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

Good album, kind of overrated tho tbh.

pom, no. i heart leila & shelby

Fuck yeah, my #5. Basically my platonic ideal for DM.

they didn't top hole below with this one, no one did afaict, still the most gifted death metal band in a long time, and they don't even know it. 4 stunning albums in a row

hookless in comparison, but masters of suggestion, they went hard with the gravitational atmosphere empty breast was hinting at, which, who would think, fuckin crushes.my#4

I had Vastum in my top 10, but I was just listening to it again this morning and thinking I should have rated it higher.

It ticks all the right boxes for me too and I love Leila’s solo work but this one just didn’t stick.

11

Botanist - Ecosystem

379 points, 13 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2440025988_16.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/2lTG63edSmiHyzbYWPqOWT

https://verdant-realm-botanist.bandcamp.com/album/ecosystem

https://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/2019/10/14/botanist-ecosystem/

Uniqueness is often conflated with interesting ideas in our modern music consumption landscape. There’s plenty of experimental music that, while undeniably different, is pretty deniably good. I’ve encountered albums of all-acoustic black metal and blackened trip-hop on my travels, both of which defied the norms of their genres but were hardly well-executed or engaging.

All that said, there’s still virtue in risk-taking when it comes to music, something that Botanist have done consistently throughout their short but prolific career. The group has tinkered with the post-black metal formula in a different way than their Bay Area peers like Bosse-de-Nage and Deafheaven. Of course, they’re most well-known for their instrumental choices, opting for hammered dulcimers rather than the genre’s textbook guitar tremolo attacks.

But beyond this, Botanist have carved their own unique, striking lane of post-black and blackgaze. The atmospheres and progressions the band unravel conjure heavy dream pop and ethereal wave vibes, akin to Alcest with a much more raw, earnest sound; imagine a wise druid instead of a flighty tree sprite. The band have developed their style significantly from lo-fi double album I: The Suicide Tree / II: A Rose From the Dead to recent, higher budget highlights like VI: Flora and Collective: The Shape of He to Come.

Ecosystem is yet another excellent development in this journey. Furthermore, it further demonstrates how versatile Botanist can be with their signature, dulcimer-led sound. As exhibited on opener “Biomass,” the instrument can be delicate and melodic one moment and then contribute to a larger, sweeping musical flourish the next. It somehow holds a similar and contrasting role to traditional black metal guitar, creating the genre’s signature atmosphere while maintaining a bright, resonant tone unlike any other instrument in metal. It’s almost like a prettier, more reserved harpsichord.

I frankly hated Shape and didn’t even bother with this one.

tbh this one was the first botanist album i've heard

my #5

and yeah it went from good to woah, in a minute. had to vote for

It might even be their best, if not, its not far off.

Thanks for doing these, Neech. I'm going to kick off the top 10 in a few mins.

10
Obsequiae - The Palms of Sorrowed Kings
381 points, 12 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4260823379_16.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/3QuHkSB1KueSxekHj3rRoA
https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/the-palms-of-sorrowed-kings

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/obsequiae-the-palms-of-sorrowed-kings-review/

Back in 2015 I was taken off guard and enchanted by the superb sophomore album from Obsequiae, entitled Aria of Vernal Tombs, which marked a strong improvement over their impressive debut. Despite operating a bit outside my regular wheelhouse, the album’s raw blend of folky and medieval melodic black metal struck a chord that left me gobsmacked, gushing over the album’s elegant melodies, accomplished song-writing and earthy tones. Perhaps most impressive of all, was Obsequiae‘s ability to transport the listener back in time, bringing full immersion into their medieval inspired world, replete with ancient harp melodies and some truly epic guitar work. Well finally the band have awoken from their slumber, returning to the ye olden days with another taut yet epic collection of melodic black metal tunes on their long awaited third album, The Palms of Sorrowed Kings.

Masterminded by Tanner Anderson (vocals, guitars, bass), the trio deliver another enthralling collection of epic, guitar-driven metal songs. Stylistically not deviating far from its predecessor, The Palms of Sorrowed Kings hits the ground running, as Obsequiae‘s sprightly melodic black metal gallops, bounces and writhes with wonderful energy, infectiousness and intricacy, riddled with folky and progressive elements revealing further layers of depth. Like Aria of Vernal Tombs, the album is interspersed with beautifully rendered, medieval harp-led interludes, courtesy of Vicente La Camera Mariño, that chain the album’s sleek and classy metal songs together, lending weight to the captivating and authentically-aged sounding atmosphere. The main guts of the album however feature full-fledged melodic black gems, imbued with the band’s spellbinding  melodic flair and medieval charm. What they lack in the frosty bleakness and rage of traditional Scandinavian black metal, Obsequiae make up for in their uniquely human and thought-provoking exploration of the blackened arts, akin to the vibes of Nechochwen or Saor, while comfortably maintaining their own identity.

Hopefully more posters will be around to chat! Lurkers who aren't regular metal heads or even voters are most welcome to join in!

folk-metal?

I'm a sucker for medieval BM and this was last year's cream of the crop.

This felt like a step back but I ought to revisit

I haven't heard their previous albums, so I hope you're right!

AOVT was some weird and lovely fare

I don't think this Obsequiae was as good as the last one.

only two things left on my list to place, and one of them is probably no. 1

Loved this and voted for it but it was also the first thing I've heard from em. Will have to dig into their back catalog then.

Up next: expect the unexpected. Any guesses?

Maybe everyone heard 2 Akasha songs and threw them into their top 10 immediately like I did

Attila - Villain

Oh boy, it's Devourment's time to shine!

Gutalax

9
Chelsea Wolfe - Birth of Violence
383 points, 10 votes, 1 #1 vote

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4199714720_16.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/6bpgmfwTWBLxT7VuS1phjL
https://chelseawolfe.bandcamp.com/album/birth-of-violence

https://music.avclub.com/chelsea-wolfe-goes-back-to-the-land-on-the-starkly-beau-1838015100

Chelsea Wolfe took to the woods years ago. Wolfe moved back to Northern California, where she was raised, in 2015, settling into an isolated house in the mountains surrounded by hushed, misty redwood groves (and a local biker bar). But, she says, she didn’t spend much time there until this past year, when she wrote Birth Of Violence at home as “a way to settle in and really get to know the house and get to know this area.” This arc is reflected in Wolfe’s music: Her last two albums, 2015’s Abyss and 2017’s Hiss Spun, were written during periods of intense touring, and both express an experimental restlessness that saw Wolfe toying with—and, on the latter album, fully embracing—sludgy doom metal. But with her return to the land comes a return to Wolfe’s folkier side on Birth Of Violence, an album that rides in on a thunderous cloud of pagan bombast and departs with the soothing natural sound of a rainstorm.

Opening track “The Mother Road” conjures up ecstatic images of worshippers in heavy wool cloaks, torches in hand as they solemnly proceed up a sacred mountain to worship ancient gods. But Wolfe has also said that the song was inspired by Route 66, the blacktop artery that has given lifeblood to all-American rebels and dreamers since Jack Kerouac and friends went On The Road. That dichotomy speaks both to the album’s lyrics—which reference the divine feminine and Led Zeppelin alike—and its blend of atmospheric folk and engine-revving hard rock. Wolfe’s mother goddess wears black leather and chunky silver rings, riding her motorcycle down the winding highways of the American imagination.

Unexpected because I kept trying to talk about in the Chelsea Wolfe thread and no one seemed to care the least bit. Nor was it as well received as her previous albums.

I didn't vote for it in this poll but am a 100% Chelsea Wolfe stan 4 lyfe.

My friend who worshipped her really didn't like this one

Yay Botanist! Ecosystem is a stunning album and was my #7. The male and female vocal harmonies really work.

I adored the Obsequiae debut but this one sounded too new and polished and lost the raw medieval heart for me.

my #9

Always found it weird that Chelsea Wolfe never crossed over to ilm in general.

Maybe she needs to make an 80s synth pop album?

Wasn't it the second Obsequiae you loved? This was their 3rd

It's not as good as Hiss Spun (her best album imo) but I still think it rules.

Oh was it? Then yes

Aside from Neech, who voted for this? Talk about a silent majority.

Moving on…

8
Baroness - Gold & Grey
401 points, 11 votes

https://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2019/06/Baroness-Gold-And-Grey-1560171366-640x640.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/6BK62pLb3I24L5zr2zaYoI

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/baroness-gold-and-grey/

It is intimidating thing to sit down with a new Baroness record and try to understand its contours. There’s just so much to take into account. This Savannah DIY metal band turned scattered progressive rock collective are an entirely different beast than they were back when Red came out in 2007 and every bike messenger in West Philly was rocking their shirts; or when Blue dropped in 2009 and hipsters caught wind of their promise; or when 2012’s Yellow & Green elevated them to a new tier of progressive acclaim; or when 2015’s Grammy-nominated Purple presented a band who had quite literally been through hell, and returned bearing iridescent riffs. With their fifth album, Gold & Grey, the shape-shifting outfit hands us the latest frayed chapter in their evolution, its words and notes illuminated like a medieval manuscript. Demons still hide in the margins, but divinity radiates.

Baroness have lived many musical lives since the band first formed in 2003, and cheated death in 2012, when a terrible bus crash derailed their ascent and led to the departure of two members, drummer Allen Blickle and bassist Matt Maggioni. Seven years on from that traumatic accident, they’ve experienced a great deal of healing and growth—both planned and unexpected. This process was first explored on Purple, a barely-closed wound of an album that concealed a certain rawness of spirit, and now, on Gold & Grey, it’s mellowed into acceptance, the scars still prominent, but smoothed with time.

The addition of new guitarist and backing vocalist Gina Gleason completes a lineup that includes bassist Nick Jost, drummer Sebastian Thomson, and vocalist and guitarist John Baizley (an accomplished artist who’s equally deft with a paintbrush as a sheet of composition paper). It can’t be easy to be the new kid in a band with so much history behind it, but Gleason is a natural fit. She makes her presence felt from the onset in the album’s ambitious guitar work; her vocals on tracks like the strange, dreamy album closer “Pale Sun” add both lightness and depth, and harmonize beautifully with Baizley's earnest croon.

I thought their first couple of albums were pretty good but this was an absolute stinker. Horrible production, to boot.

I'm so behind on following this. Too busy with real life. I've been keeping up and listening to as much as I can stand. Cult of Luna was my #1 and Wilderun my #2.

That AMG reviewer otm about Wilderun, though. Every time I listen to it, I appreciate it more. The way they build songs up to epic crescendos and the techniques they use to get there are endlessly entertaining to me. I was never into Opeth and haven't heard very much of their music, but the point of comparison for me is actually Moonsorrow and maybe, like, Styx or something? Anyway, I love this, and am listening to it at least once a week right now. I may go back and explore some of the bands they are compared to after this poll is finished rolling out and I've tried everything that placed.

Cult of Luna was one of the only bands that came out of the whole "NeuroIsis" strain of metal that really grabbed me. "Somewhere Along the Highway" was high on my list of favorite albums of that decade (I listened to it recently for the first time in forever and it holds up well), but I lost track of them as I was seeking newer sounds. Until I listened to "Mariner" last year and probably listened to it a hundred times. If I hadn't discovered it a year after it came out, I would have voted it high on that year's poll. So, I wasn't expecting much when I heard Cult of Luna was releasing an album this year without Christmas, but I ended up loving this, and I think I may have listened to this more than any other heavy album this year. "The Fall" might be the standout track for me. What a great album closer: It makes me want to start the whole thing over again. All of that said; I hope they collaborate with Julie Christmas again. The constant scream vocals are a weak point for me.

purple is amazing, a perfect record. gold and grey is... messier. looking forward to where they land on the next one

I couldn't vote for the Chelsea Wolfe just based on past albums that definitely qualified here. The album is heavy in tone, but not heavy rock or metal. Anyway, I'm glad it did well here, though it should have placed high in the main poll. I'm so glad I dragged myself out to see her live this year. Her performance stood out in a year where I went to a lot more shows than I normally do.

Baroness didn't grab me. I was two years late to the "Purple" party, too, so maybe it'll grab me next year or something.

Yeah, she's wonderful live. I'm glad I hauled my antisocial ass over to her show during the Hiss Spun tour.

I liked blue but never connected with anything else of theirs and I hate baizley's art style.

7
Inter Arma - Sulphur English
457 points, 13 votes, 1 #1 vote

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1396132576_16.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/2aa2K1vqMD0vqpvPl5idlv
https://interarma.bandcamp.com/album/sulphur-english

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/inter-arma-sulphur-english/

Sulphur English is a tempest. The unrelenting intensity of Inter Arma’s fourth album is common in metal, but its monolithic power is striking for a band long defined by its dynamics. On its previous three full-lengths, the Richmond quintet has tested a theory that the apocalypse would sound more real if it invoked the totality of the landscape: lush gardens of British folk in one corner, the winding roads of Southern rock stretching out in the distance, the wide open skies of prog above. This ability to shapeshift has yielded a catalog that feels vast but interconnected: different topographies along the same map.

On Sulphur English, with little territory left to cover, Inter Arma set fire to it all. The riffs are pummeling and dissonant, as if melting and losing shape in real time. The songwriting operates on a principle of tension and repetition. Less melodic and more aggressive than anything they’ve recorded, it’s a test of endurance through which the band seems to grow more focused with each passing minute. Yet these songs do not simply suggest Inter Arma’s dark unburdening, their primal howl after a series of masterfully composed opuses. Instead, they spiral with the patience and precision of some dismal symphony. With Sulphur English, Inter Arma expose the nightmare world that’s lingered below the surface of all their previous work.

Vocalist Mike Paparo has discussed using these songs to address his struggles with depression, and the record itself is dedicated to two of the band’s colleagues who died in recent years: Bill Bumgardner of Lord Mantis and Indian, for whom the ominous opening track is named, and Adrian Guerra of Bell Witch, whose mournful doom metal echoes through the album’s quieter moments. Its darkness feels personal, lived-in. The bluesy and exquisite “Stillness” and the funeral march of “Blood on the Lupines” touch on the classic-rock-influenced ballads from 2016’s Paradise Gallows; but where those songs were defined by their sweeping momentum, these seem to burrow deeper into themselves, unwilling to transcend.

Am more than prepared for this to be confirmation bias, but has the metal poll always been this US-centric in the past?

This one is fuckin' awesome, although I'm with beard papa re: Cult of Luna (they do it even better).

massive record like being crushed beneath a boulder for an hour