2016 in Northwest Rock

I was working on a year-end music blog, and it became immediately clear that the amazing modern rock music coming out of the Pacific Northwest this year deserves its own focus and thought. What's happening here is a true scene, because we have bands growing from shared passion and shared roots to cultivate an energetic, melodic, heavy, sound. It's a blast to live here in this moment and hear this music as it's being born.

Here are five Pac NW bands that put out records this year that I loved. These albums formed the backbone of my rock listening for the entire year, and I hope we look back upon them as a magical moment in American rock history.

Disenchanter - Strange Creations

Epic, imaginative, bluesy, and fun, this album is full of stories and characters harkening to the best of scifi and urban culture.



Year of the Cobra - ... In The Shadows Below

Starting from a distinctive and irresistible low-end foundation, this album branches out across rock genres in a collection of songs that sound like spells bringing ancient goddesses back to life.



Holy Grove - Holy Grove

Some kind of miracle of heavy melodies, it's a cultural travesty that this album is not #1 on national modern rock charts. Every song a singalong. Every song a headbanger.



Mos Generator - Abyssinia

Still the best kept secret in the region, this soul-metal band's latest release. Their latest incarnation is lean, tight, and all about the riff.



Helms Alee - Stillicide

Reveling in their genre-defying, inimitable style that's built around a very original guitar tone and three-part, multi-gender vocals, these songs are so listenable that one has to look really closely to see the almost avant-garde stuff they're doing with timing and rhythm. I think our children will look back and see this band as the purely artistic heart of the sound of the music of this region.



BONUS

Sun Giants - Red Silver (2015)

The traveling bards of the scene, this band has a great EP and a don't-miss live show.



Earth - Primitive and Deadly (2014)

In the midst of a long and storied career, this OG Seattle band is making their best and most accessible work right now. Noticeably the slowest-tempoed of the the bunch we're discussing today, they continue to show us how heavy need not be aggressive.