I don’t think end of year lists for this thread need to be exclusively metal do they? Just heavy… WYW is on my list anyway!
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This would be on that playlist if only it were on Spotify, utter tune from my no.7!
I’m with @Kovacs77 on this one. I think WYW definitely falls into the Heavy category.
And brilliantly, your post reminds me I need to revisit that record a whole bunch. And then revisit my provisional AOTY list. Cheers!
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Heavy it is then. Reckon I’m just going to chuck all my faves into a ramshackle top whatever… might not even number them
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Ramshackle Top Whatever 2019 would be my pick for this year’s Top AOTY Thread Title. Ordering is hard.
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It really is. Having a bit of a time with my overall top 5 this year. Probably just going to with my most played
Didn’t realise they had played. Don’t get the saves the day love at all.
That festival had some good line ups in the past but the guy has seemingly lost it. And is an absolute prick as evidenced after the oakland club fire a few years back
big fan of alphabetical lists to be honest. Don’t like to play my favourite artists off against each other 
Yeah they’re well out of place here, especially Conley doing the old songs in his new nasal voice he’s adopted
Saves the Day are good though, first few albums are cracking records. They have some interesting stuff later on as well, but they’r enot the same band and definitely not a hardcore band
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I’ve just re-read @Kovacs77 post I replied to and and at no point is ‘metal’ specified just heavy… no idea why I got that in my head
So my top 10 Heavy albums.
Numenorean.
Album of the year. The best Blackgaze album I’ve ever heard. Melds the heavy with the pretty goth bits so well.
Employed To Serve
Almost album of the year. Such aggressive hardcore / metal, Justine’s screamed vocals pack such a huge punch. Also they’re a phenomenal live band the the least likely I’ve seen to play Glastonbury.
Whitechapel
Filthy, brutal deathcore but with enough clean singing to stop the whole album becoming grindingly one note.
Not to say that it isn’t one of the most aggressive albums I’ve heard, but there’s texture to it, it’s more than just blast beats and bellowing.
Brutus
Mixing punk, shoegazing and metal in a way I’ve never heard before. And I guess every review should comment in amazement at how the drummer can play like that, and sing, she’s incredible.
Brutality Will Prevail
Dirty sludgy hardcore from Wales. Huge riffs, bigger breakdowns.
Nice.
Ithaca
Making Employed to Serve seem demure in comparison. 10 songs in 31 minutes is the short, sharp punch to the face you’d hope from something this full on. UK Hardcore is on the up theses days and I love it.
Rammstein
Who would have thought Rammstein still had a good album in them, let alone a great one?
Best thing they’ve done in years.
Cold In Berlin
Melodramatic Goth doom metal at its best.
What more description do you need
Alcest
Alcest finally go full metal. Now it’s still very pretty but the blast beats and screaming have been moved to the fore and, IMO, makes for a better sound. It gives the record an energy that got lost in the more shoegazing albums.
Gold
Mixing alt rock and metal seamlessly. The way you suddenly realise the song has gotten heavier without being jaring. It’s a great album somewhat let down by a weak last 3 songs.
Well, I didn’t need to clean the house today, I guess.
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Here’s a massively overindulgent, very loosely ordered list of heavy albums I really enjoyed from the year 2019
Numenorean - Adore
The St. Pierre Snake Invasion - Caprice Enchanté
White Ward - Love Exchange Failure
Wear Your Wounds - Rust on the Gates of Heaven
Alcest - Spiritual Instinct
Cave In - Final Transmission
Lingua Ignota - Caligula
Wreck and Reference - Absolute Still Life
Waste of Space Orchestra - Syntheosis
Blood Incantation - Hidden History of the Human Race
Drawn Into Descent - The Endless Endeavour
Latitudes - Part Island
Ithaca - The Language of Injury
GOLD - Why Aren’t You Laughing?
Big Brave - A Gaze Among Them
Yellow Eyes - Rare Field Ceiling
Kaleikr - Heart of Lead
Employed to Serve - Eternal Forward Motion
Brutus - Nest
Pijn & Conjurer - Curse These Metal Hands
Cult of Luna - A Dawn to Fear
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Bats - Alter Nature
Hawk Eyes - Advice
Whitechapel - The Valley
Archivist - Triumvirate
Knocked Loose - A Different Shade of Blue
Helms Alee - Noctiluca
Mephorash - Shem Ha Mephorash
The Number Twelve Looks Like You - Wild Gods
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My last post but with youtube links.
This was a pretty amazing year in metal for me.
It’s interesting that 5 of these bands have women singing (Well, 3 singing and 2 screaming ) which is a huge change from my older listening habits.
Numenorean.
Album of the year. The best Blackgaze album I’ve ever heard. Melds the heavy with the pretty goth bits so well.
Employed To Serve
Almost album of the year. Such aggressive hardcore / metal, Justine’s screamed vocals pack such a huge punch. Also they’re a phenomenal live band the the least likely I’ve seen to play Glastonbury.
Whitechapel
Filthy, brutal deathcore but with enough clean singing to stop the whole album becoming grindingly one note.
Not to say that it isn’t one of the most aggressive albums I’ve heard, but there’s texture to it, it’s more than just blast beats and bellowing.
Brutus
Mixing punk, shoegazing and metal in a way I’ve never heard before. And I guess every review should comment in amazement at how the drummer can play like that, and sing, she’s incredible.
Brutality Will Prevail
Dirty sludgy hardcore from Wales. Huge riffs, bigger breakdowns.
Nice.
Ithaca
Making Employed to Serve seem demure in comparison. 10 songs in 31 minutes is the short, sharp punch to the face you’d hope from something this full on. UK Hardcore is on the up theses days and I love it.
Rammstein
Who would have thought Rammstein still had a good album in them, let alone a great one?
Best thing they’ve done in years.
Cold In Berlin
Melodramatic Goth doom metal at its best.
What more description do you need
Alcest
Alcest finally go full metal. Now it’s still very pretty but the blast beats and screaming have been moved to the fore and, IMO, makes for a better sound. It gives the record an energy that got lost in the more shoegazing albums.
Gold
Mixing alt rock and metal seamlessly. The way you suddenly realise the song has gotten heavier without being jaring. It’s a great album somewhat let down by a weak last 3 songs.
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Here’s mine, no particular order just 20 heavy albums which I got really into throughout the year…
Blut Aus Nord
Alcest
Numenorean
Mireplaner
The Moth Gatherer
Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard
Une Misère
Employed To Serve
Gatecreeper
Obsequiae
Waste Of Space Orchestra
Drawn Into Descent
Cult Of Luna
Norma Jean
Knocked Loose
Wear Your Wounds
Slipknot
Darkthrone
Wormwitch
Rotting Christ
Fantastic year wasn’t it?
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It really was 
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That Brutus video is awesome, how do you sing like that and hit the drums like that at the same time?! I must listen to that album asap.
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it was, I heard more new albums this year than ever before I think, more than 50% of them metal, black or otherwise and the overall quality was seriously impressive, 2020’s got a hard act to follow! 
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That numenorean album is fucking dull as fuck, lads. For real?
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Ftfy
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