Top Metal Songs of 2014 / By H.P. Buttcraft
December 26, 2014
Give yourself a round of applause, 2014! You have set the bar so high this year for metal music! So many awesome new bands have debuted in 2014 and we've also seen some comebacks from some of metal's most legendary bands. I wanted to write this article as a way to give my appreciation to 2014 as being a year where the music mattered! Here's my list of ten of the best single tracks to come out this year (in no particular order).
Sleep ' "The Clarity"
So, after never recording a single song for almost 20 years since the release of "Jerusalem'/'Dopesmoker", all it took was Adult Swim to approach the stoner metal legends and simply ask "Can you guys record a song for this music compilation project we're doing?", to which SLEEP replied "!sure, no problem." Are you freaking kidding me? And the song sounds awesome too? Goddammit! SLEEP didn't exactly make a come back (at least not yet) but with "The Clarity", the band showed us all that they are the sultans of weed smoking. Listening to "The Clarity" will cause you to fail a drug test; it's that dank.

Babymetal ' "Gimme Chocolate!!"
There were a few interesting controversies in the world of heavy metal this year. There was the feud between the members of SLIPKNOT, the begging and whining from the founder of WINTERSUN about his disability to get a real job, I mean, finish recording "Time II" but the biggest controversy this year, bar none, came from three pre-pubescent Japanese girls and their phony affinity for death metal. Now although giving BABYMETAL accolades for anything really puts my accreditation as a metal fan/journalist at risk and puts myself at risk for being harshly ridiculed by purists, I am going to be honest with myself and admit that the music of BABYMETAL is fun. If you take this music or what BABYMETAL does seriously at all, I advise you to dislodge your head from your elitist ass. Yes, it's kitsch, its pabulum, its pop music garbage, blah, blah, blah! what-the fuck-ever! It's fun! If you're not having fun, don't try to rain on my fucking parade with your horseshit negativity. I am not a BABYMETAL fan boy by any means but BABYMETAL know how to get heavy.

Mastodon ' "Tread Lightly"
As much as I love MASTODON, "Once More 'Round the Sun" was a let down. It was bound to happen with the band's track record of having five great-to-stellar albums in a row, it was almost a law of physics that the band weren't going to pull it off for a sixth time. Especially after gaining a lot of momentum from their mainstream appeal. But despite their last record being a letdown, the opening track "Tread Lightly" was killer. I am not positive but I'm pretty sure the track is a reference to a line of dialogue from the TV series 'Breaking Bad' so if that's true, that makes me love this song even more. This song was probably the closest we will ever get to MASTODON writing music is the vein of their debut full-length record "Remission", which is still my favorite album by them. It almost makes me forget that time MASTODON's guitar player Brent Hinds did a belly flop onto a table of beer bottles that were half-full of his warm urine (yes, this actually happened).

Godflesh ' "New Dark Ages"
Justin Broadrick, taking a break from JESU, resurrected the mechanical scrap heap that is GODFLESH for one of the most monstrous songs in the band's entire history. If you thought GODFLESH was badass in the 1990's, just wait until you hear them with top-of-the-line drum machines and recording equipment. Just like on "Pure" and "Street Cleaner", this music is simplified but still very rich in tone and atmosphere. Their single "New Dark Ages" is a post-apocalyptic anthem I would imagine the T-1000 would be listening to. Maybe some people out there were expecting more from GODFLESH after avoiding a recording studio for thirteen years but their music in this day and age is truly refreshing, albeit nostalgic. As the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe stated, "less is more." I couldn't agree with you any more, Ludwig.

Pallbearer ' "The Ghost I Used to Be"
As I stated in my review for their latest album "Foundations of Burden", this song was a very clear contender for single of the year when it debuted this Summer. PALLBEARER, who had a huge standard to meet after releasing an immaculate debut album in 2012, had been playing this song live for years. You got to really love how the band breaks outside of their normal fare to try and become more groove-prone with faster tempos. This shift in styles was as adventurous to hear as I'm sure it was to record. Although I wasn't all-to-impressed by "Foundations of Burden", I enjoyed the album immensely and look forward to any and all future releases from this troupe.

Cloudkicker w/ Intronaut ' "Subsume Pt. 1 (live)"
This collaborative effort from solo artist Ben Sharp a.k.a. CLOUDKICKER and progressive/post metal engineers INTRONAUT was pretty much one the greatest things to ever happen. It sounds so magically delicious. I fucking love INTRONAUT and I cum all over the place when I listen to CLOUDKICKER (not literally, only in hyperbole) so you can imagine the enjoyment and ecstasy I felt when I listened to these bands perform together. Never has Ben Sharp/CLOUDKICKER sounded so amazing as when Joe Lester, who is one of the greatest rock bass players alive right now, and Danny Walker, who a ridiculously sick drummer, put their collective heads and hands together to weave such an amazing, pulsating, uplifting sound. I feel a whole planet's mass of regret for not getting to see them on their live tour this year but something tells me that this isn't the last that we've heard from "KICKERNAUT".

Tomahawk ' "South Paw"
Holy shit, this song is catchy. Holy shit, Mike Patton has still got it. So, I have never been into TOMAHAWK and honestly, I couldn't find you a TOMAHAWK fan if you asked me. However, this beautiful mixture of hard rock, R&B and alternative that gets made from TOMAHAWK in their 2014 single "South Paw" got me hooked real badly. This was probably one of my most listened-to songs of the year. What a chorus hook it has! Again, this music was fun and you're not into having fun then kindly shut the fuck up.

From Beyond ' "The Fall to Earth"
I stumbled upon this track randomly on the Scion A/V Soundcloud page. On their split EP with ASG, Houston's FROM BEYOND provides a very nostalgic, catchy and all-around heavy number with "The Fall to Earth". I have never heard of FROM BEYOND before this but I can certainly describe them as a well-balanced mix of SOUNDGARDEN, UFOMAMMUT and a Grindhouse movie soundtrack. The vocals in particular sound an awful lot like Chris Cornell, too. They also get bonus points for the heavy H.P. Lovecraft references. Give this song a listen and I'm certain that you'll be equally as impressed with this group as I was.

Behemoth ' "Oro Pro Noblis Lucifer"
"The Satanist" was a big moment of this year for heavy metal. It was hyped up as a triumphant and theatrical return of BEHEMOTH after frontman Adam 'Nergal' Darski's recovery from a nearly-fatal struggle with leukemia. And it's very evident that Nergal and the band are no longer the same as they were on 2009's "Evangelion". Although the promotion for "The Satanist' fell mostly on the track "Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel", which came off to me as a glorified, five minute-long album intro, the real density of the album could certainly be heard on the album's heaviest track "Oro Pro Noblis Lucifer". You can explicitly hear the band's allegiance to The Prince of Darkness on this song. The drums by Inferno are furious and cyclonic and the vocals sound incredible as they belt out lyrics like "volcano of excrement". How great of a lyric-slash-mental image is that? 2014 will definitely be known as the year BEHEMOTH came through with one of their best albums of their entire 20 year-long career.

Agalloch ' "Celestial Effigy"
Although I was slightly let down by AGALLOCH's 2014 release, hating on AGALLOCH has not and will never be part of my agenda. "The Serpent and the Sphere" just didn't have the impact that albums like "The Mantle", "Pale Folklore" or "Marrow of the Spirit" had but there was still a monstrously powerful track on it, "Celestial Effigy". It's a song that exists as a composite of their 15 years of work trying to produce solemn, esoteric and existential Pagan-laced black metal. They add samples from each era of their music writing history. Every member of AGALLOCH puts forth 110% on this song and miraculously, you can identify each and every instrument used on this song. It all sounds organic too but, well, duh! It's AGALLOCH!

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