Have we really reached the end of our yearly metal retrospectives? As far as generalized Top 10s go, yes, but fear not my fellow headbanger! I’m sure you’ll see us pulling some wild cards like Top 10 Death Metal Albums of 1991 or Top 10 NWOBHM Singles of 1980 in no time (that latter sounds especially sweet). Until then, we blink back in time 6 years, to 2019. This decade, that saw a thrash resurgence, the rise and fall of deathcore/djent/whatever other dogshit MetalCucks still thinks is relevant in 2025, and a full hipster embrace of black and doom metal, was capped by a year in which traditional metal DOMINATED. At the tender age of 20, even this now jaded curmudgeon was sold on the NWOTHM, hook, line, and sinker. Alright, enough of the preamble. Here’s our Top 10 Metal Albums of 2019.
10. Darkthrone – Old Star
I know I’m not the only metalhead who was far from pleased how unceremoniously Black Sabbath’s storied career ended. A bland Rick Rubin produced platter, followed by yet ANOTHER farewell jaunt sans Bill Ward? Come on! Thankfully, Norway’s finest struck again in 2019, with a glimpse of what Sabbath’s swansong could’ve and should’ve sounded like with the right direction. Old Star expands upon the excruciatingly heavy blackened doom of 2016’s Arctic Thunder, but with strong Iommi-isms on cuts like the title track and “Alp Man”. Throw in some unabashed outbursts of Hellhammer worship (“The Hardship of the Scots”, “The Key Is Inside the Wall”), and you’ve got yet another Darkthrone opus!
9. Overkill – The Wings of War
Sorry pizza thrashers, but the ’10s were Overkill’s decade. You were just lucky enough to share it. The Wings of War was a final reinforcement of this, ending a banner decade for the New Jersey gutter-lurkers in breakneck fashion. It was as if those wilderness years of the late ’90s and ’00s, when any thrash band who wasn’t named “Metallica” were hard pressed to even fill a club, had never happened. While this whole album is an all killer, no filler thrash-a-palooza, like every Overkill album from Ironbound album, I’ll go one further and proclaim “Last Man Standing” to be their best song of the decade. As memorable an album opener as “Deny the Cross” and “Time to Kill”, “Last Man Standing” goes for the throat and never lets up.
8. Angel Witch – Angel of Light
With roots going as far back as the mid ’70s, when they initially formed under the moniker Lucifer, Angel Witch were far from spring chickens come the release of their latest album, Angel of Light. And yet founding singer/guitarist Kevin Heybourne managed to sound nothing short of ageless over 40 years on, armed with a new lineup and a collection of songs that embodied the mystique and grandeur of those olden days. Every cut stings, boasting that eerie charm of their 1980 self titled debut, and sounding like a series of prototypes for more extreme strains of metal to come (i.e. doom metal, progressive metal, black metal, etc.). Here’s to hoping Heybourne and the gang strike again soon!
7. Crypt Sermon – The Ruins of Fading Light
Come the latter half of the ’10s, the epic influence of misunderstood ’80s pioneers like Candlemass, Manilla Road, and even the aforementioned Angel Witch, became more evident than ever. A key example of this is the sophomore album from Crypt Sermon, The Ruins of Fading Light. As all members were involved in various other metal acts, Crypt Sermon appealed (and still do) to both extreme metallers and the growing NWOTHM legion, who ate this album up in all its colossal glory. The songs were long and ambitious, yet executed with the type of mastery one would expect from a euro outfit. Not bad for a band of Philly boys!
6. Mirror – Pyramid of Terror
Ever wonder what Scorpions would’ve sounded like had Uli Jon Roth stuck around the fold for one last outing after Taken by Force (1977)? There’s a good chance it might’ve sounded like Mirror’s sophomore album, Pyramid of Terror. An aural conjuration that’s truly esoteric and otherworldly, Pyramid of Terror is a head-trip of an album if there ever was one. Sonically caught between the psych-metal explorations Uli era Scorpions and black magic incantations of Mercyful Fate, epics like “Master of the Deep” and “Nitocris” transport us to another dimension, while heavy rockers like “Running From the Law” and “The Last Step Down” urge us to rock out with our…well, you get the idea.
5. Oath of Cruelty – Summary Execution at Dawn
For those outside of the grind scene, P.L.F. is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Dave Callier, who has been grinding it out now for 26 years. At some point along the way, Callier cultivated an urge to revisit his extreme metal roots, which is exactly what he does with his “other” vehicle, Oath of Cruelty. Their debut album, Summary Execution at Dawn, is the epitome of death/thrash at its most deranged, sounding like the feral offspring of Kreator’s Pleasure to Kill. The riffs are frenzied, the drums are blinding, and the songs themselves are played with the intensity of war metal, but with much more memorable hooks and a production that isn’t complete dogshit. This is an essential listen for anyone who prides him or herself a first generation death metal fan.
4. Tygers of Pan Tang – Ritual
For whatever reason or another, I remember every last detail of the final time I saw Power Trip. I remember being amazed at their rapid ascent to superstardom, how they were playing Chicago’s famed Metro. While it was essentially a “special guest” slot opening for High on Fire, by the time HoF took the stage, the place was empty. I also remember in between bands, talking with promoter Shane Merrill about how blown away we were by Tygers of Pan Tang’s latest outing, Ritual. 6 years later, and I’m still amazed at the caliber of kickass writing and old school English metal brilliance on display. Indeed, the ’10s into the ’20s have marked a new golden age for these veteran cats, one that’s still going strong!
3. Diabolic Night – Beyond the Realm
As I said in my review of their latest album, Beneath the Crimson Prophecy, Diabolic Night’s Beyond the Realm was my go-to choice for a late night job or lift in late 2019. Its fusion of neck-snapping speed with the adventurism of TRUE black metal (no corpsepaint faced posing to be found here, kid) gripped my very soul, sounding straight out of a headbanger’s record collection circa 1985. And while I still believe Prophecy took these traits to a whole other level, Beyond the Realm is FAR from a slouch, walloping the listener with one blast of black-speed brilliance after the next. More black metal bands need to draw from At War with Satan era Venom and evil Running Wild!
2. Smoulder – Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring
Crypt Sermon weren’t the only band cranking out colossal power-doom in 2019. So were Smoulder, a then relatively new band who was (mostly) based in Canada. Armed with a penchant for Moorcock-penned fantasy and Mob Rules era Sabbath riffs, Smoulder’s gave 110% on their debut album, Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring. Not only was this album crushingly heavy and the lyrics conjure visions of swords and sorcery, but the songs themselves did something 99.9% of doom bands fail to achieve: They stuck! They had hooks! You could *gasp* singalong! Because of this, cuts like “Bastard Steel”, “The Sword Woman”, and “Black God’s Kiss” became staples of the fest circuit, including a packed 2019 edition of Chicago’s Legions of Metal festival.
- Traveler – Traveler
Speaking of Legions of Metal 2019, does anyone else remember the anticipation leading up to the debut Windy City set from Canuck crushers Traveler? Look here TikTok headbangers and Dave Mustaine meme re-posters, I cannot emphasize enough how much of a chokehold this band had the NWOTHM crowd in 6 years ago, and for good reason. Traveler sounded like the second coming of Defenders of the Faith era Priest, which was great for folks exhausted over Priest reshaping the Painkiller formula again (see Firepower). “Starbreaker”, “Behind the Iron”, “Speed Queen”…I still blast all these songs regularly. It’s a crying shame COVID halted their growing momentum, as here was a band far more worthy to share the stage with Priest or Maiden than Sabaton or *insert one of Steve Harris’ kids here*, respectively. Rest in power Traveler, and thanks for the best metal album of 2019! You will never be forgotten in the Defenders household! “Raise your glass to the fallen heroes!”
Honorable Mentions
- Bewitcher – Under the Witching Cross
- Eclipse – Paradigm
- Magic Circle – Departed Souls
- Sadistic Ritual – Visionaire of Death
- Vulture – Ghastly Waves & Battered Graves
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