So we don't have a Best of 2004 thread yet?

[NAD]

The year is winding down, and unless my drunken search skillz are failing, I didn't see an all encompassing thread. Here's my list of definite possibilities, I assembled them shits over the past few days and realized this year DOES kick ass... just not on the level that 2003 did (no 10/10 albums here, last year had 2 definites, 3 more possibilities):

C2B3
Danzig
Drudkh
Hate Forest
Mar de Grises
Uaral
Isis
Finntroll
Orphaned Land
Deathspell Omega
Legendary Pink Dots
Nirvana box
Slayer DVD
House of Aquarius
Morgion
Sunn O)))
Blut Aus Nord
APC
Enid
Fantomas
Machine Head
Into Eternity
Mithras
Frusciante
Cannibal Corpse
Especially Likely Sloth
Hypocrisy

Note a few of these I haven't heard yet, but have the CD-Rs in line to listen to.

EDIT: Also yeah a few of these are possible 2003 releases, but I know several where released in the US this year so I'll probably count them. If so, that means Mithras is the clear winner, only possible 10/10 from this list.

 

[MajestikMøøse]

My Runners up:

Woodtemple - The Call of the Pagan Woods
Nasheim - Undergång
Today Is The Day - Kiss The Pig
Neurosis - The Eye Of Every Storm
Sunn O))) - White2
Drudkh - Autumn Aurora
Xasthur - Telepathic With The Deceased
Winds - The Imaginary Direction Of Time
Into Eternity - Buried In Oblivion
Astrofaes - Those Whose Past Is Immortal
Darkthrone - Sardonic Wrath (maybe)
Especially Likely Sloth
Hate Forest - Battlefields
Peccatum - Lost In Reverie

EP/Split Album Category:

Agalloch/Nest - Split 10"
Agalloch - The Grey
Goatsnake
Taake/Amok


Re-release/Compilation Category:

Katatonia - Brave Yester Days
Worship - Last CD Before Doomsday

Admittedly I have not heard as of yet (which might offset the final result):

Xasthur/Leviathan Split
Graveland - Dawn of Iron Blades
Enslaved - Isa
Deathspell Omega - Si Monvmentvm....
Esoteric - Subconcious
Morgion
Mournful Congregation/Stabat Mater Split
Mourning Beloveth/Lunar Gate Split
Uaral
Isis

and I'm probably forgetting quite a few.

 

[NAD]

Nasheim - Undergång

I don't know why I keep thinking this was a 2003 release... apparently not so, this will rank pretty high at the end of the year. [/Erik and Sorath butt kissing, but it's the truth]

Funny how I've become utterly sick of black metal this year, yet 3 such releases will most likely grace my top 10 for 2004.

 

[MajestikMøøse]

Black metal is pretty much what I've listened to most of this year so I expect that there will be a heavy influence of it on my final list.

 

[General Zod]

After Forever - Invisible Circles
Aina - Days of the Rising Doom
Amon Amarth - Fate of Norms
Angra - Temple of Shadows
Ayreon - The Human Equation
Cea Serin - ...where Memories Combine
Cradle of Filth - Nymphetamine
Danzig - Circle of Snakes
Drudkh - Autumn Aurora
Enslaved - Isa
Evergrey - The Inner Circle
Iced Earth - The Glorious Burden
Into Eternity - Buried in Oblivion
Isis - Panopticon
Lamb of God - Ashes of the Wake
Magnitude 9 - Decoding the Soul
Manticora - 8 Deadly Sins
Mercenary - 11 Dreams
Metal Church - Weight of the World
Nightwish - Once
Pyramaze - Melancholy Beast
Riverside - Out of Myself
Tad Morose - Modus Vivendi
Tesla - Into the Now

Zod

 

[Black Winter Day]

BLACK METAL:
Deathspell Omega
Nasheim
Drudkh
Xasthur
Bergthron
Leviathan
Woods of Ypres
GaKAITHROUGH

DOOM METAL:
Mar de Grises
Esoteric
Morgion
Void of Silence

DEATH METAL:
The Chasm
Arsis

OTHER:
Isis
Crowpath
Enslaved (need to hear, but it's automatically a possibility because they rule)
Elend (ditto)
Mastodon
Sunn 0)))
Neurosis

NON-METAL:
Ghost
The Arcade Fire
Legendary Pink Dots
Tears For Fears
Wilco
Thee Silver Mountain Reveries

 

[Henrik Main]

My top 20 list won't be finished before the 31th, but it will likely include most of these releases:

1349 - Beyond The Apocalypse
Behemoth - Demigod
Behexen - By The Blessing Of Satan
Borknagar - Epic
Brodequin - Methods Of Execution
Cannibal Corpse - The Wretched Spawn
Cattle Decapitation - Humanure
Darkthrone - Sardonic Wrath
Deathspell Omega - Si Momvmentvm Reqvires, Circvmspice
Decapitated - The Negation
Drudkh - Autumn Aurora
Finntroll - Nattfödd
Incantation - Decimate Christendom
Insision - Revealed And Worshipped
Leviathan - Tentacles Of Whorror
Liturgy - Dawn Of Ash
Malevolent Creation - Warkult
Monstrosity - Rise To Power
Nattefrost - Blood And Vomit
Sinners Bleed - From Womb To Tomb
Suffocation - Souls To Deny
Vader - The Beast
Visceral Bleeding - Transcend Into Ferocity
Vomitory - Primal Massacre
Wasteform - Ignorance Through Sovereignity

 

[NAD]

I forgot about Ufomammut. Has the best song of the year by far.

 

[IOfTheStorm]

TOP 15 UNTIL NOW
Fates Warning - FWX
Oprhaned Land - Mabool
Wastefall - Soulrain 21
Colour Haze - s/t
Ayreon - The Human Equation
Witchcraft - s/t
Neurosis - The Eye Of Every Storm
The Hidden Hand - Mother Teacher Destroyer
Lamented Souls - The Origin Of Misery
Mastodon - Leviathan
Ufomammut - Snailking
Therion - Lemuria/Sirius B
Monster Magnet - Monolithic Baby
Skyclad - A Semblance Of Normality
Inner Wish - Silent Faces
I want to listen to the new Enslaved, Isis, Sarissa, Jag Panzer and Void Of Silence

 

[Nico]

Nyktalgia - Nyktalgia

 

[NAD]

Just like last year, there are about 5 really great albums vying for the #10 spot. Since I'm not doing any honorable mentions this year this might be even harder. 2004 was very good, much much better than I gave it credit for.

 

[Henrik Main]

CHECK OUT BEHEXEN'S "BY THE BLESSING OF SATAN" or burn! It's uglier than your mother, rawer than something really nasty that lives in the forest, colder than a night in the grim and frostbitten wintry Norway and has got riffs that give MAYHEM'S "DE MYSTERIIS DOM SATHANAS" a run for its money! Check out & worship, or go suck elephant dick and/or anus and taste the wrong kind of thunder.

Behexen is:

Torog - Worship Incantations
Horns - Witchhammers
Veilroth - Sacrificial Razors
Gargantum - Six Scalpels Of Mutilation

 

[Black Winter Day]

Hey NAD, that LPD I sent you came out in 1985.

 

[NAD]

haha that rules.

 

[Black Winter Day]

I could send you their new one if you like that one.

 

[NAD]

No no! No CD-Rs please!!!

I haven't listened to this one yet, I'll....report....for....duuuuutyyyyy when I do.

 

[Black Winter Day]

I sent 20 CDRs with your package.

 

[NAD]

... .. .. . ..... ldkx. ..x BLDLEETPPT!!!!!!!1111

oh man i hope you're joking

 

[Black Winter Day]

Actually, I just sent you my melodeath collection.

 

[M.Lehto]

Noenum: Black Esoteric Evangelium 10" (b&w-splatter-vinyl, ltd 666) Hammer of Hate HOH-002 2004

I just cannot understand why no one has mentioned this. Great stuff, reminds me a bit of early Burzum.
Raw and melancholic black metal.

Armagedda: Ond Spiritism - Djefvulens Skalder (ltd 500, gatefold) Agonia Records Arlp-010 2004

Got this some weeks ago and absolute masterpiece, with great packing. You must get this, maybe the
best release this year.

Deathspell Omega: Si Monvmentvm Reqvuires, Circvmspice DLP (gatefold, poster) Norma Evangelium Diaboli NED-005 2004

Very good album, maybe not as good as Armageddas new, but great "religious black metal".


Here should also be both Drudkh-albums included, but they're '03 releases, although the vinyls came this year.
I'm also expecting a lot from Harmaa-album, that should be out some time december.
Then there will be new Clandestine Blaze-album, but that might not be out this year after all.

Some good stuff, that I haven't listen enough to rise them here: Horna/Behexen split LP, Satanic
Warmaster - ...Of The Night 10", Pest - Dauðafærð 12".