Let’s start with the band that get the award for the best name on the list. Transcendental psychedelic doom from Wales and translating as “Return to the Underworld” is the third part in a trilogy. It is trippy, mind altering, spacey and in places very very very heavy. Doom for those who prefer LSD to dope. The fact that the lyrics are also in welsh makes it an even more other worldly experience.
Read MoreIt’s actually a film soundtrack rather than a compilation so it just about gets through the eligibility criteria on essentially a technicality as the new songs outweigh the classics. What is heartening is that Stuart and co have abandoned the dance pop of “How to Solve our Human Condition” and gone back to what they are good at. Catchy bedwetting indie. Hidden towards the end, singles ‘Sister Buddha’ and ‘This Letter’ are classic Belle and Sebastian and make the record.
Read MoreNot a patch on 2016’s stunning “Winter’s Gate” but is still good enough to make the list (just). Atmospheric melodeath (melodic death metal for the unfamiliar) with enough introspection to make it stand out from others melding screaming with Maiden riffs. It’s actually a more downbeat album than its predecessor and probably less accessible and immediate as well. I suspect it’s a grower and that further listens would have seen it rise in my estimations (and in placing).
Read MoreYes, them and no, I am not trolling you. This is great! Seriously!!! It’s really good. Its bubble gum pop punk, but they suddenly seem to have regained the ability to write songs. All the trying to be serious, mature and adult is gone and instead we get an album of fun, bouncy bangers. They have given up trying to be respected and instead gone back to what they are good at.
Read MoreHighly emotive and full of passion, this is occult rock at its best. Satanic hymns with the same level of vim, vigour and gusto that you get from committed evangelic Christians. It has an authentic seventies feel and even though the subject matter is all primal evil, it is actually a really warm and charismatic album brimming with personality.
Read MoreSubtle and utterly beautiful. It is full of lilting melodies that build towards crescendos of sound. Mogawi but with more power and bite. Just a masterclass in producing precise post-rock with an emotional heart.
Read MoreYes, it is low for Volbeat. That’s because this record is distinctly a game of two halves as it could have used some harsh editing.. Lead single ‘Last Day Under the Sun’ is poor and sounds like the Sterophonics. You could have also lost the final three tracks and ended up with a much shorter, sharper, taut and better record. However, when they are good, they are magnificent and ‘Sorry Sack of Bones’, ‘Cheapside Sloggers’ and ‘Pelvis on Fire’ are alone worth the admission prize and manage to justify their inclusion in this list.
Read MoreFor a band in crisis, this is a bloody good album! Finnish megalomaniac Arttu Kuismanen and producer Kane Churko play every single instrument on it as the rest of band decided that they had had enough of Arttu’s diva behaviour. For all that, it is throw away fun and had me singing along to tracks that I had never heard before. Yes its paper thin and probably has the nutritional value of a wine gum but I just really really enjoyed it.
Read MoreLike Volbeat, While She Sleeps have, for their last few releases, enjoyed a Sense ticket to the upper pinnacles of my list. 2015’s “Brainwashed” is brilliant, utterly brilliant and whilst 2017’s “You Are We” was a slow burner it still had stunningly inventive moments. “SO WHAT?” is good, really good, but but just doesn’t have the memorable moments the previous three records have. I haven’t listened to debut “This is the Six” in a good couple of years but I could still sing ‘Seven Hills’ to you at the drop of the hat. I have just finished “SO WHAT?” and I don’t think I could hum you any of the tracks. It isn’t bad and deserves attention, it just suffers from following three colossal albums.
Read MoreMore melodic Death Metal with this record that just oozes quality. The production is luscious, the choruses are big and the riffs are soaring. It may exist in a crowded market but there is something very special about it. It is also another one where I need to put my hand up and say if I had given it more attention, it probably would have been higher. Though it does sound like Children of Bodom in places….
Read MoreFirst album in X years is a phrase I am going to use a lot this year. There has been a twenty seven year gap between this and Exhorder’s previous release “The Law” (though not the longest lay off on this list). So if you ever wandered what a Pantera record released in 2019 would sound like, this is your answer. It’s a treasure trove of unashamed groovy thrash. Raw and raucous but also exhibiting a real swing and swagger. And yes! it sounds like Pantera because back in the early nineties Pantera “borrowed” their sound from Exhorder. Nearly thirty years later, Exhorder are back to set the record straight.
Read MoreIt is not easy being an overlooked genius. Tim Showalter releases yet another excellent collection of nu-country alt-rock and the world once again looks on with indifference. All of Tim’s records as Strands of Oaks have been deeply personal, but “Eraserland” takes that self-confessional style one step further. This is a rock n’ roll album about falling out of love with rock n’ roll. It is less clever and self-referential than his previous records and straighter forward in its use of wide-screen Springsteen-esque americana. It’s also a perfect balance of utter beauty and painful heartbreak. I just wish it was more than me that was bothered.
Read MoreThere is a lot of Black Metal on this list so it is almost bizarre that we have had to go twelve records before we get some. This is a love letter to Behemoth from Canada (Even though Necromonicon were in existence long before the polish giants of the genre and also just for clarity this is not the German thrash Necromonicon this is the Canadian Blackened variety). It is heavy, black and pendulous, big in both its sound and also its ambition.
Read MoreSo you wait around for Black Metal on this list and then like buses a couple turn up at the same time. This is polish stadium sized Black, one of my favourite acts at the Damnation Festival. This swims against the tide by doing Black Metal with slick production and up-tuned guitars. Probably not as good as it could be (hence it’s relatively lowly placing). It still feels like Black Metal on steroids.
Read MoreHere we go, the biggest gap between releases on this list. Acid Reign’s previous album to this was released in 1990, a whopping twenty nine years (I bought it. At the time, it had a nice bright pink cover, it wasn’t very good (though I loved it back then)). Old thrash bands don’t die, they just reform a couple of decades later with less hair, more weight and, in the main, a much more heightened ability to play their instruments. This is great. Balls to the wall and foot to the floor thrash from men of a certain age who really should know better. It is unashamedly up-tempo and in many many ways is the album that “Obnoxious” should have been.
Read MoreHalf welsh and half Australian, she reminds me of early Lilly Allen in both her directness and her casual vulgarity. This album is great because under its sweet melodies and beautiful subtle tunes, it has a venomous heart. The lyrics are strident, barbed and full of righteous anger. This is a raging protest album, wrapped up in fragile songs. The music seems harmless and melodious but the lyrics cut to the heart and scream injustice. A fascinating juxtaposing record.
Read MoreGrindcore is Death Metal’s noisy and more socially impaired cousin. Death Metal may be offensive and uncouth, but at least it is house trained. Grindcore however will happily poop all over the furniture and then write its own name (spelt wrong) in the resulting mess. Full of Hell are anarchic modern day torch bearers for grindcore and one of “Weeping Choir’s” virtues is how close it skates to pure noise. It is an exhilarating and invigorating listen. Difficult in places and definitely not easy, it is one of those records that rewards repeat listens.
Read MoreIt may seem that I am the patron saint of extreme metal, but there is still an indie kid trapped inside me (like in Get Out). Whilst predominately locked away, every now again he will influence my tastes. It is also his ongoing influence that keeps The Beta Band as one of my all-time bands. Until the inevitable reunion (please please please please) I have Steve Mason solo albums to keep me going. “About the light”, is actually (shock horror) a positive album. After a couple of records full of political discourse and treaties on the end of civilisation, Steve has actually produced a personal and upbeat collection about his life and loves. There are still traces of the melancholic here (this is Steve Mason after all) but there is also a twinkles of playfulness and charm that actually makes it an uplifting experience.
Read MoreBy far the most accessible album so far from these hotly tipped UK thrashers. It has big melodic tunes that manage to stay just on the right side of cheesy. This is very polished and less aggressive than usual but boy does it have songs. The choruses soar and the power chords resonate all over the place. If you like your metal highly melodious and smooth then please do check it out.
Read MoreIn any other year, I would be exclaiming that this record would keep us going until we get a new Tool album to feast upon. However this year, we do have a brand spanking new Tool release and (spoiler) it will turn up later (though how high is the question). So let’s look at this on its own merits. It’s full of angular forthright riffs and soaring vocals. The songwriting is also excellent, there is so much in here. The tracks unfurl in front of your eyes and then heads off in unexpected directions. I have listened to it numerous times and some of the shift in tempo and style still surprise me. It is a supremely confident and self-assured record which leaves you with real excitement about what they will do next.
Read More
