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Articles : Lochlan Watt’s Best Australian Releases of 2014 list

By on December 18, 2014

If you’ve listened to the last few episodes of Triple J’s The Racket you’ll know doubt have heard Lochlan Watt recounting the best of 2014’s heavy stuff, but to get more insight into the Aussie bands that the radio host/band manager/vocalist/label owner/etc has had on rotation we asked him to put together his top 10 Australian albums of the year. And here they are…

a1097533995_210. Colossvs – Unholy
I am 100% aware of how lame it is to include your own band in these lists… it’s lame as fuck. Yet this only became my band after I was already very much obsessed over a version of the album that featured a prior vocalist who quit shortly before we were about to finalise it all. So I had three months of listening to it before I got on board, and I think it still kinda rules.
Listen to “Christburner”

 

 

15df687ace2715172f0df6515d5f347b9. Northlane – Rot
Yeah, one song hardly constitutes a release – but what a fucking song! I am very excited for the future of Northlane.
Listen to “Rot” (obviously)

 

 

 

a1671964463_28. Earth Rot – Follow The Black Smoke
These guys came out of nowhere (well from Perth to be more precise) and blew my dick off with their sick mix of dirty death metal. Think Carcass, Black Breath, Entombed, and perhaps a touch of Satyricon and Rotten Sound, and you might have just imagined Follow The Black Smoke. Definitely my favorite new Australian band of 2014.
Listen to “Frostitute”

 

 

a2149328155_27. Idylls – Prayer For Terrene
This album is severe mental illness defined in audio form. Check out the ferocious mix of metalcore and grindcore and post-punk and saxophone and noise and see for yourself. Kurt Ballou mixed this one and you know what that means.
Listen to “Lied To”

 

 

a0323315978_26. Disentomb – Misery
This album is one of the heaviest things ever made. Disentomb crush, destroy, stomp, demolish, and basically just drop another nuke with every change and every new riff. If someone asked me ‘what’s death metal?’ I’d show them this.
Listen to “Vultures Descend”

 

 

Beloved_IKTPQ5. I Killed The Prom Queen – Beloved
Straight up – Beloved is probably an album that didn’t need to be made. Save a cheeky flamenco guitar moment, it brings nothing new to the table. I don’t care though, because I Killed The Prom Queen’s first two albums made me the man I am today, and to finally hear really solid new material from the band after all these years makes me feel young again.
Listen to “Thirty One & Sevens”

 

 

Let_the_Ocean_Take_Me4. The Amity Affliction – Let The Ocean Take Me
The first time I saw The Amity Affliction 10 years ago they were playing a bunch of Atreyu and Poison The Well covers to 50 kids, and it was sick, but never in a million years did I think it’d come this far. The band has their formula, and each time they get better at it, with some of their best riffs yet. I’ve sung along to this album in the shower before.
Listen to “Don’t Lean On Me”

 

 

aversions-crown-tyrant-cover-art3. Aversions Crown – Tyrant
This album is so fucking brutal. I love science fiction. I love good deathcore. Put the two together, and I love Aversions Crown.
Listen to “Vectors”

 

 

voyager-v-150x1502. Voyager – V
I never thought I’d be the hugest fan of Voyager… cause progressive power metal is generally just a little bit lame and over the top for a metalcore fiend like me, you know? But somehow these guys drew on some more modern influences and got the balance of sounds perfect. The djenting chug of the guitars is heavy enough to offset even the fruitiest melody, and V is a fantastic journey.
Listen to “Hyperventilating”

 

sotsc-small1. Dead Kelly – Sons of The Southern Cross
The imagery of the band immediately infers some pretty negative connotations about dumb, bigoted bogans – but that’s how the anonymous members of Dead Kelly suck in those who need to have their third eye opened. ‘Sons of The Southern Cross’ is an incredible album full of the sickest, most energetic and brutal playing, and relentless vocals that offer a hilarious yet totally dead serious perspective on Australian culture.
Listen to “Sons of the Southern Cross”

About

Mitch Booth is the owner, designer and grand overlord of Metal Obsession. In the few seconds of spare time he has outside of this site, he also hosts a metal radio show over on PBS 106.7fm in Melbourne (Australia) and organises shows under the name Untitled Touring. You should follow him on Twitter.