Heavy Metal Yeti's Best Metal Albums of 2020!

*Favourite Album Art*
Autoinducer - Germophobe

    One more time around the great celestial mosh pit brings us together again to take a look at some of our favourite metal albums of the last rotation. Last year I made an effort to get out to every single live show that caught my eye and this year I find myself in the biggest concert drought of my adult life. Things were a bit different this year due to a certain virus impacting every aspect of our lives. I think it may have even influenced my choice for favourite album art of the year... #Germophobe

    While all has been relatively well at Yeti HQ, I am desperately looking forward the days that I can feel the bass drum in my chest and clash with my brothers and sisters in the pit once again! There's been a silver lining to this madness however as 2020 was a year of live streams, drive in concerts, and metalhead innovation at its finest with some of metal's greatest talents taking to platforms like Twitch to connect with fans and create new avenues for support with no touring on the horizon. There's a reason we are the dominate species on this planet and we will weather this storm.

    Some fantastic metal albums came out this year! The underground continued to spew out wicked new releases with bands like Cryptic Shift, Undeath, Sweven, and Odious Mortem really catching my eye along with many new devastating death metal releases across the spectrum. So many bands delivered huge this year and there were certainly many front runners for AOTY depending on your taste. For me personally this list changes depending on my current state of mind but The Ocean Collective, Ulcerate, Intervals, and Eternal Champion absolutely crushed it without a doubt. We also got killer albums from metal giants like Napalm Death, Annihilator, Paradise Lost, Vader, Incantation, Benediction, Sepultura, Lamb of God, Testament, Ozzy, and Dark Tranquility. We even got some new Deftones and on top of all this, Carcass released an EP this year which could be an omen of things to come!

    Sadly though we lost way too many legends this year. Rest in peace Sean Malone, Sean Reinert, Reed Mullin, Neil Peart, Riley Gale, Eddie Van Halen, Pete Way, Peter Green, Brent Young, Lee Kerslake, Frankie Banali, Gordon Haskell, Alex Trebek, Mitch, Merlin and every other metalhead off to the great gig in the sky.

    I don't have much to report on this year for live shows with a everyone in the same boat of disappointment for cancelled or rescheduled festivals and shows. Missing the Mayhem/Abbath tour as well as the "evening with" double set Between the Buried and Me show hurt the worst for me I think. I did manage to get out to the Metallica drive in concert "PANDEMICA" and while it was nice to get out on a summer night to blast metal with friends outside of my living room, the pre-recorded show paled in comparison to some of the live streams we got this year. Speaking of live streams, god damn we had some gems. I watched Between the Buried and Me play Colors in its entirety sitting in a lawn chair on the edge of a lake in Northern Ontario. While I think every band gave us some sort of stream, some of my favourites were from BTBAM, Devin Townsend, Blood Incantation, Temple of Night, Lamb of God, Tesseract, and Obituary.   

    Overall, it's been one hell of a year for the human race and I find myself more than ever relying on the raw power of the music I love to keep me going. I hope everyone reading this is making out okay, and if you're not, keep holding on because sunny days and muddy festivals are on the way. Plague aside, it was another incredible year for metal releases. We all have a lot to look forwarrd to next year and all I can say is that the first mosh pit back is going to be an ABSOLUTE MASSACRE!! In the meantime, here are 30 of my favourite metal albums of 2020!! Cheers to every metalhead supporting underground music during these difficult months as we wait for the return of live shows and normal life! If we all mask up when needed and wash our dirty-ass hands, maybe we can have some live music sooner rather than later!! Cheers! /../;,,;/../

1. Ulcerate - Stare Into Death And Be Still
Technical Death Metal - Debemur Morti Productions
https://ulcerate.bandcamp.com/

2. Intervals - Circadian
Progressive Metal - Independent Release
https://intervalsmusic.bandcamp.com

3. Question - Reflections of the Void
Death Metal - Chaos Records
https://question-chaos-records.bandcamp.com/

4. Scarab - Martyrs of the Storm
Death Metal - ViciSolum Records
https://vicisolumrecords.com/album/martyrs-of-the-storm

5. Inferi - Of Sunless Realms
Technical Death Metal - The Artisan Era
https://inferi.bandcamp.com/

6. Odious Mortem - Synesthesia
Technical Death Metal - Willowtip Records
https://odiousmortem.bandcamp.com

7. The Ocean Collective - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic
Progressive Metal - Metal Blade Records
https://theocean.bandcamp.com

8. Bedsore - Hypnagogic Hallucinations
Progressive Death Metal - 20 Buck Spin
https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/hypnagogic-hallucinations

9. Cryptic Shift - Visitations from Enceladus
Technical Death Metal - Blood Harvest
https://cryptic-shift.bandcamp.com/

10. Spirit Adrift - Enlightened In Eternity
Heavy/Doom Metal - 20 Buck Spin
https://spiritadrift.bandcamp.com

11. Uada - Djinn
Melodic Black Metal - Eisenwald
https://uada.bandcamp.com

12. Temple of Void - The World That Was
Death/Doom Metal - Shadow Kingdom Records
https://templeofvoid.bandcamp.com

13. Necrot - Mortal
Death Metal - Tankcrimes
https://necrot.bandcamp.com

14. Sylosis - Cycle of Suffering
Melodic Thrash Metal - Nuclear Blast
https://www.sylosis-band.com

15. Havukruunu- Uinuos Syömein Sota
Black Metal - Naturmacht Productions
https://hammerstunde.bandcamp.com

16. Testament - Titans of Creation
Thrash Metal - Nuclear Blast
http://www.testamentlegions.com

17. Protest The Hero - Palimpsest
Progressive Metal - Independent Release
https://protestthehero.bandcamp.com

18. Mors Principium Est- Seven
Melodic Death Metal -  AFM Records
https://merchbooth.net/mors-principium-est

19. Undeath - Lesions of a Different Kind
Death Metal - Prosthetic Records
https://undeath.bandcamp.com

20. Hellripper - The Affair of the Poisons
Black/Speed Metal - Peaceville Records
https://hellripper.bandcamp.com

21. Skeleton - Skeleton
Thrash/Black Metal - 20 Buck Spin
https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/skeleton

22. Benediction - Scriptures
Death Metal - Nuclear Blast
https://benedictionband.bigcartel.com

23. VoidCeremony: Entropic Reflections Continuum: Dimensional Unravel
Progressive Death Metal - 20 Buck Spin
https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/entropic-reflections-continuum-dimensional-unravel

24. Intronaut - Fluid Existential Inversions
Progressive Metal - Metal Blade Records
https://www.facebook.com/Intronaut

25. Sojourner - Premonitions
Atmospheric Black Metal - Napalm Records
https://sojournermetal.bandcamp.com

26. Carnation - Where Death Lies
Death Metal - Season of Mist
https://www.carnationband.com

27. Ulthar - Providence
Death Metal - 20 Buck Spin
https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/providence

28. Eternal Champion - Ravening Iron
Epic Heavy Metal - Independent Release
https://eternalchampion.bandcamp.com

29. Esoctrilihum - Eternity of Shaog
Black Metal - I, Voidhanger Records
https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com

30. Void Rot - Descending Pillars
Death/Doom Metal - Everlasting Spew Records
https://voidrot.bandcamp.com/

EP OF THE YEAR:
Lutharö - Wings of Agony (EP)
Melodic Death Metal - Independent Release
https://lutharoband.bandcamp.com

Honourable mentions: Incantation, Abysmal Dawn, Napalm Death, Defeated Sanity, Skeletal Remains, Black Crown Initiate, Midnight, Draconian, Vile Creature, Imperial Triumphant, Sepultura, Havok, Dark Tranquility, Pyrrhon, Contrarian, Paradise Lost, Ripped to Shreds, Vader, Primitive Man, Paradise Lost, and so so many more!

If you're looking for even more new music to check out, here are my AOTY lists from previous years!
2019 - https://heavymetalsasquatch.blogspot.com/2019/12/heavy-metal-yetis-best-metal-albums-of.html
2018 - https://heavymetalsasquatch.blogspot.com/2018/12/heavy-metal-yetis-best-metal-albums-of_9.html
2017 - https://heavymetalsasquatch.blogspot.com/2018/03/heavy-metal-yetis-best-metal-albums-of.html
2015/2016 - https://heavymetalsasquatch.blogspot.com/2016/12/metal-yetis-best-metal-albums-of-2015.html
2014 - https://heavymetalsasquatch.blogspot.com/2014/12/heavy-metal-sasquatchs-top-fourteen.html

- Metal Yeti /../;,,;/../

Metallica @ Starlight Drive In Theatre, Stoney Creek (Aug 29, 2020)

First of all I just want to thank all of my readers over the years and I hope all is well in your neck of the woods! The last time we checked in I had made the effort to go to every metal show big or small that caught my eye. It led to a wicked year full of metal, mosh pits, and all around good times with friends! 2020 was set to be another great year with an amazing crop of shows lined up... and here we are in the dying days of August with my first show opportunity a physically distanced drive-in with lots of wicked face masks and the faint smell of hand sanitizer on the breeze. PANDEMICA!!

All has been well at Yeti HQ but the loss of live music has taken a larger tole on me than I expected. So many amazing shows have been cancelled and I am eagerly awaiting reschedule date for the ones that are hoping to continue.  When I caught wind of the Metallica drive-in show, the decision was pretty simple to grab a ticket for a car full. Something different and a night out is exactly what everybody needs right about now! The show was filmed a week or so ago and set to play all across North America and elsewhere in one glorious metal event! A desperate attempt to capture the connections and power of the live experience.

The entire Squatch family was looking forward to the loudness so I borrowed an elder-squatch's kick ass Jeep with a fully stacked stereo system to make the most of the night. We rolled into the Starlight Drive In around 8:45 and drove through a few rows of cars and trucks lined up on the mounds, all setting up their mosh bubbles with physically distance polls marking where to park. The opening band could have been a better choice but I understand where they were going. I will not deny that Three Days Grace put on a wicked high energy set; easy to rock out and have a good time to for sure.

Metallica took the stage (screen?) after a classic Ecstasy of Gold intro highlighting all appropriate PPE and black and white long shots of the filming location. They opened with Hardwired to Self-Destruct and then continued with a very satisfying set list full of classics and a few modern hits. I was really happy to hear songs like For Whom The Bell Tolls, Seek and Destroy, Wherever I May Roam, Fade to Black, and One... but I started a micro sized jeep pit with the Yeti clan for CREEPING DEATH, MASTER OF PUPPETS, and BAT-TER-RY! I of course kept rocking to tunes like Fuel, Sad But True, Unforgiven, and Moth, but when it came to the closer I would have enjoyed a little bit of out of the box thinking instead of the radio's favourite song Enter Sandman. I would have loved to hear Ride the Lightning, Trapped Under Ice, or any other song..

All in all I had an absolutely wicked night! The show was very well done and it felt quite personal. James spoke to us as our sunset synced up with his mentioning that it was "Good to play again". The sound came through AMAZING in the jeep and we supplied the bass for a few rows. The band sounded great and they played as if they knew we were all watching, calling for the crowd where you'd expect and answering with a trademark "yeah!".  There were distant cheers and honks between songs and I even caught a few other people chanting DIE for Creeping Death!! There were clouds of funky smoke, bootlegged shirts, lighters burning out car windows for the deep cuts, and lots of fellow metalheads just making the best of the situation.

I think this may have just made me miss live music even more though and as it only left me wanting more (just like every other live show). A huge thank you to the Metallica boys for trying to give us some shred of normalcy for concert goers in the pandemic. Other bands like Between the Buried and Me have been streaming live shows which offers another great way to connect with bands these days but leave it to Metallica to do it bigger. A big screen live stream would be the next level here!! Cheers to every metalhead out there waiting for the return of shows and please continue to respect your regions pandemic response. If we mask up and wash our dirty ass hands, maybe we can have some live music in the years to come!

 -Metal Yeti /../;,,;/../

Temple of Night, Bloodless Child, Jinn Arcana, & What Remains @ Tail of the Junction (Dec 21, 2019)

     Last night was the Winter Solstice so I decided to celebrate with some killer local black metal! With an undying cold and savage bitterness, black metal is music for the frozen soul and provides the perfect soundtrack for such an occasion. Keeping true to the evil themes the bands also put on a food drive and unwrapped toy drive during the show to donate to local charities. I love metalheads... The show was at a small bar in the west end called Tail of the Junction, which is cool spot for a drink and catch some tunes. The bars unforgiving brick walls were excellent for the sound and set an appropriate backdrop for the mood.

     The night opened with Totonto's What Remains, as they rocked out with some high energy tunes and some wicked proggy guitar parts. They had a lot of spunk and delivered some quality jams. Next up was Jinn Arcana who almost gave the bartender a god damn heart attack when they opened their set with a 3 minute prayer to the dark gods complete with hoods, skulls, the satanic bible, a dagger, and the ominous chime of the cymbals from the bands drummer. Jinn Arcana play some down tempo raw as hell material laced with moments of dank unholy grimness.

     Things cranked up a notch as Bloodless Child from London, Ontario set up and unleashed their blackened death metal madness on the group of gathering metalheads and bar patrons just trying to watch the hockey game... They played as a trio for the show with one insane drummer and two guitar leads. They were relentless with brutal riffing and kicked some serious ass! The ambulance flying by at high speeds during their set synced up a little too well.

     Temple of Night were my main reason for coming out to this show. They are an emerging black metal band from Niagara Falls who play an insidious mix of atmospheric and symphonic black metal with a more traditional tone in their song structure and overall aesthetics. They opened with their single "Secret Lord of All" and followed it up with two songs that I was hearing the first time. Temple of Night were absolutely dialed instrumentally and they had incredible stage presence with enough fog and cloaked corpses to make a graveyard jealous. On top of the swarming guitars and devastating and complex drumming, the vocal range provided is impressive with savage growls and shrieks backed up by live orchestral vocals from the keyboardist. Where so many bands would go the route of backtracks, Temple of Night show what they are made of and give the full live experience. The set was short with the band still gearing up towards a launch off demo or EP hopefully in the near future. In the meantime enjoy some of their tunes below and check out a few photos from the night! Cheers to all the bands that played and all the metalheads who came out to celebrate the longest night of the year!

Temple of Night

Bloodless Child

Jinn Arcana

What Remains

-Metal Yeti /../;,,;/../

Heavy Metal Yeti's Best Metal Albums of 2019!

*Favourite Album Art*
Mizmor - Cairn

    Well here we are again. Our lizard brains stuck inside our primate bodies have circled the nearest star as our metal hearts keep beating and craving more delicious depravity. I think there will be no argument that 2019 was a landmark year for both mainstream and underground metal music. While the last few years have been blazing with awesome material, the stars aligned this year and we got a flurry of new and exciting bands and a heavy dose of annihilation from old favourites and legends to shake things up. Possessed, Nocturnus, Nile, Devin Townsend, Amon Amarth, Candlemass, Dream Theater, Darkthrone, Baroness, and Bodom all put out albums. We even got a bloody TOOL album!

    A lot happened this year in the realm of metalheads. 2019 was the year of 100 Batushka's, as a seeming endless stream of drama climaxed with Bartushka cancelling the Hospodi tour and Team Panihida landing some heavy blows in response. The excitement didn't end here. Arch Enemy made a bunch of photographers mad,  Dee Snider fought some Australian political asshats, black metal became even more of a cartoon thanks to Belzebubs, Slipknot fired their drummer and got new masks, Tool upset pop fans, Metallica got kinky again, and Chris Barnes is probably still angry about something as you read this. All the while over we are one step closer to the singularity with an AI dubbed Relentless Doppelganger currently streaming self generated technical death metal on youtube that makes Archspire sound like Baby Metal.

The Toronto metal landscape has changed forever with the local gems Coalition and Stained Class closing their doors for good. The global metal landscape will also never be the same with Slayer playing their "final" live show and bringing an entire era to an end. Fuckin' Slayer weren't the only bands to call it quits with Brain Drill also hanging up their instruments, but all in all we gained more bands than we lost this time around the sun. I also want to extend a massive cheers to the metalheads we lost along the way; RIP Timi Hansen, Bruce Corbitt, Karl Bareham, Larry Wallis, Shane Bisnett, and all the rest off to Valhalla. Cheers to the metalheads still fighting the good fight and especially to the ones who need the support of their fans and friends!

    I went to a lot of live shows this year! Every show that caught my attention I made an effort to make it out. Sleep is for the dead. I took my son to his first Iron Maiden concert, I moshed with an alien to Blood Incantation and two thonged menaces at Rivers of Nihil / Nekrogoblikon, and I saw Between the Buried and Me TWICE! There are too many memories to list here but a few of my favourites shows of the year belong to Cryptopsy, Alien Weaponry, Tool, Chainbreaker, & Tomb Mold! It's been a wild ride full of amazing music and some gnarly mosh pits with good friends!

    You will see that most of my list is death metal peppered with a few other genres. It was a tough choice for top spot, but my favourte album of 2019 goes to SMOULDER! Not only do they have some of the most kick ass cover art of the year, the riff from Sword Woman has been stuck in my head for over a year. Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring is not to be missed by any self respecting metalhead! Tomb Mold takes the silver as my favourite death metal release and 1349 the bronze for slowly managing to turn me to the even darker side. Check out all of my favourite releases of the year below and make sure to check out the ones you haven't heard yet! Thank you to anyone that takes the time to read this and I hope you have a metal as hell 2020! Metal Yeti /../;,,;/../

1. Smoulder - Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring

Epic Doom Metal - Cruz del Sur Music

https://smoulder.bandcamp.com/

2. Tomb Mold - Planetary Clairvoyance

Death Metal - 20 Buck Spin

https://www.facebook.com/tombmold/

3. 1349 - The Infernal Pathway

Black Metal - Season of Mist

https://1349som.bandcamp.com/

4. Blood Incantation - The Hidden History of the Human Race

Atmospheric Death Metal - Dark Descent Records 

https://www.facebook.com/astralnecrosis/

5. Equipoise - Demiurgus

Technical Death Metal - The Artisan Era 

https://equipoiseofficial.bandcamp.com/

6. Kaleikr - Heart of Lead

Progressive Death Metal - Debemur Morti Productions

https://kaleikr.bandcamp.com/

7. Witch Vomit - Buried Deep in a Bottomless Grave

Death Metal - 20 Buck Spin

https://www.facebook.com/WebsOfHorror

8. Flub - Flub

Technical Death Metal - The Artisan Era

https://flub.bandcamp.com/

9. Gatecreeper - Deserted

Death Metal - Relapse Records

https://gatecreeper.bandcamp.com/

10. Chainbreaker - Lethal Desire

Speed Metal - Hells Headbangers Records

https://chainbreaker-canada.bandcamp.com/

11. Iapetus - The Body Cosmic

Progressive Metal - Independent

https://iapetusband.com/

12. Blut aus Nord - Hallucinogen  

Atmospheric Black Metal - Debemur Morti Productions

https://blutausnord.bandcamp.com/album/hallucinogen

13. Desecravity - Anathema

Technical / Brutal Death Metal - Willowtip Records

https://desecravity.bandcamp.com/

14. Cloak - The Burning Dawn 
Black Metal - Season of Mist
https://cloakatlanta.bandcamp.com/

15. Spirit Adrift - Divided by Darkness

Doom Metal - 20 Buck Spin

https://spiritadrift.bandcamp.com/releases

16. Nile - Vile Nilotic Rites

Technical Death Metal - Nuclear Blast

https://www.facebook.com/nilecatacombs

17. Plaugebringer - Diabolos

Technical Death Metal - Independent

https://plaguebringercanada.bandcamp.com/

18. Xoth - Interdimensional Invocations

Death/Black Metal - Independent

https://xoth.bandcamp.com/

19, Revel in Flesh - The Hour of The Avenger

Death Metal - War Anthem Records

https://www.revelinflesh.com/

20. Duskwalker - All They Know Is Fear

Heavy/Death Metal - Independent

https://www.facebook.com/DuskwalkerOfficial

21. Hath - Of Rot and Ruin

Progressive Blackened Death Metal - Willowtip Records

https://hathnj.bandcamp.com/

22. Possessed - Revelations of Oblivion

Death Metal - Nuclear Blast

https://possessedofficial.com/

23. VLTIMAS - Something Wicked Marches In

Blackened Death Metal - Season of Mist

https://www.facebook.com/VLTIMAS/

24. Allegaeon - Apoptosis

Technical Death Metal - Metal Blade Records

https://allegaeon.bandcamp.com/

25. Traveler - Traveler

Heavy Metal - Gates of Hell Records

https://travelermetal.bandcamp.com/album/traveler

26. Musmahhu - Reign of the Odius

Blackened Death Metal - Iron Bonehead Productions

https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/album/musmahhu-reign-of-the-odious

27. Memoriam - Requiem For Mankind

Death Metal - Nuclear Blast

http://www.memoriam.uk.com/

28. Demiurgon - The Oblivious Lure

Death Metal - Everlasting Spew Records

https://demiurgon.bandcamp.com/

29. Ossuarium - Living Tomb
Death Metal - 20 Buck Spin
https://ossuarium.bandcamp.com/

30. Devin Townsend - Empath

Progressive Metal - HevyDevy Records

https://www.hevydevy.com/

Honourable Mentions:  Cerebral Rot, Venom Prison, Alcest, Tribe of Pazuzu, Shadow of Intent, Veilburner, Runespell. Hannes Grossman, Hammerfall, Entheos, Amon Amarth, Mystifier, Barnoness, Children of Bodom, Mayhem, Idle Hands, Devourment, Cult of Luna, Diabolic Night, Hellripper, Jinjer, Mgla, Haunt, Woorms, Numenorean, Bask, Mgla, Oosing Wound, Fetid, Mizmor, Bewitcher, Death Angel, Cattle Decap, Insomnium, Fuming Mouth, Vastum, False,

If you're looking for even more new music to check out, here are my AOTY lists from previous years!
2018 - https://heavymetalsasquatch.blogspot.com/2018/12/heavy-metal-yetis-best-metal-albums-of_9.html
2017 - https://heavymetalsasquatch.blogspot.com/2018/03/heavy-metal-yetis-best-metal-albums-of.html
2015/2016 - https://heavymetalsasquatch.blogspot.com/2016/12/metal-yetis-best-metal-albums-of-2015.html
2014 - https://heavymetalsasquatch.blogspot.com/2014/12/heavy-metal-sasquatchs-top-fourteen.html

- Metal Yeti /../;,,;/../