A week ago we opened up the voting to ask you, our readers to choose the Top 25 albums of 2014. Balloting remains open for another week but we see who is in the lead after the jump. To give you an idea about what an amazing year 2014 has been in our kind of music is that in just a week of voting, we’ve had 66 different records submitted as the Album of the Year. But when we ran the numbers, here’s the Top 25 for the year so far. Before you complain that your favorite album isn’t on the listm, remember, you can change it with your vote. See the link below the list. Heavy Blog is Heavy Readers Top 25 of 2014 Halfway Through the Votes. 1. Fallujah – The Flesh Prevails 2. Archspire – The Lucid Collective 3. The Contortionist – Language 4. Skyharbor – Guiding Lights 5. Ne Obliviscaris – Citadel 6. Animals as Leaders – The Joy of Motion 7. Black Crown Initiate – The Wreckage Of Stars 8. Job For A Cowboy – Sun Eater 9. Beyond Creation – Earthborn Evolution 10. YOB – Clearing the Path to Ascend 11. Devin Townsend Project – Z2 12. Intervals – A Voice Within 13. Behemoth – The Satanist 14. Inferi – The Path of Apotheosis 15. Son of Aurelius – Under a Western Sun 16. Rings of Saturn – Lugal Ki En 17. Allegaeon – Elements of the Infinite 18. Destrage – Are You Kidding Me? No 19. Panopticon – Roads to the North 20. Artificial Brain – Labyrinth Constellation 21. Architects – Lost Forever // Lost Together 22. Cannibal Corpse – A Skeletal Domain 23. Monuments – The Amaneunsis 24. Gridlink – Longhena 25. Code Orange – I Am King Vote for Your Top 25 Metal (or Any Other) Releases of 2014. Click Here to Fill Out the Form You’re also welcome to post your lists in comments or on Facebook but only lists submitted through the form count towards our Final Reader’s List. –BS
Posts Tagged ‘album’
Farewell 2014: Your Top 25 Albums So Far (Voting Remains Open)
December 2nd, 2014 
Metalkult 
Posted in News 
Tags: album, Alternative Press, Aphex Twin, arch enemy, architects, archspire, beyond creation, Billboard 200, Cannibal Corpse, form, guiding-lights, infinite, job for a cowboy, lists!, mayhem-festival, metal blade records, rings of saturn, skeletal-domain, Sun-Eater, voice-within, year, yob 
No Comments »Stream the New Cretin Album Right Now!
December 2nd, 2014 Metalkult Grincer connaisseurs Cretin recently popped their heads up when they were on the Decibel Magazine Tour last year, but other than that, they’ve been relatively quiet for quite some time. Eight years, to be exact, because that’s when they released their debut album, Freakery . These guys have been long overdue for a new album, and now we finally get our wish: Cretin’s sophomore album, Stranger , will be released next week, and the band is streaming it in full! Check out more info after the jump. Our pals over at No Clean Singing have the premiere, and it would behoove you to listen to it right this instant. If you’ve never heard Cretin but consider yourself a fan of grindcore and death metal, than man, have you been missing out. Cretin play a savage hybrid of death and grind a la Repulsion and Napalm Death, and they are fantastic. I consider Freakery to be a modern classic of the genre, and Stranger is a more than worthy continuation. It’s filled to the brim with blast beats, indecipherable vocals and razor-sharp grooves; what more could you ask of a grind record? Strangers will be released next week on Dec. 9. It could very well be a late contender for year-end lists, so listen to it, get that list finalized and then share it with us here ! -AL
Posted in News Tags: 70000 Tons of Metal, a-new-album, album, arch enemy, bandcamp, barney-greenway, been-relatively, blind guardian, Cannibal Corpse, caribbean, century media records, check-out-more, grindcore-and, late-contender, list-finalized, napalm-death, new music, once more with streaming, premiere, recently-popped, share-it-with No Comments »Destrage – Are You Kidding Me? No.
March 2nd, 2014 Metalkult Destrage Are You Kidding Me? No. 01. Destroy Create Transform Sublimate 02. Purania 03. My Green Neighbour 04. Hosts, Rifles & Coke 05. G.O.D. 06. Where the Things Have No Colour 07. Waterpark Bachelorette 08. Before, After and All Around 09. – (Obedience) 10. Are You Kidding Me? No. [03/04/14] [Metal Blade] It’s hard to describe the Italian insanity that is Destrage . While they have elements of Sikth , The Dillinger Escape Plan and alternative rock in their music, they have a very consistent sound somehow. They gained fame with their sophomore album The King Is Fat’N’Old in 2010 and now they’re faced with the critical moment in their career, can they follow it up with something equally good, if not better? Well, they’ve succeeded, Are You Kidding Me? No. is even crazier and catchier than their previous work. Am I kidding you? No. While The King is Fat’N’Old was a great album chock full of memorable songs, it was also a bit inconsistent in its tone. Some songs were very heavy, whereas others were drawn out ballads. While variety is always great in an album, tying the two ends together properly is also paramount. Destrage’s newest album (henceforth to be called AYKMN) has a sound that is spread out in a better way than their previous work. The songs flow much better, and as blast beats turn into acoustic sections the seamlessness of it all never ceases to amaze. AYKMN is easily their most progressive work. The guitar work is crazy, being reminiscent of Sikth, yet having its own flavor. There is so much groove in every song, and the technical riffs contrast very well with the groovy parts and big choruses. There are a bunch of other elements thrown in there as well, the occasional salsa section, 80s influences and even some electronica that is tastefully done. Vocalist Paolo Colavolpe deserves a lot of praise. He has high Sikth-esque screams, versatile clean vocals and even low growls. A lot of the songs have extremely memorable melodic sections that just beg to be sang along to, and his vocal delivery is what really sells them. The fact that he can also accompany breakdowns, Pantera -esque groovy riffs, straight-up Dillinger style insanity and everything else the band throws out there is a testament to how great he really is. While all of the riffing in the album is excellent and unforgettable, the vocals are just as important. Many bands often fall into the trap of emphasizing either the vocals or instruments, but Destrage offer a mix of the two that is just right. While the music is incredible, there is also an issue with the album. Just like its predecessor, AYKMN’s production is a bit… odd. While everything is audible and nothing is over-produced like many of their modern contemporaries, the album is very noisy. The overbearing snare sound from TKIFAO is still present, if not as extreme as it used to be. The guitars are also slightly too fuzzy like the previous album. While these issues aren’t a huge deal in a vacuum, they make listening to the album for extended lengths quite tiresome, and if the abrasiveness of the sound was curbed a bit, it would have sounded perfect. It’s definitely a minor issue and not a deal-breaker though. In the end, this album is great. It’s easily Destrage’s best work yet, full of simultaneously catchy and crazy tunes. Every song is extremely memorable and enjoyable to hum along to. The way Destrage blend the best elements from many genres to create accessible yet interesting songs is definitely something that needs to be heard to be believed. Are You Kidding Me? No. is a masterful mix of insanity and catchiness at their best. Destrage – Are You Kidding Me? No. gets… 4.5/5 – NT
Author & Punisher – Women & Children
May 19th, 2013 Metalkult Author & Punisher Women & Children 01. Women & Children 02. In Remorse 03. Melee 04. Tame As A Lion 05. Fearce 06. Miles From Home 07. Pain Myself [06/11/13] [Seventh Rule] The marriage of metal and electronic music is not a new concept, and often ends up with shoddy or campy results. Industrial metal is one such genre born from this union and even still, results may vary; Bands like Godflesh and Jesu are regarded quite favorably as innovators whereas the likes of Marilyn Manson and Static-X get mixed reception. Recent developments within the genre have lead to wild avant-garde experimentation, where Norway’s SHINING and Californian one-man band Author & Punisher are met with repeated acclaim for their furtherance of industrial music in their own right. The latter act, Author & Punisher, is a relatively little-known project from mechanical engineer and sculptor Tristan Shone that broke out last year in some ways with his sophomore album Ursus Americanus, which ended up on many critics’ year-end lists of favorites because of its unusual exhibition; Shone makes all of his instruments himself and rigs them in a way that allows him to perform his complex doom and drone inspired compositions entirely by himself. This makes for some highly unique music and performance art that is currently unrivaled in the genre. Only a year after Ursus Americanus wowed privileged listeners, Shone’s third record Women & Children explores Author & Punisher’s dark and twisted sound further and adds some much needed heart into this band of machines. Despite the short wait between releases, Women & Children is the next logical step in the Author & Punisher evolution. The sonic palette established by Shone is still omnipresent; after a soundscape of crickets and buzzing flies, the opening title track kicks in with downtempo grooving drum machines passed down from Godflesh and massive droning synths churn together in a hypnotic fashion while Shone chants distorted syllables through the track’s dynamic rise and fall. Shone is no stranger to writing heavy and oppressive music, and shows with immediacy that he still loves the feeling of overdriven bass. However, what makes Women & Children so different from his previous records is its moodiness and diversity. When compared to Ursus Americanus , Women & Children seemingly dials back the machines and instead focuses more on Shone’s range of emotion. For instance, on the album’s second track In Remorse, we hear glimpses of Shone’s clean singing voice, which was previously a bit of a rarity. Later, ‘Tame as a Lion’ almost catches listeners off guard, as we hear Shone at his most vulnerable as he sings quite melodically along to piano in verse-chorus structure, though his voice with his is distant and somewhat shrouded in distortion. The piano and Shone’s singing voice even make a reprisal in the album’s chilling closer ‘Pain Myself.’ While no mere piano ballads, these seemingly out of character tracks show a whole new breadth of character and marks a new direction for Author & Punisher to explore. Following this trend, Women & Children is much more stripped down in terms of electronics, and the album is largely more atmospheric and pensive than the in-your-face aggression of Ursus Americanus . Previously, it was more often than not that distorted synths would drone longer and louder as well as rhythmically attack in a dubstep sort of fashion as the main event, as in the new track ‘ Fearce ‘. Now, Shone is seemingly more mindful of his songwriting on Women & Children, with tracks like ‘ Melee ‘ and ‘ Miles From Home’ taking time between spastic vitriol for moments of sober atmosphere and dynamic ebb and flow. As such, Women & Children feels more real and human on some level, as if the tyrannical machines of past had suddenly became sentient and empathetic. This isn’t to say that his previous work was somehow immature or lacking of emotion, but Shone has transcended what was once thought possible for Author & Punisher’s sound and created a brilliant album with some newfound variance and depth. It’s good to see Author & Punisher material pushing forward into newly emotive territory, even if it does make for more accessible songwriting. Despite this appreciation for atmosphere and melody, Women & Children is still a remarkably bleak and sinister record that explores the depressive and psychedelic in entirely new ways. Author & Punisher – Women & Children gets… 4/5 – JR
Posted in News Tags: a-year-after, album, author, furtherance, marilyn manson, miles-from, punisher, shone, voice, women No Comments »Bring Me the Horizon Stream ‘Sempiternal’ Album, Push Forward Release Date
February 28th, 2013 Metalkult Epitaph Bring Me the Horizon fans will get the band’s ‘Sempiternal’ album sooner than expected, as the UK group has pushed forward the release date while offering entire stream of the album a full month before it drops. The full effort can be heard below for a limited time. The band mentioned ‘ overwhelming and phenomenal demand ‘ as the official reason given for the disc’s new release date, but there are also reports that the album leaked to the Internet. The ‘ Sempiternal ‘ album will now arrive in stores on April 2, as opposed to the initial April 30 street date. In addition to ‘Shadow Moses,’ the album features such songs as the blistering ‘Empire (Let Them Sing),’ the moody and atmospherically intense ‘And the Snakes Start to Sing’ and the kiss-off track ‘Antivist,’ which the band recently “ dedicated ” to former guitarist Jona Weinhofen . If you like what you hear, you can pre-order copies of the ‘Sempiternal’ album at this location . Bring Me the Horizon will venture to the U.S. this summer to take part in the Vans Warped Tour . Listen to Bring Me the Horizon’s ‘Sempiternal’ Album (Each Track Leads to the Next One) Bring Me the Horizon, ‘Sempiternal’ Track Listing: 1. ‘Can You Feel My Heart’ 2. ‘The House of Wolves’ 3. ‘Empire (Let Them Sing)’ 4. ‘Sleepwalking’ 5. ‘Go to Hell, For Heaven’ 6. ‘Shadow Moses’ 7. ‘And the Snakes Start to Sing’ 8. ”Seen It All Before’ 9. ‘Antivist’ 10. ‘Crooked Young’ 11. ‘Hospital for Souls’ [button href=”http://loudwire.com/bring-me-the-horizon-video-shadow-moses/” title=”Next: Watch Bring Me the Horizon’s ‘Shadow Moses’ Video” align=”center”]
Posted in News Tags: album, band, blistering, horizon, jona weinhofen, metal, snakes-start, video No Comments »August Burns Red Begin Work on ‘Most Ambitious Album Yet’
February 17th, 2013 Metalkult Facebook: August Burns Red August Burns Red have enjoyed their break from the road, but now have enough material to begin recording their next studio album. The group confirmed their return to the studio via a series of Facebook posts this past week, with drummer Matt Greiner getting his tracking out of the way first. One of the first studio photos can be seen above. Even before a note was recorded, Greiner had been pounding away. In a photo posting , it was revealed that the drummer physically wore down his drumsticks during the writing process. Guitarist JB Brubacker told Alternative Press , “2012 turned out to be quite intense for us from a touring standpoint. We did more traveling than we had ever previously done in our career and after three straight months on the road to end the year, I think we were all ready to come home and shift into writing/recording mode. Now that the writing is complete, we are all itching to get started with the actual tracking.” Speaking about the sound, the guitarist added, “This new record will push the boundaries of our genre more than we ever have before. We set out to write a record where every song stands out from the last. There is a lot of ground covered here and a ton of meat to this album. It’s full of odd metered rhythms and breakdowns, unexpected twists and turns and some of our most technical riffing to date. Each of us have parts that make our heads spin and we have had to practice like crazy to get some of this stuff together.” Brubaker says that the album, which he calls their “most ambitious album yet,” is expected later this year via Solid State Records. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/august-burns-red-video-empire/” title=”Next: Watch August Burns Red’s ‘Empire’ Video” align=”center”]
Posted in News Tags: album, august-burns, burns, metal, press, recording-mode-, stands-out-from, tracking, writing, year No Comments »Bullet for My Valentine, ‘Temper Temper’ – Album Review
February 12th, 2013 Metalkult RCA Bullet for My Valentine are clicking on all cylinders on their new album, though the band readily admits the title ‘Temper Temper’ comes from some of the internal friction within the group. But rather than letting things fester, they turned lemons into lemonade by allowing it fuel the creative process. Fans of the group may already be familiar with the title track and ‘ Riot ,’ the first two songs released off the record. ‘Temper Temper’ was a solid introductory choice from the band, showing off their speedy guitar work and Michael “Moose” Thomas’ cymbal-heavy drumbeats, with the pacing of the song mirroring what it feels like when you’re just about to explode. ‘Riot,’ meanwhile, is arguably the album’s best song and a natural choice for a single. With guitar work that comes off like a warning alarm and Matt Tuck vocals that beg you to sing along to the “whoa-oh-ohs,” Bullet for My Valentine have an anthem on their hands. The disc as a whole is at its best in the mid-section, with the songs running from ‘Temper Temper’ through ‘Riot’ providing an increasingly diverse and strong stretch of music. ‘Pow’ starts off dialing things back a bit, but by the end of the song Tuck is confidently declaring, “ I will breathe once more .” ‘Dirty Little Secret’ has single potential and may have more style shifts than any song on the record. Keeping in the theme of dealing with aggression, Tuck belts, “ Straight for the throat / Like you’re an animal / In for the kill / Just like you’re an animal .” ‘Leech’ is a solid rocker that tells the story of a delusional person who’s always crashing the party. It’s followed by ‘Dead to the World,’ the album’s moodiest song, which comes at precisely the right time to give the listener a break from the hard-hitting assault that had been the record up to this point. In the introspective track, Tuck digs deep for the lyrics, “ I’ve tried a thousand times before to leave my demons behind me for good / I’m trapped with no escape to find / Lost without hope, hope is not lost as I hang on for one more tomorrow / Heart turns to black, but I’m not coming back cause I feel like I’m dead to the world .” However, by the end of the track, the melancholy gives way to full-on angst-ridden aggression fueled by Tuck and Michael “Padge” Paget’s guitar work. The album also concludes on a high note as ‘Livin’ Life (On the Edge of a Knife)’ is one of the more energetic tracks on the disc. The good news for Bullet for My Valentine fans is that not only will this album truly rock you, it also feels tailor-made for the stage. So get familiar with ‘Temper Temper’ and expect to hear plenty of it over the next couple of years. To catch BFMV on their upcoming tour with Halestorm, click here for dates. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/bullet-for-my-valentine-new-album-temper-temper-exclusive-video-interview/” title=”Watch Our Exclusive Interview With Bullet for My Valentine” align=”center”]
Posted in News Tags: a-warning-alarm, album, band, bullet for my valentine, group, introspective, new-albums, rock, though-the-band No Comments »
