The Top 100 Local Songs of 2015.

Dead to a Dying World Comes Alive At No. 15.

The North Texas music scene has really come into its own the past 12 months. There hasn't been a year in recent memory when so many local artists appeared on the Billboard charts, played Saturday Night Live and other late night television programs, or otherwise appeared in the national spotlight. Here, as we've done in years past, we're highlighting what we think are the 100 best songs locally-tied of the year. The thing is, as far as this list is concerned, we're judging the quality of the songs irrespective of the popularity of the people putting them out — meaning, you're just as likely to have a song by a Grammy-winning act sandwiched between a couple of high school bands. Hey, it's just more interesting that way. Also keeping with tradition, we'll be rolling out the list in smaller, more digestible portions every weekday through the end of the month, complete with embedded streams of each. We think that gives each of these more than deserving acts a little more shine, and it also gives you a little more time to really check out each of these high quality tunes — including, presumably, a few that you may have missed upon their initial release.

Rarely do you find sites with names like “Angry Metal Guy” ever agreeing on anything with the folks at NPR. Yet, in 2015, the Dallas metal band Dead to a Dying World managed to establish a common ground between these poles.

One possible reason? The fact that metal is probably too lazy a descriptor for the epic, viola-laced symphonic sludge that this outfit cranks out.

See Also:
• The Top 100 Local Songs of 2015. // Counting Down From 100 to 81.
• The Top 100 Local Songs of 2015. // Counting Down From 80 to 61.
• The Top 100 Local Songs of 2015. // Counting Down From 60 to 41.
• The Top 100 Local Songs of 2015. // Counting Down From 40 to 26.
• The Top 100 Local Songs of 2015. // Counting Down From 25 to 16.
• The Top 100 Local Songs of 2014.

In October, the band released its six-song sophomore effort via Gilded Media — a collection that kicks off with the 17-minute masterpiece of chaos that is “The Hunt Eternal.” For all that length, there's no mistaking that every last note of the hectic onslaught is a calculated one. Double bass and screaming vocals are juxtaposed over soothing strings, then give way to bigger half-time chunks featuring a sweet choral of vocals. It's an ever-alternating switch between tension-building and -release.

Rightly, the adoration for this album has been pretty universal. Take the normally pretty stingy critics over at Pitchfork, who gave the thing an 8.2 in their review. Writes that publication's Grayson Haver Currin in his review: “These six deliberate pieces commingle melodrama and momentum, horror and hope, pulling the listener along like some tight-wire suspense flick.”

Yeah, that's pretty spot-on:

There's enough kick-you-in-the-teeth ballsiness here to appease any kind of metal fan. But dig deeper, and there are a lot more subtleties at play for the symphony-loving NPR crowd to latch onto, too, just as they have.

It's a difficult wire to walk, but one that Dead to a Dying World pulls off in the most grandiose fashion imaginable.

100. Terrence Spectacle — “King's Cup”
99. Tunk — “Scarface The Rapper”
98. Lil Ronny MothaF — “Circle”
97. Denim Wonder — “I Love My City”
96. Sin Motivo — “Sintomas”
95. Kevin Aldridge — “Winner Leaves Town”
94. Sarah Jaffe — “Vision”
93. Coach Tev — “Omens (ft. Drugs, The Model Citizen & Rei Altru)”
92. Bummer Vacation — “Silver Hands”
91. Danny Cainco — “In My Bed”
90. Dove Hunter — “Dream Catcher”
89. GHETTODSKO — “It's Like That”
88. Toadies — “In the Belly of a Whale”
87. 87. Sad Cops — “Allen Road Park”
86. Essay EyE — “Day Da Day”
85. Astronautalis — “Sike”
84. The Azealia Project — “Chameleons”
83. Rhett Miller — “Most in the Summertime”
82. Botany — “Jotu”
81. Ghoulfive — “Materialistic”
80. VIDEO — “New Immortals”
79. No Touching — “Any Minute”
78. Damaged Good$ — “FCKBOY JIHAD PT. 1”
77. Jarvis Hodges — “Ball Out”
76. Hate Your Friends — “Whooda Thunk?”
75. Blessin' — “Eileen”
74. Birds of Night — “Asleep in the Pine”
73. Parquet Courts — “No, No, No!”
72. Bobby Sessions — “Black Neighborhood”
71. Larce Blake w/ Masego & BeMyFiasco — “SwingInLove”
70. Sudie — “Van Morrissey”
69. Buffalo Black — “High Noon”
68. Zane Williams — “A Song tor the Folks That Stole Our Van and Trailer”
67. Colton Carlyle — “Stalker”
66. Smoke Paint — “Chastity Belt”
65. Pinkish Black — “Brown Rainbow”
64. KoolQuise — “Cupid's Handgun”
63. Nick Jonas — “Jealous”
62. Skagg Philips — “Problems in Japan”
61. Brave Young Lion — “Girls”
60. Plain Jane Francis and Tony Q — “Silent Sounds”
59. Valise — “Charlie Gray”
58. Siamese — “Savage High”
57. Vandoliers — “Runaway Sons”
56. Claire Morales & Jena Pyle — “Strange”
55. Rhett Miller & Madison King — “Feel Like Fallin' in Love”
54. Nervous Curtains — “Devastator”
53. The Outfit, TX – “All Bills Paid” ft. Devy Stonez
52. These Machines Are Winning — “Kuru”
51. St. Vincent — “Bad Believer”
50. Snow that Product — “AyAyAy”
49. Kacey Musgraves — “Pageant Material”
48. Neon Indian — “Slumlord”
47. War Party — “Nolo Mori”
46. Conner Youngblood – “The Badlands”
45. Radioactivity — “Silent”
44. Birds of Night — “Dark”
43. A.Dd+ — “The Rhyme and The Rhythm”
42. Color TV — “Cadillac”
41. LUWUM — “The Band”
40. The Outfit, TX — “Wild Turkey”
39. Doug Burr — “White Night — Black Light”
38. Jake Paleschic — “When it is Played”
37. Party Static — “Mr Sexypants”
36. Pearl Earl — “Karaoke Superstar”
35. Lower Dens — “To Die in L.A.”
34. Selena Gomez — “Good For You”
33. Brack Cantrell — “Corpus Christi”
32. Demi Lovato — “Confident”
31. Herrick and Hooley — “Skeletor vs He-Man”
30. Dripping Wet — “She's Not Mine”
29. Maren Morris — “My Church”
28. Andy Pickett — “Don't Bro Me”
27. Post Malone — “Tear$”
26. Leon Bridges — “Smooth Sailin'”
25. Pyramids — “In Perfect Stillness, I've Only Found Sorrow”
24. War Party — “Teenager On Drugs”
23. Vincent Neil Emerson — “East Texas Blues”
22. Shaun Martin — “One Big Party”
21. Telegraph Canyon — “Why Let it Go”
20. Felix — “Ain Afraid”
19. Neon Indian — “Annie”
18. The Warden — “Our Town”
17. St. Vincent — “Teenage Talk”
16. Erykah Badu — “Cel U Lar Device”
15. Dead to a Dying World — “The Hunt Eternal”
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