TEETHOFTHEDIVINE STAFF PICKS FOR 2014!!!
Another year. Another year of great metal, comebacks, surprises, letdowns, and everything in between. For Teethofthedivine, it was a transitional year as staff turnover was balanced by amazing output that resulted in new content virtually every day of the year. Former Internal Bleeding vocalist Frank Rini joined our ranks, and a number of fresh-faced, bright-eyed writers entered the fray, allured by free metal and a chance to have their voices heard. A few of the regular, grizzled denizens remained.
However, it was business as usual getting both old and new staff to get their year-end lists submitted. It took weeks of Liam Neeson-like emails and gravelly-voiced threats (“I have particular set of skills, skills that make me a nightmare for writers like you. Get me your list and I’ll think nothing of it. But if you don’t get your list submitted, I will find you and I will send you an everso slightly peeved Facebook message”) to get the lists all submitted in time.
So without further ado, here are the Staff Picks for 2014. Please feel free to share, comment and add your own list. Here’s to 2015!
Frank Rini
Truly a wonderful and brutal year in extreme metal. Great releases and some killer tours. My writing is more sporadic for Teeth of the Divine, due to a recent promotion, therefore I really don’t have the time anymore. But Erik has been awesome for allowing me to still send him some reviews when the time permits. Death Metal is in my blood and is going no where. I thank everyone out there who likes my writing style as well as supporting Teeth of the Divine and Erik’s cause of spreading extreme music to the masses. All my reviews are in order of what I feel were the strongest releases for 2014. Check out not just my list, but everyone else’s on here. You will find new and exciting music to love and to support the scene too. Looking ahead to 2015 we will see the release of some killer albums from Napalm Death, Slayer, Desolate Shrine, Fear Factory, Pighead, Emblazoned and hopefully the long overdue Ghostly White, from Deceased as well as many others. Have a Happy and Healthy New Year Metalheads. \m/
- INTERNAL BLEEDING–IMPERIUM (UNIQUE LEADER) AND SOILS OF FATE–THIN THE HERD (PERMEATED RECORDS) Yes a tie, I’m biased and I don’t care. I layed down guest vocals for multiple songs on both albums and these are 2 of my favorite bands, Internal Bleeding due to obvious reasons. Both albums are 2 of the best slam death albums in existence.
- SOULBURN–THE SUFFOCATING DARKNESS (CENTURY MEDIA) One of the best blackened doom/death albums ever.
- TRIPTYKON–MELANA CHASMATA (CENTURY MEDIA) Brooding, dark, heavy and emotive.
- LVCIFYRE–SVN EATER (DARK DESCENT RECORDS) I swear this album was born from the depths of Hell-Amazing.
- DOMAINS–SINISTER CEREMONIES (THE SINISTER FLAME) Sleeper album of the year-how dark death metal was meant to be played.
- CORPSESSED–ABYSMAL THRESHOLDS (DARK DESCENT RECORDS) Finnish death metal always kills, this album destroys.
- MIDNIGHT–NO MERCY FOR MAYHEM (HELLS HEADBANGERS RECORDS) One catchy mutha.
- GRAVEHILL–DEATH CURSE (DARK DESCENT RECORDS) Their 3rd and finest.
- EMBLAZONED–EUCHARISTIAE SACRAMENTUM (DEEPSEND RECORDS) Unreal brutality.
- ALGEBRA–FEED THE EGO (UNSPEAKABLE AXE RECORDS) Thrash gets no better than this.
- REVEL IN FLESH–DEATH KULT LEGIONS (CYCLONE EMPIRE) Phenomenal heaviness.
- LIE IN RUINS–TOWARDS DIVINE DEATH (DARK DESCENT RECORDS) Long, heavy and pummeling.
- MISERY INDEX–THE KILLING GODS (SEASON OF MIST) Death/grind Godz.
- NAUSEA–CONDEMNED TO THE SYSTEM (WILLOWTIP RECORDS) Best grind album this year-not even close.
- NERVOSA–VICTIM OF YOURSELF (NAPALM RECORDS) These females prove they can thrash better than a lot of male thrash bands-so catchy.
- SUICIDE SILENCE–YOU CAN’T STOP ME (NUCLEAR BLAST AMERICA)Ripping from beginning to end.
- TRENCHROT–NECRONOMIC WARFARE (UNSPEAKABLE AXE RECORDS) Heavier than 10 elephants driving 10 sherman tanks.
- HORRENDOUS–ECDYSIS (DARK DESCENT RECORDS) One of the best death metal bands on the planet.
- ARTIFICIAL BRAIN–LABYRINTH CONSTELLATION (PROFOUND LORE) brutal, chaotic and devastating.
- DESERTED FEAR–KINGDOM OF WORMS (FDA REKOTZ) Vicious face ripping brutality.
- NEAR DEATH CONDITION–EVOLVING TOWARDS EXTINCTION (UNIQUE LEADER) NDC have become more dominating with the addition of a human drummer on this album.
- DEATH VOMIT–GUTTED BY HORRORS (XTREEM MUSIC) Yet another sleeper hit-skull crushing old school heaviness.
- DEUS OTIOSUS–RISE (DEEPSEND RECORDS) Cannot stop headbanging to this, still
- EXODUS–BLOOD IN, BLOOD OUT (NUCLEAR BLAST) Bay Area Thrash kings return to crush.
- COGNITIVE–COGNITIVE (PATHOLOGICALLY EXPLICIT RECORDINGS) One of the best productions this year, from one of the best new bands in the universe.
- PYRRHON–THE MOTHER OF VIRTUES (RELAPSE RECORDS) Weird, hypnotic, chaotic brutality.
- THANATOS–GLOBAL PURIFICATION (CENTURY MEDIA) So killer and punishes the soul from beginning to end.
- DECAYING PURITY–MALIGNANT RESURRECTION OF THE FALLEN SOULS (SEVARED RECORDS)Killer cd cover and music is insanely brutal.
- DEAD CONGREGATION–PROMULGATION OF THE FALL (PROFOUND LORE) So heavy and so damn worth the long wait.
- HUMILIATION–BATTALION (DEEPSEND RECORDS) Crushes bones into smithereens.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
- 7 H.TARGET–0.00 APOCALYPSE
- SEPTYCAL GORGE – SCOURGE OF THE FORMLESS BREED
- THANTIFAXATH–SACRED WHITE NOISE
- BRUTALLY DECEASED–BLACK INFERNAL VORTEX
- RINGS OF SATURN-LUGAL KI EN
BEST EP: SLAUGHTERDAY–RAVENOUS
BEST REISSUE: DEMILICH–20TH ADVERSARY OF EMPTINESS
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT FOR 2014: AUTOPSY–TOURNIQUETS HACKSAWS & GRAVES
BEST ALBUM COVER: VADER–TIBI ET IGNI
BEST CONCERT: MAN THERE WERE SOME GREAT TOURS THIS YEAR. I’ll have to go with The Decibal tour with Carcass, Gorguts, Noisem and The Black Dahlia Murder
BEST LABEL: Dark Descent Records. As much as I love Deepsend Records, as well as being friends with label owner Graham Landers, I have to pick Matt Calvert’s Dark Descent Records. This past year I have noticed the customer service increase more so than in the past as well as orders getting sent out quicker than ever, which blew my mind because 2014 saw his label have some of the busiest traffic of any distro in recent memory. Also really the beginning of 2014 saw Dark Descent Records release a 4 hit combo attack, from Corpsessed, Lvcifyre Lie in Ruins and Gravehill, and as far as I am concerned no label could possibly recover from such near perfect release knockouts. Look at my list with all his releases dominating, as well as in my honorable mentions and a few of his other releases from his sister label Unspeakable Axe, like Algebra, Trench Rot and Shards of Humanity. Dark Descent also put out the Horrendous demo, Sweet Blasphemies, for the first time and then the new Horrendous album drops and lays waste to death metal bands far and wide. The Thantifaxath ep and full length were truly original phenoms and some other strong Dark Descent albums from Swallowed, Sempiternal Dusk and Phobocosm helped destroy the competition. Unanimously Dark Descent was #1 and with releases, from Desolate Shrine and Ghoulgotha, to start off 2015, Dark Descent Records are already starting with two phenomenal releases. Well done Matt-you truly deserve all the kudos you get, you rock, your label rocks and your bands rock!!
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Hey Adam-
Where did you find the numbers for your piece about total metal albums being released by year? I’d like to take a gander at that, I was floored to hear there were more metal albums released in 2013 than in all of the 80’s combined!
on Jan 5th, 2015 at 15:43Check out the Metal Archives advanced search page. Under the “search albums” tab you can specify a date range and it will spit out everything released during that time with the total number of entries. You can also specify the release type if you want, which is how I figured out that there were 5,905 full-lengths released in 2013 but only 2,939 from the beginning of 1980 to the end of 1989.
on Jan 5th, 2015 at 19:31A lot of love for Dark Descent in the staff picks, but to my mind the best thing they released this year wasn’t mentioned: Swallowed – Lunarterial. Totally unhinged.
on Jan 5th, 2015 at 21:18Really cool reading these lists. As much good shit as I listened to this yesr there’s still tons of stuff to check out. Looking foraard to delving jnto Saor, Archspire and Stargazer especially.
on Jan 6th, 2015 at 02:17Thanks Adam!
on Jan 6th, 2015 at 16:36Great lists there is plenty I need to catch up on. Just wanna say that An autumn for crippled children rules, they have been pumping out some seriously bleAK shit every year since 2010, and are basically what the cure would be like if they were a BM band.
on Jan 9th, 2015 at 21:21