No new releases to speak of today so here’s some bonus fun: the HMO Top 5 Songs of 2016. These are the five songs that stood out and stuck in my mind the most, and the ones that I think will most remind me of 2016 when I look back.
Abbath – To War! (from Abbath)
A classic black metal rampage that could have come straight off Immortal’s essential Sons of Northern Darkness album. And the opening riff! Total genius.
Akercocke – Inner Sanctum (from Speed Kills VII)
The return of the legendary Akercocke was proof that 2016 wasn’t all bad. Just classic Ak through and through, raising my excitement for their 2017 comeback album to fever pitch.
Gojira – Stranded (from Magma)
Magma wasn’t a totally consistent release but it made my Top 10 albums on the strength of some especially brilliant songs. And this audaciously simple instant-classic was the best of the lot.
Anaal Nathrakh – Hold Your Children Close and Pray for Oblivion (from The Whole of the Law)
The chorus of the year right here. Enjoy it cause the rest of the track is insanely violent. But with a title like that, you can’t say you weren’t warned.
But the HMO Song of the Year 2016 award goes to…
The King is Blind – Mesmeric Furnace (from Our Father)
This is a deep cut and we’re firmly in goosebump territory here. This track just oozes class. Epic, euphoric, monolithic, climatic. THIS is how you close an album.
And that rounds up 2016 for HMO. Thanks for reading and best wishes to you all for 2017!
HEAVY METAL OVERLOAD 
More Metal Man More Metal!
Has the roof to your house caved in yet?
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No, but it needs reinforced every day.
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Nice! That’s Abbath and Gojira that Dr. Dave had on his albums list!
I like the idea of songs…lists could change if I chose to do that.
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This was more just a bit of fun compared to the album list. I sweated over the albums list a lot more. It definitely changes things though. Albums that I ranked lower had higher-placing songs… and nothing here from my two top albums!
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An interesting approach. Certainly if I took this approach, some bands will place higher.
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Sometimes you just get brilliant songs on an album that’s got too much filler.
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Yep, and there are a lot of great examples of that. Slash’s first solo album — to this day I think Beggars and Hangers On is one of the best songs GNR never recorded. But I can’t listen to the album. It’s boring!
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The UYI albums!
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I was going to review them in 2016. I hold both in very very high esteem. I have the utmost love and respect for them. But…there is little doubt both could be improved by trimming down. I got the Shotgun Blues, anyone?
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Urgh. So much keich on both of those!
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Sure, sure, agreed…but still lots of great ones right? Baby’s got a locomotive, got to peel the b***h off my back?
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Some really great ones for sure. Maybe one really great album. Thing is, no-one ever seems to agree on which ones are great/good/bad. Remember Aaron’s poll thing?
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YES I DO. Here’s what I found. Due to the number of looo-ong songs, I was never able to make a single CD that didn’t go over length. I could leave off November Rain today, but I still need my Estranged on there.
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Ooh… I might need to have a go at that, whittling it down to one CD. The long tracks are a problem right enough. Coma is a great long bomber too…
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Did you ever see the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup? I pictured the song ‘To War’ from that when reading about #5 – after hearing the spotify clip, it’s a little less Groucho Marx than I expected!
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Never seen it! The singing is more Popeye than Groucho I reckon.
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Oh! Top 5 songs! Man, I could totally get into this. I also think I’d find that a couple of my favourite songs are from albums that are lower down the list of favourite albums.
That Gojira song is great.
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It was fun! Much less stressful than doing the albums. Funny how the albums/songs disparity works out. Think it might have been the same last year if I’d done this too.
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I might do a wee list of 5, too. You’ve inspired me!
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Do it! It’s the power of HMO that compels you!
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The power is too overwhelming… can’t… fight… it…
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This sounds like something I’m gonna need playing on repeat that first morning back to work. “Let’s see…sword, battle helmet, book of incantations, and Abbath’s “To War!”.
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Haha what is it you do for a living?! Must be intense with an inventory like that! (P. S. you forgot the all-important ‘knapsack’)
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How could I forget the knapsack!?
I work in receiving for an orthopedic company. May not sound dangerous, but we’re going to have a week’s worth of deliveries hitting us on Tuesday. It’ll be ugly.
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Always the worst thing about time off. You go back to a total ‘mare! Some sort invisibility cloak would be handy.
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I know, right? It’s a damn catch-22.
I’d be good with an invisibility cloak. Or maybe just be a speedster for a couple of days.
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This will be a great little list to get me through work today.
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I hope so! It’s not very long but I hope you like the tracks.
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I noticed your little Spotify playlist at the bottom. I’ve actually been using Spotify a ton – free account, no subscription (yet!) – and I want to share this playlist I was listening to last night.
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I am here waaaaaaaay late to say super-cool! GOJIRA!!!
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