Metal 2015

I'll be lucky to remember what came out this year that I ended up buying and love, but here goes:

Amorphis - Under the Red Cloud (album of the year)
Blind Guardian - Beyond the Red Mirror
Luca Turilli's Rhapsody - Prometheus
Paradise Lost - The Plague Within
My Dying Bride - Feel the Misery (although I have a few issues with this album)
Moonspell - Extinct
Swallow the Sun - Songs from the North (but I don't own this yet and need to hear it more - could be my favourite)
Shape of Despair- Monotony Fields
 
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I'll tell you, that Moonspell record is insanely good and I have no problem with it being on a year end list. It came out early in the year and with little publicity so it was sort of under the radar. But the music is fantastic. The songs are so dark and moody, but melodic and well structured. Production is great, too.
 
Uneasy_Conscience said:
I'll tell you, that Moonspell record is insanely good and I have no problem with it being on a year end list. It came out early in the year and with little publicity so it was sort of under the radar. But the music is fantastic. The songs are so dark and moody, but melodic and well structured. Production is great, too.
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Agreed. The production is amazing. That's Jens Bogren for you though. Moonspell is one of those bands that is just so professional at what they do these days. And their lead guitarist Ricardo Amorim would have to be the most underrated in metal I reckon. His leads are just amazing.
 
Are we going to have a top10/etc type thread for this year or just post in here? I'll drop mine anyway and move it if needed...

Top 10

1) Akhlys - The Dreaming I
2) Mgła - Exercises In Futility
3) Midnight Odyssey - Shards of Silver Fade
4) Spectral Lore - Gnosis (it' an EP but it's so long I'm counting it)
5) Nocternity - Harps Of The Ancient Temples
6) Serpent's Lair - Circumambulating the Stillborn
7) Abyssal - Antikatastaseis
8) Hæthen - Shaped By Aeolian Winds
9) Utstøtt - Hjørungavågr
10) Drowning the Light - From The Abyss

Akhlys - The Dreaming I: AOTY for me easily. This grabbed my attention right away and has gotten better with each listen, which is a rare combination as it's normally one or the other. It's completely thick in atmosphere and really takes you on a journey, but doesn't pull any punches in the heaviness or vocals department. Simply amazing both for passive and active listening. I didn't like Nightbringer before, but after taking in this more accessible album and re-listening you really do 'get' his songwriting style. Favorite Track: Consummation

Honorable Mentions/Non-Metal

Clutch, Draug, Mad Max Fury Road Soundtrack, Obsequiea, Misþyrming, Elder, Panopticon, Magister Templi, Desolate Shrine, Macabre Omen, Sulphur Aeon, Death Karma, Magic Circle, Khemmis, Shrine of Insanabilis, Ozric Tentacles

Letdowns

Drudkh: Drudkh dropped more and more of their memorable brooding sound while improving the production away from their somewhat murky original mix and it's been getting worse almost every release after Blood In Our Wells. Haethen released a better Drudkh album than Drudkh did this year.

Nile: Maybe it needs a few more listens, but I didn't really get much out of this. Nothing was wrong with it, but there was nothing memorable either.

Krallice: This one is just so disjointed to the point that most tracks don't even feel like songs. They've taken that chaotic/dissonant formula and simply pushed it too far to be enjoyable.

Ahab: Similar to Nile. Nothing is particularly offputting, but just no memorable sections.

Ghost: Nothing to see here. The first two albums were great, but aside from Cirice/Mummy Dust this album was all filler...
 
Top 10, but no particular order except the Top 3

  1. Sulphur Aeon - Gateways to the Antisphere
  2. Alkaloid - The Malkuth Grimoire
  3. Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls
  4. Nile - What Should Not Be Unearthed
  5. Horrendous - Anareta
  6. Jungle Rot - Order Shall Prevail
  7. Armored Saint - Win Hands Down
  8. Saxon - Battering Ram
  9. Panopticon - Autumn Eternal
  10. Black Fast - Terms of Surrender
Top local release was from a band called War Curse:

 
I still can't decide my top 10 in order so I don't think I'm going to rank this year. Too hard. Alkaloid, Sulphur Aeon, Outre, Sarpanitum...too hard!

Some things not to miss that went under the radar this year, or that not many people have discussed here on UM. Some of these are repeat posts but I like to promote the band I like, so deal with it please.

Sarpanitum - Blessed Be My Brothers. Yea just listen to these Brits annihilate all who oppose them.



VOLA - Inmazes. This is a djent album. It's the first djent music I've ever heard and despite the bad reputation I like this. Great clean vocals, eerie yet calming synth, diversity of styles going on. It's worth checking out though definitely not for everyone.




Ares Kingdom - The Unburiable Dead. Third album of wonderful death/thrash from these legends.





Abagail Williams - The Accuser. This surprised me. Big time. I always figured they were shitty hardcore band (maybe they used to be early on) but this album, The Accuser, is sick. Sort of black metal with razor sharp vocals and devastatingly melodic guitar harmonies.



Amiensus - Ascension. Love this album as it's so fun to listen to. Great riffs, interesting structures, proper blend of cleans and extreme vocals. Really solid stuff from this young band from Minnesota. If you like it, some of their members are involved with another band called Adora Vivos, and they kick some major ass too.



Thurisaz - The Pulse of Mourning. Great record here but not worthy of top ten. Very sad, depressive extreme music - can't really pin down a style as they mix it up a bit. This is definitely one of my top 10 songs of the year though. It's just so poignant.



Postards from Arkham - Aeon5. I don't know what the fuck this is. Some form of weird electronic driven extreme tinged metal. Interesting stuff. Bought it at bandcamp for like 5 Euro.



Aevangelist - Enthrall to the Void of Bliss. Fuck no, I'm not giving a description. If you don't know them, fuck you.



Invoker - Aeon. Great German death metal



Chapel of Disease - The Mysterious Ways of Repetitive Art. Great doom/death. Occult theme. Solid, solid record.



Outre - Ghost Chants. Just tremendous extreme metal in all regards. I've listened to this album so much this year.



Batushka - Litourgiya. Polish extreme metal with baritone vocals. Sounds weird but it works. Works fucking well.



Firespawn - Shadow Realms. Bunch of guys from Entombed and Necrophobic join a band and boom: Solid death metal.



Judicator - At the Expense of Humanity. Great heavy/thrash inspired metal here. Soaring vocals, killer guitar work. Just a sick fucking record.



Havukruunu - Rautaa Ju Tulta (EP). Pagan black metal from Finland of the most impeccable quality.



Messenger - Starwolf II. The sequel to the supurb Starwolf I. Great power/thrash. Lots of interesting guitar work going on. Great leads and solos. Tons of speed.



Monolithe - Epsilon Aurigea. I'm not a big doom guy but this is fucking legendary funeral doom from France.



Manimal - Trapped in the Shadows. Great power/thrash right here. Give it a shot.



The Arcane Order - Cult of None. I reckon this must be up someone's alley. Fantastic melodic extreme metal. Just listen for the solos alone. Very good guitar work. I love this song in particular. Warning, this is a very "modern" metal record so again not for everyone. I'm well into it though.




Wolfheart - Shadow World. Sadly, this album is not as good as the brilliant debut Winterborn. It's still good though, and this song is awesome. Cold, brittle riffs and a frosty melody as usual. Great stuff.



Thy Catafalque - Sgurr. Hungarian avant-garde metal. Don't know what the fuck this is, just listen to it dammit. It's fucking awesome.



Arena - The Unquiet Sky. Last but not least, maybe the album I've listened to the most this year is The Unquiet Sky by prog legends Arena. Classy, elegant, with the vocal performance of the year as far as I'm concerned, by Paul Manzi. These are just plain awesome progressive rock songs. Love this album.







Merry Christmas, all.
 
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Draehl said:
Letdowns

Drudkh: Drudkh dropped more and more of their memorable brooding sound while improving the production away from their somewhat murky original mix and it's been getting worse almost every release after Blood In Our Wells.
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I agree, although I'd go even further and suggest that Drudkh started to go downhill pretty much after 'Autumn Aurora'. Once Hate Forest disbanded I noticed that Drudkh brought some faster elements from the HF sound into their own albums, and for me even 'Swan Road' and 'Blood In Our Wells' have lost some of that folky olde worlde feel of the first two albums.
 
Yea the guitar work is stellar, but the vocals and songs themselves are a tad generic. If you like that you should listen to the new The Arcane Order album Cult of None. Strong record, and the guitar solos are just godly.
 
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Uneasy_Conscience said:
Yea the guitar work is stellar, but the vocals and songs themselves are a tad generic. If you like that you should listen to the new The Arcane Order album Cult of None. Strong record, and the guitar solos are just godly.
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Yeah that's pretty much how I felt about the Act of Defiance album. The guitar work is above average but nothing else really stands out to include it in my top 20 list. Checking out this Arcane Order album. Decent so far.
 
These guys are great, have you heard of them? Technical, relentless, and catchy. One of their guitarists played in a band with Bjorn Strid from Soilwork although they don't have many views.

 
Top two:

Panphage - Storm
Panphage / Jarnvidr - Gøthalandom

Nothing else that I actually listened to (which isn't much) comes close. New Macabre Omen is good, demos by Ithaqua, Nachash and Necromantic Worship are worth mentioning. Some welcome reissues this year though, especially the Moonblood, Morpheus Descends and Catacomb releases.
 
Top 8, because I couldn't justify listing some of letdowns and mediocre records in a year end best of list.

8) Gloryhammer - Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards - This is a fun album. Reminds me of a mixture of Alestorm and Bal-Sagoth

7) Fear Factory - Genexus - Best FF album in years

6) Ghost - Melioria - Another fun album to listen to. Played this a lot leading up to Halloween. Favorite song is Mummy Dust.

5)My Dying Bride - Feel the Misery - I need to give this more listens, but I really like it.

4) Tribulation - Children of the Damned

3) Iron Maiden - Book of Souls - Tears of a Clown, title track, and Empire of the Clouds are memorable, but overall the album is too long and could have used some editing to improve it.

2) Cattle Decapitation - The Anthropocene Extinction - A great followup to Monolith of Inhumanity.

1) Sigh - Graveward - I really enjoyed this album. Crazy vocals and creative use of Saxophone in metal. Casketburner, Tombfiller, and The Molestors of My Soul are the highlights. This album also gets my vote for best album cover of 2015.

Props to Relapse Records for the Razor Reissues. I have been blasting those albums all summer and fall. :headbang:

Greatest disappointments: New albums from Ensiferum, Grave, Krisiun, Malevolent Creation and Black Breath
 
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