The Best Metal Albums of 2014, As Chosen by Metal Musicians Themselves — Part VIII

Every year, MetalSucks asks musicians from across the vast spectrum of the metalsphere (or, in a few cases, the almost-metalsphere) what their favorite albums of the year have been. Death metallers, thrash metallers, black metallers, stoners, grinders, and djenters alike graciously contributed lists to MS, and we’ll be running them in small groups throughout the week.

Below, check out the final batch… we hope you enjoy seeing what some of metal’s heaviest hitters were into this year as much as we have!

Steffen Kummerer, Obscura/Thulcandra

1. Mastodon – Once More ‘Round the Sun
2. Beyond Creation – Earthborn Evolution
3. Entombed – Back to the Front
4. Cynic – Kindly Bent to Free Us
5. Triptykon – Melana Chasmata
6. The Intersphere – Relations to the Unseen
7. Bloodbath – Grand Morbid Funeral
8. Solstafir – Otta
9. Noneuclid – Metatheosis
10. At The Gates- At War with Reality

Dallas Thomas, Pelican/The Swan King 

1. Godflesh – A World Only Lit By Fire
2. Midnight – No Mercy for Mayhem
3. Wovenhand – Refractory Obdurate
4. Sharon Van Etten – Are We There?
5. Lecherous Gaze – Zeta Reticuli Blues
6. Swans – To Be Kind?
7. Scott Walker/Sunn O))) – Soused
8. Goat – Commune
9. Tombs – Savage Gold
10. Mutoid Man – Helium Head

Hiran Deraniyagala, Battlecross

1. Mastodon – Once More ‘Round the Sun
2. Goatwhore – Constricting Rage of the Merciless
3. Revocation – Deathless
4. Origin – Omnipresent
5. Crimson Shadows – Kings Among Men
6. Crowbar – Symmetry in Black
7. Eyehategod – S/T
8. Syphilic – Toylets R’ Us
9. Voyag3r – Doom Fortress
10. Job for a Cowboy – Sun Eater

Alex Hofmann, Fallujah 

1. Tomas Barfod – Love Me
2. SBTRKT – Wonder Where We Land
3. FKA Twigs – Two Weeks 
4. Submotion Orchestra – Alium
5. Devin Townsend Project – Skyblue
6. Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence
7. Whirr – Sway
8. Flight Facilities – Down to Earth
9. Jon Porras – Light Divide
10. Expire – Pretty Low

Adam Cody, Wretched/Columns

1. Soreption – Engineering the Void
2. Septic Flesh – Titan
3. Aesop Rock & Rob Sonic – Hail Mary Mallon
4. Misery Index – The Killing Gods
5. Trap Them – Blissfucker
6. EL-P & Killer Mike – Run the Jewels 2
7. Allegaeon – Elements of the Infinite 
8. Crowbar – Symmetry in Black
9. Cannibal Corpse – A Skeletal Domain
10. Eminem – Marshall Mathers LP 2 

Don Jamieson, That Metal Show

1. Death Angel – The Dream Calls for Blood
2. Prong – Ruining Lives
3. Overkill – White Devil Armory
4. Triptykon – Melana Chasmata
5. Kyng – Burn the Serum
6. Nashville Pussy – Up the Dosage
7. John 5 – Careful with that Axe
8. California Breed – S/T
9. Monte Pittman – Power of Three
10. Mount Salem – Endless

Paul Allender, White Empress

1. White Empress – Rise of the Empress
2. Triptykon – Melana Chasmata
3. SepticFlesh – Titan
4. Judas Priest – Redeemer of Souls
5. King Diamond – Dreams of Horror
6. Darkthrone – Black Death and Beyond
7. At the Gates – At War with Reality
8. Anathema – Distant Satellites
9. Obituary – Inked in Blood
10. Khold – Til Endes

Axel Rudi Pell

1. Deep Purple – Made in Japan (2014 Remaster) (Limited Super Deluxe Edition)
2. Pink Floyd – The Endless River
3. Deep Purple – Graz 1975
4. Rainbow – The Singles Box Set 1975-1986
5. Various – Celebrating Jon Lord
6. Led Zeppelin – IV (Deluxe Edition)
7. Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy (Deluxe Edition)
8. Allen/Lande – The Great Divide
9. California Breed – S/T
10. Sixx A.M. – Modern Vintage

Erik Olson, Lord Dying

1. Orange Goblin – Back from the Abyss
2. Inter Arma – The Cavern
3. Bolzer – Soma
4. Mantar – Death by Burning
5. Tombs – Savage Gold
6. YOB – Clearing the Path to Ascend
7. Crowbar – Symmetry in Black
8. Eyehategod -S/T
9. Lazer/Wulf – The Beast of Left and Right
10. Cannibal Corpse – A Skeletal Domain