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The Year In Review – Top 10 Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Albums of 2019

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“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” – Voltaire

The year of 2019 might be reaching its inevitable end in the blink of an eye for most of us, but if there’s one thing we must admit is that it has been indeed a year of countless events, episodes and changes with a huge impact on how pretty much everything works in our Heavy Metal universe. For instance, 2019 was the year where we unfortunately witnessed the ultimate campaign by Thrash Metal titans Slayer, who at the same time left an undisputed and brilliant legacy to Heavy Metal and a giant hole in our hearts and in the global Thrash Metal scene. Do you think there’s any band that can fill that gap created by the end of Slayer? In my humble opinion, although I love bands like Exodus, Testament and Death Angel, I doubt anyone can claim Slayer’s throne as the meanest, most demonic and most pulverizing band of all time, but that doesn’t mean Thrash Metal is dead and gone. Quite the contrary, it’s still alive and kicking, with many of the underground bands reviewed at The Headbanging Moose contributing to keep the flame of such distinct subgenre of heavy music burning bright.

In addition, 2019 was also the year we lost many of our rock and metal icons, including André Matos (vocalist of Angra, Shaman and Viper), Larry Wallis (former guitarist of Motörhead), and Timi Hansen (former bassist of Mercyful Fate and King Diamond), as well as several talented musicians from non-metal styles like Marie Fredriksson (lead singer and keyboardist of Roxette), Keith Flint (frontman of The Prodigy), and the “King of the Surf Guitar”, Mr. Dick Dale. However, even with all those significant losses, we can say 2019 was a productive year for rock and metal music, with many iconic and underground bands delivering some fantastic albums for our total delectation, and that’s why here we are again with The Headbanging Moose’s Top 10 Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Albums of 2019, excluding EP’s, best of’s and live albums, to prove once and for all that heavy music will never, ever die. Having said that, enjoy our list of top metal albums for this year that’s coming to an end, and keep raising your horns high together with us in 2020!

1. Rammstein – Rammstein (REVIEW)
A magnificent lecture in Neue Deutsche Härte from the bottom of the flaming hearts of the pioneers of the genre.
Best song of the album: Deutschland

2. Necronomicon – UNUS (REVIEW)
Canadian powerhouses of Blackened Death Metal return with the heaviest, most obscure and most infernal opus of their career.
Best song of the album: Infinituum Continuum

3. Rotting Christ – The Heretics (REVIEW)
It’s time to burn in the fires of the dark and occult Black Metal crafted by the greatest Greek institution in the history of heavy music.
Best song of the album: Fire God and Fear

4. Soilwork – Verkligheten (REVIEW)
Swedish Melodic Death Metal masters return in full force with a fresh, groovy and addictive album of first-class heavy music.
Best song of the album: Stålfågel

5. The Agonist – Orphans (REVIEW)
Canadian juggernauts of Melodic Death Metal return with a brand new album that’s more extreme, more melodic and more exciting than ever.
Best song of the album: Blood as My Guide

6. Helevorn – Aamamata (REVIEW)
Embrace darkness and melancholy with the breathtaking new opus by one of the most interesting names from the current Spanish scene.
Best song of the album: Aurora

7. Slipknot – We Are Not Your Kind (REVIEW)
The world’s most famous masked metallers are back with a fantastic album that proves once again why Heavy Metal is our kind of music.
Best song of the album: Unsainted

8. Amon Amarth – Berserker (REVIEW)
Raise the shield wall, hold your hammers high, and unleash the berserker that lives inside you together with Amon Amarth.
Best song of the album: Shield Wall

9. Target – Deep Water Flames (REVIEW)
Let’s all dive into the incendiary deep waters of Technical and Progressive Death Metal ruled by this amazing band from Chile.
Best song of the album: Oceangrave

10. Singularity – Place of Chains (REVIEW)
The emotions of being wrongfully imprisoned turned into an ass-kicking hybrid of Technical Death Metal and Symphonic Black Metal.
Best song of the album: Ritual of Regret

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

11. Grand Magus – Wolf God (REVIEW)
12. Hiss From The Moat – The Harrier (REVIEW)
13. Lucifera – La Caceria De Brujas (REVIEW)
14. Alunah – Violet Hour (REVIEW)
15. Dö – Astral Death Cult (REVIEW)
16. Rifftera – Across the Acheron (REVIEW)
17. Rage Of Light – Imploder (REVIEW)
18. Rexoria – Ice Breaker (REVIEW)
19. HerezA – Death Metal Drunks (REVIEW)
20. Aephanemer – Prokopton (REVIEW)

Also, let’s not forget about some of the best albums which, although might be short in duration, they did bring to our ears an endless amount of heaviness, speed and harmony this year, accrediting them to be part of our Top 10 EP’s of 2019. As you can see, those EP’s were recorded by the most diverse types of bands and artists from all over the world, becoming some sort of “tasting sample” of what we can expect from those metallers in a not-so-distant future.

1. Eleine – All Shall Burn (REVIEW)
2. Quilombo – Itankale (REVIEW)
3. Master’s Call – Morbid Black Trinity (REVIEW)
4. Violent Life Violent Death – Sadness Rains (REVIEW)
5. Angra Demana – Triptych Of Decay (REVIEW)
6. Vorga – Radiant Gloom (REVIEW)
7. Shuulak – Citrinitas (REVIEW)
8. Moanaa – Torches (REVIEW)
9. Exuviated – Déliquescence (REVIEW)
10. Sophist – Betrothal To The Stone: Conception of Mephisto (REVIEW)

Do you agree with our list? What are your top 10 albums of 2019? And, as usual, don’t forget to tune in every Tuesday at 10pm BRT on Rádio Coringão to enjoy the best of classic and underground metal with Jorge Diaz and his Timão Metal, and every Thursday at 8pm UTC on Midnight Madness Metal e-Radio for the best of underground metal with The Headbanging Moose Show!

Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year! See you in 2020!

And before The Headbanging Moose takes a well-deserved break to recover our energies and return in full force in 2020, how about we enjoy what’s probably one of the best and most detailed “Christmas” songs of all time, the fantastic Valhalleluja, recently released by Italian Heavy/Power Metal outfit Nanowar of Steel? This is the perfect soundtrack for your Christmas night with your loved ones, especially if you give someone anything from IKEA as a Christmas gift. Well, simply watch the official video below and follow the lyrics to understand what I’m talking about. Having said that, let’s all pray to Odin, drink beer and sing Valhalleluja together with Nanowar of Steel, my friends!

Album Review – Lucifera / La Caceria De Brujas (2019)

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Let the witch hunt begin to the sound of the infernal fusion of Black and Thrash Metal by this dynamic duo hailing from Colombia.

Spawned in the year of 2008 in the ardent fires of Pasto, the capital of the department of Nariño, in southern Colombia as an hellish duo comprised of guitarist and composer David HellRazor and vocalist and bassist Alejandra Blasfemia, Black/Thrash Metal outfit Lucifera started off playing a much more conventional form of Thrash Metal,  evolving into an obscure and demonic beast over the years while still maintaining the amazing dynamism between the band’s founding members. Now in 2019 it’s time for Lucifera to spread darkness and blasphemy with their highly anticipated fourth full-length and defining opus entitled La Caceria De Brujas, or “the witch hunt” in English, taking the band’s primeval elements to a whole new level of malignancy, hatred and professionalism.

Featuring a menacing design by HR Design, from the band’s hometown Pasto, La Caceria De Brujas offers the listener a 39-minute tour de force of the blackest Thrash Metal and thrashiest Black Metal split into eight demonic hymns that will please all of fans of true, ancient metal music from the very depths of the underworld. In addition, one very interesting and important detail about La Caceria De Brujas is the fact that the lyrics for each song were pretty much written by a different musician. For instance, the lyrics for “Arde En Llamas” were written by Sonia Sepulchral (Bolivia), “Sigillum Diaboli” by Alicia Leguizamon (Colombia), “Sortilegio” by Clara Kultarr (Peru), “Ceremonia Secular” by the band’s own she-demon Alejandra Blasfemia (Colombia), “Pacto Pagano” by Melissa Kalissa (Colombia), “Conjuro” by Silvia Gers (Argentina), and “Brujeria” by Adriana Mavir (Mexico). However, that doesn’t mean the songs feel or sound disconnected; quite the contrary, the transition from song to song couldn’t have sound more powerful and thrilling, adding an extra touch of obscurity to the entire album thanks to this amazing “coven” of lyricists.

Evil distortions and vociferations kick off the blasphemous, belligerent and pulverizing opening track Arde En Llamas, with Alejandra sounding like the beast incarnate on vocals, while David blasts truly demonic sounds from his sonic weapons. Furthermore, you can sense influences from the early days of Slayer and classic Black Metal in their music, which obviously translates into absolute awesomeness. And Alejandra keeps growling manically (and always in Spanish, which makes her message even more obscure and vibrant) and punching us in the head with her rumbling bass in Sigillum Diaboli, a frantic hymn perfect for slamming into the circle pit to the vicious riffs by David, followed by Sortilegio, even more satanic than its predecessors by blending the speed and rawness of Thrash Metal with the darkness of Black Metal, with David sounding bestial not only with his riffs but also with his crushing beats. Then a disturbing intro taken from the original motion picture soundtrack “The Witch – Witch’s Coven” (written and performed by Mark Korven in 2015) ignites the demonic Ceremonia Secular, with the guitars by David bringing thunder to the overall musicality, resulting in a fantastic headbanging, mid-tempo display of extreme music that flows infernally until its grand finale.

Putting the pedal to the metal, the Colombian duo gets back to a more dissonant, high-octane sonority in Pacto Pagano, showcasing guitars and bass in absolute sync which consequently generates a menacing ambience for our total delight, while Alejandra’s gnarls sound like the utmost depiction of madness and rage. Following a similar disruptive, devilish pattern as its predecessor, Conjuro is another superb exhibit of underground Thrash and Black Metal by Alejandra and David, who by the way is on total fire with his riffs and solos, making our heads tremble in a demented way, which is also the case in Brujeria, where David demolishes his drums providing Alejandra all she needs to unleash her inner demon on vocals, or in other words, her anguished roars match flawlessly with the song’s thunderous bass and riffs from start to finish. Lastly, ending such sensational album the duo offers us Evocación Del Caos, by far the most obscure of all songs, an instrumental extravaganza presenting hints of Doom Metal and Blackened Doom forming a damned sonority that goes on and on, mesmerizing our senses and darkening our minds until all fades into a cold void, giving place to a final and very unsettling combination of evil sounds and tones.

In summary, let the witch hunt begin to the sound of the beyond fulminating fusion of Black and Thrash Metal found in La Caceria De Brujas, courtesy of this talented and electrifying Colombian duo, and in order to show all your support to Lucifera go check what they’re up to on Facebook and grab your copy of such blasphemous and sulfurous album from the Dunkelheit Produktionen’s BandCamp page or webstore in CD format or as a limited black, red or sun-amber edition LP (including an A2 format poster and a metalpin). Because if you’re going to be part of a coven, you better choose one where you can also enjoy first-class metal music, like what Lucifera more than succeeds in providing to our ears always avid for ass-kicking underground Extreme Metal.

Best moments of the album: Arde En Llamas, Sigillum Diaboli, Pacto Pagano and Conjuro.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2019 Dunkelheit Produktionen

Track listing
1. Arde En Llamas 4:07
2. Sigillum Diaboli 4:25
3. Sortilegio 3:50
4. Ceremonia Secular 6:23
5. Pacto Pagano 3:49
6. Conjuro 4:10
7. Brujeria 5:04
8. Evocación Del Caos 6:51

Band members
Alejandra Blasfemia – vocals, bass
David HellRazor – guitars, all instruments