1. Pelican - The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw
Alright, so it’s not the most metal of choices to top a metal list. But it’s still my favorite album of the year. Who needs a vocalist? Unless it’s like, Klaus Meine or something. That guy rocks like a hurricane.
2. YOB - The Unreal Never Lived
Another year, another amazing bongload of doom from Oregon’s finest.
3. Crowpath - Son of Sulphur
Unrelenting, technical, and absolutely insane. Crowpath has made my list two years in a row.
4. Meshuggah - Catch 33
This fucker rages like Godzilla with CP
5. Confessor - Unraveled
The rise of Confessor is just good news for metal. Unraveled is as good a comeback album as you’ll hear.
6. Minsk - Out of a Center Which is Neither Dead Nor Alive
Lots of bands are doing the Neurosis influenced thing, but these guys have something special.
7. Witchcraft - Firewood
What year is it where YOU live?
8. High on Fire - Blessed Black Wings
Pike and Co. have refined their sound a bit, but they're as deadly as ever.
9. Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor
I'm a fairly casual Nevermore fan, but this new album is as good as anything they've done, and really grabbed me.
10. Abandon - In Reality We Suffer
Excellent effort from a band that sounds like the Anti-Isis of the Isis/Neurosis movement.
Other albums I really dug:
Primordial, Biomechanical, Frantic Bleep, Jesu, Mouth of the Architect, Exodus, Overmars, Arsis, Clutch, Belphegor, The Axis of Perdition, Grand Magus, OM, Ramesses, and Deathspell Omega. A few odds and ends worth mentioning: Best self released album: Fall of the Idols - Agonies Be Thy Children Biggest surprise: Judas Priest - Angel of Retribution. It’s not a great album, but despite some rough spots it’s damn solid, and their second best album in 20 years. Biggest disappointment: tie--The Anthrax reunion (this is the only context in which you'll hear me claim to be pro-Bush)/Opeth - Ghost Reveries. I gave this album the same score as the Priest album. The difference is that compared to their other stuff GR is a letdown, while Angel of Retribution trounced Priest's recent work. Genre with the best win/loss record: whatever we’re calling the whole Neurosis/Isis influenced sound. There were a ton of these albums this year, and nearly all ranged from decent to great. Some of the more notable releases: Minsk, Abandon, Jesu, Mouth of the Architect, Vancouver, Figure of Merit, Rosetta, Red Sparowes, and Overmars.
