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

Voted for Spirit Adrift and Cosmic Dead, lots of other clearly amazing stuff here I'll have to check out. Versperith seems like I'll like it.

I like that they went for the communist-era spelling of vircolac (well, minus the î). These days it's vârcolac, except if you were to drop the hat it would likely sound mangled in English with a mere 'a'. When uttered it kind of sounds like 'vurr-koh-LAHK' and denotes a demon who devours the sun and the moon, precipitating lunar phases and eclipses in the process.

Nice, thank you!

We're back to Reveal. What an amazing discovery

It would be remiss of me not to mention that the cover of the Cosmic Dead album is not conceptually too far from the cover of imago's novel.

A goodly chunk of my ballot placed in today's batch, including my #3 Coffin Rot (straight up fun OSDM) and my #5 Vircolac (a bit more blackened and raw). I should spend more time with that Gaahl's Wyrd, since I enjoyed his work with Trelldom.

Voted for Fvneral Fvkk. Frankly incredible that they pvlled that concept off.

Mizmor album is aite but for these ears the noise bits >>> the metal bits

Paladin album is legit m

(m = imo)

Multishiva was sounding groovy and shamanic last night. Managed about four songs of Atlantean Kodex before that.

Mizmor makes me think of "smizmar" from Futurama and thus I shall never listen to them

It's considerably more poetic than that:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Psalms

http://www.bardomethodology.com/articles/2020/02/20/reveal-interview/

This is quite something

Unsurprisingly, this approach has led to some complications along the way. For instance, Crakk has previously battled major opioid addiction – mostly tramadol, which is a heavy-duty painkiller, but also heroin.

– I also love speed, acid, and mushrooms; preferably all together. I’ve always been into Lyrica and booze too. I haven’t really been sober one single day for the last two or three years now, I just take less opiates. I got a bit sick of them after about the tenth time I woke up at the hospital after having an epileptic seizure in the street. Also, one time, I died for several minutes. But that shit is just tiresome, boring, and – let’s be honest – a bit pathetic. I remember the “Flystrips” tour in 2017, when I ran out of opioids around half-way through; genius! When everything hurts and you hate every little inch of yourself but there’s nowhere to hide and you can’t ever be even the slightest bit comfortable… and then you have to get up on stage and perform in front of eyes that sear like lasers. Withdrawal fucks with your self-hatred and self-image so, besides everything feeling horrid all the time, it makes someone who’s already demented even more demented. The soul is of course intact but the bridge between spirit and body, the mind or mentality, becomes distorted. Especially the ego becomes out of balance. Anyway, addiction in itself isn’t that interesting, it’s mostly just intimately connected with the physical sensation of pain and the soulless empty shell of a piss-world theatre. So, moral of the story, either be on drugs and have a shitload of them or stay off entirely and, perhaps, don’t get hooked on the worst thing you can possibly get addicted to.

Wow, no kidding LJ :D

OT but this is the first time I've ever heard of the mix of Lyrica and alcohol to get yr kicks! I take Lyrica for trigeminal neuralgia (a good band name imo; they also call it the "suicide disease", he might have been triggered by that?), but cannot see it as a tripping thing.

Either way: thread delivers!

Bardo Methodology really has a knack for eliciting peak edginess from their interviewees.

Didn't they do a good Ruins Of Beverast one a while back

All the anguished, intelligent alcoholics

honestly stopped reading Bardo Methodology because even when they weren't revealing the edgy politics of bands I regretted liking their interviews are just excruciatingly pretentious

Coming up in 2-ish hours: even more Large Sad Men. Eat your heart out, Simon.

Alright this Reveal album rules

anyone who likes Scissorgod be sure to check out their Flystrips album too

Is it me or is it a bit. Cardiacs-y (or Panixphere-y) in places (Clevermouth!), though not the vocals obviously. Maybe it's that Lydian / tritone tang.

It being the Reveal album.

Exactly the response tt and I had to that song (which would have stormed into the upper reaches of my main poll tracks ballot)

It also reminds me of the whacked-out psych-gaze of Votaries from a few years ago

And obviously when it comes to Scandi metal-inflected post-punk, there's a clear lineage with Virus and RA as well

there's a clear lineage with Virus and RA as well

<3 RA but I'd be legit shocked if these guys were influenced by them

(of course I myself am convinced that both "Scottish Space Race" & Terminal Cheesecake's "Golden Hare" both are examples of the profound & enormous influence that DMBQ's Keeeenly has had over the British psych scene)

Brace yourselves, we've got a two-way tie coming up…

TIE 97
False - Portent
92 points, 4 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3620678273_10.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/7yRphAvRA5fDVi9EcHsoTu

https://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/2019/07/10/false-portent/

From the record’s opening frame, a few things become clear. Firstly, this record is a much leaner affair than their debut, minimizing its track count by 1 and runtime by nearly 20 minutes. Portent brings a more focused offering than the release that preceded it, which in this case offers a marked improvement over Untitled’s principal flaw: bloat. Where their debut could have done with a trim or two, Portent blasts out your speakers with the fat shorn away, presenting four tracks of focused aggression that never overstay their welcome (even at 10+ minutes each, minus the instrumental closing track). Opener “A Victual to Our Dead Selves” kicks off the record in glorious fashion, highlighting improved production and mixing as well as a songwriting aesthetic that goes straight for the jugular. False don’t mess around when it comes to shoving listeners directly into riffy mayhem, feeling more akin to Mayhem, Darkthrone, and in general the Norwegian second wave in this regard than some of their contemporaries. Emperor and Immortal should be mentioned here as well, as the band’s sense of melodrama and melody is even more finely tuned here than it was on their debut, featuring memorable and aggressive song structures that are diverse while never losing their innate sense of propulsion. It’s a stunning opening that paved the way for the wonders that await on the remainder of the record.

TIE 97
Russian Circles - Blood Year
92 points, 4 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2119011724_10.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/1LWWmVyhDxFAxBmQe3ecZb

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/russian-circles-blood-year-review/

Several years on, and having released the epic Guidance in between, Russian Circles are back with seventh full-length Blood Year (if you are unfamiliar with their discography and not yet ready to commit to working your way through it album by album, check out our primer playlist). Blood Year is not a record I took to immediately. I’d heard two of its strongest tracks—”Arluck” and “Milano”—before getting the promo and liked them both a lot but on my first couple of spins of the record as a whole, it felt a little disjointed. One of the distinctive things about Circles‘ albums until this point is their expansive, lush feel, with each track flowing pretty seamlessly into the next. Blood Year, however, feels less nuanced and more direct—a sense perhaps presaged by that beautifully simplistic cover artwork—than their last two albums, Memorial and Guidance, with each track standing on its own. It is also more consistently heavy than any of their previous releases, with only intro “Hunter Moon” and interlude “Ghost on High” providing respite.

Two more from my ballot. Russian Circles are really the best at This Sort Of Thing if you're into This Sort Of Thing.

False had the decency to use a Lewandowski cover where Large Sad Man is shown only in barest outline.

Possibly Two Large Sad Men, depending on the beholder's eye.

I think 7 of mine have already turned up! Looking forward to checking out the Reveal album.

I recall vaguely enjoying the False album, but not enough to return to it. As for Russian Circles, I guess it's not my Sort of Thing.

(With my apologies for not recusing myself from commentary as per imago's graceful example during the 00s albums rollout.)

96
Zig Zags - They'll Never Take Us Alive
95 points, 2 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0830932615_10.jpg

https://www.echoesanddust.com/2019/05/zig-zags-theyll-never-take-us-alive/

“Every album we record, every song we write – has to be faster, harder and heavier – than the one before”, so says the press release accompanying the fourth album from L.A.’s Zig-Zags. That quote could virtually be lifted from any band out of the pages of the eighties thrash metal mag Metal Forces. And that’s a little clue as to what the Zig-Zags deliver, a circle back to the time when NWOBHM and the very early stages of thrash intertwined.

No modern take on thrash here, nor is it a copycat of any particular-band, but They’ll Never take Us Alive successfully captures the pure rawness, energy, naivety of early eighties hard-core punk, Venom, Show No Mercy era Slayer, and especially Metallica, when they were that little ole’ thrash band. Also, tag in NWOBHM at its most-heaviest and most proto-thrashiest rawest, as in the company of Raven, and Savage.

This album spits and snarls, snapping away at relentless speed and adrenalin fuelled energy like teenagers taking bad, cheap drugs and alcohol. The Zig-Zags captures the sound of this time in metal history so well, I break out in acne every time I put the album on. And is there a better opening title, and indeed, a no-nonsense, thrashing mad, race you ‘till the end belter in ‘Punk Fucking Metal’ to set you on a rollicking collision course of a ride.

Oh, and the Spotify link:

https://open.spotify.com/album/5lIO4Re1meT6ks5G4vSqBV

(With my apologies for not recusing myself from commentary as per imago's graceful example during the 00s albums rollout.)

Your commentary rules and really helps foster discussion which I know us always a big concern with these polls. This is the most lively the metal poll has been in years..

I hate to just keep commenting on covers but lmao @ that one. The description sounds awesome though, I'll have to check it out.

<3 DAM, with additional apologies for the sheer un-metalness of this post.

Part of the 'problem' with these retro-af albums is that I feel like I need to spend more time with the originals first. I'm slowly getting there.

Never heard of this, but it sounds awesome. Definitely queuing this one up to check out.

yeah the zig zags were party like it's 1989 fun, novelty effect absent ofc. fun, nonetheless

seconding drug's last post

How many of us under-35ers (I've got a few more weeks to go) are heavily into thrash, I wonder?

How many of us over-35s have the energy for thrash.

inculter incoming?

How many of us under-35ers (I've got a few more weeks to go) are heavily into thrash, I wonder?

― romanesque architect (pomenitul), Monday, February 24, 2020 7:33 AM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it’s the best kind of metal

lol Brad, that's less vmic than usual – I thought you were going to say every kind of metal is the best kind of metal.

Is there a subgenre you actively dislike?

black metal has to be like tremendous or heavily deathened to impress me. a lot of doomish stonery stuff is lost on me

Surprised by the latter tbh. I definitely like it a lot more on paper than I do while it's playing.