Metal Awards

James's Top 15 albums of 2009

  1. Mastodon - Crack The Skye
    Obvious choice, but no other metal album felt like such an event as Crack The Skye. Once again, Mastodon show why they unite the underground and mainstream like no other metal band.
  2. L'Acephale - Stahlhartes Gehause
    Mord Und Totsclag had potential, but this time out Set Sothis Nox La sharpened up his game and brought THE black metal album of the year.
  3. Behemoth - Evangelion
    After being seemingly on a downward trajectory since 2001, Nergal marshals the troops to deliver an album that could well be Behemoth's best.
  4. The Devin Townsend Project - Ki
    A clean and sober Devy, and that's no doubt the reason Ki feels like an artistic rebirth for the man.
  5. Peste Noire - Ballade Cuntre Lo Anemi Francor
    Folkfuck Folie was a trainwreck, but Famine gets his shit together with a new line-up, and in doing so crafts once of the most deranged slices of black metal you'll ever come across.
  6. Baroness - Blue Record
    Hipsters schmipsters. This rocks.
  7. Maudlin Of The Well - Part The Second
    Not quite the life-altering event that Bath was, but then very little is. Another sterling release from the brain of Toby Driver.
  8. Absu - Absu
    One of the most anticipated reunions of recent times, Absu follow up Tara like the past eight years never happened.
  9. Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade
    The Cascadian eco-metallers strike again with their most straightforward, bludgeoning release to date.
  10. BLK JKS - After Robots
    African prog-rock that beat The Mars Volta at their own game.
  11. Immortal - All Shall Fall
    After 17 years, the sons of northern darkness are just as grim and frostbitten as they've ever been.
  12. Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough
    Not quite up to the standards of the debut, but Krallice still prove themselves to be one of black metal's leading lights.
  13. Obituary - Darkest Day
    Most reunions fizzle out after a year or so, but three albums since reuniting Obituary have reclaimed their throne as death metal royalty.
  14. The Mars Volta - Octahedron
    That's five great albums out of five, then.
  15. Drudkh - Microcosmos
    Not a band I've ever paid that much attention to, but Microcosmos justifies the hype.
James's Top 5 surprises of 2009

  1. Behemoth - Evangelion
    The death metal album of the year usually isn't made by a band on the decline for eight years.
  2. Skaldic Curse - World Suicide Machine
    UKBM that can stand with the best of 'em.
  3. Marduk - Wormwood
    After spending years as black metal nearly men, Marduk have suddenly got in to gear late in their careers.
James's Disappointment(s) of 2009

  1. Beherit - Engram
    Legendary Finnish black metallers reconvene with a record that leaves us wondering what the fuss was all about.
  2. Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs
    Despite the hype, the French post-punks/goths/black metallers/whatevers just couldn't deliver the goods for a whole album.
  3. Between The Buried And Me - The Great Misdirect
    I'm starting to think Colors was some kind of fluke.
  4. Jamie Saft - Black Shabbis
    Fascinating concept, shame he didn't have the tunes to match.
  5. Venetian Snares - Filth
    Could do better.
James's Joke(s) 2009

  1. The Axis of Perdition - Urfe
    The Garth Marenghi's Darkplace of black metal. Though sadly not as funny.
James's words about 2009
  1. So that was 2009, a fantastic year for metal. So fantastic, in fact, that a good few records didn't make the list simply because I didn't have time to truly connect with them. Marduk, Cobalt, Kylesa and The Ruins Of Beverast all released stellar albums which I didn't give enough listens to to give a fair appraisal of. It's also worth mentioning Fauna's Rain, ineligible for the list due to technically being a reissue (not that you'd ever have a chance of tracking down the original 2006 demo) but one of the best black metal albums of the decade. And 2010 looks set to open the decade in style, with new albums from Sigh and Pig Destroyer on their way, the return of the mighty Morbid Angel and Varg Vikernes return to the black metal fold, which if nothing else should cause chaos on metal forums for the rest of the year. I for one, cannot wait.