Just who is this Kurt Ballou fella, anyway?

If you’re paying attention, you’re probably aware that a large majority of the great metal albums released in the past few years have been produced by Kurt Ballou. If you’ve unfamiliar, Kurt is the mastermind behind Godcity Studios, as well as the guitarist for the legendary band Converge. He’s now become one of the biggest names in metal and extreme music, recording and producing albums for some of the biggest and freshest names in metal and hardcore. In fact, in this past month alone a handful of albums he produced debuted, including the most recent records from Black Breath, and High on Fire.

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering about this guy — be it as a person, his work with converge, or his Godcity engineering and producing — you should really watch the interview Scion A/V did with him recently. Actually, watch it regardless. It’s long, but it’s a very interesting and in-depth look at Burt Ballou and how he works. And after you check that out, scroll down and watch another rad video, this time a guided of a tour Godcity Studios (again brought to you Scion A/V. Can I just say, Scion’s support for the metal scene and culture is extremely cool).

Personally, Mr. Ballou is probably the biggest reason I listen to extreme music these days. To be honest, my interest in Converge isn’t as deep as others, but I find the music he writes to be inspiring and powerful. It’s his producorial and sound engineering work is what I am so passionate about. In fact, if it wasn’t for bands like Trap Them and Kvelertak and Kurt’s amazing work with these types of bands, I probably wouldn’t be listening to the bands I am today. In addition to the aforementioned Trap Them, Kvelertak, High on Fire, and Black Breath, his work with other groups like Doomriders, The Secret, and All Pigs Must Die are still some of my favorite pieces of music.

It’s come to the point now to where I see the words “Godcity Studio” or “Kurt Ballou” attached to a project, I become immediately interested. I am extremely thankful the underground extreme music scene has Kurt and people like him to define and refine the sound of metal and hardcore for our generation. Any fan of heavy music owes quite a bit to this man.

4 Albums I overlooked in 2011

Several weeks ago, I posted my list of what I believed to be the best albums of 2011. Well friends, those beliefs have been shaken. In the weeks since 2011 ended and we began our slow crawl towards the Mayan apocalypse at the end of this year, I’ve discovered a handful of albums released in 2011 that deserve to be recognized. Had I heard these albums prior to writing my original list, it might have looked quite different (though, rest assured, Amebix’s Sonic Mass would still hold the number one spot, but the competition would be stronger.)

Here’s a quick list of 4 albums I completely overlooked, and that you owe to yourself to check out.

Deafheaven – Roads to Judah  I reviewed Deafheaven’s Roads to Judah just recently, and my sentiments about the album and the band remain true. The album offers such a feeling of relief in the black metal genre, which has been plagued by stagnation and way too much “depressive” music over the past decade.

Review: Deafheaven – Roads to Judah

–By Brendan

We’re living in an age of very “un-black metal” black metal. Wolves in the throne Room meld post-rock and shoe gaze with their deep and nature-influenced flavor of black metal;  Nachtmystium plays psychedelic infused blackened rock;  and Deathspell Omega deploys a barrage of paranoia-inducing polyrthymic and disharmonious riffs.  Simply put, black metal is evolving and growing. And because of that, so too are the people listening to black metal, and therefore the people making black metal. We now have just as many pretentious ‘hipster’, “post-whatever genre” bands as we do “trve” (pronounced ‘true’) bands. As much as all those face-paint wearing, satan worshiping cvltists (pronounced ‘cultists’) would have you believe, this is not a bad thing. Case and point: Deafheaven’s Roads to Judah EP.