Ask and you shall receive. Let's see if I manage to keep up with it this time.

This list follows in the vein of the previous ones I did for 2015, 16, and 18. Here I'm chronicling my discoveries of albums from this year that generate that mystical lulling, hypnotizing, and all around otherwordly feeling I so insatiably lust for. Inevitably drone, ambient, and psychedelic music will be the most featured here, but if anything considerably sends me "into the zone" as it were, it's up for inclusion.

1.Tortuga - Deities

2.Dragged Into Sunlight - Terminal Aggressor II

3.Lotus Thief - Oresteia

4.Staurophagia - Sidereal Sacraments

5.Garganjua - Toward The Sun

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Bassy black metal. Easy enough to understand: black metal with a distinctly pronounced role for the bass and in which the bass is noticeably audible.

Alphabetical order by band, one album per band. Recs appreciated and encouraged. Links for full streams when available.

1.Abigor - Time Is The Sulphur In The Veins Of The Saint: An Excursion On Satan's Fragmenting Principle

2.Aeon Patronist - Mortal Prosternation

3.Aluk Todolo - Voix

4.Angst Skvadron - Sweet Poison

5.Annthennath - States Of Liberating Departure

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Self explanatory. Favorite covers by metal bands of both metal and nonmetal songs. Had been wanting to do this for a while.

Alphabetical order by band. No limit to how many covers per band, as some bands (Thou, The Meads Of Asphodel, etc) really seem to have a talent for pumping out a lot of great covers.

1.Blut Aus Nord - Mighty Trust Krusher (Godflesh cover)

2.Candlemass - Don't Fear The Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult cover)

3.Church Of Misery - Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll (Blue Oyster Cult cover)

4.Crowhurst - Oops I Did It Again (Britney Spears cover)

5.Emperor - A Fine Day To Die (Bathory cover)

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Debated doing this because I usually never keep up with year lists, but I guess I'm folding and giving it a shot. This follows in line with my 2015 Rituals and 2016 Psychosermons lists in that here I'm focused specifically on the more trance like, ethereal, and hallucinatory releases from this current year. That probably means it'll mostly be composed of drone, ambient, and psychedelic albums like the previous two, but hey, if any album really sends me "into the zone" with its music, it has a potential for inclusion here. Not really limited by how dark and evil or how bright and uplifting a release is here either, as there are certainly many different ways for music to achieve that lulling, hypnotic effect.

1.Weedpecker - III

2.Old Tower - Stellary Wisdom

3.Naxatras - III

4.Arkheth - 12 Winter Moons Comes The Witches Brew

5.Trontari - Mona Lisa Del Contra Instrumentals

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I took a crack at this list a while ago and then scrapped it. Time for the revival. The idea here is simple enough. For quite a while now Finland seems to have established a formidable reputation for interpretations of metal that are just all around more mindbending, forward thinking and subversive than much of their other counterparts in the international community. This is most noticeable in the realms of black and doom metal, which will be the focus of this list. More or less from the 90s on, much experimentation along the darker, more esoteric lines has been taking place within these arenas of Finnish metal, and the trend continues today. Let's take a look see, shall we?

1.Beherit - Drawing Down The Moon

2.Demilich - Nespithe

3.Unholy - From The Shadows

4.Skepticism - Stormcrowfleet

5.Woods Of Belial - Baxabaxaxaxaxabaxaxaxaxa! 666 Yndstr Draconis

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Self explanatory. Favorite metal albums from this current decade. It's probably going to be mostly black, doom, and drone related type albums, as that's mostly what I listen to, but not entirely. Full streams provided when available.

Hopefully this'll be something to return to nostalgically when I'm 40 and we can access the Internet neurologically while we sleep.

1.

2.Ihsahn - After

3.The Body - All The Waters Of The Earth Turn To Blood

4.Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini

5.Triptykon - Eparistera Daimones

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So you're looking to be inducted into the temple, but you have no idea where to start, eh? Let this list be your guide. The aim here is to walk newcomers to the realms of drone and ambient music through those realms in a slow and steady manner, from generally more relaxing/accessible releases to those that are more uncompromising and/or harder to wrap one's head around.

1.

2.The Angelic Process - Weighing Souls With Sand

3.Jesu - Jesu

4.Locrian - Infinite Dissolution

5.Menace Ruine - Venus Armata

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Essentially a sequel to my 2015 Rituals list, assuming I take the time to keep up with it this time.

Here are the albums from this year, metal or otherwise, that've most taken me on those deep, immersive journeys through the murky waters of the subconscious, plunging me "into the zone" through minimalist composition, spacey, trance-inducing atmospheres, and more. I'm focused primarily on drone, ambient, and psychedelia here, but not necessarily limited to those categories. If it feels meditative, ritualistic, and/or relaxing, it has the potential to be included.

1.Trench Devils - The Signal

2.Nonsun - Black Snow Desert

3.Atom Made Earth - Morning Glory

4.Serpent Dream - Serpent Dream

5.Manunkind - Manunkind

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As anyone who knows me well enough by now should know, I'm a sucker for drone, ambient, and psychedelic music, and anything and everything in between. I've come to really enjoy and appreciate that hypnotizing, trance inducing stuff that is all about plunging the listener deep into a semiconscious state of awareness through repetition, minimalist composition, and/or formless atmospheres that explore the very nature of music itself. This list is basically for me to keep track of such albums released this year, and to potentially turn you onto some of them as well. Includes a few nonmetal albums. And not entirely limited to drone/ambient and psychedelia either, as I sometimes find awesome, trance-inducing albums outside of these genres as well. Albums in order by release date. Suggestions welcomed and appreciated.

1.Deveikuth - VII - π - III

2.Seirom - Mesmerized

3.Gorgantuan - Pestis

4.Tauusk - Hermit

5.Autokrator - Autokrator

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Had been wanting to do this for a while, title's pretty self explanatory. Black and doom are my two favorite metal subgenres, and when the two are combined into pure melancholic chaos, I scream like a little girl. I decided to take a broad approach with this one and include blackened sludge bands as well, as I think doom and sludge have similar origins and can fall under the same general banner. *Translation: I don't care if you think they can't. As usual, suggestions are both warmly welcomed and appreciated. Limit one album per band.

1.

2.Arcana Coelestia - Le Mirage De L'Idéal

3.Atriarch - Ritual Of Passing

4.Autumnblaze - DämmerElbenTragödie

5.Bast - Spectres

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I've always been a huge fan for psychedelic music of any and all kinds. The enveloping atmosphere, the ability of minimalist solos to create a grand sense of harmony, and all those deliciously trippy effects that you can zone out with... they all come together for such a stimulating, otherworldly experience. This is often the type of music I'm most comfortable with: dazing, mind numbing, and hypnotizing.

My psychedelic definitions (including, but not limited to)
1. Very free flowing and (often) formless guitar playing. Specific soloing style of focusing more on the individual notes themselves to create a grand harmony around the main rhythm at hand.
2. Intense manipulation of guitar tone, including feedback, delay, looping, etc.
3. Heavy use of electronic effects. This is something that goes back to the earliest psychedelic bands of the 60s who used hammond organ and harpsichord, but today it's evolved into a wide range of keyboards, synths, equalizers, etc.

Recs both encouraged and appreciated.

1.Aarni - Bathos

2.Æthenor - En Form For Blå

3.Angst Skvadron - Sweet Poison

4.Atomikylä - Erkale

5.Bong - Stoner Rock

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I know I probably speak for a lot of people when I say that, very often, the artwork that a band chooses for a particular album can be the icing on the cake, essential to giving a visual depiction that tops off the overall aesthetic of the music. There are plenty of albums that I simply couldn't imagine listening to without staring, zoned out, to the big ball of glorious that is their cover art. Here are some such albums. In alphabetical order by band. Links to full images of the covers have been provided, as well as credits to the artists.

1.Aarni - Bathos

2.Absu - The Sun Of Tiphareth

3.Atheist - Unquestionable Presence

4.Bathory - Blood Fire Death

5.Blue Öyster Cult - Fire Of Unknown Origin

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Within the past decade, black metal has seen bands from all over the world incorporating new sounds to the genre and changing its delivery like never before. As great as the classic bands are, BM bands today seem to be branching out in every possible direction. From the beautiful chaos of the French bands, to the developing psychedelic black metal style, and even the Avantgarde craziness of the Meads or work from Mories... all the experimentation is helping to create a bold new identity for the genre's sound. Black metal today could very well be the one area of metal where we see the most experimentation taking place, and I hope the albums in this list will illustrate this growing trend.

1.Necromantia - Crossing The Fiery Path

2.Ved Buens Ende - Written In Waters

3.Woods Of Belial - Deimos XIII

4.Deathspell Omega - Fas - Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum

5.Blut Aus Nord - MoRT

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