Finally... The Top 200 Extreme Metal Albums of ALL TIME!(results)

So, sorry this poll kind of got shelved for a bit, I needed help with the tabulating and finally got that help (thank you based seandalai, you are a golden god!). This is a top 200 because there is just too much rad stuff that didn't make it into the top 100 and I couldn't bare not to post it. So, hopefully I can get through 20 a day and at that rate we'll be done sometime next week!

Yes, this is real, sorry for the wait, but it's happening!

wooooo!!!

whooooa

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/jobstran/drumroll.gif

Sorry, I lied, I'm starting at #205...

#205. Carcass - Symphonies of Sickness (145, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/xoc1FB.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/0hZQj8vgT0AEU4DYKBo9Ir

Great Start!!!

Got the LP reissue of this on my 21st birthday. It is pretty great!

What century was that?

21st, the oughts.

204. !T.O.O.H.! - Rad A Trest (145, 2 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/110CtI.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/4tbbeUCGLd2I10q9EjY7Kw

I am assuming that 'Order and Punishment' is just the English title of this album, since this is what shows up in every search. Am I wrong?

never heard of this

When I saw the thread title I thought "Oh, time to work on my ballot".

you didn't vote?

Iirc, it came up in one of the year-end metal polls. I remember liking it.

Yes, 'Rad A Trest' is Czech for 'Order and Punishment'. Great album, I think I was the one who nominated it. The fact that this poll is finally happening is a nice surprise

Results, I mean

203. Esoteric - The Maniacal Vale (145, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/2Th293.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/2dtJZ9B01mRi1n9HHNa0uT
https://youtu.be/B5eoiEM0g9U

A funeral doom metal classic, featuring two 20+ minute long songs!

Ohhh TOO LOW!

Imago you better have voted

201. Liturgy - Renihilation (147, 2 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/dgqZxy.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/3x2YgwoS74uzufShUsITgK
https://youtu.be/WzcuEFn9zrQ

There was no 202. I swear!

oh cause there was a tie...

201. Xasthur - Subliminal Genocide (147, 2 Votes)

https://i.sli.mg/5gDXO8.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/1qDuowqmVHQEeE6ibniC4a
https://youtu.be/_IteznHojuA

yeah voted for both the Xasthur and the Esoteric

neither in my top 25 but still, they're gr8

glad you voted imago, we always need more people to rep. atmospheric black metal and other such things!

200. Virus - The Black Flux (148, 2 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/M5ybBs.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/2BKpOyxLYGmf1kStnkiQli
https://youtu.be/UM4t-Jxq5_o

this is a very imago stretch

yeah, the next five albums are all Jute Gyte. :P

TOO LOW seriously The Black Flux is every bit as classic as Written in Waters

199. Yob - The Unreal Never Lived (148, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/Tp7anI.jpg

https://youtu.be/Y5eadgIsY1U?list=PLiljzJ427GidAxZjm0ObrVFduKpYOQOSU

Here's some CS metal... This is also too low, imo. (see why I'm doing a top 200?)

Quantum Mystic is one of the top psych. doom tracks ever.

oh yes too low! But it must mean some amazing albums are in the 200 and really good ones missing out!

Oh, it's the big poll. I'd forgotten about it. Consider me tuned in.

Thrash and death metal gonna dominate, right? All the doom and avant garde stuff low down?

all the metallica albums make up the top 5 split by immortal at #2, right?

imago did your gf vote?

198. Nocturnus - The Key (148, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/gl9Kbm.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/5TICPm12epHwIbZsQfw04O
https://youtu.be/uGg11znHPA8

Haven't listened to this one, but it seems like something I definitely need to check out.

TOO LOW

lol i didn't vote in this though

the key one of the best metal records eveer ever ever probably in my top five

xxxpost My ballot leaned more toward black, and had an overall bias for 90s/00s stuff.

And even though the unavoidables like Slayer, Metallica, and Megadeth made their appearances, Voivod and Coroner came in way ahead of them.

edit: Nocturnus, yes, with an amazing album; I even loved their soft and fuzzy melodic comeback, Ethereal Tomb.

xxxxp I think its safe to assume that a lot of the Big 4 will place.

also, welcome to the thread Devilock & Brad!

imago did your gf vote?

― Cosmic Slop, Monday, February 15, 2016 6:28 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

think so

I just heard this album for the first time last week. It's awesome.

another tie coming up.

196. Altar of Plagues - Teethed Glory and Injury (149, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/J16CSo.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/4ctGQ5IIOwmA2FmzM0c22A
https://youtu.be/XEMpI2PjNQ0

196. Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors (149, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/rD0nvk.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/4XBX3lqk23GoJWLdrMjCm3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0o7Vx0bmno

oh damnit I screwed up with that one. :(

195. Meshuggah - Chaosphere (149, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/MbRDoF.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/0jPjMd67rdCndvpKggWLi0
https://youtu.be/oK0tjSvA17g?list=PLefbjj3zlINurltVM3zKbFXX7L12DQvzl

I'm gonna take a bit of a lunch break, be back soon... I have invited Cosmic Slop to post results when I have to go AFK, but I think he's eating dinner now.

194. Satyricon - Nemesis Divina (150 Points, 2 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/rdkram3.jpg

https://youtu.be/oavJolV8OjQ

you didn't vote?

I think I did, I don't remember tbh.

Hey, this Nocturnus album is quite good, I've been digging a lot of slightly weird 90s dm lately and this hits the spot

xpost

Two bands that have accumulated so much (unfair) derision that their brilliance gets lost. Chaosphere is still one of the most unique things I've ever heard, it just swarms around you like tsetse flies; and Nemesis Divina, somewhat apart from the rest of Satyricon's discography, deserves to be up there with the other Norwegian monuments. Two very different albums that achieved two very different kinds of perfection.

another xpost: weird scifi death metal appears to be the current (and rising) dm trend, so you're in luck!

193. Darkspace - II 150 Points, 4 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/p8oBJ1U.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/5qyvoRKkS8jofyklUgRsZZ
https://youtu.be/Letefx4uSFk

xpost: yeah so I've noticed, a lot of Timeghoul/Demilich worship around these days. Also I don't like to "blame" Meshuggah for what endless droves of clean-shaven dudebros with 7 strings are doing now.

Watchtower - Control and Resistance (151 Points, 3 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/wOtpDYR.jpg

https://youtu.be/y4h5L2Ooy5w

dunno this one. Thrash?

Crazy prog/tech thrash, sort of where Spiral Architect got some of their sound from. They just put out a 3 song EP at the end of last year. Their debut album had on vox the guy who would go on to Dangerous Toys.

Sacramentum - Far Away From The Sun 154 Points, 2 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/nBD426e.jpg

https://youtu.be/cQXEoGoiQfs

those were 193 and 192 btw

I will never grow tired of Necrolord album covers. Also that one has great music, not as heavy metal inflected as Storm of the Light's Bane but in the same region.

191. Prong - Beg To Differ 154 Points, 5 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/1Phnanc.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/7AyJ2XmfbdwAFHZpuG2sqs

hmmm that should have been 190. the SS i got is messed up

At last, the 5 vote threshold, broken.

Kayo Dot - Hubardo (156 Points, 2 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/bn1KfDD.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/1NbCHKiZBgdftwEKSt1FM0

hmmm its removing the numbers. I put in 189 there.

YES

156 points, 2 votes, is that right?

188. Setherial - Nord (158 Points, 3 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/A8JwX17.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/5TAGer8H03Q6D9bdpZBpVy
https://youtu.be/9EOJt7un5Oc

xp yes two votes by lj
(and his 'girlfriend' )

I expect

how many points was a #1 spot on the ballot? 100?

she just confirmed that she didn't vote

and I didn't like Hubardo, incredible opening track aside

No idea. but iirc it was a maximum of 100 choices so probably.

frobisher told me to post an an album every 10 mins until he tells me to stop. I hope he hasnt disappeared for a few hours/days/weeks

kayo dot beating yob, darkspace , esoteric is a bit of a joke tbh

All of those bands will return.

187. Dark Angel - Darkness Descends 158 Points, 2 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/aYlaLIW.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/1IRzwwevpNSdxERoRIKQrw
https://youtu.be/h37V7cKIry8

ok I'm back. How low should I take it today? 180?

^^^^ also one of the best records ever

ok my last for the day as the penguin is back

and its more LJ metal

but I approve

186. Strapping Young Lad - City 158 Points, 4 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/U3V0Cuj.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/78Y2OaDAdvEqs3TRdCRdZc
https://youtu.be/dZAKk3kxI1o

as much BradNelson metal as me metal!

naw brad metal is brootal death metal

185. Atheist - Piece of Time (158, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/0eWWlU.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/70rb4YDFUa3NbZQseA9tEz
https://youtu.be/q4g6cwlTIhM

Somehow I forgot to vote for City. That's just wrong; it's one of the best things ever.

I never could get into Atheist, for some reason. Strange, because I probably love most of the bands that list them as an influence.

I forgot too I think. tho tbh I have no recollection of my ballot as it was so long ago

184. Panopticon - Roads to the North (159, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/9jbJjA.png

https://open.spotify.com/album/3Wj3kaoFezsJQrPAkgi4a6
https://youtu.be/Tb2UhUKTRXo

great album but surprised its made it as its so recent

as much BradNelson metal as me metal!

― odysseus (imago), Monday, February 15, 2016 1:34 PM (48 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is absolutely true, city is amazing, should be higher

183. Sodom - Persecution Mania (160, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/i7B52W.jpg

https://youtu.be/p1Jo7h2abU8

Sorry for the delay!

how many ballots were received?

26 ballots.

182. Painkiller - Guts of a Virgin (162, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/ankIZi.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/0d1wDNGlYHtDlZTp9lBHa6
https://youtu.be/d075v_dl6lc

181. Liturgy - Aesthetica (162, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/u6yDJs.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/1cpS5zdyOqr6hXLGiEr0Bj

lol.

a tie?

I think I'll post one more for today, get us down to an even 180.

naw, I don't know. the tabulation magic seems to sometimes make things with the same score not be ties. Probably has to do with weighted/unweighted, positions in the ballot, etc.

awww i hoped you would keep going. Im sure others will be around for another hour at least. its almost dinner time in the us, right?

I'm not sure anyone is paying attention...

theyre maybe eating

180. Bathory - The Return...... (163, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/ngoOPE.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/7B41qnK48xKbYacv3jY44J
https://youtu.be/2dWwKDCRV8o

I wondered how the early extreme bands would do

ok, my hands are cramped. That was a good start, imo. Here's the countdown so far:

205. Carcass - Symphonies of Sickness
204. !T.O.O.H.! - Rad A Trest
203. Esoteric - The Maniacal Vale
201. Liturgy - Renihilation
201. Xasthur - Subliminal Genocide
200. Virus - The Black Flux
199. Yob - The Unreal Never Lived
198. Nocturnus - The Key
196. Altar of Plagues - Teethed Glory and Injury
196. Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors
195. Meshuggah - Chaosphere
194. Satyricon - Nemesis Divina
193. Darkspace - II
192. Watchtower - Control and Resistance
191. Sacramentum - Far Away From The Sun
190. Prong - Beg To Differ
189. Kayo Dot - Hubardo
188. Setherial - Nord
187. Dark Angel - Darkness Descends
186. Strapping Young Lad - City
185. Atheist - Piece of Time
184. Panopticon - Roads to the North
183. Sodom - Persecution Mania
182. Painkiller - Guts of a Virgin
181. Liturgy - Aesthetica
180. Bathory - The Return

Did I vote in this? I feel like I completely missed out on it happening. Because I would've voted Symphonies of Sickness into the top 10 through sheer force of will.

no one remembers pretty sure we did our ballots about 5 years ago

I was one of the votes for Subliminal Genocide. It was low on my ballot but I wanted to vote for something by Xasthur, because for a year or so all I listened to was suicidal black metal.

I also voted for Nemesis Divina, which I heard for the first time during voting and went out and bought less than a week later. Excellent album, more polished than a lot of the other Norwegian black metal I voted for but great in its own right. I'm glad I didn't hear this when I was 20, I would have dismissed it.

xp Well it'll be uh interesting.

xxp Like SoS was a crucial record at the time, had to be heavily influential on the newly brutalized death metal scene at the time.

Maybe it would have stopped you listening to dashboard confessional if you had heard it at age 20, Tom?

my sources say you did not vote Hawkz. I am a shitty poll runner and was not good at whipping up the votes.

naw, I don't know. the tabulation magic seems to sometimes make things with the same score not be ties. Probably has to do with weighted/unweighted, positions in the ballot, etc.

― Frobisher, Monday, February 15, 2016 10:07 PM (42 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Some people asked to have their ballots counted as mixed weighted/unweighted and the way I had scoring set up meant that this led to fractional scores - Painkiller actually got 161.9444444444 points fwiw.

frobisher or seandalai any chance you could PM me my ballot?

What time are you starting today frobisher?

Yow, was off work yesterday so missed most of the internet -- happy to see this going (and also happy to see only one of my votes show up so far)!

Cool poll. So sorry I didn't vote. The Sham Mirrors was one of my favourite albums of all time for a very long time. I'll def be checking out more ITL.

you never vote youre a bad dog

tbh i didn't know it was on! not sure how i missed it though.

pretty sure you say that every poll!

wow I really slept in! Ok well. here we go!

179. Krallice - Diotima (164, 2 Votes)

https://i.sli.mg/VJ6NTy.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/1ZG0S8HIzNXjAUuthy47yc
https://youtu.be/5-E4ZRZg2bY

I really can't get a grasp on which Krallice album to start with, are they one of those bands where every album is so different that you can't really start anywhere? Should I just listen to all of them?

I'm not sure because I can't remember listening to them. I'm sure I have but IDK!

178. Pestilence - Testimony Of The Ancients (164, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/k5WnZ2.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/7rt3SoTjpXpqCajf2p9CRU
https://youtu.be/_zSs8-LBDL8

ccpost: Their albums aren't that different from each other, the s/t's the most straightforward, they've managed to get more complex but more cohesive as they gelled as a unit, Ygg Huur from last year is the only one that had a significant change in sound being a bit more tech-deathy. I'd go with the first one and continue from there.

that should be xxpost obvs.

177. Vlad Tepes/Belketre - March to the Black Holocaust (164, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/0NU56X.jpg

https://youtu.be/B9Sxs-njCjs

^ classic shit

176. Portal - Vexovoid (165, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/fSWp3n.jpg

https://youtu.be/TRijNXNHT-0
https://open.spotify.com/album/0PtGwwqM6zFvawkY3JHtfq

The next one up is surprising. I think people will be surprised how low it placed.

oohh

reign in blood?

something I'd have thought equally important, but for early US death metal.

death?

well, not that important!

175. Obituary - Slowly We Rot (166, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/V3S1Ol.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/7H5MWoD8M6dEQoSj3SMHP7
https://youtu.be/GXu0HmseAKs

I thought people liked this album...
I like it.

I like it but I don't even know if it'd make my top 50 death metal albums. It's great. But they never excited me.

hmmmm

OK I'm listening to Vlad Tepes/Belketre for the first time, for some reason I never got round to hearing any LLN, pretty good. That intro bit was strangely jaunty

I thought that Obituary album would be top 20

that 1996 Belketre demo with the name I will never remember is amazing

it's like Ambre Solaire Vuohdvordenakhre or something idk

i was closer than i had any right to be

XXXP yeah its great! there's some serious riffage later on, too.

Well, this is supposed to be the BEST, not most important or influential or whatever.

xxxpost argh

I think most Obituary fans rank Cause of Death way higher. Personally I prefer SWR for its less refined approach. I remember a time when that title track was the heaviest, scariest thing I'd ever heard. (Of course I was like 14.)

i prefer cause of death to slowly we rot

oic

also xxxpost there were some recent Vlad Tepes reissues with "better" sound quality than the originals. I keep forgetting that I bought two of them and have yet to actually play them.

174. Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue (170, 2 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/0JUydf.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/4msn6ehXrGUkun2SiUl7X2

TOO LOW

haha this was my only kayo dot vote. it's fucking extraordinary. my #19

:D

oh I'm lying, there was another KD way down. but this is IMO their crowning glory

CotE for me. That might still place since I placed it so highly!

considering i still gave it >50 points, given that it made my ballot at all, yeah

I have this one on vinyl. Its ok

This is the album they were touring for when I saw them.
Great live act!

so you saw them do '___on limpid form'. q jealous

they had a fire-breather on the stage with them. it was all very impressive.

173. Esoteric - Metamorphogenesis (170, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/BwWNi0.jpg

https://youtu.be/SNu54uekv_U?list=PLTNxN-f8GqFBx9_U3mwf27HWQIQLqWnAp

TOO LOW!

(j/k I'm surprise this placed)

too low is right

172. Anaal Nathrakh - The Codex Necro (171, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/BwWNi0.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/43z4Tjyz4EyNPbCVNnencV
https://youtu.be/ettzGLrFGLo

lol, sorry... that's not the cover...
https://i.sli.mg/WpYrAZ.jpg

we're gonna have a tie for 170

170. Dodheimsgard - A Umbra Omega (172, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/EEKZWb.jpg

https://youtu.be/aCFEETZX3SY
https://open.spotify.com/album/1uGPfJQZRJFhufmSfU0Lmj

Still not entirely convinced by that one personally

170. Reverend Bizarre - In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend (172, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/QgDvf4.jpg

https://youtu.be/c5FsD3D4o3Y
https://open.spotify.com/album/4qhtwqVc3FMTI3oHgjuaCW

no opinions about Rev. Bizarre?

I've always loved that album cover and I want to know where it comes from.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witches'_Sabbath_%28Goya,_1798%29

thank you!!

voted for a Dodheimsgard album I think, but not that one. The Vlad Tepes/Belketre is indeed classic!

169. Shining - Blackjazz (172, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/iaYWUx.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/1K2yKDVznk1oz356nWRAuf

Oh look, my #3!

Not Shining. That was lucky to be my #47

The Dodheimsgard is like the second coming of peak-era VDGG, but as metal. It's become one of my favourite records by anyone ever. I prefer them to Ulver at this point

I think it sound weird for the sake of weird. but I like it.

168. Enslaved - Vikingligr Veldi (173, 2 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/OOB749.jpg

https://youtu.be/coJ_O3YYcNY

reverend bizarre way too low. Punished for not having "extreme" enough vox?

last two albums are all time

i think i'm just going to say the same thing periodically throughout this list

have you heard the reverend bizarre? they might be mid-paced enough for you to like

i was just about to say i wanted to check that record out just based on the cover

which i've seen several times over the years but i've never gotten around to it

xxxxp come on you're talking about a board where a band like Ghost wins polls

one of the all-time doom albums

dinsdale but this is an extreme poll, the others arent

167. Nokturnal Mortum - The Voice of Steel (174, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/jo9Lky.jpg

https://youtu.be/QcsVp0A4Vik
https://open.spotify.com/album/1BTpXpvzQeVXmsERKLL9Bb

you have a point (but I bet we'll see some far-from-extreme stuff too)

due to using certain official sources to guide what 'extreme' meant, we had to allow basically all doom metal that wasn't doom-ish NWOBHM.

so yeah, likely a lot of things will place that aren't that "extreme." it was a difficult process.

what do we reckon the first earnest fight will be about

Sunbather

hah if that places it sure will

dont think it was nominated was it?

Didn't think so either but it was.

lol ;P

its ILM so it might win!

I'm listening to this Nokturnal Mortum album for the first time and I really like it. It's like what you'd imagine from the cover but a lot more extreme.

LOTR Black Metal

up next is an album that def. got too little love.

166. Peste Noire - Ballade cuntre lo Anemi francor (175, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/GP9Kz3.jpg

https://youtu.be/PKsKik48Bpo

I prefer La Sanie

I love that DHG but I didn't vote for it. It's probably better than some of the recent albums I did vote for, now that I've had time to digest it a little more.

Mostly I voted for older albums, I didn't feel comfortable saying something that had only been out for six months was Best Of All Time.

I have Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue. I've only listened to it a couple times, but I liked it, though not nearly enough to vote for it in this poll.

165. Bolt Thrower - For Victory (175, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/8u04av.jpg

https://youtu.be/mud3po9jRWw
https://open.spotify.com/album/4mK9V0fvxcSl4hWNcsdk2C

164. Mgla - With Hearts Toward None (175, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/OScQ9A.jpg

https://youtu.be/4aFGuKwF2ic

ok... here's one that might be more exciting.

163. Jute Gyte - Vast Chains (176, 2 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/5pQaGB.jpg

https://youtu.be/OD0Osv8HfAQ
https://open.spotify.com/album/6d6v23GFBa74XhHD9DgKMu

haha lj and sund4r strike again?

lj's big piss stain is coming later.

162. Carcass - Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious (177, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/ndBnax.jpg

https://youtu.be/FKf_R2WtkZ4
https://open.spotify.com/album/3Tl1dAwNcRO1W6lMlpx0e3

Thing is, pretty much all of these are such classics, it's hard to actually choose one over the other. I'm scrolling down going like "Vikingligr Veldi"? - too low! Oh wait Nokturnal Mortum, yeah obv that's better but...Bolt Thrower? Hell yeah! CARCASS!!!

There'd better not be any other Enslaved records placing higher though, that'd really damage my faith in ILM's collective judgement.

I could've put like half of Enslaved's discography on my ballot (of 200). A lot of this comes down to mood, to be honest. Before I checked my ballot, I assumed I'd put Frost, Eld, Mardraum, and Below the Lights on there. However only those last two made the cut.

Shameful.

Oh and obligatory TOO FUCKING LOW for Necroticism. That was my #10. On another level than anything else they ever did, right in that sweet spot between shambolic and polished.

So the shit Shining makes it to the lower reaches, but will the true Shining show up at all?

ccpost: Their albums aren't that different from each other, the s/t's the most straightforward, they've managed to get more complex but more cohesive as they gelled as a unit, Ygg Huur from last year is the only one that had a significant change in sound being a bit more tech-deathy. I'd go with the first one and continue from there.

Years Past Matter is the best Krallice imo and was one of my favourites from that year.

Altar of Plagues, Jute Gyte, Painkiller, Kayo Dot, Panopticon all on my ballot.

161. Bathory - Bathory (179, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/IbZQd9.jpg

https://youtu.be/RiAMZlW2SMU
https://open.spotify.com/album/5ViU3AfzAl9BQ0uFXOkR1W

Oh, !T.O.O.H! was on near the bottom too! Iirc, ultros was pushing it and I listened and dug it.
xp

xp I don't think so Siegbran. We still need to spread awareness about the TRUE Shining.

also its funny to think of shining as "experimental" when compared to the album up next.

160. Ved Buens Ende - Written In Waters (179, 2 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/MqHzMz.jpg

https://youtu.be/QVOASknimeA

highly unusual.

good band

what are you taking it down to?

150.

and if that last album wasn't weird enough...

159. Naked City - Torture Garden (180, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/j3HFIS.jpg

https://youtu.be/Ow_bB6nIiyE

\m/

phil will be chuffed

Oh wow, I really like Ved Buens Ende so far. You're right: this is pretty singular.

158. Cleric - Regressions (180, 2 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/P6K2aP.jpg

https://youtu.be/nsYk6CQdn8Q
https://open.spotify.com/album/3FAQOCEap58fkflB3dUftG

157. Angel Hair - Pregnant with the Senior Class (181, 2 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/mP8D52.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/3MNozlzSgs0C0YTfBkQxZp

^ one of those albums where the cover does not indicate at all what the band sound likes.

dunno either of those

its dinnertime US and past-bedtime for the UK... should I stop?

maybe take it 155?

nobody has an opinion?

I do

post away i can catch up in morning

ok I'll take it down to 150 as planned. 155 is a tie.

Regressions was my #2.

Please, if you have any interest in the extent to which extremity can be sought, give it a listen.

It is above and beyond.

155. Dismember - Like an Everflowing Stream (182, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/nsrA1J.jpg

https://youtu.be/SKKEBuACcVI
https://open.spotify.com/album/4i9cuK7MNbTVvezlFujln7

155. Meshuggah - obZen (182, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/ty2qyD.jpg

https://youtu.be/qIuX-8g5hMs?list=PLFF509642A82FFDEA
https://open.spotify.com/album/1E72ED2DF9qg7Dr08yCkHx

Regressions is pretty solid, I was listening to it.

This Dismember album is giving me warm feelings though. Early 90s feelings.

Written In Waters was my number 20. Amazing work too.

Didn't vote for Vast Chains, weirdly. It is still amazing.

Think Obzen reached the bottom of my ballot

I'm amazed that Written In Waters only got 2 votes in an ILX extreme metal poll. Yall need to get extremer. Regressions...yeah, probably too extreme ;)

Oh wait I did vote for Vast Chains. My #24, even, lol

I've voted for like half of what's placed today

And it's my birthday now so I reserve the right to be indulgent

xxp I either didn't know this poll was happening or was in my "I ain't votin' in no poll!" phase, totally would've voted for that one.

Also, sund4r, if you haven't already check out Virus and Fleurety!

I still need to get that Dismember album. I know I'm totally slack but them sounding so much like Entombed really bugged me at the time. Which seems hilarious in an era where like a third of the metal I buy is d-beat/HM-2 death metal but, you know, things change.

Huh, that Cleric does in fact sound like SYL's City (per the YT comment). Gonna have to give this one a full listen.

I hope that this rollout introduces people to some stuff they've never heard of.

or didn't care to listen to at the time, as well...

Its a shame Nocturnus - The Key placed so abysmally low, it's been my #1 new listen so far.

Cosmic Slop is gonna miss out on one of his favorites placing...

154. Thergothon - Stream From The Heavens (183, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/V35Ltu.jpg

https://youtu.be/tRJAkNSCn_Y
https://open.spotify.com/album/3CTRpruFgLKDVPHWLe2XET

Its a real beast, a foundational funeral doom album for sure.
I love this a lot, but I'm personally not really into the sound of the vocals.

the best album ever

"The Unknown Kadath in The Cold Waste" is a perfect song, imo.

which i intend to describe both like an ever flowing stream AND stream from the heavens

best streams ever

xpost

I love the Angel Hair.

don't xpost the streams

lol

I will, GOTT PUNCH.

TOO LOW

153. Morbid Angel - Covenant (184, 2 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/0r9d52.jpg

https://youtu.be/f8qnS_X5omQ

xp lol I thought you went to bed, you have to get up early!

Yay Thergothon! I will also rep their super-raw demo!

And can I recommend checking out Unholy's "Trip to Depressiv Autumn" demo for guys that dig Thergothon and Skepticism? I quote a metal archives review: "(A) glowing piece of low production filth (...) The guitar and bass just pound until you fuckin' puke."

I'll check it out for sure.

I mean it doesn't really sound like either of those bands, but that demo is insane. The guitars, man...

xxxpost I remember agonizing over which Morbid Angels to put on my ballot and finally decided to go with just the first two (at numbers 2 and 4, to boot). Honestly I should've included Covenant, Formulas, and especially Gateways. What a ridiculously great band.

I may have let "Angel of Disease" be the dissuading factor in this specific case.

Weird that VBE only got two votes, I thought it was almost like a canon album, shows what I know. Regressions is worryingly intense. I voted both of those pretty highly iirc

we'll show 'em

and yeah, seriously, VBE are spoken of in hushed tones in any extreme metal conversation OR SO I THOUGHT

listening to Reverend Bizarre. it's mad. approve.

152. Sigh - Imaginary Sonicscape (184, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/NzKRvM.jpg

https://youtu.be/IIJ56d-8yPs
https://open.spotify.com/album/1Nsz6t50Wz9nAGZFdIw8d1

Haven't listened to this in a long time time but I remember liking it quite a bit.

I don't think VBE is canon exactly -- more in the "infamous" category, as showing how metal can be truly weird when it wants to be (and maybe especially for showing how black metal could be more than it was circa mid 90s). I like that both VBE and a DHG album made this poll!

I love that Sigh album. I'm kind of not into the "collage of genres"+metal thing generally but they do it so well on that album, it either doesn't feel contrived or it feels so contrived it's kind of genius.

This is the only Sigh album I kinda like

DHG are returning. 666 International might even make the top 100…maybe…

Sigh! Oh dear. Certainly extreme but comes off a bit cheesy to me. Except for 'A Sunset Song', which transcends cheese and becomes amazing. Maybe the album deserves to be here just for that

151. Tiamat - Wildhoney (185, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/tavs1O.jpg

https://youtu.be/B4CPKum9M2o
https://open.spotify.com/album/4SqDD8tTRLJB6YWxQe5Kyp

Wildhoney hasn't aged that well but I really liked Tiamat back in the day.

I'm liking it well enough, two tracks in...

seems like they hedged too much when they could have been artier and made a better album, though.

ok folks, are you ready for the last album of the night? its a pretty good one, imo.

xpost

also, I will say that the Dismember (which I'd argue *is* canon) is too low! Compared to what death metal became only a few years later, it might seem quaint, but the tunes are good, and for some reason, I am a sucker for death with d-beats.

I really didn't like Wildhoney when I listened to it ages ago, I'll give at another go at some point. My taste in metal has changed somewhat in the last few years.

150. Blut Aus Nord - 777 - Cosmosophy

https://i.sli.mg/UWecti.jpg

https://youtu.be/XT1N6cXgGiA
https://open.spotify.com/album/6hCtkhHQEQdboBgJmpBuhi

I've tried really hard to get into BaN but nothing sticks. It all sounds so monotonous to me, which may be the point but it doesn't make for anything particularly interesting

Aaaaaaah this is so good, the opening track is like the perfect straight BM song. Then it gets weird, having made its point!

Such a smooth, melodic record. I know this might seem boring, but it sounds like honey - it's exquisite. Coming from a guy whose grasp of dissonance is so extensive, too!

By far my favourite BAN, of those I've heard, and my number 9

P.S. I'm listening to the Angel Hair now. It's great!! Who knew this kind of stuff was being made in the 1990s? Not I!

*sigh* This is the sort of thing I grew up believing "emo" to mean.

i still listen to wildhoney! that came out at a time when there were sooooo many cool albums that i really felt should have crossed over more and gained non-metal fans. just stuff i thought more people should hear. that list is kinda endless though. plus, people suck and they wanted to listen to terrible music.

777 was my #5. It manages to be so pleasant in its mind-warping pitch-bending.

xp The 'emo' comment was re Angel Hair btw.

I never knew people thought of the '90s Gravity Records bands (Angel Hair et. al.) as metal-related at all.

Angel Hair sounds like what I'd call "screamo," which certainly had crossover into metal scenes.

Ha, I checked when I nominated it and no one vetoed it. I kind of feel like splitting hairs as to whether different kinds of super-heavy guitar rock with screamed vocals count as metal or not is silly, tbh. Deafheaven probably owes as much to the heavier end of classic emo as they do to bands with long hair.
xp

When Wildhoney came out I'd not been listening to a lot of metal for several years (except for WASP and Savatage for some reason), but a typically derisive review in Alternative Press ("hey! a metal album but it actually has BRAINS!") drove me to check it out. It didn't hurt that I was a massive stoner at the time, but that thing blew my mind. Painted the weirdest pictures in my head, stuff that has stuck with me over the years. I love those hypnotic drum choices at the beginning of "Gaia."

Overfilled toothpaste tubes
Sleepless and timeless faces
Drippety drop on sugarcubes
The one eyed's eye twinkles and gazes
Twinkles and gazes...

I don't think I voted in this, but thus far I rate Reverend Bizarre (such a great band, ticks all the doom boxes), Panopticon, Obituary (that guitar tone!), Morbid Angel, Carcass (both records), Bathory. I'll be trying to check out as many of the records I am unfamiliar with as possible- thanks for making this happen!

Oh *that* Angel Hair. I know it well and yes its Screamo. I didn't recognise the album cover. Were Orchid and Jerome's Dream nominated too?
Not really metal but liked by metal fans,

actually that stuff could have come out on Hydrahead records easily along with early Isis etc

Someone needs to wake frobisher up

Were you thinking of Angel Witch, CS?

no

Imaginary Sonicscape is such a lark. Love that album. Their best?

149. Meshuggah - Catch 33 (188, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/SDyNWs.jpg

https://youtu.be/OXoLLiGSKQ8?list=PLEA1514932853D85A
https://open.spotify.com/album/7nwiqJBpMfvX7SNua996Jf

Nobodies talking about Meshuggah, but someone's voting for all of this Meshuggah!

I'm surprised Imago is iffy on Sigh. They're kind of the thrash metal Cardiacs.

They were quite the darlings for awhile there.

Awesome thread!

Certainly extreme but comes off a bit cheesy to me.

I don't recognize the distinction. & dog latin otm.

love sigh

Sigh don't sound anything like Cardiacs unless you mean "have lots of keyboards and are a bit wacky"

Catch-33 is definitely my favourite Mushuggah album, a lot of people out there seem to think it's one of their worst which is just crazy

i just assume everyone likes meshuggah but doesnt admit it

146. Immolation - Close to a World Below (191, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/TEsc1T.jpg

https://youtu.be/HPQL2mhK79k
https://open.spotify.com/album/12hFv6ZaHpXWYs5SXR4JKT

Catch 33 is my favorite Meshuggah too, though ever since I started listening to "real" metal, for some reason don't have much urge to play it (or the band in general).

er, and the other 146...

146. Sodom - In the Sign of Evil (191, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/82Cdi8.jpg

https://youtu.be/plk2bK1-FLc

^ that's some raw shit

oh hell yeah. This was in my top 5, and IMO is the best thing Sodom ever did (with their follow up full-length being a close second). Raw, simple, not really dated at all, especially when you consider how many bands still go for that old school black metal sound

does anyone really listen to that Sigh album anymore? it would make me too tired to play it now.

maybe Mr.Bungle fans...

i probably listen to meshuggah more now than i did when those albums listed came out. i'm into precision riffs these days.

145. Mare - Mare (192, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/zmPEfo.jpg

https://youtu.be/4221CYMzG1w

Yes!

144. Death - Leprosy (193, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/vpkt9W.jpg

https://youtu.be/5zQhJNsWBWY
https://open.spotify.com/album/4EQcPArSq6dm0k4QWzpLBF

any passionate opinions on Death? I find it hard to get into this band for some reason.

I think they're amazing! I love them!

anyway, next up is a tie...

142. Ambergris - Ambergris (EP) (194, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/tNmYxA.jpg

142. Melvins - Lysol (194, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/c4YmdL.jpg

https://youtu.be/LFUuZXW99TY

Lysol!!!

I didn't care for Death at the time but I grew to really like them. So much better than the brutal DM you get now IMO

Yeah when it comes to DM, Death is one of my favorites. Corrupted as well.

I love Death's final albums - Human, Individual Thought Patterns, Symbolic and to a lesser degree The Sound of Perseverance. Don't care about anything before that. I wrote about them back in 2011.

That Ambergris EP is a mystery to me. I couldn't find much about it searching online.

So is this death metal or black metal?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiDXIkeE3sY

Also, while Melvins' 5000 other albums are on spotify, but not Lysol. go figure.

ambergris the 70's band? that album isn't that hot. great cover obviously.

Corrupted arent death metal tho. funeral doom maybe. but they cover so many styles you cant really pigeonhole them. I hope there's more Corrupted and Death to come.

Phil - those albums are awesome

lol. See, I don't think I even found the right album cover for this! Unless someone nominated some obscure soul/r&b and then colluded with two others to vote for it.

first six death albums should be on here. and all their demo tapes.

thanks for that Phil -- I need to spend more time with Death in general. I want to like them, and I do listen to Scream Bloody Gore, but I guess I prefer stuff like either earlier Possessed or later Autopsy.

Here's a possible Ambergris.

https://horsesacrifice.bandcamp.com/album/ambergris

Wish I'd voted on this! I've recently dug out some old death metal vinyl and Human still sounds unbelievable. Fwiw if push came to shove I'd probably have voted for Clandestine. Currently I'd quite happily settle for Garten der Unbewusstheit.

I love Symbolic and The Sound of Perseverance and haven't listened to the others enough. "Crystal Mountain" is the most amazing song.

Here's a possible Ambergris.

https://horsesacrifice.bandcamp.com/album/ambergris

jmm that's probably it. thanks!

maybe the actual voters can enlighten us?

141. Eyehategod - Dopesick (194, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/vaYmUB.jpg

https://youtu.be/WLiWgvMEPZ8
https://open.spotify.com/album/6hQfZWwzteEX6o7M5DdKB6

yes!

theres about 500 albums that we would all be happy if they could appear in the top 100, right?
Im worrying tho that since so much great stuff is appearing so low down that the top 10 will be an anti climax of metallica,slayer,megadeth,pantera,anthrax, sepultura and bill magill moaning there's no black sabbath

I have no idea how this poll will go. Agreed, some really great stuff has already appeared, and I didn't do much campaigning for my faves, so not even sure they will place at all, much less near the top.

the top 10 i imagine is predictable mostly but looks like absolutely anything could place if it only needs 3-5 votes

I don't want to give anything away but I don't think Pantera is featured heavily. :)

140. Cynic - Focus (194, 5 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/lG5YEJ.jpg

https://youtu.be/aHA8JyIzaBE
https://open.spotify.com/album/549e0F39N284sxDE7sqGi3

oh they werent nominated???
xp

got a funny feeling nobody did nominate Pantera. that thread was so long ago tho

next up is a THREE WAY TIE

I know everyone loves Take As Needed For Pain, but to me Dopesick is definitely Eyehategod's best album. I saw them about a year after it came out, and the show I was at is on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bid2iOBmHV4

Dopesick is my fave too

137. Carcass - Surgical Steel (197, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/ZzwuNp.jpg

https://youtu.be/1FE26Fuyij8?list=PLEkPQ7OdZG6dSdgvh1zB1s_S6vl3e6YFt
https://open.spotify.com/album/1621mIIzLYdM0TFInr4wxd

137. Jute Gyte - Discontinuities (197, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/V6eIF7.jpg

http://jutegyte.bandcamp.com/album/discontinuities
https://open.spotify.com/album/1B9OtojrhSv0uihcH9vMez

137. Pig Destroyer - Terrifyer (197, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/bIISJC.jpg

https://youtu.be/jOIcpDf33oY?list=PLr3ViTcgePdhoSIGBTc6oBtLn-D5POYV3
https://open.spotify.com/album/6x95DGZhx18gJuxRlbwZso

It's been a while since I last gave Cynic a shot. The vocoder is sounding better to me than it ever has before.

Terrifyer, the only Pig Destroyer album ever reviewed by The Wire.

136. Isis - Celestial (198, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/VP0sjE.jpg

https://youtu.be/M8XN-3YZL5Y
https://open.spotify.com/album/2IB9qbao2WOvFsxqwqcp6B

can't believe you guys voted for terrorists!

too low!

agreed.

135. Coroner - Mental Vortex (199, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/vN7cHS.jpg

https://youtu.be/t3dAavsgnVg
https://open.spotify.com/album/1Ex4Fa5d1CZ3u8EOn8etlT

^ that's criminally low, imo.

rocky didnt vote then?

hardly anyone did.

I am very grateful to everyone who did!

134. Demilich - Nespithe (199, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/bVOymm.jpg

https://youtu.be/KuBAWEVz6Pw
https://open.spotify.com/album/3AI6JVwjqf28nGbLaIEXVC

ok moving on then...

133. Celtic Frost - Into the Pandemonium (200, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/gz72OL.jpg

https://youtu.be/q1sXIMTK9z8
https://open.spotify.com/album/1dZWp65Vw78caXRRl9JWV8

MEXICAN RADIO

132. Absu - Absu (201, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/aFdw2B.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/2YuHaOES23feLmgklook0z

holy crap Demilich is way too low! Classic record, influential record, and really unique to boot.

i thought the last 2 would be higher. poll is really unpredictable. No wonder you did a top 200!

(i'm having lunch right now, will continue the countdown in a bit)

Unfortunately I didn't vote in this but am discovering a lot of great stuff. Nespithe is blowing me away right now.

Surprised Pavement came in so low

haha it does look like watery domestic

If you're new to Nespithe and want to own it, make sure to get the Svart Records 2CD reissue, The 20th Adversary of Emptiness. Sounds amazing. May be expensive by now, though. Or you can go digital:
https://demilich.bandcamp.com/album/20th-adversary-of-emptiness

I hope we can attract more people to future polls. It's kind of weird getting closer to #100 while still floating around the 3-4 vote-per-release mark.

Also, way late but I love those first 3 Death albums, mainly because SBG was one of those gateway albums for me, and Leprosy was one of my first heavily anticipated death metal releases -- still remember hearing "Pull the Plug" for the first time on Georgia Tech's metal show WREKAGE (still running to this day!). I have no clue, however, how much Death would appeal to me if, like, say, Pestilence or even Morbid Angel, I'd gotten into them retroactively, having missed them the first time around. There does seem to be something lacking in Death's music, damned if I can explain it, though.

the artists poll thread ppl made frobisher join the queue so the poll ran about 2 years after he first wanted to do it. then none of the people on that thread took part in this poll anyway.

But theres no metal left to poll apart from EOY polls unless I decide to run the best metal since ILM began poll that i shelved a few years ago due to the poll thread stuff. and not sure i can be bothered with the hassle

Only sticking around for a minute to catch up but:

jmm found the right Ambergris. Great, but very obscure release a few ILMers (including me) really love

The Mare EP is as incredible now as it was a decade ago, especially since there seems to be as much mediocre post-metal around now as there were back in Isis' heyday

Nespithe took me years to get into but when it clicked, goddamn

its a lot of work but if you only get 20-30 ballots its kinda not worth it. The metal fans willing to take part in polls are a small pool of people.

the mare ep is amazing and sad there never was a full length follow up. They did reform to do a live show though did they not?

Oh here's the Spotify for the reissued Demilich:
https://play.spotify.com/album/0q7Fbmnq6t1otUplK9aYUs

As a non-regular Spotifier, I dunno what the difference between the "open" and "play" url is.

Also, I did check out that Mare and, despite my aversion to sludge, found some of it interesting, e.g.: "Tropics."

That reissue also has all their demos, which depending on the day (like when I want to listen to stuff that sounds more typically "Finnish"), I actually think are just as good as the record.

wish i still had that coroner tape. wonder what happened to it. i like a lot of these classica metal albums that are classic.

the mare ep is amazing and sad there never was a full length follow up. They did reform to do a live show though did they not?

― Cosmic Slop, Wednesday, 17 February 2016 19:15 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah I think they played at least one if not a handful of shows, nothing else came of it unfortunately

Frobisher has to pop out for a few hours so hes given me todays rollout to do for him until he returns. My orders are to post every 10 mins. He better not bugger off for 24 hours as I'll be knackered

The metal fans willing to take part in polls are a small pool of people.

I would have voted had I not been hibernating under empty cracker sleeves

I can hear the cries of too low for the next one already

131. Bolt Thrower - The IVth Crusade (202 Points, 4 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/KiqcBYd.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/5lNb3hq6UlBJNwtkQm7ZwS
https://youtu.be/s1SY18BJ3J8

130. Negură Bunget - OM (204 Points, 4 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/2TyHchH.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/1EbBtf7i8sopqERrvrBAC1
https://youtu.be/QqAv_h2lswo

^thought that would be higher. I know I voted for it

wow cynic and coroner way too low

Cool list so far, lots of too lows already, that Bolt Thrower album, which is my favourite by them, included. But also SYL, Bathory, Morbid Angel, Thergothon, Sacramentum. All top tier stuff, weird to see it up here in the hundreds.

Warmaster is the one for me, but this is a great record. The vinyl (along with loads of early 90s death metal) currently goes for pretty silly money.

A poll with a low turnout and a pretty large scope was always going to throw up some weird results. I found my ballot earlier and it's pretty erm light on the classics. If I did it again now it would probably be much different.

Focus, yes, lower than I would have thought. It's quite a strange album; it has all the features I'd imagine in some largely forgotten cult thing but instead it became the blueprint for most prog-metal outside of D***m T*****r

I have tried with Bolt Thrower numerous times but they just don't do it for me. Their songs are too slow.

bolt thrower rule.

129. Abyssal - Antikatastaseis (205 Points, 4 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/j5AbixY.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/3RSCxNN2kG66swQkvnJjaA
https://youtu.be/M0I-xGBfd70

Very good album, maybe too high... partially my fault I think

I have tried with Bolt Thrower numerous times but they just don't do it for me. Their songs are too slow.

listen faster

ILX poll results always have too much ILX stuff in them

128. Kayo Dot - Choirs Of The Eye 206 Points, 3 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/sPq7bwm.jpg

https://youtu.be/GzJA1xQxTCU

LJ are you sure your other half didn't vote?

List feels very random. I'm fine with that.

I don't care what anyone says I love this fuckin album

128. Wolves in the Throne Room - Diadem of 12 Stars (212 Points, 3 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/RXDrY0l.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/7MtvZVeh5bygo1CHJGSbwz
https://youtu.be/jvho-_yrAEs

doesnt say its a tie and it may be as stated by seandalai due to decimal points but i'll post it with this

126. Oranssi Pazuzu - Valonielu 212 Points, 3 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/4UPXC5U.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/6lA7q02cKCIWImvzHbhmrs
https://youtu.be/rrZR6pUH-rU

Diadem should have more than 3 votes!

125. Immortal - At the Heart of Winter (214 3 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/kc5ENft.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/7cuQrfE3R8cX53zLoGF6Ma
https://youtu.be/r9TnZfilJ-4

this is a great run actually im quite happy posting these for a while as there's some real classics coming tonight

Oh man, too low.

The riffs on that thing are ridiculous. I put Sons of Northern Darkness ahead of it but not by much. (And Damned in Black doesn't get the attention it deserves: "Against the Tide" is one of my fav Immortal tunes.)

the all time metal poll had "too low" after most posts (except those by bill magill and JF)

there would be something wrong if it wasnt like that though

The Call of Cthulow

I'm sorry.

Also the best/only non ridiculous Immortal album cover. It looks just like the album sounds, a colossal mountain of riffs.

124. Sepultura - Arise (216 Points, 4 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/EMO3SS7.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/7hgWmH16eu70yqrg5Pc3SM
https://youtu.be/LbgIeC3K8TU

Has Sepultura's stock fallen in the new millennium?

The Call of Cthulow

Thread needs new subtitle.

On a different note, that whole Cascadian sound never resonated with me. It was effective at what it was doing, I guess, but every listening experience was kind of the same, regardless of album or even band. When I want atmospheric black metal that takes its time, I go to Germany: Lunar Aurora and Nagelfar.

And I honestly have grown to like Sepultura more over time. Schizophrenia, Beneath the Remains, and Arise, anyway. I used to see them as "background metal," unfortunately. I will say that a lot of their songs are drawn out longer than they need to be.

123. Corrupted - Llenandose de gusanos (216 Points, 4 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/AlfPMXx.jpg

Disc 1 https://youtu.be/kjNxqTBSFTU

Disc 2 https://youtu.be/QAkXzfkHMFI

far too low imo

i don't think i've ever listened to an entire Corrupted album.

You should. and the ep's

also a label needs to do a 2xCD of all their 7" releases

Mayhem - Ordo ad Chao (222 Points, 3 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/4fBTMMh.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/79UgnwbipkpzXDOGlFbZQo
https://youtu.be/i_Ftb0vj-fk

that is #122

An album with a #1 vote coming up

Ordo ad Chao will never stop blowing my mind. It's the only album in my top 10 released after the turn of the millennium.

121. Jute Gyte - Ship of Theseus (222 Points, 3 Voters One #1 Vote)
http://i.imgur.com/Gr3Gcy7.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/2TRnqQVu9IqMBrWuyergMc

aw yea my boy

is there going to be a spotify playlist for this? i assume not everything is on there but for the stuff that is

Just catching up... Quite a few things I voted for showing up today (not Jute Gyte though)! Cool to see Abyssal this high up.

I voted for that Wolves In the Throne room record, good stuff. I also voted for Abyssal but I kept it low in my rankings. My ballot now would be 100% different, aside from maybe my top 4.

maybe forks will compile one treeship?

i hope so! <3 forks.

i'm happy to see liturgy on here already. there other stuff will place even higher, i think.

are any of yall going to see liturgy and opn on march 17th?

120. Entombed - Clandestine (222 Points, , 4 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/KbifzBj.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/25KCGtDdhs5sSSnXnD38bS
https://youtu.be/dv8NL5YEDGI

May I be the first to say TO LOW.

*TOO

I believe you are supposed to say Cthulow

but yes

the next 3 albums will get that call too I think

Jute Gyte are cool, I find that sort of avant garde stuff can easily be really boring but he manages to write like, riffs and stuff. Also the guy used to comment on a metal blog I read a few years ago, I wonder if he's aware of his fanbase on here.

the only people who have heard of him post here

119. Immortal - Sons of Northern Darkness (223 Points, 4 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/lgxupDx.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/2caJZ1rdL6eYz07kcBzolr
https://youtu.be/pM28nat5IP8?list=PLoYJAFn8g_lbW1XyWZBIfDfc8XFUtk_cP

There was a Jute Gyte thread at metal-archives -- that's how I first learned of him -- but I think it was in a weird place like the musician's subforum or something. Pretty sure he posted there too (it may have been his own thread for all I remember).

edit: oh hi Abbath and friends. That's about how far apart Heart of Winter and Sons were on my ballot. Hard to choose.

i think sons of northern darkness was like the second or third metal album i heard when i was trying to get back into metal in college (after in the nightside eclipse and leviathan iirc)

anyway obviously i was immediately converted forever obviously, what an unbelievably powerful record

lol obviously obviously

118. Death - Scream Bloody Gore (224 Points, 5 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/xk8Araa.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/0PvGbpxBh7faAVbeZM4sIm
https://youtu.be/tJX-sC14vkg?list=PLgBe5yoeEciZjEHqLM7g699TYE88r9mDa

Even though he was (and presumably is still) a loathsome shit, that guy who created the ANUS site made me never able to unsee how the horizontal beam in Death's logo cross slowly migrated upward over the years.

That album cover brings back the serious memories, though. That was around the time I began learning that my teenaged interest in cheap horror movies and novels could be carried over to the musical realm. What an awakening.

117. Melvins - Houdini (225 Points, 4 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/UvfBgiz.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/0agYsmUl1uS32ZFHKQ8L8W
https://youtu.be/nZB3RgTEhrQ

xpost I love the Incantation cover of "Scream Bloody Gore." Kyle Severn is one of those drummers that wail like mad on their snares.
https://youtu.be/q_ClXPGmZy4

116. Orthrelm - OV (230 Votes, 4 Points)
http://i.imgur.com/oj2MqYM.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/43lWIqkA5shE8yOr7ZqWj0
https://youtu.be/e2EGKt8yONI

115. diSEMBOWELMENT - Transcendence Into the Peripheral (230 Points, 4 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/AhO02jc.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/4AMnNUSIrjw1RbmW8pS1mT
https://youtu.be/9-gRJ-fHDjI

didnt say it was a tie so presumably the decimal point thing again

114. Blut Aus Nord - The Work Which Transforms God (231 Points, 3 Votes, One #1)
http://i.imgur.com/0lg7yYH.jpg

https://youtu.be/JcAt3Nxq7ZE

no sign of frobisher and I have his list down to 101 so on I go until he returns

113. Meshuggah - Destroy Erase Improve (232 Points, 4 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/tuTjpjc.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/2z2HRb6y2RmravMDawYhhe

TOO LOW re: The Work Which Transforms God, I was the #1 voter for that one.

hey metallers! Jute Gyte's bandcamp page seems entirely name your price:

http://jutegyte.bandcamp.com/music

:0 \m/

112. Spectral Lore - III (233 Points, 3 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/iYxrB0a.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/5UetZ7EzBp3hz5Egc9D2ZB
https://youtu.be/z3P2CydPVYk

111. Nachtmystium - Assassins: Black Meddle, pt 1 (233 Points, 4 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/35AGvCA.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/0M6dtfwL1drYAZUFXUrzDC
https://youtu.be/hfBTl8QWx2Y

I may not be commenting much but that's simply because I haven't heard a lot of the "classics". I'm taking notes though and will be checking out the ones that seem most interesting. Just so you don't think it wasn't worth the hassle.

everyone should comment even if they havent heard the albums. the artwork alone is usually worth talking about

I don't know if it's the same case with an original press, but my remaster of Disembowelment's Transcendence has something going on that gives me a headache. It's that weird loud bassy thrumming that makes your eardrum feel like wind is hitting it. Can't even listen to it low, which is unfortunate because the music is amazing.

has it been remastered really loud?

George strikes again here..

110. Stara Rzeka - Cień chmury nad ukrytym polem (236 Points, 3 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/o3LKNaJ.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/11gK31t01ictIPjrWJwSlQ
https://youtu.be/-9gYSapbu5M

cool artwork

I'm not as crazy about this as people (all three of them) seem to be, it's nice enough.

Some loud albums I can handle, like Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk. The whole mastering thing is a mystery to me.

And yeah The Work Which Transforms God is in a class by itself. Haunting, visionary, rejuvenated black metal's ability to creep a listener out.

xpost re Disembowelment: I've never heard a pre-remastered version; all I know is my 2cd compilation is painful to listen to. According to that dr.loudness-war.info site, it's only one "notch" down on the dynamic range scale from the original. Of course those dynamic range numbers never tell the full story.

109. Drudkh - Autumn Aurora (237 Points, 4 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/nf6TABv.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/0TNtWRdp0hTpf37gp7n7sT

https://youtu.be/J_6twRhs9_E

Latest run suggests that one should avoid metal albums whose cover art suggests the involvement of Trent Reznor. Or just seek out the stuff that looks like a D&D module. Either way.

And much as I love the Melvins, it's very weird to see Houdini in this company.

hey everyone! I'm back! Thank you so much CS, you are doing the Dark Lord's work here.

ok! I got one lined up so may as well post it and its TOO LOW

ok go!

I'm planning on taking this down to 101 tonight.

Tried with Drudkh a bunch of times but always found them boring. First track on that album has a nice lead I guess.

108. Yob - Catharsis (239 Points, 3 Votes)
http://i.imgur.com/YEoqj9G.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/31APckO5ZOLjWecTohSpuD
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnQpJ9rAuFo8hVhpL7RrqL8Q23mCLykRm

Never got into Yob or Drudkh, different though they may be.

Obligatory thanks to CS and Frobisher for doing this all day/night:
http://i.imgur.com/HBnAUJV.jpg

hot room

not my poll. Just helping him out as he had to nip out for a few hours

107. Darkthrone - Panzerfaust (241, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/Od0wLf.jpg

https://youtu.be/TmvZXTInfqk
https://open.spotify.com/album/4uydu4cuXBrYiknk7XXrbR

This is the girl.

Oh how I wish those vox weren't so loud in that mix. One of my pet peeves. Especially those two songs in the style of Transilvanian Hunger, probably two of my fav DT songs. Dammit, Nocturno Culto!

106. Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane (242, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/Q0AOa7.jpg

https://youtu.be/6G9tEqqMqnw
https://open.spotify.com/album/6xg1LH1tG9LfStZwv5zdV7

I can hear the cries again

Perfection. And with that I'm off to procure food. I'm sure I'll be back to complain about sonic frequencies later.

yeah that seems ridiculously low to me...
maybe I overrate it, but it's top 20 stuff to me.

105. Deathspell Omega - Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice (242, 5 votes, 1 #1)

https://i.sli.mg/q5vVr7.jpg

https://youtu.be/ZUnS93C5U_4
https://open.spotify.com/album/0U7RL2nyTlDfEIef7Uv7EK

104. Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten (243, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/HD2bDn.jpg

https://youtu.be/bLorNSZjcBI
https://open.spotify.com/album/1J7eevhe1aXP45NkpPgl7b

bed calls for me. Will catch up tomorrow.

Top 100 starts tomorrow so cant wait to see what makes it!

yeah that seems ridiculously low to me...

me too cuz yeah

see ya tomorrow CS, thanks again for the help!

<3 <3 Suffocation <3 <3

This is an obviously perfect album that nevertheless took me about six months to get into.

103. Megadeth - Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? (245, 5 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/ahbQwn.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/4U8ZF5zDIRy4lBnnXBN2uO

102. Voivod - Killing Technology (248, 5 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/QI1iKD.jpg

https://youtu.be/Jl_231xbN9E
https://open.spotify.com/album/5jtQcNwIXmhMLQJWMwk0UR

everything is too low

Storm of the Light's Bane absurdly low, Panzerfaust maybe too high. Some great stuff on there but it feels like a grab bag of B-sides from the previous few records. Megadeth aren't extreme metal by any stretch of the imagination.

last album of the night is coming up, and its some amazing work of gore. I love it.

101. Pestilence - Consuming Impulse (248, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/xr6dXZ.jpg

https://youtu.be/cQc4ZKH185E
https://open.spotify.com/album/6dfMQNvVXj6Z8oM9kOrXj6

was gonna add 'except megadeth'

still don't know what they sound like but they're one of the rare bands I'm just not interested in testing any hypothesis on

Megadeth, Voivod and Pestilence were all high school faves, with Consuming Impulse being an album I feel like deserves more respect. People got so hung up on that Testimony of the Ancients crap...

BTW the Ambergris was kind of a hit on the Glenn Branca metal thread, where Jute Gyte reigns over all.

i just assume everyone likes meshuggah but doesnt admit it

Weird, isn't it? They have this meathead reputation they really don't deserve. Well maybe tech-meathead. I dunno. But Koloss was one of the best METAL releases the year it came out, I feel like it got slept on by a lot of dudes who were just like LOL MESHUGGAH.

our countdown so far:

205. Carcass - Symphonies of Sickness
204. !T.O.O.H.! - Rad A Trest
203. Esoteric - The Maniacal Vale
201. Liturgy - Renihilation
201. Xasthur - Subliminal Genocide
200. Virus - The Black Flux
199. Yob - The Unreal Never Lived
198. Nocturnus - The Key
196. Altar of Plagues - Teethed Glory and Injury
196. Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors
195. Meshuggah - Chaosphere
194. Satyricon - Nemesis Divina
193. Darkspace - II
192. Watchtower - Control and Resistance
191. Sacramentum - Far Away From The Sun
190. Prong - Beg To Differ
189. Kayo Dot - Hubardo
188. Setherial - Nord
187. Dark Angel - Darkness Descends
186. Strapping Young Lad - City
185. Atheist - Piece of Time
184. Panopticon - Roads to the North
183. Sodom - Persecution Mania
182. Painkiller - Guts of a Virgin
181. Liturgy - Aesthetica
180. Bathory - The Return
179. Krallice - Diotima
178. Pestilence - Testimony Of The Ancients
177. Vlad Tepes/Belketre - March to the Black Holocaust
176. Portal - vexovoid
175. Obituary - Slowly We Rot
174. Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue
173. Esoteric - Metamorphogenesis
172. Anaal Nathrakh - The Codex Necro
170. Dodheimsgard - A Umbra Omega
170. Reverend Bizarre - In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend
169. Shining - Blackjazz
168. Enslaved - Vikingligr Veldi
167. Nokturnal Mortum - The Voice of Steel
166. Peste Noire - Ballade cuntre lo Anemi francor
165. Bolt Thrower - For Victory
164. Mgla - With Hearts Toward None
163. Jute Gyte - Vast Chains
162. Carcass - Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious
161. Bathory - Bathory
160. Ved Buens Ende - Written In Waters
159. Naked City - Torture Garden
158. Cleric - Regressions
157. Angel Hair - Pregnant with the Senior Class
155. Dismember - Like an Everflowing Stream
155. Meshuggah - obZen
154. Thergothon - Stream From The Heavens
153. Morbid Angel - Covenant
152. Sigh - Imaginary Sonicscape
151. Tiamat - Wildhoney
150. Blut Aus Nord - 777 - Cosmosophy
149. Meshuggah - Catch 33
148. Opeth - My Arms Your Hearse
146. Immolation - Close to a World Below
146. Sodom - In the Sign of Evil
145. Mare - Mare
144. Death - Leprosy
142. Ambergris - Ambergris (EP)
142. Melvins - Lysol
141. Eyehategod - Dopesick
140. Cynic - Focus
137. Carcass - Surgical Steel
137. Jute Gyte - Discontinuities
137. Pig Destroyer - Terrifyer
136. Isis - Celestial
135. Coroner - Mental Vortex
134. Demilich - Nespithe
133. Celtic Frost - Into the Pandemonium
132. Absu - Absu
131. Bolt Thrower - The IVth Crusade
130. Negură Bunget - OM
129. Abyssal - Antikatastaseis
128. Kayo Dot - Choirs Of The Eye
126. Oranssi Pazuzu - Valonielu
126. Wolves in the Throne Room - Diadem of 12 Stars
125. Immortal - At the Heart of Winter
124. Sepultura - Arise
123. Corrupted - Llenandose de gusanos
122. Mayhem - Ordo ad Chao
121. Jute Gyte - Ship of Theseus
120. Entombed - Clandestine
119. Immortal - Sons of Northern Darkness
118. Death - Scream Bloody Gore
117. Melvins - Houdini
116. Orthrelm - OV
115. diSEMBOWELMENT - Transcendence Into the Peripheral
114. Blut Aus Nord - The Work Which Transforms God
113. Meshuggah - Destroy Erase Improve
112. Spectral Lore - III
111. Nachtmystium - Assassins: Black Meddle, pt 1
110. Stara Rzeka - Cień chmury nad ukrytym polem
109. Drudkh - Autumn Aurora
108. Yob - Catharsis
107. Darkthrone - Panzerfaust
106. Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane
105. Deathspell Omega - Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice
104. Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten
103. Megadeth - Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?
102. Voivod - Killing Technology
101. Pestilence - Consuming Impulse

also, imago, go listen to Megadeth you fkin' dilettante!

I have not heard any of these, some bands of which I didn't even know existed, save for Celestial, which TOO LOW.

But then again I only listen to hipster metal.

The last few were def of the old school bullet belt variety (which is to say, the good stuff). Wish I'd known about Consuming Impulse when it came out.

That said, the DSO album is one of the peaks of black metal. Talk about jumping off a cliff and wrapping your arms around the sun. It's one of those you can make a night out of, sitting down with the lyrics and poring over them. I kinda prefer the less intense stuff like the Norwegian second wave of the early to mid 90s, but when I want to experience the extremities of the genre without going into the avant-garde, Si Monumentum is a go-to. Funeral Mist's Salvation is in that same category.

just back after dinner, thoughts on the some of the stuff I missed:

124. Sepultura - Arise
I actually haven't listened to this album, but in going through thrash last year, I hit Sepultura in December, and their first 3-4 releases are all great. I had heard this was showing influence of nu-metal, so didn't go out of my way to check out yet, but their blend of black/thrash on the first EP, and later buds of death/thrash were completely my thing last couple of months.

120. Entombed - Clandestine
I think if I had my ballot to do again, I'd make this my Entombed pick (not counting Nihlist). Production is better, and the songs are a little less hokey. I kind of wish they'd gone down this path instead of Wolverine Blues, because you can almost hear them hinting at a brutal/tech sound here.

118. Death - Scream Bloody Gore
The only Death album I've been able to enjoy that much. It's obviously the simplest, but I guess that's what I like about it. The production seems very influenced by Seven Churches, and to be honest, I always thought I'd like Death more if they toned down the studio polish and gated reverb, and just played straight up, no frills death/thrash, a la essentially what Chris Reifert did on the first Autopsy record.

116. Orthrelm - OV
Didn't actually vote for this. The more metal I listen to, the less this feels like metal. Not to say I don't still admire it, and listen to it once a year or so.

107. Darkthrone - Panzerfaust
106. Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane
I love Panzerfaust, rate it above Transylvanian Hunger myself. I love the fact that it's all over the place, and when you think about the direction that this band took in the 00s, it's easy to see this album as representing their truest selves, a la paying respect to stuff they liked from the 80s rather than trying to be evil and kvlt (even tho the production is TOTALLY evil and kvlt).

Dissection I just don't get. Or, maybe, I do get them, and just don't like them. They remind me of Emperor, with the death metal quotient dialed up. From what I can see, metal heads REALLY love this band, but maybe I'm just not metal enough.

Arise is actually a pretty straight up death/thrash thing; Chaos A.D. is where the nu metal/groove stuff began (but is actually worth a listen too).

Agree with you guys on Panzerfaust and DSO. I've had my difficulties with Dissection, too, they're fathers of a whole strain of black metal I don't particularly care for. I've come around to Storm and The Somberlain but I doubt I listen to them more than once or twice a year.

I'm listening to Imaginary Sonicscape for the first time in years and it's still so much fun!

Megadeth aren't extreme metal by any stretch of the imagination.

― mozart,

Thrash was extreme metal at the time. How often did you hear from people "Oh I love heavy metal like Maiden, Priest, Sabbath, Deep Purple but hate that thrash shit"? All the damn time!

Now you get old fart thrash fans saying they hate "that death and black metal shit"

The feeling is mutual

Maybe one day I could like thrash but that day is about 25 years ago

Seeing Orthrelm relatively high is pretty funny. I did vote for it but it was in the lower reaches of my ballot. The Stara Rzeka album's fantastic but I ended up not voting for it due to it's low metal content. I have never seen anyone who love.s that Spectral Lore opus as much as I do.

AND Megadeth have always been irredeemable piss poor garbage. My opinon is probably invalidated by the fact the only thrash albums I like are RTL/MOP/...AJFA)

Come on, Rust In Peace is undeniable.

'How often did you hear from people "Oh I love heavy metal like Maiden, Priest, Sabbath, Deep Purple but hate that thrash shit"?'

I don't hang around old people so I never hear this. Thrash was like the bridge from traditional heavy metal to death/black so I'd consider the bands on the harsher end of the spectrum like Sodom, Possessed, Dark Angel etc. extreme but not bands like Megadeth, Metallica & Anthrax. All these bands were contemporaries so it's not like the latter group was pushing the boundaries in terms of heaviness, there was already way harsher stuff around at the time.

Yeah, well, Merzbow's first recordings were in December 1979. So they're all pussies and latecomers.

true

I will never understand imagos aversion to where the music he likes came from

This is an enormously reductive & antagonistic provocation so take w/ a pinch of salt, but...why unevolve?

Aren't you interested in where the music you like has come from and how it evolved? How it turned out as it has?

this is a slight detour but lj have u heard/do u like celtic frost

^ perhaps the most important band in the evolution of extreme metal

idk

willing to give early bm/dm lots more chances to blow me away. iirc early dm is the more impressive, atheist had some sick tunes

i am interested in where it's come from but i'm not sure i need to listen to the early ventures too much, unless i can be convinced otherwise. today's extreme metal acts weren't just influenced by thrash either. there are loads of lineages leading to this.

my favourite bit of thrash is the intro to 'sanatarium' before the thrashy guitars come in

I understand his POV without sharing it. It's one of the things I hate most about jazz, is old fucks who are always like "Well, you need to understand Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington in order to really understand this new record you like." No I don't. I like the record I like, and it stands on its own merits for me. Music isn't a survey course.

My guess is that as far as general listening tendencies go (for rock music anyway), imago and I are similar. However, when I got into metal, it wasn't really because I was looking for something even further out than what I already liked -- I think it was because I wanted something angry and ugly. I just didn't know what it was, until I started hearing old black metal and realizing that there was music even uglier than I'd realized. Qualitatively, it wasn't really a question of "evolution" -- except in the fact that my listening tastes were certainly evolving. I mean, you can't really help but evolve, adapt, change, it's just part of nature. The notion that evolution has to lead to something further out in the strain of my current tastes isn't really correct imo.

Anyway, I can tell you, I had to undergo a pretty big shift in how I listened to music to get a lot of that stuff -- still happening in fact. What can sound too extreme, ugly, brutal, barbaric one day can totally hit the spot only weeks later. This has happened time and time again going thru extreme metal. I mean, only now I'm starting to get into classic DM like Incantation and Immolation, not to mention older, cruder bands like Beherit and Blasphemy. I might have been able to hear them 2 years ago, but I don't think I'd have appreciated them. And it certainly isn't because it's too complex; on the contrary, it's because it's a little like taking pleasure out of a bloody battle scene, and realizing that there's a lot to get out of the carnage.

But I'd rather listen to Metallia and Slayer (and Destruction and Kreator - always hated Sodom) than any black metal record. "Angry and ugly" isn't enough for me, hasn't been since I graduated high school.

Semi xpost with Dominique

Well, that's pretty reductive on my part -- and really, these days, I listen to a lot more stuff that sounds like, say, Sadus, than I do black metal. But I never would have got there if I hadn't started at a place that was angry and ugly, and over time, realizing I could make out riffs and patterns, and see how this music progressed, both within a song, and throughout a movement. I started seeing the difference between all these sub-genres, and started being able to tie threads from Celtic Frost, for example, to modern death and doom metal. To me, that says as much about "evolution" for my listening as any other music I've heard.

So when does the top 100 start?

I don't think metal (or music in general) evolves. Or it does, but evolution is not the steady upward climb to perfection that it is sometimes imagined as, but rather a somewhat random and incoherent sequence of lateral motions. My tolerance for out-dated musical forms is high: I like old-timey country, big band jazz, Chicago blues, baroque and classical, etc. Actually early DM reminds me a lot of Chicago blues, in that both have a fairly limited palette and rather strict formal requirements, which can make the music seem monotonous at first. I'm not really interested in tracing the "evolution" of DM or in figuring out which bands were influential. I just like what sounds good. I think maybe after you've listened to enough of it, your ear starts to notice things, like a particularly good riff, or drum fill, or vocal sound, etc. It gets kind of addictive after a while, and it scratches an itch that other music doesn't.

Framing early extreme metal as a battle scene might well be a good way to get me into it, as might lyric sheets. Oh xp, as might tracing its subtle formalist shifts

well this poll is a chance for you to check out old stuff

116. Orthrelm - OV

when i get mick barr albums in used at the store they are like classical records. they look unplayed.

ilxor review worth reading:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6113-ov/

"Dissection I just don't get. Or, maybe, I do get them, and just don't like them."

try again! and then maybe again. at least to that album. maybe it will hit you. it's really quite an achievement. probably make a top 50 of mine if i had one.

xpost

It gets kind of addictive after a while, and it scratches an itch that other music doesn't.

This.

And I don't think I am very interested in tracing an evolution of metal either, but after a while, I notice similarities that would never have been apparent to me otherwise. And in turn, that opens new doors leading me to stuff I might never have approached if I hadn't just been fire-baptized by whatever I was listening to just prior.

haha scott, I'm sure I will keep trying with Dissection. Clearly I am missing something

you certainly don't need to understand/have knowledge of the past to enjoy something, but it can be fun to learn about the history of any music. in my opinion. it's interesting.

uh, that wasn't directed to any one person.

Loved reading yr drive-by comments on yesterday's results, Dominique. Agree 100% on Clandestine, Scream Bloody Gore and Panzerfaust. Not so much Storm of the Light's Bane, but I suppose imperfection makes us human.

LJ, meanwhile, seems to approach music (making & listening) as a strenuous form of competition. Bigger, faster, weirder, more. From that angle, "evolution" makes perfect sense. Personally, I don't have the energy. I approach music as a form of Doritos.

I threw OV a load of points. Was a big fan of that review at the time, D!

also, did i know that so many people had problems with black metal here? i don't know if i knew that. there are all kinds of black metal albums! so much amazing stuff. with black metal i only really got tired of the one man BM revolution. as a noise music fan, you would think i would have a large tolerance for DIY homemade stuff (or even as a punk fan which i am), but, yeah, it turns out i didn't need a lot of it. it's possible that quality was beside the point, but 95% of the American stuff in that vein is neglible/nonessential. very few Ildjarns running around in the u.s. though there are certainly a few exceptions.

Just to clarify, I don't mean to criticize anyone who does enjoy tracing the history of music's development. In fact I greatly enjoy reading that kind of analysis and admire people who can cogently describe those influences and similarities. Specifically, I've enjoyed Dominique's posts in this thread. I'm just not very good at that sort of thing myself, and in the moment of listening, those considerations tend to not be in the forefront of my mind.

I'm starting the Top 100 soon!

Interesting discussion! I was joking when I called imago a dilettante. People should listen to what they want, but I think you should be willing to listen to something you might not think you'll like, its good to get out of your musical comfort zone. If hadn't done that I'd still be listening solely to Maiden, Priest, Sabbath, etc.

Scott the impression ive had of ilx metal peeps for the past 15 years has been that north americans were less keen on black metal than those in europe (with the odd exceptions) but that has changed over time with younger posters coming to ilx who do like BM

100. Mastodon - Remission (250, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/XeOCBA.jpg

that horse always makes me laff

way too low. The album that got me back into metal. Still, at least its not blood mountain or crack the sky (i like those albums just fine but they arent as awesome as this album)
they were so good live around the time of this and leviathan.

099. The Angelic Process - Weighing Souls With Sand (251, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/AQPL1L.jpg

https://youtu.be/G9ZiU7ahZso

I'm actually wearing my Remission tshirt just now. Shocked only 4 people voted for this.

xp

ohhh great album!

I wonder if any Nadja will place

that's the one mastodon album i really liked. one of the first metal records i ever reviewed too. in the village voice. bad review. badly written. it was a positive review. i'm glad four of you didn't forget that angelic process album. that was a really nice album.

Also im hoping every album by Skepticism will place. Would be most angry with you all if Alloy doesn't place

i voted for both of those

The Nachtmystium was my #4. It's just such a pleasurable, satisfying album, especially for a long drive. Such variety, lots going on, plenty of hooks. Stara Rzeka was my #9 (and was docked a little on grounds of metal content): so obviously great.

I voted for The Angelic Process. I think?

98. Thou - Heathen (254, 5 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/vPf4M0.jpg

https://youtu.be/J9FPhpuNrwg
https://open.spotify.com/album/1KNPeBXROZ71EG0g4zlt8B

I like Thou but didn't vote for it and im amazed at what its finished above

yeah, I know! its been a very weird order, seemingly random.

A lot of the metal thread posters didn't vote I assume?

This is both too low and higher than I expected.