Ex Tenebris

When I first heard about Free I was really excited. Another Pat Flynn band that basically is 4/5th Have Heart sounded pretty damn good to me. And the demo didn't disappoint. I actually managed to pick up a copy on tape at one of the Bane 20th anniversary shows. Pat Flynn was folding the inlays at the merch table when I bought it. Cool story, bro, I know. Anyway, when it was announced that Free was going to release a 7", I was really excited, again. I even set up several notifications and alarms so I wouldn't miss out on the pre-order. Guess what happened? Yup, I missed out on the rarest colour. And paying shipping from the US to Europe for the other variants didn't seem like the smart thing to do.
So I decided to wait and pick up a copy as soon as distros over here had them in stock. The ones I could find that had copies sold them for 8,50€ upwards. I couldn't bring myself to pay that much for a new 7", be it a band I really like or not. Especially if I could end up with a copy that might just be black. So I waited and waited and waited. No rare copies popped up on Discogs or eBay, so I decided to wait some more. Then Free announced a European tour and some sort of tour press, comprising the demo and the Ex Tenebris 7". I knew I wasn't going to make it to any of the shows, so I asked friends to pick up a copy if they had the chance. I should have guessed that those were going to sell out pretty fast, but from what I've heard those sold out super fast. Then Control Records announced they were going to sell the remaining copies of the sold out record (right?) online. And again I missed out. So after waiting for about a year and missing out on the same record twice within a few days, I said fuck it and bought a copy after finding one for an okayish price. This 7" is pretty damn good. Not as good as early Have Heart stuff, but then again, that comparison in itself is kind of stupid. Really looking forward to hearing more from this band.

Top Of The Pops 2016

2016 has been another really good year for new music. People always tell me that there are fewer and fewer new bands and records that get them excited, but in my opinion that's just a lame excuse for being lazy and just another way of saying "everything was better way back when". I get the sentiment of having the feeling one has heard that breakdown or that riff before, but maybe those aren't exactly the same and people simply have to keep an open mind. There are some old bands that had great releases in 2016 and there are some new bands that got me really excited with their records or demos. I can't wait for 2017 to come and bring me more good new music.

Record Of The Year 2016

Dangers - The Bend In The Break

7" Of The Year

Spirit Crusher - The Absolute

Demo Of The Year

Tie between Free and Lowest Priority

Discovery Of The Year

Rvivr and Erica Freas

Best Split 7"(s), Band With The Most Output and Most Loveable Band

Spirits

Honorable Mention (because it was played to me only once and I don't own the record)

Fury - Paramount