BravePicks 2019 - GATECREEPER's Deserted #19
December 13, 2019, 5 years ago
As Dark Angel famously said, “Time Does Not Heal”, but it certainly moves fast and here we are again, staring at our annual BravePicks countdown where the devout scribes at BraveWords get to stand up and shout! 2019, yet another banner year for extreme music, whether you call it heavy metal or not. We do, cuz we wear it on our sleeves! So the votes are in and the compiling is complete! It's time to crown the winners and put the noose around the bands that truly let us down.
So who will be our #1? You’ll find out as we count down the BravePick Of 2019 each day in December!
Everybody has an opinion and it’s time for ours! And stay tuned in January for the writers’ individual Top 20s (new studio albums ONLY), Top 5 Brave Embarrassments (a fan favorite!), Top 3 Concerts, What/Who Needs To Stop In 2019? and Metal Predictions For 2020. All will be showcased come the New Year!
So let’s commence the good, bad and ugly of 2019! First up, the Top 30 releases of 2019!
BravePicks 2019
19) GATECREEPER – Deserted (Relapse)
Sometimes the simplest route is the best path. Tucson’s Gatecreeper isn’t rewriting the book on death metal, but instead refining it with hardened riffs and tempos that navigates through surly Floridian decay while also saluting U.K. warriors Bolt Thrower. Steeped in traditional lengths and phrases, Deserted pummels its way to the #19 spot!
In his review, scribe Greg Pratt praised the album writing: “Deserted holds no huge surprises, but tradition-upholding DM rarely does: the opening title track starts things on the battlefield, raising an ale to toast Bolt Thrower while storming the enemy simultaneously, the doom trudge making way for a death stomp, and that stomp continues through ‘Puncture Wounds’ and ‘From The Ashes’, songs that show this band’s skill at navigating old-school Floridian mid-tempo death metal.”
BravePicks 2019 Top 30
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19) GATECREEPER - Deserted (Relapse)
20) GRAND MAGUS - Wolf God (Nuclear Blast)
21) DESTRUCTION - Born To Perish (Nuclear Blast)
22) TEXAS HIPPIE COALITION - High In The Saddle (eOne)
23) EXHUMED - Horror (Relapse)
24) DEATH ANGEL - Humanicide (Nuclear Blast)
25) BEAST IN BLACK - From Hell With Love (Nuclear Blast)
26) D-A-D - A Prayer For The Loud (AFM)
27) IDLE HANDS - Mana (Eisenwald)
28) HELL FIRE - Mania (Riding Easy)
29) SOILWORK - Verkligheten (Nuclear Blast)
30) MEMORIAM – Requiem For Mankind (Nuclear Blast)
