The Norm Condition

 

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Albums of the Year 2020

Last year, I closed this post by giving a shoutout "that's all folks, see you next year and stay alive". Ironically enough, I should never have opened my mouth and give any kind of wishes on a year that proved to be one hell of an amusement park ride, constantly feeling like a nightmare simulation you can`t wake up from. Misery and existential dread didn`t just knock on our doorsteps, it came in crushing down the house, left everything in splinters and locked down the pandemonium of the century.

Top 10 EPs of 2020

Welcome back. I'm kicking off this year's lists posts with one that I would post a bit later on usually but this time, it was actually the one that was finished first. At the same time, 2020 was the year I listened to the most EPs compared to past years, reaching 84 in number, when I normally go for half that. Many bands give equal attention to their Extended Plays as they do to full lengths, depicting important steps in their careers, and there were several ones this year that I considered to be great to listen to. The genre variation will not surprise you because there almost isn't any, so let's look into some 2020's fabulous extreme metal mini-albums.

Top 10 Greek Metal Albums of 2020

Since the very first years, to be on the lookout for new coming and underground bands from your whereabouts has been of vital importance, to encourage locally relevant quality. Two events to point out were the return of the ancient band Piranha, and the release of Revenge's Massacre In Heaven along with its story, an album that didn't get any coverage as far as I am aware of. To subjects closer to me, sadly I listened to Eriphion's second album (with its intriguing cover that refers more into some DIY post-punk than black metal) too late, and it would be a possible runner up for this list. 

Top 10 Greek Metal of 2020:

10. Nox Formulae - Drakon Darshan Satan

9. This Is Past - Labyrinth

8. Obsecration - Onwards the Mystic Paths of the Dead

7. Katavasia - Magnus Venator

6. Death Courier - Necrotic Verses

5. Revenge - Massacre in Heaven

4. Dephosphorus - Sublimation

3. Utkena - Nex Fornix

2. Kawir - Adrasteia

1. Mystras - Castles Conquered and Reclaimed

Top 10 Non-Metal Albums of 2020

Usually this part is all over the place, but this year I had a clear favorite and several albums I found fascinating, even in more mainstream genres. The list represents well the various genres I was into throughout the year and basically I somehow chose representatives of each, but there are still things I had to listen to but didn't manage. Some honorable mentions are the albums by The Strokes, Nothing, The Garden, Nine Inch Nails and Dua Lipa. Wait, what?

Top 10 Non-Metal of 2020:

10. Forndom - Faþir

9. Prurient - Casablanca Flamethrower

8. Steve Von Till - No Wilderness Deep Enough

7. Taylor Swift - Folklore

6. William Basinski - Lamentations

5. Lowrider - Refractions

4. Anna von Hausswolff - All Thoughts Fly

3. Puta Volcano - AMMO

2. Bohren & der Club of Gore - Patchouli Blue

1. Venus Volcanism - Rizitiko

 

List of Good Albums 2020

 

As we're wrapping up, this is the pool of albums I enjoyed throughout the year, in alphabetical order. More concrete posts are being written as we speak and meanwhile, you might find a couple of hits even now at the last moment:

Abigor - Totschläger (A Saintslayer's Songbook)

Abramelin – Never Enough Snuff

Afsky - Ofte jeg drømmer mig død

Akantha – Gnothi Seauton

Altar of Gore - Obscure & Obscene Gods

Anaal Nathrakh – Endarkenment

Ancient Gate – Empire Beyond Dusk

Ardente - Citadelle des Brumes

Begotten – If All You Have Known Is Winter

Beneath the Massacre – Fearmonger

Black Vice - The Alchemist's Vision

Carved Cross - Severance of Disparity in Absolute Acrimony

Circle of Ouroborus - Viimeinen Juoksu 

Cold Earth – Your Misery, My Triumph

Cosmic Putrefaction – The Horizons Towards Which Splendor Withers

Crépuscule D'hiver - Par-Delà Noireglaces Et Brumes-Sinistres

Cultus Profano – Accursed Possession

Cursed Altar – Midnight Reprisal

Cystic – Sworn Enemy of Life

Cénotaphe - Monte Verità

Death Courier – Necrotic Verses

Devangelic – Ersetu

Disembowel – Echoes of Terror

Disrupted – Pure Death

Dropdead - Dropdead

Drown – Subaqueous

Drüben - Det Alværnende

Elffor – Unholy Throne of Doom

End – Splinters From an Ever-Changing Face

Enepsigos – Wrath of Wraths 

Enshadowed – Stare Into the Abyss

Erancnoir – Berglicht

Fellwarden - Wreathed in Mourncloud

Feral Light – Life Vapor

Forgotten Tomb – Nihilistic Enstrangement

Gaerea - Limbo

Gloosh – Timewheel

Grace.Will.Fall - Barren by Design

Grógaldr - Illness Unto the Womb of Spirit

Havukruunu - Uinuos Syömein Sota

Horna - Kuoleman kirjo

Häxanu - Snare of All Salvation

Ifernach - The Green Enchanted Forest of the Druid Wizard

I’m In A Coffin – Waste of Skin

Incantation – Sect of Vile Divinities

Í Myrkri - Drivende i Dødens Æter

Jordablod – The Cabinet of Numinous Song

Kommand – Terrorscape

Konvent – Puritan Masochism 

Krallice – Mass Cathexis

Kryptamok – Verisaarna

Lampir – Awaiting the Predatory Dreamscape

Leeched – To Dull the Blades of Your Abuse

Ljosazabojstwa - Głoryja Śmierci

Maquahuitl - At the Altar of Mictlampa

Midnight – Rebirth By Blasphemy

Molested Divinity - Unearthing the Void

Mortiis – Spirit of Rebellion

Mourir - Animal Bouffe Animal

Mournful Winter – Viscus Et Os

Naxen – Towards the Tomb of Times

Nidernes – Darkness Cenotaph

Nox Formulae - Drakon Darshan Satan

Núll - Entity

Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin kynsi

Over the Voids - Hadal

Ozzy Osbourne – Ordinary Man

Prison of Mirrors - De Ritualibus et Sacrificiis ad Serviendum Abysso

Raven Throne - Viartańnie (Chroniki Źmiainaj Ciemry)

Reaper – Unholy Nordic Noise

Revenge - Strike.Smother.Dehumanize

Sanctifying Ritual – Sanctifying Ritual 

Sentient Divide – Haunted by Cruelty

Serpent Column – Kathodos

Serpent noir – Death Clan OD 

Sinister - Deformation of the Holy Realm

Spirit Possession – Spirit Possession

Striges – Verum Veterum

Suicide Silence – Become the Hunter

Svartsyn – Requiem

Thecodontion – Supercontinent

Toadeater - Bit to ewigen daogen

Turia – Degen van Licht

Vampire – Rex

Verbal Razors – By Thunder and Lightning

Vinland Ghost – Empire Without End

Violent Hammer – Riders of the Wasteland

Voyeur's Blood - The Dawning of Post-Mortal Enlightenment

Vredehammer – Viperous

Wake – Devouring Ruin

Warp Chamber – Implements of Excruciation

Witches Hammer - Damnation Is My Salvation

Yaldabaoth - That Which Whets the Saccharine Palate

Ygg – The Last Scald

YounA – Zornvlouch

Paysage d'Hiver - Schnee

 

This year will be a year to remember for many reasons. Little events happened in the scene that surprised me, and one of them was the exposure Paysage d'Hiver got worldwide with their album Im Wald. If you dare to call this the project's debut because it's a full length then you haven't spent serious time with the band, whereas the fact that they actually released and EP (!) in the same year is much more surprising. As a fan for several years now, I lean a bit on the negative side about Im Wald and not because of the popularity it got, but that's for a different post that will probably never come.

On the other hand, here is a collection of tracks that I previously hadn't thought needed to be gathered in a single release. Schnee is a compilation of tracks the self-titled tracks (I) to (IV), composed in a time period between the early 00's and late 10's, specifically "Schnee (IV)" was featured in the 2017 split with Drudkh, a breathtaking mini-album also for a different post. Considering that another compilation was released in 2020, we faced quite some activity from Paysage d'Hiver in 2020, who started off the year with a blast with the live show (remember) in late January and the early distribution of the full length there.

The process of listening to this band is like a patient exploration. It insists upon the subjects it touches for more than twenty years now, so there has to be some serious filtering of material in order to maintain a relevance. Paysage d'Hiver have achieved that in a remarkable manner so far, maybe not totally but mostly. I don't know if Wintherr planned this all along, but the sequence of the four "Schnee" tracks is brilliant, and also plainly describes, the most vital source of influence of the band, in its simplest word. To be a bit clearer, only through exploration one can discover the magnificent guitar part in the middle of "Schnee (I)", which comes at a point when the listener has assumed he has heard everything.

From the four tracks, "Schnee (II)" is definitely the hardest hitting, which is also the shortest composition at only ten minutes. All the main elements of the band are present, from the wind samples to the monotonous, lethargic riffs, distant shrieks and some beautiful clean singing during the opening of the compilation. I didn't need to be reminded of how majestic "Schnee (IV)" is as it was already under frequent spins, but I'm pointing out again how amazing it is. The cover of Schnee might be the same photograph as the cover of the band's split with Nordlicht, where "Schnee (III)" is featured. 

I never expected such an act to attract attention outside of the underground, and a little breakthrough was made with Im Wald. Things are changing as we speak, and this compilation offers a fine dose of Paysage d'Hiver's talent that works as a silent reminder not to neglect the past, when taking steps ahead. Schnee comes in an elegant black envelope, with gentle engravings on the side, on a delicate A5 digibook, proving how this is a jewel not only for its music. 

Hwwauoch - Protest Against Sanity

 

Less activity as we're approaching the end of the year and for obvious reasons, attention has been turned towards all-time favorite posts that will spawn in mid-late December. 

In the meantime, implode with Hwwauoch's new, terrifying album, which poses a challenge to all that is musically conventional and believe me, better to take a deep breath before diving in.