Last week writer Gary Lukes bought you his top 15 EPs of 2014. Today may we present to you his list of the top 15 demos that came out last year. We have to agree that number 1 is killer, had it on repeat at metalgigs HQ since it came out.
15. Adversary - Adversary
Feral black metal with a festering...
There were a lot of albums released in 2014 and often singles, EPs, and demos get overlooked in the sea of output. Regular site contributor Gary Lukes waded through the shorter (and not so shorter) releases that 2014 gave us to bring you his top 15 essential EPs of the year...
15. Pist - Riffology
Mancunian groove-merchants Pist wield a firm handle on hard rocking, riffy stoner; providing the ideal summer soundtrack for the...
2015 is here but that doesn't mean we shouldn't take a look back at some of the finest albums put out in 2014. Site contributor Colum Bell gives us the lowdown on what he considers to be the finest releases of last year...
10. Orange Goblin - Back From the Abyss
Orange Goblin return with Back From the Abyss which up the ante and proves why...
Matthew Green sent over his Top 10 albums of 2014 but after he commented "now i look at it, it's not the worlds most underground top 10 but it is at least honest!". So here is his list, honest and no f**** given...
Top 10 Albums of 2014
by Matthew Green
Honourable mentions to...
It's hot outside. Some might say too hot, but moaning is a favourite pastime of the British. What better way to bring yourself down than a decent slice of death doom. Nick Wallwork from the English Black Metal band Winterfylleth hit us up with his Top 10 albums of the death doom persuasion.
As always...
If someone asks me about what new bands to check out one of the first bands out of my mouth every time for the last few years has been Conan. Since my cohorts Gary and Colum introduced Conan to me i've been listening to them non stop waiting for each new release. Their demos, splits and albums have changed my very definition of heavy. Whilst their studio releases have been jaw droppingly heavy it's their monstrous and LOUD live shows that gets everyone talking. Earplugs are a must unless you want several days of tinnitus, which some fans seems happy to deal with. From playing smaller shows throughout the UK they have gone on to play the likes of Damnation Festival and what is now quite the legendary performance at Roadburn Festival in 2012. Fans from across the continent crammed into the...
2012 was the year the world didn’t end. It was the year many a young guest on “Jim’ll Fix It” breathed a sigh of relief that all he gave them was a trip to Blackpool and a gaudy badge. It was the year Justin Bieber tragically kept his testicles while the world unfortunately lost the likes of Joey Lombard, Trondr Nefas and Steeve Hurdle.
2012 was a year that I saw out perched on my porcelain throne, cursing the norovirus and delaying my list even further. 2012 also saw me somehow missing stellar releases from Black Magician, Weapon, A Forest of Stars, Incantation(!) and Maveth amongst others. January will be the month I stop throwing up and attempt catching up. In the meantime, take from this list what you will...
When Colum isn't turning up late to review gigs in his home town of Brighton you'll generally find him hidden in the darkness of the crowd on the lower floor of the Camden Underworld. A lover of all things Japanese, his tastes in metal are as wide as his world travels, but regardless of genre it's the impeccable pick of the crop.
Top 15 albums of 2012
Conan’s first full length debut is certainly the primal barbarian riff fest that we were all hoping for. You can’t just can’t help headbanging to tracks such as Battle in the Swamp! The albums success has helped propel them to being one of the most talked about underground bands around! Slay some orcs and raise your tankards to Conan...
Rich is normally behind the lens for metalgigs covering gigs "oop North" and you can check out his photography work here.
2012 Top 10 albums by Rich Price
10) Lazarus Blackstar - Hymns for the Cursed
Glad to see these releasing a new album, not many come close to being as slow and bowel evacuatingly heavy as these lot. Now if only they'd play gigs outside of Bradford I'd be a happy man.
9) Anaal Nathrakh - Vanitas
It's Anaal Nathrakh doing what they do best, another one to get...
I've paid little attention to the releases of this year and correspondingly the dramas surrounding them, such as last year's Liturgy fiasco and Leviathan court case which felt almost unavoidable. For that reason I find myself largely unable to construct a list consisting solely of full-lengths or one that can be logically structured into any kind of order that runs from 'worst' to 'best' or vice versa (and so I opt for an alphabetic approach), something I struggle with in any and all cases anyway. None the less I've found myself revising this list a few times, removing releases (such as Deathspell Omega's "Drought" - a release which just missed out on being included in this list) and replacing them with others and I've surely missed some off which I'll later be kicking myself for.
Some fantastic records such as Swan's "the Seer" have been dropped for their not being a metal release and others such as Pallbearer & Hooded Menace have been removed in order to be replaced with releases that I'd forgotten had come out this year. Equally, I've removed albums that I hadn't realised upon inclusion were actually released last year. Without further ado...