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
As time passes on and more music being produced each and every year, it’s easy to forget what an influence that Chuck Schuldiner and Death had on the bands we enjoy today and even our very listening habits. From 1987’s Scream Bloody Gore to 1998’s The Sound of Perseverance , the 11-year span that had Chuck writing music was one of the most important and pioneering times that graced the metal that we know today. Thankfully, Death To All (otherwise known as DTA ) keeps the legacy alive by featuring members who had the privilege of playing with Chuck all those years ago. This time around, bassist Steve DiGiorgio was joined by the one and only Gene Hoglan on drums and Bobby Koelble on guitar, while Max Phelps proceeded to play the part of Chuck himself. On tour as well were death metal titans Obituary and Massacre , as well as Rivers of Nihil (who were unfortunately missed thanks to Chicago traffic). Please enjoy the photos from the night of November 25th, 2014! Massacre Obituary Death To All For more from this photographer, visit Kyle Gaddo on Flickr. -KG
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
Though this isn’t technically heavy news in terms of music, we are sad to see the departure of such a legend as Paco de Lucia , the famed flamenco-style guitarist. The man was found dead earlier today at the age of 66, apparently from a heart attack . The story goes that he was at the beach in Cancun with his child and he began to feel unwell, perishing on his way to the local hospital. Thank you for everything you did for music, sir. May your legacy never be forgotten. -KG
It wasn’t until last year’s co-headlining tour with Alcest that UK doom turned art rock band Anathema toured North America for the first time ever. It wasn’t a tour to miss for sure, and we urged everyone to see it; after all, if it took them this long to get here to begin with, who knows when they’ll be back? Turns out, they aren’t wasting much time hitting Stateside again, because they’ll be supporting HIM next month. Here are the dates, few as they may be: 3/07 – Los Angeles, CA @ House Of Blues 3/08 – Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues 3/09 – San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore 3/12 – Chicago, IL @ House of Blues 3/13 – Cleveland, OH @ House Of Blues 3/14 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza 3/15 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre Of Living Arts 3/16 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza 3/18 – Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage 3/19 – Orlando, FL @ House Of Blues 3/20 – Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution 3/24 – New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues 3/25 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues Nothing close to home here, but lets see if we can get some photos! – JR
Architects just can’t seem to shake the legacy of Hollow Crown , but they’re getting there. Their new album Lost Forever // Lost Together showed promise from the get-go, and I’m always ready to give the metalcore tech-dabblers the time of day. I haven’t been able to listen to the entire record yet, but based on what I’ve heard so far and from others is that this is exactly what we were hoping. We’ve got a review coming for next week, but don’t wait around; listen to Lost Forever // Lost Together below. The album hits stores March 11th through Epitaph Records. Pre-orders are available at this location. – JR
The release of Nexilva ‘s new album Eschatologies now finally has a release date, so you can brace your butts. Come April 7th you can get your grubby mitts on fourteen tracks of crushing deathcore, the likes of which wrecked my ears when they dropped a video for the title track mid-way through last year. However, not content to leave us with just that, the group have unveiled a new track by the name of ‘ The Misdirection Of God ‘ to tide us over. It’s a doozy. The track lies at the front end of the record and, upon first listen, you can definitely see why — it has a real immediacy to it, opening with an off-kilter groove, laced with grinding blastbeats, before winding through the synth-laden paths that they’re so good at stitching together. This bodes well — add this to your watch list if you like your music unrelenting, grooving and above all primally heavy. – DL