And that’s it. Another year is now in the books and there’s not much that we can do about it, but just keep clinging onto this spinning rock and try the best we can to endure. Somehow, after all this time, listening to music is still an absolute relevant exercise to shake things off, to keep moving forward, to hunt this intangible thing which we still want to experience every time a record starts playing.
Paradoxical to what we thought initially, we’ve heard, in 2015, more music than ever before. Expanding our boundaries was the key, finding that the definition of underground is probably boundless and limitless. All fields, from black metal to dream pop, are these days swarmed by so many talented people and so many committed record labels – that is truly staggering and a joy to behold. For that reason, for the first time ever, we’re choosing our 30 favourite records and not 20 as it happened in the past. It could be forty, fifty, sixty, but for the sake of succinctness we’ll be limiting ourselves to thirty, the ones we listened to the most. Our staff’s votes were cast for LPs, EPs, seven-inches, etc., because good music is good music regardless the format chosen. Not that it matters much really, as we only have one record that is not a full-length effort, anyway.
So, yeah, unleash it:
30.
Undersmile – “Anhedonia”
Black Bow • Review
29.
Lubbert Das – “Deluge” [EP]
Haeresis Noviomagi • Premiere
28.
The Soft Moon – “Deeper”
Captured Tracks • Review
27.
Black Cilice – “Mysteries”
Iron Bonehead
26.
Mgła – “Exercises In Futility”
Northern Heritage | No Solace • Review
25.
Kowloon Walled City – “Grievances”
Gilead | Neurot • Review
24.
Bosse-de-Nage – “All Fours”
Profound Lore • Review
23.
Total Abuse – “Excluded”
Deranged • Review
22.
Anasazi – “Nasty With Rock”
La Vida Es Un Mus | Toxic State
21.
Clean Girls – “Despite You”
Accidental Guest • Review
20.
Blanck Mass – “Dumb Flesh”
Sacred Bones • Review
19.
Vanum – “Realm Of Sacrifice”
Profound Lore • Review
18.
Big ‡ Brave – “Au De La”
Southern Lord
17.
Matana Roberts – “Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee”
Constellation • Review
16.
Tau Cross – “Tau Cross”
Relapse • Review
15.
Vile Creature – “A Steady Descent Into The Soil”
Self-released
14.
The Body & Krieg – “The Body & Krieg”
At A Loss • Review
13.
Destruction Unit – “Negative Feedback Resistor”
Sacred Bones • Review
12.
Barcelona – “Extremo Nihilismo En Barcelona”
La Vida Es Un Mus
11.
Dope Body – “Kunk”
Drag City • Review
10.
Goatsnake – “Black Age Blues”
Southern Lord • Review
9.
Longings – “Longings”
Echo Canyon | Framework • Review
8.
Grave Babies – “Holographic Violence”
Hardly Art • Review
7.
Bell Witch – “Four Phantoms”
Profound Lore • Review
6.
Flesh World – “The Wild Animals In My Life”
Iron Lung • Review
5.
Allen Halloween – “Híbrido”
Sonoterapia • Review
4.
Dødheimsgard – “A Umbra Omega”
Peaceville
3.
Wrekmeister Harmonies – “Night Of Your Ascension”
Thrill Jockey • Review
2.
Prurient – “Frozen Niagara Falls”
Profound Lore • Review
1.
Leviathan – “Scar Sighted”
Profound Lore • Review
Only a quick note for the number one, which is probably our heaviest top pick ever. “Scar Sighted” proves precisely what we meant by «expanding boundaries», finding new limits and encompassing «worship, joy, hatred, paranoia, grief» in just a single framework. Wrest has been doing his thing with Leviathan for fifteen years now, but he is really, really far from done. And so are we.