he's now, I might be getting this wrong, but he lives
49:57
basically right on the border and I think it's between Sweden
50:01
and Norway, but I hope I'm not messing that up.
50:02
But I was so happy when I saw that this was on the list.
50:05
I interviewed him for my podcast, Whatever Comes Next way
50:09
back at the start of the year. And I interviewed and I reviewed
50:12
this for Ghost Call. I love this album.
50:13
I think it's tremendous. And a little bit to Suzanne's
50:18
point about Gal earlier on, it's black metal, but it's not
50:23
totally black metal. It's got death metal elements.
50:26
It's got heavy metal elements as well to it.
50:28
And also to Will's point earlier, I think the songwriting
50:32
on this is tremendous, but I also think that the sound is
50:35
great. Like it's just so rich and
50:37
satisfying. It somehow manages not to kind
50:40
of it doesn't go into the really lo fi black metal style, Not
50:47
that I'm saying anything wrong with that, but it's it's really
50:49
well produced and rich without sounding too shiny and
50:52
overproduced. He's also got an amazing voice.
50:55
And this is where I'm going to say the thing, which is my
50:58
opinion and not representing opinions of other people that
51:00
write a ghost cult. But it does things for me that
51:03
Opeth just can't do. I used to be a really big Opeth
51:07
fan and to me when I listen to this, I'm like, oh, this is like
51:10
my arms, your hearse or something like that.
51:13
It's got that grip to it and I, you know, whatever, it's other
51:16
people's thing. But I really didn't like goes
51:18
for every reason. I didn't like that water park
51:20
record either Water, whatever it was waterfalls.
51:24
But this, I think it's great. It convinces me.
51:27
It's dark, it's brooding, it's powerful, I love it, so I'm very
51:31
happy it's on the list. Nice work, Tom.
51:33
I'm going to keep it with you for a second because next on the
51:36
list of 21 is Today Is the Day. Never give in on the reunited,
51:40
rejuvenated Supernova Records. I just also want to say like,
51:45
wouldn't it be something if like Steve Austin has produced many
51:48
major metal bands as well as his own had this, you know, you
51:52
know, completely remarkable career and then he makes like an
51:55
outlook country record. Wouldn't it be something of that
51:57
record, when it finally comes out, is like, loved universally.
52:02
It'd be insane. But yeah, what a great record.
52:05
I mean, you know, I'm just so proud of him and and so, you
52:09
know, proud of what he's fought through and accomplished to make
52:12
this record. It's it's brilliant.
52:15
I think he's amazing, like he's one of my absolute inspirations
52:18
and every time I get to talk to him it's just a total thrill.
52:20
Like I'm, I'm starstruck. But he's such a a down to earth,
52:24
lovely guy as well from all the interactions that I've had with
52:26
him. And yeah, I, I love almost
52:29
everything that they've done. I was kind of thinking with this
52:33
and I have a sort of a similar feeling with Swans in, in a
52:38
different way that it, sometimes it can be an investment to
52:43
listen to a Swans record. And I think you can sort of view
52:47
it as being like a like a movie And you go like, I'm going to
52:50
sit down, I'm going to digest this whole experience.
52:52
And I think today is the day, even though the music they make
52:54
is quite different, can be like that as well.
52:57
It can. It goes to so many different
52:58
places. And some of this record's very
53:00
harsh, but actually some of it's also quite understated as well.
53:03
Like he you'll, you'll get the screams coming in, but you don't
53:08
necessarily know when to expect them to come in.
53:10
I just kind of love that sort of sense of creative freedom with
53:13
Today's the Day. It's like he's going to do
53:15
whatever he's going to do. He's going to follow whatever
53:17
muse he's got. And yeah, like I was saying at
53:20
the beginning, I just think that I can always come back.
53:23
Today is the day, and I reckon in 5-10 years time I'm going to
53:25
come back to this album and I'm going to still discover new
53:27
things about it. So yeah, I love this one.
53:30
Right on. Speaking of Swans, Birthing is
53:33
in at #20 we're on to the top 20 on their own, Mute Records and
53:38
Young God Records. And I know.
53:39
Will you review this for Ghost Call?
53:41
I have a very complicated history with Swans.
53:43
I was a humongous fan as a teenager.
53:46
I'm much more interested in what like, Thor Harris and Jarbo are
53:49
doing separately now. But you know, you had a quite a
53:52
good take on this Swans record for 20 years.
53:54
You know, like 50 years old, four to five years old.
53:58
I can, you know, definitely relate where like the Jarbo
54:02
years are my favorite and I was not.
54:06
I was glad that they came back and started making new music
54:09
after that. I wasn't necessarily happy that
54:14
it was for the hippies at Bonnaroo.
54:17
And so there was a little bit of jamming and and I remember going
54:22
to the Seer tour and I was next to people in Birkenstocks and
54:29
thinking, well, the things have changed in this world.
54:33
And you know, I am glad that once again, I don't think
54:39
Michael Gear was ever on any medication, but I'm certainly
54:43
glad he did not succumb to it or become any more chipper with
54:46
age. So it's, you know, back in a
54:48
darker direction. And he's not like howling like a
54:52
preacher like he was at some point in time on like sear.
54:59
So yes, I mean, I'm pretty easy to please with these guys.
55:02
I mean, you give me a good drone, you make it dark, get
55:05
depressed, smoke some weed, I'm good.
55:10
Fair enough, fair game. I'm not sure if Michael Girard
55:13
ever smoked a joint in his life. But yeah, probably he needs to.
55:16
He probably needs I can see with Angels of light that he might
55:20
have, you know. I would like.
55:22
To see, I mean, he did cover. He did cover some.
55:25
What's this, Steve Winwood? Somebody was smoking a joint in
55:29
that studio at that time. Not him, but.
55:31
Yeah, also Will, given the pressed and good joint, why
55:36
haven't you been a rope burn yet?
55:37
Or have you? I you know, I need to there's
55:41
because it's, you know, I was going to go one of the Chelsea
55:43
Wolf years, but. I think she'll be back.
55:49
She's a she's kind of a fan favorite.
55:51
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I I need to show up.
55:54
One of our newest ghost cultists is here in the comments on
55:57
YouTube. Thanks Robbie for being here and
55:59
you should covered Agnostic Front last night, which I love
56:01
that Agnostic Front going over to Don keeping it with you Don
56:07
Marissa Nadler new radiations on sacred Bones record.
56:10
One of my favorite records of the year is one of yours.
56:12
I know Don is a probably a little biased because he knows
56:15
Marissa and she worked on his new album with him, but I'm on
56:20
with you Don about why this record rules.
56:22
Let's let's chop it up about this a bit.
56:25
Oh yeah, I mean, so if anyone on the panel knows Marissa Nadler
56:29
as far as her her music, it was just her.
56:33
I mean, every album has just been brilliant one after the
56:35
other. But for, for some reason, this
56:37
one kind of went full circle back to around, I don't know,
56:41
like a little bit before July, maybe even like little Hells or
56:44
something like that, where it was just very stripped down,
56:46
very organic, just guitar voice with very little instrumentation
56:50
going to it. So it was definitely a rootsy
56:52
album for her. And it was exciting 'cause I
56:55
feel like sometimes if a band goes too far back or an artist
57:00
does, it sounds like they're running out of ideas.
57:02
But I feel like what she did was that she kept progressing to a
57:05
point where she kind of took it back so that she wouldn't forget
57:09
where she had actually started coming from in the 1st place.
57:11
And so that's actually a really cool thing.
57:15
She's got a very extensive U.S. tour coming up.
57:18
She just finished in Europe I think 2 days ago maybe or
57:24
something like that. So she, she was over there for
57:26
probably about God about a month and 1/2 or so.
57:29
So she did some great shows out there.
57:32
Looking forward to the tour. She always puts on a great show.
57:35
But the album is definitely like a perfect, like 2:00 AM type of
57:40
album. You know, if I'm up late and I'm
57:42
writing, it's amazing. I'll be writing an article
57:45
about, I don't know, like doing something about Carcass, and
57:48
then I'm listening to Marissa Nadler as I'm writing 'cause
57:50
it's, it's, it's just such a change of focus, but absolutely
57:54
incredible. It always comes back to carcass
57:57
and foreigner. Carcass and foreigner.
58:01
Coming in at coming in at 19 is Wake, the return of Magic on
58:05
Relapse records. This is a record, another one of
58:07
the early. I always feel like the first
58:09
three months are a blur and those records tend to get
58:13
forgotten when it comes to stuff like this exercise of this vote
58:16
and countdown. But Tom got to interview them
58:19
for us, which I was really thrilled about.
58:21
Tom, give me some thoughts on that record because I knew you
58:25
had to spend some time with it for that album interview.
58:29
So I've got this thing that I lapsed back into quite a long
58:32
where I'm a bit of a broken record where I sort of go that
58:34
my favorite apocalyptic record is 3 Silver and Blood by
58:41
Neurosis. And I particularly love Eon this
58:44
track near the the end of the album and this record by Wake,
58:48
particularly the mouthful of a track, Distant Constellation in
58:51
the psychedelic Incarceration taps into that vibe for me.
58:57
The first time I heard this record, just instantly in the
58:59
first track, I thought, oh, I'm going to love this.
59:02
And they've got this really powerful, dark, ominous tone.
59:07
They've got these amazing different guitar parts that are
59:09
swirling through the record. That particular track that I
59:11
mentioned has got this spoken word monologue by one of the
59:16
members of Black Oak or Kansas, and there's a whole story behind
59:20
how that came about. And yeah, it's just like a
59:23
really enveloping dark psychedelic.
59:26
It's just totally my thing and it's got screaming in it.
59:30
But it's got great guitars and it's not even really a butt, but
59:34
it's, yeah, it's really kind of mind warping.
59:38
I think. Like one of the first things I
59:40
noticed, and I said to them as well, was whenever I see magic
59:43
with AK, I know there's going to be something cool and mysterious
59:47
and esoteric going on. So yeah, they seem like really,
59:50
really nice people and really kind of interesting existence
59:55
that they have. And another one of these cases
59:57
where they've they hadn't released a record for ages, all
1:00:00
kinds of stuff going on in their lives in between, and they just
1:00:03
come back out of the blue seemingly with a really amazing
1:00:06
record. So yeah, I'm also really pleased
1:00:07
that this one got some love because like Kefy says that it
1:00:11
came out. Relatively long ago in terms of
1:00:13
the of the year. So it's cool that people
1:00:15
remember it. Right on.
1:00:17
And I think they are one of the Steve and I used to talk about
1:00:20
like who are the quintessential ghost cult typical type of
1:00:23
bands, even just the classically ghost cult when we were more
1:00:26
avant-garde focused. And Wake is one of those bands
1:00:29
and they came from a scene that also has that had Kyleesa early
1:00:34
Baroness when they were more sludgy and and a few you know US
1:00:38
Christmas is a band I'm a huge fan of and I would love to see
1:00:41
come back and wake was gone for a long time.
1:00:43
So I think this is really cool. I think there's a documentary
1:00:46
about them on YouTube if people want to dive in deeper. 17 on
1:00:50
the list is a is a band again similar to Wake and similar to
1:00:53
Kyleesa and these other bands I thought would never come back as
1:00:56
an active band more than just occasionally for festivals.
1:00:59
His dead guy near death travel services on Relapse records,
1:01:03
kind of like the the underground metal core that's not poppy,
1:01:09
swoopy haired ripping off Iron Maiden, but also like really
1:01:14
good hardcore and also noise rock.
1:01:17
So really a great band. Phenomenal comeback for them by
1:01:22
playing their classic records at festivals and things like that
1:01:24
and touring a little. And I know Don knows the band a
1:01:28
little bit also here, but because we were talking about
1:01:31
that offline, I just wanted. To say that that Dead Guy
1:01:35
reunion was a reunion that nobody knew they needed like.
1:01:39
It was just. So it's like one day I just woke
1:01:42
up and like they were signed again and I like message.
1:01:46
I was like, what the hell just happened?
1:01:47
He's like, oh man, we're we're hitting the road.
1:01:49
I was just like this incredible. Great fucking record though.
1:01:52
Great album. Right on.
1:01:54
I appreciate that. Moving on to #16 and I'm going
1:01:58
to kick it to you, Suzanne, for this derelict einer Freiheit
1:02:01
Inern on season, another season of miss record, unshockingly
1:02:05
makes the list. This isn't really like for them.
1:02:10
I thought this was a real marked change for them, right, 'cause
1:02:13
there are other records. This is a slightly different
1:02:16
animal, right? Yeah, it's, it's a little bit
1:02:19
different than than the stuff they've done before, but it's
1:02:22
still really, really good. And it's, it's, it's almost a
1:02:29
little bit more mellow, a little bit less super aggressive like
1:02:34
it used to be. And they've always had these
1:02:37
elements. But it's it's, yeah, it's, it's
1:02:41
a great record. There's like there were like two
1:02:44
or three moments where I was like, oh, that's a bit of a
1:02:46
sudden break and then we suddenly go somewhere else.
1:02:49
But other than that, like I just listen to it the whole way
1:02:54
through and I am not surprised that it's yet another season's
1:02:58
band because they do tend to love these sorts of black metal
1:03:01
bands and they're an incredible live band as well.
1:03:04
I'm very sad that I had a conflict when I when they were
1:03:08
playing locally because otherwise I definitely would
1:03:11
have covered them. But you know, I also had some
1:03:14
other bands that I'm a little bit closer to personally play
1:03:18
the same day. It was a day with three shows in
1:03:22
a small town. But great record.
1:03:28
I feel like they've they've started to mix in a little bit
1:03:31
of post black elements, even though it's still got the teeth.
1:03:35
Because one of the things that happens very often when black
1:03:37
metal bands go post black is you start losing that that dangerous
1:03:44
sense. And for me, if black metal does
1:03:47
not have that sense of foreboding anymore or that sense
1:03:52
of, of, of of the things that go bump in the night, the things
1:03:59
that make the hairs in the back of your neck stand up when you
1:04:02
walk in the forest alone at night, if that's gone, that's
1:04:06
kind of when they lose me. And they've managed to mix it in
1:04:10
such a degree that there is still enough of that threat in
1:04:14
there. All right, very well said.
1:04:18
I'm a little surprised that #15 on our list is Whitechapel, him
1:04:22
and Dissonance out on metal Blade.
1:04:23
Very popular Death Corps band started out as death metal.
1:04:27
Their last record, The Valley was like very we're going to try
1:04:30
new things and expand and be atmospheric and and weird and do
1:04:35
different things. And I think their fan base was
1:04:37
very divided by that record. And this is a good record.
1:04:40
I'm just surprised we had enough people that voted it this highly
1:04:44
because I wouldn't have. But I think it's cool that they
1:04:48
are still Kanye. Pippin is here.
1:04:49
I feel like it's cool. Or is it still top of mind?
1:04:53
Like people are not like rejecting them because they
1:04:55
never went back to pure death metal.
1:04:57
They still have moments. I think they're very fun.
1:04:59
Good live band. I just don't sit around and
1:05:02
listen to this record either. Although I don't listen to their
1:05:05
records like all the time. I have a couple of them.
1:05:08
No surprise to me at #14 is Spirit Box and Will.
1:05:14
I know we both share a fandom of this band.
1:05:18
You know, they they I I don't know if they're you know,
1:05:21
they're they had a very public fight with a certain artist we
1:05:24
don't cover who's a shithead and sucks.
1:05:28
I think it's a great album. Tsunami sea out on Pale Chord
1:05:31
Records. You know, people keep talking
1:05:33
about them being industry plants.
1:05:35
So it's like if you don't read the Internet and you just listen
1:05:37
to music like Will and me, you will enjoy this band.
1:05:41
If you want to read all the drama and stuff people say about
1:05:44
them, you know it might be diminished for you.
1:05:46
I mean, I, you know, I don't see how they could be industry
1:05:49
plants when, you know, Courtney was in Russell Lebear wants for
1:05:53
a for a minute. So, you know, but it's, you
1:05:58
know, I love pop music and they kind of marry pop music with the
1:06:03
metal core stuff that I don't normally like, you know, and
1:06:09
it's just like great songs. I think this album I listened to
1:06:13
147 times and you don't do that without Turkey songs.
1:06:18
So I mean, you can take away some good stuff from pop music.
1:06:21
And I think that, you know, Courtney definitely is a
1:06:25
personality and has charisma, although she's not like twerking
1:06:33
like Megan the Stallion or whatever.
1:06:36
You know, she's she's putting on a show.
1:06:38
And I want to go if they're playing, I think here in Florida
1:06:42
with Evanescence. So I'm going to try to go out
1:06:46
and see. It's hard to Get Me Out to
1:06:47
shows, but I'm going to go see them and leave after they play.
1:06:52
But yeah, you know, there's some heavy songs like soft spine is
1:07:00
really it. It hits all the notes that if
1:07:02
you were, you know, into sniffing glue and listening to,
1:07:06
you know, stuff that's, you know, just your typical metal
1:07:09
core, it still gives you that kind of punch in the face.
1:07:13
So yeah, it's a lot of fun. Soft spine is the level of petty
1:07:17
that $0.50 is with the ditty documentary, and I'm here for
1:07:21
all the so fucking pitty. And yeah, we hate that guy
1:07:26
anyway. Hey, Don, I'm going to kick it
1:07:29
back to you, Donnie. Hey, Don.
1:07:31
Don is our resident guy here for a cult rock and D&D metal, for
1:07:36
lack of a better vernacular. And so Castle Rat, the Bestiary.
1:07:39
I'm not surprised. This is a band that's been kind
1:07:41
of bubbling under for a while from New York.
1:07:44
They are incredible live, and I think they finally made the
1:07:48
record that captures the live vibes.
1:07:50
But Don and I are both very high on this band and this record.
1:07:53
I mean like a woman riding a sword, a woman riding a whole, a
1:07:57
Unicorn. Oh, watch that dude.
1:07:59
Careful. A woman riding a Unicorn with a
1:08:02
sword on the front cover with a wizard behind.
1:08:05
Cancelled. Cancelled please.
1:08:08
I'm always at risk of being cancelled.
1:08:11
Don tell me about the BC area. Oh my God, that is that is an
1:08:15
album that I did not see coming. I remember getting briefly
1:08:19
introduced to Castle Rat a few years ago and just being like,
1:08:23
like, I kind of thought it was almost kind of like a poor man,
1:08:26
savage master kind of thing. But man, something about this
1:08:29
album they just hit and, and they hit hard.
1:08:32
Like I just, I could not stop listening to it.
1:08:34
And I, I'm a huge fan of that kind of cheesy epic metal.
1:08:39
You know, I grew up listening to that.
1:08:40
I kind of missed the boat on extreme metal, with the
1:08:44
exception or the few exceptions like Morbid Angel or Carcass.
1:08:47
So I kind of feel dusted when we start talking about the heavier
1:08:51
bands, but it makes me want to go back and listen to them.
1:08:53
But with Castle Rat, it sounded like a piece of my childhood
1:08:57
actually. And so it was really a a time
1:09:00
where back to a time where, you know, that metal just was like
1:09:04
epic and storytelling and almost kind of take you away, you know,
1:09:08
from everything. So it it it's just a fantastic
1:09:11
album. The Focals are absolutely
1:09:13
phenomenal. The guitar playing, the the twin
1:09:15
harmonies. I mean, you know, I mean, if you
1:09:18
like metal, I mean, you should like this album.
1:09:20
That's pretty easy I feel. I feel like Dio would have liked
1:09:24
Castle Red as a fan like he would have.
1:09:26
He would be a fan of that. Oh, they would, yeah.
1:09:28
They would have been like a support act without a doubt.
1:09:30
They owe him so much and Oh yeah.
1:09:33
And, and that you know what? I think they were original
1:09:35
enough. I think that's the problem with
1:09:37
some of those bands that are trying to do what they're doing
1:09:39
is they're not original enough. And I think that they are.
1:09:43
I'm going to, I'm going to keep it with me for I'm going to keep
1:09:45
it 100 and keep it with me for number 12/9.
1:09:47
Inch Nails, the Tron Eras soundtrack.
1:09:51
We haven't had a lot of soundtracks historically in the
1:09:54
countdown. It is the first soundtrack that
1:09:57
Trenton and Atticus have made that they felt good about
1:10:00
putting the 9 Inch Nails name on.
1:10:03
And it works. That's the whole thing.
1:10:06
It's a Nine Inch Nails album set to this movie.
1:10:08
I love the movie. I love Tron the franchise.
1:10:11
I'm the one that loved it, even though Jared Leto is a weirdo
1:10:16
and not cool. But yeah, what a great
1:10:19
soundtrack. I love this thing.
1:10:21
I listened to this thing a bazillion times this year.
1:10:24
One of my most listened to records, one of my most listened
1:10:27
to things according to Spotify and otherwise.
1:10:31
And it makes the movie better because of the soundtrack under
1:10:34
it. Like for the for any, if anyone
1:10:36
did see the movie or will see the movie, I think it's on
1:10:39
Disney Plus now. So, yeah, I highly recommend
1:10:42
this. And you know, I'm I'm here for
1:10:44
more of it. And you know, I said like, you
1:10:46
know, 9 Inch Nails, you know, for what it's worth, the Rock
1:10:48
and Roll Hall of Fame doesn't matter that much to me except to
1:10:51
complain about it on my shows. But I feel like it's possible
1:10:55
that Trenton Atticus may get in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
1:10:57
as composers separate from Nineish Nails, which I think
1:11:00
would be really sweet #1211 on the list.
1:11:05
I'm going to give it back to Steve because he's been a long
1:11:07
time fan. We joke about this band on our
1:11:09
podcast Don Paradise Lost at #11 with Ascension, I had a really
1:11:14
great interview with Old Nick and talking about this record
1:11:19
and what he, his goals were for the record.
1:11:22
You just saw them live. And so I, you know what a, what
1:11:26
a killer record this is. And, you know, I know I joke
1:11:28
with them that they're like 38 years as a band with like 37
1:11:31
records. It's not that many.
1:11:33
But like, that's the joke, you know, Steve Paradise Lost.
1:11:36
Nice to see them here on the list after years, after years
1:11:39
and years, right? Yeah, yeah.
1:11:41
And, and I have a listening wiser as a fan, I guess you'd
1:11:44
call it A Complicated Past and History of Paradise Lost.
1:11:47
And I think overall they're one of the bands by the bands I've
1:11:49
been in, including current band. They're one of the underlying
1:11:54
influences that they'll always have, like gothic, Shades of
1:11:58
God, Icon in particular, really, really kind of core albums for
1:12:03
me, like as a as a teenager, going from your Metallica and
1:12:07
your Maidens into your underground music.
1:12:09
The brilliant Gateway band. Shades of God was a huge record
1:12:13
for me in terms of that discovering death metal,
1:12:16
discovering horrible music, but I haven't always been a fan of
1:12:21
everything that came in between. I think Tragic Hire was a great
1:12:26
record played with him as well. And what I'm really pleased
1:12:28
around with attention is there's kind of like a happy medium of
1:12:34
the, I guess some of the cleaner stuff they've done.
1:12:36
But with the return to some really great horrible doomy
1:12:40
riffs and styling vocals. I think Nick Holmes, this is
1:12:44
probably his best album full stop, both in terms of his
1:12:47
cleans and also his heavy vocals are probably maybe Bloodbath,
1:12:53
Grand Warby Funeral, maybe slightly edges, but it's for me
1:12:56
his best growling performance as well.
1:12:59
You put all that coming back to Will's comment earlier and the
1:13:02
theme of the night. I suppose they've kind of
1:13:04
rediscovered some songwriting, the techniques and approaches I
1:13:07
think that they may have come away from, Whether that's been
1:13:10
because with Nick Holmes and Gregor Mackintosh revisiting
1:13:13
host on the very controversial album, but potentially brought
1:13:16
back some of those hooks and kind of Sisters of Mercy and
1:13:20
Gothic kind of gothic or Gothic sorry kind of influences.
1:13:24
But I think that's all married together and come together in
1:13:25
Ascension. I think particularly the first
1:13:27
6-7 songs, the record so fantastic and it's really good
1:13:32
to see them kind of like I say this deep into their career,
1:13:35
still having something kind of something to say and something
1:13:39
new that can add to their sound. We think they've kind of
1:13:40
probably covered everything that was going to come before.
1:13:43
And the final bit on it, there's some absolutely iconic Gregor
1:13:46
Macintosh Wawa leads that hark back to kind of our icon era,
1:13:50
and it's just kind of like the the cherry and the icing on top
1:13:53
for me with that. Have you muted yourself, Keith?
1:14:00
Have you done the unscrewable sin?
1:14:03
I'm muted and talking. Hello.
1:14:04
I feel like Paradise Lost will never overcome the small town
1:14:08
boy Bronski Beat cover that I love by the way.
1:14:11
But like they won't ever recover from it.
1:14:13
Some of their like die hard old school fans hate that shit.
1:14:17
Into the top ten and no surprise one of the most controversial
1:14:21
bands of the year of metal right now of of heavy music right now
1:14:25
is Sneak Token and their record Even in Arcadia.
1:14:29
I love this record. Will's a fan, What do you think
1:14:32
the overall draw? Why is sleep token like so?
1:14:37
Whipping up a frenzy in their own fandom and such a hatred
1:14:41
from other medals. I like pop music, you know, So I
1:14:47
guess I'm immune to some of the insecurities I guess that it
1:14:54
brings up because I think that, you know, it's the marketing
1:14:59
really that's the problem. Like if they had just been like,
1:15:03
OK, we're a spirit Halloween pop band, everybody would have been
1:15:08
all right. But the moment they got called
1:15:09
metal, then I think that that that's when it you know, I I
1:15:16
don't, you know, I don't like the term gatekeeping because I
1:15:19
think that, you know, it's all right to say that water is wet
1:15:24
or you know, that it's cold outside when it's cold outside.
1:15:27
So and sound can certainly be defined, you know, it's it's
1:15:33
frequencies. We can say what kind of
1:15:35
frequency that is, and that's cool.
1:15:38
But I think what matters the most about this album is that
1:15:42
it's catchy as hell. You know, sure, a lot of it is
1:15:47
like the benefit of a producer and that's good.
1:15:51
Wrestling is fake and I am totally entertained by it.
1:15:56
So, you know, it's all right. It's one of those like albums
1:16:00
where it's like if Green Jelly was taken seriously, you know,
1:16:07
and just given like some really slick songwriting and
1:16:11
production. And I mean, that's all I need.
1:16:16
You got, you know, they're they're kind of depressing, even
1:16:19
though it's like depressing for like 12 year old me would have
1:16:21
been into it. But yeah, I mean, it's super
1:16:26
cool in that direction. You know, I'm not going to say
1:16:29
that Sleep Token is the same level of artist as Type O
1:16:36
Negative or they're on the same tier as Iron Maiden.
1:16:41
But you know, in 2025, they're, they're making better pop music
1:16:46
than Sabrina Carpenter, you know, so I can, I can dig that.
1:16:55
I think they could be an incredible gateway band because
1:16:58
nobody starts with the really hard intense stuff.
1:17:03
Or maybe some people do but most people don't.
1:17:05
You usually listen to something like Sleep Token or A Typo was
1:17:10
kind of a gateway band as well since you mentioned them.
1:17:13
But like bands that are a little bit closer to pop but have some
1:17:18
heavier elements, and as a community and as a scene, we
1:17:23
need to stop ragging on the gateway bands because we need
1:17:26
them, because otherwise we're going to die out.
1:17:31
And I think in part I would have put across for this.
1:17:34
And there is a lot of pop on the record.
1:17:35
I agree with you. I think if they were marketed as
1:17:37
a pop band with metal bits rather than a metal band or
1:17:40
whichever, then maybe it lands differently.
1:17:43
But that's not to take away some of the like the dynamics of the
1:17:46
Sunlight, like the tracks 1/2 and the last two songs.
1:17:49
So the first two and the last two, the book ends.
1:17:50
There's some really, really deep, I think some writing in
1:17:54
there. These are the tracks that 6-7
1:17:56
minutes long that they take their time over, they build the
1:17:58
dynamics. They're kind of, yes, we know
1:18:00
the formula is going to happen at some point, the big crushing
1:18:02
Ridge is going to come in and those sorts of bits are
1:18:04
happening. But I think it's really well,
1:18:07
really well kind of crafted and put together.
1:18:09
I've probably preferred more songs on previous albums than on
1:18:12
this one, but I think when they hit hit it, those four songs in
1:18:17
particular, I think it's the best tracks that I've heard them
1:18:19
do. I think there's something there
1:18:20
in that progression for them, you know, that's kind of really
1:18:25
interested me. And I think also, I think like
1:18:27
with some of the other bands you talk about gateway bands who's
1:18:30
and so on, they get people talking one way or another,
1:18:33
whether people hate them, whether they love them, whether
1:18:34
they've got an opinion on who they are and what they're doing.
1:18:37
They're the first album we've come to out of 30 albums so far
1:18:40
where I think three or four of us all wanted to say something
1:18:42
about it and kind of chip in. So kind of, you know, more
1:18:46
credit to it. I was just gonna.
1:18:48
Say, can I chip in real quick on what Steve said is that I wish
1:18:51
somebody had described that to me the way you described it.
1:18:54
Because when I went, I didn't listen to this album until about
1:18:58
a week ago because all I've ever seen is just the visual.
1:19:02
And then like, just like gatekeeping metal heads, we're
1:19:05
just like. Fuck this.
1:19:07
It's. But like it.
1:19:09
It reminds me so much of almost like a more, the more mellow
1:19:13
side of like early Lacuna Coil type stuff, you know, where it
1:19:16
had some kind of this kind of ethereal, melodic, almost kind
1:19:20
of ambient sound to it. And then it kind of comes in.
1:19:24
I enjoyed this album more than I thought I was going to do.
1:19:26
And so it's made me want to remember that when I'm talking
1:19:30
about music to other people who don't necessarily listen to the
1:19:33
type of music I listen to, to not be so closed in about it.
1:19:37
To be a little broad, especially with like Suzanne said, well,
1:19:41
like we don't want to start shutting people out of this
1:19:44
genre of music or anything, but we can totally explain it or
1:19:49
express it in a way that we might not talk about it with
1:19:52
each other to kind of open other people, you know, to go in and
1:19:55
listen to it. So great job both of you guys
1:19:58
actually for reminding me that. Almost unbeknownst to me, Author
1:20:03
and Punisher had like popped into the chat for a second right
1:20:06
after we talked about them, but I didn't miss it.
1:20:07
Damn it. I'm going to talk about the next
1:20:10
record a little bit myself, which is Acacia strain.
1:20:15
You are safe from God here on Ryze records.
1:20:18
Long running consistent ban kind of started out as deathcore,
1:20:22
hardcore death metal now and even now doing kind of like even
1:20:27
a weird avant-garde death doom kind of similar to what fear fit
1:20:30
for an autopsy also kind of went into this vein in a really great
1:20:34
way. This is the highest The Acacia
1:20:36
Strain has ever placed on our end of year list, considering we
1:20:41
have like a contingent of Bostonians from when I lived
1:20:44
there. And I also was like a, you know,
1:20:46
an early fan of the band. I mean, it might be their best
1:20:50
record and they've put out like, I don't know, if you count up
1:20:52
all the releases, EPS, singles and stuff the last five or 6-7
1:20:56
years, it's like they're like ninth release in three or four
1:21:00
years and it is their best record maybe ever or one of
1:21:05
them. It's it's pretty, I was very
1:21:07
partial to Wormwood also, but it's pretty incredible.
1:21:10
I'm really proud of them for what they accomplished and they
1:21:12
put it's just such a strong record.
1:21:15
Like I feel like even the arms folded, gatekeepery death metal
1:21:20
people would love this record. Now there are doom metal fans
1:21:23
that will be like, there's some death doom in here that I can
1:21:26
get with. So I'm really thrilled that this
1:21:30
made it up as high as none. And you know, I highly recommend
1:21:34
everybody check this out. And then for #7 kind of no
1:21:39
surprise, maybe not quite the highest they've ever been on our
1:21:41
list, but yet another album, yet another year, yet another top 10
1:21:46
record for Testament, Parabellum, Easily to me, the
1:21:49
best thrash record of the year on Nuclear Blast Records.
1:21:52
Long time label for them, Nuclear Blast basically since
1:21:55
the band reunited and and came back to being a recording entity
1:21:59
in 2007. I think this is their 5th record
1:22:02
in 15 years. They tore a lot.
1:22:05
They have a new drummer who I know for a long time going back
1:22:08
to New England, Chris Dovas, who used to be in Seven Spires, the
1:22:12
Game of Thrones progressive metal band.
1:22:14
And they let their like death metal and black metal influences
1:22:19
fly alongside of their thrash. And I absolutely love this
1:22:23
record. And I'm really, you know, just
1:22:25
that's an interview Chuck Billy for it and just a just a banger
1:22:30
from top to top, top to bottom. And there's a mid album song
1:22:35
that is like absolutely nothing they have ever done.
1:22:38
I don't even think any thrash metal band has ever like it's
1:22:41
not even a fade to black type of thing.
1:22:44
It's beyond that in terms of like what they would
1:22:48
accomplished as songwriters. So really cool, really cool to
1:22:51
see them continue to kind of, you know, show up and dot our
1:22:55
lists year after year. Coming up at #7 and another
1:22:59
quintessential ghost cult band that I always associate with the
1:23:02
late and great Paul Quinn is Primitive Man Observance out on
1:23:07
Relapse Records. Tom, I know is a fan of this.
1:23:10
I'm going to kick it to you, Tom, to talk about Primitive Man
1:23:12
for a second. You know, I always joke that
1:23:14
they're the heaviest band on earth and you can't really, it's
1:23:17
not like an argument you can make that they are or aren't,
1:23:21
but I always say they are. And they certainly backed it up
1:23:24
on this record. But they're doing, I think they
1:23:27
and themselves were cognizant of kind of mixing it up a little
1:23:30
more dynamically for the first time ever.
1:23:34
Yeah, definitely. I think they they back it up,
1:23:35
but they also add new dimensions to it.
1:23:39
And like this topic of what the heaviest music is for me, I tend
1:23:44
to go back to COP by Swans. That's generally like my
1:23:48
benchmark for the most brutally crushing heavy music.
1:23:52
And in terms of music that's being made at the moment, then
1:23:56
yeah, I I tend to defer to primitive man.
1:23:58
Like I was sort of thinking about it before we had this
1:24:00
call. And I was thinking in terms of
1:24:02
sort of psychotic mental, mental intensity.
1:24:05
Full of hell are also up there, but in a very different way.
1:24:08
But when it comes to just the sort of crushing, punishing,
1:24:12
brutalizing, slow, deathly sound, primitive man are pretty
1:24:17
hard to beat. But one of the things that I
1:24:20
think is really cool in this record is there's actually kind
1:24:24
of beauty in there, which is a surprising thing to say about
1:24:28
primitive man. I even as well when I was I got
1:24:31
to to interview Ethan McCarthy and we we bonded on our shared
1:24:34
love of today's the day and and noise in metal.
1:24:37
But I was taking notes on on various aspects of the album and
1:24:41
I and I wrote a note that on the the second track Devotion, I
1:24:45
wrote the drums come in so exquisitely at around the minute
1:24:48
mark, it's almost sexy. And I just I reread that today
1:24:51
and I thought it was funny that I remarked that something about
1:24:53
primitive Man was sexy because they're not generally really a
1:24:56
band that you would call sexy. But yeah, this, this record's
1:24:59
great. Like I would probably say that
1:25:00
for people that maybe if they're not familiar with the band or if
1:25:05
they found them a bit impenetrable, impenetrable
1:25:07
before this is like a good entry point, but not in the sense that
1:25:11
they've sort of mellowed out. They've just added different
1:25:14
dimensions. It's atmospheric.
1:25:16
They've got some really great videos as well that are worth
1:25:18
checking out. So you get the visual side as
1:25:20
well as the the music. But yeah, again, I'm another one
1:25:24
of these ones where I'm really pleased that it's this high up
1:25:26
the list. I'd be curious to know who it
1:25:27
was apart from me that voted for this, but it's.
1:25:32
Great. Yeah, super cool.
1:25:35
Thank. You.
1:25:36
Yeah, I had it on my list as well.
1:25:38
Yeah, and I'm sure like I can think of a few other people that
1:25:40
might have had it. I will just to recap because the
1:25:43
private chat has been getting at me.
1:25:45
Sleep Token 10, The Acacia Strain 9, Testament 8.
1:25:51
Primitive Man 7. I apologize for those following
1:25:54
at home, and I am thankful for everybody watching.
1:25:56
We've had a very nice steady stream of people watching this
1:25:59
and I'm thankful Mojo's army is here.
1:26:01
We hung out last night in person at our show and Yep, we did have
1:26:06
Author and Punisher and Wolverine kills.
1:26:08
Also friends. It's all right.
1:26:09
It's it's 7A and 7B. We don't have to be conformist
1:26:12
about this. Yeah, you know, like I'm Velvet
1:26:16
Hammer. Hands off, very soft, try to be
1:26:18
laissez faire #6 on the list. We're down to the top 6.
1:26:23
I promise you. This is going to go as quickly
1:26:25
as we can. Don.
1:26:27
Let's talk about a band we share a deep love of.
1:26:29
We already talked a lot about Mesa I.
1:26:32
They are going to come back to the States.
1:26:34
Metal Blade is one of those labels that will give you some
1:26:36
tour support, even if you're international.
1:26:40
Man, what a beautifully layered, incredible album.
1:26:43
And, you know, I'm so thrilled. This is, again, a band that,
1:26:48
like, we were founded on, like, certain unwritten principles of
1:26:52
supporting the underground. And this is truly a band that
1:26:55
came originally from nowhere and was so good regionally that
1:26:59
Metal Blade found out about them.
1:27:01
You know, like they're whoever's doing, you know, whoever spying
1:27:04
for the mountain. Europe was like, this is a band
1:27:06
you need to like. I know we don't have a lot of
1:27:08
bands that sound like this, but we need to have this band.
1:27:12
I mean, you know, I mean Kivi, you know, you know how I am as,
1:27:17
as far as what I love, you know, I'm a big occult rock, big psych
1:27:21
rock fan and you know, not so much.
1:27:24
And and it's when they start to like marry these styles that it
1:27:29
can either be really interesting or can't totally just go off the
1:27:32
rails and not be very good. Like the minute I heard the
1:27:35
dress off of this album, I was like, I just heard probably one
1:27:40
of my top five albums of the year.
1:27:41
And this was a while ago and everything about it.
1:27:45
Like if if you like doom, if you like, yeah, psych rock, if you
1:27:49
like, yeah, the occult rock sounds of like Jess and the
1:27:52
Ancient Ones. And I don't, I don't know, it's
1:27:58
almost like I get speechless. Just think about it because it's
1:28:00
such a beautiful album. And when you talk about having a
1:28:03
heavy kind of doomy type song that's got a psychedelic vibe to
1:28:07
it and then a jazz sax solo, I mean, sign me up, man.
1:28:13
I'm I'm all about this album. And I'm actually very surprised
1:28:16
it got it made it this high in the list.
1:28:19
I'm like I'd like to know who all like this one as well.
1:28:23
Right on. This was like in my top 1-2 or
1:28:26
three the whole first half of the year before other things
1:28:29
came out and. Got yeah, it's in my personal
1:28:31
it's in my personal top five like for my.
1:28:33
Site I love, I love this thing. Yeah, for sure.
1:28:35
I love this record. I'm really, I'm really glad.
1:28:38
I'm glad I saw them. And they will be.
1:28:39
I think they'll be back in the States next year, Don.
1:28:41
I'll let you know when I'm going to keep it with me for #5 We're
1:28:45
into the top five, everybody. This is going very well as far
1:28:47
as I'm concerned. Except for my faux pas were
1:28:51
Druna. What can you say?
1:28:52
Another year Burna, AKA the She Bear by Norris Recordings, also
1:28:58
Sony distributed. Wardroon is one of my favorite
1:29:02
bands. We've been very lucky to cover
1:29:04
them from the very beginning of Ghost calls.
1:29:06
I feel like one of our first interviews is still like pinned
1:29:09
to their homepage or something somewhere down the screen, you
1:29:13
know, basically world music for metal heads that like Viking
1:29:19
stuff. But it's much more than that.
1:29:21
And I think this is, you know, now that they have kind of
1:29:25
rejuvenated their band a little bit and expanded the Rep, the
1:29:28
sort of the the repertoire of the crew.
1:29:32
Lindy Fahela and I know our Selvik sing beautifully
1:29:35
together, call and response, whole group vocals live.
1:29:40
That really brought this album and these tracks to life.
1:29:43
You know, I can't say enough good things about it.
1:29:45
I'm a humongous fan of the genre.
1:29:47
And there are now many bands that have like were journalists.
1:29:50
Not the first, but they were. They have been the most
1:29:53
prominent and successful band of the genre and many, many bands
1:29:58
have now followed their wake and you will see many of them come
1:30:00
out with new albums in in the new year.
1:30:04
And just a phenomenal record. And if you need a change of pace
1:30:06
from riffs, but you need something a little more deep and
1:30:09
spiritual, I recommend Wodruna to everybody.
1:30:14
Now we're getting into the top four.
1:30:15
And I do want to say that we talked about Machine Head
1:30:17
earlier being a previous winner of the Ghost Co Album of the
1:30:21
year. We had four or five releases
1:30:24
this year from previous Ghost Call Album of the Year winners.
1:30:28
So some of these shouldn't be a surprise, but some of them may
1:30:30
still be to you. Maybe not always your jam and
1:30:33
cup of tea #4 Deftones private Music on Reprise Records and
1:30:38
Warner. One of my favorite records of
1:30:40
the year. I'm a humongous Deftones fan and
1:30:43
I think one of the most surprising things is that Gino
1:30:47
Moreno actually wrote the vast majority of all the riffs on
1:30:49
this record because Steven was dealing with his health issues.
1:30:53
I know Will is a Deftones person, at least for this
1:30:57
record. What do you think of private
1:31:00
Music and how does it stack up to their like?
1:31:02
Greatest. Yeah, I mean, I mean, I'm a
1:31:04
Deftones fan. Definitely the first four albums
1:31:09
and then you know, like after Chi, the post Chi stuff, you
1:31:14
know, has been, I don't think they have any bad albums.
1:31:17
They just have some that have hooked me in a little less or
1:31:20
more. I think this is Chino's first
1:31:26
album sober and you know, so I think that that's a win because
1:31:31
this is definitely not like a post sobriety Megadeth album.
1:31:37
You know, it still has some, some, it's not dark, but it has
1:31:44
some some hook to it. And yeah, it gets a little more
1:31:49
into some aggressive styles that they kind of, you know, they
1:31:52
almost became like a trip hop band.
1:31:55
You know, they were kind of veering into like a Portishead
1:31:58
territory for a while. And I don't know, I think
1:32:01
they're kind of back in, you know, because they're they're so
1:32:05
influential on a lot of bands that have been like like last
1:32:10
year's number one Knock Loose, you know, those guys and all of
1:32:14
that kind of more melodic metal core scene has been influenced
1:32:18
by Deftones. Bands like Bad Omens, Sleep
1:32:23
Token, you know, all those guys are certainly into Deftones
1:32:27
because the way that they blend the atmosphere with the kind of
1:32:31
groovy metals. So yeah, I think it's, you know,
1:32:33
great songwriting. They're obviously old pros, so
1:32:36
they're not going to put out bad stuff.
1:32:40
Right on, I'm totally backing you on the post Chi stuff, which
1:32:43
I do still love, and rest in power to Chi Chang.
1:32:45
They definitely changed the band after he passed.
1:32:47
I don't think we're ever going to get that Eros album.
1:32:50
Maybe while the band is functioning #3 you know, I'll
1:32:56
talk a little bit about this one myself.
1:32:58
Death Heaven. Lonely People with Power out on
1:33:01
Roadrunner, their first album for Roadrunner.
1:33:03
They are a Bay Area band. I have been into this band for a
1:33:06
very long time. I remember flying from the West
1:33:10
Coast on a trip to the back to Boston.
1:33:16
Home for me at the time was Boston, and I flew in to see
1:33:18
them at their first ever headline show at the Sonia,
1:33:22
which has now been open a long time in Boston.
1:33:25
And you know, this is a record. They were teasing it with
1:33:28
billboards around my town and you know, like I know that they
1:33:32
were very also similar to Sleep token.
1:33:35
Are they really black metal, Black metal adjacent?
1:33:37
For a long time they were derided by extreme metal fans.
1:33:42
They're not really metal and this and this and that.
1:33:45
But realistically, you know, putting together kind of like
1:33:49
the slow dive My Bloody Valentine noise drone with black
1:33:54
metal, legit black metal passages.
1:33:57
I think this is, you know, they don't have a bad record.
1:34:01
You know, they're not trying to do sunbathe or two.
1:34:04
They never have. I really love this band.
1:34:08
I know Suzanne and I had a hilarious chat about them
1:34:12
because like I, I think Suzanne, you said you, you loved about 3
1:34:16
songs and then the rest of it enraged you.
1:34:19
Is that is that fair to say? Pretty much I have never had
1:34:22
this visceral of a love hate reaction to any album.
1:34:26
I think because, and, and it pisses me off because for the
1:34:31
longest time I was one of the people who was like, Nope, don't
1:34:34
like deaf heaven. It's not blackmail enough.
1:34:36
And it, it feels a little bit like wank to me.
1:34:39
And you know, other people can like it, they can love it.
1:34:41
It's technically well done. It's just not for me.
1:34:45
And that's fine. Enjoy it.
1:34:47
And then a friend of mine posted the first single and was like,
1:34:53
and I know he's into some pretty heavy black metal and he was
1:34:56
like, this is the best thing they've done since their demo.
1:34:58
And it was like, well, now I'm going to have to listen to it.
1:35:02
And then it was, it was Magnolia.
1:35:04
And it was like genuinely a pretty good black metal song.
1:35:09
And I remember commenting like, I am so angry that you made me
1:35:13
listen to Death Heaven. And I'm even more angry that
1:35:15
it's good because for me, it's like, you could have done this
1:35:20
the entire time. And I was.
1:35:23
I have to give this album a try. So I listened to it, and the
1:35:27
three heavy songs are incredible.
1:35:29
And one of the interludes is terrifying.
1:35:31
If you stick those four together, you have a great EP
1:35:34
that I would put on. Yeah, but.
1:35:37
When they have great guest appearances.
1:35:39
I didn't even mention that. At all.
1:35:41
But when they get back into the stuff, the stuff, it was like,
1:35:43
no, I want to throw my PC out the window.
1:35:46
Right on, right on. Tom made a great comment in
1:35:49
private, but I'll keep it to myself for the moment, down to
1:35:53
the last two. I also, let me just say also Def
1:35:55
Haven review for Ghost Cult was written by Charlie Hill.
1:35:58
We don't really shout him out enough here.
1:36:02
You know, he did a really, he had a very strong year with
1:36:05
reviews and his Def Haven review was quite good.
1:36:09
I don't think it was his favorite record, but again, it's
1:36:12
up at #3 so clearly enough people voted on it highly.
1:36:16
I thought highly of it, enough devoted, you know, relatively
1:36:19
high in my list #2 I had a feeling this might be the number
1:36:23
one record of the year, because the last time they put a record
1:36:27
out, it was the number one record of the year for Ghosts
1:36:29
called Black Braid. With Black Braid 3 vehemently
1:36:33
DIY, they will not sign to a label until they feel, if ever,
1:36:37
until they feel right. They debuted this album live at
1:36:40
Fire in the Mountains Fest at the Grand Tetons on a Native
1:36:43
American reservation. I've gotten to interview Sagasa
1:36:47
Way, you know, incredible record.
1:36:51
I do agree, again, on the side conversations that this is the
1:36:54
least sort of nativist record that they have.
1:36:58
It's more traditionally black metal, probably in line with the
1:37:01
Wolves in the Throne Room or some of the more atmospheric
1:37:05
stuff Abigail Williams has done. But at the same time, I just
1:37:11
feel like it's such a an album of depth and songwriting and
1:37:15
and, you know, character that I loved it immediately, even
1:37:20
though it was missing some of those elements.
1:37:21
And I think that John Segasa way is worried about becoming like
1:37:26
the Native American Laguna. I think that's probably in his,
1:37:29
you know, I don't want to say it's in his head because I don't
1:37:31
know him, but like, I think that's probably a concern of
1:37:35
repeating himself and repeating his beats. 2 records, pretty
1:37:39
similar, both brilliant. Third record, you know, let's
1:37:42
focus on being more truly black metal.
1:37:45
And you know, I do know that some people were some original
1:37:49
Black Raid fans were like what is going on and where is my band
1:37:52
that I loved? But I think they've brought in
1:37:55
many new fans as a result of this record and I also love it.
1:37:59
And that takes us to the number one record of the year and the
1:38:03
first band ever to be the three time ghost call album of the
1:38:07
year winner, for better or worse, Ghost Skeletor on Loma
1:38:10
Vista recordings. And let's Steve and I go like
1:38:14
some of our earliest chats as friends are about our love of
1:38:17
ghosts. And of course, you know, I can't
1:38:19
think about those without thinking about Rafa Davies, Matt
1:38:21
Davies, rest of power. Definitely an interesting, like
1:38:26
an interesting record for ghosts, right.
1:38:28
He worked a long time on this prequel.
1:38:32
Was the previous Ghost record that was album of the year
1:38:36
before the plague, you know? What did you think about like
1:38:39
this Ghost record is not like other Ghost records.
1:38:41
I think it's a great record. I think there's things about it
1:38:44
that are missing from the previous Ghost records.
1:38:48
But at the same time, I like that they did their like Def
1:38:50
Leppard Hysteria record. What do you think?
1:38:53
I love it. I can't even be biased.
1:38:56
Sorry, bias for a word. I can't even be objective about
1:38:59
it. It kind of took me a little
1:39:02
while to get into Imperia. And I know Tobias talked about
1:39:06
wanting to find the fun again and he he sort of referenced the
1:39:09
lyrics for Imperia about slightly politically motivated
1:39:13
or a little bit dark and stuff. And they wanted to get back to
1:39:16
love songs to Satan or, you know, big kind of 80s happy.
1:39:21
So it's pretty good. I put will off there.
1:39:23
But you know, happy kind of songs that with big choruses and
1:39:26
they sort of like old school rock dynamics.
1:39:29
So you mentioned yeah, def Leopard hysteria.
1:39:30
I think that's key in that Europe final countdown, the kind
1:39:34
of reference in there. But just from the first listen
1:39:37
through from to to Skeletor, I imagine I love the fact as well.
1:39:42
They called it something they they didn't have the Skeletor,
1:39:44
which I think is a fantastic reference to he man as well.
1:39:48
But I don't know just that it's just big unashamed 10 great rock
1:39:54
songs. It's all about the hooks, the
1:39:57
catchiness. It's about singing along.
1:39:59
It's about not taking things too seriously.
1:40:02
There's a lot more kind of, I haven't said that a lot more
1:40:04
songs, I suppose, about love and kind of, you know, those those
1:40:07
things and not just love rockets and and it's got its tongue back
1:40:11
in its cheek again, which I really like with with Ghosts,
1:40:14
which I think that's that's when they're at their best.
1:40:17
It isn't as deep. It doesn't have to quite the
1:40:19
same Merciful Fate influence as some of the previous records or
1:40:22
those sorts of bits, but it's just.
1:40:25
Brilliant songs, just makes me really happy every time I listen
1:40:28
to it. So this joined Prequel as one of
1:40:31
the albums that either lifts me up when I'm not feeling
1:40:33
physically great or just basically Stratis, what's the
1:40:38
word is stratospheric when I'm already up.
1:40:40
Just love it all the way through.
1:40:43
And for us, in terms of it was the album the most number of
1:40:47
people voted for and the most people had as their top choice
1:40:51
as well. So it was quite, quite deserving
1:40:54
winner in that respect. I think it kind of touched the
1:40:56
hearts and the the blackened souls of quite a few of us here.
1:41:00
I, I think all through and again, we have a vastly
1:41:03
different staff than when we first covered the band in 2012.
1:41:06
In 2013, we were the first English language anything to
1:41:11
have an interview ultimately with Tobias.
1:41:14
And you know, I'm proud of that. I think all we've had, we have a
1:41:19
radically different crew today than we did 10 years ago and 13
1:41:22
years ago. And so they've won like 3 times.
1:41:26
I don't think it was ever that close.
1:41:28
Certainly not. Meliora wasn't close either at
1:41:34
all. And that's my favorite Ghost
1:41:35
record beside the first one, right?
1:41:37
So you know, what can you say? They they win, they win going
1:41:42
away. Some of the lyrics on the record
1:41:44
are pretty bad to me, but still overall helicachy heavy when it
1:41:48
needs to be. You know, yes, their marketing
1:41:51
stuff is all, you know, thought out.
1:41:53
He had, I don't know if anybody ever seen this.
1:41:55
I'll say one more. He kind of predicted he was
1:42:00
going to do this. Like this is the arc of Ghost is
1:42:03
going to go a certain way where we're going to get more and more
1:42:06
catchy and commercial as time goes on.
1:42:09
I don't know that he could have anticipated that they've become
1:42:11
this big. Maybe he never thought they
1:42:13
would be this big. I think it would be fun if they
1:42:15
turned around next record and made like a very heavy doom
1:42:18
metal record. I doubt he would, but I think
1:42:20
it'd be fun. And yeah, unsurprising that
1:42:24
Ghost is #1 it could have been any one of those 3 or 4 bands.
1:42:27
Black Ray, Deaf Heaven, Deftones, any one of them could
1:42:30
have been high up. I didn't think they would be
1:42:32
like a Knock Loose band that would be any higher.
1:42:36
But again, nice to see Primitive Man and Casey Strain were Druno
1:42:39
all up high. Great job.
1:42:42
I was going to say that. Nice to see.
1:42:43
I think that's something for me with with Ghost is when we first
1:42:46
started covering, they were playing really small venues like
1:42:49
you know, a couple of 100 people in the UK and to see them now
1:42:52
doing like big arenas, you know, like huge.
1:42:57
I remember seeing them at Roper. I remember seeing them at Roper.
1:43:02
I think it was either 2011 or 2012, like one of my first
1:43:06
years, and it was like, oh, this is going to go somewhere.
1:43:12
Yeah, sort of support as it remains and that's quite an odd
1:43:15
thing to think about now. Like going to be in 2012.
1:43:17
I think it was see where they are from there to just like
1:43:22
being, I don't know, I suppose to one of the first bands
1:43:25
probably other than sleep joking in our world that have got that
1:43:30
big in the last 1015 years. You know, it's kind of quite.
1:43:33
Yeah, I would also I saw the third ever Ghost US show and
1:43:38
they didn't talk to the crowd. They were wearing the black
1:43:40
light painted gowns. So smoke fog, no talking song,
1:43:46
song, song, song, song. Basically the whole first album
1:43:49
almost. And then walked off and I was in
1:43:52
the Middle East upstairs in in Boston.
1:43:54
So and maybe there was maybe 30 people there, I swear.
1:43:59
And that was when the I think riding Easy or Rise rise against
1:44:04
records, I don't remember which one Gaz Jennings has is that's
1:44:07
the label that put the original Elizabeth.
1:44:10
Rise above, rise above, rise above.
1:44:11
Right there. Thanks.
1:44:12
Thanks, Don is. My expert.
1:44:14
I will forever love Ghost for the fact that I know they made a
1:44:19
whole lot of dad rockers in the southern US have Hell Satan
1:44:24
stuck in their head because it's so catchy.
1:44:27
And Hell, Satan, Archangelou. And of changing my own change
1:44:31
for the first time in 25 years to be satanized.
1:44:34
So yeah, I just love it. I'm just agreeing to it when it
1:44:37
comes on there it. Is just make sure the parents
1:44:41
aren't around. Thanks everybody for joining
1:44:42
today and watching the Ghost Called 2025 album of the year
1:44:45
countdown. The full list will be on our
1:44:47
website. I'm going to link everything in
1:44:49
the description where people can find all of our team's assorted
1:44:53
things. The other things we do beside
1:44:55
Ghost Called. I am eternally grateful for all
1:44:58
of you and everybody watching and especially this crew and
1:45:01
especially you, Steve, because I love you and the rest of you.
1:45:05
I'll see you on the interwebs and more to come.
1:45:08
We got a banger month lined up with more work.
1:45:10
We still have concerts and festival reviews, and Suzanne's
1:45:14
going to go cover on to have a metal meeting next weekend.
1:45:17
So a lot of stuff. Keep it tuned to Ghost Cult,
1:45:19
especially here on YouTube. I'll see you guys soon.
1:45:21
Peace, Thanks everybody. Happy Holidays A.
1:45:27
Good end of the year. Hyoscyton.