D.M's Best Albums of 2019

My statements at the head of this will be brief this year, because I think a lot of these albums speak for themselves.  As usual, we begin with a recitation of the rules – original studio albums only.  No compilations, no re-releases, no live albums, no cover albums.  And, as ever, my list goes to 11.

I think I will say only this – I love and would defend all these records against naysayers of any stripe, but I find myself wishing that more bands I didn’t already know had made the final cut this year.  I suppose it’s something that there are three or four bands who have never the cut of my top ten before, but that’s a small consolation.  I’m fearful that the drought of new names is because I’m in my middle thirties and I’m subconsciously rejecting things are new and different.  More optimistically, and this is what I’m telling myself, I’m hoping the lack of new bands is a signal of two things – one, that several resurgences and comebacks were truly, unequivocally excellent, and second, that maybe as Chris C and I discussed, it was a slightly down year.

In the end, there were sixteen finalists.  To get the final roster down to the necessary eleven players (and one honorable mention,) four worthy albums got left in the lurch.  I have commemorated them below, and I parenthetically feel a little bad for Toothgrinder, as both of their last two albums fell just short.

And so I leave you with this list, one man’s humble opinion of the musical year that was.  Good luck and godspeed.

Others Receiving Votes:
Deathchant – Deathchant
Lord Vapour – Semuta
Death Angel – Humanicide
Toothgrinder – I Am

Honorable Mention - While She Sleeps - So What?

Every year there’s an album that populates my list because it simply overwhelms with power and reminds me of the heady days of my youth, when thunderous alt metal ruled the roost and Rob Zombie had spawned a legion of soundalikes and also-rans.  That’s where While She Sleeps make their headway, and they’ve gone and combined it with a twist of layered songwriting to add some depth.

11 - A Pale Horse Named Death - When the World Becomes Undone

This album absolutely deserves to be here, but I feel a little torn about starting with it, only because it’s hard to get excited about the year’s records when the list starts with the most depressing one.  Many of the bands born from the ashes of Type O Negative have failed to really hit home (Seventh Void and Silvertomb being two of them,) but APHND has something.  They’re both the closest spiritual successor to Type O and the most adept at carrying the spark of that band’s infectious songwriting.  The primary difference is that APNHD generally lacks Type O’s tongue in cheek humor, instead focusing on the darkness of a world gone mad.  Cue up the slow dirges, it’s a long, enjoyable ride.

10 - John Garcia - John Garcia & The Band of Gold

Speaking of artists who have it, John Garcia has it.  I admit I’m eating a little crow here – if you had asked me who the member of Kyuss was who was destined to succeed as a solo act, I don’t know that I would have picked John.  But there’s something about his dry, slow-burning band that’s clean and pure and infectious.  Who knows if Vista Chino will end up being a one-off or not, but in the meantime, John Garcia is capably carrying the torch for desert rock.

9 - Devil to Pay - Forever, Never or Whenever

Nothing is more frustrating than a band from the underground who isn’t getting nearly the publicity or exposure they deserve.  Overseas, that band is Red Eleven and in the good old continental United States, it’s Devil to Pay.  Darlings of the metal scene in the Midwest, these crusaders for sludge from Indianapolis have been putting out one killer album after another since 2004’s Thirty Pieces of Silver.  Fifteen years later, they’ve lost none of their steam and can spin out a killer riff at a moment’s notice.  Get on the bandwagon, already.

8 - Children of Bodom - Hexed

It’s weird to think of Children of Bodom as elder statesmen, but at this point that’s where we are.  They’ve taken a lot of twists and turns in their sound over the years, and Hexed is the natural evolution of their sound into a whole new phase.  It’s not easy to write accessible and catchy death metal, but they’re figured out the formula and are better off for it.  The news that three core members of the band are departing in December comes as a shock – particularly amidst the persistent rumor that the band’s name may have to change as a result.  If this be the end of Children of Bodom as we know it, it’s a fine effort to go out on.

7 - BRKN LOVE - BRKN LOVE

And finally, we get to a band making their debut this year.  2019 was light on new acts who truly impressed, but these Canadians can bring it.  To some extent, this album feels like a long EP more than a true album, but it’s still groovy and dire and heavy in all the right places.  BRKN LOVE wears all their influences in plain sight, and that’s just fine, because they’re drawing on great material.  I don’t know that I’ve had this much fun being introduced to a new band in this stripe since Wolfmother.

6- John 5 & The Creatures - Invasion

John 5 should no longer just be known as the guitarist for Rob Zombie and former guitarist for Marilyn Manson.  He’s a musician unto his own right now, and the fact that Zombie allows him time and space on stage to touch ever so slightly on his solo pieces is sufficient testament to that fact.  What separates John 5 from every other guitar virtuoso is that, and this sounds facile even as I say it but it’s true, he’s writing actual songs and telling stories, not just showing how many arpeggios he can play in thirty seconds (though he leaves plenty of space for that, too.)

5 - Combichrist - One Fire

Nobody is happier about the recent Industrial Revolution than me.  Suddenly the genre is undergoing a huge comeback, and the big beats, cranked gain and scorched sounds are welcome in my ears any time.  Combichrist has taken a lot of turns to make their sound more metal and less abstractly industrial, and I dare say they get better with every album.  One Fire is a great listen for when you’re mad at the world.  Or working out.  Or playing sports.  Or doing dishes.  Or whatever damn time you want to listen to it.

4 - Life of Agony - The Sound of Scars

I wrote in great detail during my full review of this album why I’m conflicted about it.  I won’t rake you all over the details again, but know that it’s because I’m not sure if I love this album because of what it is, or because it represents something that used to be.  In any event, I’m quite certain the fault, if there is one, is with me, and not with the album.  There are piled of bands out there who have tried to ape this sound in the past twenty years and fallen completely on their faces in the process.  As a result, the door is open for Life of Agony to come marching in and teach a master class on the subject.

3 - Indestructible Noise Command - Terrible Things

The comeback is complete! INC now has more albums post-hiatus than pre-hiatus, and they appear to be here to stay (do some touring already, would you?)  This album is an old-school thrash masterpiece, brimming with attitude and big riffs and speedspeedspeed.  The band got away from the Pantera sound that had colored their other two recent albums (which I use only as a recognizable standard – INC predates Pantera and the intertwined history of the two bands is well documented,) and returned to the pure core of thrash from which they were born, to great effect.

2 - Royal Republic - Club Majesty

This album is fucking magnificent.  It’s probably the album on this list that I go back and listen to the most.  It’s a delicious blend of disco, rock and pure sleaze, molded together over cheap cocktails and sardonic songwriting.  There’s only one thing that keeps this record from the top spot, and it’s that you have to be in the right mood to listen to it.  The album lives right on the edge between sassy, over-the-top rock excess and completely and totally annoying.  It plays that line to perfection, but boy, if you come into it with the wrong state of mind…..but don’t get me wrong.  This is album #2 for a reason.

1 - Destrage - The Chosen One

I feel bad about this only because some might think I’m starting to show favoritism.  Including this one, Destrage’s last three albums have finished 1, 1 and 2 in my end of year rankings (and Are You Kidding Me? No. could still make a case for number 1 over Red Eleven’s Round II.)  Like all Destrage albums, this one grew me on over time.  When it released in May, I thought it was good, but not as strong as the prior two.  And then it wore on me.  And wore on me.  And for reasons I couldn’t understand, I just kept going back to it over and over again.  Slowly it became a constant companion on road trips and when travelling for work.  So, it’s hard not to think that some of this placement is based on the luck of timing – if it had released in October, I don’t know that I would have had enough time with it.  There’s something about this band, though – they write lyrics way past the margin, bend their idiom for riffs that barely make sense and reach outside the comfort zone of genre to craft huge choruses and songs that are too irresistible to be denied.  The Chosen One does nothing but continue the band’s dominance.

D.M's Top Ten Albums of 2018!

This is all pretty straightforward.  Nothing makes us happier as a society than an arbitrary list of a subjective medium, so here’s mine!

The rules, such as they are, remain the same as ever – must be an original stadium album.  No re-releases, no greatest hits, no live albums, no covers albums.  Got it?  Second rule – it goes to 11.

Moving on.

The list you see below, simply for informational purposes, was whittled down from approximately thirty semifinalists that ranged in genre, composition, production and release date.  Thirty candidates is probably fewer than I’m accustomed to compiling, but this may not be a reflection of the year in music, at least not anymore than it is a reflection in my personal and professional life and the diminished time I had to spend with new albums on the whole.  It is entirely possible that I missed something this year I would have really enjoyed, but I remain confident in the caliber and conviction of this list.

The one casualty of having less time, however, was my Little Album That Could award.  I just didn’t get exposed to much local or truly independent music this year, so I have decided not to award that honor, rather than award it in a lackluster, half-assed fashion.

First out of the gate, EP Of The Year – There can be no other choice, it has to be Red Eleven’s “Fueled By Fire.”  These guys are among the best bands working today, and their production is spotless for a group working with less than a full budget.  Their guitars are sharp, the harmonies soar, and the songs click with a combination of ‘90s rock sensibility and new age pomp and circumstance.


HONORABLE MENTION– Fair number of bands just on the outside looking in this year, but honorable mentions still abound – The Browning followed up the excellent “Isolation” with “Geist,” and while this new record isn’t as groundbreaking or bombastic at its predecessor, it’s still an album of high merit.  I enjoyed the grunge throwback overtones of Kobra and the Lotus’ “Prevail II,” actually significantly more than I enjoyed the original “Prevail” last year.  Orange Goblin put out another Orange Goblin record, and I also found it was the year for ‘Black’ bands – Black Elephant, Black Royal and Black Wizard all held my attention for a moment.  I had my requisite hour of fun with Parasite, INC, and they flirted with the list for a moment before ultimately falling short.  The last album to be cut was Black Mirrors and their record “Look Into the Black Mirror.”  It was the 12th man on an 11 player roster.  So kudos to them in particular.

Without further ado –

#11 – KING WITCH – “Under the Mountain”

I spent a lot of time with this album when it first came out, and then as the year wore on, I found myself less and less attracted to it.  Some of that was an influx of new material, and I think some of it is that the album doesn’t have a lot of secrets to unravel – the first listen and the twentieth are much the same experience.  That said, this is as great a straight-ahead metal bulldozer as was released this year, and it should be treated as such.  There’s got to be something to be said for being in my personal rotation for five months.

#10 – WITCHSKULL – “Coven’s Will”

It was a great year for doomy, drone-y artists, and Witchskull was no exception.  Relative to the fine wines of high-end production and popular tastes, Witchskull goes down like grain alcohol, but that actually works in its favor.  It’s too easy to draw parallels between this and the grand Black Sabbath albums of old, but sometimes the easy way out is the best way out.  There’s a lot of bluesy dust covering every inch of this album, which makes it infectious.  It’s entirely too easy to just start nodding your head and bob along with the strangled rhythms.  Good stuff.

#9 – GHOST – “Prequelle”

Suck it, haters!  This is a fun record.  I know, I know, there’s a million papercuts of betrayal to all we thought Ghost or wasn’t, blah, blah, blah.  I don’t care about any of that crap.  Ghost has the right to do whatever they want.  Is this a pop album?  Yeah, maybe.  Is the single a sugar-coated affair that leans way over the line?  Sure is.  But the recognition of that fact doesn’t make it any less fun.  You do you, Ghost.

#8 – LORD OF THE LOST – “Thornstar”

I’ll admit it, this got by me on the first pass.  On my running list of music I take in over the course of the year, I marked it down, but didn’t make any special notations next to it.  On some whim in the late fall, I went combing through and tried it again, and that’s when it stuck.  Part industrial, part dark rock, part melodic singalong, “Thornstar” does a lot right, and deserves its place on this list for “Loreley” alone.  I say this through gritted teeth because I have such respect for the artist I’m about to impugn, but Lord of the Lost released the album that Emigrate should have released.

#7 – BLACK MOTH – “Anatomical Venus”

This album hit early and I just kept coming back to it.  The cover art is….well, blech.  But the album is freakin’ great.  I’m starting to think that any band with “Black” at the front of their title is using the word as a family name – it’s their honorific tie to Black Sabbath, a band they all hope to emulate in some form or fashion.  Black Moth takes that formula, injects some rock into it, and then combines the entire proceeding with a siren, hypnotic overlay.  There’s something about this music that’s difficult to describe, something with the tone that’s new and original and haunting.  Every couple months, this would work its way back into my ear.

#6 – SUNDRIFTER – “Visitations”

The desert rock is strong with this one.  Yet, it’s companion is doom, and so the combination of those elements makes for an unique experience.  “Visitations” isn’t solely colored by the red and yellow hues of a sunset among the sand, nor it is entirely given to a black, forested midnight, but lives at the twilight of both those images.  If Witchskull released an album that was easy to fall into the groove of, Sundrifter gave us all an opportunity to zone out entirely, a chance to separate from time itself and just be swept by the undulating wave of music.  This entire paragraph has been too dramatic in general, but it should illustrate the point.

#5 – FEAR OF DOMINATION – “Metanoia”

Many years ago, I reviewed an album by a duo called Alien Vampires, and I think at one point I think I said something like “grab your many-buckled leather pants, colored dreadlock extenders and gas masks, we’re going dancin’!”  I feel the same about this album.  I remain eminently fascinated by the revival of industrial metal that seems to be hand in hand with the rise of EDM, and the fact that those train tracks are colliding with increasing frequency has led to the creation of something entirely new – Alien Vampires, The Browning, Kontrust and 6:33 have all toyed with varying aspects of the idea, but Fear of Domination seems to have found the most complete synthesis of the metal and the electronic.  “Metanoia” also feels the most like a recording of a live experience of any album on this list.  “Sick and Beautiful” might be my favorite song of 2018, and also might be the most fun metal song of the year.

#4 – ALIEN WEAPONRY – “Tu”

We’re getting into the big hitters now.  This is the separation point, where the albums before now were one caliber and this one and on are the gems of the season.  When I first heard this band described as a bunch of teenagers making metal, I shuddered involuntarily as horrible, uninvited memories of the hype machine surrounding Black Tide came swarming back into my brain.  So it was with considerable caution that I hit play on “Tu”…and was instantly taken by it.  Make no mistake, these kids have a lot of work to do, because the music rough around the edges at the best of times, but the core is a diamond.  There’s one album every year that cracks my list just because it’s so impossibly heavy, and this is it this year.  “Tu” is a straight-ahead banger, a wrecking ball of noise and chanting.  The incorporation of the Maori verses and heritage works to give the band a novel feeling in much the same way as culture works in favor of Tengger Cavalry.  Musically, there’s not a lot new here, but the accents make it feel different and unique.

#3 – GRAVEYARD – “Peace”

I feel a little bad about this, only because as late as October, I was really convinced this was finally going to be the Graveyard album that made it to #1 for me.  This is one of the three or four best bands active in modern music, regardless of genre, and I really felt good giving them the top spot….but then as time went by, two albums edged ahead.  Graveyard, if you’re reading this, I am sorry.  I am out of superlatives to describe this band – they’ve never disappointed me, and every song on this album, and the three albums before it, gives us another piece of an amazing puzzle yet to be completed.  Graveyard does everything right, and reaches across a hundred aisles to attract fans from all walks of music.  “Peace” is a masterpiece, but then, four of the band’s five albums are (and the first one is still good, but not as iconic as the others.)  If you’re not a Graveyard fan yet, I don’t know what to tell you at this point.  Get on the bandwagon, damn it!

#2 – CLUTCH – “Book of Bad Decisions”

Clutch is still teaching masters classes on how to write music.  For a few years there, I was leaving them for dead (my full apology can be found in my formal review of this album,) but now here they are, having hit a double with “Earth Rocker,” and two home runs with “Psychic Warfare” and “Book of Bad Decisions.”  While different in craft and sound, this is some of the band’s best work since “Blast Tyrant,” and Clutch’s impact and command of the genre can’t be undersold.  These boys from Maryland are still a force to be reckoned with and they’re not done yet.

#1 – CANCER BATS – “The Spark That Moves”

What strikes me the most about this album is that Cancer Bats appear to have dropped all pretense of anything else and have gotten back to having fun.  “Searching for Zero” was a fine album, but it lacked a certain human quality that made “Dead Set on Living” such an instant classic.  “The Spark That Moves” is just that, full as ever of piss and vinegar, but also grinning from ear to ear, punching out a combination of styles that still remain harmonious and catchy.  It’s a difficult niche to live in – the speed and simple hooks of punk, the abrasiveness of hardcore and the edgy gravitas of metal must exist in their proper balance, and more bands that we care to recount have tried and failed, or at their best only managed to carry two of the three.  Cancer Bats, by contrast, have found the secret formula.  Much like “Sick and Beautiful” mentioned above (though for wildly different reasons,) if you can’t get up and feel your pulse quicken for “We Run Free,” then you’re abusing the privilege of music.  Every song on this album feels much the same, leaving us with a glorious album that rolls and rumbles with power and conviction.  Find it.  Buy it.  Then buy it for a friend.