The Top 5 Rejected Names for New Korn Album

Top 5 List

By now you've noticed Korn decided to give their new album the same title as a high profile metal release within underground metal, i.e., Tombs' Path of Totality. They changed it by adding "The" at the beginning. But that wasn't the only album title they considered.

5. The Sonic Mass

4. The Heritage

3. The Lulu

2. The Relentless Reckless Forever

1. The The Hunter

All 2011 List Week Posts:

- The 5 Worst Metal Albums
- 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 Non-Metal Albums
- 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

The 5 Worst Metal Albums of 2011

Bottom 5 List

There were a hell of a lot of good albums released in 2011. On Friday, I'll give credit where it's due. But there were also some major piles released this year. I may not be an expert tracker, but I know shit when I see it.

I have not listened to the reputed abominations created by Morbid Angel or Metallica. Illud Divinum Insanus (average Metal Archives score: 37%) and Lulu (average MA score: 17%) may well be the two worst albums of the year. They were so roundly criticized as the work of hubristic out-of-touch has-beens that I steered clear. But I didn't manage to avoid every train wreck.

5. Turisas: Stand Up and Fight
Average MA Score: 78%

Given the score on MA, I'm probably in the minority on this one. Admittedly, I don't get the point. Folk metallers Turisas take all the cheesiness of power metal, but strip it of the killer guitar playing and vocal acrobatics. I guess some people like power metal for all the wrong reasons, and Turisas fulfill that need entirely. I really, really don't get it.

List Week

All this week, I will be posting end-of-year lists and whatever else at a much more crowded schedule than my usual once-per-day. Keep checking back every few hours to see what else has been posted.

The Best Albums of 2010 That I Didn't Hear in 2010

Top 5 List

End-of-year list season is upon us again. We're just over a week into December, and it seems I'm already behind everyone else in releasing my lists. They're coming next week, just so I can keep up with everyone else. But if I had my way, best of year lists wouldn't come out until February of the following year. The reason is, it's tough to hear everything by the beginning of December.

My list from last year was published on December 19, and there were at least 5 albums that could have gotten mention on the list, but for the simple fact that I hadn't heard them yet. This top 5 list will rectify that.

5. Ludicra: The Tenant

The Tenant was so good it made me check out Ludicra's entire back catalog. Then, the news came that the band had broken up. I don't feel enough emotional attachment to the band to make me feel sad, but the strength of this discography is proof enough that their end is a tragedy. The Tenant is the capstone of a fantastic career. My review noted the music is feminine without being girly; that is, a pure form of femininity unburdened by societal expectations. A unique take on black metal that will be missed.

Unleash the Archers: Demons of the AstroWaste (2011)

Review

Quite some time ago, I reviewed the debut album of Canada's Unleash the Archers. I praised their unselfconscious brand of power/thrash/melo-death because of its balls-out intensity, catchy songs, and the powerful singing of frontwoman Brittney Hayes. She remembered that positive review, and provided me with a copy of their sophomore effort, Demons of the AstroWaste. The prospect of any improvement in this already excellent band had me practically frothing at the mouth.

Then I listened to it, and was reminded of the so-called sophomore slump. It's not that the new album is bad. The elements of great singing, great riffs, catchy choruses, and high intensity are all still there. Some of the songs are great, too. The metalcore leanings I mentioned in the first review have been emphasized, but that's not necessarily such a bad thing. But there is something different, and in a bad way.

Cynic: Carbon-Based Anatomy (EP 2011)

Review

I discovered Cynic around 2006, when they were still a little-known band with a growing cult following. They had released one full-length album of sci-fi themed progressive death metal in 1993, and disappeared for over a decade. They reunited and released the massively well-received Traced in Air. I would definitely change one of the albums that I put on my list of the best albums of 2008, but TiA would definitely remain. They followed that in 2010 with a strange collection of re-worked songs from the album (Re-Traced), stripped of any resemblance to metal whatsoever. And, let's not sugar-coat it, it sucked. When I heard that new EP Carbon-Based Anatomy wasn't particularly metal either, I was leery. But the cool album art made me optimistic. I can't say I'm disappointed.

Solothus: Ritual of the Horned Skull (Demo 2011)

Review

Solothus contacted me with a review copy of their first demo, Ritual of the Horned Skull. (Note: It appears to be available free on Bandcamp now.) The Finnish band play death/doom the way it's meant to be played. Take note: This is a band to watch.

The first thing you'll hear when you play this album is a fantastic bassline with an excellent, crackling tone. I honestly don't know why bass gets the shaft so often in metal, but that's definitely not happening here. Ominous guitar lines enter, and the band shifts to a bangable death metal riff before an excellent death growl enters the fray.

Vallenfyre: A Fragile King (2011)

Review

My Dying Bride is one of my all-time favorite bands. Along with Paradise Lost and Anathema, they comprise the so-called Peaceville Three, the bands which pioneered the death/doom genre. All three of those bands have abandoned (or nearly abandoned) death metal entirely, however, going into gothic metal, doom, and even post-rock. Well, members of MDB and Paradise Lost have gotten together to form Vallenfyre, a band which returns them to their death metal roots.

A Fragile King is a fine example of doomy, old-school death metal. It's not full-on death/doom (except perhaps on "Seeds"), and rarely does it ever reference the better-known bands of these veterans (except perhaps "Cathedrals of Dread"). So there's no rehashing here.

Souldrainer: Heaven's Gate (2011)

Review

I was contacted by ViciSolum Productions with a review copy of Souldrainer's sophomore album, Heaven's Gate. Souldrainer is a melodic death metal band from the home of melo-death, Sweden.

Now, I've made disparaging remarks about the genre in the past. It's not that I don't like melo-death, it's just that nobody has done anything worthwhile or different with it for the past couple of years. But this is just different enough to warrant a second look.

Metal Briefs: Bandcamp, Part 4

The Slam Death Edition

Slam death is a much-maligned subgenre. Oddly enough, the problem people have with it seems to be that it's simple and refuses to change, even though those characteristics are often praised in other circles. Or maybe it's the dumbed-down, over-the-top violent lyrics, but again, that's often seen as a positive in other areas. But what's great about it is that it's just good, clean fun. You don't have to think too hard about it to enjoy it. I owe it to Metallattorney for finding these three bands. All of them use programmed drums, but that's not necessarily a deal breaker.

Extinctionist: All Flesh Must Be Eaten (2009)

Extinctionist is a German slam band who crush all the right bones. Their songs are brutal and technical while still managing to sound disgusting, helped along by the occasional pig-squeal vocal or devastating slam. Samples and guitar solos serve to break things up. It's far from high-brow, and that's just how slam should be, and the programmed drums don't sound too bad. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.