#11: Skeletonwitch - Forever Abomination

You could almost have guessed that it was about time for another "fun" album. Forever Abomination (Prosthetic) is wicked fun. Skeletonwitch is able to take the feel of their live performance and replicate that in the studio. Listening to the album on any format is just as intense as seeing the band live. Every time I hear it, I can visualize the band on stage blowing the minds of the masses. This is metal. Pure and simple. Sure, there is thrash speed, black metal vocals, death metal imagery, NWOBHM guitar harmonies, ripping solos and furious blasting drums. But at the end of the day, it's just fucking metal. Uncompromising, relentless, beer drinkin', week smokin', pussy eatin', fucking metal. The Garnette Bros (Chance-vox, Nate-guitars), guitarist Scott Hendrick, bassist Evan Linger and new drummer Dustin Boltjes (ex-Demiricous) have distilled the art of kicking ass into some high octane, face-melting moonshine, motherfucker. It's an album that requires more than two hands to enjoy properly. Two for air guitar, one holding an invisible orange, one throwing some horns and one pumping fist. And one holding a beer. This is what metal is meant to be. \m/

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#12: Tombs - Path of Totality

At this point, I am starting to get burnt out trying to find ways to describe why I liked an album. And really, with an album like Path of Totality (Relapse) I shouldn't have to explain myself. But I have nothing better to do at the moment so I will anyway. Tombs have most often been described as a Black Metal band but that really isn't accurate enough. Path of Totality is more than that. It brings together Black Metal, Doom and Sludge in a cohesive whole. It's more than the sum of its parts. It doesn't sound contrived or forced in any way. It's definitely a very dark album. I don't feel any colours when I hear it. Deep textures and shading paint a bleak picture of  post-apocalyptic urban devastation. (Not sure if that follows what the lyrics are saying. We've talk about my lyrical shortcomings before.) Mike Hill's brusque vocals maintain authority over the survivors but are still multi-dimensional and human. I have a feeling this Path of Totality is a much more intelligent road that I am able to comprehend by more or less scratching the surface as I have. For an album that I have given such high praise to (as well as countless other metal opinion outlets) I should just buy the LP already. Go deeper. Absorb the essence. At least I'd know I was getting my money's worth. Just so long as I don't go down that other Path of Totality released in 2011.

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#13: Trap Them - Darker Handcraft

Few albums of 2011 had the energy or the stick-in-your-head-ness of Darker Handcraft (Prosthetic). I'm a sucker for that buzzsaw guitar tone and when that gets paired with some vicious hardcore swagger, it's a combination I can't resist. The machine gun (in slight slo-mo) riffs are supplemented with quick little fills, some jangliness and some massive riffs that would squash you flatter than an AT-AT. The anger portrayed in the vocals and their furious delivery are what I have tried to emulate all year. To very little success. The prospect of seeing Trap Them live some day sends shivers down my spine. I don't know if that day will ever come, but if it does, it's going on the calendar with a Sharpie. You know what I mean? Darker Handcraft also boasts this years winner of Riff Of The Year. I could listen to the riff that kicks in a 1:21 of closer "Scars Align" on repeat for hours. It's simple but highly effective. I don't listen to a lot of hardcore but maybe that's because not a lot of hardcore is as good as this.

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#14: Leviathan - True Traitor, True Whore

Again for the sake of laziness, I mean, expediency, I'm just going to copy the review True Traitor, True Whore  I wrote a few weeks ago.

Leviathan - True Traitor, True Whore

A handful of years ago my Album of the Year List wouldn't touch Black Metal with a ten foot pole.  This year however, Black Metal will very likely be the most represented subgenre on the list. Thanks in no small part to the newest Leviathan release,True Traitor, True Whore (Profound Lore).  Being unfamiliar with sole member, Wrest's previous works, these fresh ears absorbed the album free of comparison.

The many layers of the album float through the consciousness in a fog of discontent. The listener can never really get comfortable as the different aspects are pulled to the surface. The way the varied instrumentation is mixed is extraordinary. It's not necessarily what is highest in the mix that garners the most attention. Each time through, a different feature presents itself making the album a dynamic listen even after several plays. Even when the album pulls back from the full black metal assault it still seeps with menace. Wrest has captured that tortured part of the soul and set it to music. True Traitor, True Whore can be seen as a voyage on a black sea of emotion. When the vessel is not drowning in malice, it drips with despair. Wrest's vocals (think chicken-carcass-in-a-meat-grinder/Dark Crystal bird monster with strep throat/monstrous feral beast) don't so much tell a story,as act as an atmospheric vehicle driving the album down into the twisted depths of the listener's psyche. The bleak psychedelics and ghostly howls mixed with the primitiveness of the the base emotions the album conveys make this a truly frightening album. It's not hard to imagine that those uninitiated to music of this ilk may well find themselves in the fetal position slowly losing their grip on sanity. That one man can create art of this impact from his heart and soul is very inspiring. I have to force myself to take it off repeat and return to reality. A reality that seems a little darker in the shadow of True Traitor, True Whore.

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#15: Loss - Despond

I'm usually a pretty upbeat kind of guy. But I have had my down times. Plenty actually. Despond (Profound Lore) is the soundtrack for down times. It sounds like it's made of pure melancholy. It's incredibly depressing sounding. Loss manage to drag your spirits down without just down tuning to unreasonable levels. Despond is mostly a doom affair, barely moving at all. Just as one who is depressed barely moves through life. Brief flashes of black metal occasionally break through the gloom. They feel like a frustration in not being able to be as sad as you really want to be. Or a lashing out at the world that doesn't understand your sorrow. The voice of this discontent is an other worldly growl. The deepest and most guttural vocalizations I've heard this year. Maybe ever. They sound like a black hole gurgling water. When vocalist/guitarist Mike Meacham isn't imitating and ancient volcano, his clean vocals still evoke a deep sadness. There is almost nothing at all uplifting about this album. If you know someone going through some hard times, give them anything but this. Despond will only serve to deepen their despair. I've never heard a band this good at auralizing emotion.

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#16: Disma - Towards the Megalith

I don't usually like to make direct comparisons between bands but in this case the similarity (to me) was so striking I couldn't help it. Disma remind me a lot of Hooded Menace. They both employ a similar guitar tone and uber-evil growls. But while Hooded Menace are a bit more ethereal sounding, Disma are more beastly. I'm going to use a few "wintry" metaphors here that don't necessarily fit with the band but it's cold and snowing outside. Towards The Megalith (Profound Lore) moves with a few different pacings. One is that of a giant Yeti stomping through a mountain town annihilating any and all life. The next is a glacial pace. Like the sap oozing from a lonely and ancient pine. And the third is like an avalanche racing down the mountainside. But take all that and imagine it bathed in a green mist and covered in blood. It's an incredibly sinister sounding album conjured forth from the bowels of hell itself. I could handle more death metal that sounded this dark and foreboding. It darkens the sun. Makes good men evil. Speakers ooze blood and children run screaming. (Not mine. I subject them to brutality from birth.) I've listened to this at least a dozen times in the last few days and the monumental riffs and crushing vocals of ex-Incantation vocalist Craig Pillard stills pulls me uncontrollably Towards the Megalith.

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#17: Mastodon - The Hunter

This may be one of the most polarizing metal releases of 2011. Partially because Mastodon can hardly be called metal anymore.The Hunter (Reprise) could be considered progressive hard rock if you really need to stick a label on it. I believe it is the only band on my list on a major label. I also believe it is the most accessible album on this year's list. (#15 probably the least) I probably gave the album more attention than I would have if it wasn't Mastodon. I'm not much for second chances. Despite all that, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The album grew on me with each listen. So much so in fact, that I actually went to an actual store and bought and actual physical copy. The deluxe version actually. I will admit that there has been a huge shift in Mastodon's sound since Remission and Leviathan but it's just that. A change. You can't expect a band to sit still forever. The Hunter sees Mastodon move away from the restrictions of a concept album and put together a package of songs that still flow together. The sonics and sense of melody (especially vocal) on Crack the Skye continue and are even expanded on The Hunter. The band may have traded some burliness for beauty but that hasn't lessened the nimble-fingered fretboard fleetness of Troy (I can't hear the bass!), Brent or Bill and Brann still has a staggering fondness for fills. And we must not forget the hooks. There are so many guitar and vocal hooks on the album it could almost be renamed The Fisherman. To fully appreciate The Hunter you have to be able to focus on what is rather than what was. This isn't the Mastodon of 2002. This isn't even the Mastodon of 2006 (Blood Mountain). This is the Mastodon of 2011. As the band continues to evolve there is no telling what the Mastodon of the future might sound like. For now, I'm diggin' what I'm hearin'. "Creature Lives" and all.

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#18: Landmine Marathon - Gallows

Last year, Landmine Marathon's Sovereign Descent landed inside the Top 20 on my year end list. So it was a pleasant surprise to learn that Gallows (Prosthetic) was being released this year. Even better news was that it was good enough to land inside the Top 20 again. Gallows picked up more or less where Sovereign left off but perhaps with a little more urgency. I would imagine that with enough solid material for another album so soon, the band  was bursting at the seams. What spews forth is caustic brew of death metal and grindcore. Gallows blast through its roughly 30 minute running time with suffocating intensity. Breathing room is a rarity. Caustic suffocation and relentless pummelling doesn't sound like much fun but if that's how you think, you've never seen Landmine perform live. Listening to Gallows makes me want bust into a one-man mosh pit. At least I wouldn't have to worry about taking an elbow to the face. Vocalist Grace Perry is as always, at the top of her game and this time around (I noticed anyway) bassist Matt Martinez contributes a little more of his roars to deepen the vocal element. Guitarist/producer Ryan Butler and guitarist Dylan Thomas lay down sick grooves, shred like Slayer, and can weave swirling rhythms around each other. Gallows also marks the transition of drummer Andy York to the studio after joining the band following the recording of Sovereign Descent. To rehash a likely overused pun, he doesn't miss a beat. I always hear people compare Landmine to Bolt Thrower. Until I actually get around to checking BT out, I'll be content Gallows. And maybe Landmine Marathon can even pull a Top 20 trifecta in 2012!

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#19: Hail!Hornet - Disperse The Curse

Many of the albums that I have enjoyed most this year are dark moody affairs that unfold over the whole album. And some albums just fucking ROCK. Disperse The Curse (Relapse) fucking rocks. It boasts an all-star lineup of vocalist T-Roy Medlin (Sourvein, Buzzov*en), drummer Erik Larson (The Mighty Could, ex-Alabama Thunderpussy), guitarist Vince Burke (Sourvein, Beaten Back to Pure) and, this is the part where you bow, "Dixie" Dave Collins on bass (Weedeater, Buzzov*en, Bongzilla). How can you go wrong? I annoy people at work when I listen to this on break because I can't stop moving. Feet, hands, head, all moving. I can't help it! The music is just too infectious. Too energetic. It's like a shot in the ass full of rock-out juice. Pack the bong, pass the bottle and let 'er rip! It's inspiring really. In good and bad ways. I haven't had a drop of whiskey in almost 2 years but it makes me want to get some. On the good side, I'm a bass player. And the bass on this album is amazing. It makes my balls tingle. So it inspires me to actually pick up my bass and play. That's something I sorely need to do. Everyone needs more fun in their lives and for a guy like me, listening to Hail!Hornet puts that smile on my face. It makes me want to have a good time. Now if only it could disperse the curse of me not having any TIME to have fun......

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#20: False - False

I had mentioned in my Explanatory Blurb that there was an album that I came upon after I had pretty much finalized my list that I could not deny from being included. False (Gilead Media) is that album. I just happened to be browsing Gilead's Bandcamp page and recalled reading about False somewhere when I saw the album listed on the site. Click! The first time I played it was at low volume on my shit ass laptop speakers. And I loved it. The next few times were at much greater volumes on my stereo. I have placed it at the top of my "To Buy" list. Vinyl of course. Now, I have only been listening to Black Metal for maybe 3 years so I am not really one to judge the "kvltness" of an album. More to the point, if I like the album, I don't give a fuck how "troo" it is. But based on what I am hearing, the name of the band could not be more ironic. On its two tracks (both over 12 minutes) False displays many of the aspects I've come to enjoy about Black Metal. Scathing, visceral vocals. Soaring riffs that carry me over and through mountains with their airy quality and/or pummelling destructiveness. Furious drumming with many subtle touches. In this case, the final element of the sound is one that I usually don't have a taste for. Keyboards. However, despite the fact that they remind me of Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir (ugh) by their sound, the keys here are much more tastefully done. Their mix and usage feels more complimentary and mood enhancing rather than the over-the-top and in-your-face of those other bands. They elevate the music and make it sound even more sinister. Much like the towering trees that ring the band's logo on the cover. Visually and audibly, this LP is top notch. It pains me that I haven't bought it yet. Soon enough my suffering will pass.

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#21: Maruta - Forward Into Regression

It seems like every two years or so an album will make my year end list and then the band will break up before I even publish it. The last two I can remember were Kalas (Matt Pyke!) and ASRA. This year it's Maruta. The band decided to call it quits this November, just 8 months after releasing the mindfuckingly good Forward Into Regression (Willowtip). FIR is a beautifully brutal blend of head-spinning grind and straight up pits-of-hell death metal. Much like the vocals of Exhumed (low and high), Maruta vocalist Mitchell Luna utilizes the same duality. The difference being, the lows are lower and the highs are screechier. And Luna's transition from one to the other is incredibly jarring. In a good way. That style falls in nicely with the way the album transitions from riff to riff. For the most part it's very abrupt. There aren't many smooth edges (unlike #20). That schizo sound might be what sets it apart in my mind. Although, that's not usually not my preferred style of grindcore. Perhaps what makes Forward Into Regression appeal to me over other seemingly chaotic grind is the riffs themselves. Over the course of its 16 tracks the album bursts with killer riff after killer riff. It's unfortunate that such a promising band is done after only two albums. I guess the best we can hope for now is that the band goes backward into resurrection.

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