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

^probably got a decent # of votes but not high-ranking ones, I think

deftones

#35

Deftones – Ohms

214 points, 6 votes

https://open.spotify.com/album/0VEFy5MsBiq0u2lWL0OwOd

https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/5f7208b29c52ebb23ff66518/1:1/w_600/ohms_deftones.jpg

For Deftones fans, the relationship between frontman Chino Moreno and guitarist Stephen Carpenter carries mythological importance: two opposing gravitational pulls that keep the band’s beautiful and bludgeoning music hovering precariously in between. Carpenter is the proudly unreconstructed metalhead, delivering slabs of distorted low end on 7- and 8-string guitars and publicly airing grievances about songs that aren’t heavy enough. Moreno is the sonic experimenter and starry romantic, with a voice that sounds misty and ethereal even when it breaks into a scream—the man whose band gave a generation of angry young rock radio listeners their first exposure to the Cocteau Twins. Moreno and Carpenter’s personal relationship is surely more nuanced than that, and Moreno is clearly a metal fan, too. But the push-pull between musical elements is real, and the reason why Deftones albums continue to feel exciting and alive while nearly every other band once labeled nu-metal now looks like self-parodic kitsch.

The Deftones catalog is full of moments that illustrate this fundamental tension, but none satisfies in quite the same way as “Urantia,” the third song from their ninth album Ohms. It begins with a jagged one-one riff played with disorienting power, gearing you up for a sustained assault. Instead of attacking, the song veers hard in the other direction: spacious and tender, riding a variation of the lithe, hip-hop-influenced hi-hat groove drummer Abe Cunningham developed around the time of 2000’s high-water mark White Pony and has been refining ever since. It’s a satisfying reversal, and becomes something greater than that when the riff comes back—as big and loud as it was the first time, but newly seductive and agile, guiding Moreno’s airy vocal through a series of pop chord changes toward a chorus that floods the room with light. Suddenly, the band’s two driving instincts are no longer in tension at all, but perfectly natural complements, each lifting and twirling the other like partners in the world’s most brutal figure skating routine. For the first time—after years of strife and a hard-fought comeback in 2016’s Gore—Deftones are making it look easy.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/deftones-ohms/

Ah

not quite a top tier 'tones for me but pretty great, as usual.

Sund4r making out like Hum aren't top 5 in this lol

hum are going to win

I'm not sure where Hum will end up, I know there was a lot of ILM love for it, but I didn't see a ton of overlap with the metal crowd. And one of the album's biggest boosters didn't vote in this poll. We'll see.

Why wasn't I personally informed about Aktor btw?

I like "Change" and I guess White Pony is all right but I never got that heavily into this band or got their whole deal. Something like an even more smeared/compressed Machina-era Pumpkins with a punk vocalist singing through delay pedals?

This is like...Lemon Demon Does Hard Rock

I mean, if you listen to the opener on Ohms and it doesn't do anything for you, you can safely ignore em. but imo no one else can pull off that weird alchemy they've got going on.

I think they frustrate me because the dreamy/heavy thing is something i usually like a lot but there's something about their take on it that doesn't connect and feels kind of unpleasant. Maybe the production?

can we just observe that our boys in Aktor are riding a horse through space

The Ghost Of Time just took out Skullseeker with one blast of a raygun

I will say I HATE the Ohms cover art, which evokes Mudvayne

#34

Mystras – Castles Conquered and Reclaimed

215 points, 6 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2677610465_10.jpg

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/castles-conquered-and-reclaimed

Castles Conquered and Reclaimed is the first release from Mystras, another outing from Ayloss of Spectral Lore fame. Following the epic Spectral Lore and Mare Cognitum split, which only dropped in March, I for one did not expect to see anything else from Ayloss in 2020, and certainly nothing of the scope and scale of this latest project. Castles seems pretty much designed to win me as a friend and avid advocate. First, it’s got a cool-sounding and intriguing title. Secondly, it comes wrapped in that gorgeous, monochrome, line-drawn artwork. Thirdly, it’s a mix of raw black metal assaults and traditional medieval folk songs. Lastly, you know, it’s the guy behind Spectral Lore. On paper then, I am Mystras’ official fanboy #1, but how does that bear out in practice?

Castles is raw, stripped back black metal. Forget the mournful beauty of Spectral Lore’s Gnosis or the epic grandeur of his contributions to Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine and Sol. The first of Castles’ nine tracks launches its assault with only a split second’s warning before the blast beats kick in and the mid-paced tremolo picking begins. Thereafter, the tracks alternate between medieval folk – sourced from English, Cypriot, Greek and Turkish, and Occitan history and legend – and brutal, almost second wave black metal. There is, however, significantly more subtlety on show here than in those heady days of the early 1990s, as Mystras combines harsh heaviness and a melodic edge with a storytelling ethos to generate a real sense of weight. The starkly beautiful ferocity of album closer “Wrath and Glory” is, appropriately, the peak of this for me, though for many it will be the epic “The Murder of Wat Tyler.”

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/mystras-castles-conquered-and-reclaimed-review/

OK now this RULES

My #7. It's all incredibly righteous but 'The Zealots Of Thessaloniki' is one of the greatest folk/BM interpolations of all time imo, and it's all about ancient Greek underclass uprising! :D

the dreamy/heavy thing is something i usually like a lot

Just put on the first track from the Jesu album, which feels like a warm blanket at this point. Will return to poll material soon.

This is good as hell and only missed my ballot cause I wanted to spread my votes out and preferred the other big Ayloss release of the year.

if anyone ever says 'isn't BM a bit fash' play them this

Wow, cool album cover.

Conrad Keely used the same method for the Century Of Self cover! Biro skillz

Ha, 30s into Mystras, I'm sold on the sound itself.

Aha, it must be a drawing of Mystras!

https://www.greeka.com/photos/highlights/peloponnese/mystras/byzantine-churches-480.jpg

https://www.greeka.com/photos/highlights/peloponnese/mystras/byzantine-churches-480.jpg

Some Finns up next. LJ care to guess?

I'm guessing it's Wastement Unit 2

totally forgot about that Mystras. it was indeed really good. didn't make my ballot cos...I forgot I had it!

#32 TIE

Dark Buddha Rising – Mathreyata

218 points, 6 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1121024153_10.jpg

https://darkbuddharising.bandcamp.com/album/mathreyata

I read somewhere that the standard of a good drone record is that good drone isn’t catchy, good drone catches you. When I was listening to Dark Buddha Rising‘s 2020 release Mathreyata, I was making quizzes at my desk before school started. “Sunyaga” came on at about 8:30 am, and I found myself pausing my work and letting myself succumb to the waves of drone and ritualistic atmosphere. Suddenly, my students walked in at 8:45 for class. I had gotten so lost in the Finns’ seventh full-length’s trance-inducing doom swells that I had completely lost track of time. The big question is: did I get lost in it for its impressively effective atmosphere or did I simply doze off from boredom?

Dark Buddha Rising is a Finnish band, formed in 2007 and packing six full-lengths and an EP under its belt. For a collective that channels drone, doom, and sludge (you’d be safe to throw some stoner doom in there too), their megalithic songwriting is surprisingly restrained, relying on simple bass riffs, distant vocals, and other instruments to communicate their psychedelic soundscape as it reaches a drone climax. While albums like Abyssolute Transfinite and Dhakmandal were densely expansive trips to the void, sprawling beasts in their hour-plus exercises, while 2015’s Inversum and 2019 EP II found the band streamlining their sound into more concise listens that nonetheless channeled its colossal sound albeit to shorter and crisper ends. 2020’s Mathreyata continues this trend, offering the most “accessible” installment yet, in a droning, sprawling, and psychedelic listen that benefits from its more concise runtime and cleaner production.

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/dark-buddha-rising-mathreyata-review/

Yep, Wastement Unit 2 it is!

This is completely sick as hell, my #5

Tracks 1 and 3 set 'em up, tracks 2 and 4 despatch

love that mystras record

if you aren’t that into spectral lore, still worth a shot. it’s a very different sound and one that i personally prefer

Catching up…

Afterbirth does indeed feel too low even though I didn't vote for it myself. A brilliantly paradoxical record, no doubt about it.

As for the Eternal Champion, 'Skullseeker' is eternally hilarious and the album itself is top-notch power metal imo.

The Boris was pleasant enough (like Simon, I'm not much of a stan, mind you).

Undeath was my #9 – no-nonsense DM of the best possible kind and yes, the ultimate 2020 album cover.

The Aktor did precious little for me when I sampled it, sorry.

Deftones was my #20 – among their strongest albums, full stop, although admittedly nothing in it will convert the skeptics.

Mystras is the best Spectral Lore-related project of 2020 imo, ahead of his contributions to the Mare Cognitum collab.

Last but not least, this is going to be an unpopular opinion but not only is the Dark Buddha Rising awesome, I honestly prefer it to the Oranssi Pazuzu.

I mean it's not so much of a gap in quality that I'll even strenuously disagree. DBR have discovered the magic of how very minimalistic music can go on an immense journey. They're masters of tension and its ratcheting

Last but not least, this is going to be an unpopular opinion but not only is the Dark Buddha Rising awesome, I honestly prefer it to the Oranssi Pazuzu.

Some days I'm there, they are both so good for such different reasons.

Here's an even more unpopular opinion: DBR are tedious mince

Don't get me wrong, Mestarin kynsi is killer, but it didn't match my 2020 moods as thoroughly as the DBR.

xp hard disagree, obv., but that's the spirit!

ULTROS

FITE

it cool we buds. ultros talk about Mystras or something

#32 TIE

Couch Slut – Take a Chance on Rock ’n’ Roll

218 points, 6 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1619788850_10.jpg

https://gileadmedia.bandcamp.com/album/take-a-chance-on-rock-n-roll

The expression of grief and pain can be as intoxicating as it is poisonous. One of the things that punk rock bands are often lauded for is synthesizing their grievances with the world and personal failures into fun, digestible pieces of pop art for a selective audience of weirdos who have failed at life in similar ways. Candy-coated caterwauls of catharsis. That's the name of the game!

There are other genres, like heavy metal, that attempt to lay claim to life's betrayals and indignities by exhibiting them in a stark, cold, light for all to witness. But even heavy metal has to concede to its audience needs, and as a result, often hammer out anthems of empowerment and oases of relief from the anguish of life.

There are few bands that offer its audience none of these ways to deal with their pain, and still manage to be palatable. Cloud Rat is one, Lord Mantis is another, but the crown at this moment must go to Couch Slut.

Their new album, Take a Chance on Rock 'n' Roll, manages this aesthetic and aural coup without sapping any of the bitterness out of the fruits of knowledge they have on offer.

https://www.noecho.net/reviews/couch-slut-take-a-chance-on-rock-n-roll-review

now THIS is the imago section Oor Neechy ffs haha

my #15, absolutely crushing

Eh, I'm sure this is fine, I just have no yen to find out.

OK Mystras placed higher than I though it might, it's an excellent record obv, no-one would have batted an eye if he'd released it under the SL name though. (btw he has another album out in April!!!)

Listening to Afterbirth again I still like it and appreciate how different it is to other br000tal dm albums but it doesn't quite come together for me.

I couldn't get with Afterbirth at all

couch slut rule, even if i liked the previous LP by a hair

*preferred

This album didn't have a Won't Come on it, but I think it was better and more consistent overall, and its closing track was just as brutal as Won't Come in its own way