This was a funny old year for me, busy with work, busy with family, busy listening to as much new music as I could, but not all that busy writing about it. Between various sites, I didn’t cover as much as I would’ve wanted to but still managed to write about some of what I consider to be the best albums of the year. I also somehow (mostly thanks to an understanding and encouraging wife) got to travel down to cover ArcTanGent Festival for the fourth time, which as always, was a great time.
It was certainly another great year for heavy music, especially within the UK, where some highly impressive new/young bands that are politically astute and socially conscious have recently emerged to provide a bit of hope during some distinctly calamitous times. Here’s to more fantastic music to look forward to in 2020, especially new albums from DVNE, Intronaut, Sylosis and Regarde Les Hommes Tomber.
Favourite Albums:
- Cult of Luna – A Dawn to Fear
- Immortal Bird – Thrive On Neglect
- Moon Tooth – Crux
- Ithaca – The Language of Injury
- False – Portent
- Inter Arma – Sulphur English
- Brutus – Nest
- Spirit Adrift – Divided By Darkness
- Numenorean – Adore
- The St Pierre Snake Invasion – Caprice Enchante
- Venom Prison – Samsara
Honourable Mentions:
clipping. – There Existed An Addiction To Blood; White Ward – Love Exchange Failure; Full Of Hell – Weeping Choir; Latitudes – Part Island; Abigail Williams – Walk Beyond The Dark; Blut Aus Nord – Hallucinogen; Conjurer & Pijn – Curse These Metal Hands; Knocked Loose – A Different Shade of Blue; Malibu Ken – Malibu Ken
Some of My Favourite Songs:
- Terminal Nation – “ICE Watch”
- Ithaca – “Impulse Crush”
- Moon Tooth – “Musketeers”
- Rammstein – “DEUTSCHLAND”
- Venom Prison – “Uterine Industrialisation”
- Czarface & Ghostface Killah – “Iron Claw”
- Conjurer & Pijn – “High Spirits”
- Immortal Bird – “Avolition”
- Employed To Serve – “Force Fed”
- Slipknot – “Red Flag”
Favourite Gigs:
- Hundred Year Old Man & Wren at Ivory Black’s, Glasgow
- Cult of Luna at ArcTanGent Festival
- Frontierer & Gendo Ikari at The Hug and Pint, Glasgow
- Conjurer at Garage Attic, Glasgow
- Employed To Serve, Loathe & Haggard Cat at Classic Grand, Glasgow
- The Ocean & Downfall of Gaia at Audio, Glasgow
- The Armed, Cutty’s Gym & Cartilage at The Hug and Pint, Glasgow
Favourite New (to me) Bands:
- Order of the Wolf
- Terminal Nation
- White Ward
- Numenorean
- Godeater
- Black Matter Device
- SeeYouSpaceCowboy
- Cliterati