While preparing the write-up for my top 10 albums of 2019, I realised that most of the albums I had listened to only really felt like top 10 material because, as a whole, I haven't felt very strongly about many releases this year.
I had looked forward to the new albums by Tinariwen, The Budos Band, Death Hawks, Lord Gore, Power Glove, Black Mountain, Grand Magus, and more. But they all sounded aggressively "okay" to my ears.
So, rather than doing an elaborate triple-entendre of top 10 metal and top 10 non-metal albums and runner-ups like I normally would, I ended up deciding on a more concise 10 album format with 5 runner-ups.
I'll admit I've remained largely ignorant of Alcest for my entire music-listening life. That is until I re-listened to 2016's Kodama, which I had foolishly disregarded after a single sitting when it first came out. Songs like Untouched and Je suis d'ailleurs really hit home this time around, and it has undoubtedly been the one album that I've listened to the most in all of 2019. Naturally this caused me to also check out Alcest's modest back catalogue, and of course Spiritual Instinct when it came out in October. With its perfect run-time of 41 minutes the light, cloudy black metal-infused post-rock never outstays its welcome, and though many bands in the genre get too lost in their misty atmospheres, Alcest keeps a solid backbone of memorable guitars and vocals that keeps things interesting throughout with little trouble. Whatever small detours and well-crafted details that are sprinkled across the vast celestial sphere of Spiritual Instinct serve to make the album a continuing experience where each listening unveils new avenues and elements previously unnoticed. And that's exactly what an album-of-the-year should be: Memorable right off the bat, but with enough depth to give it the longevity to stay a classic.
Bruce Soord is arguably better known for his work with The Pineapple Thief, and while his solo material definitely sounds the part, it does something different that makes it entirely something else. The sounds are difficult to link to any specific instrument, and as such the soundscape takes on a very wholesome and complete guise where the music just... is. All This Will Be Yours is a sombre, minimalistic experience, and one best suited for an album format. Though dark in many sections, the overall perspective feels uplifting and offers an optimistic overview of the parts that make up Bruce Soord's musical identity. Is it an album you'd put on at a party? Definitely not. It's an intimate experience, and I'd wager many would call it headphones-friendly music. To a degree it can be what you want it to be: You could sit and listen intently, letting each phrasing wash over you and impact your mood and thoughts. Or you could listen to it on a quiet Sunday while doing something else.
In the day and age where groups like Heilung and Wardruna are playing large concert halls around the globe it'd be easy to throw Wolcensmen in with that lot. And while the general aesthetic partly harkens back to the same period of traditionalist northern European folk music, Wolcensmen's use of digital effects together with more traditional instrumentation lends his music a more cinematic and modern feel. Followers of the dark neofolk subgenre definitely shouldn't be disappointed with the newest album, which boasts an impressive emotional depth from a remarkably downplayed assortment of instrumentation.
Thanks to the mighty Sorceror for spilling the beans on this equally mighty doom band that had until not too long ago remained completely unknown to me. I've often lamented the lack of good clean vocal singing in modern metal, and while Spillage certainly aren't very 'modern' in their stylings, Blood of Angels from 2019 is a fantastic example of a band that could rely entirely on the talent of the lead singer. Their epic, heavy doom metal sound isn't without substantial depth in the instrumental section though. The dual guitars riff it out all the way from start to finish against the groovy backdrop of the bass and drums. It's a simple setup, but it works. If you could imagine a combination of Solitude Aeturnus and Grand Magus, this would be it.
I had the pleasure of seeing Pagan Altar live a few years ago with Brendan Radigan on vocals, and the job he did in filling the shoes of the late great Terry Jones was nothing short of incredible. Fast forward to 2019, and I find out Brendan is also the singer of Magic Circle, which just so happens to also sound a lot like Pagan Altar. The whole 70's doom rock resurgence happened, and yet none of the bands it spawned match what Magic Circle have achieved on Departed Souls in my opinion. The album is jam-packed with crunchy riffs and extravagant hooks taken straight from the playbook of Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Witchfinder General and Pagan Altar. The album could have just as easily been a series of songs built around one or two semi-solid riffs, as was the case with many bands of the afforementioned wave, but Departed Souls feels just like a resurfaced hidden gem from the time when the titans of the genre roamed the planet.
I had expected the long-awaited return of The Budos Band to be my album of the year in the soul and funk category, but their latest effort relied too much on traditional rock tropes to do it for me. Instead I listened to The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble on a whim and was floored by their chaotic rhythm section, burning hot brass instrumentation and tasteful use of keys and guitars, throwing their newest album into the bag of potential top 10 albums rather quickly. Afrobeat has become a rather tired term, but I suppose Sure Fire could as easily fit the bill as The Budos Band. Their sound, however, remains pretty jazzy for the lack of a better word, and exciting as all hell.
For those unfamiliar with Ogre Sound, the project consists largely of themed concept albums and EPs, usually made up of a relatively minimalistic soundscape of analog synths. Lords of the Black Citadel is the first album in a series of albums meant to function as soundtracks for Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. The style feels like a perfect 50/50 mix of synthwave and dungeon synth, but for those unfamiliar with either it should suffice to say that Lords of the Black Citadel is exactly what old 16-bit soundtracks would've sounded like if they were produced with about 30 years of hindsight, reference material and nostalgia. Music such as this could easily turn too atmospheric, but the soundscapes are kept fairly simple and the layers kept rather few, meaning that each beat and melody has been carefully crafted to fit its part perfectly.
Born from the same pedigree that gave us modern synthwave acts like Dynatron and Carpenter Brut, Code Elektro could easily be thrown in with that lot without a second thought. While grand and thorough conceptualisations definitely aren't uncommon in the scene, Code Elektro's style feels so much like it was plucked in its entirety from its own separate universe. The beats are heavy and dancable, but the small tidbits of musical information spread throughout Never Mind the Solar Wind as well as the slightly unusual instrumentations and melodies just takes the music above and beyond.
Hexvessel is one of those bands that I never really managed to get into, but during 2019 something just clicked and I've been listening to their back catalogue in steady rotation. Their latest album doesn't necessarily have the same underlying grim atmosphere that previous albums did, but it's a great example of a band that manage to keep adapting their sound without compromising the basic principles of who and what they are. All Tree is a take on half-psychedelic 60's and 70's folk that feels sufficiently different to be elevated above mere tribute, branching out to many other styles and aesthetics along the way.
Even if old school speed metal has had a huge resurgence in recent years, the truly good albums are few and far between. Vulture is one of those band that have managed a steady output since their beginnings, but remains a thrilling listening experience. Ghastly Waves & Battered Graves has exciting guitars, soaring vocals, a rumbling bassline and ferocious drumming in excess - What else could you possibly want?
Honourable Mentions
Superstition scratches the same itch for Morbid Angel-influenced death metal that Taphos did with their debut album last year. They're fast, they've got catchy hooks and those sinister leads are taken straight from the T. Azagthoth playbook. At times they'll stray from the beaten path with lengthy rambling licks, which could've easily taken them too far into the woods to make any kind of sense, but through it all runs that little red line of recognition that makes them stand out from a large and homogenous crowd.
If you like your death metal thicker than granny's heaviest gravy, look no further. Those that loved the groovy goregrind-infused efforts of Galvanizer and Torture Rack last year, or the classics of early Carcass, Grave and Entombed will surely love the sound of this resurrected Finnish band. Iihtallan has so much substance you could call enjoying it in ample amounts a form of substance abuse. It's got such an overflow of groove that Isaac Hayes and Stevie Wonder would be like "daaaaamn".
Nicola Cruz - Siku
Every time Nicola Cruz releases a new album it feels like a breath of fresh air because it's so unlike most of the stuff you'd hear unless you go specifically looking for ethnographic Andean neo-folk. You could compare it to the newer efforts of Dead Can Dance, but his background in electronic music production lends the beats and melodies a different, more dancable flow, where the ambition feels more centered around a complete concept than many similar artists.
Ligæder - Den Tomme MenneskehedMuch like 2018 this year has had an incredible selection of gruesome death metal on offer, almost to the point where I feel like the market is oversaturated. With Ligæder (Corpse-eater) from Denmark you could draw obvious comparisons to bands like Autopsy and Acephalix, but that punk-oriented crusty take on the genre falls a little out of step from the remaining great death metal releases of 2019, and that's why you won't find much metal of death on the list this year. Den Tomme Menneskehed is a short affaire, but stacked with churning riffs to rock you up.
Mega Drive - 199XAD
I found myself growing less and less interested in synthwave with every new lacklustre, formulaic and low-effort album released in the last few years, to the point where I'll only rarely check out something new. Mega Drive's 199XAD embodies exactly what I fell in love with in the style those years ago before Pertubator, Gunship and Carpenter Brut ruled the scene. 199XAD is heavy, dark, gritty and has an abundance of rough cyberpunk edge that recalls the aesthetic of Ghost in the Shell, Akira and Cyber City Oedo 808 in equal amounts.
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