Nathan_393

The first three albums are in order of first place, second and third. But the last seven are in no particular order. Coming up with a list like this is darn near impossible, and I can't decide beyond my top three.

1. METALLICA - DEATH MAGNETIC

So, anybody who knows me well saw this coming. I'm a Metallica fanatic - more so than almost every other fan out there. I enjoy every album - I can even find things to like in St. Anger. Not because I buy the commercial crap from their label about how great all their records are and what they are meant to be and all that, but because I dig their artistic visions. Every album from them, for me anyways, is a statement. And Death Magnetic was a giant "we're still able to play thrash!" statement. There was only one bad song, and that was the Unforgiven III. The individual efforts from Hammett and Ulrich may not be what they used to be, but dang man, when Hetfield starts throwing out riffs, they're unbelievable and gorgeous.  Every song is memorable. They don't run into each other. That alone gives it ten bonus points. The fact that it's got their most complex, biggest, meatiest arrangements since ...AJFA doesn't hurt them much either. Overall, it was my favourite release this year and my playcount shows it. Now, if they could finally get off their butts and put out another album before 2013.

2. MESHUGGAH - obZen

Quite possibly the heaviest release of the year - a sledgehammer to the face with production that doubles the impact - this was Meshuggah's best release in years. I've hated everything I heard from Nothing and Catch 33, so this was an awesome change. The riffs are mind-blowing and the drumming is pretty incredible all-around.  Combustion was one of the best Meshuggah tracks I've heard yet - so was Bleed.  Everything on here just felt like a destructive sledgehammer, and is original to boot.  And producers should take note: this is the way any sort of death metal should be produced. it's the way any sort of thrash metal should be produced. This is how music should sound.  A mind-blowing release that's highly recommended.

3. TRIVIUM - SHOGUN.

Please don't hate me for making this my number 3. This band may not be the most metal thing out there, but they finally found a unique sound (or as close to unique as they've found yet) for their fourth studio output. This is everything their first album should have been. They have room to expand.  They have room to grow. Their production sounds more balanced than ever before. Their stellar bassist was let out of his cage a little bit more often (about time!).  The guitar work is, as usual, incredible, and Heafy upped his vocal ante for sure. He's still not the greatest singer or screamer, but the dude is showing some potential. Almost every song is worth keeping. My only problem is that a couple songs sounded too similar to each other for my liking. But as far as a Trivium record goes, this exceeded all of my (very low) expectations.

That's it for my top 3.  The others are in no particular order and will have shorter write-ups.

DEATH ANGEL - KILLING SEASON

An original release with a heavy does of thrash and groove from some of the Bay Area thrashers in the 80s. In my opinion, some truly awesome work going on here. Really catchy, well-produced stuff. Nick Rasculinez seems to be the producer to work with these days.

THE RACONTEURS - CONSOLERS OF THE LONELY

It felt like White Stripes worship at times, but nothing wrong with that. Highly recommended alternative rock album that I'm not too well-versed on, but very much in love with.

TESTAMENT - THE FORMATION OF DAMNATION

Can you say old-school meets new-school meets carnivorous raptor killer? That pretty much sums up my opinion on this beast of an album. Solid guitar parts, solid drum work. The only problem here is, as usual with Testament, the vocals. Guys, get a new singer or start writing some really interesting instrumentals. Otherwise, a really fine, heavy release and one of the best from the old-school thrash bands still around.

THE SHOWDOWN - BACK BREAKER

Talk about a band on fire. I mean, Temptation Come My Way was good, but this release was heavier, faster, and altogether sounded like somebody lit the band on fire and told then "play music to unleash the pain". Holy smokes, what a smack in the face. It sounds a little like metalcore-meets-Pantera-meets-Metallica-meets-a-fr eighter-train-at-80-miles-an-hour. Intense record. This record and Temptation Comes My Way are both recommended.

AMON AMARTH - TWILIGHT OF THE THUNDER GOD

While the band claims not to know what Viking metal is, that describes this album. And what a Viking metal album it is. Heavy, melodic, fast, and brutal. Sounds a little like old-school In Flames, minus the 10,000,000 pounds of melody (which is ironically what this band is still lacking a lot of).  More melody would be nice to hear on their next record, but this will make for a strong jumping point.

SLIPKNOT - ALL HOPE IS GONE

Why? One reason: Corey Taylor. The dude is one of hard rock/heavy metal's greatest vocalists ever, and he absolutely propelled this album into the top. Corey: ditch your eight other musicians and find a band that will make really good modern thrash metal a la Shadows Fall or something like that. And join them. Be sure to write a couple killer ballads and I'll be happy. Check out Snuff, Gematria, Psychosocial, Sulfur, and All Hope is Gone to see where this band is going and where it is right now. Download/buy the album to experience the vocal performance of the year, hands down.

UNEARTH - THE MARCH

It's Unearth's best release yet. Heavy, melodic, and less -core than anything else they've done (but trust me, it's still there). Worth getting to here metalcore's best offering of the year.

What I'm looking forward to in 2009:

Slayer

Megadeth

Nevermore

Shadows Fall

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