2019 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock Poll: VOTING & CAMPAIGNING thread (open until the 21st of February)

Let the ceremony begin again.

You know the rules: up to 50 votes, weighted/ranked or unweighted/unranked. Here is the voting form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfj_cLkJTyGfm3DqDvxo6RTep8oMptIkJgKF3LiIK4q6yEwWg/viewform

And the full list of nominations:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bVjW_gga7VJMjN4K8qHwIyA5LppEIY8_aEH4_nT6WRU/edit?usp=sharing

For the love of all that is unholy, please copy and paste titles directly from the spreadsheet to the voting form. To wit:

10 000 Russos - Kompromat
1349 - The Infernal Pathway
9mm Parabellum Bullet - DEEP BLUE
A Secret Revealed - Sacrifices
Abbath - Outstrider

Please post here upon voting that we may double-check whether your ballot made it through.

You have until midnight (PST) on Friday, the 7th of February (i.e. Saturday morning in the UK).

Until then, campaign away!

(I’m leaving Spotify duties up to the others, as I still don’t have an account.)

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1uKGEOJlIeCmzYH7kf5d9A?si=VVPrvp9aRT2guNgD_xzL4w

Thanks.

Lingua Ignota - Caligula
https://youtu.be/M1ZweG__q-w
I keep comparing this record to later Scott Walker material, maybe just because of the production. Everything sounds uncomfortably close, like she's two inches in front of your face, hissing and spraying blood between her teeth.

Elder - The Gold and Silver Sessions
https://youtu.be/Ra-zDXe8bNc
Elder went motorik. Also the band has moved to Germany full stop now, and they just hired a new drummer.

Moon Tooth - Crux
https://youtu.be/f5n78mg22VM
A little more pop-based structurally than Chromaparagon, but they still shred. No 12 minute closer on this one.

Amygdala - Our Voices Will Soar Forever
https://youtu.be/KI-aBqhzgKc
Queer anti-fascist hardcore is the future of hardcore.

Clouds Taste Satanic - Second Sight
https://youtu.be/awAzbomDsIM
This was the second of two single LPs CTS put out this year, and this one is a giant leap forward melodically, rather than just stoner riffs everywhere. It's exciting to hear them evolve.

Funereal Presence - Achatius
https://youtu.be/XKL3U9AXX8c
This'll teach me to not take Bandcamp's recommendations seriously. Video chosen for the ambiance (skulls!).

Sorry I didn't remember how to embed, I thought about experimenting with it but went with consistently doing it wrong rather than maybe getting it right once and breaking the other four links.

I may not vote for Caligula in this poll because only the trvest of the trve must be honoured but it sure as hell will make the top 10 of my other ballot.

no, tom, you did it absolutely the right way. No embedding on this thread.

Who wants to vote first?

My ballot is more or less ready but I want to sample other people's favourites first.

Speaking of which, that Elder EP is sounding great, even better than their last LP.

Epic doom fans, take heed, Troll's Legend Master is well worth your time:

https://trollpdx.bandcamp.com/album/legend-master

For a sample, start with track 3.

New Multishiva EP is basically Motorhead on bad acid, howling ramalama, total fucking dunkelheit!

https://multishiva.bandcamp.com/album/savup-iv

Maybe odd for someone who championed All Bitches Die so heavily but I'm not feeling Caligula at all, even if on the surface it's just more of the same.

Submitted. Saw there was a Shin Guard repeat. FYI I went with the one spelled with 2 words if that sways which if any you remove.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll delete the other one then.

Maybe odd for someone who championed All Bitches Die so heavily but I'm not feeling Caligula at all, even if on the surface it's just more of the same.

I felt that way at first, partly because of Caligula's length and its more sparing recourse to white noise, but I've come around.

Caligula is the album that has most sharply divided opinion in my household for a while. (I love it; tt...certainly doesn't)

That Multishiva ep that DAM posted above is badass. Big dirty whirlwind of sound, reminds me of Hugh Rise a bit

whatever happened to shug rise

Bah

High Rise obv

Are you going to vote, Mr B?

bump

vote for Fly Pan Am

I haven't heard it yet but I'll check it out.

Three more from based Iceland.

I already mentioned Andvaka: funeral doom with a forceful hymnic bent that recalls Sigur Rós ca. ( ), led by a voice far graver than Jónsi's (start with track 2).

https://andvaka.bandcamp.com/album/andvana

Similarly named (say my mainlander's ears), depressive black metal purveyors Andavald, a musical rendering of Beckett's 'I can't go on, I'll go on'.

https://andavald.bandcamp.com/album/undir-skygg-arhaldi

And of course, Misþyrming, which stands firmly atop last year's pile of meloblack with their infinity riffs and unyielding songwriting.

https://misthyrming.bandcamp.com/album/algleymi

Xp Haha pomenitul I'll be honest, I suspect FPA not trvth enough to make your ballot but it's a pretty wild listen nonetheless

I still haven't checked out the last Misþyrming record tbh, but I'm pretty I'd need to be made of sterner stuff in order to pass up the tantalizing proposition of ☆infinity riffs☆

FPA are fellow Montrealers that have been around for a long time and that I've somehow managed never to hear for no particular reason, so I'd say now's as good a time as any to make up for that.

Always loved them but the new album is defo blackgaze but also very good as they put their own spin on it. I do recommend it to those reading who aren't tr00 kvlt bores

Good to see FPA 'allowed' here, will def vote for them in this.

Thanks for the recs Pom, it's a dreadfully dark and pissy rainy day to dig into them later!

Just listening to that Misþyrming album and wow they really, really really like Mgla.

Listened to it a second time, man that’s shameless. Whoever was representing the Marvin Gaye estate can probably expect a phone call from Poland.

Algleymi features more 'progressive' touches than the classic & to my ears more minimalistic Mgła sound.

I can see they try to embellish things a bit with different melodies and some fancy synth interludes but their main groove is *so* similar, the vocals both in sound and cadence, the drums, the song structures...I mean these guys are good at what they do, it's undoubtedly a good record and right up my alley in principle but I'm not sure I can get fully on board here.

Algleymi features more 'progressive' touches than the classic & to my ears more minimalistic Mgła sound.

Certainly, no one could accuse Mgla of being progressive.

this one should be on the list too:
https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/cul

I can hear where you're coming from, Siegbran, but I do think there's enough variation in terms of structure and atmosphere to impel a distinct effect. Incidentally, as much as I enjoy Age of Excuse, Algleymi tops it in my book, in no small part due to its epic aspirations and more open-ended songwriting.

Having finally heard the FPA album: C'est ça >>> Love Exchange Failure.

well, LEF was basically this year's Deafheaven album so

At times C'est ça comes across as a friendly send-up of blackgaze as a whole, which mirrors my own feelings towards it.

Kinda bummed this Calacorn demo didn't get nominated, it's pretty rad. At least Herxheim made it!

My mistake, I guess it's *Calacorm* & holy moley it rules!

https://calacorm.bandcamp.com/album/calacormic-visions-demo

I just wanted to remind everybody about the great Vastum album, "Orificial Purge", which I listened to way more than the Tomb Mold album (not that it has to be either/or). The intro to the title track is just beastly. I cannot listen to it without at least slightly head banging.

An album discovered fairly recently - maybe through this thread - is Immortal Bird's Thrive on Neglect. Stand out track for me is Avolition. Another nice discovery is that Jute Gyte finally released something that clicked with me this year, though I don't know if it will make my ballot. That nominations list is intimidating. I feel like with a few exceptions my ballot is going to be almost identical to my nominations.

I meant to extend the "slightly head banging" thought, which as written reads like some extremely faint praise, to make it clear that it causes me to do so in inappropriate public places, such as my place of work, the gym, public transportation, etc.

There could be a good 'which tracks make you spontaneously head bang' thread! For me, the two that spring straight to mind are Sinners Bleed and Raining Blood.

Cosign on the Vastum, one of my favorite death metal albums of 2019, along with Imprecation and Coffin Rot.

From the province that turned the word 'tabernacle' into a slur, I give you… Ossuaire, who put out an impressive diptych of albums last year. The first, Premiers chants is very much worth your time, but the second, aptly-named Derniers chants is where it's at:

https://ossuaire.bandcamp.com/album/derniers-chants

This is anti-Catholic melodic atmoblack haunted by the troubadours of yore and which does very little to expand the (primarily francophone) subgenre. Not that it matters: Ossuaire achieves exactly what it sets out to do, thanks in no small part to its superlative songwriting.

Speaking of medieval-esque BM gestures, Obsequiae's The Palms of Sorrowed Kings is absolutely glorious, although I doubt it'll need my help to place.

A few more that don't need my laurels to place but that will undoubtedly be on my ballot:

Big Brave – A Gaze Among Them
Cult of Luna – A Dawn to Fear
Mgła – Age of Excuse
Sunn O))) – Life Metal
Tomb Mold – Planetary Clairvoyance

I like this Elizabeth Colour Wheel song a lot, like I mean a lot a lot (& it's not entirely dissimilar to Big Brave, now that I think about it)

https://youtu.be/VL6fyoQZh2g

I quite enjoyed that album, but Big Brave's dronier tempos and Robin Wattie's voice give them a clear edge imho.

a few reminders for anyone still making a ballot:

XOTH: insanely fun sci-fi death metal with a perfect balance of goofiness and serious chops
HAUNTER: kitchen sink black-death-whatever with a ton of incredible ornamental flourishes
WEEPING SORES: Stunning violin-aided techy death-doom ft Doug Moore of Pyrrhon
WORMED: the best grindcore(?) band on the planet
NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THE DEAD THINK: the best grindcore band on the planet
FALLS OF RAUROS: Of all the bands doing the "wintry sweeping melodic BM you would listen to on a trek through the woods" thing, FOR do it best

^ Seconding those Xoth and NOKWtDT takes. I did not know Falls of Rauros had released a new album in 2019!

If you only have space in your ballot for one more tragically beautiful sun-drenched blackgaze album, make it 'Circle of Veins' by Sadness. At the very least, skip ahead to 'Cerrien' and weep.

FoR are seriously under-known/promoted considering how great they are.

I like that Cloud Rat and Monolord both had a song called 'Last Leaf' last year

speaking of, this cloud rat record is a... masterpiece?

i liked it before but it's really hitting me today

it is obviously a huge step up from qliphoth which i thought was incredible

I preferred qliphoth for its greater ratio of dreamy moments, but still think Pollinator is brilliant.

Much as I adore the PUP and Microwave albums, I cannot vote for them in good conscience in this poll.

Oor Neechy / pomenitul - very sorry - I re-submitted - Imprecation and Xoth had just been getting so many spins lately, I couldn't NOT re-submit! Hope that's cool.

reminder that oozing wound good

resubmitting is fine!

2008 30 Ballots
2009 50 Ballots
2010 80 Ballots
2011 74 Ballots
2012 51 Ballots
2013 53 Ballots
2014 62 Ballots
2015 61 Ballots
2016 42 Ballots
2017 40 Ballots
2018 33 Ballots
2019 ?

Lol Brad I fuckin love oozing wound and almost listed them upthread

Sadly there's a lot less interest in the poll now.

xp

Not that surprising considering how heavy and/or dark music did in the main polls. I expect Lingua Ignota and Liturgy to do well. I'm fine with the smaller number, though in a way I think the sheer amount of nominations dilutes the end result a little bit.

Submitted my weighted ballot of 50! It's not the most perfect order, but it will do. This poll always makes me wonder why I'm not listening to metal constantly.

tt has gotten 90 down to 50. I have gotten 16 up to 21 with some last-minute scrambling. A couple of things have been given a lot of points based on a very brief impression. Let's hope the whole Ifernach and Akasha records are as kickass as my brief impressions make them out to be...

Lingua might just top this sucker.

yes, and i reckon my top 5 will all make the top 10

Anyone else planning to vote?

As long at the voting form is open you can still vote. I think seandalai will post here when he's closing it so post in here if you intend to vote.

You will have another 8 or 9 hours to vote for sure.

Still working out my ballot, thanks!

Just finished Ausmuteants--instantly a total classic--and now listening to Car Bomb, which is a bit more traditional than I'd hoped but there seems to be a lot of interesting passages for one to trip over :D

I think it will be a shame if nobody else has voted for the best Boris album in a decade.

Voted but my ballot was slim. Metal just wasn't my focus last year.

Seems to be a common theme this/these past year(s) :(

I will def vote for that Boris album

Finding seven albums I thoroughly enjoy in one genre in one year doesn't seem that bad to me, honestly.

fell asleep, looks like i’m gonna miss the deadline oh well

Deadline still not quite here! Hope you managed to scrape together a ballot of your favourites

It's not over 'till seandalai says it's over.

Hey seandalai give me a 5 minute warning plz🙏, my ballot is about half-dozen in another window

Godspeed!

Ok voted

It's still open, folks. Vote while you can!

forgive me, metal albums were very long this year, but i am submitting a ballot within the next hour

🤘

thats fine. no sign of seandalai and as long as the vote form is open its fine!

submitted

all that research just to submit a 20 album weighted ballot but i feel really strongly about those 20 albums

Thanks for voting!

Until seandalai says so the voting is open

the disentomb record is all i ever want out of metal

i've said that before but it was worth saying again

Voting still open if anyone wants to avoid the "oh I didn't know this poll was happening" dog latin type post

VOTING IS CLOSED.

I have results.

We might start shortly with the traditional weekend bonus.

77-50 then ten a day?

we dont do 77

66?

77

i can type numbers too

2019 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock/Heavy Music Poll: RESULTS - Top 100 Countdown

the disentomb record is all i ever want out of metal

BRUH! holy shyt! this album is insane!!!!
thank u!!