Fuck Brumpxit its the 2016 Metal and Hard N' Heavy Rock Poll Results Thread (With spotify and bandcamp links)

Im feeling weirder and weirder about leaving Mesarthim off my ballot

Absence (which is what we should all refer to this album as, because screw Morse code sorrynotsorry) feels more straight-up BM, less sparkly twinkly space-pop than Pillars, so it didn't grab me as instantly, but we're listening to it now and it's sounding pretty intense, so fully prepared to allow it into the fold as well

it is testament to pillars' quality that i don't know what track frobisher's referring to - it really could be any of the four (i'd maybe put '11' top myself)

he clearly means 'orbiting'

ok lets take this down to 31

39 Ulver - ATGCLVLSSCAP 228 Points, 9 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/J8sUhdJ.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/1WhPiaUqIlQIaXmcT8vYF6
spotify:album:1WhPiaUqIlQIaXmcT8vYF6

https://ulver.bandcamp.com/album/atgclvlsscap

Probably a bit too long and unwieldy and loose but BUT this is the first time it's made sense that Daniel O'Sullivan is in Ulver and I think this is the sound of he and Garm finally collaborating effectively so I'm in favour (and I voted for it of course - that early run of tracks is very cool)

Lots of wonderful mysticism in this. It scraped my ballot at #50 (probably for the reasons imago mentioned), but Desert/Dawn and Nowhere are great standalone tracks that I've listened to quite a bit.

also, what the hell, Absence (tags: mesarthim morse) is glorious! how was this not initially apparent?

xx^xp I'll never tell!

38 Wormed - Krighsu 231 Points, 6 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/BicFV9o.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/2yXHHgK7ssb0sxuJi8GPbT
spotify:album:2yXHHgK7ssb0sxuJi8GPbT

https://wormedsom.bandcamp.com/album/krighsu

WORMED are without a doubt one of the most ferocious and technical of contemporary death metal bands, and their long-awaited new album 'Krighsu' exceeds all expectations. Each of it's tracks are wildly technical without sacrificing an ounce of brutality. Sharp, staccato riffing, savage vocals, and machine-gun drumming are delivered with maximum concussive force. WORMED are leading the genre into its future and 'Krighsu' is nothing short of death metal on hyper drive.
credits
released March 25, 2016
tags
tags: decapitated gorguts hate eternal meshuggah metal necrophagist nile origin wormed brutal death metal death metal scifi technical death metal Madrid

Beginning to think it was a fantastic year for metal after all... Feeling so happy that some of these are appearing. My #17

holy shit ANOTHER of my votes - insanely technical machinelike grindcore with surprisingly airy and spacious production and the swagger of oasis napalm death - it really impressed me during the nominations period. what an awesome riposte to megadeth this run has been lol

napalm death IN SPACE

This is next level shit

Uh I mean that in a positive way

lol i reckon wormed would take either

37 Comet Control - Center of the Maze 235 Points, 6 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/xnzzKl4.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/6Kaa4KSOPHxkGnLczBYRn6
spotify:album:6Kaa4KSOPHxkGnLczBYRn6

https://cometcontrol.bandcamp.com/album/center-of-the-maze

Toronto space rock cosmonauts COMET CONTROL re-enter the atmosphere with their stargazed sophomore album, Center Of The Maze. Flooded with swirling synths, ghostly vocals and fuzz-bomb guitars that burst into flames in electrifyingly airborne ways, the record effortlessly merges the ethereal and the terrestrial; the end result a 43 minute collection of blinding explosions and brilliant fade-outs. Overdriven riffs reign supreme and songs build with mantra-like power before collapsing into majestic dreaminess. Like watching a rocket take off at close range, the sound of COMET CONTROL is both exhilarating and mesmerizing, propelled into orbit by unwavering melody and unhinged creativity.
credits
released June 24, 2016
tags
tags: center of the maze comet control rock psych rock psychedelic rock stoner rock Toronto

Oh cool

confirmed that wormed are kinda on the inaccessible side of tech death for me. fun in the moment but hard to hold onto

!!!!!!

george now takes the lead in tastemaker stakes

Lol this was not that high up on my ballot tbh. I'd lose my shit if Cosmic Dead showed up though

My #5. First half is all deliriously catchy psych-pop, second half sets sail for SPACE. Listen if you like: Spiritualized, Hawkwind, space

Also, it may be some maddeningly simple giant-corny-bliss-trip Spiritualized shit from 1976 but the closing track Artificial Light burrowed its way into my skull this year and stayed there. It's kind of everything Secret Machines tried to do but couldn't quite

the Mesarthim morse album called Absence is ending now. holy shit this was a ballot oversight and a half

boy this really is the year heavy music went to space, innit?

the Mesarthim morse album called Absence is ending now. holy shit this was a ballot oversight and a half

― illbient microtonal poetry Surbiton (imago), Monday, December 19, 2016 2:45 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i TOLD you

;_; / :)

Yes, no one wants to be here. xp

Mesarthim's morse code album was truly wonderful. Felt much darker than the rest of their output.

This last Comet Control track has a very similar structure to Paramore's 'The Only Exception'...

Comet Control's debut was my #1 album of 2014. This one is good but not as good.

There was so much space rock this year, I totally didn't expect Comet Control to be singled out over all of these:

Dreamtime – Strange Pleasures
https://skylanternrecords.bandcamp.com/album/strange-pleasures

Eye – Vision & Ageless Light
https://lasersedge.bandcamp.com/album/vision-and-ageless-light

Moths & Locusts – Helios Rising
https://mothsandlocusts.bandcamp.com/album/helios-rising

Black Rainbows – Stellar Prophecy
https://blackrainbows.bandcamp.com/album/black-rainbows-stellar-prophecy

Nudity – Nudity Is God's Creation
https://cful.bandcamp.com/album/nudity-is-gods-creation

The Myrrors – Entranced Earth
https://themyrrorsbbib.bandcamp.com/album/entranced-earth-pre-order

The Spacelords – Liquid Sun
https://thespacelords1.bandcamp.com/album/liquid-sun

TIE
35 Krallice - Hyperion 246 Points, 8 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/rDtS5Ny.jpg
https://krallice.bandcamp.com/album/hyperion

35 Meshuggah - The Violent Sleep of Reason 246 Points, 8 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/D1LISMo.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/0puaywAAvNkhKl6KQhuTn6
spotify:album:0puaywAAvNkhKl6KQhuTn6

There was so much space rock this year, I totally didn't expect Comet Control to be singled out over all of these:

they made a previous metal poll iirc

The big spacey-BM entry on my ballot was this, which I dont think anyone on ILX talked about all year:

https://sunworship.bandcamp.com/album/pale-dawn

It'doesn't have the luminous guitar leads of Mesarthim but it sounds massive and def has some subtle kraut influence

34 Darkthrone - Arctic Thunder 259 Points, 8 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/i4nff5c.jpg

more like dorkthrone

i listened to this once and like most late darkthrone records vibed with it in the moment and then had a hard time reconnecting to it

good riffs iirc

I liked it, more so than previous two of theirs. Not a great record by any means, but there's good reasons why fans liked it

Liking Meshuggah! They're no Car Bomb but it's a pretty decent effort :P

tt is not liking them but it's staying (for now)

33 Oathbreaker - Rheia 262 Points, 7 Votes One #1
http://i.imgur.com/Y3oxJqw.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/2eo8OwibPK06ZoHmIAfClG
spotify:album:2eo8OwibPK06ZoHmIAfClG

https://oathbreakerband.bandcamp.com/album/rheia

With Meshuggah you know what you're getting so I didn't bother with the new one because I've had my fill of them I think.

Krallice, however could release a new album a week w/minimal differences and I'd lap it up

they didn't listen to Mercyful Faith! false metal

The Krallice didn't make much of an impression on me, although Years Past Matter is one of my favourite rock albums of the millennium. I really liked some individual songs from the Meshuggah but found the album a bit wearying as a whole when I listened. I nommed "Born in Dissonance" in the ILM eoy tracks poll

Mercyful Faith? who is the falser here!

Nothing false about Mercyful Faith.

Really liked Oathbreaker. Found it powerful and surprisingly varied.

32 Cultes des Ghoules - Coven, or Evil Ways Instead of Love 263 Points, 7 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/P3CHJ8v.jpg
https://cultesdesghoules.bandcamp.com/album/coven-or-evil-ways-instead-of-love

The metal underground is awash with more bands than ever, but none quite sound like Poland's CULTES DES GHOULES. And now, with the release of the band's highly anticipated third album, Coven, HELLS HEADBANGERS is proud to present CULTES DES GHOULES' magnum opus and forever prove that no one ever will quite sound like THIS.

A mysterious collective with a full lineup but no facts fully revealed about it, CULTES DES GHOULES have always let their music speak for itself. Their early demos and Odd Spirituality EP, all highly sought after upon their initial release, eventually culminated in CULTES DES GHOULES' classic debut album, Häxan. Released in 2008 but eventually reissued by HELLS HEADBANGERS in 2011 after its first two versions quickly sold out, Häxan was a mesmerizing monolith beyond compare - ghoulish, gibbering, and ghastly in equal measures - although its sinful stench fondly recalled the likes of earliest, evilest Necromantia, Beherit, Mayhem, and Mortuary Drape. Also in 2011 came the Spectres Over Transylvania EP, which was an epic 25-minute track that suggested the ambitious direction to come. And come it did with 2013's Henbane, a five-song/58-minute monster of mesmerizing power. Dread and disease wafting up from the abyss like fumes of the most potent sulfur, coiling and releasing in a tense coitus of godless abandon, the unremittingly repulsive sounds of death worship: Henbane soon became a modern classic for a new generation of black metallers hungry for foul sounds with fathomless depth(s).

Alas, even all that cannot prepare the willing for CULTES DES GHOULES' Coven. On the surface, the epically winding ritualism the band had worked toward is present and accounted for...until you realize that that's simply the first track. For Coven is indeed a literally MASSIVE album, totalling nearly 100 minutes across five near-equally massive songs; not for nothing will it be presented individually on two CDs and three vinyl LPs. But there is purpose to such staggering lengths: the album is, in fact, a sort of "play" whose full title is Coven, or Evil Ways Instead of Love. Inspired by Master's Hammer's The Jilemnice Occultist, which is a black metal operetta with a story about romance and witchcraft, CULTES DES GHOULES wanted to write something similar but with more serious intent and without any "romance" themes. And with time, it evolved into the form that's finally revealed to the public.

Essentially, Coven sonically and especially (lyrically) illustrates a spiritual quest and the wish of death - death to a mundane world of moral laws and social conventions and shallow existences. It comprises a whole cast of characters - an actual dramatis personae, in the manner of a traditional play - whose innermost thoughts and outermost deeds are given life by the devilish throat of CULTES DES GHOULES. Each of the five songs is a whole "act" in itself, travelling across tension and cresting to high drama. Suitably, the music follows in kind, encompassing the band's trademark teeth-gnashing gnarliness to more dynamic - and, yes, dramatic - iterations of what were mere sonic suggestions in past, particularly in swaggering Sabbathian groove. That the band moves so freely across such a relatively wide swath of (super-)sonic terrain isn't so surprising as how effortlessly they do so, mirroring the myriad characters who bind the Coven. Olde tyme rock 'n' roll? Not exactly, but it's as patently diabolical as the medieval devil-worship CULTES DES GHOULES have been slavishly devoted to lo these many years.

The Devil's always had the best tunes, and sometimes even had the best plays. Now he's got both in CULTES DES GHOULES Coven, and a new dark age has begun.
credits
Vinyl releases February 17, 2017

death to a mundane world of moral laws and social conventions and shallow existences

a new dark age has begun

:/