9. The Dillinger Escape Plan – Dissociation
Genre: Mathcore, Experimental Metal, Alternative Metal
Put On A Playlist With: At The Drive In, Strapping Young Lad, Mr. Bungle
The flexibility and sheer ferocity of one of mathcore / metal's best modern live acts never ceases to amaze me. Despite this album supposedly being the swansong on a long and storied career, there's no shortage of weird ideas (Mahavishnu Orchestra-styled jazziness, EDM, etc.) mixed in with the larger than life vocal talents of Greg Puciato. He's the closest thing to a successor in the music world to Mike Patton, but I don't think the latter has done anything quite as beautifully soaring yet fragmented in recent years as the closing title track nor anything with quite as much whiplash appeal as 'Low Feels Blvd' or the modern sludginess of 'Symptom Of Terminal Illness'.
8. Ed Motta – Perpetual Gateways
Genre: Modal Jazz, Vocal Jazz, West Coast Jazz Fusion
Put On A Playlist With: Frank Sinatra, Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Flora Purim
One of Brazil's greatest living vocal jazz treasures brings the cream of the crop to his second English-language release, including flautist Hubert Laws and jazz's keyboard queen Patrice Rushen. The mood here is quite interesting - think mid 60's Herbie Hancock with a touch of Stevie Wonder and Steely Dan and you can appreciate Motta's approach to jazz composition. You'll get a hint of samba here and there as well, but for the most part this is pretty much just an exceptionally well done old school jazz-fusion album with Motta's distinctive vocals as icing on the cake.
7. Dissona – Paleopneumatic
Genre: Eclectic Sludge/Death/Black/Progressive/Heavy Metal with stylistic diversity in spades
Put On A Playlist With: Enslaved, Bathory, Tool, Nine Inch Nails
This Chicago outfit wasn't on my radar at all until this year with the release of Paleopneumatic, their sophomore album...and boy is it odd. Industrial and electronic elements permeate the crushing metal elements you know and love, but the "it" factor these guys have is a balance between two very distinct sides: the harsh, uncompromising sludgey brand of progressive metal versus the strings-drenched, almost Baroque atmosphere with huge vocal harmonies. The magic trick these guys pull is how they consistently tie these disparate identities together from song to song. What you get is a rather entertaining end result that borders on existential, and tells me that they're on the verge of a breakthrough of some kind that could catapult them above some of the biggest names in extreme metal before too much time passes. Watch this band.
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