2020 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock/Heavy Music Poll: RESULTS – Top 100 Countdown

oor neechy, you've made your point now lol

#70

Envy – The Fallen Crimson

129 points, 4 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3033651578_10.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/2KVk7tr0aovCFFF19lR422?si=SuYAU9h7TBmutT-FXe3LvQ

https://envy.bandcamp.com/album/the-fallen-crimson

Tokyo’s Envy have long been one of the most intriguing bands on hardcore’s outer limits. A major influence on turn-of-the-century screamo, they pivoted to a more post-rock-orientated sound on epochal records like 2006’s Insomniac Doze, making a name for themselves as forward-thinking innovators of the finest order.

Here, the post-hardcore opening of Statement Of Freedom initially suggests a return to first principles, but instead The Fallen Crimson is a potent reminder that Envy were successfully blending cataclysmic heaviness and seductive beauty long before anyone had coined the term blackgaze.

Swaying Leaves And Scattering Breath offers some of the most straightforward melodies of the band’s career, while vocalist Tetsuya Fukagawa continues to swing between full-throated screams and understated spoken word. Even the ferocity of Marginalized Thread is marked by a euphoric tone, and the point where closer A Step In The Morning Glow kicks in exemplifies the enduring power of this consistently brilliant band.

https://www.kerrang.com/reviews/album-review-envy-the-fallen-crimson/

love Envy but this one didn't leave much of an impression on me

Not my favourite envy either, but the production always feels so luxurious that I cannot be sad to listen to it. This felt a gentler offering and I think it starts off pretty strong once the songs have had a few listens to sink in.

#69

Svalbard – When I Die, Will I Get Better?

131 points, 5 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2601294263_10.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/1eo3ZZmqerj4vkR5VqDkGs?si=M_B14SDNQli-Z9w6RgVUwg
https://svalbard.bandcamp.com/album/when-i-die-will-i-get-better-2

It’s hard to have hope sometimes. We live our lives constantly getting up and going, always moving onto the next thing—moths chasing flames that grow more elusive as the dawn approaches. We’re tortured by silence in a screaming year, laced with events of turmoil and perpetual change—a silver silence that holds a mirror up to our faces and our truths. And we don’t always like what we see. It’s hard to have hope when we’re distracted, romanced by the illusion of productivity, blinded by privilege, and shielding our weary eyes from discomfort. This is what makes Svalbard so important; they force us to look.

While easy to dismiss as another Oathbreaker, Bristol hardcore quartet Svalbard channels the heartfelt energy of Modern Life is War, the post-metal meditations of Isis or Glassing, and the blackened and melodic flourishes of Downfall of Gaia. Having released a quiet catalog of two full-lengths, two EPs, and two splits since their 2011 formation, When I Die, Will I Get Better? is Svalbard‘s third full-length. While prior albums One Day All This Will End and It’s Hard to Have Hope felt too much like “best-of” compilations, these Brits streamline their assets into a hard-hitting and emotional hardcore album featuring stunning songcraft and necessary messages.

While easy to dismiss as another Oathbreaker, Bristol hardcore quartet Svalbard channels the heartfelt energy of Modern Life is War, the post-metal meditations of Isis or Glassing, and the blackened and melodic flourishes of Downfall of Gaia. Having released a quiet catalog of two full-lengths, two EPs, and two splits since their 2011 formation, When I Die, Will I Get Better? is Svalbard‘s third full-length. While prior albums One Day All This Will End and It’s Hard to Have Hope felt too much like “best-of” compilations, these Brits streamline their assets into a hard-hitting and emotional hardcore album featuring stunning songcraft and necessary messages.

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/svalbard-when-i-die-will-i-get-better-review/

I thought this would have been higher. Weren't the rolling metal regulars raving about it?

post-hardcore/emo adjacent stuff making a big run here

the Envy album came up a lot this year. still love it

#68

Boris & Merzbow – 2R0I2P0

133 points, 4 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2247379779_10.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/3yHKmmc0q9KDfLrdX2FKEE?si=xgVvrWaDSvqEr32LJ5GEkQ
https://borismerzbow.bandcamp.com/album/2r0i2p0

Sometimes you read about an album on paper, especially a collaboration, and you immediately know if it’s going to fly or not. Japanese sludge doom metal band Boris teaming up again with Masami Akita, AKA Merzbow, is a no brainer. The two have worked together off and on since 2002. It’s going to work. What is unexpected is just how well it works. Their releases in the past have been fun, but at times the music wasn’t all that I had hoped for. Yes, it was loud and visceral, but it didn’t quite hit the right spot for me. On their new album 2R0I2P0 (RIP 2020) everything just works. It just does.

The first thing you notice after a first listen to 2R0I2P0 is how complementary everything is. When you get two heavyweights together, as Boris and Akita are, one can try and be the dominate force with the other adding detail to the others broad brush strokes. This isn’t the case here. Both camps appear to be on the same wavelength. When Boris goes big, Akita either joins in or lowers his wall of noise to accentuate their sludge doom.

https://thequietus.com/articles/29338-boris-merzbow-2r0i2p0-review

So glad to see that place, even this low. My favorite Boris thing in years.

The hipsters jumped off the Boris train a decade ago, but they've put out some really great stuff the past 5 years or so, but the music press ignore them now too.

and that includes the ilx hipsters

Catching up…

I love that Angry Metal Guy casts such a wide net and covers so many different subgenres and tangentially metal related genres, but I cannot stand the house style and the over emphasis on DR scores drives me absolutely batshit.

Yeah, AMG often drives me up the wall but on average their reviews are more readable than those of many a metal zine, which is a sad state of affairs. I'd showcase them less itt if I could!

post-hardcore/emo adjacent stuff making a big run here

My brief absence turned out to be a happy coincidence lol.

As for Boris/Merzbow, I've always admired both without really loving either so I'm not the ideal audience here but I thought 2R0I2P0 was very solid.

What is a DR score?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's the Domain Rating, which is supposed to determine the 'authoritativeness' of a given website.

lol, from their FAQ:

Q: What is this “DR” thing you keep prattling on about?
A: DR stands for dynamic range which is the ratio of the softest to the loudest sounds occurring in a piece of music. Generally speaking, the greater the range, the deeper and more complex the music sounds to the human ear. Inversely, the lower the dynamic range the more everything sounds flat and uniform with little overall variation.

Haha, ok, that's even dumber.

Ha, that makes me curious to read the site.

Angry Steve Hoffman Guy

That was not my Merzbow pick, but I doubt the collab with Gareth Davis is going to place.

Love me some Gareth Davis, especially his Steven R. Smith and Frances-Marie Uitti collabs. Haven't heard the one you mention, however.

#67

Pyrrhon – Abscess Time

133 points, 5 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1103101609_10.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/2KrOZmblJxFecpw8eCmHvU?si=GBVZzmFQSOy-_xwse5ZPdQ
https://pyrrhonband.bandcamp.com/album/abscess-time

As has been stated numerous times by me and others on Echoes and Dust, as well as other recesses of the Internet, extreme metal is in a period of schism and flux, with inventive bands coming and going, establishing brain-melting new sounds, dizzying records and a delicious penchant for wild abandon and experimentation. If artists such as Krallice are leading the way for black metal, Pyrrhon are fearlessly at the frontier of modern death metal, pushing ever forwards, never settling, never compromising.

Abscess Time, Pyrrhon’s fourth album proper, is another landmark in their discography. That endless struggle, alluded to before, needs to be reflected upon. For all the endless invention and willingness to challenge, it would be fair to assume that Pyrrhon would have made missteps in their discography, and so it is no small tribute to the quartet that every single release – album or not – has built upon the foundations of the past. You know where this is going: Abscess Time is their best and most accomplished release to date.

https://echoesanddust.com/2020/06/pyrrhon-abscess-time/

I didn't even bother with this one because mathcore tends to leave me cold but maybe I'm missing out?

I love love that Pyrrhon, it hit the right spot for me. I wasn't a huge fan of the previous one, but this really scratched an itch.

Yeah, I mean, AMG is still a site I hit up pretty frequently, far too many other metal sites feature "reviews" that are just barely reworked PR releases.

AMG comments sections are pretty lively too, especially for the monthly roundups.

I find them to be tone-deaf when it comes to BM and overly enthusiastic towards prog/power/cheesy trad (my biases are showing).

This was my #23. Probably my favorite thing from them so far. Not really mathcore in any appreciable way imho, more just kinda experimental/discordant DM.

Then I'll have to check it out.

#66

Raspberry Bulbs – Before the Age of Mirrors

134 points, 4 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4279676239_10.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/7BSe2EAPUNskkzwCrVfVTp?si=If_5_yu4TYqkJUOjnJZmYg
https://raspberrybulbs.bandcamp.com/album/before-the-age-of-mirrors

Even after a long career making creeping heavy music in projects like Bone Awl and He Who Crushes Teeth, the music that Marco del Rio has made over the past decade as Raspberry Bulbs is uniquely unsettling. First on his own and then with a shifting cast of collaborators, he’s mined the most curdled corners of punk and metal to make both tortured no-fi efforts and more recent full-band recordings that feel cosmically off-balance. His songs are full of riffs that become more nauseating the longer you listen to them. At their best, the songs are autostereograms in reverse: They start out looking like something you’ve encountered before, then dissolve into unparsable, overwhelming noise.

Before the Age of Mirrors is the first Raspberry Bulbs full-length since 2014, but it picks up these threads right where the last, Privacy, left off. Across eight proper tracks and four shorter interludes, del Rio and his band—guitarist Nick Forte and drummer Jim Ning Nong—lead listeners to a world of sharp edges, sudden pitfalls, and hidden dangers. As devotees of raw punk and deathrock, they sometimes channel those familiar shuddering sounds, but there’s something even more sinister in pieces like “They’re After Me,” a burst of paranoid desperation scoured by feedback. As ever, del Rio tops the track with his distinctive vocals—which, scraped by distortion and noise, are the sort of sounds you might hear echoing from behind a dumpster in a David Lynch film. It all sounds wrong, in the most menacing possible way.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/raspberry-bulbs-before-the-age-of-mirrors/

Today is not me-day.

Which is somewhat odd when I think about it because I've always enjoyed the punk classics and when I was a teenager I had little to no interest in metal per se.

You always know what you are going to get from Raspberry Bulbs

I don't know why I waited so long to listen to this, considering how much I enjoyed Privacy. It was a last-minute addition to my ballot. I get some rudimentary art punk vibes from this, maybe something like Swell Maps or Hanatarash.

#65

Azusa – Loop of Yesterdays

135 points, 3 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2604838269_10.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/1fn6KVJWB6tA7Crb5QdSwz?si=sOD86lxxS8GeANFzC5QAqw
https://azusaband.bandcamp.com/album/loop-of-yesterdays

Bassist Liam Wilson, formerly of The Dillinger Escape Plan, and Extol luminaries Christer Espevoll (drums) and David Husvik (guitar) had already put Azusa over with prog metal fans. But then you hear Eleni Zafiriadou’s voice, which bridges the gap between old-school screamo and Kate-Bush-style melody, effectively pushing this band to the elite of Solid State Records. It goes without saying that Azusa’s debut, Heavy Yoke enjoyed critical acclaim. Loop of Yesterdays continues that winning streak. This sophomore album elevates Azusa from an interesting one-off to an established force in forward thinking aggressive music.

Loop of Yesterday often manages to be heavier than Heavy Yoke without losing Zafiriadou’s unique singing voice. Opener “Memories of an Old Emotion” crashes with a frenzied assault of technical riffing and feral screaming. Until, that is, ‘90s dream-pop vibes suddenly take over. Azusa not only contrasts these two extremes, but synthesizes them into a true hybridization. It’s why the concussive groove of single “Monument” so easily coexists with its dissonant guitar strains, gothic spoken-word delivery and haunting soundscapes. It’s not about genre crossovers, but about writing good songs.

https://riffmagazine.com/album-reviews/azusa-loop-of-yesterdays/

This absolutely slays

My #8. Sick, sick pop-hardcore-doom ditties. Last two tracks especially beautiful

Another one that slipped under my radar due to insurmountable bias.

(Not really insurmountable.)

Oh wow! This was my #5. The riffs are so proggy and memorable and almost every track comes in so hard. Yeah, Golden Words is a great sampler track if you are not sure whether this is for you.

I also really quite like that Raspberry Bulbs record - it nearly made it on my ballot, but I didn't really return to it after a 2/3s listen. Not as strong as their previous offering imo.

Screamo vox are usually a dealbreaker for me but there's no denying Eleni Zafiriadou is damn good at them.

Some of the heavy bits of this Azusa remind me of Anata, which is about the highest praise I can give any techy metal, but it's def gonna need some revisits for me to get through the genre whiplash. Interesting, to say the least.

Pyrrhon is the first on the list that I actually disliked. I tried to get into it....my reaction was similar to Simon's. I'm into abrasive, dissonant, avantgarde death metal, but this just left me cold.

#64

Fuck the Facts – Pleine noirceur

137 points, 5 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4033250053_10.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/1xYIL1XIodBfdYTGfPCZ4W?si=g-EJX02JQJG1JQ3Uo24HPg
https://fuckthefacts.bandcamp.com/album/pleine-noirceur

Frankly, I’m not the kind of person to go around and brand every living thing as ‘legendary’, as that experience tends to be subjective at best, and the sentiment loses value when thrown around carelessly. On some more niche genres however, that status can be reached so that it doesn’t evade all reason, and on that note, I’m going to dare myself today. Fuck the Facts are a prolific Canadian grindcore unit and, while being loyal to that description, refuse to be limited by it, as they venture outside those bounds quite frequently (although keeping their core sound firmly rooted somewhere within that particular orientation). Even if it sounds cocky, I’m confident that everyone familiar with that genre or its related branches have heard of this band, and most of those people are inclined to agree with me, when I say that Fuck the Facts are legendary.

So what is it exactly that grants this band the access to that partly shady and controversial nook of existence, you may ask? Well, if you would’ve asked that prior to this moment, I could’ve offered you examples from their career – spanning over two decades – during which they haven’t really taken a single misstep, or even talked about their unyielding approach to their own, indisputably unique craft. But when you ask that from me now, on the brink of the release of their new album Pleine Noirceur, I can simply give you twelve damn good reasons why.

Pleine Noirceur is a shiver-inducing, unrelenting aural assault that is as solid as it is vivacious, throwing punches constantly, and most importantly, grooving like a moose. Throughout its 40-ish minute duration, we’re met with rage and a rampart of cacophony, at times mounted by soothing melancholy. The contrasts are great and far apart, but everything’s cohesive and kept together in a seamless fashion. On the album, Fuck the Facts bring in fresh angles and unexpected turns, keeping the listener in their clutches effortlessly throughout, with the individual track lengths fluctuating from 38 seconds to nearly seven minutes. And even though you can pick a single song from here and another one from there for quick relief, Pleine Noirceur is best enjoyed exactly as it is served – as an entirety.

https://everythingisnoise.net/reviews/fuck-the-facts-pleine-noirceur/

yay! Loved this one

Very good album, proof that Ottawa is metal af.

Catching up, just reminding myself how great the Dola album is. Love that spoken word shrieking.

Yeah, they really nail it. Furia's latest LP, which treads similar ground, is put to shame by their less well-known countrymen.