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

Thanks to all who voted. A BIG thanks to MUSICALLY for providing advice and the template. and a BIG thanks to GLENN for tabulating the results. Much appreciated so direct all thanks to them.
Glenn will also be providing more stats during the week.

191 albums were voted for so I shall post a list of the albums 100-51 now and then Monday-Friday I shall post the remainder of the top 50 with any blurbs (if any get sent in) and artwork.
If you want to see the full list I can post it at the end.

Now here is the albums ranked 100-51 for you to check out if you don't know them.

100 Trees - Lights Bane
99 Black Elk - Always a Six, Never a Nine
98 A Storm of Light - And We Wept the Black Ocean Within
97 The Lizards - är-chē-ol’-ō-gy
96 Fuck the Facts - Disgorge Mexico
95 Burst - Lazarus Bird
94 Rose Tattoo - Blood Brothers
93 Mar De Grises - draining the waterheart
92 Gevolt - Sidur
91 In This Moment - The Dream

90 Graveyard - Graveyard
89 Morkobot - Morto
88 Kayo Dot - Blue Lambency Downward
87 In Flames - A Sense of Purpose
86 Aura Noir - Hades Rise
85 Aldebaran - dwellers in twilight
84 Dornenreich - In Luft Geritzt
83 Dir En Grey - Uroboros
82 Candlemass - Lucifer Rising
81 Ayreon - 01011001

80 Pyramids - Pyramids
79 Helrunar - Baldr Okk Iss
78 Tyr - Land
77 Equilibrium - Sagas
76 Samothrace - Lifes Trade
75 Journey To Ixtlan - S/t
74 Septicflesh - Communion
73 Ocrilim - Annwn
72 Death Angel - Killing Season
71 Black Boned Angel - The Endless Coming Into Life

70 Motorhead - Motorizer
69 Girlschool - Legacy
68 Sex/Vid - Communal Living
67 US Christmas - Eat the Low Dogs
66 Helms Alee - Night Terror
65 Cult of Luna - Eternal Kingdom
64 Have A Nice Life - Deathconsciousness
63 Deathspell Omega - Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum
62 Brave - Monuments
61 Jarboe - Mahakali

60 Conifer - Crown Fire
59 Belphegor - Bondage Goat Zombie
58 Trinacria - Travel Now Journey Infinitely
57 Lair of the Minotaur - War Metal Battle Master
56 Cough - Sigillum Luciferi
55 Amen Ra - Mass IIII
54 The Sword - Gods of the Earth
53 Eluveitie - Slania
52 Zebulon Pike - Intransience
51 Racebannon - Acid or Blood

I am extremely fail, I like metal and listen to a fair bit of it but have heard none of those!

I think I'll use this list to check stuff out, Racebannon first I think, noisey punky Locustesque stuff on Southern if I remember correctly?

Well that's the idea. If you don't know the albums then check them out since some ilxors liked them enough to bother voting for them.

That's the Racebannon, except they were on Secretly Canadian for most of the time.

I thought it was funny that Girlschool finished one place ahead of Motorhead.

Hahahhahh

No 50
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/7/9/9/179995.jpg
Gnaw Their Tongues - An Epiphanic Vomiting of Blood

Any chance of getting # of votes/points for each? I'm assuming most of these were only picked by one voter?

it received 50 votes. It's actually a tie with the next entry (but im still awaiting a blurb for that from someone)

How many points does a no 1 ranked album get? and a number 2 and so forth?

A no1 ranked album received 25 points. No 2 received 24 points. and so on.

Assuming the math is correct, everything higher than 90th place (and maybe a couple spots below that) had to be named by more than one voter. (I know that, because my #1 finished 94th, and I also voted for #90, which means it had to have received at least one other vote from somebody else to beat my #1.)

I am happy to learn, also, that I wasn't the only person to vote for Helrunar, Ayreon, Dornenreich, or Girlschool (all of which also beat my #1.)

So how did you guys break ties?

For 100-51 we didn't. Alphabetical order I'm afraid. Didn't have enough time for that and didn't think anyone would care for the smaller ranked albums.
For 50-1 any ties will just see a joint placing UNLESS it received a no1 vote(s). The album with most no1 votes gets preference.

no 50 (Tied)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CnhfmUHWbrM/SLsRC66Au4I/AAAAAAAAAg0/MO7mP5ia16Q/s320/Blue+Sabbath+Front.jpg
Blue Sabbath Black Cheer - Untitled (Gnarled Forest) 50 points.

The people who make this music are absolutely KRAZY in the best way possible. This is Haunted House music in the extreme, with a lot of ghosts attached. I think it's fantastic and I can't think of a single thing to compare it to. These people are so tuned into THE GOTH that they are literally ON THE OTHER SIDE OF IT. Very scary 3 AM music. Play at your own risk. --- Bimble

Graveyard and In This Moment, tied on 27 points, are the last multi-voter albums before the one-voter albums start. There are a few 2-voter albums below that, but the lowest-ranked 3-voter album is Trees, which is actually in a tie for 97th.

Xhuxk I also voted for Helrunar, Dornenreich, and Ayreon. Didn't hear Girlschool though.

I won't post any stats from which you could guess the winners yet, but I think it's safe to mention that I have a ranking of the 30 voters by centricity, and Xhuxk is last.

Of the 190 albums that got at least one vote, 79 of them got only one vote. 38 more got only 2 votes, and 20 more got only 3.

15 of the 30 voters filled up all 25 slots, 15 didn't. There were 8 voters who didn't have anything for which they were the only voter. 6 more voters had only 1 album nobody else voted for, and 8 more had only 2. At the other extreme, one voter (i.e. Xhuxk) had 15 of 25 albums that nobody else mentioned, and another voter had 13.

Are you going to tell us who had what?

No 48
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/0/8/7/208724.jpg
Bison B.C. - Quiet Earth (Metal blade) 52 Points

Are the album pics showing for everyone?

Don't paste pics from Rateyourmusic, they never show.

I'll post a bunch more voter stats after Pfunk finishes his rollout!

No 47
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/9/3/6/193646.jpg
Withered - Folie Circulaire (Prosthetic Records) 54 points

47 (tied)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/8/9/8/189886.jpg
Nadja - Desire In Uneasiness (Crucial Blast) 54 points

45 (tied)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/0/4/9/204927.jpg
Metallica - Death Magnetic (Warner Bros) 55 points

HAW! - Roxymuzak

45 (tied)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/7/4/6/174602.jpg
Unearthly Trance - Electrocution (Relapse) 55 points.

Kicks the shit out of Death Magnetic - pfunkboy

43
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/0/9/5/209539.jpg
Blood Ceremony - Blood Ceremony (Rise Above) 59 points

hey it's one of the like four albums i heard from the original list!

HI BLOOD CEREMONY ALBUM! HIIIIIIII!!!!

You like it?

Anyone got any comments on the albums listed so far? Someone must have, people voted for them!

My comment is that Uroboros (Dir En Grey) is the only record I own that GF absolutely cannot abide, a record that makes her question my ability to differentiate between "interesting" oddity and intolerable bullshit. This is by no means a defense of Dir En Grey. I feel the same way, that it represents the point at which contenderizer and "any semblance of good taste" finally part ways (not that they were ever really on good terms in the first place).

This is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra of heavy metal. Crazy technical death-prog + Patton-esque vocal gymnastics + boatloads of toxic arena pomp = pyramid of horrors. But I love it. The wacky goblin shit makes me laugh, and helps the maudlin emo crooner gak go down smooth, and the production is like a mad doctor's lab in an old horror flick, every sound a neat little trick of some sort or another. It's been ages since I had a real guilty pleasure, a record I was truly embarassed by my affection for, but if I've ever had one, this is it.

oh btw are the images working now?

They are for me.

They worked before and still do.

i dont have any blurbs for the top 50 as of yet, but i will say a few things - the Zebulon Pike record is a pretty astonishing accomplishment, heavy, droning at times and speedy at others, meticulously arranged and rehearsed. looooong long instrumental songs, but completely captivating. (point of disclosure - the new bass player is a good friend of mine, but this really isn't nepotism, it is a crushingly original great record).

My other nod has to go to Belphegor who just plain deliver the goods without any really out there attempts at anything, but they do it so well that you cant fault anything about it. big mean ugly brutal metal, and although i didnt give it my number one spot, it might be the album i listened to more than any other this year.

xpost: oh i meant the RYM image links i replaced. so thats good news then.

42
http://www.reviewbusters.net/images/music/disfear_live_the_storm_cover.jpg
Disfear - Live the Storm (Relapse) 60 points

I'm looking forward to the reaction to the no 41 album

well now so am i

Obviously you aren't looking forward to it THAT much!

I'm building suspense so that you can all share a greater sense of disappointment

And I can bump the thread and you all rush to see no 41.

No 41
http://cdn.stereogum.com/img/thumbnails/posts/marnie_stern-this_is_it-album_art.jpg
Marnie Stern - This Is It And I Am It And You Are It (Kill Rock Stars) 61 points

uh

http://www.dalegunner.com/images/bloggies/deathtofalsemetal.gif

john justen approves or disapproves?

It shows how open-minded ilx metal fans are.

disapproves. strenuously.

all due respect but wow do i not even slightly get how that sort of placement is possible.

lets see how many voted for it..

lets see how many who voted for it..

yeah, really stoked for that.

i got an email saying the harvey milk vinyl shipped.

ok that tour makes me feel better about skipping Torche when they came through town (unless they dont come through here, in which case i will be doubly stupid i guess)

i heard they skipped your town

see now thats just mean

:(

Mastodan aren't metal anymore--they're rock n roll, man, vanilla division.

http://www.kyrieachatespekingese.com/Aurthur%20on%20the%20run_small.JPG

I got the Torche Meanderthal demos tape. I cant rip tapes though, sorry.
Anyone got any faves of 2009? I think the YOB album could be a frontrunner for me.

ok there is now going to be a repress
http://www.bluecollardistro.com/hydrahead/product_info.php?products_id=3498&cPath=4_255&store=

Before TORCHE were recording their masterpiece of an album, Meanderthal, they were completely unorganized and quickly trying to scramble for material to put the album together. This recording, engineered by Torche's own Jonathan Nunez, documents the band pre-Meanderthal showcasing seven rougher, rawer, heavier and slightly different versions of tracks later recorded at God City with Kurt Ballou. An essential for any serious Torche fan... and the unserious ones too."
2nd pressing: Limited to 400 copies.

Track Listing:

1. Triumph Of Venus
2. Grenades
3. Pirhana
4. Speed Of The Nail
5. Sandstorm
6. Healer
7. Across The Shields

fyi, the robotic empire store had that torche demos cs for five bucks a few weeks ago. I guess it was the original pressing? ordered mine there but it still hasn't come yet so I can't say for sure.

imo, eight bucks is a little pricey for what this. plus, hydrahead charges ripoff prices for shipping!

Yeah I want to get this (and the Wold tape on the same label actually) but the price is making me halt. If someone gets it in the UK (tho the person I was banking said prolly not) it'll be four quid tops most likely

I'm not sure what pressing it was but I got the original a month ago.

i would bet the tape would be £8 min in the UK.

On a vaguely related note, got the new Southern Lord reissue of Thou's 'Tyrant' LP - I say related cos it was £8.50 from the distro I grabbed it from and £16 at my local indie emporium (tho I felt like I was telling teacher when I mentioned this to dude). Thou don't get enough props on here

xp I'm basing that on getting the tape ish of 'Cthonic Rites' by Moss, on the same label, for possibly as little as £3 from a distro here

the only metal albums on my best of '09 are Buried Inside, Cattle Decapitation, Defeatist & Blut Aus Nord and I don't expect the Buried inside to make the cut

very boring year for metal imo

J0hn - weren't you talking up the Bloody Panda a few months ago? (I don't feel like scanning the thread to check)

It finally sees release next month so the rest of us will get to hear it. I have high hopes.

oh that's right is that out? totally not bein' that guy it's just that I got to hear it really early, sometime late last year, and it slips my mind. but yeah it's great, will make my overall '09 list easy.

Gnaw is probably my favourite metal-related release of 09 but not actually that metal so ehhhhh. New Nachtmystium EP is good I think. Cobalt and L'acephale (see Gnaw - black metal band not kicking out a lot of BM) are good. Loads of stuff I've not heard obv

and there's a new havohej coming, that could be good

for the most part though practically everything is like zzzzzzzzzz this shit is giving stagnation a bad name

I really like the new Yob and Minsk albums.

Bloody Panda tour dates (great live band, see 'em if you can):

July 21 Bethlehem, PA @ Burners
July 22 Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie (w/Woe)
July 23 Washington, DC @ The Red And The Black (w/Salome)
July 24 Richmond, VA @ Nara Sushi (w/Dysrhythmia)
July 25 Wilmington, NC @ Soapbox (w/Dark Castle)
July 27 Savannah, GA @ The Wormhole
July 28 Gainesville, FL @ The Atlantic
July 30 Miami, FL @ Goo (w/Dark Castle & Maruta)
July 31 TBA (w/Dark Castle)
Aug 1 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn (w/Dark Castle & Withered)
Aug 2 New Orleans, LA @ Hi Ho Lounge
Aug 3 Baton Rouge, LA @ Lacey’s House (w/Thou)
Aug 5 Little Rock, AR @ Downtown Music (w/Zucura)
Aug 6 Nashville, TN @ The End
Aug 7 Indianapolis, IN @ Casa Del Kotex (w/Black Arrows Of Filth And Impurity)
Aug 8 Chicago, IL @ White Star Bar (w/Giant Squid, Grayceon, Lord Mantis)
Aug 9 Columbus, OH @ The Summit (w/Lord Mantis)
Aug 10 Pittsburgh, PA @ Howler's (w/Giant Squid, Grayceon)
Aug 12 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place
Aug 13 Toronto, ON @ Wreck Room
Aug 14 Montreal, QC @ Katacombes
Aug 15 Portland, ME @ New Systems Laundary (w/Ocean)
Aug 16 Boston, MA @ Church
Aug 18 TBA
Aug 19 TBA
Aug 20 Baltimore, MD @ Talking Head
Aug 21 Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool

the blut aus nord is still (BY FAR) the best metal record I've heard this year. so much stronger than TWWTG that it's not even funny.

and yeah, I'd agree, not too many other standouts this year.

thou are pretty cool too, yeah. I like that they host high quality mp3s of everything they put out + upcoming stuff + unreleased stuff on their site:

http://noladiy.org/mp3/thou/

More Thou vinyl due out soon I think

yeah, seems like it. I think that they have a bunch of splits due soon.

have you heard the sabbath covers lp? (through the empires of eternal void) have to say, I was a little disappointed. they don't really vary up the material much at all and what's up with 3/4 of the material coming from master of reality? a little lame considering sabbath have such a deep back catalog.

no, not heard about it.

It was hella limited but you might still find copies. It's not Thou's crowning glory exactly but I enjoyed it fine enough

I have never bought any Thou because theres so much and it would cost me a fortune to get it all. Money is tight.

yeah, there is a bunch. but in general, I've found thou stuff to be reasonably priced. they don't gouge like some bands do, anyway. maybe bc they're vegan punx.

anyway, it's cool that they have mp3s of their whole catalog right up on their site. respect.

there's a split coming with Salome that I will get.

tbh i'm glad some of you who pay attention closer than i do are feelin the "boring year" thing. i like the blut au nord but haven't listened to it much, and the kylesa album is really good. i guess i will check out yob too, but that's about all i've been really into from 09.

I haven't found it a boring year at all

Baroness,Orthodox,Om will be joining Mastodon in this years top ten I think.
If we run a metal poll at the end of the year that is -- depends on the interest.

The Baroness isn't a million miles away from Torche (neither was the last album mind you)

shhh

lol ?!

you will like it, hoos

sam here's the full list for your perusal
ILX METAL ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2008 RESULTS (NOW COUNTING DOWN THE TOP TEN, BTW)

Going down the list till I got to something on Spotify I hit Opeth. As someone completely ignorant of this, I assume band, what do I try o Kerr?

I dunno, never cared for Opeth. LJ is a fan I think.

LJ is no more though :(

Went with Minnie Riperton instead. Metal can wait, I'm only young.

When should we open nominations for the 2009 poll?

Not much longer to go in the year, are there any big releases to come?

There's a new Mudvayne album three days before Christmas. That's about all I know about.

I suspect that that isn't going to get a ton of votes.

I was thinking about starting the voting on jan 1st. So how long do you want for a nominations process?

A couple weeks should suffice. Maybe start nominations around December 15 or so?