Well, my fine feathered fiends, here we go again: For the 11th straight year we present our list of the preceding year’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. Sunday might seem an odd time to begin the list, but I did say I was going to start the list this week, and the week is ending today, so here we are. There’s something else that’s odd about this Part 1, but I’ll get to that eventually.

I’m going to dispense with repeating the operative definition of what I think makes a song “infectious”; if you’re encountering this series for the first time, go here to see that. But I will remind you what I do to compile the list, and why I currently have no idea how long it will be or precisely when the rollout will end.

The universe of songs I’ve considered includes a list of candidates that I began at the start of 2019 and continued expanding as the year progressed. It also includes every suggestion made by our readers in response to my invitation, in the comments to this post. It may also includes recommendations from my colleague DGR; he’s the only staff writer who makes suggestions each year, but he hasn’t done that yet (though I believe he eventually will). When you add up my own ideas and those of readers, the universe of candidates includes 452 songs. Continue reading »