Frank Rini

Yet another killer year for extreme metal music and wonderful tours. Thank you to all the readers supporting Teeth of the Divine and all the different writing styles from us all.  I encourage you all to check out everyone’s best of lists on here, not just mine, and look into some of these great acts.  My top 30 is in order of what I feel were the strongest releases for this 2019. My other sub-categories are also interesting for this this phenomenal year.  Looking ahead to 2020 we will see the release (always subject to change) of some killer albums from: TON (with my guest vocal appearance), Limbsplitter, Kurnugia, Embalmer, Afterbirth, Undergang, Dying Fetus, Sanguisugabogg and Pestilence to name a few.  I also will be guesting on some other albums, but sworn to secrecy, at the moment. Have a Happy, Safe and Healthy New Year Metal brothers and sisters. \m/

1. POSSESSED: Revelations of Oblivion [Nuclear Blast]
2. PALADIN: Ascension [Prosthetic Records]
3. MISERY INDEX: Rituals of Power [Season of Mist]
4. OBSEQUIAE: The Palms of Sorrowed Kings [20 Buck Spin]
5. BLOOD INCANTATION: Hidden History of the Human Race [Dark Descent Records]
6. NOISEM: Cease to Exist [20 Buck Spin]
7. PROPHECY: Forseen Scriptures [Prophecy Records]
8. VLTIMAS: Something Wicked Marches In [Season of Mist]
9. NOCTURNUS AD: Paradox [Profound Lore Records]
10. DARKTHRONE: Old Star [Peaceville Records]
11. INFIDEL REICH: Reichenstein [Helter Skelter Productions]
12. REVEL IN FLESH: The Hour of the Avenger [War Anthem Records]
13. RINGS OF SATURN: Gidim [Nuclear Blast]
14. DEVOURMENT: Obscene Majesty [Relapse Records]
15. FLUIDS: Exploitative Practices [Maggot Stomp]
16. ANGELMAKER: S/T [Independent]
17. DESECRESY: Towards Nebulae [Xtreem Music]
18. KULL: Exile [Black Lion Records]
19. PENTACLE: Spectre of the Eight Ropes [Iron Pegasus Records]
20. WARTHRONE: Crown of the Apocalypse [Ghoststorm Records]
21. EMBLUDGEONMENT: Barn Burner [Comatose Music]
22. VISCERAL DISGORGE: Slithering Evisceration [Agonia Records]
23. SENTIENT HORROR: Morbid Realms [Testimony Records]
24. HIDEOUS DIVINITY: Simulacrum [Century Media]
25. HORRIFIC DEMISE: Excruciating Demise[Comatose Music]
26. ALGEBRA: Pulse? [Unspeakable Axe]
27. ALLEGAEON: Apoptosis [Metal Blade Records]
28. DAWN OF DEMISE: Into the Depths of Veracity [Unique Leader Records]
29. IMMORTAL SUFFERING: Preyed Upon [Pathologically Explicit Recordings]
30. DAY OF DOOM: Epitaph of the Darklord[Independent]

Most Evil Sounding Release: LVCIFYRE: Sacrament [Dark Descent Records]

Best New Band: SANGUISUGABOGG

Best Ep: FLESH TOMB: Torn From the Womb of the Sky [Independent]

Best Live Album:  DECEASED: Death Metal From The Dave [Shrieks From the Hearse]

Hardest Working Band in Death Metal: EMBALMER

Best Doom/Death Album: SEMPITERNAL DUSK: Cenotaph of Defectuous Creation [Dark Descent Records]

Single of the Year: TON: Defect [Ungodly Ruin Productions]

Best Compilation: INSECT WARFARE: Entomological Siege [F.O.A.D. Records]

Best song: Prophecy: “Buried in Brimstone”
Best album cover: Rings of Saturn: Gidim

Best Tour: IRON MAIDEN: Legacy of the Beast tour was amazing.

Heaviest 3 bands I have ever seen back to back.  At the 2019 MDF, playing right after one another was:  SQUASH BOWELS, DEVOURMENT and MORTICIAN.   Never have I witnessed 3 bands in a row this heavy.  It bordered on the absurd and I was in my glory-pure unadulterated brutality.

Best Record Label: Maggot Stomp. Scott Magrath out of California has put together quite the roster of death metal and grind acts.  With the likes of SANGUISUGABOGG, FLUIDS, VOMIT FORTH and many others his label has bands on it I have coined NWOBDM-New Wave of Brutal Death Metal.  Crushing acts that are bulldozing the scene and crushing all in their path.  Not for the faint of heart, however the bands all have an organic heaviness which is missing from parts of the scene and Maggot Stomp is a welcome addition to the metal scene.