Godflesh and Neurosis are heralded as the shamen of post-metal, but heirs to the throne Isis helped evolve the avant garde end of heavy music into a transcendent and even mystical reimagining of the sound. Isis’ Oceanic is almost unanimously regarded as a classic record.
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Elder weren’t exactly elder statesmen in the doom-metal body politic upon releasing their third album. But they were staunchly convinced that a little more of everything was needed. More volume. More melody. More prog-rock passages that’d break up the monotony of the hypnotic riffs.
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In the late aughts, when the majority of the most innovative and provocative punk bands had stepped out of the pool and toweled off, Toronto’s Fucked Up came running across the backyard out of nowhere and cannonballed into the water with such weight that even those standing at a safe distance got soaked.
What do The Residents, The Go-Betweens, Steve Reich, Sade, Moondog, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Sun Ra, Cate Le Bon, The Stranglers and Dizzy Gillespie have in common? Why, they’re all artists responsible for creating songs that have inspired the development of Baltimore band Crying Laughing’s utterly unique experimental jazz-rock-meets-post-punk sound.
The Bad Penny had the good fortune to catch up with drummer Jen Kirby and alto saxophone player/percussionist Christian Best about all things under the sun in a recent interview. The band members discussed their music backgrounds, their chemistry, the Baltimore music scene and much more over the course of our conversation. We staged it in anticipation of Crying Laughing releasing their new full-length, Talking, eight days ago on Hausu Mountain, which is rapidly becoming one of our favorite record labels.
As a bonus, today we bring you a special playlist of songs that have inspired Crying Laughing and that Best assembled exclusively for The Bad Penny. (Thanks again, man!)
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Breaking the third wall here a bit, if there still is one …
Over the course of my 30 years as a music journalist, Queens of the Stone Age and Foo Fighters are among the top five bands about which I’ve written the most. I still rank QOTSA as my third-favorite band of all time (Nirvana and the Jesus Lizard will probably forever occupy those #1 and #2 spots, respectively). And I continue to regard Dave Grohl as my ultimate rock idol, it gives me no pleasure to report that the new QOTSA record, Perfecth (due October 30), is – from the few spins I’ve given it thus far – not just the worst record in the band’s catalog, by a long shot, it’s utterly perplexing that the band would even put its name on it.
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Our recent, lively conversation with Slothrust leader Leah Wellbaum ahead of their new album What They Grow in the Garden, resulted in a FLOOD interview and an exclusive bit of news that we ran on this website. But we have another leftover from the articles that might supply you with a good read if you’re in need of one.
The book in question is Milk Fed by Melissa Broder, released in February 2021.
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Ombra – a thrash unit from Montreal consisting of Giuseppe “G” Criniti on vocals and lead guitar, Marco Sisti on rhythm guitar and his cousin Nico‑Angelo Sisti on drums – just released their first EP, Night Terror, on Monday. But we’ll be damned if these hosers (we’re kidding; these are three bright dudes) don’t know their metal history, especially when it comes to their Canada homeland.
Ombra – not to be mixed up with the Indonesian hardcore-punk band of the same name – live by a simple credo: “We encourage listeners to think freely, explore their minds, and express themselves without compromise,” the band states on its website. Their mesmerizing, pulverizing music is far more complex, however; it’s a stew of old‑school thrash, sludge, groove metal and psychedelic rock that will appeal to fans of Mastodon, Power Trip, High on Fire and Motörhead. It’s almost impossible to believe that only three guys are making Ombra’s music.
Before delving into Ombra’s picks for the best Canadian heavy bands, check out their cosmic, seizure-inducing new video for the psych-metal voyage “Blue Dream,” one of the songs featured on Night Terror.
And now, Ombra’s picks for the best heavy metal bands to come out of Canada.
1. Rush
Rush tops the list because of their impact, influence and pioneering of the heavy-rock scene. Canada’s first arena-scale heavy act: the Zeppelin-weight riffs of “Working Man and the sci-fi crush of 2112 proved a Toronto trio could hang with Sabbath and still invent something no one else was doing. They never stayed in one gear, but when they wanted weight – with Stick It Out, Far Cry and stretches of Clockwork Angels – they delivered drop-tuned, dissonant heaviness without abandoning the virtuosity that made every later Canadian metal band possible. Influence plus longevity plus those genuinely heavy moments is why they sit at number one to us. -G
2. Spiritbox
Spiritbox lands at number two because no Canadian heavy band this decade has moved the needle like they have. Holy Roller and Eternal Blue turned a Victoria act into a global force. Courtney LaPlante’s shift from glass-clear melody to gut-level lows – stacked on Mike Stringer’s precision-groove riffs – gives them both the hooks and the impact that most modern metal chases and misses. They’re the proof that Canadian heaviness didn’t freeze in the thrash and death-metal eras; it just got sharper, louder, and harder to ignore. -G
Actress – Radical Frame (Ninja Tune)
Babehoven – I See Them, I See Me (Double Double Whammy)
Beabadoobee – Pylon (Double Hit)
Beck – Ride Lonesome (Capitol)
Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree – In Between Strides (Magnetic Eye)
Boy Harsher – Get Mean (Atlantic)
Castle Rat – Bestiary (Blues Funeral)
Cenobia – Lethal Devotion EP (Fearless)
Chasing Abbey – Cyber Celt (Remote Control)
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Cor de Lux – Year of the Horse (Ipecac)
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Dogs – Trauma Junkie (Indie Recordings)
In the most brutally honest and thus edifying installment yet of our 100-plus-installment On Tyranny series, brand-new Irish electro-Celtic trio Chasing Abbey hold nothing back in speaking out against authoritarianism, oppression and the Palestinian genocide.
We’re publishing this video today to celebrate the release of the trio’s debut record, Cyber Celt, which comes out today (Friday) courtesy of Remote Control Records.
Get a breath of fresh air as you listen to all three members of Chasing Abbey – multi-instrumentalists/producers/vocalists Ronan Bell, Jonathan Byrne and Ted Conway – bravely speak their mind and exercise free speech fearlessly and proudly … just like the Irish tradition calls for.
“I’m a control freak,” seemingly (but more likely surreptitiously) demure music wunderkind Alicia Lindberg freely admitted to The Bad Penny in a video conversation last week. “A part of me likes doing everything myself, because I like to get it the way I want it.”
Indeed, Lindberg – who leads the experimental jazz/pop group Linda 917 – is as clear-eyed and determined an artist as you’ll encounter. Lindberg doesn’t leave her new album, ONLINE, which comes out Friday, open to interpretation. To the contrary, she openly states that the record is intended to combat male domination in the jazz world, and that she draws on feminist music icons like Kate Bush and Björk for inspiration. She fearlessly addresses topics that, blasphemously, are still not more openly discussed in contemporary society: mental health, eating disorders and body image issues among them.
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