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

I think my top 50 is spread somewhat evenly, chronology-wise, although December did get snubbed a bit, of course.

I enjoyed the Lamp of Muurmurr, probably should have voted for it.

I love Lamp--raw and punky but really well-produced/-mastered for a lo-fi BM release; synth passages nice and buried, how I prefer 'em

I thought Lamp of Murmuur was really refreshing. Raw, catchy, atmospheric but not over-serious, full of spooky corners.

He's going to drop a split with Dai-ichi in April.

Well, Lamp of Murmuur added to my list too!

This is why I'm glad we don't whittle down the albums in the results, these lower reaches are usually the most fun for me discovering new things.

(I didn't vote for it though, maybe b/c I thought noms had closed, oh well, glad to see it on here)

That VoidCeremony sounds like it might be good, I was on a call and I heard a righteous guitar lick on "Abandoned Reality." I'll have to listen for real at some point.

I did however accidentally vote for Ulthar in two positions (at weighted numbers 8 and 11 on my ballot, in careless haste evidently), so hopefully that was flagged by the comptrollers and their placement a few spots back wasn't artificially inflated--sorry

#91
Okkultokrati – La ilden lyse
101 points, 3 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4111863293_10.jpg

https://okkultokratisl.bandcamp.com/album/la-ilden-lyse

Most reviews and articles concerning Norwegian dark hearts Okkultokrati seem to contain slightly differing classifications of the band’s sound. I’m no different: if you’re going to mould the likes of Motörhead, Emperor, and Sex Pistols into a ball of spewing hate, you’re playing Punk / Black ‘n’ Roll as far as I’m concerned. Anyone care? Of course not. More interesting is the decision of certain band members to change their stage names in a move that seems purely designed for new album La Ilden Lyse (Southern Lord Recordings), and which corresponds with a further evolution of the sextet’s direction.

Keyboards have added an extra dimension to the band’s later albums and …Lyse is no different. To set us off, however, a skewing Punk riff leads into ‘Thelemic Threat’: the pounding beat of drummer Verminscum underpinning the shimmering, emetic rasp of Dionysiac; the whole resembling an echo chamber of chilling sonic violence. This is followed by the hostile, frosted buzz of ‘Grimoire Luciferian Dream’, a real screamalong with a rhythmic bluster that evokes those Motörhead comparisons. In turn, Azoth‘s keys give an element of emotion to the rampant, ‘Ace of Spades’-esque ‘Loathe Forever’, and with that obsidian edge, it gives a feel similar to 80s Gothic Metal while creating a musicality that sticks in the mind.

https://www.ghostcultmag.com/album-review-okkultokrati-la-ilden-lyse-southern-lord-recordings/

I haven't listened to this because punk/black 'n' roll is usually not my cup of tea, but I'll give it a shot in a bit just in case.

oooooh

could this be this year's Reveal?

This is good for what it is, but it doesn't dispel my reservations about the subgenre.

#90
Horisont – Sudden Death
101 points, 4 votes

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71MIlNe1bcL._SS500_.jpg

https://horisont.lnk.to/SuddenDeath

Formed in 2006, HORISONT started their career with the want to revive the classic sounds of the 70s and has continued on that path ever since. 10 years after forming, they signed a record deal with Century Media Records and went onto achieve #1 on the Swedish charts for About Time in 2017. Vocalist Axel declares that “Our mission was to make the record that WE wanted to do, and not what people expect us to do,” and it is with this laid-back attitude that the band created their new 2020 record, Sudden Death. One look at these guys tells you all you need to know. The band’s style and sound is perfectly matched, complete with oversized aviator-style glasses and some pretty damn impressive moustaches. If you’re gonna do it, do it properly!

First track Revolution kicks things off with an upbeat, staccato style piano intro, gently moving into a classic 70s sound. Vintage rock revival at it’s finest, every note is soaked in sunshine and could easily be the soundtrack to an old-school movie. Free Riding follows suit with sweeping piano melodies reminiscent of 70s rockers like STATUS QUO. Groovy guitar harmonies are layered well here, creating a soft but up-tempo sound. Axel’s voice is unique, it’s nasally but in the best way, strong and full but slightly strained in the way that Ozzy Osbourne sounds.

https://distortedsoundmag.com/album-review-sudden-death-horisont/

Another one I haven't heard.

Such a fun record, I dig those guys a lot.

The penguins campaigning worked!

A really nice album. I just hadn't listened to it enough to vote for it.

This is fun but it just makes me want to catch up with the vintage classic rock I haven't explored yet.

I'm already behind but checking out the Vile Creature which sounds sufficiently Khanate-y so far. Neat. I didn't vote because in 2020 I bought a grand total of eight (8) 2020 metal releases, and I'm not sure any of them were noteworthy enough to make any sort of list. Honestly my biggest metal joy of the year was the at long last release of those King Diamond/Mercyful Fate unremastered CDs.

But I always enjoy these rollouts and have the day off so I'll be listening to what I missed.

(Actually just got the new Horna in the mail, which probably WOULD have made a top-of-the-year list but I was -- obviously -- late in hearing it.)

Every year we get fewer ballots than before. I wish more would vote but what can we do to get more participation?

Has not being able to go to gigs resulted in people buying fewer albums?

For me, metal feels very much an in-transit thing, especially for walking around and long train journeys. Since there wasn't so much of that this last year I definitely felt less engaged with the genre.

I was never a bigtime gig-goer anyway; 2020 didn't affect that for me. And I still bought over 100 albums, 90% of which were metal. And I was as nerdy as ever about keeping track of new releases in an alphabetized notepad file -- just about everything I heard failed to compel me to seek out a physical copy (or digital buy). I dunno, 2020 apparently went over my head.

I'm not much of a gig-goer either, and I get most of my listening (a very generous word) done while working or exercising. As it turns out, last year I heard more new metal releases than ever.

#89
Skeletal Remains – The Entombment of Chaos
102 points, 4 votes

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81gJ0k0iteL._AC_SX679_.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/18J9fNUCpnaIa9B2jQDaml

Old school death has bucked the dreary trend of a wretched 2020 thus far with a stellar supply of quality albums to help keep the blues away. Now the unfashionable but dependably solid Californian crew Skeletal Remains emerge from their dank and dusty crypt with their bludgeoning brand of no-frills death on latest platter of destruction, The Entombment of Chaos. Amidst the current strength of combatants in the revivalist old school death scene, the pressure to keep pace and remain a competitive force not to be fucked with ensures the challenge is intense and healthy for bands to confront. Boasting a solid track record, can Skeletal Remains reach that elusive higher plane of deathly excellence?

After yet another, all too common and unnecessary introduction piece, Skeletal Remains get down to business with the rugged double bass, barbaric vocals, and mid-paced onslaught of “Illusive Divinity,” both heaving and tank-like, reinforced with chunky, hacking riffs. Whereas predecessor Devouring Mortality exercised a slightly more refined, vaguely progressive approach, The Entombment of Chaos is a far more in-your-face and brutal affair. The viscous grooves are utterly pummeling, both headbang worthy and punishing. Although they remain heavily influenced by Morbid Angel and Pestilence, Skeletal Remains offer enough of their own character and freshness to elevate their stature beyond mere worship and derivation. This is more evident on The Entombment of Chaos, which in many ways feels like the band’s most confident, accomplished album yet.

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/skeletal-remains-the-entombment-of-chaos-review/

One for the OLD SKOOL KREW.

I thought it was okay but nowhere near the top of my ballot for 2020 DM.

This little doomworm is very nice.

This Lamp of Murmuur, which really should be doing it for me, just ... isn't. I think Gjendod's doing the 90s Norse throwback thing better than anyone. Haxanu was excellent too (though they're American and maybe not 100% in that category).

Not sure what this means but the three songs I've listened to so far, all of which were track 1 on an album, were over 10 mins long. The hell's going on with that.

I think I nominated this one, but it didn't make my ballot. Too much killer DM (OSDM or otherwise) for this to rise to the top this year for me I'm afraid.

A phrase to make imagos heart glow

Skeletal was dutiful, but low on mine

Yeah, that's a good descriptor for it.

Guess what?

We've got another tie coming up!

Whudda thunk?

#87 TIE
Spirit Adrift – Enlightened in Eternity
105 points, 3 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3328898945_10.jpg

https://20buckspin.bandcamp.com/album/enlightened-in-eternity

One thing about the number of bands who wake up and have a big bowl of Black Sabbath while listening to Black Sabbath before going to band practice to write songs that sound like Black Sabbath: it’s a vanishingly small number who do it with a focus on the first two Dio-era albums, rather than the floppy, weedy riffs of their glorious early-‘70s age. Not so for Spirit Adrift. While not a total case of bare-faced worship, but their metal does nevertheless take big, obvious gulps from the more taut end of the Sabbath spectrum that gave us Neon Knights and Heaven And Hell. This is a very good thing.

Ride Into The Light and Astral Levitation are big, bold metal bangers, revelling in a bigger-is-better approach that flexes their riffs gloriously. Shades of Iron Maiden pop up in Cosmic Conquest’s lead guitar melodies, while Screaming From Beyond is a stomping slower burner that nevertheless brings heaviness brilliantly. That it’s all done with a level of garage‑y grit and dirtiness only adds to their charm. Sort of like Mastodon or Baroness, this is something grand done by an earthy band.

https://www.kerrang.com/reviews/album-review-spirit-adrift-enlightened-in-eternity/

#87 TIE
Biesy – Transsatanizm
105 points, 3 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4044994473_10.jpg

https://biesy.bandcamp.com/album/transsatanizm

Black Metal is, let’s face it, an inherently contradictory genre.

By turns both fearlessly progressive and rigidly (some might even say “religiously”) conservative, infinitely malleable yet stubbornly inflexible, it’s the sort of place where bands can preach rebellion and non-conformity on one hand while ostracising anyone who dares to colour too far outside the lines on the other.

And while I love pretty much everything about it – the sound, the fury, the blending of avant-garde artistry and punk-as-fuck attitude – I’m also not afraid to acknowledge the high camp of it all either, considering how much time I’ve spent in small, dark rooms, watching shirtless, make-up covered men with pseudonyms like “Goat Impaler” and “Ultra Sodomite” hammering out priapic hymns of uber-masculinity, all while rocking a borderline-erotic amount of leather.

So it’s actually kind of surprising that it’s taken so long for someone to connect the obvious dots between the nihilistic escapism of Black Metal’s corpse-painted pageantry and the performative, provocative world of drag, but that’s exactly what the mastermind behind Biesy has done, adopting the persona of blue-haired punk-rock princess “Faustyna Moreau” to create an album designed to make you question your own prejudices and preconceptions about the necro-metallic arts.

https://www.nocleansinging.com/2020/06/18/biesy-transsatanizm/

I liked the Spirit Adrift but it didn't steal my trad heart like Wytch Hazel did.

The Biesy is quite unique, and I enjoyed it, but it failed to claw its way into my ballot.

20 Buck Spin has found a way to miraculously pinpoint something very specific that I don't like (and can't articulate) in my metal and give it record deals.

lol

I'll throw a TOO LOW at the Spirit Adrift since it was my #6. I think this one was an improvement on Divided in Darkness (which I think was my #9 or so last year) but didn't quite reach the highs of Curse of Conception, which is still my fave from them.

Tomb Mold tho.

Cerebral Rot.

Obsequaie.

Witch Vomit.

Atramentus.

Mournful Congregation.

Mylingar.

etc.

That's a lot to miss out on.

xp

Biesy my first vote and my first TOO LOW

I loved Mylingar's first album and somehow haven't gotten around to checking out the follow-up, which I hadn't realized was on 20BS.

(And in my original post I'd written out "except for Obsequiae" but backspaced over it, haha. Yes, they rule.)

This Biesy is really cool.

tracks 1 and 3 of the Biesy especially sick. riding that post-2nd-wave industrial-BM Dodheimsgard vibe into new hell

I've never fully managed to overcome my bias against industrial stylings in metal. Blut aus Nord is among the rare exceptions to this rule.

#86
Ripped to Shreds – Luan
105 points, 4 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1394046225_10.jpg

https://rippedtoshredsdeathmetal.bandcamp.com/album/luan

You know the death metal's going be good when the intro sounds like a soundtrack to an RPG made absolutely no later than 1993, and Ripped to Shreds' second full-length 亂 (Luan) is infallible proof of this. It's searing death metal that revels in brutality and musicality without trading away either.

In keeping with Ripped to Shreds' preferred subject matter, 亂 (Luan) loosely follows an ancient Chinese war-themed folk tale. Judging by the album art, I'd surmise it involves fire, chaos, and destruction: all ideal material for some gut-ripping death metal. And rip it does, as Ripped to Shreds constructs potent sequences out of a broad palette of cadences and temperaments -- every song tears its way through the less-important stuff in your brain to find a more permanent residence. Drums, bass, guitar and vocals all play a part in the meta-rhythm, stopping and starting in tight coherence with just enough interplay and deviance to tantalize.

https://www.invisibleoranges.com/ripped-to-shreds-luan-album-stream/

I liked this one when I heard it.

Aw...too low.

Loved this one. Was in my top ten I think

TOO LOW. My #14. Andrew Lee has quickly become one of the busiest (8 active bands since dropping his first RTS release in 2018) and best people in metal. Azath and Houkago Grind Time would have both also made an extended ballot for me this year, too.

I'm just not listening to much metal at the moment. I'm wondering if it's terminal and that makes me sad. Interested in the rollout though!