2019 has been a great year for cross-pollination of genres. With so much music at our fingertips, why stick to one genre when you can make a stronger, healthier, better-looking record by mixing them? Yes, I know there will be some sticklers out there who want to comment that “Crossover is thrash fucking punk!” Well, I’m officially giving crossover permission to fuck whomever it likes, whether that’s death metal, hardcore, raw punk or black metal – as long as they all consent they can go to town on each other as far as I’m concerned. If you’re one of those people who’s irked by that, I posit to you this: crossover was invented by bands who didn’t want to stick to one thing, they weren’t trying to put their music into one category, so let’s be true to the founders and open our minds to new forms of expression. So here’s our list of the top Crossover records of 2019 – listen and support these rad fucking bands!!
FIFTEEN – LOWEST CREATURE,
Sacrilegious Pain
Lowest Creature have delivered a monster effort, standing tall in their dark and cold Nordic homeland which so clearly influences their sound and lyrics – the cold winters tearing through their riffs like a knife to the bone and the harsh raw scenes painted in songs such as ‘Let The Darkness Swallow Me Whole’ and ‘Grave Digging’ leaving you in a petrified state. Recorded at Ljudkross Studio in Umeå, Sweden, this has perfectly captured everything the band is about. Mastered by Joel Grind from Toxic Holocaust (Sunn O))), Integrity, Mammoth Grinder, Midnight & more) in Oregon, USA, this metal master has truly unified the sound.
– Marika Z., CVLT Nation
FOURTEEN – HATE FORCE, Hate Force
Unholy fucking shit – HATE FORCE come out the gate fists swinging and take your head off with that first knock-out punch! Their s/t album that came out February 2019 is on our top list because I can see the maelstrom of a pit this music makes, and best believe I’m head banging as I write this.
THIRTEEN – IMPLEMENT, ...Through Screams Of Infernal Misery
What do I put on when I want the fury of crossover mixed with epic, melodic solos that make me grab my air guitar and shred? IMPLEMENT. This band rules.
Logo by Ciaran O’nuallain
TWELVE – ZORN, Hardcore Zorn
Dirty, low-fi, depraved and addictive is what I’d call ZORN’s 2019 release Hardcore Zorn. This is the kind of tape that makes me love crossover – scathing and ugly and beautiful all at the same time!
ELEVEN – FUMING MOUTH,
The Grand Descent
FUMING MOUTH has put together a collection of songs that are ready to break into your house, duct tape your family and destroy your fucking lives. Don’t believe they could make anything that violent, horrific and unfeeling? Hit play on their 2019 record The Grand Descent and tell me you’re gonna make it out of this alive…
TEN – JUDICIARY, Surface Noise
JUDICIARY is the band that’s been on everyone’s mind this year, and when you listen to their record Surface Noise you’ll understand why! This record has riffs so serrated they’ll slice through your neck like butter. Try not to crush anything when you listen to this record.
NINE – MINDFIELD, Mindfield
Leave it to a Florida crossover band to make a record that sounds like a hurricane taking everything you love from you. Mindfield is sweeping your petty life away and leaving the wreckage behind in 2019.
EIGHT – CREEPING DEATH, Wretched Illusions
Creeping Death crawl out of the crypt and simply slam your face into the concrete over and over again on this, their first full-length album. This is some old-school, pit-refined, groovy Death Metal. Add some thrash, season liberally with some black, and you get this classic slab of crushing death. This record will live in your headspace for months to come, maybe even years.
– Kelly Hudson, CVLT Nation
SEVEN – MERE MORTAL, Tartarus
As soon as you hit play on Mere Mortal’s 2019 record Tartarus, you’ll know why it’s placing high on our list of top crossover for the year. It brings the pain in an old school meets new school kinda way. Also, I really fucking love the cover art.
SIX – ENFORCED, At The Walls
When I put on my hype tunes to ready to behead the corporate overlords and give their blood money back to the people who labored for it, ENFORCED’s At the Walls will be the first wax to hit my turntable. This is axe-sharpening music, this is balls-severing music, this is eye-plucking music – this is what will have me scaling gilded ivory towers to feel the warm blood of pedoligarchs dripping through my fingers!
FIVE – RED DEATH, Sickness Divine
Crossover maniacs Red Death are back in action with Century Media to share their newest release Sickness Divine with our dying world. I’ll admit that at times, its overwhelming and somewhat boring to sift through all the new music that comes out daily. That being said, Sickness Divine is the first full-length that has actually held my attention cover to cover in months. Red Death continues to grow while still paying homage to the old dogs. The band’s last release Formidable Darkness payed tremendous respects to Best Wishes era Cro-Mags and while that influence is present on Sickness Divine Red Death pulls deeper into the crossover spectrum to elicit a sound that is uniquely their own.
– Dylan D., CVLT Nation
FOUR – HIGH COMMAND, Beyond the Wall of Desolation
I generally like to piss people off by dressing off-brand when I go to a show, but High Command has me wanting to throw on my battle jacket, heavy eyeliner and chains and fist-pump until everyone smells me. My hands are cramping into claws as I write this, making it hard to type about how sick and twisted their record Beyond the Wall of Desolation is. Actually I have to stop and go practice my katana, so just hit play and feel the fury of High Command!
THREE – WITCHTRIAL, Witchtrial
If I was burning at the stake I would be hurling curses at y’all that sound just like this. Even if I don’t know the pain of the flames, this music is fire!
TWO – DOLDREY, Invocation Of Doom
Unholy HELL – the new album by DOLDREY entitled Invocation Of Doom fucking bangs from beginning to end and way fucking beyond! They have been able to channel the rage of D-Beat and the muscle of Death Metal into their own sound and it’s highly addictive. I love the non-stop morbid riffs that they kick out on each track, plus there’s a sinister groove to all of their songs that keeps me on the edge. Straight up, DOLDREY didn’t waste one minute on Invocation Of Doom there is no filler because it’s all fucking killer! It’s your job now to press play below and then tell me that this band didn’t kill shit! Respect due to Iron Lung Records for releasing another outstanding record.
– Sean Reveron, CVLT Nation
ONE – DEVIL MASTER, Satan Spits on Children of Light
You fools cannot possibly be ready for the 2019 offering from Philadelphia metalpunk overlords, DEVIL MASTER. Even if you foolheartedly believe in yourself, this record will sink its claws into you and drag you down into the arcane depths of the beyond. The riffs are hypnotic, the drums are crushing, the vocals are blood-curdling, and the atmosphere is chilling.
Satan Spits On Children Of Light sees DEVIL MASTER at their fiercest. Even with a much cleaner recording than their previous efforts, they maintain a raw energy which many punk and metal bands lose with this kind of production. It may sound obvious, but a lot of the time it really does come down to songwriting and execution that can make or break a band in a studio setting, and I doubt they brought the candelabras and cobwebs in with them to record, even if they most certainly brought the same attitude that they do to the stage (or floor as has been the case most of the times that I’ve seen them).
– Joey, CVLT Nation
