No, We Aren't Making These Bands Up: ILM Metal Poll 2010 Results Thread

Thanks to all who voted (all 80 of you)! Much appreciated, hope you all enjoy the runout of results which will finish on Friday evening. Hopefully Henry will pop in if john gives him enough steak.
Glenn will publish needle to the public so you can see all the stats you've come to love along with some new ones!

Now here we go..

101
Yrsel - Requiem for the Three Kharites (215 Points, 11 Votes)
http://www.metalkingdom.net/album/img/d3/30752.jpg

It's a collaboration between The Austrasian Goat & Ondo.

Any links (myspace, youtube, etc)? I've never even heard of that record.

I like the cover.

http://www.last.fm/music/Yrsel

No spotify unfortunately

#101 has 11 votes? That's pretty cool.

thread will get awkward if there's youtubes for every entry, but maybe some context in the form of summaries / capsule reviews would be good?

thanks for the poll and will try /..kharites...

yeah if anyone wants youtubes feel free to start a thread for it.

You could just put youtubes as links instead of embeds. No clutter.

shall we do another?

next one up has a #1 vote..

100
Jucifer - Throned in Blood (216 Points, 10 votes, One #1 vote)
http://www.metalunderground.com/images/covers/Jucifer_-_Throned_In_Blood_cover.jpg

Spotify http://open.spotify.com/album/1KykegfkEKhdClJwyasLTh
http://www.last.fm/music/Jucifer

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/124186-jucifer-throned-in-blood/ by A Begrand

Since we started with #101 at 11 votes, I will note that there are not only several 10- and 11-vote albums still to come, but there are two 9-vote and one 8-vote albums that beat #101 on points. But in the other direction there are only two albums with fewer points than #101 but more votes (#102 had 13, #113 had 12), and only one with 11 (#103). Personally I might have started the countdown at #104, as that's where the last double-digit block ends, but then again, I happened to have voted for #104 myself...

But you'll all get to see all the data at the end.

Oh, and there were 6 albums that got a #1 vote but didn't make the top 101. Including my own #1, sadly.

My #1! Yay me and my bogus ballot!

I could have started at 104 but you were the one who said I should stick to 100!

That album is this far down on the list? That's a crime. I guess self releasing it meant that not many people heard it.

The problem is a lot of albums get lost on the rolling metal thread, not everyone goes back to catch up, so bands/albums really need their own thread sometimes.

I didn't even know there was a Jucifer out this year!

^^^ me neither and, listening to it, its so far mot much like previous Jucifer!

I started a spotify playlist for the placing albums that are on there:

http://open.spotify.com/user/cyclades/playlist/0bB5Qbac1UTj1EQPzr2Ord

Unfortunately since this isn't a britpop poll not everything will be available on spotify...

gross thread title

says the grindcore fan..

:-P

jizzcore

If you're talking about jizz and poop, it really should've been the "countdown to evacuation/ejaculation"

I don't think Dave "Born Again" Mustaine will ever write that album now.

There's still Anal Cunt though

They're too busy ripping off Motley Crue album covers to get around to Megadeath.

99
Triptykon - Shatter (EP), 217 Points, 11 Votes
http://www.metalsucks.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Triptykon_Shatter_EP_1.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/7eLsjPN2tQj3vpMZ5zpWyz
http://www.last.fm/music/Triptykon

There are only 3 bands with 2 different releases in the poll, and Shatter got the most votes of any of the 2nd releases. But not the most points!

Great EP. Would have made my ballot if I went to 40. I voted for the title track on Johnny's poll.

Oh yeah everyone remember to vote on THE 2010 ILM SUPER-MEGA YEAR-END ALBUMS 'N' TRACKS POLL™ - VOTING IS OPEN THRU MIDNIGHT EST FRIDAY, JANUARY 21st 2011

2 more for tonight

98
Westering - Help a Body (218 Points, 9 votes)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1oSvaRUA9fo/TEhTHyVLfjI/AAAAAAAABFk/w7TOia5fmR4/s1600/Westering+2010+Help+A+Body.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Westering

"Atmospheric Shoegaze Black Metal"

"Atmospheric Shoegaze Black Metal"

that's the kind of description that makes me wet myself...

"Atmospheric Shoegaze Black Metal"

that's the kind of description that makes me an ILXor wet himself...

Another one I've never heard of. Will investigate.

The cd can be purchased here http://www.paradigms-recordings.com/store.html

WESTERING
"Help A Body" CD (PARADIGMS035)
£7.99 postpaid worldwide.

The debut album from Seattle's WESTERING - a powerful, voidic journey through low-fi outsider black metal laced with cascading shoegaze and driving post punk. Based in Seattle and New York, Westering have created a cold, urban dreamscape of isolationist black metal, claustrophic ambience filtered through a haze of frozen bliss and driving rhythms and percussion that remind us of early Cure or Joy Division in part. A wonderful headphone experience for appreciators of Lifelover, Amesoeurs, Alcest and Swans, perhaps. Mastered by Mell Dettmer (Sunn O)), Wolves In The Throne Room) and presented in beautiful, minimalist wrap around card sleeve and wallet. Limited edition of 500 copies only.

only 500 copies? Look for the 2011 reissue and a chance to vote for it again next year.

Titan and Angelic Process started off on Paradigms now look at them. So viceroy isn't that far off (if a band takes off)

Paradigms is a great label and I need to order 5 or 6 of the latest releases I hadn't got round to yet.

aldo to thread!

OK this next one will be the last one for tonight. Will resume about 1 or 2pm (UK time) approx.

97
The Howling Void - Shadows Over the Cosmos (218 Points, 11 Votes)
http://www.metalmaniacs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/howling_void.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Howling+Void
"Symphonic Funeral Doom.
Glacial, haunting meditations on nothingness, Chaos, and death. "

we seriously have to call this jizz and poop?

"ILM Metal 2010 Album Poll - Results Rollout" would be a perfectly good thread title.

It's no sillier than Pazz & Jop!

No, it most certainly is sillier.

Who would have though death metal/grindcore/heavy metal fans with all those bandnames and album covers and tshirts would be grossed out with a thread title!
Very LOL to me.

Of all people! haha

It's just... immature. Reinforces people's stereotypes of metal fans.

A big two-fingered salute to that kind of person anyway.

Okay, that's fine, but none of the metal fans on here seem to think it's very funny either.

Will more people post and check out albums if it gets changed?

tbh I only clicked on this thread because it is called Jizz & Poop

Pizz & Joop would make more sense tho

who wants to say this: "yeah, you gotta listen to this, i found it on the jizz and poop thread"

ILM loves it's POO threads!

wooo excited for this thread! i haven't heard of a lot of these so far, i have a feeling my ballot is low on the "obscurity index" and almost all of my 40 will make the top 100 (could be wrong though?)

SafeSearch off ▼

"jizz and poop"

About 6,320 results (0.28 seconds)

SafeSearch strict ▼

"jizz and poop"

About 301,000 results (0.15 seconds)

The word "jizz" has been filtered from the search because Google SafeSearch is active.

also found this gem on UrbanDictionary (sorry!):

Joop

The combination of jizz and poop when ejaculating into an ass.

every time ilxor posts he scares a grindcore fan from the thread, amirite

Colonel Poo is gonna have to change his name :(

How about The Cuddly Fluffy Twee Bunny ILM Metal Poll 2010 Results Thread?

Funnier.

Easier to use for proselytizing purposes

Thumbs up.

Bunnies are better than poop every time.

bunnies can be totally metal too, so

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YGVLM2i9n6o/SVmbzgaJ2VI/AAAAAAAABNI/Z0uoXzvXGbo/s400/Woundwort4.jpg

the bookmarked thread still says "jizz & poop" loooooool

I know!!! hahaha

everyone wins

http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Feedback/Watership%20Down0001.jpg

Anyway feel free to pass comments on those 5 albums and make your predictions & wishes for what you hope to place/not place etc , but please don't disclose details of your ballots, you can do that once the poll is over.

I'm gonna go ahead and make the shocking prediction that Agalloch gets the #1 spot.

i 100% support more pics of violent rabbits in this thread

Violent rabbits = ok but not "jizz & poop" in the thread title? ok..

believe it
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7z2C9Jjn3o8/TJ_XEeKonPI/AAAAAAAAAYg/w6TWjghSBwU/s1600/watership+down.png

aw!

http://research.uiowa.edu/animal/rabbit7.jpg

I love that the theme song from that film is by Art Garfunkel.

omg rabbits

RABBITS

http://calanoni.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/rabbitattack.jpg

looool

well done ag

http://www.nerdcore.de/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/D1209Holy-Grail-Killer-Rabbit-Posters.jpg

http://www.entertainmentearth.com/images//AUTOIMAGES/TYV15043lg.jpg

are we getting to 96 tonight?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SeQMOBdy_Oc/TD02hLQJ6lI/AAAAAAAAAHY/HwQ9fIKAkWc/s1600/monty.python.holy.grail.bunny.rabbit.jpg

http://fashionablygeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/monty_python_rabbit.jpg

Shall I post #96 then?

yeeeessssss

no

it'd be better than more bunnies.

Oh, and thanks for not rocking images of the original title. Serious thanks.

96
Blus Aus Nord - What Once Was... Liber I (221 Points, 11 Votes)
http://s53.radikal.ru/i140/1007/8d/2bf2b017b6b8.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Blut+aus+Nord

Will resume around 2pm-ish uk time.

should listen to that one tbrr

LJ forgot to vote again this year btw

have a good night everyone! don't let the bunnies bite!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHujwj6RBSM

we should move on to my little pony pics ... expand yer horizons, metalheadz!

Recap

101 Yrsel - Requiem for the Three Kharites (215 Points, 11 Votes)
100 Jucifer - Throned in Blood (216 Points, 10 Votes, 1 #1)
99 Triptykon - Shatter (217 Points, 11 Votes)
98 Westering - Help a Body (218 Points, 9 Votes)
97 The Howling Void - Shadows Over the Cosmos (218 Points, 11 Votes)
96 Blus Aus Nord - What Once Was... Liber I (221 Points, 11 Votes)

Funeral doom's always very hit-or-miss with me, but I have to say what I'm hearing from the Howling Void album sounds impressive.

have only heard the triptykon ep from the stuff that's come up so far. (tho last year's blut aus nord was my #1, so I should really get on that already.)

the triptykon ep is pretty good but I don't have much to say about it, so...

http://www.wiretotheear.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/attack-bunny.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j20/ronin98827/scary-bunny.jpg

^wild!

Art metal rabbits:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2260/1570534944_715f527ca1.jpg

Metalgaze rabbits:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3284/3062216475_c06f241713_o.jpg

Brutal Euro Rabbit:

http://www.directorama.net/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/sexybeast.jpg

And an unsightly hare at the base of my cock:

http://www.funnychill.com/files/funny-pictures/rabbit-on-chicken.jpg

http://s4.hubimg.com/u/1079883_f520.jpg

enjoying the 15 or 20 non-pointless posts itt so far

top Google result for album #101 is a review by me FYI and I voted for it here also but not heard any of the others (I like Jucifer but also didn't know they had summat out in 2010)

actually tbf I'm all about Doran's rabbit screengrabs, where are they from?

Glacial, haunting meditations on nothingness, Chaos, and death.

dude. i am so there.

1. Inland Empire. The "comic" relief is a really disturbing sit com featuring a rabbit headed family making messainic pronouncements to a soundtrack of canned laughter. Great film.

2. Teh internets.

3. Sexy Beast. Don Brennan, appears in the subconscious of the other characters as an uzi toting rabbit man. Also a great film.

Sexy Beast is amazing.

And fuck FunnyChill.com for ruining my joke.

An unsightly hare at the base of my cock:

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x193/kingebretsen/Animals/538354_chicken-rabbit-sex.png

95
Year of No Light - Ausserwelt (222 Points, 12 Votes)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_AcGIfwmOLKc/S9XnGlfSbpI/AAAAAAAAAM4/06pUicS5c7I/s1600/yonl2.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Year+of+No+Light

http://open.spotify.com/album/4IKPYmIdrHqIGxuEcRr6Oy

cool cover art

yah!

The trance-rock/post-metal band, Year of No Light, hails from Bordeaux, France, where it was formed in the summer of 2001, and then slowly fermented both on-stage and in rehearsal before recording its first demo tape in 2004. This earned the group a reputation for sounding like "The Cure playing sludge," and opened the door for bandmembers Julien Perez (vocals, keyboards), Pierre Anouilh (guitar), Jérôme Alban (guitar, keyboards) Johan Sebenne (bass, electronics), Bertrand Sebenne (drums, keyboards), and Mathieu Mégemont (drums, electronics) to record Year of No Light's debut album, Nord, in 2006. But after parting ways with Perez and luring Monarch!'s Shiran Kaidine (vocals, guitar) to replace him, Year of No Light spent the next few years performing live or collaborating with other bands on split releases, and it wasn't until 2010 that they cobbled together their second album, Ausserwelt, to the delight of fans and even critics.

Anyone around?

I thought I'd wait until afternoon to restart the results countdown for the benefit of americans but there's less online now than there was at 4am last night!

"The Cure playing sludge" is intriguing...

I always get these guys confused with "A Storm of Light" and imagine they both just play plonky isis metal and sound about the same anyway.

94
Cuzo - Otros Mundos (223 Points, 10 Votes)
http://www.the-stone-circle.com/store/images/Cuzo_Otros_Mundos.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1023/5187537542_63f8de3762_z.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/2BicLTcBHiqhSPSdJVpBnf
http://www.last.fm/music/cuzo

“On Amor Y Muerte En La Tercera Fase, the instrumental three-piece tries to bridge the gap between rock music and movie soundtracks by laying ambiance on top of rolling riffs and jazz-like playing. Think Stinking Lizaveta meets Zombi, without the keyboards, and you’re on the right track.” (review by Arzga✧✧✧@StonerR✧✧✧.c✧✧).

fucking last.fm is useless.

zombi without the keyboards doesn't sound very good at all!

I loathe Zombi but really like Stinking Lizaveta. Torn as to whether or not to give this a go.

Just noticed this has started, nice one fellas. I didn't feel nearly clued-up enough to vote, and accordingly I have heard of zero of the bands so far! I'll enjoy giving them all a listen when I have the time though.

93
Humanfly - Darker Later (225 Points, 12 Votes)

http://cache1.bigcartel.com/product_images/25878664/Humanfly_Darker_Later_WEB.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Humanfly
http://open.spotify.com/album/15zrQLJQ8psifH0w5ktQJz
http://www.myspace.com/humanfly
http://www.beardedmagazine.com/albums/article/humanfly-darker-later-brew

I like that Humanfly record quite a bit. Didn't make the cut, but quality record.

I'm liking this Year of No Light well enough, but I suspect I'd rather listen to either Mono or Sunn O))) than this hybrid of them...

Really like the Humanfly album, interesting as well to hear more of a leftwing anarcho crust punk/UK grindcore vibe on a heavy doom record. Some good anti-fascist anthems on there.

92
Rosetta - A Determinism of Morality (226 Points, 10 Votes)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vfn-OFW-Wq0/S-ElBaw5SjI/AAAAAAAAAyc/NndQm8wIBCE/s1600/folder.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Rosetta
http://open.spotify.com/album/3hgBwcoNK8Mj7F5FX6dKIU

Philadelphia quartet Rosetta push the boundaries between metal, progressive rock, post-rock, space rock, and hardcore punk, employing an experimental songwriting technique filled with chaos and atmospherics. Their sounds range from Pink Floydian / progressive rock sonic layering to walls of pure static ambience to crushing, sweeping sludgey riffage.

Just given Humanfly a go, they sound good.

Cuzo was the highest-ranking band from Spain. Only two other ones were nominated! And I voted for both those other ones, and in one case was the only voter...

aldo to thread

Yeah, I'll admit it, I'm the complete Paradigms stan on the board. I buy them all, because they cost next to nothing and maybe 1 in 2 is great, with the others being as a minimum something you might put on if you were in the mood.

As Kerr says, Titan, Angelic Process, Woburn House and Gruenewald all got their starts there, and Jarboe, Amber Asylum and Gnaw Their Tongues have released CDs on the label. The descriptions they give to acts don't (in my opinion) usually reflect necessarily what they sound like imo, but it's usually a decent starting point.

S: Dwellers of the Twilight, Dead Shell of the Universe, Hjarnidaudi, Blueprint Human Being, Wraiths, Snowdrift (caution, NOT metal), Kailash, Somnam, Tropes (NOT metal), The Victim's Shudder (NOT metal), Decrepit Spectre, Old Mayor, Bosnia, Elitist, Borgia, Westering, SOL/BLODTRU, Mourner, Murmuure (my album of the year).

I have the latest three but haven't listened to them yet, looking forward to Book of Sand most I think.

yeah Humanfly are mad underrated imo - that album was in my top 10 on this poll I think

I own quite a few Paradigms cds and have about 8 or 9 i really want to get. Gonna order 3 or 4 soon as i can afford it.

Year of No Light just barely missed the cut on my ballot, but that album is pretty awesome.

Last one I got was yrsel & woburn House i think

91
Les Discrets - Septembre et Ses Dernieres Pensees (226 Points, 11 Votes)
http://allmetalresource.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/lesdiscrets_septembre.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Les+Discrets
http://open.spotify.com/album/1H6tDfhkyVVlokADwZrQCk

es Discrets is a French post-rock/metal, acoustic project. It is the sole musical creation of Fursy Teyssier who also played in Amesoeurs and has created artwork for other bands including, Alcest, Amesoeurs, Arctic Plateau, Agalloch, Neun Welten, and The American Dollar.

Les Discrets is the musical approach of Fursy Teyssier’s artistic research. Originally an animated film director, Fursy tends to evoke the same in both music and animation/illustration: contemplative and esoteric atmospheres, feelings, fears and sensations related to our life and world. His paintings, music or lyrics are mostly about Nature, the feeling of Love and his fear of Death.

A nice run of non-US albums here actually.

Says the guy who has a really high percentage of US albums on his ballot.

I saw Humanfly live the other week, haven't listened to the album yet tho, but I put it on my download list on the basis of the live show.

Who were they supporting?

Melt Banana

90
Angel Eyes - Midwestern (227 Points, 12 Votes)
http://www.decoymusic.com/images/album_covers/0013/0639/angel_eyes_-_midwestern_medium.jpg?1277179925
http://www.last.fm/music/Angel+Eyes
http://www.myspace.com/angeleyes

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/129983-angel-eyes-midwestern/

Angel Eyes is a five-piece sludge / post-metal band from Chicago, IL formed in the year 2003.

I have their 2 other albums which are really great, still need to pick this one up.

Oh cool it's available on vinyl

Wasn't hugely impressed by that Angel Eyes. I feel like lots of other bands are doing that kind of thing better.

gonna listen to loads of these! hadn't heard enough to vote but nice turnout!

btw references to Pink Floyd, whether by bands or critics, can fuck off. ohhhh they can fuck off. so bland.

like I'm sure Rosetta are awesome but that big stinking thing in the middle of that write-up makes me wanna barf

Interesting -- I haven't even heard of a lot of these.

I thought LJ loved Pink Floyd

not in this context

and really only up to Ummagumma in any context - they get more boring the more music I hear

89
U.S. Christmas - Run Thick in the Night (229 Points, 12 Votes)
http://www.roadburn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/USX-Run-Thick-The-Night.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/U.S.+Christmas
http://www.myspace.com/uschristmas

U.S. Christmas (USX) started playing together in 2002. They create very loud, loose and free music in a definite nasty psychedelic vein, but never jammy or amorphous. Everyone creates their own individual sound, and writes their own parts. And together they change things around a lot, probably because they don’t remember what they played the last time they played. The bandmates mention many bands that shaped their sound: classic psychedelic, blues, guitar slingers, modern metal, doom, and sludge, as well as old country artists - Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Hawkwind, Neurosis and Caustic Resin.

I wish the US Christmas was a little more consistent - the highs soar, but I felt there were too many clunkers. Should probably give it another go.

It was a new line-up wasn't it?

I have no idea. I didn't investigate them until after I heard the Hawkwind tribute, and didn't dig any further than this record because I found it such a mixed bag.

The first album was the one people REALLY raved about. It was terrific.

ILM (in general, not just this thread) seems dead today yet 80+ are online. Is there a clusterfuck thread on ILE or something where everyone is? ILM is ever so quiet today.

88
Black Tusk - Taste the Sin (229 Points, 14 Votes)
http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2010/05/Black-Tusk-Taste-The-Sin.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Black+Tusk
http://open.spotify.com/album/029dIinbUmPmtRyWxp5wz4

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14435-taste-the-sin/

Wow! Great run so far -- I especially like the Les Descetes album a lot!

Hey! An album I've heard!

really like that Black Tusk record, kind of surprised its so low

87
Howl - Full of Hell (230 Points, 9 Votes)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_atKrCdoiKZ4/TQ60NVOk3EI/AAAAAAAAF0Y/_8Gsp7oBdTE/s1600/Howl%252C_Full_of_Hell_rediculously_large_cover_image.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Howl

Howl is a sludge metal band from Providence, RI http://www.myspace.com/howlheavymetal

And according to their myspace, they're going to tour Europe with Black Tusk. How apropos.

There are so many metal bands I would like more if they didn't bother with vocals. Was digging the Howl tracks on myspace until generic growler man turned up.

I know I need to try harder, but I still find both screechers and growlers my biggest impediment in "extreme" music.

86
Sigh - Scenes From Hell (231 Points, 13 Votes)
http://www.metalunderground.com/images/covers/Sigh_-_Scenes_From_Hell_cover.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Sigh

http://open.spotify.com/album/3X7mQulD1ISW2EKXYGqie8

Sigh is regarded by many as Japan’s leading extreme metal export, having released numerous highly esteemed recordings throughout their twenty year existence. Although originally a black metal band, Sigh became recognizably eclectic, taking influence from Romantic era classical music, jazz, prog rock, dark electronica and more.

Where are all the Sigh fans?

discussing gun control probably...

Metal >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Guns

diminishing returns from sigh since (the fantastic) imaginary sonicscape but that's been on my list of 2010 records to check out since it was released. of course, I still haven't gotten around to it but dog latin had some interesting things to say about it somewhere on ilx and really should give it a listen sometime soon.

I was wondering where dog latin was actually

found the quote. it's from a thread for sigh.

Alan N, as with most albums after Imaginary Sonicscape, this is Sigh trying a slightly different tack. This time they've brought in a female growler (oo-er!) who doesn't sound all that different from the regular guy. There's no more country-n-western pastiches or cod-reggae middle-eighths on this one, but it is pure medieval machine music. The employment of evil-dextrous orchestration thankfully enforces the blow rather than softens it. It manages to be grindingly violent, horrifyingly majestic but still genuinely retaining the fun factor.

― village idiot (dog latin), Tuesday, June 15, 2010 3:47 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark

does sound pretty cool.

great cover too:

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/reviewpics/sighnew.jpg

I'm listening to it on spotify. It's as sufficiently as weird as you would expect it to be.

may listen tonight...

Next one is a tie so I'll post them together

These records are getting lots of votes but none of the voters are talking about them (me included, which I'll now rectify).

I voted for Les Discrets, as I found it the most impressive of the pretty shoegazey stuff I heard this year. I really love the mix; the drums are punchy, the cymbals pierce the fog of the guitars, and though I have no idea what he's singing about I like his voice. It isn't particularly heavy, but uses some of the tropes of the genre (like blast beats) to great effect. I think it effectively built on the sound of Amesoeurs and Souvenirs d'un autre Monde better than Neige did on the newest Alcest (which I like, though not as much as Septembre).

TIE
84
Menace Ruine - Union of Irreconcilables (232 Points, 11 Votes)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-zOD9_8LSFc/TAPvNhQuOkI/AAAAAAAAAtk/K5CWzCJ59tA/s320/1275317604_menace-ruine.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Menace+Ruine

Menace Ruine came together in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in autumn 2006, when they began composing the songs that would form their debut recording, In Vulva Infernum.

While the debut album Cult Of Ruins, took its starting point in fast black metal and noise, the follow-up, The Die is Cast stays true to the metal sound. The tempo has been slowed down, and could be described as heavy down-tempo drone with martial rhythms.

The original lineup:

Geneviève - vocals, instruments, lyrics;
S. de La Moth - vocals, instruments.

http://boomkat.com/cds/305649-menace-ruine-union-of-irreconcilables
http://www.myspace.com/menaceruine

84
Boris - Variations (232 Points, 11 Votes)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_npAibJ29jYc/TB63hwEdheI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/wd4_t6Bk550/s1600/14o7vyf%5B1%5D.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Boris

Quite a few bands with female musicians have made it so far. Something metal is usually accused of not enough of (perfectly true) but glad ILMis embracing it.

These records are getting lots of votes but none of the voters are talking about them (me included, which I'll now rectify).

Thanks!
but sadly that is par for the course for poll threads until the final stages. Would love to see more discussion though, so everyone feel free to pile in with thoughts!

The only one I've heard thus far is the Black Tusk record, which sounded very much like Georgia peers Kylesa to me. That post-hardcore sound is very popular at the moment, isn't it.

^^ voted for Boris (my first to appear). kinda serves as a greatest hits-style compilation w/ a handful of newly recorded parts (the new Kurihara guitar stuff is blistering) and pretty much everything on it is unfuckwithable.

It's interesting how many groups have made this list that weren't really discussed on the metal thread. Although probably the stuff that was discussed at length will be appearing further up. Crazy how good a year this was for metal.

Anyway, Black Tusk and Howl are both similar-sounding, quite good, and on Relapse. I suspect, however, that they've only gotten this much attention because the genre hasn't become glutted yet. There's a good chance that this particular style is going to become as strip mined as post-metal, though, and when that happens they'll probably fall through the cracks.

Listening to the Menace Ruin tracks on myspace and they're interesting. Worth further exploration, at least.

I listened to the Black Tusk but it didn't click with me like the Kylesa record. There is definitely something in the water down Georgia way.

Or Menace Ruine, even.

I haven't heard hardly any of this shit so far. My listening is much more mainstream, I guess...that, plus my tolerance for artsy crap has really diminished over the last couple of years. Gimme BROOTAL DEATH METAL or fuck off.

It's interesting how many groups have made this list that weren't really discussed on the metal thread.

Although probably the stuff that was discussed at length will be appearing further up.

Probably no point in saying that wont be the case because, to a high extent its true, but there are some surprises with high/low placings for known & not so well known albums.

Crazy how good a year this was for metal.

Damn right, maybe mainstream metal is creatively redundant and not selling that well but the underground with it's many subgenres is thriving! Maybe one will crossover?

The sigh was my #2, and although it def isn't the weirdest thing on my list, it's about as odd as would be expected from them. I think this time around there us def less weird for weirds sake going on, the whole album seems a little more gelled than many of the other ones to my ears, kind of a band hitting it's stride thing IMO. Would be more effusive but I am posting from iPhone so even being this longwinded is annoying as hell.

Kinda sounds like if a bunch of the good paganfest folkmetal dudes did a collab w/peste noire and recorded in a high $$$ studio instead of some dudes toolshed.

Henry wouldn't like it if it had high $$$ production though.

Henry ate a bunch of my mail this afternoon so his posting privs have been temporarily revoked.

You not been feeding him enough steak?

83
Hellbeard - Scarecrow (234 Points, 10 Votes)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__RB2VVb7ph4/TRS-JrMcJyI/AAAAAAAABHk/OOxBlYaG7ho/s320/51uXhV%252BorkL.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Hellbeard

When the scum rock band 66seven decided to take their sound in a darker, droning, more powerful new direction after a line-up change, a new name was needed…

Hellbeard brings musicality, vision, spirit and reason, to create disturbing, crushing sonic walls of destruction, comforting ambient textures, and hypnotic drones.

http://www.myspace.com/hellbeardband

OMG that Hellbeard cover! Must hear that!

I tried to listen to as much of the nominated albums as I could over the past month and that one was pretty good.

Seriously, where are all these bands coming from? Are you just making stuff up at this point?

*sigh*

(he's joking btw, just trying to stir shit up)

He just has a journalists sense of "humor"

Seriously, where the hell are the voters? 10 people voted for that Hellbeard, yet it seems none of the regular posters have even heard of it, let alone heard the record itself. C'mon lurkers, rep your votes!

And I agree with jon - great cover. Oh crap, listening to Hellbeard on myspace and screamy dude ruining what started off so well. Bollocks to them.

yeah voters post away!!!

I think everyones on that gun thread though as viceroy says

The music's great on the Hellbeard - even like the switch to crusty punk and back on the second track - but the "lead throat" is killing me.

With the name hellbeard I totally expected trad doom metal with clean vox

I'm not saying you made up the results, I just thought I had heard/of most of the stuff that came out this year. Seems like I missed a lot. Would it be too much to ask to post labels?

It would be a bit much, i already added genres and countries to needle and that took a day each practically,with my complete lack of concentration & motivation it was a bit much.
But I suppose I could add it to the end of it with the recap tonight then try posting it along with each result

also so much stuff comes out that its impossible to hear of everything never mind hear it!

Tell you what, I'll post a metal archives link if there is one, ok?

haha except hellbeard dont have one

I bet they are an ilxors band and their mates voted for it!

82
Horseback - The Invisible Mountain (234 Points, 12 Votes)

http://www.rocksound.tv/images/uploads/theinvisiblemountain300.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/7EmcwSzoujDmObReKUVK3c

http://www.last.fm/music/Horseback

Jenks Miller’s psychedelic / drone project, Horseback, produced an avant-garde sleeper-hit with 2007’s Impale Golden Horn (Burly Time Records/Holidays for Quince Records). That record, which Aquarius Records’ review staff tentatively described as “the best drone record of the year” upon its release, boasted four lengthy tracks, each one a vibrant, kaleidoscopic journey toward a manic, inevitable nirvana. More melodic and accessible than most noise records and noisier than most dream pop records, Horseback’s debut carved itself a niche somewhere between Merzbow and Stars of the Lid, offering a refreshing sound to fans across many sub-genres of psychedelic music.

Horseback began its story in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 2006.

Horseback toured in the fall of 2007 with Meisha / Arco Flute Foundation / New American Folk Hero visionary Mike Tamburo, including a stop at the fourth-annual Arthur Magazine-curated Million Tongues Festival in Chicago.

With an almost dialectical precision, Jenks Miller’s Approaching the Invisible Mountain turns Horseback’s sound inside-out. Where guitars previously fuzzed and whirred, they are clean; where instrumentation was meticulously balanced against itself, playing is now searching, slowly unraveling, reveling in its quiet momentum. Where Impale Golden Horn found inspiration in 20th-century American avant-garde composers, Approaching the Invisible Mountain digs further back into the annals of American music, generating a sound that is as much derived from the blues-guitar tradition as it is from modern composition’s sense of (s)pace. Over the course of six solo-guitar improvisations, Miller reinvents the process of tonal meditation that was present in Horseback’s debut.

2009 saw the release of Horseback’s MILH IHVH, a 7” record (Turgid Animal) and The Invisible Mountain, a full-length CD (Utech Records), both of which explore a darker, noisier, and more agressive side of drone music that explicitly references harsh noise, black metal and doom. Though divergent composition and recording processes yield very different textures in the two recordings, both records are intended to open portals into a kind of mythic imagination or meditative self-awareness.

http://www.myspace.com/horsebacknoise

It was reissued on Relapse this year I think. The 2009 release was ltd cdr i think.

Anyway there was plenty of chat about it on ILM

There was? I guess I missed it as this doesn't ring any bells.

probably was on the drone/psych thread

That would explain it. Again, would love this with different vocals. Great droning grooves, interesting licks, shit smeared on top.

I dont have a problem with Horseback vox at all, I prefer it to the vox on the howling void album where the death growls suck but the music is great.

One album left for today btw

I thought Hellbeard was a joke the first time I heard about it, too.

I liked "Shatter", but couldn't justify putting the EP on ahead of anything else in my top 40. I did vote for the album.

The only other thing I liked so far in the countdown was that Blut Aus Nord, and that didn't make my list either. I wanted it to be less repetitive, both internally and in their catalog.

Although centricity-wise I'm very slightly above the middle of the list this year, for some reason there's a big gap between #104 and #62 with no votes from me.

Horseback were on my list, towards the bottom. I disagree about the vocals -- they fit with the general descent-into-the-mouth-of-hell vibe of the record in general.

Sadly this is going to be controversial due to some allegations against Wrest which have come to light today.

81
Twilight - Monument to Time End (236 Points, 11 Votes, 1 #1)
http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/wp-content/media/2010/06/twilight.jpg

http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=44905
http://www.last.fm/music/Twilight

Consisting of masterminds of various notorious US black metal acts such as Wrest (Leviathan, Lurker of Chalice), Imperial (Krieg, March Into The Sea), Azentrius (Nachtmystium), Stavros Giannopoulos (The Atlas Moth) and Aaron Turner (Isis), the all star band Twilight plays rough, depressive black metal.

Rolling Metal Thread 2011

Eh, nobody knew before they voted that Wrest was (allegedly) a monster.

Still a good album.

I was one of the mystery votes for Hellbeard, and they were on the shortlist of stuff I hadn't heard before the nom showed up and then really really liked. I was insane enough thx to my lax listening over the year to at least give a token listen to everything on the noms list i could find, so there were a few things that came out of nowhere that i really dug, and that was one of them.

Recap 101-81

101 Yrsel - Requiem for the Three Kharites (215 Points, 11 Votes)
100 Jucifer - Throned in Blood (216 Points, 10 Votes, 1 #1)
99 Triptykon - Shatter (217 Points, 11 Votes)
98 Westering - Help a Body (218 Points, 9 Votes)
97 The Howling Void - Shadows Over the Cosmos (218 Points, 11 Votes)
96 Blus Aus Nord - What Once Was... Liber I (221 Points, 11 Votes)
95 Year of No Light - Ausserwelt (222 Points, 12 Votes)
94 Cuzo - Otros Mundos (223 Points, 10 Votes)
93 Humanfly - Darker Later (225 Points, 12 Votes)
92 Rosetta - A Determinism of Morality (226 Points, 10 Votes)
91 Les Discrets - Septembre et Ses Dernieres Pensees (226 Points, 11 Votes)
90 Angel Eyes - Midwestern (227 Points, 12 Votes)
89 U.S. Christmas - Run Thick in the Night (229 Points, 12 Votes)
88 Black Tusk - Taste the Sin (229 Points, 14 Votes)
87 Howl - Full of Hell (230 Points, 9 Votes)
86 Sigh - Scenes From Hell (231 Points, 13 Votes)
84 TIE - Menace Ruine - Union of Irreconcilables (232 Points, 11 Votes)
84 TIE - Boris - Variations (232 Points, 11 Votes)
83 Hellbeard - Scarecrow (234 Points, 10 Votes)
82 Horseback - The Invisible Mountain (234 Points, 12 Votes)
81 Twilight - Monument to Time End (236 Points, 11 Votes, 1 #1)

I was one of the mystery votes for Hellbeard, and they were on the shortlist of stuff I hadn't heard before the nom showed up and then really really liked. I was insane enough thx to my lax listening over the year to at least give a token listen to everything on the noms list i could find, so there were a few things that came out of nowhere that i really dug, and that was one of them.

― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten),

That's a good thing though, the whole point of the poll is to find out about albums you haven't heard that are good, not just lets all see where all these albums we already know place.

I found some really good albums I hadn't heard because of the nominations thread, and already on this countdown I've heard some new stuff I like.

oh shit i didnt even see that menace ruine showed up, that was in my top ten and totally worth giving the time to, its a great great record.

so far i am 3/40

If anyone hasn't heard the Les Discrets album yet, do so immediately.

Agreed

YES! Horseback! Awesome! Nothing to add to this yet other than good show and that I also like USXMAS and Black Tusk but didn't think either were quite good enough to vote for.

would've voted horseback but I voted for it last year already. that'd be weird. but people into repetitive stuff like loop or circle would do well to check it out.

and I do think that it's pretty weird that 10 people voted for hellbeard and the abscess lp wasn't even nominated when I decided to vote for it two days ago. some pretty weird picks on here so far.

not a slight, don't get me wrong. I will prob be checking that one out.

listening to the sigh lp right now - even for sigh this seems pretty over-the-top!

kinda lovin' it so far tbh

Ok, everyone's in bed and I'm working my way down the list with a hot chocolate. Les Discrets are sounding very impressive so far.

I'm listening to U.S. Christmas for the first time right now - pretty good stuff

Er... I skipped them cos the name is stupid.

WTF is up with this Sigh band? They've got like a mariachi chorus in the middle of this death metal maelstrom...

Ah, they're from Japan. I think I like them.

"they're from Japan" really does explain everything, doesn't it?

Hellbeard are sounding alright too, and unlike US Christmas they have an excellent name.

Looks like Les Descrets are my find of the day.

I've just paid money for the album. I'm not going to look up the lyrics in English but rather imagine it's all Sartre quotes.

Don't tell Adrien, but it's actually all covers of obscure yé-yé stuff from the 60s.

Ha!

If you like the US Christmas album, I highly recommend 'Hawkwind Triad', a very cool comp of Hawkwind covers by USXmas, Minsk, and Scott Kelly.

Sorry, not Scott Kelly but Von Till''s Harvestman..

yeah I was hearing some Hawkwind in there; that sounds real cool. I will check that out.

Some of those songs on Sigh's Scenes from Hell remind me of Jello Biafra- not just the tempos and the twangy-for-metal guitars, but also the way the songs shift with bizarre pomp- like a non-musician had directed it.

Voted for the US Christmas too, which is a record I think will grow on me when I'm more in the mood. It's quite a mood it sustains. It feels falling into dry weeds, just like the album art.

That US Christmas felt like less of a metal record than the disqualified Killing Joke one, tho'. Despite their roots, feels much closer to psych band on Tee Pee, like Weird Owl or Entrance or something.

^yeah there's definitely a psych feel to it...it's very long too. Seems like an album I'm going to have to work to get into.

You should try the first one.

80
The Ocean - Anthropocentric (237 Points, 10 Votes)
http://www.metalsucks.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/the-ocean-anthropocentric.jpg

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Ocean

The Ocean Collective (usually referred to as “The Ocean”) is an experimental metal band from Berlin, Germany. Their work combines elements of modern hardcore and technical metal with classical music and electronic soundscapes. The band often describes its sound as “ambient soundtrack doomrock”

http://www.myspace.com/theoceancollective

I'll come back and point out something interesting about #80 after we get to #78.

The band often describes its sound as “ambient soundtrack doomrock”

Just listening to them now, that's not very accurate at all. I'd go something like 'melodic prog hardcore'.

gorgeous cover art-- looks more like a starry sky than the ocean, though?

I liked that album better than their first one of the year, but I didn't pick it up until after I voted. Seems like someone on the rolling metal threads (Phil?) really hates these guys though.

the ocean of stars maybe?

Some of those songs on Sigh's Scenes from Hell remind me of Jello Biafra- not just the tempos and the twangy-for-metal guitars, but also the way the songs shift with bizarre pomp- like a non-musician had directed it.

this is dead on.

79
Lantlôs - .neon (237 Points, 11 Votes)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/7/1/9/271951.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/1Rj4YOjtU3IM99vL6kQRdD
http://www.last.fm/music/Lantl%C3%B4s

In the end of 2007/early 2008 Herbst started to work on the next album”.neon”, and eventually Neige (Alcest) joined Lantlôs as a permanent vocalist. “.neon” was recorded in February 2009. In March 2010 Lantlôs switched to Prophecy Productions. Again Fursy Teyssier delivered even more breathtaking artwork for “.neon” and the new material was released in May 2010.

I like how all these Alcest-related bands have a similar aesthetic, both in terms of artwork and the kind of thing they're aiming at. I listened to Les Discrets earlier, and enjoyed it, so will be checking out this one too.

Seems like someone on the rolling metal threads (Phil?) really hates these guys though.

I don't hate them, I just think they're wildly overrated and way too convinced of their own brilliance.

I wasn't convinced by the new singer with the clean vox.

Yeah, I wasn't sold on him during Heliocentric, but I found him a lot easier to deal with on Anthropocentric.

78
The Ocean - Heliocentric (240 Points, 8 Votes)
http://www.metalsucks.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/TheOceanHeliocentricFront.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Ocean

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliocentric_%28The_Ocean_Collective_album%29

Heliocentric is the fourth studio album by the German experimental metal band The Ocean, released on April 9, 2010,[1] and marks the recording debut of vocalist Loïc Rossetti.[2] It is the first part of a double album about the critique of Christianity from different philosophical and personal angles, with its companion album, "Anthropocentric" which was released on November 9, 2010 in North America.

"Heliocentric" continues where the "Proterozoic" half of Precambrian left off, with dense, epic songs and big orchestrations. The vocals are the biggest departure from previous albums; they are mostly "clean," and more soulful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocentric_%28The_Ocean_album%29

Anthropocentric is the 5th studio album by German post metal band The Ocean Collective. It is the second album in a 2 album series, following Heliocentric. 'Anthropocentric' continues the critique of Christianity as in its companion album Heliocentric. The album was released in North America on November 9, 2010.

While Heliocentric was "continues where the "Proterozoic" half of Precambrian left off, with dense, epic songs and big orchestrations.", 'Anthropocentric' "is going to be a bit more straight forward rocking and technical, whilst still tapping the full range of dynamic."[3] The band's comments on the albums reveal things about the music of the album: "Musically, the album feels somehow heavier than Heliocentric. "The sound is more dense and maybe a tad more raw, which suits the songs perfectly, comments guitar player Jonathan Nido. The album covers a similar sonic and dynamic range as Heliocentric, also including a number of calm, acoustic moments but these are for the most part orchestrated with guitars, and not so much with piano and string section. The focus is on the heavy songs: "The album is a pretty big production, and still has a very earthy, organic feel to it, comments guitarist Robin Staps. "We have spent a great deal of time on the basic sound this time around, drums, bass, guitars and vocals... and at this stage I am pretty confident that this will pay off in the end!"[4]

Of the four pairs of albums (including Triptykon's EP) by a single artist in the poll, the Ocean had the highest-placing second album, beating Shatter on points even though it got fewer votes. Even weirder that Heliocentric beat Anthropocentric on points, despite getting 2 fewer votes!

But this brings me to Heliocentric's other distinction: an Enthusiasm (average points/vote) score of 30! There are only 6 albums in the whole poll with an Enthusiasm score of 30 or more, and the other 5 are #s 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6!

that is interesting!

I think all 8 voters of Heliocentric voted for Anthropocentric, but 2 Anthropocentric didn't vote for Heliocentric.

Is enthusiasm calculated on "high" votes, regardless of the total number of votes cast?

There are only 6 albums in the whole poll with an Enthusiasm score of 30 or more, and the other 5 are #s 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6!

it may be too early to begin publicly guessing the top 10, but i have ideas ^______^

77
Le Kraken - Exalt (243 Points, 13 Votes)
http://northernbitch.september12doom.com/_home/D7i/itemjpg/item69.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Le+Kraken
http://www.myspace.com/krakenrockmusic

The first full length album from French Canadian crushers Kraken has more of the apocalyptic doom/crust/epic rock that they delivered on their EP, while moving further into their own brand of sludgy majesty. Playing that sort of heavy epic progressive-minded hardcore that’s all over the place now, Kraken stand out just for sheer power, injecting plenty of furious crusty heaviness and bleak atmosphere into their doomed riffing and slow-building eruptions of metallic moodiness. French Canadian, but sounding much more like their French brethren across the pond (Omega Massif, Year Of No Light, Overmars), they’ve got all of the massive melodic passages and exploding epic riffage, gruff ferocious roaring vocals (with all of the lyrics in French), pounding mid-tempo hardcore dirges and droning riffs, and some strategically placed eruptions of gloom-heavy thrash and D-beat to satisfy addicts of this sort of sound. It’s equal parts epic crustmetal a la Buried Inside, Tragedy, and From Ashes Rise, and the imposing crush of Isis. There’s a lot of soaring delayed guitar as well, hints of Mono or Explosions In The Sky mixed in with the metallic crush, and the riffs are amazing, memorable and dramatic; each time I listen to this, it keeps reminding me more and more of a much more ferocious and thrashy Year Of No Light. Recommended!
http://www.roboticempire.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=4879

Enthusiasm is the average points awarded per vote. So if an album got points of 40, 30, 20 and 10, its Enthusiasm would be 25.

Thanks!

I looked at the Hellbeard myspace and there's some bullshit petition thing to get on Roadrunner records. If i were them i'd forget about that shite and send their album to Profoundlore or 20 Buck Spin or even Paradigm-Recordings as I think their album would fit those labels aesthetics far more than Roadrunner and would likely get the attention it deserves from them.

otm

lol can't believe a band called 'Hellbeard' would have some dumb ideas about how to present their music

76
Ramesses - Take the Curse (252 Points, 11 Votes)
http://www.roadburn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Ramesses-Take-The-Curse1.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/4nKxJcsXhH5dxnpqlJWYmj
http://www.last.fm/music/Ramesses

Spawned in the bleak woodland of Dorset, England, this three-piece has been disfiguring the innards of its army of devoted listeners since 2003 when original Electric Wizard drummer Mark Greening and guitarist Tim Bagshaw hooked up with Adam Richardson (bass + vox), formerly of Lord of Putrefaction, Spirmyard and hexed

Excellent cover. I listened to some of the album a while back and found it boring though.

It's supposed to be a lot better than their previous albums. But people who say they are better than Electric Wizard are deluded.

I like Ramesses' old stuff better, but I've never been that into them. A friend is a huge fan though and thinks this is their best.

is that sleeve Chapman brothers art?

Yeah, Adam from Ramesses is really interesting on the subject of the Chapman Brothers.

I interviewed him last year about it

There are some killer tracks on this album and it was an interesting idea to use a traditional Cuban producer who had never heard any extreme metal to record the album.

Looks like their piece "Hell" to me, the most awesome Games Workshop diorama ever created!

That's a great interview

And j3ff t will approve of the next one..

75
Tweak Bird - Tweak Bird (253 Points, 10 Votes)
http://i1.soundcloud.com/artworks-000001997528-c5x6mx-crop.jpg?6d7a8e
http://open.spotify.com/album/5PrlAUKsGw6eYHGH3LPGdd
http://www.last.fm/music/Tweak+Bird

Tweak Bird is a brother duo consisting of Caleb and Ashton Bird. Produced under the helm of Deaf Nephews (Melvins’ Dale Crover and Altamont’s Toshi Kasai), the duo’s debut is a sweeping seven-song intro to a band exploring the depths of heavy experimental, progressive, and psych-infused rock. A sort of musical Armageddon that’s constantly on the horizon, looming.

How were points supposed to be awarded? I didn't assign any; just sent in a list of albums from first to last (39, I think).

40 points for #1
39 points for #2
38 points for #3

and so on.

so #40 would get 1 point.

74
Celeste - Morte(s) Nee(s) (253 Points, 13 Votes)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MmykTbf9oLY/S7OZFrw9c9I/AAAAAAAABPU/kf7fAh8zyEs/s1600/Celeste+-+Morte(s)+Nee(s).jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Celeste

1.) Celeste is a French band with ex-Mihai Edrisch members. They released their first EP, “Pessimiste(s)”, at the end of November 2006, an album in 2007 entitled “Nihiliste(s)” ,their second full-length, “Misanthrope(s)” was out in in February 2009 and their latest release ‘’Morte(s) Nee(s)’’ in early 2010.

Listen to/Buy album here http://denovali.com/celeste/

I like Tweak Bird but Celeste really hit the spot for me when I want my skin flayed off like the rasta drug dealers in Predator 2.

My review of Morte(s) Nee(s): Dis is pure dread. PURE DREAD... Fucking voodoo magic man.

Post it!

If anyone did reviews of any albums in the poll, please post or link to them!

73
Darkthrone - Circle the Wagons (254 Points, 12 Votes)
http://allmetalresource.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/darkthrone_circlethewagons.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Darkthrone

No darkthrone fans about?

I still haven't heard the latest Darkthrone ... But I'm just gonna go ahead say TOO LOW for Tweak Bird!

yeah, I dig darkthrone but haven't spun that one yet either. but I do have a funny feeling that it sounds a lot like the last couple darkthrone records.

72
Fatso Jetson - Archaic Volumes (255 Points, 11 Votes)
http://www.roadburn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Fatso-Jetson-Archaic-Volumes.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Fatso+Jetson

Fatso Jetson is an American desert rock band from the Palm Desert, California area, formed in 1994 by ex-Yawning Man members Mario and Larry Lalli, along with Tony Tornay. The Lalli cousins are often credited as the fathers of the desert strain of stoner rock later made famous by bands such as Kyuss, Fu Manchu, and Queens of the Stone Age. While musically similar to some of their stoner brethren, Fatso Jetson incorporate a broader variety of musical influences that includes punk and surf.

http://www.myspace.com/fatsojetson

I think Tweak Bird scored so low just because not many people have heard them. Oh well. Hopefully some of the readers of this page will check them out now.

I had never heard of them until jeff mentioned them.

Next one up has a number one vote

71
Cough - Ritual Abuse (256 Points, 13 Votes, 1 #1)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JT7-q55_p-0/TPlJuPPS74I/AAAAAAAAAU4/I8Gy33X-2-U/s1600/COUGH-Ritual-Abuse-front.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Cough

aww yeah... that is an awesome album. Highly recommended for all doom metal fans!

I've seen the Fatso Jetson name before, but it registered as Flotsam and Jetsam and I didn't think I needed a 2010 album by them (shocked to notice that if I did want a 2010 Flotsam and Jetsam record, I could have one!). Also, I thought Tweak Bird was someone following in the wake of Hatebeak.

also that Cough album art is a tarot card reference in case anybody didn't notice -- 5 of swords:

"Defeat, hollow victory, no-win situations, dishonorable behavior, experiencing hostility" -- some things associated with that card according to my tarot card books.

as I said -- Tweak Bird have a terrible name and album cover, but awesome music. I actually voted for them higher than I normally would have in the hopes that they would place.

Anyway, nice to see that 10 people voted for them, hopefully a few of those were people I had managed to turn onto them on the nominations thread.

I am in no doubt that helped esp with the links to the melvins.

70
Intronaut - Valley of Smoke (266 Points, 12 Votes)
http://www.metalsucks.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/valley-of-smoke1.jpeg
http://open.spotify.com/album/1nLvyh30udGGtVOxTnYkB4

http://www.last.fm/music/Intronaut

Intronaut is a band from Los Angeles, California formed in 2004.

They play progressive metal with harsh vocals combined with progressive and jazzy instrumental breaks. Their sound incorporates traits from sludge metal, jazz and death metal.

http://www.intronaut.net

I bet loads love that cover.

the cover is better than the album IMO... but I think the same thing re: Baroness.

had not seen that cover before and was about to write about how much I like it.

^ i predicted that one

Not as good as Prehistoricisms, but still pretty decent. Very dependable band.

fuck i keep forgetting to pick up that Intronaut!

69
Grand Magus - Hammer of the North (270 Points, 13 Votes)
http://i45.tinypic.com/2zh2hc0.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/4RuM80jEOeWqnoCufhamIt

http://www.last.fm/music/Grand+Magus
http://www.grandmagus.com
http://myspace.com/grandmagusrocks

Wow I didn't vote for it but I'd have thought this would have placed much higher... it was very prominent on a bunch of E-O-Y lists...

I didn't vote for that Grand Magus album, but I still liked it pretty well. Very solid trad metal band, and not ironically or self-consciously traditional, either. Just straightforwardly straightforward. On some level I feel kind of bad for underrating solidness.

damn i love that howling void cover

The Grand Magus disc wasn't released in the US, which probably hurt its overall standing with critics.

68
Gnaw Their Tongues - L'Arrivée de la Terne Mort Triomphante (276 Points, 12 Votes)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2PU7-y8Sp90/TJg3kDR6x9I/AAAAAAAAATI/OdqooB1_JnA/s1600/Gnaw+Their+Tongues+-+L%27Arriv%C3%A9e+De+La+Terne+Mort+Triomphante.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Gnaw+Their+Tongues

http://www.myspace.com/gnawtheirtongues

More Gallic metal?

I quite like this record but I don't consider it metal at all.

It's dutch

Gnaw Their Tongues is an experimental black metal moniker of Maurice de Jong formed in Drachten, Netherland in 2005. Its named after a verse in the bible.

Lyrical themes are bondage, torture and morbid esoterica. Gnaw Their Tongues tracks appears on Black Industrial Grimoire, Mind the Gap Volume 77, Oaken Throne 6, The Static Hymnal.

i am curious about this one ^^

Ilxor yesterday http://www.enotes.com/w/images/thumb/3/30/Zentai_BDSM.jpg/180px-Zentai_BDSM.jpg

it's more of a noize record than a metal one - give it a go deffo

there's no guitars or drums - it's quite like Elend actually.

Is this the lowest on of his albums has placed? fwiw it's not my favourite GNT record.

67
Zoroaster - Matador (286 Points, 12 Votes)
http://hifihangover.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/zoroaster_matador.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/0u6nF0r159xIv6jSKqQzNT

http://www.last.fm/music/Zoroaster

Zoroaster was formed in the summer of 2003 by Brent Anderson (bass guitar, vocal), Will Fiore (guitar, vocal), and Rod Fiore (drums), three former colleagues in the defunct group Terminal Doom Explosion who rediscovered their mutual interests in primal, concrete sludge-doom.

Zoroaster, based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States has been rampaging the East Coast for the past years and has shared the stage with acts such as Gojira, Withered, Tualatin, Dove, Cream Abdul Babar, I/O, and many more.

Their influences include Black Sabbath, Celtic Frost, Sleep, Venom, and Godflesh. Their sludgy style of music has been described as menacing and unrelenting.

http://www.myspace.com/thezoroaster

Gnaw Their Tongues is metal enough.

And why Roadrunner never released Grand Magus here I'll never know. What's not to like about Grand Magus?

The GNT would have been somewhere in 41-50 on my list, and I liked it just fine, but I'm definitely getting diminishing returns from his records. The first one I heard was a revelation, and this one might well have been if it had been the first, too, but after two or three they really blend together to me, and become more *about* what they are than things in themselves.

Oh, and the Zoroaster has one of my favourite opening tracks of 2010. Love that song.

I don't think Grand Magus are anything to get too excited about these days, but they are incapable of making a bad album.

They do the trad doom/trad metal thing better than most.

That Zoroaster is criminally low imho, great album.

66
Thou - Summit (290 Points, 11 Votes)
http://www.metalsucks.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/thou-cover.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Thou

Thou is a doom/sludge/drone metal band from Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. They have relased a full length LP “Tyrant” on One Eye Records, and a CD version of the record out on Gilead Media.

Another criminally low placing for an album I loved this year!

65
Titan - Sweet Dreams (298 Points, 12 Votes)

http://altsphere.com/catalog/1038-888-large/titan-sweet-dreams.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/3D4s5K5UVwdBDaTPZQrsdo

http://www.last.fm/music/Titan

An instrumental psychedelic/space/kraut rock band from Brooklyn, NY, described by Aquarius Records as “divine spaced out drug drenched psychedelic krautrockiness.” Releases include a self-released CD-r album, “Pilzmarmelade,” a limited edition self-titled album on Paradigms Recordings, and recently “A Raining Sun of Light and Love, For You and You and You” on Tee Pee Records. Tee Pee: “The group played its first show with Zombi in early 2005, and has since toured the East Coast with Saviours, and decimated stages opening for sonic contemporaries such as Comets on Fire, Lightning Bolt, Boris, Witch, DMBQ, Blue Cheer, and Suishou no Fune.” Currently active.

i don't get the love for this one; sounded kinda dull to me when i put it on a few weeks ago tbh.

xp

Thou?

yeah, that one.

I could see how Thou might be boring for some people, but man, it just hits me in the sweet spot.

hm, guess i'll give it one more shot.

it did end up with the coveted 66.6 spot on the poll, tho.

I really got into the Intronaut album in December, much more so than their previous couple. It was one of my top picks. Grand Magus is great. Seems like they missed some guaranteed sales by delaying a U.S. release.

next album is a shock low placing for an album you all thought might be top 10

Thou does bore me. Titan on the other hand...always great fun! Love the Hammond organ jams.

I'm re-listening to the Sigh album. I think most of their albums this past decade were pretty jaw-dropping, and awaited Scenes From Hell with slathering anticipation. But for some reason when I got it, it didn't click. It's finally starting to though...

64
Burzum - Belus (315 Points, 16 Votes)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51eP70iQJjL._SL500_AA280_.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Burzum

R.I.P.

Biggest event of 2010 that album? or disappointment?

I could see how Thou might be boring for some people, but man, it just hits me in the sweet spot.

yeah, this is basically exactly how I feel about thou. the 90s hardcore gone sludge sound they do really works for me but I can so how others might disagree.

but the split with mohoram atta is still my favorite thou document.

I found Belus a pleasant surprise, a proper follow-up to Filosofem. I still listen to it.

Wow, kind of amazed Burzum is that low. Still a really strong record imo.

yeah, i top 10 it.

It was mid-20s on mine.

of course, Varg being Varg (and all that entails), it's not that much of a surprise low placing.

Burzum did extremely well in the alltime poll..

for work he produced before... not after.

I love filosofem but I only listened spun belus once and didn't find it all that memorable. thought about putting a bit more work into it but was like, "eh, varg is a dick" and just moved on.

I was actually surprised at how high Burzum placed on critics' polls.

he did way better on the dB top 40 than i would have thought.

...given the mere 7 the mag awarded Belus.

63
Across Tundras - Old World Wanderer (328 Points, 14 Votes)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BB7dNJcVUzY/S8SjOxgUyCI/AAAAAAAABPg/pswc-9gYFPs/s1600/o2826886.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Across+Tundras

http://www.myspace.com/acrosstundras

Across Tundras is Tanner Olson, Nate Rose, and Matt Shively. Brewing heavy psychedelic jams in the hills of Tennessee; Across Tundras seamlessly melds classic rock, folk, country, psychedelia, and doom into songs that defy classification.

“There aren’t many American metal bands that tap into their country’s deep cultural heritage quite like Across Tundras have over the span of four albums. The geography, the history and the traditional music all feature prominently on their records, whether on the dustbowl doom vibe of 2006’s Dark Songs of the Prairie or 2008’s haunting, understated Lonesome Wails From the Weeping Willow. Their newest, Old World Wanderer, marks a return to the band’s heavier side, a seamless blend of Neurosis, Crazy Horse and the Anthology of American Folk Music.” Adrien Begrand - Decibel Magazine

^ Yeah! Love that band.

I think everyone was overly cautious in the weeks prior to the Belus's release, as if no one really knew how listeners would react to it. Lots of wishy-washy reviews and features.

Who reviewed it for Decibel?

Greg Moffit.

A few more of my favorites placed today: Gnaw Their Tongues, Grand Magus and Across Tundras. In each case, I think the artists have reached a new peak, refining their sounds and exceeding my expectations. This is especially surprising with Gnaw Their Tongues - I discovered them through this poll last year and didn't think he could top All The Dread Magnificence Of Perversity so quickly.

62
Kvelertak - Kvelertak (342 Points, 20 Votes)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_A5ss3nyKBNA/TSL3BvQ_jrI/AAAAAAAAC3g/LY7gCoK87sQ/s1600/Kvelertak+-+vinyl.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/08d7MnYYp9OEsQ8GcnMHOn

http://www.last.fm/music/Kvelertak

Kvelertak shamelessly draw inspiration from every corner of something that could fit into their idea of good hard-hitting and catchy rock’n’roll. Regardless of genre, but always truthful to the basic idea of the band; good songs performed with the tongue-in-cheek attitude of their punk-rock pioneers. Unlike the majority of heavier bands they sing in their native language – adding even more character to their already unique sound.

Releasing their much anticipated debut album, Kvelertak are already well known in Norway for their furious live energy and catchy, melodic, metal-inspired punk rock. Outside Norway they are fairly unknown, as of yet.

Late 2009 Kvelertak inked a deal with Indie Recordings and the search for a producer started. On top of the list was the name of Kurt Ballou of Converge, and it is no surprise the band went ballistic when he agreed to produce the album in his God City studio in Salem, MA.

The story actually repeated itself when it came to finding the right artwork. All time favorite of the band, John Baizley of Baroness, heard a demo while on tour and felt he absolutely had to do the art, which Kvelertak absolutely agreed on.

http://www.myspace.com/kvelertak

There's another I love - "Mjød" was nearly my song of the year.

"Mjød" was one of my most-played tracks last year. I looked everywhere in London for a copy of that damn Kvelertak CD, but it was sold out wherever I looked.

I hear they've been holding out for a really lucrative NA record deal, but everyone in NA downloaded it off torrents six months ago.

You should totally hang around for the last one of the night then EZ

I'm here - had to run out this afternoon and pick up my wife at the airport or I would have been more timely with my comments.

http://treblezine.com/reviews/3559-Kvelertak_Kvelertak.html

I didn't know Kvelertak hadn't been released in the states.

61
Quest for Fire - Lights From Paradise (345 Points, 15 Votes)
http://www.mbvmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/q4f.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/5qIUG329Jfo9Q6g7SpMysf

http://www.last.fm/music/Quest+for+Fire

http://www.myspace.com/questforfireband

Ah finally two albums I voted for. Think I've said it before on ILM, the problem is that Burzum songs only have two riffs each. Hvis Lyset Tar Oss and Filosofem were great because they only had 6 and 7 riffs, and all of those were glorious. Belus on the other hand manages 3 great riffs (2 in River, 1 in Kelio), 11 good-to-decent ones, no bad ones. It makes for a frustrating album, really.

Kvelertak was a surprise, I normally dislike this punk/BM hybrid stuff (Khold, new Darkthrone, etc). But this is very charismatic and, uh, kicks ass. In an old-fashioned way yet they do have their own style.

Though note to bands: no more John Dyer Baizley artwork please!

Quest For Fire! Love, love, love that record. Crunchy stoner primitivism. And they're something in Canada - Had a #1 in November on CBC Radio 3’s R3-30 charts. I have no idea what that actually signifies. Maybe Adrien can help explain?

Though note to bands: no more John Dyer Baizley artwork please!

I don't know, I love his stuff and am always happy to see it.

I like his art more than his music.

The R3-30 chart is based on listener requests as well as airplay on Radio 3.

I keep forgetting about Quest For Fire...it was the one Tee Pee album I didn't get sent to me for some reason (and I always get their stuff), so it just flew right by me last summer.

xxp Its becoming a cliche... and also its all awesome so it makes me listen to terrible albums on occasion.

Recap
101. Yrsel - Requiem for the Three Kharites (215 Points, 11 Votes)
100. Jucifer - Throned in Blood (216 Points, 10 Votes, 1 #1)
99. Triptykon - Shatter (217 Points, 11 Votes)
98. Westering - Help a Body (218 Points, 9 Votes)
97. The Howling Void - Shadows Over the Cosmos (218 Points, 11 Votes)
96. Blut Aus Nord - What Once Was... Liber I (221 Points, 11 Votes)
95. Year of No Light - Ausserwelt (222 Points, 12 Votes)
94. Cuzo - Otros Mundos (223 Points, 10 Votes)
93. Humanfly - Darker Later (225 Points, 12 Votes)
92. Rosetta - A Determinism of Morality (226 Points, 10 Votes)
91. Les Discrets - Septembre et Ses Dernieres Pensees (226 Points, 11 Votes)
90. Angel Eyes - Midwestern (227 Points, 12 Votes)
89. U.S. Christmas - Run Thick in the Night (229 Points, 12 Votes)
88. Black Tusk - Taste the Sin (229 Points, 14 Votes)
87. Howl - Full of Hell (230 Points, 9 Votes)
86. Sigh - Scenes From Hell (231 Points, 13 Votes)
84. Boris - Variations (232 Points, 11 Votes)
84. Menace Ruine - Union of Irreconcilables (232 Points, 11 Votes)
83. Hellbeard - Scarecrow (234 Points, 10 Votes)
82. Horseback - The Invisible Mountain (234 Points, 12 Votes)
81. Twilight - Monument to Time End (236 Points, 11 Votes, 1 #1)
80. The Ocean - Anthropocentric (237 Points, 10 Votes)
79. Lantlôs - .neon (237 Points, 11 Votes)
78. The Ocean - Heliocentric (240 Points, 8 Votes)
77. Le Kraken - Exalt (243 Points, 13 Votes)
76. Ramesses - Take the Curse (252 Points, 11 Votes)
75. Tweak Bird - Tweak Bird (253 Points, 10 Votes)
74. Celeste - Morte(s) Nee(s) (253 Points, 13 Votes)
73. Darkthrone - Circle the Wagons (254 Points, 12 Votes)
72. Fatso Jetson - Archaic Volumes (255 Points, 11 Votes)
71. Cough - Ritual Abuse (256 Points, 13 Votes, 1 #1)
70. Intronaut - Valley of Smoke (266 Points, 12 Votes)
69. Grand Magus - Hammer of the North (270 Points, 13 Votes)
68. Gnaw Their Tongues - L'Arrivée de la Terne Mort Triomphante (276 Points, 12 Votes)
67. Zoroaster - Matador (286 Points, 12 Votes)
66. Thou - Summit (290 Points, 11 Votes)
65. Titan - Sweet Dreams (298 Points, 12 Votes)
64. Burzum - Belus (315 Points, 16 Votes)
63. Across Tundras - Old World Wanderer (328 Points, 14 Votes)
62. Kvelertak - Kvelertak (342 Points, 20 Votes)
61. Quest for Fire - Lights From Paradise (345 Points, 15 Votes)

Everyone enjoying the countdown so far? Hope you all discover something you really like from it.

Thanks for the chart explanation Adrien! Was really surprised to see that little tidbit on their wikipedia page.

3 albums already with #1 votes btw.

Interesting so far AG - I'm going to check out the Menace Ruine and the Tweak Bird; neither had I even heard of but the samples I heard were solid.

I doubt there's anything bad so far tbh

Some really good albums to come tomorrow too

So now is a good chance for everyone to catch up on listening from the 101-61 albums they've not heard yet or just want to hear again.

Thanks for the chart explanation Adrien! Was really surprised to see that little tidbit on their wikipedia page.

Haha, I actually thought it was just listener requests, but checked wiki to confirm. It's a good countdown to listen to on Sirius.

So now is a good chance for everyone to catch up on listening from the 101-61 albums they've not heard yet or just want to hear again.

and if you have spotify, the ones that are up there (and available -- this seems to have become a problem, a bunch of albums used to be up but are no longer "available") are being collected:

http://open.spotify.com/user/cyclades/playlist/0bB5Qbac1UTj1EQPzr2Ord

Some stuff has been removed in the past week? I noticed that 1 track from the Titan album wasn't available, which is pretty damn strange.

a bunch of your spotify links led me to a album playlists that were grey and had a red bar above that said "this album is no longer available"

Give me a link to one that does that so I can check

ok not a bunch, i just went through the list, but there were these three:

92 Rosetta - A Determinism of Morality
82 Horseback - The Invisible Mountain
65 Titan - Sweet Dreams

Only 1 titan song is greyed out
the other albums are fine. Presumably its because they are licensed to the UK but not other countries.
The UK sometimes cant get albums licensed elsewhere.

None of those three albums are available for me on Spotify (UK, subscriber). Pity, as I wanted to hear Titan and Horseback...

I'm in the UK & a subscriber

Today's been great.

Cough was my #1. Being a huge doom metal fan I found this album to be a real triumph of the aesthetic. Slow without being boring, dreary without becoming overbearing, it took all the elements of the genre that I really love and combined them in a tight, very well produced package. A great soundtrack for a rough year.

Starting to check out the rest of these bands, Kvelertak are pretty killer. Thanks to all involved, found myself refreshing this thread all day looking to see the next result.

I am not a subscriber but I am "in the UK" as far as spotify knows...

and its not just some tracks but the whole albums...

I just checked again and it is still working perfectly fine bar that 1 titan track

this is very odd.

Indeed. Maybe Spotify knows I'm insufficiently tru and kult to appreciate these albums.

My finds of the day: The Ocean and Intronaut.

Scrolling through the thread the one thing that's clear is that metal has the best record covers of any genre.

Quest for Fire is my fav cover so far; would hang that on my wall. Tweak Bird cover could be for a chillwave album (note triangle).

My favourite album of those I've been able to hear is Cuzo (speaking as an utter dilettante who only engages with metal via polls).

Yeah, Tweak Bird need to get John Dyer Baizley to do their cover next time around.

That Kvelertak record caught me completely by surprise, and although I was prepared for my initial blown-away feeling to fade, it really never did. It got 2 #3s in this poll, and my #4. Probably the first time I've ever liked the music on a record with Baizley cover art, which I always like, so it's pathetically ironically that I haven't yet seen a physical copy of it person, much less paid for one. I think it's a toss-up for me whether this or Fefe Dobson's Joy is the year's most vividly energetic album. Slightly different versions of "energetic"...

does it have baizley cover art too?

The artwork on Quest For Fire is phenomenal. Has persuaded me to buy album without hearing a note.

It looks very much like the brush work of one of my favourite current painters, Glenn Brown. He's revitalized the whole paint on canvass thing with his approach over here. There was a great feature on him as the Spring cover article (2009) from TateEtc magazine.

http://www.tate.org.uk/images/cms/17559w_glennbrown.theatre_x25770.jpg

My layman's understanding of it is he often "remixes" paintings by using the subject matter and form from one style of painting and mixes it with the highly distinctive brush strokes from another painter entirely. He also uses tiny brushes to create masses of detail.

http://www.tate.org.uk/images/cms/17563w_detailnausea.jpg

He also does "cover versions" of sci fi art. The kind that I'm sure we all remember from pulp novels, annuals, RPG modules etc from when we were young. He got sued for this once.

http://www.tate.org.uk/images/cms/17564w_darkangel.jpg

I couldn't say why but I think he's awesome and more metal bands should use strong contemporary artists. It's funny when you think about it that neither this cover or the Ramesses one or any of the Baizley ones (another trained artist) really scream 'pretentious art metal' they just look pure quality.

Not that I don't sometimes want a werewolf on horseback with a scythe riding into a moonlit castle, but you know what I mean.

(Apologies for the tangent if it's not Glenn Brown.)

yeah that Alex Moulton album from 08 had the best metal sleeve in years despite not being a metal record, ie STEP YR GAME UP METAL

The more I look at that album sleeve, the more I don't think it's Glenn Brown but it certainly owes something to him.

i want all these metal records NOW! it's 3 out of 40 for me so far btw.

You guys made me go dig out the Quest For Fire disc so I could check art credits. It is a painting by Andre Ethier.

You can see more of his stuff here.

60
Karma to Burn - Appalachian Incantation (352 Points, 19 Votes)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2nHlMeGUjcM/S92gJi9zzBI/AAAAAAAAEdA/YpSiJKr5DwU/s1600/AICard1.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/657E9621kTdhJRKedKoGVu

http://www.last.fm/music/Karma+to+Burn

Karma to Burn is an American instrumental stoner rock band. The band was formed in 1994, in Hicksville, West Virginia (actually Morgantown, WV, though this was a running joke also reflected in bios of the band on other Web sites).

Their instrumental album Almost Heathen is widely regarded as on par Kyuss’ Welcome To Sky Valley and Monster Magnet’s Spine of God, as one of the defining albums of the stoner rock genre, although the band themselves referred to their style as malternative.

The band was renown for their live performances and former Kyuss singer John Garcia was a big fan and even tried to sing with the band, however this didn’t bear much fruit as he did not have the time to become a full-time member and Karma to Burn itself wasn’t sure his voice fitted in their music.

Karma To Burn refused to give their songs ordinary titles, instead referring to them by numbers, which allegedly made it easier for a dyslexic band member to read setlists.

The group quietly disbanded in 2002 after bassist Rich Mullins left to play full time in Speedealer.

On February 23, 2009, Karma to Burn reformed with the line-up being the same as when they disbanded. A year after reuniting, Karma To Burn released a fourth full length album on April 1, 2010, Appalachian Incantation, which was produced by Scott Reeder formerly of the stoner rock band Kyuss. Like their previous two releases, this is an instrumental album, though one track does feature Year Long Disaster’s Daniel Davies on vocals

Kvelertak album is amazing, manages to cover a lot of bases too: punk, black metal, hardcore, even some classic rock thrown in there too.

I like that Karma to Burn record, good solid stoner grooves, nothing earth-shattering but a really good record IMO.

59
Lesbian - Stratospheria Cubensis (355 Points, 15 Votes)
http://thesodashop.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/lesbian-stratospheria-cubensis-cover.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Lesbian

it’s heavy, melodic, dramatic and dynamic. The Seattle-based quartet’s multifaceted debut album Power Hör on Holy Mountain Records heralds the birth of The New Wave of American Psychedelic Metal. Each of the album’s four tracks shifts moods, dynamics and styles. In any given song, Lesbian deftly lunges from black metal-style blast-beat-and-16th-note-guitar-lines into ’70s styled stoner rock riffing and then leaps into lush melodic passages reminiscent of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The band blends the best elements of many styles of metal: doom, thrash, black, progressive and, yes, even good old “heavy” metal.

Lesbian was formed on a whim in April 2004 by members of Pacific Northwest thunder-sludge bands Golgothan Sunrise, Asva and The Abodox for a one-off set at Seattle’s Funhouse. The response was so overwhelming that guitarists Arran McInnis and Daniel La Rochelle, bassist/vocalist Dorando Hodous and drummer Benjamin Kennedy decided to continue on with Lesbian as their primary focus. The band’s riffs are dissected and cut into vivid and imaginative parts that splinter and shift in shades of light and dark without coming across overly-technical and soulless. The cinematic quality of Power Hör envelops a vast array of moods and ideas. It’s entrancing and psychedelic while utterly pummeling at the same time.

In order to capture the dynamic force of its live sound, Lesbian enlisted the much-lauded ear of producer Randall Dunn, to help the band achieve its musical vision. Power Hör was recorded and mixed at both the legendary Avast! and Dunn’s own Aleph Studio. Stephen O’Malley designed the stunning cover art for the band’s debut, befitting its sonic density and complexity. Incorporated into the layout is a striking logo design by John Santos.

Their second opus entitled “Stratospheria Cubensis” was released in October the 26th of 2010 via Important Records.
Stratospheria Cubensis picks up where 2007's Power Hor (Holy Mountain) left off. The album takes the band and listener on a
darker and more elaborate optimisitc prog-doom journey, each track telling an epic pychedelic story using myriad genres, styles, and timbres. Seldon Hunt's impressive artwork richly supports the albums themes that the band describes simply as "mushrooms in the sky with diamonds."

Recorded and Mixed at London Bridge and Aleph Studios Seattle by Randall Dunn (Master Musicians of Bukkake, Earth,Boris, Sunn O))))
Mastered by Mell Dettmer at Sinister Kitchen
Artwork and Layout by Seldon Hunt
Logo by John Santos

http://www.myspace.com/lesbianwitch

Good band name, not too sure about that cover art tho.

They are a good band. There was a few gushing posts on the rolling metal thread about the album.

58
Melvins - The Bride Screamed Murder (355 Points, 17 Votes)
http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/wp-content/media/2010/05/melvins_album_cover.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/5KDnM8zQPlrPHbaGeijdzM

http://www.last.fm/music/Melvins

Nice fluffy bunny on the Karma To Burn cover.

awesome. I dug the melvins record a lot this year.

I liked some of it but was generally disappointed by it. the my generation cover was embarrassing.

57
Unearthly Trance - V (367 Points, 16 Votes, 1 #1)
http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2010/09/Unearthly-Trance-V.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/7EG5CLhQne2iClvncX5jlv

http://www.last.fm/music/Unearthly+Trance

http://unearthlytrance.com
http://www.myspace.com/utny

Another album with a #1 vote

That's a cool cover. What do they sound like?

crushing doooooooooooooooom

nice, will be listening to that one then!

albeit more of the mid-paced variety these days

56
Trees - Freed of This Flesh (369 Points, 17 Votes)
http://www.musicfearsatan.com/DSK/trees_freed_(big).jpg

http://www.last.fm/music/Trees

Trees is a drone/doom metal band from Portland, Oregon.

The mysterious Portland ensemble Trees return with their second offering on Crucial Blast, Freed Of This Flesh, with two new fetid death rituals scraped from the crypt. Each of these tracks averages around fourteen minutes, an extended death-rattle formed from black glacial riffs suspended in space, tectonic percussive rumbles, anguished shrieks of torment and abject suffering, deep guttural demon-toad throat singing, and endless sheets of glistening metallic feedback that spill and drift to the far edges of their extreme time-stretched ambient doom, a crumbling, blighted majesty, noxious ambient blackdoom adrift on putrescent tides. The wretched vocal effluvium creeps formlessly across austere slabs of crushing heaviness arranged into ghoulish constructs of atmospheric dread, moving so slow that the music seems to lose all sense of propulsion at times, becoming lost in a fog of howling amplifiers and buzzing feedback, the guitars stretched into massive decomposing drones, the spaces between infested with controlled bursts of drums that skitter and rumble, almost "jazzy" in a vague sort of way, but still incredibly slow and ponderous. Freed Of This Flesh inhabits the same sort of black-tar depths as the likes of Burning Witch, Monarch, Khanate, and Bunkur while stripping the slo-mo heaviness into their own twisted, skeletal configuration.

I liked everything on the Melvins album but the last track. And I loved the "My Generation" cover; as I said at the time, it reminded me of Fudge Tunnel's cover of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love."

Never caught up to that Unearthly Trance album - I liked one of their earlier discs okay, but not enough to get excited about a new one.

not sure why a slowed-down cover of "my generation" is so embarrassing?

55
Bison B.C. - Dark Ages (370 Points, 19 Votes)
http://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Bison-bc-Dark-Ages-300x300.jpg

http://www.last.fm/music/Bison+B.C.

When Bison took its first step, amps were scorched and drums were smashed. Born of the ashes of seminal Vancouver skate-thrash band S.T.R.E.E.T.S., Bison are every head banger’s dream. Their riffs are colossal and flow like a mighty river into a sea of fuzzed out shredding. Their message is punk rock angst and revolution, with the occasional nod to white wizards, the king of swine and a mythical beast called the “Stokasaurus”. For their debut album Earthbound they’ve managed to capture their massive live sound on tape with the help of Jesse Gander (The Hive). In a perfect world Bison will be playing with High On Fire at your favorite dive bar, all of your friends will be there and a beer will cost a quarter. By the end of their set their amps will be in a ruined heap on top of the drum kit and somebody will be bleeding. It better be you.

not sure why a slowed-down cover of "my generation" is so embarrassing?

it's barely even a cover iirc, they sing the lyrics to the first verse and that's about it

I reviewed the Unearthly Trance album in Terrorizer but can't find it online, I don't think they put their reviews up

not sure why a slowed-down cover of "my generation" is so embarrassing?

What, have Northern Kings had a record out this year?

Yeah that Melvins album was the first underwhelming record they've released in a long time. It isn't bad, just seemed a lot more "safe" and "Melvins on coast" than usual.

yeah, I'd agree with that. melvins rarely put out anything out-and-out BAD but a senile animal and nude with boots were such a blast. the bride screamed murder pales a bit in comparison.

54
Shining - Blackjazz (375 Points, 16 Votes)
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/coverart/2010/shining_blackjazz_jk.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/16aH8bxCmT8a2Two46ewqD

http://www.last.fm/music/Shining

There are several bands with the samw name
2. A Norwegian band that started out as an experimental jazz group in 1998, and has since evolved into playing their own avant-garde brand of progressive metal. Winner of the Alarm Award in both 2006 (for In the Kingdom of Kitsch You Will Be a Monster) and 2007 (for Grindstone).

Shining’s fifth album Blackjazz was released 18 January 2010 on Indie Recordings. The album’s title is meant to describe Shining’s sound, which on Blackjazz became even harder and more intense than ever before. New Shining sounds like Experimental Metal with huge Jazz influence.

Current members are:
* Jørgen Munkeby: sax, guitar, Akai EWI and vocals
* Torstein Lofthus: drums
* Bernt Moen: synths and keyboards
* Tor Egil Kreken: bass
* Even Helte Hermansen: guitars

listening to the lesbian album now. not bad and I like the thrashy touches but I'm not hearing much to differentiate it from the mastodon/baroness crowd. and there are already about a billion similar bands out there so...

yeah, i think that may be a part of it too, i loved the previous 2 tons

xpost

awesome, did not expect shining to place that high!

would have been higher if I'd voted!

n.b. that album is p much the original LJ Metal record

'blackjazz deathtrance' is one of the most amazing songs I heard last year - the damn thing'll take your head off if you let it

see thats why you should have voted

LJ does this every poll

my ballot wd have basically been 1. shining 2. deathspell omega 3. enslaved 4. um

unless you wanna count extra life as metal in which case that'd have been my #1, and kayo dot? metal? I GUESS SO

but it wouldn't have been that much higher anyway, not even with a #1 vote which he probably wouldn't have given it anyway since he already said kayo dot was his #1. but noone will ever know as yet again HE FORGOT TO VOTE!

oh, Chrome Hoof would have been right up there, maybe Cathedral too - gotta love the Smee bros

didn't forget - literally couldn't squeeze more than 8 or 9 albums onto my ballot, figured I'd leave it to those who'd actually heard more than a smattering of metal this year

well it's a bit late now mr j! However I do hope you stick around the thread and post away about the results.

And by the end of the results you will have checked out so much you would then be able to make your own 2010 metal list that you could post somewhere

also LOL at jj's thread title change that I just noticed.

just gonna leave this here in case any of you feel like dying today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rth-MbhybNA

argh people already requested no youtubes

I'm allowed one Youtube. No more, promise.

just to the hxxp thing

lol a++ new thread title

Anyone still using a bookmark?

and next is yet another album with a #1 vote

definitely enjoyed that shining album and would strongly recommend the fredrik thordendal's special defects album to anyone that really digs it. less chaos, more groove, and just as weird.

the shorter version of that album is the one I prefer, btw.

53
Hour of 13 - The Ritualist (382 Points, 14 Votes, 1 #1)
http://www.earache.com/webstore/images/MOSH433CD.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/5U1rbStZbWezWhsy3YCGM6

http://www.last.fm/music/Hour+of+13

Hour of 13 is the conceptual creation of Chad Davis . The focus is on abundant musical/lyrical heaviness and delves into themes of the macabre, darkness, cold atmospheres, complete bleakness/blackness. Hour of 13 plays True Original Occult Doom exclusively!

Band Members:
- Chad Davis -Lead Guitar (Anu, Demoncy, Goatworship (USA), Mortuor, Mountain of Judgement, Profane Grace, Seven Foot Spleen, Subklinik, Torturecide, Set, Father Befouled)
- Phillip Swanson - Vocals (Atlantean Kodex, Blastmat, Briton Rites, Damnation (USA), Earthlord, KYD, lepus, Loathe, Nightbitch, Seamount, Upwards Of Endtime, Vestal Claret)

Was thoroughly unaware of this group/album until the nominations and someone gave it a #1 vote, but hell yeah, this is a real find.

i gave kayo dot negative points so that wouldnt have helped lj

I'm infact going to play this on Spotify again right now

memo to EZ Snappin ---- CLEAN VOX

I think I prefer the first hour of 13 lp but this one is good too. seems like they bring a sense of craft that many of their contemporaries lack. (some of their songs actually get stuck in my head for example!)

Dude from Atlantean Kodex sings for them? I didn't know that.

oh man, just realized that I forgot to include the cathedral lp on my list! that was top 10 for sure. >:-(

never heard of atlantean kodex. recommended?

Ahh he was the original AK vocalist.

xp

very!

hahahaha i just also realized a glaring omission on my ballot lol @ me! it'll do fine anyway im sure but duh i feel dumb

not cathedral btw

jj email me saying who it was

whoa, nice cover.

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/reviewpics/kodexcd.jpg

xxxpost

wait, we can revise our ballots? isn't it too late for that?

no you can't. I just want to know who it was he left out without everyone else doing so

ah.

no harm in posting it imo. julian assange has taught me about the virtues of transparency.

all ballots will be published at the very end via needle

jj, it was the latest Ratt album, wasn't it?

52
Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR (385 Points, 18 Votes)
http://metalinc.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/orphaned_land_the_never_ending_way_of_orwarrior-small.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/1BO8kz4rD5h32HcqKl4wMq

http://www.last.fm/music/Orphaned+Land

Meh, thought that was kind of overlong and bloated, despite a few good moments. I want to like this band more, because my wife's coworker is from Israel and knows them really well, but I just can't completely engage with it.

before ioannis asks, no neither Mordy or any of his sockpuppets voted!

memo to EZ Snappin ---- CLEAN VOX

Thanks! Will look for it.

51
Black Bombaim - Saturdays and Space Travels (390 Points, 19 Votes)
http://kiirtee.bytemob.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Black-Bombaim-Saturdays-And-Space-Travels-2010.jpg

http://www.last.fm/music/Black+Bombain

JJ can you add - COUNTING DOWN THE TOP 50 to the thread title please?

The bottom 50 has been so amazing I feel like the top 50 will be underwhelming. Looking forward to being wrong about that, tho...

Orphaned Land records are always overlong, that's their trademark.

Woohoo! Love that Black Bombaim album. Better with each play through.

And free on their website - http://www.loversandlollypops.net/

Haven't heard that BB, but again - enough of that cover art style already!

TONS of stuff i haven't heard in 51-100. looking forward to the next 50. for some reason i figured Shining would place much higher, like top 25-40 range. oh well, great album nonetheless. lj's youtube is fantastic.

Hey Goalkeeper, did Sleepytime Gorilla Museum put out an LP this year? I hear they will be the band to do the Hyundai ads next christmas.

No idea, jj and abbott are their fans round here

50
Eluveitie - Everything Remains As It Never Was (403 Points, 28 Votes)
http://www.metalsucks.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/eluvcover.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/3yDkle87gVWt1157Noo8Jh

http://www.last.fm/music/Eluveitie

Eluveitie is a celtic folk metal band from Switzerland, formed in 2002. They use both traditional Swiss and Celtic instruments alongside electric guitars and drums. Their music is known to be inspired by Gothenburg’s Melodic Death Metal Scene and their lyrics are written in a mix of English, Gaulish and Swiss dialects.

^^^ J3ff metal!

Hell yeah!

Anyway, we kind of skipped right over Bison BC -- great stuff, as heavy as Mastodon or High on Fire without feeling like they're ripping off either.

love those celtic guys

Especially when they're from Switzerland!

Ok I'm really liking Eluveitie right now... the traditional instruments mixed in are awesome.

xp yah, i am pretty familiar with em, just never quite learned how to spell their name, so prefer to refer to as "those celtic guys"

that eluveitie record was a real disappointment to me, love the previous stuff but this one was kinda underwhelming imo

and no, no SGM record this year, but dont worry bill theres always next year, perhaps i will send you a copy for christmas

have not heard those celtic guys 2010 album but am getting it shortly

Why is Bill always grumpy on poll threads?

Another yay for Eluveitie from me. Probably my favorite straightforward folk-metal band. "Lugdunon" is on my 40-song 2010-in-metal shortlist.

But there's only one album still to come that has a lower Enthusiasm score than Eluveitie, so they got most of their votes from the bottoms of ballots. Only 3 top-10 votes of those 28!

49
Melechesh - Epigenesis (407 Points, 22 Votes)
http://www.onemetal.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Epigenesis.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/1kRNk3rN6PNX9mNTzF12VG

http://www.last.fm/music/Melechesh

Melechesh is a black metal band that originated from Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Ashmedi started the band as a solo project in 1993. In the following year, guitarist Moloch and drummer Lord Curse were added to the line-up. The band’s goal was to create a type of Black Metal incorporating extensive Middle Eastern influences (both musical and lyrical), or in the band’s own words: “Mesopotamian Metal”.

Very often Melechesh are mistakenly considered israeli, or mistakenly thought of as band that uses Egyptian themes meanwhile neither facts are true.

http://www.melechesh.com

http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=424

Yeah with that Kabbalah tree of life on the cover how could anyone mistake them as Israeli?

The band’s goal was to create a type of Black Metal incorporating extensive Middle Eastern influences (both musical and lyrical), or in the band’s own words: “Mordy Metal”.

They should've incorporated a few 'sunwheels' to clarify things a bit.

before ioannis asks, no neither Mordy or any of his sockpuppets voted!

hey, i voted for it! bring on the Mordy Metal say i.

48
The Wounded Kings - The Shadow Over Atlantis (409 Points, 17 Votes)
http://community2.metalreview.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Discussions.Components.Files/7/0317.The-Wounded-Kings-_2D00_-The-Shadow-Over-Atlantis.jpg

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Wounded+Kings

The Wounded Kings of England (Dartmoor) is a Doom Metal band formed in 2005. They uphold Britain’s occult heritage and aim to produce a unique blend of spectral doom and psychedelic horror with a desolate end of the world vibe filled with suffocating heaviness. Hallmarks are eerie choirs, pianos and the use of space within the slow and mind-bending riffs.

http://www.myspace.com/thewoundedkings2

http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=3540258999

Awesome album, totally slipped my mind to include this one.

Started playing this album and it made my desk shake cause of the baaaasssss. This is some really good and heavy shit, feel ashamed I have never heard of these guys before.

It sounds really good, difficult to get hold of though apparently!

47
Blood of the Black Owl - A Banishing Ritual (Into White) (412 Points, 23 Votes)

http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/6/4/6/264615.jpg

http://www.last.fm/music/Blood+of+the+Black+Owl

Blood of the Black Owl is a Black/Funeral Doom Metal project of Chet Scott (Ruhr Hunter, The Elemental Chrysalis, Triage, Your Cell: Yourself). He combines a raw style of Black/Funeral Doom Metal with atmospheric parts more akin to his other projects.

Lets call this the "Glenn Section"

I voted for the next 8 in a row, starting with Blood of the Black Owl, and 17 of the next 24, culminating in maybe the album my repeated endorsements most helped! Given how accustomed I am to languishing at the bottom of the centricity ranking in the Pazz & Jop, it's immensely cheering to see that there are some people who actually do like stuff I like!

Anyway, Blood of the Black Owl are part of the same US dark-pagan cabal as Wolves in the Throne Room and Celestiial and Agalloch, to me, and I think it's one of current metal's most interesting directions.

I find it weird that albums do well in a poll but no bugger wants to talk about them!

hah xpost

We're on a long stretch of records I haven't heard, also, in general, you are posting these results right in the middle of the U.S. work day - so that may be slowing some of us down (thats my excuse anyway). Really enjoying checking in though!

Scary to think there's people out there who like dodgy finnish stuff like you do
xp

That said, though, Blood of the Black Owl were 3rd-to-last on my list, rather far below my top-10 votes for Celestiial and Agalloch. I still like their aesthetic a lot, but I thought it was executed with a little more distinction on the last record...

my top-10 votes for Celestiial and Agalloch

hey now

I meant that they were in *my* top 10. I wasn't revealing their poll placement.

jon/via/sisters of mercy

oh i know you weren't doing that, i just don't like to see any teases about personal ballots til the end

I voted for one of the last-place albums!

jeez guys, i was just sayin', thats all, i don't care about records we've seen already, just don't wanna hear a bunch about records yet to place!

you always vote for a last-place album, it's not hard to figure out.

Well, I know Agalloch are going to come in last, and I voted for them, so...

46
Sahg - III (412 Points, 29 Votes)
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/reviewpics/sahgiii.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/3vWLCjynyeRgz5ZO7AP39Z
http://www.last.fm/music/Sahg

Glenn loved this

Sahg is always just alright with me... dunno why.

Sahg was one of my favorite sheepish didn't-know-them-yet discoveries of the year. Super-solid heavy metal in the most classic of molds, and no small comfort to me after Dio's death. Thrilled to see them on 28 other ballots!

But Sahg's enthusiasm score, at 14.2, is lower than anything else in the top 100. Those 29 votes are 2 #1-10s, 6 #11-20s and 21 #21-40s. Arguably that makes them our lowest common denominator. But it's a damn good genre that has this as its LCD.

45
1349 - Demonoir (413 Points, 24 Votes)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7xoglsZhMic/TOPoKeG3RNI/AAAAAAAAEq8/NmHOYEqtuXY/s1600/266113.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/5uCcULwYXCArhiAQ5HWR3m

http://www.last.fm/music/1349

I liked the last two Sahg records a bunch, but I never got around to hearing this one.

damn, me too but there can't have been more than four or five different ppl who posted about it on rolling metal* - so either they dug it but didn't feel they had anything to say or a lot of ilxors are voting for Sahg in this despite not joining in the metal chat in general... hmm

*if someone wants to prove me wrong via ctrl-f magick go nuts

xp to Glenn

I went back and forth on Demonoir, but seeing them live (although they were kind of silly) helped tip me back to positive. It's a pretty relentless album, despite the blast/drift/blast/drift structure. If I had to pick a handful of bands to demonstrate what "normal" black metal sounds like these days, 1349 might well be one of them.

i dunno what you're getting at dj mencap but I do wish those who voted for all the albums would chat more but noone seems interested in doing so

I dont think i voted for any of the albums in this stretch.

i dont like 1349 at all, sahg , i liked but not enough to vote for them.

As for not much chat, sadly there never is until the later stages. Maybe EZ was right (when he posted about it last year in the alltime poll) that noone is interested until you hit the top 20. Which would be a real shame if true.

I really do like a top 100 though rather than a top 50.

do people find a top 100 boring? Should it just be a top 50 in future?

People have been chatting when they've had something to chat about.

xp naw you just have to deal with the fact that while you'll get 70+ ballots you're apparently only going to get 5-10 people doing running commentary and we haven't heard everything... I like a top 100 format.

to be fair it is the same with any poll on ilm, email or ordinary. this poll is certainly no exception.

80 ballots AG? screw it, that's enough to justify a top 100!

I've been paying attention to who likes what, but I was doomed to not know most of these bands bcz of my love for music becoming more like a strong infatuation lately...

don't feel like we need a zillion posts, it's cool

you should be able to see my Sahg review here fwiw although you might need a better monitor than mine to read it properly http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/116/l_1411d1a527af4277b81815b0b150d534.jpg

Sahg has been on my really long list of "bands to check out when I come across one of their albums", but, sadly, I haven't done so yet. Sounds right up my alley though.

I got to be honest and say I've never even heard of this next band. I'm such a false metaller.

Sahg is so good. I don't think III got a NA release though. Indie has such a great roster, but I wish all their bands (Sahg, Kvelertak, Djerv, and more) were distributed here.

44
Ea - Au Ellai (416 Points, 26 Votes)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/6/5/9/265976.jpg

http://www.last.fm/music/Ea

Nothing is known about the band or their members, though they are rumoured to be either from Russia or the US. Ea’s lyrics are written in a dead language which was recreated according to the results of archeological study and their concept is based on the sacral texts of ancient civilizations.

lol helpful.

they are awesome!

lol Nostratic Metal

never heard of them until this poll but i generally dislike funeral doom due to death metal grunting.

at least their gimmick is based somewhat in reality and they're not going with the Black Speech of Mordor. Is it common for funeral doom bands to keep their identities secret? IIRC Skepticism is like that too.

Who?

Mordy's Metal Listening Club - New Albums Every Monday

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skepticism_%28band%29

Looks like I'm wrong though and their line-up is known.

As I wrote on the listening thread:

That Ea record is pretty great. Wonderful vibe, which is what I want from any atmospheric metal.

Didn't vote for it, but it would have definitely made it had I voted for the full 40.

43
Solefald - Norrøn Livskunst (416 Points, 28 Votes)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_rQ8kN-KMsac/TPvwYZBsZOI/AAAAAAAAAVM/NP2Pnw0TuiI/s1600/7729a8c1.jpg

http://www.last.fm/music/Solefald

I think I can guess at least one person who voted for that one!

well he certainly raved about it enough on the rolling metal thread and nominations thread and lots seemed to agree with him.

A lot of albums that weren't spoke about on the rolling thread but were on the nominations thread certainly have done well, so it goes to show how boosting albums on those threads or on their own threads definitely can work.

that solefald album is so so so good, plus it hits all my weirdo outside sweet spots