The ILM Extreme Metal Poll Voting, Discussion and Campaigning Thread

Yay, it's finally here, your chance to vote for what you think are the best extreme metal albums of all time!
I am going to let this poll run for 2 weeks, so you have till November 2nd to get your ballots in!

I am going with a 50 album maximum and a 5 album minimum - try and vote for as many albums as you can as it makes the resulting rankings more robust and credible.

I highly recommend you choose your items from the nominations list, but you can vote for things not on it, just be aware that probably no one other than you will vote for it. Please do not vote for an album more than once, I will throw away ballots that are just 50 lines of the same album.

Nominations spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WKuG4E8u5i4xOPvs6wq9ZPgGxkAmv1w8YEXVG9HANfI/edit?usp=sharing

Ballot entry form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1UXk29Q7FIyZ9smY_AanpCnh9c5g2Yw7cEZG-FCKldG4/viewform?usp=send_form

Have fun, and please discuss albums, campaign for the one's you love, "banter" all you want but PLEASE DO NOT PASTE YOUR BALLOTS ON THIS THREAD.
Links to spotify, soundcloud, bandcamp & youtube are definitely appreciated but please don't embed anything as it makes the thread load slowly.

I'll be around a bunch to answer questions and deal with any problems that might come up. Also, if anyone out there wants to help me do the tabulating I would love it. I'm pretty sure I can figure it out on my own but I would love any extra help!

\m/

I thought you said 100 ? Not sure cutting down to 50 will be easy. It is an of all time poll.

Yeah, good point, I forget that the crowd that has nominated nearly 600 albums would want 100-album ballots. So hear ye all

Ballots now have a 100-album maximum!

I will edit the entry form to reflect that.

These two entries:

Peste Noire - La sanie des siècles
Peste Noire - Panégyrique de la dégénérescence

are actually just one album named 'La sanie des siècles - Panégyrique de la dégénérescence'

so my ballot is reflecting that

wooo time to work on a 100 ballot!

anyone voted yet?

Just noticed one of my sets of nominations is missing from the doc...

Annihilator - Alice in Hell
Blut aus Nord - 777 - The Desanctification
Dark Angel - Darkness Descends
The Great Old Ones - TEKELI-LI
Neurosis - Times of Grace

(Portal - Vexovoid was also on the same list but someone else nominated that anyway)

Any chance they could be added on? If not I'll just write-in the ones I want to vote for.

wow didn't even notice Dark Angel not on there

really looking forward to this poll, will start organizing my ballot this week

It's already interesting to spot some discrepancies with RYM's charts - one band that's conspicuously absent in this nominations list is Moonsorrow for example.

I didn't nominate anything because I don't really know that many classic extreme metal albums, I just figured I'd wait and see which nominees looked interesting and make a playlist out of those. Right now I'm listening to Satyricon, which must be the most underrated classic black metal band. I think this album has been recommended to me more than once, but I have yet to give it much attention. It's excellent, the relatively clear production makes the odd meters a little more disorienting than the wall-of-noise approach of the first couple Emperor albums, for example.

Really wish I nom'd more/watched noms more carefully, 'cause 'Seasons In The Abyss' isn't in there, and it really should be - easily my fave Slayer.

im sure frobisher can add it

Dinsdale: I will fix the list to reflect that,
Gavin: somehow I missed those I will get them on the list!

ok, those problems are fixed

I'll put on the Slayer too, but no more late noms! Y'all had lots of time!

It always happens.

time to get started

I'll start the campaigning: probably doesn't need to be said, but I hope everyone remembers Celtic Frost and Hellhammer in the voting. For me, even more than Venom, they're responsible for the sound of extreme metal.

Agreed!

I was going to wait for the rollout to school myself on the important stuff. With 100 albums max my ballot will still be full of post-00 oddities of personal significance.

An update FYI - I've already received 3 ballots!

I know it can be a struggle, especially when bands you love have all their albums nominated.

This is just a suggestion, you don't have to follow it at all, but if you want to and can - please vote for stuff from a variety of subgenres. IMO it will make the results and the roll-out more fun because of the variety. But if all you know about is one type, and that's all you want to vote for -- that's fine, I'd much rather have you vote than sit it out cause you don't think you know enough.

Keep 'em coming!

Thanks for adding the missing stuff Frobisher.

My ballot looks like it'll be 60-odd albums - I could stretch to more, maybe even the full 100 but I'd be voting for stuff I just 'quite like' by that point. Hoping to check out a few things from the list though.

What are people going to campaign for?

One of my nomination posts got either overlooked or misinterpreted, I think. It had:

Deeds of Flesh - Reduced to Ashes
Nile - Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka
Nile - Black Seeds of Vengeance
Nile - In Their Darkened Shrines
Nile - Annihilation of the Wicked

I was just sitting here listening to Deeds' Portals to Canaan and realizing I should've nominated it, saying to myself, well at least I got Reduced to Ashes in there -- then I checked to make sure and voila, no Deeds. Nor Nile.

And I won't use this as an opportunity to petition for Portals to Canaan. Promise.

As for campaigning, I don't even know where to start. My brain's kinda fried at the mo so god only knows when I'll get around to tackling this voting round.

yeah i'll campaign once i figure out my longlist

So far I have tried and liked Kreator's Pleasure to Kill, Satyricon's Nemesis Divina, and Death's Individual Thought Patterns. I think I had at some point heard all the classic Death albums but I didn't remember them in the slightest. I bought the Death and the Satyricon at the local shop the other day, too.

I also listened to half of Thorns s/t and it didn't really connect with me, although I appreciate it as an early use of weird noise in black metal I guess? Enslaved's Eld started out not like how I was expecting but got better halfway through the opening track. Drudkh I was surprised not to enjoy as much as I probably would have seven years ago when I was in my DSBM phase, but I may go listen to it again if I have time before voting closes.

I've been listening to more metal the past two years or so but I'm still pretty much a neophyte. I'd be happy to give a listen to anything that someone feels passionately enough about to campaign for.

Oh, I also bought Marduk's World Funeral, which wasn't nominated, but four other Marduk albums were. Was that my mistake, or is it just not one of their stronger efforts? Should I return it and track down that copy of Opus Nocturne I saw last year in the creepy cash-only shop downtown?

Marduk sort of has three eras, and World Funeral is from the middle and least good one, with Legion as vocalist. On top of that WF is probably the worst effort with Legion. His nursery rhyme delivery annoys me to no end. (I do like Panzer Division Marduk, though; it's like a black metal version of Pierced from Within, just a big bulldozing wall of sound.)

My personal fav Marduk era is the newest with Arioch/Mortuus (same person) on vox. Everything is way more gritty and intense. Rom 5:12 is my go-to album but I'm sure an argument could be made for any of the 5 Mortuus albums. The slow songs, esp "Imago Mortis" and "Accuser/Opposer," are things to behold.

Opus Nocturne is probably the best of the "early era" of Marduk so if you do have a chance to get it, go for it. Definitely has an older school sped up Bathory feel. Those of the Unlight is really good too. Both albums have a strong sense of melody and atmosphere and almost compare to some of Dissection's stuff (minus the Iron Maiden influences).

I always forget about their very first album, Dark Endless. It's ... maybe not a part of those other three eras, more death metal, and clumsy at that.

I should have said "Opus Nocturne is the 'better' of the early era" as it and Those of the Unlight are the only two there.

only one i ever bothered with was panzer division marduk but It never really struck me

My personal fav Marduk era is the newest with Arioch/Mortuus (same person) on vox. Everything is way more gritty and intense.

Totally agree with this. I reviewed Serpent Sermon back in 2012, and liked it a lot. (I also wrote a more general Marduk overview back in 2007 which somehow remains online.)

I should try them again

I listened to two tracks off of World Funeral and I thought they were pretty decent, so I'll probably keep it (I haven't taken it out of the shrinkwrap yet, just in case). I wasn't bothered by the singing, but I think I could hear what you meant? And the record store that had the vinyl copy of Opus Nocturne I saw last year shuttered in January. I'll check out Rom 5:12 for poll purposes this weekend.

My landlord told me last night that he was in the room when Nuclear Assault was recording "Hang the Pope." They also recorded their 2005 album Third World Genocide in my basement, using my snare drum.

Nobody should send in a ballot until frobisher has done his, he should be leading the way!

hah, well... I'm working on it. My ballot is leaning pretty heavy towards SDBM, funeral doom & grind. Its hard to not just go ahead and vote for every Carcass album, I think I'm gonna try and limit my favorite bands to two albums (ya know if they have a bunch nominated).

I'd like to campaign for Gris - À l'âme enflammée, l'âme constellée..., its a great album from a woefully underrated band (I think they're underrated, maybe they are a lot more popular than I think).

xxp I'll get those nominations onto the list, Devilock, even though I think Nile is shite. ;P

I'd be interested to see more campaigning because I've only got about 40 of these albums at maximum (I'm not voting, I haven't heard nearly enough) and I'd like to know what sets the bands (and albums) apart.

thats more than enough to vote! you gotta vote , if everyone does the same there will only be about 10 ballots!

you only need to vote for 5 and you can do 40 at least you said!

as a backwards record didnt say do it do it do it

I'd like to campaign for Gris - À l'âme enflammée, l'âme constellée..., its a great album from a woefully underrated band (I think they're underrated, maybe they are a lot more popular than I think).

Yes yes yes. It's a real beauty.

Okay, I've never done this type of ballot voting, do the ballots go to Frobisher's email via the profile?

There's a link to the ballot form in the first post

Also, I'm not sure if it's going to make my ballot/be too high up but I only just 'got' Nespithe while listening through a few things. The repulsion I feel when I hear the demonic belching is exactly what they were going for probably.

Made a first pass through artists A-L on the spreadsheet to start making a master list, going just for the obvious stuff, and surprised myself by coming up with only a little over 30 albums. Kind of a relief: I much more look forward to judiciously "adding to" rather than tearfully "removing from" (since I'm going for 100).

My dread at making this ballot may have been ill founded after all. Hurrah.

Of course what's obvious to me may not be obvious to all. I skipped right past Burzum, Bathory, Entombed, and early Cannibal Corpse, because while I get the historical importance, and god knows I love a buttload of bands that wouldn't exist without them, the music itself doesn't click. The case of Bathory esp perplexes me -- early/mid 90s Scandinavian black metal is by far my fav subgenre yet there Bathory is at ground zero, chasing me away. It may have something to do with the order I got into this stuff, death before black, then way later black via Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk, which sort of makes Bathory sound ridiculous (though I do like the raw stuff now, obv, just ... not Bathory).

A mystery for the ages. But mainly for me.

Also yes everyone who's even considering it, please vote. I nominated so many albums and I don't want the poll results to look so slanted in favor of my fascination with late 90s/early 00s stuff. Think of the children.

I think what this thread needs is more outloud thinking and campaigning.
And I am baffled by the not liking of Bathory in the above post!

Is this poll gonna favour music of the 90s basically?

Also, I'm not sure if it's going to make my ballot/be too high up but I only just 'got' Nespithe while listening through a few things. The repulsion I feel when I hear the demonic belching is exactly what they were going for probably.

But like you said, maybe that discomfort is supposed to be happening.

Bathory is a weird case, but I will most likely end up voting for at least two records. The production on them, even more than 2nd wave black metal stuff, is the biggest barrier for me as far as regular listening -- so what I did was make a custom EQ that basically brings out more of the mids so the tracks sound closer to the black thrash that they really were. Bathory's music was very much in line with, say, the first Sodom EP, but even simpler, and more vicious, especially his vocals. The first 4 albums are rooted in fairly old fashioned speed metal and Venom-atmosphere, but it's his vocals and production that push them into black metal territory, as we know it today. Under the Sign of the Black Mark and Blood Fire Death in particular still crush....if you can hang with the harshness.

I will also be voting for Entombed. They are a lot more straightforward than most death metal today, but man, the songs themselves still pack plenty of punch. And my real campaign is for NIHILIST. Demo-quality Entombed before Entombed was a band, with the added bonus of hardcore/crust intensity, and an utter no fucks given to any kind of "melodic" or "death and roll" sensibility that you might associate with the early Swedish scene. Seriously, Nihilist and the first Carnage album might very well represent the best of the original Swedish death metal bands.

My response has been recorded.

The Liturgy album is called 'Aesthethica' with a second h btw, not that this makes any difference really. I'M STILL VOTING FOR IT, STAY FALSE

Also, that Belketre record I nominated isn't here :(

Right, voted.

My #1 is from this year.

What size ballot?

haven't voted yet but planning on it

you only have a few hours!

D:

My ballot had 50 albums on it

We have until midnight on Nov 2 in Frobisher's time zone, right? Which would mean we have something like 34h left?

Also, surprising how I could have forgotten how much ass Reign in Blood kicks.

It occurs to me now that "till November 2" could have meant "until Nov 1 becomes Nov 2".

voted, unweighted and packed full of falsehood

yes sund4r 11.59pm penguin time

11:59 Nov 1 or 11:59 Nov 2?

the former. If a poll gets extended then those who put things off to the last moment will do that and then someone will ask for more time and we go through it again.
Johns gonna need time to work out the results if hes gonna roll out tomorrow

damn, just realized none of my nominations made it onto the spreadsheet :-/

Assück - Anticapital
Cathedral - Forest of Equilibrium
Demolition Hammer - Tortured Existence
Indian - From All Purity
Kriegsmaschine - Enemy Of Man
Mgla - Exercises in Futility
Skepticism - Aes

so, if you haven't voted yet, I encourage you to place assück weighted at #1 to make up for this injustice

yeah sorry I've already voted, as above

my ballot is so extreme. really just amazed by how extreme one ballot can be

Just voted for 40 records.

Oh, crap: could you please add a write-in vote for Petrychor - Makrokosmos to the bottom of my list, Frobisher?

hey I liked that one too, but don't add it to my ballot please

extremely bad, imago? ;)

Voted

gonna be a shame if most funeral doom will be ignored and 3rd rate death and black metal will beat it

skepticism and esoteric both safely on my ballot, pal

actually i never mentioned that i started listening to skepticism. that first album is so great! thanks for talking about it or w/e got me to check them out

hah im glad you voted for them but this is gonna be a poll that has dozens of death and black metal on a single ballot and at best a couple of funeral doom. Still, its not like that wasnt gonna happen. So many people have never heard any of it.
If Corrupted make it too then i'll be happy enough.
You should check out Thergothon , imago. They were the first.

I wonder if Thrash will lose out as its not very extreme to modern ears?

voted B-)

Frobisher how many ballots have you received?

I voted for Corrupted, but not Esoteric, as their best albums (the first two) weren't nominated.

I voted for Corrupted, but funeral doom generally doesn't do much for me (blasphemy, I know-- and not the good, metal kind).

The closest I've come to enjoying funeral doom was via Disembowelment's Transcendence into the Peripheral, and even then I've never made it through the album in one go. Plus I only have the remaster and I don't know if the audio brickwalling was an issue on the original but yikes is it a painful listen.

Honestly I'm not even into the UK doom trinity. I tend to like slow doomy passages only when they're contrasted with something else. Plus black and death just seem to offer more, stylistically, even among single bands: cf. Deathcrush, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, Grand Declaration of War, and Ordo ad Chao; or Erosion of Sanity, Obscura, and Colored Sands.

I did vote for Khanate, somewhere near the end of my list, but they're an entity unto themselves.

so did everyone vote or do they need an extension?

I could throw together a ballot today. I didn't see the deadline until just now.

frobisher if you should consider extending the voting period and ask a mod to edit the thread title with the date.

BLEEP BLOOOP

Yeah, I'm extending the voting till November 5th, 12:00 GMT! So finish up those ballots!
deadlines are just like, guidelines, mannnn...

After that I will start the rollout on Friday if I can get everything tabulated by then!
Thanks to everyone who's voted and take this as a notice as you still have time to vote!!!

So far I've received 26 ballots!! More would be incredible!

As someone who pushed a ballot in early to make the deadline even though I had a few albums I wanted to revisit, I'm a little bummed.

Not enough to make a stink out of it and redo my ballot, however.

well, I'm sorry for that. Anyway, I've got some more tabulating to do and then comes the big rollout thread!

Thank you for everyone who voted, and nominated before that! You are all awesome!!

when is the rollout coming?

Am I too late to vote?

lol

TBF he didn't say which Friday!

BLACK FRIDAY obviously

still pissed David Bowie ended up winning this

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/312/563/05d.jpg

ILX EOY Metal Poll 2015 Nominations & Discussion Thread. ALL welcome to participate whether you are into metal or not!

Even trying to check out mere samples of all the bands with cool names and cool album titles is a nightmare. No wonder extreme metal gets so specific with the subgenres. Trying to narrow it down to the stuff you like is so difficult.

the emperor penguin has got the tabulating done and the roll out has commenced

Thread for coordinating the order and timing of ILM ballot polls

ok it would help if i posted the correct link to frobisher's countdown
Finally... The Top 200 Extreme Metal Albums of ALL TIME!