2015 and its beautiful music, as told by its beautiful musicians

Another year come and gone! This one was busy for me in and out of the music world, I wrote a couple reviews for Cvlt Nation in the spring, I continued playing bass with my heavy shoegaze/post-rock trio Cosmic Yawn, I screamed about the gods of Chaos in Great Unclean Ones (coming soon), and I wrote FREE BITCH on my stomach as I screamed a Lady Gaga cover into a mic’d warhorn with Cøurtney. Outside of music, I played some sweet video games and then got hired on as a Research Assistant in a lab. But enough ado, here are the lists of top albums from some of Nashville’s finest:

OK FINE WE CAN HAVE AN END OF 2014 LIST GOD

YES HERE WE ARE AGAIN YOU THOUGHT WE WERE DEAD AND MAYBE WE WERE BUT NOW WE ARE BACK AGAIN but yeah this one is late too no surprises there really. 

By all accounts, 2014 was balls-out insane, starting with #SochiProblems and ending with #ICantBreathe. Personally, The first half of the year consisted of somehow managing to snag a Biology degree (cue Final Fantasy victory music) and the rest of the year was spent working nights. 2014 was an amazing year in heavy noisy music, and without further ado, here are the year's best from the local scene's finest musicians that responded to emails and/or posted a list on facebook that I am summarily pirating here:

2013 was a year that had music

Another year has come and gone, and all sorts of crazy shit happened. For me personally, I took on the hardest year of schooling I've ever had and managed to come away without any Cs, I studied gibbons at the zoo and salamander DNA in a lab, I was elected secretary of my college's biology club, and I joined, recorded with, and was booted from Act of Impalement because I was too busy with school.

More to the point though, 2013 was an incredible year for extreme music both locally and globally. Without further ado, here are the lists from local artists, as well as my own at the bottom.

NashVile: now with more birdcalls!

For all one of you who's been waiting with bated breath at what I'm going to post next, I'm tremendously sorry for not keeping up with this blog. I've become very busy with DNA research this summer at Belmont, and I've somehow managed to join Act of Impalement on bass.

In lieu of trying to write up whole blog posts for each show that end up incredibly late, I've decided to make a NashVile twitter account so I can promote all these fantastic local bands on the fly. I'll still try to write up full reviews when I can, but when I can't, I'll post blurbs on twitter.

Follow me here: https://twitter.com/Nash_Vile
Edit: Look what I can make! Here's account itself, in action:
Tweets by @Nash_Vile

Sun Wheel, Motherplant, Black Tar Prophet, Holy Mountain Top Removers at Springwater (+Shroud Eater)

After a quite pregnant pause, it is time to give birth to some much-delayed show reviews! I think, for my own sake, I'm going to group the past shows I've seen by month (which means that May is going to end up the disproportionately large triplet due to that week of shows I attended.). Fuck it, I'll just do it one show at a time. It's easier to read and write this way. Enough with the weird birth jokes though, let's get these writeups going!

I considered not writing anything up the last show I saw in February due to the headlining band not really needing any press from me. The trio that is Shroud Eater has begun to blow up enough to be covered by legitimate metal news sites. I changed my mind when I heard their new release however. Everybody needs to hear it. If Matt Pike was secretly two women and a Scott Ian lookalike in disguise, that would be awesome. Also it would sound kind of like this.


ooh and I just learned about this "jump break" thing, I guess you have to click on the link headline if you want to read about the other shows in March the bands listed in the header. Unless you've already clicked. I'm not sure how it works yet.

May 4-10 full res picture and video uploads

Just a forewarning, the sound quality on the videos is terrible.


EDIT: Added a jump break so those running MS-DOS don't crash and burn when loading the main page. Click something nearby to see the videos.

Halmos' Full-Length LP "Exist" Review

Between the Boston bombing and West, Texas explosion, we're living in rather tumultuous times. When things get chaotic, it's nice to have some consistency, some familiar things, and things that are comfortable. The strong and still growing doom metal scene in Atlanta is full of sounds to help you calm down, slow down, and chill out, and Halmos' new album is a definite example of this. Their new album Exist delivers a solid, consistent, and plenty heavy effort that builds and expands upon their first EP, Vicious Cycle (which was one of my first reviews.)
Since the EP was released, the former duo has expanded into a quartet, adding Melanie Maher on bass and Casey Yarbrough on guitar number two. Both new members partake in vocal duties as well, meaning that everybody in Halmos gets to have his or her say at some point.

The vocals on songs that were brought over from the Vicious Cycle EP still focus on guitarist Corey Briley's straightforward speak-shout style for a good bit. However, the explosion of variety in the vocal styles since the EP serves as a testament to how important interesting vocals are, and how they can add a lot of intrigue and even depth to a band's sound. The clean singing in tracks "Outcry" and "Datura" stand out to me, and sometimes can get stuck in my head for hours. They just fit their underlying groove so well, and contrast nicely with the spoken and rougher vocals. The rougher vocals feel stronger in this release as well, and add yet another vocal variety.

Beneath the vocals thrums the heart of a doom metal beast. What Vicious Cycle hinted at has been realized in the form of fully fleshed out riffs. These Georgians worship at the same riff-hewn altar as doom behemoths Sleep, Conan, Acid King, Electric Wizard, and Black Sabbath. Everything is drenched in fuzz and distortion afforded by the ridiculous amount of Orange amps these guys have. The addition of Melanie Maher's bass playing adds much needed low-end support, and Casey Yarborough injects a freshness and versatility that sets the tracks new for the LP apart. The pacing is good, and shifts to fit the context of each song; nothing feels overly fast or slow. I could see myself jamming Exist while cruising down the highway with the windows down on an 80° summer day, while pumping my fist in time with the anthemic stylings.

This picture of their amps alone should

tell you how rad this album is

All together, Halmos plays slow and heavy, with a lot of groove and a lot to say. In their interview with Sludgelord, Corey talks about how the album is broken down into 3 parts, based on the givens of existence. Tracks 1-3 are about "Meaninglessness and Existential Isolation", 4-6 touch on "Freedom and Its Attendant Responsibility", and 7-9 focus on "The Inevitability of Death." Substantial topics in doom and stoner metal? I guess it's more likely than you think. This only adds to the intrigue of the album, and elevates it to a thought-provoking level not normally associated with this sort of music.

Although it is still somewhat constrained by sticking to music that was created as a two-piece, Halmos' style has become much fuller, fleshed-out, and maybe even more fully realized on this album. The addition of the new vocals adds welcomed contrast to the original style, and the added bass and guitar give this record the thump that Halmos deserved. As I see it though, these guys and girl are on the upswing: this album is just an appetizer for what I think Halmos can do. If they're headed where I think they're headed, their next album will fucking blow doors down. Not that this album is a slouch by any means, it's a damn good stoner anthem worth your time and money. But Halmos, they're just getting started.
8.3/10

The biggest noticeable change is Travis Anderson's hair. What was once a pinhead afro has transformed into an intimidating yet glorious peacock's mane as fuzzy as their sound. Awesome.

To see for yourself, stream it here while you still can!

Up next, look for the regular allotment of show reviews, but especially look for some Black Tar Prophet reviews that have been way, way overdue.