[Please note: The Best of the 2010s poll is still open for another week. If you haven’t added your list there, please do.]

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If you still have a living memory of what last January was like, congratulations. You’re one up on me. But I know there’s been a lot of good music released since then, and thanks in no small part to the 300-on-the-nose people who submitted lists to this poll, I know that as ever I only heard the barest fraction of it.

The good news, of course, is that all of those lists are included here. The bad news — such as it is — is that soon 2020 will be no less overwhelming. That’s the way it goes, the creative barrage. It’s worth taking a second and appreciating how lucky we are to live in an age where such a thing is possible. Double-edged sword, to be sure, but the one end produces some killer cuts.

I could go on and philosophize about the year, the continued emergence and evolution of various styles of heavy, the seemingly endless expansion and reshaping of the very notion itself, but you’d get bored and if you’re reading this, I’m going to guess you’ve heard it all before. Probably from me. Like, last week. I’ll save it and we’ll get to the lists instead.

To reiterate the rules once more, here they are as designed by Slevin and as they’ve been cut and pasted for the last however many years (hey, if it ain’t broke): You submit your list of up to 20 favorites on the form below. Anything from the start of the year to the finish is eligible. At the end, there are two lists, one of the raw votes, and one in which a 1-4 ranking is worth five points, 5-8 worth four, 9-12 worth three, 13-16 worth two and 17-20 worth one.

There you have it. Let’s go:

Top 20 of 2019 — Weighted Results

1. Monolord, No Comfort (306 points)
2. Green Lung, Woodland Rites (256)
3. Solace, The Brink (195)
4. Nebula, Holy Shit (148)
5. Hippie Death Cult, 111 (141)
6. Howling Giant, The Space Between Worlds (132)
7. Torche, Admission (128)
8. Baroness, Gold & Grey (120)
9. Irata, Tower (116)
10. Leeds Point, Equinox Blues (115)
11. The Devil and the Almighty Blues, Tre (112)
12. Saint Karloff, Interstellar Voodoo (111)
13. Lo-Pan, Subtle (104)
13. Tool, Fear Inoculum (104)
14. Yatra, Death Ritual (101)
15. Valley of the Sun, Old Gods (100)
16. Crypt Trip, Haze County (90)
17. Saint Vitus, Saint Vitus (88)
18. Cult of Luna, A Dawn to Fear (85)
19. Kadavar, For the Dead Travel Fast (84)
20. Colour Haze, We Are (83)

Honorable Mention:
The Well, Death and Consolation (82)
Hazemaze, Hymns of the Damned (76)
Horseburner, The Thief (74)
Spirit Adrift, Divided by Darkness (72)
Bask, III (71)
Sacri Monti, Waiting Room for the Magic Hour (69)
Year of the Cobra, Ash And Dust (67)
Mars Red Sky, The Task Eternal (66)

Notes: I don’t really find much to disagree with here. You can kind of see a couple bands who maybe put word out to their fanbase to vote, but frankly, I don’t have a problem with that so long as it’s not the band themselves spamming the poll, which it’s never been. If you feel passionate enough to vote for one thing and one thing only, so be it. I think that’s worth counting. Not exactly like we’re doing this for scientific posterity anyway. It’s supposed to be a good time. In any case, Monolord took the lead early and didn’t relinquish, and I was glad to see the Green Lung record caught on with people. Solace are always welcome, and Nebula well earned their spot. Seemed like that Hippie Death Cult LP really resonated with people. I feel like I need to go back to it and give it another go, see if I missed something, which, frankly, I’m sure I did. But this is a good start. Let’s do the raw votes.

Top 20 of 2019 — Raw Votes

1. Monolord, No Comfort (84 votes)
2. Green Lung, Woodland Rites (68)
3. Solace, The Brink (52)
4. Nebula, Holy Shit (47)
5. Hippie Death Cult, 111 (39)
6. Howling Giant, The Space Between Worlds (38)
7. Leeds Point, Equinox Blues (37)
8. Torche, Admission (37)
9. Baroness, Gold & Grey (36)
10. Irata, Tower (32)
10. The Devil And The Almighty Blues, Tre (32)
11. Lo-Pan, Subtle (31)
11. Saint Karloff, Interstellar Voodoo (31)
11. Tool, Fear Inoculum (31)
11. Yatra, Death Ritual (31)
12. Valley Of The Sun, Old Gods (29)
13. Colour Haze, We Are (26)
13. Crypt Trip, Haze County (26)
14. Cult Of Luna, A Dawn To Fear (25)
14. Kadavar, For The Dead Travel Fast (25)
15. The Well, Death And Consolation (23)
16. Saint Vitus, Saint Vitus (23)
17. Bask, III (22)
18. Hazemaze, Hymns Of The Damned (21)
18. Horseburner, The Thief (21)
18. Sacri Monti, Waiting Room For The Magic Hour (21)
19. Black Mountain, Destroyer (20)
19. Lord Vicar, The Black Powder (20)
19. Magic Circle, Departed Souls (20)
19. Mars Red Sky, The Task Eternal (20)
19. Opeth, In Cauda Venenum (20)
19. Spirit Adrift, Divided By Darkness (20)
19. Yawning Man, Macedonian Lines (20)
19. Year Of The Cobra, Ash And Dust (20)
20. Russian Circles, Blood Year (19)
20. Candlemass, The Door To Doom (19)

Honorable Mention:
Crypt Sermon, The Ruins of Fading Light (18)
Duneeater, No Gas No Good (17)
Holy Serpent, Endless (17)
Zed, Volume (17)
Pelican, Nighttime Stories (17)
Roadsaw, Tinnitus the Night (17)

Notes: Alright, that’s enough. There might be one or two more that would add up to 17 votes, but with a list of 20 that actually has 36 records on it, you’ll pardon me if I feel less inclined to chase down all of them. As ever, things get a little more jumbled in the raw vote tally, though with the surplus of inclusions, the variety of styles and the sheer glut of stuff, I feel like this list kind of represents the year that was 2019 in some more accurate respects, being totally overwhelming and whatnot. In any case, the top five is the same, and I’m glad to see that Howling Giant catch on with people as well. That’s a good record, even through Green Lung would seem to have ‘Debut of the Year’ on lockdown. That’s something else I agreed with.

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That’s it, friends. Thanks for reading, thanks for reading, thanks for reading. And if you voted, thanks for voting! It is hugely appreciated. Special thanks to Slevin for, as ever, organizing the app that runs and tallies all the votes, because I remember doing it by hand and it was a nightmare even when there were far fewer submissions. That too is deeply appreciated.

Plenty to look forward to in 2020, but before I turn you over to all the individual lists, I wish you a glorious year and either inner peace or an honorable death in battle, whichever you should happen to lie with your personal preferences.

Love, love, love.

Lists follow the jump, and here’s the jump:

Read more »

[PLEASE NOTE: This is not the same thing as the Top 20 of the 2010s Poll, which is ongoing. This is 2019 only. Participation in both or either is welcome and encouraged.]

I was waffling on the idea of doing a year-end poll, since I didn’t want it to take away from the above-linked decade-end one. But when that went up, I said I might not do one for 2019 and the response here and on thee social medias was resoundingly in favor of having both. So…

Okay folks, here it is. Don’t let the opportunity slip. Get your list of 20 of the best of 2019 together and put it in the form below and we’ll do it up like always. Honestly, these polls and these lists are a tremendous resource to me, so I’m glad it’s happening, but especially with two polls going, maximum participation is all the more important.

Really. Get involved. Please share the link. Tell two friends and tell them to tell two friends. Buy a billboard on the side of I-95 in Stamford. Skywriting. Write your congressional or parliamentary representative. Whatever you can do to help spread the word, it’s appreciated.

Same rules as ever: You submit your list of up to 20 favorites on the form below. Anything from Jan. 2019 to whatever’s coming out between now and Dec. 31 is eligible. At the end, there are two lists, one of the raw votes, and one in which a 1-4 ranking is worth five points, 5-8 worth four, 9-12 worth three, 13-16 worth two and 17-20 worth one.

A sentient robot trapped in a bunker somewhere tabulates the results (with paper backups, of course; we’re not unaware of threats to cybersecurity), and they go up Jan. 1, along with everybody’s list.

Time to make it happen:

POLL IS CLOSED — THANKS TO ALL WHO VOTED!

Extra special thanks to The Obelisk’s Much-Loved Technical Coordinator Supreme Slevin this time around, who has gone above in beyond in setting up a second app this time so the two polls can run at once. My deep gratitude and respect for his efforts knows no bounds.

Please note, no emails are kept or stored. The whole thing gets wiped after the lists are posted so we can do it all again next year. Thanks.