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13 Unusual Records That Rocked n’ Wrecked 2020

~By Billy Goate~

Photograph by Randy J Byrd

With all of the uncertainty and unrest we experienced in 2020, it was hard to imagine what kind of a musical year it would be last January. As it turned out, the music won out, with disquieted souls unleashing a bevy of sound and fury!

Following last week's parade of top albums from the Doomed & Stoned team, it's the editor's turn. I submit for your consideration 13 records that had me coming back again and again.

Nothing - The Great Dismal

The depressive rock vibes of Nothing captured so much of the spirit of 2020 -- wistful, jaded and, well, dismal -- with the sentiment, This will never end.. By October, we were really feeling it, too. Then along came NOTHING (originally a side project of Agalloch members Jason William Walton and Don Anderson) with what I regard as their finest longplay to date, spitting out along with it a plethora of visceral music videos that made The Great Dismal hard to ignore. Timely medicine for my jaded, weary soul. No surprise then that I listened to this album constantly throughout the year.

Isn't it strange Watching people Try and outrun the rain

5 R V L N 5 - The Black Mark

Chuck Clybourne (ex-Faces of the Bog) delivers one of the most authentic and gripping biographical albums of recent memory. I was in the Chicago studio on the final day of its recording and recall how dark and angry it seemed, a doomier kind of industrial metal. The Black Mark includes contributions from Chicago Doomed & Stoned Fest organizer Lara Noel. As I remarked on "Flesh" last January: "The song builds and builds in intensity, generating a wall of sound and fury contrasted with dreamlike vox and emotive synth licks that made me an instant fan of 5 R V L N 5. I suspect the effect will be similar for you."

Crimson Caravan - Big Big Bang

Screeeeeech! Stop the presses! Here's an unbelievable find! Didn't pick up on these Russian stoner-doomers until the New Year's dawn (to be fair, it was released on December 29th), but everytime I listen to Big Big Bang I'm awed at just how goddamn heavy it is. An outstanding specimen of the genre, with songs like "Heap of Junk" of an Electric Wizard, Monolord, or Dopelord aura.

Elder Druid - Golgotha

Those champions of winter, Elder Druid, brought us a compelling sophomore offering in Golgotha, which we were among the earliest to review on January 9th, at which time I gushed: "Every yard as epic as it’s title, its power and majesty bleeds through every low-fuzzed corpuscle and sinew." Almost one year to the day and I must say time was kind to this prodigious paragon.

Enslaved - Utgard

A worthy entry into a very crowded field of contenders, Utgard shows us the more experimental side of Enslaved -- roaring black metal meets seventies prog rock (yep, you read that right). Though their fifteenth (!) LP received some mixed reviews, it's definitely worth hearing because, you know, it's mother effen Enslaved! Plus it draws heavily on Norse mythology, which is always cool. As expected, the album was preceded and followed by a number of music videos that brought us the band in all its coldness, melancholy, and savagery

Ethyl Ether - Neon Chrome Jesus

It was a big year for the South African music scene, led by Cape Town's Ethyl Ether, who released their third album on the newly founded local label Mongrel Records. Keep an eye on this scene, and especially this band, in the year ahead. Psychedelic texture don an eighties rock sound for a very chill vibe, indeed.

Forming The Void - Omens

What can one say about this rapidly rising voice in metal, already a widely recognized voice in doom? The expansive soundscapes, serpentine vocals, and deluge of big low-end. Omens is another out-of-the-ballpark homerun for Ripple and a fitting fourth full-length for the band. We reviewed it in May, at which time I remarked: "It’s earthy moving rhythm is joined by the prophetic utterance of vocals that soar vastly overhead, surveying the horizon like a bird of prey. It’s a vibe that Slomatics fans will be used to, though arguably Forming The Void makes it much groovier. After all, you can’t avoid the influence of the blues in a place like Louisiana.."

Frayle - 1692

The Ohio atmospheric doomers outdid themselves in 2020 by taking us back to another year: 1692. It was on March 1st that the Salem Witch Trials began in Salem Village of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Witnessing their performance at Chicago Doomed & Stoned Show gave me a new appreciation for the thoughtful execution of every note, and the arch that links them all together. They played "Dead Inside", and it was all chills for me. You would be hard pressed to listen to a number like "Burn" and walk away with anything short of adoration.

Greg Puciato - Fuck Content

If you were missing the Dillinger Escape Plan in 2020, their enigmatic singer came back just in time with new solo material, published under the banner of Federal Prisoner. And while there's a lot to love about the album Child Soldier: Creator God, it's the live album that really reached me. It's hard not to get caught up in its adrenaline fueled performances ("Fire for Water"), grungy rumblers ("Deep Set"), incendiary ballades ("Don't Wanna Deal"), and narcotic chill ("Evacuation").

Hellvetika - redux series

Love Spit Love // redux by Hellvetika

Aaron D.C. Edge is one hell of an improviser and absolutely wowed us with this rather brilliant bunch of sludged-up tributes to the musical greats. Under the project name Hellvetika Aaron recorded whole albums of these damning transformations, including covers of: Alice in Chains, AC/DC, Deftones, NIN, Willie Nelson, STP, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure, Clutch, Depeche Mode, Helmet, Audioslave, Joy Division, Weezer, Radiohead, Sting, and a whole lot more. I have no idea how long the project took him, but it certainly gives release to a lot of pent up emotion, perhaps borne of crushing isolation, and if so that's something I can entirely relate to. The series is also available sans voix right here.

I Am Low - Illusions

Illusions by I Am Low

I've been sort of low-key predicting that Grunge is poised for a big comeback. It's only natural, as the last two decades we reexamined the music of the '60s, '70s, and '80s. Hell, Brazil is a few years ahead of us, with grunge bands popping up left and right. Now, from Sweden comes Grunge med båda fötterna på Umeås jord ("Grunge with both feet on Umeå's soil")...I Am Low. Great name for a grunge band that meddles in doom, by the way. Their EP 'Illusions' (2020) (another late-December release) pulls you right in with its filthy tone, shimmering solos, and characteristically dulled singing. Like the disaffected youth of yesterday, they come with a disaffected message:

Here we are now All forgotten They betrayed us All for nothing

Sleepwulf - Sleepwulf

Then out of nowhere the following month, these standing stones of southern Sweden sent us their sublime sounds. Needless to say, we were enamored with the band's eponymous debut. Their feet firmly planted in the Pentagram school of doom, Sleepwulf are kindred spirits of Denmark's Demon Head and Norway's Dunbarrow. The band's debut LP was reviewed by Reek of STOOM in February.

Slift - UMMON

We introduced them to you on episode 18 of The Doomed & Stoned Show, but French band blew up weeks before with the widely-praised single "Hyperion." We wondered where these psychedelic krautrockers had been all our lives! Toulouse is the answer, and UMMON wasn't their only laudible opus, either.

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What were your favorite records of 2020? Leave a comment below and let us know! As 2021 unwraps, we want you to join us on a quest to find the best in heavy underground music. Give Doomed & Stoned a follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for daily updates and subscribe to our weekly podcast for our choice cuts from the latest doom metal and stoner rock spins!

Since it's on trend to draw sexy beefy versions of video game daddies I wanted to contribute to the mix! I've been a fan of Helvetika and all his fab bearded queen looks for a while and this sexy midriff baring "No Copyright Waluigi" look is one of my favorites he's done! So I thought I'd finally get around to illustrating it 😋! Thanks for spreading the gospel of the glam bearded queen and inspiring others to do the same @hellvetika 💜! Illustration inspired by Hellvetika's original Glam Waluigi look. #hellvetika #hellvetikainspired #hellvetikaqueen #beardedqueen #croptop #tummytuesday #walugi #gaynerd #queerart #queernerd #queerartist #supportqueerartists #beardeddragqueen #walugidaddy #queergamer #gaymer #beardedgay #beardedguys #illustration #queerillustrator #queerillustration #hairyqueen #nippless #mustache #digitalart #digitalillustration #hellvetikafanart #christiancimoroni