söndag 13 Nov 2011, 1:25

Top Ten Metal of 2011

Trap Them - Darker Handcraft

This album gets better everytime I play it. A lot better.

Wolves in the Throne Room - Celestial Lineage

Kind of the James Blake of the metal scene. Why do I love them? See sentence #1.

Decrepitaph - Profane Doctrines Unburied

This album encapsulates what I love about Death Metal! Every riff is stellar, the progressions give me the tingles, and they wrap it all up in the cryunchiest, nastiest production this side of '96.

Wormrot - Dirge

Really, this is a near tie with Maruta for spot #4. Wormrot edges out the victory, largely thanks to their balls-to-the-wall approach. This is fucking Grind Circa 2011.

Maruta - Forward Into Regression

I've heard this referred to as "thinking-man's grind." It's not, but that's okay. This album has the distinction of being not-quite-as-good as Dirge, but still worthy of a four-syllabele adjective.

Cannibe - Hideous Human Vintage

Somehow, not the best grind of the year. Flat out, the best fucking debut of the year. Message me if you want to hear this insanely awesome album.

Shub Niggurath - A Deadly Call from the Stars

Mexico does it again. This it apparently blackened thrash, and it's some of the best of it's kind. This year, there's been a pronounced technical bent to the albums I like, but Shub Niggurath is just straightforwardly awesome!

Ulcerate - The Destroyers of All

This is that technical bent I mentioned. Really, this album will rank higher at the end of the year.

Pulling Teeth - Funerary

Best hard-postcore album of the year. One of the few bands in the genre to approach Fucked Up.

Cannabis Corpse - Beneath Grow Lights Thou Shalt Rise

CC>CC. That's all I have to say.

Autopsy - Macabre Eternal

I haven't been around long enough (i.e. not since '93) to know why Autopsy's a big deal. More than any other modern album by the fathers of death metal, though, this album slays.

+

AOTY Contenders

Britney Spears - Femme Fatale
blink-182 - Neighborhoods
Trap Them - Darker Handcraft
James Blake - James Blake
Wolves in the Throne Room - Celestial Lineage
St. Vincent - Strange Mercy