Year-end lists?

In some order:

VANHELGD - Church of Death (awesome! Very delicious old school Death Metal)
DETONATION - Reprisal (awesome! Super brutal/aggressive yet melodic and varied)
CARDAMON - Sun as Never (awesome! superb female fronted melodic/melancholic Rock/Metal)
GOTYE - Making Mirrors (reeeaaaallly good)
MEGADETH - Th1rt3en (a very pleasant surprise, very enjoyable and solid album)
BLACKFIELD - Welcome to my DNA (beautiful album once more)
PAATOS - Breathing (great album)
ENGORGE - Their Name Liveth For Evermore (very enjoyable old school Death Metal concept album)
STEEL PANTHER - Balls Out (Steel Panther! :D)
ISVIND - Intet Lever (some nasty Black Metal)

Good but not exceptional:
OPETH - Heritage (pretty nice)
COLDPLAY - Mylo Xyloto (nowhere near the brilliance and timelessness of Viva la Vida)
SHINING - VII: Född Förlorare (good but nowhere near V & VI)
CUSTOMS - Harlequins of Love (good, but not as great as the debut)
TEXTURES - Dualism (good but cannot match the utter awesomeness of (some songs of) Silhouettes)
MACHINE HEAD - Unto the Locust (pretty good Machine Head album)

Utter crap:
LOU REED & METALLICA - Lulu
MORBID ANGEL - Illud Bla Bla

Amazing discovery:
DREDG - The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion (one of those bands that has been recommended to me many times, I tried but just never really got into it, until now, great great album)
 
A lame year that will be remembered for the disappointments...none the less here is my list...

1. Vader - Welcome to the morbid reich
2. Primordial - Redemption at the puritans hand
3. Thulcandra - Under a frozen sun
4. Deicide - To hell with god
5. Autopsy - Macabre eternal
6. Puteraeon - The esoteric order
7. Demonical - Death infernal
8. Necros Christos - Doom of the occult
9. Demonaz - March of the norse
10. Amon Amarth - Surtur rising
 
I didn't think it was a 'shit year' at all...

While I haven't put together a list, here are the albums that have been in constant rotation throughout the year:

Metal/grind/whatever
Altar of Plagues - Mammal, The Atlas Moth - An Ache for Distance, Atriarch - Forever the End, Autopsy - Macabre Eternal, Blotted Science - The Animation of Entomology, Blut Aus Nord - 777 - Sect(s) & 777 - The Desanctification, Brutal Truth - End Time, Disma - Towards the Megalith, GridLink - Orphan, Hate Eternal - Phoenix Amongst the Ashes, Indian - Guiltless, Krallice - Diotima, Peste Noire - L'Ordure à l'état Pur, Rotten Sound - Cursed, Septicflesh - The Great Mass, Shining - VII: Född Förlorare, Tombs - Path of Totality, Trap Them - Darker Handcraft, Ulcerate - The Destroyers of All, Wolves in the Throne Room - Celestial Lineage, Wormrot - Dirge, YOB - Atma

Non-metal/grind/whatever
Arms and Sleepers - The Organ Hearts, Blueneck - Repetitions, Chris Florio - Seven Possible Solutions, Elbow - Build a Rocket Boys!, Glassjaw - Coloring Book, Helms Alee - Weatherhead, Mike Patton - The Solitude of Prime Numbers, Steven Wilson - Grace for Drowning
 
I didn't think it was a 'shit year' at all...

While I haven't put together a list, here are the albums that have been in constant rotation throughout the year:

Metal/grind/whatever
Altar of Plagues - Mammal, The Atlas Moth - An Ache for Distance, Atriarch - Forever the End, Autopsy - Macabre Eternal, Blotted Science - The Animation of Entomology, Blut Aus Nord - 777 - Sect(s) & 777 - The Desanctification, Brutal Truth - End Time, Disma - Towards the Megalith, GridLink - Orphan, Hate Eternal - Phoenix Amongst the Ashes, Indian - Guiltless, Krallice - Diotima, Peste Noire - L'Ordure à l'état Pur, Rotten Sound - Cursed, Septicflesh - The Great Mass, Shining - VII: Född Förlorare, Tombs - Path of Totality, Trap Them - Darker Handcraft, Ulcerate - The Destroyers of All, Wolves in the Throne Room - Celestial Lineage, Wormrot - Dirge, YOB - Atma

Non-metal/grind/whatever
Arms and Sleepers - The Organ Hearts, Blueneck - Repetitions, Chris Florio - Seven Possible Solutions, Elbow - Build a Rocket Boys!, Glassjaw - Coloring Book, Helms Alee - Weatherhead, Mike Patton - The Solitude of Prime Numbers, Steven Wilson - Grace for Drowning

I guess you are not a fan of Morbid angel, opeth, candlemass, dismember or metallica then....
 
I guess you are not a fan of Morbid angel, opeth, candlemass, dismember or metallica then....

The answer varies for all of those...
  • Yeah, I've never been a huge Candlemass fan.
  • Did Dismember put out something new this year? Totally missed it if so.
  • Metallica, I've only got nostalgic love for the first few records. That's for the best, though, as I can't bother to be disappointed by "Hate Train" when I'm expecting anything more to begin with :)

The releases from Morbid Angel and Opeth, however, were disappointments. The way I see it, though, there's simply way too much good music out there to dwell on them -

  • While Illud Divinum Insanus caught me quite off-guard, Nader Sadek's album softened the blow.
  • I was pretty sure I wasn't going to love Heritage after hearing "The Devil's Orchard," even though I wanted to. Regardless, Mike's going to do whatever he wants - as he should - so I can't fault the album for not being what I wanted. The bigger bummer really is that the songs, ignoring the fact that the approach wasn't too appealing to me, aren't more interesting. I was hoping that at the end of the album I could at least say "while not for me, that's a really good record." Alas, the songs are pretty dull.