Saturday, 14 December 2019

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

2. Tomb Mold - Planetary Clairvoyance
Death Metal - 20 Buck Spin

3. 1349 - The Infernal Pathway
Black Metal - Season of Mist

4. Blood Incantation - The Hidden History of the Human Race
Atmospheric Death Metal - Dark Descent Records 

5. Equipoise - Demiurgus
Technical Death Metal - The Artisan Era 

6. Kaleikr - Heart of Lead
Progressive Death Metal - Debemur Morti Productions

7. Witch Vomit - Buried Deep in a Bottomless Grave
Death Metal - 20 Buck Spin

8. Flub - Flub
Technical Death Metal - The Artisan Era

9. Gatecreeper - Deserted
Death Metal - Relapse Records

10. Chainbreaker - Lethal Desire
Speed Metal - Hells Headbangers Records

11. Iapetus - The Body Cosmic
Progressive Metal - Independent

12. Blut aus Nord - Hallucinogen  
Atmospheric Black Metal - Debemur Morti Productions

13. Desecravity - Anathema
Technical / Brutal Death Metal - Willowtip Records

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

16. Nile - Vile Nilotic Rites
Technical Death Metal - Nuclear Blast

17. Plaugebringer - Diabolos
Technical Death Metal - Independent

18. Xoth - Interdimensional Invocations
Death/Black Metal - Independent

19, Revel in Flesh - The Hour of The Avenger
Death Metal - War Anthem Records

20. Duskwalker - All They Know Is Fear
Heavy/Death Metal - Independent

21. Hath - Of Rot and Ruin
Progressive Blackened Death Metal - Willowtip Records

22. Possessed - Revelations of Oblivion
Death Metal - Nuclear Blast

 23. VLTIMAS - Something Wicked Marches In
Blackened Death Metal - Season of Mist

24. Allegaeon - Apoptosis
Technical Death Metal - Metal Blade Records

25. Traveler - Traveler
Heavy Metal - Gates of Hell Records

26. Musmahhu - Reign of the Odius
Blackened Death Metal - Iron Bonehead Productions

27. Memoriam - Requiem For Mankind
Death Metal - Nuclear Blast

28. Demiurgon - The Oblivious Lure
Death Metal - Everlasting Spew Records

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

30. Devin Townsend - Empath
Progressive Metal - HevyDevy Records

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 /../;,,;/../
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)