Top Ten Best METAL Album Releases of 2011

Year-end “best of” lists are a trite process at their most sincere. They are one person’s perception of what he/she felt was the greatest offerings that the previous year had to offer. Ultimately, they are highly-opinionated little vanity pieces typically designed for “journalists” to get some last-minute brownie points from respective record labels. And at the end of the day, the readers are always going to think the writer’s opinion is wrong. Did you catch that? I guess that is why I am just now getting around to making my lists in February.

Since we’re neck-deep in awards season (you know, when the industry pats itself on the back for making money through entertainment), and the Grammys did their best to make a mockery of the metal genre once again, here’s a little list of ten metal albums I felt rose above mediocrity (or should I say “albums I REALLY enjoyed”) in 2011:

10. OMNIUM GATHERUM - New World Shadows (Lifeforce)

Finland’s Omnium Gatherum is a band that never ceases to amaze me. Picking up the gauntlet unceremoniously dropped by Edge of Sanity, OG is taking progressive death metal to unfathomable depths. Every listen to New World Shadows is like hearing it for the first time, as it is littered with layer upon layer of melodic intricacy.

9. SATANS HOST - By the Hands of the Devil (Moribund)

Who would have thought to combine brutal black/death metal with power metal vocals? It’s like, “Hey, you got your chocolate in my peanut butter,” all over again. And that’s what is so fascinating about Satans Host; in a world where genre-splicing is the order of the day, this example is one of the strangest and yet one of the most mesmerizing. Being a Jag Panzer fan doesn’t hurt, either.

8. VADER - Welcome to the Morbid Reich (Nuclear Blast)

As an advocate of early Vader [for some reason, most of the bands releases beyond Black To the Blind bore little to no memorializing for me], it’s nice to see the Polish madmen pay homage to its past. Beyond that, Welcome to the Morbid Reich is easily among the most brutal and skin-flaying albums in the band’s entire catalogue. “The Black Eye” is destined for classic status; mark my words!

7. MITOCHONDRION – Parasignosis (Profound Lore)

One of those bands that is still uttered in hushed tones in the underground of the underground, Canada’s Mitochondrion is deserving of MUCH more notoriety than the scene seems willing to provide. With equal amounts of ferocious brutality, skilled musicianship, and soul-raping blasphemy, Parasignosis is the album we all thought Illud Divinum Insanus was going to be.

6. IRON SAVIOR - The Landing (AFM)

Something should be said for a band that performs with as much conviction as Iron Savior. No, the band members aren’t musical wizards or technicians, but Iron Savior’s songs are just as impassioned as evangelists begging for septuagenarians’ Social Security checks. Sure, you can argue that The Landing is nothing you haven’t heard before from Iron Savior, but I challenge you not to sing along to any of the tracks therein! (BTW, I know this album wasn’t released in America until 2012, but as a fan, I couldn’t wait that long!)

5. OBSCURA - Omnivium (Relapse)

Obscura boggles the mind album after album. Like Omnium Gatherum, the band continues to expand the definition of progressive death metal. And yet, Obscura never loses sight of the fact that it is a death metal band at its root and sends the listeners’ minds swirling with an unabashed barrage of melody, brutality and technical skill that you start to feel like you’re being “scanned” by Michael Ironside. [Check out my interview with Obscura here.]

4. DISMA - Towards the Megalith (Profound Lore)

I was so glad to hear that Craig Pillard was back on the scene. As a fan of older Incantation and the thick-and-juicy Disciples of Mockery, I’d been twiddling my thumbs awaiting something equally as dark and metallically murky. Lo and behold, Disma seeped forth from the Jersey sludge and I was a happy camper all over again. Towards the Megalith is everything you could want from funeral death doom metal – sledgehammer riffs, bone-scraping-on-gravel vocals, and a tone so heavy, you feel like your skull is being slammed onto an anvil with every drum beat.

3. OPETH – Heritage (Roadrunner)

I think this album, more than any other in recent memory, has topped just as many “Best of” lists as it has “Worst of” lists. Some people get it, and some just don’t, and they probably never will. It takes an incredibly patient mind to appreciate that which Opeth offers, because the band is notorious for taking the scenic route to make its musical point. However, upon my first listen to Heritage, I was dumbstruck and mesmerized – unable to continue with my day until the album had run its course. Even now, when I pop it on, I have difficulty hitting STOP. And that, my friends, is the mark of a successful album! [Check out my interview with Opeth here and my review of Heritage here.]

2. REVOCATION - Chaos of Forms (Relapse)

These boys from Boston have come quite a long way in a relatively short span of time. Of course, relentless touring helps, too. But even more so is their uncanny knack of writing interesting songs that ride the line of past familiarity but are performed with a rigorous freshness. Whenever I hear Revocation, it gives me a bit of hope for the future of American metal. [Check out my interviews with Revocation here and here.]

1. DECEASED - Surreal Overdose (Patac)

I know, you’re probably thinking, “This guy’s an idiot! Why would he put a Deceased album at the top of his list, let alone anywhere in his Top Ten???” And my response would be, “Listen to the album!” Deceased has always been vehement about ignoring trends (and yes, there are trends in metal – just ask the bass finger-tappers), and Surreal Overdose is among the purest metal albums released in the past decade. Deceased relentlessly sticks to its guns in pursuit of writing good old-fashioned metal without expecting (or wanting) labels attached to it. When you listen to Surreal Overdose, you cannot help but acknowledge that it is nothing more and nothing less than METAL. [Check out my chat with King Fowley here.]

Honorable mentions: