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

Thanks for a great rollout and all the effort! Much appreciated.

Here's my weighted ballot. Too busy with some things to do the 'bdnp':

Hum – Inlet
Sweven – The Eternal Resonance
Ulcerate – Stare Into Death and Be Still
Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin kynsi
Dropdead – Dropdead 2020
Lowrider – Refractions
Deftones – Ohms
Necrot – Mortal
Cryptic Shift – Visitations from Enceladus
Undeath – Lesions of a Different Kind
AC/DC – Power Up
Blue Öyster Cult – The Symbol Remains
Draghkar – At the Crossroads of Infinity
Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
Fluisteraars – Bloem
Eternal Champion – Ravening Iron
White Stones – Kuarahy
Autonoesis – Autonoesis
Khthoniik Cerviiks – Æequiizoiikum
Spirit Adrift – Enlightened in Eternity
Paysage d'Hiver – Im Wald
Serpent Column – Kathodos
Skeletal Remains – The Entombment of Chaos
Mongrel's Cross – Arcana, Scrying and Revelation
Napalm Death – Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism
Faceless Burial – Speciation
Of Feather and Bone – Sulfuric Disintegration
Afterbirth – Four Dimensional Flesh
Mare Cognitum & Spectral Lore – Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine
Slift – Ummon
Elder – Omens
Svalbard – When I Die, Will I Get Better?
Ripped to Shreds – Luan
Intronaut – Fluid Existential Inversions
Wayfarer – A Romance with Violence
Kaatayra – Toda história pela frente
Worm – Gloomlord
-(16)- – Dream Squasher
Motorpsycho – The All Is One
Lamp of Murmuur – Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism
Defeated Sanity – The Sanguinary Impetus
Esoctrilihum – Eternity of Shaog
Black Crown Initiate – Violent Portraits of Doomed Escape
Glorious Depravity – Ageless Violence
Bloodsoaked Necrovoid – Expelled Into the Unknown Depths of the Unfathomable
Hellripper – The Affair of the Poisons
Omegavortex – Black Abomination Spawn
Hexer – Realm of the Feathered Serpent
Black Curse – Endless Wound
Sumac – May You Be Held

Hmm… gotta ask seandalai.

xp

It was last in my ballot so would only have got 1 point from me.

because I only heard it the week before i voted

Tombs got 3 points, indicating that your ballot was the one where it counted, NYC Native, as you had it in 48th position

Does this mean that ON's ballot DIDN'T count? lol if so

Really fun poll. Thanks to everyone! I'm blaming you for my lack of productivity this week.

imago somehow I completely missed the Wyrmwoods album from last year, listening to it now and it's great, thanks

great results overall! thanks to the poll runners! here's my ballot:

Hail Spirit Noir – Eden in Reverse
Elder – Omens
Liturgy – Origin of the Alimonies
Bell Witch / Aerial Ruin - Stygian Bough Vol. I
Sweven – The Eternal Resonance
Hum – Inlet
Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin kynsi
Horisont – Sudden Death
Thy Catafalque – Naiv
Zombi – 2020
Macabre – Carnival of Killers
Worm – Gloomlord
Kadavar – The Isolation Tapes
Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou – May Our Chambers Be Full
Pharaoh Overlord – 6
Malokarpatan – Krupinské ohne
Atramentus – Stygian
Griiim – Bête immonde
Kaatayra – Toda história pela frente
Early Moods – Spellbound
Paysage d'Hiver – Im Wald
Carcass – Despicable
Pallbearer – Forgotten Days
Smoulder – Dream Quest Ends
Mourning Beloveth / The Ruins of Beverast – Don’t Walk on the Mass Graves
Lethian Dreams – A Shadow of Memories
Colour Haze – We Are
Sólstafir – Endless Twilight of Codependent Love
Lustre – The Ashes of Light
Dan Weiss / Starebaby – Natural Selection
Wake – Devouring Ruin
Dwaal – Gospel of the Vile
Dirt Woman – Lady of the Dunes
Esoctrilihum – Eternity of Shaog
Temple Nightside – Pillars of Damnation
Tombstone Eyes – Land in the Sky
Núll – Entity
Wytch Hazel – III: Pentecost
Garganjua – Toward the Sun
Spell – Opulent Decay
Zopp – Zopp
Wayfarer – A Romance with Violence
Occlith – Gates, Doorways, and Endings
Armagedda – Svindeldjup Ättestup
Intronaut – Fluid Existential Inversions

Zopp?

What's wrong with Zopp? They have teapots and teapots are metal. (It's a lovely album)

Looking forward to the Zopp With Rager album then

I kinda don't get Oranssi Pazuzu at all. Nor Elder. I mean, it's fine, but it kinda just sounds like psych to me, whereas there is so many fucked up avant soundscapes elsewhere on the list. Neptunian Maximalism! Passage d'Hiver! 26 minute death metal about a spacefarer or something? Black metal covers of Messiaen? It's amazing, so much of it. And I look forward to delving deeper into the results. Thanks to the poll runners!

My ranked top twenty. Bold didn't place:

Sightless Pit – Grave of a Dog
Feminazgûl – No Dawn for Men
Paysage d'Hiver – Im Wald
Pyrrhon – Abscess Time
Touché Amoré – Lament
Liturgy – Origin of the Alimonies
Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
Septage - Septic Decadence
Senyawa & Stephen O'Malley – Bima Sakti
Vladislav Delay – Rakka
Cryptic Shift – Visitations from Enceladus
Eternal Champion – Ravening Iron
Sumac – May You Be Held
Orm – Mit blod
Afsky – Ofte jeg drømmer mig død
Fluisteraars – Bloem
Zeal and Ardor – Wake of a Nation
Behold… the Arctopus – Hapeleptic Overtrove
Black Curse – Endless Wound
Pallbearer - Forgotten Days

I want more Danish bands on the list next year! Though I guess none of you like BAEST?

Bæst is good but why didn't you vote for Sunken? :(

Or Chaotian? I suppose Festering Excarnation is technically a compilation, but that didn't stop me.

Because I don't know them... I still just stumble around in this genre.

Fair enough. Do check out Sunken's Livslede at least, I think you'd really enjoy it.

I didn't vote for the Afsky but I thought it was very good btw. I'll look into the Orm – that one slipped under my radar.

The Orm ep has brass! Still waiting for an album.

The bass-player from Afsky released a solo album last month as Udånde. It's called Life of a Purist, and, well, it doesn't exactly invent a new genre. But it's ok.

Thanks for the tip. Solbrud are also going to release a new album a couple of weeks from now.

Oh! Didn't know that! Yay!

150 Nechochwen / Panopticon – Nechochwen / Panopticon
9 Liturgy - Origin of the Alimonies
95 Vile Creature - Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm!
6 Elder - Omens
182 Body Void / Keeper – Body Void / Keeper
187 Bernelius - Grave Dancer
192 Yuri Gagarin (SWE) – The Outskirts of Reality
30 Mare Cognitum & Spectral Lore – Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine
205 Limalla – ¿Ké futuro? Directo
61 Drown - Subaqueous
29 Victory Over the Sun - A Tessitura of Transfiguration
218 Gareth Davis and Merzbow - Broken Landscapes
50 Sightless Pit - Grave of a Dog
11 Slift - Ummon
80 Khthoniik Cerviiks – Æequiizoiikum
147 Ensiferum - Thalassic
247 Thee Arcadians - Current Events
257 Barishi - Old Smoke
264 Terminal Nation - Holocene Extinction
93 Bell Witch / Aerial Ruin – Stygian Bough Vol. I
21 Krallice - Mass Cathexis
8 Imperial Triumphant - Alphaville
234 Serment – Chante, ô flamme de la liberté
7 Paysage d'Hiver – Im Wald
130 Senyawa & Stephen O'Malley – Bima Sakti
307 Bong Wizard - Left Hand Pass
18 Lowrider - Refractions
320 Faron - Interloper
53 Pallbearer - Forgotten Days
332 Modarin – In the Distance…
335 Fuzzriders – Fuzzriders
342 Bring Me the Axe - Bring Me the Axe
100 Atramentus - Stygian
69 Svalbard - When I Die, Will I Get Better?
64 Fuck the Facts - Plene noirceur
363 Adzes - No One Wants to Speak About It
101 Primitive Man - Immersion
32 Couch Slut – Take a Chance on Rock 'n' Roll
207 Stephen O'Malley – Auflösung der Zeit
382 Desolate Entity - Deconstruction
124 Caustic Wound - Death Posture
1 Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin kynsi
43 Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou – May Our Chambers Be Full
24 Necrot - Mortal
400 Nawaharjan - Lokabrenna
12 Ulcerate - Stare Into Death and Be Still
191 Escuela Grind - Ppoowweerrvviioolleennccee
38 Boris - No
381 Anaal Nathrakh - Endarkenment
127 Cosmic Putrefaction - The Horizons Towards Which Splendour Withers

I really can't believe nobody else voted for the Nechochwen/Panopticon split, "Rune's Heart" is such an incredible song.

methanietanner as expected, your ballot was the closet to mine of anybody's

including the Ingested album, lol

forgot to bold my list, but at a quick pass, this is the stuff that didn't place in the top 100, I think -

Bog Body / Primitive Warfare – The Gate of Grief / Undulating Torment
Oksennus – Työn orjat sorron yöstä nouskaa
200 Stab Wounds – Piles of Festering Decomposition
Yoth Iria – Under His Sway
Deliquesce – Engineered Frailty
Kryptamok – Verisaarna
Undeath – Lesions of a Different Kind
Thaetas – Shrines to Absurdity
Torture Tomb – Killing to See How It Feels
Denunciation – California Commando
Crushing the Scepter – Echoing Screams of Madness and Delusion
Serration – Shrine of Consciousness
Kommand – Terrorscape
Striges – Verum veterum
Gravesend – Preparations for Human Disposal
Dkharmakhaoz – Proclamation ov the Black Suns
Terrestrial Hospice – Indian Summer Brought Mushroom Clouds
Isengard – Vårjevndøgn
Internal Rot – Grieving Birth
Vassafor – To the Death
Moldé Volhal – Into the Cave of Ordeals…
Aethyrick – Gnosis
Lustre – The Ashes of Light
Exhumation – Eleventh Formulae
GreVlaR – Cloud of Death
Ifernach – The Green Enchanted Forest of the Druid Wizard
Onirik – The Fire Cult Beyond Eternity
Left Cross – Prophecy of Conquest
Chasmdweller – Bacterial Lotus
Herxheim – Incised Arrival
Rat King – Vicious Inhumanity
Vader – Solitude in Madness
Aborted – La grande mascarade
Ventr – Numinous Negativity
Faustian Pact – Outojen tornien varjoissa

gonna rep for a few that really stood out to me...

bog body / undulating torment split:
https://stygianblackhand.bandcamp.com/album/the-gate-of-grief-undulating-torment

the bog body side is just really in my sweet spot. slow and heavy bass/drums duo that is also pretty propulsive. not unlike ride for revenge and has me primed for more from them.

undulating torment side is messy grind, also cool.

oksennus:
https://necrolatryrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ty-n-orjat-paholaisten-y-st-nouskaa

nothing like the other oksennus material I've heard, which was more like gorguts. loose and jammy but great vibe. feels a bit like something corrupted might have put out on a split.

200 stab wounds:
https://200stabwounds-maggotstomp.bandcamp.com/album/piles-of-festering-decomposition

this was pretty hyped I thought but only one other person voted for it so... death metal that grooves pretty hard for its brief runtime. "she was already dead" is my fav cut.

crushing the scepter:
https://crushingthescepter.bandcamp.com/album/echoing-screams-of-madness-and-delusion

very sparse and atmospheric, feels a bit like disembowlment gone black metal.

deliquesce:
https://deliquesceau.bandcamp.com/album/engineered-frailty

another short and sweet death metal release. love the twangy bass work. it's like 6mins long, just give it a shot!

kryptamok:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhg2YAHibPU

could mostly be the similarities between the covers but I always think of emperor's nightside eclipse when I play this one. obv, it isn't as good as that but... it's pretty damn good.

I was wondering who else on here was brootal enough to vote for the Ingested, Neanderthal. Were you also the other voter for Putrid Pile perchance?

As I noted wayyyyy upthread so maybe it has yet to get dealt with, I accidentally double-voted for Ulthar and the proof is in the c & p below: if a re-count is in order then I bellow 'mea culpa' hellward in the OSDMiest of manners:

1) Void Rot - Descending Pillars
2) Of Feather and Bone – Sulfuric Disintegration
3) Necrot – Mortal
4) Faceless Burial – Speciation
5) Ocrilim – Plvence Abrost R Msitloun
6) Voidceremony – Entropic Reflections Continuum: Dimensional Unravel
7) Shezmu – À travers les lambeaux
8) Ulthar – Providence
9) Undeath – Lesions of a Different Kind
10) Omegavortex – Black Abomination Spawn
11) Ulthar – Providence
12) Black Curse – Endless Wound
13) Cryptic Shift – Visitations from Enceladus
14) Cosmovore – Into the Necrosphere
15) Azath – Through a Warren of Shadow
16) Angel Morgue – In the Morgue of Angels
17) Ceremonial Bloodbath – The Tides of Blood
18) Cosmic Putrefaction – The Horizons Towards Which Splendour Withers
19) Ulcerate – Stare Into Death and Be Still
20) Witches Hammer – Damnation Is My Salvation
21) Coagulate – The Art of Cryptosis
22) Xibalba – Años en infierno
23) Azarath – Saint Desecration
24) Skelethal – Unveiling the Threshold
25) Siege Column – Darkside Legions
26) Nimbifer – Demo II
27) Primitive Man – Immersion
28) Dødskvad – Krønike I
29) Horna – Kuoleman kirjo
30) Afsky – Ofte jeg drømmer mig død

I didn't even know there was a new Oksennus last year. Thanks for the tip. This is why I look forward to ilm metal poll every year.

Xpost I was! Love the Pile!

Thank you pom and Neechy for running the poll! Also thanks to NYCNative for recommending Serpent Omega in one of the threads, it's the best metal album I heard last year.

Yea thx so much to the pollrunners. Lots of good stuff in this thread.

Don't be so afraid of the hardcore-adjacent bands. I'm pretty sure Gulch was my #1.

Thanks folks!

I don't actually dislike hardcore per se, but it helps to set up a few artificial fences lest the process of exploring new music become even more overwhelming.

whoa at the 200 Stab Wounds. get in my ears!!!! \m/

yeah, it's slam, but there are actual riffs instead of "chug 5 power chords really slow for 45 minutes while kids windmill in the pit"

ie like Dying Fetus

(the actual riffs part, not Dying Fetus being the latter. i will shut up)

Yeah, this is great. Thanks for the tip.

only thing I didn't like was the Ruptured in Purulence cover. it's pretty weak and it's one of my favorite Carcass songs and if you aren't gonna go balls out on that song you might as well just not.

but everything else on the EP is dope.

Do you guys want the poll run at the same time next year or earlier?

I feel like waiting until the ilm main polls die down is a good idea, so I'd say roughly the same timeframe.

bold dnp

Sweven – The Eternal Resonance
Hum – Inlet
Slift – Ummon
Behold… the Arctopus – Hapeleptic Overtrove
Touché Amoré – Lament
Gulch – Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress
Bindrune Recordings – OVERGROW TO OVERTHROW
Couch Slut – Take a Chance on Rock 'n' Roll
Vladislav Delay – Rakka
Infant Island – Beneath
Krallice – Mass Cathexis
Stabscotch – Twilight Dawn
Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin kynsi
Sightless Pit – Grave of a Dog
Liturgy – Origin of the Alimonies
Boris & Merzbow – 2R0I2P0
Mr. Bungle – The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo
Serpent Column – Endless Detainment
Deafheaven – 10 Years Gone
Thy Catafalque – Naiv
Ocrilim – Plvence Abrost R Msitloun
Plague Organ – Orphan
Black Curse – Endless Wound
Envy – The Fallen Crimson
Triptykon – Requiem (Live at Roadburn 2019)
Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
Machine Girl – U–Void Synthesizer
殞煞 Vengeful Spectre – 殞煞 Vengeful Spectre
Deftones – Ohms
Serpent Column – Kathodos
Vile Creature – Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm!
Skáphe – Skáphe³
Uniform – Shame
Old Man Gloom – Darkness of Being/Light of Meaning
Infant Island – Sepulcher

Sorry to be a pain in the arse but I didn't save my ballot, could someone fish it out the bin and post it please?

just put Sweven on top of my ballot and jiggle the order about a bit

& throw in some more colin marston

there we've rebuilt ultros

Yeah pretty much lol

I dont have access to ballots

Just bumping this to say that I finally got my copies of both #4 (Sweven) and #11 (Slift) this week and they are both absolutely incredible. Wish I'd have gotten to them sooner, they both would have gotten another high vote for sure.