Twenty Fourteen Top Twenty

Getting the ball rolling early this year folks. I listened to a whole bunch of new albums this year. I tried to expand my horizons a bit and try some new things. I found some things to be wonderful and some things to be awful. No more bullshit, here goes nothing!

20. Artificial Brain - Labyrinth Constellation. Creepy, doom-y, technical. Moon Funeral

19. Unearth - Watchers Of Rule. Metalcore is back! Lifetime In Ruins

18. At The Gates - At War With Reality. Long-awaited comeback release from melodic death metal legends definitely delivers. Eater Of Gods

17. Omnihility - Deathscapes Of The Subconscious. Relentless, brutal, pummeling technical death metal from another great Unique Leader band. Contemplating The Ineffable

16. Pyrrhon - The Mother Of Virtues. Gritty, disturbing, technical craziness. Balkanized

15. Inter Arma - The Cavern. This 45+ minute-long song is officially an EP but I disagree. Instant classic in the same vein as Colors. The Cavern

14. Disentomb - Misery. Extreme, brutal, technical, all of the best things. Chthonic Gateways

13. Trioscapes - Digital Dream Sequence. Jazz-y, heavy, beautiful. From The Earth To The Moon

12. Mastodon - Once More 'Round The Sun. Makes me forget that The Hunter ever existed (in a good way). Halloween

11. Job For A Cowboy - Sun Eater. Completely different release from this band. Lots of bass, very progressive songs, and drums were on point with Danny Walker behind the set. Sun Of Nihility

10. Alterbeast - Immortal. Impressive debut chock full of technical goodness. Forget that they were once called Gary Busey Ambler Alert, Alterbeast's sound is very much melodic in the same way as The Black Dahlia Murder, but the song and riff structures offer more technically. Vile Remnants

9. Archspire - The Lucid Collective. Quite possibly the fastest stuff I've ever heard. And oh so very technical. This release can best de described as "on point." Spontaneous Generation

8. Dimesland - Psychogenic Atrophy. Scatter-brained technicality is on display in this great release. The bass is prominent in the mix, the drums are very heavy, the guitars are exact, and the vocals are frantic in a murderous shrill kind of way. Are They Cannibals?

7. Beneath - The Barren Throne. This is my kind of melodic death metal - more brutal than melodic and originating from Iceland. Second release from these guys and they are only getting better. This release is a perfect blend of brutal, melodic, and catchy. Sovereign Carnal Passion

6. Scientist - Scientist. I think I found this band in the deepest corner of the internet. You can't find it anywhere. No previews, nothing. If you want to hear it, you'll have to come to my basement and go through a series of humiliations before the panel considers your auditory awakening. This release is grind-y, jamming, technical, and cleansing.

5. Fallujah - The Flesh Prevails. This is the prettiest death metal album I have ever heard. Beautiful stuff. Much more progressive than their last effort and still just as technical. Levitation

4. Inanimate Existence - A Never Ending Cycle Of Atonement. Tech death masterpiece. Their debut from two years ago had too much material on it. This release was mature, slender, and efficient. All of the best material made the cut and none of the bullshit made it to my ears. Added a touch of experimentation and this band is ready to take off. The Rune Of Destruction

3. Black Crown Initiate - The Wreckage Of Stars. Between Black Crown Initiate and Rivers Of Nihil, I'm starting to wonder what wonderful things are in the water in Reading, PA. For a place that seems like a shithole, it has produced two of my favorite bands. This release is everything, genre-escaping, progressive, technical, dirty, clean, powerful, and subtle. Withering Waves

2. Inferi - The Path To Apotheosis. This album is two things; technical and melodic. This release is not versatile and it doesn't care because it doesn't matter. Both technical death metal and melodic death metal are executed perfectly on this record. This record is relentless for almost 66 minutes. Marching Through The Flames Of Tyranny

1. Baring Teeth - Ghost Chorus Among Old Ruins. I was excited for this album immediately after hearing their first record, Atrophy. Ghost Chorus Among Old Ruins delivered and exceeded my expectations. Beautifully strange and weird and technical with advanced, intelligent song/riff structures and that characteristic Obscura-era Gorguts sound to top it off. Loved every minute of this album. I can't stop listening. The Great Unwashed

It was a very good year for metal indeed. And I listened to tons of releases so I got some more lists!

Honorable Mentions
21. Misery Index - The Killing Gods
22. Septycal Gorge - Scourge Of The Formless Breed
23. Abhorrent Castigation - Throne Of Existential Abandonment
24. Cannibal Corpse - A Skeletal Domain
25. Revocation - Deathless
26. Abysmal Dawn - Obsolescence
27. Beyond Creation - Earthborn Evolution
28. Allegaeon - Elements Of The Infinite
29. The Kennedy Veil - Trinity Of Falsehood
30. Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways
31. Animals As Leaders - The Joy Of Motion
32. Killer Be Killed - Killer Be Killed
33. Minus The Bear - Lost Loves
34. Cloudkicker - Little Histories
35. Hannes Grossmann - The Radial Covenant
36. Svffer - Lies We Live
37. Conquering Dystopia - Conquering Dystopia
38. Wretched - Cannibal
39. Suicide Silence - You Can't Stop Me
40. Devil You Know - The Beauty Of Destruction

Disappointments
-1. Bloodbath - Grand Morbid Funeral
-2. Decapitated - Blood Mantra
-3. Human Infection - Curvatures In Time
-4. Origin - Omnipresent
-5. Soreption - Engineering The Void
-6. Rings Of Saturn - Lugal Ki En
-7. Slipknot - 5: The Grey Chapter
-8. Gorgasm - Destined To Violate
-9. Opeth - Pale Communion
-10. Carnifex - Die Without Hope

Looking forward to some good shit in 2015 like new Psycroptic!