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

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!

oh man, i can't stand listening to Axl's latest temper tantrum. and, on a somewhat related note, James' constant whining on Death Magnetic is possibly even worse. (grow up already, fellas! you can't act like spoiled fifteen-year-olds forever!)

maybe check out some of the proggier stuff? like the intronaut, enslaved, and cynic records?

fwiw, the intronaut is the only one of those three I'd rate. I prefer the first cynic record and some earlier enslaved stuff.

yeah, i think i'd probably be more into some of the proggier stuff on here. where's LJ when you need 'im?

actually, you might be into the blood ceremony album. that's a good one.

myspace page:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=54091737

the influences on there give a pretty good idea of where they're coming from (black sabbath, jethro tull, pentagram, etc.) but the flute and female vox are just enough so that they stand out from the crowd.

did I vote for this one? if I didn't, I should have.

too much Tull, not enough Sabbath for my tastes.

(i believe i may just be waiting for Blood Mountain II or something.)

hah. well, then you're in luck. new mastodon is out pretty soon.

And isn't Blood Mountain 2 (though apparently is proggier but better)

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Made Out of Babies - The Ruiner (The End Records) 155 Points (2 Number One Votes)

"And isn't Blood Mountain 2 (though apparently is proggier but better)"

Lets hope so.

I liked Blood Mountain.

better is always good.

Blood Mountain is a good album, maybe my expectations were just insanely high.

I didn't much like blood mountain myself.

as for the new one... maybe it's because I'm living in obama's america, but I'm hopeful.

see, i had no expectations for it, and was consequently floored.

xp

Made Out of Babies and Blood Ceremony tied on Trueness. Or if you prefer Falseness, they tied on that, too.

I kind of liked Blood Ceremony: it evokes a lot of things I like, its a shame the songs aren't that exciting.

I'd probably recommend Grails to Ioannis, Sabbathy-prog.

I think according to Glenn's True Metal barometer I pray to the gods of False Metal, which is unsurprising. Made Out Of Babies was my #1.

I was listening to Grails' Sabbath cover last night. I want to say it was great but I can't even remember what they covered. I'll say Sweet Leaf then go look it up

Nope it was 'Black Sabbath'! Eh.

Yeah check the Grails album, it's not heavy or metal but is really really really good.

A bit of a shock (but excellent) entry coming up next at no8. Glenn has some surprising info about it and the P&J poll IIRC