Halloween Havoc: Mick's Playlist

We're less than a week away from the ever glorious All Hallow's Eve and while I may not have any candy to dish out, I'd be damned if I didn't serve up some season-worthy tunes to perhaps help you enjoy this time of year more. Taking an old school pro-wrestling reference for its title, Halloween Havoc is now here at Brutalitopia...giving you some custom playlists to celebrate this transitional season.

Ulcerate - Vermis

Even as a metal fan, I typically prefer to be ear-wooed than ear-fucked.  Let me explain.  I’d rather be caressed gently by the shoegaze melodies of Alcest than get into a fist fight with Slayer.  I’d rather take a pensive walk through a Pacific forest with Agalloch than be tormented by Anaal Nathrakh.  I’d rather make goofy jokes about the devil with Ghost than worry about Watain actually sacrificing me to said-Devil.  That said, sometimes there are exceptions.  Sometimes I just want to plug in my headphones, drop the needle on a record, and get ear-fucked, HARD, non-stop for forty-five minutes, until I’m ear-screaming in ecstasy and ear-begging for more.  Not just any heavy album is up for such a marathon of ear-fucking, but Ulcerate’s new tech death masterpiece Vermis not only lives up to the challenge, but it made me ear-cum.  Six times.

Ghost - Infestissumam

It's not every day that you come across a band that can be classified as "the complete package."  You'd be even more hard pressed to find a band that's rightfully deserved the following that Sweden's Ghost has accumulated since their 2010 debut Opus Eponymous.  The live performances...the music...the mythos...Ghost's identity is dependent on them all.  They're a band that the metal community not only deserved, but also one that it needed.  To say that the release of their sophomore effort, Infestissumam, is highly anticipated would be a gross understatement.  Even with the bar set so high, Ghost proves with their latest release that not only are they able to meet expectations, but they can also go above and beyond.

Jack's Top 10 Albums of 2010

Oh, Maiden memories. You are the best.

 The passing of a legend, one Ronnie James Dio, will forever serve as the headline of 2010 in metal. Ronnie was a godfather, a unifying point for metalheads, something that happens to be a paradox these days in the underworld of heaviness. Which is why it’s completely fucking ironic that during a year when the death of icon brought us all together, probably the most divisive sub-genre in all of heavy music experienced a banner year.