Soen‘s Tellurian is a masterpiece. With a better mastering job and production, this record is easily among the best records I have reviewed in my time as Angry Metal Guy. This time of year in Sweden is dark, hard, heavy and emotional. Tellurian has become a my soundtrack for a dark, dreary winter. The writing, which developed so much between Cognitive and today, is not only progressive, but it’s also gentle, delicate and groovy and rock solid. But it’s the combination thereof that I wrote about in my original review: “It is, I think, finally the fact that Tellurian is so artfully crafted and emotionally evocative that pushes it to the next level despite [some] audial limitations. As the record slopes towards its conclusion, I [was] struck over and over by the mastery of the melody and feel that Soen has. These moments of piercing beauty combined with the epic writing, the powerful performances and the next level of heaviness is sprinkled across the record makes Tellurian special.” This won’t be the last honor that Tellurian gets here in 2014.
Primordial // Where Greater Men Have Fallen — Primordial are basically the closest thing that I can think of to a universally revered band now that Enslaved‘s production has started to flag. So the slow growing Where Greater Men Have Fallen hit me right in the “that’s what I wanted to hear!” spot. Moving, morose, melancholy, (occasionally meandering) and truly original, Where Greater Men Have Fallen continues a tradition of immense records from a powerful band. Grymm could have been more laudatory, but then I would have suspected that Metal Blade was paying him, entoning with fanboyish glee his “great pleasure that Primordial have definitely sidestepped [Angry Metal Guy‘s] Law of Diminishing Recordings™ and brought forth a powerful album worthy of the band’s heritage.” Seems legit.
Baring Teeth // Ghost Chorus among Old Ruins — While we’re hanging out in Ulcerate‘s wheelhouse, it should be mentioned that Baring Teeth‘s latest album didn’t slip by our very own Kronos. The band’s latest is “not morbid but moribund, a cloak draped across an invisible threshold whose folds and wrinkles shift as unseen forces perturb them. The album is a musical ghost story, compelled by doubt and creeping fear of the unknown that artistically holds more in common with Edgar Allen Poe or Ambrose Bierce than Morbid Angel or Spawn of Posession.” Baring Teeth‘s peerless approach should cause fans of the wave of dissonant death metal to stand up and take notice.
Ne Obliviscaris // Citadel — Due to the extremely poor taste of my staff, it has come to my attention that Ne Obliviscaris‘ Citadel received a shamelessly high score and laudatory review here at AngryMetalGuy.com. The author, one “El Cuervo” (who I’m fairly certain had been disinvited from all of my parties because he either gets angry or naked… or was that José Cuervo?), claimed that “Citadel is nigh-on masterful. Credibility permeates everything, from the complex song-writing and varied vocals to the superior riffing, violin-work and interesting drumming. A melancholic note overhangs the record, reflecting the theme of a destroyed society, which gives this record better direction than Portal of I.” You should know that I have damning evidence this man is a Jørn sympathizer and possibly even a member of the Jørnunist party; his opinion is questionable and I suggest that you do not under any circumstances check out this record which is why I am specifically excluding it from this list.