Jay S.

These lists are tough for me to make because despite popular opinion that music is dead, it’s certainly not.  Maybe it holds true for pop music or something else but heavy metal, punk and dirty rock n’ roll are doin’ just fine.  There was plenty of stuff that blew my mind this year and here’s a list of some of the heavy albums, EPs and demos that I spent the most time listening to.  As always, these are in no particular order because it’s very hard for me to in a year end list to say one of these bands is better than another because they’re all different and all worth your time.

Best metal and heavy rock albums of the year

1. Come back from the Dead – The Coffin Earth’s Entrails (Transcending Obscurity). An unrelenting, fuck everyone and everything attack  that mixes the dirty dealing death of Entombed, the blistering crust punk of Discharge, the slovenly mayhem of Celtic Frost along with tons of other influences. This album is all strengths and no weakness.  One of the heaviest, catchiest extreme punk/metal albums I’ve heard in years.
2. Valkyrie – Shadows (Relapse Records). Forget the idea of “retro metal” and listen to this album or any of Valkyrie’s prior works; this is authentic, old school metal from the heart that melds the might of the Maryland doom sound with the twin guitar shred of Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden and Wishbone Ash. Relapse was wise to sign these guys.  They’re one of the best live bands around and Shadows is the perfect mixture of melody, the amazing Adams brothers’ killer vocal/guitar harmonies, hearty rhythmic crunch, magical songwriting and tough riffage.  This record is as organically constructed and well-crafted as Wishbone Ash’s roving, wandering landmark Argus but hits you right in the gut like Spirit Caravan did on Jug Fulla Sun.
3. Witchsnake – Act II (Self-Release). A powerful statement of hopelessly doomed sludge metal with scathing, swingin’ riffs in the key of Vitus, back breaking drum concussions and vocalist Graham MacSkimming’s highly versatile verbalizations… If My War had an orgy with To Mega Therion, Die Healing and Take as Needed for Pain, Witchsnake’s second full-length would be the end result. Filth master guitarist Wilhelm Princeton has always been a unique, impressive player but this is some of the best guitar work he’s ever cut to tape, hands down.
4. Heathen Beast – Trident (Transcending Obscurity). The whole black metal genre has sort of dropped off in quality IMO over the last couple of years. Perhaps, my ears are just hanging out in the wrong place.  This year was better though and India’s Heathen Beast made a serious impression on me.  Trident is a collection of the band’s three EPs and there is no disconnection between the tracks.  Recorded in 2010, 2012 and 2015 respectively, the tracks flow together as a singular vision meant to be played from front to back cover.  With sickened vocal screams delivering historical diatribes, alternatively ruthless and progressive guitar playing, drumming that can keep time or blast frenetically and top-notch production for the style, Trident never stops beating you over the head even if the blood is rushing out of your eardrums.
5. He Whose Ox Is Gored – The Camel, The Lion, The Child (Bleeding Light Records). This unique, completely off the cuff Seattle band are mercilessly beautiful. I was into what I’d heard from them before but this album takes the cake.  There’s simply nobody that sounds like this.  On the band’s latest recording The Camel, The Lion, The Child coldwave industrialism is raped by washes of pretty psychedelic keyboards, lethal time signature shifts and plunging doom atmospherics.  This band is pure defiance when it comes to genre.  They would have fit in on Amphetamine Reptile or Touch n’ Go back in the day, yet the fact remains that this addictive, highly memorable album doesn’t sound like anyone else out there.
6. Solanum – Into the Sinners Circle (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions) You can sue me later but I enjoyed Canadian crust/thrashers Solanum and their debut LP more than the new Slayer record. Don’t get me wrong.  Repentless wasn’t garbage; it just didn’t feel like it fired on all cylinders the way I like my Slayer.  This album on the other hand mows you down in your own home with a machine gun before blowing your body to kibble with a nuclear missile.  If Slayer, D.R.I., early Corrosion of Conformity, Discharge and Bones Brigade had a baby, this is it.  Dry lunged, super raw n’ catchy vocal shouts spew forth from the speakers as your stereo melts from the ultraviolet punk/thrash riffing and AK-47 drum blasts.  Even punks dogged in their ways about accepting metal in their snarling hardcore mosh should even up subservient to this master.
7. Cavern – Outsiders (Grimoire Records) Maryland journeymen Cavern have impressed me since day one with their shredding attack of noise-rock, progressive metal and riff-y stoner grooves. In an exciting change of pace they dropped the abrasive vocals, psyched up the songwriting and went way deep with their sound on 2015’s Outsiders.  This is truly a headphone record with bursts of aggressive distortion and heavy hitter Stephen Schrock’s 8-armed beat bombast subsiding into texturally hypnotic cascades of clean, reverb-drenched guitars and intricately layered melodies.  It’s best to put this album on and let it play till the very last tune ends.  Dreamy stuff that’s no afraid to go balls to the wall when need be.
8. Plaguewielder – Chambers of Death (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions) Wasn’t expecting to play this one as much as I did, but this album really crept up on me. Art-y black metal can be a HUGE failure when not done right.  Somehow this creepy, catacomb dwelling devilry manages to avoid clichés and transcend the bullshit.  Distorted, puking vocals act as an auxiliary instrument while the band rams together begotten doom riffs, shaky speed runs, ether rag melodies and crazy Hammond organ passages that have more in common with the late 60s and 70s as opposed to the modern era.  Genre be damned, this is just freaky awesome inventive metal that launches you into outer space.
9. Freedom Hawk – Into your Mind (Smallstone Records). Straight outta an early 70s time capsule, Virginian rockers Freedom Hawk completely won me over a few years back. Try as I might I can never get enough of their meat n’ potatoes, psychedelic hard rock sound.  I thought it would be pretty tough for them to top the last one Holding On but this is the best one yet for my money.  They’ve managed to wring a lot of variety from the tried n’ true blueprint of this solid rock style and to think I was worried that their reduction to a three-piece band would wear off some of the old momentum…not a fuckin’ chance.  There’s so much going on here from the incisive, Lizzy-esque guitar grind of opener “Blood Red Sky” to the cosmic Hawkwind influenced psychedelia of “Lost in Space” to the hard blues of the title track…they strike a chord that sticks with you.  Guitarist/vocalist TR Morton even explores the deepest depths of his baritone on a few tracks lending a gutsy, Jim Morrison sort of croon of feel to a couple of the songs.
10. Tombstones – Vargariis (Soulseller Records). I’m usually pretty up on the sludgy doom stuff played in the key of Sabbath, Vitus and Eyehategod. I was kickin’ my own ass when I heard the 5^th and latest record from Norway’s slime swillers Tombstones.  Jesus fuck man, what rock have I been hiding under?  With multiple scummy vocal styles, cigarette tar coated sludge riffs, massive bouts of the blues, tonally unfuckwithable grooves and a fetid rhythm stank permeating every inch, Vargariis can stand toe to toe with any other band playing the style.  These fuckin’ psychos even mess with death/grind touches “Oceans of Consciousness.”  If you encountered this album in a back alley unarmed, it’s a guarantee that you wouldn’t be making it home ever again.
11. Palace in Thunderland – In the Afterglow of Unity (Self-Release). A truly gorgeous, enrapturing release, Palace in Thunderland’s debut is chockful of ghostly vocal harmonies, knife-edge riffage, psychedelic mysticism and masterful wall of sound. Intricately composed, heavy when it needs to be and totally mind-expanding, the Palace boys conjure up a vision of dense, hard rockin’ 90s stoner and the arid, open dynamics of King’s X in the process (lots of sultry vocal harmonies happening here).  This is an album that you’ll either get or you won’t but watch out if it’s your thing…you just might find other records having a tough time muscling their way back into the playlist.  Fans of everything from heavy 90s stoner to 70s progressive rock and 90s heavy/psychedelic visionaries such as Hum and Shiner should get plenty of mileage from this one.
12. Wildlights – Self Titled (Season of Mist). While everybody goes nuts for The Sword, I’m quite happy to listen to this record over and over again, thank you very much. It’s no secret that I’m a sucker for guitarist/vocalist Jason Shi’s mind-melting, riff-y psychedelic work with his main project ASG and it’s great to see him add another project to his resume.  Backed by the pounding, triumphant drum fills of Johnny Collins, the Wildlights are a tempest of thundering 70s riffs, spacey psyche melodies and the best parts of 90s hard rock.  The warm, wall of sound that Shi wrings from his guitar takes dazzling twists and turns throughout, rendering this record more infectious than a common cold running wild in a doctor’s waiting room.  This makes a great back to back listen with ASG classics Win us Over and Blood Drive.
13. Halshug – Blodets Bånd (Southern Lord). Denmark crust punks Halshug ain’t fancy. Instead of bowling you over with technicality, these maniacs kick the everlovin’ shit out of their audience with an onslaught of hook laden, thrash-y punk riffs, punk 101 rhythmic jerks and pissed off shouting vocals that could give a fuck if you like it pretty.  Fans of Doom, Discharge, Wolfbrigade, Disrespect, Caustic Christ and Behind Enemy Lines should go nuts for this ‘un.  I know I certainly did.  Despite non-English lyrics, I found myself singing along to this album quite frequently.  There’s no bells n’ whistles here, just frenetic punk rock action that throws up a big middle finger to society as a whole.
14. Motörhead – Bad Magic (UDR) R.I.P. Lemmy. I’m a pretty big Motörhead fan and anyone that knows me knows that Lemmy is an influence on everything I’ve done musically.  Sadly, not I nor will anyone else be able to do it like he did.  When you stack up a most humans’ body of work against Lemmy’s, 1,000 of us doesn’t equal one of him.  Maybe some people got off the train but I actually think Motörhead’s recent albums are really fuckin’ badass.  I still play the hell out of Motorizer and Aftershock.  Bad Magic for me is a small notch below those two but not by much.  Besides a somewhat unnecessary Stones cover of “Sympathy for the Devil,” Bad Magic was the band’s usual patented adrenaline overload where every riff and rock n’ roll detonation hits like a depth charge to the side of the skull.  “Choking on your Screams” alone was worth the price of admission.
15. Goatsnake – Black Age Blues (Southern Lord Records). LA doom overlords Goatsnake was still an active band whenever I first got into them and Man’s Ruin Records’ release in general. Flower of Disease was such an excellent piece of work that I was gutted whenever the band called it a day.  I was cautious whenever I first heard about the reunion album, because we all know that those situations can go either way but I’ll be goddamned if Black Ages Blues wasn’t everything I’d hoped for and more.  I got more mileage out of this than the last Sabbath album.  Greg Anderson’s guitar riffs sound like they are being cast down by Zeus himself; his molten Sabbath riffage is second to none and his tone is impregnable as legendary drum basher Greg Rogers’ leans in on every hit.  Rogers was always one of the hardest hitting players in the game and he’s in the finest form imaginable to this day.  Pete Stahl’s voice drips with the blues as he belts and croons some of the hookiest melodies of his career.  They change things up with some acoustic bits, piano and gospel styled back-up vocals on the penultimate opener “The River,” and there’s never a dull moment throughout.
16. shEver – Panta Rhei (Self-Release). Switzerland’s heady funeral/doom sludgers shEver first slithered into my life with 2012’s excellent Rituals (released on Total Rust).  The vinyl split with my German favorites Spancer only furthered my excitement for shEver’s next full outing.  Panta Rhei delivers.  I’m still digesting it as I didn’t get a copy until the end of the year but this album kicks.  From clean desert melodies to unstoppable death/doom destruction and vile sludge riffs, one might find it hard to believe that ¾ of the band are ladies!  I don’t say that because I’m sexist…I say it because I think it’s fuckin’ great the gals can make shit that’s just as heavy as us guys.  The influences here veer between Kyuss, Grief, Eyehategod, Winter and even the slower passages of Incantation (whenever the speed kicks up).  I don’t have every note of this record encoded into my memory yet, so it’s still receiving a lot of plays.
17. Garden of Worm – Idles Stones (Svart Records). Finland is always a hotspot for the good stuff. In this case it’s trio Garden of Worm and their second LP to date, Idle Stones.  Melodic doom goes head to head with the prog inclinations of King Crimson and Rush.  Dare I say that these cats might be fans of Pink Floyd and My Bloody Valentine as well?  Though the heavy riffs and hard-blues rock of the 70s comes through strong (especially on opener “Fleeting are the Days of Man”), the band pens extensive, cerebral jams that aren’t afraid to mess with technical razzle dazzle, piles and piles of analog sounding texture and free-form rocking.  The harmonized vocals are also a nice touch that only enhances just how lush this record really is.  As uplifting as it is dark and doom-y; Idle Stones is worthy of many repeat plays.
18. Corsair – One Eyed Horse (Shadow Kingdom Records). Ghosts of Proxima Centauri was my entrance to Corsair’s coliseum and much like fellow Virginians Valkyrie, the quartet firmly plants its feet in galloping, wasteland conquering metal with a highly melodic, 70s rock/metal tinge to everything they do. The three-part vocal harmonies, sundering hard rock riffs, whiplash harmony guitars and city wrecking rhythmic strides are second to none.  There’s nothing even close to mediocre in the band’s discography and One Eyed Horse takes them to the next level.  Comparisons to Thin Lizzy, Wishbone Ash, Iron Maiden, early Priest and even the Outlaws aren’t out of the ballpark but Corsair take those ideals and make their own thing out of it completely.  Missing their live show a year back is still one of my biggest letdowns in recent times, though hopefully I get another crack at that in the future.  In the meantime, this album receives no shortage of playtime on the trusty home stereo.
19. Putrevore – Tentacles of Horror (Transcending Obscurity). Disgusto-death freaks Putrevore are without question one of my favorite death metal bands in recent years. All of the gory, ultra-brutality I could ever want is right here and they also delve into the slower, dirtier sound of death metal with lots of moldy, rotten grooves that make the band’s latest platter Tentacles of Horror both noxious and super fuckin’ catchy.  I’d seriously stack this motherfucker with anything going in the genre.
20. Acid King – Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere (Svart Records). Just like their old Man’s Ruin label buddies Goatsnake, Acid King couldn’t have made a better return with their 4^th album Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere (the only difference in the story is that Acid King never really broke up). Like a thousand Harleys revving engines in the bowels of Hell, Lori’s sickeningly dense riff groove and the deafening punishment laid down by founding drummer Joey Osbourne is second to none.  Lori’s ethereal vocals have also been sorely missed in the long gap between albums.  Listening to this record is the audio equivalent of being pumped full of psychedelic drugs.  Mark Lamb’s bass playing is heavy enough to quake the ground beneath you as it holds together the band’s stalwart, elephantine Sabbath stomps.

Honorable mentions:  Pentagram – Curious Volume (Peaceville Records), White Widows Pact – True Will (New Damage Records), Saviours – Palace of Vision (Listenable Records), Gnosis – The Third-Eye Gate (Nuclear War Now! Productions…this album really grew on me!), Clutch – Psychic Warfare (Weathermaker), William English – Basic Human Error (Grandad Records), High on Fire – Luminiferous (E1 Music), Zombi – Shape Shift (Relapse Records)

Best heavy metal and heavy rock EPs/demos

1. Contra – Son of Beast (Self-Release). Shadowed warlocks of the Ohio heavy scene unleash one of the most slamming EPs of the year. If ZZ Top, Sabbath, Karma to Burn, Mountain and Cavity were locked into a steel cage together, Son of Beast could very well be what you end up with.  The Ohio trio is completely instrumental and guitarist Chris Chiera (formerly of Sofa King Killer) leads the threesome forward into battle with his power hungry, filthy blues riffs that alternately uplift and ass kick the shit out of you at the same time.
2. Thousand Vision Mist – Demo 2015 (Self-Release). Danny Kenyon is one of the most underrated musicians in the entirety of the Maryland heavy rock underground. If you missed out on his work, go back and check into the two superb releases from Life Beyond.  Thousand Vision Mist picks up where Life Beyond left off and this is some metallic, progressive hard rock that will wrap you up in its complexity.  The dynamic, tricked-out interplay between bassist Tony Comulada and bassist Chris Sebastian provides the perfect canvas for Danny to paint riffs than run the gamut from prog to 70s hard rock to Voivodian weirdness to Maryland doom.  Kenyon stands proudly alongside Wino, Brenner and Flood among the legends of the Maryland doom movement.  His vocals are great here as well.
3. Snake Oil – Dust and Absent Light (Self-Release). Floridian doom dealers Snake Oil have dropped one awesome EP after another since their inception. Building on the complexities of the last one (Triptych: A Passage in Time), their third and latest drops some serious heavy doom riffs, psycho 70s jam outs, touches of prog and psychedelic rock as vocalist/bassist Ashley Eubanks narrates the proceedings with his Snake-like snarl (Snake from Voivod that is).  This EP came in late in the year for me, so I’m still digesting it but I can already tell I’ll be playing it a helluva lot over the coming year.
4. Euro-Asia – A View of the Earth (Self-Release). Thick and caustic like Cave In, heavy and dreamy like Torche and Hum with plenty of its own flavors, Florida’s Euro-Asia are like Hydrahead band that isn’t afraid to pen a more tangible “tune.” Band mastermind Pedro Ortiz structures his songs with plenty of climactic riff surges while sudden changes in tempo and theme occur at a moment’s notice.  These guys are currently writing for an upcoming full-length and as each release they’ve put out thus far is a huge improvement over the last, it’ll be interesting to see where they head next.
5. Midmourner – Adorned in Fear and Error (Self-Release). Though Alabama’s venom splitting sludge heroes Molehill are long gone and laid to rest, some of its members live on the fearsome, heavily addled filth slingers Midmourner.  This is no bullshit sludge and it’s always inspiring to hear.  It’s the sound of Sabbath stuffed in a washing machine that’s being rolled down a cliff only to be impaled on the jagged rocks below.  Shane’s crucified vocal screams, concrete twin guitar riffs and rhythms that are as easily mangled and gruesome as anything in the Electric Wizard catalog gives Adorned in Fear and Error an uneasy, fucked up vibe from the word go.  P.s. “Wolf in the Baby’s Crib” is one of the best song titles in existence.
6. Gale – Vol. 1 (Self-Release). The eerie, ominous sludgy doom heard on Gale’s debut EP is a bit faster and more agile than a lot of stuff that happens in the genre.  They have certainly learned a few tricks of the trade from Dead Bird, Rwake and YOB without question.  There are plenty of memorable riffs to be had but the pacing is more desperate, the chording is more progressive and the overall vibe is more barren than say Eyehategod.  Gale isn’t afraid to toy with clean vocals, lead melodies and faster blackened rushes to get their point across, resulting in an EP that really imbeds itself into the brainstem after a few dedicated listens.
7. Horsehead – Missionary (Self-Release). Like their Arizona brothers Gale, Horsehead take disgusting, groovy sludge doom and do something completely different with it. The horrific vocals are straight out of a grindcore band, the abrasive noise-guitar reminds me of Am-Rep luminaries Unsane and Hammerhead while the tempos even venture into some shades of blackened death metal.  Horsehead doesn’t follow any rulebook or guidepost and their sound is all the better for it!
8. Human Sprawl – Meaningless (Self-Release). Philly’s Human Sprawl unleashes a hellacious racket for a two piece. Brawling biker doom, ungodly sludge and thrashing crust tendencies make their sound a real nervous breakdown of a listening experience.  While their demo only consists of three tracks, this thing eats like a full meal.
9. Cemetery Crows – Wolves of Desire (Self-Release). Psychedelic, southern rock auteur and cult legend Gideon Smith (…and the Dixie Damned) does a 180 for his new project.  If Gideon Smith and the Dixie Damned is a loving embrace of Sabbath, The Doors and Danzig, Cemetery Crows is ugly, riff-y and grimy like St. Vitus and Soulpreacher.  The recording is delectably lo-fi and this stuff makes you feel like there’s someone hanging out over your shoulder, waiting to cut you up with a knife!
10. Foehammer – Self Titled (Grimoire Records). Good lord is this heavy…like Grief, Burning Witch, Wreck of Hesperus, Winter HEAVY… The gluey porch treated riffs sometimes hobble themselves into a head-nodding groove but mostly these Virginia-based death/doom dealers crawl along at a begotten churl.  American gothic acoustic weirdness coupled to oddly melodic lead guitars shouldn’t work in the band’s tectonic template, yet they do and the whole experience is like being a witness to your own electrocution with no way to stop it.
11. Fistula – Destitute (PATAC Records). I’d be lying if Fistula wasn’t one of the major inspirations of my own band. I’ve had a fascination with Corey’s vomit-inducing riffs and hammered vokills since Hymns of Slumber came out.  As they continue to deliver futilely fucked in the head releases, there’s a noticeable crust/grind element working its way into their sound and this is quite welcome alongside the band’s usual mantra-like Grief/Noothgrush covering Sabbath ear molestation.