mastodon421's End of the Year Shit That No One Cares About List-A-Thon!

[mastodon421]

6.High on Fire-De Vermis Mysteriis
Matt Pike and co. make another orgy of headbanging-worthy riffs. It doesn't matter if it's thrashy ("Serums of Liao", "Fertile Green", "Spiritual Rites") or slow and doomy ("Warhorn", "Madness of an Architect"), Pike has the perfect riff for the song. These guys don't fuck around, Just about every song rips and makes a lasting impression on the listener. High on Fire's sound is given even more power thanks to the flawless production from Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou. If High on Fire needed to improve on something it would be the production and Ballous goes above and beyond in fixing that. High on Fire never disappoints and they have successfully crushed my fucking skull once again.

Standout Tracks
1.Fertile Green
2.Serums of Liao
3.Madness of an Architect

[kalfitegrdan]

Been behind on all these threads, but just read through this and there's some great stuff in here, man. I'm actually really digging a lot of the hip-hop you're posting about. I may not always agree with your opinions, *cough*Whitechapel*cough*, but I enjoy your lists/reviews because they're so diverse. Keep it up, dude! Power to the list making OCD.

[mastodon421]

5.Sylosis-Monolith
Easily the most underrated record of 2012 by far in my book. Sylosis came out of nowhere to release a melodic death/thrash/progressive metal masterpiece. This has been a band I had heard about a couple of years ago, but slept on until they were announced to be opening for Lamb of God on their fall tour. Since I was going to the see them live, I figured I'd check them out and I'm so glad I did (Although I kind of hated myself for waiting so long to do so.) Their unique combination of styles make for some interesting tracks. You have everything here from vintage thrash riffs and fret-melting solos, melodic guitar work, and even the occasional, well-used clean vocal line and breakdown. Vocalist/lead guitarist Josh Middleton is one talented bastard who can shred as well as deliver incredible vocals that are very much rooted in old-school Gothenburg melodic death metal. This album is masterfully crafted all-around and if your looking for some good thrash/melodic death/progressive/(somewhat) metalcore than look no further than Sylosis.

Side Note: The cover art is without a doubt my favorite of 2012. It reminded me a lot of John Baizley's work and I was actually surprised that he didn't do it. Kudos to Dan Goldsworthy for creating a badass and beautiful album cover.

Standout Tracks
1.Out from Below
2.What Dwells Within
3.Fear the World

[mastodon421]

4.Lamb of God-Resolution
Lamb of God might not be the most innovative band around, but they are consistent as hell and Resolution is no exception. Of course, there is ample amounts of energy and excellent groove riffs that Lamb of God is known for. It's impressive that these guys still has this much relentless fury in their music after being active for so long. The mostly stick to their formula, but they stray from it every once in a while on tracks like the Crowbar-esque opener "Straight for the Sun" and the prominent string arrangements on "King Me". The most impressive aspect of this record was me the improved musicianship. Chris Adler's drumming has never been more intricate and Randy Blythe gives arguably his best vocal performance to date. It's not quite Ashes of the Wake, but Resolution is another excellent effort by metal's resident rednecks.

Standout Tracks
1.Desolation
2.King Me
3.The Number Six

[slapguitarer]

._.

[mastodon421]

3.The Faceless-Autotheism
The Faceless return four long years after releasing modern metal masterpiece Planetary Duality with another fantastic and dynamic record in Autotheism. There was a lot of bitching about this record due to the change in sound seeing The Faceless go in a more progressive direction. I happened to really like their change in sound on this record. I've always liked Michael Keene's clean vocals and he does a good job with an expanded role. The progressive instrumentation has been one of the stronger aspects of the band since their inception. The progressive parts here are really well-done and maintain a sense of oddball unpredictability which I love (This is a big part of what makes 3-part album centerpiece "Autotheist Movement" so special.) Even with the more progressive sound in place, The Faceless never lose the tech-death side to their sound. New vocalist Gefforey Ficco is a more than worthy replacement for Derek Rydquist. His lows are better than Rydquist's and his highs are very black metal-esque and equally as good as Rydquist. Bottom line: It isn't quite as good as Planetary Duality, but this was well worth the four year wait and further cements The Faceless as one of the most important bands in modern extreme metal.

Standout Tracks
1.Autotheist Movement I-III
2.In Solitude
3.Accelerated Evolution

[W0unds]

Originally Posted by mastodon421

The Faceless return four long years after releasing modern metal masterpiece Planetary Duality with another fantastic and dynamic record in Autotheism. There was a lot of bitching about this record due to the change in sound seeing The Faceless go in a more progressive direction. I happened to really like their change in sound on this record. I've always liked Michael Keene's clean vocals and he does a good job with an expanded role. The progressive instrumentation has been one of the stronger aspects of the band since their inception. The progressive parts here are really well-done and maintain a sense of oddball unpredictability which I love (This is a big part of what makes 3-part album centerpiece "Autotheist Movement" so special.) Even with the more progressive sound in place, The Faceless never lose the tech-death side to their sound. New vocalist Gefforey Ficco is a more than worthy replacement for Derek Rydquist. His lows are better than Rydquist's and his highs are very black metal-esque and equally as good as Rydquist. Bottom line: It isn't quite as good as Planetary Duality, but this was well worth the four year wait and further cements The Faceless as one of the most important bands in modern extreme metal.

So glad to see this on someone else's year end list.

It didn't seem to get as much love here as other year end lists.

[mastodon421]

2.Death Grips-The Money Store
Death Grips gives hip-hop a swift kick in the ass with The Money Store. This is some of the most original, genre-bending, aggressive, and best hip-hop to come out in a long time. This record takes the chaos of Exmilitary controls it and makes it something special. I was often overwhelmed by the production on Exmillitary, that's not the case at all on here. The production achieves the perfect balance of noise and clarity. Besides the production sounding sharp, I can not emphasize enough how amazing the beats on this record. Each one has a different quirk to them and not one beat on here isn't memorable. In addition to the flawless production, They are able to create a plethora of fantastic hooks. This is particularly impressive considering how aggressive this record is that they still were able to work a ton of infectious hooks in as well ("The Fever" and "I've Seen Footage" are particularly catchy.) The Money Store is a near masterpiece that shook up the structure of modern hip-hop.

Standout Tracks
1.The Cage
2.The Fever (Aye Aye)
3.I've Seen Footage

[larvtard]

Hey, what'd you think of the new Baroness?

[slapguitarer]

Originally Posted by larvtard

Hey, what'd you think of the new Baroness?