GMD Poll: Top Ten Albums of 2004

1 - Spastic Ink - Ink Compatible
2 - Pungent Stench - Ampeauty
3 - Abscess - Damned and Mummified
4 - Splatterhouse - The House that Dead Built
5 - Nasum - Shift
6 - Jigsore Terror - World End Carnage
7 - Necrophagist - Epitaph
8 - Bob Katsionis - Imaginary Force
9 - Jordan Rudess - Rhythm of Time
10 - Blood Duster - Blood Duster
 
1) deathspell lou bega - si monvmentvm reqvires, circvmspice
2) lugubrum - de vette cuecken
3) the chasm - the spell of retribution
4) nokturnal mortum - Мировоззрение
5) pagan altar - the lords of hypocrisy
6) hellveto - in arms of kurpian phantom
7) dark tribe - in jeraspunta
8) Навь - Чертоги смерти
9) cadaver - necrosis
10) hanker - web of faith
-----------
aura noir - the merciless
brocas helm - defender of the crown
graveland - dawn of iron blades
ironsword - return of the warrior
kroda - Поплач мені, річко...
krohm - a world through dead eyes
martiria - the eternal soul
sauron - thrash assault
swine - marked by the baron

i'll start counting up soon unless there's anyone else
 
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Interesting list with a quite a few things I’ve never heard. I’ve known about Hellveto for years but I’ve never listened to them for whatever reason. Is that your favourite from them?

I haven’t heard the Lugubrum, Hanker, Krohm or Martiria either.
 
Interesting list with a quite a few things I’ve never heard. I’ve known about Hellveto for years but I’ve never listened to them for whatever reason. Is that your favourite from them?

I haven’t heard the Lugubrum, Hanker, Krohm or Martiria either.

that i've heard yeah, they have a ton of albums though. it's straight up symphonic pagan BM but one of the best in that style. kroda's pretty good ukrainian stuff too if you haven't heard that one.

idk if i'd highly recommend the others to you. the lugubrum is great if you can stomach slightly wacky sludgy "post-BM" stuff (i.e. ved buens ende), i always suspected they declined into cartoonish theatrics after WINTERSTONES (which isn't that good but it is fairly traditional) but this shit is wild and intense, instantly drew me in. the krohm is too close to atmo-black/DSBM to be that interesting to me these days, but it sets a mood and has a unique sense of melody. the other two are cool trad records but nothing essential for non-trad lovers.
 
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In no particular order :
Wintersun - Wintersun
Winds - The Imaginary Direction ofTime
Arsis - A Celebration of Guilt
Drudkh - Autumn Aurora
Necrophagist - Epitaph
Anata - Under a Stone with NoInscription
Leviathan - Tentacles of Whorror
Esoteric - Subconscious Dissolution into the Continuum
Heavenly - Dust to Dust
Disillusion - Back to Times of Splendor

HM:
Morgion - Cloaked by Ages, Crowned in Earth
Ensiferum - Iron
The Vision Bleak - Deathship
Deathspell Omega - Si, Monumentum
Spastic Ink - Ink Compatible
Anorexia Nervosa - Redemption Process
Paysage D'Hiver - Nacht
The Ocean - Fluxion
7 for 4 - Time
Brocas Helm - Defender of the Crown
Electrocution 250 - Electric Cartoon
 
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10) Back to Times of Splendor by Disillusion
Today there are only elegies...

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"successfully fused melodeath and progressive, with hints of folk into a unique sound. Also it is far from an Opeth clone as the band actually makes use of riffs and significant pace variations. Moreover, the album is quite expansive in scope and execution which cannot really be said about Opeth (i.e. distortion part, clean part, distortion ad nauseum)." - @Death Aflame

"Haha, Opeth clone. Hahaha. Unlike Opeth this album actually is good." - @Mort Divine

"All prog/metal bands should aspire to achieving this brilliance. Fuckin' bravo!!!" - @BloodSword

"I really don't see what's great about it.." - @Lateralus14

"It sweeps me away every time, so epic, so beautiful." - @challenge_everything

Chosen by:
HamburgerBoy (#2)
Talos of Atmora (#2)
alex76 (#7)
RedinTheSky (N/A)

TOTAL POINTS: 27.5
 
9) Dawn of Iron Blades by Graveland
The noble blood of ancients gone was boiling in our veins...

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"To me, he's totally nailed the concept of putting together arrangments in the perfect place with "Dawn of the Iron Blades"." - @Jean-Pierre

"dawn of iron blades is fairly bad but fire of awakening is fantastic" - @DE
"Dawn > Fire" - @Dodens Grav
"dodens grav i think it's pretty much universally accepted that you're terrible so i'm going to ignore that" - @DE

"I like Dawn of Iron Blades the best out of the ones I've heard." - @MasterOfLightning

"I've always felt like Dawn of Iron Blades is really underrated and probably Darken's best album post-2000." - @Slayed Necros

"i'd agree that DAWN OF IRON BLADES is the best thing post-M&D at least." - @no country for old wainds

"Dawn of Iron Blades is one of his duller albums." - @crimsonfloyd

Chosen by:
Vilden (#3)
Anom@nder Rake (#4)
Onder (#5)
Slayed Necros (#7)
Omni (#8)

TOTAL POINTS: 28
 
8) In Jeraspunta - Die Ruckkehr der tollwutigen Bestie by Dark Tribe
*unintelligible shrieking*

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"remember when dark tribe put my review of IN JERASPUNTA on their website under the heading 'ULTIMATE REVIEW'? that's my black metal claim to fame" - @no country for old wainds

"it's almost like a neurotic experience." - @kmik

"probably the most startling and uncomfortable black metal release in quite some time" - @unknown

"as far as modern Black Metal goes, they're pretty much at the top of the genre. I imagine In Jeraspunta... will be one of those albums eventually recognized in a few years time and hailed as a forgotten masterpiece." - @Slayed Necros

"I still can't get my head around what is going on, on In Jeraspunta, nor can I understand why I even like it - the album is nothing short of insane." - @byrne

"I find it's an impactful album if you only play it occasionally. It seems if I play it more often, it's like it doesn't stand up to close scrutiny. The riffs seem to follow a standard pattern throughout the album (ascent/descent/ascent/descent)." - @challenge_everything

"I found it unlistenable after the first round. While I really liked what they were going for, it just...fell short IMO. Too much ascend/descend like you said." - @damnromulans

"In Jeraspunta is some kind of fucked-up brilliance. It straddles a weird line between orthodox and mindfuckingly unorthodox but never really leans too far in either direction, which is its real standout achievement in my opinion." - @V.V.V.V.V.

Chosen by:
Dazed and Brutal (#1)
Onder (#2)
Omni (#3)
Serjeant Grumbles (#4)
no country for old wainds (#7)

TOTAL POINTS: 38
 
7) Magnificent Glorification of Lucifer by Inquisition
Speak to me master, teach me your secrets...

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"I am a huge fan of all Inquisition's material, particularly Into the Infernal Regions... This years release was also very awesome and it far exceeded my expectations after the rather disappointing Magnificent Glorification of Lucifer." - @Slayed Necros

"Definitely preferred their sound on Magnificent Glorification of Lucifer best tbh." - @VelociBrad

Chosen by:
Omni (#1)
Onder (#3)
Slayed Necros (#5)
Master_Yoda77 (#5)
Anom@nder Rake (#6)
Dazed and Brutal (#7)

TOTAL POINTS: 39
 
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6) Ink Compatible by Spastic Ink
My webpage address is http://www.ink.spastic. [STATIC] /.net.com. um, org?

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"The sporadic vocals are 'meh' but the playing is great as always. This is mostly instrumental. Superb production & a very rewarding overall feel to this album. I've listened to it about 8 times in the last week & I've still not came close to grasping it yet, but that's good. It's nowhere near as difficult to grasp as his first album, however..." - @ShredHeadJHJ

"I had 'Ink Compatible', but the reason I traded it off was because there was just nothing memorable in it." - @onion Crystal Ice

"Compatible would be probably better than Complete IF we had access to a version with the vocals removed." - @RedinTheSky

"This is extremely good prog/tech metal. Jason McMaster fits in well on the songs where he does vox and makes me want to explore Watchtower more. I didn't really like Dan Gildenlow on his parts, but maybe he's better in PoS. Pete Perez is a fucking monster on the bass." - @The Ozzman

"Yeah, I think Ink Complete is probably better, too. Tbh the samples on Ink Compatible just ruin it for me, although the Blotted Science album and Ron's solo album rank higher with me than either of those." - @optionthree

Chosen by:
Talos of Atmora (#1)
Sirjack (#1)
Baroque (#3)
HamburgerBoy (#4)
The Ozzman (#6)

TOTAL POINTS: 40
 
5) Autumn Aurora by Drudkh
nature is good aryans are good

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"Melodic, atmospheric and beautiful. An astounding expression of awe at the power of nature." - @crimsonfloyd

"One of my favorite black metal bands, top five probably. Autumn Aurora and Forgotten Legends are magical to me come fall/winter." - @Krow

"Autumn Aurora is definitely the best Drudkh album imo, after that they have't really interested me at all" - @Vilden

"Forgotten Legends is the best thing they've done. Don't let people tell you Autumn Aurora is better. It's not." - @MasterOLightning

"I've been listening to Autumn Aurora a lot lately too...I'm starting to almost like it better than Forgotten Legends" - @unknown

"I've never found any of Drudkh's music particularly noteworthy. Forgotten Legends and Autumn Aurora are above average at best." - @Slayed Necros

"too monotonous and poorly (in a technical manner) produced." - @spaffe

"Pretty much every time it rains I put on "Autumn Aurora". Amazing atmosphere." - @Oblivious Maximus

Chosen by:
EspaDa (#1)
crimsonfloyd (#3)
Onder (#4)
Vilden (#5)
Krow (#5)
Dazed and Brutal (#8)
Serjeant Grumbles (#10)
RedinTheSky (N/A)

TOTAL POINTS: 46.5
 
4) Tempo of the Damned by Exodus
Don't try to fight the power surge...

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"Now this is one awesome comeback. Holt and Hunlot are back on the assault, and even the slower, groovier material sounds good. Steve 'Zetro' Souza apparently was possessed by the spirit of Paul Baloff because his vocal performance was fucking insane. Excellent album." - @Jean-Pierre

"I thought "Tempo of the Damned" was far too fucking full of groove shit as well. It had the title track, Impaler, War is My Shepherd and then a bunch of chugga bullshit." - @Erik

"I couldn't get past the vocals." - @unknown

"Steve does not sound angry or good. He sounds like a moron. His lyrics,vocals suck imo. His vocals on Tempo of the Damned are easily his most annoying. 'Bonded By Blood' has the only good music on an Exodus album. I do not even understand the hype surrounding the band or what the big deal is." - @CF87

"u dont pump your fist out the car window while your blasting it your just a shithead cause its fuckin great" - @Minion520

"Tempo of the Damned is overrated as fuck" - @The Ozzman

"Tempo of the Damned is not awful, but I didn't feel the need to keep it. There were some good tracks (Tempo of the Damned, Impaler), some okay tracks (War Is My Shepherd, Scar Spangled Banner), but then there was shit like Shroud Of Urine, Culling The Herd, Sealed With A Fist, and Throwing Down." - @Dodens Grav

"Souza and his bad Bon Scott impersonation ruin Tempo of the Damned. And I used to be in love with that album. Now I can't stomach it." - @The Butt

"Tempo of the Damned is Exodus' best album (or at least most consistent), and their swansong. It is also one of the most underrated albums." - @alex76

Chosen by:
HamburgerBoy (#1)
zerostatic (#1)
alex76 (#3)
Talos of Atmora (#4)
Atomic Tide (#4)
The Ozzman (#5)
-CyanideChrist- (#7)

TOTAL POINTS: 52
 
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3) The Spell of Retribution by The Chasm
And the torment and the chaos will fill our dried souls...

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"The opening intro has nearly the same riff as "Procession to the Infraworld" on their previous album did; the next song has a few passages that sound like fucking Dissection; Manifest My Intervention has one of the dumbest transitions I've ever heard; Fortress, the best song on the album, starts off with a lousy riff; the list goes on and on. As a whole, the whole album is somewhat of a more rock-n-roll affair, particularly in the guitar solos." - @Cynical

"I think everything they've done prior (going back to Deathcult, the oldest that I've heard) is better." - @Dodens Grav

"I find The Spell of Retribution to be easily the weakest of their past 5 records (I'm not familiar enough with their first 2 yet to rank those), it drags on in places and at times can almost become a chore to sit through." - @Phylactery

"Death metal, rendered symphonically, with an unerring instinct for the epic, the dramatic and the ancient. The first true masterpiece of the millennium." - @Falconsbane

"it's almost as good as CONJURATION. 'retribution of the lost years' is even better than the second pastfinder, and that was damn good." - @no country for old wainds

"It is actually the only Chasm album I've got so far, but I think it is immense!! The Omnipotent Codex is just like a tapestry of perfect riffs, I can't get enough of that song." - @Hammer of Might

Chosen by:
Slayed Necros (#1)
Vegard Pompey (#1)
Omni (#2)
-CyanideChrist- (#3)
Dazed and Brutal (#3)
no country for old wainds (#3)
Talos of Atmora (#7)
Master_Yoda77 (#7)
Anom@nder Rake (#8)
alex76 (#9)

TOTAL POINTS: 66
 
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2) Si Monvmentvm Reqvires, Circvmspice by Deathspell Omega
Blessed is he that murders Christ in himself and in his fellow men...

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"Gah, "ball-room black metal". Seriously, most of this crap sounds like it was written for country-club members to waltz to while dressed in tuxedos and shit, and the rest sounds like it was written for the "tragic" parts of family dramas on the Lifetime channel (with the sole exception of "Hetoimasia", which IS a cool song). How this album became so highly rated is truly beyond me." - @Cynical

"What the hell is so ambitious about SMRC? Latin song titles?" - @Cythraul

"The flow of the album is extremely strong, every track other than the intros is totally memorable, and if you're following with the extremely awesome booklet, even the intros pack a trance-inducing punch. I think SMRC is an album you can't judge based on individual songs; it's much more of an "album" album. And to me, it's a totally essential future-classic." - @V.V.V.V.V.

"At V5's suggestion I finally listened to SMRC all the way through while reading the lyrics, and seeing whether all these "quantum satanics" should be taken seriously. I've concluded that a metaphorical interpretation is valid, in that Christianity is diametrically opposed to human nature, which is represented in a natural force called Satan. Thus the appropriation of scripture and the Latin mass effects great irony. Whether these musicians take this "theism" seriously is no matter, as their music is inferior to few and their philosophy much more profound than your typical anti-society Black Metal. That said, I agree with V5 that Mikko can't pronounce Latin to save his life." - @Zephyrus

"smrc is just overly bloated and lacking in 'biting' riffs i guess" - @Mort Divine

"First, SMRC absolutely could lose 15-20 minutes with ease. It's like they were trying to preserve a 2LP structure with the prayers starting the A, B, and C sides. Only they didn't have one for the D side...and there's a cover song that's inessential, and the "4th prayer" is super bloated, and one of the other songs is a basically a tribute song... If SMRC was slashed down to 50 relentless minutes, it would be even better. I wouldn't even cut the prayer tracks. Some of the metal songs are 6+ minutes when they be just as good at 5." - @MasterOLightning

"There are undoubtedly some great parts to SMRC and some sophisticated use of melody which convey passion and emotion. At an hour and 20 minutes I just find it a chore to sit through the whole thing, and the oppressive wall of sound sections (which I usually don't have an inherent problem with) start to wear thin." - @Phylactery

"Am I the only one that thinks SMRC is great front-to-back?" - @The Butt

"those devout, awestruck, ecstatic melodic lines give me goosebumps, and strike me as more or less completely original; the level of detail and passion at times reminds me of the glory days of black metal when bands had a vivid and unique vision to propagate. and that's precisely why it disappoints me when they seem to lose momentum and do things that are rather more ordinary, or occasionally even cheesy. a tighter version of this album would be top ten BM for me, maybe even top ten metal period." - @no country for old wainds

"The essence of the record is a bastardization of Christian dogma with Satanism. Everything is a blending, a sardonic means of annihilating Christianity by embracing it. This is achieved in several ways: the embedding of scripture within black metal songs, artwork that blends the divine with sin (an aborted fetus-angel, angels engaging in mutual masturbation, etc.) and of course, the embedding of religious music within black metal. If you remove those passages then the record no longer communicates its message as effectively. Think of it this way. The title of the record is basically: "If you seek His sign, look around you." The 4 Prayer tracks function as the seeking. The black metal tracks function as the answer. If you remove the Prayers, the essence of the record is totally altered." - @crimsonfloyd

"Everyone loves SMRC" - @WCannibal
"I don't." - @Cythraul
"remember when your favourite album was anthems to the welkin at dusk and you were named after it" - @no country for old wainds
"Yes. What's your point?" - @Cythraul
"that ur gay lol" - @no country for old wainds

Chosen by:
Serjeant Grumbles (#1)
no country for old wainds (#1)
Sleestaks (#1)
Slayed Necros (#2)
Dazed and Brutal (#2)
Anom@nder Rake (#3)
crimsonfloyd (#5)
EspaDa (#6)
Oblivious Maximus (N/A)

TOTAL POINTS: 72.5

1) The Lords of Hypocrisy by Pagan Altar
Horse and rider appear as one, to disappear before the rising sun...

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"Volume 1 = 99/100
Lords of Hypocrisy = 95/100
Mythical and Magical = 90/100
" - @Dodens Grav

"The weakest album out of all of them is LoH." - @Der Morgenstern

"Whenever I listen to non-Volume 1 Pagan Altar I get the "why am I listening to this when I can listen to Volume 1" feeling. Don't get me wrong, both The Lords of Hypocrisy and Mythical and Magical are awesome, but Volume 1 is simply the best doom metal album ever." - @Master_Yoda77

"Lords of Hypocrisy is definitely the best one...for me anyway." - @J.

"I dunno, I agree that Volume I sounds darker and has darker theatrics. But while satan and occult rituals are pretty dark and all, I think Lords of Hypocrisy is more down to earth and connected to reality which imo makes the themes it explores feel darker, more scary and more depressing to me." - @Vilden

"I just heard Lords Of Hypocrisy by Pagan Altar, and MAN is that one fucking killer album! Every single song is outstanding, and I can't remember the last time I was able to say that about an album." - @Under The Oak

"I downloaded Lords Of Hypocrisy just to check it out and I wasn't THAT impressed...some songs ruled to me (The Masquerade is awesome!) but I don't get it or something...not really my thing. I'll stick with my copy of Manilla Road - Crystal Logic till I get into PA." - @V.V.V.V.V.

"The Lords of Hypocrisy' from that album is one of my all time favourite songs. That's the only Pagan Altar album i've heard and it's pretty damn impressive imo" - @Killbot

"Checked them out after seeing the album you posted. Started with Lords of Hypocrisy... the music is really good but the guy's voice goes so high and is so loud in the mix it kinda makes my head hurt after a while." - @Krow

Chosen by:
Master_Yoda77 (#1)
CASSETTEISGOD (#1)
Onder (#1)
Krow (#1)
Vilden (#2)
Bloopy (#4)
alex76 (#4)
Terasophe (#5)
no country for old wainds (#5)
Omni (#10)

TOTAL POINTS: 76
 
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