Wall Of Sound Presents: "2021 YEAR IN REVIEW" By WoS Writer & Heavy Metal Bogan Duane James
ARE YOU OFF YOUR HEAD? Have you slept all fucking year? I read some comments on one of our forums and they suggested that there was little to nothing in the way of good new music. So to those with their hearing muffled after having spent the last 12 months with your heads up your arses, I call BULLSHIT!!!
If anything, there was so much going on there’s a bloody good chance I’ve missed out on something truly glorious under the weight of all the majestic brand spanking new releases that have been put on offer this year. With new music from every damn band that ever existed (even Prince put out new stuff and he’s been dead for years) this year will go down as one for the ages. Let’s just hope we can overcome the next fifteen Covid variants and actually get out to see any of it performed live, the way it’s meant to be. Here’s my year wrap up. Grab a snorkel and dive in kids.
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2021
#10 Blood Red Throne - Imperial Congregation
Holy duck I only found this last week and it has dead set lit a fire under my arse. Get tattooed by me while I’m listening to this, I FUCKING DARE YOU!!!
#9 Zeolite - Indictrinated
Aussie death metallers deliver a monster. Years to craft and minutes to engulf you. A sonic assault and easy to get around.
#8 Capra - In Transmission
Probably a good idea not to drive with this on. The sort of music that’ll have you run into shit whilst brandishing a big shit eating grin.
#7 Go Ahead and Die - Go Ahead and Die
Igor Cavalera enlists his dad Max to produce a savage political statement aiming a dagger at the stooges in power. Crust-Punk-Metal brutality at it’s finest.
#6 Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes - Sticky
Frank sounds like he’s singing this with a serial killers smile. The album this year needed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtee-acChxo
#5 Every Time I Die - Radical
Bring lube. It’s sexy, fast and a shit ton of fun, but there’s no foreplay. Seriously, Lube
#4 Archspire - Bleed The Future
Fuck your hearing. You don’t need it and won’t have it anyways after playing this tech-death monstrosity. Play this to sleeping babies.
#3 Tomahawk - Tonic Immobility
Patton & co. pump out a stone cold classic. Albums like this need no skip or shuffle button. Perfect for vinyl lovers.
#2 Cannibal Corpse - Violence Unimagined
this on the other hand, drop the needle anywhere and your head will explode
#1 Jerry Cantrell - Brighten
Cantrell enlists some of modern musics finest to deliver a perfect opus, 19 years after his last solo outing. An absolute triumph and a majestic release that is a must have for any rock fan.
TOP 10 SONGS OF 2021
#10 Dee Snider feat. George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher - ‘Time To Choose’
This song had no business working, yet here we are, head banging like its 1985.
#9 Nita Strauss, David Draiman - ‘Dead Inside’
the world needs guitar heroes and Nita is leading the charge. Draiman is the cherry on top.
#8 Fear Factory - ‘Fuel Injected Suicide Machine’
shame the lads couldn’t sort their shit out and stay together, but if they’re calling last drinks then this is as good a way as any to do so. Belting out a tune to the beat of The Nightrider from Mad Max.
#7 Korn - ‘Start The Healing’
I can see Snoop Dogg dancing to this
#6 Black Rheno - ‘Battle Ready’
Makes me wanna swing off chandeliers, like I’m all fancy and shit.
#5 Clowns - ‘Does It Matter?’
Happy
#4 Frank Carter - ‘My Town’
That gronk that lets his dog shit on your lawn without picking it up, this song will make you want to flog him, jam his dumb face in that enormous pile of filth, and then feed him to the bin chickens.
#3 Cannibal Corpse -‘Inhumane Harvest
#2 Jerry Cantrell - ‘Siren Song’
#1 Every Time I Die - ‘Post Boredom’
that bass line makes me wanna dance in my undies
TOP 3 MUSIC VIDEOS OF 2021
Suss these out if you like D-grade horror, or if you wanna see a couple of fast food mascots punch the living christ out of each other.
Cannibal Corpse - 'Inhumane Harvest'
Archspire - 'Drone Corpse Aviator'
Black Label Society - 'End of Days'
FIRST GIG YOU HAVE LINED UP POST-COVID?
With Faith No More pulling the pin on the back of Mike Patton working on his mental health, the next actual ticketed event I have lined up is Steel Panther/Sevendust in October, a gig that feels like it was postponed from 1989. Although I am hoping to find my way to Uncaged, Thrashville, Full Tilt and Monolith festivals early next year.
WHAT BANDS GOT YOU THROUGH THESE PAST TWO YEARS?
Cannibal Corpse and Alice In Chains. Either ends of a very vast spectrum of music that includes 70’s rock, 80’s glam, 90’s grunge and heavy metal of every genre, sub-genre and every age. Yet it was these two bands that I could cement myself in. Could paint, write, draw and exercise to either mob and when my focus at work became scattered, I could align my thoughts to CC on shuffle or AIC’s unplugged. A lot of my listening spawned from these two bands, like a shit ton of grunge playlists with Pearl Jam, Mad Season, Jerry Cantrell, Soundgarden and Nirvana were flogged to death in addition to Cattle Decapitation, Dying Fetus, Suffocation, and Archspire. A mixed bag. A bag that goes nicely with my shoes and the inside of my head.
WHAT’S DIFFERENT ABOUT YOU GOING INTO NEXT YEAR?
My weight if I behave. Also my weight if I don’t.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJut-selqvL/
FAV NEW BAND/MUSICIAN DISCOVERED IN 2021
I’ve got stuck into a few. Zeolite released a belter of an album with Proselytism, as did Capra with In Transmission. But it was Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes that I finally started listening to. Despite being a Gallows fan back in the day, it’s taken me a few years to get into Frank's new band. Love it and and his song “My Town” has me Dad dancing in the studio like a goon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV-M37cdiQ4
NEXT BIG AUSSIE ACT TO WATCH IN 2022?
Neptune Power Federation has been described as a must see live act. With releases spanning back a few years it’s only a matter of time before they punch a hole in the universe with their upcoming album. Plus all artwork for the band has been handled by Mike Foxall. In addition to his own bands artwork, he’s produced some brilliant paintings (like his recent submission for the Moss Foundation), and the merch he’s developed for other bands (King Parrot, The Hard Ons, Frenzal Rhomb), his Speed Evil art books are a must see for lovers of rock history and lowbrow art.
OTTTO for new international act to watch. Hot off the back of a huge summer that included stints on the much coveted Lollapalooza and Bottlerock festivals, these lads are set to blow up. Bassist Tye Trujillo (son of Metallica’s Rob Trujillo) is one of the hardest working young blokes in music, having played live with established powerhouses KORN and Suicidal Tendencies. Tye has no less than 4 musical projects on the go at any given time whilst throwing his weight behind other acts like Noah Weiland [Son of Scott Weiland (STP, Velevet Revolver)RIP]. Plus, he’s only 17. Ridiculous.
WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2022?
Getting my home office/studio back in order.
Live music.
A full season of uninterrupted sport.
My family kicking goals.
New music.
New interviews.
More time for art.build that business up.
Being caught up and on top of my tattoo work
Simple pleasures really.
Maybe get a job writing for a beer mob so all the piss I drink becomes tax deductible.
Written By Duane James Insta: @duanejamestattoo
