And we reach the top of the pile. My favourite album of the year. And I will say once again this has been an unparalleled year for decent albums. So this is not just album of the year, but could be in the running for album of the decade.
However, our winner has humble beginnings. Its creator, Employed to Serve, never planned on going back into the studio so soon. They only released their last album, “Eternal Forward Motion” in 2019 and they were only at the foothills of their proposed campaign to prompt it. Then Covid happened, their UK tour was truncated and their European shows abandoned completely. For a young band reliant on the traction and promotional oxygen that consistent touring provides, this was a major body blow. Rather than sit it out and twiddle their thumbs hoping that normality would resume, they decided to get creative (it was either that or Tiger King).
“The Conquering” was written during the first lockdown and then recorded in the short break we were afforded before the second country wide shut down crashed down upon us. The remarkable thing about “The Conquering” is that it sees Employed To Serve radically reassess their sound and go Metal. But this isn’t just a Metal album, it is a definitive statement in Metal. If it was decided tomorrow to disregard the last fifty-one years and to reboot and start Metal up anew, this would be the album used to restart the whole shebang.
It is an extraordinarily coherent and concise record that decides to boil Metal down to its core essence. It is heavy and driving, but has a groove at its heart that makes your feet and fingers twitch. Good Metal should make you feel like you are being possessed by a spirit. It should make you sway, it should make you convulse, it should make you move. This is what this album does extraordinarily well, it burrows into your heart and soul, but also your arms and legs and claims squatters rites.
Every track here is an anthem. They have managed to keep the venomous power that they had as an incendiary hardcore band, but wrap it up in an arena friendly sheen. Employed to Serve are still firing out caustic balls of righteous anger, but they are now refitted with massive choruses and refrains for a thousand voices to scream back at them.
In many ways this is the perfect Metal album. Heavy but accessible, brittle but bombastic, angry but anthemic. Its energy and intent is derived from small clubs but it is built for arenas and stadiums. It is quite simply an astonishing achievement as it is such a complete piece of work. There are no duff notes and no blemishes. Just utter perfection. And very much my album of the year. I’ve been Stewart Lucas, thank you and good night.
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