It's not been a great year for thrash by any means but it's been solid enough overall. I've still found some wicked albums to enjoy though but it's far from a vintage crop perhaps. The rethrash movement has stagnated somewhat it seems. Aussie band Harlott was an easy overall winner for me. The band is just fucking awesome through and through.
I was hope free for Slayer but I have to admit they pulled it off somehow and made an album worthy of their name even though I didn't love every song by any means. The other thrash albums I liked were all pretty high quality and very enjoyable but not totally amazing either when you dig deep. Hatchet released a good album but expectations were a bit higher I must admit.
Gama Bomb tightened up the production even more and released their best album of neckbreaking riffage. One man band Morti Viventi's album came out in 2014 probably but the blogs list it as 2015 so I went with it. It's got some hefty riffing. Hopefully that guy can make a follow up soon. Annihilator returned with an all Jeff sung album and I must admit I thought it was actually gonna be a bit better than it turned out. I was expecting top 5 but it didn't quite make it but it's still pretty fun. Other notable releases were UK's Dendera, Spain's Angelus Apatrida and Holland's Distillator. Good head banging times indeed. Next year, my total faves, Suicidal Angels will be back so I'm expecting a mammoth riff fest there. For now the 2015 thrash list looks like this:
27. Dr. Living Dead! - Crush the Sublime Gods
26. Abstracted - Ophidian EP
25. Satyrasis - Of The Dead EP
24. Viking - No Child Left Behind
23. Anihilated - Anti Social Engineering
22. Wolf Spider - V
21. Arsenite - Apophis
20. Comaniac - Return to the Wasteland
19. Perzonal War - The Last Sunset
18. Leave Scars - Chains Of Redemption
17. 4Arm - Survivalist
16. Exarsis - The Human Project
15. War Agenda - Night of Disaster
14. Annihilator - Suicide Society
13. Hatchet - Fear Beyond Lunacy
12. Angel Of Sodom - Divine Retribution
11. Morti Viventi - The Day The Dead Returned
10. Spellbound - Nothing But The Truth
9. Weresquatch - Frozen Void
8. Angelus Apatrida - Hidden Evolution
7. Gama Bomb - Untoucheable Glory
6. Slayer - Repentless
5. Dendera - Pillars of Creation
4. Distillator - Revolutionary Cells
3. Mynded - Dead End Paradise
2. Polarized - Western Hypnosis
1. Harlott - Proliferation
Death metal used to be an obsession for me back in glory days when Chuck was alive and the big four of Death, Carcass, Morbid Angel and Obituary were ruling the roost. Over the years death metal's impact on my listening habits has lessened to a degree that I no longer consider it something that I must seek out religiously.
I used to hit 50 and more liked death metal albums no problem in years gone by but this year I'm really scratching the bottom of the barrel trying to get anywhere near that number. I mean I still enjoy a rollicking good death metal album and 29 albums is not bad but there are no big names on my list. In fact the big names disappointed me. Psycroptic and Gorod whilst releasing competent albums did not float my boat and I will leave them off my list.
My number one is pretty easy with the Necrophagist worship of A Loathing Requiem. Gruesome made one remember Chuck back in his "evil" days hehe. There were some solidly riffed affairs such as the old school Skeletal Remains. Good old Napalm never lets me down. They are getting more and more brutal though. Borderline too brutal for this listener in fact but I still can unearth that neanderthal groove that they muster from time to time. Melodeath was in complete retreat for me this year with Sympuls-E and Orpheus Omega being the best and to be honest I tried very little in that style. Bodom's release was ok and acceptable.
I got into some other normal standard death albums as well. Subconcious's Veil was more latter day Chuck inspired and was the token offering for that style of death metal. Horrendous have improved tremendously since their early album which I found almost unlistenable. There's hope for them to become even better in the future. I expected more from I Chaos having loved the previous disk. This time they got the production spot on unlike the debut, only the riffing was just not as good. Death metal will be back one day but it lies dormant this year with just plenty of reasonable releases but nothing amazing. ALR take the honours with ease by releasing what is basically the latest Necro album since Muhammed can't be arsed any more!
29. The Devils Of Loudun - Entering Oblivion ep
28. Entheos - Primal EP
27. Atlas Entity - Enceladus ep
26. Children of Bodom - I Worship Chaos
25. Sympuls-E - Solarstorm
24. Anachronism - Reflecting the Inside
23. Defloration - Created to Kill
22. Regurgitate Life - The Defiled Face Of Existence
21. Kronos - Arisen New Era
20. Fungus - Predatory Harvest
19. Orpheus Omega - Partum Vita Mortem
18. The Ritual Aura - Laniakea
17. I Chaos - Masterbleeder
16. Incinerate - Eradicating Terrestrial Species
15. DayOne - st
14. Mortiferous Scorn - Visceral Nemesis
13. Subconcious - Veil
12. Weak Aside - The Next Offensive
11. Sickening - The Beyond
10. Napalm Death - Apex Predator: Easy Meat
9. Horrendous - Anareta
8. Demiurgon - Above the Unworthy
7. Skeletal Remains - Condemned to Misery
6. Sothoth - Rise To Conquer
5. Gruesome - Savage Land
4. Revulsed - Infernal Atrocity
3. Serial Butcher - Brute Force Lobotomy
2. Continuum - The Hypothesis
1. A Loathing Requiem - Acolytes Eternal
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