2014 POLL RESULTS COUNTDOWN - ILM Metal Albums of the Year

my list, weighted:

Gridlink - Longhena
Kriegsmaschine - Enemy Of Man
Blut aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry
Teitanblood - Death
Cyntia - Limit Break

Horrendous - Ecdysis
Indian - From All Purity
AEvangelist - Writhes in the Murk
YOB - Clearing the Path to Ascend
Disentomb - Misery

Sick/Tired - Dissolution
Full of Hell - Full of Hell & Merzbow
Serpentine Path - Emanations
Behemoth - The Satanist
Neoheresy - Noc Która Dniem Się Stała

Darkspace - Dark Space III I
Necrophagia - WhiteWorm Cathedral
Mournful Congregation - Concrescence Of The Sophia
Incantation - Dirges Of Elysium
Thou - Heathen

Dead Congregation - Promulgation Of The Fall
Skull Fist - Chasing the Dream
BABYMETAL - BABYMETAL
Mayhem - Esoteric Warfare
Jute Gyte - Ressentiment

Triptykon - Melana Chasmata
Anaal Nakhrath - Desideratum
Vainaja - Kadotetut
Emptiness - Nothing But The Whole
Autopsy - Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves

Varathron - The Untrodden Corridors of Hades
Decaying Purity - Malignant Resurrection of the Fallen Souls
Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden
Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire
Archspire - The Lucid Collective

didn't think about the ordering a whole lot

brb, groping in a misty spread

It's interesting to see Kriegsmaschine toward the top of a couple lists. I'm a huge fan of their sister band Mgla, but the Kriegsmaschine didn't do much for me the few times I listened to it. I guess it's yet another one I'll need to spend more time with. That's the beauty of this countdown -- having some potential blind spots in my listening habits exposed and rectified. Thanks so much Cosmic Slop for running things. It's been a fun time for us metal geeks.

Gladsomany enjoyed it and Ihope you all (and lurkers from the rest of ilx) will check out albums and keep returning to posting their thoughts here.

Perhaps you might nominate and vote in ILM's 2014 End of Year Albums & Tracks Poll / NOMINATIONS THREAD

I think Botanist is closer to what I want shoegaze-metal to be, i.e. something that synthesizes the strengths of black metal and shoegaze/post-rock (as opposed to straight-up 90s nostalgia-pop, which seems pointless to me unless you can actually make something as good as Loveless). The drums could probably stand to be produced with more presence but it's something I can live with. I guess this mean that, for me, the metallic/screamo vocals and drums do cut through the sweetness enough. Plus, the distorted hammered dulcimer is so resonant and shimmery.

screamo vox or just black metal? the balance is better on III, at least relative to my tastes.

so a few non ilxors have been moaning that Emptiness did not make the countdown so anything else really good that didn't make it that was really great and under the radar?

Preferably , for me, no death/power/viking metal.

feel like you'd love the serpentine path if you haven't already heard it. just straight-up mean, bludgeoning sludgy riffs p much the whole way through.

Both Old Wainds and Inconcessus Lux Lucis didn't make it, and they're both considered good underground (though hardly "experimental" or post) black metal, of the Darkthrone variety. Really well done, and especially in ILL's case, playing with the style enough to make it seem not just a revival of 2nd wave bands.

screamo vox or just black metal? the balance is better on III, at least relative to my tastes.

When I tried III, I found it plodding (like a lot of post-rock, actually) but I love IV. I'm fine with hearing emo/hc elements mixed in with my metal: I liked a lot of that stuff in the 90s.

sund4r is very emo

so a few non ilxors have been moaning that Emptiness did not make the countdown so anything else really good that didn't make it that was really great and under the radar?

― Cosmic Slop, Friday, December 19, 2014 10:48 AM (9 minutes ago)

Well, Dominique OTM abt Old Wainds & Inconcessus Lux Lucis. Both made my short list, ILL might have gone top 20 if i'd bothered to rank things. Of course, since then i've heard another 10 or 15 really excellent 2014 metal albums, so who knows how things'd fall out now... Love year-end catch-up time!

StuffI at least kind of halfway dug that didn't make the top 100:

Ancient Ascendant – Echoes and Cinder (blackened death metal, weirdly understated yet powerful, classic-sounding but not retro)
Artificial Brain – Labyrinth Constellations (kind of amazed this didn't make the top 100, given local fondness for Gorguts et al)
Blood of Kingu – Dark Star on the Right Horn of the Crescent Moon (all Drudkh-related caveats, plus enchanted by gravemould)
Bloodbath – Grand Morbid Funeral (retro death metal supergroup w/ Katatonia, Opeth and now Paradise Lost folk, not essential but entertaining)
Bloody Hammers – Under Satan's Sun (a bad record, but the two singles are ridiculous catchy, like occult rock Tom Petty, I swear [in case you were really wanting some occult rock Tom Petty])
Coltsblood – Into the Unfathomable Abyss (awesome cromag doom sludge w Conan's John McNulty on vocals, a favorite)
Cretin – Cretin (just out, "overhyped" as someone is bound to say [streaming on NPR], a blast)
Darkest Era – Severance (i don't know what to call this, Primordial gone pop I guess, a guilty pleasure)
Emptiness – Nothing but the Whole (Devilock said so and is a notable hair formation)
Execration – Morbid Dimensions (still more blackened death metal, heavy on dreary atmosphere, lots of variety)
Grand Magus – Triumph and Power (far from their best, but it's definitely got moments, "Dominator" gets stuck in my head for days)
Howls of Ebb – Vigils of the Third Eye (repeat mention, compelling & unorthodox black/death for dedicated murk-dwellers)
Inconcessus Lux Lucis – Disintegration: Psalms of Veneration for the Nefarous Elite (as above, so below)
Melvins – Hold It In (worth it for the three resoundingly un-metal Paul Leary tunes alone - Paul Fucking Leary, you know?)
Mortuary Drape – Spiritual Independence (buried in the late-year rush? deserved better)
Nuclear Hammer – Serpentine Hermetic Lucifer (fucked up, like Aevangelist's special kid brother on discount cough syrup)
Old Wainds – Nordraum (as Dominique said)
Satan's Satyrs – Die Screaming (totally Hell's Headbangers-style, tho not on that label & as much garage rock as metal, fucking great)
Slugdge – Gastronomicon (okay, so they're a concept band about a war waged against humanity by Lovecraftian space slugs and...)
Taake – Stridens Hus (gets kind of black 'n' roll on "Orm", which is weird, and generally quote weak in comparison to prior work, but sue me, I dug it)
Tombs – Savage Gold (sanding off a few of the Metallum-offending edges got them approved but looks like it cost them wider appeal - a grower)
Trap Them – Blissfucker (basically want the whole thing to crawl like "Savage Climbers", but pretty great for teenage mallcore smash it up style shit)
Vampire – Vampire (OSDM working the death/thrash vein, heavy on the autumnal graveyard vibes, fucking rips)
Vaura – The Missing (guess this came out last year *shrug* - similar to Solitude's Sister but better, which is saying something)
Young and in the Way – When Life Comes to Death (works about as well as Red Bull, cheaper)

i was so disappointed by the tombs that i barely played it all year to see if it would grow on me : (

it's good! i did the same, just put it sadly away after an initial spin. didn't look back until about a month ago when i dug it out and found it had improved considerable w age.

still a big step down from path of totality tho :(

Tombs usually make these countdowns but I hadn't heard it (or even know it was out) but figured with nobody really voting for it it cant be that great

it's as great as you want it to be, see

I'm not sure if the Tombs was that poorly written or if it was just that the much drier production that stripped away a lot of the atmosphere and thick sludginess that I enjoyed about their previous stuff

argument for strong songwriting & sympathetic production on the tombs rec:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ecRGfgk90c

sound is clean but cavernous, lots of bass space, think it works really fucking well on this track

not that the image is doing them any favors ffs

Has Bastard Feast gone completely under the radar or do people just not like them? I was their only vote but I put it pretty high, maybe even top 5.

For anyone who liked this year's Trap Them, Young and in the Way, etc. I thought these guys' take on that vein of crusty blackened hardcore was a lot more interesting and well-executed:

https://bastardfeast.bandcamp.com/album/osculum-infame

was super disappointed in this year's Trap Them

Compare all the previous polls Previous Metal Poll EOY Results Thread

yeah, not on my radar, that's all. tbh, i think i only heard the other two due to incessant hype. not my kind of thing generally speaking. both are pretty middle of the road & rock-oriented relative to bastard feast (which is prob why they appeal to me). love YAITW's monster bass sound, the slower trap them tracks.

xp

Dominique you might be interested in that link plus the

YOU TOTALLY MISSED THE ILX HEAVY ROCK/METAL ALBUM POLL COUNTDOWN, SUCKA (CLICK FOR A RECAP)

gah, "Solitude" up there now equals In Solitude, plus whatever other magic erasings as needed. so much stupid.

Cannot believe that with all my anticipation of things Polish this year I missed out on Neoheresy. I love this "cloaked arm gesturing toward the horizon" style of cinematic black metal. Sort of like Summoning. Actually a lot like Summoning. Listening now, enjoying, and realizing it's long past time for me to familiarize myself with Hellveto.

I saw it on someone's list, is why I'm mentioning it now.

Alan N's list, now that I've gone back to check for proper attribution.

I had Neoheresy on my ballot too it's excellent.

Surprised no one liked Fluisteraars I would've thought it would appeal to loads of people, it being halfway between Moonsorrow and Agalloch & all...

maybe noones heard it?

only heard Fluisteraars a week ago and that was after i posted my ballot. they sound great tho.

Listening to Fluisteraars for the first time and I would have to be in a totally different state of mind to get caught up in this kind of repetition. Kind of reminds me of something that would be on Hypnotic Dirge Records, which isn't a bad thing at all.

btw for those who were feeling the inaccessibility of Emptiness, this live clip makes the music seem a little less alien and a little more rockin'. The masks on the audience was an interesting idea.
http://youtu.be/sKTJFA0lbWo

we're playing tracks from the metal poll in here tonight so come spin the tracks you really want people to hear or just your fave metal

https://plug.dj/ilxors/

I seem to be in a strange virtual world with hydrocephalic avatar people so I must be in the plug.dj thing. And I am listening to Yob.

Pallbearer now come join us all and play your faves of the year

we need siegbran

My list, weighted:

Triptykon - Melana Chasmata
The Skull - For Those Which Are Asleep
Blues Pills - Blues Pills
Wovenhand - Refractory Obdurate
YOB - Clearing the Path to Ascend
Thou - Heathen
Horrendous - Ecdysis
Indian - From All Purity
Mastodon - Once More Round the Sun
Beyond Creation - Earthborn Evolution
Insomnium - Shadows of the Dying Sun
Midnight - No Mercy for Mayhem
Behemoth - The Satanist
Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden
Orange Goblin - Back from the Abyss
Exmortus - Slave to the Sword
Agalloch - The Serpent & the Sphere
Dawnbringer - Night of the Hammer
Panopticon - Roads to the North
Serpent Venom - Of Things Seen And Unseen
Darkspace - Dark Space III I
Wo Fat - The Conjuring
Opeth - Pale Communion
Hail Spirit Noir - Oi Magoi
Truckfighters - Universe
Electric Wizard - Time to Die
Saor - Aura
Overkill - White Devil Armory
Autopsy - Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves
Apostle Of Solitude - Of Woe And Wounds
Judas Priest - Redeemer of Souls
Fallujah - The Flesh Prevails
Primordial - Where Greater Men Have Fallen
Satan's Satyrs - Die Screaming
Spectral Lore - III
Vallenfyre - Splinters
Morbus Chron - Sweven
Earth - Primitive and Deadly
Dir en Grey - Arche
Anatomy of Habit - Ciphers + Axioms
Witch Mountain - Mobile of Angels
Lord Mantis - Death Mask
Cannibal Corpse - A Skeletal Domain
Teitanblood - Death
Brimstone Coven - Brimstone Coven
Doom:VS - Earthless
Ne Obliviscaris - Citadel
Murmur - S/T
Accept - Blind Rage
Trap Them - Blissfucker

If you like the trippy stuff then proceed to Howls of Ebb's Vigils of the 3rd Eye.

Great call. I'm listening to this now and it's right up my alley. Thanks to everyone who helped run the poll and who voted in it - I've already discovered at least 4 great records here, and I've still got a lot of list left to listen to.

https://plug.dj/ilxors still rocking

hey um can "tuonetar" turn off the three-song sudzy bubblebath playlist? because like every third song is alcest or saor or suchlike.

not heard of Fluisteraars until the mention upthread - good stuff. another one for my increasingly lengthy list

really loving the howl's of ebb's too - having a hard job convincing my wife and kids that it's good breakfast listening though

on the strength of last night's demonstration, adding Saor and Alcest to 2014's do not want list, no surprise

lol

howls of ebb - additional apostrophes a well known side effect of xmas man-flu.

man-flu could be a name of a core band

I got Howl of Ebb after I cast my ballot, totally would've voted for it. Great trippy blackened deathness.

HOWLS

there's something about howls of ebb that just invites misspelling, isn't there!