Best of 2019

1) Fvneral Fvkk - Carnal Confessions



As if the last album wasn’t problematic enough… Fvneral Fvkk is an album written from the perspective of a debaucherous clergy. It revels in acts of abuse at the hands of the faithful and doesn’t pull any punches in doing so. Given how sensitive people are these days I feel the urge whenever I play this for someone to preface it with some big speech about how this isn’t to be taken literally. But, I should stop doing that. If you’re not grown up enough to understand satire then stay happy in the warming embrace of your addiction to pathetic virtue signalling. Fvneral Fvkk is having fun writing music that unflinchingly takes the piss of the corrupt and predatory church. Forgetting all that, this band sounds like the love child of Type O Negative and Candlemass so… it’s quite good.

Best of 2019

2) Deathspell Omega - The Furnaces of Palingenesia



Oh the controversy! The shroud of secrecy protecting the identity of the band members involved was lifted this year. One of the members turned out to be a fascist. Given I’m not the type to participate in the new wave of cancel culture I did my research to make absolutely sure who I was listening to was indeed an honest to god asshole. Turns out he’s no good, so what are we to do? Should we give the guy our hard-earned money? For me, it depends on how good the album is. Can we learn from the compositions? Can they influence us to write? Can we learn from the lyrics? Can they influence us to think? It turns out the answer is yes.To say this is fascist propaganda because one of the members is an asshole is to deny yourself a truly brilliant album from one of the best black metal bands writing today. It’s funny that I discovered all this hullabaloo after listening to the album because my initial perception of the lyrical content was that it was shining a light on fascist behavior, articulating the idea that we are being controlled and imprisoned by leaders we never chose and to beware of these figures. Maybe this asshole is growing up a little. Maybe this asshole should be engaged in conversation and challenged by his opponents in public forums. Maybe we should have the fucking conversation and not dismiss a work of art before experiencing it.

Best of 2019

3) Abyssal - A Beacon in the Husk

I’ve made arguments in the past saying that if motivated enough a psychopath is perfectly capable of writing, recording, and releasing albums that sound full and complete enough to compete with bands of several members. The key word there is psychopath. That is especially apparent in this case. A Beacon in the Husk is a nightmare of swirling tremolo riffs and thunderous, volatile percussion. This is music born from a polluted mind and I’m so glad we still have this sort of voice in the world. This voice screams so loudly into the void that any right-minded person would immediately turn away in disgust. It’s unfortunate society forgot so long ago how to appreciate a divergent expression, how to watch the decay of something beautiful and revel in the knowledge of entropy. I hope this young man’s day job pays the bills well enough because there’s no way in hell he’s making any money from this project, outside of selling a handful of records to me and other dutiful metalheads striving to be as polluted.

Best of 2019

4) Weeping Sores - False Confession



Now there’s a band name only a mother could love. The album art is equally upsetting, being a vivid oil-based painting of a crusty scab. The music herein is mostly of the sludge variety with some unexpected violin-focused interludes that give some much needed dynamism to this formula. It was neurosis that made the genre interesting and their output is so sporadic I find myself trying a bunch of sludge looking for the spirit of neurosis, but giving up rather quickly. Weeping Sores is trying their level best to make sludge interesting with wandering low gain passages winding their way to remarkably memorable subterranean places. This is the debut full-length from Weeping Sores and I hope there’s more to come.

Best of 2019

5) Oh Hiroshima - Oscillation



That’s an odd band name. It sort of has the vibe of looking at the Japanese city of Hiroshima as a character on Seinfeld who just did a foolish, irresponsible thing. “Oh, Hiroshima, there you go getting bombed again, you silly Hiroshima.” Getting back on topic, this album is a graceful swansong, an expression of melancholy with enough hooks to keep you coming back. I wouldn’t say this is the most engaging album of the year but it is warm and comforting. It reminds of Explosions in the Sky with the occasional assistance from a nurturing vocalist. I wasn’t aware of this band before 2019, but I’ll be keeping an ear out for future releases because it’s rare that an album will feel so much like a home in which I once lived.

Best of 2019

6) Necropanther - The Doomed City



What is this beast? It sounds equal parts traditional heavy metal and grind-core but not enough of either to have a clear definition. Whatever it is I’m smitten. Doomed City is a concept record about a society declining into the post-apocalyptic and with all the nature documentaries I’ve been watching telling me the world is going to end any day now it feels like an accurate manifestation of the spirit of the times. Steven Pinker would have you believe everything’s fine and dandy, but try telling that to the koalas or Necropanther.

Best of 2019

7) Oro - Djupets kall



After listening to the dial tone that was the new Cult of Luna record, I really had a hankering for some post-sludge, so a good amount of time was spent this year scouring the information highways and byways for something reminiscent of the golden age of the genre. Oro must’ve missed the memo that post-sludge needs to be boring because this album brings the goods. Those big rhythmic riffs taylor-made for hard and slow headbanging are present throughout, occasionally punctuated by meditative, reflective passages. This is the album for people disappointed by Cult of Luna’s slow descent, for people who still mourn ISIS. I wouldn’t count on it being the revival of a dying genre, but it is a beautiful ember floating above the wreckage.

Best of 2019

8) Magic Circle - Departed Souls



I’m still trapped in the past, first thrash and now Deep Purple worship. Who could possibly be the market demographic for this record? Old guys and gals sick and tired of a world spinning a little too fast, smokers and bikers who’ve heard enough about the recklessness of their lifestyle. Of course their critics are correct in their assessment and most of that market has died young, so I don’t know who’s left to appreciate this music. Maybe I shouldn’t worry so much about that. Maybe I should just enjoy this shit and keep my mouth shut. I hope the members of Magic Circle have side jobs that keep them watered and fed so they can keep writing such disastrously unmarketable, nostalgic hard rock.

Best of 2019

9) Anticosm - Call of the Void

I’ve declared thrash to be dead a few times, no growth since the masters of old, nothing to see here outside of the occasional guitarist who can write good licks and play them at the speed of light. But, the past few years I have featured a thrash album. Maybe I should begin to change my tune and embrace a new wave of modern thrash. Wave might be a strong word, more of a trickle. Anticosm seemed to fly well under the radar of most listeners this year, but this album really spoke to me. It might be because they borrow the occasional flourish from old school death metal, or that they have the rare skill of slowing a thrash song down to really explore a melodic motif. The songs featured here are memorable, they have hooks, which is more than can be said for most other modern thrash. Break-neck speed is nothing if you don’t have a hook to drag you through the mire of swirling leads and rotten words.

Best of 2019

10) A Winged Victory for the Sullen - The Undivided Five



It’s not unusual to begin my list with an ambient piece of music and this certainly was my favorite ambient release of the year. There’s a “making of” video on Youtube showcasing the recording process of this album. This involved the implementation of a reverb effect, not from a digitized pedal or piece of software, rather by re-recording master tracks in an old cathedral. This method of sound production is so attractive in these times of shortcuts and illusions of effect, monetized to extract all value or creativity from them. Let’s not forget completely what treasures exist in the analog world, what we can accomplish by reaching out to members of our local community who happen to administer the places where melody and harmony were first explored. The song titles on the album are predictably ridiculous given there are no lyrical themes expressed, but the music herein is a journey to a more analog presentation of music. This is a palate cleanser from all the so-called future pop and a good place to start as we move into more modern genres.

Best of 2019

Introduction

To attempt to explain why artists weren’t motivated enough to reach for the high water marks of years past would be a futile gesture. Speculation would have us believe there is a collective disappointment with existence, a feeling that no matter what effort was made toward a specific end we always wind up in a similar place of steady decline. Isn’t this reminiscent of what it would be like if all of society at once realized that everyone dies and no one can escape the feeling of being mortal. The hopeful art feels artificial, it feels as if it’s been made as a product to appease the masses while generating revenue. And actual, real art, made from a place of striving to do something great has for whatever reason, be it mortality, or disillusionment sounds muted in this year’s music. This doesn’t mean, of course, that I have nothing to share. I’ve chosen a few albums that stood out among the productized, formulaic, and pointless expressions. They may not stand the test of time, but they did help pass the time. There are moments on these albums that I will remember, intentions that are important, even if those intentions weren’t fully realized.