Kristofor Allred

 

Well, here we are again, at the end of another year gone by all too fast as always. As with most of mankind, 2019 was full of ups and downs, highs and lows, great expectatons, and well, some not so great realizations. Never the less, we forge forward and continue, successful or not, to make the most and/or best of every situation. We try, we stumble, we fail, we learn, and hopefully we eventually succeed. It’s life in a nutshell, and for the most part, I’m okay with it. For me personally, I’m blessed in so many ways that to mention them all would take up countless pages. Though I will say that the love of my wife, my dog, and my connection to and love of heavy metal music has helped me this year, as it always seems to, and I am extremely thankful and blessed in those attributes alone.

 

I am also thankful that here at Teeth of the Divine, we writers are afforded the actual entire year to forge our best of lists. A lot of other sites require their staff to have their lists turned in a month or two early, which essentially takes any November and December releases off the plate. Though that extra afforded time turned out to be a double-edged sword for me this go around, as the holiday week of Christmas had me diving into  quite a few releases that I had previously neglected. In doing so, my pretty much established list took a nose dive and here I am reworking things at the last minute…again. So much for not being a procrastinating dong this year; anyways, on to ‘ze metals…

 

 

 

Top albums of 2019 (in no particular order)

 

This year I did my list a tad bit different, I opted not to include any opinions or synopsis to accompany any of my top twenty releases of 2019. Obviously, these albums have something I enjoy about them regardless if they are to be considered innovative or just ignorant to the metal masses. So instead of me telling you, the reader, why I think these are cool albums, I implore you to instead take a listening journey through my list, as well as my fellow writer’s lists, and see what peaks your interests and pleases you ears. You never know what may end up becoming your new favorite indulgence.

 

 

HATH – Of Rot and Ruin (Willowtip Records)

OverKill – The Wings of War (Nuclear Blast)

Blood Incantation – Hidden History of the Human Race (Dark Descent Records)

The Scars of Pneuma – The Path of Seven Sorrows (Promethean Fire)

Nile – Vile Nilotic Rites (Nuclear Blast)

Exhumed – Horror (Relapse Records)

Death Angel – Humanicide (Nuclear Blast)

Misery Index – Rituals of Power (Season of Mist)

Nocturnus A.D. – Paradox (Profound Lore Records)

Pathology – Reborn to Kill (Pavement Entertainment)

Tomb Mold – Planetary Clairvoyance (20 Buck spin)

Contrarian – Their Worm Never Dies (Willowtip Records)

Abnormality – Sociopathic Constructs (Metal Blade Records)

Cattle Decapitation – Death Atlas (Metal Blade Records)

Nucleus – Entity (Unspeakable Axe Records)

Fleshgod Apocalypse – Veleno (Nuclear Blast)

Infirmity – Descendants of Sodom (Lost Apparitions Records)

Abythic – Conjuring the Obscure (Xtreem Music)

Xoth – Interdimensional Invocations (Independent)

Creeping Death – Wretched Illusions (eOne Music)

                                       Honorable Mentions

 

A lot of these releases could easily be swapped out with those in my proper Best of list, they’re that good; whereas others simply deliver a good and respectable, if not expected, delivery that fully satisfies.

 

Ectoplasma – White-Eyed Trance (Memento Mori)

Blood Red Throne – Fit to Kill (Mighty Music)

Killswitch Engage – Atonement (Metal Blade Records)

Gatecreeper – Deserted (Relapse Records)

Inverted Matter – Detach (Lethal Scissor Records)

Fleshcrawl – Into the Catacombs of Flesh (Apostasy Records)

Hanging Garden – Into That Good Night (Lifeforce Records)

Cannabis Corpse – Nug So Vile (Season of Mist)

Mortiferum – Disgorged from Psychotic Depths (Profound Lore Records)

Necropanther – The Doomed City (Independent)

6 (6,6) EP’s that tickled my metal fancy

Horrified – Sentinel (Testimony Records)

Aggravator – Aggravator (Independent)

Tales of the Tomb – Volume Two: Mendacium (Independent)

Engulf – Transcend (Everlasting Spew Records)

Critical Extravasation – Morbid Existence (Independent)

Cianide – Unhumanized (Hells Headbangers Records)

 

13 unlucky albums that I neglected to hear and/or spend any quality time with (something I plan to rectify soon)…

 

Borknagar – True North (Century Media Records)

Flotsam and Jetsam – The End of Chaos ( AFM Records)

Mayhem – Daemon (Century Media Records)

Eternity’s End – Unyeilding (Ram It Down Records)

Abigail Williams – Walk Beyond the Dark (Blood Music)

No One Knows What the Dead Think – Self-titled (Willowtip Records)

Disentomb – The Decaying Light (Unique Leader Records)

As I Lay Dying – Shaped by Fire (Nuclear Blast)

WarCrab – Damned in Endless Night (Transcending Obscurity Records)

Blut Aus Nord – Hallucinogen (Debemur Morti Productions)

Devourment – Obscene Majesty (Relapse Records)

Paladin – Ascension (Prosthetic Records)

Unfathomable Ruination – Enraged & Unbound (Willowtip Records)

       5 albums that took me by surprise, AKA better than I would have guessed

 

Vltimas – Something Wicked Marches In (Season of Mist)

Toxic Holocaust – Primal Future: 2019 (eOne Music)

In Flames – I, the Mask (Nuclear Blast)

Malevolent Creation  – The 13^th Beast (Century Media Records)

Destruction – Born to Perish (Nuclear Blast)

      5 albums that took me by surprise, AKA I would’ve guessed they’d be better

 

Abbath – Outstrider (Season of Mist)

Rotting Christ – The Heretics (Season of Mist)

Sacred Reich – Awakening (Metal Blade Records)

Amon Amarth – Berserker (Metal Blade Records)

Exhorder – Mourn the Southern Skies (Nuclear Blast)