Best 2010 Albums

[VelociBrad]

I just can't place any value on any aspect of music that isn't... music. Lyrics, the artist, album art, song names, etc. really are a distant distant concern when compared to the composition, texture, etc. of the music itself. Give me a wonderfully written and performed piece of music and leave the rest. I'd totally buy a black metal record with a pink cow on the cover written by a 14 year old mongolian girl about invisible unicorns so long as the music kicks my ass.

Going to agree here.

 

[TheInsane]

You have to listen to an album minimum 10 times before you are allowed to judge it? I guess I better go listen to every deathcore album 10 times then.

I do think you have to listen to an album about 10 times before you really can give a true judgment of it - especially if you plan on judging it in relation to other labums on a best-of list like has been done here. And still it is only after repeated listens you will know if your first impression was true or not.

Of course you can, in some cases, tell from the first listen if you initially like it or not but there comes a deeper understanding with repeated listens. The intial perception of an album may be true but it is far from true in all cases. As I said, some albums are very direct and work great for a spin or two but they become tiresome after 5 spins and after 10 spins they don't hold up at all. Then you have the albums that you don't get after 3 spins but that has continued to grow with every listen.


For me the best example this year was Therions "Sitra ahra" that I didnt get the first few listens. It just didnt click. But with repeated listening sessions I started to hear the flavours and I came to appreciate it alot more. had you aksed me after 3 listens I would have given it a 4/10 probably. Now I would give it a 7/10 where I think some songs are magical (Land of Canaan) and some are not worthy of inclusion on a released album (Cú Chulainn). All in all an uneven album but where the very high peaks save it in a huge way from one bad a couple of boring tracks.

Think of it as meeting new people. Some people are excellent the first few times you meet but with time they just start to annoy you. And then there are these people you may dismiss after just looking at them or having had a brief conversation with but that after deeper contact may turn out to be the best people you have ever met.

 

[Rumpole]

2010 was an okay year for me, a few "excellent" albums, but nothing that really truly knocked me off my feet. Most of the albums I've picked this year are in the "fun to listen" category rather than anything particularly profound or innovative, possibly with the exceptions of Demontage and Stargazer.

There were definitely some great demos and non-album releases this year. Satan's Satyrs, Pallbearer, Johnny Touch, Age of Taurus, Deceased, Sacriphyx and Cauchemar all rocked me hard, much harder than some of the full lengths bellow.

Disappointments - Atlantean Kodex and Apostle of Solitude.

Favourite albums (no particular order)

Christian Mistress - Agony and Opium
Zuul - Out of Time
The Wizar'd - Pathways Into Darkness
Slough Feg - The Animal Spirits
Demontage - The Principal Extinction
Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit
Hour of 13 - The Ritualist
Mach II - Mach II
Stargazer - A Great Work of Ages/A Work of Great Ages
Ares Kingdom - Incendiary

Pretty uninspired list, actually.

 

[Goffdahl]

Godlike

Excellent
Agrypnie - 16[485]
Alcest - Ecailles des Lunes
Whom the Moon a Nightsong Sings
Dinner auf Uranos - 50 Winter 50 Sommer
A Forest of Stars - Opportunistic Thieves of Spring
SIG:AR:TYR - Godsaga

Good
Angantyr - Svig
Arckanum - Sviga Læ
Artefact - Ruins
Blood of Kingu - Sun in the House of the Scorpio
Castevet - Mounds of Ash
Deathspell Omega - Paracletus
Imperium Dekadenz - Procella Vadens
Lantlos - Neon
Les Discrets - Septembre et ses Derniere Pensees
Nachtmystium - Assassins: Black Meddle pt. 2
Negura Bunget - Virstele Pamuntului
Negura Bunget - Maiestrit
Odroerir - Götterlieder II
Wolfsmond - Wolfsmond III

Meh
Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit
Limbonic Art - Phantasmagoria

Terrible
Throes of Dawn - The Great Fleet of Echoes

Haven't heard thoroughly enough:
Twilight - Monument to Time End

Yet to get my hands on:
Urfaust - Der Freiwillige Bettler
Burzum - Belus
Enslaved - Axioma Etica Odini
Heimdalls Wacht - Nichtorte... Oder die Geistreise der Runenschamanen
Blut aus Nord - What Once Was: Liber I
Dordeduh - Valea Omului
Drudkh - A Handful of Stars
Lifelover - Sjukdom
Njiqahdda - Antas Velutii
Schrei aus Stein - Tsisnaasjini


So, all in all lots of good albums but nothing really extraordinary.

 

[unknown]

finally somebody besides me mentions A Forest of Stars

 

[rms]

You keep makin yourself look bad tryin to troll me. Pretty sad dude. I had fun flying out to Texas and going to a 2 day metalfest and spending $200 on merch, what did you do lately?

I was going to go to Quebec but the army is gay so I sat in the field for 2 weeks wondering what possessed me to join the army

If there's any reason to not join the military, it's rms' attitude after he joined up. I really can't tell if he's trolling or not.

army has not changed thyself

 

[skeptik]

I just can't place any value on any aspect of music that isn't... music. Lyrics, the artist, album art, song names, etc. really are a distant distant concern when compared to the composition, texture, etc. of the music itself. Give me a wonderfully written and performed piece of music and leave the rest. I'd totally buy a black metal record with a pink cow on the cover written by a 14 year old mongolian girl about invisible unicorns so long as the music kicks my ass.

That's funny because I used to say exactly the same shit on this very forum several years ago when I didn't know what the fuck I was talking about. In fact you can probably do a search for my old posts. I think I said "pink elephant" though. "Lyrics, the artist, album art, song names, etc." are all part of the music, part of the work of art. Judging a work that actively engages in content beyond mere notes simply on "the riffs" is a thoroughly superficial way of looking at music and does a disservice to the artists that actually put forth an effort to create a holistic unity between instruments, lyrics, vocals, artwork, and production.

 

[ArneZ]

I guess im listening to the best album of 2010 in 2014 or something like that. But from what Ive heard this year Istapp made the best one.

 

[Addo_Of_Nex]

What does this entail?

I should have been more clear with this. I'm basically talking about things like the temporal and regional context of the album, the album's conceptual basis, or basically anything extramusical that could be potentially be relevant.

Dodens basically summed up what my reply to Draele would have been.

For the sake of illumination, I'll use an example from this year. I thought that Ares Kingdom's Incendiary was great on a purely musical level after a single listen, but when I continually read the lyrics and examined the booklet in conjunction with the music, I realized how superbly they all function as one unified whole; and it altered my perception of the music itself on a fundamental level. After a while I began thinking about its conceptual relation to Order from Chaos and began to notice how much of Chuck Keller's writing (musically and lyrically) is an extrapolation of his past: a realization that acted as another catalyst for a fundamental change in perception on my part. A multitude of things like this shaped the way I feel about the album now, not simply the killer riffs.

I just don't see how one can listen to nothing but the music and think they're doing the artist absolute justice.

 

[TheInsane]

That's funny because I used to say exactly the same shit on this very forum several years ago when I didn't know what the fuck I was talking about. In fact you can probably do a search for my old posts. I think I said "pink elephant" though. "Lyrics, the artist, album art, song names, etc." are all part of the music, part of the work of art. Judging a work that actively engages in content beyond mere notes simply on "the riffs" is a thoroughly superficial way of looking at music and does a disservice to the artists that actually put forth an effort to create a holistic unity between instruments, lyrics, vocals, artwork, and production.

I should have been more clear with this. I'm basically talking about things like the temporal and regional context of the album, the album's conceptual basis, or basically anything extramusical that could be potentially be relevant.

Dodens basically summed up what my reply to Draele would have been.

For the sake of illumination, I'll use an example from this year. I thought that Ares Kingdom's Incendiary was great on a purely musical level after a single listen, but when I continually read the lyrics and examined the booklet in conjunction with the music, I realized how superbly they all function as one unified whole; and it altered my perception of the music itself on a fundamental level. After a while I began thinking about its conceptual relation to Order from Chaos and began to notice how much of Chuck Keller's writing (musically and lyrically) is an extrapolation of his past: a realization that acted as another catalyst for a fundamental change in perception on my part. A multitude of things like this shaped the way I feel about the album now, not simply the killer riffs.

I just don't see how one can listen to nothing but the music and think they're doing the artist absolute justice.

Cheers guys! This echoes my thought exactly. There is more to music than just the instrumentation. It is a whole work of art and every part of it should be taken into consideration.

 

[EternalMetal]

Though would you agree that if the music isnt good that it isnt a good work of art? I really cant be bothered to read and look into the lyrics if the music is crap. The instrumentals are too important in music imo to waste time with the lyrics. Plus there are so many bands with awful and stupid lyrical themes anyways that I feel like they dont put any effort in at all. Even if the music is exceptional. Its usually obvious when an album requires further exploration into the lyrics and themes that surround it as a work of art, rather than just good metal.

Dont get me wrong, I read the lyrics and look at the artwork to fully appreciate the album all the time. Some great lyricists exist in metal, storywise and philosophically. Though sometimes its obvious that you shouldnt really give their lyrics a second thought because they are, quite frankly, a fucking joke.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

No one here said that you can call an album that musically sucks "good" (or at least, no one is really able to definitively state a positive opinion on something they dislike the main constituent factor of) if you like the lyrics/cover art/liner note layout/sticker they include despite the music being poor.

 

[Eligos]

Blood of Kingu
Castevet
Agalloch
Deathspell Omega
Imperium Dekadenz
Bethlehem (technically an EP but who cares)
Nokturnal Mortum

Didn't like the new BAN enough to put it on my list.

Still need to listen to the new A Forest of Stars and Winterfylleth. Haven't been paying enough attention to the UK lately.

 

[TheInsane]

Though would you agree that if the music isnt good that it isnt a good work of art? I really cant be bothered to read and look into the lyrics if the music is crap. The instrumentals are too important in music imo to waste time with the lyrics. Plus there are so many bands with awful and stupid lyrical themes anyways that I feel like they dont put any effort in at all. Even if the music is exceptional. Its usually obvious when an album requires further exploration into the lyrics and themes that surround it as a work of art, rather than just good metal.

Sure, I dont value everything with the same amount of importance. The music is the most important aspect and then the lyrics. Bad lyrics can seriously bring down an otherwise good album for me but it can also bring up a mediocre album if the lyrics are excellent.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Not only lyrics, and to clarify what you (might) mean, even if a band seems musically poor or their songwriting is average, the professionalism, passion and dedication they might be putting into the satellite aspects of their art (relative to the sound itself, of course) might allow you to reconsider the reasons for them doing the things they do musically.

 

[EternalMetal]

^^ Definitely. I really value metal albums where everything contributes the the work of art in the end. I appreciate it when bands put thought not only into the riffs and song structures, but into the guitar and drum tones, vocals, and production. Good lyrics and fitting album art are like icing on the cake.

Lets see, my favorite albums of 2010 (without order)
Prosanctus Inferi - Pandemonic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitation
Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini
Inquisition - Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm
Deathspell Omega - Paracletus
Dødsengel - Mirium Occultum
Alcest - Écailles de lune
Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit
Burzum - Belus
Watain - Lawless Darkness

Honorable mentions:
Weapon - From the Devils Tomb
Defeated Sanity - Chapters of Repugnance
Witchrist - Beheaded Ouroboros
Countess - Burning Scripture
Demontage - The PRincipal Extinction
Arckanum - Sviga Lae
Vasaeleth - Crypt Born and Tethered to Ruin
Black Witchery - Inferno of Sacred Destruction
Profanatica - Disgusting Blasphemies Against God
Agrypnie - 16[485]

Disappointed/not impressed:
Hour of Penance - Paradogma
Sigh - Scenes from Hell
Electric Wizard - Black Masses
Castevet - Mounds of Ash

Im definitely missing some, and as time goes on this may change, but this is how I feel atm. Cant quite pick a favorite yet either.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Damn, I still haven't heard the Prosanctus Inferi disc.

 

[Onder]

Teitanblood - Seven Chalices

This is a best album of 2009, so you shouldn't even list it in this thread, let alone your "dissapointment" column.

 

[EternalMetal]

^^ oh shit my bad, I guess I got it mixed up since I just got it not too long ago. It was ok but didnt nearly live up to the hype imo.

 

[VelociBrad]

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/VelociBrad/my_top_albums_of_2010

Finished my list. Likely won't be too popular since there's no mention of Burzum, Enslaved, or Agalloch