We have now entered the final month of 2020, and that begins the final countdown to the end of the year. In the world of metal, this month we’ll also start seeing more and more lists of the year’s best releases. In fact, today we began rolling out some lists of our own.
Back in 2009, when this site was just a few days old, I wrote a post about year-end lists and why people bother with them. The best reason still seems to be this: Reading someone else’s list of the albums they thought were best is a good way to discover music you missed and might like.
We don’t do an “official” NCS year-end “best albums” list. However, we publish the picks of each of our regular staff writers as well as a group of invited guest writers, in addition to lists that we re-post from a few print zines and “big platform” online sites.
Every year we also invite our readers to share their lists and we’re doing that again right here, right now.
If you’ve been pondering what you’ve heard this year and have made your own list of the albums, EPs, or splits released in 2020 that you think are the best of what you’ve heard, we invite you to share it with everyone in the Comments section to this post. And if you haven’t made a list yet but want to, there’s still plenty of time (read below).
We don’t have any hard-and-fast rules about year-end lists. Your list doesn’t have to be a specific number — it doesn’t have to be a “Top 10″ or “Top 20″ list, it could be a Top 2 list or a Top 15, or any other number.
And it doesn’t have to be a cross-genre list, i.e., the best of all metal you’ve heard this year. It could be the best death metal, or the best black metal, or the best grind, or the best crust or doom metal, and on and on — pretty much whatever you want to do and feel comfortable doing, as long as it fits your definition of metal.
Don’t be shy, and don’t worry about being judged — if you haven’t figured it out already, it ain’t our style or the style of our commenters to ridicule what someone else thinks is great metal.
And if you don’t have a list ready yet, no sweat, because you can come back to this post whenever you like and add your list later — or comment on the lists others have posted. I’ll put a link to this post at the top right side of every page so people can find it quickly — look for the link to 2020 NCS READERS’ YEAR-END LISTS. That will make the comments to this post a collection point for “Best of” readers’ lists. And that link will stay on our page from now through this time in 2020.
Last year we had 133 comments on this invitation (even more than the year before), and I think that says something about how interested people are in seeing each other’s lists and reacting to them. So start thinking and start commenting (please, and thank you).
114 Responses to “LISTMANIA 2020: AN INVITATION FOR READERS’ LISTS OF THE YEAR’S BEST METAL”
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meilleur album et meilleure œuvre d’art
Youth In Ribbons, Revenant Marquis
Mention honorable [pas d’ordre particulier]
Sublimation, Dephosphorus
Metaphysics of Mass Murder, Iskalde Morket
ΑΣ ΑΡΧΙΣΕΙ Η ΤΕΛΕΤΗ, LVA
Nodus Tollens, Melancholic Waters
Towards Nothingness, Lares
En Ergô Eina, AARA
Kannustaa, s/t
Deathstar, Convulse
Stare Into the Abyss, Enshadowed
Stygian, Atramentus
Transsatanizm, BIESY
Intricacies of Bowed Wisdom, Grimah
Hey, thanks for Revenant Marquis, truly remarkable record!
1) Sumac – May You Be Held
2) Ulcerate – Stare Into Death and Be Still
3) Wake – Devouring Ruin
4) …and Oceans – Cosmic World Mother
5) Intronaut – Fluid Existential Inversions
6) Wills Dissolve – Echoes
7) Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
8) Radiant Knife – The Ghost
8) Pyrrhon – Abcess Time
9) Radiant Knife – The Body
10) Aseitas – False Peace
Here’s my top 2020
Ulcerate – Stare Into Death and Be Still
Nero di Marte – Immoto
Panzerfaust – The Suns of Perdition: Chapter II: Render Unto Eden
…And Oceans – cosmic world mother
Abysmal dawn – phylogenesis
Árstíðir lífsins – Saga á tveim tungum II- Eigi fjǫll né firðir
Auðn – Vökudraumsins Fangi
Benediction – scriptures
black crown initiate – Violent Portraits of Doomed Escape
bleed from within – fractures
cult of lilith – mara
Dark Fortress – Spectres from the Old World
Draconian – Under a Godless Veil
Earth Rot – Black Tides of Obscurity
Emyn Muil – Afar Angathfark
godthrymm – reflections
Grafvitnir – Death’s Wings Widespread
Gaerea – limbo
Havukruunu – Uinuos Syömein Sota
Ingested-Where Only Gods May Tread
Katatonia – City Burials
Irist – order of the mind
Killer Be Killed – Reluctant Hero
The ocean – phanerozoic II
lamb of god – st
lamp of murmur – Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism
Lik – misanthropic breed
Mesarthim – the degenerate era
Napalm death – Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism
Necrophobic – Dawn of the Damned
Ordinance – In Purge There Is No Remission
Scarab – Martyrs Of The Storm
Severoth-Vsesvit
Skeletal Remains – The Entombment Of Chaos
Svalbard – When I Die, Will I Get Better (
Sylosis – Cycle of Suffering
Testament – Titans Of Creation
The Spirit – Cosmic Terror
Unreqvited – both albums
Wake – Devouring Ruin
Warbringer – Weapons of Tomorrow
Xenobiotic – Mordrake
Year of the Knife – Internal Incarceration
Ygg – The Last Scald
1) maquahuitl -at the altar of mictlampa
2) eternal champion-ravening iron
3) Necrophobic -dawn of the damned
4) cirith ungol-forever black
5)inquisition-black mass
6) sinria -the everlorn
7) dumal -the confessor
8) azarath -Saint desecration
9) pan Native American front split with ifernach
10) ars veneficium-ursupurpation
…and Oceans – Cosmic World Mother
Auðn – Vökudraumsins fangi
Cultus Profano – Accursed Possession
Earth Rot – Black Tides of Obscurity
Gaerea – Limbo
Ormskrik – Ormskrik
Panzerfaust – The Suns of Perdition – Chapter II: Render unto Eden
Redwood Hill – Ender
Regarde les Hommes Tomber – Ascension
Sinistral King – Serpent Uncoiling
Vous Autres – Sel de pierre
Vredehammer – Viperous
My 2020 list (in alphabetical order):
– BLACK ROYAL – Firebride
– CARDINALS FOLLY – Defying the Righteous Way
– CHRIS STAPLETON – Starting Over
– DEAD QUIET – Truth and Ruin
– DEATHWHITE – Grave Image
– FOTOCRIME – South of Heaven
– HOUSE OF HARM – Vicious Pastimes
– MARCHE FUNEBRE – Einderlicht
– MIDNIGHT – Rebirth by Blasphemy
– NOVARUPTA – Marine Snow
– PALLBEARER – Forgotten Days
– PARADISE LOST – Obsidian
– PURE REASON REVOLUTION – Eupnea
– SECRETS OF THE MOON – Black House
– SOLSTAFIR – Endless Twilight of Codependent Love
– SPIRIT ADRIFT – Enlightened in Eternity
– THURSTON MOORE – By The Fire
– ULVER – Flowers of Evil
Cheers on the Thurston Moore. Heard him on The Watt From Pedro Show not too long ago and the material was fantastic.
Here’s my top 12
1. Pyrrhon-Abscess Time
2. Imperial triumphant-Alphaville
3. Ulcerate-Stare into death and be still
4. Afterbirth-four-dimensional flesh
5. Faceless burial-Speciation
6. Defeated Sanity-sanguine impetus
7. Omivortex-Diagemas of consciousness
8. Exocrine-Maelstrom
9. Coexistence-Collateral Dimension
10.JoJo-Good to know
11. MSW-Obliviosus
12. Lord Almighty-Wither
In alphabetical order :
0 – Entity
Black Curse – Endless Wound
Cult Of Fire – Nirvana
Depravity – Grand Malevolence
Draghkar – At The Crossroads of Infinity
Fuming Mouth – Beyond The Tomb (EP)
Hjelvik – Welcome to Hel
Kvelertak – Splid
Lamp of Murmuur – Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism
Lik – Misanthropic Breed
Mora Prokaza – By Chance
Prometheus – Resonant Echoes from Cosmos of Old
Sadistic Rot – Morbid Nightmare
Sepulchral Curse – Only Ashes Remain
Serpent Column – Endless Detainment
Shores of Null – Beyond The Shores
Skam – Sounds of a Disease
Valdrin – Effigy of Nightmares
Definitely a good year for metal music.
My favourite 2020 releases in no particular order
Empyrean Grace – Bestowment of the Seraphic Key
Wake – Confluence
Serpent Column – Kathodos
Napalm Death – Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism
Dephosphorus – Sublimation
De Gevreesde Ziekte – Ω
Plague Organ – Orphan
Bone Awl – An Obelisk Marks the Line
Ifernach – Waqan
Grisvelos – Desperatio
Xazraug – Unsympathetic Empyrean
Gabestok – Tre
Syrictus – Anticosmia
Cosmic Putrefaction – The Horizons Towards Which Splendour Withers
Swarming – Primeval Arteries of the Sacred Dead
Paysage d’Hiver – Im Wald
Esoctrilihum – Eternity of Shaog
Sxuperion – Omniscient Pulse
Thecodontion – Supercontinent
Serpent Column – Endless Detainment
Wake – Devouring Ruin
Ulcerate – Stare Into Death and Be Still
Khthoniik Cerviiks – Æequiizoiikum
MSW – Obliviosus
Somme – Somme
Dearth – To Crown All Befoulment
Hellripper – The Affair of the Poisons
Bâ’a – Deus Qui Non Mentitur
Lamp Of Murmuur – Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism
Ominous Resurrection – Judgement
Surprised by the lack of Thecodontion in most of the lists I’ve seen so far, that album is immense.
I would agree with that. One of my favorites this year. But man, there’s a ton of good stuff in the lists here, and half a ton of things I need to check out.
Best albums
Ulthar – Providence
Havukruunu – Uinuos Syömein Sota
Plague Years – Circle of Darkness
Faceless Burial – Speciation
Black Curse – Endless Wound
Vredehammer – Viperous
Vengeful Spectre – s/t
Hellripper – The Affair of the Poisons
Calligram – The Eye is the First Circle
Ripped to Shreds — 亂 (Luan)
Beltez – A Gray Chill and a Whisper
Ulcerate – Stare into Death and Be Still
Cryptic Shift – Visitations from Enceladus
Gravenchalice – Apparition
Dearth – To Crown All Befoulment
Best Eps/Splits
Do – Black Hole Mass (Technically, not an album. But my AotY.)
Wraith/Bastardizer – Speed Armageddon
Humanity is Cancer – s/t
Subtype Zero – Ceremonious Extinction
Death Whore – s/t
Vonlaus – Rod Slaemra Akvardana
Carcass – Despicable
Aepoch – The Scryer
Dat Beltez is TITE
Cryptic Shift is fantastic, but I think Ulcerate have left me behind. Karmacipher are doing what I used to want from them, though.
Shout out for Cryptic Shift. That album is fucking banana pants.
Killer also is the Cryptic Shift Artwork by A. Nagamasa YES!
A top 10 in alphabetical order that I just threw together
Aborted – La Grande Mascarade
Convocation – Ashes Coalesce
Creative Waste – Condemned
Crepuscule d’Hiver – Par-Dela Noireglaces et Brumes-Sinistres
Cytotoxin – Nuklearth
Dratna – Druid Winds & The Fall of the Celtic Gods
Necrophobic – Dawn of the Damned
Sinister Downfall – A Dark Shining Light
Te Ruki – E Tika Mateu
Wastewalker – Lowborn
Wolfheart – Wolves of Karelia
25. Proscription – Conduit
24. Yarrow – We Made What God Could Not
23. Cosmovore – Into The Necrosphere
22. Live Burial – Unending Futility
21. Omegavortex – Black Abomination Spawn
20. Sweven – The Eternal Resonance
19. Cult Burial – Cult Burial
18. Cryptic Shift – Visitations From Enceladus
17. Encenathrakh – Thraakethraaeate Thraithraake
16. Kraken Duumvirate – The Stars Below, The Seas Above
15. Fluids – Ignorance Exalted
14. Ulthar – Providence
13. Cosmic Putrefaction – The Horizons Towards Which Splendour Withers
12. Abyssal Ascendant – Deacons Of Abhorrence
11. Afterbirth – Fourth Dimensional Flesh
10. Karmacipher – Introspectrum
9. Thecodontion – Supercontinent
8. Xythlia – Immortality Through Quantum Suicide
7. Evaporated Sores – Ulcerous Dimensions
6. Ceremonial Bloodbath – The Tides Of Blood
5. Void Rot – Descending Pillars
4. Primitive Man – Immersion
3. Undeath – Lesions Of A Different Kind
2. Cryptae – Nightmare Traversal
1. Pyrrhon – Abscess Time
Wasn’t super huge on Pyrrhon, but this is an amazing list!
Ulcerate – Stare into death and be still
Khthoniik Cerviiks – AEequiizoiikum
Akhlys – Melinoë
Megaton Sword – Blood hails steel
Godthrymm – Reflections
LPs:
1. Skaphe – Skaphe3
2. Pestilength – Eilatik
3. Black Curse – Endless Wound
4. Ulcerate- Stare Into Death and Be Still
5. Nodus Tollens – Melancholic Waters
6. Convocation- Ashes Coalesce
7. Burning Palace – Burning Palace
8. Odraza- Rzeczom
9. Serpent Column – Kathidos
10. Light Dweller – Hominal
EPS:
Serpent Column – Endless Detainment
Phthisis – Embodiment of Decay
Cosmovore – Into the Necrosphere
Apparition – Granular Transformation
Blasphematory- Depths of the Obscurity
Malefic Levitation – The Ancient Plague
Cosmovore broke my “no EPs” rule and made my full list.
That Cosmovore is tremendous. This whole LP list is terrific. I’m whipping myself for not yet writing something about Burning Palace (I’ve been meaning to!). And based on the tastes displayed here I need to explore the four releases in the EP list that I haven’t yet heard.
Those EPs are real nasty, in a good way
Demos, EPs
Illarith, The Great Mortality
Flail, ᛞᛁᛋᛏᚨᚾᛏ ᚹᚨᚾᛞᛖᚱᛁᛝᛋ
IIIXK, demo 2020
Vonlaus, Röð slæmra ákvarðana
DEMO2020 by TYHJÄ
Mesarthim, Planet Nine
Paradise Lost – Obsidian
Brutus – Live In Ghent
Undeath – Lesions Of A Different Kind
Sepulchral Curse – Only Ashes Remain
Necrot – Mortal
DevilDriver – Dealing with Demons
Svalbard – When I Die, Will I Get Better
Deftones – Ohms
The Black Dahlia Murder – Verminous
Scordatura – Mass Failure
Proscription – Conduit
Hanging Fortress – Darkness Devours
Irdorath – The Final Sin
Sinistral King – Serpent Uncoiling
Vaisseau – Horrors Waiting In Line
Sons Of A Wanted Man – Kenoma
1.Paysage d’Hiver – Im Wald
2. Atramentus – Stygian
3. Cénotaphe – Monte Verità
4. Esoctrilihum – Eternity Of Shaog
5. Eternal Champion – Ravening Iron
6. Inquisition – Black Mass for a Mass Grave
7. Onirik – The Fire Cult Beyond Eternity
8. Afterbirth – Four Dimensional Flesh
9. Wayfarer – A Romance With Violence
10. Ifernach – Waqan
11. Korgonthurus – Kuolleestasyntynyt
12. Circle of Ouroborus – Viimeinen Juoksu
13. Caverne – Omphalos
14. Kaatayra – Toda História pela Frente
15. Sorcier Des Glaces – Un Monde de Glace et de Sang
16. Temple Nightside – Pillars of Damnation
17. Sweven – The Eternal Resonance
18. Worthless – Dark Expressionism
19. Khthoniik Cerviiks – Жequiizoiikum
20. Ymir – Ymir
21. Spirit Possession – Spirit Possession
22. Armagedda – Svindeldjup Ättestup
23. Shagor – Sotteklugt
24. Defeated Sanity – The Sanguinary Impetus
25. Ulcerate – Stare Into Death And Be Still
26. Núll – Entity
27. Emyn Muil – Afar Angathfark
28. Selbst – Relatos De Angustia
29. Kommodus – Kommodus
30. Lamp Of Murmuur – Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism
◊- Zyklus
Abysmal Dawn – Phyliogenesis
Benighted – Obscene Repressed
Carnosus – Dogma of the Deceased
Coexistence – Collateral Dimension
Gaerea – Limbo
Hail Spirit – Noir – Eden in Reverse
Havukruunu – Unuo Syomein Sota
The Hirsch Effect – Kollaps
Intellect Devourer – Demons of the Skull
Intronaut – Fluid Existential Inversions
Lantern – Dimensions
Lor – Edges of Eternity
Midnight – Rebirth by Blasphemy
Mobius – Kala
Neck of the Woods – The Annex of Ire
Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin kynsi
Psychotic Waltz – The God-Shaped Void
Selbst – Relatos Angustia
Skyforest – A New Dawn
Slave One – Omega Disciples
Sutrah – Aletheia
Temple of Void – The World That Was
Ulthar – Providence
Undeath – Lesions Of A Different Kind
Uprising – II
Void Ceremony – Entropic Reflections Continuum: Dimensional Unravel
Vual – To End All Life
VVilderness – Dark Waters
Vyrion – Nil
EPs – Church of Disgust, Cloud Cruiser, Heinous, Lychgate, Meurtrières, Sentient Divide, Shepherd
Non-Metal – Angela Munoz, AWOLNation, Bill Frisell, Colin Marston, David Grissom, Elder, JG Thirlwell and Simon Steensland, Luca Mantovanelli, Matteo Liberatore, Nahre Sol, Ohmme, Oz Noy, Simon Proulx, white mansion, Wilma Archer
Album of the Year – Lunatic Soul – Through Shaded Woods!!! Maruisz Duda knocks it out of the park!
Aside from the first two, which were my out and out favorites, this is chronological from January until now.
I love them all and want to hold them close forever and ever.
Afterbirth – Four Dimensional Flesh
Havukruunu – Uinuos Syomein Sota
Kawir – Adrasteia
Snorlax – II
Marrasmieli – Between Land and Sky
The Spirit – Cosmic Terror
Spectral Lore / Mare Cognitum – Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine
Sweven – The Eternal Resonance
Wake – Sowing the Seeds of a Worthless Tomorrow / Wake – Confluence
Zakaz – Hof ur Holdi
Warp Chamber – Implements of Excruciation
Ulcerate – Stare Into Death And Be Still
Elder – Omens
Winterfylleth – The Reckoning Dawn
Feral Light – Life Vapor
Inexorum – Moonlit Navigation
Diabolic Oath – Profane Death Exodus
Uprising – II
Khthoniik Cerviiks – AEequiizoiikum
Faceless Burial – Speciation
Question – Reflections of the Void
Meslamtaea – Geketend in de Schaduw Van Het Leven
Svalbard – When I Die, Will I Get Better?
Spirit Adrift – Enlightened In Eternity
Undeath – Lesions of a Different Kind
Eternal Champion – Ravened Iron
Beaten To Death – Laat maar, deel een, ik verhuis naar Mastbos
Beltez – A Grey Chill and a Whisper
Elder! I feel like that album got buried but it might be my favorite of the year. There’s not a single second wasted on that entire record. Just brilliant stuff.
I have unnatural urges for this band. I think this is their best record yet and the last three were also their best. Lol.
Fascinating. I couldn’t get into “Omens” after completely marrying myself to their previous albums. It wasn’t awful or anything – just not that great. Perhaps I need to spin it again.
I am impressed by everyone’s lists – the breadth and depth of them. I ran more toward “comfort” this year, particularly finding it in doom and other more melancholic forms. Having said that, I must admit that I feel like I only scratched the surface on new music in 2020. As such, I am sure I will add at least a couple to my best of list based on these and the NCS crew’s lists (as I did last year with Do). With that caveat, here we go –
1. Paradise Lost – Obsidian (the perfect record for a tough, depressing year)
2. Green Carnation – Leaves of Yesteryear (beautiful return to form – surprised no one else listed it!)
3. Elder – Omens
4. Do – Black Hole Mass (ep or not – way too good not to include!)
5. Dark Buddha Rising – Mathreyata (h/t to Mr. Synn; he was right on this one)
6. Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin kynsi
7. Napalm Death – Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism
8. Anaal Nathrakh – Endarkenment
9. Old Man Gloom – Seminar IX and Seminar VIII (these guys put their heart and soul in this…)
10. Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
Thanks for that Black Hole Mass! Loving it!
Great lists!
In alphabetical order, here’s my top 30 LPs so far this year, based on the effect these releases have had on me. There are some other rad releases that could so easily have made this list had I used different criteria.
Afsky – Ofte Jeg Drømmer Mig Død
Afterbirth – Four Dimensional Flesh
Akhlys – Melinoë
Aleynmord – The Blinding Light
Aversio Humanitatis – Behold The Silent Dwellers
Black Curse – Endless Wound
Calligram – The Eye is the First Circle
Cryptic Shift – Visitations From Enceladus
Déhà – Your Existence is an anomaly which clings on hope and destruction
Häxenzijrkell – Die Nachtseite
Hymn – Breach Us
Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
Karmacipher – Introspectrum
Mnemocide – Feeding the Vultures
Musmahhu – Reign of the Odious
Napalm Death – Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism
Odoacer – There the Vultures Will Gather
Paysage d’Hiver – Im Wald
Pharmacist – Medical Renditions Of Grinding Decomposition
Primitive Man – Immersion
Scatology Secretion – Submerged in Glacial Ruin
Sunken – Livslede
Svalbard – When I Die, Will I Get Better?
Titaan – Itima
Ulcerate – Stare Into Death And Be Still
Vacuous – Katabasis
Vile Creature – Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm!
Wake – Devouring Ruin
Xazraug – Unsympathetic Empyrean
Yovel – Forthcoming Humanity
I forgot my honourable mentions that almost made the list:
Atavist: III – Absolution
Cross Bringer – The Signs of Spiritual Delusion
Liturgy – Origin of the Alimonies
Reverorum ib Malacht – Vad är inte sju huvud?
The Funeral Orchestra: Negative Evocation Rites
Musmahhu – Reign of the Odious
…came out in 2019
That’s a real relief to know, as I forgot to put Eoront – Gods Have No Name in my list which I was kicking myself for.
Musmahhu – Reign of the Odious was released 1 December 2018
If by December 2018 you mean on Jan 11th, 2019…then yes, you are correct
Yes! and by “yes,” I mean no.
https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/album/musmahhu-reign-of-the-odious
..and yet
https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Musmahhu/Reign_of_the_Odious/746660
Not to mention literally every review for the album came out after January 2019
Iron Bonehead >>> MA
Also: lol MA
https://www.blessedaltarzine.com/2019/02/06/musmahhu-reign-of-the-odious/
https://yourlastrites.com/2019/01/10/musmahhu-reign-of-the-odious-review/
https://www.grimmgent.com/musmahhu-reign-of-the-odious/
http://www.metalstorm.net/pub/review.php?review_id=14875
https://grizzlybutts.com/2019/01/03/musmahhu-reign-of-the-odious-2019-review/
I can keep going…So do you want me to post every single review site that announced the release date as January 2019 or do you just want to concede that maybe Bandcamp, whose notorious for fucking up release dates, may have fucked up the release date?
My Top 5:
Ulcerate – Stare Into Death and Be Still
Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
Deftones – Ohms
Igorrr – Spirituality and Distortion
Grisvelos – Desperatio
Probably have a few more than these listed. It was a very good year in metal, but then again was there ever a bad year?. They are somewhat ordered by preference, Katla being my absolute favourite for 2020.
Katla – Allt þetta Helvítis Myrkur
Wayfarer – A Romance With Violence
Akhlys – Melinoë
Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin kynsi
Ulcerate – Stare Into Death and Be Still
Havukruunu – Uinuos syömein sota
The Ocean Collective – Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic/Cenozoic
Odraza – Rzeczom
Skáphe – Skáphe3
Serpent Column – Kathodos
Gorephilia – In the Eye of Nothing
Skeletal Remains – The Entombment of Chaos
Wake – Devouring Ruin
Panzerfaust – The Suns of Perdition – Chapter II: Render Unto Eden
Necrot – Mortal
Thy Catafalque – Naiv
Of Feather and Bone – Sulfuric Disintegration
Cryptic Shift – Visitations From Enceladus
Hail Spirit Noir – Eden in Reverse
Malokarpatan – Krupinské ohne
Proscription – Conduit
Cosmic Putrefaction – The Horizons Towards Which Splendour Withers
Manticora – To Live to Kill to Live
Vassafor – To the Death
Temple Nightside – Pillars of Damnation
Cryptae – Nightmare Traversal
It feels selfish and yet cathartic to reflect on this year in terms of music. Like many, 2020 offered me far less listening time than usual due to challenges faced at home, with work, etc. This lack of leisure time translates further into my simple list of favorites. I make no attempt to claim this is any sort of “critical top albums”…this is the stuff I enjoyed the most during the little listening time I had this year. I hope some here may find enjoyment in these picks, mostly death metal, listed A-Z by artist.
Bear Mace – Charred Fields of Slaughter
Black Curse – Endless Wound
Earth Rot – Black Tides of Obscurity
Esoctrilum – Eternity of Shaog
Faceless Burial – Speciation
Intercepting Pattern – The Encounter
Invictus – The Catacombs of Fear
KVAEN – The Funeral Pyre
Necrot – Mortal
Panzerfaust – The Suns of Perdition – Chapter II
Perdition Temple – Sacraments of Descention
Phthisis – Embodiment of Decay (EP)
Ripped to Shreds – Luan
Sentient Divide – Haunted by Cruelty
Skeletal Remains – The Entombment of Chaos
Skeleton – s/t
Spirit Adrift – Enlightened in Eternity
Ulthar – Providence
Undeath – Lesions of a Different Kind
Vredehammer – Viperous
Wake – Devouring Ruin
Warp Chamber – Implements of Excruciation
Witches Hammer – Damnation Is My Salvation
Vengeful Specter – s/t
Bonus – I fully expect the December 4 release by Depravity to make the list as well, and have resisted the temptation to listen to any of the singles.
There might be a couple of other surprises, and I’m sure the list will grow as I find time in the future to listen to more 2020 material.
WARRRRP CHAMBERRRRRR!!!! Fucking love that album.
1) Ulcerate: Stare into death and be Still
2) Vampire: Rex
3) Convocation: Ashes Coalesce
4) Incantation: Sect of vile Divinities
5) Skeletal Remains: The Entombment of Chaos
6) Grave Circles: Tome II
7) Sweven: The eternal Resonance
8) Omegavortex: Black abomination Spawn
9) Mörk Gryning: Hinsides Vrede
10) Svartkonst: Black Waves
11) Necrophobic: Dawn of the Damned
12) The Ocean: Phanerozoic II – Mesozoic/Cenozoic
13) Atramentus – Stygian
14) Selbst: Relatos de Angustia
15) Gaerea: Limbo
16) Panzerfaust: The suns of Perdition – Chapter II: Render unto Eden
17) Bedsore: Hpnagogic Hallucinations
18) Voidceremony: Entropic reflections continuum: Dimensional Unravel
19) Lantern: Dimensions
20) Paradise Lost: Obsidian
21) Dark Tranquillity: Moment
22) Anaal Nathrakh: Endarkenment
23) Bythos: The womb of Zero
24) Aara: En ergô Einai
25) Nomad: Transmogrification (partus)
26) Temple of Void: The world that Was
27) Regarde Les Hommes Tomber: Ascension
28) Ossaert: Bedehuis
29) Nyrst: Orsök
30) Azarath: Saint Desecration
31) Lie In Ruins: Floating in timeless Streams
32) Void Rot: Descending Pillars
33) Just Before Dawn: An army at Dawn
34) Napalm Death: Throes of joy in the jaws of Defeatism
35) Necrot: Mortal
36) Temple Nightside: Pillars of Damnation
37) Primitive Man: Immersion
38) The Bishop of Hexen: The Death Masquerade
39) Acherontas: Psychic Death – The shattering of Perceptions
40) October Falls: A fall of an Epoch
41) Above Aurora: The shrine of Deterioration
42) Black Curse: Endless Wound
43) Solothus: Realm of ash and Blood
44) Medico Peste: The black Bile
45) Night Crowned: Impius Viam
1. Panzerfaust – The Suns of Perdition, Chapter II
2. Wake – Devouring Ruin
3. Ulcerate – Stare Into Death and Be Still
4. Antzaat – For You Men Who Stare Into The Sun
5. Black Curse – Endless Wound
6. Ordinance – In Purge There Is No Remission
7. Akhlys – Melinoe
8. Lamp of Murmuur – Heir Of Ecliptical Romanticism
9. Havukruunu – Uinuos Syömein Sota
10. Faceless Burial – Speciation
Coastlands- Death
Esoctrilihum- Eternity of Shaog
Just Before Dawn- An Army at Dawn
Lantern- Dimensions
Skelethal- Unveiling the Threshold
Skeleton- s/t
The Ocean- Phanerozic II:Mesozoic/Cenozoic (instrumental version)
Undeath- Lesions of a Different Kind
Uprising- II
Yaotl Mictlan- Sagrada Tierra del Jaguar
I don’t think I’ve ever had a band on my list two years in a row and now this year an incredible FOUR bands that were also on my list last year (the first 4 listed)…
Panzerfaust
Firelink
Second to Sun
Vous Autres
Gaerea
Xenobiotic
Earth Rot
Svalbard
Loviatar
Mors Principium Est
Yay Firelink! Great list
“…and don’t worry about being judged”
I don’t know. Someone put that new Convulse album on their list and I’m feeling a might bit judgemental right now
Meow
Beltez
a grey chill and whisper
Panzerfaust
the sons of perdition chapter 2
Ulcerate
stare into death and be still
Uada
Djinn
Wayfarer
a romance with violence
Werewolves
the dead are screaming
Temple of void
the world that was
Kvaen
the funeral pyre
Konvent
Puritan Masochism
Barishi
old smoke
Decembre Noir
the Renaissance of hope
I like it what the problem
You mean, other than those terrible vocals that sound completely divorced from the music?
Please not respond to my comment you are not very nice a person I like it and like NCS because it does not slag off on bands
Islander always positive criticism!
You are perfectly welcome to like it.
While I was primarily making a joke, you asked me why I had a problem with it, and as someone who thinks “World Without God” is a god-tier album, I was highly disappointed with this release, particularly because the vocals seem completely out of place with the music…
…but music is completely subjective, so it doesn’t really matter what I think
Music is not completely subjective. That is nonsense. If it were, you would not have any objective standards about what is good metal and what is not. You just made your own argument. Subjectivity is not something that can be argued. It’s like I LIKE BLUE. You cannot argue that. Shitty vocals are objects to argue.
A Top 10 List
1. Sorcier Des Glaces – Un Monde de Glace et de Sang
2. Paysage d’Hiver – Im Wald
3. Malokarpatan – Krupinske Ohne
4. Valdrin – An Effigy of Nightmares
5. Leviathan – Förmorkelse
6. Katavasia – Magnus Venator
7. Wayfarer – A Romance With Violence
8. Mork Gryning – Hinsides Vrede
9. Esoctrilihum – An Eternity of Shaog
10. Eternal Champion – Ravening Iron
Uhhh… somehow I entirely missed out on new SdG!!?? Thanks for bring this to my attention!!
Un Noctriulm
Drought, “Trimurti
Odraza, Rzeczom
Autonoesis
Dystopia Geen Weg Uit
Corpses by Catafalque
Deus Qui Non Mentitur by BÂ’A
Sacred Ashes by Lesath
Sluagh I by Sluagh
Hangatyr, kalt
Reysa by Asarhaddon
Þar sem skepnur reika by Hræ
Sorry son…with taste like this, you’re out of the will
lol mom sez your not real father anyway
That’s okay…I always liked your sister better anyway
Auðn – Vökudraumsins Fangi
Havukruunu – Uinuos Syömein Sota
Sunken – Livslede
Aara: En ergô Einai
Wayfarer – A Romance With Violence
Dawn of Solace – Waves
Forndom – Faþir
Wytch Hazel – III: Pentecost
Rope Sect – he Great Flood
Eternal Champion – Ravening Iron
Beltez
a grey chill and whisper
Panzerfaust
the sons of perdition chapter 2
Ulcerate
stare into death and be still
Uada
Djinn
Wayfarer
a romance with violence
Werewolves
the dead are screaming
Temple of void
the world that was
Kvaen
the funeral pyre
Konvent
Puritan Masochism
Barishi
old smoke
Decembre Noir
the Renaissance of hope
That BELTEZ tho…!
Work in progress, but it looks something like this right now:
1.Kvaen
2.Sweven
3.Necrophobic
4-11 – No order(yet….)
Thrawsunblat
Belore
Graceless
Grimah
Dark Tranquillity
Draconian
Havukruunu
Marrasmieli
Albums making lasting impression, extreme domains:
Sojourner
Ages
Konvent
Aara
Arbrynth
Jordablod
Trident
Glaciation
Cult of Fire
Svartkonst
LIK
Malist
Temple of Void
Firelink
On Thorns I Lay
Myridian
Bull Elephant
Marche Funebre
Aepoch
Hinayana
Necrot
Hellripper
Serment
October Falls
Some very good Doom/Heavy/Progressive/Speed:
Eternal Champion
Dark Quarterer
Cirith Ungol
Spirit Adrift
Green Carnation
High Spirits
Freeways
Dead Lord
Horisont
Northern Crown
Sölicitör
Megaton Sword
Pallbearer
Just one for me stand out from what has been a surprising good year of metal considering the circumstances.
ISENSCUR “Āsyndraþ”
Other wonders that won my heart.
Angelore “ La Litanie des Cendres” and Convocation “Ashes Coalesce”
Only came across this site a few months ago…very happy I found it. Not all is to my taste but in most of those cases I am challenged which is a good thing. My list is short but consists of albums I bought this year (3 of which I came to know via ncs):
Haavukrunu – Uinuos Syömein Sota
Forlesen – Hierophant Violent
The Ocean – Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic
Solstafir – Endless Twilight of Codependent Love
I love all four of these albums, and they make for an interesting variety of music. Really glad you are with us, and that you have discovered music you enjoy here. I would be shocked if anyone finds everything we feature to their tastes. Most of our writers don’t embrace everything that shows up on the site! But the fact that you are being challenged, I take that as a compliment. 🙂
After getting through over 650+ new albums this year (most of which I’ll be happy to never listen to again) – these are my personal favourite releases of 2020. Lots of worthy mentions – but the best of the best are below. Pretty tight at the top this year to pick out an absolute fav … and there’s still a month to go…
Very, very worthy mentions
Ages – Uncrown
Amherawdr – Adorned with the figures of snakes
Asarhoddon – Reysa
Auðn – Vökudraumsins fangi
Disamara – Nottura e la quiete
DownCross – Current towards end
Dystopia – Geen Weg Uiit
Eoront – Gods Have No Home
Fellwarden – Wreathed in Mourncloud
Fluisteraars – Bloem
Genfærd – Blodhævn
Glaciation – Ultime Edat
Lucid Void – Saat
Morgurth – And then there shall be silence
Naxen – Towards the tomb of times
Null – Entity
Okkultokrati – La Ilden Lyse
Sickle of Dust – To the shores of sunrise
Uprising – II
Walkuria – Irminsul
Winterfylleth – The Reckoning Dawn
Zifir – Demonic Ethics
13. Thy Catafalque – Naiv
12. Gloosh – the River (EP)
11. Labyrinth Spell – At the blackest corners
10. Autumn Nostalgia – Esse Est Percipi
9. Sunken – Livslede
8. Konvent – Puritan Masochism
7. Vermillia – Keskeneraisia Tarinoita
6. Solstafir – Endless Twilight of Codependent Love
5. Ygg – The last scald
4. Olhava – Ladoga
1 -joint. Prison of Mirrors – De Ritualibus et Sacrificiis ad Serviendum Abysso
1 -joint. Havukruunu -Uinuos Syömein Sota
1 -joint. Vspolokh – Помре
Like others it seems, the circumstances of this year severely cut into my listening time, and I found I tended just to throw on some music already loaded on my player rather than search out new tunes. Most often catching up on 2019 releases I was slow to pick up, like Allegaeon’s Apoptosis or getting to grips with Schammasch’s Hearts Of No Light. Otherwise just sitting back and cranking Aegaeon’s Age which has quickly become one of my favourite releases.
So I have some serious catching up to do… and these lists will be a good start 🙂
The only 2020 releases I picked up this year that I feel are worth mentioning have been:
* Deathwhite – Grave Image
* Aversions Crown – Hell Will Come For Us All
* All My Sins – Plamen i Led
* .. And Oceans – Cosmic World Mother
* At The Altar Of The Horned God – Through Doors Of Moonlight
* Myrkur – Folkesange
Forgot: Esoctrilihum – Eternity Of Shaog, although I see a few others have thankfully included it here too. I’d vote Namhera (7th Passage- Blasphemy Of Ephereàs) for most infectious tunes of the year for sure. Like a strangely addictive fever dream \m/
One of the better years of metal, as far as I can remember. A lot of the ‘big name’ releases were somewhat uneventful to me, but many new/ newer names released truly jaw-dropping releases.
Countless Skies – for now my personal favourite of this year – is a good example of this: they had two good, but rather anonymous first releases – and somehow now, third release in, they’ve found truly their own twist to the sound of which they are clearly influenced (Be’lakor, with hints of Barren Earth and Insomnium, that is). ‘Glow’ is an amazing, compact album that somehow manages to be opmistic despite the ‘sad boi’ genre they’re in – and The Big Man Upstairs knows we need a little optimism this year.
1. Countless Skies – Glow
2. Sunken – Livslede
3. Mountaineer – Bloodletting
4. Dawn of Ouroboros – The Art of Morphology
5. Karshadev – The Baring of Shadows
6. Draconian – Under a Godless Veil
7. Lethian Dreams – A Shadow of Memories
8. Katatona – City Burials
9. Dark Tranquillity – Moment
10. Rotten Monarch – Winds over Ash
11. Shores of Null – Beyond the Shores (On Death and Dying)
12. Paradise Lost – Obsidian
13. Xenobiotic – Mordrake
14. God Dethroned – Illuminati
15. Dawn of Solace – Waves
16. Ashtar – Kaikuja
17. Selbst – Relatos De Angustia
18. Marche Funebre – Einderlicht
19. The Ocean – Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic
20. Naxen – Towards the Tomb of Times
21. … And Oceans – Cosmic World Mother
22. Sylosis – Cycle of Suffering
23. Aeternam – Al Qassam
24. Clouds – Durere
25. Wake – Devouring Ruin
26. Karg – Traktat
27. Soliloquiem – Things We Leave Behind
28. Gaerea – Limbo
29. Invernoir – The Void and the Unbearable Loss
30. Sinistral King – Serpent Uncoiling
31. Counting Hours – the Will
32. Inexorum – Moonlit Navigation
33. Drops of Heart – Stargazers
34. Sojourner – Premonitions
35. Aleah – Aleah
36. Delain – Apocalypse & Chill
37. Hail Spirit Noir – Eden in Reverse
38. Winterfylleth – The Reckoning Dawn
39. Hanging Garden – Against the Dying of the Light
40. Malist – To Mantle the Rising Sun
These are the top bands that I consistently gravitated towards through the year. Majority are excellent with repelling unworthy neighborly intrusions.
1. A pregnant Light- I and I
2. Al-Namrood-Wala’at
3. Autumn’s Dawn- Dying Ember
4. Fadheit-Inhaling the Trauma
5. Fluisteraars- Bloem
6. Inquisition-Black Mass for A Mass Grave
7. Lament-Visions and A Giant of Nebula
8. Logos-Of Darkness and Despair
9. Sascha Rissling-Abstand
10. Skyforest-A New Dawn
11. Spell of Dark- The Vastness
12. Together to the Stars- As we Wither
13. Vale-Our Denouement
14. Vvilderness- Dark Waters
For me, there is only one masterpiece for the year 2020 and that is Akhlys – Melinoë.
Beside that album, my top 3 go to :
1- Afsky – Ofte Jeg Drømmer Mig Død
2- Convocation – Ashes Coalesce
3- Temple of Void – The World That Was
Here is 10 other great albums that I really enjoyed this year :
Fluisteraars – Bloem
Disembowel – Echoes of Terror
Ovader – Wotankult
Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin Kynsi
Fires in the Distance – Echoes from Deep November
Fellwarden – Wreathed in Mourncloud
Infera Bruo – Rites of the Nameless
Burial – Satanic Upheaval
Eoront – Gods Have No Home
Marche Funèbre – Einderlicht
This are mine, more or less in order. Still waiting for the ones from Fortíð and Black Wing.
1 Sweven – The Eternal Resonance
2 Faceless Burial – Speciation
3 Oberst – Paradise
4 Caustic Wound – Death Posture
5 Nothing – The Great Dismal
6 The Sorcerers – In Search of the Lost City of the Monkey God
7 Plague – Portraits of Mind
8 Rope Sect – The Great Flood
9 Dark Tranquillity – Moment
10 Auðn – Vökudraumsins fangi
11 VoidCeremony – Entropic Reflections Continuum: Dimensional Unravel
12 Warp Chamber – Implements of Excruciation
13 Black Curse – Endless Wound
14 Kvelertak – Splid
15 Undeath – Lesions of a Different Kind
16 Code Orange – Underneath
17 Melt Yourself Down – 100% Yes
18 Run the Jewels – RTJ4
19 Skeleton – Skeleton
20 Of Feather and Bone – Sulfuric Disintegration
21 Disembowel – Echoes of Terror
22 Defeated Sanity – The Sanguinary Impetus
23 Fleet Foxes – Shore
24 Shabaka and the Ancestors – We Are Sent Here by History
25 Disrupted – Pure Death
26 Coffin Apartment – Full Torso Apparition
27 Snorlax – II (2020)
Shit, is there a way to edit posts here? Anyway, number 8 is really Rope Sect – The Great Flood
I edited it for you. 🙂
Just for fun, if my observations are correct, so far, Ulcerate is the band appearing on the most lists with 15 mentions.
Havukruunu and Wake are second with 10 each. Black Curse and Panzerfaust are mention 8 times so far, while Undeath appears on 7 lists.
To be continued… 🙂
I was thinking of tallying this up, but if you are doing just that, please share results. Thanks!
I would love for Islander to feature it as another Listmania vector. I think it would be very interesting to most here.
Other volunteers have done this kind of tabulation in the past, and hopefully one will do it again this year. I’m confidant I won’t have the time.
Top five:
1 Prison of Mirrors – De Ritualibus et Sacrificiis ad Serviendum Abysso
2 Skáphe – Skáphe³
3 Ulcerate – Stare into Death and Be Still
4 Akhlys – Melinoë
5 Inquisition-Black Mass for A Mass Grave
________________________________________________
No order:
Panzerfaust – The Suns of Perdition – Chapter II: Render Unto Eden
Árstíðir Lifsins – Saga á tveim tungum II: Eigi fjǫll né firðir
Novae Militiae – Topheth
Auðn – Vökudraumsins fangi
Ominous Resurrection – Judgement
Afsky – Ofte Jeg Drømmer Mig Død
Amnutseba – Emanatism
Aversio Humanitatis – Behold The Silent Dwellers
Cirith Ungol – Forever Black
Cryptic Shift – Visitations from Enceladus
Dark Fortress – Spectres From the Old World
Eternal Champion – Ravening Iron
High Spirits – Hard to Stop
Lamp of Murmuur – Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism
Lantern – Dimensions
Midnight – Rebirth by Blasphemy
Necrophobic – Dawn of the Damned
Question – Reflections of the Void
Spirit Adrift – Enlightened in Eternity
Sweven – The Eternal Resonance
Temple of Void – The World That Was
Ulthar – Providence
Voidceremony – Entropic Reflections Continuum
2020 seemed a weird year for me, musically. It seemed to be going great for the first half of the year, then around August/September, I just couldn’t find anything I could really get into. Anyway, this is what kept me going this year:
1. Obsidian Tongue – Volume III
2. Sweven – The Eternal Resonance
3. Cryptic Shift – Visitations From Enceladus
4. Dark Forest – Oak, Ash & Thorn
5. Valdrin – Effigy Of Nightmares
6. Convocation – Ashes Coalesce
Honourable mentions:
Wake – Devouring Ruin
Ulcerate – Stare Into Death And Be Still
Black Curse – Endless Wound
Warp Chamber – Implements Of Excruciation
Spectral Lore & Mare Cognitum – Wanderers: Astrology Of The Nine
EO3 Says:
Great lists by everyone. Overall a great year for metal.
The top 20 list for 2020 is as follows:
1 Katavasia – Magnus Venator
2 Secrets of the Moon – Black House
3 Ulver – Flowers of Evil
4 Enslaved – Utgard
5 Katatonia – City Burials
6 Psychotic Waltz – The God Shaped Void
7 Green Carnation – Leaves of Yesteryear
8 Necrophobic – Dawn of the Damned (Those Riffs!)
9 Invoker – Towards the Pantheon of the Nameless
10 Khora – Timaeus
11 and Oceans – Cosmic World Mother
12 Sinister – Deformation of the Holy Realm (These veterans not getting enough love in these lists!)
13 Paysage D’Hiver – Im Wald
14 Triptykon – Requiem (Fantastic Live Experience!)
15 Acherontas – Psychic Death – The Shattering of Perceptions
16 Uada – Djinn
17 Illum Adora – Infernum Et Necromantium
18 Centinex – Death in Pieces
19 Sanctifying Ritual – Sanctifying Ritual
20 Night Crowned – Impius Viam
Awesome year for extreme metal! (especially for black metal)
Here are my lists:
Top 4:
1) Akhlys – Melinoë “Really AMAZING, no other words. Maybe too short..”
2) Prison of Mirrors – De Ritualibus et Sacrificiis ad Serviendum Abysso and Lamp Of Murmuur – Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism “Both awesome, with two totally different approaches towards the darkness”
3)Circle of Ouroborus – Viimeinen Juoksu “Criminally underrated masterpiece”
4) Ars Magna Umbrae – Apotheosis
5) Horna – Kuoleman kirjo
Overrated:
– Uada – Djinn Barely black metal… terrible album
– Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville “A big step down from their latest one”
– Spectral Lore / Mare Cognitum – Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine “Decent but nothing special”
– Odraza- Rzeczom “An uncommon approach to black metal but mediocre”
– Wake – Devouring Ruin
– Faidra – Six Voices Inside
Underrated:
– Vonlaus – Röð slæmra ákvarðana
– Prison of Mirrors – De Ritualibus et Sacrificiis ad Serviendum Abysso
– Death. Void. Terror. – To the Great Monolith II
– Circle of Ouroborus – Viimeinen Juoksu
– Neptunian Maximalism – Éons
– Skáphe – Skáphe³
– Selbst – Relatos de angustia
– Ars Magna Umbrae – Apotheosis
In no particular order, FAVOURITES:
Ars Magna Umbrae – Apotheosis
Odraza – Rzezcom
Carnosus – Dogma of the Deceased
At the Altar of the Horned God – Through Doors of Moonlight
Akhlys – Merinoe
Iron Flesh – Summoning the Putrid
Tombs – Under Sullen Skies
Curse Upon A Prayer – Infidel
Faidra – Six Voices Inside
Pigsty – Pig Blood
Rektal Tuşe – Aklen Muaf
Valdrin – Effigy of Nightmares
Vredehammer – Viperous
Cytotoxin – Nuklearth
Medico Peste – The Black Bile
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Hostia – Carnivore Carnival
Blasphamagoatachrist – Bastardizing the Purity
Night Club – Die Die Lullaby
Switchblade Jesus – Death Hymns
Ka – Descendants of Cain
Biesy – Transsatanism
Ignis Gehenna – Rituals of Transvaluation
Yxxan – Satanic Fortification Overbalance
Botanist – Photosynthesis
Saturno – Menhir
Prison of Mirrors – De Ritualibus et Sacrificiis ad Serviendum Abysso
I can’t believe there are so many bands on these lists i have never heard of before! Granted, it wasn’t a huge Metal year for me, buying, paying attention, usually looking at a few Mags and Bandcamp but shit…there are a ton of bands out of nowhere this year. It’s noteworthy.
I reached new depths of nadir this year. Music carried me part way, I’m still here and god be damned was it a fuckin year, for tunes. I missed a lot of reading on here and in general cos of work, here’s some of the magick that kept my black and slightly saccharine heart beating:
1. Spells in constant rotation, top 6
Hail spirit noir – critical listening.
Thy catafalque – year started with this beaut, and was it a fuckin omen of things to come!
Anaal nathrakh – fuckin brought it, just non-stop delivery
Funeral candies – fucking yes, so much fun:) Do you like a side of organ with your metal? Here, take a fuckin He-man Lighthouse diner helping
Tool – might no be seen as metal but just watch that danny carey drum cam vid on ytube and tell me you ain’t spellbound
Inquisition – burn all the churches, and scaphe metalsucks
2. Heard and loved
Svederna
Gaerea
Uada – mostly just the first single
Make them die slowly – so tasty
Toadeater
3. Have not listened to enough but impressed, or bands that I love
Esoctrilihum
Neptunian maximalism
Nocturnal departure
Rebel wizard
Malokarpatan
Imperial triumphant
Lamb of god
Sepultura
4. Needed to chill, also not new
Tiraniwen – Elwan
Malatu Atstatke
Tamas Katai – Slower Structures.
This is the best part of my year sonically, can’t wait for the rest of the lists to roll out. Have a great December! Non serviam
Top Albums:
AETERNAM – Al Qassam
AFTERBIRTH – Four Dimensional Flesh
AKURION – Come Forth to Me
ASEITAS – False Peace
ATRAMENTUS – Stygian
BARISHI – Old Smoke
BENEATH THE MASSACRE – Fearmonger
BINARY CODE – Memento Mori
THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER – Verminous
CARNOSUS – Dogma of the Deceased
CONSTELLATIA – The Language of Limbs [technically a 2020 release]
CONVOCATION – Ashes Coalesce
COSMIC PUTREFACTION – The Horizons Towards Which Splendour Withers
CULT OF LILITH – Mara
CYTOTOXIN – Nuklearth
DDENT – Couvre-sang
DEFEATED SANITY – The Sanguinary Impetus
DESCEND – The Deviant
DIABOLIC OATH – Profane Death Exodus
EXGENESIS – Solve Et Coagula
FLUISTERAARS – Bloem
I THE INTRUDER – Hunger
INANEM – Blackwork
KARMACIPHER – Introspectrum
KUNSTZONE – Exit Babylon
MEPHISTOPHELIAN – Anotos
NERO DI MARTE – Immoto
QUASARBORN – A Pill Hard to Swallow
RANNOCH – Reflections Upon Darkness
SERPENT COLUMN – Kathodos
SPECTRUM OF DELUSION – Neoconception
SWEVEN – The Eternal Resonance
UTHULLUN – Dirges for the Void
VALDRIN – Effigy of Nightmares
WYRMWOODS – Gamma
XENOBIOTIC – Mordrake
ZAN – Behold the Key
~
Top EPs:
ATRAE BILIS – Divinihlity
COSMOVORE – Into the Necrosphere
FLESHVESSEL – Bile of Man Reborn
SERPENT COLUMN – Endless Detainment
SUTRAH – Aletheia
My top 19, which is pretty much just the albums that got a lot of playing time for me this year, the honorable mentions are albums that I still enjoyed but didn’t spend as much time listening to:
1. Akhlys – Melinoe
2. Spectral Lore/Mare Cognitum (split) – Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine
3. Kvaen – The Funeral Pyre
4. Gloosh – Timewheel
5. Mortis Mutilati – The Fate of Flight 800
6. Afsky – Ofte jeg drømmer mig død
7. Stormkeep – Galdrum
8. Skeletal Remains – The Entombment of Chaos
9. Temple of Void – The World That Was
10. Bythos – Womb of Zero
11. Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
12. Necrot – Mortal
13. Arroganz – Morsus
14. Wombripper – Macabre Melodies
15. Wayfarer – A Romance with Violence
16. Ripped to Shreds – Luan
17. Horn – Mohngang
18. Gloosh – The River EP
19. Dumal – The Confessor
Honorable mentions:
Of Feather and Bone – Sulfuric Disintegration
Acherontas – Psychic Death
Ulcerate – Stare Into Death and Be Still
Malokarpatan – Krupinské Ohne
Raven Throne – Viartańnie (Chroniki Źmiainaj Ciemry)
Atramentus – Stygian
Ayr – The Dark
Antzaat – For You Men Who Gaze Into the Sun
Blaze of Perdition – The Harrowing of Hearts
Black Curse – Endless Wound
Gjendød – Angrep
Perdition Temple – Sacraments of Descension
Skaphe – Skaphe³
VoidCeremony – Entropic Reflections Continuum: Dimensional Unravel
Graceless – Where Vultures Know Your Name
Porta Nigra – Schöpfungswut
Grimah – Intracacies of Bowed Wisdom
Svarttjern – Shame Is Just A Word
Horned Almighty – To Fathom the Master’s Grand Design
Martwa Aura – Morbus Animus
The Ruins of Beverast/Almyrkvi – Split
Faidra – Six Voices Inside
Wynter Myst – End of an Era
Helfró – Helfró
Curse Upon a Prayer – Infidel
Waldgeflüster – Stimmen im Wind
Mimorium – Blood of Qayin
Svartkonst – Black Waves
Marrasmieli – Between Land and Sky
Front – Antichrist Militia
Detherous/Stench of Death – Stench of Deth split
Naxen – Towards the Tomb of Times
Ovader – Wotankult
Valdrin – Effigy of Nightmares
Naglfar – Cerekloth
Csejthe – Reminiscence
Väki – Kuolleen Maan Omaksi
Gaerea – Limbo
Imha Tarikat – Sternenberster
Ars Magna Umbrae – Apotheosis
Ninkharsag – Discipline Through Black Sorcery
Auđn – Vökudraumsins Fangi
Lik – Misanthropic Breed
Whoredom Rife – Ride the Final Tide (Single)
Decaying – Shells Will Fall
Revolting – The Shadow at the World’s End
Enevelde – Enevelde
Bombs of Hades – Phantom Bell
Glaciation – Ultime Éclat
Nansis – Chaos Veterum
Sunken – Livslede
Fordomth – Is, Qui Mortem Audit
Uada – Djinn
Lie in Ruins – Floating in Timeless Streams
Fides Inversa – Historia Nocturna
Just Before Dawn – An Army at Dawn
Odium Humani Generis – Przeddzien
Invincible Force – Decomposed Sacramentum
Demonical – World Domination
Svartsyn – Requiem
Sarcator – s/t
Grafvitnir – Death’s Wings Widespread
Malist – To Mantle the Rising Sun
Dehuman Reign – Descending Upon the Oblivious
Nyktophobia – What Lasts Forever
Slaughterday – Ancient Death Triumph
Soulburn – Noa’s D’ark
Blasphemer – The Sixth Hour
Hræ – þar Sem Skepnur Reika
Königreichssaal – Witnessing the Dearth
Nekrovault – Totenzug: Festering Peregrination
Terrestrial Hospice – Indian Summer Brought Mushroom Clouds
Cauldron Black Ram – Slaver
Ages – Uncrown
Icon of Phobos/Kathexis (split) – Primal Death Rites
Ulthar – Providence
Auroch – Stolen Angelic Tongues EP
Ondskapt – Grimoire Ordo Devus
Void Rot – Descending Pillars
Bedsore – Hypnagogic Hallucinations
Panzerfaust – The Suns of Perdition Chapter II: Render Unto Eden
Begrafven – Dödsriket
Vader – Solitude in Madness
Cemetary Filth – Dominion
Winterfylleth – The Reckoning Dawn
Carnation – Where Death Lies
Serpents Oath – Nihil
Heads for the Dead – Into The Red
Nattverd – Styggdom
Ars Veneficium – Usurpation of the Seven
Wake – Devouring Ruin
My numero uno for all of 2020 was Sevdaliza – Shabrang. Here be me top 10 for metal.
1. Wake – Devouring Ruin
2. Panzerfaust – The Suns of Perdition – Chapter II: Render unto Eden
3. Ulcerate – Stare Into Death and Be Still
4. Leeched – To Dull the Blades of Your Abuse
5. Patrons Of The Rotting Gate – Bathed in Ash
6. Svartkonst – Black Waves
7. Nero di Marte – Immoto
8. Hail the Void – Hail the Void
9. Akhlys – Melinoë
10. Scáth Na Déithe – The Dirge of Endless Mourning
1) Panzerfaust – The Suns of Perdition – Chapter II: Render unto Eden
2)Akhlys – Melinoë
3)Prison of Mirrors – De Ritualibus et Sacrificiis ad Serviendum Abysso
4)Havukruunu – Uinuos Syomein Sota
5)Bâ’a – Deus Qui Non Mentitur
6)Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
7)Paysage d’Hiver – Im Wald
8)Árstíðir lífsins – Saga á tveim tungum II- Eigi fjǫll né firðir
9)Esoctrilihum – Eternity Of Shaog
10)Armagedda – Svindeldjup Ättestup
I still have a lot of stuff to listen to, but year-to-date these are my personal favorites. I feel VERY strongly about the top 5 or 6, too:
Hum “Inlet”
Kvelertak “Splid”
Slift “Ummon”
Malokarpatan “Krupinske Ohne”
Thou & Emma Ruth Rundle “May Our Chambers Be Full”
Enslaved “Utgard”
The Night Flight Orchestra “Aeromantic”
Paradise Lost “Obsidian”
Higher Power “27 Miles Underwater”
Godthrymm “Reflections”
Ulthar “Providence”
MSW “Obliviosus”
Fluisteraars “Bloem”
Black Curse “Endless Wound”
Oranssi Pazuzu “Mestarin Kynsi”
Ulcerate “Stare Into Death and Be Still”
Huntsmen “Mandala Of Fear”
Sweven “The Eternal Resonance”
Dear NCS – Thank you for your generous contribution to making the world a better place! It’s been horrible, this year. Your efforts have been massive, thank you.
I enjoy reading all of these lists incredibly much, checking out a whole understory of bands afterwards.
Here’s my list.
Not afraid of so-called Big Cats in the field. And I have a broad taste.
Cheers, everyone!
1-10:
Katatonia: City Burials
Cytotoxin: Nuklearth
Pallbearer: Forgotten Days
Xazraug: Unsympathetic Empyrean
Beltez: A Grey Chill and a Whisper
Countless Skies: Glow
Drown: Subaqueous
Necrot: Mortal
Beneath the Massacre: Fearmonger
Proscription: Conduit
11-20:
Sweven: The Eternal Resonance
Spirit Adrift: Enlightened in Eternity
End: Splinters from an Ever-changing Face
Ulcerate: Stare into Death and be Still
Netherlands: Zombie Techno
Déluge: Ægo Templo
Krallice: Mass Cathesis
Touché Amoré: Lament
Paysage d’Hiver: Im Wald
Imperial Triumphant: Alphaville
21-30:
Caligula’s Horse: Rise Radiant
Deftones: Ohms
Vredehammer: Viperous
Wake: Devouring Ruin
Oranssi Pazuzu: Mestarin kynsi
Aeternam: Al Quassam
Anaal Nathrakh: Endarkenment
Creature: Ex Cathedra
Yashira: Fail to Be
Svalbard: When I Die, Will I Get Better?
Honourable mention to:
Code Orange, Witnesses, Fates Warning, Mora Prokaza, Atramentus, Paradise Lost, Afsky, Sepultura, Cryptic Shift, Ingrina, Xibalba, Killer Be Killed, Drouth … and the not so metal Ulver and Myrkur.
Best short releases of the year (both in my humble opinion something that must be checked out for their emotional weight):
Zeal & Ardor: Wake of a Nation
Kardashev: The Baring of Shadows
In no particular order
Cryptae – Nightmare Traversal
Paysage D’hiver – Im Wald
Neptunian Maximalism – Eons
Ysgaroth – Storm Over a Black Sea
Ak’chamel, The Giver Of Illness – The Totemist
Skáphe – Skáphe³
Black Curse – Endless Wound
Slift – Ummon
FRKSE – Desecration Anxiety ll
Ogdens’ – Decay
Scáth Na Déithe – The Dirge Of Endless Mourning
Plague Organ – Orphan
Entropy Created Consciousness – Antica Memoria di Dis
CLUB SIESTE – S/T
Bruxa Maria – The Maddening
New Primals – Horse Girl Energy
Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin kynsi
Ôros Kaù – Imperii Templum Aries
Serpent Column – Endless Detainment
Arstidir lífsins – Saga…
Pong – 2113
Mystruin – Calcination
Aversio Humanitatis – Behold The Silent Dwellers
Dèarth – To Crown All Befoulment
Decoherence – Unitarity
Reverorum ib Malacht – Vad Är Inte Sju Huvud?
Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
In Chasms Deep – The Wind and Her Lament
Death. Void. Terror. – To The Great Monolith II
Psychic Graveyard – A Bluebird Vacation
Serpent Column – Kathodos
Bohren & Der Club Of Gore – Patchouli Blue
Attic Ted – Kafka Dreaming
clipping. – Visions of Bodies Being Burned
An Isolated Mind – Self Titled
Human Adult Band – Beyond the Time Barrier Travelers
Algiers – There Is No Year
Marrasmieli – Between Land And Sky
Raspberry Bulbs – Before The Age Of Mirrors
Casual Nun – Resort For Dead Desires
These weren’t released this year,
but I discovered them this year
and they made an impact:
Yairms – Hope’s Stable 2019
Everything from The Peep Tempel 2009-2016
Avida_Dollars – DMMM 2019
Officine – Dieu 2019
Crown Larks – Population 2017
Slump – Flashbacks from Black Dust Country 2019
Office Skin – Slough 2014
Bohren & Der Club Of Gore – Patchouli Blue has been one of my most uplifting listenings this year. Great to see it represented. Cheers!
I need to add the following:
Ars Magna Umbrae – Apotheosis
TRVSS – New Distances
Treasure MammaL – Grammy Nominated
I’m sure there will be more
This was very tough, and is only a rough ranking of how much I enjoyed these albums. Additionally, there were others I enjoyed and other good ones I only heard once, or in part, and wasn’t able to properly judge. All in all, this was a great year for the sort of Metal I enjoy. Note that at least 19 of these releases are Finnish. Finland in particular had a stellar year.
1. Ifernach – Waqan
2. Duivel – Tirades uit de hel
3. Asgrauw – Ijsval
4. Mooncitadel – Night’s Scarlet Symphonies
5. Vonlaus – Röð slæmra ákvarðana
6. Korgonthurus – Kuolleestasyntynyt
7. Totenwache – Kriegswesen
8. Sombre Heritage – Alpha Ursae Minoris
9. Slagmark – Purging Sacred Soils
10. Blood Red Fog – Fields of Sorrow
11. Nôidva – Windseller
12. Ymir – Ymir
13. Flagg – Nothing but Death
14. 0 – Entity
15. Striges – Verum Veterum
16. October Falls – A Fall of an Epoch
17. Kangeheet – Mentor
18. Förgjord – Laulu kuolemasta
19. Norrhem – Koitos
20. Aethyrick – Gnosis
21. Warmoon Lord / Vultyrium – Pure Cold Impurity split
22. Árstíðir lífsins / Carpe Noctem – Aldrnari split
23. Sielunvihollinen – Veren äänet
24. Asenheim – Der Geist des Waldes
25. Mavorim – Axis Mundi
26. Mavorim / Ad Mortem – Iudicium Ultimum split
27. Hate Forest – Hour of the Centaur
28. Sarvekas – Of Atavistic Fury & Visions
29. Horna – Kuoleman Kirjo
30. Begrafven – Dödsriket
31. Sorcier des Glaces – Un monde de glace et de sang
32. Slagmark – Radical Malice
33. Winterlore – Eternal Defiance
34. Auðn – Vökudraumsins fangi
35. Ifernach / Pan-Amerikan Native Front – Split
36. Skáphe – Skáphe³
37. Ildskaer – Den rædsomste nat
38. Havukruunu – Uinuos syömein sota
39. Ov Shadows – I djävulens avbild
40. Ifernach – The Green Enchanted Forest of the Druid Wizard
41. Äkth Gánahëth – Crowned in Shadows
42. Romuvos – The Baltic Crusade
43. Sinira – The Everlorn
44. ORFVS – Ceremony of Darkness
45. Fellwarden – Wreathed in Mourncloud
46. Nexion – Seven Oracles
47. Ovader – Wotankult
48. Ciel Nordique – II
49. Faustian Pact – Outojen tornien varjoissa
50. To Conceal the Horns – Purist
Song of the year: Ifernach – Mémoires septentionales de coureurs des bois
Here is a site-specific top 35 in alphabetical order.
I must say that for me, ‘band of the year’ was easily Hornwood Fell, with two albums on this list and another one that just missed out. They also released one of my favourite albums of 2019, and in my view, deserve more attention and recognition than they are receiving.
2020 was also a year in which I finally stopped spending time on social media, and for that reason, blogs such as this one re-emerged as an important primary source of new and exciting music. So thanks to Islander and crew for all of the great work you do here – it is invaluable.
Abyssidious – Murk and Malice
ACxDC – Satan is King
Black Curse – Endless Wound
Bedsore – Hypnogogic Hallucinations
Calligram – The Eye is the First Circle
Caustic Wound – Death Posture
Defeated Sanity – The Sanguinary Impetus
Esoctrilihum – Eternity of Shaog
FACELESS BURIAL – Speciation
Fleshvessel – Bile of Man Reborn
Gravenchalice – Apparition
Heretical Sect – Rapturous Flesh Consumed
Hornwood Fell – Cursed Thoughts Part 1
Hornwood Fell – Degli Alberi e L’Acque e Notturno
Hræ – Par semskepnur reika
HWWAUOCH – Protest Against Sanity
Illkynja – Saeti Salarinnar
Kall – Brand
Krallice – Mass Cathexis
Lifetaker – Night Intruder
Mystras – Castles Conquered and Reclaimed
Of Feather and Bone – Sulfuric Disintegration
Omnikinetic – Kinesis
Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin kynsi
Serpent Column – Kathados
Skáphe – Skáphe³
Somniate – The Meyrinkian Slumber
Sons Of A Wanted Man – Kenoma
Temple Of Void – The World That Was
Ulcerate – Stare Into Death and Be Still
Vyrion – Nil
VOUS AUTRES – Sel Da Pierre
WAKE – Devouring Ruin
Warp Chamber – Implements of Excruciation
Xenobiotic – Mordrake
Hemotoxin – Restructure The Molded Mind
Serment – Chante, ô flamme de la liberté
Shards of Humanity – Cold Logic
Mare Cognitum & Spectral Lore – Wanderers: Astrology of The Nine
Cosmic Putrefaction – The Horizons Towards Which Splendour Withers
Ancient Gate – Empire Beyond Dusk
Esoctrilihum – Eternity of Shaog
Thecodontion – Supercontinent
Mystras – Castles Conquered and Reclaimed
Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin kynsi
Dark Fortress – Spectres from the Old World
Silver Knife – UNYIELDING / UNSEEING
Ifernach – The Green Enchanted Forest of the Druid Wizard
Battle Dagorath – Abyss Horizons
Paysage d’Hiver – Im Wald
Havok – V
Static-X – Project Regeneration, Vol. 1
Undeath – Lesions of a Different Kind
Coffin Apartment – Full Torso Apparition
Prometheus – Resonant Echoes from Cosmos of Old
偏執症者 (Paranoid) – Out Raising Hell
Abyssal Ascendant – Chronicles of the Doomed Worlds, Pt. 2: Deacons of Abhorrence
Question – Reflections of the Void
Krallice – Mass Cathexis
Lamp Of Murmuur – Heir Of Ecliptical Romanticism
Afterbirth – Four Dimensional Flesh
Horn – Mohngang
Akhlys – Melinoë
Stormkeep – Galdrum
Cirith Ungol – Forever Black
Defeated Sanity – The Sanguinary Impetus
Afsky – Ofte jeg drømmer mig død
Atramentus – Stygian
Malokarpatan – Krupinské Ohne
Worm – Gloomlord
Proscription – Conduit
Cytotoxin – Nuklearth
Cryptic Shift – Visitations from Enceladus
Another glorious bleak year of fantastic soundscapes. I checked out over 500 albums this year and have boiled it down to my top 100.
1. Ulcerate – Stare into Death and Be Still
2. Beneath The Massacre – Fearmonger
3. Cytotoxin – Nuklearth
4. Pyrrhon – Abscess Time
5. Defeated Sanity – The Sanguinary Impetus
6. Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
7. Wake – Devouring Ruin
8. Abysmal Dawn – Phylogenesis
9. Deeds of Flesh – Nucleus
10. Akurion – Come Forth to Me
11. Paradise Lost – Obsidian
12. Testament – Titans Of Creation
13. Anaal Nathrakh – Endarkenment
14. Of Feather And Bone – Sulfuric Disintegration
15. Incantation – Sect of Vile Divinities
16. The Ocean – Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic I Cenozoic
17. Black Crown Initiate – Violent Portraits of Doomed Escape
18. Ether Coven – Everything Is Temporary Except Suffering
19. Symbolik – Emergence
20. Dysphoria – Primal Entropy
21. Karmacipher – Introspectrum
22. Exist – Egoiista
23. Roman Ring – The Halogen
24. Uada – Djinn
25. Blaze of Sorrow – Absentia
26. Encenathrakh – Thraakethraaeate Thraithraake
27. Leeched – To Dull the Blades of Your Abuse
28. Katalepsy – Terra Mortuus Est
29. The Acacia Strain – Slow Decay
30. Wormhole – The Weakest Among Us
31. The Black Dahlia Murder – Verminous
32. Within The Ruins – Black Heart
33. Remnants of The Fallen – All the Wounded and Broken
34. Krosis – A Memoir of Free Will
35. Carrion Vael – God Killer
36. Wastewalker – Lowborn
37. Abigor – Totschläger (A Saintslayer’s Songbook)
38. Warbringer – Weapons of Tomorrow
39. Napalm Death – Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism
40. Killer Be Killed – Reluctant Hero
41. Grift – Budet
42. Old Corpse Road – On Ghastly Shores Lays the Wreckage of Our Lore
43. Together to The Stars – As We Wither
44. Under the Pier – Puff Pieces
45. Aronious – Perspicacity
46. Cult Of Lilith – Mara
47. Dira Mortis – Ancient Breath Of Forgotten Misanthropy
48. Skeletal Remains – The Entombment Of Chaos
49. Féleth – Depravity
50. Young and In The Way – Ride Off and Die
51. Inquisition – Black Mass for a Mass Grave
52. Feastem – Graveyard Earth
53. Oceans of Slumber – Oceans of Slumber
54. Sylosis – Cycle of Suffering
55. Kill the Lights – The Sinner
56. Medico Peste – ? _The Black Bile
57. Fornicus – Sulphuric Omnipotence
58. Volcandra – Into the Azure
59. Mors Principium Est – Seven
60. Voices of Ruin – Path to Immortality
61. Dark Tranquillity – Moment
62. Heaven Shall Burn – Of Truth & Sacrifice
63. Devildriver – Dealing with Demons I
64. My Dying Bride – The Ghost of Orion
65. Blight – Temple of Wounds
66. Wayfarer – A Romance with Violence
67. Dwaal – Gospel of The Vile
68. The Merciless Concept – Sessions of Pain
69. Krallice – Mass Cathexis
70. Gaerea – Limbo
71. Panzerfaust – The Suns of Perdition – Chapter II: Render unto Eden
72. Sepultura – Quadra
73. Exgenesis – Solve et Coagula
74. Well of Night – The Lower Planes of Self-Abstraction
75. Begotten – If All You Have Known Is Winter
76. Toxaemia – Where Paths Divide
77. VoidCeremony – Entropic Reflections Continuum: Dimensional Unravel
78. Unmerciful – Wrath Encompassed
79. Afterbirth – Four Dimensional Flesh
80. Primitive Man – Immersion
81. Reflections – Willow
82. Thætas – Shrines To Absurdity
83. Alarum – Circle’s End
84. Acherontas – Psychic Death_ The Shattering of Perceptions
85. Grimah – Intricacies of Bowed Wisdom
86. October Falls – A Fall of An Epoch
87. Vader – Solitude in Madness
88. Madrost – Charring The Rotting Earth
89. Protest The Hero – Palimpsest
90. Coexistence – Collateral Dimension
91. Blot – Howl From the North
92. Intronaut – Fluid Existential Inversions
93. Necrophobic – Dawn of The Damned
94. Theotoxin – Fragment Erhabenheit
95. Odraza – Rzeczom
96. Vampire Squid – Reinventing the Eel
97. Naglfar – Cerecloth
98. Slave One – Omega Disciples
99. Lantern – Dimensions
100. Eave – Phantoms Made Permanent
Top Ten EP’s:
1. Rejoice! The Light Has Come – Untitled
2. Evilyn – Inside Shells
3. Shinda Saibo No Katamari – Ostriched Existence
4. Inferi – Of Sunless Realms
5. Scour – Black
6. Carcass – Despicable
7. Deliquesce – Engineered Frailty
8. Ihsahn – Telemark
9. Aborted – La Grande Mascarade
10. Serocs – Vore
Honorable Mentions:
Carnifloor, Code Orange, Dawn Of Solace, Earth Rot, Korgonthurus, Mörk Gryning, Ovid’s Withering, Quasarborn, Revenge, Sons of Apollo, The Conjuration, Your Last Wish
hey, never thought this music would make it to anyone’s toplist of anything. thanks a lot, i really appreciate it.
This is late, but it took me forever to finish my list. I tried to balance what I listened to the most, thought was the best, and considered the most important. I know the top choice isn’t very popular one online, but it was a record that captivated me each and every listen. I really loved this record, and gave it the number 1 spot. Honestly though, it was extremely difficult to narrow this list down, and the top 40 could be jumbled up depending on the day.
Top 20:
1. Uada – Djinn
2. Sepulchral Curse – Only Ashes Remain
3. Spirit Possession – Spirit Possession
4. Faceless Burial – Speciation
5. Wytch Hazel – III: Pentecost
6. Ulthar – Providence
7. Thou / Emma Ruth Rundle – May Our Chambers Be Full
8. Havukruunu – Uinuos Syomein Sota
9. Undergang – Aldrig I Livet
10. Black Curse – Endless Wound
11. Proscription – Conduit
12. Necrot – Mortal
13. Gravenchalice – Apparition
14. SVNTH – Spring In Blue
15. Hank Von Hell – Dead
16. Ilsa – Preyer
17. Calligram – The Eye Is The First Circle
18. Jupiterian – Protosapien
19. The Black Dahlia Murder – Verminous
20. Lantern – Dimensions
Honorable Mentions:
Afsky, Afterbirth, Alestorm (yeah, I know, but this year sucked, and they made me happy), Barghest, Bedsore, Black Royal, Bloodsoaked Necrovoid, Brutus, Decaying, Depravity, Eternal Champion, Eternal Rot, Exhumation, Faidra, Fornicus, Foul, Glorious Depravity, Graceless, Grace Disgraced, Haunt, Hiidenhauta, HWWAUOCH, Imperial Triumphant, Kvaen, Live Burial, Ljosazabojstwa, Mamaleek, Mare Cognitum / Spectral Lore, Mesarthim, Molde Volhal, Nekrovault, Of Wolves, Primitive Man, Pyre, Revenge, Shagor, Shed The Skin, Siege Column, SKAM
Esophageal – Craving Delusions*
Unmerciful – Wrath Encompassed
Cytotoxin – Nuklearth
Devangelic – Ersetu
Deeds of Flesh – Nucleus
Blasphemer – The Sixth Hour
Azarath – Saint Desecration
Belphegor – Necrodaemon Terrorsathan
Incinerate – Sacrilegivm
Enslavement- Filth
Raw – Languish
Abhorrent Castigation – On the Shores of Hell
Scatology Secretion – Submerged in Glacial Ruin
Decarabion – Bastard Son of Divinity
Ominous Scriptures – The Fall of the Celestial Throne
Sufism – Republik Rakyat Jelata
Decayed Flesh – Eternal Misery
Ripping Flesh – Conqueror of Cosmos
Syphillic – Empty Nest
Dripped- Putrescent Omniscience
Post Mortal Possession – Catacombs of Bedlam
Embodiment – Palingenesis
Monumental Discharge – Unfathomable Defecation
* released 12/27/19 and was enjoyed throughout 2020
I’m terribly late, but we owe here in the Black Lodge 83 2020 album and considered for this list 245 2020 albums (sometimes listening to just a couple of songs, some other listening the full album 2 or 3 times, and listening the ones we owe at least 5 times). So, you understand, it became a job (no one is paying for)!
Here we are, in alphabetical order:
ABOVE AURORA | THE SHRINE OF DETERIORATION
ACHERONTAS | PSYCHIC DEATH – THE SHATTERING OF PERCEPTIONS
AKHLYS | MELINOE
ARS MAGNA UMBRAE | APOTHEOSIS
BLAZE OF PERDITION | THE HARROWING OF HEARTS
DEATH. VOID. TERROR. | THE GREAT MONOLITH II
FANGE | PUDEUR
ICARE | KHAOS
KALL | BRAND
KEVEL | MUTATIS MUTANDIS
KŁY | WYRZYNY
LARES | TOWARDS NOTHINGNESS
MEDICO PESTE | THE BLACK BILE
MSW | OBLIVIOSUS
NECROPOLITAN | THEE IGNOBLE RADIANCE
ODRAZA | RZECZOM
ORANSSI PAZUZU | MESTARIN KYNSI
OSSAERT | BEDEHUIS
PANZERFAUST | THE SUNS OF PERDITION – CHAPTER II: RENDER UNTO EDEN
PRIMITIVE MAN | IMMERSION
REGARDE LES HOMMES TOMBER | ASCENSION
RELIC POINT | SELF PUNISHMENT
SERPENT COLUMN | KATHODOS
SKAPHE | SKAPHE3
SWEVEN | THE ETERNAL RESONSANCE
TEMPLE NIGHTSIDE | PILLARS OF DAMNATION
THE OCEAN | PHANEROZOIC II: MESOZOIC | CENOZOIC
ULCERATE | STARE INTO DEATH AND BE STILL
WAKE | DEVOURING RUIN
WAYFARER | A ROMANCE WITH VIOLENCE
Best split album:
ALMYRKVI / RUINS OF BEVERAST
Best EPs
COSMOVORE | INTO THE NECROSPHERE (ep)
OMINATION | THE PALE HORSEMAN (ep)
THROANE | UNE BALLE DANS LE PIED (ep)
Thank you to NCS, its guest listers and its readers for giving us (me and the grey men) so much new and different stuff to listen to. An awful lot of those 245 albums considered for this list came from various end of year lists you published here.
Hi, to thank you for all your lists, here are the 155 most quoted band from this topic.
Ulcerate 24
Wake 18
Panzerfaust 14
Black Curse 14
Imperial Triumphant 13
Sweven 12
Serpent Column 12
Akhlys 12
Havukruunu 12
Oranssi Pazuzu 10
Esoctrilihum 10
Cryptic Shift 10
Afterbirth 9
Skáphe 9
Gaerea 9
Paysage d’Hiver 9
Wayfarer 9
Uada 8
Paradise Lost 8
Ulthar 8
Lamp Of Murmuur 8
The Ocean 8
Auðn 8
Faceless Burial 8
Necrot 8
Undeath 8
Eternal Champion 8
Temple of Void 8
Necrophobic 8
Afsky 7
Odraza 7
Cytotoxin 7
Defeated Sanity 7
Convocation 7
Atramentus 6
Napalm Death 6
inquisition 6
Prison of Mirrors 6
Beltez 6
Cosmovore 6
Primitive Man 6
Proscription 6
Skeletal Remains 6
Valdrin 6
Spirit Adrift 6
Warp Chamber 6
Svalbard 6
Malokarpatan 6
Lantern 6
VoidCeremony 5
Anaal Nathrakh 5
Vredehammer 5
Cosmic Putrefaction 5
Sunken 5
Acherontas 5
… And Oceans 5
Dark Tranquillity 5
Of Feather and Bone 5
Earth Rot 5
Selbst 5
Fluisteraars 5
Ars Magna Umbrae 5
Ifernach 5
Kvaen 5
Xenobiotic 5
Thecodontion 4
Khthoniik Cerviiks 4
Bedsore 4
Vonlaus 4
Temple Nightside 4
Calligram 4
Árstíðir Lifsins 4
Medico Peste 4
Spectral Lore & Mare Cognitum 4
MSW 4
Svartkonst 4
October Falls 4
The Black Dahlia Murder 4
Cirith Ungol 4
Krallice 4
Karmacipher 4
Uprising 4
Pyrrhon 4
Faidra 4
Katatonia 4
Winterfylleth 4
Marrasmieli 4
LIK 4
Dawn Of Solace 3
Sepultura 3
Pallbearer 3
Death. Void. Terror. 3
Countless Skies 3
Deftones 3
Neptunian maximalism 3
Draconian 3
Regarde Les Hommes Tomber 3
Elder 3
Sorcier Des Glaces 3
Eoront 3
Cult Of Lilith 3
Aeternam 3
Musmahhu 3
Fellwarden 3
Carnosus 3
Aara 3
Aversio Humanitatis 3
Glaciation 3
Code Orange 3
Gloosh 3
Skeleton 3
Godthrymm 3
Sylosis 3
Graceless 3
Thy Catafalque 3
Gravenchalice 3
Dark Fortress 3
Green Carnation 3
Mörk Gryning 3
Grimah 3
Naxen 3
Hail spirit noir 3
Dearth 3
Ages 3
Ovader 3
Hellripper 3
Circle of Ouroborus 3
Hræ 3
Question 3
Beneath the Massacre 3
Ripped to Shreds 3
Intronaut 3
Sepulchral Curse 3
Just Before Dawn 3
Sinistral King 3
Abysmal Dawn 3
Solstafir 3
Killer Be Killed 3
Coexistence 3
Konvent 3
Azarath 3
Korgonthurus 3
Cryptae 3
Kvelertak 3
Bâ’a 3
Malist 3
Void Rot 3
Marche Funèbre 3
Vous Autres 3
Mesarthim 3
Xazraug 3
Midnight 3
Nero di Marte 3