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

#5
Neptunian Maximalism – Éons
515 points, 12 votes, 4 #1 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1783556743_10.jpg

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ons

There are a lot of different ways you can combine jazz and metal (and avant-garde noise) to create something more powerful than any one of those elements on its own. Kevin Martin, best known these days as The Bug, led the late ’80s/early ’90s band God, whose albums pummeled and roared with help from Godflesh guitarist Justin Broadrick and various other folks, including John Zorn and Bill Laswell. Those two, of course, were 2/3 of Painkiller, along with ex-Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris; their early grindcore-skronk experiments will part your hair nicely, but the expansive soundscapes on Execution Ground are the real meat. On 2009’s Monoliths & Dimensions, Sunn O))) expanded their drone-metal soundscapes into the realm of spacy jazz, with strings, horns and even harp. Minnesota’s Combat Astronomy, while not as well known as these other acts, pack just as much of a punch.

Neptunian Maximalism is a Belgian ensemble, formed in 2018, that takes these same ideas and runs with them. They acknowledge influences that include Sunn O))), Earth, Aluk Todolo, Motorpsycho, Sun Ra and John Coltrane, and I’d add Miles Davis‘s 1970s work, Paul Schütze, some Peter Brötzmann projects, and even Magma to that list. Their music combines jazz, metal, tribal rhythms, and other sounds/concepts into a swirling, roaring whole that works best at epic length. Which is good, since their debut release, Éons, is a three-CD set running just over two hours.

https://burningambulance.com/2020/07/03/neptunian-maximalism/

SO MANY ELEPHANTS

A tour de force, really. My #8.

I'm guessing Oranssi Pazuzu for number 1 but it might be Hum in an upset.

I don't even really see the point in the entire 3rd disc and I voted for this. At its best it's completely astonishing

4 #1 votes is no mean feat.

My #1

I have not yet gotten to the end.

Amazing song titles too. I'm especially fond of 'To the Sun: HELIOZOAPOLIS - Les criosphinx sacrés d’Amon-Rê, protecteurs du cogito ergo sum animal'. Aka 'The Sacred Criosphinxes of Amon-Ra, Protectors of the Animal Cogito ergo sum'.

hell yeah, my #4, but I definitely considered putting it as #1 until trver heads prevailed.

There is simply too much maximalism.

So… not enough minimalism?

I spent too long trying to convince myself that this was any good, just relieved it didn't win, honestly. You people have a much higher threshold for boredom than me obviously

Haha, you're def winning the controp sweepstakes so far.

I have notoriously little patience and even I voted for this haha

Haha, I forgot to save my ballot and spent a lot of time wavering between this as my #1 and one other, in a fit of pique I finally said "screw it" and submitted my ballot. This was either my #1 or my #2.

Anyone looking for a single bit to sample, To The Moon, the second disc, is the one imo

I believe the next album has the most #1s in the whole poll

uug is your final form, imago.

This was the one I threatened to get angry over but I can't be bothered. I don't have to be the only one trash-talking folks!

Pun intended.

xp

Slift are sounding pretty good.

lol the one I *thought* Ultros was gonna get angry over looks like it isn't going to place

I believe the next album has the most #1s in the whole poll

Indeed, no less than six! The people who like it, like it a lot.

Any guesses?

Hummmmmmm, let me ponder over it a bit.

Psalm Zero

:D

You've got ten minutes.

sweven is for the children, so, yeah

Neptunian Maximalism - I only listened a couple of times. P good drone-jazz that I enjoyed enough when I listened but I haven't really got a handle on it yet. I couldn't hear it as a heavy rock album by my totally subjective criteria; not questioning its eligibility here but I couldn't vote for it.

Fingers crossed. xp

Elder bored me this time :(

idk how anyone could hear To The Moon: VAJRABHAIRAVA Part I - The Summoning (Nasatanada Zazas!) and not be, like, completely wild with excitement

It literally invokes a demon.

imago likes demons

hes a bit of a maniac

I think we're all fond of demons itt.

that had better not be some too-low foreshadowing

This Ulcerate album fucking rips. Neptunian Maximalism up next. I have a pointed stick ready should any demons come knocking.

Well you won't be too happy with the next one.

xp

#4
Sweven – The Eternal Resonance
534 points, 10 votes, 6 #1 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1511473876_10.jpg

https://sweven.bandcamp.com/album/the-eternal-resonance

When I found out Swedish weirdos Morbus Chron had called it quits after releasing one of the best albums of 2014, Sweven, it was disappointing news. Blending a smorgasbord of musical elements ranging from the throaty assault of Horrendous and the tempered patience of Opeth to ’70s psychedelia, Sweven showcased a band that was positioned to carve their own path through a saturated metallic universe.

Six years after Sweven’s release, that path has taken an unexpected detour. Morbus Chron frontman, guitarist, and songwriter Robert Andersson has unveiled The Eternal Resonance, the debut album from his newest band, Sweven.

It’s worth mentioning that Sweven, for those curious, is an old English word meaning “dream” or “vision.” Beyond paying obvious homage to Morbus Chron, it might be the perfect descriptor for Andersson’s newest project. And naturally, the comparisons to Morbus Chron will be inevitable. Admittedly, they’re not without merit. The Eternal Resonance contains all the same dynamics that made Sweven’s previous incarnation such a goddamn treasure trove for metalheads – Andersson’s unhinged snarl lurking underneath an old-school Swedish death metal backdrop infused with psychedelic grooves, long neoclassical-inspired passages, and enough subtlety to make every listen unveil something new.

https://www.nocleansinging.com/2020/04/30/sweven-the-eternal-resonance/

Some beautiful moments, but ultimately lacking in tension and I've got reservations about the vox. Seems to be an all-or-nothing type of record.

Amazing. I figured this was a bit of a sleeper after RYM downvoted it into oblivion.

I love this album so much.

Amazing. I figured this was a bit of a sleeper after RYM downvoted it into oblivion.

lol

yeah this feels like a Magic Eye album where you need to have some kind of gift to get it. I don't have the gift unfortunately, but wow at the diehard fanbase!

Really liked this one a lot! One of the metal albums I listened to most last year.

Xps

I mostly miss ATP for the chance to freak out to stuff like Neptunian Maximalism - I'd love it in that context. I just don't have the (literal/head) space for this stuff at the moment.

wow at the diehard fanbase!

Seriously. Nearly 20% of voters picked this as their #1.

I think I low-balled this a bit with a #19 vote, but just glad to see a DM record this high and a debut (technically) at that!

I'm one of the Chosen Ones, my album of the year. Beautiful record.