Anyhow, honorable mentions..
- At The Gates - At War With Reality
- Autopsy - Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves (their best since their return)
- Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry
- Horrendous - Ecdysis
- Nachtmystium - The World We Left Behind
- Opeth - Pale Communion
- Pallbearer - Foundations Of Burden
- Riot V - Unleash The Fire
- Soulburn - The Suffocating Darkness
- Thanatos - Global Purification
- Yob - Clearing The Path To Ascend
The ones that stood out!
Ambush - Firestorm
With just about every Swede and their dog now playing in either a retro metal or rock band and thus beginning to make the genres become generic and boring, one of these newer bands actually released an album that puts them totally up there with the likes of Enforcer, Portrait, In Solitude and more. Ambush released THE best heavy metal album of the year. Incredibly catchy riffs, great sounding vocals and therefore every song stood out right to its final anthem feeling song ('Natural Born Killers') on the album. This band sounds like they came right out of that classic 80s era.
Behemoth - The Satanist
Behemoth was a band I was certainly losing interest in since 'Demigod'. I felt they were becoming over technical and thus losing those moments of creating a memorable riff and losing that powerful feeling back from albums like 'Satanica' and 'Thelema 6'. 'The Satanist' brought it all right back but in a much darker and evil form. The technical work was stripped right down to music that had more substance, more feeling, emotion and more direction. They have returned to a style that made them one of my favourite bands years before, only Nergal has become more mystical and occult in his delivery. Perfect!
Occultation - Silence In The Ancestral House
Some of the most catchy, eerie and dark melodic riffs were found here in 2014. With a voice that kept to one low level that came across as haunting, galloping passages that would slowly fly out across the red dusk sky. Captivating, at times mesmerizing, Occultation released one of the big surprises of 2014 for me.
Triptykon - Melana Chasmata
A guy noticed my Celtic Frost hoodie at work one day during last year and said 'Celtic Frost.. I remember when they were the fastest band in the world'. Fast forward present day and Tom G has created probably the heaviest band in the world. Subtle hints of that Celtic Frost pace but taking those dark drone sounding riffs and crushing the ground is what makes Triptykon stand out for sure. This picked up from where 'Eparistera Daimones' left off. Continued to crush even the strongest of souls.
Mastodon - Once More 'Round The Sun
The evolution of this band is like no other. Ever since 'Remission', Mastodon has continued to push the boundaries and even if this band has taken a step towards a more 'mainstream' sound, they still do enough to challenge the listener. Some sheer heaviness in the way of 'High Road' or 'Diamond In The Witch House' to the prog space outs like 'Halloween' or just catchy rock outs with great emotion ('The Motherload', 'Ember City'). Overall, the band has taken their sound even further but if you listen closely, some areas of this album prove that the band hasn't forgotten their roots.
Morbus Chron - Sweven
Dead heat! Morbus Chron has become one of the few bands of the current Swedish Death metal scene to take their sound further. Like Tribulation, Irkallian Oracle and Necrovation to name a few, Morbus Chron is one of the few that keep me interested in the genre. Evil lead work, gloomy melodic passages, a harsh voice that emerges from a thick mist and overall keeping it all in raw energy, like Tribulation in 2013, at the start of 2014, I would never have thought that Morbus Chron would release my favourite album of 2014 alongside Mastodon. Amazing stuff.
Until next time...
Ikil
