Best 2010 Albums

[JontRevolting]

Yeah I agree that the Atlantean Kodex was a tad disappointing in regard to 'The Pnakotic Demos' but it was still one of the better releases of 2010 that i'd heard anyway.The Sloughfeg album is great,it ranks up there with their best work,although perhaps not as great as 'Down Among The Deadmen' or 'Traveller',I guess time will tell.

 

[~Neurotica]

Nokturnal Mortum - Голос Сталі

 

[~Neurotica]

Nokturnal Mortum - Голос Сталі

no, damn, it's 2009
dunno then

 

[Death Aflame]

I haven't heard much, but I liked:

Deathspell Omega - Paracletus
Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit
Burzum - Belus
Grand Magus - Hammer of the North
StarGazer - Great Work of Ages
Drudkh - Handful of Stars
Intronaut - Valley of Smoke
Cynic - Re-traced
Alcest - Ecailles de Lune
Lantlos - .neon
Christian Mistress - Agony & Opium
Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini
Dawnbringer - Nucleus
Anathema - We're Here Because We're Here

 

[Death Aflame]

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.

Translation: my way of appreciating music and art is better than yours you unenlightened prole.

 

[Death Aflame]

just out of interest andy did you purposefully try to make this post impossible to read or was it just an inevitable, natural byproduct of this shitheap of a discussion?

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Translation: my way of appreciating music and art is better than yours you unenlightened prole.

I don't see where you came up with this translation.

 

[Death Aflame]

Subtext + hyperbole.

Edit: I am also critical of the idea that there is a 'right' way to appreciate music and art.

 

[KafkaX]

Some of my favorites of 2010:

Anathema - Were Here Because Were Here
Interment - Into The Crypts of Blasphemy
Inquisition - Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm
Cerebral Effusion - Impulsive Psychopathic Acts
Deathspell Omega - Paracletus
Decapitated Midgets - Shit Ceremony
Imperium Dekadenz - Procella Vadens
Negură Bunget - Măiestrit
Defeated Sanity - Chapters of Repugnance
Burzum - Belus

 

[Cythraul]

Translation: my way of appreciating music and art is better than yours you unenlightened prole.

What's the point of saying something like this? This hardly engages with what he said and just makes you look insecure. You're not advancing the discussion at all, just like I wouldn't be advancing discussion if I said something like "You say that you feed your children and send them to school. Do you think you're morally superior to me since I beat my children? Screw you, man." That's not a very useful way to respond to a normative claim.

Of course he thinks his particular way of appreciating music and art is better, otherwise he wouldn't have asserted a normative position on the matter. His post might be viewed as condescending, but at least he included some semblance of an argument for his claim. On the other hand, your reply is barely anything more than condescension tricked out as some kind of anti-elitism.

 

[jussstin]

1. Wuthering Heights - Salt

Then in no real order:
Ihsahn - After
Opera Magna - Poe
Heathen - The Evolution of Chaos
Sigh - Scenes From Hell
Helloween - 7 Sinners
Blind Guardian - At The Edge of Time
Penses Nocturnes - Grotesque
Arkheth - IX & I: The Quintessence of Algaresh
Dawnbringer - Nucleus
Sinbreed - When Worlds Collide
Burn in Hell - Spidercatwaterfight

EPs:

Murder Construct, Gallowbraid and Excecor were all pretty good. Especially Gallowbraid. Bit of an Agalloch ripoff, but I find them nowhere near as boring as Agalloch for some reason.

 

[Death Aflame]

I was more just satirizing his sentiment rather than the actual content of his point. As I posted after, I am generally critical of the idea that there is a 'right' way or even a 'better' way to appreciate/critique art since art itself is such a nebulous concept to begin with. It doesn't help that art criticism as a discipline is more often than not pseudo-intellectual, jargony drivel that masquerades as truth or 'higher understanding'. Maybe I am just a cynic, but reading some poststructuralist philosophy does not necessarily a good art critic make.

 

[Cythraul]

Well, ok. I can sympathize with that.

 

[Einherjar86]

I think that art criticism (or any discipline that deals with critical theory) can be valued simply for the fact that it offers a historical overview of artistic styles and movements, therefore allowing one to more properly "critique" artwork being created today. Of course, the "critique" part is merely a liberty that scholars acquire once they earn their degree.

I think there are some compelling arguments regarding the value/authenticity of art. To this day I'm intrigued by Michael Fried's theory of theatricality and absorption.

 

[skeptik]

Translation: my way of appreciating music and art is better than yours you unenlightened prole.

Your english is lacking.

I am also critical of the idea that there is a 'right' way to appreciate music and art.

I was more just satirizing his sentiment rather than the actual content of his point. As I posted after, I am generally critical of the idea that there is a 'right' way or even a 'better' way to appreciate/critique art since art itself is such a nebulous concept to begin with. It doesn't help that art criticism as a discipline is more often than not pseudo-intellectual, jargony drivel that masquerades as truth or 'higher understanding'. Maybe I am just a cynic, but reading some poststructuralist philosophy does not necessarily a good art critic make.

First of all, do you mean to separate appreciation and critique or not? The two are very different things, and to say that there is no right way to appreciate art is not to say that there is not a right way to critique it. Or for that matter any valuation of one does not necessarily correlate to the other.

Secondly, I don't think that you know a lot about art criticism if you attribute what I somewhat tongue-in-cheekly said to post-structuralist ideas. And "does not a(n) [x] make" doesn't give your statement any greater weight, and just sounds annoying.

Now, as to what I actually said, the position that I take in the post to which you object is that it is foolhardy to discount the importance of lyrics when evaluating a work of art that contains lyrics. I think that this is a perfectly reasonable and unpretentious position to take, as lyrics are a part of music, and to judge a work of art in an incomplete and selective way is not authentically judging that work of art. This is completely different from appreciating a work of art, which is relevant only insofar as personal tastes are relevant. But enjoyment of a work of art and favorably critiquing a work of art are very different things. If you really love Arghoslent's bouncy riffs but would rather ignore their lyrics, that is perfectly acceptable on a level of appreciation. But to pretend that the lyrics are not a part of the music when attempting to objectively gauge the quality of a work of art is incomplete.

It figures that the the one time I allow myself to contain even a bit of personal levity in a post in the past year I get called out on it.

 

[Einherjar86]

It figures that the the one time I allow myself to contain even a bit of personal levity in a post in the past year I get called out on it.

It just wouldn't feel like UM if you didn't.

 

[Death Aflame]

First of all, do you mean to separate appreciation and critique or not? The two are very different things, and to say that there is no right way to appreciate art is not to say that there is not a right way to critique it. Or for that matter any valuation of one does not necessarily correlate to the other.

Interesting point, I don't know if I entirely buy that there is a clean distinction between appreciating art and critiquing art, certainly there is a difference, but so too is there an overlap.

Anyways I was more satirizing your sentiment that you expressed here:

"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."

Where you essentially say judging music for the music alone is superficial. This is the sort of position that I am critical of, as it implies a correct or better way of "looking at music" or art in general. If I want to evaluate music on musical grounds my approach is not inherently superficial, but is better described as narrow. And I don't think a narrow approach is necessarily a worse one.

Secondly, I don't think that you know a lot about art criticism if you attribute what I somewhat tongue-in-cheekly said to post-structuralist ideas. And "does not a(n) [x] make" doesn't give your statement any greater weight, and just sounds annoying.

Simple explanation: the poststructuralist jab had nothing to do with what you said. I was talking broadly and drawing on my own experiences of visiting galleries and reading the sometimes absurd explanations by the artists of what their work 'means', 'expresses', 'reveals', 'shows', etc.

 

[skeptik]

I'd rather not blow this up beyond the patent nothingness that it actually is, but if we revisit the context of my initial post, what I was referencing was not critique but rather appreciation, despite the fact that I used the term 'judge'. What follows from there is a personal opinion, namely my opinion that to ignore lyrics as though the lyrics are not an important part of a song is, in a word, bad. In some other words, lazy, incomplete, and, yes, superficial. All, of course, within the right of every individual to practice with respect to their own listening tendencies.

For a bit of further clarification: the contention to which I was responding was that elements such as lyrics, song names, and album artwork are "not part of the music", a claim with which I disagree. Not even New Critics, if we are to discuss theories, would agree with that notion. I think that, as Cythraul would say, "it's the riffs, man" approaches to listening to music sell short both the listener and the artist in that it doesn't fully explore what an album is saying. It is different to ignore unfavorable elements for the sake of enjoying an album than it is to not care at all about it. So in summation, yes, you are quite right that I think my approach to "appreciating music" is the best and correct way to go about doing so, which is why I choose to do so in said manner, and which is why presumably everybody else follows likewise according to their own inclinations.

Also, Belus, Eparistera Daimones, and Incendiary are the best albums from 2010 that I've heard so far, though I'm admittedly a bit behind and mean to catch up shortly, starting with Inquisition and Weapon.

 

[Einherjar86]

Simple explanation: the poststructuralist jab had nothing to do with what you said. I was talking broadly and drawing on my own experiences of visiting galleries and reading the sometimes absurd explanations by the artists of what their work 'means', 'expresses', 'reveals', 'shows', etc.

It's interesting that you bring this up, because it's been a source of confusion and vexation for me over the years. I used to approve of the inclusion of an artist's explanation, because I felt that it was necessary to truly understand an artwork; and indeed, I still do believe that intentionality must come into play somewhere. Without authorial intent (that is, if it's disregarded altogether), I don't believe there can be any inquiry into its meaning, and perhaps it even lacks any merit as a work of art at all.

However, the placement of an artist's explanation right next to the work seems, to me, to also be antithetical to art. It presupposes that someone is viewing the work, which insinuates that the artistic object was made "for the viewer." Hegel has two impressive insights into this:

"[...] the separation in the work of art between its subject and the spectator must emerge and yet must immediately be dissipated because, by displaying what is subjective, the work, in its whole mode of presentation, reveals its purpose as existing not independently on its own account but for subjective apprehension, for the spectator."

and

"If the work of art in the severe style is entirely shut in upon itself without wishing to speak to a spectator, it leaves us cold; but if it goes too far out of itself to him, it pleases but is without solidity or at least does not please (as it should) by solidity of content and the simple treatment and presentation of that content."

EDIT: but... this is the "best of 2010" thread, so maybe we should leave it to rest.

I don't think Atlantean Kodex's release was as disappointing as others make it out to be. It's a killer effort, and "Pilgrim" has to be one of my favorite epic doom tunes to come along in a while (along with Ereb Altor's "Wizard").

I'll also throw out Castevet's Mounds of Ash.

 

[LuminousAether]

Top 10:

1. Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit
2. Alcest - Ecailles de Lune
3. Les Discrets - Septembre et Ses Dernières Pensées
4. Lantlos - .neon
5. Solefald - Norron Livskunt
6. Agrypnie - 16[485]
7. Heretoir & Thranenkind - Wiedersehen Unsere Hoffnung
8. An Autumn for Crippled Children - Lost
9. Gallowbraid - Ashen Eidolon
10. Eluveitie - Everything Remains (As it Never Was)