Third and final part! If you missed parts one and two, check them out HERE. Right, this is it - the big one. Let’s make one thing clear, coming to
the final decision on this list was quite difficult… right then no more messing
about let’s get straight into it.
25
A Storm of Light – As The Valley of Death Becomes Us, Our Silver Memories Fade
A
Storm of Light made a few swerves on this record, the follow-up to 2009’s
Forgive Us Our Trespasses. This is faster and shorter, but no less heavy. They
have however shed some of their doomier tendencies and indulged in some
hook-led riffing, all with top results, surprisingly.
Standout
track: ‘Wasteland’
24
Jesu – Ascension
Is
there anything Justin K. Broadrick can’t do right? Probably not. When not
basking in the triumphant return of Godflesh, the man somehow found time to
churn out a new Jesu record. Ascension is another lesson is despondent,
droning, shoegaze-inflected metal with Broadrick’s trademark ghostly croon.
Standout
track: ‘December’
23
Wormrot – Dirge
The
last two years have been good to Wormrot. Abuse kicked down a lot of doors for
them and their second full-length needed to be every bit as vehement and
violent, and Dirge is just that. Modern grindcore has some very exciting faces
these days and Wormrot are most definitely one of them.
Standout
track: ‘The Final Insult’
22
Braveyoung – We Are Lonely Animals
Bloom,
Braveyoung’s first EP, came out in 2009 and the band sort of dropped off the
radar for a while, until early this year when they released their first album.
We Are Lonely Animals is simply breath-taking and invigorating post rock that’s
completely dream-like across its running time. Something to get lost in.
Standout
track: ‘Light Narrows’
21
Grown Below – Long Now
Belgium’s
Grown Below popped up out of nowhere this autumn with this heady and ambitious
record, Long Now. Clocking in at 67 minutes, there’s a lot going here. Long Now
is a crushing sludge record with many death doom influences with heaving
guttural as well as clean vocals and a penchant for the grandiose soundscapes
of Cult of Luna as well as the slow dissonant riffing reminiscent of Thou.
Stream
the full album HERE
20
Esoteric – Paragon of Dissonance
No
surprise here. Esoteric once again blow us all away with their peerless funeral
doom. Two discs, at over 90 minutes of wretched but beautifully cathartic doom.
There’s a full feature review in the next of issue of Molten Magazine.
Standout
track: ‘Abandonment’
Last
year’s .neon album from Lantlôs featured on this end of year list in 2010 and
its follow-up doesn’t disappoint. However it has marked a great progression for
the band. It’s a much slower album as edified by the opening devastating clang
of ‘Intrauterin’. ‘Bliss’ then is a wondrously powerful song with closer ‘Eribo
– I Collect The Stars’ capping off the record perfectly.
Standout
track: ‘Bliss’
New
York erratic death metal band Flourishing were another one of 2011’s pleasant
surprises. The Sum of All Fossils is an album that is nothing short of a
barrage. Cascading technical riffs collide with an overwhelming thick bass that
conjure up an imposing sound and not to mention the mixing up of vocal
delivery, like the pained shrieks of ‘By Which We’re Cemented’ breaking away
from cruel growls.
Standout
track: ‘By Which We’re Cemented’
Speaking
of stunning death metal albums, it doesn’t get much better than New Zealand’s
Ulcerate with their latest record, The Destroyers of All. Crushing but
intricately arranged, the sound that this three-piece make is simply unholy.
This is their finest hour yet and having signed with Relapse Records, a new
album will be swiftly upon us in 2012. Only greatness awaits this band.
Standout
track: ‘Dead Oceans’
First
Irish release of the list, which was number three in the Irish top 10 from
Monday. There’s no need to go into too much detail again, this is pummelling,
unforgiving, raging crust. Tuck in.
A
latecomer this year. Ben Sharp aka Cloudkicker released two albums late last
month, this and Loop. Let Yourself Be Huge is great deviation from last year’s stunning
Beacons. It’s mostly acoustic and mellowed out with one track including sparse
vocals, but it’s altogether beautiful stuff.
Standout
track: ‘Let Yourself Be Huge’
Wolves
in the Throne Room sort of have that love/hate relationship with the listener.
If you are one of the lovers of WITTR then Celestial Lineage is exactly the
album you have yearned for, to follow the tumult of Black Cascade with the more
cerebral barrage of Celestial Lineage.
Standout
track: ‘Prayer of Transformation’
2011
has been dotted with some impressive black metal records coming from all
directions but nothing quite surpassed Woods of Desolation. D., Australian
black metal royalty at this stage, has made his finest record yet and indulging
in a cleaner production job has given Torn Beyond Reason the ability to really
shine and breath, sounding absolutely massive and grandiose.
Standout
track: ‘Torn Beyond Reason’
After
a tumultuous few years, with their Roadrunner deal falling through, 3 were in
many ways on the ropes but lo and behold they come screaming back with the
album of their careers. – The Ghost You Gave To Me. Unabashedly melodic,
hook-driven and heavily influenced by the old prog gods of yesteryear, this is
a cracking record.
Standout
track: ‘React’
Whetting
Occam’s Razor is expansive melodic hardcore with no hesitance in utilising
grand soundscapes and acoustic guitars here and there, but for the most part
though it’s belligerent and unruly with plenty of memorable riffs.
Standout
track: ‘Theory’
Scale
The Summit and Animals as Leaders both permeated our consciousness in 2009,
both enjoying success, AAL more so. Both released follow-up albums this year
and who would have thought that it would actually be Scale The Summit that would
come up trumps. The Collective is just magnificent.
Standout
track: ‘Black Hills’
You
know the deal. Portnoy leaves, tears are shed, people whinge and bitch and
Dream Theater make one of their best albums of the last 10 or 15 years. Yeah,
the latter seems the most important.
Standout
track: ‘Bridges in the Sky’
On
paper this sounds boring, doesn’t it? Current and former Killswitch pals Adam D
and Jesse Leach make a new record together that is still within the realm of
metalcore. Surprised were these ears when it turned out that The Hymn of a
Broken Man is actually heaving with some great tunes from start to finish.
Granted, it preaches to the converted but overall, a victory for the duo.
Standout
track: ‘Hope Remains’
The
second Belgian band to appear in this list, Oathbreaker. Released on Deathwish,
Mælstrøm is fucking ferocious stuff from start to well, near finish. The first
eight of these nine tracks are blistering barrages, only for the title track to
close things out and it’s a stripped down acoustic track with the only singing
of the album. Strangely it works but it’s songs like ‘Origin’ and ‘Glimpse of
the Sun’ that make this album so good.
Standout
track: ‘Origin’
Again,
you read about this on Monday. Mammal is a jaw-dropping album, simple as that.
With this and White Tomb behind them, where Altar of Plagues go next is
anyone’s guess but chances are it will be sublime. Frankly, they probably
couldn’t fail, even if they tried.
The
Irish album of year unsurprisingly cracks the top five. A complete and fluid
listen, the whole damn thing is streaming on their bandcamp so I won’t go into
any more detail about it; I did that already on Monday. Listen HERE.
Fucking
relentless. That pretty much sums up Die Miserable. It’s been a while since the
band could be still called grindcore but flourishes still remain and plenty of
injections of shameless melody are to be heard on this record too, along with
hints of death metal, hardcore and, whisper it… metalcore. It all works though.
Standout
track: ‘Census Blank’
2009’s
Crack The Skye was when Mastodon went all out on their prog tendencies.
Needless to say, it was an instant classic. The Hunter is both a progression
and something of a regression. It’s been stripped back to shorter, catchier
tunes but they haven’t attempted to mimic their Remission days. Neither have
they attempted to make Crack Pt.2, which would have failed horribly. Rather
they crafted an album that’s a little simpler in ideal but managed to progress
as a songwriters and as a band. Hats off. Plus, we have two of the most
ridiculously catchy tunes of the year in ‘Curl of the Burl’ and ‘Blasteroid’.
Standout
track: ‘Blasteroid’
40
Watt Sun are number two, just about. The fight for the top spot was very much a
photo finish. However, don’t let it take away from this landmark release.
Former Warning mainman, and all around doom metal victor, Patrick Walker’s new
lifeblood 40 Watt Sun finally released this debut after some fanfare, and it
hasn’t disappointed. This is a beautiful blend of doom; it differs from Warning
but at the same time maintains an enthralling aural kinship with the now defunct
band. The Inside Room is powerful, affecting and, while heavy, so fragile.
Standout
track: ‘Carry Me Home’
Grandiose, imposing, ethereal, haunting and captivating are some of the
clichéd words that you could roll out to describe 2011’s album of the year, but
they are all overwhelmingly true and apt. Light Bearer’s debut Lapsus, born
from the ashes of Fall of Efrafa, is a staggering feat to say the least. At
times it’s slow and trudging and at others, beautifully compelling and illuminating
but it’s an altogether cathartic experience. The genre of Post Metal is a hazy
phrase at best, but if it continues to result in utterly miraculous albums like
this then it’s no bad thing. Light Bearer – the start of something beautiful.
There you have it – the best of 2011. Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment