2019 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock/Heavy Music Poll: RESULTS - Top 100 Countdown

As for Have a Nice Life, I liked it – a pretty convincing mishmash of styles. I guess I need to hear their previous LP next, since RYM seems to believe it contains some of the greatest music ever devised.

deathconsciousness is the one to hear.I have an og press of the cdr with booklet and 1st press of the vinyl issue with booklet

Deathconsciousness Is legitimately incredible. Deserves all the praise. Everything after it has been ok but not close to that brilliance.

118 TIE
Eluveitie - Ategnatos 75 Votes, 3 Points
https://i.imgur.com/5vXyCAp.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/3krZ5MFF83oXS7gIh8aOag?si=lqlPI0ttSqOKXlrRoyV4fA
https://www.angrymetalguy.com/eluveitie-ategnatos-review/

Taking in Eluveitie‘s closing performance on 70k Tons with sentynel, I recognized something: Eluveitie is popular. Not like entry-level popular, not poser popular (well, maybe), but actually popular. The boat’s Mosh Pit Residentia showed up in spades for that set, but with the floor choked with the trve and weeb alike, group activities like conga lines and dance parties sprung up instead. Everyone knew the songs—hell, I knew the songs.1 The nonet put on too great a show to discount, far better than other bias-confirming trainwrecks I witnessed that weekend. Maybe, just maybe, I’ve written Eluveitie and Ategnatos off too soon.

“Ategnatos” opens with a potent revival of the evocative and surprisingly capable folken melodeath that made Eluveitie. The run of In Flames-core that opens Ategnatos tops anything the Swiss produced in that vein this decade. It forges a more consistent core than Origins and is just plain better than Everything Remains as It Never Was and the supremely lackluster Helvetios. Rather than waffling from folk to metal and back, or worse, undercutting the meat of their music with a thin production and folk garnish, the Ategnatos platter recalls the heyday of Eluveitie. The music breathes through the performances; the band’s energy and commitment are exactly what I expected after seeing them live. Plus, there’s no doubt that this is still Eluveitie™ folk. Bagpipes, whistles, violins, harps, a bunch of shit I can’t pronounce, and, of course, the hurdy-gurdy fill out more layers than a wedding cake at a tree marriage. Ategnatos takes all of that, the best of the experience, and catapults it at you with no remorse. The fantastic first 20 minutes of the record culminate in fifth-slated “A Cry in the Wilderness,” with the full outfit congealing around memories of their late-00’s melo-might, replete with all of the folkified big boy riffs you ever wanted.

Closer tandem “Rebirth” and “Eclipse,” modeled after Irish folk melody “I Am Stretched on Your Grave,” play bad cop, good cop. Morphing from brutal beatdown into a somber, emotional solo by female lead Fabienne Erni, they close Eluveitie‘s return to habit on a high. However, that the borrowed melody is the best on the record symbolizes what is overall a frustrating run. The nine tracks between “A Cry in the Wilderness” and “Rebirth” scuffles through half an hour of tempered folk and melodreck that’s littered with a who’s meh of influences. Modern thrash-turned-Lamb of God rip-off “Worship,” complete with overwrought biblical passages spoken by Randy Blythe?2 Lame. “Threefold Death” and its Soilwork riffery? So-so. “Ambiramus” squanders a good whistle melody on a glorified pop single, while “Mine Is the Fury” is plain old stock melo. The folky bits in “The Raven Hill” and “The Slumber” aren’t bad, but it all smacks of an opportunity wasted, given the talent on display on other parts of the record. Erni isn’t some unknown; her high ceiling for gorgeous, catchy choruses should have given Eluveitie a fall-back option. She elevated “Black Water Dawn” when given the chance, but that’s about it. “Breathe”3 is her only misstep, overselling what functions as a higher quality Aeternitas, but her spotlights on “The Slumber” and “Eclipse” are magnificent.

The production is beefy where it needs to be and smooth where it doesn’t, solving prior issues with slicing out the bottom ends of the melodeath aspects to let the folk portions breathe. The resulting connection on “A Cry in the Wilderness” is necessarily visceral, the folk elements working perfectly fine without hobbling moments of blackened brutality. Chrigel Glanzmann, already a boon as he handles eight instruments, growls quite well at times, particularly on “The Slumber”—the best of the mid-section—where he and Erni combine for a ton of atmospheric success.

Ategnatos might deserve a kinder fate, as the record features some of Eluveitie‘s best metal since Slania. But while Eluveitie showcase enough ideas to prevent the record from drying out entirely, the folk elements can’t stop the riffs from sounding tired by the midpoint. Were it twenty minutes tighter or twenty years earlier, Ategnatos might fare much better. It will still delight fans who wanted something meatier from Eluveitie‘s most recent entries, but for those of us looking for the top tier hooks or something more ambitious, it turns out we weren’t missing as much as we thought.

118 TIE
Reveal - Scissorgod 75 Points, 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/6ihDflY.jpg

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/reveal-scissorgod-review/

While Americans prepare to gorge themselves in turkey, cooked six different ways, and the rest of the world takes advantage of every department store (physical or otherwise) for their Hanukkah and Christmas1 shopping, I’m still in a Halloween mood. This is partly due to my date with King Diamond in a couple of weeks and the fact that Halloween flew by me this year. Work be like that sometimes. No month of horror movies leading up to the big day. No romantic nights with Elvira. No King Diamond/Mercyful Fate marathons. But, I’ll be goddamned if Halloween escapes me before 2019 ends. So, instead of turkey preparations and being thankful for the useless shit in my life, November is my new October. And, as it turns out, there’s no one I’d rather spend it with than Reveal and their third concoction of mindfucking black and death, Scissorgod.2

Before picking up Scissorgod, I’d never heard of these Swedish upstarts. Jumping on the scene with their 2011 debut, Nocturne of Eyes and Teeth, Reveal bends the traditional Scandinavian sound over and fucks it with deathly chugs, punkish attitude, and slow-moving passages. It’s raw, it’s primitive, and it’s full of no-fucks-given character. A theme stamped on every one of their EP and LP releases. Flystrips followed-up in 2016 with a stripped, bare-bones approach that’s every bit as aggressive and hateful as the predecessor. But Scissorgod is something else.

Seconds into the opening title-track, Scissorgod reveals3 some of its deep, dark secrets. And it does so via slow-moving structures, haunting guitar leads, and saxy, Sigh-like additions. Other noticeable changes heard in the opener are Scissorgod‘s improved dynamics. Dynamics that allow the bass and six-string axes to peek their heads out of the muck and filth. Not to mention, these are the band’s strongest vocals to date. But this is just the beginning.

Follow-up track, “Harder Harder”—and its partners in crime, “Clevermouth” and “Feeble Hearts”—displays a punkish quality to it. Moving fast and hitting hard, the blackened rasps punch with each kit hit and drive the album further out into the muck. The muck getting muckier with the drive and gallop of “Clevermouth.” This piece hits even harder than, well… “Harder Harder,” showing that there is no limit to the band’s aggression and their ability to stack voice, guitars, and cymbal crashes to greatest effect. The groove comes a bit later on “Feeble Hearts,” taking a backseat to effects, distant vox, and spurts of horns as only mid-career Celtic Frost or Nattefrost might do. The drums steal the show here, though, and further prove the effectiveness of the mix.

But the unsettling moments of “Feeble Hearts” are but a taster compared to those of “Decomposer” and closer “Coin Toss.” Both move like a corpse on the county examiner’s table. The former is nothing but snail-paced sinisterness and circus-y nightmares wrapped up in whispered words. It’s a creepy motherfucker that could find a place in the dark concept of Cradle of Filth‘s Midian or Godspeed of the Devil’s Thunder. But its true home is here on Scissorgod. The closer begins like “Decomposer” but with blaring horns in the background and a building presence throughout. At first glance, I would have guessed it was Carach Angren, then the peak erupts and Reveal reveals4 themselves.

With the strongest guitar leads, bass work, and vocals the band has ever put to tape, Reveal steps out of their comfort zone and pushes the envelope even harder, incorporating builds and melodics like never heard from these Swedes. The bass is stronger than ever, the songwriting is pure power, and the inclusion of horns and saxy atmospheres increases the creepy factor. Scissorgod is a sinister work of art that will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Well done, boys, you’re just in time for list season.

Deathconsciousness is amazing, and Sea of Worry couldn't be anything other than disappointing in light of that. Maybe I should give it another chance.

Fetid isn't something I would usually enjoy, but I'm really liking it tonight.

Eluveitie growler dude's folk-meets-metalcore stylings unfailingly elicit irl laughter out of me. I like their female vocalist, though.

On the other hand, that Reveal album was pretty good, suitably hideous stuff.

Eluveitie is sounding like In Flames or something... Oh and there is a little piping.

Reveal is certainly interesting. No thrashing, no blastbeats, just really gross creepy weirdness.

yeah that's TOO LOW! scissorgod was my #3. never heard of this band until late 019, imediately assumed they were the morbus chron kids. wrong. they turned out to be way more deranged, further, harder, down that berceuse dream. they must share drugs with 'em. got obsessed with this rec, still am. that's it.

It's definitely one of the most… uncomfortable metal albums I heard last year, which is an achievement in its own right.

Reveal is grabbing my attention instantly

Oh there are blastbeats farther in. My point stands, I think.

Is that a custard cream?

A cross between that and a Byzantine icon.

imago will make this album cover as a cake for my birthday

(It's sounding really great and unsettling)

The cover is quite Stabscotch imo

117 Paladin - Ascension 76 Points, 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/iYuMN6l.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/3HkxiSSIxRaT5HaIFR9NDN?si=ZdNiFMtpSXmH4zqHLsYsIg
https://paladinatl.bandcamp.com/album/ascension

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/paladin-ascension-review/

In my early days of metal fandom, there was a period of roughly two years – spanning from the time I stumbled upon DragonForce‘s Inhuman Rampage to when I began exploring Darkthrone‘s discography – where I listened to nothing except for power metal and thrash. During this period, as I worked on my sloppy renditions of “Eagle Fly Free” and “Battery” on a cheap Yamaha electric guitar my parents picked up at a department store, I had an epiphany: why the fuck hasn’t anyone mashed up the two best genres in the world? Sure, hybrids of these genres have long existed, but from Iced Earth to Cellador, no band managed to lean hard enough in both directions to satisfy my craving for this elusive duality. I wanted music that evoked unicorns donned with denim saddles slamming cheap beers. I wanted anti-war lyrics delivered by denizens of Middle Earth. And now – nearly fifteen years later – Paladin’s debut delivers. Even after a decade-plus of evolving taste, Ascension feels like everything I’ve ever wanted.

It’s been said that the opening sentence of any book is vital to hooking the reader. In keeping with this philosophy, the opening bars of “Awakening” command attention with an intoxicating flurry of soaring Lost Horizon guitar harmonies and sharp, party thrash riffs reminiscent of Ironbound-era Overkill. As an opener, this track is an excellent pick, but its focus on power metal acrobatics veils a more varied experience waiting immediately beyond. It doesn’t take long for Paladin to begin tinkering with its immediately successful formula, and while Ascension never loses sight of its Euro-power hooks or Bay Area attitude, elements of melodic death metal inject a welcome dose of aggression and dynamism. Paladin executes each stylistic shift with the utmost conviction, making for a record where every second feels engaging.

While most cuts represent a melding of genres, Paladin manages to divide their influences across Ascension in a way that makes each track unique. “Awakening” and “Black Omen” most heavily explore the band’s power metal side; “Call of the Night” and “Shoot for the Sun,” conversely, are more purely thrash oriented. Yet many of the best tracks here are odd ducks which find Paladin experimenting with more aggressive tones and unconventional structures. “Divine Providence,” for instance, trades off weighty melodeath gallops with Exmortus-esque neoclassical noodling. Elsewhere, “Bury the Light” splices tight, prog-power lead work with deliciously wicked, Skeletonwitch-inspired verses. Ascension’s most ambitious accomplishment by a wide margin, though, is closer “Genesis,” a mid-paced stomper that explores plodding doom riffs and blackened accents in its back half. At six minutes, “Genesis” is the record’s longest track, and feels infinitely more compelling than the longform closing numbers which plague modern power metal.

Ascension’s genre-hopping nature demands a varied vocalist, and guitarist Taylor Washington is fully capable of handling both clean and harsh vocals with skill and confidence. His clean singing can remind of Protest the Hero’s Rody Walker or Rhapsody’s Fabio Lione depending on the circumstances, while his vile, commanding growls recall the tone ex-Skeletonwitch frontman Chance Garnette. His guitar work, alongside that of co-guitarist Alex Parra, is impressively taut and harmony-rich, while the countless rhythmic change-ups and smart cymbal accents from drummer Nathan McKinney further elevate Paladin’s dynamic nature. It’s a shame those accents sound thin in the mix, but aside from diminished cymbals and kicks, Ascension makes for a reasonably balanced example of the modern metal production style. The important thing is that such a guitar-centric record has a solid guitar sound, and the strings here sound excellent, with strong, clear tones bolstering the impact and precision of both the low and high end.

It takes an exceedingly rare breed of record to capture the hearts of a majority of the AMG staff, let alone one that falls within the realm of power metal. Yet as word of Ascension spread through the offices, it quickly became the first staff-wide favorite in the genre that I can recall since Unleash the Archers dropped Apex two years ago. I realize that I’m one of the few power metal pushers on staff here, and that a 4.0 coming from me means absolutely nothing to non-devotees. Yet Paladin’s genre-bending wizardy transcends fandom, making for a level of accessible, exuberant fun that i haven’t encountered since last year’s Necropanther album. I’ve already resolved to make Ascension the go-to soundtrack for my summer. I suggest you do the same, lest you find yourself out of the loop come list season.

The YouTube recommendations led me to Nawaharjan's Lokabrenna, which seems to have come out this year on Amor Fati, and which is great so far. So if nothing else, Reveal did me that favor.

Retro 80s power metal isn't my thing but these guys are pretty good at what they do, mainly thanks to their singer.

I haven't brought it up in the 2020 thread yet but that Nawaharjan album sounded fucking incredible the first time around (yesterday). I hope that impression stays with me.

The Paladin record is pretty good so far! I don't hear anything but power metal, but it's good power metal.

Clevermouth is an incredible song

116 Nile - Vile Nilotic Rites 77 Points,3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/STOSXnL.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/00UG7HkPlz5iF4sxdEnKs9?si=RpGy6MenTAGVnpoFmLU4xg

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/nile-vile-nilotic-rites-review/

I fucking love Nile and I’m certainly not alone. For many, they represent the upper echelons of extreme metal. But with such elevation comes even loftier expectation. Particularly after a decade of lackluster output. At the Gates of Sethu was beleaguered with limp songwriting and a vapid production whereas What Should Not be Unearthed tried too hard to make amends with blunt force boredom and impenetrable brickwalling. Such turmoil usually infers necessary change and ninth album Vile Nilotic Rites features some serious lineup alterations. Most notably, the inclusion of Enthean‘s Brian Kingsland in place of longtime guitarist and co-vocalist Dallas Toler-Wade. Despite the album being predictably marketed under the auspice of the dreaded “comeback” and the added scrutiny inherent in new membership, my question remains singular and simple. Are Nile any fucking good again?

The answer is yes. In many ways Vile Nilotic Rites is business as usual. The Egyptian lyrical themes and eastern musical motifs are as prevalent as ever, but thankfully delivered with a renewed vibrancy. To address the obvious difference, Kingsland’s voice is of a slightly higher register than Toler-Wade’s, but sounds increasingly similar as the album progresses. Stylistically, Nile don’t often deviate from their established formula and Vile Nilotic Rites is no exception. Chromatic riffing and wailing solos resound, allowing the band plenty of opportunity to ply their titaniferous content. Opener and first single “Long Shadows of Dread” is about as definitively Nile as can be and that’s no bad thing.

The album’s unique voice echos in the writing process, albeit faintly. Each track has been afforded its own identity and to some degree this works. “Oxford Handbook of Savage Genocidal Warfare”1 brandishes an immediately memorable gattling gun riff, while “Seven Horns of War” opts for churning passages with the occasional savage bluster. Such melodrama strikes a fine contrast to “Snake Pit Mating Frenzy” whose reticulated rhythms could shame even Apep’s cataclysmic coils. Unfortunately, the focus on individuality also detracts from the whole. Vile Nilotic Rites feels more like an abstract collection of songs than a cohesive album. This lack of immersion also highlights the record’s bloat, particularly in the second half. “The Imperishable Stars are Sickened” is grandiose in scale and a perfect closer. Sadly, the inferior “We Are Cursed” folds the album instead. A more scrupulous approach during the editing process might have gone a long way here. As it is, the record is unjustifiably long.

Discussing individual performances seems redundant considering Nile‘s reputation. George Kollias’ drumming is predictably superhuman and Karl Sanders still oscillates between chaotic soloing and monotone growls. Kingsland’s riffing, however, has definitely influenced the rhythm section. His more typical tech death background has fostered a prevalent vein of immediacy, which furnishes certain tracks with a, not unwelcome, linear nature. That’s not to say that the band’s signature compound of epic scale brutality isn’t still present. “Revel in Their Suffering” exemplifies its title by dual-wielding bone-cracking density and whip-sharp transitions while “Where is the Wrathful Sky” embodies its creators’ cinematic stylings. Fortunately, the material doesn’t have to contend with an abominable production. Nile have reverted to the even balance that buoys their most effective records, wisely allowing their own writing to do the talking instead of leaning on any misguided pledge of intent.

Reviewing an institution like Nile can be a challenge. The immediate question is one of comparison. How does Vile Nilotic Rites measure up to former glories? In truth, it can’t quite compare to the effortless quality and depth of In Their Darkened Shrines, Annihilation of the Wicked or even Those Whom the Gods Detest. But, under its own steam, the album is a success. It places emphasis back on the songs and it never sacrifices writing in a bid for excess. However, I would hesitate to call it a return to form. Mostly because Nile‘s ability has never truly waned. What the album represents is a return to enthusiasm – a necessary catalyst for all quality metal. Vile Nilotic Rites is a good album featuring some very good songs. But more importantly it means death metal aficionados can stop considering Nile with trepidation. Praise fucking be to Ra.

This was my introduction to Nile and it was… okay?

115 Dawn Ray'd - Behold Sedition Plainsong 77 Points,4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/vJyU66w.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/70WWyU9uXdCHVmOurOneH1?si=0Lnv27_5SUmeFGddPPMdzg
https://dawnrayd.bandcamp.com/album/behold-sedition-plainsong

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/dawn-rayd-behold-sedition-plainsong-review/

Pyres become beacons as flames rise with a dangerously bright burn, lick the sky, and drape the green banks of the Sava river in a majestic red glow.

It’s a transporting and defiant occasion: the roaring fires ignite our inner blaze and unite us in remembrance of Partisans like my grandfather that on May 8th, 1945 freed Croatia’s capital, Zagreb, from occupying Nazi (and collaborationist) forces.

These memories of the Trnje bonfires flicker in my mind while I listen to Behold Sedition Plainsong, the second full-length of Liverpool black metal trio Dawn Ray’d. Because this is a music of awakening that sweeps away the waters of Lethe meant to make us forget what the liberation from occupation and similar historic moments stood for then and today. Reactionary forces gain strength and fight an insidious war against the heritage of antifascism. They exploit the failings of capitalism and its social fallout to point the finger at the eternal other. They recycle tyrannical ideas and repackage them into edgy, “freethinking” rhetoric. “Nazism is in the past, you fools,” they write with one hand, while the other rises into a Roman salute. “The only fascists are in your head,” they shout as their grimacing faces wink to each other. But Dawn Ray’d compel us to remember. Dawn Ray’d once again light the fires of revolt.

From the call to arms of the introductory canticle “Raise the Flails” to the anguished closing anthem “The Curse, the Dappled Light,” Behold Sedition Plainsong carries a scream of “¡NO PASARÁN!” in each blast beat, riff, and growl. Dawn Ray’d’s righteously angry and impassioned style is painfully necessary, fueled by the projected voices of the oppressed and the helpless. On “The Smell of Ancient Dust,” Simon B.’s fiery violin envelops black metal crescendos with a grandiose feeling. It gifts the cut, and most of the album, a propulsive momentum and channels it through a mosaic of solemnity, sorrow, and rebellion reminiscent of Partisan songs. “Comfort has led us to this hibernation / The struggle, less visible, has allowed us to forget,” they warn us: we don’t fight because we want to, but because we need to.

The eleven swift tracks alternate between black metal attacks and atmospheric interludes led by the violin’s mournful cries, often lost amid streams of acoustic guitar strums. The black metal barrages are especially inspired, focused on the exchanges of Fabian D.’s harmonious tremolos and Matthew B.’s disarming drum cadences. They frame the band’s stirring lyrics and explicit dialectics, which Simon B. delivers with conviction, standing sharp against pseudo-intellectual despotism. This becomes evident when the crunchy guitar strikes, booming blast beats, jolts of growled and screamed vocals, and the violin’s indomitable legatos raise their voices against worker exploitation on “To All, to All, to All!” It becomes painful when “A Time for Courage at the Borderlands” directs a punch in the gut of today’s increasingly xenophobic Europe and mourns refugees left to die on invisible borders. Finally, it becomes urgent as the mid-tempo hymn “Salvation Rite” muses about ecosystems crumbling under the pressure of the industrial machine.

Viewed from a distance, Behold Sedition Plainsong is a well-written and performed, but not flawless record—an unwelcome repetition here, a muddier section there—that owes its humanity exactly to the occasional cracks left behind by powerful messages. And while their themes might have more in common with punk and hardcore bands like Downtown Boys and Cliterati or crust influenced black metallers Iskra and Ancst, Dawn Ray’d indulge in a riotously traditionalist sort of black metal; melodious and folksy at times, raw at others, but always subverting of the genre’s dominant signifiers. Through flirting with the tropes of such an orthodox genre, each tune implicitly births an affront to the ubiquitous apologetics of neo-reactionary views and cowardly dog-whistle politics in the black metal scene.

If 2017’s The Unlawful Assembly was a furious “call to arms” and collection of “battle hymns for the coming class war,” then Behold Sedition Plainsong is the weapon for a harsher and harder offensive. The time to act is now and with Dawn Ray’d’s eternal fire on our side, we will never go fucking gently into the night.

This should be right up my alley (medieval meloblack) but the vocals are kind of weak.

tried to get into this band and record, because of their politics. gave it several shots. idk, i struggle with meloblack, i guess. enjoyed the love they got last year tho

114 Veiled - In Blinding Presence 78 Points, 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/1zG9KFR.jpg
https://thetrueveiled.bandcamp.com/album/in-blinding-presence

https://grizzlybutts.com/2019/02/13/veiled-in-blinding-presence-2019-review/

The auditory hallucination is without failure a signet of a failing region of the brain be it chemical, psychic or physical trauma. Disintegrating gyrus, or slashed left temporal lobe, over-extend the mind into spontaneous creation of unreal noise. The ‘earworm’ or rather the involuntary sonic recreation of memoria within a persons ‘inner dialogue’ is no less a symptom of psychosis; This despite the cultural normalcy enjoyed by those afflicted with bursts of void-filling, musical loss of control. These are in fact neologisms that most often serve to influence the mania of creation due to persistent obsessive thoughts. That the artist appear driven is not always such a voluntary or calculated persona, in fact the ecstasy we call influence is most often a necessary post-traumatic recreation, an easing of the torment experienced by those captured, hexed by the dark rituals of others. ‘In Blinding Presence’ is the result of several generations of occult musical curses, a creature of distilled moldy synapse firing under duress into sickness, mania and horror. Leipzig, Germany is unassuming ‘ground zero’ to the spread of such plague, this propagandized black essence is the untamed apocalyptic malevolence of musicians past spit through frantic vibrations and scowling hoarseness onto the skulls of future generations. (The True) Veiled appear dripping from the walls as they debut a fine coalescence of clangorous blur, a hallucination manifested as symptom of ubiquitous impending death.

Serpentine within their nihilistic pulsation Veiled endure a massive density of Scandinavian traditions deconstructed with untoward ambivalence towards traditional forms. That is to say that the shocking insight of Ved Buens Ende‘s futuristic Dali-esque hum on ‘Written in Waters’ is sped to the precise dissonant fervor of Thantifaxath and/or Deathspell Omega before a grand Hoest-like reshaping of that chaos forms as hook, and noose. The very seizure of ‘In Blinding Presence’ is ugliness and wretch beyond the relative beauteous niceties of Fleurety, Whirling or Dødheimsgard and nigh punkish in its trailing abandon. Where minds are left scoured and slaked by passing daimonian pressures onto unknowing victim that intensity approaches the stifled beauty of ‘Grand Declaration of War’, the crisp roaring hiss of early Slægt and the shamanic twitching of Wulkanaz. The guitar work is modern extreme metallic curse that’d bounce off every eardrum into psychedelic eternity, a Voivod-esque melancholia that would push the psyche into the depths and drown all hope, kill all cells, suffocate all reason.

A psychic sickness creeped its opaque tendrils across my self as I first approached Veiled, the driving noise-rocked bulge of “Triunity” expressed its rhythmic insanity as if Hasjarl had guided their hands himself and as the three minute mark approached I’d removed from husk to despair projection for the sake of self-preservation. When the silence and hidden ancient psychedelia punctuated “Bringer of Lambency” I set it aside, pushing away the trauma endured. I lay there into the early morning, window lit by the reflection of light pollution upon deep snow, and again it came in pieces and waves. For weeks, and then months ‘In Blinding Presence’ spoke to me as cursed addiction and incessant ear-twinging racket impossible to shake. Possessed and with weakened will by way of cabin fever, I gave in and resolved to wear it out; To bask in Veiled in the hopes of drying out the grip of darkness. No salvation came. Highly recommended. For preview “Steps” offers a mountain range to portend the terrifying plummet of “Bringer of Lambency” but it was “Triunity” that first scoffed and murmured with excitement as I unwittingly ventured into nothingness.

My #11 and something to tidy us over while we wait for the next Thantifaxath LP.

If you're only going to sample one track, 'Bringer of Lambency' is incredible.

113 Ithaca - The Language of Injury 80 Points, 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/83zcFy8.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/6Cv0Ujt0hHS02xObeLexXC
https://ithacauk.bandcamp.com/album/the-language-of-injury

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/ithaca-the-language-of-injury/

Ithaca’s debut is an invitation for whiplash. The young, politically principled band vault between genres like they’re playing a game, and sonic homogeneity is lava. Conflicting elements butt up against one another as the band pits noise rock against post-rock, metalcore against doom, and expectations of what a metalcore band should sound like against the reality of what they’re doing.

A passion for experimentation underpins every move they make here, and the band’s origin story—that the members came together “out of a mutual love of metallic hardcore but despair at its lack of ambition”—checks out, manifesting in each unexpected note or unfamiliar pairing. A ghostly choir rising above ’90s screamo riffs? Sure. The title track’s marriage of noodly noise rock and stadium crust? You got it. A seamless hybrid of Oathbreaker and Poison the Well with a feminist, anti-Nazi bent? Ithaca’s on the case.

There’s been a good deal of hype around Ithaca already. They’ve landed in an angular, unexpected sweet spot in the UK’s metallic hardcore world, rubbing elbows with forward-thinking bands like Svalbard, Employed to Serve, and Venom Prison—with whom the band, which features members of Arab and Indian descent, share a drive to foster inclusivity and diversity within the extreme music scene. At the same time, they take huge chunks of inspiration from vintage ’90s screamo and noise rock, forcing a meeting of new and old that could have gone direly wrong but has instead found an eager audience. Overall, there's a real lushness to the music, punctuated by skronky jabs of dissonance that add a tense dynamism. It’s also very unpredictable, which is a nice thing for a metalcore band to be in 2019.

Buzz aside, the band’s true strength lies in their ability to employ a diversity of tactics both politically and musically to hammer their end-time message home. Opening track “New Covenant” is a battle cry, and couches its beatdown breakdowns within expanses of frantic picking, spacious post-rock, and vocal misery. “Impulse Crush” ramps up the urgency with squeals of discordant noise rock and crystal-clear tremolo picking, anchoring more triumphant moments like the mid-song break with chugga-chugga aggression. “Secret Space” continues in that vein, breaking through a surge of dizzying, technical guitar work and epic swells of grandiose melody with a heart-rending mid-song acoustic passage that sees versatile vocalist Djamila Azzouz push her voice to the brink. That voice is one of the band’s strongest assets, which makes it even more of a shame when the production occasionally allows it to get unintentionally buried under the sound and the fury (“Better Abuse,” for example, could have hit even harder had the vocals been brought to the fore).

For an album that barely breaks the 30-minute mark, The Language of Injury asks a lot. That progressive, boundary-pushing sensibility informs every moment of the release, which is less pit-ready than anthemic. Some songs, like “Youth Vs Wisdom,” show signs of straightforwardness, but Ithaca’s obsession with progression would never allow for something so boring. “Slow Negative Order” comes drenched in a brittle, shining atmosphere that highlights its lovely vocal harmonies; juxtaposed with Azzouz’s feral bark and juddering guitars, the melodicism ebbs and flows into the relentlessly pretty instrumental interlude “No Translation.”

This soft-to-loud, pretty-to-harsh tactic is a classic entry in the melodic metalcore playbook, and is one that the band pulls out multiple times on The Language of Injury, notably on the soaring “Gilt” and perhaps most effectively in the final salvo, “Better Abuse.” The song begins with a simple melodic riff suspended in waves of reverb, adds in a set of clean vocals dripping in almost gothic splendor, explodes into combative noise, and then ends the album in uncomfortable near-silence. Thankfully, Ithaca keep their listeners guessing until the absolute last second of this album.

2 more after this tonight

Oh wow I wasn't expecting anything of mine to show up tonight, but I voted for these last two. Ithaca my #17 and Veiled #49 (if only for comparatively few listens).

never heard of either

Core ain't my cup of tea at all. This is a bit more listenable than the usual fare, though.

re: veiled. do they play live? a pitty, if not. some fuckin' vocals. enjoyin' triunity for starters

That review of the Language of Injury pretty much nails it tbh. It's just so incredibly fun and melodic for such an angry album! It's also pleasant to hear screamo in a thick British accent. 'Impulse Crush' is a great track to sample their energy!

No idea whether Veiled do live shows. Agree about the vocals.

112 Vanum - Ageless Fire 82 Points, 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/8IfvGMP.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/4MPsjeTpR7r8LgG4MVDBtm
https://vanum.bandcamp.com/album/ageless-fire-2

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/vanum-ageless-fire-review/

As one of the writers with the least seniority, my relationship to the promo bin is like a continuous first date. More tenured writers with sharper elbows usually have dibs on established bands, so I must rely on two main factors when choosing reviews: genre tags and album art. Genre tags can be misleading, but as a professional in the visual arts for the last 20 years, my gut reaction to images is rarely wrong. Questionable visual choices often translate to sounds, and image medium tends to say something about the music. For instance, as Photoshop levels rise, the likelihood of my enjoying an album falls. Vanum caught my attention with this gorgeous image of a violent geological process–a particular interest of mine–that is both legibly pictorial and pulling at the edges of abstraction. Tasteful typography and minimal framing compliments rather than competes with the painting. Interest piqued, I dug further and discovered this to be a project of K. Morgan and M. Rekevics of American black metal bands Ash Borer and Yellow Eyes, respectively, both of which I enjoy. Now firmly on the hook, my main question is: does the musical carpet match the visual drapes?

It does indeed, as Ageless Fire, Vanum‘s second full length, is a scorcher front to back. Right from the jump, “War” announces that this is black metal without cross-genre bells and whistles. Influences here range from Rotting Christ to viking era Bathory to moments of Agallochian beauty, but this is certainly not Cascadian black, and it sounds much fresher than mere second wave worship. Warm production, clear guitar tones and un-intrusive synth work make Ageless Fire a great sounding record, and what it lacks in experimentation, it more than makes up for in ample melody and sharp songwriting. Although an instrumental, “War” is a fully realized exhibition of Vanum‘s strengths, with complementing melodies that unfold naturally throughout the song. It does the job asked of any intro, whetting the appetite for what’s to come.

For fans of Morgan and Rekevics’ other bands, Ageless Fire is a more immediate take on black metal. The doom-inflected cold of Ash Borer is dialed down, and while Vanum hews closer to the melodic wandering of Yellow Eyes, these song structures are slightly more straightforward, and stronger for it. The band itself calls this “elemental black metal,” and I’m inclined to agree with the term. This extends to the emotional impact of Ageless Fire, which boasts music that is stirring in a way that’s almost primeval. Case in point, the guitar line that opens “Under the Banner of Death” is downright majestic. The band takes its time building around this until vocals kick in at the three minute mark. The track closes with one of a couple well placed and well paced guitar solos found on the album (the other being in “Jaws of Rapture”), striking a similar emotional tone to the earlier melody. This is music to stand resolutely on windswept peaks to. Good work, if you can find it.

The criticisms I could level at Ageless Fire are minor and subjective. Some may find the vocal performance grating, as the hoarse barks can sound flat compared to the instrumentation. That said, we’re talking about black metal here, kids. If the vocals don’t sound like they’re doing permanent damage to your throat, you’re probably doing it wrong. Track lengths may also give some pause, as three of the four proper songs–closer “Erebus” is also an instrumental–clock in at over eight minutes. This is mitigated by Vanum‘s smart songwriting. On the excellent ten-plus minute “Eternity,” a chiming guitar line separates the song into halves before tedium can set in, lasting just long enough for listeners to savor the mood shift before the blistering pace resumes afresh. Also helping, the album as a whole is a highly repeatable 41 minutes.

If “Elemental” is a word the band means to evoke with their music, they succeed, and their choice of album cover communicates the same. “Tasteful” also comes to mind when considering the visual and musical compositions. Knowing what you want to do and then doing it well may seem simple enough, but it’s actually very fucking difficult. Vanum is a band who knows what they’re about. They represent themselves well visually, and the music speaks for itself.

Good album that made a big impression on me at first pass then slowly faded into the mid-tier. Kind of surprised to see it this low – some of our fellow metal travellers seemed really into it in the rolling thread.

Wait, I'm an idiot. I was thinking of the Vastum album.

Last one for tonight folks coming up

111 Mizmor - Cairn 82 Points, 4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/TaxtxTb.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/48kO2wvDadvRgGT1mlt4w8
https://mizmor.bandcamp.com/album/cairn

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/mizmor-cairn-review/

In Gareth Tunley’s haunting and haunted 2016 film The Ghoul, the whole of reality is bent and infected by the protagonist’s depression. He is trapped in a twisted, magically real manifestation of a Möbius strip. Here, all means of escape are soon revealed to be nothing but bottomless ladders that descend into the darkest craters of the human psyche. The beginning is the end is the beginning. There is no escape. But unlike The Ghoul’s main character who ultimately appears powerless, Portland, Oregon’s A.L.N. has the music of the project Mizmor (מזמור) on his side, both as a weapon and a vessel of catharsis. And on his third full-length, Cairn, he finds a way to finally break the loop.

2012’s raw מזמור and 2016’s massively bleak and cynical Yodh explored questions of faith and meaning while struggling to find reasons to go on. In contrast, Cairn’s heavy mesh of doom metal, sludge, black metal, and drone channels a hopeful kind of introspection and reflection. It carves a path to a reconciled future, supported by a cleaner, clearer sound. Along the way, the album builds cairns—ceremonial piles of stones, monuments to the past—to bury, leave behind, but never forget all the demons that haunted A.L.N. On one side, it’s God and faith that failed him. On the other, thoughts of suicide which once seemed plausible now become the coward’s choice. These two ideas make “Cairn to God” and “Cairn to Suicide” the heaviest and angriest songs on the album, which shift from permeating sludge and drones that move at glacial pace to incisive, blurring black metal segments driven by tremolos.

Amid a particularly affecting passage of “Cairn to Suicide,” A.L.N.’s mercurial voice—transforming growls into shrieks and clean cries—is accompanied by a YOB-like mournful heaviness as he pours these existentialist thoughts into austere lyrics. “Both are tragic, groundless, / leaps That completely miss / the mark. Desperate for the / oasis, Succumbing to / consoling lies,” he rasps with conviction. Whispers and atmospheric noises surround him, taunt him. But once notions of religion and self-destructive impulses are abandoned, where do we go next? How do we cope with the wonderful absurdity and irresistible meaninglessness of life? The answer to these questions comes crashing down during one of the most poignant moments of the record on “The Narrowing Way.” “And resumed my toilsome trek / Through the narrowing / wasteland. Remaining on that / dizzying crest Is the only valid / choice. Daily revolt – breath in / my lungs. Absurdity is pain / and beauty,” A.L.N. growls and screams and sings carried by crushing waves of scorched doom and sludge that crest with glimmers of hope.

There are no places to hide or attempts at mystification on Cairn. A.L.N.’s thoughts are instilled into sobering, frank lyrics and further explained in candid recent interviews. As he confides in Emma Ruth Rundle, “Life is not a miracle because that implies divinity, but it is certainly amazing and I go back and forth between ‘it is certainly terrible’ and ‘it is certainly amazing’ very, very rapidly, constantly.” This directness is reflected in the music throughout the record. On “Desert of Absurdity,” gentle themes played on acoustic guitar harden and blossom into atmospheric black metal romps twirling with harmonies. Then, the ground opens beneath us, and we’re sucked into funeral doom chasms adorned with enchanting leads. The music, while dripping with melancholy and sonic brutality, is always delicately beautiful.

While obviously a painfully personal and intimate confession, Cairn is decidedly universal as it tackles themes that affect and afflict each and every one of us. That such harsh and stark music could eventually peak in cautious optimism is a tribute to the endurance and fortitude of the human mind. Recently rivaled only by An Isolated Mind’s I’m Losing Myself in terms of musical exploration of the most agonizing of subjects, Cairn is an utterly difficult but vital listen. An encouraging signpost for all of us.

Awesome album, awesome Lewandowski cover. Too low, frankly.

Sorry for staying away so far...nothing I've voted for yet but some stuff here looking intriguing

I'm way overdue for checking out Atlantean Kodex, maybe I'll bn jam that on the drive home from practice

Voted for Vanum and Ithaca! I need the former on LP for obvious reasons. Ithaca one of my few non mon metal votes, a scorcher nonetheless

Paladin kind of made it, no?

xp

Thank you very much, pollrunners! I have been complety out of the loop last year so this will definitely be a helpful list of releases to check out. My first discovery of the rollout is Venom Prison's Samsara, this album is great and I wish I had voted for it.

Thanks a lot pollrunners - much appreciated - very fun to see the roll out/discussion every year!

rollout's nationality breakdown

USA(65), Finland(6), Canada(5), England(5), Norway(5), Sweden(5), Iceland(4), Australia(3), France(3), Germany(3), Switzerland(3), Belgium(2), Poland(2), Spain(2), Ukraine(2), Wales(2), Costa Rica(1), Ireland(1), Japan(1), Niger(1), Scotland(1)

Hah, that's more than 50%! Telling, isn't it…

label-wise, 20 buck spin the most represented, i'm taking a guess?

they sign flawlessly, and it's a fact they work their socks off. power to them

weighted, bdnp

Witch Trail - The Sun Has Left the Hill  
Liturgy - H.A.Q.Q.
Reveal - Scissorgod
Vastum - Orificial Purge  
Yellow Eyes - Rare Field Ceiling
Cerebral Rot - Odious Descent Into Decay
Full of Hell - Weeping Choir
Cloud Rat - Pollinator 
Coffin Rot - A Monument to the Dead
Waste of Space Orchestra - Syntheosis
Ceremony of Silence - Oútis
Sunn O))) - Life Metal 
Tomb Mold - Planetary Clairvoyance
Big|Brave - A Gaze Among Them
Krypts - Cadaver Circulation
Martyrdöd - Hexhammaren
Blood Incantation - Hidden History of the Human Race
Amygdala - Our Voices Will Soar Forever  
Coffins - Beyond the Circular Demise 
Immortal Bird - Thrive on Neglect
Drastus - La croix de sang
Bölzer - Lese Majesty
Krallice - Wolf
Darkthrone - Old Star
Botanist - Ecosystem
Pissgrave - Posthumous Humiliation
Disentomb - The Decaying Light
Witch Vomit - Buried Deep in a Bottomless Grave
Witchbones - The Seas of Draugen
Inculter - Fatal Visions 

fave discoveries: veiled (unpretentious ~trves~ like this are welcome) and vesperith

Terminal Cheesecake - Le sacre du lièvre
Fly Pan Am - C'est ça
Multishiva - Savupäivä
Jute Gyte - Birefringence
The Cosmic Dead - Scottish Space Race
Major Stars - Roots of Confusion
Cherubs - Immaculada High
Lingua Ignota - Caligula
Wyrmwoods - Spirit and Teeth
Jorge Elbrecht - Coral Cross - 002
Liturgy - H.A.Q.Q.
Lightning Bolt - Sonic Citadel
Skáphe + Wormlust - Kosmískur hryllingur
Waste of Space Orchestra - Syntheosis
Pharaoh Overlord - 5
Boris - Love & Evol
Hawkeyes - Last Light of Future Failure
Plastic Crimewave Syndicate - Massacre of the Celestials
Elder - Gold & Silver Sessions
Hibushibire - Turn On, Tune In, Freak Out!
10 000 Russos - Kompromat
Kaleidobolt - Bitter
Ausmuteants - Present the World in Handcuffs
Writhing Squares - Out of the Ether
Dreamtime - Tidal Mind
PH - Osiris Hayden
Dhidalah - Threshold 発端
Botanist - Ecosystem
Mdou Moctar - Ilana (The Creator)
Tomb Mold - Planetary Clairvoyance
Psychedelic Speed Freaks - Psychedelic Speed Freaks
Sordide - Hier déjà mort
White Ward - Love Exchange Failure
Pinkish Black - Concet Unification
Yawning Man - Macedonian Lines
Elizabeth Colour Wheel - Nocebo
Misþyrming - Algleymi
Car Bomb - Mordial
The Young Gods - Data Mirage Tangram
Hashshashshin - Badakhshan

Here's mine. Thanks to poll runners for your work. This was fun. I look forward to sifting the results.

Cult of Luna - A Dawn to Fear
Wilderun - Veil of Imagination
Big Brave - A Gaze Among Them
Blut aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Lingua Ignota - Caligula
Blood Incantation - Hidden History of the Human Race
Helms Alee - Noctiluca
Immortal Bird - Thrive on Neglect
Vastum - Orificial Purge
Vanum - Ageless Fire
Tomb Mold - Planetary Clairvoyance
Vesperith - Vesperith
Wormed - Metaportal
Yellow Eyes - Rare Field Ceiling
Esoteric - A Pyrrhic Existence
Wyrmwoods - Spirit and Teeth
Abigail Williams - Walk Beyond the Dark
Waste of Space Orchestra - Syntheosis
Witch Trail - The Sun Has Left the Hill
Sunn O))) - Life Metal
Obsequiae - The Palms of Sorrowed Kings
Krallice - Wolf
Jute Gyte - Birefringence
Full of Hell - Weeping Choir
Moon Tooth - Crux
Baroness - Gold & Grey
Bergraven - Det framlidna minnet
Pharaoh Overlord - 5
Ithaca - The Language of Injury
Pinkish Black - Concet Unification
Rorcal - Muladona
Teitanblood - The Baneful Choir
Imprecation - Damnatio Ad Bestias
Eternal Storm - Come the Tide
Misery Index - Rituals of Power
Xoth - Interdimensional Invocations
Krypts - Cadaver Circulation
Cattle Decapitation - Death Atlas
Cloud Rat - Pollinator
Deathspell Omega - The Furnaces of Palingenesia
Disentomb - The Decaying Light
Inculter - Fatal Visions
Mdou Moctar - Ilana (The Creator)
Cerebral Rot - Odious Descent Into Decay
Cherubs - Immaculada High
Pissgrave - Posthumous Humiliation
Brutus - Nest
Car Bomb - Mordial
Inter Arma - Sulphur English
Elizabeth Colour Wheel - Nocebo

Lingua Ignota - Caligula
Amygdala - Our Voices Will Soar Forever
Moon Tooth - Crux
Elder - Gold & Silver Sessions
Clouds Taste Satanic - Second Sight
Mizmor - Cairn
Funereal Presence - Achatius
Immortal Bird - Thrive on Neglect
Body Void - You Will Know the Fear You Forced Upon Us
Dawn Ray'd - Behold Sedition Plainsong
Clouds Taste Satanic - Evil Eye
Cult of Luna - A Dawn to Fear
Portrayal of Guilt - Suffering Is a Gift
Kostnatění - Hrůza zvítězí
False - Portent
Big Brave - A Gaze Among Them
Inter Arma - Sulphur English
Cloud Rat - Pollinator
Transgression - Lost All Light
Asagraum - Dawn of Infinite Fire
Liturgy - H.A.Q.Q.
Motorpsycho - The Crucible
Neckbeard Deathcamp - So Much for the Tolerant Left
Monolord - No Comfort
Cave In - Final Transmission
Fallujah - Undying Light
An Isolated Mind - I'm Losing Myself
Imperium Dekadenz - When We Are Forgotten
Wreck and Reference - Absolute Still Life
Tool - Fear Inoculum
Sunn O))) - Life Metal
Scissorfight - Doomus Abruptus Vol 1
Full of Hell - Weeping Choir
Tomb Mold - Planetary Clairvoyance
Borknagar - True North
Falls of Rauros - Patterns in Mythology
Botanist - Ecosystem
Exhumed - Horror
Teitanblood - The Baneful Choir
Blood Incantation - Hidden History of the Human Race
Redbait - Cages
Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean - Tell Me What You See Vanishing and I Will Tell You Who You Are
Abyssal - A Beacon In the Husk
Serpent Column - Mirror in Darkness
Misþyrming - Algleymi
Saint Karloff - Interstellar Voodoo
Dream Theater - Distance Over Time
The Great Old Ones - Cosmicism
Esoteric - A Pyrrhic Existence
Jeromes Dream - untitled

the rest of the ranked shortlist:
Follakzoid - I
Sunn O))) - Pyroclasts
Blut aus Nord - Hallucinogen
PUP - Morbid Stuff
Elizabeth Colour Wheel - Nocebo
Jute Gyte - Birefringence
Fly Pan Am - C'est ça
Ausmuteants - Present the World in Handcuffs
Tengger Cavalry - Northern Memory, Vol. 1
Russian Circles - Blood Year
Glenn Branca - The Third Ascension
La Dispute - Panorama
John Garcia - John Garcia and the Band of Gold
Boris - Love & Evol
Chelsea Wolfe - Birth of Violence
Nebula - Holy Shit
Ceremony of Silence - Oútis
Opeth - In cauda venenum
Troll - Legend Master
Darkthrone - Old Star
Lacuna Coil - Black Anima
Dysrhythmia - Terminal Threshold
Astronoid - Astronoid
Mayhem - Daemon
Vastum - Orificial Purge
Nekrasov - Lust of Consciousness
BABYMETAL - METAL GALAXY
Desert Sessions - Desert Sessions Volume 11 & 12
Botanist - Hammer of Botany + Oplopanax Horridus
Nordjevel - Necrogenesis
Krallice - Wolf
Alcest - Spiritual Instinct
Have a Nice Life - Sea of Worry
Candlemass - The Door to Doom
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Infest the Rats' Nest
Wilderun - Veil of Imagination
DragonForce - Extreme Power Metal
Saor - Forgoten Paths
Baroness - Gold & Grey
Nile - Vile Nilotic Rites
Enthroned - Cold Black Suns
Noisem - Cease to Exist
Pelican - Nighttime Stories
Overkill - The Wings of War
Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard - Yn Ol I Annwn
Cattle Decapitation - Death Atlas
Spirit Adrift - Divided by Darkness

Hi other Abyssal voter :)

hihi
I didn't put it real hi because I didn't like it quite as much as their last one, but it was still good.
I'd love to knwo who the other voter was for the two Clouds Taste Satanic albums. I love those guys, I've got like their last five as test pressings.

This was my ballot:

Imprecation - Damnatio Ad Bestias
White Ward - Love Exchange Failure
Coffin Rot - A Monument to the Dead
Judiciary - Surface Noise
Vircolac - Masque
Vastum - Orificial Purge
Aver - Orbis majora
Mefitis - Ember Dawn
Inculter - Fatal Visions
Fetid - Steeping Corporeal Mess
Infernal Conjuration - Infernale metallum mortis
Putrescine - The One Reborn
Deus Mortem - Kosmocide
Sempiternal Dusk - Cenotaph of Defectuous Creation
Veiled - In Blinding Presence
Multishiva - Savupäivä
Immortal Bird - Thrive on Neglect
Valborg - Zentrum
Altarage - The Approaching Roar
Celestial Grave - Secular Flesh
Schammasch - Hearts of No Light
Nightfell - A Sanity Deranged
Weeping Sores - False Confession
Elder - Gold & Silver Sessions

It’s interesting to hear the city being straightforwardly (as in, no dystopian or technocratic concept) evoked in White Ward. Also, it’s nighttime! Really nice

― tangenttangent, Friday, February 28, 2020 9:45 AM (eleven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

on a related "night-cityscape metal" note I recommend Basalte's Vertige.

Holy shit o. nate you were one of the Multishiva voters!

Lantlos - Neon is my favorite cityscape metal record still.

on a related "night-cityscape metal" note I recommend Basalte's Vertige.

Very much seconded.

^good album

Thanks Pom and Oor Neechy for a great poll! Misses yesterday's roll-out, will catch up on the banter later. Meanwhile, I was the sole voter for my number 1: a dark ambient ritualistic album that built up a huge house for me to live in.

1. Trepaneringsritualen - ᛉᛦ - Algir; eller Algir i Merkstave
2. Liturgy - H.A.Q.Q.
3. Lingua Ignota – Caligula
4. Wyrmwoods - Spirit and Teeth
5. Sunn O))) - Life Metal
6. Blut aus Nord - Hallucinogen
7. Jute Gyte – Birefringence
8. Ossuaire - Derniers chants
9. Andavald - Undir skyggðarhaldi
10. Glenn Branca - The Third Ascension
11. Krallice – Wolf
12. Darkthrone - Old Star
13. Fly Pan Am - C'est ça
14. Misþyrming – Algleymi
15. Sunn O))) - Pyroclasts
16. Mgła - Age of Excuse
17. Motorpsycho - The Crucible
18. Elder - Gold & Silver Sessions
19. Botanist - Ecosystem
20. Boris - Love & Evol
21. Chelsea Wolfe - Birth of Violence

Holy shit o. nate you were one of the Multishiva voters!

Yeah, pretty sure it was your post that introduced me to it. It was a late discovery for me, but I'm a sucker for swirling, noisy psych.

on a related "night-cityscape metal" note I recommend Basalte's Vertige.

I remember really liking this! I should return

Meanwhile, Cattle Decapitation is like mindblowingly brilliant!! They’ve been around for ages...how didn’t I know? This would have been in my top 5 for sure.

I can't find my ballot but I'm pretty sure it was these seven albums, unweighted:
Alcest - Spiritual Instinct
Lingua Ignota - Caligula
Jute Gyte – Birefringence
Glenn Branca - The Third Ascension
Botanist - Ecosystem
Witch Trail - The Sun Has Left the Hill
Kostnatění - Hrůza zvítězí

I'm slowly catching up with Liturgy, Sunn O))), Big Brave, Fly Pan Am, Ossuaire, all of which I liked.

Tomb Mold seems to have terrified the cat.

Your cat is such a pussy...cat

Some really appealing moments on the Blood Incantation, reminding me a bit of Obliveon and Voivod.

favorite discoveries ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XykVtBm3vg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLwvW7uoi84

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFeHsMDKW9s