The Year In Review – Top 10 Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Albums of 2015

“Good day
My name is Necropolis
I am formed of the dead
I am the harvester of the soul meat
And I suck the lives from around my bed
My own two sons I gave them breath
And I filled their living corpses with my bile
What humanity I knew I have long forgotten
For me eternity is nothing
But a short while…” 

– If Eternity Should Fail, by Iron Maiden

Eternity might be nothing but a short while for the harvester of the soul meat, but for us mere mortals it looked like 2015 was never going to reach its end. Well, the year is finally phasing out and 2016 is already knocking on our doors, promising to be a much better (and less tragic) time for mankind. With that said, once again as a tribute to all bands and musicians who kept our hearts warm in the throes of a world crisis, here is The Headbanging Moose’s Top 10 Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Albums of 2015, excluding of course all EP’s, best of’s and live albums. Profitez-en bien!

Iron Maiden_The Book of Souls1. Iron Maiden – The Book of Souls (REVIEW)
As you read through the pages of The Book Of Souls you’ll inevitably realize that Iron Maiden’s gonna get us all, no matter how far.
Best song of the album: The Red and the Black

moonspell_extinct2. Moonspell – Extinct (REVIEW)
While this distinguished Portuguese Dark Metal band is among us, we can rest assured good and meaningful music is far from being extinct.
Best song of the album: Extinct

Stratovarius_Eternal3. Stratovarius – Eternal (REVIEW)
The Finnish masters of Power Metal are back with a beautiful album made to be eternal.
Best song of the album: My Eternal Dream

battle beast_unholy savior4. Battle Beast – Unholy Savior (REVIEW)
Battle Beast want the world and everything in it, and they’re definitely on their way to conquer it all with their brilliant brand new album.
Best song of the album: I Want The World… And Everything In It

My God-Given Right5. Helloween – My God-Given Right (REVIEW)
It’s our God-given right to keep banging our heads to the music by the happiest and most awesome Power Metal band in the world.
Best song of the album: Creatures in Heaven

scorpions_return to forever6. Scorpions – Return to Forever (REVIEW)
This rock may be rolling home after so many years of good service, but it still has A LOT to teach the world on how to make true Hard Rock.
Best song of the album: Rock ‘N’ Roll Band

cover7. Marduk – Frontschwein (REVIEW)
The Babylonian gods of Black Metal return with more of their blasphemous and apocalyptic war-themed music.
Best song of the album: Thousand-Fold Death

CoF_Hammer of the Witches8. Cradle of Filth – Hammer Of The Witches (REVIEW)
The metallic coven instituted by one of the most important Extreme Metal bands of all time keeps haunting our world with their music.
Best song of the album: Onward Christian Soldiers

Survivalist Album Cover9. 4ARM – Survivalist (REVIEW)
A phenomenal heavy music album full of groove, fury and energy by an extremely talented Thrash Metal band from Down Under.
Best song of the album: Poisoned Mind

Slayer_Repentless10. Slayer – Repentless (REVIEW)
Live fast, on high, repentless, and keep listening to Slayer until the day you die.
Best song of the album: Repentless

And here we have the runner-ups, completing the top 20 for the year:

11. Vanden Plas – Chronicles of the Immortals – Netherworld II (REVIEW)
12. Monolith – Against The Wall Of Forever (REVIEW)
13. The Agonist – Eye of Providence (REVIEW)
14. Acrassicauda – Gilgamesh (REVIEW)
15. Vingulmork – Chiaroscuro (REVIEW)
16. Vorna – Ei Valo Minua Seuraa (REVIEW)
17. Dys Inbunden – One With Morbidity, The Opus Misanthropy (REVIEW)
18. Deadly Circus Fire – The Hydra’s Tailor (REVIEW)
19. Tsar Bomb – Exterminans IX:XI (REVIEW)
20. Profane And The Sacred – Chapter 1 : A Long Time Coming (REVIEW)

As this year we had tons of amazing EP’s being released by extremely talented bands from all over the world, why not providing you our Top 10 EP’s of 2015, right? (To be fair, although shorter in duration, some of them are significantly better and more complex than several full-length albums that became available throughout the year.)

1. Goatchrist – The Epic Tragedy Of The Cult Of Enlil (REVIEW)
2. Dö – Den (REVIEW)
3. Chip DiMonick – Uncaged (REVIEW)
4. Omega Diatribe – Abstract Ritual (REVIEW)
5. The Passion Of Our Souls – Soulmates (REVIEW)
6. Velaverante – My Dark Images (REVIEW)
7. Novallo – Novallo II (REVIEW)
8. Meridius – Meridius (REVIEW)
9. Judas Avenger – Judas Avenger (REVIEW)
10. Pergana – The Visit (REVIEW)

One thing that 2015 taught us all is that Heavy Fuckin’ Metal is still alive and on fire, and based on the music by countless independent bands reviewed here (that for different reasons did not make it to our top 10/20), it will keep shining brighter than ever for many years to come. Take a listen at the music by Rifftera and Amanita Virosa (Finland); Reanimator and Fractal Generator (Canada); Sarpentra and The Prophet (Russia); Dzhatinga and Irreversible Mechanism (Belarus); Helligators and Lykaion (Italy); Warmask and Hateful Warfare (Brazil); Morkesagn and Gasoline Guns (Ukraine); Void Creation (Austria); Nachtlieder (Sweden); Fjorsvartnir (Denmark); Broken Rain (Slovakia); Lanthanein (Argentina), among many others, and there you have the future of heavy music. And, obviously, don’t forget to listen to the METAL MOOSE RADIO SHOW every week, and to always HAIL SANTA!

Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year! See you in 2016!

And now, last but not least, a Christmas message from Eddie and the boys…

The Metal Moose Show – Episode 2015-06-23

If you want to get more information about any of the bands featured at The Metal Moose Show, simply Google the band and/or the song name to find their official website and Facebook page and, more important than that, attend their live concerts and buy their music. Here at The Headbanging Moose you can find detailed reviews of Swedish Black Metal band Dys Inbunden and Italian Hard Rock band Roadless (just click on the links below to read the reviews). Support your local bands… AND FOLLOW THE MOOSE!

On The Metal Moose Show this week:

1. Wrath Of Mot – Inflicted
2. Hobo – Black Moon
3. Between Falls – Love Me Hate Me
4. Zion Road – Searching For You
5. The Muted Pitch – Plummet
6. Specules – Smudge
7. New Day Dawn – Runaway
8. Embers Rise – New Life
9. Destruction Of Mankind – Justify
10. Arson City – City Of Fire
11. Armagore – What A Sh*t
12. Border Wars – Darkness Falls
13. Sovereign Council – The Human Condition
14. Ikillya – Not Dead Yet
15. Dys Inbunden – Draconigena
16. Vermillion Road – Your Throne
17. Vermillion Road – Tread On Me
18. Osculum Infame – Ocean Of Worms
19. Roadless – Hot Mamma
20. Titans Eve – War Path
21. Dryvr – Shadow Spade
22. Esotherisst – In Winters Arms

Click HERE to listen to this week’s episode on Spreaker.

Metal Moose Radio YouTube | Spreaker | Mixcloud

Album Review – Dys Inbunden / One With Morbidity, The Opus Misanthropy (2015)

Come worship the Other Side to the sound of the new demonic opus by this extremely talented and sinful Swedish cult.

Rating3

One-with-morbidity-the-opus-misanthrop_OmslagCall it “Deaosophic Metal”, Progressive Black Metal or simply Black Metal. The music disseminated by Dys Inbunden, one of the most nihilistic death obsessed bands in the world, in their masterfully chaotic new album One With Morbidity, The Opus Misanthropy, is going to hit you with an avalanche of depression, suicide, darkness and death beyond dispute. Even if you’re not a huge fan of extreme music, I strongly recommend you take a shot at this amazing album so intense it is.

Forged in the fires of Stockholm, Sweden in 2012 and after releasing their debut album (or their “first opus”, as the band refers to it) entitled Pandemonium Unchained in 2013, Dys Inbunden spent a dark period in 2014 recording their new opus with Honza Kapák at Hellsound Studio, in the Czech Republic. The result, as aforementioned, is awesomely professional and instigating, carving the band’s trademark on the global map of Extreme Metal. And now, after reading this quick intro about the hostile Dys Inbunden and their blasphemous creation One With Morbidity, The Opus Misanthropy, I dare you to hit play if you have the guts.

Well, if you were tough enough to do it, you’ll already face One With Morbidity, one half of the album title, which starts as the intro to some sort of occult ceremony that goes on for a while before a sonic apocalypse begins. What an outstanding production, where you can clearly listen to each instrument while at the same time it’s fuckin’ dark and heavy as hell. Not only that, Mr. Gefandi Ör Andlät knows how to desecrate our minds with his blustering screams. The second half of the album title, Opus Misanthropy, presents hints of Symphonic Black Metal in a poignant atmosphere, where even the clean cultic vocals sound intimidating, not to mention the spot-on orchestrations by Magister Nocturnal, which are not too portentous but adequate to the band’s purpose.

If you’re still alive and sane, the symphonic and devilish track Odious Worship Of Annihilation will mercilessly invade your soul, with Gefandi Ör Andlät sharpening his vocals to an even deeper satanic level while the instrumental keeps dense and extremely well-crafted. There’s not a single second of hope for over seven minutes of music in this tune, one of my favorites of the entire album hands down. Mischievous Paths Of Nocturnal Lust, the longest track of the album, doesn’t disappoint, with the duo of darkness offering us another Black Metal raid with extra layers of insanity, rhythmic variations and progressive passages. Its vocals and riffs are of course fiendish, and I’m sure you’ll feel your brain detaching from your skull to the sound of this evil feast. Then we have Through Demise and Decay, with its powerful riffs and harsh screams being its main ingredients, as well as those sick blast beats the way we love in Black Metal and a “chorus” that seems to incite a demonic worship; and The Illuminating Gaze Of Lucifer, where its Doom Metal vibe blended with the battering ram from Black Metal generate an interesting outcome. Moreover, as the name of the song contains the word “Lucifer”, it’s quite obvious the prince of darkness must be honored to be the inspiration for it.

dys inbundenDraconigena, a word that means “dragon-born” or “someone or something born of a dragon”, showcases Dys Inbunden spitting fire through their music. This is a very progressive and extreme tune, with highlights to the superb guitar lines by Gefandi Ör Andlät and its venomous ambience, sounding like three or four different songs in a combination of complexity and bestiality, and I guess I don’t need to say how solid the final result is. And continuing with the innovative names, Larva Pazuzu is the union of the words “larvae”, which in Roman mythology means a malevolent spirit of the dead or “a terrifying mask”, and “Pazuzu”, which in Assyrian and Babylonian mythology was the king of the demons of the wind and son of the god Hanbi, also representing the southwestern wind, the bearer of storms and drought. The music itself couldn’t be more direct, an awesome massacre where both Gefandi Ör Andlät and Magister Nocturnal sound deeply infuriated (and whoever is playing the drums is a beast).

Just when you think they’re going to take a break amidst so many wicked tunes, they continue their path of destruction with Nihilist Pariah, a raw old school Black Metal tune tailored for diehard black metallers, boosted by the deluxe production of the album, followed by Crown Of Carcosa, another masterful display of extreme music where the nuances of darkness brought forth by its symphonic elements sound really interesting. And what starts as a song by Opeth or Dream Theather evolves to a deranged but very melodic carnage in He Who Worships Death, with highlights to its high-end drumming and the uproar caused by the demonic voice of Gefandi Ör Andlät. Lastly, we have the frenetic Dimension Of Nihility, as vile as it can be, with the flawless support provided by Magister Nocturnal allowing Gefandi Ör Andlät to add more experimentations and a stronger taste to the music, and nothing is more suitable to end this Black Metal rite than a melancholic piano outro, named Without Life And Movement.

To be fair, it’s extremely difficult to summarize this Stygian masterpiece in just a few lines, so I deeply recommend you go like their Facebook page and check their music on YouTube, as well as buy One With Morbidity, The Opus Misanthropy at their official webstore, at the Liflätinn Productions webstore, on Amazon or at many other locations to really feel their music in your flesh. In other words, it’s time for us all to worship the Other Side to the sound of the new amazing opus by this talented and sinful Swedish cult.

Best moments of the album: Odious Worship Of Annihilation, Through Demise and Decay, Draconigena and Larva Pazuzu.

Worst moments of the album: Opus Misanthropy.

Released in 2015 Liflätinn Productions

Track listing
1. One With Morbidity 6:47
2. Opus Misanthropy 6:56
3. Odious Worship Of Annihilation 7:47
4. Mischievous Paths Of Nocturnal Lust 9:04
5. Through Demise and Decay 8:07
6. The Illuminating Gaze Of Lucifer 8:59
7. Draconigena 6:25
8. Larva Pazuzu 3:38
9. Nihilist Pariah 7:54
10. Crown Of Carcosa 5:35
11. He Who Worships Death 6:49
12. Dimension Of Nihility 6:07
13. Without Life And Movement 2:31

Band members
Gefandi Ör Andlät – vocals, lead guitar
Magister Nocturnal – bass, piano, orchestrations