24. Orbit Culture - 'Nija'

This originally was nestling way down in the late hundreds. Listened to it once but could not quite see what the fuss was about. It was only the fact that people whose musical tastes I trust implicitly were pouring plaudits on it (hello to Steve and Sabrina) that made me come back around. I am so glad that I did as this is now my hidden gem of the year.

This is a clever but no-compromising melodic Death Metal album. It uses its constructs and constraints really well. It is focused and singular in its vision, meaning that it knows how heavy or brutal to be, but also when to pull back into the melody. It avoids the temptation to shove lots of different textures into the tracks and instead concentrates on what it is good at, namely harmonious riffs and massive choruses. I now love this album and the way it is going, with a few more listens it probably would have made top ten.