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

xpost -- I don't see it on the nom. list.

thanks for putting this together! i've already found a lot of really interesting stuff from this thread.

Alice In Chains also didn't get nominated, otherwise I'm sure that may have cracked the top 100.

onimo or neil will be along later with a spotify playlist with as many albums from this poll as there is on spotify i think.

Sorry, I've been really busy the past few days. I call bullshit on the winner, though. Baroness all the way!

Look how close the top 5 was.

Still the wrong order.

posting your ballot, jeff?

Glenn says he will be along shortly. I guess he's still working.

Here's mine:

1. Cobalt – Gin
2. Converge – Axe to Fall
3. Katatonia – Night is the New Day
4. Baroness – The Blue Record
5. Kylesa – Static Tensions
6. Goatwhore – A Haunting Curse
7. Sunn O))) – Monoliths and Dimensions
8. Amesoeurs – Amesoeurs
9. Isis – Wavering Radiant
10. Funeral Mist – Maranatha
11. YOB – The Great Cessation
12. Slayer – World Painted Blood
13. Mastodon – Crack the Skye
14. Between the Buried and Me – The Great Misdirect
15. Nile – Those Whom the Gods Detest
16. Liturgy – Renihilation
17. Marduk - Wormwood
18. Krallice – Dimensional Bleedthrough
19. Cannibal Corpse – Evisceration Plague
20. Revocation – Existence is Futile
21. Megadeth - Endgame
22. Portal - Swarth
23. The Gates of Slumber - Songs of Blood and Thunder
24. Saviours - Accelerated Living
25. Augury - Fragmentary Evidence
26. God Forbid - Earthsblood
27. Behemoth - Evangelion
28. Slough Feg - Ape Uprising
29. Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade
30. 3 Inches of Blood - Here Waits Thy Doom

I think everything but Raise the Red Lantern, 3 Inches of Blood, Wolf and Kreator made the list, so I can't complain. I highly recommend RTRL!

1. Mastodon – Crack The Skye (Reprise/WEA)
2. Shrinebuilder (Neurot)
3. Raise The Red Lantern (At A Loss)
4. Hacride - Lazarus (Listenable)
5. Zu - Carboniferous (Ipecac)
6. Slough Feg - Ape Uprising (Cruz del Sur)
7. YOB – The Great Cessation (Profound Lore)
8. 3 Inches Of Blood - Here Waits Thy Doom (Century Media)
9. The Gates Of Slumber - Hymns Of Blood And Thunder (Rise Above)
10. Kylesa - Static Tensions (Prosthetic)
11. Minsk - With Echoes in the Movement of Stone (Relapse)
12. Cobalt - Gin (ProfoundLore)
13. Converge - Axe To Fall (Epitaph)
14. Madder Mortem - Eight Ways (Peaceville) - Norway
15. Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough (Profound Lore)
16. Anvil - This Is Thirteen (VH1)
17. Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know (Rhino)
18. Gwynbleidd - Nostalgia (MRI)
19. Liturgy - Renihilation (20 Buck Spin)
20. Obscura - Cosmogenesis (Relapse)
21. Coalesce - Ox (Relapse)
22. Skeletonwitch - Breathing The Fire (Prosthetic)
23. Wolf - Ravenous (Century Media)
24. Pelican - What We All Come To Need (Southern Lord)
25. Bloody Panda - Summon (Profound Lore)
26. Slayer - World Painted Blood (Sony)
27. Keelhaul - Keelhaul's Triumphant Return To Obscurity (Hydra Head)
28. Nile - Those Whom The Gods Detest (Nuclear Blast)
29. Napalm Death - Time Waits For No Slave (Century Media)
30. Kreator - Hordes Of Chaos (Steamhammer)

Okay, now it's like les petite mort. I hate this part of the year, all the polls are done, only a few exciting new releases trickling in, the dead of winter and I can't afford to go to Puerto Rico, and the next holiday isn't until Memorial Day. How 'bout a best metal albums ever poll? ;)

A note, first of all, on the Sunn O))) victory. Sunn O))) got 163 points from people who did not vote for Converge. Converge got 159 points from people who did not vote for Sunn O))). But of the 23 ballots with both Sunn O))) and Converge, Sunn O))) was ranked higher on 15 of them, Converge on 8. There's your margin of victory.

Still, the consensus behind the top 5 here was really impressive, and YOB is definitely the winner compared to the outside world, where by "outside world" we mean the Pazz & Jop.

Here's the centricity ranking, which measures how close each voter was to the poll's consensus:

#, Voter, Centricity
1, pfunkboy, 0.952
2, Harpal, 0.917
3, Wouter (Cutyourribbon), 0.818
4, Adrien Begrand, 0.793
5, Stephen Bush (Ilxor), 0.756
6, John Soderquist, 0.752
7, ioannis, 0.75
8, Jamie, 0.749
9, jon/via/chicago 2.0, 0.739
10, John Doran, 0.704
11, Harry (H), 0.693
12, Fastnbulbous, 0.679
12, MTE, 0.679
14, Aldo, 0.639
14, Johnno, 0.639
16, DR Holmes PsyD, 0.624
17, Sonic Bum, 0.618
18, DJ Mencap, 0.582
19, skrotmontague, 0.553
20, Phil Freeman (Unperson), 0.547
21, Salvador Dalek, 0.536
21, Sofatruck, 0.536
23, MacDara, 0.53
24, Knaaq, 0.526
25, Smokey, 0.518
26, Thijs, 0.509
27, Gareth Jenkins De La Motte, 0.507
28, John Justen, 0.457
29, Mordy, 0.441
30, Karen thulu, 0.424
31, FACK, 0.415
32, Whiney, 0.413
33, droneasore, 0.395
34, Jeff Treppel, 0.388
35, Neil S, 0.376
36, Joos Moorkens, 0.367
37, Glenn McDonald, 0.355
38, Johnny Fever, 0.347
39, Le Bateau Ivre, 0.338
40, Jess Harvell, 0.332
41, m the g, 0.324
42, Alan N, 0.286
43, Samosa Gibreel, 0.273
44, Marco Damiani, 0.267
45, Krakow, 0.255
46, SlayerDave, 0.25
47, EZ Snappin, 0.246
48, Viceroy, 0.207
49, Colonel Poo, 0.177
50, Chuck Eddy, 0.142

Pretty amusing to see the poll's organizer almost manage to pick the 30 winners.

Here are the top voter-to-voter similarities:

Score · Overlap · Voters
0.541 · 25 · Harpal · pfunkboy
0.535 · 12 · Karen thulu · Salvador Dalek
0.524 · 7 · m the g · Krakow
0.520 · 22 · pfunkboy · Wouter (Cutyourribbon)
0.516 · 19 · Harpal · Harry (H)
0.506 · 18 · Harry (H) · Jamie
0.504 · 19 · Harry (H) · pfunkboy
0.498 · 18 · Harry (H) · Wouter (Cutyourribbon)
0.493 · 13 · Johnno · Salvador Dalek
0.486 · 14 · DJ Mencap · John Doran
0.483 · 15 · Aldo · Stephen Bush (Ilxor)

I'll happily admit to being a centric voter, as metal isn't really my forte, or main focus (pretty sure I revealed this by voting Oneida and Mount Eerie in my top 5). Really enjoyed the poll, though, and I'll be checking out a lot of what made the top 50 or so.

I guess my lack of interest in black metal really comes through when you calculate centricity.

Thanks again for the tabulations Glenn.

Here's some album-similarity rankings.

Baroness - Blue Record

0.623 · 23 · Mastodon - Crack the Skye
0.592 · 18 · Kylesa - Static Tensions
0.551 · 17 · Isis - Wavering Radiant
0.540 · 20 · Converge - Axe to Fall
0.462 · 18 · Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
0.428 · 14 · Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough
0.410 · 12 · Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder
0.404 · 10 · Tombs - Winter Hours
0.403 · 14 · Cobalt - Gin

Cobalt - Gi

0.600 · 20 · YOB - The Great Cessation
0.548 · 14 · Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder
0.544 · 16 · Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough
0.486 · 18 · Mastodon - Crack the Skye
0.462 · 12 · Om - God Is Good
0.429 · 16 · Converge - Axe to Fall
0.426 · 12 · The Gates of Slumber - Hymns of Blood and Thunder
0.418 · 16 · Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
0.413 · 13 · Isis - Wavering Radiant
0.413 · 13 · Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade
0.407 · 11 · Slough Feg - Ape Uprising

Converge - Axe to Fall

0.623 · 23 · Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
0.559 · 21 · Mastodon - Crack the Skye
0.551 · 17 · Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough
0.540 · 20 · Baroness - Blue Record
0.536 · 15 · The Gates of Slumber - Hymns of Blood and Thunder
0.533 · 19 · YOB - The Great Cessation
0.507 · 14 · Khanate - Clean Hands Go Foul
0.480 · 16 · Cobalt - Gin
0.469 · 15 · Isis - Wavering Radiant
0.442 · 14 · Zu - Carboniferous
0.428 · 14 · Kylesa - Static Tensions
0.428 · 14 · Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade
0.410 · 12 · Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder
0.410 · 12 · Zombi - Spirit Animal

Funeral Mist - Maranatha

0.424 · 7 · Marduk - Wormwood

The Gates of Slumber - Hymns of Blood and Thunder

0.503 · 12 · Slough Feg - Ape Uprising
0.417 · 15 · Converge - Axe to Fall
0.403 · 14 · YOB - The Great Cessation

Isis - Wavering Radiant

0.563 · 20 · Mastodon - Crack the Skye
0.529 · 19 · Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
0.472 · 17 · Baroness - Blue Record
0.467 · 14 · Kylesa - Static Tensions
0.455 · 12 · Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder
0.419 · 11 · Om - God Is Good
0.402 · 15 · Converge - Axe to Fall

Khanate - Clean Hands Go Foul

0.448 · 13 · Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough

Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough

0.521 · 16 · Cobalt - Gin
0.511 · 15 · Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade
0.509 · 13 · Khanate - Clean Hands Go Foul
0.475 · 12 · Liturgy - Renihilation
0.472 · 17 · Converge - Axe to Fall
0.460 · 17 · Mastodon - Crack the Skye
0.425 · 15 · YOB - The Great Cessation
0.419 · 11 · Slough Feg - Ape Uprising
0.402 · 11 · Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder

Kylesa - Static Tension

0.508 · 18 · Baroness - Blue Record
0.467 · 14 · Isis - Wavering Radiant
0.460 · 17 · Mastodon - Crack the Skye
0.425 · 15 · YOB - The Great Cessation

Liturgy - Renihilation

0.405 · 12 · Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough
0.405 · 12 · Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade

Marduk - Wormwood

0.400 · 7 · Funeral Mist - Maranatha

Mastodon - Crack the Skye

0.668 · 20 · Isis - Wavering Radiant
0.634 · 23 · Baroness - Blue Record
0.597 · 16 · Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder
0.586 · 22 · Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
0.568 · 21 · Converge - Axe to Fall
0.552 · 18 · Cobalt - Gin
0.545 · 17 · Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough
0.545 · 17 · Kylesa - Static Tensions
0.545 · 17 · Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade
0.460 · 17 · YOB - The Great Cessation
0.405 · 12 · Khanate - Clean Hands Go Foul

Om - God Is Good

0.438 · 11 · Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder

Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder

0.461 · 14 · Cobalt - Gin
0.451 · 11 · Om - God Is Good
0.445 · 16 · Mastodon - Crack the Skye
0.409 · 15 · Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
0.400 · 12 · Isis - Wavering Radiant

Slough Feg - Ape Uprising

0.475 · 12 · The Gates of Slumber - Hymns of Blood and Thunder
0.438 · 11 · Zombi - Spirit Animal

Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions

0.634 · 23 · Converge - Axe to Fall
0.627 · 19 · Isis - Wavering Radiant
0.586 · 22 · Mastodon - Crack the Skye
0.563 · 17 · Zu - Carboniferous
0.549 · 15 · Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder
0.529 · 19 · YOB - The Great Cessation
0.505 · 16 · Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade
0.501 · 14 · Khanate - Clean Hands Go Foul
0.475 · 16 · Cobalt - Gin
0.470 · 18 · Baroness - Blue Record
0.464 · 15 · Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough
0.405 · 12 · Zombi - Spirit Animal

Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade

0.511 · 15 · Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough
0.475 · 12 · Liturgy - Renihilation
0.463 · 10 · Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs
0.460 · 17 · Mastodon - Crack the Skye
0.426 · 16 · Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions

YOB - The Great Cessation

0.648 · 20 · Cobalt - Gin
0.515 · 19 · Converge - Axe to Fall
0.502 · 19 · Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
0.501 · 14 · The Gates of Slumber - Hymns of Blood and Thunder
0.489 · 13 · Slough Feg - Ape Uprising
0.479 · 15 · Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough
0.479 · 15 · Kylesa - Static Tensions
0.470 · 13 · Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder
0.437 · 12 · Liturgy - Renihilation
0.437 · 17 · Mastodon - Crack the Skye
0.421 · 12 · Khanate - Clean Hands Go Foul
0.421 · 12 · Zombi - Spirit Animal

Zombi - Spirit Animal

0.451 · 11 · Slough Feg - Ape Uprising

Zu - Carboniferous

0.464 · 17 · Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions

glenn can you do this with the main ilx poll? or is it too much work

because it is obv awesome

And here's the kvltosis ranking. This is the tabulation re-weighted by voter-centricity, so the things at the top had more support from people farther from the consensus, the things at the bottom had proportionally more support from voters closer to the consensus. Both ends are interesting.

Score - Votes - Album
0.523 - 6 - Madder Mortem - Eight Ways
0.494 - 8 - Immortal - All Shall Fall
0.484 - 5 - Bloody Panda - Summon
0.484 - 6 - Municipal Waste - Massive Aggressor
0.473 - 7 - Goatwhore - Carving Out the Eyes of God
0.463 - 10 - Absu - Absu
0.462 - 6 - Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Agorapocalypse
0.454 - 5 - Mount Eerie - Wind's Poem
0.452 - 8 - Napalm Death - Time Waits for No Slave
0.449 - 5 - Keelhaul - Triumphant Return to Obscurity
0.438 - 9 - Jesu - Opiate Sun
0.438 - 5 - Part Chimp - Thriller
0.437 - 7 - Gay Witch Abortion - Maverick
0.428 - 7 - Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know
0.420 - 5 - Doomriders - Darkness Come Alive
0.416 - 8 - Portal - Swarth
0.411 - 7 - Katatonia - Night Is the New Day
0.410 - 5 - Gnaw Their Tongues - All the Dread Magnificence of Perversity
0.406 - 11 - Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With the Stars
0.405 - 9 - Funeral Mist - Maranatha
0.404 - 15 - Slayer - World Painted Blood
0.401 - 6 - Pyramids With Nadja - S/T
0.401 - 6 - Skeletonwitch - Breathing the Fire
0.397 - 8 - Pelican - What We All Come to Need
0.389 - 9 - Nile - Those Whom the Gods Detest
0.388 - 8 - Pissed Jeans - King of Jeans
0.386 - 7 - Drudkh - Microcosmos
0.386 - 11 - Tombs - Winter Hours
0.375 - 8 - Church of Misery - Houses of the Unholy
0.373 - 5 - Nadja and Black Boned Angel - S/T
0.371 - 7 - Eagle Twin - The Unkindness of Crows
0.370 - 6 - SubArachnoid Space - Eight Bells
0.366 - 30 - Baroness - Blue Record
0.365 - 16 - Slough Feg - Ape Uprising
0.363 - 7 - Dysrhythmia - Psychic Maps
0.362 - 16 - Liturgy - Renihilation
0.362 - 28 - YOB - The Great Cessation
0.359 - 6 - Megadeth - Endgame
0.357 - 8 - Candlemass - Death Magic Doom
0.357 - 22 - Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade
0.356 - 8 - Marduk - Wormwood
0.356 - 21 - Zu - Carboniferous
0.353 - 7 - Big Business - Mind the Drift
0.353 - 6 - Xasthur - All Reflections Drained
0.345 - 17 - Zombi - Spirit Animal
0.344 - 6 - Jesu - Infinity
0.344 - 7 - Nadja - When I See the Sun Always Shines on TV
0.342 - 11 - Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs
0.341 - 18 - The Gates of Slumber - Hymns of Blood and Thunder
0.338 - 13 - Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights
0.337 - 22 - Kylesa - Static Tensions
0.335 - 31 - Mastodon - Crack the Skye
0.335 - 31 - Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
0.329 - 30 - Converge - Axe to Fall
0.326 - 22 - Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough
0.322 - 24 - Cobalt - Gin
0.317 - 8 - Greymachine - Disconnected
0.314 - 10 - Coalesce - Ox
0.310 - 16 - Om - God Is Good
0.309 - 10 - Oneida - Rated O
0.303 - 6 - Gnaw - This Face
0.301 - 17 - Khanate - Clean Hands Go Foul
0.298 - 22 - Isis - Wavering Radiant
0.279 - 7 - Orthodox - Sentencia
0.269 - 17 - Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder
0.254 - 5 - Ahab - The Divinity of Oceans

I knew one of these charts would end up with Madder Mortem at the top! Well done Glenn.

Any other questions of a vaguely computational nature, ask and I'll see what I can do!

Oh, and EZ: you and me, put together, are a potent anti-centric force. I cut kvltosis off at a minimum of 6 votes, or we might have had Wardruna and Eluveitie up there, too.

I wouldn't have heard any of it if you hadn't championed all those bands on Rolling Metal. And Thy Catafalque almost made my ballot too! I hope you steer me towards as much good stuff this year.

Thanks again for doing this guys, great read.

0.524 · 7 · m the g · Krakow

heh!

thanks for your hard work, poll people.

My ballot:

1. Big Business - Mind The Drift
2. Jodis - Secret House
3. Pyramids and Nadja - s/t
4. Sunn 0))) - Monoliths And Dimensions
5. Zu - Carboniferous
6. YOB - The Great Cessation
7. Khanate - Clean Hands Go Foul
8. Oneida - Rated O
9. Shrinebuilder - s/t
10. OM - God Is Good
11. Gnaw Their Tongues - All The Dread Magnificence Of Perversity
12. Xasthur - All Reflections Drained
13. Trippy Wicked & The Cosmic Children Of The Knight - Movin' On
14. Elitist - Elitist
15. Zombi - Spirit Animal
16. Arabrot - I Rove
17. Nihil - Grond
18. Kylesa - Static Tensions
19. Nadja and Black Boned Angel - s/t
20. Baroness - Blue Record
21. Greymachine - Disconnected
22. Bergraven - Till Makabert Vasen
23. Gay Witch Abortion - Maverick
24. Borgia - Ecclesia
25. Mastadon - Crack The Skye
26. Diagonal - Diagonal
27. Jesu - Opiate Sun
28. Bosnia - Nazarene Hallucinations
29. Isis - Wavering Radiant
30. Woods Of Ypres - Wood IV: The Green Album

I had that all-important 188-192 slot sewn up.

yeah, great work, guys!

lol at Chuck being at the very bottom of the centricity list, as per usual.

I concur, amazing job. I usually get lost in statistics but it's really interesting to see the patterns emerging from this.

Here's my ballot (I cut mine off at 25, didn't hear enough for 30):

1 Keelhaul - Triumphant Return To Obscurity
2 Dysrhythmia - Psychic Maps
3 Zombi - Spirit Animal
4 Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
5 Brutal Truth - Evolution Through Revolution
6 Jodis - Secret House
7 Magrudergrind - S/T
8 Bloody Panda - Summon
9 Converge - Axe To Fall
10 Burnt By The Sun - Heart Of Darkness
11 Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade
12 Jamie Saft - Black Shabbis
13 Jesu - Opiate Sun
14 Khanate - Clean Hands Go Foul
15 Jesu - Infinity
16 Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Agorapocalypse
17 Immortal - All Shall Fall
18 Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough
19 Pelican - What We All Come To Need
20 Zu - Carboniferous
21 Eagle Twin - The Unkindness Of Crows
22 Coalesce - Ox
23 Napalm Death - Time Waits For No Slave
24 Gay Witch Abortion - Maverick
25 Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights

My ballot:

Sunn o))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
Baroness - Blue Record
Mastodon-Crack The Skye
Pelican - What We All Come To Need
Shrinebuilder - S/T
Slough Feg- Ape Uprising!
Om - god is good
Pissed Jeans - King Of Jeans
Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights
Cobalt - Gin
Isis-Wavering Radiant
Zu - Carboniferous
Part Chimp - Thriller
The Gates Of Slumber-Hymns Of Blood And Thunder

I'd now add Ahab, Masters of Reality, Eagle Twin and Kylesa to my list, and I'm going to be listening to a load of other stuff new to me, thanks to the poll. I'm going to get to work on the comprehensive Spotify listing now, will update the thread when done.

Thanks to Glenn and Pfunkboy for the poll and the stats overload!

and here's my pathetic, poseur-y anti-kvelt (mostly) ballot:

1. Mastodon - Crack The Skye
2. Sunn o))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
3. Kylesa - Static Tensions
4. Converge - Axe To Fall
5. Baroness - Blue Record
6. Om - God Is Good
7. Ea - Ea II
8. Shrinebuilder - S/T
9. Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know
10. The Gates Of Slumber - Hymns Of Blood And Thunder
11. Jamie Saft - Black Shabbis
12. Orthodox - Sentencia
13. Isis - Wavering Radiant
14. Ahab - The Divinity of Oceans
15. YoB - The Great Cessation
16. Khanate - Clean Hands Go Foul
17. Zombi - Spirit Animal
18. Obscura - Cosmogenesis
19. Krallis - Dimensional Bleedthrough
20. Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights
21. Cobalt - Gin
22. Coalesce - Ox
23. Nile - Those Whom The Gods Detest
24. Megadeth - Endgame

Okay Spotify list finished (apologies N American people):
http://open.spotify.com/user/nstewart/playlist/0bPofQLVRFL7VoiAHYaRim

It has a fair representation of the list, so have a look.

Too bad Adrien voted for Goatwhore's previous album :-/

My balot:

1. Funeral Mist - Maranatha
2. Autumn - Altitude
3. Goatwhore - Carving Out The Eyes Of God
4. Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know
5. YOB - The Great Cessation
6. Slayer - World Painted Blood
7. Pelican - What We All Come To Need
8. Candlemass - Death Magic Doom
9. Anaal Nathrakh - In The Constellation Of The Black Widow
10. God Dethroned – Passiondale
11. Marduk - Wormwood
12. Portal – Swarth
13. Revocation - Existence Is Futile
14. The Ruins Of Beverast - Foulest Semen Of A Sheltered Elite
15. Liturgy - Renihilation
16. Kylesa - Static Tensions
17. Cobalt – Gin
18. Mastodon - Crack The Skye
19. Immortal - All Shall Fall
20. Absu - Absu
21. Infernal Stronghold - Godless Noise
22. Necrophobic - Death To All
23. The Black Dahlia Murder - Deflorate
24. Suffocation - Blood Oath
25. Wolves In The Throne Room - Black Cascade
26. Impetuous Ritual - Relentless Execution Of Ceremonial Excrescence
27. Birds Of Prey - The Hellpreacher
28. Burnt By The Sun - Heart Of Darkness
29. Municipal Waste - Massive Aggressive
30. Flyleaf - Memento Mori

I forgot to vote for Krallice.

1. Sunn o))) - Monoliths & Dimensions (Southern Lord)
2. Gnaw Their Tongues: All the Dread Magnificence of Perversity (Crucial Blast)
3. Shrinebuilder - S/T (Neurot)
4. Admiral Angry – Buster ( Shels Music)
5. Oneida - Rated O ( Jag Jaguar)
6. Zu - Carboniferous (Ipecac)
7. Part Chimp - Thriller (Rock Action)
8. Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights (Load)
9. Cobalt - Gin (Profound Lore)
10. Converge - Axe To Fall (Epitaph)
11. Greymachine – 'Disconnected ( Hydrahead)
12. Slayer - World Painted Blood (American)
13. Baroness - Blue Record (Relapse)
14. Tombs-Winter Hours
15. Pyramids with Nadja s/t (Hydrahead)
16. Crippled Black Phoenix - 200 Tons Of Bad Luck (Invada)
17. Mastodon-Crack The Skye (Reprise)
18. Napalm Death-Time Waits No Slave (Century Media)
19. Pissed Jeans - King Of Jeans (Sub Pop)
20. Switchblade - Switchblade (Tell No One)
21. YOB- The Great Cessation
22. Eagle Twin - The Unkindness Of Crows (Southern Lord)
23. Rammstein - Liebe Ist Fur Alle D ( Spinefarm)
24. Raven's Creed – Albion's Thunder
25. Gnaw - This Face (Conspiracy)
26. Jesu - Opiate Sun
27. Municipal Waste-Massive Aggressor (Earache)
28. SubArachnoid Space - Eight Bells
29. Portal - Swarth (Profound Lore)
30. Khanate - Clean Hands Go Foul (Hydra Head)

One of my Sunn0))) reviews:

During Shellac’s excellent track ‘The End Of Radio’, about the nature of recording and broadcasting electronically amplified rock music, there’s a line (when performed live at least) that goes something like this: “This microphone converts sound into electricity/which travels down this wire/which travels up a hill/and is broadcast out into space/Into motherfucking space!... Distant alien civilization/can you hear this snare drum?”

As meta-explorations of sound production go, this is top notch but as with most things rock & roll, the instinctual works better than the intellectual. The physical out powers the philosophical. Brawn decimates brain. In fact if you want to demonstrate to someone how sound works, you couldn’t do much better than to take them to a Sunn O))) gig. The fundamental performance – Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson wearing monks’ cowls and playing Les Paul guitars through racks of fx pedals and a cityscape of amplification at extreme volumes – performs a fundamental role. It reveals, very viscerally, how all noise is vibration. And even more fundamentally it reveals how everything is vibration. With each rupturing chord progression they state: all energy was created during the big bang and cannot be destroyed, only transferred. Every doom-corrupted emanation proclaims: the potential energy stored on Earth in the form of fuels and raw materials was created by the Sun and every noise we make utilizes that energy. The cult rock group Sunn O))) are a mirror image of this process. They formed as a tribute act to the Seattle doom/drone outfit Earth, playing sludge-blasted riffs at ultra low BPMs and excessively high volumes, disguising themselves in ceremonial robes and behind banks of dry ice to focus the attention onto the punishing sound they created. The duo, who recently celebrated their tenth birthday, record everything on analogue tape. Even after they stop playing there is still a hiss in the background. As with an untuned television, this picks up background noise which is, if you like, from the creation of the universe. Everything exists as waves. Sunn O))) reflect energy back from whence it came. They hold a mirror up to God. If you ever, genuinely, wanted to be drowned in sound a SunnO))) gig would do it. You could feel your lungs fill with waves. Feel the aqueous humor form into ripples. Feel the blood ripple. Feel your body liquefy.

This brings us to one of the biggest criticisms of Sunn O))) you are likely to hear: that they only work live. That their raison d’etre is punishingly loud volumes designed to provoke a violent physical and emotional response and this just can’t be replicated by your home stereo or without the sense of event of their live gigs. And, even though they are my favourite rock band, I must admit that there has been something in this, in the past. Grimmrobe Demos showcases their brutal monochromatic majesty; Black One displays how the aesthetic of black metal can be applied respectfully to other genres; Dømkirke indicates something of the complex spirituality of the band; but all in all, very few people other than an uneasy alliance of fans of the avant garde and extreme metal bought their albums. And this was probably because these LPs were regarded as simulacra that had none of the profound physicality of the live show and as not being markedly different enough from each other in their own right.

Whether this is true or not, (I’d say not; most would disagree with me) this perception began to change with the release of their joint album with Boris, Altar (2006), which showcased a surprisingly light touch on tracks such as ‘The Sinking Belle’ with the Sweet Hereafter’s Jesse Sykes. This image should buckle and shatter completely with Monoliths & Dimensions their seventh studio album which attempts – and succeeds – to weave acoustic instrumentation into the dense dreamsludge of guitar reverberation. Even though the core remains the same, several other names are essential to the mix here. First and foremost is classically-trained composer and savant Eyvind Kang whose arrangements here have ensured that this album isn't the extreme metal equivalent of KISS Symphony or Metallica’s S&M. Instead, using the basic Sunn O))) building blocks – drop-tuned Melvins riffs played ultra slow – he has devised a score which weaves the acoustic elements into the foundation according to subtle pitches in timbre and tone. The instruments include a trio of double basses, a string section, acoustic conch shells, hydrophone, piano, woodwind and a trio of trombones.

Playing this humble instrument is not only Earth’s Steve Moore and John Cage disciple Stuart Dempster, but avant-hero Julian Priester, who has formerly worked with Sun Ra, Herbie Hancock and John Coltrane. There are also myriad subtle nods to the avant garde/jazz fusion – the tracks ‘Aghartha’ and ‘Big Church’ both refer to ‘Electric’ Miles Davis, and ‘Alice’ genuflects towards the late and much lamented Mrs Coltrane. This is something that has already ruffled some feathers in the new music community if the letters page of WIRE magazine is anything to go by. A recent epistle saw a poor reader getting hot under the collar that people (including the magazine) were taking long haired 'poser idiots' seriously! While it must be galling to slavishly follow left-field music for years just to witness a great leap forward occur in heavy metal with all the conservative, anti-modernist implications that are associated with this genre, one can only wonder what kind of pilchard would deny the greatness of this record just because of taxonomical associations while simultaneously declaring execrable hipsters My Cat Is An Alien to be the way forward. I mean, theorizing about music is great and everything (and I spend most of my waking hours attempting to do it and have nothing but respect for the handful of writers who are great at it) but it’s kind of apparent it should be abandoned the second it starts making you listen to utter shite and dismissing self-evident brilliance.

Everything here is about the reverberation and nothing fits into the tongue and groove of sound more ‘comfortably’ than Mayhem frontman Atilla Csihar’s astonishing vocal performance; his parched ruminations on hollow earth theory (‘Aghartha’) stand in pained contrast to the trickling hydrophone and resonant conch shells. Elsewhere he is a necessary counterpoint to the clean and stern vocal lines of a Viennese women’s choir (directed by soprano Jessika Kenney). And the reverberation has a fractal clarity, which will (and does) support repetitive listening and examination.

It pains me to even have to say this but this isn’t going to be for everyone. For the internet-damaged and terminally short of attention to the myopically conservative, to those who choose music merely as a lifestyle accessory, this album will upset, confuse or bore. For anyone interested in music that works both as art and an intensely new exciting experience - this is easily the best album that has come out this year.

Great review Doran.

Pretty amusing to see the poll's organizer almost manage to pick the 30 winners.

And I voted early on too!
I have to say, i was shocked at the top 2. I expected Baroness to walk it and Mastodon 2nd. But their votes dropped off after EZ Snappin started saying he hoped Baroness wouldn't win hahaha.
Glenn told me I would get a shock when I saw the results, and he was right.
Chuffed to see Slough Feg and YOB do so well in the poll, that was the highlight for me.

Glenn, thanks again for all your help and for the stats (which im now going to scroll back up and start reading)

Score · Overlap · Voters
0.541 · 25 · Harpal · pfunkboy

haha that's what happens when you're on 3 message boards together.

Being 6th in centricity shows I get most of my info from the Rolling Metal Thread. For that I give you all many thanks.

Okay Spotify list finished (apologies N American people):
http://open.spotify.com/user/nstewart/playlist/0bPofQLVRFL7VoiAHYaRim

It has a fair representation of the list, so have a look.

― Neil S,

nice one!

I'm still a little surprised about the love for Baroness. Good record but just short of top ten to me.

OK, doing this manually so apologies if I get it wrong but here is some top 10s by genre. Using http://www.metal-archives.com/ genre descriptions.

Doom Metal

1. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
2. YOB - The Great Cessation
3. The Gates of Slumber - Hymns of Blood and Thunder
4. Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder
5. Khanate - Clean Hands Go Foul
6. Orthodox - Sentencia
7. Eagle Twin - The Unkindness of Crows
8. Ahab - The Divinity of Oceans
9.Candlemass - Death Magic Doom
10. Goblin Cock - Come With Me If You Want to Live

Drone Metal

1. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
2. Om - God Is Good
3. Mount Eerie - Wind's Poem
4. Nadja and Black Boned Angel - S/T
5. Black Boned Angel - Verdun
6. Jodis - Secret House
7. Gnaw - This Face

Black Metal

1. Cobalt - Gin
2. Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough
3. Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade
4. Liturgy - Renihilation
5. Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With the Stars
6. Funeral Mist - Maranatha
7. Absu - Absu
8. Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs
9. Drudkh - Microcosmos
10. Marduk - Wormwood
11. Immortal - All Shall Fall
12. Gnaw Their Tongues - All the Dread Magnificence of Perversity
13. Xasthur - All Reflections Drained
14. Lifelover - Dekadens
15. Anaal Nathrakh - In the Constellation of the Black Widow
16. Behemoth - Evangelion
17. 1349 - Revelations of the Black Flame
18. Altar of Plauges - White Tomb
19. Glorior Belli - Meet Us at the Southern Sign
20. Peste Noire - Ballade Cuntre Lo Anemi Francor
21. Saros - Acrid Plains

I'll leave death metal , folk metal , trad metal, battle metal, goth/girly metal, etc to those who know more about it, but if someone could do it, that would be great. All the info is up there and http://www.metal-archives.com/ will give you genre descriptions if you're unsure.

Post Metal

1. Isis - Wavering Radiant
2. Tombs - Winter Hours
3. Pelican - What We All Come to Need
4. Jesu - Infinity
5. Minsk - With Echoes in the Movement of Stone
6. Maserati - Passages
7. Disappearer - The Clearing
8. Woburn House - Monstrous Manoeuvres in the Mushroom Maze
9. A Storm of Light - Forgive Us Our Trespasses
10. Callisto - Providence

Here's my ballot (1 at the top, 30 at the bottom):

Mastodon – Crack the Skye
Baroness – Blue Record
Augury – Fragmentary Evidence
Born of Osiris – A Higher Place
Slayer – World Painted Blood
Converge – Axe to Fall
Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know
Sunn O))) – Monoliths & Dimensions
Job for a Cowboy – Ruination
The Gates of Slumber – Hymns of Blood and Thunder
Anvil – This is Thirteen
Revocation – Existence is Futile
Obscura – Cosmogenesis
Cauldron – Chained to the Nite
Funeral Mist – Maranatha
Marduk – Wormwood
Gwynbleidd – Nostalgia
Lamb of God – Wrath
Napalm Death – Time Waits for No Slave
Suffocation – Blood Oath
Skeletonwitch – Breathing the Fire
Megadeth – Endgame
Isis – Wavering Radiant
Immortal – All Shall Fall
Katatonia – Night is the New Day
Greymachine – Disconnected
Ulcerate – Everything is Fire
Hacride – Lazarus
Bergraven – Till Makabert Väsen
God Forbid – Earthsblood

Black Metal clearly the winner in the poll this year.

I guess my lack of interest in black metal really comes through when you calculate centricity.

― EZ Snappin,

You got one of your wishes at least.

I actually like this poll - it reflects ILM consensus pretty well. Not liking the very top doesn't mean I'm not very happy with YOB's placement, or seeing things like Wardruna and Madder Mortem exposed to more people. Also, there are 4 or 5 bands I'm dying to check out because of this, and I couldn't ask for more. And neither Baroness nor Mastodon won! (I liked Sunn live even though their records bore me to tears)

Again, well done and thanks particularly to you and Glenn, and to everyone who participated.

For those who are interested in individual ballots.
They're in order #1 (Mastodon) to #30 (Black Cobra)

Mastodon -Crack The Skye
Gay Witch Abortion - Maverick
Voivod - Infini
Converge - Axe To Fall
Blue Sabbath Black Cheer - Crows Eat The Eyes From the Leviathans Carcass
Kylesa -Static Tensions
Them Crooked Vultures - S/T
Yob - The Great Cessation
Sunn o))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
Heaven and Hell - The Devil You Know
Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With the Stars
Baroness - Blue Record
Krallice -Dimensional Bleedthrough
Shrinebuilder - S/T
Funeral Mist -Maranatha
Immortal -All Shall Fall
Kreator - Hordes Of Chaos
Gorgoroth - Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt
Pelican - What We All Come To Need
Xasthur - All Reflections Drained
Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade
Marduk -Wormwood
Anvil - This Is Thirteen
Tombs -Winter Hours
Isis -Wavering Radiant
Clutch - Strange Cousins From The West
Behemoth - Evangelion
Cobalt - Gin
Napalm Death -Time Waits No Slave
Black Cobra - Chronomega

So the top 4 black metal albums are USBM, and only two on the whole list are Norwegian!

My ballot:

Sunn o))) - Monoliths & Dimensions (Southern Lord)
Mastodon-Crack The Skye
Isis-Wavering Radiant
Zu - Carboniferous (Ipecac)
Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade
Oneida - Rated O ( Jag Jaguar)
Nadja - When I See the Sun Always Shines on TV
Megadeth – Endgame
Baroness - Blue Record (Relapse)
Slayer - World Painted Blood (American)
Pissed Jeans - King Of Jeans (Sub Pop)
Shrinebuilder - S/T (Neurot)
Converge - Axe To Fall (Epitaph)
Cobalt - Gin (Profound Lore)
Gnaw Their Tongues: All the Dread Magnificence of Perversity

Only 15 because I haven't heard much more this year and/or didn't like what I had heard.

Death Metal

1. Katatonia - Night Is the New Day
2. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Agorapocalypse
3. Nile - Those Whom the Gods Detest
4. Portal - Swarth
5. Napalm Death - Time Waits for No Slave
6. Magrudergrind - S/T
7. Dethklok - Dethalbum II
8. Behemoth - Evangelion
9. Obscura - Cosmogenesis
10. Cannibal Corpse - Evisceration Plague
11. Revocation - Existence Is Futile
12. Brutal Truth - Evolution Through Revolution
13. Burnt by the Sun - Heart of Darkness

That's including grindcore, and obviously stretching it a bit here & there (#1!).

I wasn't sure myself what Katatonia were these days. They used to be death/doom didnt they? A lot of those paradise lost/anathema death/doom bands moved away from it (funny then that doom became "in" so those bands missed out again)

Cheers for compiling the death list.
Burnt By The Sun is more in the Converge/Coalesce/Keelhaul, cant call it metalcore anymore as its nothing like the metalcore shite that is so ubiquitous these days, kinda stuff, no?

Wonder if there's a florida vs sweden(or just gothenburg even) DM poll on ILM anywhere