Top albums of 2012

No has listened to the Ravensire and Witch Cross album? Pretty impressive on few listens. I lost that Pale Divine album in the mail so never got to hear that one.


What's good black/death metal? Don't recommend me gay shit, must be old school vein not brutal, tech or whatever.

Ravensire is pretty cool, nothing terribly original, but fun nonetheless. Witch Cross rules, but came out in 84.

I didn't get too many full lengths this year, but these ones stood out...

Dawnbringer - Into The Lair Of The Sun God
Christian Mistress - Possession
Iron Dogs - Cold Bitch
Demona - Metal Through The Time
Vestal Claret - Bloodbath
Reino Ermitano - Veneracion Del Fuego
Pallbearer - Sorrow And Extinction

My favourite releases this year were definitely non-albums releases. There were some amazing demos, splits and reissues. In no particular order...

Speedwolf/Nekrofilth - Breakin' Down/Shock Troopers
Graven Rite - The Summoner's Pit Demo
Convent Guilt - Demo
Albatross/Vestal Claret - The Kissing Flies/Black Priest
Lord Vicar/Revelation - Lord Vicar/Revelation
Deathhammer/Nosferatu - Deathhammer/Nosferatu (The Nosferatu tracks absolutely blow away anything I heard all year. A lesson in real HEAVY METAL).
Johnny Touch/Stryker - Possessed By The Heavy Metal Embrace
Marquis de Sade - Somewhere Up In The Mountains
Brocas Helm - Demonstration Of Might
Assailant - First Offense
Stormtrooper - Armies Of The Night
Vein - Crux Calvaria
Walpurgis Night/Attic - Walpurgis Night/Attic
Warlord - Anthology
Altar Of Oblivion - Salvation
Borrowed Time/Wytch Hazel - Black Olympia/The Truth
Procession - Death And Judgement

Disappointments...

Fall Of The Idols - Solemn Verses
Ketzer - Endzeit Metropolis
Arkham Witch - Legions Of The Deep
 
You were disappointed in the Ketzer album? I thought it was a significant step up from the debut with the band finding its own voice...I haven't heard Fall of the Idols yet, but I'm going to be pissed off if I end up echoing your sentiments of disappointment. Glad to see another mention of Reino Ermitano though...a personal favorite band of mine.
 
Too be honest I felt the opposite to you. I was really looking forward to it but I found it to be pretty generic, perhaps with the exception of the last track. I especially don't like the production; far too modern sounding compared to Satan's Boundaries Unchained. Maybe I need to listen to it again.

The new Fall Of The Idols isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but the whole thing seems to run into one long blur. The only exception is the last track, which I would actually describe as terrible. I get that the death of one of their members made them want to try something a bit different, but unfortunately that seems to have translated in parts to utterly bland Scandi melo-death/doom.
 
Black Metal:
Aldaaron - Supreme Silence

Shit, I forgot this one too. Was thinking it was 2011 for some reason. In fact this one would make my top 10.


I was also not a fan of the new Ketzer. Satan's Boundaries Unchained is much better IMO, but that is just what my ears heard. It's not even the production I don't like. It just doesn't have that same rifftastic vibe to it. I was also not a fan of the new Enslaved. It was their first full length that I haven't liked. I have all of their other stuff. It just goes nowhere to me.
 
Glad to see someone else thought the new Arkham Witch was disappointing. I was pretty pumped for it and had actually ordered it... Then youtubed it and ended up requesting a cancellation.
 
Ravensire is pretty cool, nothing terribly original, but fun nonetheless. Witch Cross rules, but came out in 84.

I didn't get too many full lengths this year, but these ones stood out...

Dawnbringer - Into The Lair Of The Sun God
Christian Mistress - Possession
Iron Dogs - Cold Bitch
Demona - Metal Through The Time
Vestal Claret - Bloodbath
Reino Ermitano - Veneracion Del Fuego
Pallbearer - Sorrow And Extinction

My favourite releases this year were definitely non-albums releases. There were some amazing demos, splits and reissues. In no particular order...

Speedwolf/Nekrofilth - Breakin' Down/Shock Troopers
Graven Rite - The Summoner's Pit Demo
Convent Guilt - Demo
Albatross/Vestal Claret - The Kissing Flies/Black Priest
Lord Vicar/Revelation - Lord Vicar/Revelation
Deathhammer/Nosferatu - Deathhammer/Nosferatu (The Nosferatu tracks absolutely blow away anything I heard all year. A lesson in real HEAVY METAL).
Johnny Touch/Stryker - Possessed By The Heavy Metal Embrace
Marquis de Sade - Somewhere Up In The Mountains
Brocas Helm - Demonstration Of Might
Assailant - First Offense
Stormtrooper - Armies Of The Night
Vein - Crux Calvaria
Walpurgis Night/Attic - Walpurgis Night/Attic
Warlord - Anthology
Altar Of Oblivion - Salvation
Borrowed Time/Wytch Hazel - Black Olympia/The Truth
Procession - Death And Judgement

Disappointments...

Fall Of The Idols - Solemn Verses
Ketzer - Endzeit Metropolis
Arkham Witch - Legions Of The Deep

Some cool obscure recommendations there. Old school. M-A says the Vestal Claret full-length is 2011 though. Also I thought the Ketzer album was really good.

EDIT: The Deathhammer second album also deserves a spot in this thread imo.
 
Too be honest I felt the opposite to you. I was really looking forward to it but I found it to be pretty generic, perhaps with the exception of the last track. I especially don't like the production; far too modern sounding compared to Satan's Boundaries Unchained. Maybe I need to listen to it again.

The new Fall Of The Idols isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but the whole thing seems to run into one long blur. The only exception is the last track, which I would actually describe as terrible. I get that the death of one of their members made them want to try something a bit different, but unfortunately that seems to have translated in parts to utterly bland Scandi melo-death/doom.

Well this disappoints me. The few songs I heard on Endzeit Metropolis I thought were great, and the one song from the new Fall of the Idols I thought was good enough. I definitely need to pick them up sometime in the future.
 
Some cool obscure recommendations there. Old school. M-A says the Vestal Claret full-length is 2011 though. Also I thought the Ketzer album was really good.

EDIT: The Deathhammer second album also deserves a spot in this thread imo.

You've got me there with Vestal Claret, although it did come out at the very end of 2011.

Completely forgot about Onward To The Pits, also forgot about Satan's Satyrs LP. Both great albums.
 
I've been travelling most of this year and haven't properly listened to enough metal to make a list, but I will add that Mgla's With Hearts Toward None is by far the best I've heard so far. I also really liked Agalloch's Faustian Echoes. Of course I also love the Ne Obliviscaris album but I don't really think of it as a 2012 album since half the tracks came from their EP a number of years back.

On the non-metal front, the new Dead Can Dance rules. I'm also a Shearwater fanboy and their latest Animal Joy is beautiful music.