Top 10 - 2014 / By Danny Sanderson
December 29, 2014
No. 10
Band: Behemoth
Album Title: The Satanist
Year of Formation: 1991
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
After the trials and tribulations this band has had in the last few years, most notably the fact that the bands founder Nergal was diagnosed with Leukaemia, they have returned, stronger than ever, with a great album. This incorporates several none Blackened Death Metal elements which work surprisingly well. For those who are looking for "Evangelion" part two will be disappointed, although there is plenty of the elements of their earlier catalogue on display, because this is not a straight forward Blackened Death masterpiece. It took me several listens, over a few months, before how good this record actually was really hit me. This is not their best album, but it is nonetheless an album worthy of their excellent back catalogue.
No. 9
Band: Soulskinner
Album Title: Crypts of Ancient Wisdom
Year of Formation: 2000
Label: Xtreem Music
A late contender for this year's list, this band creates some genuinely great Old School Death Metal in the vein of BOLT THROWER and early CARCASS. These Hellenic Hellraisers have really hit their stride with this latest record, and have surpassed the standard set by their brilliant previous albums. This is a vicious slab of sepulchral Death Metal that will stick with you long after listening to it.
No. 8:
Band: Humut Tabal
Album Title: The Dark Emperor ov the Shadow Realm
Year of Formation: 2009
Label: The Dread Lair
These Texans are a criminally overlooked Black Metal outfit from the small city of Dripping Springs, they have been creating their brand of razor-sharp, intense music for several years, and this album is one of their best. This band is perhaps one of the best overlooked acts in the US Black Metal scene. Highly recommended.
No. 7
Band: Tombs
Album Title: Savage Gold
Year of Formation: 2007
Label: Relapse Records
These American Post-Metallers have, in "Savage Gold", created a stone cold classic, not just for themselves, but for the genre as a whole. It's harsh, it's brooding, and above all, it immerses you in it from the first note to the last. Many bands go for the more mellow aspects Metal and Rock, or go overboard on the brutality; however, this album strikes a great balance between the two. It has imaginative guitar work and fantastic vocals, and should be listened to by everyone at least once.
No. 6
Band: Winterfylleth
Album Title: The Divination of Antiquity
Year of Formation: 2007
Label: Candlelight Records
The leading lights of the British Black Metal scene, WINTERFYLLETH, have returned with yet another brilliant offering with this latest record. This builds massively on the momentum that their previous record, "The Threnody of Triumph", created for them. It has the essence of Raw Black Metal but also incorporates some of the more melodic aspects of the genre as well. It could very well take Black Metal in its rawest forms beyond the small, insulated scene that it has been confined to, and bring a new generation of fans to the genre.
No. 5
Band: CANNIBAL CORPSE
Album Title: A Skeletal Domain
Year of Formation: 1988
Label: Metal Blade Records
Although this is hardly their best record, it still stands up well next to their two previous, and frankly near flawless offerings. A lot of the song writing this time around was handled by Pat O'Brien rather than Alex Webster, and as a result it has more of a Technical Death Metal sound to it compared to the bands tried and tested Brutal Death offerings, although it still is unmistakably a CANNIBAL CORPSE record. They remind us why they are one of the most recognisable and well loved Death Metal acts on the planet.
No. 4
Band: Ceremonial Castings
Album Title: Chthulu
Year of Formation: 1996
Label: Dark Forest Productions
CEREMONIAL CASTINGS, of Battle Ground, Washington, are, in my humble opinion, the unsung heroes of the US Black Metal scene. They play "Bewitching Black Metal". The key word in that description is "bewitching". This album, a concept centred around the Chthulu Mythos, is brilliant, and illustrates why this band are so great. The band are now on indefinite hiatus, sadly. But if they never do another record again, I feel that this is a great album for them to bow out on. Definitely check these guys out, especially you EMPEROR fans. I cannot recommend this band highly enough.
No. 3
Band: Electric Wizard
Album Title: Time To Die
Year of Formation: 1993
Label: Witchfinder Records
For those who aren't initiated into the world of ELECTRIC WIZARD, this have been writing great Doom since the early 1990's, with inspoiration being derived from witchcraft, Hammer Horror movies, old school Doom Metal and excessive drug consumption. Every album from their brilliant second album "!Come My Fanatics" has steadily gotten more extreme and heavy. This, their eighth full length, is no different, and has seen them play to bigger audiences. They have managed to make consistently great albums for upwards of two decades, and this one may be one of their best yet. All fans of the heaviest Doom, take note; this is hair-raisingly brilliant, from the opening of "Incense for the Damned" to the last notes of "Saturn Dethroned".
No. 2
Band: Triptykon
Album Title: Melana Chasmata
Year of Formation: 2008
Label: Century Media Records
For those not in the know, TRIPTYKON are Tom G Warrior's (ex-HELLHAMMER, ex-CELTIC FROST) latest musical offering, and to sum up their sound, this band is essentially a David Lynch movie put to music. It combines elements of Black Metal, Doom and Ambient to create something that cannot be stuck soundly into a single genre. Their second album wanders through all of the various aspects of Extreme music, from the impossibly fast and heavy, to the slow and the ambient. This is their best release to date, and I can't wait to see what this band will bring out next. This is only a very close second best album of the year, and on any other day it might have beaten the next album to the number one spot.
No. 1
Band: Vallenfyre
Album Title: Splinters
Year of Formation: 2010
Label: Century Media Records
VALLENFYRE, the Old School Death Metal band which comprises of members of DOOM, AT THE GATES and PARADISE LOST, as well as former MY DYING BRIDE guitarist Hamish Glencross. It is the brainchild of PARDISE LOST's guitar god Gregor Mackintosh, and was born out of the tragic loss of his father to lung cancer in 2009. The band's first record was a fitting tribute to Gregor's Father, and many were waited with baited breath to see whether VALLENFYRE would follow this brilliant record up with another. They did, and it's absolutely fantastic. This album builds upon the groundwork laid down by their debut record, "A Fragile King", an equally excellent album, and certifies this band as bonafide Death Metal masters. This combines numerous influences, from Old School Death Metal to Crust Punk to Doom to the first wave of Black Metal, and I can honestly say there is not a bad song on this album. I bought this album in September, and I have basically been listening to it in its entirety several times a week since. I would heavily recommend this to anyone who likes Extreme Metal of any form, and especially to ENTOMBED and CELTIC FROST fans.
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