Hails!

We heard a lot of great riffs this year and we were overwhelmed. This is our first "Best of" list since we've started our show and there was a lot of conversations going on all year long about the best albums of 2014. We had a hard time coming up with a solid list so please trust us when we say YOU MUST HEAR THESE ALBUMS because we fucking mean it! Thank you to all of riff worshippers out there. Cool things will be happening with CULT OF RIFFS in 2015 so keep worshipping the riff with us and check out these records if you haven't already heard them!

These are the top 10 we picked for the year:

10. Gas Chamber // Hemorrhaging Light
Iron Lung Records

This album has restored my faith in hardcore. Don't get me wrong, I love hardcore and I always will but sometimes you feel like you've hit a brick wall with punk records that have actually blown you away. Angry, fast, chaotic, dark and sometimes scary. That's how I like my hardcore. These guys from Buffalo, NY hit the nail in the head for me. The high jazz bass to the power electronics that occur between breaks and tracks, this is 2014's perfect hardcore record. Very melodic and math rock sounding at times. Snag a copy before they are sold out, if they aren't already. Favorite track: Time Lapse.

9. V/A // Tliltic Tlapoyauak
The Ajna Offensive Records

Not really an album but a great black metal release, regardless. US black metal has always been a difficult thing to transcend the "true black metal" scene. In recent years, special thanks to documentaries like Until the Light Takes Us and Vice printing entire books dedicated the Norwegian black metal scene, black metal has caught the attention of musicians outside of heavy metal. Thus, being a main influence on indie rockers and punkers nationwide. Because of this, OG black metal heads are skeptical of USBM. This comp of a southern California black metal crew and their bands proves that USBM is alive and well. The Black Twilight Circle from Long Beach has been churning out new projects over the past 6 years and slowly regaining the trust of non-believers. Volahn, Arizmenda, Dolorvotre, Blue Hummingbird on the Left and The Haunting Presence to name a few. Most of their releases have come out on their label, Crepúsculo Negro, and mostly released on cassette and vinyl. The freaks at Ajna Offensive picked up this release and put out a nice vinyl box set and a CD. If you are curious about what GREAT black metal is coming from the US at the moment, check out this comp. It's a great introduction to all the different projects to come out of the Black Twilight Circle. FFO: Native Americans and pre-1860 California. Favorite track: Blue Hummingbird on the Left - Storm.

8. High Spirits // You Are Here
Hells Headbangers Records

Chicago's rockers High Spirits are pretty much the only good band keeping cheese metal alive without people rolling their eyes. This record brings me back to the reason I love metal so much in the first place. All riffs, all hooks and all catchy. Dunno if the term "pop metal" is acceptable but that is something I feel like people would call it nowadays even though it sounds extremely false. Chris Black is the mastermind behind this band and many Chicago heavy metal acts (Dawnbringer, Aktor, Metalusafer, Superchrist) in the past decade. He cannot do wrong imo. Not groundbreaking per se but he is definitely keeping the classic NWOBHM sound alive with a tinge of Hollywood in there (think Def Leppard). Favorite track: The Last Night.

7. Midnight // No Mercy for Mayhem
Hells Headbangers Records

They're back to rock your balls off and feed them to Satan. Cleveland, Ohio's MIDNIGHT made a great comeback this year with more Venom and Motörhead riffs soaked in black blood than you can handle. I enjoyed this album because I really dug the predecessor, Satanic Royalty, and I thought that any band attempting this style of metal was mediocre compared. I thought it would be hard for them to top SR but they managed to do it. This album has a lot more mid-tempo rockers that will keep you fist pumping till you punch someone. It's a great soundtrack for a motorcycle road trip or a night out drinking whiskey with your sketchy friends. It's straight ahead alcohol-fueled blackened party metal which is why I love it. No fancy stuff here. Just get drunk and bang your head into the wall. Favorite track: Prowling Leather.

6. Pallbearer // Foundations of Burden
Profound Lore Records

This album ended up on a lot of lists as the #1 metal album of the year. Impressive because they've been churning out track after track bringing true doom into the mainstream, probably by accident, since their debut Sorrow and Extinction. As much as I didn't really want to put this album on my list because everyone has already kind of covered this territory, I couldn't help but succumb. Doom metal is a genre that has been saturated and repeated without much originality, especially in the US. It's rare that there's a completely original approach to a genre that all started with BLACK SABBATH. Yes, I love Sabbath but I don't need to hear Tony Iommi worship bands over and over. If you can make it unique though, you might catch the attention of the higher ups in the metal scene. Doom is easy to like, especially if it has melodic pop hooks. PALLBEARER has managed to sneak their way into the mainstream without losing their metal cred. Riffs after riffs, this album does not disappoint. The leads on this album give us the chills and the vocals hit some notes I haven't heard on a metal record in a long time. Long enough to clear out the posers and catchy enough for the normie dorks who smoke pot. We can't stop jamming it and I love how we can talk to our Pitchfork worshipping friends about it. Favorite track: Watcher in the Dark.

5. Swallowed // Lunerterial

Dark Descent Records

We can't begin to comprehend what is going on this album but it engulfs us and we are sucked into the pure hell. This is a severely torturous album (in the best way possible). These Finnish creeps managed to make us feel extremely uncomfortable and obsessed all at once. The atmosphere is perfect. Brooding double bass, long drawn out murky riffs, the sudden change in tempo, the evil vampire vocals that you've maybe heard once in a nightmare. It all sounds so punishing, you're wondering why you enjoy it so much. Just like a weird fetish. The dive bombs make you feel like you're actually falling into a pit of hell. Truly a chaotic band for the true freaks out there. Favorite track: Black Aura.

4. Horrendous // Ecdysis
Dark Descent Records

There has been an old school death metal revival as of lately and there's been all types of cool approaches to the true gods of the late 80's/early 90's sound. Norwegian freaks OBLITERATION caught our attention last year and we couldn't believe our ears. We have been listening for a record to top that. Philly's HORRENDOUS has managed to spew out the most original old school death metal revival album we've ever heard. The tortured vocals, the solos, the weird electronic drones, the leads, everything about this album is gold. Truly a masterpiece of our time. Once again, American metal is alive and well, and it's not a doom record. The acoustic track smack dab in the middle of the album also proves that these dudes aren't afraid to take some risks that made the old days so classic and awesome. If they were around in the early days, they would be right up there with BOLT THROWER, DEATH and AUTOPSY. Favorite track: Resonator.

3. Dead Congregation // Promulgation of the Fall
Martyrdoom Records

You like REAL death metal? Well, these Greek gods managed to keep the classic modern day death metal sound alive while making it pretty unique. Straight forward but seriously angry and dark. We kept this one on repeat for a while. It's seriously like a pop album to us even though it might be hard for a normal person to see what we are talking about. The drummer has incredible speed and blasts you can't help but laugh because it's like he's showing off. Also reminds us that you can still use pitch harmonics without being incredibly cheesy. It all sounds sincere though. Just good ol' classic death metal that completely satisfies. No frills, no fancy shit. Just pure death. Favorite track: Schisma

2. Diocletian // Gesundrian
Osmose Productions

Good god. Holy shit. Where did this shit come from? This record was hard for me to put a number on but it might as well be number #1. New Zealanders mean war and this album proves it. It is an attack on your senses. The most evil riffs I heard this year. So hateful that you love it. I wouldn't strictly call it black metal or death metal but a perfect combo of both creating something entirely new. I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of DIOCLETIAN worship bands started popping up soon. This album chews you up and spits you out with no remorse. The first track, Cleaved Asunder, prepares you for a barrage of violence you're about to witness. Violence in music form. After a doomy intro track, the album spirals out of control into a wall of pure hate and war and doesn't let up. The 2nd track, Wretched Sons, might change you as a person. It sounds like bullets being shot at your skull and continues throughout without being redundant. The drummer keeps up the speed while the guitars riff so heavy that it might put your war vet dad into shell shock. If you've never seen a pile of dead bodies, this album will make you feel like you have. Favorite track: Beast Atop the Trapezoid.

1. Teitanblood // Death
The Ajna Offensive Records

Simply titled "Death" sounds silly but after this 68 minute mind fuck, you'll understand and obey. These Spanish crazy fucks, who seem like they're from another planet, managed to somehow make a blackened death, bad psychedelic trip nightmare into an album. These dudes proved their worthiness with past releases like "Seven Chalices" and "Purging Tongues" but they didn't really make sense as a band until this masterpiece came out. The opening track "Anteinfereno" proves that right away. TEITANBLOOD are back with this poser destroyer of a slab. Better production and better songwriting overall, this shit will scare everyone you know away. You'll find yourself sucked in to try to decipher what is going on and before you know it, it's over and you wonder how you just sat through an hour of pure evil. Echos of hell and demons in between tracks makes you feel the atmosphere of this album. Layers and layers of guitars so chaotic, you will question who you are. This is the soundtrack of your DEATH and this is what it's like to die. There is no heaven, there is no hell, only DEATH is real. Essential top-tier blackened death. ETERNAL HAILS to the TRUE torch holders of all albums of 2014. Favorite track: Sleeping Throats of the Antichrist.