The 2018 ILX Metal n' Heavy Rock Poll VOTING + CAMPAIGNING thread! NEW EXTENDED DEADLINE! Ballots due by Friday, February 15th 11.59pm PST

Huh, somehow I missed that Entropia till now. Not sure I'll have enough time to let it sink in before the deadline, but it sounds promising. Lots of good stuff coming out of Poland these days. The Gorycz album is one of my top faves, a bit like the Kriegsmachine or the Furia album from a couple years ago (all from Poland, I believe).

Entropia are so good

Listening through everyone's recommendations now and have so far really enjoyed DMBQ, Mamaleek and Funeral Winds.

Fluisteraars / Turia though...this is wonderful! That first track reminds me somehow of a more fuzzed-out blackened Aereogramme, and the second track is just wild. Sounds like they're doing so much more with the familiar instumentation of atmospheric black metal. Very twisty and psychedelic. Thanks so much for this!

Glad you like it!

I assume almost everyone's heard it by this point, but I'm still very much taken with Messa's Feast for Water, which has got to be one of the most accessible albums on our list. Trad doom-psych-drone-jazz with consistently memorable songs and fantastic female vocals.

That first track reminds me somehow of a more fuzzed-out blackened Aereogramme

Probably because its climax is almost literally the chorus of Post-Tour, Pre-Judgement ;)

I thought you were going to bring up 'Where Is My Mind?'

Cosign Feast for Water! That was the first doom album that really stuck with me last year.

For urgent listening:

Urfaust - The Constellatory Practice: I remember there being some hype for this on ILX at the time, but if anyone didn't get around to it, now is very much the time. Veers wildly between scuzzy, almost brit-pop-y black metal and swelling mountains of choral doom, all saturated in occult ritual. Much more beautiful than it is gross or scary. https://urfaust.bandcamp.com/album/the-constellatory-practice-2

Protoplasma - -: Cut and paste progge of brutal syncopation and wild nonsense. https://protoplasmaprotoplasma.bandcamp.com/releases

Shylmagoghnar - Transience: Spacey blackened death with spiralling synth lines and some little techno inflections that still manages to sound quiet ancient. I'm realising that a lot of the metal I like from 2018 is from the Netherlands - I wonder why? Is that a current trend? https://shylmagoghnar.bandcamp.com/

Yhdarl - Loss: Unrelentingly heavy from the first three seconds. Furious dbm, each track splitting off in a hundred directions, with a hopeless and grief-stricken desperation that is genuinely affecting. That doesn't sound like it would be a fun listen, but somehow the frenzied layering of shouted vocals and disoriented riffs elevate it. https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/loss

Ling Tosite Sigure - #5: Going to sandwich this cute little math rock album between two of the most brutal albums so that some of their energy rub off onto it and people think it's allowed. This is seriously wonderful though, and it had no chance of being heard in the main poll! It still gets plenty noisey alongside its lush intricacies. On YouTube

Bloss - Era Noire: The loest fi, the blackest metal. Nothing can be pinned down and it's not catchy, but sometimes there are eerie strings and the whole thing is an arboreal adventure! https://blosse.bandcamp.com/album/era-noire

Oh, that YT link goes to a random part of the LTS album, not intentionally selected. (A good taster track is the third one)

Cosign on the Urfaust, Shylmagoghnar and Blosse.

guys please add all your recommendations to the spotify collaborative playlist, that's the best way to get anyone to listen

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0mWZOMQIfPnXb7wuSFQsr9

I'm one of those bastards who signed up for Apple Music instead…

Re: El Efecto - you had me at maximalist prog! This is lovely.

Also, *Blosse, ffs

Yeah, the Entropia album slates right into the Oranssi/Aluk Todolo tradition of trance BM that always does very well in this poll. I definitely like it more than Voix, though maybe not as much as Occult Rock or the OP albums that I've spent time with

I recommend for anyone who likes the dancier moments on this to give a listen to The Oscillation's Wasted Space. It's one of my albums of the year, and though it's not really the same thing--this is more just a very adventurous space rock album--there are definitely some real affinities

https://youtu.be/ctko1fzjoeY

(^title track, on some sort of wild-sounding, Chrome-meets-Liquid Liquid ish, total Drugs bait)

Almost forgot to stump for Paara, a very melodic slab of atmospheric BM with lots going on but manages to stay cohesive

https://vicisolumrecords.com/album/riitti

^^ I loved this. Bits of the last track often swimming about.

Also, WOW this Khôrada album is so amazing to my ears! I don't know Agalloch or Giant Squid at all really, but if they sound anything like this, then I should. Sounds very accessible and pretty. I think that Elder fans (i.e. everyone) would find a lot to like here!

You don't know Agalloch?????? Time to immerse yourself in their entire output!

Don Anderson ex-Agalloch now in Khôrada is an academic I think?

Fully cosign on Paara as well.

You don't know Agalloch?????? Time to immerse yourself in their entire output!

Yeah, it might be time. imago: "they've got one good track"

hes talking shite

every single agalloch album is at least good

but they play it about twenty times!!!!1

Have you listened to entropia yet?

Yes. I think imago quite liked it and compared it (favourably) to Devin Townsend, but I couldn’t get into it somehow and I’ve tried a few times. Maybe it’s yet to grow on me? I like the album art.

their last album was great too. i think it made the rollout

we have 6 ballots in so far.

Voted.

I'll be voting. Every year, I am intimidate by the sheer number of albums I missed - even by bands I try to follow - and feel obliged to cram as much of it as possible to make sure nothing awesome escaped me.

Shylmagoghnar sound absolutely tremendous tbh - we're listening again now. You know how most prog metal is kind of wanky and boring? This is PROGGE ALMIGHTY

is that what's putting you off ?

My ballot is 8 records, including the decidedly non-metal AWK album. Was 2018 terrible for metal, or was I just too busy listening to Jandek and Joni Mitchell?

not good for metal imo but am belatedly finding some things

My "ballot" currently has 4 albums, only 2 of them are really metal. I have so little time for music these days. Ugh.

I think 2018 was a bit of disappointment all round in that I didn't find much in the way of absolute favourites (but still found lots to like, too much probably). Have noted down stuff to listen to mentioned upthread and will try to get voting done next couple of days

Plus there's the yearly dilemma of liking stuff that imago's nominated but can't really vote for in good conscience because they aren't metal enough

n.b. The Armed are metal a.f.

Oh yeah I'm voting for that one easy

death metal dominated the eoy lists in 2018 i think

and deafheaven were the token band on the non metal lists though it is in fact a very good album

2018 was a good metal year. I came up with a top 20 easily.

The Armed, KEN Mode, and LLNN were big highlights.

Are write-in votes acceptable? I neglected to nominate Alice in Chains.

Well they aren't remotely metal anymore but george can decide

Not ‘anymore’ metal than they were in 1992, the new record sounds exactly like their old stuff. It’s an excellent album, not metal I’d say but that also goes for a lot of hardcore-related stuff that usually does get accepted in these polls (Converge even won it one year, right?) so who am I to complain.

Fwiw, Spotify went straight to Facelift after Rainier Fog one time and I barely noticed the difference. Not sure what it is you're hearing. xp

nah the original albums were heavy and had sludgey riffs. That's gone now.

It's certainly not less of a heavy rock album than Andrew WK or Ghost. xp

but like i said it's george's call

That’s a lot of metal! It’s going to be a wonderfully intense February. So glad it’s half term.

That is way too much - why not a cut off when the points start spreading out meaningfully? I guess it isn't my poll

ILM METAL POLL 2018 RESULTS THREAD!

That is way too much - why not a cut off when the points start spreading out meaningfully? I guess it isn't my poll