Rolling 2020 Metal Thread

"Bema Seat", horrifying lyrics aside, is a bop.

if Aktor's similar to that, might have to give em another whirl. think I bought something of theirs five years ago and didn't return to it much.

never spun them before, but very into the Contrarian album that just dropped. "prog death metal" in 2020 sends me scampering because it usually means paper thin guitars playing boring as fuck riffs. this is more from the Death-school of prog death (though I wouldn't say they sound LIKE Death, just share more in common with that kind of prog death).

How did Tombs put out another album in 2020?

I don't like Under Sullen Skies quite as much as Monarchy of Shadows but it's still very good. I get a Celtic Frost/Triptykon vibe on some of the tracks here which is not a bad thing.

I only listen to 3-4 power metal albums a year, tops, but Decibel wasn't kidding when they gave Eternal Champion their #2 EOY spot. I wouldn't go that far, but it's pretty good.

Listening to the new Botanist quite a lot, love the dynamics, lots of tempo changes. Sludgy black shoegaze for the win!

ps. Otrebor (aka Roberto Martinelli aka Botanist) might be one of the few extreme metal dudes with a Linkedin profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberto-martinelli-sf/

lol that's quite funny

Couldn't help it and pre-ordered the mega deluxe Among the Living graphic novel package which includes picture disc vinyl, engraved plaque, t shirt, graphic novel, etc.

I just love that alb what can i say

Going through older issues of Decibel and playing this I didn't get to.

Man, this Uada album is great! Funny that the only mention of the band above was their exceedingly tenuous allegations of being semi-closeted Nazis.

I thought it was a real step down from their first two albums musically and that the mopey anti-SJW lyrical content of the track "No Place Here" belied their previous claims of being "apolitical" and made it pretty clear that their stance is much more right wing and reactionary than anything else.

I had no idea that large chunks of The Devil's Blood had reformed as Molassess, but better late than never, I like this quite a bit. Really obnoxious that they needed to break an album that was barely longer than an hour into two CDs though.

(xp) While I disagree it's a step down musically, checking out the lyrics of that song do tell a tale that the Decibel cover story did not.

Being "cancelled" due to tenuous connections (a la Woe, who seemed to suffer the same repercussions for the same reason) bothers me, but Woe didn't write anything like that, nor would they. I don't know if they are right wing but that track reeks of the kind of bothsiderism that I am pretty much done with. So thanks.

I'm not gonna listen to that Uada song but the lyrics as reproduced make me think the last section might be...a rap? Please tell me it is.

What's the deal with Woe getting "cancelled"? Nearest I can find is because they were sharing a bill with Inquisition?

And then I checked out Twitter to see what ws being said about the band.

Hahahahaha I'm sorry but Uada choosing this particular moment in time to release merch featuring "a battlte torn and bloodied American flag" is objectively more embarassing than every hammy corpse-paint photo combined.

— Kez Whelan (@kez_whelan) November 7, 2020

LOL pic.twitter.com/fy7gU858TQ

— EXTINCTION (eco-slam) (@Capt_Grapefruit) November 7, 2020

Uada are being fcken ridiculous. Today of all days is NOT the time to be ‘ambivalent’. And of course it was timed for release. pic.twitter.com/5sTNet11ym

— JayKeeley (@doomedparade) November 7, 2020

Yikes.

Gunning for that opening slot on the next Five Finger Death Punch tour (whenever that might be), I see.

like i dunno has there ever been a metal band who got accused of suspect political shit that didn't ultimately prove to be true? like it seems like it happens every 2 weeks

looks like their twitter is gone

The new Wytch Hazel is some damn solid 70s trad metal revival shit.

― pomenitul, Saturday, November 21, 2020 12:53 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

thanks! i got into II: Sojurn from the metal thread a couple years ago and I could never remember the name of the band I just kept think Wishbone Ash

xposts to unperson

calling it a rap might be a stretch, but if I recall, it is effectively a slightly distorted spoken word rant versus the rest of the song and album which is all standard unintelligible growls, so it seems they wanted to words from that last part to come across more clearly for the listener for some reason.

I thought the music was mediocre and I’m a sucker for this style.

woah
i just had a crazy musical moment

the youtube of that petra song was playing over that controversial uada song on spotify

got pretty trippy

Re: Wytch Hazel, I haven't heard the first couple, but they're on my list now. Quality Christian rock is a rare bird.

I really liked the second Wytch Hazel, this is a good reminder to grab it along with the most recent two Brown Acid releases from Riding Easy.

Nobody posted this so I may as well - Decibel's Top 40 albums of 2020

40. Dark Fortress, Spectres from the Old World, Century Media
39. Fawn Limbs, Sleeper Vessels, Roman Numeral
38. Exgenesis, Solve et Coagula, Rain Without End
37. Megaton Sword, Blood Hails Steel – Steel Hails Fire, Dying Victims
36. Oranssi Pazuzu, Mestarin Kynsi, Nuclear Blast
35. Svalbard, When I Die, Will I Get Better, Translation Loss
34. Enslaved, Utgard, Nuclear Blast
33. In the Company of Serpents, Lux, Self-released
32. Xibalba, Años En Infierno, Southern Lord
31. Wake, Devouring Ruin, Translation Loss
30. Cirith Ungol, Forever Black, Metal Blade
29. Proscription, Conduit, Dark Descent
28. Celestial Season, The Secret Teachings, Burning World
27. Midnight, Rebirth by Blasphemy, Metal Blade
26. Krallice, Mass Cathexis, Self-released
25. ACxDC, Satan is King, Prosthetic
24. Temple of Void, The World That Was, Shadow Kingdom
23. Atramentus, Stygian, 20 Buck Spin
22. Tombs, Under Sullen Skies, Season of Mist
21. Haunt, Flashback, Church
20. Kirk Windstein, Dream in Motion, eOne
19. Pallbearer, Forgotten Days, Nuclear Blast
18. Lamp of Murmuur, Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism, Self-released
17. Godthrymm, Reflections, Profound Lore
16. Dropdead, Dropdead, Armageddon
15. Ripped to Shreds 亂 (Luan), Pulverized
14. Vile Creature, Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm!, Prosthetic
13. Of Feather & Bone, Sulfuric Disintegration, Profound Lore
12. Armored Saint, Punching the Sky, Metal Blade
11. Incantation, Sect of Vile Divinities, Relapse
10. Goden, Beyond Darkness, Svart
9. Paradise Lost, Obsidian, Nuclear Blast
8. Uada, Djinn, Eisenwald
7. Sweven, The Eternal Resonance, Van
6. Necrot, Mortal, Tankcrimes
5. Spirit Adrift, Enlightened in Eternity, 20 Buck Spin
4. Paysage d’Hiver, Im Wald, Kunsthall Produktionen
3. Imperial Triumphant, Alphaville, Century Media
2. Eternal Champion, Ravening Iron, No Remorse
1. Napalm Death, Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism, Century Media

Some have decried the inclusion of so many old bands but it makes sense in this year of uncertainty that people would gravitate to known quantities.

I have checked out most of these albums. The ones that made my purchase list are Napalm Death, Imperial Triumphant, Paysage d’Hiver, Paradise Lost, Of Feather & Bone, Vile Creature, Haunt, Tombs, Krallice, Cirith Ungol, and Oranssi Pazuzu, nearly a third of the list.

A lot of the rest I liked but not quite enough to pull the trigger on buying the album. In the past I might have seen these bands on tour and picked them up from the bands so the pandemic was responsible for me consuming less music this year.

There are a handful of things I didn't get to check out so far and I will spend the next few days doing that, starting with the Eternal Champion.

The Eternal Champion LP is GREAT. I voted for only nine of those dB albums, but that's been par for the course lately. Drifting away from black metal will do that!

I've heard 11 of those (Enslaved, Xibalba, Tombs, Pallbearer, Dropdead, Armored Saint, Incantation, Necrot, Spirit Adrift, Imperial Triumphant, and Napalm Death). Enslaved and Tombs and Dropdead were all kinda forgettable, but the others were good. I just don't have as much time to listen to metal as I once did, and anything new I do check out is gonna have to compete with comfort-food metal (Judas Priest, Motörhead, Metallica, Slayer, Grand Magus) for my few available listening hours.

We briefly discussed it in the EOY lists thread but you're right, this is a better place for it. The Eternal Champion is really good btw, and I say this as someone with very little appetence for power metal in general.

I've been re-listening to various faves now that 2020 is drawing to a close and of those 50, probable locks for my own top 50 are currently: Paysage d'Hiver, Necrot, Atramentus, Oranssi Pazuzu. Possibly the Eternal Champion if it doesn't outstay its welcome.

It's gotta suck for Eternal Champion to be completely sold out of vinyl and CD copies of this album right when they are getting lots of end of year buzz.

They keep popping CDs on. In fact, just today they added CDs back to their Bandcamp page.

However $19 is a bit much (with shipping) and Amazon has it for $13.98 and I am a Prime Member so no shipping however the release date is the week before Christmas but I can wait a few weeks to save five bucks.

It's not on Spotify, which is a bummer mainly because I cannot add anything from the album to my Best of 2020 playlist. There's always a few albums that I like that aren't on Spotify but this is considerably higher in profile than the other stuff.

Stoner metal and heavy psych are still mostly terra incognita for me but Rezn’s Chaotic Divine is doing a damn good job of holding my attention despite clocking at 1h4m.

Ha, Eternal Champion must have restocked those CDs between my post earlier and yours, I had just checked there before I posted and everything was sold out. Think I may wait for Amazon myself too though, seeing as that’s an option.

that band name keeps reminding me of the Sega Genesis game so i want to buy it

Bornyhake, the guy behind Borgne, among innumerable other projects, somehow also found the time to record a one-man funeral doom album as My Death Belongs to You, and it's a 2020 subgenre highlight alongside Atramentus's Stygian and Ahab's Live Prey:

https://mydeathbelongstoyou.bandcamp.com/releases

The subgenre being funeral doom rather than one-man funeral doom, mind you.

missed this but the new KD is still coming out, just bumped to 2021, and new Mercyful Fate as well

http://metalstorm.net/events/news_comments.php?news_id=39864

Came here to post about the new Akhlys sounding great and scary and saw NYCNative's post about the guy. Always disappointing to hear.

I'd not heard them before and death metal is usually a hard sell for me, but Of Feather and Bone seems like a very full-on and exciting project. Very murky and changeable and quite doomish in places.

With December now looming on the horizon, I’d like everyone to know that I’m up for a 2020 metal poll if you are, so do honk if you’re interested.

I'll participate.

Incidentally the Decibel list prompted me to listen to anything I hadn't heard before and I wound up adding Celestial Season and Eternal Champion to my Amazon want list.

the Eternal Champion is fun.

about to dig into the new Cadaver and Sodom.

uhm one song into the new Cadaver and it's going very welllll

oh, the full length? thought the D.G.A.F. (oof) ep was pretty weak stuff.

yeah the full length.

this is much better than the EP, which I only played once.

nice

i didn’t even realize an lp was incoming until i saw this but i’m rooting for cadaver, didn’t like the feeling of not really feeling a cadaver record

i’ve been pretty into this expanded version of the recent oksennus lately -

https://necrolatryrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ty-n-orjat-paholaisten-y-st-nouskaa

a bit like like a (way) less polished later corrupted record

title track to Genesis XIX (the new Sodom) is fantastic.

but there is nothing on this album unexpected.

which for Sodom is juuuuuust fine by me.

lol "Glock 'n Roll" just steals the middle section of JP's "Painkiller"

With December now looming on the horizon, I’d like everyone to know that I’m up for a 2020 metal poll if you are, so do honk if you’re interested.

Very much so

I'm down, too (though feeling wholly behind with so many albums on my need-to-hear-this-still-list)

I am not a big Sodom fan at all — if it wasn't for Tankard, they'd be my least favorite German band — but the new album is really good.

Glad to hear *checks notes* three fellow ILXors are interested in a 2020 metal poll. Anyone else? I’d rather not bother seandalai if it can be helped.