2019 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock Poll: VOTING & CAMPAIGNING thread (open until the 21st of February)

Three more suggestions:

Veiled – In Blinding Presence (pitch-black manic dissonance heightened through hypnosis)
Belenos – Argoat (Celtic BM heroism from Brittany)
Sur Austru – Meteahna timpurilor (ex-Negură Bunget, in keeping with that band's final albums)

Jesus Wayne Rogers rules so hard, check the solo @ 03:10...unreal...

https://youtu.be/1XftyHePPNQ

major stars album fucking rules

Lol, I'm kinda getting into this. I have the most fake metal taste ever, but I did hear enough good stuff that it's kinda fun to finesse it into a top 25.

good good

Would be nice to get lots of ballots from ilxors who have never voted before.

Look at the nominations list and if there are albums you like, then please vote for them. Don't worry if you think you are not metal enough. If its on the noms list its metal enough.

Exactly, I predict Weyes Blood will win this poll too. I'm holding off sending the ballot until the last day but I will vote as usual.

Agreed.

There's a staggering range of sounds on that list, so everyone (well, except for Tuomas) can find something worth voting for.

xp

There are a couple albums I like but aren't voting for, because I don't consider them metal enough, though. Fly Pan Am and Blanck Mass. I don't begrudge anyone voting for them, they are good albums, but I'm having more fun creating a list without them.

Blanck Mass might not be 'metal' as such but I have no problems classing it as 'industrial' and valid for this poll. Not sure if I actually like it enough to place it high tho.

I did hesitate when finishing my ballot, as my picks are unlikely to surprise. The hesitation didn't last long though: this poll and the nomination process made for some excellent catching-up listening during xmas and after, and I can truthfully say I like to love all 25 albums I listed. I'll send it in this week.

I have no problem thinking of them as valid. They were on my first version of the list. But half the fun for me is digging into what it is I really value in metal records, and Blanck Mass belongs to a genre I listen to for other things. Cattle Decapitation, great use of climate change monologues, trve metal.

You have a ballot of up to 50 albums and we encourage as many as possible to do so as possible so we get interesting results.

I have my initial short list of.....81 albums. Hoo boy.

That's the spirit!

I've not-so-secretly added Aara's So fallen alle Tempel to the noms list.

Mildly lo-fi atmoblack from Switzerland with a gaze-esque melodic streak, the occasional Gregorian chant and non-clean female vocals. Superb stuff – I very much look to their next album, which will be out in April.

Please don't add more good records. My shortlist is exactly 25, and I'll get confused if I have to add + remove some...

Or probably just ignore me and I'll ignore the late additions. Except Wyrmwood

*look forward to (xps)

Seriously, though, we've got 50 spots on our respective ballots unlike in the main poll, so we might as well use them all.

Yeah, but... There is only 52 weeks in a year, 25 albums for the main poll, 50 albums for the metal poll. Who has time for that?

I could of course just make a top 26, but that feels extremely wrong, somehow.

I can afford to half-listen to music while silently plying my so-called trade, so… I do, I guess.

considering your dn that's impressive!

Loooool

Tbf it's just an euphemism for trepanation.

I have my initial short list of.....81 albums. Hoo boy.
― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.)

Easy, just let your sock send in a ballot

3 socks = 3 top 25s, at the very least.

I will never sock.

Can't sock
Won't sock

I've not-so-secretly added Aara's So fallen alle Tempel to the noms list.

Mildly lo-fi atmoblack from Switzerland

Ha! I've just worked my way through twenty-odd Swiss metal albums from last year (most of them good - Cân Bardd, Rorcal, Schammasch, Bölzer, Kvelgeyst, Ateiggär) but I missed that one.

the Schammasch record is really good

There are a couple albums I like but aren't voting for, because I don't consider them metal enough, though. Fly Pan Am and Blanck Mass. I don't begrudge anyone voting for them, they are good albums, but I'm having more fun creating a list without them.

― Frederik B, Monday, 10 February 2020 12:28 (yesterday) link

Aww don't be like that, vote for Fly Pan Am

Ha! I've just worked my way through twenty-odd Swiss metal albums from last year (most of them good - Cân Bardd, Rorcal, Schammasch, Bölzer, Kvelgeyst, Ateiggär) but I missed that one.

I enjoyed Kvelgeyst the most out of those, although I've yet to hear the Rorcal.

OK why didn't anyone tell me after 15 years of silence, Wigrid came out with a new album last year? Write-in vote incoming.

No idea who that is, but I added it to the list.

It probably won't appeal to many but Wigrid sits halfway between Amesoeurs and Burzum, the old hypnotic "ten minutes, two riffs, one tempo, no frills" formula. Catnip for me.

As an aside, is it just me or is there a tacit America vs Europe taste divide on ILM? I tend to gravitate towards European acts more readily, whereas others are seemingly more intent on American ones.

Based on my provisional ballot, 15 out of 50 bands are from the US. I'm curious to see which way this skews for everyone else.

I think Americans seem to prefer death metal and Europeans prefer black metal but as always there's exceptions.

That's my impression as well. If memory serves, unperson doesn't listen to BM at all (partly because of the politics). Are there any ILM BM-heads who avoid DM altogether?

I think metal's center of gravity always has been European except for a fairly brief period in the mid/late 80s (thrash/early death)?

I wouldn't consider myself a BM-head, but I got into the genre via blackgaze, and there's never been anything similar with DM? I've liked a lot of albums categorised as DM this year though, Blood Incantation, Tomb Mold, Wormed.

It took me a while to warm up to DM as well, but I'm now at a point where I'd rate my preferences as 55 BM/45 DM or something like that.

Are there any ILM BM-heads who avoid DM altogether?

― toilet-cleaning brain surgeon (pomenitul), Tuesday, February 11, 2020 3:33 PM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

That would be me. DM's hardly ever done anything for me. There's a certain melodic element to it that I really dislike; or rather, I regard it as something that doesn't befit what I want from my metal (pitch-black, drony and/or hazy, nihil nihil nihil). Occasionally I do try it again, like with Blood Inc, but it's just not for me. Black metal is more or less the only metal for me.

I came to metal via BM and for a long time I had zero interest for DM. Then I discovered a handful of exceptions (bands like Immolation, Gorguts etc.) but BM is still my favorite. Doom is fine too. Like LBV, I'm here for the bleakness.

And speaking of BM, Deathspell Omega wasn't nominated but I still intend to vote for it as it's my favorite metal album this year.

Not a DM fan either though I do like some of the earlier classics. Cant stand most of the vox though.

That's one of my main issues, too, the vocals.

Aye, the cookie monster vocals spoil the music which is quite often fine.

I can also understand why DM fans hate BM vocals. Its just a preference innit

I like funeral doom which isnt quite cookie vox some doom-death is and some are tolerable.

Doom-death ok death-doom not ok, lol

I definitely relate to your reservations about DM. Fwiw Gorguts's Obscura is what made it click for me. Cavernous vox are what draws me in the most, as well as, say, Tomas Lindberg on At the Gates's first two LPs – a thespian of pure despair.