Rolling 2020 Metal Thread

my only thought worth sharing is that i strongly disagree with: It was the most fun you could have with a metal album this year

definitely no Iron Maiden or King Diamond. definitely no Teutonic thrash.

it's pretty decent though

though looks like we're wrong

Flammenkanonier
1 month ago
Best Record of 2020.

actually I kinda like this! just doesn't sound like who they claim it does

just doesn't sound like who they claim it does

Indeed. Betcha they pronounce 'Hexecutor' as 'Executor' because they're French.

this year's Katalepsy sounds pretty good! got it earlier today.

full of hooks. I guess I like my DM hooky.

Norway's TV Haugaland has put together a 12-part documentary on Enslaved, in Norsk but with full English subtitles, which they're putting on YouTube one episode a week. The first five are out now. Here's the first:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIGlN57sXqI

12 parts? Impressive.

Btw you should definitely vote in this year's edition of our metal poll, unperson.

In the meantime, The Quietus put up a sub-list:

https://thequietus.com/articles/29321-the-best-heavy-metal-2020

The Pallbearer is the only one I actively disliked out of the lot – and I very much enjoyed their first couple of albums – so that's a pretty decent ratio, all things considered. The Black Curse is merely ok – I have no idea why nearly everyone holds it in such high regard. For my money, those guys are much better at DM than they are at BM.

As usual, No Clean Singing has a list devoted to the 'good' (i.e. not quite 'great'):

https://www.nocleansinging.com/2020/12/08/2020-a-year-in-reviews-the-good/

And now the 'great':

https://www.nocleansinging.com/2020/12/09/2020-a-year-in-reviews-the-great/

Really nice and concise writing style and link-embedding format on those N.C.S. best-of writeups IMO--thanks for the link.

Am esp glad to be reminded of that newest Serpent Column! Had it in my wishlist and forgot about it.

Maybe it's just b/c I was paying more att'n this year via snooping on, I mean following, some deep metalheads' fan accounts on my Bandcamp feed, but there seemed like an endless am't to check out this year.

My personal EOY genre list was at 30 releases, and after tabulating realized I could've easily stretched it to 40, which is wild since overall I'm a bit more of an experimental/electronic/jazz fan if I had to pigeonhole my listening tendencies.

RIP Sean Malone, Cynic bassist.

Aw fuck :(

Wow, and Sean Reinert died in January.

Venom Prison signed with Century Media which is probably good for both parties.

awesome. love them.

New Deeds of Flesh starts off likeva post apocalyptic video game.

Also melodic af. I think Portals to Canaan one as well.

I like the guest vocal approach they used to replace Lindmark

The Pop Matters list reminds me that I should read it now and then.

https://www.popmatters.com/best-metal-albums-2020-2649097728.html

That Expander album cover is sick.

yeah I need to check that out immediately

my beloved Caligula's Horse made the prog list, some other metal and metal-adjacent stuff on there as well:

https://www.popmatters.com/best-progressive-rock-2020-2649063513.html

Cool list, for sure – reminds me I need to check out the Ulthar. I have no idea what people hear in Old Man Gloom, though.

3xp

Oh wait, I did sample the Ulthar and came to the conclusion that it's Not For Me because I can't stand the contrasting vocal styles (my blindspot tbh).

Old Man Gloom could be great if they hired an editor.

I could never get into Old Man Gloom either. I was looking out for the PM prog list. I was really into Gazpacho's Demon and Molok, but kind of lost enthusiasm.

My metal lists:
https://fastnbulbous.com/lucky-20/#metal
https://fastnbulbous.com/lucky-20/#heavy-metal
https://fastnbulbous.com/lucky-20/#doom

oh wow this REZN album absolutely delivers thank you

It's a good 'un.

even just besides being a really good doom album there's a bunch of other things going on, delightful

listening to Megaton Sword.

vocalist sounds like Ian Astbury mixed with Serj Tankyan's clean vocals

he sometimes has a casual relationship with pitch

but this is fun good ole heavy metal

someone made a Running Wild comparison, I can see it

vocalist is the weak link for sure tho

ok that got boring.

checking out the Faceless Burial now

OK, HELLO

I like that one a lot. It's technical without being overbearing and Pete deBoer's production job is typically excellent.

the drums sound great, guitars don't have the same bland tone that drives me nuts about 21st century DM, raw but with perfect clarity.

nice use of groove too, which death metal used to do a lot more in the 90s.

Yeah, Faceless Burial really clicked for me - I need to go back to it.

I hate myself for being curious enough to still check it out after everything but the new Inquisition album is fucking amazing :-(

Ugh

On the stoner end of things, Green Druid's At the Maw of Ruin is really solid and it closes with a cover of Portishead's 'Threads':

https://greendruid.bandcamp.com

Thanks for the heads up pom, I loved Ashen Blood but had no idea there was a new one!

really dug that faceless burial, and yeah, i think 90s groove was a big part why. a little of that goes a long way. i need to spend more time with it tho.

haven’t mustered up the courage to listen to that inquisition record but i’ll admit a morbid curiosity. but pedo guy + no more frog vox, that's a solid two strikes off the bat right there!

the inq. vox aren't even that froggy anymore but anyway

i can't bring myself to listen to it. and I was a major Inquisition fanboy for 2 or 3 years :(

yeah, i was too. saw em live and everything.

to be clear, the lack of frog vox is another negative! i love the frog vox!

i grabbed a drum stick from their drummer after I saw them in Miami

the thing was basically shredded to a toothpick after the set

Yeah I have no interest in hearing that one either. I see it has three 100% reviews over at the Metal Archives and I'm not sure if that says more about the album or about the reviews that get posted there.

lol I'm sure the reviewers had nicknames like "Beruthiel666", "DyingLightofChrist", and "BobCornbread"