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1.
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Esoteric - A Pyrrhic Existence
(9.5) (Psychedelic Funeral Doom) When Esoteric put something out, you can rest assured it will be top notch. Nearly 100 minutes of greatness. |
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2.
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Wormlust - Kosmískur Hryllingur [Collaboration]
(9) (Psychedelic Black) Ok, so I pretty much had to like this, right? Wormlust and Skáphe playing as one entity. First of all, it's too fucking short! When they first announced this album I'm pretty sure they said it was 80 minutes long. That might have been a bit excessive but let's find a happy medium, guys. 36 minutes is not enough. I'm expecting a part two. Though I won't hold my breath. Psychedelic and aggressive, do not miss this one if you fancy yourself a fan of black metal. |
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3.
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Decoherence - Ekpyrosis
(9) (Industrial Black/Noise) Where BaN has failed to carry forth the industrial black metal torch for the last decade, Decoherence have picked it up and run with it on this, their first full length. "An obsidian monolith of sidereal terror and hallucinating claustrophobia, 'Ekpyrosis' is a sonic event horizon where concepts like coldness, emptiness, vastness, and nothingness obtain an entirely new meaning and are taken to an incomprehensible extreme to instate into the listener a feeling of widespread fear, complete loss of self, and of permanent and consuming dissolution." |
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4.
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Kwade Droes - Onder De Toren
(9) (Psychedelic Black) Absolutely batshit insane. This is what it would sound like if The Joker, Pennywise from It and Hunter S. Thompson went on a drug addled crimespree in Holland. |
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5.
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Abyssal - A Beacon In The Husk
(9) (Ambient Death) This album was not as immediately gratifying to me as Antikatastaseis. This is more of a grower. After several listens this is proving to be one of the best of the year. Ambient Death metal is a fair genre tag for the sound created here. Truly a visionary band. |
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6.
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Cerebral Rot - Odious Descent Into Decay
(9) (Death) Label 20 Buck Spin has been absolutely killing it this year, particularly with death metal releases. The production is fantastic across all their releases but this one in particular stands out. The production so perfectly creates the intended atmosphere. This album just has so much character while adhering to the tenets of old school death metal, particularly the doomy death sound of Autopsy. |
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7.
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Teitanblood - The Baneful Choir
(9) (Black/Death) Sick nasty. The first time I thought I was listening to this I must have mistakenly put on some weird industrial shit because that's what I remember hearing. But no, this is awesome. I could throw out the usual hyperbolic buzz words like cacophonous, evil, frightening or intense. Just listen. |
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8.
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Hornwood Fell - Damno Lumina Nocte
(8.5) (Avant-Garde Black) I heard these guys' second album a few years back and it was just another album. They've leveled up. This is technical without being self indulgent. I was hesitant to label this avant garde as the music isn't far out there. The arrangements are simply not the norm for black metal. So its avant garde-lite. Little sprinkles of random instrumentation are thrown in, usually in a way that blends very well with the passage being played. Every track has it's own unique character, they don't fall into a songwriting rut like so many bands where nearly every track is structured the same way. As the track titles would indicate, this is best listened as a full album experience though each track stands on it's own well enough. |
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9.
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Blood Incantation - Hidden History Of The Human Race
(8.5) (Progressive Death) The hype is well deserved. Great death metal riffs and mind bending progressive sections. The first two tracks show off the death metal chops while the final 2 including the 18 minute closer show that Blood Incantation are pushing Death metal forward. |
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10.
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Suffering Hour - Dwell
(8.5) (Death) This thing fucking rips. It's just one 18 minute track but it definitely leaves the listener wanting more. |
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11.
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The Sombre - Into The Beckoning Wilderness
(8.5) (Death Doom) Mories takes a swing at 90s style death doom and knocks it out of the park. |
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12.
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Andavald - Undir Skyggðarhaldi
(8.5) (Depressive Black) A second offering from the belly of Mystískaos on this late spring day. Hypnotic and trance inducing, this album is quite a compliment to the Wormlust/Skáphe collaboration. Icelandic in origin, notes state D.G. was involved in the mastering but nothing is yet known of which villains are responsible for this. |
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13.
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Mystagogue - And The Darkness Was Cast Out Into The Wilderness
(8.5) (Black) More excellent extreme metal from Mories. |
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14.
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Deathspell Omega - The Furnaces Of Palingenesia
(8.5) (Black) DsO have returned from the nether realm to show the mere mortals how it's done. After a few listens this is my second favorite of their full lengths after Paracletus (the EPs are where it's at by and large). Where their last album suffered from many of the same issues I had with Fas, this album doesn't shy away from slowing things down rather than just bombarding the listener with speed and technical riffs. |
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15.
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Cult Of Luna - A Dawn To Fear
(8.5) (Post-Metal) I entered the metal realm as a post metal disciple primarily. Cult Of Luna have been one of the biggest names of the genre for two decades now. However, nothing they've done previously really found itself in my truly beloved albums. I sort of viewed them as the generic store brand version of post metal. It took 2 decades but they've finally hit the mark. This one is a banger through and through. |
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16.
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Lord Mantis - Universal Death Church
(8.5) (Blackened Post-Sludge) I didn't listen to their last album Death Mask much but I don't recall Lord Mantis sounding like this. At various points throughout this album I'm reminded of 3 bands: ISIS, Kylesa and Coffinworm. And to me, their sound on this album can aptly be described as a mixture of those 3 bands at what I would consider to be their individual peaks. The Post-Metal influence kind of caught me off guard as I remember Lord Mantis being straight abrasive without much hypnotic quality to their sound. |
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17.
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Verwoed - De Val
(8.5) (Psychedelic Black) Despite sharing a genre with the likes of Arizmenda and Wormlust, Verwoed reside on the hypnotic side of the Psychedelic spectrum. Mid-paced throughout but never boring. The use of repetition adds to the meditative quality of this album. |
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18.
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Fetid - Steeping Corporeal Mess
(8) Doomy Murky Death |
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19.
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Pharmakeia - Pharmakeia
(8) (Black) More insanity from the mysterious and productive Prava Kollectiv. This sits as their second best release after HWWAUOCH. |
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20.
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Obsequiae - The Palms Of Sorrowed Kings
(8) (Melodic Black) This is one of the relatively few non-death metal 20 Buck Spin releases this year. Here we have the third full length from Obsequiae. The overall sound is consistent with their previous release. The thing is they are masters of this unique sound. This is their most polished, most consistent and most well written album yet. |
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21.
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Hwwauoch - Into The Labyrinth Of Consciousness
(8) (Black) Not quite as intense as last year's mind bending debut but a fantastic follow up. By far the best project of the Prava Kollectiv. Top notch stuff. |
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22.
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Mo'ynoq - Dreaming In A Dead Language
(8) (Black) It's rare to find good metal out of North Carolina, much less good black metal but lo and behold. Solid, rather unique sounding stuff. |
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23.
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Ossuarium - Living Tomb
(8) Murky Doomy Death |
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24.
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Musmahhu - Reign Of The Odious
(8) Death |
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25.
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Gardsghastr - Slit Throat Requiem
(8) (Symphonic/Atmospheric Black) Alex Poole + Swartadauþuz + Blackburn brothers + Profound Lore = go listen. |
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26.
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Mahr - Soulmare I
(8) (Black/Doom) Including part II in the ranking here. This 2 part EP is much more satisfying to me than their debut LP. One of the better releases of the Prava Kollectiv not under the Hwwauoch moniker. Doomy, well produced, intense and coherent. |
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27.
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Abyssal Vacuum - MMXIX
(8) (Cavernous Black) Short and to the point. Each release from the project, this being the third, has gotten better. |
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28.
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Chaos Ech-s - Remains
(8) Experimental Death |
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29.
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Profetus - The Sadness Of Time Passing
(8) Funeral Doom |
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30.
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Witch Vomit - Buried Deep In A Bottomless Grave
(8) Death |
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31.
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Serpent Column - Mirror In Darkness
(8) Technical Black |
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32.
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Waste Of Space Orchestra - Syntheosis
(8) Psychedelic Black/Doom/Ambient |
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33.
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The Great Old Ones - Cosmicism
(8) Lovecraftian Post-Black |
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34.
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Mylingar - Döda Själar
(8) Black/Death |
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35.
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Celestial Grave - Secular Flesh
(8) Black |
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36.
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Advent Sorrow - Kali Yuga Crown
(8) Depressive Black/Doom |
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37.
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Noctambulist - Atmospheres Of Desolation
(8) Ulcerate-esque Brutal Tech Death |
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38.
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Ataraxie - Résignés
(8) Funeral Doom/Death |
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39.
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Pylar - Horror Cósmyco
(8) Drone/Doom |
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40.
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Officium Triste - The Death Of Gaia
(7.5) Melodic Death Doom |
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41.
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None - Damp Chill Of Life
(7.5) Depressive Black |
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42.
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Haunter - Sacramental Death Qualia
(7.5) Blackened Death |
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43.
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Mizmor - Cairn
(7.5) Blackened Doom |
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44.
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Drastus - La Croix De Sang
(7.5) Black |
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45.
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Tomb Mold - Planetary Clairvoyance
(7.5) Death |
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46.
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Misþyrming - Algleymi
(7.5) Melodic/Epic Black |
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47.
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Lord Dying - Mysterium Tremendum
(7.5) Sludge/Heavy |
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48.
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Superstition - The Anatomy Of Unholy Transformation
(7.5) Death/Thrash |
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49.
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Façade - The Eternal Dance
(7.5) Melodic Death Doom |
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50.
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Esogenesi - Esogenesi
(7.5) Death/Doom |
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51.
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Goregäng - Neon Graves
(7.5) Death/Crust |
