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

the top 20 has kicked off in fine style

Domkirke = great.
Must check that Moss album. The Masonic Temple-like cover looks promising.

I had to start this countdown the week P&J was announced eh?
CURSES

19
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/0/9/8/209845.jpg
Cynic - Traced in Air (Season of Mist) 126 Points

2 for 2 in the top 20 so far that I've still yet to hear.

Me too!

Not a Sunn fan, but I'll try to hear the Cynic.

The Sunn 0))) is terrific.

I liked Sunn live, but all of their albums have bored the piss out of me. What about this one will make me think otherwise?

there's not much you'll like about this one if you didn't like anything previously, i'd say. i'm a bit the reverse. love the records (particularly 'black one'), and was a little bit underwhelmed by the live show...

I think I don't have a good enough, or loud enough, soundsystem to play records like the Sunn catalog. Live, the volume made their music truly visceral; on record, I can't quite replicate that "gut feeling."

Just did an interview with Paul Masvidal of Cynic for next week's OC Weekly. Thoughtful guy!

A large % of what SunnO))) do is tightly tied in with the live performance and the 'spiritual' concept of the group. I.e. they started as essentially a covers band - an Earth tribute group - which was then gradually developed into a devotional gesture towards some of the key aspects of heavy metal itself, hence the robes and the mock stern nodding and all the palaaver.

So you don't often get the sense of this on record but on this one, the fact that it's live from Bergen Cathedral and they get to bust loose on the church organ and Atilla does some weird hybrid Gregorian chant/Yat Kha throat singing (along with the awesome packaging).

And at the end of the day what does it say about the liberality of Norwegian society.

"Hey, we've got Atilla Csihar on the phone. Him and Gregg and Steven want to play live in the cathedral."
"Atilla from Mayhem? That weird Satanist/nihilist/whateverthefuck group that burned all those churches down a few miles away?"
"The very same padre."
"Well, I haven't got a problem if you haven't. But tell him he can't have the 24th - we've got the Prurient and Christian Death double header that night."

I still think that after seeing them live (which gives the albums an extra resonance) you can't beat the Boris collab 'Altar' but that's probably because it's almost song based and a lot more conventional in some ways.

And as if by magik: SunnO))) have just announced live dates. I don't know how to put links in on here.

Just copy/paste the link and it'll automatically convert to HTML.

18
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/9/3/5/193588.jpg
Asva - What You Don't Know Is Frontier (Southern Records) 126 Points (1 Number One vote)

Terrific album, a real step up from their last excellent album, recommend this thoroughly to any fan of Sunn 0))) . This could easily have been my no1 album and wasn't far away from being so. Check this out if you haven't already. Especially the vinyl version which has terrific packaging --- pfunkboy

My Asva blurb: if you stand at Sunn O))) and face towards Altar, your ass is pointing towards Asva.

They're the butt of that joke.

17
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/8/8/3/188328.jpg
Leviathan - Massive Conspiracy Against All Life (Moribund Records)
128 Points

I haven't heard Leviathan but that sleeve art is most momentous.

the sleeve art alone makes this thread a must read. it wouldn't be nearly as interesting without the awesome cover art, that is.

the asva album is just glorious.

but I don't really associate what they do with what sunn o)))) do, really. there's a doomy element in there, certainly, but they have this vast, beautiful, elegant quality that's more in line with, say, eyvind kang or latter-day earth (which is a very different beast from the one that inspired sunn o)))'s crushing low-frequency abuse).

16
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/0/4/2/204209.jpg
Krallice - Krallice (Profound Lore) 137 Points

another gem...

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I VOTED IN THE 2008 ILX ALBUMS & TRAX POLL AND I LIKED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (ballots due TODAY)

last chance to get your votes in that poll. Please vote.

15
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/0/3/2/203263.jpg
Caïna - Temporary Antennae (Profound Lore) 140 Points

Good placing for Krallice! I don't recall much chat on rolling metal 08 (which I think I read most of even if I didn't post a great deal)

Anyone wish to help out with blurbs for the top 10 albums?

Good placing for Krallice! I don't recall much chat on rolling metal 08

Yeah, there was a good amount of Krallice talk scattered around.

There was? Well that's good too!

There was enough Krallice talk that I redownloaded the album after having given up on it the first time. But I didn't like it any better the second time, either. I just kept wanting it to sound more like Leviathan, and eventually I remembered I could spent the time listening to Leviathan more, instead.

14
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/9/1/9/191941.jpg
Melvins - Nude With Boots (Ipecac) 141 Points

A bit of a shock coming up at No 13. One of the (so i thought) front runners for no1 didn't do as well as expected. It's fans on the rolling metal thread failed to turn up I suppose.

But lets build some suspense :)

I have a feeling I know what it is, but guessing now might make me a meanderthal neanderthal.

You like to wager on that?

Hmm, not now that you've worded it like that.

13
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/0/7/8/207825.jpg
Enslaved - Vertebrae (Indie Recordings) 145 Points

Didn't get any No1 votes rather surprisingly.

That was actually my next guess after Torche!

There's a bit of a shock low entry at no12 actually..

Would you like to guess/wager?

It has really bad cover art..

12
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/7/7/3/177301.jpg
Meshuggah - obZen (Nuclear Blast Records) 155 Points

Anyone got any comments on todays countdown so far? Any surprise inclusions?
I shall post no 11 later before I go to bed

Curious: Do people actually think the Meshuggah (and Opeth) albums are standout albums for those bands or do you just see them as solid releases from great bands?

After revisiting Vikingligr Veldi this week, Vertebrae sounds even more useless. I had almost forgotten just how incredible they used to be.

At least it's paying their kids school fees.

Sundar: I think opinion is split on the Meshuggah. Some think its the best they've done and some don't as far as i can tell. No idea whatsoever on the Opeth, but I'd be surprised if people think it's their best. However they might still think it's better than any other metal album in 2008.

11
http://www.8mmrecs.com/immagini/THE%20GOSLINGS.jpg
The Goslings - Occasion (Not Not Fun) 158 Points (1 Number One Vote)

And to recap our countdown so far (Rank - Points - Votes - #1 Votes - Artist - Album):

50 - 48 - 3 - 0 - Racebannon - Acid or Blood
50 - 48 - 3 - 1 - Zebulon Pike - Intransience
48 - 50 - 4 - 0 - Blue Sabbath Black Cheer - Untitled
48 - 50 - 3 - 0 - Gnaw Their Tongues - An Epiphanic Vomiting of Blood
47 - 52 - 5 - 0 - Bison B.C. - Quiet Earth
45 - 54 - 4 - 0 - Nadja - Desire In Uneasiness
45 - 54 - 4 - 0 - Withered - Folie Circulaire
43 - 55 - 4 - 0 - Metallica - Death Magnetic
43 - 55 - 6 - 0 - Unearthly Trance - Electrocution
42 - 59 - 4 - 1 - Blood Ceremony - Blood Ceremony
41 - 60 - 4 - 1 - Disfear - Live the Storm
40 - 61 - 4 - 0 - Marnie Stern - This Is It And I Am It And You Are It
39 - 62 - 5 - 0 - Darkspace - III
38 - 63 - 6 - 0 - Intronaut - Prehistoricisms
37 - 66 - 5 - 0 - Jex Thoth - Jex Thoth
36 - 68 - 6 - 0 - Genghis Tron - Board Up the House
35 - 70 - 5 - 0 - Witch - Paralyzed
34 - 71 - 3 - 1 - Hammers of Misfortune - Fields/Church of Broken Glass
33 - 72 - 6 - 0 - Ascend - Ample Fire Within
32 - 78 - 6 - 0 - Jesu - Why Are We Not Perfect
31 - 81 - 6 - 0 - Moonspell - Night Eternal
30 - 83 - 6 - 0 - The Gates of Slumber - Conqueror
28 - 88 - 7 - 0 - Earthless - Live at Roadburn
28 - 88 - 8 - 0 - UFOmammut - Idolum
26 - 89 - 6 - 0 - Moss - Sub Templum
26 - 89 - 5 - 0 - Wetnurse - Invisible City
25 - 98 - 5 - 1 - The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
24 - 100 - 6 - 0 - Ocean - Pantheon of the Lesser
23 - 109 - 8 - 0 - Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder God
22 - 111 - 8 - 0 - Coffins - Buried Death
21 - 118 - 7 - 2 - Grails - Doomsdayer's Holiday
20 - 123 - 8 - 0 - Sunn 0))) - Domkirke
18 - 126 - 8 - 0 - Cynic - Traced in Air
18 - 126 - 8 - 1 - Asva - What You Don't Know Is Frontier
17 - 128 - 8 - 0 - Leviathan - Massive Conspiracy Against All Life
16 - 137 - 8 - 0 - Krallice - Krallice
15 - 140 - 8 - 0 - Caina - Temporary Antennae
14 - 141 - 10 - 0 - Melvins - Nude With Boots
13 - 145 - 9 - 0 - Enslaved - Vertebrae
12 - 155 - 10 - 0 - Meshuggah - obZen
11 - 158 - 11 - 1 - The Goslings - Occasion

Tomorrow, the thrilling conclusion! And then a bunch of statistics that dwarf these in their sublime geekiness!

outside of I, obzen is probably my favourite meshuggah album to date. it's a perfect distillation of their sound - so focused and lean and sharp. I know it's got a bit of stick from the hardcore for being a bit simpler than their older stuff, but that criticism seems largely to be based on 'combustion' rather than the album as a whole (which does get pretty damn tricksy).

even so, 'combustion' is an incredible track. by no means the most wilfully difficult in their catalogue, but a totally storming, brutal metal tune that's still characteristically meshuggah.

all of the above surprises me somewhat, as I'm usually a proponent of 'the more insanely complex, the better'. but for me, they just nailed it on this one.

oh, and I agree. the artwork is crap.