Like every beginning of the year when it was the top Desert-Rock albums, the fight was fierce, and the limits of democracy were quickly reached to bring in all the good records listened to this year. Obviously, we didn’t get there, we had to stop ranking in the top 15, while our initial list included … more than 60!
This ranking is the synthesis of all the opinions of the team, reflecting the variety of genres that you are used to finding with us (click on each to read the column that we had published in the year):
-1) MONKEY 3 – “Sphere”
Veterans of the European stoner scene, the Swiss of Monkey 3 released, in 2019, a masterpiece in the instrumental category drawing towards psychedelia. The eighth production of the active quartet since 2001, “Sphere” is remarkable as much as noticed by both the critics and the public, offering exactly what is needed in aerial shots and precisely the burnt side that makes our necks move in concert . Taking distance from its previous delivery, Monkey 3 also made us vibrate this year during their live performances.
-2) MONOLORD – “No Comfort”
With “No Comfort”, Monolord reached a milestone. This fourth installment, more technical and adventurous than the previous ones, is successful from start to finish. Thomas, Mikka and Esben offer us a doom masterpiece that will have marked this prolific year in great albums.
-3) GOATESS – “Blood & Wine”
With a career closer to neurasthenia than stage and record frenzy, each Swedish album by Goatess is eagerly awaited by an audience of connoisseurs. The departure of its legendary singer Chritus Lindersson (Lord Vicar, Count Raven, St Vitus,…) will have worried us, but Karl Buhre, their new vocalist, brings a refreshing intensity and richness. “Blood & Wine” turns out to be a high-profile, well-written and superbly performed contemporary stoner-doom album.
-4) MARS RED SKY – “The Task Eternal”
No wonder the trio of Bordeaux appear in our annual top: Mars Red Sky once again masters its subject and further strengthens its identity and its place as a leading group on the scene. Even if this album seems to us below its elders, it remains a safe bet. Integrating perfectly live, “The Task Eternal” should not be ashamed of its quality in the discography of a group always so impressive of mastery.
-5) STONE FROM THE SKY – “Break a Leg”
With well-assimilated bases, Stone From The Sky delivered a rich second album. A thin and inventive plate that has won over with its sensitivity. Despite some disorders, the album Break A Leg confirms that we must now count on this trio to extend the road of psychedelic heavy.
-6) SOLACE – “The Brink”
After 10 years of absolute silence, Solace returns to the front of the stage with “The Brink”. The Jersey natives, with a revamped line-up, have lost none of their epic dirt metal epic verve and play it “boss size” with an album that will delight old and young alike.
-7) THE DEVIL AND THE ALMIGHTY BLUES – “Tre”
A great year for the quintet from the cold, their album “Tre” and the stage performances that followed it put it in a state of grace. “Tre” is the album that demonstrates the need for it, that the Stoner has deep, bluesy roots that span the globe. The simplicity and rusticity of one genre in the service of another in short.
-8) THE LUMBERJACK FEEDBACK – “Mere Mortals”
Without hurry The Lumberjack Feedback has pulled a monster out of the box. Massive and heavy, dark and bewitching, “Mere Mortals” extends the know-how of Lille residents with split barrels. A tucked-in and heavy album that acts on the cortex like the evil of an era in which it is still good to live.
-9) YEAR OF THE COBRA – “Ash & Dust”
They are only two (sir on drums, madame on bass and vocals) but what mastery! “Ash & Dust” demonstrates all of Year of the Goat’s know-how in the field of psychedelic doom. Intense, addictive and damn horny!
-10) NIGHTSTALKER – “Great Hallucinations”
The Papis are resisting. It is almost surprising to find the Greeks of Nighstalker in the top of the drafting which is not unanimous on the subject. But sometimes you have to be humble and bow to artists whose careers continue with logic. “Great Hallucinations” is of this barrel, registering the quartet in a melancholy but always lively continuity.
-11) THE GRAND MAL – “The Grand Mal”
Half of the nervous Englishmen of Desert Storm have teamed up with half of Mother Corona, friends from Bristol, to set up this unpretentious project … which will have taken quite a few people by surprise! Offering a dozen or so of a classic stoner who smells of hot sand and inspired riffs, the English place their cake in the category of the most inspired stoner albums in … a bunch of years!
-12) LIGHTNING BORN – “Lightning Born”
We didn’t really imagine the new project by Mike Dean, the bass player of Corrosion of Conformity … but we weren’t going to be disappointed! Dean humbly finds his place in the line-up of this American group, offering a very inspired old school proto-rock – something ultimately quite rare in this musical genre. Their first album offers 11 inspired and varied tracks, carried by the powerful song of their singer Brenna Leath, which helps to distinguish Lightning Born from other groups of the genre.
-13) NEBULA – “Holy Shit”
Reformed in 2017 for the greatest pleasure of the stoner sphere, Nebula is unsurprisingly placed in this ranking thanks to “Holy Shit”, the album of their resurrection, issued like its elders from an edgy, nuanced mold numerous psyche solos and make-up with a well-kept make-up. A comeback for Californians who also know how to offer something surprising and refreshing. Anything that goes to a proper dusting of ears.
-14) VALLEY OF THE SUN – “Old Gods”
One plaque further, Valley Of The Sun sits its know-how and spreads it around the world. However, “Old Gods” is not a pure repetition, it is the album which aims to be a hinge between youth and maturity. And yes, the guys are getting older and playing it slower but also denser. However, be careful, there are a few slaps on this album thus fully justifying its place here.
-15) LO-PAN – “Subtle”
Fifth album in less than fifteen years of career for the group of Columbus, Ohio, “Subtle” shows the American quartet at the top of its form and its inspiration. Carried by the emblematic song of Jeff Martin and the nervous riffs of the new guitarist Chris Thompson, the disc offers a handful of remarkable compos, which constituted the main part of the set lists of the group on their European tour this year – tour which will have finished convince a bunch of people.
We stopped the counter for the first 15, but superb albums were just behind: The Elephant, Saint Karloff, Sunn O))), Gaupa, Esoteric, Duel, Kadavar, Luna Sol, Elder, etc … Even if 2019 did not bring as many “big pieces” as 2018 (Sleep, Fu Manchu, Clutch, High on Fire, Yob, etc …) it allowed a lot of groups to stand out and take a little room in the sun! A year rich in discoveries, surprises and revelations…
If 2020 offers at least as many good records, we should be pretty good…
Source desert-rock.com
Translated from French