Catching Up: 2020 Part 1

My last Top Albums of the Year post was in 2019.  I thought I would try to come back and do a post for each year I have missed out on, but I would have to go back and listen to everything again.  This is going to take some time.  I have a LOT to go through to get my thoughts out on some recent releases.  I thought the easiest way of doing this was to highlight five random albums and eventually be able to formulate some type of list as I get to the end of the additions to my collection.  These are physical copies only, so if I am missing something when all is said and done, it's because I was not able to procure a physical copy for whatever reason.

AKHLYS: MELINOE

Melinoe is the Greek goddess of nightmares and madness, and that is an appropriate jumping-off point for this album.  This is what nightmares sound like.  The sound is dense and chaotic with pounding drums and murky riffs, combined with sepulchral vocals.  It does an astounding job of building a tense and uncomfortable atmosphere and refusing to relent.  There is very little here I would classify as melodic, even the lighter tones come across as more dissonant, adding to the oppressive nature of the rest of the music.  This is not an album to listen to alone with the lights off.

MONGREL'S CROSS: ARCANA, SCRYING AND REVELATION

I checked out an album by Aussie blackened thrashers Mongrel's Cross several years back but kind of lost track of them afterwards.  This is their third full-length and the band has matured their sound somewhat.  This time around Absu mastermind Proscriptor has joined the fray as the primary vocalist.  One thing Mongrel's Cross does quite well is weave intricate guitar leads into their particular brand of savagery.  The reference point is latter-day Destroyer 666, which is definitely an admirable goal, but the execution is just not quite there.

PERDITION TEMPLE: SACRAMENTS OF DESCENSION

Tampa, FL has long been a hotbed for evil-sounding death metal and Perdition Temple are a more recent entry into that history.  Something of a supergroup, the band features members of other stalwart bands such as Ares Kingdom, Angelcorpse, Malevolent Creation and Impiety.  With that kind of pedigree, it is easy to imagine what the band would sound like: raw and primal death metal with a focus on intensity and dark atmosphere.  This is an absolutely filthy, bludgeoning assault on the listener. 

TESTAMENT: TITANS OF CREATION

Testament has been my favorite band, or damn near the top of the list, since I bought Low back when I was in middle school.  That album made an immediate impact on me and every album (with the possible exception of Demonic) have similarly made an impact.  We are now four albums into the second stage of Testament's career after Chuck Billy's cancer scare forced the band into hiatus for a few years, and each album has surpassed the one before it.  This is the best Testament album since The Gathering with one of the best Testament songs of all time ("Dream Deceiver").  It is an instant classic in the band's already impressive discography.

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER: VERMINOUS 

As it turned out, this was the last album we would get from The Black Dahlia Murder with iconic frontman Trevor Strnad who died suddenly in 2022.  That is absolutely a shame because TBDM had really become an incredible band over the years.  Wearing their influences on their sleeves, you knew what to expect from each release: frenetic melodeath that would simply steamroll the listener.  This was probably my favorite album from the band since Nocturnal.  It will be interesting to see how the band moves on.  Strnad's death was an absolute tragedy.