10. The Body // I Shall Die Here (RVNG)
This sort of album was to be expected. When you take The Haxan Cloak, a master of horrific atmosphere and noise, and let him collaborate with and produce an album by The Body, notably one of the most frightening (and one of the greatest) experimental metal bands working today, you’re going to get an indomitable beast of unsettling samples, menacing synths and beats, thundering drone, and, of course, the little voice in your head crying out for it all to end painfully soon, as played here so hauntingly well by The Body‘s Chip King. The formula works, but only to a point. Instead of a collaboration, where both artists work to rise to their best and still highlight the other, this LP ends up seeming like a a bit of a compromise, or, and better yet, an invitation, welcoming you to explore their respective individual bodies of work.

9. Thantifaxath // Sacred White Noise (Dark Descent)
Relentless, unforgiving, harsh, and victorious, this first full LP from the Canadian black metal trio sets out to impress and succeeds quickly. No track comes in under 5 minutes, but the album is quick on its feet, using progressive time shifts to constantly veer off course to make sure you’re as uncomfortable as possible and always guessing. Sacred White Noise is 43 minutes of telling you you’ll always be wrong.

8. Mastodon // Once More ‘Round The Sun (Reprise)
There’s a bit of a sense of personal betrayal in my placing this album on this list, because with OMRTS, Mastodon has firmly planted themselves in the hard rock genre. And I hate to lament before I praise, but I’ll always miss the days of elementally inspired concept albums and sludgey southern goodness that brought me to love the band in the first place.
But nevertheless, my hometown’s own Mastodon return triumphantly this year with an album that easily surpasses 2011’s loosely footed The Hunter, with its consistently catchy hooks and genuine proficiency that, while present in all of Mastodon‘s work, shines through this album at a level comparable to 2007’s Crack The Skye. The band may be progressively changing its sound to something that’s easier for all to listen to, but at least it feels like they’re having a blast doing it. And as for us fans, who still clutch closely our vinyl copies of Leviathan, can at least enjoy how well they’re doing it.

7. Woods of Desolation // As the Stars (Northern Silence)
For those still finding themselves entranced with the 2013 genre-bending masterwork that was Deafheaven‘s Sunbather (and who isn’t?) there’s this wonderfully depressive album to help them keep dreaming about how well shoegaze’s blindingly bright waves of fuzzy sound and can fit so well with black metal’s blast beats and screaming-out-for-all-but-help vocals. Woods of Desolation‘s multi-instrumentalist and sole steady member, named only D., delivers unto us an impressive work that denotes remarkable talent and deep respect for his musical roots.

6. Thou // Heathen (Robotic Empire)
Making themselves known as a true force to be reckoned with, Baton Rouge natives Thou released this year a monolithic work of misanthropic sludge. This album heaves and drags itself through muck and phlegm alike to present itself a nearly insurmountable beast full of hate and rage and hopelessness with lyrics that feel like oaths sworn to bear upon yourself the collective pain of all humankind.

5. Giant Squid // Minoans (Translation Loss)
Discovered late in the year, this album quickly made a place in my heart with all thanks due to my reading through George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. Now, there isn’t much connection between the conflict currently going on in Westeros and that of the ancient Greek civilization of the Minoans, but, and humor me for a second here, there was something about Giant Squid‘s self-described exotic sludge riffs that melded so well with the scenes of Greyjoy conquests at sea. Aaron John Gregory’s vocals are melodic and, in the best possible way that metal can be, catchy. Minoans is a fantastic convergence of folk and doom metal alike, and it’s an album that can hook you easily with its individuality and ambition.

4. Fórn // Departure of Consciousness (Vendetta)
If the albums on this list were ranked by fright level, this one would easily place first. Fórn‘s brand of blackened doom contains within itself something deeply disheartening, and yet very alluring. No matter where you may listen to this album, it’s sure to transport you to a misty cavern lit only by blood red candelabras where the collective voice of suffering spirits shout from near and far and frighten you to your very primordial core.
And sometimes, that’s exactly what you want with a metal album.

3. Black Monolith // Passenger (All Black Recording Company)
As the first release off the new label started this year by Deafheaven‘s George Clarke, Black Monolith‘s Passenger is one hell of a banner bearer. With its roots laid in d-beat, crust punk, and black metal, there’s hardly a chance to catch your breath with its relentless blast beats and blistering riffs. Sure, there’s a pause here and there to set some unsettling atmosphere to keep you guessing, but there’s always quite reliably an outburst of tightly kept drums and guitar right around the corner. The founder and sole member of Black Monolith, Gary Bettencourt, was once a touring guitarist for Deafheaven, and while he’s playing with a much dirtier and detuned sound on this record, his proficiency is evident, and his riff construction wants for naught.
Passenger also has the honor of having the best outro track of any album on this list. “Eris” loses Bettencourt’s vocals altogether for a dragging death knell that soon loses itself in reverb and disintegration before reforming and blossoming into a bright and cathartic riff acting as the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a moment of comfort and reassurance, which is strange for a metal album, sure, but it’s still worth appreciating nonetheless, especially in context with this particular album.

2. Pallbearer // Foundations of Burden (Profound Lore)
Think about the albums you absolutely love. The albums where the just the first few notes are enough to pull you in, and keep you there wishing for it to never end. Foundations of Burden has become one of those albums for me. It’s everything you can do not to become enraptured by just the first 4 notes at the open, and it’s not for another 20 minutes that you realize you’re already midway through the record.
This was another one I favored listening to while reading ASOIAF, and not to step away from the music here, but the two compliment each other frighteningly well. “Watcher in the Dark” has become not only the theme for my favorite character (Jon Snow, who should be everyone’s as it is) but it’s become my favorite track of the year overall. Its bridge is a somber and beautiful duet between Brett Campbell’s guitar and Joseph D. Rowland’s keys, and when the song gets back to the main riff, you feel like you’ve come out a different person. There’s a growth and a journey all in that single 11 minute track. Foundations of Burden is Pallbearer‘s staking its claim in metal worth listening to in the 21st century, and it is one legacy that cannot be easily trampled.

1. Profetus // As All Seasons Die (Svart)
Let it be known that 2014 was an excellent year for doom metal, and let it be known that it was a funeral doom band from Finland who reigned supreme. With As All Seasons Die, Profetus have produced an immense and tragic work of comprised of natural reflections and epic dirges. It’s the sort of music you’d listen if your idea of being one with nature connotes standing in the woods at night when it’s a comfortable 38ºF. It’s the sort of music that would be played at the funeral of one of the members of Wolves in the Throne Room. It’s the sort of music that is produces a sound so massive and inescapable, that it reminds you of your place on this Earth. Its pious organ and elegiac guitar riffs encapsulate, and its drum beats are so slow and patient that you just end up bowing your head in reverence rather than nodding it to the beat. This is the worship music for those who consider the leafless trees of winter the columns and rafters in their own personal woodland cathedral. Despite its use of repetition, it doesn’t get worn out; it only leads to further introspection, and it can be called a venerable triumph just because of that.