!!!!!!!! ILX METAL ALBUMS of 2009 POLL RESULTS!!!!!! (FINAL RESULTS NOW IN! LISTENING TO THESE ALBUMS WILL MAKE YOU STRONGER FRAIL INTERNET PERSON!)

The Microphones dude? Is this really a BM thing?

No not 'really', this is firmly in the 'wuss' department ;) Like it plenty, but I'm not voting for it in a metal poll.

Don't know anything about it. No mentions on the rolling metal thread but noone said anything when it was nominated, it got plenty of votes and it sounds interesting. I guess our metal voters are an open-minded lot.

Really enjoying the Masters of Reality album, it reminds me a bit of Wire believe it or not. I'm listening to it on the ILM metal albums playlist, which I'll try to fully update this evening:
http://open.spotify.com/user/nstewart/playlist/0bPofQLVRFL7VoiAHYaRim

Masters of Reality = Wire + ZZ Top

#39 , 121 Points , 8 votes

http://atlmetal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Immortal-All-Shall-Fall-300x300.jpg
Immortal - All Shall Fall

Speaking of Immortal, new album sounds great (out in Europe tomorrow, hah!). It's got a definite classic thrash / Ride the Lightning-vibe going in tracks like "Norden on Fire" and with the Tägtgren 'empty warehouse decked in ice'-production. Favorite track thusfar is definitely "Hordes to War", with its main riff going back and forth underneath the drums and that huge galloping fast polka bit at the end.

― Thijs,

I liked that Immortal album pretty well on first listen last night, too.

― glenn mcdonald,

#38 , 122 Points , 8 votes

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/reviewpics/marduk_cd.jpg
Marduk - Wormwood

Judging by the new album Wormwood, Mortuus now has total creative control over Marduk. It's nothing short of Maranatha pt. 2, really. Which off course is a good thing.

― Thijs,

Marduk is not bad, but is not that good, either.

― Carl,

The bass outro of 'Into Utter Madness' on the new Marduk is kinda cool. But off course bm is basically all about the treble, right?

― Thijs,

Picked up the Immortal late, I like it well enough but I'm not sure it would have made my ballot. Marduk is still on my "to hear" list.

I was a bit disappointed Marduk didn't do any of the more experimental midtempo stuff when I saw them a couple of months ago. They're touring Holland again right now, I might go and see them on Monday, they'll probably play a different set (plus, yeah, I'm a total Mortuus fanboy). Nice to see this didn't place above the more difficult but superior Maranatha :)

coalesce vox ARE boring. and too loud in the mix.

but I think the music totally makes up for it.

I've always meant to check out a marduk album but have never gotten around to it. any suggestions on where to start?

If you like nonstop blastbeat fury Panzer Division Marduk, for a little more variety and compelling vocal performance definitely Wormwood. Opus Nocturne is a good one from the old days, though I haven't heard it in ages.

I am into nonstop blastbeat fury (sometimes), so it sounds like I'll be starting with PDM. thanks!

#37 , 123 Points , 8 votes

http://www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/pelicancover.jpg
Pelican - What We All Come to Need

I quite like the new Pelican. Not as catchy as the last one, if one could call it catchy, but it's nice to nap on the couch to. Also, instrumental band with vocals on one track shocker LOL

― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara),

I'm probably one of the few other people in this thread that is actually curious to hear that Pelican. Seems like they bear the brunt of a lot of the NeurIsis overload.

― & other try hard shitfests (jon /via/ chi 2.0),

Feel like Pelican still have it in them to make good music by the simple expedient of chancing on a strong riff and rinsing the fuck out of it avec good clear production. Also feel, on initial listens, like this doesn't really happen on the new one

― Vladislav Delap (DJ Mencap),

All their haters moan like fuck about the drummer

― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname),

I know, and it's pure parroting. There's nothing wrong with it, and it's certainly not bad enough to completely ruin the band. Like I said, I think his simple style actually benefits Pelicans music.

― Thijs,

the drumming on their stuff always seemed to me like an obvious stylistic decision--never understood the "he can't play" crowd.

― call all destroyer,

I like that Pelican album. Pretty much the only Pelican I like, but still. Not that I'd put it on this sort of list either.

― & other try hard shitfests (jon /via/ chi 2.0),

Pelican can be nice in tiny doses, but it always feels as bland as those paintings of sunbeams poking through clouds (I forget the name of the guy who's famous for making those). And yikes, could the drumming get any clunkier?

― A. Begrand,

Forgot to vote for Marduk :(

Thijs' suggestions are good ^

I might go and see them with Anaal Nathrakh next week...

Awesome. We're getting no-name melodeath opening acts over here I think :( I did see Anaal Nathrakh once already, at one of their first gigs ever; 2006, 2007? Good stuff, though still a bit chaotic and nervous at the time.

Pelican was also in my top ten. I don't just condone Larry Helwegs style of drumming, I'm a big fan (and a drummer myself). I just love it when drummers do very little and still make it work (see also Brad "EZB" Morgan of Drive-By Truckers for instance). The gentle midtempo grooves and the interplay of two guitars have a mesmerizing quality that even reminds me of Sun Kil Moon sometimes. Maybe it's because they're both big Priest fans, I don't know.

I generally don't like postrock or NeurIsis type bands btw, Neurosis and Pelican being the two main exceptions.

#36 , 124 Points, 7 votes

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8CN0D81QZ4E/Suy5ooQbOLI/AAAAAAAAAEc/dY0CtRL6oOg/s400/3858.jpg
Orthodox - Sentencia

one of the best albums this year for sure. Orthodox just keep getting better and better , progressing with each album. Even LJ would approve

-pfunkboy

Looking forward to Orthodox.

― Doran,

I'm listening to the new Orthodox now. I loved Gran Poder but was bored by Amanecer en Puerta Oscura, so I guess my expectations are low. Although it's having some weird Spanish effect on me, because I swear I just looked out my window and for a moment the sight of a construction crane next to the turret of Harvard's Memorial Hall threw me back to looking at the perpetual construction of Sagrada Familia on the skyline of Barcelona.

― glenn mcdonald,

Listened to the new Orthodox last night. It's amazing. They get better every album; Gran Poder bored the shit out of me, but Amanecer showed big improvement, and the new one isn't even a metal record. The first track sounds like an ultra-creepy alternate soundtrack to Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia.

― neither good nor bad, just a kid like you (unperson),

Here's the opening track from the Mount Eerie record, for those curious:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtuCP1ExC_I

So, any thoughts about big hitters (as in mainstream-ish or long-term popular acts) yet to place? Slayer? Lamb Of God? Pearl Jam? Mastodon? We've already had Megadeth, of course...

^NB above post is 33rd new answer, or half the number of the beast, lets see if we can make it to 666 this week!

sorry 333rd!

hoping to see pearl jam not place

Big hitters still to come

thinking mastodon will make top ten
lamb of god and slayer in top twenty

infact one up next..

I think PJ are pretty certain to place...

#35 , 126 Points , 7 votes

http://rockandrollchildren.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/heaven-hell-the-devil-you-know-2009.jpg
Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know

I'm more than ready for an "all-doom" Heaven & Hell record. Children of the Sea and After All and Sign of the Southern Cross are exactly what I like about that band...

― Nate Carson,

holy crap! i am, like, totally digging the hell outta the new Sabba...er Heaven & Hell album! riffs galore; production dark & densely packed; Dio's voice aging well and far more than bearable; Bill Ward, alas, missing. my top two metal albums of the year locked in place already. next?

― \m/ metal oaf \m/ (Ioannis),

Not me:

http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/27386930/review/27534978/the_devil_you_know

― xhuxk,

Heaven & Hell was so fantastic and inspirational. They're all in great form, Dio sounded fantastic (reaching for extra notes and nailing all of them). Vinnie's drum solo was a blast, Iommi's solo was moving, and the new material sounded great. Big shout out to the light and stage crew as the gargoyles and lights were top notch.

It was so great to see these guys be classy and excellent. It's always a bit embarrassing when Ozzy is in the house, flubbing notes. None of that with H&H.

― Nate Carson,

Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know : Surprisingly good, but not sure how well it'll age

― Kindjal,

Anyone think Alice in Chains will chart, then?

How does the Heaven & Hell it hold up now?
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it?
How does the Heaven & Hell hold up now?

I've never been into non ozzy sabbath so i never checked it out. Maybe i should play the classic dio sabbath stuff on spotify.
Funny how in the last few years older bands have managed to come back with really good albums. Celtic Frost & Unsane I thought were as great comebacks as ive ever heard. But lots of older bands (maiden,priest,ac/dc etc) seem to be getting rave reviews now. Wonder if its a Classic Rock Magazine effect of these bands being covered and new fans finding the band and the bands just raising their game rather than coasting it. The AiC album was really well received, which I was surprised with because i thought more would agree with me that AiC without Layne could not be AiC, but the music seemed to be so well received that ppl forgot about it and loved it.

Colonel Poo told me that Napalm Death have been on a roll with their last 3 albums too

oh and the already placed Megadeth and the will it/wont it place Slayer albums are seen as their best albums in eons.

How does the Heaven & Hell hold up now?

Still play it to death, almost on a daily basis. There really are so many nice touches in the arrangements that it never fails to move me in a big way.

And another big hitter up next..

I cooled on the Heaven & Hell album so much that I ended up dissing it in the process of praising something else on my list. The Megadeth album didn't last long in my rotation, either. It's a good Megadeth album, and I find that that isn't worth a whole lot to me anymore.

I really like the Heaven & Hell album. It's Old Testament doom.

Based on that one track up there and the other stuff that's already charted on here I have no problem w/ the Mount Eerie album being waved through - if it was some no-promo-photos dude on Southern Lord/Aurora Bourealis/blah no-one would bat an eyelid

That one track is the only one with blastbeats on it IIRC.

As for the Classic Rock effect etc, I don't personally think the last AC/DC is remotely brilliant or remotely awful but every time they've had an album out in my music-listening lifetime (ie three albums) the press have queued up to blow them so ppl's reaction overall is maybe a touch inflated

I know what you mean re: the AC/DC but i got the feeling that the last time everyone still felt it was the best thing they had done in 20 years a year after it came out.

And with Unsane ,Maiden, Celtic Frost etc you do get people who really do believe they were as good as any of their old classic albums.

I still don't like the Heaven and Hell album. One great song ("Bible Black"), and the rest either feels uninspired or just plain goofy.

same here. I love dio sabbath but could not get into that heaven and hell. felt like a bit of a chore to sit through.

but I should prob listen a few more times.

but they were so, so awesome live.

Hopefully chuck or scott might pop in with their thoughts on why (and comment on the rest of the poll too)
xps

Glenn how many of our poll's top albums made the P&J poll?

#34 , 129 Points , 9 votes

http://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Nile_-_Those_Whom_The_Gods_Detest_artwork-300x300.jpg
Nile - Those Whom the Gods Detest

I'm not a big fan of the belching vocals or the post-metal vocals, to be honest. Like, I can't even listen to Nile.

― Vulgar Display of Flowers (J3ff T.),

And speaking of blindsided, the Nile is unreal. Ithyphallic didn't click for me, but this one is just shattering. This is the kind of follow-up I wanted to hear after In Their Darkened Shrines and Annihilation of the Wicked.

― A. Begrand,

I was enjoying the new Nile last night, which is significant because I usually hate that band. So take that as a recommendation, I suppose.

― Defender Of The Girly Metal Faith (J3ff T.),

There were 92 albums that appeared on both polls, and I won't spoil any surprises here, but there's substantial similarity at the top. But there's also one album in the top 10 here that got only a single vote in P&J, and another in this top 20 that wasn't mentioned in P&J at all.

see, i still really dig the H&H disc, tho i admit that "Bible Black" may be the only classic Sabbath-worthy track on it. on the other hand, the Nile album seems to get duller every time i listen. what can ya do?

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