Rolling Metal Thread 2015

Oops, sorry left off the title. That was Rhapsody's top 20 metal albums of 2015.

That's Chuck Eddy's list, for what it's worth.
He doesn't post in this thread, I don't think.

that King Heavy is pretty great, the vocals especially, which I can't quite tell are serious...or ultra serious

http://doomcharts.com/2015/12/21/best-of-2015/

Some nice name-your-price atmoblack from Mexico

https://lluvia.bandcamp.com/album/eternidad-solemne

oh I wanted to see them a couple of weeks in Oakland but it didn't work out.

My Year in Metal, 2015
https://open.spotify.com/user/glennpmcdonald/playlist/59NtrREsm0x5Cmi7XyGuBj

My top 10 went like this:

1. Agent Fresco
2. Moonspell
3. Amberian Dawn
4. Panopticon
5. Imperia
6. Myrkur
7. Violet Cold
8. Nightwish
9. Obsequiae
10. Öxxö Xööx

And then 90 more, in associative order:

Shape Of Despair, Leprous, Amorphis, Leviathan, Enslaved, So Hideous, Draconian, Eldritch, Rie a.k.a. Suzaku, Halo, Gloryhammer, Kamelot, Baroness, Dream Theater, Avantasia, Primal Fear, Tau Cross, Elder, To/Die/For, Raaka-Aine, Månegarm, Korpiklaani, Wolfheart, Omnium Gatherum, Turmion Kätilöt, Blind Guardian, Malrun, Santa Cruz, Nergard, Amoral, Graveshadow, Tales Of Evening, Sirenia, Setanera, Xandria, Elyose, Elferya, Dalriada, Triosphere, Battle Beast, Dark Sarah, Embassy Of Silence, Anfel, Crimson Sun, End of the Dream, Against Myself, Coronatus, Elvellon, Symphonic Destiny, Head Phones President, Christian Mistress, Dead Sara, Lucifer, Lotus Thief, Lethe, Imperial Triumphant, Monasteries, Sanzu, Black Tongue, Sunn 0))), Osculum Infame, Heretical, Entrails, Morphinist, Aetherius Obscuritas, A Forest Of Stars, Regarde Les Hommes Tomber, Vattnet Viskar, Drudkh, Kampfar, Tsjuder, Whispered, Mastery, Shining, Bosse-de-Nage, Cradle Of Filth, Finsterforst, Thy Catafalque, Negative Voice, Sannhet, Martriden, Kill The Thrill, Deafheaven, Envy, Cronometrobudú, Saurom, Mokoma, Kauan, Widek, Divides

fuuuuck this Imperial Triumphant

FUUUUUUUUCK

should be fuuuuck, this Imperial Triumphant

Amazing record, don't know why the RYM average is just barely over 3

So there's a song on the YouTubes - Amon Amarth doing "Viking Christmas."
Except that I cannot find it as part of their discography and people online say it isn't them.

Anyone know anything about this?

It's not them. Doesn't sound anything like them.

Thanks for clearing that up... Do you know who it is?

No idea. It's weird to think someone would consider Amon Amarth famous enough to record a parody Christmas song under their name. But in fact, there are two now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDcu87hyIb8

The singer on that one sounds a little more like Johan, except he's German (which you can hear most clearly on the chorus).

So sometimes I go stupid and I bought this Black Tongue album "The Unconquerable Dark" based on a couple of samples I heard in the store; to me it sounds like sludgy, mildly proggy, kinda djenty kinda doomy stuff with an overwrought vocalist doing, like, EVERY extreme vocalist thing he can think of. He reminds me a bit of Desalvo from Cryptopsy, actually. I get home and apparently these dudes are considered "beatdown hardcore" but call themselves (sigh) doomcore. So are these guys part of some subgenre of hardcore I'm unaware of?

Beatdown is definitely a thing.

http://everynoise.com/engenremap-beatdown.html

ha played 4 bands on that link, and if you had told me before that they were not only the same band, but samples from 4 parts of the same song, I would have believed you

I believe both of your posts. I guess I'm more curious as to whether some subgenre has mutated into discordant prog-sludge...

that's so weird

how could there be like, that many bands i have never heard of who are part of a subgenre i've never heard of that is THAT CLOSE to things i have

lol black tongue, I like that one in small doses too, I put it on to do dishes sometimes

Maybe it's just the mood for head-nodding music that I'm in but the more I listen to Enki the more I think it should've found a place on my year end list. That guy's riffs, especially in the build-up beginning of every song, are just out of this world. And those rhythms -- forget about sitting still when jamming this thing.

Have they even had a single bad song on their last four albums? I feel like Melechesh is gonna end up alongside bands like The Chasm and Anata, appreciated by a lot of people but still not really at the recognition level they deserve for what they're doing.

Fuckin' "Multiple Truths." When they slow things down to that serpentine drone thing, like "Ghouls of Ninevah," I pretty much go to a place no other metal band takes me these days. We need more sexy beats in the netal.

Er, ok, all done I think. Roll my old clattering bones into 2016 please.

netal = *metal

The Beast in the Nettles sounds like a Derleth or Howard story title.

But, please, Gervase, pray close the shades before I relate my tale. It's those nettles... I can't bear to see them, they fill me with a dread redolent of the chill a soul feelsin the last throes of death. Those awful, sting-y nettles!

Spoil that shit!

spoiler* even

Goodbye, Rolling Metal Thread 2015! You were a good timekiller, a fruitful giver of good music, and a fun place to hang out. My favorite thread on ILM. Looking forward to 2016!

well im not starting the new one

Something I posted on Facebook under the title of "10 Great Metal Albums of 2015", although I would probably try to work in King Heavy if I redid it now:

10) Christian Mistress - To Your Death
Fairly straightforward hard rock with twin guitar leads reminiscent of Wishbone Ash and a unique vocal presence in singer Christine Davis.
9) Aevangelist - Enthrall to the Void of Bliss
Discordant, atmospheric black metal featuring unintelligible guttural vocals, churning guitars, and creative use of a harp.
8) Elder - Lore
A melodic prog-metal odyssey featuring five tracks all over 10 minutes long that somehow don’t overstay their welcome.
7) KEN Mode - Success
Arguable whether this is metal, the vocals code as post-hardcore to me, but either way a righteous rocking slab of anger, negativity and irony.
6) Dodheimsgard - A Umbra Omega
Kind of an indescribable maximalist prog-black-metal suite with over-the-top theatrical vocals.
5) Kadavar - Berlin
Another fairly straightforward hard rock album, this time a power trio, with solid songcraft and winningly understated hooks.
4) Satan - Atom by Atom
Don’t be fooled by the name, these guys are more Richard Dawkins than Aleister Crowley lyrically, and don’t miss this non-stop barrage of catchy speed-metal riffs.
3) Mare Infinitum - Alien Monolith God
A unique death-doom-prog-metal sci-fi odyssey, reminiscent of classic-era Opeth for its melodic inventiveness and alternation of clean and guttural vocals.
2) Ghost - Meliora
As enjoyable and slickly-produced an off-beat occult progressive pop metal album as you’ll likely hear this year.
1) Tribulation - The Children of the Night
A seemingly oil-and-water pairing of guttural growls and melodic yet understated classic psych instrumentation that somehow gels into an atmospheric nocturnal journey that was one of the year’s most compelling listens.

Rolling Metal 2016