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

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

alright, just found out irrefutable evidence of leipzig-based veiled playing live. red stage lights doesn't seem do them any favours tho. what's wrong with good ol' pitchblack? need to see these guys live asap, and ftr they do know a thing or two about tension. your first record, you say? thx to the in blinding presence voters. fave discovery tonight

seem to do*

looks like I have plenty of stuff to listen to

Catching up now. 4 of my votes on here already. Had Fetid and Paladin pretty high and Nile and Mizmor in the lower reachs. Listening to Reveal now and would have voted for it if I heard it in time.

Voted for Vanum! Very good life metal. Also the only ones of these I have ever heard about, I think.

life metal?

Wow, I haven't heard any of these albums before. I'm listening to the Have A Nice Life album right now though and liking it a lot, and Vanum was also very good.

The Vanum is sounding good. Reminds me of Blood Fire Death more than the Atlantean Kodex did. I had Fetid and Veiled on my ballot. I'm liking the way the poll is shaping up so far.

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

i'm not a huge fan of the current lineup... IMO the best two Nile albums were 'annihilation of the wicked' and 'black seeds of vengeance'

I liekd it fine, at this point they've settled into a formula so they rarely make my tip top, but I think I was one of the three votes for it as it placed somewhere in my list

Voted for Vanum. “Under the Banner of Death” was a standout track of the year for me. Also voted Ithica, but lower.

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

This is pretty shocking to me that Angry Metal Guy has offices (and enough staff that there can be a "majority")... I never read the site much, but I always kinda assumed it was one dude working out of his basement, with some contributions from his buddies.
(Also, high five to the other Paladin voter!)

They definitely do not have an actual office.

There's a lot of Winger in A Kodex's DNA but the thicker sound and epic scope adds a lot of power to the cheese, almost makes it sound cool

I'm going to listen to Have a Nice Life next

I would've voted for this. It's better than a few things on my ballot

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.

I don't know whether their office is literal or virtual but this statement is astoundingly bereft of self-awareness. They routinely praise power metal to the high heavens, don't they?

Hurray for the roll-out!

the cover of that paladin record is fucking awesome, can't wait to check it out

a 3 way tie up next

I'm pretty tired of lewandowski cover art at this point.

(re Miznor)

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