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

If you have never heard Pulver go do so now, wonderful album. You wont get vinyl though, it was selling for $200 even before the guy committed suicide.

In other words "Lifelover" was a pretty ironic band name, eh?

88. Hands of Orlac - S/T (359 Points, 14 Votes)
http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/images/covers/hands-of-orlac-hands-of-orlac-20110910024903.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Hands+of+Orlac

Italian doom metal band with female vocals.

great album this

Jon the Premonition 13 record is good, but not great. More Wino, if you like Wino, you'll like it basically.

87. Kampfar - Mare (364 Points, 15 Votes)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BQxNjUlJaG8/Tb0smGbd0cI/AAAAAAAACtQ/SZ29OiubSL8/s1600/folder.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Kampfar

Kampfar, formed in 1994, was born in the realms of the mighty Mock, in the early times of Norwegian Black Metal. The whole idea is to make music inspired by the nordic nature, folklores and myths

Glenn's becoming a bit of a hivemind centre here isn't he?

scary innit?

whoa, that's a nice cover.

I caught premonition live, and fwiw, I thought they were pretty dull. but I've never been a huge wino guy anyway...

I like that rwake record a lot btw. nice and grimey.

and I'll admit it - siegbran stanning for arckanum's (excellent) ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ record is what got me back on board with them. still haven't spun the 2011 release yet.

Hands Of Orlac was my #38. I probably first heard of them through Doomantia:

Hands of Orlac are a band from Rome that plays retro doomy old-school hard rock / heavy metal. The band get their name from the movie of the same name which was made originally in 1924. Of course they come from the great land who seem to produce a lot of this occult driven, horror rock. Some of the very best bands in this genre all come from the region; Abysmal Grief, Black Oath are just two worthy of mentioning but Hands of Orlac are a bit different, at least to my ears. Their style is much more 70's heavy prog mixed with traditional heavy metal than the morbid tones of Abysmal Grief and other such acts. Their main influence is Black Sabbath or to be more precise Tony Iommi...If you are one of those folks that has jumped aboard the Ghost bandwagon, then you will want to check this band out.

i sent their album out in the google group actually

86. GNAW THEIR TONGUES - Per Flagellum Sanguemque, Tenebras Veneramus (370 Points, 11 Votes)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4GCyroSaUX8/TociZGeWG5I/AAAAAAAACJY/BGMiVE3B4P0/s1600/front%2Bgtt.jpg
Spotify
http://www.last.fm/music/Gnaw+Their+Tongues

Gnaw Their Tongues is an experimental black metal moniker of Maurice de Jong formed in Drachten, Netherland in 2005. Its named after a verse in the bible.

Glenn has a lot of influence

What's that Kampfar cover even supposed to be?

druids in red robes going up a mountain on a starry night?

druids with tails? shadowy figures? i like it.

I should probably be flogged for not having heard the Hands of Orloc album yet. Sounds way cool though...

i sent their album out in the google group actually

Yes, on Nov 16. But I heard about them in September via Doomantia. It also leaked via Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, Angrychairs and Metal Music Blog the day before. It is convenient to be in that Google group in case I do miss something.

I should pay more attention to Hands of Orlac, I think.

So, this year's Gnaw Their Tongues. Better than last year's I think, but still not as good as Epiphanic Vomiting of Blood?

Hands of Orloc

LOL @ me

85. Ordog - Remorse (371 Points, 15 Votes)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_95msu-VwXUk/TUw8w-7U5wI/AAAAAAAABNU/a6GktL3bCM8/s1600/ordogremorse.jpg
Spotify
http://www.last.fm/music/Ordog

There are at least four bands called Ordog, which means “Devil” or a satyrical evil creature in Hungarian.

1) A doom metal band from Tornio, Finland formed in 2005. They released two demos titled “I” & “II” which were later compiled on “I-II”. In 2006 they released their debut “Crow and the storm”. In 2008 their 2nd album “Life is too Short for Learning to Live” has been released.

They consists of Aleksi Martikainen (vocals), Valtteri Isometsä (guitars, bass, drums) and Jussi Harju (keyboards). On live gigs they are supported by R. Väänänen, playing drums and K. Huhtala on bass.
Newest info can be found on their official site www.ordogband.com or on MySpace.

Finland really rules at Funeral Doom. So chuffed this album made it, it's awesome! Skepticism/Thergothon fans gets this now!

Think I've heard this one, though I didn't vote for it. Will give it another go...

You know whats frustrating about being a fan of metal? I feel like I've listened to a shitload of metal albums from 2011, but this list and the RYM charts remind me that I still haven't even come close to scratching the surface. There's almost too much!

there's never too much!

Hence the "almost", its just daunting to look at the list of albums I listened to and realize how much I still missed!

sign of a healthy scene creatively innit

I honestly don't mind this about metal but surely it's more a sign of tons of copycat?

*copycat bands

again, I kind of like that there are like 200 bands that were really into one darkthrone riff and decided to make a couple albums that sound just like that riff... but it can be a bit wearying sometimes.

And we're only covering a small percentage of the sub-genres on ilx really. Mainstream metal or metalcore,nu metal,djent,power metal,thrash metal, screamo ,glam and shitloads of sub-genres dont get mentioned on ilm really. So imagine adding the 'good' albums in those genres to the list.
The rap threads cover the most pop artists through to the underground, we just really tend to go for non mainstream stuff, even if some of the death/black/doom bands are quite successful within their own sub-genre(s)

Did I miss where we (as in ilm) agreed that "djent" was a real genre? Because I certainly didn't sign up for that.

84. THE WOUNDED KINGS - In the Chapel of the Black Hand (377 Points, 18 Votes)
http://theobelisk.net/obelisk/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/thewoundedkingscover.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Wounded+Kings

The Wounded Kings of England (Dartmoor) is a doom metal band formed in 2005. They uphold Britain’s occult heritage and aim to produce a unique blend of spectral doom and psychedelic horror with a desolate end of the world vibe filled with suffocating heaviness. Hallmarks are eerie choirs, pianos and the use of space within the slow and mind-bending riffs with haunting female vocals

Band Members:
~ Steve Mills (Guitars, Piano & Organ)
~ Sharie Neyland (Vocals)
~ Alex Kearney (Guitars)
~ Jim Willumsen (Bass)
~ Mike Heath (Drums)
http://www.myspace.com/thewoundedkings2

awesome album.

actually a bunch of albums on my ballot have been in this section too, not just glenn's.

Great, great band. Awesome live as well.

a japanese band coming up next. Also known for being good live

Loudness put out an album last year? Damn, I missed it.

83. Boris - Attention Please (382 Points, 14 Votes)
http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2011/02/Boris-Attention-Please.jpg
Spotify
http://www.last.fm/music/Boris

Boris (ボリス Borisu) are a Japanese experimental rock band formed in Tokyo in 1992. The band’s original lineup consisted of Atsuo, Takeshi, Wata, and Nagata who was the band’s original drummer. After his departure, Atsuo took over drums and the lineup has remained consistent to this day. Boris draw influence from a huge variety of styles including, but not limited to, psychedelic rock, punk, sludge, doom metal, drone, pop, noise, shoegaze, and ambient. The band’s name is taken from a song on Melvins’ album, Bullhead.

They released their debut full-length album, Absolutego, on their own label, Fangs Anal Satan, in 1996. Since its formation, Boris have released 17 full-length albums, three live albums, six collaborations with Japanese noise legend Merzbow among various other collaborations, and one best album Variations which focused more on the rock side of the band.

Boris saw a huge increase in popularity when Southern Lord reissued their works in North America, garnering them critical acclaim and recognition in music press. Pink, originally released in 2005 in Japan via Diwphalanx, was reissued in 2006 by Southern Lord and met with a very positive reception in the US. Blender magazine and SPIN magazine both named it one of the year’s best albums. The album also made the top of the metal section in Canadian magazine Exclaim’s reader’s poll of that year, and was in the top 10 of Pitchfork Media’s top 50 records of the year.

In 2011, Boris announced plans to release three full-length albums in the same year. The first to be released was New Album, their fifteenth album, on March 16 in Japan. The album consists of mainly j-pop with some elements of psychedelic rock and electronic styles. The next two albums, Heavy Rocks (2011) and Attention Please, were released simultaneously on May 24 through Sargent House. Heavy Rocks shares its name and cover art style with Heavy Rocks, released in 2002 in Japan. Attention Please is mostly noted for featuring lead vocals by Wata on each song. Boris co-headlined a European tour with their new label-mates Russian Circles throughout the summer from June 17 to July 17 and continued touring Europe alone from July 19 to July 24. They will also be headlining a North American fall tour from October 7 to November 12 with various openers including Tera Melos, Asobi Seksu, True Widow, Liturgy, Master Musicians of Bukkake, Coliseum, and Joe Lally.

Boris maintains a Tumblr page at http://borisheavyrocks.tumblr.com/ and an official homepage at http://www.borisheavyrocks.com/

Anyone see them touring last year?

Haven't seen them since they toured with Nachtmystium and Torche, but that was a fantastic show. I'm actually glad this was Boris because I'm holding out for a much higher placement by a certain other Japanese band.

so is jeff

but that might be a different band

or maybe the same. who knows!

C'mon, Corrupted are top ten, surely?

82. The Flight of Sleipnir - Essence of Nine (382 Points, 16 Votes)
http://cache1.bigcartel.com/product_images/38081988/A5cover.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Flight+of+Sleipnir

A collaboration between Clayton Cushman (Acheronian Dirge, Ex-Throcult) and David Csicsely (Acheronian Dirge, Nexhymn, Ex- Throcult) to create a project that is lyrically based on Norse mythology and built on a “doomy” foundation with elements of psychedelic and progressive rock.

taking it all the way down to 76 tonight. Would have finished earlier but for my internet problems

Its hard to gauge, there wasn't a lot of chatter about the new album, at least not as much as I expected there to be. But I do know a couple of metal thread people absolutely loved it.

(xp re corrupted)

http://www.tribbleagency.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/siren1.gifMORDY METAL ALERThttp://www.tribbleagency.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/siren1.gif

81. Pitom - Blasphemy and Other Serious Crimes (384 Points, 12 Votes, 1 #1)
http://www.israbox.com/uploads/posts/2011-04/1301736176_3cc0b4c1f07d6ec205b7d3b861de9172.jpeg
http://www.last.fm/music/Pitom

Pitom is a very exciting young band from Israel that remains true to the “fusion” aesthetic without succumbing to any of the pretentions sometimes associated with that word. Taking progressive jazz and melding it with elements of rock, punk, prog and traditional Jewish melodies makes for a unique and exciting sound. The band consists of Yoshie Fruchter on guitar, Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz on bass, Kevin Zubek on drums and Jeremy Brown on violin and viola.