{"id":2075,"date":"2016-12-20T15:35:52","date_gmt":"2016-12-20T15:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heretodestroy.com\/blog\/?p=2075"},"modified":"2016-12-20T18:22:33","modified_gmt":"2016-12-20T18:22:33","slug":"best-of-2016-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heretodestroy.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/20\/best-of-2016-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Best of 2016 \u2013 Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
Goes Cube Photo by Markus Shaffer<\/div>\n

Every year around early November I think to myself, “Shit, I better get my year end list started. December is going to sneak up fast.” Even though I did get a jump on things a little early, it seemed like before I knew it the end of 2016 was staring me right in the face. Sure, I don’t really have to do a year end list and it’s not like there are tons of people waiting anxiously to read this, but it’s something I enjoy and it would bug the hell out of me if a year passed by and I didn’t do one. So as the holidays quickly approached, I found myself under the gun once again working towards a self-imposed deadline.<\/p>\n

I generally try to ignore the other year end lists when putting this together. This year I did that even more so to try and keep things as pure as possible. Plus, if I didn’t have a chance to listen to something before starting this, or didn’t have time to fully digest what I had been listening to, those albums were off the table. So what you see here consists of only music that I spent a great deal of time enjoying in 2016. So when I say this is what I consider the best of the last 12 months, I genuinely mean it.<\/p>\n

Be sure to check back in the coming days for part 2 of our year end feature from Bruce Fraser<\/a>. I’m confident that, as always, he will have a ton of great music featured and lots of stuff you won’t find on this list. See you in 2017.<\/p>\n

\"Goes<\/p>\n

01. Goes Cube – Shadows Swallowed the Flood<\/em><\/h1>\n

It happens less these days. But every so often I hear a song that hits me like a jolt, makes the hairs on my neck stand up and reminds me why I’ve devoted decades of my life listening to music, going to shows, buying records, reading books\/magazines\/blogs and meeting likeminded people. On my first proper listen to Shadows Swallowed the Flood<\/em><\/a>, the latest and unfortunately final album from Goes Cube<\/a>, that jolt hit me. More specifically it hit me midway through “Crohn’s Attack”<\/a>. When it happened, I wasn’t the least bit surprised. With every Goes Cube album there are moments like this. Lots of them.<\/p>\n

Many bands carve out sound for themselves by pulling in influences from a number of genres and Goes Cube is no different. But what makes listening to them so engaging is the balance they strike between the contrasting influences that make up their sound. The most consistent elements being their blistering take on post-metal, sludge and hardcore. But what really made me take notice of the band after hearing their first full length, was how they added well placed layers of texture and dynamics to their sound, allowing the songs to ebb and flow throughout their albums. Listening to a Goes Cube album is far from a blur of riffs, distortion and pummeling drums. From beginning to end, they take you on a journey sonically that begins with a burst of sound that builds over each song until an arch is reached (see the above mentioned “Crohn’s Attack”) and the listener is slowly pulled back down until it all ends with squealing feedback.<\/p>\n

I had intended on writing a review of Shadows Swallowed the Flood<\/em>, but personally I find reviews really hard to write. How many ways can you say an album is great without sounding like a broken record? Likewise, trying to describe how a band sounds can be equally as challenging. However, I knew this was an album people need to know about and I had to write something about it. So as I procrastinated finishing what I started to write, I knew there wasn’t a need for a review when it was time to start my year end list. I listened to lots of great music this year. But it was clear that Goes Cube easily made the best album I’ve heard all year and somehow even managed to exceed my ridiculously high expectations. Cheers guys!<\/p>\n

Shadows Swallowed the Flood<\/em> is out now on Old Flame Records<\/a>. Buy it on Bandcamp<\/a>, iTunes<\/a> or stream it on Spotify<\/a>.<\/p>\n