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

I like the direction they've taken, I'm just not 100% sold on the execution.

Not as enjoyable as 'Reflections of a Floating World' (remember - a 'Stoner Rock' genre NUMBER ONE in ILM metal poll, or 'how I stopped worrying, and embraced 'Heavy Rock' as part of the ILM Metal poll'), but very good indeed - mid ballot for me.

Any guesses as to the top 5?

5. Sweven
4. Oranssi Pazuzu
3. Mrs Piss
2. Kvelertak
1. Hum

Finland Mindclasm
Didn't You Guys Be A Pop Band 25 Years Ago
Elephants, So Many Elephants
Finland Mindclasm 2: This Time Shoegaze
An Actual Nazi

Catching up: love Slift, glad to finally listen to Ulcerate (and discover a) they're Kiwis and ii) have been around since 2002 wtf), Lowrider rules. I miss the days of my old job where I could listen to 2hr black metal albums sitting at my desk, dreaming of the frozen north.

If you'll allow a bit of long view foreshadowing, this album came out today and I'm fairly certain it'll be our #2 of 2021, after Anal Stabwound:

https://cdn.season-of-mist.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/500x500/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/S/t/Starmen-By-The-Grace-Of-Rock-N-Roll-CD-104271-1-1607408960_4.jpg

Would love to see Neptunian Maximalism show up but, uh, I'm gonna guess the other ilxor lovers of them did not turn out for this poll.

I voted it high, so would be surprised if it doesn't make an appearance at this point.

That makes me feel a little better!

Speak of the (Belgian) devil…

#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.