I asked Kyle Chapman, known for his work with Blighted Eye and Aethereus, to share his top 5 albums of the year. Here’s the selection from the the musician
1. Ihsahn – Ihsahn
One that hit very early in the year and has stuck with me throughout. Such a magnificent blend of black metal, prog, film scores, and pop rock, which really could be said about Ihsahn’s entire career. This is pretty much everything I look for in an album; excellent performances, beautiful compositions, diverse songwriting, drenched in atmosphere, and all displaying an unwavering commitment to an artistic vision spanning nearly two decades.
2. Vitriol – Suffer & Become
I don’t think there are many bands that embody the notion of “extreme metal” more than Vitriol, and this album is a testament to that. They managed to build off the uncompromising chaos that was “To Bathe From the Throat of Cowardice” while also seamlessly bringing in a surprising dose of melody to their songwriting. It’s a pretty remarkable feat to make music this insane while also still being incredibly catchy and memorable, but they sure as hell pulled it off.
3. Borknagar – Fall
Continuing the hot streak of absolutely magnificent albums since “Urd,” Borknagar’s new record is such a dense, textured, and just outright splendid journey from beginning to end. I’m typically not a huge fan of the more folky sounding metal, but I will happily make an exception for this album. Every single one of these songs is such a delightful earworm and the sheer amount of vocal prowess on display from Vortex and Lazare is a thing of beauty.
4. Convulsing – Perdurance
This one was very much a surprise for me. I had never heard of this band until this year and decided to check them out after seeing the artwork pop up quite a bit. Very happy I did. This is some of the sickest experimental dissodeath I’ve heard in a very long time. The production is raw and atmospheric and the songs are just flat out mean. If you like Artificial Brain, Blindfolded and Led to the Woods, or Colored Sands-era Gorguts, you’ll dig this.
5. Opeth – The Last Will And Testament
My love of Opeth is well documented, so this isn’t much of a surprise. While I actually enjoy a fair amount of the post-Watershed releases, this very much feels like a return to form. However, it’s not just the presence of the death metal vocals (which sound phenomenal), but the songwriting feels much more evocative of styles seen in Ghost Reveries and Watershed, but intertwined with the newer prog elements in a creative and interesting way.