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

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

no because it didn't have me going 'MY NUMBER ONE FOR ALL TIME' after it, which is what would have happened had it been called that

it would be a great name it's true

they're arguably britain's most metal bird in fact

- they live entirely pelagic lives

- they only come to land on remote islands they have completely colonised

- and covered completely in their own shit

- they have bills that act as giant sea-knives to spear fish

- they mate for life

- they produce one of the most majestic and terrifying natural spectacles one might imagine

- they fucking dive into the sea at 60 mph in order to survive

- they only come to land on remote islands they have completely colonised

- and covered completely in their own shit

- they produce one of the most majestic and terrifying natural spectacles one might imagine (the Republican nomination race)

dontcha just love the Americans!

the 3rd day of the poll is always where people have realised that the rest of their ballots wont place so lose interest.

but there's always that one person who hangs on forlornly hoping that Nightwish will be top 10

nah p sure everyone's got some horses they're backing still - i mean i know my entire top 5 will place and we've only had one so far

Albums I will visit (revisit in some cases)
100 Nameless Coyote - Blood Moon
93 Vastum - Hole Below
93 KEN Mode - Success
92 Kylesa - Exhausting Fire
84 Boris - Asia
81 Caïna - Setter of Unseen Snares

hahaha i feel like every time you say that regarding a poll it ends in hilarity lj xpost

imago is confident his top 5 will be in the top 10.

I dunno what is in his ballot but seandalai sent me a link to them so i will go have a looksie once ive finished my cup of tea

oh wow, lj's #1 was five finger death punch. Wasn't expecting that.

Albums that made my Ballot (Bolded was the highest)
77 Killing Joke - Pylon
74 Melechesh - Enki
73 Thou & The Body - Released From Love / You, Whom I Have Always Hated
68 Shining - International Blackjazz Society
67 Tyranny - Aeons in Tectonic Interment

Albums that made my Top 101
80 Prurient - Frozen Niagara Falls
65 Bosse-de-Nage - All Fours
62 Drudkh - A Furrow Cut Short

Albums I will visit (revisit in some cases)
78 Huntress - Static
76 Kult of the Wizard - The White Wizard
72 Akhlys - The Dreaming I
66 Midnight Odyssey - Shards Of Silver Fade
63 Mare Infinitum - Alien Monolith God

Album I most disliked
69 Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud

Some very good albums in that set! Four of them are in my Top 21 for the year!
And I still can't shake the feeling I am underrating the Bosse-de-Nage...

imago disagrees

I'll get over it.

Only two of mine have placed thus far: KEN Mode and Dead to a Dying World. Strangely enough I'm going to see Dead to a Dying World play in a couple of hours. Should be fun.

not voting for the one you're on seems unnecessarily honourable tbh

need to listen to DTADW, shall do when I wake probably, hope the gig is great

Oh, man, that Mastery album was great, and I totally forgot about it and almost certainly didn't vote for it here. Glad to be reminded.

Hooray for VALIS, which was my #5. Yay fir Sannhet which was on my ballot. Think tgats prob all we're going to see from the Flenser here though

98 Lucifer - Lucifer I 161 Points, 5 Votes
81 Caïna - Setter of Unseen Snares 194 Points, 6 Votes
78 Huntress - Static 196 Points, 7 Votes

I voted for these, good albums although none were in my top 10.

I played the shit out of "S.T.A.R.S.E.E.K.E.R." this year but I don't think I ever listened to the entire Mastery album. Work to do!

Albums that made my ballot so far:

100 Nameless Coyote - Blood Moon 157 Points, 5 Votes
99 Black Cilice - Mysteries 158 Points, 4 Votes
97 Imperial Triumphant - Abyssal Gods 163 Points, 4 Votes
72 Akhlys - The Dreaming I 203 Points, 6 Votes
70 False - Untitled 212 Points, 6 Votes
65 Bosse-de-Nage - All Fours 237 Points, 7 Votes
64 Mastery - Valis 241 Points, 6 Votes

Of these, I had Black Cilice and Akhlys ranked the highest.