UM picks for 2005

[Nate The Great]

Thought some of you might want to see these, and I didn't know how many of you guys check out the front page.

Amanda a.k.a. The Metal Chick

1. Kamelot - The Black Halo
2. Opeth - Ghost Reveries
3. Allen-Lande - The Battle
4. Zero Hour - A Fragile Mind
5. Pagan's Mind - Enigmatic: Calling
6. Circus Maximus - The 1st Chapter
7. Russell Allen - Atomic Soul
8. James LaBrie - Elements of Persuasion
9. Warcry - Donde Esta La Luz
10. Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor

Jason a.k.a. circus_brimstone

1. Buried Inside – Chronoclast
2. Ephel Duath – Pain Necessary to Know
3. Pelican – The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw
4. Red Sparowes – At the Soundless Dawn
5. Rosetta – The Galilean Satellites
6. Crowpath – Son of Sulphur
7. Watchmaker – Erased from the Memory of Man
8. Crimson Moonlight – Veil of Remembrance
9. Frantic Bleep – The Sense Apparatus
10. Novembers Doom – The Pale Haunt Departure
11. Yob – The Unreal Never Lived
12. Deathspell Omega – Kénôse
13. Meshuggah – Catch Thirty Three
14. Witchcraft – Firewood
15. Norma Jean – O God, the Aftermath
16. Sunn O))) – Black One
17. Minsk – Out of a Center Which is Neither Dead Nor Alive
18. Twilight – Twilight
19. Solefald – Red for Fire: An Icelandic Odyssey Part I
20. Circle of Dead Children – Zero Comfort Margin
21. Slough Feg - Atavism
22. Gojira - From Mars to Sirius
23. August Burns Red – Thrill Seeker
24. Symphony in Peril – The Whore’s Trophy
25. Losa – The Perfect Moment

About my picks:
I listened to over 220 albums (ones released in 2005 only), and came up with diverse results. If your picks didn't end up gracing my list, it's because I either didn't hear them or didn't like them. But it's most likely the former because I have an ever-present review queue, so I don't have much time to seek out what I don't receive.

About my selection methods:
Narrowing the list down was easy. I just went through it, and chose what stood out at first glance. Surprisingly, the final positioning was easy too. I worked backwards this time, starting at 25 and gradually moving up to 1.

About my number one pick:
Buried Inside - Chronoclast. I was taken aback that the latest from Buried Inside edged out the other competitors. Chronoclast was a sleeper hit, but I can't get over just how stunning it is. Perfect blend of serenity and chaos rolled into a whole, which captures me every single time I listen to it. Overall, though, 2005 was a strong year for metal.

Nathan a.k.a. Nate The Great

1. Meshuggah – Catch Thirty Three
2. Akercocke - Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone
3. Thralldom - Black Sun Resistance: Six Strain Ceremony
4. Gojira - From Mars to Sirius
5. Watchmaker – Erased from the Memory of Man
6. Arcturus - Sideshow Symphonies
7. Pelican – The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw
8. Swarm of the Lotus - The Sirens of Silence
9. Crowpath – Son of Sulphur
10. Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor
11. Primordial - The Gathering Wilderness
12. Red Sparowes – At the Soundless Dawn
13. Twilight - Twilight
14. Jesu - Jesu
15. Buried Inside – Chronoclast
16. Deathspell Omega – Kénôse
17. Cursed - II
18. Earth - HEX: Or Printing in the Infernal Method
19. 1349 - Hellfire
20. Opeth - Ghost Reveries
21. Ulver - Blood Inside
22. Deadbird - The Head and the Heart
23. Green Carnation - The Quiet Offspring
24. Sunn O))) – Black One
25. Ion Dissonance - Solace

Phil a.k.a. dill_the_devil:

1. Akercocke - Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone
2. God Forbid - IV: Constitution Of Treason
3. Hate Eternal - I, Monarch
4. Mistress - In Disgust We Trust
5. Between the Buried and Me - Alaska
6. Pelican - The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw
7. Candlemass - Candlemass
8. All Shall Perish - Hate.Malice.Revenge
9. Napalm Death - The Code is Red...Long Live the Code
10. With Passion - In the Midst of Blooldied Soil

Rodrigo

1. Moonsorrow - Verisakeet
2. Taake - Doedskvad
3. Sigh - Gallows Gallery
4. Akercocke - Words that go Unspoken, Deeds that go Undone
5. Circus Maximus - The 1st Chapter
6. Nokturnal Mortum - Weltanschauung/Mirovozzrenie
7. High on Fire - Blessed Black Wings
8. Red Sparowes - At the Soundless Dawn
9. Crowpath - Son of Sulphur
10. Ephel Duath - Pain Necessary to Know
11. Pelican - The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw
12. Deathspell Omega - Kénôse
13. Cryptopsy - Once Was Not
14. Twilight - Twilight
15. Drudkh - The Swan Road
16. Ulver - Blood Inside
17. Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor
18. Cephalic Carnage - Anomalies
19. Darkane - Layers of Lies
20. Anthony Curtis - The Book of the Key
21. Bruce Dickinson - Tyranny of Souls
22. Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force - Unleash the Fury
23. Nile - Annihilation of the Wicked
24. Municipal Waste - Hazardous Mutation
25. Rob Rock - Holy Hell

Russell

Top ten in no particular order:
Opeth – Ghost Reveries
Ulver – Blood Inside
Between the Buried and Me – Alaska
Kekal - Acidity
Carnival in Coal – Collection Prestige
The Waking Cold – Doorways of a Fading Heart
Lazarus Blackstar – Revelations
Aphotic/Dusk - To Find New Darkness/The Slumber Split
Pushmeunder - The Day Lacks Colour, The Night Lacks Promise
Necrophagia – Harvest Ritual Vol. I
Spiritual Beggars - Demons

Honourable mentions:
Shellshock – Injected into the Hive
To-Mera – Demo (although the fat bassist put me off a bit)
Yob – The Unreal Never Lived
Ephel Duath – Pain Necessary to Know
The Secret Chief’s Three - Book of Horizons

Stuff that I only got into this year so I’m putting in anyway:
Godspeed You Black Emperor! – F#a#Oo
Cry Cry Cry – Cry Cry Cry
Void of Silence – Human Antithesis
Covenant – Northern Lights
Apoptygma Berserk - Welcome to Earth
A Perfect Circle - Mer de Noms
Finntroll – Nattfödd
Mono - Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined
John Frusciante - Shadows Collide with People

Sam a.k.a. Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral

In no particular order:
Frantic Bleep - The Sense Appartus
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
Rotten Sound - Exit
Bohren and der Club of Gore - Geisterfaust
Burst - Origo
The Project Hate MCMXCIX - Armageddon March Eternal (Symphonies of Slit Wrists)
Dark Tranquillity - Character
Shining - IV: The Eerie Cold
Meshuggah - Catch Thirty Three
Clutch - Robot Hive/Exodus
Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor
When Day Descends - Transcend
Adrian Belew - Side One
Peccatum - The Moribund People
Rosetta - The Galilean Satellites
Darkane - Layers of Lies
Earth - HEX: Or Printing in the Infernal Method
Gojira - From Mars to Sirius
Corrosion of Conformity - In the Arms of God
Larsen - Play


More lists to appear soon!

 

[circus_brimstone]

Nice font.

 

[Russell]

Haha, how long till this gets one star?

 

[MajestikMøøse]

couple of nice lists there.

 

[Thanatopsis123]

What should we do with this thread? Tell you which of those people have crap preferences?

 

[Claws of Perdition]

Personally im just going to laugh to myself about the colour scheme

 

[NAD]

those lists need more Mars Volta.

need to check out new Watchmaker and Gojira.

 

[Demonspell]

Excellent lists from just about everybody...especially Russell (better late than ever discoveries included), Nate & Hopkins...I need to get that Rosetta album.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

With that many having Akercocke in their top 10 for the year, it's now crystal clear to me that I should have gifted the entire staff with Q-Tips.

 

[General Zod]

With that many having Akercocke in their top 10 for the year, it's now crystal clear to me that I should have gifted the entire staff with Q-Tips.

What do you dislike about it?

Zod

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

It's not so much that I dislike it, it's just not memorable to me. Proggy death, snore.

 

[SonOfNun]

1. The Project Hate MCMXCIX – Armageddon March Eternal (Symphonies of Slit Wrists)

The Project Hate returns in 2005 with an album that only confirms that they are pretty much the best band on the planet. Every album is different than what came before it, but just as good, and AME is no exception. The most groovy riffs imaginable flow consistently, accompanied by beautiful melodic leads. Insane death metal vocals by way of Jorgen Sandstrom (Grave, Entombed) and angelic female vocals courtesy of Jo Enckell create a truly apocalyptic sound to match their blasphemous lyrics. Keyboards used like a grand piano and bits of industrial thrown in for fun. Creates a startling, wicked atmosphere and transfers into melancholy passages to leave you caught in a reverie. As good as it fucking gets.

2. Opeth – Ghost Reveries

To me, this is quite possibly the best output Opeth has ever had. Despite the criticisms and disappointments of others, this album strikes me as the record that the band has been trying to create since 2001. Honestly, for as good a metal riff as this band can write and as mean as Akerfeldt’s vocals are, Opeth is a better prog band than they are a metal band. It’s the soft passages, the beautiful sounds that make Opeth so good. It’s “Atonement” and “Hours of Wealth” and the stirring chants of “Ghost of Perdition.” The extreme metal thrown into the mix keeps things interesting and creates the offset that this kind of music needs, and Opeth do it very well, but the heart and soul of their music lies elsewhere. Amazing album where Opeth have found their true sound, hit their stride and stunned me with what is perhaps their best album EVER. Akerfeldt’s vocals are stunning in both realms and Opeth have finally created a warm album with an enchanting atmosphere that strikes me as close to perfect. Congratulations.

3. Blood Red Throne – Altered Genesis

Blood Red Throne IS the best death metal band on the planet right now, no questions asked. They mix brutality with the mid-paced, headbanging grooves that create the perfect extreme metal formula. As fun as full-throttle brutality can be, it tends to not leave the lasting impression that a band with either a lot of groove or a lot of emotion can. Well, BRT have a whole lotta groove and as they break it down in each song, I can’t help but smile. There is not a single bad track on this album, it’s just pure heavy fucking metal domination.

4. Falkenbach – Heralding the Fireblade

A surprisingly amazing album. My first experience with Falkenbach and I can say gladly that I’m hooked. The perfect pagan atmosphere shines through on this record and the high use of clean vocals surprised me, but works better than growled vocals ever could for this band. Absolutely everything that viking metal should be. The incredible “Havamal” sums up entirely why this is such a great album, as it simply embodies what bands of this type should aspire to be.

5. Oathean – Fading Away into the Grave of Nothingness

My Korean brothers! What an album this is. A mixture of black and folk metal in a completely different way. Whereas the majority of folk influences we hear in metal come from Scandinavia or Europe in general, Oathean gives us a taste of the Far East. Excellent black metal that becomes amazing when the band breaks into an enthralling folk session. “Wandering Soul” the second track on the album shows the bands blackened side while mixing in their other elements and “Road To…” with it’s pure traditional sound is like traveling the road to home.

6. Deathspell Omega – Kénôse

As if having the best death metal band on the planet release an album this year wasn’t enough, we got this long EP from the best black metal band on the planet to accompany it. Though made up of only three songs, the EP clocks in at over 36 minutes, longer than many “full” albums though short for a Deathspell Omega release, considering their last album clocked in at over 77 minutes. Kenose still retains many of the charms that made Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice great, including the haunting minimalism and dark atmosphere that dots their work. The unique vocals, powerful production and black metal brutality all remain as well, and all I can do is wish for more. The fact that half a DsO album can grace my list this highly is testament to how great a band they are.

7. Yyrkoon – Occult Medicine

Best album of the year that NOBODY knows about. Death metal that is a sort of mix of Behemoth and Blood Red Throne but with a focus on doing nothing but creating the most ridiculously grooving fucking riffs imaginable. Talented musicians that can craft a great song. If your neck doesn’t just about snap at some point listening to this album, you suck. Great melodic solos thrown in on occasion make for a catchy album that eclipses most music I’ve heard this year.

8. 1349 – Hellfire

1349 really surprised me with Hellfire. I had liked Liberation, but had never given it too many spins, but Hellfire hit me like a ton of bricks. For all the blazing, hellish intensity, this is actually a really catchy, memorable album as well. Beneath the surface there are a lot of great melodies and they are of course blanketed with a wall of intense battering that is extremely fun to listen to. This album has a lot hidden beneath the surface and this band epitomizes extreme metal.

9. Taake – Hordaland Doedskvad

Taake surprise the hell out of me everytime I listen to them. Not only because it’s a great band, but because I end up concentrating on how great the guitar work is, which just seems odd for a black metal band. I mean some of this stuff just flat out rocks. Listen to the second song, where the hell does that riff (you know which one) come from? Just as the opening riff of “Nattestid” hooks me everytime, “Doedskvad” had me from to beginning to end and shows exactly how amazing black metal is and can be.

10. Nokturnal Mortum – Weltanschauung/Mirovozzrenie

This is the best Nokturnal Mortum album outside of Goat Horns, yet it is completely different from that album. Whereas Goat Horns has this dark, majestic aura, Weltanschauung has a bright, almost sunny day type atmosphere on display at many times and I personally thought the cover art was a wise choice and great fit for the music on the album. Less black metal, more folk elements, this is the soundtrack to a crazed renaissance fair, and it fucking owns.

11. Asguard – Dreamslave
12. Coram Lethe - The Gates of Oblivion
13. Cryptopsy – Once Was Not
14. Kaamos - Lucifer Rising
15. Moonsorrow – Verisakeet
16. Primordial – The Gathering Wilderness
17. Hate – Anaclasis
18. Grimfist – Ten Steps to Hell
19. Beheaded - Ominous Bloodline
20. Vreid - Kraft
21. Six Feet Under - 13
22. Ondskapt – Dodens Evangelium
23. Ingurgitating Oblivion – Voyage Towards Abhorrence
24. Vile – The New Age of Chaos
25. Domination Through Impurity - Essence Of Brutality

*List created using U.S. release dates

Let me know if you guys want info on any of these bands and I'll give you a description.

 

[J.]

1. The Project Hate MCMXCIX – Armageddon March Eternal (Symphonies of Slit Wrists)

The Project Hate returns in 2005 with an album that only confirms that they are pretty much the best band on the planet. Every album is different than what came before it

You know my thoughts on TPH. I thought the debut was pretty neat, but dude, the second album sounded the exact same. I seriously have thought about checking out the newer stuff to see if it's changed at all. I dug the original female vocalist and Sandstrom is a monster on those records. Great vocals.

3. Blood Red Throne – Altered Genesis

Blood Red Throne IS the best death metal band on the planet right now, no questions asked.

That would be The Chasm.

 

[SonOfNun]

The Project Hate's albums are all markedly different if you ask me, even the first two. The debut strikes me as a cold, mechanical album, while the second is warm and, appropriate to the title, fleshy. I think with time you hear a lot of subtle differences in their music and I think there is a clear evolution. The album before their latest experimented the most with electronics and industrial, but was also BY FAR the darkest thing they've done. It's like being engulfed in night with fires raging in the background. The new one is the most straight-forward and Jorgen adopts a lower growl and utterly dominates more than about any other extreme metal vocalist ever. The new female vocalist is also at least 10 times better than the old one and has a more emotional release.

I won't try to rank their albums because it would be absurd, but I really consider them my favorite band now, I've been converted. I mean, When We Are Done, Your Flesh Will Be Ours has some distinct eastern riffing and overtones, the debut is raw and vicious, Hate, Dominate, Congregate, Eliminate is majestic, clear-sounding, powerful stuff and the last one is an insane display of how to write and play a riff and also how to construct a beautifully perfect song over 8 minutes in length. I know no one is going to listen, but I can't extol the virtues of this awesome band enough. They should be the group that I feature when it's my turn for the rec. thread, but that seems like a long time away. I may try to fix my yousendit problem and add some stuff as mp3 and let you decide on the music itself though.

 

[J.]

you really need to hear Samael's "Ceremony of Opposites" and "Passage"

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

Coupla' comments for you Opeth17:

- I guess considering your username, I'll have to give you a pass on "Ghost Reveries," but man, are your ears broken?
- Oathean! I just couldn't get to the album in time for year-end lists and whatnot, but your write-up has me really excited to check it out finally. Cool!
- Blood Red Throne can be in the top 5, but there are still several better death metal bands walking the earth: Nile, Dismember, Bolt Thrower (this one is close), and possibly Melechesh & Rudra (I just don't know them well enough to say for sure)

Good write-ups though, thanks.

 

[JayKeeley]

Aguard at #11, and Vreid at #20? Did you get them mixed up!?

I don't disklike the new Opeth as much as most people either. I think Dark One said it best in that it caught people off guard. The mistake Akerfeldt made was going out and telling people it was going to be their "darkest" album ever....and in fact, it turned out to be quite the opposite.

I'm going to listen to the new Opeth again in the summer, whilst sitting in a fishing boat under the sun, in some hidden lagoon surrounded by palm trees....it's such a lazy day Sunday kinda album.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

I completely missed that Asguard placement. WTF did you LIKE about that album?

 

[lurch70]

- Blood Red Throne can be in the top 5, but there are still several better death metal bands walking the earth: Nile, Dismember, Bolt Thrower (this one is close), and possibly Melechesh & Rudra (I just don't know them well enough to say for sure)

if you are talking about technical merits possibly, but none of those bands convey that in your gut, just sick, heads down all out assault like Blood Red Throne ... they have some formula there that they should patent.

would love to see this band live ...

they are like the 00's Obituary

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

I'll give you that, BRT has the aural assault thing down pat.