IN ROTATION 666: Our most played albums in H1 2019

TOM’S MAY’S IN ROTATION LIST

I thought my list was going to be wild and eclectic, but in the end not so much. It’s been mostly heavy, with just a dash of weirdness.

HARSH REALM – “Beyond Torment” (2019)
Hand of Death Records

The first release by this great new band from North Carolina, this dirty, grimy, battering slab of doomy death metal, comes at you like a rabid swamp thing. I’ve been coming back to it again and again.

PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS – “Walk Through Exits Only” (2013)
Housecore Records

At first it just seemed like a crazy mess to me, but every time I listen to this record it gets better and better. Great playing, brutal aggression and Phil has something to say. Rather than trying to recreate old glories, Anselmo and the band take the hardest riffs and pound them together into a ball of steel. Relentless and awesome.

TODAY IS THE DAY – “Temple of the Morning Star” (1997)
Relapse Records

“Right now I want the undivided attention of every God fearing American citizen”

I’ll run out of superlatives to describe this band. Earlier this year I went way down the rabbit hole with them in my three-part history of them for BAZ. This release is noisy, savage, misanthropic and it’s coming to eat your soul in the night. Music to scare the neighbours.

MR. BUNGLE – ‘Mr Bungle’ (1991)
Warner Bros. Records

Mike Patton has done and continues to do so much great work under so many different guises. But almost 30 years on, the first album by his high-school band Mr. Bungle stands up anything else he’s done. It’s metal, it’s jazz, it’s rock, it’s funk, it’s carnival, horror, comedy, gross-out, poignant (don’t forget Trey’s family dog Stub), it’s been back on rotation for me these past months and it’s great for the gym or just looking at people weird on the metro.

CROWBAR – “Odd Fellows Rest” (1998)
Mayhem Records

Crowbar will never ever let you down. If you like your metal sludgy, brooding and heavy as the sun step this way. This album has been with me for years; recently it’s been more of a constant. Tracks like ‘New Man Born’ and ‘It’s All In The Gravity’ pull you in with irresistible power… like… gravity.