Top of 2009

Personally, I have a lot of trouble coming up with this kind of stuff. I've actually never done it before for that reason. I've seen some people even do top of the Aughts lately (apparently Mastodon's "Leviathan," Isis' "Oceanic," and some record by Opeth are the best of the last ten years, which is weird for me because none of those would even make my top 100, if I had to make a list). Frankly, I can't imagine thinking about all the records of the last ten years and trying to decide what ones were best. It just seems silly. Pure subjectivity pretending to be pure objectivity, right?

So yeah. The point is, this was pretty hard to whittle down for me. Here it is, however, the shit I liked best this year:

Best of the Year (Alphabetically)
Ahab- The Divinity of Oceans: I waited a long while for this record, but it paid off in spades. Heavy as hell.

Ancestors- Of Sound Mind: Totally delivered on the promises made by their EP and then some. Super atmospheric and psychedelic without ever getting cheesy or losing the heaviness. The whole thing kind of sounds like a black mass, or something equally sinister.

Buried Inside- The Spoils of Failure: Such a perfect blending of 21st century metal and 90s hardcore that it's hard to fathom.

Cobalt- Gin: Epic record. They call themselves black metal, but this music is so genre-bending to me that I'm not sure what to call it besides good. They really raised the bar on this one.

HKY- S/T: Some of the most crazy, heavy, atmospheric music I've ever heard. Like Suffering Luna updated for the 21st century.

Mono- Hymn to the Immortal Wind: I saw more than one reviewer say this sounded like Celine Dion. I don't even know where to begin with how just plain wrong that is. This record is Mono's masterpiece.

Shaded Enmity- Like Prayers on Deaf Ears: Once again... could these guys shred any harder? If you gave me the choice between listening to this album or any random 20 records from the Century Media catalogue for the rest of my life I wouldn't even have to think about it. This record rocks.

Solstafir- Kold: I waited for this album for what felt like forever. It didn't disappoint. It's so good I may never be able to entirely fit it in my head. Solstafir are, impossibly, Icelandic cowboys playing their own, entirely unique genre of metal. They get my vote for album of the year.

The Sontaran Experiment- S/T: This album officially came out at the end of 2008, but I didn't get around to hearing it until this year, so I'm bending the rules a smidge. Besides, this record is too good NOT to include. This band is a middle-finger in the face to everyone who says so-called "post-metal" is just a bunch of bands that sound like Isis but not as good. This record would melt the faces of everyone who says shit like that if they ever stopped pretending Mastodon and Opeth were the greatest things to ever happen and listened to something slightly off the beaten path. The Doctor Who reference in the name doesn't hurt, either.

While Heaven Wept- Vast Oceans Lachrymose- I already gushed about this album here. How often do you get to hear a record you know nothing about by a band you know nothing about purely by chance and have it totally blow you the fuck away? Listening to this album for the first time made me feel like a kid again, in the awesomest way possible.

Wolves in the Throne Room- Black Cascade: Some people felt this record was a step down from their last full length. Fuck those people. This record was mind blowing.

Honorable Mentions

3 Inches of Blood- Here Waits Thy Doom: Q: How fucking good was this record?
A: real fucking good. Q: "Will you be there to rock in Hell?" A: Fuck yeah.

Adam Hurst- Wanderer: Some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard.

Alestorm- Black Sails at Midnight: Pirate metal. Who wouldn't like this?

Amesoeurs- S/T: What the fuck genre is this? Does it matter when it's this good?

Anaal Nathrakh- In the Constellation of the Black Widow: If Anaal Nathrakh puts out a record, I'll probably like it.

Arcana Coelestia- Le Mirage de l'Ideal: Heavy as fuck, with some nice melody to keep you listening.

Balmorhea- All is Wild, All is Silent: Filling themselves out to a full band helped a lot. This record is gorgeous.

Beirut- March of the Zapotec: A Beirut record is probably a given on a year's best list for me.

Cage- Science of Annihilation: If you can listen to the song planet crusher and not want to throw up the horns, I might hate you.

Caspian- Tertia: I was lukewarm on their first full length, but this one kicks ass. A big step up.

Celeste- Misanthrope(s): One of my favorite album covers of the year, and some sweet screamy hardcore to boot.

Clint Mansell- Moon OST: Great movie with a great soundtrack.

Cloudkicker- Portmanteau: Refining the whole one-man rock machine thing.

(No video from Portmanteau)

Converge- Axe to Fall: I have actively not been into Converge for over 10 years. I'm one of those "they peaked with 'When Forever Comes Crashing'" people. They shut my fucking mouth with this record. It shreds. They finally caught up to, and surpassed, the hype.

Dead City- Goddamn the 21st Century: We played with Dead City a few years ago and they were really good. This year they finally put out a record that captures that.

Eagle Twin: The Unkindness of Crows- One word: HEAVY.

Ender- S/T: Do you like crescendos? Why aren't you listening to Ender right now?

(I couldn't find a video of the Ender I'm talking about, but if you type "Ender" into youtube, these jokers come up. I mean... look at this shit. Is this for real?)

Ensiferum- From Afar: Ensiferum are cheesy as hell, but I love them for it. I wasn't expecting much from the new album because they've never really jumped over the bar set by their first record, but on this record they cleared that bar and more.

Fragments of Unbecoming- The Everhaunting Past...: This is just some really solid melodic death metal. A real good listen.

Garfunkel and Oates- Music Songs: If you write a song called "Pregnant Women are Smug" you AUTOMATICALLY make my best of the year list. It's that simple. Really.

Gates of Slumber- Hymns of Blood and Thunder: Not as good as their first one, but still a sweet record.

Harpoon- Double Gnarly Triple Suicide: CRAZINESS.

Hola Ghost- The Man They Couldn't Hang: Flamencore? Played by Danish guys? I don't know, man, but it works for me.

I Not Dance- So You Think You Can Stop Me...: This came out at the end of 2008, but I'm including it cause it's awesome. Free download of it here

Kodiak- Various Releases: It was a good year for Kodiak.

Krallice- Dimensional Bleedthrough: It's so non-stop it's almost unlistenable. Almost.

Latitudes- Agonist: The best instrumetal record of 2009 for my money. Original review here.

Lonewolf- The Dark Crusade: This album would be on here for the cover alone. Holy shit is that incredible.

Powerwolf- Bible of the Beast: Denying all odds, Powerwolf's new album didn't suck. In fact, it was totally awesome in a throwback kind of way.

Razor of Occam- Homage to Martyrs: Once again, just a real solid metal record.

Rodrigo y Gabriella- 11:11: Another given.

Russian Circles- Geneva: Like I said before, a quality release.

Savage Circus- Of Doom and Death: Epic power metal about The Dark Tower? More please.

Slough Feg- Ape Uprising: Not as good as Hardworlder or Traveller, but it's Slough Feg, so you obviously can't go wrong, and it's a pretty solid relese.

Sonata Arctica- The Days of Greys: Sonata Arctica has gone from being a band who writes good records to a band that writes mediocre records with good songs. So, yeah, sure, they'll never be as good as they were 8 years ago, and this record had some black fucking holes of suck on it, but it also had a few of the best songs they've written since their second album.

Sound Asleep- S/T: Some of the better heavy shit I heard this year.

The Thermals- Now We Can See: The Thermals are usually the exact kind of pop music I don't like, but they play it so fucking earnestly and brilliantly I can't not love it. They're also a live machine.

Tides From Nebula- Aura: As good as stuff like this gets.

Tombs- Winter Hours: Noisy = good. If you like that Converge record that everyone (including me- see above) has been raving about, you should check this out for sure, if you already haven't.

Vaka- Kappa Delta Phi: This was a real refreshing record.

Weekend Nachos- Unforgivable: They do the sludge/hardcore mix better than anyone.