Holy hell do we have to nip this thing in the bud before we even start! The idea was to have 19 solid releases that are in various states of development to fill out our list of most anticipated for 2019 (Get it? 19 in ’19) but then we kept thinking about ALL THE REST that are due (supposedly) so we had to add a precursor to said list which, well, got kind of insane. So for your reading pleasure is this stream of consciousness thing we concocted before the actual list which follows directly after. We even put artists in bold so you can skip around the wordsplosion that’s about to happen. Thanks in advance for reading!
John Garcia And The Band Of Gold didn’t make the cut because, frankly, we just published our review (It’s right here!) of the ex-Kyuss vocalists new solo album so you can make your own judgement based on that OR wait four days into 2019 and judge for yourself. Then there’s Cold who are down to one original member I believe since drummer Sam McCandless departed recently. There was a hubbub for this when they announce their signing to Napalm Records in late 2017 but said album never materialized. Maybe 2019 will be the new year of the spider? Combichrist also teased new material in the form of “Broken: United” (Which actually dropped in 2017) but nothing came of that either. Except for a killer tour in 2018. That said, Combichrist has been making consistent bangers so we have no doubt that whatever they eventually release in the coming new year will slay. Speaking of Combichrist, drummer Joe Letz will be DJing Rammstein’s NYE show which also features 3TEETH who will have an new electro-beast ready in the new year. Korn has new music coming following killer albums like The Paradigm Shift and The Serenity of Suffering which both featured the return of guitarist Brian “Head” Welch whose Love & Death project (Which is frelling stellar if you haven’t checked it out already) should also have something up their sleeves in the new year. Megadeth might be the only “Big Four” band with a new record in 2019 and dredg is returning from a self imposed exile while A Pale Horse Named Death, who famously/infamously feature both former Type O Negative drummers, release When The World Becomes Undone on January 18th. Riff masters Lo-Pan should have a new slab of awesome out in 2019 as will Burton C. Bell’s Ambient/Electro/Industrial Ascension Of The Watchers project. Can you get more electro than Ladytron, though? We think not! And luckily for all of us they’ll be back with their first new studio album in almost 8 years in February. And what has Gojira been up to? It’ll be three years since Magma dropped although the norm between Gojira releases is a around four years so this might be wishful thinking on our part. Walter Flakus is back as a full-fledged member alongside his former Stabbing Westward bandmate Christopher Hall for the fourth album from The Dreaming which is sure to build on the Electro-Industrial revitalization of 2015’s Rise Again. And finally! Old Man Gloom has been doing something together with Stephen Brodsky, who steps in for late bassist/vocalist Caleb Scofield (Who tragically passed early in 2018), which might result in some new music in 2019. But when it comes to OMG, though, expect the unexpected. Or don’t.
But I digress.
This is your definitive (maybe) list of nineteen (Cuz 2019) albums you should (probably) check out in 2019. You’ve been warned:
19. TR/ST-TBA (TBC): TR/ST gets the top spot for 2019 because this beast was supposed to drop in 2018. Will it be worth the wait? Hell yeah! And for those uninitiated, TR/ST make the kind of emo/electro music that make you ugly cry uncontrollably. Also, I’d like to acknowledge that this is two years in a row for me where our top pick in the preview ended up not coming out in the following year. Here’s hoping that what we picked for the top spot this year doesn’t follow the same pattern.
18. Sacred Reich-TBA (Summer): Sacred Reich is this far down only because we just learned that it was happening a little while ago. But it’s happening! Their first since Heal melted faces and decimated earholes in 1996…that’s right, 23 years after their last full-length studio album and hot on the heels of their Ignorance North American tour in 2017, Sacred Reich return with easily one of the most anticipated thrash releases of the new year. Oh, and they just announced that Dave McClain has rejoined the band as well. You KNOW you’re dying to hear this!
17. Eldridge Rodriguez-TBA (TBC): I have heard nothing from this but remain hopeful that it’ll be just as sonically amazing as 2015’s The Castrati Menace but when it comes to the Keiber brothers and their collected body of work, is there really any chance this thing will suck?
16. Harborlights-TBA (TBC): I’ve heard exactly one track from the upcoming Harborlights full-length (And you would have, too, if you tuned into one of our most recent Deathkiss Radio Show appearances) and am already blown away by the growth this local quartet has gone through since they started which makes this a no-brainer as far as anticipated releases go.
15. Drab Majesty-TBA (Spring): Another just announced album, Drab Majesty’s last is still on heavy rotation ’round these parts and that thing came out in early 2017! That said, is anyone at all concerned that the follow up won’t follow through? Us either.
14. Mr Kitty-Ephemeral (March 8th, Negative Gain Productions): Electro ingenue Mr. Kitty will have a just announced double album due in March of 2019 and if singles “Trauma” or “Wound” (Only “Trauma” will be appearing on the 30-track opus, though) are any indication of where the new music will go then fans are definitely in for a treat for what might be Mr. Kitty’s best yet.
13. Rotting Christ-The Heretics (February 15th): Easily one of our most favorite Black Metal bands, Rotting Christ managed to expand their sound on 2016’s Rituals by adding gothic elements to their brand of metal excellence so it should come as no surprise that the two songs released thus far from their upcoming master opus top even that.
12. Ghastly Sound-TBA (Spring): I don’t wanna say that I restructured a whole lot of this list when I found out through social media that Vermont’s Ghastly Sound not only had new tunes coming in 2019 but those new tunes would be on a full-length RECORD but I kinda did. And I’m not sad one bit. The Bottom and Ghastly Sound were easily tops of 2017 and it’s been mind blowing watching what comes next so this spring can’t come soon enough.
11. Torche-TBA (TBC): The legendary riff mongers are returning in 2019 with a whole new batch of awesome that is guaranteed to melt your faces, make yer earholes bleed, and cause your spines to shatter…on second thought, maybe you should stay away from this record??? This is another one where I’m okay with it resting so far up in the numbers because It’ll be so high up on the list that counts at this time next year. I mean, have you heard Restarter?
10. White Lies-Five (February 1st): Honestly, 2016’s Friends was the first White Lies record that was a grower for me, meaning it didn’t immediately hit all the special places but what has been released so far has us really anxious as to what’s to come.
9. Slipknot-TBD (TBC):
This is at nine for exactly the reason you’d expect.
NGL, anytime Slipknot announce new music I get chills. The surprise Halloween drop of “All Out Life” was bliss. Just after the 10th anniversary of All Hope Is Gone and celebrating the twentieth (!!!) of the self-titled in 2019 and everything has aligned for this release.
8. Front Line Assembly-Wake up the Coma (February 8th, Metropolis Records): It’s their first in six years (Besides instrumental Warmech) and their first with Rhys Fulber in 13 years. This should be higher up on my list but I’m letting it sit at a higher spot knowing that when I put together my best of list for 2019 this thing is gonna be way the hell up there and first single “Eye On You” is everything you’d want and more from the reconnection of Fulber and Bill Leeb.
7. Rammstein- TBD (April): Holy shit! Has it really been ten years since their last full-length graced any shores and earholes? It has! Fuck Tool! Why are we not talking about these guys lax approach to releasing albums. In that time, guitarist Richard Kruspe has released two album as Emigrate and Til Lindemann even released a solo record. And while all of those records rawked hard, none held a candle to when the German sextet has their shit together and put out new music as Rammstein.
6. Filter- TBD (Spring): Richard Patrick and Brian Liesgang: The original two masterminds who concocted Short Bus are back together after a public shaming from Veruca Salt’s Louise Post and making music akin to Uncle Al’s best when we he was at war with Bush in the mid aughts. You can pledge now by clicking here.
5. The Faint- Egowerk (March 15th, Saddle Creek): Doom Abuse was an RNRF top album when it was released in 2014 so it should come as no surprise that the follow up has high expectations. We got vocalist Todd Fink’s Closeness in 2017 and a few new tracks in 2016 thanks to the CAPSULE retrospective but that’s about it. 2018 yielded “Chameleon Nights” and the most recent “Child Asleep” which proved to be one of their best yet and the ultimate tease of what’s to come when Egowerk drops in March.
4. Pelican-Nighttime Stories (Summer): If the most recent live performances are any indication, the upcoming new Pelican full-length is going to be quite the banger. I witnessed some of it live in 2017 then again, more honed, at the Caleb Scofield benefit in Los Angeles this year and let me say, it sounds fucking fantastic live…and let’s face it, Pelican does not disappoint on record either.
3. Silvertomb-TBA (January): Easily one of our most anticipated releases of 2019, Silvertomb recently previewed a slew of new tracks when they joined Life Of Agony for their “Rise of the Underground” tour and wow. Just, wow (Our interview with Hickey just before the Boston date of that tour is here) Featuring former Type O Negative members Kenny Hickey and Johnny Kelly alongside bassist Hank Hell, keyboardist/guitarist Aaron Joos and former Agnostic Front guitarist Joseph James, Silvertomb looks to finally fill the void in the gloomy corners of the music world left by TON’s absence.
2. He Is Legend-White Bat (TBD): He Is Legend dropped a bombshell on Halloween of this year when they let loose “White Bat”, the first single and title track from their upcoming sixth record, due at some point in 2019.
1. Devin Townsend-Empath (March): Firstly I’d like to acknowledge that for the past two years, my numero uno pick has actually come out the year following the year it was slated for but this thing seems like it’s ready to go so fingers crossed?!?!
What the world needs now is new Devin Townsend. I’m serious! Think about what’s happened since Transcendence was released in September of 2016: the world has gone to hell! I don’t know if new Townsend music will be the cure-all we desperately need but it might just be that we need a Canadian to save the day. Gone is the Devin Townsend Project, replaced with….whatever Devin wants! And that’s fine by us.
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