The 1989 eponymous debut by Enuff Z'nuff juuust missed the mark, as it does every year.
What can be said about 2020 that hasn't already been said about burn units, amputee rape, and your crackhead uncle who rents out his wife's corpse for junk money? Sorry, that might have hit too close to home for some of you. It goes without saying that these past twelve months have been excellent. Nothing to complain about on my end. In all seriousness, there was a surfeit of killer metal records disenthralled and loosed upon the cagey, feverish masses. We needed good music to keep us company. Thankfully, a metric fuckton of bands obliged. If you kept your ears close to the underground, you were sure to find something to suit your tastes.
Capping this list at ten albums was not an easy task. Right off the bat, I can tell you that Dool's Summerland, Avandra's Skylighting, and Sepultura's Quadra were last-minute ablations, and man, it hurt (like the dickens!) giving them the heave-ho. Of course, I'll start with honorable mentions. Aside from the upper reaches of this prospectus, don't pay too much attention to the ranking. I'll hold your hand. Don't worry.
HM #1) Abigor - Totschlager: A Saintslayer's Songbook
I simply haven't spent enough time with this thing. Hell, it's supposedly available, but I can't find the physical product anywhere. In my limited exposure to the music, I've been able to surmise that Totschlager rates as one of Abigor's most accomplished works. I wouldn't mind a more defined bottom end in the production. All of the instruments are played impeccably well, so I want to hear all of them! Recommended to fans of glowing church rubble.
HM #2) Jordablod - The Cabinet of Numinous Song
The Metal Archives lists this Swedish project as mere "black metal," but the substantive reality is more nuanced than any label can indicate. There are ashen, subverted Western motifs present. Please note that I pulled back from using the term "country." Imagine if the film Bone Tomahawk were an atmoblack composite. Add punk/hardcore sensibilities and you have the right idea. A smart, unique record.
HM #3) Sorcerer - Lamenting of the Innocent
Doom in the style of Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus, speckled with motes of power metal. That's not quite a complete sentence. Get used to it. The selling point here? Guitars. Virtuosic, lissome solos that elevate each moment to a mighty tier of metallic concord and propriety. As with Totschlager, Lamenting would have cracked the top ten had I spent extra quality time with it.
#10) Membaris - Misanthrosophie
The only...I repeat...the only reason this album isn't situated higher on the list (perhaps in the top five) is because I found out about it a lonesome week ago. A December release, you conjecture? Actually, it dropped in March. How in the fuckety-split is this tasty morsel so obscure? Gang, I have developed an appetite for feisty black metal that incorporates bold melody and liberal injections of lead guitar. This son of a bitch fits the bill. The solos on such cuts as "Architektur fern Struktur" and "Constant Companion" are divine (or undivine, as it were). I don't know why I'm into this specific sound, but I am. You'll see it represented elsewhere. It is MY list, after all.
#9) Vrenth - Baptism Death
How about some gruff, clodhopping death metal based out of California? These guys sound Scandinavian, to be honest. The riffs are heftier than the plastic sacks that are used to line the insides of waste containers. And I'm glad! Count Vrenth among the solo-happy groups, and count me among the braindead headbangers who enjoy singing (if you can call it that) along to the tuneful shredding. Moreover, I dig the gurgle vocals and the ponderous doom breaks. Sample "Paroxysm Darkness."
#8) Enslaved - Utgard
It seems that most fans of these Norwegian stalwarts were dismayed by Utgard, which gives me pause. I mean, is my tr00ness slipping? Then again, it's not as if Enslaved turned in a cluster of bedroom trap numbers or djent-infused slam ditties. This is still progressive black metal. Does it measure up to Vertebrae or even Axioma Ethica Odini? No, but it's arguably their best material since those watershed long players. The fact that Utgard is slightly front-loaded doesn't change the other fact that "Sequence" and "Urjotun" are bangers. I'm gonna make love in this club!
#7) Esoctrilihum - Eternity of Shaog
Remember when I posted my list of the top five metal albums of the year so far? That was back in July. It's interesting to recollect and compare notes (albeit with myself). Here we have the first instance of music reappearing. Unfortunately for Esoctrilihum, Shaog has dropped a few spots, but in the interest of veracity, I will remind everyone that my ranking system is muddy at best. An excerpt from my summer inventory: "This is yet another one-man black metal project. Ringleader Asthaghul hails from France, and I can't believe he plays every damn instrument. By the way, that includes piano, violin, maybe a harpsichord...I'm hearing a harpsichord. The production is full-bodied. Dude has upped his songwriting game to the point where each track has its own flavor."
#6) Caligula's Horse - Rise Radiant
Again, I will dip my pen into chirography I have already printed. It has been a sweet little while since I jammed these proggy popinjay prancers (???), but they hold strong. The Aussies came close to rivaling 2017's universally praised In Contact, which is a monumental feat in and of itself. In July, I said that Radiant is "salaciously technical (my pants just tightened), orgiastically melodic (my breath just quickened) and those tits! I mean, what? Caligula's Horse is simply a band whose configuration exhibits a master at each post. Guitarist Sam Vallen, in particular, has quietly become unequaled in his field."
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