Too Soon? Axl’s Best of 2019… So Far

There hasn’t been any real theme to 2019’s strongest releases to date, at least so far as I can tell. In fact, when looking over the running list I keep for “Year’s Best Shit” so I don’t forget anything come December, I realized that all of my favorite 2019 metal albums so far have been released by different labels. I don’t know if that “means” anything or not, but it’s interesting. Hopefully, if nothing else, it speaks to metal’s current state of health.

Here are the albums that made me shake my money maker the most during the first half of this year:

Allegaeon – Apoptosis (Metal Blade)
The Austerity Program – Bible Songs 1 (Controlled Burn)
Baroness – Gold & Grey (Abraxan Hymns)
Batushka – Панихида (self-released)
Beheaded – Only Death Can Save You (Agonia)
Devil Master – Satan Spits on Children of Light (Relapse)
Devin Townsend – Empath (Inside Out)
Fleshgod Apocalypse – Veleno (NB)
Pelican – Nighttime Stories (Southern Lord)
Sepolcro – Amorphous Mass (Unholy Domain/Dismal Fate)
Serpent of Gnosis – As I Drink from the Infinite Well of Inebriation (1126)
Smoulder – On Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring (Cruz Del Sur)
Spirit Adrift – Divided by Darkness (20 Buck Spin)
Wormwitch – Strike Mortal Soil (Prosthetic)