Matts favorite releases of 2015

The following releases are my personal favorites for 2015.

• 20. Hooded Menace - Darkness Drips Forth
• 19. Trenchgrinder - Demo 2015
• 18. Eucharist - Demise Rites (re-release)
• 17. Trapped Within Burning Machinery - The Filth Element
• 16. Abyssal - Antikatastaseis
• 15. Tyranny - Aeons in Tectonic Interment
• 14. Chaos Echoes - Transient
• 13. Sarpanitum - Blessed Be My Brothers
• 12. Vile Creature - A Steady Descent Into the Soil
• 11. Forn - Weltschmerz

• 10. Sunn O)) - Kannon
  I've always considered Sunn's music as something to be seen live, not recorded.  This is the first Sunn album other than their collaboration with Boris that I really enjoy listening to at home on  my tiny little speakers.  Its repetitive, cyclical and meditative. 

• 9. Dead to a Dying World - Litany
  Lots has been written about these guys lately.  I think I even saw that they were streaming it on NPR a while back.  Its well deserved.  Litany is a really well written, using violins, brass and even a dulcimer.

• 8. Anopheli - The Ache of Want
  High energy crust infused punk with some nice Cello for the melodic interludes.  The final track Trade has been on repeat at home for a long time.

• 7. Demon Head - Ride the Wilderness
  Kind of a combination of Danzig meets Jim Morrison singing in Pentagram.  A really fun and catchy proto doom album.

• 6. Shrine of the Serpent - Shrine of the Serpent
  The opening riff on the EPs first track, 9 Gates of Shadow, is so fucking heavy I would probably include this release on my top 10 even if the rest of the EP sucked.  But the other tracks don't suck, they're all great.

• 5. Shape of Despair - Monotony Fields
  I feel as if that as of late, funeral doom has been thrown around as a label for any sludgey doom band that plays a few BPM slower than normal.  Thats not the case with Finalnd's Shape of Despair.  Monotony Fields is heavy, but maintains a sense of introspective melancholy.  Favorite track has to be Descending Inner Night.

• 4. Sulphur Aeon - Gateway to the Antisphere
  While there are a lot of death metal bands this year getting much higher praise than Sulphur Aeon (Vastum, Abyssal, Cruciamentum, Malthusian), something about Gateway really strikes a chord with me.  Its technically strong, great recording, and diverse enough that 51 minutes doesn't ever start feeling old.

• 3. Batushka - Litourgiya
  I've only been listening to these guys for a couple weeks, but it has been non stop.  Combining doom and black metal with a wide variety at what is probably best described as liturgical vocals.

• 2. Ruined - Hunter's Premonition
  Gloomy wandering drum and bass duo.  Hunter's Premonition is simultaneously heavy with its low distorted bass, and ethereal with the buried, reverb-laden chanting and singing.  Its music that picks you up and then throws you back down.

• 1. King Woman - Doubt
  Plodding doom with clean female vocals.  Both sad and beautiful, the type of album I'll be listening to for years to come.

Some other noteworthy stuff from 2015 that I just didnt get around to fully listening to:

Desolate Shrine - The Heart of the Netherworld, Devouring Star - Through Lung and Heart, Chapel of Disease - The Mysterious Ways of Repetitive Art, Abstracter - Wound Empire, Ethereal Shroud - They Became the Falling Ash

Chris' Top 40 Metal Albums of 2015

Before you say anything, I know this list is a coming super late this year–but I've been on the road, visiting family, trying to make a cross country move, and...well, honestly I don't really need to explain myself to you.

It seems like every time I write a year-end list I start by expressing some amount of surprise at how good the releases were over the last 12 months. I think it's time to stop trying to qualify each year as a "good year for metal," and move forward with cockeyed optimism and the assumption that every year is a good year for metal. 2015 brought the goods as well as any year before it; tons of great releases from new bands, and a whole heap of new material from some of the underground's long-time veterans. It brings me unending joy to see so many great releases coming from around the world, and I hope the trend continues to grow until every home has at least one copy of Blasphemy's Fallen Angel of Doom on the shelf (y'know, for entertaining guests).   

Enough gushing, let's get down to business. Some years it takes me weeks to narrow down my list, but 2015 gifted me with some albums that were in near constant rotation and gained their spot in the top 10 almost immediately. Everything else (11-40) is pretty fantastic, but those top 10 really blew me away. The only asterisk on the list is Spectral Wound's Terra Nullius, which is spectacular and probably would have a place in the top 10 if I'd gotten it more than a week ago. So, without further ado, my Top 40 Metal Albums of 2015:

40. Nahtrunar – Symbolismus

39. False – Untitled 2

38. Goat Semen – Ego Sum Sathana

37. Sulphur Aeon – Gateway to the Antisphere

36. Yellow Eyes – Sick with Bloom

35. Peste Noir – La Chaise-Dyable

34. Magister Templi – Into Duat

33. Abysmal Lord – Diciples of the Inferno

32. Intolerance – Hail the Triumvirate!

31. House of Atreus – The Spear and the Ichor that Follows

30. Nocternity – Harps of the Ancient Temples

29. Death Karma – The History of Death and Burial Rituals Part 1

28. Malsanctum – Metamorbid Fetishization

27. Undergang - Døden læger alle sår

26. Brånd – Demo 2015

25. Lluvia – Eternidad Solemne

24. Cruciamentum – Charnel Passages

23. Autokrator – Same

22. Sivyg Yar - Burial Shrouds

21. Bell Witch – Four Phantoms

20. Genocide Shrines - Manipura Imperial Deathevokovil (Scriptures Of Reversed Puraana Dharmurder)

19. Obsequiae – Aria of Vernal Tombs

18. Destruktor – Opprobrium

17. Ares Kingdom – The Unburiable Dead

16. Chrworsch – Ein Totenspruch zur viehischen Begattung

15. Adversarial – Death, Endless Nothing and the Black Knife of Nihilism

14. Cosmic Church – Vigilia

13. Slaegt – Beautiful and Damned/Ildsvanger

12. Archgoat – The Apocalyptic Triumphator

11.Spectral Wound – Terra Nullius*

10. The Haunting Presence – The Haunting Presence

The mastermind behind Nocturnal Blood comes ripping into 2015 with a collection of demo material that embodies chaos, fear, paranoia, and brutality.  

9. One Master – Recursive Blasphemy

Possibly the most overlooked USBM album of the year. One Master absolutely destroy with their brand of orthodox-meets-melodic black metal. 

 

8. VHOL – Deeper Than Sky

 Call them a super group if it makes you feel better, but VHOL is still gonna destroy your favorite band. Piles of influences + heaps of talent = 2015's most interesting record.

7. Black Cilice - Mysteries

 Beautiful raw black metal from Portugal in all its melodic glory. Listen with headphones and get lost in this incredible album.

6. Abyssal – Antikatastaseis

My favorite death metal album of the year, and a hard release to top for years to come. Dark, dense, melodic, and altogether brilliant. It's also worth noting that Abyssal is the work of one man–or maybe I should say one evil genius?

5. Revenge – Behold.Total.Rejection

As a long-time fan I expected I'd enjoy the new Revenge album, but I had no idea it would blow me away completely. The clean production was a bold choice, and it pays off in spades. Chaos personified, and some of the most incredible vocals I've heard in years. 

4. Mgla – Exercises in Futility

There isn't much to say about Exercises in Futility...well, other than it's a modern masterpiece and sets a new bar for Mgla and the entire black metal genre, but nothing beyond that. 

  

3. Possession – 1588-1646 

 Possession is proof that one great riff and a good concept is all you really need. Menacing, punishing, and catchy at all the right moments; 1588-1646 is easily the best album about an accused witch being burned at the stake in ages. 

 

2. Veiled – Omniscient Veil

Out of the ashes of the super solid, but not that interesting, Gnosis of the Witch comes Veiled with an incredible demo, Omniscient Veil. It took a few spins for this one to sink in, but once it did I couldn't get enough. There's a subtle beauty to the madness, and loads of melody buried under all the chaos. 

 

1. Misþyrming - Söngvar elds og óreiðu 

This album grabbed my attention from the very beginning and never got old, no matter how many times I listened to it throughout the year. Boasting some of the most incredible black metal riffs I've heard in the last 10 years, Söngvar elds og óreiðu is unrelenting in almost every way; creativity, brutality, and as a master class in atmosphere. From beginning to end Söngvar elds og óreiðu is a completely unique and wonderful experience. Iceland is the new black metal capital of the world.