Ghost Cult once again brings you another “End Of Year” list, full of memories, and other shenanigans from our favorite bands, partners, music industry peers, and other folks we respect across the world. Today we have Simon Glacken of I Like Press, one of the top publicists in the UK. If you happen to not know his name, you certainly know the bands he reps due to his tireless work such as Anathema, Paradise Lost, Katatonia, Darkthrone, 65daysofstatic, Bloodbath, Black Moth, The Pineapple Thief, My Dying Bride, TesseracT, Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, SikTh, Mos Generator, Crippled Black Phoenix, and Cradle Of Filth to name just a few. We thank Simon for his thoughtful and detailed list of his Top Ten Albums of 2016.
Vanishing Life – Surveillance
This record appeared on my radar only this month but ended up being one of my favourite albums of the year. A punk super-group featuring Walter Schreifels (Quicksand, Gorilla Biscuits), Zach Blair (Rise Against), Jamie Miller (Bad Religion, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead), and Autry Fulbright (Midnight Masses, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead), it’s just a straight up, straight forward, no messing rock record. It could easily have been released in the 90s and people would have gone crazy for it.
Esben & The Witch – Older Terrors
As part of my day job I get to work on a lot of amazing albums but this was a personal favourite for me. A haunting and beautiful album ‘Older Terrors’ seamlessly blended post-rock with moments of gothic doom to create some of the most stunning soundscapes and possibly the best vocal performance of 2016.
Abbath – Abbath
Ex-Immortal frontman slapped on his corpse paint once again and delivered one of the most fun metal records of the year proving that he can still make good albums without his former black-metal band mates.
Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas – Mariner
Taking one of the most interesting vocalists on planet Earth and having her collaborate with Cult of Luna helped breath new live in to the Swedish post-metal outfit. At Damnation Festival they were one of the highlights of the festival where they played this album in full. If you’ve ever lost interest in Cult of Luna or post-metal in general over the years then this is the album that will draw you back in.
Bossk – Audio Noir
When I first started getting into the heavy music scene in Leeds I’d often go and watch the likes of Humanfly, Whore Whores Whores, Chickenhawk, Year of the Man and Red Stars Parade tear things up at venues like the Fenton. One band that would often find themselves on them bill too would be post-metal outfit Bossk who I was always a big fan of. They split in 2008 or thereabouts but it was wonderful news to hear they were coming back and this new album carries on where they left off. Atmospheric and crushing post-metal at its best.
Cattle – Nature’s Champion
Leeds has also managed to churn out a lot of amazing heavy bands and when it came to music of the noise-rock variety Blacklisters have led the way in past years but now with the likes of Irk and Cattle coming forward the city is spoilt for choice. Nature’s Champion which features 2 drummers is super-heavy but at times also becomes so psychedelic and upbeat that you could dance to it.
Oathbreaker – Rheia
One of the most ambitious albums of the year, Rheia merges hardcore and black-metal with Björk-like vocals to make for a truly compelling and emotionally charged listen.
SURVIVE – RR7349
Stranger Things was probably one of the most popular TV shows of the year and pretty much everyone I know had seen it on Netflix. One of the main standout parts of the series was the engrossing 80s synth filled sci-fi soundtrack. After a little research it turned out that a couple of members of the band SURVIVE had put it together. While the soundtrack to Stranger Things was amazing they took things to a whole another level with the latest SURVIVE album which surprising was released by Relapse Records.
Ulver – ATGCLVLSSCAP
Ulver are playing 2 festivals we’re working on next year in the form of Be Prog! My Friend (Barcelona) and Safe as Milk (UK). That means I get to watch them perform tracks from this stunning album at least twice in 2017 which is not bad at all. This is the sort of album you need to immerse yourself in from start to finish and it’s further proof that Ulver are one of the most interesting bands around at the moment as they continue to evolve making us wonder where they’ll go next.
Exploded View – Exploded View
An improvised and collaborative project pulled together by vocalist Annika Henderson, each track was recorded in one take and truly captures a band right there and then. It’s a fascinating record that will capture your intrigue and attention.