Hello, dear readers. It’s Staff Infections time. Fortunately, no antibiotics will be needed. Staff Infections is just the clever(?) name we at Last Rites have given to our monthly roundup of staff playlists. We listen to wonderful music, and you read about it and are hopefully inspired to check out said music. That’s how it’s supposed to work, anyway.
This month, however, my colleagues have pissed in the punch bowl. You see, Devin Townsend’s new album, Empath, topped the playlists this month, and I fucking hate Devin Townsend. Not personally, just as an artist and public figure. He’s a visionary, a creative genius, a generational talent, even. I don’t give a shit. Fuck him. Why do I hate him so much? Well, I saw him on Headbangers’ Ball years and years ago when he was singing for Stever Vai, and he annoyed the shit out of me. Fast forward to the new millennium and Devin, and whatever candy-assed prog album he happened to release in any given year, always placed somewhere near the top of the Metal Review / Last Rites year-end lists. Prog rock is fine…for other people, not so much for me. But I always begrudged the places Devin’s albums took on the lists that could have gone to something more metallic. It’s a losing battle that probably isn’t worth fighting in the first place, but what can I say? I’m a miserable, close-minded prick, and I hate Devin Townsend for not-very-good reasons.
At any rate, I traditionally provide an audio sample of the month’s first place finisher, but fuck that this month. If you want to listen to Empath, you can do it some-fucking-where else.
Second place this month is a three way tie between Queensrÿche’s latest, The Verdict, hardcore punk rock band Isotope’s debut self-titled album, and Chevalier’s forthcoming full-length debut, Destiny Calls. Queensrÿche is, at times, a great band, but it strays a little too close to prog. Sorry boys; you caught me on a bad day, now fuck off. Punk rock? Nope. Not happening. Which leaves us with Chevalier. Those vocals are awkward as all Hell, but Destiny Calls seems like a rather glorious and purely metal racket just the same. Enjoy a sample below, and be sure to share your own playlist in the comments…unless you’ve been listening to Devin Townsend. Have a great month…unless you are Devin Townsend.
[JEREMY MORSE]
- Manny-O-War
Built to Spill – Keep it Like a Secret
Iron Griffin – Curse of the Sky
Motörhead – Overkill
Pissgrave – Posthumous Humiliation
Pagan Altar – Lords of Hypocrisy
Isotope – Isotope - Zach Duvall
Melvins – Lysol
The Chasm – From the Lost Years…
Fange – Punir
Ulver – The Assassination of Julius Caesar
Rush – Hold Your Fire
Deathspell Omega – Paracletus - Andrew Edmunds
Queensrÿche – The Verdict
Motörhead – Ace Of Spades
Suffering Mind – Discography 2008 – 2010
Overkill – The Wings Of War
Dismember – Dismember
Arsis – A Celebration Of Guilt - Ryan Tysinger
Fates Warning – The Spectre Within
Chevalier – Destiny Calls
Summon – Dark Descent of Fallen Souls
Brulvahnatu – Menstrual Extraction Ceremony
Lunar Shadow – Far From Light
Leathürbitch – Leathürbitch - Dave Pirtle
Rollins Band – Hard Volume
Steve Earle & The Dukes – GUY
Aephanemer – Prokopton
Devin Townsend – Empath
Vltimas – Something Wicked Marches In
Tyr – Hel - Dan Obstkrieg
Devin Townsend – Empath
Fennesz – Agora
Tanagra – Meridiem
Richard Skelton – Till Fabrics
Yanni – Dare to Dream
Armagedda – Ond Spiritism - Captain
Fleurety – Min Tid Skal Komme
Vulture’s Vengeance – The Knightlore
Isotope – Isotope
Chevalier – Destiny Calls
William Basinski – On Time Out of Time
Oksennus – Neosmegma - Lone Watie
Devin Townsend – Empath
Domboshawa – Fyra
Appearance of Nothing – In Times of Darkness
Suffocation – Effigy of the Forgotten
Ed Wynne – Shimmer into Nature
t – Solipsystemology - Jeremy Morse
Darkthrone – Soulside Journey
Scorpions – Blackout
Smoulder – Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring
Monster Magnet – Dopes to Infinity
Free – Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 - Konrad Kantor
Queensrÿche – The Verdict
Fela Kuti – The ’69 Los Angeles Sessions
Shai Hulud & Indecision – Split
Plaga – Magia gwiezdnej entropii
Svartsyn – Timeless Reign
Arckanum – Kostogher
- Manny-O-War
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I hate Devin Townsend too. I would go so far as to add that he is not a visionary, creative genius, or generational talent. In fact, he is not even the best Canadian guitarist; that goes to Jeff Waters. He is not even the most talented Canadian metalhead; that goes to David Gold. That’s just in the metal field in Canada; we’re not even talking about Geddy Lee or Neil Young or other music fields or even other nations. There are so many not-evens associated with Devin that it’s embarrassing that he is fronted money at all for his next loopy, noodly-prog Ziltoid thing.
Devin Townsend – Empath
Isis – In The Absence Of Truth
Inter Arma – Sky Burial
Rammstein – Reise Reise
Looking Glass – III
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
Imha Tarikat – Kara Ihlas
Vanum – Ageless Fire
Six Feet Under – Warpath
Maggot Heart – Dusk to Dusk
Grinderman – Grinderman
Miley Cyrus/Mark Ronson – Nothing Breaks Like a Heart (Track; first time I consciously heard a Miley Cyrus song; this one’s basically crack)
Crown of Autumn – Byzantine Horizons
Sermon – Birth of the Marvellous
Moon Tooth – Crux
Queensryche- The Verdict
Magnabolt – Magnabolt
Was/am a fan of the first 2-3 Strapping Young Lad albums, but after that I can’t get into Townsend. It’s not hate, just total ambivalence… anyway.
Gomorrah – The Haruspex
Gomorrah – Gomorrah
Monolord – Vænir
Bill Burr – discography
Nixa – Opus Tierra
Ceremony of Silence – Outis (this was on repeat nearly all of last week)
I just saw Vio-Lence in Oakland on Sunday. Sean Killion Looked healthy and of course They Rule!
Vio-Lence – Eternal Nightmare
Vio-Lence – Oppressing The Masses
W.A.S.P. – Live…In The Raw
Aoratus – Gods Without Name
Dread Sovereign -For Doom The Bell Tolls
Panopticon- The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness
(I and II)
Waste of Space Orchestra – “Syntheosis”
Voivod – “Angel Rat”
Voivod – “Nothingface”
Queensrÿche – “The Warning”
Queensrÿche – “Rage for Order”
Queensrÿche – “Operation: Mindcrime”
VLTIMAS – Something Wicked Marches In
Michio Kurihara – Sunset Notes
Unsane – Visqueen
The Budos Band – V
Optimum Wound Profile – Silver or Lead
Flower Travellin’ Band – Satori