(Please remember that throughout this entire article, each band’s name is a link to music from the listed album, so if you’re curious, click away and listen immediately! Enjoy, and thanks for reading! \m/)
Thrash metal, speed metal, crossover, horror punk - there are many ways to say it and do it, but all in all, it’s fast, it’s loud, and has been the hard-burning, forever-youthfully beating heart of metal since its earliest days. Old acts long lost and forgotten are being rediscovered by new generations, and the recent resurgence in thrash and speed is proof positive that the genre is still alive, still well, and still kicking (you right in the face)!
#1. BEWITCHER – Under the Witching Cross (Shadow Kingdom Records; Blackened Thrash; Portland, Oregon, USA)
#2. Frosthelm – Pyrrhic (Revenger Records; Blackened Thrash; Minot, North Dakota, USA)
#3. Sadistic Ritual – Visionaire of Death (Unspeakable Axe Records; Blackened Thrash; Atlanta, Georgia, USA)
#4. Warsenal – Feast Your Eyes (Svart Records; Thrash/Speed; Montreal, Quebec, CAN)
#5. Death Angel – Humanicide (Nuclear Blast; Classic Thrash; San Francisco, California, USA)
#6. Exumer – Hostile Defiance (Metal Blade Records; Classic Thrash; Frankfurt, Germany, EUR)
#7. Wraith – Absolute Power (Redefining Darkness Records; Thrash/Speed; Northwest Indiana, USA)
#8. Toxikull – Cursed and Punished (Metal on Metal Records; Thrash/NWOTHM; Lisbon, Portugal, EUR)
#9. Dizastra – Elder Sun (Independent; Classic Thrash; Montreal, Quebec, CAN)
#10. Algebra – Pulse? (Unspeakable Axe Records; Progressive Thrash; Lausanne, Switzerland, EUR)
11. Aggressive Perfector – Havoc at the Midnight Hour (Dying Victims Productions; Thrash/Speed; Manchester, United Kingdom, EUR)
12. Sins of the Damned – Striking the Bell of Death (Shadow Kingdom Records; Speed; Santiago, Chile, SA)
13. Overkill – The Wings of War (Nuclear Blast; Classic Thrash; Old Bridge Township, New Jersey, USA)
14. Br00tal Beefcake – Based on True Events (Independent; Classic Thrash; Detroit, Michigan, USA)
15. Vaultwraith – Light the Candle in Honour of Devils (Hell’s Headbanger Records; Thrash n’ Death; Springfield, Missouri, USA)
16. Excuse – Prophets from the Occultic Cosmos (Shadow Kingdom Records; Blackened Thrash; Helsinki, Finland, EUR)
17. Toxic Holocaust – Primitive Future: 2019 (eOne Heavy; Classic/Blackened Thrash; Portland, Oregon, USA)
18. Weresquatch – The Maddening Memoirs (Independent; Classic Thrash; Portland, Oregon, USA)
19. Destruction – Born to Perish (Nuclear Blast; Classic Thrash; Weil am Rhein, Germany, EUR)
20. Barbarian – To No God Shall I Kneel (Hell’s Headbanger Records; Thrash n’ Death; Florence, Italy, EUR)
Born in Tampa, Florida in the 1980’s and globally dispersed faster than a plague on wings, death metal is the sturdy backbone that keeps the community standing strong and firm. By far, the most submissions and promotional albums received in 2019 at Hated One Metal Reviews & Interviews were of the death metal variety; and it shows just how essential the genre has become to metal overall. No matter if it is extreme, blackened, melodic, progressive, technical, mixed with thrash, or classically done in a gritty, grimy style, death metal is the "meat and potatoes" of heavy metal around the world!
#1. CATTLE DECAPITATION – Death Atlas (Metal Blade Records; Extreme Melodic Death; San Diego, California, USA)
#2. Iapetus – The Body Cosmic (Independent; Progressive/Melodic Death; Long Island, New York, USA)
#3. Crusadist – The Unholy Grail (Independent; Melodic Death; Chicago, Illinois, USA)
#4. Warforged – I: Voice (The Artisan Era; Progressive/Blackened Death; Chicago, Illinois, USA)
#5. Abnormality – Sociopathic Constructs (Metal Blade Records; Technical Death; Marlborough, Massachusetts, USA)
#6. Skeletal Prison – Condemned to Flesh (Independent; Deathrash; Rockford, Illinois, USA)
#7. Casket Huffer – Filth Oroborus (Hibernation Release Records; Extreme Blackened Death; Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA)
#8. Karmatik – Unlimited Energy (Independent; Progressive Death; Quebec City, Quebec, CAN)
#9. Singularity – Place of Chains (The Artisan Era; Symphonic/Melodic Death; Phoenix, Arizona, USA)
#10. Abominism – Abominism (Independent; Extreme Blackened Death; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA)
11. Unfathomable Ruination – Enraged and Unbound (Willowtip Records; Technical Death; London, United Kingdom, EUR)
12. Gohrgone – In Oculis (Independent; Blackened Death; Paris, France, EUR)
13. Bleeding Utopia – Where the Light Comes to Die (Black Lion Records; Melodic Death; Västerås, Sweden, EUR)
14. The Bleeding – Morbid Prophecy (World War Now Records; Classic Death; London, United Kingdom, EUR)
15. Equipoise – Demiurgus (The Artisan Era; Technical Death; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA)
16. Deivos – Casus Belli (Selfmadegod Records; Technical Death; Lublin, Poland, EUR)
17. Depressed – Beyond the Putrid Fiction (Black Lion Records; Classic/Melodic Death; Sao Paulo, Brazil, SA)
18. Gatecreeper – Deserted (Relapse Records; Blackened/Classic Death; Tucson, Arizona, USA)
19. Wrvth – No Rising Sun (Unique Leader Records; Atmospheric/Progressive Death; San Jose, California, USA)
20. Bethledeign – Iconography of Suffering (Edgewood Arsenal Records; Blackened Death; Centreville, Virginia, USA)
From the cold, bleak Scandinavian lands to what is now a worldwide phenomenon, black metal – in all its depressive, Satanic, nihilistic glory and controversy – represents all that is darkest, dreariest, dreamiest, and most demonically disturbing about metal…and that’s why we love it so! But black metal isn’t just corpse-paint and psalms to the apocalypse anymore. Nay! These days, black metal is as diverse and heterogeneous as Lovecraft's landscapes, so whether you prefer yours classic, modern, atmospheric, or even “cosmic”, chances are there’s a black metal band tailor-made for your ears on this list!
#1. OBSEQUIAE – The Palms of Sorrowed Kings (20 Buck Spin; Atmospheric/Medieval Black; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA)
#2. Vukari – Aevum (Vendetta Records; Atmospheric Black; Chicago, Illinois, USA)
#3. Earth and Pillars – Earth II (Avantgarde Music; Atmospheric Black; Italy, EUR)
#4. Helleborus – Saprophytic Divinations (Redefining Darkness Records; Melodic Black; Manitou Springs, Colorado, USA)
#5. Asagraum – The Dawn of Infinite Fire (Edged Circle Productions; Modern Black; Netherlands, EUR)
#6. Raptvre – Monuments of Bitterness (The Crawling Chaos Records; Modern Black/Blackened Death; Cologne, Germany, EUR)
#7. Mist of Misery – Unalterable (Black Lion Records; Melodic Black; Stockholm, Sweden, EUR)
#8. Tragediens Trone – Tragediens Trone (Osmose Productions; Modern Black; Brekstad, Norway, EUR)
#9. White Ward – Love Exchange Failure (Debemur Morti Productions; Atmospheric/Ambient Black; Odessa, Ukraine, EUR)
#10. Cell – Ancient Incantations of Xarbos (Independent; “Cosmic Black”; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN)
11. Avslut – Tyranni (Osmose Productions; Modern Black; Stockholm, Sweden, EUR)
12. Sleeping Ancient – There is No Truth but Death (Viridian Flame Records; Atmospheric Black; Houston, Texas, USA)
13. Vortex of End – Ardens Fvror (Osmose Productions; Melodic Black; Paris, France, EUR)
14. Slaughtbbath – Alchemical Warfare (Hell’s Headbanger Records; Modern Black; San Vicente de Tagua Tagua, Chile, SA)
15. Krater – Venenare (Eisenwald; Modern Black; Nürnberg, Germany, EUR)
16. Aegrus – In Manus Satanas (Saturnal Records; Modern Black; Kouvola, Finland, EUR)
17. Nefarious Dusk – The Wanderer of the Cold North (Purity Through Fire; Modern Black; Cumbria, United Kingdom, EUR)
18. Nocturnes Mist – Marquis of Hell (Séance Records; Modern Black; Adelaide, South Australia, AUS)
19. Forlet Sires – Holy (Cruel Bones; Atmospheric Black; Winterhur, Switzerland, EUR)
20. 1349 – The Infernal Pathway (Season of Mist; Modern Black; Oslo, Norway, EUR)
Slowed down, trudging on, fuzzed out, and maybe even higher than a giraffe’s ass, the wide and kaleidoscopic world of doom, sludge, stoner, and post metal is fraught with connections to the earliest days of metal’s creation. Literally plucking its genre name and overall sound from a song by the original metal band, Black Sabbath's "Hand of Doom", doom metal and it’s sludge, stoner, and post metal cousins have always been with us, and represent the very foundation of metal itself!
#1. FAÇADE – The Eternal Dance (Independent; Doom/Post; Dordrecht, Netherlands, EUR)
#2. Pinewalker – Migration (Independent; Stoner/Sludge; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA)
#3. Immortal Bird – Thrive on Neglect (20 Buck Spin; Blackened Sludge; Chicago, Illinois, USA)
#4. Candlemass – The Door to Doom (Napalm Records; Classic Doom; Stockholm, Sweden, EUR)
#5. Taiwaz – The Uninvited Guest (Psykofarmaka Records; Classic Doom; Uppsala, Sweden, EUR)
#6. Canyon of the Skull – Sins of the Past (Independent; Instrumental Doom; Chicago, Illinois, USA)
#7. Wells Valley – Reconcile the Antimony (Black Lion Records; Blackened Doom/Sludge; Lisbon, Portugal, EUR)
#8. Spirit Adrift – Divided by Darkness (20 Buck Spin; Stoner/Sludge; Phoenix, Arizona, USA)
#9. Mortiferum – Disgorged from Psychotic Depths (Profound Lore Records; Blackened Doom n’ Death; Olympia, Washington, USA)
#10. Goatess – Blood and Wine (Svart Records; Stoner/Doom; Stockholm, Sweden, EUR)
11. Inter Arma – Sulphur English (Relapse Records; Blackened Sludge/Doom; Richmond, Virginia, USA)
12. Lord Dying – Mysterium Tremendum (eOne Heavy; Sludge; Portland, Oregon, USA)
13. Seer – Vol. 6 (Artoffact Records; Melodic Sludge/Doom; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN)
14. Orodruin – Ruins of Eternity (Cruz Del Sur Music; Stoner/Psychedelic Doom; Rochester, New York, USA)
15. Lord Mantis – Universal Death Church (Profound Lore Records; Blackened Sludge; Chicago, Illinois, USA)
16. Pelican – Nighttime Stories (Southern Lord; Instrumental Post; Chicago, Illinois, USA)
17. Alcest – Spiritual Instinct (Nuclear Blast; Melodic Post; Paris, France, EUR)
18. Novarupta – Disillusioned Fire (Suicide Records; Blackened Sludge/Doom; Gothenburg, Sweden, EUR)
19. Edellom – Sirens (Another Side Records; Gothic Doom; Israel, Middle East, ASIA)
20. Varaha – A Passage for Lost Years (Prosthetic Records; Melodic Post; Chicago, Illinois, USA)
Folk, power, groove, and the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal; grindcore and goregrind, progressive and melodic metal with no solid ties to black, thrash, or death in particular…where else to rank these peripheral subgenres but altogether in the “Other” category, right? Taking the road less traveled isn’t always the easiest way, but for some, it is the only way!
#1. ELUVEITIE – Ategnatos (Nuclear Blast; Folk/Celtic Metal; Zürich, Switzerland, EUR)
#2. Rhodium – Sea of the Dead (Sliptrick Records; Progressive Power Metal; Athens, Greece, EUR)
#3. Black Sites – Exile (Hoove Child Records; Progressive/Melodic Metal; Chicago, Illinois, USA)
#4. Cemican – In Ohtli Teoyohtica In Miquiztli (M-Theory Audio; Folk Metal; Guadalajara, Mexico)
#5. Suidakra – Echoes of Yore (Napalm Records; Folk/Celtic Metal; Düsseldorf, Germany, EUR)
#6. Exhumed – Horror (Relapse Records; Grindcore/Goregrind; San Jose, California, USA)
#7. Apotheus – The Far Star (Black Lion Records; Progressive/Melodic Metal; Paços de Ferreira, Portugal, EUR)
#8. Black Passage – The Veil (Independent; Progressive/Melodic Metal; San Francisco, California, USA)
#9. Degenerate – Devastation Ahead (Independent; Groove Metal; Amsterdam, Netherlands, EUR)
#10. Borknagar – True North (Century Media Records; Melodic/Progressive Folk Metal; Bergen, Norway, EUR)
11. Savage Master – Myth, Magic and Steel (Shadow Kingdom Records; NWOTHM; Louisville, Kentucky, USA)
12. The Night Watch – An Embarrassment of Riches (Anamnesis Arts; Instrumental Progressive Folk Metal; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN)
13. Enforcer – Zenith (Nuclear Blast; NWOTHM; Stockholm, Sweden, EUR)
14. Exhorder – Mourn the Southern Skies (Nuclear Blast; Groove Metal; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA)
15. Extraction Point – Purification Through Hatred (Independent; Groove Metal; Chicago, Illinois, USA)
Just starting out and need to spread the word quickly about your act? Record and release a demo or an EP! Got to keep your audiences fed with fresh releases and a full album just isn’t in the cards yet, but you’ve still got a few new songs cooked up? Then feed that voracious appetite of your fans with an EP! Seriously though, the demo/EP has been the proverbial match that has either lit the initial fire or has kept the flame burning for bands since the dawn of rock and roll, and things are no different today than they were back then. Here are some of the best demos and EP’s to be released this year from all over the globe!
#1. THE ELDRITCH GRIMOIRE – Prologue EP (Independent; Melodic Death; Chicago, Illinois, USA)
#2. Tragic Death – Born of Dying Embers EP (Independent; Atmospheric Black; Madison, Wisconsin, USA)
#3. Vader – Thy Messenger EP (Nuclear Blast; Deathrash; Olsztyn, Poland, EUR)
#4. Seventh Circle – Cycle of Violence DEMO (Caligari Records; Blackened Doom n’ Death; Santa Barbara, California, USA)
#5. Suffering Hour – Dwell EP (Blood Harvest Records; Dissonant Black; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA)
#6. Galaxy – Lost from the Start EP (Dying Victims Productions; NWOTHM; Melbourne, Victoria, AUS)
#7. Bat – Axetasy EP (Hell’s Headbangers Records; Speed/Thrash; Richmond, Virginia, USA)
#8. Flamekeeper – We Who Light the Fire EP (Invictus Productions; NWOTHM/“Epic Heavy Metal”; Stockholm, Sweden, EUR)
#9. Gloson – Mara EP (Black Lion Records; Sludge/Post-Metal; Halmstad, Sweden, EUR)
#10. Carnifliate – Disgusting Festivities EP (Independent; Grindcore/Slam; Velenje, Slovenia, EUR)
11. Hate Manifesto – Herald of Triumph EP (Regain Records; Blackened Death; Athens, Greece, EUR)
12. Tides Cult – Your Memory Has Tarnished This Beautiful Place EP (Independent; Black/Blackened Hardcore; Chicago, Illinois, USA)
13. Sati666 – Immolation EP (Independent; Melodic Death, Germany, EUR)
14. Phobophilic – Undimensioned Identities EP (Blood Harvest Records; Blackened Death; Fargo, North Dakota, USA)
15. Abeyance – Portraits of Mankind EP (Sliptrick Records; Melodic Death; Milan, Italy, EUR)
16. Ashen Horde – Tintregen EP (Mandol Records; Blackened Death; Hollywood, California, USA)
17. Angelblast – Rotting Paradise EP (Edged Circle Productions; Classic Death; Sweden, EUR)
18. Sabotage – The Order of Genocide EP (Independent; Thrash; Mumbai, India, ASIA)
19. Vale of Pnath – Accursed EP (Willowtip Records; Blackened Technical Death; Denver, Colorado, USA)
20. Plaguewielder – Suffering from Self-Inflicted Wounds EP (Independent; Blackened Sludge; Steubenville, Ohio, USA)
All metal journalists come from somewhere, and all metal sites have a home base, so all metal journalists know their own backyards better than anywhere. As it is, Hated One Metal Reviews & Interviews is based just outside one of the largest cities in the United States; the global capital of doom, sludge, and post metal; “The Windy City”, Chicago, Illinois (that’s pronounced “ill-ih-NOY”, never “ill-ih-NOISE”, thank you!)! The musical tradition here in The Big Windy is deep, celebrated, and multifarious, though, so it should not surprise anyone that the following list represents metal from all over the genre spectrum. We may be the official home of doom, yes, but we certainly are not limited to it, please believe!
#1. VUKARI – Aevum (Vendetta Records; Atmospheric Black)
#2. The Eldritch Grimoire – Prologue EP (Independent; Melodic Death)
#3. Crusadist – The Unholy Grail (Independent; Melodic Death)
#4. Immortal Bird – Thrive on Neglect (20 Buck Spin; Blackened Sludge)
#5. Warforged – I: Voice (The Artisan Era; Progressive/Blackened Death)
#6. Canyon of the Skull – Sins of the Past (Independent; Instrumental Doom)
#7. Black Sites – Exile (Hoove Child Records; Progressive/Melodic Metal)
#8. Tides Cult – Your Memory Has Tarnished This Beautiful Place EP (Independent; Black/Blackened Hardcore)
#9. Lord Mantis – Universal Death Church (Profound Lore Records; Blackened Sludge)
#10. Blood of the Wolf – III: Blood Legend EP (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions; Blackened Death)
11. Pelican – Nighttime Stories (Southern Lord; Instrumental Post Metal)
12. Act of Destruction – Beyond Eternity EP (Independent; Melodic Death)
13. Cianide – Unhumanized EP (Hell’s Headbangers Records; Blackened Death)
14. Everdying – Black Acid Soul EP (Independent; Melodic Death)
15. Bones – Diseased (Transcending Obscurity Records; Death Crust)
16. Varaha – A Passage for Lost Years (Prosthetic Records; Post Metal)
17. Snow Burial – Ostrava (Prosthetic Records; Sludge/Post Metal)
18. Voimaton – Demo 2019 (Blood Harvest Records; Classic Death)
19. Nucleus – Entity (Unspeakable Axe Records; Extreme Progressive Death)
20. Extraction Point – Purification Through Hatred (Independent; Groove Metal)
And that’s it for “The Best of 2019” lists, venerated readers, but that’s certainly not all of “The Best of 2019”! Not by a longshot! Please be sure to also check out the overall “Best Fifty Albums of 2019” as rated by Hated One Metal Reviews & Interviews by clicking here!
More interviews (first one of 2019 will post before New Year's Eve, guaranteed!), plenty more reviews, more “6 Bands You May Not Know, But Should” pieces, more new ideas, and of course, more great, new metal is coming in the New Year, so stick around, visit often, and see you in 2020! Thanks for reading, and stay metal, always! \m/ \m/