The votes came in thick and thin but Sydney’s Polaris have taken out The Faction‘s Hardest 100 of 2019 with their absolute belter of a track ‘Masochist‘, making them the ONLY band besides Architects to win the annual countdown (Architects won the Hardest 100 of all time in 2018 with ‘Doomsday‘ and the Hardest 100 of 2018 with ‘Hereafter‘ last year). Polaris beat out the likes of The Amity Affliction‘s ‘All My Friends Are Dead’ at #2, Ocean Grove‘s ‘Ask For The Anthem’ at #3, Bring Me The Horizon‘s ‘Ludens‘ at #4 and A Day To Remember‘s ‘Resentment‘ at #5.
The song, from the band’s latest album The Death Of Me (our review here) was a key frontrunner for the countdown since voting proving the metalcore outfit are fast becoming Australia’s next biggest export. Drummer Dan Furnari joined hosts Pricey and Wall of Sound bossman Browny expressing his (and the band’s) gratitude to all who included them in their shortlists.
Rounding out the Top 10 was Slipknot‘s ‘Unsainted‘ at #6, Northlane with ‘4D‘ #7 and ‘Bloodline‘ #8, Make Them Suffer‘s ‘Hollowed Heart‘ at #9 and Thornhill‘s ‘Nurture‘ at #10. Australia’s heavy music scene was on fire with this year’s countdown with plenty of fans backing their homegrown artists in the voting, something which The Faction head honcho Tim ‘Pricey’ Price was stoked to see:
“There were 57 out of 100 Australian artists in the countdown, which was incredible to see. The top 10 consisted of 6 tracks by Aussie artists out of 10 too, proving it really was Aussies to the front in 2019.”
Previous winners Architects didn’t release new music last year, but they did release a cover of Deftones‘ song ‘Change (In The House Of Flies)’ for the Spotify Sessions which managed to score a few votes and land the band in the countdown again at #54 and Northlane and Thornhill both scored a whopping 5 entries each into the countdown, once again proving Australia’s heavy music scene is killing it right now!
With countrywide lockdowns making it hard for bands (and, well, everyone) to leave the country, attention has turned to how musicians will be making the most of their downtime in lockdown and quite a few who joined the boys for a chat during the Hardest 100 said they were already working on new material to pass the time, which means next year’s countdown could be even harder to vote for given the sheer amount of new music we could have in our ears by the end of 2020.
Late on the Polaris bandwagon? Check out Dan Furnari co-hosting our podcast and chatting all things The Death of Me right here!
Relive the countdown via The Faction‘s Spotify playlist below and we’ll see you again for it all next year… if we survive this pandemic lockdown situation!
The Hardest 100 of 2019 Rankings
1. Polaris – Masochist
2. The Amity Affliction – All My Friends Are Dead
3. Ocean Grove – Ask For The Anthem
4. Bring Me The Horizon – Ludens
5. A Day To Remember – Resentment
6. Slipknot – Unsainted
7. Northlane – 4D
8. Northlane – Bloodline
9. Make Them Suffer – Hollowed Heart
10. Thornhill – Nurture
11. Falling In Reverse – Popular Monster
12. A Day To Remember – Degenerates
13. Thornhill – Where We Go When We Die
14. I Prevail – Bow Down
15. Northlane – Talking Heads
16. Knocked Loose – Mistakes Like Fractures
17. Windwaker – My Empire
18. Ocean Grove – Junkie$
19. Alpha Wolf – Sub-Zero
20. Dealer – Crooked
21. Splinter – Innocence
22. Parkway Drive – Shadow Boxing
23. Denzel Curry – Bulls on Parade (triple j Like A Version)
24. Thornhill – Lily & The Moon
25. Ice Nine Kills – IT Is The End
26. TOOL – 7empest
27. Dealer – Grotesque
28. Slipknot – Nero Forte
29. 23/19 – Attitude Error
30. Ocean Sleeper – Light In My Dark
31. Slowly Slowly – Jellyfish
32. Alpha Wolf – No Name
33. Wage War – Low
34. While She Sleeps – The Guilty Party
35. A New Way Home – Into You
36. TOOL – Fear Inoculum
37. A Somerset Parade – Clementine
38. Gravemind – Volgin
39. Slipknot – Solway Firth
40. Windwaker – The Sitch
41. Gravemind – Phantom Pain
42. Kublai Khan TX – Boomslang
43. Ocean Grove – Sunny
44. Stand Atlantic – Hate Me (Sometimes)
45. The Gloom in The Corner – Misanthropic
46. Thornhill – Coven
47. FEVER 333 – BURN IT
48. Killswitch Engage – The Signal Fire
49. Bring Me The Horizon – Wonderful life ft. Dani Filth
50. Deadlights – Bathed In Venom
51. The Beautiful Monument – Deceiver
52. ATLVS – Mercury feat. Jamie McLees of Lotus Eater
53. TOOL – Pneuma
54. Architects – Change (In The House Of Flies)
55. Falling in Reverse – Drugs
56. Rammstein – Deutschland
57. Rumours – Incredulous
58. Alexisonfire – Familiar Drugs
59. Bring Me The Horizon – Medicine
60. Belle Haven – Forget Me
61. Dealer – Pretty Stupid
62. Ocean Sleeper – Hate Me Like You Mean It
63. Thy Art Is Murder – Death Squad Anthem
64. Thy Art Is Murder – Make America Hate Again
65. A Past In Ruins – No Going Back
66. I Prevail – Breaking Down
67. Knocked Loose – …And Still I Wander South
68. Rumours – Paralysed
69. Fit For A King – When Everything Means Nothing
70. Silverstein – Burn It Down feat. Caleb Shomo
71. The Daily Chase – Freedom/Fiction
72. (hed) p.e. – Can I Rock
73. A Swift Farewell – What You Wanted
74. Northlane – Eclipse
75. Stray From The Path – Kickback feat. Brendan Murphy
Polaris 2K20. Photo: Sandra Markovic
