Best New Music - 2019 Edition

I've been trying to figure out what is my favourite album of 2019. I think I listened to 97 new albums this year, including a couple of EPs but not live albums, with the important ones getting a dedicated week of binging for a week on the way to/from work.

The highlights of 2019 for me, in alphabetical order, are:

Aephanemer - Prokopton
Cellar Darling - The Spell
Dust Bolt - Trapped in Chaos
Eluveitie - Ategnatos
Evergrey - The Atlantic
In Mourning - Garden of Storms
Insomnium - Heart Like A Grave
Marianas Rest - Ruins
Soilwork - Verkligheten

So that's a pretty solid top nine, but I'm not sure if any of them stand out for me. The Evergrey and Cellar Darling albums were among those I was most looking forward to for 2019 and both bands certainly delivered strong albums. However, I can't say that either of them blew me away. This year I went through a bit of a Melodeath phase triggered by Marianas Rest whose song 'Unsinkable' appeared on one of my Spotify playlists (Discover Weekly or Release Radar) and I was hooked instantly. Later in the year that led me to the Aephanemer, In Mourning and Insomnium albums - all of which are top quality but I'm not sure I can name one of them my favourite of 2019 since that sort of music is most appropriate for a particular mood. Soilwork might count as Melodeath too and I am very impressed by how they combine the harsh and clean vocals. I checked out the Dust Bolt album at the start of 2019 as I saw they are a Thrash band and thought 'Trapped in Chaos' would be worth checking out - what a great decision that was! Eluveitie are a band I'd been aware of for many years but never bothered listening to. I had become more aware of them recently due to their connection to Cellar Darling and gave 'Ategnatos' a shot since they'd be at Bloodstock. It turned out I really enjoyed the album and they were probably the best band of the Bloodstock weekend.

There were also some albums which I was looking forward to but was somewhat underwhelmed by, specifically those by Avantasia, Sabaton and Within Temptation. Each of those albums can be described as decent, maybe even "solid", but not particularly remarkable. Other bands released albums which I was anticipating and they were all good but not great, e.g. Alter Bridge, Blind Guardian Twilight Orchestra, Dream Theater, Killswitch Engage and Swallow the Sun. These albums all had their moments, but nothing that made them brilliant.

Then there were albums by which I was pleasantly surprised as I had no real expectations prior to listening. The bands who released these albums are Ancient Bards, Children of Bodom, Flotsam & Jetsam and Hatriot. The albums from these bands were all highlights of 2019 which I enjoyed listening to but didn't impress me as much as some of the other top albums.

So I'm glad I managed to listen to so much new music this year and that I listened to some parts of Metal I never thought I would, but I'm a bit frustrated about the quandry I'm with regards to Album of the Year.
 

I know this is a bit late to the party, but I only found out about this lot the other day. What we have here is a solid dose of stoner-tinged ye olde hard rock from the Land Down Under. The first three tracks are a bit hit-and-miss, but everything from Rat Queen onward makes for good listening; Bound for Hell has a ballsy swagger and the other three are all hard-as-nails rockers. Also of note are a couple of Motorhead covers to close the album (Killed by Death and I'll be Your Sister), both of which are nicely executed.
 
Cornfed Hick said:
Digging the debut album from Idle Hands. Sort of a cross between heavy metal and gothic rock, with a tinge of post-punk/new-wave influence. Ghost fans will probably like this.
Click to expand...

Discovered them earlier this week thanks to Spotify, they have changed names to "Unto Others"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top