~~~ 15 YEARS OF ILM POLL!!! ~~~ (Metal & Heavy Rock [+ related sub-genres] Edition) RESULTS & DISCUSSION THREAD

I saw Boris a decade ago and they did this album as an encore. It was amazing!

The whole album?

yeah, its one track

Though it was edited to like a 40 minute version

One of the best things I've seen and towered over everything before it.

I remember my aoty for 01 was split between Andrew WK and Fred Frith.

You would have creamed yourself if they had released a split album

56 Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs 2089 Points, 9 Votes
http://i66.tinypic.com/aaip9h.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/5rTraJLL8KfQGoy1PinqpA
spotify:album:5rTraJLL8KfQGoy1PinqpA

Pretty sure I voted for this

Soul sisters?

Oh, it's a Neige project. Is it more metal than the later Alcest stuff?

No

55 Boris - Akuma no Uta 2092.6 Points, 10 Votes
http://i67.tinypic.com/20rl838.jpg
https://youtu.be/5t_5MEME6UU

whoops, missed the rollout today but I did read up and apparently this was the "very ilm" portion of the results anyway -- all that I voted for was DSO, Darkspace, Devin, and Blut aus Nord. I think I ended up knocking Earth from my ballot but those two that placed were the two I had.

And Andrew WK is an odd one. He got famous making party music but also collaborates with Current 93 and name drops Thomas Ligotti in interviews.

54 Opeth - Blackwater Park 2103 Points, 12 Votes
http://i67.tinypic.com/30dl7qf.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/3CCkWrqhWcKU7qXK3ooEEo
spotify:album:3CCkWrqhWcKU7qXK3ooEEo

Oh, splendid. Love BWP. My first "extreme" metal show was their tour for that album, and it was probably the most magical (sober) musical experience I'd had. They opened with "Advent." It was unreal.

Also:

"You can fully embrace Ligotti’s view of the world, which is that it’s just terrifying. The overwhelming amount of unknowable aspects of reality is crushing and debilitating and terrifying. Everything is falling apart and futile and even with the efforts we make we’re struggling to ignore the fact that there’s this huge windy void of nothingness and mystery that we can never fully comprehend. And if we could it would destroy us. I came away with it in the end even with this sense that we can’t understand and it’s crushing, it’s also very liberating. It gives you a freedom as well because if it is meaningless than I can have fun all day. It’s freeing and crushing at the same time."

I voted for two other Opeth albums but this is great too, has some really haunting acoustic bits

53 Om - Advaitic Songs 2112.1 Points, 10 Votes
http://i63.tinypic.com/6e2m95.jpg
https://youtu.be/ts3YWVFUnvU

If I'm feeling patient one day I guess I'll try those Boris albums again.

I'm surprised Amesoeurs is so high, honestly, it's not a bad record but it's a complete fookin' mess.

Black Water Park: classic classic classic. It's still a bit flabby in parts but it's probably their most cohesive album.

The Drapery Falls was a key breakthrough in my journey into metal

blackwater park is super classic, was my gateway album for extreme metal and "Harvest" is my favorite non-metal song by a metal band ever. was disappointing when they made a whole album of "Harvest"s and none of them were quite as good as the original

Thinking on it I reckon Opeth were influential for me getting into black/death metal since before then I only listened to post-metal and other "hipster" stuff like Mastodon metal-wise

then they dumped black/death metal?

52 SubRosa - More Constant Than the Gods 2113.5 Points, 14 Votes
http://i66.tinypic.com/2ccq7op.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/62sOSIi6JDhUeOkXXzeNoq
spotify:album:62sOSIi6JDhUeOkXXzeNoq

xp Obvs not, but this was in the Hydrahead years before WitTR started getting Pitchfork traction and stuff. I was slightly ahead of the curve for once in my life.

Unless I'm remembering my timeline wrong.

Probably am.

SubRosa are a decent band with a good sound but they just don't do a deal for me for some reason.

mastodon circa blood mountain was the first time i remember a metal band getting a lot of indie mag press

name of this one reminding me that rose kemp's 'the golden shroud' wasn't nominated, and a shame too coz i'd have given it loads of points. anyway, back to it

that subrosa record is excellent but it's way too high. their new one's better anyway

51 Nachtmystium - Instinct: Decay 2124 Points, 9 Votes
http://i66.tinypic.com/287j23c.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/2SPmEMpxwOPv0NYgBFEovA
spotify:album:2SPmEMpxwOPv0NYgBFEovA

Despite everything to do with the guy behind it, that's really one of the best USBM albums of all time. Never really got into anything before or after it though.

RECAP 300- 51

300 Clutch - Blast Tyrant 558 3
299 Enslaved - Ruun 559 4 0
298 Comets on Fire - Comets on Fire 560 3 0
297 Pyramids - A Northern Meadow 560 4 0
296 Satan - Atom By Atom 562 3 0
295 Xasthur - To Violate The Oblivious 564 4 0
294 Nightwish - Wishmaster 567.1666667 5 0
293 Panopticon - Roads to the North 572 3 0
292 Melvins - A Senile Animal 572.6666667 5 0
291 Fantômas - The Director's Cut 577.6666667 5 0

289 Vektor - Outer Isolation 580 3 0
289 maudlin of the Well - Bath 580 3 0
288 Horseback - The Invisible Mountain 581.5 4 0
287 Slipknot - Iowa 582 4 0
286 High on Fire - Death Is This Communion 583.1666667 5 0
285 Devil - Time to Repent 584.1162791 4 0
284 Glaciation - Sur les falaises de marbre 586 4 0
283 Neurosis - Given To The Rising 586 5 0
282 Have A Nice Life - Deathconsciousness 590.5 4 0
281 Domains - Sinister Ceremonies 592 2 1
280 Melechesh - Sphynx 595.6666667 5 0

279 Cough - Ritual Abuse 596 3 0
278 Atlantean Kodex - The White Goddess 599 3 0
277 Sunn 0))) - White 1 599.6666667 3 0
276 Peste Noire - Ballade Cuntre Lo Anemi Francor 602 3 0
275 Primordial - Redemption At The Puritan's Hand 603.6666667 3 0
274 Jamie Saft - Black Shabbis 605.5 3 0
273 Obliteration - Black Death Horizon 608 4 0
272 Swans - To Be Kind 613.6666667 4 0
271 Toxic Holocaust - Hell on Earth 614 4 0
270 Devin Townsend - Addicted 615.6666667 3 0

269 Enslaved - Mardraum - Beyond the Within 629 4 0
267 Blut aus Nord - The Work Which Transforms God 630 3 1
267 Kayo Dot - Choirs of the Eye 630 3 1
266 Sunn 0))) - Flight Of The Behemoth 632 3 0
265 Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - La Novia 633 4 0
264 Metallica - St. Anger 634 3 0
263 Cloud Rat - Qliphoth 635.6666667 4 0
261 Ne Obliviscaris - The Aurora Veil 638 3 0
261 Panopticon - Kentucky 638 3 0
260 Deafheaven - New Bermuda 649 4 0

259 Summoning - Oath Bound 650 3 0
258 Pallbearer - Sorrow and Extinction 652 4 0
257 Thumpermonkey - Sleep Furiously 656 3 0
256 Nachtmystium - Addicts: Black Meddle Part 2 656.1162791 4 0
255 Sarpanitum - Blessed Be My Brothers 659.6666667 5 0
254 Oneida - Rated O 664.1162791 4 0
253 Skepticism - Farmakon 665 4 0
252 Vastum - Patricidal Lust 667.6666667 4 0
251 Raventale - After 675 4 0
250 Gojira - The Way of All Flesh 680 5 0

249 Darkspace - Dark Space I 686.5 5 0
248 EyeHateGod - Confederacy of Ruined Lives 687.6666667 5 0
247 Blood Ceremony - Living With The Ancients 690 4 0
246 Satan - Life Sentence 692 5 0
245 Stargazer - A Great Work of Ages 693.6666667 5 0
243 Mournful Congregation - Book Of Kings 697 4 0
243 Sunn 0))) - ØØ Void 697 4 0
242 Blut Aus Nord - 777 - Cosmosophy 698 4 0
241 Sannhet - Revisionist 701 5 0
240 Mastodon - Blood Mountain 703.6666667 5 0

239 Yob - Elaborations of Carbon 707.1666667 4 0
238 The Darkness - Permission To Land 708 3 1
237 Drudkh - Blood In Our Wells 712 5 0
236 Krallice - Ygg Hurr 712.3333333 7 0
235 Enslaved - Isa 713 5 0
234 Nails - Abandon All Life 714 5 0
233 KEN Mode - Success 716 4 0
232 Electric Wizard - Let Us Prey 717.2829457 5 0
231 Babymetal - Babymetal 718 3 0
230 Gojira - From Mars to Sirius 723 5 0

229 Nokturnal Mortum - The Voice Of Steel 736 3 1
228 Motörhead - Inferno 737.1666667 5 0
227 Opeth - Watershed 739.6666667 6 0
226 Menace Ruine - Venus Armata 742.6666667 6 0
225 Turbonegro - Scandinavian Leather 743.7829457 5 0
224 Tribulation - The Children of the Night 748 4 0
223 Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue 751.6666667 4 0
222 Pig Destroyer - Prowler in the Yard 753.6666667 4 0
221 Inquisition - Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm 759.6666667 6 0
220 Spectral Lore - III 763.6666667 4 0

219 Deathspell Omega - Paracletus 767.6666667 6 0
218 Baroness - Purple 771.1666667 7 0
217 Sigh - Imaginary Sonicscape 773.6666667 7 0
216 Opeth - Ghost Reveries 779.6666667 6 0
215 Yob - The Illusion of Motion 787.1666667 4 0
214 Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss 790.8333333 6 0
213 Fall Out Boy - Folie a Deux 796 3 0
212 Asva - Presences of Absences 805.6666667 4 0
211 My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge 805.6666667 5 0
210 Zu - Carboniferous 822.1666667 6 0

209 Yellow Swans - Going Places 822.4146341 4 0
208 Murmuüre - Murmuüre 828.6666667 6 0
207 Jess and the Ancient Ones - Jess and the Ancient Ones 835.5 5 0
206 Cultes des Ghoules - Henbane 842 4 0
205 Gris - À l'âme enflammée, l'âme constellée... 844 5 0
204 Oneida - Secret Wars 845.1162791 5 0
203 Om - Pilgrimage 849.7829457 7 0
202 Pig Destroyer - Terrifyer 851.6666667 5 0
201 Summoning - Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame 853.6666667 5 0
200 Orphaned Land - Mabool 856 4 1

199 Liturgy - The Ark Work 857 5 0
198 Solstafir - Otta 858.6666667 5 0
197 Shape of Despair - Shades Of... 862 4 0
196 Krallice - Years Past Matter 864.6666667 5 0
195 Yob - Atma 871.1666667 6 0
194 Portal - Vexovoid 872 8 0
193 asg - blood drive 873.6666667 5 0
192 Electric Wizard - Time To Die 874.7829457 7 0
191 Mastodon - The Hunter 875.6666667 5 0
190 mclusky - mclusky Do Dallas 901.3333333 7 0

189 In Solitude - The World. The Flesh. The Devil 903.7829457 6 0
188 Esoteric - Subconscious Dissolution Into the Continuum 905 4 1
187 Xasthur - Subliminal Genocide 914 5 0
186 Morbus Chron - Sweven 926.6666667 7 0
185 Alcest - Alcest - Les Voyages de l'Ame 938 4 0
184 Mgla - Exercises In Futility 943.3333333 6 0
183 Oceansize - Everyone Into Position 944 4 0
182 Disma - Towards The Megalith 971.6666667 5 0
181 Jute Gyte - Isolation 975.1666667 6 0
180 Neurosis - The Eye Of Every Storm 981.6666667 6 0

179 A Forest of Stars - Beware the Sword You Cannot See 988 5 0
178 Les Discrets - Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées 991.1162791 6 0
177 Morbid Angel - Gateways to Annihilation 991.6666667 7 0
176 Liturgy - Aesthetica 999.6666667 7 0
175 Mastery - VALIS 1002 7 0
174 The Lord Weird Slough Feg - Traveller 1002.5 7 0
173 Thy Catafalque - Rengeteg 1006 5 0
172 Zombi - Spirit Animal 1009.616279 7 0
171 Ulver - Blood Inside 1019.782946 5 1
170 Virus - The Black Flux 1027.666667 7 0

169 Cynic - Traced In Air 1027.666667 7 1
168 Baroness - Yellow & Green 1029.666667 5 0
167 Kylesa - Static Tensions 1033.616279 7 0
166 Shellac - 1000 Hurts 1033.666667 6 0
165 The Goslings - Between The Dead 1033.666667 5 0
164 Mayhem - Ordo ad chao 1035 6 1
163 Shape Of Despair - Monotony Fields 1040.666667 6 0
162 Mournful Congregation - The June Frost 1063 6 0
161 Drudkh - Autumn Aurora 1077.414634 7 0
160 Tool - 10000 Days 1079.666667 6 0

159 Reverend Bizarre - II - Crush The Insects 1080.116279 6 0
158 Psychic Paramount - II 1088 7 0
157 Deftones - White Pony 1094 6 0
156 Darkspace - Dark Space II 1094.5 8 0
155 Wolves in the Throne Room - Celestial Lineage 1096 6 0
154 Oranssi Pazuzu - Valionielu 1108.414634 9 0
153 Solstafir - Svartir Sandar 1111 6 0
152 Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - The Night Creeper 1117.616279 7 0
151 Beastmilk - Climax 1119.5 6 0

150 Marnie Stern - Marnie Stern 1122 6 0
149 Immortal - Sons Of Northern Darkness 1128.666667 7 0
148 Esoteric - Paragon Of Dissonance 1135 7 0
147 Fen - Epoch 1146 7 0
146 Wolves in the Throne Room - Diadem of 12 Stars 1146.666667 9 0
145 Slough Feg - Hardworlder 1150.5 7 0
144 Enslaved - Below the Lights 1160.666667 8 0
143 Wolves in the Throne Room - Two Hunters 1181 8 0
142 Jesu - Conqueror 1183 7 0
141 Agrypnie - 16[485] 1190 5 0
140 Christian Mistress - Agony and Opium 1195.5 6 0

139 Gridlink - Longhena 1197.666667 7 1
138 Horrendous - Anareta 1201.333333 8 0
137 The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute 1207.666667 6 0
136 Boris - Dronevil 1237.081301 7 0
135 Boris - Pink 1240 9 0
134 Altar of Plagues - Teethed Glory and Injury 1241.081301 8 2
133 Reverend Bizarre - In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend 1256.666667 7 1
132 Oneida - Each One Teach One 1260.782946 8 0
131 Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - Mind Control 1269.282946 9 0
130 Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R 1273.449612 10 1

129 The Blood Brothers - ...Burn, Piano, Island, Burn 1273.666667 7 0
128 Envy - All the Footprints You've Ever Left And Fear Expecting Ahead 1279.666667 8 0
127 The Angelic Process - Weighing Souls With Sand 1280.333333 8 1
126 Arckanum - ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ 1286 6 0
125 Jute Gyte - Vast Chains 1293.166667 7 1
124 Absu - Absu 1301.166667 7 0
123 Harvey Milk - Life The Best Game In Town 1302.166667 9 0
122 Harvey Milk - A Small Turn Of Human Kindness 1304.166667 10 0
121 Melt Banana - Fetch 1316.116279 9 0

120 Thantifaxath - Sacred White Noise 1328 7 0
119 Absu - Abzu 1331.166667 7 0
118 Witchcraft - Witchcraft 1337.116279 8 0
117 Sunn 0))) - The GrimmRobe Demos 1342 6 0
116 Immolation - Close to A World Below 1343.666667 7 1
115 The Goslings - Occasion 1345.666667 6 0
114 Torche - Torche 1345.782946 8 0
113 Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal 1364 7 0
112 Electric Wizard - Witchcult Today 1365.282946 9 0
111 Ulver - Shadows Of The Sun 1371.782946 8 0
110 Swans - The Seer 1372 6 0

109 Blues Pills - Blues Pills 1373.666667 7 0
108 Electric Wizard - Black Masses 1374.782946 10 0
107 Panopticon - Autumn Eternal 1378.666667 8 0
106 Baroness - Blue Record 1403.166667 9 0
105 Pagan Altar - Mythical & Magical 1411 7 0
104 Om - Variations On A Theme 1423.449612 8 0
103 The Lord Weird Slough Feg - Down Among the Deadmen 1433.5 7 0
102 Jute Gyte - Ressentiment 1440.833333 10 0
101 Cave In - Jupiter 1443.666667 7 0
100 Bölzer - Aura 1453 8 0

99 Darkspace - Dark Space IIII 1456.166667 8 1
98 The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium 1489.333333 8 1
97 40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room 1501.666667 7 0
96 High on Fire - Surrounded by Thieves 1508.166667 8 0
95 Triptykon - Eparistera Daimones 1510.666667 9 0
94 Converge - Axe To Fall 1511.833333 10 0
93 Baroness - Red Album 1531.5 8 0
92 Jute Gyte - Discontinuities 1535.166667 10 0
91 Deathspell Omega - FAS - Ite, Maledicti, in ignem Aeternum 1549 10 0
90 Yob - The Unreal Never Lived 1585.166667 7 0

89 Saint Vitus - LILLIE: F-65 1599.782946 7 0
88 Yob - Clearing The Path To Ascend 1639.166667 10 0
87 Hammers of Misfortune - 17th Street 1645.782946 11 1
86 Baroness - First & Second 1659.5 7 1
85 Dodheimsgard - A Umbra Omega 1667.666667 8 0
84 Torche - Meanderthal 1668.782946 12 0
83 Devin Townsend - Terria 1675.333333 9 0
82 Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower 1688 8 0
81 Negură Bunget - Om 1689.666667 11 0
80 Pantheïst - Pantheist 1698 7 0

79 Corrupted - Garten Der Unbewusstheit 1717.5 11 1
78 Ludicra - The Tenant 1722.666667 9 0
77 Thy Catafalque - Sgùrr 1727 9 0
76 Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull 1728 10 0
75 The Gates of Slumber - The Wretch 1751.666667 7 0
74 Om - Conference of the Birds 1771.116279 10 0
73 Agalloch - The Serpent Of The Sphere 1772.5 9 0
72 Neurosis - A Sun That Never Sets 1776 11 0
71 Harvey Milk - Special Wishes 1791.782946 9 0
70 Myrkur - M 1799.616279 11 0

69 Primordial - To the Nameless Dead 1811.666667 9 0
68 At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command 1853.666667 10 0
67 Darkspace - Dark Space III 1894.5 13 0
66 Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind 1903.833333 12 0
65 Earth - Hex; Or Printing In The Infernal Method 1916.116279 9 0
64 Scott Walker & Sunn 0))) - Soused 1917.666667 9 0
63 Blut aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With the Stars 1927 10 0
62 Andrew WK - I Get Wet 1954.081301 10 0
61 Yob - The Great Cessation 1969.166667 12 0
60 5ive - Hesperus 1976 8 0

59 High on Fire - Blessed Black Wings 1989.833333 10 0
58 Elder - Lore 2053.666667 13 0
57 Boris - Flood 2067.666667 10 0
56 Ameseours - Ameseours 2089 9 0
55 Boris - Akuma no Uta 2092.666667 10 0
54 Opeth - Blackwater Park 2103 12 0
53 Om - Advaitic Songs 2112.116279 10 0
52 SubRosa - More Constant Than the Gods 2113.530913 14 0
51 Nachtmystium - Instinct: Decay 2124 9 0

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spotify:album:2SPmEMpxwOPv0NYgBFEovA

oh and that Scott O))) album is great, although I think of it more as a Scott Walker album than a metal album or a Sunn O))) album. It's like Walker using Sunn O))) as an instrument.

Gonna listen to Instinct:Decay next, I've heard good things about Judd's music but bad things about Judd's business sense so I've never bought anything of his. Although when I saw Sunn O))) on the Black One tour I bought a Xasthur t-shirt from Judd, and he seemed nice.

Heyyyy Blessed Black Wings! My #4! As of right now, it's still my favorite album from a very good year!

Also, I haven't connected with a ton of Boris, but Flood is eternally THE SHIT

Opeth - Blackwater Park

Glad to see this place. Like a lot of people I guess this was a gateway album for me. I think it was my first album with cookie monster vocals.

enjoying the rollout. Didn't have a ton to comment on today, but keeping fingers inverted-crossed for a crusty black/thrash surge tomorrow. 100-51 on my ballot were Bolzer, Darkspace, Dodheimsgard, Yob

Bummed that we're probably not gonna see any Fushitsusha but it's to be expected I guess

Digging this list so far. Lots of stuff I love and a few I'm excited to check out. Never listened to Amesoeurs, 5ive, The Goslings or Cynic before this but damn glad am now.

Still holding out for Toxicity. Not sure how much ILM cares about it but nominating/voting in this had me revisiting it and would love to see it place top 50.

this is fucking garbage

enchanté

Instinct:Decay is some kind of crazy psychedelic hybrid of black metal and post-punk, with some occasional 80s rock/metal/prog rumblings (I wonder if that was Chris Black's involvement), plus it has ebow all over it for extra spaciness. It's at that perfect point in Nachtmystium's discography between the uglier earlier stuff and the wandering Floydian melo-psych of the Black Meddle albums (whose novelty wore off quick, for me anyway). There's so much cool shit happening in that perfect poison fog of a production job.

I admit to losing track of American black metal in the latter half of the 2000s; between the Cascadian stuff and the Americana stuff like Cobalt or Panopticon, it just felt less and less supernatural, and the creepy, ghostly vibe is what drew me to the genre in the first place.

The Scott O))) album was a bit of a let down for me. It felt as if both acts were holding their breath a little, and consequently neither really gave of themselves in any full, meaningful way. Maybe I need to listen again.

Note to self: listen to those Boris records again (they've never stuck with me); go back to Harvey Milk.

enjoying tyhis list, thanks for the run-down, it has reminded me how many great metal records I have discovered via ILM. It's skewing a bit art/prog/weird, I'm expecting some of the big doom records to place in the top 50. "In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend" would have got some points from me!

It's skewing a bit art/prog/weird
Yeah I'm not really expecting crowdpleasing stuff like Biffy Clyro, Bring Me The Horizon, Trivium, Paramore, Disturbed, Sabaton, Moonsorrow or Amon Amarth anywhere near the top.

I just did a search for 'Opeth' in my media library and look what I found:

Electric Warrior - Dopethrone

Argh, WIZARD of course!

The remaining letters are Drone! WHAT COULD THIS MEAN

The technical dexterity and songwriting of Opeth, hidden in a massive, doomish wall of drone