Pitchfork's Best Metal Albums of 2019

Featuring classic 1970s artwork by Sci-Fi god Bruce Pennington, “Hidden History of the Human Race” promises to be both a meditative inquiry on the Mystery & Nature of human consciousness, and a dynamic foray into the realms of progressive, brutal & atmospheric death metal, as revealed by BLOOD INCANTATION. Recorded completely analogue at World Famous Studios in Denver, CO, “Hidden History of the Human Race” expands the sonic cosmos explored on BLOOD INCANTATION’s critically acclaimed debut “Starspawn” (Dark Descent Records) and contains the following new tracks: 1. Slave Species of the Gods - 05:31 2. The Giza Power Plant - 07:06 3. Inner Paths (to Outer Space - 05:38 4. Awakening From the Dream of Existence to the Multidimensional Nature of Our Reality (Mirror of the Soul) - 18:05

"Candlemass have come full circle: their first singer Johan Langquist (who left the band after singing on the legendary 1986 debut Epicus Doomicus Metallicus) has returned! The Door To Doom unsurprisingly follows the plotline mastermind, songwriter and bass player Leif Edling established in the past years: epic world class doom metal that relies on slow mammoth riffing. With Johan Langquist`s highly dramatic vocal style and the love for details, the band made this album to the next “Epicus”. This masterpiece is rounded off by a beautiful guest appearance by none other than Black Sabbath`s Tony Iommi on ‘Astorolus – The Great Octopus‘." © NAPALM RECORDS

Michigan-based grindcore cult heroes Cloud Rat return with Pollinator, the band's most intense and blistering recordings to date. Over the past ten years, Cloud Rat has established itself as one of the most compelling bands in the underground. Over a staggering number of releases – four full-length albums, eleven EPs and splits, a live album, and various other comps, in one decade – the Michigan band has made a name for itself via sheer emotion and musical freedom. NPR Music called Cloud Rat's 2013 album, Moksha, "a feral, fearsome and fearless piece of work." Noisey described a live show in 2015 with these words: "Cloud Rat is one of those rare bands whose music connects instantly, painfully – you feel the words, the riffs, and the all-consuming cacophony deep within the marrow of your bones, vibrating out into a hostile world." Emerging from the space where hardcore punk spirals into grindcore, Cloud Rat is that and so much more. The band knows no limits and incorporates influences from across the map – black metal, noise, doom, goth, folk, and beyond – all while retaining its realness and urgency. The first edition of Pollinator is released in a limited 2CD digipak and includes an entire bonus CD of eclectic, experimental material, with elements of industrial, acoustic, drone, noise, and shoegaze. A limited splatter vinyl is also available. Cloud Rat have taken grind to the next level on Pollinator, and it's vicious. "Tempestuous expressions for troubled times." -Grayson Haver Currin, Pitchfork "Cloud Rat is one of those rare bands whose music connects instantly, painfully—you feel the words, the riffs, and the all-consuming cacophony deep within the marrow of your bones, vibrating out into a hostile world." -Kim Kelly, Noisey Stream Pollinator on Spotify: orcd.co/cloudratpollinator Pollinator tracklist: 1) Losing Weight 2) Delayed Grief // Farmhouse Red 3) Seven Heads 4) Night Song 5) Wonder 6) The Mad 7) Al Di La 8) Last Leaf 9) Zula 10) Biome 11) Webspinner 12) Luminescent Cellar 13) Marionettes 14) Perla Do Not Let Me Off the Cliff tracklist: 1) Thrust 2) Keep Flies 3) Share 4) 623 5) The Portal of God Is Nonexistence 6) Pity Sex 7) Dropping from Trees

CRYPT SERMON return with their highly anticipated new album, “The Ruins of Fading Light”! A follow up to 2015's critically acclaimed debut "Out of the Garden", "The Ruins of Fading Light" is a collection of existential meditations set to the backdrop of looming, apocryphal vestiges from a lost dark age. The lyrics explore the limits of faith and family, life and loss, strength and pride. Between thundering riffs and plaintive moments of acoustics, the music explores new territories on the landscape of epic doom and heavy metal. Still, one message echos as Crypt Sermon march onward, "We're doomed."

Richmond's INTER ARMA, reigning masters of the slow build, continue to trace a distinctly ambitious trajectory through modern metal. Their impulses tend toward the epic, but never bloat; they meld several styles — doom, sludge, and hard psych — without coming off like dilettantes. This newest full-length, Sulphur English, finds them mining deeper in the proggy organic doom fields that made both Paradise Gallows and Sky Burial so thrilling while expanding further the on the psych-folk strain that made those albums' peaks seem so lofty. Few metal bands have ever made such effective use of acoustic instruments in truly heavy environments as INTER ARMA do; the acoustic guitar that stitches "Stillness" together is as effective as any overdriven bass; a two-minute gloomy piano-and-feedback piece titled "Observances of the Path" rolls out the carpet for "The Atavist's Meridian," an album highlight that rides a gigantic, roomy drum sound into realms akin to a murkier Paradise Lost, a more aggressive Om, and a dreamier, more stoned Kylesa all playing together at once. Few bands make music as engrossing as INTER ARMA; their lengthy, almost meditative songs rumble patiently forward until you're ready to get thrown off a bridge — and then they throw you, with great force. - Words by John Darnielle

this is a cassette and digital-only release. estimated shipping date & digital release date: 11/15/2019. two new songs. i. waiting ii. the tower songs by maria & nicole. recorded by jonah strauss & zoe stiller at survivor sound, oakland, ca, august 2019. mastered by james plotkin. album title is from the 1892 poem "the toast of despair" by anarchist hero voltairine de cleyre. album art from an etching by c.d. friedrich, c. 1803-04. lettering by n.d.k.g.

On their eighth studio album, Sunn O))) wanted to take their signature drone metal back to its most minimalist form. During the past decade, the Stephen O’Malley- and Greg Anderson-led unit ventured into a series of collaborations—with artists ranging from Norwegian experimental collective Ulver to the late singer/composer/producer Scott Walker—before releasing 2015’s *Kannon*, which incorporated death-metal growls into their guitar assaults. For *Life Metal*, the band hired studio veteran Steve Albini—whose recordings distill a band\'s bare essence—to capture their expansive, amplified noise live to tape. “Troubled Air” is mired in their typically impenetrable feedback, though a gleaming pipe organ (arranged by Australian composer Anthony Pateras) faintly clears the darkness toward the song’s end. The lumbering “Between Sleipnir’s Breaths”—inspired by the creature from Norse mythology—plays like an orchestral piece, contrasting trenchant dissonance with Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir’s ghostly vocals. Simplicity is at the core of these four lengthy tracks, but those unexpected elements—and O’Malley and Anderson\'s broader palette of sounds in general—add a newfound depth to the band\'s arsenal.

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