Owen’s Albums of 2011

I never make end-of-year lists because I don’t consider my opinion of music to be of any consequence. While that remains true I decided to put together a small list of albums I enjoyed in 2011. There are more that aren’t here, including re-recordings of Alcest and Meshuggah albums.

This year I really found myself giving new and obscure black metal a go. I also delved deeper into the wide array of death and black metal that people in the know would consider important but as they were all pre-2011 they don’t feature here.

If you don’t like anything here or think I’ve missed anything out feel free to let me know, but don’t expect me to care. Also, there’s no particular order to this list.

LITURGY AESTHETICA

I don’t care that they’re Boston hipsters that have attempted to define their own genre of black metal. I don’t even think this really is black metal. I don’t care! The track ‘Generation’ seems to be just an instrumental loop of one riff with crescendos and lulls provided solely by the percussion that fools you into thinking it’s more than that… becuase it is more than that (obviously.. duh!).

ENTRAILS THE TOMB AWAITS

Swedish death metal that sounds a bit like Entombed etc.

VALLENFYRE A FRAGILE KING

The guitarist from Paradise Lost making an album that’s got that old school Swedish buzz-like guitar tone and is based around the death of his father.

DRAGOBRATH WHISPERHERBS

Folky black metal

GHOST OPUS EPONYMOUS

Quirky blasphemous rock

OMNIUM GATHERUM NEW WORLD SHADOWS

Finnish melodic death

ULCERATE THE DESTROYERS OF ALL

Death metal from New Zealand with crushing Isis/Neurosis like sounds wrapped up amongst the dissonant off-kilter freneticism.

KRALLICE DIOTIMA

I think these are also from Boston, like Liturgy. The sound is similar: high pitched and relentlesly fast-strummed melody with equally manic drumming.