Dec 122011
 

(This is the first in Andy Synn’s week-long series of posts looking back at albums released this year. In the days to come, Andy will also provide his lists of the “Good” and the most “Disappointing” albums of the year, followed by his lists of The Critical Top 10 and Personal Top 10 of the year. For more explanation of what all this means, plus Andy’s picks for the year’s best EPs, visit this location.)

GREAT

Despite my initial worries, 2011 has proven to be quite a good year for Black Metal, with several phenomenal records released this year from many of the genre’s unsung heroes. The absence of many of the leading lights of the scene led me to make several new discoveries as well as allowing several second-tier bands to rise to the occasion. Interestingly enough, this year’s “Great” list continues to demonstrate the variety of different shapes that Black Metal has taken without losing or distorting its core identity.

It does, however, seem to have been an overall more Death Metal-oriented year, with some crushingly heavy releases from both the old guard and the new breed. Despite my own tastes running somewhat counter to the old school revivalism that seems to be so popular in the competing worlds of Death and Thrash metal, it’s obvious even to me that 2011 has been a banner year for the former genre in particular. Even with my own preferences erring towards a more mechanistic form of metallic cyber-terrorism, the year has still thrown up a hefty number of devastating Death Metal discs.

While compiling the list, one thing that surprised me was the profusion of Progressive metal acts and albums that had unconsciously permeated my thoughts. Ranging from effervescent Melodic Death Metal groups to more Avant-Garde and indefinable acts, this year has seemingly been a great one for Progressive metal in all its many iterations.

After the jump you’ll find my list of what I consider the greatest and most exceptional albums released this year, albums which have not only struck a chord with me but have also pushed the boundaries in terms of their sheer quality and creativity.

Brief album descriptions follow this list.

ABYSMAL DAWN – LEVELING THE PLANE OF EXISTENCE

A HILL TO DIE UPON – OMENS

ALTAR OF PLAGUES – MAMMAL

THE AXIS OF PERDITION – TENEMENTS (OF THE ANOINTED FLESH)

BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE – CELESTIAL COMPLETION

BELIEVER – TRANSHUMAN

BELPHEGOR – BLOOD MAGICK NECROMANCE

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER – RITUAL

BLOOD RED THRONE – BRUTALITARIAN REGIME

CHTHONIC – TAKASAGO ARMY

DARKEST HOUR – THE HUMAN ROMANCE

DECAPITATED – CARNIVAL IS FOREVER

DEVIN TOWNSEND – DECONSTRUCTION

DEVIN TOWNSEND – GHOST

FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE – AGONY

GHOST BRIGADE – UNTIL FEAR NO LONGER DEFINES US

GLORIOR BELLI – THE GREAT SOUTHERN DARKNESS

THE HUMAN ABSTRACT – DIGITAL VEIL

IN FLAMES – SOUNDS OF A PLAYGROUND FADING

INSOMNIUM – ONE FOR SORROW

ISKALD – THE SUN I CARRIED ALONE

KAMPFAR – MARE

KRODA – SCHWARZPFAD

LEPROUS – BILATERAL

THE MAN-EATING TREE – HARVEST

MASTODON – THE HUNTER

MEMFIS – VERTIGO

MOONSORROW – VARJOINA KULJEMME KUOLLEIDEN MAASSA

NOVEMBERS DOOM – APHOTIC

OMNIUM GATHERUM – NEW WORLD SHADOWS

RUDRA – BRAHMAVIDYA: IMMORTAL I

SCAR SYMMETRY – THEUNSEEN EMPIRE

SKELETONWITCH – FOREVER ABOMINATION

SOLSTAFIR – SVARTIR SANDAR

SPIRES – SPIRAL OF ASCENSION

TALANAS – THE WASPKEEPER

ULVER – WARS OF THE ROSES

VADER – WELCOME TO THE MORBID REICH

VINTERSORG – JORDPULS

VREID – V

WOLVERINE – COMMUNICATION LOST


ABYSMAL DAWN – LEVELING THE PLANE OF EXISTENCE

Abysmal Dawn’s third album is filled with post-apocalyptic death hymns which twist and turn with reptilian grace, whilst pummelling the listener with an onslaught of steamrollering aural violence.

A HILL TO DIE UPON – OMENS

Brooding, brutal and utterly devastating Omens continues the momentum of the band’s debut in a manner both uplifting and empowering, a colossal, stomping behemoth of cold black fire and white-hot rage.

ALTAR OF PLAGUES – MAMMAL

A definitive and defiant step up from a band who were already on a higher level than most, this is post-black metal with teeth and fangs, desolate and devastated and more than a little fraught.

THE AXIS OF PERDITION – TENEMENTS (OF THE ANOINTED FLESH)

Terrifyingly disturbing and unrelentingly horrific, this album really captures the madness of physical decay and mental dissolution, birthing an aural abomination of maddening dissonance and blasting frenzy.

BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE – CELESTIAL COMPLETION

Perhaps Becoming The Archetype’s most ambitious album yet, the record explores themes of trial and transfiguration, coloured by shades of death metal darkness and piercing progressive light.

BELIEVER – TRANSHUMAN

Cryptic and convoluted, yet filled with shining melodies and captivating song structures, this record is a multi-levelled, multi-layered gem of progressive post-thrash dynamism.

BELPHEGOR – BLOOD MAGICK NECROMANCE

This record could very well stand as one of the strongest releases in their extremely consistent and consistently extreme discography, marking the moment where they truly mastered their own form of musical blasphemy.

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDERRITUAL

This record is a mesmerising gem of an album, incorporating a host of new ideas. Every song crackles with diabolical energy and eldritch force while every member performs with unholy precision and calculated fury.

BLOOD RED THRONE – BRUTALITARIAN REGIME

This is a brilliant and unflinchingly brutal record, start to finish, standing as a testament to the seemingly boundless talents and uncompromising nature of the Norwegian death metal war-machine.

CHTHONIC – TAKASAGO ARMY

Perhaps the best record Chthonic has ever put out, from start to finish the unity of the compositions and individual performances perfectly captures the intrinsic anguish behind the band’s form of cultural expression and protest.

DARKEST HOUR – THE HUMAN ROMANCE

All the members are performing at their peak on this album. The vocals have never sounded so raw and impassioned, the riffs have never had more bite, while the bass rumbles proudly and the melodies infect voraciously.

DECAPITATED – CARNIVAL IS FOREVER

Remember when “groove” wasn’t used as a pejorative? Remember when it referred to more than beer-swilling pub-metal or anaemic djent clones? Decapitated do, and with Carnival Is Forever they made groove dangerous again.

DEVIN TOWNSEND – DECONSTRUCTION

At its heart this record is an expression of one man’s humanity in all its beauty and ugliness. Though its flaws are writ large, in bold, colourful writing, it’s hard to name another artist out there truly willing to go this far and be this open.

DEVIN TOWNSEND – GHOST

Ethereal ambience and beautiful acoustic melodies abound throughout the dreamlike landscape of this record. Devin’s voice is at its finest, adding a classical and timeless element to each and every song.

FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE – AGONY

Revelling in its own excess, this is a record with all knobs turned to 11. The massive sound harnesses the sheer destructive potential of the band into a colossal monster of symphonic pomp and blast-furnace death metal.

GHOST BRIGADE – UNTIL FEAR NO LONGER DEFINES US

Achingly vulnerable, claustrophobic and confined, bleakly heavy and oppressive, mixing dark atmosphere and raw, impassioned rage, this record continues the uninterrupted run of form from these Finnish gloom-masters.

GLORIOR BELLI – THE GREAT SOUTHERN DARKNESS

The Satanic majesty of French luciferian black metal meets the voodoo darkness of Southern blues, resulting in a perfect storm of scorching misanthropy and eerie, sludgy melodrama. Spellbinding stuff.

THE HUMAN ABSTRACT – DIGITAL VEIL

A phenomenal album, and clear career highlight of the band, unbound by convention or the laws of prevailing fashion and free of the limitations and expectations of any particular style or definition.

IN FLAMES – SOUNDS OF A PLAYGROUND FADING

With Sounds Of A Playground Fading, Gothenburg’s favourite sons have produced what may well be the finest moment of their post-transition career and provided a keystone for the foundation of an even brighter future.

INSOMNIUM – ONE FOR SORROW

With their fifth album, Insomnium once again offer you everything you wanted: A proud and confident expression of power. Consider yourselves satisfied and your expectations not simply fulfilled but effortlessly surpassed.

ISKALD – THE SUN I CARRIED ALONE

A watershed moment for the duo, effortlessly mixing sonic clarity and moody melancholy without losing that sense of danger or unpredictability that defines black metal as an art form.

KAMPFAR – MARE

An absolute stormer of an album, this record captures the uplifting, rebellious spirit of Black Metal’s punk roots, expressed through a medium of scalding riffs and refined technicality, all delivered with seamless conviction.

KRODASCHWARZPFAD

Bestial and ritualistic, this organic masterpiece of folk-influenced black metal breathes and pulses with subtle nuances of light and shade, its roots stretching deep into the primal font of creation.

LEPROUS – BILATERAL

A many-hued and multi-faceted listen, this is amongst the most outlandish and ultimately progressive music I have ever heard. Mind-blowingly varied and endlessly creative, it dances on the edge of musical madness.

THE MAN-EATING TREE – HARVEST

Dripping with sincerity and emotion, Harvest is a glorious expression of joy and sorrow. The instruments move as one, ebbing and flowing with serpentine fluidity, while the striking vocals chime with passion and conviction.

MASTODON – THE HUNTER

Despite the at times polarising nature of their current status as rock/metal’s critical darlings, Mastodon once again prove that their ability to turn their hand to any form of rock or metal is almost unequalled.

MEMFIS – VERTIGO

A kaleidoscopic vision of swirling melodies and visceral crunch, the Swedes once again prove their mastery of the progressive arts, guiding their razor-sharp melodic death metal through a labyrinthine series of angular twists.

MOONSORROW – VARJOINA KULJEMME KUOLLEIDEN MAASSA

More conceptual in outlook and execution than most of their peers, this album serves as an ever more ambitious expansion of the band’s narrative and compositional base.

NOVEMBERS DOOM – APHOTIC

At times subtle and serene, at others powerful and domineering, this is progressive death metal at its finest, taking in doom-laden passages of acoustic ambience and moments of towering metallic force.

OMNIUM GATHERUM – NEW WORLD SHADOWS

Taking the unbound spirit of Edge Of Sanity and pushing it in a fresh, new direction, New World Shadows is the ultimate culmination of the band’s steady climb towards the top of the melodic death metal mountain.

RUDRA – BRAHMAVIDYA: IMMORTAL I

Vedic philosophy meets harrowing extremity, the band producing their fastest, most devastating record yet, accented by lush passages of acoustic melody and archaic instrumentation.

SCAR SYMMETRY – THEUNSEEN EMPIRE

Following on from the similarly brilliant Dark Matter Dimensions, the progressive, futuristic mien of The Unseen Empire enables Scar Symmetry to construct multi-layered songs of perfectly contained and encapsulated power.

SKELETONWITCH – FOREVER ABOMINATION

A much darker record than its predecessors, Forever Abomination transcends the limitations of any one genre, embracing the best of multiple styles to create a newly formed monstrosity of unknown, unlimited potential.

SOLSTAFIR – SVARTIR SANDAR

The Icelandic post-metal Vikings return once again with an epic double album of multi-hued brilliance, painting a majestic picture of glacial grandeur and soaring sorrow.

SPIRES – SPIRAL OF ASCENSION

Endlessly challenging and captivatingly complex, each track on this album has its own distinct character and voice, mixing startling technical wizardry with limitless artistic ambition.

TALANAS – THE WASPKEEPER

An enigmatic album of gothic melodrama and violent death metal, as disarmingly romantic as it is devastatingly caustic, The Waspkeeper seduces with angelic grace before slaying and dances with devilish glee.

ULVER – WARS OF THE ROSES

Subtly and quietly, this record worms its way into your soul, its shining surface belying the hidden depths beneath, each successive listen revealing more of the record’s crystalline dynamics and stark, psychedelic sounds.

VADER – WELCOME TO THE MORBID REICH

Refusing to rest on their laurels, the Polish death-bringers have crafted a series of songs that don’t rely solely on their legacy, as although the album doesn’t break the mould, it still manages to sound fresh and vibrant.

VINTERSORG – JORDPULS

On JordpulsVintersorg continue to delve ever more deeply into the haunted chasms and eerie forests conjured by their music, exploring the mountainous peaks and sunken valleys of their folk-infused, progressive black metal style.

VREID – V

With their fifth album, Vreid have produced a stunningly dynamic series of songs that filter the thrashy energy and classical aspirations of Ride The Lightning-era Metallica through a blackened prism of primal fury.

WOLVERINE – COMMUNICATION LOST

With their sights set on the progressive crown, Swedish progsters Wolverine here set out a compelling case for their ascendancy, all clever twists, subtle nuances and striking riffs, overlaid with striking, soaring vocal melodies.

  28 Responses to “ANDY SYNN’S LIST OF THE GREAT ALBUMS OF 2011”

  1. I want to say that this list, on the whole, strongly supports my EYE-CATCHERS hypothesis that cool album art correlates with cool metal.

  2. Son of a bitch. This list makes me feel inadequate in many, many ways.

    The only reason Cthonic wasn’t on my list is that I didn’t get the album until today. Man, it’s fucking excellent.

    Also: how do you have time and money to buy and listen to ALL this music??

  3. I support this list, except Mastodon, that shit was boring as all hell

    • See, I thought that critically it was the equal of “Crack The Skye” and “Blood Mountain”, but personally prefer it to both.

      Granted though it would probably have made the list despite any personal preferences as a result of that, but at least in this case I actually like it as well as thinking it’s critically good.

  4. Good list. While some of these albums arent really my thing, theres a lot here I do like as well

  5. I’m glad to see Glorior Belli on here. I was starting to think I was the only one who thought they hit the perfect balance between the black metal and southern influences.

  6. Some of these things didn’t really catch my eye, but some do, and if I haven’t checked them out yet I should soon…FGA and Skeletonwitch are highlighted on my list of to-gets, as is The Black Dahlia Murder. One question though, while I like Kroda’s sound, is he, or is he not NSBM? Because last I checked MA said he wasn’t, despite being on a NSBM label; I liked them on Facebook and recently a concert poster was released with Kroda’s name on it, and it had what looked like a stylized swastika on it.

    • Honestly… I don’t know. I hope he isn’t. Currently he seems to be focussed on an expression of national/cultural pride (rather than nationalism) much separate from racial or supremacist ideology, which is definitely the right side of that particular line to walk (if you choose to do so), but I’m not sure about his past. That being said, now that it’s a one-man line-up many of the more questionable elements of their/his past seem to have been exorcised, resulting in a much grander and evocative sound that (to my ears) thankfully transcends such notions of political and social stigma.

      The difficulty is that he remains so connected to a scene which crosses over with many NSBM bands and I’m not sure if he’ll ever escape that stigma.

    • I’m a huge admirer of Kroda’s music. I don’t know the answer to your question, but even if there is NSBM in Kroda’s history, it’s not being preached in the music or elsewhere that I know of. Also, in a perfect world, I would like everyone who plays in the metal bands I like to be people whose ideas and lifestyles I admire. But that’s already not true, in spades. It’s also not true of lots of other artists whose art I like, whether they be actors or writers or painters or creators of music other than metal. I tend to fall on the side of the line which says that the art is what matters, not the artist.

      • It’s a serious issue I think, and one that always has a personal answer, rather than a general one which can be applied to all people and all cases.

        For example there is one band in my collection which, after several albums of nasty, filth-encrusted black metal, finally explicitly identified themselves as NSBM. Now this doesn’t make me not want to listen to the music of theirs I already have, however I don’t wish to contribute to supporting their ideology further. I suppose the risk they take in expressing themselves in this way is explicitly tying their ideology to their music in an unavoidable fashion.

        Of course then there’s the further issue of what “forms” of hate are acceptable in a genre so focussed on expressing hate as black metal is. Which is an odd thing to think about.

        However, let’s save that for another time.Keep talking about the albums – if your favourite is not on there then you may still be in luck with tomorrow’s list of the “Good” albums of 2011. Then again, it could also end up in the “Disappointing” list…

        • Yep, this is a subject worthy of exploration another day — though whether there’s anything new to be said about it is doubtful. Where anyone comes down is indeed both highly personal to the listener and highly specific to the band.

  7. Awesome list. I love a lot of these and will check out the ones I’m unfamiliar with.

    If I had to add anything, it would be The Famine – “Architects of Guilt.” Those guys made a monumental death metal album (best of 2011, imo) and then broke up.

  8. IMO This Ghost Brigade song is better then 90% of the shit on the Main Stream Media’s list all by itself.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q-ATWDyBbQ

  9. I would have put Believer, Chthonic, and In Flames on the opposite end of the spectrum. Difference in taste I guess.

  10. Good list and much to my surprise, it is quite similar with my own tastes. It also reminded me about my “quest” to check more into Moonsorrow.

  11. I really recommend the new Rudra. A true metal masterpiece

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