Part 2 (of 2) of my 50 Best Albums of 2023! My #1 album is AODON (France), album - Portraits!

0:25-4:04 OLKOTH (SC), album - At The Eye Of Chaos (Death) song – The Resurrectionist — Chunky drums and jagged guitars circle meditatively, texture upon texture, dropping to beat after surprise after glory. 

5:22-11:55 FORTÍÐ (Iceland), album - Narkissos (Black, Melodic) song – Tímans ör — Cinematic, beautiful and complex black metal with big tumultuous melodic and a blast of incredibly catchy thrashy portions.

12:27-17:08 BERZERKER LEGION (Netherlands/Sweden/UK), album - Chaos Will Reign (Death, Melodic) song – Choirs Of Anguish — Frenzy of technical guitar fingers, a pummeling of blast beats, and the grooviest of hooks in this sophomore release.

17:37-21:28 KOSTNATĚNÍ (MN), album - Úpal (Black, Modern) song – Skrýt se před Bohem — A jungle of unhinged and unpredictable sound, with twangs of foreign melodies. This is wild and beautiful.

21:51-25:51 CARNATION (Belgium), album - Cursed Mortality (Death) song – Herald Of Demise — Melodic groove, chomping and galloping pace with incredible guitar solos that match the integrity of the 2020 album.

26:19-30:05 GABESTOK (Denmark), album - Med Freden Kommer Hadet (Black, Modern) song – Det er mig der står herude og lurer — Gabestok had my #2 album of 2021.  This duo genre bends.  Rock elements, including blues and garage and psychedelic black metal. Extremely charismatic.

30:31-37:49 SULPHUR AEON (Germany), album - Seven Crowns and Seven Seals (Black and Death) song – The Yearning Abyss Devours Us — Theatrical vocals in expressive baritone vocals and a whisper of rasp coupled with ferocious death and moody plaintive melodic black only the Germans know how to create.

38:11-43:29 LASTER (Netherlands), album - Andermans Mijne (Weird) song – Achterstevoren — Experimental in the versatility with jazz, rock, black metal, psychedelic and progressive. Quirky but highly consumable. 

43:58-47:36 CRYPTOPSY (Montréal), album - As Gomorrah Burns (Death) song – Godless Deceiver — Vocals and tempos lurch, twist and writhe in a whirlwind of a death storm. 

47:58-54:10 HORDA (Poland), album - Form (Black) song – Oneirataxia — Dangerous, ominous black metal hurtling forward and breaking into headchurning riffs, with groove-infested demonic beats and melodic death.  This is a ripper.

54:37-57:43 NIGHTMARER (Portland), album - Deformity Adrift: Reformed (Death, Modern) song – Baptismal Tomb — Heated, weaponized vocals in an unconventional sinister death and experimental structures.

58:21-1:04:47 WILLOOS (Netherlands), album - Begeerte (Black, Melodic) song – De zon tegemoet — The tragedy, the agony, and the breakdown in beautiful shoe-gazy compositions in shades of black metal wretched.   

1:05:14-1:10:47 THE RITUAL AURA (Perth), album – Heresiarch (Death, Modern) song – Heresiarch III: Devouring Sun — Disparity throughout the album with sweet horns and full strings coupled with proggy technical death and the hottest fucking demonic screech battling for lead.

1:11:19-1:14:59 ONDFØDT (Finland), album - Det Österbottniska Mörkret (Black, Melodic) song – Furstins Tid — Wholly sinister, rapid-paced black metal, a race to the end in a demonic Finnish forest.  But super hot and emotional too. So make out with that demon.

1:15:26-1:20:55 ARBORESCENCE OF WRATH (France), album – Inferno (Death) song – Into Everlasting Fire —  Debut of pummeling and incredibly memorable earworm in a precisely constructed technical death.  No bullshit here.

1:21:22-1:25:59 DISMAL AURA (CAN), album - Imperium Mortalia (Black, Melodic) song – One Path, Many Voices — A vicious beast with vocals that slice and murder. Strummed melodic beauty and fun keyboard transforms this to Canadian melodic black metal.

1:26:39-1:33:12 METASPHAERA (Germany), album - S/T (Death, Melodic) song – Einheit — Muscular death and prog with precise drums and a unique melodic.  Tight spirals unravel into galaxies.  

1:33:51-1:41:48 DØDHEIMSGARD (Norway), album - Black Medium Current (Black, Melodic) song – Interstellar Nexus — Synth drenched and theatrical compositions with stunning vocals, piano effects and flute, 70’s galaxy synth, bleeding into sinister guitars and back to bliss.  

1:42:10-1:49:21 HORRENDOUS (Philly), album - Ontological Mysterium (Death, Modern) song – Chrysopoeia (The Archaeology of Dawn) — Thrashy avalanche pace, proggy melodic and acerbic death, packaged in something completely unique.  This will grow on you.

1:49:47-1:55:30 ASKHEIMR (Norway), album - S/T (Black, Melodic) song – Your Throne, My World — One-man band creating magic, beauty, and fantasy with brutal edges.  Black and death with melodic and synth creating incredible textures.  

1:56:05-1:59:58 MAJESTIES (MN), album - Vast Reaches Unclaimed (Death, Melodic) song – Temporal Anchor — Members of Obsequiae and Inexorum.  Melodic atmospheric death metal with harmonizing guitars, and a lunatic, cracked vocalist that takes it over the cliff.

2:00:34-2:07:25 LEIÞA (Germany), album - Reue (Black) song – Fremdkörper — Germans are romantic vampires, this is torment and brooding.  A bleak, miserable landscape with the sun trickling through the clouds.  Leipa is behind one of my Best of 22, Non Est Deus.   2:07:46-2:12:35 JUST BEFORE DAWN (Sweden), album - A War Too Far (Death) song – The Gulf of Tonkin — Beautifully headbang-worthy with intense concepts of war, including melancholy melodic and precision from start to finish.

2:13:02-2:16:23 NECROPANTHER (Denver), album - Betrayal (Black, Modern) song – Covenant — I have seen this band multiple times live, and they are badass technical savages throwing their vocals in every direction.  Thrash and black and just plain fun.  

2:17:00-END #1 Album - AODON (France), album - Portraits (Black, Melodic) song – Sheelagh — Beauty and anguish balanced to perfection.  This is moody and vicious and glorious, I love every element of this album. 

Part 1 (of 2) of my 50 Best Albums of 2023!  My #2 album is STORTREGN (Switzerland), album - Finitude. Next week my #1 album!

0:25-5:26 ÚLFÚÐ (Iceland), album - Of Existential Distortion (Black) song - Faceless  — According to bandcamp, pronounced “ool-wooth”.  Vocals that shake the world, romantic black metal guitars create meditation with a bit of death leaning dissonance also in the album. Each song becomes a world.

7:18-13:21 UNCAVED (Switzerland), album – Dogmatorraistes (Death) song - La Propagande — Debut album.  Proggy death that borders on experimental jazz, and sinister, grim guitars that circle like vultures.

13:54-17:20 RUIN LUST (NYC), album – Dissimulant (Black and Death) song - Imperium — Burning guitar tone, tumbling chaotic pace, and a storm of thorns. 

17:49-21:50 AFTERBIRTH (NY), album - In But Not Of (Death, Modern) song - Devils With Dead Eyes — Realism mixed with fantastical and unbelievable, otherworldly musicianship.  My best Modern Death in 2020, and this is another achievement. Psychedelic grind, raging and melodic pops.

22:13-27:53 NEXORUM (Norway), album - Tongue of Thorns (Black, Modern) song - Eldritch Abominations — Haunting black metal, melancholy beauty and tremelo intensity leading into whopping riffs.

28:27-35:45 NIGHT DEMON (CA), album – Outsider (Retro) song – The Wrath — This band is led by a stunning vocalist that does battle with any of the Swedish greats in this beautiful 70’s and 80's heavy metal style with amazing ballads. Tons of groove and soul.

36:09-40:42 DEMON KING (TN), album – Vesania (Death) song – Worshipping the Idols of the Insane — Members of Inferi in a tight, intense fury of speed and death and breathtaking complexity of magical guitar fingers. 

41:04-46:41 FROZEN DAWN (Spain), album - The Decline of the Enlightened Gods (Black, Melodic) song – Mystic Fires of Dark Allegiance — Epic melodic black with immense amounts of thrash groove, wild guitar licks, tight production.

47:03-52:21 VILE RITUAL (MD), album - Caverns of Occultic Hatred (Death) song – Living Hell — Cavernous death churns out seething venom with proggy meditative melodies.

52:48-57:18 NECROFIER (TX), album - Ensemble Burning Shadows in the Southern Night (Black) song – Whispers That Burn in the Dark — Blistering, badass black metal debut with a blast of thrash, pummeling riffs and beautiful guitar solos.

57:46-1:02:33 SERPENT OF OLD (Turkey), album - Ensemble Under the Dark Sun (Death, Melodic) song – Idiosyncrasy — Melodic death that is complex and groovy and filled with tremendous riffs and epic pinnacles.  

1:02:59-1:10:57 CH'AHOM (Germany), album - Knots of Abhorrence (Black and Death) song – Chavín de Huántar —  Debut album. Tribal, fervent, swarming primordial death and black.  An acid trip of creeping experimentation.

1:11:21-1:14:27 ASTRALBORNE (Ohio), album - Across the Aeons (Death, Melodic) song – Skybreaker — Magic guitars that harmonize and solo in an epically large death metal all about shredding and pummeling, with a touch of some folky-melodic threads in the distance for more texture. 

1:15:00-1:19:50 TEITAN (Netherlands), album - In Oculus Abyss (Black, Modern) song – Murder Me — Murky alien mutterings in an inconceivable landscape off-kilter tempos, psychedelic avant-garde meanderings, and peppered with lovely nostalgic compositions. 

1:20:19-1:23:42 REBAELLIUN (Brazil), album - Under The Sign Of Rebellion (Death) song – Hostile Presence — Flowing haired, hot Brazilian intricate and extremely groovy death.  

1:24:19-1:29:28 PUTRASCENSION (NJ), album - Forever Below (Black) song – Stillness — A supergroup from a number of other bands, like Replicant and Tombs.  Instruments constantly outdoing each other, with a werewolf singer in a chomping black metal.

1:29:58-1:35:56 ABYSSAL RIFT (OH), album - Extirpation Dirge (Death, Modern) song – The Rune — Blistering and weird, with a lava-heated singer creating atmospheric before you die.  

1:36:25-1:40:43 AVOWD (Chicago), album - Vol​.​1 (Black) song – Spectre of Nadezhda — A scrape of surreal vocal in a fury of suspense, horror and noise that imprint forever. 

1:41:20-1:45:24 CARNOSUS (Sweden), album - Visions Of Infinihility (Death) song – Ossein Larcenist — A proggy dance with limbs flailing, until it mashes to a blast-beated death and thrash, a tumbling avalanche of vocals, and proggy guitar compositions.  

1:45:45-1:50:11 FAGUS (Germany), album – Inter (Black, Melodic) song – Aurora — You try saying this band name out loud.  Their black metal gently cradles, and compositions enrapture with snarling vocals.

1:50:28-1:55:31 GOROD (France), album – Orb (Death, Modern) song – We Are the Sun Gods — French perfection in technical and production continues with Gorod.  Opeth-styled prog beauty with a spectrum of rage and glorious guitars.  

1:55:55-2:00:19 FORGOTTEN SUNRISE (Estonia), album – Elu (Industrial) song – Meating 808 — Classic industrial with experimental and sound effects, and modern death twists.  But still danceable! 

2:00:53-2:05:22 DEN EDELE DOOD (Netherlands), album - Het vlammende zwaard en de verschroeide aarde (Black, Modern) song – De Spaarzame Spranken Licht In Uw Duisternis Zullen Wij Ontnemen — A Gnawing Their Tongues project, prolific under many different project names.  Swarming nightmare effects, textural suffocation, a single thread of melodic underpinning. It is magical.

2:05:53-2:10:59 BIZARREKULT (Norway), album - Den Tapte Krigen (Black, Melodic) song – Du Lovet Meg — Post-black melodic plays with contrasts, rasped and rough, strummed and fury, slow builds and unexpected.

2:11:45-END #2 album, STORTREGN (Switzerland), album - Finitude (Black and Death) song – A Lost Battle Rages On — A best of 2021 band, Stortregn continues their galaxy driven, textured heavy technical death, melodic psychedelic black proggy blast.  A perfect blend of technical proggy death and melodic psychedelic black with an excellent chilling vocalist.  Incredible production.

This is the 2023 BEST OF DARK WAVE, a 2+ hour set!

#1 Album Dark Wave Album: A fucking TRIBUTE album, no less. One of the best dark wave albums ever made, on Cleopatra Records, of course.

0:25-4:49 VARIOUS ARTISTS, album - Just Like Heaven - A Tribute To The Cure https://cleopatrarecords.bandcamp.com/album/just-like-heaven-a-tribute-to-the-cure-2  song — Lovesong by Minuit Machine 

4:49-8:16 MONSTERO (Portugal), album - Schizoid song — Dots

8:16-12:11 WORN OUT (Germany), album - The Unknown Demo song — You're Fading

12:11-17:16 FEVR (CA), album - Mourning Rain, album - Fate song — Now I'm Here

17:17-21:38 VONDER (Netherlands), album - Horror song — Blur

21:38-25:45 IAMNOONE (Italy), album - Together Alone song — wasn't you

25:45-29:31 DETECTS (MS), album - Seconds song — Capital

29:31-34:10 KOMA KOMA (Various), album - Koma Koma song — Land

34:10-37:54 ALIEN SKIN (AU), album - These Days Are The Darkest song — Diazapam With Milk

37:54-42:46 VOITH (Sweden), album - A Dreamers Kiss song — On The Night Of Halloween

42:46-47:08 POLYVERSO (Italy), album - Wunderkammer song — I Hear Voices

47:09-50:46 HOME FRONT (CAN), album - Games of Power song — Overtime

50:46-54:22 BURIAL GROUND (?), album - Nichts ist es wert, album - Embrace the Dark song — Ablaze

54:23-56:42 CASKET CASSETTE (LA), album - Love Letters to Ghosts, album - Chainless song — Antabuse

56:42-1:00:30 DETECTS (MS), album - Stripes song — The Long Silence

1:00:31-1:03-50 BRIDES (Norway), album - The Earth Defeats Me song — If Love Was A Colour

1:03-51-1:08:17 IN A DARKENED ROOM (TX), album - Sorrows song — Doom and Gloom

1:08:17-1:10:58 GLASSZONE (France), album - The Other Side song — No-Way Out

1:10:58-1:14:10 PAST SELF (NV), album - Die Cry Hate     song — 녹슨 칼

1:14:10-1:17:38 LIVINROOM (Russia), album - Should Avoid song — Pain

1:17:39-1:21:00 DECEITS (CA), album - If There's No Heaven... song — Mi Amor, Mi Vampira

1:21:00-1:24:27 YOUR ANCESTORS KNEW DEATH (Philly), album - ...In Ways You Never Will song — Long Road Dead End

1:24:28-1:27:28 HARSH SYMMETRY (CA), album - Imitation song — Dressed in White

1:27:28-1:30:42 PLEASURE VICTIM (?), album - singles song — Passion and Punishment

1:30:43-1:35:07 CORBEAU HANGS (AZ), album - Optograms song — The Exchange

1:35:07-1:38:04 RITUAL HOWLS (Detroit), album - Virtue Falters song — Goodnight Reason

1:38:04-1:42:01 HAUNT ME (TX), album - All Things Turn Grey song — Lost Frequencies

1:42:01-1:46:08 RINGFINGER (CAN), album - In A Black Frame song — Familiar Placement

1:46:08-1:48:43 GUERRA FRÍA (Guatemala), album - She Smells Like Flowers And Death song — Kiss Me

1:48:44-1:51:27 THIS COLD NIGHT (WA), album - Retrospective XXIII song — Black Cathedral (R.23 Version)

1:51:27-1:56:00 INDUSTRIAL WAIST (VA), album - haunting me, haunting you song — heartthrob

1:56:00-END NIGHT NAIL (Berlin), album - Fates Explained song — Madness and Foul

0:25-6:19 DYSSEBEIA (Switzerland) Hatch — Groove, intricate death, and beautifully melodic and serpentine guitars add to the intensity.   

7:04-12:12 CELESTE (France) Plisse les yeux jusqu'au sang — French raspy vocals runs its fingers over a tense pummeling melodic black.

12:28-20:40 CRUCIAMENTUM (UK) Charnel Passages — Ear worm to clench your eyes and fists; builds into headchurning monsters.  

21:29-33:20 MIDNIGHT ODYSSEY (AU) The Last Day — One man project creating a symphonic black metal with synth/organ bringing in a 70's proggy flavor and other treats.

33:37-38:27 STARGAZER (AU) Bound by Spells — Prog rock, death, black and plain old heavy metal within 20 minutes of pure joyous energy.

38:53-47:19 CONVOCATION (Finland)  Atychiphobia — A Best of 2020 band, this is another fiery yet dreamy atmospheric funeral death with sinister tone and taloned vocals.

47:39-54:10 FUMING MOUTH (MA) Out of Time — Distorted, chaotic, brutal hardcore, coupled with a furnace vocalist in a filth-layered death.

54:28-59:38 FARSOTH (Sweden) World Beyond — Riffs, chugging, and raise a pint.  

1:00:15-END FEMINIZER (Seattle) Ethereal Noose — Sharp, scraping vocals in a wild gamut of black metal styles, including some wit.

Last post-punk/dark wave set of the year.  I will have a special Best of 2023 set dedicated to this genre.

0:25-4:00 VOITH (Sweden) Viktoriah

4:01-8:24 CORBEAU HANGS (AZ) The Exchange

8:25-12:26 INDUSTRIAL WAIST (VA) when I was away (in your heart I am dead)

12:27-16:04 NIGHT NAIL (Berlin) Fates Explained

16:05-18:58 DETECTS (MS) Plans Change

18:58-23:14 LOVETHEMACHINE & FOKKER (Italy) Fredde Machine

23:14-27:00 ABU NEIN (Sweden) Eternity

27:01-30:07 BRIDES (Norway) Chalices

30:19-33:19 SEA SHAPES (NYC) fate

33:19-36:35 LOWMONOTONE (BR) Far From The Trance

36:35-40:38 TOTAL RESISTANCE (Paris) Crash

40:38-44:31 MANNEQUIN TWIN (Utah) Threshold

44:31-47:46 ALIEN SKIN (AU) The Darkside of the Moon

47:46-50:05 ETERNAL GARDENS (Paris) The Shard

50:05-53:00 FRÍA MÁQUINA (MX) No Quiere Seguir

53:00-56:15 CONSTANT JOY (CAN) Penetrate Me

56:15-1:00:38 KAARST (AU) Soft Skin

1:00:38-1:05:32 LOUM (ND) Waxing Moon

1:05:32-END SIENAS (UK) Abstractionhow 

0:25-7:47 CARNATION (Belgium) Cursed Mortality — Carnation's 2020 album was topnotch, and this matches it!  Melodic groove, chomping and galloping pace with incredible guitar solos.  

8:56-19:22 CH'AHOM (Germany) Knots of Abhorrence I — Tribal, fervent, swarming primordial death and black.  What a trip.

19:53-24:20 XOTH (Seattle) Sporecraft Zero — Intricate death in a sci-fi fantasy soundtrack, a tight blast of earworm fun.

24:51-34:17 PLAGUE RIDER (UK) The Refrain — Composed yet crazed compositions, snarls of guitar in mayhem.  Close your eyes and experience it.

34:55-38:36 ÆOLIAN (Spain) Dreams or Reality — Complex, skillful guitars with a blend of vocal styles, experimenting in the strange and the classic.   

39:19-44:09 JUST BEFORE DAWN (Sweden) Innocence Lost — Beautifully headbang-worthy with intense concepts of war, including melancholy melodic and precision from start to finish. I of course love the melodic black metal song.

44:48-49:39 THE RITUAL AURA (Perth) In the Warmth of Its Glow We Thrived — Disparity throughout the album with sweet horns and full strings coupled with proggy technical death and the hottest fucking demonic screech battling for lead.

50:12-55:08 AUTOPSY (CA) Rabid Funeral — Vintage death metal, raw and unadorned with retro goodness including punk, thrash and attitude.  Slow becomes horror, and still brutal.

55:54-END SUFFOCATION (NY) Dim Veil of Obscurity — Another 80's-started legend with muscles popping and a physical pace driving a fist down into our temples. 

Scary metal isn't just for halloween.

0:25-4:38 AFTERBIRTH (NY) Angels Feast On Flies — Realism mixed with fantastical and unbelievable, otherworldly musicianship.  My best Modern Death in 2020, and this is another achievement. Psychedelic grind, raging and melodic pops.

5:50-11:46 BERZERKER LEGION (Netherlands/Sweden/UK) Eternal Void — Frenzy of technical guitar fingers, a pummeling of blast beats, and the grooviest of hooks.  This is literally a blast.

12:13-19:36 SULPHUR AEON (Germany) The Yearning Abyss Devours Us — Theatrical vocals in expressive baritone vocals and a whisper of rasp coupled with ferocious death and moody plaintive melodic black only the Germans know how to create.

20:04-23:56 ARBORESCENCE OF WRATH (France) Wrath — A debut of pummeling and incredibly memorable earworm in a precisely constructed technical death.  No bullshit here.

24:19-26:49 GRAVESEND (NYC) Festering In Squalor — Gritty yet groovy death, atmospheric, and grind experimenting with density, aggression and mood. 

27:22-36:22 WAYFARER (Denver) The Cattle Thief — Colorado goes western with twanging twilight music lighting an expansive endless sky. Wholesome American style mixed with desperate atmospheric black metal.

36:52-40:30 END (NJ) Thaw (feat. Debbie Gough of Heriot) — Meaty Jersey hardcore and sharp whips of grindy rhythm creating titanic headbangs.

40:58-45:57 SEPULCHRAL CURSE (Finland) Onward The Legions — Builds from lumbering to massive intensity, the sound miserable yet satisfyingly evil and catchy.

46:22-50:13 TERRA BUILDER (Germany) Abyss  — A waterfall of rapid pace and lurching, blasting groove and riffs with a mix of sinister doom.

50:41-END SERAPHIC ENTOMBMENT (AL) Carried By Claws — Brooding doom breaks to chomping, primitive energetic death blasts of riffs. 

Brand new dark wave/post-punk!

0:25-5:34 PAST SELF (NV) Between The Marquees

5:34-11:10 BURIAL GROUND (?) Nothing

11:11-15:37 VASA KUMORA (Italy) Lust Loves Loss

15:37-19:46 PLEASURE VICTIM (?) Crossmaker

19:47-24:32 YOUR ANCESTORS KNEW DEATH (Philly) A Fossil Record

24:32-27:47 BONE PIXIE (UK) alone in a full room

27:47-30:42 MOONVAMPIRE (Slovakia) suicide

30:43-33:20 BRIDES (Russia) Private Apocalypse

33:20-38:17 DECEITS (CA) A Burial Of Dreams

38:18-41:24 LA TOURMENTE (?) Girl In The Mortician Shirt

41:24-45:09 DEATH BY NATURE (CA) AMORES CUERPOS

45:09-48:51 LOYAL NOTHING (TX) Prayers Denied

48:52-54:37 LEVA (Italy) Trial

54:38-END META MOTO (UK) Is Naujo

0:25-6:41 STORTREGN (Swiss) A Lost Battle Rages On I loved this band in 2021 when I added them to my “Best of” list.  A perfect blend of technical proggy death and melodic psychedelic black with an excellent chilling vocalist.  Incredible production. 

7:50-12:57 PUTRASCENSION (NJ) Stillness Mostly a supergroup from a number of other bands, like Replicant and Tombs.  Instruments constantly outdoing each other, with a werewolf singer in a chomping black metal. 

13:30-17:28 REBAELLIUN (Brazil) All Hail the Regicide Flowing haired, hot Brazilian intricate and extremely groovy death.  From the late 90s!

17:54-23:24 LASTER (Netherlands) Doodgeboren Experimental in the versatility with jazz, rock, black metal, psychedelic and progressive. Quirky but highly consumable.  

24:27-29:27 TAUBRĄ (Swiss/Norway) Dire Necropolis Shimmering black metal blasting into evil, creeping horror, encompassing every style and emotion.  Don’t forget how much this will make you headbang, a real banger.

29:51-33:53 OUTERGODS (UK) Flesh Prison Vocalist is a needle, the drums enjoy a jaunty hardcore pace in between blistering shocks of torture, and breakdowns into catchy guitar-led interludes.

34:22-38:09 GREAT FALLS (WA) Ceilings Inch Closer Moody as fuck rock and sludge with a desperate hardcore vocalist lining that obliteration. Influenced by early-era Neurosis.

38:40-45:27 FORTÍÐ (Iceland) Uppskera Cinematic, beautiful and complex black metal with fun thrashy portions. A real joy. 

45:58-53:26 PRIMORDIAL (Ireland) Ploughs to Rust, Swords to Dust Celtic lilt to a powerful and fierce and passionate singer, in escalating, melodic and folk loveliness. Very anthemic. My 2014 Best Singer.

53:52-END AURIFEROUS FLAME (Greece) Ardor for Black Mastery Another complex, volcanic erupting black metal from the Spectral Lore dude with intricate progressive elements. Lots to unpack.

0:25-5:01 DISMAL AURA (CAN) One Path, Many Voices — Vocals slice and murder.  Strummed melodic beauty transforms this to melodic black metal.

5:53-10:05 DISGUISED MALIGNANCE (Finland) Remnants of Serenity — Groove-ridden, riff-heavy, fresh noodly melodic death with an abrasive edge.  The drummer vocalist is 18?!?

10:28-19:11 WOE (NY) Far Beyond the Fracture of the Sky — Black fury within plaintive melodies and unique death gruff vocals.

19:37-23:43 ACAUSAL INTRUSION (?) Encoded Hexagrams — A duo creating tribal eerie theatrical death. 

24:25-29:38 BEAR (Belgium) Defeatist — Hardcore that is an explosive bazooka of rhythmic power, but also a surprisingly emotional and multifaceted sound.

29:57-34:14 ASH PRISON (US) No Return — Synth-heavy bleak as fuck industrial with Ogre-influenced vocals.

34:37-38:23 WORMHOLE (MD) Elysiism — What the fuck is going on.   

38:48-42:14 RUIN LUST (NYC) Imperium — Really loved this.  Burning guitar tone, tumbling chaotic pace, and a storm of thorns.

42:42-47:50 MAGGOT HEART (Berlin) Archer — Sultry vocals in a bluesy doom and alternative gothy pop.

48:13-52:29 THORN (?) Gaze of the Seer — Baritone blustery vocals growl over a lumbering pace in a doom-influenced death.

52:48-55:35 TERRA BUILDER (Germany) Constant Cosmic Failure — A winding undulation of drums in a sledgehammer.

55:57-1:01:46 HEXVESSEL (Finland) Older Than The Gods — Dreamy and ethereal vocals in post-metal bliss with a bit of folk and black.  

1:02-05-END CANNIBAL CORPSE (FL) Frenzied Feeding — Blah blah blah, Cannibal Corpse is still fucking excellent.