Riff Relevant 2017 Releases: Damon Gravitoyd Shares 25 Favorites

Article By: Leanne Ridgeway

Damon ‘Gravitoyd’ Caraway jumped in with both feet as a writer here at Riff Relevant many months ago. He’s brought with him several things, including his immediate proximity to Austin, Texas, which has a rather insane amount of heavy music bands right at his fingertips at the moment. Talk about the right place at the right time…

Aside from his contributions here, Damon is also a professor of literature. (Surprised? We were, too.) Since he’s a self-induced workaholic like the rest of us, Damon has also recently started his own live event booking & promotions fun, for those looking to perform or catch a show in the Austin area: Gravitoyd Presents

RiffRelevant.com now presents Gravitoyd to you with his Favorites of 2017! Damon chose a selection of 25 fuzz-filled releases from the year, including several of my favorites. He had some trouble stopping there, so there is a bucket of honorable mentions. See his list and check out these bands! – Leanne


2017 was a year of fuzz and it was GLORIOUS! There were so many good albums that came out this year and if I missed any, it’s because the pool of awesome albums was so deep, I was overwhelmed. Giddy, but overwhelmed!

That said, this is not a list of the best albums of the year, I am not qualified to make any judgment like that. This is a list of the top 25 albums that moved me in some way. The honorable mentions following this list are equally awesome and make up what would have been a top 50 list, but I chose to do it this way.

I hope you all have enjoyed this year’s music as much as I have! A huge thanks to Leanne and the rest of the family at Riff Relevant for bringing me into the fold and treating me better than I deserve!

Much love to you all and Riff on! – Gravitoyd

 

1 – Monolord- ‘Rust

 

2 – Purple Hill Witch- ‘Celestial Cemetery

 

3 – Dopelord- ‘Children of the Haze

 

4 – Elder- ‘Reflections of a Floating World

 

5 – Sasquatch- ‘Maneuvers

 

6 – Telekinetic Yeti- ‘Abominable

 

7 – Year of the Cobra- ‘Burn Your Dead

 

8 – Greenbeard- ‘Lödarödböl’

 

9 – Savanah- ‘The Healer

 

10 – Mothership – ‘High Strangeness

 

11 – Kal-El – ‘Astrodoomeda

 

12 – Duel – ‘Witchbanger

 

13 – The Age of Truth – ‘Threshold

 

14 – Ruby The Hatchet – ‘Planetary Space Child

 

15 – Toke – ‘(Orange)

 

16 – Destroyer of Light – ‘Chamber of Horrors

 

17 – Blues Funeral – ‘Awakening

 

18 – Cursus – Self-Titled

 

19 – Cloud Catcher – ‘Trails of Kozmic Dust   (Damon’s review)

 

20 – Youngblood Supercult – ‘The Great American Death Rattle

 

21 – Poseidon – ‘Prologue

 

22 – Earth Witch – ‘Out of the Shallow

 

23 – Vokonis – ‘The Sunken Djinn

 

24 – Monte Luna – Self Titled    (Damon’s review)

 

25 – Doomstress – ‘Supernatural Kvlt Sounds- The Second Rite


Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)

Attala – ‘Glacial Rule
Beastmaker – ‘Inside the Skull
War Cloud – Self Titled
Goya – ‘Harvester of Bongloads
Party Wizard- self-titled
Pyreship- The Liars Bend Low
Red Stone Souls – Mother Sky
Electric Wizard – Wizard Bloody Wizard
Forming the Void – Relic
Shadow Witch – Disciples of the Crow
Snowy Dunes – Atlantis
The Midnight Ghost Train – Cypress Ave.
Demon Eye – Prophecies and Lies
Ufomammut – Godlike Snake
Red Mountains – Slow Wander
Royal Thunder – Wick
Crimson Devils – A Taste for Blood
Pale Horseman – The Fourth Seal
Mother Mars – On Lunar Highlands
Spaceslug – Time-Travel Dilemma
Pallbearer – Heartless
Green Yeti – Desert Show
Black Pussy – Power
Gypsy Sun Revival – Journey Outside of Time
Weed Priest – Consummate Darkness
Five Horse Johnson – Jake Leg Boogie
Catapult the Smoke – Born Again
Glassing – Light and Death


Many thanks to Damon for sharing his favorites for the year, as well for all his contributions to Riff Relevant. – Leanne

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