!!!!!!!! ILX METAL ALBUMS of 2009 POLL RESULTS!!!!!! (FINAL RESULTS NOW IN! LISTENING TO THESE ALBUMS WILL MAKE YOU STRONGER FRAIL INTERNET PERSON!)

#54 , 93 Points , 4 votes

http://www.metal-experience.com/images/interviews/Wardruna/wadruna2008-cover.jpg
Wardruna - Runaljod - Gap Var Ginnunga

My rave for today: Wardruna. Gorgoroth side-project, probably not metal by anything but association, but wow. Pagan-ambient rune-drone? Dunno what to call it, but it does for trolls what Enya does for elves.

― glenn mcdonald,

OK, this Wardruna album sounds better to me every time I listen to it. If it gets any kind of buzz-momentum I can imagine it being this year's non-metal-by-metal-guys crossover, and if it doesn't, it'll be the thing I hit people with whenever they get dismissive about what metal musicians are capable of.

― glenn mcdonald,

Glenn -

I too love that Wardruna album but it just doesn't seem metal at all. Awesome creepy folk music, but it's hard for me to see it as metal despite the pedigree. And a big second to Madder Mortem - on paper I should hate it but it just captivates.

― EZ Snappin,

Yeah, Wardruna is arguably metal by association only, at least taken strictly on its musical characteristics, but because of that association I listen to it in a metal context, and it makes cultural and aesthetic sense to me that way.

- glenn mcdonald

The idea of WARDRUNA began to take shape in 2002 as a project where founder and main man Einar Kvitrafn Selvik could work with a musical expression and instrumentation very different from what his involvements in various metal bands would allow. Naturally, it also became a place where his passion for and practice of Norse paganism and runes could be combined with music.

In the spring of 2007, the project started to attract attention after it was featured on the soundtrack of the widely publicized "True Norwegian Black Metal" documentary about Gaahl (TRELLDOM, GORGOROTH, etc.) by Peter Beste and Vice Films. Despite the fact that the band has not released any product or performed live, WARDRUNA has garnered a respectable and surprisingly diverse following.

Nearly six years in the making, WARDRUNA's long-awaited debut album is the first part of the planned "Runaljod" trilogy which will musically interpret the runes of the elder futhark. This highly visual music is hard to place into any specific genre, and there isn't really much to compare it with. The style can perhaps be described as a curious blend of folk, world and ambient music, but without being limited by the sometimes restricted scope of these genres.

"Runaljod - Gap Var Ginnunga" has a very profound and unique sound that consists of a wide array of instruments, some of which are rarely used. A few examples: deer hide frame drums, mouth harp, goat horns, lur, Hardanger fiddle and tagelharpe ("viking fiddle"). Sounds of more unorthodox ‘instruments’ like trees, stones and fire are also incorporated into the music, and it's all topped off with powerful vocal performances from no less than three vocalists.

The upcoming album entitled ‘Gap Var Ginnunga’ will be the first in the planned Runaljod trilogy that will interpret the runes of the elder futhark. The subsequent albums will be entitled ‘Yggdrasill’ and ‘Ragnarok’. Each album will feature eight runes, but not in accordance with the order of the three aettirs (families), which is most commonly used.

So who besides Glen and I are Wardruna fans? It's really something different and quite special.

$35 import on Amazon. is there a cheaper, legal way to purchase this? :(

#53 , 93 Points , 4 Votes

http://www.golivewire.com/forums/img.cgi?i=70367
Church of Misery - Houses of the Unholy

Japanese four-piece, Church Of Misery, combine doom metal with heavy hints of 70's psychedelic rock in "Houses Of The Unholy," an album of sick gore, screechy guitar work, and weirdly-assembled song structures, where each disconcerting track is based on the sins of serial killers in a similarly ghoulish style to American death metal band Macabre. With disquieting lyrics that reach back to 1998’s "Taste the Pain," Church Of Misery have quite clearly outdone themselves with doom-riddled tracks and gloomy melodies.

So who besides Glen and I are Wardruna fans? It's really something different and quite special

Count me in, too: I was hugely impressed by it.

i had never heard this until the youtube thread but voted it kind of high. would never have guessed that it was a japanese band! xpost

Yeah John CoM are a brilliant band. Think I voted for it.

grimly its a shame you didnt vote this year.

$35 import on Amazon. is there a cheaper, legal way to purchase this? :(

― kshighway (ksh)

Amazon used to have it in the MP3 store for $9.99 (that's how I got it). Appears to no longer be an option. Sorry.

I think if I had heard the Church of Misery (and the Jamie Saft) earlier I would have voted for it. Had space left on my ballot but didn't get to spend enough time with either to properly judge.

Weird, Wardruna used to be on iTunes, too, but isn't there anymore. No heroics, please: if there's no easy way to pay money for it, just get it the normal way.

if there's no easy way to pay money for it, just get it the normal way

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Maybe it means someone has snapped it up for North American distribution. That happened with Dizzee Rascal - second album was available on itunes for months, then pulled before domestic release. We can hope!

#52 , 96 Points , 6 votes

http://www.godflesh.com/discographies/jesu/jesu-infinity_big.jpg
Jesu - Infinity

Full album length song 'Infinity' on Avalanche Recordings (AREC017), written, recorded and mixed early 2009, with all instruments by Justin K Broadrick. 'Infinity' is the most expansive and organic jesu release to date, here JKB revisits his roots of heavy guitar driven music yet still retaining the ethereal atomsphere / soundscape of modern jesu. Approximately fifty minutes of music, CD housed in a beautiful 6 panel digi sleeve. First edition of 2000. Vinyl edition of 1300 copies of which the first 400 are on grey vinyl, the remaining 900 on black, all pressed on super heavvyweight

I'm off the Jesu train. This just did nothing at all for me. Only Broadrick release I liked this year was White Static Demon, his ambient feedback thing.

I thought it was great.

Hmm. I was kind of the consummate Jesu fanboy for a while but Infinity is by far and away my least favourite thing Broadrick's every done, I think. (At least, of what I've heard.) I dunno: it just didn't grab me at all, in any way. I can barely remember anything about it.

I'm not really surprised it's your least fave Jesu tbh.

I was about to comment that I could barely remember anything about Infinity, either, but then I realized that's because I never heard it. Fix that now.

I think the Opiate Sun ep is more Grimly's thing.

infinity def is kind of a snoozefest.

#51 , 96 Points , 7 votes

http://www.metalsucks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/PSYCHICMAPS.jpg
Dysrhythmia - Psychic Maps

Over the course of four albums Philadelphia's DYSRHYTHMIA has taken complex, instrumental, heavy music to new heights. On 'Psychic Maps,' the band continues to push themselves to new levels of technicality while also adding a healthy dose of melodic songcraft. Thus, 'Psychic Maps' is the most accessible recording the band has ever released, yet still retains the incomparable, mind-blowing musicianship that is DYSRHYTHMIA's raison d'être.

Also on the bill was Dysrhythmia, who were playing lots of new stuff as they're going into the studio next week. They were bang on and the new stuff is stellar.

― S. Palmerston,

New Dysrhythmia is very good.

― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname),

Dysrhythmia co-signed.

-Doran

Now at the halfway stage, here is a recap of what we have so far

100. Municipal Waste - Massive Aggressor
99. Tyr - By the Light of the Northern Star
98. Burnt by the Sun - Heart of Darkness
97. Masters of Reality - Pine/Cross Dover
96. Saviours - Accelerated Living
92. Them Crooked Vultures - S/T
Saros - Acrid Plains
Peste Noire - Ballade Cuntre Lo Anemi Francor
Augury - Fragmentary Evidence
91. Revocation - Existence Is Futile
90. Brutal Truth - Evolution Through Revolution
88. Cannibal Corpse - Evisceration Plague
Glorior Belli - Meet Us at the Southern Sign
87. Anvil - This Is Thirteen
86. Vom - Primitive Arts
85. Altar of Plauges - White Tomb
84. 1349 - Revelations of the Black Flame
83. Obscura - Cosmogenesis
82. Doomriders - Darkness Come Alive
81. Gnaw - This Face
80. Jodis - Secret House
78. Blue Sabbath Black Cheer - Crows Eat the Eyes From the Leviathan's Carcass
Behemoth - Evangelion
76. Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine - The Audacity of Hype
Dethklok - Dethalbum II
75. Black Boned Angel - Verdun
74. Megadeth - Endgame
73. SubArachnoid Space - Eight Bells
72. Magrudergrind - S/T
71. Minsk - With Echoes in the Movement of Stone
70. Eluveitie - Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion
69. Voivod - Infini
68. Skeletonwitch - Breathing the Fire
67. Candlemass - Death Magic Doom
66. Melvins - Chicken Switch
65. Hacride - Lazarus
64. Nadja and Black Boned Angel - S/T
63. Keelhaul - Triumphant Return to Obscurity
62. Anaal Nathrakh - In the Constellation of the Black Widow
61. Lifelover - Dekadens
60. Ahab - The Divinity of Oceans
59. Xasthur - All Reflections Drained
58. Bloody Panda - Summon
57. Ancestors - Of Sound Mind
56. Greymachine - Disconnected
55. Jamie Saft - Black Shabbis
54. Wardruna - Runaljod - Gap Var Ginnunga
53. Church of Misery - Houses of the Unholy
52. Jesu - Infinity
51. Dysrhythmia - Psychic Maps

$35 import on Amazon. is there a cheaper, legal way to purchase this? :(

― kshighway (ksh)

Amazon used to have it in the MP3 store for $9.99 (that's how I got it). Appears to no longer be an option. Sorry.

― EZ Snappin, Wednesday, January 20, 2010 3:47 PM (1 hour ago)

Thanks EZ Snappin!

i actually went to their official website, and it looks like you can download it in MP3 or FLAC from their shop: http://www.wardruna.com/shop/music.html

that title work for u pfunk?

Indeed it does (Thanks) and at no 50...

Big string of stuff I hadn't heard there, until the last two. As grimly said above, that Jesu thing did very little for me even though I'm typically a big fan of his. Loved the Dysrhythmia though. That Church of Misery album is sounding fucking awesome though.

really hoping that portal and vreid will make the top 50, but not sure at this point if that will pan out xposts

yeah the church of misery thing keeps growing on me. it sounds like some retro thing i cant put my finger on, but better in pretty much every way

#50 , 98 Points , 5 votes

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Asro0En56rM/Sq5dd-akekI/AAAAAAAADWk/foXDK_M_KRg/s400/part-chimp-.jpg
Part Chimp - Thriller

i actually went to their official website, and it looks like you can download it in MP3 or FLAC from their shop: http://www.wardruna.com/shop/music.html

― kshighway (ksh)

Cool! I'll direct some inquiring minds their way. Under $10 for high quality MP3s.

#49 , 98 Points , 6 votes

http://stereogum.com/img/nadja-pyramids-album-art.jpg
Pyramids With Nadja - S/T

Across four extended soundscapes, psychedelic Denton post-metallers Pyramids team with seemingly everywhere/highly collaborative Toronto duo Nadja to create expansive ambient dirges that feel both fragile and heavy. You get the blast beats and wraithlike black metal vocalism of Pyramids' gorgeous self-titled debut on the airily pummeling "The Sound of Ice and Grass" and for sections of the highly triumphant closer "An Angel Was Heard To Cry Over The City Of Rome," but elsewhere the Texas quartet meld with Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff to create something entirely new: A spacious, darkly illuminated naturalist drone. The collection includes well-chosen guest spots from Cocteau Twins/This Mortal Coil bassist Simon Raymonde, Albin Julius of Der Blutharsch, and Mineral's Chris Simpson. The Mineral/Gloria Record frontman provides haunted vocals for "Another War

Part Chimp 'Thriller'

It’s hard to tell if Part Chimp’s third album will transform them from London’s best ‘undiscovered’ rock band into a household name, but the fact that it shares the same name with the best-selling album of all time shows that they have at least become slightly more ambitious. Their trademark sound of bowel crepitating low end, cone shredding riffology and jack hammer drumming has never sounded so goddamn attractive. On ‘Trad’ they find the no man’s land between Queens of the Stone Age and early Earth. But as loud as their amassed henge of Orange speakers and Marshall stacks makes ‘em (and everything is much louder than everything else here) they’re never far from an absolute killer riff such as the Deep Purple versus Hawkwind with everything in the red ‘Sweet T’. We know it’s bad to speak ill of the dead but this glorious racket would have blasted Jacko’s nose clean off.

A sterner man than myself would suggest that there is a tendency for really good, noisy UK bands to self sabotage, with bonkers humour and slackness, which means they don’t have to compete. This of course applies to many more bands than just the mighty Chimp. Don’t get me started on Selfish Cunt, Todd, That Fucking Tank, Hey Colossus etc. Perhaps the most recent addition of former Ikara Colt bassist Tracy Bellaries (drafted in to replace Scouse Lord Joe, who left to concentrate on avant doom synthesizists Kling Klang and was last seen in Merseyside getting sued by Kraftwerk) will raise their game a bit. Although judging by the artwork, this is highly unlikely... Part Chimp are the best rock band you haven’t heard yet. Fact. There is no such thing as someone who doesn’t like Part Chimp; just people who haven’t drunk enough beer yet. Fact. And no one can resist the lure of the ‘Thriller’. Fact.

I didn't like the Pyramids album as much as last year's (which was my #1 pick) but it's mighty fine indeed. The key I found was to get over the thought you were listening to two records at once, possibly by just accepting it.

Okay, I'm going to have to check out that Part Chimp tonight.

#49 , 103 Points , 7 votes

http://www.mindovermetal.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Nadja-WISTSASOTV.jpg
Nadja - When I See the Sun Always Shines on TV

But the Nadja album looks really interesting. The MBV cover sounds colossal, like a 45 rpm played at 33 1/3.

― A. Begrand,

Album of the year (maybe)

― Ned Raggett,

The A-Ha cover is monumental, even in crappy MySpace streaming version.

― a golden unicorn who poops diamonds (EZ Snappin),

nadja tracklisting makes me want to kill myself

― Just one thing I was thinking about as I was getting on the copter (J0hn D.),

I actually have the album on now and the MBV cover sounds exactly how you'd expect, which I'm OK with.

― Luka ModReq (DJ Mencap),

I think they make the song a lot creepier and heavier than the original. And I've always liked Slayer's version. No question, going in, you know exactly what Nadja's going to do with these cover songs, just draw them out as long as possible, but with these songs especially, the shtick works really well.

― A. Begrand

I get the impression listening to Nadja's cover of Dead Skin Mask, that if you were in the same room with them while they were recording the track, you would barely hear them playing. It doesn't sound to me like they are playing their instruments vigorously at all.

I would bet good money that their whole process with the exception of their vocals (and maybe drums on certain records) are all internal using VST distortion on guitars and synths (to create that fake feedback/drone sound they bury all of their songs with). It's a sound I used to find really compelling, but now that I've had six or seven of their samey albums to deconstruct their sound, it sounds kind of dull and flat and doesn't really fit my personal definition of metal at all.

― The Lost Boys Buff Guy Playing Sax (rockapads),

Oh no! False Metal Alert!

What will people who like it ever do?

― EZ Snappin,

#48 , 105 Points , 7 votes

http://static.boomkat.com/images/282238/333.jpg
Eagle Twin - The Unkindness of Crows

A fearsome set of slow-motion doom melodramas and sludge-lined shred odysseys from new Southern Lord band Eagle Twin. "Behold the debut album from Eagle Twin! Although Eagle Twin is a very new entity its helmsman: Gentry Densley is no stranger to innovative, heavy music. Densley was the musical visionary and leader of the legendary Jazz, Prog, Rock, Metal, Hardcore group Iceburn from 1991-2001. In order to disseminate his majestic and mountainous riffs in the present day he enlisted massively behemoth skinsman Tyler Smith. The drums are not only a driving force that efficiently steam rolls over you they conjure a repetitious mantra that is eerily infectious. The riffs and music definitely have familiar reference points (Caspar Brotzmann Massaker,Earth, sunn 0))), Melvins etc..) but are crafted in a way that stands miles beyond the others. "The Unkindness of Crows" was recorded to tape in Seattle by Randall Dunn (earth, sunn 0))), Kinski, Ascend). Beautifully packaged in a digi-pac with original artwork from Gentry, Sri Whipple and others. Designed by Stephen O'Malley.

Pretty impressed by the Eagle Twin record on first listen. Guitar tone is thick as hell. One or two of the songs sound like Mark Lanegan if Screaming Trees had been a doom band

― splash the praying duck (DJ Mencap),

All those Nadja releases thus far are excellent.

#47 , 106 Points , 8 votes , One #1 Vote

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_D_lt8ZCBSOo/SxCOeMjzAeI/AAAAAAAAAXo/JV2x-rDwazM/s1600/Napalm-Death-Time-Waits-For-No-455535.jpg
Napalm Death - Time Waits for No Slave

Couldn't find any chat on it. Most chat was on the bbc sessions

#45 , 107 Points , 6 votes , One #1 vote

http://www.bloodygoodhorror.com/bgh/files/eightways.jpg
Madder Mortem - Eight Ways

I am crushed at the lack of worship here for the new Madder Mortem cd.

Seriously, when it comes to metal bands whose name starts with 'M', MM simply obliterate Mastodon by any criteria one can imagine aside from 'swinging dicks'.

― i, grey,

The Madder Mortem is pretty good. Whatshername keeps reminding me of the way less bombastic Hanne Hukkelberg, who I greatly prefer. The heavy guitars actually sound a little intrusive on this album at times.

― A. Begrand,

Name is Agnete M. Kirkevaag but she understandably just goes by Agnate.

The thing is, she doesn't fit any metal femme template. She isn't operatic (Nightwish etc), rockin' (Lacuna), ethereal gothic or misplaced-indie-chick (Serpent Cult).

Sometimes she's almost gospel, but David Lynch gospel.

I think they may be evolving themselves out of metal entirely, which may be why those guitars seem intrusive. And for fear of being first wave feminist, but I think if she were a dude, their profile would be vastly higher. Or if she were anorexic.

I forget which mag it was, but they gave the record raves--except they had a wee problem with Agnate's tendency to scream.

Imagine--someone screaming in a metal band, how tactless.

― i, grey,

Another awesome thing about Madder Mortem are the quiet/clean guitars. They way the parts are so perfectly sculptured and play off one another/around each other or answer the vocals. For real, Isis needs to steal some shit from these guys.

― i, grey, Sunday, 12 July 2009 22:37 (6 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

omg a girl that cant be categorized

― gucci gone bonkers (roxymuzak),

Am listening to the Madder Mortem, thanks to the mention above. Haven't decided how much I like it, but it's definitely interesting, and I'd never heard of them, so another point for Rolling Metal.

― glenn mcdonald,

Getting to like, as opposed to being distantly impressed by Madder Mortem...it takes a little investment.

At first I was all, Oh, this is, uh...something else. And there was enough to pique interest to keep listening.

Part of it is that each song has a great deal of density--of ideas, of the way things are composed/structured. And be sure--these things are composed. not glib verse-chorus-verse or even madcap-black-metal structuring. Every part relates to an earlier part for maximum effect in the part playing currently.

I guess "Armour" is a good start point, what with it being the single but their idea of a single include a mini-etude on bass and the singer turning into a theremin every few choruses.

― i, grey,

Right now, I'm loving how all the clean guitars have this definite Dick-Dale-on-barbiturates feel.

― i, grey,

OK, when I said "Am listening to the Madder Mortem ... Haven't decided how much I like it, but it's definitely interesting", I was literally playing it for the first time. They had me by the end of the second listen. This is a fantastic, fantastic record. At times I feel like I'm hearing Cowboy Junkies as a metal band, at times I think "See, the problem with Marnie Stern as 'metal' is that she only understands lead guitar, and metal is 92.3% rhythm guitar", at times I think this is what Voivod could have sounded like if they'd understood why the original version of "Diamonds and Rust" is 1000 times spookier than Judas Priest's cover. And most of the time I'm just mercifully speechless.

― glenn mcdonald,

Recent posts mentioning Madder Mortem's "Eight Ways" prompted me to register and stop lurking. I fell in love with Madder Mortem with 2005's "Desiderata", which is one of my favorite discs this decade. I was nervous about "Eight Ways" because it's hard to live up to a disc that you love. "Eight Ways" is a worthy successor, and one I'm falling for just as much. In fact, I forced myself to stop listening to it for fear that I'd burn out on it like I did with Nevermore's "This Godless Endeavor", which I also think is one of the best discs this decade.

― Kindjal,

Also, I'll reiterate my endorsements of the new Madder Mortem and Urna, both of which are holding up incredibly well under extreme repetition.

― glenn mcdonald,

Madder Mortem seems really likely to be my #1.

― glenn mcdonald, Sunday, 8 November 2009 01:14 (2 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Madder Morten screams number 1.

― i, grey,

And it WAS Glenn's #1

Here's an unused review I wrote for the Ancestors record:

Ancestors
Of Sound Mind
Teepee
8
PROG DOOM
Ancestors should have subtitled Of Sound Mind thusly: "In which five LA doom experimentalists add an organ to their repertoire, get positively wacky, and leave any semblance of song structure or easy characterization behind." Their previous outing, Neptune with Fire, consisted of two sludge-paced epics. This one contains two tracks that barely make it over a minute, two of reasonable length, and four that would fill an entire side of an LP, which begs an interesting question: is it harder to write really short non-songs or really long non-songs? Even though no Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, or Iron Butterfly albums were harmed in the making of this recording, Ancestors pilfer pretty freely from the aforementioned bands' catalogs, and create the progressive doom version of a sound collage. The tinkling of a piano here, vocals buried deep in the mix there, disconnected guitar noodling, organ swells, a rumble reminiscent of the way that Sabbath's guitars and drums never quite seemed to line up. The instrumentalists get lost inna Gadda da Vida, and sometimes don't seem to find their way out. It all works together as an entire piece, though. Pretty great stuff if you have the patience to see it through, because even though it doesn't seem like these guys know where they're going, they do.

never heard MM before. listening now. not entirely convinced, but there's definitely an instant 'whoa!' factor and some entirely unique elements there.

the singer has great voice though...reminds me a bit of sam ireland from die cheerleader.

Good review Jeff, thanks for posting that.

#44 , 108 Points , 5 votes

http://burningworldrecords.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/voorkant1.jpg
Gnaw Their Tongues - All the Dread Magnificence of Perversity

Gnaw Their Tongues is a revelation.

― Doran,
Which album are you listening to John? Love this guy tbh

― Vladislav Delap (DJ Mencap),

Seconded, although I'm not sure I've heard anything he's done this year.

― I thought I could make it work because you look a bit like a man (aldo),

Gnaw Their Tongues. I was completely unaware of them until hearing about them on this thread then All The Dread Magnificence Of Perversity turned up at my house for me to review. It isn't necessarily from this year, the post has been so bad in London recently.

It's just breath taking. The use of orchestral samples - manipulated to sound like a full contingent of musicians have just gone mad and started murdering each other with their instruments, Burial Hex-style horrotronix, some blackened vocals but not so much that you could call it ambient BM, more something odd that's influence by it like 'Black One'.

I love it that it's all made by one jovial looking Dutchman called Maurice.

Also it's a fine line in metal with crazy 'evil' titles but I feel a thunder in my chest when songs called shit like 'The Stench Of Dead Horses On My Breath And The Vile Of Existence In My Hands' named after a Gustave Flaubert poem actually live up to their nomenclature for a change.

I bought another couple of albums by him; I'm still completely bewildered by it really. Which is a good thing. Buzzing off it.

― Doran,

Hmm, this Gnaw Their Tongues is definitely interesting. Metal? More like Occult Atmospherics, but close enough. I won't be too surprised if I end up thinking it's a little too staged, and I'm curious to see if I'll find it as compelling once it isn't surprising anymore. But if it holds up, musically, I'll have to decide what I think of the nominal aesthetics and the relationship between those and the music...

― glenn mcdonald,

I think I liked this a lot but need to play it again.

#43 , 110 Points , 7 votes , One #1 Vote

http://vox2.cdn.amiestreet.com/album-art/Mind-The-Drift-by-Big-Business_nlYafKQXdC8x_full.jpg
Big Business - Mind the Drift

anyone heard the new big business?

― borntohula,

After much anticipation, Los Angeles based rock heroes BIG BUSINESS have just released their latest and most epic album to date. Entitled "Mind The Drift," the album is available courtesy of the renowned Hydra Head Records, and was produced by Phil Ek (Built To Spill, Fleet Foxes, The Shins) in his Seattle studio.

Featuring the ferocious vocals and bass duties of Jared Warren (ex-Karp, Tight Bros From Way Back When), dominating drumming abilities of Coady Willis (also of the newly revived Murder City Devils), and for the first time, guitar madman Toshi Kasai (also a respected producer in his own right), "Mind the Drift" echoes the band's trademark motor-oil thick, thundering sound, and adds to it layers of spaced out effects, making for the band's most dizzying and progressive album yet. Here's what the people have to say:

"Mind the Drift reveals a serious expansion of the Big Business sound: Though each of these tunes is still built atop a lumbering low-end groove, tracks like “Gold and Final” and the nearly 9-minute “Theme from Big Business II” ascend to trippy psych-metal heights any Hawkwind fan could love." - Revolver Magazine

"The trio organizes a head-banging assault, with snarling bass and cymbal smashes underpinning Warren's burly shouts and Kasai's piercing detours into grandiose metal riffs." - Spin.com

"As evidenced by the plundering beats and awe-inspiring riffage, they're dead serious about songwriting. While the tunes on Mind the Drift follow the same chaotic constructs as their first two discs, there's more of an emphasis on guitar, providing more sonic shades for the musicians to trample." - Headbangers Ball Blog

"The sludge and the swagger known as Big Business are hitting the road again; they've got a new album coming out called 'Mind The Drift' on May 12 via Hydrahead Records, and in an exclusive interview with Noisecreep drummer Coady Willis called the album "the most ambitious thing we have tried yet." For those not in the loop, Big Business is no longer a two-some of just drums and bass. Toshi Kasai has been added on guitar and keyboard. 'Mind The Drift' is the first full length that Big Business has shown off this new three-man stoner-esque heaviness for the masses." - AOL Noisecreep

"Big Business bassist Jared Warren and drummer Coady Willis churn up the tonal equivalent of an oil spill, and write songs too violently catchy for the usual “sludge” and “stoner-rock” tags. Their bleak, queasy third album, Mind The Drift, tries to look beyond the euphoric whiplash of 2005's Head For The Shallow and 2007's Here Come The Waterworks, keeping the dense lows while guitarist Toshi Kasai adds squiggly underpinnings and melodic leads." - The Onion AV Club

"Kasai's presence is easily detected via prominent, quasi-clean guitar lines that undulate high above Willis and bassist Jared Warren's familiar murk and mire. Bits of organ and bizarre vocal moments additionally separate Mind the Drift from its predecessors, and purposeful restraint is evident on nearly every track." - Alarm Press

"Kasai's squealing guitar flourishes supplement the boisterous low tones of "I Got It Online," while the staggering energy of "Found Art" shows a cohesive new three-instrument sound." - The Washington Post

And of course they're in the Melvins too.

The Madder Mortem was my #3. Between Glenn and i, grey, the mentions on the rolling metal thread intrigued me. I was - like many others - blown away by the time I finished the first run through; by the second I was hooked, and joined in the general proselytizing. There is enough of both Faith No More and 70s Priest in their sound for me to get intrigued, but what they're doing is much more than the sum of any influences.

That Gnaw Their Tongues sounds really cool. Another to add to the "must check this out" list, along with Ahab and Dysrhythmia.

I hate the image on the cover of that gnaw their tongues lp so much that I've never checked them (him?) out

I can't say I've heard Madder Mortem, but that is absolutely one of the best album covers I've seen in a long time. The architect nerd side of me just loves seeing buildings like that in weird landscapes. Its like a glipse into a whole other world. I mean, are those stairs to some interdimensional transportation system? Are they interconnected by miles of complicated tunnels underground? Are they just houses? Man, so cool.