By , , , , , , , , , and Features, Staff Picks January 1, 2015

BEST OF 2014 – our contributors’ top Canadian picks (individual lists)

Hellbound's Best of 2014 - Canadian Top 10

Here are our contributors’ individual picks for best Canadian metal albums of 2014. Happy new year from Hellbound.ca!

 

Justin Allec

  1. Beyond Creation – Earthborn Evolution (Season of Mist)
  2. Nuclearhammer – Serpentine Hermetic Lucifer (Nuclear War Now!)
  3. Menace Ruine – Venus Armata (Profound Lore)
  4. Viathyn – Cynosure (indie)
  5. Culted – Oblique to all Paths (Relapse)

 

Adrien Begrand

  1. Skull Fist
  2. Baptists
  3. Thantifaxath
  4. Striker
  5. Castle
  6. Menace Ruine
  7. Shooting Guns
  8. Gatekrashör
  9. Viathyn
  10. Device

 

Matthew Elliot

  1. Thantifaxath – Sacred White Noise (Dark Descent)
  2. Hollow – Mordrake (indie)
  3. Auroch – Taman Shud (Profound Lore)
  4. Phobocosm – Deprived (Dark Descent)
  5. Alaskan – Despair, Erosion, Loss (Moment Of Collapse)
  6. Dire Omen – Wrestling With The Revelation of Futility (Dark Descent)
  7. Rage Nucleaire – Black Storm of Violence (Season of Mist)
  8. Unsacred Seed – Frontiers (indie)
  9. Olde – I (Hypaethral)
  10. Crimson Shadows – Kings Among Men (Napalm)

 

Danielle Griscti

  1. Neige et Noirceur – Gouffre Onirique et Abîmes Cosmiques (Sepulchral Productions)
  2. Völur – Disir (indie)
  3. Sorcier des Glaces – Ritual of the End (Obscure Abhorrence Productions)
  4. Thantifaxath – Sacred White Noise (Dark Descent Records)
  5. Twilight Hammer – Wrathfire (indie)
  6. Menace Ruine – Venus Armata (Profound Lore)
  7. Godstopper – Children are our Future (indie)
  8. Hellacaust – What is Not (indie)
  9. Sortilegia – Arcane Death Ritual (Ván Records)
  10. IRN – Sewer Disease (indie)

 

Matt Hinch

  1. Culted – Oblique to All Paths (Relapse)
  2. Auroch – Taman Shud (Profound Lore)
  3. Archspire – The Lucid Collective (Season of Mist)
  4. Astrakhan – A Tapestry of Scabs and Skin (War on Music)
  5. Olde – I (Hypaethral)
  6. Harangue – By the Strength of the Mighty Atlas (self)
  7. Northumbria – Bring Down the Sky (Consouling Sounds)
  8. Morgue of Saints – Monolith (self)
  9. Begrime Exemious – Primeval Satellite (Dark Descent)
  10. Thantifaxath – Sacred White Noise (Dark Descent)

 

Gabe Hugh

  1. Culted – Oblique to all Paths
  2. Beyond Creation – Earthbound Evolution
  3. Thantifaxath – Sacred White Noise
  4. Northumbria – Bring Down the Sky
  5. Morgue of Saints – Monolith
  6. The Great Sabbatini – Dog Years
  7. Shooting Guns – Wolfcop soundtrack
  8. Menace Ruine – Venus Armata
  9. Archspire – The Lucid Collective
  10. Varga – Return of the Metal

 

Rob Hughes

  1. Archspire – The Lucid Collective (Season of Mist)
  2. Wiser Fool – All That Is Left Behind (self-released)
  3. Astrakhan – A Tapestry of Scabs and Scars (War on Music)
  4. WTCHDR – Triumph and Despair (self-released)
  5. Musk Ox – Woodfall (self-released)
  6. Device – s/t (self-released)

 

Sean Palmerston

  1. Rammer – Siege of Madness 12″ (Schizophrenic Records)
  2. Archspire – The Lucid Collective (Season of Mist)
  3. Thantifaxath – Sacred White Noise (Dark Descent)
  4. Varga – Return Of The Metal (self-released)
  5. Astrakhan – A Tapestry of Scabs and Skin (War On Music)
  6. Crimson Shadows – Kings Among Men (Napalm)
  7. Device – Device (self-released)
  8. Rage Nucleaire – Black Storm of Violence (Season of Mist)
  9. Striker – City of Gold (Napalm)
  10. Baptists – Bloodlines (Southern Lord)

 

Jonathan Smith

  1. Musk Ox – Woodfall (Independent)
  2. Casualities of Cool – s/t (HevyDevy Records)
  3. Primalfrost – Prosperous Visions (Maple Metal Records)
  4. Before the Black Gates – An Ancient Evil Rises (Independent)
  5. Fuck The Facts – Abandoned EP (Independent)

 

Laura Wiebe

  1. Devin Townsend Project – Z2 (HevyDevy)
  2. Skull Fist – Chasing the Dream (Noiseart)
  3. Castle – Under Siege (Prosthetic)
  4. Drofnosura – I (indie)
  5. Greber – Kiln Hardened Psalms (Handshake, Inc.)
  6. Shooting Guns – Wolfcop soundtrack (RidingEasy)
  7. Himiko – Victims of Greed (D-Trash)
  8. Rage Nucleaire – Black Storm of Violence (Season of Mist)
  9. Kosmograd – Orbiter (indie)
  10. Olde – I (Hypaethral)

 

Adam Wills

  1. Devin Townsend – Z² (HevyDevy)
  2. Castle – Under Siege (Prosthetic)
  3. Thantifaxath – Sacred White Noise (Dark Descent)
  4. Skull Fist – Chasing the Dream (Noiseart)
  5. Shooting Guns – Wolfcop Soundtrack (RidingEasy)

 

For the Top 10 produced by our collective votes: hellbound.ca/2015/01/hellbounds-best-of-2014-our-canadian-metal-top-10.

Justin blames Blackwater Park for getting him into this mess.

Matthew Elliot is a political and music writer, editor, and social media hooligan from London, ON. A lifelong, obsessive metal fanatic, he tries not to take the third person too seriously. Tries. Send promo blasts to: [email protected].

Contributor of photos and plenty of rambling - also on Instagram & Youtube @riffsdontlie

Keep up with all Matt's exploits on Twitter @Kingdomofnoise!

Sean is the founder/publisher of Hellbound.ca; he has also written about metal for Exclaim!, Metal Maniacs, Roadburn, Unrestrained! and Vice.

Laura is associate editor of Hellbound.ca and co-host of weekly metal show Kill Eat Exploit the Weak on CFMU 93.3 FM. She loves doom, prog, cats and basketball, believes in equity and social justice and is not cool with any form of discrimination, marginalization, harassment or oppression.

Adam has been a photographer for Hellbound since day 1 and also has a hand in the technical aspects of running the site.

Read more about...