It was a stellar year for metal, and we’ve got 10 very strong contenders in our Metal Album of the Year category in the 2012 Loudwire Music Awards. From grind to progressive metal to sludge to death metal and more, these albums have shaped 2012, but in the end, the fans will be the ones who choose this year’s top album. Check out the nominated album and be sure to vote in the poll below: Between the Buried and Me, ‘The Parallax II: Future Sequence’ Between the Buried and Me have perhaps created the most complex music ever set in outer space with ‘The Parallax II: Future Sequence,’ proving they are one of the strongest groups of pure musicians within the realm of metal. ? Converge, ‘All We Love We Leave Behind’ On ‘All We Love We Leave Behind,’ Converge stride closer to their hardcore roots with the track ‘Trespasses,’ continue the legacy of Kurt Ballou’s ingenious shredding with the song ‘Sadness Comes Home’ and even create experimental beauty with ‘Coral Blue.’ ? Down, ‘Down IV, Part I – The Purple EP’ Although ‘ Down IV, Part 1 – The Purple EP’ contains only six songs, the tracks within offer a sustaining energy that carries the weight of a full-length record. Moreover, Phil Anselmo’s voice sounds as powerful as ever. ? Goatwhore, ‘Blood for the Master’ Goatwhore ‘s blackened death metal gem ‘Blood for the Master’ is one of many great strides made by underground bands this year. Released on Feb. 13, the band unleashed one of their heaviest and greatest career achievements in 2012. ? Gojira, ‘L’Enfant Sauvage’ Although Gojira already possessed mountains of fans and a solid discography, the band is widely considered to be the breakout metal act of 2012. The French metallers successfully balanced their key components of brutality, beauty and progression. ? High on Fire, ‘De Vermis Mysteriis’ High on Fire ‘s ‘De Vermis Mysteriis’ explores the story of Jesus Christ’s time-traveling stillborn twin brother who drinks a serum to see the past through his ancestors eyes in order to discover how his brother became a religious icon. ? Lamb of God, ‘Resolution’ Lamb of God continued their streak of creating addictive “pure American metal” with ‘Resolution.’ The band stays the course with their latest album, with powerful consistency and strong execution. ? Napalm Death, Utilitarian’ ‘Utilitarian’ turned out to be not just a phenomenal album, but a monumental achievement for the British legends. Napalm Death ‘s songwriting created an avant-garde niche consisting of scattered saxophone solos and otherworldly clean vocals. ? Pig Destroyer, ‘Book Burner’ Pig Destroyer ended a five-year wait for new material in 2012 with ‘Book Burner.’ With the all-knowing guitarist / producer Scott Hull and tremendous guest vocalists accompanying J.R. Hayes, the grind of Pig Destroyer remains second to none. ? Woods of Ypres, ‘Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light’ Tragically, Woods of Ypres mastermind David Gold did not live to see the release of ‘Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light.’ Gold harnessed immense depth and introspective thought for the album, using death itself as the album’s central theme. ? Voting for the 2012 Loudwire Music Awards closes on Jan. 15 at 11:59 PM EST. Fans can vote once per hour, so keep coming back to make sure your favorite band wins! Sorry, you need to have javascript running to see this poll. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/rock-song-of-the-year-2012-loudwire-music-awards” title=”Next Category: Rock Song of the Year” align=”center”] Get Notified When Winners Are Announced Enter your email address below to receive the daily Loudwire newsletter, which will include notification of our full list of winners in the 2012 Loudwire Music Awards, as well as the top stories in rock and metal. Email
Posts Tagged ‘leave-behind’
Metal Album of the Year – 2012 Loudwire Music Awards
December 4th, 2012 
Metalkult 
Posted in News 
Tags: destroyer, electric-light, future-sequence, img-class, jesus, leave-behind, metal, Music 
No Comments »Daily Reload: Hurricane Sandy Reaction, Korn + More
October 30th, 2012 Metalkult Mary Oullette, SheWillShootYou.com / Mark Metcalfe / Ethan Miller, Getty Images – Members of Papa Roach , Bush , Disturbed and other acts react on Twitter to Hurricane Sandy. [ Loudwire ] – Korn guitarist Munky says the band’s direction will lean more toward guitars with less dubstep on their next album. [ Loudwire ] – Watch Metallica honoring Green Day at the Voodoo Arts + Music Experience with a jam of ‘American Idiot.’ [ Loudwire ] – Officials at a venue force the movement of a California festival after taking issue with P.O.D. ‘s ‘Youth of the Nation’ lyrics. [ Loudwire ] – Pennywise and original frontman Jim Lindberg have reunited. [ Loudwire ] – Behemoth frontman Nergal may be facing jail time after a Polish court ruled he could be charged for tearing a bible onstage. [ Loudwire ] – Isis may be no more, but the music keeps coming, including a streaming demo of ‘Ghost Key.’ [ Rock Music Report ] – Hurricane Sandy not only ravaged the East Coast, but it did some damage further inland to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. [ Ultimate Classic Rock ] – Congrats to Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood , who got engaged to Sally Humphreys. [ Ultimate Classic Rock ] – Twelve years ago, U2 ‘s award-winning album, ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind’ arrived in stores. [ Diffuser.fm ]
Posted in News Tags: a-venue-force, band, bush, california-, daily-reload, david-draiman, getty-images, leave-behind, Music, music-report, nation, polish, rock, says-the-band, voodoo No Comments »Converge, ‘All We Love We Leave Behind’ – Album Review
October 9th, 2012 Metalkult Epitaph Records Converge have just released their greatest achievement since 2001′s ‘Jane Doe,’ and yes, the levity of that claim is understandably huge. ‘Jane Doe’ is almost universally praised as one of the most important, if not the most important extreme record of the 2000s thus far, so with our claim set in stone, here’s the case to back it up. Converge have been on an unparalleled hot streak when it comes to the albums they’ve released throughout their career. ‘Petitioning the Empty Sky,’ although considered as more of a compilation, powerfully issued an open challenge to what a hardcore band could achieve creatively, and as ‘Jane Doe’ hit the shelves in 2001, the barriers violently shattered. Since ‘Jane Doe,’ Converge have released three additional full-length masterpieces, ‘You Fail Me’ (2004), ‘No Heroes’ (2006) and ‘Axe to Fall’ (2009), but ‘All We Love We Leave Behind’ evokes something more visceral. No matter what styles of metal Converge have integrated into their works, even if the band seems to defy all established genres at times, they have always been both adamant and proud to keep their ‘hardcore’ identity. Although that rationale has gone over the head of many listeners, ‘All We Love We Leave Behind’ shines a massive spotlight on the hardcore element of Converge, while continuing to remain highly experimental. New tracks ‘Trespasses’ and ‘Sparrow’s Fall’ are fundamentally hardcore punk songs, which will surely lead to dozens of broken teeth and busted lips if played live. ‘Vicious Muse’ even begins with a poppy Ramones-like drumbeat, though Ben Koller continues to deliver utterly stupefying and rabid drum parts. Guitarist and producer Kurt Ballou lends his trademark touch to ‘All We Love We Leave Behind,’ with the chaotic sound of the album complementing its musicianship perfectly. Along with his monogram spastic tapping style and sluggish, twisted breakdowns, Ballou delivers a … dare we say … gorgeous performance in ‘Coral Blue’ — the album’s standout track. ‘Coral Blue’ is the only Converge song in recent history that could be easily mistaken as the product of another band, as it courses through the same vein as Isis or even Baroness. Yet another change fans will surely notice is that there are no guest vocalists within ‘All We Love We Leave Behind.’ Converge have a rich history of collaboration, but the lack thereof may have directed the band to focus not only on their internal chemistry as a four-man unit, but possibly on the group’s foundation as a predominantly hardcore outfit. Although their past guest vocal spots have added a lot to past recordings, Jacob Bannon’s unmistakable squawks, along with backing help from Ballou and bassist Nate Newton, keep the album sounding full and sturdy. ‘All We Love We Leave Behind’ continues the band’s tradition of recording albums that sound like Converge, but not the Converge you’ve already heard. This record is essential listening (especially if you buy the deluxe edition with three extra songs), and will surely go down as one of 2012′s greatest sonic achievements. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/converge-fault-and-fracture-top-21st-century-metal-songs/” title=”Next: Converge – Top Metal Songs of the 21st Century” align=”center”]
Posted in News Tags: a-hardcore-band, album, ballou, band, career, converge, coral-blue, easily-mistaken, genres-at-times, keep-the-album, leave-behind, possibly-on-the, trademark No Comments »Converge Offer Full Stream of Upcoming Album ‘All We Love We Leave Behind’
October 4th, 2012 Metalkult Epitaph Records Stop what you’re doing immediately and check out this awesome news. Extreme hardcore heroes Converge have released a full stream of their insanely anticipated eighth studio album, ‘All We Love We Leave Behind.’ For those of you who are still reading this, we’re assuming that you’re already listening to the album and somehow remembered that you were reading words a short time ago, so for everyone still with us, lets go a little bit in-depth about the new Converge record. Produced by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou, ‘All We Love We Leave Behind’ is a perfect continuation of Converge’s constant evolution while still sticking to their roots. The album holds the same intensity and nuances found on previous Converge albums, but the overall product doesn’t at all begin to play off of their prior material. It’s still Converge, but it remains incredibly fresh and surprising even to the more devoted followers of the band. In a recent interview with JohnLongbottom.co.uk , Converge vocalist Jacob Bannon explains the process in creating ‘All We Love We Leave Behind.’ “We put a lot of emotional investment in writing our material,” begins Bannon. “It takes a lot of time, emotionally and psychologically to actually write the music and write the lyrics, so when you’re recording you just try and record the best piece of music to fit your vision. We’re definitely perfectionists, this is our craft. Some people don’t understand that and just hear our music as a lot of noise, they don’t necessarily understand what’s going on, apart from perhaps the loud volume, but there’s a lot of method to what we do.” Listen to Converge’s ‘All We Love We Leave Behind’ in full below. Converge, ‘All We Love We Leave Behind’ Full Album Stream [button href=”http://loudwire.com/converge-fault-and-fracture-top-21st-century-metal-songs/” title=”Converge: Top 21st Century Metal Songs” align=”center”]
Posted in News Tags: a-full-stream, a-little-bit, a-short-time, hardcore-heroes, holds-the-same, leave-behind, news, record-the-best, songs, surprising-even, understand-what No Comments »
