A Baker's Dozen + : Essential Albums & Tracks for 2011

The Very Best of 2011, a lucky 13 of hot releases, in no particular order. This is what really got under my skin, in a good way, this year.

Strong songwriting from Toronto's jawdropping goth metal act Syrynx, and their self titled EP featuring the astonishing vocals of 17 year old Mikki Straatsmaa, who is well on her way to kicking Amy Lee and Tarja's butts. And she has already fronted her own project Viveyenne since she was 13.



Newly signed to Earache Records, and hailing from Sault Ste. Marie, Woods of Ypres's blackened doom metal odyssey, "The Green Album" is a grueling grim grind in terms of album length but absolutely worth the cathartic ride.



SIXX AM is the only band to have written 2 albums based around a book. It's the side project of Nikki Sixx, DJ Ashba of Guns and Roses, and producer James Michael - and features a soaring guitar solo from Ashba that continues to give me goosebumps. Featuring dark carnival photography from Sixx, based on his photography book "This Is Gonna Hurt" and with a strong message of empowerment for souls on the margins of society - that it's OK to be different.



Delicious Danish power metal "Seven Thorns - "Return to the Past" - is non-fattening, so bears repeat listening. My favorite pick is Forest Majesty but this will have to do.



Canadian folk metal mavens Scythia and their sophomore offering "...Of Exile" is a tale of epic lyrics & epic playing, including the band's self-described "oboe of death". The rollicking, fun and exceedingly silly "Hobarth's Inn", features a goat at the very end. This isn't it but still a rousing track.



Local (Ottawa) hard rockers smoke up the place with their sophomore self-titled EP "Down In Ashes" (EP) - Standout track: "The World Is Ending." A soundtrack like this could make the apocalypse much more palatable!



Finnish singer-songwriter, Hannu Lepistö's 5-track solo EP "Run Away With Me" ranges from Americana to dark rock to the title track which he describes as 'hip-pop'. With a smoky bass-barirone sounding like a cross between Lou Reed, Tom Waits, Bruce Cockburn, Stan Rogers, Brad Roberts, with some Jyrki69 thrown in for good measure, and songwriting chops to match, this strong effort bears repeated listening, and got the producer so hooked she felt compelled to make him some videos.



Raising industry hackles by releasing their latest album on no less than The Pirate Bay, Italy's Dope Stars, Inc. are on the bleeding edge of the digital future, with their rock-solid melodic industrial metal album "Ultrawired", which that only grows better with repeated listening.



Impossibly infectious, punked-out track from Ottawa-based horror-balladeers Patron Saint of Plagues, from their 3rd album "Things Arn't What They Seem" Is this why they call their fans the Infected?



With vocals and vibe comparable to a combo of Michael Gira (Swans) and the late great Peter Steele (Type O Negative) and Carl McCoy (Fields of the Nephilim), Chris Compton's project Frostbite debuts with "Valentine and Other Stories of Hope", a dark gothic masterpiece, enjoyable even to the freethinking non-goth.


Wonderfully played and written, dark, heavy and satisfying, A Pale Horse Named Death's "And Death Will Follow Me" is the rock project of Sal Abruscato, ex-drummer with goth metal legends Type O Negative.



Turisas, are a Finnish folk metal outfit named for a sea monster, and famed for their cover of Boney M's Rasputin. "Stand Up And Fight" is an oddly orchestral but beautiful album, showing frontman Matthias "Warlord" Nygard's voice in glorious & powerful form.


UK hard rock/blues-rock outfit The Union have one hot sophomore sizzler, Siren's Song. Enjoy the stunning title cut.



Kickass Cover of the Year goes to Chicago's industrial monsters Marazene Machine, and their hair-raising version of Motley Crue's "Live Wire". I like it better than the original! Modern and fresh. Crue's Tommy and Nikki gave it their blessing tweeting links to their followers.



OK, so there's 13...

but you really should also check out:

Opeth, Sweden's progdeath metal masters, for their amazing album, Heritage.


and Canada's All Else Fails who bring strongly written orchestral-inflected metal journey with prog. elements, for the thinking metalhead, with their solid "The Oracle: What Was, Is And Could Have Been".

Brand new CKCU DJ blog space

Check out this media collaboration with the fine folks of iBroadcast.tv!

Long Songs - Part 2

Part 2 of the response to CKCU's station manager's question about favorite long songs.

Ottawa's Down In Ashes has 2 amazing songs over 7 minutes long - posting one here from their excellent debut album. You may want to check out their EP for the other one that springs to mind; it has a great groove even though it is called "The World Is Ending". ;) Doom metal legends Type O Negative share their sense of humour about a goth chick who just cannot get over her own vanity on Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare All) .

As far as I can figure most Opeth songs top out at more than 7 minutes - their epic Black Rose Immortal is down at the bottom at 20 minutes long!

Into The Open Sky - Down In Ashes



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2CKr14ckJ4

Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare All) - Type O Negative



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBokRijl3Kk

Black Rose Immortal - Opeth



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew59UJASWYA

Long Songs - Part 1

In reply to our station manager's query about what long songs you want to hear or like to play...
some subspecies of metal are filled with long songs. Doom metal tunes regularly clock in at more than 7 minutes. Here are 3 favorite bands with loooong songs that have featured on e.V.'s Underground.


Sleepwalking Past Hope - HIM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bVyzU8HwxM


The Alchemist - Witchcraft

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAaZuq1crS4


I Long - Saturnus

Playlists Are Online & Searchable!

You can find the playlists for the show on our website. Here is the link to this show!

From Hell(sinki) with Love

Tuesday and Wednesday Sept 23r and 24th saw 2 excellent bands from Helsinki blow through Ottawa. Despite early attempts to snag an interview with the legendary heavy metal cellists of Apocalyptica, neither I nor Dave Sarazin, our Program Manager heard diddlysquat back from the label nor their UK media guys. A friend who'd promised to snag me tix dawdled till they were all gone - the venue was small - Capital City Music Hall, and many of us were scratching our heads over the choice of place to play. But never fear - Thorn DID catch them and he will be giving listeners and me a the lowdown on how the show went down.

However, all is not lost... I did manage to catch a Norther(N) wind, as Finnish melodic death metal masters Norther blistered through a tight 14-song set, at Maverick's Bar, in support of their new album, N. This was the band's first North American tour. 3 local bands opened for them. Comparisons with Children of Bodom are nonsense: Norther put CoB to utter shame.

Norther's members almost all play in other bands: guitarist Petri Lindroos with Viking metal band Ensiferum, second guitarists Kristian 'Kride' Ranta with Gashouse Garden, and drummer Heikki Saari, who is also with Force Majeur, and (live only) with Tuoni.

I interviewed bassist Jukka Koskinen, who also plays with folk metal group Wintersun. You'll be hearing that on an upcoming show!

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Norther's myspace page.
Apocalyptica''s myspace page.

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morphine kisses{}

eV(il) ;) e.V.
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