Obviously, this list goes to eleven. 11. Opeth - Heritage I’m reserving this special extra slot for a record by one of my absolute favorite metal bands that happened to put out a non-metal album this year. While I loved Heritage, it’s basically just straight-up prog-rock, right out of the 70s. So much mellotron, so much clean vocals, so much acoustic guitar. It’s right up my wheelhouse, but, again, not very metal. Opeth has always brilliantly combined death metal with more progressive elements, but Mikael Åkerfeldt has foregone the death metal side of the equation for this record. It may be one of my favorite albums of the year (you’ll have to wait for that list to find out), but I couldn’t in good faith include it in my top 10 metal albums. Hence, special slot. 10. Rwake - Rest Furthering the idea that all good sludge comes from Southern swampland, this Arkansas group (yeah, I don’t know how to pronounce it either) mixes doom, sludge, folk, and drone to produce sprawling, deep-fried metal. This is an album that envelops you, stubbornly venturing onward with marathon tracks—all but 2 songs are at least ~9 minutes, with one over 16. Really excellent Southern metal, Rwake included, is like kudzu: relentless and indomitable. 9. Blut Aus Nord - 777—The Desanctification I’ve never loved traditional black metal (I really only enjoy it when mixed with other subgenres, or in small doses), but thankfully French avant-metal group Blut Aus Nord (well, mostly it’s just one guy called “Vindsval”) has been pushing the boundaries of black metal for years. In 2011 they’ve put out the first two albums of what will be a trilogy, and I much prefer the second, 777—The Desanctification. The album features many of the black metal aspects I like—repetition, bleakness, layers of guitar—and combines them with other sounds, like industrial, electronic, and noise. It sounds like it was made in a factory during wartime in some near future alternate universe.  8. SubRosa - No Help For The Mighty Ones Usually the moniker “folk metal” implies acoustic guitar, flutes, perhaps some bagpipes or violins, probably some faeries in there too. With SubRosa, a mostly all-female group from Utah, the “folk” in folk metal is more like a terrifying monster you might meet in one of Grimm’s fairy tales. Make no mistake: this album is straight scary. Maybe it’s the way the electric strings weave in and out, or maybe it’s the haunting, not-quite-human-sounding female vocals, or maybe it’s the slow, creeping dread that infects each track. Still, they are solidly in the folk spectrum: the second-to-last track is an all a cappella version of the traditional English ballad “House Carpenter.” 7. Necros Christos - Doom Of The Occult Any album featuring 23 songs and liturgical organ is going to grab my attention. Add to that the interview that guitarist/vocalist Mors Dalos Ra did with The Evil Empire™ where he describes the album as “built over the nine-branched candelabrum the Jews use for Chanukka,” and I’m definitely going to listen. Necros Christos, a German blackened death quartet, are fascinated with numerology, ancient history, and religion. Music-wise, the album runs the gamut from liturgical organ/chant tracks, Middle Eastern acoustic jaunts, and rollicking growl-y black death rockers. 23 tracks, 73 minutes, countless fascinating twists and turns. 6. Grayceon - All We Destroy Cello-metal icon Jackie Perez Gratz has been busy. Her other band, Giant Squid, put out Cenotes, an excellent album in and of itself. But I happen to prefer the tighter prog-sludge of Grayceon, especially with an album as excellent as All We Destroy. With delicate fingerpicking, haunting cello passages, and thrash-y riffs aplenty, this record is Grayceon’s best yet. Standout track “Shellmounds” (and the rest of the album) definitely rewards repeat listening, with little nuggets of music finding their way to the forefront each time I play it again.  5. Obscura - Omnivium I picked up this album at my favorite independent, locally-owned record store on a whim (Relapse Records helpfully displays a little tab on their releases—”For fans of” recommendations), and boy am I glad I did. A German technical death metal band, Obscura pulls pretty obviously from classic influences like Death or Morbid Angel, but they do it so unbelievably well. This is absolutely my favorite guitar album of the year. The riffs are fast and tech-y without being too robotic, and the leads are as smooth as any I’ve ever heard. There’s about 38 seconds in the second track (starting at 1:37 of “Vortex Omnivium”) that I have listened to over and over and over because the harmonized leads do something to my brain that I can’t help but want to repeat. The mix of chops, songwriting, and instrumental melody make this one of my favorites, and one of the more underrated releases of the year. 4. Serious Beak - Huxwhukw I found Serious Beak on their Bandcamp and was immediately intrigued by the promise of “mind-melting, toe-tapping, psychedelic, progressive and poly-rhythmic discordant music.” Plus, this release features my favorite album cover of the year. Unsigned and hailing from Australia, Serious Beak absolutely delivers on their promise. I’ve seen a few comparisons to Intronaut, and I definitely agree, considering Valley of Smoke was one of my favorites of 2010. Huxwhukw (as far as I can tell, this title refers to a supernatural cannibal bird from a Native American culture in the Pacific Northwest; in other worlds, pretty metal) offers up math-y instrumentals and devastating breakdowns, along with some jazzier clean interludes and plenty of killer dissonance.  3. Protest The Hero - Scurrilous Now, I know this band won’t be for everyone (the vocals are, at best, an acquired taste), but I’ve listened to this album more than any other on this list (according to my last.fm, this was my most-listened album in 2011), and I have spent many weeks with more than one song on here stuck in my head. Math-y and tech-y without being unlistenable (they’re sort of like if Dillinger Escape Plan cared about radioplay; also they’re Canadian), the songs display incredible instrumental prowess (I can personally attest to this, as I bought the guitar transcription book to try to play) but remain catchy as hell. Much like Omnivium (from before! callback!), the leads are incredibly inspired, with possibly the most unique utilization of two-handed tapping I’ve ever heard. Standout track “Tandem” (my most-listened song of 2011) contains my favorite guitar part of any song or album or band from the entire year. 2. Cormorant - Dwellings Apparently the Bay Area is an unintentional sub-theme of my favorite metal this year, as this is the 2nd of 3 San Francisco bands on my list (Grayceon and my #1, below, are the others). Cormorant’s brand of progressive black metal grabs from classical, folk and other metal genres to deliver a complex, emotional album every bit as intricate and well-thought-out as the epic album artwork. In an interview with NPR, bassist and vocalist Arthur von Nagel describes his thoughts on production: “I dislike overly clean production. I feel metal should be raw and dirty.” And this album definitely goes along with that; it’s rough and textured without sounding careless or, ugh, lo-fi (another reason I’ve never loved black metal). Listening to Dwellings, I get the feeling everything is as it is for a specific reason, and that kind of decision-making generally results in albums I love.  1. Hammers Of Misfortune - 17th Street I haven’t had this album long (that it rose so quickly to the top of my list should tell you just how good it is), but I can already tell it’s going to be a veritable classic, remaining in my most-played for years to come. This album is the epitome of progressive metal, from the cutting organs to the harmonized guitar leads to the powerful, operatic pipes on the singer. Really good progressive music (metal or non) combines disparate influences into something bigger than all of them; 17th Street (the title, lyrics, and album cover are all a big homage to San Francisco) contains NWOBHM, prog, thrash, classic rock, doom, pop, and even more. Standout track “The Grain” has a chorus so big I dare you not to sing along. It’s been stuck in my head for weeks. After first hearing the title track 2 months ago, I could not wait to get my hands on this album. Now that I have, I expect it to send me into the new year excited about where metal is. 

Obviously, this list goes to eleven.

11. Opeth - Heritage

I’m reserving this special extra slot for a record by one of my absolute favorite metal bands that happened to put out a non-metal album this year. While I loved Heritage, it’s basically just straight-up prog-rock, right out of the 70s. So much mellotron, so much clean vocals, so much acoustic guitar. It’s right up my wheelhouse, but, again, not very metal. Opeth has always brilliantly combined death metal with more progressive elements, but Mikael Åkerfeldt has foregone the death metal side of the equation for this record. It may be one of my favorite albums of the year (you’ll have to wait for that list to find out), but I couldn’t in good faith include it in my top 10 metal albums. Hence, special slot.

10. Rwake - Rest

Furthering the idea that all good sludge comes from Southern swampland, this Arkansas group (yeah, I don’t know how to pronounce it either) mixes doom, sludge, folk, and drone to produce sprawling, deep-fried metal. This is an album that envelops you, stubbornly venturing onward with marathon tracks—all but 2 songs are at least ~9 minutes, with one over 16. Really excellent Southern metal, Rwake included, is like kudzu: relentless and indomitable.

9. Blut Aus Nord - 777—The Desanctification

I’ve never loved traditional black metal (I really only enjoy it when mixed with other subgenres, or in small doses), but thankfully French avant-metal group Blut Aus Nord (well, mostly it’s just one guy called “Vindsval”) has been pushing the boundaries of black metal for years. In 2011 they’ve put out the first two albums of what will be a trilogy, and I much prefer the second, 777—The Desanctification. The album features many of the black metal aspects I like—repetition, bleakness, layers of guitar—and combines them with other sounds, like industrial, electronic, and noise. It sounds like it was made in a factory during wartime in some near future alternate universe. 

8. SubRosa - No Help For The Mighty Ones

Usually the moniker “folk metal” implies acoustic guitar, flutes, perhaps some bagpipes or violins, probably some faeries in there too. With SubRosa, a mostly all-female group from Utah, the “folk” in folk metal is more like a terrifying monster you might meet in one of Grimm’s fairy tales. Make no mistake: this album is straight scary. Maybe it’s the way the electric strings weave in and out, or maybe it’s the haunting, not-quite-human-sounding female vocals, or maybe it’s the slow, creeping dread that infects each track. Still, they are solidly in the folk spectrum: the second-to-last track is an all a cappella version of the traditional English ballad “House Carpenter.”

7. Necros Christos - Doom Of The Occult

Any album featuring 23 songs and liturgical organ is going to grab my attention. Add to that the interview that guitarist/vocalist Mors Dalos Ra did with The Evil Empire™ where he describes the album as “built over the nine-branched candelabrum the Jews use for Chanukka,” and I’m definitely going to listen. Necros Christos, a German blackened death quartet, are fascinated with numerology, ancient history, and religion. Music-wise, the album runs the gamut from liturgical organ/chant tracks, Middle Eastern acoustic jaunts, and rollicking growl-y black death rockers. 23 tracks, 73 minutes, countless fascinating twists and turns.

6. Grayceon - All We Destroy

Cello-metal icon Jackie Perez Gratz has been busy. Her other band, Giant Squid, put out Cenotes, an excellent album in and of itself. But I happen to prefer the tighter prog-sludge of Grayceon, especially with an album as excellent as All We Destroy. With delicate fingerpicking, haunting cello passages, and thrash-y riffs aplenty, this record is Grayceon’s best yet. Standout track “Shellmounds” (and the rest of the album) definitely rewards repeat listening, with little nuggets of music finding their way to the forefront each time I play it again. 

5. Obscura - Omnivium

I picked up this album at my favorite independent, locally-owned record store on a whim (Relapse Records helpfully displays a little tab on their releases—”For fans of” recommendations), and boy am I glad I did. A German technical death metal band, Obscura pulls pretty obviously from classic influences like Death or Morbid Angel, but they do it so unbelievably well. This is absolutely my favorite guitar album of the year. The riffs are fast and tech-y without being too robotic, and the leads are as smooth as any I’ve ever heard. There’s about 38 seconds in the second track (starting at 1:37 of “Vortex Omnivium”) that I have listened to over and over and over because the harmonized leads do something to my brain that I can’t help but want to repeat. The mix of chops, songwriting, and instrumental melody make this one of my favorites, and one of the more underrated releases of the year.

4. Serious Beak - Huxwhukw

I found Serious Beak on their Bandcamp and was immediately intrigued by the promise of “mind-melting, toe-tapping, psychedelic, progressive and poly-rhythmic discordant music.” Plus, this release features my favorite album cover of the year. Unsigned and hailing from Australia, Serious Beak absolutely delivers on their promise. I’ve seen a few comparisons to Intronaut, and I definitely agree, considering Valley of Smoke was one of my favorites of 2010. Huxwhukw (as far as I can tell, this title refers to a supernatural cannibal bird from a Native American culture in the Pacific Northwest; in other worlds, pretty metal) offers up math-y instrumentals and devastating breakdowns, along with some jazzier clean interludes and plenty of killer dissonance. 

3. Protest The Hero - Scurrilous

Now, I know this band won’t be for everyone (the vocals are, at best, an acquired taste), but I’ve listened to this album more than any other on this list (according to my last.fm, this was my most-listened album in 2011), and I have spent many weeks with more than one song on here stuck in my head. Math-y and tech-y without being unlistenable (they’re sort of like if Dillinger Escape Plan cared about radioplay; also they’re Canadian), the songs display incredible instrumental prowess (I can personally attest to this, as I bought the guitar transcription book to try to play) but remain catchy as hell. Much like Omnivium (from before! callback!), the leads are incredibly inspired, with possibly the most unique utilization of two-handed tapping I’ve ever heard. Standout track “Tandem” (my most-listened song of 2011) contains my favorite guitar part of any song or album or band from the entire year.

2. Cormorant - Dwellings

Apparently the Bay Area is an unintentional sub-theme of my favorite metal this year, as this is the 2nd of 3 San Francisco bands on my list (Grayceon and my #1, below, are the others). Cormorant’s brand of progressive black metal grabs from classical, folk and other metal genres to deliver a complex, emotional album every bit as intricate and well-thought-out as the epic album artwork. In an interview with NPR, bassist and vocalist Arthur von Nagel describes his thoughts on production: “I dislike overly clean production. I feel metal should be raw and dirty.” And this album definitely goes along with that; it’s rough and textured without sounding careless or, ugh, lo-fi (another reason I’ve never loved black metal). Listening to Dwellings, I get the feeling everything is as it is for a specific reason, and that kind of decision-making generally results in albums I love. 

1. Hammers Of Misfortune - 17th Street

I haven’t had this album long (that it rose so quickly to the top of my list should tell you just how good it is), but I can already tell it’s going to be a veritable classic, remaining in my most-played for years to come. This album is the epitome of progressive metal, from the cutting organs to the harmonized guitar leads to the powerful, operatic pipes on the singer. Really good progressive music (metal or non) combines disparate influences into something bigger than all of them; 17th Street (the title, lyrics, and album cover are all a big homage to San Francisco) contains NWOBHM, prog, thrash, classic rock, doom, pop, and even more. Standout track “The Grain” has a chorus so big I dare you not to sing along. It’s been stuck in my head for weeks. After first hearing the title track 2 months ago, I could not wait to get my hands on this album. Now that I have, I expect it to send me into the new year excited about where metal is. 

Notes

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    year 2011 liststravaganza
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