Regarding the lack of big name bands on the list: the established acts that you pointed out last year are all critic favorites, whereas the ones that didn't make the cut this year are all popular with the average metal fan but are generally less beloved by the critical community. In particular non-metal centric sites never cover bands like Behemoth, Dark Funeral et al, but love to talk about Converge and Mastodon.
Thanks for the writeup! I'll have to check out Chat Pile- been hearing about them a lot lately (hence their appearance on this list) and although sludge isn't always my thing I'm definitely intrigued. Interesting cover art too.
Regarding the lack of big name bands on the list: the established acts that you pointed out last year are all critic favorites, whereas the ones that didn't make the cut this year are all popular with the average metal fan but are generally less beloved by the critical community. In particular non-metal centric sites never cover bands like Behemoth, Dark Funeral et al, but love to talk about Converge and Mastodon.
Thanks for the writeup! I'll have to check out Chat Pile- been hearing about them a lot lately (hence their appearance on this list) and although sludge isn't always my thing I'm definitely intrigued. Interesting cover art too.
Awesome, Peter!