25. Freedom
Call - Beyond
I will always remember 2014 as the year I
learned to embrace traditional heavy metal and power metal. This album is
downright joyful and it’s one I turned to whenever I need a spiritual lift. Top
notch power metal.
24. Abigor -
Leytmotif Luzifer (The 7 Temptations of Man)
Ferocious and often completely unhinged black
metal. It’s slightly less progressive than 2010’s ‘Time is Sulphur in the Veins
of the Saint’, but the narrower focus makes this album more cohesive than its
predecessor and therefore better in my book.
23. Vanhelgd
- Relics of Sulphur Salvation
More restrained than most in the speed
department for a death metal band, and the riffs are able breathe and leave a
lasting impact as a result. Not just any band could make this approach work,
but Vanhelgd has mastered this style
22.
Necrophagia - White Worm Cathedral
A bit of a surprise for me as I’d kind of given
up hope after a string of releases that didn’t click with me at all. This one’s
supremely catchy and the classic horror schtick is through the roof (in a good
way).
The
Sludgelord Review: http://thesludgelord.blogspot.com/2014/11/necrophagia-whiteworm-cathedral-album.html
21.
Generation of Vipers - Coffin Wisdom
This one crept up out of nowhere. I’d never even
heard the name prior to this one landing in my inbox, and beyond the massive
heaviness, you’ll have a difficult time finding a band with a better rhythm
section or just rhythm in general for a post metal band.
The
Sludgelord Review: http://thesludgelord.blogspot.com/2014/11/generation-of-vipers-coffin-wisdom.html
20. Judas
Priest - Redeemer of Souls
This is the first Judas Priest album since Painkiller that’s really resonated with
me. The one-two combo of ‘Halls of Valhalla’ and ‘Sword of Damocles’ is a
deadly one and the album’s highlight, but there’s plenty more greatness to go
around. It’s great to have them in such a strong form again.
19. Bastard
Sapling - Instinct is Forever
This was almost guaranteed to end up on my list
just for existing. A love letter to the less necro side of 90s second wave
black metal. This album scorches from top to bottom, though ‘Lantern at the End
of Time’ is one of the great songs of the year.
The
Sludgelord Review: http://thesludgelord.blogspot.com/2014/08/bastard-sapling-instinct-is-forever.html
18. Slough
Feg - Digital Resistance
Though very different musically from Freedom
Call, Digital Resistance gives me a
similarly joyful feeling every time I listen to it. There’s no band that sounds
like Slough Feg in 2014 and that’s a testament to just how creative they are.
The
Sludgelord Review: http://thesludgelord.blogspot.com/2014/02/slough-feg-digital-resistance-album.html
17. Mare
Cognitum - Phobos Monolith
Wonderful atmospheric black metal. Not so heavy
on the atmosphere that it loses ferocity when it’s aiming for it. Mare Cognitum
are a similar hemisphere as Darkspace, but wisely very different and willing to
change things up.
16. Nux
Vomica - Nux Vomica
In my review of this album, I thought it would
have to be a hell of a year for Nux Vomica to end up out of my top 3 for the
year. Turns out it was a hell of a year, but this is still an elite level
sludge/crust hybrid, with a better grasp of melody than most.
The
Sludgelord Review: http://thesludgelord.blogspot.com/2014/05/nux-vomica-st-album-review.html
15. Midnight
- No Mercy for Mayhem
This band seems to be incapable of doing much
wrong in my mind. Sleaze upon sleaze, Venom upon Motorhead; this band is going
to be a consistent favorite for years to come at this rate.
14.
Panopticon - Roads to the North
They’ve somehow managed to improve upon the Kentucky formula with the bluegrass and
folk elements being performed at a higher level and the inclusion of mid-90s
Gothenburg death metal riffs being a great new addition to the overall
direction.
The
Sludgelord Review: http://thesludgelord.blogspot.com/2014/08/panopticon-roads-to-north-album-review.html
13. Mortals
- Cursed to See the Future
Even being in the top 15, I may have underrated
this album when I look back on this list over the years. Blending black metal
and sludge driven by brilliant rhythm choices and riffs that are layered but
not over-busy. They’re a must-watch live, too.
The
Sludgelord Review: http://thesludgelord.blogspot.com/2014/07/mortals-cursed-to-see-future-album.html
12. The
Great Old Ones - Tekeli-Li
There’s so many elements melted into one
cohesive sound with The Great Old Ones, that it’s damn near impossible to give
a truly accurate description of them. The base is post metal and sludge, but
you’ve got tons of black metal and even some Daylight Dies style melodic
death-doom. You’ll just have to listen to it.
11.
Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden
Thick, melodic doom with its heart belonging to
70s and 80s metal and hard rock. They’ve got a lot of appeal outside of the
metal bubble, likely because they’re gifted songwriters and can craft a
merciless hook, but it is what it is: a metal album that places more importance
on melody than worrying about metal purism.
The
Sludgelord Review: http://thesludgelord.blogspot.com/2014/08/pallbearer-foundations-of-burden-album.html
10.
Diocletian - Gesundrian
This is something else. See, I’m a huge fan of
Angelcorpse and bands along those lines. This is the ugliest, nastiest version
of that style of death metal. Albums like Gesundrian
are why I’ll never really get into ultra-polished death metal acts. This is
just too much more engaging.
09.
Artificial Brain - Labyrinth Constellation
Talk about a fully-realized band concept from
start to finish! They sound just like their album cover looks. It takes the
feel and atmosphere of Gorguts/Immolation/Ulcerate and combines it with this
awesome mechanical bass tone that sounds like a android freaking out. Not the
most eloquent description, but it’s the best one I’ve got.
08.
Nightfell - The Living Ever Mourn
An excellent marriage of Tragedy-style crust
with Mournful Congregation style doom melodies resulting in a fantastic new
death/doom metal band. Because the two styles haven’t really been blended very
much, it sounds fresh and interesting despite its relative orthodoxy.
The
Sludgelord Review: http://thesludgelord.blogspot.com/2014/07/nightfell-living-ever-mourn-album-review.html
07. Skull
Fist - Chasing the Dream
Very much stuck in the past, but still
overflowing with youthful exuberance. Tremendous heavy metal songcraft with
top-tier consistency from top to bottom. Might be a bit glam-sounding for some
folks, but this is the year I’ve wholly embraced 70s and 80s metal in a way
that I never have before, thanks to the awesome 80s
Essentials series that Last Rites published this year. This hit that
same sweet spot in a big way for me.
06.
Thantifaxath - Sacred White Noise
Showing that there’s no need to get into
post-anything in order to keep black metal moving forward, Thantifaxath have
created a sound that avoids being derivative while still being clearly black
metal. It’s unnerving, jarring, and harrowing; which black metal rarely is
anymore. If ‘The Return’ is a classic Universal monster movie, Sacred White Noise is Martyrs.
05.
Dawnbringer - Night of the Hammer
I’ve written a lot about this album, but in a
nutshell it comes down to this: Dawnbringer wring every drop they can out of
each and every riff and do so while keeping everything so simple and memorable
that everything on the album means
something. Sure on the surface its a combination of classic heavy metal and
doom, but the care that goes into it is in a class all its own.
The
Sludgelord Review: http://thesludgelord.blogspot.com/2014/09/dawnbringer-night-of-hammer-album-review.html
04. Morbus
Chron - Sweven
I struggled with the order of the top 5 quite a
bit. Any of these albums could justifiably be at the top. In Morbus Chron’s
case, they’ve have taken a foundation of early Death and built from that wild,
visionary sound that indicates that they’re not done exploring. Experimentation
is a beautiful thing when it’s successful.
The
Sludgelord Review: http://thesludgelord.blogspot.com/2014/03/morbus-chron-sweven-album-review.html
03.
Horrendous - Ecdysis
A lot of people have heaped praise on this one
and deservedly so. Ecdysis and Sweven have been neck and neck for me
ever since I got a hold of Ecdysis in the early fall. Neither is really better
or worse than the other, but a tie is a cop out where one isn’t needed. I’ve
given the slightest of edges to Ecdysis
because there isn’t a song on Sweven that quite matches up to “The Stranger”.
It might be more conventional than Sweven,
but the narrowest of songwriting margins favors Horrendous.
The
Sludgelord Review: http://thesludgelord.blogspot.com/2014/09/horrendous-ecdysis-album-review.html
02.
Primordial - Where Greater Men Have Fallen
It’s hard to come up with something to write
about Primordial that hasn’t been written about them by people much smarter and
more eloquent than I will ever be. If you’ve heard Primordial over the last 10
years or so, you have a general idea as to what this will sound like. This is
on par with To The Nameless Dead if
not better, which would make this one of their two best albums to date. Not to
mention they’ve recorded their best song to date with Wield Lightning to Split the Sun
The
Sludgelord Review: http://thesludgelord.blogspot.com/2014/12/primordial-where-greater-men-have.html
01. Blut Aus
Nord - Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry
This is the best complete album of 2014. While
many of the albums on this list are a tremendous collection of songs; Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry
feels like a singular journey from start to finish. Melodic black metal rarely
reaches this level of depth and intricacy without becoming something else
entirely. A magical album from the opening note.
The
Sludgelord Review: http://thesludgelord.blogspot.com/2014/10/blut-aus-nord-memoria-vetusta-iii.html
