By , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and Features, Staff Picks December 31, 2014

BEST OF 2014 – our contributors have their say (individual lists)

Hellbound-Logo-IconHow did we come up with our collective top 20 metal albums of the year? Our contributors sent in their lists, we did a little math, and well, you can see the result (congratulations, Pallbearer!). But if you’re curious, here are our individual lists, full of commonalities but also revealing Hellbounders’ wide-ranging tastes.

Thanks for a 2014 that was great in many ways, and cheers to an even better 2015 – for all of us!

Bill Adams

1. LEONARD COHEN – Popular Problems (Columbia)
2. SINGLE MOTHERS – Negative Qualities (New Damage)
3. MELVINS – Hold It In and King Buzzo – This Machine Kills Artists (Ipecac)
4. FREEMAN – Free.man (Dine Alone)
5. TANYA TAGAK – Animism (Sixshooter)
6. SLATES – Taiga (Caroline/Universal)
7. OFF! – Wasted Years (Vice)
8. LEE BAINS III AND THE GLORY FIRES – Dereconstructed (Sub Pop)
9. DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 – The Physical World (Warner Brothers)
10. BRIAN LOPEZ – Static Noise (independent)

Justin Allec

1.  SÓLSTAFIR – Ótta (Season of Mist)
2. INCANTATION – Dirges of Elyzium (Listenable Records)
3. MIDNIGHT – No Mercy for Mayhem (Hells Headbangers)
4. BEHEMOTH – The Satanist (Metal Blade)
5. BEYOND CREATION – Earthborn Evolution (Season of Mist)
6. TRIPTYKON – Melana Chasmata (Century Media)
7. DAWNBRINGER – Night of the Hammer (Profound Lore)
8. MORTALS – Cursed to See the Future (Relapse)
9. BLOODBATH – Grand Morbid Funeral (Peaceville)
10. AT THE GATES – At War with Reality (Century Media)

Adrien Begrand

1. TRIPTYKON – Melana Chasmata (Century Media)
2. JUDAS PRIEST – Redeemer of Souls (Epic)
3. OPETH – Pale Communion (Roadrunner)
4. MIDNIGHT – No Mercy For Mayhem (Hells Headbangers)
5. THE BODY & THE HAXAN CLOAK – I Shall Die Here (Rvng)
6. WITCH MOUNTAIN – Mobile of Angels (Profound Lore)
7. THE OATH – The Oath (Rise Above)
8. SÓLSTAFIR – Ótta (Season of Mist)
9. PALLBEARER – Foundations of Burden (Profound Lore)
10. YOB – Clearing the Path to Ascend (Neurot)

AtTheGatesAtWarWithReality

Matthew Elliott

1. AT THE GATES – At War With Reality (Century Media)
2. BEHEMOTH The Satanist (Nuclear Blast)
3. THANTIFAXATH – Sacred White Noise (Dark Descent)
4. PRIMORDIAL – Where Greater Men Have Fallen (Metal Blade)
5. THE GREAT OLD ONES – Tekeli-Li (Antithetic Records)
6. SOLSTAFIR – Otta (Season of Mist)
7. NIGHTBRINGER – Ego Dominus Tuus (Season of Mist)
8. SAOR – Aura (Northern Silence)
9. ABIGOR – Leytmotif Luzifer (Avantegarde Music)
10. GHOST BATH – Funeral (Pest Productions)

Jay Gorania

1. TODAY IS THE DAY – Animal Mother (Southern Lord)
2. DIOCLETIAN – Gesundrian (Osmose Productions)
3. COFFIN BIRTH – Necrotic Liquefaction (Self-released)
4. GODFLESH – Decline & Fall (Avalanche Recordings)
5. JUCIFER – District of Dystopia (Nomadic Fortress)
6. MORBUS CHRON – Sweven ( Century Media)
7. EYEHATEGOD – Eyehategod (Housecore Records)
8. FULL OF HELL & MERZBOW – Full of Hell & Merzbow (Profound Lore)
9. EARTH – Primitive and Deadly (Southern Lord)
10. SICK/TIRED – Dissolution (A389)

Gruesome Greg

1. EYEHATEGOD – Self-titled (Housecore Records)
2. ORANGE GOBLIN – Back from the Abyss (Candlelight)
3. BRIMSTONE COVEN – Self-titled (Metal Blade)
4. CROWBAR – Symmetry in Black (eOne)
5. YOB – Clearing the Path to Ascend (Neurot)
6. TODAY IS THE DAY – Animal Mother (Southern Lord)
7. THE SHRINE – Bless Off (Tee Pee)
8. EARTH – Primitive and Deadly (Southern Lord)
9. GODHUNTER – City of Dust (The Compound)
10. OGRE – The Last Neanderthal (Minotauro Records)

Danielle Griscti

1. BEHEMOTH – The Satanist (Metal Blade)
2. AGALLOCH – The Serpent & The Sphere (Profound Lore)
3. SLOUGH FEG – Digital Resistance (Metal Blade)
4. OPETH – Pale Communion (Roadrunner)
5. PRIMORDIAL – Where Greater Men Have Fallen (Metal Blade)
6. KING OF ASGARD – Karg (Metal Blade)
7. DIOCLETIAN – Gesundrian (Osmose)
8. WINTERFYLLETH – The Divination of Antiquity (Candlelight)
9. MASTODON – Once More Round the Sun (Reprise)
10. VADER – Tibi et Igni (Nuclear Blast)

Hellbound's #1 metal album of 2014

Hellbound’s #1 metal album of 2014

Matt Hinch

1. PALLBEARER – Foundations of Burden (Profound Lore)
2. YOB – Clearing the Path to Ascend (Neurot)
3. PRIMORDIAL – Where Greater amen Have Fallen (Metal Blade)
4. WIZARD RIFLE – Here in the Deadlights (Seventh Rule)
5. THOU – Heathen (Gilead Media)
6. GRIDLINK – Longhena (Handshake Inc.)
7. CULTED – Oblique To All Paths (Relapse)
8. ADMIRAL SIR CLOUDESLY SHOVELL – Check ’em Before You Wreck ’em (Rise Above)
9. BONGRIPPER – Miserable (self)
10. THE SHRINE – Bless Off! (Tee Pee)

Gabe Hugh

1. AT THE GATES – At War with Reality (Century Media)
2. GODFLESH – A World Lit By Only Fire (Avalanche Recordings)
3. OPETH – Pale Communion (Roadrunner)
4. APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE – Of Woe and Wounds (Cruz Del Sur Music)
5. CULTED – Oblique To All Paths (Relapse)
6. THE ATLAS MOTH – The Old Believer (Profound Lore)
7. YOB – Clearing the Path to Ascend (Neurot)
8. PALLBEARER – Foundations of Burden (Profound Lore)
9. WITCH MOUNTAIN – Mobile of Angels (Profound Lore)
10. THOU – Heathen (Gilead Media)

Rob Hughes

1. YOB – Clearing the Path to Ascend (Neurot)
2. PALLBEARER – Foundations of Burden (Profound Lore)
3. EARTH – Primitive and Deadly (Southern Lord)
4. THE WOUNDED KINGS – Consolomentum (Candlelight)
5. OPETH – Pale Communion (Roadrunner)
6. ARCHSPIRE – The Lucid Collective (Season of Mist)
7. MORBUS CHRON – Sweven (Century Media)
8. ADMIRAL SIR CLOUDESLEY SHOVELL – Check ’Em Before You Wreck ’Em (Rise Above)
9. DEATH PENALTY – Self-titled (Rise Above)
10. TAURUS – No/Thing (Independent)

Rob Kachluba

1. VADER – Tibi Et Igni (Nuclear Blast)
2. AT THE GATES – At War With Reality (Century Media)
3. PALLBEARER – Foundations of Burden (Profound Lore)
4. HORRENDOUS – Ecdysis (Dark Descent)
5. VALLENFYRE – Splinters (Century Media)
6. OBITUARY – Inked in Blood (Relapse)
7. OVERKILL – White Devil Armory (Nuclear Blast)
8. EXODUS -Blood In Blood Out (Nuclear Blast)
9. SANCTUARY – The Year the Sun Died (Century Media)
10. AUTOPSY – Tourniquets,Hacksaws and Grave (Peaceville)

Sean Palmerston

1. OPETH – Pale Communion (Roadrunner)
2. TRIPTYKON – Melana Chasmata (Century Media)
3. MORBUS CHRON – Sweven (Century Media)
4. SÓLSTAFIR – Ótta (Season of Mist)
5. IQ – The Road Of Bones (Giant Electric Pea)
6. RIOT IV – Unleash The Fire (SPV)
7. YOB – Clearing the Path to Ascend (Neurot)
8. MORTALS – Cursed To See The Future (Relapse)
9. OCTOBER 31 – (Hells Headbangers)
10. PRIMORDIAL – Where Greater Men Have Fallen (Metal Blade)

Jonathan Smith

1. LIV KRISTINE – Vervain (Napalm Records)
2. ANATHEMA – Distant Satellites (Kscope Music)
3. FALLUJAH – The Flesh Prevails (Unique Leader Records)
4. PARAMNESIA – Self-titled (Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions)
5. SUN WORSHIP – Elder Giants (Independent)
6. BHLEG – Draumr Àst (Nordvis Produktion)
7. GAMMA RAY – Empire of the Undead (Ear Music)
8. FOREVER DAWN – The Journey Home (Independent)
9. DARKSPACE – III I (Avantgarde Music)
10. JUCIFER – District of Dystopia (Nomadic Fortress)

solstafir-otta

Renee Trotier

1. SÓLSTAFIR – Ótta (Season of Mist)
2. BEHEMOTH – The Satanist (Metal Blade)
3. BIBLICAL – Monsoon Season (Dine Alone)
4. MASTODON – Once More Around The Sun (Relapse)
5. THE GREAT OLD ONES – Tekeli-Li (Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions)
6. MOONLIGHT DESIRES – Frankie Goes To Hollywood (Self Released)
7. WOLVHAMMER – Clawing Into Black Sun (Profound Lore)
8. PRIMORDIAL – Where Greater Men Have Fallen (Metal Blade)
9. MURMUR – Self-titled (Season of Mist)
10. GOATWHORE – Constricting Rage of the Merciless (

Laura Wiebe

1. GRAND MAGUS – Triumph and Power (Nuclear Blast)
2. DREAD SOVEREIGN – All Hell’s Martyrs (Van)
3. DEVIN TOWNSEND – Z2 (Inside Out)
4. CORMORANT – Earth Diver (Independent)
5. KILLER BE KILLED – Killer Be Killed (Nuclear Blast)
6. ANATHEMA – Distant Satellites (KScope Music)
7. AGALLOCH – The Serpent & the Sphere (Profound Lore)
8. TRIPTYKON – Melana Chasmata (Century Media)
9. BEHEMOTH – The Satanist (Metal Blade)
10. MEGATON LEVIATHAN – Past 21: Beyond the Arctic Cell (Seventh Rule Recordings)

Adam Wills

1. MASTODON – Once More ‘Round The Sun (Roadrunner)
2. PALLBEARER – Foundations of Burden (Profound Lore)
3. DAWNBRINGER – Night of the Hammer (Profound Lore)
4. YOB – Clearing the Path to Ascend (Neurot)
5. DEVIN TOWNSEND – Z2 (Inside Out)
6. OPETH – Pale Communion (Roadrunner)
7. MORTALS – Cursed to See the Future (Relapse)
8. THANTIFAXATH – Sacred White Noise (Dark Descent)
9. GRAND MAGUS – Triump and Power (Nuclear Blast)
10. BABYMETAL – Babymetal (Toy’s Factory)

HELLBOUND’S BEST OF 2014: HONOURABLE MENTIONS (#16-20)

HELLBOUND’S BEST OF 2014: HONOURABLE MENTIONS (#11-15)

HELLBOUND’S BEST OF 2014: METAL ALBUMS OF THE YEAR (#6-10)

HELLBOUND’S BEST OF 2014: METAL ALBUMS OF THE YEAR (#1-5)

Bill Adams is Editor-in-Chief of Ground Control Mag.

Justin blames Blackwater Park for getting him into this mess.

Matthew Elliot is a political and music writer, editor, and social media hooligan from London, ON. A lifelong, obsessive metal fanatic, he tries not to take the third person too seriously. Tries. Send promo blasts to: [email protected].

Seahawks/Stamps/Flames/Zags/Jays/Raptors fan and lifelong metal head with a beer gut and a self-deprecating sense of humour. Reviewer/blogger (Yon Senior Doomsayer) for Hellbound.ca.

Contributor of photos and plenty of rambling - also on Instagram & Youtube @riffsdontlie

Keep up with all Matt's exploits on Twitter @Kingdomofnoise!

Sean is the founder/publisher of Hellbound.ca; he has also written about metal for Exclaim!, Metal Maniacs, Roadburn, Unrestrained! and Vice.

Renee is the woman behind the words over at Throwing the Horns, as well as being a concert-going foodie and well-known adorer of cats.

Laura is associate editor of Hellbound.ca and co-host of weekly metal show Kill Eat Exploit the Weak on CFMU 93.3 FM. She loves doom, prog, cats and basketball, believes in equity and social justice and is not cool with any form of discrimination, marginalization, harassment or oppression.

Adam has been a photographer for Hellbound since day 1 and also has a hand in the technical aspects of running the site.