GMD Poll: Top 10 Metal Albums of 2003

[The Ozzman]

Da fuck? I'm pretty sure it's you who ends up scaring everyone away. They think you are going to eat them or something.

I should eat you first and save everyone the trouble.

 

[no country for old wainds]

I'll need to listen to the Slough Feg album more (only listened to it once so far). Overall, the least interesting list we've produced so far. However, I imagine lists from 2000 on will become less interesting due to people's taste becoming more "specialized".

due to a lack of quality more like

 

[crimsonfloyd]

due to a lack of quality more like

That too.

 

[CiG]

I think it's more interesting due to the variety and unpredictable nature of the 2000's.

Certainly no lack of quality though.

 

[no country for old wainds]

well yeah, i'm with you on the first part at least. i like doing the less iconic years.

 

[CiG]

[shrug]

I think most years have a great amount of quality releases.

 

[Bloopy]

@no country for old wainds presumably you've got the full list down to 10 points to post here like you did in the previous threads.

 

[no country for old wainds]

ah yeah, i already posted it in the master thread but i guess i didn't here. i'll do it later if i remember

 

[Bloopy]

Ah, just hadn't noticed that yet. You've combined scores for Boris - Akuma No Uta and Feedbacker, but they're 2 different albums from different halves of the year.

 

[RadicalThrasher]

 

[RadicalThrasher]

Spoiler

1. King Diamond - The Puppet Master

2. Mi'gauss - Open Season

3. Torture Squad - Pandemonium

4. Torturer - The Flames of Purification

5. Macabre - Murder Metal

6. Iron Maiden - Dance of Death

7. Rudra - Kurukshetra

8. Fearer - Descent

9. Lost Horizon - A Flame to the Ground Beneath

10. Executer - Psychotic Mind

 

[Cronopio]

Mostly power metal, because, well, power metal!

01. Power Quest - Neverworld
Favorite song: "Neverworld (Power Quest, Part II)"

2. Insania (Stockholm) - Fantasy (A New Dimension)
Favorite song: "Life After Life"

03. Galloglass - Legends from Now and Nevermore
Favorite song: "Eye to Eye"

04. Dreamtale - Ocean's Heart
Favorite song: "The Awakening"

05. Sonata Arctica - Winterheart's Guild
Favorite song: "The Cage"

06. Dragonforce - Valley of the Damned
Favorite song: "Evening Star"

07. Stratovarius - Elements Pt. 1 & 2
Favorite songs: "Find Your Own Voice" & "I'm Still Alive"

08. Masterplan - Masterplan
Favorite song: "Kind Hearted Light"

09. Kamelot - Epica
Favorite song: "Center of the Universe"

10. Lost Horizon - A Flame to the Ground Beneath
Favorite song: "Cry of a Restless Soul"

 

[Vegard Pompey]

How do you make a power metal-centric toplist and put Lost Horizon in #10??

 

[Cronopio]

How do you make a power metal-centric toplist and put Lost Horizon in #10??

Ha ha, yeah, it was a tough decision ... but I probably could have bumped it up to #8 or something.

 

[Slayed Necros]

1. Morrigan - Celts



2. Dub Buk - Русь понад усе!



3. Warloghe - Womb of Pestilence



4. Avenger - Godless (...Assuming The Throne Of Immorality...)



5. Hail - Inheritance of Evilness



6. Deströyer 666 – Terror Abraxas



7. The Lord Weird Slough Feg - Traveller



8. Soulreaper - Life Erazer



9. Mi'Gauss - Open Season



10. Nocternity - Onyx

 

[no country for old wainds]

good shit, i don’t know that soulreaper album.

 

[no country for old wainds]

can't be fucked with album art for this one, especially 'cause some of them have crappy art lol

1) lost horizon – a flame to the ground beneath
2) the lord weird slough feg – traveller
3) hammers of misfortune – the august engine
4) fairyland – of wars in osyrhia
5) axis of perdition – the ichneumon method
6) magane – beginning at the end
7) hail – inheritance of evilness
8) diapsiquir – lubie satanique depravee
9) root – madness of the graves
10) rune – the end of nothing

11) void – posthuman
12) dub buk - Русь понад усе!
13) doomsword – let battle commence
14) pavor – furioso
15) !T.O.O.H.! - pod vládou biče

a few lazy notes:
the lost horizon is just the most pure, uplifting album in power metal history, full of beautiful memorable songs with a particularly incredible climax.

the fairyland is basically the third vintage dark moor album, not quite as good as 'the hall of the olden dreams' but up there with 'the gates of oblivion' for sure.

the axis of perdition is some dark, alienating stuff, but crucially it also brings the beautiful twisted riffs and melodies alongside some cool industrial touches.

the magane is traditional but frenetic japanese bm with some symphonic and traditional folk elements. keys are either very tasteful or very weird, drumming is lively for the style, sounds quite unique in places. recent discovery but it keeps growing on me.

hail is sort of exactly what you'd expect from a finnish take on greek BM, and yet it's better than the majority of other albums in both scenes.

diapsiquir is like a sort of missing link between decadent riffy old-school french BM (i.e. the LLN) and dodheimsgard style weirdness, just endlessly doing cool interesting stuff and i'd highly recommend it to quite a few people here.

the rune album is one of very few albums that seems to bypass my post-metal allergy, maybe because it's applied to a bedrock of riff-oriented OSDM. it actually sounds like demigod filtered through neurosis at times.

void is some more dodheimsgard-adjacent weirdo industrial metal stuff, just a really original lucid vision on the cutting edge of what was possible at the time.

dub buk is the next best thing to nokturnal mortum as far as the ukrainian BM scene goes, easily one of the most instantly enjoyable accessible albums on the list, shit just smokes from front to back.

i always liked pavor's debut but didn't hear this one 'til recently. it's pretty dense pretentious stuff that takes a while to decipher, but the performances are fucking insane and the more i listen the more coherent it becomes. highly recommended to fans of proggy tech death that hasn't lost sight of its old school roots.

!T.O.O.H.! is just a mentally ill person pouring his demons into batshit crazy tech death that sounds like nothing else. another one that might continue to grow on me.

 

[no country for old wainds]

can't be fucked with album art for this one, especially 'cause some of them have crappy art lol

1) lost horizon – a flame to the ground beneath
2) the lord weird slough feg – traveller
3) hammers of misfortune – the august engine
4) fairyland – of wars in osyrhia
5) axis of perdition – the ichneumon method
6) magane – beginning at the end
7) hail – inheritance of evilness
8) diapsiquir – lubie satanique depravee
9) root – madness of the graves
10) rune – the end of nothing

11) void – posthuman
12) dub buk - Русь понад усе!
13) doomsword – let battle commence
14) pavor – furioso
15) !T.O.O.H.! - pod vládou biče

a few lazy notes:
the lost horizon is just the most pure, uplifting album in power metal history, full of beautiful memorable songs with a particularly incredible climax.

the fairyland is basically the third vintage dark moor album, not quite as good as 'the hall of the olden dreams' but up there with 'the gates of oblivion' for sure.

the axis of perdition is some dark, alienating stuff, but crucially it also brings the beautiful twisted riffs and melodies alongside some cool industrial touches.

the magane is traditional but frenetic japanese bm with some symphonic and traditional folk elements. keys are either very tasteful or very weird, drumming is lively for the style, sounds quite unique in places. recent discovery but it keeps growing on me.

hail is sort of exactly what you'd expect from a finnish take on greek BM, and yet it's better than the majority of other albums in both scenes.

diapsiquir is like a sort of missing link between decadent riffy old-school french BM (i.e. the LLN) and dodheimsgard style weirdness, just endlessly doing cool interesting stuff and i'd highly recommend it to quite a few people here.

the rune album is one of very few albums that seems to bypass my post-metal allergy, maybe because it's applied to a bedrock of riff-oriented OSDM. it actually sounds like demigod filtered through neurosis at times.

void is some more dodheimsgard-adjacent weirdo industrial metal stuff, just a really original lucid vision on the cutting edge of what was possible at the time.

dub buk is the next best thing to nokturnal mortum as far as the ukrainian BM scene goes, easily one of the most instantly enjoyable accessible albums on the list, shit just smokes from front to back.

i always liked pavor's debut but didn't hear this one 'til recently. it's pretty dense pretentious stuff that takes a while to decipher, but the performances are fucking insane and the more i listen the more coherent it becomes. highly recommended to fans of proggy tech death that hasn't lost sight of its old school roots.

!T.O.O.H.! is just a mentally ill person pouring his demons into batshit crazy tech death that sounds like nothing else. another one that might continue to grow on me.

my #2 is now byatis' in dark abysses of memory:


best death metal discovery in years. mislabelled as 2002 in some places but pretty sure it's 2003.

 

[CiG]

yoink!

Edit: Somehow I already had that wishlisted. I just submitted a correction to RYM for the album, it's definitely from '03.

 

[Slayed Necros]

I came across that Byatis last year. Goddamn it's blown up on RYM. Cool album.