THE BUTTHOLE ALBUM ART AWARDS OF 2022

Welcome to the Butthole Album Art Awards! (BHAAAs)

This is my 6th annual compilation of the best holes each year has to offer. Here are my 40 of 2022:

BOTCH reunited and this metallic BH 🎯 feels so good
[Bandcamp]

AVEL: Partly cloudy with a 100% chance of blinding BH
[Bandcamp]

THANATOPHOBIA and their M.C. Esher BH kingdom
[Bandcamp]

TESKA having the worst migraine ever, in need of extra strength forehole relief
[Bandcamp]

Land, sea, or air: KRIMH can get that BH there
[Bandcamp]

There’s always one goatse every year, thank you for your service SACRAL NIGHT
[Bandcamp]

LIFE/LIMB reinventing the “serpent radius-ulna BH” wheel
[Bandcamp]

The barren BH sun will consume us all
BEKOR QILISH, 2022
[Bandcamp]

ONLY NOW: All hands on deck
[Bandcamp]

GRAAL: Death carries a scythe and a stained glass cyclops BH
[Bandcamp]

This little ‘BH stomach’ light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine
THE TEMPLE
[Bandcamp]

DAYS OF DESOLATION: Birth, school, BH, death
[Bandcamp]

NOGOTHULA: Satanic clothespin (lost at sea) BH
[Bandcamp]

TERRA blinding us with cosmic BH dust from this extreme blastoff
[Bandcamp]

MINIPONY and their kaleidoscope BH (always one of these every year too)
[Bandcamp]

PERVERSION: Watch your step!
[Bandcamp]

REVEREND MOTHER didn’t need to draw those tendrils on the crystal ball
[Bandcamp]

SAPRAEMIA latching on with their tractor beam BH (with extra strength coils)
[Bandcamp]

Crater Blast BH by KILL SHELTER
[Bandcamp]

UR and their planetary petri dish BH
[Bandcamp]

Congrats to label CYCLIC LAW and their 20th anniversary sampler BH! (just wow)
[Bandcamp]

FULL OF HELL squeezed out a new EP this year
[Bandcamp]

They are called ANALEPSY after all
[Bandcamp]

AMON ACID droppin’ a wild Ouroboros BH
[Bandcamp]

DENOUNCEMENT PYRE: The Apis BH Burns Bright
[Bandcamp]

Heavy lies the crown by 偏執症者 (Paranoid)
[Bandcamp]

SFEERVERZIEKER: Shanties to steer thy cursed helm to
[Bandcamp]

I’m BH (da ba dee) by ANUBIS
[Bandcamp]

DEMORALIZER: Mission accomplished!
[Bandcamp]

TRUP: Hellooooooooooooooo
[Bandcamp]

HYPOMANIC DAYDREAM / HOMESKIN
Snuffleupagus bids farewell
[Bandcamp]

ASTRAL TOMB named their album ‘Soulgazer’ when ‘Holegazer’ is right there (too easy)
[Bandcamp]

MAIDEN HAIR depicts Venus de BH
[Bandcamp]

KATO and their framed “hot ones”™️ BH
[Bandcamp]

ROTBORN: Independence Day BH
[Bandcamp]

NOLDOR’s falling away from me BH
[Bandcamp]

PRIDELANDS rhapsody in blue (BH)
[Bandcamp]

ABYSMAL DAWN (hey)
[Bandcamp]

HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE always look to the north BH
[Bandcamp]

MARILLION teaches a lesson in color theory (mostly warm)
[YouTube]

Thanks for tuning in! Happy New Year!
-Justin

JUSTIN’S FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2022

Here are the albums that moved me the most in 2022!

#10) Writhing Of Earth & Flesh (Everlasting Spew) Bandcamp

#9) Final Eclipse Interminable Darkness (self) Bandcamp

#8) Desecresy Unveil In The Abyss (Xtreem Music) Bandcamp

#7) Gutvoid Durance of Lightless Horizons (Blood Harvest) Bandcamp

#6) Phobophilic Enveloping Absurdity (Prosthetic) Bandcamp

#5) Vacuous Dreams of Dysphoria (Me Saca Un Ojo) Bandcamp

#4) Ancient Death Sacred Vessel (Necroharmonic) Bandcamp

#3) Scalding Exordium (wilt-shine) Bandcamp

#2) Doldrum The Knocking, Or The Story of the Sound that Preceded Their Disappearance (Katafalque) Bandcamp

#1) ULTHA All That Has Never Been True (Vendetta) Bandcamp

LOINS ABLAZE!

Cheers friends! Happy 2023!
-Justin

ULTHA ‘ALL THAT HAS NEVER BEEN TRUE’ AOTM APRIL 2022

My favorite April release is ULTHA All That Has Never Been True. They are one of my “all-time” bands doing top tier black metal, and I don’t see any 2022 album knocking it from my AOTY so I’ll just call it now! One of those “full body” experiences, and I haven’t stopped listening since they surprise-dropped it. While I’ve loved everything they’ve released, especially 2018’s The Inextricable Wandering, the new one is my #1.

Listen right now at Bandcamp!

GREATEST KEY CHANGE OF ALL TIME

NOW THIS: Area Man Attempts Harmonies On Greatest Key Change Of All Time, Earth Wind & Fire “After The Love Has Gone” (1979)

I love key changes in pop music, especially when it’s an over-the-top “Truck Driver Gear Change” (TDGC) that digs in deep. A couple years ago, I was so obsessed at the time that I created a spreadsheet compiling songs and when the change occurs (view those 315 songs here). The songs are also on my corresponding Spotify playlist here. Reply with your favorites so we can share the goosebump feels.

My Top 10 Favorite Key Changes:
Earth Wind & Fire – “After The Love Has Gone”
Genesis – “Invisible Touch”
Dave Clark Five – “Glad All Over”
Herb Alpert – “A Taste Of Honey”
Lesley Gore – “You Don’t Own Me”
Cheryl Lynn – “Got To Be Real”
James Ingram (ft. Michael McDonald) – “Yah Mo B There”
BeyoncĂŠ – “Love On Top”
Pointer Sisters – “Jump”
Boyz II Men – “On Bended Knee”

THE BEST BUTTHOLE ALBUM ART AWARDS OF 2021

Welcome to the Butthole Album Art Awards! (BHAAAs)

Here are the 50 albums that best make up the hole of 2021! Click on the artwork for Bandcamp link.

This #1 BH be moving if you stare long enough. Congrats to SAMUEL MARTINS COELHO on the top prize!

Ride the snake with the centipede BH from SULPHUROUS

CREEPING DEATH and their tornado alley angel hair BH

VOLA‘s BH absolutely stalks

MANNVEIRA and the BH sirens

FERRITERIUM: Look at the BH you’ve become!

We can all feel the Atlas BH from KANKAR

INOCULATION and their Space Spider BH

VERHäANGNIS offers a very unique colon POV BH

FORHIST offers an arborist ouroboros BH or foxtail BH: a real viewers’ choice!

Congrats to VOIDSPHERE on their third consecutive BHAAA appearance!

CRYPTUM and their swampy sewer BH

AEROSOL JESUS breaking it down with the Venn diagram BH

Whoaaaaa heaven let your light shine down!
ISON

PERIHELION GNOSIS giving us the pentagram BH howdoyoudo

FECULENT: gnarly ass dm EP complete with a mygodwoujalookatthat BH

CULT OF PARTHENOPE serving up an anatomy soup BH

“BH In The Sky As I Pour Sand On Some Guy” by ZAQQOEM

SWELLING REPULSION: When the band name sells the BH alone. Don’t let the sliced worms take your eyes away from the target.

There’s one crescent BH every year and EASTERN HIGH‘s got you

Upside down you’re turning me
You’re giving love instinctively
Around and round you’re turning me
I say to BH respectfully

ZEOLITE

There’s also a Kaleido BH every year, thanks GIZMACHI!

GATECREEPER hoisting a nugget BH cave greeting

NECRECTOMY and a trve BH hobbit-hole

My plasma globe BH brings all the frogs to the yard
MANDRAX

BLACK SHEEP WALL sportin’ a Pan’s Labyrinth BH

THE BEAST OF NOD: Now who’s attacking whom here?

ÆTHERIA CONSCIENTIA ponderin’ their BH orb

WREKAN (in very Mrs. Doubtfire voice): helloooooooooooo

VOKONIS has an absolute unit of a crest BH

Diffraction BH by LORD OF THE ISLES

MAINLINER is the name and hypnosis fingerprint BHs are their game

NEMOROUS: HE TIRED

As advertised! (STUCK)

PALUS SOMNI invites you to gather ’round the merry BH

DESTINITY has spirograph BHs for days

THRICE still at it with this vibrant BH

Hey FUNERAL NOISE, leave the poor hooded soul alone ffs

Death, taxes, and Everlasting Spew releasing a BH album (BENOTHING)

CEPHEIDE suffering an absolute monster migraine BH

The band’s name is HADIT okay?

Watch it with your MORGUL BLADE will ya?

FRACTAL GENERATOR are purveyors of the BH artwork since 2008

LACERATION dishin’ out a BH earthquake

DEPRAVITY: May cause extreme inflammation

MESARTHIM latching on with a tractor beam BH

Hey MANUEL BARBARÁ, this moon has gone too far

Slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away

ꙂꙨѮŮӜŮѮꙨꙂ

ORDINUL NEGRU presents A Handsmaid’s BH (I don’t even know anymore)

“Expressway To Yr BH” by NECROCHAOS

This is not on the list, but rather a PSA to THE VOIDS EMBRACE. You are not eligible for the BHAAAs if it’s an actual BH. Also just need this out there so I don’t get an excited DM about “what I missed”.


Thanks for visiting! Happy 2022!

JUSTIN’S FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2021

Here are the albums that moved me most in 2021! Click on the artwork to listen on Bandcamp!

#10 Phrenelith Chimaera (Nuclear Winter)


#9 Cadaveric FumesEchoing Chambers Of Soul (Blood Harvest)


#8 Wode Burn In Many Mirrors (20 Buck Spin)


#7 Vukari Omnes Nihil (self)


#6 Slimelord Moss Contamination (Sewer Rot)


#5 Wharflurch Psychedelic Realms ov Hell (Gurgling Gore)


#4 Gosudar Morbid Despotic Ritual (Rotted Life)


#3 Decrepisy Emetic Communion (Chaos)


#2 Worm Foreverglade (20 Buck Spin)


#1 STEEL BEARING HANDSlay In Hell (Carbonized)


METAL MASS 2021

Last night we held our annual listening party, affectionately called METAL MASS (seventh annual!). We reveal our favorite albums, and then our coding-proficient friend runs the script, calculating votes with weight, to determine the consensus #1. Ferriterium took that prize this year!


LOINS ABLAZE

Cheers friends!
Justin

THE BEST BUTTHOLE ALBUM ART AWARDS OF 2020

Welcome to the Butthole Album Art Awards (BHAAAs)! 

Here are 50 albums that best represent this stinker of a year!


SHRIEKING wins best in show with their 2020 blowout smash hit!
[Bandcamp]

 


ATAVISMA, VOID ROT, and you all star in the worst circle pit that’s ever been produced!
[Bandcamp]

 


DIESPNEA serving up a black metal bullseye!
[Bandcamp]

 


TOMARUM: Make ’em say uhh!
[Bandcamp]

 


When you saw only one pair of footprints (in the cave),
It was then I carried you (to see the orb BH)
EXITIUM SUI
[Bandcamp]



GOD OF DAMNATION: Can I offer you a nice BH in this trying time?
[Bandcamp]



“All hail the endless BH void” by WILLS DISSOLVE
[Bandcamp]

 


HEXVOID sportin’ some nightmare splatter teeth
[Bandcamp]

 


GOREPHILIA: Red skies at night, BH delight!
[Bandcamp]



CEREMONIAL BLOODBATH: No gods, only BHs
[Bandcamp]

 


AFFLICTION VECTOR and their Dragon Jesus BH cordially invite you to their party!
[Bandcamp]

 


DYSYLUMN‘s magic 8-ball successfully predicted a monumental year for BH artwork
[Bandcamp]  

 


Inside the belly of the beast with SUPER SATAN
[Bandcamp]

 


Catch a monster BH wave with DRAGHKAR!
[Bandcamp]

 


SWARN: get. out. now.
[Bandcamp]

 


DÖ I have something on my face?
[Bandcamp]

 


DVNE getting extra piney on us with their new EP
[Bandcamp]

 


A fly-by-how-YOU-doin? from STARLESS DOMAIN and ARKHTINN!
[Bandcamp]



A real “choose-your-own-adventure” courtesy of this MORTIFERUM / HYPERDONTIA split!
[Bandcamp]

 


INVISIBLE HATE: Fanning the flames of the almighty BH
[Bandcamp]

 


GRAVEN CHALICE: The reason for the season BH!
[Bandcamp]

 


DAUGHTER CHAOS with their take on the melodic spiderweb BH
[Bandcamp]



And you’ve just had some kind of mushroom BH, and your mind is moving low
DECOHERENCE
[Bandcamp]



ELVENSCROLL with roughage at an absolute premium
[Bandcamp]



SONS OF OTIS showing some serious moon with bonus crater notes
[Bandcamp]




In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don’t ever shine
MESARTHIM
[Bandcamp]



Another glorious moon from IAGOL
[Bandcamp]



DEUS MORTEM showcasing several snake forest BHs (my fav kind)
[Bandcamp]



OZRIC TENTACLES fancy a game of BH footy
[Bandcamp]



VENEMOUS SKELETON flexing so hard that all the lightning bolts are like, “Hey we better follow this BH and find out what’s up”
[Bandcamp]



VOIDSPHERE diffusing haters with their nebulous BH
[Bandcamp]



PNEUMA HAGION really putting their back into it
[Bandcamp]



All in all is all we are,
An endless BH
WARLUST
[Bandcamp]




KaleidoBH by IRHAGAR
[Bandcamp]



DEATHSPAWN with that signature ivory BH touch
[Bandcamp]



Rorschach BH by DAME SILÚ de MORDOMOIRE
[Bandcamp]



But I’m on the outside
I’m looking in
I can see through you
See your true BH
KORPSESOTURI
[Bandcamp]



“Whoops tripped and fell into another BH!”
SELF HYPNOSIS
[Bandcamp]



Pit Of Despair BH by HIDDEN MOTHERS
[Bandcamp]



Scythe BH from MOTHMAN AND THE THUNDERRBIRDS
Watch where yer swinging that thing dude!
[Bandcamp]



Sacred night shiner BH courtesy of FRIGORIS
[Bandcamp]



Crescent Runny BH Face by SONS OF A WANTED MAN
[Bandcamp]



THE SPIRIT (in the sky that looks like a BH)
[Bandcamp]



Ring-A-Round The BH by UNDERDARK
[Bandcamp]



ORION – “Mysterivm Cosmographicvm (Observatory Relic BH)”
[Bandcamp]



“Only Time Will Tell (When You Enter The BH)” by CONTRARIAN
[Bandcamp]



The Old Man And The Looming BH by AARSLAND (yes that’s really their name!)
[Bandcamp]



“My eyes are down here”
ENDLESS REIGN
[Bandcamp]



Those who reach the BH peak will find
As mountain’s eyes become their own
SOULSTESS
[Bandcamp]



MOUNTAINEER
with their BH screamer “Bloodletting”
[Bandcamp]

Thanks for visiting! Happy 2021!

YEARLY RIPPERS: JUSTIN’S FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2020

Hello there! Should go without saying, but these are my FAVORITES. They are the ones that hold my highest replayability for now & years to come. Also I’m starting with #1 because this isn’t a goddamn christmas present that everyone is screaming and losing their shit about. But hey, thanks for visiting and riffling through my picks of 2020! Let’s GOOOOOO.


#1) Beltez – A Grey Chill And A Whisper (Avantgarde Music)
I’ve been anticipating this one a while as their 2017 release was my damn-near #1. Their USBM-style sound is dialed in FULL and THICK. And the quickest way to my loins are the mid-tempo double kick “rock” beats widely featured here. Second track alone is one of those jaw-dropping complete songs that makes everything else following feel like a bonus treat. Their arrangements are crafted to moody perfection, as the penultimate song flat wipes you out before the closing number calmly glazes over, reaching peak tingles. This is the complete package, front to back, and that’s why it’s my favorite album of 2020!
[Bandcamp]


#2) Funeral Leech – Death Meditation (Carbonized)
So many great debuts this year! This death doom monster from NYC bulldozed the loins and ran it up full mast for me. It’s an absolute stunner start to finish. The second track breakdowns are the stuff of legends, and I also so love all the creepy-crawly vocal whispers (wait till to hear this shit, it’s lit). If there is another record with as much stank as this one, I have yet to hear it.
[Bandcamp]


#3) Autonoesis – Autonoesis (unsigned)
Here’s a truly a perfect death metal album, performed flawlessly, where every riff is memorable and causes uncontrollable hand motions and air guitars galore. A blistering experience that I cannot recommend enough, and please just bury me to the closing track – the theatrical, delicate, and levitating song does it all in its 12-minutes. It’s a standout 2020 moment. A stunning debut that has me excited for everything about this talented band’s future!
[Bandcamp]


#4) Lykotonon – Only Our Eyes Are Alive (unsigned)
Such a brief introduction with a 21min debut, but a side project with Blood Incantation and Wayfarer members makes it easy to wanna sample. The overall dense atmosphere and psychedelic nuances is a perfect “USBM avantgarde Krallice / Ash Borer” mash. The tricks and stops within each song still get me even after repeated listens, and the blackened death intensity felt from every strained vocal cry is very palatable.
[Bandcamp]


#5) Void Rot – Descending Pillars (Sentient Ruin / Everlasting Spew)
I’ve got the death doom fever HARD, and with production like Void Rot’s, it’s easy to fall prey. I just love the way it SOUNDS. It’s big, thunderous, full, and rich with the vocals looming ever so passerby and dark. That guitar tone is clearly a product of hard research, chunky as hell but also sneaking those unnerving high-pitched digs. They may wear their influences on their sleeves, but they’ve perfected the formula. And what can I say, IT MOVES ME (it my fanboy video).
[Bandcamp]


#6) Black Curse – Endless Wound (Sepulchral Voice)
Give me all of the blackened fury, hellish blasts, and gasping-for-air screams, but also give me some mind-boggling outros (“Enraptured By Decay” just GOES for it), tense tribal interludes (“Lifeless Sanctum”), and repetitive, beat-it-till-it-stops-moving closing tracks. Featuring members of THAT Denver collective of bands, these ambitious, creative song arrangements should come as no surprise.
[Bandcamp]


#7) Heretical Sect – Rapturous Flesh Consumed (Gilead Media)
Their 2019 EP was sooo good, and the blackened death-doom full length really goes the distance too! When it hits the gas around 4min on 2nd track, I’m like YES ALLLL IN. As haunting as it is rockin’, it’s a hot 37 minutes for me. The chants are SCARY and give the heebies but probably not as much as their wacky ass video. Wooooo and that jarring guitar line opens the closing track? TAKE ME AWAY.
[Bandcamp]


#8) Temple Of Void – The World That Was (Shadow Kingdom)
DEVOUR THE HOURS pretty much sums up this year! Look, I’m a big ToV fanboy (another video of mine), and while metal usually doesn’t boil down to HOT SINGLES OF 2020, “Self-Schism” and “Casket Of Shame” are certified rippers! The rest of the album brings the crushing death doom heat like always. This is essential 2020 listening for ANY metal fan.
[Bandcamp]


#9) Solothus – Realm Of Ash And Blood (20 Buck Spin)
Monstrous death doom that does it all! Super slow head draggers, mid tempo grooves, and deathly somber waves. I especially love vocalist Kari Kankaanpää’s range (BOWWWWW growls to banshees) and hot damn that second track “The Watcher” got so many replays alone. Another solid 2BS release!
[Bandcamp]


#10) Undergang – Aldrig i livet (Dark Descent)
Filthy death metal wasting no time gritting teeth with a lovely “entrance music” opening track. From there, it’s one perfect gnarly riff after the next. And while I enjoyed many an EP in this style (seriously so many great Bandcamp finds), I’m happy UG put out a complete and proper full-length to envelop. Also, Tomb Mold can’t put out an album EVERY year! And bonus points for ending their album with an isolated UGHHH!
[Bandcamp]


HM) Siege Column – Darkside Legions (Nuclear War Now!)
Hot damn this a funnnnn album. Sleazy death metal that is so danceable! Opener “Devil’s Nights Of Hell” is METAL SONG OF THE YEAR with its teasing eerie synths before breaking into a full-on SHIMMY STRUT ATTACK. Featuring the muffled-fart vocalist of Death Fortress (love them too), SC brings the riff party and the lo-fi evil!
[Bandcamp]


HM) Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin kynski (Nuclear Blast)
Mystery Science Nadblasters Theatre 8000, what more can you really say? Completely out of this world good. ‘Back and forth in your rocking chair questioning reality and your existence’ good.
[Bandcamp]

 


HM) Atramentus – Stygian (20 Buck Spin)
Impressive debut really making the case for me liking funeral doom. It sounds SO large, and I’m feeling it deep in the plums (especially those gargle and bowel choir vocals). Instead of putting me to sleep like its genre contemporaries, I kept coming back for that thundering hum.
[Bandcamp]


HM) Noroth – It Dwells Amongst Us (unsigned)
Sinister death debut that can pummel nads and steamroll loins with the likes of Tomb Mold and Noose Rot. Served as the perfect soundtrack for angrily washing dishes during Covid.
[Bandcamp]


HM) Phthisis – Embodiment Of Decay (unsigned)
Yeah I’ll some more knuckle-dragging death doom please! ANOTHER debut, and Denver is a goldmine for the metals. Hooooweeee, that third track is uncomfortable AF, sign of promising things to come!
[Bandcamp]


FAVORITE NON-METAL THAT’S NOT DUA LIPA

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard – K.G.
I’ve caught the band’s bug fairly recently but I’ve got it bad and this one is full of earworms that I couldn’t help but latch on immediately. Rats’ Nest was a 2019 personal yearender with their dirty thrash, and K.G. continues that high energy while tossing out an endless amount of psychedelic microtonal delights. “Some Of Us” –> “Ontology” –> “Intrasport” is TRACK TRANSITION PERFECTION with the latter being the middle eastern disco dub song I didn’t know I needed, SO GOOD!
[Bandcamp]


OH AND….

My group of friends held our annual listening party, affectionately called METAL MASS. We reveal our favorite albums, and then our coding-proficient friend then runs his script, calculating votes with weight, to determine the consensus #1. Oranssi Pazuzu took that prize this year!


2020 LOINS ABLAZE

SUPER SHIMMY TIME

Thank you so much for reading! Send any feedback below or at my Twitter and Facebook pages. But more importantly, follow me on Bandcamp (and buy the albums on it too!) so I can follow back and hear what you’re enjoying!

-Justin