2017 has proven to offer up the tightest race we have seen in a long time in the quest for the gold! So without any further ado, here is the creme de la creme of the year!
Click the cover art for music.
T H I R T Y
Unleash the Archers
Apex
“One of Canada’s finest in female-fronted power metal has done it again!”
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T H I R T Y
Temple of Void
Lords of Death
“Doom/death metal with abyssal growls that will haunt you in your sleep, but never forgets death metal’s old school brutality!”
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T W E N T Y – N I N E
Midnight –
Sweet Death and Ecstasy
“Midnight bring all of the sleazy, blackened, rocking speed metal we’ve come to expect and ramped up the energy and catchiness to eleven.”
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T W E N T Y – E I G H T
Wolves In The Throne Room
Thrice Woven
“A return to their Cascadian black metal glory.”
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T W E N T Y – S E V E N
Ironflame
Lightning Strikes the Crown
“Heavy metal has a new bright rising star, traditional as can be, but as relevant as ever!”
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T W E N T Y – F I V E
Warbringer
Woe To The Vanquished
“21st century thrash metal done the way it should be – with balls.”
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T W E N T Y – F I V E
Ne Obliviscaris
Urn
“Ne Obliviscaris continue down their technical yet emotional path by showing different facets yet again.”
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T W E N T Y – F O U R
Acrimonious
Eleven Dragons
“Still black metal at its core, Acrimonious’ latest offers some welcome impurities.”
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T W E N T Y – T H R E E
Apocalypse Orchestra
The End is Nigh
“Apocalypse Orchestra ask the very important question, why nobody has ever combined folk and doom metal in such a brilliant manner before?”
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T W E N T Y – T W O
Undergang
Misanthropologi
“The Danish masters of primitive, morbid destruction have come for full annihilation once more!”
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T W E N T Y – O N E
Ulver
The Assassination of Julius Caesar
“Predictably unpredictable, Ulver continue their experimentations.”
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N I N E T E E N
The Obsessed
Sacred
“The masters of stoner jams are back for another strike right into the liver!”
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N I N E T E E N
Ancestral
Master Of Fate
“Ancestral have come to drag the year 1985, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century – pummeling everything in their way en route.”
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S E V E N T E E N
The Chasm
A Conscious Creation from the Isolated Domain: Phase One
“Even purely instrumental The Chasm kick a lot of their death metal contemporaries’ rear!”
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S E V E N T E E N
Aosoth
V: The Inside Scriptures
“Ultra-heavy, monolithic black metal of very high quality!”
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S I X T E E N
Pyrrhon
What Passes For Survival
“Death metal is not getting much dirtier and grimier than this!”
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F O U R T E E N
The Ruins of Beverast
Exuvia
“The Ruins of Beverast have created a truly complex, yet beautiful soundscape!”
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F O U R T E E N
Contaminated
Final Man
“A putrid, fetid slab of old school death metal!”
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T H I R T E E N
Evertale
The Great Brotherwar
“A sweeping ride through the storms of epic power metal.”
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T W E L V E
Unaussprechlichen Kulten
Keziah Lilith Medea (Chapter X)
“Ancient death metal from South America never sounded as relevant!”
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E L E V E N
Darkest Hour
Godless Prophets & The Migrant Flora
“A damn-near-perfect record and there’s a strong case to be made that it could even be Darkest Hour’s strongest to date.”
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T E N
Pallbearer
Heartless
“Pure doom is flowing strong in the veins of Pallbearer.”
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N I N E
Converge
The Dusk In Us
“Fast, heavy, melodic, grimy are just some of the many faces of Converge and they show all of them with overwhelming effectiveness.”
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E I G H T
Septicflesh
Codex Omega
“Dark? Check. Majestic? Check. Brutal? Check. Chaotic? Check.”
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S E V E N
Elder
Reflections Of A Floating World
“Stoner doom that shows that you can add progressiveness and still win over all genre fans!”
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S I X
Ascended Dead
Abhorrent Manifestation
“Ascended Dead’s debut is a swirling maelstrom of bestial, primordial death metal!”
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F I V E
Bell Witch
Mirror Reaper
“Putting the ‘fun’ into funeral doom, Bell Witch have created a monumental slab of doomy goodness!”
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F O U R
Orden Ogan
Gunmen
“Orden Ogan continue to run from strength to strength, keeping the bar for epic power metal very, very high!”
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T H R E E
Lunar Shadow
Far From Light
“Fans of the cross section between heavy and power metal can rejoice about a new masterpiece to sink their ears into!”
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T W O
Power Trip
Nightmare Logic
“Modern thrash does NOT have to suck!”
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O N E
Malokarpatan
Nordkarpatenland
“Blending classic black metal in a new and exciting way!”
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