Yearly Archives: 2012

I've paid little attention to the releases of this year and correspondingly the dramas surrounding them, such as last year's Liturgy fiasco and Leviathan court case which felt almost unavoidable. For that reason I find myself largely unable to construct a list consisting solely of full-lengths or one that can be logically structured into any kind of order that runs from 'worst' to 'best' or vice versa (and so I opt for an alphabetic approach), something I struggle with in any and all cases anyway. None the less I've found myself revising this list a few times, removing releases (such as Deathspell Omega's "Drought" - a release which just missed out on being included in this list) and replacing them with others and I've surely missed some off which I'll later be kicking myself for.

Some fantastic records such as Swan's "the Seer" have been dropped for their not being a metal release and others such as Pallbearer & Hooded Menace have been removed in order to be replaced with releases that I'd forgotten had come out this year. Equally, I've removed albums that I hadn't realised upon inclusion were actually released last year. Without further ado...

I met Matt quite a few years back at a Roadburn festival.  Considering how many similar bands we like and the sheer number of gigs we both attend it was pretty odd we'd never met at a gig in London.  Matt somehow manages to fit time around being a father, a loving husband, and a fulltime job, to attend more gigs than you've had hot dinners.  He gets labelled a grumpy old git (by me included) as he moans alot about modern metal, but get him talking about anything slow or dark (and usually Finnish) and you'll see his eyes light up as he starts reeling off a ton of bands you need to go and check out.  Whilst I'm busy editing photos Matt and Gary (Lukes) manage to keep me well informed on the cream of the underground.  Massive thanks to Matt for sending over his list.

Matt will be curating the Seven Churches stage at the 2013 edition of Desertfest along with his partner in crime Josh Retallick (from the Black Heart pub in Camden).  Tickets for Desertfest are on sale now priced at £87.50 available from www.leedstickets.com...