I'm not as cult as half of you but here it is:
2009 was a fantastic year for music. Unlike 2008, there wasn't nearly as many dissapointments and my top ten is loaded with phenomenal shit.
1. Wolves In The Throne Room - Black Cascade
Favorite Track: Crystal Ammunition
While it would've been easy to add more variety to my top lists and choose a different #1, I just can't. Every minute of this album is powerful stuff. It is easy to see why this was recieved with so much criticism. It isn't for nearly as broad of a base as Two Hunters was. Less post-rock and more stripped down, dark black metal.
2. Jesu - Infinity
This 50 minute song would be exhausting and tough to handle for most people. The final 25 minutes is mostly repetition of a few parts over and over. Strangely enough, the second half of this album, while repetitive, is also completely hypnotic and exhilarating. I never would've believed I would enjoy it to the level I do now. An album you must listen to with headphones and focus on completely.
3. Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With The Stars
Favorite Track: The Meditant
I wasn't expecting the greatness that I heard when I first listened to this album. The last 3 BAN albums were extremely experimental and borderline directionless (Mort was). This is structured and structured WELL. Every song completely takes you on a journey. This is also the first album where their programmed drums aren't distracting in the least. Atmospheric and memorable.
4. Maudlin of the Well - Part The Second
Favorite Track: Laboratories of the Invisible World
Probably the most inventive album of the year, Part the Second covers just about every kind of musical territory you can think of and still manages to make it all sound cohesive. I'm not sure how anyone can listen to the last half of the final track and not give the album some serious merit.
5. Devin Townsend - Ki / Addicted
Favorite Track: Winter (Ki) Numbered (Addicted)
Devin came out with two vastly different albums this year and i like them an equal amount so I'm putting them in the same spot. If it wasn't for Disruptr and Gato on Ki, it would've been one of the greatest albums ever. As it stands, a flawed masterwork. Addicted is pop music that doesn't suck. I thought I was gonna hate it but Devin proves me wrong again. I can't wait for the next two albums in this project.
6. Mastodon - Crack The Skye
Favorite Track: The Czar
I really wanted (and expected) to despise this album. Mastodon to me are a shell of what they used to be and it seems like they'll put their name on anything that sells. However, this album is flat out good. Nobody can argue with the songwriting on it no matter what your thoughts are on the band. It really grows on you , although Ghost of Karelia is a pretty lackluster song.
7. Dream Theater - Black Clouds and Silver Linings
Favorite Track: The Best of Times
This one will surprise anyone who knows me. Nobody has hated Dream Theater's recent output more than I have. Systematic Chaos was a complete pile of shit and Octavarium wasn't much better. Having said this, I love Black Clouds and Silver Linings. It reminds me of a specific time I had during the spring and only A Rite of Passage is weak. The rest of the songs are back to what Dream Theater should be doing in my opinion. Above all, this entire album is memorable while their other stuff recently has been forgettable. Check out the Petrucci solo on Best of Times if you don't believe me.
8. Katatonia - Night Is The New Day
Favorite Track - New Night
People seem to be really divided on this album. You either love it or hate it. I'm more leaning towards the love it camp. It's polarizing in the way it focuses on a specific mood and tone and drives it home the entire way. Those looking for a diverse range of emotions need to look elsewhere. It's almost upsetting how far it is on the list seeing as how much I enjoy it.
9. Converge - Axe To Fall
Favorite Track: Damages
Like all Converge albums, the first half is a punch in the face and the second half is a bit more mellow and drawn out. Luckily, both do the job. Although I prefer Jane Doe and You Fail Me, this album is certainly worthy. Besides, any album with a guest appearance by Steven Von Till deserves attention.
10. The Ruins of Beverast - Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite
Favorite Track: God's Ensanguined Bestiaries
This album is epic with a capital E. It's 80 minutes long and nearly every track is 10 minutes plus. I'm not even sure what genre metal this is. All I know is it is extremely impressive and unlike any other band I've heard. Listen to the third track and be blown completely away at the instrumentation and structure.
Honorable mentions:
Russian Circles - Geneva
Destroyer 666 - Defiance
Isis - Wavering Radiant
Candlemass - Death Magic Doom
Nile - Those Whom The Gods Detest
Jesu - Opiate Sun (short but excellent)
Anaal Nathrakh - In the Constellation of the Black Widow
Porcupine Tree - The Incident
Absu - Absu
Napalm Death - Time Waits For No Slave
Dissapointments of 2009:
Immortal - All Shall Fall
Drudkh - Microcosmos
Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder
Pelican - What We All Come To Need
Pain of Salvation - Linoleum
My Dying Bride - For Lies I Sire
Behemoth - Evangelion
2008:
1. Deathspell Omega - Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum: Chaining The Katechon
2. Amenra - Mass IIII
3. Leviathan - Massive Conspiracy Against All Life
4. Opeth - Watershed
5. Meshuggah - obZen
6. Enslaved - Vertebrae
7. Bloodbath - The Fathomless Mastery
8. Agalloch - The White EP
9. Burst - Lazarus Bird
10. Colour Haze - All
2007:
1. Wolves In the Throne Room - Two Hunters
2. Deathspell Omega - Fas Ite Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum
3. Neurosis - Given To The Rising
4. Pig Destroyer - Phantom Limb
5. Porcupine Tree - Fear Of A Blank Planet
6. Rotten Sound - Cycles
7. Lunar Aurora - Andacht
8. Pain of Salvation - Scarsick
9. Reverend Bizarre - III: So Long Suckers
10. Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde
2006:
1. Enslaved - Ruun
2. Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain
3. Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance
4. Magyar Posse - Random Avenger
5. Isis - In The Absence of Truth
6. Red Sparowes - Every Red Heart Shines Toward The Red Sun
7. Warning - Watching From A Distance
8. Drudkh - Blood In Our Wells
9. Clint Mansell - The Fountain
10. Negura Bunget - Om
2005:
1. Meshuggah - Catch 33
2. Pelican - The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw
3. Jesu - Jesu
4. Deathspell Omega - Kenose
5. Reverend Bizarre - In The Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend
6. Opeth - Ghost Reveries
7. Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase
8. Ulver - Blood Inside
9. Cave In - Perfect Pitch Black
10. Cathedral - The Garden of Unearthly Delights
2004:
1. Neurosis - The Eye of Every Storm
2. Deathspell Omega - Si Monumentum Requires Circumspice
3. Enslaved - Isa
4. Isis - Panopticon
5. Pig Destroyer - Terrifyer
6. Mastodon - Leviathan
7. Nasum - Shift
8. Behemoth - Demigod
9. Meshuggah - I
10. Pain of Salvation - BE
2009 was a fantastic year for music. Unlike 2008, there wasn't nearly as many dissapointments and my top ten is loaded with phenomenal shit.
1. Wolves In The Throne Room - Black Cascade
Favorite Track: Crystal Ammunition
While it would've been easy to add more variety to my top lists and choose a different #1, I just can't. Every minute of this album is powerful stuff. It is easy to see why this was recieved with so much criticism. It isn't for nearly as broad of a base as Two Hunters was. Less post-rock and more stripped down, dark black metal.
2. Jesu - Infinity
This 50 minute song would be exhausting and tough to handle for most people. The final 25 minutes is mostly repetition of a few parts over and over. Strangely enough, the second half of this album, while repetitive, is also completely hypnotic and exhilarating. I never would've believed I would enjoy it to the level I do now. An album you must listen to with headphones and focus on completely.
3. Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With The Stars
Favorite Track: The Meditant
I wasn't expecting the greatness that I heard when I first listened to this album. The last 3 BAN albums were extremely experimental and borderline directionless (Mort was). This is structured and structured WELL. Every song completely takes you on a journey. This is also the first album where their programmed drums aren't distracting in the least. Atmospheric and memorable.
4. Maudlin of the Well - Part The Second
Favorite Track: Laboratories of the Invisible World
Probably the most inventive album of the year, Part the Second covers just about every kind of musical territory you can think of and still manages to make it all sound cohesive. I'm not sure how anyone can listen to the last half of the final track and not give the album some serious merit.
5. Devin Townsend - Ki / Addicted
Favorite Track: Winter (Ki) Numbered (Addicted)
Devin came out with two vastly different albums this year and i like them an equal amount so I'm putting them in the same spot. If it wasn't for Disruptr and Gato on Ki, it would've been one of the greatest albums ever. As it stands, a flawed masterwork. Addicted is pop music that doesn't suck. I thought I was gonna hate it but Devin proves me wrong again. I can't wait for the next two albums in this project.
6. Mastodon - Crack The Skye
Favorite Track: The Czar
I really wanted (and expected) to despise this album. Mastodon to me are a shell of what they used to be and it seems like they'll put their name on anything that sells. However, this album is flat out good. Nobody can argue with the songwriting on it no matter what your thoughts are on the band. It really grows on you , although Ghost of Karelia is a pretty lackluster song.
7. Dream Theater - Black Clouds and Silver Linings
Favorite Track: The Best of Times
This one will surprise anyone who knows me. Nobody has hated Dream Theater's recent output more than I have. Systematic Chaos was a complete pile of shit and Octavarium wasn't much better. Having said this, I love Black Clouds and Silver Linings. It reminds me of a specific time I had during the spring and only A Rite of Passage is weak. The rest of the songs are back to what Dream Theater should be doing in my opinion. Above all, this entire album is memorable while their other stuff recently has been forgettable. Check out the Petrucci solo on Best of Times if you don't believe me.
8. Katatonia - Night Is The New Day
Favorite Track - New Night
People seem to be really divided on this album. You either love it or hate it. I'm more leaning towards the love it camp. It's polarizing in the way it focuses on a specific mood and tone and drives it home the entire way. Those looking for a diverse range of emotions need to look elsewhere. It's almost upsetting how far it is on the list seeing as how much I enjoy it.
9. Converge - Axe To Fall
Favorite Track: Damages
Like all Converge albums, the first half is a punch in the face and the second half is a bit more mellow and drawn out. Luckily, both do the job. Although I prefer Jane Doe and You Fail Me, this album is certainly worthy. Besides, any album with a guest appearance by Steven Von Till deserves attention.
10. The Ruins of Beverast - Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite
Favorite Track: God's Ensanguined Bestiaries
This album is epic with a capital E. It's 80 minutes long and nearly every track is 10 minutes plus. I'm not even sure what genre metal this is. All I know is it is extremely impressive and unlike any other band I've heard. Listen to the third track and be blown completely away at the instrumentation and structure.
Honorable mentions:
Russian Circles - Geneva
Destroyer 666 - Defiance
Isis - Wavering Radiant
Candlemass - Death Magic Doom
Nile - Those Whom The Gods Detest
Jesu - Opiate Sun (short but excellent)
Anaal Nathrakh - In the Constellation of the Black Widow
Porcupine Tree - The Incident
Absu - Absu
Napalm Death - Time Waits For No Slave
Dissapointments of 2009:
Immortal - All Shall Fall
Drudkh - Microcosmos
Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder
Pelican - What We All Come To Need
Pain of Salvation - Linoleum
My Dying Bride - For Lies I Sire
Behemoth - Evangelion
2008:
1. Deathspell Omega - Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum: Chaining The Katechon
2. Amenra - Mass IIII
3. Leviathan - Massive Conspiracy Against All Life
4. Opeth - Watershed
5. Meshuggah - obZen
6. Enslaved - Vertebrae
7. Bloodbath - The Fathomless Mastery
8. Agalloch - The White EP
9. Burst - Lazarus Bird
10. Colour Haze - All
2007:
1. Wolves In the Throne Room - Two Hunters
2. Deathspell Omega - Fas Ite Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum
3. Neurosis - Given To The Rising
4. Pig Destroyer - Phantom Limb
5. Porcupine Tree - Fear Of A Blank Planet
6. Rotten Sound - Cycles
7. Lunar Aurora - Andacht
8. Pain of Salvation - Scarsick
9. Reverend Bizarre - III: So Long Suckers
10. Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde
2006:
1. Enslaved - Ruun
2. Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain
3. Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance
4. Magyar Posse - Random Avenger
5. Isis - In The Absence of Truth
6. Red Sparowes - Every Red Heart Shines Toward The Red Sun
7. Warning - Watching From A Distance
8. Drudkh - Blood In Our Wells
9. Clint Mansell - The Fountain
10. Negura Bunget - Om
2005:
1. Meshuggah - Catch 33
2. Pelican - The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw
3. Jesu - Jesu
4. Deathspell Omega - Kenose
5. Reverend Bizarre - In The Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend
6. Opeth - Ghost Reveries
7. Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase
8. Ulver - Blood Inside
9. Cave In - Perfect Pitch Black
10. Cathedral - The Garden of Unearthly Delights
2004:
1. Neurosis - The Eye of Every Storm
2. Deathspell Omega - Si Monumentum Requires Circumspice
3. Enslaved - Isa
4. Isis - Panopticon
5. Pig Destroyer - Terrifyer
6. Mastodon - Leviathan
7. Nasum - Shift
8. Behemoth - Demigod
9. Meshuggah - I
10. Pain of Salvation - BE
