Fuck Brumpxit its the 2016 Metal and Hard N' Heavy Rock Poll Results Thread (With spotify and bandcamp links)

My world of useful typos

^^^rejected hetfield line iirc

14 Gorguts - Pleiades' Dust 464 Points, 13 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/x7VrTQQ.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/1jHnBn49GmPMoukkfBnzbc
spotify:album:1jHnBn49GmPMoukkfBnzbc
https://gorguts.bandcamp.com/album/pleiades-dust

tbh as good as colored sands, but in ep form

otm (I might like it even more, even)

It's awesome yeah

And the drumming is in time

^^^^not very kvlt imo

This Forgotten Spell album is hilarious! Thanks

Hahaha, it is

we must always remember to keep laughing through the grim

It's pretty great. Although I think I heard a door slam at one point, and a voice say 'the egg sandwiches are ready petal!'

hahahaha

Hilarious, exhilarating--same root word...

http://i.imgur.com/E1jmOym.jpg

winning hearts everywhere

lol

Thread really delivering on all levels tonight

13 Hail Spirit Noir - Mayhem in Blue 473 Points, 12 Votes, One #1
http://i.imgur.com/Gm9HHEg.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/5JZVNF8J3vHB8ELeXKhZre
spotify:album:5JZVNF8J3vHB8ELeXKhZre

https://hailspiritnoir.bandcamp.com/album/mayhem-in-blue

"Mayhem In Blue", the new album from Psychedelic Prog Black Metallers Hail Spirit Noir, is set for release on Dark Essence Records on the 28th October. The album will be the third full-lenght release for the Greek trio, whose debut album "Pneuma" appeared in 2012, followed by 2014´s "Oi Magoi".

5/5
Review Summary: A very dark musical and lyrical trip that progresses the band’s vision without losing any of their originality.

On their sophomore album, Oi Magoi, Hail Spirit Noir created a truly original album, blending black metal and psychedelic progressive rock. It was a true work of art, which reminded us that by tastefully mixing genres, great albums are born. Where do you go from there, though?

Mayhem in Blue, while not discarding the avant-gardish dark style of music that made Hail Spirit Noir so extravagantly unique, stands completely in its own right pushing the theatrical element to the extreme. The new album relies heavier in effects while in the same time the structure of the songs became more straightforward: Spoken parts in Greek, a variety of horrifying sounds and bizarre instruments like didgeridoo, humdrum or barrel organ set up a majestic yet dark ambience in almost every song. Again, labeling their music in any way is something Hail Spirit Noir refuses to do.

There is a subtle and addictive paradox in Hail Spirit Noir’s latest work. One would expect that extending the theatrical elements on Mayhem in Blue would take its heavy toll on heaviness, which is clearly not the case. It seems that the band decided to take every aspect of their music a bit further. Yes, there are more mellow acoustic parts and clean operatic singing than in the past, but when the band decides to lay out the riffs, they are heavier than ever before. While the instrumentation is remarkably varied, the songs never lose their focus or drag out aimlessly. Everything is there for a reason.

The opening sequence and sharp riffing of I mean you harm picks up from where the last album concluded, creating a certain groove that screams to be reproduced live, while it’s fast playful rhythm carefully paves the way for the blunt spoken and effective chorus. Clearly the band means us harm. A sudden change in pace in the eponymous track is meant to catch off guard the unsuspecting listener and it works brilliantly. Like a poisonous snake that hypnotizes its victim, Mayhem in Blue is a spaced out, acoustic opus that showcases its great charm using a structured interplay of clean singing and brutal devilish growls.

The undercurrent of impending threat in Riders to Utopia, unveils in the form of a menacing guitar lead and a monotonous yet dynamic drum beat. Although the shortest song of the album, the band is pulling no punches and unleashes its most addictive chorus. By the time Lost in Satan’s charm begins, you find yourself lost inside the album’s peak and longest cut. The carnivalesque, freaky intro gives way to blackened riffing that drives the song in the most absurd way, mixing slow guitar parts with sudden rhythm changes and militaristic beat with energetic drumming. Running around 11 minutes, this carves a niche for larger epics for Hail Spirit Noir and the album’s highlight. The Cannibal tribes come from the Sea paints a gloomy atmosphere showcasing a cleverly used reverb effect that midway transforms into a hellish stream of layered guitar leads. Towards the end of the song, a well crafted short solo erupts into a violent blast beat, seconds before the closing number How to fly in Blackness tightens its mournful grip for one last time on the listener.

This is a very dark musical and lyrical trip, affecting listeners' mind and soul as every great album should. It progresses the band’s vision without losing any of their originality and most probably, Mayhem in Blue will be like nothing you have heard this year. Above all, there is something special in watching a band evolve. Hail Spirit Noir has come a long way the last 5 years, getting a better grip of their art, song by song, album by album. Mayhem in Blue is their audacious step to become one of the best metal bands out there. Just listen.

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/72131/Hail-Spirit-Noir-Mayhem-In-Blue/

Thread continues to deliver :)

bravo tangent you got this one right on the money

amazing album

I wonder if HSN used a real calliope. Pretty fun, but also silly. At times this is bordering on surf rock.

Yes! I like both this album and doing well at the competition.

Only listened to this once (just before voting), and it's my #9. Psychedelic grandeur.

HSN manage to to take exactly the right amounts of kitsch and self-awareness and make something brilliant

Love HSN, hope they're around forever. Would've been my #1 had Furia not come along and decimated everything.

I love its whole Svankmajer-at-the-beach cover art vibe

really hope the furia places

um

12 Alcest - Kodama 482 Points, 14 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/FkkoFQl.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/1nWcB3qwsbx0nimMZH6sCw
spotify:album:1nWcB3qwsbx0nimMZH6sCw

https://alcest.bandcamp.com/album/kodama

"Kodama" the fifth album from Blackgaze pioneers, Alcest, marks the French duo's ferocious return to the stylistic maximalism of its early albums while continuing the band's relentless pursuit for new sounds and fresh ideas.
"Kodama" is the Japanese word for 'tree spirit' and 'echo' and from the album's structure and dynamics to its cinematic sound, "Kodama" indeed 'echoes' Alcest's 2010 classic, "Écailles De Lune". But this is no simple back-to-the-roots album: the band has more punch, rhythm and organic feel than ever before. While clearly influenced by bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, Tool, Dinosaur Jr, Grimes and The Cure, "Kodama" ultimately reveals itself as Alcest's 'Japanese album', drawing substantial inspiration from Japanese art and culture.

Originally triggered by Hayao Miyazaki's anime film "Princess Mononoke", "Kodama" picks up on the fate of its protagonist and, at its core, deals with the sensation of not belonging; of living in between worlds, be it city and nature or the physical and spiritual one. Duality is also crucial for the visual approach of the album, realized by French graphic designer duo Førtifem. Paying tribute to Japanese illustrators like Takato Yamamoto, the visuals portray contrasting elements like nature/urbanity, youth/death, femininity/animality and combine poetic elements with darker ones that were not present in Alcest's earlier works.

By giving the album a cultural, stylistic and compositional narrative, Neige and Winterhalter keep "Kodama" from just being the latest improvement on the Alcest sound and instead make the album a most rare and exciting thing: a vital, relevant record from a pioneer that not only upholds the band's trailblazing legacy but actually makes you want to see where they go next.

Buy in our shop here:

en.prophecy.de/artists/alcest
credits
released September 30, 2016

ha, false

jeez man. WTF is going to be in the top 10? probably only 1 thing I voted for.

contrasting elements like...femininity/animality

Lol

I can think of a couple things

Also yeah lol neige

lol no one guessed alcest

I guess I should listen to this

I like this album fine but it's the sound of a band treading water

Yeah that was kind of an oversight... I don't like it as much as some previous efforts, but it's still very lovely. Eclosion favourite track.

Would anyone have flipped and voted for Astronoid instead of Alcest if they heard it in time?

If given an ultimatum, definitely

11 BÖLZER - Hero 511 Points, 13 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/hXe0kda.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/20aO400BOYxMXy7X07PXJy
spotify:album:20aO400BOYxMXy7X07PXJy

https://bolzer.bandcamp.com/album/hero

IRON BONEHEAD PRODUCTIONS is proud to present BÖLZER's massively anticipated debut album, Hero. Hailing from Switzerland, BÖLZER are one of the most unique entities the metal underground has birthed in years. For one, BÖLZER are proudly and resolutely a duo, using the barest essentials of voice, guitar, and drums and yet creating one of the densest, most world-eating sounds around. For another, the duo have wisely and patiently parceled out their recordings, with a lone nine songs to date across three records - 2012's Roman Acupuncture demo, 2013's IRON BONEHEAD-released Aura EP, and 2014's Soma EP - judiciously chronicling the band's evolution into one of the most critically acclaimed metal bands in recent memory. And yet, "critical acclaim" has never been a part of BÖLZER's agenda: their commitment is to their art alone, but it just so happens that word-of-mouth built organically (and feverishly), especially on the strength of their devastating, soul-draining live performances, where they can recreate every aspect of their records in the flesh.

And at long last, flesh is given to a full-length album, and it bears the characteristically idiosyncratic title Hero. Here, in many ways, BÖLZER break from their past. Rich 'n' resonant clean vocals often take center stage, lending an alternately mournful/majestic quality to the duo's earth-juddering bulldoze. Likewise, the production across Hero is categorically cleaner than their grime-coated EPs, which dynamically enhances the spiraling melodicism that explodes into being here. Suitably, the songwriting itself takes on dazzling new contours, wending 'n' winding with even more fluidity - and certainly more daring - than the band's epic-yet-effortless EPs. And yet, for however seemingly radical these developments are - ultimately, they shouldn't be that "radical" in the hands of capable and sincere artisans - it all sounds like BÖLZER, both what they were, what they can be, and most especially, what they currently are. Every aesthetic suggestion, every subtle nuance, every thing left unsaid in the past: here on Hero, it's all harnessed into a molten maelstrom that's ever more unique (and alien) because it's unshackled itself from expectation. It is, in a word, heroic. But what is the meaning of Hero? Discover for yourself, plunge into that maelstrom, and let BÖLZER be your guide.

LP/CD/Tape available through shop.ironbonehead.de
credits
released November 25, 2016

- All sensory awakening by BÖLZER
- Initiated by M. Zech and V. Santura at Woodshed Studios, Landshut, Bavaria
tags
tags: black metal death metal metal doom metal Zürich

ok that I did not expect

it all sounds like BÖLZER, both what they were, what they can be, and most especially, what they currently are

No kidding. Who writes this stuff?

Hahaha exactly what I was thinking

it bears the characteristically idiosyncratic title Hero

"idiosyncratic" oh ya

(like w/ the band brad was ragging on these guys are v bad at downplaying the nazi angle iirc)

xpost Joining this late - didnt vote this year as I heard fa metal this year. wouldve voted for Horse Lords and Jute Gyte tho. im liking the Gorguts and Alcest so far. This Bolzer thing is pretty cool too altho yeah thats a bullshitty write-up.

LOL at the album description. classic Artist Statement nonsense.

Is that a three foot long hookah coming out of his golden thong or...?