Friday, January 1, 2016

The Amplifier Altar's Top 50 Albums of 2015

Lemmy died on December 28th, 2015. That means 2015 was a shitty year for music, and in fact every year from now on will be worse than any of the years in which he was still on this Earth and playing music. That's just a fact that we are all going to have to accept.

Despite that really shitty ending to the year though, I actually did hear some stuff I really enjoyed in 2015.

First, the Honourable Mentions, AKA records I liked that I didn't feel like writing about.

Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud
Black Fast - Terms Of Surrender
Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth - Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth
Built To Spill - Untethered Moon
California X - Nights In The Dark
Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss
Clutch - Psychic Warfare
Crypt Sermon - Out Of The Garden
Dead Ghosts - Love And Death And All The Rest
Dead To A Dying World - Litany
Dragged Into Sunlight & Gnaw The Tongues - NV
Enforcer - From Beyond
FUZZ - II
Fuck the Facts - Desire Will Rot
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress
Harrow - Fallow Fields
Horrendous - Anareta
HSY - Bask
Kadavar - Berlin
KEN Mode - Success
Khemmis - Absolution
Killing Joke - Pylon
Kult Of The Wizard - The White Wizard
Lamb Of God - Strum Und Drang
Liturgy - The Ark Work
Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard - Noeth Ac Anoeth
Mastery - Valis
Melechesh - Enki
Mondo Drag - Mondo Drag
MisþyrmingSöngvar Elds Og Oreiou
Nap Eyes - Whine Of The Mystic
Napalm Death - Apex Predator
Paradise Lost - The Plague Within
Parquet Courts - Monsastic Living
Pinkish Black - Bottom Of The Morning
Ranger - Where Evil Dwells
Revenge - Triumph Genocide Antichrist
Sannhet - Revisionist 
Six Organs Of Admittance - Hexadic (Part 2)
Sleater-Kinney - No Cities To Love
Space Bong - Deadwood To Worms
Sumac - The Deal
Torche - Restarter
Thee Oh Sees - Mutilator Defeated At Last
Ty Segall - Ty Rex
Ufomammut - Ecate
Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love
Vattnet Viskar - Settler
Vile Creature - A Steady Descent Into The Soil
With The Dead - With The Dead

And now, the list.

50. A Place To Bury Stangers - Transfixiation
These guys fill a very specific niche for me. Every album of dour, nihilistic, high-decible noise rock comes alongside a stoned-to-the-bone side helping of indifferent Jesus & Mary Chain vocals. The piercing feedback, pulsing bass, tinnitus-inducing drums and cloud of distortion static this band steadfastly refuses to alter always sound great at shatteringly loud volumes. I can almost see how cool and indifferent they look on stage when I hear this stuff. I liked this one just as much as every other album they've put out. And I still think it's cool that they make their own effects pedals.

49. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Paper Mache Dream Balloon
This Aussie psychedelic garage rock 7-piece is very much in the mold of uber-prolific units like Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees, only if those bands got off on more Donovan and Jethro Tull. I first became a fan of them after hearing their raucous 12-Bar Bruise album. This time out they take a weirder, more psychedelic approach than some of their more fiery, full-throttle material. Flutes and saxophones, trippy harmonies and acoustic guitars playfully blend together as the band explores an altogether softer sound. I can't say it's my favourite from them, but this sunny and whimsical pop-prog approach appeals to me when I'm in the right mood. I think they're an excellent band, and they probably have three more completely different albums on the go at this point.

48. Sulfur Aeon - Gateway To The Anti-Sphere
The problem I have with brutal death metal is that because of its reliance on extremity, it can easily become tiresome. The best bands in the style can whip up a horrendous onslaught while adding some interesting flourishes to make the brutality more powerful and effective. Sulfur Aeon have surpassed themselves on their newest, adding enough textural variation and dynamic shifts in mood to break up the record, not to mention a cool spacey semi-concept that takes the band well outside standard extreme metal songwriting material. The band's whole sound benefits from such adventurousness... the riffs are that much more vicious, the the drumming more flattening, and the solos even more barbaric. The closest comparison I could make would be Nile or perhaps Morbid Angel, other bands that weren't afraid to subtly blend brutality with other influences.

47. Primitive Man - Home Is Where The Hatred Is
I was a huge fan of this sludge-grind outfit's previous record, Scorn. So I was very pleased to hear on their new record that they've become even more doomy and lead-footed this time around. With Indian no longer a working band, Primitive Man sound like they're vying for the crown of heaviest band on the planet. Home Is Where The Hatred Is brings a metric ton of crawlingly slow, filthy, blasted-out death dirges, and generally lowering the band's quotient of hardcore-inspired sprints. It's a transition that works for them, especially when combined with their deep, distorted and hideous vocals.

46. Tame Impala - Currents
Currents sees Tame Impala incorporating more electronic currents into their omniverous neo-psych than ever before. Gone is the Dungen fixation that so strongly informed their earlier work, as their music becomes less guitar-focused. To be honest, I prefer that earlier stuff, but I can't fault the band for charting a new course that's entirely their own. And as long as bands get this much attention for making psychedelic music, I suppose I just have to cheer them on.

45. Panopticon - Autumn Eternal
These guys first found their way on to my radar with 2012's Kentucky, a jarring but very interesting hybrid of bluegrass, ambient and black metal which was far more interesting when it wasn't trying to pummel anyone. Since then, they've more seamlessly blended some of their influences into a blackened post-metal monolith which has done away with the banjo heard on Kentucky (which I DID enjoy a lot), and simultaneously made the heavy parts more engaging. Panopticon has shown a lot of growth from the gritty rurality of Kentucky to the more nuanced and naturalistic approach on last year's Roads to the North. Autumn Eternal continues this path, and I would argue even improves upon it. This is heavy music, but it has an emotional, solitary quality that's contemplative rather than raging. There are layers of uplifting, and sometimes harmonized guitar laid over top of galloping rhythms, blast beats, spacious synth washes and meticulously constructed post metal epics. It's potentially the band's most interesting and engaging record yet.

44. Black Cilice - Mysteries
Ultra raw and fierce black metal recorded in a wind tunnel. This stuff straddles the border between harsh noise and extremely low-fi basement black metal. Kvlt.

43. Le Berger - Music for Guitar and Patience
A record that delivers exactly what its title promises - Lush beds of delicate finger-picked guitar, filtered through a bunch of echo and loopers to create some endless, totally enveloping drones. Feel your perception of time melt away as you get lost in these relaxing, ambient soundcapes.

42. Black Breath - Slaves Beyond Death
Black Breath's "Sentenced To Life" was one of my favourite albums of 2012. With its meaty Entombed-derived guitar sound, and ferocious thrashy approach, the record came off as something like Hell Awaits-era Slayer with a Swedish death metal fixation. It was a distillation of all their accomplishments up until that point. But because the record was so intensely focused, the band  ran the risk of running themselves down a stylistic cul-de-sac if they were to try replicating it. Luckily they've found a way to enhance their sound without sacrificing any of their bulldozing aggression. Incorporating a strong Testament vibe, Black Breath has added slower, moodier passages to its bag of tricks, making for a more varied and dynamic listen. The result is their most accomplished work yet.

41. Eternal Tapestry - Wild Strawberries
Most of these guys' records are filled with expansive but still well-thought-out and edited psych rock jams. Someone must have spiked their water or something when they got together to record their new double album, because this is the most out-there they have ever sounded. Sprawling guitar workouts dissipate into ambient soundscapes and back, swelling the running time to nearly 90 minutes. They were never a band that seemed particularly hemmed in on any of their previous records, given that collective improvisation is the name of the game with these guys, but this is still unprecedented even for them. Certainly not everything works. There are sections that could be easily have been trimmed. That being said, ambition counts for a lot in my world, and I'm happy to listen to a band this good leave their comfort zone and set the controls for the heart of the sun rather than remain on cruise control all the time.

40. Bosse-de-Nage - All Fours
A was very impressed by their previous album III, and was happy to find that All Fours built on the band's predilections for consuming texturally interesting black metal. Rather than focusing on full-speed blasting, Bosse-de-Nage trade in slashing, roiling riffs and repeatedly building from dense thickets of continuous re-direction into glorious crescendos. Clean guitar tones and wailing vocals that are by turns pained and triumphant are also used throughout to great effect. Exciting, interesting black metal that isn't afraid to take some detours along the way.

39. Vastum - Hole Below
These guys do old school death metal right: dirty, crusty, and raw. Rather than try to out-tech anyone, and without sounding like copyists, Vastum stay true to the Obituary, Suffocation, Autopsy and Asphyx school of death metal, where they write actual riffs and let their songs breathe a bit. That being said, this is probably their speediest, most-well produced album to date, but that shouldn't worry longtime fans. It sticks pretty close to the playbook, even though there are a few arcade, clean guitar interludes a-la Morbid Angel or Nile to make things just a bit more dynamic. Unlike some death metal which sounds like it could be made by a set of machines, Vastum is a living, breathing band, albeit one that's been buried alive and has maggots crawling through their amplifiers.

38. Leviathan - Scar Sighted
In the grand tradition of asshole black metal doofuses everywhere, Jef Whitehead is a shitty person. He was convicted of battery against his ex-girlfriend in 2011 (and was initially charged with something like 33 other criminal offences for the incident, though most of the charges were later dropped) and the interviews I've read don't exactly make me feel any particular sympathy for his side of the story. But that doesn't mean he's not capable of making fantastic records. After he got 2011's unfortunate and ugly (not in like, a good way) temper tantrum True Traitor, True Whore out of his system, he got back down to the business of crafting powerful, psychedelic and vicious black metal, complete with hopeless, wretched vocals and an overwhelming atmosphere of complete ruin. This is probably his best-sounding record to date as well, with ultra-heavy riffing, respectably beefy bass (always lacking in black metal), punishing double-kick drumming, and guitar leads that sound like murder. Like I would with Burzum, I like this music, but I illegally downloaded my copy for free.

37. Skepticism - Ordeal
This Finnish funeral doom institution's first record of new material since 2008 is a live album containing mostly new material. Recorded earlier this year, the material sounds as bleak and hopeless as you would expect it to, but the real draw is the lovely spacious recording which captures these tones beautifully. Shades of Sunn O)))'s Domkirke can be heard throughout.

36. Wand - Golem
Wand sounds like Ty Segal's glammed up cousin, or parhaps what Ziggy Stardust would sound like had Bowie been a garage rocker from San Francisco. It's a slower, more riff-based rather than rave-up approach, and the results make for a catchy and fun record that demands repeat listens.

35. Jenny Hval - Apocalpyse, Girl
Experimental artist Jenny Hval makes utterly bizarre electronic soundscapes topped with spellbinding vocals. I wasn't familiar with her work before hearing this album, and admittedly was puzzled by it at first. But the weirdness of these songs, combined with the compelling electro-acoustic textures eventually won me over. For a rockist like me, It's kind of difficult for me to describe this sort of music, and I don't want to embarrass myself by even attempting to dissect the gender politics that obviously play a prominent role here. I like to think I know an interesting album when I hear it though, and this one warrants repeated listening. Let's move on.

34. Noisem - Blossoming Decay
Hellish thrash that's heavy on the whammy-bar abuse and just enough crustiness to appeal to the punks. It sprinkles a little bit of grindcore's obliterating speed into the chugging thrash breaks, but is also heavy on demented, shredding solos. They've also bulked up a bit, as Blossoming Decay boats a beefier, heavier production than their debut.

33. Baroness - Purple
Baroness’s first record since the devastating tour bus crash in 2012 that threatened to end the career of one of rock’s most promising bands is a raging comeback. With two members ultimately electing to leave the band in the aftermath of the accident, and guitarist/vocalist John Baizley having to undergo a long and painful recovery process to mend his broken leg and shattered arm, Baroness’ return was far from certain.  The time off seems to have energized them. Unlike 2012's sprawling and ambitions Green and Yellow double album, Purple is a lean and aggressive effort more in line with the band’s earlier sludge metal leanings, albeit coloured with the more psychedelic layering of their later work. It combines all their strengths in a compact package along with memorable songwriting, and reaffirms Baroness’ status as one of the world’s premiere rock bands.

32. Moon Duo - Shadow Of The Sun
Moon Duo's formula is pretty set in stone at this point. The band seems like they could recombine their fuzzy, textural guitars, droning organ lines, pulsing bass and motorik drumming in endless permutations and still come out sounding like Moon Duo. I'm fine with that though. This is patient but propulsive music, perfect for watching horizons, as skies and landscapes melt into rearview mirrors and memories.

31. Destruction Unit - Negative Feedback Resistor
This very loud garage psych unit often reminds me of Comets on Fire, creating chaotic, noisy rock and roll spiked with feedback and aggressive use of echoplex. I really enjoyed their last record Deep Trips a lot and also saw them live in between the release of that record and this one. They definitely rule on stage, but their recorded output is equally muscular and impressive. The recording on this album is meatier than it's been in the past, making the album a heavier and more dynamic affair than others in their catalog.

30. Deafheaven - New Bermuda
I've gotten really tired of the shoegazey post-black metal that is Deafheaven's stock in trade over the past few years. It's not that I don't enjoy the advanced sense of dynamics or My Bloody Valentine-influenced atmospherics that Deafheaven bring to the table, it's just that a million USBM bands have been doing it for a long time. So it's a credit to this most polarizing of bands that they are able to so handily outdo the competition at that style once again on New Bermuda. I didn't expect to like this record as much as I did, but I was impressed with how the heavy parts seemed to be heavier than ever before. There are some legitimately impressive black metal sprints here. There are other avenues being explored here as well. Much like Sunbather, New Bermuda is an expansive, immersive record that is easy to get lost in, and has impressive emotional depth. There's even a few kick ass guitar solos! I had to laugh at my first listen, some parts sound like they could have been lifted from a Smashing Pumpkins album, and I don't mind that at all.

29. Sunn O))) - Kannon
The long-awaited followup to 2009's mighty Monoliths & Dimensions initially seemed a little light in comparison, but after so long a wait there is no way the burden of expectation wasn't going to outweigh the merits of the new record when it finally arrived. Taken on it's own terms, Kannon is a fine encapsulation of Sunn O)))'s seismic power, a back-to-basics project which reaffirms their core metaphor after a number of years spent collaborating with other artists. By their standards, it's far from adventurous, but there is a certain comfort in hearing the drone metal masters laying down some devastating no-motion riffs guaranteed to weaken the foundations of nearby buildings. There are also a few towering, feedback-spiked leads which serve as thrilling counterpoints to Kannon's endless bass frequencies. Longtime collaborator Attilla is also back to perform on this record, and his vocal styles come off strong here, thanks to some new and interesting chanting approaches being tried alongside his tried and true black metal croak. The sound of this record is overwhelmingly heavy and loud, as one would expect. It may be their best-sounding record to date. So although it isn't a dramatic step forward for a band which has traditionally been on the cutting edge of art and metal, it is powerful and highly enjoyable album from a band which perhaps needed to reassert its identity.

28.  Deerhunter - Fading Frontier
Every album Deerhunter puts out always has one song on it that I absolutely love... until the last one. The stripped down, greaser garage feel of Monomania didn't set my world on fire, and nothing grabbed me the way previous standout tracks like "Heatherwood" or "Nothing Ever Happened" or "Desire Lines" had. I'm happy to say that Deerhunter's new single "Snakeskin" is an addictively catchy, uptempo dance funk wonder that is every bit as replayable as those old favourites, and also displays a completely new side of the band. The rest of the album doesn't rise to that level, instead slinking back into the oblique, autumnal and highly-layered experimental neo-psych the band forged on records like Microcastle. In other words, it's a solid Deerhunter record, and they do throw enough curveballs to keep things interesting.

27. Ian William Craig - Cradle for the Wanting
I've been a fan of Ian William Craig's work since friends introduced me to a couple of his tapes a few years back. He has a talent for creating meditative, ambient sound loops that are still engaging. The best drone music can be used as both an immersive, active-listening experience and as background noise. Craig's newest is a collection of expansive, decaying tones stretching into infinity. It's tremendously beautiful at times but also has moments of spellbinding darkness as well.

26. Ecstatic Vision - Sonic Praise
These guys have a real talent for compressing their space rock jams into (relatively) compact spaces. This makes for the rare space rock album in which the jams are concise but still mind-expanding. The combination makes this a memorable and just straight-up fun album. File under Hawkwind acolytes like White Hills, Litmus and Eternal Tapestry, these guys are one of the best space rock bands in the world right now.

25. The BodyThou - You Who I Have Always Hated
I was very excited early in the year when I heard sludgecore veterans Thou and avant-doom masters, the Body. both of whom were responsible for records that made my top 5 list last year, were going to be releasing a collaboration (Although they had already recorded a joint EP together in 2013). And as much as I enjoyed this when it came out, somehow I forgot about it, and it wasn't until preparing this list that I re-visited it. It's a fantastic doom metal album, no doubt, with both of these. heavyweights bringing a serious amount of clout to the proceedings, and a good deal of noise to bookend the mammoth riffs. It's one of the most crushingly heavy albums I heard all year, and as an actual album, it hangs together really well. It could easily be the work of one band. But I couldn't help but think that maybe the Body's involvement especially might lead to something a little bit weirder... for both these bands, impossibly heavy, feedback-saturated doom metal is only part of the story, and I wouldn't have minded them bringing a little more of their twinned creative energies to bear on this, and take a few more risks.

24. Kylesa - Exhausting Fire
Kylesa’s 2010 Spiral Shadow album was my favourite album of that year, a kaleidoscopic masterpiece that blended their sludgy, hi-fi hardcore intensity with their increasingly ambitious use of studio effects and layering to create a widescreen neo-psychedelic heavy rock album of the first order. Perhaps it was due to over-familiarity, but by the time Ultraviolet came out in 2013 and tried to use a lot of the same tricks, I felt like down by it. It was still a good record, but
somehow the intensity seemed to have dissipated, and overall it wasn’t as explosive as their earlier records. I think they’ve bettered themselves significantly on Exhausting Fire, another punishing collection of songs that feature some creative guitar playing from Laura Pleasents and Phillip Cope and a powerful, ultra-modern production job. Their recent work features a brickwalled sheen similar to that of Toronto’s Fucked Up, which may displease some longtime fans calling for a return to
the raw sludge of To Walk A Middle Course. There’s also a higher concentration of vocals from Pleasents than ever before on a Kylesa album, a development that I’d say is most welcome.

23. Obsequiae - Aria Of Vernal Tombs
The number one Dungeons and Dragons album of the year. Black metal combined with medieval interludes to create a record that's mysterious, ceremonial, and timeless. Like a King Diamond-less, post-black metal Mercyful Fate obsessed with found sound and acoustic guitar, or perhaps a blackened Nile that was more interested in the the supernatural beliefs of Gothic Germany than ancient Egypt, these hymns sound like they could have been soundtracking a black mass, or else merely the day to day struggles of a pagan village a thousand years ago.

22. Acid King - Middle Of Nowhere, Centre Of Everywhere
Acid King's last album, III came out in 2005, but you wouldn't know it listening to this. Their spaced-out biker rock is still just as crushing as I remember, but I always forget how slow these guys play. It's like watching an avalanche in slow motion. Lori's lumbering, molasses-thick leads and instantly recognizable vocals are just as appealing as ever.

21. Krallice - Ygg Huur
I absolute love every second of music this band has ever released. Ygg Hurr is their 5th full length album, and if it's possible, it's their most dense and decimating work to date. A so-called "calculator metal" supergroup, the band members' resumes speak for themselves, with the 4 players having put in time in noted tech/math/noise/avant-garde projects Orthrelm, Dysrhymthmia, and Behold... The Arctopus. Although their music has always been rooted in black metal, Krallice's precision and abstract nature set them apart... truly there is no other band in the world making music like this. The skill and single-minded drive of each member to submit to the unique band voice is unmatched. Listen to how burly and yet how nimble that rhythm section is while the two guitarists are simply astonishing. The interplay between the 4 is simply incredible. This is their shortest album to date by some distance, but that doesn't mean they've softened their approach at all. Their astonishing technicality and unstoppable brutality are still intact, and as overwhelming as ever. It doesn't quite top their best album, 2012's Years Past Matter, but it's certainly a worthy addition to the catalog of one of the most gifted and bewildering bands making music today.

20. False - Untitled
This is black metal that's high on hellish intensity and frigid atmosphere. This Minneapolis band makes a racket that features grim, raspy vocals, relentless blast beats and chaotic twin tremolo guitar figures all rushing hedlong into oblivion. The occasional synth bed adds texture and depth, giving the proceedings the feeling of something triumphant, like storm, inexorably decimating anything in its path.

19. Motörhead - Bad Magic
Lemmy died 4 days ago. I'm still at a loss for words, but I want to note that the sad news didn't change my ranking of this album. It was a strong Motörhead album in a very long string of strong Motörhead albums. From the raging opener "Victory or Die" (surely one of the best songs the band recorded in the past 25 years) to the faithful Rolling Stones cover that closes it, Bad Magic does what every record before it did... rock and roll, and take no prisoners. "Till The End" is one of the best slow songs they've ever done, too, a defiant last stand that makes for a fitting epitaph.

18. Titus Andronicus - The Most Lamentable Tragedy
I didn't love Titus Andronicus' last album. It felt a bit too restrained after their triumphant sophomore album The Monitor. Sweaty, booze-soaked, and wildly ambitious in scope, The Most Lamentable Tragedy is everything that it's disappointing predecessor was not. The band here rocks as hard as they ever have, equal parts working-class bar rock and bile-spewing punk. You'll hear nods to the ghosts of Springsteen, Thin Lizzy, Husker Du, and the Sex Pistols, but it all fits into the band's unique vision. Anthemic singalongs abound and the odd string section or incandescent guitar solo add variety and colour. Deserperation pours off of these songs, and at over 90 minutes in length, the record never overstays its welcome. A tremendous record from one of the best rock bands in the world today.

17. Goatsnake - Black Age Blues
Greg Anderson's Southern-fried boogie-doom powerhouse returns after a very long lay-off. From the fade-in of the first track, which echoes the end of their last album, 2001's magnificent Flower Of Disease, it's apparent that Goatsnake is back to do what they always did. And truly it feels like they never left, with the band dropping ultra-heavy, swaggering, slow-burn riffin' stoner rock like they never left. If you EVER hear someone say modern bands "just don't RAWK anymore..." You're welcome to let them know about these guys. It's been a year of comebacks for Greg, who has spent most of hist time the last half-decade running the incomparable Southern Lord record label and collaborating with other artists. 2015 saw him first re-form Goatsnake for this beauty of an album, and also team with long-time partner in crime Steve O'Malley to release the first full length, non-collaborative Sunn O))) record in 6 years.

16. Leila Abdul-Rauf - Insomnia
Drone artist Leila Abdul-Rauf makes bleak, haunting soundscapes that feature layered guitar, synth, wordless vocalizations, horns, keys and a whole lot of echo. Dark, rich, and strikingly beautiful, it's some of the loneliest music you'll ever hear, and despite going by the name of Insomnia, the album works best when played in the dark.

15. Windhand - Grief's Eternal Flower
2013's Soma was one of the best doom albums of that year, a sprawling, massive ode to the lumbering topor of Electric Wizard and Warning, but one in which the vocals of Dorthia Cottrell were sometimes buried in the murk. This time out, the sonic balance has been inverted, with the vocals way out in front alongside some beautifully assured guitar leads. It's certainly more accessible, and frankly it's up to you which one you think is superior (and their debut aint too shabby either), but it's clear that Windhand have cemented themselves as one of the biggest names in doom.

14. Elder - Lore
Once a gang of Sleep-worshiping resin-scrapers, Elder seems to have ingested quite a bit of Mastodon since we heard from them last, not to mention a bevy of '70s space and prog influences. Not that they've retired their copies of Master Of Reality or Sleep's Holy Mountain, just that this Boston crew has shown (GASP!) real artistic growth! They've obviously sharpened as players in the last few years, and also expanded their ambitions as well. I'll always love the simple charm of their early material, but I think I have to acknowledge that this is their best album yet.

13. Iron Maiden - Book Of Souls
Up the Irons! It wouldn't be fair to compare this record to Number Of The Beast or Killers. Of course it isn't going to be that good. But as Maiden have gracefully grown older and adopted a less vital but more studied approach, they've never failed to keep me entertained (I like to pretend the Blaze years never happened). So a triple vinyl record might seem  overly ambitious... how could a band celebrating its 40th year as a working unit release that much music without having at least some filler on it? Well, Book Of Souls is not a flawless album. But I could really give a crap. I love this band, no one does what they do as well as they do, and the high points more than make up for it. This one has as many sections that get me fired up as any of their other recent albums, all of which I adore. It's simply more of what I love from these guys. Every listen reveals new discoveries. And I am sure to keep on coming back to it for years to come.

12. Monolord - Vænir
These Swedish cosmic doom purveyors have one-upped their impressive debut with this gloriously spacey and galaxy-flattening platter. Nothing here is as immediate as "Empress Rising," but that doesn't trouble me one bit. The songs are more distinct this time out, and their grasp of dynamics is sharper. Everything sounds bigger and brawnier. This is what I imagine gravity death in a black hole sounds like.

11. Vhöl - Deeper Than Sky
One of the most interesting metal bands going, and wholly unclassifiable. Vhöl is a supergroup composed of members of YOB, Ludicra and Hammers Of Misfortune. Deeper Than Sky is their second record, and it might even eclipse their exceptional 2013 debut. This unit is one of the only groups in metal that can approach Krallice in terms of laser-precise musical ability, but they make use of a wider pallet that incorporates prog rock complexity, punk rock rants, psychedelic production touches, piano interludes, thrashy sprints, doomy sludge riffs, spacey ambiance, glorious classic heavy metal twin guitarmonies, and blackened misanthropy. Similar in restless spirit to prime Voivod, Vhöl like to get as out there as they possibly can while jackhammering quadratic equations on your forehead.

10. Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
A friend of mine tried to turn me on to Father John a few years back and it didn't make much of an impression. But I gave this a listen because I know a lot of people really like it. And I'm glad I did. I'm not a lyrics guy by any means, but these songs are funny, clever, thoughtful and touching. They tugged at my heartstrings in a way that I'm embarrassed to admit. Aw, fuck it, it's a soft-psych singer-songwriteer record with interesting arrangements and great lyrics that made me feel feelings about stuff. I really liked it. Can I write about something with screams in it now please?

9. Locrian - Infinite Dissolution
The most interesting currents in extreme music right now are seeing metal merge with noise music. Locrian has spent their career churning out a raft of impressive mutations on the form of black metal, incorporating dissonant electronics and white noise into their fearsome din. Infinite Dissolution may be their most accomplished hybrid yet, incorporating ambient soundscapes and harsh, distorted tones that dissect the black metal playbook and reassemble the components in new and creative ways. Much like doom metal deconstructionists The Body, Locrian is building on the work of their influences, and pointing the way toward the future.

8. Prurient - Frozen Niagara Falls
Absolutely decimating harsh noise walls that somehow also manage to be highly listenable. Frozen Niagara Falls is a true album, a finely crafted listening experience that blends ferocity, fearless experimentation, haywire electronics, textural meditations and a strong sense of musicality. Gorgeous piano and analog synth interludes do battle with shattered, inhuman vocals, punishing industrial-strength drum machines, piercing feedback towers, and blown-out sheets of static and distortion to construct a unique and strangely inviting musical world. The title is an appropriate image, as these explorations of pure sound sometimes feel like entering a world where time stops altogether, and otherwise nebulous landscapes and natural phenomena can be observed and experienced in stasis. It's a glorious crowning achievement for Prurient aka Dominick Fenrow, who has spent the better part of 20 years unleashing a torrent of harsh noise releases. It's also widened his profile and that of noise music in general in 2015 to a degree very few of his ilk will ever reach, given the difficult nature of this kind of music. But it's a masterpiece, and one that isn't difficult to appreciate even if you're not really into Merzbow. Let's put it this way... if you only listened to one noise musician in 2015, it was probably Prurient, and with good reason.

7. Bell Witch - Four Phantoms
Seattle funeral doom duo that includes the bass player from Samothrace, another band that's no stranger to my year-end lists. A brighter, more accomplished refinement of their relentlessly gloomy debut, this record adds a few shades of colour to their mournful hymns to hopelessness. Don't get me wrong, it's still plenty of endless marching towards the horizon, head bowed in acknowledgement of the futility of the act. This time out though, there are a few more sonic details which make for a more engaging listen. All in all, it's a step forward for a band that knows exactly what they want to do, and has proven already that they know how to do it.

6. Kamasi Washington - The Epic
I'm reluctant to declare this the masterpiece that many people have, simply because I am no jazz expert, and what I do listen to was all generally recorded before 1980. But The Epic is a very impressive overview of the history of jazz, as performed by a master student of the form. Here, big band and swing, cool and bop, free jazz and fusion all intermingle, weaving together the decades into a sprawling tapestry. At 3 hours, it's a daunting listen for the uninitiated, but it's really not at all difficult to enjoy. It's safe to say that if you're not a fan of jazz, then this probably won't appeal to you. But it's not a bad place to start if you're interested in a survey course. 

5. High On Fire - Luminiferous
Yeah, yeah, Matt Pike is a nutcase. Who the hell cares? This record, like every single HOF LP before it, is a rampaging beast. With Motörhead sadly no longer able to continue as an active musical entity, let Matt Pike's coronation as rock n' roll's greatest standard-bearer begin. High On Fire is now officially the world's most consistent heavy metal band. Pike's arching riffage and Des's punishing assault and battery approach to the drums combine to form towering cathedrals of sound. I'm 
always impressed with how they seem to be able to grow and top themselves with every release, without changing their game plan too much at all. The answer lies simply in the skill of the musicians, and their ability to gel as a unit and play with aggression, passion and vitality. I love the early records, but ever since 2007's Death Is This Communion, it's become clear that Jeff Matz is the man born to thump the bass in this formidable and battle-ready unit. I fully expect them to continue cranking out records of this quality for years to come.

4. Tribulation - The Children Of The Night
These melodic death stalwarts have made a classic heavy metal album with a blackened edge. Screeched, harsh vocals and thrashy sprints are juxtaposed with highly melodic guitar leads that will slash themselves into your brain and stay there for days. There's a real occult rock-inspired '70s feel to these songs, like Pentagram or Hammer horror films. They feel ageless, and lived in, tying together the decades in a way that will appeal to bell-bottomed hard rockers, leather-clad longhairs, Emtombed fans, and and open-minded corpse paint fiends.

3. Mgla - Exercises In Futility
Holy hell, does this record ever kick ass. These Hungarians found their way on to my radar a few months ago when they spewed out one of the most vicious black metal albums of the year. I'm ready to hear more. Even with most of the tracks running into the 7 or 8 minute range, there isn't an ounce of flab on this record, with the band drawing on seemingly bottomless wells of fury and headlong intensity throughout. And as misanthropic as the subject matter initially seems, Mgla whip up such an exhilarating hurricane of furious sound and pure excitement l that it's hard not to get swept along. Hating the world has never been so much fun.

2. Magic Circle - Journey Blind
I've heard these guys called a doom band, but if this batch of punk lifers deserves to be lumped in with any group of bands, it's those Gothic, Sabbath-worshiping old timers, the likes of Witchfinder General, Pagan Altar and Pentagram. These energetic, exciting riffs are worlds away from the sludgy and mournful palls of what I think characterizes doom metal as we use the term today. It's really more of a party record than anything, ratcheting up the speed and making for what is the most flat-out fun metal album of the year. Throw this on in between Maiden's Killers and a Grim Reaper record and you'll be crushing beer cans on your forehead and throwing up the horns in no time.

1. Six Organs Of Admittance - Hexadic
Ben Chasny's deep and rewarding body of work certainly includes slash and burn electric destruction guitar psych-outs (his 6-string work with Santa Cruz planet-scorchers Comets On Fire comes to mind), but I think most people would expect more of his acoustically inclined work when approaching a new Six Organs record. He has generally weaved currents of psych, noise, drone and rock into his trippy acoustic ragas over the years, but the core of Chasny's work his always been his spell-binding technique, most commonly displayed on the acoustic. But his first of two releases in 2015 is downright unsettling. Built from a unique guitar mode of his own devising, Hexadic was Chasny's attempt to approach his playing from a completely different set of musical rules. The result is the darkest, murkiest album of Chasny's career. It's also one of the best; noisy, distended and distorted notes hang in the air and piercing and tearing at the fabric of space. It shatters any formula that you may have identified Six Organs with. Part II, which came out later in the year, is the acoustic yang to Part I's explosive yin, where waterfalls of beautifully plucked notes cascade over one another in offsetting and unexpected ways. Fine stuff, but you don't need to know me very well to guess which one I'd prefer. It captivated me on first listen several months ago, and continues to entrance me still. I'm pleased and also surprised that an artist that I had become so familiar with and enjoyed for so long is still capable of shocking me, and for that reason, I enjoyed listening to this record more than any other that I heard in 2015.