20. Lord Dying - "Clandestine Transcendence"
This is an album about death, and what happens next. It purports to be a concept record telling the tale of an immortal being, the dreamer, about to die. Using that jumping-off point it cultivates a rich and diverse set of tracks that explore transcendence and the whole mythology of the afterlife.
It is dark, melancholic and insular. It funnels the listener down an ever-spiralling chamber of taut riffs and contorted claustrophobic music. But it is magnificent in that morose maudlin nature, A deep and affecting album that is beautiful in its haunting facade.