Rolling Metal 2019

I liked that Ignivomous record.

There's a new Kvelertak song w/ their new vocalist. It's mysteriously overlong but it's nice to have the Ballou production back.

So apparently the drummer from Phish is a huge Cattle Decapitation fan and delivers a spoken monologue on their new album. I never liked them anyway, but a Phish affiliation is just a bridge too far, sorry.

I thought they were strict vegans

Damn, I feel for them:

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/full-of-hells-gear-whole-van-stolen-on-cattle-decapitation-tour/

Btw unperson that Catatonic Effigy album is very good indeed, although I'm generally less enthused by instrumental metal for reasons that I've yet to fathom.

I have to say I'm intrigued by a band named Une Misère.

― Siegbran

I've now listened to this record a few times, it turned out to be metalcore (so much for the intrigueing band name!), but it's...really good! From Iceland of all places.

Old news (but new to me) but consider me off the Absu train:

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/absu-member-says-i-lost-my-band-when-i-came-out-to-them/

god bless melissa <3

That ones new to me too, such a shame.

I love the thought of Jon Fishman on a Cattle Decapitation record, my copy doesn't get here until Wednesday to hear for myself. It's hilarious to see that a member of Phish now has his own page on Metal Archives.

I thought they were strict vegans

I lolled.

Anyone doing a 2019 metal poll?

I hope so.

As advertised, there's some good stuff on this list:

https://www.nocleansinging.com/2019/12/03/2019-a-year-in-reviews-the-good/

Its poorer cousin:

https://www.nocleansinging.com/2019/12/02/2019-a-year-in-reviews-the-disappointing/

(The 'great' is yet to come.)

Found this utterly delightful

http://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/album/witchbones-the-seas-of-draugen

Angry Metal Guy gave it a 2/5 so I'll be sure to check it out.

"minus 1 point for sound quality, minus 2 points for releasing too many things this year"

Onwards to 'the great':

https://www.nocleansinging.com/2019/12/04/2019-a-year-in-reviews-the-great/

I'm on board with most of these picks.

You know most of them? Kudos. Thanks for linking to it (and the 'good' list seemed to have some fine stuff, too), my xmas will be black metal again!

idg finding the Townsend album a disappointment if you already like his stuff

i do, this was sold as his best and most original yet and it was a fitfully-good mess

without much in the way of memorable songwriting

Yeah, I think that's more the issue, this was billed as some tentpole in his catalog and I found it to be patchy and messy.

deconstruction did crazy maximalist devin way better, although i guess this was his attempt to fuse that side of him with boring new-agey devin

Anyone doing a 2019 metal poll?

― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Wednesday, 4 December 2019 05:59 (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I dont know.

I guess it depends on the success of this Lifetime of ILM 2000-19 Heavy Rock,Noise, Heavy Psych, punk, emo, nu-metal & Metal (or related) Poll VOTING & CAMPAIGNING thread(All welcome to participate) Voting close 23:59 December 13th

to see how much interest there is. Its harder each year to get voters as some ilxors aren't as interested in current music as they were.

I'm afraid the tracks poll would just destroy me but I would most definitely be interested in a 2019 metal poll.

It seems like a lot of work for whoever would do it. We could just represent the genre in the main site year end poll.

I wish.

And finally, No Clean Singing's top 10:

https://www.nocleansinging.com/2019/12/05/2019-a-year-in-reviews-the-critical-top-ten/

lots of Angry Metal Guy overlap in that list

Of those I've heard, Misþyrming and Tomb Mold are the only two I'd put in a top 10.

I like that Car Bomb record a lot.

I haven't heard it yet, mostly because mathcore bores me for the most part, but I'll check it out nonetheless.

I liked the White Ward, and the Disentomb was OK but not even the best thing Unique Leader put out this year (Organectomy, Distant and Omophagia were all better).

White Ward is vaguely enjoyable while it's on – top 100 EOY material, maybe. Can't say I got much out of the Disentomb either, and I'm not familiar with Organectomy, Distant and Omophagia.

wait there was a new disentomb this year? that band rocks

I'm listening to it again and it's sounding much better than I initially gave it credit for.

very cool & good undertaking by NCS but weird of them to leave the aoty off every single list

I always feel like such a lump in that I buy hundreds of metal albums a year and then I look at the top ten list and have only heard two of them. and it's not like I have big subgenre blind spots!

more to listen to, I guess. I legit love the Tomb Mold and it's a top tenner for me, though I think Blood Incantation beat it slightly. IMO a great year for death metal in that a lot of the bands found progressiveness through economy rather than technicality. the Teitanblood is also great, need to spin that again.

I saw Venom Prison got an honorable mention - that would also make my list. surprised not to see the Crypt Sermon place.

crypt sermon was on the disappointments list iirc (where it belongs!)

nahhh

@imago the NCS person stated upfront that they hadn't heard the Wilderun lol

Actually, my initial assessment of the Disentomb was a wee bit too harsh but the album is kind of frontloaded and its chugging same-iness wears you down by the time you hit the second half, although 'The Great Abandonment' features a mercifully memorable riff.

I always feel like such a lump in that I buy hundreds of metal albums a year and then I look at the top ten list and have only heard two of them. and it's not like I have big subgenre blind spots!

I hear you on this, this year particularly feels like there are SO MANY things I'm missing out on or slide right by me. In part I think it's down to the continued expansion of tiny, more niche labels. It seems like more and more bands, particularly in metal, are moving away from even the more well-known labels to set up their own or work with European outlets. Which I'm sure is great for them in terms of controlling things, but it makes it a more difficult task to try and keep up with everything!

I've never listened to as much new music as I have this year, with metal as the backbone of my pathological diet, and I still feel a slight bit of awe (and a pinch of disgust) when I come across EOY lists that remind me of how utterly unending and overwhelming it all is.

An embarrassment of riches, yes, but it also makes it more difficult, if not impossible, to separate the chaff from wheat or to have so much as a common ground for cultural discourse. It also emphasizes how disposable and isolated most of this music is, even the better stuff: you listen to it a couple of times and discard it by necessity, as there is always so much more to discover.

for me I think it's cos I spent most of my earliest metal leaning years (late 90s) playing decades of catch-up, then took several years in the early 2000s barely listening to it at all, so had to play catchup again for several years around 2010 when I started aggressively listening again. so only the last few have I been in a place where I'm acquiring more new music than pre-existing.

lol yeah I'm def catch and release with the majority of it

it also makes it more difficult, if not impossible, to separate the chaff from wheat or to have so much as a common ground for cultural discourse. It also emphasizes how disposable and isolated most of this music is, even the better stuff: you listen to it a couple of times and discard it by necessity, as there is always so much more to discover.

― pomenitul, Thursday, December 5, 2019 11:26 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is as true as it is depressing

my lone contribution to the EOY talk: the White Ward album has really grown on me. I enjoyed it right off (certainly more than Futility Report), but it didn't totally click until I listened three or four more times. Really into it atm

Really feeling the last string of posts... :-/

I'm w/ Paul Ponzi, White Ward has grown on me. I got my black metal fix this year mostly from Örmagna, Mgła's 'Age of Excuse' and 'Serpent Column's 'Mirror in Darkness'. But I dread all those classic albums I must have missed.

it helps to only really bother with about ten metal albums a year ;)