Metalheads Podcast Episode #161: 2025 Midyear Top 20

On this, the day of our deity of reciprocity, we gather to give special thanks to our treasured Midyear Sun. As an offering for our Podfather, we will today surrender 20 heavy metal albums. As Metalheads take, so Metalheads also give.

What is Metalheads Podcast?

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 Metal Adjacent Situational Paradox.

And this is Markison.

And welcome to the Metal Heads Podcast.

Mid-year top 20 albums so far for 2025. Before we get into that, though, I think we need to do a t-shirt and beer check. T-shirt, beer check. T-shirt, beer check. All right. Well, I'm first. So I have, I'll go with my beer first. So this beer is mostly for Matt because it's a double oak mastodon. Yes. Belgian style dark ale.

aged in bourbon and wine barrels from Rheingeist Brewery. Oh, from Cincinnati. Chicago? Well, John says Cincinnati. So I don't know. I've never had. Or somewhere in Ohio. I'm pretty sure. Nice. So that's Matt's number one then? You're right. Cincinnati, Ohio. It is. I will trade you a Conan number one for a bottle of that. Oh. I only have the one. So do I. I only have the one.

You better get moving.

And then my t-shirt, I'm wearing this for the first time.

I've had it for a while, but I had to save it for this particular cast.

And this t-shirt that I'm wearing is a Midsummer film shirt with a logo done in a black metal style.

So behold it.

Oh, that's badass, dude.

And it says, let the festivities begin. That's cool. I like that. I'm going to have to see that sometime. Oh, you'll love it. Yeah, I know. It's been on my to-do list, but I just don't get a lot of time to watch stuff on my own. Oh, there's a whole group of guys that are doing great stuff right now, and that's one of them, man. It's one of my favorite films, and when I saw that with the logo, I was like, I must have this. Was it put out sort of independently, or do you think they had a hand in that? Because that's a good choice. I don't know. I got it from this newer

I guess it was the end of last year called darkpick.com. Okay. And they have a lot of cool shirts on there too. Pick with a P or a D? Darkpick. P-I-C-K. Okay. Yes. Yeah. I don't know how that one popped up, but I took a chance. Wow. Well, you know, there's a lot of these shirt companies that come up and you're

like is this legit or not and so i did a little bit of research but it was so new that i was like i don't know but the shirt is super high quality and looks great so yeah there's a when covet hit there was a t-shirt company called turned metal so we'll take anything and just turn it into like a metal logo and so like i got like coronavirus and like it looked like a world tour on the back and it had like yeah i got one of those like whatever it started like uh china italy middle east north america and all that stuff but

So real briefly,

when Evelyn was down at her Virginia state championship baseball tournament for

a little league,

we went to this restaurant called the rail yard in blue field,

West Virginia.

And they were selling like the,

the logo t-shirts,

but it was like a definitely a death metal logo.

And I asked them like,

what's with the death metal logo and like the rail yard t-shirts is like

every cook in the kitchen is a mad raving metal head.

So when they had their whatever anniversary party, we made them special t-shirts. I almost bought one. I'm like, I don't need yet another black death metal looking t-shirt. But anyway, it was cool. Why not though? But yeah, I was going to say, why not? Who are you even? What else is life for? What are you saying? That's what your closet's for. Yeah, no, you're right. Okay. You got to go back right now. Message received. Get that shirt and be back by the 12th pick. Yeah.

Six-hour drive. Oh. Okay, be back by the 15th pick. Yeah. We'll still be going. All right, Matt. Whoever you are. Whoever I am. I literally, when we did the intro last time, my intro, I messed it up. And so I literally had to write it down and read it out loud because I'm just that dyslexic. But I have a cattle decapitation shirt from, I think, 2019. And I don't have any beer at the moment. I still have to be productive today. So I may not imbibe.

But I have a diet mountain dew. And it's really good. I will imbibe for you. Thank you. Matt's not drinking. Will doesn't want black metal t-shirts anymore. What's even happening here? I don't even know you guys. All right. All right, John. My turn. All right. So my first beer is it's a Jester King beer. We actually once in a while get Jester King in Northern Virginia. You see that? It's called the Gary's.

It says West Coast IPA, so it's a regular IPA. And apparently the Garys are the two cats that maintain order in the Jester King Brewery and their siblings. So, homage to them. And my shirt is the TIE Fighter Sunset shirt that I just got. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's really cool. Yeah. It's like Star Wars and Miami Vice all in one. Oh, I like that. Where'd you get that? I don't know. Some site online that ended up like, oh, fuck, did I get screwed again?

It's like an iron-on, but it's flush with the shirt. It's not raised like some of those iron-ons, so we'll see how it happens. But also, if that makes it more legit, dude, Star Wars shirts used to be all fucking iron-ons. Yeah, so it's hard to tell, but, you know. It's also, it's a real-life capture of John flying into retirement. Yeah, by the way, we really need to wrap this up by four.

Well,

if we wrap it up by 3.30,

I'll get another 10% off.

Jay,

I think you know what I'm talking about.

Yeah,

no,

John and I will be dining together from now on and complaining about the portions,

the prices and the quality of the food.

We'll be down at the covered wagon this afternoon.

It's shuffleboard,

Matt.

No,

that's not me.

I'm not even.

Hey,

Congratulations, man. I'm so happy for you. Thank you. Good for you. It really works out for me, too, because, like, John's retired, and I called him, like, what it was, like, a week and a half ago, and I'm like, hey, dude, it's like two o'clock, like, let's go to the pint. He's like, oh, I've decided to shower now. You've got to take a shower. Hold on. And I still beat him there. No. Oh, that's right. I came, like, five minutes or ten minutes after the answer. Yeah.

John always beats everybody everywhere. Yeah, he does. I had to lock up the shop down at the Mason District real quick to get out of there. So yeah, we affectionately call it the Barney, the big purple dinosaur. It's anyway. All right. Are you done, John? I'm done. All right. I'm wearing my death logo three-quarter baseball shirt. And I literally, I think I have, I have some water in here. That's it.

I got the kids. So what happens when you start at 1 p.m.? Yeah. Or you drink double oak mastodon? Or even earlier. Or water ice. Got that from Philadelphia, South Jersey area. I'll be going up back up to Philadelphia on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I have to go to a funeral, but I'll be up in the area. I know a great place you can, you know, reminisce and

kind of reflect a little bit.

I thought about it.

I am not staying in downtown Philly, though.

I'm staying north of the city.

All right.

All right.

I'm just drinking water, but I'm doing it out of my I bought these.

I love these things.

They make me feel like I'm a pizza hut all the time.

It's a big plastic.

Is that good?

I swear to God, dude, I've looked for these on Amazon because I was like, man, I'd love

to drink my soda or something out of one of those big red cups. So I got four of those cups. You got yourself a restaurant fountain soda glass. Yeah, and I'll get a stainless steel, or not a stainless steel, but like a Shakey's Pizza, you know, domed glass chandelier or something. I'm slowly turning this place into a pizza joint. And if you get a large, you get one of those football helmets that they gave out when you were a kid. The little guys at the International House of Pancakes? No, they used to do that at like,

I think our Shakey's did that. They gave out the football helmets. Shakey's. And you had to put the sticker of the emblem of the team on the helmet and they're always sideways or crinkled. You know that last Shakey's is still open in California, John, right? I can't remember what town it's in. And it's still a hit. And I'm wearing the contractually obligated carcass shirt. Somebody had to wear it. Somebody has to be able to find you. Still a good shake.

I have to say, it looks good. With all the critters you have around your house, you can make some really interesting pizza toppings. I know you've been watching the fact. Dude, it's been busy lately. Oh my God. Bears and coyotes and mountain lions and spiders, giant evil spiders. When I got those pictures of that bear, we know when he's here because he's scooting shit around you here because he's like trying to pull bins and do weird shit.

And I walked out and he was at a

We forgot to bring the hummingbird feeder in

But he was probably covered with sugar and shit

And he was standing like

On his feet with his arms up like he was getting arrested

Because the thing was way up

Way up high

And like four feet from my window

Yeah

He's been hitting every house around here so

Son of a bitch

They're hungry, we're in a drought so there's no seeds or anything for them

They have freeloader

I took a video and I turned it off before I shouted, birdseed's not free, you know. Somebody's got to go to the store. Jackass. Hey, what is the temperature down there now, like during the day? Is it over 100, like consistently? We don't get over 100 here too much, but I mean, it's 98 today, I think, or something, but it's cooler than Phoenix and Tucson, and then we're heading into some 80s in the coming week, so.

I probably get over 100 so far 10 times a year. When I was out there, it was perfect weather. Well, you were 100 times a year. Yeah. Yeah. Georgie. All right. So I am wearing my brand new chopping mall shirt. Nice. Which says chopping mall at the top. And then there's a picture of a camper. Pretty much disemboweled, torn to pieces.

It says, the song title, Torn Apart by Raccoons While Being Eaten by a Gargantuan Cane Toad. That's Keith D for you. Yeah. Sounds painful. Yeah, it's got all the song titles on the back, too, so I can't wear this thing anywhere. Maybe to decibel. Can we ever just have Keith D on almost to size the color commentary guy? We should. I mean, we have him on every five minutes when he has a new

album out by a different band. Yeah, just like have him like, okay, he's one of the six, now the seventh, and he's just like, in his various voices, just throws stuff. Have him come on. Don't say anything unless you've got a good one-liner. That's it. Yeah, he's brilliant at it, though. It's amazing. Yeah, I was just talking to him a couple nights ago. We were talking about stuff we liked that wasn't metal. Like Spooning? Like Pet Shop Boys and Erasure and stuff. Yeah, I can see.

Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah. We didn't talk about that, but yeah, uh-huh. Uh-huh, uh-huh. So, yeah. Oh, and as far as beer goes, to continue the kitty trend, I have KCBC's Ninja Kitties. I think I talked about that before while I got it. So, your kitty's got company. That's a double IPA. Thanks. And we'll be shortly moving on to an Adroit Theory Death.net IPA as well.

Totes Adorbs, George. Yeah, yeah. I've saved this for weeks just so that I can have it on here. Oh, cool. Yeah. Did you say Totes Adorbs? I did, yeah. We either just went up a level or down a level. I don't know. I mean, I think it's keeping with a theme of some people not drinking, some people are metal shirts now. We never go down any levels. We can only go up levels. We're at the bottom. When you're in the basement.

that far up.

When you're in the earth's core.

Yeah.

Steady climb back.

All right.

Well, let's go ahead and dig into the top 20 albums of 2025 mid-year.

Mark us on.

Take us out.

All right.

So number 20 for me is Dormant Ordeal, Tooth and Nail on Willow Tip Records.

A relentless black and death metal album with post-metal melodies, barbs of dissonance, and just exquisite technical guitar work. I think Tooth and Nail is just really smartly crafted savagery, and it's also a big level up for the band. They weren't really on my radar until this record, so I'm really enjoying it. Awesome. Nice. From Poland, by the way.

There's just a little stream of behemoth in there. Just a little one. I don't want to bring it down. Twinge. You can't bring me down. Twinge is twinge of twinges. But they got on my radar this year too. But no kids singing, right? And I didn't know about them previously at all, so. No kids? Yeah, no kids singing, yeah. This one's getting a lot of mentions across the spectrum. I think so. I think it's because they've leveled up. Their sound is just, I think they,

He had upon that perfect sound for the band and it's just taken a bit of time but it's cool that people are responding to it and we're hearing about it. Takes a little time. All right. All right. Me, my number 20. I would call this almost a bit of a kind of post-modal super group not found on Post Rock Island that oh you know what I think one of them might have been on Post Rock Island. I listened to that yesterday that was wonderful. I'm talking about the Van Giltless.

It was their first release. They're from the United States. The album is called Teeth to Sky, but it has members of Intranod and members of Storm of Light, formerly Battle of Mice and Neurosis. I wrote This is Noisy Sludge. I don't need to write much else because Noisy Sludge is something I really love. And yeah, my number 20. Nice. Nice. Very cool. I don't know that one. Yeah. I know the people you mentioned, but I don't know that album. Definitely. And I know some of those things because

But I wasn't on Post Rock Island, though. No, you weren't. We're TR-Lins. It was a conversation we had, and then some of those things ended up on Post Rock Island. Oh, that's right. I think I'm talking about, am I talking about the Sparrows? Oh, Red Sparrows. Oh, yeah, Josh. No, I lied. Yeah. Oh, so it wasn't. I don't know. Yes, there it is. Wait, who's retired?

here. I am mentally retired. Jay, why are you and I the sharpest people on this podcast? Here's the thing. I'm going to blame Metal Archives because like the Red Sparrows is not an active link, meaning I don't think they have a profile here. I'm shocked they even would have them on there. It's not metal enough for those guys. Right. Whatever. All right. Good times. My turn. Yep.

I just have to have a disclaimer. This is basically a list of albums I've actually listened to the most this year, to be honest, because I haven't listened to much at all this year. Hasn't been the best of years for me. So I will guarantee that half of these will probably not be on my year end. That's difficult, though. Well, this might be a little more than normal. And literally picks three through 20 could be in any order. I'm not even joking about it.

that literally one and two are the only ones that I spent the most time with and liked the most. Anyway. You have all the time now for a year in. No, not necessarily. I got shit I have to do, unfortunately. But maybe, we'll see. All right, so my number 20. Everyone's familiar with this band because they've made a few visits to the podcast. My number 20 is Scalders Samsara, as I believe that's how you say it, from Avant-Garde Music. Melodic black metal from our friends Carrie, Brent, and Harry. And I think somebody made a

Three Stooges comment about that on the podcast

that they were on.

So just really good Melonic Black Metal.

I don't listen to much Black Metal anymore these days,

but I do like these guys.

Obviously, we know them,

but at the same time,

I think it's a pretty cool album.

And they also have great artwork,

which always helps,

but two solid releases from them,

and I enjoy it,

and it's cool.

Excellent.

Yeah, nice.

And we'll probably see them at another show at some point,

like we always do.

All right, Will.

My number 20.

Well, first, I just want to say something about my list.

The same thing John said?

Yeah, kind of like,

I'm not in,

there's a lot of albums I like.

There's not a clear,

like even top five,

even a clear number one.

But this is all great stuff.

So anyway, my number 20 is Cryptopsy,

An Insational Violence.

Insational.

I'm pretty sure they're from Montreal. I believe so. Yeah. French. I think we're all in the same place with our list. We talked about it briefly before we started and it's there's nothing here you're not going to want to listen to and and some of it's great and some of it might even hit harder with you but it just hasn't been one of those years so far we're all like there's like six records that we're all fucking crazy about but yeah but that stated I think we all managed to get some good stuff on here I'm sure. We're going to cover a lot of ground. I mean I love the record.

on my list. So, I mean, I could have used it on top 25 for sure. This might be one of my most varied lists. I'm not sure, but number 20 with apologies to George, but I didn't want to fit it in here. And sometimes beating up your mother is metal. Pentagram, lightning in a bottle. I, you know, I, it won't survive the mid-year, but I'm giving it, go ahead. I feel sound bite coming on. Oh, I thought you get ready to push a button. I was looking at my options, but I don't.

Hey, Jay, Jay, the silence speaks volumes.

It wasn't even worth a sound bite. It is a good record, goddammit. And it's just nobody making, there's too many of the stoner sludge, blah, blah, blah, try to, nobody's like, I don't know, maybe you have to have grown up in it to make records, to make records like this. Probably won't survive the mid-years because I am, Bobby Leland is a prick.

But I still wanted to throw it out there. Cool. Because I did listen to it a good few times. Sadly, there's really nobody making that type of doom anymore. Yeah, exactly. And so I really did wrestle with this a little bit. Pagan Altar maybe a little bit. Candlemas that they revisit their earlier years. Absolutely. That's about it. Just absolutely rooted in, you know, legit site volume four type stuff, you know? Yeah. Alrighty.

So my list has been pretty solid, at least in terms of its membership for the last few weeks. There was a lot of shuffling over the last few days as I listened to things and made some new decisions. However, yesterday, thanks to Justin, I got busted twice. And so two things did swap out. And one of those is my number 20, which is Inhuman Nature and their album Greater Than Death.

Sort of a thrashy, deathy band from England. And I'd had that on my wish list for a while. He mentioned it again. I was like, oh yeah, I should go back and listen to that again. And I was like, yep, that's a number 20, all right. As soon as you said Justin, you didn't have to say thrashy death, but it is nice for you to bring that on home like that. You could just say Justin, and we'll know what you're talking about. You think this is a record that would go higher on your list, George, because you just kind of listen to it again? Maybe, maybe.

I don't know. I mean, I feel like my list has got some pretty good stuff on it. I know stuff's going to fall off because I know some things that are coming, but I feel pretty good about a lot of what's on my list. So it's hard to say if it could go up. It's kind of a sneaky year because I know early on we were talking about how we didn't think there was a lot of really good albums. But, you know, when you're putting these lists together, man, I feel like there's just a really great collection of,

of excellent records so far this year. Yep. All right, so on to me. Yeah, 19. Number 19 for me is Corroding Soul, a self-titled album, independent release. This is a new musical entity crafted by David Lovejoy, who used to record under the name Sorrow Plagues. And this new project is very much a continuation of Sorrow.

It mixes atmospheric black metal, shoegaze, post-rock, and symphonic synth to create these kind of immersive journeys that feature clean, lush, soaring guitars and emotionally compelling, dense orchestrations. And this is the first full length he's actually done for Corroding Soul. He's been releasing singles, but hasn't done a full length. It's only four songs, and they range from seven to 12 minutes.

But I really love the long form format for these compositions because David really gets to showcase his songwriting abilities. Just really gorgeous passages that shift and surprise throughout. So I'm a big fan of his music and really like this record. Awesome. Nice. What you got, Matt? All right. My number 2019. Sorry.

Part of what we've been talking about with lists is I just kind of made this playlist that was stuff that was kind of we'll call a contender and it would just kind of be on shuffle. You know, at this point, I wasn't super concerned about, you know, doing the front to back of the album itself, just kind of really listening and seeing what stuck with me. And there was a few times where I would look over and would see this album. Interestingly enough, I believe it has some spoken word in it, which I really found myself connecting with, kind of really fit it.

And I feel like, I mean, I know I've listened to some of their prior releases, but I've definitely latched onto this one. This is kind of some sludgy, what do they consider this? Some sludge doom. I'm talking about the band Wake, The Return of Magic. Hopefully I pronounced that right, but they're from Little Rock. This is their one, two, three, four, six, seven, full length. So my number 19, Wake.

R Wake.

I think it was a little lower because of the spoken word which I tend not to like on record so it's interesting that you connected with that though Matt I know and I thought of you and I don't normally I like there's also times where it totally I thought of you twice on this album because it kind of there are times where I was like this reminds me of like Snapcase heavier clearly like it just had that and you would just saw Snapcase live not that long ago I feel like it was in this calendar year

Not this year, last year. Was it last year? But I mean, I really, you know, in that what I would call post-hardcore, I really spent a lot of time there and that really connected well with me and I kind of got a little bit of that in there. So I guess there's a little nostalgia element, if you will. I agree, yeah. I definitely hear that in there too. Yeah, it's a good record. All right, John. All right. My number 19. And my first volleyball.

So we're getting that party started. My number 19 is the Obsidian Resurrection as Darkness Falls, independent release from a death metal, symphonic metal, thrashy, riff-type band out of the metal juggernaut hotbed of Modesto, California. They are a band that I kind of discovered because of the artwork on Bandcamp, and I think it just came out in mid-January, and

I listen to it and it's just a big sounding kind of symphonic death metal album with crushing thrashy riffs and when I say symphonic it's not forefront it's part of the sound it's not like some of those symphonic bands where it's all you hear and then you hear the band sort of playing along to it but it's it's impressive for a debut it's kind of cool it's got some interesting things that they do and the drummer is actually in a progressive metal band called Lunar I don't know if he's

He's gonna stay with the Obsidian Resurrection. I thought that he may have dedicated his time to Lunar, but they're also from another, and Jay's heard of this town too before, another metal juggernaut of California. They're from Sacramento. So a couple of Valley bands, North Valley bands, I should say. Well, I love that you found it because of the artwork. That's pretty old school, John. That's like when I was really young and you would be flipping through albums at the record store and you're like, oh, this looks interesting.

Yeah, it just kind of caught me off guard. I was like, whoa, this is kind of cool. It's got like some angel and some rays and shit and mountains. Still happens. Angels and rays and mountains and shit. Oh, my. That's the current alternative to et cetera. I should get the volleyball out just and put it up. It's in the closet back here.

We need some kind of like active gifts or whatever for each one of our squares. And I should just have, mine should just be like a little volleyball just going up and down in water. There you go. I mean, mine could be too. Yeah. You know, it just, well, every time it's just floating right off your head. Bucky, did you go there, Will? Did you go to the place? So, big news, there's a Bucky's in Virginia now. Yeah, everyone's losing their

Yeah. So, uh, ironically, I drove past it twice on the way down to Evelyn's, um, baseball tournament. I did not stop, but yeah, apparently it's like William stopped with his mom and he got a volleyball for, uh, Evelyn. That's a Bucky's volleyball. Oh yeah, totally. Yeah. I mean, Walmart's one. I've never been to one, but now I went to one in Texas. A couple of them. And they have big barbecue right in the middle or something. Don't they? Yeah. It

This is legit, no kidding, phenomenal smoked brisket sandwiches. I don't know how they do it. It's basically like a 7-Eleven on a stair. There it is, Marcuson. You know what, Jay? It's like the first time. This is not the same type of store, but if you ever in California go to a Fry's, the computer store. They're all gone. I know. They're the size of warehouses. I loved going to Fry's. I love it just for entertainment, dude. Yeah, just to walk around.

I mean, and that's what I've heard. Bucky's is like, it's just this gigantic place. It's like you get lost looking for the bathroom. You can go on YouTube, people review them. But for those not initiated, Fry's were these huge electronics. Amazing. Best computer store ever. And they were always themed. They would have like a dinosaur theme or UFO theme or something. They were just so fucking fun to walk around in. Yeah, just massive. Awesome. Yeah, they're all gone now. That sucks. They were still there when I moved there. Wait, FYE? FYE?

F-R-I-S.

F-R-I-S.

Like the grocery store kind of.

Okay.

Yeah.

Gotcha.

Would you like fries with that?

Exactly.

I want a tarantula wild pig pizza from Jay.

I'll see what I can do.

Put a little gopher snake on there for you too.

I think we are Will now.

We are.

My number 19, Wombath, Beyond the Abyss.

Ah!

Yeah.

So we famously interviewed these guys at MDF, I don't know, like how many hundreds of years ago. And I remember we used to have somebody on the podcast who had the microphone, unfortunately. And, you know, Wambath is from Sweden. And just straight up ask these guys, like, man, like, what is it like to be a death metal band in Sweden? Like, we don't have anything like that here. Like, it's amazing what you guys are doing.

Check out the archives. That was said. Anyway. Apparently somebody who used to be on the podcast never heard of Campa. Or the United States. Yeah. Morbid Angel. Yeah. Anyway. Beyond the Abyss. All right.

Oh, check on the kids. Hold on. Yes, sir. Jay, tell them to get off their phones. I, so this is, yeah, nothing like the pentagram. I don't see this living to everything else. Some of this I can see making it to the end of the year, but this probably won't, but it's still here for a certain amount of respect. And they're also just like people. I just like listening to sing, singing, for instance, like there are certain singers you're like, and you're like, I'm going to listen to it just because I like to hear Ian Gillen fucking sing, you know?

So Witchcraft, Idag, Swedish. 19! Yeah, it's just not the record I wished it was. I really feel like they've been breaking ground and doing wonderful things for the last, ever since, well, all of them, really, you know, but especially once they hit the, what, the one with the brown eagle on it, and then, and the one before that, Jesus. But it's just a little bit of a turndown as far as just the sheer quality of this band is,

is capable of. That stated, I'd really like to hear Magnus Pellander sing. I love his voice, and there's so much I love about this band. It got some time with me, but shoot, now we've got to wait another five years to see what Witchcraft can do. I now have no idea what your number one is. By the way, I'm jealous of Will, though I don't know if he watched him even, but they did manage to make MDF this year.

They've always had weird visa problems and shit. And so I do regret not being at MDF this year to get to see their set, but it is what it is. Although I watched it on YouTube and it was great. So yeah. Was that an album of the month for you, Jay? It was the album of the month for me, but it was kind of like in that same place, sort of like, I want to like this a little more than I do, but. But you like it cause it's, it's on your list. It's hanging on. It's sticking with you a little bit. It's just, it's just, it's, it's not as strong as it could be. That's all.

And I can see other things coming along. There are younger bands taking swings, man. So, you know. Yep. But Jay, we all have bands that no matter what a band puts out, we're going to like it to some degree. Absolutely. You know, and like Metallica, right? We all have bands that we like. No, you got it exactly right, John. And it wasn't like I had to make myself like it. It just wasn't as compulsively listenable. You have such a history with them, you know exactly where it fits already in that catalog. Right.

Five Years From Not Might Not Be In That Same Spot, but you know right away. And when they have a big catalog, it's hard not to compare all the records. It's hard. Sometimes, you know, a band that you really love, their newest album might not make the list because you're like, oh, it's not as good as this. It's kind of like mid-range or lower. And so I'm not going to put it on here, even though I love that band. Well, you know, the interesting thing about it is it's strangely like a rebirth for them of sorts. His last few records were so full of very depressing,

lyrics and um to the point where i was kind of worried about the fucking guy you know like they were that fucking depressing and um this record is called idag which i think means day in swedish and um and i think that he just was like let's get in a room and have fun and make a you know a fun record and sounds like a catatonia album depressing i was worried about him yeah yeah so nice in any case nice all right george all right my number

comes from Germany.

I don't know why I'm making the Dr. Evil thing.

It's not like they're alkaloid, but they are.

But they are changing.

Self-titled album of people from Alcohoid.

One person, right?

I thought there was more than one, but maybe not.

I don't even know.

It's like a supergroup, basically. Yeah, maybe I just assumed. I think Fountainhead's in it, isn't it? Isn't he? He's the main person, I think. Let's find out, shall we? Yeah, oh, a little Sean Connery there. It's so sort of exploratory and all over the place, though. It doesn't feel like a supergroup to me. It seems like a bunch of guys have been together doing this for a long time, because that's an interesting record. I think the drummer, wasn't the drummer in Fear Factory? Oh, really? I didn't know that. I might be thinking more recently. Like a more recent Fear Factory.

Yeah, I think. I thought, maybe I'm wrong about that. There's some ban on my... I think you're right. Oh, yeah. Because I think it's the same guy who played on the new Ghostbath record. Weller, maybe? Yeah, Heller. Heller. Yeah, okay. That's what I thought. Yeah, okay. We will get this. We'll get it. It's just the main guy from Alkaloid, which means it's like three quarters of Alkaloid. And then the final quarter being... Oh! The final quarter, of course, being... Honest Grossman's not on the album. Oh, no, no. Ooh.

What makes me think of Peter Gwell? No, the last quarter is Hannes. The Pink Panther. That's it. Marcus, we need to get a hold of Hannes right now. He's going to Jack Bauer, George. All right, let's stop. You know what's funny? Let's figure this out. We haven't heard Hannes' name in a while. I feel like maybe he's on sabbatical or something. No, he's just here. He was at MDF with Trypticon. Oh, never mind. I think he's been busy.

He's been busy doing stuff with them. I guess studio stuff is what I'm saying. Usually an album will come out and be like, oh, Hannes is on this too. That hasn't happened in quite a bit. Hannes is going dark, so that means there's a trip to Cannes coming. We hope. We're always working on a fucking record. I read a pretty good interview with him the other day and he sounded like he was kind of really wanting to finish it this year, so we'll see. It's not Hannes.

But like George said, Flo is in the band, Morian, as the singer from Changeling. And he sounds awesome on this, too. Good pick, George. Good record. Back. Back. It's on me. It is for number 18. What? You're on 18. You don't know what to say. Continuing the Volleyball Street. Nice. It's austere, the stillness.

of Dissolution on Prophecy Productions. This band's been around since the mid-2000s, and I was a big fan of their earlier records, like To Lay Like Old Ashes. And then they went away in 2009 after that record and resurfaced with new stuff in 2023. They put out a record that year, and then in 2024, they put out another record. But I just started getting into these latest albums this year.

And the stillness of Dissolution is the one that kind of brought me back to this band. And I'm completely engaged with them again. They play this melodic, melancholic, atmospheric black metal with some mellow death mixed into it. And they've gotten darker since the early days. And I really love that direction for the band. It's a sinister but catchy album. And I find myself spinning it more and more.

It was in consideration. Oh, nice, Church. I didn't know you were into the band. Yeah, I liked it. Nice. Production could be a little tighter, but you know. Not tighter, but cleaner. That's every album for you, sir. But yeah. But you know, it is what it is. But it's a good record. Are you talking about tighter or production? Production. Well, aren't they kind of the same if you look at it a certain way? It's good to see this old friend. Well, from a certain point of view.

Nice. You might as well just, you know what, Mark, get a stand for that and just leave it up because it's going to be. I should. You're great, John. I think if you could put it up like on the back, people can't see, but you've got a little like table in front of the chair there. I could put it right on that table. Yeah. I'm telling you right now. Now what you need to do is just stay up for the whole episode. Get a knife and pop that sucker, cut off the front half and then just make a mask out of it. Well, no, because the idea is that, you know, if anybody dethrones

me for the Wilson Award, then you're going to get the volleyball. Now, I think I'm just going to do that at year end. I'm not going to do it at mid-year. Yeah. But yeah, you're right. I guess they probably do have stands for balls that I could just. Oh, yeah. I'm sure they do. Ball stands, yeah. I'm sure Will has a few of those. That's part of Will's morning exercise is ball stands. I think I smell his taint. I just use my wife's taint. Wow. Either that or you're in a. Either that or you're in a.

you're at a Buc-ee's and there's some barbecue going on.

This double oak mastodon makes me a little bit frisky.

On that note.

Matt.

Yes, my number 17.

Strangely enough, if you took everything I said about.

Aren't you on 18?

Sorry.

Yes, 18.

Thank you.

Numbers are not a strength for me if we haven't learned.

Might as well start drinking, Matt.

Yeah, if you were drinking, you would have got it right.

It won't make any difference.

If I take everything I said about my number 19 pick and then moved it to Denmark, that would be what this is. And strangely enough, I did not realize that I had them right next to each other. That's the kind of year it's been so far on my list because I've moved everything around. But the band is Katla, K-A-T-L-A. They are from Copenhagen. They are a kind of a stoner sludge band in the same vein as a WIC. But I feel like they're probably a little bit more aggressive at times, also have spoken word.

But it's just really super catchy sledge metal. And I dug it. Still do. But Scandinavian Pain by Katla. First full length. Yeah. I like that. That's good. Old Matt is back with these names. I am. I am. With AI, it's easier to make up band names because they'll give me a whole thing about it. Yeah. Nice. All right. John. Hey, George. Hey, John. I just want to show you what I just popped. Boy.

Is that funny? It's been sitting here the whole time. Hey, my kitty talking to your kitty. Hi, kitty. Whoa, that sounds like an adult film. Who's a good boy? My kitty talking to your kitty. Oh, boy. I just looked up Ball Stand on Amazon and there's a shit ton of them. And Will's standing there in the mosquito. Will's picture is first, just so you know. All right. I look great in the phone. Yeah. From behind.

All right. So apparently I did not, Matt, like you, I did not plan on having two similar picks right next to each other on my list, but it just played out this way. I think George might have this on his list. Maybe not. I don't know. But there's a similar word between the two. My number 18 is Obsidian Tongue, Eclipsing Worlds of Scorn, Profound Law Records, Atmospheric Black Metal Band, with a lot of prog on this one compared to their earlier races. That's not saying there's a lot, but for them a lot.

Yeah, I heard from Natrino the other day, a.k.a. Chris.

How's it going?

Yeah, you know, just getting by. We're all kind of trying to survive these days.

But anyway, yeah, we were talking about what we liked so far this year.

And I mentioned this band and he was like, ah, too proggy for me.

Awesome. Well, that just proves my point. Thank you, Chris.

Yeah, to me, it's probably their progiest album. But it's still got plenty of the atmosphere of black metal. It's got a little bit of post-metal thing going there, which seems to be a common theme now with a lot of albums. But it's cool. I mean, I always like their stuff. I always enjoy it. I never know how they're going to fare at the end of the year for me, because their stuff seems to come out earlier in the year. And they don't release as often, but I've liked their last two albums quite a bit.

I'm actually surprised it's this low but like you had that kind of

you said your list could be any order

and black metal is just not my world the last few years

it's just not venturing too much into it

but it's a good album I think George this was

your album of the month when it came out is that correct? I believe so

alright nice

that is interesting that black metal has kind of gone down in your listening

It's definitely gone up in my listing, which is surprising to me. Yeah. Well, if you look in the chat, you'll see I left a little image for you guys. That's pretty much, this is not the list I was expecting. It's not the list I was looking for. I go through phases, you know, it's like, hey, I'm really black metal this year. Then next year, I'm really death metal. Next year, I'm really doom metal. So, you know, it's a constantly shifting thing. Otherwise, you just get burned out on stuff.

I'm always prog though. Or somebody

who just reinvigorates

your love for the genre too.

Of course. Exactly. Definitely.

Agreed.

Will. Is it me?

It is.

Number 18. Soar

and Mr. Ruins.

I have to admit

I love this band.

They play the Atlas.

Super Nice Guys taught me how to pronounce the name of their band. Soar. But this one like kind of went on a different like proggy level for me. It was just it was a little bit different, a little bit less black metal, a little bit more everything else. Less heavy. Yeah, it was just wasn't as heavy, but it's still Soar and I like them. So yeah, it's good. A lot of atmosphere on this one, I thought compared to previous albums.

Yeah. And I love the folk aspect of it. It's the whole Celtic thing and the Caledonia thing. But it was a little bit too much. But I like the previous. But good enough to make the list. Yep. All right. Jay. A band I had a couple years ago when, and I remember they were right next to Dork Fartress.

Apoio, mas similares, é um...

It's not at the top of my list, but it's a good list

when you're not sure what else you're going to put on this afternoon.

Sorry, I missed that. Who was it?

Band Oceans.

Okay.

Yeah, they've made my list one other time a while back,

and so I guess they kind of have my ear,

and when something new comes out, I check it out,

and it's up to their standard.

I want to say I placed the last record probably somewhere around this number, too.

So not necessarily breaking any ground,

but good epic black metal if that's what you're looking for.

I love the album covers for the last two albums.

Yeah, they're so good. They're really good. Yeah. All right. Hey, my next album, number 18, is from Sweden. And this band is basically what would happen if Will was here right now. And this is the band Lick and Negro. Oh, my gosh. Oh, wow. Just real quick. Gene Simmons ain't got shit on me. George, just before you say anything, you know,

We're using Zoom, and if you move your mouse over one of the images, you get a little hand, and we'll just lick the hand on my screen. Smell the glove, lick the hand. Yeah, some Swedish death metal. It's kind of not as brutal, but it's still kind of cool. Don't you know? I love when George does the voices. It's the best.

I don't even know what you're going to get. I don't even know what's going to come out of my mouth when I do it. I mean, it's mostly Euro trash, I guess, but you know, you're not bad. You're not bad, George. Thank you. George, I think you actually got a compliment about you on the other podcast about your, your. Oh, did Derek say something? He did say something. What did he say? He would, I remember I gave you a hard time about it and he says, ah, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't. And I can't remember who he mentioned. If it was Kevin Costner, he mentioned or some actor or Tom, no, I think it might've been Tom Cruise. It wasn't that bad.

I'll have to look that up. Well, thank you, Derek. I completely forgot to tell you. I apologize. That's cool. I should check it more. But all right. I should too. Yeah. As Markazan keeps telling us. Yes. All right. I mean, I listen to the podcast a lot. The last one, I think George fucked up the assignment because he kept picking albums that were not in succession or they had like an EP or something. So I don't count that.

There's the U2 thing. It was ridiculous. Well, it would have been good to hear a back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back. Like we did here. Fine. We're doing another one. When you take it to a situational level, I'm just saying. Bands with 10 back-to-back albums that are awesome. The same four bands. We're talking about the Stairway to 11 podcast, which is the sister podcast about rock, so check it out. Yeah, check it out. Even if you don't like the White Album.

Or the Black Album. White Album, Black Album. It makes no difference. Remember when the White Album came out on CD, and this was back when CDs were still a thing, and Dennis Miller was the SNL guy on the news at that time, and he said the Beatles came out with the White Album on CD finally, and Charles Manson got a copy of it in prison and said, you know what, now that I hear it this clear, I don't think they were telling me to kill anyone.

or something like that. Which is the healthy,

skill-through thing.

Yeah.

I like the fifth.

What was it?

The clarity.

Was it the 50th or 60th anniversary?

Merch that just came out for the white album.

Did you guys see that for the shirts?

I think I sent it to you guys.

It's just,

it's just a white t-shirt.

Yeah.

Oh,

you did.

That's right.

It's funny.

John,

I thought you were completely serious there.

And I forgot you had made a joke about that.

I lost my shit when I saw it.

I was like,

I bet that shirt's going to go for like,

$45. Yeah. Perfect. Easy to pirate those in the parking lot. Hell yeah. I got your shirt for $35 right here, buddy. And it's a BVT Hanes. Kill Dan or bust, man. Nice. That Fruit of the Loom stuff, man, it just stretches out. No. No good. All right. So we're on $17 now. So I'm starting it off.

So continuing

the Wilson streak for me, I

think it's possible that all my

arms will be Wilson's.

It's possible. I don't think so.

I don't think so either.

You know what? One definitely Will and I will have in common.

I think they're low.

You already got, you already named one of mine, so.

Yeah, okay.

The walls are crumbling already, Mark.

The walls are crumbling. Oh my gosh.

Wilson!

All right. So number 17 for me is Adrift Dry Soil on Monolito Records, which is Adrift's label. So it's heavy, sludge-riddled post-metal from Spain with serpentine riffs and coiling drum work that give the album a hypnotic feeling across all the tracks. And the music often has this calculated, almost psychedelic lull.

that pulls me in and then it spirals into these destructive bursts of unpredictable, progressive grooves and varied growls that I really love from the band. And I've been a fan of this band for a while and each album has delivered a different but very infectious experience and this one is no different. So they take a while to put out records. It might have been five or six years since this one came out.

But yeah, love it. You mentioned this one, and it bounced in and out of my list. Like a volleyball? Yeah, exactly. With like a smudgy face. But yeah, really good album. Bloody smudgy face. Well, you know, I'm just glad you spun it a few times and enjoyed it. So that's cool, man. I mean, there's year end, too. Things can bounce back in. That's true. There are things, and we're only doing a top 20. We usually do top 25.

So who knows what's going to happen here?

We don't even know what's coming out. We know some things that are coming out in the second half of the year.

We don't know for sure.

That garbage.

Go ahead. Sorry.

I was going to say, I know from my year-end list that I'm not going to make it until we're recording.

That way, whatever Marcason says, I'm putting it in somewhere on my list so that my entire list will be his list.

He will have no Wilson's.

I like it. Wow. That's insidious, George. That's mean. So you're going to be live with your picks, not just giving your picks, live selecting your picks. That's right. Wow. That's especially impressive because I feel like at least in the last few years, you and I have been not aligned on a lot of records, George. I think we'll have a few today. Really? Not a lot, but I think a couple.

I think we're going to barely scratch a top 10 out this year.

This mid-year.

I think John's got a lot of work to do with stats this mid-year.

We have a top three.

Yeah, that's a bit weird.

Yeah.

All right.

Well, we haven't had any duplicates yet, right?

Not yet.

Not yet.

No, but some people have said some stuff on my list, so it's going to be – well, there's always some.

Yeah, just there won't be a lot of duplicates.

Right.

My next one will be a duplicate. Matt. All right. My number 18. Kidding. Wait. You got me. You totally got me. Whatever 17. Been spinning it since it came out. Really connecting with this ghost bath rose thorn necklace. Nice. Well, you're taking all the air out of Arkansas's ball. Yeah, way to go. Yeah, I mean, it was really great.

to Dennis about that record recently. So he's always a good guest. And it is a great record. Yeah. Yeah. I actually think that's the one I like the most from the catalog. Yeah. Agreed. And I mean, I like the prior stuff as well, but I don't know. There's just something about this one. It's a little bit. It's a little more unique to me. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. At least for my ears. I agree with that. I definitely agree with that. I mean, every album is completely different than the last one, but this one sounds

It doesn't sound like other things. It's harder to compare it to things in the past. Nice. All right. My number 17. Now, I'm pretty sure this is a volleyball, although I know Will has this album. He mistakenly bought it. And we had a nice conversation about this album at the point. I know exactly. Very civilized. I got fooled by the saxophones that were in the promo. But they're not that bad, though, on this album compared to previous albums.

So my number 17 is Fractal Universe, The Great Filters on M-Theor Audio. They're traditionally a technical death metal band, but they got a lot more prog on this album and a lot more, as Will hates that dreaded clean singing. However, he bought it and we did have a nice conversation about it. Where do we have that conversation? At the point. That's the only place we show it. The Barney? I mean the Barney, but if it's not the Barney, it's the point.

That's a whole different. We're not drinking there. We're doing other stuff there. Oh, other stuff. I mean, you may swallow. What? What? Anyway, let me finish up my album here before it just degrades. Just kidding. Before I get covered in it. Yeah. Fifth album from these guys. I'm a fan. I like it. I don't mind the sax. I know Will doesn't like it. They add a little bit of

Jazz influence. And I don't even like regular jazz, but I kind of like that mix with metal. It's cool. I dig it. It's not as techie as their previous albums, but it's still a good album. And it seems to be drawn in a lot of the prog nerds because I see a lot of prog sites liking this album. So we'll see. It's cool. I dig it. Right on. You're not a prog nerd, though. No. You're the prog father. Are you kidding me? I'm a hot.

I'm a total prog hobbit. He's got prog hobbit. It's terrible. Just remind me to tell you about the hobbit joke later on. Okay. I'm not discussing that on air. I see. But I'll tell you later on. Okay. You know what? Maybe we'll have a beer. I don't know. Maybe at Monk's or Glory and we'll discuss the prog hobbit syndrome. Okay. I'm looking forward to that, John. All right, Will.

Number 17. Sorry, guys. I'm trying to multitask and plan a vacation at the same time we're doing this. Number 17. Sorry, I'm trying to read this to make sure I pronounce it right, and I know I'll pronounce it wrong. Sepulchre Curse, Crimson Moon Evocations. Nice. Good record. Yeah, that's good. I like that one. Pretty much, I think, everything on my list is just straight up death.

I don't know about death metal except for like three right so like every other year you're saying yes exactly exactly mark the song hey you know that's why that's why Justin is my spirit animal yeah he's my muse of my spirit animal that's a good I like that album yeah it came out early in the year yeah it was good all right uh this would be a non-volleyball

I'm presuming. At least John's going to have it, I suspect. I'll let them describe it to you a little better than I will, which is to say Bandcamp, but everybody writes their own shit on Bandcamp, so I'm sure they wrote this. This exploration of the extreme and arcane and delivers the band's most focused, authentic, and accessible work to date, featuring guest drummers on one song, one guy from Michigan, Dave Lombardo's on it, but it's, I think you probably know what I'm talking about, John.

It took me a minute to get into this one, but I have always kind of liked this band from a distance, but it is probably their most focused work. Imperial Triumph. Imperial Triumph and Gold Star. Nice. Yeah, and I only just discovered that Dave Lombardo was on it today because I hadn't read a bunch of notes about it, and I was just like, sometimes I like to look and see what they say about their own record, and I was like, holy fucking shit, Dave Lombardo's on this, but he's only on one song. Well, it's clear because Hannes Grossman's not. It's funny because I kept waiting for him to say Hannes Grossman.

When he was introducing the record and I didn't know what it was. Well, strangely, the other guy featured on the exact same track. It's called Pleasure Dome. Dave's on it. And then Tomas Hockey from Meshuggah. Oh, Meshuggah. He's got rumors in one song. I'm not a Meshuggah fan, but that dude's good. No, no, I'm not. But I'm sure that guy is a fucking... He's a beast. You know, he's an absolute timekeeper of all timekeepers. So, Jay, question for you about this album. I'd like to cut you off. I apologize. Not at all.

Is this album kind of surprised you compared to their previous works? 100% because it doesn't surprise you. Well, no, I was asking because I'm in if they're going to do stuff like this. Yeah, me too. And I think they're always, every time I kind of put my hand in them a little bit and I'm like, okay, I mean, honestly, maybe it just goes a little bit too far, too left, too far up and down, you know, too quickly for me to kind of just ever find a comfortable place in it. Here, they honed it down to a little bit more.

Not tonally, but a little more Opethean thing, which is like every riff kind of counts. And every kind of little move they make kind of counts. So the hooks are a little stronger and stuff. No, I agree. Yeah, it's way. You said it when you said way more focused. I agree more focused. And that's from their own words. And I'll buy that. Like be as avant-garde as you want. But every once in a while. And I don't even think this is any less avant-garde. So there's, you know, but it manages to be more focused. And I guess that's kind of an important trait to me.

I can only take so many. You can only you can only hear so many times. We hope you like our new direction. Yeah, which will be coming up in the next five seconds. Yeah. If anyone knows the joke, you know, this is jazz odyssey. We hope. Oh, yeah. Jazz odyssey. I always felt like when he says this is Derek Smalls on bass. He wrote this. He's sort of casting blame. Derek Smalls on bass. He wrote this. We hope you like our new direction.

And there's that one dude, if you look, he's in the stands, and he's like this. Just thumbs down the whole time. Did anybody go to see Spinal Tap when it was in the theater? I wanted to go. I was going to go Monday. However, we had to take our cat to the vet. It was semi-emergency, so I could not go. I had plans on going at four o'clock to see it. It's your cat okay, though? Yeah, so she has feline asthma. Dude!

Sugar has that? Or she just had pneumonia? So, yeah. So she's been coughing a lot. And so we had to go and she's where we're dealing with that. That sucks. I hate to hear that, Jay. It's tough. And Marcus, I don't know if you've dealt with that with your big furry prince. She was coughing all the time. We just took her to the vet. It was a semi-emergency visit as well. She was on an antibiotic, something we had to put in her eyes as well because she had an eye thing. And now she's getting some fucking teeth pulled. But she, I mean, the antibiotics,

I was super worried about it we honestly she didn't eat for five days and we came home and I thought we need to say goodbye no I'm not a girl so it's tough I I'm fortunate enough to have met Jay's little princess she's a cutie yeah oh and she's a show off and she's a show off too yeah yeah she's doing great though she and I mean honestly we were like both silently not saying out loud do we need to yeah say goodbye here but turned out it's so crazy

know what's gonna happen like zoso has a melanoma his eye and so we did laser surgery which is experimental and it and it did work but he had other spots that are coming in his eye and so they've lasered all that and so i have to keep taking him in like every six months to make sure it's not growing and to check cancer and um you know so we'll see he's got to go in pretty soon all right fingers crossed but you know if he loses an eye i'm trying

not to because laser surgery is not really a thing most people do but we did do it um but if he loses his nine he'll be fine cats are really good at adapting but uh i'm trying not to have that still sucks yeah yeah so this is your uh five minute version of cats podcast feline podcast well i mean it was the metal heads podcast metal heads podcast this was our first emergency so i'm just surprised you know you guys i know

Yeah, so we thought it was reverse coughing, but it is feline asthma. And she's doing better since she went on her drugs. Now she's back to being a little pain in the ass because she's a Torby. If you know what a Torby is, then you know they're a pain in the ass. Sweetest things in the world, but boy, they will. Beat your ass down like us. Yeah, and Zoso's a pure breed, so they tend to have a lot of issues too. Yeah, that's what they're doing. We're dealing so far. He actually turns,

Seven. I think he did already. He turned seven a couple days ago. He got a bunch of old far cats. Violet's eight. It goes quick. So George, I don't know how you're going to follow all that cat talk. Am I up now? I have no idea where we are. It's not like this never happens to all of us every time we do one of these episodes. We're on 17. All right.

Third Volleyball from the United States of America. All hail Beholder in the Temple of the Tyrant. What? Power Metal? What? Epic Doom? What? Power Metal? Nah, it's old Power Metal. It's very Blind Guardian-esque. He has a little Hansi in him. Yeah, he does. So like more traditional metal with power elements. Yeah, it's US Power Metal. Yeah, track.

It's a good album. My friend Josh, who's been on here, told me about that one. They're from Philadelphia, I think, aren't they? They are from Philadelphia. Yeah, Philadelphia's got the whole kind of... Brad thing ramped up? A little bit. With a modern take, though. They're not redoing the sound necessarily 100%. They have their own spin. Crypt Sermon's doing like a single or an EP or some shit? EP. I think three new songs and one is the cover, isn't it?

that they released before? I don't know. That's right. It's the Flexi, isn't it? From Decibel? Yeah, it's got the... Yeah, that's right. I think so. Hey, what's that... I want to say this is a Philadelphia band, and it was... I'm so sorry, I can't remember his name. We had him on. He produced a lot of stuff. Oh, Arthur Rizek? Yeah, what was the name of that band? Well, which one? Yeah, Eternal Champion. Eternal Champion. Eternal Champion. Yeah, I love that band. The guy who did the cover for...

Like kiss destroyer and love gun died recently. And he did the cover for that fucking record. Oh, really? Yeah. Arthur posted. It was like, Hey, or somebody posted and they showed all his record covers. And one of them was that, um, that record. I had no idea. I mean, that's must've cost them a couple of bucks is all I'm saying. Yeah. The eternal champion one. Uh, Marcus. Oh, I'm up number 16.

All right. Another volleyball. This band, their name and the album title is in Russian, so I had to translate it just to get it on here. But the name of the band is Rye, and the album is called Knowledge on Reflection Nebula Records. Just a gorgeous crush of ambient black, post-black, and funeral doom with folk influences. There are only three tracks on here, so they're long.

intricate tomes that you have to spend time with. But I think they're really worth it because they offer immersive spectral soundscapes with really beautifully textured atmospheres that shift from grim ferocity to flaring radiance. And I really, really like this band. This is probably my favorite record from this band so far. And they just continue to evolve and impress me.

I prefer albums that I don't have to spend time with that I can just have beamed directly into my brain and it's like I don't even need to spend time it's just there yeah yeah yeah well yeah I have patience yes Dr. Markisan Dr. Markisan your patients are waiting for you all right Matt sweet my number 16 this this is kind of the start of a good chunk of my list is things that are

a little bit, just a smidge outside my normal wheelhouse that I found myself connecting with this year. This band has people that I think were actually going to be on the podcast at one point, but it fell through. But they're kind of like a, I don't know, I call them like a spacey post-black metal. I'm talking about Dawn of Ouroboros in the album Bioluminescence. It's just a really, like I said, it's just this really spacey post-black metal album that I dig.

And is my number, which one did I do? 16. We're doing 17, Doug. Damn it. Kidding. Still messing with you. All right. Nice. So that means it's John for number 16. Cool. I don't know if Markisan said this, I stepped away just for a second. So I'm not sure if I'm saying this for the first time. I imagine he will have this on his list. I'm not sure if anybody else will. So I don't think it's a,

a Wilson or anything. But my number 16 is Weeping Sores, The Convalescent Agonies from I, Void Hanger Records. Kind of a Death Doom avant-garde metal album. It's an interesting album. It's Death Doom, but it's not your traditional Death Doom, which is the chug, chug, chug, and then the slow-paced stuff, and then slowly mixing that together. This has got a lot of emotion in it, a lot of tons of crushing riffs, but they add some, you know, I don't know, other instruments in there, like,

cellos and banjos.

Cellos.

You're like, what?

But for whatever reason, cellos and violins seem to help out a kind of impending sound that you get in Death Doom.

So I think it's a pretty cool album.

I don't know how it'll shake out.

And it just came out, I think, just not recently, but sort of recently.

I've spun it a number of times, and I think it's a solid Death Doom album, but a modern Death Doom album.

Not a traditional death doom album. Excellent. I thought so. Yes. Thank you. Damn right. It's excellent. You're goddamn right. Mm-hmm. Well, what you got? My number 16. Mm-hmm. A little band called Bear Mace. Oh, Bear Mace. They got a new album out. I liked it a lot.

Slaves of the Wolf. Wolf like Wolf haha not Wolf where. Yeah. That's my number 16. Bear Mace Slaves of the Wolf. I feel like Keith Dean used to do a collab with Bear Mace given the whole Chopping Mall cover from the first album. It seems like it would be symbiotic. Yeah. It would. Like they could come up with some badass stuff to do the two of them together. So I think Bear Mace is like a kind of a super group.

And they definitely do some death worship. Kind of like more subtly, obviously, than gruesome. But yeah, I dig it. It's cool. I listen to it. It's pretty cool. All right. Jay, what's wrong with your teeth? You're muted, so I don't know. It's not 3.30 yet, dude. You don't have to put your dentures in yet. I'm doing my...

That Will, he lives in his heart. That's an awful big place for a boy like that to live. French fried taters. My number 30 or whatever it is we're on here, but I know it's the next one because it's right above the previous one. Prudal Tech Death from Sweden on Seasons of Mist, Retromorphosis. Oh, nice. Mortis.

I found this maybe just a month ago and I don't even remember when it came out but I was like holy fucking shit and it's heavier than fuck too dude but it's also got this really nice um you know Brutal Tech Death is not necessarily an old school thing but it's got an old school vibe to it uh tonally and production wise and everything this record really caught my attention when I heard it so will you say that again Jay what is it Retromorphosis Salmus Mortis is the name of the album

I feel like we've had someone on the podcast that's on that album I believe

Christian Munzner is on that album is he not who is Christian Munzner which also would be the guitarist from

Alkaloid yes well interestingly too they they recorded partially in Sharkbite Studios which is where we made our record which is odd but also to read about them it says having

to one of the most innovative curios in the extreme middle kingdom after three decades spawn of possession was put to rest oh you guys want a possession yeah yeah yeah so it's some so there's some legacy coming from there uh guitarist john brisling looking right now is from that yeah christian munzer is also on the album too yeah and he is also part of obscura and necrophagist that's all part of that that whole world of they're all kind of intermixed

So obviously there's a little bit of an all-star vibe there too. So maybe something you can trust if you haven't checked it out. This is an odd, not odd year. I shouldn't say that because tech death fans would be mad at that. But for me, there's so many of those bands on my radar this year. More than usual. It's just what it is this year. Way more than usual for me, actually. I think my list has probably got a lot of that. We'll see. I think I said that to you, George. I said, yeah,

Yeah, this is not what I expected this year. Yeah. All bands I didn't think would make my list. So cool. That's good to hear that, Jay. Awesome. I don't feel like I'm alone in some of that stuff. George and Porthy. All right. My number 16 is from Prague. This is The One Who Is Made of Smoke, Cult of Fire. Oh, nice. Cool. Yeah. I wonder if

Someone would have that on their list this time. Yeah. I've always kind of found them interesting. You know, they're like a black metal whatever, but it's always got this like, I don't know, what would that vibe be like? I almost get like a heavy new age. Something new age-y, yeah. Heavy new age, which doesn't go together. No, not at all. Like some sort of like,

Yeah, a little bit. Metal and you have Markisan. Yes, she's so fucking metal. That's cool, George, because I didn't know if we, I was thinking about, I saw that band name the other day and I was thinking, I wonder if anyone's going to have that on their list. Yeah, they've always been kind of interesting, but they haven't always been quite enough for me, you know, and I like this one a lot, so. Cool. I'm telling you right now, we should not even give a top 10. We should just literally list. These are all albums you should list.

Five guys, 20 albums. Here is, no, six guys, sorry, 120. Six guys, 120. We matched on 10 albums. I like it, Matt. I like where you're going with that. Nice. Cool, George. Awesome. Wow. So we've done five picks, and I'm not seeing a lot of matches for me so far. We are now in the top 15. What? Things are starting to be not...

Not, not, not. They're not not. They're not real yet, but they're not not real. We're not real until we get to number three. Yeah. All right, Marcus, son. You're obviously drinking something new. Yeah. Turn on the lights so I can see it. So this is 2023 surly darkness with cloud cover in it. I was going to say, is that a collab? That's a collab, yeah. It's got a barrel-aged Imperial Stout.

Hold on, who's the collab with? Don't forget. Cloud Cover. Oh, is it cloud? I'm sorry. Apologize. I didn't know that. Yeah. Okay. So, no, no worries, John. Bourbon, barrel-aged imperial style with cloud cover, high Yissa, something coffee, and vanilla beans. You drink that whole thing, you're going to need to strap in. Marc-a-san's going fucking band camping later. You know, it's crazy. I was drinking a ton last night, and I did the Hot Wings challenge, because Tracy's doing it for her work.

So we went over to her co-manager's house and we did the they got the box of all the hot sauces from the hot wings challenge we did the hot ones cool I mean hot ones hot wings yeah sorry sorry I love that show dude I do too it's fine that guy is he like a I'm totally fascinated by the sauces but like he is such a good interviewer he's the best it and to be able to do it while your mouth is melting I mean that's pretty good he keeps eating all those hot sauces every time

It's a brilliant concept because what he does really is put people off their best foot and then hits them with something from their past and never like in a digging sort of way. Almost all of them are always like, how the fuck do you know that about me, dude? Call the internet, man. Go ahead, Matt. No, go ahead, John. You had a good flow. No, I'm sorry. I apologize. Marcus, I was just going to say, I hope you were drinking milk stouts last night because if we're going to be eating all that hot stuff,

Yeah, exactly. I did not have milk. Well, I did have some thick stouts, but I didn't have any milk stouts, but we had ice cream. Did you get all the way to the last hot sauce? I stopped actually because it was like, I stopped two before because that was pretty hot. And I'm like, I don't have to do this. This is for their employees. Why am I bothering? I'm just going to drink your beer and then move on. No. And also that it was the eighth hot sauce that they did. The taste was terrible.

The first, actually the first six were really tasty. The seventh one was called like Ninja Kitten or some shit, I don't know. And it was not good. It didn't have a good, it hardly had any flavor. Yeah. We're drinking that beer right now. And it snuck up on you like a ninja, which wasn't bad. I didn't bother with it. Then the next one that came up was just terrible tasting. Well, yeah. Plus your tongue is getting destroyed to begin with the whole time.

I have the tolerance for it, but I'm just like, I'm almost 50 years old. Why now I need to do this? You're doing this for your company. So I'm just going to stop. So the question is, did Tracy finish? Oh, she did. Yeah. Her and her co-manager, Josh, they both did it. Really? Okay. So here's a debate. I know we're going off on a side, but we never do that. What? On hot ones. So what we did is we had bowls of the hot sauce and we slathered the wings.

in it. But I feel like on hot ones, they just kind of, it's like a regular wing and they just put a little bit. A dab. Right? They don't slather the whole thing and then put a dab. That doesn't make any sense. So what we were doing was way beyond, I think, what hot ones does. But yeah, those first six sauces, they actually have a really, really good flavor to them. There was an onion one that I really liked. So I think like every year they put out, they have like standard hot sauces, but then they switch some out. So they're pretty consistent.

from what I'm told. But it was fun to do. But yeah, I just stopped. I don't want to hurt myself. This is stupid. Why would I do this? Hey, Matt, what were you going to say? I apologize. I cut you off. Oh, I always, I like the people that, I mean, it's fun to watch people's reactions. But I always like the people that, and maybe this goes back to what Marcason was saying about like them just dabbing it. But like, like Ariana Grande, all of them had zero issues. Like she just kept going. It was almost like they had zero effect on it. But then you get like Conan who,

I mean, I gotta be honest, I'm just gonna interrupt quick here, Matt. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think they cut that. Because there's no, when I ate that eighth one, and I've eaten a lot of hot shit in my life, it was fucking hot. Okay. So I feel like that they must have cut it off to come, because there's no way they can just go on to the next one after that. Because it was like 15 minutes, this thing was lingering in my mouth. So they definitely do some creative editing, I think. And it's easy to do that with like questions. Oh yeah, for sure.

And I didn't think that before. I mean, I thought Will was just like, you thought he was a drink of water. I mean, yeah. I mean, I've been out, you know, like when my wife and I go out, I'm a little bit more adventurous versus when we go out with a group, especially like it was some of her friends. And one time we had this, it was Tennessee chicken. I ate it. I mean, I was snotting everywhere. It was so hot. We went out to eat with her friends and they're like, well, I'm like, oh, it looks good, but I don't want to be like snotting in front of your friends. She's like, get the chicken, get the chicken. And so that to me is,

Like, yeah, to be able to sit and have 10 wings while you're just like, I mean, that's what I do. It just like, and I feel like for most people, you just start to water and it comes out everywhere from the neck up. So, yeah. I'll be brief here, but I have the weirdest phenomenon, phenomena, non, whatever. It's this, I eat hot shit all the time. I mean, I go through bottles of shiracha all the time and make a lot of Mexican food. That's not even hot. I don't even fuck around. I put,

I make the hottest fucking salsa. But when I watch Hot Wings, and I'm not making this up, I swear to God, as they react more and more, I start to sweat right here. I have this weird sympathetic. I've had to turn it off before because I have such a weird, empathetic reaction to these people eating these Hot Wings. Are you watching the Hallmark channel? Are you watching Shut Hallmark Off? I'm watching Hot Wings.

I'll prove this to you someday. And it's the weirdest fucking thing, man. Like my pores open up and I'm like, ah, I'm so uncomfortable. It's just bizarre. And this from somebody who likes hot food. So I don't know what my problem is, but. I'm next. But just the last thing I'll say is that I was surprised by how hot it gets towards the end. Cause I was like, yeah, they're probably not going to be that. I'm not surprised. Those look pretty rough. Some of them. Yeah. The last, the rear four are pretty hot.

Is one of the sauces the one that has the atomic bomb on it? I think it's called the bomb. It's called the bomb. Yeah. No, it's in the, no, it's like four down. It's like number eight and it tastes terrible. It's just one of the worst tasting hots I've ever had. That's when I quit. After that one, I was like, I don't, if they're like this and they don't have any flavor, why would I bother with this? I don't need to do this. All right. It's not the bomb. It's not the bomb. What is the opposite of the bomb? Whatever that is. The shit.

No, because the shit's good. We need something better. Anyways. All right. So number 15 for me, top 15, boys. We've only done five. So this is Seven Sisters, Shadow of a Fallen Star Part 2 on Cherry Red Records. Fuck yeah, dude. That album's awesome. Yes, sir. Twin lead, classic heavy metal, set in a starship bound for adventure on the far side of the universe.

And I really love this record from start to finish, but it ends on this 20-minute closer that feels like the soundtrack for a final, triumphant, hyper-light jump into the heart of a star. This is my favorite traditional metal record of 2025. It's only four songs on the album, too, by the way. Only four songs, yes. Nice. Yeah, and I love the first part of it, and what's great is that you can listen to this one and the first part together.

Wow, what an epic adventure. And yeah, this band is doing some remarkable traditional heavy metal stuff in the last few years. So if you haven't... One dude from that band is also in a band that I didn't listen to their first album, but George has the album in his wish list on Bandcamp, Phantom Spell. So I checked it out and I was like, this is some cool ass, like, froggy, stonery, doobies.

It's the singer from this band. I don't like it as much because it has more of that kind of like 70s vibe to it. Yeah, yeah. And I don't like that as much, but it's still pretty good. Wasn't this band at Prog Power when I was there, but they weren't playing? They were like, they had like a booth or something. They were like repping themselves. That would be because they're from the UK, I believe, aren't they? I think. Hold on. I thought they were.

So that would be a little bit of a stretch

for Prog Power.

The only person I know that comes

every year from Europe is the dude from Evergray.

Tom. The main guy.

He's there every year.

He just loves hanging out with everybody.

It's a great record.

Maybe I'm thinking Seven Spires.

It might be Seven Spires.

Have you heard this one at all, George?

No, because I think I thought it was the other one

So like we were saying, Jay and I were saying about the technical death stuff. This is a crazy year for traditional or just US power, not Euro keyboard power, just regular power metal. It really is heavy metal, traditional, whatever you want to call it. So this one's one of my favorites. So, you know, obviously you're into that George, because you just mentioned a band that, you know, it's cool. I like it. It's good, George. It's it's, I didn't give enough,

That's my problem for this one, for my list. I only gave it

like three listens. I could see myself going back to this a lot more.

Cool. And part one, I think, was on my year-end list when it dropped a few years ago.

I want to listen to both together now.

Do the whole thing.

Yeah, you got to do that. It's a great journey.

Awesome.

All right, I'll check it out. Yeah, I think Seven Spires was the group.

That sounds more like it, yeah.

Yeah, there's a woman in the band.

Yes, I think that sounds more like it, yeah.

Yeah, okay.

Wow.

We're just not doubling up that much. No Metal Heads podcast orgy this year. Not yet. We're going to have a couple. Matt, are you going to start it? My number 12. Okay, so this last pick, I said, hey, I'm getting outside my wheelhouse a lot. There's a lot of my lists like that. This is not that example. I'm talking about Frontolith. I'm talking about Asha Womb. I'm talking about Death Metal.

We're done. Okay. Frenulum? Yes. Is that what it is? Is that how it's pronounced? Frenolith. Frenolith. Ashen womb. Straight up death metal. And it's good. As opposed to crooked death metal? Exactly. Okay. As opposed to zigzag death metal. Crooked. Crooked death metal. Crooked. Circular death metal. Nice. Hey, Matt, did you say you're on number 12? Yeah. That's 15. I'm actually on 15, which actually makes that sound

I walked away to go check on my kids and like I came back like wait we're on number 12 like I was only going like five minutes you've been gone for two hours okay it's like flight of the navigator you left for four days and we're on pick 12. no I'm kidding I thought you were gonna say yeah 15. you got some missing time will you're gonna want to look into that okay yeah does your rear end hurt in any just I'm saying you might have been probed well your kids drew

stuff on your face.

Did you end up on the side of the road in the woods?

The spaceship looked like a big purple dumpster.

So I don't know how I got in there.

Who am I?

All right.

Well, it's time for your number 12.

Purple dumpster.

So Barney's asshole is what you're saying.

Yes.

Cannibal Ron.

Barney has many assholes.

He's got a lot of holes.

I like that people like to fill.

Yeah.

All right.

So yeah, on that note, okay. Okay. Yeah. All right. My number 15. Hey, George. Hmm. Can I hold you? Yes. Can I hold you in the temple of the tyrant? Yes, you may. My number 15 beholder in the temple of the tyrant. I will hand that volleyball back then. Yeah. I just poked a hole in your vault and your ball. Black line records. Like George said,

Yeah. That's awesome. Epic doom, whatever you want to call it. It's got a little blind guardian to it. Not a bot, just enough to let you say, hey, this is kind of cool. First duplication. Nice. I think, is it the first on what we've announced so far? So what we've announced, yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah, what we've announced. I think it is. It's cool. I'm getting ready to. George says to me, dude, you should check this out. It's got like a blind guardian vibe. I'm like, ooh. And I don't, I'm not a big fan.

I like Angra and they're not even from Europe they're from Brazil

and I like

Blind Guardian and I was like

oh man let me check it out I was like fuck this is cool

I dig it

doesn't sound necessarily like Blind Guardian

it just has a little bit of the vibe of Blind Guardian

I think

and his vocals are like Hansi light

they don't go too high like

Hansi does and he's not super high he just

has a unique vocal style

you wanna get high

I said hi. Voltage. Rock and roll. I like cocaine. All right. So there's no, I took your volleyball and I just swatted over to the next island. Sorry, I got a couple still. All right. I'll probably have. It will. If you're done booking your trip, come on down. Give us your number 15. Hey, I was just peeing. Stop. I'm sorry to interrupt. But like you guys were talking last week.

I like cocaine. Seriously, I do a lot of cocaine. Seriously. So he comes back to tell us that and he leaves again. He had to pinch it off to come back and tell us that. Now he's got to go finish. Well, they're trying to get rid of him. He says that. And I just made him laugh and he just sprayed it all over the room. Just peed all over the kitchen. But I have to do my favorite murder face quote, which is, you know what?

I woke up with a clown's hands in my pants. That's what I woke up to. It's pretty good. We're not even remotely buzzed as a group. I'm buzzed. Oh boy. Bring out the Skittles and the rainbows. I'm high on monster energy drinks. Oh man. Yeah. Mastodon was 13.8. Yeah. What's the Surly collab? Let's see. For sure doubles.

47.

47.3.

You said murder face.

You guys got to watch murder bot.

So good.

Oh,

that's what I thought.

George was the one that was recommending that.

No,

I have it.

My list to watch this.

I watch it.

Well,

what is your 15?

Yeah,

I'm in.

I'm in.

Hey,

Bellum Regis.

Nice.

I feel like I like two albums ago.

I'd like to hate album like a lot.

And then the last one with the penultimate one was like,

ah,

it's good.

It's okay. And this one's kind of like in that mid-range. They kind of hated it then? Yes. It's pretty good. Yeah, I mean, I almost feel like they're in that realm. It's like it's almost too, weirdly enough, George, it's almost like too overly produced. It's almost too slick. I would almost like it. That's why I like it. That's why George likes it. I was just going to say that. Yeah, anyway. Hate. Is that another Polish death metal band?

The better for George. He wants a slip and slide production. So slippery. That shit just goes right to his hands. All right. I get to start repeating things now. Repeat that shit. I don't know if this is going to happen because I don't know. Maybe we are all over the map this time, but I believe we'll call this out several records back. Scalder. That's me. John did it. Okay. And you know,

the things I like about these guys is that there's just a little bit of Bathory love in there too even though they're they kind of progressed well past that but I dig that man and there's you know like back when I think back to records like The Return and stuff like that really got me into black metal these guys are kind of in that place and you know what they've got a little bit of too is who's the masked guys that we like other fucking records they haven't heard a record at a while Uwata there's almost like Uwata means Bathory or something like that

just a little bit and um it's just a good lesson dude it's it's real stuff and

they're what virginia are they from virginia yeah they're from our hood yeah interesting that those

kinds of sounds can come out of virginia but this is comforting you know my favorite that mean

it's like so european oh okay fair enough because it sounds like you know with all due respect to

virginia you know my not super unique like sweden of course yeah you know my favorite thing about

Scaldor.

Is there Cole?

Can't you hear the vocals at all?

Carrey's nipples.

Oh, jeez.

It's not about the music.

My favorite thing is, I can't go to a show without somebody tapping on my shoulder and turning around and it's them.

Yeah.

Which I always enjoy, obviously.

To be clear, Carrey's a guy.

He's the singer.

Okay.

And bass player.

Frequently shirtless.

and corpse painted.

I think he's a prog nerd too.

Yes, he is.

Yeah, he is.

I know that for a fact.

And I always compliment him on his nipples.

Wow.

Holy shit.

Is this a Devin Townsend show we're at right now?

Yes.

Except it's black nipples.

Black metal nipples.

That would be Emperor.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

That was so good.

It was.

Okay.

Meanwhile, back at the podcast.

So that was Jay.

So it's you, George.

It's me.

Okay.

From the United States of America.

I am vying for the America Fuck Yeah Award.

I was probably going to take it like always.

I don't know about that.

But on my single release from 20 bucks spin, Corpus Oval.

Oh, self-titled. Nice. Formerly members of the band Cerebral Rot. That's what I thought. Yeah. You know how I like to say more than one when it may just be one. It's kind of weird how that happened. How many of them are from Cerebral Rot? Do you know? I do know. Let me just think about that for a moment. Get back to us on Pick 13. How slow can George talk? How slow can George talk?

George, type. Get back to you. All right. Yeah. There are one, two members, two members of Cerebral Rock. Cerebral Rock, yeah. The guitar player, vocalist, and the other guitar player. Okay. All right. Oh, wow. The drummer's in Bell Witch. It's a little fast for him, isn't it? That's bad. I am. Anywho. I'm glad, Matt. I'm glad you got that. Hey.

I can't even make any percussion jokes. Fuck. You're being drum shamed. Know your audience, John. Jesus. Yeah. No double bass for you. All right. Nice, George. We're just not, we're not on the same page as a group this year. This mid-year. So far. We're all over the place. Yeah, we've only had so far. Now we're only on 14. I'm just about to start 14. So. I have. Right.

a lot. Six picks, but we've only had two actual albums that have been. Yeah, I have. So far I have one, two, three, four, five, six albums that have been mentioned that I haven't said yet. Okay. Wow. Oh, okay. So we are going to. Wow. So we're going to hit the top 10 will be loaded with them. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. All right. So number 14 for me is unrequited, a pathway to the moon.

on Prophecy Productions. Lush, cinematic, progressive black metal that bleeds gallons of emotion like a punctured tank or leaking petroleum in an ocean. This album introduces clean vocals to Unrequited for the first time, and I think that choice really adds a new level of expressiveness to the band's sound. But it took me a bunch of spins to come around to that.

But eventually, obviously, it clicked enough to land at number 14. But I've really, really enjoyed this band. I think their albums have gone as high as number two on my year-end list. So I'm always interested in what they're doing. And they're touring now. I've seen them live once, which is great. It's one guy who kind of does all the stuff, but he tours with a band, and I'm happy for that because

It's nice to have that experience

But yeah, it's a really good album

And it's one that I think might climb

Because like I said

It's different than what they've done before

So I had to adjust

And I'm coming around more and more to it

And just enjoying it more as I listen to it

So great one

So you look quite on your list

Yeah

I had a feeling it'd be on your list

Yeah, I mean, I'm all about all their records. The last two or three records have been on my list for sure. So I think it's one of those bands that's going to make an appearance or at least be close to the list if something comes out that doesn't quite make the cut. But so far, so good. So what? Thank you, Megadeth. So what? What do you got, Matty? No. All right. My number 14. So.

Definitely one of those albums that I mentioned, I kind of put it in a pool and would just shuffle them. And every time I would be listening to something super intense, I would look over and I would see this cover, which is kind of black and red, has like a figure with the flag riding on a horse. What I was listening to was really intense. I don't know if I call it black and sludge metal or sludgy black and metal. But I'm talking about a band called This Gift is a Curse. And the album is Air, H-E-I-R. They are out of Sweden.

of all places. Didn't know they had this kind of metal there. It's weird. And yeah, this is their one, two, three, four, fourth full length. I had not heard them up until this point, but they were good enough to be my 14th choice for the mid-year. Bravo. That's a really good record. Like it flirted with my list. I love that. And I'm in the same boat as you, Matt. I never really heard this band before. And they've had quite a few releases before this. But I think this is their best. It's just, I think it's a

It's a little long. It's really long for the record. It's great, but I don't know. I got a little tired, so it kind of fell off my list, but it was so close to making it. So I'm glad that you mentioned it. Yeah, I listened to it at double speed, so it wasn't that much. I'm kidding. I would never do that. As you do. I would never do that. John? My number 14. I don't think this is a volleyball.

people might potentially, maybe all you guys, but I don't know. But I know Will and Marcason have had them on their list in prior years. So my number 14 is Jade, Mysteries of a Flowery Dream, pulverized records, death metal from a Spanish slash international band. I think they're headquartered in Spain, but they've got members from around. I don't know how to describe this kind of death metal. I guess you could just call it atmospheric death metal with some

blackened vibes to it a little bit here and there. Because it's not your traditional death metal. But it's cool as shit. I like this album a lot. So there's a lot of yelling, though, on some of the vocals. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there's got these cool growls and this dude yelling in the background. Right. But it's kind of cool, though, still, too, at the same time. I think that's a point of contention for the band. I think their last record I loved, and that was on, I believe it was on my year-end list.

Yeah, you guys had it on your ear. I checked. Yeah. Can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat? Yelling in the background. Yeah. I thought that was a non-secretory comment there. That was you. That was good, George. That's awesome. Yeah. I know you guys had them. I don't know if anyone will have them this time, but I think it's pretty cool. Pretty cool. It's a good band. Really good band. They offer something a little bit unique. Yeah. That death metal sphere. It's boatloads atmosphere for this band.

So it just kind of makes it cool. Er. Or hot. Er. Will. Er. Er. I'm going to completely butch. As many times as I've said this band's name, and John has said this name, and George has said this name, I still can't pronounce it. Jade. Jade.

I'm not that target.

Jaday.

I like that even better.

Nice.

All I know is they're Greek, but from Spain.

Ordos?

On Erophagus.

On Erophagus?

Did you say Erophagus?

What?

What's in Vegas? Revelations of the void. Onirofegus? What happens in Vegas? Is that what you're talking about Yes. Onirofegus. Yeah, that's good man. Onirofegus. Yeah, I think that's how you pronounce it.

You're like, Euro's such delicious. Yeah. They are very delicious. Isn't this the band that the whole controversy about Spain? No, that's not the band. That was me that did that. I know, but what band was that? I don't know. Vegas Honor O? No. Spanish controversy? It wasn't ex-genesis, was it? No. Honor O Vegas, that's how you say it, I think. Yeah. Well, I got to

I think about this one will give me a few all right anyway they're from Spain name of the album death shockingly death metal I'm just gonna like everything is death metal except if I say it's not all right over to you Jay even though we sort of said there's not gonna be easy top three or something or maybe top five you know the side together list I'd say

I suspect, just as I'm about to say this one, this one will probably chart pretty high. Or at least if you guys remembered it. Ancient Death, Ego Dissolution. The Fondler Records. That might show up again. I think it will. Almost swept, I think, on Album of the Month. Almost. You get a slightly less technical kind of old school, two-mold feel on this one. And it's just straight in your face the whole time. Good stuff. And kind of swept.

Swept the group for a minute, so something tells me this will gather up some points as we go forward.

I don't recall that one.

That's a great record. It's got to show up. I'd be shocked if it doesn't.

I'm pretty sure it will.

I would too.

It's low. I think it's kind of low, Jay.

I wondered if I was reverse Jay in this one, which is way lower than everybody else.

Then it'd be, what, six?

All right.

My next one is going back to Sweden.

Century Media.

Unique place for metal music on Earth.

Yeah, it's weird.

I don't know.

I actually don't know how to say this one.

It could be.

I'm going to go with Sarkator.

Could be Sarkator.

I don't know.

I like Sarkator.

Sarkator sounds way better.

It sounds like an 80s sword and sorcery film. Yeah, it's like Skeletor's cousin. Yeah. Yeah. I'm Sharkator. One more stout. The album is called, where'd it go? Dammit. Swarming Angels and Flies. They're, uh. John Angels. Holy shit. Are you okay? Yeah. Well, Angels and shit, right? Right.

Black and Thrash. This was the other one that Justin reminded me of. And I was like, oh, snap. I really like this one. Did you do your own list or did Justin do it? I copied off of Justin's homework. Yes. Now we were just tossing some stuff back and forth and I was like, oh, yeah. So these are the only two. Everything else is my own handwriting. Okay, cool.

I don't think I've heard that one which is unusual because I listen to so much metal so I'll have to spin it yep all right number 13 number 13 for me all right this is probably my biggest surprise find so far this year it's laser thrown tomb of the lunar circle so imagine mixing majestic atmospheric black metal with the Blade Runner soundtrack

So this album folds metal, dungeon synth, dark synth, and the space-time continuum in on itself to create a heavy, star-drenched cosmic epic. And it's pretty great. I actually bought it on vinyl because I've been spinning it so much. And they've had some other releases before this, but they weren't on my radar until this one. But yeah, they really lean heavily into that.

that synth side of the Blade Runner soundtrack with black metal. Nice. Yeah, John, have you listened to this one? Not yet, no, but my attention has been peaked already. I'll have to. Yeah, it's a really interesting mix. I thought I had told you about this one, but I might not have. You may have, and like I said, my listing this year has been thwarted by life events, so I haven't had a chance to listen to everything like that.

I wanted to.

Yeah.

It's really cool and unique.

And obviously, they're fans of the greatest movie of all time.

Hands down, the greatest movie.

Yes.

Matty.

Hands up.

My number 13.

I have never said this word out loud, which would be the band's name.

I would call them Cargol.

C-A-R-C-O-L-H.

which in French folklore, it's a mythical beast. But I'm talking about a doom metal band. Definitely, I started listening to them and it reminded me a lot of like Crip Sermon and that kind of, you know, realm teetering on more of a traditional metal. The album is called Twilight of the Moral. Yeah, Twilight of the Mortals, pardon me. They're a French band. It's their third album. It's really good if you want some kind of traditional doom.

I haven't heard that one so that's why I'm doing the volleyball thing that was me like four months ago I know I'm a different person oh cool gotta listen to it all right John nice uh I'm guessing this will be a volleyball however it would not be a volleyball on Markisan sister podcast endless metal pretty sure pretty sure Ben digs this one okay uh my number 13 is sadist something

to Pierce. Oh, he does love that record. Yep. I'm a fan of their early stuff. And when I saw this came out, I decided to check it out because I hadn't listened to a lot of their catalog outside of the earlier stuff. And I really dug it. It's basically Progressive Death. They're from the early Progressive Death scene in the 90s, early mid 90s. And I would say, I don't want to call them second tier because that's not fair, but the bands, they would be

at the same time with would be death,

atheists,

cynic,

pestilence.

You can put them up there if you want.

Maybe they're the next tier down,

but they're part of that group.

Theory and practice.

I think is another one.

It's cool stuff.

I dig it.

They're Italian band,

which you don't hear about too many progressive technical bands.

And it's cool.

They've been around for a while.

I like it.

I dig it.

Don't spend as much as I probably should.

But I just listened to it again the other day.

I was like,

Damn, this is a really good album. He's really good. And they just, even though they're from that kind of era, they have their own really unique sound. There's not really anybody that kind of sounds like this band. No, that's what I like. They're not jazzy, but they have a little bit of fusion-y type stuff going on with the technical stuff, but they're also pretty proggy. But then they're very death-y too at the same time. So they got a whole mixed bag of stuff going on. Yeah, that's very true. And a great album cover, by the way, too.

Yeah. Will, is the band Oceans of Sadness? Is that the name? Oceans of Slumber? I'm still looking for that band name. From Spain via Greece via Spain. Is that sound familiar? Are we talking about Oner of Fegas? No, no, no. I thought it was Oner of Fegas. No, it's that we had this old... I know. But no, the band that's from Spain via Greece via Spain is Oceans of Sadness. No, that's not it. Yeah, it is. I'm pretty sure.

I totally reprimanded my ass during that episode. Well, I did something to your ass, but I don't know if I reprimanded it. I'm still feeling the effects of it. Well, yeah, you should. Sounds like a reprimand to me. Yeah, exactly. Thank you. Sounds more like a wraparound. Let's reach around to you, buddy. I apologize. Are we on? Ocean of Grief. Well, that's the name of the band. Oh, Ocean of Grief. Ocean of Grief. Maybe.

Yes, it is. Trust me. Move on. But John, you just said you're 13? 13. 13. So my 14 was my 13. So now I need to go back to my 14 and then do... Well, I'll just do my 14. I skipped one. So you did 13 in the 14 spot. Yes. So you already know what my 13 is. Fagus. You Fagus. What was that again?

Can you say that again, Will? Or running in Vegas. All right. So what's your 14 in your 14 is blood monolith the calling of fire, which is a local like DC ish super group. Pure filthy ass death metal shocking. I know. Hey, do me a favor. Will don't fuck that up on your list because I'm not spending any time trying to figure out. I will get you my spreadsheet.

I'm going with. So if it doesn't match the podcast, oh well. Yeah, don't worry about it. I will spread my sheets for you. You're going to spread your sheet for me? Yes. The Blood Monolith is good. I like the Blood Monolith, but its runtime is under Rainer Blood. Is it? Well, you know what? That's my rule. Okay, it's mid-year. It's fine for you. No, no, usually I go by that. Usually like the 29 minute or whatever. It's short.

I'm not the only ones that go by that though because I was

look there was something I was going to put on my list

and they and somebody said

blah blah blah it comes in just under

rain and blood and I was like oh no shit people

that's cool it's a bad watching you it's a good measuring stick

I think yeah my god well I

missed that commercial where did you learn

where did you start smoking this shit from I learned

from you did I learned about watching you okay

you know I think we set the benchmark

for the Slayer thing and everybody else

is just picking it up yeah I'm saying yes

They're learning it from us. They're learning it from you, George. My number 11 or 9 or whatever the fuck this is. 47. It is the correct number. It is a loving kick to Markison's volleyballs. Right in the nuts. Dormant ordeal, teeth and nail. There you go. Yes. Polish, my description I've written down, heavy madness, punishing extreme death, black, a little bit of behemoth, which we talked about when Markison talked

about it. Really good stuff. And that also makes it sound like it doesn't have any subtleties to it, which it does. I was really surprised and pleasantly surprised by this record. So I think Marcason also said they weren't on his radar, nor were they on mine. And so this is the first record I've ever even heard of theirs, and I dig it. No, I think they just really came into their own on this one, because they kind of sounded like other things to me. And this one, I feel like they forged an identity for themselves. I don't think you're the only one that said that, too. And I think maybe even

and some of the people on um bad camp or something were like oh well these guys are really

fucking taken you know stepped it up so yeah that's cool i wasn't sure if that would show up on other

people's lists so nice it's pretty hot uh well you're almost in the top 10 for you getting there

all right my number 13 uh from the united states of canada

They are insatiable.

This is Cryptopsy and Insatiable Vitals.

Two Cryptopsies.

Yep.

Good, too.

They're top ten bound already.

Monotony Fields.

Yes.

Nice.

It's a really good record.

It's super aggressive.

It's kind of samey throughout the whole thing, but I mean, it's good throughout the whole thing, too.

It just kicks you at the same pace and doesn't let you up. It doesn't. It is. There's like the same pace and you're just in it. So sometimes I really want that. Sometimes I get tired of it. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. And I love it when it works. Yeah. If you're a really good band, you can get away with that. You can pull it off. Yeah. All right. Number 12. So Matt, on his last pick, he had a doom metal band that I had not heard of.

And this one I'm picking is also a doom metal band and it's their first record. Have you heard of them? I have not because it's their first record. And I actually, I had not heard this record until very recently, probably the last couple of weeks. So it's, it's climbed up the list pretty quickly, which is cool. I always liked that when that happens, but the name of the band is Opia. And the record is I welcome the eternal sleep on Hammerheart records.

And I kind of thought that I was over gothic metal, but then this debut Death Doom album came along and now I want to frolic around in silk fingerless gloves and a Victorian cloak of deepest night. So the interplay between the crushing heaviness on this and the haunting melody is just exquisitely done. This album has that old M.D.B. or Paradise

LOST vibes to it. So if you're into that, you're gonna like this. But I think it also goes beyond that sound and kind of delivers its own voice. And it has a female vocalist. Her name is Teresa Roilova. And her vocals are just gorgeous on this. The way she moves from soulful cleans to guttural shrieks is arresting. So it's a very, very impressive debut record.

And if you like Doom, old school Doom, with a little bit of a, I would say, modern production, modern sound, like this is excellent. Yeah. I'm pleased to say that in my looking around in the last three days just to see what I missed, this was one of the things I ran into, and I don't know why. It must have been on a list somewhere. And it kind of reminds me, not necessarily in the tonal sense, but of, like, there's a lot of kind of Doom bands now with chick singers.

And that's interesting to me. And I think I like that concept because women just tend to have this good range, you know? I mean, that can't really be down. And it's like any album. It doesn't always work, but I think her voice in particular is perfect for this genre. Well, I think I listened to this at the same time as I checked out the new Messa record, which I had had them on my list a few years ago. And they still haven't quite nailed it, these guys. I want Messa to get a little better. But still, I think kind of a doom band with, they're from France.

I like them better earlier they've

they've become more experimental which isn't a bad thing but I feel like they're trying all

these different elements they're putting all these different elements into their music and they

haven't quite been able to merge all of it into like a cohesive uh album and so I am waiting for

that too but they're very good yeah they were always interesting to me but I agree with you they may be

working up to something here we'll see but in any case i listened to that right around the same time as i listened to this one because i think i remembered that they had a record out but yeah cool i love the opia record yeah i i feel like it could climb higher too because i'm just really been into it lately i'll put my ears back on it maddie okay my number 12 uh canadian band uh they are called crown of madness i'm talking about an album called memories fragmented their death metal uh i

We put them slightly in the tech death realm. Somewhere between tech and technical. But this is their first record. And it's really good. I had not heard of this band before this year, naturally, because they probably didn't exist. But no, I take that back. They had EPs in 2022. Crown of Madness. Wait, what's the sound on this one, Matt? This is death metal, but I would say it's a little bit like techie. Not technical, but more techie. But not full on techie.

Technical Death Metal. Sorry, Tech Death. There is a difference. Yeah, there is. You can listen to my TED Talk about it. Do I need to pay for that? John, you have a pass. Everybody on this podcast. Friends and family discount. That's right. Also, you know, you get the old people discount, John. I'm sorry, senior citizen. I'm not a senior citizen yet. Not 62.

Yeah, but sometimes they get to 55, dude. That's what it hurts. Depends where you are. Golden Corral. That's true. If they're going to give it to me at the supermarket, hell, I'm fucking 87 years old then. You know, I'll take that discount. Yes. All right, but what's your number 12? All right, so my number 12 ties back to my number 19 pick in that they have the same drummer as far as I know. I mentioned them earlier, but now they're showing up on my list. My number 12 is Lunar.

Tempora Mutantur, which actually, I guess, translates from Greek, not Greek, from Latin to Times Change. They're a progressive metal band out of Sacramento, juggernaut of metal in California. I mean, their early stuff was very Opethian-like. They've kind of moved slightly from that, but they still have similar riffs. They've got almost like Zappa-esque moments to their music, which is kind of unique when you're playing metal. So it's cool. I dig it.

I like it but it's a prog metal album if you want to listen to prog metal and I would check it out it's one of the better ones this year and which is surprisingly is a good year for what's the Zappa aspect to it just just how do you even describe Zappa's music from record to record it just it has that little bit of that vibe to it yeah that was an unfair question it's really hard to answer the question I'm not I'm not a huge Zappa fan I have a few Zappa albums

Is it possible to be a big Zappa fan? A tinge of weirdness, perhaps? He certainly has that, so maybe that's it. Yeah, just how do you, you don't want to describe him as experimental because he's not, because he's kind of defining things when he's doing them. But yeah, it's just, it's not Avant at all. I don't want to say that. Just, Zappa's become like the band Magma. If you guys ever heard of the band Magma, it's another.

You don't even have to

There's no genre description to Zappa

Oh, Zappa? I got it

You just know when you hear that

I don't know how to describe it

It's hard to describe

I grew up listening to a lot of Zappa with my dad

I just remember he had some album out

that had like Pygmy Ponies and Dental Floss Farms

Oh, that's

Is that I'm going to Montana?

Yes

Yeah, it's

You don't even know how to describe it

No I don't

No but also like

But it's cool stuff

I just remember it being weird

It is

Well but then all of a sudden he'll do something that's not weird

Like Shake Your Booty is just kind of a rock record

Sort of

I mean I

Yeah Zappa's weird

Sort of

Exactly

But you know you're going to get

Jay you have a great nose

Sort of

Yeah

Hey Zappa had a pretty great nose sort of too

Oh boy

Jay he's making you go down

To the minor leagues

I was somewhere in the Baltics and I want to say it was well it was either Latvia Lithuania or Estonia I was where I was somewhere and they had a Frank Zappa statue it might be he's um he well this was Brazil I think the president of Brazil or somewhere was crazy about him and when he was um not current president of Brazil I have to look it up but anyway when he was elected this guy he had him come and play at his inauguration and everything but it might have been a middle

I'll look it up.

No, but like he, there's a statue of him in, in one of the Baltic countries.

It might be, I might be thinking this wrong. I'll, I'll look it up.

Well, you definitely are thinking it wrong. Cause you're off.

Your geography is off by like 7,000.

By hemisphere and.

I got a good deal on this fucking.

On this internet.

On Babel.

Yeah, man. Like this. Yeah.

I think it's pretty good.

Lithuania.

Yeah.

So Zappa has no direct attention to Lithia to the Baltic, blah, blah, blah.

But anyway, yeah, they're crazy about him and Euro. I'll tell you this. Even if you don't like Zappa, you will hear the best musicians in the world playing. Oh, for sure. Nobody was a slouch in his band. No. So. All right. Cool. I believe it's Will. You're still talking about the Zappa. Wow. You guys are good. That could go on for much. No, we were talking about statues. So. Is it Will's turn? It's Will. Uh, 12.

Right? Yep. Are we at 14, 13 flip-flop and I'm going to do my 11 but now I'll do my 12 later? That's just you. Whatever you want to do, dude. Pyres, Young. Yeah, that was coming. Yeah. I loved the first Pyres album. This one seemed a little bit slower, a little bit more Baroness-ish to me.

I still like it a lot. It's still just kind of like that like mid sort of like, hey, I'm you know, I want to take a break from death metal. I'll listen to some pyres. What? That's bullshit. I don't believe that for one second. What? What? Would you have to take a shower so you need something different? I know, I know, I did, you know. Anyway. Nice. Well, you've been a fan of them. I think they're from Toronto for a long time, if I believe correctly. I can tell you where they're from. Shit, I think the first time you played them for me, Will.

We might have been at one of your former breweries

in the back with no other people.

You were blasting it.

I remember that.

That was really cool.

I like it when it's just the two of us.

Do you remember that time?

We were at the brewery.

Yeah.

That was cool.

That happens a lot.

It used to happen a lot.

Now it's at the point.

Yeah.

All right.

Jay.

Rivers of Nile.

Metal Blade Records.

America is where they are from. This is a self-titled record, correct? It is correct. Which I always love when a band does that because you sort of feel like, hey, are you trying to make some sort of watershed statement here? No opeth intended. And you guys already know what they sound like and they come up here a lot, but I still like to write my little things and just, you know, whatever. Parathetically, I've written here, technical, heavy, super fun.

And it's not always I put a record on and feel like I'm having fun. These guys are cool, man. And we've talked about it a lot, so I don't need to go to it too long. Probably will rank higher for some of us here. All right. My number 12 clearly ranked too low because we haven't heard it yet, but I know we will hear it at least twice more, I think. Uh-oh. From the United States of America. What? Fallujah.

Xenotaph.

What?

I'm surprised George has that out there.

Wow.

You like it that much, huh?

Yeah, it's good.

Okay, am I right?

Total surprise, right?

No, I knew that they changed.

Have you been listening?

Have you listened to them?

Yeah, I usually listen to most of them.

Okay.

It wasn't a surprise for me.

Okay.

The bands changed a lot.

Yeah, see, I always thought they were a Death Corps band, and apparently from reading

through a number of forms and everything, that was like the first EP.

Maybe the first album. Yeah. And I'm like, I've thought that for their whole career. Isn't it funny how that, I guess, that stigma carries through for a band sometimes? Yeah. Wow. That's cool to hear, George. I'm happy to hear that. I knew you would be. Yeah. I mean, I love that album. I'm a new convert. I'm late to the party. Yeah. That's a conversation, a really nice conversation Will and I had at the pint also. So many conversations.

So many conversations at the point that I wasn't invited to. That might have been beer two or three. I can't remember. I don't like it. He's like, I need another beer. These conversations are usually whispers in the ear. Gentle. With a beer. One hand is rubbing a back. The other hand is sucking a beer. It's sucking something. Beer is in quotes. More death.

And then when it's reversed, Mark is on, it's like, less death, more prog. You know, I have to say. That's the entire conversation that goes on for three hours. Yeah, we just keep going in a circle. Yes. Circled something. You know, I have to say, like, I think. Circle of life. Fallujah's earlier albums were more. Apropos to the name of the band.

I feel like this newest new album which I downloaded and I started listening to it and I'm like nah like this this is you should just call yourself something different like call yourself like you know yeah like call yourself Paris like you should not call yourself pollution anymore I agree like call yourself Paris maybe like Rome like change your name a little bit this literally makes no fucking sense like it's you know your mind would be great call yourself Rehoboth Beach call yourself Rehoboth Beach

I don't have speech at this point but you should not be called Fallujah anymore boy all right yeah John and I did not have this conversation at the point because we're too busy making out they should call themselves Will yes all right let's move on to 11 then I got then I got to get a beer after 11 so and we yeah and we yeah go we before you get into that I just want to say you know

There's that guy from the Black Eyed Peas, Will.i.am. We've got our own. His name's Will.i.did. What did I do? Everything and everything. Including you, George. That's right. Bitch. All right. Carry on, John. Say my name, bitch. Bitch. Bitch, I'm Madonna. I think it's more like Will.i.commed, but whatever.

Please take us in to pick 11. Even George's eyes were great on that one. Come on, let's keep this train rolling. Isn't it you, John? No, Mark is on 11. Oh, we're on 11 now. Oh, because I just did Fallujah, right? I don't know how we got to John. Well, I just discovered this Survee cloud cover.

is only 12% so it's actually less than the massive.

All right. So number 11 for me is cave sermon, fragile wings and independent release.

I like that too. That's good. That's great. Progressive and playful post-metal just flowing with interesting distorted guitar sounds, shifting tempos and a cavern full of blackened emotional depth.

It's a heavy record, but there's just more melody, more vulnerability on it than the last record, which I also really liked. And the songwriting is just a lot more dynamic and clever. I think the shift in sound that the band did on this record just makes it more intensely compelling and unique. There isn't really another record that quite sounds like this one. And it has been up and down

my list. So it was in the top 10 for a while and now it's at 11, but I feel like it could dip back in. So I am curious to see where it's going to land year end because I do feel like it has a chance to be in the top 10, even with all the other albums coming out. But if you haven't heard this one, I think it's by far their best record and the most interesting one they've put out. Cool. No, it's good. I liked it. Yeah.

All right, Matt. All right, Matt. What's your number three? Three coming up? No. Okay. So I had a sub-conversation that was internal about, well, I had it externally, but internally I kept thinking like, hey, I'm listening to stuff that I don't normally gravitate towards. So a conversation between Matt and Bitchy Matt? Exactly. Now a sub-sub-conversation would say that this was probably the first album that I feel like kind of like kicked that off from my brain internally.

I was listening to whatever day it came out, A New Music Friday. It says March 14th. As I was going through Bandcamp, just hitting each album, getting whatever track they want you to listen to, it was this track called Dover Hendrix. I just remember listening to it and I stopped working and was like, what am I listening to? It wasn't anything crazy, but it was just something like the melodies, whatever the song structure totally hit me. It completely got stuck in my head, so I kept going back and listening to the

I really dig this album. On my list, I have two bands that feature members of the other band, Atheist. This is one of them. It is a one-person project called Desiderium, and the album is Keys to the Palace. It is a melodic progressive death metal album via Willow Tip Records. I have heard of it. Yeah. It's really good. It's a long album, I believe. It is. It is definitely long. It's long, but Willow Tip, man, they have

just a lot of unique bands on that label. Yeah, definitely. Cool. I think Matt is doing a good job of getting the old Wilson Award here for mid-year anyways. I have a good start. Not bad. Indeed. Nice. John. All right. So my number 10, I don't have any cheeky movers. Oh, wait. We're on 11. Oh, yeah. Number 11. Yeah, number 10 would definitely not be.

Oh, Wilson.

This probably is.

It's probably the album that has the most rock in it.

It's not a rock album necessarily.

It's a lot of prog metal.

But it features members of Warlord, Fate's Warning, Redemption, Steve Vai, Alcatraz.

And I don't really give a flying fuck what anyone thinks.

Yeah, they're rock choruses.

But this is still pretty heavier than half the album is probably on this podcast. But I didn't know how I was going to think about this. I love this album. The album is A through Z. It is A to Z squared, also known as Alligator Zipper on Metal Blade Records. And it's Mark Zonder, who is of Warlord and Fates Warning, ex-Fates Warning, the drummer, put together this band. It features Ray Alder from Fates Warning, the singer.

It's got just all these other great musicians that are

well-known throughout

the hard rock and metal

and prog world, including

Nick Van Dyke being added from Redemption,

which gives the album way more

oomph than the previous album, I think, personally.

And I just think the songs are better, personally.

And I like the cover better,

which is saying something, because they're

kind of unusual album covers.

First one was Apple Zebra.

This one's Alligator Zipper.

I don't know what they're doing.

I really don't.

I don't think I do an alligator.

I mean, currently doing zoo animals.

Yeah, it's got to be A to Z.

And it's somewhat tongue-in-cheek a little bit with it.

But the musicianship on this is you're not going to find it out with better quality musicians just because they're all studs in their own right.

And Zonder is just a fucking beast on drums.

He's one of my favorite drummers of all time.

So, yeah, it's cool.

I guess it's got hard rock choruses but the rest of the stuff is all very metal-ish. It's got a lot of Fate's Warning later year vibes to it. More so than the first one. The first one I think was more of a hard rock AOR album. This one's a heavier album. And that's why I didn't include the first one. This one I am. Right. Nice. Yeah. Well it's interesting because I'm the complete opposite. Like I like the first one better. Really? I like the album cover better. I like everything better about the first one. I had a hard time getting

getting into this one.

But I agree with you about it being like heavier where it could qualify as a metal record.

Whereas the first one, I wouldn't have.

No, it's just a straight hard rock album, I think.

Yeah, but I would like the first one better.

But maybe I just need to spin it more.

I don't know.

There was something about it that just did not capture me.

So now I'm intrigued because I didn't know that you would even put this on your list.

So I'm going to go back to it, John.

Yeah.

Like I said, the addition of the guy, Nick Van Dyke, the guy from Redemption on guitars, I think gave it a lot more oomph and sound much. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, Ray Alders, this is his wheelhouse now for vocals. Oh, absolutely. Sounds amazing. Sounds amazing for his age, considering, and George, I'm sure you remember the early days, just screeching right after. Yeah. And it took him a few albums. And then once he found his place, he became a,

A through Z, not A to Z. Apparently it has to be an animal and some weird item. It has to start with an A or Z. Yes. All right, Will. What's your death metal album, Will? You know me so well. Cancer, Invertebral.

Cancer was a band that I loved when I was in high school. And having battled cancer, I love them even more now. Kind of like after I had Anthrax, I really liked Anthrax. After I had Herpegono Syphilates, I really liked that band too. Is there a band called Syphilis and Herpes? Herpegono Syphilates. I love those.

I always thought poison should tour with the cure you know just yeah

warrant cherry pie is also a favorite of wills yeah yeah oh well no I mean she's only 17 right no that's

I love how I know that though. I'm gonna get us through my 11 here. Also death metal record. Death worship. Gruesome. Silent Echoes. Nice. You know, these guys are really good at doing what they're doing. And I don't think there's anything cheap in it at all. And the only reason I said it is I think Will was sort of like made it his album of the month. He's like,

a cover or a tribute. No, they're fucking great, dude. They really... And it took a while to make this one because they're moving into new eras now. And they did it right. You know? They did. I mean, why not? We're not going to get any more death records. Have fun, man. I love it. I mean, I agree. I think the album is really good and they're great at what they're doing, but they're playing death. So it's like I could just listen to death records. No. So it is a hard thing for me. I can't put them on my list just because they're so blatant in there.

and their worship for death.

And there's nothing wrong with it.

It's just not.

I just look at it as.

That discounts.

This is the closest thing.

Because death is one of my favorite bands.

This is the closest thing I'm going to have.

Yeah.

To if death put out new albums.

And they nailed it.

They absolutely nailed it.

I totally understand that.

I just.

That discounts just about every black metal band out there.

Yeah.

Because they all sound like.

But if this affords you a deep.

I don't think that's true but that's interesting but they're they're they're copying death you know they're making in the vein of death and they're not apologetic for that which I like I like they're saying that you know we're doing this and that's what we want to do and so I have respect for that but it's hard for me to put them on a top 20 list when they're just doing that

Even though I would say the songs are terrific on that record. Yeah. I think it's the sense of nostalgia that it gives me that I like so much about it. And that not only that, but they try to stick to the right kind of production. They do proper covers. It just takes me back to 1986. Yeah. No, and I have no issue with somebody else doing it. It's just for me, it's a little bit different. So yeah, I think it's a great record. All right. My number 11.

from the United States of Poland. I hate this band because they're named Hate Bellum Regis. Fair enough. Yeah. Yeah. What else do you got to say about it, George? Yeah. He hates it. He hates hate. I hate everything. I hate hate haters. Yeah. What a bunch of haters. Yeah. Really? No, it's a cool album. It's just, yeah, it is well produced and, uh, and it's just,

High praise from George right there. It's kind of massive and it's just, you know, I put this on and I just love it. I love it. Nice. It's all I got to say. I love it. George has to say about that. Yeah. Poland making four stops on our list so far. It's true. Two albums, but four stops. Nice. All right. So number 10. Here we go. Top 10 boys. Almost getting serious. Almost. Start to think about it. Not until top five. We're considering it, yes. But friendship.

Yeah, things are getting strange. Friendships. Because we've got to see some cross-pollinization here. I mean, this could be the last episode ever. All right. So number 10 for me is another Doom record. Really good year for this particular genre and metal and its structure, heritage on Ardua music. This album is titanic and beautifully forlorn funeral doom sorcery.

that really expertly balances the monstrous sections with that kind of somber, heart-rending passages that you have to have in Doom. So in the album's press kit, the guitarist named Bram said that heritage is about family, history, and all that makes us who we are. It is about loss, hope, and all the emotions that fuel us on an everyday basis.

It is a very personal album about what we become in life through our heritage and experiences. And I feel that on this record. You know, a lot of times people say that. They say what the concept is and you're like, okay, well, it's a good album, but I don't really connect to that. But I do with this one. It evokes the kind of relatable intensity that comes from the weight of legacy or the absence of love.

ones and how we reconcile our feelings of loss, of guilt, of obligation. And I think that the crushing exploration on this album makes it one of the best Doom records of this year, but not just this year, but of the last few years. So this is one I think everybody should listen to if you're into Doom. Even if you're not into funeral Doom, it has got a lot of upbeat sections to it.

So it's not super slow all the way through. It has a varied tempo to it. But I love this record. Cool. I'll check it out. Nice. All right, my number 10. I'm not going to talk about it too much because I know I will hear it at least one more time, or at least I believe I will. This band is considered post-black metal, which I feel like they are that.

but maybe a little bit more atmospherical black metal as well. They're from France, which I say that because I feel like post-metal and France are two things that go together and kind of create their own sub-genre. I'm talking about The Great Old Ones and their album, Kadath. This was one of my albums of the month way back when, and it has remained in my playlist and my list itself just because of its quality. Nice. It's a good album.

That was your January album of the month, right? Yes, that sounds right. Way, way back. Way back in the time machine. The early days. Yep, sure seems like it. All right, my number 10. Jay, I'm jumping on with you on this one. Imperium Triumphant, Gold Star, Century Media. Yeah, as I said earlier, this was my album of the month for March. This one caught me by surprise because

I love everything about the band's aesthetic and the whole Art Deco and what they're trying to achieve but it never resonated on any of the albums I'd like part of the albums but not enough of the albums and I always felt like I kind of drifted when I was listening to it but this one I stay focused for the whole time including the whole Gold Star ad in the middle of the album which I think is kind of funny and that idea that they're trying to come up with the sounds of New York City is

I mean, I hate to say that because I always feel like, oh, it's New York. It's number one. No, that's spot on. So if they keep doing albums like this, I'll be on board. So, yeah. Number 10. Daily Double. Well, looks like I'm just in time. Number 10. Or another death metal album? Well, yeah. Duh.

having another IPA? Yeah. Yeah. All right. We like what we like. I think I got this one from Markisan Colt's blood obscured into nebulous dusk. Oh, yeah. Well, that's doom. Yeah. That's a little variation. Oh, it's so good. I'm so happy that you have it. I'm shocked. Well, James Lewis will be proud of my death doom selection that I got from

But maybe George told me about this first, but I really think it was Markisan. No, it was me. It was my album of the month. George listened to this album two years before it was controlled. You respect the pod pod. Hell, I named this band. They came to me and said, hey, what did you name this band? George actually wrote this album. George is half cult. I don't know if you know that. That's right. That's awesome. That is my number 10. Cool. Dude, that is awesome. I'm surprised.

But pleasantly surprised. How are you surprised? It's right in my wheelhouse. I mean, it's very Doom. It's slow. Yeah, in my wheelhouse. Death, Doom, Thrash. Death, Doom, Death, Doom. It's sludgy. If you like the sludgy, you like the sludge. Doom, Thrash. I like it. There's no Thrash on there, but... He's just giving us all the stuff he likes in like one sentence. Dude, just let me

B.T.'s far favorite record of the year so far. So he says, Sour Amidst the Ruins. Oh, wow. Nice. And do we agree on how to pronounce that? Soar. It's not sour. It's like sore.

Like your butt is sore. Or you're flying over the trees. Having spent a weekend in a room with Marcasson. It's sore, not sour. Hey, Will. It's not what you taste from George. It's what you feel from Marcasson. Yeah. Hey, Will. You're welcome. Nice. Nice. I have to go back to that album. I need to spin it again. It's really good.

on the first list. I just never went back. Yeah, fair enough. Georgie. Nice. My number 10 from the United States of Virginia. What? Scalder Samsara. There we go. Believe it or not, that's the first three-peat. Yeah. Came for the music, stayed for the nipples. I think you came for the nipples and stayed for the music. Yeah, that's what I meant. Emphasis on.

It came. Yes. In the past tense. Yeah. No. Good album. Good guys. It is. Definitely. Yeah. All right. Well, let's move into the top 10. We're firmly within double digits. And it's number nine. And I'm going to go with yet another volleyball. Autumn's Dawn. We lost our hope along the way from avant-garde music.

So we have a listener named dead wings of destiny commented on Instagram. He always comments on Instagram. And he said that autumn's dawn is black metal plus Christie front drive, which was a little known emo band from the late nineties. And I think that description is deadly concise and accurate and completely nails why I like this record so much because.

As a kid who really got into music through emo and hardcore, I could not get enough of the lush sounds of Christie and other bands like Texas is the Reason, Braid, Promise Ring. I was really heavily into those kind of bands at the time. So the sound on this Autumn's Dawn album, you know, it brings me back to the musical wanderlust of my teen years, but it also gives me,

that black metal heaviness that I yearn for as an old metalhead. So it's perfectly in my wheelhouse. And it's definitely one of my most listened to records this year. And I know a lot of people who comment on Metal Fridays were into this one as well. So we'll see what they say after we put out this list.

If we have a list. Right. It's few and far between. Yes. Scalder right now is just dominating the list. No, I mean that. That's the only one with three picks so far. Some of our low, so we'll see. I know. No, I'm just saying in general. Yes, you're right. They're leading as far as favorites among the metalheads. Nice. All right. Matt.

Matt. Muted yet again. Wilson. This guy's not even drinking. What is going on here? I hate myself and want to die. A Nirvana song. Anyways. If I had to say one thing about my number nine pick, it would be that I'm definitely still processing the sandwich. Excuse me. Album. Already mentioned. Changeling. By the band Changeling. German supergroup. German supergroup. Nice. Two of three. Scheisse. Two so far.

Two of three.

Seven of nine.

Yeah.

Stop reading John's mind.

All right.

My number nine.

Matt, can I climb in that new Snuggie I sent you online?

Please.

Please.

There we go.

Let's go back to January.

Yes.

Let's do it.

Way back when.

God, January for me feels like fucking three years ago.

Anyway.

I agree with you on this one Matt

I like this album a lot

I think it's good it might be my favorite from them

but it's because it's the least

atmospheric black metal of them and it's still

atmospheric black metal but there's a boatload of posts

in there great old ones

Kadath whatever you want to say from

Seasons of Mist it's a cool album

I know that

Kadath

that's even better because it's like more evil

tougher

yeah tougher it's like Kadath

I made some more beer. No, it's good. I like, I kind of dig where they go with this album. I've liked the last three a lot. And I think Markisan you and I, maybe, I don't remember anyone else. So I apologize. I think we had their last album on our top 25. The last one was definitely on my list. Yep. Which we both, I think, liked. They're a cool band. I don't think they get enough credit for what they do. Absolutely true. They're kind of part of this ever expanding world of Lovecraftian.

and metal bands, whether it be black or more death than black. And I feel like they all get lost in this big, huge, like with Sulphur Xeons, another one. They're all part of this world. And they're all cool bands because they all give a different take on the Lovecraftian world. So, yeah, cool album. Great old. And it's the old ones, not the new ones, the old ones. And they're great. They're the best.

Jay and I will see them at dinner and oh shit I got two minutes to get there fuck

65 plus old one

and then afterwards you'll see us on the rocking chair for an hour outside

that was damn good

shotgun's optional

you're gonna need a shotgun man to get up you gotta bounce yourself up

shotgun devils as a cane

Yeah. But get it? Like the ones you see on the infomercials. I'm a big infomercial fan. It's got it that it comes down. It's got like the four things and it kind of swivels on the bottom. Have you seen those yet? Yeah. I'm like, man, if I fuck my back up that bad, I need one of those things. Yeah. All right. Sorry. I'm going on too long. Sorry. Will. No, you're not, dude. You're not. Number nine, Will. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's for Justin. Scalder. Sam, sir. What?

Well, now, hold on, but yeah. Hold on. It's going to get ugly, but I. Okay. Yes, it's a award. Are you announcing a J award? No. Oh, no, no, no. I already called Skull to my own. Yeah, you did. All right. All right. I just I'm I'm I'm dubious that it's going to hold that spot. It's got right now, but we'll see. Oh, yeah. I mean, no, but on the other hand, I could be completely fucking wrong. I think it's a I think it's testament.

We love those guys. And it's a cool album. Yeah. It's not just because we know them. They actually made a pretty good album. Oh, yeah. Hell yeah. And Will, I have to admit, had you, had I known Carrie would be involved in this when I first met him early on at Atlas. And we were, he and I were talking about like Devin Townsend. And he's like, oh, yeah, I got this band thing going. I was like, oh, okay, that's cool. Now we're two albums in. I'm like, fuck yeah, man. Yeah, dude, they're great. You know? Don't let them fool you. Don't let them fool you.

It's all about the nipples. Super nice guy. It's like, hey, how you doing, man? He's up there with his face paint, no clothes on. You guys are definitely swayed by the guys in the band. There's no doubt about that. Have you seen these guys? They're awesome. Those guys are always great guests. For sure. My number nine is, if you want a good old school thrash album, there's a lot of places to go these days. Can you go anywhere better than an old school thrash?

who hasn't released an album since 2020. Sodom, the arsonist. I was wondering if someone was going to bring them up today. It's really fucking good, actually. I mean, it's just punishing. It could have been released in 1988, but it could have been released now and they both work. So it's good stuff. Sodom is one of those consistent bands that's sort of like Overkill or something. They'll always be kind of a B-tier band, but when you give them your attention, you're sort of like, this is fucking pretty fucking good.

And I think that partially is due to Sergey, who's a huge Sodom fan, and he pushed me towards them all the time. They're a B-tier band except for on Jay's list, where they're A-tier. And that's it. I don't need to describe Sodom to anybody on this podcast or probably anybody listening. Might have heard of them before. But we'll just say German Thrash. The Sodom Destruction Creator Trio.

Indeed. And honestly, all a little different from each other, which is nice, but all a little more punishing in some of the other stuff out there. Yeah. Especially in the early days. All right. My number nine is a repeat, finally. Second two of two, I'm going to say. From the United States of America. Obsidian Tongue, Eclipsing Worlds of Swore. Oh, wow. Nice.

That's a good album, man. It is. It is a good album. A little too proggy for some, but you know. Yeah, it's a little too proggy, Chris. We saw them, didn't we, in the woods? Yeah, and Shadow Woods. I bring that up every time an album comes out. Did we see them in the woods? Yeah. No, they're cool. And I was all like, hey, Brandon. I had to stand up to the side like, George is totally geeking out right now. I was like, hey, Brandon, I know Joel and you know Joel.

I'm a fan. Because Brendan is in Thrasenblatt. Yes. And we all know Thrasen George and Thrasenblatt. Yeah. He was just like, whatever, weirdo. I know you did. George and Blatt. He's like, what's this random dude in the woods hitting me up for? Yeah. Which, by the way, that was a really cool fest. It was. I just didn't want to camp out there with all those smelly metal fans.

Then don't go to fucking, I guess. That's why I've never been there. All right. All right. Number eight. Number eight for me. I guess there's a chance Matt might have this one on his list because I think he is a fan of it. But the band and the album is the same name and it's collapsed.

KLPS from These Hands Melt Records. This is the second album from Collapse, and it's just a blistering post-metal sludge record infused with hardcore ambient synths and massive mining truck-sized riffage. But there's also some calm inside the storm passages with more simple guitar strums,

and rhythmic drums that add a really great contrast and elegance to the overall heaviness of this record. It's like one of my favorite records to drive to. When I went to go visit Jay, actually, and I was driving out there, this is the record I listened to, going to him and back. So, yeah, it's definitely a record I throw on quite a bit and really enjoying it. So, Collapse, self-titled.

There's something special about the road trip album.

There really is.

At some point,

one of my road trip albums is

Satriani's Surfer the Alien.

You spin it in the car and you get done, you're like,

fuck, I'm going to play that again.

That was really good. And I've got like

eight more hours in the car.

There's something about that.

It just sticks with you. And we all have

our own unique

albums.

Yeah, no, it's become that because anytime I travel, I'm like, oh, what should I listen to? Oh, maybe I'll put on that collapse. It's also my gardening album, which is weird. Basically, out there, like picking up weeds and I threw it on there. And really, it was the first time I hadn't really, I had listened to it, but I hadn't paid attention to it. You know how it is when you first listen to records sometimes. Oh yeah, you don't even listen the first time sometimes. No. And so I'm out in my garden and I'm like, wow, there's a lot more variation and interesting things going on in this record. And that's when I,

That's actually when I really took to the record was when I was gardening and I was listening to it because it just had a lot of more intricate parts that I had thought when I had first threw it on. And that has continued because I've listened to it to headphones now. I listen to it in the background. So yeah, I really love this record. Fuck yeah, man. Funny story. This album was totally on my radar and then totally fell

off of my radar. It collapsed. Yeah, but it collapsed off my radar. Nice, John. It fell off because they used to go like fully spelling out collapse. And so when I saw this band, KLPS, I was listening to it thinking like, oh, this is really cool. It kind of reminds me of collapse, like post-metal. It's like single bitch, it's collapsed. So thank you for bringing it up. Spoiler. Well, the interesting thing is that actually they spelled it normally like collapse, but it was, they put the

in parentheses or some shit at the end. But it was so close to another band who had just had spelled out the normal collapse that they decided to change their name to KLPS to just make it more distinct. Which I think was a good move. But, you know, some people have trouble saying that because you want to say KLPS, but that's not how it goes. Yeah. KMDF. I dig it. I dig it. So maybe it'll make an appearance on Maxi.

The Jam Dip was the first thing I thought of, John.

So they were in a little trouble there, but.

I was waiting for someone to comment on that.

It was the very first thing.

George like totally dropped the ball on that one.

Sorry.

It's like, what?

Did you say something?

What?

It was like, Jason, that's the first thing I thought of.

That's awesome.

All right.

Okay.

My number eight.

And John, I'm going to just keep thinking about your barbecue as I do this, because this,

it's just a long explanation.

Are you going to be there?

No.

But maybe. I'll see you soon. God damn it. Okay. 8-Bit Nintendo had this game, Silver Surfer. We've all heard about Silver Surfer, but there was this video game, and I loved it as a kid. And I remember playing it a lot. I think this would be like seventh grade, which is really just like five years ago. Are you talking about Nintendo Silver Surfer? I'm talking about like old school Nintendo Silver Surfer. Dude, that game was so fucking hard though. Nobody could beat that game. But as I'm trying to get it in my collection again and play it, what I'm seeing is that game.

What I'm seeing is people are like, oh man, but it has the best soundtrack, which is the first time I heard this band, it reminded me of being in seventh grade playing Silver Surfer and thinking, you know, for whatever reason, it just is like, oh, this is so cool. The band I'm talking about is Fallujah. And this is way back with their first two albums, actually, probably the first three albums. I took a few albums off and now with Zenitaph, I think is what it's how it's pronounced.

I'm realizing I'm falling back in. I'm back in stride. I'm digging there. To me, it's almost like progressive tech death with some sci-fi feel to it, but really solid. Yeah. Wow. All right. But have you heard of their new name? Paris. Oh, shoot. I meant to call them. Or Amazon. Paris. Paris. Paris.

I can never say Paris with the clean singing. Yeah. What else do you say? What are you listening to? I'll say Perry. Oh, Felucía. I feel like wasn't there a hair metal band who went by Paris at first? I feel like Poison. Oh, Shock Paris. Yeah. I feel like there's a Paris is Burning band. Dokken had a song called Paris is Burning, but Shock Paris was what came to my mind too. Yeah, don't tell Don Dokken. I don't even know what they sounded like. Might lose a shit.

-Paris's Burning is by the way, at the very least a cool instrumental, you know. - Yeah. - Well, George Lynch has got credibility, so. - All right. - Let's see where we go. - Nice. So my turn? - Yes sir. - All right, so this is a text I sent to George about this album. "Dragons? Nope. D&D type lyrics? Not my thing. Kick-ass US power metal music, but new wave of British heavy metal sprinkled in. Sign me fucking up. Helms Deep, Chasing the Dragon on Nameless Grave Records.

Where the fuck did this come from, man? I'm so in on this album. Tell us. I know, George. I know you were like, yeah, it's cool, but not my, not. It's list worthy. Wasn't sponge worthy. It's got John Gallagher from Raven. Yeah, it's crazy. It's got all these people from all these bands. The drummer's from Ice Age, which I'm a huge fucking Ice Age fan. They're a prog metal band. I don't know. I just, I always make the joke after our year end that I go on a US power metal or 80s metal kick because I need to

to cleanse my soul and go back to my roots and it's just there's something about from the 80s period from start 80 to 89 i can find something in that period that's gonna like make me feel good about being old and being a metal fan no because we grew up with that stuff yeah for sure and it's like uh you mentioned michael keaton earlier uh jay it's my whoobie remember yeah yeah the whoobie i totally did i get it and i know and i feel the same way and i miss it and and

I know it sounds, oh, dead rock. Yeah, go fuck yourself, dude. That was a badass time for us. It really was. It was a different time. I would say, John, one of my great will be records is Screaming for Vengeance. Oh, God. Yeah. And I know for Will and George, it's Defenders. But it was just that whole period. Yeah, of course. There's something about that period. Not much was going wrong, yeah. And so Helm's Deep, while a very modern take on that.

I don't know. I just kind of dig it. It's just like the first song is like six and a half minutes and it's basically just half of it soloing. It's like this is so badass. So yeah it's I I moved my timeline up for this year for all my U.S. power metal and what I mean by U.S. power metal is not that cheesy like gang chorus singing from post Halloween post blind guardian power metal in Europe. That stuff's cool. I don't mind that stuff.

And some gamma rays kind of cool, but anyway, yeah. Helm's deep. It's not Will deep, but it's Helm's deep. You like that? Will immediately, his head pops up on the ground. Oh, that's a good trick. Nice work. Yeah. Remember that in the future. I mean, nothing as deep as the Will well. All right. Yeah, Will, tell us what's not, what is. Number eight.

Number 8. Dormant Ordeal. Tooth and Nail. Three times. Nice. I feel as though whatever month this came out, this probably should have been my album of the month. How many of those do we all have? I love this album. Never heard of this band ever before. When this came out, I was like, holy crap, this is awesome. Did somebody beat us up on this one?

on New Music Friday, like, hello! Oh, no, I think it was our album of the month. It was our album of the month post, and some people were upset. I've got to go back and listen. Which is funny. I'm glad people tell us that stuff, because I don't remember half this shit. I really don't. It has a really good showing so far on the list. Especially that. That'll pump it up right there. It came out in April. Oh, April. All right. What was April?

Mine, this might be a, this is probably almost surely a volleyball. Oh, sorry, Jay. No, I'm just kidding. Were you finished? I couldn't let you go in. Oh, no, no, I skipped you by accident. I apologize. Oh, no, no, no. Big Sounds, Epic Black Metal from Finland. So I think this is my second Finland band. It might be my third. Bloody Valkyria, In Our Home Across the Fog. This is your Dungeons and Dragons Black Metal, George. If you still, if you want to collect all the

Dungeons and Dragons and Dragons.

Hi, James. Nice. All right, George. Sorry, I was... I was thinking about my latest campaign. What, are you looking at porn? Geez. No, I'm looking back to see who yelled at us about that album. Oh, it was just somebody like, hello, have you not listened to this album yet? I was like, uh... I'm a 12th lover cleric. I'm like, no. All right, I'm surprised this one hasn't come yet.

I don't know if it will. I would think that it will, but we'll see. From the land of Finn, the United States of Finland, as it's known. Another Finnish band. Havukruunu Tavastland. Oh, nice. I think it's the first time we've heard him today, right? Yeah. That is a good record. I didn't even know people liked that record. It's cool. It's good. Yeah, it bounced out of mine. Well then.

Yeah. Well, you're at least sucks ass. I liked it, but I don't know what it was. I'm going to pull a George here. And for some reason, the production just rubbed me wrong. I don't know why. Too muddy. It's not low-fi. It could be better, but the music was cool enough that I overlooked it. It is. I agree. And maybe I just didn't go back to it. I was in the office at that time, back in the office for the first time in years, and I heard it.

And I was cool. I just, like I said, this year sucked for me. Yeah. No, I like it. Nice. All right. On to number seven, Markisan. Number seven. Oh my God, it's going so quick. Number seven for me is the sole instrumental album to make my list. Sorry, Pelican. It's my go-to late night listen for the last two months.

since it's been out and it's a remaining warmth before the years on reflection nebula records and this is just a really gorgeously textured and delicate ambient black metal voyage it completely envelops me in light like i'm walking into an ethereal realm where everything i love is waiting for me and it's still heavy it's still got

the black metal on it, but it's called Remaining Warm, and it feels like that. It feels like you have this warm wash coming over you, and I love that because it's something different than everything else that's coming out. This is a new project from Andriy Novazilov, who is one half of the amazing Atmo black band El Hava.

who has been on my list multiple times. And the only thing else I would say is that there's a warning to Will on this. I don't think you would listen to this album anyways, but in case he does, warning to you, Will. The opening track is a slow build with sounds of kids playing. They don't sing, but it could be a trigger for you, so you might want to avoid this. Are they about to slaughter the kids? No, no. They're just playing. It's the joyful

sounds of kids on a playground or something.

That may be tolerable.

You could do it.

I may be able to do that.

They fucking start singing though.

No, they don't.

No, it does that.

It's got an ambient introduction

and then these drums just kick in.

It's really good.

I don't put a lot of instrumental albums.

I think Pelican is probably the exception

because I love that band so much.

They didn't make my list.

If we had done a top 25, they would have been on that.

But this one, it just always gets me

because it puts me in just a very comfortable headspace.

And I like that, even though it's metal.

Like I said, it has a very warm feeling to it.

And I need that sometimes, especially at night.

We're going to take a quick break.

Hold on, guys. I gotta leave. Jen just called me. She's got a flat and I gotta go take care of her. So you guys can continue. I gotta get her to the pool and I'll come back and I'll just do, I'll just catch up and whatever pick I come back in, I'll just do all my picks. Yeah, that sounds good. Yeah, I don't want to stop you guys. Good luck, Joe. She's been calling. I'm like, what the fuck is she calling? Go, go, go. And she's like, I gotta float. I'm like, fuck. Okay, so keep going and then just let me know when I get back where I gotta pick up. Can you triple A? No, she just wants to bring the car home so we can do it.

I apologize.

Where are we right now? We're on seven, right? I just did seven. Okay, so I just want to know where to pick up. All right. I'll be right back. All right. Yeah. Thanks, guys. All right. Will's also gone. And the Metalheads podcast windows. You're up, Matt. All right. So post-metal has always been a love of mine. Hit me hard at a young age. I think I was like two or three. And it is just really strong.

with me throughout my life.

You really shouldn't hit a child that young.

Yeah, I know. Tell me about it.

As I mentioned earlier, French post-metal is almost a sub-genre unto its own,

which I would say post-metal or post-black metal.

And this is probably one of the first French bands I ever fell for in that genre.

And I'm talking about Decline of the Eye and their album Wilhelm.

That's a good record.

I forgot about that one, to be honest with you.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, I forgot about the collapse. You forgot about this. Yeah. Quid pro quo. Clarice. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Nice. Cool. I know you like that one. That's a good one. So now we have a dilemma. Well, I'll do mine, and then you can do yours, and if he comes back in between them, we'll win. We've got creative editing. We've got Will, too. No, I know, I know, but I mean, I'll do mine, and then we'll win.

comes back.

Well, even if it's two down or something, he can.

We'll just pretend like we're still on seven.

What's that?

We'll pretend like it's his turn.

No, I'm just going to.

That we haven't broken the flow.

I'm going to just say something, then we'll go to you, Jay.

Okay.

Yeah.

So we're going completely off the rails here due to things beyond our control.

So from this point on, shit is going to be completely out of order.

Deal with it.

We'll number them.

We'll tell you what it is.

We are now going to Jay for his number seven. And that is, with hopeful pronunciation here, Tamarum, Beyond Obsidian Euphoria on Prosthetic Records. This band from Atlanta, Atmospheric Black Death. I hear some little Mastodon riffage in there every once in a while, which is funny because I have to say, as we've gone on this year, I hear even in bands that are not at all Mastodon-like, they've really, really had an

and and I hear people when if somebody's playing a full bar chord and they play every note individually they were mastodon fans and and it's funny and I was just as I was listening to this band I was thinking god they creep in everywhere because these guys aren't even vaguely must mastodon like but all of a sudden there'll be some little thing in there but this is good fun atmospheric black death highly recommended heavy but with some nice little kind of breaks for your eardrums here and there and do something sweet and

and then back into it.

Thank you for doing that because

I actually have that written down in my

honorable mentions and I was like,

I don't know what the fuck this is.

I really doubt it.

You know what's funny, George, is a couple of

there's been a couple of things with Obsidian

and the title now and through this

whole list and I keep going back and going,

are they talking about my record there? But no.

Can I just make the name

a little bit more metal because

I would call him Tomeram.

Tomeram. Thank you.

I can work with that.

Yeah.

There are some accents and stuff over those things.

And so you're probably more right than I am.

You're like, I'm going to call him Tom.

Hi, my name is Tom Aram.

Tom Aram.

Hi, my name is Tom Aram.

Tom Aram.

All right.

So, Will, we need your number seven now.

Sorry, did you skip me?

We're going.

That's fine.

Edit.

John had to leave because Jen got a flat tire.

So we're just going whoever's here. So okay. Okay. Yeah. Sorry. William's like trying to mow the lawn and he's trying to do all kinds of other stuff. And so I have to help him out. My number seven. Sorry. Pause. Get ready to rerecord. Hello. My number seven is decrepacy. Deific mourning. Okay. Death doom. Shocking.

I cannot believe this. It's not even a genre you typically put on your list. I know. It's just, I know everyone's mind is blown. But I think I found these guys, I heard about these guys reading one of the decibel articles. Yeah. Cool. That'll happen. It will happen. Decibel leads to listening to music. Okay. All right.

I think that means it's my turn

Wait what about Jared you skipped

Jared he went

See everything's out of order

We're just gonna roll with it baby

Just like

Roll with it baby

Come on Jay help me out here

Steve Winwood

Thank you

From

The United States of Spain

This is Disosha to lift the veil. Nice. Very nice. Very nice. It's very nice. It's very Disosha. It's kind of heavy, kind of like a metal. I'm really shocked to hear this so high on your list. I like it a lot. Clearly. It's pretty good. Why are you Italian? I don't know. Because it's near Spain. They're not from Italian.

I mean,

it's such a great progressive metal record.

So I remember going on there because they did the,

I don't know what you call like a listening party,

I guess on band camp.

So I actually participated in that and listened to it before it actually

came out.

And that was fun because people were doing all kinds of comments and I

have that one on vinyl.

It's quite good.

I think Justin might've given me this one too,

but it was not recent.

This one came out earlier in the year and I've been into it since it came out. But I still think it was Justin that was like, hey, did you listen to that? Just like that. Justin's like, hey, did you listen to that? He's such a bully. Did you listen to this? Did you get this? I mean, I remember posting it to our messenger saying, hey, you guys should check this out because I just listened to the listening party. So it was probably me just giving Justin credit.

No, no, no, I remember that too, but it took Justin telling me to get me to go do it. Which is ridiculous. I know. He is the metal muse. He's my death metal muse. He's kind of limited. He's not. He's my, my. I didn't say yours. I didn't say everybody. For you, yes, for you. My death metal muse. Yeah. Yeah. He's branched out over the years, which is good, but more so than Will. No, he's not good. Just stick with death metal and be my muse. That's all Justin needs to do. And spoon.

really well.

He's your canary in the coal mine.

You're like, I don't have the time to listen to all these fucking records.

And then he goes, you want to listen to these four.

And you're like, man.

I love how George is like, you know what?

Very apropos.

Yeah.

I remember you said that, but I don't give a shit until Justin tells me about it.

It's like, what the fuck?

Really?

No, no.

I think what it was, was you mentioned it.

And, you know, people are always mentioning stuff.

But when somebody else mentions it, it's like, okay,

Bunch of people are talking about this. Now I need to go listen to it. It's not like I was dissing you. It's just that the more people talk about it, then the more I'm like, okay, maybe I need to hear that. I think I should just be enough, to be honest with you. But when he said it, when Marcuson said it, I was like, oh yeah, I'm definitely looking to this release too. I have been since I was four years old. And so I think I win. But I'm going to wait until somebody else mentions it and then onward. Yeah.

Whatever. Because it is Markisan. So. It's now my turn. And this is definitely an album that if Justin doesn't have an honest list, then you should just disregard every fucking thing he says. Because it's Frenolith, Ash and Womb, Dark Descent Records is my number six. And this album sounds like a muck crusted troll. Sure does. That's burst through a sewer tunnel and climbed in an old,

Misty Graveyard at night. It's bludgeoning and brooding with dense,

putrid rifts beneath a grimy, wet, atmospheric membrane.

Can I just tell you how much I am looking forward to,

based on that description, the new Toxic Avenger?

Yeah, exactly the same thing.

I am so excited about that, dude.

I can't even be going to tell you.

Peter Dinklage is the Toxic Avenger.

It's gonna fucking rule. What? Dinklage with putrid wrists in a grimy, wet atmospheric. There's a trailer for it. You should watch this trailer, George. Peter Dinklage is the Toxic Avenger. Okay, that's all I need to know. I'm in. It looks badass, dude. Uh, Matty. All right. Uh, what do we have here? So my number six, we talked about this band quite a bit on our last episode, including this album. It has been mentioned once, I believe. It is a self-titled album by the band, Rivers.

of Niall. No, kind of their first album with the bass player kind of migrating into or adding singing to his repertoire. And I think it's a good next step for them. And I really dig it. And I'm sure John does too. Is that twice or three, Dan? I think that's just two. Man, yeah. I just really dislike that record. Sorry. Okay. All right, Will. My number six.

It's a self-titled album. My only self-titled album. Corpus Ofol. Yeah, you know. George had that. Yeah. So this is the guys from Cerebral Rot. They reformed. Yeah. So Cerebral Rot was, well, they were scheduled to play Atlas and then one of the members got like food poisoning or something. So they did not play Atlas, but they showed up. The three of the four members showed up.

Like, hey, we'll still sell merch or whatever, but we can't play tonight. Super nice guys. And then Corporal Ophel played Atlas like about a couple months ago. And it was awesome. It was like the first time I've been back to Atlas after I stopped booking all the shows in like, I feel like a year. It probably wasn't a year, but it felt like a long time. But these guys brought it. Like, I just, their style of death metal, this probably should be higher on my list, but their style of death metal is just like, it's awesome. It's like kind of eclectic.

weird, but like on point, like it's just, there's so much about it. That's just awesome. By the way, did I mention it as death metal? Yeah. You know, it's borderline for me. I mean, I had it at 15. The vocals are very much in that gravelly cement mixer vein, but it's, but it's in a very, it's like, but it's a tight version of it. And so it works with the music and I like it. Yeah. Yeah. But how's the

It's not bad. It's alright. It's alright. Alright, Jay. My next is, you know, every year somebody does a good black and roll record. These guys come out of San Francisco and it's just, we've all got our little wheelhouses and I think we have multiple wheelhouses, but this is one of mine for sure. A band called Night. Cult of the Serpent's Sun. And it's just straight up black and roll, black and death, or, you know, yeah, black and death, whatever you want to call it.

And, you know, even little motorhead creeps in there and stuff, it's just super fun. And cool riffs. Well, I can say I love Black and Roll. And it's N-I-T-E. N-I-T-E, correct say. Yeah, that's a solid record. I've listened to that a couple times. I know it's gotten a lot of praise, so that's cool to see it show up. Man, we have a lot of different records on this Meteor New Point. Yeah, that probably should have been out. I don't know how. I feel like, oh,

I've got one or two left that I know I see a few here that other people have but yeah this is pretty. There's only been two from my list there's only been two repeats from other people so far. I know that that night album reminded me of you George because we were into the was it Unto Others and something else earlier in the year. Yeah it's got a little Unto Others to it. Yeah a good record. Yeah I kind of I or wait no it's down in my honorables but somehow it got kicked off I don't know.

It's better than the Unto Others. Well, at least the last record. I liked it. That last Unto Others was awesome. Not a lot of metal on there. Wait a minute. Oh, I was just thinking of that trailer. How come? Did you get a new phone number? Oh, yeah. He has. I think I'm the only one who has this new one. I'm like, who is this number? He got his phone stolen in Mexico. Remember? I had this whole

All right. Well, I need to add this to you. All right. Thank you for sending that. It was funny. I was sending Jay text messages and he never responded. And I was like, Jay. And so I finally sent him a message on Facebook Messenger. Like, what's going on? Why are you not responding to me? Oh, I don't like me anymore. You know, I did send it to when I got it. I sent it to the message. This is months back now, a year or something. And I sent it to the messenger. And no blame. You know, you guys think I was worn on your

phones and you didn't put it in your phone but i can send it to anybody who doesn't have it

yeah i'm adding that now actually i'll just send one to all you all right hey john why don't you give us your number seven oh oh welcome back john yeah holy smokes sorry it's a full service podcast i got a call the tires in trouble i'm coming home and take me back to the jiffy lube john yeah take me back to the uh no my better half is volunteering at a pool party today so i had to

driver back there. And literally people are like, that guy's driving like an asshole in the neighborhood. I got a podcast to get back to. Well, you only missed one, two. We need your seven and your six. Oh, you guys ready to go through six? Yeah, I think. It moves a lot faster when you're not here. Apparently. I think I was about to be up because Jay, you just did yours, right? Why don't we do George's?

Do yours and I'll come in after you. All right. So my number six is from the United States of America. And that is ancient death ego dissolution. No complaints there, I'm thinking. Nope. No, no. All right. I mean, a little low, I think. A little low. All right. That's all right. It's all right. All right. Now, John, now you're number seven and you're number six. Wow.

I missed everyone I feel bad I don't know what you guys picked so I have to get it for me

afterwards all right so my number seven this uh was mentioned earlier and it sounded like you guys

weren't as big on it but I'm actually big on it and it kind of finally got me because the other ones

did not get me before so I don't know maybe I'm coming about this a different way but my number seven

was mess of the spin on metal blade records I kind of dug the whole gothic doom thing they had going

and uh it just works for me I know you guys were saying that it wasn't necessarily working

100%. Not that it wasn't. It just wasn't 100% for you. And for some reason, it got me. I don't know if it'll end up there. It just was getting a lot more spins towards the mid-year. What was the name of the band again? Messa. Oh, okay. I thought it was something to something. You ran the album in with it. Got it. Yeah, Messa, I know that one. Messa? Well, Jay and I talked about it earlier. Yeah. In this cast. Yeah. And so I wasn't, I don't know if I'm the only one who's going to have him on this time.

I don't know. I don't know. I missed some pitch. Probably, but they're catching ears. And they've been doing interesting stuff for the last few years. So. Yeah, I think that that's what makes them kind of cool is that they're not sticking to a formula for every album. But that's cool. Whatever. All right. So my number six, since you guys are already through six, it's been mentioned already before. Supergroup from Germany. Changeling. Changeling. See, this is a myth. Progressive Death Metal. I don't know how many people have mentioned them so far, but. I think that's three.

3? Okay. Cool. So, there you go. Now we're getting real. Now we're getting serious. Fucking crazy. Number 5. Take a break. Call loved ones. Write stuff down. Maybe just call your friends. Yeah, I gotta go change the time. Top 5. Here we go. How far are we into this? Let's see. 3 hours. 40 minutes.

We're 15 picks deep. Yeah. My number five is Breaths, Death Can Wait, which was my album of the month for June, independent release. We had Jason Roberts on last year to talk about his work on Breaths. And at that time, he had released the self-titled Breaths record, which was primarily shoegaze with clean vocals. But with Death Can Wait, he brings back

the heaviness. And I think he just created his best record yet. It's a big melty shoegaze with cascading black metal rippled with doom. And it explores the concept of salvaging what we can from a world that seems on the brink of breaking apart and still having hope for a better future, which, you know, is the world right now. So some of my favorite songs he's ever done are on this album I really like.

The Void and Now I Am Become Death Destroyer of Worlds. And I've gotten to talk to Jason over the last couple years. So that's been really cool too because he's a prolific songwriter, as we know from when we talk to him. He's always working on something else. So it's a really great record that just kind of merges all kinds of different genres into one. So love it.

Love it.

I figured you'd have that one on your list.

Yeah.

Matthew.

Okay.

My number five already mentioned.

Strangely enough, John, you text me one day and said, you like this band.

And I said, uh, I like a band that's spelled slightly different.

Um, and then I listened to this.

Wait, wait, wait.

Collapse.

Wait, Matt.

Say this.

I actually had listened to the album at that point and I kind of went back and realized like I love this album. It's been on regular rotation for me and I do like both Say Dust and Say Dist for the record. Wow. For the number five. It's called Something to Pierce. Yeah, you just took my volleyball away from me.

Oh geez. Matt likes any, any sad elements. Yeah. Wow. If there's a, if there's a say dust, then I'll take that too. I sent him a, I sent him a meme picture of a, God, I can't think of his name. Is it Grawl? What's the guy's name? And I just wrote say this and he wrote, no, say this is cool, but that's not the band. So I had to redo the meme. But say this.

Which is literally the greatest

That and

What's his name for mayhem losing his shit

Who said that? Fuck that? Who said that?

You know, during that movie

Metal Headbanger's Journey

Yeah, anyway

Wow, holy shit

I thought I was alone

On an island

With somebody else from another podcast

Ben, by the way

By the way

If we talk about this

We don't have to talk about it now

But Sam Dunn is doing the priest documentary. Yeah. Yeah. That makes me happy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I want to. Yeah. Yeah. I hope you talked about it. And I want to say Tom Morello is helping or something. Yeah. Yeah. No, I was talking about that. I don't know. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. My bad. Yeah. In any case. All right. So my pick. Yeah. Yeah. Already been mentioned. Maybe. Let me look on my list. Potentially twice. Rivers and Isle. Self-titled.

I liked, what is it, Matt? When I was, know my name, whatever the album's called. I think you were big on that, and I liked it. That was my number one that year. Who? But then I got onto them with the work, and I think, Jay, you like the work, I believe. I do, yeah. And so, and I get it. This is somewhat of a polarizing album for some reason. I don't know why, because they've changed three albums in a row. Actually, four albums in a row.

They have a different sound. So I like it. Whatever. We all like what we like. I think it's a cool album. I like the energy on it. It's different. So that's three for that one. Wow. We have a whole top five right now. We're getting better. We can do it. I see one I've got coming that's going to push something up and then we'll see. We'll see. I got a couple definite fucking. That volleyball is not being seen.

out by Bouvet Island.

So.

All right, Will.

My number one. We're on number one, right?

Yeah.

Number five.

Yeah.

Number five, Frenolith, Ashen Womb.

Ooh.

Wow, is that three?

Very close to mine.

Yeah.

Wow.

That is an amazing death metal album. I know, shocking, shocking.

No, but I'm going to check this out. That's three of you have mentioned.

No, it's really good. It's in the realm of Tumult, which I know you like. It's in that realm of caveman. I don't like the term old school death metal. It's more vicious and atmospheric than Tumult, though. Especially in the last record. I prefer the term super muddy. Yeah, I...

It has good production. Oh, for fuck's sake. You don't understand what good production is. And you don't understand when a band is trying to do something with production. It doesn't always have to be glossy sheen. There's different kinds of production that work for bands. And you don't differentiate, which is surprising to me. Well, yeah, if I can't hear what they're doing because it sounds like shit, then it sounds like shit. You don't understand. No, I just don't care.

I just don't care if you don't want to make it so that I can hear it I don't have to listen to it

who said that

that's nitpicking

number five will please

Marcus and most surely

and it has honestly

my favorite riff of

the first part of the year is on a song called

Gulch

this is Pelican flickering resonance

whoa

And I liked Pelican in the past too. And that particular riff, by the way, is just this nice, smooth, maybe Panopticon era ISIS kind of jam out thing. And the whole record's cool. It's got great riffs on it. You can't have an instrumental band if you don't have great riffs. And they pull it off. And it's heavy as hell too. So Pelican is a good band. Yeah, it's a really great record. It's funny because I hear everyone say, oh, they're so rejuvenized and it's so much energy.

I thought that was the last record. Nighttime. What was it? Stories. Yeah. I love the last album. I think the last two have been great. So. Okay. You bring a new guy in the band and everyone loses or bring a new old guy back. Yeah. Everyone loses their shit. More on that later. So. Okay. Hold that thought. Wait. Hold my beer. Oh, I finished it. That's cool. And it was fun to go to the release party and talk.

to those guys about the record and just their longevity because they've been around so long in Chicago. Yeah, they're all cool dudes when you see them. They're so cool. They're so nice. All right. Nice. George? My number five from the United States of America. Jeez. Fuck yeah. Fourth of July all the way, baby. Yeah, baby. I'm going to pronounce this in a Marcason way. The album,

Kineya by Kardashev.

Oh, wow.

That's a surprise pick.

I know.

It fell off my list literally last night, dude.

Wow.

It was there.

Yeah.

I need to go back to that album.

That actually dropped.

It was higher.

Really?

Wow.

Yeah.

I just, I need to spare to you that was there.

And I kept thinking, is there a little nu metal aspect to this?

And I don't want to.

No.

Well, what do you have to say about it, George?

I was wrong. It was just a very diverse and well done album to me. I mean, I put it on on a whim just because I had it like in my wish list, you know, because people mention things and I put it in the wish list. And at some point I go back and I check the wish list and look for interesting things. And I, I just put it on while I was working. And, you know, as frequently happens when I come across something I like, I get about halfway through and I'm like, wait a minute. I started it all over again and I paid more

because I was like that's pretty good so yeah I dig it I you know it's it's it's diverse it's the first time I felt a little ashamed I should have kept that I don't think it's as good as the last record I think it's kind of front heavy but um I do I mean I just like that band in general so if you actually follow our podcast we've given you a hundred and like 13 albums to check out so far so get on it Nick

This is ugly. Freaking love. Yeah. Nick, we want fucking detailed reports of every album you went back and listened to. We say that lovingly because we know you go back and listen to it. And he actually mentioned it on Facebook while we were recording. I know. That's awesome, man. We're hardly doubling up. I love it. There's no threesomes in this piece. There are some threesomes. Not from our picks, anyway. Yeah, there's a couple. We've had a couple so far. We've had one circle jerk so far, sort of.

Scalders got three. Four. Four. Rivers of Nile has three. Oh, yeah, Rivers of Nile. This podcast is crass. Crass. Well, we're going to double up on number four because I don't have a lot of shared albums with people. I think there's only two so far, but this will be the third. And we'll mention it, and it was surprising because it was not death metal. It was doom.

It was doom and it's cult's blood obscured in a nebulous dusk. Yep. On translation loss records. It's a. Collacial. Ritualistic blackened sludge doom that conjures nightmarish images of a world being slowly pulled down into a spiraling black hole where the shattered architecture and human renames from another dimension lie in the dark.

That's how I feel when I listen to it. It's fucking awesome. It's like an awesome? Fucking awesome. I love it. I've liked Colts Blood stuff before, but this one is by far my favorite album that they've done. I'm very happy to see where they're going with their sound. It doesn't really sound like anything else.

else that I've listened to this year as far as Doom goes. It's just really dire. I like that. All right. Matty. All right. Number four. I already mentioned I would describe this band as Gojira with Atmosphere. And that's kind of a blanket statement. But I'm talking about Disocia and their album To The Veil. Man.

I'm surprised to hear that this one's so high. I didn't think people were into this as much because I remember mentioning on Messenger and I there wasn't a lot of feedback. So interesting. Very cool. Hey, I. John, my turn. Wow. All right. So I had no clue this was going to be number four and it will not stay this high. But I'll tell you what.

Add a new person who's an old person back to a band and kind of changes things. Although it didn't really for me, but I don't know. Maybe it did. So my number four is Dream Theater. Oh, whoa. Wow. I thought he was going Pelican, didn't you? Yeah. You know, John does not like the new Pelican album as much as the last one. So I actually, I wasn't sure he was going to have it on his list. But the Dream Theater, I'm a little surprised. It is a good album, but it was.

And it just, I listened to it again the other day. I was like, you know what it is? It's when I listen to it, I remember the songs more than other albums I've listened to. So it just moved up my list for that reason. My list again, outside of the top, I said two, but it's really the top three. Now that I think about it, everything from here down, it's just based on more listens and what I remember. But I do like it. I mean, I saw them just recently when they played in DC and they played two songs from it. It was great. Are you sure it's metal enough?

Oh, God, yeah, it is. It's actually one of their heavier albums. And I'll be honest. Hold that thought. Oh, yeah. I'm sure George is going to have a rock album coming up. Oh, I know what's coming up. Yeah. I don't care, man. I like that record, though. If it's what I think it is, I dug it. And I'm very close to putting it on my list. Please carry on. I didn't mean to derail you. No, you're okay.

I really don't give a flying fuck what people think anymore. I was kidding. It's totally metal. No, I know. I know. I know where you're going. That's why I'm laughing. I like it. I remember it. It's not going to finish there. I'm pretty sure based on what's coming out, but it doesn't matter, man. It's my fucking list. Hey, I actually like went back to it again to check it from my list. So I like that saying something because that hasn't happened for a lot of their albums. The last three actually like before that there was some duds and that includes the Portnoy era. There was some duds.

at the end.

They've been around forever.

40 years, man.

It's going to happen.

Yeah.

But I saw them and there was a boatload of energy.

And it's not fair to say that because the other guy who was playing drums, Mike Mangini, was awesome.

He's great, too.

Oh, sure.

Of course.

I just think fans are fans and fans suck.

That's basically what it boils down to, man.

Especially Prague fans.

They're the worst.

Yeah, they are the worst.

And I can say that because I'm part of that world.

Fucking Hobbits. Well, that's cool because I figured if you were going to have it, it would be lower on your list. I did not expect it to be that high. Yeah, and it's based on listens more than anything else because I remember what I've listened to and I enjoy it. It is what it is. It won't finish there, I guarantee it. We shall see. Oh, it won't. That I'm sure of.

I apologize. I've not been 100% paying attention to everything that's going on. What's your next death metal album? Number four. Behemoth, The Shit of God. I don't think anybody has mentioned that yet. No. I may be a man alone on an island on this one. That would be funny to have Behemoth as volleyball. Yeah, I feel like this is the biggest band on my list. Yeah.

And the biggest fan has probably released something that I'm aware of. I mean, it's great. It's Behemoth. I feel like it's... We've talked about this on other episodes, so I'm not going to belabor the point. It's Behemoth. It's great. You love Behemoth. I do. But this is not their best effort. But it's still great. And I feel like this is where they kind of get into

this weird area where it's like if if some new band called monolith came out with this album and we were like oh my god this is the greatest thing but like it's behemoth like well you've put out a lot of better things before this but it's still great not to interrupt but monolith already existed around for like 20 years oh okay well they could have said 8 000 words there and it's already give them a break they're a death doom band from i believe france okay by way of grief

Yeah, God shit that out 42 years ago. Yeah. Anyway, that's my number four. You know, Jay, I'm with you on this. That's shocking to me. I'm going to laugh if they actually get one entry on our list. Behemoth? Yeah. I felt like we didn't like this one as much. I'm really shocked that Will has it at number four. You know what? I'll tell you this. This is a weird year. This is a weird mid-year. It is. I really didn't know where to put it. I had, and I literally put it.

I really like this is like this weird thing like I love behemoth yeah but you know what there's it's my number

there's three other ones ahead of me nostalgic bitch well I am well this is why this is why all you fuckers like the black album because you're fucked I don't like the black album so fuck you well well you know what but fuck you you good hair

Yeah, clearly, I'm really reeling from this. I gotta say that's a little disturbing. Number four, I'm shocked. I'm not shocked. I admit it's not a real.

I think it's fine. I mean, I had dream theaters. I think it's fine. My whoobies. Yeah, but it's up to you. It's absolutely up to you. Will. Thank you, Markisan for letting it up to me. Your opinion, man. Yes. I know. That is really shitting himself in the background right now laughing at us. And now, and now Will has hit Markisan with a chair and he's, he's got his head in the ropes and he's trying to wrap it around him. But, but we'll just hit him with a bat. Where did that? Oh, that's. Oh, but Matt just jumped on.

Can you stop describing our sexcapades? That is completely private. How do you know what goes on in our hotel room? Please get us out of this mess. I'm going to do my best. But I'm going to do it with a volleyball that shouldn't be a volleyball, even though it kind of falls in one of my personal wheelhouses. But it might even just get a whole bunch of confused looks. It's hard to do. But I could be wrong. This band, I will almost, well, no, I think I could probably get it right pronunciation wise. Svarta Havet.

This is a sort of trap them like post metal band with a small tinkling of

Kvelter talk and black metal in it and stuff. And they're from Finland on prosthetic records.

And it is so fucking heavy. And one of their descriptions is anti-fascist with goes two ways with me, meaning like maybe let's leave the politics out of it. But fuck, this is so heavy. So good and so heavy.

I mentioned trap them because they kind of have that trap them.

Trap Them was great. Well, they... It's just a last record before they dissolved. Yeah. But it's kind of got that unrelenting heavy vibe to it. But it's also almost just a totally black metal record. I don't know how to describe it, except that you might want to give it a spin. And it really hit me hard. I mean, it's up here high on my list for good reason. Have you listened to the Collapse record? Because I think you would like that. No, but I'll jot it down right now.

KLPS, dude. You're going to love that. If you like this, you're going to love that record. Jay, I'm adding this one to my list here. Yeah, I'm going to put it in the chat so you can see how it's spelled and stuff because it's fucking solid. It's fucking heavy as hell. Nice. Really liked it. Man, that's a surprise. We got a lot of surprises. This is a fun mid-year. Sorry, John. What? We're going to have like 1,600 volleyballs. I'll get to it when I get to it, man.

I'll wait for that garbage patch to make its way around. I mean, technically you have like five months and three weeks to get it done. I get Wilson just sitting there around like, you guys are fucks. George, number four. My number four from the United States of America. Wow. By way of planet Zeta in the Deneb system. Oh.

from Jesse Stiletto. Wow. He's doing it. I'm doing it. He's doing it. He's not doing it. He did it. I'm using the Hollywood Vampires YYZ exception rule. I'm putting that in there. You are to leave me out of all arguments from now on. I didn't know what to say right now. Jay, I didn't mention you at all. In a way, you did. But that's fine.

So we're shifting to the stairway. But no one said Clutch, by the way. Yeah, that's true. I just, I feel like everyone's possibly like, let's throw Jay under the fucking bucket. Your shackles have been removed. Dude, when you mention Hollywood Vampires in the Metalhead podcast, like I can mention Clutch isn't my number one. I should have just said it was Google. Oh my God. Anyway. I already forgot what George's choice was. Jay, our George, awesome pick. Yeah, it's a great album. It's more of a hard rock album, perhaps. Perhaps, really? Perhaps?

So that works for me. It's a great album. Oh my god. Wow. I'm sorry, but I didn't say it. It's heavy. Not even remotely metal. It's sort of heavy, I guess. It's very retro. It's got risk for the boister. If somebody put a boister cult album on their Metalheads podcast top 25 list, I wouldn't say a fucking word. That's the spirit. There you go. Jay knows what I'm talking about. I know. Anyway, let's move on to number three.

Asterisk on that one. Maybe. We're not even drunk. Fuck. Yeah. All right. Moving on to number three. What? I don't even know. Let me have a drink after this. I knew you were going to put this on your list. I wish we could do this from the back room at Monk's. Yeah. A French on and just fucking close that room off. Yeah. It would be nice to hang out more. Oh, my God. It's always so much fun when we get together.

We need to do a year-end where we're all together. It doesn't even matter where it is. We can pick a destination. Just do it together. It'll be fine. It has come up and we might have a location, but I haven't. I will do it no matter where it is. I don't give a fuck. Off air, we can talk. Let's do that. Meanwhile, number three. What?

Okay. Do it. So, hey, that's twice the best. I just want everybody to know who's listening. We're going to come back to metal after that pick. So you're on a different podcast. When George did his pick, we're coming back to the metal heads podcast. Maybe you'll like my next one better. That shit's coming up on another podcast. Trust me. It's going to come up on every podcast. George does. All right. So my number three is yet another volleyball for me. Alderglade, Holocene Extinction.

This is a shimmering atmospheric black metal blanketed by a spell of haunting dark forest magic. There's a sense of ancient mystery and wonder to this record that comes through in the ambiance of the guitar tone and this kind of a hushed fog of synth that's layered in the tracks. And sometimes I hear ghosts wailing softly in the wind behind me because of all the extra layers

they put in this or I feel the trees bending to greet me with a rustling curiosity the music on this it it alternately soars above the canopy with memorable swirling riffs and then plummets into the recesses of the woodland floor with chugging bass lines and glimmering waves of whispered keys and the vocals have this subtle

emotional shift from sorrowful exploration to harrowing pain that really makes me feel the weight of the compositions in a way that i haven't really heard except for one other record uh this year so um i love this album um they've only put it on cassette which i have and i listen to it almost every night like i'm gonna watch some shows i'm gonna work on my fucking metal list and then i'm gonna listen to

to Alder Glade, Holocene Extinction. And yeah, I love this. I love this band. I actually picked up their previous album on tape. They've only done cassettes. They had it at Meteor Gem, which is here in Chicago. It's a record store that only puts out metal stuff. And I've become kind of friends with the people there. So Alder Glade, Holocene Extinction, number three.

Matti.

I love it.

My number three has not been mentioned.

I wrote Uwata meets Ghostbath meets Yellow Eyes.

I'm talking about the band Blood Obsession and their album two.

As in two Roman numerals.

This is just like super intense.

Various forms.

Oh wait, hold on, John.

I'll flick my paper.

What label is that on, Matt?

That is on...

Yeah.

Sorry.

Debbie Muir Morty.

Oh, yeah.

That's what I figured.

Yeah.

Nice.

They are from the country called Unknown.

This is a very Matt band.

Yeah, totally.

It's awesome.

It was about as Matt as it gets.

Yep.

It'd take me a long time to verify they exist.

I can help with that.

I can help with that.

All right.

Awesome.

All right.

My number three, been mentioned. This is my biggest surprise for the year so far. Just caught me off guard because I never really jammed with this band, but I'm jamming with them now. That's Fallujah Zenitaph. Oh, there it is again. Yeah. What is it? What are they called, Joe? Paris? Oh, sorry. I did it too. It's cool. I did it too. Paris. Paris. They're from Europe.

from a country called France.

France.

Yeah.

They are the cousin of Gojira.

Yeah.

These guys are from my hood, man.

And Jay's old hood.

Yeah.

So totally caught me by surprise, to be honest with you.

I really didn't think I would.

I know I kept hearing.

I think I actually said this maybe on one episode we talked about it.

And I said, I feel like I should have listened to these guys.

Yes.

Maybe, Marcus, you may have said, I'm surprised you haven't.

Yeah, because it's so in your wheelhouse. Yeah. So I finally went and checked. I was like, what the fuck? Again, I think it's the stigma that they've had around that band. From the early stuff. Yeah. Yes. Whatever, man. People like what they like, you know? Yeah. I look at it like this. You show me your collection and I'll find a bag of shit somewhere in there. So. And no, I mean. I'm just kidding. I'm just having fun. You're right about the stigma because like Death Corps in general is definitely has like a vibe to it. And that is not what this is. Even though.

In the beginning it definitely had. Yeah. You know, it like there's some overlap. But it's just frustrating too, because there's some really good death core too. Just like there's really great black gaze and all kinds of other forms of. Hold on. Will, would you like to inject yourself in now? He just, I saw his head pop right up as soon as he said that, Marcus. I mean, Will sticks to like one, pretty much one genre, except for colds blood, which is the biggest surprise.

of the year so far.

I mean, it's in the death, doom realm.

It's got a little death.

Anyway.

I was, I'm happy to hear that this has shown up on a few lists and I'll add it.

I'm just going to say, because it didn't make my list.

It was close.

I feel like I just haven't spun it enough.

I do love it.

If we did a top 25, it's on there.

That's half of my list, man.

I just haven't spun it enough. That's my year. That's my whole year. It's so progressive and technical. Those kind of albums I really need to spend more time with, especially on headphones, to get the measure of them. And I've always liked Fallujah. They just haven't really quite made my list, but I've never naysayed any of their stuff. But I think this might be my favorite record they've done. So it's cool that you guys have represented it and here, but also

as your album of the month. I think you, John, and Matt both had it as your album of the month. I said earlier, I think I asked you, Jay, I was like, this is unusual here. It just seems like there's a lot of technical depth that I like, that I actually like a lot. I mean, Changeling is, I would call, more froggy depth, but it's still got that technical vibe. That's where my head is this year. Anyway, enough. Will, what is your next death metal album on your list? I want to know.

I'm glad you asked. I want to inquire your minds on it. Number three, right? Yep. All right. Jade, Mysteries of a Flower of a Dream. I knew that was coming from you at some point. Yeah. I really, really, really like this one. It's good. I like it too. It's funny because he hated the last one. I'm pretty sure I did not. No, it was on his top 25. Yeah. He didn't like the vocals on the last one though. I remember him talking about that. There was...

Parts of the vocals he did not like. I can dislike parts of vocals. On every single album you listen to. Yeah. But it's not like they overlaid the vocals with some saxophone flute kid singing horse shit. Kid singing horse shit should be the band name. Hell yeah, man. Fucking the golden flute. Yeah. There's one time at band camp I took the flute. KSH. Fucking Ian Anderson, that shit, man.

That's very cool. All right. Well, Jade's moving up the list. He's had a couple. Now let's move up to Jay. Two or three. Let's move Jay up the list. You know, I think there's a little Mastodon love in this band, and I kind of need that old what Mastodon refuses to do now. That take might surprise some people who've also put this record on their list, but I don't think so. You can hear it. But there's more to it than that.

Will's Comfort Album of the Year, Pyres, Yoon. Oh, wow. Nice. Wow. Fuck yeah, Jay. That's awesome. Wow, that is high. Whoa. Flying high again. That's right. It's the kind of stuff I love, man. Just solid, punching, fucking heavy in your face. Kind of goes a lot of different directions, but like I said, it is, it's, you can't get your mastodon fixed anymore. To me, this record is that one for this. Well, let's, let's hold off for the next one.

I mean, Jay has been giving us a lot of surprising picks. Yes. You know, when it's like one through five. Last year, he did it as well. I'll tell you that. Yeah. And we have no indication that he's into these albums and all of a sudden he's like, I really like this. Well, you know, my number one won't be a huge surprise, but you might be surprised how high it is. And my number two, I don't know if anybody's into this. So I'm curious to see. Interesting. I like it. I like that we we have way too many albums. Yeah. I love it.

Wow, you're right. John, I think you said earlier there's like 100 albums that people can listen to because we've barely had any repeats. We'll do top six since it's the whole 666 shit. This is the diversity list. We have 100 albums and shit. But you know, by year end, it always kind of merges a little bit more. We'll see. George, three. My number three. From the United States of America. I wish he would stop saying that.

What's he supposed to say from the United States of Antarctica? He keeps saying United States of other countries too, though. He's saying it for every single round. I'm fucking with you. It's what it is. I know. I'm tired of being fucked with. Well, then hold on to your chair, Marcus-san. Strap yourself in, bitch. Oh, my God. Where is my shit? Number three, rose thorn necklace ghost bath. Whoa! Holy shit, dude! Hey, George, I think it just moved on.

I'll be honest like I am really shocked I am too I knew this was coming because you sent me the best you're like I'm telling you man I like this album a lot it's a great record and Dennis is going to be super happy with it he's been an awesome guest but we haven't really connected with that depressive black metal well it's a very whole he's really you know evolved

Yes.

Every album.

And this album's sort of like I was, what was the other one I was talking about? The Kardashev, I guess.

Yeah.

There's just so much going on in here that I just, I start halfway, started over, and I was like, this is awesome.

Who is in the podfather seat right now?

Who is that man?

Yeah.

Wow.

George, that is shocking.

I did not expect to have that, for you to have that on your list.

We just gave Jay this like, oh, he's giving us this unusual list. And George just came and said, get the fuck off my podcast. I'm running this shit. Hold my beer. Hold all my beers. I love it. Well, and I love it too because we've had Dennis on as a guest a couple times. And, you know, he's really fun to talk to and obviously amazingly talented as a musician. And I feel like we connect to him on a personal level.

level. But that hasn't always translated to the music. I think we've appreciated it, but to rank this high on the mid-year list is phenomenal because it shows that, hey, there's different layers to what he's doing with his music. And even though maybe his previous music didn't make the cut for you, there's something that in him that you respond to if he just,

delivers it in a different way. So that's really. No, I really love the music and it was good. Yeah, it's very good. That's awesome. Well done. Very good, dude. You got it on like number three. That's like excellent. Now everything's going to be routine from here on out, right? Routine? No, no. All right. Let's wrap this. I have another check up my sleeve. You got another one. Holy shit. Jesse Stiletto, the second secret album. Yeah. Stiletto too.

I definitely have a trick up my sleeve here at the end so

all right Markisan follow that shit yeah

dude I'm I'm I'm actually really shocked by this I don't even have it on my list which is insane it was

close but it didn't make it really wow yes yeah you got a volleyball you know how much I like this stuff

Matt had it that's right yeah yeah yeah all right this this album has come up so it's going to be another duplicate and I think everybody likes this because it was an album of the month almost universal except for one will spoiled it for some fucking reason because he had cancer it is the it is the best death metal record that I've heard this year and that's ancient death equal dissolution on profound lore records you know

This band contours old school and progressive death metal with technical elements and that introspective, verdant atmosphere is remarkably seamless throughout this record. And it's just full of transportive soundscapes with infectious guitar work, big, intricate solos, and a

of low-end destruction. I love the bass work on this, but I also love that the bassist, Jasmine Alexander, she contributes these serene vocals. It's only on a couple tracks, but it's so memorable because you just don't hear that on death metal records. And I love that. I hope they do a little bit more of that on future work. But this album has gotten a lot

A lot of praise and it is very, very well deserving. I cannot stop listening to this record. Ancient death, ego dissolution. Nice. Nice. From the United States of America. Yes. Nice. Very nice. How many is that for that one, by the way? Three? Three. Nice. All right. My number two.

This band put an album out in 2023. It was called Ultra Ritual. I think maybe my number five. And when I started listening to this new album, I thought, oh, it's not as good as the last one. But over time, my feelings changed. And it has since climbed up my list. As I've listened to it quite a bit, I described it as warm, fuzzy stoner sludge that makes me want to party. That's a huge factor for me.

Because as you know, I like to party. I'm talking about the band Hengameng, which in Norwegian means scuffle, and the album is Satanic Panic Attack. Nice. Wow. Quite the title. Yeah, it is. I don't know anything about that band. No, nor do I, but Satanic Panic Attack got me. Yeah, I was like, whoa, Satan's having panic attacks. Jeez. Yeah, I mean, like, you do whatever, and then someone says Satanic Panic

Let's attack and you're like, whoa, stop. What's going on? Slow down. Let's have a talk. Yeah. Reminds me of the show Lucifer. Yeah. I bet the production's bad and he just doesn't like that. Just muddy. So nothing, nothing beats a podcast when we see we're watching and Will gets a package in the background. I mean, Will usually has a package in the front. Yeah. He's got a package.

Yes.

All right.

So my number two.

It's funny.

When I saw this put in the box, I was like, I'm not listening.

That's just another fucking death metal band.

And I didn't realize that these kids in this band, that could be my kids, were in another band called Garotid, which I liked.

And I don't remember us talking about them much, but I had their quote unquote demos that sounded like actual EPs.

And I listened to this album and it, like Markisan, it has been on fucking repeat a whole time since it came out. Yeah. That is Ancient Death, Ego, The Solution. This album's awesome. It is. I just, this is what I like. It's 35 minutes. Get in, get out, say everything you got to say in 35 minutes is perfect for me. I don't need to have a fucking 90 minute death metal album. You're right. It's like three death metal albums. I don't need it. And it just works for me. And, uh.

The length is a good call, John, because I didn't mention that on mine, but yeah, it's the perfect length. Every single song hits, and it gets out before it ever has it close to getting stale. It's perfect. I kind of like that it's got that... They do not sound anything like Blood Incantation or Tumult. However, it has that vibe, though, that cosmic death metal vibe, which is... I'm more inclined to...

like the cosmetic,

cosmetic,

cosmic side of it over the cavernous side.

I like that.

They're venturing out a little more to make the sound a little airier and the production on this.

George,

you can correct me if you'd like,

I think it's much better than most of these bands that are doing this type of death metal.

I could be wrong,

but,

um,

sorry.

Which album is it?

Ancient death.

Okay.

I like this one.

Yeah.

So.

No,

it's cosmic,

but it has more of them.

It's got an old school vibe, but it's progressive as well. It is. So it doesn't lean, like Blood Incantation. I know everybody loved that record except for me last year. That went too far progressive. This is very rooted in the old school, which I like, but it still has elements that push it beyond that. That's what really speaks to me as an album. Yeah, so it works. So look, I'll be honest, that those two demos,

I got from demos. They're fucking EPs. From Garotit, I was like, this shit's awesome. And they're like fucking 12, these guys. They're so young. They're pretty young. Yeah. Which is encouraging, John, because who knows what they're going to be able to do in the future. Hope I'm around for their whole career. Just kidding. I have no intentions of going anywhere. Maintain your health, old man. Oh, yeah, man. Anyway. Sorry. That's awesome. We both had.

We both had it at number two. I like that. And this is one of the ones that I spun the whole time. Yeah. That I actually liked a lot. So, Will, what is your next death metal album? Oh, you. You clearly do not realize that most of the time in my top one or two is not a death metal album. Uh-oh. It's not Jesse Stiletto. It's not Hollywood Vampires. Okay.

Is it clutch though? It is not clutch. They don't have an album this year. 2022. It is Ordos. Oh, I knew that would be on your list. Yes. I was wondering who would have them on the list. I feel bad in myself. That's one of the ones that got kicked off today. Oh, as Jay yawns. Oh, no, I should have listened to that one. That should have been my number 20. I forgot about it. I feel silly. Nice. Okay. Yeah, so this is one of those

weird ones where the when I when it first came out I was kind of like meh like I felt like the first one yeah I felt like the first one was just amazing the second one I'm forgetting the names of the albums but the second one was like house of the dead was the first one I forget yes the house of the dead I thought was the standards so high on that first one so yeah they did and when when when George told us about it and then forgot about it and then when John reminded us about it I was like god damn

this is a great album.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The House of the Dead.

And then the end.

I think the second one was the end.

The end.

Yeah.

And so I felt like this one was a little bit of a drop off from either both of them.

Really?

I thought this was better than the second one personally, but okay.

Yeah.

Well, it's my number two because I kept listening.

I kept listening.

I'm like, okay, like I'm getting it more now.

Anyway.

Nice.

Well, I'm glad somebody mentioned them because nobody mentioned them yet, right?

I need to go back. I literally forgot about it and haven't heard it. It's good when it first came out. So you're just not doing your job here. I'm not doing my job. I'm a band that sits high with me. So I feel silly. Better revisit that one before the end of the year. All right, Jay, what's your second worst album of the year? Second worst album of the year for me is a band of Metal Blade Records that came over, I think, from either Prosthetic or the other P1.

The other P was the prosthetic. Thank you. No. He's been other people's P. There you go. They call themselves forward-thinking metal, and I love that phrase. You can say progressive. You can say this and that, because I wasn't sure what to say about this. Is this Queen Strike? Yeah. Byzantine. Harbingers. Whoa. That's a really good fucking record, dude. Wait, what? Yeah. It's out of the blue.

It just came out too, like not long ago, like maybe two or three years ago. Are you punking us? No, I swear to God. You said bitch, I like Byzantine, bitch. So you're the one that thinks the Black Album is your favorite, clearly. I don't know anything about their previous catalog, but I can hear from this that there might be elements in their old catalog that's not, I get it. Wait, how did you guys change that? Change what? Change what?

Oh, I don't know. How did you do that, George? Why is my name changed like that? It's George's Zoom, so he can actually change everything, which is ridiculous. Yeah, so people listening, you cannot see it. But that's true, though, Will. You do. I would like to thank George for doing that for what was clearly an unpopular pick.

I'm not familiar with it I think I know the band I thought they were more of like a

Melodeath thing back in the day but I don't know I so they may have been something like that but I

I suggest you check this record out yeah I do not check this record out I'll tell you what you

should check out check out their first album oh my god their first album was amazing it was really

actually good his cat's giving you the middle claw I know yeah but like you will they yeah I so I have a

I was a huge Byzantine fan and then they just dropped off the face of the earth and went this like metalcore or whatever and I tried I really tried listening to this album and I could not even get through the first song it was so unbelievably horrible you have an okay behemoth album at like number three or four no no no no no but like compare old Byzantine Byzantine's first album to the new one you don't have to shit on his pick like you are

Yeah, I know, but I'm just so surprised. Jay likes it, and that's what matters. I shit on one pick 10 years ago. Fuck you. Well, I harbor that. Yeah, you have. Yes. I love you. I love you, Jay. I love you too, buddy. Not like anyone's never shit on one of my picks. No. All right. Good for you, Jay.

the closet john that was no good no that would have been okay i say that to myself after every pick i make good for you john you know what i don't think you you a lot of people couldn't pull that dress off i'm not sure you can but good for you get out there girl all right proud of you i feel deflated well maybe i'll fix it with my number one damn i should have put it at four jay i let me just say i think it's a good record because i got the promo for that one i don't think i put it in the box because it's

a bit behind because I've been so busy but I did listen to a few tracks and I thought it was really good so that's all I actually I actually liked one track I heard it on the uh on XM when I'm on Sirius XM when I was driving to work and I've not you know it's not something I've been really into over the years I think so um but that one this is my first touch with them so I am afraid to go look at the back catalog now but I'll uh the only catalog part you did

Seriously, Jay, I'm telling you, go back and listen to the very first album. I don't remember what was the name of it, but it is very different, but it's amazing. It's great. And when you listen to that, you may reconsider your number two. I don't think it will. I think he's just going to be happier. That's fair. I mean, it's also mid-year, so you have an entire six months to fucking change all your picks and have your final list.

I'm saying that to you actually, Will. Because Behemoth should definitely be not on the list. Will has six months to add more death metal to his list. I will take Behemoth any day over the new Byzantine. And I say this as a huge Byzantine old school fan. I love that band. I have pictures of me in foreign places. With them? In Buck 2 Molly with a Byzantine t-shirt on.

wherever you are.

Okay.

Okay.

This is all very educational.

I remember listening to that in Wifebeaters.

Jay, I'm actually hoping you hate the first album.

If we get George's number two, we can get all the rest.

Yeah, we can move on so you can go listen to him.

Are you guys noticing how much George is changing Will's couch?

He's just like, man, shut the fuck up.

I keep trying to keep up with him and I can't.

All right, George, let's roll this.

Let's roll this doobie and get out of here.

I had no idea that you could change my name. I didn't either until I tried it. Actually, I kind of like this. This is fun. Yeah. I can just be like... We can all change each other's names. So when somebody's talking, I can just say, by the way, I'm only saying this because I can't have a dick in my mouth right now. Or something, you know. All right. My number two... Wait, hold on. Jay, by the way, it's called And They Shall Take Up Serpents.

Serpents. That's the name of the

Byzantine album. I'll check it out.

And they shall take up serpents.

They shall take up serpents.

That is an amazing album. That's their first album

and everything else after that.

I go in.

This has gotten me off the rails.

I got it.

I like being controversial. Maybe he can forget

about Hollywood vampires now.

You know, it's almost like

you just

pick the Black album as your

your number two.

And like,

did you hear master of puppets?

Like,

are you serious?

I got to be honest.

Listen,

there should,

you guys should not be ribbing each other because there's Hollywood vampires from Jay.

There's clutch from will rip.

You got Jesse stiletto from George.

Like you three.

Fucked up.

Right.

It's like,

it's me,

John and Matt who have not like,

we,

we remain.

So you guys cannot rib each other.

Let's not throw stones at glass houses, all right? Yeah, I wouldn't brag about that, Markisan. All my picks are fucking metal. I would not brag about that, Markisan. Let's get judges number two. Yeah, let's wrap this bullshit up. All right. From the sovereign country of Poland.

to get here. Oh, wow.

Deal.

Wow.

Okay.

They just kind of, they just skyrocketed.

They are in the five.

They're in the top.

Yeah, I think so.

That's three.

Wow.

Two higher ones.

Wow.

Yeah.

I want to say that's well mean.

I know George liked it.

I didn't know he liked it that much.

Yeah.

I thought they were Danish or something.

That was Polish?

No, they're Polish.

Okay.

I mean, I'm sorry.

Justin likes that band.

And then George just said, okay.

No, I got, I found this one on my own.

I think.

Wow.

Even though it had been mentioned by many people clearly ahead of me.

But I just happened.

I had it in my wish list.

And I was like,

Oh,

let me listen to this.

And I was like,

Holy crap.

That's why I put it in my wish list.

So you guys have basically helped us with our listeners who were concerned that we didn't have it on our album of the month.

Yep.

Thank you.

I didn't know.

I mean,

I'm so tough.

I didn't know that when it happened

because I hadn't listened to it at that point.

I only listened to it like a month ago or maybe two.

I'll spin it eventually.

This has been shitty.

What was your album of the month when that one came out, Josh?

It was April.

That month was Ancient Death, so everybody but Will had Ancient Death.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

Ancient Death is still better than that one.

All right.

Let's wrap this up.

I got a barbecue to go to.

Yep. Number one. Oh, it's me. Oh, it's me. And, you know, it's probably going to be volleyball. And, you know, I'm a little disappointed in that because I think this is a phenomenal record. But I don't think it's going to be a surprise to you guys because I have talked about this a bit. But it's Def Heaven. Lonely People with Power. Interesting. Listen, I had not been in this band since New Bermudia.

I love New Bermuda. New Menudo? But they started branching out in different directions, and that just didn't really appeal to me at all. And after they went completely shoegaze with the last record, Infinite Granite, I just didn't think I'd ever hear them play anything heavy again. So this album was, in all honesty, just fucking shocking to hear.

And I think that not only has Deaf Heaven returned to metal, they've done it with a vengeance. And Lonely People is not only their heaviest album, it's also a beautiful, cohesive synthesis of their entire musical catalog, combining black metal ferocity, intimate shoegaze, scorching atmospheric post-rock, and layered synth flourishes.

This record, it simultaneously justifies all their previous sonic forays and explorations that I was not interested in and creates this just stunning, essential metal classic to me. Like, it's got big distorted guitars, muscular drums, scathing vocals, innovative song structures, and an introspective emotional weight to it that no other album really

matches this year. It's all on this record. And I just think it's an unexpected. I did not, I had no reason to think that this album was going to be on my list, let alone number one, but completely unexpected and monumental work. It's their best record. And I think that's saying a lot because they've really changed the face of metal over the course of the albums that they've done.

But I'm actually stunned talking about it because none of their records have even registered to me over the last few years. So, yes, Deaf Heaven, Lonely People with a Power. Yeah, it's easily my favorite record of this half of the year so far. I hope you guys have listened to it because I know maybe you're not interested

I don't know why it's hard to say.

I don't know. I mean, maybe I'll check it out again.

But it was just like sounds like death heaven. Church, you keep talking about how you like things that are different. You know that you want something that isn't like what you've heard before. And this album, yes, it has the death heaven sound, but they've incorporated so many different other elements into it. Yeah, I hope you'll bet you go back to it. Because it doesn't really sound like other records, but it has a power and a beauty to it that I don't think they've matched on any of the

their previous records. But again, like I said, I haven't been a Deaf Heaven fan. And that's what's so remarkable about putting this number one. Like, I haven't been like, oh, I don't care what Deaf Heaven does. I like any of their music. No, it's been a while since I've even really responded to anything. And they put this out and it blows me away. And I love that about metal, where you can kind of come back and make something that really registers with,

The audience with me. I'm sure the music's okay. Usually what I don't like about them is his screechy vocals. And so, you know, I've never had a problem with the music. I think the music's always been fine. I just haven't been able to find his vocals. So, anyway, I didn't see that one coming. I did. I figured at some point it would show if I just lost track of World War. Right. Yeah. Here we are at number one. Matthew.

I would describe this band as gritty, sludgy, snappy, death metal. I mentioned earlier that two bands on my list had members of the band Atheist. This is the other one. I'm talking about Ancient Deaths and their album Ego. Oh yeah, this is going to be the number one. Two number twos and a number one and then somebody had it lower. Six. Unfortunately.

That's about where it is. I was way down there. Yeah. Wow. Good showing. Nice, Matt. I love two number two. It's so good. Cleans you out. John, what you got? All right. So I know for a fact that this is going to be a volleyball. And I know from the very beginning when I listened to it, I was like, yeah, this is going to be on my list. I didn't think it finished number one, but it did.

Although, I do think I know someone on another podcast that likes this album. Again, referencing back to Markisan your other podcast. Me? Oh, not me. No, not you. Endless Metal Podcast. Ben had mentioned to me that he liked this. I think I may have suggested this to him. I can't remember. I don't remember. But this, by far, to me, is the best name for a band on my list. And that is Subterranean Lava Dragon. Whoa. Yeah.

And the album's called The Great Architect. And I was just like, what is this? Subterranean Lava Dragon? What is this shit? I listened to it and I was like, what the hell? I love it. It's progressive metal, progressive death, whatever you want to call it. It's with former members of Black Crown Initiate and Minichrist? Is that how you say the name? I don't know. I just love this album. I mentioned, I've seen this a couple times, that this year for the kind of tech prog death stuff seemed to be more in line for me.

me this year so far than other years and this is another one although this is way more

progressive than it would be tech death i'm not a super tech death fan because i don't like

that just constant you know exercise of notes this is different um and i absolutely love this album

and i wish they were released on some physical format because i'd love to get something

yeah that's my number one subterranean lava dragon don't think i've heard of that i don't even know

what you're talking about. It's unreal. Did Matt make that up for you? Is that Matt's? No, man. Is that fictional? I studied all of Matt's lists for the last five years. I said, I'm going to break this bitch hard. And I'm going to come up with a name that nobody's heard of before. They said tour with King Gizzard and Elizabeth. Oh, without question, they should open for them. That is a complete surprise. I'm always surprised when I haven't heard an album because I listen to so much metal. You didn't listen to this one. I have not. I have not. I have to.

I like it. How does Ben know about this? I think I told him. I think he texted me one night and I said, hey, you've heard of this band, Subterranean Lava Dragon. He goes, whoa, this is cool. So, yeah. I mean, two guys from Black Crown Initiate. Everybody has heard of them. Ben introduced you to it? No, no, no. Or do you know about it? I found it and I sent him a message. Gotcha, gotcha. It just seems to fit. I don't know. I've listened to this album more than any other album this year so far. Okay.

And it's from January, I believe. So it would have been my January album of the month had I heard it back then. Okay. That's an ancient death and probably Fallujah have a chance of staying in my top ten. Everything else is off the table. Anyway. Alrighty. Let's go to Will. I like death metal. I like death metal. And

I like Lamp. My number one's going to be very controversial. This is death metal. So, my number one. What's the album? I mean, come on. Really? You guys like talk for like five minutes before you talk to like say your album. Yeah. I usually just get right to the point. I talk for four minutes and 35 seconds. Yeah, we like to build it up. It's number one, dude. You gotta build it up. All right, build it up. Fluff it.

I had like four albums before this or three albums before this and this is their tribute to Human and Human is not my favorite death album. Wrong answer. I know. I know. I know. However, Leprosy is my favorite death album. Oh, wow. That's a decent answer. Yeah, that's where I cut my teeth. Symbolic would be my number two, but Human would be my number one. Right, but the way I look at this album,

I know it's a tribute band but the way I look at this is like this is almost like if you if you came in time machine and came back and said oh by the way death released another album just after human you would not know the difference his vocals the musical style the bass drum every single instrument in this is just spot on and it's just like this is another death album and I'm

wearing my death t-shirt on purpose today. It is just... It makes me feel happy because I will never have another album by Chuck Scholdinger. But this is the closest thing I will get. And I will love Matt Harvey forever for even attempting this. And he attempted this with his band, the four of the musicians, and just nailed it.

They could have done a horrible job. And they didn't. They nailed it. On every single one of these albums that they've done. Scream Bloody Gore, Leprosy, Spiritual Healing, and Now Human. They have absolutely fucking nailed it. And this one, I think, is the one they nailed the best. And that is my number one album. Happy, happy!

Nice. Would you say it's better than any of the other death albums, though? No. No. I would never. Never. There is no... Sacrilege. Yes. Thank you, George. Sacrilege. No. Absolutely not. But it is awesome. It is awesome. And in this 2025 mid-year January through June, this is the best thing I've heard. And this is what I played the most. And that's what makes me the most.

I'm a huge

surprise. I love it.

No apologies necessary, dude. You like what you like.

Mine won't be

a huge surprise.

No, it won't be a huge surprise.

I have this higher than most everybody else, but

Changeling is my number one.

Nice.

Wow. Interesting. That just catapulted to the top. Boing. Shocked. It's a little stiff here and there, but there's nothing else that I thought was so obviously complete and thorough and daring and kick-ass, you know, just and punchy and heavy and the whole fucking thing. So. Well, that singer from Dork Fartress is pretty good. Dork Fartress. That's awesome. Wow. Wow.

I didn't expect to hear that one again nice I like that record too yeah didn't make my guess but I really like it it's awesome Georgie all right for the last time from the United States of America you know it's times like these you just gotta admit that you're only human and you just you just want to chuck it all and produce a death

Like Unsilence. In fact, a silent echo. This is gruesome silent echoes. Yes. Crazy. Surprise. Oh, man. The Tribute album is going to be really high on our list. You know what's funny? I hear people saying this, and yet, how many fucking bands out there are copying dissection? And nobody gives them shit. Oh, it's fucking cool you're copying dissection. You copy a fucking couple of humans.

or death albums ever loses their shit. It's so funny. But I think they're blatant in what they're saying. They're like, we're... They admit it at least. That's the whole point. They're blatant. They're like, I know. I don't know if it's good or bad. It is a good record, though. Yeah. You know what? I need to add it to my year end now. I'm going to add it to my year end. It's not your number one. No, I'm not going to go that far. That's awesome. Two number ones for gruesome.

I love it. Wow. Fucking love it. Shocking. Yeah. One fucked up top 20. It's so funny because George's like, you know what? I really want to hear new things. I want to hear things I haven't heard before, but it's not really true because every time we do these lists, George is always picking stuff that's like come out before it, or it's like an homage to things that has happened before. So you might have to amend that. Such as what else? Dude,

You got Jesse Stiletto on your list, which is like, sounds like other albums. You got Bruce. I'm not saying you can pick whatever you want, but when you're saying that you want to hear records that do something different. I do. And there's not enough of that. So I have to, I have to go with what's left. Because you're not hearing that you have to go to the old standbys. I wouldn't say there's standbys, especially when it's their first album, Jesse Stiletto.

But no. Okay. All I'm saying is that a lot of what comes out is rehashed garbage. I liked all 20 of my picks. And most of it's pretty stock. But that's what's out there. So, you know. Would I like to hear stuff that's different? Yeah. There just isn't enough of it out there.

Oh, maybe you should listen to Subterranean Lava Dragon.

That's completely, I don't, I have to listen to that.

I don't even know what you're talking about, John.

And if you guys don't like it, I don't care.

That was beautiful after this short three-second silence of just,

well, maybe you should listen to Subterranean.

It was sort of like just getting a plug in for yourself there.

If you need an album to listen to

I got one, dude. I was just telling you about it.

All right, let's get the hell out of here.

Yeah, I'm thirsty.

I want to stand up.

Five hours.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this morphs over the...

It's going to be a weird...

I mean, hopefully if we get more interesting things, we'll see what happens.

Fuck, I don't know. This was a weird one.

Second half has got some bigger albums, at least from my perspective.

There's some big albums coming out.

Definitely.

Yeah, second half for sure.

All very interesting.

Looking forward to that black braid. Yeah. Absolutely. Black braid. Agreed. I mean, that's been Matt's number one before, so, I mean, that's a big thing for him. And it's been on my list, too. Lower. But I feel like they improve every release, so. Apparently September. The Amorphous, I have the Amorphous, so I have. Yeah, I have it too. I haven't listened to the whole thing yet. I got it. I got the promo for it, but I can't.

They don't have a download for it. No. So you got the same thing I got, which is you can listen to it, but you can't pass it along. Yes. And I like that a lot, actually. Yeah. The record or the fact that you can't? The whole record. Yeah. There's no download for it in the package that went along. Not yet. They will send it, but not yet. Apparently September is a really big month for releases. Is it? Okay. It's going to be less, it's not less, less,

Well, I'm super curious to see the stats for this one, like where everything falls. We did not have a lot of repeats. There are a few clearly that are going to be, we have a top five easily. Darmant Ordeal, Ancient Death, Skullbird. Changeling. Yeah, I'm going to tell you guys right now, I am not digging deep on this. It's the mid-year and it's just, we're not, it's going to be a good one.

It's going to be too hard to do. I wrote all my notes properly with my countries and stuff, but I'll put them in the spreadsheet tomorrow morning with coffee. Yeah, when do you guys get a chance? You get a chance. It's the mid-year. I don't push the mid-year. Year end's more important. Cool. This was all for fun. Yeah, but it was super fun. Great to hang out with you guys. Yeah. Talk about records again. Drink beers. Well, some of us anyway. We probably, all right, over under right now. Let's do it real quick. This will only take a second.

Marcus, how many albums do we have out of 120? How many single albums? Are we guessing? We're guessing, yeah. We're guessing how many single records that only one person put down? No, no, no. Total. For all of us. Oh, total. How many? Yeah, but that only one person put down. 20, well, there's six of us. 120 albums total. 120 total. Give me your number. Wow, it's going to be... Just anything.

It doesn't matter. I'm going to say

shit. 105.

Okay. Matt.

95.

John. I'm going to go with

I'm going to do the prices

right on Matt. I'm going to go 96.

You should.

Will.

Two.

Two?

He's not paying attention.

That's good.

No, no, no, no. Just how many unique albums within 120? Guys, I'm not dumb. I understand what's going on. I'm trying to make a joke. The joke is the response. That's the joke. 120 albums. I'm going with 82. I like it. You're smart. You're going lower.

Okay, so we've got everything from 105 down to 82, basically. I'm thinking it's in the 80 range, too, but I'll go 85. All right, George, round us off. 90. All right. That might be a winner right there. We'll see. Yeah, I think it's going to be interesting. All right. Thank you for indulging me on that. I'll get it to you guys when I get it to you. So it's a mid-year. We have a top 10. Yep. You'll get it to us within a month before we do the next cast.

I just won't be able to get a tape for a few days. Send him when you get a chance. I appreciate it. Yep. All right, fellas. See you next time. Boys. Enjoy the weekend. I love you all. I love you. Great to talk to you guys. Show me your hands. I love you.