Adam Palm

2014 saw the music industry fall further into peril and artists become more and more vocal about it as the streaming services with their meager payouts continued their rise to consumer domination. Yet, the underground metal scene seemed relatively unfazed by it all. Perhaps it’s because profit was never its main goal to begin with, but I’d like to think it has more to do with the intense appreciation and devotion of the fans. CDs, vinyl, and even cassettes are still being printed and coveted by many. However, there is one subtle but significant sign that metal may not be completely impervious to the shifting tide. 2014 marks the first year since 1973 that the total number of metal releases for the year has decreased from the previous year.* There was still a staggering number of metal recordings released this past year, but all years prior saw some degree of growth. 2013 could go down as metal’s peak in output. Some thinning of the herd could be a good thing, though. Consider this: the total number of full-length metal albums released in 2013 alone is more than double what was released in the entire 1980s. Personally, I would welcome some quality over quantity. That’s not to say 2014 was lacking quality, but it did seem slightly diminished and late to arrive with half of my top full-length picks coming from the final quarter of the year. Have a look…

Top 20 Full-lengths

1. Blut Aus Nord – Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry (Debemur Morti Productions)
It’s a rare thing for a band to master a distinct sound. The percentage of metal bands that have been able to do this out of the over hundred thousand that have been in existence is very small. Blut Aus Nord is one of those elite few, but they’re not content with just one original sound. This third installment of the Memoria Vetusta series proves once again that they can do sprawling and beautiful just as well as suffocating and ugly.

2. StarGazer – A Merging to the Boundless (Nuclear War Now! Productions)
Imagine if members of Morbid Angel, Atheist, and Death had collaborated on an album back in ‘91 — like a progressive death metal Temple of the Dog. As amazing as that sounds, this somehow surpasses that notion.

3. Arizmenda – Stillbirth in the Temple of Venus (Crepusculo Negro)
All of the truest tenets of black metal are perfectly represented here, but what elevates this above almost everything else released this year are the inventive riffs and the unique feeling they bring to each epic, hypnotizing, unpredictable track.

4. Pallbearer – Foundations of Burden (Profound Lore Records)
As great as their debut was, this sophomore album surpasses it in every way. This is melancholy doom for the ages.

5. Chaos Moon – Resurrection Extract (I, Voidhanger Records)
Unparalleled aura of gleaming darkness conveyed through black metal art.

6. Horrendous – Ecdysis (Dark Descent Records)
Emotive and musical…adjectives that aren’t often used to describe a death metal album. But, this isn’t just death metal; it’s exceptional death metal that’s melodic without being “melodeath,” progressive without being “prog,” and references the origins of the genre without being “old school.”

7. Godflesh – A World Lit Only By Fire (Avalanche Recordings)
This crushing, bleak return to form is more than one of the best albums of the year. It’s also one of the best from this band’s entire illustrious discography, and one of the strongest comebacks of any band ever.

8. Unaussprechlichen Kulten – Baphomet Pan Shub-Niggurath (Dark Descent Records/Iron Bonehead Productions)
With a big, tentacled middle-finger in the face of all trends, these Chilean death worshipers crafted a dark death metal album with just the right mix of tradition, originality, complexity, and memorability.

9. Woods of Desolation – As the Stars (Northern Silence Productions)
Atmospheric black metal isn’t known for being to the point, but this Australian project makes a stronger impact by being just that.

10. Mare Cognitum – Phobos Monolith (I, Voidhanger Records)
Setting a new standard for one-man black metal, Phobos Monolith travels through dimensions within to above and back again.

11. Thantifaxath – Sacred White Noise (Dark Descent Records)
Did Botch move to Canada and take up esoteric black/death metal?

12. The Great Old Ones – Tekeli-Li (Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions)
Merging post rock with black metal often results in a lighter sound that negates the black metal element. These French Lovecraft-worshippers prove that doesn’t need to be the case.

13. Auroch – Taman Shud (Profound Lore Records)
The sounds of Gorguts, early Cryptopsy, and Mitochondrion converge to create this towering monument of Canadian death metal excellence.

14. Grey Skies Fallen – The Many Sides of Truth (Paragon Records)
Let’s see, there’s traditional doom, epic doom, stoner doom, death doom, black doom, gothic doom, and funeral doom. But, how about progressive/power/death/doom? I’d say that’s something different and this makes me hope for more.

15. Doombringer – The Grand Sabbath (Nuclear War Now! Productions)
Remember how great that Cultes Des Ghoules album was last year? Well, picture that mixed with Bölzer to create a wicked conjuration of occult black/death.

16. Pestilential Shadows – Ephemeral (Seance Records)
Expertly crafted black metal from Down Under that’s equally vicious, sorrowful, and expansive.

17. Earth and Pillars – Earth I (Avantgarde Music)
These Italians borrow almost too heavily from Paysage d’Hiver (even down to the packaging) on this debut, but it still stands on its own as a thoroughly entrancing piece of atmospheric black metal that offers a slightly warmer take on its source material.

18. Furia – Nocel (Pagan Records)
Melancholy, rage, and experimentation collide in a way that only these Polish masters can pull off.

19. Agalloch – The Serpent & The Sphere (Profound Lore Records)
These masters of atmospheric metal return with their slowest burn of an album yet. I didn’t expect to be including it here the first time I heard it, but it grew on me. If you initially dismissed it like I almost did, I recommend giving it another try. At the very least, listen to “Vales Beyond Dimension,” which I feel is one of the strongest songs they ever wrote.

20. Triptykon – Melana Chasmata (Century Media Records)
The second coming of Tom G. Warrior is possibly the greatest comeback of any metal artist. Back when Cold Lake was released, I’m sure no one could have predicted that he would be creating music this dark, heavy, and unique a quarter century later. This could have benefitted from some trimming of the fat, but it still made my list because of the meaty parts, which are aplenty.

Honorable Mentions

Ævangelist – Writhes in the Murk (Debemur Morti Productions)
Arcana Coelestia – Nomas (Avantgarde Music)
Bastard Feast – Osculum Infame (Season of Mist)
Bloodbath – Grand Morbid Funeral (Peaceville Records)
Coffinworm – IV.I.VIII (Profound Lore Records)
Ill Omen – Enthroning the Bonds of Abhorrence (Nuclear War Now! Productions)
Master’s Hammer – Vagus Vetus (Jihosound Records)
Morbus Chron – Sweven (Century Media Records)
Nightfell – The Living Ever Mourn (Southern Lord Recordings)
Totale Vernichtung – Ritualmordlegenden (Darker Than Black Records)

Top 10 EPs

1. Bölzer – Soma (Invictus Productions)
These Swiss innovators top my EP list for a second year in a row, but I hope it’s the last. It’s time for them to joint the full-length ranks.

2. Hierophant’s Descent – The Apocalypse of Evil (Under the Sign of Garazel Productions)
Innovation is all well and good, but there’s something to be said for mastering an established sound, especially one that’s in short supply. That’s what this Greek trio has done on this all-too-short EP of classic Greek black metal recorded about 20 years too late, but just the right time for us to enjoy it.

3. Blut Aus Nord – Debemur MoRTi (Debemur Morti Productions)
What better way to commemorate the 100th release from Debemur Morti Productions than with Vindsval’s patented industrial black metal and the best Pitchshifter cover possible? I can think of none.

4. Mournful Congregation – Concrescence of the Sophia (20 Buck Spin)
Funeral doom can often become a chore to get through, but not when it comes to these Aussie masters (with the help of Tim Call on drums this time).

5. Rippikoulu – Ulvaja (Svart Records)
A debut EP two decades in the making. For fans of the darkest death/doom, it was worth the wait.

6. Orphans of Dusk – Revenant (self-released)
Merging influences from Shades of God and October Rust could’ve easily resulted in disaster, but these Aussies make it a gothic metal wet dream.

7. Woman is the Earth – Depths (Init Records)
Melancholy often comes at the price of aggression, but not in the case of these South Dakota black metallers.

8. Owl – Into the Absolute (Zeitgeister Music)
More contemporary avant garde death metal from these creative Germans.

9. Viogression – A Pure Formality (self-released)
These Midwestern death metal legends quietly returned this year and released these four tracks of unusual, moody death metal. If depressive death metal isn’t a thing yet, it is now.

10. Owl – The Last Walk (Zeitgeister Music)
Their second EP of the year explores new territory with 25 continuous minutes of what is probably the most Dead Can Dance influenced doom song ever composed.

Top 10 Demos

1. Skáphe – Skáphe (Fallen Empire Records)
Amazingly twisted, suffocating black metal from Alex Poole (Chaos Moon, Esoterica, Lithotome).

2. Ritual Chamber – The Pits of Tentacled Screams (Nuclear War Now! Productions)
Dario Derna of Krohm, Evoken (formerly), and numerous other projects single-handedly takes on the current crop of Incantation-inspired death metal and conquers all.

3. Sumerlands – Guardian Demo (self-released)
Heavy metal perfection from members of Hour of 13, Vestal Claret, Magic Circle, Stone Dagger, and Eternal Champion.

4. Ardour Loom – Demo (Parasitic Records)
Two twenty-minute tracks of vast, atmospheric blackness.

5. Eos – L’Avalé (Fallen Empire Records)
For the past decade, Quebec has been the breeding ground for the most mesmerizing black metal. This is no exception.

6. Sanctuaire – Helserkr (Les Productions Hérétiques)
Quintessential Québécois black metal from one of the scene’s originators.

7. Beach Pneumatic – Beach Pneumatic (Colloquial Sound Recordings)
Xasthur spends Labor Day weekend at the shore.

8. Yith – Yith (self-released)
A superb, gloomy mix of death/doom and black metal.

9. Wreodan Healh – Læcig (self-released)
Medieval black metal that plays like a long lost demo from the mid ’90s.

10. Violent Hammer – More Victims – Demo 2014 (Shadow Kingdom Records)
The band name says it all. This truly is a violent black/death metal hammer to the face.

 

Best non-metal album: Decades/Failures – 002 (Dead Tank Records)

Best song: Agalloch – “Vales Beyond Dimension”

Best reissue: Demilich – 20th Adversary of Emptiness (Svart Records)

Best compilation: Tliltic Tlapoyauak (Ajna Offensive)

Best split: Forteresse/Chasse-Galerie/Monarque/Csejthe – Légendes (Sepulchral Productions)

 

* As of December 28th, 2014, the total number of metal releases for the year according to Metal Archives is 12,863. The total for 2013 is 14,253. Unless nearly 1,400 have yet to be added, this fact will hold true.