TheKenWord and Carcharodon assembled these Top Ten(ish) lists and apparently they stand by them. You can judge if that is the right decision.
Thou
Emma Ruth Rundle – Engine of Hell Review
“Getting out of your comfort zone is healthy. It opens your mind to new experiences and breaks down the walls of the overly familiar. This is just one reason why Angry Metal Guy sometimes discusses interesting non-metal albums. Still, there should at least be some connection — either via style or personnel — to our raison d’être. Emma Ruth Rundle has plenty, from her time in the post scene with Red Sparowes and Marriages to her collaborations with sludge royalty Thou. Her solo work is nothing to sneeze at either, with 2018’s On Dark Horses a particular favorite of mine. The full band that has accompanied Ms. Rundle in recent years has been dismissed for Engine of Hell, however. How does she fare on her own?” Engines of heartache.
King Woman – Celestial Blues Review
“King Woman hit the metal world in 2017 with debut album Created In the Image of Suffering to relatively high praise, both from metal sites and the Pitchfork/NPR corners of metal coverage. At the time I even saw it on a few of the more mainstream metal site year end lists. Personally, I found it…pretty OK. You all know me to be a shill for sludgy doom who doesn’t mind the stoner/psych side of things, and that was squarely what Created In the Image of Suffering was, albeit with a slightly more indie enchantress spin thanks to principle member Kristina Esfandiari. While the Iranian born, California raised Esfandiari certainly has a distinctly captivating voice, I found the first King Woman album solid, but falling short of the hype.” Hype and high potential.
Moon Reaper – Descent Review
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m a genre stickler at heart. I find a lot of comfort knowing where to fit every release that comes across my doorstep, so when acts swoop in to challenge that, I’m simultaneously uneasy and intrigued. There are plenty of folks that fall into this category but perhaps the most intriguing has been the UK act Conjurer. I’ve seen these lads described as everything from Swallow the Sun-esque death/doom, Cult of Luna-worshiping post-metal/sludge, to the blackened doom of Thou. 2018’s Mire is a landmark in its own right, and as we anxiously await its followup, we find newcomers Moon Reaper, definitely fans of Conjurer.” Genre reaping.
Somnuri – Nefarious Wave Review
“In 2017, NYC sludge band Somnuri released their eponymous debut to relatively little fanfare. No one around these parts seemed to catch it, but thanks to a personal connection to the band, I did. Somnuri was a solid mix of early Mastodon progressive sludge with Yob-ish doom tendencies. It was better than a self released debut has any right to be, with songs like “Kaizen,” “Inhabitant” and “Through the Dead” landing on several of my personal playlists. With the band on my radar, I’ve been hoping to see a follow up surface in our promo pit for some time. Lo and behold, Nefarious Wave comes to us courtesy of their new label Blues Funeral four long years after their debut. With such a gap between records, one would hope for, if not expect, a fair amount of evolution and refinement.” NYC tides bring strange gifts.
Myopic & At The Graves – A Cold Sweat of Quiet Dread Review
“Collaborations between artists are usually a tantalizing prospect. In recent years we’ve had a handful of high-quality collaborations: Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas, Thou and Emma Ruth Rundle, and Spectral Lore and Mare Cognitum the cream of the recent crop. Collaborations can be tricky, especially in the age of the supervirus and restricted travel. Communication of ideas is vital. A collaboration can either sound like a blissful mesh of an artist’s best traits or a haphazard collision of distant sound. Ben Price, the sole member of doom/sludge project At The Graves, has buried himself in a casket with the sludge/black/death/you-name-it three piece Myopic. A Cold Sweat of Quiet Dread is their first collaborative full-length.” Blood, sweat, graves, and bad eyesight.
Holdeneye and Cherd of Doom’s Top Ten(ish) of 2020
Holdeneye and Cherd of Doom made these long-winded lists and now they’re your problem. No trade backsies!
Hymn – Breach Us Review
“The core of Hymn’s sound is sludge doom, but with the intensity turned up to 11. There are riffs and enviable guitar tone enough to check the usual genre boxes, but the forceful drumming of Markus Støle and the vein-popping delivery of vocalist/guitarist Ole Ulvik Rokseth conjure the image of Thou as interpreted by 90s hardcore stalwarts Snapcase.” Breach party.
Demonic Death Judge – The Trail Review
“The fantastically named Demonic Death Judge is a sludge/stoner quartet from Kymenlaakso, Finland, having released two EPs and three full-lengths of plodding and hazy dirges since 2009, The Trail being their fourth. Their first two full-lengths were nearly identical to Louisianan Thou’s gloomy sludge affairs, pitching molasses-thick riffs, blackened rasps, and decidedly bleak themes.” The path unbakened.
Lord Mantis – Universal Death Church Review
You would think after ten years of existence and an ever increasing stable of writers seeking out the new and the good, that there wouldn’t be any notable metal bands left who haven’t been reviewed on AMG. I suppose it’s a testament to the sheer volume of the metalverse that this isn’t true. I was shocked when I realized that Akerblogger‘s review of Thou’s 2018 release Magus was our first time covering one of the most prolific American metal bands of the last 15 years. Equally great was my disbelief when I found that no writer before me had squatter’s rights to Universal Death Church, the first full-length in five years by Chicago’s blackened sludge veterans Lord Mantis.” Always room for one more.
