MUSIC 2020 - my favorite albums

Ok, this is a little bit different than in previous years. Normally my process of compiling the TOP something of my favorite albums of the year starts as soon as I review my first record. Immediately after I've written about a release I put it into my list.

Of course for most of the year this ranking remains quite loose and often when I add an album I also change the position of another one. Only at some point roughly around the beginning of November it gets more serious as I re-listen to everything on my list from the bottom to the top and decide if #53 is really better than #54. At the same time I'm also starting to write paragraphs about the albums which will definitely make the cut.

And all that wasn't possible this year as November struck me hard with personal drama which hardly allowed me to write about or listen to anything.
When I finally started to look after my blog again - mainly as a much needed diversion from all the other stress - I concentrated on the suplementary music lists, which I had partly already prepared before November.

You can read them here:

• MUSIC 2020: TOP 7 cancelled live shows
• MUSIC 2020: a cyberspace odyssey - recommended streams & favorite downloads
• MUSIC 2020: my favorite live albums and EPs
• MUSIC 2020: TOP 5 reissues

But for this main course I have nothing at this point (beginning of January) - and there's no way I'm starting to work my way through all of it in the usual way now.

I thought that maybe I should just do a couple of shorter rankings divided by musical style: metal, jazz etc. The problem with that idea is that I'm particularily fond of albums which push and blur the lines between genres. But hell, what the fuck. In the end this is all about recommending shit I loved this year, so I'll just try it kind of that way in various chapters, but without the strict ranking part or something like a properly laid out plan.

Before I finally start here's the inevitable disclaimer:

This post totally represents my personal subjective taste and only features albums that are actually part of my collection. I have heard - or am aware of - many more great releases, including a huge pile of stuff on my wantlist, which I didn't have the mood or money to get yet and hopefully will get to harvest at some point in the not so far future.

So some artists like Blues Pills, Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou (ordered colored vinyl, but the retailer didn't get enough copies), Jesu, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, My Dying Bride, Napalm Death, Psychotic Waltz, Sumac, Ulcerate or Ulver (and whoknowswho I just forgot) might or might not be part of this as well, if I hadn't slept on their new stuff to date.

I. BEHOLD THE TOWERING TITANS OF TWENTY-TWENTY!

Yeah, let's get those right out of the way! These records exist beyond genre categorizations. They dwarf the world around them and will still last when we're all long gone.

First of all I'm of course starting with the one I try to sneak into almost every best-of-list this year. LAIBACH's "Laibach Revisited", part of their giant 5-LPs-plus-extras box set of the same name, could very well be the most laibachian Laibach release of all times. These radically reimagined early 1980s' classics of the Slovenian collective bring together various eras of their sound in the most impressive way. Other than the rest of the box this double album is also available separately as a digital release.

(But even if you own that box, I still strongly recommend to extend it by former Laibach member Sašo VOLLMAIER's short supplementary album "Kind of Laibach", on which several of the same tracks are reprised as themes of heavy piano compositions.)

If you look at the parts of the sum, NEPTUNIAN MAXIMALISM's three-albums mammoth release "Eons" is already impressive. But there is better drone out there, there is better doom, better psychedelic music, and there's certainly better jazz.
Yet the uncompromising primeval grandiosity in which the Belgian collective weaves dark and light, Sunn O))) and Sun Ra, Alice Coltrane and Swans and so much more together in this highly avant-garde and monolithic debut is just as mighty as it is unique. I've read that many critics - even though they love this work - find it hard to access, but that's not my experience at all. Maybe it's challenging if you're not acquainted with certain elements like the strong free jazz influence. Personally I find it extremely easy to immerse myself into the cosmos of "Éons". The artwork and packaging of both the CD and vinyl version is fittingly stunning.

Even though this article is supposed to be about studio albums and this one has already been at the top of my favorite live albums category, the vast relevance of TRIPTYKON's Roadburn collaboration with the METROPOLE ORKEST just has to be acknowledged here again. Because Thomas Gabriel Fischer's "Requiem" is not just a great live documentation of some show, but a monumental doom legacy which sets a new high standard of artistic integrity for any metal band working with a classical orchestra in the future.    

The hardest working band in Scandinavian rock music, MOTORPSYCHO, has put out a new double album this year and naturally "The All Is One" once again sees the Norwegians rocking heavy, masterly, tasteful and just larger than life. Especially the album inside the album "N.O.X.", which could almost have been written by Magma, is another pinnacle in Motorpsycho's oeuvre. Be prepared to shake your whole body with your mouth wide open in amazement!

It's hard to imagine that 2020 has seen another record from Norway, which albeit leaning stronger towards jazz fusion not only shares a lot of spirit and influences with "The All Is One", but is partly even superior in its musical language. Enter HEDVIG MOLLESTAD's masterpiece "Ekhidna"! Anyone who has ever seen or heard the prog/jazz/blues/rock/metal guitar player with her regular Trio knows that she's a virtuoso - here she also proves that she's just as stellar as a composer and arranger.

I don't think that I've purchased any album old or new this year, which sounds anywhere near the ambitious collection of intelligent earworm songs that is "The Quiet Earth" by THE ACADEMY OF SUN. I still find it hard to label this diverse work from Nick Hudson, who also co-created my favorite - and totally different - download-only album of the year. Post punk meets 80s synth pop meets singer/songwriter piano artrock? Partly akin to Cohen, Bowie, Cave, Palmer, Bush, Amos, but never losing its own identity in the process, this album is pouring  with artistic vision.

Wow, this section has already grown longer than expected and there are still some candidates clearly worthy of being featured here. But let's close this with the hands-down best fucking metal album of the year!

On "Alphaville" IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT marry Voivod, The Residents and New York City within a context of abrasive, excessive, uncomfortable, disharmonic, jazzy black metal and adorn it with cineastic choirs, classical influences, barbershop vocals, teiko drums and whatever else fits into their unscrupulously brutal retrofuturistic concept. This knots your mind and just absolutely slays!

II. BASH AND BRUTALIZE MY BLACKENED SOUL!

Imperial Triumphant already set the brainfucking tone for the following bunch of 2020 favorites. Apart from certain jazz artists my preferred more is more music these days mostly manifests in the shape of black metal being soaked in avant-garde for maximal synaptic overkill. Music that mangles and mindfucks you, but does it in a cathartic way, before it spits you out innocent like a cleansed baby.

ORANSSI PAZUZU as guests on many end-of-the-year lists are an obvious opener here. And what can I say (again and again)? The hype around these Finnish black metal meets psychotic psychedelic masters couldn't be more justified. "Mestarin Kynsi" is a sick, hypnotic and innovative masterpiece and definitely ranks among my top 5 metal releases of this year.

There have been albums however that went much further into diverse sonic worlds, where part of the evil madness is that you can never be sure what sounds and influences might come into play at any given moment.

French prolific multi-instrumentalist hermit Asthâghul aka ESOCTRILIHUM seems to thrive under covid quarantine conditions. "Eternity Of Shaog" is yet another multi-faceted collision of demonic spheres. The album is more "musical" than and not as maelstromy as its predecessor "The Telluric Ashes of the Ö Vrth Immemorial Gods" though. So if you're missing that element of super exaggerated cacophony here, you might find some of it in the following avant-garde black metal project from Brazil...

Yet what BRÍI has put onto tape in four mammoth tracks on "Entre Tudo que é Visto e Oculto" goes far beyond an amalgam of extreme metal and brutal noise, as it just as importantly embraces tangerine dreamish ambient, meditative robot voices and trance-enducing club beats among lots of other crazy influences which come together much more fluid than you would expect.

Dialing down the atmospheric evil a bit and jumping right into the ball pit of blatant silly fun while still keeping the music top-notch, there's no way around IGORRR's "Spirituality And Distortion". Death metal, breakbeat, cembalo, chanson, opera, polka, accordeon music... If it's seemingly impossible or too stupid to mix - Igorrr has it on this double album and it rules!    

Of course as every year some of the most insane releases bear the hallmarks of Otto Kokke and René Aquarius, who have unleashed sick shit not only as Dead Neanderthals, but also in other bands and projects. Excluding the new year's eve EP "Cosmic Slime" here, my favorite neanderthal-related recordings are the following tape trinity of lunacy, with each and every album being a top contender for the number one spot of sick sick sickest shit of 2020:

At its core there isn't much new or "out there" on "Nightmare Traversal" by CRYPTAE. Most of this is just pure rotting, fundamentalistic old school death metal with a pinch of grindcore. But the distortion is so excessive, its sound is so misanthropically ferocious that it initially feels like something completely different and alien. What a frenzied and oppressive beast!

Another duo featuring René Aquarius is PLAGUE ORGAN. Their fourty minutes long one-track album "Orphan" can probably only be loved or despised as a nerve-racking abomination. The description "meditative sounds and ominous drones mixed with throat singing, buried under a relentless annoying thrash rhythm" can only theoretically scratch on the surface of what this really is. If you pull it off to get into the zone, this album can take you to unexpected places.

"Sleep Forever", a collaboration of both Dead Neanderthals members with black metal musician Vitriol (Ulveblod) under the moniker MILTVUUR takes you to one particular place. Combined with horror synths, black metal guitars and samples this is probably the most disturbing display of the classic Neanderhal sax & drums extreme free jazz. 
As I said in my review: Satan's cover version of John Coltrane's "Ascension". A Butterfahrt through hell. Terminal buffet with well done children roast inclusive. 

III.  ISN'T HALF OF THIS ALREADY ABOUT THE J-WORD?

Jazz is definitely my number one music when it comes to adding classic albums to my collection. So most of my jazz discoveries of 2020 are actually from the 1950s up to the 1970s. But of course there is also some awesome new stuff, with most of my favorites (of which some have already been discussed above) being some kind of fusion or genre crossers.

The most bonkers - and thus the best jazz record to continue after the abysmal madness of Miltvuur - certainly is "Allt Är Intet", a heavy jazz/noise/prog fusion tour de force to end all avant-garde jazz records by the immensly unique Swedish/Norwegian/Ethiopian quintet THE END. Especially the vocal acrobatics of this album are not from this reality.

If this was an all-genres TOP list like in previous years the following three masterpieces would still all have made it into the TOP 10:

After decades of being led by now ninety-six years young sax and electric wind instrument whirlwind Marshall Allan, the SUN RA ARKESTRA has finally released a studio album! "Swirling"  honors all those years the master has watched the legendary free jazz big band from the Jupiterian distance with vivid and fresh interpretation which surely make him proud.

Jazz mostly in instrumentation, while the atmospheric and hypnotically repetive nature of the three longtracks on "Three" also opens doors to post rock, psych and ambient, you're pretty safe just calling the style of Australian trio THE NECKS "post jazz". Anyone who feels somehow receptice to musical trance should give this one a listen!

With each of its four pieces backed by a different drummer jazz/dub/funk/experimental giant BILL LASWELL has gathered a true spiritual free jazz rock fusion supergroup on "Against Empire". Pharoah Sanders, Herbie Hancock and Red Hot Chili Pepper Chad Smith are only the biggest household names on this amazingly rich tapestry of musical perfection.

Urgent, deep and serious in its topics, yet sprawling infectious positivity is "Shaman!" by IDRIS ACKAMOOR & THE PYRAMIDS. Led by the saxophone veteran, who also plays the keytar and does spoken word and lead vocal performances, this double album is a catchy firestorm breathing the Africanisms of Sun Ra and Alice Coltrane as well as exploding in soulful funk.

And speaking of soul...

IV. BATHE ME IN BEAUTY AND SOOTHE MY SOUL!  

I have no idea how I would have endured the struggles of this shit show of a year without music to catch me. This section is dedicated to the best records to embrace you with waves of longing, melancholy, beauty and/or transcendence. And for the first one we'll stay in the world of jazz for one last time:

The misleading thing about the term "doomjazz" is that it doesn't necessarily describe a jazz subgenre, but rather a form of ambient soundtrack or slow post rock music. The grand masters BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE however have never gone as full-on jazz as on the long-awaited "Patchouli Blue" before, while still cherishing those twinpeak-ish qualities which make you want to slowdance with Audrey Horne at the Roadhouse. Almost too beautiful to be true.

Ominously droning and definitely darker than "Pachouli Blue" - but then also heavenly illuminated when it wants to be - is ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF's magical organ-only instrumental album "All Thoughts Fly". When it comes to visceral excapism there are only few who can take it up with Anna, whose band Bada also released one of the best doom/drone/psychedlic albums of year with their self-tiled debut.

Related in its long-winding droning approach and its love for the details in the timbre of its instruments, yet aiming even more at a meditative effect  is "Ajaeng Ajaeng" by the experimental composer EYVIND KANG. While pieces like the title track, which only consists of two Korean court music zithers roaring and crackling around each other for half an hour, may seem challenging at first, this turns out to be an enormously soul-cleansing and peaceful experience.

So far all these have been instrumental albums. If you need a human voice to tell you that everything will be ok, none is more believable than that of epic post rock singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist A.A. WILLIAMS. Even though "Forever Blue" features some surprsingly harsh passages (partly with help of Cult Of Luna's Johannes Persson) this whole debut LP is a thing of perfect strong and vulnerable emotional beauty.

Man, consequent escapism is hard! Somehow Williams' melancholy is still rooted in this world.
What if I really want to go full fairies and fantasy? Enter MYRKUR's "Folkesange"! Giving herself fully to Scandinavian folk music (and pausing black metal for this release completely) the Danish artist exhales a feathery light clarity,  while the compositions still feel grounded in ancient substance. 

 

V. YEAR OF DOOM, YEAR OF GLOOM 

No, you cannot fully blind out how bleak and dark 2020 was. So fuck it, let's fully immerse in doom and related sounds of angst!

Since I already snuck Bada into the text above we'll have to start this with the most existentially desperate sludge and doom chunk one could carve out the year. "Monad" by the Dutch two-basses-plus-drums trio FARER (ex-Menhir) pulverizes your body in slow motion and thrusts the remaining particles into the void, where they will suffer for the rest of eternity.

One of my earliest purchases of the year and still justifying my unconditional love for it is INSECT ARK's instrumental doom/drone album "The Vanishing". Yet another band without the usual guitars (Dana Schechter plays bass and lap-steel guitar instead) the duo's nightmartish sound among many other influences merges swansy grooves with the broad Western feel of Dylan Carlson.

Moving away from metal or even rock entirely the Polish sounds craftsman SAMUTEK delivers the soundtrack for an imaginary remake of "The Blairwitch Project" with the aesthetics of "Mandy", taking place inside the pitch-black jungle of Malaysia in the experimental dark ambient and drone collages of "Omamy". If phantasmagoric paranormal horror isn't a fitting mood for our times, then what the flute is?

A beast stylistically related to Farer, but leading its ultra-distorted sludge/doom premise to a conclusion closer to the epic form of SubRosa, while being unapologetically grim and punishing are VILE CREATURE. Infused with a personal and politically aware hardcore spirit "Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm!" features one of my favorite metal songs the year with the second of its two title tracks. Feral!

A bit of a stretch in this section which doesn't necessarily scream for classic sword-wielding heavy metal are CIRITH UNGOL. But come on, these cult legends were predecessors and trailblazers of death and doom and above all their first studio full-lenth album after almost thirty years is one of the strongest comebacks imaginable. It's not rocket science, it's meeetaaaal, but boy, everything about "Forever Black" is fucking phenomenal!

And of course I'm also transitioning to my final segment....  

VI. ONLY ROCK WILL PSYCH US NOW!

Here are my standout recommendations in both hard and psychedelic rock, with both directions overlapping here and there anyway:

It's no surprise that DOOL's "Summerland" has always been safe among my absolute favorites since its release in April. Even without even trying to write a second "Oweynagat" the Dutch dark rock band around charismatic leader Ryanne van Dorst stays on the top of their game. It's a shame that none of this material could be promoted live so far. With the traction of Dool's fantastic shows this album would surely gained a lot more of the attention it deserves.

There's no way to say Dool and then keep quiet about "Through The Hollow" from the band which has even stronger connections to the legacy of The Devil's Blood. Featuring none other than Farida Lemouchi on vocals MOLASSESS (now with an extra S at the end!) have released an incredibly strong debut double album filled with mesmerizing hypnotic occult rock that embraces Selim's memory, yet still finds its own voice.

Gathered in covid-proof distance around a car on a graveyard, as you do these days, LUCIFER continue on their path deeper into classic hard rock of the 1970s on their aptly titled third full-length "Lucifer III". Johanna's vocals still get better with each release, but on this one especially the crispy, powerful, yet still very vintage-spirited production fills my ears with joy. Not to forget that every song on "III" is a memorable hit.

My review of CAMEL DRIVER's "\ /" (aka "Camel Toe" or whatever you prefer the title to be) is probably one of my greatest writings hits of the year. And why not? Word about the bone dry, yet extremely fluid mixture of fuzzy power trio stoner rock, prog metal, post rock and Arabisms the Northern German instrumental group displays here, has to be spread far beyond the Baltic Sea desert. 

A titanic hybrid of D. Manhattan, Thanos and Conan dragging a ridiculously oversized sword behind him on a cold rock somewhere in the midst of space. One of the most noticeable and most fitting cover artworks of this year adorns the double album "Ummon" by the ultra-energetic French spacerock trio SLIFT. Injected with heavy doses of stoner rock, doom metal and punk the drive and rawness of this essential psych release severely (yet lovingly) kicks your small mortal ass.

Radar Men Against The Machine! The ever shapeshiftig Dutch RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON aka RMFTM once again morphed their sound and the result on "The Bestial Light" is the most urgent and aggressive the band has ever been. That's not only due to two drummers supporting the heavy bass and psychotic guitar licks and riffs, but also the result of adding a seriously angry shouter to the mix. This album is an excellently pissed brutal hate chunk with an unmistakable robotik kraut note.

After these two punishments let me end this whole long thingy with a comparatively rather mellow psych release by the Finnish band PERMANENT CLEAR LIGHT: "Cosmic Comics" masterfully moves from rubbersoulish Beatles worship over kraftwerkian synth rock to classic prog and jazzy vibes. An album just as dreamy as beautiful as diverse and intriguing.

And here's a YouTube playlist which features most of the albums and also stuff from my previous MUSIC 2020 segments.

     

TEMPLE FANG - Live at Merleyn (reprise)

Ich habe das Album ja schon im vergangenen Juli als Download gepriesen, doch zu Weihnachten haben die niederländischen Spacerocker noch eine zweite Vinylpressung ihres Debüt(!)-Livealbums rausgehauen. Transparenter Tonträger, Hülle handgestempelt und -nummeriert.

Tracklist, Credits etc.? Mit solchen Kleinigkeiten hält man sich nicht auf. Hauptsache, das Ding sieht super aus und die Musik ist fantastisch. Hätte es jetzt wohl auch in meine Lieblings-Livealbum 2020 geschafft.

MONO - Scarlet Holliday

Short and sweet and beauteous.

MONO - Scarlet Holliday (download) (2020)

Maybe that's all that needs to be said about this appr. twelve minute / two tracks Christmas gift from the Japanese instrumental post rock institution Mono.

"Scarlet Holliday" and "First Winter" are both meant to elevate you into a state of hope and melancholic joy. They both could have turned too kitschy in lesser hands, but since Mono are masters at their craft, this just brings pure unfiltered peace and happiness.

Dōmo arigatōgozaimashita!

J. ZUNZ - Hibiscus

There is no Bandcamp Friday this month, but since it will come back in February and it would be today, just let me recommend a couple of more digital releases, starting with a solo project from the Mexican artist Lorena Quintanilla:

J. ZUNZ - Hibiscus (download) (2020)

J. Zunz,  as the musician calls herself here, paints some quite abstract and minimalistic pictures on this album. Utilizing the language of electronics the results often have a cool and distant effect, but even though she doesn't try to bridge the gap to the listener with her voice, you can't help and feel the humanity in it.

Combining kraftwerkian sounds with vocal experimentalism and hypnotic approaches from the realms of ambient and psych, overall "Hibiscus" still remains a somehow enigmatic and rather intellectual affair, but that doesn't make the short album (about half an hour) less valuable.

No, this is actually quite intriguing.

And of course the great song title "America Is A Continent" represents a thought that probably everyone outside of The United States has had at some point.

DARK SKY BURIAL - Omisoka

So here we are. 2021.

It's just another number. Things won't get significantly better. No, most shit in this world will probably continue to get worse.

But on some fronts there are glimpses of hope now, I will admit that.

DARK SKY BURIAL - Omisoka (download) (2020)

In that spirit it's fitting to start this year new with a new track from Shane Embury aka Dark Sky Burial, which embodies it in a similar way as the sound of his stunning debut "De Omnibus Dubitandum Est" was a fitting descriptive soundtrack for the struggles we've all gone through during the previous twelve months.

"Omisoka" keeps parts of the dark and cold base of that sound and lets it blossom into something light and honestly hopeful.

Nothing wrong about staring into the diffuse dawn of the unknown with your soul embraced in the bliss of yearning electronic post rock.

Do I need to disclaim that this sounds nothing like Napalm Death? So this is not automatically for fans of the grindcore / pioneers. It's great to hear Embury flex his talents beyond his band though.

DEAD NEANDERTHALS - Cosmic Slime

2020. Phew.

But maybe all this wasn't that bad after all. As long as the annual tradition of the Dead Neanderthals releasing a digital EP on December 31st is carried on, it can't be, right?

DEAD NEANDERTHALS - Cosmic Slime (download) (2020)

"A new cosmos is born."

That's how elaborate Otto Kokke (this time synth and tenor saxophone) and Rene Aquarius (drums and vocals) are giving us insight into this twenty-seven minute track's concept.

Fair enough. A new cosmos is pretty much what we need for an acceptable fresh start right now. And if that sounds like this slow grinding and Sunn O))) style droning giant slug the duo is joyfully / painfully dragging through our ears and the space between, I'm all for it. No second thoughts, man.

While most of the time "Cosmic Slime" is dominated by the brutal distorted keyboard (which we already came to love on "Blood Rite") and very slow and minimal drumming, there are some moments of opening up. Above all there's one of the if not brightest then at least bohren & der club of gorest melancholic saxophone passages, we've ever heard from these musical extremists. And towards the end we're transcending into some majestic dungeon synth grandiosity without sacrificing the punishing crunchy core of the track.

Fuck, this rules. One of the best drones of 2020 for sure.

MUSIC 2020: TOP 5 reissues

And here's the next installment of my look back on music in 2020! After the TOP 7 cancelled live shows, stream recommendations and favorite downloads, and my TOP 7 EPs plus TOP 6 live albums this was supposed to be the post about all the rest of categories before I get to the big one, the studio albums.

But then I saw that I had neither purchased enough singles nor splits or whatever to justify a respective list. Last category standing was my favorite cassettes. But realizing that most of those tapes would eventually be mentioned among my favorite albums anyway, I ditched that too.

So now there are only my favorite re-releases left. Good for you I guess, because it's less shit to read, right?

TOP 5 reissues 2020:

1. LAIBACH - Laibach
   
   
   
   Of course. What else did you expect here? Alongside the long awaited revisited versions of their early 1980s' Slovenian classics and a live record, which both are previously unreleased elements of it, the core of the monumental "Laibach Revisited" 5 LP box is this ultimate remaster of their 1985 debut album, which includes several bonus (and thus a total of twenty) tracks. Presented in a sound which can rival any production of the following decades, "Laibach" remains an industrial music essential and a feral, demonic, historic, yet still burning relevant experience.
   Yet since this remaster is exclusively available in this quite pricy package, anyone who's only interested in the debut might rightfully consider sticking to the thirteen tracks of the last re-release from 1999 though.
   
   
   
   
2. WINTER - Into Darkness / Eternal Frost
   
   
   
   With its weird yet certainly somehow effective production choices and a bleakness unknown to metal at the time of its first release in 1990, Winter's "Into Darkness" has become a cult classic especially among fans of mean doom death ever since. Even though I think there would have been enough space for lyrics in the booklet, Svart Records' two LP release, which also contains the "Eternal Frost" demo, does this cold, harsh and slooow masterpiece justice. Definitely one of the metal albums I listened to the most this year.
   
   
   
   
3. THE MOUNT FUJI DOOMJAZZ CORPORATION - Succubus
   
   
   
   Denovali Records has done a whole series of reissues (and will probably continue to do so in 2021) of the Dutch doomjazz collective The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble and its darker, more improvisational alter ego The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation. Six double albums so far, yet I must admit I haven't listened to them all yet, as the two latest ones ("Here Be Dragons" and "Anthropomorphic") are due to delivery in January. Since these coloured vinyl variants all look and sound great so far, I'm just leaving it at my recent personal favorite from each alias in this list.
   Clearly my number one among those is "Succubus". With its dark seductive trombones and guitars is the ultimate soundtrack to a film noire in slow motion. If you ever get asked what doomjazz is, this work from 2009 might be one of the best possible answers.
   
   
   
4. THE KILIMANJARO DARKJAZZ ENSEMBLE - I Foresee The Dark Ahead, If I Stay
   
   
   
   Technically not a "real" album, but rather a compilation of previous work plus some unreleased extras "I Foresee The Dark Ahead, If I Stay" is a surprisingly cohesive listening experience while showcasing the full stylistic spectrum of the Ensemble. Between light swing and elegiac winds of doom, from electronic ambient to Jason Köhnen's heavily distorted bass this is a potentially worthwhile release for anyone with interest in smooth jazz fusion, neoclassical music, post and psychedelic rock and droning experimentalism.
   
   
   
5. WANG WEN - 0.7
   
   
   

   My favorite Chinese post rock band has put out a new album this year, which I have admittedly only given little attention so far, because it hasn't been released in physical form yet. And Wang Wen always have these beautiful vinyl packages! Just look at this new edition of "0.7", originally released in 2012, with its gorgeous art booklet - and above all listen to how the fantastic compositions of this amazing album combine epic post rock with strings, prog, jazz and many other elements! I just love this group.
   
   
   
   

DIE ÄRZTE - Hell

Ok, wen das hier interessiert, der hat sich höchstwahrscheinlich eh schon eingedeckt. Aber was soll's, schaden kann mein Senf zum neuen Ärzte-Album ja auch nicht.

DIE ÄRZTE - Hell (Hardcover-Buch CD) (2020)

Im Grunde ist alles wie immer. Man wundert sich, dass seit dem letzten Werk schon wieder drölfzig Jahre vergangen sind und weiß eigentlich schon ziemlich gut vorher, was einen erwartet. Denn BelaFarinRod haben ja alle ihre ein, zwei Handvoll Signatursongs im Repertoire, die sie in Variationen immer wieder abrufen können.

So haben z.B. wir auch hier wieder Rods ironischen Punksong, Rod kryptisch melancholisch mit Reim auf "fatal", von Bela irgendwas mit Kunst, irgendwas mit Bier und "Ruhig Angehen 2.0".
Von Farin gibt's wie immer etwas mehr, weil Farin halt ein Streber ist. U.a. Reflektionen über Instrumentenwahl und Körperausdehnung, das neueste Addendum zu "Westerland", Liebe alleine, "Liebe gegen rechts" oder das wirklich ganz unironisch zu Herzen gehende Liebeslied.

Soweit so bekannt. Aber auch großenteils so gut.
Klar, wie immer gibt es zwei, drei Dinger, um die man die insgesamt achtzehn Tracks problemlos kürzen könnte, aber im Großen und Ganzen machen Ärzte immer Freude. Dass die Comedyfrequenz nicht mehr so hoch ist wie zu "Planet Punk"-Zeiten ist zwar schade, aber angesichts der instrumentalen Performance zu verkraften.

Den einzigen richtigen großen Brüller - vor allem wenn man die Texte im Booklet mitliest - sparen Die Ärzte sich ganz bis zum Schluss auf, als es in "Woodburger" um das Infiltrieren der fucking AfD geht. Was nämlich während des funky fickmusikalischen Refrains zu lesen und zu hören ist, geht brilliant auseinander. Überhaupt der geile herbiehancocksche Schluss des Albums. Fetzt!

Insgesamt würde ich sagen, dass "Hell" ein solides Wohlfühlalbum für Fans ist. Man freut sich halt immer, wenn die Berufsdebilen zurück sind.

Gut aufgemacht ist das Ding auch. Alexa gefällt das.

VILE CREATURE - Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm!

"Sink, suffer, regret, shame"

"Let it in

Apathy claws at our doors, let it in"

"I am home among the worms

All we care for withers

Plant me deep within the darkness

With grace and mercy I shall bloom"

"No worms were harmed during the making of the album art."

VILE CREATURE - Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm! (Sky Blue vinyl LP) (2020)

Ok, nach Farers nihilistischem Zeitlupenkometeneinschlag "Monad" wird es nun Zeit, über ein anderes ähnlich garstiges Sludge/Doom-Ungetüm zu schreiben.

Auch hier ist es der Saitensound, der wahrscheinlich sofort entscheidet, ob man bleibt oder geht, denn die Gitarre ist hier dermaßen repressiv, dass alles andere sich notgedrungen mit gewaltiger Mühe gegen die unterdrückende Macht dieser Audioinkarnation der Kröte aus "Pans Labyrinth" aufzulehnen scheint.

Alles andere - und das ist einer der erstaunlichsten Aspekte  dieses Albums - ist dabei zumeist bemerkenswert wenig. In den ersten zwei Dritteln sind es neben der Gitarre tatsächlich nur Drums, Urgeschrei und ein paar Synthesizertexturen, mit denen es das Duo aus Vic Creature und KW Campol allerdings irgendwie schafft, eine Dringlichkeit und erzählerische Epochalität zu erzeugen, die an die instrumental viel breiter aufgestellten SubRosa erinnert.

Was für eine Steigerung stellt es da noch dar, wenn schließlich im finalen Doppel aus den Titeltracks "Glory, Glory!" und "Apathy Took Helm!" mit Orgel, Klavier und vor allem dem Sologesang von Laurel Minnes und himmlischen Chören tatsächlich auch in den Arrangements zum erhabenen neoklassischen Gothictouch von Gruppen wie Lotus Thief aufgeschlossen wird und sich dabei wohl einer der stärksten Metaltracks des Jahres aus dem Sumpf erhebt.

Ein gewaltiges Ding, welches sich aktuell zurecht auf vielen Jahresendlieblingsalbenaufzählungslisten wiederfindet. Und optisch macht dieses Ding fernab vom üblichen Metal-Einerlei auch was her:

Zum Abschluss erinnere ich auch gerne noch einmal an das neulich schon von mir empfohlene Livestream-Konzert des Albums:

Vile Creature Live Show Master Cut from Vile Creature on Vimeo.

THE END - Allt Är Intet

Ich glaube ja nicht, dass ich es noch etwas gibt, was ich über die Jazz/Prog/Noiserock-Gruppe The End sagen kann, das generell angesichts so viel Advantgarde die Nase rümpfende Zweifler dazu bewegt, doch mal reinzuhören - bzw. das tendenziell interessierte Musiknerds davon abhält, eben dies zu tun.

Das hier ist gekonnte, große, großartig eingespielte, aber eben auch extrem irrsinnige Kunst.

THE END - Allt Är Intet (dark tourquoise vinyl LP) (2020)

Dabei geht das zweite volle Album der Gruppe ja durchaus ruhig los. Doch schon diese größtmögliche Annäherung an Vocal Jazz der Marke Nina Simone erfährt nicht nur durch die stimmliche Exzentrik Sofia Jernbergs, sondern auch durch den Einsatz des Langeleik - einer norwegischen Zithervariante - eine seltsame Wendung, die bereits verspricht, dass "Allt Är Intet" kein Easy Listening für den beiläufigen Hörer wird.

Dabei stecken in den sechs Tracks durchaus eine Menge griffiger Elemente. So halten die beiden Saxophone ihre Themen oft erstaunlich lange und eingängig durch, und auch einige der nicht Bass-, sondern Baritongitarrenriffs grooven heavy wie Sau. Im Titelstück erinnert das durchaus mal an Motorpsycho.

Die schon auf der "Nedresa"-EP erkennbare Tendenz zu trotz enormer, manchmal die Fühler ins Chaos ausstreckender Komplexität doch irgendwie leichteren Nachvollziehbarkeit setzt sich auf jeden Fall fort.

Schwer festzumachen bleibt die Musik von Mats Gustafsson und Co. aber nach wie vor, und die immer wieder neue Extreme von lieblich bis Horror ("Kraka Rorde Sig Aldrig Mer") auslotende Stimmakrobatik Jernbergs macht die Aufgabe nicht leichter.
Auf diesem Album geht die Entwicklung der Sängerin so weit, dass selbst vorige von mir verwendete Vergleiche zu Mike Patton, Youn Sun Nah und Diamanda Galas mir nicht mehr als Näherung geeignet scheinen. Unglaublich, was für Darbietungen sie hier vom Stapel lässt!

Wer auf anspruchsvolle Beklopptika, die irgendwie mit Jazz und irgendwie mit heftigem Scheiß in Verbindung stehen abgeht, der muss hier ein Ohr riskieren. Viel weiter geht es nach The End in diese Richtung nämlich nicht mehr. Wirklich gutes Zeug!


Das Artwork folgt der Ästhetik der beiden vorigen Veröffentlichungen und auch die Schallplatte präsentiert sich wieder in einem schönen Blauton. 

FARER - Monad

In meinem Review von Tecodontions "Supercontinent" ging es gerade um eine Metalband, die statt sechssaitiger Gitarren voll auf Bass setzt. Da ergibt es Sinn, hier nun mit einem Trio aus Bassist, Bassist und Drummer fortzufahren, welches diese Prämisse  in eine vollkommen andere musikalische Vollendung überführt.

FARER - Monad (Tape) (2020)

Meine Erwartungshaltung an Farers Debütalbum war ziemlich hoch, hießen die Niederländer doch bis Mitte letzten Jahres noch Menhir und haben mich unter diesem Banner nicht nur auf der kleinsten Roadburn-Bühne überzeugt, sondern mit "Hiding In Light" auch - ohne Scheiß und Übertreibung - eine meiner liebsten EPs aller Zeiten rausgebracht.

Wenig überraschend kommt der Namenswechsel durchaus mit einer gewissen Neuausrichtung im Gepäck. So ist das spacige Element, welches vorher noch die Stilbezeichnung "Astro Sludge" rechtfertigte, weitgehend verschwunden oder hat sich zumindest in eine andere, noch näher am Schwarzen Loch verortbare Form gewandelt. Auch der tiefe Brüllgesang, der mich so wohlig an Saw Throat erinnert hatte, ist einem höheren, heisereren und existentiell gepeinigteren Schreien gewichen.

Überhaupt steigert sich die Band nun viel mehr in die zähen und schmerzhaften Elemente ihres Sounds.

Die vier Tracks von "Monad", deren kryptische Titel "Phanes", "Asulon", "Moros" und "Elpis" allesamt von The Hirsch Effekt stammen könnten, sind jeweils über zwölf Minuten lange, ungemein garstige Sludge/Doom-Metal-Brocken. Das Drumming entwickelt dabei auch mal Industrial- und Tribal-Qualitäten, die mich an meine persönliche Heilige-Grals-Industrialmetalband Skin Chamber erinnert, während jener Bass, der eher die traditionelle Gitarrenrolle übernimmt, oft schnelles Post- bis Blackmetal-Strumming über die langsam pulsierenden Grooves legt.

Es entsteht ein ständiger Sog, langsam aber unentrinnbar, als ob man sich in Zeitlupe im Moor versinken sieht. Wobei jene Erfahrung sicherlich weniger kathartische Qualitäten besitzt als dieses Album. Allein dieser auf allen Frequenzen den gesamten Körper durchdringende Klang der beiden Bässe zieht einen unweigerlich ganz tief in das Album hinein und sortiert einem die subatomaren Bestandteile neu. Eine beeindruckende Produktionsgroßtat!

Dass Farer sich jedoch nicht auf die Macht dieses Schauwertes alleine verlassen, sondern ihre Stücke auch noch mit intelligentem Songwriting und emotionaler Substanz untermauern, macht dieses Album zu einem der größten Metalhighlights des Jahres, welches mich sogar noch mehr packt als das stilistisch in vielerlei Hinsicht ähnliche und ebenfalls oft überirdisch erhabene Momente mit gleichzeitiger Hässlichkeit konterkarierende "Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm!" von Vile Creature.

Aber dieser über Minuten gezogene sloooow fade ins Dumpfe am Ende ist echt ultrafies.

Was für ein monströses Biest!

Die Kassettenhülle ist nicht die praktikabelste Lösung, sieht aber schick aus und ist immerhin zugänglicher als der jahrelang von mir nicht geöffnete Gummimonolith von Menhir.

Gerade erst von mir entdeckt - sonst wär es ein klarer Fall für meine Stream-Empfehlungen 2020 gewesen -, haben Farer das komplette Album übrigens auch einmal komplett live im Nichts eines leeren Musikclubs aufgeführt:

Ob auf Tape, CD oder nur digital - wenn es so etwas wie Pflichtalben gibt, dann zählt "Monad" für mich ganz klar dazu!

DRUTURUM - Druturum VI: Tightrope Walkers on the Junction of Memory, Dream and Oblivion

 

Und da ist sie seit gestern nun endlich, die neue Veröffentlichung von DruturuM!

Da diesmal ja von Anfang an klar war, dass es keine Liveversion vor Publikum geben würde, sondern dass die im Proberaum aufgenommene, mit Videomaterial aufgehübschte Aufnahme die alleinige, endgültige Version sein würde, haben wir auf einen Zusatz wie "home session" verzichtet.

Eingespielt wurde natürlich trotzdem alles live, wobei wir allerdings nicht alle Tracks am Stück angegangen sind, sondern "druturum VI-II" eine Woche später aufgenommen haben.
Hier können Filmfehler-Nerds dann auch einen continuity error finden, weil die Drum-Kamera leider nach fünf Minuten aufgegeben hatte und ich somit später etwas Bildmaterial vom vorigen Take verbraten musste. Man muss aber schon genau hinschauen, hehe.

Musikalisch ist es super ruhig und reduziert geraten, so dass ständige Nebengeräusche wie Tastenanschläge und Hockerknacken zur Performance dazugehören. Dafür konnten wir das Ganze ganz geringaufwendig mit nur einem Stereomikrofon aufzeichnen.

So ein bisschen kann man sagen, dass es sich bei den drei Stücken um eine Mischung aus Post- und Psychrock, Doomjazz und Elementen von Earth und Anna von Hausswolff in minimalistischer Hausmusikadaption inklusive einer gesunden Prise Dilletantismus handelt - was aber einige erstaunlich große Gefühle nicht ausschließt!

Nicht zuletzt durch das Video-Editing ist die Instrumentaltrilogie auch zu einer Art Requiem für unsere Großeltern geworden, die beide während der Zeit, in der "Druturum VI" entstanden ist, verstorben sind.


Dies sind die Videos:

Und während ich während einer der letzten Besuche im großelterlichen Garten noch Material für einen Trailer schoss, passierte ganz antizyklisch zur Grundstimmung noch etwas witziges:

Den Stream / Download von "Druturum VI: Tightrope Walkers on the Junction of Memory, Dream and Oblivion" gibt es wie immer auf Bandcamp, wo auch noch weitere englischsprachige Liner Notes zu finden sind.

Außerdem ist dort auch der im Video zu sehende 60 x 60 cm Leinwandruck des Covers als einmaliger Merch-Artikel zu erwerben:

MUSIC 2020: my favorite live albums and EPs

Oh no, yet another end-of-the-year list category which makes me cry inside! Well, let's be grateful that at least we have the conserved memories of times when music was performed live in front of an audience, ok?

I've already covered quite a bunch of live releases in my recommended streams and favorite downloads, but now it's time to get physical with some actually touchable records.

But first let's warm up with a ranking of the best short albums / long singles (or whatever your preferred definition of an EP is) of 2020!

TOP 7 EPs:

1. VOIVOD - The End Of Dormancy
   
   
   

   With two recordings of a modified version of an already known song (studio and live) plus the live performance of a "Nothingface" classic that's been played at most shows of the last thirty years, this EP clearly doesn't win this ranking by quantity of new original material. But the vintage movie style brass treatment of "The End of Dormancy" from "The Wake", which is already one of the greatest musical journeys in Voivod's history is just just too perfectly executed. More of that jazz please!
   
   
   
2. -S- - Zabijanie Czasu I
   
   
   

   This I, Voidhanger Records release could already have been included in my favorite downloads, but since a CD version of this EP exists, I'm letting it co-lead the field here. Sporting bass, drums, vocals and clarinet this Polish group calls its style "Dark Occvult Funk", which is an astonishingly apt description of the weird mix of jazz, contemporary classic, punk, post rock and extreme metal on display on this twenty-six-minutes-track. Sick shit!
     
   
   
3. ZEAL AND ARDOR - Wake Of A Nation
   
   
   
   Powerful. That's the description you get if you want to sum up the whole message, concept and musical realization of this EP in just one word. While the songwriting and performances of Manuel Gagneux' black metal meets blues meets gospel meets electronic etc. project keeps getting more refined and mature with each release, "Wake Of A Nation" also dials up the honesty and urgency by stepping away from the alternative history of its predecessors and reacting directly to racist police violence and the direct thematization of events concerning the Black Experience like the syphilis experiments of Tuskegee.
   
   
   
4. MONO & A.A.WILLIAMS - Exit In Darkness
   
   
   

   Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Just wonderful.
   The combination of singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist A.A. Williams and Japanese post rock monumentalists Mono proved to be a meeting of minds and souls that could hardly have resulted in something more beautiful than this 10" EP. The calm patience and deep substantial emotion of these two tracks is a peaceful dream we didn't know we would need so badly, back in January, when "Exit In Darkness" came out.
   
   
   
5. THE END - Nedresa
   
   
   

   Even being a little bit more accessible and straightforward than on their debut album, The End keep establishing themselves as an extra-weird, unique brand of avant-garde jazz/prog/noise fusion on this two-track 10" EP. While almost guaranteed by the involvement of saxophon animal Mats Gustafsson, it's mostly due to Sofia Jernberg's as eclectic as technically impressive vocal performance that the Swedish quintet's music explodes with delightful insanity.  
   
   
   
6. FRA DET ONDE - feat. the Legendary Emil Nikolaisen
   
   
   

   Is this a blizzard or a firestorm? One thing's for sure: Whatever this Norwegian electric free jazz fusion trio unleashes with drums, bass and trumpet here, is guaranteed  to kick you out of your shoes if you don't brace yourself. Yet another proof that the psych and kraut label El Paraiso Records always kills the most, when its releases are going full jazz.
   
   
   
   
7. LOUISE LEMÓN - Devil
   
   
   

   Within 2020's turmoil the gothic-ish soul of Louise Lemón somehow feels like a blissful caring hug, probably even in moments when it's not even supposed to do that. But the Swedish singer's warm voice and the seemingly simple beauty of her songs is just a too irresistable island for the heart to rest a while. Most times I listen to this I immediately repeat the whole EP at least once.
   
   
   
   
   

TOP 6 LIVE ALBUMS:

1. TRIPTYKON with the METROPOLE ORKEST - Requiem (Live At Roadburn 2019)
   
   
   
   "What Triptykon have achieved here is highly remarkable and should be the universally accepted benchmark for artistic integrity and adventurous courage in any future metal / orchestra production from whoever, regardless of budget or subgenre." 
   This conclusion of my review still stands. It was a long journey from Celtic Frost's "Into The Pandemonium" to the completion of this piece for Roadburn Festival 2019, but there's no doubt that it was entirely worth the wait. In my book this is one of the most essential live recordings ever made from any metal band. Definitely worth the deluxe artbook version with vinyl, CD, DVD, bonus 7" and more extras. 
   
   
   
2. LAIBACH - Bremenmarsch: Live at Schlachthof 12.10.1987
   
   
   
   There are already plenty of Laibach live bootlegs and a couple of official releases from the 1980s around, so one could have assumed that the market for that is pretty much saturated. But who would have thought that a performance from the golden "Opus Dei" / "Macbeth" times of this phenomenal sound quality could be unearthed from the Radio Bremen archives?
   But not only the production is great here. The  show itself - with extra musicians from a theater performance the day before - is punishingly ferocious and at the same time creative and playful as fuck. Essential!
   
   

   

   Also very much worth to be honorably mentioned here is another Laibach live album, which digs even deeper into the Slovenians' past. As far as I know "Underground", a special Vier Personen performance of early years classics like "Boji", Siemens" or "Smrt Za Smrt" inside a mining tunnel in 2012, isn't available on its own though, but remains one of several good reasons to purchase the gargantuan "Laibach Revisited" box. 
   
   
   
3. ZOLA JESUS - Live At Roadburn 2018
   
   
   
   Capturing one of the most significant shows of the in my book probably strongest Roadburn edition so far and pressed on some of the most beautiful vinyl editions of 2020, this double album is a treasure inside and outside.
   Even if me experiencing it in the flesh from the center of the first row might make me a bit biased, I dare to say that the special energy of this performance for both audience and Zola Jesus herself can be felt in every moment of "Live At Roadburn 2018".
   
   
   
   
4. SENYAWA & STEPHEN O'MALLEY - Bima Makti
   
   
   
   Does this fully count as a live album? Because I suppose it's based on a live show and improved with overdubs afterwards? But who truly cares about these technicalities, when there is such a stunning gathering of ethnic and metallic drone mastership? With flutes, elements of Gamelan music and the weird vocal wanderings of Rully Shabara the Indonesian duo and the Sunn O))) guitarist  find a unique, rich, storytelling and spiritually deep tone that makes "Bima Sakti" a timeless genre masterpiece.
   
   
   
   
5. MYTHIC SUNSHIP - Changing Shapes - Live At Roadburn
   
   
   

   Recorded not only at the same festival, but also at the exact same time as Triptykon's "Requiem" the only thing the two performances clearly have in common is that they could both be descrived as monolithic in their own distinct ways. Danish fuzz wizards Mythic Sunship teamed up with "Another Shape Of Psychedelic Music" guest saxophonist Søren Skov again to recreate the feeling of said double album without sticking to the script of its songs - and boy, recreate they did! A seemless fusion of heavy psych rock with free jazz elements. 
   
   
   
   
6. KONSTRUKT & OTOMO YOSHIHIDE - Eastern Saga: Live At Tusk
   
   
   
   I think by now it's safe to say that any cooperative record the Turkish experimental free jazzers Konstrukt unleash into the wild via Karlrecords can be expected to kill it.
   This time it's a festival show they played together with Japanese guitarist Otomo Yoshihide in the UK in 2018, which shows no willingness to let either your body nor your mind rest. With two six-string players and two drummers the oriental and blatantly jazzier aspects are sometimes forced to take a backseat in favor of raw noise rock power, but as a whole these two improvisations make a very cohesive - and with all its inherent craziness still relatively accessible - avant-garde music record.
   
   
   

THECODONTION - Supercontinent

Ich weiß ja nicht, wie ihr es so mit eurem Schwarzgetöse hält, aber für mich muss Black Metal in der Regel eigentlich auch immer etwas bekloppt sein, um richtig Spaß zu machen.

Und die römische Band, aus deren Logo ich niemals den Namen Thecodontion entziffern würde, hat sowohl im lyrischen Konzept als auch der musikalischen Umsetzung diesbezüglich einiges zu bieten.

THECODONTION - Supercontinent (LP) (2020)

Dabei haben die Italiener mich zunächst ja aufgrund der Doppelbedeutung des englischen Begriffs "double bass" etwas enttäuscht, erwartete ich doch, hier mit Kontrabass gespielten Black Metal zu hören, wo es sich in Wirklichkeit halt nur um doppelten Bass - statt Gitarre - handelt. Was an sich natürlich auch schon einen eigenständigen Sound verspricht.

Und tatsächlich bieten Thecodontion einen mich sehr an die Türken Zifir erinnernden Gegensatz aus sympathisch rumpeliger Schrammeligkeit und erstaunlich episch erhabenen Leadmomenten, der hier tatsächlich noch krasser ausfällt, da der Bass im grummelnden tiefen Riffmodus halt noch viel urtümlicher kratzt und poltert, während er in lichten Momenten sehr an die ihrerseits von Klassik und Cliff Burton beeinflussten Bell Witch erinnert. Nur hier eben in so gar nicht begräbnisdoomigem Umfeld.

Nein, das Konzept von Thecodontion ist eher ausgrabend, beschäftigt sich die Gruppe inhaltlich doch mit der irdischen Frühgeschichte. Auf diesem Konzeptalbum geht es spezifisch um die Geographie und Entwicklungen des vor den heutigen Erdteilen existenten Superkontinents, der folglich auch auf dem Cover abgebildet ist. Ihr merkt schon, die Band spinnt kein großes Geheimnis um ihre Idee.

Aber was erzählt so eine Black Metal-Gruppe denn nun für Geschichten aus einer Frühzeit, in der es kaum Leben gab, das deren Protagonist sein könnte?
Mythische lovecraftsche Urmächte, die um das zukünftige Schicksal des Planeten kämpfen? Besuch satanischer Aliens oder Aufstieg und Fall vergessener Dämonenvölker?

Die Antwort ist einfach: nichts. Thecodontion sind nämlich eher so die in die Lehrerin verknallten Erdkundeschüler, die ein für die Klassenstufe viel zu detailversessenes Referat halten und einfach alles aufzählen, was sie über Namen, Lage, Entdeckung, Flora, Fauna etc. von Ur, Lerova, Rodinia etc. wissen.
Dass dieser Vortrag statt von einem verliebt stammelnden Fünftklässler in bösem Gekrächze dargeboten wird, ist natürlich komisch, aber in seiner kompromisslosen Nerdigkeit eben auch geiler Scheiß, der der Band im Zusammenhang mit der irgendwie urigen, aber trotzdem auch innovativen und einfach schweineguten Musik eine dicken lächelnden Vollmond mit Sternchen ins Hausaufgabenheft einbringt.

Ich finde es jedenfalls so gut, dass ich mir das in der von mir gewählten Edition beiliegende Poster an die Wand gehängt habe.

Zu dem Paket gehörte übrigens auch die ein Jahr ältere Debüt-Single "Jurassic" auf der das ganze Ding bei weitem noch nicht so ausgereift ist und noch recht unbeholfen scheppert.
Weil es aber so lustig ist, will ich hier mal die Songtitel jenes Kleinods aufführen, die sich alle - ebenfalls in sachlich Fakten zu Entdeckung und Physiologie aufzählender Referatmanier - mit jeweils einem Lebewesen auseinandersetzen:

"Normannognathus Wellnhoferi"
"Rhamphorhynchus Muensteri"
"Barosaurus Lentus"
"Breviparopus Taghbaloutensis"

Hach, das müsste meinem Neffen (im "Dinosaurier-Alter") eigentlich gefallen, haha.