THE BEST OF 2011 - PART III

Finally... just in time for the End of the year.

And so, here we are again, and before I start, i know that at this point everyone is just sick and tired of "Lists", around the corner there's a List, under that stone there's another List.. Every music site/blog is making their own list unless you're like Cvlt Nation that shoots a List every 5 minutes. But while we're still digesting all the crap we ate at Christmas but there's nothing better to cure that stuffed sick feeling than the albums that I bring you today in the third part of the Best of 2011, also known as the Great List of Awesomeness! These are the releases.. the fucking RELEASES man! The releases that gave me the goose-bumps as the first notes sounded... the music that made caused me a shiver from head to toes. Were, and are, indeed outstanding releases that will absolutely mark an era. So, without further delay, here it is the Best among the Best, enjoy.

- 25 -

Thantifaxath - "Demo"

I heard a lot of good Demos this year, but there was one in particular that got me hooked since the first time i heard it. Thantifaxath are a mysterious Black Metal band from Canada that play this unique beautiful and obscure Black Metal with some french Black Metal influences. This is by far, the most interesting and real Black Metal, i heard this year. Can't wait for a full length.

- 24 -

Aosoth - "III"

Intense, unsettling riffs and hoarse vocals. "III" is one of the heaviest Black Metal albums you will ever hear. Unusually low-tuned guitars and thunderous drums that we are not used to hear in the BM realm. Besides "III", Aosoth have also released an instrumental version of this album called "Variations Of Violence" and according to Metal Archives, they already have a brand new EP on the stove. I say bring it!!

- 23 -

Corpsessed - "The Dagger & The Chalice"

This was almost the year of the Finnish, the quantity and quality of the releases that came out of that cold country could easily result in a "Best Finnish Releases of 2011".. Straight from the catacombs comes this release, "The Dagger & The Chalice", and as soon as you start hearing that intro you cannot guess what you're about to testify. Dark ritualistic blood boiling Death Metal. Like my friend JGD said at his awesome blog The Living Doorway... "if you think you like death metal but don't have Corpsessed's "The Dagger and the Chalice" yet, you are 100% blowin' it."

- 22 -

Mournful Congregation - "The Book Of Kings"

One of the most, if not, the most beautiful Funeral Doom Album of the year. Mournful Congregation really know how to create really heavy and thick atmospheres. An amazing, majestic and sorrowful work.

- 21 -

Negative Plane - "Stained Glass Revelations"

An epic and haunted album... filled with obscurity in every detail, every riff, every drum beat, every scream. It's like an epic musical inspired by HP Lovecratf. You look into that cover and it feels like you're really there. Amazing.

- 20 -

Ulcerate - "The Destroyers of All"

Fucking New Zealand... don't know what those guys are taking over there, because more and more devilish Death Metal acts seem so emerge every 5 minutes... and the next band that appears is always more brutal than the previous one. Ulcerate have proved with their third full length, "The Destroyers of All", that they are one of NZ finest in the DM scene. "The Destroyers of All" shreds. A wave of destruction coming your way, crushing everything and impaling every last remaining soul.

- 19 -

Terra Tenebrosa - "The Tunnels"

From the ashes of one of my favorite hardcore bands ever, Breach, emerged Terra Tenebrosa with this brilliant piece called "The Tunnels". As soon as i heard that some Breach members were involved in some new project it became my daily obsession to discover what it was, and most of all what it would sound like. And sure it was no disappointment at all. "The Tunnels" is one dark journey into Sweden's tenebrous and deep woods.

- 18 -

Dephosphorus - "Axiom"

From Greece arrives one of the best releases of 2011. "Axiom" from Dephosphorus. Before it was even released there was a lot of talking about this band. And after some tracks were unveiled, we had reasons to believe that this was going to be a blast. An powerful blast of fury. Mixing sludge with grind and other sub genres, "Axiom" is undoubtedly one of the freshest releases of 2011. The good news is that the band is already working on a new album "Night Sky Transform", and judging by the quality of the tracks, something very powerful will be soon unleashed upon the Earth, just can't wait for that.

- 17 -

Desolate Shrine - "Tenebrous Towers"

Again from Finland arrives another amazing release, "Tenebrous Towers" from Desolate Shrine. Like i talked about in the post of this release, a band that makes of this their first release, and shows such quality and caliber deserves to be here. This blend of Black/Death is so good, so good, so good... i go almost speechless when i have to talk about this. Since the first audition i knew that this had to be one of Best releases of this year. Keep your eyes and ears on Desolate Shrine and lets wait what the future holds for them.

- 16 -

Batillus - "Furnace"

Batillus, with "Furnace", deliver one of the most crushing Sludge/Doom albums of the year. A beautifully crafted album full of sonic details that just makes me wanna hear it over and over and over... Fucking awesome.

- 15 -

Mitochondrion - "Parasignosis"

What Mitochondrion achieved with "Parasignosis" can be considered a Death Metal Classic. It's one of those albums that people will remember and talk for years. Atmospherical and authentic Black/Death is what you get here. An impressive bleakness void that will suck you in. Remarkable. 

- 14 -

Void Meditation Cult - "Sulfurous Prayers"

Blasphemous and Bestial Black/Death metal from a one man band from Ohio. This could be the incarnation of Sperm Of The Antichrist but in a more demoniacal form. Down tuned guitars with some really creepy atmospheres layered in... the perfect soundtrack for your late night satanic rituals.

- 13 -

Encoffination - "O' Hell, Shine in Thy Whited Sepulchres"

Ghoat and Elektrokutioner did one hell of a job with "O' Hell, Shine in Thy Whited Sepulchres" that is a authentic monument to Death Metal. Slow and sepulchral deep Death Metal with church bells announcing a funeral march on every track. I love this album/band.

- 12 -

Wolves In The Throne Room - "Celestial Lineage"

Wolves In The Throne Room returned this year with another colossal atmospheric, and most of all, epic album. "Celestial Lineage" also gathers all the conditions to be considered a Classic in the genre. Too bad is the last of this dying breed, at least they leave in style, leaving us this remarkable piece.

- 11 -

Disma - "Towards The Megalith"

Now this, ladies and gentlemen, is Death Metal in its most pure essence. After a great Demo, an awesome full-length. "Towards The Megalith" is a real monster. Featuring Craig Pillard as the throat, it could only result in some crushing, slow/mid paced (almost doom like) suffocating DM. Love the artwork of it and judging by the cover of this "book" expect nothing but real Death Metal.

- 10 -

Indian - "Guiltless"

I like Sludge, therefore i like Indian. Ever since "The Unquiet Sky" that I'm more than alert to everything that this band makes. And with "Guiltless" they gave birth to one of the heaviest albums of 2011. Dirty soaked Sludge Doom that will crush you into dust. 

- 9 -

Altar of Plagues - "Mammal"

Now this album created many discussions, some people who loved "White Tomb" were expecting another copy of it and got disappointed with "Mammal" because it's a little bit more atmospherical and experimental than "White Tomb". I personally, became in love to this album at the first audition... the track "Feather and Bone" man.. those first minutes are fucking epic! It even gives me goose-bumps. I really like the way Altar Of Plagues created this masterpiece. You just can't miss this.

- 8 -

Aldebaran - "Buried Beneath Aeons"

Aldebaran simply delivered one of the most ground breaking releases of the year. Although it's an one track only EP, "Buried Beneath Aeons" is one of the most beautiful things i had the pleasure to hear in 2011. An amazing hypnotic trip into a Lovecraftian world. Beautiful.

- 7 -

Tombs - "Path Of Totality"

By now, everybody knows the name Tombs, i dare say that they were one of the pioneers in mixing the bleakness of Black Metal with the heaviness of Sludge Metal. When i heard their 2007 Demo i could never expect that this band would grow like this and would become the monster that is today. "Winter Hours" was one of my favorite albums of 2009 and with "Path Of Totality" they hit the bulls-eye again. Tombs are a remarkable band that conceptually can create an sonic experience by putting all these details together, from the music to the artwork. A superb piece.

- 6 -

Craft - "Void"

Another album that couldn't miss, after an awesome "Fuck The Universe", Craft deliver their hatred upon mankind with this superb release "Void". You just can't be indifferent to a release like "Void". Craft makes his sound unique by using some formulas that many BM bands just refuse to use or just don't know how to use them. But Craft how the secret to that formula and created, undoubtedly,  just one of the Best releases of the year.

- 5 -

Sonne Adam - "Transformation"

So what have we got here? One of the best Death Metal Albums of the Year? From Israel? Yes! Sonne Adam's first full-length was quite a surprise... It moves within the shadows, slowly, cloaked and faceless, the only thing we see are the shining red eyes of the Beast. The artwork is simply astonishing and it breathes the doomy Death Metal music of Sonne Adam. One of my favorite tracks is the interlude "Solitude In Death" it brings this image to my mind of a huge black snake with red eyes, moving slowly through the holes of an ancient olive tree in an israeli field and into the rotting carcass of Christ... that's the image i picture Sonne Adam's music.. they walk among us.

- 4 -

Acephalix - "Interminable Night"

San Francisco-based Acephalix spew forth a stripped-down and tonally obliterating old-school Nihilist/Entombed death metal style infused with crustpunk angst. Featuring members of Depressor and other hellish Bay Area acts including three members who also do time in Vastum, another act currently gaining worldwide attention from the death metal underground, Acephalix already have a diehard cult following, and plan to take their terror worldwide now under the dark wing of Southern Lord. "Interminable Night" is a one hell of an album, since it came out that it's on my iPod weekly playlist.

- 3 -

Whitehorse - "Progression"

If i could describe this album in one word, that word would be "Haunting". "Progression" from the aussies Whitehorse is an amazing piece of fear. It only features 5 songs but every song is a slab of doom that will turn you inside out. It's got some cavernous deep growls that almost makes Craig Pillard blush also some Black Metal shrieks and to help the party there's some cool sampling sounds, something industrial to create a whole crushing and dense atmosphere. An absolutely amazing album.

- 2 -

Ritual Necromancy - "Oath of the Abyss"

Ritual Necromancy easily achieved this position by bringing to the light of day one of the most brutal, barbaric, vicious Death Metal albums of all time. I was waiting for this with great expectations and it didn't disappointed at all. "Oath of the Abyss" is just the perfect Death Metal Album for me, brutal, chaotic, filthy guitars with some primeval drumming and guttural growls. I love this... Fuck yes. Thank you so much RN for existing.

- 1 -

Leviathan - "True Traitor, True Whore"

Finally, we reached number 1. Of all the releases represented here this is probably what i was most eager to hear... "The new Leviathan!" What a great album. "True Traitor, True Whore" is a true essay in horror. The atmospheres created here by Wrest are truly strange but beautiful. Not to speak that wrest performs one of the most peculiar voices in BM. Some of you might think that this one doesn't surpass some of Levianthan's previous releases. I don't care. What i care is that i love every second of this release. An amazing work that has the ability to haunt my conscience is definitely worthy of earning the title of Album Of The Year. Finis coronat opus!

And that was it... 2011 was one amazing year in music but unfortunately,  to many people, it was a hell of a year due to the economical/political scenery. Dark clouds are here to stay and 2012 isn't going to be easy either. But let's not bow down our heads and let all of that negative energies strike us down. A simple smile, a simple "Thank You" can make a difference and light up your day. To all you people out there, and to all your beloved ones, i wish you a Happy Good Year.

Have fun.

Later.

H.