Singles Roundup: Demons & Wizards, Serious Black, Ozzy, & FFDP

A new year means we're supposed to be optimistic about what the future holds for us. These songs have no optimism in them, so let's get this out of the way before we turn over the calendar:

Demons & Wizards - Demonic

Everything gets a reboot these days, and that includes bands. After one album that was a power metal dream come true scenario, their second album was odd and questionable, and they have spent the decade-plus since off our radar. Now Jon Schaffer and Hansi Kursh are back, and this first song from the new record is a weird choice for a teaser. It's long, Hansi's voice is quiet and restrained through much of the track, and there's not much of a hook to it at all. This is the sort of song that is more of a stage-setter than a ripping metal track, which might work in the context of the album, but it doesn't generate excitement to hear more. After such a gap, they needed to put their best foot forward and remind us why this 'band' is important, but instead they have reminded us how long they've been away, which only feeds into our own aging. This song sounds like metal made by some old-timers, and if it's an indication of what the record will hold for us, it very well could be one of the big disappointments of the year.

Serious Black - When The Stars Are Right

Over their first three albums, Serious Black have done a lousy job of choosing singles, often going for general power metal tracks, when there were far better and more interesting numbers deeper on the records. This time around, they once again go in a very standard direction with their first tease of their upcoming record, but for once it might be fitting, since the record is promising to be more traditionally power metal than the "Mirrorword" era was. (Disclaimer - I've heard the album already) It's better than many of their singles, but it also is less interesting by virtue of being exactly what we would expect it to be. Serious Black is indicating that they want to give us no surprises, no intrigue. Maybe that sounds good for the devoted power metal fan, but it sounds trite to me.

Ozzy - Straight To Hell

I didn't like "Under The Graveyard", and I don't like this song either. It goes beyond me distaste for Ozzy's voice, though. And since I have no intention of ever listening to more than one song at a time, let me use this opportunity to talk about why Ozzy should be ashamed of himself for this song. It all boils down to one line, wherein he tells us he and his music are going to "make you defecate". Seriously? A dottering old man who we have all seen at his worst on reality TV is still writing songs about how evil and scary he is? I'm not buying it one bit. But that's not even the worst part of it. Defecate? How could anyone think that line sounded good? Or cool? Or even evil? It sounds pathetic, clinical, and like maybe Ozzy mixed up his pad of notes for lyrics with the instructions he got from his doctor. Sorry, Ozzy, but your days of being the Prince Of Darkness are long gone. Retire before you release this sure-to-be awful record.

Five Finger Death Punch - Inside Out

Rock's favorite punching bags are back once again. FFDP is shorthand for everything that's wrong with modern rock, and they haven't grown up or improved one bit since the last time they ruined our day by making us listen to them. This time, Ivan Moody is still gargling out his immaturity over lousy riffs. Ranting about how he doesn't "wanna hear your motherfuckin' side", and how "you don't know the difference between violence and pain", the whole song reads like Ivan is trying to convince the person he's singing to that they made him a different person, so he's not to blame for anything he may have done. Of course, the two verses completely contradict each other, so it's not even clear that Ivan has any idea what he's trying to say. He barks these words out in an unappealing manner, which might actually be good, since we don't necessarily understand much of what he's saying. You would think after this long, he would have either matured past his anger issues, or at least figured out how to write about it in a way that goes beyond fifth grade thinking. But he hasn't, and because of that, FFDP is still perhaps the single worst band that's actually popular. Good god, they suck.

Bloody Good News: Soundgarden's Fight, RHCP's Backtracking, & Unnecessary Duets

This Week's Top Story: Chris Cornell's widow is suing the remaining members of Soundgarden over unpaid royalties, and the rights to unreleased songs he wrote. Even in death, the music business can't seem to work its way out of the ethical black hole it usually resides in, which isn't to be unexpected. When bands continue on as brands and earning entities long after they have finished their work, it seems inevitable that there will continue to be fights about how the money should be divided up. That doesn't stop the situation from feeling rather unseemly.

It's one thing for members of a band to be fighting, or to try hiding money from one another in the pursuit of a larger share of the pie. It's another thing to pull those kinds of stunts on a widow who likely never had the same inside knowledge of the financial workings of the band. If it's true that Chris Cornell's share of the profits hasn't been paid out to his widow, it paints one of the more damning pictures in all of the fights we have seen with bands and their money.

What's worse is that she claims the remaining members are holding the money hostage in essence to get her to hand over control of recordings Cornell made before his death of new songs. She claims they were written by Cornell with no promise of them being intended for Soundgarden, while the other members of the band are already at work turning them into what will soon be an ugly, posthumous release that will see Cornell's widow telling fans the new Soundgarden record is not what Chris Cornell wanted it to be. The band might feel they are trying to do their fans a service by bringing them Cornell's final songs, but they are first and foremost screwing over their leader and his family, putting their own interests and desires ahead of what is being expressed by the person who would have best known his intentions. It's only going to get worse.

In Other News: Mercurial guitarist John Frusciante has once again rejoined the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This will mark his third stint with the band, and the move has been met with an oddly positive reception. Fans have been expressing their joy at his return, which is a move I find odd, considering that Frusciante has twice already left the band, causing their career to take unexpected detours. Frusciante is anything but reliable, and whether the band intends to continue making new records, or wants to slip into nostalgia mode, having someone they can count on seems to be more important than the slight bump in ticket sales Frusciante will bring.

Furthermore, this likely signals the erasure of Josh Klinghoffer's era of the band. If Frusciante is anything like most original members of a band who later return, he will not want to play many, if any, songs that he was not part of writing. Bruce Dickinson might be the biggest exception to this rule, regularly playing a few cuts that Blaze Bayley originally sang. But when Ozzy reunited with Black Sabbath, or David Lee Roth with Van Halen, the important and vital songs their replacements sang were never to be heard from again. They put their own egos ahead of the fans, who might very well have wanted to still hear some of the biggest songs those bands ever had. Of course, Ozzy and Roth couldn't sing those songs, but that's another story.

And Also: Russell Allen and Anette Olzon are set to team up for a duet album in the Spring. The Symphony X frontman is reportedly teaming up with the former Nightwish singer for an album written by melodic metal mainstay Magnus Karlsson. I like Russel, and I love Anette in The Dark Element, so this project is something worth getting a bit excited for. Especially so, considering that it abides by my rules for multiple singers. So often, we hear duet songs and albums that miss the two key elements to such projects; 1)Have a song written from two perspectives, or 2)At least have two voices that bring something different to the table.

The worst thing any song with multiple singers can do is not justify its own existence. If the lyrics can be sung entirely by one person, as one character, what's the point in having more than one person doing it? It's redundant. But, I often let it slide if the two voices are different enough that the tones and feelings they bring are impossible for the other to achieve. That will be the case here, as Russell and Anette will not occupy the same space, and can easily play off one another, even if the songs aren't written as such. But we've heard albums such as Lione/Conti, where the two singers were nearly identical, and it was clear there were only two of them to try to sell more records by expanding the fan-base who even knew it existed. Even the original Allen/Lande albums are guilty of this. Those two singers were both capable of singing all that material on their own, and there wasn't enough difference between them to say the combination was better than if either had done it on their own.

The Best Albums Of The Decade: 2010-2019

We define our lives in periods of time, because for unknown reasons, periods of time divide themselves through cultural evolution. The theory of punctuated equilibrium comes to mind here, where a burst of rapid change then gives way to a period of stasis, only for the cycle to repeat itself. Culture is that way. From the 1920s through the new millennium, every decade had its own identity, its own taste. We could look back at every grouping of ten years and see something new, something unique, something that would fade from view once the next shift occurred.

That seemed to end when we moved into this 21st century. For the last twenty years, culture has felt more stagnated, as though we have reached the top of the ladder, and we don't know how to get ourselves down. We're too scared to jump, and too embarrassed to climb back down. That has grown more true with each and every year, to the point where the end of this decade is something I hadn't even thought about until it was mentioned to me by someone else.

The 2010s have had no identity of their own. Music has been a mess of influences, both new and old, that have turned the scene into a mud-pit. If you ask me to define the sound, I can't do it, because it can't be done. There is nothing to tie us all together, no record, band, or genre we can all agree set the standard for what else we encountered.

However, that does not mean great music was not made. There were countless albums from this decade that will stand the test of time, even if they will be harder to place on the timeline when our memories begin to get fuzzy. With honorable mentions to The Spider Accomplice's "Los Angeles" trilogy of EPs, and Soen's "Lotus", here are my picks for the best albums of the last ten years:

1. Dilana - Beautiful Monster (2013)

For as much time I as I spent listening to, and thinking about music, very little of it seeps in and makes a mark on my core. It fills my head most of the day, whether I'm playing it or not, but that is where most of it stays. This album is the most notable exception to that rule, as from the very first time I played it, my emotions were stirred in a way music hadn't managed in a long time. In fact, I didn't think it could do so anymore, but listening to the soul Dilana put into every note she sang on this record, it woke something that had been lying dormant in me. These are great songs, and exceptional performances, but it's the effect the music has on me that is louder than any speaker can achieve. In the last decade, that effect is singular to this record, and such a rare jewel must be treasured. That is why "Beautiful Monster" is my favorite album of the decade.

2/3. Graveyard - Hisingen Blues/Lights Out (2011/2012)

I could separate these out, and put one above the other, but given that these records came out a year apart, and I didn't really hear "Hisingen Blues" until I was already taken by "Lights Out", they are connected in my mind as one moment in musical time. We have spent much time talking about Graveyard's greatness, and these records are what established their stature. I am by no means a disciple of blues-based rock and roll, so for a band like Graveyard to become so important is a Cinderella story. What Graveyard did is return rock and roll to its roots, and strip things down so far we're reminded all we need are a few notes put in the right order for a song to be great. We often lose sight of how hard simplicity is, but when we hear it, we also become aware how much we rely on unimportant details when there isn't any structure holding them up.

4. Jorn Lande & Trond Holter - Dracula: Swing Of Death (2014)

My first musical love was "Bat Out Of Hell II", and I'd like to think if Jim Steinman was emerging today, this is the sort of album he would make. His oeuvre is a retelling of the Peter Pan story, while this record recounts the tale of Dracula. Steinman was over-the-top, his music dramatic and cheesy. That is true of this record as well. It is a stage musical with the dial turned so far up it has broken off. It is also, however, a riotously fun piece of music that has no business working. When I first heard it, I called it the Adam West "Batman" version of the Dracula story, and I still find that the most apt comparison I can think of. It's a record so unique, so absurd, it became an accidental bit of genius.

5. Halestorm - The Strange Case Of... (Deluxe Edition) (2012)

Obviously, there are very few generational talents. When one of them comes along, and does so with music that hits you, it's the sort of cathartic experience that endures through time. Having grown up with rock in the mainstream, the current state of that genre is one that constantly depresses me. The exception to that rule is Halestorm, and specifically Lzzy Hale. Her voice is on that short list of my favorites, who I will forgive for their musical sins. That's made easier with an album like this, which is practically tailor-made for me. With it's rock energy, pop hooks, and stunning vocals, this record cemented Halestorm not just as a great band, but as one of the best currently out there. The deluxe edition is a requirement, getting three great bonus tracks, including "Private Parts", which is one of the very best Halestorm songs. How it didn't make the record is a mystery to me. The full package, by itself, redeems the entire decade of terrible butt-rock we've been subjected to.

D.M's Five Greatest Albums of the Decade

First off, let me stage a minor protest in that I do not think 2019 represents the end of the decade.  That should be 2020, and for two reasons – first, because in counting sets of ten, you do not start with zero and end at nine (unless you’re a software engineer,) and second, because when the calendar was unified and the division between BC and AD established, there was no year zero (Nine Inch Nails album aside.)

Okay, now that I’ve logged my protest, allow me to actually get to the point.  When Chris C and I first started discussing listing our best albums of the decade, he wanted to confine it to three.  I immediately loved the exclusivity of his idea, that it was lazy to list the top fifty or twenty or even ten.  Let’s really see who cut muster and made an impact over the past ten years.

There was only one problem.  I couldn’t keep it at three.  I pleaded, nay begged to have Chris go to five.  He saw my plight and relented.  Here we are.

A brief primer – the usual rules apply – original studio albums only.  No covers albums, no live albums, no compilations.

The cut down process was excruciating.  It took me two full months to decide on the top 5.  I fully admit, it’s the top 5 of the decade...for now.  Ask me next month, it could be almost entirely different.  As such, I would like to pause for a moment to recognize the albums that didn’t quite make the cut.  Consider these the honorable mentions in alphabetical order:

Blood Ceremony – Lord of Misrule
Cancer Bats – Dead Set on Living
Children of Bodom – Relentless, Reckless Forever
Destrage – Are You Kidding Me? No.
Graveyard – Hisingen Blues
Midnight Ghost Train – Cypress Ave
Red Eleven – Round II
Shawn James and the Shapeshifters – The Gospel According to Shawn James and the Shapeshifters

And now, without further reservation, the top 5 albums of the (sort of) decade:

5  Cancer Bats – The Spark That Moves

Possible that there’s some recency bias here, but this is an excellent, easily digested and highly listenable album.  It’s just so damn catchy, and that’s something you don’t often say about a hardcore album.  Liam Cormier’s vocals are like when you go see a band and they invite their local friend up on stage – the guy can’t really sing, but he’s giving it his all and his authentic performance is eminently enjoyable.  That’s not to say that Cormier can’t sing.  His throaty rumble during “Bed of Nails” might just be his best performance ever.

4   The Sword – Warp Riders

This is bittersweet.  Remember when we thought The Sword was going to take over the world?  I’m gonna move on before I start remembering what happened after Apocryphon.

3   Clutch – Psychic Warfare

The cliché rings true – don’t call it a comeback.  I fully admit that I had all but left Clutch for dead after the blasé disappointment of Strange Cousins From the West.  Earth Rocker was a nice album, but seemed like an agonal gasp in the face of the downturn that had preceded it.  And then…this.  A masterpiece.  A bold statement, a near-concept album that it set up brilliantly.  The fact that the record begins with an investigator asking for a statement makes the winding narrative of Neil Fallon’s lyrics even more gloriously absurd.

2   Destrage – A Means to No End

We’ve talked about it a lot over the years; the quest for something different.  To find a sound that is new and unique and yet appealing is incredibly difficult in the modern era.  Destrage has captured something.  There’s a frenetic violence to their music, but woven through it all are huge, hook-laden choruses and spots of fragile beauty.  To be able to command this many raw elements and have them make sense is a level of songwriting most aren’t capable of.  Destrage did it three times this decade, and this is the best of them.

1   Turisas – Turisas2013

There are only two bad things you can say about this album.  One, the title is dumb.  Two, we haven’t heard from Turisas since.  Nevertheless, this album remains the gold standard for the kind of transcendent genre-blending that metal is and should be capable of.  It’s a magical ride, the kind of experience that can only be described in absurd terms.  For example, when people ask me to define what this album sounds like, I say “imagine if Andrew Lloyd Webber had an angsty son who wrote metal.”  Turisas also released the outstanding Stand Up and Fight in 2011, and this album completely buried it.  No one did it better this decade.

The Top Ten Songs Of 2019

Every year, it amazes me when we get to this point in the year that 90% of my thinking is focused on albums, and only a small fraction goes to individual songs. I am that old creature of habit that thinks about albums first, which probably explains my frustrations with the bands that have taken on the strategy of releasing singles, as opposed to anything more substantial. Songs are the building blocks of everything we do, so it's only right that I give attention to some of the best of the best this year. Last year, I wound up choosing an anthem that roused me from my malaise. Will that happen again this year? Let's find out.

10. Hayley Griffiths - Haunted

I loved the most recent Karnataka album, and the chief reason for that was Hayley Griffiths, and how her voice carried the melodies. This song finds her creating her own path (I know it's her second solo single, relax), and it's every bit as magical. Borrowing much of that former sound, this song has the dramatic backdrop that gives the song a bit of a theatrical flair, and Hayley's voice is piercing, and rather unique. After this, I want to hear much more.

9. Sister Shotgun - She Lives

As I write these lists every year, I realize there's no real way to explain why a melody is so catchy. This is one of those melodies. I listen to it and bop my head. I play it over and over in my mind afterward. And yet, I can't put into words what quality is in there that makes it such. All I can say is that certain songs are memorable, and endure, and this is probably going to be one of them.

 8. Forever Still - Is It Gone?

It was touch choosing between a few options Forever Still gave me, but I couldn't stop myself from picking this ballad. Not only does it have a stirring melody, but the atmosphere of the song is the perfect canvas for Maja Shining's voice. She is at her absolute best here, and it's haunting, especially if you can listen to it on a cold, grey, rainy day.

7. Yours Truly - Circles

As it happens, I don't listen to a lot of music that's bright, shiny, or happy. Yours Truly's EP was one of the exceptions to that, and this song in particular was a ray of sunshine that burst through the small slit between my curtains. This band is more pop than before, but that leads them to a sound that is effervescent, vibrant, and simply fun. "Circles" still has enough guitars, but it's a big and cheerful pop song at its heart, and I for one love it for that.

6. The Beautiful Monument - Stay

When people say rock and pop can't mesh, play them this song. That hook is pure pop, but the song around it is plenty rock enough for all but the 'truest' of fans. It's heavy, in both respects of the word, and that hook is relentless in how it keep coming at you, wearing you down until you're willing to turn over your head to the earworm.  On a very good record, this song stood head-and-shoulders above everything else. That's not a surprise.

5. Michael Monroe - Wasted Years

Not many people make rock n' roll with the kind of swagger Michael Monroe is right now. His music has attitude, but also a slithering groove to it that Axl Rose could be snake-dancing to right now. The best example of that from his new album is this song, which hits that amazing combination of bar-band bravado, and stadium-sized hooks. It's everything rock should be.

4. Kim Jennett - Love Like Suicide

This one is techincally a cover, but that doesn't diminish how much I love it. The original song (which I only hear after) is fine, but Kim Jennett raises the bar several levels. Her voice is a force of nature on this song, necessitating the over-saturated guitars just to keep up with her power. If Kim Jennett becomes the star her voice has the ability to make her, it will have started here. And rightly so.

3. Vanishing Signs - No Regrets

I am a sucker for ballads, and this dramatic number is my favorite one of the year. It has tension and emotion, and two fantastic vocalists delivering powerhouse performances. Both Dilana and Maggy Luyten breathe life into the song, using their voices like daggers to cut us open, making sure it can get into our bloodstreams. It's the sort of song that should be playing during the crescendo of a masterpiece of dramatic cinema, because it just rules.

2. Soen - Covenant

On "Lotus", Soen mastered the art of making the melancholy into something beautiful and uplifting. That was most apparent on this song, where they build a somber atmosphere just to twist everything around when the chorus comes, releasing the tension into a glorious burst of melody. It's an epic song packed into just five minutes. It's absolutely magnificent.

1. Dream State - Hand In Hand

Like last year, I wound up choosing the song that raised my spirits the most. In what was a relatively bleak year, no song felt more like the kick in the ass we (or I) needed more than this one. Dream State fused anger, emotion, and elation all into one swirling ball of energy that explodes into one of the most sing/scream-able choruses of the year. It's a four minute cleanse for the soul, a barbed hook that you can't dig out of your mind, and the best song of 2019.

The Worst & Most Disappointing Albums Of 2019

There's a line of thought you hear argued from time to time that everything in the world is always getting worse. Movies aren't as good as they were in the old days. Art certainly isn't as talent-obvious as it used to be. And it seems almost everyone who gets to a certain age says music was better when they were fans. Of course this isn't absolutely true, since everyone forgets about all of the trash from years back that disintegrated over the course of time. However, sometimes there is a grain of truth in these comments, and this year has been an example of that.

2019 has been a decent year for good music, but a banner year for terrible music. I compile these lists every year, and this has been the most competitive race to the bottom I've yet encountered. Whereas I usually just manage to find five albums each to fill the slots as the worst, and most disappointing, of the year, 2019 gave me so many options I didn't know what to do. Bad music was everywhere, and there isn't a way to say goodbye to this year without setting it on fire, and hoping we can rid the world of whatever demonic spirits created this crap.

So, without further ado....

The Worst Albums Of 2019:

1. Manowar - The Final Battle Pt I

The worst release of the year wasn't even an album, as Manowar didn't need a full-length to righteously piss me off. These five songs were more than enough to cement them as the worst band on the planet, which is tough considering a high-profile release came out featuring a guy who went to jail for trying to have his wife killed. But at least they made decent music. Manowar failed on each and every level. They failed as songwriters, giving us an EP that had an intro track, and one that was all spoken word. They put out an EP, and still wasted our time for almost half of it. They failed as a metal band, giving us a production that was thin, weak, and gutless. The guitars barely sounded like guitars, with the tone sounding like a kid's practice amp, and the playing so rudimentary it was laughable. They also failed as human beings, and this is the biggest reason they top(?) this list. Manowar had a dark episode when Karl Logan got charged with possessing child pornography. People do bad things, and I wouldn't have necessarily held it against them, except that the band has never put out a statement officially kicking him out of the group. If you followed along, you wouldn't know whether or not Logan was on that EP, or still profits from the band's music. Not giving us the information to make an informed decision about whether giving Manowar our money is a moral sin is pathetic, cowardly, and obscene. Fuck Manowar.

2. Devin Townsend - Empath

People call Devin Townsend a genius, but I imagine that is for the same reason that people think magicians who use stage illusions that do all the work are immensely talented. Somehow, Devin has fooled a large number of people into thinking that his chugging riffs and lame melodies are masterful, because he wraps them in a veneer of being weird for the sake of being weird. This record is barely a record. It's a tapestry of ideas that are stitched together much like a county fair quilt; random scraps that form a pattern if you're far enough away, or a little bit day-drunk. Otherwise, what you get from this album is a collection of 'songs' that bounce from random idea to random idea, with no logic or explanation. Why is Chad Kroeger singing background, then there are cats meowing? I don't know, and I doubt Devin does either. All I know is I hated every second of listening to this music.

3. The Three Tremors - The Three Tremors

There are threee reasons, one for each tremor, why this album is one of the worst fo the year. 1) They stole the name and the concept from Bruce Dickinson, and don't have nearly the talent to justify such theft. 2) They spent the entire album screaming god-awful shrieks at me, which made my head hurt, but in the form of a migraine, not from headbanging. 3) They have since re-released the album as a set of three, with each singer doing the entire record themselves, which only proves this who project never needed to exist. And it rips off the 'fans' who bothered to buy the record in the first place.

The music is terrible to begin with, featuring plenty of second-rate, generic metal songs, but the rot goes deeper than that. Now that they are trying to get anyone who liked their lousy record to buy it again, it's an ethical stain. They are con artists who took someone else's idea, did it poorly, and now want to get paid twice for it. Not to mention, if each of the singers can sing the entire album, it means there was no reason to have more than one singer. They've disproven their own existence, which is so funny I almost feel sorry for them. Almost.

4. Neal Morse - Jesus Christ: The Exorcist

There isn't much to be said here other than the fact that of all the things music could offer me, a two-hour dad-rock musical telling the story of Jesus is very near the bottom of the list. The beat you over the head religion of the record is bad, but it's what I expect from Neal. The real problem is that this particular project features his worst, most tired songs I've ever heard from him, and the dinner-theater vibe renders the lyrics so painful I have to turn away fairly often. Rather than being an epic statement from a great musician (and Neal is.... was?), it comes across like the sort of thing you would find at a local theater that holds pancake breakfasts to pay the bills. It's low-rent, all around.

5. Arch/Matheos - Winter Ethereal

I'll keep this short; musically, this actually isn't that bad of a record. There is some interesting guitar playing and melodic writing on display. However, John Arch delivers one of the worst vocal performances I've ever heard from a singer people consider great. His tone is high-pitched and shrill beyond belief, painful like a dog-whistle, but it goes beyond that. Arch is terrible because he slurs so many of his words that all but a few fragments of lyrics are obscured and unintelligible. The whole point of being a singer is to convey the lyrics and the message to the audience. If I can't understand the words, the effort put in writing them is wasted, and you have failed at your job. John Arch fails all over this record, and he ruins what could have been pretty good with a singer who actually does his or her job.

And just a note; Weezer's "Black Album" would have been on the list, but I'm sick of talking about how terrible they are, so I decided to skip them to give someone else a chance. That record is hot garbage as well, rest assured. The others that just missed the cut include Quiet Riot, Spirits Of Fire, Leprous, and Tool. Sorry, but I was bored to tears by "Fear Inoculum".

The Most Disappointing Albums Of 2019:

There's only two of them this year. The others that normally would have filled this list are actually continuations of trends, so I wasn't really disappointed. Taylor Swift's album wasn't disappointing, since "Reputation" had been so bad. Flying Colors wasn't disappointing, since I was already disappointed in "Second Nature". So, which two did disappoint me?

1) The Neal Morse Band - The Great Adventure

I knew this was going to happen. A second straight double-disc concept album telling the same story was always going to be a tough task, but this album was a complete let-down after "The Similitude Of A Dream". That record was too long, and a bit hokey, but had plenty of great songs. This new one felt even longer, tried to be 'angry' when Neal cannot sell that feeling even a little bit, and didn't have a single song as good as the previous album. I'm not sure how I made it through the end of these two discs, I was that tired of listening by the time the journey was over. It's Neal's worst prog album in a long, long time.

2) Baroness - Gold & Grey

I am not the kind of snob who needs productions to be pristine and perfect, but I am the kind of snob who won't put up with insulting middle-finger wagging. That's what Baroness did on this album, just like they did on "Purple". Both records are actually very good, and I would like to listen to and enjoy, but they sound so terrible I won't subject myself to it. The choice is intentional, and it's inexcusable. Baroness has made their music so loud and distorted, so ugly and painful, that I simply refuse to listen to it again. I have certain triggers that cause migraines, and Baroness' production choices are very close to being one. I don't know why they want to make records that destroy all the good work they do, but it pisses me off they feel that they can get away with it. They shit on their own art, so why would I take it?

The Top Ten Albums Of 2019

Every year has its own story. For some years, it has to do with one genre that outpaces all the others. For others, it's a battle between the old guard and the young up-and-comers. And for others yet, it's a matter of new sounds being developed and digested. It might not always be clear the whole time, but there is a story to be told through the records we hear. Sometimes it's an interesting story, and sometimes it's not.

This year's story is one of timing. The year got off to a furious start, with a slew of albums coming out in the first three months of the year I was very high on. It looked like the start of an excellent year, and got me optimistic about the future. Likewise, the autumn has been another great run, with yet another glut of really good and great records to fill out the available slots. And then there was the summer.

There was a stretch of multiple months through the last spring and summer where I was barely able to find a record I liked, let alone one that I would be talking about at this point in the year. I was glad to have other things to occupy my mind, because music was failing to capture my attention in any way, shape, or form. There was plenty of attention given to Slipknot and Tool putting out new music, but the decks being cleared out for them was a terrible turn of events, since I hated both of those records. It meant there was nothing left for me to enjoy.

So with such an on/off type of year, how did things fare? It was a bit of a frustrating experience having things play out this way, but the bookends delivered enough quality releases to say this was a decent year. It was far from the best year I've recapped, but things ended up better than I feared they would by the end of August. So with that said, here's the best stuff I listened to this year.

EP Of The Year: Yours Truly - Afterglow

I grew up listening to pop music. I don't feel any shame in saying that, since pop music was very different back then. Yours Truly reminds me of what I consider the glory days of pop, when a band with big guitars and even bigger hooks could be popular. Their first EP was a lovely affair that showed me a lot of promise, and that is built upon with this release. Yours Truly is bigger, brighter, and even stickier than before. When people compare pop music to a sugar high, this is what they're talking about. Yours Truly's music is sweet, addictive, and an absolute blast. They are as good as anyone at this style, and the only shame is that they've only given us five more songs this time. I'm dying for a full-length of this quality. That's the only thing missing.

10. Vanishing Signs - Vanishing Signs

There are a lot of bands that makes classic rock, but few of them know how to write songs, and few of them actually rock. Vanishing Signs does both, with the glorious sound of a roaring Hammond organ, songs that drive the nail in, and a truly exceptional voice. I adore hearing Dilana sing anything, but I didn't realize until listening to the album that I was missing hearing her belt out big, loud rock from time to time. The duet between her and Maggy Luyten is one of the best songs of the year, and if not for the curious decision to not let Dilana sing two of the songs, this album could be even higher up the list.

9. The Beautiful Monument - I'm The Reaper

There is going to be a theme in a lot of the records on this list, and it starts here. The Beautiful Monument makes music focused on the darker and more painful moments in life, but does so with beautiful melodies and powerful hooks. These Australians delivered a record that mixes pure pop bliss with gritty alternative rock, all the while tackling important life issues. I have long been championing bands with strong women singing pop-influenced rock, and The Beautiful Monument is this year's best example of it. This album works as a surface-level pop gem, but also as a deeper meaning bit of introspection. It's layered, and utterly charming.

8. Ray Alder - What The Water Wants

Ray Alder sounds like no one else, so everything he does winds up sounding like him. While Fates Warning is solid, I have always been more a fan of his work in Redemption, and this first solo album of his combines those two into something that is even better. The guitar textures are pure Fates Warning, but the emotion and melodies are more in line with Redemption. Together, it creates an album that is beautiful, emotional, and the sort of music you feel as much as you listen to. Bypassing the prog tendencies of his past, he condensed his career into a more concentrated record that sums up who Ray Alder is as an artist.

7. The Dark Element - Songs The Night Sings

The debut album from this project ended up #2 on my list two years ago, and was one of the best power/melodic metal albums of the last few years. This follow-up is another excellent album, one that finds the duo honing their attack, focusing on the elements of the debut that worked the best. Anette Olzon is still a fantastic and unique voice, and the material she's given is heavy, detailed, and full of rapid-fire hooks. The genre is rather stale, but not when it's done this well. I will say the debut is slightly better, but this record is another wonderful collection of songs that put The Dark Element in the upper echelon of the genre.

6. Emerson Hart - 32 Thousand Days

As a solo artist, each of Emerson Hart's albums have been distinct from one another, and certainly cut from a different cloth than Tonic. This time out, Emerson's songs tell the story of life, and how much can be packed into roughly ninety years on this earth. It's a reflective album, one that is softer and subdued like an old sepia-tone photograph. I'm not in a stage of life to completely relate to the theme, but Emerson's songwriting is as sharp as ever, creating songs that are impressive for how slyly they become ingrained in your head. This is a record that is simple, honest, and a testament to the art and power of good songwriting.

5. Forever Still - Breathe In Colours

 

I've been following Forever Still since before they put out their debut, having run across them on social media. I was happy for them when they got signed to Nuclear Blast, and I'm even happier now that this record has paid off so well. Their debut was a good record that summed up their existence to that point, but this record deepens everything that's great about Forever Still. Their sound is still dark and modern, and Maja Shining's voice is the soulful compliment to that, but the songwriting is more consistent, sharper, and more evocative this time around. Forever Still is growing, evolving, and getting better. This record is a testament to how far they've come.

4. Any Given Day - Overpower

This record is simultaneously two things at once; the best metalcore record in years, and a better Tremonti album than what he has put together across his four solo albums. Song after song, Any Given Day delivers massive, arena-ready choruses that make every song instantly memorable. The vocals growl through most of the verses (the album would be better without them, but oh well), and those choruses are sung almost exactly as Mark Tremonti would, only everything about them is better than his solo band. This was one of the most addictive albums of the year, and a completely out of left field surprise. Eat your heart out, Killswitch Engage.

3. Michael Monroe - One Man Gang

It's been a few years, but Michael Monroe's previous album nearly won AOTY accolades from me. Since it was the first album of his I was fond of, I didn't know what to expect this time. What we received is an album that I will admit is probably a hair lesser than "Blackout States", but still embodies everything that used to be good and fun about rock and roll. Michael and his band are on a roll, writing the kind of rock that would have set the crowd at CBGB on fire in the late 70s/early 80s. Though this record isn't as aggressive, it's got mature swagger, and a knack for writing the kind of songs that put a smile on your face as you're singing along. And that is what drew so many of us to this music in the first place.

2. Dream State - Primrose Path

In the spring, "Hand In Hand" was released, and that song changed everything. Dream State went from being a band that was on the periphery of my consciousness, who I would check out if they had something new, to a band I absolutely had to seek out. The following singles kept the anticipation at a fever pitch, and when the album dropped, it managed to live up to all my expectations (minus the snafu where I did not get my promised promo from the PR company, and haven't heard from them since). Dream State have made an album that is about pain, but more about the process of getting past it. Their music doesn't wallow, but instead triumphantly gives pain the middle finger. "Primrose Path" is a catharsis in musical form.

1. Soen - Lotus

This is a first. No, not Soen capturing their second AOTY crown. This is the first time I have actually received and listened to the best album of the year in the year prior. I received my copy of "Lotus" in December of 2018, and for the entirety of 2019 nothing could top it. I kept waiting for it to be toppled, and it never happened. Soen took such a lead that no one could catch them. "Lykaia" was an amazing album, and somehow "Lotus" tops it. Soen have taken everything that was great about "Lykaia", and evolved in every direction. The heavy moments groove even harder. The emotional moments are more stirring. The hooks are absolutely massive. They have made a record that is rooted in the melancholy reality of life in this time, but painted in optimistic colors. Soen's music is the perfect yin and yang, a spellbinding encapsulation of the current day, and an album I'm not sure they can top. I said that two years ago and was wrong, and I sure hope I am again. Whatever comes next, Soen have given us one of the best metal albums of modern times.

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.

The Conversation: Wrapping Up 2019

CHRIS C: We have been doing this long enough that you would think I should have run out of literary ways of expounding on the fragility of time, and how our thinking shouldn't be changed by whether we're looking forward or backward, yet it is. You would think I've written enough words about just about everything.... and you'd probably be right, but I'm still hanging in there and doing my thing. It can be a bit awkward to be dividing up art by a solar cycle, but it does make our job easier sometimes (although I seem to be one of the few people who never remembers what year a song or album came out), and it gives us something to talk about. Is the curse of the writer not having anything to say, or never running out of words?

Regardless, this trip around the sun has been an interesting one, partly because of how uninteresting it was. You and I mentioned to each other throughout the year that this was shaping up to be a weaker year, as well as one without a dominant theme or trend that at least stood out as something worth noting. That did mostly hold true. The biggest thing I can take from 2019 is that there wasn't much to take away from it. There were enough good records I'm not going to say I was unhappy, but I didn't hear much I expect to stick with me for years to come, and there wasn't any new idea out there that I can say is going to be a keystone moment for where we are headed. The year was just a year. It was also the first time I've started to feel the apathy of age and attrition, which we can get into if you want. That was exacerbated by the odd quirks of scheduling, where everything I liked came in rushes as the beginning and end of the year, and the middle was a long slog through the wastelands.

Well, that's not entirely true, but the highlight of my musical year was only tangentially related to music, and had more to do with what this job has brought into my life. Whether anyone reads my words, or respects my opinions, writing about music has brought me something I wouldn't have had otherwise, and am beyond lucky and thankful for. We can talk about that later, though.

I want to start out by asking you a question I thought about through most of the summer; am I the only one for whom this was the worst year ever for the 'big names'? Slipknot, Tool, Opeth, Blind Guardian, etc. I can keep going, but there wasn't a single 'big name' record I thought was worthy of that kind of status this year. People ask often who is going to be the next wave of headliners, and this year's entries tell me the answer is, "No one".

So where do you want to start?

D.M: Let me start here - I distinctly remember saying at the six-month mark that I didn't want to talk too much about my leading album contenders, because I liked them, but hoped they'd be overtaken by other albums in the second half of the year.  Well, they weren't.  So, shit.  And I say all that to say that I agree with you that from a musical standpoint, 2019 was nothing particularly impressive.  As I blast through the piles of promos we get each year, the ones that merit listening to in completion (for there are scads that don't,) get divided into three basic categories: 'Of Interest,' 'Fine, But Not Great,' and 'Nope.'  And I readily admit that the latter two lists seemed to grow in leaps and bounds this year in relation to the former.  I am nearly caught up in my listening, and as we start to assemble our final top ten lists for the year, I find I only have sixteen contenders for the top ten, which feels light.  I'm also not sure what to make of the fact that of the sixteen, only five are from artists I wasn't familiar with before.  That seems like a small number, but I suppose out of a limited number of contenders, it's a decent percentage.

You're right in that it wasn't a good year for the big names.  Even among the medium names, in which most heavy music tends to live, the batting average wasn't great.  Lacuna Coil's album was firmly ensconced in the 'Fine, But Not Great' category, and there were equally shrug-worthy efforts from Airbourne (I will always have a soft spot for Airbourne, but they may have shown us all they have,) Kobra & The Lotus and Jinjer.  A couple caveats: you liked the new Dragonforce, and while it certainly has some bright spots, it didn't totally resonate for me.  I wasn't a fan of the new As I Lay Dying, though I suspect it may be one of those albums that people will love and simply wasn't for me.  And then there was Tengger Cavalry, who released what was for me this year's greatest letdown.  They have almost entirely left behind the unique and colloquial elements that made them such a banner headline in exchange for a straight-ahead metal approach.  The fact that Nature Ganganbaigal is now using his throat singing solely to belt out a death metal vocal styling is disappointing beyond measure.

I also found that on a macro level, I think I wanted heavy music to have something more to say.  The heyday of the genre was in some part a product of the Cold War, and so in many ways, metal was actually a spiritual successor to folk music - a protest wrapped in song.  Given the current divisiveness, I had hoped for something akin to a new and poignant Rage Against the Machine or Bad Brains or even Megadeth (back when Dave had semi-intelligent things to say.)  Instead, it seems metal has opted to either comment in the most heavy-handed, unambiguous way, lacking completely in subtlety or craft, or chooses not to comment at all.  Thematically, we've turned inward - much of the genre is now concerned with the struggle within.  There's merit in that, especially in a time when there are those who wish to dictate to others how individuality can be defined (which is ingloriously stupid and on the wrong side of history,) and perhaps that's where we're at a society; the struggle to understand ourselves has become paramount.  Still, I hoped for something a little broader reaching.  Tangentially, The Economist recently ran a long analysis of the musical tastes of different voting groups, and noticed in many cases that swing voters tend to favor heavy metal, which is compelling reading, although it did little to address my original socio-economic concern, which remains 'why does metal fandom seem to propagate in the lower-middle and lower class?'

I'd also like to briefly address "Old Town Road," which according to Billboard is now the longest-running #1 single in chart history.  There are two places in which I openly and gleefully root for chaos and disorder.  The first is college football, because one of these days Wofford is going to beat Clemson, and I hope I'm alive to see it, and any good upset or top team taking an L makes for an interesting narrative as we hurtle toward the College Football Playoff.  The second is in the terminally over-wrought and self-aggrandizing world of musical genre classifications.  As a musical culture, we've become so certain of our definitions of music that they are definitions unto themselves, i.e, 'metal' is 'metal,' 'blues' is 'blues,' etc.  We've then taken those and broken them down into constituent elements and only occasionally bothered to combine the resulting atomic particles, which has led to ridiculous hyper-genrification, a term you and I have coined.  So when "Old Town Road" comes along, and there is immediate rancor surrounding what it even is and how it should be narrowly defined, I am joyful.  Country and rap and pop all seem to have entrenched themselves in their fortresses and are pulling hard on the rope to call the song their own, while failing to realize that it actually is the synthesis of all three.  In this way, while you can make the case that the song is little more than a two-minute demo, it is a genius composition that has risen to improbable fame by attracting multiple audiences in an era where that's not supposed to be possible.  Our musical attention spans are short; good for this 'country rap' single to break those barriers and transcend.  (And good for Billy Ray Cyrus to add something to his legacy beyond 'the "Achy Breaky Heart," guy and "father of that miscreant.")  I thoroughly enjoy "Old Town Road" turning people in knots.  It's the most fun I've had with a similar occurrence since everyone 'knew' that Tim Tebow was not a good NFL quarterback, but had to grudgingly cope with the fact that he kept winning games.

Go!

CHRIS C: Oh yes, there are scads of albums we get send that I never so much as read beyond the title of. I have a couple of house rules for my own listening and sorting. 1) No more black metal. I tried a few over the years, but it's not worth the aggravation. 2) No death metal unless I already know the band/members. I like so little of it that unless there is some reason for me to think it will buck the trend, I'm not bothering. 3) If anything in the title, genre, or cover actively annoys me, it's a hard pass. So no bodily functions in names. Nope. Once we get through that process, the listening does fall into your three categories. There are the obviously great and the obviously bad, and also a huge selection of records that are good, and enjoyable, that I will never remember if I don't see a prompt putting it back into my head. I talked about it on my podcast, but I'll reiterate it here; there isn't enough time in the day to keep going back to and trying to absorb albums that don't give me an immediate reason to. And I say that as someone with far less a social life than you. (Side note: Talking about years, am I the only one who really doesn't remember what year every song and album came out in? I hear people rattling off dates, or rattling off albums for a year, and it never seemed like important information to memorize.)

Oh, you brought up something I wasn't planning to, but that I have very strong feelings about. As I Lay Dying. Where to even start? I will admit that I did give the record one listen, and it was fine for what it was. I thought for metalcore Killswitch Engage was much better, but that's not my issue. I'm truly struggling with questions about the very nature of that band. I know the members have forgiven Tim Lambesis, and it seems a lot of fans have as well, but I can't do it. Not that I was ever a fan, or ever thought about him for even a second before, but I find the band's comeback to be completely distasteful. Very little has been done to show us that he is a changed man, but even if he puts on a regretful act, I'm still left with serious existential questions. Can people truly change? Obviously, they can to a degree, but I am skeptical that someone who tried to orchestrate a murder can ever redeem himself. No matter how much his behavior changes, he is still the person capable of sitting down and plotting a murder. Not an in-the-moment mistake, but a long gestating plan with countless opportunities to make the right decision. Perhaps I would feel better if the reactivated band was making some sort of apology, but they seem to be taking the attitude that they are entitled to continued support, and entitled to forgiveness for Tim. I don't buy it. They can certainly get back together, and they can certainly continue their careers, but I don't have to sit back and pretend it's not morally objectionable. There is a point where the artist can't be separated from the art, and the music of bad people becomes unlistenable, isn't there?

I do understand why bands are avoiding a lot of overtly political commentary. The world is so fractured now that saying anything has a very strong likelihood of alienating half of your fans in a way that leads them not to show up to concerts. Plus, give how many of the bands we cover are more popular in Europe, I'm not sure a heavy dose of American politics is going to work. We all need breaks from politics, not even more of it. But let's be honest here; metal lyrics have been disappointing for a very long time. I have grown incredibly tired of the usual tropes that exude the machismo of metal. I'm not Nordic, so Viking themes aren't working on me. I'm not a fantasy fan, so all the music about dragons and swords is boring. And there's always the old stand-by of drinking. I wrote in one review this year I was worried about a band's health, since they had multiple songs about drinking on their album. Not exactly deep stuff.

This also brings to mind how I heard a YouTube music critic making the argument that Warrant's "Cherry Pie" is actually a song about menstruation, given the ways you can describe a cherry pie. That made me wonder if "Pour Some Sugar On Me" is about another liquidy fetish. Now I have even more of an excuse to avoid that song like the plague. God, I hate Def Leppard. Nine arms and sucks, indeed.

I saw that same study, and I'm not surprised by it. It seems obvious that country fans would already be Republicans, and hip-hop fans mostly Democrats, so that would leave the swing votes down to rock, pop, and jazz. Jazz fans could fall into the category of 'elites', so they're out. That leaves rock and pop, where the lack of diversity is apparent. It does strike us as being slightly counter-intuitive, though, that rock and metal are actually conservative genres, given what you mentioned about the Cold War roots of it. Kid Rock got more popular when he transitioned from being a pimp to a cowboy. Maybe we should have taken note of that. As for your theory, it requires far more thought and explanation than I can give it here, but my basic supposition is that rock and metal best embody the anger and frustration of the lower classes, especially of the suburban variety that resents the 'big city'. I live in an area that has considerable animosity for New York City, so I sort of see how it happens. Maybe there's some of that old Kids In The Hall sketch in here, with the "men were men and women were women..." commentary, minus the irony.

Allow me to claim some ignorance here. I have not yet heard "Old Town Road" in full, nor do I particularly want to. I was rather shocked that its reign lasted as long as it did, though. Not so much for the song, but that anything can endure that long with so many songs being released all the time. It does appear to be a sign that the key to success is reaching across the aisles, although I hesitate to say that, because I also don't want to have more rock bands adding in hip-hop verses for that purpose. I suppose I am one of those people in a bit of a silo, wanting to hear what I want to hear. But I will say this; I like "Wrecking Ball" more than "Achy Breaky Heart". Miley has one on the tally board, Billy Ray has zero.

Ok, more unlikely comeback this year; Billy Ray Cyrus being on another #1 song, or Hootie & The Blowfish making a new record?

D.M:  I hate to be the one to say this, you may be the only person who's not good with musical dates and times.  I should perhaps say this instead - speaking for myself, that's sort of my bread and butter.  I think it has something to do with the possessiveness of one's own musical taste.  Particularly in the more obscure genres, we begin to tie our burgeoning fandom into the finer details of ourselves.  Of all the arts, music is the one with the closest ties to emotion, and not just in relation to specific incidents.  Many people (not typically me, but we'll talk about that later,) tie music into their emotional state - they have music that makes them happy, music that helps them when they're sad, etc.  To have such a close tie to those states, it becomes normal to obsess over the details of it.  In my particular case, because I am largely the only person in my social circle who readily listens to aggressive music, I feel therefore honor bound to swamp people with the details when they show even the barest hint of interest (my enthusiasm for the information probably drives them away, I need to work on that.)

Let me add a criteria to your list - definitely no bands with bodily functions in the title, and any band with an intentionally unintelligible logo I automatically greet with a healthy skepticism.  It's not grounds for an automatic dismissal, but I don't know that I've yet fallen in love with any band who employs the tactic.

It's hard not to be cynical about As I Lay Dying, because it's difficult to judge what their intentions are.  Forgiveness is among the most important Christian traits, so I get that the band can forgive Lambesis his transgressions and try to move forward in their relationship.  Nothing untoward there.  As you say though, Lambesis hasn't really shown anything approaching true remorse, and indeed, his first interview from prison however may years ago was practically a display of defiance.  Hard to root for that guy.  And clearly, we're not making Christian metal anymore, which is also fine, that's the band's prerogative.  All of these things taken in sum however, makes it difficult to know what to do with the band.  It would be less suspicious if Wovenwar had been topping the charts in the sales, but even though they were every bit as talented as their forerunner, the prestige just didn't follow.  So now, we have a reunited band led by a person of a questionable motivations that has sacrificed their previous mantra for the sake of this comeback.  I truly hope this is building toward something other than a second crack at commercial success, but my gut just won't let that idea go.

As to your second question about the music of horrible people being unlistenable....well, I still cringe when I hear people talk about the accomplishments of Burzum, so there you go.  He's got to be the poster child of reprehensible human beings making commercially successful music, doesn't he?

I'm not Norse, either, but I think metal is a little like St. Partrick's Day, when we're all a little Irish; it makes you a little Norse.  I mean, hell, I've read The Prose Edda.  Anyway, I'm going to tie together a couple of points and try to speak way above my pay grade.  You brought up something interesting about the suburban mentality, the working classes and the degradation of metal lyrics.  Maybe it's all related.  Metal came to fame in the Cold War, and once that ended, perhaps the generation that came up with it didn't want that kind of struggle in their music anymore.  I briefly referenced folk music in the late sixties - similar to how that trend faded somewhat in the aftermath of the Vietnam Conflict, maybe the impetus to continue the march didn't exist for metal anymore.  Carrying that forward, metal is a lot of things to a lot of people, but much like hockey, metal is guilty of one major failing, which is that it is a genre overly dedicated to the images and presentation of its past.  And so the genre it still beholden to the generation that came before, and now those same Cold War kids are suburban parents, who likely still feel like they won the greatest battle of their social lives, and their focus has shifted to their day to day concerns.  And of top of that, perhaps I'm prescribing to metal causes that it is not necessarily as much a fan of in full-throat.  It certainly seems to me that a genre of outcasts and working classes would be in favor of inclusion for all and closure of the income gap, but maybe not.  Those things aren't as glaringly unifying or immediate as the cause of "please don't nuke everything."  Perhaps I am both overestimating the ease of writing compelling music about the nuanced current state of affairs and underestimating the fear of Mutually Assured Destruction.

I'm gonna still lean toward Billy Ray being a larger surprise, only because he seemed relegated to the pit of despair that's reserved for anyone who's a one-hit wonder based on a choreographed dance.  I was ready to lump him in with Lou Bega, Los Del Rio, Cupid and Mr. C the Slide Man.  The Hootie and the Blowfish album was, to me, slightly more believable only because the Blowfish hadn't really been up to anything of note, and I'm sure the chance to make some real money again came as a welcome surprise. 

Any other surprises for you this year?

CHRIS C: You don't have to say it regretfully. Remembering dates isn't my forte. I know it isn't. I simply never cared years ago to remember if *generic pop song #478* came out in 1993 or 1994. At the time, when I could have been training myself to remember such things, it didn't seem important. Little did I know I would wind up spending so much time talking about music!

You're right that music is far more personal than other forms of art, and we do hold them closer. Granted, I don't travel in art circles, but I've never heard many people talk about paintings the way they do albums, looking at them repeatedly for feelings and inspirations. I'm sure it happens, but it's a much smaller phenomenon. I've had a print of "The Scream" hanging on my wall for probably twenty years, and I've never given any thought to what it means to me. Albums, though, often get that kind of thought. However, I would certainly separate albums into two piles; those that are meaningful, and those that are disposable. In a given year, there are only a small handful of records (usually smaller than my top ten) that have such an impact on me as a person. There are records I really like that have no reflection on my personality, but then there are the ones in which I can find myself.

You brought it up, and we have talked about it privately, but you and I are on opposite ends of this conversation. I think I used the terms 'internalist' and 'externalist' to describe us, and how we relate to music. Some people use music to change their mood, others to amplify it. There are certainly albums I won't listen to if I'm not in the right state of mind for them. This happens, I believe, because music is the most human form of art. Hearing a voice, and all the nuance it carries from millions of years of evolution, is entirely different than trying to decipher a few strokes of a brush, or a chiseled out form. There is simply more emotional information carried in a deep song than we can get from any other art. I wish I could explain why certain voices and performances have the effect they do, but I have yet to figure out the words for that task.

Regarding the bands with unintelligible logos; it's just stupid, isn't it? If someone sees it on a t-shirt or an album cover and they can't tell what it is, how does that generate interest? A logo you can't identity isn't a logo; it's a mistake.

As I have spent more time lately scouring the music news for material to comment on, I have become rather depressed by the business, and how much of the seedy stuff now gets out to the public. In some ways, it was better when we didn't know the inner workings of bands and labels, or the personal lives of the musicians. We would have known about Lambesis the criminal, but there are so many others who have moral failings I didn't have to know about, and whose existence does impact how I feel about their music, or at least how willing I am to give them a chance the next time around. Forgiveness is important, but the first step in that process is for the person needing to be forgiven making accepting their actions and wanting to make amends. But since we now live in a culture where the leadership tells us apologizing for anything is weakness, even when you know you're wrong, I don't think we're going to get much in the way of contrition.

Varg is up there, and I don't want to get into trying to evaluate which actions are worse, but Michael Jackson's success has him at the top of my list. Varg isn't big enough for me to get as upset, deplorable waste of life though he may be.

Once the Cold War was over, metal was left in a tough position. It was a genre of anger and rebellion, but when we are now told the world is at peace, and Reaganomics was coming to and end, what was there left to rail against? I don't think it's a coincidence that the next time we got a truly momentous piece of social work was when we became entangled in war again (like it or not, "American Idiot" did have an impact on the anti-war effort). The 90s were a tough time to be angry. The economy was going well, the world was peaceful, so the only thing to point your frustration towards was yourself (or your parents, as the trope goes). We got emo and nu-metal out of that lack of a unifying force to fight. Anger as a youth is apparently natural, and without something external to justify it, we instead got a generation of 'woe-is-me' music.

Yes, you would think the misfits of metal would be more for inclusion, but that's where we get to an uncomfortable conversation; metal has always been alarmingly white. It's getting better now, for sure, but those formative years were white guy after white guy defining what the genre was, and what it stood for. And we know that many of them will tend to get more conservative over the years, as the world changes and they don't like it. That's amplified even more by the isolation of many of these musicians, living life on the road, surrounded mostly by themselves and faceless blurs of crowds. I've theorized that the divide between urban and rural that is so apparent in politics is largely due to the number of people you encounter in day-to-day life. The more people, the more diversity you're likely to see, and the more you'll care that they are doing well also. Isolation is dangerous, and musicians lead very isolated lives. It doesn't surprise me that they would be inclined to take on a mentality of prioritizing themselves at the expense of everyone else. A genre that gets mad when someone cuts their hair in the wrong style doesn't scream of tolerance.

The biggest surprise for me this year was seeing just how huge the hype for Tool's album was. I knew it was going to be big, but not like that. I felt a bit like Martin Luther nailing his theses to the wall when I didn't buy in. I hope they don't set an example where others feel that taking even more time off is a viable strategy for building your audience. Do you realize the entirety of The Beatles' or Led Zeppelin's careers could fit in the gap between Tool's two most recent albums? That is insane.

And sad.

Maybe that's the most fitting way for this decade to be wrapping up, given its trajectory. What say you?

D.M: Addressing your points backward - I sometimes wonder about the longevity of careers and albums.  I know that we live in a time in popular culture where there are too many options and not enough attention span, but I can't help but believe that popular culture has a longer shelf life than it used to because of the nature of technology.  Back in the day of the Beatles and Zeppelin, music was certainly available in the home, but it wasn't digitally pressed and wasn't portable, like it is now.  The increase in fidelity over the years gives records (and movies, and television series,) greater lifespan because it is exactly the way we remember it - so it doesn't seem as pressing for Tool to put out another album, because their fans still have such ease of access to their entire recording lifetime.

Secondarily, I think you can afford a larger gap in album cycles these days because 1) strange though it seems to say, musicians are just plain living longer, and 2) most of your revenue isn't coming from record sales these days.  You can tour three times on a single record and make just as much money as you could touring three times on three records.  Fair or foul, that's the reality of the music market, and so if you're faced with the choice, why not do one-third as much work?

And now, I'm going to make an incredible logical leap, and combine everything we're talking about from unintelligible logos on down into a single, hopefully cogent argument.

Metal, much as I love it (and I do,) suffers from the problem of exclusivity.  It is a genre that simultaneously wants to be noticed, shuns the attention, encourages self-expression and punishes it for falling outside the proscribed bounds.

So, the bands with scrawled, thorny logos don't want to be accessible, and don't pine for mainstream success.  This is the same argument no doubt used by bands who have bodily functions in their name.  There's an inherent conundrum there - how do you make money and continue being able to afford making music if you eschew the most common form of success, but that's a whole different phenomenon that we're not here to discuss.  These are artists who aren't looking for eyes to be upon them and would mock those that were.

The same principle applies to metal's exclusionary nature and the issue with hair-cutting.  Metal wants people to be part of the community, but only if they're part of the exact same community and social constructs.  In this way, metal in particular is somewhat like a cult, and even has factions within the cult that war against each other (not literally, of course, though I'm sure there's some fan-fic out there...)

None of this is revolutionary - you and I have discussed it more times than I care to remember.  The part that's most alarming is that metal can't see itself from a wide enough angle to recognize its own fallacy.  It trumpets itself as the genre of the downtrodden and fallen, but is so wrapped up in a pathological need to belong to belong to something greater that it ostracizes those who don't belong.  It is ironic in many ways - metal and rap have been, could be and perhaps should be, bedfellows.  Strange bedfellows, certainly, but bedfellows nonetheless.  The two espouse many of the same ideals and embrace those who are overlooked.  Yet when Zack de la Rocha belts out "spit for the hated / the reviled / the unrefined / the no ones / the nobodies / the last in line" during the chorus of Saul Williams' "Act III, Scene 2 (Shakespeare,)" many whom the message should have reached in the metal community never heard it; it wasn't in their idiom.

On a brighter note - a big surprise for me this year, since you brought up the emotion of music.  I am not, and have never been, an overly emotional music listener.  I don't have attachments to events in my life to particular songs, and I'm not moved by lyrics.  I can be impressed by them, and often am, but they don't alter how I'm thinking or feeling; music just doesn't speak to me in that way.  My brain seeks and deciphers rhythm and beat and melody before it recognizes that words are being said, and I am often more absorbed by the tone of a voice than the verses it is speaking.

Except this once, this year.  Destrage (and now I surely sound like a broken record, for I have heaped praise upon them over the years,) wrote a song on this year's "The Chosen One," entitled "Rage, My Alibi."  Full disclosure as I hide behind the anonymity of a pseudonym on the internet - I have, in the last couple years, been diagnosed with and worked my way through some issues with anxiety.  I've probably been battling it for years prior to that and never noticed.  The lyrics of that song perfectly describe what an anxiety experience (I hesitate to use the word 'attack' for that kind of abrupt episode has never happened to me,) is like for me.  Absolutely and without peer.  I appreciate that not only did it hit the nail perfectly, but it did without metal's penchant for fantastic allegory and ridiculous phrasing.  The song, in plain language, describes the dull paralysis that can happen.  And so the first time, I am moved.

What do you want to see for next year?

CHRIS C: That's an interesting thought about technology, but I see it from a slightly different angle. We're old enough that the first albums I ever got were on cassette, so I think I'm speaking from experience here. Back in those days, not only did we have fewer albums to choose from, but the nature of the format meant we more often listened to very second of the albums. Since we had a limited supply, and playing the tapes (or vinyl if you're even older) did degrade the fidelity over time, we kept needing new music from the artists to keep ourselves interested, and keep ourselves from having to re-purchase our favorites because we wore them out. Economically, we would either spend the money on a new record from our favorites, or we would try to hold out on buying a second copy of a worn-out older one. That feeling went away once CDs took over, but streaming has made any thinking of physical product, and money in general, a relic for those few of us who still like to have our favorites in a more tangible form.

The more pressing effect of streaming is the proliferation of bands who either put out solely EPs (I don't find them nearly as satisfying), or only singles (I don't see the point at all - how does a new band with only two songs either play live shows, or establish fans? I can't pledge allegiance to what could be a fluke. Not to mention it being easy for a single song to slip through the cracks of my memory.). The very nature of the relationship between fan and artist has changed, especially for those who have Patreon accounts. Paying a set amount of money to an artist per month/year, without knowing if you're getting new music, or how much, is completely different than how we grew up. And being that I'm fickle when it comes to liking everything someone puts out, I find it dangerous.

Metal's mantra is essentially, "Don't look at me, but don't ignore me either." The most annoying thing I've ever heard, and I've heard it too many times, is when someone says, "you're not a real metal fan," as though there are rules for such things. It's foolish when you think about it. One of the dominant uniforms for metal are leather and studs, usually while riding a motorcycle, which was created by a gay man, and also happens to represent S&M culture. And yet, metal has often taken up the mantle of neanderthal 'me-want woman' attitudes. Or how the other defining trait for the genre's popularity heyday was long hair (and sometimes makeup), where they took on affectations of women, often while degrading any women who appeared in their songs. And no one seemed to ever see the irony.

I sort of understand it, though. No one wants to be completely alone, but you also don't necessarily want the people you want nothing to do with honing in on your territory. There's a fine line where we want to be accepted, but we don't want to be one of the masses. More than political terminology, metal is conservative in the personal meaning of the word. Liking metal isn't a risk, because we are often left alone because of it. It's riskier to like popular music, because that invites more people into our social circles, and they can challenge our thinking. Metal is more of a hive mind, because we share the same 'holier-than-thou' attitude. At least that's the feeling I get from certain types of discussion, like when metal fans brag about how technical a band's music is, or how Tool fans go on and on about the mathematical concepts in the songs. It's a form of snobbery, and it distracts us from having to think about the human connections we have to music, and the people who share our tastes.

I find lyrics fascinating, but that's probably just because of my dabbling in songwriting/poetry. I know something about what it takes to write beautiful or meaningful words, and I have a much harder time putting up with half-assed writing because of it. That's one of the main reasons I so hate songs about rock or metal. It's just so damn lazy to say, "yeah, metal rocks!" Not every song needs to be about deep emotions, but there should be some evidence that at least the author tried to make the words sound good. I don't know if I ever explicitly said this, but the lyrics are a main reason why The Wallflowers have been on every iteration of my top albums list. The words on "(Breach)", specifically on "I've Been Delivered", are something I often aimed to achieve myself.

I think that's my long way of getting around to saying that I may take more emotional support from songs, because as a wordsmith I'm able to find little nuggets that mirror thoughts I've already had. I'm an anxious person too, though I have worked on it entirely on my own, and I somehow didn't display much of it during the time we were in the same place. The fact we label it a problem, or a condition, isn't helpful. I've always thought it's perfectly normal to be uncomfortable with certain experiences. I'm more worried about the people who have no fear, or no shame. We've known a few, and they're the ones who didn't seem normal. Music can help, and it's one of the reasons I keep doing this. I continue to hold out hope that I will find something else that speaks to me, that can show me a light I wouldn't otherwise see.

What do I want to see next year? Musically, I'm certainly looking forward to the return of Creeper, and I'm expecting to hear more from Pale Waves, but there isn't a lot yet announced I'm aware of. There is, though, the confirmed news that new Tonic songs have been written, so now I have given up giving up on waiting for a new record. Personally, though, I'm looking forward to trying to slow down a touch. This year finally started to get to me, burning me out on records that were fine, but didn't give me much to say. I'm hoping that I can cut a few of them out, and segue into a bit more commentary. If I can give a little bit more time to the good records, without having to concern myself with thinking so much about the rest, I hope I will be the better for it.

What about you?

D.M:  A quick comment on something you mentioned in passing about money in general becoming a relic of a bygone era; I was in Sweden this summer (regrettably, the week AFTER Gothenburg's music festival,) and encountered a whole slew of businesses, in particular grocery stores, who would not accept cash.  That really took me aback, and was both literally and figuratively foreign to me.  We're getting closer and closer to just having 'credits.'

Second quick comment on something you mentioned in passing about Tool; I'm still working this through the focus groups to see if it'll stick, but a friend at work and I were having a conversation about Tool and their legions (and their usurpation of Taylor Swift, however temporary,) and suddenly the planets aligned in my head: Tool is the metal Radiohead.  The more I think through all the levels and ramifications of that, the more it feels right.

In the general sense for 2020, I want to see a number of things - I want to see Ruth Bader Ginsburg live through the election, because regardless of political party, the Supreme Court should never be 6-3 in EITHER direction (and if the president wins re-election, then oh well, I guess we're taking our chances with her health.)  I'd like to see the Mets live up to their potential, I'd like to see Ed Orgeron win a national title (which if it happens will technically be in 2020,) and I'd like to see Anthony Joshua finally fight Deontay Wilder (though I don't know that would ever happen at this juncture.) 

Musically, I still want to see Blackguard release "Storm."  It's been on this list for years, and I thought we were gonna get there this year!  They released a single and everything!  But still no full album.  Not quite there.  I would like to a thrash revival - Power Trip was the last band who really understood what that meant, and everyone surrounding them seems to be confusing either black metal or metalcore for thrash.  I know it's an old genre, and I know there's probably not a lot of new territory there, but it's too proud and too important in metal's history to let it wither.

And of course, I'd like to see some new material from Turisas.  Six years and nothing!  Six!

I'll let you get out of here on this - you mentioned at the head of this thing that we would 'talk later' about the highlight of your musical year, and how it was only tangentially related to music.  I'll let you expand on that.

CHRIS C: I am intentionally detached from certain aspects of technology, so what you're describing depresses me. I don't want to plug in more than I already am, especially not to do things that can easily be done without doing so. Boo!

Tool and Radiohead are both pretentious, their fans are devoted to an unhealthy degree, and they both require listeners to be tolerant of much ambient time-wasting. Yeah, I can see it. At one point, Radiohead could have been described as a band for people who think technology is music, and Tool falls into that category I coined this year about bands who think math is music. Maybe this explains why I hated "Fear Inoculum" so much. Actually, that's easy. What I need to do is figure out why I actually like "Lateralus"...

Good choices, and it brings up a point I talked about somewhere else, that I might get around to turning into an essay; after so long without new material, I'm not sure I want new music from even my favorite band. We have changed, they have changed, and each year the chances of our roads diverging grow stronger. Maybe it's for the best to leave us with good memories. It's a thought I've had.

Yes, the highlight of my musical year. I have been reflective in the past about the good fortune I have had in establishing enough of a relationship that I was exchanging a few emails with a couple musicians I am a fan of. This year, that got turned on its head, as I somehow was graced with the development of a real friendship not just with one of them, but with the most important of them all. You know all about this, but it has been a complete mind-fuck to have them as a real part of my life. I haven't yet figured out exactly how this happened, but for someone who doesn't have, or make, many deep connections with people, it has been eye-opening. It has also completely paid-off all the time I've ever spent as a critic. You joked about it for years, and it turns out you were closer to being right than you ever thought. Crazy.

I think we're getting to the end, so you can take us home. Onward, 2020!

D.M: It's interesting you mention not wanting more music from our favorite artists.  I read an editorial a long time ago, and we may have even discussed it before, which dared to venture into the taboo and ask the question "how many more albums did Nirvana have in them, anyway?"  The end conclusion, just so I don't leave it hanging open, was one, maybe one a half, but this was one of those rare occasions when the question was more important than the answer.  It was an existential reflection on creativity, particularly as it relates to music.  How much passion and creativity is contained in a single person or group of people?  And how long can they keep it up?  For the truly transcendent ones, it can go on for decades - Metallica still has something to say, so does Lacuna Coil and AC/DC, for all they are and aren't, had a hell of a run before it became time to stop.  Much more common is the artist (in any medium,) who proves the adage from the old Rush lyric, "that we're only immortal / for a limited time."  (Good lord, I just quoted Rush.  I must be losing my edge.)  With all that said, I still pine for a new Turisas album, but I know that the peak may already be behind us.  And the third side for consideration is the least common, but the most curious - the legacy that was cut short.  Al Hendrix has been publishing his son's scattered loose ends for years, and while opinions vary of whether he should be or not, the one unquestioned good thing that comes out of it is that we see just the smallest glimpse of where Jimi wanted to explore with his music.  Jimi Hendrix remains one of the three great 'what-ifs?' in popular culture, along with Bruce Lee and Bo Jackson.  The question behind the question is this: is it better to leave a greater legacy over the course of a shorter impactful period, or to carve your legacy by working to extend that creative period for years on?

And so, in consideration of that question, I leave with this.  I apologize for grandstanding a little bit, and also perhaps for not answering the unanswerable question, but here it is.  I was reflecting the other day that in a few short weeks, February 13th, 2020, for precision's sake, Black Sabbath's debut album will turn fifty years old.  That's staggering to think about for a lot of reasons, but the largest among them for me is the notion that the name Black Sabbath carries just as much vitality and weight as it did then, maybe more.  It is not entirely rare to see a band crest fifty and remain relevant - The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones, maybe the holy trinity of rock music, have all surpassed the mark, and many more have done the same.  Yet Sabbath didn't then, and doesn't now, live in their strata.  Perhaps it is because the band produced what so many saw as 'low' or 'subversive' music, but whatever the case, Black Sabbath invented something, and the genre they created would be markedly different without their having done so.  They remain current in a way that their contemporaries, even the luminaries we already mentioned, do not, and that deserves celebration.

Anyway, that's all I got.  May everyone be blessed with either peace or endurance in 2020 - whichever you feel you need more.