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

One of my votes

I loved the last one but had a hard time cracking this one for some reason. I'll try again at some point.

We're kinda in the sund4r section of the poll except sund4r says he didn't pay much attention to metal last year so wont have voted for these albums , which he almost certainly would have if he had heard them, as he has liked and voted for them before.

Quite a lot of folk didn't keep up last year either. Was 2019 seen as a weak year?

Because I didn't keep up last year*

(*I didn't keep up as much as I normally would but for different reasons, lol)

I thought it was an excellent year but this may well be predicated on the sheer volume of time spent sampling left and right. So-called bad years are usually those when I wasn't paying attention.

Next up: one of the tautest, most bad-ass listening experiences of 2019.

I think for most people a great year is multiple underground albums getting critical and a bit of commercial success.

Others its judged by mainstream crossover success. And has there been much of the latter recently? Any top 10 albums?

Oh I don't even worry about commercial success, that ship has sailed. For now, at least.

62
Witch Vomit - Buried Deep in a Bottomless Grave
144 points, 5 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3910047609_16.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/5g2ORJKVg3Xp6VKJL3lCKZ
https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/buried-deep-in-a-bottomless-grave

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/witch-vomit-buried-deep-in-a-bottomless-grave-review/

The other day, I was sitting at the kid’s n00b’s lunch table and about to close a deal trading away my Twinkie for Carcharodon‘s bland, British pastry, when Mark Z. walked in like the cool big kid he is and slammed a promo on the counter. “Hey, n00bs. Here’s Witch Vomit if you want it. I’m doing something else.” He promptly picked up another promo with “vomit” in the name and walked away. I tried to act cool, seeing if anyone else was as excited as I was, but when the bell rang, all of my fellow n00bs got up and headed towards Dr. Grier‘s 5th-period class, “How to Avoid Dismemberment.” I, however, couldn’t resist. I ran to the counter, scooped up the Witch Vomit with my bare hands, and poured it into my backpack. I spent the rest of the day watching the clock, longing for the moment that I could run home to my cell, grab a spoon, and see what this brand of emesis tastes like.

Magnifico! And what exactly was the witch eating before she regurgitated the Portland, Oregon band’s sophomore upheaval Buried Deep in a Bottomless Grave? By the taste of things, she enjoyed very deeply of early Dismember, early Incantation, and early Autopsy, but it’s the fact that she washed it down with a cold glass of Slayer that really makes this fun. While undeniably an old school death metal band, Witch Vomit writes songs like they’re a thrash band and it’s resulted in a 27-minute long record that never once runs short of energy, groove, or melody. Each track has its own character, and there’s not a single dry heave to be found amongst them—each one expels copious amounts of disgusting substances in various states of digestion for your aural displeasure.

This is exactly what you think it is and it just rips.

ILX is all old geezers. What metal are the under 25s listening to that isnt five finger death punch and slipknot?

xp

Btw I agree that Sund4r (who is likely busy with less frivolous matters at the moment) is missing out on his part of the rollout: Krallice, Kostnatění, Dysrhythmia (I'm assuming here), etc.

magnifico! @ witch vomit is <3

great year all around for dm, particullary for 20 buck spin. hoping 2 more 20bs records placing higher

i voted for witch vomit, pissgrave, krallice and bölzer, btw

yeah but the point i was making is that he missed out last year on hearing these albums so he didn't vote for them this time, otherwise they would be higher.

2 low 4 witch vom. My #10.

Last one before Neechy takes over tomorrow.

61
Falls of Rauros - Patterns in Mythology
145 points, 5 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0940752620_16.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/0MvxMFo64c8qAaMemUW45U
https://gileadmedia.bandcamp.com/album/patterns-in-mythology

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/falls-of-rauros-patterns-of-mythology-review/

No matter the band or the number of releases they have, when I review them, I start from the beginning. I listen to every track, rank every album, and then proceed onto the newest promo. And each time I’ve sat down to review a Falls of Rauros, I’ve done it this way. And, every time, I’m shocked by how solid a catalog they have. With some bands, you could get away with stopping at their debut and regurgitating those first impressions in a review for every successive release. Other bands evolve so much that what you knew about them on their debut is nonexistent some half-dozen releases, or so, later. Neither scenario is bad if the band is good at what they do. And these Mainers are good at what they do.

If you’ve been living under a rock since 2014, Falls of Rauros have evolved tremendously and done no wrong by doing so. From The Light That Dwells in the Rotten Wood to Believe in No Coming to Vigilance Perennial, the band has expanded its sound so much that Vigilance Perennial could be a different entity for all I know. And this year’s Patterns in Mythology is no different. FoR continue where they left Vigilance, creating a soundscape of lush textures whose brushstrokes are thunderous black metal riffs, clean and acoustic guitar work, spleen-rupturing rasps and distant clean vocals. Yet, for all the evolution, FoR‘s John Hancock is still recognizable in the bottom right-hand corner of the tapestry.

…and the recap thus far:

61 Falls of Rauros - Patterns in Mythology 145.0 5 0
62 Witch Vomit - Buried Deep in a Bottomless Grave 144.0 5 0
63 Dysrhythmia - Terminal Threshold 142.0 4 0
64 Bölzer - Lese Majesty 136.0 5 0
64 Krallice - Wolf 136.0 5 0
66 Cattle Decapitation - Death Atlas 133.0 7 0
67 Pissgrave - Posthumous Humiliation 133.0 5 0
68 Mgła - Age of Excuse 133.0 3 1
69 Warforged - I:Voice 132.0 5 0
70 Black Mountain - Destroyer 132.0 4 0
71 Funereal Presence - Achatius 132.0 3 0
72 Andvaka - Andvana 131.0 3 0
73 Weeping Sores - False Confession 129.0 4 0
74 PUP - Morbid Stuff 127.0 3 0
75 Saint Vitus - Saint Vitus 126.0 5 0
76 Major Stars - Roots of Confusion 125.0 3 0
77 Oozing Wound - High Anxiety 124.0 3 0
78 Motorpsycho - The Crucible 119.0 4 0
79 Deathspell Omega - The Furnaces of Palingenesia 119.0 3 1
80 Amygdala - Our Voices Will Soar Forever 115.0 3 0
81 Nightfell - A Sanity Deranged 112.0 4 0
82 Skáphe + Wormlust - Kosmískur hryllingur 111.0 4 0
83 Kostnatění - Hrůza zvítězí 110.0 4 0
84 The Neptune Power Federation - Memoirs of a Rat Queen 110.0 3 0
85 Krypts - Cadaver Circulation 109.0 4 0
86 No One Knows What the Dead Think - No One Knows What the Dead Think 108.0 4 0
87 Dead to a Dying World - Elegy 107.0 4 0
87 Pharaoh Overlord - 5 107.0 4 0
89 Serpent Column - Mirror in Darkness 105.0 5 0
90 Angel Witch - Angel of Light 105.0 3 0
91 Pinkish Black - Concet Unification 101.0 5 0
92 Putrescine - The One Reborn 100.0 3 0
93 Terminal Cheesecake - Le sacre du lièvre 96.0 2 1
94 Inculter - Fatal Visions 95.0 5 0
95 Drudkh - A Few Lines in Archaic Ukrainian 95.0 3 0
96 Zig Zags - They'll Never Take Us Alive 95.0 2 0
97 False - Portent 92.0 4 0
97 Russian Circles - Blood Year 92.0 4 0
99 Fvneral Fvkk - Carnal Confessions 92.0 3 0
99 The Cosmic Dead - Scottish Space Race 92.0 3 0
99 Vesperith - Vesperith 92.0 3 0
99 Vircolac - Masque 92.0 3 0
103 Coffin Rot - A Monument to the Dead 90.0 2 0
103 Sanguisugabogg - Pornographic Seizures 90.0 2 0
105 Deus Mortem - Kosmocide 89.0 3 0
106 Spirit Adrift - Divided by Darkness 88.0 4 0
107 Venom Prison - Samsara 86.0 2 0
108 Devin Townsend - Empath 85.0 3 0
108 Gaahls WYRD - Gastir - Ghosts Invited 85.0 3 0
108 Multishiva - Savupäivä 85.0 3 0
111 Mizmor - Cairn 82.0 4 0
112 Vanum - Ageless Fire 82.0 3 0
113 Ithaca - The Language of Injury 80.0 3 0
114 Veiled - In Blinding Presence 78.0 3 0
115 Dawn Ray'd - Behold Sedition Plainsong 77.0 4 0
116 Nile - Vile Nilotic Rites 77.0 3 0
117 Paladin - Ascension 76.0 2 0
118 Eluveitie - Ategnatos 75.0 3 0
118 Reveal - Scissorgod 75.0 3 0
120 Atlantean Kodex - The Course of Empire 75.0 2 0
120 Fetid - Steeping Corporeal Mess 75.0 2 0
120 Have a Nice Life - Sea of Worry 75.0 2 0

Good band

"buried deep in a bottomless grave" has to be one of the most perfect metal album titles

otm

FoR too low!!! I'm so mad I missed their show, my friend who took my ticket assures me they are excellent live, though.

i also meant to listen to falls of rauros before voting and didn't. one of my favorite discoveries from the metal poll a few years ago

i cannot emphasize enough how funereal presence would've been my metal album of the year had i known about it

black metal can and should be ridiculous and fun

well yes :)

should have campaigned. just nearing another full listen-through myself. so good

Btw I agree that Sund4r (who is likely busy with less frivolous matters at the moment) is missing out on his part of the rollout: Krallice, Kostnatění, Dysrhythmia (I'm assuming here), etc.

Ha, I've been thinking I would review the list after the countdown is done and be able to contribute more then. I did enjoy the Have a Nice Life album and the two featured Major Stars songs on Bandcamp. (I've had Magic Hour's No Excess Is Absurd for about 20 years but somehow never got around to Major Stars.) Kostnatění definitely made my ballot. I'm a fan of Krallice and like Dysrhythmia but didn't get around to their 2019 albums yet, on the weird grounds that I knew I would like them and didn't need to rush to hear them. Dysrhythmia/Gorguts guitarist Kevin Hufnagel's new solo album is v good btw: https://kevinhufnagel.bandcamp.com/album/invisible-traces

Thanks for chiming in. I'll have to check out that new Hufnagel, as well as the Dysrhythmia LP itself.

The classical polls are already keeping me busy!

I know, this is pure overkill. I'd take a break after this even if I wasn't about to be swamped with other commitments!

Lots of amazing stuff today, surprisingly low for some! It's gonna be hard to listen to it all. I also wish I'd heard Funereal Presence before I voted, and Weeping Sores. And I still haven't heard Major Stars either, don't know why I missed out on them but I'll be listening to it tonight.

I am voter #3 for Funereal Presence (my #7 vote). Amygdala was my #2! I just can't resist classic hardcore punk sound, especially about destroying a corrupt system by any means necessary.

I am voter #3 for Funereal Presence (my #7 vote)

Hi 5! At least people are discovering it now. Shall listen to Amygdala first thing tomorrow...

Things I voted for:

61 Falls of Rauros - Patterns in Mythology
80 Amygdala - Our Voices Will Soar Forever
84 The Neptune Power Federation - Memoirs of a Rat Queen
87 Dead to a Dying World - Elegy
91 Pinkish Black - Concet Unification
96 Zig Zags - They'll Never Take Us Alive
97 False - Portent
107 Venom Prison - Samsara

Neptune Power Federation (#2) and Zig Zags (#3) are the highest to show up already (which means I naturally think they aren't high enough).

There are a few on the list I don't even remember spending time with. Honestly, one of the reasons I quit writing was an inability to keep up with it all. Maybe it's unrealistic of me at this point to have that expectation but if I cannot live up to my own standards, something's gotta give.

Enjoying the countdown thus far!

A lot of stuff I wasn't too familiar with in today's countdown. The only thing I voted for was the Weeping Sores. I'm intrigued by the Andvaka. I don't often have patience for that ambient/funeral doom type thing, but it seems this album is more concise than most.

Catching up from last night: glad Krallice placed, they rule.

Funereal Presence sounding really good this morning! Hadn't heard of them before. There's almost something... baroque about the structure of "Wherein a messenger of the devil appears"? Like it a lot!

Going to start rollout in a few mins

Finally listened through the rest of the Kostnateni on the drive home, fantastic stuff

It's been a busy week and my headphones are broken, so I can't follow along as much as I wanted to, but I'm listening to Eluveite while I'm writing this and lol, I love you lads. Looking forward to checking out so much more over the next weeks.

ok Pom very nicely prepared me some reviews to copy & paste but he says he regrets using some of the user reviews as he cant find proper ones

60

Jorge Elbrecht - Coral Cross - 002

148 points, 4 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2133859732_16.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/6XfEYvvD70mYzParaH4VpY

https://jorgeelbrecht.bandcamp.com/album/coral-cross-002

https://www.albumoftheyear.org/user/pipepanic/album/145597-coral-cross-002/

Talk about a punch in the face...

This album caught me the fuck by surprise, and I do mean literally. I found this while talking to a friend on Discord, (burying yourself in Bandcamp leads to odd places my friends) and out of pure boredom I gave it a listen. The second I opened this album, I was greeted with a luscious and gorgeous arrangement of old synthesizers that made me feel like I was in a bootlegged copy of The Dark Crystal. It was comforting, and washed over me as if I was falling into a nice sleep...and then the blast beats came in. And then the guitars. And oh boy did I nut.

(I already regret excerpting this user review.- pom)

Lol

I voted for this low down. Some great stuff there

and ive already had to put a mod request in ffs. Its not my week

at least i didn't accidentally paste the entire results

Discovered after I sent in my ballot (thanks to D.A.M. iirc?), and it's just perfect.

thank you 'mod'

59 Ghost - Seven Inches of Satanic Panic - 150 points, 4 votes

https://www.metalsucks.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Ghost-Seven-Inches-of-Satanic-Panic.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/6eOWfFjfBPRsAW0ZS4sbaF

http://cu-sentry.com/2019/10/09/ghost-seven-inches-of-satanic-panic-album-review/

In conjunction with a new chapter of their ongoing webisode series, Ghost “re-released” an EP titled, Seven Inches of Satanic Panic. Regarding the fictionalized lore and ongoing story of the band, the webisode established that the two tracks, “Kiss the Go-Goat” and “Mary on a Cross,” were recorded in the 60s by the band’s original front man, Papa Nihil. The psychedelic rock sound captured in these two musical masterpieces makes it feel like this EP is indeed a portal into an alternative past.

The first track, “Kiss the Go-Goat” follows the story of a young woman falling in love with the devil and being encouraged to kiss the goat, a possible reference to Baphomet, who is a deity often related to Satanism that is depicted to have a human body and a goat head. The transition in tone and beat between the ominous chanting of, “Satan / Lucifer / Osculum obscenum (Translation: dark kiss)” at the end of the chorus into the upbeat and funk infused refrain that follows makes the song an instant earworm that will take up residence in the brain for days. If the essence of the Satanic Panic craze was harnessed into a song it would be “Kiss the Go-Goat.”

The 1st 7" single to have made metal poll?

Isn't Jorge Elbrecht the guy from Lansing Dreiden? Admittedly I haven't been keeping up with him, but listening now, this definitely isn't where I would have guessed his musical journey was taking him.
Also, this is awesome.

I have to be honest and say I've never heard of him