ILX METAL ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2008 RESULTS (NOW COUNTING DOWN THE TOP TEN, BTW)

another gem...

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I VOTED IN THE 2008 ILX ALBUMS & TRAX POLL AND I LIKED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (ballots due TODAY)

last chance to get your votes in that poll. Please vote.

15
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Caïna - Temporary Antennae (Profound Lore) 140 Points

Good placing for Krallice! I don't recall much chat on rolling metal 08 (which I think I read most of even if I didn't post a great deal)

Anyone wish to help out with blurbs for the top 10 albums?

Good placing for Krallice! I don't recall much chat on rolling metal 08

Yeah, there was a good amount of Krallice talk scattered around.

There was? Well that's good too!

There was enough Krallice talk that I redownloaded the album after having given up on it the first time. But I didn't like it any better the second time, either. I just kept wanting it to sound more like Leviathan, and eventually I remembered I could spent the time listening to Leviathan more, instead.

14
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Melvins - Nude With Boots (Ipecac) 141 Points

A bit of a shock coming up at No 13. One of the (so i thought) front runners for no1 didn't do as well as expected. It's fans on the rolling metal thread failed to turn up I suppose.

But lets build some suspense :)

I have a feeling I know what it is, but guessing now might make me a meanderthal neanderthal.

You like to wager on that?

Hmm, not now that you've worded it like that.

13
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Enslaved - Vertebrae (Indie Recordings) 145 Points

Didn't get any No1 votes rather surprisingly.

That was actually my next guess after Torche!

There's a bit of a shock low entry at no12 actually..

Would you like to guess/wager?

It has really bad cover art..

12
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Meshuggah - obZen (Nuclear Blast Records) 155 Points

Anyone got any comments on todays countdown so far? Any surprise inclusions?
I shall post no 11 later before I go to bed

Curious: Do people actually think the Meshuggah (and Opeth) albums are standout albums for those bands or do you just see them as solid releases from great bands?

After revisiting Vikingligr Veldi this week, Vertebrae sounds even more useless. I had almost forgotten just how incredible they used to be.

At least it's paying their kids school fees.

Sundar: I think opinion is split on the Meshuggah. Some think its the best they've done and some don't as far as i can tell. No idea whatsoever on the Opeth, but I'd be surprised if people think it's their best. However they might still think it's better than any other metal album in 2008.

11
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The Goslings - Occasion (Not Not Fun) 158 Points (1 Number One Vote)

And to recap our countdown so far (Rank - Points - Votes - #1 Votes - Artist - Album):

50 - 48 - 3 - 0 - Racebannon - Acid or Blood
50 - 48 - 3 - 1 - Zebulon Pike - Intransience
48 - 50 - 4 - 0 - Blue Sabbath Black Cheer - Untitled
48 - 50 - 3 - 0 - Gnaw Their Tongues - An Epiphanic Vomiting of Blood
47 - 52 - 5 - 0 - Bison B.C. - Quiet Earth
45 - 54 - 4 - 0 - Nadja - Desire In Uneasiness
45 - 54 - 4 - 0 - Withered - Folie Circulaire
43 - 55 - 4 - 0 - Metallica - Death Magnetic
43 - 55 - 6 - 0 - Unearthly Trance - Electrocution
42 - 59 - 4 - 1 - Blood Ceremony - Blood Ceremony
41 - 60 - 4 - 1 - Disfear - Live the Storm
40 - 61 - 4 - 0 - Marnie Stern - This Is It And I Am It And You Are It
39 - 62 - 5 - 0 - Darkspace - III
38 - 63 - 6 - 0 - Intronaut - Prehistoricisms
37 - 66 - 5 - 0 - Jex Thoth - Jex Thoth
36 - 68 - 6 - 0 - Genghis Tron - Board Up the House
35 - 70 - 5 - 0 - Witch - Paralyzed
34 - 71 - 3 - 1 - Hammers of Misfortune - Fields/Church of Broken Glass
33 - 72 - 6 - 0 - Ascend - Ample Fire Within
32 - 78 - 6 - 0 - Jesu - Why Are We Not Perfect
31 - 81 - 6 - 0 - Moonspell - Night Eternal
30 - 83 - 6 - 0 - The Gates of Slumber - Conqueror
28 - 88 - 7 - 0 - Earthless - Live at Roadburn
28 - 88 - 8 - 0 - UFOmammut - Idolum
26 - 89 - 6 - 0 - Moss - Sub Templum
26 - 89 - 5 - 0 - Wetnurse - Invisible City
25 - 98 - 5 - 1 - The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
24 - 100 - 6 - 0 - Ocean - Pantheon of the Lesser
23 - 109 - 8 - 0 - Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder God
22 - 111 - 8 - 0 - Coffins - Buried Death
21 - 118 - 7 - 2 - Grails - Doomsdayer's Holiday
20 - 123 - 8 - 0 - Sunn 0))) - Domkirke
18 - 126 - 8 - 0 - Cynic - Traced in Air
18 - 126 - 8 - 1 - Asva - What You Don't Know Is Frontier
17 - 128 - 8 - 0 - Leviathan - Massive Conspiracy Against All Life
16 - 137 - 8 - 0 - Krallice - Krallice
15 - 140 - 8 - 0 - Caina - Temporary Antennae
14 - 141 - 10 - 0 - Melvins - Nude With Boots
13 - 145 - 9 - 0 - Enslaved - Vertebrae
12 - 155 - 10 - 0 - Meshuggah - obZen
11 - 158 - 11 - 1 - The Goslings - Occasion

Tomorrow, the thrilling conclusion! And then a bunch of statistics that dwarf these in their sublime geekiness!

outside of I, obzen is probably my favourite meshuggah album to date. it's a perfect distillation of their sound - so focused and lean and sharp. I know it's got a bit of stick from the hardcore for being a bit simpler than their older stuff, but that criticism seems largely to be based on 'combustion' rather than the album as a whole (which does get pretty damn tricksy).

even so, 'combustion' is an incredible track. by no means the most wilfully difficult in their catalogue, but a totally storming, brutal metal tune that's still characteristically meshuggah.

all of the above surprises me somewhat, as I'm usually a proponent of 'the more insanely complex, the better'. but for me, they just nailed it on this one.

oh, and I agree. the artwork is crap.

not too into opeth... as for meshuggah, they're one of my favorite bands but that's a little tricky for me to answer.

the way I see it, everything that they've done post-destroy erase improve has been a gradual refinement of one kind of sound: rhythmic, down-tuned breakdowns in wacky time signatures with (almost) melodic, (almost) ambient guitar leads and a couple other elements re-jiggered throughout the course of an album.

all of their albums of the last few years strike me as samey but I don't mean this in a negative way. pretty sure I've posted this on another thread, but I listen to this band the way I would listen to autechre or basic channel records. the head-nodding repetition is a big draw for me.

but because of this, I have a hard time identifying a real standout. could be chaosphere, could be the i ep, could be obzen. I like them all, really.

I haven't been able to get into "combustion," actually. it's just... not what I want from them. I usually skip it. :-/

I would be interested in stats comparing this polls votes and Pazz & Jop. How many made both and how the high placed votes in one poll did in the other. And anything else Glenn can come up with :)

I've asked my P&J elves to confer with my ILM Metal elves. We'll see what they come up with. After the food fight subsides...

Are your ILM Metal Elves called Dio's? ;)

Ok I shall start the top 10 countdown...

Tomorrow (Friday)

i think obzen perhaps sounds better than any other meshuggah record. song-wise it's pretty strong as well, but perhaps not quite leveling up to the likes of chaosphere and DEI

watershed, on the other hand, is far from being opeth's best release. i still really like it, but tend to appreciate it from a distance rather than play it constantly. it really does stand alone as one of the more unique things they've put out and has some of the most vital riffs of the band's career.

Surprised, but very glad to see that much Goslings record! Played that last night and still love it.

much love for the Goslings record

wow i had no idea the goslings rec would place so high--i'll definitely check it out

I'm very pleased that they did. A pleasant surprise.
I'm fairly pleased with the top 10 too. Not everyone will agree with it but who ever does in polls?

I'll start posting the top 10 from around 2pm (ish) UK Time. So that some of the american ilxors can make comments as they go up. Probably post 1 per hour approx. Then Glenn will do his stuff.
I'm looking forward to him matching and comparing to the P&J poll.

Of the 10 albums still to be revealed, only one failed to get a single Pazz & Jop vote, and only one managed to get more votes from 577 P&J voters than from 30 ILM Metal Poll voters.

next?

10
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Gojira - The Way of All Flesh (Listenable Records) 163 Points

wow, awesome cover! worth hearing?

As I'll explain after we finish the countdown, I have scientifically determined a ranking of the Truest Metal Albums, which is obviously different from the Best Metal Albums. The top 5 Truest Metal Albums are all records that have already appeared lower on the countdown. Gojira's The Way of All Flesh is the 9th Truest Metal Album.

i think i'd prefer a list of the Falsest Metal Albums of the year. maybe.

honest question, fwiw: as someone who really dug the last Mastodon album, liked the latest by Opeth, and pretty much can't abide by Neanderthal for more than five minutes at a time, what should i be checking out here?

signed too lazy to read the rolling metal thread

Avoid Chinese Democracy, even if clearly some ilxors do like it . Never trust an ilxor!