Once again, as part of our year-end LISTMANIA series, we bring you a list of the year’s best metal from a platform other than our own, and one that gets orders of magnitude more eyeballs. As in the case of other “big platform” lists we republish, we do this as a way of peaking at what the wider world sees, since our world is very narrow and subterranean.
And just in case that goofball who saw us re-post Rolling Stone’s list last year decides to get shit-faced and come visit us again, let me just repeat what’s already in the goddamned post title: THIS IS NOT OUR LIST. THIS IS A LIST OF THE 20 BEST METAL ALBUMS COMPILED BY ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE.
The article appears here, with accompanying explanations for the choices. My only comment about this list is: It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Here you go:
P.S. I decided to add another comment. I fully expected to at least recognize every name on the list before I saw it, and therefore wasn’t expecting the list to turn me onto something new (even if I do appreciate the recognition given to many of the bands on this list who deserve it). That turned out to be true — with one exception.
I’m pretty sure I had never heard of Ommadon before. That seemed like a pretty deep cut, and so I went exploring. They’re a two-man group from Glasgow and their 2014 album V (on Bandcamp) consists of 2 songs, one of them 47 minutes long, one of them 40. And it ain’t “accessible”, “easy listening” material.
So far, it’s crawling, teeth-rattling, pavement-cracking doom/drone. After the first 15 minutes I think my spinal cord has started leaking fluid and I may need a spleen transplant soon. Can’t imagine this is anyone’s definition of “hipster approved”, so kudos to RS for calling them out.
20. Twilight – III: Beneath Trident’s Tomb
19. Krokodil – Nachash
18. Slipknot – .5: The Gray Chapter
17. Ommadon – V
16. Electric Wizard – Time To Die
15. Tombs – Savage Gold
14. Melvins – Hold It In
13. Blut Aus Nord – Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry
12. The Austerity Program – Beyond Calculation
11. Indian – From All Purity
10. Body Count – Manslaughter
9. Crowbar – Symmetry In Black
8. Mastodon – Once More Round the Sun
7. Godflesh – A World Lit Only By Fire
6. Behemoth – The Satanist
5. Scott Walker + Sunn O))) – Soused
4. Old Man Gloom – The Ape of God
3. At the Gates – At War With Reality
2. Triptykon – Melana Chasmata
1. YOB – Clearing the Path To Ascend
39 Responses to “LISTMANIA 2014: ROLLING STONE’S LIST OF THE 20 BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2014”
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“Yob”? That’s laughable! Gorguts put out the best METAL album this year – don’t deny it. Stop trying to be different – you’re only appealing to hipsters. Have fun with that. I thought i’d found a credible metal music site to frequent. Apparently not – laters!
Beat me to it 🙂
I was frantically typing away on my phone in order to be the first.
I wish I could say that this joke has finally played out… but no, it hasn’t. 🙂
I don’t think it ever will.
In fairness though, that Yob album IS a fantastic piece of work.
The Body Count album is fun enough, but top 10? Lol. On the other hand I thought that Twilight album was really good and should have gotten more attention so, good job I guess, Rolling Stone.
I agree about the Twilight album.
I’m not giving RS the benefit of the doubt. I think they only included Twilight because Thurston Moore was involved.
You’re probably right, but I’m still glad it’s there.
It’s, I mean, they’re so close… yet so far away. Someone there knows exactly what they are talking about though – it must be difficult for that guy/gal.
I saw a list of metal from Rolling Stone and figured I could use a lol or two on this soggy wet day that DGR, Islander, and I are sharing and was left completely disappointed. This list is almost completely legit…..for Rolling Stone standards.
I wonder which version of The Ape of God they’re talking about.
it’s actually the one they issue to critics
Honestly this isnt so bad. Its still nothing like my list.
But nice to see Electric Wizard on there.
Am I the only one that keeps seeing Behemoth on all these lists and wondering why?
There were so many very good black metal records this year, in so many shades of black.
I know Im preaching to the choir here.. But yeah.. Behemoth?
I put it on my “dont care” list. Out of 200 some albums I heard this year in their entirety Behemoth was one of 7 that ended up on that list. 😛
One of the very few it seems. Personally I really think it does deserve to be on so many lists.
I was bored with it myself. It didn’t show up on my list because even though the quality is what you would expect from Behemoth, I didn’t feel like I had to put it on my list because of who it was. It didn’t click therefore did not make the cut. I enjoyed Evangelion a lot more than the Satanist.
What fascinates me about this list, and all of the other big platform lists I’ve seen thus far, is the way in which they prove that big platforms can only appreciate metal if it’s of the “hipster/critically approved” variety. American black metal? Check. Sludge? Check. Mastodon? Check. There’s nothing here that surprised me in a positive way – only things that I can’t believe made a Top 20 list (Slipknot and Body Count, really?). I just wish one of these big platforms would finally be honest about what really are the best metal albums of the year, and give death, doom and power metal a place at the table? At the end of the day this isn’t a Top 20 list, it’s a 20 we can get away with telling our hip listeners are good list.
They have their audience, and like any profit-making venture with a demographic they undoubtedly understand quite well, I assume they cater to it. I fully expected to at least recognize every name on the list before I saw it, and therefore wasn’t expecting the list to turn me onto something new. That turned out to be true — with one exception.
I’m pretty sure I had never heard of Ommadon before. That seemed like a pretty deep cut, and so I went exploring. They’re a two-man group from Glasgow and their 2014 album consists of 2 songs, one of them 47 minutes long, one of them 40. And it ain’t “easy listening” material. So far, it’s teeth-rattling, pavement-cracking doom/drone. After the first 10 minutes I think my spinal cord has started leaking fluid and I may need a spleen transplant soon. Can’t imagine this is anyone’s definition of “hipster approved”, so kudos to RS for calling them out.
Nah long-ass drone/doom has a proud history as hipster approved metal.
Well, I will admit that I don’t consider myself an expert in such things. 🙂
Might as well add that comment to the post, cuz I’m digging this album.
Some good ones on there. Definitely not as bad as I expected. I am not completely caught up on all the lists out there, but is there a reason why Dark Fortress is being forgotten by everyone? Easy lock for #1 on my list (which is still in progress and will likely be a Top 30 so that I am comfortable leaving bands off after it).
Oh man, I so agree with you. Dark Fortress is an amazing band who happens to be severely underrated! You’d think with all the praise they are giving Triptykon that people would check out V.Santura’s other bands like Dark Fortress and Noneuclid!
I did enjoy “Ylem” a bit more than “Venereal Dawn” though but Venereal Dawn is still a great album worthy of being in the Top 10 of anybody’s list.
I don’t have anything to say about this list, or the comments. I just noticed today’s site sub-header and wanted to say that it made me laugh.
Then this has been a good day. 🙂
Slipknot?..
AGAIN?!
Im just going to assume that these people only listened to 20 albums this year, and dont know any better
I think the word you’re looking for is “pandering”.
lol, i could make a whole new list of all the albums i think they forgot : )
Not a terrible list but there are a couple of questionable inclusions (notably Slipknot and Body Count) however I shouldn’t really care too much. As for Ommadon, I’m very surprised that they are on here; I discovered that album a couple of months ago and it’s definitely on my end of year list. Which I might post on your Readers’ Year End Lists page by the way.
You definitely should.
Somehow i knew Behemoth, Triptykon and At the Gates were gonna be on a lot of lists, even without hearing the albums. To be fair, The new Triptykon and Behemoth are pretty good. At The Gates was just OK in my ears. Not really worth the wait.
The new At The Gates was good, but some people are saying it’s even better than “Slaughter of the Soul”! I say that’s impossible because the new At The Gates is lacking in up-tempo tracks. It’s all mid-tempo stuff. Slaughter at least had some fast songs which is the material that I love the most from AtG.
Its good, but its nothing new. Over the last 20 years, we’ve seen pretty much every variation of this style that could be done. Theres really nothing here that makes me think its one of the best of the year
I thought the AtG album was a good one and maybe one of the best Gothenburg-style albums to be released in a long time. But, as Brute said, it’s nothing new. To me it’s not a best-of-the-year quality album, unless you just happen to really love that style.
Now I’m mad that my list shares something in common with fucking Rolling Stone. FUCK YOU ROLLING STONE! However this does seem to prove my observation that YOB was this year’s token metal album for non-metal publications to list.
Kinda thought Pallbearer had that role this year.
Nah, new Pallbearer is way more divisive than their first full length. I think Nates right about YOB..that thing is everywhere
Nah, Pallbearer got 2011. You only get 1 year as the Approved Token Metal Band for non-metal publications.
Its Blut Aus Nord isnt it?