Gilead Media Music Festival

— GILEAD MEDIA MUSIC FESTIVAL —

ANOTHER HALF-ASSED FESTIVAL REVIEW

The Gilead Media Music Festival.... where to start? What an incredible weekend. Even six days later I'm at a loss for words in terms of what I experienced. It took me a little while to write this and even then I don't think I could ever do it justice. Be prepared for a disappointing account of a wonderful weekend. You had to be there.

Before getting into the bands and their performances I want to sincerely thank Adam Bartlett, founder of Gilead Media and generally humble and awesome dude, for putting this shit together. The fest went off without a hitch — it was very well organized. Much praise to him, his crew and all the people who came together to make the fest an unforgettable experience.

After the break I'll get into the sets and all that great shit. I took some photos and video but the large amount of pro photographers and press allowed me to take it easy on that end of things; I only got shots of those bands that interested me the most but even then the cramped conditions and thrashing going on made it difficult for someone as unprofessional as me to get much — which again relieved me and allowed me to sit back and just enjoy the fest.

Anyway on with the review.

Sanakan's Top 20 Albums of 2011

Yep, this year I decided to post my picks for 2011. I usually keep my lists confined to my last.fm page and haven’t posted them here in the past but fuck it.

I went with a main top 20 list plus a separate demos + EPs and splits list with less detail — despite the fact that a few EPs show up in my main list. Usually everything from the top 5 stays solidified at their spots the others may go up and down the list occasionally.

2011 was another great year for music, there was so much great shit released by hard working groups and labels that again it was a tough year to make a list. I always feel as though I should wait like a month or two after the new year to make a list like this since I do usually miss an amazing record and regret not putting it on the list. On that note: if I miss something it’s cool if you post a suggestion in the comments, but please try to hold off on the “You forgot _______, not good enough for ya?!” type of comments — you guys have your own lists to do justice to those albums you feel I’ve missed.

Do post suggestions though. I have added a huge Honorable Mentions and More Good Shit list for recommended albums that aren’t in the top 20 but are great. Anything not on that list I didn’t feel like mentioning, haven't heard it or I just missed it.

Enjoy and GFYS.

False - Untitled (2011)

EP, Gilead Media / Howling Mine
August 9th, 2011

Genre: Black Metal
Region: USA

Last night at Thou's merch table their vocalist Bryan was selling a bunch of Gilead Media, Howling Mine and Iron Rail Book Collective stuff: Barghest, Fell Voices, Ash Borer, Dangers, etc. as well as False's EP which I was hoping to see there — and it was.

Another black metal album from Gilead Media titled "Untitled", which also makes it a little difficult to find on the net. You can listen to it streaming on Gilead Media's bandcamp page  and pay what you want for a digital copy (or get it on vinyl on their main site).

The EP is two 12 minute tracks of black metal with a symphonic bed which means theirs atmosphere to be felt despite the more orthodox sound (minus the long/slow passages and ambiance). In terms of sound Ascension and Emperor come to mind at points but generally more upbeat in my opinion. There is one slower section on the second track, aside from that the album is very fast paced in all aspects making it an intense listen: frantic powerful riffing and drumming, actually audible bass lines, vocals are standard fare. Keyboard is ever-present without the cheese one might expect. There's one riff 10 minutes into Sleepmaker that is clearly a variation on a section in the title track of Weakling's album Dead As Dreams (4 minutes in), which is awesome if you enjoy Weakling.

False show that they have potential. They can play and write well for sure but it's nothing ground breaking (and not everything has to be). That said though this is another solid release from Gilead and I would definitely recommend it.

DOWNLOAD (Mediafire)