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| *Favourite Album Art* Autoinducer - 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/
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
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 /../;,,;/../
