AMORPHIS: SILENT WATERSI first discovered Amorphis in the late 1990's, around the time that Tuonela was released. However, I stopped listening to them after their follow-up album for several years. This was the album that brought me back to Amorphis. This album is hauntingly beautiful and surprisingly catchy. Gone for the most part are the psychedelic meanderings of their previous albums. These are full songs and they are delivered extremely well. New vocalist Tomi Joutsen fits very well with the rest of the band and they were rejuvenated on this release. I have been a huge fan of them once again ever since.
IMMOLATION: SHADOWS IN THE LIGHTImmolation has steadily put out classic release after classic release. Their 2007 effort is quite possibly their best ever though, which is really saying something since the band had been around since the early days of New York death metal. Immolation's take on occultish, Morbid Angel-influenced death still sounds amazing more than 20 years later. This album actually finds the band exploring some new melodies that sound great with their usual twisted riffing style.
PRIMORDIAL: TO THE NAMELESS DEADIreland's Primordial have been making quite a bit of noise just underground for several years leading up to this album, but this is when most of the metal world really stood up and took notice of the band. Rooted in black metal, but playing with Celtic folk influences, Primordial went for a much more melodic sound on this release. The result was one of the strongest albums of the year and an album that will stand as a true classic.
ROTTING CHRIST: THEOGONIAThis was the album that introduced me to Rotting Christ. It also still stands as my favorite release by the band. Rotting Christ is another band that consistently puts out great release after great release. It is a little more unusual for them though as their sound has changed frequently over the years. This release finds them adding black metal influences once again into their gothic, Hellenic style. This album would have made my Album of the Year in 2007 had I been doing it at the time. It is simply flawless.
SIGH: HANGMAN'S HYMN-MUSIKALISCHE EXEQUIENSigh is a weird band. But most of you out there probably already knew that. Sigh does not produce the same album twice in a row. This album is much more of an orchestral thrash metal album. It has some truly impressive thrash riffs and some simply amazing symphonic elements. What results is a catchy and bombastic album that gets going quickly and never really falters. It is an easy album to sit down and listen to and become fully engrossed in. It's just unfortunate that Sigh will not release anything like it again.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Akercocke: Antichrist
Arch Enemy: Rise of the Tyrant
Behemoth: The Apostacy
Dark Tranquillity: Fiction
Helloween: Gambling with the Devil
High on Fire: Death is this Communion
Iced Earth: Framing Armageddon-Something Wicked Pt. 1
Machine Head: The Blackening
Marduk: Rom 5:12
Mayhem: Ordo Ad Chao
Paradise Lost: In Requiem
Skeletonwitch: Beyond the Permafrost
Slough Feg: Hardworlder
Symphony X: Paradise Lost
The Black Dahlia Murder: Nocturnal
Watain: Sworn to the Dark
BANDS THAT FORMED IN 2007:
Cavalera Conspiracy
Love the Amorphis and Primordial picks, and I've like Immolation and Sigh in the past but haven't heard those albums. Looking at your honorable mentions, I think Symphony X, Skeletonwitch, and Watain would be three of my picks.
ReplyDeleteThis was really the first Sigh album I have heard and it is definitely my favorite.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually just a bit surprise that the Skeletonwitch album wasn't one of your picks. Always good to see Amorphis though. And Immolation are really just amazing... they're probably the only old death metal giant that just keeps getting better.
ReplyDeleteI had a hard time leaving Skeletonwitch off here, I really wanted to get them in, but I could not justify taking one of the other five off. I also really wanted High on Fire here too.
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