LISTMANIA 2014: STEREOGUM’S “50 BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2014”

 LISTMANIA 2014  18 Responses »
Dec 162014
 

 

Here we have yet another list of best metal albums of 2014 from yet another “big platform” web site, i.e., one with a large online audience that doesn’t cater mainly to metalheads. This time the list comes from Stereogum.

I’ve been waiting for this one, not because I thought it would be amusing in the way that lists from other such places are often amusing, but because there are some studs who put the Stereogum list together: The list was compiled by Michael Nelson, Ian Chainey, Aaron Lariviere, Wyatt Marshall, and Doug Moore.

To be clear, I don’t have any personal knowledge of their sexual exploits, but these are people whose opinions about metal I respect — their monthly Stereogum column, “The Black Market”, is one I always make time to read even when I don’t have time to read much of anything else in the sphere of metal writing.

As Michael Nelson explains in his entertaining and thought-provoking introduction to the list, it’s a result of compromise — the give-and-take among these five writers, not compromises dictated by editorial direction and pandering to readership demographics, which is the kind of smell I’ve gotten from a few other lists from other places that I’ve re-posted here. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2014: SPIN MAGAZINE’S 20 BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2014

 LISTMANIA 2014  11 Responses »
Dec 152014
 


As part of our continuing effort to re-publish “best metal” lists by certain magazines and “big platform” web sites, we’re now bringing you The 20 Best Metal Albums of 2014 as chosen by the staff of SPIN — which used to be a print magazine from 1985 – 2012 but now currently runs as a webzine.

I’m actually just guessing that SPIN qualifies as a “big platform” site, since I haven’t found any statistics about their on-line viewership. They used to have a substantial newsstand presence and they do currently have more than 525,000 likes on Facebook, so I guess that means something. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2014: VONLUGHLIO’S TOP 50 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

 LISTMANIA 2014  19 Responses »
Dec 152014
 

 

(As he has in years past, long-time NCS supporter Vonlughlio from the Dominican Republic brings us his list of favorite albums released during the year that’s now ending.)

So the time has arrived to post my favorite albums of 2014 and I would like to thank Mr. Islander for sharing my list for the third year in a row. Back in 2012 my list was just 25, and last year it was 40. This year makes it 50, but rest assured it will stay that way for the future.

All the days spent creating my list and the several drafts were all a clusterfuck of sorts, because I enjoyed so many releases that I just kept on looking and listening to the albums I got this year. Now I understand why some people (like Islander) don’t make a list — it’s damn hard. On the other hand, there were albums that I always knew would be on my list. Anyways, I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the contributors here at NCS — really amazing job on this site. Continue reading »

2014 — A YEAR IN REVIEWS: THE GREAT ALBUMS

 LISTMANIA 2014  27 Responses »
Dec 152014
 

 

(Today Andy Synn begins his perennial retrospective on the metal of 2014.)

That’s right, every day this week I’ll be publishing a new list covering as much of the past year in Metal as possible. For those of you unfamiliar with the way I do things (and for those of you who’ve understandably blocked last year from your mind), here’s how it’s going to go…

Today I’ll be posting an extensive list of the The Great albums of 2014, those I think really went above and beyond and which embody the absolute best that the year has to offer. There’s a whole host of different genres represented, and a plethora of different bands, young and old, from around the world and across the metal spectrum.

Tomorrow I’ll be posting about The Good albums of the year, another rather extensive list that runs the gamut from solid examples of the genre, to those albums teetering on the edge of greatness, without quite reaching the highest of heights.

Then, on Wednesday, you’ll be seeing the (potentially) contentious list of The Disappointing albums from 2014 – not necessarily “bad” albums, per se (though one or two of them definitely are!), but more a collection of albums that fully failed to live up to what they could have been.

Then, finally, Thursday and Friday, will see the publication of my “Critical Top 10” and “Personal Top 10” lists… about which I’ll say more closer to the time.

So, with all that preamble out of the way, let’s get into the real meat of things, shall we? Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2014: ROLLING STONE’S LIST OF THE 20 BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2014

 LISTMANIA 2014  39 Responses »
Dec 112014
 

 

Once again, as part of our year-end LISTMANIA series, we bring you a list of the year’s best metal from a platform other than our own, and one that gets orders of magnitude more eyeballs. As in the case of other “big platform” lists we republish, we do this as a way of peaking at what the wider world sees, since our world is very narrow and subterranean.

And just in case that goofball who saw us re-post Rolling Stone’s list last year decides to get shit-faced and come visit us again, let me just repeat what’s already in the goddamned post title:  THIS IS NOT OUR LIST. THIS IS A LIST OF THE 20 BEST METAL ALBUMS COMPILED BY ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE.

The article appears here, with accompanying explanations for the choices. My only comment about this list is: It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Here you go: Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2014: A YEAR-END LIST FROM JESSE ZURETTI (THE BINARY CODE)

 LISTMANIA 2014  8 Responses »
Dec 102014
 

 

(For the second year in a row, we asked guitarist and songwriter Jesse Zuretti of The Binary Code — who have a new album of their own headed our way — for thoughts about his favorite albums of 2014, and he provided this list.)

 

1. Animals As Leaders – The Joy of Motion

Stand-out album for me, since I’ve never really been a fan (as much as I appreciated just about everything these guys can do as musicians). This album, to me, defines talent that reaches beyond the confines of the stereotypical “metal” nomenclature. The R&B jams, the unbelievably creative drumming, the song-writing — it’s all just sitting perfectly with me. I really think it’s going to be hard to top this one, should they choose to put out another album. This was my #1 played metal (new) album of 2014, and for good reason. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2014: A BIG YEAR-END LIST FROM AUSTIN WEBER

 LISTMANIA 2014  27 Responses »
Dec 092014
 

 

(NCS writer Austin Weber brought us this big list of his personal favorites from 2014, divided into 7 categories.)

I hate to begin with the obvious and easiest intro, but 2014 really was one hell of a prolific year for quality metal releases from all stripes and sub-genres. I felt slightly overwhelmed, but I found a lot of killer releases by new bands this year, in addition to new releases by the many bands I was already aware of, many of whom took evolutionary leaps my feeble mind could not have possibly predicted. And the future still looks bright for metal potential. So, all is well.

As I did with my last two years’ “best of” lists, I chose to skip over many of the names that would appear on most lists, in favor of more underground or less championed fare. This is to give you, the reader, a shot at hearing more quality releases from the year, beyond the same pile of releases whose names will be hammered into your brain by a multitude of other year-end lists. The intro to this article goes on for too long; if it’s TLDR to you, skip to the lists. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2014: A YEAR-END LIST FROM PATRICK BRUSS (CRYPTICUS)

 LISTMANIA 2014  16 Responses »
Dec 092014
 

(I invited Patrick Bruss, aka Crypticus, to share his year-end list with us, because I had a high degree of confidence I would like everything on it that I knew about and would need to track down everything else I didn’t know about. And I was right.)

 

BRUTALLY DECEASED – Black Infernal Vortex

Listen to those chainsaws! Lots of Sunlight Studio-style bands these days, but only a few have the special rotted & filthy feeling that made those DISMEMBER & GOD MACABRE albums so much fun. These guys are bathing in it. Savage yet melodic riffs & a slaughterhouse production.

http://brutallydeceased.bandcamp.com

 


Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2014: NPR MUSIC’S 50 FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2014 (JUST THE HEAVY STUFF)

 LISTMANIA 2014  21 Responses »
Dec 082014
 

NPR (formerly National Public Radio) is an American national treasure, one that has somehow survived as a non-profit national radio and on-line broadcaster (with 900 public radio station members) despite largely weaning itself from governmental support. According to Alexa, its online site is the 138th most popular of all U.S.-based web sites and one of the top 1,000 in the world.

Today NPR Music posted a list of its 50 favorite albums of 2014. It’s a cross-genre list, reflecting the broad demographic of NPR Music listeners, but there’s some heavy stuff in the mix. As we’ve done occasionally in past years, I’ve siphoned off the metal albums from the overall list and am presenting them after the jump, just to give all us underground dwellers a sense of what’s presented to the NPR audience as the best metal of the year.

NPR didn’t rank those 50 albums, so I’m listing the metal releases in the order I saw them on the NPR list — which you can see in full here. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2014: A YEAR-END LIST FROM AUSTIN LUNN (PANOPTICON, SEIDR)

 LISTMANIA 2014  18 Responses »
Dec 082014
 

(We are grateful to Austin Lunn for accepting our invitation to share his favorite releases from 2014.)

There are a lot of releases this year that I have really enjoyed….so in no particular order here goes:

 

Wheels Within Wheels – Thirty Five Thoughts to Nineteen Elements

Mesmerizing, horrifying… a blown-out, hypnotic soundscape forming beauty out of the ugliness that man has made. This record, as all WWW records, is not for the faint of heart, but if you like blackened, doomy, droned-out dirges, this is for you. Don’t miss out.

Continue reading »

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