Metal Awards

Koeppe's Top 15 albums of 2012

  1. Enabler - All Hail the Void
    Somehow this album surpassed efforts by the veterans, Converge and Cattle Decapitation, but without a doubt, it is the most straightforward, hard-hitting album to come out this year that regardless of my mood, it makes me want to mosh, break stuff, crack skulls, etc. The sheer weight that Jeff can put into a riff is like no other. Simply virtuosic in the elephant riff category that man is. Will it stand the test of time like Cattle Decap, Converge, Car Bomb and Pig Destroyer have demonstrated themselves as capable of doing? I don't know, but I do know if I wanted to hear one single album from this past year this very minute, it is this beast.
  2. Cattle Decapitation - Monolith Of Inhumanity
  3. Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind
  4. Car Bomb - w^w^^w^w
    After a somewhat lengthy hiatus, these guys returned creating the mathcore that they left off with. I wish I had been able to review it before year's end, but it simply wasn't in the cards. What you have here is one of the forefathers of the new wave of technical/djent bands returning and demonstrating that they didn't use all the tricks in tehir bags and that they still have a thing or two to teach the neophytes of the genre.
  5. Panopticon - Kentucky
  6. Pig Destroyer - Book Burner
  7. Gaza - No Absolutes in Human Suffering
    Hate and vitriol like no other. They have truly outdone their past work with this effort, albeit the fact that it takes a while to sink in, once you digest it, this album is delightfully brutal.
  8. Om - Advaitic Songs
    Somewhat gimmick-y, but this album is truly a pleasure to listen to. From beginning to end, these guys do it right and they do it well. My review captures most of my thoughts, but I really do enjoy this album. And like Kentucky, it is something so totally different and new in light of the rest of the genres that it stands out and surely will for years to come.
  9. Burning Love - Rotten Thing To Say
    Some good ol' hardcore right here. Chris Colohan is a veteran in the genre and this album really cements Burning Love as worthy of being the heir to Cursed. It is a fucking great album.
  10. Author & Punisher - Ursus Americanus
    Metal made by metal? Industrial equipment in my industrial music? What is there not to like about A&P? Fans of Jesu should be all over this.
  11. Black Breath - Sentenced To Life
    Straightforward, heavy-hitting badassery contained here. The best of all genres distilled into the perfect hard-hitting package. Why doesn't everybody love these guys?
  12. Royal Thunder - CVI
    Blues-y lady-fronted heavy metal? Sign me up. This album is just a blast. It may overstay its welcome, but that's not for lack of quality. You get your money's worth of great rockin' tracks. The fact that this might slip under some folks' radars is a travesty.
  13. Blacklister - BLKLSTRS
    Noise rock that was recommended to me by Pig Destroyer's Facebook account equals awesome. The one song that will exemplify how you will feel about this album is Trickfuck. The band blends heavy riffs with the lackadaisical energy of grunge with the vocal performance of a half drunk, angry insane man. It's beautiful.
  14. Deathspell Omega - Drought
    The kings of 21st century black metal release an EP that is better than any other straightforward black metal full-lengths released all year. Because that's how they do. If you haven't heard their whirling, entangling dissonance then you have done yourself an injustice.
  15. Baroness - Yellow & Green
    I love Yellow. I don't care for Green. But seriously, Yellow is some of the greatest, catchiest metal to be written in the last twenty years. This is hair metal level of catchiness minus all the douchebaggery and injected with that level of anguish and forlorness that makes a great Baroness album.
Koeppe's Top 5 surprises of 2012
  1. The Darkness - Hot Cakes
    After a hiatus, this goofy band that most people here probably hate, which I kinda enjoy, released a decent hard rock album. Worth a listen every so often.
  2. Mixhell - Exit Wound
    Igor Cavalera and Greg Puciato combining to release a dance track? Why does this work so well and why do I love it so much?
  3. Car Bomb - w^w^^w^w
    I didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear that they hadn't lost it after all these years.
Koeppe's Disappointment(s) of 2012

  1. Anaal Nathrakh - Vanitas
    When will they ever return to form? The last two albums have been utter trash. They make Constellation of the Black Widow look like genius.
  2. Ash Borer - Cold of Ages
    After blowing me away with that self-titled album, how did they become so boring?
  3. Candlemass - Psalms For The Dead
    Not saying this album is bad, but after loving Death Magic Doom so much, irrationally much, this album always just left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
  4. Opium Warlords - We Meditate Under the Pussy in the Sky
    The album isn't bad per se, but being marketed as the avant garde folk drone descended from Reverend Bizarre left me feeling like it should have done more.
  5. Terrorizer - Horde of Zombies
    After World Downfall, this? I'd rather have no Terrorizer than neutered Terrorizer.
Koeppe's Joke(s) 2012
  1. Die Antwood - Ten$ion
    The joke is on us, because this is actually really enjoyable. I get a kick out of this album and thoroughly enjoy all of its bad moments. Like Quentin Tarantino, these three have mastered the art of pastiche in postmodern art. The blending of references to Ludacris, Tiffany, Vanilla Ice, etc. laced in with their political-social commentary on the current state of South Africa over top the sickest dubstep beats is just too much. It should crash and burn, and I think many think that it did, but I love it.
Koeppe's words about 2012
  1. A great year for metal, a great year for albums that push boundaries and buck the norm. There are so many songs and albums on this list that carried me through the year. If some of these slipped under your radar, I would strongly encourage rectifying that mistake. For your own sake, at least.