Last year, I think I broke it out into multiple posts. I could go back and confirm, but I won’t. I’ll just share my list, and you can take it how you want.
I decided on a top 24 list, because that is how it fit in the graphic above. Here is the full list, with links to my reviews.
1 Matt Berry- Heard Noises
2 Rainbows Are Free- Silver and Gold
3 Howling Giant- Crucible & Ruin
4 Sunn O))) – Eternity’s Pillars
5 A/lpaca- Laughter
6 Electric Citizen- EC4
7 Insomniac- Om Moshka Ritam
8 Coltaine- Brandung
9 Faetooth- Labyrinthine
10 Elder- Liminality/Dream State Return
11 Florist- Adrift
12 Good Spirits- The Greenseer
13 Slumbering Sun- Starmony
14 Tar Pit- Scrying the Angel Gate
15 The Owl and the Octopus- beware of the slope
16 Castle Rat- The Bestiary
17 Slomatics- Atomicult
18 Marmalade Knives- Paradigm Lost
19 Grusom- III
20 Serial Hawk- Psychic Pain
21 Witchrider- Metamorph
22 Bloodhorse- A Malign Star
23 Pelican- Flickering Resonance
24 Chakra Vimana- Feed My Soul
The new Khan and Brimstone Coven are great as well. Releases from Temple of Love, Faded Night, and Astral Magic are also other notable releases I enjoyed. Honestly, depending on the day, some of those could swap around with the releases in spots 16-24. I’m still behind on new releases, but some very recent include Birds of Nazca, Honeybadger, and Werewolf Victim Revival.
As with time, things change and likely so would the overall order of these albums once more perspective and listening has occurred. Matt Berry’s Heard Noises was just the release that was impossible to beat for me this year, and would not be one that moved from the top spot. Not remotely like anything on the list. It was an unexpected joy of a record. It’s release also coincided with my trip to Japan this year. That was an experience I thoroughly enjoyed, and Heard Noises was the soundtrack to it.
Maybe one day I’ll make it back to roam the streets of Japan.
slow draw is... 