2019 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock/Heavy Music Poll: RESULTS - Top 100 Countdown

the drumming on this record is a beauty

Nothing against Daniel Tveit, I love the guy, but imagine someone with true jazz chops on those extended instrumentals on Fatal Visions.

haha

this looks dope

I'm narrowly under 35 and it takes a lot of wonky art nonsense for me to start liking thrash. I'm not even completely sold on Voivod yet. Still, if you all claim it's sizzling...

update: two tracks in, it's very dope

Coming right up: yet another ludicrously named band – far older than onomastic rivals Fvneral Fvkk, however.

93
Terminal Cheesecake - Le sacre du lièvre
96 points, 2 votes, 1 #1 vote

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0283117011_10.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/6PaLSRWO37qT6yKoinhryx

https://www.musicomh.com/reviews/albums/terminal-cheesecake-le-sacre-du-lievre

Terminal Cheesecake operate at a crazed pitch not dissimilar to Butthole Surfers, albeit by varying means, in that an underlying mischievousness underscores everything they produce. And if Le Sacre Du Liévre takes yet another twist in a career full of them, one thing it retains is that sense of fee spirited waywardness.

From their formation in 1988, Terminal Cheesecake blazed a swampy trail through the UK’s underground until they ceased activity in 1995. Having returned into the fold in 2013, the band committed their first new material in 22 years to wax in 2016 with the excellent Dandelion Sauce Of The Ancients via Newcastle’s Box Records.

Happily, their reformation continues with this latest collection of ungovernable noise. If Saddle Shower sounds like it was cooked up in a raging furnace, its plodding pace lending the track a very particular kind of menace, South Sea Wall creeps in at a quieter, softer canter with vocal loops, eerie guitars, and an ominous twinkle of a triangle here and there. Rest assured, it’s no less intimidating for it.

Not familiar with these guys at all. Will the #1 voter please stand up?

He's probably asleep tbh

I voted for this! Sets up a convincing old ruckus

Its a-me!

He's awake!

I'm going to have to sample this a bit later, unfortunately. Currently juggling between this and proofreading something for work.

Stupidly forgot about the bandcamp links despite the fact that I use it way more than Spotify. Sorry 'bout that. Here they are thus far:

93. Terminal Cheesecake - Le sacre du lièvre: https://terminalcheesecake.bandcamp.com/album/le-sacre-du-li-vre
94. Inculter - Fatal Visions: https://edgedcircleproductions.bandcamp.com/album/fatal-visions
95. Drudkh - A Few Lines in Archaic Ukrainian: https://drudkh.bandcamp.com/album/few-lines-in-archaic-ukrainian
96. Zig Zags - They'll Never Take Us Alive: https://zigzags.bandcamp.com/album/theyll-never-take-us-alive
97. False - Portent: https://gileadmedia.bandcamp.com/album/portent
97. Russian Circles - Blood Year: https://russiancircles.bandcamp.com/album/blood-year
99. Fvneral Fvkk - Carnal Confessions: https://fvneralfvkk.bandcamp.com/album/carnal-confessions
99. The Cosmic Dead - Scottish Space Race: https://riotseasonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/scottish-space-race
99. Vesperith - Vesperith: https://vesperith.bandcamp.com/album/vesperith
99. Vircolac - Masque: https://vircolac.bandcamp.com/album/masque
103. Coffin Rot - A Monument to the Dead: https://bloodharvestrecords.bandcamp.com/album/a-monument-to-the-dead
103. Sanguisugabogg - Pornographic Seizures: https://sanguisugabogg-maggotstomp.bandcamp.com/album/pornographic-seizures

92
Putrescine - The One Reborn
100 points, 3 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0817045084_10.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/4Sxw1UfeCYYbJJ7Pa8ei4P

https://reek-of-putrescine.bandcamp.com/album/the-one-reborn

https://astralnoizeuk.com/2019/09/09/review-putrescine-the-one-reborn/

With conceptual inspirations looking at both their leftist political leanings and a particular strain of Gothic horror lifted from action-role player Bloodbourne, San Diego three piece Putrescine are, on paper, a rather unique proposition. However, whilst their music may espouse a timeless hooks ‘n’ grooves philosophy steeped in the buzz-saw rage of Stockholm and the ornate menace of Tampa Bay, the bands debut EP The One Reborn could be rather easily dismissed as a simple tribute to old school death metal values. Luckily, the furrowed brow fury and songwriting quality on display swiftly quashes any grumbles that these tracks are not significantly original.

It is all convincingly unpleasant stuff, the listener swept along amid showers of  percussive clatter, the traditional sewer splurging lows/lacerating highs vocal switcharoo and a thick haze of malevolent ambience. However, it’s the relentless barrage of ferocious and joyously incisive riffs that spew from the guitars of Trevor Van Hook and Zachary Sanders that makes everything from savage opener ‘Child Sized Coffins’ and the mid-paced cudgeling of ‘Inhuman’,  through to the barbaric multi-limbed attack of ‘Entropy,’ resound with power, depth and electrifying intensity. For a debut release this is remarkably assured; evidence, perhaps, that Putrescine have what it takes for the long haul, and despite its understandably raw production The One Reborn contains more than enough promise to suggest that a full length record could strike a diabolical chord with death-heads the world over. Watch this space.

Antifa old-school DM? Sounds pretty cool.

I loved that EP. one of my votes, though further down the ballot.

funny thing is the guitars kinda sound outta tune throughout but that's part of the charm.

also I love the band's pic, which has the band staring menacingly into the camera in midstride.

this and Venom Prison were great 'woke metal' albums

Terminal Cheesecake

i see we are still in the george portion of results

xp to imago I had some errands to run for a few hours after work. I just got home. I'm prob going to sleep soon.

Le sacre du Lievre might be* this decade's finest example of my all-time favorite micro-genre:

Crazy Psychedelia (Helios Creed, Butthole Surfers and...?)

(*'might be' partially in reference to the fact that I've yet to hear TC's 2016 album Dandelion Ssuce of the Ancients)

Anyways TC have been around forever; back in the 90s the press used to call them 'the British answer to the Butthole Surfers')

91
Pinkish Black - Concept Unification
101 points, 5 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3800203582_10.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/5G5HaKew7fH311DS7wlEnf
https://pinkishblack.bandcamp.com/album/concept-unification

https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2019/06/13/album-review-pinkish-black-concept-unification/

Like the color out of the space that gives them their name, Pinkish Black defy categorization, occupying a weird netherworld between genres that leaves the listener feeling vaguely uneasy. Is it doom? Is it synth-prog? Psychedelic? Experimental? Hell if I know, but it works.

The Fort Worth-based duo named their fourth album Concept Unification, and the only results Google offers about the phrase refers to a process in which ShowBiz Pizza Place’s Rock-afire Explosion band animatronics were transformed into the Chuck E. Cheese equivalents after the chains merged. It’s strangely unsettling to watch the robots stripped of clothes and fur and faces and replaced with their Munch’s Make Believe Band counterparts. That’s kind of the experience that Pinkish Black seem to be going for. Not just the blending of styles, but the process of blending the styles. The point where the metallic doom meets the synthesized gloom. The title track feels as if Bauhaus got trapped in a fogbank, “Petit Mal” the favorite music of the computer from Harlan Ellison’s I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, “Next Solution” a 12-minute race through John Carpenter’s worst nightmares.

The miasmal vibe they spread may not be for everyone, but in a world filled with shitty knockoff robot bands, it’s unique to watch the process of deconstruction. It can be a bummer to listen to (nothing on here could be considered remotely uplifting), but there are no other colors in the rainbow quite like this one.

there are no other colors in the rainbow quite like this one

I'm holding you to it, Decibel dude.

After reading several blurbs in a row in this thread alone, it's hard to be kind to media covering this music isn't it? A lot of really badly written stuff, style-wise.

lol xp

I do enjoy reading them, don't get me wrong!

I voted for this too but towards the bottom of my ballot. I love the title track and Until but this is prob my least favorite PB album. Too ponderous imo

The rainbow line is prob in reference to the big single from their last album, called "Brown Rainbow"

After reading several blurbs in a row in this thread alone, it's hard to be kind to media covering this music isn't it? A lot of really badly written stuff, style-wise.

Tbf while (spoiler) all-too briefly trawling the internet for reviews I occasionally settle for the least palatably written one because it yields lines such as 'a 12-minute race through John Carpenter’s worst nightmares'.

That said, cliché-free writing about a cliché-ridden genre is no small task.

I just try to select from the same source and angry metal guy is it.

However if there is a pitchfork review I post it too

I avoided AMG this time because their review wasn't very positive.

I like Pinkish Black a lot but for some reason never checked this new one out. Will rectify.

AMG is the Leno of metal blogging: easy to mock the craft, not so much the grind

(Except he didn't actually write that review, so w/e)

Leno comparison is otm. Also, Grizzly Butts is insanely prolific, and I think he's just one solitary guy.

I remember the False sounding good when I played it but I never went back to it.
Putrescine and especially Inculter probably should've gotten some points from me, but there's just too much good stuff.

Next up: one for the Olds (not quite the Old Ones yet).

90
Angel Witch - Angel of Light
105 points, 3 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2478486705_10.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/3GGiFrheY2ycUYo6dIbQns
https://angelwitch.bandcamp.com/album/angel-of-light

https://www.blabbermouth.net/cdreviews/angel-of-light/

The obvious exceptions of IRON MAIDEN, SAXON and DEF LEPPARD aside, the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal didn't produce much in the way of enduring heavy hitters. Righteous legends like DIAMOND HEAD and VENOM cashed in deserved credibility chips after the fact, of course, and if you don't listen to the first two TANK albums on a regular basis then you're simply doing music wrong, but beyond the aforementioned trio of titans, only ANGEL WITCH truly deserve to be regarded as game changers. That 1980 debut album, understandably overshadowed at the time by a dizzying slew of soon-to-be-immortal releases, remains one of the clear high points of that era, guitarist Kevin Heybourne's instinctive blend of dark, SABBATH-fueled menace and explosive, post-UFO turbo-rock leading to fantastic songs that have lost none of their edge or allure over the last 40 years. Admittedly, the song "Angel Witch" is neither remotely representative of what ANGEL WITCH do nor even vaguely close to being one of their best songs, but an anthem is an anthem, right?

When ANGEL WITCH returned to action in earnest for 2012's "As Above, So Below", it was plain that the band's unique sound and spirit were the entire motivating force behind this fresh incarnation. A few line-up shuffles later, the ANGEL WITCH showcased on "Angel of Light" sounds even closer to that original blueprint, with far weightier songs and a wonderfully vibrant and punchy production. Heybourne is plainly enjoying the opportunity to do this thing properly, accompanied by musicians that love his band as much as he does, and from the rampaging groove of opener "Don't Turn Your Back" onwards, the quartet's shared enthusiasm and self-evident chemistry are a constant delight.

Where most NWOBHM bands played souped-up pub rock that broke zero new ground, ANGEL WITCH still sound like a curious collision between darkness and light, as haunting but hard-as-nails epics like "Death from Andromeda" and the fabulously bluesy "The Night is Calling" attach syrupy doom riffs to a propulsive and timeless metallic undertow. "Window of Despair" casually nails the exact sound that hundreds of skinny-jeaned try hards have been desperately trying to emulate for the last 20 years. It's a galloping dirt-metal tour de force, malicious in intent but urgent and thrilling, with some of the finest riffs Heybourne has ever written. The closing title track is the best of the lot — seven minutes of glowering, moonlit malevolence. It's the sound of an exalted creative force discovering new ways to travel along a beloved but shadowy path. No need to mess with the formula: only ANGEL WITCH ever sounded like this anyway, and in 2019 their uniqueness is an invigorating blast of heavy metal air.

Haven't even heard their debut, so I should probably start with that.

xp to LBI

probably i'm stating the obvious but metal review-wise, and comparing to 90's blurbs for instance, there's a colossal improvement, more than in any other musical genre, imo
ftr, and i don't know personally no one writing for grizzlybutts, i find everything very strong written, whenever i'm there

The obvious exceptions of IRON MAIDEN, SAXON and DEF LEPPARD aside, the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal didn't produce much in the way of enduring heavy hitters.

So apart from the heavy hitters, NWOBHM didn't produce many heavy hitters? Remarkable.

Missed the beginning of the rollout but enjoying the read!

Tbf while (spoiler) all-too briefly trawling the internet for reviews I occasionally settle for the least palatably written one because it yields lines such as 'a 12-minute race through John Carpenter’s worst nightmares'.

That said, cliché-free writing about a cliché-ridden genre is no small task.

― romanesque architect (pomenitul), Monday, February 24, 2020 5:22 PM (forty-five seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

To be clear, I love that you are crawling the web for these! Don't get me wrong. But yeah, it's hard to write about it without clichés (and it seems to get harder as you get older, and have written more? But that's a different subject)

xp to LBI

probably i'm stating the obvious but metal review-wise, and comparing to 90's blurbs for instance, there's a colossal improvement, more than in any other musical genre, imo
ftr, and i don't know personally no one writing for grizzlybutts, i find everything very strong written, whenever i'm there

― gaudio, Monday, February 24, 2020 5:34 PM (fifteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

That's fair enough, and there might be some truth to that. As I said in my response to Pom above, this could be an interesting topic to flesh out in a different thread.

Very much agreed!

I have no idea what Grizzly Butts is on about sometimes, but I love his willingness to go for baroque.

Next up: a piece of Very Serious Art to which I have likely failed to do justice as a listener.

89
Serpent Column - Mirror in Darkness
105 points, 5 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1281885549_16.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/6RNPcuWiWWiWxETksgL7Cw
https://serpentcolumn.bandcamp.com/album/mirror-in-darkness

https://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/2019/09/25/serpent-column-mirror-in-darkness/

Serpent Column is a project that has been waiting to burst onto the larger metal scene for some time. Over the past few years, sole continual member Theophonos has conjured adventurous, meticulously crafted music that melds elements of dissonant death and black metal into a swirling pool of chaos and degradation. His debut album Ornuthi Thalassa was an unexpected blast, with last year’s Invicta further cementing and, somehow, further darkening the project’s robust sound. That said, both of these releases felt, for different reasons, somewhat incomplete. I have a fairly strict policy for taking music as it is, but Serpent Column consistently feels like a band always capable of more to my ears. With the project’s sophomore full-length release, Mirror in Darkness, such a claim no longer holds weight. It is not only Serpent Column’s most complete and dexterous release to date, it’s one of the best albums I’ve heard this year. In any genre. 

Anyone unfamiliar with this project’s sound should stop reading this review and rectify that problem immediately. Take the angular black metal of Deathspell Omega and stir it together with a splash of Ulcerate and a few liberal dashes of Krallice and you’ll veer close to the rich amalgamation of sounds that Serpent Column peddles. But far be it from me to claim the project’s music is strictly derivative. With Mirror in Darkness, Theophonus has conjured compositions that honor their influences while striking off into some bold new territory. Opener “Promise of the Polis” infuses chaotic rhythmic and vocal performances with a significant amount of melodic guitar work that keeps the track (just barely) on the rails throughout. But the chaos never goes so far as to stay in a realm of complete inaccessibility. The end of the track incorporates a violent and measured riff that pulls the whole raging mess of fists and elbows together in a finale for the ages, culminating in one of the more powerful opening salvos I’ve heard this year.

Couldn't get into this. I love a Jute Gyte comparison but this doesn't justify it beyond the superficial microtonality afaict

Yeah this has nothing to do w/ Jute Gyte

This is one of those bands with a kitchen-sink blend of styles that actually pulls it off well, and with a minimum of excess.

i cant even remember what i thought of this album