Rocco's Best of 2011

[slapguitarer]

Unfortunate you didn't enjoy Scurrilous as much as the rest of us (us being people who did).

[Rocco44]

Yeah I know this is taking forever, but I'm going to try and quicken the pace to get this finished. At least I'm not as bad as someone we know and love haha

52. Mastodon - The Hunter

Loved the prog epic, Crack The Skye, but I was glad when I heard that this album was a bit more stripped down and ballsier. Unfortunately it just doesn't hold up in comparison to Remission and Leviathan. Musicianship is still great but the vocals are still borderline bad and the more pop oriented songs are just not my thing.


51. Argus - Boldly Stride The Doomed

All the ingredients for a fantastic heavy metal/doom album are here. Great lead vocals courtesy of Butch Balich (ex Penance), galloping riffs, soulful lead guitar work, but for some reason these guys never quite click with me like I think they should. Still some high quality vintage heavy metal.


50. August Burns Red - Leveler

Metalcore is not my genre of choice anymore, but these guys are probably my favorite. Jake's vocals are still spot on and varied enough to avoid becoming boring. You can definitely feel the emotion and conviction with the lyrics. The breakdowns and melodic riffs are still aplenty, but the band is still progressing with occasional clean vocals and clean guitar sections.

[Rocco44]

49. Opeth - Heritage

Probably my biggest disappointment of the year. Even though I was worried about the album being void of heaviness, I still had faith in Mikael creating a full on prog album worthy of his previous discography. Unfortunately I found Heritage to be meandering, with little substance to speak of. I like bits and pieces of this record especially the closing of "Folklore" but as a complete it album it falls flat for me. Mikael is one of my favorite vocalist of all time but his all clean singing performance is quite dull and pitchy in many songs. I'm still an Opeth fanboy, but I'm concerned about the future material and hope that the death metal side is not fully dead.


48. Dornenreich - Flammentriebe

This was one of the early albums of the year that I remember getting some hype and the cover art was intriguing so I gave it a shot. The band plays melodic leaning blackened folk, and they do it quite well. The use of strings adds some great melodies without being cheesy. The whole albums is very enjoyable but the obvious highlight for me is the closing song "Erst Deine Träne Löscht Den Brand". The song begins with simple acoustic strumming and emotive strings which build up to silence, some cool sounding spoken word, and closes in a stunning guitar tapping section. One of the better songs of the year.


47. Burzum - Fallen

More of the same melodic black metal from good ole Varg Vikernes. Slightly underproduced, tremelo picked black metal, with some folky clean vocals that actually sound pretty good. Nothing revolutionary but Varg still writes some good fucking riffs and I look forward to his next one.

[Rocco44]

46. Trap Them - Darker Handcraft

Whenever I'm in the mood to be smashed in the face with hammer repeatedly, this album is a good choice to accomplish just that. Trap Them play furious d-beat, hardcore laden metal with the occasional splash of grindcore. Kurt Ballou's production is great as usual and the familiar swedish death metal guitar tone is delicious. The riffs are a bit catchier than those on Seizures in Barren Praise but they are not close to selling out or anything. This album is nothing new but goddamn does it hit the spot when I'm looking for some pissed off, metally, hardcore punk.


45. Unexpect - Fables of the Sleepless Empire

This album is fucking madness. The aptly named 6 piece from Canada, Unexpect, are truly avant garde and play chaotic metal along with electronic, classical, jazz and many other influences. The musicianship, from the drumming, to the 9 string bass (I did'nt even know that existed), is flawless. I wonder if they could possibly pull this material off in a live setting. Operatic female vocals sort of hold it all together and add a catchiness to the songs. Very unique piece of music and if I can ever fully wrap my head around with what is going on this album could easily jump into my top 20.


44. Ulcerate - The Destroyers of All

For whatever reason recently, death metal has become one of my least listened to genres. That being said, of the few death metal albums I listened to last year, Ulcerate really stood out. The combination of the dirty guitar tone and dissonant cacophony of riffs give this record a dark and quite evil sound. The atmosphere that results is unique among most death metal. Dense as this album is, the band does use occasional post metal elements to give the songs some dynamics. The vocals are good, typical gutterals, but the drumming really stands out. I'm no musician, but this drumming performance is probably the best I've heard all year. Very original sounding music in a genre where that is a rare thing.

[Rocco44]

Fuck, I completely forgot about this. I'm worse than Nat and he has way more important things to do in his life which I don't haha. And he actually writes reviews. Anyways not that anyone cares but I'll finally finish this thing.


43. Vreid - V

Following up the excellent Milorg was no easy task, but Vreid did not disappoint with this one. Thrashy black metal, with a good dose of prog and rock n roll is how I'd describe it.


42. Sylosis - Edge of the Earth

No sophomore slump for this talented young band. The new vocalist is not anything to get excited about but he does the job with competent growls and the occasional clean. The obvious reason to listen to these guys are the thrashy, groovy, melodic guitar work that this band has a plethora of. Unfortunately the album is a bit too long, but in smaller doses this thing definitely delivers the riffs.

[Natrlhi]

Ahem.

I can't believe I'm actually in a position to finish my list before someone else finishes theirs.

[Rocco44]

Haha holy shit I completely forgot about this. I'll probably just find my list and post the rest.

[Rocco44]

There's the end of this thread of fail. I couldn't find my finalized list so the numbers don't match but whatever haha

1. 40 Watt Sun – The Inside Room
2. YOB – Atma
3. Scale The Summit – The Collective
4. Rwake – Rest
5. Lightbearer – Lapsus
6. Elder – Dead Roots Stirring
7. Graveyard - Hisingen Blues
8. The Atlas Moth – An Ache For Distance
9. Premonition 13 – 13
10. Russian Circles - Empros
11. Subrosa – No Help For The Mighty Ones
12. Primordial – Redemption At The Puritans Hand
13. Defeater – Empty Days & Sleepless Nights
14. Loss – Despond
15. Black Cobra – Invernal
16. Mournful Congregation – Book Of Kings
17. Tombs – Path of Totality
18. Animals As Leaders – Weightless
19. All Pigs Must Die – God Is War
20. Moonsorrow
21. Fair to Midland – Arrows & Anchors
22. Deafheaven – Roads To Judah
23. Batillus – Furnace
24. Cormorant – Dwellings
25. Witch Mountain – South of Salem
26. Wolves In The Throne Room – Celestial Lineage
27. Times Of Grace – The Hymn of A Broken Man
28. Liturgy – Aesthethica
29. Evergrey – Glorious Burden
30. Symphony X – Iconoclast
31. Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising
32. Insomnium – One For Sorrow
33. Omnium Gatherum - New World Shadows
34. Falloch – Where Distant Spirits Remain
35. Petrychor – Effigies & Epitaphs
36. Ghost Brigade – Until Fear No Longer Defines Us
37. Novembers Doom – Aphotic
38. Unexpect - Fables of The Sleepless Empire
39. While Heaven Wept – Fear Of Infinity