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

Can't contribute as much as I'd like today but both the Haunter and the Disentomb are solid slabs of blackened death and old school death, respectively. I commend Teitanblood on their ambition, but sadly 'twas not enough to make a believer out of me.

Don't worry, pomenitul will be back for his turn tomorrow

slipknot and disentomb way tooo low. nos. 3 and 4 respectively on my ballot

ts: large sad man vs. tortilla man

Large Sad Tortilla Man

"large sad tortilla man" is my favorite xiu xiu song (xp!!)

54

Ossuaire - Derniers chants

161 points, 4 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3480842895_10.jpg

https://ossuaire.bandcamp.com/album/derniers-chants

https://nattskog.wordpress.com/2019/10/06/album-review-ossuaire-derniers-chants/

Only six months have passed since OSSUAIRE stormed into the Canadian Black Metal scene with their debut album and they already have its follow-up. With Canada having some of the best Black Metal such as classics Forteresse and Monarque and in more recent years Spectral Wound and Nocturnal Departure, this should be rivetingly atmospheric. Out via Sepulchral Productions on October 15th.

Snarling guitars draw in haunting atmospherics over blasting drum assaults and accompanied by the howled screams that one expects from this type of Black Metal. While wholly gorgeous in terms of atmosphere, there is a dissonant edge to the music that adds an uncomfortable tinge to the flame of truly masterful Black Metal destruction. The blend of raw classic Black Metal that has the traditionally bombastic and aggressive assaults meets some fundamentally stunning atmospherics that certainly have the Canadian soul imprinted on them, making for some of the most beautifully chilling extremities that can be heard. Gruesomely dark with a morbid spark to the violence that is captivating amidst the more ear-pleasing ambience, there is so much brooding contempt within this release when you scratch below the surface, something that should be at the heart of all Black Metal, but in this case is nuanced so stunningly. Ripping through malevolence and disturbingly cold musicianship, the profoundly primitive yet well-played instrumentals and vocals blend into a wall of cutting soundscapes that will certainly envelope any fan of Black Metal, which it certainly does brilliantly and thankfully has excellent music to back up the atmosphere, rather than being a vapid and pointlessly pretty record, Ossuaire have all the violence and piercing hatred as a driving force behind this unholy art. Aside from a barrage of vicious blasting drums and tremolo guitar madness, there is also some gorgeously melancholic sounds such as the third piece, which delivers an introspective and devastatingly dark mournfulness, breaking up the destruction for tension to build and with utmost effectiveness. Obliteration continues with full force and this album keeps you on your toes throughout with bitter disdain and unsettling beauty in ultimate tandem. The last two songs bring in a medieval sounding epic that is gorgeously cinematic but no less haunting nor ferocious than the leading up to this point, following an interlude of magnificence and mellowness, these ending pieces close the album in style. Truly a masterpiece of Canadian Black Metal that stands tall with some of the genres greatest acts, magnificent.

Listened to this while aying a board game last week and chucked it onto my ballot as it suited playing a board game really well. Score one to pomenitul's campaigning

yet another black metal album

Playing, even

Montreal reprezzzzzzzent.

Nor do they appear to be fascists as far as I can tell, so that's always a plus!

looks interesting

Not the highest Canadian BM on my ballot, mind

purchased on bandcamp

albums about the downfall of the church just hit a little different when they come from QC

The City of a Hundred Falling Steeples.

53

Crypt Sermon - The Ruins of Fading Light

162 points, 5 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1033112474_16.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/4aoflNFxmOl42MD6tq6WSc

https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-ruins-of-fading-light

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/crypt-sermon-the-ruins-of-fading-light-review/

Crypt Sermon came out of nowhere with their 2015 Out of the Garden debut, stunning metaldom with an unusually mature take on doom in the Candlemass vein. The high level of songwriting and top-notch performances earned them a lot of attention in a hurry, and before the band knew it, they were an overnight doom sensation, getting asked to play numerous festivals and having their name mentioned in the same breath as more established doom acts. 2019 brings them to the crucible of the dreaded sophomore release, which has made and unmade many a band over the years. In their promo materials, the band candidly admits to being overwhelmed by the success their debut garnered, and that finding time to work on new material given all their newfound time commitments became a real challenge. So much so that they apparently wrote and discarded an entire album’s worth of material before settling on what appears here on The Ruins of the Fading Light. So what does the 2019 version of Crypt Sermon sound like? It’s basically the same sound, but darker and with outside elements like black metal making brief, shadowy appearances. At times there’s a noticeable similarity to a certain group of nameless ghouls as well. It carries over some of the debut’s brilliance, but shows some unsightly warts too. In other words, it’s a mixed Halloween bag of tricks, treats, Ghosts and ghouls.

Haven't heard their debut but I thought this was pretty good, no more and no less (I didn't vote for it).

same

52

Fly Pan Am - C'est ça

164 points, 4 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2782215947_16.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/5OA5TxrmSg2EOlNFYLvpJ1

https://flypanam.bandcamp.com/album/cest-a

http://exclaim.ca/music/article/fly_pan_am-cest_a

On their first album in 15 years, Fly Pan Am return wiser and more established by coming off wilder and less structured. Once known as an offshoot of Godspeed You! Black Emperor (due to guitarist Roger Tellier-Craig's stint with the band in the early '00s), the quartet run the genre gamut on their fourth LP, C'est ça, mixing and moulding together an amazing blend of influences to craft something sonically otherworldly.

Reforming in 2017 to play a single show in their hometown of Montreal, the quartet communally mashed together a decade of musical education indiscreetly, as the LP finds the band weaving squiggly electronic freak-outs ("Avant-gardez vous," "Alienage Syntropy"), shoegaze-y walls of sound ("Distance Dealer," "Discreet Channeling"), black metal vocals ("Bleeding Decay," "One Hit Wonder"), and all of the above ("Each Ether") into a satisfying whole.

Over nine tracks and 40 minutes, the quartet wonderfully mess with sonics, timing, rhythm and their own legacy. But what makes C'est ça such a triumphant return for the band lies in just how damn listenable Fly Pan Am make it all come off, giving fans something much more adventurous and challenging than simple nostalgia would ever allow.

I voted for this

My #16

Montreal reprezzzzzent x2.

I listened to it thanks to Neechy's campaigning and thought it was pretty awesome. A 'send-up of blackgaze', I think we called it in the other thread?

Been a long term fan of this band so it was really nice to not only come back with a new album but with a new sound. Really terrific stuff.

I wanna know if TT and Imago liked it?

I think this album would have crossover appeal to the shoegazers on ilm

another very fine album that a) didn't feel right on my ballot and b) I knew would make it without me. lovely to have these guys back, Constellation are still killing it.

Did this make the general poll?

I don't think so?

Pretty sure it didn't, no. It would be like top 5 here if it had, 'cause that's just how this stuff works these days.

ILM has never been big on Constellation stuff for some reason.

51

Yellow Eyes - Rare Field Ceiling

168 points, 5 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1616301331_16.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/3I88oDjMGAsXl69k1Cd1m8

https://yelloweyes.bandcamp.com/album/rare-field-ceiling

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/yellow-eyes-rare-field-ceiling-review/

Now that the year is finally over, let’s look back on the embarrassment of riches that has been black metal in 2019. With so many incredible albums to pick from it’s hard to…wait, FUCK ME IT’S STILL JUNE?! How have we had so many exceptional albums from what is supposedly an overstuffed, tired genre in just six months? By my count, we’ve awarded a 3.5 or higher to 43 albums that feature black metal as the primary genre over the last 26 weeks, and that’s just albums we’ve covered at AMG & Sons LLC. Acts like Misþyrming, Cénotaphe and Krzysztof Drabikowski, among others, have also released rock solid entries in what will henceforth be called The Great Year ov Blackened Dark Blacky Blackness. Right about here is where I’d normally play coy and be all “but can Yellow Eyes distinguish themselves in such a distinguished year?” I’ll be up front with you, Rare Field Ceiling, the NY band’s fifth full-length in their decade long career, is right up there with the best black metal releases of 2019.

If you’re familiar with the last couple of Yellow Eyes albums, Rare Field Ceiling does little to change up the formula. These New Yorkers still play dense black metal that is equal parts melody and dissonance in compositions that wend and wind and double back on themselves. This outing pushes the dissonance slightly more forward than on 2017’s excellent Immersion Trench Reverie, and while it also includes similar ethereal song transitions, the familiar reek-reeking of frogs is absent this time. At six songs and right around 45 minutes, each track has enough room to take you on a journey through buzzing riffscapes that resist easy memorization, thus maintaining rewarding surprises while neural pathways are slowly acclimated over repeat listens. In this way, Rare Field Ceiling reminds me strongly of Blut Aus Nord‘s Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry which is similarly dense while rarely repeating a riff more than once.

This should've been right up my alley but the songwriting did absolutely nothing for me.

my #31

For some reason I always find these guys' chord progressions super satisfying.

50

Wormed - Metaportal

169 points, 5 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4153785032_16.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/47ehIhknZRhZZqFDiUf29A

https://wormed.bandcamp.com/album/metaportal

https://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/2019/07/11/wormed-metaportal/

Tech death is a weird branch of the metal tree. Focused primarily on performative fireworks as opposed to standard songwriting structures, the music can at times come across as highly robotic. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but for me as a listener there’s only so many insane guitar passages in an album that I can hear before I crave, you know… songs. With structure. Perhaps this is just an “old man yells at cloud” moment, but the opinion stands regardless. Thankfully, there are plenty of bands in the tech death world that take their songwriting chops seriously, and chief among them is Wormed. Spain’s finest death metal product, this insanely talented group of musicians has been pumping out amazing records for nearly two decades now, and they show no signs of slowing down. But if they decided to, it would be nearly impossible to fault them for it. The death of their drummer Guillermo Calero came as a shock and enormous blow to the metal community at large, and finding a replacement for his incredible talent seemed a task nearly impossible given the band’s technical prowess. The follow-up to their acclaimed full-length Krighsu, Metaportal is the band’s first musical installment of their heady sci-fi saga to include Gabriel Valcázar on drums. He has some big shoes to fill, and good grief does he ever fill them. On performative and songwriting levels, Metaportal continues Wormed’s string of excellent releases, and is one of the more effectively concentrated doses of insane death metal the year has yet produced.

I found this a bit much, which I know is part of the point, but I like my muchness less kitschy (with the proviso that kitsch is very much in the eye of the beholder, of course).

I expect Brad loves it!

haven't heard it, wormed tends to also be too much for me

wow, I was sure it would've been one of your votes when it said tech-death

TIE 48

Brutus - Nest

170 points, 6 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0516982036_16.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/4iAFMr0roXFZLFALz8oOEr

https://wearebrutus.bandcamp.com/album/nest

https://www.stereogum.com/2036984/brutus-nest-review/franchises/album-of-the-week/

The “about” line you’ll find on Brutus’ social channels serves as an apt manifestation of the Belgian post-metal band’s art: minimalist, mysterious, and menacing. It reads:

“Trouble comes in threes. So does Brutus.”

While evocative, the tagline does not provide much in the way of background, clarity, or definition. Even so, it’s probably a better jumping-off point than whatever rote bit of bio I might offer by way of a beginning, so let’s take what they’ve given us and fill in the blanks, starting by breaking the phrase into its component parts:

“Trouble comes in threes.”

This is a reference to the Rule Of Three: an ancient principle that applies (or can be applied) to basically every element of human history, from the Egyptian pyramids and Aristotelian philosophy to marketing techniques and molecular physics. The Rule Of Three is so prevalent in communication that it’s often invisible, which only underscores its effectiveness. It is supposedly captured in the Latin phrase “omne trium perfectum” (or “everything that comes in threes is perfect”). So far, so good? Good. So:

“So does Brutus.”

That Wormed EP is, I think, their best release yet, and ppl who were overwhelmed by their earlier releases might find that the length and actual melodic content (!!) make it more digestible.

I surprised myself by making Brutus a late cut from my ballot.

I lied about there no longer being any ties yesterday.

Are Brutus an Imago & TT band?

I haven't heard this but as I was saying upthread power trios systematically pique my curiosity.

TIE 48

Misþyrming - Algleymi

170 points, 6 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1069899320_10.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/4uWiO8kSwoVRt6tpb6TrgU

https://misthyrming.bandcamp.com/album/algleymi

https://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/2019/07/08/heavy-delinquency-misthyrmings-algleymi/

There are few scenes in the metal world that have drawn as much attention and critical acclaim as Icelandic black metal has over the past several years. Band’s like Zhrine, Sinmara, Svartidauði, Auðn, Wormlust, and a host of others have created a regional nexus for dense, aggressive, highly atmospheric black metal that has its own distinct voice, narrative, and songwriting style, and listeners like me can’t get enough of it. Perhaps the most influential purveyor of this style is Misþyrming, whose 2015 debut Söngvar elds og óreiðu catapulted them and the scene as a whole into the spotlight more than any record before it. It’s a masterclass of icy, jagged, and dense black metal that is as good a launch pad as any into the wilds of Iceland’s black metal scene. Their follow-up to that fantastic debut, Algleymi, dropped in May, and I listened to it. Once. I found it an enjoyable listen, then put it away for other records I was more focused on at the time. About a week ago Algleymi popped back up on my radar, and I decided to give it another go. Well over half-a-dozen listens later, I’m kicking myself for not having reviewed this record sooner. Not only is it the band’s best record, it’s also one of the best records of the year in any genre.

There are any number of factors that could be listed to describe why this album is so excellent, but the most immediate is the record’s sheer listenability. Black metal isn’t what I would typically describe as an inviting style of music, but Misþyrming have here created a sound that is both extremely hard-hitting and highly melodic, inserting enough earworm riffs into their songwriting to encourage mid-day humming from listeners for months to come. Opening track “Orgia” serves as a perfect example of this dichotomy. It’s opening moments are a pure rush of black metal darkness replete with robust blast beats and fantastically melodramatic guitar-driven majesty, cascading over listeners in a torrential outpouring of emotion. D.G.’s vocals, the best of his career, burst forth from the maelstrom with uncanny levels of hostility, further entrenching the track’s initially menacing tone. But as “Orgia” develops, it starts to unfold melodically in a big way. There are several riffs that make their way into the song that transcend the sheer brutality of its opening moments through resonant melodic lines, complemented by an absolutely massive percussive performance (executed with fervor and skill by H.R.H.) that very naturally switches gears from straight blasting into a more open style that somehow never loses its intensity. There is one particular passage just past the halfway point of the track that could be considered downright triumphant, latching onto a supremely catchy riff that propels the song to its soul-stirring finale. It’s a perfect example of what the band do best on Algleymi, and its qualities only further ascend from there.

I liked that one but didn't spend enough with it to vote for it

My #4. Siegbran found it too close to Mgła for (aesthetic) comfort, but I think they expand on the formula by being less minimalistic and maybe a wee bit more melodic as well. Anyway, this is one of the metal albums I listened to the most last year.

Ossuaire and this last one on my ballot due to Pom’s recommendation!

“This last one” bcz on phone