Sammy O’Hagar’s Top Fifteen Metal Albums of 2014
America loves a good redemptive arc. Even despite our raging hard-on for blaming people for circumstances that may be beyond their control, we love knowing that someone down on their luck could reemerge with a revitalized sense of purpose. And redemption was huge this year: A Prince record thatâs easily the best thing heâs done since the mid-â90s. Rust Cohle reintroducing the world to that âalright alright alrightâ guy. A Mike Tyson TV show to get those white tigers out of repot. A fairly enjoyable Weezer record in lieu of the chores theyâve been releasing for a decade. Shit, there was even a free U2 album that was way better than any of the ones put out exclusively by Best Buy or whatever. Rapidly aging mainstays proved why theyâre, well, staying main. Upstarts continue bucking the anesthetized Clear Channel-ing of radio rock and pop. At its best, 2014âs music reintroduced the idea of hope back into waking life 5+ years after it was used as a marketing ploy.
This isnât to say the yearâs been a good one. (How bleak was this year? Bill Cosby was outed as a serial rapist and Robin Williams killed himself. I mean… Jesus.) But during a time of social upheaval not seen in earnest since the â60s, thereâs still metal. And metal, completely unsurprisingly, made its presence count. The year was yet again filled with newly minted classics, worthwhile additions to excellent catalogs, and, yes, bands and/or genres redeeming themselves after years of uneasiness. Weâre most likely entering a new boom in the guillotine industry, but as the shit continues its steady contact with the fan, thereâs more than enough heavy catharsis to itch that window-breaking urge. To paraphrase one last year’s best reissues, sit back, maybe get into that new Yob or Origin record, and weâll watch as the palaces burn.
15. Anti Ritual – Anti Ritual (Interdisciplinarian/Vendetta)
Some have dubbed this the Year of the EP (alright, no oneâs called it that exactly), so I figured itâd be appropriate to include the one I dug the most. This isnât a shallow honor: blackened d-beatcore shitstirrers Anti Ritual beat out whippersnappers like Down and Godflesh, (whose Decline & Fall EP I may have liked a little more than their new full length) with a quick barrage of concentrated chaos. Itâs an IED of white-knuckled hardcore, hateful black metal, and burly grind. Imagine if Rotten Sound put out their take on A Blaze in the Northern Sky: it still wouldnât be as lean and nasty as Anti Ritualâs debut.
Listen: “No Second Earth”
14. Wo Fat – The Conjuring (Small Stone Recordings)
In a summer filled with ball-drenching heat that culminated in the debutante ball for Americaâs Tiananmen-esque police state, Wo Fat provided both sympathy and relief. But more importantly, they provided deep-fried, fuzzy stoner doom. More accurately summoning Kyuss than Kyuss Lives!, the most remarkable thing about The Conjuring is how fun and vital it sounded: if youâd told me this time last year that one of my favorite records would be filled with hazy stoner rock and out-and-out JAMMING, I would have slapped you. Slapped you right in your goddamn mouth. Also, I would ask who you were and why you were inquiring about my year-end list for 2014.
Listen: “Read the Omens”Â
13. Conquering Dystopia – Conquering Dystopia (Independent)
Before 2014, weâd been taking Jeff Loomis for granted (Lord knows Arch Enemy sure donât anymore). Yes, his fretwork in Nevermore was unimpeachable; however, there was so much other excellence going on with them that it made Loomis look more like a useful piece than an essential organ. Not so with Conquering Dystopia, a band filled with ringers (Alex Webster? Alex RĂŒdinger? Which death metal nerd flipped through his wet dream Rolodex to staff this band??) to complement Loomis and Keith Merrowâs near-constant barrage of 50-ton riffs. Nevermind that the band doesnât have a vocalist: every one of the 53 minutes on their debut is lush and vivid, saying more than a Warrel Dane knockoff ever could. And while there was a lot of transcendent metal this year, there wasnât a lot of it that came close to topping Conquering Dystopiaâs closer âDestroyer of Dreams.â Overwrought metal nerd prose does it no justice. The band very ably speak for themselves.
Listen: “Destroyer of Dreams”
12. Coffinworm – IV.I.VIII (Profound Lore)
Hipsters have done their best to drive doom into the ground over the last decade. Hell, the genreâs been on the ropes the last few years. Not so in 2014: you could very easily assemble a top 15 list comprised solely of doom releases and have it be perfectly valid. And while Coffinworm arenât a straight-up doom band (theyâve got a ton of strip-mined black metal in there, too), IV.I.VIII is certainly near the top of the 2014 doom heap. That says a lot considering their company (Crowbar, Indian, Pallbearer, other bands coming up on this list). While the charm of some of 2014âs plethora of excellent doom lost a bit of its luster over the year, the curdled, diseased charm of IV.I.VIII never waned. If anything, it waxed magnificently.
Listen: “Lust Vs. Vengeance”Â
11. Gridlink – Longhena (Handshake Inc.)
Gridlink mastered short-form tech-grind on their first two releases, so having their final release display a ton of progress is a cruel joke. But because their tightly-wound approach couldnât lend itself to bloated experimentation, having the excellent Longehna serve as their swansong is completely appropriate. Yes, opener âConstant Autumnâ and âIsland Sunâ clock in at over 2 minutes (or almost twice the length of the longest songs on their first two releases), but thatâs not to say that the bandâs charm still doesnât lie in impossibly fast and dense microbursts. Longehna on the whole has a 70-minute albumâs emotional breadth jammed into a package almost too small to hold it. Almost, though. Everything is carefully considered and executed. Gridlink burned too hard and fast to keep going, but that was kind of the point. Theyâll still be dearly missed.
Listen: “Ketsui”Â
10. Goatwhore – Constricting Rage of the Merciless (Metal Blade)
Goatwhoreâs ability to thoroughly top their last record every time is both impressive and troublesome. Constricting the Rage of the Merciless is easily the best thing theyâve done so far, maybe even making their back catalog a non-entity. Whether the militant charge that powers âReanimated Sacrificeâ and âUnraveling Paradiseâ or the straight-up party riffs of âBaring Teeth for Revoltâ and âFBS,â Goatwhore come close to being mechanical in their delivery of top-shelf, bullet belted metal. But the humanityâs still there, occasionally tipping its hand and revealing the grown teenagers in the band paying homage to Venom and Celtic Frost. But that doesnât make them warm or relatable: Constricting the Rage of the Merciless still puts off the vibe that Goatwhore  would skin you alive just to wear you as a poncho.
Listen: ‘”Baring Teeth for Revolt”
9. Belphegor – Conjuring the Dead (Nuclear Blast)
Thereâs been no band quite as grim and brutal in equal measure as Belphegor this year. Scientifically, that makes Conjuring the Dead a pretty big achievement. Black metal usually isnât this heavy, and death metal usually isnât this layered and dark. I donât think many bands in either genre produced something as genuinely unsettling as the opening of âLucifer, Take Her!â Theyâre neither silly ice giant nor scowling, elitist longhair. Theyâre just destructiveâand maybe more so than everâon Conjuring the Dead.
Listen: “Lucifer, Take Her!”
8. Triptykon – Melana Chasmata (Century Media)
Eparistera Daimones was a pretty good metal record. But coming off of Celtic Frostâs peerless comeback/swansong Monotheist, one couldnât help thinking that Triptykon were a pretty good retread instead of a separate and equal entity. Melana Chasmata thankfully sounds like the band clicking into place. Like Monotheist, it touches on all the hallmarks of Tom G. Warriorâbig, moaning doom riffs, snarling thrash and death metal, and proto-black metal that simultaneously sounds new. Chasmata is monolithically dense and pitch black; for as bleak as latter day Celtic Frost and Triptykon were, this is new unhallowed ground. Yeah, itâs probably due to personal circumstances, but out of that trauma came Triptykon in earnest. Melana Chasmata is as confident and flawless as one would expect it to be. This is Triptykonâs arrival in earnest, and the world is simultaneously a better and worse place for it.
Listen: “Black Snow”
7. Agalloch – The Serpent and the Sphere (Profound Lore)
The problem with Agalloch is that they can make records that come off more interesting than they actually are. For every Ashes Against the Grain, thereâs a smoke & mirrors take on grandiosity like the decent-but-flawed Marrow of the Spirit. Fortunately, The Serpent and the Sphere is classic Agalloch reservedly inching itself out further into the stylistic wilderness. For a band as broodingly epic as them, Sphere is still remarkably huge. Indulging in their post-metal journeymaking alongside their ably-executed folk and black metal, the record is an endearing reminder of whatâs great about Agalloch. Which in the case of The Serpent and the Sphere is damn near everything.
Listen: “The Astral Dialogue”Â
 6. Artificial Brain – Labyrinth Constellation (Profound Lore)
Gorguts squiggliness over a gurgling tech-death tar made for a surprisingly diverse and palatable record in Labyrinth Constellation. In lieu of Artificial Brain getting lost up their own asses, they simply wrote some of the weirdest metal riffs Iâve heard in a while. And live, well, theyâre a band that needs to be seen to be believed. If anything, 2014 belonged to the skinny, dorky longhair yelling âABSORBING BLACK IGNITION!â between songs when I saw them a little while back. What a fucking debut, huh?
Listen: “Absorbing Black Ignition”Â
5. Lord Mantis – Death Mask (Profound Lore)
The dangerous, diseased yang to Neurosisâ weathered, soulful ying, Lord Mantis may take the crown for the best doom record in a very crowded year. And like Coffinworm, they pilfer more than a little from death and black metal to get the mood right. And that mood was nauseating: from the punch-drunk sludge of âBody Chokeâ to the upsettingly dynamic âThree Crosses,â Lord Mantis execute a commendable balancing act between overly vile and insufficiently fetid, producing something fascinating and moving. Thereâs something off about Lord Mantis, but the issue isnât that it doesnât color within doomâs lines; itâs that thereâs still something human to be found in music this uncompromisingly repellent.
Listen: “Death Mask”Â
4. Spectral Lore – III (I, Voidhanger)
I wouldnât say Iâd given up on black metal, but I hadnât heard any that made me feel good about where it was. (Even Taakeâs Norges Vaapen was more impressive tribute than revitalizing force.) But Spectral Lore dropped a Peter Jackson trilogyâs worth of expansive, intricate black metal into our laps on III. It runs the gamut from angular Deathspell Omega/Blut Aus Nord blackened abstraction to Dissection-grade melodic black metal. Yes, there are post-whatever and folk elements, but theyâre natural extensions of black metalâs grouchy MO. III is a metal record to get lost in, complete with 6-7 unimpeachably grim epics. Black metalâs still good, guys. At least for now.
Listen: “A Rider in the Lands of An Infinite Dreamscape”
3. Mastodon- Once More âRound the Sun (Reprise)
Speaking of redemptions, this record. Itâs been a hard 7 or 8 years to be a Mastodon fan: the âOH IâM SORRY BUT CANâT BANDS NOT BE HEAVY?â snipes have been near-constant, ignoring the fact that people like me didnât dislike Crack the Skye and The Hunter because they lacked heaviness;Â they just werenât very good. Once More âround the Sun makes that point for me. Mastodon are clearly very uninterested in getting back to Remission territory, but where theyâve traveled to instead makes sense. No more awkward attempts at Rush and King Crimson concept records or, well, bad music. Instead, the band produced a pastiche of beautifully earnest and catchy hard rock. The wonderful irony of Once More âround the Sun is that Baroness needed to move beyond sounding like Mastodon to flourish, while Mastodon apparently needed to start sounding like Baroness to get back into the groove.
Listen: “The Motherload”
2. Tombs – Savage Gold (Relapse)
And speaking further on redemption, Tombsâ Paths of Totality is a perfectly fine record. However, it sounded like a more refined version of Winter Songs, whose charm was in how raw and unrefined it was. So instead of rehashing that approach a third time, Tombs took a sharp right into something just as impressive as their debut (if not superior). In lieu of veering deeper into hardcore, Mike Hill and the gang instead decided to get really fucking black metal on Savage Gold. The results are achingly sad and bulldoggish, moody and fierce with a wet and heavy heart. I believe in Tombs once again, and Iâm really fucking excited to see where they go from here.
Listen: “Legacy”Â
1. Behemoth – The Satanist (Metal Blade)
By now, you probably figured this would be on top. Shit, even I knew this would probably be the case back when I first heard it in January. Nothing topped Behemothâs career moment, capping off around two decades of cagey black metal and brilliantly heavy blackened death. The difference between The Satanist and the last few Behemoth records is the humanity woven into the noxious, angular black metal and the poignant heaviness of the title track or appropriately-apocalyptic opener âBlow Your Trumpets Gabriel.â The Satanist is something special. Itâs too definitive a statement in granite to be anything less than metalâs capping achievement in whatever year it came out. Negral got cancer and saw the face of God. But instead of submitting, he told Him to go fuck Himself. Now heâs back here among us to writhe until itâs over. After all, better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. And Behemoth have the ability to reign over us all. As black metal originally greeted us, welcome to Hell.
Listen: “O Father O Satan O Sun!”