Every December I hear people say the same things regarding the releases that came out over the preceding 11 months; "This was a shitty year for metal *cry cry cry*" Well fuck you. Every year is a good year for metal if you know where to look. To all the haters who are more content bitching about the fact that the new Wintersun album still hasn't dropped, shut your goddamn maws! 2011 was a great year for metal, and the following list proves it.
40. Mitochondrion – Parasignosis
39. Agoraphobic Nosebleed/Despise You – And on, and on… Split 12”
38. Primordial – Redemption at the Puritan’s Hand
37. Ulcerate – The Destroyers of All
36. Blut Aus Nord – 777 Sect(s)/The Desanctification
35. Drainland - …And So Our Troubles
34. Ravencult – Morbid Blood
33. Morne – Asylum
32. Trap Them – Darker Handcraft
31. Seidr – For Winter Fire
30. Wolvhammer – The Obsidian Plains
29. Today is the Day – Pain is a Warning
28. Fyrnask – Bluostar
27. Antediluvian – Through the Cervix of Hawwah
26. Thou – The Archer and the Owle
25. Batillus - Furnace
24. Heartless – Hell is Other People
23. All Pigs Must Die – God is War
22. Negative Plane – Stained Glass Revelations
21. Circle of Ouroborus - Eleven Fingers
20. SubRosa – No Help For The Mighty Ones
19. Trash Talk – Awake
18. Hammers of Misfortune – 17th Street
17. Atriarch – Forever the End
16. Corrupted - Garten der Ubewussthelt
15. Mournful Congregation – The Book of Kings
14. Lycus – Demo 2011
13. Bell Witch – Demo 2011
12. Wreck of the Hesperus – Light Rotting Out
11. Aosoth - III
10. Disma – Towards the Megalith - Disma dropped a modern death metal classic on our asses this year. Towards the Megalith is a cavernous slice of primal death that makes all of your Black Dahlia Murder albums sound like the soundtrack to Love Actually.
9. YOB – Atma - The masters of doom delivered the goods in 2011. A strong follow-up to 2009's monolithic The Great Cessation, Atma sees YOB channeling Hawkwind a little more than usual and to great effect.
8. Blasphemophagher – The Ill Command of the Absolute Chaos - Pummeling black death from my favorite Nuclear War Now! band. Words don't do this level of chaos justice.
7. False – False - 2 twelve minute tracks? Fuck yeah. False accomplished more in two tracks than most black metal bands (Liturgy) could accomplish writing a dissertation.
6. Indian – Guiltless - Crusty, doomy, noisy, and oh so satisfying. Indian put all the pieces together to form the perfect representation of their sound. Guiltless is a crusher from start to finish.
5. Ash Borer – Ash Borer - Cascadian black metal done right. Hollow, dark, and beautiful. Ash Borer deserved way more attention than they got in 2011.
4. Barghest – Barghest - Containing members of Thou, Barghest play second wave inspired black metal. The debut album from this NOLA collective is addictive as fuck.
3. Gridlink - Orphan - John Chang rules. Gridlink rules. Grindcore rules. Orphan rules.
2. Bosse de Nage - II - Post black metal that doesn't play by the rules. Bosse de Nage destroyed the confines of their genre and created something completely new. II is a force to be reckoned with.
1. Wolves in the Throne Room – Celestial Lineage - WITTR finally delivered their masterpiece. Celestial Lineage is the culmination of everything WITTR have ever done right. This album is truly transcendental, and deserves your undivided attention.
So there you have it, a great year for metal as illustrated by my spot on list.
