Rolling 2020 Metal Thread

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"

There’s a new Hate Forest album on the way, too. Got the promo in my inbox today.

Out on Christmas Day lol.

I love how one of the album's descriptors on RYM is 'hateful'.

Someone should add it is also Forresty.

lol now I'm tempted. And if it gets rejected, I'll try 'sylvan' instead.

New Ruins of Beverast out in February.

O good

That's a good one to look forward to re: 2021!

Here's a foretaste:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46Kpo7-QzFo

there's that enormous noise we know and love

There's a 2CD Coffins compilation, Defilements, coming in January from the Horror Pain Gore Death label; it gathers up various EPs and splits and it totally rips. They're one of the most knuckle-walking bands I listen to, but I absolutely love their sound. Guitars as thick as tar.

aw yis, Coffins rule

The Pit claims to be a "Heavy metal news, opinions, and culture" website.
It is actually owned by Warner Music, so their top metal albums of 2020 probably takes that into account.

20. Kvelertak, Splid (Rise Records)
19. Necrot, Mortal (Tankcrimes)
18. Deftones, Ohms (Reprise Records)
17. Mr. Bungle, The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo (Ipecac)
16. Nothing, The Great Dismal (Relapse Records)
15. Carnation, Where Death Lies (Season of Mist)
14. Mrs. Piss, Self-Surgery (Sargent House)
13. Tombs, Under Sullen Skies (Season of Mist)
12. Code Orange, Underneath (Roadrunner Records)
11. Bedsore, Hypnagogic Hallucinations (20 Buck Spin)
10. Avatar, Hunter Gatherer (eOne)
9. Killer Be Killed, Reluctant Hero (Nuclear Blast)
8. Wayfarer, A Romance With Violence (Profound Lore)
7. Video Nasties, Dominion (APF Records)
6. Body Count, Carnivore (Century Media)
5. Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou, May Our Chambers Be Full (Sacred Bones)
4. Primitive Man, Immersion (Relapse Records)
3. The Black Dahlia Murder, Verminous (Metal Blade Records)
2. Spirit Adrift, Enlightened In Eternity (20 Buck Spin)
1. Ozzy Osbourne, Ordinary Man (Epic)

http://www.wearethepit.com/2020/12/the-pits-20-best-albums-of-2020/

The pit the pit the pit the pit... In. The. Pit.

I knew 20 Buck Spin were industry plants.

That Bedsore album is some unusual progressive death metal from Italy, with melodic atmospheric interludes, vintage synths, and interesting melodies and riffs. It'll be on my EOY ballot.

The last two albums on my Want List for 2020 were released today.

Children of Technology - Written Destiny (Hells Headbangers)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/8/9/6/5/896508.jpg?3637
http://children-of-technology.bandcamp.com/album/written-destiny

Old school speed metal from Italy that touches the same receptors that Destruction and early Voivod touched when I was an incorrigible young punk.

Evangelist - Ad Mortem Festinamus (Nine Records)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/9/0/0/8/900849.jpg?0537
http://ninerecords.bandcamp.com/album/ad-mortem-festinamus
http://evangelistdoom.bandcamp.com/album/ad-mortem-festinamus

This is the second 2020 album with a Manilla Road cover to make my Wish List (the other being Dream Quest Ends by Toronto's Smoulder). Both groups are tagged doom metal but they both also seem much more trad/power metal to these ears, in their case mainly because even the more doomy moments are majestic as fuck ["Anubis (On the Onyx Throne of Death)"].

i struggled to get into the last few ulcerate records so i wasn't rushing to listen to this year's and wow it's really fucking good

It’s phenomenal, top 10 EOY material, no doubt about it.

Yeah, I have it at #4 right now, though it's almost too heavy for my ears.