Category: year in review

2019 Best of Metal: #2 Spirit Adrift-Divided By Darkness

Release date:  5/10/2019

Origin:  Phoenix, AZ

Personnel:  Nate Garret-vox/guitar/bass and Marcus Bryant-drums

“We’re Spirit Adrift.  And we play heavy metal.”

This is how Nate Garrett introduced Spirit Adrift when I saw this play earlier this year.  It was just so cool and unapologetic.  I just fucking loved him for it.  Spirit Adrift play a sort of throwback kind of metal that harkens back to Randy Rhodes-era Ozzy albums, early Dio solo stuff and maybe a little bit of old Trouble.  This is just a straight up metal-up-your-ass kind of album.  And it fucking rules.  It easily could have ended up in the top spot.

5 flip flops out of 5

2.  Spirit Adrift-Divided By Darkness
3.  Tool-Fear Inoculum
4.  Alcest-Spiritual Instinct
5.  Monolord-No Comfort
6.  The Moth Gatherer-Esoteric Oppression
7.  The Claypool Lennon Delirium-South of Reality
8.  Warforged-I: Voice
9.  Russian Circles-Blood Year
10.  Ray Alder-What the Water Wants
11.  Imperium Dekadenz-When We Are Forgotten
12.  Memoriam-Requiem For Mankind
13.  Horseburner-The Thief
14.  Cult of Luna-A Dawn To Fear
15.  Bask-III
16.  Cave In-Final Transmission
17.  The Neal Morse Band-The Great Adventure
18.  Borknagar-True North
19.  Herod-Sombre Dessein
20.  Vintersea-Illuminated

2019 Best of Metal: #3 Tool-Fear Inoculum

Release date:  8/30/2019

Origin:  Los Angeles, CA

Personnel:  Maynard James Keenan-vox, Adam Jones-guitar, Justin Chancellor-bass and Danny Carey-drums

Here it is.  I know a good chunk of you were wondering where this one would end up on the list.  Man, I really don’t know how these guys did it.  Honestly.  The hype for this damn thing was so intense that I don’t understand how the dudes of Tool didn’t just crumble under the pressure.  But, they did it.  They totally delivered what may not be their most ambitious effort to date, but is still a monument to creativity within the traditional framework sound that Tool has created throughout their career.  I think my first reaction sums it up best.  It’s a Tool album.  Nothing more; nothing less.  I just think the fact that they created something awesome under the scrutiny of the interwebs and social media is something to be celebrated.  And it still holds that Danny Carey is the MVP of 2019.  I have always understood that the dude is a tremendous drummer, but his performance on here is just so inspired.  Cheers to you, Danny Boy!

5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:

3.  Tool-Fear Inoculum
4.  Alcest-Spiritual Instinct
5.  Monolord-No Comfort
6.  The Moth Gatherer-Esoteric Oppression
7.  The Claypool Lennon Delirium-South of Reality
8.  Warforged-I: Voice
9.  Russian Circles-Blood Year
10.  Ray Alder-What the Water Wants
11.  Imperium Dekadenz-When We Are Forgotten
12.  Memoriam-Requiem For Mankind
13.  Horseburner-The Thief
14.  Cult of Luna-A Dawn To Fear
15.  Bask-III
16.  Cave In-Final Transmission
17.  The Neal Morse Band-The Great Adventure
18.  Borknagar-True North
19.  Herod-Sombre Dessein
20.  Vintersea-Illuminated

2019 Best of Metal: #4 Alcest-Spiritual Instinct

Release date:  10/25/2019

Origin:  Bagnois-sur-Ceze, France

Personnel:  Neige-vox/guitar/bass/keyboard and Winterhalter-drums

Alcest has perfected their weird hybrid of black metal and shoegaze at this point.  The result is a very gentle and introspective version of black metal.  It’s one that points its focus in a more emotional content that is served on soaring melodies and riffs that feel a little more abstract than one might normally hear in metal.  Even when they break out the blastbeats and blackened vocals, it feels less abrasive than these elements are normally used by blackened bands.  It’s honestly hard to say this in light of the quality of material Alcest has created over their career, but this may be their best album to date.

5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:

4.  Alcest-Spiritual Instinct
5.  Monolord-No Comfort
6.  The Moth Gatherer-Esoteric Oppression
7.  The Claypool Lennon Delirium-South of Reality
8.  Warforged-I: Voice
9.  Russian Circles-Blood Year
10.  Ray Alder-What the Water Wants
11.  Imperium Dekadenz-When We Are Forgotten
12.  Memoriam-Requiem For Mankind
13.  Horseburner-The Thief
14.  Cult of Luna-A Dawn To Fear
15.  Bask-III
16.  Cave In-Final Transmission
17.  The Neal Morse Band-The Great Adventure
18.  Borknagar-True North
19.  Herod-Sombre Dessein
20.  Vintersea-Illuminated

2019 Best of Metal: #5 Monolord-No Comfort

Release date:  9/20/2019

Origin:  Gothenburg, Sweden

Personnel:  Thomas V. Jager-vox/guitar, Mika Hakki-bass and Esben Willems-drums

This three piece fuzzed out stoner metal band out of Sweden made serious leaps in terms of quality on their latest album.  This is one of those albums that got stuck in my head from the first play and it hasn’t let go yet.  Another of these albums that might not be forging a new path, but it do what it do so damn well that it just rose to the top of the stoner metal heap in 2019.  Seriously, I love this album.

5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:

5.  Monolord-No Comfort
6.  The Moth Gatherer-Esoteric Oppression
7.  The Claypool Lennon Delirium-South of Reality
8.  Warforged-I: Voice
9.  Russian Circles-Blood Year
10.  Ray Alder-What the Water Wants
11.  Imperium Dekadenz-When We Are Forgotten
12.  Memoriam-Requiem For Mankind
13.  Horseburner-The Thief
14.  Cult of Luna-A Dawn To Fear
15.  Bask-III
16.  Cave In-Final Transmission
17.  The Neal Morse Band-The Great Adventure
18.  Borknagar-True North
19.  Herod-Sombre Dessein
20.  Vintersea-Illuminated

 

2019 Best of Metal: #6 The Moth Gatherer-Esoteric Oppression

Release date:  3/22/2019

Origin:  Stockholm, Sweden

Personnel:  Victor Wegeborn-vox/guitar, Ronny Westphal-guitar, Dan Hemgren-bass, Svante Karlsson-drums

So, we’ve reached the point in the list where any of the next six albums could have easily ended up with the top spot.  The terms of quality that separate these albums is basically inconsequential and their rankings really are a result of their gut-level impact on me personally.  All of these next albums are masterpieces and their creators should be very proud of their artistic statements for the year of 2019.  These are the albums I will truly remember for 2019.

First up is a post-metal masterpiece by Sweden’s The Moth Gatherer.  To me, this is a perfect album to simply put on and meditate to.  It’s layers of atmospheric riffs and sonic landscapes are a perfect avenue in which to fall into a state of reflection and transcendence.  This album was a bit of a surprise for me in that I’ve been a fan of their past work, but this latest effort just jumped by leap and bounds ahead of all of their previous output.  This was a visionary piece of art.

5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:

6.  The Moth Gatherer-Esoteric Oppression
7.  The Claypool Lennon Delirium-South of Reality
8.  Warforged-I: Voice
9.  Russian Circles-Blood Year
10.  Ray Alder-What the Water Wants
11.  Imperium Dekadenz-When We Are Forgotten
12.  Memoriam-Requiem For Mankind
13.  Horseburner-The Thief
14.  Cult of Luna-A Dawn To Fear
15.  Bask-III
16.  Cave In-Final Transmission
17.  The Neal Morse Band-The Great Adventure
18.  Borknagar-True North
19.  Herod-Sombre Dessein
20.  Vintersea-Illuminated

2019 Best of Metal: #7 The Claypool Lennon Delirium-South of Reality

Release date:  2/22/2019

Origin:  El Sobrante, CA and New York City, NY

Personnel:  Les Claypool-bass/vox, Sean Lennon-guitar/vox and Paulo Baldi-drums

This album is exactly what you would expect of the longtime mastermind of Primus and the son of John Lennon.  It’s a trippy proggy masterpiece.  There are influences from Primus, the Beatles psychedelic era, Pink Floyd, maybe a little bit of early Porcupine Tree and all wiped down with a sheen of the very best of 70s era prog.  This is one for the mushroomheads in the audience.  Put it on and feel yourself EXPAND.

5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:

7.  The Claypool Lennon Delirium-South of Reality
8.  Warforged-I, The Voice
9.  Russian Circles-Blood Year
10.  Ray Alder-What the Water Wants
11.  Imperium Dekadenz-When We Are Forgotten
12.  Memoriam-Requiem For Mankind
13.  Horseburner-The Thief
14.  Cult of Luna-A Dawn To Fear
15.  Bask-III
16.  Cave In-Final Transmission
17.  The Neal Morse Band-The Great Adventure
18.  Borknagar-True North
19.  Herod-Sombre Dessein
20.  Vintersea-Illuminated

2019 Best of Metal: #8 Warforged-I: Voice

Release date:  5/17/2019

Origin:  Chicago, IL

Personnel:  Adrian Perez-vox/keyboards, Jace Kiburz-guitar, Max Damske-guitar, Alex Damske-bass and Jason Nitts-drums

This debut album from Chicago’s Warforged wins the most ambitious artistic statement award for 2019.  This album goes in so many different directions that it is only for listeners who have a truly adventurous taste.  By and large, this is an abrasive technical death metal album.  The really heavy parts on here almost reach an unlistenable plateau in their caustic levels.  The heavy parts are interspersed with gentle acoustic passages and parts that venture into some interesting jazz territories.  The whole thing is just jarring on so many levels.  I’m still not entirely sure if this is an album that I’m going to revisit over and over, but I just respect the hell out of the ambition on display here.  This is an album where you can tell the players really pushed the fuck out of the envelope of what is possible in heavy metal and, for that alone, this one gets a massive amount of kudos from me.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:

8.  Warforged-I: Voice
9.  Russian Circles-Blood Year
10.  Ray Alder-What the Water Wants
11.  Imperium Dekadenz-When We Are Forgotten
12.  Memoriam-Requiem For Mankind
13.  Horseburner-The Thief
14.  Cult of Luna-A Dawn To Fear
15.  Bask-III
16.  Cave In-Final Transmission
17.  The Neal Morse Band-The Great Adventure
18.  Borknagar-True North
19.  Herod-Sombre Dessein
20.  Vintersea-Illuminated

2019 Best of Metal: #9 Russian Circles-Blood Year

Release date:  8/2/2019

Origin:  Chicago, IL

Personnel:  Mike Sullivan-guitar, Brian Cook-bass and Dave Turncrantz-drums

If it feels like every time Russian Circles releases an album that they end up on my year end best-of list, well, it’s probably because they do.  These guys are just a model of consistency as far as the quality and creativity displayed in the music they create.  Each album manages without vocals to convey an individual theme and spirit while still remaining true to that core Russian Circles sound.  This one is one of their better efforts.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:

9.  Russian Circles-Blood Year
10.  Ray Alder-What the Water Wants
11.  Imperium Dekadenz-When We Are Forgotten
12.  Memoriam-Requiem For Mankind
13.  Horseburner-The Thief
14.  Cult of Luna-A Dawn To Fear
15.  Bask-III
16.  Cave In-Final Transmission
17.  The Neal Morse Band-The Great Adventure
18.  Borknagar-True North
19.  Herod-Sombre Dessein
20.  Vintersea-Illuminated

2019 Best of Metal: #10 Ray Alder-What the Water Wants

Release date:  10/18/2019

Origin:  San Antonio, TX

Personnel:  Ray Alder-vox, Michael Abdow-guitar/bass, Tony Hernando-guitar/bass and Craig Anderson-drums

We had no proper Fates Warning release this year, but guitarist Jim Matheos put out another Arch/Matheos album with the original Fates singer, John Arch and current Fates frontman Ray Alder put out his first proper solo album.  I think comparisons to Fates are apt simply because Alder is just so recognizable from the work he has done with Fates.  The music here is still in the progressive metal realm and feels like a less intense version of Fates.  The songs feel more focused on melody than technical chops and they meld nicely with Alder’s lyrics of loss and longing.  All in all, this is a really nice album and one that I’ve been drawn back to repeatedly since it came out.  Definitely a good tide-me-over until the next Fates album drops.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:

10.  Ray Alder-What the Water Wants
11.  Imperium Dekandenz-When We Are Forgotten
12.  Memoriam-Requiem For Mankind
13.  Horseburner-The Thief
14.  Cult of Luna-A Dawn To Fear
15.  Bask-III
16.  Cave In-Final Transmission
17.  The Neal Morse Band-The Great Adventure
18.  Borknagar-True North
19.  Herod-Sombre Dessein
20.  Vintersea-Illuminated

2019 Best of Metal: #11 Imperium Dekadenz-When We Are Forgotten

Release date:  8/30/2019

Origin:  Black Forest, Germany

Personnel:  Horaz-vox/guitar/keyboards and Vespasian-guitar/bass/drums/keyboards

There is usually at least one black metal album that grabs me each year.  Imperium Dekadenz was the black metal band to make the biggest impact on me this year.  This album is black metal in more of an atmospheric vein than your traditional Scandinavian black metal.  Their sound reminds me a bit of some of the black metal coming our of the Pacific Northwest, such as Agalloch and Wolves In the Throne Room.  It feels more about layers and emotion than blast beats and odes to evil.  Plus, these guys hail from the Black Forest in Germany.  I mean, c’mon!  You have to be on board for that.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:

11.  Imperium Dekadenz-When We Are Forgotten
12.  Memoriam-Requiem for Mankind
13.  Horseburner-The Thief
14.  Cult of Luna-A Dawn to Fear
15.  Bask-III
16.  Cave In-Final Transmission
17.  The Neal Morse Band-The Great Adventure
18.  Borknagar-True North
19.  Herod-Sombre Dessein
20.  Vintersea-Illuminated