Staff Picks of 2004

[circus_brimstone]

Bleakest Harvest:
1. Mastodon – Leviathan
2. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
3. Pig Destroyer – Terrifyer
4. Secret Chiefs 3 - Book of Horizons
5. Melvins & Lustmord - Pigs of the Roman Empire
6. Meshuggah – I
7. Fantomas - Delirium Cordia
8. Anaal Nathrakh - Domine Non Es Dignus
9. Esoteric - Subconscious Dissolution into the Continuum
10. Sunn0))) – White2

circus_brimstone:
1. Age of Silence – Acceleration
This release encompasses everything I wanted in a metal album. I can’t extol Age of Silence enough.
2. Isis – Panopticon
The guys have mesmerized me again. And, I think this is their best material to date.
3. Underoath – They’re Only Chasing Safety
I’m a sucker for the screamo. Hardly anyone pours more talent and emotion into their music more than Underoath.
4. Zao – The Funeral of God
This record marks a triumphant return for the band in question. It’s not their swansong, but it’s certainly required listening. Now, if they’ll only stay together long enough to complete a new album…
5. Darkthrone – Sardonic Wrath
Darkthrone = Always Good. There’s rarely an exception to that rule.
6. Demonoid – Riders of the Apocalypse
I really liked this a lot. It’s even more impressive when you consider that it’s a debut.
7. Mastodon – Leviathan
Remission was enjoyable. Leviathan trumps the former in every possible category.
8. Decapitated – The Negation
This was my first encounter with the Polish death metallers, and I liked it quite a bit.
9. Anorexia Nervosa – Redemption Process
This is most assuredly epic black metal that displays both musical prowess and atmosphere. Very fulfilling.
10. Showbread – No Sir, Nihilism is Not Practical
If there’s one review I could change on UM, it would be this one. After spending a great deal of time with it, the album really grew on me. No Sir, Nihilism is Not Practical definitely deserves at least another .5 on the review scale.

In sum, it was a fairly good year for metal. I didn’t, however, get my hands on several releases I wanted to: Behemoth, Deathspell Omega, Quo Vadis, Bloodbath, and Enslaved. Maybe some of the aforementioned will make next year’s list; since, a few won’t technically be released in the U.S. until 2005.

dill_the_devil:
1. Converge - You Fail Me
2. Shadows Fall - The War Within
3. Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache
4. Malevolent Creation - Warkult
5. Bloodbath - Nightmares Made Flesh
6. Reverend Bizarre - Harbinger of Metal
7. Amaran - Pristine in Bondage
8. Isor - Post Mortem Peep Show
9. Scarve – Irradiant
10. Watch Them Die - Watch Them Die

Nate The Great:
1. Crowpath - Red on Chrome
This is the album that makes me want to bleed. This is the album that makes me shove pencils in my ears while screaming in ecstasy. This album is the future of both tech-metal and noisecore.
2. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine
Not only by my admission, but by many other critics', 'Miss Machine' has already gone down as a rebirth of Faith No More's masterpiece, 'Angel Dust'. Is it that good? Possibly . . . but only time will tell.
3. Mastodon – Leviathan
Mastodon is so good at what they do they make 'Leviathan' sound like a walk in the park. Make no mistake, though; 'Leviathan' is a brilliant achievement in progressive metal unlike anything else.
4. Isis – Panopticon
This is the type of album that can lull you into a trance deep enough to make you forget how magnificent the album really is. On many levels, this album is WAY above the competition.
5. Old Man Gloom - Christmas
While OMG is admittedly a less than serious project, 'Christmas' holds more surprises than St. Nick himself. The biggest surprise is that OMG can actually write brilliant cohesive songs amongst all that amazing noise.
6. Neurosis - The Eye of Every Storm
A legend in top form. Another transition for a band that has never stagnated. 'The Eye of Every Storm' isn't trying to out-do the competition. . .because there is none.
7. Hearse - Armageddon Mon Amour
This is the surprise of 2004 for me. If you missed this one, you missed an amazing melding of early Entombed and Iron Maiden . . . with a little extra groove thrown in for the ladies. This truly is a deliriously fun album.
8. Anaal Nathrakh - Domine Non Es Dignus
If I had this one longer than I have so far, it might be a little higher in the list. Nonetheless, Anaal Nathrakh's attempt at expanding the scope of their filth has succeeded. This band can no longer be labeled a one trick pony.
9. Converge - You Fail Me
I have a feeling this one will take more than a year to really grow on me. However, it is still good enough to make me stop and concentrate 100% every time I hear it. 'Jane Doe' was an all out blitz to the skull, but 'You Fail Me' is like a dark shroud over an entire city.
10. Void of Silence - Human Antithesis
Another great surprise for 2004. This album continues to get better, and I've had it for almost a year. I'm not a fan of some of the European style of epic doom, but this is so unique and intriguing I just can't ignore it.
11. Damnation - Destructo Evangelia
12. Mare - Mare
13. Pig Destroyer – Terrifyer
14. Meshuggah – I
15. Tusk - Tree of No Return
16. PsyOpus - Ideas of Reference
17. Grails - Redlight
18. Ludicra - Another Great Love Song
19. Mono - Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun
Shined
20.Morgion - Cloaked by Ages, Crowned in Earth
21. Today is the Day - Kiss the Pig
22. Nehemah - Requiem Tenebrae
23. Fantomas - Delirium Cordia
24. Darkthrone - Sardonic Wrath
25. Hopesfall - A Types

Opeth17:
1. Anata - Under a Stone With No Inscription
2. Behemoth – Demigod
3. Borknagar – Epic
4. Arsis - A Celebration of Guilt
5. Vintersorg - The Focusing Blur
6. Black Label Society - Hangover Music Vol. VI
7. Bergthron - Faust Für Faust
8. Cruachan - Pagan
9. Insision - Revealed and Worshipped
10. Leviathan - Tentacles of Whorror
11. Ensiferum - Iron
12. Vomitory - Primal Massacre
13. The Chasm - The Spell of Retribution
14. Hate Forest - Battlefields
15. Amon Amarth - Fate of Norns
16. Vader - The Beast
17. Deathspell Omega - Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice
18. Drudkh - Autumn Aurora
19. Darkthrone - Sardonic Wrath
20. Malevolent Creation – Warkult
21. Fission – Crater
22. Suffocation - Souls to Deny
23. Demonoid - Riders of the Apocalypse
24. Decapitated - The Negation
25. Vehemence - Helping the World to See

Honorable Mentions: Azrael - Into Shadows Act II: Through Horned Shadows Glimpse, Nattefrost - Blood and Vomit, Lamented Souls - The Origins of Misery, Winds - The Imaginary Direction of Time


Rodrigo:

1. Mastodon – Leviathan
2. Alabama Thunderpussy – Fulton Hill
3. Wolf – Evil Star
4. Into Eternity – Buried in Oblivion
5. Neurosis – The Eye of Every Storm
6. The Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine
7. Pig Destroyer – Terrifyer
8. Deathspell Omega – Si Monvmentvm Reqvires, Circvmspice
9. Leviathan –Tentacles of Whorror
10. Watain – Casus Luciferi
11. Anaal Nathrakh – Domine Non Es Dignus
12. Cult of Luna – Salvation
13. The Chasm – The Spell of Retribution
14. Isis – Panopticon
15. Armagedda – Ond Spiritism
16. Manticora – 8 Deadly Sins
17. Orphaned Land – Mabool
18. Arsis – A Celebration of Guilt
19. Disillusion – Back to Times of Splendor
20. Xasthur – Telephatic with the Deceased

Russell:
1.Shade Empire – Sinthetic
2.Envy – All the Footprints You’ve Ever Left and the Fear Expecting Ahead
3.Thee Maldoror Kollective – A Clockwork Highway
4.Necrophagia – Goblins Be Thine
5.Ewigkeit – Radio Ixtlan
6.Void of Silence – Human Antithesis
7.Persephone – Truth Inside the Shades
8.Humanity – When Silence Calls
9.Keiichi Suzuki – Zatoichi OST
10.The Dead Texan – The Dead Texan

Victim of Deception:
1. Neurosis - The Eye of Every Storm
2. Enslaved – Isa
3. Eyes of Fire - Ashes to Embers
4. Rwake - If You Walk Before You Crawl, You Crawl Before You Die
5. Cult of Luna - Salvation
6. Arsis - A Celebration of Guilt
7. Electric Wizard - We Live
8. Wolf - Evil Star
9. Isis – Panopticon
10. Motorhead – Inferno

 

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