October's Top 10 Albums

It's time for October's top 10 albums. Staying abreast of the month's highlights might help casual readers see what they missed and check these artists out. I am not writing little blurbs on them and just linking the reviews. I am using this to organize my lists for the end of the year, by listing the genre of music the album falls under. Inclusion here does not mean that these albums have been released this month, but it is a list of new or upcoming albums I have enjoyed the most, I have albums in my in-box that are not coming out til next year so I am normally way ahead of the curve in this regard. They are ranked in order of what I have listened to the most. This month there is a wide variety from Folk to Black Metal so you may find your new favorite among them. Here are the Top 10 albums for  October of 2024.

10-Vision Video - "Modern Horror"

Post-punk 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/gothtober-vision-video-modern-horror.html

9-Seven Hours After Violet - "S/t" 

nu-metal 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/seven-hours-after-violet-st.html

8- 49  Winchester - "Leavin This Holler" 

Country 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/49-winchester-leavin-this-holler.html

7-Kite - "VII" 

New Wave 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/gothtober-kite-vii.html

6-Drug Church - "PRUDE" 

Punk 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/drug-church-prude.html

5- High Vis -"Guided Tour" 

Punk

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/high-vis-guided-tour.html

4-Nachtmystium- Blight Privilege "  

Black Metal 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/nachtmystium-blight-privilege.html

3-Chat Pile - "Cool World" 

Sludge

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/09/chat-pile-cool-world.html

2-DEATH KILLER - "Total Destruction of the Entire Universe" 

Industrial 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/gothtober-death-killer.html

1-Chelsea Wolfe- "Unbound" 

Folk 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/chelsea-wolfe-unbound.html

pst547

Nachtmystium : "Blight Privilege"

 

One of my favorite black metal projects is back. Blake Judd personifies inner darkness, which can create our darkness, legitimizing his work's melancholy. This new album picks up where they left off. The scathing rasp of his vocals sits back in the mix.  The synths are playing a larger role in the opening track which does charge ahead with a great deal of drive thanks to drummer Francesco Miato. The straightforward metallic charge of "Predator Phoenix" is what many listeners are going to press play for. It's raging black metal without being dependent on blast beats. A  second listen reveals nuanced layers of guitar under the surface. This time around it's more apparent Judd is lashing out at the bigger picture of the failing American society. 

"Slow Decay" seems to be a reflection of his addiction and the bottom it caused him to hit. Like the other songs so far, there is a great breadth of melodic guitar work, to create the sonic throb. "Conquistador" rages with a very focused and blackened rage which is its focal point.  It almost takes on an Immortal-like feel. It's the first song where blast beats play a significant role. "Blind Spot " works off the momentum established in the previous song. The vocals are more deliberate and the lyrical perspective of burning bridges in active addiction hits harder than pseudo Satanic nonsense. 

"The Ardous March" pulses with emotional heaviness, which I will take over blast beats any day of the week. It is ver purposeful and when the blast beats do arrive, they have already had something to provide contrast to. There is a wrathful charge to the title track that closes the album. There is a enough hookin the chugged accents to balance the verse out. I will give this a 9.5, it's fine welcome back to a band that is badly needed as the world becomes a more miserable place. 

pst526

Black Metal History Month-The Decade's Top 10 Black Metal Albums

Black Metal is not thought of as the "problematic" genre of metal. At one time it was the cool new thing hipsters were pretending to be into with no clue what the genre was about aside from Urban Legend, corpse paint, and blast beats. Over the past decade, I have covered at least 300 Black Metal albums. By decade we are taking into consideration that we are only two months into 2024, so we are counting from  2013 to 2023. Many of these albums were overlooked or underappreciated by the mainstream metal press when they were released. I implore you to give them a listen if you have not heard them and a second listen if you have as you will hear how well they have held up over the years. They are ranked per how much I have listened to them, a thanks goes to Last FM for keeping track of this for me, it makes life easier. 

10-Noctambulist -"Eiegieen" 2021

This band from the Netherlands caught me by surprise. They expand their horizons past just the scathing buzz of black metal you are first hit with here. They share some common ground with Deafheaven sonically but are considerably darker.  They are very concise songwriters without leaving too much room to simmer in their atmosphere. Their atmosphere contributes to the sparkling melodies that are layered in here. This creates a range of emotion beyond the screams of the vocals which are much nastier than Deafheaven's more monotone snarl. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2021/02/black-metal-history-month-noctambulist.html

9-Inquisition-"Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar beyond the Celestial Zenith " 2016

The band's strongest work to date, finds them growing out of their earlier sound into a more melodic darkness. This is not to say the album is not rooted in who they are, as the way Dagon lets the chords ring out with such eerie dissonance you know who this is before being plugged into the throttling descent. Drummer Incubus marks himself as one of the best in the genre on this album as he brings some sinister grooves and really lays into his high hat. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2016/08/inquisition-bloodshed-across-empyrean.html

8-Nachtmystium- "The World We Left Behind" 2014

The fate of the band was in limbo when this album was made, as Judd was going through some personal issues that led him to seek out recovery. So this album carried the emotional turmoil of that time in his life and marks a new chapter for both Judd and the band. They took elements of classic metal and blended it with the more psychedelic black metal sound they made their calling card, to weave impressive songs from that stand as a powerful testament to what a great band they were. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2014/08/nachtmystium-world-we-left-behind.html

7-Chrome Waves - "Where We Live " 2020

This album proves black metal does not have to be hung up on blast beats . Black metal can also have some melodic vocals thrown in here and there. It might get called black gaze this time around, but the intent is still pretty mean and hard-driving despite the sonic texturing that leans in that direction. It has a depressive sound, so pretty much everything I might want from Black Metal 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2020/09/chrome-waves-where-we-live.html

6-Satyricon- "Deep Calleth Upon Deep"  2017

These guys got mean again. This album grew on me as it throbs with darkness. It has a disdain more than anger to it. There is a groove and hints of melody. The drums are less produced than I expected. When I get into the winding riffs This album does have a rawer element than their previous work, with the guitar getting adventurous in its use of melody.  Great drumming provides the landslide for the corak of the vocals to ride triumphant upon. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/08/satyricon-deep-calleth-upon-deep.html

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5-Tombs - "the Grand Annihilation" 2017

Any questions regarding Tombs legitimacy as black metal is cleared the fuck up right from the first few notes. The guitar tone peels your face off and leaves a bloody stain on the wall behind you. If you thought the more post-punk elements were diluting the more metallic properties then make most mistakes this part of the album is up to you as metal as it gets. Then if your tastes fall more on the dark side as mine do then you have to hang on and you get that too.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/06/tombs-grand-annihilation.html

4-Kall- "s/t" 

Living former members of Lifelover returned to come at their legacy from a more post- black metal atmospheric direction while retaining every ounce of bleakness. Perhaps not as depressive as Lifelover, but that means the bar was very high. You get the message here without the dramatics of their former glory. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2014/12/kall-st.html

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3-Mayhem- "Esoteric Warfare" 2014

A band that needs no introduction as they are the un-godly fathers of the second wave of black metal. This lineup was helmed by   Necrobutcher, Hellhammer, and Attila board as well as the addition of newcomer Teloch from Nidingr on guitars. He has been playing with the band since 2011, but this is his first studio appearance. The latter helped keep the band's sound intact, as he had been playing their earlier material so knew how to blend it into the new stuff. They do not try to bank on former glory but take things in a new direction. It's important that Mayhem released this album rather than revisiting classic ground they have already tread,

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2014/05/mayhemesoteric-warfare.html

2- Atriarch- "An Unending Pathway" 

The band's first album for Relapse Records did not find their sound dramatically altered. The biggest shift between this album and "Ritual of Passing",  is they are delving much further into the whole death-rock vibe. It's not your typical death rock where it's punk rock with a little Halloween to it, but an actual worship of death. This is black metal that just flew out of the Bat Cave. sounds like the guys in Atriarch are also not opposed to the post-Rozz Williams years of Christian death, as there is a similar serpentine slither writhing. This is a good case for darkness being just as heavy as metal. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2014/10/atriarch-unending-pathway.html

1-Watain- "The Wild Hunt" 

"the Lawless Darkness" is a perfect album, thus making them dig deep to write a follow-up to it. Rather than replicating what they did on that album Erik took chances and went in a darker more melodic direction that includes a dusky power ballad of sorts and a gothic haze over the less pounding moments. It is an album I returned to for the most repeat listens and endured the decade with

\ https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2013/08/watain-wild-hunt.html

pst87

the Top 10 Black Metal Albums of 2018

It is that time again. Black Metal is in a weird place this year. There is no lack of it, as the sub-genre has left it's stain on almost all forms of metal, it is the attitude that finds it's self being compromised and watered down. Hateful was one of the best days once used to described it's sound and now that is being apologized for due to the current political climate.So here are some band's who help make black metal hate again. The score from my reviews to help determine the ranking , but also how many times Last FM told me I listened to each album.An album can have all the critical acclaim in the world but if it does not inspire multiple listens then how good can it actually be ?

While the top ten lists for other genres leaned more heavily on the side of  new blood for black metal is was the  more well established acts who put out the greatest quality albums .  Rather than posting media of a track from each band I am leaving a link to the review, which will contain Bandcamp or Full Album Streams. Ok enough talking about it, the time has come to dig into the top 10 black metal albums of 2018.

10-Mutilation Rites - "Chasm"

 Many of New York's black metal bands come from the hipster circles of Brooklyn. They bring elements of punk, post-rock and avant garde indie rock into the mix. Mutilation Rites separates themselves by only bringing more metal into the equation. Most of the improvements come from the production end, as they might weigh in on more of the death metal side of  their sound, but the identity of the band is firmly intact even with line up changes.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/07/mutilation-rites-chasm.html

9- Hegemone- "We Disappear" 


 While this album originally scored lower than Mutilation Rites , it grew on me and I listened to it more. It's woeful blackened Sludge that throbs against scathing screamed vocals . Occasionally the vocals drop down into a lower growl. There is a weird almost industrial pounding breaking down mixed with post- rock , so these guys are not afraid to step out and experiment. They have the dark sonic intensity that I am on the look out for in heavy music.


 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/08/hegemone-we-disappear.html

8-Curse Upon a Prayer -"Three Woes"


 Make Black Metal hate again.This band from Finland has the balls to not give a fuck and this album lashes out at Islam. Now there is a political slant since aside from the hippies in Sweden, the rest of Scandinavia tries to be fairly isolationist.Thundering double bass, blast beats and tremolo picked guitar all do their part to make this black metal as fuck.Their are hints of melody in the guitar. They passion with which they throw themselves into their music compensates for anytime they might not be the most original band on the planet.


 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/05/curse-upon-prayer-three-woes.html

7-Cultes des ghoules-"Sinister" 

 The fourth album from the Polish black metal band finds , an almost more Urfaust sound . The vocals are more sung in a resonate bellow on the first song , than howled or screamed manically. They continue to get darker , though perhaps not heavier.It's a mature effort on their part and finds a balance between making fans of true black metal happy as their grim souls can be, without getting stale and embracing experimentation.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/09/cultes-des-ghoules-sinister.html

6-Mol- "Jord"

This album came out in April and almost breezed by under the radar which would've been a damn shame. They hammer into their songs with a meaner sneer than the bulk of the so called "black gaze' bands despite being not far removed from Deafheaven sonically. Most of the songs are strong and they take what could be a tired bandwagon and freshen it up.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/06/mol-jord.html

5- Nachtmystium- "Resilient"

 These guys are one of my favorite black metal projects. They are not all blast beats. In fact it's just a dark tortured pulse. Very similar to depressive suicidal black metal, though Judd is just not being melodramatic about it and has tried to kill himself in other ways than the most obvious , which I think is also a metaphor for his music. Better than most black metal acts have mustered since it is not at all redundant.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/12/nachymystium-resilient.html

4-Craft - "White Noise and Black Metal" 

 Right from the smoother guitar tone of the first song it's obvious things are now very different for this band. The sonic sprawl of their sound allows them to get away with more blast beats than before It is however not as hateful as I hope which took at period of adjustment for me, but in the end it did grow on me. It's less confrontational and more mature, a phrase that might not seem to be praise in many black metal circles , but here it works for what they are doing.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/06/craft-white-noise-and-black-metal.html

3-Wayfarer "World's Blood" 

 This band from Colorado creates some dark brooding metal that makes you forget they are from the States. The vocals are a lower growl that leans more in the death metal direction. When they pick up the pace there is the shadowy feeling looming with a more black metal influence. So regardless of genre there is a great mood and atmosphere coating this album. Some songs ebb and flow into clean passages like more kinetic version old Agalloch. This album grew on me in the best ways possible thanks to it's well balanced sense of dynamics and a great dark guitar tone.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/08/wayfarer-worlds-blood.html

2-Watain-"Trident Wolf Eclipse"



Watain are back with a renewed venom on their 6th album. They hit you with a thundering combative thrashing dialed way up. There is more of a blasting fury colored feral rawness yet retaining the more nuanced accents of their songwriting. In tone compared to "the Wild Hunt" proves this to be a much more straightforward black metal album, as they return to their more mean spirited roots. They band could have easily said "This album is going to be a return to our heavier more punishing sound, and they would not have been lying.


https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2017/12/watain-trident-wolfe-eclipse.html

1-Totalselfhatred - "Solitude" 


7 years since their last album, they once has a more aggressive take on depressive black metal,but it is hard to complain about what goes down as it's so well done. My ears can not escape the fact that the first song falls neatly into the depressive black metal box, where their earlier work had more of a unhinged feral quality to it. I also don't remember synths and piano playing as big of a role as they do here. The album really needed to be played loudly in order to soak in all the layers. Maturity is one of this album's characteristics. Gone are the rock god solos, but everything well played, with no doubt they are excellent musicians who have grown up to serve the song. They are little more mellowed with time, but with a wider depth of emotion.


https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/02/black-metal-history-month.html

The Top 15 Black Metal Albums of 2014

At this point half the bands in metal today are trying to be blackened something, so here are the top fifteen black metal bands, that aren't death metal bands trying to grim it up or post- rock bands with some anguished screams mixed in...these are all bands that are so pure...so cold.The cream of the crop this years is coming from not only Norway, but also France, Canada, Sweden, German, Greece, Chicago and the Deep South. If you want to take a listen and stream is not up music can be found on the link to the full review.  So here we go...

15- Alraune  - the Process of Self Immolation

The first band from the deep south. This one is from Nashville. Despite glimmers of hardcore this is USBM with enough snarl to be convincing and a sense of adventure that balances out any of their hipster leanings.

http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2014/12/catching-up-with-2014-alraune-process.html

14- Ruin Lust- s/t

This gem is encrusted in as much grit and grime as any death metal band this side of Disma while blasting out some pretty grim tunes. Having a drummer who also sits on the throne for bands like Ash Borer, Fell Voices and Vorde. New York is known for great black metal and here's one reason why.

http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2014/11/catching-up-with-2014ruin-lust-st.html


13- Spectral Lore-iii

This album is weird and wonderful. It's progressive and experimental with our forsaking black metal, a unique guitar tone haunts the album and makes this band stand out from the pack. Score one for Greece.

http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2014/12/spectral-lore-iii.html

12-Dead Wood - "Picturing a Sense of Loss"

Like old Deafheaven these guys are metal first and the post- rock elements just come. This Frankfurt band has a great guitar sound and a sense of dynamics.

http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2014/12/deadwood-picturing-sense-of-loss.html

11-Schammasch- "Contradiction"

This band hits that perfect spot mid-period Enslaved use to . Progressive, dynamic and melodic enough to be engaging and emotive, but still firmly rooted in black metal. These guys aren't dependent on blast beat and can sound just as dire and dark even playing at slower tempos.      

http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2014/12/schammaschcontradiction.html

10-Taake -"Stridens Hus"

Hoest descended from the first wave of Norwegian black metal and has been going strong since the 90's. "Stridens Hus" doesn't break that trend.On the first few listens it seemed like he was relying on blast beats, but this album grows on you.  There is less experimentation this go around it's in your face all the way through. For a one man show every element holds its own. There is no question here as to if Hoest has earned his corpse paint.


9-Nocturnal Depression-"Near to the Stars"

Quality Depressive Suicidal Black Metal wasn't exactly flourishing this year, but this French project featuring  one of the members of Make a Change Kill Yourself, brought a healthy dose of despair. Despite the lo-fi production this album carries the drone of Burzum while wallowing in the futility of it's existence.

8-Wormreich-"Wormcult Revelations" This is the band's first release on Moribund Records and you would never guess from the dark depraved tornado of chaos invoked on this album,that these guys are from the Deep South.Beautifully dissonant and chillingly dynamic, my only regret is that I haven't been able to give this one more spins. I suppose it's cool they threw a Death Spell Omega cover on here, I really want to hear more of what these guys are capable of conjuring on their own.

7- Thantifaxath-"Sacred White Noise"

Seeping with angular weirdness this Canadian band might be the most unique band on this list. This album is more of an exorcism that explodes into your ears rather than a barrage of blast beats. However the ugliness and anguish secures it's place in the genre and even broadens the scope of what black metal can be while staying true to itself. It's experimental but without getting lost in lazy hipster formlessness.

5-Sado Sathanas-"Nomos Harmartia"
  Plenty of epic excursions litter this of folk tinged album, but it doesn't distract these German black metallers from staying the course.They get how to be an atmospheric black metal band and not sacrificing the balls that makes this black metal to begin with. This album covers a wide range of sonic landscapes. This album goes to show you don't have to stoop to "necro" production in order to make quality black metal. 4-Ellorsith-1959

There was a smattering of death metal about this Scottish band's concept album about the Dyatlov Pass Incident, but it's so raw, cold and oppressive there is no question this is black metal. The death metal aggression is blended perfectly,so you are never wondering if the blast beats are just an after thought. This was released on a very limited cassette run, so you know it has to be cvlt as fuck.

3-Nachtmystium -"The World We Left Behind"

O.k, we get it Blake Judd has drama. He may or may not be a scumbag. This is about music, so I don't care, in fact I prefer my rock stars to be strung out on drugs, black metal needs more junkies pouring there souls out if this is what it brings.This album has all the elements that made Nachtmystium great, the creepy melodies slinking in dark alleys, the lyrics written during self-destructive binges.If this is Nachtmystium's final album then it was a good note to end on.

2- Mayhem-"Esoteric Warfare"

If Mayhem had tried to make another "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" it would have bored the bullet belt right off me. Instead they release an album with pristine production, that takes chances and takes no prisoners. Attila has never sounded better and Hellhammer makes his case for being the best drummer in black metal. As Spinal Tap once asked "How much blacker can you get ? the answer was none then and it is none now.

1- Nasheim - "Solens Vemod"

The Swedish act is another one man show. The master mind behind this is Erik Grahn. Grahn  came out  of the gate on his first full length and killed it. This album sweeps you away. Combining the lush romanticism of Emperor, atmosphere and incredible arrangements, my only regret it not finding this masterpiece when it came out under the radar back in February.

Nachtmystium: "The World We Left Behind"

The good news is Nachtmystium isn't breaking up, the bad is they are now a studio project only so don't expect Blake and the boys swinging through your town anytime soon. The fate of the band had been in limbo, as Judd went through some personal issues leading him to seek out recovery. So this album carries some of the emotional turmoil of that time in his life and marks a new chapter for both Judd and the band. The opener is more of an instrumental intro as it goes from a more ambient chilling shadow of black metal to a galloping riff."Fireheart" does contain more of the classic elements, though one of the classic elements of the band is to constantly evolve so their classic elements really depend on what era we are talking about. There are still the swirls of psychedelics giving your ears a contact high.

"Voyager" stays the course being both epic and dark, still lingering in the almost depressive side of what the Silencing Machine" did but still with more experimentation and a return to some of the more hooky vocal arrangements. Judd doesn't really scream or growl but has a raspier take on what Venom once did. The guitars contrast this by being more melodic than ever. There are also no sprawling space jams like there were on Assassins, the longest song is the 8-and-a-half-minute "Into the Endless Abyss" which is also one of the album's first undeniably blasty black metal moments. The chant of the immortal hell into this mortal hell gives me something more to latch onto,

There is a transcendent feel to "In the Absence of Existence". The riff drones on into a more soaring place, which is a formula that works well for Judd. There is a beautiful moment of creepy chaos at the beginning of the title track that I'm sure sums up where Judd's mind was during the time of this recording. It also has more experimentation than what the album has offered thus far. The guitars continue to strike out on even more melodic territory than previous releases, almost moving into an Alcest direction.

"Tear You Down" ...which is featured below, is also melodic but in a much darker manner. The vocals take on more of a whisper to create a much creepier sonic space. It transitions back in a more traditional metal approach before going back into its creepy place. There is almost a post-punk feel to the beginning of "On the Otherside" It succeeds in hitting that place of being sonically layered as well as metal.

The female vocals on the final track were a surprise, it stays it the almost shoe gaze-like sway many of the other songs have flirted with, but in the first few minutes, this could easily be a song by the Gathering, until Judd's rasp comes in.

I will go ahead and round this up to a 10, it may not be the sort of black metal you expect if you are a fan of the band's earlier work, but most fans who have followed the band's evolution will not find the direction this albums goes in to be a shock at all. In fact, it's the next logical step away from the last album.


  

Avichi:"Catharsis Absolute"

The 2011 "The Devil's Fractal " was pretty impressive , so this one man band out of Chicago has the bar set pretty high for it. Aamonael also works with Lord Mantis and played guitar for Nachtmystium so it more than capable of creating some next level blackness. The album opens with a piano ditty, before bursting into "Flames in My Eyes" which sees this project taking a darker, rawer and more chaotic turn.

The big change is the use of more clean vocals which are a lower baritone chant or croon. This gives the album more of an Emperor feel and more ritualistic element. "Light Weaver" is blast heavy but finds a more melodic guitar phrasing, that is pretty damn catchy when the drums latch onto the the groove. Aamonael does not feel the need to really pay much homage to his past associations as this song feels more like Watain to me than it does Nachtmystium. Though coming out of the chorus there is a slight Nachtmystium feel to the triumphant march the guitars take.

A doomish lurch hovers over the opening passages of " Voice of Intuition". The guitars are notably melodic and smartly played , though not as much emphasis is played of jarring technique. The pace picks up and the vocals drone on chant in the background. The  vocals do return to a roar for a moment here and there.The guitars are dense and well layered with subtle melody.

The 12 minute "All Gods Fall" is the album obligatory epic, which all black metal seems to have these days. From the drone , unfolds a sinister riff that recalls the more depressive side of black metal. The vocals have a very Emperor feel to them, so in some sense that would be by proxy a King Diamond feel, to the mid range moan. Surprisingly the song stays on the one epic riff the drone builds up to, which seems to work though I would expect a more dynamic range in twelves minutes ,particularly after the ever shifting landscape of riffs "
"The Devils Fractal" explored.

Oddly the seven and a half minute title track that closes the album is just a piano ditty that serves more as an outro than an actual song. So this album when stripped down to the actual songs is pretty to the point ,as a songwriter Aamonael  keeps it simple focusing more on the layered guitar melodies and vocal nuances than trying to show off. I'll give this one an 8.5, as its quality melodic black metal that's not afraid to warp the mold.

The Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums: 50 to 41

Diving into the top 50 of our Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time



50- Nachtmystium- Assassins:Black Meddle pt 1

Blake Judd and Friends redeem American Black Metal.



49- Opeth -Deliverance

The Swedish death metal band takes another step forward into the perfect blend of prog and heaviness, which they later get carried away with.



48- Life of Agony - the River Runs Red

This album defined the Road Runner era of metal in the 90's. It hit the perfect blend of darkness and groove where they others drifted into mall metal.



47-Helloween- Keeper of the Seven Keys

While they borrowed heavily from Maiden, this album influenced power metal for years to come.



46-Kamelot - Ghost Opera

Their fans might suggest albums preceding this one, but the songs on this album are flawless with the band at their peak.



45- Iced Earth- the Dark Saga

This 1996 album by America's beefiest power metal band, was based on the Spawn comic.



44- Diamond Head - Lighting to the Nations

The album Metallica stole most of their earlier riffs from.



43-Agalloch -Ashes Against the Grain

They hit the sweet spot on this album finding the perfect cross roads for their folk, black metal and post-rock influences to all meet at.



42-Mayhem- De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

Written in 1987 murder and suicide delayed this albums release until 1994.



41-Katatonia- Viva Emptiness

Bleak and depressing as it is full of melodic beauty, this Swedish band carved their niche with this album.

Hate Meditation : "Scars"

Not to be confused with the band from Finland this is Blake Judd's newest effort during his current  break from Nachtmystium. Fans of Nachtmystium's early work will be particularly pleased with this release as it is a return to raw more cvltish black metal, this is not to say all elements of experimentation are up in smoke with the rest of the burning church or that is color by numbers black metal.  The band on this album is Wrest on Bass , Job Bos of Dark Fortress on synth and Sam Shroyer of Vitandus drumming. Familiar faces though not a super group the likes of Twilight.

"The Deceiver and the Believer" starts things off in cascadian flourish of fury, yet their is a constant current  of ambient drone, for me this plays as one of the albums big strengths as I think its as important to be as heavy sonically as you are heavy as in metal, because with out the sonic factor it leaves the door open for the seas of cheese to flow in.

"Impure Rage" has the feel of old Immortal, Judd uses one of the more evil croaks I have heard in some time and that is saying something considering the amount of black metal I listen to. The  lyrics are more decipherable here and sound like a cheering section for a suicide. Their as some subtle melodies layered in the fray which take a few listens to pick up making this one grow on me, as on first listen I thought this song to be a one trick pony.

"End Times" stays the chorus with the blasty mcnasty, but the drums are buried in the mix. The croak is just as depraved, I like the line in " chemical decay I wither away" its a very stark narrative through the entire album and moments like the chords which ring out in what I suppose is the chorus has an almost depressive suicidal feel. In interviews I have read with Judd he has said he felt burnt out with metal and recently became a fan again so this album displays that and from other things I have read points to depressive suicidal black metal  getting him back into metal, which makes sense due to it's morose melodic layers.

"The Genocide March"  goes into a nice swaying verse riff  before resorting to a much more straight forward attack which reminds me a little of Nachtmystium. What becomes the chorus carry more punch in dropping back into a half time waltz and carries a creepy melody. The lyrics fuel the fires of Nachtmystium's Nazi allegations, but are no more incendiary than what Slayer has been writing for years, though they could be directed at Christians or the general populous of sheeple.

"Wrath and Revenge" is a very straight forward wave of blasts in your face, but the fact it is so straight forward causes the scathing elements to lose some of their bite after it drags on relying on the only dynamic until the last minute when it slows into a groove. The title track is more than likely my favorite as it borders on being shoe gaze it's so hypnotic but it doesn't force some fairy balladry on you like Alcest in the process. It revels in it's sluggish darkness and wanders off into some interesting places, i think all the transitions work pretty perfect and this is the most flawless moment on the album.

I under stand the reason the production value on this is muddy and comes nowhere close to sounding as good as any of the last three Nachtmystium albums but some times it plays to the albums favor sometimes not so much I think this is more of a passion project so budget restriction might have played in to this or they could have made a more conscious choice to want to get the old Burzum sound. I'll give this album an 8.5 though by the time the year ends it might have grown on me, if you are a fan of raw black metal go ahead and round this up  to a 9 as chances are rough recordings and straight forward song song structures are you thing.



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The Top 15 Metal Albums of 2012

Perhaps it's the aggressive nature of the music or athletic prowess of the musicianship,but no other genre of music is held under such competitive scrutiny as the looking glass metal fans place on this infernal art form. I figured since that cats over at Metalsucks thought so much of their tastes to have a top fifteen i would go ahead and tack on five more to the top ten article i wrote for Hiplanta, hey its New Years and i'm fighting off chemical depression so i dont have the inertia to write a whole new blog so take what you can get becuase this is keeping me from blogging out a suicide note and posting on face book that im giving away all my things. In the event i do this ill post a list of cds up for grabs along with my brothers email and he can spread the metal in my memory, but if i make into 2013, then hopefully i can find a loop hole in the federally funded mental health and get on meds.

The criteria I used was we're they still standing on my iPod , how many listens had they acquired on my last fm and the magnitude of their artistic achievement ( this elmininated a lot stuff from bands who churn out the same old same old). With each entry I have included a little salve to soothe the ache caused by not seeing your favorite but inferior band listed.  So lets count them down.


15- "Thaumiel" by Ofermod, This is raw nasty black metal with a twist of death to give it enough grunt that they are growling about succubi giving them blow jobs, o.k to be fair they are just tasting their semen, so these guys might have had to do all the work and just needed a demon to dump it on. It's pretty mean barrage they hit you with and their are these weird sections of almost folk metal like clean singing that actually work, one of those hear it to believe its, and they handled those parts even better than the lame Eluvietie that came out earlier this year, the lack of hurdy Gurdy helped.

14-"the Giant" Ahab, Like another funeral doom band on here it's a late entry, but there's some top notch shredding on this one, I mean how many doom bands of this ilk can pull out a solo that sounds like it was lifted from mid period Frank Zappa. The vocals are relatively versatile and pretty interesting , the only reason it didn't rank higher is some of the slugger moments I have to be in the mood for and when you are talking about auicide to strangers in Sweden reading you blog well you need a gloomier soundtrack or medication. Which considering the hoops you have to jump through these days a noose might be preferred, but I can still joke about it so if you are feeling uncomfortable reading this it's metal get grim and get over, take my advice I'm not using it.

13-"With Hearts Toward None"-Mgla, This Polish blackened death outfit won me over with their admiration for Dissection...yeah Watain didn't have an album out this year and Mgla has much more of their own identity than Thulcandria. This spot could have been occupied by the new Anhedonist but I had iPod problems and haven't been able to give that one a solid listen and this one rips pretty hard so it earned its place on its own accord.

12-"Woods 5: Grey Skies and Electric light" by Wooda of Ypres- This one often just squeaks in under what I consider metal, the lyrics add to its heaviness particularly considering their timely nature with main man David Gold's death. For goth infused metal this one hit the mark missed by My Dying Bride and Tiamat, though it offered a simpler take on being a stand in for Type O Negative. This album needed to be revisited as I enter the winter steel cage match with depression.

11-"In Somniphobia"  by Sigh , I'll go ahead and stop all of you kids hanging out at the Mall of Georgia right now and say the Faceless will not be on this list, the guitar tone was limped than a nursing home and the clean vocals belonged on a Cw teen romance show. Do yourself a favor if you think you are into progressive metal and check out Sighs new one as it progresses in ways Frank Zappa would have been proud of  and still has blast beats. Not the only album with sax on this list either, but it has some of the best guitar work.

10- "Wisdom of Centuries" by Khors, While the new Enslaved isn't awful they have stepped so far into Opeth territory to make it on here. So I choose a darker shade of pagan metal in Khor's new album which has more teeth to it than any thing Enslaved has done since "Vertabrae "  pretty epic so have your twenty side dice ready before you give it a listen.

9 "Al Alzif" by the Great Old Ones"  o.k the new Alcest isn't heavy enough to make it and the new Deathspell Omega is just an e.p. so representing the French this year is a band who bases their lyrics on the works of  H.P Lovecraft which immediatly mutes any argument against them. They still have enough ambiance and adventure to satisfy fans of the other French bands.

8-"Longing" by Bell Witch - This doom duo contains the bassist of Samothrace and I think this is a much more compelling listen than the Samothrace which is on a lot of people's lists. Look for the review of this to be posted tomorrow, it kinda feels like a soundtrack to this moment it my life for better or worse I guess when you are talking about drone heavy funeral doom.

7-" Dragged From our Restless Trance" by Bastard Sapling, if Krallice's new one didn't bring home the bacon for you this Virginia band summons Norway better than other American black metal bands, be prepared for ten minute skull fucking sagas of songs.

6-"All We Love We Leave Behind" by Converge,  While metal core becomes a thing of the past and the sludge band wagon runs out of gas Converge continues to do what they do, is it Jane doe? No is it even You Fail Me ? Not really but  them pissing on the singer of Suicide Silence's  set to record would still sound better than most band's on a good day.

5- "Eremita" by Ihshan  Yep , you are reading it right no Meshuggah. Rather an album with great production value than one where all the life is mixed out of them. You want guitar heroes Emperor's main man not only has a meaner growl than the Swedes have put to album he is also an under rated guitarist which beats out an overrated one any day of the week.

4-"Atra Mors" by Evoken the past  two years funeral doom has really gotten new life, some of the trailblazers for this are Evoken who can send chills up your bong in ways Neurosis can no longer since they have decided to become a Pink Floyd tribute band.

3-"Silencing Machine" by Nachtmystium  It's back to black metal, while High on Fire is busy ripping off  Venom and Motörhead I've been much more content listening to Blake Judd strip things down for some raw darkness and misery on this one and  he still remembers the value of  songwriting to top it off.

2- "Sorrow and Extinction"  by Pallbearer . I saw someone post that is sounded like slowed down eighties dungeons and dragons metal to them....and the problem with that is? Last time I checked some of the greatest metal ever came out in the eighties and the litmus test for good metal is how does it sound when I'm killing orcs . If you do not agree with this you don't know shit about metal so you have no voice in the matter.  These guys are killing lich lords big time like Ronnie James Dio.

1- "Ritual of Passing" by Atriarch You mean to tell me you mixed death rock with my black metal and smoked it with some doom? Well thank you very much I now have the perfect soundtrack to burn my family alive in their sleep before I slit my wrists on acid. In all seriousness folks this is not just chords and growling, but some real spiritual shit going down, chances are you might not get and then your probably weren't supposed to , must be heard to be felt, nothing else that came out this year was this dark and depraved.

Lord Mantis : Pervertor

O.k in keeping with the theme of Nachtmystium affiliated based bands , it makes sense of go ahead and review Lord Mantis who holds bassist Charlie Fell and guitarist Andrew Markuszewski in it's ranks. this mean machine was touched on in one of my future of black metal diatribes, and while it's up for debate how cvlt as fuck Chicago's Lord Mantis reminds me of a more feral Today is the Day, they do rock your face in the most fierce manner possible.

Title like blackened sludge are tagged to the band but the churn of a song like "Septic Christ" seems to fast to be sludge. The drums on this songs have more attention to detail and relentless double bass, helps to defy the sludge label.

The guitar tone is more fuzzed and thick than what typically is thought of as black metal. But " Vile Divinity" is as majestic in it's gallop as any Immortal, OK maybe any is a tall order but it's worthy of rolling 20 sided dice over a bloody bible to. I hear a little Coroner in this one as well, so some German thrash thrown in, Sodom influence tends to be found in rawer thrashier black metal and this song sound more like Nachtmystium than most of the album. I imagine the session for this one came before " the silencing machine" but now listening to this post "Silencing Machine" I can hear how it influenced that album.

the vocals lower on "Levia" into a raspy narrative. the uncanny ambiance of the chords on this songs gives more credence to the black metal label. This songs seethes in it's restraint as the toms build.

"Ritual killer" captures the kinda of gargantuan lumber all of the djent Meshuggah clones would like to ape , but with out all of the mall metal connotations. They aren't content with just beating you with one type of riff nor to the have to blind you with solos to obscure the fact. What I suppose passes for solos are single note melodies that color the back ground rather than hog the spot light. The tempo shift in "ritual killer" alludes to " through sliver and blood" Neurosis, but for the most part this one is singular in purpose.That purpose is blunt force trauma.

Wolvhammer comes to mind at the start of "at the mouth", the like the syncopated vocal out burst when the hit the groove in this one . I also recognize more eyehategod influence and maybe even brutal truth, though if the truth be brutall told I had to have Ben in high school the last time I heard that band. About this point in th album is here the argument for melody and atmosphere in heavy music can be made, as this all starts running together and blast beat at the end adds to the blur.

The Acid bath unfolds on "the whip and the body" , the churn of this one is a slight variation, it could use some Dax Riggs crooning as th bark of the scalded dog loses some of the burn it started with. Like the blog I posted on sex and metal ,I think if you are going to look for it is entitled "now that's fucking metal" and sticking to the theory we are jack hammer dry humming like a dog for dominance rather Than pleasure and the solo at the end of this one isn't erotic.

I will give this one a six because the sheer venom it bites with at first is a lot of fun, but the incessant nature of its bite numbs out and like marathon masturbation it feels good but the grows less inspired the longing it beats you raw.

Chrome waves-S/T

With this weeks news that Sonic Youth front man Thurston Moore going black metal super group Twilight , it makes Chrome Waves self titled e.p seem that much more essential. I like Sonic Youth they provided a sound track to many high school drug binges and subsequent bouts of melancholy, but I feel the same way about Johnny Marr playing in Modest Mouse. Like Twilight Chrome Waves features a Nachtmystium    connection in Jeff Wilson  the guitarist who has also played in Wolvhammer. The band also includes    Stavros from the atlas moth and Drummer Bob Fouts from Gates of Slumber behind the kit .

if we are just looking for a reason to call this black metal ,  you might be able to really go out on a limb and justify this claim with the vocals as maybe  black metal is found in the howling, though it crosses over into that deaf heaven post hardcore grey area so this is not your too troo for school flavor of cvltness , though what American metal really is ? Twilight has more of the scathing chaotic tension to feel more like black metal than these guys, who never build up them momentum, I can have repeat listens of this e.p. with ease due to the lull of its hypnotic octave chords. Sure it's a definable sum of its influences but it's execution manages to capture enough feeling to obscure this fact.

There are some really pretty builds of transcendence that is like a heavy version of the Gloria Record to my ears, these guys all have Mogwai on their iPods as well. They create a drone of sorts in they manner some of the sonic hammer of guitars fall. Some of the octave swells in the guitar progressions are a little post hard core in the vein of like "you fail me" era Converge.Come to think of it the second little instrumental reminds me of Converge as well, perhaps if the were trying to cover " please please please let me get what I want" .

The vocals work as an abrasive layer similar to converges approach, it's a little one dimensional, but the majestic flow, The half time drop back varies this droning nature.the vocal overdubs are well layered and this album has  a very clean production.  The one stand out blast  beat comes  at the end of the song and is a breif tip of the viking  helmet. so if you want to get into black metal but are trying to build yourself up into being able to endure excessive blasting then this is a good sparse entry point, as must of the drumming ,keep things at slower pace but not at a doom crawled march, ating of the riff age makes up for this . The guitar solos soar out from this sonic build to a pretty epic effect.

 That cursed armored truck stomps out almost into a gallops the vocals lower a bit allowing the The subtle keyboard layers really add to it ,every thing on this ep is done ingood taste perhaps almost to a fault as metal is supposed tone over the top, but the songs feel really good to me so even the kind of middle of the road stance this album takes is excused, this is uncharacteristcfor me as nothing sounds dark or ominous, the screams sure are wretched but not hateful, in now way would you ever suspect these guys of burning a church down which is why I was be more likely to lump them in with post metalscreams to be a little more dynamic they stay in the same sonic range through out though.cMy only complaint is at twenty eight minutes the two three minute instrumentals could have been time better spent on another song, even. Cover would have worked .

I have probably given more thought in trying to score this album than I should, if faced with having to conserve space on my iPod the two instrumentals would have to go, so I pondered if if should even count them as songs or are they just an intro and a transitioning interlude? While the wheel isn't being reinvented the actual songs are preformed pretty flawlessly and this album sounds great. It's withstood multiple listens with little effort.I think given the middle of the road nature of albums rather passive aggressive personality an 8 is fair enough.