While most music sites are busy compiling their 2020 lists, I'm still setting the record straight on 2019. I compiled most of this list late last year, despite having nowhere to share it other than my own personal Facebook page. At the time, I thought 2019 had been a pretty weak year, with a few notable exceptions. However, in the time since, I've discovered a few albums I missed, one of which has rocketed to my number two spot—talk about a big miss! This list includes those omissions (knocking VLTIMAS and Gaahl's Wyrd off the list), and generally has me thinking 2019 was actually an excellent year for rock and metal.
Without further ado…
Sweden's Eclipse walk a very fine line between generic radio rock and 80's roller rink glory, mostly falling on the totally rad side of things. Some of the best songs Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, and Journey never wrote. If you don't like ‘Mary Leigh’, then this one is not for you.
I could generally take or leave Borknagar. They're fine, but they've never been one of my favorite bands (Team Arcturus all the way, baby). However, I am an ICS Vortex superfan. If you're not familiar with him, ICS Vortex is a descendent of the same woodland fairy creatures who gave us Jon Anderson, Björk ,and Jeremy Enigk. He sings to us, not from this earthly realm, but from a fantastical kingdom where the only limits are your imagination. Fortunately for us, True North might as well be an ICS Vortex solo album, as he is all over this one. In fact many of these songs would fit quite nicely on his hugely-underrated 2011 album, Storm Seeker—so much so that I consider this the unofficial follow-up to that album.
Some of the jauntiest, most adorable tunes about demons, blood, and war that you'll ever hear. Suicidal Angels are typically a band with individual songs I really like, but struggle to put together an album that keeps me engaged for its entire runtime. No such problem with Years of Aggression. It's chock full of rippers. 2019 was the year Suicidal Angels proved they “DO EET VERSUS ANYONE!”
Super sludgy riffs aren't usually my thing, but they're in the service of some excellent tunes here. This was my go-to album when I wanted something heavy that wasn't full-blown metal.
Probably the best album anyone could reasonably expect from a reunited Wildhearts. A little bit of a mixed bag, but definitely brought some bangers. Combine it with 'God Damn' and 'That's My Girl' off of the Diagnosis EP, and The Wildhearts delivered a good ~30 minutes of essential music in 2019. So pumped these guys are back!
A better album than I thought this band had left in them. Glad I checked it out, as I’d honestly given up on them years ago. These songs are just the right amount of silly for a guy who came up on this stuff when he was 10 years old. Best Flotsam since No Place for Disgrace.
Haunting, sparse, gothic folk in the vein of Elliott Smith with a blackened heart of metal. This one got me through late fall and all of a grim Indiana winter. It's the perfect album to put on when you're driving in the rain, reflecting on all the mistakes you've made in your bleak, meaningless existence.
Baffling band name, amazing music. I love Frank Bello (Anthrax) and Dave Ellefson (Megadeth), but for some reason had low expectations for this album. Maybe I was fearing a slap-bass clinic, Stu Hamm style. Instead I got a heartfelt rock album with a ton of depth, the sort of thing the Foo Fighters might have put out twenty years ago.
If you thought Diamond Head's best days were behind them—a band coasting on the success of some cover tunes Metallica did ages ago—get ready for a big surprise. "New" vocalist Rasmus Bom Andersen (who sounds uncannily like Chris Cornell) is next-level amazing, and the band has the songs to back up his considerable vocal chops. Just a flawless album, perfectly blending hard rock and metal. Any other year, this would have at firmly at the top of my list.
The UK's premiere thrash band is back after a nearly 30 year retirement, sounding as fierce and energetic as bands half their age. The perfect blend of old and new school, TAoE is UK thrash informed by the groovier trends in metal over the past three decades. The result sounds surprisingly modern, not just in production but in composition.
If I'm being honest, Diamond Head probably put out the better album this year. But the fact is, I never had an emotional connection to that band, whereas Acid Reign made a big impact on me in my formative years. So while it's not the perfect album that The Coffin Train is, it gets a big bonus for being such an incredible comeback. Besides, these songs just plain rip, with choruses that are as fun as they are memorable, sounding a lot like Anthrax before they got so damn serious. Check out my Track-By-Track review for more on this one.
