Fuck Brumpxit its the 2016 Metal and Hard N' Heavy Rock Poll Results Thread (With spotify and bandcamp links)

Welcome Home (Sanitarium) is one of the greatest songs ever as is rather a lot of 80s Metallica. the black album and Load has loads of good songs too.

New album is streets ahead of st anger, the last supposed return to form album which was actually shit (death magnetic), lulu, reload.

At least they didn't embarrass themselves this time. I wonder if they will still stick to a few new songs + the classics in future tours like theyve been doing for years or actually play most of the new songs

28 40 Watt Sun - Wider Than The Sky 284 Points, 7 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/D1NUbr3.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/7ejPvGjIXZvNROVwsyNRqa
spotify:album:7ejPvGjIXZvNROVwsyNRqa

https://40wattsun.bandcamp.com/releases

ALBUM REVIEW: 40 Watt Sun - “Wider than the Sky”
By: TJ Kliebhan

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 14/10/2016
Label: Providence Records |
Svart Records

Although the record may find itself on the fringes of metal, the empathetic feelings Walker shares over soaring ten minute tracks should cause anyone who has felt anything before to reflect in some meaningful way. “Wider than the Sky” challenges its listeners to reflect for themselves, because after all it’s important to remember where one stands. 40 Watt Sun’s latest record is likely to find itself among the best records released this year.

“Wider than the Sky” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Stages
2). Beyond You
3). Another Room
4). Pictures
5). Craven Road
6). Marazion

The Review:
Patrick Walker enjoys his privacy. It’s no secret that the English musician tends to keep a low profile, which makes any news coming from him significant to his fans. In 2016, Walker has announced a one day performance at Roadburn festival where he will be reuniting Warning to play the “Watching from a Distance” in its entirety. Warning has been considered seminal in the revival of traditional doom metal, but do not put that genre label on what Walker does now as 40 Watt Sun.
Walker began 40 Watt Sun to address his growth as a musician and songwriter while moving on from the music he created as a young man. This year Walker finally announced a follow-up record for 40 Watt Sun marking 2016 as an exciting year for fans who have endured long periods of silence over the past three years. Label issues delayed the release of “Wider than the Sky” until now, marking the group’s first record in five years coming by way of their own Providence Records label. A Patrick Walker release has never sounded more polished or emotionally devastating than on “Wider than the Sky”.
On 40 Watt Sun’s sophomore effort, the band creates an air of maturity while Walker’s baritone pleading vocal wrestles with past relationships, meaningful physical places in his life, and the passing of time. The album is lyrically crushing, and finds Walker taking the least abstract approach to songwriting in his career.
The massive opening track “Stages” clocks in at over sixteen minutes and features chilling lines such as, “the heart of the matter that both of us can’t hide…I’m feeling everything like nothing in my life.” Walker has always touted that his lyrics are simply what he experiences. The drama that his voice as well as the slow, rhythmic delivery are fitting for this incredibly genuine collection of words. Walker’s chosen canvas for these ubiquitous tales is around ten minutes, but he proves he is able to deliver equally traumatic words on the short final track “Marazion”. The track finds Walker longing for the coastal town while aching, “if I could just be strong enough, but I don’t want to face it.”
While Walker can come off as a dreary character, these six tracks offer a diverse array of subjects that come with his unique perspective on, with the only constant from track to track being the level of personal intimacy that Walker brings to each song.
Musically, this is 40 Watt Sun’s cleanest record. The crushing atmosphere and distortion that Warning created was severely scaled back on 40 Watt Sun’s first record “The Inside Room.” Indeed “Wider than the Sky” takes the cleaner tones even further. This is still very much a guitar driven record and the pacing is similar to past releases in the Walker canon, but everything sounds more refined. This new record sounds as if it will seamlessly transition to the solo acoustic shows that Patrick Walker frequently performs. Many of the these tracks feature a sound for the opening couple minutes that slowly gets expanded upon by incorporating more instruments or feature a slight change in pace with a new riff. The tracks unfold in subtle ways and brilliantly derive significance out of minimalism. “Another Room” and “Craven Road” are perfect examples of how Walker is a master of maximizing the power of a shift in pace using a similar melody and tone without introducing numerous new instruments to the fold.
“Wider than the Sky” demonstrates that 40 Watt Sun is not dedicated to any sound or existing to satisfy the clamors of Doom metal fans. The band has aged and refused to compromise their vision, and in the process has created a release which could be considered as one Patrick Walker’s best. Although the record may find itself on the fringes of metal, the empathetic feelings Walker shares over soaring ten minute tracks should cause anyone who has felt anything before to reflect in some meaningful way. “Wider than the Sky” challenges its listeners to reflect for themselves, because after all it’s important to remember where one stands. 40 Watt Sun’s latest record is likely to find itself among the best records released this year.
http://thesludgelord.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/album-review-40-watt-sun-wider-than-sky.html

amazing album that I voted for that is absolutely not metal

^ Metal police

RIYL early Low, Madrugada trapped in molasses

Not complaining, just noting!

Ya, it's not even rock. I said it has more in common with sadcore indie bands like Frightened Rabbit, and the stark, unadorned avant folk of Richard Youngs. But in a good way, I think it was on my ballot!

27 Entropia - Ufonaut 298 Points, 9 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/vx64N6W.jpg
https://entropia.bandcamp.com/album/ufonaut

http://www.nocleansinging.com/2016/02/01/an-ncs-album-premiere-and-a-review-entropia-ufonaut/

In the last days of the last year I came across a new song named “Mandala” from a new album by Poland’s Entropia. As I wrote at the time, it’s heavy, high-energy music that defies easy genre classification, with pneumatic grooves, twisted riffs, otherworldly guitar arpeggios, and quirky electronica capable of pushing you past your comparatively drab surroundings and into this band’s inventive vision. And as you’re about to find out, the same could be said of the entire mind-bending album.

The name of the record is Ufonaut. It follows the band’s 2013 debut album Vesper, and it will be released by Arachnophobia Records on February 15. It’s a cocktail of adrenaline, paving tar, and mescaline, consumed in an asylum — and it’s a completely electrifying concoction from the first gulp to the last.

Wearing the trappings of black metal, progressive metal, and post-rock, Entropia deliver one high-intensity thrill ride after another. Frenzied, often dissonant guitar duels and waves of near-cacophonous tremolo riffing whirl around huge, gravel-throated bass notes and spine-shaking percussion — spawning images of swarming, dog-sized hornets soaring, diving, and colliding in a whir of mad violence while urban streets explode from below in upheavals of concrete and ruptured water mains.

The guitarists execute blazing arpeggios, seeming to pursue their own twisted paths and constantly ratcheting the tension until the band break the tension with sledgehammers, snaring all the explosive exuberance (if only briefly) and yanking it back into place with anchoring grooves, only to unleash it again in the next moment.

While the music is an exhilarating roller-coaster ride, there is method to the madness. The songs contain unifying melodic themes and compelling, convulsive rhythms that persist through all the instrumental craziness and frequent bouts of dissonance. The tracks really do get you in their grips — the music is heavy and bone-rattling just as much as it is mind-bending. While the songs are mostly instrumental — and the instrumental performances are genuinely impressive — the vocals (when they appear) are just as crazed and superheated.

There’s also another aspect to the music, one that provides a striking contrast to the band’s high-voltage intensity. Picking their moments carefully, within songs such as “Samsara”, “Paradox”, and especially the mystical closing track “Veritas”, the band slow the pace, making way for the unfolding of shimmering keyboard melodies above huge, groaning bass notes. Those moments are beautiful, in a way that brings vistas of the cosmos to mind — almost enough to induce a brief trance state before the next supernova explodes.

There are no weak spots in Ufonaut, no fat, no filler. Pick any song at random, and I think you’ll be ensnared. It’s an early-year highlight, and one people should still be talking about this time next year.

Lurker enjoying the rollout says favourite find so far is Astronoid. That set of 40 Watt Sun references makes it sound right up my street, too.

Oh wow didn't think this would place, thanks for boosting it BlackIronPrison I totally overlooked it earlier in the year

It's brilliant and was in my top 10

I'm liking this so far. Very cool.

This was somewhere in my ballot too, meaning I rather enjoyed it

26 Völur - Disir 302 Points, 8 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/otM4jDo.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/5PzIEsmiwpwwxu8A8CW9Ns
spotify:album:5PzIEsmiwpwwxu8A8CW9Ns

https://volur.bandcamp.com/album/disir

The Disir sit and look out upon the world, both forward and back in time. They fill the well of life with luck and hinder the enemies of their ancestors. The Disir are women, powerful spirits. Some wicked, some good, some benign. Mothers, daughters, lovers, murderers, widows and explorers.

These pieces seek to present four different aspects of femininity as seen through myth, folklore and folk songs. Heiemo sits on the rock and sings to a sailor, seducing him. Aud sits in her knorr and stalwartly moves through unknown sea. The white phantom appears as a vision through the forest and stills the hearts of men.

Available in a cassette with an extra bonus live track, limited to 100.

Buy in our shop here:

en.prophecy.de/artists/voelur
credits
released June 24, 2016

Lucas Gadke - Electric bass, double bass & vocals
Laura C. Bates - Violin & vocals
James Payment - Drums

Recorded and mixed on April 23rd by Ian Blurton at Progold Studios in Toronto
Layout and design by Bryan W Bray
Völur logo and cover art by Tina Faucher

Idisemorgen [Excerpt] - Tape only
Recorded by Bryan W Bray on March 20th at The Common in Toronto
tags
tags: ambient folk metal doom metal folk Toronto

turns out last-minute hyping really really works!

this is great. first two tracks are on some fiery post-doom violin madness trip and although I'm not entirely sold on the gybe-tastic postrock crescendo of the closer it's really all worth hearing

Dís Generation

In a post-Phife world, at least we have Völur

25 Khemmis - Hunted 307 Points, 8 One #1 #1 in Decibel Albums of the Year.

http://i.imgur.com/veYZXa7.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/4y7VrJEX7lLOHOfEx6dOxE
spotify:album:4y7VrJEX7lLOHOfEx6dOxE

http://listen.20buckspin.com/album/hunted-2

NAMED THE #1 ALBUM OF THE YEAR FOR 2016 BY DECIBEL MAGAZINE.

Appearing live:

January 13th - Reggies Chicago IL
January 14th - St. Vitus, Brooklyn NY
Apr 22-23 - Fillmore, Philadelphia PA (Decibel Metal & Beer Fest)

The first album from Denver’s Khemmis, ‘Absolution’, was released by 20 Buck Spin in July 2015 and slowly but surely steamrolled all that came in contact with its unforgettable heaviness and classic melodicism. Virtually unknown outside Denver upon release, the band gathered acclaim over the ensuing months and by year end had landed in the #9 spot on Decibel Magazine’s annual top 40 albums of the year, not a small accomplishment for a band on its debut album.

The new album ‘Hunted’ reveals a Khemmis fortified in its purpose and vision, forging an unrivaled synthesis between immense Doom riffs and Maiden-esque harmony. Overall song length has increased yielding more expansively arranged and dramatic storms of elegance and melancholy.

And yet Khemmis are not content to plod through a sea of tears, they are always a rock band first, in service to the movement of the song, even approaching a High On Fire like pace to open the pummeling ’Three Gates'. The lauded singing of vocalist Phil Pendergast reaches ascendent new heights on tracks like ‘Candlelight’ and ‘Beyond The Door’, while the tasteful use of harsh vocals remains, providing a dark foreboding contrast. The 13-minute title track once again closes the album with an epic stunner.

Undoubtedly ‘Hunted’ is an album that will solidify Khemmis’s place at the vanguard of Doom’s most notable modern manifestations, in large part because they transcend the label itself. They’ve seamlessly blended their influences into an extraordinarily listenable album worthy of countless spins. With such a glut of music released nowadays, ‘Hunted’ stands apart, rewarding repeat listens with songs seared straight into the heart.
credits
released October 21, 2016

Produced, Mixed & Mastered by Dave Otero at Flatline Audio. Cover art by Sam Turner.

I love how thick the bass is on this Entropia record. The mix is perfect.

Can't say I can find much point in the Metallica record or that I'll return to it, but three, nearly four tracks in and I haven't turned it off in disgust yet

24 Kvelertak - Nattesferd 316 Points, 8 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/L3MI1Vb.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/5EAGz1IagdeJoJ2Cgb4DES
spotify:album:5EAGz1IagdeJoJ2Cgb4DES

Dammit. Khemmis was my #1.

“It sates itself on the life-blood
of fated men,
paints red the powers’ homes
with crimson gore.
Black become the sun’s beams
in the summers that follow…”
— Snorri Sturluson, Völuspá, The Poetic Edda, ca. 1220

If someone were to give the Norse Ragnarök saga a Ralph Bakshi (Wizards, Fire And Ice) treatment, Khemmis would definitely need to be on the soundtrack... http://fastnbulbous.com/khemmis-hunted/

The Metallica album is five years long and nothing has happened yet

MAYBE there's something to be said for Halo On Fire

23 Inter Arma - Paradise Gallows 319 Points, 10 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/y8yN1DZ.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/5AE8f7HUdUogfL7ybRlwDu
spotify:album:5AE8f7HUdUogfL7ybRlwDu

https://interarma.bandcamp.com/album/paradise-gallows-2

After already having taken forward-thinking extreme music to unprecedented heights over the course of their short but propulsive career, Richmond's INTER ARMA are back with another opus of epic proportions. Like the band's previous works, the new album 'Paradise Gallows' is direct and foreboding while maintaining a nuanced, artful perspective. INTER ARMA's signature palette of dissonant high-end and abyssal low-end has been augmented with swathes of thick, impressionistic melody that lend 'Paradise Gallows 'a truly biblical sense of scale, both lyrically and in terms of the album's sonic content. Harsh and acoustic passages (including the band's first-ever foray into clean vocals) spar with complex rhythmic structures across nine sweeping tracks over 71 minutes of expansive, progressive heaviness. Dense, funereal, and richly evocative, 'Paradise Gallows' is a vibrant blend of doom, post-metal, sludge, avant-garde, black and death metal, and is a singular and powerful new addition to the band's already monumental discography.
credits
released July 8, 2016

2016 Relapse Records
www.relapse.com
www.relapserecords.bandcamp.com

"Spit Out the Bone" is the only song from that Metallica I've played more than once -- and I've played it a lot. The video's kinda zany. I think I like the new Megadeth more overall.

Volür sound all right, yeah.

Also, wtf, do you people not like "Atlas, Rise!"?

That was OK

It made me listen on

xpost to myself: I plan to watch the Hetfield episode of the Joe Rogan podcast today or tonight and I suspect that will be more entertaining than Hardwired. I hear there's talk of beekeeping.

I liked parts of Atlas Rise and now that I think about it I probably did play that one more than once when it was in advance track status.

Lol I had Inter Arma pegged for top 5. I have no idea whats going on with this poll

One thing that can be said for smaller ballot numbers: consensus is much more idiosyncratic

Weird results come from a small sample size. I was most surprised at Abbath's low placement. I dunno.

yah

lol my predictor ballot is in shreds

Lmao

If my #1 isnt one of the next two, then Im gonna post my ballot

Lol I think an album me, you, tt and gott punch all have in our top 3 is coming soon

Id hope so, lol; it would be wild if it made top 20

and here it is

Gorguts, Deathspell Omega, Hail Spirit Noir, and, god willing, Furia should be coming up. I liked the new Borknagar more than anything from them since Empiricism but I doubt it'll show.

Agatus really should be heard more. It's like Hellenic black traditional metal, some kind of Maiden/Rotting Christ mashup. The first track on the album, however, starts things off ploddingly.

22 Gojira - Magma 337 Points, 9 Votes, One #1
http://i.imgur.com/fQRGquN.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/7D7V6M05UIOTjLdqbwRX0w
spotify:album:7D7V6M05UIOTjLdqbwRX0w

Haha this ISN'T the one! Oh my days

I was disappointed and annoyed at first that they sound like Killing Joke now. But it grew on me.

Bodes well

Gojirs's like Melechesh -- they sound phenomenal for about two or three songs, then everything blurs together. That first track from their last album is one of my favs of all time though, "Explosia." Whew.

Gojira's* rather

are you fucking kidding me that there's another new mesarthim ep

feel like a lot of ppl's top 20 predictions are getting ruined by 30-21

21 Dysrhythmia - The Veil Of Control 341 Points, 10 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/jKeAHm6.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/1AdkyehBZjfm25SosPgGD4
spotify:album:1AdkyehBZjfm25SosPgGD4

https://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-veil-of-control

dys·rhyth·mi·a
disˈriT͟Hmēə/
noun
Medicine
noun: dysrhythmia; plural noun: dysrhythmias
1. abnormality in a physiological rhythm, especially in the activity of the brain or heart.

Having established themselves as one of the most notable progressive and unique instrumental metal bands since their inception over 15 years ago, NY-based (originally Philly-based) power-trio DYSRHYTHMIA reflect their musical expression in mirroring the definition of their moniker.

Through six full-length albums, DYSRHYTHMIA (Kevin Hufnagel/gutiars, Colin Marston/bass, and Jeff Eber/drums, Hufnagel and the ever prolific Marston also comprising one-half of GORGUTS and were specifically recruited by Gorguts mastermind Luc Lemay to join his band when he resurrected the legendary technical death metal wonder several years ago) have shown the ultimate in musical fortitude and expression through wondrous jaw-dropping musical compositions that go beyond the mere definition of jazz-infused avant-garde technical extreme metal.

With their new album “The Veil Of Control”, the band’s seventh full-length and their first since their Profound Lore Records debut in 2012 “Test Of Submission” (the band released their previous albums on Relapse Records), DYSRHYTHMIA have once again created a new expression within their jaw-dropping repertoire (Hufnagel solely using a 12-string guitar on this latest LP) that will go unparalleled within the niche genre of “instrumental progressive metal”, proving once again they are an untouchable entity within the scene.
credits
released September 23, 2016