Big, bold, and bodacious (Apologies, coming down from a recent Bill & Ted’s… kick), Zyclops’ new monstrous opus (Instead of “magnum” opus, get it?) is just the kind of epic 2020 needs. Like a mythical beast, Inheritance Of Ash is mysterious and majestic while also dense and delightful and definitely demanding our your attention.
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Have you ever wanted to go back in time and recapture the feeling of when you first hear an album that you just know will be groundbreaking. Something, like, say Mastodon’s Remission? The first time you hear the sonic onslaught of “March of the Fire Ants” or that huge riffage that begins “Mother Puncher”? Listening through the latest from France’s Stonebirds conjures all those feelings and more. Inducing chills and the hairs on the back of your neck to automatically stand up, Collapse And Fail is a blistering metallic tour-de-force of modern Sludge, Doom, Progressive and everything that’s good in between.
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There’s no artist quite like Dark Sarah traversing the Heavy music landscape today. On Grim, their fourth full-length, the Finnish quintet take their brand of Symphonic Metal, mash it with The Birthday Massacre-style Gothic Electro, Within Temptation’s grand presentation, and the twisted bits from Oingo Boingo or main man Danny Elfman’s cinematic score work to create an unholy story that’s as unique as it is utterly irresistible.
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This is my second review lately of an artist releasing something after a founding member has shuffled off this mortal coil and it’s depressing as fuck because the relevant brilliance in both cases is staggering.
But I digress!
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In simplifying the complexity of Boston Hard rawkers Jump The Fall you could make the case that it’s as if Ed Kowalczyk is fronting Alter Bridge but they go way beyond that. With Ten Year Guilt: Part 1, they tread a fine line between Hard Rawk, Grunge, and even Glam at points to conjure a special kind of sound that’s all around magical.
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Who knows what a potential new Static-X album would’ve sounded like. Would it have been like the more straightforward Metal album Cult Of Static was or would it have been similar to front man Wayne Static’s final (Up until now) recorded work on his solo outing, Pighammer, which tread the line between early Static-X and something else entirely.
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If you need something to keep you cool through what is sure to be one helluva hot ass summer, then check out the ice cold temperatures exuding from the sounds of Executioner’s Mask and their new full-length, Despair Anthems. Or as the band tells it, they’re “like drinking an ice cold zima on a hot summer day” which is a fairly accurate descriptor as well.
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The lack of exciting, new Industrial music in 2020 has only added to the collective “Whomp whomp!” that is this dumpster fire that we currently call 2020. But all is not lost! Music is still coming out, and more importantly, music like the latest from Dawn Of Ashes which looks to pick up the pace in terms of Industrial heavy hitters.
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Sure, there will be more and have been some massive albums from some huge artists in 2020 but, looking at my current tally for favorites of the year, I truly believe that this is the year of the underdog. Like SPICE.
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