As part of our annual LISTMANIA series we re-publish “best album” lists from some of the the few surviving print publications that cover metal, and from a handful of “big platform” sites that include metal in their coverage, along with a range of other music genres and other aspects of popular culture.
Of course, as soon as you see the words “popular culture” you know there’s not going to be too much attention devoted to the kind of music we cover at NCS. But it’s still amusing, and sometimes even edifying, to get a glimpse of what the above-ground world is seeing acclaimed as metal’s best releases.
Yesterday (or maybe the day before) Revolver magazine published their list of “The 25 Best Albums of 2019” on-line (a reduction from 30 in 2018). Revolver claims that “millions of passionate consumers” visit their website and view their videos across desktop and mobile; that the print edition is the “biggest hard-rock and metal magazine in North America,” with a subscriber base that’s three times larger than the “next biggest U.S. metal print publication”; and that they have a “highly engaged social following with over 1B impressions per month across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.”
If you happen to be unfamiliar with Revolver, you’ll notice from one of those quotations that they cover hard rock as well as metal, which will be equally evident from a perusal of this new list. And don’t go into it expecting to have your eyes opened to some new underground gem you haven’t heard of. And try not to groan too loudly when you come to Revolver’s picks for the top two albums of the year (hint: there are plenty of other groaners on the list). On the other hand, you will also see Blood Incantation, Venom Prison, Rammstein, and Gatecreeper on the list, and probably some others that will bring some good memories.
To see Revolver’s brief characterizations of each album (with links to reviews) and explanations for the choices, go HERE.
25. Blood Incantation – Hidden History of the Human Race
24. Wicca Phase Springs Eternal – Suffer On
23. The Devil Wears Prada – The Act
22. SeeYouSpaceCowboy – The Correlation Between Entrance and Exit Wounds
21. 3TEETH – Metawar
20. Ithaca – The Language of Injury
19. Fury – Failed Entertainment
18. Angel Du$t – Pretty Buff
17. Venom Prison – Samsara
16. Une Misère – Sermon
15. Korn – The Nothing
14. Russian Circles – Blood Year
13. Chelsea Wolfe – Birth of Violence
12. Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes – End of Suffering
11. Jinjer – Macro
10. Rammstein – Rammstein
9. Spirit Adrift – Divided by Darkness
8. Brutus – Nest
7. Devil Master – Satan Spits on Children of Light
6. Killswitch Engage – Atonement
5. Baroness – Gold & Grey
4. Knocked Loose – A Different Shade of Blue
3. Gatecreeper – Deserted
2. Slipknot — We Are Not Your Kind
1. Tool – Fear Inoculum
24 Responses to “LISTMANIA 2019: REVOLVER’S “25 BEST ALBUMS OF 2019””
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
I promise this will be the only time this year, but…
“Tool? That’s laughable! Gorguts put out the best METAL album this year – don’t deny it. Stop trying to be different – you’re only appealing to hipsters. Have fun with that. I thought i’d found a credible metal music site to frequent. Apparently not – laters!”
Ah, catharsis.
Gorguts released something this year?
This is a running joke that originated back in 2013 via Comment #7 to the post linked below, in which the commenter obviously didn’t pay attention to the fact that we were re-posting Rolling Stone’s list and not our own. Many jokers have used the same format in comments every year since.
https://www.nocleansinging.com/2013/12/12/2013-listmania-continues-rolling-stones-list-of-the-20-best-metal-albums-of-2013/
I’m surprised it took you so long. But goddamn, I laugh every time you do this (or someone else does). The bonehead play that keeps on giving.
I think it’s a joke that has run its course now, but I thought I’d pull it out one last time (“that’s what she said”).
Tool is pretty funny though. I laughed when I saw it.
If I had to re-sort this list I would put Spirit Adrift at number one and Blood Incantation at number two.
Then I’d ditch the rest and have a Revolver Top 2 of 2019 list that was pretty solid.
I’d throw in that Devil Master joint at number 3 and call it a day! Lol
Double LOL. Good editing skills!
Of course Tool took the top spot. Inoculum is a good album and deserves to be on this year’s lists, but not in the #1 slot.
Did Maynard even drink any of his wine? If he does you can’t really tell \m/ \m/
It will be interesting to see the list’s this year. I think Death , Black and Doom metal all had an amazing year. Its been very difficult for me to narrow down my standouts. I wont even comment on Revolver.
I’m surprised Revolver even knew 5 actual metal bands, though Gatecreeper really shouldn’t be on any end of the year list let alone at number three
I trust you will be compiling a really nasty list of your own for us?
It will be later than normal getting to you, just because of my schedule this year, but I will definitely have one ready to go before the end of the year
Good! Thank you.
Stopped reading Revolver around the turn of the century when my tastes became more extreme than what was reflected in the magazine. Don’t see anything that would cause me to reconsider that decision.
Same here. It was useful at one point, when my tastes were still evolving. No longer.
I did groan when i saw Slipknot
Tried to listen to new Korn. Sorry, but they didn’t do good album (see Serenity of Suffuring), save best album for 2019.
Also, i believe that Chelsea Wolfe didn’t do good album ether. I like Hiss Spun a lot, but this wasn’t good enough for me.
BTW, i don’t get Blood Incantation thing. I don’t know why…
Bloody Hell, given the number of metal albums, I have a mighty two on this list – those being Gatecreeper – Deserted and Baroness – Gold & Grey. Plainly I have shit taste and have been wasting my time and money. For what it’s worth, my list would include Acid Reign -The Age of Entitlement, Kadavar – For The Dead Travel Fast; Death Angel – Humanicide; Exhorder- Mourn The Southern Skies; Ram – The Throne Within; Overkill – The Wings Of War; Grand Magus Wolf God; Firespawn – Abominate; High Command – Beyond The Walls Of Desolation; Soilwork – Verkligheten; Monolord-No Comfort; Nile – Vile Nilotic Rites
Would you ever call a metal person a human trafficker?
Well, you know, kids must have a “metallish” magazine to rebel against their poppy counterparts!
I’m just glad Tool beat Slipknot. I admittedly used to be an enormous fanboy of Slipknot when I very first began immersing myself into the metal labyrinth, but in my opinion, they deteriorated after “Iowa”.
Even though I didn’t consider it one of my personal favorites, glad to see Knocked Loose, a band from my state, getting much love. They do run circles around the majority of these modern-day core bands.
Chick metal for life \m/