Gnocchi
Robert Garland
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Last Active 01-01-70 12:00 am
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07.07.21 Nocte's 2021 Halfway Report ♦03.31.21 Nocte's Q1 2021 ♦
12.03.20 A Very Nocte 202011.25.20 2020 Is Not Quite Over Yet
07.07.20 Nocte's 2020 Halfway Report ♦05.11.20 Recs For Daniel #1
04.03.20 Nocte's 2020 Quarter No. 112.03.19 Nocte's Top 50 of 2019 ♦
05.13.19 Nocte's 2019 So Far ♦12.23.18 Nocte's Best Albums Of 2018 ♦
03.29.18 March Madness 2018 Final ♦03.25.18 March Madness: The Fantastical Four
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03.18.18 March Madness Sweet 16: Round 303.15.18 Sputnik's March Madness Round 2: Final
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Nocte's Top 50 of 2019

It's that time of the year again and while I'd normally wait another two-ish weeks to finalize my year work commitments are actually making me prioritize things here and there - but as long as it all works. Here's my completely ranked top 50 albums of the year (the ratings are either 4 out of 5 or higher) and while there is a host of great albums this year these are the stand-outs, painfully ranked. If it's not on here it's either a 3.5 or a 1.5 but I'll take your recommendations if you want to try proving that I've done my list too early.
50Valborg
Zentrum
49Red Moon Architect
Kuura
48Allegaeon
Apoptosis
47Nucleus (USA-IL)
Entity
46Vous Autres
Champ du Sang
45Venom Prison
Samsara
44Full Of Hell
Weeping Choir
43Skyblood
Skyblood
42Brume (USA-CA)
Rabbits
41Monolithe
OKTA KHORA
40Ghosts of Glaciers
The Greatest Burden
39Cellar Darling
The Spell
38Ashbringer
Absolution
37Krypts
Cadaver Circulation

Whether it be the despair and anguish or the cavernous misplacement of cheerier thoughts, Cadaver Circulation is doubly the album it’s meant to be, without fully achieving the record it should be. When looking at the sum of all Krypts’ parts, one could imagine the longevity as they recreate a noxious soundscape of hell’s very bowel, because let’s face it… they have not released a bad record as yet.
36Yellow Eyes
Rare Field Ceiling
35A Swarm of the Sun
The Woods
34Wishfield
Wishfield
33WRVTH
No Rising Sun
32Ataraxie
Résignés

Whether it be the immersive planes that Ataraxie parallel with fear and imperfection, adding dread to a world of uncertainty or the spiral of decay only released when our last breath expires, Résignés deforms and yet defines our capacity to be human. Combining the marching dread of the title track or the monolithic pandering of tracks like "Les affres du trepas", Résignés manages to paint a portrait of black and grey.
31Numenorean
Adore
30None
Damp Chill of Life
29Weeping Sores
Weeping Sores
28Gnaw Their Tongues
An Eternity Of Suffering, An Eternity Of Pain
27Hope Drone
Void Lustre

Hope Drone continues to captivate with organic minimalism (whether it be the feedback induced tail end of “This Body Will Be Ash” or the quiet cleans of “Being Into Nothingness”) juxtaposed to those consistently abrasive jagged instrumental sections that carry one theme of despair to another of melancholy and subtle hope. Sure, the shorter run time allows Void Lustre to be more easily held onto than its predecessor, yet it’s (speaking in terms of sonic ability) more challenging than the sophomore and in turn, the band’s debut. Despite the rather obvious short-coming of the album’s overall length and a tendency to occasionally tune its listeners out, Hope Drone’s 2019 piece is more digestible than the monolithic nature in Cloak Of Ash, using its repetitive phrases to hypnotize its listeners, carrying them on this journey of sound.
26Mortiferum
Disgorged From Psychotic Depths
25Tomb Mold
Planetary Clairvoyance

Tomb Mold craft delicious riffs and ear tearing growls is becoming progressively more solid. The immense weight of these Ontarians may shift slightly, but they remain well grounded in the past to bring new futures, ensuring a lack of sincere stagnation. Planetary Clairvoyance may not stray or deviate too far from what fans have come to love, sticking well to the deathly march and solid riffing they know.
24Fleshgod Apocalypse
Veleno

When the sum of all Fleshgod Apocalypse's parts are considered together on their 2019 effort, the wholesome dexterity offered with simplicity and maturity offer an album both enjoyable and all together easier to digest than the band's catalog. There may be a slight step down here in terms of pure layered technicalities, but it comes with a moderate improvement of overall quality.
23Esoctrilihum
The Telluric Ashes of the Ö Vrth Immemorial Gods

Esoctrilihum continue to add a consistent highlight into the realms of modern day extreme metal and thus far continues displaying Asthâghul’s impressive ability to craft mood from all manners of extremism.
22Inter Arma
Sulphur English
21Cattle Decapitation
Death Atlas
20The Great Old Ones
Cosmicism
19Downfall of Gaia
Ethic of Radical Finitude
18False
Portent

False maintain their newest album that gears towards the fans of music that hold onto the In The Nightside Eclipse’s and Under A Funeral Moon purists of this world but it doesn’t conform to all the stereotypes that defined the greatness in the albums just mentioned. And largely, it shouldn’t. These after all are different times, and distinctly different bands. What is similar is the quality at which these group’s hold their music to.
17Darkthrone
Old Star

Old dogs using old tricks. Darkthrone have always teetered on the edge of raw, primal black metal but even that's oh so nice in a package of musty old Sabbath-style riffs and traditional music values.
Review: https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/79632/Darkthrone-Old-Star/
16Abyssal
A Beacon In The Husk

The abstract death/doom/blackening that is Abyssal's 2019 effort is understated and underappreciated.
Review: https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/79840/Abyssal-A-Beacon-In-The-Husk/
https://abyssal-home.bandcamp.com/album/a-beacon-in-the-husk
15Can Bardd
The Last Rain

Heavily influenced by the natural surrounds to which this album was written, Can Bardd fit in well with the crowd of Saor, Falls of Rauros, Fen...
Review:https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/79120/Can-Bardd-The-Last-Rain/
https://canbardd.bandcamp.com/album/the-last-rain
14Slow (BE)
VI – Dantalion

If you guys thought 2017s 'Oceans' was vast, 'Dantalion' enters but two years later to offers the underworld. It's not as impactful as the albums ranked above this, but it's far from a dragging, slouchy listen. 'Dantalion' sits somewhere between extraordinary and incredible.
Review:https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/80533/Slow-BE-VI-%E2%80%93-Dantalion/
https://slowdooom.bandcamp.com/album/vi-dantalion
13Saor
Forgotten Paths

Another one of those albums that came out way too early in the year for people to have this immediately in mind but Scottish-born Andy Marshall delivers again, and again.
Review:https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/78901/Saor-Forgotten-Paths/
https://saor.bandcamp.com/album/forgotten-paths
12Mizmor
Cairn

I’m still having trouble describing the pain, anguish and turmoil that ‘Cairn’ holds inside. I’m not going to lie - you have to be in the mood for this; it’s taxing, leaking moods into your very core and to some extent can make any bad feeling sustainably worse. This is Mizmor’s impact, you’re supposed to feel.
https://mizmor.bandcamp.com/
11Rorcal
Muladona

Story-telling in music. No really. The guys who call themselves Rorcal took a horror novel and transformed it into some bleak, despairing sludge that leans heavier on the band’s tendency to black metal.
Review:https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/80585/Rorcal-Muladona/
https://rorcal.bandcamp.com/album/muladona-2
10Vale (USA-CA-2)
Burden of Sight

Visceral crust-punkened-black-doom metal whatchamacallit. Vale is fierce, delivering uncompromising music with intent to tear up a soul and what-ever being that may replace it.
https://valeoakland.bandcamp.com/album/burden-of-sight
9Chernaa
Empyrean Fire

If you’ve got this album anywhere near your end of year list I applaud you. Seriously I do. Chernaa are one of those post-blackened hybrids that blur the lines where those two particular genres meet. Fairly, this isn’t going to please most of the black metal purists but those guys are probably way too busy listening to ‘Sunbather’ anyways.
https://chernaa.bandcamp.com/releases
8Deathspell Omega
The Furnaces of Palingenesia

Despite how early this came out in the year this has done pretty well aging. Sure, there’s the usual controversy about the views of the act and what they’re about but in all honesty I came here for the music first and just about disregarded everything else. I don’t normally spend time quoting others’ opinions but that Milo guy nailed it when he said: “You know what also takes courage? Listening to The Furnaces of Palingenesia. This shit is so hard that a bag of prunes couldn't shift it once it lodges itself inside you.“

You tell em’ Milo. You tell em’.
https://deathspellomega.bandcamp.com/album/the-furnaces-of-palingenesia
7Advent Sorrow
Kali Yuga Crown

If DSBM ever had a redemption ark worth following it’s Advent Sorrow. Their sound took a dramatic shift from their early days and since then they’ve been hitting stride. The vocals here are particularly well done, humbled by the album’s mixing which in all honesty balances everything in.
https://adventsorrow.bandcamp.com/album/kali-yuga-crown
6Profetus
The Sadness Of Time Passing

Even as I write these little blurbs in I can already hear your thoughts: This guy listens to just metal?/What’s with the doom metal albums?

Well mostly, doom has quietly achieved this year and the underside of my desk has been cleaned too many times to count… eww, gross. ‘The Sadness Of Time Passing’ is near as masterful as the Esoteric album rated (slightly) higher than this but excels better in the nuances that define funeral doom. Chances are these guys aren’t going to get a great deal of notice around here - to which frankly, is a fucking shame.
https://profetus.bandcamp.com/
5Wilderun
Veil of Imagination

‘Veil Of Imagination’ was the “outlier” record for me. Having only heard a couple songs from the band over the years (quite casually I’ll admit) the early, out of the gate hype surely couldn’t be believed. It’s Ramon’s fault (gawd bless his probably synthetic cotton socks). I mean the man threw every loose terminology for whimsical Tolkein-inspired, Opeth-ian like music and the intrigue quickly turned to hype. Lucky for him (and by extension) and mostly myself, Wilderun delivered quickly, joyously and with a bam(!!) that left a smile on my face for the duration of this record - not once, but over and over again.
https://wilderun.bandcamp.com/album/veil-of-imagination
4Blood Incantation
Hidden History of the Human Race

It’s not often a listener will come across a modern genre defining record, much less an album that’s measured amongst the best death metal genre has ever seen - but Blood Incantation made a statement with their 2019 effort but three years after slaying death metal giants with ‘Starspawn’. At times Hidden History… eases into the very stereotypes of the genre but also awakens the void of occasional aggressive psychedelia and beautiful heaviness.
https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hidden-history-of-the-human-race
3Esoteric
A Pyrrhic Existence

‘A Pyrrhic Existence’ is going to be a bit of a niche pick, but there’s little point in denying the sheer size of this funeral death/doom album.Moments of warning permeate throughout Esoteric’s monstrous 2019 effort, lumbering from one motif to the next.
Review: https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/80532/Esoteric-A-Pyrrhic-Existence/
https://esoteric.bandcamp.com/
2Cult of Luna
A Dawn to Fear

Cult Of Luna’s ‘Dawn To Fear’ is one of “those” albums that sucks you in and doesn’t let go. For years these guys have been honing their craft and have [arguably] released the best album of their career (Julie who?). ‘A Dawn To Fear’ further cements Cult Of Luna’s supremacy on the post-metal genre’s very precipice with climax and atmosphere in bounds.
https://cultofluna.bandcamp.com/
1Falls of Rauros
Patterns in Mythology

Anyone could have called this at anytime during the year, but ‘Patterns In Mythology’ is a sublime showcase of modern music, regardless of the extremities of the black metal genre. ‘Patterns In Mythology’ is a mix of gentle, surreal notes intertwined seamlessly into the icy furor of black metal’s wintery chill. Falls Of Rauros build on the momentum of their past releases in the best possible way making an album that’s good for the soul, the success of metal music and transcends the normal bounds of the genre.
Review:https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/79872/Falls-of-Rauros-Patterns-in-Mythology/
https://fallsofrauros.bandcamp.com/album/patterns-in-mythology
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