Picks of 2020

This past year, more specifically the last 9 months have been easily the toughest for me. During the initial months of isolation, Music became my main solace along with exercise. I think I have listened to more music this year compared to past couple years. Hence it was not an easy task putting together this list.

Non metal picks (in no particular order)

 Impulsive Voices is another impressive release from the guitar prodigy from Down Under. This album is darker and is a huge step in all aspects. Just listen to the track Pan which features a saxophone is a stand out track on Impulsive Voices. 

Rock the Highway is a great throwback to the 80’s rock sound. There are a couple of progressive tracks on the album like Identity Crisis. Wonder if their future material will be like that.

The Earth below is the solo project from Deepak Raghu from Shepherd. Nothing Works Vol. 2- Hymns For Useless Gods was my soundtrack during times of melancholy. Big step ahead in terms of production. 

Bayaan is a Pop rock from Pakistan. Suno is a very catchy album that reminds me of the Pakistani Pop rock releases from the mid 2000’s 

Karakoram are another good rock band from Pakistan featuring Zain Peerzada from Takatak on guitars. Ibtida is a promising release and their upcoming album will be one to looks out for in 2021.

Metal picks

#10 On Solitude, Cloudkicker turned heavy again and was totally what I needed this year. Thank you Ben Sharp for this album.

#9 ‘When I Die, Will I Get Better?’ is a seemless meld of hardcore and black metal. The album took me on a journey through the album. I especially enjoyed the lyrics and topics it covers, things we face both in real life and online. 

#8 The World that was is a potent mix of Death and doom metal. Temple of Void keep getting better with each album like a fine wine or whiskey.

#7 Stare Into Death And Be Still is Extreme metal with a menacing atmosphere. A phenomenal release. I don’t think any other album has captured better the sound of the shitshow that this year has been. 

#6 Mortal has a mix of all my favourite elements of death metal, Low growls and crunchy guitar riffs. Alseep Forever is a track that I will be listening to for years to come. One of the best death metal albums I’ve heard this year.

#5 Habits is one of the albums I have listened to the most this year. It’s meditative riffs and doomy vocals left me in a trance.

#4 The first time I heard Chatta, I was blown away by what I heard. Each time I listen to this album, I find a new element. This album has pushed the levels of grindcore. This album is Chatta!

#3 Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic is a Post metal masterpiece. This album made me trip/transcend to another level.

#2 The Sanguinary Impetus is a strange mix of Technical and brutal death metal. On their previous album, they did a split of sorts with Disposal of the Dead and Dharmata. This album is a marriage of both albums and pummels you into submission. An All A’s album. 

#1 Yes for the 2nd year in a row, my pick is Spirit Adrift. Enlightened In Eternity was my pick me up album for this year.  An album that gave me hope that there is a light at the end of this. 

Bandcamp Recommendations – 4th December 2020 #BandcampFriday

The last #BandcampFriday of the year is here! Check the previous posts I did here

New music from the solo black metal act in a couple years. From the single released so far, sounds a bit darker.

2020 has been a great year for Death metal and this album is a great addition to the list. Just over 49 minutes of prime death metal. No filler at all. AOTY material!

Comeback release from the now Mumbai based act showcases a heavier progressive sound.

The new release from genre shifting Aussie act has them take a psychedelia route. Trippy stuff!

2nd release this year from as Jesu. On Terminus, he goes back to the shoegaze sound of his earlier material.

500th release from the grindcore label is a 3 way split between the best current acts in the genre.

3rd solo release from Indian veteran metal musician. He plays all instruments on this one. Out next week.

Compilation featuring the bands that are part of Global Grindcore Alliance Festival Vol 1.0. Quite a few exclusive tracks.

Ripple Music and Vegas Rock Revolution put together this compilation. John Gist (VRR) has hand picked the bands part of this.

Bandcamp Recommendations – 6th November 2020

First Friday of the month, everyone knows the drill by now.

This one was a surprise release. New music from the band that got every teenager in the 2000’s into metal. This is to benefit the Armenia Fund, a US based charity organization instrumental in providing those in need in Artsakh and Armenia with supplies needed for their basic survival.

The debut album from the best Pakistan metal act that I have heard recently

As the days turn shorter and weather colder, here is some Hungarian Black metal for company.

First non metal recommendation, my good friend Abhi Meer has a new single out through Boxout.fm recordings.

Pummeling power violence from the American duo.

The first album from the Canadian grindcore stalwarts in 5 years is out in a couple weeks.

2 track EP by the Tech death metal act from Down under is out later this month

4 compilations featuring bands across all sub genres of Metal. All proceeds go to combatting UK food poverty.

https://hungercompuk.bandcamp.com/

Fistful of Metal 21

A hour of metal from around the world. First aired on boxout.fm

Track List

Spirit Adrift – Ride into the Light

Raging Speedhorn – Hard to Kill

Enslaved – Homebound

Takatak – Flash Your Bones

Svalbard – Click Bait

False Gods – Stay Frosty

Construct of Lethe – Lamasthu

Depravity –  Cantankerous Butcher 

Fuck the Facts – Pleine Noirceur

Carcass – The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue

Fistful of Metal 20

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Riley Gale, the front man of American metal act Power Trip.

Track list

Power Trip – Executioner’s Tax
Capra – Torture Ship
Allfather – Poison Soil
Grid – Disinformation = Facts
Grid – Insatiable
Skeletal Remains – Illusive Divinity
Necrot – Asleep Forever
Cloudkicker – Code Language
Hinayana – In Sacred Delusion (Ft. Toni Toivonen)
Foretoken – Bewildering Duress/Retribution
Jupiterian – Mere Humans
Cynic – How Could I

Bandcamp Recommendations – 2nd October 2020

Here are my picks for this month’s Bandcamp Friday

Is it Bandcamp Friday? pic.twitter.com/Z49KWfn39k

— bandcamp (@Bandcamp) October 2, 2020

This British trio have released one of the most intense metal albums I’ve heard this year. Believe the hype around it.

9 tracks of catchy melodic Black metal from the American quintent. Yes, it does have clean vocals.

Latest album from the German collective adds a new depth to their progressive sound. Their best as yet.

Over a hour of doom curated by the good folks at Sleeping Village

The who’s who of the Metal put their spin on Alice in Chains – Dirt on the 28th anniversary of the album.

Compilation with a stacked line up that benefits the family of a killer metal musician.

Check my previous picks here and here

Bandcamp Reccomendations – 4th September 2020

Here are my pick for this #BandcampFriday

The debut release from Foretoken is a melodic mix of death and black metal. Features Hannes Grossmann on drums. Great signing by Prosthetic Records.

This 5 track live release from Allfather proves that their raucous metal is best experienced live. Includes demos of 2 new tracks.

Another live release. This time from Scottish (post) rock act, Mogwai

32 tracks of doom metal put together by the awesome folks at Doomed and Stoned

50+ minutes of doom/drone from the new project of Ganesh K (Kryptos/Bevar Sea), Megadrone is truly a listening experience.

Another compilation. This one has a stacked line up

New album from Cloudkicker. A blind buy for many.

Bandcamp Reccomendations – 5th June 2020

Last month I had done a thread on Twitter with recommendations, this time around I thought I would focus on a few albums releasing this month.

Now that the @Bandcamp waiver has started, here is my list of recommendations (largely labels)

— Peter K (@trendcrusher) May 1, 2020

Death Courier – Necrotic Verses

An aural juggernaut that lasts for just over 30 minutes. Stellar comeback release from the Greek death metal act.

Heathen Beast – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised But It Will Be Heard

My man Abi Meer has described the upcoming release from Heathen Beast quite well.

Few bands in India are as brazenly subversive and also entirely anonymous. They may be one person or five, we may never know, but when they say The Revolution Will Not Be Televised But It Will Be Heard, Kolkata’s Heathen Beast don’t mince their words.

Lord – Chaos Rising

New single from the heavy metal act from Down Under is an apt listen for the current state of the world.

Serocs – Vore

5 new tracks of killer death metal from an all star line up. Their best work yet!

A couple of compilations

16 track sampler from Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

20 tracks from Brutal Panda Records

Fistful of Metal 14

2 hours of pulsating heavy metal from around the world featuring bands affected by the Coronavirus.

Exhorder – My Time Website Merch

Devilspeak – Unearth Hell Bandcamp

Rapture – Malevolent Demise Incarnation Bandcamp

Gatecreeper – From the Ashes Bandcamp Merch

Defeated Sanity – Suttee Bandcamp

Godless – Empty Graves Bandcamp Merch

Gutslit – Blood Eagle Bandcamp Merch

Ingested – Erotic Depravity Bandcamp Merch

Viscera – Immersed in Ire Bandcamp

Beneath the Massacre – Rise of the Fearmonger Bandcamp Merch

Origin – Sociocide Bandcamp Merch

Cattle Decapitation -Time’s Cruel Curtain Bandcamp Merch

Beyond Creation – Entre Suffrage Et Mirage Bandcamp

Bhayanak Maut – Shoreline Bandcamp

Void Vator – Monster Bandcamp

Iron Kingdom – White Wolf Merch

Kurokuma – The Tides of Time Bandcamp Gofundme

Abigail Williams – Into the Sleep Bandcamp Merch

hubris. – Dionysus Bandcamp

Insomnium – Valedicition Merch

Countless Skies – Tempest Bandcamp

Kvelertak – Crack of Doom Bandcamp Merch

The Stone Eye – Ventura Bandcamp

Almost Honest – Keystone Bandcamp

Haken – A Cell Divides Gofundme

Fistful of Metal 12

A mix of my favourite tracks released in 2019 and also what I have been currently listening to.

Tracklist

Nile – Long Shadows of Dread

Paganizer – Apocalypse Writings

Annihilator – Armed to the Teeth

Kryptos – Dead of Night

Spirit Adrift – Angel & Abyss

Marijannah – Shapeless

Devin Townsend – Genesis

Periphery – It’s only smiles

Cloudkicker – Xaoc

Lord – Nod to the Old School

Discord – Bungaa

Discord – Mahakali

Pacifist – Greyscale Dreams