Finally... The Top 200 Extreme Metal Albums of ALL TIME!(results)

^ perhaps the most important band in the evolution of extreme metal

idk

willing to give early bm/dm lots more chances to blow me away. iirc early dm is the more impressive, atheist had some sick tunes

i am interested in where it's come from but i'm not sure i need to listen to the early ventures too much, unless i can be convinced otherwise. today's extreme metal acts weren't just influenced by thrash either. there are loads of lineages leading to this.

my favourite bit of thrash is the intro to 'sanatarium' before the thrashy guitars come in

I understand his POV without sharing it. It's one of the things I hate most about jazz, is old fucks who are always like "Well, you need to understand Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington in order to really understand this new record you like." No I don't. I like the record I like, and it stands on its own merits for me. Music isn't a survey course.

My guess is that as far as general listening tendencies go (for rock music anyway), imago and I are similar. However, when I got into metal, it wasn't really because I was looking for something even further out than what I already liked -- I think it was because I wanted something angry and ugly. I just didn't know what it was, until I started hearing old black metal and realizing that there was music even uglier than I'd realized. Qualitatively, it wasn't really a question of "evolution" -- except in the fact that my listening tastes were certainly evolving. I mean, you can't really help but evolve, adapt, change, it's just part of nature. The notion that evolution has to lead to something further out in the strain of my current tastes isn't really correct imo.

Anyway, I can tell you, I had to undergo a pretty big shift in how I listened to music to get a lot of that stuff -- still happening in fact. What can sound too extreme, ugly, brutal, barbaric one day can totally hit the spot only weeks later. This has happened time and time again going thru extreme metal. I mean, only now I'm starting to get into classic DM like Incantation and Immolation, not to mention older, cruder bands like Beherit and Blasphemy. I might have been able to hear them 2 years ago, but I don't think I'd have appreciated them. And it certainly isn't because it's too complex; on the contrary, it's because it's a little like taking pleasure out of a bloody battle scene, and realizing that there's a lot to get out of the carnage.

But I'd rather listen to Metallia and Slayer (and Destruction and Kreator - always hated Sodom) than any black metal record. "Angry and ugly" isn't enough for me, hasn't been since I graduated high school.

Semi xpost with Dominique

Well, that's pretty reductive on my part -- and really, these days, I listen to a lot more stuff that sounds like, say, Sadus, than I do black metal. But I never would have got there if I hadn't started at a place that was angry and ugly, and over time, realizing I could make out riffs and patterns, and see how this music progressed, both within a song, and throughout a movement. I started seeing the difference between all these sub-genres, and started being able to tie threads from Celtic Frost, for example, to modern death and doom metal. To me, that says as much about "evolution" for my listening as any other music I've heard.

So when does the top 100 start?

I don't think metal (or music in general) evolves. Or it does, but evolution is not the steady upward climb to perfection that it is sometimes imagined as, but rather a somewhat random and incoherent sequence of lateral motions. My tolerance for out-dated musical forms is high: I like old-timey country, big band jazz, Chicago blues, baroque and classical, etc. Actually early DM reminds me a lot of Chicago blues, in that both have a fairly limited palette and rather strict formal requirements, which can make the music seem monotonous at first. I'm not really interested in tracing the "evolution" of DM or in figuring out which bands were influential. I just like what sounds good. I think maybe after you've listened to enough of it, your ear starts to notice things, like a particularly good riff, or drum fill, or vocal sound, etc. It gets kind of addictive after a while, and it scratches an itch that other music doesn't.

Framing early extreme metal as a battle scene might well be a good way to get me into it, as might lyric sheets. Oh xp, as might tracing its subtle formalist shifts

well this poll is a chance for you to check out old stuff

116. Orthrelm - OV

when i get mick barr albums in used at the store they are like classical records. they look unplayed.

ilxor review worth reading:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6113-ov/

"Dissection I just don't get. Or, maybe, I do get them, and just don't like them."

try again! and then maybe again. at least to that album. maybe it will hit you. it's really quite an achievement. probably make a top 50 of mine if i had one.

xpost

It gets kind of addictive after a while, and it scratches an itch that other music doesn't.

This.

And I don't think I am very interested in tracing an evolution of metal either, but after a while, I notice similarities that would never have been apparent to me otherwise. And in turn, that opens new doors leading me to stuff I might never have approached if I hadn't just been fire-baptized by whatever I was listening to just prior.

haha scott, I'm sure I will keep trying with Dissection. Clearly I am missing something

you certainly don't need to understand/have knowledge of the past to enjoy something, but it can be fun to learn about the history of any music. in my opinion. it's interesting.

uh, that wasn't directed to any one person.

Loved reading yr drive-by comments on yesterday's results, Dominique. Agree 100% on Clandestine, Scream Bloody Gore and Panzerfaust. Not so much Storm of the Light's Bane, but I suppose imperfection makes us human.

LJ, meanwhile, seems to approach music (making & listening) as a strenuous form of competition. Bigger, faster, weirder, more. From that angle, "evolution" makes perfect sense. Personally, I don't have the energy. I approach music as a form of Doritos.

I threw OV a load of points. Was a big fan of that review at the time, D!

also, did i know that so many people had problems with black metal here? i don't know if i knew that. there are all kinds of black metal albums! so much amazing stuff. with black metal i only really got tired of the one man BM revolution. as a noise music fan, you would think i would have a large tolerance for DIY homemade stuff (or even as a punk fan which i am), but, yeah, it turns out i didn't need a lot of it. it's possible that quality was beside the point, but 95% of the American stuff in that vein is neglible/nonessential. very few Ildjarns running around in the u.s. though there are certainly a few exceptions.

Just to clarify, I don't mean to criticize anyone who does enjoy tracing the history of music's development. In fact I greatly enjoy reading that kind of analysis and admire people who can cogently describe those influences and similarities. Specifically, I've enjoyed Dominique's posts in this thread. I'm just not very good at that sort of thing myself, and in the moment of listening, those considerations tend to not be in the forefront of my mind.

I'm starting the Top 100 soon!

Interesting discussion! I was joking when I called imago a dilettante. People should listen to what they want, but I think you should be willing to listen to something you might not think you'll like, its good to get out of your musical comfort zone. If hadn't done that I'd still be listening solely to Maiden, Priest, Sabbath, etc.

Scott the impression ive had of ilx metal peeps for the past 15 years has been that north americans were less keen on black metal than those in europe (with the odd exceptions) but that has changed over time with younger posters coming to ilx who do like BM

100. Mastodon - Remission (250, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/XeOCBA.jpg

that horse always makes me laff

way too low. The album that got me back into metal. Still, at least its not blood mountain or crack the sky (i like those albums just fine but they arent as awesome as this album)
they were so good live around the time of this and leviathan.

099. The Angelic Process - Weighing Souls With Sand (251, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/AQPL1L.jpg

https://youtu.be/G9ZiU7ahZso

I'm actually wearing my Remission tshirt just now. Shocked only 4 people voted for this.

xp

ohhh great album!

I wonder if any Nadja will place

that's the one mastodon album i really liked. one of the first metal records i ever reviewed too. in the village voice. bad review. badly written. it was a positive review. i'm glad four of you didn't forget that angelic process album. that was a really nice album.

Also im hoping every album by Skepticism will place. Would be most angry with you all if Alloy doesn't place

i voted for both of those

The Nachtmystium was my #4. It's just such a pleasurable, satisfying album, especially for a long drive. Such variety, lots going on, plenty of hooks. Stara Rzeka was my #9 (and was docked a little on grounds of metal content): so obviously great.

I voted for The Angelic Process. I think?

98. Thou - Heathen (254, 5 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/vPf4M0.jpg

https://youtu.be/J9FPhpuNrwg
https://open.spotify.com/album/1KNPeBXROZ71EG0g4zlt8B

I like Thou but didn't vote for it and im amazed at what its finished above

yeah, I know! its been a very weird order, seemingly random.

A lot of the metal thread posters didn't vote I assume?

This is both too low and higher than I expected.

Anyway it rules.

97. Alcest - Le Secret (EP) (255, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/s28r0H.jpg

https://youtu.be/xVzLJqZY3lo
https://open.spotify.com/album/0MdqkprQf1ogZ7HKn46LNQ

It took me longer than some people to realise that "blackgaze" is mostly saccharine shite but I do love me some Alcest.

their best "black metal" release. It was soo good there was little point in trying to repeat it

96. Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta 2: Dialogue with the Stars (257, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/W6pKHQ.jpg

https://youtu.be/PB0nvFgSKqc
https://open.spotify.com/album/1uQxb4GXHy1YWQxWOorBms

BAN sure are good with ridic. long album titles.

Memories of Blut Aus Nord: An Exploration of Title Length and its Correlation to Pretentious Wankery - A Summerative Metastudy

I forget which one of theirs I voted for

seems like I didnt vote for them

frobisher what # you going down to today?

don't know yet. not too far down.