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

lol time for a bunch of stuff at the bottom of my ballot to place i guess. opeth was their best in years regardless. hallucinogen is like memoria vetusta iv

This was somewhere in the middle of my ballot. Very good as always, but not quite mind-blowing.

I actually haven't heard that one yet! I started making my way through his releases chronologically and suddenly stopped at the first vol. of 777.

2xp

lol time for a bunch of stuff at the bottom of my ballot to place i guess. opeth was their best in years regardless. hallucinogen is like memoria vetusta iv

― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 27 February 2020 18:04 (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I suspect brad is to blame for the next couple

Before we return to the almost-boomer-core, here's something for the young'ins…

27
BABYMETAL - METAL GALAXY
266 points, 8 votes

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/814-bvmQRbL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/6rxRhft7JZtXavzHP2g2el

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/babymetal-metal-galaxy/

On their unruly 2014 debut, the Japanese pop-metal outfit Babymetal pinballed from blastbeat belligerence to chiptune clap-alongs, adding a trap interlude for extra cultural currency. Two years later, they fortified the follow-up, Metal Resistance, with power ballads and alt-rock anthems. Their indiscriminate approach to approachability worked: Babymetal count Robs Zombie and Halford as fans, and their brutally cute ode to chocolate ranks as one of this decade’s essential viral oddities. On the day they released their third record, Metal Galaxy, they headlined The Forum.

Metal Galaxy is a loose concept album about being dispatched to a distant part of the universe. “We are on an odyssey to the Metal Galaxy/Please fasten your neck brace,” they greet us over a Sleigh Bells-sized, guitar-and-sequencer stomp. But then, that thread mostly disappears, and the real conceit emerges: After touring the world, Babymetal recruit a half-dozen international collaborators to widen their musical net even further. There is a guest verse from Thai rapper F.Hero on “Pa Pa Ya!!” and faceless growling from Canadian grunter Alissa White-Gluz on “Distortion,” which sounds like a Hot Topic-commissioned cover of Taylor Swift. Without the help of guests, Babymetal nod to Bollywood and the Miami Sound Machine. It is an exultant, near-absolute mess.

Now a duo after the mysterious departure of Yuimetal last year, Babymetal are still at their best when they hover around their initial idea—harnessing the energy of metal and J-Pop into high-flying hybrids. Metal Galaxy’s closing stretch of songs do just that; the arcing “Kagerou” boasts one of their most undeniable choruses, and you can visualize the epic sweep of stage lights and lighter-wielding throngs on “Shine.” Babymetal have rarely sounded as natural or convincing as they do in these moments.

266 points is babysteps to 666

lol, touché.

I've still managed to never hear a note of this band (afaik).

I haven't heard this, actually, because, well, it's just… How is it?

*tiny devil horns*

This isn't as bad as I expected.

omgzors what a terrific scandal that this album has placed!

Not nearly as scandalous as King Gizzard apparently.

😉

I suspect brad is to blame for the next couple

― Oor Neechy, Thursday, February 27, 2020 11:08 AM (twenty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i didn't vote for babymetal stop second-guessing my taste

The real scandal is upon us…

26
Korn - The Nothing
275 points, 6 votes, 1 #1 voter

https://t2.genius.com/unsafe/600x600/https%3A%2F%2Fimages.genius.com%2F285319f0cb742f38aed995147a8ef049.1000x1000x1.png

https://open.spotify.com/album/6mWsWVsfWpoZ2d6uxm1ND1

https://www.revolvermag.com/music/review-nothing-korns-best-album-over-10-years

For many of us, Korn cannot be separated from the visceral nostalgia of our own coming-of-age. If you were a dejected teen between 1994 and 2005 with an affinity for heavy music, outsider anthems like "Blind" and even the later mainstream hit "Freak on a Leash" most likely resonated. The sound and scene they spearheaded would soon become watered down and self-parodic, but Korn were among the last embodiments of the American rock & roll dream: a gang of fucked-up kids from a conservative stretch of California who reimagined the limitations of heavy music, stepped beyond them, and got rich and famous as fuck in the process.

Over the years, the Bakersfield bunch have often fallen into the comfort of rehashing the forms that made them rock stars, often to mixed results. With their last couple albums — made following the band's reunion with guitarist Brian "Head" Welch" — sounding like classic Korn, it was easy to expect their 13th offering to land similarly. The Nothing had a larger axe to grind, though, and it finds its footing quickly as it swoops in with a stark, funereal highland bagpipe intro that ends with 25 seconds of singer Jonathan Davis' gut-wrenching cries, a callback to the band's 1994 confessional "Daddy" that proves a difficult listen.

I expected the Slipknot to place this high instead.

...what?

would you believe i completely missed this in the nominations list

the slipknot record should've been higher than this also

I didn't vote for this either!

so until further notice i think this is the joke post

Huh
If I hated them during their heyday but can now admit Freak on a Leash and Got the Life kinda slap, will this offer anything for me?

yes i think so

We've got a few voter-lurkers too.

the rhythm section is much more metal now but the hooks are still there xp

of the Korn albums I've heard or sampled this one is the best (and least obnoxious)

issues > s/t > the nothing > untouchables > life is peachy > the path of totality (which totally rules) > serenity of suffering > their other records

them making their third-best record this late in the game: pretty sick really

I've always had a soft spot for them tbh. I think they're partly responsible for my interest in heavy music, even though I've only ever really paid attention to the singles.

25
Astronoid - Astronoid
294 points, 8 votes, 2 #1 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1350767353_16.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/22clRi7CDOBHwwuvZAzBKd
https://blood-music.bandcamp.com/album/astronoid

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/astronoid-astronoid/

The self-titled second album from Boston’s Astronoid begins, boldly, with a song called “A New Color.” But if you have heard Deafheaven’s Sunbather and Boris’ Pink or even simply seen their covers, this a familiar hue, where black metal and neon shoegaze converge in a brilliant Belt of Venus. As the double kick drums shudder beneath comet trails of processed guitars, certain expectations emerge for the vocals—something harsh and demonic, signifying the atrocity inside the eerie mist. But Brett Boland is actually the exact opposite, his choirboy keen providing the unearthly glow of a Mew or Sigur Rós record. Hearing Boland in the context of Astronoid’s laser-lit blackgaze is unsettling but awesome, like witnessing a hailstorm in daylight. But this excellent first impression is the only one Astronoid really make.

That same wow factor propelled Astronoid’s 2016 debut, Air, too, putting the band squarely on the softer, more approachable side of Deafheaven, Vattnet Viskar, and Alcest. If there were a nagging sense that Air didn’t convey much beyond the awestruck innocence gleaned from hearing any one minute of their music, it didn’t matter—Astronoid had already presented familiar elements in a completely new way, and things like “craft” and “nuance” are reserved as talking points for second albums, anyway.

But Astronoid pull the same tricks over and over again for these 47 minutes, too. It’s a curious case of expansive-sounding metal best suited for 30-second streaming previews. Catch anything here at the right moment—the old-school guitar heroism of “A New Color,” or Boland howling “I’ll be fine” ahead of a blast-beat torrent on the chorus of “I Dream in Lines”—and it likely scans as transcendent. If Astronoid lopped a minute or two from these five- or six-minute songs, they might land as a posi-vibes pop-metal band. If they added a minute or two here or there by digging a bit more deeply into their occasional prog-metal overtures or sludge redirections, Astronoid could be a formidable psych-metal act fit for, say, Desert Daze, their overdriven guitars and generous harmonics practically radiant.

Great album my #13

The 'Fork was none too impressed, though.

placed low on my ballot - maybe not quite up to the debut but still pretty damn great, and no one else sounds quite like em

yeah i didn't find this as mindblowing as the debut but it's still good

i'm guessing moon tooth placed higher? not that they have much to do with each other besides touring together, but that record's a definite case of a second album breakthrough

god seeing them on the same night ruled so much

24
Cult of Luna - A Dawn to Fear
295 points, 7 votes, 1 #1 vote

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2342486250_16.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/5wF8QXoGV5Woz6EzfZjMZC
https://cultofluna.bandcamp.com/album/a-dawn-to-fear

https://thequietus.com/articles/27201-a-dawn-to-fear-cult-of-luna-review

Cult of Luna's return treads a lot of ground, not all of it new. Nonetheless, seventy-nine minutes of new material is a mammoth offering for their re-surfacing. And whilst there's not a great deal that's dramatically changed, their latest has a huge amount of available space, which they use to play to their strengths, taking complex ideas and exploring them in full.

How does this stack up to Mariner? 2015's Julie Christmas collaboration was a career high, adding a sharp snap to a band whose weight was tempered by their dense, blunt textures. A Dawn to Fear takes a different shape; the record is slower, moodier, and less savage. Wherever it's tempting to lament the missing howl of Christmas, dropping the sturm-und-drang edge leaves space for them to be more reflective, darker, icier.

The first of two main takeaways: they use the space to play to one of their particular strengths, taking ideas and stretching them, working through hypnotic riffs, exploring every variation until the riff is completely bled dry. It's a sensible way of using more time, and means the record isn't totally overwhelming. And besides, the riffs are fun; this is an enjoyable, driving metal record even when they just reflect on their repetitive, labyrinthine passages.

The second is how classy this record feels. Luna have always been a stalwart band but here they sound particularly detached and moody. Part of this is the gloomy, bass-heavy production, and part of this is their willingness to dial the energy back. Mostly, though, is just how well everything hangs together; the deceptively ideas-light approach means that everything is worked out meticulously, all with a sweeping synth undercurrent.

REALLY good album, even earns the absurd length.

A personal favourite. I badly need to check out the rest of their discography now. Christ, I've got so much catching up to do…

way too low. Easily the best think they have done. I expected it to be top 10

It was my #8 btw, so I did what I could to get it into the top 10.

my #12 and i think i assumed it didnt need the extra couple of points

imago & TT have you heard it? i assume you're the other voters

i forget if tt voted for this but i never got around to it in full

Alright, time to fess up. But first, see if you can guess how we tried to deceive you (whether successfully or not).

Korn

*and* Babymetal