2015 POLL RESULTS COUNTDOWN - ILM Metal(ish) Albums of the Year

hmmm, do I detect sarcasm young brad?

nah i love funeral doom

66 Midnight Odyssey - Shards Of Silver Fade 236 Points, 7 One #1
http://i.imgur.com/K4R10Ov.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3rTyM1AkQ1ymEyP3DxhiqL
spotify:album:4ujXxE5P4c49hUOhAfoU3R

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/shards-of-silver-fade

If MIDNIGHT ODYSSYE's previous work, 2011's "Funerals From The Astral Sphere" has become a cult release and today is cherished as one of the finest examples of atmospheric black metal, 'Shards Of Silver Fade' is certainly going to break new grounds and to impose the Australian act on a wider audience, independently from metal sub-genres and styles.

The funeral doom grandeur of Tempestuous Fall and the dark-wave vibe of The Crevices Below - sole member Dis Pater's past projects - have been successfully injected into Midnight Odyssey's cosmic black metal body, redoubling the emotional intensity and dark majesty of its melodies.
The result is nothing short of an epic masterpiece, a visionary night voyage of approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes connecting our ancient pagan past with the apocalyptic feelings of a cosmic death.

But as much as death chants, these are also songs of rebirth, hymns to a new life and awareness for Humanity, under brighter stellar lights. "It is exactly like finding a place in the universe, being given a spiritual connection with everything around you, making you feel alive and very much part of the existence around you," Dis Pater explains. "But making you feel somewhat important too, and not just another speck of dust."

The Australian musician thinks of 'Shards Of Silver Fade' as the crowning achievement of MIDNIGHT ODYSSEY's brilliant career. "I can say that each song has taken an immense amount of time and energy, so much that I have been left with little to no desire to even listen to music over the last 12 months or so. It combines elements of all my previous releases, from all my previous projects, a true convergence of styles and musicality. If this was the last Midnight Odyssey release, I would be very proud for it to be so."
credits
released June 8, 2015

http://www.angrymetalguy.com/midnight-odyssey-shards-silver-fade-review/

Ok, be honest. If I told you today’s review was for a double album that clocked in at nearly 160 minutes and consisted of atmospheric blackened doom metal, what would you say? Well, if you’ve heard of Midnight Odyssey, my guess is that you would either say, “No shit, it’s out?” or “Fuck, not them again…” If you don’t know of the band you might say, “Oh wow, I gots to hear me some of that” or “fuck that dribble.” Honesty from Honest Abe Grier, my initial thought veered to the latterest of the latters. The idea of sitting through slow-building atmospheres, auditory representations of depressive landscapes stitched together with heavy synths, wannabe Quorthon-meets-David Gold clean vocals, and some tunnel shrieking seemed overwhelming and exhausting. Not to mention that I could drive halfway across the State during the runtime. But after releasing a very respectable one-hour demo in Firmament and having already tackled a two-hour epic with Funerals from the Astral Sphere (hehe, I said “sphere”), there are definitely things in their sound that work. But can they do it again with Shards of Silver Fade? Will I get lost in this new release like I did Funerals? Should there be a government-controlled cap on album length? Stop with the questions!

Because you have to put up with over two hours of music, I’ll just give you the short answers, sorta. Like many of the one-man bands reviewed this year, Midnight Odyssey’s Dis Pater clearly dumped every damn ounce of his soul into Funerals. Nearly four years after that, Pater crafts you another 2+ hour slab of sadness, darkness, and ambiance that comes close to topping its predecessor, but I still feel that Pater’s ultimate achievement remains Funerals (even though Funerals… has its share of filler and could have been a great 1-1.25 hour album). Regardless of length, Pater’s sound requires intense steeping and only after your bones are finally saturated with the doom and gloom, will you find your inner Dr. Downer.

Unfortunately, Shards of Silver Fade feels long and lacks some of the originality and the somber efficacy found throughout Funerals. Like that opus, this still has some semblance of a midway point in its eight tracks for a quick breather, but these two discs feel like, well… one really long album. Some of this lengthy feeling may also have to do with its eight tracks versus the sixteen found on its precursor. Having more actual song and directions changes throughout its length somehow made Funerals more digestable and memorable.

Midnight Odyssey Shards of Silver Fade 02The first four tracks of this album (technically, the first disc of this two-discer) are actually quite good. “From a Frozen Wasteland,” “Hunter of the Celestial Sea,” “Son of Phoebus,” and “A Ghost in Gleaming Stars” build from a slow moving train of Viking-era Quorthon vox and a doomy pace before growing into a powerful momentum that’s killed off and resurrected in the form of Wintersun-esque keys in “Son of Phoebus.” This enveloping sadness is then transformed into beautiful, piano-driven depression in “A Ghost in Gleaming Stars” before the song slips off into oblivion.

The second half, on the other hand, opens with some crushing, melodic black metal (rasps included) that swaps aggression for peace in the intro to “Starlight Oblivion,” and then resumes its wispy, blackened atmospheres. After mingling with moody atmospheres, it strips down to simplistic acoustic-guitar work as mournful Woods of Ypres character builds it back up into the blackened, gloomy tower that most songs on the album strive to be. After some massive drum work, a final transition occurs in the title track as Pater’s morose Moonspell vocal approach finally puts this giant to sleep.

Shards of Silver Fade is a journey. There is no other way to describe it and it must be taken as a whole to absorb its mood and atmosphere. With that, it’s difficult at times to remember the beginning once you’ve reached the end. Even after listening to this release nearly a dozen times, the only way to pass its substance onto the reader is by following it as I write. Shards… has moments of beauty, moments of captivation, and moments of splendor; however, it’s so long it becomes a chore to come back to and combining the first half with “Starlight Oblivion” and maybe the title track would have been sufficient to make this a strong album. Thankfully, the DR9 rating gives it great listenability but this redundancy brings makes it less enjoyable than the regular variations and majesty found on Funerals from the Astral Sphere.

http://www.themonolith.com/music/review-midnight-odyssey-shards-silver-fade/

http://yourlastrites.com/reviews/8645/midnight-odyssey-shards-of-silver-fade

I really liked that Dispirit tape, I didn't hear it until last week or so but it still managed to claw its way to my #11.

I kind of liked the Absconditus record, too. I might go back to it and try it again later when the rollout is but a distant memory.

I love that Melechesh. Make my DM exotic please.

cant say I'd heard of Midnight Odyssey until this poll.

Which one of you had it at #1?

not me.

^ and the Midnight Odyssey sounds like something I'd enjoy, or possibly something that would bore the hell out of me. I have in the past liked black metal with alien planetscapes on the cover (Petrychor, Spectral Lore).

65 Bosse-de-Nage - All Fours 237 Points, 7 Votes

http://www.invisibleoranges.com/bosse-de-nage-all-fours/

The 2012 Deafheaven​/​Bosse​-​de​-​Nage split 12″ was a 20 minute meetup of two precocious experimental black metal bands from the San Francisco Bay Area. Deafheaven had debuted their Roads to Judah full-length the preceding year, and Bosse-de-Nage had a trilogy of self-titled albums prior to the split 12” (referred to as Bosse-de-nage, II, and III, respectively). A year later, Deafheaven unleashed Sunbather. With that album, Deafheaven took musical cues from non-metal acts like Mogwai (they covered their track “Cody” on the 2012 split) and Slowdive. The public’s response was gargantuanly worshipful, and Sunbather was the most favorably-reviewed album of 2013.

Bosse-de-Nage are now releasing All Fours, a spellbinding follow-up to their split with Deafheaven. Unlike Sunbather, All Fours doesn’t occupy a gigantic amount of sonic space; the record’s sound is tight and unadorned, similar to Steve Albini’s classic production style. “Washerwoman” takes direct influence from Slint, a group who were produced by Albini. The guitars are slow and tip-toey, yet slightly on edge. Frontman Bryan Manning has a jaded spoken-word delivery towards the beginning of the track, very similar to Brian McMahan on Slint’s legendary album Spiderland.

Also, lyrics have an especial emphasis. The promo copy came with an attached PDF lyric sheet, unlike other promos I’ve downloaded. Manning’s vocal poetry is grotesque and frightening, but masterfully constructed. For example, the villainous female subject of “Washerwoman” has wicked, sexual intentions: “The light grows dim, and with her mouth full of lather she announces, ‘I come from the City of Hair beyond the Wrinkled Mountain and I will not rest until I’ve washed every penis in this room.’”

“At Night” is suffused with earthquaking drums and disturbing, tremolo-picked progressions, along with a zest of Swans’ monumental tumult. Manning growls about Marie, a recurring figure in Bosse​-​de​-​Nage’s repertoire. On past tracks like “Marie Pisses Upon The Count” (Bosse-de-Nage) and “Marie In a Cage” (II), she is painted as a foul and lustful display-piece. In “At Night,” Marie serves as a ghastly, erotic outlet for Manning’s speaker: “The ashes cling to the urine on her torn clothes forming new, amusing patterns each time. / At night she reenacts scenes from her passion. / She kicks and screams on all fours – her violent dressage thrills me.” Darkly sexual descriptions like this ring similar to the lyrics of Pig Destroyer’s JR Hayes, who pens about similar subject matter.

Bosse-de-Nage and Deafheaven are zealous about artistic, evocative lyrics and compelling melodies; relentless black metal energy helps accentuate their attributes. However, out of the two, Bosse-de-Nage is closer to the ethos of black metal. All Fours’ music is fucking grim, while Sunbather is frequently major-keyed and blissful-sounding, and All Fours’ tight production style was intrinsic to black metal ancestors like Darkthrone and Burzum.

On top of this, Bryan Manning’s stanzas turn the album into a hellish beauty. His lyrics, an integral aspect of Bosse-de-Nage, warrant an extensive literary theory essay. Y’know, we’re actually learning about poetry in English this semester – maybe I’ll analyze All Fours for my final paper.

puke

says the Liturgy fan :D

fine line, my friend

a good album!

did not need to know those lyrics tho

I haven't heard this album I dont think but it doesnt seem offputting

is it because deafheaven got mentioned in the review?

the lyrics and the entire concept are extremely offputting

i dunno their last few were good but they're starting to sound like a boring postrock band

the lyrics and the entire concept are extremely offputting

― La Lechuza (La Lechera), Monday, December 14, 2015 9:04 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I prefer III but it's still a good album

also that album cover, dear god, it's a like a misogynist kayo dot vomiting at you

it's disgusting
i can't think of a boring postrock band who would write an album with this concept or lyrical content

the cover is very bad indeed

The next album is coming to you via a large mug of this
https://www.fortnumandmason.com/products/rose-pouchong-20-large-leaf-tea-bags

We need more tea friendly metal

love the Midnight Odyssey album, it's basically sleep metal

Midnight Odyssey was the only new metal album I heard this year. Adore the style, like the album very much, but yeah, some tracks are too long and needed more complexity.

64 Mastery - Valis 241 Points, 6 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/V02fjSP.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/7aewpt4khNEBJQ4sSlFJBM
spotify:album:7aewpt4khNEBJQ4sSlFJBM

https://theflenser.bandcamp.com/album/valis

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20272-valis/
8.0

Among many other projects, Bay Area vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ephemeral Domignostika puts out solo material as Mastery, including splits with Skullflower and Palace of Worms as well as a 2011 demo compilation Barbaric Usurpation of the Hypereonic Black Metal Throne. These early releases suggested a budding technical brilliance and a desire to take black metal as far as it could go, but none were adequate preparation for Mastery’s first full-length. Valis is an exercise in hyperactive neuron overload, one of the more challenging black metal albums in recent memory.

This is the first time Ephemeral Domignostika’s vision has been so clear; the memorable riffs are here, but he pushes them all to their breaking point. He plays with the velocity of Orthrelm's Mick Barr and the inventiveness of Gridlink’s Takafumi Matsubara. To call this music "dense" would be an understatement, as he piles on the skronky twists and synapse-melting tapping, pausing only for a couple of ambient interludes ("A.S.H.V.E.S.S.E.L." and "I.L.K.S.E.E.K.E.R.") and moments where the electrified spasms give way to acoustic strumming ("V.A.L.I.S.V.E.S.S.E.L.") while frantic drums and scowls continue. Mastery is polarizing, but unlike Ephemeral Domignostika’s one-man-band project Pandiscordian Necrogenesis, the music is much more than a cheap spectacle.

Because for all of Valis' chaotic energy, Ephemeral Domignostika remains a keen tactician, with each improvised freakout compressed, cut up into dizzying pieces, and put in place. It sounds like it was created in one take, with no edits, which would be impossible. But the knowledge that he composed the album from jams, integrating the best of improvisational spontaneity and metal’s tradition of rigid composition, and in the process making sense of his own madness, is just as staggering.

There are sections where a righteous black thrash riff will come in, something that demands only your most vigorous headbanging and your fists raised as high as you can raise them—the opening pummel of "V.A.L.I.S.V.E.S.S.E.L.", which he also revisits in "S.T.A.R.S.E.E.K.E.R."—but just as soon as these come to fruition, Ephemeral Domignostika will break it down and switch to another sequence equally as turbulent but even less comprehensible. While Mastery never abandons black metal, his ability to nod to catchy riffs while also surgically dismembering them is what elevates him above would-be avant-metallists.

Valis appears just as one-time Bay Area compatriot Leviathan is gaining attention—and in some eyes, redeeming himself—for his latest, and most accomplished, record, Scar Sighted. Both are triumphs of singular visions, the ethos of one-man black metal fully realized. While Scar Sighted is an examination of a troubled self, Valis is a warning to let you know just what Ephemeral Domignostika is capable of and how far he’s willing to scramble his mind for his music. It’s not an album for the stubborn traditionalists, nor is it for the newcomers who preach open-mindedness but are too timid to really engage with the art.

holy shit what the fuck is this

BM of the kind brad likes
BradMetal

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i mean this isn't even necessarily up my alley, it's just extremely confusing and awesome

I just bought it for $5 from bandcamp

it's like the riff manifestation of an irrational number, nonrepeating decimal shred metal

This was my #6, it's awesomely chaotic. I kind of thought it would do better, but I am more surprised by Imperial Triumphant not making it into the 40s at least.

yeah I'd a voted for that if I'd known about it. what's already cool on the first listen is that you can hear classic thrash riffs amongst all the chaos, many gold stars

ive told you before that if you want people to listen to albums you really like you have to campaign hard for them then people will get to hear them

My #4.

Fucking astonishing.

Discovering this alongside my gf (whose #4 or #3 it was too) in the final week before this poll was just the most intense experience, like it just kept getting better and better. The opening track is some hall of fame shit. It feels like a sort of inscrutable demonic intelligence come to taunt us

63 Mare Infinitum - Alien Monolith God 244 Points, 7 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/FFVlZgL.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/3n2Il5fcLmHspCn0nZbhyo
spotify:album:3n2Il5fcLmHspCn0nZbhyo

https://mareinfinitum.bandcamp.com/album/alien-monolith-god

http://www.metalsucks.net/2015/04/24/mare-infinitum-the-best-new-band-you-will-hear-today/

The best bands are the ones that completely defy classification. Sure, you can point to specific elements of their sound that might loosely fit into a predefined genre box, but taken as a whole there’s no simple, reductive way you can describe the band’s sound.

Mare Infinitum are one such band, and I’ve been completely hooked ever MS Mansion indentured servant Kelsey introduced them to me earlier this week. There are elements of death metal, doom, prog, sludge, trad metal, shred and goth present in their music, but at no moment does the finished product sound like any one of those. It also doesn’t sound like a jumbled mish-mash of genre tropes: everything works within the context of each song, and it all flows together seamlessly. Earth-shaking death growls right into soaring, Dio-esque highs? No problem. A sludgy doom riff with an epic guitar solo on top of it? Psssh, got it. In short, the whole is much, much greater than the sum of its parts, so much so that Mare Infinitum may have created a genre all their own.

Stream their new album Alien Monolith God below. It just came out this week, and can be purchased on Bandcamp for less than five bucks.

Metal Archives tells me that Mare Infinitum released another full-length in 2011. If any MS readers are hip to that one, holler below in the comments and tell us how this one compares.

HELL YEAH

62 Drudkh - A Furrow Cut Short 244 Points, 8 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/FVICRbO.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/1LxyiZgZRpa6pnB1LR6zXL
spotify:album:1LxyiZgZRpa6pnB1LR6zXL

https://drudkh.bandcamp.com/album/a-furrow-cut-short

http://www.angrymetalguy.com/drudkh-furrow-cut-short-review/

Ah, Drudkh. Not too long ago (early-to-mid 2000s) in a country quite far away (the Ukraine), these pagan sons released a string of solid albums back to back, and were at one point heralded by critics to be the new kings of black metal. Then Handful of Stars happened, and while the sudden shift injected some much-needed variety into the groups’ sound, it did rub fans and critics the wrong way with its slowed drumming and shoegazing elements. Since then, the band has been playing catch-up stylistically, bringing back some faith in their diehard fans with 2012’s Eternal Turn of the Wheel. So is their newest, A Furrow Cut Short, a further extension of the olive branch?

It’s both a yes and a no, honestly. One thing you won’t find on A Furrow Cut Short is an atmospheric intro, as the band wastes no time going forth with the blast beats and tremolo picking in “Cursed Sons I.” Vlad has some incredible control over his kit and has plenty of attention-grabbing cymbal flourishes, and Roman Sayenko once again knows how to write commanding, icy-cold black metal melodies, especially at the :51-1:49 section. The riffing does get very monotonous after a while, clinging on to a proven theme for a little too long, only slowing things down around the 5:21 mark to add much-needed variance, but even then it’s well-written and catchy, with Krechet’s bass sounding loud and thunderous. At over nine minutes, it’s a bit long in the tooth, even with this style of black metal, but it’s a good, if repetitive, introduction.

Things do become a bit more varied later into A Furrow Cut Short. “Embers” starts off with a beautiful guitar melody that reminds me a bit of their earlier albums before going into a powerful mid-paced march, with more soft arpeggios lurking in the background, adding shades of much-needed color. “Dishonour I” has some interesting bass melodies under a turbulent sea of tremolo riffing, with an interesting break coming in at 5:49. Album standout “To The Epoch of Unbowed Poets” has some incredible melodic interplay between Roman’s guitar lines, interweaving like a battle-tattered flag, while Thurios’s keyboards provide a nice atmospheric backdrop, reminding me of a sunset on a bloodied battlefield, while his screeches are as shrill as ever.

So what’s the hold-up? In small doses, Drudkh hits that blackened sweet-spot quite well. For extended listening sessions, however, it does get a bit fatiguing and blurry, with several riffs repeating themselves, or being too long and drawn out (“Dishonoured II,” “Cursed Sons I”). In fact, there have been many times that I’ve had to check out before the last two songs (“Dishonoured II” and the awesomely-titled “Till Foreign Ground Shall Cover Eyes”) started playing, as that’s a lot to digest in one sitting, especially at almost an hour. Thankfully, the production is quite warm, especially with the bass being so audible and the cymbals bright, yet not painfully so.

Drudkh seems to be taking extra care in crafting quality black metal, and with A Furrow Cut Short, they are definitely heading in the right direction. While not exactly as mind-blowing as their earlier efforts, it’s a solid outing worthy of at least a listen. Here’s to them regaining their footing through the blood-stained snow on their path to the blackened throne.

Drudkh trying too hard to please their old black metal fans?

Last one for the night coming up

are you waiting for someone to opine about drudkh first

their name is fun to say, that's all i got

I hate talking (irl) about Drudkh because I have no idea how to pronounce it, lol

But that can be said for a lot of metal bands. Akhlys?

61 Sannhet - Revisionist 247 Points, 7 Votes
http://i.imgur.com/ORW3kwG.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/5Dv7QLsBC4axWiYzJvJL8A
spotify:album:5Dv7QLsBC4axWiYzJvJL8A

https://theflenser.bandcamp.com/album/revisionist

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20098-revisionist/
8.1

Revisionist feels grander than it is, and bigger than the band that made it. The second album from the metallic Brooklyn instrumental trio Sannhet lasts only nine tracks, or 38 minutes. But its overall density—of emotions and dynamics, of textures and melodies, of strengths and surprises—makes each moment so compelling that the record seems at least twice that length. The album’s brilliant centerpiece, "Empty Harbor", rises from a slow, electrified fusion that suggests ECM in the '80s to a blast beat-backed surge powerful enough to match the best codas of Temporary Residence Ltd. Driven by masterful drummer Christopher Todd, it sounds like a little symphony, both in execution and effect; looking at the clock, however, it’s shocking to find that the song lasts for less than five minutes.

Sannhet have always defied quick taxonomy. They are a byproduct of Brooklyn’s emergent metal scene; Saint Vitus, one of the city’s heavy hubs, issued their 2013 debut LP, Known Flood, which featured a tirade of screams from bar booker David Castillo. Although their new home, The Flenser, is an aggressively eclectic imprint, the core of its catalog remains metal, however soft or mercurial. From the pummeling black-metal drums during the exhilarating climax of "Lost Crown" to the tense rhythmic lock of death metal near the middle of "False Pass", traces of that pedigree populate Revisionist. But AJ Annunziata’s bass distortion during songs like "Enemy Victorian" implies the astral ascendance of space-rock. The same goes for John Refano, a guitarist who likes to widen the band’s sound with layers of background noise perhaps more than he prefers to lead with coiled riffs. There are astutely applied electronics that suggest the abstraction of Touch Music masters like Philip Jeck, and careful but brief drone passages that conjure Kranky. If metal made for the most convenient tag for Known Flood, it is at best an awkward fit for Revisionist, a record that revels and delights in a trove of outsider influences.

American post-rock and post-metal have often offered the scores of wide-open spaces, be they the football fields and Texas hills of Explosions in the Sky’s Friday Night Lights accompaniment or the rivers and valleys of their fellow Lone Star residents Balmorhea. Labradford, Red Sparowes and ISIS suggested settings more vast and hospitable than the cities they called home. But Sannhet take many of those same sweeping, cinematic impulses and apply them to cramped urban landscapes and lifestyles. They begin "Mint Divine" with a sample of voices, which blur into the mind-numbing chatter endemic to busy city streets. The band works to overcome the pervasive din, or to at least carve out a sheltered space within it. Refano and Annunziata deliver a delicate duet, their gentle guitar notes and pulsing bass competing with the hubbub. The voices waft into the next track, "False Pass", but Todd battles them back with his heavy hands and deep, floor-tom thuds. Together, Sannhet finally overpower their environment, finding solace in the solidarity of volume.

This metropolitan sense of setting also explains Sannhet’s concision. Only "Enemy Victorian", the album’s one listless point, breaks the six-minute mark. Otherwise, Sannhet push the parts together, moving at a rate that suggests they’re worried the city will swallow them if they don’t press ahead. "You Thy_" collapses feelings of romance, terror and longing into four breathless minutes, maximizing emotional impact and efficiency all at once. By oscillating between lumbering, loping patterns and sustained blast beats, Todd turns the three-minute "Lost Crown" into a frantic, crazed quest in an unsympathetic environment, where no one else cares if you ever recover your holy grail. Sannhet make music for subway stations and unlit street corners, not winding hikes and idyllic vistas.

If Explosions in the Sky and similar bands create accompaniment for Hollywood productions, Sannhet offer a vivid, real-life counterpoint. There’s no lighting, no scripting, no catering—just the exigencies and anxieties of existence, delivered by a band battling pedestrian frustrations with uncommon focus. Revisionist, turns out, is bigger than its 38 minutes or the trio that made it; these nine songs are as big as whatever life it is they soundtrack.

I like to imagine Drudkh rhyming with Ruettiger as in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_%28film%29

I had Sannhet and Liturgy right next to each other somewhere in the middle of my ballot. I couldn't decide which I liked better and they seemed somewhat of a piece.

ILM Metal Albums of 2015 Poll
Recap

103 Khemmis - Absolution 153 Points, 7 Votes
102 Corsair - One Eyed Horse 155 Points, 5 Votes
101 Absconditus - Katabasis/Kατάβασις 156 Points, 4 Votes
100 Nameless Coyote - Blood Moon 157 Points, 5 Votes
99 Black Cilice - Mysteries 158 Points, 4 Votes
98 Lucifer - Lucifer I 161 Points, 5 Votes
97 Imperial Triumphant - Abyssal Gods 163 Points, 4 Votes
96 Nile - What Should Not Be Unearthed 163 Points, 5 Votes
93 Vastum - Hole Below 163 Points, 6 Votes
93 Locrian - Infinite Dissolution 163 Points, 6 Votes
93 KEN Mode - Success 163 Points, 6 Votes
92 Kylesa - Exhausting Fire 164 Points, 5 Votes
91 Sigh - Graveward 164 Points, 7 Votes
90 Ahab - The Boats of the Glen Carrig 168 Points, 6 Votes
89 Noisem - Blossoming Decay 169 Points, 4 Votes, One #1
88 Amestigon - Thier 169 Points, 5 Votes
87 Nechochewn - Heart of Akamon 173 Points, 5 Votes
86 Intronaut - The Direction of Last Things 175 Points, 6 Votes
85 Brothers of the Sonic Cloth - Brothers of the Sonic Cloth 180 Points, 5 Votes
84 Boris - Asia 181 Points, 6 Votes
83 Lamb of God - VII: Sturm und Drang 188 Points, 5 Votes
82 Dead To A Dying World - Litany 193 Points, 5 Votes
81 Caïna - Setter of Unseen Snares 194 Points, 6 Votes

80 Prurient - Frozen Niagara Falls 195 Points, 6 Votes
79 Arcturus - Arcturian 196 Points, 6 Votes
78 Huntress - Static 196 Points, 7 Votes
77 Killing Joke - Pylon 196 Points, 9 Votes
76 Kult of the Wizard - The White Wizard 197 Points, 5 Votes, One #1
75 Dispirit - Separation 198 Points, 6 Votes
74 Melechesh - Enki 198 Points, 7 Votes
73 Thou & The Body - Released From Love / You, Whom I Have Always Hated 202 Points, 6 Votes
72 Akhlys - The Dreaming I 203 Points, 6 Votes
71 Sulphur Aeon - Gateway to the Antisphere 210 Points, 6 Votes
70 False - Untitled 212 Points, 6 Votes
69 Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud 214 Points, 6 Votes
68 Shining - International Blackjazz Society 214 Points, 7 Votes
67 Tyranny - Aeons in Tectonic Interment 220 Points, 7 Votes
66 Midnight Odyssey - Shards Of Silver Fade 236 Points, 7 One #1
65 Bosse-de-Nage - All Fours 237 Points, 7 Votes
64 Mastery - Valis 241 Points, 6 Votes
63 Mare Infinitum - Alien Monolith God 244 Points, 7 Votes
62 Drudkh - A Furrow Cut Short 244 Points, 8 Votes
61 Sannhet - Revisionist 247 Points, 7 Votes

Hope some of you have made some good discoveries yesterday and today.
Feel free to post about any albums so far you have listened to or even liked.

Enjoying the Sannhet so far! Will plunge deeper back into today's albums in due course...I've not heard many of them!

thought that band was called GANNNET for a moment