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Metalheads Podcast is a metal-themed podcast featuring George, Jay, Will, John, Matt and Markisan. The guys discuss metal news and new releases, perform in-depth interviews with great metal bands, and just generally have a blast arguing about that greatest of musical styles: Metal!
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Now, here is the podcast, Metal Heads Podcast.
Hello, and welcome to the Metal Heads Podcast.
My name is George.
This is Jay.
This is Will.
This is John.
This is the situational paradox.
This is Markisan.
Welcome to our 2024 year and top 25 spectacular. It is here. It is here. The year is over. What will happen next? You know, a shit show. Shit show for sure. I can almost guarantee that from my side. Well, I'm preparing and this won't be a spoiler alert when not that it matters because this will.
The audio won't come out for a while, but I'm looking for a train wreck photo to share on the webpage to announce the new. Gotcha. Because it's sure to be. Why don't you, Jay, look for that dumpster that's on fire. Yeah. The dumpster, that's good. Just none of us. It's just a dumpster on fire. Okay. Have you seen that? Oh, yeah. Then there's the dumpster, I think. Isn't there one that's on a river? Yeah. I got a pretty good one. That's a good suggestion. That's a good suggestion.
Dog Licking His Balls on inside a dumpster that's on fire on the back of a train that's crashing. You know what? AI that. Yeah, you're going to need AI for that. Exactly. Hey, Will, is that pick 22? Yes. If you want a disaster, you know, just take a screenshot. I try a disaster, but I do have that AI thing. I'll try that. Well, that's pretty good. Dog Licking His Balls on a dumpster fire train wreck. Got it. Something like that. Okay.
That can only go south. Or the dogs can ear balls if you want. Probably easier, but yeah. All right, so before we get into our top 25 list, let's surprise well and do T-shirt and beer check within the first five minutes. T-shirt, beer check, T-shirt, beer check. Whoa. And we'll start. Revelation with Marcus. I do Amazon commercial. Woo! Yeah,
So I have, obviously like you guys, I have a ton of metal shirts. So I put them away. I put them in big containers. And so I dragged this one out. This is my pallbearer shirt. It's very purple. It's got like a skull. It's very purple. And I haven't worn it in years. So that's kind of fun. It's also very backwards when we look at it. Oh, yeah, yeah. I didn't flip my camera. Sorry. You can imagine. Yes. It's the right way though. And then I am drinking coffee.
but I spiked it with rum and Tracy made Irish cream as well so that's also in there so you're festive very festive right now excellent all right Matt all right I have a Iron Maiden shirt which I purchased recently at the concert and I've got a St. Bernard's Christmas ale waiting for me currently drinking a mango chain so
Liquid Death though. And I have a Diet Coke as well. Options. You've got options. I have a rainbow of options. Wait, is that mango chainsaw rainbow liquid? What was that? Liquid Death mango chainsaw edition. Oh, so okay. I thought I was like, is that a beer? Like, what is that? It's water. It would be a good beer. It's water with chainsaws. That's right. Did you get your Liquid Death diaper with that, Matt? No.
But it's on the way. I saw that. Yeah. Yeah. Your pit diaper. Yeah. Yeah. If that was possible, I would have gotten that for Keith D because we were talking about that sort of thing recently at the Menomore show. So real quick, very interesting is on the Howard Stern show, that whole idea came up because Richard Christie, who's the drummer, who was a drummer in Death and Chardwell's The Dam and who's full time writer, producer or whatever on the Howard Stern show. He he's talked endlessly about wearing.
diapers at heavy metal shows. And what do they do? They go out and get some other drummer, the guy from Mutoid Man, to be the pitch man. And Eddie Trunk went on this rant. On some show he was doing, podcast, whatever, he's like, this is Richard Christie's idea. Why did they not have Richard Christie for this adult pit diaper? Anyway. Anyhow. John? Or I could just use the bathroom. So I may have, I don't know,
I've worn this shirt already since I got it. But I'm wearing it. So I've got my elephant beat shirt. Beat was a band that has two former members of King Crimson and Steve Vai and Danny Carey. They formed to play 1980s King Crimson. Just went and saw him with TR and his friend. So I'm wearing that. I may have worn that already at one of the episodes since then. I can't remember. Okay. And I don't really give a flying fuck. And I'm drinking sake right now.
to start the day off. Jumai, I think, is the style. So I don't know the name of the company because it's not on the label. And I was too tired to read through the little legalese print to find out who the distributor was. Nice, John. I like a Jumai Daiginjo. Yeah. So just starting slow, easy. I've had a long week. Excellent. All right. Will? I'm wearing my Slayer hoodie that I got a couple months ago.
And underneath this, I'm wearing my Ukiyaru Rite of Passage tour shirt. Interestingly enough, Zach sent me a message a little bit ago, about a month ago, because he saw me as Rear of the Month a Decibel. And so I naturally asked him, like, okay, what's going on, Ukiyaru? Are you guys making any music? And sounds like don't hold your breath anytime soon. I mean, they're not like broken up or anything. They're just in a very dormant period, you know, because they're all scattered. They're all scattered to the winds.
They might have another project going on right now. Oh, I was not aware of that. And I am drinking a Coke Zero out of my Inter Arma dirty mystical hillbilly music. Is there blood on that, Coosie? No, but I can call James. He probably lives, you know, not 20 minutes away and see what we can make happen. All right. I'm rocking my, and actually this is the first time I've worn this shirt, which is my Slayer. This would be the,
Third to last show on the final campaign tour in Oakland. It's got a nice big... I can remember it at Oakland. Bullshit thing on the back. Double Slayer, Double Maiden? Okay. They actually made specific shirts for the show? I don't know how many of them they did, but I'm going to guess it was probably the last five. Okay. That's pretty cool. All right. Well, I'm not actually wearing an Iron Maiden shirt.
Iron Mayhem shirt, which is not the trooper, but it's the drummer featuring Animal from. Oh my God. That is amazing. Where did you get that? Online. Oh, I saw that. I sent it to Barb as a joke. I was like, huh? And she's like, you need that. I was like on that. So Iron Mayhem, the drummer, and he's like clutching, you know, drumsticks like, like Eddie with the flags. So. So if, if anybody is
too young to remember that's the muppet show the muppet show
and i am also then we'll give a nod to nico mcbrain who announced his retirement yes the drummer the
odd years and he's 42 42 years he wasn't in the band but he was wasn't he the devil in the number of
And I think, was he their drum tech? No. Trust was the band he was in previous and they toured with them a bunch. Yeah. He might have worked for them for a while. I don't know. He's been in Iron Maid almost as long as Scott Travis has been in. And nobody says a word about that. He's still the fucking new guy. No, Yannick's the new guy. Yannick's the new guy. He's only been in the band since. 30, since 90. Not Travis. So yeah, I'm glad that I got
to see him a few weeks back. I also have the maiden shirt that Matt is wearing. How classy was it, too? I mean, I don't know why I think this is classy, but to make that announcement, like the day before the last show, I thought that was kind of cool that it wasn't just like, this is my last tour. It's just like, hey, this is it tonight. See you later. I kind of actually like it, Jay. I agree, because there's no bullshit. He does it. He's done. They've already moved on. It's obvious it's been a long time coming.
They all do. And while he may still sound good, they definitely sound slower when you see their live stuff. That just happens when the drummer can't. He's had so many problems with his feet, I think, and health issues. Most importantly. I did read a while back where he said he was sort of like 90% back, but he said there's still a couple things I can't do that keep a couple key songs off the set list. I think he probably just decided, and I don't think I'm ever going to be able to do those two things.
It happens to the guys that pound away for so many years. Yeah. Very unique drummer. Drawers and core stars. The new guy is... One is physical and one might be looks, potentially. And the new guy is the guy from Steve's band. British Lion or whatever. British Lion, correct. Yeah. Good for Niko, man. I have no concept of that guy. Now, is he just done touring or does it also include albums?
to make another album. I feel like they were purposely leaving that vague. That's what I thought. Well, no, he actually said, to be clear, I'm just not touring. It was someplace where he said that. But then they didn't go on to say, I'll record with me. And then he went on to say, I've got business ventures with the management. And he named them and they're all kind of like his silly rib joint in Florida or something. I mean, he could probably play on the albums because none of their music is very fast anymore anyway. It's true.
The one thing I will say is I almost wish I will disagree just slightly not disagree another
perspective is that I kind of wish they would have announced that this is Nico's last like world tour so you would have gone yeah because I they played in Philly and they played in Baltimore and I asked the kids if they wanted to go because I but I did take them like three years ago I went with um I met up with Albert from Dust Bowl there with his son and I took my two kids so they did see me in and with Nico but I kind of would have like
pushed it a little bit more with the kids because they were kind of like, ah, we're good. I'm like, mm. Yeah. So anyway. I think my final comment on him is that he is a very unique drummer. You know, like the minute you hear him, you know it's him. And I mean, whether he's playing behind the band or just you hear him just playing, nobody else sounds like him. He's got an odd approach and it's unique and cool. He's not super busy either, which is, and he's not basic. Yeah. Which I think makes him unique.
I'm a little bit sad. He won't be
there next year when it's their 50th anniversary.
But you got to get out when you're ready.
Marcus and I will bet you any money for that video that they film.
And they will film a video for this.
You know, a DVD.
He might show up at minimum for a song or two.
Or something, yeah.
And there's a 70s fucking too, by the way.
I mean, I wouldn't doubt if all the other guys. Who else is the first guitarist that left? Stratton? Is he still alive? He's still alive. Yeah. I wouldn't doubt if anyone else showed up that was available. I mean, there's the documentary that Netflix is going to put out next year, too. So, yeah. That's right. Yeah. That's cool. We might get to see him one more time. Yeah. Okay. And my beer. I'm drinking. Sorry, George. That's all right. Idiom Brewing's
Stone Cold Stunner. It's a triple West Coast IPA. It's around the corner here. Nice. Oh, wrestling nod. Forgive me if you already have this in your notes, George, or something, but did anybody want to say anything about the state of the year and music or anything? Well, that's sort of what I was alluding to when I asked beforehand if there was anything other than t-shirt and beer check that we wanted to talk about before getting into the list. I think Jay has something to say. Jay's got something to say. I thought you guys might, but I will say,
I will say is that I think everybody's going to probably say hey it was a great year.
Yeah.
But you know what I think we're kind of on a good run. There's been a few good years. You know I think there was one or two or three years ago we were all like yeah okay. But there's been like in the last five years there's been some real top notch top notch years. So.
I mean it's definitely not like the mid 2000s for sure.
Yeah.
The thing I was mentioning earlier is this, and I probably say this every year, but I feel like I have a lot of carryover from mid-year. I don't know if that's because I'm lazy or, I mean, if I harken back to the words of probably one of the most famous four pieces in music, Boys to Men, it is hard to say goodbye to yesterday with mid-year being yesterday. I just can't let go of those things. I spent a lot of time coming up with that one, didn't you? I think I'm bringing 60% from mid-year, maybe even. Wow, really?
Yeah, I was surprised how much of it held on. And I think I might only add a 10 or titles or something. That's interesting. I feel like I have half and half. I'd have to look, but I feel like it's pretty even for me. I had a lot of stuff move around. Like some stuff that was kind of near the top went towards the bottom and vice versa. Interesting. Yeah, I'm about half and half. A little less than half, I think. Nice.
A Little Less Than Half Leftover. It is interesting because I know we had the whole list-ober thing where there were so many great albums that came out in October. Right, exactly. But it's heartening to know that some of those earlier albums still swayed us, still remained on the list from mid-year. I'll say this, my number one came out of nowhere. I don't even know if it's a band you guys know.
If anybody ever heard of that country, nowhere. What's that? Never heard of that country, nowhere. Nowhere Alaska. Nowhere Alaska, I think. Okay. All right. Are we ready? We can do this? Let's do it. All right. Mark us on. Take us into number 25. Yeah. In the immortal worlds of Deadpool and Wolverine, let's fucking go. So number 25 for me is Siviris Maze Envy on 20 bucks.
It's just an adventurous, progressive, black and death doom album with lots of great twists and tone and shape. It's full of battering riffs and filth, but it also contains thoughtful string sections, spiraling guitars and gloomy melodic moments that make the album very diverse throughout. It's a labyrinth of crushing metal, if you will. I'm going to translate what your cat is saying.
Number 25!
No, I'm gonna have to put him upstairs.
Yeah.
Bring him in here.
Yeah, definitely.
The new chicken.
Translated, he said, what?
All right, Matt.
The one thing I'll say, at mid-year, I think I wrote like a paragraph for each album,
which took me the entire mid-year to write.
I am down to one sentence because I'm lazy. Although this was almost as difficult. It just took a lot less time. So for my number 25, it's actually a quote, this thing, blood acid, who knows what it's going to do when it's dead. This is from the movie alien. And obviously I'm talking about the album. Oh my God by wormed brutal tech death from Spain. This is their fourth album. Um, when I finally got back into good metal, 2009, 2010 era, this was one of the first bands that kind of came up on my radar and it was love.
that first sound. Matt, for next mid-year? Yes. I would like to see you do haikus for each one. I actually considered that, George, and it became more complicated than I thought, but I accept your challenge. All right. Six months to figure this out. Actually, I want to see. I actually considered that. I was hoping you, I thought maybe you answered in a haiku, but you did. All right, John.
All right. I don't have haikus. I don't have paragraphs. Maybe just a couple notes. That's not my number 25 pick, but close. All right. My pick for 25 is Vile Rights Senescence off of Carbonized Records. They're a progressive death metal band out of Northern California. They released an EP a few years ago, listened to it, kind of dug it. It's kind of the progressive death side.
like the band Death, you know, in the kind of later period of them. So they have a little bit of that going on. It's just really cool stuff. I like the psychedelic aspects. It's pretty technical at times. And it just snuck in. It was my August album of the month. So I'm glad it got to stick around. It's a really good record. All right. Will. My number 25.
Excuse me while I mispronounce this. Zompantli? TZ? Is there a question mark? Yeah, TZ. Oh, yeah. Zompantli. Beating the drums and Ancestral Force out of Momina, California on 20 bucks bin. There's like a lot of Native, it's like death metal with a lot of Native American roots and there's like 20 people in the band. They're all playing like different instruments and making different noises.
I had this in my wish list forever. I listened to it a bunch of times to the point that, you know, you ever do that where Bandcamp is like, please purchase now. And they give you that little broken heart. And then I saw on Decibel's list. I'm like, let me listen to this again. I was like, why did I wait so long? This is good. But I didn't have it for that long. So that's why it's number 25. I think it was pretty high on Decibel's list actually too, right? Yeah, I think it was like top, the top half for sure. Yeah. All right. My number 25.
is a mid-year survivor and one of those that moved a lot. In fact, moved all the way down to the bottom. Not for any fault of its own. Isan, the self-titled latest release. Number 25. I'll accept that criticism. Yeah, I didn't listen to it as much as I did the first part of the year, but I kind of reviewed everything as we were going into the list and stuff. And it still is such a super strong album.
I think he's such a unique guy with such a unique approach had to be on the list almost got pushed off but it managed to save itself nice hey my number 25 is from Germany this is the spirit and songs against humanity which I'm guessing came about during a cards against humanity session but yeah it's dropped in it recently you relatively yeah I thought I thought a month or two is that a list tober or
I'd have to look. Hmm. I haven't played cards against humanity in forever. Well, I have. All right, then. Sorry, I'm multitasking here. Um, this came out October. Okay. I thought that I'd saw that recently. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, I, you know, I, I, the first time I put this on, I kind of,
dismissed it. Then I put it on again and I was like, oh yeah, this is actually pretty good. So, yeah. You know. What? Go ahead. I'll finish your thoughts. They first came on to my awareness a few albums back because they really had this like dissection worship thing going on. And I don't know that I liked the last one as much as I do this one.
So I'd say they're on the upswing again. My interruptive comment was merely going to be because he had my 25 on his list and John BT does a nice thing at the end of the year where he's I'm not sure if he's doing it every day but he does his like one album a day or something to show you his top 25. So anyway just check out John's page everyone small because yeah I saw it. He's a brother of the podcast and he is kind of in our he always has a lot of the titles we have so and sometimes he'll throw something up
Interesting. Yeah. And he mentions us too. If, you know, we gave him an album that he hadn't heard. Yeah. I haven't looked today for what he put up. I'll go look right now. I think it's Gate Creeper. Oh, I did see it then. Oh, oh, Jay, the dumpster looks awesome. Yeah. Thank you for the idea. I thought that was a good suggestion. Rather obvious, I think. Yeah. Come up with it. Yeah. That's awesome. I gotta look at it. Is there a dog?
No, no, no, no. I skipped the AA part. Okay. Yeah. Very nice. Nice. That is a beautiful. It's like, not only is there a lot of flame, but that black smoke that'll just. That's a metal dumpster, dude. That is. I mean, literally and figuratively. Yep. All right. Back to Mark's sound for number 24. Number 24 for me.
This album was a surprise for me because this band has been around since the early 90s, but I don't think I've ever heard of them. It's Seer Bliss, Heavenly Down on Napalm Records. And it's especially strange that they've never crossed my radar because they have such a unique style. They play atmospheric, melodic black metal, but with a heavy use of ambient synth and wind instruments like trumpet, trombone, trombone, flute.
So when I listened to Heavenly Down, it actually took me a moment to process what I was hearing because the album has such a unique aura and atmosphere to it. The interplay between that whirl of guitars, the harsh vocals, synth and brass, it's pretty spectacular. And all the songs on here have their own bombast and personality. It just took me 30 years to listen to this band, but now I'm hooked.
Yeah, I've heard of them. I saw they had a new one out and I listened to it a little bit. That's great. Oh, they haven't been, I guess, yeah, Letters from the Edge was the last one. That was all the way back in 2018. So they haven't been terribly active lately. I mean, they're, they're older. You know, you slow down. Yeah. Yeah. We do that when we get old. Matt, who is not old. All right. My number 24.
When we logged on, before we started recording, we kind of got in this conversation about stuff that might have been on our list now that came out in the mid-year time frame but wasn't on your mid-year list. This is that album. I also said, you know, I really didn't know who this band was. The genre is kind of an experimental black metal. I thought maybe it doesn't qualify for the list and then I remembered it's my party. These are my tears. If I could describe this album in one sentence, it would
be the soundtrack to requiem for a dream the band is locrian the album is in terrain it's kind of an emotional roller coaster of what could loosely be considered black metal but more from like a hipster angle than uh like forests and corpse paint a little more deaf have any yes no coffee shops and flowers exactly exactly nice all right have a sip of my coffee in my
All I want to do is pet cats and listen to Metal Mug. I used mine the other day. Nice. All right. So my turn, number 24. Yeah, so this album was not on my mid-year, but Jay reminded me it should have been. And it just got in for the year end. And that is Vandem Plus, The Empyrean Equation of the Long Lost Things. They love their long titles. They love their double albums.
This is a single album. And it's just solid, progressive metal out of Germany. They are very consistent. They never let you down every album. If you're a fan of them, then you'll enjoy this album. And I believe this should have been on my list, but I hadn't listened to it enough then afterwards. I can't remember. And I went back and listened. I was like, damn it. This one made my list.
Well, on the other hand, their albums can really be growers, too, though. So yes, that's the thing. You got to give them a few lessons. Yeah. So that's my 24. All right. Well, my number 24, Lacial Tomb, Lightless Expanse from Denver, Colorado, Prosthetic Records. This is Ben from Chemist and his own his own little black and death metal band. I'm digging it. I didn't listen to it nearly as enough as I should have this year, which is why it rests.
at number 24. But it's on the list because it's awesome. I expect we'll hear that a few times. You know, I was in the beer store yesterday. What? Stocking up for today. What? And I was wearing one of my chemist hoodies. And this guy that worked there was like, I'm with Barb and we're like, you know, talking and like into into the beer. And and off to the side, I hear what's chemist. And
You know, it's a gray beard like myself, but clearly not versed in the ways of chemists. Get off my lawn and get out of my store. What's the question, Jay? Was that Gilbert Gottfried shouting at you? No, no. What's chemists? What is this? Anyway, I said, oh, it's a, you know, doom band out of Denver. And he's like, oh, okay. And then this other guy comes by who I guess works with
with him and also an older gentleman and he was like because i had mentioned metal he was like oh hey have you heard of this and he holds it up his phone and it's a it's a go ahead and die and i was like oh yeah you know max from uh and like his brother and uh ironically uh the drummer from chemists uh at least on the first album and that just blew their minds and of course i was i was podfathering all over that fucking place because i was just like i know everything
Did you get any free beer? No. No, I was just going to say, that'll be $32.99. For the first four pack. Sir, there's a line behind you, please. Great. You're a metalhead, Nick. Yeah. Well, this was in the beer aisle, not at the register. But anyway, I just thought it was funny that... That's a good story, Josh. Tied right back into chemists. Unrewarded for your knowledge, but still hilarious. It's a little bit comic book
I like a lot of people don't know but the guy from Kimmy's. Exactly. My number 24 is the band that usually makes my list when they put out a record. I don't like this one quite as much as the last one but it's still good and they just don't really screw up. Hollywood Vampires? Niall, The Underworld Awaits Us All. Sorry. On Napalm Records. Niall doesn't really put out any crappy records so I'll listen to a bunch. Good enough for the list. Yeah.
Well, way to steal my thunder, because my number 24 is Niall, the underworld awaits us all. Well, that gives me confidence. I like it when we double up, because it makes me think, did I put this too low? But I did not. You did not. It was just right. Depends on who you ask. Yeah. I assumed, if anyone will, would be upset. And does it depend on who you're doubling up with? Yeah. That's right. All right. Back to Markisan for number 23. Yes. Number 23.
#23 for me is an album we'll probably have on his list too. Funeral Leech: The Illusion of Time on Carbonized Records. It holds on from the mid-year for me. I think with this album, this band has now graduated with a high honor from the incantation school of diabolical evil. This is a sinister and pummeling death doom with murky cavern synths that drip underneath the riffage like a broken
remain of sorrow. Where's your cat to go? I could translate number 24.
Three.
Three.
23?
Yes.
All right.
Then.
The situational paradox.
Thank you.
The town of Windsor in Ontario, Canada has 236,000 people and they are their problems.
I'm talking about hell as other people.
And the album is Moira, I think that's how it's pronounced. Moira. Moira. Yeah, band out of Windsor in Ontario, Canada. I think this is their second full album. Kind of moody, atmospherical black metal. I liked it a lot. Wait, the name of the band is Hell? Hell is Other People. Yeah. Oh, that's a good record. I remember talking to you, Matt, and you were saying like you didn't know how you felt about that record. So clearly. Correct. Yeah. You had got the feels to put it on my list.
Tinglys.
John.
Alright.
So my number 23 is sure to raise a few eyebrows.
You know what?
It's just what it is.
So.
I suspect this will be in a lot of people's top five this year.
It's my number 23.
That is Jotun Kinship off of Metal Blade Records.
Progy Melodic Death Metal out of Denmark. Second album. It's good. It just hasn't grabbed me like their first one yet, but I like it. That's why it's sitting at 23. That's a good place for it. It's slotted in just perfect on my list right there. Of course, your list. Sorry, what was your 23, John? It was Jotun Kenship.
All right.
I just realized I, oh, okay.
Shit.
Shit.
Did one of those weird Microsoft Word things where I'm like, wait, I just, I have 26 obbs?
No, I don't.
My number 23, drop down for mid-year, but job for a cowboy, moon healer.
I forgot about that.
Yeah, I was listening to it the other day.
I'm like, this is still good.
I forgot about it too.
It's really good.
23 good.
Yep.
Yep.
M-Kah.
My 23 is Mid-Year Survivor. Slipped down a little bit.
I know Markasson didn't like it as much as some of their releases.
I think it kind of harkens back to maybe Blessed Black Wings era, High on Fire, Cometh the Storm.
Which, you know, seated right next to Niall.
Two bands that whenever they put a record out, I'm usually not disappointed.
And it's kind of a pissed off, nice Matt Pike record.
Where was that on your midyear, Jay? Do you remember? I want to say it was like maybe, could have been in my top 10, to be honest with you. It was relatively high. I figured that dropped because I kind of remember it being higher on you. Yeah, it was a pretty big drop. And I think partially just because at the end of the day, it's the same thing as now, and it's just sort of like, it's another high on fire record. You know what I mean? Like, it's great, and I like it, but they're not exactly breaking new ground at this point. But it's like your whoopee, right? Yeah, that's right.
It is. It is. It's a security blanket. I mean, we all have those bands, and we love them for that reason. Thankfully, they're still putting out records. They're always really great to awesome, but it's kind of like they're on cruise control with that one. That's not a bad comment. I'll accept that comment. All right. My number 20. 20? My number. 20. My number 23. 22.
Rather like Bruce Willis in Die Hard with the fire hose at the window. This sucker was like scrabbling to stay in the building and just made it at 23 from mid-year number 23 Disbelief Killing Karma. Oh yeah, you love that band. Yeah, so good. I'm going to call them out for, and I don't care, but all of those got to be AI covers that they do on their album covers. They seem AI-ish to me.
And I don't care. That's fine. But there's something very, they all have this kind of same aesthetic to us. Hmm. Yeah. It reminds me of like, uh, special effects from that. What was that space show back in the nineties? Uh, going to need a little more. No, no, Babylon five, maybe. Oh, they always had the really cheesy, cheesy, uh, that's kind of like a disbelief.
That was a great show, but yeah, the graphics were not great. Yeah, I love that show. Was it Farscape? Is that what you're talking about? No, Babylon 5. Oh, Babylon 5. Farscape actually had really good special effects because most of them were Muppets. Muppets, yeah. That was a good show. Yeah, it's one of my favorite shows of all time, actually. I should rewatch that. It's been years. I never watched it. It was... Oh, you'd love it, dude. I'm sure I would. The timing was just like... When that was out, I didn't have a TV or whatever, and I just never went back.
and picked it up. So yeah, it's awesome. Great characters, really good humor, good wit in it, and just awesome villains. It's like four seasons, and then they did a miniseries to finish it off that came out years later. So it's kind of cool to go back to it now, and then you can watch the whole thing. I want to say that last season was because of fan uproar and people
I was just going to say Firefly.
I was like you want you want you want closure here's your freaking closure
serenity everybody dies we still got screwed on firefly serenity yeah we need it to go on the streaming and like yeah
yeah I think if you like firefly you're you'll like far escape too because it has that similar
witty humor to it uh with characters you care about nice serenity is freaking awesome I love that movie
He really is so good. Serenity now. Alrighty. That was me. So back to Markson for 22. All right. Back to me. All right. Number 22 for me is Loan. Do not go to war with the demons of Mazendaran on Church Road Records. This is crushing atmospheric progressive doom with Middle Eastern inspired
and vocals that are sung and spoken in English, Sumerian, and Farsi. So I absolutely love the Near East melodies on this because they instantly transport me to the shifting storied sands of a far-off land. The guitar work by Shem Lucas is absolutely ferocious, and the folk instruments used on this LP add a lot of meaningful spice and color to the experience. But it's the way
I don't know if I'm saying her name right her hypnotic voice it glides over these massive down-tune riffs and grooves that just makes the album different and special and I've liked their previous two records but this is just a big step up for them and I'm excited to see where they're gonna go because I think they're gonna have they're gonna be a force in the in the doom genre to be reckoned with would you say it again please it's low in
I knew before I... Okay. No, no, no. You described it as I was coming in the room because I was making food. Okay. And I thought, I bet he's talking about Loan. Yeah, it's really great. Situational paradox. Number deuce. My first carryover from mid-year, metaphorically speaking, this one goes to 11. I'm talking about Abhoria and Depths. I was... Is it 11 or is it 22? Is it 33?
I was spinning it and I realized like wow this it just sounds like you know so much more depth than their first album growth and then I look at it I'm like oh shit it's called depths how and it just it has more volume in the sense of depths and so I bore you Trevor Trevor great hair thank you yes he's probably on some amazing adventure right now yeah right he's so cute he's adorbs
I've said it before, but it's exhausting. I look at his Facebook page and I want to take a nap. Yeah. Because they do so much stuff. Mm-hmm. I would say, Jay, you're equally up there. Yeah. That's why you're tired, Jay. You're running around the desert all the time. Climbing mountains to take a picture. I mean, come on. Let's be done with this fresh air bullshit. Yeah. Commuting with all the dangerous creatures of the desert. Just check out this eight-foot rattlesnake that almost bit me. Yeah. And look at this. Look at the actual
You'll snake over there. Just like today, I'm riding an eagle. Exactly. Falkorn. I got bucked off my horse and had landed on a cactus. Now I gotta pick these needles out. I will say we haven't been home much this week. I am glad to just be sitting here doing this today. That's true. And I say that lovingly because every time I'm just waiting, like, oh, this 40-foot tarantula just came walking through the property. Oh, yeah. Remember the scorpions?
I just saw one of those.
Well, all right.
I have a unicorn in the house chained up out back.
It kills all the tarantulas and scorpions.
You know, I did go put a trail cam out yesterday.
And I put some cherries and some tuna fish bite.
And I'm hoping to get a bear.
So you're tempting fate is what you're doing.
A little bit, yeah.
Wait, you have bears way down there?
Are you seriously?
We do, yeah.
Yeah.
I have to go up a couple hundred maybe feet, you know, elevation, but it's like a 20 minute drive from the house where I can see him.
Is that where the pterodactyls are?
Yeah.
Pterodactyls riding a brontosaurus on top of a dog looking at its balls in a dumpster fire on back of a train wreck.
And I don't know why she swallowed the fly.
There's the will we know.
Man, I think that's the title of the episode.
Or the next Chopping Mall album title. Yeah. For real. All right. John? All right. My number 22 was on my mid-year, and it was high. It was seven. Just didn't listen to it as much in the second half, but I still like this album. That is Dune, Boydkind from Metal Blade Records. Froggy, post-metal, atmospheric sludge stuff. I actually like this album a lot, but like I said, it's one of those ones that,
from my midyear that I didn't listen to as much. But when I went back to it, I was like, geez, I got to get this in somewhere. And yeah. You're breaking my heart with these lower picks for these albums. Oh, I got it. I got it made it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's kind of where I think the last album kind of finished in the same area relatively for me. But a couple of years ago, a few years ago now, actually. Yeah. So it's good.
I don't know how well
energy there well we're getting we're getting to like it's also like how you felt about maiden around the time seventh son of the seventh son came out it was like it was good they were like but you've also just had a maiden record every year and they all you know that was about the time i was starting to think i would vehemently disagree with you jay because that's my favorite well no it was a bad choice because it's a really good record it is but at the time i remember thinking a little i was like this ain't no power slave uh yeah yeah i would say
Maybe maybe you should wrap it up.
Yeah. Well, I don't feel that if we're high on fire at all, but I definitely agree with what Will said.
He said with us, there's not as much energy on it. And I felt that too. Like it just didn't feel as passionate as some of the other releases. So not that it's not good, but it just, it was missing a little something.
Little something, something.
Yeah. My favorite by them is by far snakes for the divine. It's start to finish is amazing.
I'd probably say death is this communion. And Blessed Black Winds would be mine. So I'd be good. All the early stuff. Luminum Ferris. That was really good, actually. I'm a snake. Yeah. That song is awesome. It's so good. You're a Slytherin? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I got a Chicago store for you, Mark Casson. Oh, okay. When I was in brewing school in 2010, and we went to this place called Smutton,
I don't know if it's still around I know it's it was like a biker bar and they did a thing called smutting eggs yeah where they would play old-school porn on the TV and they would play you they serve breakfast that night started at midnight and then um but anyway they were playing high on fire snakes through the vine like several songs from oh nice it was fun no I've heard of it I know I think the captain's been to smutting eggs like multiple times I don't know if it's around anymore and I have to yeah it's
That's not the name of the bar. It was like some kind of biker bar. Right. It was like a blue oyster. Right. At the bar. Right. Saturday or Friday or Saturday night. But it was an ongoing thing. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. My number 22 is a band I have respect for. First record I loved. Kind of got off the rails a little bit there. But I feel like they're back in the zone right now. Vreedhammer. Godslayer. A band from Germany on indie recordings.
Just good in your face really well played. I don't know what to call death metal really. The production is always like as good as Nevermore records were too, which always I love the production on their records. They're just punchy. It's not great. I was wondering if you'd heard that. The Reed Hammer record? Yeah, every time I see that name, I think of you. Well, that first one was so good. I'm gonna have to go back to that just because you mentioned Nevermore. I'm in the Nevermore mode right now.
since I put them on.
All right.
My number 22 has 200 stab wounds,
manual manic procedures on metal blade records.
This one was,
I think this one came out like right on the cusp of mid year.
I think it either came out like right before,
but after we recorded or right after,
but it didn't quite make it.
And,
uh,
it was your album of the month,
wasn't it?
Might have been.
Let's take a look.
But it didn't make the list.
I don't think it made the list.
Maybe it did.
It did come out in June.
It must have come out right afterwards.
I thought it was at the end of June.
Yeah.
Had to have.
Oh.
So.
I figured you'd have that on your list.
You'd like that out.
It's pretty good.
I do.
They're pretty good.
Those were one of the bands that I saw live that turned me on to them when the music
itself alone did not.
Were they like all bloody and everything? No. They were kind of like crazy hillbilly looking on stage, if I recall. Hillbilly metal. Yeah. That's what Jordan likes. I like it that way. Very nice. Cool. Overalls and riffs. That's right. Squeal for me.
All right, so it's my turn. 21, yes. 21. Another new one for me on the list, but it actually may have come out a little earlier. Let me take a look. It did. It came out in June, but I didn't really listen to it until after mid-year, and that is Insect Arc, Raw Blood Singing. Oh, nice. And D.B. Muir Morty Productions. This album really caught me by surprise because it has a completely different atmosphere and direction than Insect Arc.
Insect Arc's earlier work, which was more... Aren't they like a... What do you call it? A grindcore, power of violence kind of band? No. I think it's somebody else. No, no, no. You're thinking of Insect Warfare. Yeah. Maybe. Okay, all right. Sorry. No, like their earlier work was more of psychedelic and experimental, and it was also completely instrumental. But this time around, they morphed into a darker, more cinematic entity, and they wove together,
Heavy Gothic Metal with Avant Garde Noise and Drone Doom. Is it still a duo? It is, yes. It is. So Dana Schechter, who is one of the two on the album, she actually started singing on this one. She sung with other bands, but not for this band. And the introduction of her voice made a huge difference. She has a smoky, honeyed venom style.
And it just adds a lot of emotion and eerie feel to this band. So this honestly could be the score for an A24 psychological horror film to me. And I just really love the transformation on this because I thought, you know, it's good instrumental stuff that I would listen to from time to time. But now I think they're just they've come into their own as a band. And I'm just excited to see where it's going to go because I just love that kind of atmospheric late night.
darkness to their music now.
I feel like I've seen them live.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
I'm looking right now.
I felt like I saw them when they played with...
Did they tour with Aranzi Pazuzu?
I feel like I saw them.
It would be a good pairing.
It does seem like a good pairing, actually.
Yeah, I did.
I saw them with Aranzi Pazuzu and Horrendous.
Warren and I saw them at Metro Gallery.
Was that this year?
No, 2019.
Okay, so that's before they've added the vocals and everything.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So it was a long time ago. Well, not that long ago, but long enough. Matt. Did you just look that up on a spreadsheet, John? I first started on setlist.fm. And when I did not see them listed with my Ronci show, then I went to Rate Your Music, where I also keep track of my shows, and I verified it there. Speaking of setlist, John recently got me addicted to
Putting all my shows on there. Damn right. I had like three
frantic days of like trying to remember all my shows to put up on set list. And there's a shitload up there now.
I got to go back and look. See how much you've added. That's over 500.
I didn't know you could do that. I've got a like a Microsoft Word document.
Yeah. That's what I had too. And TR was talking with him about it.
And I got him off of his piece of paper. Yeah.
And so I was like,
I also,
yeah.
Like if I'm going to make a piece of paper.
Yeah.
Set list.
FM.
If I'm going to make a fire,
I just click two rocks together.
Right.
That's what you do.
Well,
you might want to grind them a little bit.
Okay.
Yes.
Yes,
of course.
Absolutely.
Okay.
It's the same way you make babies,
knock some stuff together,
grind.
What about the stork?
Oh,
sorry.
Sorry.
Yeah.
Fake news.
Santa Claus brings us.
Yeah.
I knew it. I was kind of half making a joke, but I saw a t-shirt or something I saw online and it was like a t-shirt that says, this calls for a spreadsheet. I'm like, oh, I thought of John. I do not have my shows in a spreadsheet. I'm a little disappointed in that. I was kind of surprised at some of the shows I couldn't find. Based on some of the shows that I did find, I was like, wow, that's in there. Okay. But then some of the stuff.
I just couldn't find. You can add it yourself. Yeah, but I don't... I need them to tell me when it was. I'm like, I went to see this band in like 19-something-something. It's like open source, almost. You know? You gotta do it yourself. And then it gets maintained. It's called the cloud, but it's really some guy's basement in a server. But John, you're not putting... Are you putting actual setless in this? Oh, yeah. You could do that, too. You can. Dirty dog. All I did was...
I was at the show.
I was at the show.
I was at the show.
Yeah.
And there's, there's, there's people on there.
I don't want to name any names because one, I can't remember it, but, uh, this one dude will always correct your set list.
If he was at the show, just so he can get credit for correcting the set list because he's corrected like something like 10,000 set lists.
I was like, dude, you have not been to 10,000 shows.
That is bullshit.
Um, and he, he was correcting stuff on one of the shows I went to.
And I was like, no, I was there.
that did not happen. Yeah, I've been mentioning to say something to Jay about that. Like, you need to stop, dude. So I've been just thinking about this, too, because I've gone to so many shows and I've never cataloged the shows I've been to. So this is a really good tip. Yeah, I'd have to try to go back and remember. And I do it on Rate Your Music also. You could do it there. I didn't know. Okay. But yeah, I'm going to be busy tomorrow. And then the nice thing is if you put a show in, then if you know the person's username, because there's no link between users.
Like if I look at if I know George's name or I know TR's name, I can if I go to their profile on there, which is really a basic, there's no picture or anything. It's just your list of shows. It'll highlight the shows that we've both been at together. Yeah, that's really cool. Yeah. So that's actually very cool. That part of it. I got to do that because just yesterday you asked me about a show and I was like, fuck if I know I just know it was there. I don't remember when it was or anything. So for those of us who are old enough and I know I always bring that up, but this, I think
Some younger people may not understand this as well as we do. I saved all my concert tickets for years. Now I go back and I'm like, okay, it's literally a faded out piece of paper. I can't read it. Yeah. Can't read it. So now you're thinking, well, do I want to like just gently rub like a pencil on it to see if I could get the grooves? Yeah. Well, it's got them there. I had hundreds of them. Yeah. They broke us though. At some point, you have to print out your ticket. It was a whole lot less fun.
Like I've got mine are all in baggies for some reason. And I started saving even the page printouts, you know, and I was like, okay, that's too much paper at this point. They got me, bastards. Yeah, me too. That's when I turned south. Yeah. And now it's all digital, so that's a bummer. You could save them digitally, though. Yeah, I saved the PDFs. You could save the PDFs and then the ones that you, the physical ones you had from days. I'm literally going to like make it rain right now. Yeah.
I tried to say all mine too. We'll pick one random one and read it. Yeah. Actually, do that like every five picks. Pick a random ticket. We're not off the rails yet. Statler Brothers. No, this one's actually Washington Capitals versus Metallica 2005. Taylor Swift. Here's a good one. Here's a good one. Slayer, Jiffy Lou Bly, June 10th, 2018. I was there with you. Yeah, me too. Yeah. Oh, here's one.
Wow, they still had tickets. Yeah, you don't have to do them all well. That's not fun. Which, by the way, I'm sad you're not going to be going to Decibel, Will. Yeah, boom. Yeah, dude, it's, you know, it is 1 million percent apropos of what I exactly said in my Decibel rear of the month thing is like, listen, my kids play a lot of baseball and it interferes with my metal pursuits. And this is exactly my
My son has a tournament in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware the same weekend. So his mom is going to take him to that because I took him last year. But that also means that my daughter is also going to have baseball that weekend because they have baseball every fucking day in the spring and the fall. Yeah. But more importantly, it means I lost my little spoon. Yeah, I know. I know. I know. I lost my big spoon.
I did think about for a hot second. Maybe I can. Okay, I got an idea. We need an inflatable blow-up Will to take with us to the venue. Like a standee. Dragging around by its huge cock. If you're looking like, where's John? I see Jay. You see Jay up there at the front with Will like this? Oh my god, we should totally do that. Wait, is everybody going except for me? The carcass here, we brought a picture.
Oh, you're not going. Matt's not going either. Son of a bitch. My daughter's got volleyball and I think... Oh, kid stuff. Similar to what you're saying. Well, it's like, I think they're going to be in either Dallas or Orlando. I can't remember. It takes you all over the country. So half of us are not going to be there. Wait, is Jay going? Jay's not going. No, no, I'm not going. He doesn't like us anymore, does he? No, no, but if the set list is a little better at what it comes to me, but I have to make financial choices. I'm surprised you didn't go to Denver this year, Jay. Actually,
I was just looking at their review you know that all happened but that heading was a lot smaller though I really liked it was awesome this year yeah it was good we should all shake it up and do something like that instead of Denver or something yeah I agree I would do that yeah yeah I would say that um I'm kind of spoiled well John George and I are spoiled because we need to drive there in like two and a half three hours to Philly yeah but I can get on a plane
You know what's gonna happen. We're gonna do that. The lineup will be and then the Philly one will be freaking balls to the wall. And also don't be so selfish. Well, because some of us have to travel there. So you could, you could go to a different place to make it. That's what I'm saying. We go to Denver like that. I'm, I'm, I'm admitting my selfishness and saying, yeah, maybe we should go to Denver. It only took me like an hour and then we all have to get on a plane. I love this personal growth. Right. Who's picking next? I have no idea.
I think it's me. It's you. Markasson, did you just do your 21st? I did, yes. Insect Art. Yeah. All right. I'll get us back on the rails. Nola Sludge Doom Posse cuts the collab cord and return to their roots sludgy roots. This is another pickup from Midyear. Umbilical by Vow. Cool. And that one flirted with my list a lot. It's like, hey, Markasson's list. Very flirty. Yes.
All right, then that means John. All right. My number 21 is a holdover also from my mid-year was 15 and actually is almost in the same exact spot as the debut album. I think it's off by one. I can't remember. My 21 is Arth, Untouched by Fire from Prophecy Productions. Yes. Do metal with the medieval classic music kind of thing going on. It's from Arth.
I like this album a lot but I like Gregorian chanting so the mix of that and doom metal seems to work for me now if I could just go over there and see some big ass production with a huge backing ensemble band I'd love to do it yeah absolutely but that would be a little hard to do I think so anyway yeah 21 Arth touched by fire nice pick all right will uh 22 21 21 21 atrophy
Asylum. I should have said, Wilson! Atrophy is an old school thrash band back from the late 80s, early 90s. When I was in high school, they put out two albums, Socialized Hate and Violent by Nature. Took like a 500 year hiatus. And then, I think it was actually like almost fan sourced on Facebook. They're like, come on guys, get back together, put out another album. And they did, Asylum. And it's great.
Is that the band that I went with you to interview at MDF? Yep. In the trailer? Yep. Yeah. They were cool. Yeah, they were awesome. And what was great about them is like, that's the time where you meet your heroes and they're awesome. They're just super nice guys. And they were just, I think they were just generally shocked by like, they were just excited that you were so into them. Yeah. Oh my God. I was so into them. They gave me a t-shirt for free. Like it was great. Yeah. Somebody asked me when you were there, cause I was standing off to the side. Hey, are you a fan? I'm like,
No, but he is. And I came because I wanted to see his face. What about you? You came on my face? What? That was the exact same thing I was thinking. That was a different trailer. Oh, right, right, right, right, right, right. That was the casting cast. Atrophy Asylum from Tucson, Arizona, Massacre Records. Nice. All right, John. Sorry, ignore me. Don't say anything, John. It's Jay's turn. It really is, though, isn't it?
He is. I'm just messing up. I like how he just scolded John for his mistake. Awesome. Yeah. Sorry. I'm curious to see how many people brought this forward from the mid-year. Slipped on a little bit, but not for quality's sake. Tough year, as noted. Lord Dying, Clandestine Transcendence, monarch records on United States band, of whom we also interviewed one of the very nice members this year.
High Quality Record.
High Quality Record.
Here's to see where it ends up.
Yes.
Nice.
Good.
Very cool.
Yeah, we talked a lot about that record.
Yep.
This year.
All right, my number 21.
I'm kind of, I was surprised that this made it on here because I didn't think it
was gonna, but then boom, I listened to it and I was like, oh yeah, it's not Chuck.
And that would be Guy Rhea, Coma.
Oh, nice.
Nice.
Yeah.
Figured that was going to be said a few times today.
Yeah.
Potentially.
I didn't think I was gonna say it but I did I actually like that one compared to the other stuff yeah I didn't like the other stuff it's just this one I actually liked so that means you didn't like the other ones no I would've been different on the other indifferent gotcha that's even worse Switzerland yeah it didn't I mean it didn't move the needle but I didn't dislike it at all and I thought it was fine
And back to Mark Somp for number 20 already. I need a beer break soon. I do too. Maybe after 20. I'm down. Sounds like a good one. All right. So number 20 for me is Anti-Inferno, Death Soliloquy and Vendetta Records. So all three Anti-Inferno records have now made my year-end lists. But this one actually took a bit more time for me to come around to. The band plays atmospheric black metal that had been
in equal parts harrowing menace and haunting melody. But on this album, they pulled back on the beauty slightly and created a darker, more sinister sound with the atmospherics and melodic elements largely woven into the aggression. But the more time I spent listening to it, the more I appreciated that intricate, nightmarish approach that they chose for Death Solically instead of continuing down a path that maybe seems set in my mind.
I thought they were going to move more towards melodic structures. So I kind of like that. It challenged my listening of the band. And now I'm solidly on board with this one. Nice. Anti-Inferno, Death Soliloquy. Number 20, Matt. My number 20, Matt, is another carryover. And I'd like to say we're putting the HM2 pedal to the metal. Clearly I'm talking about Gate Creeper and their album, DAC, Superstition.
Dak. Did they release a second album this year? First they did Dark Superstition, then they did Dak. It's a remix. It's called Dak Superstition. You actually threw me for a second there, man. What the hell is he talking about? Oh, it's just that. It's a remix, yeah. It's me. It's the Boston remix. It's real good. Boston. Boston. Boston.
I'm sure that one will come up again oh yeah I expect it will probably not but you know you know it suddenly occurs to me I tend to look around and see stuff I miss and stuff did anybody listen to the new record by the crown this year I didn't even listen to that yeah yeah was it good I did yeah it sounds like the crown it's great it does yeah I like the previous two records a little bit more I would say but yeah I think
Cobra Speed Venom made my list. Me town is not on my list, but it is my first honorable mention. What was the one after Cobra Speed Venom? This one? This one is? Okay. No, no, no. There was another one. Oh, there was? Yeah. There was another one. I can't remember. Is this different than the show on Netflix? Yes. Slightly. Yes, it is. Fewer royals. Every time. Yeah. It's a lot darker. Darker.
Have you ever listened to Darken? Not Darken, like Don Darken. I'm talking about the band Darken. Like the Darker. The Darken. After Cobra Speed Venom was Royal Destroyer. There you go. Which was also very good. Those two I like a lot. Those are probably my two favorite in their catalog. John, is it me? I think so. Okay.
their entire catalog.
You know, you could just call me Mike.
Want to see my O phase?
We've seen that a lot over the years.
Yeah.
Usually I'm facing the other way, so I don't see it.
Mirror for George.
Yikes.
It's a mirror.
Or a video.
All right, so my number 20, they are the only reason.
outside of seeing whoever's going to be there from our group. The only reason I'm going musically to
Thesible in April. My number 20. They're also my number one in 2022. Mother of Graves, the pre-op of absence of a profound lore. Records, Death, Doom, in the vein of the Peaceful Three and the Brave Murder Day Catatonia era. It's cool stuff. They have their own
take on it. Obviously, they are influenced by it, so it's hard not to mention that part of it. It's just not as immediate as their debut album was for me, but I do like it a lot, and I feel like I need to spin it more, but I'm a super fan of that, what is it, early, mid-90s of those Peaceville Three bands, and like I said, that Brave Murder Day, Catatonia era. I just love all that stuff, so I think they slot in nicely, and there's not many bands that have
followed up in that style. So that's what's kind of nice about it. So that's cool. How does this one compare to the last one? Because your last one was number one for you, John. I think I like the first one more. About 20 times more. They're not. It actually has data. Yeah. Well, yeah. That's not really true because you have different albums against it. Yeah. It's not a one-to-one relationship, okay? There are other factors that are
I didn't grab this one initially. It didn't click at first. I liked it, but it didn't hit me anymore. I like it more. Just everything else, I liked 19 times more than this one. Or one through 19 times more. I'm a little disappointed in myself because I remember I never heard of Mother Graves. And then you said, Will, it's right in your wheelhouse.
It's Death Doom. And then I listened to it. I'm like, oh, this is good. And then I just completely forgot about it. Yeah. But it's kind of got that more gothic edge. So it's slightly different, Death Doom. And I had to get a Death Doom album on my list. Come on. Otherwise, James would be super disappointed. He's already, well, he might like this one. I don't know. Who knows? Public Service announcement before I do my next pick is Matt, The Situation Paradox. It is Flyer Zero, Minnesota Wild Zero. Ooh.
So, no update.
Does this game have any bearing on anything?
Just because he's in Minnesota and I'm a Flyers fan.
Actually, I'd like to do a public service announcement just quick.
Are you 50 years older and had chicken pox as a child but haven't yet had the shingles shot?
I got mine.
I got both of mine.
Did you?
Yep, I got both of mine.
I only got one, and I'm like, oops.
I don't know if I'm on shingles now.
How long ago?
It was like two, well, almost three years ago. Oh, shit. What? You're going to have to get them both again. Yeah. Dumbass. Fuck. Shit. Enjoy that one again. Yeah, I didn't know I had to go twice. Oh, that one sucked. It fucking sucks. Yeah. I mean. It's like a COVID shot bad. Oh, it's way worse. Yeah, like I don't know why they're shooting your butthole. Like, it's really bad. Markisan Matt, do not delay when you turn to 50. I'm not even joking.
about that. Honestly, I got it on mine. Get it over with. It's the last thing you want to get. Well, I just did flu and COVID and now I'm going to, and I have to go do that. That kicked my ass. Kind of a shitty day. Welcome to the AARP podcast. When you, when you do a public service announcement, you got to do something a lot better. You got to be like, I just dug a cave in a mountain and I made a man cave for the coyotes or some shit. All right. I'll work on it. Come on. Hey, it's going to be a long day.
I want to talk to you about the shingle pick, right? I have a big pick. We know. You're digging for gold? For the man cave. I don't remember wrong, but I memorized it. I'm watching the hockey game and watching you guys. It is Oryx, Primordial Sky. I think Jay hopefully may have this on his list.
So big. Yeah. It's huge. This is this is like black and black and death metal out of Denver, Colorado. I fucking love this. I love one. I love eating the animal, the animal, the orcs. And I love this band. They're on my list. I've ever seen an orcs. Let me look it up. Down by White Sands. You may. Oh, like a prawn horn kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're also called a
a Gemsbach or Hemsbach or something. Or Hemsworth. Yeah. They're black and white, big black horns that furve backward. What do they taste like? The best meat I ever had in my life. The second best. Come on. Were you hunting? How did you hunt? I was in Namibia. I was in Africa. Yeah, he wasn't in New Mexico for you. He was in New Mexico.
But when I did go to White Sands in New Mexico, they have them just roaming around down there. And I was really disappointed. I was disappointed in two things. One, I didn't see one. And two, I searched everywhere to see if anybody had them on a menu anywhere in that area. And they did not. And I was like, you guys have no idea what you're missing. Maybe they're protected there or something. I don't know. Fucking dumbasses. Fuck, it's so delicious. Get in my belly! Yeah. We need to add Oryx Eater to you.
your bio on the metalheads podcast. That's your band, dude. I've eaten so much weird shit in my life. I've had Warthog and... Well, you know. They know. Jay's ass and... Yeah, well, that's not that weird. Let's get that second beer break. So, Jay, your pick. What's your big pick? Old school death metal from the San Francisco Bay Area. A band that hasn't made any mistakes yet and decided to keep that going. Necrot, Lifeless Birth on Tank Crimes Records.
Actually, am I pronouncing it right? Is it Necrot or Necrot? I can't decide if we... I think it's Necrot. Necrot. Necrot, okay. I'll go with Necrot. Necrot. No, it's... Sorry, guys, it's Nec
That makes me feel nostalgic. That's what I said at the mid-year. This is the death metal record that I was waiting for that has memorable riffs. It almost has bridge, chorus, you know. It's memorable. You can sing along. It reminds me of Death Leprosy a little bit. They just get it right. Yeah, they got it right. I love it. Death Leopard what? Yeah. Death Leprosy. Death Leprosy, yeah. They should make
Somebody should make a t-shirt about that. Of Def Leppard's seat, yes. Yes. Kind of like Iron Mayhem, but... Will's eaten a Def Leppard, by the way. I've seen one. I have not eaten one. Do you sign language? All right. Is it me? Yes. It is. All right. My number 20 is another holdover from the mid-year. Mortis Scald Creation Undone on Peaceville Records.
Nice. Good stuff. He posted a nice photo of himself with Darth Vader, the stormtrooper, maybe somebody else. David did just today, I think. I think he would see a movie or something, and they were at the movie theater. And they're good costumes, too. People, like, really. He was just in Europe, I think. Yeah, he was, actually. And so maybe it was in, I don't know where it was. That's a good point. Always a good guest. The pizza stories. Yeah.
That shit's on fire, I'll eat it. And I know you guys know this, but he does eat a lot of fucking pizza. He does. I think the name of the episode was the Equal Opportunity Pizza Eater. How is he not on the Travel Channel or something with his own pizza show? Because all those other jackasses are talking, oh, this wonderful pizza I've had. I'm like, dude, you don't know what you're talking about. I know someone who does know what they're talking about. We need to get him on here.
That's right. All right. All right. Quick break. Beer break. All right. You're listening to the Metalheads podcast. Honestly, these guys are just a bunch of drunk assholes. Before we get into 19, I know some of us have some new beers, so we're just going to talk about those real quick. Beers. Beers. I'll go ahead just because I brought it up and I have it in my hand. The beer that is. And this is Kings County Brewers Collective.
ACBC. No juice for you. West Coast IPA. How long ago did you move out of Michigan? Because that accent's strong when you're drinking. Only like 25 years ago. Or so. I'll go quickly because I'm not drinking any beer. Go. All right. I know Markisan's got something. I do. So some of you may remember this from last year. At the glory.
I've got the G'mork. I've saved it. Nice. I've saved it. G'mork is good. Wild. And it is delicious. I just put it right in my mug. I was at Glory two Saturdays ago. I took the kids. So the day after Thanksgiving, we went up and saw a Flyers game. And then we stayed over for two nights. And on Saturday, I met a buddy of mine from high school who George and John met.
at Atlas one time, my buddy, Vern Moyer, who is, I, I famously told you guys, he's the one who got me in the Slayer. Right. If you guys remember meeting him and his wife at Atlas. So we met for, for lunch at Gloria. Oh, nice. Yeah. I mean, we'll be going back for sure at Dustville. Yeah. And hopefully Melissa, the bartender is there. Cause she's the one who introduced us to this beer. Yeah. She was not there, but there was another guy.
There was another guy there
who I remember
when we were there last year.
Nice.
Super nice guy.
Just the staff there is amazing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The food's good.
Yeah.
It's just got a chill vibe.
Lots of space.
It's really nice.
That's the key.
Lots of space.
Yes.
For some reason,
my watch just called you
for some reason.
Hey, I'm on a podcast,
George.
I'll get back to you later.
Okay.
No problem.
I don't know why I did that.
Oh, I, cause I said,
come more Casson.
And I think it said,
I thought it said,
that's pretty great.
Yeah.
All right.
Anyone else?
I accidentally called Markisan every time I say a big spoon.
It's true.
Cool.
I'll do my beer.
I'm doing it.
Jen and I are doing an advent calendar beer box for the third year in a row.
And we're behind this week cause we've both been so busy.
So I'm catching up. This is yesterday's beer. It's beer number 13. And it's an Icelandic winter ale from Einstock. I can't say the rest of the name. But I believe it's Norwegian. Am I correct in that? Yeah. I feel like I had a bunch of that when I stayed over in Iceland. Yeah. Is it Iceland? Yes, it's Iceland. I take it back. Not Norway, Iceland. Thank you for correcting me. It's good. It's a winter ale. I like winter ales.
I just added that to my list of corrections, Sean. You're going to have a lot of them. I correct that in set lists. So. Yeah. Even if I wasn't at the show. Yeah. Yeah. I heard that Matt. So you're that guy. Yeah. Matt actually. Matt actually goes on untapped and corrects everybody's entries. Yeah. So. And he also corrects band names. Yeah. Well, which is funny considering every band on his list is made up. Yeah. Completely made up. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.
All right, number 19, Markisan. Yes, number 19. So I feel like over the years, George and I have not really aligned as much, but he mentioned an album recently, and it's on my list as well. So I'm very happy that George and I have something to bond over once more. And that is Guy Rea, Coma, Season of Mist Records. Yeah, I've really enjoyed Guy Rea's past records.
And a couple of them have actually made my list. But it's been really interesting to see their brand of atmospheric black metal evolve over the years. Because they started out more as a dense black metal band. And then with each release, they've added new textures to their sound. And Koma is just a real culmination of everything they've done. But it also adds a lot of melodic layering to the mix, which gives Gyrea more of an airy, inviting sound. But it still maintains the furious aggression of those
previous LPs. So I think this is the best record they've done. And they're probably going to keep going in this direction, but I don't know for sure. Because I feel like every time they do something a little bit different. At some point, they're going to peak. I don't know. It's funny because I think we talked about this on the last cast, but it seemed like the last record was really great. And I was like, where are they going to go from here? And then maybe Holly said,
because she really liked the last one.
And then this one came out and she's like, oh, they've one-upped it.
They've gone above and beyond what I expected.
Eventually they'll hit Black Album.
You hope.
You never know, though.
You never know how it's going to go.
It just keeps coming up all the time.
I just want to know, did you give George gyreia or did George give you gyreia and how much penicillin do you need?
It was mutual.
They both had it.
Yeah.
I mean, I probably got it from you and gave it to George.
Yeah, fair enough.
All righty.
Maddie.
All right, I am vaccinated.
I have a lava lamp for your own or a lava lamp for your ears.
Another carryover is the German band Grin and their album Hush, some lovely psychedelic stoner metal.
Hush.
Hush. Hush. Hush child. Hush. Hush. That's a good record. Because I remember you mentioning that at mid-year. And then I was like, I haven't heard that. I got to listen to it. And I quite enjoyed it. So it's cool that it stayed. It lives. It's John. All right. So I have on my notes here, I have a few things that I've written down. One is,
And it's three yes-no questions. Is it album of the month? Is it a Wilson? And is it Cheeky? So that gives you a little something of what's coming up here. This album was the last one that got in. This is the album that semi-list busted because it forced something off of my list. I just literally got the... I finalized my list last weekend because I had so much going on this weekend. This one just snuck in. And it came out a while ago. I just listened to one song. I was like, eh.
I'm not going to miss this like I miss Vandenplos. So album of the month? No, obviously not. Is it a Wilson? Probably. And like I said, it's cheeky, but it's cheeky number three. Matt, you should know what that means. You got some work to do. It is Octoploid, Beyond the Aeons from Raining Phoenix Music. This is the bass player from Amorphous. And this is, if you like Amorphous, you'll probably like this. It's semi-amorphous style.
But it adds a little more psychedelic stuff to it. And it's got a whole 70s prog thing going on it too. But it's heavy. It's actually maybe even heavier than some of the more recent amorphous stuff. It's cool stuff. I dig it. Came out, I think, back in July, which it probably would have been my album of the month had I actually spent some time with it and not a week and a half ago when I first listened to it fully through. So, fuck to a ployed. It's fun though that it comes back around and it still made your list.
Yeah. And it's got awesome artwork. So. Oh, yeah. I think it's real. I don't know. You gotta ask Matt about that. I don't know if it's butter or if it's margarine. Yeah. Yeah. So. All right. Will. Just. Sorry. There we go. My number 19. This is a band that I bought based upon several of your recommendations on Bankers.
I listened to it and I loved it but for whatever reason I didn't consider it for my list because for some reason I thought it was like a split or something. I don't know what the hell was going on with this thing. And then when I was making my list, finalizing it yesterday and today, I started listening to it again. I'm like, good God, this is amazing. Why? I don't know why. Whatever was listed in Bandcamp, I thought it was some sort of split. I didn't think it counted but it's Sybaris, Maze Envy.
Nice. Yeah. This is right up my alley. Death Dune. Love it. And you know what? This probably should be way higher on my list. It's just that I bought it whatever months and months and months ago whenever it came out and then I just kind of ignored it for a while because I don't know. It's hard to explain. It's on your list. It's all it matters. Life happens. 19. Excellent. Very cool to see that. That's one of the few that's gotten two mentions already. We haven't had many.
today. We haven't so far, but that'll start heating up. It will. Rhea, High on Fire. Yeah, there's been a couple. Yeah. Oh, yeah, Jay, it's... We're going to all start getting in bed together soon. A few. Well, I'm going to start... I'm wondering what's going to get Jade. What's... You know, well, we always wonder, but... I'm wondering if I'm the only one who's going to have this, but I'm... Well, we'll see. Borknagar Fall from Century Media Records from Norway. Borknagar. I'm starting to feel a little upset with my
I feel like I keep saying these guys have five records out and they're all really good so and maybe Borknagar has more than five I actually had the chance to see them on the last two or two they were great North true north was such a good record and was it called true noise yeah that was the last one and then this was a fine follow-up Borknagar can't go wrong nice well you could go wrong you could go
And I apologize, I meant to do that too. Damn it. Yeah, that would be the, like, instead of Entombed AD, Borknoggers, like the version of that. That's right. I shouldn't have said anything. You love it, John. All right.
Let's see if we can translate George's next pick then, seeing as he seems to have. He's glitching in the matrix right now. My number 19 is the Wilson of all Wilsons for my list. Because I know you're probably not of my list. This is the band Septaria and their album A Star or A Asterisk. Oh, I remember when you mentioned this before.
Yes. Yeah. This is a French band independently released. They are heavily in the Gojira camp. So I think everybody on here would dig this album if you haven't listened to it. Is it new Gojira or is it Imagine Dragons Gojira? Which Gojira are we getting here? Like Gojira. Olympics Gojira? No. Gojira. I like it. Gojira. Imagine Dragons Gojira. I don
Yeah. We had, we, we named an episode, Imagine Dragon. You did it, Markisan. I did. Right. Yeah. After, well, I don't know. I think you, I mean, I do name all the episodes. Yeah. It was, uh, after the new Gojira came out, I was like, this sounds like it was produced and like collaboration with the Imagine Dragons. It was so fucking bad. Was it ready? It wasn't bad. No, I don't think it was that bad. It wasn't that bad. It wasn't great, but it wasn't that bad. It was that bad.
Well, anyway, this was like 19 good. So, yeah. You know, it's not the black album. Well, yeah, it does make me want to go back and listen to like some of the, you know, Mars to Sirius and stuff like that. But yeah, it's pretty good. I was surprised. This was my, this was my cheeky mover. Nice. George got cheeky. Definitely have to spin that one. I think I spun it once, but I need to listen to a little bit of it. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty cool. Nice. All right. No, I have that on your list, but that's cool.
Yeah, you got it. Yep. Everything else is pretty stock. And by that I mean it's either from mid-year or not a surprise. Oh, how boring, George. I know, how boring. I'm so old and boring. Let's go to the shelf and get your next pick. Yes, this week on Mystery Science Theater, not Theater, what's the Master, Monster Masterpiece Theater Classic.
No, this is not working. Yeah, no. Wow. It's a trade wreck. Yeah. Anywho. So I'm moving on to number 18. Now lick your balls. In a dumpster with a dog. All right. So number 18 for me is May Hamek Toba on Sepulchral Voice Records. So it seems like every year I'm searching for that one great
and put the world under the fangs of
of a massive volcanic winter. Here and now, in the year 2024, we finally get the audio equivalent to this catastrophe. As if the most glorious days of thrash metal never cease to exist, Chilean aggressors Mayhemic come up with a debut combining utmost power and speed, intertwined with incredible musicianship and songwriting of sheer brilliance. If you need your white, dirty high tops, skinny jeans, and leather jackets as sharp
as they were in the 80s. This is the perfect soundtrack to bang your heads to hell. It's a little brash. I was like, this is a great description. I can't do any better than this. I had high tops and a leather jacket in the 80s. No skinny jeans. They didn't have skinny jeans in the 80s. What are you talking about? I don't know. I mean, they wrote it. I didn't write it. But yeah, I love it. It's a great, great thrash record. I like an evil thrash. And, you know, they really deliver. It was my album of the month, whenever it came out.
I think Jay also had his album of the month so yeah it definitely struck a chord
and what chord was it was was it an A a G
a D what was it exactly
minor right right minor for sure very metal
Matt
I was gonna say I think in the 80s skinny jeans were just called jeans
yeah those were all jeans
My number 18 is a pickup Dante meets Bowie meets Death Doom all recorded at the Overlook Hotel already mentioned Siviris Maze Envy that's three the trifecta rice try and fetch ya nice I don't know what Bowie has to do with Siviris but that's kind of the labyrinth interesting got that
Yeah. I remember that album.
The Labyrinth album?
Yeah, soundtrack.
Whatever you want to call it.
Something About a Baby.
Also a lot of Muppets.
Mm-hmm.
Fraggles, actually.
Is this a Jim Henson film?
Yeah.
All right, my turn.
Mm-hmm.
All right.
This is the second time we're hearing this.
Jay mentioned this earlier.
My number 18 was my number 8 at the midyear. Eson. Dash Eson. Number 18? Yeah. As much as I like this album, I just, unlike you, Jay, I listened to it a lot in the first X number of months when it came out. And then it kind of just got shelled for some reason. I don't know why. But it's good. And I guess we should have paid attention because it was a little more in the vein of,
with the symphonics and lo and behold guess who's on tour next year yeah baby so it's funny that you because it did get shelved with me and it got so shelved that when i went back to look at my mid-year list to start to make my list i was like that came out this year i swear to god i was literally like yeah even though it was on my mid-year it felt like it was last year or something yeah it was our february you me and george our february album oh so it was early then it's been a while it's all you know what jay it's kind of funny you say it's almost a year since it came out
So in a way, yes. In a certain way of looking at it. Will. My number 18, Hyperdontia, Harvest of Malevolence, a band that's split between Denmark and Turkey on Misako Un Ojo records, which I think means my ball sack in one eye, in an eye record.
Yeah, this is just like great death metal. Yeah, digging it. Love it. Number 18, Hyperdontia. Harvest the malevolence. Go see your dentist. Yes. And your urologist. And have your sac checked. Your ocular sac. Your one eye sac. I just got a new tooth when I went to my dentist. Yeah. Get a vasectomy. No, I don't. That's.
Well, and don't ask your dentist for that, by the way. Definitely not. Unless his name is Tim Watley. This reminds me of a joke I heard recently, and it's short, so I have to tell it. And I hope I didn't tell it to you guys already, but this guy was at the doctor's, and he was getting a... And his doctor said, well, he said, I think you need to stop masturbating. And the guy said, why? And he said, I'm trying to examine you. I think you have told that one on here. Okay, sorry. I've never heard that.
It doesn't get old, though. It doesn't get old. It's funny, because I was listening to a comedian. I cannot remember her name, but she was talking about vasectomies, and she was just wondering, like, how that went. And she called it Diet Cum, which I thought was pretty hilarious. Well, I mean, I can tell you guys all about it if you want. You can get it reversed. That's the only thing I really know about it. My brother-in-law got it reversed and had two more kids. Wow. Successful.
All right, with that, my number 18 is sludgy, death metal-y, super fun band. I liked their last record a lot, and it made at least my mid-year list. In any case, I want to read the description because they have a good description, which is, Rusty, eclectic metal from Sweden telling true horror stories from our dead post-industrial hometown. Horndall, Head Hammer Man. Yeah, survived from mid-year.
This is an entertaining record and it's one that I'd still put on from time to time. Even though it's been out for a little while. But Horndall's got a pretty starting to have a pretty good little catalog. A little bit. And getting more attention. I've definitely seen that album come up around the internet more. So yeah. Very cool. Yeah. Lake Drinker was the one that I had. And then I kind of missed their 2022 release, which I need to go back and revisit it.
All right, my number 18 is from Canada. It is Voivodian. It is Dissimulator, Lower Form Resistance. Holdover from Midyear. That's a good album. I dropped a bit, but it's still hanging in. Yeah, very nice. Almost in the mid, the middle. Yeah, I like that album. It's good. Me too. Excellent.
Number 17.
Number 17.
Also a holdover from my mid-year is Offernat, Where Nothing Grows, independent release.
I first listened to this album in Canada when Tracy and I took the train from Montreal to Quebec City, and I ended up playing it twice in a row because it was the exact music I was looking to hear on that two-hour ride.
So this is furious, electrifying, blackened doom sludge with some weedy death metal sections in it, stirring progressive ambient passages as well that give the tracks this air of dark mystery that I really like. It's the perfect soundtrack for staring at the changing landscapes through a speeding train window. I did that recently. Did you? Where'd you go, George?
I went up to Brooklyn to see Man of War with Keith D. Hey, you should tell us a little bit about that. How did it go? It was a whirlwind trip because, you know, I. Who was the big spoon? We actually had our own drawers. So we were, but we were, you know, he had a drawer. I had a drawer. We were separate spoons. It's like kind of, yeah. Any who. Spooning means, George? Yeah. Yeah, we didn't spoon. Sorry. Two silver spoons.
All right. So who's got number 17 then? Hey, this story sucks. Oh, you didn't even get a chance to tell anything. Well, let the man speak a little bit. Yeah. But anyway, I took the train from Baltimore up to Penn Station in Manhattan and then made my way over to Brooklyn. Met up with Keith at the hotel. We went out to this Austrian restaurant.
for some good food, good beers. Then we went from there to the King's Theater, also in Brooklyn. And it was, you know, it's a really nice, ornate place. Somebody else is playing there soon. Your buddy Ben is going there for something. Mark is on. My buddy? Yeah, your endless metal guy. Oh, I don't know what he's going to see.
Yeah, you mentioned it in the... The mono? Hmm? Is it mono? I don't think so. I know that... Well, I think they already passed, actually. Mono played here, and then they were playing in New York City, and we did talk about it, but I don't know what he's going to. Anywho, it's a very nice, ornate theater, and it was a pretty good show. It was better than I anticipated it would be, given how old they are and how long... Eric Adams is 72 years old, and...
He surprisingly hit the high notes still pretty well. So it's a good show. And then unfortunately, Keith let me pick some place to go afterward. And it was, I was just like, you know, looking on Yelp going, Hey, places that are open in Brooklyn after 11 o'clock. And we went to this place called Little Pig. Cause you know, green, green Jell-O, right?
But we were looking for food. The kitchen was closed, as most places after 11 are. So we had a couple of beers and headed back to the hotel after that. And then, you know, headed back into Manhattan the next morning and came home on the train again. That's cool that you get to spend some time with Keith D. He's the best. He really is. Wait, where does he live? I thought he was in Ohio or something. Milwaukee. Yeah.
Oh, so he went all the way there too. Yeah. He drove all the way. He'd like stopped. Holy crap. Yeah. He was in Ann Arbor and Pittsburgh and in various places in New York. And, um, yeah, he made a real trip out of it, but, uh, you know, he's one of the most interesting people you're ever going to meet. So, um, if you get that chance to hang out with him, you really should. I mean, I only live an hour and a half from him. We, we tried to make plans one time for me to go there, but, um, uh, he had something else come up. So one of these days, we definitely
have to get together because we're not very far. He doesn't really leave that often. So that was a pretty big trip for him. Well, he actually goes all over the place. I mean, for work and, you know, he likes going to work. Yeah. He goes to Ireland every now and again. I know he's been at least twice. So he does travel a lot. But I tried very hard to convince him to come to Decibel because it would be cool to have him at Decibel. But yeah, no, he's a cool guy. I mean, I talk to him pretty regularly on text and stuff.
So yeah,
definitely a good friend,
like a really good friend now.
And if I have anything to say about it and I do,
there's probably going to be some Keith D snippets in between our breaks here.
So,
Ooh,
very cool.
Not new ones,
just the same old ones that are awesome.
All right.
What is it?
Back to you,
Markisan or where are we?
I don't know where we are.
I have no clue.
No,
I just went,
And then I asked you about the story because I talked about the train. So it's Matt's turn. It's Matt's turn. The situational paradox has arrived. Muted, Matty. Yeah, we cannot hear him, which is the paradox. Sorry, I've been doing it because I've been eating and I don't want you to hear that. I thought you just wanted to be like, well, yeah, well, you know, I'd be in good hands. Anyways, my number 17, another pickup black metal with an infusion of
Tribal Rawness. I'm talking about Vastiger and their album The Path of Perdition. I'm going to go ahead and say, Matt, you might be a one-and-a-at island this year. I think so. It's a cozy island. I can't vote myself off, so I'm just going to go there. You're going to be the only one there. I wouldn't count me out. I have a lot of weird stuff in my head. But we'll see. We'll see. But I've got all the idols.
So far. Up to this point. My God. Survivor's been so good. Oh, God. Whatever. I haven't watched the season yet, but it's a little. Oh, I won't say anything. It's so real. All right. My turn. Hey, Jay, speaking of islands, I'm taking your Wilson and I'm popping it. Oh, welcome. Yes. Can I come ashore, my friend? Forknagar Fall is my number 17. Oh, okay, cool. Yeah. Okay. Fair enough. Yeah.
Another band. You know what you're getting with them when you listen, but they're always consistent. They're always good. And I like the little corner they've carved out for themselves, despite, you know, numerous band changes over the years. I've been a fan of the last three albums a lot, especially, but I like their whole catalog. I celebrate their whole catalog as well said earlier. The olden domain rules. Yeah, that's great. I love that too. I mean, I love, I love almost all of their albums. Some are okay.
Okay. Yeah. But a lot of the early stuff is great. And the later stuff is great. Will. My number 17. Bear with me as I mispronounce everything about this. The name of the band, I will not mispronounce. It's Slime Lord. The name of the album is... Just stop. It's... Go ahead. I don't want to bring it in your brain. Go ahead.
Was das auf der Midee zu?
I think so yeah that's a good album I like it yeah I really like it there's it's it's it's filthy it is so dirty I feel disgusting I have to shower after that yeah yes dirty dirty death and it's the guys uh I don't know how many of them from cryptic shift oh yeah right right yeah I think I think it's two maybe three I'm not sure yeah I mean they are called slime lords if you're not covered in a film after listening to their record there's something wrong I mean you feel weighed down
It's just so heavy. They slimed me. I like it. I'm glad you put that on there, Will. I really like it. All right. Next. Jay. First mention of this one, and it just feels like a record that could be controversial for multiple reasons as to where we all choose to place it. Contentious. Or maybe we'll all just let it go. Who knows? Opeth, the last one, Testament. Nice. I'm going to side with John BT's take on this, and it's that.
any record where there's um spoken word stuff you know throughout the record can kind of get to a point with me where i'm like i i well that's like i wish it wasn't there every single time i listened to it that stated there wasn't that much yeah i was gonna say that this is a grasp but oh you guys are entitled to your opinion no no no and and i um did that bother you more than the flute well the flute is played by ian anderson so yeah that's about a couple
You're barking up the wrong tree there, Will. Yeah. I did not hear any saxophone. To sync it or anything like that. I mean, so take that with a grain of salt. But it is very much an Opeth is back kind of album. And I do think, pound for pound, Michael Ackerfeldt is one of the great geniuses in the metal world these days. So it's kind of nice to see. And I'm more with John than not. They don't have to have death vocals. I'm okay with that. But it was kind of nice to have him back. Yeah, don't lie. You were happy when you heard him.
I was happy. No, no, no. You're right. But I'm interested to see where, because it was almost a clean sweep album of the month. Including Will. Even Will. Will had a really good time at the show. It was a slow month. Jay, fuck you. Don't blow yourself, Will. So, Jay, would you say that spoken word is children singing for you? No, no, no, no.
No, and I knew I was skirting that issue when I brought that up. And it's not that spoken word bothers me. It's just it makes for a humpy bumpy listening experience for a record that you play over and over and over. I mean, I agree. I don't like it. I don't like talking usually in records, but of course it depends. It depends. Yeah. But I mean, like, if you don't want to wear Depends, you can use Pit Diaper from Liquid Diaper. Oh, nicely done. There you go. I'm just going to get the liquid.
The Pit Diaper.
O.
in English.
Or at least in translation, I think.
I think that's the way to go, John.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, I don't want to disrespect it.
Nice.
Okay.
So that's the first one.
Yep.
Yeah.
Do you, I'm curious.
Do you, what do you think of it compared to their previous releases?
Cause it seems to be more electronic this time, even though it's still heavy as fuck.
I didn't really think about it in terms of previous releases.
I just listened to it and I was just like, oh yeah.
Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. George just ran right through a wall in his house. Oh, yeah. At that point, the doctor says, please stop masturbating. Why? Because I'm trying to do my list. We had quite the experience when we saw them for the first time. Oh, yeah. It was amazing. They were awesome. Very nice.
Can you guys just talk about that on your other podcast? And not talk about it here? Because it hurts. You know what? I think we will. I'm going to make it hurt two times. In just four days time. I have a Hallmark movie on. I'm not crying about that. I swear. Instead of love me two times, it's going to be hurt me two times. The classic rock. I need a whip snap sound.
a few records and the name of the band is my diligence and the records called death horses black on listenable records so i absolutely hate when this happens when i discover a new band but i also you know when i'm trying to do my list but i also love it because you know finding a band i really enjoy is what i live for as a fan of music it's just that you don't want that to occur in the dangerous stress zone of putting together your
I love it when that happens. Do you? I do because I'm like oh I get because I get excited about
oh brand new love it oh my god I want to talk about this. Yeah and the same for me but it's just like oh I thought I had my list set and then all of a sudden this comes in at the last minute like what the fuck I understand the other things to do. Yeah but this album just happened to stab me right in the sweet spot. Death Horse's Black is a dark. Would that be in the tank? Right in the tank. Right right.
there. And the grundle.
It's a dark, high-powered post-metal record with 90s rock, sludge, shoegaze, and doom influences that soars.
It slow dazzles. It's like meeting a girl you really like for the first time. And now that we know each other, I'm very smitten. So I've been playing this one quite a bit.
And since I found it, I have seen it on some other lists around the internet. So it's getting a little bit of recognition as well. It's called My Diligence, Death, Horses Black. I'll check it out. I'm pretty sure you will get a Wilson for that one. I definitely will. We haven't talked about it. I've never even heard of this band. I think it's their fourth record. It's just one of those things that flew under the radar and then suddenly
I found it and it's in my wheelhouse. You just happened to be out there in the ocean with your other Wilsons and this one came floating by? I'm just swimming around and there it is. Whoa, check out this. That's the best. I'm with George. I love when that happens. I'm like, man, I'm going to blow my list up. I do really like that because, and you know, it's pretty high, like it's in the mid-range, but that's just how much I think of this record. And you know, who knows if I would have found it earlier, maybe it goes higher. To safety landing zone is what you did. Yeah, right in that
that mid-period. Not going to upset too many picks, but there's a few that have to go back. But when you've listened to it, like, I don't know, 15 times, you know, since you got it, you're like, okay. Oh, well, then you can put it up top then, yeah. Then it, you know. Okay. But yeah, check it out. Nice. Maday. Okie doke. Polish, well-crafted black metal that loses none of its brutality in the band worthy of a LinkedIn profile. Already mentioned before, and I'm going to butcher the name, even though it's been
I said Gairea. Gairea. Gairea. That's the ring. Probably the best dressed, most professionally dressed black metal band I've ever seen. Really good album too. So no spikes. Nice. Oh, you haven't seen Tribulation, have you? Well, I think my personal joke between John and I. I'm actually a little surprised by how much love Gairea is getting. I don't know why. It's a really good record.
but I'm just a little bit surprised that might have to do with it I think I listed like two albums ago that uh Gareya but I don't know just just didn't make my list this time nice that's three yep had two albums with three picks I think in the lower half but so we'll see what happens still yeah it's your turn right yes so um my pick is gonna be I'm gonna be north of the border for a while here for a couple picks
But this band is very old. They've been around. I don't even know how long they've been around. Really bad joke because their name is Ancients and the album is Beyond the Reach of the Sun on Seasons of Mist. Yeah. Super solid album. Actually better than solid. It's good. I like it a lot. I haven't listened to it as much as I thought I would because I love everything from them and their last album made my top 25. What is this, number three?
For them? Yeah. Number three? Number two? Fourth release, I think. Okay. I have an EP, too. Or maybe it's four albums. I don't even know anymore. Yeah, I think it's three. Okay. But it's been a while. I think it's been since 2016 when the last one came out. Am I right? Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's been a while. Yeah, so it's good. It's, yeah, people say this, but it's really true. It's if 2000's Opeth and 2000's Macedon got hammered
at a party and had a little baby with their own with their own take and they've got their own thing going too obviously but it's good especially on this record yeah this guy's vocals are great he's got great harsh vocals it's got some cool sludgy elements but it's proggy too um yeah yeah it's pretty proggy yeah check it out if you like sludgy prog or proggy sludge and there's even a bonus track version which has like i don't
I don't know three or four more songs on it which is yeah and those songs are great yeah it's good I'm glad they're back it's and they were announced to play prog power so because they're filling in for I think the ocean who said they weren't going to be playing anymore because they're breaking up the band and what do I see there what's the big festival in France is it hell fest or whatever yeah yeah they're on the bill I'm like wait a minute I thought you guys weren't playing anymore so because they were going to be playing
They were gonna play all of Plegio at Prog Power. I've already seen them do it once, but I was pissed. I was like, come on, guys. That's very sus. Oh, totally. It's just like when Arcturus did that, but I'm glad Arcturus bailed on Prog Power because I got Eson instead. Nice. That's a great pick, John. Thank you. I appreciate that. Will? All right, my number 16.
at least once, maybe twice, Horndall, Head Hammer Man. Now we're starting to double up. And I have to admit, this was one of those, like, kind of in clutch territory. Is this metal? It is. I thought it was. Yeah, I know. Clutch is metal, but I'm talking about Horndall. Yeah. No, Clutch is definitely not metal, but Horndall is, so just to be clear. Anyway. Well.
Yeah. And I would just say that clutch is still more metal than half the shit you guys mentioned. Okay. Literally, do we want to go back and look at this? No, I don't. Yeah. No, that's not this conversation. No, no, no. Not even fucking close. My number 16, it always bothers me when George can be so terribly wrong about something. And yet I am. Somehow thinking this was the 17th best record of the year.
year when clearly it's the 16th. Aransi Pazuzu from Finland. Yeah, not a lot need be said. I accept that, John, I'll answer your question to George and say it may be that there's some more electronic stuff there. But I also think the heavier parts are a little bit heavier. That's why I was asking. Yeah, because the heavy stuff is like, they kind of went balls out this time. They're not always heavy. But it's heavier than last time, my friend.
They're so eclectic and weird and interesting and somehow managed to make that listenable, which is not that easy to do. To have it be that eclectic and listenable. There's one or two or three geniuses in that band. I hope they stick around for a while. They've been pretty prolific, too, I have to say. For the complexity of their music, they put a record out every year or two.
I think this is only the third one. And it's since the one that came out in 2016 is when I first heard them. So that has been a while. So, okay. Yeah. Maybe we should talk about it more. I think COVID slowed down that. Well, they've got all those side projects. Yeah. Is it Waste of Space Orchestra? Yeah. And then they have Haunted Phases is another one. Yeah. Which is awesome. If you like this, Jay, you might like that too. Okay. I haven't checked it out. Yeah. That's more synth-y. Yeah. I like that. And electronic. It's good though.
Yeah.
Georgie.
All right, my number 16 from nowhere near Boston.
But it's Gate Creeper and that dark superstition.
Dark.
It's dark.
So dark I can't see.
There's a little Arnold in there at the end.
It's so very dark.
It's very dark.
I can't get to the chopper.
Arnold never went to LA.
He went to Boston.
He went to Boston.
Where the hell are you?
I'm a Gate Creeper.
Fucking dark. It's not very dark here, but
but I'm stupid dishes. Stupid.
Not yet. We're not even
drinking that much this time. Oh, I feel it now. I need a real.
I got the G'mork in me, John.
That's your new nickname. The G'mork is on. I like it.
Yeah. Do we need to? Oh, are you calling me again? Jesus. Not yet. Go Markisan. Damn, my wrist is ringing. Call Markisan. Even when I say that, it doesn't do it. It only does it when I don't want it to do it. I'm going to need a beer. Yeah, I need one. I'm going to be right back. I know. I'm almost there. All right. Oh, we doing a beer break? We can do it before 15. Or do you want to do 15 first? I want to go get a beer. Oh, well, then I'm going to do it.
George is getting a beer. You mean Boston George? Boston Arnold George. Boston George Schwarzenegger. I call for rolling drink breaks. Just when you need one, get up and go. We do, but sometimes you need to have like an official beer break. Yeah, after number one.
Are you drinking well? Monster energy drink. Oh boy. Are you going to have a beer? Probably not. My kids are coming back. Gotcha. Yeah. All right. Well, I got something new. I can't figure out if maybe I'm with the rest of the group. Are you doing like a Michigan, Chicago accent? Is that a Boston accent? Or a like Finlandish?
I don't know how to speak Finlandish. It's called Midwest Trash. Ah. It's called I'm a Citizen of the Wild. The Wild. I'm a Citizen of the Wild. But anyway, I just picked up the Falcon Smash. Falcon Smash. I was like, oh, it's got, it's like, car, car, it's like Defenders of the Faith, car. Or wait, that'd be screaming.
Vengeance. But yeah, Falcon Smash. What kind of beer is it, George? IPA. Gotcha. It may be named for, there's a hot blend called Falconer's Flight. I wonder if it's named after that. It's from Triple Crossing, by the way. Richmond. Motherfucking Virginia. Yeah, that's right. So, you know, that's why it's cool.
All right, well, I guess Markisan number 15. I think we're, are we waiting for John? No, just kidding. No, just kidding. I would say for the second time, like the faster we can do this, the better because I'm waiting. My kids are coming back and I just need to. Yeah, let's just go. I need to feed them dinner at some point, you know. Okay. Okay. You got it, Daddy Spoon. Fast forward problems. All right. So number 15 for
For Me is Skull, Traverse the Baloch on avant-garde music. This is the only album from January to make my list, so we're talking a while ago. But Traverse the Baloch is a sweeping quest of melodic post-metal with flourishes of prog and folk, really gorgeous airy lead guitars, lush vocals and harmonies. And this record just paints a picture of post-apocalyptic Scotland.
where the band is from. And it's just fueled by spirit and wanderlust. And I spin this one pretty regularly, even 12 months after it came out. I really have not stopped. There's a lot of bands and albums on this list where I may have spun it a lot when it first came out and then I stopped. But this one has been pretty consistent for me.
So they're from post-apocalyptic Scotland. How exactly do you get there?
Well, you have to listen to the album and then you go there, George. Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, then. Good record. Good record. Go ahead, George. I was just going to say, what do you think is number 15? I think something that I would describe as vastly opaque death metal dripping with doom gristle, another pickup or carryover. I was super hot in this album and much as I thought it probably would simmer a little bit, but I still love it.
I thought that would be higher on your list. It was, but it slipped. There was a banana peel up there and it just kind of, uh, oopsie daisied. Not enough gristle on the doom for you. Sure. Yep. Extra gristle. I had to cut back. Alrighty. John then. All right.
Before my number 15, I went and got a beer. I met some dude at a bar, and he gave me a bag filled with beers. Was his name Will? Yes. And so thank you, Will, for this one. I'm having Three Floyds, Space Castle. Oh, yeah. I bought like a 12-pack. I'm like, I cannot drink all these. And then my kids were coming over. I'm like, you know what? Here you go, John. Here's a bag of beer. I feel like I had Space Castle.
I appreciate it trust me I have the can Andy John loves it in the can yeah Merry Christmas John take from my beer sack I feel like I had that yeah yeah three floors scary that's pretty cool it's like that dude from Star Wars one Darth Maul yeah like us like a sci-fi version oh yeah yeah a little bit which
It's funny because Star Wars is sci-fi. That really does, actually. That must be his head after I got cut off. Oh, he got split in half. That's right. All right. So I'm still north of the border in Canada with this band. It's not who you think it is. This is on my mid-year list. It was number 10. And I went back and listened to it again. I was like, damn, I really like this. And I'm not a super tech death fan, but I think they do a really nice job of it.
And that is from Dying Sons. And the album is Calamity. It's a self-release. They have some pedigree, I guess. I'm going to pronounce the name of this band wrong. But it's the drummer from Augury. Is that how you say it? A-U-G-U-R-Y? Augury, yeah. Yeah, they're a pretty well-known tech deaf band from Canada. And so I believe it's drummer and a few other musicians from other bands. It's cool. I like it a lot. It's actually a lot proggier than I thought. Usually when those bands say,
They put in gajillion notes per measure on everything they do. And it's a lot of just pounding snare drums. And this is not like that at all. It's actually really good. A lot of melody. So it survived my list. Just fell down a few spots. And it is a Wilson. And they've got that Nintendo cover. Awesome. Best artwork of the year. I think it's PS1 artwork, which is even better. I mean, come on.
First of all, that's balls. To put that out there. Everyone's like, what the hell is this crap? They're like, oh, this is kind of cool. Indeed. All right, Will. Mr. Situational Paradox, what was your number 15? What? I want to say it was in a coffin. I want to say mine is very sinister. In a coffin. Coffin, sinister earth from Tokyo, Japan. Oh!
Oh! Take this oath. Cough fringe. You notice there's no R's in Cough in Sinister, by the way. Not a single R. Except in Sinister. Ah, yeah. Cough. Sinister. Sinister. Sinister. Sinister. Sinister. Sinister. It's Sinister. Yeah
now. Yeah. Park the car. Wow. Well, my glad I grew up in California with zero accent. Jay. Okay. Now we get into some of the titles where it's pointless for me to describe this. Jotun. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. I liked it. You know, it's funny because,
You guys were all kind of mad about this and mad in the best sense about this one when we had Holly on and I hadn't listened to it yet and I thought I better get on it and I get the point I get it I get the joke yeah this is a joke but yeah no I enjoy it I'm sure it's gonna be in a bunch of lists and somebody already had it described it very nicely John yeah it's on mine yeah it's two so far I suspect at least three
I do too. At least. I mean, yeah. I mean, I talked about it pretty passionately. So yeah, it's going to come up again. Nice. All right. My number 15. From that oil and art. Untouched by Fire. Nice. Prophecy Productions. And yes, I would love to see these guys play live. Would that be cool? Oh, that would be very cool.
It would be one of the best shows ever, honestly. Yeah. I'm actually surprised that that seems lower than I thought it would be on your list because I know how much you really like that. Well, we're heading into the things that were on my mid-year list that have fallen down a little bit section of the list. So the next few are holdovers. It is really interesting, too, because you have the mid-year and obviously you listen to those albums quite a bit. And then you have the second half of the year.
And of course, you're dedicating that time to the newer records. And sometimes things slip through the cracks because you're just so focused on what's new. And I wonder how much that affects my list and other people's lists. Probably does. But when I do mine, I try to take into account how much I liked it when I listened to it the first time and compare that to things that have come out since.
All right, so we're on number 14. Another Wilson. I'm on the Wilson streak right now. Thumos Atlantis on Snow Wolf Records. So I don't often place instrumental albums on my year-end list, but this one has really stuck with me because Thumos just plays some of the best instrumental post-metal I've heard. I only discovered this band this year.
and they have a catalog of over 15 EPs and splits plus a couple full lengths, all since 2018, so pretty recent. And each work that they've done is built around philosophical concepts, so the music has a different scope and feel to it each time out. This new album is a 30-minute journey that covers Plato's dialogues, Timaeus, the unfinished Critias, and the hypothetical Hermocritus.
So if you like weird, heady themes in your metal, that box is checked. But the music is very bombastic. It's full of grand, progressive tones and textures. It's heavy and hypnotic with really great rhythms and catchiness in parts. I just think that Atlantis is so full of color and character that I honestly forget it doesn't have vocals. And that does not happen that often. That's how good this record is to me. I have played it.
a lot this year.
Did Rotting Christ come out this year?
Yes.
All that Greek just reminded me of that, and I was like, oops.
Yep, came out.
Okay, then.
The John BT may have had that on his list when he was doing the Day by Day.
I'm not positive, though.
It came up recently because I had kind of forgotten about that record.
I'm not a huge fan of Rod in Christ, but it came up recently and I think that's where I saw it. Cool. Do we want to just pause now and maybe pick this up next week so I can kind of work through some stuff? Sure. Sure. Now that I realize. All right. We'll be back in a week. Idiot. All right. Matt. That one is probably me. Sorry. Yeah. Number 14, I would describe as fire in the farewell mountains fest. Obviously I'm talking about cosmic petrifaction.
The Farewell Mountains. Hell yeah. Yep. Do you have anything else to say about it? That's an album. It's an album. It came out this year. It had a grouping of songs that were favorable. And it is on a list. It is on a list. I don't know. I've always enjoyed this band. I feel like the last few releases have been on one or more of my lists. Definitely more on the unique side.
Das ist, dass ich mich nicht mehr so gerne,
We all cans down here. Hey, Will, kind of depends on the cans though too. I like your cans, Will. Cans as in headphones. Mm-hmm. Jeez. All right, my turn. C. Okay, so here's another one where I will not embarrass myself trying to
say this. I'm pretty sure Jen could easily say this because she has had spent some time in this country. No, but close. This band is from Hungary. The band is the Thigh Catafilk. The album translates to The Beautiful Dreams Are Yet to Come. Off the scenes is a mist. I believe Jay has listed these guys or this guy in his cohorts on his previous
I don't even know how to describe it other than to say it's
there used to be a lot of black metal not as much now it's kind of a mix of
progressive metal folk metal avant-garde Hungarian folk it's all over the place
but this album opens up with four absolute crushing bangers and then it gets a little folky Hungarian
and does its thing it slows down and then it ends really heavy and nice it's it's a cool I I like the last three albums
I need to keep slowly picking away at the rest of the discography because it's actually 12 is the album name 12 and in the title because it's a 12th album. I will say John I flirted with this band there's never been a formal courtship but in the last literally two weeks I spent a lot of time on this album it is good it kind of danced around the edge of my list and because I'm
I had to just shut everything off early on. I will say this. It's a really killer album. It's not from Boston, though. It's not the catafelk or catafelk. It's not from Boston. All right. Thank you for I didn't realize that. I did not realize that. Yeah, it's funny how many albums are not from Boston.
Oh boy.
All right, Will.
Nice.
About 15 years ago, I used to have great abs.
Now that I'm in my 50s, I do not have great abs.
They're pretty horrific.
Oh, they're in there somewhere.
I call this condition abhoria.
And depth.
It's kind of funny.
Didn't you have atrophy on your list already?
Yes, I did. It's all about falling apart. There's probably a bunch of other ones on here. That's weird. They're kind of just all about falling apart. I don't want to give any spoilers, but a lot of these are about falling apart. It's all going to shit. Are you happy? They're from Handsomeville, USA, Prosthetic Records. Well, for one day they're there, the next day they're somewhere else. That's true. Another day they're somewhere else. Yeah. Wow, that's two.
Yeah. Holistically speaking, my list is titled Falling Apart.
All right. The fix is in. Apparently, and I can't pronounce it either, Thy Catafilk.
We'll just call it Seven, John.
Nice. Very nice.
You were right that I had them last year. They were this band that I kept hearing about, and they would show up on the end list and stuff, or the guy.
And I felt a little silly last year when I finally put that record out. I was like, holy Jesus, this is awesome, dude. It's like crazy good stuff. And this one is just a continuation of goodness. Yeah. And I can't say it again. Those first four tracks, it's just like, whoa. Yeah, they're bangers. Yeah. I mean, talent. Go ahead, Jay. Just talent. I don't know. I don't know what to say. I mean, to me, this kind of blows my mind, this kind of music.
It kind of reminds me of the thrill I used to get from listening to Opeth in the early days. And it's just like, how are they coming up with so many riffs? You know what I mean? And they're all good. This doesn't make any sense to me. And this one's not all about riffs, but it just goes in so many interesting directions. And every one of them is interesting with very few exceptions. I purposely left this one off my list. Because you didn't like it? Because it's not from Boston. Oh, geez, I didn't see that coming.
Okay, so when I went to spin this again, I was thinking of the Shoegaze band. I can't think of their name. That narrows it down. No, the French one, which doesn't narrow it down quite as much. Thank you. And I realized. It's more black gays, though. Well, yeah. Yes. Post-black metal for Will. Yes, thank you. But this album just grabs your face right away.
this is not shoegaze by any means. It is. I mean, it gets intense quick. And in the middle of the album comes and you realize you're in a Hungarian festival. Very true. Very true. No, I'm not knocking it. I do like it. It's just, it's almost unquantifiable to me. So. Yeah, it is. I think it's fair to say this, George. It's a lot, you know, I mean. Oh God. Yeah. And it's the whole discography is like that. Yeah. Yeah. Everything. And that's mind numbing to me, by the way, that he,
that the whole discography could be that way. That makes... I mean, it just makes me think this guy gets a friend here or something, but it's coming out in a really positive way. He's his own special kind of Wilson. Yeah. He started out in Hungary, then he moved to Scotland, I think. And now he's back in Hungary. Yeah. So it's quite... Like, literally physically went to Scotland? I think so, for a while, yeah. If he ever makes it to Boston, then maybe we'll talk. Well, he's not coming now, if that's the case. Pretty sure Hungary is Boston. He's like, those guys in that podcast sound like they're
that place ought to be. Hungry is the Boston of Europe. But I'm pretty sure this was recorded all over the place, too. Was it? Oh, was it? Yeah, I read the paragraph on Bandcamp. Not Boston, though. Jeez. Probably Vermont. New Hampshire. It's me now, right? Acadia Park. All right, so it's hard for me to say that this one doesn't exist because it does exist.
It's hijacking the zeitgeist from, you know, like Baltimore. Not from Boston. Not from Boston. It's from Balmer. Ah, I like it. It's from Balmer. Only people live here know about that. Yeah. You gotta be here. I'm Balmer. You gotta be here to know that it's Balmer, not Baltimore. It's Balmer. Nice. I was wondering if we were gonna hear that. Yeah, yeah, you don't have a volleyball on that one.
Son of a bitch! Sorry, what was the name of the name? Is it Exist? Exist. Oh, okay. It's that guy I'm actually lost in the Boston accent. Yeah. I know. You didn't pronounce the X. I'll try to. I'll try to. There is no R in that, by the way, Will, just in case you wondered. Yeah. Also, that Will's response was the rough equivalent of, what the fuck did you just say to me? He did! He just gave me a Boston response with his eyes.
Cool. That Exist album is really fucking good. Yeah. Nice, George. Yeah. Number 13, Marcus. We're at the midpoint. Wow. Number 13 for me is Replicant, Infinite Mortality on Transcending Obscurity Records. Smart, technical, dissonant death metal with destructive coiling hooks and surprisingly catchy
It's really amazing to me that the architecture of this record is so complex, and yet I find myself nearly snapping my fucking trapezius muscle off from headbanging to it. That's the demonic formula that Replicant has perfected on this release. I like their last record, but this is, it's like night and day. This is a crushing, standout death metal album for me this year.
No, no. I don't remember where I had it. It was on mid-year. Let me see. It was number five, so it has dropped a bit, but that's just because... That's the nature of the beast. The second half of the year is just so strong. I think it's just one of the best death metal records this year. It's showing up on... You guys know the site No Clean Singing?
Oh, yeah. It's a cool site because at this time of year, they'll post their like 4,000 lists for all the different things that those writers are doing. And they also link all the other lists that drop from all the other print sites or print magazines or websites that are, you know, music geared. And I believe they just had that up on one of their lists. So I'm seeing it in a lot of places, not just there, but other places too. That album's gotten a lot of,
A Lotta Hype for good reasons. Yeah, no, definitely Justified. It's so good. I mean, we always talk about bands that kind of level up, like you kind of like them, but then they put out another record, a subsequent record that just takes them to a different stratosphere, and this is Replicant's record. What's the other band that a few of them are in? Not Wayfinder. Wayfarer? Wayfarer, yep.
Wayfair. Yeah. Which also, I love Wayfair. They're going to have a new record out next year. Their last record was definitely on my list. Yeah. So just real quick, we can all see each other on Zoom. And I know exactly where Will is in his house. And I keep wondering, is he going outside to get beers? Because he goes out and he comes back inside. He's actually going outside of his house. Yes. And then in like a few seconds,
Like three, two, one. He's got his headphones in. I think he just has multiple sacks of beer outside, and then he just gives those to people randomly. Are you, like, taking recycling out every time you go outside? Well, that is part of it, yes. Recycling bin is right out back. Is it my pick? Sorry. No, I just said I'm enjoying. Does Will have his beer outside because he keeps going outside every time he picks? No, it's literally the recycling bin, trash can.
Yeah.
All right. Fuck, that's a good beer. Who's up? Mark, did you do your pick? No, yeah, it's me. I did. I just did replicant, so it's master. Yeah, sorry. I'm already lost. Yeah. No worries, Jack. My number 13, a snapshot of intensely scathing emotion draped over a post-hardcore skeleton under the pickup from last time. Based on the description, can I take a guess? Yeah, go ahead. Is it the new Paul Simon record? It is.
You are very close. I am talking about glassing and from the other side of the... Ooh, I like seeing that. Figured that was going to come up at some point. Yeah, it had to. So good. So good live, too. If you get a chance to see glassing live, do it. Would love to. Did you say see lives alive? No. They opened for Zeal and Ardor, who I don't like, so I just went to go see glassing.
as the opening band. And then I ended up talking to the guitarist for, I don't know, like a half hour or something. Did you leave before Zeeland Ardor played? Absolutely. Yeah. Son of a bitch. In and out, man. It was great. I was back by like nine. Is Zeeland Ardor even metal? I know you guys. It's on the border, but I would consider it metal. They definitely have metal aspects. They do. So they're like clutch. It's metal, right? You know what, Will? Let's just end this right now.
You have unlimited carte blanche to put them on every list going forward. All right. Yeah. We no longer give shits about things like that. Yeah. It was a joke one time. It's not like I had that shit thrown in my face. Some of the stuff like Hollywood vampires. Every fucking list. And I'm like, really? I can't put cluck on the list? There's been a lot of stuff that I would consider borderline. It's still 10 years later. It doesn't matter. Fine. I'm putting Lady Gaga on. Just shut up. That doesn't. No. Then you get kicked off the cast, even though you're the podfather.
Well, we'd still do the podcast. Just nobody would record it. I would record it. So, well, they better be on your next list. I'm going to be disappointed. Will is so butthurt about that, isn't he? Like every time he just keeps bringing it up. I'll tell you what. I'm going to put some diaper cream on your butthole. The only thing I get butthurt about is when I hear other stuff that you guys put on your list that is clearly
100% less metal than Clutch. Go ahead. Name it on my list because I'm the one who said it. I dare you to go back and find it. What? Huh? Exactly. I mean, I do agree. I think there have been albums from other people that I would not consider. That's not on my list. I mean, yeah. I could probably name all of you except for Matt. I think Will, I'm saying, Will, you have a point. You definitely have a point. All I know is,
every single one of my albums was released in that year. Oh, I've done that mistake. That's a different mistake. And all of mine are studio albums. They're not EPs. Or live albums from Rush. Hey, wait a minute. That was my number one still that year. I just didn't put it number one for this podcast. I'm with Jay on that. Did you pick Alice Cooper one year, Jay? Jay's 100% right about that. Oh, no, he's in Hollywood Vampires. But yeah.
And I will always regret putting that on there because it's a ship. It's not a hill I want to die on. Don't worry, we have clutch with Will. Jay, you're okay. I think the point we're trying to make here is that pretty much everything is more metal than clutch. No, no. I want Will to... George, we're trying to contain an outbreak and you're driving the fucking bucket to the airport. Stay quiet, Boston, George.
He's kissing the monkey and then kissing people next to him. I kissed a monkey on the butthole. That was... Is it me? No. Yeah, Matt, didn't you just give her a pic? See, I'm already lost. I got lost to Marcus. I'm lost to Matt. Matt did his, yep. I don't know what the hell is going on anymore. We got into live shows and then monkeys. Welcome to year end, John. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Hey, by the way,
Will, this is your 10 year anniversary for year ends. What? 2014. Yep. 10 years, buddy. Yep. Cause I still tell this story how he and I had to sit almost in silence in his old place in Alexandria in the kitchen. And we drank a shit ton of beers and went over his list. He's like, going on this podcast with these guys. I don't know who they are. Jerks. And I was like, tell me your list. He's like, one of them's from Boston.
He's been to Boston once or twice. I think one of them thinks he's from Boston. One used to be a Patriots fan when they were winning. Now he doesn't like him, so he still does the accent. Squeeze me? Weren't you a big Patriots fan there for a while? I was, but then he went to the Bucs. He's going to be a North Carolina fan now. I'm all about the Lions and the Commanders. Now you like the Lions. I saw a good meme about that, Will, and it said,
He's the perfect coach for because he's so good at recruiting college talent. Because his girlfriend's like 12 years old. Yeah. Wow. Ouch. They look ridiculous standing next to each other. Yes. Yes. Yeah, that's something. All right. Let me just get that pick out of the way. Matt, you mentioned this band, but not because they were on your list. You just asked about them. Oh. Which is interesting. And Will went with his joke that he goes with every time he hears this band's name.
And I'm going to let him do it again. My number 13 was on my mid-year. It was my number six. And it was a cheeky album then, but it's not this time. That is Elsest, Les Chants d'Illure, I guess they say it. The Songs of Dawn, Nuclear Blast, Post-Metal, Shoegaze, and what else, Will? Incest? Black Gaze. Damn it. That's a different album. Oh, God, man. I had your chance. You blew it. All right. Did I? Yeah. Yeah, it was good.
I'm still waiting.
No, I'm a big fan of these guys, and I love this album.
I said earlier in the year I thought it was a positive album.
Not that I think anything is horrible.
It's just kind of nice not to hear doom and gloom sometimes in music.
Sometimes you just want stuff that's not painted in blood all the time.
Happy!
Maybe just positive.
Not happy.
I'm not saying that stupid happy song that I keep hearing every time I go into a restaurant.
If you're happy clap or whatever it is. If you're happy and you know clap your hands. No, not that one. The other day. Are you eating that? Yeah, thank you. Because you're happy. And then like, didn't he do the halftime at the Super Bowl or something? Yeah. That's about Pharrell. Yes. Pharrell Williams. Yeah, happy. That's a good song. I mean, I don'T dislike it. It's just I'm tired of hearing it. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah, I get that. So Alcest. Matt, you mentioned them earlier, I guess one pick ago.
Yes. Which would have been like a half an hour ago. Yeah. And I'll add that to my list of bands I forgot put on albums this year. I like them. I wish they would come. Oh, they are coming to the States. I have to get tickets for that. I forgot. Cool. 13. I mean, they're a pleasure to watch live for sure. Oh, they're awesome live. They are. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I saw them with Anathema, I think, on one tour, which was kind of wild. I think it was Anathema. Are they coming to Boston? Probably.
a big tour so yes you can go see them in boston sweet
all right will uh i'm pretty sure this is gonna be a volleyball
deceased children of the morgue arlington motherfucking virginia local hometown guys
um my my buddy patrick is making a movie about uh king the lead singer of this band and i'm i'm one of the producers weirdly enough
Nice! You're gonna get credit for it? Yep. Nice! It's been in the movie, the whole thing. It's ceased. It's like punk death thrash. I mean, this is like old, old school. These are one of the originators. They just never really took off like some of the other guys. Yeah. They've been around forever and they just put out, obviously, the new album. I feel like I've seen them at Atlas with you. Yeah. They made... Bigway, George? So in the documentary, they filmed... They did a droid....one of their sets at...
I had them at Adroit. They filmed some of the stuff at Adroit, but unfortunately, the footage from both of them sucked. That's too bad. That's too bad. Would you let me record it or what? No, just there was a lot of circumstances going on in both places. Separate circumstances. Technical difficulties is probably what you want to say. That's the safe thing to say, Will. Technical and personal, yes. Anyway. Just technical.
So what are you doing on the movie to get this credit? He's getting interviewed? Nope. I think the term is fluffer. Yes. I can tell you all offline separately. Nice. He's the producer. He's getting things done. He's not the executive producer, but he's the producer. Right. Excellent. All right. My number 13.
is a volleyball most definitely but because they always write their songs about world war one i'm going to call it a cannonball these guys actually write their songs are actually kind of like field reports and stuff from world war one they had a record a couple years ago that made my list called mention mule it's all in german can't understand a fucking word and i can barely say their name but it's canon and fiber which i think must be cannon fodder it is the name of the record thank you well the name of the record is
The Catastrophe. Noisebringer Records from Germany. Just super old school. Death metal. Really good. I like them a lot. I think they're super fun to listen to. Almost have a kind of bolt thrower vibe because they're so zeroed in on one kind of sound and subject matter. So yeah, I wasn't going to say that, but yes, it is one kind of sound. But cool old school death metal out of Germany.
This is their second record and I like it just as much as the first one.
I really like the first one too because I think it made my list.
I think I forgot they just put this one out.
I didn't even know about it, Will, until maybe about a month ago when I was really getting serious about my list.
And I found it and I was like, oh shit.
I feel like this didn't get as much hype.
Like, you know, label push, it seemed.
Maybe I'm wrong about that.
Well, both Will and I didn't know it came out, so that's something.
Wow, really? I listened to it before you guys?
I know you like them a lot. Listen, this is no Ordos. Okay. That's a little overdue. I just want to let you know that I knew about Cannon Fodder before any of you guys did. But George, you knew about them when they actually were just called Cannon Fodder, right? Right. Then they changed their name. Exactly. Because originally they were from Boston and then they moved to Germany. I did listen to both Ordos
Wreckers, The End, and what's the other one called? Anyway. I can't remember. Yeah, the other day, I put them both on back-to-back. It was awesome. I love that band. Thank you, John, for letting me know about it. And you were like, I remember when George told me about this. That's right. House of the Dead and The End. I like House of the Dead. That's a good one. That's the better one, I think. Yeah, I think so, too. I'd like to see them come back around and do something else. It's been a long time. It's been a while, dude.
Yeah, it's been a long time since I rock and rolled. It's a long time since George told us about Ornos. Yeah, it has been. And then John, by way of Columbia, by way of Spain, or however that thing went. No, it's Greece by way of Spain. Oh, Greece by way of what? Greece by way of Spain. Greece by way of Spain. Yes. Two complete opposite parts of the Mediterranean. Georgie. My number 13.
If you say canana and fiber, I'm going to shit. Then let me not make you shit because it is not that. It is in fact Travoria. I'm sorry, Abhoria. Oh, wow. I thought this was Travago. Travago commercial. Wow. Yes. I like that. Travoria. He travels a lot. Yeah, yeah. Abhoria. Depths.
Pristatic Records. Free. Yeah. Nice. Trevor's the best. Trevor's the best. Or at least the 13th best. Yes. Yeah. If we had to rank persons, he would be higher, though. Oh, absolutely. All right. Number 12. Number 12. Let's see here. All right. Yeah. John mentioned this, and I was very happy that he did. It is ancient spianic.
the reach of the sun on season of missed records yeah man i mean i really enjoyed the previous ancients albums but it always felt like they were building up to something better to me and they were um compared to opeth and mastodon and john mentioned that and i thought that that was fair but i think this record really puts all the pieces together for me and it creates just an adventurous progressive metal tour de force that stands
So the guitar work on this is vibrant and elaborate. There's a gorgeous technicality to this album that I love. And it has a melancholic undertone to some of the songs. Plus there's Shades of Sludge, Stoner Rock, and Death. Also stuff that John mentioned. It's just a really, really great progressive metal record. So Ancients has done it. Nice. That's a good album. I like it. Really good.
Number 12. Will, if it's not on your list, and I'm not asking you to save it as yet, because we still have 12 picks for you, but you should definitely check it out if it's not on your list. Ancients? Mm-hmm. Okay. I mean... I think it might be... Two eyes, no R's. Yeah. You might like the sludgy aspect of it. And his harsh vocals are awesome. They're really good. Yeah.
What's the name of the album? Beyond the Reach of the Sun. Got it. I almost said Beyond the Realms of Death. Close. Kind of the same if you're going directly at the sun, right? Yeah, but you went a little darker there, John. Yeah. I just had to bring a little priest onto the show, right? A little bit. A little bit. All right. Nice. For now. All right, Matty, you're number 12. Nice. I would describe my number 12.
darkly moody,
yet unexpectedly melodic black metal that travels the atmospherical spectrum,
another pickup and probably made up bands,
Sun Eater. And the album has never returned.
Oh, nice.
Sun Eater is S V N E A T R.
Or Sven Eater.
Linguists?
Possibly.
Yes, definitely.
Nice.
I was waiting for that.
I wasn't.
Just being not, George, I'm just being nice.
Come on.
Right, right.
And I'm just being not nice. I wasn't. I was waiting for that one. I forgot they released another one. There you go. All right. Matt mentioned this one already. So I'll mention it too. My number 12. Cosmic Petrifaction Emerald Fires atop the Farewell Mountains. It's really good. Death Metal I'm with Cosmic Aspects. Hence the name Cosmic Petrifaction.
It's very cosmic. Yes. And I won't say any more than what Matt said. He described it really well. Thank you, Matt. Thank you. But I do think I will say, I will emphasize, if you do want to check it out, listen with headphones. Because there's a lot going on that you don't hear on regular speakers. Regular speakers suck. And it's very cosmic. Will?
I have no idea if I'm going to get a epic F ton of shit for this placement of this pick. I am praise totally. Screw you, man. Screw you. Here it comes, man. Bring it on. Opeth. Yes. It's even on your list. I don't care if it's 25. Yeah. That's what I was trying to figure out. Like, um, you just showed up at the party. That's all that matters. Yeah, man. I'm surprised. Is it Moga? Make a
Goddamn it is good to hear I mean he I've said it I in John and I we always joke back and forth about
opeth and I mean I do love opeth I did not like the last like three albums or so that would be for but this was a unique blend of the old stuff and new stuff I wish it was a little bit more than new the old stuff I can do a less without some of the 70s
and the flute. But I mean, it is still brilliant music. It really is. And to hear him growl. And what I loved about when John dragged me kicking and screaming to the Opeth show about a month ago or so, how effortlessly that he sings death metal vocals is kind of amazing to see in person. Yeah. You know, it's literally effortlessly. I once read an interview where
He said that takes less projection and oxygen and stuff for him to do that than it does the clean singing. I 100% believe it just by watching him doing it live. Yeah. I think he actually kind of whispers them a little bit, doesn't he? Yeah, it's weird. Yeah, you're right. The way he does it is almost like he's whispering. It's like, oh, thank God. And this is where I'm perplexed by the whole thing because it felt like he stopped doing the harsh vocals because, oh, it's too hard on my voice. I'm like,
Really? Anyway. Last will and test. Which also, by the way, you can find this on Bandcamp. I think it's some kind of weird bootleg. I have it on Bandcamp. I can see it on my phone. But when I pull it up in the computer. That's definitely a bootleg, that one. Yeah. That's all bullshit. If you need it, just let me know. I'll hook you up. It's on Bandcamp. I have it on Bandcamp. I bought it on Bandcamp from
somebody else apparently yeah slightly different so it's weird yeah i've read there's that that's a common uh thread in a lot of different opeth facebook pages that people are talking about that okay yeah so when i'm at work and i pull it up it doesn't show up in my feed yeah but it shows up on my feed on my phone i was also interested in the in putting this in my spreadsheet and not paying attention to where they've been that they're on a different label now is it his own label
or something or no it's um raining phoenix yeah no they used to be part of
somebody else and they split off oh the raining phoenix i don't know what was it was it atomic fire was a uh
label because i think amorphous or some of the amorphous uh side projects are on that now too it's actually a
really big so it's raining phoenix raining phoenix yeah okay well i put it wrong then i had like
Motorboglot or something like that. Oh, that's their label. Everyone likes to motorboat some cans. Jay, I think they released their stuff on vinyl on that label. I see. I think that's the band's label for that reason. I think. I could be wrong. Got it. Wow. Well, I'm so happy. Yeah. I'll give you a little rabbit where we're at the pint next time. And a beer. And an appetizer.
Oh, that's so sweet. I'm moving on to number this, whatever, around here, 12. These guys are proggy in their way, but also just so fucking heavy, and you get a little bit of a mastodon shot from them, and they always write about one subject, and I pronounced it once wrong, and I could probably live it down if I didn't do it again now, but I'm gonna, and it's Doovny, Voidkind.
Yes.
That bandwagon worships the worm.
Overwhelmingly heavy, these guys to me. Just so in your face and just balls out. But with the proggy element too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Nice.
Yeah.
That may have been mentioned a while back.
Was it? I don't remember if somebody said dude.
John had it.
I had it.
Oh, you had it, John.
Yeah.
Nice.
All right. Little balls out in your face will always make your list, right? Yes. You're going to love my next one, though. Yeah. It's actually the band. It's called Balls in Your Face. Yeah, Balls in Your Face. Robbing Eggplant. Is that the name of the band? It's called Taint Slap. You know, my wife does this thing every morning. You cannot follow up Taint Slap with my wife does this thing. Are you fucking kidding me, Jay?
- Actually, it's relevant because she makes a cup of tea every morning.
- What is wrong with that?
- She takes my cat for some reason.
- Are your cats involved?
- It gets weirder.
It gets weirder.
And then the cat comes into the kitchen.
My wife takes the outer plastic bag of the tea.
And she rubs it all over the cat.
- What?
She's rubbing what?
- Well, and then I said to her one time, what are you doing?
And she said, I'm tea bagging the cat.
And I was like, I don't think you know what that means. Because she does it to her every morning. So my wife teabags the cat. The environment is weird. Yeah, okay, we're officially at that place now. Sorry about that. That one's on me. The Tate Slap section. Yeah, exactly. It only took us... New name of the episode. My wife does this sometimes.
Great subtitle there, Will. I think you got a lot. We're going to substitute life for Gene, by the way. Gene does this sometimes. Marcus, I think you have a title you can work out there somewhere for the episode. I mean, this episode doesn't actually get a title. It's just the top 25 metal albums. It might have to be in parentheses, also known as. At the end, in the description, we could alternate titles and just list them. All right. Nice. Who's up?
All right, do it, George. My number 12. Have you ever heard Totes Magoat or Totes Magoats? You know, somebody said that. This is kind of like the Dodd-Heim's Guard version of that. And that's Dodd-McGeard. Nice. And their first album, Omniverse Consciousness. This is Dodd-Heim's Guard, but not Dodd-Heim's Guard. It's Dodd-McGeard.
I don't ask me I don't know but it's definitely number 12 so yeah I listened to it was pretty good I just didn't go back to it because I got lost in the mix sounds like some Bork McGork there to me Bork McGork that's the that's the Muppets version of Bork Nogger by the way good work yeah I don't I don't know all I know is this is a little less experimental a little more straight up black metal from Dodes McGeard
I think that was the plan wasn't it to do it more black
metal this time yeah that was my understanding so they succeeded in that at least at a number 12 level
nice move on moving on to number 11 this one goes to 11
awesome all right this one has not been mentioned so I think I'm going to be the first for this for sure
And that is, not John, John won't have this, Ulcerate, Cutting the Throat of God, Andibimur, Morty Records. I cannot think of a band that has a more massive sound than the atmospheric black death of Ulcerate. That desolate, towering guitar tone, it feels like a dozen avalanches cascading over a moon-soaked tundra.
And then there's the technicality and depth of their songcraft, the devastating thunderous drums, the monstrous vocals, and just an absolute mastery of space in their songs, especially on this record. I think Ulcerate is just an otherworldly colossus with an inventive signature style that has been duplicated by a lot of bands, or tried anyways.
And I just think this album delivers that style to near atmospheric perfection. They shivved God on this album. And we're all better off for it. It's a really, really great record. Shivved in the shower. They're catchy, too, somehow. They have memorable angles in their songs. And they are. They're kind of one of a kind. And heavy. Heavy is everything. Very heavy. Yep. No, that style is... I mean, there's nothing like it.
We hear it on other bands have tried to use that, but nobody does it like Ulcerate, and it's signature. Yeah. Definitely a J album for me. Really? That's what I thought, John. Yeah. I know you were going to go back and listen to it, but you just don't have that much of an affection for that. Really? It just never clicked with me. I like Dissident Death Metal. For some reason, we all have those bands.
We all do. I like decent production. Matt just died a little bit on the inside, by the way. Hold on. I got the George production. What was that, Will? I just said that Matt died just a little bit on the inside right now. He'll live. He'll grow back. Walk it off. He's like swamping his arm. He'll grow back. Reach for light, Matt. Reach for light. I am Groot. And I think, because I think it was Matt.
Matt's number one.
Oh,
that is true.
Sorry,
Matt.
But those,
that is the past.
And it is,
while it is hard to say goodbye,
um,
to yesterday,
see,
things change.
Seasons change.
Dust in the wind.
All we are is dust on the wind.
I don't know.
You don't know where you're going,
but you should know where you've been.
Is that what you're saying?
Exactly.
Yeah.
Pick your own.
At home.
Where are you going now,
Matt?
I'm going to number 11.
And I realized that this is the first mention of this band. So I am the lowest. So if anybody was placing bets, obviously I'm talking about the Judas of the priest, the shield that is invincible or invisible or invisible or is it invisibly invisible? I'm leaving the podcast. Oh, everybody has to have it on their list. But I do at number 11, the lowest.
I bet Marc Gason does not have this on his list. Yeah, I bet so. So you're not the lost. I don't. Yep. I don't. Jade. Jade for me. Not that I isn't a good record. I just never been a huge Judas Priest fan and I just don't really like party metal, I guess. I don't. It's not party metal. What? I'm going to stop you right now. Yeah. Let's just go to my pick right now. Let's just end up.
Because we're recording this, Marcus, and I don't want this to get back to you at some point in your life. I do. It's the lyrics. It's just so awesome. Stop. Listen, you guys love what you love. Go ahead, John. It's not party metal. I'm really doing you a favor right now. This will go south so fast for you. Whatever you guys love, it's fine with me. I mean, Scott Travis, goddammit. I'm just, it's not party metal. I love lamp. It is to me. Oh, god. There you go, George.
That shit ass steel panther and poison and all that fucking crap you guys listen to. So just stop. Poison. Yeah, that's really good shit. Yeah, I love poison. Don't even lie. There's all kinds of I'm looking at this. I'm looking at this. There's a lot of poison fans on this. You guys mentioned that steel panther a lot on the stairway at 11 because I listen to that. Fucking stuff sucks. I know you hate it, John. Anyways, where did you get a trident? Anyways,
Sorry. Judas Priest, number 11. Look at Matt stirring up the hornet's nose. After all that. Yeah. John got riled the fuck up right there. Well, I'm trying to save you. I'm trying. I'm doing you a favor. I'm just telling you how I think. This is how I think of it. You know, okay. I'm going to bring it up. This is just like the time we're at Iron Maiden and we're drinking out of the back of Warren's car like we're back in the 80s again. And the guy shows up in the golf cart and says,
Hey, you can't have that keg of beer. And Will says, Hey, man, what's your problem? And I got to step in and say, push well over to the side and say, we'll put it in the back of the car. And the guy drives off in his little cart. What keg of beer? He's like, if I don't see it, it's not here. I don't. Yeah. It's like, got it. Got it. Will's like, Hey, what's that guy's problem, man? You remember that? And then two seconds later, Will was making out with a Marine in the park. Yeah. He was all like, Semper Fi.
Did you ever see that guy in a golf cart again? No. No, because we got rid of him. No, we got rid of him. That's all I got to say about you. I went to see Judas Priest this year, and I had fun. It's just not my... John, what we don't know is that Will, after that, Will was like, tie on the headband, put on the face paint. He killed that motherfucker. That's why we didn't see him again. Thank you for explaining.
And George, and he drove his cart home. Thank you for your service, Will. That cart's parked on my back. Yeah. With blood all over it. Can you drive it over to my house sometimes so I can drive it? Fuck yeah. Meet your client. I'm going to, yeah, there you go. I'm going to end this ridiculous conversation we're having right now. And move on to an album that's been mentioned one, two, three times already. Oof.
four times.
No, because it's kind of low on the numbers.
But anyway, it's a really good album.
Siviris, Maze Envy, 20 bucks spent, Death Doom, United States.
On my mid-year, number five, now 11.
Who?
Will, go.
Siviris.
I'm joking.
Oh, sorry.
Sorry.
My number 11, Funeral Leech, The Illusion of Time.
There it is.
From New York.
There it is.
Carbonized Records.
Marka Sign, you mentioned this earlier. It'll probably be on my list. And fuck yeah, it's on my list. Number 11. Fucking love it. Death Doom. So good. Yeah, it moved around on my list a lot because I do really enjoy it. It's just, you know, it's lists. What are you going to do? It's awesome. I have it on vinyl. I spin it quite a bit. It's toned down. Forget about it.
My next pick.
Tribulation,
Sub Rosa,
in Aeternum.
I knew it was coming.
I knew it.
I knew it.
Number 11?
What?
What?
Jay and now George.
Not metal.
I just want to ask you
one question.
Yeah.
Have you seen them live recently?
Never.
I saw them live.
For a while,
they were opening for everybody,
but I saw them,
I think back,
This was pre-COVID I saw them. Okay, fair enough. Okay. Go, if you get a chance, go see them live. I think they were dressed like fancy lads when I saw them. If it still makes your list, then... Jay's been consistent with them. He has. Tell us what you think about them, Jay, because that's what's important. I'll say what I said when we had Holly on the podcast.
which was to me if if the universal monsters got together and i mean the original universal
monsters in black and white and put together a band this is what it would sound like i just think
they capture this whole weird kind of slightly creepy vibe but it's also a little gothic and a little bit
a little goofy to be honest with you there's some tongue-in-cheek there at least to me
and so it's almost like those old hot rod kits with frankenstein driving a car to me i don't know what
It is, but it is that vibe to me. And I love that. I think that's good fun. Yeah. That makes me good sense. And they also kind of use vintage equipment and stuff to get a kind of vintage sound out of their instruments and stuff, too. So it's metal, you know, but there's something fresh about them, too. What's that? The correct answer is yes. You are? You like the cure. The band.
The Cure. I do like some other stuff, to be honest with you. Well, that explains everything. Next. The Blessing. Well, I'm going to back you up with this. I love that. First of all, I love The Cure, and I really like the new record. But I don't... This record, I don't think is metal. I'd rather have Clutch on a list than that record. But I don't really care if you like it, and I know George is going to have it on his list for sure, higher. It doesn't mean...
Yeah, Decibel gave a 10 to maybe the first record. They gave this one a 9. It does have that aspects of the Peaceful 3, which I know Albert is a huge fan of. But we saw them live with Opeth. I was like, what in the fuck am I watching? I wanted to gouge my eyes out and have John Skull fuck me.
I got I went out to the bar instead when I saw I will answer this song with I think they toured with behemoth yep one of this it was either the Satanists or the Satanists revisited I think and they've toured with a lot of bands yeah I will fully own up to the fact that they don't really translate live because they're not like fancy or riffy or anything like that so it really is then it's just a it's
It's kind of just droney, you know, a lot. Headphone music. I'm telling you, Jay, the visual. Geez, wow. Oh, my. Anyway, I'm done. I'm out. Okay, done. You put this on here, you know. No, let me just, hey, to build on your comment, Jay, yes, they played with Behemoth, opening for Cannibal Corpse. Wait, was it? What was that? Whoever the promoter of that. Oh, that was. That was.
That's all their death metal stuff, wasn't it, back then? Probably. Fucking executed. I would disagree with that, just because I like to see different kinds of bands on tour. But their first two albums are pretty death metal, though, aren't they? They're not as gothic. They're heavier, for sure. Probably heavier, yeah. Allow me to, I'll close this conversation by saying I did apologize to you first, Will. That's true, Jay, you did do that. Wow, jeez. I do appreciate you recognizing the folly of your ways. Yes, indeed.
I mean, and I'm just, the last thing I would say is that they're really good at what they're doing. And they've definitely leaned into what Jay was saying. It is kind of like monsters come alive in musical form. So, yeah, I just, it's not really metal to me, but. I would say it's not really monsters. It's more like Richard Simmons. You're a little bit harsh. When you're walking on a trail,
They say it's the second person who gets bit by the rattlesnake
because the first person startles it and the second one
gets bit
and I just want you to know I just took a bullet for you
George, the first person got bit
Thank you
I mean, I think you have to live in Arizona
When you become number one
George, we'll just all roll our eyes and go to bed
Seems to me that
either you absolutely love this band
or you're not a fan
Yeah, or you're well
I'm neutral with it. I just, I would never put them on a metal list at this point, you know, but it doesn't matter. Whatever you guys think. They're definitely metal adjacent because they started that way. Yeah. All right. Anyways, next record. George? My number 11. What could be more insane than my number 11? Tribulation? Undeath. More insane. Oh, nice. Yeah. I was never really a big fan of these guys up
until this album. And then they finally listened to me and got good production. And now that the production's good, it's number 11. Fuck yeah. They upped the artwork too, didn't they? It's not bad. It's not bad. Is that one of the ones where there's like a grave inside a head or something? Yeah, it's some weird. It's split open in half. It's pretty awesome. Yeah. But yeah, it's a pretty awesome album too. And I'm probably the only one putting it on here. I don't know.
Maybe the square below you might have it. You never know. I'm actually surprised to hear that it's on a list, but that's cool, George. Another decibel, darling. I'm surprised that that band that I think totally sucks is on a list. Wow, that's amazing. But yeah, you go, buddy. I didn't say that, George. That's the translation. That was a little bit like that. Let us translate for you. Good for you, Georgie. Good for you. Look at you trying.
Let's move on. Let's move on. Let's give George a gold star for his pick. I wouldn't wear shorts with your bill. I'd give him a brown sun. Look at you owning that. That's swell. That's really swell. Maybe untuck the shirt. Yeah. Stomp all over the guy's pick. Untuck the penis. Totally did not do any of that. Yeah. That's funny. You said that because I was thinking that for the last one. The whole like tuck thing. I don't remember how it was supposed to
I'd fuck me. That's what I was thinking about for the last pick. I don't know why. Tuck and fuck? Tuck and fuck, yeah. Buffalo Bill in it. It's on a few of the lambs. Yep. Should we take a break before? It's getting real. I got a wee. Let's take a break. Cool. You're listening to the Metalheads Podcast. Just be glad you can't smell them.
Seriously, what is that smell? It smells fucking horrible! What the fuck is that smell? Oh, shit! It smells awful! The fucking smell is motherfucking horrible! I can't, I can't even believe this fucking smell! It's fucking terrible!
Number 10.
Let's do it.
Number 10.
Almost getting real.
It's almost real.
Shit is real right now, John.
Number 10.
I gotta say, all these albums of my number 10, I've played so, so much.
My number 10, and I know a lot of us love this record, Julie Christmas.
Ridiculous and full of blood on Red Creek Records.
recordings, whatever it's called. Or now it's Red Kirk. Yeah, Red Kirk. They took out the E's. They did. Yep. Awesome. Julie is, she's the absolute empress of heavy music. I've loved everything she's done. Battle of Mice, Made Out of Babies, her phenomenal collaboration with the Cult of Luna, and of course her solo albums. And it took a long while for her to make this follow-up to The Bad Wife.
But it was worth every second of that 14-year wait, 14 years! Because this is a charismatic and heavy merge of post-metal, avant-garde, sludge, hardcore, noise rock, and alt-pop that flows seamlessly from track to track. And man, just nobody sings like Julie Christmas. She delivers a blistering performance on this album with raw, multi-layered vocals.
vocal pitches that can go from a whisper to a snarl to a banshee shriek on a dime. Her voice has such an unrestrained authenticity to it, a fucking soul-bearing vulnerability to it. She's one of a kind, and this is a phenomenal record. So I've had the pleasure of spinning it on vinyl multiple times this year.
Yeah, it's great. I love it. That's great. I'm glad to see it's on another list. It's not for everyone. I get that. It's still pretty badass. Yeah, she's amazing. Matty. Let's talk about my number 10. I talked about it last episode. Those of you who took notes closely. I was kind of a late adopter to this band, but also
It sounds like the well I'm just gonna go right to names George and Jay you had you had talked about this band years ago I remember you talking about it and you had said that the album after which you had talked about they had kind of gone in a direction you didn't love as much I know how you feel about this album but I would say dare I call this a black metal period piece I am wholly in love with it the Maldoror Chance Old Ocean by the band Shamash I haven't listened to it and I feel stupid for that now because I think I've
There was no promise. But now I will take that as a promise. You're locked in, Jay. The broken promises of a retired man. It reminds me of the first time I ever heard Rod in Christ was seeing them live. It was a spiritual thing. And I feel like their sound was more evolving more into what I would describe as
more in touch with their culture, their Greek culture, which is, I feel like, what we hear now today, but as they were kind of transitioning, the album Aolo, or I can't pronounce the word, but I think it had some Greek letters into it. I'd love that album and that sound. I would say that doesn't sound like this, but I believe it sounds like what Shamash would sound like with, you know, using their heritage or the sounds of, you know, their native country. Dave, what label are they on, man?
Oh, gosh, that's a great question. Oh, well, don't work too hard at it. But because when I do, first of all, their packaging is always really nice. And then second, they put that kind of a production into their live shows. They're very costumed, kind of like behemoths in their videos kind of thing. And I always think, what label is really believing them in this much? And that's not a bad one. This one is Prosthetic. Prosthetic, okay. I mean, maybe they just put the bill themselves, but they...
They really seem to care about how they present themselves too. And it's meant to be from some sort of like avant-garde artistic. Yep. Yeah. I do owe you a listen on this one because I did like that first record so much. Don't let me down. Yeah. I listened to it too. I didn't give it a heavy deep spin, but I was like, this is definitely better than the last one or two albums. Yeah. So. Okay.
You're giving it a deeper listen. I'm gonna. All right. Cool. Uh. Sorry. I actually got caught there with the mic off. All right. So my number 10 is the first time I think anyone's mentioned it. I expect we might hear it a couple more times at least. But my number 10 was my number two on the midyear. And that is Crip Sermon, Stygian Rose, Dark Descent Records.
I don't have to really say much you guys know who they are
who heard them
Crypt Sermon
oh right right right
or Sermon from the Crypt
yeah
relatively unknown band
yes never heard of them
yeah I like this album a lot
it fell a little because
I like nine other albums more
no but
and it got I think it was so high on my list
I played it so much up that point we had it and so part of that June listober list member type setting was a lot of albums in June that came out so and it's in the top 10 that's pretty high so mm-hmm will my number 10 has been mentioned once before Niall the underworld wait twice it's all twice it's three now twice okay
All right. All right. Niles. Nile. They're exceptional. I love them. Nile is Nile. There's another. What's weird is there is another band called Apep. I think they're out of Germany, which is almost exactly like Nile talks about. They sound like Nile and they they they do the whole Egyptian theme music and Apep. I bought it. I love it. Yeah, they're good. There's only one. There's only room for one technical death metal band that talks about Egypt. And I'm going to go from.
North Carolina. South Carolina. Oh, it's South Carolina. Excuse me. Yeah. Well, I think that's why I like Lowen because they do that kind of those Middle Eastern sounds, but in a completely different way. There's so many bands who have aped Nile over the years. Like there is that, that's just that one Nile. So it's cool to hear something different from a different band. All right. My number 10 is proof that I listen to my friends and that's that you guys. So we're falling over.
yourselves to praise this album and i thought and i hadn't even heard it so i thought i'd
listen to it so you'll be pleased to hear this Markisan especially right now julie christmas ridiculous and full of blood well done
same spot i mean it's it's everything you said it was and i it definitely gets a hold of you and it's an emotional record and yeah and it's also heavy as beans you know i mean it's it's good i'm glad that you guys talked it up as much as you did in the video
Nice. Otherwise, they would have been off my radar, quite frankly. Nice. Oh, cool. Well, then, you know, that's the whole point of the podcast, to bring you new and interesting that you can enjoy. To expand your horizons. You've done the same for us, Jay, so. To go where no listener has gone before. So my number 10, how is this my number 10? I didn't even think this was going to be on my list yet. Here it is. What?
It's the Stygian Rose, I guess. I don't know. Was it off your list at mid-year? Actually, it was on there. I didn't realize that. I went back and I looked. I was like, what's this doing on there? Wasn't it like 12? But wasn't it right below Carrie King? It might have been. Oh, yeah, because I made a big stink about that. Yeah. Well, if you'll notice, Carrie King is not on my list this time. I have won, is what you're saying, George. Yeah, yeah.
So, George, was the previous two, did you like the previous two Crip Sermon albums better? Yes. Or are you just not a Crip Sermon fan? No, I am. I'm a big fan, but this was very different. I'm not big, but are you a fan? Oh, really? That's cute. Yeah, no, no, I liked the first two albums a lot, and this one was very different, and I was just kind of like, eh, what are you doing here? What's all this not doom?
And, uh, but not doom. It's well, it's, it's, it's 80s. I think this one is way more doom. This, this one is way heavier. Actually screamier. He doesn't really sing so much as do heavier vocals. And I was just kind of like, what, why do you got to change like that? Yeah, I agree. George, you feel this has the 80s doom, which is doom and traditional metal mix more than this one.
I felt. But I think the shift on the voice takes away from that a little bit, like George does. It does. It does. But it takes away from that exact question you just asked. But, you know, I came back to it again, and I was like, it is a good album. I don't know that I would call it as good as the previous ones, but it's still good. I like it better than the last one, but I'm still, the first one's still my favorite. Yeah. I will 100% agree. Yeah, the first one's my favorite. I'm sure if we all had to go back.
If you had Steve Jansen again, you would be like, what? I know. I felt stupid not having that on my ear end. Wasn't there a guitar player in the band that left and then Frank came in to replace him? A couple members left, actually. I'm guessing maybe Steve is doing more of the writing and Steve's more of a death guy, so it's a little heavier. Oh, it's heavier. It's definitely more aggressive. I'm going to digress briefly and just say, speaking of Kerry King, did you guys see the cover?
they did of killers it was really good mark usigua singing so killers did not know that's good it's on youtube just look for it and mark singing it really good man like it's it's a legit cover just they were doing it at their live shows nice yeah all right well done george that's two so you and i doubled up on ten we did oh it's noise yes all right mark us on your number nine
I think and we're continuing the talk here because we've all have this record seemingly at the same or close to the same spot. Script Sermon. Let's just keep talking about it then. Well, yeah, listen, George. I mean, this album probably bounced around the most on my list, not because it isn't excellent, but I just found myself gravitating towards other albums in the back half of the year. After I'd already listened to a
a ton. So I actually made a point to sit down and spend more time with this album over the last week just so I could fall in love with it all over again. And I did. I think it's captivating, majestic doom that gives Crip Sermon a more aggressive edge, like I was just saying, more aggressive than I expected after the ruins of Fading Light. And I think they also trimmed a lot of the excess that was on that
and really wrote some heavier and interesting song structures on this. So along with the increased menace, there's just a lot of unexpected and odd tempo shifts on this and surprising instrumentation, like that spooky synths that are on the scrying or that started off and then continue throughout. The melodic riffs on this are just colossal. And I think Brooks has leveled up as a vocalist.
because he brings a real sense of dread and a more varied bite to his delivery on this record. So, yeah, it's tough because I do really like that first record. I really like the last record. I think this might be their best record. It's tough to say. We'll have to see what they put out later. Like, where are they going to go after this? But I do really like the aggressiveness in this.
and then the fact that they just really focused on the songwriting. There isn't a lot of extra. And I felt I was on the last record, even though I love that record, The Ruins of Fade and Light. So I think this was a little bit higher. It might have been like three on my mid-year list or something. But of course, we get so many other records in the second half of the year. But yeah, it's a phenomenal Crip Sermon record.
Let's go on the record right now to let you know I jaded. I thought I was going to jay it, but I didn't jay it. You didn't jay it? All right. Fair enough. I thought you were too, George, just from the way you talked about it last time. Yeah, it was cool that you revisited and you're like, you know what? I was a little bit wrong. I'm going to put it in my top 10. Oh, I'm not wrong. I'm just whatever I say is correct. So. At the time, apparently. George is very fluid. Yeah.
It's a really great record. I think it deserves the praise that it has gotten. I'm not surprised that it's lower on our list than like Decibel or other people's list just because no offense to Decibel. I think we just listen to more records. I know I definitely listen to more metal records. We're way more metal than Decibel. Decibel is such posers. Such posers. We love these Decibel. If they could be any more posery, they would be totally posery. So, yeah. All right. Anyways, Matt,
Okay, my number nine. I wrote Swedish sludge stalwarts. Remind us, please hammer. Don't hurt him. Talking about horndall and head hammer. That's great. That keeps coming up. And that did drop. I had it at number two last round. Nine. Nine. Nine. That's some cannon fiber right there. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine
That's good station. John? Alright, my number nine. I'm a little annoyed that I have not really dug deep into the volleyball out in the middle of the ocean like some of you have already done. So I'm going to do it right here. I mentioned earlier I had some categories. Album of the Month, no. Wilson, oh yeah. And Matt, for you, this is Cheeky number two. Cheeky? Yes.
shot right up my list. It was at the bottom. And then I listened to it some more. And I was like, I really like this album. Let's find a place for it higher. So I did. I don't know if I'm pronouncing it right. It's kind of hard to screw it up, but there's a, you know, little thing above the U in the name. So, and it's not an umlet. So the artist's album name is Muir, M-U-R, from Century Media. It's kind of a post-metal, prog-metal hybrid.
It's their debut album. They're from Iceland. This is a... I hate the expression, a band matured. I like the expression, it's a mature release. Meaning, for a young band, for a new album, debut album, it sounds like they've been around for years. It's awesome. It's heavy riffs, atmospheric passages. There's some kind of emotional textures to it. It should appeal to fans of 2000 Gojira, the ocean,
some older Opeth. It's got some heavier Devin Townsend aspects to it. It's got a little bit of a wall of sound to him. Some of the synths on it, but I think it's awesome. Maybe not the album cover I would choose. The worst album cover. It's not the worst, but it's not the worst. What's worse than that? Politics of Ecstasy by Nevermore. I'll just end that conversation right now. That's not this year, though, John. Oh, this year, I've seen some shitty ones this year, too.
It's just an odd choice for a cover. Isn't it just like a band photo? Yeah, it's all it is. It's just a band photo. It's like a band photo if you were going to take pictures in high school. Like a headshot in high school. It's kind of wild. It's very 70s-like. I mean, the music has that 70s feel for sure. Oh, I don't. Really? To me, it's... Yeah, it does to me. I don't get any 70s at all. Myself, personally, to me, it sounds like a lot of mid-2000s.
But that's, you know, hey, we all hear what we hear. It's cool. And I believe I know the person who manages this band. But I'm not sure. So I don't want to say that without confirming that. But is it me? No, it's not you. It's an old friend of mine that I've known for years. So but who I haven't seen in a very long time. But anyway, it's a really cool record. John, I'd never even heard of that band. Then you mentioned it. I was like, oh, I gotta check this out. I quite liked it. Tracy did not agree.
I liked it quite a bit.
It's good stuff.
That's why it's my number nine.
Yeah.
That's high.
Thank you, Matt.
My number nine.
Inner Arma, New Heaven.
There we go.
We're waiting for that.
I think I'm the first one to mention it.
I don't know if I'm going to be the last.
It's definitely different.
It's weird.
I mean, inner arm is already weird, but this was even weirder. And typically if inner armor puts out something, it's going to be my top five. This one was just a little bit more on the weirder scale than normal. But it may be one of those things I need to see it live. I need to bleed. I need to break my elbows. I need James to kiss me. I need Jay to cut flesh off my body. Too bad you're not going to Desmo. Filetman will.
By the way, Marcus, that album cover is way worse. Oh, I'm trying to think of what it is. You know who did the album cover? I still don't like it. Who did it? Wait, you're talking about Inter Arma? Yeah, I don't like it. Okay. Who did it? We gotta look at it now. Will did it. The photograph is from somebody you know. Louis. Louis did it? Oh, really? Louis did it. Louis' photograph was somebody in the Arctic, and then they changed it a little bit. They tweaked it? They tweaked it to
the circle like the white circle i'd rather just have the picture from the arctic that would be really cool then well anyway i'll let louie know that you hate oh i'm sorry screw you anyway yeah that's louie paolo who's it's still better than here just really down yeah louie's a phenomenal human being and he he has um he's like a war photographer war he has a video he has um on amazon i think you can see his he did a
A documentary about Canadian and American forces and down in like Kandahar area
and whatever year it was. And he was in bed with them. Him and I bond a lot.
I don't know what's going on in this cover though. It's like a,
it's like a hip hop guy in jorts looking down.
No, no, it's, it's, it's some guy in the Arctic.
It's literally a guy in the Arctic looking out. And then they, um,
Why is he in jorts?
Well, I don't think it's jorts because they're in the Arctic.
Anyway.
Sorry. It's still better than Mirror. Yeah. Oh, God. You gotta explain to me. You're gonna fucking rest. The Mirror is just like high school headshots. It's so bad. I'm gonna go through your whole fucking collection and shit on it. I don't know how many covers later tonight. All the album covers on my list are way better than that. You're welcome to do that, John. Opinions, you know, everyone's got them, right? Just like assholes.
Actually, I don't have one. And eyelashes. Exactly. I don't have an asshole anymore. I gave it to Will. Destroyed that. You forgot one key word there, Marcus. It just looks like raw ground beef spread over. I'm not even remotely buzzed. What? Get on that, John. You've had alcohol, though. All right, Jay, go.
uh from canada atmospheric black death blah blah blah but still with a v sun eater never return
survived for my mid-year and i think i moved it up a little bit um might be one of the heaviest things on my
whole list um just for sheer extra extremity but good stuff a lot of canadian bands on the bar there are a lot
And that's the second one, because Matt named that one as well. So yeah, nice. Gonna have a nice showing on the list. See, I was being nice when I said I was expecting it for Matt, but then after Matt mentioned it, then I actually will say, yeah, I was actually expecting it again. So that was more real. Sorry, Matt. I apologize. I'm an asshole. No, it's all good. Well, I can't wait to get to my eight, because it'll make well. Maybe forgive me for tribulation. You know what I want to do? I'd like to take a picture of us.
I would like to do an album cover that's exactly like mirror but with our heads well you're just digging a hole that you're never going to come out of just digging out of you there John some point the gloves come off okay I look forward to your raw fingers oh my fingers hurt George
Number 9 is Dedicated to Will. It's a band from Sweden on Century Media Records. The album is called Sobrosa in Aeternum. Tribulation. I love it. Yeah, so good, so right. I can't wait for Clutch to put out a new album. If it's not number 1, Will, I'll be there. It will be. Don't worry. It better be. It better be. It sucks.
Christmas album. It's going to be my number one. This is better than Hollywood vampires and it's better than fucking Tribulation. It's only like three bands you don't like and it's always Hollywood vampires and Tribulation. No, Hollywood vampires just because Jay put on his list and it's not even remotely met. You can't get over Hollywood vampires. You can't get over it. Jay, I apologize. Somehow my comment about Clutch has been redirected towards you. I always see it coming.
Every time you get clutch comes, I'm like, here it fucking comes. There you go. Listen. To Metallica, oh, here it comes. To be honest, I agree with Will on this again. Like, Hollywood Vampires came up on a list. Like, everything with clutch, it just, I forget all about that. Because Hollywood Vampires replaces that as the most non-metal thing. I mean, Johnny Depp, really? Alice Cooper. Alice Cooper is metal AF. No, he's not. No, he isn't. No, he isn't.
He's not even remotely metal. He's on the cusp of rock and roll. All right. George, when Alice Cooper and Tribulation tour together, we'll go together and hold hands through the whole fucking... I want to go just so I can witness the interaction afterwards. I'll go for Alice Cooper. He's awesome live. Well, you'll get your chance. He never quits. Yeah, I know. He's 87. All right. Let's move on to here. Oh, wait. Hey, let's keep this.
It's about rolling. Number eight. Let's roll. I gotta go eat dinner. All right. Number eight for me. It's mentioned a couple times and that that pleased me quite a bit and it's Dune. Voidkind on Metal Blade Records. This album lands a spot lower than my mid-year. Even though I'd say that I've come to love it even more with additional spins. But that's just the way it falls when you have a lot of cool albums that come out in the second half of the year.
So the simplest way to describe the sound, and I think John may have mentioned this, is it's a high octane version of Mastodon mixed with Cult of Luna. So it's a meteoric collision of sludge, prog, post-metal, and layered with atmospheric synths, sundry vocals, blistering melodic song structures, and the guitar work on tracks like Eleonora is really
I've been a fan of Dune but really nothing in their catalog has roused me like void kind I think I think it's by far their best record so number eight Dune void kind you're talking about divny divny exactly all right divny divny all right my number eight I wrote heavy is the crown of thorns from this rose
I'm talking about Crip Sermon. Stygian Roads. Nice. Here it is again. I think we've heard that one mentioned earlier. Yeah, it's hovering around this 10 to 8 mark. It's a lurker. Lurker. Peekers through the bushes. Hey, can I get on your list? But only between 8 and 10? Exactly. All right. My number 8. So my number 8 came out in June.
But it missed the mid-year because it came out a week after and we didn't get the promo. So I saved it for the year-end. So my list is literally 12 albums from the beginning of the year, 12 from the end of the year, and then there's one in this kind of no-man's land. George, I believe you like this band. Maybe, Jay, I know Marcasson hated the last album because he made sure to tell me when we talked about it last time. And I like that. I don't care.
But I love this album. This is my favorite one from them because I think they got the mix just right. That is Hail Spirit Noir Fossil Gardens off of Agony or Agonia Records. I never know what it is. Agonia. Got it. Progressive Black Metal, I guess, is the best way to describe this one because this one is way more aggressive on the black metal side. The first few albums, first two albums, I guess they did the black metal slash 70s thing. Then for the last few albums minus the synth wave album,
They've done the black metal and 80s kind of synth-y sound. And I think they got it right on this one perfect. This one rips. And it would have been on my mid-year for sure had we had it in time. But I saved it for the year-end. That's what matters. Yeah. Yeah, I did not like the last record, but this one I really like. And it was very close to making my list. It's on my list in my top 40 for sure.
I think it's just a phenomenal record. And that's crazy considering how much I disliked the last one. But that happens sometimes in bands. It does. Yeah. So. All right. Will. What number are you on? Eight. Eight. Rolling. Void Witch. Oh. I forgot about that. This reminds me a lot of Temple of Void.
They're from Texas. The
Decibel destroyed
this in a review, and then
I read Angry Metal Guy, and Angry Metal Guy
just said, like, this is the best album of the
year. So
very much Death, Doom
kind of have some progressive elements.
Yeah, I mean, Decibel said it's kind of all over
the place with their sound
and everything. Like, yeah, they kind of are,
but it's amazing. It's just
great. This was my album of the month.
I don't know halfway through the year or something like that but um Boyd which awesome love it death doom from Texas noise nice I said my number eight would somewhat redeem me in Wells eyes and it only will because it is something he chose and um something he chose has a few extra points attached to it this album came all the way up to number eight mid-year and at mid-year it was at inter-arva has a new album out so new heaven which literally was I was like yeah I think my
I think it's probably one of their heaviest records. They'll never repeat Paradise Gallows, but they're still interested in what they do. Paradise Gallows was the pinnacle. Is that two now for Inner Armor? Hidden vocals, notwithstanding for George on that one, and I will also say I don't think this cover is that bad, but
That's just me. I don't like it. Could be worse. Could be worse. My number eight. Pass me that volleyball, bitches. Metal? Is it metal? I don't fucking know, but it's on my list. And it's the Sleepy Time Gorilla Museum of the Last Human Being. Actually, you just saved me and Will's eye, so thank you for that. Have you even listened to it, Will? Do you even know why you're even objecting?
Yeah, I listened to it once and I turned it off. Will is not part of the Avant world is what I think we're hearing. Within like a minute, I was like, what in the f***? Don't get me round up! I could have spared you that minute and just said, don't go there. It's not for you. I mean, I knew it would be on George's list. It's not for me because it's not metal. Yeah, I like them. I saw them.
It's okay if you like them. It's just not metal. I know it's okay. It's more metal than clutch, bitch. No. I love you, Will. I'm just playing. You're only an hour away. I agree with that. All right, come and get it, baby. But it is, I mean, they're very interesting. There's, I have a fascination with that. It's actually kind of heavier, I think. Unless I'm thinking of the one before it. But I thought this one was kind of heavier. It has heavier moments. You know, distortion doesn't make something heavy. Truth.
You know, our lack of distortion doesn't mean it's not heavy. It's not circus music. I don't know. Are you getting this from a gumball machine, these descriptions? What the hell's going on here today? Are you in the movie, babe? Who the fuck goes to a gumball machine? Well, that's what these things sound like, circus music. That's what it sounds like to me. Jesus, you put the nickel in the machine instead of a quarter. That's what it sounds like to me. It sounds like circus music to me, too. Oh, you can shut the fuck up, too. Shut the fuck up! Listen, I'm saying it's very interesting.
I love Opeth. It's fun to listen to, but it sounds like circus music. I mean, that's all I'm saying. That does not sound like fucking Iron Mayhem to me. I like that. I like that. Well, now you're talking. Sleepy time. Sleepy time. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. That's pretty good, actually. Her name is so funny.
I think Matt might have just peed his pants he did have his pit diaper on yeah there was a little bit of a squirt there was a trickle squirted a little all right Markisan take us to seven number seven there's no bearded ladies on this one I'm going with a pallbearer I'm wearing the shirt nuclear blast records I think this this album it's called mine burns alive I think this
is really important musical remodeling for the band. So when I heard the last record, Forgotten Days, I thought I was going to be down with Paul Bearer. It just seemed like they had jettisoned a lot of the Vital Doom components that made the band special to me. But then mine, Burns Alive, came out and it just, it surprised me because it made me realize that they've been maneuvering all the pieces on their sonic board, working for a new way to get it.
to radiate more emotional heft in their songs that have always been there, but that's never been at the forefront. So I think they very much achieved that with this release. And it's just, it's built on introspective, almost shoegaze balladry with vastly improved vocals. It's amazing how much the vocals are better than what came before.
Liquid, tranquil melodies, but it just explodes in some of the heaviest stuff they've ever recorded. And I feel like that heaviness is just exponentially magnified by the frailty of the softer sections that they have on the record. Not just in terms of the riff tonnage, but in the expressiveness and the connection that I have with the music.
a divisive album because people love the original stuff that Paul ever did. But for me, I like this change because I feel like that they wanted to achieve something and they weren't able to do that with more simplistic style that they had in the early days, even though I fucking love those early records. So yeah, I really appreciate this one.
To me, this is kind of like circus doom. Sure. It's like. Somebody's butt hurt. Just playing. Just playing. Just like monkeys. Actually, I meant to give this another lesson just in case it changed my mind, but I forgot. So, you know, and I think you would really like it. I wouldn't change your mind. I think George actually really like it. I feel like George's tastes have changed.
George's tastes are always changing. So I think you actually would appreciate this one a little bit more. You should spin it. I'll do it again. I mean, I listened to it once and I just wasn't sure what to make of it at that time. So I don't know. Maybe another one. It is different. I mean, they've been building towards it, but it is very different. And I think, you know, we've talked about this several times over the course of, you know, revealing our albums that, you know, you kind of get stuck in.
a certain sound for a band and it's a matter of your are you going to be open to
something new and is it good you know sometimes bands change and it doesn't really work but
for me um the change in palbear really does work um it took me a little bit of time to get into it but
um i like this direction cool i do not
I had your back through all the shit well and what what do you do no I'm not saying I don't have your back I'm just saying like this is all better I totally get it dude it's going to be a divisive album I don't think two albums were amazing and everything after that is like just not it's just not what I want to listen to that's all doesn't tickle your feet no that's fine that's my feet are very ticklish it's not like you woke up one day with a tribulation and you're like wow I really like that
I cannot wait to be the little spoon after watching tribulation. All right, Matty, what's your number seven? Number seven. I had to, um, I don't know, channel Barry White for this. My first belly rubbing music. I say my first, because I've never actually had this band on my list. I'm not sure why. Um, and when I say their last, I'm talking about last will and Testament. Um,
You know what? I just realized why Will likes that record because he's got his fucking name in it. Yeah. Fuck yeah. I mean, it's not the last J in Testament. It doesn't work at all. It doesn't work at all. It's Will and Testament in one. It's not the last Boston Georgian Testament. That doesn't work. Yeah. I'm sorry, Matt. I got skittles.
No, I mean, over the last few years, I've really come to enjoy 70s Prague. So it was no wonder why I'd like this. And John, you described this. I want to say you described it as a merger. It was at Blackwater Park and then their last album. No. I'm sorry, John. You said it was a blend of two of their albums. Right. Which was it? It was the last one. Watershed. Watershed. Thank you. In Kana. In Kana. Yeah. Yes. And I could, I mean, I-
It's known as Woodershed. Woodershed. Like ice water. Woodershed. Yeah. Wooder. Yes. Sorry. Sorry, Will. I meant to say Woodershed. I'm definitely not an Opeth expert, but a fan. And this is a really nice blend and a favorable release. Long time listener. Thank you. Long time listener. First time listener. I like that.
What do you want with that, Jay? Thank you. All right. My turn. It's been mentioned twice. It was on my mid-year. It was... This is interesting. I had to send Matt a question about this album. I said, can a Cheeky Mover album on my mid-year also be a Cheeky Mover in my year-end? And the answer to the question is yes. Double Cheeky. Because this album had dropped, and then I listened to it again, and I was like, oh, hell no. Let's move right back up the list.
And it only took one lesson. And that is Julie Christmas, Ridiculous and Full of Blood, on Red Kirk, or also known as Red Creek. Kirk. We've already talked enough about it. I will say this. Even if you don't like this album, go listen to two songs. Because if you're a Cult of Luna fan, they rekindle that a little bit here with two songs, End of the World and The Lighthouse. And it's awesome. And it just makes me think, please do another.
another Cult of Luna, Julie Christmas album. That'd be great. So, enough said. Don't need to talk any more about it. We've already mentioned a couple times. The album's awesome. I'm waiting for the collaboration between Cult of Luna and Will. It's called Ridiculous and Full of Cum. Wow. I thought the working title was Circus Dicks. Maybe.
I just don't associate a band or a person, artist named Julie Christmas with metal, so I've never listened to it. I bit my tongue because it could be the most brutal black death metal ever. Yeah, I kind of assumed it was not really metal. Just stop. Stop. I tried to save Markisan her. I'm going to save you now. She's a badass. I'm not saying she's not a badass. I actually haven't seen her from behind. I'm literally telling you I've never listened to it.
If you don't want to. No. We're telling you. Just makes me not. Like Sleepy Time Gorilla is like. I did listen to that. Okay. Here we go. Julie Christmas is phenomenal. Yeah. Go listen. Go back and. If you don't believe us. Go back and listen to the cult of Luna. I mean. And her backing band is like. A bunch of metal gods. Do you know why?
Do you know why they had Matt Damon speak like that in that movie? Because when the puppet came out, they just said it looked retarded. They just decided to make him sound slow. Matt Damon. What movie was this? Hey, nobody's immune on that show. Team America. Team America, World Police. One of the greatest movies ever. No one is immune. I don't think I've ever,
I've actually seen the whole thing.
So I've seen the whole thing about a billion times because.
Little closer?
Oh, fuck you Hans Briggs.
Briggs, I am an international terrorist.
At the very, very, the VVIP lounge in Baghdad at the Baghdad International Airport.
That must have gone over really well.
There was a certain base there that I was at a lot over the course of many years.
And every night, no matter what, there was one movie playing in that bar. And it was Team America World Police. Would they blow up Egypt? They're playing that song. It's like, oh, Lord. There's a lot of good lines in it. But when they blow up Mexico or someplace where they speak Spanish, there's a dam that blows. Panama Canal. And it's flooding. And one of the puppets shouts, no me gusta. Yeah.
I don't like this so funny that and the signal oh yeah or how about this hi everyone kiss you say he's like he's like saying like something like in real life he's like help me help me he's like what he's saying kiss me what that's so funny dude that movie is too funny actually I like my favorite line might be hi I'm Alec Baldwin I'm the president of the film actors guild yeah F-A-G
I think it's your turn. Well, believe it or not. So if we want to get back to actual real metal albums, my number seven is Midnight Hellest Expectations from Cleveland Rocks on Metal Blade. If you've never seen Midnight Live, holy crap, it's amazing. Yeah, I've seen them like ten times. Yeah, they're not bad luck. I've seen them like ten times. I've seen them like ten times. Don Kamiske. All right.
I saw some meme I saw a little video meme. I'm going to take that shit from these people tonight. And he's going, is that a mockingbird up there? And then they show the mockingbird. And somebody took a film and goes, is that a mockingbird? Is that a mockingbird? He goes, yeah, it's a mockingbird. My number seven falls under the no regrets category because it was on my list. And it seems weird to have any, to just pick something out of this band's catalog and put it on a list.
seems a little weird, but this is so much fucking fun and it's so old school and it's so great. Dark Throne, it beckons us all, was on my mid-year. Beckons us all, beckons us all. Yeah, exactly. It's every Dark Throne record you've ever heard, but on the other hand, it's got a little extra fun in it and it's a little more old school and it's good. I enjoyed listening to it this year. Yeah. All right, my number seven has been mentioned once, probably won't be mentioned
again, but Lord dying,
clandestine transcendence.
Well, did that move up now from the med here for you?
No, it's actually, it might've, I think it dropped.
I think it was probably like three or four.
Wow. Okay.
Nice.
It came down and then it cheeked its way back up a little.
Cheeked its way up, snuck in, squeezed in.
Nice.
That was good.
What was that noise, George?
That's a little squibbler.
It's a little cheeky. That's a cheeky scribbler. It squeaked out. Govna. Govna. All right. Let's do this. Number six. Meaning pepperoni. Wait, that's your number six? I've never heard of them. Yeah, what is that? Circus metal? Yeah. Pepperoni. It's pizza metal. Circus pizza. Matt mentioned this one before. Now that pleased me quite a bit.
Because as you guys know, I love this band. It is glassing from the other side of the mirror on Pelagic Records. One of the main themes of this record is the idea that your sense of self might be constructed by others, even as you look at your own reflection in the mirror. And that's a pretty interesting motif for the album because it's emotionally charged post-metal that's dynamically constructed from black metal
"Doom, Noise, Ambient" and post-hardcore. But Glassing manages to incorporate all that into a single engaging entity that doesn't sound or look like any other band out there. One of my favorite bands and love them live. Like I mentioned earlier, I went to see them as an opening band. They only played like 30 minutes and I just had to go to see them.
get bigger tours in the future.
Okay.
Matt.
My number six, a strangely organic walk on the wild side.
For this band, I'm kind of the resident person on our podcast that is a fan.
And strangely enough, I don't think I've ever had them on.
No, I take that back.
Anyways, I'm talking about Inorganic Rites by Kralis. And a lot of their more recent releases have kind of been hit or miss on, and I put this one on. And as soon as a lot of the synth aspects kind of came into play, I definitely just was like, I can't stop listening. It reminded me of Is It Masters Mimir from Yellow Eyes that came out last year, but this is definitely much more heavy and not as experimental, but still really good.
And they are a prolific band. Yes. They sure are. And I really want to like them more because I feel like I should. And I just have no idea outside of starting with the first album where to go because there's just so much to delve into. It was like number 14, I think. And their records are so different from album to album. But they put out a lot the last five years. Yeah. A lot. So nice. I figured at some point they'd be on your list, Matt.
It's quite cheeky in terms of their positioning. So it just barged its way up. Mm-hmm. Chicken albums out of the way. Get out of my fucking way. I'm moving up this list. Move it. I'm flying up that escalator. All right. So my number six. Okay. So pick seven concluded my standard portion of my list. We are now moving into the hipster sheeple party metal selections for my next five out of six picks. Okay, then. These are all the picks that everyone's
It's like, yeah, you're just like everybody else. Heard that, I don't know how many times, but let's kick it off. Maybe number six isn't, I don't know. Maybe it's a sheeple pick. Who knows? Maybe not. Aranti Pazuzu is my number six. The album is Shapeshifter, because I'm not trying to try to pronounce that. Nuclear Blast. We've already talked about it. I don't know how much more there is to say. I love this band. Been a fan now since 2016.
I have a little came in the middle there catalog at this point but I keep thinking they get better and better with each album yeah it's okay yeah it's not bad yeah it's decent it's a lister it's a lister yeah all right go Will um my number six I don't think this has been mentioned yet very surprisingly um I don't know if I will be ostracized or
I'm not sure how I feel about putting that at number six but this is this is one of those I almost feel it's it's kind of in that opeth territory where or there's another band oh shit John what is that band that you love from England that does morbid angel better than morbid angel that
a lot of weirdness. Fuck. They're like super progressive and half the time they're like not doing death metal. And half the time when they do do death metal, it's absolutely fucking amazing. They sort of do that all the time, minus a couple songs. No, I'm talking about a different band. Not Blood Incantation. No, I know. No, they're not from anyone. They're from Germany. And how dare you not know Hannes Grossman's band name? What's the name? Alkaloid. Yes. Alkaloid. Yes. I feel like Blood Incantation
- It's like in that alkaloid territory where it's like, God damn, when they do the death metal, it is unbelievably awesome. But when they don't do the death metal, it's like Pink Floyd. And I love Pink Floyd. And so like, it's like this like weird, like, well, I don't know what's going on here, but I really like it. So that's because you don't know what it is, but I like it. You've never been through a Stargate until this album. I mean, some of that stuff sounds exactly like Pink Floyd's if you'd like it. Oh yeah. I mean, it is, it is.
Spot on, 100% Pink Floyd. Yeah. Anyway. Lime and limpid green, the second scene. Oops, sorry. I love getting this far up in the list because you don't have to spend too much time describing things if somebody else has already done it for you. Ancients, Beyond the Reach of the Sun. Oh, there we go. Nice. Seasons of Mist from Canada. I'll share one brief story about them, though, and it was how I first found out about Ancients in which I went to see Goathorn,
And I liked Ancients so much that I was like, oh, I'm going to go buy these guys a fucking record. So I went and bought it and then stood right in the front and for Goat Horror and was being a little thrashy with my head and people were jumping around and stuff. And Ben from Goat Horror very kindly came and took my record and set it on the drum riser so that it wouldn't get broken. Oh, that's cool. At the end of the show. Nice. Yeah.
So I saw them too, Jay, and I'm looking for you because I saw them with a crazy lineup and I have to find it, but I feel like I saw them with like enslaved and pallbearer. Okay. And that works. I know it was something. Johnny, you thinking of ancient wisdom? I might be thinking of that too. But instead of a W, they have two Vs. Cause I feel like I saw that tour as well. Yeah. You know, you're probably right. I just was Royal blood on there too. No.
That might be what it is. I think you're right, Matt. Thunder? I can't think of the name of the band. Thunder. Thank you. Yeah, I think you're right. Because I was actually thinking something similar to what he was saying. Like, have I seen Ancients? But then I was like, I think it's Ancient Wisdom. I was at the Autobar. I saw that show. God, 2013. Holy smokes. I think you're right that they have showed up on some weird bills. Like, for instance, it strikes me as a little loud that they opened for Goat Horwant. But I mean, that's one of those
I was like well like I said I went it caused me to go to the little merch booth and buy their record because I liked them yeah you're you're right Matt it was enslaved Paul Bearer Royal Thunder in ancient wisdom that's that's this crazy lineup yes it got even weirder when you said Royal Thunder so that is a super weird one man I'm so pleased to hear ancients come up again so that's gonna have a nice showing for the for the band so yeah nice all right George
Number six, I have one word for you. Eson. Nice. That's it. Well put. And looking forward to seeing in the nightside eclipse. Hell yeah. In May. I'm sorry I burst your bubble about that tour. Oh yeah, well, you know. So, John and I are going to be seeing each other two days in a row, which is unheard of outside of Decibel. We're going to Devin Townsend on Saturday.
and Emperor on Sunday.
In Fillmore.
In Fillmore.
Wolves of the Throne Room.
Yeah, and Wolves of the Throne Room.
Nice.
So presumably Galen will be there.
Yeah, I was hoping that Agaloc was going to be on that, but they're not.
That would have been insane.
That would have been.
I know.
And then Devon Townsend and Tesseract the night before.
Yeah.
So get a room.
Full schedule.
Yeah.
That'll be fun driving up there.
Yeah.
Not two days in a row. All right. Hey, just FYI, the kids are coming back very shortly. Yeah. There may be a lot of interruptions in the next. Well, let's finish this up. Sorry. We're doing pretty good on schedule. I want to eat. We are. We weirdly are. Yeah. All right. Number five. Last five. Mark us on. Take us home. Top five. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely a volleyball for me. Love this record.
Piron exhaust on Willowtip Records. They play a progressive experimental tech death that has elements of grind, math, core, punk, and noise rock. And this album is dense and intricate with whiplash riffs, contorted song structures, but also weirdly accessible and just so memorable. It's a record I typically play on repeat whenever I spin it. It's a relentless
and just refreshing blast of unhinged ferocity. Yeah, just really love this record. Nice. Excellent. Matt. My number five was on my prior. I consider it virally crafted worship music. Chapel of Disease in the Middle East. Oh, nice. Echoes of Light. Very cool. Similar band.
I'm kind of a late adopter, but I'm a forever lover of it. That one I accidentally fell off my list. Unfortunately for me, too. But I like it a lot. Yeah, me too. I do. Honestly, it probably should be on there somewhere, but I got lazy. It's only 25 spots. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you could do a top 40 and those 15 records after the top 25 are still like records that you really enjoy that you spend a lot.
All right, John. All right. My number five on Party Metal Records. Yes. From England. They just sing about partying and living after midnight. Party all the time. And tons of choruses. Thanks for backing me up there, George. Yeah. Wow. One song from 1980. Anyway, my number five.
Defenders of the Party, come on. Turbo Party. It's Heavy Party. Party Lover. Screaming for Party? Party Killer. Judas Priest, Invincible Shield, a.k.a. Invisible Shield on Epic Records. I don't know what labeled songs. There's like three labels. Sony Music. Well, it also says Epic on the back of mine. So anyway. I think Epic is owned by Sony. Yeah, I know.
But there could be labels that own other labels like Inside Out's owned by Century Media, which is also owned by Sony. But it still says Inside Out on the back of the record. Mind-boggling. It is, isn't it? Corporate world. Anyway, Judas Priest. I think Matt's the only one else who's mentioned it so far. Number five. Still like it a lot. True doubt. Go, Will. Go. Come up again. Will, Will, Will. My...
Number five.
You know, at the mid-year, I was pretty shocked that no one had this.
This is old-school Tampa deicide.
Banished by sin.
I just assumed everybody on this podcast would be gigantic deicide fans like Morbid Angel, Death, you know, obituary.
But you are not, and you suck.
I like the first two deicides.
Why?
Why are you even on this podcast?
Yes.
Why?
I mean, I'm just going to pull your metal man card right now. Fuck your party metal. Deny. Anyway, PSI, goddamn fucking amazing. And this is not a comeback album, but it's, you know, return to form in a lot of ways. Now you have a volleyball, Will. Yeah, and it's in my top five. There you go. Top five volleyball. Jay, give us your number five. Vandenploz, the imperial equation.
Yes! There it is. Is that like menopause? Just menopause? Oh god, it's not the hell odd. I just, I think a criminally under successful band. They're probably appreciated enough, but had they come out at the right time, they'd all have a million dollars, but they were a little late for all that, so. I mean, at least they're still going on, you know?
putting out stuff. Yeah, absolutely. And I'm glad for it. I liked it. I liked it. Yeah. So John saved me from volleyball there, which was great. Right, that's two. Yeah. My number five from England is the Invincible Party of Judas Priest with John. Yes. Keep driving it up the list. That's right. That's right.
Did you see they're doing all of
power
painkiller
on the European tour
I thought they said they weren't going to do all of painkiller
No they are
it's called invincible
I know it had pain in the top
invincible pain
but I thought they were not doing all of painkiller
I only read the headlines
so maybe I'm wrong
Well, if it's on Blobbermouth, don't take it as true until you hear it from the band, actually. That's probably where I saw it. Yeah. All right. Let's do it, George. Oh, George did do it. Mark is on. You do it. He did it. He gave us the Invincible Party. Quatro. All right. Number four for me is Dudzrit Nocturnal Will on Wolves of Hades Records. This album blew me away when I first heard it because it is just a thundering, triumphant,
of unadulterated black metal joy. It's propelled by shimmering twin guitars, classic acoustic strums, and just beautifully heavy melodies with a heartfelt atmosphere. And it roars by with a thunderous flowing tempo. So one of the things that really struck me about this album is that almost half of Nocturnal Will is instrumental, which is such a dynamic choice because you get lost in the
of this really explosive, uplifting music. And then suddenly the anguished black metal howls kick in, injecting this sense of longing into the music. And that just elevates the songs to an even greater emotional height for me. Just a phenomenal record. I'm really pleased to see that it's gotten a lot more recognition than I thought it would have. It was on Decibel. I've seen it on some other lists.
But this is a band that I've really dug and this is their finest hour. So, love it. This is their finest hour. Finest hour! We shall defend our island. Whatever the cost may be. Whatever the cost may be. We'll fight in the streets and upon the land and grounds and in the streets. Fight to me, yeah. Yeah, anyway. Right on. Matt. All right, my number four. Bloody Post Metal.
Anything but Ridiculous, Julie Christmas. Ridiculous and full of blood. Ridiculous. It is. Ridiculous that it's at four. Anything ridiculous. That's, Julie's gonna have a nice showing on the list. All right, so my number four is a band that I was not into during their first release. I kind of listened to it. Everyone said I should have liked it because it was all proggy death metal.
And I just, eh. And same with the EP or the split that came out after that. But then I decided to check out the new songs that were dropping from this latest album. And I was just like, ooh, big mistake a few years ago. So I jumped on board and I'm full in now. And I'm loving this. Not so sure about the band name. It's a little weird. But hey. Steel Panther. No. Panther Day Steel. No.
They are not from England, since that seems to keep coming up about bands that I like. No, they're from Italy. The band's name is Bedsore. The album is Dream of the Strife for Love from 20 Buck Spin. It is progressive death metal. It's got some psychedelic aspects to it and a boatload of 70s prog. That seems to be my theme this year. So, love it. I don't expect anyone else will have it on their list, because I don't even know what it is.
I don't know how many people have actually listened to it but I love this I listen to it I do too yeah cool I'm glad you guys listen to it whether you liked it or not doesn't matter I like the music a lot love it I just don't like the vocals but but music's great yeah I'm just not into 70s prog but I you know I listen to everything because I got to give it a fair shake I like 70s prog yeah yeah I mean I mean that's a there's a lot of that this year which is interesting yeah so
All righty. Will, your number four. Here, William, read this. Read the highlighted thing. Come in the microphone. You know this band. Just have the banner hanging in your room. Do it now. That. In the gray. Say it louder. In here. Crips sermon? What's that? Crips sermon. Used to have the Crips sermon banner hanging in your room. That was before when I was a kid, Dad.
Yeah, Jesus, dad. I was like five years old. Children have become more pop than metal now. Stop making me live your dream. Watch metal now, dad. Yeah. It's actually a funny progressive commercial, Jay. Yeah. I love that commercial. Anyway, let's keep going because we've talked about it. People have talked about it. The only thing I would say, it's...
like actually the first two albums better but it's still Crip Sermon it's still amazing
doing well all right
blood incantation absolute elsewhere there it is
from the United States you all know and love them requires very little description except to say that this band really kind of stole our hearts the minute they came into the scene
word
been pretty strong showers with us and they have made a very fine fine record
Nice. That's two. My number four is for Will and Markisan. Take my hand. We're off to Never Never Land unto others, bitches. I mean, I knew that would be on your list. Why is this for me? What? Just because it's I just said that because I was going to sing Metallica. He's more goth than man.
I'm sorry what's what's the album unto others never never land I don't even know what that is okay then it's not tribulation twilight but it's kind of like tribulation it's it's a lot like yeah yeah I wouldn't classify it as metal oh it team edward it is but you know it's a cool record though it's very gothic that is for truth and george loves the gothic I love the goth all right
Number three.
Who is this?
I'm going to finish chewing. Okay. Excuse me. Another volleyball. Cause I fucking love volleyball and I love playing it by myself. Mark a ball. I slept on the moon. Only the stars know of my misfortune on bind rude recordings. Is that really metal though? Oh, have you listened to it? I haven't. No, I was just kidding. Can't even speak. Just messing with you.
Well, it doesn't sound like metal to me. If you haven't listened to it, you can't really say anything. It sounds like, I don't know, like 80s pop music to me. I slept on the mean. I mean, you just basically gave us an 80s pop music choice. So anyways, this album has become essential late night listening for me because it has such a vulnerability and tenderness to its really organic mix of depressive black metal. But there's shoegaze and post rock in there.
I feel the weight of sadness, mourning, and quiet anger on this record in a way that I don't on anything else this year. It's heartbreaking heavy music that really brings me back to the times when I was an emotional heap on the floor after someone I love passed away or when a relationship ended and my heart was shattered. So only the Stars Know of My Misfortune is the perfect title for this record,
because when I listen to it, I want to look up at the night sky and cry all the painful experiences away. It definitely makes me feel a lot on this record. I think it was one of those records that just recorded live that didn't really do a lot of takes on it, and I think you feel that in it. It's excellent. I never really heard of this band before. They have had some other things.
before this, but I really responded to it. And it was my album of the month. It was, yeah. What was up against is Opeth? Yeah. I think I ruined the whole Opeth thing with this one. I saw it on New Music Friday and quickly went over it and just hadn't come back. And then when it was your album of the month, I put it on. And I mean, it is an amazing album.
I feel like it's kind of under the radar. It's just one guy who puts out the music and haven't really heard of him before. But yeah, it really left a mark on me. So obviously number three. It kind of teetered out at the end of my list. Cool. That's nice to hear. What's your number three? My number three. I'm talking about one audio Snuggie to rule them all. I'm talking about the Pazoos.
The Pazooz.
I like that.
We're on that sort of basis.
It's a band I've never seen live, but other people have.
And I'm not bitter about that at all.
Not at all.
Album title, Manomena.
Manomena.
What does it actually mean again, John?
I forgot.
Shapeshifter.
Right.
Okay.
Okay, that's not getting out of my head now. Thanks. Sorry. Sorry, George. Wow, that's going to be very high on the combined list. As it should be. Can you take me? Can you take me? No, I cannot. No, don't do that. John. All right. So I poked fun at my list. I poked fun and I have some sheeple picks. This is just for fun.
I didn't say that because... You're really giving Holly a hard time here. She called us sheeple. She did. She really did. You know? Just because it's good doesn't mean we're all sheeple, Holly. I'm having fun, of course. I laughed when she said that. And I laughed when I read it. And I'm laughing now. Well, no, actually I'm not. Now I'm bringing it. You're bringing it. I'm bringing the Stargate to everyone. Let's get in. SG1, baby. Blood Incantation.
Absolute Elsewhere. Number three! Or, as everyone pointed out on Decibles list, Absolute Everywhere. Indeed. I don't know if you saw that. They put that down, actually. People lost their shit. Oh, boy. Yeah, Absolute Elsewhere. Blood Incantation. Number three. Not four, not two. Tres. Three. Okie dokie.
Sorry, I'm confused. Why do people lose when they said absolute elsewhere? No, they said absolute everywhere. They wrote absolute everywhere. Because it's the internet and people need something to validate their feelings. Yes. Because they're sheeple. Yeah, those are the sheeple. Holly, I'm just having fun. All right. My number three, Necrot, lifeless birth. Love this.
This is the death metal album that I was waiting for. That is just like harkens back to old school, early death, like bridge, chorus, just whatever the musical terms are for, for a song structure. But it's, it is absolutely amazing. It's memorable. It's almost like I can go there and I can sing along. And I miss that. I miss, I miss the old school. Lifeless birth. Yeah.
I just miss like I like you go to a like even when I went to death for all and they're just doing the old school songs like you can sing along to them but like can you sing along to like a two mold album I love to mold yeah you're not singing along this you can sing along to just sing every single that's why I love number three yeah I know I love them too but who else had Jay did you have them who else had Necrod he did okay yeah somewhere around
He's jaded. Jay, what's your number three? Ulcerate, Cutting the Throat of God. There it is. I'm trying to remember where it was mid-year for me. It was real high, and it might have been number one, to be honest with you. I think it was, but Markisan described it well enough for two. So we'll leave it at that. I did it amazing. Knocked it out of the park. Georgie. My number three is the most metal album on my list. It is.
So metal that it is fucking metal. And that is grief by zeal and ardor. Yes. Right. I love it. Will stomps off. That's pretty funny. Just left. It was very funny. Staged, but you know, funny. But yeah, zeal and ardor. Oh my God. And this is a very proggy metal album. A lot. There's a lot less.
No, you don't roll your eyes on me, bitch. Love you. You go, George. The last album was a lot more like gospel-y metal stuff. This is more proggy metal, honestly. I was wondering when that was going to come up for you. Oh, yeah, it's in there. And we've talked about Holly multiple times on this cast, and she loves that record as well. That's right, because Holly knows what's
I mean she sort of does oh
kick him in the nuts all right let's do it two more picks number two yeah um this was my number one album at
mid-year and I honestly didn't think it would be dethroned because it's just a sweeping and singular album of
classical symphonic, heart-rending, atmospheric black metal. It's Aquilus Bellum II. The arrangements on this album are some of the most stunning and cinematic I've heard, not just this year, but any year. And all the tracks feel so completely necessary to the whole, like they're these real and integral experiences. And when I play Bellum II, I live completely in these songs. They evoke so much.
many different emotions and memories in me. It's like I'm listening to a soundtrack of my own life. So Bellum 2 is such a darkly beautiful and intimate album that really reminds me how deeply majestic and personal metal can be. So number two, Aquilus, Bellum 2. Nice. All right, my number two, Brutal Teth Deck Trio from Down Under maintain their title of sharpest tool in the shed.
I'm talking about ulcerate and cutting the throat of blood. There it is again. Drop one spot for me. Number two? Really? I thought this is like... Wow. Wow. Oh my god. Julie Christmas put out a Christmas album? She did. Ridiculous and full of presents. That album is going to be very high on the list too.
There's gonna be a lot of like... Yeah, don't expect anything soon. It's on me right now. Do not expect anything soon. Doesn't it feel like it's gonna take a little bit more work than normal, John? There's a lot of singular albums on this. Yep, yep, yep. All right. This is not a singular album for my number two, because somebody else has mentioned it already. It was my number one at mid-year, and it has dropped one whole spot. This album sucks. No, I love this album. That is Exist, Hijack,
Die Kino, Zeich Geist, Prosthetic Records, Baltimore, Frog Metal, Techie-souting Death
We're not gonna say it, but we know. Just say it. I mean, Travis Scott can only play on so many albums. True. So, Will, you're number two. I just want to tell a very quick story. So, I do a lot of carpools with a lot of baseball, birthday parties, soccer, futsal, basketball. That's why I got a key telluride with third row seating. And one time I was driving in the
At bandcamp? This one time at bandcamp and I was driving in the car and this kid who's sitting in the front seat and he's looking at the screen he says cutting the throat of God? Blasphemy! Oops! Cutting the throat of God, my number two. You didn't get to carpool that guy anymore did you?
You thought Will was church-going folk. Yeah, I know his parents pretty well, and I was a little worried about what he's going to say to his parents and what they're going to say to me, and they never said anything, so all right. And I've never seen him again in my carpool. Oh, sorry. God, that's such an amazing band and such an amazing album, and it's not usually in my wheelhouse in some ways, but just I love the dissident of it.
They're so unique and they just do it right. That's a top five album, no doubt. Yeah, definitely. Nobody sounds like that, Ben. My number two is Judas Priest. I think this is their best post-2000 record, pretty much. Not even pretty much it is. And definitely the best since Rob came back. There's no weak songs on it. Even the three extra tracks are great.
That last one, the lodger, I love that song. The one I like is Vicious Circle. That's such a fucking good extra track on there. Anyway, I love Priest, and Rob sounds so good, and it's heavy, and bless him for still being around and cranking them out. Party on, dude. It's going to party on right to the top of the list. All right, George.
So we can wrap this bow up. Well, Santa's in the neighborhood, apparently. So I'm sorry. I have to go see Santa. So it doesn't say Satan. Okay, I'm not going to see Santa, but apparently Santa is in the neighborhood. So my text message tells me. But it's a fire department driving down the street. As far as I know, Santa is absolutely elsewhere. Hey, there you go. Number two. That's how he gets around so fast.
Yes, the Stargate. I knew it. Yeah, exactly. Number two, Blood Incantation. Wow. That's going to be up there. That's going to hurt a little. It'll probably be number one. That's going to leave a mark. Yeah, it's going to leave a mark on the list. That's a strain in Will's underwear for sure. All right, Markisan, take us home. Number one, holy shit.
That's a terrible drum roll. Well, I mean, I don't know if this is probably not a big surprise for me because I've talked so much about this record and I haven't mentioned it, but it's Jotun Kinship on Metal Blade Records. I mean, as soon as I finished listening to this album, I knew it was my favorite of the year. If I was a mad scientist with a futuristic laboratory and all the resources at my disposal and a horde of metal minions at my command to help me construct
my ideal metal record. I think I'd make one just like this. It has everything I want in a metal album. It's heavy, soaring, progressive metal. It's a fucking saga steeped in heartfelt emotion with a phenomenal musicianship in Songcraft. John Aldara's vocals are spectacular. The guitar solos are my favorite on any album this year. And I love that I can sit back and listen to this on my heavies and most
at the playing on this album, or I can crank it up on my car stereo and belt out the songs at the top of my lungs. Will was just mentioning how he really enjoys singing records, and I feel that with this one. It's epic, it's memorable, it's absolutely exhilarating, and since it came out, I've played it almost every single day. So easily. Don't do that mad scientist thing, though, because if you did do that and made this record, then everybody would just be like, hey, he's just
Wait, didn't somebody already do this? This is bullshit right here. Who is this asshole? Nice. Well, it was expected. Yep, Yot and Kinship. I just, I love it. And then the record before this one was my number two. So yeah, they're one of my favorite bands in metal right now, clearly. Nice.
Very nice.
Nice.
Mate.
This year, I'm going non-traditional as opposed to choosing a number one album. I'm just holding the spot for the next Carcass Record.
So, kidding. I'm going to talk about the Patron Saints of Elsewhere. This is my album of the month before it was that month. I have not, I can attest that's true.
I cannot listen to this album enough. I think it is
perfection. And I'm talking about
Absolute Elsewhere by Blood Incantation.
And I watched them play it live
in its entirety the other night, and it was
wunderbar. It was entire.
Yeah.
It was entirely elsewhere.
That is definitely number one
for the overall.
John, what do you got?
What could it be, John?
Could it be now? No. There's no sax on this album, but there is flute. I mean, this was inevitable. That would be my number one, and that's Opeth, the last Will and Testament on reigning Phoenix Music. Will made a number one. I love that this album has caused as much stir as it has.
because there's growling again and all the new prog fans are annoyed however there are plenty of old fans that are still annoyed that it's too prog and plenty of prog fans that are happy the ground's back go figure you're covering the whole gamut there john i definitely fall into one of those categories i do too it is really funny how this reaction has been to this album and people keep trying to compare it to the old period or to the new stuff stop you don't have to i mean if you want to you can but
There's no need to because it's even different than those two periods. It's a hodgepodge of a lot of stuff. And I'm glad that the guitar, I mean, George will tell you this. What is the first thing I said? Yeah, it's cool the growling's back, but I'm actually happier that the heavy guitars are back, which I was. I mean, Mike doesn't even have to growl anymore. I just wanted the heavy guitars back. I got two monster players and they were buried all the time.
But I'm not going to complain that the growling's back. And they sounded the best they've probably sounded in 20 years when we saw them recently. They sounded good. And Will was treated to, I did my own version of a, what did I say it was again? A... Rusty Chambone? Yes. Dirty Sanchez? I did my own... Cleveland Steamer? Celtic Frost. Ugh. For you.
during the leper affinity. I even queued it up for him, too. Oh, yeah. That was good. We had fun. Anyway, yeah. Was it any? Everything about that. Yeah. That was fun. Yeah. Except for stimulation. Yeah. And Jay and John BT, okay, I get it. If you don't like the talking and voiceover stuff, that's fine. I would not let that stop me from putting as high as I did, but that's me. That's how I feel.
just jacked this one right up the list
go
all right my number one no surprise judas priest and the reason why
judas priest is my number one is i just feel as though if you've been around this long
and you can put out this quality of an album
which ranks up there in my opinion of probably their top five albums i mean you put out like i don't know how many 15 19 studio albums 19 studio albums and your last one after 600 years is one of your best that that's amazing and rob sounds amazing i know you don't really have kk and and glenn in there playing guitars
But it sounds a little different. It's not exactly the same. But God, it's so good. So good. It is. It is just. That show is a lot of fun too. That last one. Yeah. And it's just amazing. And it's. Yeah. Is it the best album I heard this year? Maybe not. Maybe I could say Ulcerate is the best album. But to have an old school band like Judas Priest put out something like this.
after like 50 years you're like it means so much more yes exactly exactly it's so much more
vital than any maiden record that's come out in a long time and yes oh my god yes like this is i i wish
iron maiden would put out something this good yeah yeah agreed all right jay go great great point though
will all right well said um mostly because none of you would ever guess what it is but um the only time
It's been mentioned once today and it was pretty far down Markusson's list. But this record, when I found it, and I don't know why I found it, and maybe it was because Markusson talked about it at some point or something a while back. I don't know. Probably. But it's Lowen, Do Not Go to War with the Bean. Wow. Holy crap. Dude, it's so good. That came out of nowhere, dude. I know. I know. That's pretty Lowen on everyone's list. I mean. It is so, it's one of those records that I really need a record for
to truly love it to grab me emotionally and it does it's just in the or in the you know oral sense i mean oral oral um yeah exactly um it's the i don't know man there's it's almost like a weird merciful fate x factor in there just for the mix of sounds together the way guitar tone sound with the voice and it's heavy as hell i love it i love it just i feel as influential as fuck because i definitely uh mentioned that on one of the casts so
I was just like holy fuck you know and every once in a while you just run into
something like that where you're just like this is perfect for me I guess I need to listen to that again
it's super unique record yeah it's great
I almost feel so bad that it's lower on my list it was like what number 20 or 19 well no no no you
reverse jade me a little bit there but I like it um you still gave me a little boost it'll probably end up in
in the top 15 or something. You. I'm in the top 10 since that's number one for me. But George, I'm trying to think of what George hasn't said yet. Well, I can tell you for one thing that there is no Testament album out this year. But there is a new will and rather a last will and Testament. Number one. Oh, fuck yeah. I don't know what's going to win this year.
and judas priest like all three of those i don't know which one's gonna win out of this
uh it's got well no oh you're right it's gonna be close super close this calls for a spreadsheet this
calls for a spreadsheet wow nice that's super close yeah i trade all of those records i never would
have really difficult but it's gonna be let's see because priest had a number one and a number two
Yeah, hold on, let's do it real quick. I'll read them off. I'll go in order. Marcus and I won't have to ask you. And we'll go from there. Because I don't think you have these, but I will. No, I jade all three of those records. But I'm going to add also ulcerate. Just take a second. I win the J award, I think. You do. I think you do, actually. All right, so Opeth, Priest, Ulcerate, and Blood Incantation, right? Mm-hmm. All right. George, you had one for Opeth. Yep. Priest was what? Five.
Okay. Did you have ulcerate? No? No. Okay. And your blood incantation? Two. Okay. Jay, you had, uh, Opeth was? Uh, I kind of jayed that one a little bit. It's, um. It was down a little, but that's okay. I can't find it. Uh, 17. 17. Okay. Your priest was again? Priest was two. Ulcerate was three. Okay. And blood incantation? Four. Okay. Will, you had Opeth at?
I had opeth at 12. 12. All right. Then I had it at one. All right. And then your priest was one. Your ulcerate was two. Blood incantation? Six. Blood incantation might have it. Matt, opeth was? Seven. Okay. Your judas priest was? Eleven. Your ulcerate was? Two. Two. John, I had ulcerate at eleven.
So that might get out of my mask.
Okay, that's gonna be tight. And your blood incantation, Matt.
Oh, one.
All right, thank you. I'll work on it.
I want instant gratification, bitch.
I thought he was gonna give it to us right then.
Do the math, John.
Yeah, I had ulcerate.
I've been getting calls about dinner, so that's why. I'll give it to you tonight later, okay?
I promise. I gotta see two kids via DoorDash.
And I know Will's gotta do that, too, so.
It's close.
We'll do it, so.
I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I got some honorables I want to run through quick. Yeah. Yeah. Can I, can I drop off then? You may have like 25 honorables, which no one cares about, but I got, I got two hungry kids that feed those kitties. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm going to take off. I love you guys. Yeah. And see you next month. Yeah. I'll talk to you guys later. Merry Christmas. Yeah. I see you.
to you all.
All right, let's do this real quick, because I'm getting back into EVE.
All right.
Who's going first? Mark is on, right?
Yeah, I can go. I'll give you my 26 through 40, I guess, because I've made that list.
So Mosaic Window, Hema Sanctum, Choir, which hasn't even come out yet, Smythe, The Smoldering Providence, Hideous Divinity, Unextinct,
Cosmic Putrefaction, which I think was on a couple lists. Emerald Fires atop the Farewell Mountains. Oh, yeah. Divennial Verdict, which I've seen on a lot of year-end lists. Blessing of Despair. Silhouette. Les Diaries de l'Ame. It's all sung in French with the Female Vocals debut album. It's really great. Praise the Plague, Suffocating in the Current of Time. It was my album,
I think George mentioned this one job for a cowboy no as well well yeah so moon healer feral light a reckoning with the intangible which is their final album they just kind of still dropped it and said they were done but it's by far the best thing they've done oceans of slumber which is always kind of hovered around my top list or God's fear to speak I think this is probably their best record I really like it
Iron Flame, who's been on my list before, Kingdom Torn Asunder, Exist, mentioned Hijacking the Zeitgeist, Glacial Tomb, also mentioned Lightless Expanse, Witnesses Joy, which is kind of like a progressive doom record. I think I've talked about it on the podcast before. And the last one is Eccentric Pendulum, Perspectiva Intervales.
on subcontinental records from india which is like a progressive metal are really well done cool there you go all right matt um i mean my honorable mentions would basically be everything else that's come out uh a couple of hits like even that just kind of dropped off this everything the healer lord dying kind of fell off my list a really good orcs uh band called selfs and post black metal i slept on the moon
Kuller-kull
I'm gonna check it out aporia aetheria conscientia amensus and that's actually two albums that came out I'm putting them both together because of the same names reclamation parts one and two chapel disease devon townsend the simulator hamphirth idle throne or dying oubliette I love saying that uh pyrimatur I think is how you say it slime lord spectral voice typhonian and wheel boom I'm gonna do it exactly the same way eternal
I'll give Kerry King a shout out. Midnight. Let me see here. So I have Ryan Christ, Aquiles, Savage Oath, Chapel of Disease, Yerson, and In Vain. And actually Paul Bearer, which fell off my mid list. So I'll give that a little shout out too. Eight.
Come on, get out of the way. All right. I don't have too many. Thy Cataphalic, of course. Grand Magus, Sun Raven. The Neon Nightmare album. You know, Type O Negative Worship. Cool. Not cool enough to list because it's not very original, but it's still really cool. Of course, Devin Townsend, Power Nerd. One that nobody mentioned. It's not incredibly metal, but it is incredibly good. Jerry Cantrell's I Want Blood.
Oh, I forgot about that. Yes, I do like that a lot. Mother of Graves, Bruce Dickinson, The Mandrake Project, and Carrie King from Hell, I Rise. Nice. Okay. I got a working four, but I'm going to tell you guys after we sign off. Ah, I thought you were going to tell us what we didn't get. Will didn't get to hear and he wasn't here and ha ha ha on Will, but okay. I guess not. I'm going to text him. Alrighty. Sounds good, John.
Well, here we are at the end. Thanks, everybody. It's been a year. Great year. Awesome. Good times. Always fun to banter back and forth and compare notes and have fun listing our albums. Yep. And so many great things for you, the audience, to listen to. Just a really diverse section, a cross section of metal. All 952 of the albums we mentioned. Right. All right. We'll see you next time.
See ya. Peace. Bye.
To make you win!