Jotun's Top 10 Albums
By Jotun 3 Comments
2008 has been a great year for metal so I decided I'd share my top 10 albums of the year.
10: Origin - Antithesis
Origin are a technical brutal death metal band from the U.S. that have been creating some of the most intense grindcore infused death metal since 1997. Antithesis is definitely not for the novice metal listener. It's brutal, fast and loud. An audio assault from start to finish, fans of technical brutal metal will surely find a lot to love with this album.
9: Meshuggah - obZen
There aren't many categories that you can put Meshuggah into and have it accurately describe them. Insane time signatures, guitar tuned so low, they didn't even need a bassist on a few of their albums, cerebral lyrics. obZen is what Meshuggah do best. It's a departure from their last few efforts in that it's a more comprehensive album. Not too many concepts of expiriments. A kick-ass record all around.
8: Psychroptic - Ob(servant)
Aussie tech-death metalers return and with a new vocalist. The new album is a bit more straight-forward, but it's still a really great listen from start to finish. I'm really happy to see these guys still around and finally starting to get some semi-mainstreem attention.
7: Bloodbath - The Fathomless Mastery
Swedish death metal super-group returns with Mikael Akerfeldt at the mic. More of a throw-back to the earlier years of swedish death metal, this is a fantastic album put on and just rock out to.
6: Gojira - The Way of all Flesh
The best french metal band around bar-none. Heavy, groovey and just plain awesome their follow-up to From Mars to Sirius is a great effort from these guys.
5: The Faceless - Planetary Duality
I really didn't think these guys could pull off a better album than their debut Akeldama, but damn was I wrong. Jazzy, etheral, brutal, technical this album has it all. A young band with loads of talent, The Faceless should be on any metal fans radar for years to come.
4: Scar Symmetry - Holographic Universe
Scar Symmetry are one of my favorite melodic death metal bands around and their newest album does not dissapoint. Catchy songs, awesome guitar solos, sing-along chorus', progressive elements. There's just so much to love about this album. Unfortunately they recently announced the departure of their vocalist and have replaced him with two other guys. Who knows what the future has in store for Scar Symmetry?
3: Arsis - We are the Nightmare
After a mediocore sophomore outing, a lot of metal fans wrote off this american band. Fortunately they came back and with a vengence. Great guitar playing and drumming permiate every track on the album. One of the best of the year by far.
2: Opeth - Watershed
After the dramatic lineup changes that happened after the band was finished touring for Ghost Reveries, I had fears of Opeth losing some of the sound that I've come to love on albums like Damnation, Blackwater Park and Deliverance. My fears were unfounded though as this is a really great album. Just the right amount of bluesy guitar riffs, brutal death metal growls and progressive tangents, a new Opeth is always a special listen.
1: Cynic - Traced in Air
The return of the jazz-infused death metal band from Florida after a 15 year hiatus. Traced in Air is a triumph of epic preportions. Beautiful and mellencholic, it's an album you can sit and listen to intently, or zone out and let your mind wonder with this as the soundtrack. There really isn't any reason for anyone NOT to love this album. Amazing.
So there you have it, my top 10 albums of the year.
Peace