Top 3 List
OK, so it would be a little presumptuous of me to create a definitive list of the best non-metal albums of the year, considering that there isn't a lot of non-metal that I've listened to this year (about 10-13 albums, depending on how you want to categorize them). But I have listened to a bit, and some of it really impressed me.
3. Opeth: HeritageI like Opeth's Heritage. Yes, they have taken a dramatic (if expected) turn by abandoning metal, but it still sounds like them. And even though they've dropped the brutality of death metal, the album is still dark, and it's still one of the most dynamic records I heard this year. It's tough to say goodbye to the band I knew, but I like this new band anyway. I can't wait to hear what they do next.
2. Graveyard: Hisingen BluesIn my review, I asserted that, song-for-song, this is just as good as any Led Zeppelin album. Obviously it's not as revolutionary, since they sound pretty much like they're from 1968. But you can't ignore songs that are this catchy, and are played with this kind of energy.
1. The Devil's Blood: The Thousandfold EpicentreHoly crap, is this album good. Have you ever heard that Coven album from the 60's, more noted for having a song called "Black Sabbath" and the band's claim to be Satanists than for any intrinsic merit? Well, The Thousandfold Epicentre is like that, only 1000 percent better. There are some heavier rock riffs to ground it a bit more, and the female singer has a style that's to be taken much more seriously. And did I mention how catchy it is?
All 2011 List Week Posts:
- The 5 Worst Metal Albums- Top 5 Rejected Names for New Korn Album
- Best Metal Album Cover
- The 3 Most Controversial Albums in Metal
- The Top 5 Ways Classic Bands Will Shit on Their Legacies in 2012
- The Top 3 Metal EP's
- The Top 8 Blog Posts on Full Metal Attorney
- The Best Metal Song
- The 2 Biggest News Items in My Personal Life
- Promoter Exchange
- The Top 25 Metal Albums: 25-11
- The Top 10 Metal Albums
It's seems you're having a hard time deciding whether or not to call Heritage a 'metal' album, since you've got it on a metal list and a non-metal list. It does walk a fine line.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's a good point, but I don't have a hard time. It's pretty clearly not metal. I guess a better title for the other one would have been the 3 Most Controversial Albums in Metal, implying that it could be either metal or from a metal band.
ReplyDeleteYes, that would probably be clearer. I pretty much understood what you meant anyway, but I just thought I'd mention the slight cross-labeling, since I'm personally inclined to still call it metal (albeit barely).
ReplyDeleteI don't get why people talk about Opeth's new album as the "new Opeth", they experimented like this with Damnation too, this album doesn't mean they are not going to be making another album with their classic sound, it's just a little change in pace.
ReplyDeleteFrom everything Akerfeldt has stated in interviews, it sounds like the metal Opeth is over. And it really is quite different from Damnation.
ReplyDelete