TONEwood's Top 10 Albums of 2019

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.

WULFAZ - Eriks kumbl SECOND PRESSING out now!

WULFAZ - Eriks kumbl SECOND PRESSING out now!

The second pressing of WULFAZ' debut EP "Eriks kumbl" is out now. The new edition is again limited to 50 copies, but this time it comes in a hand-crafted card stock sleeve with a hand-printed lino-block carved image.

KILLING and ILDSTORM Tapes Out Now

KILLING and ILDSTORM Tapes Out Now

Two new releases on TONEwood Music - TT14 and TT15 - are finally available.

TONEwood's Top 10 Metal Albums of 2018

For fear of sounding like a Jerry Seinfeld joke, what's with all the insane death metal albums this year? Though I consider myself to have a broad taste, my greatest worry in making this year's top 10 metal albums has been whether or not the list would be too samey. I decided that censoring or catering the list for any reason wouldn't be right - After all it should only be about which albums were best - subjectively, of course. Now the biggest challenge is gonna be varying the descriptions...

Nekrodeus: "Moloch"

Hardened death metal with a black core

I hate to start out a review with classic review tropes, but have you ever wondered what Nasum would sound like if Mieszko had had a hidden infatuation with black metal? Though Austrian quintet Nekrodeus have their roots in burly death metal, their debut full length - Moloch - is essentially a blackened version of Inhale/Exhale.

Skogen: "Skuggorna Kallar"

A turn to something worse, or the beginning of a new exciting chapter?

Skogen is one of those bands that just keep getting better and better. From Vittra in 2009, through Svitjod and Eld, I Döden from 2014 was the culmination of a lengthy venture into the ultimate combination of traditional black metal guitar riffs and exceptionally immersive atmosphere. I Döden was - and still is - one of the most surprising and stand-out black metal albums of the 2010s for me. But leave it to Skogen to throw us another curve ball.

Bednja: "Doline Su Ostale Iza Nas"

Brooding darkness bisected by equal parts metal and hardcore

From the start it's clear that Croatian black metal practitioners Bednja aren't your average, garden variety black metal group. Though there is expansive tremolo riff-scapes aplenty, their mix also borrows heavily from modern hardcore, adding grooves and interesting melodies - as well as a more shout-oriented vocal style - to the concoction.

Thecodontion: "Thecodontia"

Deadly bass-driven chaos

Who would've ever thought that taxonomy and paleontology would father a metal band? However unlikely it may seem, Thecodontion channel the highly destructive forces of pre-history into a dense state of chaos on their debut demo, Thecodontia.

Botanist: "Collective: The Shape of He to Come"

Difficult to enjoy, but more than just haphazardly composed black metal

Not being familiar with the works of Botanist, you'll have to excuse me for expecting something a bit different than what Collective: The Shape of He to Come is. In a way you could easily argue that the cover for this 2017 album is indeed very fitting of the obscure, yet oddly naturalistic sounds found on the disc. Whatever it was I originally had thought this album would sound like, that notion was blown to bits and pieces.

Grift: "Arvet"

Contemplative style-defying music

Grift, the project founded and maintained by Erik Gärdefors since 2011, has always marked itself as an endeavour that wholeheartedly belongs to neither a pure metal or rock ethos. In that regard, Grift seems like a symbol of the direction of contemporary music, mixing typically oppositional elements of desperate black metal, airy post rock and sombre dark folk with just a sprinkle of shoegaze in a conglomerate that could best be described merely as 'art'.

Over the Voids...: "Over the Voids"

Consistently uninteresting with few exceptions

Over the years I've found the part of the black metal scene that consists of one-man bands to be the most hit-or-miss prone part. The Fall is a Polish musician who has been involved with quite a few bands, playing live bass for the likes of Mgla and Clandestine Blaze. Over the Voids... is the first band in which he claims the guitar (and all other roles within the band as well) as his instrument, and that does show in the final product.

TONEwood's Top 10 Metal Albums of 2017

Following the format from 2016, I'll be making two separate lists for the end of 2017. One specifically for metal and its subgenres, and one for all other genres - including hard rock.

Voëmmr: "Nox Maledictvs"

Harsh black metal only for the most incarnated

Voëmmr is one of those bands that subscribe to the ultra cult of mystery and obscurity. Very little is known about them officially, except their belonging to the Aldebaran Circle which also includes bands like Ordem Satânica, Trono Além Morte and Occelenbriig. Nox Maledictvs, though labeled a demo, is the group's debut album of clamouring black noise.

Ieschure: "The Shadow"

Mystic debut which forms a thorough impression of style and concept

Black metal is dangerous territory if you don't have what it takes. There's so much competition, that any band lacking in talent or concept will get snuffed from existence in the blink of an eye. Iescure is an artist that, while dabling in the black arts with some degree of artistic ability, teeters on the edge that separates the bands of tomorrow with those that are bound to be forgotten sooner rather than later.

Satyricon Rant

The artwork in question

Boo hoo, people don't like our new album cover

Satyricon recently posted a sort of passive aggressive rant on their Facebook, where Satyr and Frost are visiting the official Edvard Munch Museum. In their own words they are "proud and happy to hear how pleased the Munch Museum was with the way we have used his art on our cover," and that they (the Munch Museum) were "a little bit surprised to hear about the banal reactions of a sorry and weak minority," referring of course to the relatively large amount of people who think the cover looks lame as hell.

Sons of Crom: "The Black Tower"

The strongest arm in modern heavy metal

I can tell by the quality of The Black Tower that my lacking acquaintance with the duo's album debut from 2014, Riddle of Steel, is a huge mistake that will soon have to be mended. From the name one would expect fairly traditional heavy metal, but The Black Tower is anything but bound by the shackles of tradition.

Sunken: "Departure"

Bombarded by cosmic rays, Sunken scour the farthest corners of Earth to bring the best that atmospheric black metal has to offer.

The days of Arescet are long gone, with the band having more than a few years ago transformed into what we see and hear before us today: Sunken. A nautical leviathan of black metal. It has been quite the wait since the band's demo debut The Crackling of Embers, but the wait has been well worth it.

Muka: "Sveta Stoka"

While playing the imitation game, Muka found their own sound in tightly-knit chaos

Listening to Muka's 2017 EP Sveta Stoka at full volume allows one to fully appreciate their dissonant, intricate layering. Each track is a roaring flurry of bone-crunching processions, echoing efforts by bands such as Deathspell Omega, but never resorting to straight up imitation.

Sangus: "Vengeful Brutality"

No holds barred, no corners cut, just survival of the fittest

Holding high the tatteret banners of thrash-encrusted black metal are Sangus of Rhode Island, USA. Vengeful Brutality seems a fitting title for the kind of furious black metal ablaze with the naked flames of crust punk that we find under their moniker. But the intensity of the raw abrasions comes at the cost of the atmosphere often found inherent in black metal, gambling with the wholesomeness of the debut, often making it a cacophonous mess of blasting drums and hostile guitars.

Non Opus Dei & Morowe: "Dziwki Dwie"

Impressive and different black metal from Poland, taking jabs at the inadequacies of the established scene

In the case of this split EP by Polish country-mates Non Opus Dei and Morowe there's a little more going on than the old "two bands getting together to release something" schtick. Non Opus Dei have been gracing Europe with several old school black metal albums since the late 90s, their sound representative for the time, if at times venturing further. Morowe, in the same manner, are a product of their times, only they are a much younger band. These guys are definitely not afraid of pushing the boundaries of black metal, and together these two groups represent old and new.