Ten Things I Listened To In 2020
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10. Black Sabbath Volume 4
I revisited the entire Ozzy-era of Sabbath for a marathon podcast episode this past Spring, diving into an 8-disc box set that I needed to wipe the dust off. As I was conducting my intense auditory research, I realized my opinion on several of these classic Sabbath albums were the inverse of my initial impression. I even thumbed my nose in jest to a coworker who was wearing a Sabbath Volume 4 shirt at work, thinking, "cool shirt but wrong album." I am here once again to state my ignorance. Volume 4 is as classic of a Sabbath as they come. You get not only the blistering, skull-rattling "Supernaut", the heaviness of the Led Zeppelin-like "Wheels Of Confusion", the softer sounds of "Changes" and "Laguna Sunrise" that show the band spreading their wings, but it ends with the doom metal sludginess of "Under The Sun." This another building block for the generations of metal bands to follow.
9. Dio Reissues
I can't go this year without mentioning the amazing Dio reissues from last winter. The expanded releases on CD included bonus live tracks, and both vinyl and CD featured new artwork. I had mostly overlooked Dio's latter solo offerings, since the line-up seemed to be a revolving door and the quality seemed uneven compared to the 80's material. I feel like Magica is a hidden gem and Angry Machines is appropriately titled as it's just as much of a beast as the album it followed, Strange Highways.
I also must mention my friend Griffin, who picked up Killing the Dragon for me, just in time before Central Illinois shutdown. These albums, as well as his friendship, helped get me through the spring months and also inspired a couple of paintings I did.
8. Haunt
Speaking of generations of aspiring metal bands, this band is straight up Sabbath and NWOBHM for the 21st century. I was introduced to this band by my heavy metal brethren Griffin, who goes deeper into heavy metal territory than I do. I feel like I straddle the line between pure metal and pop music, so sometimes recommendations don't always get me hyped up, but this more than did. For being a relatively young band, Haunt has a treasure chest full of albums, even releasing two albums in 2020- Mind Freeze and Flashback.
7. Audrey Horne Pure Heavy and Blackout
I came across this band while listening to an episode of A-Sides that Brent recorded featuring the vocalist for ThunderMother. She mentioned a few band she recently toured with, Audrey Horne being one that stood out the most. These guys are from Norway, usually a region for black metal bands, but these guys are surprisingly more in the style of Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple, and others from the 1970's. Their two most recent albums really hit the spot and I spent most of a lengthy road trip to Indiana and back listening to these guys on repeat.
6. Type O Negative
In the past, I often would gravitate towards one Type O Negative album only, one smack in the middle of their discography called October Rust. It seemed to have a beautiful yet haunting sound to it, much like the music of The Cure, which I feel like I got into both of these bands are the same time (thanks to an old high school pal.) I dove into Type O Negative shortly after my deep dive into Sabbath, as I'd remembered Tony Iommi once recorded a song with the TON front man, Peter Steele.... which also boomeranged me back to Sabbath since they covered their classic song, "Black Sabbath." Its like a heavy metal deja vu moment or something.
I really took a liking to Bloody Kisses more than ever this time around. In the past it seems like the song structures were too long and I wanted something more concise. Although this album was the precursor to the softer sounds of October Rust, this album might hold my interest more now, because of the variety in song-writing. You get those softer, melodic moments in "Can't Lose You" and their cover of "Summer Breeze"; psychedelic flourishes "Set Me On Fire"; and the twisted metal moments of "Kill All The White People" and "We Hate Everyone".
However, standing out most of all, is 1999's World Coming Down. That album should be held in high esteem as a heavy metal classic. "Everyone I Love Is Dead" and "Everything Dies" show the band with one foot in their past with dirgy, depressed songs but "Pyretta Blaze" puts one foot foward. I overlooked that song when crafting my Top 10 of TON back in the spring but this is not one to snooze on. It features a monster riff throughout but also comes off as very Beatles-esque. Its like a heavy metal yin-yang of light and dark. The Beatles Medley is a great capper to the album as well.
5. Diemonds Never Wanna Die
I am a big fan of Danko Jones yet have only recently began listening to his podcast during the Spring of this year. He had a guest on by the name of Daniel Dekay, and the two debated the merits of the KISS song "I Still Love You." It initially appeared funny to me that they could get that much milage out of a single song, but they had such great back-and-forth, that I listened to their previous debates of Destroyer and Love Gun.
I had to find out who this Daniel guy was and discovered he is in a host of bands on his own, plus even has hosting duties for Banger TV, the folks behind many documentaries, including those on Alice Cooper and Rush. I dove into his band Diemonds and was later searching high and low for any copies I could get my hands on. Maybe its for the best that I settled for the digital copies, since I'd have likely worn out all their records on my turntable.
4. The Great Affairs Everybody Moves, Nobody Gets Hurt
Call me a "fan boy", but I feel more like an advocate. I will never stop shouting to anyone I know that these guys are awesome, and I literally do shout it; I'm like the Ricola Man on the mountain. I got an early sneak preview of a track that would be featured on this album and I was floored. Kenny Wright's "Worn Out Souls" crushed everything else in it's path in 2020.
The rest of the album isn't too shabby either.
3. Ozzy Osbourne
Another entry of back catalog classics features the Prince of Darkness once again, however this is spotlighting only his solo material. With Ozzy releasing a new studio album at the start of the year, I found myself diving into his albums that had come before, thanks again to podcasting.
Not only was Ordinary Man a very solid solo effort from Ozzy that seemed to be in constant rotation on my phone and turntable, I also wasn't going more than a few days without listening to Bark at the Moon and No Rest For The Wicked. Bark at the Moon originally appeared to be when Ozzy discovered a synthesizer but I shouldn't have let that turn me away from the album- "Rock N Roll Rebel" is one of his most scorching rock songs and "So Tired" is so cheesy but is also so addicting.
2. Metallica
Without even releasing an album of new music, as most artists did in 2020, this seems like the year was definitely owned by Metallica. They saved my self-isolation period in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, by offering weekly concerts from the vault, titled #MetallicaMondays. I believe this lasted for 24 weeks straight and touched on every era of the band, from handheld club footage in their thrash days to a massive stadium show in Mexico on the HardWired tour cycle. One highlight that comes to mind was a show on the 2000 Summer Sanitarium tour which was also held on James' birthday.
They mounted a comeback of sorts as well, and maybe had a lot to prove after James' stint in rehab in the latter half of 2019, by offering a drive-in concert nationwide and also a charity-auction live stream that saw the band perform both acoustically and plugged in. Along with the online concerts, both live and from the vault, they also released their epic S&M 2 album and a stripped down version of "Blackened." 2020 was definitely a great year to be a Metallica fan.
1. Halsey Manic
I feel like although songs featuring Halsey may have been on my radar, the artist herself was not. I believe I'd heard "Bad At Love" and her song with the Chainsmokers but was unsure of the vocalist. I came across her on an episode of SNL in mid-2019 when she performed "Without Me" in a stripped down setting, with only her vocals and minimal accompaniment. I was floored. I needed to get this upcoming album.
Her album Manic ended up being my most-played, according to Apple Music, with 3 of her songs making my top 10 most-played songs as well. The album itself seems to feature a wide (or maybe manic) shift in styles, from pop to country to rock. It definitely has something for everyone.
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