Teeth of the Divine 2015’s STAFF PICKS
2015. Another, goddamn, year over already. And how’d it end? With a major downer with Lemmy going somewhere else. Who do we have left? Ozzy? Rob? Alice? Anyone else? Damn. It wasn’t all that bad of a year though, even if the world seemed to become even crazier than 2014 — if Fox News is to be believed. Plenty of good music got released and what we’ve got here is a top list of metal related stuff that Teeth of the Divine’s staff handpicked themselves. Unlike most of our corporate overlords, we don’t outsource our opinions, enslave some poor bastards and build safety nets around them just in case they decide to call it quits. Actually, that’s not true. We’re not a hive mind, we enslave people to write for us but we sure as hell aren’t spending any of our huge advertising revenue to keep them alive. Ha! Anyway, browse around and find some worthy stuff you might have missed!
FRANK RINI
2015 was yet another outstanding year for extreme metal. All my reviews are in order of what I feel were the strongest releases for 2015. 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 2016 we will see the release of albums from MEGADETH, ANTHRAX, GORGUTS, EMBLAZONED, SOULBURN, ULCERATE, ASPHYX, LIFELESS, as well as many others. Have a Happy and Healthy New Year, Metalheads. \m/
- ELDRITCH HORROR-UNTOUCHED BY THE SUN [Self-Released]
- DESOLATE SHRINE-THE HEART OF THE NETHERWORLD [Dark Descent Records]
- CHAPEL OF DISEASE-THE MYSTERIOUS WAYS OF REPETITIVE ART [F.D.A. REKOTZ]
- NAILGUN MASSACRE-BONED BOXED AND BURIED [Xtreem Music]
- UNDERGANG- DØDEN LÆGER ALLE SÅR [Dark Descent Records]
- SULPHUR AEON-GATEWAY TO THE ANTISPHERE [Imperium Productions]
- AD NAUSEAM– NIHIL QUAM VACUITAS ORDINATUM [Lavadome Productions]
- HORRENDOUS- ANARETA [Dark Descent Records]
- GOROD-A MAZE OF RECYCLED CREEDS [Unique Leader Records]
- TON-BOW DOWN BEFORE EXTINCTION [Ossuary Industries]
- OBSCURE INFINITY-PERPETUAL DESCENDING INTO NOTHINGNESS[F.D.A. REKOTZ]
- SYNAPSES –DEVOUTNESS [Cimmerian Shade Recordings]
- NAPALM DEATH-APEX PREDATOR-EASY MEAT [Century Media Records]
- HUMILIATION-UNDER THE SIEGE OF INVASION [Deepsend Records]
- DYSTENTERY-FRAGMENTS [Comatose Music]
- CRUCIAMENTUM-CHARNEL PASSAGES [Profound Lore Records]
- NOISEM-BLOSSOMING DECAY [A389 Recordings]
- PRIME EVIL-BLOOD CURSE RESURRECTION [Inferno Records]
- SLAYER-REPENTLESS [Nuclear Blast Records]
- WOMBBATH-DOWNFALL RISING [Dark Descent Records]
- PURTENANCE-…TO SPREAD THE FLAME OF ANCIENTS [Xtreem Music]
- SICKENING HORROR-OVERFLOW [Deepsend Records]
- FEAR FACTORY-GENEXUS [Nuclear Blast Records]
- CROCELL-THE PROPHET’S BREATH [Deepsend Records]
- DESECRESY-STOIC DEATH [Xtreem Music]
- CUT UP-FORENSIC NIGHTMARES [MetalBlade Records]
- MARUTA-REMAIN DYSTOPIAN [Relapse Records]
- ENTRAILS-OBLITERATION [MetalBlade Records]
- IMMORTAL SUFFERING –ASYLUM [Ossuary Industries]
- SKELETAL REMAINS-CONDEMNED TO MISERY [F.D.A. REKOTZ]
BEST REISSUE: MORPHEUS DESCENDS–FROM BLACKENED CRYPTS [Dark Descent Records]
BEST SONG: CHAPEL OF DISEASE: “Lord of all Death”, from THE MYSTERIOUS WAYS OF REPETITIVE ART.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENTS FOR 2015: MORGOTH–UNGOD, Martin van Drunen getting the boot from HAIL OF BULLETS and ELDRITCH HORROR’S debut, UNTOUCHED BY THE SUN, getting released without a label.
BEST LIVE BAND: TRIPTYKON AT MDF. Playing classic CELTIC FROST tunes, in between the TRIPTYKON albums was an all-time concert highlight for me. One of the heaviest live bands I’ve ever witnessed. Tom Warrior rules!!
BEST CONCERT: Killer tours this year. I’ll have to go with: Through Space and Grind Tour– NAPALM DEATH/VOIVOD/EXHUMED/IRON REAGAN. All bands crushed it and show was packed!
Best Record Label: Dark Descent Records. Second year in a row, for me. Matt Calvert’s Dark Descent Records just edging out Deepsend Records, Xtreem Music and F.D.A. Rekotz. Dark Descent had 5 of their releases in my entire 2015 list and the quality of music Matt has on his roster is staggering. His label is like a steam roller flattening everything in its path. Great job, once again!!
Find more articles with: 2015, Blog, Staff Picks
I am a bit surprised (and saddened) to see the Sickening Horror mentioned only once, since this seemed to be one of the very few sites that actually reviewed it, and it got a pretty positive review at that.
Definitely some stuff I missed on these lists though so I will have to start digging through them.
on Jan 15th, 2016 at 04:35I reviewed it here but didn’t submit a top ten due to extremely part-time status. But it was one of the few metal records I liked last year.
on Jan 16th, 2016 at 20:49Erik thanks to you I discovered Vallendusk. And WOW! What an amazing album and band!Cheers!
on Jan 25th, 2016 at 07:49\m/
on Jan 25th, 2016 at 09:00