THE ILM METAL POLL 2011 RESULTS (All lurkers/non metalheads welcome to join in!)

seems stupid to me to only have 2 promo tracks up. Noone is going to buy an album based on hearing 2 tracks anymore

don't have Spotify at work, but it might be a track length thing? What do people think about the record?

no, its marked down as a 'Snippet promo version'

not available in the US either

TIE
117. Machine Head - Unto the Locust (248 Points, 7 Votes)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VEl8HTceqkw/TqAorEN_RoI/AAAAAAAAFPE/7gRoY2ISHsg/s400/machine+head+unto+the+locust.jpg
Spotify
http://www.last.fm/music/Machine+Head

Machine Head is an American metal band, formed in 1992 in Oakland, California. Founded by former Vio-Lence guitarist Robert Flynn and Adam Duce, and has only had 3 personnel changes since its inception. The current lineup of the band comprises of Robb Flynn (vocals, guitar), Adam Duce (bass), Phil Demmel (guitar), and Dave McClain (drums). Machine Head is one of the pioneering bands in the New Wave of American Bandwagon Jumping Heavy Metal.

117. Woods of Desolation - Torn Beyond Reason (248 Points, 7 Votes)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SNSmwiHmkfc/Tay0ntW-n0I/AAAAAAAAHyQ/W9TNs4mXoKQ/s1600/Untitled+1+%25281%2529.jpg
Spotify
http://www.last.fm/music/Woods+of+Desolation

Depressive black metal

I thought that Machine Head record would have done better. I guess no one stans for them round these parts though.

I really want to check that Machine Head album out actually. Thanks for the reminder.

Oh, and I totally think top 3 will be Uncle Acid, Liturgy, and YOB though I won't speculate what order it will be

Mastodon have a top 3 shout IMO.

TIE
115. Cruachan - Blood on the Black Robe (254 Points, 8 Votes)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6Kd_iYJHCVY/TbFq1mP9qwI/AAAAAAAAAnk/_A_7eV7GtGQ/s1600/296856%255B1%255D.jpg
Spotify
http://www.last.fm/music/Cruachan

Folk metal,Celtic metal, Pagan metal

115. KODIAK - Rn-Xe (254 Points, 8 Votes)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rtAxGUkcyVc/TqFkRSrVczI/AAAAAAAAASw/sGJlsAEKT7w/s320/Kodiak_N_RnXe.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Kodiak

KODIAK (Germany) are a new 3 piece Funeral Drone/Doom Metal band. Their sound excels as a mixture of monolithic ultraheavy compositions with expressionistic poems. Their algid songs consist of long monotonous build-ups (comparable to a long lonely haunting trip through the arctic) and some seldom parts of eruption, disembarrassment and hope.

Oh, those arctic haunting trips. I still have my haunting license framed in my wall. Comparable, oh so comparable. On a scale of 1 to 10 this is Comparable.

But +1 for using "algid" in a sentence.

I'm guessing Corrupted will make the top 10, possibly top 5.

guess what's up next..

that blurb for Kodiak makes me want to hear them very much indeed.

they're good!

114. Obscura - Omnivium (255 Points, 9 Votes)
http://www.extremedrummers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/press-obscura-omnivium-cover.jpg
Spotify
http://www.last.fm/music/Obscura

German technical progressive death metal band Obscura was founded in 2002 by guitarist/vocalist Steffen Kummerer.

I read an article recently where some guy was saying that the reason metal isn't selling at the moment is because most of the 'hip' bands hyped by the metal media 'cant play their instruments'. He went on to say how black metal, doom metal and overrated arty drone bands like Sunn o))) cant play their instruments and that is why they make the 'boring' music they do and how they make for boring experiences at concerts. In stark contrast to the 80s where thrash bands could really play, SING instead of grunt, and put on exciting stage shows. He said that death metal bands could play but ruined it by the vocals, however the likes of Pantera,Sepultura and Machine Head could sell millions as they could play,wrote great songs, were crushing live and didn't try to be elite and kvlt and weren't ashamed to be trying to sell records. If the death metal vocalists had more character like those bands they could lead a renaissance especially if combined with melodic clean vox. He also bemoaned that all the big selling acts were metalcore who all had the same generic grunt vox (he might have a point there at least).
Wish i could remember where it was so I could link it but i've tried to sum it up as best as I could. Anyone agree or disagree on the dude's points?

btw Obscura can play their instruments very well.

btw it was an american writer. I always get the impression technical proficiency meant more in america.

Also ,lol, he bemoaned the fact that european metal was influencing american metal and how he hated USBM.

113. MoRkObOt - Morbo (260 Points, 8 Votes)
http://www.supernaturalcat.com/images/bands/morkobot/immagini/morbo.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/MoRkObOt

Since the dawn of the first galaxies the voice of MORKOBOT resounded solemn over the saturated atmospheres of the planets in evolution. Dominator of the magnetic strengths and ancestral regulator of the conscience flows, Morkobot has returned to the Earth through his three messengers LIN,LAN,LEN brutally subdued to his will. On our planet MORKOBOT manifests himself through sonic experimentations that humans call music. Morkobot pervades the darkened minds of LIN,LAN,LEN conducting their notes in sadistic consequential deliriums. come to feed you with the supreme verb! LIN, LAN, LEN.

Little known fact: the band before last is actually made up of half the members of Camera Obscura.

yay emil.y is here posting!

morkobot are experimental noise rock btw. Good band.

Really wanted to hear Cruachan -- good chance to do so!

+ kerr, presumably some of the gruntvox (tm) is intentionally alienating. i don't think anyone goes into the studio, lays down some cookie monster vocals, and believes that their album is going top 10 on billboard.

I would be something like 5 million times more interested in Obscura if they were indeed half the members of Camera Obscura. dreampop metal sounds delish!

im not saying they do, but this dude believes it never harmed pantera or sepultura , but only cuz they could really play (i assume). He obviously just prefers singing to grunting and those bands are just an exception. I think he takes DM over BM purely because they can 'play' but would prefer it if they sang more.

That Morkobot blurb just reminds me of Joe Lean and the LIN, LAN, LEN

but of course there are melodic death metal bands out there who can 'play' but dont sell much. Which ruins his point

Metal IS selling if you look at it from the perspective of independent stores. The manager at Reckless said metal is one of their strongest sellers the past couple years. But that writer is probably talking about mainstream sales figures. And it's probably true that there seem to be fewer bands doing more commercial music, relatively. He's way off point about musicianship. There's plenty of bands with chops that can compete with the best of the 70s proggers and clean vox that aren't selling like blockbusters. Opeth, for example have a solid international following, but I don't think they'll ever be stars on this continent. Though it's hard to find out what the actual sales figures are for bands that hover on the bottom of the charts briefly then drop out. I don't really know how much Opeth or Mastodon or Machine Head are selling.

I thought Obscura and Machine Head would have been higher, though they were just outside my top 50. There's just so much to choose from lately.

lol @ LIN, LAN, LEN, but the tag cloud does seem to indicate something I could be into.

listening to Obscura now. Its pretty good but i hate it when he goes into that low register wwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhh cookie monster part. When his vox sound like entombed i like it. Thankfully the parts i dont like are kept to a minimum. I think its well worth checking out even if you dont usually like DM.

emil.y i think you might like morkobot. I'm sure i played them in outloud before

112. Weedeater - Jason...The Dragon (265 Points, 11 Votes)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_atKrCdoiKZ4/TTdMpk2NE7I/AAAAAAAAF4s/6Zr14U_9-4U/s1600/jason-the-dragon.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Weedeater

A 3 piece stoner/sludge/doom metal band from Wilmington, North Carolina, USA, formed in 1998. Features Dave ‘Dixie’ Collins (ex-Buzzov*en, Bongzilla, Sourvein) on bass/vocals, Shep on guitar and Keko on drums.

Weedeater has released Four albums to date, in 2001 they released their debut …And Justice For Y’all and in 2002 they released the follow-up Sixteen Tons, produced by the legendary Billy Anderson. In 2007, the band was signed by Southern Lord Records to release their third album, God Luck And Good Speed, which was produced by Steve Albini.

In 2011 they released a new album - Jason the Dragon

So far today I've enjoyed selected tracks from Machine Head, Kodiac, and Obscura. The others not so much. On to morkobot.

I thought that Machine Head record would have done better. I guess no one stans for them round these parts though.

― good luck in your pyramid (Neil S), Monday, January 16, 2012 1:35 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Yes, me too, especially since they are probably one of the handful of bands in the nominations list that people who aren't particularly (or deeply) into metal would recognise, and they've been around for a hell of a long time!

Unfortunately some of their biggest fans on ilm didn't vote and there is not much I can do about that.

+1 Grails fan
Will listen to Kodiak today because I like long boring songs, nature, and new words like algid.

Whoa, I remember Weedeater from my Wilmington days, but had completely forgotten about them! Oh memories.

Weedeater didn't get my help either, was my #55.

xp I do hear the freakbeat in Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats. There is a significant 60s garage rock element. I think with all the campaigning from Jimmy Riddle they could make top 5 maybe.

everyone go vote uncle acid in the big ilm eoy poll
THE 2011 ILM SUPER-MEGA YEAR-END ALBUMS 'N' TRACKS POLL™ Voting Thread (ends at MIDNIGHT EST on Friday, January 20th, 2011)

emil.y i think you might like morkobot. I'm sure i played them in outloud before

― Jimmy Riddle Orchestra (Armand Schaubroeck Ratfucker), Monday, January 16, 2012 3:19 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Now you say that I think you may well have done. Maybe chuck another track up next time we're both in?

And yeah, I wouldn't raise an eyebrow at someone calling Uncle Acid freakbeat - not necessarily the over-arching genre of the band, but as an influence I'd say it's there.

Does the bassist from Weedeater still puke every night on stage? That always put me off going to see them.

I read an article recently where some guy was saying that the reason metal isn't selling at the moment is because most of the 'hip' bands hyped by the metal media 'cant play their instruments'. He went on to say how black metal, doom metal and overrated arty drone bands like Sunn o))) cant play their instruments and that is why they make the 'boring' music they do and how they make for boring experiences at concerts. In stark contrast to the 80s where thrash bands could really play, SING instead of grunt, and put on exciting stage shows. He said that death metal bands could play but ruined it by the vocals, however the likes of Pantera,Sepultura and Machine Head could sell millions as they could play,wrote great songs, were crushing live and didn't try to be elite and kvlt and weren't ashamed to be trying to sell records. If the death metal vocalists had more character like those bands they could lead a renaissance especially if combined with melodic clean vox. He also bemoaned that all the big selling acts were metalcore who all had the same generic grunt vox (he might have a point there at least).
Wish i could remember where it was so I could link it but i've tried to sum it up as best as I could. Anyone agree or disagree on the dude's points?

btw Obscura can play their instruments very well.

― Jimmy Riddle Orchestra (Armand Schaubroeck Ratfucker), Monday, January 16, 2012 2:58 PM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I think there's a lot of nonsense in this... there's quite a fair amount of music in all genres of metal created by bands who can 'play their instruments'. All I can glean from that opinion is that the guy in question is just into a particular style of metal, and isn't into others. I think that while metal has had its moments of popularity and commercial success throughout the years at certain times like any other genre has, fundamentally metal music has always been made for a metal audience.

111. Pharaoh Overlord - Out of Darkness (267 Points, 12 Votes)
http://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000006083816-muf5iy-crop.jpg?ee7b2d5
http://www.last.fm/music/Pharaoh+Overlord

Finland’s Pharaoh Overlord take huge rock songs and turn them into minimal trance-inducing drones. Drawing influence from 70’s drug rock like Pink Floyd, Hawkwind and krautrock ala Can and Neu!, their 2nd full length sees them venturing further into the void of repetition and psychedelia. Since then they have embraced NWOFHM like their parent band CIRCLE. As well as the more experimental drone influenced album.

Pharaoh Overlord features members of Circle

Yaaaaaaaaaay Weedeater! My #5! I didn't think it was going to make it. I love that album and I think I'm gonna have to check out their other ones too

Xp. I def need to check out Morkobot and the PO album!

Yaaaaay Pharaoh Overlord!
Recommended for anyone who likes to listen to music while running, working, or just walking around being alive.

Weedeater looks really interesting. How stoner rock is it?

running, working, or just walking around being alive.

I don't like doing any of these things, but I've still enjoyed the bits of PO I've heard.

lol, my sentiments exactly. P.O sound v sprightly. Enjoying it.

the album art is abominable however.