In the past few years I’ve always made separate “top” lists to post on here and on my personal Facebook page, purely for the sake of keeping the releases listed on here relevant-ish to the “metal” part of our name. This year, I can’t be bothered. I’m not even sure why I bother doing these lists in the first place seeing as within a week I’ll be wanting to change it anyway. But regardless, here we are.

I really struggled cutting last years lists down to ten or so albums, but that problem was nowhere to be found this time. And that’s not because there hasn’t been a billion great releases, it’s because there have been that handful that blew my mind. Woods of Desolation came out with possibly the greatest Australian black metal album, period. Tangled Thoughts of Leaving and sleepmakeswaves both, somehow, managed to top their previous releases. Vildhjarta finally released their beast of a debut album in what was pretty much Year of the Djent, New Zealand’s Ulcerate broke my brain with The Destroyers Of All and the even-more-intense album launch, Blueneck were pretty close to bringing on some tears, and La Dispute came out with an album that just sounds impossibly sincere.

Too bad Cynic got shit though. And Nekrogoblikon stupidly tried to write decent-sounding songs instead of just continuing on with being a hilarious joke band.

But anyway, here is a bunch of rad music you should listen to, put into lists. The album names are even links so you can give them a listen straight away. How handy!

Flame me, chuck me some recommendations, or simply post your own in the comments section below.

Top ten Australian releases

1. sleepmakeswaves – …And So We Destroyed Everything
2. Woods of Desolation – Torn Beyond Reason
3. A Million Dead Birds Laughing – Force Fed Enlightenment
4. Tangled Thoughts of Leaving – Deaden the Fields
5. Night Hag – Gilded Age
6. Toehider – To Hide Her
7. Dining in Tuscany – 1556
8. Mish – The Entrance
9. Serious Beak – Huxwhukw
10. Battle Pope – Pantless Carnage

Top ten not-Australian releases

1. Blueneck – Repetitions
2. La Dispute – Wildlife
3. Ocoai – The Electric Hand
4. Tyler, The Creator – Goblin
5. Ulver – War of the Roses
6. Altar of Plagues – Mammal
7. The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble – From The Stairwell
8. Vildhjarta – Masstaden
9. Ulcerate – The Destroyers of All
10. Animals as Leaders – Weightless

Top five songs

1. The Algorithm – Isometry
2. William Shatner – Bohemian Rhapsody
3. Carissa’s Wierd – Meredith & Iris
4. Pretty Lights – Pretty Lights vs Led Zeppelin
5. Cloudkicker – Let Yourself Be Huge

Disappointments

Oranssi Pazuzu – Kosmonument
Machine Head – Unto the Locust
Cynic – Carbon-Based Anatomy (seriously Cynic, seriously?)
Nekrogoblikon – Stench (too much music, not enough comedy)
Wednesday 13 – Calling All Corpses
Solstafir – Svartir Sandar (still an amazing album, anything would’ve been a slight let down after “Kold”)
Motorhead – The World Is Yours
Korpiklaani – Ukon Wacka
Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising

Best live performances

Alcest @ both Melbourne shows, and the Sydney show
Toehider @ every show they played
Tangled Thoughts of Leaving, Nikko and Arcane @ Progfest Melbourne
The Schoenburg Automaton @ Sonic Forge Festival
sleepmakeswaves @ East Brunswick Club
Adrift For Days @ Pony
The Amenta and Hypno5e @ The Arthouse
Ulcerate @ The Arthouse
Die Antwoord @ Big Day Out Melbourne