ILM 2020 METAL & HEAVY + Adjacent Albums Poll CAMPAIGNING THREAD IS NOW OPEN

Also the Gareth Davis and Merzbow collab was really good, surprisingly tasteful for Merzbow. It's supposed to evoke scenes of animals being pushed out of their natural environments by man's encroachment with factories and settlements and whatnot, so it's creepy and dreadful, not just earsplitting white noise.

https://gareth-davis.bandcamp.com/album/broken-landscapes

gonna write a few words about some records in a moment, posting this so that I actually have to do it

gonna have to rep these:

Worm - Gloomlord -- scuzzy, corrosive death-doom from Florida. Not slick, not technical, but slow, depressing and sickeninggggg.

Griiim – Bête immonde -- it's French experimental IDM black metal, it's great!

Smoulder - Dream Quest Ends -- Smoulder is one of my favorite NWOBHM-worshippers. female-fronted, pretty innovative for throwback metal, fun!

Atramentus – Stygian -- this is the other funeral doom metal album with a 'stygian' title to come out this year. check it out if you like the really slow stuff, it's also very well done.

It's *the* funeral doom album of 2020 imo.

Melted Bodies Enjoy Yourself

gonzo rock freaks melted bodies

on average I make one to three threads about a new musical act per year, and usually just one rock band. when I first heard them (linked from here, I believe, with a very low Spotify player count that hasn't exactly skyrocketed since) I thought they were pretty fun - kind of a new take on a Mike Patton band, or like that Melvins/Jello album. but then I kept listening and realized there's some real depth and versatility to both the performances and the songwriting. (also, "phone tumor" is a mighty fine addition to the list of "songs that sound like Personal Jesus/The Beautiful People/Atlas/Black Skinhead".) I think they're in for a slow, Moon Tooth-style popular ascension of some kind. do not listen if you can't put up with vocal antics...you've been warned.

Loathe I Let It In and It Took Everything

imagine kind of a halfway point btwn Code Orange and Deftones? but definitely a lot closer to the latter. this is some serious Deftones worship, at times. ("Screaming" is particular is sort of uncanny). but the interludes and attention to detail also reminds me of the dearly departed Arcane Roots, and the way it oscillates between shorter ragers and more melodic, stretched-out tunes has an addictive rhythm. there's so much to like on this album.

Caligula's Horse Rise Radiant

this is the second time I am mounting a Caligula's Horse voting campaign for the metal poll. I will not stop. I love their big corny slightly djent-y-at-times but always supremely melodic prog rock. I love their soaring choruses and sensitive vocals and sense of DRAMA. U love their airy melodies and fantastical-but-wistful vibe. but goddamn mostly do they just write some really goddamn lovely songs. I mean, shit, listen to "autumn"!!

ugh I meant to link "screaming" but....wtv, look it up it's great

This Atramentus is pretty good, although it kind of starts off a bit dull. It definitely rewards sticking with it to the end.

https://theearcadians.bandcamp.com/album/current-events

Since I nominated it and probably 35 people have heard it including the band and their families. Described as garage rock, but much noisier and faster than I was expecting based on that. This "album" is 31 minutes including a 15 minute bonus track. I love it and it's PWYW on Bandcamp.

This Atramentus is pretty good, although it kind of starts off a bit dull. It definitely rewards sticking with it to the end.

I didn't fall hard for it at first – it took several spins for me to get there, but something kept calling me back.

In addition to the Atramentus, so far I'd like to second the Neptunian Maximalism, Paysage d'Hiver, Lowrider and Kaatayra.

Also, while metalcore isn't my thing at all, I did vaguely enjoy the first track off of the Gulch album.

The Duma LP sounded amazing on paper, but I can't get into it at all, alas.

I like the Anaal Nathrakh more than I thought I did.

Worm - Gloomlord

This is great, thanks! It's definitely going on my list.

Feels a bit weird to be re-stanning for stuff I praised in last year's rolling metal thread, sometimes repeatedly, but copying and pasting would be a total cop-out, so… lemme just name-check two black metal faves again and throw in a recent discovery:

Turia – Degen van licht

Cream o' the crop of the current Dutch scene, Turia trades in a sophisticated brand of atmoblack. A nearly imperceptible medieval lilt carries the guitar work, courtesy of the great Omar K, while (female) vocalist T strikes just the right balance between ardour and restraint. Surefire drumming and characteristically tasteful ambient interludes round it all off. To me, they are the least adolescent and most 'poetic' (whatever that means) BM band working today, and Degen van licht exhibits these qualities in spades.

Armagedda – Svindeldjup Ättestup

File under: Swedish mid-tempo dancing plague ballads that occasionally leap into overdrive. There is nothing forward-looking about this music but it is executed exactly to my tastes, and I am especially taken with Graav's demented vocal delivery. The closer sidesteps into longer and slightly more progressive territory, to climactic effect, all the more so if you yield to the album's trance from beginning to end.

Montuln – Arquetipo

Inexplicably obscure pagan prog BM from Chile with mid-tier production values (trve raw bullshit this is not) and song sequences marked by mild folk inflections that put me in mind of Negură Bunget, although the synth touches are far more subdued here. This is a very attractive record, melodically speaking (with a bit of a groove to it, even), solid playing and soloing throughout, and a non-dogmatic approach to other metal subgenres, starting with DM. I haven't heard their 2012 debut, but I like this one a lot – these guys deserve to be better known.

*with a bit of a groove to it, even (scratch those confusing parentheses)

buuuuump

bmp

On the death metal front, aside from excellent albums that probably don't need my help to place (Undeath, Undergang, Faceless Burial, Chaotian), these three are well worth your time:

Angel Morgue – In the Morgue of Angels

Plague – Portraits of Mind

Dira Mortis – Ancient Breath of Forgotten Misanthropy

Bonus name-your-price brutal/slamming DM LP that is by far the best thing to have come out of that subgenre last year in my admittedly myopic estimation:

Putrescent Seepage – Dead and Demented

Old Nick - The Night Of The Ambush And The Pillage By The Queen Ann Styl'd Furniture, Animated By One Of The Dozen Or So Spells That Thee Eastern Vampyre Has Studied (T.N.O.T.A.A.T.P.B.T.Q.A.S.F.A.B.O.O.T.D.O.S.S.T.T.E.V.H.S)

I really didn't think there would be anything else left for me to discover from 2020, but then (thanks to the peeps at Angry Metal Guy) I came upon this entrancing and deeply charming of dungeon synth, black metal, and some other stuff. Also yes it does appear to be a concept album about evil furniture. The keyboards are wonderful. The mood is peculiar. The sonics are jagged but pleasing. Imagine Sigh as a basement act and you're almost there. I kinda love it!

a concept album about evil furniture

Sold!

Ok this is fun.

Bumper.

https://tbeartravels.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/35-dodo-the-famous-extinct.jpg

https://limalla.bandcamp.com/album/k-futuro-directo

Limalla, ¿Ké Futuro? Directo - Cuban punk, played live, during a pandemic. It's raw and hungry and it's Name Your Price, so why not?

I thought Imago was going to have something to say about the Victory Over the Sun LP, but check that one out too. Microtonal black metal, but not as "I'm a Giant Brain"y as Jute Gyte.

https://votsband.bandcamp.com/album/a-tessitura-of-transfiguration

https://bernelius.bandcamp.com/album/grave-dancer

Bernelius, Grave Dancer. Heavy rock one-man act with a great sense of humor. He had a Kickstarter to press this album to vinyl and it didn't make it, which makes me sad.

Thanks, Tom. Keep 'em coming, all, lest this poll go the way of [see above].

The VOTS LP is amazing yeah. Jute Gyte is an acknowledged inspiration of hers

Thirded re: Victory Over the Sun! That album is a lot of mad fun.

I'm also really enjoying Simon's Melted Bodies rec.

b

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Is it too late for a nom? If not, can we add Dropped 'Dropdead 2020'?

Dropdead rather

nominations open til voting starts

Added.

Can we add Autonoesis 'Autonoesis' too, please?

and Mongrel's Cross 'Arcana, Scrying and Revelation' too, please ?

Done.

Can we add White Stones 'Kuarahy' - please?

How about Ainsoph 'Ω - V' added too, please? Along with White Stones 'Kuarahy' - pretty please?

Sorry - a couple more please: Hexer - 'Realm of the Feathered Serpent' and Omegavortex 'Black Abomination Spawn' - Thanks!

can you put all noms here please?

2020 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock Poll: NOMINATIONS Thread (open until the 8th of January 2021)

noms will be open til saturday or sunday i think

oh snap you're providing food?

only for thought

Added those noms.

I assume most of my top picks will do pretty well on their own so I'll add a few recs:

Aara - En Ergo Enai
https://aara.bandcamp.com/album/en-ergo-einai

and
Etoile Filante - Magnum Opus Caelestis
https://etoilefilante-northernsilence.bandcamp.com/

Couple of fiddeent flavours of atmoblack, both quite epic without being too over the top, Aara have some nifty neoclassical-inspired riffing, Etoile Filante wuth some rather nice proggy keys.

Herxheim - Incised Arrival
https://herxheim.bandcamp.com/album/incised-arrival-lp

Nastier black metal from ex-Howls of Ebb frontman, unrefined and crude but has an edge of weirdness that makes it notable.

SouphL - CommérageS
https://souphl.bandcamp.com/album/comm-rages

Chaotic multi-bass mathcore collective from Canada. On the more experimental end of mathcore, doesn't always hang tghether too well but it's engagingly bizarre.

Ivan - Silver Screens
https://solitudeproductions.bandcamp.com/album/silver-screens

Dreamlike and exploratory death-doom.

One more for now

Edenic Past - Red Amacord
https://edenicpast.bandcamp.com/album/red-amarcord

Three quarters of Krallice and an enraged pig go Br0000tally technical

Thx, uug!

I liked Aara's first album even more but their second is quite good as well. They've got another one coming up btw – should be out in March.

The SouphL, while indeed disjointed, is definitely among the more unique metal LPs I heard last year.

Herxheim very good as well, although I preferred Cultivating Throne of Fur.

Regarding the last point, so did I tbh.

Also I made a mistake with Edenic Past, Lev Weinstein isn't involved, I assumed he was despite noting the programmed drums last year!

I assume most of my top picks will do pretty well on their own so I'll add a few recs:

lol, never assume anything with metal poll

Gonna campaign a bit for a release I re-listened to today - Draghkar's 'At the Crossroads of Infinity' - really dug a lot of the solos - exploding trad melodic metal flair, and there's a nice marriage of European riffy black metal with an American Death Metal atmosphere/song construction. On re-listens from 2020 releases, this is one I know I'll come back to a lot. The band's 'Eternal Abyss' comp from 2019 is pretty good too.

Onwards!

2020 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock Poll: VOTING & FURTHER CAMPAIGNING thread (open until February 19)