THE 10TH ANNUAL ILM METAL POLL:2017 RESULTS THREAD

Thanks to everyone who voted. We received 40 ballots this year (same as last year) big thanks to seandalai for doing the tabulation and simon for taking care of everything else.

There is a Spotify results playlist to subscribe to

The rollout will begin shortly. I do hope everyone will post their thoughts on the results even if they didn't vote.

http://www.clashmusic.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_feature/public/field/image/Oscars.jpeg

100 Cloud Rat / Disrotted - Split LP 99 Points, 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/hhxMbMY.jpg

https://drycough.bandcamp.com/album/split-lp-2

Dry Cough records has teamed up with the mighty Halo Of Flies to bring you this immense split LP from two of the finest heavy bands around, Michigan's genre-bending grind-punks Cloud Rat, and Chicago's hellish doom-mongers, Disrotted.

CR are usually known for their short frenetic blasts of noise-infused grindcore, but here they've taken a break from their usual formula and recorded one 18 minute track of schizophrenic grind/doom that effortlessly eclipses most peddlers of such lengthy numbers, offering more ideas and riffs in the one song than many bands manage over a whole album.

On the other side, the only thing that Disrotted's track has in common with their LP mates is it's length, albeit clocking in at 4 minutes longer. Their unique style of hideous, glacial-slow, relentless droning sludge is as punishing and brutal as anything out there, and serves as the perfect foil to Cloud Rat's frantic riffing.

This LP is something of a landmark release for both labels, being Dry Cough's 30th and HoF's 100th, so we pushed the boat out and opted for an extravagant triple gatefold sleeve, adorned by the striking artwork of Ryan Brady (www.ryanbradyart.squarespace.com)... more
credits
released May 17, 2017

Oh wow I *loved* the last Cloud Rat LP, didn't know they did something! And an 18-minute thing at that!

Very excited about this poll! \m/

TIE
98 Bathsheba - Servus 99 Points, 4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/wXw9Auw.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/04XP1VTwrTCuVCG1InqOzI?si=PCbVOArnRBWThnD1idpFeg
https://bathshebakills.bandcamp.com/

http://www.angrymetalguy.com/bathsheba-servus-review/

98 Contrarian - To Perceive Is To Suffer 99 Points, 4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/JZk9liW.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/5eGjsGCGUbmVaoVnYMwtMm?si=51fBNBQnQrKEpFGvdBdn4g
https://contrarianmetal.bandcamp.com/album/to-perceive-is-to-suffer

https://svbterranean.net/2017/11/03/review-contrarian-to-perceive-is-to-suffer/

If you liked Qliphoth I recommend seeking out all the splits Cloud Rat did last year. they said at some point they'll be releasing them together on a CD comp.

I really appreciate you posting reviews under the records, K!

97 Code Orange - Forever 100 Points, 4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/jiwEenw.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/2V7axnEU5HQoN9Tu5JVl4S?si=AbYQ-yjaTjeTXD8-8aqd2w

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22717-forever/

Bathsheba on my ballot! Wonderfully heavy. Conjuration of Fire was my favourite of these.

Me and imago are out to lunch atm but opinions will surely follow. Definitely agree that the reviews are a great idea

I will now hand you over to my lovely assistant...

Code Orange is sickeningly low. Great, unique record.

Code Orange didn’t quite make it onto my ballot as I was only alerted to it by Brad and Simon discussing it on the campaigning thread, but I loved what I heard. Slightly emo-leaning iirc and pretty explosive

tbh there are even moments on the record that remind me of slipknot. brutal record, harder even than the new converge imo

TIE

95 Necrot - Blood Offerings 101.0 Points, 3 Votes
https://www.metal-archives.com/images/6/4/4/3/644386.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/0hpGhj6drVKP0wOEQ6vR9g?si=9W0GDn_FTEGxjp1P4v6LYQ

Necrot doesn’t clutter up their death metal with constant, unrelenting speed, blinding technical ability or brain-twisting time signatures. By not blasting all the time, or writing riffs that only a seasoned headbanger could decipher, Necrot has nowhere to hide. Instead of ripping your guts out and showing them to you, the trio lets their songs churn at an even pace, spreading the punishment out nicely. Subsequent songs like “Shadows And Light” and “Breathing Machine” spotlight this with slow grooves that run into four on the floor rumblings. Tucked in between all the crushing riffs, Reinhardt will drop in a mean, squealing rock ’n’ roll solo now and again. His solo chops give a big nod to the blues scales of Bill Steer from Carcass. They fit well with the death metal barrage, but they are far enough removed to make them stand up in the muck.

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/06/necrot-blood-offerings-review.html

95 Tau Cross - Pillar of Fire 101.0 Points, 3 Votes
http://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/cover_1495657280734439-500x500.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/2cfjnAssAwJ6B1cyg7ybtm?si=HtUm8tgqQkGYVznI4DpxQw

Tau Cross is the natural continuation of Amebix's final, excellent release Sonic Mass. The cover of Sonic Mass, displaying the tau cross symbol, confirms this lineage. Miller has taken the helm and turns Tau Cross into a rocking act that oozes of crust and punk rock ethos, alongside a heavy metal attitude. Without remaining static, confined in a specific genre, Tau Cross open up the range, accompanying the roaring Motorhead stench and Prong-ian edge with the post-punk spirit of Killing Joke and even New Model Army.

https://www.popmatters.com/tau-cross-pillar-of-fire-2495386169.html

I don't think I properly checked out the Necrot album but it's sounding good this morning.

That Tau Cross album was really good. I liked the debut, but figured it for a one-off; when a sequel appeared, I was very pleasantly surprised.

(I did not vote in this poll.)

Somehow this one completely passed me by.

94 White Ward - Futility Report 101.0 Points, 4 Votes
http://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/White-Ward-Futility-Report.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/4Elh1BDe2G5VabPDxYhkdZ?si=_ncGLL0CSYeP0ZicNnOs2g

http://www.angrymetalguy.com/white-ward-futility-report-review/

excellent cover

sax alert!!!

Seeing a bolded Steely Dan in the Angry Metal Guy review was… unexpected.

this honestly sounds good as hell on first listen, how did I miss this one?!

Giving this a go...I think I heard it before but didn't give it enough ear

brad needs to hear this immediately

Yay, looking forward to following this poll, and learning of great new records. Last year the greatest discoveries were Vektor and Astronoid, hoping to find something equally good this year :)

93 Colotyphus - Spiritual Journey of a Forlorn Soul 102.0 Points, 3 Votes

https://shop.season-of-mist.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/500x500/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/C/o/Colotyphus-Spiritual-Journey-Of-A-Forlorn-Soul-CD-64052-1.jpg

https://colotyphus.bandcamp.com/album/spiritual-journey-of-a-forlorn-soul-3

Not that I've heard enough to really say but: too low.

Ooh! I threw this Siegbran-fare a whole load of points - wonder who the third voter was? Really strong songwriting and I think it's distinctive enough to transcend being mere Drudkh-worship (despite the cover at the end). I enjoyed it more than Drudkh, even. Obviously I have no interest in their politics (not to tar Ukraine with one brush, but...things are...strange there) but thankfully I don't have to find out :)

They're led by a woman, which might mean they dial back some of the macho nationalism

Yeah, that came as a pleasant surprise.

2:30 into that White Ward album is one of the best musical moments I've heard from 2017. Lol.

Just wait till you get to "Rain as Cure"

This Cloud Rat track is intense! I found them a little bit difficult to get into before, but having their sound stretched out like this has warped it in all the right ways.

I'm so glad that split made it in, if just barely.

Yeah, I liked Cloud Rat's sound on this. They're usually more like short bursts of grindcore? On the Disrotted track now. Idk if I can do 23m of this, ha, unless there are some changes coming up.

I only listened to Disrotted's half once or twice. I voted purely for the Rat.

I know I should just follow along with the metal thread, but I would love a thread for 'metal groups who are clearly doing it wrong' a la the one for techno/house :)

92 Big|Brave - Ardor 102.0 Points, 4 Votes

https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/59aed63d8318ae33b373b527/1:1/w_600/bigbrave_ardor.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/7F9GqRTn1u9x0sCkWRivRM?si=ge8hszpEQxOTFn2HMmKkAQ

In places, Ardor is an album of quiet restraint. The second of the three tracks, “Lull,” gives most of its running time to moody slowcore rumination, with peals of guitar feedback snaking in gradually as the track gains weight. Other moments suggest an affinity for the brutal excesses of noise rock and no wave. There are echoes of Swans in the mantra-like repetitions of “Sound” and “Borer,” their clanging riffs cast out in the direction of the horizon. Meanwhile, Wattie’s siren-like vocals vacillate between imploring sensuality, raw self-flagellation, and blank affect in a way that’s reminiscent of Lydia Lunch. Lunch’s music was often jagged like razorblades, though, while BIG|BRAVE are big and oceanic, their music flowing and crashing like waves.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/bigorbrave-ardor/

We should definitely have a Rolling False Metal thread.

Where do you draw the line though?

Haha the Rat was well worth it! I'm so glad.

I'm also not sure about this Disrotted...it isn't often that I want to crawl through tar.

Big|Brave made it onto my ballot thanks to the campaigning

Where do you draw the line though?

Not sure, but it would be funny to have a thread where bands are accused of being "too kvlt" or whatever

i knew once i heard the sax solo on the white ward album that i had to vote for it

lol that's true xp

tt you didn't play this to me did you? may check it out later.

White Ward are nice but the songwriting isn't quite getting me. Lovely sound and production though!

I did play it to you but you didn't respond!

Just scared myself by forgetting that I was printing something whilst listening to Bathsheba.

NB there's always this thread that I started, although it's focused on a specific kind of metal-adjacent aesthetic: Search: Metal that Sounds Like Glenn Branca

Not feeling anything on this rollout so far unfortunately. Heard some of these last year, wasn't impressed with White Ward apparently though I don't even remember hearing it. Code Orange seem to be Converge if they were groove metal so it's almost like they're TRYING to be my least favourite band in the world.

Besides, isn't there a part for tenor sax in Branca's 1st symphony?

Colotyphus is pretty OK.

91 Cannibal Corpse - Red Before Black 104.0 Points, 3 Votes
https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_500/MI0004/347/MI0004347220.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/2Ecgc9nNxJpXd3gboFPbvz?si=KhwG3u0kSoGGVl82-2iqFw

Songs like the title track are propelled at maximum speed, while other songs like “Shedding My Human Skin” and “Remaimed” have both deliberate grooves and frenzied, rocket-propelled sections. The shifting tempos and intensities help add variety to the proceedings.

Over the years Cannibal Corpse have been able to add more melody and catchy parts to their songwriting repertoire without sacrificing any heaviness. You won't hear “Firestorm Vengeance” or “In the Midst of Ruin” on rock radio, but they are more memorable than many songs on the commercial charts.

After working with producer Erik Rutan on some earlier releases, Cannibal Corpse brought him back for Red Before Black. Being an outstanding death metal musician in his own right, Rutan knows exactly what Cannibal Corpse bring to the table. He captures the rawness and power of their sound while keeping the crisp and focused feel of their playing.

http://loudwire.com/cannibal-corpse-red-before-black-album-review/

That's it from me for now - Odysseus will resume his duties shortly.

Best thing on the White Ward was probably the closing track

damn that's low for CC. I was one of the three votes. the album is nothing new or groundbreaking for the band but it's effective as always.

definitely was overshadowed by a couple of other death metal releases tho (Immolation, Incantation, Lantern, Suffocation)

Was one of the White Ward voters, superb album

Next to Tomb Mold's output, Necrot's record was my fave Death Metal output this year - bought it on vinyl this weekend and it got appreciative Super Bowl party half-time slot. Didn't know they shared members with Vastum and Acephalix which makes me love it all the more. Contrarian record is awesome too, and I'm glad to see it placed. Thought the CC record was kinda boring.

ps if you think CC are low wait til you see the next entry

90 Akercocke - Renaissance In Extremis 104 Points, 4 votes
https://i.imgur.com/OSvvqfV.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/5256D6skKc4gdwPaPpSScA?si=L_cuNHEtQGufdeifZ778sQ

http://www.angrymetalguy.com/akercocke-renaissance-extremis-review/

if la lechera still posted/voted here I would've recommended her the White Ward.

I liked the Akercocke. was kind of like hearing from an old friend.

I thought it would be top 20 at least

I gotta admit, this is the one metal vocal style I've never been huge on

Never got round to Akercocke, don't know if this is a good starting point, didn't expect something this proggy. Reminds me a bit of a more pacey/techy Opeth, even down to the slightly random song construction.

Pretty good though I should say.

it's definitely not much like their earlier material

another heavy hitter

88 The Body & Full of Hell - Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light 106.0 Points, 4 Votes
https://thrilljockey.com/spree/products/2162/product/447_900.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/4SXIysQ9zTWimy9uo5GMy8?si=Z4YjL9pLSm2wimbqtWEFiQ

Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light bests its predecessor by doing something much different—acknowledging the fundamental rift between the bands’ respective styles and flooding the valley between them with all kinds of stunts, risks, and tricks. Lightning Bolt’s Brian Chippendale, for instance, helms a drum orchestra during “Our Love Conducted With Shields Aloft,” a riot of sound so aggressive it would make John Zorn blush. Full of Hell bassist Sam DiGristine even adds squawking soprano saxophone at the close of “Light Penetrates.” Harsh noise outbursts, stroboscopic electronic editing, drum & bass beats: The Body and Full of Hell lace them throughout Heavy Light, unexpected oases in a disorienting musical minefield. If Ache was an obvious intersection between these two prolific and restless bands, Heavy Light documents wild detours taken to get back to the same place.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-body-and-full-of-hell-ascending-a-mountain-of-heavy-light/

you jumped the gun, i still have the controversial album at 89 to post first!

89 Zeal & Ardor - Devil Is Fine 105 Points, 3 votes
https://i.imgur.com/huwAAkB.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/5Oc87gybQZkVeqogIFXzMd?si=x-joj0OSSUyGQnpdAwVxkA
https://zealandardor.bandcamp.com/
http://www.themonolith.com/music/review-zeal-ardor-devil-fine/

It’s always tempting for musicians wanting to make their mark on a genre to take their chosen framework and mash it together with something seemingly out-of-place. This is a go-to tactic for folk metal with its prevalence of zithers and hurdy-gurdies, and it’s worked well there. Let’s not forget that this philosophy has also left us with the questionable legacy of rap metal.

The key difference is how artful the blend is. This doesn’t need to be subtle; Shining‘s use of saxophones is hardly understated and it’s a good look on them. The philosophy falters where bands are too self-conscious in their mash-ups, looking at the 40+ years of metal history and despairing that everything has seemingly been done, then frantically trying to recruit members to their acapella vaporwave project.

Zeal & Ardor have been the focus of a lot of press, a lot of which has been bemused. Broadly, Devil Is Fine is a mix of black metal, blues & gospel, and electronica – but the album covers an astonishing amount of ground, constantly haunted by spreading itself too thin or being too affectedly weird. On the flipside, there’s a sense that something like this could be a Big Thing. On paper it should work; blues and black metal have Strong Opinions on The Devil. Electronic music and black metal are strange bedfellows but it’s not sacrilegious to mess with them.

Expectedly, this record is by and large a mixed bag. Even though my experience improved on multiple listens, the record never settles on a consistent tone. I can’t claim to be much of an authority on gospel but the black metal elements are heavily influenced by the recent wave of blackgaze/post-black metal acts. A little disappointingly, the guitars sit low in the mix so they often come across as just angular shoegaze rather than black metal. I often found myself wondering if the record would work better leaning more towards dark ambient influences than incorporating occasional frosty bursts.

Also, for black metal fans this is likely to be a disappointment. A lot of the tags for this record have suggested this is primarily black metal and it’s not, not really; there’s a frequent creepy haunting tone but it’s only occasionally that the black metal elements are used to convey this. If you dig Alcest and their ilk this will be an unusual departure, and certainly worth investigating.

My initial notes for this review were super-negative. One of them just reads “Devil Is Fine is fine,” which I’ll never get to use in its intended context. The truth is the more time I spent with the record, the more I was drawn to it. Firstly, Zeal & Ardor’s songwriting chops are well-explored in key moments; opener and single “Devil Is Fine” is absolutely superb and genuinely chilling, mixing chants with thunderous percussion and an unnerving gothic aesthetic. In addition, so much of this record works even though you get the sense the goalposts are constantly moving; the electronic sections are proper cool, “Children’s Summons” sounding almost chiptune-y. “In Ashes” flirts more obviously with some metal influences. In the end it seems futile to tick off all the genre engagements; it’s a soup, but against the odds it works.

I hear a lot of Björk‘s Debut in this record. There’s a lot of raw experimentation and unfiltered courage. Devil Is Fine is certainly novel, and thought it’s a little unfair to compare this to Debut‘s innovations they both have a kind of naive hubris which makes them charming. That’s probably the best feature of the record; Devil Is Fine is so singular and odd that it occupies a different space to any of the records it’s influenced by, and by virtue of its charm demands to be considered differently. It might not change the face of metal forever but it might just stick out enough to be cited as an off-beat influence a little further down the line.

To the cynics, Devil Is Fine doesn’t rest on novelty. It doesn’t work like any record in any of the genres it borrows from and it’s fickle enough to frustrate anyone trying to draw themes through it – but of all the records that will get fancy label re-releases this year, this is among the most deserving.

https://noisey.vice.com/en_au/article/6wqvnb/zeal-and-ardor-interview
http://www.metalstorm.net/pub/review.php?review_id=13957
http://www.angrymetalguy.com/zeal-and-ardor-devil-is-fine-things-you-might-have-missed-2016/

oh balls lol

On the guitar solo in "Stillborn Knowledge" from the White Ward album: yeah, I like this. Steely Dan seems like the wrong comparison for the softer passages with sax, though; will think. Based on the first two tracks, I sometimes wish these were better integrated with the metal passages, with a stronger sense of unity to the compositions. The shifts can seem at times like they come out of nowhere. Still, there's definitely something interesting going on.

I forgot to vote for Z&A since I considered it a 2016 release I think... It's an interesting idea but needs more refinement. A second album should be very interesting I reckon.

I like how the sax is used in "Homecoming".

I saw it as a 2016 release too
xp

87 Anakim - Monuments to Departed Worlds 107.0 Points, 2 Votes, 1 #1 Vote
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2531453059_10.jpg
https://anakimuk.bandcamp.com/releases

first #1 vote!

Y'all should check out how that Z&A album came to be! Really heartwarming stuff

based on how little info I could find, this Anakim record wins the obscurity prize so far

https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/6wqvnb/zeal-and-ardor-interview

"That's just 4chan"

86 Dodecahdron - kwintessens 108.0 Points, 4 Votes
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2147776909_5.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/4fzqMZL3CNsKwiECMf2xZK?si=yBhM4H6wRM-t20t_wrkYVA

Kwintessens‘ long-form composition is one of gradual collapse, and sounds become more alien and obtuse as the album progresses. “Tetrahedron” sounds close to a Deathspell Omega cut, but the band experiments with brighter sounds, dense sound editing and reversals of previous themes past “Hexahedron.” “Dodecahedron” uses bright leads and custom instrumentation to create an atmosphere that’s split between the heavenly and the vulgar, ending with a snap-in block of harsh noise. The incongruously placed “Finale” takes an approach that I’d most comfortably call black-metal musique concrète, and is largely a collage of droning sounds, that heavenly atmosphere, and heavily distorted vocals which presage the album’s real finale.

Nice. I liked this better than Deathspell Omega, barring Paracletus.

I'm not always in the mood for this sort of thing but it's a very good example of the style

First thing I voted for to place! Good stuff. Also very impressed with the Anakim album so far, never even heard of it before.

Really enjoying the Cloud Rat!

everyone's faves!!

85 Nokturnal Mortum - Verity 113.0 Points, 3 Votes
https://www.metal-archives.com/images/6/4/8/9/648929.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/1U0NTxLdTGaZNcSHp4o1AB?si=dhZT6H8_SNiIQ64BkiPRKg

the anakim record is so fun, y'all, please check it out if you remotely like proggy death metal where everyone sounds like they're having the best time playing it

lmao i was like "this white ward record can't be my thing, it's way too boilerplate black metal" and then i heard the sax

also the drummer is doing crazy shit, i love this

Will check out Anakim.

This NM is totally hateful and I voted for it sorry everyone. At least it isn't Z&A eh?

the cloud rat comp of all their split tracks is prob gonna be my album of the year this year lol

Last time I checked there were still two splits to come so I wouldn't be surprised if that comp doesn't even arrive this year, but yeah they're one of the best bands on the planet right now

white ward is blowing my fucking mind

The other two splits are with World is a Vampire and Test, apparently. The comp has a cover and title so I guess it will be out before too long. xp

err I guess it already exists on cassette?!

https://www.discogs.com/Cloud-Rat-Clipped-Beaks--Silk-Panic-MMXVIII/release/10560905

sorry still talking about white ward but it really keeps up the tradition of me hearing my favorite metal album of the previous year during the poll

considering how many albums I bought last year there's a ridiculous amount of metal I didn't hear

the drummer is SO good

brad I'm thrilled you had the same reaction I did (and am still having)

brad i recommended the white ward album to you last year

84 Wiegedood - De Doden Hebben Het Goed II 114.0 Points, 3 Votes
http://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/wiegedood_cover_web-500x500.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/1DwMKkGWd3LMwOolq5mn3B?si=nT87ebj3SC-vogi-h436Gg

Wiegedood‘s debut may not be as pretentious as a band like Deafheaven (hallelujah!), but it’s thick with atmosphere and post-black attitude. The sequel hints at this heavy atmosphere, but De Doden Hebben Het Goed II never lets it meander for long. II, instead, unleashes a brutality fitting to a second-wave Norwegian outfit like Gorgoroth. The amount of hate and emotion set forth from II is enough to burn a hole right through your black heart. And it’s complimented by seamless fluidity. The seamlessness from beginning to end makes the record feel like one continuous song, with transitions appearing in the most unlikely of places. This keeps the disc from feeling long and it has the listener on their tippy toes. The transitions from one song to the next are so novel that Wiegedood are sure to come to mind if I ever hear anything like it again in the black metal world.

such a good album

brad i recommended the white ward album to you last year

― Algerian Goalkeeper (Odysseus), Monday, February 5, 2018 9:47 AM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i am so sorry i did not immediately follow up, bless u k3rr

No one has mentioned anything about The Body & Full of Hell, so I will...it's pretty good. More of what you'd expect, but they've amped up the electronic feedback and it's all sounding like a wonderful cyberpunk dystopia. I think maybe I'm beginning to tire of The Body guy's vocals though

the Wiegedood album didn't pop out at me before but it sounds great now, some truly excellent riffs and v little waste

When they played in Edinburgh the locals were shocked it wasn't just one guy playing solo

"huh, I was expecting the Wiege dude..."

the snaps and rhodes piano in "rain as cure"! somebody invented this band for me

lmao I was waiting for you to hear those snaps. just you wait for the closing minutes....

TIE
82 Dreadnought - A Wake in Sacred Waves 116.0 Points, 4 Votes
http://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/dreadnoughtcover-500x500.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/4seSirz4qfUvkYDQqbhRPD?si=LAwRN_DeQaeYjAlxWqoYXw

On its brilliant boundary-annihilating upcoming third full-length A Wake in Sacred Waves — out vial Sailor Records in October — Denver quartet Dreadnought delivers a deftly executed, completely entrancing sonic amalgamation that calls to mind everything from Bergtatt-era Ulver, Wolves in the Throne Room, and Kate Bush to Slint, June of ’44, and Sabbath at its psychedelic doom-iest. This particular brand of Rocky Mountain High has got the raining-fire-in-the-sky blast beats, guttural vocals, and fuzzed out nasty riffs, yes, but also serious post-punk groove and softer-than-a-lullabye ethereal croons, mandolin, flute, and saxophone.

82 Obituary - Obituary 116.0 Points, 4 Votes
https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/5929c1f9ea9e61561daa7e6f/1:1/w_320/558dd4cf.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/07xZ3ekk1HHTTdoYSwlGsm?si=pbLFg-lISsq0wl0SHxtftA

Some of Obituary’s best work has come from letting flashiness creep in. In 1990, for example, Cause of Death had its sludge punctured by James Murphy’s divebombs and neoclassically-influenced soloing. That album contained their most developed songwriting in terms of leads. Likewise, thanks to Ken Andrews’ lead work here, Obituary is their most energetic record since reforming in 2003 (they originally disbanded in ’97). On “shredder” records, the disconnect between the fireworks of the guitarist and the tepid rhythm section can be jarring. But Peres and Donald’s strong foundation keeps that from happening.

Wiegedood means 'cradle death' btw, album title is aptly 'The dead have it good'. Good to see it place, I forgot to vote for it.

agree with Obituary album being their best since reformation....

Yay Dreadnought

Just did my first listen of the Dreadnought album and was v impressed.

the obituary rocks so hard

The Wiegedood is way more intricate and uptempo than I was expecting! I'm liking it a lot so far.

We are going to enter a brief Extremely Kvlt phase, followed by a swing in the total opposite direction.

As a trve poseur I only care about the kvlt stuff anyway.

81 Forgotten Spell - The Necromancer 117.0 Points, 4 Votes
https://www.metal-archives.com/images/6/7/3/5/673556.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3zDzonKRok

Haha yesss

>:D

Hahaha

how much of this sounds like a tape being rewound

all of it

It's so emotional and cute, really. Lonely angry metal guy smashing and smashing at his drumkit. The closing track is so dear - he just doesn't want to stop playing that sad lovely riff!

Ok this is great

Best drummer in metal

otm

think it might be the 'most metal' thing going

‘Demo’ is selling it short.

Finally! :D

xp I think he calls any of his releases that aren't literally an hour and a half long demos.

80 Succumb - Succumb 118.0 Points, 4 Votes
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3799906335_16.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/1rVN0ivyBmCfg74LTJl9QH?si=klkJglhFQcmD9QzkfScIbQ

There’s no one simple riff here on this album to spur highlight reels. The riffs are somewhat progressive, and dissonant, so black metal fans will raise eyebrows with the rung notes and tremolo-picked riffs, death metal fans will headbang to the sound of shredding and blastbeats, while metalcore and doom fans will also find slower sections and chugging riffs to love. Forget what you thought you hated about these various sub-genre elements. Put together in the way Succumb does here, they make no simple fodder for a small scene of metal pundits. All bow down to Succumb’s mighty thunder. Their self-titled album is not a hitmaker or two or three track wonder. Apart from Venenum’s Trance of Death, it is modern metal’s most exciting release this 2017.

The Cannibal Corpse and Obituary records are both very good; the Obituary is definitely better.

That Zeal & Ardor record is so bad and misguided.

Hey two of mine in a row!

xp I've been neaning to check out that new Obituary, esp. now that everybody agrees it's a true return to form!

Ooh, Dreadnought sound good so far!

EMO GOON CRU ASSEMBLE

oh hi i'm here

is it creeper

79 Creeper - Eternity, In Your Arms 119.0 Points, 3 Votes
https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_500/MI0004/248/MI0004248405.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/4Q3AGdThgRrZmYaFtDbWmP?si=uV3-FwstS6Cgzd2QZLG4jg

The much-anticipated full-length debut from the English goth-punk collective, Eternity, in Your Arms arrives after a three-year build-up that saw Creeper honing their Alkaline Trio-meets-the Damned blend of glam rock and post-hardcore-kissed horror-punk in sweaty halls and drink ticket-strewn green rooms. While all of the Misfits, A-Trio, and AFI comparisons are apt, what Creeper has that those giants of bar-chord brooding lack is a keen sense for the pageantry of rock & roll, and it's that propensity for almost Meat Loaf-worthy grandeur that makes Eternity, in Your Arms so consistently compelling. It's a world where pit-worthy, minor-chord verses almost always yield fist-pumping, arms-around-your-mates choruses, and that the proceedings are shepherded by a pair of charismatic vocalists (frontman Will Gould and keyboardist/backing vocalist Hannah Greenwood), makes things all the more spellbinding. With Eternity, in Your Arms, Creeper have truly proven themselves masters of the dark arts, as they've managed to create something as genuinely inspired as it is stylistically derivative.

wow i'm good

Aawww

great record

whenever they announce their next album I'm gonna track its development obsessively

also if any fans of this have not listened to the EPs yet, they're worth your time

That's a description that sounds worth a listen.

I've actually only heard the EPs...completely slept on this release past a couple of the singles. I will enjoy playing it to imago in full

am I emo or goon enough for this? guess we'll find out

A brief intermission.

First song from the Big Brave album is right up my alley, wow. Happiest discovery so far.

78 Gnod - Just Say No to the Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine 120 Points, 4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/5ogFR7w.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/5EXqFb0ch5dqP2ncl63XVY?si=Xi51xQ33TsaDOBZt1Sq9JQ
https://gnod.bandcamp.com/album/just-say-no-to-the-psycho-right-wing-capitalist-fascist-industrial-death-machine

http://drownedinsound.com/releases/19874/reviews/4150918

GNOD

JUST SAY NO TO THE PSYCHO RIGHT-WING CAPITALIST FASCIST INDUSTRIAL DEATH MACHINE

As we embark on a new year more characterised by fear and uncertainty than hope and optimism, a chronic shortage of dissent can be detected in the artistic community amidst a harrowing socio-political climate. Yet the Salford-based collective Gnod have wasted little time in kicking against the doom and disquiet with everything at their disposal.

“It seems like we are heading towards even more unsettling times in the near future than we are in at present.” reckons Chris Haslam of Gnod. “2016 is just the beginning of what I see as the establishment’s systematic destruction of liberalism and equality as a reaction to the general public’s loss of faith in their system”

Charged by this outlook, Gnod's new album, ' Just Say No To The Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine’ represents a hitherto uncharted level of antagonism and adversarial force for the band - an artistic statement as righteous, fervent and direct as its title. which far from being an echo of an anarcho spirit of yore, denotes a record firmly entrenched in the psychic... more
credits
released March 31, 2017

I saw a lot of hype for this but haven't really been up for new GNOD since Infinity Machines

I think I nominated this, but it didn't quite make it onto my ballot, because it didn't get many repeat listens. It's still decent though

My first one to show up.

I def think they lifted the cover from this book btw:

https://images.penguinrandomhouse.com/cover/9781784786229

Lol wow

Ha!

OK, Big Brave is on the to-buy list.

Battle of the 5-track, 55-minute epics

TIE
76 Progenie Terrestre Pura - oltreLuna 120.0, 5 Votes
http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/images/covers/progenie-terrestre-pura-oltreluna-20170425081507.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/5PXXQiqStTTfM3goTYoihp?si=1Eb9yy9yRTi_SxBQC9hCzQ

U.M.A. was often unrelenting in its pacing, as if the entire album was a psychedelic trip through a wormhole from sci-fi cinema (there were ambient passages, sure, but they felt more like changes in volume than a shift in environment). OltreLuna, on the other hand, gives the listener ample time to stop and observe the surrounding cosmic objects, locations, and inhabitants. This is done both with the band’s heightened compositional prowess — that great combination of everything feeling natural while still offering surprises — and an even wider range of “extra” sounds (female vocals, synth squeals, heavy dubstep pulses, trip-hop drums, and some other less expected sounds we’ll get to later). Add in a meticulous, ludicrously detailed production, and far more noticeable vocals from newcomer Emanuele Prandoni, and you get an album that is simultaneously more accessible and deeper than the debut. Our hypothetical starship crewmen are more battle-hardened by their experiences, yet they have lost none of their awe for the universe.

76 Usnea - Portals Into Futility 120.0 Points, 5 Votes
https://www.metal-archives.com/images/6/6/0/6/660680.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/2qC0LCLQYikfbz08odBMvN?si=4A_Gm4JCTxOheyir0OPnVg

Usnea were a band out of time. They had always felt to me like an outfit rooted in the halcyon days of the early 2000s, when a slew of bands were creating tidal wave riffs and tidal wave imagery – Isis’ Oceanic, Graves at Sea’s Migration and Ocean’s Hear Where Nothing Grows. Of course, Usnea don’t quite fit in when it comes to the imagery (replacing it with sci-fi infused darkness), but they are of that ilk: a band willfully slowing staggeringly heavy riffs down even further, screaming woeful tirades as if from mountaintops, and heating the whole cocktail of bile up in the studio to a point that it boils down to a primordial sludge.

Their early self-titled release particularly reminded me of Ocean’s gargantuan debut, and the follow-up, 2014’s Random Cosmic Violence (and their first for Relapse) cemented Usnea as ‘ones to watch’ to a worldwide audience. Both albums offered a collection of four songs with only one of those less than twelve minutes long, with most averaging at quarter of an hour, and therefore – of course – the albums clocked in at around an hour. Portals into Futility features a similar running length, but with the middle three tracks all under ten minutes duration, the pacing and overall structure of their third full-length is radically different than that which has gone before. Portals into Futility paradoxically constricts and lets its music breathe, while also wearing their influences a little closer to the surface than on previous efforts.

Progenie Terrestre Pura - oltreLuna

already onboard with this album cover

great album, pretty sure I voted for it

whoa the dreadnought record is super endearing

^^ I am finding this to be the case as well

I liked the Usnea album prior, I'm sure I'd love this one

the dreadnought record also features sax so it's possible i'm being catered to

The Dreadnought record really impressed me as well, was expecting a floaty soft nautical prog thing but then it bares its jaws

I think smithy is a fan of it
xps

only listening to sax metal in 2018

Lots of good stuff already! I wasnt very impressed with CC and Obituary this year, even though I love OSDM...anyway, glad at least two people like Colotyphus too, it’s nothing revolutionary but the songs are awesome & I always dig death metal vocals over black metal songs, way more bands should do it.

Progenie Terrestre Pura was a bit of a letdown after the debt, I gotta say.

(debut not debt)

Yeah this didn't hit me like the debut did

fave title+cover combo of the poll so far

75 Wode - Servants of the Countercosmos 121.0 Points, 4 Votes
http://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Wode-Servants-of-the-Countercosmos--e1497889150334.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/3H2DBHz90QNuEezDMACfj2?si=2XUGKFxpT_CnsGsFOgDgIQ

ooh what is this

dreadnought still kicking my ass btw, i usually don't go for songs this long but they're packed with ideas

The Wode record rules hard - probably my fave black metal release last year.

also there's some good flutin' on the second track of the dreadnought

Also - why do we have Pop Punk records and 2016 records shutting out, probably better 2017 metal records in the poll - it blows.

Ooh yeah Wode, I forgot to vote for that one, it’s really good!

BIP I count 1 (one) of each of those things you're complaining out of 25 records so far (and I haven't seen the full results but I don't anticipate any more of either out of the 100 slots) so maybe relax

Also - why do we have Pop Punk records and 2016 records shutting out, probably better 2017 metal records in the poll - it blows.

― BlackIronPrison, Monday, February 5, 2018 12:23 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

idk, the nominations thread included the phrase "heavy rock" which adds p huge margins to the poll

Yeah! This made it onto my ballot. It brings a heavy wizardry and some twisty tunefulness and is never boring.

I still can't process how much more metal you listened to than me

also the creeper record seems appropriate here to me, tbh? in ambition and mood it feels, at the very least, metal adjacent, even though what happens within that mood is gothy pop-punk. which is essentially why i voted for it and didn't vote for other similar records on the list

Man you’re going to be bummed out when Paramore turns out to have won.

lol

lol

Just imagine a Napalm Death version of Hard Times if things get too much, BIP. It's easier than you'd think

can't believe i found two records i'm gonna love forever in the results already, satan bless the metal poll

I agree that Creeper are definitely metal adjacent. It's hardly on the sunny end of pop punk.

xp haha it's because I didn't listen to a certain album on repeat

74 Grails - Chalice Hymnal 121 Points, 5 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/8V7NAXZ.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/1yc17D4aHQRfltXlln9Mcq?si=lpM8j5ZFSni8LCBwCkm5Ow
https://grails.bandcamp.com/album/chalice-hymnal

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22906-chalice-hymnal/

Never heard of this, but it looks very baroque and I hope that proves to be correct.

are we talking about Peasant or DAMN there haha xxp

Grails are kind of Indian mysticism drone-doom iirc

probably the falsest album that's gonna place. gothy dinner party music. (I like them v much)

Beginning of Dreadnought third track is like some French jazz-pop lol. Can tell things are about to get hea. vy. though

This is a vibe I can very much favour. I would like to host a dinner party and play this. Everyone's invited! It's tonight.

will there be tostones

goat's cheese tostadas

I voted for this but I kind of thought it dropped off after the first few tracks

Beginning of Dreadnought third track is like some French jazz-pop lol. Can tell things are about to get hea. vy. though

― imago, Monday, February 5, 2018 12:35 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it actually doesn't ever get that heavy? and i'm so into it

yeah it doesn't, but it is so very elegant

73 Oranssi Pazuzu - Kevät / Värimyrsky 126 Points, 5 votes
https://i.imgur.com/78bHSVD.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/0CBu7fiAdwNVsbY3rWvYT6?si=7PvLjj8NSDSR372Au_d5MQ

http://www.metalinjection.net/av/full-album-stream/oranssi-pazuzu-goes-gloom-and-doom-with-kevat-varimyrsky

I didn't even know that came out! jesus...:/

yasss

Q1: Is Grails really post-rock
Q2: Do we not have a post-rock thread (any more) on ilm?

A two-track, sixteen-minute EP on which one of the tracks is kind of dull. But the second track is just so fucking triumphant, I couldn't not vote for it. It's pretty much heavy psych-rock at this point, but some of the coolest and most badass rock music in the world

Wode was one I discovered from the nominations list, nice to see it here.

love how all the guitars get subtracted from the last track on the dreadnought record for a piano solo

yeah I'm listening to that right now! it's really, really nice

oh shit then an a cappella ending

god what a cool album

72 Violet Cold - Anomie 127 Points, 4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/8zHqIrt.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/58VkYUmTfWXFfpPJB5U3q2?si=ifLShJ7mS0iPfjErC1m8hQ
or
Instrumental version https://open.spotify.com/album/0yHiAlmSakN7Z3YWiQxY9b?si=P_7Z3qWpTqymasXrC7PvsA

https://violetcold.bandcamp.com/album/anomie

http://www.angrymetalguy.com/violet-cold-anomie-review/

yeah it takes a lot of subtly unexpected turns. will enjoy returning to it

anyway, hope you're all headbanging to the extended bridge of Värimyrsky

ooh what's THIS? probably tt tried to show me it at some point idk

Yes damnit yes

you guys want simon to take us down to 61 tonight?

Opening melody of the first track reminds me a bit too much of Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive' sadly, but it picks up after that :)

“anomie” is a “condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals,” a form of social disorder that was first outlined in the 1897 book “Suicide” by Émile Durkheim. Durkheim and others exhort that anomie represents a schism between the collective goal of a society and the individual’s inability to achieve it, leading to potential deviant behaviour. Anomie can also describe individuals ignored and vilified because they run counter to a society’s groupthink.

progenie terrestre pura record kinda feels like all of the right elements are aligned but i'm unable to engage with it for some reason. should i check out the debut?

you guys want simon to take us down to 61 tonight?

― Algerian Goalkeeper (Odysseus), Monday, February 5, 2018 1:06 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

also yes

oh man I have some catching up to do in this thread

The song on PTP's debut that's a really long Italian word with 'robot' in the middle is the one, Brad

OK, my last one for tonight before handing over to simon the next ten

He will take the countdown to 61 this evening

glad to see some things I've voted for placing, even if they're TOO LOW!

Anakim was my #1, looks like my half-assed campaigning has won over one person, just enough to place, thank you Brad :)

SO MANY things I've never even heard of so far, meaning lots of things to check out

listening to Dreadnought right now, sounds cool

I was too lazy to cast another ballot, otherwise I would have included Big!Brave

The song on PTP's debut that's a really long Italian word with 'robot' in the middle is the one, Brad

― imago, Monday, 5 February 2018 20:10 (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Listening to this and it's excellent. Sounds like glass breaking

71 Queens Of The Stone Age - Villains 131 Points, 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/EEGQSrX.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/6JdX9MGiEMypqYLMKyIE8a?si=4WKy9RpsQyqqfiRDbBQR8A

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/aug/24/queens-of-the-stone-age-villains-review-josh-hommes-chemsex-vikings-beef-up-their-myth <--- an ilxor

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/queens-of-the-stone-age-villains/

ugh no

I hate to admit it but this grew on me a lot (didn't vote for it tho)

It's a very good album, but I miss Josh writing heavy songs

i think this is their best record but it was not on my ballot for extramusical reasons :\

Voted for it though

maybe it's good but I will never know because I've never liked these guys

boooo

Wouldn't 've minded if this had went the Brand New route, ie not placing bcz Homme's a scumbag

listening to the second track of this. it sounds like Muse! it sounds like recent Muse

Did Foo Fighters put an album out this year, too? I can never remember.

penultimate track is a good T-Rex impression tho

dont think so?

xp

dont think so?

xp

Not a serious question; a joke about the bottomless lameness of Josh Homme.

Wouldn't 've minded if this had went the Brand New route, ie not placing bcz Homme's a scumbag

― Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, February 5, 2018 1:33 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hard to say this about anyone i don't know personally but his apology seemed heartfelt and i will one day be able to listen to qotsa again, just not yet

last track on this record still has my favorite chorus of 2017

70 Brutus - Burst 133.0 Points, 5 Votes
http://www.allschools.de/pictures/cover/BRUTUS_-_Burst_400.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/68xOWoPQStCXdG7dk4Ubnb?si=67rU61DyRLuz6jZj7v-o0A

The moment album-opener “March” kicks in you get a sense of Brutus’ varied influences. It’s riff-driven, like a mixture of Every Time I Die and Japandroids, but it’s also fused with soaring, intense melody. Vocalist and drummer Stefanie Mannaert unleashes a flourish of borderline black metal blast beats while yelling out lyrics with feverish intensity. Vocally, Mannaert is raw and fierce without ever being caustic or violent. She doesn’t scream, but she reaches for notes with shouts that sometimes make it, and sometimes putter and crack. This is in no way a bad thing; in fact it adds to the band’s frantic nature. You sweat when you listen to this, and you bleed from every pore.

a mixture of Every Time I Die and Japandroids

.... huh

Heard yesterday, went straight onto my ballot.

very cool album, portends great things, agree that description is way off

That Brutus album is pretty good. I love a singing drummer.

hard to say this about anyone i don't know personally but his apology seemed heartfelt and i will one day be able to listen to qotsa again, just not yet

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, February 5, 2018 8:42 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Seems I missed the second apology, googling now; the initial one was hella lame.

the last track on the progenie terrestre pura gets super wubbed out. it is incidentally the first time i've really loved a song on this record as opposed to moments

That Brutus album is pretty good. I love a singing drummer.

― grawlix (unperson), Monday, February 5, 2018 1:48 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh shit! gotta check this out on principle (i'm a singing drummer)

wait what

oh man I have some catching up to do in this thread

― Dinsdale, Monday, February 5, 2018 8:09 PM (forty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

So far behind here. This Colotyphus record is really cool.

The first of several over the next stretch that I know nothing about!

69 Akvan - Forgotten Glory 135.0 Points, 5 Votes
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3558206330_16.jpg
https://akvan.bandcamp.com/album/forgotten-glory

Bandcamp is PWYC!

I love this band. Iranian fusion of Persian folk and black metal. More oud on this album.

This looks great!

Really enjoying Wode while cleaning the bathroom btw.

Akvan higher than I would have thought. Decent album.

colotyphus is not my thing i don't think but i respect it

That's how I feel about this Akvan record.

68 Nortt - Endeligt 140.0 Points 4 Votes, 1 #1 Vote
https://www.spirit-of-metal.com/les%20goupes/N/Nortt/Endeligt/Endeligt.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/0TBCJfOsvpdZKVt27LWe7L?si=kLW5FJoDTZGvmsMWDTASLA

this is all happening so fast!

I should listen to this now I've finally become apathetic enough to get funeral doom

more sub-40-min funeral doom records, please

I came in late, so I missed a lot. But LOL at "Wiege dude".

Five of mine already placed: Violet Cold, Big|Brave, Bathsheba, Succumb and Nortt.

colotyphus is not my thing i don't think but i respect it

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, February 5, 2018 2:15 PM (eleven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

wait, nm, it's converting me

The Nortt album is really good. I haven't heard that Akvan record, but I like his earlier stuff.

My number #1

The Nortt is my favorite thing discovered from the campaign thread. I didn't vote for it, because it only really hit me this last week. Never went crazy for previous work by them. This one feels mature and focused.

I couldn't ask for more in a black metal album: it scratches me right where I itch.

I think this is stronger than the previous Akvan record (which I also liked), unperson.

colotyphus is not my thing i don't think but i respect it

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, February 5, 2018 2:15 PM (eleven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

wait, nm, it's converting me

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, February 5, 2018 2:27 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

mostly all of the guitar solos are really good

yeah it's a really great-sounding record, feels like the work of an established band

67 Flight Of Sleipnir - Skadi 144.0 Points, 5 Votes
http://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/The-Flight-of-Sleipnir-Skadi-e1481519221317.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/1pmCC3WVzkJSYzGg45zbyF?si=0xSc3_9rQ7O7xf_pzoY7EQ

For the unenlightened, I’d say it’s fair to summarize The Flight of Sleipnir’s sound as a stoner/doom version of Agalloch. Most of Agalloch’s elements are present – winding acoustic passages, folk sensibility, mildly mournful riffs, and buckets of atmosphere. The Flight of Sleipnir add some psychedelic elements and generally aren’t so despondent, but their overall approach is quite similar. Frankly though, I’ve never got the hype around Agalloch. Their compositions are naïve (not endearingly), the vocals annoy me, and they meander too much for their own good. They’ve improved on recent albums, but I can’t help but cringe on hearing The Mantle or Pale Folklore, despite some wonderful moments. The Flight of Sleipnir fortunately don’t succumb to these problems. The screamed vocals are powerful, while the clean singing is suitably soft and trippy, and the meandering, while occasionally problematic, is generally kept interesting enough.

damn that Nortt album is fuckin serious

Glorious psych doom! Tenebrous Haze was one of my most played tracks last year. It all unfolds in exactly the way my brain wants it to.

Meanwhile, I've never heard of Akvan before, but this is seriously beautiful! I love all the folk instrumentation and heavy reverb underneath the crunchy and discordant black metal. Probably second favourite find from today

yeah this is great

I'm enjoying Akvan as well!

next up is a personal favorite with exceptionally awful cover art

ooh I think I might know what this is

66 Pissed Jeans - Why Love Now 147.0 Points, 3 Votes, 1 #1 Vote
https://rocknuts.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/PissedJeans_WhyLoveNow_cover_1500x1500_300.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/28DmrpnPDaAYBc0F5P6niZ?si=2coW-RL-SV66vhFxYBoO6A

Between their territorial growls and bludgeoning guitars, Pennsylvania sludge-punks Pissed Jeans have made a brand out of unfiltered male aggression; each of their four albums has played like an American Splendor comic reenacted by grizzly bears. Yet more so than frontmen who profess to be infinitely more political, Matt Korvette understands what he can contribute to the conversation about gender relations. His songs offer insight into the forces that drive men: the privileges, compulsions, indignities, entitlements, and double standards. He’s touched on this territory often—most notably on “Male Gaze,” his rubbernecking apology from 2013’s terrific Honeys—but he’s never run with the muse as righteously as he does on Why Love Now, the band’s deepest dive yet into the inglorious male psyche.

The record could almost pass for a concept album, if not for all of Korvette’s usual digressions. He balances out his social insights with asides about sugary snacks, laugh-tracked sitcoms, astrology, and the like, and those flashes of irreverence are more welcome than ever, since the core of the album couldn’t be more pointed. “The Bar Is Low” challenges the way society coddles men, rewarding them for the most modest demonstrations of decency, as if simply not being a violent monster entitles them to a medal. “Held down a job/Even snagged a raise,” Korvette sings, “Right there you’re due/For effusive praise.” On “It’s Your Knees,” he demonstrates how men neg women, picking at their insecurities to cut down their esteem.

Lydia Lunch's (co-)production helps kick them to a new level; their best album, and I like 'em all.

that is kind of an amazing album cover

I wondered what happened to the barenakedladies

i thought it would be i************ o******* haha

Pissed Jeans will never not make me think of Hari btw

I've never understood the loathing this band inspires in select circles (though I do get a kick out of MRA types calling them cucks in YouTube comments)

65 Amenra - Mass VI 147.0 Points, 4 Votes
http://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/cover_1506107995932995-500x500.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/03tCpZ9EP6CWO62yWKBTve?si=nife-_FqQ3K7ruvgOfdcmw

Sometimes life gets dark. For how selfish it may sound, sometimes things happen to you that make all the worldly issues scatter across the floor, like mercury from a broken thermometer. No matter how you try, you don’t give a shit about anything as you fall deeper and deeper into yourself. That’s the power of depression. And, the only person you’d rather avoid, rather not talk to, and rather not care for is the one that consumes you. For the last few months, these feelings have been fueled by Amenra‘s Mass VI. It doesn’t matter how many times I hear this album, it burns deeper each time and I can’t help but die a little more with each spin.

If you’ve ever heard Amenra, this comes as no surprise. This clergy of the Church of Ra, as well as members of fantastic Belgian acts like Oathbreaker and Wiegedood, have been preaching to me for over a decade. And Mass VI is one of their best sermons yet. Like all their albums, it’s one that should be “enjoyed” from beginning to end. Every song builds on the other, every intermission is a necessary chance to exhale, and the sermon’s punchline will leave you worse off than you were before you arrived. To enjoy Mass VI is to invite pain and darkness into your life. Yet, I can’t help but play it one more time.

Good band but not heard this album yet

Same; I only know them from seeing them open for Converge and Neurosis. They were pretty decent; singer stood with his (tattooed) back to the audience the entire time lol

Liked the song of theirs i heard last week

wow glad I managed to post while results were still coming out! some great records so far, lots of stuff I still haven't listened to.

You knew this was coming

64 Mesarthim - Presence 147.0 Points, 6 Votes
http://cdn.albumoftheyear.org/album/2017/97260-presence.jpg
https://mesarthim.bandcamp.com/album/presence-e-p

^_____^

title track is undoubtedly the most hardcore thing in this rollout

The melody in the title track is 'Return of the Mack', but I love it anyway

Maybe that's why I love it

lmao I'd forgotten how bonkers that track is

we're about due for another release, I'd wager

they've gone into hibernation, haven't they? who knows in what form they'll return

i hope this band puts out three albums/eps every year for the rest of my life

yes

important to note that the great filter/type iii was released as a compilation album last year, making it p much the best metal release of 2017

i thought it would be i************ o******* haha

funny you should mention...

TIE

62 Ingurgitating Oblivion - Vision Wallows in Symphonies of Light 150.0 Points, 4 Votes
http://www.metal-observer.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/634062.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/0am4uDjnDNYarZSfsvRJZT?si=Inc4h_DmQY2ttsUFCC7u-Q

Ingurgiting Oblivion is a Berlin-based band who are revered in underground death metal circles, but who never really got their just deserved praise until 2014's Continuum Of Absence was released. Now they're back with a new album, Vision Wallows In Symphonies Of Light, it's definitely their strongest material to date, and we've got a full early stream of it below for you to check out. If you're new to the group, they combine dissonant tech-death like Ulcerate and Gorguts and fuse that with dissonant black metal and brutal death metal influences into a sound all its own. The songs they create from that framework are further developed around progressive and experimental tendencies that envelope Ingurgitating Oblivion's pummeling nature with an air of grandiose sophistication, broken up with quirky jazz elements, and dark atmospheric layers and interludes.

62 Ungfell - Tôtbringære 150.0 Points, 4 Votes
https://img.discogs.com/L9RnHBxCH1dTXYAZsFpU3gIivNY=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-9889416-1490124138-4275.jpeg.jpg
https://ungfell.bandcamp.com/album/t-tbring-re

I thought the Ingurgitating Oblivion album cover had the Alison Lapper statue on it from the thumbnail when I first saw it. I was disappointed to realise this wasn't the case.

The Ungfell was sounding perfectly lovely when I listened yesterday.

Ungfell sound like they live in a very nice cave

Since I gather much of the metal commentariat has gone to bed, I'll post the day's final two entries in short order.

Two?

You spoil us, dear Simon!

Actually, you know what? You're right. Only going to 61 makes divvying up the remaining days neater. Good looking out imago

MAH BOYS

61 Tomb Mold - Primordial Malignity 151.0 Points, 5 Votes
http://www.cvltnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/TMa0329422211_10-700x700.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/4fOMUmQ1NpOKW7g2SVEPeM?si=9S8R7M8wT5GCbXZA9PpZNQ

You’re initially greeted by throbbing and ominous ambient noise until “They Grow Inside” violently births itself across the floor in a gory explosion of blastbeats, guttural death bleats and unusually twangy, discordant riffs. It coalesces into a d-beaty stomper with more than a little early Carcass influence, but the whacked out guitar tone never stops bouncing and prancing atop the maelstrom in a way you need to hear to fully appreciate.

That unusual tone is the reason Tomb Mold‘s music stands out and every song is like a unsolvable conflict between the traditional death metal instrumentation and the off-kilter riffing. It makes for quite the quirky listening experience on cuts like “Bereavement of Flesh,” a reworked demo track, and fresh monstrosities like “Clockwise Metamorphosis.” It’s almost like the jazz-fusion death made famous by Pestilence, but without the jazz. In its place is minimalist weirdness that falls somewhere between brilliant and deranged. Riffs corkscrew here and there, always impossible to ignore because of the weird sound and the mix which puts them dead center in your attention zone.

As long as 61's a good'un ;)

(Kidding - they're ALL good'uns obv)

oh never heard of this!

amazing album cover

Love Tomb Mold. The demo comp they did recently is well worth checking out, too, might be a little less... like... soul-annihilating.

ingurgitating oblivion was high on my list. that album is staggering

A pretty great first day! Favourite discoveries were: Cloud Rat, Akvan, Wiegedood, Dreadnought, and Grails.

the standings so far

100 Cloud Rat / Disrotted - Split LP 99.0 3 0
98 Contrarian - To Perceive Is To Suffer 99.0 4 0
98 Bathsheba - Servus 99.0 4 0
97 Code Orange - Forever 100.0 4 0
95 Tau Cross - Pillar of Fire 101.0 3 0
95 Necrot - Blood Offerings 101.0 3 0
94 White Ward - Futility Report 101.0 4 0
93 Colotyphus - Spiritual Journey of a Forlorn Soul 102.0 3 0
92 Big|Brave - Ardor 102.0 4 0
91 Cannibal Corpse - Red Before Black 104.0 3 0
90 Akercocke - Renaissance In Extremis 104.0 4 0
89 Zeal & Ardor - Devil Is Fine 105.0 3 0
88 The Body & Full of Hell - Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light 106.0 4
87 Anakim - Monuments to Departed Worlds 107.0 2 1
86 Dodecahdron - Kwintessens 108.0 4 0
85 Nokturnal Mortum - Veria 113.0 3 0
84 Wiegedood - De Doden Hebben Het Goed II 114.0 3 0
82 Obituary - Obituary 116.0 4 0
82 Dreadnought - A Wake in Sacred Waves 116.0 4 0
81 Forgotten Spell - The Necromancer 117.0 4 0
80 Succumb - Succumb 118.0 4 0
79 Creeper - Eternity, In Your Arms 119.0 3 0
78 Gnod - Just Say No to the Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine 120.0 4
76 Usnea - Portals Into Futility 120.0 5 0
76 Progenie Terrestre Pura - oltreLuna 120.0 5 0
75 Wode - Servants of the Countercosmos 121.0 4 0
74 Grails - Chalice Hymnal 121.0 5 0
73 Oranssi Pazuzu - Kevät / Värimyrsky 126.0 5 0
72 Violet Cold - Anomie 127.0 4 0
71 Queens Of The Stone Age - Villains 131.0 3 0
70 Brutus - Burst 133.0 5 0
69 Akvan - Forgotten Glory 135.0 5 0
68 Nortt - Endeligt 140.0 4 1
67 Flight Of Sleipnir - Skadi 144.0 5 0
66 Pissed Jeans - Why Love Now 147.0 3 1
65 Amenra - Mass VI 147.0 4 0
64 Mesarthim - Presence 147.0 6 0
62 Ungfell - Tôtbringære 150.0 4 0
62 Ingurgitating Oblivion - Vision Wallows in Symphonies of Light 150.0 4 0
61 Tomb Mold - Primordial Malignity 151.0 5 0

fun (to me) fact: only one of these albums is longer than an hour, and just under half don't even cross the 40-minute mark. good year for concision!

instantly knew the long one was the colotyphus. like, without even looking at them all. haha

aw fuck make that two; the other one is Nokturnal Mortum. still!

ukrainians have a lot to say about themselves

Niiice. Pissed Jeans were my #1 and Creeper my #2. Might get some kind of false award for this but those albums are both incredible. PJ never let me down and came out more focused than ever on this one. Creeper just hit me on a really nostalgic level for a sound I had missed for awhile. Still play both if these a ton. Glad they both made the cut.

Out of curiosity (though I will need to confer w other poll folks so the right to overrule remains), would folx prefer the rest be rolled out like:

20-20-20
or
20-20-10-10
or
20-15-15-10
or
15-15-15-15?

(These are your only options.)

I too voted for both PJ and Creeper. I'm sad I may never get the chance to see Pissed Jeans live - they don't seem to hit Canada at all.

They’re in the running for band i’ve seen the most live. They play ny and philly area quite a bit if you’re ever nearby. Really fun show.

I'm checking out the Dodecahedron album now. It's pretty good, although I think I was hoping it would be more obtuse (like the last DHG or something). Akvan was my #4, nothing else I voted for came up. I might check out the Cloud Rat/Disrotted split next.

I think I liked the Disrotted side better than the Cloud Rat side, I think I might be a Falser.

20-20-20
or
20-20-10-10
or
20-15-15-10
or
15-15-15-15?

or 30-30 and finishing weds

60 Gasp - Ghost in Scow Out 153 Points, 4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/67ji8wA.jpg
https://gasplapsychviolence.bandcamp.com/releases

First new GASP material in over 18 years. Hell is frozen. GASP is back. 1997 told us to come to the future and scramble your brain around a bit. Can we spend the night? We brought drugs.
credits
released October 3, 2017

quite like 20-15-15-10 myself

is that your photo btw?

i cant do thursday. go to take my mum to the hospital for her appointment with the consultant.

lol, no. its from bandcamp and i thought it seemed a better photo to post. ive never heard of the band

59 Circle - Terminal 157 Points, 6 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/oMobUao.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/7zggczopZJBxLwZrGTVh3A?si=eIwS9CH7S4Wn67sf-qIgww

https://circlesl.bandcamp.com/releases

http://thequietus.com/articles/22769-circle-terminal-review

think richard dawson dubbed this his album of the year fwiw

Hope your mum is doing okay xp

getting there (with aid of a zimmer) it will take months for to get back to normal after a legbreak, but at least we can finally find out quite how long once we can speak to the consultant

anyway do you guys want the poll to finish wednesday or friday?

probably friday. will simon be able to handle a few on thurs or would you rather be around for it (best to your mum obv)

its no problem letting simon do thursday (but it would be a shame me not being able to see the 2nd last day rollout)

Good luck with it all. Best to you both! And yeah, a Friday finish sounds good but I don’t really mind either way.

of course maybe we could start the rollout friday tea-time. i hope we are back by 6pm

erm thursday tea-time

We can always have a day-long hiatus

58 Corpse Garden - IAO 269 159 Points, 5 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/vOIj5nb.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/63zHZv42xmMHZpMX4mFi8l?si=7g9gUV5mT3yvMDAvgNvjCQ

https://corpsegarden.bandcamp.com/album/iao-269

http://www.invisibleoranges.com/corpse-garden-iao-269/

my #4, absolutely amazing drug-magic-death metal from costa rica

This Gasp Psych is too aimless, even for me

Accidental capitalisation. Ah yes, the Corpse Garden is wonderful!

(starting the rollout if/when you're back on thursday sounds ideal!)

everyone listen to this though it's insanely good. the fretless bass is a monster

only Tomb Mold has been on my ballot so far -- hoping I'm a lot more populist than usual. The Gasp is OK -- reminds me of any number of ad hoc jam bands that happen after house shows in Oakland. Nice enough, but nowhere near as interesting (or forward looking) as Drome Triler.

the sound swarms rather than strikes

btw if it was up to me we would finish tomorrow while we still have momentum but if enough say friday then friday it will be

57 With The Dead - Love From With The Dead 162 Points, 5 votes
https://i.imgur.com/kAYHhVo.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/4GGU5lB02dzjdTEjEFxoTo?si=O7my44vkSNK8-DYpwrMkBA

http://www.invisibleoranges.com/ever-heavier-with-the-deads-love-from-with-the-dead/

When the hype machine started rolling for With the Dead’s eponymous debut in 2015, we had a pretty good idea of what it would sound like. Lee Dorrian with Electric Wizard’s rhythm section? Check. Doom upon doom, lots of witches, Hammer films, motorcycles… take your pick. To a degree, that’s part of what we got, but there was more....

Another smithy fave iirc

I much preferred this to the new EW (if it’s fair to compare them). Nice and dark and magical.

Damn it, we broke the short-album streak. Anyway, this is really not for me.

Corpse Garden is sounding good.

wait til you get to 'the elevenfold vibration'

56 Pyrrhon - What Passes For Survival 162 Points, 7 votes
https://i.imgur.com/WLeeAQG.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/322db45S6X4FrBdHSIN7dA?si=7LrgQ8u2QcOub61SDu-2zg
https://pyrrhonband.bandcamp.com/album/what-passes-for-survival

http://www.angrymetalguy.com/pyrrhon-passes-survival-review/

Props if their name is an allusion to The Waste Land.

xp

TOOOO LOOOOOW

It's totally fair to compare. Electric Wizard leaves Rise Above and talks s**t about Lee Dorian. So Dorian takes two ex-Electric Wiz members (Greening since left after first album) and arguably does a better job at being E Wiz than the originals, at least for last year's albums. Love it. My second favorite thing about With The Dead was the huge, floppy hat Leo Smee wore at Roadburn '16.

https://i2.wp.com/www.metalinjection.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/19989260_803549843153579_759513701822139386_n.jpg

Leo Smee is in them? I'll have to check it out

55 Loss - Horizonless 167 Points, 5 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/53DdI8l.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/4Ej4vZJWBrdIHC7yY1qJjS?si=vCPSpSIMQGOi9Wisr59M5w
https://loss.bandcamp.com/album/horizonless

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/23240-horizonless/

http://www.angrymetalguy.com/loss-horizonless-review/

another great cover!

surprisingly low after the rolling metal thread reception

It's a particularly demanding subgenre as far as vocals are concerned, and I'm still not sold on theirs.

today's theme remains TOOO LOOOOW (this will continue)

I'm not mad about this next placement. I'm laughing, actually

54 Propagandhi - Victory Lap 168.0 Points, 4 Votes, 1 #1 Vote
https://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2017/09/Propagandhi-Victory-Lap-1506443436-640x640.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/01lJjCxlvrddTRzIbtKHmP?si=7J0e7a87T9aaiv4McsRUJg

There’s one song on Victory Lap expressing awestruck reverence for Quang Duc, the Vietnamese monk who burned himself alive in Saigon in 1963 to protest oppression of Buddhists. There’s a song about a Winnipeg sewer crew finding the bones of ancient extinct bison, a song that uses that incident to consider a future where we’re all bones at the bottom of some other species’ shit canal. The song with the catchiest opening — “We came here to rock! / Single moms to the front! / Deadbeat dads to the back!” — devolves into an extended metaphor about a Molière play. As ever, Propagandhi are a band who practically demand that you read their lyric sheet with a dictionary and an open Wikipedia tab.

But all of this works, partly because the writing really is as crisp and layered and intense and sharp and partly because Hannah is probably the one singer in a million who can belt out these syntactically tortured sentiments and make them sound like they’re clawing their way out of his gut like the alien in Alien. The band itself is a huge part of it, too. In recent years, Propagandhi have been pushing themselves more and more toward the thrash metal that Hannah and Samolesky grew up on. They’ve still got plenty of pop-punk snot in them, but they play with a merciless intensity, never afraid to show off their genuinely stunning musicianship. Their songs are fast and loud and complicated, and they play them like they can somehow alter the course of human history if they can become the tightest band on earth. It’s been five years since Failed States, the band’s last album, and Victory Lap is their first with new guitarist Sulynn Hago, an absolute monster. But the chemistry is still ferocious. Together, they still sound like a machine.

I am late to the party. Some thoughts on the first batch of albums...

98 Bathsheba - Servus

I was an early supporter in the ILM thread. I became Facebook friends with Michelle Neocon, the vocalist. Unfortunately she barged onto a post on my Facebook with a cryptic comment that seemed to support Donald Trump. She was asked to clarify, she didn't and it became a huge clusterfuck involving PMing people on my friends list to complain, including my wife. She eventually sent me a screed and unfriended me. I never read the screed. That turned me off from the band and the album didn't make my ballot because of it.

97 Code Orange - Forever

Tried to get into it. Didn't work. That said, surprised to see how low it is here.

92 Big|Brave - Ardor

I championed this one in the ILM thread and saw them live last year. Excellent release.

89 Zeal & Ardor - Devil Is Fine

I got this on the ballot. I understand some people see it more a 2016 release but it finally got a CD release with a label that reissued it. The Pazz & Jop poll managed to handle such albums in the past so I was surprised to see such resistance (some here, mostly on my Invisible Oranges list where I literally had to block someone who would Just. Not. Shut. Up. about it).

72 Violet Cold - Anomie
70 Brutus - Burst

Both were in my top ten. Love them both.

68 Nortt - Endeligt

Glad this got a bunch of votes. The advantage of doing the poll later is that this disc, released on 12/29, didn't fall through the cracks.

66 Pissed Jeans - Why Love Now

Love this album, didn't think it was "metal" but maybe I should rethink.

as always, bear in mind it's technically the "metal n' heavy rock" poll, and by that standard PJ qualify pretty uncontroversially

just think of all the classic 'heavy metal' that wouldn't have made any lists or polls once thrash metal came along as it wasn't 'metal enough'.
Though I'm guessing Slayer fans would like that since most of them probably only ever listen to slayer

Absolute shocker that someone called Neocon turned out to be a chud lol

I actually saw a comment online somewhere saying iron maiden, judas priest and black sabbath are classic rock not metal

:/

Anyway, Victory Lap was my #1, a towering but humble achievement from one of the very best rock bands my dumb country has ever produced

Let's have a listen

(The final three songs on the Spotify version are fun-but-forgettable covers.)

53 Planning for Burial - Below the House 168.0 Points, 5 Votes
https://newnoisemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Planning-For-Burial-Below-The-House.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/31lWxuVOP2hrbyqetVueTW?si=jTvwphjgRECmV5KCdIuGdg

There isn’t a glimmer of sun on Below the House, the latest from post-metal outfit, Planning For Burial. Think of the gloom of a UV index of 0.

In this world, sunglasses are merely cosmetic.

The hints of cheerlessness should come as no surprise. Throughout the record, I continually conjured up vivid images of a kind of pestilent wintertime death that begins in the soil, born in the rush of cold, fetid air. Perhaps the album title implies that there is a person being interred. Perhaps they met with a violent fate.

Planning For Burial is the alter ego of Scranton, Pennsylvania artist Thom Wasluck, a devilish creator who plays and records all instruments. Wasluck has been prolific in the studio over these last couple of years, using Bandcamp as a platform for spreading his peculiar brand of darkness to some grassroots acclaim (it’s curious to not that he has also distributed music through cassette and floppy computer disk).

are Propaghandi a poppunk barenaked ladies?

"When All Your Fears Collide" or "Comply/Resist" should answer that for you.

I like this Planning for Burial record very much; I think it made my ballot.

Aw, way too low for Planning for Burial :(

Reminded me of the Mt Eerie black wooden records. I miss that sound, though I don't begrudge Elverum for doing something else.

That and Fred's comparison with metal Mt Eerie will make me want to check this out.

older Mt Eerie made metal poll

Next up is the creepiest album I've checked out from this rollout so far

52 Ehnahre - The Marrow 171.0 Points, 5 Votes
(Sorry, couldn't find a non-hueg version of the album art.)
https://open.spotify.com/album/7InPnS3IWdrb4fBUdQVfhF?si=3WpP0NKzRhWJELyvwhMlhA

On the whole, The Marrow offers a more dismal, droning version of Kayo Dot’s Hubardo with plenty of desolate passages drawn straight from a Portal record. But the manner in which Ehnahre fulfills this overarching theme varies in a way that enriches it’s expansive soundscapes of filth and anguish. A percussive assault on the double bass introduces “The Crow Speaks” in such a way that renders the instrument virtually unrecognizable. This performance, in conjunction with the following metallic electronics and sound samples, provide the first instances of the album’s electroacoustic undertones. The sudden pang of dissonant guitars pierces through the chaos and begins to distort alongside the double bass and effects before percussion smashes into the fold to intensify the mood. The cacophony sets the track up for its first burst of Roethke’s poem, with wispy, haunted vocals wheezing out the words they’ve been tasked with delivering:

Images get resized automatically, don't they?

Don't know, and didn't want to risk it. Anyway, this is on an ambient experimental tip, which has been underrepresented so far, though it's (once again) not particularly my bag.

Funny to see Ehnahre here, I thought I was the only one who really gave a shit. Same with Gasp. Good to see Ungfell and Corpse Garden place, Pyrrhon TOO LOW.

I think The Marrow's pretty stunning fwiw but it's not exactly friendly.

Good album.

https://i.imgur.com/BYBxRUk.jpg

Your advocacy bore fruit.

xp

tip, take the pics from the bandcamp if available and use imgur.com

Your advocacy bore fruit.

xp

― pomenitul, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 15:26 (twenty-nine seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

C: I think I'm responsible for Dreadnought too to be honest, does that make me an influential tastemaker? That makes me uncomfortable.

51 Gigan - Undulating Waves of Rainbiotic Iridescense 174.0 Points, 7 Votes
http://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Gigan-Undulating-Waves-of-Rainbiotic-Iridescence--e1498095459199.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/7nlck5qvCmRBkySBl5zwVp?si=OtXqG3ghRUmrvNhekNKnqA

Undulating Waves Of Rainbiotic Iridescence is an incredible technical death metal album. equal parts extreme ambition, furious and complex hyper-active blast and shred passages, atmospheric focused moments across the album, extreme doses of unearthly dissonance, plus their signature psychedelic element woven in as always, making for truly epic stuff as a whole that feels like its own world and musical language. If you consider yourself a death metal connoisseur than this album is a ten-course meal one must seek out, though a fair warning should be given that experiencing its depths will cause involuntary orgasms to arise while it leads you to your death amidst the psychedelic nightmares one can only envision to exist in other universes and realms.

Admit it, at least three of you voted for this just for the title.

are Propaghandi a poppunk barenaked ladies?

― Algerian Goalkeeper (Odysseus), Tuesday, February 6, 2018 7:57 AM (forty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

they used to be a pop-punk band, now they're a thrash metal band with pop melodies floating over the top

it is going to take me forever to catch up with this list lol. btw y'all should finish thursday, friday internet is a dead zone

I was expecting this Gigan record to be wacky space concept prog metal and not this absolutely brutal concoction

Gigan always have amazing song/album titles but the music itself I've never been truly sold on.

I enjoyed this way more than I expected to. I think it is wackily brutal.

Yeah, I almost had to chuckle at how brutal the opening track is.

it is going to take me forever to catch up with this list lol. btw y'all should finish thursday, friday internet is a dead zone

― flamenco drop (BradNelson),

no can do. We can finish weds or fri. Im not around thursday

ahhh sorry whoops

My preference is weds, simon prefers friday.

you guys get to choose

the big|brave record is not really my thing but i'm not turning it off?

friday imo

y'all crazy for this one

50 Psudoku - Deep Space Psudokument 177.0 Points, 4 Votes, 1 #1 Vote
https://img.discogs.com/i1GsU0hLurUe_n5RLBHrLK9_Gpc=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-10241340-1494072157-2214.jpeg.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/3YIWBdHXosvKLl7ByvFHJH?si=CR1Hj-cBR2WnySbgkPxO7g

"Deep Space Psudokument" is a code name of the third album interplanetary project PSUDOKU. The development of futuristic 70's progressive grind continues, and this time surf rock, doom and electronic classical is incorporated. This is progressive grind that has time travelled backwards an entire year from the future.
A must have for fans of THE MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA, KING CRIMSON, NAKED CITY, NAPALM DEATH, MR. BUNGLE, ANTIGAMA.

yAaaaAaAy

yay! Had I re-submitted, this would have been higher. Thanks imago for mentioning, have subsequently obtained all of their (his?) records

A very cool record I have yet to have even the vaguest desire to listen to the entirety of.

My #3, so chuffed this made the top 50. Electro + grindcore + Cardiacs = joy unlimited! For me at least. And as a bonus for you all, it's like 25 minutes long

My #1. I wish that about 70% of music had this energy and intensity. Manages to be insane and humorous without encroaching on silliness territory. Perfect dinner party music.

necrot's blood offerings is just regular ass old school death metal. it is awesome

Yesss great album

Psudoku that is

I wonder who the fourth vote was from?

Dominique has already said!

nah, I heard it after I voted

Anyway, thanks again to tt for finding another winner

49 Venenum - Trance of Death 183.0 Points, 6 Votes
https://www.metal-archives.com/images/6/2/8/2/628270.jpg
https://venenum.bandcamp.com/album/trance-of-death

There’s an undeniable gothic sensibility to what Venenum does, but not in the same way that Mercyful Fate or Swedish contemporaries Tribulation would display. “Entrance,” the leadoff track from Trance of Death, is a mournful and haunting instrumental played on cello and piano that wouldn’t be out of place on an Agalloch album. The band maintains that darkness throughout, but they do so in the service of some furiously righteous death metal born of a twisted and unfamiliar realm. The title of “Merging Nebular Drapes” offers the possibility that alien blood really does run through their system, though it’s arguably the most straightforward death metal offering here, galloping forth with tight rhythmic dynamics and tremolo riffs. “The Nature of the Ground” takes things into a more complex direction, shifting tempos and introducing some dizzying, psychedelic guitar leads into the mix. And “Cold Threat” shakes up the approach even more, slowing to a crawl before launching back into a blast-beat explosion and eventually a section of crunchy grooves and acid-laced guitar leads that send the listener through a portal to a thrilling, terrifying terrain.

we should just call this the 10th Annual ILM Death Metal Poll 2017

iirc this one topped the Last Rites staff poll.

48 Falls of Rauros - Vigilance Perennial 184 Points, 7 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/0v0oCUI.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/2gcjg5RGSxXOo6XhOawMtb?si=jiICuNBqQD26dpXxMJyN6w
https://fallsofrauros.bandcamp.com/album/vigilance-perennial

With Falls of Rauros' 4th full-length album, Vigilance Perennial, a vital complexity and multifaceted emotion is at the forefront of this stunning quartet's musical creativity, drive and evolution. Ever since the opening notes of the Hail Wind and Hewn Oak debut, Falls of Rauros have never put on a mask to hide behind a false facade. Yes their sound has indeed grown to embrace an otherworldly atmosphere that feels almost spiritual, but their songs possess endlessly layered riffs and thoughts from the heart that feel as real as the earth squishing up between your toes as you stop to appreciate the sound of the wind sailing through the pines. Such an organic flow and endlessly dynamic rise and fall elevates the 5 songs of Vigilance Perennial from a multi-layered bout of aggression to beautiful moments of music that twist with a powerful and honest emotion rarely experienced within a musical mindset that others refer to as “black metal”.

Vigilance Perennial finds Falls of Rauros once again challenging the status quo, for the pure honesty and obvious love for truly unique songcrafting has in part distanced this band from any obvious genre defining terms. This music bleeds from the heart in a giving way, and we, the Bindrune and Nordvis alliance are proud to share our brothers' stunning and healing work with the world.
credits
released March 31, 2017

http://www.angrymetalguy.com/falls-of-rauros-vigilance-perennial-review/

I didn't mention anything upthread but yeah, Blood Offerings is fucking awesome.

Not as enthused with Psudoku.

Glad to see Venenum, though.

LOVE the Falls of Rauros album. I'm bummed that I had the chance to see them on christmas day but chickened out due to the extreme cold.

the falls of rauaros album is really good

I was really impressed with the Venenum record last year but stopped listening to it quite quickly. I should go back to it...

I heard FoR a while back and found them quite plain but should probably give this one a go.

so if we slag off current generation of music writers in this thread they will come here to post instead of the poptimism thread?

imago get to it! lol

We need a 'hide thread' feature.

I think most people hide ILM from SNA actually. I'm sure stet said once he detected that from the stats

ok

can we get rid of similes like 'like the earth squishing up between your toes' from metal reviews

Ban Empedoclian elements from metal reviews.

Way too low for Venenum record - now I wish I made it my number one - it rocks so hard and it endlessly re-listenable.

47 Undergang - Misantropologi 190 Points, 5 Votes , One #1
https://i.imgur.com/Cjgpii1.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/1YSVa36oHYYegNYz5b6fWr?si=1qksl8E_QIC_PXVmXX3rpA
https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/misantropologi

https://www.moshpitnation.com/undergang-misantropologi-review-interview/

Is there a canonical descriptor for this vocal style?

i forgot who recommended this in the campaigning thread but this album is gross and i love it

cookie monster?

xp

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds even lower-pitched than the trad cookie monster style.

this is approaching the Demilich-style "burp" vocal

also there's no way I'd have guessed this was a new record if I didn't see it here first!

I assume you're referring to Demilich the band but I choose to believe you meant a burping D&D demilich.

lol yeah the band, who doubtlessly got their name from D&D

46 Paradise Lost - Medusa 195 Points, 7 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/u11NSGk.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/1K4grcFMjbuao5doCFgt1J?si=5vtVx1h1QuiSlTbBt7WwRQ

http://www.angrymetalguy.com/paradise-lost-medusa-review/

Yay for Undergang! That was my #1. Gross is an apt description.

huh, paradise lost is way too low

i like undergang! i haven't even heard that album. i'll bet it's good though.

power trip record is gonna be number one, right?

i'm guessing imago is to blame for the next one

paradise lost was almost my no. 1. i think it ended up third on my ballot? anyway it's them totally realizing the pivot back to depressive death/doom that occurred on the last record imo. the songs are all so strong

45 Kairon; IRSE! - Ruination 196 Points, 6 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/M3ioFdF.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/4BK3y0c0JWVFU9dcC6uwHu?si=i-ogxrxrQT2CWz1YYsjWXA

https://kaironirse.bandcamp.com/album/ruination

http://www.angrymetalguy.com/kairon-irse-ruination-review/

immolation has to be top ten or i cry foul. such a good record. i even got the vinyls.

~~~proggggge~~~

tt much more responsible than I but it's bloody great, so many fantastic tunes, tones and twists. and grooves! almost all the songs, especially the penultimate track, blossom into something truly marvellous by the end. Oranssi Pazuzu involvement too, albeit this is softer

fantastic album!

immolation has to be top ten or i cry foul. such a good record. i even got the vinyls.

― scott seward, Tuesday, February 6, 2018 10:17 AM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

after i submitted my ballot i thought "fuck i definitely underrated the immolation." magnificent record

Solid retro-prog. Maaaaybe like their shoegaze album a bit better though.

A little too retro for me, even though I'm fond of their influences.

Immolation made a shoegaze album? no wonder scott loves them

Yes - the shoegaze debut is a better overall record - this one has its moments, though.

Lol, the names of the tracks in themselves are to gross for me on that Undergang album...

i'm still kinda going through everything i find remotely interesting in the results. the akercocke record, renaissance in extremis, is both good and a little too complicated to focus on (i love the vocals, i wish i heard this kind of vocal versatility on more extreme metal records)

Enslaved - E 197 Points, 6 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/nhMZGiZ.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/384vCqFNNWXumypoRHeKDN?si=JpH5m-7WQC-5UIlriSEd4Q

http://www.metalinjection.net/reviews/enslaved-e

http://www.angrymetalguy.com/enslaved-e-review/

I've made peace with the fact I'll never get into this band.

43 Sannhet - So Numb 204 Points, 5 Votes, ONE #1
https://i.imgur.com/awazLv9.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/7wdOUoAUF79Cwl27oNdS4N?si=6vhQZGVTTt-A1gP3TiBspQ

https://sannhet.bandcamp.com/album/so-numb

The cover of Sannhet’s third album, So Numb, features a mother shielding her son’s eyes with her hands - an allegory depicting the protection one receives from their parents, but it isn’t meant to be sentimental. As the mother shelters her child, she inadvertently creates a false sense of safety. The child, in turn, spends it's life seeking comfort and escape in temporary solutions.

Though Sannhet meditate on life’s imperfect escapes, So Numb’s nine songs showcase the band facing life’s pain and joy with their eyes wide open. The collection’s emotional landscape is one of existential dread, melancholy, and loss - ammunition for escapists. Despite these existential conundrums, So Numb has an uplifting, euphoric feel.

The collection was recorded and produced by Peter Katis, who’s known for his work with Mercury Rev, Interpol, the National, and Oneida among others. Working with Katis, the production illuminates a more open sound for the band. While Sannhet’s second album, 2015’s Revisionist, was bigger and harsher than their 2013 debut, Known Flood, they offer a more wistful, melodic approach here.

The first track, “Indigo Illusion,” opens with Christopher Todd’s eviscerating, but anchoring drums locked in... more
credits
released August 25, 2017

Produced, engineered, and mixed by Peter Katis

Sannhet Are:
Christopher Todd - drums and samples
John Refano - guitar and loopers
AJ Annunziata - bass guitar and visuals

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/sannhet-so-numb/ 8/10

really great album

What, no one wants to take post-metal? well, you're in luck then...

*talk lol

K V L T

42 Black Cilice - Banished from Time 209.0 Points, 5 Votes
https://newnoisemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Black-Cilice-Banished-From-Time.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_5kdIhx_to

Since the release of debut full length A Corpse, A Temple (2011), Mr. Black Cilice has been on a steady tear, releasing a new album every two years. I would not say there’s a palpable difference in aesthetic between the first three albums. They sound more or less the same, and if you don’t spend much time listening to raw, lo-fi black metal then you could be forgiven for mistaking them all for the same exact album. For fans of the style though, your preference among the three most likely hinges on all sorts of unknown variables like how much iron is in your diet, who you voted for in the last mid-term elections or whether or not your mother breast fed you. As a trio, these albums stand as a bold and uncompromising testament to black metal’s pioneering spirit, to its willingness to subvert and pervert, to its insane disregard for its own safety. There is, of course, a bull-headed black metal orthodoxy which stands like a kidney stone in the urinary tract of time, but the fringe is where all the really cool shit is happening. Mr. Black Cilice has been skirting the fringe all along, and with his latest offering, Banished from Time, we are given no reason to believe that he will ever come back.

I've been working along with Sannhet, which makes for okay, moody background post-rock wallpaper. I doubt I'd ever intentionally reach for it again. I realize folks here have adventurous, eclectic tastes, but it would be kind of odd if not a single heavy metal album (to be specific, an album with primary genre listed as "heavy metal" on RYM and/or Metal Archives) made this poll.

Okay, I guess Tau Cross checked that box, so one so far ;)

Chatter has slowed down quite a bit so I think this may be it for today!

41 Impetuous Ritual - Blight Upon Martyred Sentience 212.0 Points, 6 Votes
http://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Impetuous-Ritual-art-e1505354348600.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/74KuFi8RmoxAIERCvpg4DW?si=1_P2hcpkR9GzUyBuf7CGTg

Blight Upon Martyred Sentience is infused with feeling, the kind of old-school climax that one usually only gets in small doses here and there. The novelty here is that for Impetuous Ritual, that climax must be taken beyond, given in overwhelming doses until your senses get, not into a climax, but into outright paroxysm.

The ambience is totally darkened. They do not need imagery, masks, props, or anything else along those lines. They express pretty much everything I hold dear in metal with their music. The album is probably one of the darkest jewels out there. However, it starts with a subtle, familiar sound that only serves to contrast what is right to come. The truly dark sound cuts in and starts dragging you down into a black chaos of distorted strings. You start spiraling down and are met with a familiar old-school solo frenzy, only interrupted by a heavy overwhelming bass that makes it all darker and leads you toward an abyss full of voices.

y'all love to post albums

if anyone had been around we could've posted another 10

idk why it's gone quiet. For my part I just haven't really been into the last stretch. I found the Falls of Rauros surprisingly decent though.

who wants another 10 results tonight?

Venenum was one I meant to go back to before voting, but forgot. I’ll definitely give it a listen when I get home.

xp More results sound good to me but can’t promise much in the way of comments

Will try to comment!

Recap

100 Cloud Rat / Disrotted - Split LP 99.0 3 0
98 Contrarian - To Perceive Is To Suffer 99.0 4 0
98 Bathsheba - Servus 99.0 4 0
97 Code Orange - Forever 100.0 4 0
95 Tau Cross - Pillar of Fire 101.0 3 0
95 Necrot - Blood Offerings 101.0 3 0
94 White Ward - Futility Report 101.0 4 0
93 Colotyphus - Spiritual Journey of a Forlorn Soul 102.0 3 0
92 Big|Brave - Ardor 102.0 4 0
91 Cannibal Corpse - Red Before Black 104.0 3 0
90 Akercocke - Renaissance In Extremis 104.0 4 0
89 Zeal & Ardor - Devil Is Fine 105.0 3 0
88 The Body & Full of Hell - Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light 106.0 4
87 Anakim - Monuments to Departed Worlds 107.0 2 1
86 Dodecahdron - Kwintessens 108.0 4 0
85 Nokturnal Mortum - Veria 113.0 3 0
84 Wiegedood - De Doden Hebben Het Goed II 114.0 3 0
82 Obituary - Obituary 116.0 4 0
82 Dreadnought - A Wake in Sacred Waves 116.0 4 0
81 Forgotten Spell - The Necromancer 117.0 4 0
80 Succumb - Succumb 118.0 4 0
79 Creeper - Eternity, In Your Arms 119.0 3 0
78 Gnod - Just Say No to the Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine 120.0 4
76 Usnea - Portals Into Futility 120.0 5 0
76 Progenie Terrestre Pura - oltreLuna 120.0 5 0
75 Wode - Servants of the Countercosmos 121.0 4 0
74 Grails - Chalice Hymnal 121.0 5 0
73 Oranssi Pazuzu - Kevät / Värimyrsky 126.0 5 0
72 Violet Cold - Anomie 127.0 4 0
71 Queens Of The Stone Age - Villains 131.0 3 0
70 Brutus - Burst 133.0 5 0
69 Akvan - Forgotten Glory 135.0 5 0
68 Nortt - Endeligt 140.0 4 1
67 Flight Of Sleipnir - Skadi 144.0 5 0
66 Pissed Jeans - Why Love Now 147.0 3 1
65 Amenra - Mass VI 147.0 4 0
64 Mesarthim - Presence 147.0 6 0
62 Ungfell - Tôtbringære 150.0 4 0
62 Ingurgitating Oblivion - Vision Wallows in Symphonies of Light 150.0 4 0
61 Tomb Mold - Primordial Malignity 151.0 5 0
60 Gasp - Ghost in Scow Out 153 Points, 4 Votes
59 Circle - Terminal 157 Points, 6 Votes
58 Corpse Garden - IAO 269 159 Points, 5 Votes
57 With The Dead - Love From With The Dead 162 Points, 5 votes
56 Pyrrhon - What Passes For Survival 162 Points, 7 votes
55 Loss - Horizonless 167 Points, 5 Votes
54 Propagandhi - Victory Lap 168.0 Points, 4 Votes, 1 #1 Vote
53 Planning for Burial - Below the House 168.0 Points, 5 Votes
52 Ehnahre - The Marrow 171.0 Points, 5 Votes
51 Gigan - Undulating Waves of Rainbiotic Iridescense 174.0 Points, 7 Votes
50 Psudoku - Deep Space Psudokument 177.0 Points, 4 Votes, 1 #1 Vote
49 Venenum - Trance of Death 183.0 Points, 6 Votes
48 Falls of Rauros - Vigilance Perennial 184 Points, 7 Votes
47 Undergang - Misantropologi 190 Points, 5 Votes , One #1
46 Paradise Lost - Medusa 195 Points, 7 Votes
45 Kairon; IRSE! - Ruination 196 Points, 6 Votes
44 Enslaved - E 197 Points, 6 Votes
43 Sannhet - So Numb 204 Points, 5 Votes, ONE #1
42 Black Cilice - Banished from Time 209.0 Points, 5 Votes
41 Impetuous Ritual - Blight Upon Martyred Sentience 212.0 Points, 6 Votes