Metal Awards

Charles's Top 15 albums of 2009

  1. Propagandhi - Supporting Caste
    Yeah, so my top album of the year is a punk album. But it's a punk album that is coloured every step of the way by speed metal influence. I originally gave this a score of 85, but ever since I've been listening to it again and again, and realising how good these songs are. Great lyrics, too, which is a breath of fresh air considering all the bands below them on this list. Troyka's lyrics are shit.
  2. Cobalt - Gin
    Rare to find a BM album with this much soul to it. It's black metal, but with the spirit and attitude of Tool.
  3. Ulcerate - Everything Is Fire
    Thanks to Goat/Zadok for flagging this up for me. Truly creative death metal- something rare enough to be cherished.
  4. Antigama - Warning
    Great progressive grind. Some of these tiny songs have to be heard to be believed.
  5. Shining - VI - Klagopsalmer
    Very much how traditional black metal should be done nowadays. Eerie, creative, and surprisingly catchy at times.
  6. Sunn O))) - Monoliths And Dimensions
    The first record of theirs that has really engaged me. The creaking, horror film sound effects work beautifully here.
  7. Napalm Death - Time Waits For No Slave
    Of course!
  8. The Wildhearts - Chutzpah!
    The greatest rock and roll band in the world returned! This album often seems way too lightweight and poppy, but after seeing them run through it in full live, I gained an appreciation for its light-hearted genius. See more below...
  9. Troyka - Troyka
    No end-of-year metal list would be complete without some instrumental jazz.
  10. Klabautamann - Merkur
    A unique band, really. Such a grasp of proggy loveliness... The most tuneful and pastoral black metal band you could wish to hear.
  11. The Ruins of Beverast - Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite
    If it were on titles alone, this would win. Not a work of genius; some tunes here are kind of dull. But overall, this is a truly distinctive and creative work of black metal.
  12. Altar of Plagues - White Tomb
    Strange that Altar of Plagues made it and other clever-BM albums (WITTR, Panopticon) didn't, but there you go. I listened to this a lot more than I listened to those ones, so on it goes.
  13. Azarath - Praise the Beast
    I'd take this over Behemoth any day. Brutal, twisted death metal that (with the exception of Sunn...) is the heaviest thing here. Riffs straight from hell.
  14. My Dying Bride - For Lies I Sire
    Maybe their best album for ages? It's great that they are still around and releasing things as brilliantly depressing as this. Sodding miserable bastards, hooray!
  15. Zu - Carboniferous
    A blast from leftfield. It is with great pleasure that I let a saxophone into my top 15 metal albums of the year.
Charles's Top 5 surprises of 2009

  1. Oranssi Pazuzu - Muukalainen Puhuu
    Yeah! Massive Attack gone black metal, perhaps... diverse and haunting, with well-executed injections of dub, jazz and ambient colliding with Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk.
  2. Pensees Nocturnes - Vacuum
    A one man project which elegantly and poignantly sculpted works of black metal beauty from the bones of pieces of classical music. And saloon blues, for some reason, which was a nice shock.
  3. Hellwitch - Omnipotent Convocation
    Absolutely killer technical thrash album that I simply did not see coming.
  4. Tribulation - The Horror
    Of the various death metal debuts I heard this year, perhaps this was the best. Really energetic Swedish assault on the eardrums, reminiscent of Morbid Angel and the classics.
  5. Lost Soul - Immerse in Infinity
    Yeah, Lost Soul releasing a great death metal album is hardly a surprise. But THIS good? Came so, so, close to the top 15, and maybe only missed out because of my positive discrimination in favour of saxophonists.
Charles's words about 2009
  1. Firstly, here are some honourable mentions: Madder Mortem, Culted, Voivod, Giant Squid, Razor of Occam, Brutal Truth, Zombi, Solstafir, Blut Aus Nord... metal is going from strength to strength, as proved by the fact that I couldn't fit these bands in anywhere. I couldn't even fit D66 in. That said, I don't think there was a work of quite such towering individual genius as Traced in Air of 2008. Secondly, I'd like to say this. I saw The Wildhearts in September. They came out, and informed the crowd that the entire first half of their set would simply be a run through of their new album. From reaction they got, you'd think that The Beatles had managed to resurrect John Lennon and George Harrison, and get the group back together for a one-off show at The Cavern in Liverpool. I cannot think of another band on the planet that could pull that off. Slayer get screamed at like that when they play all of Reign in Blood- but that is an ancient classic, not new stuff. Rock and Roll fans want to hear favourites that they know- except when it is The Wildhearts, in which case new material is as treasured as 20-year perennials by packed venues two weeks after its release. It goes to show how special this band is, and how lucky the world is to have them still in existence. I know that I'm the only person at this site who thinks this highly of them, and so it is incumbent upon me to pay tribute to them here. Hail.