Sunday, December 30, 2012

My top fifteen albums of 2012


The time has come to look upon the past twelve months and express our favourite albums of the year. Over the next week or so you will be seeing some people’s top picks for the year 2012. For me, this year has been a very knowledge consuming year as I have come to find many bands I have never heard of prior, as well as bands I have already heard of bringing out new material and albums. Many bands I have not heard of, cared for and even disliked surprised me and brought out albums that were very well done and were different from what I used to know their sound as. So let's get this countdown started!


15. Royal Thunder – CVI
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Out of all the doom metal that came out in 2012, I think Royal Thunder was the band that impressed me the most. Bringing a psychedelic feel to the doom world, with their debut album “CVI,” Royal Thunder showed that they are a band to keep an eye on. The vocal style of Mlny Parsonz is very interesting and sounds phenomenal and the band as a whole has a very talented force bringing amazement. “Parsonz Curse,” “Whispering World,” “Shake and Shift,” and “Blue” are my favourites on the album. The only reason this album is fifteen and not higher up on my list is due to the fact that doom metal kind of exploded and as a result, there was about three doom albums coming out each month. One kind of gets tired of a genre such as doom, when force fed with wave after wave of long songs.

14. King of Asgard - …To North
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A genre mix that I have not found new material for in quite some time, in the form of black and folk metal, was found through listening to King of Asgard’s second album “…To North.” With their cold Scandinavian talent, the band chills your soul with black metal like pieces, yet also gives you groovy folk style riffs. They also have a death metal feel but them being from Sweden, the idea of King of Asgard being a “Swedish death metal” doesn’t feel right with me. The album is great the whole way through and with great tracks like “Nine Worlds Burn,” “The Dispossessed,” “Gap of Ginnungs, and “Up On the Mountain.” This album is an epic journey from start to finish which makes a great soundtrack for raping and pillaging.

13. Exumer – Fire & Damnation
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This year seems to have been a quiet one in the genre of thrash metal, but as Exumer comes out of hiding after a long, twenty-five long break, they return with this year’s best thrash album. If this band didn’t record a new album, I may have never heard of them. Mem V. Stein’s vocals are very fitting for the genre as they sound very punk like and the switch between that style and more gritty metal sounding screams was interesting. The album not even once leaves it’s fast paced, moshtastic style and definitely stays true to the old style of thrash. Tracks like the self-titled “Fire and Damnation,” “Vermin of the Sky,” “Fallen Saint,” and the classic “I Dare You,” Exumer shows us how thrash is supposed to be done and to perfection.

12. Zodiac – A Bit of Devil
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There has been quite a few heavy metal bands releasing albums this year, but none really caught my attention as much as Zodiac’s first full-length album “A Bit of Devil.” In my opinion this album is a perfect delivery of how heavy metal used to sound. There is an undeniable grove to the guitars have a certain bluesy feel to them as well, which is seen prominently throughout the track “Blue Jean Blues.” All the tracks on this album are great and it is the first album on this list that I cannot help but listen to the whole way through each time. I see great things happening for these guys on their journey as a bad together and can’t wait to hear more from them.

11. Trioscapes – Separate Realities
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Interview with Dan Briggs
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The use of instruments not meant for metal but experimented in this genre, really interests me. Trioscapes does this to perfection with Walter Fancourt’s talented shredding of the saxophone with their album “Separate Realities.” The fact that the band focuses on mostly just saxophone, bass, and drums gives you time to respect the instruments and the talent these musicians have. Dan Briggs shows off his great bass skills, which you may be accustomed to if you listen to Between the Buried and Me and Matt Lynch also adds his very stellar drumming to the trio. Having a mix of jazz and metal brings a very unique blend of genres, which even makes older people turn their heads when played.

10. Meshuggah – Koloss
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The moment my friend put on this album, I was instantly hooked. I have never been a fan of math metal and this was a great introduction. Having being new to Meshuggah, although I have heard of them, “Koloss” was a great introduction. It is their seventh studio album and by far my favourite. Showing off odd time signatures, complicated riffs, and a tight composition of musicians, Meshuggah are an incredible band. Having tracks like “I Am Collosus,” “Do Not Look Down,” and “Marrow,” to name a few, this album is definitely a masterpiece in the genre.

9. Whitechapel – Whitechapel
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Being turned off the hardcore of Whitechapel, I tried to stay away from them. Once their full-length self-titled album came out this year, I have been having troubles putting it down. Straying away from the hardcore elements and leaning toward being more of a straight up death metal band, they prove they’ll only get more intense. This album is another that came out that has great tracks the whole way through, as none of them are lacklustre in anyway and are all perfect in their own rights. With great ones like “Make It Bleed,” “I, Dementia,” and “Faces,” this album has made me a fan of the band.

8. Weapon – Embers and Revelations
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Bringing greatness to the Canadian metal scene, blackened death metallers, Weapon, released their third full-length album entitled “Embers and Revelations.” I haven’t heard anything in this genre this amazing in quite some time and they are comparable to Behemoth and HATE. The guitars on this album are very well done and the bass is very apparent with great riffs of its own and makes listening to this album a great listen every time, as heard in tracks like “The Witnesses Of Lucifer,” “Liber Lilith,” and album-titled “Embers And Revelations.”

7. Dying Fetus – Reign Supreme
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With an album title which is much like how the album is laid out, Dying Fetus’ seventh full-length album “Reign Supreme,” shows off the talents that puts them high up in the death metal food chain. Bringing brutality and full force as well as technicality and groovy riffs, all aspects of what they do best are heard. The lyrical content are great, especially in the track “From Womb To Waste,” with is my personal favourite on the album. A few other favourite tracks on mine are “Invert The Idols,” “In The Trenches,” “Revisionist Past.”

6. Shining – Redefining Darkness
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Outdoing themselves yet again, Shining’s eighth full-length album “Redefining Darkness,” did just that. With guitars that remind me of their previous albums and lyrical content that I find comforting, this entire album is a masterpiece. The guitars are chilling and at times have a great groove to them and Niklas Kvarforth always impresses me with his unique vocal style. Be it the Swedish or English tracks they are both incredible in their own right and the album in its entirety is perfect.

5. Wintersun – Time I
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After eight years of waiting and set backs, Wintersun’s appropriately titled “Time I” came out this year and even though the wait was long, the album was as epic as it could be. Jari Mäenpää is a mastermind when it comes to melodic death metal and knows how to create the best, in my opinion. Seeing Wintersun live this month was a very amazing thing and I hope they come back to Canada soon. This album was beautiful the whole way through and was just as perfect as I thought it would be. Let’s hope “Time II” isn’t as timely to make and is just, if not more, epic than this.

4. Burzum – Umskiptar
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Bringing a sound that picks up where “Fallen” left off, Burzum’s tenth full-length album “Umskiptar” is a great metal rendition of the Norse poem Völuspá. With his amazing musical talent and his mix soft spoken and menacing screams, Varg Vikernes takes the poem and betters it by making it his own. It’s hard to pick favourite tracks on an album such as this but “Alfandanz” and “Heiðr” sounded the best to me, the way they flowed and Varg shredded the bass. Every Burzum album that comes out is a blessing from the Norse Gods and I will continue enjoying them all.

3. Eluveitie – Helvetios
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An album that I probably over play is “Helvetios,” Eluveitie’s fifth full-length album. Being my favourite band, it is probably rightfully so listened to too many times, but everything about this band makes me happy. Seeing the album played in full a few weeks ago was a very nice treat as well. As they do each album they release, Eluveitie outdid themselves yet again with “Helvetios.” Being a concept album they do a excellent job of describing the troubles and downfall of a Gaulish tribe. I find the violin, flute, and hurdy gurdy were more alive on this album and were equally as showcased as the heavier instruments. Anna Murphy also blew me away with her vocals, especially her screams on “The Siege.” I’ll stop rambling on about this because I could go on for quite some time, be sure to pick this album up.

2. Cattle Decapitation – Monolith of Inhumanity
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Interview with Travis Ryan
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A band I should have been into but never listened to would be Cattle Decapitation. Their fifth full-length album “Monolith of Inhumanity” made me a fan instantly. David McGraw’s drumming is intense and sometimes hard to follow which is incredible. Josh Elmore and Derek Engemann shred the guitar and bass respectively which brutality in every riff. Last and certainly not least, Travis Ryan takes care of vocals and is certainly my vocalist of the year. All the tracks are great in their own way, but my favourite has to be “Forced Gender Reassignment. The track also has a music video in which I masterbate vigorously with sand paper to, but keep that between you and me.

1. Between the Buried and Me – The Parallax II: Future Sequence
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Interview with Dan Briggs
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We have come to the end of my top fifteen and if you know me, you could have bet this was first. Between the Buried and Me is a band I always wanted to get into but never did and “The Parallax II: Future Sequence” was the best introduction I could have asked for. With the incredible guitar work by Paul Waggoner and Dustie Waring, with there insane talent as well as Dan Briggs on bass guitar, Blake Richardson tearing up the drums, and Tommy Rogers on vocals, providing great growls but also lovely clean parts as well, this band is tight and feed off of each other’s talents. The whole album is incredible and I cannot pick a favourite, the mix of heavy parts, beautiful grooves, and flat out weird moments make the whole album a perfect one and my number one.

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