If 2016 has been a great year for film, it has been a spectacular one for music. Every week seemed to bring another incredible album from musicians both old and new. It also made putting this list together even harder than it normally is but somehow I managed. As usual, it is purely opinion, and you are welcome to tell me I’m wrong but don’t expect me to care.
Toy Mountains – I Swore I’d Never Speak Of This Again
The light and the dark. It sounds like a cliche, but the truth is that most music relies on the contrast between the two. Black Sabbath might never have stood out if they hadn’t been darker than anything that came before and current music is dominated by bands that have never even stepped foot into their own shadow. A real challenge, though, is to straddle the line between them. A challenge that Toy Mountains have taken on.
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Petrol Girls – Talk of Violence
It may come as a surprise to many, but there are bands not called Metallica releasing music this week. It will shock them further when they discover that it is yet another one of those protest groups that we apparently don’t have anymore. Petrol Girls describe themselves as feminist post-hardcore and quite frankly if they are willing to put that moniker on the internet and deal with the cuntery that will follow, then they deserve all the attention they can get.
Wakrat – Wakrat
With 2016 being the year the planet officially decided to start taking the piss there is no better time than now for a bunch of politically astute rock bands to make a name for themselves. They are out there too. Whether it’s letlive, Gojira, Against Me or even Enter Shikari there are bands out there that have something to say. The problem is they don’t have the platform to say it on. The editor of Kerrang is too busy complaining on Twitter about how these bands don’t exist, and the rest aren’t that much better. Enter Wakrat.
Nervus – Permanent Rainbow
The path that led Nervus to release Permanent Rainbow was not an easy one. It’s also one that has been explored elsewhere and done so well that rather than trying to cover it myself I’m going to point you in the direction of this article by The Independent, which will do the job better than I ever could. It’s an album built on someone trying to find their place in the world and win a battle against demons that only a small number of people can truly understand, and every inch of that comes out in the music.
Joyce Manor – Cody
As the clock ticks ever onwards towards oblivion, the world’s musical taste seems to reflect the times. It was only twenty-five years ago that Nirvana became the biggest band in the world, and yet since then the mainstream musical world has changed into something nearly unrecognisable. Despite that, groups made up of white boys with guitars and a set of heartfelt lyrics will never truly die.
Venom Prison – Animus
A rapist being force-fed his genitals adorns the cover of Animus, the first full-length album from Venom Prison. You can probably tell from that sentence whether this album is for you or not.
Hey! Hello! Too!
Having a band member leave is never a good situation. Having your lead singer drop out just before you release your second album (and your first with her in the band) is probably worse than most. That’s the situation Hey! Hello! found themselves in earlier this year when Hollis Mahady left the band to focus on Love Zombies.
Green Day – Revolution Radio
Oh, Green Day. Where did it all go so wrong? On American Idiot that snotty punk band that sang about wanking grew up into a political powerhouse. If we’d known then that it would start them on a path that ended at Revolution Radio, I could have done without it.
Love Zombies – Passionfruit
There’s a pretty good chance that one day I will look back and split my life into two distinct sections. Pre and post ‘Robots & Aliens’. The stupidly infectious song from Love Zombies has been running through my head ever since I first put on Passionfruit and I’m genuinely not sure it will ever leave. To be honest, I might even be okay with that.
Ramblings About Wrestling 