Venerdì 6 Gen 2006, 23:10

This list is far from definite… in fact i had to wait much longer than most users here since i wanted to make sure i had some extra time to buy/listen to new albums from the past calendar year to make judgment.

Nevertheless, the list is also not set in stone and subject to (and likely to) change.

Let's start with the albums that were on the "good" list:
The Crystal Method - Community Service II
Artificial Reason - 48
He is Legend - I Am Hollywood
Premonitions of War & Benümb - Split
Genuflect - Rough Mix Demo

And now the "pretty good" list:
Hand to Hand - A Perfect Way to Say Goodbye
The Agony Scene - The Darkest Red
Most Precious Blood - Merciless
Demon Hunter - The Triptych
As Cities Burn - Son, I Loved You at Your Darkest
The Bled - Found in the Flood
Terror - Lowest of the Low (resissue)
Yesterdays Rising - Lightworker
The Black Dahlia Murder - Miasma
Aborted - The Archaic Abattoir
Becoming the Archetype - Terminate Damnation
Turmoil - Staring Back
The Burning Season - The Haze of Infatuation
Mortal Treason - Sunrise Over a Sea of Blood

Also, how about a "very good" list:
Into the Moat - The Design
Idiot Pilot - Strange We Should Meet Here (reissue)
Strapping Young Lad - Alien
Nodes of Ranvier - The Years to Come
Meshuggah - Catch Thirtythree
Knut - Terraformer
Leng Tch'e - The Process of Elimination
Fall River - Lights Out
Gunmetal Grey - Solitude
Ed Gein - Judas Goats and Dieseleaters
Cursed - Two
Cannae - Gold Becomes Sacrifice
Every Time I Die - Gutter Phenomenon
Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil
Despised Icon - The Healing Process
The Classic Struggle - Feel Like Hell
The Fall of Troy - Doppelgänger
Calico System - They Live
Scars of Tomorrow - The Horror of Realization
August Burns Red - Thrill Seeker

And on to the "excellent" list:
Comeback Kid - Wake the Dead
The Esoteric - With the Sureness of Sleepwalking
Darkest Hour - Undoing Ruin
Winter Solstice - The Fall of Rome
Mikoto - Mikoto
The Red Chord - Clients
A Life Once Lost - Hunter
Trivium - Ascendancy
Bleed the Sky - Paradigm in Entropy
Through the Eyes of the Dead - Bloodlust
HORSE the Band - The Mechanical Hand
Pelican - The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw
Still Remains - Of Love and Lunacy
Above This Fire - In Perspective
Embrace the End - Counting Hallways to the Left

And FINALLY, your Top 15 Albums of 2005…
15 - Throwdown - Vendetta
Throwdown's turn to "metal," as was slightly signified in their last release from 2003. The homages to Pantera are a little much at times, but the hardcore punch is still there - and as the kids say, still br00tal.

14 - Sinai Beach - Immersed
Sinai Beach also turn up the metal dial on this album, but give a spirited effort even with the overtly religious connotations (no pun intended). A heavy heavy album.

13 - Losa - The Perfect Moment
A band nobody knows but everybody should - these fellas are thick with time changes, thundering bass, and songs flowing effortlessly from one to the other. The darkhorse album of the year.

12 - Chimaira - Chimaira
The self-titled album from Cleveland's crew of destruction leaves no aspect of metal untouched. A natural progression for band with ever-increasing talent and scope. Or, in one word: epic.

11 - Black My Heart - Before the Devil
Straightedge and goddamn proud of it, the debut full-length from BMH puts a small technical spin on moshpit hardcore for its added effect (and added charisma). These Boston boys bring the pain, in large doses.

10 - Ramallah - Kill a Celebrity
"White Trash" Rob Lind is at it again, and this time he really knows what he's doing with Ramallah… heavy on politics, heavy on convictions, and heavy on brutality, this one made my head hurt from banging so much.

9 - Animosity - Empires
The shocker here? None of the members of this band can legally drink alcohol. So? They beautifully mash together grind, metal, and hardcore as if they've been doing it for 20 years. This band has an amazing future.

8 - Unearth - Our Days of Eulogy
This band is so damn good that even a disc with all old (and some live) material gets in the top ten. Why? Because they still kicked ass 5 years ago, and this proves it. Put it all together and you've got 50 more minutes of metalcore madness.

7 - Norma Jean - O' God, the Aftermath
Can you believe that this band lost their signature singer, changed their direction, and arguably got BETTER? What a fabulous album… a special thank you to metalcore pioneers and legends Botch for inspiring every second of it. And hey, it's even up for a Grammy for best packaging. Beat that!

6 - Ion Dissonance - Solace
Oh the old days of mp3.com when i discovered this band 4 years ago… to think they would get even better is mind-boggling, but they did. Crazy time signatures? Yep. Pummeling double bass? You know it. A vocalist who sounds like he wants to destroy his vocal chords? Oh yes. Rock on my Canadian friends.

5 - On Broken Wings - It's All a Long Goodbye
The true kings of the metalcore breakdown ("HEARTLESS!"), OBW come back with a vengeance in this 2005 disc with unrelenting heaviness. The "new" rerecorded tracks are better than ever, and the truly new songs are blasted out to perfection. What's missing? The ice pack for your headache after you can't stop rocking to it.

4 - As I Lay Dying - Shadows Are Security
Arguably the most popular metalcore band in the world, AILD attempt to acheive a harmony between the breakdown-heavy aspect of their own scene and the Swedish metal movement they adore. What you get is the perfect mix of hard-as-hell songs with melodic undertones that keep it wonderfully fresh throughout its entire length. They didn't miss a beat.

3 - 311 - Don't Tread on Me
Already the EIGHTH studio album for Omaha's finest, 311 return for their most ecclectic album in 10 years. Bringing styles of hard rock, funk, reggae, and modern rock, 311 will always give way to their unwritten mantra: "we've got something for everyone." And in this case, almost everyone was pleased with it. Infectiously-catchy melodies intertwine with heavy raps to show that the 30-somethings still got it.

2 - Between the Buried and Me - Alaska
Oh i cannot even explain to you how much i anticipated this album, and it didn't disappoint for a single second. It's been many months and it still gets better with every listen. With incredible guitar solos, ridiciulous double bass pounding, scream/sing combos, and blistering technical metal moments, BTBAM have crafted their art to perfection, and are only on the way up. The only band in the world that i can call both brutal and beautiful, equally.

1 - Swarm of the Lotus - The Sirens of Silence
"Shall i compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and HOLY CRAP FREAKING INCREDIBLE" (okay i took some liberties with Shakespeare there, big deal). Dare i even imagine my musical life without this band in it? And to think, i only was introduced to them 9 months ago. To summarize… heavy heavy metal, jaw-dropping doom influences, thick as molasses breakdowns, and a style that really can only be summarized by the band's self-contrived genre: "A-Bomb Rock." At times, honestly, flat-out brilliance.