THE ENTMOOT: END YEAR RECOMMENDATIONS – PART II

Dec 29 • News, Reviews, The Slumbering Ent • 2992 Views • 2 Comments on THE ENTMOOT: END YEAR RECOMMENDATIONS – PART II

ENTMOOT – PART II

Here is the second part of our list. Checkout the first part here.

Note: The list is in no particular order and the numbering does ‘NOT’ signify ranking. Also as is subject to individual tastes, all of these albums need not fit the definition of ‘metal’.

1. The Drip – A Presentation of Gruesome Poetics (Relapse Records)

A great  modern  grind album   that    tends to push  boundaries, while   still staying true to their roots. A huge leap for the band.

– Mohammad Kabeer

2. The Dead – Deathsteps to Oblivion (Transcending Obscurity)

This is death-sludge, think Ramesses meets Asphyx. The music here is primitive, unapologetically basic, really well-written and hard-hitting, apparently that’s all it takes to make an excellent album. Who knew?

– Anoop Bhat

3. Witch Mountain – Mobile of Angels  (Profound Lore Records)

From the opening track “Psycho Animundi”to “Can’t Settle”and  “Your Corrupt Ways” this is a Uta Plotkin album all the way through. The wails, the pitch and the sense of doom add up to a terrific album.

– Dinesh Raghavendra

Say it ain’t so, Uta Plotkin. The magnificent, bluesy vocalist is quitting this veteran stoner doom squad – and her swan song with them is a doozy! Menacing, morose, introspective and downright hypnotic, Plotkin is a frontwoman par excellence leading a band that is in fine form.

– Jayaprakash Satyamurthy

4. Death Vomit – Gutted by Horrors (Xtreem Music)

A scary release which is closer to South American bestial death metal without tipping over the edge and into mediocrity. This really sounds threatening.

– Dipankar Mohanty

5. P.L.F – Ultimate Whirlwind of Incineration (Imperial Mind Engineering)

P.L.F  returns this  year again  with another Brutal, album , adding some death metal  to their   staple sound of   Thrash and Grind  which just levels up the intensity!

– Mohammad Kabeer

6.Dread Sovereign – All Hell’s Martyrs (Van Records)

Heady, atmospheric doom from the Primordial frontman, A.A. Nemtheanga, this album does display a certain repetition of devices, but when the songwriting is good, it’s brilliant. A rich, heavy sound, excellent musicianship and wonderfully consistent atmosphere of epic gloom, sometimes reminiscent of the more Conanesque sides of Gates Of Slumber’s sound,  ensure that this is an album that makes an impact.

– Jayaprakash Satyamurthy

All Hell’s Martyrs: Doom metal that is truly full of despair. This album feels like a soundtrack tailor made for the dark side of mankind.

– Dipankar Mohanty

7. Ride for Revenge – Enter the Gauntlet (Bestial Burst)

This latest album from the Finnish trio delivers heaviness, with some of the darkest riffs ever, mixed with thick, chaotic drumming of the highest order, all wound up into dirges that sounds half parts krautrock, half parts black metal and all in all terrifyingly good.

 – Dinesh Raghavendra

8. Poil – Brossaklitt (Dur et doux)

Extremely frantic and schizoid avant-prog with tendencies to lean towards both math rock and jazz. Oddly-timed rhythms bombard you from every possible corner while the non-stop, yet varied vocal delivery acts as an instrument in itself. It’s hard to pin-point where this band is coming from in terms of influences, but the end result is as comical as it is bizarre. Definitely one of the most underrated and interesting albums of 2014.

– Rohit ChaojI

9.Gridlink – Longhena (Selfmadegod Records)

While I didn’t really like their previous albums all that much, this one hit the ball out of the park!   This effortlessly melds melodic  guitar playing  with grindcore’s ferocity!!  Something that very few albums manage to do! Not only  that it  mixes two things that I really love !! Grindcore and Anime!

– Mohammad Kabeer

10. Mantar – Death by Burning (Svart Records)

Motorhead-y and Tragedy-ized doom? Absurd ? Maybe but this is so much fun.

– Nishanth

11. Earth – Primitive and Deadly (Southern Lord Recordings)

Earth has been around for more than a decade and has experimented with everything from the keyboards, basses and cellos, each a variation on a unifying aesthetic. Primitive and Deadly sees them changing for the better and this might be the beginning of a new Earth. The Lanegan cameo doesn’t really do the trick but hey the compositions are gorgeous and the riffs are fat and thick. Sign me up for more.

 – Dinesh Raghavendra

12. Monolord – Empress Rising (Riding Easy Records)

Heavy, fuzzy, oozing with warmth, bass-heavy and so goddamn catchy. These Swedish debutants have mustered up the stoner/doom album of the year.

– Anoop Bhat

One of the best doom debuts of the year, this Sleep-induced band churns out long, crushing songs and deal in a massive sound. But they don’t just get by on sheer mass: the riffs are great and the vocals are catchy in a swimmy, hazy way.

– Jayaprakash Satyamurthy

 13. Flvx Capacitor/ Captain Three Leg Split (Grindcore Karaoke)

Flvx capacitor is what it’s all about over here!  They have a very  inventive sound  where the guitars are used to give a noise like texture to the sound, while the main  groove  is played on  the bass guitar, I have never  really heard anything like that in powerviolence(though  I am pretty  sure there might be a band which has done this before a shit ton of bands out there and its equally shit hard to keep count)

 – Mohammad Kabeer

14. Trench Rot– Necronomic Warfare (Unspeakable Axe Records)

This was a bit of a surprise. Out of nowhere came Trenchrot and bought with it a fantastic thrash infused death metal album in the form of Necronomic Warfare. Unrelenting from start to finish.

– Dipankar

Unspeakable Axe’s best release yet. A classy deathrash treat!

– Nishanth

 15. Howls of Ebb – Vigils of the 3rd Eye (I,Voidhanger Records)

Howls of Ebb is one of the most unusual death metal bands I’ve heard in years. They combine all the complex tricks in the book exceptional and unconventional composition, and atmosphere. Its not easy listening at times but it’s worth the effort for the album comes together quite unlike any other.

 – Dinesh Raghavendra

16. Pallbearer – Foundations of Burden (Profound Lore Records)

When they released Sorrow And Extinction in 2012 I had the always pleasurable experience of being the first person to turn a lot of my friends on to this band. This time around, they’re deservedly widely known in the doom community and their brand of melodic, yet gloomy doom metal sounds better than ever.

 – Jayaprakash Satyamurthy

17. Full of Hell and Merzbow (Profound Lore Records)

Full of hell prove yet again that they are masters of their game., This right here is  some of their  most wrathful, most intense work  yet. The band along with Merzbow sounds menacing to say the least!

– Mohammad Kabeer

18. Wovenhand – Refractory Obdurate (Deathwish Inc)

Although I personally prefer the country/folk side of Woven Hand, David Eugene Edwards does not disappoint with his gothic/psychedelic rock assault on Refractory Obdurate. The songs here are “heavy”, a couple of them even bordering on hardcore punk, but the folk/country roots are still evident. One of the most memorable albums of 2014 for me.

– Rohit Chaoji

19. Arctic Sleep – Passage of Gaia (Independent Release)

New age Doom? Probably, and for that reason alone it might turn a large part of the traditional doom fans off. But it’d find love in the latter day Katatonia audience. Regardless, the atmosphere that this album gives off is truly its own.

– Nishanth

20. Phobocosm – Deprived (Dark Descent Records)

Songs that Immolation and Incantation never wrote. Now that alone will turn a few heads, and yet that characterization alone is sort of an understatement for there is more than just that here.

– Nishanth

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