GMD Poll: Top Ten Albums of 1999

[Phylactery]

@Krow what is that Cirith Gorgor you listed like? Known about them for years but never really listened to that band.

 

[Krow]

@Krow what is that Cirith Gorgor you listed like? Known about them for years but never really listened to that band.

It’s the only album I own by them but I think at the time I saw them listed in thread about bands similar to summoning. While they do have some epic style stuff going on they aren’t really that similar and focus on their guitars way more than Summoning, adding in solos and thrashy parts. If I’m remembering correctly, that is. I’m shitty at explaining why I like something btw.

I should go dig it out of my music room this evening while I’m cowering in fear of the sun when I get off work.

 

[Phylactery]

I'll give them a listen. I remember I think it was Old Wainds saying Visions of Exalted Lucifer was a good release from 2016.

Definitely check out Demoncy from my list. And that Lucifugum if you like Nokturnal Mortum circla To the Gates of Blasphemous Fire although I think it's better than that album.

 

[Phylactery]

For anyone interested, this is the one of the worst things I heard from 1999.




And I heard this one may which may appeal to those heavily into later Bathory and Falkenbach

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Decided to review some of the material you listed here and I should probably at least consider Nox Intempesta, Night Conquers Day, Avenger and Demoncy given how well they've held up in retrospect for me. That said, Karisma is placed way too low and placing it below that Mutiilation album is also pretty baffling. It's easily among the best of the work on your list and arguably a somewhat better album than Damnanus Dominum, let alone the chore that is Remains.

Remains is one of the greatest black metal albums ever created. It is a psychological annihilation of the listener's sanity through the sound of a totally defeated soul whose sole remaining purpose is to drag others into their level of despair and hatred. I certainly get if that doesn't appeal to you, but I imagine for the people who do appreciate this fucked up project it will rank very high.

 

[Phylactery]

I don’t quite agree it’s one of the best ever, but it certainly achieves its goal. It’s totally fucking vile, demented, psychotic and anguished. The vocals are absolutely insane on that record. The drums sound like someone hammering on cardboard boxes, but other than that I didn’t find the production to be too much of a hurdle.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

Remains is one of the greatest black metal albums ever created. It is a psychological annihilation of the listener's sanity through the sound of a totally defeated soul whose sole remaining purpose is to drag others into their level of despair and hatred. I certainly get if that doesn't appeal to you, but I imagine for the people who do appreciate this fucked up project it will rank very high.

The problem is that it's less a matter of feeling despair and more a matter of feeling subjected to tedium.

 

[EspaDa]

1. Paysage d'Hiver - Paysage d'Hiver
2. Necrophagist - Onset of Putrefaction
3. Neurosis - Times of Grace
4. Windir - Arntor
5. Agalloch - Pale Folklore
6. In Flames - Colony
7. Behemoth - Satanica
8. Opeth - Still Life
9. Runemagick - Enter the Realm of Death
10. Summoning - Stronghold

Not a brilliant year so to speak. apart from the top 3, I haven't listened to many of the remaining records for quite a long time. 4-10 would not find themselves embedded in my top 500 list, but maybe I'm exaggerating.

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

Remains is one of the greatest black metal albums ever created. It is a psychological annihilation of the listener's sanity through the sound of a totally defeated soul whose sole remaining purpose is to drag others into their level of despair and hatred. I certainly get if that doesn't appeal to you, but I imagine for the people who do appreciate this fucked up project it will rank very high.

Nailed it. Not sure why it totally slipped my mind that it was a '99 album but that's a more than apt description. One of those albums that I'd go so far as to calling legitimately unsettling. It sort of affects the rest of your day long after listening.

 

[Slayed Necros]

I'm surprised no one else has even mentioned this yet. Monstrous album that will surely appeal to fans of Pillard era Incantation.

 

[rms]

So far got;

Warning - Strength to Dream
Sabbat - Karisma
Agalloch - Pale Folklore
Slough Feg - Twilight of the Idols
Taake - Nattestid


going to have to go through your guys to find some more

 

[Phylactery]

Listen to Nox Intempesta. I’m not going to stop pimping it until it makes more lists! I’m almost certain you’d like Kyprian’s Circle as well.

I'm surprised no one else has even mentioned this yet. Monstrous album that will surely appeal to fans of Pillard era Incantation.

Yeah, I listened to this after you mentioned it and it’s pretty cool.

 

[Anom@nder Rake]

Disciples of Mockery is Onward era Incantation minus McEntee

1. Esoteric - Metamorphogenesis
2. Sabbat - Karisma
3. Disciples of Mockery - Prelude To Apocalypse
4. Summoning - Stronghold
5. Dolorian - When All The Laughter Has Gone
6. Immolation - Failures for Gods
7. Morgion - Solinari
8. Immortal - At the Heart of Winter
9. Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black
10. Agalloch - Pale Folklore

HM:
Runemagick - Enter the Realm of Death
Angelcorpse - The Inexorable
The Lord Weird Slough Feg - Twilight of the Idols
Root - The Book
Avenger - Fall of Devotion, Wrath and Blasphemy
Demoncy - Joined In Darkness
Kawir - Epoptia

 

[Sleestaks]

01) Emperor - IX Equilibrium
02) Cannibal Corpse - Bloodthirst
03) Immortal - At the Heart of Winter
04) Opeth - Still Life
05) Immolation - Failures for Gods
06) Nocturnus - Ethereal Tomb
07) Abigor - Channeling the Quintessence of Satan
08) Behemoth - Satanica
09) Satyricon - Rebel Extravaganza
10) Limbonic Art - Ad Noctum: Dynasty of Death

11) Broken Hope - Grotesque Blessings
12) Vintersorg - Odemarkens Son
13) Hypocrisy - s/t
14) Demoncy - Joined in Darkness
15) Lunar Aurora - Of Stargates and Bloodstained Celestial Spheres
16) Angelcorpse - The Inexorable
17) Wuthering Heights - Within
18) Defleshed - Fast Forward
19) Disgorge - She Lay Gutted
20) Thorns vs. Emperor


Since I'm a sucker for the BIG BANDS this wasn't a difficult year at all -- at least not the first draft. Trying to order this stuff was a different matter. There's a buttload of nostalgia around this time for me, as I'd been getting back into extreme metal for the preceding couple years and, after having developed my taste for favorite bands, was getting served up with a first round of new releases by said bands. So a lot of these are right at that dividing line between playing catch-up and getting hit with the new shit. Thus explains my love for albums that often get chucked to the back of the fave lists from each of the artists, like Ethereal Tomb and Grotesque Blessings.

Having said that I'll defend IX Equilibrium to the death. Obviously it's got nothing on the previous two albums by Emperor, but the riffs, arrangements, and even the weird super-digital Akkerhaugen production make it one of my favorite albums to just throw on at any time, whatever my mood. The flow is absolutely perfect, like a prog/black/death symphony (or suite, I guess).

My honorable mention list is pretty much as long as my entry so I'll abstain. However I'll just throw in that Pessimist's Blood for the Gods is a totally wicked creature that gets overlooked a lot.

edit: Why did I think this was a top 20 list? No idea. I'll just stick a space in there and leave it as is. I must have been thinking of a different forum where they usually do top 20s.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

1. Sore Plexus - Haptephobic
2. Sabbat - Karisma
3. The Lord Weird Slough Feg - Twilight of the Idols
4. Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment II
5. Immolation - Failures for Gods
6. Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. II: Scenes from a Memory
7. Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black
8. Nox Intempesta - Damnanus Dominum
9. Manticora - Roots of Eternity
10. Avenger - Fall of Devotion, Wrath and Blasphemy

Honorable Mentions:
Gordian Knot - s/t
Night Conquers Day - Rebellion is the Art of Survival
Virgin Steele - The House of Atreus Pt. I
Immortal - At the Heart of Winter

 

[The Ozzman]

Immortal - Into the Heart of Winter

At The Heart of Winter

1) Control Denied - The Fragile Art of Existence
2) Type O Negative - World Coming Down
3) Immortal - At the Heart of Winter
4) Amon Amarth - The Avenger
5) Liquid Tension Experiment - LTE 2
6) Children of Bodom - Hatebreeder
7) Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt II: Scenes from a Memory
8) Demons and Wizards - S/T
9) Disgorge - Cranial Impalement
10) Opeth - Still Life

 

[Talos of Atmora]

At The Heart of Winter

Thanks.

 

[The Ozzman]

@no country for old wainds is it okay if I number some and not others or do you need them all numbered or all not numbered?

 

[Phylactery]

1. Sore Plexus - Haptephobic
2. Sabbat - Karisma
3. The Lord Weird Slough Feg - Twilight of the Idols
4. Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment II
5. Immolation - Failures for Gods
6. Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. II: Scenes from a Memory
7. Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black
8. Nox Intempesta - Damnanus Dominum
9. Manticora - Roots of Eternity
10. Avenger - Fall of Devotion, Wrath and Blasphemy

Honorable Mentions:
Gordian Knot - s/t
Night Conquers Day - Rebellion is the Art of Survival
Virgin Steele - The House of Atreus Pt. I
Immortal - At the Heart of Winter

You gave me shit for some of my picks like Mutiilation and then you include that hideous Dream Theatre album.

Ozzman, you can have a mix of ordered and unordered picks.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I'd say that picking between the two is approximately a wash.

EDIT: Actually I've only heard the 1995 Mutiilation album but whatever, I doubt they improved with time