Happy New Year to everyone reading and as we enter the new year, I can cap off the last with my top five albums of 2014. If you missed the first three parts, you can find them here, here and here. Enjoy.
Number 5: Solstafir – Ota
Solstafir were a band who had never even peeked onto my radar before 2014. Yet, apparently they have been on the go since 1995 (according to Wikipedia anyway and it never lies) and judging by this years are rather fucking good. It is another release that you would struggle to call metal, because much like it transcends that. It’s progressive and takes in a whole shitload of influences as it twists and winds its way into your brain and in all honesty, makes me feel a bit stupid, because I can never quite find the words to describe just how good it is. Because of that, you are just going to have to trust me, for Ota is a truly stunning piece of work, that can’t fail to capture your imagination.
Number 4: Destrage – Are You Kidding Me? No
Talking about albums that are hard to describe, enter Destrage. These Italian nutjobs can also be called progressive, but in a very different way from Solstafir. Where they turn things down, Destrage turn things up and what you end up with is the sonic battery that is Are You Kidding Me? No. This album seems to have a bit of everything, there is jazz, there is hardcore and I’m sure there is also some country in there if you want to look hard enough (disclaimer, that’s probably not true). It is a truly unique, schizophrenic release and yet within all of that it is also an album full of great songs, that somehow actually work. They are the final band on this list that I discovered for the first time this year and in a year full of great new acts, they are the one I am most excited about continuing to see.
Number 3: Hang the Bastard – Sex in the Seventh Circle
After the complexity of the last two albums, it is safe to say we know where we are with Hang the Bastard. Bow down to the power of the riff, bitches. Hang the Bastard play loud and they play hard and damn do they love a riff. Sex in the Seventh Circle saw the band readjust, with Tomas Hubbard moving onto vocal duties, and thankfully they did it well. This album is heavy on the Sabbath worship, but is also heavy on the good stuff and in songs like the title track you can just bang your head and punch the air. I remember seeing Hang the Bastard a few years back supporting Sylosis and thinking there was something a little bit special about that band, Sex in the Seventh Circle is the moment they prove me right.
Number 2: Marmozets – The Weird and Wonderful Marmozets
Much like Hang the Bastard, my first experience of Marmozets came in the live environment, when they supported Feed the Rhino at the Cathouse in Glasgow. Again, they impressed me then, but I don’t think anyone saw this coming. Whereas early Marmozet releases showed an incredibly energy and an even larger slab of insanity, on The Weird and Wonderful Marmozets they have taken all that energy and mathcore nuttiness and channeled it into the kind of songs that already sound like hits. Becca MacIntyre is Hayley Williams for those that like things with a bit more edge and while she can belt out a song, she also throws herself into the heavier moments with just as much enthusiasm. Songs like “Born, Young and Free” feel like classics already and I can’t see a world where they aren’t the the framework for this band being huge. If nothing else, 2014 will be the year that is remembered (in a musical sense at least) for being when Marmozets broke and if they keep up this kind of form, nothing will stand in their way.
Number 1: Against Me – Transgender Dysphoria Blues
It takes something special to stand ahead of that and fuck me, this album was special. It has to be mentioned, because it would be stupid not to, that Laura Jane Grace is one of the most punk rock people on the planet and whether you are transgender or not, she has all the makings of someone who people should be looking up to. However, none of that would really matter to me if this album wasn’t also a brilliant slab of punk rock and bloody hell it is. Every track on this album knocks it out the park and it is the kind of sing along, rock and roll gold that I can’t help but love. Yet, underneath all of this is a truly fascinating message and a look into a world that someone like me can’t even begin to understand. It says so much about this band that they have taken these issues and with it created songs like “Black Me Out”, which make you want to flip tables and dance like a twat. Transgender Dysphoria Blues was released in January and yet nothing this year was better, if for whatever reason you haven’t given it your time, you should do so, now.
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