The Razor's Edge Staff Picks: Top Ten Albums of 2019
It's been one hell of a year for us here at The Razor's Edge. All of our staff have sat and listened to hundreds of albums, bringing you reviews of some of the best new music, and some maybe not so good releases too. But now the year is drawing to a close, we've all sat down and drawn up our lists of our own top ten albums for 2019.
Cat Finch - Editor in Chief
1. Life of Agony - The Sound of Scars
2. Alcest - Spiritual Instinct
3. Acid Reign - The Age of Entitlement
4. Tool - Fear Inoculum
5. Sacred Reich - Awakening
6. Bokassa - Crimson Riders
7. Agnostic Front - Get Loud!
8. Municipal Waste - The Last Rager
9. Exhorder - Mourn The Southern Skies
10. Overkill - The Wings of War
For me Life of Agony trumped everyone this year. I've been a fan of the band for a long time and the new album is truly a return to form. When they toured this past October the new songs stood up incredibly well in the live arena. It's great to see them back on top.
Tim Finch - Deputy Editor / Photographer
1. Mass Worship - Mass Worship
2. Life of Agony - The Sound of Scars
3. Gurt - Bongs of Praise
4. Bokassa - Crimson Riders
5. Planet of Zeus - Faith in Physics
6. Exhorder - Mourn The Southern Skies
7. Amon Amarth - Bezerker
8. Nile - Vile Nilohtic Rites
9. Thicko - The Begining is Nigh
10. Elyrean - Blacken The Sun
As is often the case I have been listening to alot of smaller bands this year. Big shout out's to Ashen Crown and Blood Church who were just outside my top ten, and Elyrean and Thicko who made it onto the list. I encourage you to check them all out.
For my #1 album it was a tough choice between Mass Worship and the returning Life of Agony. Whilst the LOA album is a work of art, Mass Worship's self titled album is the one album that honestly blew me away this year. The darkest, dirtiest, extreme metal album of the year and a joy to listen to!
Deegan Armitage - Writer / Interviewer
1. Fleshgod Apocalypse - Veleno
2. Devin Townsend – Empath
3. Sabaton – The Great War
4. Infant Annihilator – The Battle of Yaldabaoth
5. Magic Kingdom – Metalmighty
6. Gatecreeper – Deserter
7. Batushka – Панихида
8. Amon Amarth – Bezerker
9. Whitechapel – The Valley
10. Eluveitie – Ategnatos
The reason I picked these guys for number one is the fact that they always been a solid band, they’ve never had a bad album and they sound just as good live as they did in the studio, 'Veleno' is no exception. An amazing example of how well technical death metal and classical go together. There isn’t a single bad song on the album and the singles 'Sugar' and 'Carnivorous Lamb' are amazing examples of how solid the band are.
Dan Barnes - Writer
1. Cult Of Luna - A Dawn To Fear
2. Brick by Brick - Hive Mentality
3. Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars
4. Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes - The End of Suffering
5. Life of Agony - The Sound of Scars
6. King 810 - Suicide King
7. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Ghosteen
8. Old Firm Casuals - Holger Danske
9. POP.1280 - Way Station
10. The Wildhearts - The Renaissance Men
A Dawn To Fear is an immense piece of music delivered by a band that does not know the meaning of the word mediocre. At times devastatingly heavy, at others delicately fragile and, occasionally, both simultaneously. Huge in scope yet somehow intensely personal, A Dawn to Fear is the work of a band unafraid to expand their style to suit mood and feeling. Whether it’s the ferocity of 'The Silent Man', the sludge-infused 'Lay Your Head to Rest' or the progressive-flavoured 'Inland Rain', Cult of Luna deliver one of the best records of their career. With every member of the band firing on all cylinders and a vocal performance exceeding anything previously heard, A Dawn to Fear runs long but never outstays its welcome. The central fifteen minute epic 'Light on the Hill' encapsulates the spirit of Pink Floyd and suggests, fingers-crossed, that Cult of Luna are far from creatively spent.
Carl Black - Writer / Interviewer
1. Acid Reign - The Age of Entitlement
2. Death Angel - Humanicide
3. Phil Campbell - Old Lions Still Roar
4. Agnostic Front - Get Loud!
5. Xentrix - Bury The Pain
6. Overkill - The Wings of War
7. Une Misere - Sermon
8. Alice in Chains - Ranier Fog
9. Opeth - In Cauda Venenum
10. Sin Theta - Sin Theta
I've waited so long for the new Acid Reign album and it doesn't disappoint. It's 10 tracks, each one utterly unique from the next but unmistakably Acid Reign!
Neil Bolton - Writer
1. Soen - Lotus
2. Acid Reign - The Age of Entitlement
3. Opeth - In Cauda Venenum
4. Alcest - Spiritual Instinct
5. Dark Throne - Old Star
6. Cybernetic Witch Cult - Absurdum Ad Nauseam
7. Rammstein - Rammstein
8. Death Angel - Humanicide
9. Xentrix - Bury The Pain
10. Sacred Reich - Awakening
Since February this year I knew that Lotus would be at least top three in my top ten of the year. So it sat there at number 1 waiting to get knocked off; and it never did. This album is just as an accomplished companion on a long drive home, as it is sharing a large glass of whiskey with the lights off, letting me indulge in a deep dive. Not only is this my favourite album of 2019 but one of my favourites of all time. 54 minutes of pure pristine beauty.
Neil Brannagan-Fuller - Writer / Interviewer
1. Acid Reign - The Age of Entitlement
2. Exhorder - Mourn the Southern Skies
3. Exumer - Hostile Defiance
4. Enforced - At the Walls
5. Dust Bolt - Trapped In Chaos
6. Inhuman Nature - Inhuman Nature
7. Overkill - The Wings Of War
8. Black Talon - Existential Crisis
9. Flotsam and Jetsam - The End Of Chaos
10. Elyrean - Blacken The Sun
It's probably no surprise to anyone, but my 2019 album of the year is The Age of Entitlement. After a 29 year gap, this is a world class release and the album that I have enjoyed the most, sang along to the most, played the loudest and most often, and also the band I’ve travelled the most miles to see for a long time!
Robbie Maguire - Writer / Interviewer
1. Opeth - In Cauda Venenum
2. Acid Reign - The Age of Entitlement
3. Downfall of Gaia - Ethic of Radical Finitude
4. Leprous - Pitfalls
5. Alcest - Spiritual Instinct
6. Cult of Luna - A Dawn to Fear
7. Dawn Ray’d - Behold Sedition Plainsong
8. Damnations Hammer - Unseen Planets, Deadly Spheres (Re-Release)
9. Imperium Dekadenz - When we are Forgotten
10. Sin Theta - Sin Theta
The Opeth album is heavy in tone and feeling and yet there are some many uplifting moments throughout. It’s got the riffs and the catchy driving metal whilst there is the characteristic melody and hooks all over it. It is rich in texture with the grand moments delivering on an epic scale. The quieter, more introspective parts also stir the emotions. Mikaels vocals are warm and soothing yet he pushes his voice to its very limits but never sounds forced or out of place. It is a complete album that delivers sonically, emotionally, lyrically and in the stunningly eerie artwork, also visually.
Gareth Pugh - Writer
1. Acid Reign - The Age of Entitlement
2. Tool - Fear Inoculum
3. Flotsam & Jetsam - The End of Chaos
4. Xentrix - Bury the Pain
5. Death Angel - Humanicide
6. Nile - Vile Nilotic Rites
7. Possessed - Revelations of Oblivion
8. Suicidal Angels - Years of Aggression
9. Memoriam - Requiem for Mankind
10. Overkill - The Wings of War
2019 was a year of 'the return of those bands MIA', Possessed, Xentrix, Tool, Candlemass etc. But for me the best was the one that had been missing for 29 years, and a triumphant reboot with a thrash album with a contemporary twist. The boys from Acid Reign. I have to also mention two EPs which are very good. Sodom - Out of the Frontline Trench and Elyrean - Blacken the Sun.
John Wigg - Writer
1. Acid Reign - The Age of Entitlement
