Mick's Töp 15 Albums of 2022

In terms of my output to this blog, this past year felt like a 2021 redux. Not only did I devote an embarrassing amount of time digging through my video game backlog (Elden Ring is 100% deserving of all the praise it’s received) but I also traveled quite a bit more than usual to play more dodgeball while my body can still handle it. Yes…dodgeball. No…it’s (mostly) not like the movie. This double whammy left me with virtually no energy to write reviews. I can’t promise 2023 will see any fewer video games or less dodgeball but I’ll do my damndest to prioritize throwing together some more writing for around these parts. That all being said, 2022 had plenty of gems that are worth checking out!

 

Dreadnought - The Endless

While crafting a sound that leverages the heavy-hitting aspects of doom metal with the forward thinking nature of progressive metal is no easy task, Denver's Dreadnought has managed to accomplish this in rather impressive fashion over the past nine years and four albums. With that much material under their belt, I felt fairly certain of what to expect for their upcoming fifth album, The Endless. You know what they say about assumptions, though. Indeed, what an ass I was for thinking the band would try to re-hash already tried formulas for their latest venture. The Endless showcases Dreadnought in a different light; one that, while not totally unsurprising, leans more into the subdued and tranquil facets of the band's repertoire.

Mick's Töp 15 Albums of 2019

If the lack of our posts wasn't any indication, it's been one hell of a busy year. My shortcomings have mainly been due to never-ending travel, most of which was for weddings. I did manage to pump out a super fun interview about video game music, but that sapped most of the little energy I had to give. Belly-aching aside, just because we didn't put a ton of content this year didn't mean there wasn't a ton of great music to consume. It was a good sign to me that it was difficult to narrow down a list of the albums I enjoyed the most. Per usual, when it comes to promises for the new year ahead, we will do our damndest to write up what we can. But know that just because we're not writing doesn't mean we're not listening. You at least know you can be 100% guaranteed you'll get Best of 2020 lists.

So without further ado, my Top 15 Albums of 2019:

A Link to the Past : Nostalgia Turned Metal

 Video game music/audio is one of the biggest unsung heroes of game development. A good theme can be as iconic as the game itself. Among gamers and non-gamers alike, you would probably be hard pressed to find anyone who wouldn't immediately recognize the themes from Super Mario Bros and Tetris. Even a certain Street Fighter theme has found life as a running gag on YouTube. But whenever I reflect on themes that have stuck with me, I always go back to the heavier, more guitar-driven ones. Even further reflection made me realize the amount of times I've listened to the Mega Man X OST outside of actually playing the game is a tad embarrassing.



Years later, when I would go on to fall into the depravity that is heavy metal fandom, there was something in my brain that kept trying to make connections between the metal I was into and the video game themes I was into. It was a connection that was never cut and dry but at the same time I have never been able to completely disregard it. This abstract idea has bugged me for years and was the impetus for putting this article together. Thankfully, there were other like-minded individuals out there who were more than excited to dig deep into this. These interviews were approached as a free flowing discussion about connections between metal and video game music from the perspective of metal musicians, not necessarily to prove or disprove any theory of mine. But there certainly were some interesting revelations.

Read the interviews after the break!

Dreadnought - Emergence

 

When I was lucky enough to interview the entirety of Denver progressive-doom outfit Dreadnought last July, there was one sentiment in particular that continued to stick with me. It's perhaps the closest thing I've ever heard a band personally divulge in an interview that best embodied the often blanket descriptor of "progressive." They operate under the ethos of "best sound wins." The label of the music is arbitrary as long as it vibes well with all of the members. After hearing doom guitars along with saxophones, flutes, keys, and clean vocals mixed with black metal shrieks, one can't deny that the band doesn't walk the walk in terms of owning this ideology. But the bar was set high with the band's prior release. 2017's A Wake in Sacred Waves intertwined the aforementioned stylings with melodic hooks that kept the experience as catchy as it was mesmerizing. Whenever a band releases what feels like their opus, however, one can't help but immediately wonder what the next step is going to be for them. The next step for Dreadnought is Emergence, an album that sees the band evolve their craft by letting all of their core-elements loose in a free-flowing expansion.

Exclusive Interview - Dreadnought

Denver's Dreadnought are no strangers to us here at Brutalitopia. Their previous effort, A Wake in Sacred Waves, was my top album of 2017. By harnessing a wide array of instruments, the band is able to capture the ambitiousness of the progressive rock legends of old along with the heaviness of modern day doom. Also throw in the dichotomy of black metal screams and clean vocals, and you have one, for lack of a better term, unique sounding band. I had been dying to catch the band live for quite some time; and especially after Durf's glowing review of their performance at this year's Fire in the Mountains festival. Fortunately, I was able to catch them this past week as they past through Chicago on their current tour. I initially thought I was only going to be talking to frontwoman Kelly Schilling, but the whole band ended up wanting to partake. What ensued was a fun conversation about everything from the band's beginnings to what lies ahead for them.

Read the interview after the break!

Fire in the Mountains - A Review, Photo Journal, and Thought Piece

Metal festivals are all alike; each metal festival is metal in it's own way.  Tolstoy said that (or something quite similar), and this quote found its way into my head during my two days at Fire in the Mountains, a metal fest situated about thirty miles outside Jackson, Wyoming.  This year's edition of Fire in the Mountains marked my sixth ever music festival, and third metal specific fest after the twelfth and fourteenth editions of Maryland Deathfest.  Fire in the Mountains was appealing to me for its lineup (Panopticon, Falls of Rauros, Wayfarer, Krallice, and more), its location (the Grand Tetons are RIGHT there), and its proximity to my home (six and a half hours, give or take).  So with my trusty sidekick (my buddy Bryce) in tow, I headed toward the mountains to see whether a new festival was establishing itself or coming in DOA.

Dreadnought - A Wake in Sacred Waves

Of all genres of music, especially metal, "progressive" is a genre tag that, over time, has constantly expanded its grey area for interpretation. While it's now commonly assumed to be a genre where technically proficient musicians play concept-albums while encompassing sporadic tempo shifts, progressive music can be better thought of as more of a pushing of boundaries. By incorporating unfamiliar elements or creating a new combination of pre-existing ones, this expanding of horizons is the bedrock of what it means to be progressive as a band. Now, the whole concept of progressive music as a philosophy versus a rigidly defined musical genre is a rabbit-hole of a conversation that would best be served as the central focus of its own series of articles, but it's these kinds of thoughts that traversed through my mind as I listened to Dreadnought's second album, Bridging Realms. Making my year-end list for 2015, the album harnessed the power of soft female vocals, black metal shrieks, blast beat drumming, pianos, saxophones, and everything that could be thought of being in that vast in-between. Denver's experimental foursome now returns with A Wake in Sacred Waves, an album that dials in their craft, takes their sound to new monumental heights, and, ultimately, will be the album that establishes them as a progressive metal force.

Brutally Short #1: King Giant, Bearstorm, Khemmis, Valkyrie, Dreadnought

(image by our buried alive intern)

This is the inaugural post of our "Brutally Short" column. Our hands certainly aren't clean of producing them, but we know reading long-winded reviews can be tedious. In an effort to not let so many albums slip through the cracks, "Brutally Short" will deliver around five reviews or so of albums our staff has been recently listening to.

Reviews for Brutally Short #1:

King Giant - Black Ocean Waves
Bearstorm - Americanus
Khemmis - Absolution
Valkrie - Shadows
Dreadnought - Bridging Realms

Check out the reviews after the break!