Best Metal Album 2024 | SparagmosSpectral Voice | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Metal Album

Sparagmos
Spectral Voice

Death doom isn't the sexiest extreme-metal subgenre. Found at opposite ends of the music spectrum, death and doom metal typically don't have much in common. But Spectral Voice makes the unlikely marriage work so well that most people don't even question it. Take the band's second full-length, Sparagmos. It's nearly 46 minutes in length but is divided into four songs (such is death doom). It's clear that drummer /vocalist Eli Wendler, guitarists Paul Riedl and Morris Kolontyrsky and bassist Jeff Barrett are completely dialed in on Sparagmos, constructing a foreboding and sinister atmosphere throughout, especially on "Red Feasts Condensed Into One" and "Death's Knell Rings in Eternity." The cherry on top is the album's title: a Greek word for the Dionysian practice of tearing someone apart.

spectralvoice.bandcamp.com

Best Metal Band

Wayfarer

In such a saturated music market, it's extremely uncommon for bands to create a brand-new subgenre. But that's exactly what Wayfarer has done over the past twelve years. Shane McCarthy (guitar and vocals), Isaac Faulk (drums and keyboards), Jamie Hansen (bass and vocals) and Joe Strong-Truscelli (guitar) are big fans of the "Denver sound," and pair the haunting Americana of groups such as Slim Cessna's Auto Club and 16 Horsepower with traditional black metal to make what's been dubbed "Black Metal of the American West." On its latest album, American Gothic, Wayfarer transports listeners to life in the Depression-era Dust Bowl with blackened cowboy folk tunes that could be an alternative There Will Be Blood soundtrack.

wayfarercolorado.bandcamp.com

Best Old-School Heavy Metal Band

Eaglewing

Take a trip back in time and soar high with Eaglewing on its fearless flight into the new wave of heavy metal mayhem. These guys look and sound straight from the early-1980s heavy metal scene, embarking on a sonic journey where the skies are limitless and the music knows no bounds. The members are masters of their craft, using a simple formula of thundering drums, shredding guitar riffs and mesmerizing vocals to shape a majestic musical landscape. Although Eaglewing might seem like it's from the past, the band has firmly established itself as the future of heavy metal in Denver.

eaglewingband.bandcamp.com

Best Band to Rage to While Punching Drywall

Empire Demolition

Denver grindcore trio Empire Demolition seemingly came out of nowhere with the release of its debut EP, Defenestration, earlier this year. Justin Redington (vocals and bass), Kendrick Lemke (guitar and vocals) and Nicholas Herrera (drums) are purveyors of sonic pandemonium, and the five songs on Defenestration pummel you for just under twenty minutes. The title track (the shortest offering at a hair under three minutes) and "Ruby" (the longest at a tad over six minutes) show off Empire Demolition's range; like Napalm Death and Portrayal of Guilt, the band knows how to whip up a rage, and that's a good thing when it comes to grindcore. So go ahead, throw it on and do some remodeling with your fists.

empiredemolition.bandcamp.com

Best Missing Link

Cronos Compulsion

There is stone-cold evidence that cavemen somehow found the time to create instruments (bone flutes, naturally) and music during the Paleolithic Era. They also loved to sing. But there is no way our thick-browed ancestors were coming up with anything near what death-metal trio Cronos Compulsion is currently concocting — though the band does like to call its sound  "caveman death metal." It's a newer term for a brand of brutal music that doesn't bother with overly indulgent compositions — it's barbaric and heavier than the Stone Age. What guitarist Wil Wilson, drummer Jon Linskey and bassist Addison Herron-Wheeler do on debut EP Malicious Regression would make any self-respecting Neanderthal lose their shit. Plus, the band moniker is an archeological term for the caveman practice of chopping up dead bodies instead of burying them.

cronoscompulsiondeath.bandcamp.com

Best Music for Fossil Hunting

Megatheria

Megatheria may be a new post-metal group, but the trio is playing some serious Ice Age instrumentals. The band's name references an extinct giant sloth that grew up to sixteen feet in length and last roamed the Earth about 11,700 years ago. That is, until guitarist Marc Christoforidis, bassist Matt Funk and drummer David Hindman resurrected it with the release of their debut album, Gateway, last May. The record is divided into five tracks, but the stoner-doom project is essentially one comprehensive piece, similar to Sleep's 1999 classic, Jerusalem (or the 2003 re-release, Dopesmoker). At just over ten minutes, "Hibernation" is the standout single. But we suggest listening to it in one sitting...while sifting through silt searching for fossils.

megatheria.bandcamp.com

Best Band Led by a Zombie Overlord

Maris the Great & the F.O.D

Once May hits, no Denver band is safe. That's when Maris the Great rises from his lair under the Cheesman Park pavilion and begins terrorizing stages with his band the F.O.D. Always in character, you'll find Maris stomping around his lair with a pink mohawk and full zombie armor, and on his website, you'll find the array of bands he's "killed" through the decades. Most bands consider it a compliment to be murdered by the Denver icon — he always asks permission — and his final show of the year (before he returns to his lair) usually involves those most recently killed. That's his Halloween showcase, hosted by drag queen Jessica L'Whor and involving all the blood and gore you can stomach. It's not just a celebration of horror, but of queer culture, too.

maristhegreat.com

Best Potential A24 Soundtrack

Incorporeal
Spiritual Poison

Ethan Lee McCarthy is no stranger to conjuring terrifying sounds. In fact, the longtime local musician and producer takes pride in delivering scathing reverberations. But somehow, McCarthy's latest album, Incorporeal, from his solo project Spiritual Poison, is the scariest, most disturbing music he's ever pulled from the recesses of his morbid mind. When the first single, "Place of Peace," came out, he said he "wanted it to sound like a long journey through an otherworldly doorway." Yeah, a doorway to horrors previously unknown to mankind. Then there's "Summon," which just might awaken a long-dead deity buried 20,000 leagues under the sea. If Robert Eggers needs a composer for his next period-correct film about a Victorian-era insane asylum, Spiritual Poison would be perfect.

spiritualpoison.bandcamp.com

Best Post-Breakup Music

Cherished

Cherished, formerly known as Lowfaith, has been around for nearly a decade, but hadn't been very active in recent years — until the group released a new four-song EP, other bodies, at the beginning of the year and reinvented itself. With Cloe Madonna (also of local hardcore band Destiny Bond) on vocals, Cherished oozes pensive indie pop. "Weekend Girlfriend" is a heartbreaking ballad about unrequited love, while "Petals" ponders a similar sentiment. Elsewhere, "Slaughterhouse, Where I Laid" and "False Chorus" come to grips with that feeling of being strung along for too long. There's something melancholic yet comforting about Cherished's music. It's the soundtrack to a breakup, but it feels more like an empathetic friend who's going through their own heartache yet is still there for you.

cherishedsound.bandcamp.com

Best Moody Band

Creek

Not too long ago, emo bands were known for being whiny and melodramatic. But that woe-is-me stereotype is tired and gone, thanks to groups like Creek. The four-piece marries emo and shoegaze to make moody "emogaze" that hits like a Charles Bukowski poem about life's inherent banality. Creek recently announced it had finished working on its third EP at Lakewood's Swadley Studios, which is owned and operated by the group's guitarist and vocalist, Jared Barnes. But until that doom-and-gloom opus is released, a trio of singles — "Moving On," "Forgetting" and "Past Lives" — should be more than enough to hold you over, if not send you into a downright spiral about all your mistakes and misgivings, you sad sap.

creekco.bandcamp.com

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