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

hmm, this esoteric record has more....shredding than i would have thought.

I like "Be Here" off the Pantheist record but the rest didn't cohere for me.

5. Wolves in the Throne Room - Celestial Lineage (1,351 Points, 36 Votes, 2 #1s)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Hki5g1cZ1D8/TmXJ97LjSrI/AAAAAAAAHf8/PfxVArLjnho/s1600/Wolves%2Bin%2Bthe%2BThrone%2BRoom%2B-%2BCelestial%2BLineage%2B%25282011%2529.jpg
Spotify

http://www.last.fm/music/Wolves+in+the+Throne+Room

Review

by Eduardo Rivadavia

Over the course of their impressive first three albums, Portland, Oregon-based sibling duo Wolves in the Throne Room have established, arguably even steadily incremented, their place on the front lines of the American black metal scene. But even they recognized the need to broaden their sonic palette during the six-month fermentation process that spawned their fourth long-player, Celestial Lineage, in 2011. Not by turning their backs on those formative Norse black metal origins, mind you (you'll find plenty of buzzsaws, blastbeats, and screeches here), but by daring to introduce even more alien elements into their midst. Hey, everybody's trying it, but few can pull it off in convincing fashion, ensuring that those dalliances with atmospheric passages, reams and reams of background synthesizers, and other non-metallic counterpoints (see all-inclusive opening statement "Thuja Magus Imperium") sound neither forced nor contrived with post-metal intentions (hello, Drudkh!). So let's see here: there's the densely symphonic barrage of "Subterranean Imitation," the ethereal pagan oath of "Woodland Cathedral" (one of several tracks featuring angelic croons from guest Jessika Kenney), the vaguely space rock-inspired melodies and ambience of "Astral Blood," and the dramatic doom-like funeral procession of "Prayer of Transformation." Finally, fleshing out this blackened and charred corpse and proving that WITTR envisioned Celestial Lineage as a complete, album-length experience are two mood-setting instrumental interludes, the phantasmagorical horror movie vignette "Permanent Changes in Consciousness" and the pulsing mechanical resonance of "Rainbow Illness." Heck, the consistently unified lyrics extolling all manner of pagan mysteries and parallel worlds of the mind's eye might have confirmed this sooner, had all of this hellish screaming been anywhere close to intelligible -- but that's black metal, baby, and Wolves in the Throne Room continue to do the genre proud with contributions such as this.

Yeah, this is the best WITTR record yet. Really hit me during a flight down to Austin last fall.

I like "Be Here" off the Pantheist record but the rest didn't cohere for me.

― EZ Snappin, Friday, January 20, 2012 8:42 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Strangely enough, that's probably my least favourite cut on the whole record! Don't get me wrong, I like it, but there's something slightly "power ballad" about it.

Big batch of Erik stuff here today!

― EZ Snappin, Friday, January 20, 2012 12:43 PM (2 hours ago)

What a difference a few hours makes.

lol

"Be Here" is totally a power ballad! A really odd one, but somehow more engaging to me because of it.

go on guys guess the order

Pffft. I honestly couldn't... Uncle Acieeed has to be one of them though, surely?

can someone make an argument either for or against all the *wailing leads* on this esoteric album? because i am really on the fence.

Indeed best WITTR yet, they've actually become a great band now.

What's left? Hammers of Misfortune, corrupted, YOB, and Uncle Acid?

Kerr, have we reqached the albums that are usually a lock for the big poll?

hammers placed already

or wait did i confuse them with something else

yeah i think its the best wittr too

oh yeah i confused them with gates of slumber which is something i do on the reg

and Esoteric are awesome and even LJ would back me up on this

FWIW, coming from someone who only hears a handful of metal records each year, "Celestial Lineage" is easily my favourite metal album of the past several years.

can someone make an argument either for or against all the *wailing leads* on this esoteric album? because i am really on the fence.

― call all destroyer, Friday, January 20, 2012 8:52 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I honestly couldn't, because I haven't heard it yet... however you're making me want to check it out simply to see just how much it wails!

I'll stick with my original guess minus of course the Mastodon.

5. Tyr
4. Wolf
3. Motorhead
2. Powerwolf
1.Rush

it's just weird to be listening to a 16-minute doom song and then have the lead guitarist do a warpspeed run up the neck straight out of 1984.

Ha, how is that Rush album? I totally forgot about that!

4. Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust (1,371 Points, 34 Votes, 4 #1s)
http://www.svartrecords.com/shoppe/725-820-thickbox/uncle-acid-and-the-deadbeats-blood-lust-cd.jpg
http://www.last.fm/music/Uncle+Acid+and+the+Deadbeats

Formed in the old wastelands of witchery and paranoia, Cambridgeshire band Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats deliver the new sound of 60s terror. This popular beat combo crawled from its secluded hideout in 2009 to record their debut album, ‘Vol. 1’ for Killer Candy Records. With a limited release in 2010, the album was warmly received with the track ‘Witches Garden’ appearing on a Classic Rock Magazine cover CD. The band also drew the attention of Leif Edling from legendary doom band Candlemass, who would later recommend them to Lee Dorrian at Rise Above.

The group’s second album Blood Lust (2011) was recorded in a dilapidated barn known as The Slaughter House. Using old fuzz pedals and broken amps to create a lo fi saturated sound, the entire album was laid to rest on tape in the space of four cold months. Blood Lust tells the story of a drug crazed sadist who embarks on a witchfinding killing spree before meeting his own demise at the withered hands of Satan. The bands intention was to create an audio equivalent of a 60’s exploitation horror film. After a steady start in sales, demand for the album eventually grew beyond all expectations with all pressings quickly selling out, including a Rise Above vinyl pressing of 350 which sold out in just 24 hours.

This bastard band of weirdos will plunder on into the 2012 apocalypse with festival dates and other live appearances in the UK and Europe. The acid nightmare has truly begun…

http://www.doommantia.com/2011/07/uncle-acid-and-deadbeats-blood-lust.html

Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats debut went completely unnoticed by me ?. Therefore it’s double the surprise with their sophomore Blood Lust. I have to admit I was drawn to the vintage cover’s art work first, and then some promising words on one of our befriended blogs concerning this album won me over to give this record a spin. Supposedly Uncle Acid et. al. hail from England but in good recent doom tradition there isn’t a whole lot of useful information to be found on these retro doomsters.

As has been proved, I’m a sucker for retro doom, and this is it again for me. The sound is not your typical doom, stoner, heavy psychedelics, etcetera, because Uncle Acid is able to throw that extra spice in the mix which makes (doomy) records worthwhile: a little groove, a little jazz, call it what you want. But it makes perfect sense to me, plus it gives me a perfect companion to the starting summer days – not to mention my vacation – here. To make it clearer: this is music that you can easily headbang to (slowly though) but it’s also perfectly possible to groove to this record.

Qua texts and sphere, you get a lot of horror & knives, but in a nice way, you know? Probably the best way to appreciate a record like this is with your headphones up surrounded by 13 candles. By the way, their debut, called Vol. 1 is worth checking out too. I prefer their latest, but if you want more of Uncle Acid you’ll be glad knowing there is another release to at least have a taste from the same source. As I said, there is not a lot of information on Uncle Acid, plus I’m not sure about the mentioned Killer Candy Records on their Facebook. I wasn’t able to find a corresponding site. On their Big Cartel site you can order one of the limited edition 100 copies of Blood Lust, so with all the media attention (blogspots) going around, the album probably will be sold out before you can say Kung Fu Panda 2.

Allegedly the album was recorded on vintage equipment, but here comes my problem with the marketing of an album like Uncle’s Blood Lust. There just isn’t a lot of material to write on (except for the terrific album) and therefore we have to rely on blogs without any (checkable) reference. So, we let Uncle Acid be a mystery just like Ghost and in the meantime we enjoy the hell out of this album. Cheers!

Er, the live album? Its good. New studio album isn't til later this year.

(xpost)

Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland is pretty good. Geddy's not in top vocal form (it was early on the tour), but man are they something.

xpost

3. Goatpenis - Depleted Ammunition (1,666 Points, 66 Votes, 6 #1s)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hEGAE8TIT1I/TfwDIw43k2I/AAAAAAAAGyg/sFOeJXEMkNo/s1600/GoatPenis%2B2011%2BDepleted%2BAmmunition.jpg
Spotify
http://www.last.fm/music/Goatpenis

If you haven't heard Goatpenis, they're awesome. They dress up as South American guerrilla fighters and play songs about nuclear warfare and genocide in a raw yet melodic style of black/grind. The music is ultra riff-based: very heavy, ripping, catchy riffs that are a sort of combination of Sarcófago and Napalm Death and almost impossibly savage and brutal vocals ranging from standard growls and screeches to pitch-shifted gurgles right out of fucking nowhere. - Noktorn

i have liked wittr a lot up until now but i absolutely love celestial lineage

it's just weird to be listening to a 16-minute doom song and then have the lead guitarist do a warpspeed run up the neck straight out of 1984.

― call all destroyer, Friday, January 20, 2012 8:57 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

That's it, I've got to hear this... off to Spotify I go!

nice try Siegbran, but put your goatpenis somewhere else!

That's what she said!

(sorry)

xp Ah, so I didn't miss the studio Rush album.

Well Kerr, your campaigning paid off. Not bad for an album that's not really metal, but nonetheless awesome. They finally shipped my CD yesterday nearly a month after I ordered it. They had run out and didn't bother to tell me.

btw since i am unlikely to be at a computer for the last part of this rollout i want to thank ratfucker and glenn for all their work on this, esp since i was supposed to help out and co-run it and failed miserably due to timing/work insanity. you dudes are awesome.

and i suck.

lol, siegbran

Ah, Uncle Acid made it to #4! I was definitely expecting that record to be 'up there', partly due to Kerr's campaigning and partly because it is (in my opinion) a fucking good record.

LOL @ Siegbran trying to get 'Goatpenis' in there!

And I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddlin' kids!

it's just weird to be listening to a 16-minute doom song and then have the lead guitarist do a warpspeed run up the neck straight out of 1984.

― call all destroyer, Friday, January 20, 2012 8:57 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

love this band and love this part of their sound. adds some grandeur and weight to the proceedings imo.

circa metamophogenesis I really think they were THE most psychedelic metal band around. maybe they still are? new stuff perhaps doesn't go quite as deep but I still think they mop the floor with 99% of the generic doom out there.

should I bother w/uncle acid if I think ghost (swe) are boring?

The Mastodon is kind of a lazy vote, good album but I can't really get excited about it. Don't think I've pulled it out since I got it. I did notice it made a lot of indie rock lists as the requisite metal pick, so I guess someone really liked it?

They actually aren't that similar to Ghost, the comparison only gets made because they are each doing distinct takes on retro metal.

(xpost)

Jeff the indie listmakers you are referring to are the laziest voters of all

(Except me who was too lazy to listen to Mastodon)

Well, jeez, sorry guys. I won't vote at all next year if I'm being too "lazy" with my vote.

Uncle Acid sound absolutely nothing like Ghost. They both have a retro sound, granted, but their reference points are completely different.

uncle acid is way less BOC and more sabbath than ghost imo.

THIS JUST IN: metal band sounds kinda like sabbath.

the stuff about 'groove' up in that blurb has me kind of interested. kind of weird how just about everyone copied iommi's riffs but very few doom bands even try to go for the intensely locked-in butler/ward rhythmic interplay.

I mean, butler and ward were pretty amazing, so that may be part of it too.

haha, xpost

They were on my list, it's a good record, it's just not something I can get excited about.

Alternately: STOP FAILING US, JON

so i am starting to make my way through the spotify list and whoa i really dig this vektor album which i know nothing about.