So Jon just did a list, and while it was brilliant as always, I felt he missed some stuff that I'm obsessed with and makes me wonder why I ever wasted my time doing things like "giving the third Faceless record a chance" and "purchasing a shower aid so that washing my middle/upper back would be less strenuous" and "pooping". Seriously, not sure if pooping is the best use of my time anymore, given most of the music I listen to is so disturbed and horrific that I can't unclench.
Speaking of clenching, I have some confessions to make regarding the breadth and depth of the listens I have had the chance to have had had had. That is, viz, that there were very little. I remember hearing Morbus Chron earlier this year and thought, "this is fine, I guess; sounds like a bunch of Scandinavians recorded a Death album with Explosions In the Sky-type interludes". Alas, you will not find them on my list, despite their critical acclaim this year; I have not had the time to digest what I'm sure is a genuinely talented group but sounds so far like a slightly less talented Death. I was upset that - with all due respect - Woods of Desolation, whose new album I'm assuming is some kind of new black metal-form of Ambien, was hyped as a Deafheaven of 2014, despite the former's track record of inducing somnolence and torpor. And while I'm aware that Inter Arma released a single song EP that is - since I heard it - demonstrably worthy of attention, I missed it. No excuse in the world. Just let that one sail on by.
But there are a few things that critics got right, and a few things that, regardless of whether someone gives a shit, were the bees' knees (is it "bee's knees" or "bees' knees"? how many bees are we talking here?). For example, this was the first year in which more than half of the metal by which I felt drawn was doom metal, as opposed to death metal. There are a few examples below, which - while not the majority of my top twenty - make up the majority of the albums I was really really really really really really excited about in 2014. (Other genres that did well this year were black metal, grind, and to a lesser extent, technical death metal.) For another example, there was an exciting, last-minute, surprise entry from a two-person avant-metal side project of Castevet's Andrew Hock. ("Literally? You were entered by Hock?" the reader asked aloud.) And I now have - with their 2014 release - a band in my life that competes with Converge for the coveted title of "ZWB's Favorite Band in the Whole Wide World". Let's jump inside and see!
*JJJJJJJJUUUUUUUUUUUUummmmmmmmmmpppppppppp............*
Top 20/2014:
20. Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire (Admitted tied with At the Gates, so relax.)
19. Black Monolith - Passenger (Deafheaven spin-off goes rogue.)
18. Code Orange - I Am King (OK, one hardcore record.)
17. Pyrrhon - The Mother of Virtues (Avant-grind Top 2 of 2014, second place.)
16. Behemoth - The Satanist (A fantastic return to form.)
15. Piss Vortex - Piss Vortex (It's Danish. So, yeah.)
14. Archspire - The Lucid Collective (My first obsession of 2014.)
13. Agalloch - The Sperpent & The Spire (Another gorgeous album - to be listened to as one piece, if possible, with a fine Bordeaux.)
12. Thantifaxath - Sacred White Noise (Winner of the 2014 Award for Funniest Name For a Thing.)
11. Fluisteraars - Dromers (My Lantlos substitute for this year. Addictive and nicely short.)
10. Vermin Womb - Permanence (Ex-Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire. Ew.)
9. Coffinworm - IV.I.VIII (Avant-grind Top 2 of 2014, first place.)
8. Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden (Happily shocking how good these guys keep being.)
7. Artificial Brain - Labyrinth Constellation (what.)
6. Spectral Lore - III (One-man, avant-garde, symphonic black metal. Yup.)
5. Baring Teeth - Ghost Chorus Among Old Ruins (I ACTUALLY BOUGHT THIS WITH $$.)
4. Psalm Zero - The Drain (Castevet, only weirder and teleported to the 80s. Truly something new, and deeply brilliant material. Highly taken with this.)
3. Inferi - The Path to Apotheosis ("Dhduhssijsjododoodododoissdsjfh." -Inferi's guitar leads.)
2. Tombs - Savage Gold (Tombs is probably now tied for my favorite band on Earth.)
1. YOB - Clearing the Path to Ascend (Unmistakably the best release for this band ever, and a circuitous though fun journey through where doom metal can really go artistically.)
Alright, that's it. You beautiful shit, you.
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