NO CONTROL Radio Replay 9/6/13

This week we get you ready for the Iron Maiden show on Tuesday, focus on more new music from Carcass, We Butter the Bread With Butter, Red Fang, Skeletonwitch, Grave, Master, plus old school Sepultura, Slayer, Sabbath, Converge, Mastodon, even local Texas Made Metal from Wake the Colossus, American Sharks and The Unmothered.

ALL CONTESTS ARE OVER and Request lines closed, listen Live Friday nights at 10p Central on 101X in Austin, 93.3 KGSR HD3 No Control Radio or streaming 24/7 commercial free metal www.nocontrolradio.com

Check the Playlist HERE

Top 20 Metal Albums of 2012: #1 - #10

I do take these lists pretty seriously, I know that some believe it is easy to judge, or we take the easy way out with bands that have big names. In some respects I see some that do, and  it can be easy to pick a band who everyone likes to round out your charts, but I refuse to disqualify a band because they have a name, are signed, are popular or whatever. This top 20 list signifies what I have enjoyed the most this year, not what is the best or worst. I didn't really even include what had the most spins or requests, Lamb of God would have made the list if that were the case, but rather what I know I listened to repeatedly and know the songs by heart, music I take on road trips and will listen to in the future. If you don't like it? Suck it...and the winners are:

10. Unsane – Wreck

I am totally biased when it comes to Unsane. Some give me grief about their metal credentials, but to that I say to hell with you! Since their reformation in 2003 every subsequent release crushed the previous. They delved into the existential from time to time, bred strange bluesy sounds occasionally, Wreck rivals any of their early material, adding a sense of place that can only be felt by a band two decades into their career. Drenched in pain, suffering and infinite intensity Unsane never garnering the love of the media, nor a huge audience, those of us who went for the ride will never get off. 

9. Between the Buried and Me - Parallax II

When I first interviewed BTBAM, they were fresh on their tour for the Alaska album. Having a sense of the place they were in, but no idea where they would wind up or how they fit into the world of metal. Evident by not only their following releases in their catalog. More eclectic, melodic and progressive in their approach, BTBAM has somehow found a niche in the metal fans psyche by divulging every part of the process, and recording all the pieces that seem to come to their mind in each recording session working it seamlessly into the beauty of their style. While I felt the first installment was the weaker of the two The Parallax II: Future Sequence just completes a dangling thought process perfectly as only Between the Buried and Me can do.
  

8. Pig Destroyer – Book Burner

Don't hate it because it is beautiful. When Scott Hull broke away and started this band, I kind of thought they would be done after two albums. I never gave Explosions or Prowler their due diligence based on that assumption, but I was young, and naive, I'll admit it. By the time Terrifyer debuted, my lizard brain liquefied and I turned from skeptic to fanboy almost overnight, and with just cause. they have since released two of the most defining albums of their catalog, and metal as a whole. What may have seemed to be silly grindcore defaced what we think of metal in 2012. Combining the grind roots, adding in a touch of stomp and restructuring their simplified attack to create layers of depravity in less than 40 seconds utterly impresses me with every listen.

7. Pathology – The Time of Great Purification

Death, deathy death death. Not what one would imagine from a Victory Records band, but that adds some charm to such a brutal display of metal. When Dave Astor stopped working with The Locust and Cattle Decapitation time would be the only obstacle to what endeavor he dreamed up, and Pathology was born a few years late with their first release in 2006, and Ep called Surgically Hacked. In six short years they have accomplished what many don't in a lifetime, exchanging all of the personnel in the band (other than Astor) and an album every year since 2008. With the addition of vocalist Johnathan Huber, Pathology  found their stride on this record making one of my favorite Death metal records to date.  

6. Black Breath – Sentenced to Life

Crust punks unite! Noisy, hardcore, unhinged, all great adjectives to describe the second full length from Washington's Black Breath. It feels like a wave moving over you as you listen to this album the ebb and flow of a gigantic circle pit moving with violent grace and synchronicity, as the music careens from every corner of your cranium. I refuse to jumble them into a sentence about who they sound like, or resemble, that would be in earnest, as there are so many influences Kurt Ballou was able to help conjure during the recording of this album. Sentenced to Life leaves behind many of the past albums slower blackened tones for the faster more aggressive approach, but I feel like they stand at the precipice of even greater things.   

5. Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind

Speaking of Kurt Ballou, that bastard represents some of the best qualities alive in metal today. Full of heart and vigor, helping bands whittle out their sound from the void while somehow reserving some of the best ideas in his playbook for All We Love We Leave Behind. I am not entirely sure how it is possible to keep a reserve of music on standby just for your band, but somehow Ballou can work with Black Breath, Trap Them, Gaza, All Pigs Must Die and so many more while maintaining a level of musicianship with Converge that is unrivaled. This album had moved around in my list from #1 but found a comfortable spot here, undoubtedly one of the best albums of the year. 

4. Kreator – Phantom Antichrist

After 30 years of thrash, Kreator has every right to put out a pile of crap and have metalheads buy it and actually enjoy it. They could rest on their catalog and play album tours, or just decide their career was over after Extreme Aggression and head back to Germany feeling great about themselves, but somehow these metal warriors outdo themselves every few years with another album. Phantom Antichrist does not revive thrash metal, imitate it or spoof it, it IS thrash, and a big win for Kreator. Their stage show left a little to be desired, but this album blew me away.

3. Anaal Nathrakh – Vanitas

This is probably one of the more divisive choices for my top 20 list, Anaal Nathrakh stretches the boundaries of how metal can be imagined. I don't want to go into depth on this record, you need to experience it blind and either enjoy it, or cringe in severe pain. Totally satisfying. 

2. Gojira – L’Enfant Sauvage

Not a single critic can argue with having this album at or near the top of the list of the best albums this year. Gojira created what I can only describe as a masterpiece with L'enfant Sauvage. Musically it does not stray from their signature aggressiveness, guitar squeals, barking vocals and forward thinking timing structure, but this album has a sophistication not seen previously from them. The sense of purpose, surrounded with sometimes delicate sounds juxtaposed with an intensity unrivaled in this years group of records. I own their entire catalog, but feel like I had never heard Gojira until this album.

1. High on Fire – De Vermis Mysteriis

When Matt Pike and company played the first show of their Fall tour in Austin it was kismet, at least in my mind. I listened to this record more than any other this year, and one of the main reasons I placed it at the very top of this years Metal Albums of 2012. What may seem to be an easy choice, I struggled with, although so many records were in my playlist for so long, De Vermis Mysteriis had a sense of anticipation attached to its release like I had not felt in so long. High on Fire clings to my imagination and made the album that reached into my cynical metalguy and spoke directly to my inner child, this is how I felt when I first read Lovecraft, Orwell or Wells. Congrats to them, from a critic and a fan, this is the best album of 2012.

Honorable Mentions: 
The Sword – Apocryphon
Pallbearer – Sorrow and Extinction
Goatwhore – Blood For the Master
Vision of Disorder – The Cursed Remain Cursed
Napalm Death – Utilitarian

Intern Review: Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind

R and B music was made for loving, Pop was made for making money, Metal was made for me and you and Converge was made for a swift kick to the jaw by Chuck Norris in hyper speed.

The band’s eighth studio album All We Love We Leave Behind is a fast paced journey through their amazing ability to create controlled frenzy. Their seventh studio album Axe To Fall is a tough act to follow both critically and by fans but All We Love We Leave Behind is a blitzkrieg of wild guitar work and plenty of doom metal epicness, which is sure to please the palate of metal heads in any of the many subgenres.

The first track “Aimless Arrow” is a bit of a break from the traditional styling of front man Jacob Bannon’s trademark ravenous vocals but a step in the right direction to diversify the band’s sound. Although “Aimless Arrow” may set the tone for the band’s growth, tracks like “Sparrow’s Fall” and “Trespasses” take you right back to the root of chaos that is textbook Converge. Fans of doom metal will get a few warm and fuzzies in their belly with “Coral Blue”.

Continuing the break down of Converge’s eighth album, brings up the next point as to why this album is awesome, BREAKDOWNS. Breakdown after breakdown will make those of us who live for mosh pits absolutely smitten. The album is full of those pit worth tracks like “Veins and Veils” and “Shame In the Way”.

Converge consistently takes a live show and creates an experience for fans of metal, hardcore, doom and thrash and aggressive music creating an almost religious experience of being baptized. Sitting and listening to this album yourself will not suffice. You must imagine yourself in a car chase, a riot, escaping a burning building or in a scenario where pure, raw, unbridled emotion would explode from you with action filled Jason Statham adrenaline. That my friend is how All We Love We Leave Behind should be experienced.

-Derick Garcia

Derick is an intern from Texas State University where he hosts his own metal show 'On the Grinder' and produces and hosts a Texas State TV program 'La Bella Vida.'

Converge Involved in Van Accident

Not again, another van/bus/band wreck incident...at least no one caught fire...caught this one off via Jacob Bannon's Webstagram and MetalSucks.net

After driving all day/evening, we hit a patch of black ice in the mountains of Oregon. We were forced to turn into a highway divider at 40mph in order to avoid sliding under a slew of 18 wheelers. The van spun 180 degrees after impact, and we were left facing the wrong direction on the highway. We spent a few hours prying our bumper off our front wheels. Thankfully, we are rolling again. Bands, be safe put there. Never take anything for granted.

Be safe out there, dammit.

NO CONTROL Radio HD2 Chart and Adds 10/8/12

After a long weekend of drinking and celebrating the anniversary of my Mom's bar turning 20, that's right my Momma owns a bar, I am still a little groggy. There are plenty of pics of me singing country music karaoke, but that happens when you load me full of LoneStar Light and BBQ. This morning, I am still listening to music a little softer than normal, the adds may be strange this week...actually pretty good from what I can still hear.

ADDS: 10/8/12

Enslaved – Riitiir (Nuclear Blast)

Compilation - Beast Of Dio Vol 2 (Niji Entertainment)

Pro-Pain - Straight To The Dome (Goomba Music)

Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind (Epitaph)

Dethklok - Dethalbum III (Williams Street/Adult Swim)

Deftones - Koi No Yokan (Reprise)

Downfall of Gaia - Suffocating in the Swarm of Cranes (Metal Blade)

	NO CONTROL Radio Chart 10/8/12
Rank	Song	Artist
1	If Hearts Could Talk	Deception of a Ghost
2	The Time Bender	Becoming the Archetype
3	Resilience	As I Lay Dying
4	Kingdom	Devin Townsend Project
5	Cross To Bear	Before the Dawn
6	Leathers	Deftones
7	Tyrannical Decay	Pathology
8	I Ejaculate Fire	Dethklok
9	Message to a King	Bury Tomorrow
10	Bathed In Salt	In Dying Arms
11	Destroyer	Design the Skyline
12	The Heathens	Enabler
13	Down Through The Ages	All That Remains
14	Accelerated Evolution	Faceless, The
15	The Vipers	Gaza
16	Thrown To The Lions	Dew Scented
17	Flesh Epistle	Grave
18	Gold Digger	Murder Construct
19	Bats Amongst Heathens	Serpentine Path
20	Love	Chariot, The
21	Tapeworms	Encrust
22	Deityrant	Ufomammut
23	Bloodmoney And Lies	Axewound
24	Astral Body	Betweeen the Buried and Me
25	World Enslaved	Nuclear Death Terror
26	Dehumanize	Dublin Death Patrol
27	Get Real	Obey the Brave
28	Offalgrinder	Coffins
29	In Wolves	This Or The Apocalypse
30	Nobody One Knows	Norska
31	This Work is Timeless	Down
32	Frontline	Engel
33	Burn	Xibalba
34	Cry Wolf	Texas In July
35	You The Apathy Divine	Thy Will Be Done
36	A Good Day To Die	Pro Pain
37	In My Sword I Trust	Ensiferum
38	Destroyer	Endless
39	It's Not Because Of You	Witchcraft
40	Silencing Machine	Nachtmystium