2014 was a weird year in music (and games, and movies, and TV. . .) for me. I barely liked anything at all that was released after June, and I actually spent the majority of the year listening to older stuff. Albums that the rest of the world fell in love with, from the likes of FKA Twigs, St. Vincent, Swans, Spoon, etc did nothing for me. And looking back there’s an abundance of metal on my playlists, a genre I’m not really even THAT into. I don’t feel like putting together a huge list because honestly I’m just not that enthusiastic about enough of the stuff that I heard this year, but that makes it fairly easy to cut a short list of the things I am actually into.

These are roughly ordered with my favorites at the top.

EMA – The Future’s Void
I figured this would end up as my favorite album of the year way back when I first heard it and there’s been nothing since to dislodge it from that spot.

Behemoth – The Satanist
I put off listening to this record for a while because the immense theatrics in so much metal music wears really thin with me, and there’s pretty much no more straightforward way to invoke that than naming your album fucking The Satanist, but this is by far the strongest, catchiest, and most approachable metal album I’ve heard this year.

Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels 2
Killer Mike is great, El-P is not bad. Together they continue to totally own the whole rap game.

Protomartyr – Under Color of Official Right
It took me a long time to get around to this record because I wasn’t digging the one song that everyone shares from it, but it turns out that said song (Scum, Rise!) is pretty much the only song on the whole album I dislike. Best rock record of the year. Even though it’s post-punk.

Timber Timbre – Hot Dreams
Timber Timbre makes creepy pop music that sounds like it crawled out of a David Lynch film and this is their best go at it yet.

The Soft Pink Truth – Why Do the Heathen Rage?
Perfume Genius’s Too Bright may be the designated “queer” indie album of the year, but Why Do the Heathen Rage? brings me so much more enjoyment on that front.

Indian – From All Purity
Perfect noise metal record.

Open Mike Eagle – Dark Comedy
Not the best music that this artist has ever put out, but by far his strongest and most cohesive album effort.

Ty Segall – $INGLE$ 2
Manipulator seems to be getting a lot of buzz, but honestly it’s probably one of if not the least engaging thing that Segall has ever put out, for me. However he quietly released this singles collection last month and it’s fantastic from start to finish.

Thou – Heathen
I only started listening to this album this afternoon but I spent hours poring over this spot because nothing else seemed to fit for a top 10 list, so here it is. Doom metal. Good stuff.

Also a special mention for Viet Cong. They’re comprised of members of a fantastic band called Women, who broke up a few years ago after the tragic death of the lead singer. Viet Cong seems to pick up sonically where they left off. Their debut album doesn’t come out until next month, but lead single Continental Shelf is probably my favorite song of 2014.

Viet Cong – Continental Shelf