Favorite Metal Albums of 2011

Once again this year we are jumping on the year end album list bandwagon, but remember we do something different; it is not a ranking of the best albums of the year, it is simply a list of some of my favorites in no particular order. There have been so many albums that came out this year, many to critical acclaim, many to slip past most listeners, and many more that we wish we never heard. All of those albums went into the thinking process of this writer and several very solid albums did not make the cut, even though I didn’t have a preset number of albums I wanted to list. I was just too lazy to create a list of 40 albums because, let’s be honest, people don’t read all the excerpts they just skip to the numbers. So here it is, my list of some of my favorite albums of the year. Feel free to comment either here, in the forum, or at the Facebook page so other may know which albums you agree with, which ones you don’t, and which ones I did not mention.

Trap Them - Darker Handcraft  

Trap Them are one of those bands that everyone seems to like but does not seem to be one that everyone knows about. They are a well-known band in underground circles that people fap about all the time yet are not constantly talked about. This needs to change because their release was an amazing follow-up to 2008’s Seizures in Barren Praise, an outstanding crust/grind album. There’s nothing too much different from said album, which is not a bad thing at all. AC/DC had it right, just keep writing what you know and the people will love it.

Defeatist – Tyranny of Decay

Defeatist are another band that does grind with a little bit of death meal mixed in very well. Defeatist really came out of nowhere to blow me away with ToD, and it must have done the same with other people because not very many people were talking about them yet they seemed to get high praise with the album. It’s got just enough grime mixed in with the precision of a modern band to let it appeal to old school fans as well as noobies. 

Onslaught - Sounds of Violence

 British thrash legends are back! This album was one of the best thrash albums to come out in recent years and proved that the old guard can still thrash with the young folk. The band still has the vitriol that it had in the mid-80’s and they can still write amazing riffs that will melt the face of even the most stern of prudes. And us folk in America are finally going to get the chance to see them live in a few months, and I cannot wait!

Sanguis Imperem - In Glory We March Toward Our Doom

This is not an album that got much press nor did it seem to garner much reaction in the underground world, yet I truly enjoyed finding this hidden gem. With only a demo, an EP, and a split under their belts, these death metalists have birthed a hateful pile of putrid filth that only a mother could love, or certain underground metalheads. Come out from beneath the grime and enjoy the brutality.

Hate Eternal - Phoenix Amongst the Ashes

What more can you say about Erik Rutan and all he has done for metal? With his work in Morbid Angel as well as all his producing credits for bands like Cannibal Corpse, Goatwhore, Malevolent Creation, and many many more, Rutan continues to be a shining star in the metal community. Phoenix… was one of the death metal albums that runs straight through your ear canal, rapes your mind, takes a dump on your soul, and leaves you for scavengers to pick up the pieces. It was an album that is so fast, heavy, and evil that after listening to just a few of the tracks you have to sit back and catch your breath before you can do anything else.

Ulcerate - Destroyers of All

Tech death, it’s a term that can send people into a violent frenzy of pure metallic joy or lull some people into a mind-numbing sleep based on the wankiness of the guitars. Ulcerate, however, are a band that even the latter can enjoy because they basically rip hard! This newest album had the critics buzzing and the fans looking for new pants because theirs suddenly became moist.  This album is just that awesome.

Anaal Nathrakh – Passion

Trying to pin Anaal Nathrakh into one subgenre and making them stay is almost impossible as they continue to change and evolve with every given album. Their version of blackened grind has tortured the souls and ear canals of many heshers for years and Passion is no different. With the inclusion of more clean vocals used in conjunction with the screeching howls of a mega-beast, AN have created another inventive masterpiece.

Disma - Towards the Megalith

The first proper full length from this varied group of death metal veterans came forth to lay waste to all in its path. With an old school sound analogous to Incantation and Immolation, Disma  is one of the myriad of bands that are bringing back the filthy old school sound to death metal and it is pleasing just about everyone that it is listening. Just go listen to it, simple enough.

Exhumed - All Guts, No Glory

This may very well be the best reemergence album of the year, after 6 years of silence Exhumed stormed back with a brilliant slab of brutal death/grind that destroyed the hymen of everyone who came across it. There is not much else to say about this album as many other critics have deemed this worthy of their top albums and this writer even wrote a review for it (check the review tab at the top). Let’s just say that Exhumed kick ass and they wrote another terrific album.

Signo Rojo - Promo Album 2011

While not a proper album, (it’s a promo as the title suggests) Signo Rojo released one of the best batches of songs in the metal spectrum of the past year. This is just a sampling of what these sludgy doom dealers have to offer, and there are many people who cannot wait for the full length LP to drop. One gets the feeling of a fog of despair enshrouding your entire being when listening to the album and that is definitely a good thing.

Honorable Mentions:

Toxic Holocaust – Conjure and Command

Havok – Time is Up

Opeth – Heritage

Mastodon – The Hunter

Vallenfyre – A Fragile King