GMD Poll: Top Ten Albums of 2006

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1. Evil Army - S/T
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2. Motorhead - Kiss of Death
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3. Farscape - Killers on the Loose
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4. Scenery - Continuity
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5. Hellish Crossfire - Slave of the Burning Pentagram
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6. Tyr - Ragnarok
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7. Amon Amarth - With Oden on Our Side
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8. Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death
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9. Anonymus - Chapter Chaos Begins
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10. Sodom - S/T
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1. Dissection - ReinkaΩs

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2. Repugnant - Epitome of Darkness

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3. Slugathor - Circle of Death

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4. Morrigan - Welcome to Samhain

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5. Force of Darkness - Force of Darkness

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6. Zemial - In Monumentum

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7. Sextrash - Rape From Hell

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8. Negative Plane - Et In Saecula Saeculorum

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9. Dismember - The God that Never Was

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10. Drowned - Viscera Terræ

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Evil Army rules.

Still remember back in '08 buying a shirt, LP and 7 inch from Rob Evil with a fucking mailing cheque, before he got locked up. Throughout the pandemic he was teasing a new album but 2021 was the last update. Hope we get it one day and I hope it's under 30 minutes again!

Anyways, here's my list.
Takin' the Piss with 2006:

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1. Endwarfment - The Paralympik Sessions
Favourite song: "Diffenately Abledd"

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2. Your Kid's on Fire - Aught Six: A Necrodyssey
Favourite song: "Beyond the Darkness"

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3. Repugnant - Epitome of Darkness
Favourite song: "Sacred Blasphemy"

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4. Warning - Watching from a Distance
Favourite song: "Watching from a Distance"

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5. The Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom - Battle Staffs in the Mushroom Woods
Favourite song: "Haunted Ride"

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6. Accept Death - Accept Death
Favourite song: "Kill Everyone"

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7. Solitude Aeturnus - Alone
Favourite song: "Scent of Death"

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8. Hammers of Misfortune - The Locust Years
Favourite song: "Trot Out the Dead"

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9. Gut - The Cumback 2006
Favourite song: "Jenna Haze (You're a Pro)"

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10. Coffins - The Other Side of Blasphemy
Favourite song: "Evil Infection"
 
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01. Crystallion - A Dark Enchanted Crystal Night
Favorite song: "Guardians of the Sunrise"

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02. Heavenly - Virus
Favorite song: "Liberty"

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03. Cellador - Enter Deception
Favorite song: "No Chances Lost"

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04. Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death
Favorite song: "For the Greater Good of God"

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05. Dragonforce - Inhuman Rampage
Favorite song: "Lost Souls in Endless Time"

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06. Majesty - Hellforces
Favorite song: "Guardians of the Dragon Grail"

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07. Van Canto - A Storm to Come
Favorite song: "The Mission"

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08. Wuthering Heights - The Shadow Cabinet
Favorite song: "Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night"

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09. Falconer - Northwind
Favorite song: "Tower of the Queen"

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10. Dragonland - Astronomy
Favorite song: "Contact"
 
1. Stolen Babies - There Be Squabbles Ahead
(insert huge gap here)
2. Madder Mortem - Desiderata
3. Ava Inferi - Burdens
4. Krux - II
5. Solitude Aeturnus - Alone
 
1. Warning - Watching from a Distance
An unparalleled emotional wallop across all genres and personal GOAT contender.
2. Hammers of Misfortune - The Locust Years
Bombastic, organ-fueled political heavy metal that hits especially hard in times of war and societal dysfunction... evergreen, in other words.
3. Antiquus - Eleutheria
Beautifully vivid sci-fi storytelling that deftly matches emotional peaks within the story to emotional peaks in the music. Not only the best discovery I've made sifting through 2006 releases recently, but also my greatest (full-length album) obsession of 2024.
4. Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom - Battle Staffs in the Mushroom Woods
One: Bretwaldas needs to be louder, angrier and have access to a time machine. Two: whenever Bretwaldas is not playing, all the other bands should be asking, "where's Bretwaldas?"
5. Dim Mak - Knives of Ice
Violent techdeath as immediate and viscerally satisfying as the martial arts films it pays homage to. Makes you want to break bricks with your hands and jiggle your pecs like Bolo Yeung. SHOW US STORM!!
6. Martyr - Feeding the Abscess
7. Pharaoh - The Longest Night
8. Zemial - In Monumentum
9. Keep of Kalessin - Armada
10. Summoning - Oath Bound
 
sorry for the shit images, cba

HMs:
Anata, Assedium, Axis of Advance, Ceremonial Castings, Eneth, Harvey Milk, Internal Suffering, Mitochondrion, The Ruins of Beverast, Vidres a la Sang

10) Luciferiano - A Face do Cão
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sort of like how gontyna kry might sound if they were from the brazilian school, weird as that sounds. i could put any of the HMs in this spot tbh, all pretty closely matched.

9) Ludicra – Fex Urbis Lex Orbis
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they share a member so it isn't surprising, but this is lightly hammers of misfortune-tinged black metal and all the better for it.

8) Crescent Shield – The Last of my Kind
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just a USPM banger with several great tunes (a couple of crap ones) and a killer vocalist.

7) Pantheon I – Atrocity Divine
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symphonic BM with lush leads/strings and jagged riffs, some of which are deliciously alf-coded. occasionally simple-minded and the production's dubious but i can look past that 'cause it's full of passion and inventiveness, plus every second riff or melody is killer.

6) Blackholicus – Variations in Death Minor
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rarely has an aesthetic so screamed cult trad metal status and the music therein does not disappoint; it's kind of the vision master of its time. fully idiosyncratic, fully committed, and while the 'punkier slough feg with female vocals' description is pretty apt there's a little more to it as well: i mean, parts of 'la fin du monde' simultaneously bring both confessor and atrocity to mind, while 'filthy cur' has shades of holy terror and vio-lence. i just wish it was longer.

5) Pharaoh – The Longest Night
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a bonafide classic feelsy USPM record that sags a little in the middle for me else it'd be even higher. 'by the night sky' is an all-timer.

4) Pagan Altar – Mythical & Magical
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eldritch folk tales within a mossy tome unearthed from beneath a gnarled tree. '70s tropes intrude a little much for my liking and prevent it quite getting to all-time great territory, but its peaks are wonderful and its troughs are rare.

3) Hammers of Misfortune – The Locust Years
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with the right marketing and timing i reckon these guys could've made it big; a concept album with such eloquence, clarity and distinctive motifs should have huge crossover appeal (i'm thinking of buying it for my mum in fact). feels like a great genre novel brought to life and i just love that shit, even if i wish less of the runtime felt like (still very strong) connective pieces.

2) Antiquus – Eleutheria
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the mystery, thrill and terror of exploring unknown waters, the surreal warping of perspective brought on by isolation and dehydration, the madness and hubris of the colonial mindset. another great novel brought to life, and like many great novels the personal, political and mythical are elegantly interwoven (occasional prog metal chuggaclunk aside). makes me wanna watch the terror s1 again, and aguirre for that matter.

1) Warning – Watching From a Distance
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say what you will about wanking and crying, it's better than raping and laughing. i loved the title track of this before the album even leaked, so i was very early on the bandwagon and it has only solidified into a favourite over the years. simply the most enveloping album i know, i get lost in the depths of its texture and feeling.