Comments on: TOTD Year’s End Staff Picks 2008!

By: Timmy

Timmy — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 03:01:57 +0000

After a lot of thought, I have settled on my top 10 for 2008!!! Here they are!!! See you guys in 2010!!!

1. Dornenreich : In Luft Geritzt
2. Virgin Black : Requiem – Fortissimo
3. Warrel Dane : Praises to the War Machine
4. The Drowning: This Bleak Descent
5. Before the Dawn (: Soundscape of Silence
6. Amon Amarth : Twilight of the Thunder God
7. October Falls : The Womb of Primordial Nature
8. Todesbonden : Sleep Now, Quiet Forest
9. Pharaoh : Be Gone
10. Flowing Tears: Thy Kingdom Gone

Honorable Mentions: Krisiun : Southern Storm
Soul Stealer : Soul Stealer
Arsis: We are the Nightmare

P.S. Why does Chris Dick only have 9 albums in his top 10?

By: amon

amon — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:20:00 +0000

wheres the love for mourning beloveth???

By: Justin

Justin — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 08:10:12 +0000

only one of you fucks listed Bloodbath. same with Hail Of Bullets.

get with it!

By: Leon

Leon — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 01:45:35 +0000

Why didnt Hail Of Bullets get more props. That mutha fucka is a beast.

By: BKaz

BKaz — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 21:05:25 +0000

Yeah, The This Will Destroy You record is quite fantastic. I unfortunately got around to it in late december after i made my top 10 list, but yeah, it would have most likely clinched a top 20 position on my list. Excellent post-rock overall.

By: gabaghoul

gabaghoul — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:50:51 +0000

seconded on This Will Destroy You; I should have listed it anyway under a special sub-heading.

By: Belgarath

Belgarath — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:31:40 +0000

Yeah, there’s actually some stuff I somehow overlooked. ‘Obzen’ definitely deserves mention. Texture’s ‘Silhouettes’ is damn impressive. Artefact’s ‘Ruin’ should have been in my top 10 somewhere. And I know they’re not metal, but This Will Destroy You’s self titled record is one of the best albums I’ve heard in the past 10 years, let alone 08.

By: Apollyon

Apollyon — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 22:31:57 +0000

The thing I hate about Top of [something] lists is that they seem like an absolute. Got my hands on a few albums mentioned here and they’d most likely change my own list somewhat. For example, Esoteric’s “The Maniacal Vale” shot itself to the top ten for me.

By: BKaz

BKaz — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 22:21:23 +0000

Ceno –
Yeah, the new Andromeda was pretty good. Unfortunately I don’t think it quite compares to Chimera or Extension of the Wish, but it definitely has it’s moments. I feel they could’ve put something out even better than this though, so perhaps my expectations were a bit high! hah. They are indeed fantastic musicians.

And as for The Faceless, that album is killer. I feel there is still a huge percentage of metalheads who wrote off the faceless a while ago as a shitty deathcore band, when in reality they are unbelievably talented. Planetary Duality is sweet and they deserve some more respect from metalhead ‘elitists’.

By: Apollyon

Apollyon — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 21:49:02 +0000

Heh. Yeah. I’m just a bad listener ;)

By: Staylow

Staylow — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 21:37:29 +0000

Apollyon –

That doesn’t happen for me with Darkane. I never forget about those guys. Totally blow me away every time. It takes a little while though. I always start out thinking “this isn’t that great”, but after 6-7 spins, it really starts to sink in. Great stuff.

By: ceno

ceno — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 20:01:42 +0000

BKaz, nice to see someone appreciating the new Andromeda. It should have been on my list too, but I completely forgot about this album. Fucking sclerosis is just unavoidable when it comes to such a large number of good releases that I had to deal with last year. The Faceless, as number two, is also a good choice. Another album that I should have paid more attention than I did.

By: Erik Thomas

Erik Thomas — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 16:49:57 +0000

@ Anxiety-On my first list I actually had the Dead Congregation as a HM, but it just got bumped off. As far as TOTS writer not liking death metal, you ahve to realize as a whole as writers we get exposed to ALOT of music so our year end lists tend to be more varied and good death metal, might not make the cut. Thanks for reading and commenting though

By: Stiffy

Stiffy — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 16:09:33 +0000

^ Erik, I’ll leave this one to you.

By: BKaz

BKaz — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 04:17:44 +0000

My top 20:

20. Andromeda – The Immunity Zone
19. Hour of Penance – The Vile Conception
18. Russian Circles – Station
17. Bloodbath – The Fathomless Misery
16. Mouth of the Architect – Quietly
_____________________
Honorable Mentions:

15. Arsis – We Are The Nightmare
14. Gojira – The Way of All Flesh
13. Cor Scorpii – Monument
12. Ásmegin – Arv
11. Ihsahn – angL
_____________________
TOP 10:

10. Intronaut – Prehistoricisms
9. Cult of Luna – Eternal Kingdom
8. Enslaved – Vertebrae
7. Supercontinent – Vaalbara
6. Mar De Grises – Draining The Waterheart
5. Mogwai – The Hawk Is Howling
4. Samothrace – Life’s Trade
3. Cynic – Traced In Air
2. The Faceless – Planetary Duality
___________________________
Best album of the year:

1. OPETH – WATERSHED

-I did a full write up on the gauntlet forums with commentary and whatnot for each, check it out if you want! http://forums.thegauntlet.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=19299&start=90

By: Anxiety Hangover

Anxiety Hangover — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 23:39:10 +0000

Dead Congregation, anyone? This leads me to believe there isn’t a single death metal fan that writes for ToTD.

Dead Congregation’s Graves of the Archangels is the best death metal album of the year, best metal album of the year and probably one of the top twenty death metal albums of all time; and that’s coming from someone who has been listening to death metal for almost 20 years. If you haven’t heard it, you’ve missed the heaviest, most evil death metal record since Onward to Golgotha.

By: Erik Thomas

Erik Thomas — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 21:32:17 +0000

The Birushanah originally came out in some tiny label in 2007 but Level Plane Released it worldwide in 2008

By: STIFFY

STIFFY — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:26:23 +0000

Yes, we all know Meshuggah. Their albums just never stick with me. It was cool for a week and I’ll never listen to it again. Should have made the honorable mentions list I guess. Just not a fan really.

I think its pretty awesome that Omnium Gatherum Made it so high on some lists. That makes me happy.

By: Apollyon

Apollyon — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 13:05:59 +0000

Really? Damned.

As for Darkane, they’re an odd band. They put out great albums but after a while (few months of intensive listening), the albums kind of just disappear from rotation and revisits are rare.

But when you go back to ’em, they’re still awesome yet they still disappear after a while completely. And the new album seems to follow that trend. Every time it’s actually on, it’s amazing but once you’re through, you completely forget it for days.

By: LoftComplication

LoftComplication — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:33:26 +0000

that Birushanah album came out in 2007…… Still an amazing record.

By: QRV

QRV — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:30:32 +0000

I really don’t think Messhugah will ever go back to its 90s sound. Which is a good thing, I think. obZen was as evolutionary as their previous records, and while it might not appeal for many metal fans, it’s still really nice and interesting music. can’t believe it wasn’t included in any lists, while that mediocre album Metallica did actually made it into some of them.

tsk, tsk. shame on you.

By: Sandwiches

Sandwiches — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:08:49 +0000

Ya seriously no meshuggah?
1. Meshuggah – obzen
2. Intronaut – prehistoricisms
3. The faceless – planetary duality
4. Textures – silhouettes
5. Torche – meanderthal
6. Mouth of the architect – quietly
7. decrepit birth – diminishing between worlds
8. Origin – antithesis
9. Trap them – seizures in barren praise
10. Hate eternal – fury and flames

By: Staylow

Staylow — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:02:53 +0000

Oh, and as far as Darkane goes, they’ll be on list this year. It’s not being released here in the states until February, so it’s an 09 release as far as I’m concerned. And yes, it is awesome. Maybe not the masterpiece that is Layers of Lies, but it’s damn close.

By: Staylow

Staylow — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 23:57:29 +0000

I thought Obzen was painfully boring. When they make another album as killer as Contradictions Collapse, then I’ll be happy.

Dan – I didn’t think Cesca’s drums were too loud. In fact, that might be my favorite aspect of that album. And I hear you on Amoral – I love all three of their albums, and the announcement of that joker taking over vocals pissed me off. They said he’ll do some growling too, but it will most likely be far less than before.

By: Reignman35

Reignman35 — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:17:44 +0000

Yeah no mention of Obzen is an atrocity… that album could tap-dance all over a lot of the stuff that made these lists.